NEI Nuclear Notes

Some thoughts from Steven Aplin .

Details from David Akin .

On Sunday, September 16, 11 new nations became part of the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership at a meeting in Vienna, Austria . The following is an official statement from Marv Fertel, NEI's Senior Vice President and Chief Nuclear Officer concerning that announcement: For more on GNEP, click here .

Stephen Aplin has the details. Also, check out some news from Northern Ontario .

Off the wire .

Here's an item I had forgotten to pass along: A feature by PRI's Marketplace on used nuclear fuel and the potential for recycling . For the audio, which includes an interview with NEI's Steve Kraft, click here .

From DOE (not yet online): The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Deputy Secretary Clay Sell today announced that DOE will provide up to $60 million, over two years (FY’07-’08), to engage industry experts in the conceptual design of the initial nuclear fuel recycling center and advanced recycling reactor as part of President Bush’s Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP). Studies from this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) will include scope, schedule and cost information of the proposed facilities and will also identify technological needs that will be used to inform, and effectively and efficiently implement GNEP’s Research & Development (R&D) activities. “Nuclear energy is a safe, environmentally sensitive, and affordable way to meet the world’s growing need for baseload electricity. By further engaging engineering and design experts in the nuclear industry, we can spur radical development of new nuclear recycling technologies that are more proliferation-resistant and e...

From the pages of Popular Science : Later this year, scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee hope to take a big step toward solving America's nuclear-waste woes. Pending clearance from the Department of Energy, they will demonstrate a new toxic-waste recycling process. The aim of the demo—part of a controversial $405-million government project called the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP)—is to transform nuclear leftovers into fuel for a new breed of reactors. The new reactor/fuel combo, GNEP officials say, could produce up to 100 times as much energy as conventional reactors and could generate 40 percent less waste. The initiative is a key part of the Bush administration's long-term strategy to meet America's rising demand for electricity—according to the DOE, it's expected to jump by 45 percent from 4,000 billion kilowatt-hours in 2005 to 5,800 billion kilowatt-hours in 2030—without creating more greenhouse gases. "Nuclear energy is the bi...

Details from Idaho Samizdat .