NRC to meet Dominion over missing fuel rods at Millstone

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

Index:



NRC to meet Dominion over missing fuel rods at Millstone

Waste from Norway research nuke spewed into sewer

Taipower to Budget $88 Mln to Compensate GE, Others on Plant

JCO to send 24 staffers to Sumitomo Metal Mining  

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



NRC to meet Dominion over missing fuel rods at Millstone

  

NEW YORK, April 17 (Reuters) - The Nuclear Regulatory Commission 

(NRC) said it will meet with Dominion <D.N> on April 23 to discuss 

the search for two spent nuclear fuel rods apparently missing at the 

Millstone 1 nuclear power plant in Waterford, Conn. 



Dominion of Richmond, Va., recently took over ownership of the 

Millstone facility from Northeast Utilities <NU.N> of Berlin, Conn. 



Late last year, Northeast Utilities reported that a review of records 

revealed two spent fuel rods previously believed to have been stored 

in the spent fuel pool at the permanently shutdown Millstone 1 plant 

could not be located. 



In response, Northeast Utilities launched a search for the fuel rods, 

including visual inspections of storage racks in the circulating-

water spent fuel pool using remote-controled cameras, personnel 

interviews and a further review of records. 



The company also formed an independent review team to augment its 

investigation. 



But so far the company has not been able to determine the whereabouts 

of the rods, NRC said in a statement issued late Monday. 



Nuclear power plants use slender metal rods filled with enriched 

uranium pellets in the reactor to generate heat, which creates steam 

used to produce power. There are thousands of these rods in use in 

the reactor when it is in operation. 



Upon its use in the reactor, the fuel is considered highly 

radioactive. Once removed from the reactor, it is placed in the spent 

fuel pool for storage. 



In the case of Millstone 1, the apparently missing rods are about a 

half-inch in diameter and 158 inches long. 

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



Waste from Norway research nuke spewed into sewer

  

OSLO, April 17 (Reuters) - Nuclear waste from a research reactor in 

Norway spewed into a city sewer for nine years after a pipeline mix-

up, the Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority (NRPA) said on 

Tuesday. 



Some of the sewage sludge ended up as fertiliser spread on Norwegian 

farms near Halden, in southeast Norway. Officials said there had been 

no danger to human health from the low-level radioactive waste. 



Sverre Hornkjoel, an NRPA scientist, said cooling water from the 42-

year-old reactor, operated by the Institute for Energy Technology 

(IFE), had ended up in the Halden sewers between 1991-1999 after the 

municipality tied the drainage to the city's sewerage system instead 

of leading it out to sea. 



"The municipality made the howler, but it is still IFE which is 

responsible," Hornkjoel said. "In principle, this is a serious 

incident, but the emissions were very small," he said. 



IFE spokesman Viktor Wikstroem said the cooling water had undergone 

tests before leaving the Halden reactor, part of an international 

project to test fuel rods for nuclear reactors, which showed 

emissions to be below the safety limit. 



"Our annual emissions are 4,000 times lower than what you and I and 

everyone are exposed to each year," Wikstroem said. "It is the 

municipality which made the error." 



Nuclear waste from the reactor's cooling water then ended up as 

sludge sold to farmers in the area who used it as fertiliser. The 

pipeline has now been correctly connected so that the waste ends up 

in the sea. 



"It is frightening that IFE has so little control over its 

emissions," said Nils Boehmer, a nuclear physicist with the 

ecological organisation Bellona. 



Boehmer said IFE was "cowardly" in trying to push the responsibility 

onto the municipality and should offer free radiation tests to 

farmers in the area rather than trying to play down what had 

happened. 



Norway has no nuclear power plants and no nuclear weapons. The Halden 

reactor is part of a research project run by the Organisation for 

Economic Cooperation and Development. 

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



Taipower to Budget $88 Mln to Compensate GE, Others on Plant

  

Taipei, April 17 (Bloomberg) -- Taiwan Power Co. said it is budgeting 

NT$2.9 billion ($88 million) as compensation to contractors who 

suffered losses from the government's decision last year to suspend 

construction of a $6.3 billion nuclear power plant. 



However, the state-run power company said it has yet to receive 

compensation claims from General Electric Co., Mitsubishi Electric 

Co. and other contractors. 



``We will have money ready when they decide to make claims,'' said 

Huang Hui-yu, a director of Taiwan Power. 



GE was about 95 percent finished with one of two reactors for the 

nuclear plant and 80 completed on the other when Premier Chang Chun-

hsiung scrapped the project last October. 



At the time, Chang said nuclear power was too risky. The government 

later rescinded the suspension after parliament threatened to impeach 

the president over the issue. 



Parliament, which is controlled by the opposition Nationalists, said 

the plant is needed to provide power for the island's economic 

growth. 

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



JCO to send 24 staffers to Sumitomo Metal Mining



MITO, Japan, April 16 (Kyodo) - JCO Co., whose uranium-reprocessing 

plant in Tokaimura, Ibaraki Prefecture, was the scene of Japan's 

worst nuclear accident in 1999, will reassign 24 of its some 100 

employees to its parent company Sumitomo Metal Mining Co., JCO 

sources said Monday. 



The 24 employees will be assigned to a nuclear reprocessing plant 

under construction in the village of Rokkasho, Aomori Prefecture, the 

sources said, adding the personnel change is the largest since the 

Sept. 30, 1999 disaster. 



Since the accident, seven employees have left the company, a wholly 

owned subsidiary of Sumitomo Metal Mining. 



About a dozen have already been reassigned to a Sumitomo Metal Mining 

affiliate and other entities in Numazu, Shizuoka Prefecture. 



Six JCO staffers allegedly allowed employees to make a uranium 

solution in the accident at the plant, 120 kilometers northeast of 

Tokyo, following an unauthorized manual. 



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. 



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

December 1999 and April last year, respectively, from radiation 

sickness. 



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. 



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

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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