Platts - Tuesday, April 29, 2003 http://www.platts.com ------------ Stockholm (Nuclear News Flashes)--28Apr2003 Swedish regulator warns of risks from economic pressures Safety at Swedish nuclear plants may be put at risk by the need for utilities to economize in the deregulated Nordic utility market, officials at the Swedish Nuclear Power Inspectorate (SKI) warned April 28 in their annual report to the government. They said that while they believe plant operators are working to improve safety, ''there is also a strong push for economization. That can make safety work more difficult and put tremendous pressure on (plant) organizations.'' SKI added that nuclear utilities must also develop better programs for monitoring the condition of aging reactor vessels. ------------ Washington (Nuclear News Flashes)--28Apr2003 Groups petition NRC to increase scrutiny of radiological sabotage A petition to provide nuclear plants with better protection against radiological sabotage was jointly filed with the NRC April 28 by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) and the San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace. The groups are asking that current regulations be revised to require operators to formally evaluate their facilities to determine whether changes, tests or experiments diminish protection against radiological sabotage. If the protection is found to decrease, the operators should be required to obtain NRC consent before performing the tests, UCS and Mothers for Peace said. The petition also asks for NRC to require plant owners to provide reasonable assurance that the ability of the facility to reach and maintain safe shutdown would not be compromised by an aerial attack. In addition, the petition calls for suspension of the licensing proceeding for the Diablo Canyon independent spent fuel storage installation (Isfsi) because "consideration of the petition has the potential to bring about significant redefinition of the fundamental design requirements that are considered adequate" to protect Isfsis against radiological sabotage, David Lochbaum, nuclear safety engineer for UCS, said in a letter accompanying the petition. ------------