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Whitman Announces Final Standards for Yucca Mountain
Index:
Whitman Announces Final Standards for Yucca Mountain
Russia Nuke Waste Bill Advances
Russia passes bill to allow spent nuclear fuel imports
Ukraine Commissions GSE Full Scope Simulator
Russia wants to study Japan's atomic energy policy
N.Korea threatens to resume building reactors
Hong Kong to Check Claims of Nuclear Tests on Babies
Ontario Power prepares to give up coal plants
Environmentalists meet Cheney, see some progress
EKOR applications were successfully applied at Chernobyl's reactor
=========================================
Whitman Announces Final Standards for Yucca Mountain on
Public Health, Environmental Protection
WASHINGTON, June 6 /U.S. Newswire/ -- U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency Administrator Christie Whitman today
announced final, very stringent public health and environmental
protection standards for Yucca Mountain, the proposed repository
for spent fuel from the nation's commercial nuclear power plants.
"As a nation, we must address our nuclear waste disposal
problem, but we must do so in a way that protects public health
and the environment," Whitman said. "EPA's Yucca Mountain
environmental standards are the world's first to address long-term
storage and disposal of this type of radioactive waste. These are
strong standards and they should be. We designed them to ensure
that people living near this potential repository will be protected --
now and for future generations."
The fundamental Yucca Mountain requirements for protecting
people and ground-water have not changed from previous drafts.
The standards issued today address all potential sources of
radiation exposure from ground-water, air, and soil. The standards
are designed to protect the residents closest to the repository at
levels that are within the Agency's acceptable risk range for
environmental pollutants. This corresponds to a dose limit of no
more than 15 millirem per year from all pathways -- about twice the
exposure of just living in a brick house for a year. Naturally
occurring radioactive materials and the radiation they produce are
found everywhere -- such as in food, soil and water.
Whitman also announced separate standards to protect ground-
water resources. The proposed repository sits above an aquifer that
is a critical source of water for irrigation, dairy cattle farming and
drinking water. Consistent with EPA's long-standing commitment
to protect potential drinking water sources, the standard for Yucca
Mountain protects ground-water resources to the 4 millirem per
year limit established under the Safe Drinking Water Act. The
separate ground-water standard is on average 15 times more
stringent than the all pathways standard. This is the same level of
protection applied to current and future sources of drinking water
across the U.S.
"Under these standards future generations will be securely
protected. Our standards require that a person living in the vicinity
of Yucca Mountain and drinking untreated water at the site 10,000
years from now, will have less radiation exposure than we get
today in about two round-trip flights from New York to Los
Angeles," Whitman explained. Those flights equal an exposure of
about 14 millirem.
While the core environmental requirements are the same as in the
proposed rule, two modifications were made that will change how
the Department of Energy (DOE) would demonstrate that the
Yucca Mountain facility is safe. First, the final standards were
made more protective by establishing an additional 2 kilometer (1
mile) safety zone between the nearest residents and the location
where DOE must prove it is meeting the EPA standard. The
change is from 20 kilometers (12 miles) to 18 kilometers (11 miles)
from the repository.
The second modification involves the volume of ground-water DOE
will have to analyze to show it is meeting the environmental
standard. EPA is requiring DOE to evaluate the potential for
radiation in 3,000 acre-feet per year of ground-water. Based on
public comments to our proposal, and local input, we adjusted the
volume of water to more accurately reflect current and projected
water usage near Yucca Mountain. An acre foot is one acre of
water one foot deep.
Yucca Mountain is located in Nye County, Nev., on federally-
owned land about 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas. Congress
designated Yucca Mountain as the site for a potential geologic
repository for safe storage and disposal of spent fuel from the
nation's commercial nuclear power plants and other high-level
radioactive waste. That waste currently is stored at commercial
nuclear power plants and research reactor sites in 43 states.
Before the site can open and accept radioactive waste, the
Secretary of Energy must recommend, and the President must
approve Yucca Mountain as a safe repository for nuclear waste.
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission must determine that the
Department of Energy can meet EPA's standards and other
licensing requirements. DOE is responsible for the construction,
management and operation of the repository. The earliest date the
Yucca Mountain repository could be licensed and approved to
accept radioactive waste is at least eight years from now -- 2010.
During that time, both DOE and NRC will continue to provide the
public opportunities to comment.
For more information about EPA's final public health and
environmental protection standards for Yucca Mountain, go to
www.epa.gov/radiation/yucca. To receive a printed copy of the final
rule and support documents, call EPA's toll-free Yucca Mountain
Information Line, 1-800-331-9477.
--------------
Russia Nuke Waste Bill Advances
MOSCOW (AP) - Russia's lower house of parliament on
Wednesday quickly approved a controversial proposal that would
permit the import of other countries' nuclear waste for reprocessing.
Russia's Atomic Energy Ministry says it could earn up to $20
billion by importing 22,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel over 10 years -
and use part of the money to clean up Russian regions polluted by
radioactive waste from the Soviet-era nuclear program.
But opponents said the measure would make Russia the world's
nuclear dump, and question whether the money will be used as
promised. ``Our citizens are against turning Russia into an
outhouse,'' said Sergei Mitrokhin of the liberal Yabloko faction.
The 450-member State Duma approved the three-bill package after
a 20-minute debate.
The measure must pass the Federation Council upper house and
be signed by President Vladimir Putin in order to become law.
The upper house usually quickly approves government bills, but its
speaker, Yegor Stroyev, warned Wednesday that passage might
not be that easy. Stroyev pointed at broad public opposition to the
proposals and said it must be thoroughly analyzed.
Environmentalists and other opponents are skeptical of government
promises to clean up radioactive damage to the environment, since
many previous pledges have gone unfulfilled.
Russian towns, rivers and swaths of land were exposed to
radioactive pollution during the secretive development of the Soviet
nuclear industry and environmentalists say they remain
dangerously polluted.
Environmentalists also warn that large-scale imports of spent
nuclear fuel would threaten radiation safety by leaving no place for
Russia's own waste from nuclear power plants and
decommissioned submarines.
--------------
Russia passes bill to allow spent nuclear fuel imports
MOSCOW, June 6 (Kyodo) - Russia's lower house passed a bill
Wednesday to revise an environmental protection law to allow
spent nuclear fuel to be imported for reprocessing or storage.
It is almost certain the bill will pass the upper house and the
revised law will be enacted after being signed by President Vladimir
Putin. It was approved by 243 votes, slightly above 226, or a
majority of the 450-seat State Duma.
The bill would allow storage and reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel
to earn money from foreign countries. Moscow is likely to ask
Japan, which has had trouble in deciding where its spent nuclear
fuel should be stored, to export it to Russia.
Russia is also expected to make sales pitches to Taiwan, South
Korea and East European countries that have no reprocessing
facilities for their nuclear power plants.
Conservationists, however, have opposed the plan, claiming Russia
would become a dumping ground for nuclear waste generated by
other countries.
Environmental group Greenpeace International had submitted a
petition of about 2.5 million signatures asking to hold a referendum
on the plan last year. However, an election administration
committee rejected the request on the grounds there were many
invalid signatures.
The Putin administration has pushed the project as a means of
earning foreign currency. In addition, the Russian Nuclear Energy
Ministry has strongly lobbied for it in parliament.
----------------
Rivne Nuclear Power Plant in the Ukraine Commissions GSE Full
Scope Simulator
COLUMBIA, Md., June 6 /PRNewswire/ -- GSE Systems, Inc.
(Amex: GVP), a leading global provider of real time Power Plant
simulation and process control solutions, working with the
Ukrainian Electric Power Industry, recognized completion of the
Rivne nuclear power plant Unit 3 Simulator on May 18, 2001.
The $11.5 million simulator, a part of the U.S. Department of
Energy's (DOE) International Nuclear Safety Program, was built by
GSE Systems with Russian and Ukrainian subcontractors. Pacific
Northwest National Laboratory was the overall project lead for the
DOE.
DOE recognized completion of the Rivne nuclear power plant (NPP)
Unit 3's full-scope simulator as a major step toward enhancing
nuclear operator capabilities and significantly improving the safety
of operations at the Rivne plant.
"Training on this new simulator will advance the capabilities of Unit
3 operators and will lead to major improvements in the overall
safety of the plant," said Joe Cleary, project manager within the
DOE's International Nuclear Safety Program managed by Pacific
Northwest National Laboratory. "It has been most impressive to
see the level of effort that Rivne plant managers and operators have
put forth to establish this new training tool."
Plant specific full-scope simulators, in use for operator training in
the United States since the 1970s, were not used at Soviet-
designed reactors in the Ukraine until 1993, when GSE delivered
the first simulator to the Zaporizhzhya NPP. A full-scope simulator
uses full-sized physical replicas of actual control room panels
complete with equipment such as switches, controllers, indicators,
and recorders. Each simulator is designed to replicate a specific
plant control room and is used to train reactor operators and
supervisors on handling both normal and abnormal plant
operations. This particular full-scope simulator was designed for
the Rivne NPP's only operating 950 MWe VVER-1000.
"We're seeing significant payoffs already from the simulators in
place at various reactor plants," Cleary said. "It's our expectation
that the new Rivne Unit 3 simulator will make substantial positive
impacts on plant operations for the long run."
The Rivne 3 full scope simulator is the latest in a series of
successes sponsored by DOE in providing simulators for the
Ukrainian Nuclear Power Industry including Chernobyl;
Zaporizhzhya Unit 5, Khmelnitsky Unit1; and South Ukraine Unit 3.
GSE is presently under contract to complete three additional
simulators in the Ukraine. South Ukraine 1 is scheduled for
completion in June of this year and Rivne 2 and Zaporizhzhya Unit
1 are scheduled for completion in 2002.
Hal Paris, Sr. Vice President of Power Systems stated, "We are
very pleased with our efforts in Eastern Europe, where GSE Power
Systems is the preeminent developer of Full Scope and Analytical
Simulators for Russian Designed Reactors. Additionally, working
with DOE has provided the Ukraine tremendous improvements to
the quality of training for its nuclear plants. We are proud to be a
part of these successes."
----------------
Russia wants to study Japan's atomic energy policy
MOSCOW, June 6 (Kyodo) - Russian Nuclear Energy Minister
Yurievich Rumyantsev said Wednesday that Russia wants to study
Japan's atomic energy policy and how it has won public support for
nuclear power, Russian news agency Interfax reported.
Rumyantsev said Russia has failed to win domestic support for its
imports of spent nuclear fuel from foreign countries for reprocessing
and that it wants to learn from Japan's experience in winning
popular support for its nuclear energy policy despite its tragic
experience of suffering A-bomb attacks in 1945, Interfax said.
Rumyantsev said Japan succeeded in winning public understanding
of the importance of nuclear energy to development and that he
hopes the Russian Nuclear Energy Ministry will similarly persuade
the Russian public of the need for nuclear power, the news agency
said.
----------------
N.Korea threatens to resume building reactors
SEOUL, June 6 (Reuters) - North Korea threatened on Wednesday
to resume building reactors suspected by the West to be part of a
weapons program unless the United States pays compensation for
the delayed construction of newer and safer nuclear power plants.
The communist state said the delay has led to electricity
shortages.
The United States, South Korea and Japan jointly lead the $4.6
billion light-water reactor (LWR) project under which North Korea
agreed in 1994 to freeze a nuclear programme in return for the two
safe reactors and annual supplies of fuel oil. Washington is
supplying the fuel oil.
But the project is far behind schedule due to financial problems and
tension on the Korean peninsula.
"The construction of LWRs ... is too much delayed and thus the
implementation of the agreement has reached a serious pass," the
state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said on
Wednesday.
"Though seven have passed since the adoption of the agreement
the site preparation has not yet been completed, to say nothing of
the start of the ground work," it said.
"If this issue is not solved, the DPRK (North Korea) will be left with
no option but to restart the construction of graphite-moderated
reactors for its existence," the KCNA said.
Charles Kartman, executive director of the Korean Peninsula
Energy Development Organisation, said on Monday the first light-
water reactor would not be delivered until 2008 -- five years later
than originally scheduled.
"Both parties to the Agreed Framework understood that 2003 was
not a contractual date," he said, adding that while there was no
provision for compensation, North Korea would continue to receive
fuel oil as stipulated by the deal.
North Korea has blamed Washington for not living up to the
agreement.
Kartman said on Monday after possible inspections by U.N.
nuclear watchdog the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA),
governments involved in the verification process would decide
whether North Korea had followed its own obligations as stipulated
in the Agreed Framework.
Pyongyang balked at the idea on Wednesday, saying "The
inspection is unthinkable before a great deal of the LWR project
has been carried out."
"If the U.S. fails to meet the demand for the compensation for the
loss of electricity, it will be hard to save the agreed framework from
its collapse and the DPRK will find no option but to go its own
way," it said.
North Korea has suffered from chronic energy shortages for years
and asked South Korea to help solve its energy crisis by providing
500 megawatts of electricity.
The light-water reactors to be built have a planned total generating
capacity of 2,000 megawatts.
U.S. experts believe that before it froze its nuclear programme in
1994, Pyongyang may have extracted enough plutonium to
produce one or two atomic bombs.
---------------
Hong Kong to Check Claims of Nuclear Tests on Babies
HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong said on Wednesday it will
investigate British newspaper reports that dead babies were sent to
the United States and Britain for nuclear experiments between the
1950s and 1970s.
"We will look into the claims," a government spokeswoman told
Reuters. "These claims date back to half a century ago and we'll
need to make checks within the government."
The government has not yet decided whether to make inquiries with
Washington and London, she said.
British newspapers reported this week that about 6,000 stillborn
babies and dead infants were sent from hospitals in Australia,
Britain, Canada, Hong Kong, the United States and South America
over a 15-year span without the permission of parents.
The reports said the bodies and some body parts were apparently
used by the U.S. Department of Energy for tests to monitor
radioactivity levels of the element Strontium 90 in humans.
"Project Sunshine" began in 1995 when University of Chicago
doctor Willard Libby, who was later awarded a Nobel prize for his
research into carbon dating, appealed for bodies, preferably
stillborn or newly-born babies, to test the impact of atomic bomb
fallout.
Britain's Observer newspaper said British scientists also conducted
tests on babies from Hong Kong and the research ended only in
the 1970s.
Hong Kong was a British colony for over 150 years before being
handed back to China in mid-1997.
Spokesmen for the British and U.S. consulates in Hong Kong were
not immediately available for comment.
Australia launched an investigation on Tuesday into the reports.
--------------
Ontario Power prepares to give up coal plants
NEW YORK, June 5 (Reuters) - Canadian energy giant Ontario
Power Generation (OPG) said it started the process of giving up
control of some of its non-nuclear power generation.
Last week, OPG said in a statement it directed its financial
advisers, Merrill Lynch Canada and Scotia Capital, to start the
process of decontrolling the 1,140-megawatt (MW) Lakeview and
2,140-MW Lennox coal-fired power stations.
Decontrol can take many forms from sale of assets, swap of
generation outputs or leases.
With this first step, OPG said the advisers will be able to determine
the initial level of interest in these facilities while the government
completes a review of environmental protection proposals.
Right now, there is a moratorium in Ontario on the sale of coal-fired
generation. That moratorium is currently under review and expected
to be decided within the next few months.
OPG said the entire process is expected to be completed within
the next six to nine months, subject to the lifting of the coal
moratorium.
OPG said the advisers will initiate the second phase of the
decontrol process once the government has finalized its intentions.
OPG'S PLANT DECONTROL
In a move similar to the restructuring of the electricity industry in
several U.S. states, the provincial government is requiring OPG to
transfer control of these facilities in an effort to promote competition
by adding new players to its electricity market.
Ontario's electricity market is expected to open up to competition
by May 2002.
OPG, one of the companies spun off from Ontario Hydro, is a
provincially owned Ontario-based company that generates and
sells electricity to customers in Ontario and interconnected
markets.
The Ontario Energy Board (OEB) required the company to
decontrol 4000 MW of mostly fossil generation within 42 months
after the market opens.
In addition to the Lennox and Lakeview stations, OPG said it will
release later this summer more information about the decontrol of
its 215-MW Atikokan and 310-MW Thunder Bay coal-fired stations
and four hydroelectric stations on the Mississagi River in
northeastern Ontario -- Aubrey Falls, Wells, Rayner and Red Rock
Falls -- representing 490 MW.
Meanwhile, last month, OPG successfully completed the $3.2
billion transfer of its Bruce nuclear station to Bruce Power, a
subsidiary of British Energy Plc <BGY.L> of Britain, which leased
the plant until 2018.
----------------
Environmentalists meet Cheney, see some progress
WASHINGTON, June 5 (Reuters) - The White House and
environmentalists agreed on Tuesday to seek more renewable
energy sources but stayed divided on other green issues that have
battered President George W. Bush's popularity.
After a meeting of representatives of four major environmental
organizations with Vice President Dick Cheney, both sides
emerged to say that the White House had agreed to work to
develop targets for increasing renewable energy use as part of a
national energy policy.
The environmentalists said that the meeting represented a change
in tone by an administration battered by charges it was hostile to
environmental concerns but that major differences remained over
issues such as Bush's plan to allow drilling for oil in an Alaskan
wildlife refuge and his policy on global warming.
"They're talking to us, and they didn't talk to us before," said Dan
Becker, director of global warming and energy policy for the Sierra
Club. "Their (energy) plan was greeted with strong opposition by
the American people. I think they are reading the polls and reading
that reality and have decided to put things back on the table they
had not put on before."
White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan said: "The
administration is committed to increasing renewables and (energy)
efficiency. This is an area where we have common ground."
FACTOR IN RATING DROP
Disapproval of Bush's environmental and energy policies helped
drive down the president's overall job approval rating in an ABC
News/Washington Post poll released on Tuesday.
The nationwide poll found 58 percent of the adults surveyed
disapproved of Bush's energy policies and 50 percent disapproved
of his environmental policies.
The overall approval rating was 55 percent -- down 8 points since
late April -- with 40 percent disapproving.
Bush unveiled his energy plan on May 17. It drew sharp criticism
from environmentalists, who said it overemphasized oil, coal and
nuclear fuel production while giving scant attention to energy
conservation and renewable power sources such as wind and solar
energy.
Bush in the last two weeks has been trying to portray himself as
more environmentally friendly, traveling to Sequoia National Park in
California and Everglades National Park in Florida to discuss his
views of "21st-century environmentalism."
Besides the Sierra Club, the groups that met with Cheney and
White House aides on Tuesday were the Natural Resources
Defense Council, the Union of Concerned Scientists and the U.S.
Public Interest Research Group.
Organization representatives said the administration acknowledged
that current trends in U.S. consumption of fossil fuels could not be
continued.
CURRENT PATH CALLED "NOT SUSTAINABLE"
"The administration made a extremely important statement ...
which is that in their view business as usual, continuing on the
energy path we are on, with the reliance we presently have on
fossil fuels, is not sustainable," Sierra Club Executive Director Carl
Pope said.
Howard Ris, executive director of the Union of Concerned
Scientists, said the administration did not agree to specific targets
for renewable energy use but was willing to develop such
"benchmarks." The four groups recommended that 20 percent of
U.S. power come from nonhydropower renewable energy sources,
up from about 2 percent now.
The groups' officials said they also outlined concern about a
pending study by the National Academy of Sciences that the
White House has said will be a basis for a decision on whether to
raise mandatory fuel-economy standards for cars and light trucks.
The officials said the study group was biased in favor of
automakers, who oppose higher standards.
Overall, Pope said, "the dialogue, I think, was extremely helpful"
and "there was enough here to warrant further conversations."
But he noted that "there are important issues which were not on
the table -- issues on which we and the administration are not in
agreement, even in principle."
These include drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge,
research into reprocessing spent nuclear fuel and the
administration's unwillingness to regulate power plant emissions of
carbon dioxide, which is believed to contribute to global warming,
environmental group officials said.
----------------
EUROTECH Remarks On 'Nuclear Summer' Time Magazine
Article; Company's EKOR applications were successfully applied
at Chernobyl's reactor accident site
WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 5, 2001--EUROTECH,
Ltd., (AMEX:EUO), focused on Nuclear Waste and Environmental
Solutions for the 21st Century, announced today that its
revolutionary encapsulant EKOR(TM) can solve some of the
greatest nuclear waste problems on earth.
EKOR(TM)'s use in storing, containing, transporting, and disposal
should go a long way to solving the "not in my backyard" issue."-
CEO Don Hahnfeldt.
The radiation-resistant EKOR(TM) is fireproof and waterproof, with
superior adhesion properties. EKOR(TM) was created specifically
for the cleanup and containment problems at the Chernobyl reactor
accident site, and has wide application to uses in the nuclear
industry. At a recent United Nations Conference, Ukrainian Deputy
Director of the Chernobyl Shelter Project, Artur Korneev, presented
information about EKOR(TM)'s success in encapsulating critical
fuel masses inside Chernobyl's sarcophagus in March 2000, and
EKOR(TM)'s potential applications in nuclear waste management
worldwide.
"The results are positive after only one year and EKOR(TM) is
performing perfectly. EKOR(TM) is the only material the Shelter
could use for these applications that is not corroded in the
chemical and radioactive environment. Test reports indicate that
the EKOR(TM) encapsulated radioactive debris will remain fixed in
place for more than 400 years."
In a Time Magazine article published Tuesday May 29th, author
Daniel Eisenberg wrote:
Three Mile Island. Chernobyl. And don't forget The China
Syndrome. With their long, notorious track records of burning
money and spewing toxic waste, it's hard to imagine that nuclear
power plants could ever again be hot properties. But in Vernon, Vt.,
some of the nation's largest energy companies are battling to
gobble one up. The Vermont Yankee plant, a 28-year-old nuclear
war-horse, has become the target of a bidding war.
With the price of oil and natural gas escalating, concerns about
global warming rising and electricity markets deregulating, these
onetime white elephants are starting to look more like cash cows.
The Vermont battle, in fact, is just the latest stop on an
industrywide shopping spree that is fueling a nuclear resurgence.
By the end of the decade, new nuclear power plants could be
sprouting up right here at home: the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission (NRC) has already approved the next generation of
supposedly cheaper, safer plant designs.
The Administration's proposal to reexamine nuclear recycling
makes watchdogs even more nervous. Such reprocessing aims to
reduce waste by separating plutonium from spent uranium fuel and
reusing it as a power source. But this practice hasn't been done in
the U.S. since the 1970s, and opponents say it could help put
bomb-grade plutonium in the wrong hands.
Even the improvements that the industry never tires of trumpeting
- more efficient, longer-running plants - do little to comfort anti-
nuclear activists. "They're running these reactors hotter and
longer," says Paul Gunter of the Nuclear Information and Resource
Service. Last year the Indian Point 2 plant, part of a trio of upstate
New York reactors Entergy recently bought for around $1 billion,
was temporarily closed down after radioactive water leaked from a
ruptured steam tube. Just as the plants are getting older and more
prone to problems, critics assert, the NRC is letting operators
police themselves.
To read the entire story visit:
http://www.time.com/time/personal/article/ 0,9171,1101010528-
127263,00.html
**************************************************************************
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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