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Capacity at Japanese nuclear reactors drops to 73% in FY 2002
Index:
Capacity at Japanese nuclear reactors drops to 73% in FY 2002
Rocky Flats Workers Exposed to Radioactive Material
Lawsuit Filed to Block Radioactive Trash
Japanese Gov't to end survey on depleted uranium bullets in Okinawa
Simpler Method of Animal Cloning Using Nuclear Transfer
Progress Energy Named a Finalist for EEI Prestigious 'Edison Award'
===========================================
Capacity at Japanese nuclear reactors drops to 73% in FY 2002
TOKYO, April 4 (Kyodo) - Fifty-two nuclear reactors used commercially
in Japan ran at 73.4% capacity in fiscal 2002, slipping below the 80%
level for the first time in eight years, the Nuclear and Industrial
Safety Agency said Friday.
Agency officials attributed the decline mainly to suspended
operations at a number of reactors for safety checkups following a
cover-up scandal involving Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) last
summer and suspension of operations at other reactors due to front-
loaded or extended regular checkups.
The capacity ratio in fiscal 2002 through March 31 was the lowest in
the last 10 years, down 7.1 percentage points from 80.5% in the
previous fiscal year, they said.
The capacity ratio stayed at the 80% level from fiscal 1995 to fiscal
2001, with the highest rate of 84.2% in fiscal 1998.
By reactor type, the capacity ratio was 61.9% at 29 boiling-water
reactors, down 16.7 points from fiscal 2001 due to the TEPCO scandal.
The ratio at 23 pressurized-water reactors marked a record 89.1%.
Meanwhile, the agency said it received 14 reports of accidents in
fiscal 2002, compared with 16 in the previous fiscal year.
However, the data does not include a number of defects such as
fractures at many reactors.
-----------------
Rocky Flats Workers Exposed to Radioactive Material
GOLDEN, Colo. (AP) - For the second time in a week, an accident
exposed workers to minor levels of radioactive material at the Rocky
Flats former nuclear weapons plant.
Eight such accidents were reported at the plant in all of last year.
A contractor, Kaiser-Hill, is being paid $7 billion to clean up the
site and could receive a bonus if it completes the job before the end
of 2006.
``They're anxious to close Rocky Flats, so we ask, `Are they being
hasty? Are they being sloppy?''' said Steve Gunderson, the state
health department's official in charge of monitoring Rocky Flats.
However, he said he had concluded that the two accidents were
unrelated and didn't indicate a pattern of problems.
Kaiser-Hill is investigating the incidents and ``will make any
appropriate changes if any are deemed necessary,'' company spokesman
John Corsi said.
In the latest accident, a filter fell off an exhaust fan system
Monday, releasing accumulated contamination. Two of the six workers
in the affected room at the time tested positive for possible minor
contamination and will be tested further, Department of Energy
spokesman Pat Etchart said.
The exposure appeared to be well below federal limits, Gunderson
said.
Five days earlier, workers were installing a filter system in a
separate building when air from a contaminated room backed into the
rest of the building. Three of the 33 workers involved showed minimal
exposure and were undergoing further testing.
No radioactive material escaped from the buildings, Etchart said.
------------------
Lawsuit Filed to Block Radioactive Trash
YAKIMA, Wash. (AP) - Activists sued the Energy Department on
Wednesday to keep it from shipping radioactive trash through Oregon
to Washington state.
The federal lawsuit alleges that plutonium-contaminated shipments
headed to the Hanford nuclear site could be terrorist targets and put
Oregon residents at risk.
``These shipments are like deadly `dirty bombs' of plutonium waste
being trucked through our communities,'' said Gerald Pollet of Heart
of America Northwest, a Seattle-based Hanford watchdog group that
filed the suit with Columbia Riverkeeper, the Sierra Club and the
Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility.
Energy Department spokeswoman Colleen Clark had no comment on the
suit, which agency officials had not seen Wednesday. But she said the
shipments are subject not only to federal inspection but also to
monitoring by the states through which the waste is transported.
``The material is transported in casks certified by the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission, specific to the material that we are
transporting,'' Clark said. ``They're all very, very robust.''
The suit follows one filed last month by the state of Washington
after the department refused to guarantee that the 78,000 barrels of
radioactive trash already at Hanford would be shipped to a dump in
New Mexico.
The department has suspended shipments from California and Ohio to
Hanford at least until an April 18 federal court hearing on the
state's lawsuit.
------------------
Japanese Gov't to end survey on depleted uranium bullets in Okinawa
NAHA, Japan, April 3 (Kyodo) - The science and technology ministry
has informed the Okinawa prefectural government that it will end its
environmental survey on depleted uranium-tipped bullets fired by U.S.
military jets in the waters around a tiny Okinawa island between 1995
and 1996, local government officials said Thursday.
The Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry has
told the local government that it can find no negative effects from
the uranium after surveying the area around the uninhabited Torishima
Island.
The ministry has handed over a report on the results of the survey
which started in 1997 and said it intends to end the survey as there
are no ill effects on waters, soil or air.
The ministry said it is considering implementing a standard
environmental radioactivity survey conducted nationwide around the
site in the future, according to the officials.
However, the prefectural government and the government of Kumejimacho
town which governs the island are requesting the central government
continue the survey and also conduct medical checks on residents of
the town.
In December 1995 and January 1996, U.S. Marine AV-8B Harrier jets
fired 1,520 depleted uranium-tipped bullets during exercises at the
uninhabited coral island, about 100 kilometers west of the main
Okinawa Island.
The agency earlier said high-density uranium was found in soil
samples collected in one of 69 sites around Torishima Island.
About 340 micrograms of high-density uranium per gram of soil was
detected in samples taken from a slope into which the bullets had
been fired on the northern part of the island. This amount is nearly
200 times higher than the amount found in soil samples collected from
other parts of the island.
The research team otherwise found no evidence of any detrimental
effects on the island following a study of soil, water and fish
samples taken from various locations around Torishima Island, an
earlier report said.
The report said that ''the effect of the depleted uranium is
considered negligible, because the island is uninhabited.''
-------------------
Simpler Method of Animal Cloning Using Nuclear Transfer is Focus of
Two Papers in Cloning and Stem Cells
LARCHMONT, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 3, 2003--Two variations of a
new, user-friendly method of cloning an adult animal from a single
cell using the nuclear transfer technique will make animal cloning
much easier and more cost-effective, according to reports in the
Spring 2003 (Volume 5 Number 1) issue of Cloning and Stem Cells, a
peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. The two
papers are available free online at www.liebertpub.com/clo.
The demand for cloned animal embryos is rapidly growing. They have
become an increasingly valuable resource for commercial agriculture
and basic science research and are an important source of stem cells,
which may be useful for treating a variety of medical conditions.
Simpler and more efficient methods of cloned embryo production are
needed to meet this rising demand. The "zona-free" cloning method
described in this issue of Cloning and Stem Cells represents a
significant advance that will enable scientists to produce cloned
embryos in nearly half the time, using simpler equipment and
requiring less operator skill and experience. This simpler technique
yields live offspring with the same efficiency as previous methods.
"This research will come to be seen as an important milestone in
somatic cell nuclear transfer and will have remarkable impact on
further research," says Ian Wilmut, Ph.D., Editor-In-Chief of the
journal and joint head of the Department of Gene Expression and
Development at the Roslin Institute. "It is easier to learn these new
methods. A person with no previous experience of micromanipulation
can learn the basic routines in 3 weeks."
The two papers describing zona-free nuclear transfer originate from
the laboratories of Teija Peura and co-workers from the South
Australian Research and Development Institute, and Bjorn Oback, and
colleagues at New Zealand-based AgResearch Ltd, the University of
Waikato, and the University of Groningen (The Netherlands).
Animal cloning by nuclear transfer involves removing the nucleus from
an adult animal cell and transferring it into an egg cell that has
had its nucleus removed. The egg containing the donated nucleus is
then stimulated to divide and form an embryo, and the embryo is
transplanted into a female animal, where it continues to develop,
resulting in the birth of cloned offspring.
Until now, nuclear transfer has relied on highly technical and
precise methods involving micromanipulation to remove and inject the
nuclei. The Oback paper describes a zona-free protocol used in
cattle, in which the zona pellucida--a thick, transparent membrane
that surrounds the egg--is removed, and the egg is split into two,
allowing for easy removal of the nucleus. The contents of one or more
enucleated eggs are then placed in a fusion chamber together with the
donor nucleus from an adult animal and are fused via electrical
stimulation. Peura's "reverse-order" zona-free cloning method
involves removing the nuclei from zona-free sheep oocytes after the
egg has already been fused with an adult donor cells. Both techniques
proved to be efficient methods for producing cloned embryos and
viable offspring.
Cloning and Stem Cells is an authoritative peer-reviewed journal,
published quarterly in print and online, that focuses on
understanding developmental plasticity and defining the molecular
mechanisms that regulate differentiation or dedifferentiation of
nuclei and cells. A table of contents and free sample issue may be
viewed online at www.liebertpub.com/clo.
------------------
Progress Energy Named a Finalist for Edison Electric Institute's
Prestigious 'Edison Award'
WASHINGTON, April 4 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Leadership in corporate
ethics, excellence in nuclear operations and a pioneering air
emissions partnership with state leaders have garnered Raleigh-based
Progress Energy a finalist berth for the electric power sector's
highest honor, the Edison Award.
(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20020923/CHM008LOGO-c )
The prestigious prize is given annually by the Edison Electric
Institute (EEI) to the U.S. shareholder-owned member and
international member making the most outstanding contributions to the
advancement of the industry. A committee of national industry trade
publication editors and a panel of past and current EEI chairmen
select the finalists and ultimate winners. This year's award, the
44th, will be announced June 4 at EEI's annual convention in
Honolulu, Hawaii. "These companies are emblematic of the ingenuity
and vision that are the hallmarks of our industry," said EEI
President Thomas R. Kuhn in announcing the selection of the
finalists. "Their leadership and boldness, and their ability to see
what lies ahead in a constantly changing industry, are what set them
apart."
In 2002, Progress Energy distinguished itself with high standards in
ethics and corporate governance, and the company was one of just
three companies in a survey of 500 that received the highest possible
rating by Standard & Poor's for corporate transparency and behavior.
Progress also was ranked in the top ten out of 1,245 companies for
board of director independence by S&P.
Excellence in nuclear power operations was also a factor in Progress'
nomination, EEI said, pointing to a new world record set by the
company's Brunswick Nuclear Plant for a breaker-to-breaker run of a
boiling-water light reactor lasting more than 707 days. In October,
the company's Robinson Nuclear Plant in Hartsville, S.C., amassed a
517-day run, a new company record for a pressurized-water reactor.
These individual accomplishments were part of an overall Progress
Energy nuclear fleet that in 2002 achieved a combined capacity factor
of 97.3 percent, its best ever.
Finally, Progress distinguished itself for its collaboration in a
diverse stakeholder group that in 2002 crafted a state law that will
significantly reduce emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides
from coal-fueled power plants, while keeping electric rates stable
and maintaining the importance of coal-based generation in the
state's fuel portfolio.
Through its work in this collaborative process-which involved
environmental groups, state regulators and other groups-Progress
demonstrated that environmental progress can go hand in hand with
fuel diversity and a commitment to the future of coal-based electric
generation.
-------------------------------------------------
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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