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Fight Over Nuke Dump in Nevada
Index:
Fight Over Nuke Dump in Nevada
La. Investigates Radiation Leak
Prairie Island Indian Community Supports Yucca Mountain Recommendation
Ex-Lucky Dragon crew member to visit Marshall Islands in Feb.
Glitch shuts Czech nuclear plant Temelin again
Calif. ex-nuclear worker charged with plant threat
========================================
Fight Over Nuke Dump in Nevada
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Energy Department's embrace of Yucca Mountain in
Nevada as the nation's future nuclear waste dump is being hailed as a breakthrough
by the nuclear industry and its supporters.
But it will be far from the last word, even if President Bush, as expected, gives the
project the green light.
The next real battle ground likely will be in Congress, where the Nevada
congressional delegation vows to continue to fight.
The Nevadans are likely to get help from Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle of
South Dakota, who called the endorsement of Yucca Mountain ``unfortunate and
premature.'' South Dakota, like Nevada, has no nuclear power plants.
But Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., acknowledged in an interview that ``it's going to be a
tough deal'' to overturn Bush if he goes along with Energy Secretary Spencer
Abraham, who said Thursday he was recommending Yucca Mountain.
``Nothing has been easy on this thing,'' said Reid, who is No. 2 in the Senate
leadership and has fought against Yucca Mountain for years.
He hopes that he will be able to sway senators to Nevada's side by emphasizing that
approval of Yucca Mountain will mean thousands of shipments over the interstate
highways and rail lines through urban centers like Chicago and St. Louis and across
45 states.
``This is about more than Nevada,'' he insists.
Abraham said he would tell Bush that the Yucca Mountain site 90 miles from the
glitter and lights of Las Vegas is a ``scientifically sound and suitable'' place to bury
77,000 tons of highly radioactive nuclear waste.
The government has spent the past dozen years studying Yucca Mountain, which is
adjacent to the Nevada Test Site, where nuclear bombs were detonated during the
Cold War. So far the studies have cost more than $6.8 billion.
But thanks to a law passed 20 years ago, Nevada's chances to bar the waste
shipments may not yet be dead. It allows Nevada to veto the president, although in
turn Congress may override the state's objection and let the project proceed anyway.
``This is not the final step,'' declared Nevada Sen. John Ensign, a Republican, openly
miffed Thursday that his GOP colleagues in the administration had turned on his
state. ``There is still a lot of fight left in this team. The battle is far from over.''
He said Bush could cost Republicans two of Nevada's three congressional seats in
Nevada and threaten the GOP's narrow majority in the House if he approves the
Yucca Mountain site.
``We will use every argument - scientific, fiscal argument as well as every political
argument with the White House,'' Ensign said.
While Ensign and other Nevada politicians talked of additional lawsuits and trying to
persuade Bush to go against his own advisers, the real fight over nuclear waste is
likely to play out in Congress. Many lawmakers have a personal stake since their
states now have the waste destined to go to Yucca Mountain.
And if past votes on the issue are any barometer, the Nevadans may be in for still
another bruising. It was 15 years ago in Congress that Nevada got into the mess it's
in today.
It was then that Congress - by a better than 2-to-1 margin in both the House and
Senate - declared that only Yucca Mountain was to be considered as the nation's
nuclear waste repository, eliminating two other potential sites in Washington state
and Texas. Several other regions of the country had been fenced off for
consideration earlier.
Nevada politicians said the vote was largely because lawmakers didn't want the
waste in their state. The same sentiment is likely to surface this time around.
But today, there are more than 40,000 tons of highly radioactive reactor waste piling
up at nuclear power plants in 31 states, with the amount growing by 2,000 tons
annually. If Yucca Mountain is approved it all heads to Nevada; if Nevada prevails,
Congress must begin from scratch in its search for a burial place.
No state has more reactors than Illinois, so House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill.,
was quick Thursday to heap praise on Abraham. The energy secretary's ``sound
decision will finally enable us to take a necessary step forward'' on addressing the
waste problem, said Hastert.
A broad coalition of industry groups has launched a program, spearheaded by the
U.S. Chamber of Commerce, to press for approval of the Yucca Mountain waste
facility. Environmentalist and anti-nuclear groups have vowed to fight the project.
The industry group is co-chaired by former New Hampshire Gov. John Sununu, a
conservative Republican, and former Democratic vice presidential candidate
Geraldine Ferraro, who said she joined because the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks
convinced her nuclear wastes should be consolidated at one place.
On the Net: Energy Department site: http://www.doe.gov
------------------
La. Investigates Radiation Leak
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - A steel container that leaked dangerous levels of radiation
after arriving from Sweden will be stored behind a lead-and-concrete shield until the
cause of the leak can be determined, state officials said Thursday.
The package, which emitted radiation levels at least five times higher than U.S.
regulations allow, was shipped to a company that packages radiation sources for
industrial use.
Authorities said it was unlikely anyone was harmed by the leak. Preliminary
calculations showed those who came in contact with the package would have been
exposed to radiation similar to a CAT scan, said Michael Henry, senior environmental
scientist at the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality.
``I don't think anyone was exposed to anything that will be harmful to health. At least
there's no indication of that as of yet,'' Henry said.
The leak was discovered Jan. 2 by workers from St. Rose-based Source Production
and Equipment Co. who retrieved the container from the New Orleans airport.
The package had been transported from Stockholm to Memphis by FedEx, whose
crew members wear devices that constantly monitor radiation levels. The devices
showed normal levels during the trip, said Sandra Munoz, a company spokeswoman.
``The radiation was discovered after it left our possession,'' Munoz said.
Henry said the leak probably began sometime after the container arrived in Memphis.
FedEx hired a trucking company to drive the package from Memphis to New
Orleans. Munoz would not reveal the name of the company, citing a confidentiality
policy.
The Swedish company that shipped the package, Studsvik, said radiation levels were
tested in Stockholm and Paris and found to be normal. Studsvik is developing a plan
to safely open the container and determine the cause of the leak, Henry said.
The package was sending out about 1 roentgen per hour of radiation at a distance of
20 feet away, five times the amount allowed under U.S. regulations, he said.
He said pellets of the radioactive material, Iridium-192, probably moved from a
shielded part of the container to an area that allowed radiation to leak. Studsvik has
been prohibited from shipping Iridium-192 since the discovery.
Iridium-192 is sold to testing laboratories, which use it in radiography to check
welded joints in structures such as oil pipelines and bridges.
-----------------
Prairie Island Indian Community Supports Yucca Mountain Recommendation
Tribe Urges President Bush and Congress to Authorize Facility and Begin
Removing Nuclear Waste From Near Its Reservation As Soon As Possible
PRAIRIE ISLAND, Minn., Jan. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- The Prairie Island Indian
Community today declared its support for Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham's
recommendation of Yucca Mountain as the permanent national repository for spent
nuclear fuel. Prairie Island is the closest community in the nation to an existing,
temporary nuclear waste storage site.
"The Secretary's recommendation is an important step toward one day removing the
nuclear waste from near our reservation and lessoning the nuclear threat to our
community," said Prairie Island Tribal Council President Audrey Kohnen. "We hope
President Bush and Congress agree with the Secretary's decision and allow the
project to move forward quickly.
"We also urge our Minnesota Congressional delegation to act in the best interest of
our community and the state of Minnesota by supporting Yucca Mountain."
Xcel Energy's nuclear waste storage site is located just 600 yards from the Prairie
Island Indian Community. Adding to the tribe's concern, in the event of an accident,
there is only one permanent evacuation route off Prairie Island, and it's frequently
blocked by train activity and subject to flooding. The tribe has been fighting to have
the nuclear waste removed from Prairie Island since 1994 when the state of
Minnesota first allowed Xcel Energy to store the nuclear waste near its reservation.
Officials from Prairie Island have visited Yucca Mountain on several occasions to
learn about the facility and witness the work that is being done there to determine the
site's suitability.
"We recognize this is a very difficult issue and we respect the viewpoints of those
who don't share our position on Yucca Mountain," said Kohnen. "We did not ask for
a nuclear neighbor, and we know the people of Nevada have not asked for one
either. But we believe that storing nuclear waste in a remote, militarily secure
location, in a facility designed for permanent storage is a better solution than leaving
it where it sits, virtually unguarded and only yards away from vulnerable communities
such as ours."
Currently, dry-cask storage units of nuclear waste sit just outside Prairie Island's
reservation. Additional casks will be filled within the next few years for a total of 17.
The tribe believes the recent acts of terrorism increase the need to remove the
nuclear waste from Prairie Island. The nuclear waste storage casks on Prairie Island
sit only yards away from the Mississippi River, on a flood plain. The tribe is
concerned that an accident or an act of terrorism could potentially devastate its
community and communities all along the Mississippi River, from Minnesota to the
Gulf of Mexico.
If approved, Yucca Mountain isn't expected to open until 2012.
The Prairie Island Indian Community is a federally recognized Indian Nation, located
50 minutes southeast of Minneapolis/St. Paul along the Mississippi River.
--------------------
Ex-Lucky Dragon crew member to visit Marshall Islands in Feb.
TOKYO, Jan. 11 (Kyodo) - By: Kikuyo Komesu A former crew member of the Lucky
Dragon No. 5, a Japanese fishing boat exposed to radiation during a 1954 U.S.
hydrogen bomb test in the Pacific, said Friday he will visit the Marshall Islands, the
site of the incident, in February to attend a memorial ceremony.
Matashichi Oishi, 67, who runs a dry-cleaning shop in Tokyo's Ota Ward, said he will
make the visit as a member of a Japanese peace delegation, Japan Council Against
A and H Bombs (Gensuikyo), between Feb. 26 and March 10.
The visit marks the first time for a surviving crew member to visit the islands after the
incident, according to Oishi.
Gensuikyo is calling on the Japanese people to take part in the delegation, which
includes Oishi and Hiroshi Miwa, a victim of the 1945 atomic bombing in Nagasaki
conducted by the U.S. military during World War II.
The delegates will attend the ceremony for Bikini Day on March 1, which will be held
in Majuro, the capital of the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and will hold exchanges
with the islands' residents.
On March 1, 1954, the 141-ton Japanese fishing boat, operating in the central
Pacific, was covered by a cloud of radioactive ash caused by a U.S. thermonuclear
weapon test on Bikini Island, 135 kilometers to the west of the boat.
U.S. authorities had issued a general warning defining a danger zone around the
islands, but gave no specific warning on the timing or location of the test.
Six months after the ship's 23 crew members were exposed to fallout ash, chief radio
engineer Aikichi Kuboyama, 40, died.
The United States gave 1 million yen as a gesture of sympathy to the widow of one
crew member who died shortly after the test.
Oishi had recovered from injuries sustained from acute radiation exposure, but is still
suffering from bad health. In 1994, he had surgery to treat liver cancer.
Twelve of the 23 crew members of the ship are still alive, and many have various
illnesses.
The U.S. had conducted a total of 67 nuclear tests between 1946 and 1958 around
the Marshall Islands. Residents of the islands, exposed to massive amounts of
radioactive ash, were evacuated and are still unable to return.
Speaking at a news conference at Gensuikyo headquarters in Tokyo, Oishi said he
wanted to ask the islanders what they think of the incident and how it affected their
lives.
''I would like to share my feelings with the people as one of the victims of the
radiation by listening to them,'' he said.
''Now the people of the United States are afraid of the terrorist attacks and the
anthrax incidents, but we, the victims of the radiation incident, have been suffering
from the anxiety of invisible fears of the effects of the radiation for a long time,'' he
said.
Oishi said the details of the incident are still not known and the problems concerning
the victims are unresolved.
Oishi, who once tried to put the memories of the incident behind him, said he had
decided to visit the site ahead of the 50th anniversary of the incident, as he now feels
he is obliged to resolve the issues.
''Many of my colleagues from the Lucky Dragon No. 5 had died really miserable
deaths. My sorrow and feelings for those colleagues have grown over time and I
want to pass on our experiences to future generations,'' Oishi said.
Nine crew members had died of liver cancer, and of them, three had other types of
cancer, according to Oishi.
Oishi also expressed indignation over the possibility of the U.S. resuming
underground nuclear tests, saying, ''It is out of the question.''
''I can only ask if the U.S. has lost all common sense... That is why I feel I am obliged
to pass on my experience -- that nuclear weapons are dangerous and cause pain --
to younger people.''
A Washington Post article Tuesday quoted governmental and nongovernmental
weapons specialists as saying that the administration of President George W. Bush
is expected to ask Congress about the possibility of resuming underground nuclear
tests.
------------------
Glitch shuts Czech nuclear plant Temelin again
PRAGUE, Jan 11 (Reuters) - Czech nuclear power plant Temelin reached 100
percent capacity for the first time in its history on Friday, only to be shut down hours
later by another in a series of technical glitches.
The new Soviet-designed plant has strained relations with nuclear-free neighbour
Austria, which wants it decommissioned on the grounds it is unsafe.
The plant's spokesman Milan Nebesar told Reuters the fault appeared in an electrical
generator in the non-nuclear part of the station and posed no threat to nuclear safety.
He said technicians were investigating the problem.
Temelin, a main asset of power company CEZ, has been gradually raising output at
the Soviet-made 1,000 megawatt reactor, built just 60km from the Austrian border,
since launching it late last year.
The station has two Soviet-designed VVER 1,000 reactors and a U.S. control
system.
The plant's second reactor is still under construction.
The Czech have been saying Temelin is a state-of-the art project and is absolutely
safe despite a number of delays, project changes and glitches in test operations. The
International Atomic Energy Agency has also said the station is safe to operate.
The Czechs have also pledged to boost the plant's safety in order to end an Austrian
bid to block talks on the Czech Republic's accession to the European Union.
----------------
Calif. ex-nuclear worker charged with plant threat
LOS ANGELES, Jan 10 (Reuters) - An unemployed mechanic, arrested for
maintaining a stockpile of guns and explosives and threatening to shoot workers at a
California nuclear power plant, was charged on Thursday with 13 criminal counts
ranging from weapons violations to possession of cocaine.
David Reza, 44, was arrested on Tuesday and accused making "terrorist threats"
against his former co-workers and supervisors at the San Onofre nuclear plant south
of Los Angeles after he was fired from his job there, prosecutors said.
If convicted, Reza faces up to eight years in prison, Orange County Deputy District
Attorney Elizabeth Henderson said.
Orange County Superior Court Judge Carlton Biggs granted a request to delay
Reza's arraignment until Jan. 18, to give time for a public defender to be appointed.
Reza, who has denied threatening anyone and said he was a gun collector being
unfairly targeted because he was Native American, was being held without bail.
Reza faces eight felony charges for the alleged threats, possession of illegal assault
weapons and other "destructive devices," including an M-1 carbine with pistol grips
and an anti-tank missile launcher, and possession of cocaine.
He also faces misdemeanor charges of possessing a hand grenade, more than 2.5
ounces of tear gas, a drug-smoking device, metal knuckles, a switch-blade knife with
a blade larger than 2 inches, and a concealed firearm, Henderson said.
Reza's girlfriend, Kristi Mattauch, told reporters on Thursday he was innocent.
"He was trying to get a check," she said. "And was he angry because he wasn't
getting paid? Absolutely. He threatened to put his foot in someone's behind."
But when asked if Reza had threatened to shoot his former colleagues, Mattauch
said: "Why would he? ... They messed up again and he's going to sue them again.
He's going to win. He has no reason to be upset."
Reza, a pipefitter who reportedly identified himself as a former U.S. Marine, called a
San Onofre worker on Friday, despondent over his unsuccessful attempt to return to
work after a disability leave, police said.
"They have taken my job. They have taken my life. I have nothing left to lose ... I'll
take my guns and go to San Onofre and whack a bunch of people," Reza said,
according to police.
The unidentified worker who took that call alerted security at the nuclear power plant
which in turn notified police of the threats on Tuesday morning, authorities said.
Police have said there was no threat against the San Onofre nuclear facility itself.
The San Onofre plant is jointly owned by Southern California Edison, Sempra Energy
<SRE.N> unit San Diego Gas and Electric and the cities of Riverside and Anaheim,
California. Southern California Edison is a unit of Edison International <EIX.N>.
The plant, which supplies 2,200 megawatts of electricity, has been operating under
increased security since the Sept. 11 hijack attacks in New York and Washington. A
megawatt is roughly enough electricity to supply power to 1,000 homes.
The San Onofre plant is one of two nuclear power stations in the state, along with the
Diablo Canyon plant in central California. Taken together the plants supply more than
10 percent of the power used in the state on an average day.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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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