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Iran says allowing inspections of nuclear plant



Index:



Iran says allowing inspections of nuclear plant

Clamp on drills seen raising risk at U.S. reactors

39 radiation exposure accidents occurred in 44 yrs

Swedish minister unsure of Barseback closure date

METI concerned over Hamaoka water leak impact on nuke policy

Feds Say S.C. Can't Stop Plutonium

Finnish Greens opt to quit govt after nuclear vote

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



Iran says allowing inspections of nuclear plant



LONDON, May 27 (Reuters) - Iran said on Monday that international 

inspectors would monitor the construction of a Russian-designed 

nuclear power plant, which the United States believes is the biggest 

nuclear proliferation threat worldwide.

 

The head of Iran's parliamentary energy commission Hossein Aferideh 

said the International Atomic Energy Agency planned several visits 

over the course of the year to the Bushehr plant.

 

"We are going to construct a power plant for the production of 

electricity under direct observation of the International Atomic 

Energy Agency (IAEA) so this is peaceful application of nuclear 

energy," he told reporters at a conference in London.

 

"We are members of the International Atomic Energy Agency so we are 

following the rules of the IAEA and investigators from the agency are 

visiting routinely Iran."

 

The issue was the main sticking point during an otherwise harmonious 

summit last week between U.S. President George W. Bush and Russian 

President Vladimir Putin.

 

Bush has labelled Iran part of an "axis of evil," accusing Tehran of 

seeking to acquire weapons of mass destruction and sponsoring 

terrorism.

 

Aferideh said the plant was scheduled to come on line at the end of 

next year or early in 2004 to help satisfy growing Iranian 

electricity demand.

 

"So far the project is going very well. We have more than 1,000 

Russian experts there," he told reporters.

 

Bush said last week on a European trip that Russia should be 

concerned about nuclear proliferation to Iran, which could one day 

view Moscow as an enemy.

 

A senior Bush official on the same trip said Iran's nuclear programme 

was the "single-most important proliferation threat there is."

 

The IAEA, an arm of the United Nations, said it was already advising 

on safe construction of the plant, though full inspections under a 

"safeguards agreement" dating from 1974 would not begin until nuclear 

material was delivered.

 

"The IAEA has visited the site, but regular IAEA inspections will 

begin with the initial receipt of nuclear material at the facility," 

IAEA spokeswoman Melissa Fleming told Reuters. "That should call for 

about four to six inspections per year."

 

The IAEA safeguards agreement requires that a country declare all 

civilian nuclear material and permit regular inspections by the 

agency.

 

Each visit from the the Vienna-based IAEA would consist of several 

inspectors and last a couple of weeks, Aferideh said. The site would 

be visited monthly, he added.

 

"This is an Iranian right to produce electricity by nuclear power and 

nothing to do with non-peaceful application," Aferideh said.

 

His comments followed a statement from Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal 

Kharrazi on Sunday in which he told the official Iranian news agency 

that the construction of the reactor was under the IAEA's 

supervision.

 

The IAEA's Fleming said Iran had not signed on to the so-called 

additional protocol which permits far more invasive inspections aimed 

at rooting out secret nuclear weapons programmes, though the agency 

was urging Iran to adopt it.

 

"If they do not sign up for this, we still know quite a bit. But we 

do not have the same access as we would with this additional 

protocol," she said.

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



Clamp on drills seen raising risk at U.S. reactors



SAN FRANCISCO, May 27 (Reuters) - When nuclear regulators put U.S. 

atomic reactors on high alert after the Sept. 11 attacks, they also 

froze training drills for the plant's security forces, a move critics 

warn weakens their defense.

 

Training exercises to simulate "force-on-force" attacks to test 

security at the plants were postponed while the federal Nuclear 

Regulatory Commission launched a "top-to-bottom" review of overall 

security at the nation's 103 commercial reactors.

 

The security drills, in which a handful of armed commandos assisted 

by an "insider" launch a mock attack on each plant once every eight 

years, may be reinstated but the timing is uncertain, said Breck 

Henderson, a commission spokesman.

 

The commission's continuing security review may turn up a new "threat 

basis" for the power plants that could change the nature of exercises 

to test the plants, Henderson said.

 

"We have not decided when we will do (assault) exercises again. We 

are proceeding very carefully," he added.

 

But critics of the commission said the nuclear industry is moving too 

slowly and should beef up security training now that its reactor 

fleet, which generates 20 percent of the nation's electricity, is on 

the highest alert.

 

"The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is still living in a pre-Sept. 11 

world," said Massachusetts Rep. Edward Markey, senior Democrat on the 

House Energy and Commerce Committee and a frequent critic of the 

agency.

 

FACING THREAT

 

"They have not permanently upgraded the security regulations at 

nuclear reactors to ensure that they are protected against the level 

of threat we now know we face," Markey told Reuters.

 

The Sept. 11 attacks by hijacked airliners raised the specter of a 

big plane smashing into the hardened buildings housing atomic 

reactors and triggering the release of poisonous radioactive 

material.

 

That concern has widened, however, to include more vulnerable plant 

targets like water intake systems, pools where the used radioactive 

fuel is stored, and adjacent sites for transformers and other 

equipment.

 

Responding to questions by Markey about security at atomic plants, 

the agency said it suspended the exercises because "the current 

elevated threat environment would pose significant safety hazards to 

the (plants') employees and negatively impact security 

effectiveness."

 

Security manpower is a big problem, said Doug Walters, senior project 

manager at the Washington-based Nuclear Energy Institute, a trade 

group for nuclear utilities.

 

"We support doing exercises but you need to involve a lot of people. 

A high-level alert is not the right time," Walters said, adding that 

plants have hired more security workers but about 29 percent of the 

employees are working overtime.

 

CHANGING TESTS

 

The industry also is working to make a significant change in the way 

it tests security forces.

 

The nuclear regulators would like to drop their mock attacks program 

in favor of a new utility-run effort called "safeguards performance 

assessment," a training scheme with assault drills every three years.

 

The program would shift the regulatory agency's role from manager to 

observer, although the commission would have to approve rules for the 

new system and evaluate results from the exercises.

 

Twenty nuclear plants had agreed to join pilot tests of the new 

training program but the Sept. 11 attacks also put this on hold and 

no start date has been set, Walters said.

 

However, Markey said the changes have been proposed because the 

commission and utilities "are simply embarrassed" by poor results 

from past attack exercises.

 

Nuclear utilities also run separate exercises to test training and 

response to equipment breakdowns that may set off a radioactive 

release.

 

These drills, which are "graded" every two years by the commission, 

to date have not included mock attacks.

 

In the absence of regular exercises, nuclear security forces are 

keeping up their regular training and marksmanship, and utilities are 

meeting more often with military officials and local public safety 

agencies, utilities said.

 

"The emergency planning and communications work is being revamped," 

said Jeff Lewis, spokesman for PG&E Corp.'s <PCG.N> Diablo Canyon 

nuclear station in California, one of the biggest power plants on the 

West Coast.

 

Diablo Canyon will run an equipment exercise in October, but Lewis 

said he would not be surprised if "a terrorist incident" is part of 

the scenario.

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



39 radiation exposure accidents occurred in 44 yrs



TOKYO, May 27 (Kyodo) - At least 201 accidents or incidents occurred 

between 1958 and 2001 involving radioactive materials, 39 of which 

involved exposures to radiation, the Nuclear Safety Commission of 

Japan said Monday.

 

Many of the 39 radiation exposure accidents took place in the 1980s 

or before. But the 1999 accident at a nuclear fuel reprocessing plant 

in the village of Tokai, Ibaraki Prefecture, was the only case in 

which two workers died directly from radiation exposure, according to 

the commission's report.

 

Among the 201, 63 cases were losses or thefts of radioactive 

materials. There were also 44 cases of radiation leakage that did not 

affect human beings, the report said.

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



Swedish minister unsure of Barseback closure date



STOCKHOLM, May 27 (Reuters) - Sweden's energy minister said on Monday 

he will keep Sweden's promise to close the Barseback 2 nuclear 

reactor as part of the country's nuclear phase-out, but could not 

give a firm deadline.

 

"We reckon that we will close Barseback 2 sometime during 2003," 

Industry and Energy Minister Bjorn Rosengren told Reuters. "But I 

cannot promise anything."

 

He said that the closure depended on a combination of new generation 

capacity and a drop in consumption to prevent the shut down from 

causing difficulties with the electricity supply.

 

Analysts told Reuters last week that Sweden's ruling Social Democrats 

are trying to avoid a debate on the phasing-out of nuclear energy 

ahead of the September election, as it would likely cost them votes.

 

Industry players say taking Barseback 2 offline in 2003 is unlikely.

 

The shut down of Barseback 2 is part of Sweden's decision in a 1980 

referendum to replace all its nuclear energy, which accounts for 

about half of Sweden's total production of 150 terawatt hours, with 

renewables. Barseback 1 closed in 1999.

 

But the plan has caused considerable political headaches due to a 

lack of realistic alternatives. Sweden decided in 1997 to scrap a 

2010 deadline for the nuclear phase-out and has now no fixed 

timetable apart from Barseback.

 

Rosengren said he was certain that Sweden would eventually replace 

nuclear generation, but declined to offer any timeframe.

 

He said it would be decided in consultation with the energy industry, 

matching the model as Germany's recent decision to close all nuclear 

power stations by 2025. "All I can say is that this will take a long 

time," he said.

 

Rosengren added that switching to natural gas as a main source of 

power was out of the question as it would increase Swedish emissions 

of carbon dioxide (CO2), widely blamed for causing global warming.

 

That could leave only costly alternatives such as wind, solar and 

bioenergy.

 

DOUBTS FINNS' NEW N-PLANT

 

Sweden's Nordic neighbour Finland made a landmark decision last week 

to build a fifth nuclear reactor to meet rising energy demand and 

free the country from its dependence on Russian gas.

 

But Rosengren said it could be a political signal to Russia and the 

plant might never be built.

 

"(Finland) is under heavy pressure when it comes to both oil and gas, 

so this might be a way to signal to the Russians that it has other 

alternatives," he said. "I do not think one should be absolutely sure 

that the (reactor) will be realised."

 

Sweden has come under fire from Denmark due to delays to the closure 

of Barseback 2, which is just 10 kms (6.214 miles) away from 

Copenhagen.

 

Rosengren shrugged off the criticism and noted that Denmark and 

Norway were exporters of natural gas.

 

"This energy debate is not conducted according to facts - there is an 

awful lot of politics and mean scheming," he said. "The Danes and the 

Norwegians want to push their natural gas on us."

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



METI concerned over Hamaoka water leak impact on nuke policy



TOKYO, May 27 (Kyodo) - The government is concerned about adverse 

effects of the radioactive water leak Saturday at the 

Hamaoka nuclear power plant in Shizuoka Prefecture, a day after its 

suspension for checks ended, a top industry ministry official 

said Monday.

 

''It is particularly regrettable that the accident damaged trust of 

the people, especially of local residents,'' Katsusada Hirose, vice 

minister of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), said 

at a press conference.

 

''On this respect, we are worried about the impact on the entire 

issue of nuclear power...it has to be advanced on the basis of trust 

and cooperation with everyone,'' the top ministry bureaucrat said.

 

Chubu Electric Power Co. said on Saturday it has shut down a nuclear 

reactor at the Hamaoka Nuclear Power Station following the 

discovery of a radioactive water leak early in the day, just one day 

after the plant resumed operations Friday.

 

The power station in the town of Hamaoka, located roughly 210 

kilometers southwest of Tokyo, reported a pipe rupture and a water 

leak at its No. 1 reactor in November last year and shut it down.

 

The power company also shut down the No. 2 reactor, which is 

similarly structured, at that time for voluntary inspections. The 

reactor resumed operations Friday after a six-month break, and was 

supposed to start generating power Saturday.

 

The November accident fueled widespread distrust of the Japanese 

people over nuclear power. Such sentiment has prevented power 

companies from introducing a plutonium-uranium mixed oxide fuel as 

planned and the government from advancing its nuclear fuel 

cycle policy.

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



Feds Say S.C. Can't Stop Plutonium



COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - Attorneys for the U.S. Energy Department say 

South Carolina's threats to block federal plutonium 

shipments to the agency's Savannah River Site facility are 

unconstitutional.

 

In response to a lawsuit filed by Gov. Jim Hodges, the attorneys 

argued in court papers released Friday that the governor's plan to 

use a blockade to keep the nuclear material out of his state would 

violate the federal government's right to regulate interstate 

commerce.

 

Courtney Owings, a spokeswoman for Hodges, said the governor's 

attorneys were still looking over the filing and had no immediate 

response.

 

In his motion seeking a temporary restraining order against the 

plutonium shipments, Hodges has argued to U.S. District Judge 

Cameron Currie that the Energy Department has violated environmental 

and due-process laws.

 

Currie is scheduled to hear arguments June 13, two days before the 

Energy Department could begin making the shipments of 

weapons-grade surplus plutonium from the former Rocky Flats nuclear 

weapons plant in Colorado.

 

The plutonium is to be shipped to the Savannah River Site, converted 

and then shipped out of state.

 

Hodges has sued to stop the shipments until the Energy Department and 

the state reach an agreement about how the plutonium will 

be processed and when it will leave the state.

 

Hodges also questioned the department's safe-transport capabilities. 

Last week, he asked Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham to 

put any movement plans on hold.

 

The Energy Department contends that the shipments to South Carolina 

are essential to meeting its goal of cleaning up and closing 

the Rocky Flats site by 2006.

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



Finnish Greens opt to quit govt after nuclear vote



HELSINKI, May 26 (Reuters) - Finland's Green Party said on Sunday it 

would leave the country's coalition government after 

parliament voted to proceed with controversial plans to build the 

country's fifth nuclear reactor.

 

The departure, which was expected following Friday's vote, will not 

threaten the ruling coalition's majority, which will fall to 130 

seats 

in the 200-member house with the loss of the 11 Green 

parliamentarians.

 

"The meeting decided we will leave the government and continue our 

politics from the opposition," Member of Parliament Anne 

Sinnemaki told Reuters following the two-day Green party meeting in 

the town of Jyvaskyla.

 

Delegates voted 38-8 to go into opposition, party officials said. The 

decision means the government will need to appoint a new 

environment minister to succeed the Greens' Satu Hassi.

 

The meeting also passed a motion calling for a change in Finnish law 

to oblige energy firms to produce at least 25 percent of their 

electricity from biomass, wind or solar sources by 2010 at the 

latest.

 

The government says Finland needs the fifth reactor to ensure 

economic growth continues, to meet Kyoto pact targets on cutting 

emissions, and to reduce its dependence on Russia, which provides 

most of its imported energy.

 

Nuclear power producer Teollisuuden Voima Oy, controlled by Finnish 

industry, is expected to spend up to 2.5 billion euros to build the 

reactor, which is expected to be operational before the end of the 

decade.

 

With the Greens moving into opposition, the four remaining parties in 

the coalition government are the Social Democrats, the country's 

largest party, the Conservatives, the Left Alliance and the Swedish 

People's Party.

 

Finland's next parliamentary election is set for March 2003.



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

Sandy Perle

Director, Technical

ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Service

ICN Plaza, 3300 Hyland Avenue

Costa Mesa, CA 92626



Tel:(714) 545-0100 / (800) 548-5100  Extension 2306

Fax:(714) 668-3149



E-Mail: sandyfl@earthlink.net

E-Mail: sperle@icnpharm.com



Personal Website: http://sandy-travels.com

ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Website: http://www.dosimetry.com



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