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Japanese Utility Shuts Down Nuclear Grid
Index:
Japanese Utility Shuts Down Nuclear Grid
Plutonium for Monju to be used at test reactor built in 1977
Compensation Delay Seen for Ill Miners
H.R. 1483 - Require study of DU health effects
==================================
Japanese Utility Shuts Down Nuclear Grid
TOKYO (AP) - Staggered by a series of scandals, Tokyo's main power
company shut down the last of its 17 nuclear reactors for safety
checks Tuesday, meaning Japan's capital may soon face its first
blackouts in nearly two decades.
Tokyo Electric Power Co. took the final reactor offline at midnight,
said company spokesman Mamoru Shirakashi. Operations at the 16 other
reactors run by the company, known as TEPCO, already have been
halted.
The closures represent an unprecedented crisis in Japan's power
industry.
Though a system glitch left some 3 million people in Tokyo without
power in 1987, TEPCO - the world's largest electric utility - says
the city has never faced blackouts due to a shortfall in supply.
Senior government officials were quick to voice their concern.
``Unless we can restart the facilities whose operations are halted
now, we will inevitably face power shortages,'' said Yasuo Fukuda,
the top spokesman for Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's Cabinet.
``The government will do all it can,'' he said. But he did not offer
any suggestions on what the government could do.
To break its heavy reliance on imported oil, resource-poor Japan has
long pursued an ambitious nuclear power program. The country today
gets about 30 percent of all its energy from nuclear reactors.
The industry has been plagued by accidents and coverups of lax safety
practices, however.
TEPCO was ordered to suspend operations for a thorough safety review
after it admitted last year to covering up structural problems and
obstructing government inspections at its reactors a decade ago.
The admissions only deepened concerns raised in 1999 by Japan's worst-
ever nuclear accident, when an uncontrolled reaction at a fuel-
reprocessing plant north of Tokyo killed two workers - later found to
have been illegally mixing uranium in buckets - and exposed at least
600 people to radiation.
No date has been set for restarting TEPCO's nuclear reactors.
That will depend on how long it takes to complete the safety checks
and ``earn the public's understanding,'' spokesman Shirakashi said.
In the meantime, TEPCO plans to compensate for the shutdown, which
accounts for about 40 percent of the electricity consumed by Tokyo
and its surrounding areas, by reactivating five thermal power plants
and purchasing surplus electricity from other power companies.
Even so, it forecasts a shortfall of 9.5 million kilowatts - the
equivalent of the output from 10 nuclear reactors - when air
conditioner use peaks in Japan's sweaty summer months.
-------------------
Plutonium for Monju to be used at test reactor built in 1977
TOKYO, April 15 (Kyodo) - The Japan Nuclear Cycle Development
Institute (JNC) has decided to use plutonium intended for the
troubled experimental nuclear reactor Monju in Fukui Prefecture at a
predecessor facility built in 1977, JNC officials said Tuesday.
The decision was made because there seems to be no prospect for
resuming operations at the Monju following a 1995 coolant leak there,
the officials said.
The plutonium is to be used at the Joyo fast breeder reactor (FBR) in
the town of Oarai, Ibaraki Prefecture.
The 280-megawatt FBR Monju in Fukui's Tsuruga, built as part of the
government's policy to recycle spent nuclear fuel to maximize energy
production, has been shut since 1995 after the sodium leak there
sparked a fire in December that year.
When the 1 ton of plutonium was shipped to Japan from France in 1992
and 1993, the government built the 6,500-ton Shikishima, one of the
largest patrol vessels in the world, to guard the shipment.
Given that a colossal sum of money was spent at the time, the
institute's decision to use the plutonium at the experimental reactor
built in 1977 is drawing some criticism.
The JNC says it would be more effective to use it at the experimental
reactor than to keep it in storage, adding that plutonium will
deteriorate with time.
Of the ton, about 400 kilograms was used to make fuel for the Monju,
the officials said, adding the remainder was stored at its facility
in the village of Tokaimura, Ibaraki.
The JNC has already started to process 200 kg of the plutonium into
fuel for the Joyo. The plutonium was produced in France from spent
fuel used in Japanese nuclear reactors.
The Monju was first taken critical in April 1994 and generated
electricity for the first time in August 1995. Its design is based on
the results of research and development carried out at the Joyo,
according to the institute.
--------------------
Compensation Delay Seen for Ill Miners
WASHINGTON (AP) - People suffering from cancer and other illnesses as
a result of work on Cold War-era atomic weapons projects may have
compensation payments delayed by budget shortfalls, a report to
Congress said Monday.
Based on figures from the Congressional Budget Office , the Radiation
Exposure and Compensation Act, or RECA, program is expected to run a
deficit of $101 million for the 2003-2007 budget years, said the
General Accounting Office, which conducts investigations for
Congress.
The Justice Department projected a smaller shortfall but agreed the
money provided is inadequate, the GAO said.
The last time RECA funding ran dry was May 2000 when for more than 18
months the Justice Department sent IOUs to former uranium miners,
millers and ``downwinders'' - people exposed to fallout from nuclear
weapons tests in southern Nevada - suffering from cancer and other
illnesses as a result of their exposure.
Many died awaiting payments.
In December 2001, Congress agreed to spend an additional $655 million
spread through 2011 to cover the thousands of anticipated claims.
Those involved in the issue assumed that solved the problem, said Ed
Brickey, former chairman of the Western States RECA Reform Coalition.
``We thought everything was just hunky-dory,'' said Brickey, whose
group disbanded after President Bush signed the RECA funding into
law. ``I wasn't really expecting something like this.''
Scot Houska, an attorney who represents numerous RECA claimants, said
he thought the Justice Department had learned from the earlier
embarrassment of having to issue IOUs to dying weapons workers.
``There were people passing away and it was a hardship on a lot of
these guys and they derived a lot of peace of mind knowing that their
spouses are going to be cared for. Some of them were robbed of
that,'' Houska said.
After 2007, demands on the program are expected to taper off and a
surplus is expected in the final four years. But if all the
anticipated claims are to be paid, more money will be needed - $107
million according to the Justice Department and $78 million according
to the Congressional Budget Office estimates.
RECA was passed in 1990 to make lump payments to downwinders and
uranium miners who contracted diseases, mostly cancer and respiratory
illnesses, because of their exposure to radiation between 1942 and
1971.
The fallout drifted from Nevada into Utah and Arizona. The uranium
was extracted in Utah, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Wyoming and
hauled to areas across the West.
The act was amended in 2000, adding those who hauled the uranium ore
to the mills and the millworkers who processed the ore to those who
qualified for compensation, and expanding the diseases covered by the
act.
The program offers checks ranging from $50,000 for downwinders to
$100,000 for miners, millers and haulers.
Since expanded the eligibility for benefits in 2000, there has been a
threefold increase in the number of claims filed. The flood of claims
has meant that it takes longer to process the claims.
Administrative costs also have increased.
The GAO said the Justice Department has paid 7,915 of the 14,987
claims it has received, distributing about $530 million to claimants.
On the Net:
Justice Department Radiation Exposure Compensation Program:
http://www.usdoj.gov/civil/torts/const/reca
General Accounting Office: http://www.gao.gov
----------------------
Bill to require certain studies regarding the health effects of
exposure to depleted uranium
By Mr. MCDERMOTT (for himself, Mr. RANGEL, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. CONYERS,
Mrs. JONES of Ohio, Ms. LEE, and Ms. BALDWIN): H.R. 1483. A bill to
require certain studies regarding the health effects of exposure to
depleted uranium munitions, to require the cleanup and mitigation of
depleted uranium contamination at sites of depleted uranium munition
use and production in the United States, and for other purposes; to
the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the
Committee on Armed Services, for a period to be subsequently
determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such
provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
Text at http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c108:H.R.1483
-------------------------------------------------
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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