Nuclear bomb radiation drug shows promise -company

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

Index:



Nuclear bomb radiation drug shows promise -company

Doctors Recommend Potassium Iodide Stores

Coal, nuclear power take aim at expensive natgas

FirstEnergy tests Ohio nuke, work may run into May

Y-12 Hosts 100th IAEA Inspection

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



Nuclear bomb radiation drug shows promise -company



NEW YORK, April 7 (Reuters) - Hollis-Eden Pharmaceuticals Inc. 

<HEPH.O> on Monday reported promising results from a drug designed to 

protect against radiation caused by a nuclear bomb.



The drug, currently called HE2100, would protect most of a population 

outside the immediate ring of a nuclear attack from death or 

hospitalization, the company said. Hollis-Eden has thus far not 

disclosed other potential applications for HE2100.



The drug cannot be tested in humans because it would be too dangerous 

to expose them to radiation. But it appears in an early trial to 

reduce the loss of infection-fighting cells in non-human primates.



Death by radiation is usually caused by a depletion of white blood 

cells, which protect the body against infection. HE2100 speeds up the 

body's ability to produce new white blood cells to help replace those 

that are destroyed.



Death can also be caused by bleeding, as radiation also destroys the 

ability of blood clots to form. HE2100 helps the blood form new 

clots, the company said.



Hollis-Eden, based in San Diego, California, released its data at the 

Annual Scientific Meeting of the British Society for Hematology in 

Glasgow, Scotland.



The results must now be confirmed in a larger, late-stage trial. If 

they are replicated and the drug is approved by the U.S. Food and 

Drug Administration, it could be available by 2004.



A new regulation introduced in June last year allows the FDA to 

approve drugs based on proven efficacy in non-human primates, such as 

monkeys, gorillas and chimpanzees, and on one trial in humans to 

establish that it is safe.



The federal government has agreed to pay companies as much as $6 

billion over the next few years in a program aimed at speeding the 

development of drugs that can combat bioterrorist attacks.



Bob Marsella, vice president of business development at Hollis Eden, 

said the drug will cost beteen $50 and $75 per course of treatment 

and that it can be stockpiled.



He said the company could win an advance order from the government 

worth as much as $750 million.



Amgen Inc.'s <AMGN.O> drug Neupogen also helps rebuild lost white 

blood cells after such treatments as chemotherapy. But it can cost 

more than $2,000 a treatment, and is delivered intravenously in a 

hospital. HE2100 is delivered through an injection.

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



Doctors Recommend Potassium Iodide Stores



CHICAGO (AP) - The American Academy of Pediatrics recommended that 

homes, schools and child-care centers near nuclear power plants keep 

pills on hand that would prevent thyroid cancer in the event of 

radiation release.



Bioterrorism concerns and the war in Iraq helped prompt the new 

policy of recommending the potassium iodide pills, Dr. Sophie Balk, a 

New York pediatrician who heads the academy committee that wrote the 

policy, said Monday.



The academy posted the policy late last week on its Web site and 

plans to publish it in the June edition of its medical journal, 

Pediatrics.



The policy is aimed at those within 10 miles of nuclear plants. 

Schools and child-care facilities within that distance should 

stockpile the pills and develop plans for how to distribute them in 

the event of a disaster, the academy said.



``It may be prudent to consider stockpiling potassium iodide within a 

larger radius because of more distant wind-borne fallout, as occurred 

after Chernobyl,'' the 1986 Ukrainian nuclear plant catastrophe, the 

academy said.



The pills don't have any significant side effects and a top federal 

official said he supports the recommendation.



``It's better to have them in people's homes, have them available,'' 

than to try to distribute them in the middle of a disaster, said 

Jerry Hauer, assistant secretary for public health preparedness at 

the Department of Health and Human Services.



Since the Sept. 11 attacks, federal nuclear regulators have made 

potassium iodide available to states with nuclear plants.



Potassium iodide can block the body's absorption of harmful radiation 

and help prevent thyroid cancer, which can result from excessive 

radiation. The nonprescription pills are available at some 

pharmacies, over the Internet and by phone from some distributors.



Children are especially vulnerable to the effects of radiation, in 

part because they're closer to the ground, where fallout settles, and 

because their bodies absorb and metabolize substances differently, 

the policy said.



There are different forms of radiation that pose various health 

dangers, including increasing the risk of several types of cancer. 

Potassium iodide protects against one type of radiation - radioactive 

iodine - and one type of cancer - thyroid.



When ingested, the pills flood the thyroid and block inhaled 

radioiodines from being absorbed by the gland, located at the base of 

the neck. The thyroid gland produces hormones that help regulate body 

metabolism and which are essential for normal growth in children.



``It works best if given immediately before or immediately after a 

radio-iodine exposure,'' said Dr. Michael Shannon, a pediatrician and 

toxicologist at Children's Hospital in Boston and Harvard Medical 

School. He helped write the new policy.



One pill should protect a child for 24 hours, enough time for them to 

be evacuated from a disaster area or for the radioactive fallout to 

dissipate, Shannon said.



The pills are not effective against the type of radiation that most 

likely would be used in so-called dirty bombs, he said.



On the Net:



Academy information radiation: 

http://www.aap.org/policy/radiation.htm

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



Coal, nuclear power take aim at expensive natgas



HOUSTON, April 8 (Reuters) - High natural gas prices may have taken 

the glow off a fleet of efficient new power plants, but major hurdles 

are limiting a return to coal and nuclear sources, industry sources 

said on Tuesday.



Natural gas prices for benchmark Henry Hub futures hovered above $5 

per thousand British thermal unit on Tuesday, well above the 

estimated $3.00-$4.00 upper limit most gas-fired power plants say 

they need to remain profitable.



"To put your customer at a point where it's uneconomic to use your 

product is not a good way to balance demand," Tim Bullock, president 

of BP Gas & Power North America <BP.L>, told a gas conference.



The lowest gas storage levels in a decade and a colder than normal 

winter in much of the country combined to drive gas prices to nearly 

$12 per mmBtu in late February, and energy industry forecasters have 

warned of even tighter supplies in the coming years.



"We're either putting our current customers off our business or 

potential customers off our business," Bullock added.



Natural gas become the fuel of choice for merchant energy companies 

in the late 1990s, since it produces far less pollution than other 

fossil fuel sources.



But slumping power prices caused by a glut of new efficient combined 

cycle gas plants have eroded generators' profit margins, forcing 

owners to close plants or trim output to a fraction of their designed 

capacity.



Advocates said coal-fired power plants, which still make up 51 

percent of the total U.S. power production, could see a revival 

because of their stable prices and improved pollution controls.



"Even at $4 per mmBtu, coal is very competitive," said Mark Gabriel, 

vice president for strategic planning at the industry research group 

Electric Power Research Institute.



But utilities have shied away from building new coal-fired plants 

because of the strict permit process and tight environmental checks 

that typically take seven years to satisfy from the time a plant is 

proposed until its completion -- adding costs few companies are 

willing to shoulder.



"You're going to have to have regulatory changes" for coal to 

challenge gas dominance in the new power plant market, according to  

Kelly Krattenmaker, vice president for commercial operations at Xcel 

Energy Inc. <XEL.N>.



The nuclear industry is also trying to raise its profile as the best-

suited power source to battle global warming, since unlike natural 

gas, coal and oil, it produces no carbon dioxide.



"New nuclear power can be competitive with combined cycle gas at 

about $5 per mmBtu," said Dan Keuter, vice president for nuclear 

power development at Entergy Nuclear <ETR.N>, the country's second 

largest nuclear power plant operator.



No new U.S. nuclear power plants have begun commercial operation 

since 1993, and most date from the 1970s or 1980s. In total they 

produce about 20 percent of the U.S. power supply.



But declining costs, new technology and reduced worries about 

accidents have given the industry hope that political opposition may 

be waning.



While nuclear power plant owners are pushing to extend the permits 

for their plants, which usually expire after 40 years, it was not yet 

tenable to build new facilities, he added.



"I don't think your going to see a new nuclear power plant in this 

decade," he said, but added that if there is a change of policy, new 

plant planning could start after 2010.

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



FirstEnergy tests Ohio nuke, work may run into May



SAN FRANCISCO, April 8 (Reuters) - FirstEnergy Corp. <FE.N> said on 

Tuesday it began a critical test needed before it can restart its 

shut Davis-Besse nuclear power plant in Ohio, a target now likely to 

slip into May.



The test, required by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, will 

weigh the soundness of a 1 1/2-inch thick steel vessel that houses 

the plant's reactor and safety gear.



The test is expected to be completed by the end of this week, the 

company said in a statement.



A spokesman for Akron, Ohio-based FirstEnergy said the test is part 

of a checklist of work to be completed before the company can ask the 

NRC for permission to restart the plant.



The spokesman said "late April, early May" is the target to wrap up 

work before the company will be ready to seek NRC approval.



"It's possible the work could slip into May before completion," said 

spokesman Richard Wilkins.



The Davis-Besse plant was shut in February 2002 when inspectors found 

that boric acid, leaking through cracks in the reactor vessel head, 

had eaten a hole nearly all the way through the reactor's 6-inch 

thick steel lid.



FirstEnergy's goal was to have repair work, including a new head for 

the reactor vessel, completed and the plant restarted by March 31, 

but that timetable was pushed into April.



Wilkins said among other jobs, the company is working on engineering 

for "high-pressure injection pumps" that are part of a safety cooling 

system for the reactor.



The pumps may need filters or modifications to use unfiltered water 

to cool the reactor if a tank of filtered water is used up, he said.



Also, the NRC has sent a team of inspectors to Davis-Besse this week 

to assess FirstEnergy's work to improve what the commission calls the 

plant's "safety culture."



The NRC said weaknesses in the safety culture were "key contributors 

in the corrosion of the reactor vessel head."



The NRC said results of the inspection will be presented at a public 

meeting and an inspection report is expected about a month after the 

meeting, which has not yet been scheduled.



The bill for Davis-Besse repairs, including purchases of replacement 

power, is likely to exceed $400 million.



The plant has a generating capacity of 925 megawatts, or power for 

more than 900,000 homes.

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



Y-12 Hosts 100th IAEA Inspection



OAK RIDGE, Tenn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 7, 2003--The Y-12 National 

Security Complex hosted its 100th inspection by the International 

Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) today. The inspections are part of the 

United States' commitment to Article VI of the Nuclear 

Nonproliferation Treaty that was entered into by the United States in 

1970.



Y-12 has been hosting monthly inspections by IAEA since 1994. This 

milestone inspection comes during a historical time for the Oak Ridge 

facility -- the same year Y-12 celebrates its 60th anniversary.



"Y-12's job from the very beginning was to protect America's future 

and we've been doing that for 60 years," said Dennis Ruddy, president 

and general manager of BWXT Y-12, which operates the facility for the 

National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). "It is essential 

that the United States and we at Y-12 set an example for the entire 

world by taking all steps available to support the critical work that 

IAEA performs."



William Brumley, manager of the NNSA's Y-12 Site Office, said, "We 

take our commitment to these inspections very seriously at Y-12 as 

marked by our 100th inspection. The IAEA serves an essential role in 

protecting global security and we support them in this capacity."



For countries signing the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT), the 

IAEA established safeguards systems used to verify compliance.



To date, 188 parties, including the five nuclear-weapons states, have 

signed the NPT. The non-nuclear weapons states submit nuclear 

materials, facilities and activities to the scrutiny of IAEA's 

safeguards inspectors. By signing this treaty, governments around the 

world are committing to three objectives: preventing the 

proliferation of nuclear weapons; pursuing nuclear disarmament; and 

promoting peaceful uses of nuclear energy.



As a nuclear weapons state, the United States is not required to 

submit nuclear materials to IAEA safeguards. To demonstrate 

commitment to the disarmament goals of the NPT, the United States has 

submitted excess nuclear material including material at Y-12, to 

inspection by the IAEA. The goal of those inspections is to provide 

assurance that the materials are not returned to weapons uses.



Inspectors examined about 10 metric tons of highly enriched uranium 

that was declared excess to U.S. defense purposes by President Bill 

Clinton in 1993 and voluntarily placed under IAEA safeguards. This 

represents nearly half of the highly enriched uranium worldwide that 

is currently under IAEA safeguards.



Upon completing Y-12's first inspection in 1994, IAEA inspectors 

commented that never before had they verified so much material of 

such high strategic value, in such a short amount of time, with such 

a high degree of accuracy, as they did at the Y-12 facility.



BWXT Y-12, a limited liability enterprise of BWX Technologies Inc. 

and Bechtel National Inc., operates the Y-12 National Security 

Complex for the NNSA.



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

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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