Keyword: doe

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  • Energy Department fined $1 million (Hanford nuclear reservation clean-up agreement violations)

    03/28/2007 7:18:03 PM PDT · by NormsRevenge · 5 replies · 198+ views
    AP on Yahoo ^ | 3/28/07 | AP
    RICHLAND, Wash. - The Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday fined the federal Energy Department $1.1 million over violations of an agreement to clean up the Hanford nuclear reservation, the nation's most polluted nuclear site. The fine involved operations at a landfill that is the primary repository for contaminated soils, debris and other hazardous and radioactive waste from cleanup operations across the site. After first shutting down operations upon discovery of the failures, the EPA has permitted the landfill to resume operations under strict oversight. The EPA pointed out problems in a letter to the Energy Department on Tuesday, saying that...
  • High Ambition: Richardson Eyes the White House - Part 3 (The Clinton Years)

    02/03/2007 10:29:55 PM PST · by CedarDave · 7 replies · 522+ views
    The Albuquerque Journal ^ | February 4, 2006 | Leslie Linthicum
    The past four years had been remarkable, a climb to prominence a congressman from New Mexico could only have dreamed of. Bill Richardson's good fortune began in late 1996 with an early-morning phone call from President Clinton, who tapped him to serve as ambassador to the United Nations. It was a position he used to launch himself onto the international stage as a peacemaker, deal-broker and regular on the Sunday morning political week-in-review shows. Less than two years later, he had been promoted from Cabinet-light to a full member of the Clinton team, heading the 110,000-employee Department of Energy. It...
  • Hunter kills dual-sex 'devil deer'

    02/02/2007 3:33:43 PM PST · by Tolerance Sucks Rocks · 67 replies · 3,490+ views
    The Ledger ^ | Monday, January 29, 2007 | Brady Aymond (The Lafayette Daily Advertiser)
    When Youngsville's Craig Lewis set out to hunt on an either-sex deer day at Tony's Ranch in Ringgold, he never knew it would literallly be an either-sex day. Lewis set up in his stand at 5:30 a.m. and around 7 a.m. spotted a small deer near his feeder. As he battled through the mist and the rain to spot the deer in his scope, another deer moved into sight. This one was much bigger than its companion. "When I looked up, all I could see was the body," Lewis said. "It was big, like a horse. But its head was...
  • Change Is Hard, But NNSA, LANL Need It (NM-Los Alamos lab)

    01/08/2007 8:42:11 AM PST · by CedarDave · 2 replies · 370+ views
    The Albuquerque Journal ^ | Monday, January 8, 2007 | Journal editorial staff
    On Thursday, the Department of Energy canned the guy in charge of the country's nuclear weapons program. On Thursday, Los Alamos National Laboratory told staffers to get ready for random drug tests. On Thursday, Democrats took control of Congress. Looks like Department of Energy and LANL officials are running for political cover after another year of throwing millions of taxpayer dollars at security improvements to see if they stick. "Why" doesn't matter as much as "what took so long?" The latest DOE/LANL embarrassments involve a DOE computer security breach in Albuquerque (the theft of more than a thousand employee Social...
  • U.S. Finds Electric Power Grid Can Fuel Fleets of Plug-In Cars

    12/11/2006 10:52:04 AM PST · by Tolerance Sucks Rocks · 31 replies · 876+ views
    Wall Street Journal ^ | December 11, 2006 | John J. Fialka
    WASHINGTON -- The nation's existing electric power grid could fuel as many as 180 million electric cars, a Department of Energy study estimates. The study, being released today by the department's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, is the federal government's first look at the grid's capacity to handle the demands of so-called plug-in hybrids, which can be operated as an all-electric car for most daily commutes. Until now, there have been few detailed studies of the effect of plug-ins, which are championed by environmental groups and the utility industry. Currently there are only a few hundred plug-ins on the road, most...
  • Oddities: N.D. hunter shoots antlered doe in Unit 2B

    11/28/2006 12:28:10 PM PST · by Dr. Zzyzx · 98 replies · 3,133+ views
    Grand Forks Herald ^ | November 26, 2006 | Brad Dokken
    Man Shoots Doe With Rack of Antlers MICHIGAN, N.D. (AP) -- When Carmen Erickson dropped a deer with a single shot in a cattail slough south of here, he thought he'd downed a nice buck. Unlike his shot, he was a little off. The deer was a doe. "It's got no male utilities," said Erickson, who lives in Minot. "It has teats ... it was pretty unusual." Six hunting partners with Erickson witnessed the doe with a 4-by-4 rack. "I'm sure this story will be around for 10 years," he said. "At least in our group." Erickson notified the state...
  • Nuke-Lock Breach Could Be 'Devastating' ( Los Alamos )

    11/03/2006 3:48:38 PM PST · by george76 · 84 replies · 1,852+ views
    CBS News ^ | Nov. 3, 2006 | (CBS)
    Data Found In Drug Raid Contains Weapons-Design Secrets. The recent security breach at Los Alamos National Laboratory was very serious, with sensitive materials being taken out of the facility — possibly including information on how to deactivate locks on nuclear weapons, officials tell CBS News. Officials say there is no evidence the information taken from Los Alamos was sold or transferred to anybody else, but there is no way to be sure right now. As CBS News correspondent Sharyl Attkisson was the first to report, secret documents apparently taken from the lab were found during a drug raid at a...
  • Man: Didn't Know About Secret Nuke Data

    11/02/2006 4:49:02 PM PST · by Paul Ross · 11 replies · 1,417+ views
    Associated Press / Minneapolis Star-Tribune ^ | Ocotber 27, 2006 | Deborah Baker
    LOS ALAMOS, N.M. (AP) - A self-described methamphetamine addict said he doesn't know anything about the classified Los Alamos National Laboratory data that authorities found in the mobile home where he was staying. "I was basically at the wrong place at the wrong time," Justin Stone, 20, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview from jail.
  • Climate Change Technology Plan Announced

    09/22/2006 1:18:14 PM PDT · by cogitator · 12 replies · 352+ views
    UPI ^ | September 21, 2006
    WASHINGTON, Sept. 20 (UPI) -- The U.S. Department of Energy has released a plan to control greenhouse gas emissions by avoiding, reducing or capturing them. Government officials said The Climate Change Technology Program represents the technology component of a strategy introduced by U.S. President George Bush in 2002 to combat climate change that include measures to slow the growth of greenhouse gas emissions through voluntary, incentive-based and mandatory partnerships, advance climate change science, spur clean energy technology development and deployment and promote international collaboration. "The technologies outlined in the plan -- hydrogen, biorefining, clean coal, carbon sequestration, nuclear fission (!!)...
  • Producers Move to Debunk Gloomy 'Peak Oil' Forecasts

    09/14/2006 11:44:07 AM PDT · by Tolerance Sucks Rocks · 18 replies · 781+ views
    Wall Street Journal ^ | September 14, 2006 | BHUSHAN BAHREE and JEFFREY BALL
    Leading players in the petroleum industry, including Saudi Arabia and Exxon Mobil Corp., are aggressively arguing that plenty of crude oil remains for world consumption, in an effort to counter critics who contend crude output is about to plateau. That argument, known as peak-oil theory, has provided intellectual backing for the boom in crude prices and sowed doubts among some policy makers about crude's long-term reliability as an energy source. Such doubts, coupled with concern over sky-high prices, have added impetus to the search for oil substitutes -- including in Washington, where President Bush this year declared the U.S. "addicted...
  • Supercomputer aiming for petaflop

    09/07/2006 7:48:53 AM PDT · by Tolerance Sucks Rocks · 45 replies · 1,019+ views
    CNN ^ | September 7, 2006 | Reuters
    WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- IBM will build a next-generation supercomputer for the U.S. Energy Department with the potential to achieve a sustained speed of 1,000 trillion calculations per second, or one petaflop, the department said on Wednesday. The new computer, dubbed "Roadrunner", will be built at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. Congress provided $35 million in fiscal 2006, which ends on September 30, to launch the computer project. Roadrunner may eventually be used for an Energy Department program that ensures the U.S. stockpile of nuclear weapons is safe and reliable without the resumption of underground testing, the department...
  • Up to half of Prudhoe field could stay online-Bodman

    08/08/2006 10:53:56 AM PDT · by thackney · 28 replies · 611+ views
    Reuters ^ | Aug 8, 2006 | Chris Baltimore
    The U.S. government and oil giant BP Plc. have discussed scenarios where half of Alaska's huge Prudhoe Bay field could continue to pump oil for hungry U.S. refiners, U.S. Energy Secretary Sam Bodman said on Tuesday. The news, which Bodman delivered to reporters after speaking with BP America Chief Executive Bob Malone, could sooth worries that a shut-down of the 400,000 barrel per day Alaska field will exacerbate shortages in Nigeria, Iraq and elsewhere. BP on Sunday began shutting down the field after discovering a corroded pipeline and said it could be weeks or months before production resumed. Initially BP...
  • Energy Dept. Ready to Tap Emergency Oil

    08/07/2006 9:45:50 AM PDT · by NormsRevenge · 25 replies · 614+ views
    AP on redOrbit ^ | 8/7/06 | H. Josef Hebert - ap
    WASHINGTON - The Energy Department is prepared to provide oil from the government's emergency supplies if a refinery requests it because of the disruption of supplies from Alaska, a department spokesman said Monday. "We're taking a very serious look at this," said spokesman Craig Stevens, referring to the loss of nearly half of oil shipments from Alaska's North Slope because of a pipeline corrosion problem. Stevens said the department will be in contact with BP Exploration Alaska Inc. and West Coast refiners later in Monday to assess the situation. "If there is a request for oil we'll certainly take a...
  • US Unveils $2 Bln Insurance for Nuke Plant Delay(Finally!)

    08/05/2006 5:44:14 AM PDT · by kellynla · 4 replies · 343+ views
    Reuters News Service ^ | Aug 4, 2006 | Chris Baltimore
    WASHINGTON, Aug 4 (Reuters) - The U.S. Energy Department on Friday set rules on how utilities can qualify for a $2 billion pool of federal risk insurance that is meant to spur construction of the first new nuclear plants in 30 years. The first six new projects to apply for building licenses could qualify for the funds, which would reimburse utilities for delays from unforeseen legal issues and bureaucratic snags, the Energy Department said. The incentives, required by energy legislation Congress passed last year, seek to jump-start the nuclear industry from a 30-year hiatus in building new plants. The nation's...
  • Richardson, Others Decry Plan To Dismantle Worker Safety Agency

    06/23/2006 8:43:14 AM PDT · by CedarDave · 3 replies · 205+ views
    The Albuquerque Journal ^ | June 21, 2006 | Nancy Zuckerbrod, AP
    A Bush administration proposal to rework an Energy Department agency that oversees nuclear and worker safety has run into opposition from a former energy secretary and others. New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who was energy secretary in the Clinton administration, sent a letter to current Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman this week criticizing the proposal to merge the Office of Environment Safety and Health with other DOE agencies. "The DOE plan downgrades and weakens safety and health protections,'' Richardson wrote. Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire also signed the letter. Both governors have large Energy Department nuclear facilities in their states. "Given the...
  • The Greening of Nuclear Power

    05/13/2006 9:04:59 AM PDT · by neverdem · 49 replies · 949+ views
    NY Times ^ | May 13, 2006 | Masthead Editorial
    Not so many years ago, nuclear energy was a hobgoblin to environmentalists, who feared the potential for catastrophic accidents and long-term radiation contamination. But this is a new era, dominated by fears of tight energy supplies and global warming. Suddenly nuclear power is looking better. The nuclear industry recently trotted out two new leaders of its campaign to encourage the building of new reactors. They are Christie Whitman, the former administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, and Patrick Moore, a co-founder of Greenpeace. This campaign is the latest sign that nuclear power is getting a more welcome reception from some...
  • Gasoline prices a "crisis": U.S. Engery Secretary Bodman

    05/02/2006 2:51:05 PM PDT · by churchillbuff · 24 replies · 437+ views
    Reuter ^ | May 2 06 | Reuter
    U.S. Energy Secretary Sam Bodman said on Tuesday that high gasoline prices which have skyrocketed to a near record are a "crisis" for Americans. "It is a crisis in the sense of the individual," Bodman told reporters after a meeting with Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi. Naimi, also speaking with reporters, added that the U.S. plan to reduce dependence on foreign oil supplies through renewable energy sources was "a good thing for the world" as some oil fields, including the North Sea fields, decline.
  • Energy Sec: US 'Off Oil' in 4 Years

    05/01/2006 5:19:40 AM PDT · by NewJerseyJoe · 148 replies · 3,737+ views
    Newsmax.com ^ | 5/1/06 | Carl Limbacher and NewsMax.com Staff
    Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said Sunday that the U.S. was just "three or four years" away from perfecting the process that would allow American motorists to fuel their vehicles with ethanol instead of gasoline. Asked, "how long before you think that we will be off of oil and onto ethanol?," Bodman told NBC's "Meet the Press" host Tim Russert: "We will be in a position over the next three or four years . . . where we will have designed the enzymes and we will be in a position that we can then start the conversion." Bodman said that besides...
  • Plants' role in global warming re-examined

    05/01/2006 4:00:00 PM PDT · by ricks_place · 6 replies · 529+ views
    UPI ^ | 5/1/2006 | UPI
    OAK RIDGE, Tenn., -- U.S. scientists say estimates of higher plant respiration due to global warming may be overstated by not considering their ability to adjust to conditions. A team of researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory suggests about 9 percent more carbon will be stored in plants and soil with the acclimation of plants included in the model. While the amount is relatively small compared with different climate-carbon simulations, the authors note the acclimation phenomenon should not be ignored. "This is carbon that might otherwise be released to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide and...
  • Bush Halts Oil to Strategic Reserve

    04/25/2006 7:29:28 AM PDT · by kellynla · 311 replies · 7,537+ views
    CNN MONEY ^ | April 25, 2006: 10:13 AM EDT | staff
    WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush will direct the U.S. Energy Department on Tuesday to temporarily halt deliveries of oil to a strategic reserve in order to get more fuel on the market and help reduce rising gasoline prices, a senior administration official said. The official said Bush in a morning energy speech, will tell the Energy Department to suspend deliveries this summer while supplies are tight "and defer the deposits until the fall, and then you have more oil on the market."
  • Gasoline Supply Problems hit US East Coast

    04/21/2006 6:24:13 AM PDT · by Namyak · 10 replies · 920+ views
    CNN Money.com ^ | 4-21-06
    April 21, 2006: 8:45 AM EDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Some gasoline distribution terminals from Virginia to Massachusetts are seeing shortages as the industry phases out a water-polluting additive, the U.S. Energy Department said on Thursday. The Energy Department has reported shortages at terminals near Richmond, Virginia, as well as the Tidewater area near Chesapeake Bay and Virginia Beach which distribute gasoline to service stations . Average cost for a gallon of regular will be 25 cents higher than last year, U.S. says; strong driving season expected. Critics say ill-timed legislation is partly responsible for prices at the pump, but others...
  • Maybe Bush is better than Clinton

    04/18/2006 9:57:42 AM PDT · by george76 · 42 replies · 2,854+ views
    Mountain Mail ^ | 4/18/2006 | Bret M. Collyer
    I have a few thoughts for you in response to some letters of late. The voices now crying for the impeachment of Bush were silent during Waco, Elian Gonzales and the first World Trade Center attack, Ruby Ridge and the bombing of the U.S.S. Cole. Their favorite president presided over the the largest bubble burst in U.S. economic history (DOT.COM). China, India and Pakistan get nukes. The U.S. bombed Yugoslavia for weeks; hit the Chinese embassy and killed thousands of untold civilians. The U.S. did a lot of bombing from 30,000 feet because Clinton was afraid to lose one soldier....
  • As US stocks grow, they're saying that it's an oil glut

    04/09/2006 2:33:30 PM PDT · by Flavius · 28 replies · 1,077+ views
    smh ^ | March 22, 2006 | na
    CRUDE oil traded near a one-week low in New York amid speculation a report today will show US supplies last week rose to their highest in almost seven years. Stockpiles probably gained for a sixth week, climbing 0.8 per cent in the period ended March 17, according to a survey. This would increase inventories to their highest since April 1999. "People are talking about a glut now," said Mark Waggoner, president of Excel Futures in Huntington Beach, California. Crude oil for April delivery was at $US60.05 a barrel, down US37c, in after-hours electronic trading. The contract plunged $US2.35, or 3.7...
  • New nuclear fuel raises terror risks

    03/16/2006 11:30:12 AM PST · by JZelle · 17 replies · 493+ views
    The Washington Times ^ | 3-16-06 | UPI
    A high-tech fuel to power new U.S. nuclear reactors can also be turned into a nuclear bomb if it falls in terrorists' hands, says a report. The warning comes from nuclear scientists and is also contained in several little-known federal studies on the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership technology, reports the Christian Science Monitor. Bush administration officials believe the GNEP's UREX-Plus fuel is a breakthrough that can significantly reduce nuclear waste from civilian reactors and also the risk of nuclear proliferation, says the report. But the critics' view that the fuel can easily be turned into bombs is also shared by...
  • On this day - March 4, 1999, 'Judicial giant' Blackmun dead at 90 (megabarf)

    03/04/2006 3:37:20 PM PST · by Tarkin · 13 replies · 552+ views
    CNN ^ | March 4, 1999 | CNN
    Retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun, author of the controversial Roe vs. Wade decision that legalized abortion in 1973, died Thursday at a Virginia hospital (...) President Clinton said Thursday he "saw up close Harry Blackmun's intense passion -- his passion for the welfare of the American people, for defending our liberties and our institutions, for moving us forward together." "In 24 years on the Supreme Court he served with compassion, distinction, and honor," Clinton said. "Every decision and every dissent was firmly grounded in the Constitution he revered and his uncanny feel for the human element that lies...
  • U.S., Britain conduct nuclear experiment at Nevada Test Site

    02/23/2006 9:13:04 PM PST · by HAL9000 · 1 replies · 377+ views
    Associated Press ^ | February 23, 2006
    Excerpt - LAS VEGAS (AP) - U.S. and British government scientists performed an underground nuclear experiment, short of a nuclear blast, Tuesday at the Nevada Test Site, the National Nuclear Security Administration said. Scientists for the first time posted a nearly eight minute video Web log of preparations for the subcritical experiment. The operation, dubbed "Krakatau," involved detonating high explosives around a radioactive material in a vault about 1,000 feet below ground at a remote part of the desert testing range. "This was the first time this much video was made available before the experiment," said Kevin Rohrer, a Nevada...
  • Livermore:Lab Gatling guns frighten some;others feel safe Weapons-protect facility from terrorists

    02/04/2006 6:49:45 PM PST · by Amerigomag · 50 replies · 1,344+ views
    San Francisco Chronicle ^ | February 4, 2006 | Henry K.Lee
    Word that Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory will install a battery of machine guns capable of spitting out 66 rounds a second with a range of nearly a mile was met by relief by some who think the weapons will deter terrorists but fear by others who worry they'll be caught in the line of fire. The guns, which the lab unveiled to much ado Thursday but has not yet installed, are meant to protect the laboratory's cache of radioactive plutonium, which terrorists might try to steal or destroy, sending a plume over much of the Livermore Valley. The weapons, called...
  • Lawrence Livermore officials unveil new weapon

    02/02/2006 6:31:53 PM PST · by LouAvul · 75 replies · 2,241+ views
    modbee ^ | 2-2-06
    LIVERMORE, Calif. (AP) - Officials at Lawrence Livermore National laboratory have added a new weapon to their armory, a high-powered gun that can fire 3,000 rounds a minute. The weapons, which are also to be installed at other facilities in the Energy Department complex, were displayed Thursday by Linton Brooks, head of the National Nuclear Security Administration. Brooks called the new weapons a way to make sure any attempt to storm the nuclear weapons lab is unsuccessful. "What we want to do is equip our protective force with the capability that will leave no doubt about the outcome," he said....
  • Bush urges recycling of nuclear waste

    01/26/2006 8:12:37 AM PST · by Between the Lines · 9 replies · 471+ views
    The State ^ | Jan. 26, 2006
    WASHINGTON — The Bush administration wants to reverse a decades-old U.S. policy that has prohibited the reprocessing — or recycling — of high-level radioactive waste from civilian nuclear power plants. Among other things, the Bush plan would pay for a pilot plant, possibly at the Energy Department’s Savannah River Site to test chemical reprocessing. If the program goes forward as planned, the domestic nuclear industry stands to reap hundreds of millions of dollars. Officials briefed on the Bush plan also said $250 million will be included in the fiscal 2007 budget in a down payment on what they expect to...
  • Know Your Nukes (U.S. Nuclear Forces 2006)

    01/03/2006 7:02:06 PM PST · by B-Chan · 44 replies · 1,079+ views
    Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, vol. 62, no. 1, pp. 68-71 ^ | January/February 2006 | Robert S. Norris and Hans M. Kristensen
    As of January 2006, the U.S. stockpile contains almost 10,000 nuclear warheads. This includes 5,735 active or operational warheads: 5,235 strategic and 500 nonstrategic warheads. Approximately 4,225 additional warheads are held in the reserve or inactive stockpiles, some of which will be dismantled. Under plans announced by the Energy Department in June 2004 (and possibly revised in spring 2005), some 4,365 warheads are scheduled to be retired for dismantlement by 2012 (see Nuclear Notebook, September/October 2004). This would leave approximately 5,945 warheads in the operational and reserve stockpiles in 2012, including the 1,700-2,200 "operationally deployed" strategic warheads specified in the...
  • U.S. Abandons Nuclear Warhead Project

    10/26/2005 7:33:33 AM PDT · by markedmannerf · 8 replies · 585+ views
    WASHINGTON — The Bush administration has abandoned research into a nuclear "bunker-buster" warhead, deciding instead to pursue a similar device using conventional weaponry, a key Republican senator said Tuesday. Sen. Pete Domenici (search), R-N.M., said funding for the nuclear bunker-buster as part of the Energy Department's (search) fiscal 2006 budget has been dropped at the department's request. The nuclear bunker-buster had been the focus of intense debate in Congress, with opponents arguing that its development as a tactical nuclear weapon could add to nuclear proliferation. An administration official, speaking on condition on anonymity because negotiations on the department's spending bill...
  • Bush Admin. Drops 'Bunker-Buster' Plan

    10/25/2005 6:46:12 PM PDT · by NormsRevenge · 73 replies · 1,626+ views
    ap on Yahoo ^ | 10/25/05 | H. Josef Hebert - ap
    WASHINGTON - The Bush administration has abandoned research into a nuclear "bunker-buster" warhead, deciding instead to pursue a similar device using conventional weaponry, a key Republican senator said Tuesday. Sen. Pete Domenici (news, bio, voting record), R-N.M., said funding for the nuclear bunker-buster as part of the Energy Department's fiscal 2006 budget has been dropped at the request of the Energy Department. The nuclear bunker-buster had been the focus of intense debate in Congress, with opponents arguing that its development as a tactical nuclear weapon could add to nuclear proliferation. Administration officials have contended the country must try to develop...
  • DOS Daily Press Briefing: Transcript [IRAN] Subversive Journalism Alert!

    09/28/2005 5:20:31 PM PDT · by humint · 24 replies · 662+ views
    HUMINT ^ | 28 September 2005 | U.S. Department of State
    QUESTION: What's your reaction to the protests in Iran around the British Embassy? This is a reaction to the IAEA vote, I presume, were there to be a U.S. embassy, they would be protesting there. MR. MCCORMACK: Right. Well, I'll leave it to those on the ground to describe the protests there and who might be organizing those protests. The position where Iran finds itself right now, I think, is one that is probably a surprise to them after the IAEA Board of Governors vote. And where they find themselves is more isolated from the international community than when they...
  • WSJ: Refining Incapacity - Politicians have done as much damage as hurricanes.

    09/28/2005 5:04:18 AM PDT · by OESY · 32 replies · 901+ views
    Washington Post ^ | September 28, 2005 | Editorial
    ...In 1981, there were 325 refineries in the U.S. with a capacity of 18.6 million barrels per day. Today, there are 148, with a capacity of about 17 million barrels -- though U.S. demand for gasoline has increased more than 20%.... One explanation for this performance is the historically low gas prices over much of the past 20 years; there has often been little incentive to build new capacity. But just as big a problem are onerous and costly regulatory burdens that have sucked profits from the industry. This includes a permitting process that is subject to endless bureaucratic delay...
  • Energy Group Plans to Build Nuclear Plants in Gulf States

    09/23/2005 11:03:52 PM PDT · by Crackingham · 29 replies · 703+ views
    NY Times ^ | 9/23/05 | Matthew L. Wald
    A consortium of eight companies said on Thursday that it would spend about $100 million to prepare applications to build two nuclear reactors, in Mississippi and Alabama, a step that seems to move the industry closer to its first new reactor order since the 1970's. The announcement was made by NuStart Energy, a consortium of companies that has substantial government financing. The consortium selected a site in Claiborne County, Miss., adjacent to Entergy Nuclear's Grand Gulf reactor, and another in northern Alabama, next to the Tennessee Valley Authority's long-abandoned Bellefonte nuclear construction project. The Energy Department is committed to sharing...
  • Roberts Dodges Specifics on Abortion (says "respects" Roe/Doe)

    09/13/2005 1:10:31 PM PDT · by unspun · 46 replies · 1,861+ views
    Yahoo / AP ^ | 9/13/2005 | Jesse J. Holland
    Supreme Court nominee John Roberts jousted with Democratic senators Tuesday at his confirmation hearing to be chief justice, dodging their attempts to pin down his opinions on abortion, voting rights and other legal issues. Roberts said he felt the landmark 1973 ruling legalizing abortion was "settled as a precedent" and that the Constitution provides a right to privacy. But when senators pressed for details on his opinions — even to the point of interrupting his answers — Roberts said repeatedly that he shouldn't address some issues that could come before the Supreme Court with him as chief justice. At one...
  • Hurricane Katrina's Impact on the U.S. Oil and Natural Gas Markets

    09/02/2005 10:53:05 PM PDT · by humint · 16 replies · 1,272+ views
    Energy Information Agency ^ | Friday, September 2, 4:00 pm | EIA
    According to the Minerals Management Service (MMS), as of 11:30 Central Time September 2, Gulf of Mexico oil production was reduced by over 1.328 million barrels per day as a result of Hurricane Katrina, equivalent to 88.53 percent of daily Gulf of Mexico oil production (which is 1.5 million barrels per day). The MMS also reported that 7.248 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas production was shut in, equivalent to 72.48 percent of daily Gulf of Mexico natural gas production (which is 10 billion cubic feet per day). On Friday, September 2, the International Energy Agency (IEA) directed...
  • Treasury, IRS take steps to make additional diesel fuel available (off-road diesel now street-legal)

    09/02/2005 11:49:15 AM PDT · by Dont Mention the War · 16 replies · 2,306+ views
    New Orleans Times-Picayune ^ | September 2, 2005
    Treasury, IRS take steps to make additional diesel fuel available Friday, 11:55 a.m. WASHINGTON, DC - The Treasury Department and IRS today announced that "dyed diesel fuel" would be permitted for road use. Dyed diesel fuel ordinarily is intended for off-road use in farm equipment or in certain government vehicles such as school buses. It is dyed to distinguish it from diesel fuel intended for road use. "Today's action is a relatively simple and straightforward step that will immediately increase the available supply of diesel fuel nationwide, which is especially needed in Gulf Coast relief efforts," Secretary of the Treasury...
  • Hurricane Katrina's Impact on the U.S. Oil and Natural Gas Markets

    09/02/2005 8:44:21 AM PDT · by NYorkerInHouston · 24 replies · 950+ views
    Department of Energy: Energy Information Agency ^ | September 1, 2005 | Energy Information Agency
    According to the Minerals Management Service (MMS), as of 11:30 Central Time September 1, Gulf of Mexico oil production was reduced by over 1.356 million barrels per day as a result of Hurricane Katrina, equivalent to 90.43 percent of daily Gulf of Mexico oil production (which is 1.5 million barrels per day). The MMS also reported that 7.866 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas production was shut in, equivalent to 78.66 percent of daily Gulf of Mexico natural gas production (which is 10 billion cubic feet per day). Click here for the full analysis http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/oog/special/eia1_katrina.html
  • U.S. Calms Surging Oil Prices (Intervention Bold but Risky Move)

    08/31/2005 7:07:49 PM PDT · by Jomini · 34 replies · 902+ views
    The Moscow Times ^ | September 1, 2005 | George Jahn
    Crude oil prices turned lower Wednesday, after a top U.S. energy official said the government would release oil from its reserves. Prices had earlier climbed back above $70 per barrel on concern about the extensive damage Hurricane Katrina caused to oil platforms and refineries in the Gulf of Mexico. The announcement reflected how seriously the U.S. administration viewed the situation -- the reserve is meant to cushion the nation against national emergencies. U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said the government would release an unspecified amount of oil from its strategic petroleum reserves, a move designed to give refineries in the...
  • President Outlines Hurricane Katrina Relief Efforts

    08/31/2005 5:24:04 PM PDT · by AFPhys · 17 replies · 1,261+ views
    White House Web Site ^ | August 31, 2005 | President Bush
    THE PRESIDENT: I've just received an update from Secretary Chertoff and other Cabinet Secretaries involved on the latest developments in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. As we flew here today, I also asked the pilot to fly over the Gulf Coast region so I could see firsthand the scope and magnitude of the devastation. President George W. Bush stands with Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld; Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao and Mike Leavitt, Secretary of Health and Human Services, as he speaks to the media from the Rose Garden of the White House regarding the devastation along the Gulf Coast caused...
  • Feds Evacuate Hanford Nuclear Workers

    08/24/2005 12:40:40 PM PDT · by SmithL · 41 replies · 3,244+ views
    AP ^ | 8/24/5
    Richland, Wash. -- The U.S. Energy Department evacuated some workers at the Hanford nuclear reservation Wednesday because of a suspected container leak.
  • Metal Storm - Potential Contract With US Department of Energy (PR from Metal Storm)

    08/20/2005 2:56:38 PM PDT · by snowsislander · 8 replies · 542+ views
    PR Newswire (via Yahoo!) ^ | August 18, 2005
    ARLINGTON, Va., Aug. 18 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Metal Storm Limited (Nasdaq: MTSX; ASX trading code: MST) The US Department of Energy (DOE) has placed a notice on its website (www.fbo.gov/spg/DOE/PAM/HQ/DE%2DAC52%2D05NA26814/listing.html) advising that it intends to solicit and negotiate a contract with Metal Storm for research and development of a short range neutralisation protection system using Metal Storm's 40mm multi-barrel technology. The proposed contract would be for one year duration for consideration less than US $250,000. A copy of DOE's description of the proposed contract is attached.DOE is required to place such a notice where it intends to solicit and negotiate...
  • Dozens arrested at peaceful protest at Lawrence Livermore Laboratory

    08/09/2005 12:23:58 PM PDT · by SmithL · 23 replies · 652+ views
    Contra Costa Times ^ | 8/9/5 | Chris Metinko
    LIVERMORE - Dozens of activists were arrested this morning in front of the west gate at Lawrence Livermore Laboratory as part of a protest honoring the 60th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki. The march and rally, entitled "Nagasaki Never Again!," drew nearly 100 protesters -- about half of the number that showed up for a similar rally Saturday evening at the lab. That protest was one of four nationally coordinated rallies held that day at major U.S. weapons labs or test sites. All of the protests called for abolition of nuclear weapons and marked the 60th anniversary of...
  • Spencer Abraham: The Nuclear Option

    08/06/2005 1:37:04 PM PDT · by RWR8189 · 4 replies · 624+ views
    The Weekly Standard ^ | August 15 / August 22, 2005 | Spencer Abraham
    NOW THAT CONGRESS HAS PASSED an energy bill with incentives for the development of more nuclear power, it remains to be seen whether this will lead to robust investment in nuclear energy and a new generation of nuclear plants. Results will depend on the response of some key players, specifically Congress, the investment markets, the environmental community, and the nuclear energy industry itself.Congress included liability limitations, tax incentives, loan guarantees, and risk insurance in the recent energy bill, and these should help reduce or remove some of the biggest obstacles to new nuclear plants. Congress deserves credit, but its job...
  • NYT: Gulf Hurricanes Are Latest Kink in Oil Chain-a report from Petronius deepwater platform

    08/05/2005 9:30:45 AM PDT · by OESY · 12 replies · 1,397+ views
    New York Times ^ | August 5, 2005 | JAD MOUAWAD
    Standing 60 feet above sea level on this oil platform 130 miles southeast of New Orleans, Rab Bruce pointed to where the huge wave slammed into a tangle of grated steel and multicolor pipes. The Petronius deep-water platform, which was hit by a 90-foot wave during Hurricane Ivan last September, is now back on line. "I was just in shock at the damage," said Mr. Bruce, a longtime field coordinator on Chevron's Petronius deepwater platform, which was hit by a 90-foot wave during Hurricane Ivan last September. "I had never seen anything like this. Everything was busted, dangling and messed...
  • Fired CIA agent seeks FBI probe of WMD intelligence

    08/03/2005 9:41:19 PM PDT · by STARWISE · 81 replies · 1,813+ views
    Reuters ^ | 8-1-05
    WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A fired CIA agent, who a newspaper says told superiors in 2001 that Iraq had abandoned part of its nuclear program, is asking the FBI to investigate allegations that the spy agency dismissed him for refusing to falsify intelligence. A July 11 letter to FBI Director Robert Mueller from the former agent's attorney suggests CIA officials may be guilty of criminal violations involving intelligence he produced on weapons of mass destruction in 2000 that contradicted an official agency position. The former agent's attorney, Roy Krieger, said his client initially asked the CIA's inspector general to investigate charges...
  • Student Files Complaint, Claims Code is Racist

    05/18/2005 9:34:56 AM PDT · by Irontank · 13 replies · 946+ views
    Oregon Daily Emerald ^ | May 18, 2005 | Jared Paben
    A University student has filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education claiming that a University Office of Multicultural Academic Support policy that reserves early registration into several math and English classes for minority students is an unfair, "racist practice." University senior Melissa Hanks filed a complaint Friday with the DOE's Office for Civil Rights, saying she hopes the department will investigate the classes and that the complaint will prompt University administrators to abolish the enrollment restrictions. "I want to see these classes gone," Hanks said. "I want to see no enrollment based on race." The OMAS administers seven...
  • US Policy Options for Iran

    07/18/2005 7:37:31 AM PDT · by humint · 14 replies · 1,032+ views
    http://www.iranpolicy.org ^ | 30, June 2005 | Iran Policy Committee
    U.S. Policy Options for Iran: Sham Elections, Disinformation Campaign, Human Rights Abuses, and Regime Change Excerpt from Executive Summary While the Bush administration has been reluctant to adopt an unambiguous policy of regime change for Iran, the outcome of the Iranian electoral process, disinformation campaign, and violations of human rights require adoption of an explicit regime change policy for Iran.  An ambiguous American policy was somewhat effective prior to the June 2005 Iranian elections. That policy allowed Washington to support the European diplomatic initiative toward Iran without fear of being blamed for sabotaging negotiations by threatening the regime’s existence....
  • DoE Seeks Star Trek Phasers For A-Plants[Atomic] (Directed energy weapons)

    07/08/2005 7:07:07 AM PDT · by Crazieman · 31 replies · 662+ views
    UPI via Spacedaily ^ | 7-8-05 | Martin Sieff (UPI)
    DoE Seeks Star Trek Phasers For A-Plants by Martin Sieff Washington (UPI) Jul 08, 2005 The Department of Energy is turning to old Star Trek phasers to protect its 103 civilian nuclear plants. Energy weapons capable of harmlessly stunning intruders are being developed and should be in general use by 2008. But many experts warn they will be inadequate and unnecessary for the real security dangers nuclear plant guards would face. U. S scientists have unveiled details of a project that aims to develop Star Trek-style ray guns that could keep "security adversaries" out of DoE nuclear sites, the vnu.com...