New DOE program promotes new nuclear power plants

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

Index:



New DOE program promotes new nuclear power plants

Radioactive leaks in Lake Ontario raise concerns

Russia Seeks Plutonium Deal Delay

Nuclear waste recyclers target consumer products

NRC staff OKs Indian Point plant license transfer

Kazakh nuclear woes remain a decade after closure

Ministry to order inspection of 28 reactors after crack

PPL stops man from breaking into Pennsylvania nuke

3 prefectures vying for nuclear fusion plant candidacy

WHO team in Iraq to study effects of depleted uranium shells

SA researcher awarded radiation exposure study grant

Spent Nuclear Fuel Project in Ukraine Achieves Major Milestone

India arrests two men over uranium seizure

Mexico's Veracruz holds unprecedented referendum

Researchers in Japan have developed a mini-nuclear reactor

Increasing Usage of Wind Turbines Can Decrease Energy Shortages 

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



New DOE program promotes new nuclear power plants

  

WASHINGTON, Aug 27 (Reuters) - In a move to encourage new nuclear 

power plant construction, the U.S. Department of Energy on Monday 

unveiled a pilot project to encourage private companies to consider 

new plant sites. 



In the Aug. 27 Federal Register, DOE petitioned private companies to 

submit early requests to have potential sites licensed with the 

Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and earmarked $700,000 in federal 

funds to subsidize site permitting studies. 



The plan will help break down "barriers affecting future near-term 

deployment of new nuclear power plants," the notice said. 



The new program provides "creative ways to advocate the use of 

nuclear energy in our nation's portfolio," said a spokesman for the 

Nuclear Energy Institute, or NEI, a lobbying group that promotes new 

plant construction.  



Energy firms like Entergy Corp. <ETR.N>, Exelon Corp. <EXC.N> and 

Dominion Resources Inc. <D.N> are potential candidates for the 

program. 



"Anything the federal government does to encourage new plant 

construction in the U.S. we are in favor of," said a spokesman for 

Dominion Energy, the generating arm of Dominion Resources. 



Dominion is part of an NEI working group to streamline the site 

permitting process, and could make a decision late this year to 

submit an early site permitting request to the Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission for a Virginia site, the spokesman said. 



The early permit is enabled by an existing NRC rule that allows 

companies to submit an early request to study the feasibility of 

prospective sites -- know as site "banking." 



NEI expects its members to build eight new plants over a 10-year 

period starting "in the 2005 time frame," said Marvin Fertel, the 

lobbying group's senior vice president.  



The DOE program will look at existing sites, green-field sites and 

federal sites. Applications for the program are due by Oct. 15.  

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



Radioactive leaks in Lake Ontario raise concerns



TORONTO, Aug 27 (Reuters) - A nuclear waste facility managed by 

Cameco <CCO.TO> Corp., the world's biggest supplier of uranium, has 

been leaking continuously over the past two decades, environmental 

groups said in a report published on Monday. 



The report said Cameco has been releasing toxic substances such as 

arsenic and uranium in the Lake Ontario. A company spokesman, 

however, said it was meeting all regulatory requirements. 



"For the responsibilities that we have, Cameco has met all of the 

regulatory requirements for the affective and safe operation of the 

site," said Jamie McIntyre, spokesman for Cameco. 



But Mark Mattson, author of the report from Lake Keepers Ontario, an 

independent environmental watchdog, said the storage site at Port 

Granby, located about 100 km (62 miles) east of Toronto, is not in 

compliance with environmental laws although it is licensed by the 

federal government. 



"Liquid radioactive wastes are constantly entering the lake (...) in 

the form of intentionally discharged treated effluent and as fugitive 

seeps," he wrote. 



According to the report, two series of tests conducted last year 

showed that 63 percent and 97 percent of the water fleas placed in 

the treated discharge died. Water fleas are commonly used by 

Environment Canada to determine toxicity, and if over 50 percent of 

the organisms die, the sample is considered "acutely toxic," Mattson 

said. 



In a letter sent to Environment Canada, he urged the authorities to 

conduct a full investigation into potential breaches of the federal 

Fisheries Act and Migratory Birds Act, which prohibit the massive 

release of pollutants, because no other legislation is available to 

protect humans. 



"Unfortunately in Canada my experience has been that the laws that 

protect wildlife and fish are stronger in some cases than the ones 

that protect people," he told Reuters. 



The plant was closed in 1988 after 33 years of operation by the Crown 

Corporation Eldorado Nuclear Ltd. and has been managed by Saskatoon-

based Cameco since then. 



Cameco's McIntyre said the company was aware of problems at the site 

but that it was not aware of any leaks reported by Lake Ontario 

Keepers. He said Cameco has committed C$25 million in a C$230 million 

cleanup plan agreed this spring by the federal government and three 

Ontario municipalities. 

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



Russia Seeks Plutonium Deal Delay



MOSCOW (AP) - A long-discussed U.S.-Russian plan to stop production 

of weapons-grade plutonium in Russia has been stalled by funding 

shortages, and the government said Monday that it wants the United 

States to agree to postpone its implementation. 



The agreement, signed in September 1997 by Vice President Al Gore and 

Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin, was hailed at the time as 

a historic event and a big step in U.S. efforts to ensure that Moscow 

safeguards and reduces its vast nuclear stockpile. 



But it has already been delayed by disagreements over audits meant to 

ensure U.S. money would be spent properly. Now Russia wants to push 

back the schedule of the project to convert three plutonium-making 

reactors to production of uranium for civilian power plants. 



As it stands, the plan calls for two nuclear reactors in the Siberian 

city of Seversk, once a closed city known as Tomsk-7, to stop 

producing plutonium in 2002 and 2003, the ITAR-Tass news agency 

reported. 



A third reactor in Zheleznogorsk - another formerly top-secret 

Siberian city, called Krasnoyarsk-26 in Soviet times - was to stop in 

2004. 



But amid persistent funding problems, Russian Cabinet's information 

department said Monday that Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov has 

ordered the Nuclear Power Ministry to negotiate an amendment to the 

deal with U.S. officials. 



It said the Seversk reactors would keep working through 2005, and the 

one in Zheleznogorsk until the end of 2006. 



In addition to producing plutonium, the reactors also provide 

electricity and heat for residents of the cities, and the U.S.-

Russian deal called for the two countries to share the costs of 

building replacement power facilities. 



The proposed amendment, authorized by Kasyanov, also included a 

stipulation that the United States would help modify reactors or 

build alternative power facilities if funds are available. The 

government statement didn't say when the amendment is expected to be 

signed. 



Officials at the U.S. embassy in Moscow declined to comment. 



Also Monday, Sen. Richard Lugar - a chief architect of deals to 

reduce and safeguard nuclear stockpiles following the 1991 Soviet 

collapse - was visiting Severodvinsk, a naval port on Russia's 

northern coast that is the focus of efforts to dismantle scores of 

aging nuclear submarines with the help of U.S. funding. 



The Indiana Republican, who arrived in Russia on Sunday, has 

complained of massive cuts in the programs designed to help Russia 

secure its vast cache of nuclear weapons and material, which 

environmental groups have said pose a major threat to the surrounding 

area. 



He was inspecting a maintenance plant, U.S.-financed disposal 

projects and a shipyard before heading back to Moscow. He planned to 

visit the Volga River cities of Nizhny Novgorod and Kazan before 

leaving for neighboring Ukraine later this week, the U.S. Embassy 

said. 

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



Nuclear waste recyclers target consumer products



NEW YORK, Aug 27 (Reuters) - Orthodontists could soon be giving their 

patients more than they bargained for with their brand new braces: a 

mouthful of radioactive waste. 



Under a Department of Energy plan, braces aren't the only product 

which could contain radioactive waste. Zippers, lawn chairs, hip 

replacements and countless other consumer products could include 

trace amounts of waste taken from nuclear reactors or weapons 

complexes and recycled into scrap metal. 



The Department of Energy (DOE) sees the recycling as a way to clean 

up waste at decommissioned nuclear plants and weapons facilities, but 

environmental groups call the idea ridiculous. 



"It's hard to imagine a nuclear enterprise more tone deaf to public 

concerns or a more cockamamie scheme than taking radioactive waste 

and disposing of it in consumer products," said Dan Hirsch, president 

of nuclear watchdog group Committee to Bridge the Gap. 



The energy department will spend the next 12 months to 18 months 

studying the environmental and health risks of the plan, having held 

12 public hearings in six cities this summer, said DOE spokesman Joe 

Davis, 



Critics say recycling radioactive waste, even at low levels, is 

reckless. But energy officials say that the government needs to look 

at all options for getting rid of the growing pile of hazardous 

wastes. Proponents of the plan say that by spreading small, non-

lethal amounts into recycled scrap, the need for large waste dumps 

could be avoided. 



CONCERN IS HEALTHY 



A moratorium was placed on radioactive recycling last year by former 

Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson after environmental groups 

protested the possible sale of 6,000 metric tons of contaminated 

nickel from the energy department's Oakridge nuclear facility in 

Tennessee to scrap metal dealers. 



But under the Bush administration, the program is being revisited and 

the energy department is considering lifting the moratorium. But 

before that, it is required by law to conduct a thorough study on the 

safety risks of recycling radioactive waste. 



The proposal does not specify any uses for scrap metal containing the 

radioactive waste, but metal industry executives say the material 

would go into the supply of scrap metal and could be used to make 

anything. 



Even the study has proven problematic. The DOE recently dropped 

Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC) - which it initially 

chose to conduct the study and prepared a report -- because of its 

business partnership with British Nuclear Fuels Limited, the company 

that last year was going to contract with the government to help sell 

the waste from the Oakridge facility. 



Hirsch of the Committee to Bridge the Gap said it was an enormous 

potential conflict of interest.  SAIC's report "is quite dangerous in 

terms of arguing how much radioactivity would be acceptable for use 

in consumer products." 



The energy department has not said who was hired to complete the 

study, but some are arguing that the level of radiation in any 

recycled materials would be too low to actually pose a health risk. 



The Nuclear Energy Institute, a trade association representing some 

260 companies in the nuclear power industry, has lobbied in favor of 

radioactive recycling and says the public may be overly concerned. 



"Concern is healthy," said Felix Killar, director of material 

licenses for the institute. "But people need to understand the facts. 

This isn't truly radioactive waste. It's no more radioactive than any 

other material recycled in to consumer products."  



Killar continues:  "There isn't a place on Earth that is totally free 

of radioactivity." 



A LITTLE RADIATION IS OK 



John Wittenborn, attorney for the Metal Industries Recycling 

Coalition (MIRC), comprised of a variety of metal industry trade 

groups, says their polls indicate the public doesn't buy the idea 

that nuclear waste can be safely recycled into everyday products. 



"We've spent a lot of time and effort to build the perception that 

products made from recycled materials are safe and good and that 

recycling itself is something that society should be in favor of," 

said Wittenborn, whose group strongly opposes recycling of 

radioactive waste into scrap metal. 



Beyond the public image problem the industry would face in using the 

recycled waste, companies are concerned about the potential 

contamination of their mills and workers. 



Wittenborn says it can cost from $5 million to $15 million to shut 

down, inspect by hand and then clean a steel mill that has registered 

radioactivity above a background level. 



Recently, Wittenborn attended an energy department public hearing on 

the issue in Crystal City, Virginia where he presented his polling 

data and the metal industry's case. 



In fact, those who have attended the hearings say most of the 

comments have opposed lifting the moratorium on radioactive 

recycling.     



"The observer might ask 'Why does the DOE continue to propose to do 

this if no one is willing to come forward and testify on behalf of 

it?'" said Dan Guttman, executive director of President Clinton's 

Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments, 



"This is being cast as a question of convincing the hysterical public 

that a little radiation is OK." 

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



NRC staff OKs Indian Point plant license transfer

  

WASHINGTON, Aug 27 (Reuters) - The Nuclear Regulatory Commission on 

Monday said agency staff has approved transferring the operating 

licenses for the Indian Point nuclear generating units 1 and 2 from 

Consolidated Edison Company of New York, a subsidiary of Consolidated 

Edison Inc. <ED.N>, to subsidiaries of Entergy Corp. <ETR.N> 



The reactors are located in Buchanan, New York. 



The staff's approval of the license transfers becomes effective 

immediately, although the NRC granted hearing requests from several 

groups against the change. 



Citizens Awareness Network, Hendrick Hudson School District and the 

town of Cortlandt Manor, New York, asked for hearings on Entergy's 

financial ability to operate and maintain the Indian Point plant 

safely. 



Following hearings, the commission said it could decide by early 2002 

to reverse the license transfer authorized by its staff. 



The key issues considered by the NRC staff in the license transfers 

included Entergy's technical and financial qualifications to maintain 

Indian Point 1, which shut down permanently in 1974, and also to 

safely operate Indian Point 2. 

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



Kazakh nuclear woes remain a decade after closure



ALMATY, Aug 28 (Reuters) - A decade after Kazakhstan shut the 

Semipalatinsk nuclear complex, one of the Soviet Union's two test 

sites, a raft of health and environmental problems are still being 

felt, the Kazakh President said on Tuesday. 



Speaking at the launch of his new book, "The epicentre of the world," 

President Nursultan Nazarbayev told an audience including former 

Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev that the site's closure had met 

fierce resistance from the Soviet leadership and the army. 



But he defended his 1991 decision, taken while the Soviet Union still 

existed, to close the test centre opened in 1949. 



"For nearly 40 years Kazakhstan found itself at the epicentre of 

global confrontation, and even in peacetime this caused incalculable 

losses," he said. 



"Kazakhstan was the only country in the world where an inhumane 

totalitarian regime carried out experiments without regard for the 

ecology or the health of the population, even though these problems 

were known about." 



He said 456 nuclear explosions, more than half of them above ground, 

were carried out in the Semipalatinsk region of northeastern 

Kazakhstan. 



As a result a huge number of genetic disorders have been noted in the 

local population which are expected to take several generations to 

disappear. 



The country was also home to well over 1,000 nuclear warheads, which 

Nazarbayev got rid of after Kazakhstan became an independent state. 



The Soviet Union also had a testing ground at Novaya Zemlya Island 

off its Arctic coast. 



Robert Sagdeyev, director of the centre for space research at 

Kazakhstan's East-West Institute, told the meeting the consequences 

of the "nuclear madness" were still visible now. 



"Recently we have discovered rather strange anomalies in the 

temperature in this (Semipalatinsk) region. The temperature is about 

10 degrees higher than expected. We first noticed this in 1997, but 

now this has become a permanent phenomenon." 



Nazarbayev hoped Kazakhstan's nuclear-free status would enable the 

country to "make a present of the planet" to future generations. 



"'I don't know what weapons will be used in the third world war, but 

the fourth will be fought with sticks and stones,' said Albert 

Einstein in his time. If that prophecy is not to come true, that's 

because mankind has become a little wiser." 

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



Ministry to order inspection of 28 reactors after crack



TOKYO, Aug. 24 (Kyodo) - The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry 

will order the inspection of 28 boiling water reactors used to 

generate power by six companies in Japan, following the discovery of 

a crack in a fuel unit of the reactor core at a power station in 

Fukushima Prefecture in early July, ministry sources said Friday. 



On July 6, nuclear safety officials in Fukushima Prefecture announced 

the discovery of a crack in a wall, called a shroud, that covers fuel 

within the No. 3 reactor of Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima 

Daini nuclear power station. 



Following an investigation by Tokyo Electric Power, the ministry's 

nuclear safety division assumed the damage is so-called stress 

corrosion cracking, common to all boiling water reactors like one at 

the Fukushima power station. 



Since the reactor in question is made of stainless metal considered 

resistant to such cracking, the ministry's nuclear safety officials 

believe the crack could have been due to the way the shroud was 

manufactured and inspection at other nuclear power stations is thus 

necessary. 



Tokyo Electric Power said despite the crack, the shroud is still 

strong. But for extra safety, a step to reinforce the shroud will be 

taken. 



The six companies are Tokyo Electric Power, Tohoku Electric Power 

Co., Chubu Electric Power Co., Hokuriku Electric Power Co., Chugoku 

Electric Power Co. and Japan Atomic Power Co. 

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



PPL stops man from breaking into Pennsylvania nuke

  

NEW YORK, Aug 24 (Reuters) - PPL Corp. <PPL.N> said late Thursday a 

man scaled the fence at the Susquehanna nuclear power station in 

Pennsylvania and was quickly apprehended before causing any damage. 



Because of the security breach, PPL said in a statement it declared 

an "unusual event" at the plant at 4:21 p.m. EDT Thursday after plant 

security apprehended the man inside a vehicle access area at one of 

the plant's gates. 



An unusual event, the lowest of four emergency classifications at 

U.S. nuclear power plants, means a minor problem has occurred at the 

plant that could reduce plant safety. The unusual event ended at 7:52 

p.m. on Thursday. 



"The plant's security force completed a walkdown of the plant and has 

assured that the plant is safe," said Herb Woodeshick, a special 

assistant to the president for Susquehanna, in the statement. 



The man scaled one security fence, but was caught before getting over 

a second fence and into the plant's protected area, Woodeshick added. 



The man was not armed and plant security turned him over to the 

Pennsylvania State Police. 



"Susquehanna's security system worked as designed to assure plant 

safety," Woodeshick said. "The plant security force received 

immediate notification when the man climbed the first fence, and he 

was quickly apprehended." 



The Susquehanna plant, located in Luzerne County, about seven miles 

north of Berwick, Pa., is owned jointly by PPL Susquehanna LLC and 

Allegheny Electric Co-op and is operated by PPL Susquehanna. 



PPL Susquehanna is a subsidiary of global energy giant PPL Corp. of 

Allentown, Pa. 

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



3 prefectures vying for nuclear fusion plant candidacy



MITO, Japan, Aug. 28 (Kyodo) - By: Kanji Hasegawa Three Japanese 

prefectures are competing fiercely in the hopes that one of their 

municipalities will be chosen by the government of Prime Minister 

Junichiro Koizumi as a potential site for an experimental nuclear 

fusion plant being developed in cooperation with Russia and European 

countries. 



The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology 

plans to select one of the three municipalities -- Tomakomai in 

Hokkaido, the village of Rokkasho in Aomori Prefecture and the town 

of Naka in Ibaraki Prefecture -- as early as next month, official 

sources said. 



But it remains uncertain whether the government will actually file 

the candidacy on behalf of the selected municipality amid the state's 

ongoing financial difficulties. 



About 300 billion yen out of the estimated 530 billion yen in total 

construction costs will have to be shouldered by the state. 



The project to build the International Thermonuclear Experimental 

Reactor (ITER) began in 1988 with participation from Japan, European 

countries, Russia and the United States. But it has repeatedly been 

postponed and the U.S. backed out in 1998 because of its potential to 

lose money. 



The planned test reactor, designed to use nuclear fusion to make 

electricity in a way similar to how the sun creates energy, has also 

been downsized to reduce costs, which were first estimated at 1 

trillion yen. It is scheduled for completion in the 2010s, 10 years 

behind the original schedule. 



Japan's powerful rivals for the site are Canada, which is rich in the 

fuel material lithium, and France, whose ground is firm and which can 

easily provide the massive amounts of electricity required for 

nuclear fusion research. The site will be determined in 2003. 



The sources said the ITER is expected to bring an economic effect 

totaling 1 trillion yen to its host prefecture, and that officials of 

the three prefectures are paying daily visits to the ministry to 

attract attention to their campaigns. 



The Naka Fusion Research Establishment run by the Japan Atomic Energy 

Research Institute has been regarded as the primary candidate site 

because it began researching nuclear fusion in 1985. But Tomakomai 

and Rokkasho, which are being developed as industrial belts, 

expressed their interest in the plant in 1995. 



Aomori Prefecture is pressing the Ministry of Economy, Trade and 

Industry, whose jurisdiction includes a nuclear fuel cycling facility 

to be completed at Rokkasho in four years' time, in a bid to increase 

its political influence over the site selection. 



The campaign has drawn harsh criticism from officials of other 

prefectures. ''Using a separate nuclear facility for political 

jockeying is unfair,'' said a member of the Ibaraki prefectural 

assembly. 



Last month, Aomori Gov. Morio Kimura said, ''We will accept nuclear 

wastes from the ITER if we are picked, but we will not accept such 

wastes from the ITER if it is established in other prefecture,'' 

triggering further controversy. 



The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology 

will decide the candidate site by making a numerical assessment for 

each of the 15 conditions for the site, including 70 hectares of 

land, firm ground and a comfortable living environment for foreign 

staff and their families. It will disregard the problem of nuclear 

wastes. 



But science analysts have said there are many conditions which will 

be difficult to assess numerically and that in the end, a political 

settlement will have to be made to choose the candidate site. 

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



WHO team in Iraq to study effects of depleted uranium shells



BAGHDAD, Aug. 28 (Kyodo) - A delegation from the World Health 

Organization (WHO) began talks Tuesday with an Iraqi team on 

surveying the country to find if depleted uranium (DU) shells used by 

the allies against Iraq during the 1991 Gulf War affected the 

population or the environment. 



The official Iraqi News Agency said WHO and Iraqi experts would 

compile field studies on the effects of DU on health and environment 

and ''the relation between the use of DU and the appearance of many 

diseases unknown before in Iraq.'' 



Zuhair Sa'eed Abdul Salam, senior undersecretary of the Health 

Ministry, led the Iraqi side to the talks, while WHO Deputy Regional 

Office Director Abdul Aziz Saleh led the six-member WHO team. 



The WHO team arrived in Baghdad on Monday on a four-day mission. 



Upon arrival, Saleh told reporters, ''We have agreed on collaboration 

between the WHO and Iraq on the issue of the possible impact of DU on 

the health in Iraq.'' 



He added Tuesday, ''Our team will take samples to be carefully tested 

by special equipment that show the level of radiation that would 

possibly pollute the environment in Iraq.'' 



The team is to travel to the southern Iraqi city Basra, about 450 

kilometers south of Baghdad, to start work in areas where DU shells 

were used extensively during the Gulf War. 

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



SA researcher awarded radiation exposure study grant



28 August - Australian Broadcasting Corporation - An Adelaide 

researcher has been awarded an $850,000 grant from the  United States 

Government to study the effects of low level radiation  exposure on 

humans.  



Principal medical scientist at the Flinders Medical Centre, Dr Pam  

Sykes, says her research will also explore the role of low radiation  

levels in the development of cancer.  



"We don't know exactly what, if any, genetic damage is occurring at  

very low doses X-rays and gamma rays that [are] in the environment," 

she  said. 



"So if you get a slight increase, meaning you get a little bit of  

extra...X-rays... could that actually contribute to cancer."

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



Duke Engineering & Services' Spent Nuclear Fuel Project in Ukraine 

Achieves Major Milestone

  

CHARLOTTE, N.C., Aug. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- A major milestone in the 

safe storage of spent nuclear fuel at Europe's largest nuclear power 

facility was achieved on Aug. 24, 2001, when spent fuel was moved to 

dry storage at the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant in southeastern 

Ukraine.  Duke Engineering & Services managed the storage system's 

design, construction and licensing. 



"This was a first-of-a-kind project, and the technical and political 

challenges were enormous," said Duke Engineering President Ron Green. 

 "One of our goals is to be the industry leader in the area of spent 

fuel management. This project's success, in addition to our domestic 

commercial and federal experience, certainly provides the impetus for 

achieving that goal." 



The project began in June 1994 at a time when power needs in the 

region were critical and spent fuel storage capacity was running 

short.  Zaporozhye's six reactors are capable of generating a 

combined 6,000 megawatts of electricity.  Among the project's many 

challenges, U.S. engineered systems and hardware had to be adapted to 

fit a Soviet designed and constructed power plant.  In addition, the 

project team had to contend with language and cultural barriers and a 

shifting political landscape. 



The design and fabrication of equipment, including the vertical, 

concrete storage containers, was based on U.S. standards with 

adaptations to satisfy Ukrainian requirements.  The delivered 

equipment is sufficient to safely store a one-year inventory of spent 

nuclear fuel from one of the six reactors for a period of 50 years.  

The Ukrainian power authority that operates the plant, Energomatom, 

will manufacture additional storage containers in Ukraine through a 

technology transfer agreement.  The system may also be used at other 

nuclear power plants in Ukraine. 



Duke Engineering specializes in energy and environmental projects and 

provides full-scope engineering, technical and professional services 

to clients around the world.  Duke Engineering's Nuclear Group 

provides comprehensive design, engineering, procurement, construction 

management, retrofit, plant life extension, operations support, 

efficiency management and full life-cycle maintenance services, 

including spent fuel storage design and management.  More information 

about the company is available on the Internet at: 

www.dukeengineering.com. 



Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK), a diversified multinational energy company, 

creates value for customers and shareholders through an integrated 

network of energy assets and expertise.  Duke Energy manages a 

dynamic portfolio of natural gas and electric supply, delivery and 

trading businesses -- generating revenues of more than $49 billion in 

2000.  Duke Energy, headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., is a Fortune 

100 company traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol 

DUK.  More information about the company is available on the Internet 

at: www.duke-energy.com. 

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



India arrests two men over uranium seizure



CALCUTTA, India, Aug 27 (Reuters) - Indian authorities have arrested 

two men on suspicion of trafficking nuclear material after seizing 

225 grams of uranium from a house in the eastern state of West 

Bengal, an official said on Monday. 



Police would not comment on whether the material was enriched 

uranium, which is used to make nuclear weapons. 



"All we know so far is that the uranium was brought in from 

(neighbouring) Bangladesh," Anuj Sharma, a senior West Bengal police 

official, told Reuters. 



He said the uranium was found in a bag during a raid on a house in 

Balurghat on Saturday by police and the paramilitary Border Security 

Force. 



Balurghat is 600 km (375 miles) northeast of the state capital, 

Calcutta. 



"We're still investigating ... we've not got any leads so far from 

the two men arrested on whether any terrorist groups are involved," 

Sharma said. 



Several cases of nuclear trafficking have been exposed in Europe 

since the collapse of the former Soviet Union. In July, French police 

arrested three men for suspected involvement in trafficking enriched 

weapons-grade uranium. 



In January, Greek authorities found hundreds of highly radioactive 

metal plates containing plutonium buried in a forest near the 

northern port of Thessaloniki. 

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



Mexico's Veracruz holds unprecedented referendum



MEXICO CITY Aug 26 (Reuters) - Voters in the Gulf state of Veracruz 

voted on issues ranging from indigenous rights to nuclear power on 

Sunday in a public referendum billed as the first of its kind in 

Mexican history. 



The state constitution provides for popular referendum, but the 

mechanism has never been used there or elsewhere in Mexico, the daily 

Reforma reported. 



"There was an attempt in the Federal District (Mexico City) to hold 

one over daylight-saving time, but it was not well planned, so 

Veracruz becomes the first state to do so," Gov. Miguel Aleman told 

government news agency Notimex. 



Some 4 million citizens were eligible to vote on five questions. 

Among them, voters were asked whether the state should create an 

organization dedicated to preserving indigenous culture. 



The state legislature in May approved a controversial indigenous 

rights bill opposed by Indian leaders as too weak. 



The referendum also asked voters whether they wanted greater public 

oversight at the Laguna Verde nuclear power plant, whether they would 

agree to changes to make the justice system more efficient and 

whether the state should seek more federal funds for public works. 



Voters also were asked whether the state should continue to promote 

an annual festival at the Tajin archeological site, which critics say 

has endangered artifacts and ruins in the two years it has been held. 



Results of the vote were scheduled to be released on Sept. 1. The 

process generated some conflict among election officials over 

questions about its validity, Reforma newspaper reported. 



U.S. cruiser calls at a Kobe port, says no nuke weapons



KOBE, Aug. 28 (Kyodo) - A U.S. Navy cruiser whose home port is the 

U.S. Navy base in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, southwest of Tokyo, 

on Tuesday called at a port in Himeji in the western Japan prefecture 

of Hyogo, local port authorities said. 



The 9,407-ton Vincennes is scheduled to remain at the port until 

Friday and aims to foster goodwill with local residents while 

providing crew with an opportunity for rest and recreation. 



Hyogo prefectural officials say it is the first time a U.S. vessel 

has docked at a port in the prefecture since its capital of Kobe 

introduced in 1975 a system requiring foreign vessels to certify they 

are nuclear-free. 



They said they gave the green light to the ship after U.S. officials 

said the Vincennes as a general rule is not equipped with nuclear 

weapons and that they understand the antinuclear sentiments of the 

Japanese people. 



Meanwhile, about 400 people from citizens' and labor groups gathered 

to stage a protest against the port call near where the Vincennes is 

docked. 

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



Researchers in Japan have developed a mini-nuclear reactor. 



Aug 26, Australian Broadcasting Company - Japan already has 60 

nuclear reactors which provide one-third of the  nation's power but 

the inventors of the rapid el-reactor have much  grander plans.  



The reactor is relatively tiny standing about six metres high and two 

 metres wide.  



The perfect size, the scientists say for the basement of an apartment 

 block.  



What is not known is whether the Japanese public will take to the 

idea  of living above a potential nuclear accident. 

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



AEROMAX Corp. has Answer to Growing Energy Problems; Increasing Usage 

of Wind Turbines Can Decrease Energy Shortages and is More Economical 

for Homeowners



PRESCOTT VALLEY, Ariz.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 28, 2001--Scattered 

across the Arizona landscape are renewable energy systems sold by 

AEROMAX Corp., of Prescott Valley. 



These home power systems feature power generation from wind turbines 

manufactured by its sister company AEROMAG and solar photovoltaic 

panels. 



Combined annual capacity of these systems produce more than 205 

million watt hours, or the average amount of electricity consumed per 

month by 201 residents of Arizona. The company said these numbers are 

exemplary of AEROMAX's commitment in solving the spreading energy 

problems of shortages and increasing costs. 



"Too many people think there is an infinite amount of energy and that 

it costs virtually nothing. They are wrong. It is limited and it 

comes at a cost -- in dollars, in pollution, and in climate change," 

said Lexington Bartlett, president and chief executive officer of 

AEROMAX. "These wind turbines create an environmentally friendly, 

relatively inexpensive energy that people are looking for." 



Wind Power has become the source of energy for not only the future, 

but also the present. According to the World Bank, it is the fastest 

growing source of new power generation. The Bank of America has 

estimated that the alternative power industry will grow to  $75 

billion in sales revenue by 2010. 



Wind Power has come down in price, to the point where it is more cost 

effective than hydropower, fuel oil, nuclear plants or coal burning 

plants, and as cost effective as natural gas. 



Widening energy shortages and increasing costs are the two largest 

problems facing the energy industry today. AEROMAX has the solution 

to both of these problems. The company recently announced the AEROMAG 

LAKOTA, a new Land Wind Turbine Generator for the residential home, 

with other models soon to follow.  



These products allow homeowners to benefit from the growing 

alternative power industry of which the Bank of America analysis 

speaks. 



About AEROMAX and AEROMAG 



AEROMAG has been in the wind turbine business for about 10 years and 

originally set out to produce more efficient blades for the wind 

turbine retrofit market. Production of these blades began about six 

years ago, and have received a strong positive response from 

customers worldwide.  



As a result, AEROMAG expanded its product lines to include the 

manufacture and design of advanced small wind turbines suited for 

residential, office, and other moderate distributed power 

requirements. 



AEROMAG's business focus is production, research and development of 

wind energy products, and holds all patent destined technologies and 

trade secrets. AEROMAG wind turbine power systems and components are 

available exclusively through AEROMAX.  



Hybrid energy solutions available from AEROMAX combine wind turbine 

systems with the top name brands in solar panels, inverters, 

batteries and ancillary component parts. These hybrid renewable 

energy components are integrated and can be specifically tailored 

into a modular and incrementally expandable system configured for 

distributed energy needs worldwide.  



In addition, AEROMAX handles energy system site development and 

installations.



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

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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