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Japanese Governor approves nuclear fuel transfer despite water leak

To: "nuclear news list" <sandyfl@EARTHLINK.NET>
Subject: Japanese Governor approves nuclear fuel transfer despite water leak
From: "Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@EARTHLINK.NET>
Date: Tue, 5 Feb 2002 09:04:22 -0800
Reply-To: "Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@EARTHLINK.NET>
Sender: owner-radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu

Index:

Iran says will not seek nuclear weapons - paper

Iran warns Israel against attacking nuclear plant

Breast Cancer Treatment Uses 'Seeds'

Inventor of MRI to Work With Pacemaker Inventor On the MRI-pacemaker

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

Japanese Governor approves nuclear fuel transfer despite water leak

AOMORI, Japan, Feb. 5 (Kyodo) - Aomori Gov. Morio Kimura said Tuesday he has

approved the transfer of spent nuclear fuel to a nuclear-waste reprocessing facility in

Rokkasho village in the northeastern Japan prefecture despite a continuing water

leak there.

''I concluded there will be no problem in proceeding with the plan,'' Kimura told a

press conference, giving the green light to the planned transfer of such fuel later this

week.

By the end of March, a total of 50 tons of spent nuclear fuel is expected to be moved

from reactors in Fukushima and Shizuoka prefectures to the Rokkasho facility

operated by Japan Nuclear Fuel Ltd.

Japan Nuclear Fuel said last week it has confirmed that some 5,200 liters of water

containing radioactive materials has leaked from a storage pool at the facility since

last July and that the water is still leaking.

However, the leakage poses no threat to the environment because the water is being

reprocessed by a disposal facility for radioactive liquid waste, the company claims.

Kimura visited the storage pool Sunday and said he will make a decision on the

transfer of the fuel after hearing the opinions of neighboring municipalities.

Japan Nuclear Fuel President Masashi Sasaki met with Kimura earlier in the day and

gave him a report on the water leakage. Sasaki said the company will improve

operations of a detector at the pool.

The pool stores spent nuclear fuel from nuclear power plants nationwide until the fuel

can be reprocessed. It contains some 165 tons of nuclear waste, the company said.

Newly transferred spent nuclear fuel can be stored at the other two pools at the plant,

it said.

The reprocessing plant, which started accepting spent nuclear fuel in December

2000, is scheduled to start operations in July 2005.

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

Iran says will not seek nuclear weapons - paper

DUBAI, Feb 5 (Reuters) - Iran's defence minister Admiral Ali Shamkhani was quoted

on Tuesday saying that in order not to harm ties with its neighbours, Iran would not

seek nuclear weapons "for any reason."

"The existence of nuclear weapons will turn us into a threat to others that could be

exploited in a dangerous way to harm our relations with the countries of the region,"

he told the Asharq al-Awsat newspaper in an interview.

"In Iran we are totally convinced that we must not seek

nuclear weapons and must not attempt to seek them for any reason despite the

threats that we face."

But Shamkhani told the pan-Arab newspaper that Iran would concentrate on

developing its missile programme for defence purposes.

He said Tehran was trying to develop its Shahab-3 surface-to-surface missile, which

Asharq al-Awsat said has a range of 1,300 km (800 miles).

"We will aim to increase its accuracy and double its explosive load," he said.

Shamkhani warned Israel on Monday not to consider attacking Iran's nuclear power

plant, saying the Islamic republic would retaliate in ways "unimaginable" to the

Jewish state.

Iran insists its atomic programme is for non-military use.

The defence minister's comments came amid growing U.S. pressure on Iran to halt

its alleged efforts to develop weapons of mass destruction.

U.S. President George W. Bush has in the past week issued a series of warnings to

Iran, along with Iraq and North Korea, accusing them of belonging to an "axis of evil."

Both Israel and the United States have tried unsuccessfully to convince Russia to

stop its military and nuclear energy cooperation with Iran.

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

Iran warns Israel against attacking nuclear plant

DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran warned Israel Monday not to consider attacking its nuclear

power plant, saying the Islamic republic would retaliate in ways "unimaginable" to the

Jewish state.

"If Israel carries out any military action against Iran, it will face a response that will be

unimaginable to any Israeli politician," Defense Minister Admiral Ali Shamkhani told

Arabic-language al-Jazeera television. He said he was not referring to a nuclear

response.

The admiral was responding to a question about what Iran's reaction would be to a

possible Israeli attack on an Iranian nuclear power plant under construction by

Russian experts near the Gulf port of Bushehr.

Iranian media often warn of a possible Israeli strike against the Bushehr plant similar

to Israel's air attack on an Iraqi nuclear reactor in 1981.

"Iran is not a small country like Iraq. Iran has a powerful artillery, a disciplined army

and skilled air defenses," Jazeera quoted Shamkhani as saying.

The warning came amid growing U.S. pressure on Iran to halt its alleged efforts to

develop weapons of mass destruction.

President Bush has in the past week issued a series of warnings to Iran, along with

Iraq and North Korea, accusing them of being an "axis of evil."

Iran strongly denies seeking nuclear weapons and says its atomic program is for

non-military use.

Both Israel and the United States have tried but failed to convince Russia to stop its

military and nuclear energy cooperation with the Islamic republic.

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

Breast Cancer Treatment Uses 'Seeds'

CHICAGO (AP) Feb 5 - Learning she had breast cancer was bad enough for 40-

year-old Miriam Norton. Almost as troubling was the burden of six weeks of radiation

treatment.

The mother of two young children didn't like the idea of exposing her entire breast to

radiation and feared the disruption and mental anguish involved with more than a

month of therapy.

``It was the time involved, and trying to be a mom and trying to have a normal life,''

said Norton of Glen Ellyn, Ill.

Then she learned about brachytherapy, a radiation alternative more commonly

associated with prostate cancer treatment. A few breast cancer doctors have been

using it as a follow-up to lumpectomy - removal of only the tumor - and recent studies

show it's effective.

Unlike standard external radiation, brachytherapy works from the inside, with

radioactive ``seeds'' injected into the breast at the site of the excised tumor, where

cancer is most likely to recur.

Best of all, breast brachytherapy requires about four or five days of treatment instead

of six weeks or more. And Norton, like about 70 percent of U.S. women diagnosed

with breast cancer, was eligible because her tumor was small and caught early.

She had the procedure last May.

``I was in, I was out, it was one week - and then I got on with my life,'' said Norton,

now 42. ``It was wonderful.''

Brachytherapy - brachy means ``short'' in Greek - refers to the short distance

between the radiation source and the targeted tissue.

Dr. Robert Kuske, who treated Norton at the University of Wisconsin in Madison,

says that in 1991 he was the first doctor to perform breast brachytherapy in this

country. He does the procedure on about 100 patients a year, but it is not widely

available. Many patients have never heard of it and some doctors consider it

experimental.

Proponents think that's about to change. Two recent studies involving at least five

years of data on more than 200 women suggest breast brachytherapy is as effective

as standard radiation at preventing cancer recurrence. In addition, the U.S. Food and

Drug Administration has been asked to approve a new device called MammoSite.

That would make brachytherapy easier, said Dr. Krystyna Kiel, a Northwestern

University radiation oncologist with a waiting list of patients who want the procedure.

Kiel has only used brachytherapy a few times in the past five years but says she'd

likely do a treatment each week if the new device is approved.

The American Cancer Society estimates that 203,500 U.S. women will be diagnosed

with breast cancer this year. About 70 percent will be potential candidates for

lumpectomies, and thus brachytherapy, because their tumors are early stage and

small, said Dr. LaMar McGinnis, the society's senior medical consultant.

Many, however, will choose disfiguring mastectomies - which generally don't require

radiation - simply because they can't afford or fear the time required for standard

radiation, McGinnis said.

He said brachytherapy holds great promise ``because of the convenience for

patients and the hopes of getting more patients to choose breast conservation

therapy.''

McGinnis noted that some doctors worry that patients who undergo the procedure

might also have undetected tumors elsewhere in their breast that would be treated

with standard radiation but not with brachytherapy.

Dr. Beryl McCormick, a breast cancer specialist at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer

Center, said brachytherapy probably will prove to be best for patients 55 and older

whose cancer is less likely to recur.

McGinnis said more long-term data is needed to show brachytherapy's effectiveness.

Occasional side effects, including tissue hardening or reddening, probably will be

avoided as more doctors become skilled at the technique, he said.

More than 100 doctors attended the first annual breast brachytherapy ``school'' for

three days a few weeks ago in New Orleans. Kuske was on hand to teach the

procedure.

The high-dose method Kuske uses involves temporarily inserting an average of 19

spaghetti-thin plastic catheters into the cavity where the tumor was removed.

During twice-daily treatments, radioactive metal seeds about the size of rice grains

are injected, then retracted through the catheters, which are attached by a cable to a

radiation machine. Women can return home between treatments and the catheters

are removed at week's end.

Medicine numbs the breast during the procedure, which takes about an hour

including preparation time, Kuske said.

The MammoSite device awaiting FDA approval involves inserting a single catheter

into the breast, attached to a tiny balloon that is inflated and filled with radiation.

Manufacturer Proxima Therapeutics Inc. says eight months of data show the device

is safe, though whether patients remain cancer-free long-term is unknown.

On the Net:

American Brachytherapy Society: http://www.americanbrachytherapy.org

American Cancer Society: http://www.cancer.org

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

Inventor of MRI to Work With Pacemaker Inventor On the MRI-compatible

Pacemaker

ROCHESTER, N.Y.--(BW HealthWire)--Feb. 5, 2002--

Inventor of the MRI Scanner and FONAR Corporation CEO, Dr. Raymond

Damadian Endorses Biophan Technologies's MRI-Compatible

Pacemaker as a Critical Medical Innovation and Offers Assistance

Biophan Technologies (OTC BB: BIPH) announced today that Raymond Damadian,

M.D., inventor of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) diagnostics, will work with

Wilson Greatbatch, inventor of the pacemaker, on the development of an MRI-

compatible pacemaker.

Both men are recipients of the National Medal of Technology, the nation's highest

honor in technology, awarded by the President of the United States. Dr. Damadian,

CEO of FONAR Corporation, a manufacturer of MRI diagnostic equipment, will offer

its equipment, labs and staff to assist Greatbatch and the Biophan team.

"I was surprised to learn the solution to MRI compatible pacemakers was a fiber optic

lead driven by a tiny, low power, semiconductor laser, yet I was convinced it would

work," stated Dr. Damadian. "I was very pleased to learn of the successful tests in an

MRI field. Wilson Greatbatch and I first discussed the pressing need for a solution

three years ago at the National Inventors Hall of Fame, where we are both inductees.

Biophan's MRI compatible pacemaker offers a redesign of the pacemaker that

eliminates the safety concerns completely. I am thrilled to know that with this

invention, pacemaker patients will be able to benefit from an MRI."

Raymond Damadian, M.D. revolutionized the field of diagnostic medicine with his

invention of the MRI scanner, used to detect diseases such as cancer. Pacemaker

patients cannot undergo MRI scans, because the MRI scanner and the implantable

pacemaker are not compatible. Should a pacemaker patient undergo an MRI scan,

the metal wire of their current pacemaker can heat up and scar the heart, and cause