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Flotilla sails to protest UK nuclear fuel ships
Note: I will be out of the country Sept. 20 - 29 and there will be no
news distributions during this time, depending on phone/internet
connections.
Index:
Flotilla sails to protest UK nuclear fuel ships
Nuclear watchdog to decide on Lucas Heights project's future
Niigata scraps pluthermal project plan over scandal
TEPCO scandal undermining nuclear fuel recycling policy
Ex-Nuke Workers to Talk to Doctors
Detained Ship Ordered Back to Sea
====================================
Flotilla sails to protest UK nuclear fuel ships
DUBLIN, Sept 12 (Reuters) - A protest flotilla led by the Greenpeace
flagship "Rainbow Warrior" sailed from Dublin on Thursday to follow a
shipment of nuclear fuel bound for a British reprocessing plant.
The environmental group said it hoped the shipment of five tonnes of
mixed plutonium-oxide MOX fuel bound from Japan to the British
Nuclear Fuels (BNFL) plant in Sellafield, 110 miles across the Irish
Sea from Ireland, would be the last.
"The 80 governments that oppose this particular shipment make it the
most controversial nuclear transport in history," said Sean Burnie,
Greenpeace international nuclear campaigner.
The shipment has been met with protests at several locations on its
journey from Japan, which began two months ago.
The environmental group plans to join up with about 20 vessels and
then meet up with the two cargo ships, the Pacific Pintail and the
Pacific Teal, when they enter the Irish Sea this weekend or early
next week.
Greenpeace press officer Mhairi Dunlop said the protest would be
peaceful and the flotilla would not take any action that would impede
the safe movement of the cargo ships.
"This particular protest is to stop the seas being used as a nuclear
dumping ground and a nuclear highway," Dunlop said.
The cargo vessels, armed with 30 mm cannon and protected by special
guards, are returning a shipment of MOX fuel rejected by Japan.
BNFL has insisted the shipment is safe from attack or environmental
catastrophe.
But Greenpeace claims such shipments are not only hazardous if the
ships are involved in any accident, but also pose a tempting target
for terror attacks.
Dunlop said the exact whereabouts of the cargo ships is unknown, but
they were sighted most recently off the west coast of Madeira,
travelling at about 10-1/2 knots, and are expected in the Irish Sea
in a few days.
The Irish government, which has challenged the operation of the
Sellafield plant in the international arena, has said it would send
its navy and air force to monitor the nuclear shipment's progress but
would not join in the protest.
--------------------
Nuclear watchdog to decide on Lucas Heights project's future
Sept 12 (Australian Broadcasting Co.) - Australia's nuclear watchdog,
the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency
(ARPANSA), says it will decide in a month or so whether work on the
replacement reactor at Sydney's Lucas Heights should go ahead as
planned.
The project stopped mid-year after fault lines were uncovered during
excavation work at the site of the new reactor.
The Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO),
which operates the existing reactor, has commissioned research on the
fault lines - the results of which were delivered to ARPANSA today.
It concludes the faults do not pose a hazard and recommends the work
proceed as originally planned.
ARPANSA says ANSTO's submission and supporting research will be
reviewed by Geo Science Australia and a consultant from the
International Atomic Energy Agency before a final decision is made
on the project's future by chief executive John Loy.
-------------------
Niigata scraps pluthermal project plan over scandal
NIIGATA, Japan, Sept. 12 (Kyodo) - Niigata Gov. Ikuo Hirayama said
Thursday he has scrapped a plan for a Tokyo Electric Power Co.
(TEPCO) pluthermal power-generation project in the prefecture over a
scandal in which the company covered up damage at its nuclear plants.
The governor said TEPCO's falsification of records of cracks on its
nuclear power reactor shrouds has damaged the credibility of the
power company, which operates the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power
plant in the prefecture.
The prefecture revoked its initial decision in 1999 to allow TEPCO to
proceed with the project because ''a relationship based on trust and
the securing of safety has now been damaged,'' Hirayama said.
Hirayama announced the decision at a press conference held after
talks with Masazumi Saikawa, mayor of Kashiwazaki, and Hiroo Shinada,
chief of the village of Kariwa.
Hirayama and the other municipal chiefs will inform TEPCO of their
decision in writing between Friday and early next week, according to
people familiar with the issue.
''We are taking the decision seriously,'' TEPCO President Naoya
Minami said in a statement issued following Hirayama's announcement.
''It pains me that I myself have damaged the trust, which is the very
premise of securing understanding from local communities,'' he added.
Minami said the company will get to the bottom of the scandal and
make sure no such cover-ups would occur again, pledging to revive the
confidence lost due to the incident.
It was revealed last month that TEPCO had covered up damage found at
13 reactors in the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant in the prefecture and the
Fukushima No. 1 and No. 2 plants in Fukushima Prefecture between the
late 1980s and 1990s.
After the cover-ups were reported, the Kashiwazaki city assembly and
the Kariwa village assembly passed resolutions calling for annulling
the decision to grant TEPCO permission to proceed with the project.
The chiefs of the two municipalities argued that the decision is no
longer valid because of the scandal.
In May last year, a majority of Kariwa residents voted against
allowing the pluthermal project at the No. 3 reactor at the
Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant to proceed as scheduled.
The pluthermal project is a fuel program that involves burning
pellets of mixed oxide fuel, comprising uranium and plutonium
extracted from spent nuclear fuel, inside light-water reactors to
generate heat for producing electricity.
------------------
TEPCO scandal undermining nuclear fuel recycling policy
TOKYO, Sept. 12 (Kyodo) - The recent cover-up scandal of problems at
Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) nuclear plants is undermining the
government's nuclear fuel recycling policy, Economy, Trade and
Industry Vice Minister Seiji Murata said Thursday.
''We don't think we can simply pursue the policy any longer as the
very precondition -- confidence of the public or local residents --
has been undermined,'' Murata told a press conference.
While trying its best to restore confidence, the ministry must
consider alternative measures to deal with plutonium produced by
nuclear power generation, including a ''totally different approach,''
he said.
Japan wants to recycle plutonium by processing it into uranium-
plutonium mixed oxide (MOX) fuel, but has not started due to
widespread worries among people in regions that would be part of the
plan.
Since the TEPCO scandal occurred at plants where the utility was
planning to introduce MOX fuel, local governments are moving to
refuse the controversial recycling program.
The alternatives include finding sites for temporary storage of
plutonium, Murata said.
The scandal ''does not lead to abandoning the basic policy of the
nuclear fuel cycle at the moment. We should not be hasty in reaching
the conclusion to review the big, long-term policy at once,'' he
said.
----------------
Ex-Nuke Workers to Talk to Doctors
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) - The federal government will allow former
employees at a nuclear weapons plant in Iowa to talk to doctors and
researchers about their exposure to harmful materials, despite an
oath the workers took not to discuss details about their jobs.
The oaths have been a hurdle for thousands of employees seeking
medical care or federal benefits, or who want to take part in health
studies.
Word of the easing of restrictions came in a Pentagon report released
Monday. It said letters will soon be mailed to employees alerting
them to the change.
Workers will still be prohibited from divulging any classified
nuclear secrets. According to a copy of the employee letter, workers
will
be able to say which harmful materials they worked with, but not how
each substance was used.
>From the late 1940s through the mid-1970s, the Iowa Army Ammunition
Plant in Middletown assembled and test-fired nuclear
weapons components. It continues to produce conventional weapons. The
employee letter says workers may have been exposed to
silica, beryllium, solvents, explosives, epoxies and heavy metals.
The report also identifies more than 38,500 workers who are eligible
for a new study on the health effects of exposure to radioactive
and hazardous materials, and says the government has identified
nearly 4,000 who were assigned to the section where nuclear
components were assembled and test-fired.
The report comes more than a year after Congress demanded more
information on the health risks to workers. Last year, Congress
authorized compensation to former workers with health problems blamed
on contact with radioactive and other hazardous materials
at the 19,000-acre facility.
Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, who sponsored legislation demanding the
report, said giving workers clearance to talk to doctors and
researchers is a long-awaited victory. But he said the report misses
the mark on several key areas.
``The report is woefully short on information about possible
radioactive and toxic exposures at the plant,'' Harkin said.
Researchers with the University of Iowa, working under Department of
Energy grants, have been locating and interviewing hundreds
of former workers or their survivors in the last year. They hope to
determine whether certain illnesses may have been caused by
exposure to radiation and other hazardous materials.
Evidence of radioactive releases have been found in several locations
at the factory.
On the Net:
Labor Department, Energy Employees Compensation Program:
http://www.dol.gov/esa/regs/compliance/owcp/eeoicp/main.htm
-----------------
Detained Ship Ordered Back to Sea
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) - A ship detained after traces of radioactivity
were detected in its cargo was temporarily ordered back to sea,
the U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday.
The Liberian-flagged container ship, the M/V Palermo Senator, was
ordered to stay in a security zone six miles offshore while the
inspection continues.
The ship was directed to Berth 92 at the Port Newark/Elizabeth Marine
Terminal after a Coast Guard team boarded the vessel
Tuesday. Team members heard suspicious sounds in several of the
ship's cargo holds, but they could not determine their source.
While no evidence of stowaways was found, they determined that the
ship's cargo posed a potential risk to public safety.
Officials would not provide any details about the cargo.
Capt. Craig Bone, the Coast Guard's top official at the port, said in
a statement that the boat will remain offshore ``until the condition
of its cargo can be ascertained and safely offloaded.''
The FBI and Coast Guard wouldn't comment further on the
investigation.
-------------------------------------------------
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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