[ RadSafe ] News Distribution: Russia's Nuclear Power Chief Says 42 Nuclear Reactors Will Be Built by 2030

[Sandy Perle]

Index:

Russia's Says 42 Nuclear Reactors Will Be Built by 2030 
US nuclear power firms on India visit to boost commerce
Spy death figure tested for radiation 
New CT scanner to reduce patients' exposure to radiation
Oyster Creek wants to change method of measuring released radiation
KY: State Test Dirt Piles For Radiation
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Russia's Nuclear Power Chief Says 42 Nuclear Reactors Will Be Built 
by 2030 

MOSCOW (AP) -- Russia plans to build 42 new nuclear reactors by 2030 
as part of an ambitious program to revive its atomic power industry, 
the top nuclear official said Tuesday. Federal Nuclear Agency 
director Sergei Kiriyenko said at a news conference that Russia would 
need to build at least two nuclear reactors a year to meet the goal.
 
Russia now has 31 reactors at 10 nuclear power plants, accounting for 
16-17 percent of Russia's electricity generation, and President 
Vladimir Putin has called for raising the share to 25 percent.

Kiriyenko said the government would earmark some $24 billion for 
building new nuclear reactors through 2015, and that Rosenergoatom, 
the state-controlled agency in charge of the nation's nuclear plants, 
would provide another $26 billion through 2030 as nuclear power 
generation becomes increasingly profitable.

Expanding the share of nuclear energy would allow the nation to save 
more natural gas for export, Kiriyenko said. The government has kept 
Russia's domestic gas prices at a fraction of export prices, and gas 
accounts for about half of electricity generation now.

Kiriyenko said that nuclear industries would also develop floating 
nuclear power plants to deliver energy to remote northern areas and 
also for exports to other nations, particularly those which did not 
need high-power nuclear reactors. He said that such reactors could 
stay afloat near the shore or put on land.

In recent years, Russia has overcome a public backlash against 
nuclear power that followed the April 1986 Chernobyl nuclear 
disaster, and the government has supported efforts to revive the 
nuclear industries.

Kiriyenko also said that Russian and U.S. companies were continuing 
joint research on a next-generation reactor that would produce 
hydrogen as a byproduct.

"An experimental reactor must be ready by 2015, and then work will 
start on an industrial reactor," Kiriyenko said. He said that the new 
reactor would cost some $2 billion to build.

He said Russia had won a contract to build two nuclear reactors at a 
plant in Bulgaria, in addition to plants it is building in Iran, 
China and India. "That signals Russia's return to the European 
market," Kiriyenko said.
------------------

US nuclear power firms on India visit to boost commerce
 
New Delhi, Nov 28, IRNA - A host of nuclear power companies have been 
included in the largest trade mission ever assembled by the US 
government visiting India this week to boost commerce with one of the 
world's fastest-growing economies. 

General Electric Co. and Westinghouse Electric Corp are among the 
first US nuclear power companies visiting India in an official 
capacity as part of the mission with a total of 239 participants from 
189 companies although the India-US civil nuclear deal is not quite 
done yet, Doordarshan news said here on Tuesday. 

The India mission includes a business summit in Mumbai on November 29-
30 followed by meetings in Kolkata, New Delhi and other Indian 
cities. 

Among other companies represented on the mission are such well- known 
firms as Anheuser-Busch Company Inc., Lockheed Martin Corp. and UPS, 
as well as smaller companies from sectors including health care, 
industrial machinery and telecommunications. 

US exports to India last year rose 30.6 percent to about eight 
billion dollars, while imports totalled about dlrs 19 billion, up 
20.9 percent over 2004. 

India ranks as America's 22nd largest export market, behind the 
United Arab Emirates and ahead of Thailand. 
-------------------

Spy death figure tested for radiation 

LONDON - An Italian security expert who met with a former KGB agent 
the day he fell ill with radiation poisoning was under British 
protection and being tested for contamination Tuesday, and officials 
ordered tests for eight people who exhibited possible symptoms. 
 
Mario Scaramella has said that he met the ex-spy turned Kremlin 
critic, Alexander Litvinenko, at a London sushi restaurant on Nov. 1, 
the day Litvinenko became sick. He died Nov. 23.

Scaramella said he showed Litvinenko e-mails from a confidential 
source identifying the possible killers of a Russian investigative 
journalist and listing other potential targets for assassination - 
including himself and Litvinenko.

In a deathbed statement, Litvinenko blamed the Kremlin for his 
poisoning, which has cast a shadow over British-Russian relations. 
Prime Minister Tony Blair said "there is no diplomatic or political 
barrier in the way" of a thorough investigation.

Blair said he would speak to Russian President Vladimir Putin about 
the case "at any time that is appropriate." Putin has strongly denied 
any Kremlin links to the poisoning.

Moscow is important to Britain as an energy supplier and member of 
the Group of 8 industrialized nations, but many are critical of human 
rights abuses and unexplained deaths, including last month's slaying 
of investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya.

Scaramella said Tuesday he was being protected by a security team and 
would be tested for traces of polonium-210, the rare radioactive 
element found in Litvinenko's body. The isotope is deadly in tiny 
amounts if ingested or inhaled.

The Italian, an academic who helped investigate KGB activity in Italy 
during the Cold War, declined to say whether he would be questioned 
by police.

London police say they are investigating the Litvinenko case as a 
"suspicious death" rather than murder, although they have devoted a 
large anti-terrorist force to the inquiry.

Since Litvinenko's death, more than 1,100 people have called a health 
hotline over concerns they may be at risk from polonium poisoning. Of 
those, eight exhibited symptoms that health officials thought should 
be examined as a precaution, the Health Protection Agency said. The 
tests should take about a week.

Russia's top nuclear official on Tuesday denied the polonium, usually 
manufactured in specialized nuclear facilities, could have been 
stolen from a nuclear facility in Russia.

"Allegations that someone stole it during production are absolutely 
unfounded," said Sergei Kiriyenko, director of the nuclear agency 
Rosatom. "The controls are very tough."

Kiriyenko said Russia exports 8 grams of polonium-210 monthly, all of 
it to the United States. He said there had been no exports to Britain 
in five years.

A coroner will perform an autopsy on Litvinenko's body Friday, 
"subject to appropriate precautions," to try and pin down the cause 
and circumstances of death, said the local authority responsible, 
Camden Council. Doctors had sought expert advice on whether 
Litvinenko's radioactive body posed a threat to the doctors and 
technicians performing the post-mortem.

A coroner's inquest will be opened Thursday and then adjourned until 
the police investigation is complete, the council said.

Detectives on Tuesday continued to retrace Litvinenko's steps Nov. 1.

Traces of radiation have been found at six sites, including the 
central London office of Boris Berezovsky, the self-exiled Russian 
billionaire and Litvinenko's mentor.

In a statement, Berezovsky said he had "complete faith in the British 
authorities and the police." 

Litvinenko's friend Andrei Nekrasov told The AP that Litvinenko 
frequently visited Berezovsky's office to use the telephone, computer 
or photocopier. 

"Berezovsky's office was open to him informally," Nekrasov said. "His 
routine typically consisted of moving around, hopping on a bus, 
meeting people. He was trying to be active and needed." 

Polonium-210 also was found in a building in the posh Mayfair 
neighborhood that houses Erinys UK Ltd., an international security 
and risk management company that Litvinenko visited the day he fell 
ill. 

Police also have found traces of radiation at a bar in London's 
Millennium Hotel, a branch of Itsu Sushi restaurant near Piccadilly 
Circus, Litvinenko's house in North London and a section of the 
hospital where he was treated. 

Police said Tuesday they were searching two more Mayfair addresses - 
a building at 58 Grosvenor St. and Sheraton Park Lane Hotel. A 
spokeswoman for Britian's Health Protection Agency confirmed that 
experts had already conducted tests in "key public areas" of the 
hotel and found no risk of radiation poisoning.
-----------------

New CT scanner to reduce patients' exposure to radiation

Kavita Bajeli-Datt, Chicago, Nov 28: Capable of capturing movements 
of the heart in as few as five beats, a new Computed Tomography (CT) 
scanner promises to maintain high-quality images as well as reduce a 
patient's exposure to radiation by 70 per cent.

The CT scanner, launched here yesterday by GE, Healthcare, a division 
of the General Electric, would be a huge help for countries like 
India which have a large population suffering from heart ailments.

"The Light Speed scanner, CT XT, provides clarity, additional 
information and helps to generate confident physician diagnoses while 
reducing radiation exposure," Gene Saragnese, Vice-President and 
General Manager of GE Healthcare's CT and Molecular Imaging Business, 
told reporters here.

In the usual cardiac exams, the X-ray is on for the duration of a 
scan, even during periods when a patient's heart is at an undesirable 
phase, but with this CT scanner there is an automated response to a 
patient's heart rate which ensures that the X-ray is only on for the 
portions of a scan, he said.

"It captures the images of the heart and coronary arteries in as few 
as five heartbeats." According to Shrinivas B Desai, Director 
Department of Imaging and Interventional Radiology in Jaslok Hospital 
in Mumbai, the CT scan could be of great use for India with a huge 
population suffering from cardiac problems.

WHO figures say India will have 60 million cardiac patients by 2015.
-----------------

Oyster Creek wants to change method of measuring released radiation

LACEY Asbury Park Press Nov 27 - The operator of the Oyster Creek 
nuclear power plant wants to use another government-approved method 
to measure how much radiation is released from the plant, the U.S. 
Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced this morning.

The newer method is used at other commercial reactors in the United 
States, and is regarded by the NRC as more advanced, agency spokesman 
Neil Sheehan said.

The decision by plant operator AmerGen Energy Co. to pursue the 
changeover does not appear to be linked to any violation involving a 
radioactive release.

Regulators' review of AmerGen's proposal will be unrelated to the 
question of whether the NRC should extend Oyster Creek's operating 
license for 20 years.

Representatives of AmerGen and the NRC are to discuss the issue 
during a public meeting Dec. 5 at agency headquarters in Rockville, 
Md.
-----------------

KY: State Test Dirt Piles For Radiation
WPSD News Channel 6

Paul Long has lived next to the Little Bayou Creek since 1942. 

He looked at the large dirt piles in question Monday, wondering if 
tests on the mounds will turn up positive for radiation. 

Paul Long, "It has to be bad, anytime you see contaminated area, 
radiation. It has to be bad." 

Field testing done by the Department of Energy detected several hot 
spots of radiation in the mounds. 

The D-O-E says more dirt samples are being tested before they will 
release their findings. 

People living in the area say they're used to seeing these signs. 
Caution contaminated water, do not swim or fish in these waters. But 
the possibility of a radioactive dirt pile adds another concern and 
has people wondering if their health is at risk. 

The piles are made of several thousand tons of dirt and sit between 
two ditches that drain treated wastewater from the Gaseous Diffusion 
Plant. 

Officials believe the piles may have been contaminated from dredging 
the polluted Little Bayou Creek years ago. 

Paul Long, "They've known this area was contaminated back in the late 
50's. 

The D-O-E claims there not an immediate concern for public health. 

Saying even if the mounds are radioactive, the levels aren't strong 
enough to hurt anyone. 

But hunters and people living close have been warned to keep out of 
the area. 

Leaving Paul Long hoping for the best but thinking the worst.

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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/