Tuesday, November 17, 2009Last Update: 10:07 PM PT

     WASHINGTON (CN) - Progress Energy and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission will hold a public meeting to discuss a half-inch gap in the concrete containment vessel at the Crystal River 3 Nuclear Power Plant, in Florida. The plant is on Florida's west coast, about 80 miles north of Tampa.
     Progress Energy, which operates the plant, requested the meeting to give the NRC a status report on the company's efforts to evaluate the possible causes and extent of the recently discovered gap. The meeting will be held on Nov. 20 at the NRC's headquarters, and the public may observe and ask questions at the end.
     The nuclear facility is the third plant built as part of the 4,700 acre Crystal River Energy Complex which contains a single pressurized water reactor and four fossil fuel power plants.
     The reactor, which is rated to produce 914 megawatts of electric power, was out of service for scheduled maintenance when the gap was discovered. A Special Inspection Team the NRC dispatched to inspect the site in early October is expected to issue a report by the end of the year.
     NRC officials say the plant will remain off-line until the team makes a review of any repair plans and subsequent repairs.

     WASHINGTON (CN) - President Obama has ordered the creation of an interagency Council on Veterans Employment to promote employment opportunities for veterans within the executive branch.
     The council is to be co-chaired by the Secretaries of Labor and Veterans Affairs, with the Director of the Office of Personnel Management as Vice Chair.
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     WASHINGTON (CN) - Cardiac Science Corporation will correct certain defibrillators that customers have purchased, because they may not be able to provide a shock during a resuscitation attempt, according to a press release posted by the Food and Drug Administration.
     Electronic components may fail in certain Powerheart and CardioVive automated external defibrillators (AEDs), which may not be detected by the devices' self-tests, according to the company. The affected models include the Powerheart 9300A, 9300C, 9300D, 9300E, 9300P, 9390A, 9390E, and CardioVive 92531, 92532, and 92533 devices. Cardiac Science states that customers of these products will be notified immediately.
     Cardiac Science has received 64 complaints concerning four resistors within certain AEDs, according to the press release. Two of the complaints included failure to deliver a shock. The company states that a software update to address the resistor issue will be available by May, and advises customers to follow the normal testing and maintenance procedures, until then.
     Cardiac Science states that if the AED is not rescue ready (the indicator is red) customers should contact the company immediately.
     The company claims that all AEDs produced since August, 2009 are unaffected.

     WASHINGTON (CN) - The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas has approved a European Union proposal to cut eastern bluefin tuna catch by 40 percent for 2010 from 19,500 tons to 13,500 tons, but National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Fisheries Service officials remain concerned about the long-term health of the fishery.
     Dr. Rebecca Lent, director of the Office of International Affairs at NOAA's Fisheries Service and the head of the U.S. delegation at ICCAT said, that she was disappointed that ICCAT did not take immediate measures to significantly reduce catch quotas for the 20120 season and noted that, "The United States sought a package of measures for eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean bluefin tuna that would halt overfishing and provide for rebuilding by 2023 with a high probability of success. The science indicates that a total quota level of 8,000 metric tons or lower would have achieved that."
     To meet the approved catch reduction quotas, the ICCAT members agreed to reduce the purse seine fishing season to one month from May 15 to June 15 and not to allow season extensions for bad weather. A purse seine is a large fishing net that hangs vertically in the water by attaching floats along the top and weighted rings along the bottom edge that are connected to a cable to close the net.
     ICCAT members also agreed to follow EU guidelines to reach 50 percent reduction by 2011. In addition, the commission also will retain the right to suspend the fishery in case new assessments show that it is in danger of collapse.
     Despite the dramatic sounding numbers, the World Wildlife Fund maintains that even if tuna catch was reduced to 8,000 tons per season there would only be a 50 percent chance of maintaining and recovering the depleted Atlantic bluefin stock. The WWF believes that only a global ban on bluefin tuna under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species will save the fishery.
     "Today's outcome is entirely unscientific - and entirely unacceptable," said Dr Sergi Tudela, Head of Fisheries at WWF Mediterranean. "Common sense says that a trade ban supported by a temporary fishing closure is currently what is needed for the recovery of Atlantic tuna," Dr Tudela said. "To close the fishery is what ICCAT needed to do to save the tuna and to save its own reputation."
     The NOAA noted in a notice of proposed rule making in June that the ICCAT's own scientific reports indicated that only between 14 percent and 57 percent of the necessary spawning age bluefin tuna stocks for maintaining the fishery were present in the Atlantic.

     WASHINGTON (CN) - Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced the department will hold an oil and natural gas lease sale for the Central Gulf of Mexico Outer Continental Shelf that will offer nearly 36 million acres, which could produce up to 1.3 billion barrels of oil and 5.4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
     Interior's Minerals Management Service has proposed that the lease sale of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama offshore acres be held March 17.
     Since January 2009, the Minerals Management Service has conducted two offshore auctions and Interior's Bureau of Land Management has held 29 onshore oil and gas lease sales. Together these sales offered more than 55 million acres of U.S. public land for oil and natural gas exploration and development.