N-test illnesses "unlikely" for NZ veterans - govt

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

Index:



N-test illnesses "unlikely" for NZ veterans - govt

Greenpeace says U.S poses new Pacific risk

Myanmar in nuclear reactor deal with Russia

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



N-test illnesses "unlikely" for NZ veterans - govt



WELLINGTON, July 15 (Reuters) - Eleven New Zealand servicemen 

who watched nuclear tests in the 1950s were "extremely unlikely" 

to have suffered from radiation-related health problems, the New 

Zealand government said on Sunday. 



Releasing a report into claims that New Zealand officers were used 

as guinea pigs in British and American radiation experiments, the 

government said the specialist technical or weapons officers were 

briefed before and after the blasts. 



They were sent at the request of the then New Zealand government 

and its defence department, so that they could stay up to date with 

nuclear technology in the Cold War era. 



Of the 11 observers of the nuclear blasts, six are still alive, aged 

between 71 and 87. The other five men were aged between 54 and 

81 at the time of their deaths. 



"The Ministry of Health advises that it is extremely unlikely that 

any of the recorded causes of death could be linked to the 

observation of nuclear tests," NZ Veterans' Affairs Minister Mark 

Burton said in a statement. 



Similarly, there was no suggestion of links with any existing 

medical conditions, he said. 



The probe was launched after Britain's Ministry of Defence said in 

May that it used New Zealand, Australian and British servicemen in 

experiments in Maralinga in the South Australia desert, which 

involved the soldiers entering an area contaminated by British 

atomic bomb blasts. 



Officers had been exposed to low-level radiation to test the 

effectiveness of protective clothing, British officials said. 



Burton had immediately sought assurances that the men had 

appropriate health checks and that they witnessed the blasts with 

their informed consent. 



He said on Sunday that the surviving officers had been tracked 

down and offered aid through his office and in general were satisfied 

with their current arrangements. 



The inquiry was separate to an investigation underway into the 

health effects on 528 New Zealand Navy personnel who took part in 

a British nuclear testing programme at Christmas Island in the 

Pacific in 1957-58. 

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



Greenpeace says U.S poses new Pacific risk



SYDNEY, July 15 (Reuters) - Environmental group Greenpeace on 

Sunday accused the United States of posing a new nuclear arms 

risk in the Pacific after it shot down a mock warhead over the 

Pacific Ocean in a successful anti-ballistic missile test. 



"The Star Wars program threatens to start a new nuclear arms 

race," Greenpeace Pacific spokeswoman Samantha Magick said 

in a statement after the test. 



"Pacific island states who are still waiting for compensation for 

nuclear tests carried out decades ago are being put at risk again, 

as the missile tests involve launching intercept missiles from 

Kwajelein atoll in the Marshall Islands," she said. 



The Pacific has been used for many years for nuclear tests by 

colonial powers, sparking deep concern in the region. 



France conducted extensive atom bomb tests in its Pacific atolls 

until 1996, while the U.S. carried out tests on the Bikini atoll in the 

Marshall Islands until 1958. 



The U.S. Defense Department's latest $100 million test involved a 

Minuteman 2 intercontinental ballistic missile launched from 

Vandenberg Air Force Base in California and an interceptor fired 

from the atoll, 4,800 miles (7,725 km) away. 



Two out of the three previous tests had failed, but U.S. President 

George W. Bush has stepped up the testing program as part of his 

bid to deploy a new missile defence system. 



Australia, the largest country in the South Pacific, is one of the few 

nations to publicly back plans for the system, which is opposed by 

Russia and China. 



Greenpeace protesters briefly delayed the launch of the test, with 

four activists arrested in waters off Vandenberg base. 



Magick accused the U.S Defense Department of going ahead with 

the launch despite knowing the Greenpeace activists who had 

breached a military exclusion zone were still vulnerable. 



"The U.S. base commander risked the lives of our activists today, 

but President Bush is risking the lives of millions of people around 

the world," she said. 



"As countries race to counter the Bush proposed shield with 

weapons of mass destruction, the U.S. will be responsible for 

destroying treaties of peace and arms control, putting us all at 

great risk," she said. 



Greenpeace Australia also criticised Australian Prime Minister 

John Howard for his support for Bush's planned system. 



"Australia should reject the role of sheriff to the U.S. bully," it said. 

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



Myanmar in nuclear reactor deal with Russia



BANGKOK, July 14 (Reuters) - Myanmar's ruling military is 

negotiating with Russia to buy a nuclear reactor, in a move that 

raises concerns over the impoverished nation's ability to cope with 

high-maintenance technology. 



David Kyd, chief spokesman of the Vienna-based International 

Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said that although Yangon had 

asked for "general advice" on the purchase, there were safety 

concerns. 



The deal would provide Myanmar -- snubbed by much of the 

Western world for its human rights record and alleged involvement 

in the illicit drugs trade -- with its first taste of nuclear technology. 



"We have not been asked to get involved, except to give technical 

advice on what the establishment of a research reactor involves," 

Kyd told Reuters in a telephone interview on Friday. 



"If asked for further advice, we will be impressing on Myanmar 

authorities that they don't just have to get the piece of equipment 

and the instruction book. You have to be sure you have the 

scientific ability to operate it, to maintain it in good condition and to 

supervise its safety," Kyd said. 



"You don't just hand this over to a bunch of scientists and say: 'get 

on with it'." 



Nuclear experts say that of the roughly 400 research reactors world-

wide, nearly half have been mothballed due to their expense and 

complicated maintenance. 



"Thailand already has one such reactor, and it has been struggling 

with the construction of a second with technical problems, financial 

problems, and in the case of Thailand, which I don't think will be a 

problem in Myanmar, with environmental and political opposition," 

said one non-proliferation expert. 



Myanmar officials have declined to discuss the reactor deal, but a 

nascent Department of Atomic Energy is now in evidence on 

Yangon's Pyay Pagoda Road, in the form of a blue and white sign 

in front of a cluster of low-slung, largely empty buildings. 



Moscow and Yangon reached an in-principle agreement earlier this 

year, and are in ongoing talks to finalise the technical and 

commercial aspects of the transaction. 



"The idea is that Myanmar wants to have this reactor and the 

Ministry of Atomic Energy in Russia is ready to cooperate," 

Russia's Ambassador Gleb Ivashentsov said in a recent interview in 

Yangon. 



"Do not demonise Myanmar. They should not be denied the right to 

develop their own atomic science...If the U.S. has no doubts in 

making up their minds to supply reactors to North Korea (why not 

Myanmar)." 



NO MILITARY USE 



Ivashentsov declined to give the reactor's specifications, describing 

it only as "a kind of small research reactor." 



"It is purely scientific, non-military," he said. 



A source close to the deal said the reactor was likely to be in the 

five-to-10 megawatt range with a cost of between $1 million and $5 

million. 



"The 10 megawatt is the standard model you will be offered when 

you walk into the showroom," he said. 



Kyd confirmed that such a reactor was not likely to be suitable for 

the production of nuclear weapons. 



"A research reactor of this type would be to advance science and 

not have a more suspect dimension to it. However, we do keep our 

eyes on more elaborate nuclear research reactors of this type. 

There have been worries, for example, about one in Algeria built by 

the Chinese." 



Foreign diplomats in Yangon said they were aware of the deal, and 

that a number of technicians from Myanmar were believed to have 

left for Russia earlier this year for training. 



Ivashentsov said the financial aspects of the deal had yet to be 

finalised, but that Myanmar could pay in cash or barter with 

produce such as timber, rice and fish. 



"Russia is not in a position to provide long-term credit, (but) we can 

offer them technology," he said. 



Russia and Myanmar have a long history of close bilateral 

cooperation, which fizzled out with the collapse of the Soviet Union. 



It was resumed in the mid 1990s, and since then Moscow has sold 

around a dozen Mi-17 transport helicopters to the military regime, 

the ambassador said. 



The most obvious signs of the early years of cooperation include a 

hotel in the capital, a university, and a number of dams and 

irrigation schemes. 



The Soviet leader Nikita Kruschev also visited Yangon twice, in 

1955 and 1960. 



**************************************************************************

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

************************************************************************

You are currently subscribed to the Radsafe mailing list. To unsubscribe,

send an e-mail to Majordomo@list.vanderbilt.edu  Put the text "unsubscribe

radsafe" (no quote marks) in the body of the e-mail, with no subject line.