NRC indicates will OK restart of Texas nuclear plant

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

Index:



NRC indicates will OK restart of Texas nuclear plant

Texas Genco puts South Texas nuke repair at $4 mln

AEP to replace vessel lids at Mich. nuclear plant

France's Chirac Defends Polynesia Nukes

Boeing-Led Team to Study Nuclear-Powered Space Systems

U.S. House OKs ban on aid to build KEDO nuke reactors

Unearthed data say Hiroshima bomb dropped later

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



NRC indicates will OK restart of Texas nuclear plant



BAY CITY, Texas, , July 28 (Reuters) - Officials from the U.S. 

Nuclear Regulatory Commission indicated on Monday they were satisfied 

with repairs to the huge South Texas nuclear power plant and would 

give the go ahead by Friday to restart operations.



The NRC officials told a public hearing on the 1,250-Megawatt South 

Texas 1 unit that tiny cracks found in instrumentation tubes beneath 

the reactor had been properly repaired and posed no threat to safety.



"I think you can tell from our presentation that we are very 

satisfied with the actions you've taken," Dwight Chamberlain, acting 

deputy regional administrator for the NRC told plant officials at the 

meeting about 80 miles (128 km) southwest of Houston.



He said the NRC would issue a letter on Friday with its official 

verdict on the plant's condition.



The unit has been shut since late March when inspections during 

refueling turned up boric acid deposits on the instrumentation tubes, 

which go into the reactor and provide readings on its performance.



The plant, which also includes a second nuclear unit and provides 

enough power for more than a million homes, is operated by STP 

Nuclear Operating Co. for a consortium of owners who include 

CenterPoint Energy's <CNP.N> Texas Genco Holdings Inc. <TGN.N> (30.8 

percent), Austin Energy of the city of Austin (16 percent), AEP's 

<AEP.N> AEP Texas Central Co. (25.2 percent) and City Public Service 

of San Antonio (28 percent).



Plant officials had said they expected the unit to restart later this 

summer and had no comment on the possible approval to restart on 

Friday or how long before it could be running again.



But, STP president Joe Sheppard said he was confident the problems 

had been solved and the unit was ready to go.



"We believe we are ready to return Unit 1 to service in a safe and 

reliable manner," he said.



The cause of the cracks has not been identified, but STP believes 

they were the result of stresses on the instrumentation tubes when 

the reactor core was constructed.



Senior NRC reactor analyst Russell Bywater told the 70 or so people 

at the public hearing "the repair was acceptable no matter what 

caused the cracks."



The South Texas plant 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 20 percent of the U.S. power 

supply.

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



Texas Genco puts South Texas nuke repair at $4 mln



NEW YORK, July 29 (Reuters) - Texas Genco Holdings Inc. <TGN.N> said 

Tuesday that repairs on the 1,250 megawatt South Texas 1 nuclear 

unit, expected to return to service later in the summer, will cost 

the company $4 million.



The unit, near Bay City, Texas, has been out of service since late 

March, when routine refueling turned up tiny boric acid deposits on 

the bottom of the reactor vessel.



The $4 million is lower than early estimates of $5 million to $6 

million.



During a conference call with investors and reporters, Texas Genco 

President and CEO David Tees said repairs at the plant were complete 

and STP Nuclear Operating Co., which runs the plant for a consortium 

of owners, has refueled the unit in preparation to restart it.



"The plant is in the final stages of returning and we anticipate its 

return later this summer," Tees said.



The plant will need to be refueled next in 2005, Tees added.



Officials from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission met with STP 

officials on Monday near the plant and indicated they were satisfied 

with repairs and would by Friday give their official go ahead to 

restart operations.



The NRC said tubes beneath the reactor had been properly repaired and 

posed no threat to safety.



The NRC is expected to issue a letter on Friday with its official 

verdict on the plant's condition.



The plant includes a second 1,250 MW unit and provides enough power 

for more than a million homes.



Owners of the plant include CenterPoint Energy Inc.'s <CNP.N> Texas 

Genco (30.8 percent), Austin Energy of the city of Austin (16 

percent), AEP's <AEP.N> AEP Texas Central Co. (25.2 percent) and City 

Public Service of San Antonio (28 percent).



The South Texas plant contains two of 69 pressurized water reactors 

active in the United States. A total of 103 nuclear units are in 

operation across the country,  providing about 20 percent of the U.S. 

power supply.

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



AEP to replace vessel lids at Mich. nuclear plant



SAN FRANCISCO, July 28 (Reuters) - Energy company American Electric 

Power Co. <AEP.N> said on Tuesday it will replace the reactor vessel 

heads at its big twin-unit Cook nuclear power station in Michigan in 

2006 and 2007.



Columbus, Ohio-based AEP said in a statement that French nuclear 

reactor maker Framatome ANP will fabricate the two vessel heads for 

the $44 million project.



The Cook plant, in Bridgman Michigan, is one of the largest power 

stations in the Midwest, with more than 2,000 megawatts of generating 

capacity -- power for about 2 million homes.



The Cook Unit 1 vessel head will be replaced during a refueling 

outage in autumn 2006 and Cook Unit 2's head during the autumn 2007 

refueling.



AEP noted that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's requirements for 

reactor vessel head inspections have increased due to concerns over 

potential cracking and corrosion.



The company said the replacement heads would be made of an alloy more 

resistant to cracking.



The NRC has stepped up inspection rules for operators of pressurized 

water reactors following problems at an Ohio nuclear station operated 

by FirstEnergy Corp. <FE.N>.



FirstEnergy's Davis-Besse nuclear plant has been shut for 17 months 

for repairs following the discovery that a slow acid leak had eaten a 

hole in the reactor vessel head.



"Although we don't have current vessel head problems at Cook, 

replacement is the right long-term solution and demonstrates AEP's 

commitment to extended operation," said Chris Bakken, AEP's senior 

vice president for nuclear generation.



Previously, AEP said it was considering replacement of the Cook 

vessel heads, and in May the company said it was repairing small 

cracks on the Cook 2 head.

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



France's Chirac Defends Polynesia Nukes



PAPEETE, Tahiti (AP) - French President Jacques Chirac, making his 

first visit to Polynesia since ordering a final round of nuclear 

tests in the South Pacific in 1995, on Saturday defended the decades 

of testing that some islanders claimed gave them cancer.



Chirac, making a five-day visit to the French territory of Tahiti, 

said the atomic tests that generated international outrage helped 

establish France as a world power.



``Without Polynesia, France would not be the great power that it is, 

capable of expressing in the concert of nations an autonomous, 

independent and respected position,'' he said.



Dancers wearing traditional garb and beating drums greeted the 

president the day before at the airport in Papeete, the capital, with 

cries of ``Chirac, Chirac,'' in a welcome ceremony organized by his 

close ally and friend, Tahiti Gov. Gaston Flosse.



But behind the orchestrated show of public support, an association of 

hundreds of former nuclear test site workers urged the French 

government to recognize its claim that the nuclear tests made them 

sick.



France detonated at least 123 nuclear weapons in the volcanic rock 

beneath Mururoa Atoll, about 750 miles southeast of Tahiti, between 

1975 and 1996. The French exploded another eight under nearby 

Fangataufa Atoll.



Chirac broke a three-year international moratorium on nuclear testing 

shortly after coming to power in 1995, sparking a global uproar. The 

testing was stopped a year later.



But workers vowed to stage demonstrations during Chirac's four-day 

visit to the Pacific region to force the government to ``recognize 

the health consequences of the military nuclear tests.''



The Association for the Veterans of Nuclear Tests has asked France to 

fund studies about the effects of radiation exposure and pay for 

doctor's visits for workers and their families.



But in a local newspaper interview published Friday, Chirac squarely 

denied the tests had sickened workers and said surveys of radiation 

exposure were unnecessary.



``There are no health consequences, either in the short-term or long-

term,'' he told daily ``les Nouvellles de Tahiti.'' He said experts 

had concluded that detailed radiation surveys were not needed, though 

the government would keep checking radiation levels.



A researcher for the Association for the Veterans of Nuclear Tests 

estimated last year that former workers at the sites had a 34 percent 

risk of developing cancer over their lifetime - twice the rate seen 

in France's overall population.



The association has said it wants the government to fund studies 

about the effects of radiation exposure, pay for doctor's visits for 

workers and their families and recognize the link between their 

exposure to radiation and cancer.



In 1998, a report by the International Atomic Energy Agency said 

France's tests in the South Pacific had left ``extremely modest 

radiation levels'' and posed no threats to people. It also predicted 

that there would be no change in cancer incidence.



The last series of tests at Mururoa and Fangataufa, about 750 miles 

southeast of Tahiti, broke a three-year international moratorium on 

nuclear testing. The tests sparked criticism of Chirac in many 

Pacific nations.



Between 30,000 and 40,000 military personnel worked at least 

temporarily at the nuclear sites during the 30-year span of tests, 

Marcus said.

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



Boeing-Led Team to Study Nuclear-Powered Space Systems



CHICAGO, July 29 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- NASA's Jet Propulsion 

Laboratory (JPL) has awarded a contract to a Boeing-led (NYSE:BA) 

team to study deep space propulsion systems for the Jupiter Icy Moons 

Orbiter (JIMO) mission, scheduled to launch no earlier than 2011.



JIMO would be the first space science mission in NASA's Project 

Prometheus, a part of the space agency's initiative to develop space 

nuclear power and electric propulsion technologies to revolutionize 

space exploration.



The contract, valued at $6 million with a $5 million option for 

further research, is one of three awarded and runs through fall 2003. 

 The Boeing-led team will study technology options for the reactor, 

power conversion, electric propulsion and other subsystems of the 

JIMO spacecraft meant to explore the Jovian moons Ganymede, Callisto 

and Europa.  NASA plans to select an industry prime contractor in 

fall 2004 to work with JPL to develop, launch and operate the 

spacecraft.



JIMO would show nuclear reactors can be operated safely and reliably 

in space to provide electrical power needed for propulsion and 

scientific exploration.  The JIMO reactor would provide more than 100 

times more usable onboard power than has been available to previous 

science probes.  This opens new possibilities for exploration, 

including more flexible flight schedules less dependent on planetary 

positions and longer loiter times around multiple destinations on the 

same mission.



Nuclear-powered spacecraft would allow for the collection and return 

of an enormous amount of imagery and scientific data and could 

support scientific instruments such as ice-penetrating radar, 

electromagnetically launched deep penetrators and laser 

spectroscopes.



"JIMO will be an ambitious project and Boeing is ready to develop new 

ways to travel and explore the solar system," said Joe Mills, Boeing 

vice president and program manager for JIMO.  "I'm excited about the 

exploration of Jupiter's icy moons and unlocking their secrets."



Boeing Phantom Works, the company's advanced R&D unit, took a best-of-

 industry approach to build its JIMO team, which includes the 

company's NASA Systems, Boeing Satellite Systems, Boeing Electronic 

Dynamic Devices Inc. and Rocketdyne Propulsion and Power.  Among the 

companies teamed with Boeing are BWX Technologies Inc., and Ball 

Aerospace & Technologies Corp.



BWX Technologies Inc., a division of McDermott Inc., will evaluate 

reactor options for the JIMO spacecraft.  For the past five decades, 

BWXT has supplied nuclear components to the Navy with an 

unprecedented operational and safety record.  Ball Aerospace & 

Technologies Corp. brings its deep space experience from the 

Discovery and Mars Exploration Programs to the team.  In addition, 

Ball has a long heritage of providing scientific instruments to NASA.



Boeing brings large-scale systems and payload integration experience 

from a wide range of military and commercial aircraft, spacecraft and 

satellite programs, including some of NASA's most complex systems, 

such as the International Space Station.  Boeing also offers 

experience in space electric propulsion from NASA's Deep Space 1 

probe and the 702 series satellites.



In another part of the NASA Prometheus program, Boeing is also 

currently working on a next generation radioisotope power source 

under a recently- awarded U.S. Department of Energy contract.  This 

generator is designed for use both in space and on the surface of 

planetary bodies such as Mars.



Scientists believe Jupiter's icy moons have briny oceans beneath 

their crusts.  These oceans are high-priority destinations for NASA's 

strategic mission to understand life in the universe because they 

could have the key ingredients for supporting microbial life.  These 

ingredients are liquid water, chemical nutrients and sources of 

energy.  JIMO's mission -- orbiting and intensively studying multiple 

moons -- could not be accomplished with conventional propulsion.

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



U.S. House OKs ban on aid to build KEDO nuke reactors



WASHINGTON, July 29 (Kyodo) - The U.S. House of Representatives has 

unanimously passed an amendment to the Energy Department's fiscal 

2004 budget appropriation bill to suspend all aid for building two 

nuclear reactors in North Korea under an international project, 

congressional sources said Monday.



A similar amendment is expected to be added to a related bill in the 

Senate under the lead of Republican lawmakers, the sources said.



The Senate is likely to pass it in September, which will terminate 

U.S. support for the construction under the New York-based Korean 

Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO).



Amid the acceleration of North Korea's nuclear weapons development, 

if multilateral talks with Pyongyang do not bring significant 

progress toward resolving the issue, the construction project for the 

two light-water nuclear reactors will likely be suspended even before 

the new fiscal year starts in October.



One of the sources said the probability of the project being stopped 

as early as in August is high. The KEDO executive board, comprising 

Japan, South Korea, the United States and the European Union, is 

expected to decide on the final plan with the project during an 

official meeting as early as next month.



The board will try to coordinate opinions in an informal meeting 

Tuesday and Wednesday, the source said.



The amendment prohibits budgetary spending for exports such as 

nuclear-related materials and components for the nuclear reactors, as 

well as the transfer of related technologies and information to the 

project.



The U.S. government has approved more than 3,000 cases of 

technological information provision to KEDO, but they will all become 

illegal under the amendment. The U.S. will fully disengage from the 

construction project as it also bans giving support through third 

countries.



KEDO is an international consortium in charge of implementing a 1994 

U.S.-North Korean agreement that requires Pyongyang to freeze and 

eventually dismantle its weapons-grade nuclear facilities in exchange 

for the construction of two light-water reactors and an interim 

supply of fuel oil.



In December, KEDO stopped fuel-oil shipments to North Korea after the 

crisis over North Korea's nuclear ambitions emerged last October, 

when the U.S. said Pyongyang had admitted to running a secret program 

to enrich uranium for nuclear arms.

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



Unearthed data say Hiroshima bomb dropped later



HIROSHIMA, July 29 (Kyodo) - The atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima by 

the United States in August 1945 may have exploded about two minutes 

later than commonly thought, according to data found Tuesday at a 

former weather station in the city.



An atmospheric pressure graph recorded at the station about 3.6 

kilometers south-southwest of the hypocenter shows a bomb blast at 

8:18 a.m. on Aug. 6, 1945, contradicting records from the U.S. bomber 

Enola Gay that the atomic bomb was dropped at 8:15 a.m. and exploded 

about 43 seconds later.



If the graph is accurate, it would mean the bomb was dropped at about 

8:17 a.m.



''Meteorological data at that time were military secrets and time was 

recorded strictly based on Japan Standard Time,'' Fumitaka 

Wakabayashi, head of the Hiroshima City Ebayama Museum of 

Meteorology, told Kyodo News.



''Equipment error, if any, would have been within one minute and I 

believe (the data) recorded the explosion time quite accurately,'' he 

added.



On the graph recorded at the Ebayama weather station, the line for 

atmospheric pressure stops about three minutes after 8:15 a.m., 

possibly due to the explosion's effect on the equipment. Pointing to 

the end of the line are pencil markings saying ''bomb blast'' and 

''8h18m6,'' or 8:18 a.m.



The discovery follows a similar one made in Nagasaki three years ago 

in which data at the Nagasaki marine observatory showed the other 

atomic bomb dropped on Japan by the U.S. detonated there at 10:52 or 

10:45 a.m. on Aug. 9, 1945, instead of the common belief of 11:02 

a.m.



Kazuhiko Takano, deputy head of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, 

cautioned, ''Issues such as the weather station's geographical 

conditions, the path and amount of time taken for the blast to reach 

it must also be considered. The data contradict Enola Gay records, 

but I believe they would be difficult to verify.''



Reports and witness accounts in Japan indicate explosion times 

ranging from 8:10 a.m. to 8:20 a.m.



U.S. documentation also fails to agree on the exact timing of the 

Hiroshima bomb, which created a holocaust and destroyed the city. 

Aviation records from the Enola Gay indicate the bomb was dropped 30 

seconds after 8:15 a.m., while some crew members recalled 17 seconds. 

A U.S. investigative team reported in 1947 that the atomic bomb 

exploded at about 8:17 a.m.



The bomb dropped on Hiroshima created a massive fireball that brought 

temperatures at the hypocenter to an estimated 3,000-4,000 C. 

Approximately 140,000 people had died by the end of December 1945 as 

a result of the bomb and many others suffered radiation illnesses.



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

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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