Taiwan Condo residents win suit over radioactive rebar

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

Index:



Taiwan Condo residents win suit over radioactive rebar

Health Effects of Irradiated Mail in U.S. Uncertain  

Georgia to search for nuclear material near Abkhazia

Radioactive leak at Lucas Heights nuclear reactor

Council calls for independent inquiry into nuclear leak

Campaigners fight to stop Japan nuclear cargo

Nuclear waste stored on BHP vessel off W Australian coast

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



Taiwan Condo residents win suit over radioactive rebar



TAIPEI, July 2 (Kyodo) -  The Geiger counter that had been going off 

and on suddenly screeched as it was brought closer to a pillar near 

the window in the dimly lit room.  



Wang Yu-lin, owner of the luxury condominium in downtown Taipei, 

urged us to leave at once.

 

''Being here long can damage our health,'' said Wang, who heads a 

group of former residents of the 70-room Minsheng Villas, which is 

heavily contaminated with radiation. Wang's second-floor apartment is 

a restricted zone.

 

While inside, the needle on a simple Japanese-made Geiger counter, an 

instrument used to measure the intensity of radiation, jumped to the 

upper limit of 19.99 microSieverts of radioactivity per hour. Wang's 

U.S.-made meter measured between 34 microSieverts and 36 

microSieverts per hour.

 

Either level means a person who stays in the room for only a day and 

a half is exposed to radiation far exceeding 1 milliSievert per year, 

a safety limit set by the International Commission on Radiological 

Protection (ICRP). One microSievert is a thousandth of a 

milliSievert.

 

One morning in August 1992, Wang and other residents woke up to read 

the following headline in the Chinese-language Liberty Times: 

''Radiation levels exceeding limit by over 1,000 times detected in 

steel reinforcing bars of Minsheng Villas.''

 

The newspaper's investigative report was based on whistle-blowing in 

the Atomic Energy Council (AEC), the Taiwan government's nuclear 

watchdog. The report prompted a series of inspections that confirmed 

about 180 houses, schools and offices contained contaminated rebar.

 

Of the total 70 families living in Minsheng Villas, including the 

Japanese family of the head of a Japanese company's Taipei 

representative office who rented a room there, 26 households were 

certified as ''victims of serious radiation exposure.''

 

The council by chance discovered years before that the building was 

contaminated with radiation. The condo complex, located on central 

Lungchiang Road, was completed in the spring of 1984 and residents 

began moving in soon after.

 

One was a dentist who had an X-ray machine set up in his apartment on 

the second floor.

 

A safety inspection performed by a private company commissioned by 

the council happened to detect dangerously high levels of 

radioactivity even though the X-ray machine was not operational.

 

Further investigations led to the detection of gamma rays radiating 

from rebar in the concrete walls.

 

The council, however, covered up its findings. By the time the 

residents found out eight years later, they had been exposed to a 

maximum ''collective dose'' of about 1,230 times the ICRP limits.

 

Many residents are now complaining of a variety of illnesses such as 

cataracts and hyperthyroidism. Their worst fear is the effects of the 

radiation on unborn babies and children.

 

Most of the residents are devoting themselves to the care of their 

children. A woman who moved into the condo after her marriage said, 

''The bedroom for the newlyweds was contaminated. I had two 

miscarriages in row.''

 

Another woman, who together with her husband and two children went to 

Hiroshima for radiation medical checks, spoke of her amazement at 

seeing pictures of victims of atomic bomb explosions at the Hiroshima 

Peace Memorial Museum in the western Japan city.

 

''People like us face radiation exposure risks in daily life without 

knowing it. I'm afraid the effects will appear in our children,'' she 

said.

 

Yukio Sato, a former director of the Research Institute for Radiation 

Biology and Medicine, affiliated with state-run Hiroshima University, 

said additional monitoring of the residents is required.

 

''We need to keep up the medical checks on the residents, taking into 

consideration the high ratio of chromosome aberrations in the Taiwan 

government's survey,'' Sato said.

 

He added that chromosome aberration levels are expected to exceed 

those of people exposed to radiation from the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear 

accident in Ukraine.

 

In 1994, the residents sued the government over the cover-up. The 

plaintiffs in the state compensation lawsuit reached a compromise 

settlement in March this year after the island's high court 

recommended the plaintiffs' claim early this year.

 

The out-of-court settlement forced the government to pay the 47 

plaintiffs a combined NT$72 million (about $2.1 million), the highest 

amount of state compensation on record.

 

But the biggest mystery remains the cause of the radiation, untouched 

in the court rulings.

 

The steelmaker that produced the rebar was eventually tracked down. 

The contaminated materials, certain to have been mixed in its 

furnace, could have come from industrial waste used at Taiwan nuclear 

plants and military research institutes or medical facilities on the 

island and overseas. But a final conclusion has not yet been reached.

 

Both the condo developer and the steelmaker evaded legal 

responsibility. The steelmaker refused to respond to questions from 

Kyodo News on the issue, citing its bankruptcy.

 

Wang, who has been leading the residents' movement against the state, 

said, ''The next aim is to rebuild our condo into one that is 

inhabitable in collaboration with the government.''

 

Two seriously radiated families, who are still in negotiations with 

the government, have taken ''defensive radiation-protection 

measures,'' including the installation of lead plates on walls and 

pillars and keeping away from ''dangerous rooms.''

 

Not until 2046 will Minsheng Villas be declared safe by natural 

attenuation of the radiation. Wang and the other residents hope to 

dispel the stigma of living in a ''radiation-contaminated condo'' 

before then.

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



Health Effects of Irradiated Mail in U.S. Uncertain  



WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Capitol Hill workers may be suffering some 

adverse health effects from handling irradiated mail, but further 

study is needed to determine if it poses a serious health risk, a 

U.S. congressional regulatory office said on Tuesday. 

  

A report released by the general counsel of the Office of Compliance, 

which oversees congressional compliance with labor laws, said office 

mail handlers have been reporting skin irritation, nausea and other 

symptoms since the post office began irradiating lawmakers' mail to 

kill potential anthrax spores. 



The report said the number of affected employees and severity of 

symptoms has declined in recent months but that many workers were 

continuing to report symptoms. 



"We do not currently have enough information to reach any final 

conclusion on whether there is any serious health risk from extended 

periods of mail handling under existing working conditions," the 

report concluded. 



It recommended additional studies and that workers take certain 

steps, such as wearing gloves when handling mail. It also recommended 

that irradiated mail be aired out before delivery. 



Sen. Charles Grassley, an Iowa Republican who sought the review in 

February, said the report shows that some Capitol Hill officials "may 

have been too quick to conclude irradiated mail was harmless" and may 

not have taken employees' health concerns seriously enough. 



"Irradiating the mail was and is a big experiment," Grassley said in 

a statement. 



The report said that some tests indicated that low levels of several 

chemical irritants were left on mail after irradiation. 



"While we do not believe these chemical irritants are life-

threatening, we believe further study is essential to determine the 

effects of extended exposure to irradiated mail, particularly in 

restricted work areas," the report said. 



The U.S. Postal Service began irradiating mail to lawmakers after an 

anthrax-laced letter was sent last October to Senate Majority Leader 

Tom Daschle, a South Dakota Democrat, forcing the shutdown of a 

Senate office building. 



A second anthrax-laced letter was sent to Vermont Democrat Patrick 

Leahy, chairman of the Judiciary Committee ( news - web sites), but 

it was discovered before any harm was done. 



A spate of anthrax-tainted letters were sent to government officials 

and media outlets in Washington, Florida and New York last year. Five 

people died and about a dozen others were treated for deadly 

inhalation anthrax or the less serious skin version. 

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



Georgia to search for nuclear material near Abkhazia



VIENNA, Austria (Reuters) - Georgian authorities will expand a search 

for nuclear material left over from Soviet days to rough terrain near 

Georgia's breakaway Abkhazia region, the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog said 

Tuesday.

 

The discovery last December of two containers of radioactive material 

in Abkhazia deepened fears in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks that 

nuclear material could fall into the hands of people who would use it 

to make crude weapons.

 

The nuclear material found in Abkhazia was used in Soviet times to 

power remote communications stations and it is suspected that two 

more such containers remain undiscovered.

 

Last week, the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency warned 

that over 100 countries had inadequate safeguards to prevent the 

theft of radioactive materials that could be used in dirty bombs, 

devices using standard explosives to spread nuclear material.

 

IAEA experts have been helping local authorities since June 10 in an 

unsuccessful attempt to locate the containers. But the agency said 

local experts would handle the search near Abkhazia.

 

The IAEA said it believed Georgian experts would be capable of 

handling the situation if it found the containers, believed to 

contain highly-radioactive strontium-90, useless in a conventional 

nuclear bomb but which could be used in a dirty bomb.

 

"The Georgians now have a nice cadre of local personnel who have been 

trained in search and recovery, and they have some very sophisticated 

detection equipment," IAEA spokesman Mark Gwozdecky said.

 

The Georgian experts will use a U.N. helicopter to search the border 

with the former Soviet republic's secessionist Abkhazia region in the 

company of Russian peacekeeping troops.

 

Abkhazia has remained outside the Georgian government's control since 

it declared independence a decade ago and guerrillas regularly clash 

with the Abkhaz military.

 

"Currently (U.N. military observers) are in negotiations with the 

Abkhaz side and Russian peacekeepers for Georgian experts to be 

allowed to check the area," Soso Kakushadze of Georgia's environment 

ministry told Reuters.

 

He said the operation would begin in a few days and would take 

several days to complete.

 

Gwozdecky said IAEA experts would return to Georgia in September to 

resume a country-wide search for various types of nuclear material 

believed to have fallen out of regulatory control since the collapse 

of the Soviet Union.

 

Three Georgian foresters who found the first two containers in 

December suffered severe radiation sickness.

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



Radioactive leak at Lucas Heights nuclear reactor



July 2 (Australian Broadcasting Company) - It has been revealed 

radioactive water has leaked from a pond at the  Lucas Heights 

Nuclear Reactor in southern Sydney.  



The Federal Government's nuclear safety agency ARPANSA says a few 

litres  of water from a cooling pond holding radioactive fuel rods 

seeped into a  purpose-built leakage pump last year.

 

It is not yet known if any water escaped into the ground around the  

pump.

 

ARPANSA spokesman Brenden Elliot says immediately upon finding out 

about  the leak, the agency ordered reactor operator ANSTO to sink 

bore-holes  around the pond to test for radioactivity.

 

"There has been no contamination detected as yet so the signs are  

encouraging from that point of view."

 

"Those boreholes will stay there indefinitely."

 

"The reality is as a safety regulator ARPANZA needs to be assured 

that  the discharge levels are being satisfied and there is no 

unauthorised  contamination of the environment.

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



Council calls for independent inquiry into nuclear leak



July 2 (Australian Broadcasting Company) - A southern Sydney Council 

has called for an independent inquiry into the  operation of the 

Lucas Heights Nuclear Reactor, following revelations of  a 

radioactive leak last year. 



The Federal Government's nuclear safety regulator says a small amount 

of  water with very low levels of radioactivity escaped from a pond 

at the  reactor site into a purpose-built leakage pump. 



Groundwater testing is being conducted around the pond and so far, no 

 contamination has been detected. 



Sutherland Councillor Genevieve Rankin says operations at the site 

must  be urgently reviewed. 



"We have these slipshod practices. We have these accidents happening 

out  there where the public and the council and the relevant state  

authorities aren't even notified,"  she said. 



"It is just not good enough. The whole place needs a thorough inquiry 

 into how it operates and how it is protecting the residents of  

Sydney  from the harmful effects of radiation."

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



Campaigners fight to stop Japan nuclear cargo



TOKYO, July 2 (Reuters) - Anti-nuclear campaigners on Tuesday stepped 

up their bid to block a planned shipment of nuclear 

material from Japan to Britain, saying the cargo could be vulnerable 

to theft or attack.

 

Media have reported that a ship carrying mixed plutonium and uranium 

oxides (MOX), potentially capable of being used in weapons, 

will sail from western Japan on July 4.

 

This would coincide with America's Independence Day and would come 

just days after the U.S. State Department warned there was 

continuing potential for terrorist attacks.

 

"For this to be leaving in the midst of the alerts that the United 

States have put out is really the height of foolishness," said Tom 

Clements, a Greenpeace campaigner attached to the group's vessel, 

Arctic Sunrise.

 

Greenpeace plans to use its ship to stage a protest at Takahama some 

300 km (190 miles) west of Tokyo, from where the British 

ship Pacific Pintail is expected to sail.

 

And in London on Tuesday the pro-environment group that wants to see 

the material stored on land rather than shipped across the 

world said it had sought a British High Court injunction to stop it 

leaving the dockside.

 

The fuel is being returned to British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL) after a 

scandal in 1999, when Japan's Kansai Electric Power Co 

discovered that the British state-owned nuclear fuel reprocessing 

company had deliberately falsified data on the fuel it had shipped to 

the company.

 

The move follows an agreement between the Japanese and British 

governments and will cost BNFL 114 million pounds ($174 

million), of which 40 million pounds is compensation to Kansai and 

the rest the logistical cost of the operation.

 

A spokesman for Kansai Electric, which had planned to use the fuel in 

commercial reactors, said it was not revealing the ship's 

departure date due to security considerations.

 

Greenpeace also criticised the security arrangements for the ship, 

which is equipped with a machine gun and will be accompanied 

on its trip by another armed freighter.

 

"We think that is inadequate. Consideration mostly took place before 

September 11," Clements said.

 

A BNFL spokesman in London said the company would "vigorously 

contest" a High Court injunction to stop the shipment.

 

"These ships are among the safest that travel on the seas with double 

hulls, buoyancy tanks, satellite navigation systems and 

double the crew they need," he said.

 

As for the fuel, he said it was inside a drop-tested flask that 

weighs 100 tonnes with steel walls several inches thick. "Even if 

they 

were to break open the ceramic pellets inside do not dissolve in 

water," he added.

 

UNDER WRAPS

 

Although the planned route has also been kept under wraps, leaders in 

countries that may find the shipment passing nearby have 

also expressed concerns about safety.

 

The ships will probably be escorted out of Japanese waters by coast 

guard vessels, but a coast guard spokeswoman declined to 

give any details of security arrangements.

 

"We will be taking the necessary safety measures," she said.

 

On Monday, in London the shipment obtained a key clearance form the 

British Environment Agency, which ruled that BNFL could 

classify the MOX as fuel rather than waste and thereby avoid the need 

to obtain a special licence for it.

 

"This decision follows a careful investigation into claims by 

Greenpeace that the British Nuclear Fuels cargo needs a trans-

frontier 

shipment authorisation from the agency," it said.

 

"The Environment Agency has made its decision principally on the 

grounds that a use is foreseen for the fuel."

 

Campaigners have argued that the MOX is unlikely to be used as fuel, 

given existing stockpiles of similar material already in the UK, 

but BNFL says the material is fuel and has a commercial value.

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



Nuclear waste stored on BHP vessel off W Australian coast



July 2 (Australian Broadcasting Company) - The Health Department has 

released the name of the company storing  nuclear waste 

on a rig off WA's north coast.  



Seven drums of low grade waste are located on BHP-Billiton's Griffin  

Venture production vessel, about 65-kilometres offshore from 

Exmouth.

 

It says the waste consists of scale removed from pipes which contains 

 naturally occurring radioactive materials.

 

Western Australia Radiological Council says it is now up to the  

Department of Minerals and Petroleum Resources to negotiate with  BHP-

Billiton over the disposal of the material.

 

Department spokesman Richard Craddock says the company has several  

options, including bringing the waste onshore for disposal. 



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

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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