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Nevada Nuke Waste Site Challenged
Index:
Nevada Nuke Waste Site Challenged
Nine Romanian Workers Exposed to High Radiation
Ishihara, Omi agree on merger of 2 nuclear bodies
Nuclear experts briefed bin Laden - newspaper
Critics: Nuclear Cleanup Falls Short
U.S. nuclear agency details reactor problems
New US uranium enrichment plant would need NRC okay
=======================================
Nevada Nuke Waste Site Challenged
WASHINGTON (AP) - Nevada officials will ask the federal courts to block a decision
on the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste site, claiming the Energy Department has
abandoned a congressional mandate that the site's natural geology must protect the
public from radiation.
Instead, the Nevada officials say, the latest design for the waste burial ground, 90
miles northwest of Las Vegas, relies ``nearly 100 percent'' on engineered barriers to
assure the waste's isolation.
The design amounts to ``a glorified waste package'' that could be deemed
scientifically suitable ``even if sited on the shores of Lake Tahoe,'' Nevada Gov.
Kenny Guinn, a Republican, wrote Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham.
The salvo is only the latest in the increasingly bitter confrontation between Nevada
officials and the Bush administration over the proposed nuclear repository. It is
supposed to hold thousands of tons of used reactor fuel now kept at nuclear power
plants in 31 states. If given the go-ahead, it is scheduled to open in 2010.
Early next year Abraham is expected to recommend to President Bush that the site
be approved, although department officials emphasized Tuesday that no decision
has been made by Abraham so far.
Robert Loux, the Nevada governor's top adviser on the nuclear waste site, said in an
interview that Nevada will file a lawsuit next week, possibly Monday, and ask the
court to block Abraham from making a recommendation.
The Nevada lawsuit will argue that the Energy Department has failed to follow the
legal requirement that the waste site rely almost exclusively on its natural geology to
safeguard the waste, including radioisotopes that will remain highly radioactive for
more than 10,000 years.
Instead, the state argues, the Energy Department is incorporating numerous
engineered barriers to counter shortcomings in the site's geology.
``The notion that geological features must be the primary form of containment is ...
explicitly required'' by the 1982 law that is the basis for developing a nuclear waste
repository, Guinn wrote.
Energy Department officials dismissed the state's latest threat of legal action and
strongly defended the use of both geology and engineered barriers.
``We're not relying specifically on engineered barriers to meet the regulations. We
are looking at the scientific evidence of both the geological and engineered barriers
together to determine the site's suitability,'' said DOE spokesman Joe Davis.
``One doesn't outweigh the other. They both work hand in hand,'' said Davis. The
department contends that Congress in 1992 cleared the way for use of a ``total
system performance'' approach to safeguarding the waste.
But Loux said that Congress also envisioned that the site's geology ``be the primary
barrier'' to isolate the waste and that the approach by the Energy Department ``does
not even come close to being in compliance the law.''
In recent years, the scientists and engineers working on the Yucca Mountain project
have incorporated more manmade protective devices.
For example, after concern was raised about the possible effect of water moving
through the rocks, stronger and more corrosion-resistant canisters were added to the
design. ``Drip shields'' were added to keep water from hitting the waste once the
containers begin to disintegrate hundreds of years from now.
An alternative design spreads out the canisters to deal the impact of high
temperatures on surrounding rocks.
These improvements only add to the site's safeguards and do not detract from the
fact that ``the mountain performs pretty well'' in protecting the waste, says Marvin
Fertel, a vice president for the Nuclear Energy Institute, the industry's trade
association.
On the Net:
Yucca Mountain Project: http://www.ymp.gov/
-----------------
Nine Romanian Workers Exposed to High Radiation
BUCHAREST (Reuters) - Nine workers have been exposed to serious levels of
radiation while dismantling a smelting plant in western Romania, officials said
Wednesday.
The men have been hospitalized since June, but the incident has been kept secret
while police investigate, the National Commission for the Control of Nuclear Activities
(CNCAN) said.
``They wore no protective clothes. They got a huge dose of radiation from Cobalt 60,
which could have killed them at once,'' CNCAN director Anton Coroianu told Reuters
by telephone.
Cobalt 60 is an artificially produced, radioactive isotope which serves a variety of
medical and industrial uses.
The nine were employed to dismantle two furnaces at the mothballed Victoria Calan
plant, which has been closed since the 1989 fall of communist rule.
A 1,100-square-foot area around the furnaces has been closed off to all but
authorized personnel, including investigators, who must wear special protective
clothing before entering the site, the watchdog body said.
------------------
Ishihara, Omi agree on merger of 2 nuclear bodies
TOKYO, Dec. 12 (Kyodo) - Nobuteru Ishihara, state minister in charge of
administrative reform, and Koji Omi, minister in charge of science and technology
policy, agreed Wednesday to merge two governmental nuclear bodies into an
independent administrative entity.
Omi, who had earlier objected to any change in the structure of the Japan Atomic
Energy Research Institute (JAERI), agreed to merge it with the Japan Nuclear Cycle
Development Institute in a meeting with Ishihara at the Cabinet Office, government
officials said.
The JAERI conducts basic and applied research into atomic energy as well as
designs and builds nuclear reactors. The other institute is tasked with developing a
fast-breeder nuclear reactor.
The two ministers also agreed to merge the Japan Science and Technology Corp.
(JST) and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) into a separate
independent administrative entity, the officials said.
The JST collects and keeps information on science and technology, while the JSPS
extends financial aid to research programs conducted jointly by academics and
industries.
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi told Ishihara on Tuesday to draw up a merger plan
for the JAERI, the Japan Nuclear Cycle Development Institute and the JST.
The premier said that if the merger of the three bodies is difficult, they should at least
be headed by the same person.
An administrative reform task force in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party has
suggested merging the JST with the JSPS.
The government's administrative reform promotion office demanded in a report
compiled in August that the JAERI's research sections dealing with such topics as
atomic power, nuclear fusion and radiation utilization be merged individually with
bodies conducting similar studies.
In another reform plan tabled in October, the government called for study of a plan to
abolish the JAERI through merger with other entities.
Omi on Monday expressed opposition to disbanding the JAERI, saying that while the
institution conducts research in various areas it operates as ''one organized body''
and that disbanding it would not benefit the country.
------------------
Nuclear experts briefed bin Laden - newspaper
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two detained Pakistani nuclear scientists have admitted
they held wide-ranging discussions on nuclear, chemical and biological weapons with
Osama bin Laden, the Washington Post reported Wednesday, citing Pakistani
officials.
The officials characterized the talks between the two retired nuclear scientists and
the Islamic extremist as "academic" and said they had no evidence the discussions
resulted in the production of any weapons, the newspaper reported.
The scientists, who have been undergoing questioning for more than two months,
had earlier claimed they met with bin Laden only to discuss Afghan relief efforts, the
newspaper said, citing Pakistani intelligence authorities.
The newspaper cited Pakistani authorities as saying Sultan Bashiruddin Mahmood
and Abdul Majid changed their story recently after being confronted with compelling
evidence of their relationship with bin Laden, the chief suspect in the Sept. 11 suicide
aircraft attacks on the United States.
Mahmood and Majid reportedly told authorities bin Laden indicated he had obtained
or had access to some type of radiological material. But Pakistani officials said they
have been unable to verify those claims, the newspaper reported.
Pakistani officials told the Washington Post the scientists insisted they provided no
materials or specific plans to bin Laden, but did hold wide-ranging "academic"
discussions.
According to the report, the officials also said Mahmood had neither the knowledge
nor the experience to assist in building any kind of nuclear bomb. The scientists were
not believed to be experts in chemical or biological weaponry, the newspaper said.
Mahmood and Majid reportedly met with bin Laden and several of his top lieutenants
over two to three days in August in the Afghan capital of Kabul, the newspaper said.
Neither of the men has been charged with a crime, but the Pakistani government is
considering charging them with violating the national official secrets act, the Post
reported. The two men were being held at an undisclosed location and could not be
reached for comment, the newspaper said.
Pakistan has been under pressure from the U.S. government to investigate the
scientists' relationship with bin Laden amid concern that the al Qaeda leader may
have acquired nuclear, biological or chemical material or weapons.
------------------
Critics: Nuclear Cleanup Falls Short
WASHINGTON (AP) - The government is spending $7 billion to decontaminate a
former nuclear weapons plant in Colorado and turn it into a wildlife refuge. But critics
said Tuesday that the cleanup will still leave the soil too polluted.
Legislation before Congress would officially designate the Rocky Flats site, 15 miles
northwest of Denver, a wildlife refuge after cleanup is completed.
Rocky Flats is contaminated with tons of plutonium and other radioactive materials,
in buildings and in the soil, after years of weapons work. The Energy Department and
its civilian contractor will decide early next year how clean the site should become.
A report by the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research contends that the
residual contamination levels being considered by the government are 40 times
greater than what would be allowed if the land is used for something other than a
wildlife refuge.
``We have no control over what will happen at Rocky Flats in the future,'' said LeRoy
Moore, a member of a citizens' group in Boulder, Colo., that is monitoring the
cleanup. About 2.5 million people live within 50 miles of the facility.
While the site stretches across more than 6,000 acres, less than 200 acres are
contaminated. While much of the soil will be trucked away, acres will remain
contaminated.
The report by IEER, a research group long involved in nuclear watchdog activities,
contends that designating the area a wildlife refuge will allow the cleanup to be less
stringent.
``We don't oppose the designation of this site as a wildlife refuge as a short-term way
to keep the public off the site,'' said Arjun Mahkijani, a nuclear physicist who heads
the institute in Takoma Park, Md. But he said cleanup standards should take into
account other likely uses of the land, including farming or residential development,
where people are more likely to become exposed.
Plutonium and other radioisotopes that will be left over in the soil would be expected
to remain dangerous for thousands of years, he said. After the cleanup, the report
said, the soil should be left with no more than 10 pico-curies of radioactivity per gram
of soil, far cleaner than what the Energy Department has been considering.
Jeremy Karpatkin, a spokesman for the Energy Department's Rocky Flats project
office, said no decision has been made on the level of residual contamination.
Meeting the level sought by Makhijani, though, ``would involve spending hundreds of
millions of dollars unnecessarily for very little risk reduction to the public,'' he said,
even taking into account various uses for the land.
Preliminary analysis from the department concludes that soil contamination could be
as high as 490 pico-curies. It could still fall within acceptable risk levels of no more
than one additional cancer per 10,000 individuals if the land becomes a wildlife
refuge.
The maximum contamination allowed would fall to 173 pico-curies if the land became
``rural residential,'' according to the DOE analysis cited by Rocky Flats officials.
Whatever the final standard, ``We will provide a safe and effective cleanup of Rocky
Flats,'' said Karpatkin. The government already has spent nearly $3 billion on the
cleanup, and will spend another $4 billion over the next five years, he said.
Makhijani said the use of wildlife designations is a way to cut cleanup costs at Rocky
Flats and, possibly, at other contaminated weapons sites in South Carolina,
Tennessee, Idaho and Washington state.
``This is a foot in the door for relaxation of cleanup standards,'' he said.
On the Net:
Institute for Energy and Environmental Research: http://www.ieer.org
Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site: http://www.rfets.gov/
-------------------
U.S. nuclear agency details reactor problems
SAN FRANCISCO, Dec 11 (Reuters) - The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission on
Tuesday identified 13 atomic reactors that either developed or were believed highly
susceptible to developing tiny cracks that could seriously damage power plant
equipment and cause lengthy shutdowns for repairs.
Of the 13 units, cracks were found and repairs were made at three units, two have
yet to be inspected, and eight did not show cracks, Victor Dricks, a spokesman for
the NRC, told Reuters.
Hairline cracks were discovered at Duke Energy's <DUK.N> Oconee 2 and 3 units in
South Carolina and the plant operator replaced the reactor vessel heads to fix the
problem, he said.
Cracks were also found and weld repairs made at Progress Energy's <PGN.N>
Crystal River 3 unit in Florida.
TWO MORE INSPECTIONS
Two units are yet to be inspected for the cracks -- American Electric Power's
<AEP.N> Cook 2 in Michigan and FirstEnergy's <FE.N> Davis Besse plant in Ohio.
The 1,090 megawatt (MW) Cook 2 unit is scheduled to shut for repairs in mid-
January, followed by the 925-MW Davis Besse unit in mid-February.
Eight units were inspected and the cracks were not found -- AmerGen Energy's
Three Mile Island 1 in Pennsylvania, Progress Energy's Robinson 2 in South
Carolina, Dominion's <D.N> North Anna 1-2 and Surry 1-2 in Virginia, Duke's
Oconee 1 in South Carolina and Entergy's <ETR.N> Arkansas Nuclear 1 in
Arkansas, Dricks said.
AmerGen Energy is a joint venture between Exelon Corp. <EXC.N> and British
Energy Plc <BGY.L>.
NO PUBLIC DANGER
The NRC does not believe the cracks could release radiation into the atmosphere.
Instead, the chief problem is an economic one for plant owners because inspections
and repairs could idle a reactor and results in lost sales of electricity for weeks,
according to utility officials.
Hairline cracks in metal alloy nozzles near the top of the reactor head have appeared
in the past along the length of the nozzles, but the NRC did not consider they needed
immediate attention. Inspections and repairs usually were made during routine
maintenance outages.
Earlier this year, however, circular cracks around the nozzle width began to show up,
raising a "potentially significant" safety concern, the NRC said in a bulletin sent to
plant operators in August.
Circular cracks are difficult to find, and plants may need to conduct inspections with
the help of fiber optic cameras to pinpoint all of them, according to the NRC.
The regulators' main worry is that a nozzle with circular cracks could separate from
the reactor head, causing debris to fall into the fuel core and rupture cooling tubes
and damage other power equipment, in turn allowing water to escape from the main
plant cooling system.
------------------
New US uranium enrichment plant would need NRC okay
WASHINGTON, Dec 10 (Reuters) - The U.S. subsidiary of European consortium
Urenco Ltd. may file a preliminary application with the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission (NRC) in early 2002 to build a new $1 billion U.S. uranium enrichment
facility, a company executive said on Monday.
The plant, estimated to cost $1 billion, would be only the second to operate in the
United States, converting raw uranium to fuel used by nuclear power plants to make
electricity.
Urenco's plan would dovetail with the Bush administration's national energy policy for
the U.S. to build more nuclear power plants.
If built, the Urenco plant would also stir competition in the U.S. enrichment market
now dominated by USEC Inc. <USU.N> subsidiary United States Enrichment Corp.
USEC's Paducah, Kentucky, plant supplies up to 70 percent of U.S. material.
Paducah has boilerplate capacity of about 11 million units of uranium annually --
enough to power about 109 nuclear plants for a year. But yearly production often
comes in below that figure, USEC said.
"We don't have domestic production capacity to meet all U.S. demand," said Charles
Yulish, a USEC spokesman. "This is a competitive market."
It takes about 100,000 units to power typical 1,000 megawatt nuke plant for a year,
according to the USEC website. There are 103 active U.S. nuclear plants, and a
megawatt powers about 1,000 homes. Nuclear plants produce about 20 percent of all
U.S. electricity.
Preliminary plans call for Urenco's plant, which has no designated site, to produce
about 3 million units of uranium each year, said Peter Lenny, president of Urenco
Inc., the U.S. arm of the British, Dutch and German consortium.
"This is in the very preliminary stage," Lenny said in a Reuters interview. "We are
very optimistic that these applications and steps will be taken."
Urenco would partner with Duke Energy Corp. <DUK.N>, Exelon Corp. <EXC.N>
and possible other firms to build the plant, he said.
Lenny, along with Urenco Ltd. Chief Executive Klaus Messer and executives from
Exelon, met with NRC officials last week to discuss the approval process, Lenny
said.
After an internal review, Urenco could make a preliminary filing with NRC in early
2002, with a site-specific application later in the year, he said. The plant could be
operational within the next five years, he said.
NRC approval would likely take several years, an agency spokeswoman said. "It
would take roughly three years from the date of the application to the date of the
decision on whether or not to issue a license," NRC spokeswoman Sue Gagner said.
NRC's review would focus on safety and environmental impact issues rather than
market competition, she said.
FIRMS SEE BENEFIT OF COMPETITION
Duke said it will support the project because it will lead to more competitive suppliers.
"We do feel very strongly ... the need for (uranium enrichment) competition in the
U.S.," said Tom Shiel, a Duke spokesman. Duke operates three nuclear plants with
seven total reactor units that generate about 7,000 megawatts of electricity.
On Oct. 25, Duke and Exelon executives sent a letter to President George W. Bush
stating that a group of U.S. firms is "actively seeking to deploy proven and
competitive enrichment technology in the U.S."
USEC has brought anti-dumping charges against Urenco, charging the firm of
flooding U.S. markets to suppress prices. The U.S. Department of Commerce could
complete its findings on the case on Friday, USEC said.
The same Urenco consortium in 1998 shelved plans to build an enrichment plant in
Louisiana because the NRC delayed its approval.
"It took seven years to get through the process and by that time conditions had
changed dramatically," Lenny said.
Urenco does not expect a repeat of its earlier problem, Lenny said, because the
NRC has a more progressive attitude toward site permitting.
The firm is considering all potential sites, but would prefer to locate the plant on an
existing nuclear site, such as the ones in Kentucky and Ohio, he said.
SWORDS TO PLOWSHARES
USEC is the sole executive agent the U.S. government allows to purchase highly
enriched uranium from dismantled Russian missiles in a 1993 swords-to-plowshares
deal. USEC convert the uranium to low-power fuel and sells it to nuke plants.
USEC has bought about $2 billion worth of Russian weapons-grade uranium, about
5,481 warheads, according to USEC congressional testimony.
USEC's Paducah facility uses gaseous diffusion to boost the radioactive
concentration of naturally occurring uranium to 5 percent. It changes uranium
hexaflouride into U-235, which powers nuclear reactors.
NRC currently regulates Paducah, USEC said.
Four firms currently control the worldwide market for enriched uranium -- USEC,
Urenco, along with French-based Eurodif-Cogema and Russian-based Tenex.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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://sandy-travels.com
ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Website: http://www.dosimetry.com
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