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NRC plans June 5 meeting on shut South Texas nuke
Index:
NRC plans June 5 meeting on shut South Texas nuke
Nearly 250 cracks found in Hamaoka nuclear reactor shroud
AS&E Introduces Z Backscatter Van X-ray Screening System
ASTRO Survey Reveals Radiation Therapy Workforce Crisis
Former Nuclear Weapons Plant Workers May get Compensation for Illness
Ukraine appeals for European help on Chernobyl
==========================================
NRC plans June 5 meeting on shut South Texas nuke
NEW YORK, May 28 (Reuters) - The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
said on Wednesday it would meet on June 5 to discuss findings and
repair plans for the downed South Texas 1 nuclear power plant in
Texas.
The meeting, at the agency's Rockville, Maryland, headquarters, will
include a discussion of the plant's status, what likely caused the
reactor vessel to leak, and repair plans for the unit, which has been
down since late March, the group said in a statement.
The 1,250-megawatt South Texas 1 near Bay City, Texas, provides
enough power to run about a million homes.
Last week, plant officials confirmed they found small cracks in the
reactor vessel, but stuck with early estimates it would return to
service in late summer.
Ultrasonic testing found cracks on two instrumentation tubes that
contain devices that monitor the plant's operation.
Boric acid deposits on the bottom of the reactor vessel were found
during a routine refueling outage that began in late March, prompting
further testing.
CenterPoint Energy Inc. <CNP.N> unit Texas Genco Holdings Inc.
<TGN.N> owns 30.8 percent of the plant. Other owners are City Public
Service of San Antonio, with 28 percent, American Electric Power Co.
Inc.'s <AEP.N> AEP-Central Power and Light Co., with 25.2 percent,
and Austin Energy, the City of Austin, with 16 percent.
Information about the cracks was released in a preliminary report on
the leak, but no information about how the cracks developed would be
available until the middle of June, a plant manager said.
The plant is operated by STP Nuclear Operating Co.
Its extended outage is expected to keep electricity prices in the
state firm through the high-demand summer season, when record power
usage is expected.
The STP plant began commercial operation in 1988 and is one of 69
pressurized water reactors active in the United States. A total of
103 nuclear units are in operation across the country, providing
about 10 percent of the nation's power supply.
--------------------
Nearly 250 cracks found in Hamaoka nuclear reactor shroud
SHIZUOKA, Japan, May 28 (Kyodo) - Chubu Electric Power Co. said
Tuesday engineers have detected an additional 249 cracks inside a
rector shroud at its Hamaoka nuclear power plant in Shizuoka
Prefecture.
Chubu officials said the cracks were found during a regular
maintenance check on the inside wall of the steel shroud at the No. 3
boiling water reactor.
The new cracks were found around the lower welded segment of the
shroud, a cylindrical stainless steel device that separates the
nuclear fuel from the pressurized reactor vessel.
The No. 3 reactor, which has a design capacity of 1.1 million
kilowatts, has been shut down last September after the utility failed
to report to government atomic power regulators on signs of cracks in
the reactor's secondary heat pipes.
Adding the cracks that had been detected elsewhere in the shroud, the
number of cracks in the shroud now stand at 261, according to Chubu
officials.
Chubu officials said 243 cracks -- the biggest measuring 11
centimeters long -- were found on the upper part of the welded
segment and six in the lower fringe.
Chubu officials said they plan to analyze metal samples of the
shroud, noting that there has never been a report of cracks in the
lower fringe of the welded part.
Apart from the 249 cracks in the lower segment of the shroud, two
cracks had been detected in the midsection of the shroud and 10 were
detected in the vicinity of the welded part of the bottom cover
plate.
-------------------
AS&E Introduces Z Backscatter Van X-ray Screening System, Ideal for
Port and Border Security, and Force Protection
BILLERICA, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 28, 2003-- American Science
and Engineering, Inc. (AMEX:ASE) announced today the addition of the
Z(R) Backscatter Van (ZBV) to its series of X-ray inspection
products. The system was recently unveiled at the Force Protection
Equipment Demonstration (FPED IV) at Quantico Marine Base in
Quantico, Virginia.
American Science & Engineering's (AS&E(R)) newly developed Z
Backscatter Van (ZBV) is an extremely mobile, low-cost and high-speed
X-ray inspection tool built into a commercially available delivery
van. It employs a patented Compton Scattering technique called Z
Backscatter to produce photo-like X-ray images of the contents of a
vehicle or cargo container, highlighting organic materials such as
explosives.
"I am delighted to announce the addition of the Z Backscatter Van to
AS&E's offering," said Dr. Roger Heinisch, Interim President and CEO.
"The ZBV provides a screening solution that combines Z Backscatter X-
ray imaging and Radioactive Threat Detection for security officials
to guard against suspect vehicles and cargo. This comprehensive and
coordinated system adds another layer of security in a high threat
location or environment."
With one-sided Z Backscatter imaging, security personnel can use ZBV
for screening by simply driving alongside the suspect object. Images
can also be acquired by positioning the ZBV at a particular location
and having the subject vehicles pass by it.
The ZBV system is also capable of identifying low levels of
radioactivity from both gamma rays and neutrons with AS&E's
Radioactive Threat Detection (RTD) technology. The detection is
performed simultaneous with acquiring X-ray images. Gamma emitting
isotopes could be used for making "dirty bombs" and neutrons are
emitted from isotopes that are fissionable and could be used in
atomic weapons.
--------------------
ASTRO Survey Reveals Radiation Therapy Workforce Crisis
FAIRFAX, Va., May 27 /PRNewswire/ -- Radiation therapy departments
are facing severe staffing shortages, according to a new study in the
June 2003 issue of the International Journal of Radiation Oncology,
Biology and Physics, the official journal of ASTRO, the American
Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology.
The effects of the current radiation therapy workforce crisis are
felt in radiation oncology departments across the country. To assess
the extent of the problem, the ASTRO Workforce Committee conducted a
survey of the Society's members to gauge their personnel needs.
The ASTRO Workforce Committee, in conjunction with Leever Research
Associates, prepared a concise, one-page survey and distributed it to
3,174 ASTRO members, representing 1,400 radiation oncology practice
centers. Group practice members were requested to submit one survey
per group. The response rate to the survey was 91 percent.
On average, each radiation oncology center has about 14 radiation
oncology healthcare professionals on staff. This includes radiation
therapists, dosimetrists, physicians and radiation oncology nurses.
For private practices, the average number of professionals is 12,
while academic departments typically have 24 radiation oncology
professionals on staff.
According to the survey, a shortage of 2.6 radiation oncology
healthcare professionals exists per practice (2.4 for private
practices versus 3.7 for academic centers). On average, practices
across the U.S. have a shortage of 18.3 percent of radiation
therapists (15.5 percent in academic practices, 19.1 percent in
private practices). Overall, this represents a current nationwide
need of approximately 1,800 additional therapists.
Although small relative differences in need exist across the nine
geographic regions of the country (i.e., 13.9 percent shortage of
therapists in the North Central-Midwest versus 22.3 in the Pacific
West), remarkable consistencies in shortages exist across the country
and among all healthcare professional groups within radiation
oncology. A significant majority of respondents felt that the
shortage has a moderate to significant impact on issues ranging from
the number of hours worked to the quality of patient care. Forty-one
percent of respondents felt that the shortage has had a moderate to
significant impact on the quality of patient care, and 37 percent
noted a slight impact.
ASTRO, in concert with several related organizations, has implemented
a number of approaches to reduce this human resource deficit. Recent
efforts include a grant program to increase the number and size of
RT(T) training programs as well as the development and distribution
of a recruitment video to high schools, junior colleges and other
establishments. Distance-based or Internet learning approaches are
also working to improve the shortage. There were no distance-based
RT(T) training programs in the mid-1990s, and today there are three,
with five more expected within the next year. The Workforce
Committee feels that this approach is working well and is poised to
expand rapidly.
"An aging workforce, coupled with aging baby boomers, will increase
attrition from the specialty just as demand for radiation therapy is
rising rapidly," says Workforce Committee Chair J. Robert Cassady,
M.D. "Optimistic assessments suggest that the problem of shortages
of professionals in radiation oncology will not be solved for at
least five years, although more reasonably it will be eight or 10
years before the problem is fixed, despite notable gains in
graduates. Because the workforce shortage exists across all
radiation oncology healthcare professionals, many therapists are
likely to migrate into different areas within the discipline in the
coming years, further increasing the need for practicing therapists --
especially with the increased use of 3D conformal therapy and IMRT,
which have high personnel requirements."
The American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology is the
largest radiation oncology society in the world, with more than 7,000
members who specialize in treating patients with radiation therapies.
As a leading organization in radiation oncology, biology and
physics, the Society's mission is to advance the practice of
radiation oncology by promoting excellence in patient care, providing
opportunities for educational and professional development, promoting
research and disseminating research results and representing
radiation oncology in a rapidly evolving socioeconomic healthcare
environment.
----------------------
Former Nuclear Weapons Plant Workers May Be Eligible to Receive
Compensation for Illness
Department of Energy (DOE) and Department of Labor (DOL) will have
representatives on hand at a Traveling Resource Center to provide
information and assist individuals in filing claims under the Energy
Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act (EEOICPA).
This event will be held at the Sheraton Four Points Hotel, 5115
Hopyard Road, in Pleasanton, Calif., Monday June 2 through Thursday,
June 5, between 8:30 a.m. and 6 p.m.
"We are doing all we can to find workers or their families who may be
eligible for assistance under this program," Beverly Cook, Assistant
Secretary of Energy for Environment, Safety and Health, said. "These
men and women performed an important service for their country, and
we want them to receive the benefits owed to them."
The EEOICPA statute, enacted in 2000, provides assistance to workers
(or their survivors) who worked for DOE, its predecessor agencies
(Atomic Energy Commission), or private firms who produced or
processed radioactive material as part of the Atomic Weapons Program.
DOL administers the portion of the program that provides up to
$150,000 and payment of medical expenses for employees or their
qualified survivors who became ill by their exposure to radiation,
beryllium or silica at covered nuclear weapons facilities. The
conditions covered under DOL's portion of the program are cancers
caused by radiation, diseases caused by exposure to the metal
beryllium, and chronic silicosis caused by exposure to silica during
mining operations.
DOE administers the portion of the program that provides assistance
to its contractor employees who have any occupational illness related
to toxic exposures at the DOE workplace. Such diseases could include
cancer, lung diseases including asbestosis, and all other work-
related illnesses. Under this program, DOE helps workers or their
survivors apply for state workers' compensation benefits. DOE
assists workers if it is determined by a physician's panel that the
worker sustained an illness caused by exposure to a toxic substance
at a DOE facility. Benefits for successful claimants vary from state
to state, but are generally a portion of lost wages plus
reimbursement of medical costs.
The state of California is home to 35 current or former DOE
facilities or private firms who produced or processed radioactive
material as part of the Atomic Weapons Program. Some of the larger
facilities include the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory,
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratory,
Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, and General Atomics. A complete
list is at http://www.eh.doe.gov/advocacy/faclist/findfacility.cfm.
Current or former workers or family members who need help filling out
claim forms can schedule appointments at the Traveling Resource
Center by calling, toll-free 888-654-0014. Drop-in visitors without
appointments are also welcome. Claimants who have already applied do
not need to call or visit the center. More information can be found
at http://www.eh.doe.gov/advocacy.
----------------------
Ukraine appeals for European help on Chernobyl
KIEV, May 21 (Reuters) - President Leonid Kuchma appealed to Europe
on Wednesday for more money to help deal with Chernobyl, saying
Ukraine, unlike other countries, could never run away from the legacy
of the world's worst civil nuclear disaster.
Chernobyl closed in 2000, nearly 15 years after its reactor No. 4
exploded, with Europe pledging to help complete two new reactors, a
new concrete shelter for the stricken Chernobyl facility and clean up
contaminated land.
But negotiations on the new reactors and construction of a new
"sarcophagus" for Chernobyl to block escaping radiation have been
delayed by wrangles over financing.
Kuchma has previously said that the conditions set by the West would
mean subjecting Ukraine to "eternal servitude."
"We would like to hear a signal from your conference. Ukraine cannot
alone deal with Chernobyl, not only in terms of comprehending the
global warning, but cleaning up the consequences of the catastrophe,"
Kuchma told the Fifth Conference of the Environment for Europe.
European Union officials told journalists they too hoped for swift
construction of the new "tomb" but said Ukraine must build new
reactors according to Western safety standards.
"We need to make sure the new sarcophagus is built," said Margot
Wallstrom, European commissioner for the environment. "But we also
need to make sure new reactors are built and are maintained to the
highest safety standards, those that are used in the West."
The two new reactors in western Ukraine at Rivne and Khmelnitsky are
to make up for Chernobyl's lost generating capacity, although
environmental campaigners and some European officials believe the ex-
Soviet state should turn its back on nuclear power after Chernobyl.
The 1986 blast has been blamed for thousands of deaths due to
radiation-linked illness and an increase in thyroid cancer.
Ukraine and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
restarted stalled talks earlier this year on a $21.5 million loan to
help complete the reactors.
-------------------------------------------------
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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