Bulgaria seeks delayed closure of N-plant reactors

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

Index:



Bulgaria seeks delayed closure of N-plant reactors

Ishikawa nuclear plant holds 1st emergency drill

Tight security rings U.S. nuclear power plants

Mobile phone study to expose brain cells to radiation

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



Bulgaria seeks delayed closure of N-plant reactors



SOFIA, Jan 10 (Reuters) - Bulgaria will fight to delay the closure of two of the older 

reactors at its Kozloduy nuclear power plant beyond the European Union deadline of 

2006, Energy Minister Milko Kovachev said on Thursday. 



"Our position is clear and it says that we will decommission the two reactors (number 

three and four) by 2008 and 2010 respectively and we will defend this position," 

Kovachev told Reuters. 



Bulgaria, which hopes to join the EU, bowed to the union's pressure in 2000 and 

agreed to shut down Kozloduy's first two oldest 440-megawatt reactors, number one 

and two, before 2003. 



But Bulgaria, which is the main power exporter in the Balkans, faces tough talks with 

the EU this year on a final agreement on the closure of the other two 440 MW 

reactors. Their operational life is until 2010 and 2012. 



In its report last year on Bulgaria's accession talks progress, the EU said that 

permament closure of reactors three and four should take place in 2006 at the latest. 



"An earlier closure of the reactors will affect the whole region because Bulgaria now 

covers 50 percent of the power deficit in the region," Kovachev said. 



"Bulgarian exports are not only important for the country itself but it is also an 

extremely important stabilising regional factor," he said. 



Last year Bulgaria exported seven billion kilowatt hours of power, up from 5.6 billion 

kWt in 2000 due to an increased demand from its neighbours. 



Bulgaria's main power buyers last year were Turkey with 3.8 billion kWh, followed by 

Greece, Serbia, Kosovo, Albania, Macedonia and the Yugoslav Republic of 

Montenegro. 



The Soviet-designed 3,760 MW Kozloduy plant, which has two other 1,000 MW 

recators, supplies some 44 percent of Bulgaria's power a year. It produced 19 billion 

kWh last year, its highest output for 10 years. 



Last month Kozloduy officials said they had launched preparations to close its two 

oldest reactors by end-2002 and were modernising the other two older reactors to 

convince the EU that they could be closed later than 2006. 



Bulgaria opened the energy chapter in its pre-accession talks with the EU in 

November and hopes to close it in 2003. 

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



Ishikawa nuclear plant holds 1st emergency drill

  

KANAZAWA, Japan, Jan. 10 (Kyodo) - The Ishikawa prefectural government held its 

first drill on a nuclear power plant accident Thursday, making use of an emergency 

response base at Hokuriku Electric Power Co.'s Shika nuclear plant. 



The drill in the town of Shika on the Sea of Japan coast is the third to be conducted 

in Japan following similar drills in Hokkaido and Ehime Prefecture in western Japan. 



During the drill, the central and prefectural governments established a task force at 

the Shika plant's emergency response base, located some 5 kilometers southeast of 

the plant where an assumed radiation leak had occurred. 



The base -- known as the off-site center -- is where all concerned government 

agencies gather in the case of major nuclear plant accidents to deliberate 

contingency measures. 



The Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry has instructed the Ishikawa prefectural 

government to conduct the exercise. 



Ishikawa Gov. Masanori Tanimoto said the drill was aimed at enhancing the 

prefectural government's readiness for such emergencies and reinforcing its links 

with the state, municipalities and agencies involved in preventing nuclear disasters. 

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



Tight security rings U.S. nuclear power plants

  

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan 9 (Reuters) - A day after a dismissed California nuclear 

power plant worker was arrested for allegedly threatening colleagues, U.S. power 

industry officials said he stood few chances of ever delivering those threats on the 

job. 



The nuclear power industry, already on high alert following the deadly Sept. 11 

attacks, runs its employees through a tough gauntlet of checks aimed at weeding out 

anyone who might jeopardize plant safety. 



The arrest on Tuesday of David Reza, a 43-year-old maintenance mechanic who 

was fired last month from his job at the San Onofre nuclear power plant in Southern 

California, drove home the need for that vigilance. 



Acting on allegations Reza had threatened former supervisors and co-workers, 

Orange County sheriff's deputies found some 200 rifles and ammunition stashed at 

his Laguna Niguel home and in a nearby rented storage shed. 



Plant officials said the man had not threatened the San Onofre plant itself, which lies 

near the Camp Pendleton Marine Corps base just north of San Diego. 



San Onofre, which houses two of the nation's 103 reactors, is operated by Southern 

California Edison, a subsidiary of Edison International <EIX.N>. 



Nuclear industry officials said internal security breaches were extremely rare and that 

any charges brought against the man would likely focus on threats to employees, not 

the plant. 



The nation's nuclear power plants, because they use potentially deadly radioactive 

fuel, operate under some of the strictest security measures of any industry in the 

world. 



FORMIDABLE DETERRENTS 



"Someone is not going to break into a work place at a nuclear power plant without 

armed resistance," said Jeff Lewis, a spokesman for Pacific Gas and Electric Co.'s 

<PCG.N> Diablo Canyon nuclear plant on California's central coast. 



"It's not an easy target whether they are a terrorist or a former employee." 



At Diablo Canyon, security is enforced by guards in black, commando-style uniforms 

armed with automatic rifles and semi-automatic handguns -- common throughout the 

industry. 



"These are not rent-a-cops," said Paul Gaukler, an attorney with Shaw Pittman, a 

Washington law firm that represents utilities operating nuclear power plants. 



"The security forces go through very detailed training. Two-thirds of all security 

personnel are former military or law enforcement officers," Gaulker said. 



Many of the 5,000 guards protecting the nation's nuclear power stations can point to 

display cases at the plants stuffed with marksmanship awards, a skill several plant 

operators help them keep polished by providing on-site target ranges. 



To ensure no one loses their edge, the guards' rigorous training regime requires they 

be able to repel an assault on the plant and assumes that any attack is being aided 

b???omeone on the inside. 



Managing to work under this constant air of suspicion requires strict discipline at the 

plants and constant surveillance by cameras mounted throughout the plants. 



STRICT SCREENING 



To gain clearance, the nation's 100,000 nuclear power plant workers must undergo 

the same background checks used to screen FBI agents, checking previous 

employment records, and ensuring they have never been in trouble with the law. 



They are also given an extensive psychological evaluation aimed at gauging their 

emotional stability. 



Once past that barrier, they are subjected to random drug and alcohol tests, which 

the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission requires be administered to at least 50 

percent of plant employees each year. 



On top of all that, plant supervisors are enrolled in what is called a Continuous 

Behavior Observation Program designed to help them quickly identify quirky or 

suspicious behavior among any of their subordinates. 



Assuming an employee clears all of the above, they then face a battery of security 

checks just to get into the plant. 



Each day they troop through extremely sensitive metal detectors, show a badge 

holding a small computer chip full of personal data, and run their hand through a 

palm scanner. 



Security has been further beefed up since the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade 

Center and the Pentagon, with a ban on plant visits by non-essential personnel, more 

guards on duty, and new barriers in place to keep cars and trucks a safe distance in 

case they are carrying bombs. 



Several states have also deployed National Guard troops to keep an extra eye on 

local reactors, while "nautical exclusion zones" have been extended to protect lake or 

seaside plants. 



So far the extra efforts have paid off. 



The last serious effort to penetrate a plant's security zone was in 1993, when a 

person with a history of mental illness harmlessly crashed a car into the outer gates 

of the Three Mile Island power plant in Pennsylvania. 

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



Mobile phone study to expose brain cells to radiation



Australian Broadcasting Company - 10 January - Australian scientists looking at the 

health effects of mobile phones  will expose human brain cells to radiation in their 

latest research.  



A study underway at Sydney's St Vincents Hospital Centre for Immunology  will test 

a theory that chronic mobile phone usage exposes people's  brain cells to heat shock 

proteins which may cause cancer. 



Over a number of weeks, scientists will expose brain cells to the amount  of radiation 

a person would receive if they had four one-hour mobile  phone calls a day. 



Centre director Professor Ronald Penny says he hopes the Government will  use the 

results to develop mobile phone guidelines, especially for  children.   



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

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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