Feds to Temporary Halt of Waste Shipments

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

Index:



Feds to Temporary Halt of Waste Shipments

Washington Sues U.S. Over Nuclear Waste

Shutdown of 17 Japanese nuclear reactors raises summer outage fears

Finland's Greens ready to join a new government

Radioactivity found on two GE workers at Pa. nuke

Three Wisconsin nukes to receive new reactor lids

Six Found Guilty in Japan Nuke Accident

Possibility of "dirty bomb" in Nigerian theft

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



Feds to Temporary Halt of Waste Shipments



YAKIMA, Wash. (AP) - The federal government agreed Wednesday to 

suspend shipments of radioactive trash to its Hanford nuclear 

reservation for 45 days while the state challenges cleanup plans.



The state sued Tuesday after the Energy Department refused to provide 

a written guarantee that 78,000 barrels of waste already at Hanford 

and the incoming waste would eventually leave Hanford.



``Washington state remains steadfast in its commitment to not accept 

any additional quantities of radioactive waste at Hanford until the 

Department of Energy has developed enforceable milestones for removal 

of (transuranic) waste from this site,'' Gov. Gary Locke said 

Wednesday.



Locke said his concern was that the Energy Department was using 

Hanford - already the most-contaminated nuclear site in the nation - 

as a radioactive waste dump.



A federal court hearing is scheduled for April.



The Energy Department characterized the dispute as an issue over 

regulatory authority.



The 560-square-mile reservation in south-central Washington produced 

material for nuclear weapons during World War II and during the Cold 

War.

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



Washington Sues U.S. Over Nuclear Waste



OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) - Washington state sued the federal government 

Tuesday to halt the shipment of radioactive waste to the Hanford 

nuclear reservation until the Energy Department commits itself to 

cleaning up and removing 78,000 barrels of waste already stored 

there.



The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Spokane. The state seeks a 

permanent injunction against new shipments until enforceable 

benchmarks for the cleanup are in place.



The state and federal governments have been negotiating for months. 

In December, the department informally agreed that nuclear waste now 

stored at Hanford would be dug up, repackaged and eventually shipped 

to a plant in New Mexico.



But Gov. Gary Locke and state Attorney General Christine Gregoire 

said the government inexplicably walked away from that agreement, 

leaving the state with only flimsy promises.



``We will do whatever it takes to ensure that a timeline is developed 

for Hanford, a cleanup plan is put in place and the Department of 

Energy follows through on it,'' the governor said. He added: ``Our 

state's environmental health is at stake. New promises won't make 

things right.''



Jessie Roberson, the Energy Department's assistant secretary for 

environmental management, said the agency will honor its commitments, 

but also has clear authority over the shipments.



``The issue isn't whether we're going to get the work done. It's 

whether we need the state to force us to do the work,'' Roberson 

said.



The disagreement is over waste such as protective clothing, tools and 

pipes that have been contaminated with plutonium in the process of 

making nuclear weapons. The material is stored in 55-gallon drums, 

many of them buried in unlined trenches.



Gregoire said the state has accepted about 40 barrels of waste from 

Ohio and California since December and a shipment of 10 barrels is en 

route from Ohio.



The 560-square-mile Hanford reservation produced material for nuclear 

weapons during World War II and during the Cold War. Hanford was left 

with more radioactive waste than any other site in the nation.



On the Net:



Governor: http://www.governor.wa.gov



Energy Department: http://www.energy.gov

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



Shutdown of 17 Japanese nuclear reactors raises summer outage fears



NIIGATA, Japan, March 6 (Kyodo) - The imminent shutdown of all 17 

nuclear reactors run by Japan's largest utility, Tokyo Electric Power 

Co. (TEPCO), is raising fears of power cuts in the summer and 

prompting TEPCO to urge consumers to save electricity, TEPCO 

officials say.



The possible shutdown of all the reactors, located in Niigata and 

Fukushima prefectures, by mid-April follows revelations last August 

that TEPCO falsified safety reports to cover up defects at its 

nuclear facilities.



According to the company, the possible outages as a result of 

shutting down the reactors for safety checkups will affect customers 

in Tokyo and eight other prefectures.



The 17 reactors, which generate a total of 17 million kilowatts, have 

been supplying electricity for these areas, providing more than 40% 

for Tokyo and its vicinity.



TEPCO said it has sought public cooperation on the need to save on 

electricity by placing newspaper ads on Feb. 26.



Since the cover-up scandal in late August, TEPCO has closed down 14 

of the 17 reactors for checkups in a bid to restore the confidence of 

local residents. Operations at the remaining three reactors will be 

suspended by the middle of next month.



According to TEPCO, power supply demands could still be met up to 

May, but it will be difficult to do so in the summer from June to 

early September. As of late last month, TEPCO said it can supply an 

average of 51 million kw in power generation capacity.



It said that in July and August, when electricity use peaks, demand 

will surge beyond 60 million kw.



The 17 nuclear reactors belong to the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power 

station and Fukushima No. 2 nuclear power station, both in Fukushima 

Prefecture, and the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power station in 

Niigata Prefecture.



Fukushima Gov. Eisaku Sato said that now is not the time to consider 

resuming operations, while Niigata Gov. Ikuo Hirayama said the 

central government should ensure the safety of nuclear reactors, 

adding he is worried that limiting power supplies could worsen the 

recession.



Kashiwazaki Mayor Masazumi Saikawa expressed his approval of 

operations at the reactors resuming after problems are resolved, and 

even residents in Niigata and Fukushima, which are being supplied by 

Tohoku Electric Power Co. based in Miyagi Prefecture, are calling for 

resumed operations, partly out of concern about local employment.



In late August, it was revealed that during the 1980s and 1990s TEPCO 

falsified safety reports and covered up defects found during safety 

checks at the two Fukushima power stations and the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa 

power station.



The Fukushima No. 1 station has six reactors, the Fukushima No. 2 

station has four reactors, and Kashiwazaki-Kariwa station has seven 

reactors.

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



Finland's Greens ready to join a new government



HELSINKI, March 6 (Reuters) - Finland's Green Party said on Thursday 

it was ready to join the next government coalition, even if it meant 

teaming up with parties that supported building the country's fifth 

nuclear reactor last year.



With national elections later this month, party head Osmo Soininvaara 

said there were no nuclear hot spots on the agenda for coming years.



The Greens left the ruling coalition in May after parliament approved 

building Europe's first nuclear reactor in more than a decade, to 

help meet rising energy demands and targets on cutting emissions, as 

well as to reduce reliance on Russia.



Soininvaara told Reuters in an interview the party had appeased its 

grassroots members by leaving the government, and the issue was off 

the boil for the time being.



"I don't think there is any relevant (nuclear) question on the 

table," Soininvaara said.



"We think we can sit in the same government coalition that is 

nowadays (led by) the Conservatives and Social Democrats, and many of 

us think it's even better if there would be a Centre Party and Social 

Democratic coalition," he added.



Support for Finland's Greens, a small party with limited campaigning 

funds, has slipped in polls ahead of the March 16 election to 7.9 

percent last month from 8.8 percent in December as bigger parties 

crank up their election campaigns.



It remains a distant fifth in a race led by the main opposition 

centre-right Centre Party and the ruling Social Democratic Party 

(SDP) of Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen.



While its campaigning has focused on unemployment and tax issues, 

Soininvaara said support for the Greens had fallen after some 

candidates suggested legalising soft drugs -- a proposal that shocked 

some voters.



"I hope (voters) now realise that it is not the line of our party... 

these kind of independent thinkers are in many parties," he said.

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



Radioactivity found on two GE workers at Pa. nuke



NEW YORK, March 4 (Reuters) - Two contract employees reported to the 

Susquehanna nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania with low levels of 

radioactive material on their clothing, owner PPL Corp. <PPL.N> said 

on Tuesday.



Highly sensitive monitoring equipment at the plant detected the 

radioactivity on Monday as the General Electric Co. <GE.N> 

contractors were leaving an area inside a security fence, the company 

said in a statement.



The radioactive material is believed to have originated at another 

facility, and not at Susquehanna, the company said, and the level of 

radioactivity was very low.



This type of event is rare but not unheard of at the nation's nuclear 

power reactors. But since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, all incidents 

of possible public exposure to radioactive materials receives 

increased scrutiny.



PPL plant personnel began investigating and conducting additional 

radiological surveys immediately, said Joe Scopelliti, spokesman for 

the Susquehanna plant.



"At no time was the health and safety of the contractors, other 

Susquehanna workers or the general public affected because of this 

incident," Scopelliti said in a statement.



"The level of radioactivity on the clothing was slightly above what 

is seen in background radiation in the environment."



The contractors' previous job was at a nuclear power plant in Sweden, 

PPL said in its statement. Monday was their first day inside 

Susquehanna's security fence, however neither contractor had entered 

the part of the plant that contains radioactive materials, Scopelliti 

said.



Routine radiological surveys found the areas outside that part to be 

free of radioactivity, PPL said.



General Electric said it also was investigating.



Federal regulators and state environmental officials have been 

notified, the company said.



The two-unit Susquehanna plant, seven miles north of Berwick, is 

owned jointly by PPL Susquehanna LLC and Allegheny Electric 

Cooperative Inc. and is operated by PPL Susquehanna.



PPL Susquehanna LLC is a member of the PPL Corp. family of companies.

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



Three Wisconsin nukes to receive new reactor lids



SAN FRANCISCO, March 3 (Reuters) - Two Wisconsin utilities plan to 

relace three reactor vessel heads at their nuclear power plants in 

the state at an overall cost of nearly $64 million, plant operator 

Nuclear Management Co. said on Monday.



The plans stem from safety concerns raised at other U.S. nuclear 

power plants, where cracks have been discovered in the heavy metal 

heads bolted onto the tops of the reactors.



Inspections, however, have not turned up any problems in the 

Wisconsin plants' vessel lids.



Rather, the utilities said it would cost them less to install new 

caps on the reactor vessels than face frequent inspections ordered by 

the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which are running at $6 

million to $7 million each.



Utility Wisconsin Public Service Corp., a unit of WPS Resources Corp. 

<WPS.N>, plans to replace the reactor vessel head on its Kewaunee 

nuclear power plant in autumn 2004 at an estimated cost of $23.8 

million.



Wisconsin Energy Corp. <WEC.N> plans to replace two vessel heads at 

its twin-unit Point Beach nuclear station in 2005 at a total cost of 

$40 million, a spokeswoman for Nuclear Management told Reuters.



The Kewaunee plant is 59 percent owned by Wisconsin Public Service, 

with Alliant Energy Corp. <LNT.N> holding the rest.



The NRC has ordered inspections of all of the nation's pressurized 

water reactors to determine whether any vessel heads need to be 

replaced.



The inspections were ordered last year after FirstEnergy Corp. <FE.N> 

found cracks in the lid capping the reactor at its Davis-Besse plant 

in Ohio.



Inspectors also discovered a hole in the steel lid, eaten by boric 

acid that had been leaking for years through tiny cracks around the 

nozzles that guide fuel rods into the vessel that contains the 

nuclear reaction.



"When you look at the cost of an inspection and the uncertainty to 

continue to comply with NRC criteria, it becomes obvious that the 

best option is to seek a replacement of the vessel head," said Dave 

Molzahn, director of nuclear oversight at Wisconsin Public Service.

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



Six Found Guilty in Japan Nuke Accident



TOKYO (AP) - Six former top officials at a nuclear fuel reprocessing 

plant were found guilty of negligence and received suspended prison 

sentences in the country's worst nuclear accident, a court spokesman 

said Monday.



A district court judge ruled that the plant operator, JCO Co., and 

six ex-officials violated a nuclear regulatory law by letting two 

workers mix uranium in buckets instead of in mechanized tanks to save 

time, the spokesman said.



That caused a radiation leak that forced 161 people to evacuate their 

homes and another 310,000 to stay indoors for 18 hours as a 

precaution. A total of 439 people were exposed to radiation. The two 

workers died from extreme exposure.



JCO officials admitted that systematic violations of regulations led 

to the Sept. 30, 1999, accident, which occurred at the company's 

Tokai plant, 70 miles northeast of Tokyo.



The company, which was stripped of its license to run the plant in 

March 2000, later agreed to pay $107.3 million in compensation to 

settle 6,875 complaints over the accident.



The court ordered JCO to pay an additional $8,475 fine, and the 

plant's general manager was fined $4,240 besides receiving a three-

year suspended prison sentence, the spokesman said on condition of 

anonymity.



The court handed the other five suspended prison terms ranging from 

two to three years.

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



Possibility of "dirty bomb" in Nigerian theft



NEW YORK, March 6 (Reuters) - Halliburton Co. <HAL.N>, the world's 

No. 2 oil field services firm, said on Thursday it has started a 

probe involving U.S. and Nigerian government officials over theft of 

a radioactive device used at its Nigerian operations.



A report by the Wall Street Journal on Thursday said officials were 

concerned that the device's radioactive material could be used to 

create a "dirty bomb," an explosive device designed to scatter 

radioactivity in a densely populated area.



According to one expert, if the device's radioactive material was 

combined with a pound of TNT and exploded, an area covering 60 city 

blocks would be contaminated with a radiation dose in excess of 

safety guidelines of the Environmental Protection Agency, the 

newspaper said.



The device, used in oil detection, was stolen in early December, 

Halliburton spokeswoman Wendy Hall told Reuters. She said the 

investigation also involves officials from the International Atomic 

Energy Agency.



"We are working to locate this radioactive material and we've also 

made the public aware," she said without elaborating.



The device was in a locked storage box that weighs about 200 pounds 

(90 kg) and is the size of a small car engine block.



The newspaper said the theft occurred between the Nigerian towns of 

Wari and Port Harcourt in the Niger Delta, in the heart of the West 

African country's oil producing region. IAEA officials have been in 

Nigeria for two weeks but have so far been unable to determine how 

the device was stolen, the Journal quoted an IAEA official as saying.



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

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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