Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program

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

Index:



Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program

French nuke agency evicts Greenpeace from website

Russia governor worried over Kursk lift radiation

Pressure mounts on HK for probe of nuclear baby tests

ATG Triples Its Thermal Treatment Capacity for Low Level Radwaste

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



Town Hall Meetings To Be Held On The Energy Employees Occupational 

Illness Compensation Program

  

WASHINGTON, June 8 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Town hall meetings in more than 

25 communities across the country will be held between now and the 

end of July to explain the new Energy Employees Occupational Illness 

Compensation Program Act to nuclear weapons industry employees. 



The meetings will be hosted by the U.S. Departments of Labor and 

Energy and will be held in areas near Department of Energy facilities 

or those of its contractors or subcontractors. 



"This is our first opportunity to meet with workers and explain the 

law in detail," said Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao.  "It's 

critical that people know how to fill out these forms properly. The 

Department is anxious to expedite these claims and correctly 

completed claim forms will enable us to do so." 



Passed in October 2000, the Energy Employees Occupational Illness 

Compensation Program Act pays $150,000 lump-sum compensation and 

related medical expenses to workers who became seriously ill from 

exposure to radiation, beryllium or silica while working in the 

nuclear weapons industry for the Department of Energy, including its 

contractors and subcontractors.  Compensation will also be available 

to some survivors and to uranium employees who are eligible for 

benefits under Section Five of the Radiation Exposure Compensation 

Act. 



The Labor Department has primary responsibility under the law and 

will administer compensation and medical benefits.  The Department of 

Energy's Office of Worker Advocacy will help workers file state 

workers' compensation claims and list facilities where workers were 

exposed. 

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



French nuke agency evicts Greenpeace from website



GENEVA, June 8 (Reuters) - Nuclear processing agency Cogema has won a 

cybersquatting case against Greenpeace International, having the 

environmentalists evicted from a site bearing the French concern's 

name. 



An arbitrator appointed by the Geneva-based World Intellectual 

Property Organisation (WIPO) ruled that the domain name "cogema.org" 

should be transferred to the French agency, Compagnie Generale des 

Matieres Nucleaires. 



Greenpeace registered the name last July, saying it was using the 

Internet for peaceful protest against the nuclear energy business. 



The neutral arbitrator, Tony Willoughby, found that the domain name 

was confusingly similar to the French nuclear fuel agency's 68 

trademarks held in 26 countries. 



Greenpeace had no right or legitimate interest in the domain name 

which had been registered in bad faith, the Briton added in his 

ruling. 



Cogema accused Greenpeace of trying to "tarnish" its name with 

"systematic denigrations, accusations and actions" performed while 

bearing the company's name, according to a statement issued by WIPO, 

a United Nations agency. 



Greenpeace argues that Cogema's reprocessing plant at La Hague, on 

France's Channel coast, is responsible for high levels of radioactive 

discharge into the North Sea. 

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



Russia governor worried over Kursk lift radiation

  

MOSCOW, June 8 (Reuters) - A Russian governor has told top officials 

he is worried about possible radiation leaks from the nuclear 

submarine Kursk when it is raised from the depths this month, but the 

military played down such concerns on Friday. 



A spokesman for Murmansk governor Yuri Yevdokimov said none of the 

officials planning to raise the submarine, which sank last year with 

118 men on board after two unexplained blasts, had considered the 

environmental side of the project. 



"The lifting of the submarine and its transportation raises dangers. 

It is necessary to know how environmental safety will be guaranteed 

at each stage and what happens if there is an accident," the 

spokesman quoted the governor as saying in a letter. 



"It is not known what will happen if there is a leak from the 

submarine and radioactivity levels rise," the spokesman told Reuters 

by telephone, explaining the governor's concerns. 



"If radiation appears, what happens?" 



He said the governor had sent his letter on Thursday to Deputy Prime 

Minister Ilya Klebanov and the head of the St Petersburg agency which 

designed the Kursk. 



Klebanov is overseeing plans to raise the vessel and has signed a 

deal for the operation with Dutch firm Mammoet. 



Work is due to start later this month on lifting the submarine from 

108 metres (354 feet) of Arctic water. 



The Kursk sank in the Barents Sea, which much of the Murmansk region 

borders. The region is also home to two leading naval bases, 

including the Kursk's home port. 



Officials have repeatedly stressed that radiation levels in the 

region have remained normal after the vessel's two reactors shut down 

when the catastrophe struck. 



The head of the armed forces environment protection office was quoted 

as giving further assurances. 



"Maintaining the norms of environmental safety is the main criteria 

in the operation to lift the Kursk," RIA news agency quoted 

Lieutenant-General Boris Alekseyev as saying. 



"Everything will be done so that the delicate ecological balance of 

the northern seas is not disturbed," he said. 

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



Pressure mounts on HK for probe of nuclear baby tests



HONG KONG, June 8 (Reuters) - Pressure is mounting on the Hong Kong 

government to investigate reports that dead babies were sent to the 

United States and Britain for nuclear experiments between the 1950s 

and 70s. 



A lawmaker representing Hong Kong's medical community called on 

Friday for a full investigation into the British newspaper reports 

and said he would press the government in the legislature later this 

month for an answer. 



"The government has to tell Hong Kong people what happened, how the 

situation is, what the controls are (on bodies) and to reassure 

people that such things will not happen again," Lo Wing-lok told 

Reuters. 



British newspapers reported this week that some 6,000 stillborn 

babies and dead infants were sent from 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 used by the U.S. 

Department of Energy for tests to monitor radioactivity levels of the 

element Strontium 90 in humans. 



Australian officials, in response to the reports, confirmed on 

Thursday that cremated bones from some Australian babies, children 

and adults of up to 39 years old had been shipped to the U.S. and 

Britain to test for radioactive fall-out from nuclear tests. 



Hong Kong health officials said on Thursday they would not 

investigate the reports unless specific evidence came to light that 

Hong Kong babies had been used in the tests. 



British newspapers said "Project Sunshine" began during the Cold War 

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 used the 

remains of babies from Hong Kong for tests and that 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. 

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



ATG Triples Its Thermal Treatment Capacity for Low Level Radioactive 

Waste

  

HAYWARD, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 7, 2001--ATG Inc. 

(Nasdaq:ATGC), a leading provider of low-level radioactive waste 



("LLRW") and low-level mixed waste treatment services with processing 

facilities located in Richland, Washington and Oak Ridge, Tennessee, 

today announced the commissioning of its second Bulk Processing Unit 



("BPU") at the company's Richland, Washington facility. 



With the addition of the newly-installed equipment and the associated 

facilities upgrade completed earlier, total installed capacity is 

three times of the initial production capacity. 



The company's first BPU was put into service in 1998, the unit has 

since been proven extremely reliable in waste processing. The second 

BPU ("BPU#2") is an upgraded version of the earlier design with 

special enhancements designed to reduce manual handling and process 

cycle time. The improvements include a continuous-cycling device and 

a waste off-loading sub-system. One additional operator is required 

per shift to support the LLRW thermal operations 



The successful implementation of BPU#2 concludes the final phase of 

the company's master plan for LLRW equipment upgrades. The overall 

plan, originally initiated in late 1998, is specifically designed to 

enable the company to increase LLRW treatment capacity and to improve 

company-wide waste processing capabilities. The equipment upgrades 

include the construction of a state-of-the-art air pollution control 

infrastructure, an off-gas processing system, and a second generation 

BPU. 



"The new capacity will enable us to significantly accelerate 

processing the backlog of waste at the Richland facility," said Vik 

Mani, Chief Operations Manager of ATG. "After a long eighteen-month 

delay, the new equipment will once again allow us to execute our 

business plan more effectively, unit cost of operations can be 

materially reduced thereby improving overall gross margins". 



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

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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