Canada nuclear delay costs British Energy

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

Index:



Canada nuclear delay costs British Energy

EU to link Iranian nuclear transparency to trade

Thailand Arrests Man Selling Uranium

KEDO to freeze nuclear reactor project in N. Korea

Striking French energy workers curb power ouput

Feds Order Nuke Power Plant Safety Checks

RPT-Water dampens hopes for Homestake physics lab

Digital X-Ray Can Scan Body in 13 Seconds

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



Canada nuclear delay costs British Energy



LONDON, June 13 (Reuters) - Struggling nuclear power firm British 

Energy revealed a power station restart delay on Friday that could 

add millions of pounds to the multi-billion pound rescue bill already 

facing UK taxpayers.



The company said in a statement that de-mothballing operations at a 

Canadian reactor it sold in February would miss a completion deadline 

on June 15, triggering a sliding scale penalty that will reduce 

payments the buyers had agreed to make.



The delay is set to cost the company about five million Canadian 

dollars ($3.7 million) according to an industry source.



Further delays could raise the total penalty to a maximum of 100 

million Canadian dollars (($74 million/44 million pounds).



British Energy has already received 678 million Canadian dollars 

($504 million) for the sale of its 82.4 percent stake in Bruce Power 

from buyers Cameco, BPC and Transcanada PipeLines.



But it stood to receive a further 100 million Canadian dollars 

provided a project to restart two reactors was completed on schedule.



The first reactor, Bruce A Unit 4, was due to restart by June 15, and 

the second, Bruce A Unit 3, by August 1.



In its statement on Friday, British Energy said it now expected to 

miss the Unit 4 deadline by 15 days, and hoped to make the Unit 3 

deadline with just two days to spare on July 30.



"If the restart of the two reactors is delayed beyond 15 June and 1 

August respectively, subject to certain exceptions, the consideration 

of $50 million Canadian dollars per reactor decreases on a sliding 

scale falling to zero after nine months delay," British Energy said.



The two units were mothballed in 1998 after they were found to be 

operating at minimum safety levels.



British Energy, the supplier of a fifth of Britain's power that was 

privatised in 1996, was rescued by a UK state loan last year after 

the price of wholesale power fell below its cost of production.



Bruce was sold to repay the state loan, and as part of a government 

backed restructuring move.



Taxpayers are to pick up a 200 million pound a year bill for the next 

decade at least to keep the company in business, and have assumed 

clean-up liabilities estimated at over five billion pounds.

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



EU to link Iranian nuclear transparency to trade



BRUSSELS, Belgium (Reuters) - The European Union will demand Monday 

that Iran accept "urgently and unconditionally" tougher inspections 

of its suspect nuclear program, linking compliance to a pending trade 

deal, EU diplomats said Friday.



The EU is negotiating a trade and cooperation agreement with Iran, 

which is accused by the United States of developing nuclear weapons 

and supporting terrorism.



A draft statement to be backed by EU foreign ministers at a Monday 

meeting in Luxembourg, said that Iran had the right to develop 

nuclear power for civilian purposes, but "the nature of some aspects 

of this program raises serious concern."



While the EU has not publicly endorsed U.S. charges Iran has an 

illicit weapons program, one senior EU diplomat said: "There is 

agreement that something worrying is going on."



Diplomats said it would be the most serious warning the 15-nation 

bloc has sent Tehran since they began negotiating a trade and 

cooperation agreement late last year.



The draft statement said that progress on the nuclear matter and the 

pending trade deal were "interdependent, indissociable and mutually 

reinforcing elements."



"This will be a very strong hint to the Iranians that they have to 

act on nuclear issues if progress is to be made on trade issues," one 

senior EU diplomat said.



International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors are in Iran trying to 

verify that its nuclear facilities are for strictly civilian use as 

Tehran says.



Sources close to the IAEA inspections told Reuters Thursday Iran had 

twice rejected a request to take environmental samples at the Kalaye 

Electric Company, where parts for uranium-enriching centrifuges were 

built.



Highly-enriched uranium can be used in nuclear weapons. 	   



IRAN DENIES NUCLEAR WEAPONS



Iran denies seeking nuclear weapons and says it is willing to accept 

stricter IAEA inspections if it receives reciprocal benefits and 

Western help to develop peaceful atomic energy.



EU diplomats said foreign ministers, meeting as the IAEA is due to 

publish its findings on Iran, would urge Tehran to accept more in-

depth, short-notice international inspections.



The draft statement called on Iran "to conclude and implement 

urgently and unconditionally the additional protocol" to the Non-

Proliferation Treaty.



A minority of EU states want to threaten to halt trade talks until 

Tehran accepts an additional protocol to the Nuclear Non-

Proliferation Treaty, diplomats said.



But most ministers will not slam the door on dialogue, continuing to 

support reform efforts, despite pressure from part of the Bush 

administration to isolate the Islamic republic.



"This (nuclear) matter does fuel a debate on where we draw the line 

with Iran. But for now, dialogue is better than closing the door on 

Iran," the diplomat added.



Ministers will also debate a new plan on weapons of mass destruction 

aimed at using the EU's political clout and export controls more 

effectively to stop countries making illegal arms.

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



Thailand Arrests Man Selling Uranium



BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - Undercover Thai police, tipped off by U.S. 

investigators, on Friday arrested a man Friday trying to sell them 

radioactive material that could be used to make so-called ``dirty 

bombs.''



Police did not say if the man was suspected of having terrorist 

connections, and U.S. officials said the material was not destined 

for weapons against Americans, as originally suspected.



The arrest came after three alleged Islamic terrorists were arrested 

this week in southern Thailand, accused of plotting bombings of 

embassies and tourists spots here. The men are alleged members of 

Jemaah Islamiyah, the terror group blamed for last year's nightclub 

bombings on the Indonesian island of Bali.



In Friday's sting operation, Thai police met Narong Penanam, 44, in 

the parking lot of a Bangkok hotel, where he gave them a metal 

container that he said contained uranium, police Col. Pisit Pisutisak 

said.



Narong - who said he got the material from neighboring Laos and that 

his contacts there had more - was expecting to sell it for $240,000.



An analysis of the material revealed it was not uranium but the 

industrial material cesium-137, suitable for making dirty bombs, 

which spread radioactive chemicals over a wide area.



Narong was charged with illegal possession of nuclear materials, 

punishable by up to a year in prison and a fine of $240.



The U.S. Customs Service initiated the investigation and had agents 

present during the arrest, a U.S. Embassy spokesman said on condition 

of anonymity.



Gary Phillips, assistant customs attache at the U.S. Embassy, told 

the Thai television station ITV that ``originally, we were told it 

was going to be used against the United States, but we substantiated 

that that was not true.''



No other details about the investigation or the suspect were 

immediately available. 	   

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



KEDO to freeze nuclear reactor project in N. Korea



TOKYO, June 13 (Kyodo) - Japan, South Korea and the United States 

have begun considering indefinitely putting off placing orders for 

major parts needed to build two light-water nuclear reactors in North 

Korea due to the nuclear impasse with the country, diplomatic sources 

said Thursday.



By doing so, the three countries, which are executive board members 

of the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO), an 

international consortium running the project to construct the 

reactors, would effectively freeze the scheme.



However, KEDO will, for the time being, continue construction of 

peripheral structures which will house the reactors so as not to give 

North Korea an opportunity to overreact to the anticipated move, a 

Japanese government source said.



The matter will be discussed in a senior officials meeting between 

Japan, South Korea and the U.S. taking place Thursday and Friday in 

Honolulu to coordinate their countries' policies toward North Korea, 

the sources said.



Under the plan, the three nations will put off procurement of core 

parts for building the reactors themselves, according to the sources.



In addition, Tokyo and Washington will think about a complete freeze 

on the project as part of their agreement to take ''tougher 

measures'' against the North if it escalates the nuclear problem such 

as by reprocessing spent fuel rods, a step that could allow it to 

produce fresh nuclear weapons.



The KEDO project is already behind schedule despite its original 

target of completing one of the two reactors in 2003, leading 

Pyongyang to repeatedly complain and threaten to abandon its 1994 

nonnuclear agreement with the U.S.



Construction of the building to house one of the reactors began only 

in August 2002, at which time the goal was to install the nuclear 

reactor and power generator some time in the middle of 2005.



KEDO is in charge of implementing the pact, known as the Agreed 

Framework, which requires North Korea to freeze and dismantle its 

nuclear facilities in exchange for the construction of the two 

nuclear reactors and an interim supply of fuel oil.



In December, KEDO stopped fuel-oil shipments provided by the U.S. 

after its officials revealed that North Korea admitted to having a 

secret program to enrich uranium for nuclear arms, and Washington has 

since been asserting that the project be suspended.



After the fuel-oil shipments were stopped, North Korea said it is no 

longer bound by the 1994 pact.



According to a Japanese government source, the construction of 

peripheral structures will continue, albeit more slowly, because 

Japan and South Korea did not want to provoke North Korea.



The major contractor for building the reactors is (South) Korea 

Electric Power Corp., but many of the parts to be used are produced 

under a license involving technology transfer from the U.S., leading 

Tokyo and Seoul to believe it is difficult to gain permission from 

Washington to go ahead with manufacturing the parts, the sources 

said.

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



Striking French energy workers curb power ouput



PARIS, June 12 (Reuters) - Striking French energy workers on Thursday 

curbed the country's electricity output by an estimated 3,000 

megawatts, or 2.6 percent of total generation capacity, a CGT union 

official told Reuters.



He said more cuts were expected due to further industrial action in 

the run-up to a national strike by energy workers planned for June 

17.



French energy workers have been carrying out strikes for the past 

month to protest against pension reforms and the privatisation of 

state-owned utilities.



Thursday's output reductions were estimated to have hit  1,300 

megawatts of fossil fuel fired generation.



At state-owned Electricite de France's nuclear plants, one 900-

megawatt reactor at the Bugey station in south east France was 

offline and another reactor at the same plant was running at half 

capacity.



Production at the Crues and Golfech nuclear plants was also reduced, 

said the union official.



He said there were plans to curb output on Friday at the Chinon 

nuclear plant.

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



Feds Order Nuke Power Plant Safety Checks



OAK HARBOR, Ohio (AP) - The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has ordered 

nuclear power plants to check their emergency cooling systems for a 

potential problem discovered at the Davis-Besse power plant, shut 

down since the discovery of a leak last year.



The commission sent notices Monday to owners of 68 other high-

pressure reactors asking for a response within two months.



The NRC is concerned that debris produced by a cooling water pipe 

rupture could clog emergency pumps that would be needed to force 

coolant into the reactor core.



Work at Davis-Besse, 20 miles east of Toledo, highlighted the need 

for action, said David Matthews, the NRC's director of regulatory 

improvement programs. NRC inspectors have been overseeing repairs at 

the plant since the discovery last year that boric acid from the 

reactor cooling water had nearly eaten through a 6-inch-thick steel 

cap on the reactor head.



Following the leak discovery in March 2002, an engineering study by 

the plant predicted that debris could clog screens in the pumps.



Plant owner FirstEnergy Corp. hopes to restart Davis-Besse in early 

August.



On the Net:



Nuclear Regulatory Commission: http://www.nrc.gov



FirstEnergy Corp.: http://www.firstenergycorp.com

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



RPT-Water dampens hopes for Homestake physics lab



NEW YORK, June 13 (Reuters) - The water is rising and the clock is 

ticking on the National Science Foundation's hopes for building a 

showcase particle physics laboratory a mile and a half underground in 

the Homestake Mine in South Dakota.



Two weeks after the NSF selected Homestake for the future site of its 

proposed National Underground Science Center, Canada's Barrick Gold 

Corp. <ABX.TO> this week turned off the water pumps in America's 

oldest and deepest gold mine, which it acquired two years ago in a 

merger with Homestake Mining.



Barrick said it will be cheaper to drain water from the 8,000 foot 

deep mine, than to keep the pumps running at a cost of $300,000 to 

$500,000 a month.



Barrick spokesman Vince Borg told Reuters the mine has been flooded 

before and can be emptied again once the lab proposal is funded, 

plans are fleshed out and construction is ready to begin, in 2006 at 

the earliest.



The systems in the mothballed mine are very antiquated. Any mending 

and updating as part of care and maintenance might not meet the needs 

for the lab proposal because there are no specifications yet.



The historic mine, located in Lead, in South Dakota's Black Hills 

region, has been idled for more than a year. Homestake operated for 

125 years and the nuggets pried from its recesses helped finance 

America's westward expansion.



South Dakota Senators Tim Johnson and Tom Daschle, the Senate 

Democratic leader are pushing the Homestake lab in Washington, as is 

Governor Mike Rounds. But Congress still has to agree on funding, 

which has been estimated at $250 million.



The consortium of physicists backing development of Homestake fear 

flooding the mine would damage its potential for conducting sensitive 

experiments on subatomic particles like neutrinos that need to be 

performed deep underground to avoid interference background cosmic 

radiation.



But the scientists have backed off threats to look for another site 

once the water started seeping in. Late last month, Homestake was 

endorsed as "by far" the preferred site for the lab, beating out 

Minnesota's Soudan Mine, which is only half as deep, and California's 

Mount San Jacinto because of potential seismic activity.



Barrick has said it wants to donate the mine if the company can be 

protected from any potential environmental liability arising from 

previous mining activity or future science experiments.



It will take a number of years for the lower reaches of the mine's 

300 miles of tunnels to fill and perhaps 25 years to 27 years for the 

water to reach the upper levels, Borg said.



"But in interim, now that the NSF has selected the Homestake site, 

and it's been selected as by far the best site, parties will focus 

their energies in dealing with real issues as opposed to the pumping 

issue, which was a tempest in a teapot," Borg said.

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



Digital X-Ray Can Scan Body in 13 Seconds



BALTIMORE (AP) - A digital X-ray system once used to search South 

African miners for stolen diamonds will now allow Baltimore trauma 

doctors to scan a patient's entire body in 13 seconds.



The University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center will start using the 

Statscan imaging system next week, becoming the first hospital 

outside of South Africa to do so, officials said Wednesday.



Conventional X-rays take up to 45 minutes to develop, and full-body 

scans have to be pieced together from several X-rays, taking more 

time and forcing the X-ray technicians to repeatedly move an injured 

patient.



With the Statscan, a clear image of the entire body pops up on a 

computer screen in seconds after the scan is completed, allowing 

quick access to information at a time when diagnosing a patient's 

injuries is most crucial.



``I've been waiting my whole career for something like this to come 

along,'' said Dr. Stuart Mirvis, Shock Trauma's radiology director. 

``The speed and image quality of this system is astounding ... This 

will save lives.''



Besides faster and clearer images, the machine, which costs about 

$400,000, also exposes patients to 75 percent less radiation than a 

conventional full-body X-ray series, doctors said.



``If the radiation doses are low, and you don't understand everything 

that's happening to a person, it looks like this could be used as a 

triage to find out what's going on, and quickly,'' said Dean Chapman, 

an Illinois Institute of Technology physicist specializing in X-ray 

imaging.



Several South African hospitals currently use the machine, made by 

Lodox Systems, which the Food and Drug Administration cleared for 

sale in America in October.



``This is space-age stuff,'' said Herman Potgieter, who invented the 

machine in the late 1980s for South African mine owners trying to 

fight widespread diamond theft by their workers. He developed the 

system as a safe, fast way to search workers finishing their shifts 

for hidden or swallowed diamonds.



A similar X-ray system, Direct Digital Radiography, has been sold to 

hospitals for about two years, Mirvis said. While it's as quick as 

Statscan, he said, it pictures just one part of the body.



The head-to-toe imaging will allow doctors to detect injuries that 

aren't immediately apparent - letting them trace a bullet's 

trajectory, for example.



``This system is moving over the whole body in one shot,'' Mirvis 

said. ``It's combining a new twist to technology that's already out 

there, but it's still a pretty big leap.''



On the Net:



Shock Trauma: http://medschool.umaryland.edu



Lodox Systems: http://www.lodox.com/ 	  



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

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/



************************************************************************

You are currently subscribed to the Radsafe mailing list. To unsubscribe,

send an e-mail to Majordomo@list.vanderbilt.edu  Put the text "unsubscribe

radsafe" (no quote marks) in the body of the e-mail, with no subject line.

You can view the Radsafe archives at http://www.vanderbilt.edu/radsafe/