Next stop, federal court!

Nothing in life is to be feared.  It is only to be understood.  ~Marie Curie

Entergy, the owner of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant (VY), has sued the state of Vermont in federal court. At the same time, VY is the subject of a suit against the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, in which intervenors claim that VY does not have a discharge permit required by the Clean Water Act.

Authorities report one dead, four injured, one seriously. No radioactivity was released by the event

Last month, the Blue Ribbon Commission (BRC) on America's Nuclear Energy Future released its long-awaited full draft report to Secretary Chu, based upon the findings of each of its subcommittees. Several nuclear bloggers offered their thoughts on the draft summary of the BRC recommendations when they were posted back in May. Since that time, the release of the full draft report expands upon earlier BRC recommendations, which largely focused upon centralized interim storage for spent nuclear fuel until a new permanent geological repository can be sited.

The 69th Carnival of Nuclear Energy Blogs is online now at Atomic Power Review.

As part of a Colorado speaking tour, American Nuclear Society President Eric Loewen visited the ANS student section at the Colorado School of Mines (CSM) on Wednesday, August 24. More than 30 students and two faculty members attended his talk, and later that evening 17 students and two faculty members were among the attendees at the Colorado ANS local section meeting.

Have you ever heard the joke about the football player who was so ugly that, whenever he stepped onto the field, he was penalized 15 yards for illegal use of face? Okay, you probably haven't heard that one before, because I just made it up. The concept of ugliness, both in the abstract and as attributed to specific entities, has long inspired creativity; after all, it spurred me to develop that magnificent joke. (For you young folks out there, the term "illegal use of hands" used to be applied to something one shouldn't do in football, only in the last few years the terminology has changed, so . . . ahh, skip it.)

On August 25, 2011, I had the privilege of attending the ribbon cutting ceremony for the Center for Advanced Engineering Research (CAER) located in Bedford County, Va., near Lynchburg. The crowd at the event included representatives of local, state, and federal governments, as well as a number of area business people, academics, and boosters.

The 68th Carnival of Nuclear Energy Blogs is online now at Deregulate the Atom

The hunt is on in Vietnam, Turkey, and elsewhere

It's time to make plans to attend the American Nuclear Society's 2011 Winter Meeting and Nuclear Technology Expo, this year held in Washington, DC, on October 30-November 3 at the Omni Shoreham Hotel.

The American Nuclear Society's Young Members Group, with the help of ANS's Nuclear Installation Safety Division, is organizing a panel session at the Young Professionals Congress (an embedded topical at the 2011 ANS Winter Meeting) on the history of severe nuclear accidents.

ANS President Eric Loewen sends letter to Chairman Jaczko and NRC commissioners to stress the importance and obligation to complete licensing application

Follow the ANS Twitter feed for breaking news:  @ans_org

ANS Hurricane Nuclear Watch for

Projected path of Hurricane Irene 8/26-28/2011

1700 HRS Aug. 26, 2011-Nuclear energy facilities are prepared to safely withstand high winds and heavy rain as the eastern United States braces for Hurricane Irene to make landfall this weekend.

Dominion's North Anna Power Station Restores Offsite Power

A 5.8 magnitude earthquake (USGS data) shook much of the east coast at 1:51 PM eastern time today. Dominion's North Anna reactors went off line safely and are on emergency power using four diesel generators.  (See full text of NRC press release below)

Editor: Dan Yurman