6 JCO officials to plead guilty to negligence charges

["Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@EARTHLINK.NET>]

Index:



6 JCO officials to plead guilty to negligence charges

Lithuania asks for continued presence of nuclear expert

Nuclear Waste Arrives in France

Nuclear Shipment Reaches French Destination Late After Protests

TEPCO to defer use of MOX fuel at Niigata nuclear plant

Calif. nuclear power seen unscathed by energy crisis

FDA OKs Irradiation for Animal Feed

USEC's Rise This Year Goes Beyond Obvious Reason: David Wilson

Cell-Phone-Radiation Device SafeTShield(TM) Nationwide

=======================================



6 JCO officials to plead guilty to negligence charges



MITO, Japan, April 11 (Kyodo) - Six employees of JCO Co., indicted on 

charges of negligence resulting in death over Japan's worst nuclear 

accident in 1999, plan to plead guilty in the first hearing of their 

case scheduled for April 23, sources close to the workers said 

Wednesday. 



Kenzo Koshijima, 54, who headed the uranium processing plant in 

Tokaimura, Ibaraki Prefecture, and the five other JCO workers will 

likely enter guilty pleas to most of the charges in the first hearing 

at the Mito District Court, the sources said. 



The six allegedly allowed employees to make a uranium solution in the 

Sept. 30, 1999, accident at the plant, 120 kilometers northeast of 

Tokyo, following an unauthorized manual. 



JCO, which has been indicted on charges of compiling the manual 

without reporting to the government, will also plead guilty to most 

of the charges in the hearing, the sources said. 



The accident and the subsequent nuclear fission chain reaction 

occurred when workers poured an excessive amount of uranium solution 

into a processing tank using buckets, bypassing several required 

steps, prosecutors say. 



Operators of nuclear facilities are required by law to obtain 

approval by the prime minister before changing production methods. 



Two of the workers -- Hisashi Ouchi and Masato Shinohara -- died in 

December 1999 and April last year, respectively, from radiation 

sickness. 



Defense lawyers are planning to argue in an attempt to seek leniency 

for the six workers that the defendants were not deeply involved in 

illegal procedures, the sources said. 



The trial is expected to proceed at a fast pace, with the court 

likely to hand down rulings in a year, they said. 



The lawyers are not planning to refer to possible negligence by the 

two workers killed in the accident, they said. 



At least 439 people, including 207 residents of Tokaimura, were 

exposed to radiation mostly in minor doses as a result of the 

accident. The six workers were arrested in October last year. 

------------



Lithuania asks for continued presence of nuclear expert



TOKYO, April 11 (Kyodo) -



Lithuania asked Japan on Wednesday to extend the assignment of a 

nuclear safety expert dispatched to the Baltic state to ensure safety 

at its nuclear power plants, Japanese Foreign Ministry officials 

said. 



Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus made the request to Japanese 

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori in an hourlong meeting at the premier's 

official residence in Tokyo, the officials said. 



Mori told Adamkus that Japan will consider extending the expert's 

stay, whose third three-year mission expires in July, the officials 

said. The specialist helps prevent mishaps at nuclear power reactors 

built by the Soviet Union. 



The two leaders also agreed to promote bilateral relations in the 

political, economic and cultural fields, emphasizing that this year, 

which marks the 10th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic 

ties between the two countries, is an ideal time to reinforce the 

relationship, the officials said. 



They shared the view that the two countries should make efforts to 

realize a visit by a high-ranking Japanese government official to 

Lithuania by the end of the year and to support the reaffirmation of 

bilateral business exchanges, according to the officials. 



In the cultural sector, Mori mentioned that a Japanese ''taiko'' drum 

performance is scheduled in Lithuania later this month and a Kabuki 

troupe featuring noted Kabuki actor Ichimura Manjiro will travel 

there in the fall. 



Manjiro attended a banquet which Mori hosted for Adamkus later in the 

evening. 



Mori indicated Japan's support for Lithuania's bid to join the 

European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, saying he 

expects the country's membership in the groups would lead to further 

peace and stability in Europe, the officials said. 



In a separate meeting earlier Wednesday, Foreign Minister Yohei Kono 

agreed with Lithuanian government officials to promote cultural 

exchanges between the two countries, the officials said. 



Kono told Lithuanian Foreign Minister Antanas Valionis, Economy 

Minister Eugenijus Gentvilas and Culture Minister Gintautas Kevisas 

about plans for Japanese art performances this year in Lithuania, 

including the taiko and Kabuki tours. 



Kevisas told Kono the Lithuania Institute, recently created by the 

government to introduce Lithuanian culture to foreign countries, aims 

to promote understanding and appreciation of the country's culture 

around the world, including in Japan, the officials said. 



The culture minister added that Lithuania is also keen to learn more 

about Japanese culture and also hopes more Japanese tourists will 

visit his country, according to the officials. 



The three ministers are accompanying Adamkus on a five-day official 

working visit that began Monday. 

---------------



Nuclear Waste Arrives in France



VALOGNES, France (AP) Apr 11 - A train packed with 24 tons of German 

nuclear waste arrived in northern France on Wednesday, encountering 

only small protests a day after hundreds of activists were arrested 

for protesting the shipments in Germany. 



The shipment to a reprocessing plant is the first of its kind in 

three years. Transport of nuclear waste from Germany to France was 

suspended in 1998 when radiation was found to be leaking from a 

container. 



Some 150 riot police stood by as the train pulled into the station at 

Valognes, where the waste was to be inspected before being 

transported by truck to the plant in La Hague, about 25 miles away. 



A dozen Greenpeace activists blocked the train in the northern city 

of Caen, and four protesters chained themselves to the tracks. Police 

quickly removed them. 



Before dawn, as the train rumbled through the western Paris suburb of 

Yvelines, some 50 protesters blocked its path and caused an hour-long 

delay, LCI television reported. 



The train, carrying five containers of radioactive waste, set out 

Tuesday from Woerth, in western Germany. 



The small protests in France contrasted with those in Germany, where 

2,000 police guarded one of the nuclear plants, at Philippsburg in 

Baden-Wuerttemberg state, and arrested hundreds of protesters. 



Near the border crossing, several activists chained themselves to the 

rail, delaying the train by an hour. 



Germany has traditionally sent spent nuclear fuel from its power 

plants to France for reprocessing under contracts that oblige it to 

take back the resultant waste. 



Protesters say the shipments are unsafe and want Germany's nuclear 

plants shut down quickly. They aim to make the transports so 

expensive that the government and power companies will be forced to 

halt them. 



The German government last year struck a deal to scrap the country's 

19 nuclear plants, but the shutdown could still take over 20 years. 

---------------



Nuclear Shipment Reaches French Destination Late After Protests

  

Paris, April 11 (Bloomberg) -- A train carrying the first nuclear-

waste shipment from Germany to France in three years arrived at its 

destination for reprocessing at a Cogema SA plant. 



About 50 protesters who said they oppose France becoming ``the 

world's nuclear wastebin'' blocked the train for several minutes as 

it passed through the northwestern French town of Caen, and the 

shipment arrived more than two hours behind schedule at a rail 

terminal 20 miles from the plant at La Hague. 



About 250 labor union members provided security at the terminal 

though no protesters showed up there, said Yves Gautier, a spokesman 

for Cogema, the world's largest processor of nuclear fuel. 



Germany suspended nuclear-waste shipments to France in 1998 after 

leaks were discovered in some containers. Berlin and Paris agreed in 

January to resume shipments of the waste, which comes from German 

nuclear-power plants and is sent abroad for reprocessing because 

Germany has no such facilities of its own. 



Hundreds of activists in Germany yesterday protested as the waste 

left three plants. The French protesters expressed satisfaction that 

even though they did not stop the train, they were able to call 

public attention to the event. 



``The mission was accomplished, and we're very, very happy,'' said 

Yannick Rousselet, a spokesman for Greenpeace. 

-------------



TEPCO to defer use of MOX fuel at Niigata nuclear plant



TOKYO, April 11 (Kyodo) - Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) will put 

off plans to use plutonium-uranium mixed oxide (MOX) fuel in a 

thermal reactor at its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in 

Niigata Prefecture due to opposition from locals, company sources 

said Wednesday. 



The utility had planned to begin the project next Tuesday at the 

start of a periodical plant inspection. But the Niigata prefectural 

government has been reluctant to host Japan's first nuclear plant to 

use MOX fuel. 



The postponement follows TEPCO's decision late last month to postpone 

implementation of a similar project at its Fukushima No. 1 nuclear 

plant in Fukushima Prefecture. 



MOX, a pellet mixture of uranium dioxide and plutonium dioxide, is 

designed to be burned in light-water reactors, a process known as 

plutonium thermal use. Plutonium is obtained by reprocessing spent 

nuclear fuel from nuclear power plants. 



The electricity industry plans to use MOX fuel in 16-18 reactors by 

2010. The project was originally scheduled to be launched in 1999. 



TEPCO will use only uranium fuel during its regular check of the 

Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant, but will use MOX fuel if it gains local 

consent, the sources said. The inspection is to finish July 13. 



Fukushima Gov. Eisaku Sato, however, recently said the government 

must take at least a year to review its energy policy, including the 

use of MOX fuel, making an early start of the plan difficult. 

-------------



Calif. nuclear power seen unscathed by energy crisis

  

SAN FRANCISCO, April 10 (Reuters) - California's energy crisis and 

the bankruptcy of its biggest utility have not compromised the safety 

or value of the state's giant nuclear power plants, federal officials 

said on Tuesday. 



"Really, not a lot has changed since January when the financial 

pressures first began to show themselves," Ellis Merschoff, western 

regional administrator for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), 

said in a telephone interview. 



Merschoff was speaking to Reuters from San Luis Obispo after briefing 

local media there following an NRC inspection of the nearby Diablo 

Canyon nuclear power facility. 



The NRC, headquartered in Washington D.C., is responsible for 

ensuring the safe use of radioactive material in power generation, 

medicine and science, and conducts rigorous inspections of all 

nuclear power plants nationwide. 



The giant Diablo Canyon power station, whose two reactors generate 

2,200 megawatts, is owned and operated by Pacific Gas and Electric 

Co., the utility subsidiary of San Francisco-based PG&E Corp. 

<PCG.N>. 



Pacific Gas and Electric filed for bankruptcy protection Friday after 

running up a debt of $9 billion buying electricity for customers in 

the state's volatile wholesale power market. 



California's 1996 deregulation law blocks investor-owned utilities 

from billing retail customers for the full cost of wholesale power, 

which has jumped tenfold over the past 10 months on soaring demand 

and a severe supply shortage. 



Merschoff said the NRC sent a letter to California Gov. Gray Davis 

shortly after hearing of PG&E's bankruptcy to "reassure the governor 

that an independent set of eyes was watching the nuclear facilities" 

and would beef up inspections, if necessary. 



California has two more reactors at the San Onofre station in San 

Clemente. The San Onofre units, with a total generating capacity of 

2,170 megawatts, are operated by Southern California Edison, the 

utility subsidiary of Rosemead, Calif.-based Edison International 

<EIX.N>. 



Southern California Edison, like PG&E, is also struggling to stay 

afloat in a sea of debt, though a deal struck Monday with Gov. Davis 

in which the state agreed to buy the utility's share of the power 

grid for $2.76 billion will likely give it enough cash to fend off 

bankruptcy. 



The Diablo Canyon and San Onofre nuclear plants together generate 

enough electricity to serve about four million homes. 



Merschoff said recent NRC visits to the two plants convinced 

inspectors that the two troubled utilities still have enough money to 

ensure the continued safe operation of the reactors. 



"Nuclear power plants are extremely valuable assets to the utilities 

and the state of California," he said. 



Maintaining those plants' financially and operationally will be 

critical to California over the next few months as the state 

scrambles to find precious megawatts for its overstrained grid. 



With four days of rolling blackouts already behind it this winter and 

dire warnings from state energy officials of more to come, California 

will need to keep every available power plant on line to minimize 

outages this summer, when electricity demand for air conditioning 

soars to its annual peak. 



Nuclear power accounts for about 16 percent of all electricity used 

by California's 34 million residents. 

--------------



FDA OKs Irradiation for Animal Feed



WASHINGTON (AP) - A process to treat animal feed with radiation to 

kill bacteria has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration. 



The agency said Tuesday that the process was approved to kill the 

food-borne bacteria salmonella in all animal feed, feed ingredients 

and pet treats. 



The process, called irradiation, exposes food products to ionizing 

radiation, which causes chemical changes similar to conventional 

cooking or other preservation methods. The technique does not cause 

the food to become radioactive. 



Irradiation was earlier approved for use on a variety of human foods.



``Extending this process to animal feed and feed ingredients will not 

only increase the safety of the feed for the animals consuming it, 

but to people who handle animal feed and feed ingredients,'' said an 

FDA statement. ``Irradiation is a useful tool for reducing disease 

risk.'' 



The process approved was proposed in a petition by Sterigenics 

International of Fremont, Calif. 



On the Net: 



Food and Drug Administration: http://www.fda.gov/ 

---------------



USEC's Rise This Year Goes Beyond Obvious Reason: David Wilson

  

Princeton, New Jersey, April 11 (Bloomberg) -- USEC Inc.'s stock has 

enriched investors this year, and deductive reasoning alone could 

explain why. 



The Bethesda, Maryland-based company is the largest supplier of 

enriched uranium, the fuel used in nuclear-power plants. And the 

shares of companies providing other types of fuel to power companies, 

such as natural gas and coal, have rallied. 



Natural-gas stocks have risen 50 percent since the beginning of last 

year, as measured by a Standard & Poor's index. This year, coal 

producers such as Massey Energy Co. and Arch Coal Inc. are among the 

U.S. stock market's best performers. 



USEC, once a government-owned company, fits into the latter category. 

The company's stock has almost doubled in price and has ranked among 

the year's 20 best-performing members of the Russell 2000 index, a 

benchmark for shares of smaller companies. 



``It's worth much more than $8,'' said Irving Kahn, chairman of Kahn 

Brothers & Co., an investment firm that owns USEC shares. The stock 

rose above that price about two weeks ago, and closed yesterday at 

$8.59. 



Three Possibilities 



Kahn's judgment reflects decades of experience -- including his 

earlier work as a teaching assistant to Benjamin Graham, the father 

of value investing, at Columbia Business School. 



For him, USEC's advance this year isn't a matter of simple deduction. 

Kahn pointed to a couple of possible explanations, as did others who 

follow the company: 



-- The likelihood that the company will be able to stop paying above-

market prices for uranium derived from Russian nuclear warheads, 

which it buys under a program known as ``Megatons to Megawatts.'' 



-- The possibility that USEC, which the federal government took 

public after rejecting takeover offers, will attract suitors again. A 

provision that blocks anyone from owning a stake of more than 10 

percent expires in July. 



In addition, the company stands to benefit from an International 

Trade Commission ruling that imports of enriched uranium from Europe 

are hurting U.S. producers. The decision may lead to imposition of 

duties on the imports. 



Bouncing Back 



``Recently, things have been working out much better'' for USEC, said 

David Schanzer, an analyst at Janney Montgomery Scott LLC with a 

``hold'' rating on the stock. ``We were really looking at a company 

that was back on its heels'' before then, he said. 



Shares of the company, whose name is an acronym for U.S. Enrichment 

Corp., were first sold at $14.25 each in July 1998. Less than 18 

months later, the stock had dropped three-quarters from its original 

price to a low of $3.44. 



Falling uranium prices contributed to the decline. For example, USEC 

said the radioactive metal's price for immediate delivery dropped 22 

percent during its most recent fiscal year, ended last June. 



At the same time, USEC's production costs rose. The company curtailed 

its own output in order to meet obligations under an agreement with 

Techsnabexport Co., controlled by the Russian Ministry for Atomic 

Energy. 



USEC is the U.S. government's agent for the 20-year contract, 

completed in 1994 and valued at $12 billion. The company purchases 

uranium that Russia removes from nuclear warheads and converts for 

power-plant use. It's committed to spending $500 million under the 

program this year. 



Lapsing Restriction 



The company is working toward what it calls a ``market-based pricing 

agreement'' with Techsnabexport for purchases it will make from 2002 

through 2013. As present, it's paying above-market prices for the 

uranium. 



``This time, the people at USEC will have the sense not to have a 

fixed price,'' Kahn said. 



As the negotiations progress, USEC may have to deal with possible 

suitors for the first time since the government's sale. The timing 

reflects what the prospectus for its initial public offering labeled 

as a ``Statutory Acquisition Restriction.'' 



The provision limited the stake that any investor, or group of 

investors, could own in the company for the first three years after 

the sale. By July 23, that period will end. 



Lockheed Martin Corp. is one potential buyer, Janney's Schanzer said. 

Before the government decided on the IPO, the largest U.S. defense 

contractor made a joint offer for the company with BWX Technologies 

Inc. and Carlyle Group, a buyout firm. 



By the `Book' 



In addition, Lockheed Martin managed USEC's two production plants 

before the company took on the job itself in 1999. These facilities 

are in Paducah, Kentucky, and Portsmouth, Ohio; USEC plans to stop 

processing uranium at Portsmouth and to eliminate 526 jobs in a cost-

cutting effort. 



Whether a potential buyer emerges or not, the company can still look 

forward to the U.S. Commerce Department's decision in the trade 

dispute. 



The trade commission asked the department to investigate USEC's 

complaint that European companies are selling uranium in the U.S. at 

prices lower than their costs -- a practice known as ``dumping.'' If 

the department agrees, it can levy duties against Eurodif SA, 

controlled by the French government, and Urenco Ltd., partially owned 

by the Dutch, British and German governments. 



And for value investors such as Kahn, there's always the company's 

``book value'' to consider. Even after USEC's advance this year, its 

price is still below the value of assets such as its plants after 

subtracting debt: $11.70 a share as of Dec. 31. 



As recently as mid-1999, the price exceeded book value. It doesn't 

take deductive reasoning to conclude that it may happen again.

------------



Convenience-Store Giant 7-Eleven(R) to Feature Cell-Phone-Radiation 

Device SafeTShield(TM) Nationwide

  

State-of-the-Art Safety Device Arrives in May at World's   



Largest Operator, Franchisor and Licensor of Convenience Stores  



BOCA RATON, Fla., April 11 /PRNewswire/ -- SafeTShield(TM), a state-

of- the-art cell phone radiation-reducing device, will be available 

at participating 7-Eleven stores nationwide in May.  7-Eleven is the 

world's largest operator, franchisor and licensor of convenience 

stores.  The industry giant offers customers 24-hour convenience, 

seven days a week at more than 5,200 7-Eleven stores in the United 

States.  Pioneers of the convenience store concept, the chain serves 

approximately 6 million customers every day. 



According to Deborah Jenkins, president and CEO of SV1, the company 

that developed SafeTShield, "Everyone at SV1 is extremely 

enthusiastic about being showcased at such an industry giant as 7-

Eleven.  Now consumers who are concerned about potentially serious 

health risks associated with cell phone use can pick-up SafeTShield.  

7-Eleven serves that very hectic consumer who is on the go and on the 

phone -- proving the perfect retail outlet for our customer base to 

grab our invaluable product." 



With 85 million cell phones in the United States alone and some 500 

million worldwide, researchers and consumers have grown increasingly 

concerned about possible long-term health risks associated with 

electromagnetic radiation (EMR).  While many scientists debate 

whether there is a direct link between long-term exposure to EMR and 

brain cancer, an alarming number of cell users are reporting negative 

health effects such as headaches, memory loss, and hearing trouble. 



SafeTShield uses PolyCarbon Metallic Fiber (PCMF(TM)), an advanced 

material previously used for military defense purposes, to reduce 

EMR.  The small, affordable oval-shaped device, which easily attaches 

over the ear piece, significantly reduces the potentially harmful EMR 

from the ear piece of a cellular phone from entering the brain via 

the ear canal.  SafeTShield is one of the most comprehensively tested 

products of its kind in the world and is available at participating 7-

Eleven stores at a suggested retail price of $14.95.



------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sandy Perle					Tel:(714) 545-0100 / (800) 548-5100   				    	

Director, Technical				Extension 2306 				     	

ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Service		Fax:(714) 668-3149 	                   		    

ICN Pharmaceuticals, Inc.			E-Mail: sandyfl@earthlink.net 				                           

ICN Plaza, 3300 Hyland Avenue  		E-Mail: sperle@icnpharm.com          	          

Costa Mesa, CA 92626



Personal Website: http://sandyfl.nukeworker.net

ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Website: http://www.dosimetry.com



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