Bush Expected to OK Waste Site

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

Index:



Bush Expected to OK Waste Site

Rongelap Island radiation levels return to normal

New Hampshire seeks radiation sickness pills

Japanese Gov't, coalition mull new gov't subsidies for nuclear power

U.N. Studies Chernobyl Aftermath

U.S. agencies warn against PG&E hydropower plan

Georgia Warns of Radioactive Items

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



Bush Expected to OK Waste Site

  

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush is expected to move swiftly, possibly as soon 

as early next week, to approve construction of a nuclear waste site in Nevada, 

according to congressional and administration sources. 



Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham endorsed the site last month, but by law has to 

wait 30 days to give a formal recommendation to the president. That time is up this 

Saturday and Bush is expected to make a decision quickly, the sources said. 



With Nevada officials vowing to try to prevent the shipment of up to 77,000 tons of 

nuclear waste into their state, a final decision will have to be up to Congress. Nevada 

can block a presidential decision, but Congress can then overrule the state. 



Bush will not make a final decision until he gets the report from Abraham but is 

expected to approve the Yucca Mountain site 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, said 

White House sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity. 



``He trusts the energy secretary's judgment,'' said one source. Abraham has briefed 

Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge about the need for a centralized site for storing 

highly radioactive nuclear waste and Ridge ``saw no reason to object,'' said the 

source. 



Even after a presidential decision, it will be years before the site - once it gets a 

license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission - would be ready to take any of the 

waste now kept in spent fuel pools and concrete bunkers at nuclear power plants 

around the country. 



Abraham, who notified Nevada officials on Jan. 10 that he will recommend the site to 

the president, called it a ``scientifically sound and suitable'' place to bury the nation's 

used reactor fuel now kept at the power plants. 



The Energy Department's schedule calls for opening the site to waste shipments by 

2010, but that timetable could be optimistic, government and industry officials 

acknowledge. 



Meanwhile, Nevada officials, fully expecting a goahead from Bush, are revving up for 

a tough fight in Congress, which will have 90 days to overrule the Nevada objection if 

it comes to that. 



One reason Bush wants to make a decision quickly is that he wants to give Nevada 

as little time as possible to lobby other lawmakers on the issue, said both 

administration and congressional sources closely watching the issue. 



According to congressional sources, at this point almost all of the Republicans - and 

a good number of Democrats - appear ready to support the president on building the 

Yucca Mountain repository. 



Nevada Sen. John Ensign and Rep. James Gibbons, both Republicans, are stepping 

up efforts to try to sway some GOP lawmakers to oppose the site. 



``They need time,'' said one congressional source, who said that perhaps as many 

as 20 Republicans might have to be convinced to oppose their president if Nevada's 

objections are to be sustained. 



Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn, who was highly critical of Abraham's endorsement of the 

Yucca Mountain site last month, was expected to lobby the White House this week in 

hopes of convincing Bush to hold off on a decision, said a source familiar with the 

ongoing debate. 



Under a 1987 that designated Yucca Mountain in Nevada to be the only location to 

be studies for waste disposal, Nevada has 60 days to override presidential decision. 

Congress then has 90 legislative days to counter Nevada's objection by a majority 

vote in both the House and Senate. 



If the president's decision is affirmed, the Energy Department can begin preparing an 

application for an NRC license to build and operate the underground facility. The 

licensing process is likely will take several years. 

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



Rongelap Island radiation levels return to normal

  

HIROSHIMA, Feb. 6 (Kyodo) - Radiation levels on deserted Rongelap Island near 

the former U.S. nuclear test site on Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean have returned to 

normal levels 48 years after the United States tested a hydrogen bomb there, 

according to a study released Wednesday by a Japanese researcher. 



Assistant Professor Jun Takada of Hiroshima University Research Institute for 

Radiation Biology and Medicine reported his findings in 



his study called ''Survey on radiation exposed regions in the world.'' 



The U.S. tested the bomb on March 1, 1954, 200 kilometers east of Rongelap Island, 

and the resulting radiation sickened many residents and made the island 

uninhabitable. 



Takada concluded that the radiation level on Rongelap Island decreased to below 1 

millisievert per year -- a permissible exposure for humans and less than levels found 

in Tokyo and Hiroshima. 



In 1995 Takada started to measure radiation contamination in the soil and foods in 

the former Soviet Union, South-Pacific region and Japan caused by nuclear bombs, 

tests and accidents. 



''What is important in the future is to help assist local residents in preventing 

radioactivity from affecting the soil and water,'' Takada said. 



Takada also found that nuclear radiation levels in a village about 220 km away from 

the site of the world's worst nuclear accident at the former Soviet plant in Chernobyl, 

Ukraine, have dropped to around 10 millisieverts. 

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



New Hampshire seeks radiation sickness pills

  

CONCORD, N.H. (Reuters) - New Hampshire Gov. Jeanne Shaheen asked the 

federal government Tuesday for a supply of radiation sickness pills as a precaution 

for state residents living near nuclear power plants. 



New Hampshire officials asked for 350,000 pills for the approximately 150,000 

people near the Seabrook Station nuclear plant and 25,000 people near the Vermont 

Yankee plant. Vermont Yankee is in Vermont, but close to the New Hampshire 

border. 



"We believe it makes sense to take steps to ensure that everyone living near 

Seabrook Station and Vermont Yankee has access to potassium iodide in the event 

of an emergency," Shaheen said in a statement. 



The drug has been shown to protect the body's thyroid gland if taken soon after 

radiation exposure. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Agency said in December it would 

make the pills available to states that want to stockpile them. 



In the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States, the issue of nuclear 

power plant safety has received heightened attention because an attack could spew 

radiation over a wide area. 



The Nuclear Control Institute, an activist group, said a direct hit by a large passenger 

jet would probably penetrate the thick concrete walls that protect a nuclear plant's 

reactor. 

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



Japanese Gov't, coalition mull new gov't subsidies for nuclear power

  

TOKYO, Feb. 8 (Kyodo) - The government and the ruling coalition are mulling plans 

to provide new government subsidies for the construction of nuclear power plants as 

part of Japan's efforts to prevent global warming, people familiar with the plan said 

Thursday. 



A proposal to subsidize public utilities for building new nuclear plants emerged as a 

possible government policy after Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi told the Diet on 

Monday that the government plans promote nuclear power as carbon dioxide-free 

energy alternative. 



Sources said government officials and ruling coalition politicians involved in energy 

policy have launched an internal study on the matter. The government already pays 

subsidies to local authorities that host a nuclear power plant. 



The subsidy idea, however, is likely to face strong opposition within the government 

itself as there is no consensus in the nation whether more nuclear power is the 

answer. 



Japan is committed to cut the emission of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping 

gases under the 1991 Kyoto Protocol on global warming, and the government 

believes that Japan must build more nuclear plants in order to fulfill the commitment. 



The government's current long-term energy plan calls for building 10 to 13 nuclear 

reactors by fiscal 2010, but the pace of construction has hit a snag as an increasing 

number of local communities oppose the presence of a nuclear plant in their vicinity. 



Japan currently has 52 nuclear reactors in operation.

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



U.N. Studies Chernobyl Aftermath

  

UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Nearly 16 years after the Chernobyl nuclear accident, 

200,000 people still live in highly contaminated areas and 4.5 million residents in 

three countries are receiving financial help - draining national budgets, according to a 

U.N. study released Wednesday. 



The study by four U.N. agencies called for ``an entirely new approach'' to help those 

in a state of ``chronic dependency'' in Ukraine, Belarus and Russia by getting them 

jobs, fostering small businesses, and reviving agriculture in the areas most affected 

by the world's worst nuclear disaster. 



``If active steps are not taken to resolve the human problems relating to the accident, 

the fate of the communities blighted by Chernobyl will continue to haunt discussions 

on energy generation for decades to come,'' the 75-page report said. 



The explosion and fire at Chernobyl's No. 4 reactor on April 26, 1986, contaminated 

23 percent of Belarus, 5 percent of Ukraine and 1.5 percent of Russia, according to 

the report. It also spewed a radioactive cloud across Europe. 



At least 8,000 people have died, most from radiation-related diseases. 



Some 2,000 people have been diagnosed with thyroid cancer and between 8,000 

and 10,000 cases are expected to develop over the next 10 years, the report said. 



Although the most dangerously radiated areas near the Chernobyl plant were 

evacuated, 200,000 people still live in severely contaminated areas, the report said. 

Many of those who were resettled still don't have jobs. 



``Focusing on their needs and helping them take control of their destinies must be a 

priority,'' said the report. 



The 4.5 million people still receiving government payments represent a severe strain 

to national budgets, especially in Belarus and Ukraine, the report said. 



Over the last 10 years, Belarus, the state most affected by the calamity, has spent 

more than $1 billion to help victims of the accident, said Kalman Missel, deputy U.N. 

coordinator for Chernobyl. 



Ukraine last year spent $100 million, he said. 



The study said with the emergency phase of recovery over, the three governments 

and the international community must now work toward ``long overdue'' extended 

development of the communities hurt by the disaster. 



``Within the available budgets, it is the only real alternative to the progressive 

breakdown of the recovery effort, the continuing hemorrhaging of scarce resources 

and continuing distress for the people at the center of the problem,'' the report said. 



Ukraine closed the Chernobyl plant on Dec. 15, 2000, and the international 

community gave $750 million to build a new containment shelter around the stricken 

reactor. 



But Kenzo Oshima, head of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian 

Affairs, said the closure of the plant and funding for the new container does not mean 

the world community can ``close the file on the people who continue to live in the 

shadow of Chernobyl.'' 



``We must not turn our back on the government and people of the most affected 

countries after a decade and a half of assistance,'' he said. ``We must not leave the 

job half done.'' 

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



U.S. agencies warn against PG&E hydropower plan

  

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb 6 (Reuters) - Two U.S. government agencies have taken 

aim at Pacific Gas & Electric Co.'s plan to get out of bankruptcy, with one calling it a 

"shell game" to skirt environmental regulations for its vast hydroelectric system. 



U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Dennis Montali is expected to decide soon on a bid by the 

PG&E Corp. <PCG.N> utility, California's largest, to sweep aside 36 state laws and 

regulations and shift its 144,000-acre (58,280-hectare) hydro system and other 

energy assets to new PG&E companies operating under federal, not state, rules. 



The U.S. Forest Service and National Marine Fisheries Service have raised 

objections with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in Washington 

over parts of the utility's restructuring plan. 



Jack Gipsman, a Forest Service attorney, told Reuters that while PG&E has for 

decades been a good steward of federal lands, its reorganization plan raises big 

questions over who is responsible for protecting the hydro system's huge watersheds 

in the future. 



The Forest Service has sharply criticized the company's plan to transfer hydro 

licenses, arguing it dodges the issue of who will be accountable for managing the 

projects and their impacts on the environment. 



Deanna Harwood, an attorney for the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), 

said it is worried the licenses might violate the federal Endangered Species Act. 



Harwood said because Pacific salmon and steelhead in California are listed by the 

NMFS as threatened or endangered, the hydro systems must comply with federal 

law before licenses are transferred. 



The restructuring plan would split Pacific Gas & Electric into a new generating 

company for hydro and nuclear power, two companies running gas and electric 

transmission networks, and leave the utility as the energy distributor for 13 million 

Californians. 



FEDERAL REVIEW 



FERC must review the proposed transfer of hydro licenses to the new generating 

company. 



California's attorney general, energy regulators, environmentalists, consumer groups 

and other critics have criticized the plan as a way to get out from under state energy 

and environmental regulations, which are generally stricter than federal rules. 



Pacific Gas & Electric contends its plan will allow it to pay off $13 billion of debts and 

continue in business under federal regulations. 



Twenty-two hydro and four transmission projects are on land owned by the federal 

government, and the Forest Service fears that the new generating company will not 

be responsible for environmental damages. 



The restructuring plan "appears to create a shell game that would limit the ability of 

FERC and the Forest Service" to hold the generator responsible for license terms 

and repairing damages, the Forest Service said. 



The licenses would be held by "shell" companies without real assets or employees, 

and that is not acceptable to the Forest Service, it said. 



The agency also is worried about the future of national forests adjacent to hydro 

projects on PG&E-owned land. 



"If PG&E sells land to someone, it could be clear cut or developed for housing or 

resorts or whatever," said Matt Mathes, a Forest Service spokesman. 



Jon Tremayne, a spokesman for PG&E, said there will be no change in hydro license 

terms or environmental rules or management of the land. "The responsible party will 

continue to be PG&E Corporation," he said. 



The company "has no intention of selling any land in the hydro system" and will 

continue to operate "under the same strict environmental rules" now in place, 

Tremayne said. 

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



Georgia Warns of Radioactive Items

  

TBILISI, Georgia (AP) - More radioactive objects similar to the two removed this 

week from a remote mountainous area in Georgia are at large in the former Soviet 

republic, officials said Wednesday. 



Soso Kakushadze, head of the radiation security department of the Georgian 

Environment Ministry, would not say specify what the newly found devices were, but 

said they were similar to two containers of strontium-90 that were found in December 

and removed by U.N. and Georgian nuclear experts. 



Those containers were used in radio relay communication, Kakushadze said. 

International Atomic Agency medical experts were sent to treat the woodsmen, who 

had found the containers, for the injuries caused by the radiation. 



Six of the eight radioactive objects said to be in Georgia, according to the Russian 

Atomic Ministry, were found and recovered in the past few years, Kakushadze said. 

The search for the two other sources of radiation, which are thought to be in a 

mountainous area in western Georgia, will be stepped up in spring and summer, he 

said. 



Kakushadze did not rule out that there might be other sources of radiation in the 

country, especially at former Soviet military bases. 



Since the disintegration of the former Soviet union in 1991, there have been 

numerous thefts and attempts to smuggle out radioactive materials on post-Soviet 

territory. 



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

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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