UK industry says govt green target may raise costs

["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:



UK industry says govt green target may raise costs

Koizumi vague on planned U.S. subcritical nuclear test

Framatome ANP, Inc./Entergy Team Wins License Renewal at Cook Nuclear Plant

Novoste Receives FDA Approval for Smaller Beta-Cath System Catheter

SCT Awarded New Patent for CaF2 Technology

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



UK industry says govt green target may raise costs

  

LONDON, Feb 14 (Reuters) - British industry on Thursday said greater use of 

renewable energy like wind power, called for in a report to ministers, could push up 

costs and make UK companies less competitive in world markets. 



But environmentalists said the report's targets on green energy were not ambitious 

enough. 



"If the cost base to industry increases as a result of a shift towards green power 

that will damange Britain's global competitiveness," said Ruth Lea, head of the 

policy unit at the Institute of Directors (IOD). 



"It is a worry that Britain, but not the U.S., will be taking on board environmental 

costs," she told Reuters, highlighting the different approaches both governments 

are taking in tackling global warming. 



The root-and-branch review of Britain's long-term energy needs called for a near 

tenfold increase by 2020 in the amount of electricity to be generated from 

renewables to 20 percent of the energy mix. 



The shift towards greener energy would form part of the UK's strategy to cut 

greenhouse gas emissions, blamed by many scientists for contributing to global 

warming. 



The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) said it broadly welcomed the findings of 

the energy review, but urged the government not to adopt policies which impose 

damaging costs on business. 



"The market is the best way to meet the sometimes conflicting needs of customers 

and the environment," CBI Deputy Director-Genergy John Cridland said in a 

statement. 



U.S. LOOKS TO DIFFERENT ROUTE 



In stark contrast to Britain, the United States on Thursday called for a gradual 

reduction in greenhouse gas emissions setting goals and incentives for cuts based 

on U.S. economic growth. 



The U.S. plan to "slow, stop and then as science justifies, reverse" emissions sees 

cutting so-called "greenhouse gas intensity" -- the ratio of emissions to U.S. gross 

domestic product (GDP) growth -- by 18 percent over the next 10 years. 



Britain aims to cut emissions by 23 percent in absolute terms by 2010 on 1990 

levels. 



The UK goal is in excess of targets agreed in Bonn last year as part of the 1997 

Kyoto protocol. Washington pulled out of the pact last year saying its Kyoto target 

of a five percent reduction would damage its economy. 



The U.S. Department of Energy forecasts a 47 percent rise in greenhouse gases 

from 1990-2020 assuming no regulatory changes. 



Chris Hewett of the Institute for Public Policy Research think tank rejected the U.S. 

stance. 



"Britain has proved that you can cut emissions and still have a very healthy 

economy. There is no inextricable link bewteen CO2 emissions and economic 

growth." 



But the IOD's Lea warned British consumers might end up paying the price. 



"If it is the case renewables will be undercutting fossil fuels in years to come, that 

will be great. But if the cost is higher it will be industry and the consumer who 

pays," said Lea. 



According to UK government reseach advances in green energy technology will 

see the cost of wind power undercutting electricity from fossil-fuelled power 

stations within 20 years. 



The government-commissioned energy review also said the country should keep 

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

imported natural gas. 



Energy Minister Brian Wilson said the report stressed renewables and energy 

efficiency, but also kept the option open of investing anew in nuclear and cleaner 

coal. 



MUTED GREEN ENTHUSIASM 



Mark Johnston of Greenpeace called the review "timid," while Nick Goodall of the 

British Wind Energy Association said, "this (20 percent by 2020) target is far too 

modest - companies are already gearing up to generate this much from wind 

energy alone." 



By keeping the nuclear option open it was a "heavily disguised love letter from 

number 10 (Prime Minister Blair's residence) to the nuclear industry," said 

Johnston. 



"The target on renewables has not been so much increased as extended," said the 

green campaigner referring to the current target of 10 percent renewables by 2010. 



At present only 2.8 percent of power is classed as renewable. 



The PIU report also recommends strict reductions in emissions through efficiency 

gains, setting a target of 40 percent savings over the next 18 years. 



"We are pleased there is a clear recognition that energy efficiency is the most cost 

effective way of delivering carbon cuts," he said. 



The PIU also review said the risks of relying on imported gas can be managed 

through enhanced diplomatic activity, highlighting the fact 70 percent of the world's 

gas supplies can be accessed from Europe. 



Worries about security of supply have increased as Britain edges towards 

becoming a net importer of the fuel in the next coupleo of years. By 2020 the 

country is set to be 70 percent dependent on imported gas which provides 40 

percent of its electricity. 

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



Koizumi vague on planned U.S. subcritical nuclear test

  

TOKYO, Feb. 14 (Kyodo) - Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi gave a nebulous 

reaction Thursday to a subcritical nuclear test planned to be conducted soon in the 

United States, only saying the issue should be regarded in the light of the 

international move toward nuclear disarmament. 



''I know there is an international understanding that the test is not interpreted as a 

nuclear explosion,'' enabling it to clear the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, 

Koizumi told reporters at his official residence. 



The plan by the U.S. and Britain to jointly conduct a subcritical nuclear test at an 

underground test site in Nevada on Thursday, local time, was announced by the 

U.S. Energy Department. 



Koizumi's comments followed a similarly vague reaction by top Japanese 

government spokesman Yasuo Fukuda. 



''Japan would never recommend such a test,'' Chief Cabinet Secretary Fukuda told 

reporters, ''but we cannot say no to all such tests, either.'' 



''If such tests are banned, it's possible that any country could demand that the 

world allows it to conduct a real test,'' Fukuda said. 



There was anger from Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the two cities that were hit by U.S. 

atomic bombs in 1945. 



Sunao Tsuboi, a survivor of the bombing of Hiroshima and organizer of an 

antinuclear movement, said, ''I'm worried that this test could encourage Israel and 

North Korea, which are believed to be undeclared nuclear powers, as well as the 

declared nuclear powers, to carry out similar tests.'' 



Nagasaki Gov. Genjiro Kaneko sent letters to U.S. and British embassies in Tokyo 

urging the countries to stop subcritical nuclear tests, officials of the prefectural 

government said. 



He also sent a letter to Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi asking that Japan try to 

dissuade the nuclear powers from holding the test. 



Nagasaki Mayor Itcho Ito also denounced the test plan, saying ''It could refuel 

concern over a new phase of competition for nuclear weapons development that 

would not only tempt France and China to conduct tests but also could lead to the 

destruction of the planet.'' 

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



Framatome ANP, Inc./Entergy Team Wins License Renewal at Cook Nuclear Plant

  

LYNCHBURG, Va. and JACKSON, Miss.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 13, 2002--The 

team of Framatome ANP, Inc. and Entergy has been awarded a contract to provide 

license renewal management to American Electric Power Company's Cook 

Nuclear Power Plant at Bridgman, MI - making the Framatome/Entergy team the 

largest provider of license renewal services to the U.S. nuclear power industry. 



The contract will be implemented over several years culminating in the preparation 

and presentation of the license renewal documentation to the U.S. Nuclear 

Regulatory Commission (NRC) for approval in November 2003. 



This is the second contract for the Framatome/Entergy team outside of the five 

Entergy plants. Previously a contract for license renewal at Davis-Besse, a FENOC 

plant in Sandusky, OH, was awarded to the team. The team also is responsible for 

license renewal at all Entergy plants and currently is preparing applications for the 

Pilgrim plant in Plymouth, MA, and Arkansas Nuclear One unit 2, Russellville, AR. 



"The Framatome/Entergy team is honored to be providing our expertise as the U.S. 

nuclear power industry assures its long-term status as the nation's most 

dependable source of electricity," said Ray Ganthner, Framatome ANP, Inc. Vice 

President of Engineering and Licensing. "Obtaining license renewals for U.S. plants 

certainly brings the future of nuclear power more into focus." 



"With the Cook project, Framatome/Entergy becomes the largest provider of 

license renewal services to the U.S. nuclear power industry," said Randy 

Hutchinson, senior vice president, business development, for Entergy Nuclear in 

Jackson, MS. "Nuclear owners are recognizing the breadth of experience this team 

brings to a life extension project. It saves them time and money." 



Eight nuclear power plants have submitted license renewals to the NRC. 

Framatome ANP, Inc. supported six renewal applications. Three applications 

supported by Framatome ANP, Inc. have been approved and another three are 

pending. 



Framatome ANP offers a full range of nuclear engineering and advanced 

technologies for both PWR and BWR plants, world class testing and qualification 

facilities, and advanced monitoring and digital instrumentation and control systems 

to enhance safety, improve plant operations and extend service life. 



Framatome ANP (Advanced Nuclear Power), an AREVA and Siemens company, is 

the world's premier nuclear supplier. Framatome ANP's focus includes 

comprehensive engineering, instrumentation and control, nuclear services, heavy 

component manufacture, modernization, fuel assemblies for many reactor designs, 

including those supplied by other vendors, and the development and construction 

of nuclear power plants and research reactors. 



Framatome ANP is headquartered in Paris with principal subsidiaries in the U.S. 

and Germany. In the company, AREVA has a 66% shares and Siemens 34%. 

Framatome ANP has a total workforce of approximately 13,000 worldwide and 

posts annual revenues totaling about $2.3 billion. 



The AREVA Group, which combines the forces of Cogema, Framatome ANP and 

Framatome Connectors International, has sales exceeding $8.6 billion and more 

than 50,000 employees. The AREVA Group is the world leader in nuclear power 

and the second largest group worldwide in connectors. The total revenue from its 

North American companies should now exceed $1.5 billion. 



The nuclear businesses of Entergy are headquartered in Jackson, Miss. Entergy, a 

global energy company based in New Orleans, is the third largest power generator 

in the nation with more than 30,000 megawatts of generating capacity, about $10 

billion in revenue and over 2.6 million customers. Entergy's nuclear businesses 

encompass five power reactors at four locations in Arkansas, Mississippi and 

Louisiana under regulatory jurisdictions, and four reactors at three sites in 

Massachusetts and New York. Entergy Nuclear has also signed an agreement to 

purchase the Vermont Yankee plant at Vernon, Vt., and expects to close that 

transaction in 2002. Entergy Nuclear also furnishes license renewal and 

decommissioning services to the U.S. nuclear power industry. 

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



Novoste Receives FDA Approval for Smaller Beta-Cath System Catheter

  

NORCROSS, Ga.--(BW HealthWire)--Feb. 13, 2002-- 



Beta-Cath(TM) 3.5F System offers the smallest diameter catheter 

commercially available 



Novoste Corporation (Nasdaq: NOVT) today announced that it has received U.S. 

Food and Drug (FDA) approval to market its next generation smaller diameter 

catheter system, the Beta-Cath(TM) 3.5 French (F) System, to treat in-stent 

restenosis. 



The Beta-Cath(TM) 3.5F System, offered with both a 30mm and 40mm radiation 

source train, includes the smallest diameter vascular brachytherapy catheter 

commercially available. The Beta-Cath(TM) 3.5F System can be used with a 6F 

guide catheter and incorporates a proprietary "jacketed" small radiation source 

train. The smaller catheter diameter and multiple radiation lengths should allow the 

Beta-Cath(TM) 3.5F System to be particularly useful in the treatment of in-stent 

restenosis. Due to its lower profile, the 3.5F System will be able to treat areas 

unable to be addressed with the current 5F System. 



Thomas D. Weldon, Chairman and CEO of Novoste Corporation, commented on 

this milestone achievement, "The Beta-Cath(TM) 3.5F System has been used 

clinically outside the U.S. where physician acceptance has been very positive due 

to its lower profile and compatibility with commonly used 6F guide catheter 

systems. The U.S. approval of the 3.5F System continues our effort of expanding 

the Beta-Cath(TM) product line to build upon our global market leadership position 

in vascular brachytherapy. At the end of 2001, the Beta-Cath(TM) System had 

been installed in nearly 340 hospitals in the U.S." 



About Novoste Corporation: 



Novoste Corporation, based in Atlanta, GA, develops advanced medical treatments 

for coronary and vascular diseases and is the worldwide leader in vascular 

brachytherapy. The company's Beta-Cath(TM) System is commercially available in 

the United States, as well as in the European Union and several other countries. 

Novoste Corporation shares are traded on the NASDAQ National Stock Market 

under the symbol NOVT. For general company information, please call (770) 717-

0904 or visit the company's web site at www.novoste.com. 

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



SCT Awarded New Patent for CaF2 Technology

  

Patent No. 6,334,899 Granted for CaF2 Plate Crystal Growth Process Technology   

And CaF2 Raw Material Purification Apparatus  



GILBERT, Ariz., Feb. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Single Crystal Technologies, LLC (SCT), 

revolutionizing materials technology, today announced the award of another U.S. 

Patent, further extending its intellectual property in next-generation materials 

technology for the semiconductor manufacturing industry.  Patent 6,334,899 for 

Continuous Crystal Plate Growth Apparatus covers additional aspects of the SCT 

process and apparatus for calcium fluoride (CaF2) purification and plate crystal 

growth.  Large volumes of extremely pure CaF2 crystals will be crucial to the next 

phase of semiconductor photolithography.  SCT filed for the patent in June of 1995. 



The special emphasis of this patent is on the process and apparatus for CaF2 raw 

material purification and the process and apparatus for crystal growth of CaF2 

plates of superior quality and in high yields, for commercial 193-nanometer and 

157-nanometer wavelength semiconductor lithography.  The SCT processes lower 

production costs and dramatically increase output yields of optical crystals such as 

CaF2, which are essential to making faster, lower-power-consumption chips. 



"This technology answers the industry's need for higher quality and quantity of 

CaF2 lenses so that smaller and faster next-generation semiconductor integrated 

circuits can be mass produced," stated Ken Schroeder, president and COO of 

SCT.  "The industry agrees that the material they need for stepper lenses is 

calcium fluoride -- they just can't produce enough material of a high enough quality 

to meet the need.  That's where our crystal plate growth system really delivers." 



At 157nm next-generation wavelengths, current optical materials such as fused 

silica transmit light so poorly that they can no longer pattern circuits onto silicon 

wafers for chips, so the industry is moving toward new materials such as CaF2 to 

solve these problems.  The new materials require extremely high purity and single-

crystal quality that are not currently available. 



"At best, today's crystal growers can only achieve 157nm-suitable calcium fluoride 

crystal yields of about 3%-5%, making it very expensive to produce significant 

numbers of usable crystals," said Dr. Kiril A. Pandelisev, CEO and chief scientist of 

SCT, whose research led to the development of the patented technology.  "The 

increased yields made possible by our patented process will enable semiconductor 

makers to pack their designs into chips less than half the size of current mass-

produced chips and to produce new, higher level technology." 



The new purification method described in the latest patent will result in very 

efficient and controlled removal of undesired impurities, as well as controlled 

addition of desired impurities used to better control the material's properties.  For 

example, removal of Erbium (Er) and Lutetium (Lu) from the CaF2 material, to 

mention only two of the 14 rare earth elements, will eliminate fluorescence of 

lenses under 157nm laser beam illumination. The result will be a sharper chip 

pattern image projected on the wafer. Furthermore, elimination of impurities such 

as Lead (Pb) makes CaF2 even more transparent to 157nm light, so lenses can be 

clocked and stacked to compensate for the material's surface properties and 

intrinsic birefringence, respectively.  Controlled impurities in the material allow for 

control of the material hardness and of its "non-intrinsic" (man-made or process-

induced) birefringence.  Improved light transmission and material properties 

uniformity also allow more uniform illumination and enable laser damage to be 

reduced through the use of lower intensity lasers. 



The new crystal plate growth approach can be extended to many materials beyond 

CaF2 lens production.  For example, it also provides a basis for growth of ternary 

compounds such as CaxBa1-xF2, CaxSr1-xF2 (where 1 is less than/equal to x is 

greater than/equal to 0) and other materials that are impossible to grow by the 

Bridgman-Stockbarger method, mainly due to segregation and constitutional 

supercooling. 



About SCT   



Single Crystal Technologies (SCT, LLC), headquartered in Gilbert, AZ, has 

developed a groundbreaking method of purifying and growing single-crystal 

materials through patent-protected materials technology, including enhanced 

methods of purification that can potentially triple standard crystal production yields.  

It also encompasses innovative methods of crystal growth that will revolutionize an 

industry still dependent on methods first introduced in the 1920's.  SCT has initially 

focused on CaF2 material, though the results of this technology will later be 

expanded to a range of other industries including military, aerospace, nuclear 

medicine and specialized sensors material for energy explorations, airport security 

scanners, among others.  All SCT United States patents have been extended 

internationally. More information is available at http://www.sct-llc.com



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

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





************************************************************************

You are currently subscribed to the Radsafe mailing list. To unsubscribe,

send an e-mail to Majordomo@list.vanderbilt.edu  Put the text "unsubscribe

radsafe" (no quote marks) in the body of the e-mail, with no subject line. You can view the Radsafe archives at http://www.vanderbilt.edu/radsafe/