Nuclear Power & Radiation

"Workers at the nation's most contaminated nuclear site have finished excavating a leaky pool built in the 1950s to hold spent fuel from nuclear reactors."

"The Environmental Protection Agency agreed Friday to update its standards on radon emissions from uranium mills."

"Craftsmen who cut granite for kitchen countertops can be at risk of radiation exposure thousands of times above the federal safety limit, according to new research."

"Areva, a French nuclear construction company, said this week that its project to build the world's most powerful reactor remained mired in delays and was over-budget by 2.3 billion euros, or about $3.3 billion."

With the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository now dead, "local leaders and lawmakers from the sites where the waste is now stored, however, are increasingly concerned that the Energy Department will leave it in place, even though that might violate legally binding cleanup agreements."

"The Nuclear Regulatory Commission ... is urging nuclear plants to embrace a more systematic approach to assessing fire risk -- one that relies on a computer program."

A simple brass plaque in Tarusa, Russia, stands as a reminder of an epic tale of scores of nuclear disasters in the former Soviet Union that were hidden, or never completely reported.

Canada faces a monumental challenge in finding a way to store or dispose of highly radioactive spent nuclear fuel. The problem has dragged on unsolved for decades, and any solution is likely to prove costly.

"Some Senate Republicans want the climate change bill to focus on building new nuclear power plants. They're calling for as many as 100 new plants in 20 years. But the industry has been in decline for so many years now, there's concern there might not be enough nuclear engineers to do the job."

"Cleanup of the nation's biggest nuclear mess would take nearly two decades longer than planned under an agreement endorsed Tuesday by the governors of Washington and Oregon."