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Britain Nuclear Accident Probed
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Britain Nuclear Accident Probed
German Cabinet to pass nuclear phaseout law in Sept
Gov't committee says greenhouse gases can be cut...
==================================
Britain Nuclear Accident Probed
LONDON (AP) - Spent fuel rods were accidentally dropped onto the
reactor floor of a nuclear power plant in Scotland last week, its
operator said Sunday.
British Nuclear Fuels stressed that the ``low-level'' incident during
refueling Thursday in Chapelcross plant's Reactor No. 3 posed minimal
danger.
The reactor has been shut down while the company determines how to
retrieve the 24 uranium rods, a spokesman said.
The government's watchdog agency, the Nuclear Installations
Inspectorate, has launched an investigation.
The BNFL spokesman said the rods dropped about 2 feet to the floor
during the remote-operated refueling operation.
A large cylindrical basket holding the irradiated fuel elements
appeared to come loose as it was being lowered to a cooling pond, he
said.
Emergency workers were called in and carbon dioxide was sprayed over
the basket to ensure it did not catch fire.
``At no time was there any increase in radiation within the area and
no personnel were affected,'' he said. ``There is also no indication
that the fuel has been damaged.''
Refueling has been suspended at all reactors in Chapelcross, just a
few miles from Scotland's border with England, and at another British
plant that uses an identical system.
The spokesman said it was unclear how long it would take to recover
the rods and complete the refueling.
---------------
German Cabinet to pass nuclear phaseout law in Sept
BERLIN, July 9 (Reuters) - The German Cabinet is likely to pass in
September the so-called Atom Consensus -- the law to decomission
nuclear energy -- which it will then pass on to Parliament, the
German Environment MInistry said in a statement on Monday.
Germany plans to phase out nuclear power by around 2020.
A hearing is planned for August 6 between industry associations and
experts, the ministry said, adding that the nuclear consensus had
been sent to the state governments, associations and experts for
comment.
The Government and energy suppliers formally signed the nuclear
consensus agreement four weeks ago, according to which the
operational life of Germany's 19 nuclear power plants has been
limited to around 32 years.
The consensus also states that shipments of nuclear waste for
reprocessing in France and Britain should end at the latest by July 1
2005.
The waste should then be restricted to storage at temporary sites
until a central end-storage facility has been built.
The consensus increases the cost of accident cover to be paid by
nuclear energy suppliers almost 10-fold to 2.5 billion euros.
The Environment Ministry said the nuclear consensus could be read on
its homepage (http:/bmu.de).
--------------
Gov't committee says greenhouse gases can be cut...
TOKYO, July 9 (Kyodo) - An Environment Ministry committee said Monday
that cutting down emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other
greenhouse gases in Japan 2% to 7% from 1990 levels by 2010 is
possible.
''The increase in reduction of the gasses by 2% to 7% would be
possible if additional techniques are introduced,'' the committee
said in two interim reports compiled by the ministry's Central
Environment Council committee.
The two reports -- one on additional cuts of gases and the other on
domestic systems to attain the emission reduction -- also said plans
to establish detailed systems to achieve the reductions will be
necessary.
The reports were based on achieving a 6% reduction in greenhouse-gas
emissions, to which Japan is committed under the 1997 Kyoto Protocol
aimed at curbing global warming, the committee said.
The government's current outlines on promoting measures against
global warming require a reduction of 0.5 percentage point through
efforts to cut emissions in Japan and the remaining 5.5 percentage
point by forest absorption and ''external'' measures such as
emissions trading.
A subcommittee estimated the costs for introducing about 100 new
techniques to reduce greenhouse gases, including power savings from
standby electricity for household electric appliances and alternative
fuels to thermal power generation.
Under the current measures, gas emissions are anticipated to increase
by 8% by 2010 compared with the present level even if seven more
nuclear power plants are established.
However, a reduction of 2.4% in such gases will be possible by
spending less than 100,000 yen per ton of carbon, and a reduction of
4.6% will be possible if more than 100,000 yen is spent for the same
amount of carbon, the committee's estimate showed.
It also estimated that cutting emissions of the targeted gases by 7%
will be possible if maximum efforts are made.
Another subcommittee on systems to reinforce domestic measures
discussed industry's voluntary efforts, a tax on carbons and
emissions trading.
The committee plans to discuss necessary systems for introducing such
measures with an eye to completing the reports by the end of this
year.
The Kyoto Protocol aims to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions of
industrialized countries by an average of 5.2% from 1990 levels by
2008-2012.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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://www.geocities.com/scperle
ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Website: http://www.dosimetry.com
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