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VA Compensates More Veterans Exposed to Radiation
Index:
VA Compensates More Veterans Exposed to Radiation
Bulgarian PM promises balanced solution on N-plant
Greens hoping to ride on dissatisfaction of uranium mine & nuclear dump
IAEA team arrives in Iraq for nuclear inspection
Exelon Nuclear Reports 94.4% Capacity Factor, Record Generation
Panel Looks at Yucca Mountain Site
Indian Point Intruders Were Hunters
Successful Treatment of First Shipment of Hazardous Nuclear Waste at K-25 Plan
====================================================
VA Compensates More Veterans Exposed to Radiation
WASHINGTON, Jan. 25 /PRNewswire/ -- Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) Anthony
J. Principi announced today the addition of five new cancers to the list of diseases
presumed to be connected to the exposure of veterans to radiation during their
military service. Veterans diagnosed with cancer of the bone, brain, colon, lung or
ovary will have an easier time establishing entitlement to compensation for their
illnesses beginning March 26, 2002.
"These veterans accepted the risks of duty and have borne the burden of their
illnesses in service to our nation. They should not have to bear an additional and
unequal burden to prove they deserve the benefits they've so rightfully earned. The
new rules will not cure their cancers, but they will ease the burden of proof required
to receive appropriate compensation for their disabilities," Principi said.
The new rules apply to those veterans who participated in "radiation-risk activities"
while on active duty, during active duty for training or inactive duty training as a
member of a reserve component.
The definition of radiation-risk activities has also been expanded to include service at
Amchitka Island, Alaska, prior to January 1, 1974, if a veteran was exposed while
performing duties related to certain underground nuclear tests. The new definition
also includes service at gaseous diffusion plants located in Paducah, Ky.,
Portsmouth, Ohio and an area known as K25 at Oak Ridge, Tenn. The previous
definition was limited to service members who took part in the occupation of
Hiroshima or Nagasaki or onsite at atmospheric nuclear weapons tests, or American
POWs interred in Japan during World War II. People in these groups are frequently
called "atomic veterans."
In 1988, Congress established a presumption of service connection for 13 cancers in
veterans exposed to "ionizing radiation," with later changes bringing the number to
16.
Under current statutes, the following diseases are presumed to be service connected
if the veteran participated in a radiation-risk activity: leukemia (other than chronic
lymphocytic leukemia), cancer of the thyroid, breast, pharynx, esophagus, stomach,
small intestine, pancreas, gall bladder, bile ducts, salivary gland, or urinary tract,
multiple myeloma, lymphomas (except Hodgkin's disease), primary cancer of the
liver (except if cirrhosis or hepatitis B is indicated) or bronchiolo-alveolar carcinoma.
VA's changes ensure equity between veterans and federal civilians who may be
entitled to compensation for these cancers caused by radiation under comparable
federal laws such as the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) of 1990, as
amended in 2000.
Veterans or their survivors can file claims for compensation by contacting a VA
regional office at 1-800-827-1000 or visiting VA's Website at http://www.va.gov .
----------------
Bulgarian PM promises balanced solution on N-plant
KOZLODUY, Bulgaria, Jan 28 (Reuters) - Bulgaria's prime minister visited its only
nuclear power plant on Monday and promised a decision on when to close its two
older reactors that would suit both the European Union and the Balkan state.
"We all understand what Kozloduy means to Bulgaria, to its economy and its people,"
former king Simeon II, now Prime Minister Simeon Saxe Coburg, told a meeting of
local officials.
"The government is trying to find a balance between the interests of the Bulgarian
people and what Europe requires from us on the basis of obligations that have been
taken by the previous government," he said.
A small group of local citizens opposed to an early closure who met Saxe-Coburg
during his first visit to the Kozloduy plant carried placards demanding a national
referendum on its fate.
"We can do without the king but not without the station," read one placard.
Bulgaria bowed to the EU pressure in 2000 and agreed to shut down Kozloduy's two
oldest 440-megawatt reactors, number one and two, before 2003.
But it is still not clear when it would close the other two 440 MW reactors, number
three and four.
The Soviet-designed 3,760 MW Kozloduy plant, which has two other 1,000 MW
recators, supplies 44 percent of Bulgaria's power a year. It produced 19 billion kWh
last year, its highest output for 10 years.
Bulgaria opened the energy chapter in its pre-accession talks with the EU in
November and hopes to close it in 2003.
According to a 1999 deal with the European Commission, Bulgaria should close
them in 2008 and 2010, respectively, but in the last two annual reports on Bulgaria
the commission insisted it should be in 2006 at the latest.
Most Bulgarian officials say the two reactors have been modernised to be safe and
the country, which is the main power exporter in the Balkans cannot afford to close
them so early.
But last week the local media interpreted Saxe-Coburg's remarks after meeting
Prime Minister Costas Simitis of Greece, a main supporter of an earlier closure, as a
surprise agreement to close them in 2006.
"We have taken firm international obligations to take reactors one and two out of
exploitation by the end of this year and will make neccessary efforts to meet the
dates of taking out of use reactors number three and four," he said then.
Local newspapers reported that when asked if he meant 2006, the former king
answered: "Things are moving in this direction."
On Monday, Saxe-Coburg said his remarks were misinterpreted.
"I only said that we will try to make every effort to take into consideration what
Europe wants from us. This did not mean dates, compromises or pre-determined
decisions," said.
He added that an energy strategy prepared by the government should be approved
by the middle of March after which a decision on the fate of reactors three and four
will be taken.
-----------------
Greens hoping to ride on dissatisfaction of uranium mine & nuclear dump
Jan 28 - Australian Broadcasting Company - The Australian Greens are hopeful
recent leaks at the Beverley Uranium Mine and talk of a nuclear waste dump in
South Australia will strengthen their chances at the state election.
National leader Senator Bob Brown is in Adelaide today and hopes the Greens'
success at the Federal Election last year will continue in South Australia on
February 9.
"The reception we're getting is great, our record is on the board and having one or
two members in the State Parliament after these elections is the best value that any
voter could want for," he said.
"It will make a difference, it will engender new debate and it will put up good
alternative options to the meagre fare that the big parties tend to debate on."
----------------
IAEA team arrives in Iraq for nuclear inspection
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A team from the global nuclear watchdog arrived in Baghdad
Friday to carry out a routine annual inspection at a time when Iraq is under close
scrutiny by the United States.
"It is a safeguard inspection like last year ... by an inspectors' team from the
International Atomic Energy Agency under the NPT Safeguard Agreement between
Iraq and the agency," the head of the seven-member team, Anrzey Pietruzewski, told
reporters.
"We are obliged to carry out such inspections on a yearly basis," Pietruzewski said.
The team is scheduled to start work Saturday and leave Iraq on Jan. 30.
The inspection is governed by the 1968 nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, of which
Iraq is a signatory, and has nothing to do with the suspended U.N. arms verification
program in Iraq.
The visit began one day after U.S. Under-Secretary of State John Bolton accused
Iraq and North Korea of violating the treaty and interfering with the IAEA's monitoring
work.
"I caution those who think they can pursue nuclear weapons without detection by the
IAEA -- the United States and its allies will prove you wrong," Bolton told delegates of
the 66 member countries of the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva.
Iraqi and North Korean envoys to the talks, the world's main negotiating forum on
arms control, denied the charges.
Under the terms of the Safeguard Agreement, the Vienna-based IAEA carries out
inspections to ensure nuclear material does not get diverted to military programs.
"We are going to verify the nuclear material in question at a specified location and
information about our activity will be transferred through official channels to the Iraqi
authorities and the Iraqi embassy in Vienna," Pietruzewski said.
IAEA TASK TECHNICAL
He described his mission as technical, saying the data the team collected would be
sent to the United Nations for analysis.
"We are just doing the technical job here and our task is just a technical task -- to do
the job and collect data and pass this data to the U.N. headquarters in Vienna to
analyze this data and make a statement to the Iraqi authorities," he said.
President Bush has repeatedly warned Iraqi President Saddam Hussein he would
face consequences for his refusal to allow in U.N. weapons inspectors to look for
signs that weapons of mass destruction were under development.
Congressional leaders have urged Bush to make Iraq the next target after
Afghanistan.
The IAEA team has no connection with an arms verification program, imposed on
Iraq after the 1991 Gulf War but suspended in late 1998, under which the IAEA sent
regular teams to investigate whether Iraq had developed nuclear weapons.
In its last inspection under the Safeguard Agreement, the IAEA spent four days in
January 2001 inspecting radioactive material at the Tuwaitha nuclear plant, 12 miles
south of Baghdad.
The IAEA had sealed the material on an earlier visit to the plant, which was
destroyed after the Gulf War.
-----------------
Exelon Nuclear Reports 94.4% Capacity Factor, Record Generation
WARRENVILLE, Ill., Jan. 25 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Exelon Nuclear's 17
generating units ran at a 94.4 percent fleet-average capacity factor in 2001, the
highest performance ever for the nation's largest operator of commercial nuclear
reactors.
The units -- at 10 sites in Illinois, Pennsylvania and New Jersey -- generated a total
of 118.8 million megawatt-hours of electricity during the year, 3.8 million megawatt-
hours more than in 2000. A megawatt-hour is a million watts generated over an hour
and is enough electricity to power 100 typical homes.
The record performance totals came during a year that began with a renewed,
widespread public interest in nuclear power as a reliable, expandable non-emitting
source of electricity. During the year, eight of Exelon Nuclear's 17 units either
completed or were approved for power uprates totaling more than 500 megawatts of
new generation from existing plants.
Also in 2001:
-- Five of Exelon Nuclear's 10 sites had their highest capacity factor
ever. The 94.4 percent fleet capacity factor in 2001 is an increase
from 93.8 percent recorded in 2000. The national average for capacity
factors in 2000 was 89.6 percent, the most recent year for which
national statistics are available.
-- Six Exelon Nuclear sites produced more electricity than ever before.
-- The 2-unit Byron Generating Station in Illinois became the first Exelon
Nuclear site to produce more than 20 million megawatt-hours in one
year.
-- The Limerick Generating Station in Pennsylvania set a U.S. record for the shortest
boiling water reactor refueling, at 16 days, 8 hours. The average duration of the
fleet's six refuelings was 25 days. The industry average in 2001 was 38 days.
-- Eight sites achieved their lowest-ever production costs.
-- Braidwood Unit 1 ran for 535 days of continuous operation, a record for the
company's Midwest Regional operating group.
"This is an indication of the importance nuclear power has in meeting the growing
demand for electricity," said Oliver D. Kingsley Jr., President and Chief Nuclear
Officer of Exelon Nuclear. "Exelon Nuclear, and the industry as a whole, is providing
more power than ever from its plants.
"When you also consider that the operating licenses of many of these plants can be
extended, you see the substantial impact nuclear power is having and will have on
America's energy independence."
Operating license extensions and power uprates ensure not only that nuclear
generating plants continue to operate safely over the long term, but that more
electricity is available without building new generating plants. Power uprates at
Exelon Nuclear alone will have increased generation by the equivalent of a large
power plant by 2003.
A sustained, high level of nuclear plant performance is one reason public support for
nuclear energy as a source of electricity in the future continues to be strong. In a
national survey conducted in October, 65 percent of respondents said they favored
nuclear power, 84 percent said the government should extend operating licenses of
existing plants and 72 percent said the U.S. should keep the nuclear option open for
future power needs.
Here are some other highlights of Exelon Nuclear's 2001 fleet performance:
-- Long runs: In addition to Braidwood 1's 535-day run, Limerick 2 ran 405
days continuously and Peach Bottom 3 ran 400 days. At year end, Byron 1
was continuing a 444 day run.
-- By leveraging fleet size and standardizing practices among plants,
Exelon Nuclear reduced the number of suppliers by 23 percent. In turn,
that reduced operating costs.
-- The fleet's average production cost declined 12 percent from 2000,
despite additional security costs related to the events of Sept. 11.
Already among the most hardened commercial facilities in existence,
nuclear plants took enhanced security measures after the attacks in New
York and Washington. Those measures remain in place.
-- The five stations that set site capacity factor records were Limerick
in Pennsylvania (95.7 percent, with a refueling outage) and Byron
(97.2, with a refueling), Clinton (96.4) LaSalle (97.3) and Quad Cities
(94.9) generating stations in Illinois.
"Our higher level of plant performance stems from the efforts of the people who work
at Exelon Nuclear," Kingsley said. "There's no better workforce in our industry."
Exelon Corporation (NYSE: EXC) is one of the nation's largest electric utilities with
approximately five million customers and more than $15 billion in annual revenues.
The company has one of the industry's largest portfolios of electricity generation
capacity, with a nationwide reach and strong positions in the Midwest and Mid-
Atlantic. Exelon distributes electricity to approximately five million customers in
Illinois and Pennsylvania and gas to 425,000 customers in the Philadelphia area.
The company also has holdings in such competitive businesses as energy,
infrastructure services and energy services. Exelon is headquartered in Chicago and
trades on the NYSE under the ticker EXC.
-------------------
Panel Looks at Yucca Mountain Site
WASHINGTON (AP) - A panel of scientists says the Energy Department's plan to
store nuclear waste in Nevada is fraught with uncertainties.
Indeed, the scientists say, no matter where the waste is put, it will be impossible to
avoid unexpected problems over the more than 10,000 years the material will be
highly radioactive.
The findings of the oversight board come as the White House prepares, possibly
within weeks, to give the go-ahead for the Yucca Mountain waste project in Nevada.
The Energy Department signed off on the site earlier this month.
The scientists emphasized in a letter sent to congressional leaders and the
department that they were making no judgment on whether Yucca Mountain, 90
miles northwest of Las Vegas, should be designated for long-term burial of 77,000
tons of nuclear waste.
The panel, which was created by Congress as a technical watchdog in the search for
a nuclear waste site, acknowledged that it had found no single issue ``that would
automatically eliminate'' Yucca Mountain as a waste repository.
But the 11-member board said the Energy Department's analysis of the facility
depends largely on computer models that try to predict performance thousands of
years in the future - and that poses scientific uncertainties that must be considered.
Despite 13 years of scientific study of the Yucca site, there remain ``gaps in data and
basic understanding'' of how the volcanic rock and hydrology - as well as the man-
made barriers that would contain the waste - will perform over tens of thousands of
years, the panel said in its report released Friday.
As a result, the board has ``limited confidence'' in the Energy Department's
predictions that the site will provide the protection that is anticipated over many
centuries. It urged the department to find ways to make their projections ``more
realistic.''
At the same time, the panel acknowledged ``eliminating all uncertainty associated
with (future) performance would never be possible at any repository.''
Policy makers will have to decide ``how much scientific uncertainty is acceptable,''
said the board in letters sent Thursday to the Energy Department and congressional
leaders.
Two weeks ago, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham announced he has concluded
``that the science behind this project is sound and that the (Yucca) site is technically
suitable'' to keep highly radioactive waste from commercial power plants and the
federal weapons program.
He said he planned to give a formal recommendation next month to President Bush
to go ahead with the project, which is strongly opposed by Nevada officials who have
argued that the government is ignoring safety concerns.
The findings by the panel, formally known as the Nuclear Waste Technical Review
Board - its members coming from scientific and engineering disciplines - are likely to
be used by critics of the Yucca project as support for the need for more scientific
studies before a green light is given by the president.
But the Energy Department in a statement noted that the panel found no single
scientific show-stopper in its review of the Yucca program and took heart in the
scientists' declaration that no matter where the waste is put, there will be
uncertainties.
The oversight panel has expressed concerns for several years about various aspects
of the Yucca project, from the waste site's design and the limitations of using
computer models to predict future performance to the reliability of the waste
canisters.
In its report, the board said the Energy Department had taken steps to address some
of these issues, but that others have not been fully addressed.
For example, the board said it's not certain that the waste canisters will hold up as
predicted by project engineers, or that the estimates on how fast wastes will
eventually move through the volcanic rocks into groundwater are reliable.
All this, the scientists say, is complicated by the difficulty in predicting performance
more than 10,000 years into the future.
Yucca project engineers say a new, much stronger alloy that will be used in waste
containers will provide corrosion protection for 10,000 years. But the board said the
alloy has only been observed for several decades and its performance for thousands
of years is uncertain, especially at high temperatures such as those surrounding the
radioactive waste.
Last year, the Energy Department also agreed to consider as a possible option a
new design that would allow for much lower temperatures in the disposal area -
something the oversight board has viewed as ``critical'' for years.
But the board said the project engineers have yet to thoroughly compare the benefits
of the low-temperature option and made no commitment use that design.
-----------------
Indian Point Intruders Were Hunters
BUCHANAN, N.Y. (AP) - Security forces on alert for terrorists at the Indian Point
nuclear plants thwarted three turkey hunters, including one who was re-arrested
when he returned to retrieve his pellet gun.
Buchanan police said the men were found at 3:10 p.m. Thursday, looking for turkeys
on an unfenced section of the Indian Point property. The property was not in a high-
security area and the men posed no threat to the plants, the police said.
The men were charged with a trespassing violation and released without bail.
But Willard Jones, 25, of Peekskill, not realizing police had confiscated his rifle,
returned to Indian Point to look for it and was arrested again and charged with
misdemeanor trespassing, a more serious charge, police said.
Security at the plants has been heightened since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
-----------------
Perma-Fix Completes Successful Treatment of First Shipment of Hazardous Nuclear
Waste at K-25 Plant in Oak Ridge, Tennessee
ATLANTA, Jan. 29 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Perma-Fix Environmental Services,
Inc. (Nasdaq: PESI) (BSE: PES) (Germany: PES.BE) announced today that its
subsidiary, East Tennessee Materials and Energy Corporation ("M&EC"),
successfully treated hazardous radioactive waste from its advanced mixed waste
treatment facility at the Department of Energy ("DOE") K-25 plant in Oak Ridge,
Tenn. A total of 1,100 drums of processed waste have now been shipped for final
disposal.
Perma-Fix and its subsidiaries have received five multi-year subcontracts from the
DOE and other federal agencies valued at approximately $120 million for the
treatment of mixed waste stored at DOE sites, as well as wastes from other
governmental agencies. Bechtel-Jacobs Company, LLC, DOE's site manager,
awarded M&EC three subcontracts to treat DOE mixed waste in 1998, which cover
treatment of millions of cubic feet of legacy, operational and remediation nuclear
waste, including both solids and liquids. UT-Battelle, operator of the Oak Ridge
National Labs, has awarded the Company a contract for treatment of uranium and
thorium chips at various DOE sites, and Kaiser-Hill Company, LLC, awarded Perma-
Fix a contract to treat aqueous waste generated at the DOE Rocky Flats site.
M&EC's 150,000-square-foot facility, located on the grounds of the Oak Ridge K-25
weapons facility of the Department of Energy, utilizes proprietary technologies to
process radioactive and hazardous waste, eliminating the harmful impact on the
environment. Output from the plant consists of encapsulated radioactive waste
ready for long-term, safe disposal. Besides servicing DOE contracts, the facility is
able to treat other governmental, institutional and commercially generated mixed
waste now held in storage nationwide.
Dr. Louis F. Centofanti, President and CEO of Perma-Fix, commented, "We are
elated at the success of our processes, which have safely and successfully treated
hazardous nuclear waste and produced an encapsulated radioactive material that will
be disposed of safely. This first shipment is a significant milestone in providing a
solution for the nuclear waste problem. The nation has been struggling with the
problem of nuclear/hazardous waste for years and its solution is important to the
expansion of the nuclear power industry and to President Bush's energy program.
Perma-Fix plans to be part of that solution. The K-25 facility demonstrates that the
government and private industry can now effectively dispose of nuclear/hazardous
waste in an environmentally friendly process, using Perma-Fix's expertise and
technology."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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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