Abraham Briefs Bush on Nuclear Dump

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

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:



Abraham Briefs Bush on Nuclear Dump

Ill. Lab Workers Tested for Illness

US government plans stricter nuclear plant security

UK to accelerate pace for renewable energy target

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



Abraham Briefs Bush on Nuclear Dump

  

WASHINGTON (AP) - Energy Secretary Spence Abraham briefed President Bush 

on Tuesday about why a nuclear waste dump should be built at Yucca Mountain in 

Nevada despite widespread opposition within the state. 



Bush made no decision but is inclined to approve the site as early as Friday, 

several officials said. 



Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn and the state's senators, Democrat Harry Reid and 

Republican John Ensign, lobbied Bush last week to block the project. 



Abraham endorsed the site last month, but has yet to formally present to Bush his 

recommendation. By law, he had to wait 30 days before doing so, which passed 

Saturday. White House officials say Bush plans to accept the recommendation at 

the same time he announces his decision. 



A 1987 law designated Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, as the 

only location to be studied for disposal of nuclear waste currently held at multiple 

sites around the nation. 



If Yucca Mountain were to become the nation's nuclear waste site, the material 

would have to be shipped there from 103 spots around the country and through 43 

states to Nevada. Opponents hope such a prospect, especially after Sept. 11, will 

be enough for those states' representatives to kill the project in Congress. 



Energy Department officials say it is premature to address transportation issues for 

a site that has yet to be designated. Anyway, say nuclear industry officials, 

radioactive waste can be transported safely by rail and truck. 



The law gives Nevada 60 days to override a presidential decision. Congress then 

would have 90 legislative days to counter Nevada's objection by majority votes in 

both houses. 



Abraham traveled to Los Angeles last week and was still editing this week the 

paper he will give to Bush. Aides said it was ready for presentation, but White 

House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Abraham did not give it to the president 

Tuesday. 



``The president had a good opportunity to listen to both sides on the issue and 

follow up with questions,'' Fleischer said of the sessions with Abraham and the 

Nevadans. 



Bush has not decided, Fleischer said. He would not say which way Bush is leaning, 

but other officials said he is likely to accept Abraham's recommendation. 



White House officials believe Yucca Mountain would pass Congress. 



They are also mindful of the politics of the decision, however, one administration 

official said. 



A move to move ahead could endanger re-election prospects of Republican Guinn, 

although he has no serious Democratic rival now. Three House seats are at stake 

in Nevada, including one new one based on the 2000 Census. Fleischer said 

politics would play no part in Bush's decision. 



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. That timetable could be overly optimistic, government and industry 

officials acknowledge. 



On the Net: Yucca Mountain Project: http://www.ymp.gov/ 

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



Ill. Lab Workers Tested for Illness

  

CHICAGO (AP) - Tests show seven current or former workers at Argonne National 

Laboratory have blood abnormalities caused by exposure to the toxic metal 

beryllium, the first such cases discovered at the lab. 



Two other employees who worked in nuclear weapons development at the lab 

show signs of potentially fatal chronic beryllium disease, but their initial blood tests 

were negative, officials said Tuesday. 



The nine employees have been referred to medical specialists to determine 

whether they have the incurable lung illness that has killed several workers in the 

nuclear industry. 



``Years ago the department did not know that exposure to beryllium would cause 

disease,'' said Brian Quirke, spokesman for the U.S. Department of Energy, which 

owns Argonne. ``We are sorry that these employees' work caused them harm.'' 



The tests show sensitization to beryllium, indicating antibodies are fighting the 

metal's presence in the lungs, Quirke said. They do not verify the disease's 

progression. Fewer than 5 percent of people exposed to beryllium show any ill 

effects. 



The facility in suburban Chicago does research in high-energy physics, chemistry 

and materials science. The metal - toxic when breathed as dust or vapor - was 

used to deflect neutrons in test reactors and as an alloy for crucibles because of its 

high melting temperature. 



The medical cases were discovered during recent testing by the Energy 

Department, which was conducting a Congress-mandated nationwide screening 

program of potential beryllium victims. 



Nationally, Energy Department screenings of nuclear workers have found 546 out 

of 27,835 whose blood shows a reaction to beryllium in the lungs. Of those, 183 

have developed beryllium disease. 



At Argonne and the former Site B experiment station operated by the University of 

Chicago, officials identified 1,012 former employees who may have been exposed, 

and 780 of them were still alive. 



On the Net: Department of Energy: http://www.energy.gov 

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



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 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. The NRC had no comment. 



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 announcement got a cautious welcome from Democratic Rep. Edward Markey 

of Massachusetts, a long-time critic of the nuclear industry on safety grounds. 



"I am surprised to hear about potential upgrades to nuclear reactor security from 

the nuclear industry rather than from the government agency charged with 

overseeing it," Markey said in a statement. 



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 NRC 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. 



After the Sept. 11 attacks, NRC Chairman Richard Meserve ordered a complete 

review of security measures. 



Leventhal characterized the review as a "topless to bottomless review," saying it is 

"meaningless and infinite in its scope." 



His group is calling for U.S. military special forces troops to guard nuclear plants, 

along with anti-aircraft batteries on site to shoot down aircraft if other protective 

attempts fail. 



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. 

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



UK to accelerate pace for renewable energy target

  

LONDON, Feb 13 (Reuters) - Britain on Thursday will widen the gap versus the 

United States in the fight to prevent global warming by setting tough new goals for 

the share of renewables in the UK energy market. 



The long-awaited UK energy review, to be released to parliament, is expected to 

call for a near ten-fold increase by 2020, to 20 percent of the energy mix, in the 

amount of electricity to be generated from renewable sources such as wind and 

solar, government sources said. 



Britain's plans are expected to contrast sharply with an announcement from 

Washington on Thursday for a more conservative approach on tackling emissions 

of greenhouse gases, blamed by many scientists for contributing to global 

warming. 



The Bush administration was likely to settle on a gradual reduction of emissions in 

order to avoid hurting the U.S. economy, the White House said on Wednesday. 



Backing the shift towards green power, Britain's Energy Minister Brian Wilson said 

on Wednesday in a statement: 



"The energy review will highlight the important role that renewables have to play in 

our energy mix." 



A government source confirmed the review, into energy policy over the next 50 

years, will be released to parliament on Thursday. 



The government-commissioned review is also expected to say the country should 

keep an open mind about nuclear power and should not worry about having to rely 

on imported natural gas. 



When Prime Minister Tony Blair initiated the report last year he said he wanted it to 

look at tackling global warming and ensuring "secure, diverse and reliable energy 

supplies at a competitive price." 



Undertaken by the Performance and Innovation Unit (PIU), a Downing Street think-

tank, the report is expected to call for an extension of the current target for 

renewables in the nation's power supplies of 10 percent by 2010 to 20 percent by 

2020. 



At present only 2.8 percent of UK energy supply is classed as renewable. The 

government has set a target of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 23 percent 

from 1990 levels by 2010, in excess of targets agreed in Bonn last year as part of 

the 1997 Kyoto protocol. 



U.S. GOES IT ALONE 



Washington pulled out of the pact last year, saying that its Kyoto target of a five 

percent reduction from 1990-2010 would damage its economy. The U.S. 

Department of Energy currently is projecting 47 percent growth of greenhouse 

gases from 1990-2020, assuming no changes in regulations. 



Environmental groups said Britain's 20 percent goal for the share of renewables in 

the energy mix would still leave it slightly behind several European countries in the 

green energy stakes. 



"This (20 percent target) is not ambitious. We want to see a 2020 target that will 

asssume an increase in renewables growth rate -- not 10 percent by 2010 followed 

by 20 percent in 2020. That is business as usual," said Roger Higman, senior 

energy campaigner at Friends of the Earth. 



Denmark and Finland are planning for 30 percent renewables by 2010. The 

European Union average is 22 percent. 



Current targets may be difficult to achieve, let alone 20 percent by 2020. 



"The government's 2010 target of 10 percent electricity generation from 

renewables ... implies unprecedented rates of growth from these technologies," the 

Sustainable Development Commisison, a UK government-sponsored think tank, 

said in an October 2001 report. 



The PIU report is also expected to say the risks of relying on imported gas can be 

managed through enhanced diplomatic activity, highlighting the fact that 70 percent 

of of world's gas supplies can be accessed from Europe. 



Worries about gas supplies are on the increase as Britain edges towards becoming 

a net importer of the fuel in the next couple of years. By 2020 the country is set to 

be 70 percent dependent on imported gas. 



On the politically-sensitive issue of nuclear power, the review is expected to leave 

the option open, pointing out that nuclear offers zero-carbon emissions. 



Anti-nuclear campaigners say Britain should phase out nuclear power, as Germany 

intends to do, but nuclear's supporters say carbon emissions would rise if plants 

were closed. 



At present Britain produces 26 percent of its electricity from nuclear, about 40 

percent from gas, 30 percent from coal and the remainder from oil and renewables. 



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

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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