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Ontario to revive six nuclear reactors by 2004



NOTE: I will be at the Health Physics Society Meeting and then out of the country 

(Feb 15 - March 11). There will be no news distributions during this time unless I find 

some good internet connections.



Index:



Ontario to revive six nuclear reactors by 2004

NRC Public Comment Period Opens For San Onofre Unit 1 Fuel Storage Design

US government plans stricter nuclear plant security

Russia to supply 2 reactors for India: Tass

Sick Ex-Nuclear Workers Await Aid

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



Ontario to revive six nuclear reactors by 2004

  

NEW YORK, Feb 12 (Reuters) - While U.S. critics of nuclear power cite heightened 

security risks following Sept. 11 as yet another reason to shut reactors, Canadian 

energy companies are rushing to revive their own aging reactors. 



The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission in November ordered heightened security 

measures at Canadian plants. While Canadians are also concerned about nuclear 

waste and safety, they believe nuclear power's benefits outweigh its drawbacks. 

Nuclear plants are seen as relatively inexpensive and cleaner than coal or gas-fired 

plants, whose emissions are blamed for acid rain and global warming. 



Over the next two years, two Ontario companies -- Ontario Power Generation (OPG) 

and Bruce Power -- plan to restart six reactors idled between late 1997 and 1998 for 

costly upgrades to boost performance and safety. 



The rush to add more generation as Ontario prepares to launch power market 

competition on May 1 has given new urgency to returning the idled reactors to 

service. 



Together, the six units can produce enough electricity for about 3.5 million homes, or 

roughly 12 percent of the province's overall power generation. 



OPG, the provincially-owned power generating company, is repowering four units at 

its Pickering "A" nuclear station at a cost of about C$1.5 billion, a move that will 

restore 2,000 megawatts (MW) of generation. 



Ontario Hydro, OPG's predecessor, shut the Pickering station's four "A" reactors, 

which entered service in 1971, to focus on improving the performance of the station's 

newer "B" reactors, which have a capacity of 2,120 megawatts. 



OPG said it expects the first Pickering "A" reactor to return to service during the third 

quarter of 2002, with the remaining units returning to the grid one every six months, 

company spokesman Ted Gruetzner told Reuters. 



The Pickering station is about 24 miles (40 km) east of Toronto on the shores of 

Lake Ontario. 



Meanwhile, Bruce Power expects to restart two of the four idled reactors at its Bruce 

"A" nuclear station by the summer of 2003 at a cost of about $C340 million, adding 

1,500 MW to the 3,160 MW station on Lake Michigan. 



Bruce Power, which entered a long-term lease with OPG to operate the Bruce 

station, is a subsidiary of energy giant British Energy Plc <BGY.L> (82.5 percent), 

Canadian uranium producer Cameco Corp. <CCO.TO> of Saskatchewan (15 

percent) and the two biggest employee unions at the station. 



COUNTING THE NUCLEAR ADVANTAGE 



After weighing the cost of building new natural gas-fired power plants, OPG decided 

repowering the old Pickering units would be a cheaper and cleaner way to meet 

Ontario's energy needs. 



It would also avoid having to buy power from existing Canadian and U.S. coal-fired 

plants, OPG President and Chief Executive Ron Osborne said in a speech last 

month. 



OPG's nuclear stations have low operating costs, said Osborne, which will help keep 

power prices competitive as Ontario prepares to open its electric market to 

competition on May 1. 



Power from a new gas-fired cogeneration plant, which would produce electricity and 

process steam for industrial use, would cost about C$45 per megawatt hour. A 

combined cycle gas turbine would produce power at a cost of about C$50. 



One megawatt hour provides enough electricity to power about 1,000 homes for 60 

minutes. 



In comparison, power from Pickering A would cost just over $30 per megawatt hour, 

including the investment OPG is making to return the station to service, he said. 



"The bottom line is that Pickering A power, together with Bruce A power being 

restored by British Energy, remains the most economic source of large-scale 

generation in the province," Osborne said.

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



NRC Public Comment Period Opens For San Onofre Unit 1 Fuel Storage Design

  

SAN CLEMENTE, Feb. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- Officials at the San Onofre Nuclear 

Generating Station (SONGS) announced today that the Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission (NRC) is now accepting public comment on the design proposed for the 

SONGS Unit 1 temporary used nuclear fuel storage system (commonly known as 

"dry cask storage").  The public comment period began yesterday and continues 

through April 29. 



Members of the public wishing to file comments about the proposed dry cask storage 

facility are invited to follow the process outlined in the Federal Register Notice (Vol. 

67, No. 28, pages 6203-6205).  This notice can be accessed online at 

http://www.gpo.gov/su-docs/aces/aces140.html . 



The NRC will review all public comments in conjunction with its technical review of 

the storage system design as proposed by Transnuclear West Inc.  The NRC review 

has been underway since the Unit 1 application was filed on Sept. 29, 2000. 



If approved, SONGS officials will use this dry cask storage system design to 

permanently package and temporarily store the Unit 1 used nuclear fuel in 

preparation for its final disposal at a storage site approved by the U.S. Department of 

Energy.  Unit 1, the first of three nuclear reactors built and operated at SONGS, was 

retired from service in 1992. 



An Edison International (NYSE: EIX) company, Southern California Edison is one of 

the nation's largest electric utilities, serving a population of more than 11 million via 

4.3 million customer accounts in a 50,000-square-mile service area within central, 

coastal and Southern California.  For more information on the California electricity 

market, see www.sce.com . 

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



US government plans stricter nuclear plant security

  

WASHINGTON, Feb 12 (Reuters) - The U.S. government is expected to soon order 

the nation's 103 nuclear power plants to improve security against potential attacks 

like the hijacked planes flown into the World Trade Center, an industry group said on 

Tuesday. 



The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) will soon notify power plant operators to 

upgrade security related to employees, training and physical barriers around plants, 

said the Nuclear Energy Institute, the industry's main lobbying group. 



For security reasons, the regulatory agency is not expected to disclose specific 

modifications, the trade group said in a statement. 



Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda network have been blamed for the Sept. 11 

hijacked plane attacks that felled the World Trade Center and punched a hole in the 

Pentagon. 



U.S. officials are concerned the network could be plotting a second airline attack, this 

time on a nuclear power plant. 



"The required security refinements come in the general areas of personnel, training 

and additional physical safety barriers," the group said. A spokesman declined to 

elaborate on the kinds of added security to be ordered by the government. 



The Nuclear Regulatory Commission had no immediate comment. 



Nuclear safety and activist groups have urged the Bush administration to adopt 

stricter measures, such as military guards at nuclear power plants and rigorous 

employee screening. They say nuclear plants are vulnerable to a Boeing 767 strike 

at full speed, even with concrete walls over four feet thick. 



"Our sense today is that these plants are sitting ducks," said Paul Leventhal, 

president of watchdog group Nuclear Control Institute. 



Last week, Tom Ridge, director of the White House Homeland Security office, said 

U.S. security agencies were considering "bricks and mortar adjustments" to the 

nation's 103 nuclear power plants to guard against a possible airline attack. 



The Nuclear Regulatory Commission placed all U.S. plants on heightened alert 

immediately after the September attacks and began reviewing its security guidelines. 



Current NRC guidelines do not require nuclear plants to prepare for an airplane 

threat, and instead focus on scenarios involving ground attacks. 



Ralph Beedle, the industry group's chief nuclear officer, said U.S. plants already 

have tight security. 



"The nuclear energy industry continues to do everything we can to improve security 

preparedness at the nation's nuclear plants," Beedle said. 

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



Russia to supply 2 reactors for India: Tass

  

MOSCOW, Feb. 12 (Kyodo) - Russia will supply two nuclear reactors to India within 

the next five years for a new nuclear power station to be built in southern India, the 

Russian news agency Itar-Tass said Tuesday. 



A contract for the $1.5 billion deal was signed in Moscow on Tuesday between Indian 

and Russian officials. 



Tass said Russian experts will supervise construction of the two pressured water 

reactors at the nuclear power station to be built in Kudankulam. 



The two Russian reactors, each with a 1,000 megawatts capacity, would be the 

largest to be operated in India. 



According to Tass, the Kudankulam nuclear power plant would be commissioned 

within five and a half years. 

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



Sick Ex-Nuclear Workers Await Aid

  

PITTSBURGH (AP) - Steelworker Stephen Kaurich remembers those mysterious 

shipments to his mill in the two years after World War II, the strange metal bars he 

and his crew were told to roll down to a smaller, more usable size. 



The shipments arrived hidden under the floorboards of boxcars, and once workers 

began rolling them through the steel mill's machinery, they noticed the bars did not 

cool like the materials they were used to shaping. 



When the work was finished, the factory was washed down with acids, and the 

boxcars left as mysteriously as they came. 



``They didn't tell us they were uranium bars,'' Kaurich said. 



Now an 80-year-old colon cancer survivor, Kaurich is convinced his illness was 

caused by exposure to radiation. He is among tens of thousands of sickened nuclear 

weapons workers and survivors expected to seek federal compensation for having 

contributed to the nation's Cold War buildup of atomic weapons. 



But six months after workers and their families could begin applying for the $150,000 

lump sums, many applicants are still waiting, with older workers wondering if they will 

live long enough to see a payout. 



``Nothing yet,'' said Kaurich, who filed last year and was not asked for medical 

records on his 1974 surgery until last month. ``Most of the guys are all dead. They 

should have done something about it a long time ago.'' 



Program director Pete Turcic said the process for approving claims can be long and 

asked applicants to be patient. Of 18,980 claims filed in the first six months, 1,228 

cases have been paid out and 74 denied, he said. 



An additional 2,216 cases have been recommended for approval, and 629 have 

been recommended for denial. 



``I understand people are concerned, but we are committed to processing claims as 

rapidly as possible,'' Turcic said. 



Two years ago, Congress approved the Energy Employees Occupational Illness 

Compensation Program to provide $150,000, plus medical benefits, for living workers 

who got sick. Survivors of the dead can apply for the lump sum. 



The program, administered by the Labor Department, is intended to compensate 

workers who became ill after being exposed to cancer-causing radiation or silica and 

beryllium, two metals that can cause lung disease, while working on dangerous 

weapons materials, often without knowing it. 



Officials are anticipating 80,000 claims in the first two years of the program, with the 

vast majority being cancer patients. 



The Energy Department has to verify the person was employed at certain 

installations when dangerous materials were handled. Then the Department of 

Health and Human Services has to determine whether his or her illness was caused 

by the work. 



The program covers 318 facilities in 37 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico 

and the Marshall Islands, with the highest number of sites in New York (38) and Ohio 

(35). The list includes the University of California at Berkeley, the Great Lakes 

Carbon Corp. in Chicago, the Princeton Plasma Physics Lab in New Jersey and a 

Bethlehem Steel operation in Lackawanna, N.Y. 



Kaurich worked at the Vulcan Crucible Steel Co. in Aliquippa, 20 miles northwest of 

Pittsburgh. 



Kaurich said many of the workers died long before the compensation program 

began. He said eight men in his crew of 10 are already gone. 



``I'm lucky,'' Kaurich said. 



The workers knew the shipments were odd but gave them little thought. Kaurich said 

he later learned that the uranium was sent to a nuclear plant in Washington state, 

where it was used to produce plutonium for bombs. 



Dorothy Baron filed an application in October for her stepfather, Nick Arbutina, a 

steelworker who worked at the Vulcan plant from the late 1940s to the early 1960s. 

He died of leukemia in 1984. 



Baron, 71, said she has run into obstacles because the hospital where Arbutina died 

no longer has his medical records. Baron said she is mainly concerned for her 89-

year-old mother, who lost her first husband to a fire in 1937. 



``She got nothing then because Social Security was just coming out,'' Baron said. 

``It'd be nice if she could get something now.'' 



On the Net: 



Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program at 

http://tis.eh.doe.gov/advocacy/ 



Labor Department: http://www.dol.gov 



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

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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