[ RadSafe ] EPA to Nevadans: 'Drop Dead'

[Sandy Perle]

Index:

EPA to Nevadans: 'Drop Dead'
China may delay nuclear contract decision- sources
Lawyer: FPL Nuclear Waste Errors Caused Cancer In 2 Kids
Attorney: Nuke Waste Put Community at Risk
Japan nuclear plant to shut down reactor after valve trouble
Pilot indicted for allegedly smuggling radioactive material
New Zealand, U.S. should open dialogue on nuclear policy row
Pyongyang should have 'right to peaceful nuclear energy'
===============================

EPA to Nevadans: 'Drop Dead'

CARSON CITY, Nev.--(BUSINESS WIRE)----Nevada officials said Thursday 
that the Environmental Protection Agency's proposed new radiation 
protection standard for a proposed nuclear waste dump at Yucca 
Mountain is so lax it would allow up to 10 million Nevadans to be 
killed by its radiation over the duration of the project.

"The more we look at this new rule, the more reprehensible we find 
it," said Bob Loux, executive director of Nevada's Agency for Nuclear 
Projects.

He said the EPA concluded in its proposed rule released this week 
that 10 excess deaths per year related to radiation from the proposed 
dump 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas is an acceptable level of risk.

"For a million-year compliance period, that means 10 million excess 
deaths in Nevada are acceptable to the EPA," Loux added. "That's 
simply obscene."

Loux has dispatched Nevada's technical and legal experts to review 
the proposed standard in greater detail. Among their findings so far:

-- Congress required the EPA to set a Yucca standard that was "based 
upon and consistent with" the recommendations of the National Academy 
of Sciences. NAS defined the acceptable level of radiation exposure 
from the proposed repository as 2 to 20 millirems per year (see page 
66 of the Federal Register, issue 32087). But the EPA's new standard 
is 350 millirems per year, or 17.5 times more lenient than the upper 
range recommended by NAS.

-- Nevada experts opposed to the project said the proposed EPA 
standard is 14 times more lenient than the 25 millirems that the 
Nuclear Regulatory Commission permits now for public radiation 
exposure resulting from a low-level radioactive waste disposal site.

-- Loux said the EPA defended a separate groundwater radiation 
standard for the Yucca Mountain Project in court last year when sued 
by the nuclear industry. However, he said the EPA abandoned any 
groundwater protection standard for Yucca after 10,000 years, the 
very time when the repository is expected to leak. It did this, Loux 
added, even though a court ruled last summer that cutting standards 
off at 10,000 years was arbitrary and impermissible.

-- In its original rule-making completed in 2001, the EPA concluded 
that "no regulatory body that we are aware of considers doses of 150 
(millirems) to be acceptable ... for members of the general public." 
Now, Loux said, the EPA considers more than twice that amount to be 
perfectly fine.

"It's not just junk science," Loux concluded. "This is scientific 
fraud. And Nevada will not tolerate it."
---------------------

China may delay nuclear contract decision- sources

BEIJING, Aug 11 (Reuters) - China may put off a decision on a $8 
billion contract to build four nuclear reactors and is considering 
only making part-by-part purchases because the technology is so 
expensive, industry officials said on Thursday.

The three foreign companies vying for the contract to build the first 
third-generation reactors in China are Pittsburgh-based Westinghouse 
Electric Co., France's Areva and Russia's Atomstroiexport.

The government's original plan was to complete a technical evaluation 
and recommendation by October and make a final decision by the end of 
this year.

But Tian Jiashu, deputy director of the Nuclear Power Department of 
the China National Nuclear Corp., speaking on the sidelines of an 
industry conference, told journalists that talks with the vendors 
were running into trouble.

"(The negotiation) is not progressing very smoothly," he said.

He declined to elaborate but said both Westinghouse's AP 1000 and 
Areva's EPR technology were competitive.

"They are two representatives of third generation technology, each 
has its own advantages. We can't say which one is better," Tian said.

PRICE PROBLEMS

A senior official of the Chinese Nuclear Society told Reuters that 
the main stumbling block was the high price tag on the foreign 
reactors and that Beijing was considering importing only those parts 
of the plants that cannot be produced domestically.

"The Chinese side started talks with Westinghouse and Areva from 
early August to buy the technology on a part-by-part basis," said the 
official who declined to be named.

But he said the government was reluctant to delay its decision, 
because it was keen to push ahead with expansion of China's nuclear 
capacity.

The energy-guzzling nation plans to invest some 400 billion yuan 
($49.3 billion) in building around 30 new nuclear reactors by 2020, 
bringing its total installed nuclear capacity to 40 gigawatts.

It currently has nine working reactors that supply around 2.3 percent 
of its electricity but aims to boost the amount of power it gets from 
nuclear plants to 4 percent within 15 years.

It has also been trying to build up its domestic manufacturing 
capacity with an eye on eventual exports.

"Introducing third generation technology will swiftly promote our own 
technology. It could even create conditions for us to export nuclear 
technology in the future," He Yu, general manager of the Guangdong 
Nuclear Group, told the industry conference.

But some officials are worried that the wide variety of nuclear 
technology used in China -- including equipment imported from France, 
Russia and Canada -- could hinder development.

"Diversified technology may be conducive to our technological 
development, but a standard technology is obviously more suitable for 
a safe and stable development of the nuclear sector," Tian said.

The government, busy dealing with the new technology, may also delay 
approval of other new nuclear power plants until the second half of 
next year.

Many inland provinces are applying to build reactors, but Beijing is 
likely to prioritise the booming but resource-poor coastal areas, 
officials said.

"Based on the government blueprint and China's ability to build 
nuclear plants, we should first guarantee construction in the coastal 
areas," the nuclear society official said.
-------------------

Lawyer: FPL Nuclear Waste Errors Caused Cancer In 2 Kids

WEST PALM BEACH, Florida (AP)--An attorney said errors by one of 
Florida's biggest electric utilities made in handling nuclear waste 
caused brain cancer in at least two children and may sicken others.

Attorney Nancy La Vista said the illnesses stem from Florida Power & 
Light's daily shipments of thousands of gallons of radioactive sludge 
from a nuclear plant in St. Lucie to undocumented locations in the 
late 1970s.

One of the boys, 11-year-old Zachary Finestone, was diagnosed with 
brain cancer in March 2000. The other boy, Ashton Lowe, had brain 
cancer when he died in May 2001 at age 13.

"Our cancer experts say these children were exposed to radiation," 
she said. " The community needs to be concerned."

La Vista is representing their families in civil lawsuits that could 
begin early next year. Both boys lived in St. Lucie County, about 120 
miles (190 kilometers) north of Miami.

FPL has acknowledged that it twice mistakenly shipped radioactive 
waste to farmland about 10 miles (16 kilometers) west of the nuclear 
plant. But those shipments were reported when FPL discovered the 
problem in September 1982, a decade before the boys were born, said 
FPL spokeswoman Rachel Scott.

The utility immediately cleaned up the site. Scott said tests show no 
health threat at the site or in the surrounding air, soil or water.

"It's a very sad situation when families are dealing with cancer, but 
there's absolutely no validity to the claim that it has anything to 
do with the plant," she said.

The mistaken shipments to the farm can be traced to a plumbing mix-up 
in 1977 or 1978, La Vista said. At the time, workers believed a sink 
at the plant drained to a tank designated for radioactive waste and 
used it to clean highly radioactive items. But the sink instead 
drained into the plant's sewage disposal system.

The potentially radioactive sewage went into a septic tank, where it 
was pumped out at least daily from 1977 to 1980 and taken to a sewage 
treatement facility, according to documents. Radioactive sludge that 
drained from the same sink was also dumped at the farm as fertilizer 
in January and June 1982.

La Vista said no records exist detailing the handling or monitoring 
of the nuclear waste hauled to the municipal facility, and that loads 
of the nuclear sludge could have been dumped at other unidentified 
sites during the three-year period.

She said the frequent shipments also likely sent radioactive material 
into the air, water and ground.

State health officials previously reviewed a potential cluster of 
childhood cancers in St. Lucie County after discovering 29 cases of 
brain and central nervous system cancer from 1981 to 1997 - but found 
no pattern.

But La Vista said other tests showed unusually high levels of 
radioactive strontium in the boys' baby teeth.
--------------------

Attorney: Nuke Waste Put Community at Risk

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) - An attorney claims that errors one of 
Florida's biggest electric utilities made in handling nuclear waste 
caused brain cancer in at least two children and may have put an 
entire community at risk.

Attorney Nancy La Vista said the illnesses stem from Florida Power & 
Light's daily shipments of thousands of gallons of radioactive sludge 
from a St. Lucie nuclear plant to undocumented locations in the late 
1970s.

One of the boys, 11-year-old Zachary Finestone, was diagnosed with 
brain cancer in March 2000. The other boy, Ashton Lowe, had brain 
cancer when he died in May 2001 at age 13. La Vista is representing 
their families in civil lawsuits that could begin early next year.

"Our cancer experts say these children were exposed to radiation," 
she said. "The community needs to be concerned."

FPL has acknowledged that it mistakenly shipped radioactive waste to 
farmland about 10 miles west of the nuclear plant on two occasions. 
But those shipments were reported when FPL discovered the problem in 
September 1982, a decade before the boys were born, said FPL 
spokeswoman Rachel Scott.

The utility immediately cleaned up the site, removing 6 inches of 
soil from a contaminated 20-by-30-foot area. Scott said tests by 
state and federal authorities have shown no health threat at the site 
or in the surrounding air, soil or water.

"It's a very sad situation when families are dealing with cancer, but 
there's absolutely no validity to the claim that it has anything to 
do with the plant," Scott said.

The mistaken shipments to the farm can be traced to a plumbing mix-up 
in 1977 or 1978, La Vista said. At the time, workers believed a sink 
at the plant drained to a tank designated for radioactive waste and 
used it to clean highly radioactive items. But the sink instead 
drained into the plant's sewage disposal system.

The potentially radioactive sewage went into a septic tank, where it 
was pumped out at least daily from 1977 to 1980 and taken to the Fort 
Pierce Sewage Treatment, according to documents. Radioactive sludge 
that drained from the same sink was also dumped at the farm as 
fertilizer in January and June 1982.

La Vista said no records exist detailing the handling or monitoring 
of the nuclear waste hauled to the municipal facility and that loads 
of the nuclear sludge could have been dumped at other unidentified 
sites during the three-year period.

She said the frequent shipments also likely sent radioactive material 
into the air, water and ground.

But Scott said that tests conducted after 1980 would have revealed 
contamination that had built up in previous years.

State health officials previously reviewed a potential cluster of 
childhood cancers in St. Lucie County, where both boys had lived, 
after discovering 29 cases of brain and central nervous system cancer 
from 1981 to 1997. Health Department officials tested soil, air and 
water for 500 chemicals at the homes of the affected children and 
their pregnant mothers, but found no pattern.

But La Vista said other tests showed unusually high levels of 
radioactive strontium in the boys' baby teeth.

St. Lucie County is located roughly 120 miles north of Miami.
---------------------

Japan nuclear plant to shut down reactor after valve trouble, no 
radiation leak

TOKYO (AP) - A nuclear power plant northeast of Tokyo was shutting 
down a reactor Wednesday for the second time this week after a valve 
in one of its pumps malfunctioned, the power company said.

The mechanical trouble posed no danger of radiation leak to the 
public, Japan Atomic Power Company spokesman Masayuki Taguchi said.

The reactor at Tokai No. 2 Power Station in Tokaimura was just 
rebooted after the previous shutdown Sunday due to radioactive water 
leaks caused by a separate set of valves. The reactor had just 
resumed a scheduled test run last week after more than three months 
of inspections since April.

Wednesday's mishap involved a valve in the feedwater pump, failing to 
send enough water from the condenser back into the reactor, Taguchi 
said.

Plant officials are to investigate the cause after the reactor comes 
to a full stop, he said.

In the earlier problem, plant workers found two radioactive water 
leaks - one at the entrance to a chamber linking the reactor to a 
turbine, and the other in a steam pipe in the same chamber. The 
company said neither leak posed a danger outside the plant.

In Tokaimura, about 110 kilometers (70 miles) northeast of Tokyo, a 
radiation leak at a separate fuel-reprocessing plant in 1999 killed 
two workers and forced the evacuation of thousands of residents.
---------------------

Pilot indicted for allegedly smuggling radioactive material

MIAMI (AP) - A U.S. pilot has been indicted for allegedly smuggling 
radioactive material from a Florida airport to the Bahamas.

Harold J. DeGregory Jr., 58, of West Palm Beach, Florida, appeared 
Wednesday in a federal court in Miami after a Fort Lauderdale grand 
jury returned an eight-count indictment charging him with conspiracy 
to transport and smuggle property containing Iridium-192, The Miami 
Herald reported.

Iridium-192 has legitimate industrial uses, but it poses public 
health risks if not properly handled, prosecutors said.

Defense attorney Ed O'Donnell said the material was used to allow a 
camera to X-ray metal to ensure its strength.

DeGregory is president of a Fort Lauderdale company, H&G Import 
Export, which owns two twin-engine aircrafts. The flights were made 
out of Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport.

According to the indictment, H&G Import Export transported Iridium-
192 to and from the Bahamas for the Bahamas Oil Refining Company, 
which had acquired the material for industrial radiography from a 
U.S. company that legally shipped it to Fort Lauderdale.

Prosecutors said neither DeGregory nor H&G Import Export were 
licensed or trained to handle or transport radioactive material.

On at least three flights between July 2003 and November 2004, 
DeGregory failed to submit mandatory Hazardous Material Manifests and 
submitted false documents to U.S. Customs and Border Protection 
stating he was transporting cargo but omitting mention of the Iridium-
192, according to the indictment.

On Nov. 2, 2004, he failed to disclose a 42-pound (19-kilogram) 
container of the material that inspectors found "secreted in a wing 
compartment of his aircraft," according to the U.S. Attorney's 
Office.

DeGregory was released after posting $50,000 (euro40,300) bond, 
O'Donnell said. The pilot faces a maximum of five years in prison and 
a $250,000 (euro201,500) fine.
------------------

Former prime minister: New Zealand, U.S. should open dialogue on 
nuclear policy row

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) - New Zealand and the United States 
should hold talks on the nuclear policy row that has clouded their 
relationship for 20 years, a former New Zealand prime minister and 
ambassador to Washington said Friday.

"We should have no issue so sensitive that we can't talk about it," 
Jim Bolger said on National Radio.

U.S.-New-Zealand relations have been strained since 1985, when New 
Zealand banned nuclear weapons and nuclear-power warships from its 
territory. That prompted Washington to cut defense ties with 
Wellington and expel it from a defense pact.

Both sides have been reluctant to talk about the issue, said Bolger, 
who was prime minister from 1990 to 1997 and ambassador to Washington 
from 1998 to 2002. He is now chairman of the New Zealand-U.S. 
Business Council.

The current Labour Party government of Prime Minister Helen Clark has 
said there will be no change in the nuclear policy.

The main opposition National Party also said it will not change the 
current policy if it wins power in the Sept. 17 general election.

Earlier, National Party leader Don Brash was quoted as telling a 
group of visiting U.S. senators that the nuclear ban would "be gone 
by lunchtime" under a National government. Brash later said he could 
not recall making the comment.

Bolger, a former National leader, said he was sure the United States 
would like to resolve the question of whether its vessels can visit 
New Zealand.

"If we decide no change is (to be) contemplated, no side wants to 
change, that's fine. Let's move on and forget it," he said

"But at the moment, we just dance around the issue," he said.

Bolger stressed he was not talking about allowing nuclear weapons 
into New Zealand.

"The only issue is nuclear propulsion," he said. "Nobody wants 
nuclear weapons."

Foreign Minister Phil Goff said "the government, and New Zealanders 
as a whole, have made it clear that we are firm about our decision to 
keep New Zealand nuclear-free."

The Labour Party, seeking a third consecutive three-year term in the 
coming election, has attacked the National Party's credibility in 
foreign policy, claiming that it would repeal the nuclear ban and 
commit combat troops to Iraq - something that Labour has refused to 
allow. National said it was highly unlikely to do that.
----------------

SKorea's point man on North says Pyongyang should have 'right to 
peaceful nuclear energy'

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - North Korea deserves the right to operate a 
peaceful nuclear program, South Korea's unification minister said 
Thursday - a view that conflicts with the U.S. demand for the 
hardline regime to abandon all of its nuclear ambitions.

"Our position is that North Korea has a general right to peaceful use 
of nuclear energy, for agricultural, medical and power-generating 
purposes," South Korean Unification Minister Chung Dong-young said in 
an interview Thursday with online news service Media Daum.

"Building a light-water nuclear reactor is a general right of North 
Korea," Chung said. "In this, our position differs from that of 
Washington."

Chung's ministry, however, later denied there was a conflict with the 
United States.

"Seoul and Washington understand each other's position, and are 
working closely toward the goal of resolving the nuclear issue," 
ministry spokesman Kim Hong-jae said.

Later Thursday, South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon said the 
North should be allowed to explore peaceful uses of nuclear energy if 
it rejoins the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and allows inspections 
by the U.N. nuclear watchdog, South Korea's Yonhap news agency 
reported.

Ban made the comments upon arriving in Beijing, where he will meet 
with Chinese officials to discuss six-nation talks aimed at 
persuading the North to give up its atomic weapons program. He is 
expected to visit the United States next week.

North Korea's desire for nuclear energy was the main point of 
disagreement between Pyongyang and Washington at the international 
talks earlier this month, which recessed after failing to reach an 
agreement on the North's nuclear disarmament.

The six-nation talks - including China, Japan, Russia, South Korea 
and the United States - broke for a three-week recess after failing 
to reach an agreement during 13 days of negotiations. The talks 
reconvene the week of Aug. 29 in Beijing.

North Korea's envoy to the talks had insisted on his country's right 
to "peaceful" nuclear activities. But the main U.S. envoy said 
Pyongyang's past record ruled out such an option, and he said the 
other countries at the talks besides North Korea had agreed with 
Washington.

In the interview Thursday, Chung said the North's desire for peaceful 
nuclear energy wouldn't involve the stalled project for two light-
water reactors being built under a 1994 deal with the United States. 
The two reactors were offered to the North in exchange for abandoning 
its nuclear weapons aims.

The promised reactors can't be built without U.S. technology, Chung 
said.

The latest nuclear standoff was sparked in late 2002 after U.S. 
officials said North Korea admitted to violating that deal by 
launching a secret uranium enrichment program. The North later 
withdrew from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, which barred it 
from obtaining nuclear arms, and ejected inspectors from the U.N.'s 
International Atomic Energy Agency.

South Korea's main nuclear envoy, Deputy Foreign Minister Song Min-
soon, said in an interview Wednesday that Seoul would work with other 
countries in the six-nation talks "to lay the foundation for North 
Korea to exercise its rights as a sovereign nation," and use peaceful 
nuclear technology after it dismantles its weapons program.

Song told the SBS television channel that Pyongyang didn't 
specifically demand at the talks that it be given a light-water 
reactor, but asked for the right to generate peaceful nuclear energy, 
including the use of such a reactor.

-------------------------------------
Sandy Perle
Senior Vice President, Technical Operations
Global Dosimetry Solutions, Inc.
2652 McGaw Avenue
Irvine, CA 92614 

Tel: (949) 296-2306 / (888) 437-1714  Extension 2306
Fax:(949) 296-1144

E-Mail: sperle at dosimetry.com
E-Mail: sandyfl at earthlink.net 

Global Dosimetry Website: http://www.dosimetry.com/ 
Personal Website: http://sandy-travels.com/