Research shows higher cancer risk for flight crews

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

Index:



Research shows higher cancer risk for flight crews

Entergy Files for Early Site Permit at Grand Gulf Nuclear Station

Iran says to sign nuclear fuel deal with Russia soon

Iran Agrees on Nuclear Inspections, Uranium Freeze

EU pushes for better protection of workers' health

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



Research shows higher cancer risk for flight crews



LONDON (Reuters) - New research released Wednesday showed airline 

flight crews had a higher than normal rate of skin and breast cancer.



Researchers at the University of Iceland in Reykjavik found that 

flight attendants who had worked for five or more years were more 

likely to develop breast cancer.



And in a separate study, scientists at the Stockholm Center for 

Public Health in Sweden uncovered an increase in malignant melanoma, 

the deadliest form of skin cancer, among both male and female cabin 

crew.



Previous studies have also suggested that skin cancer and possibly 

acute myeloid leukemia were more common in male pilots and that 

female flight attendants had a raised risk of breast cancer.



"There is mounting evidence that cabin crew appear to have an 

increased risk of malignant melanoma and breast cancer," Dr Elizabeth 

Whelan of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the 

United States said in a commentary on the research studies published 

in the journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine.



Whelan said higher doses of cosmic ionizing radiation were found at 

higher altitudes. Doses that flight crews are exposed to have been 

increasing over time as longer flights at higher altitudes have 

become more common.



But she said more research was needed to determine whether the 

increased cancer risk is due to work or other lifestyle factors. 

Further studies being done in the European Union and the United 

States might provide more answers, Whelan added.

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



Entergy Files for Early Site Permit at Grand Gulf Nuclear Station



JACKSON, Miss., Oct. 21 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Entergy Nuclear 

today filed an application with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission for an Early Site Permit at the Grand Gulf Nuclear Station 

site in Port Gibson, Miss., to keep the option open for building an 

advanced reactor at some time in the future.



"We continually evaluate power generation options -- this is one that 

could benefit our electric consumers, the environment and our 

country's energy independence," said Gary Taylor, president and chief 

executive officer, Entergy Nuclear, a major subsidiary of Entergy.



"We have no immediate plans to build a new nuclear unit at Grand 

Gulf. But almost all new power plants being built today will run on 

natural gas, and that lack of fuel diversity puts this country's 

future supply of electricity at some risk," Taylor said. "Nuclear 

energy also generates large volumes of low-cost power without 

emitting equally large amounts of air pollution."



Taylor said one exciting part of nuclear's future is the next 

generation of nuclear plants. "We call it The Freedom Reactor because 

it would be a way to reduce our reliance on foreign oil and gas. It 

operates at higher temperatures and can split water into hydrogen and 

oxygen, also making it a low-cost source of hydrogen to fuel a new 

hydrogen economy."



Entergy's application was prepared in connection with the U.S. 

Department of Energy under its Nuclear Power 2010 initiative. This 

government initiative is designed to reduce the regulatory, technical 

and institutional uncertainties associated with licensing and 

construction of advanced nuclear power plants. An Entergy unregulated 

subsidiary made Entergy's investment. No utility customer funds were 

used.



The federal government has invested half the $10 million cost of 

developing the early site permit application as part of the 

Department of Energy's Nuclear Power 2010 program, designed to get a 

new nuclear plant under construction by that date. Entergy invested 

the other half of the cost. No utility customer funds were used.



An early site permit is the first step in the new, streamlined 

licensing process of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission designed 

to reduce regulatory uncertainty by completing environmental and 

other site-specific work before a utility makes a financial decision 

to build. The permit is expected to shorten the lead time to build a 

new unit from eight to about five years.



The early site permit process only pre-approves the site for possible 

future construction. A construction and operating license would still 

have to be obtained from the NRC in a separate filing later.



"Whether we ever build a new plant there will depend on economic 

conditions three to five years from now -- what the power demand is 

in this region, what new advanced reactor designs are certified by 

NRC and available to build, what the price of power from other 

generating resources might be, compared to the expected cost of power 

from a new nuclear unit," said Taylor.



NRC is expected to need two years to review and act on the early site 

permit application, including holding public informational briefings 

in the plant area.



Under the new licensing process, the permit would be good for 20 

years and could be renewed for an additional 20 years. Entergy would 

"bank" the permit until the company felt the additional generating 

unit would be beneficial for power consumers.



Current DOE forecasts show the country will need 40 percent more 

electricity by 2020. Nuclear energy now supplies electricity for one 

of every five homes and businesses, and is the only large-scale 

source of electricity that is emission-free and can be expanded 

without polluting. As an energy supply leader, Entergy is pursuing 

development of energy options that are environmentally clean and 

increase energy independence, such as nuclear.

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



Iran says to sign nuclear fuel deal with Russia soon



TEHRAN, Iran (Reuters) - Iran's representative to the U.N. nuclear 

watchdog said Tuesday Tehran would shortly sign an agreement with 

Russia to return spent nuclear fuel that could be used to make atomic 

warheads.



Russia and Iran have been locked in months of negotiations over the 

return of the waste fuel that would be produced by a nuclear power 

station Moscow is helping build in southern Iran.



The issue of spent fuel is important as arms-grade plutonium, a main 

ingredient in a nuclear device, can be extracted from reprocessed 

spent fuel.



"Iran will soon sign an agreement with Russia to return spent nuclear 

fuel and this agreement is in process," Ali Akbar Salehi, Iran's 

representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency was quoted 

as saying on the official IRNA news agency.



He added that this agreement would open the way for Russia to ship 

nuclear fuel to the $800 million power plant in the southern port of 

Bushehr.



Salehi's remarks followed Iran's announcement that it would permit 

snap inspections of its nuclear sites and suspend its disputed 

uranium enrichment program.



Iran insist its engineers are working on ways to meet booming demand 

for electricity, not building atomic weapons.



"The activity at the Bushehr nuclear power plant will continue and 

will even be accelerated," he added, but did not elaborate.



Moscow had said it would drop plans to build the reactor if the 

International Atomic Energy Agency presented evidence that Iran was 

seeking to build nuclear weapons.



However, the Russians have said technical difficulties mean the 

reactor will not start up until 2005.

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



Iran Agrees on Nuclear Inspections, Uranium Freeze



TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran agreed on Tuesday to snap inspections of its 

nuclear sites and to freeze uranium enrichment in what three visiting 

European ministers hailed as a promising start to removing doubts 

about Tehran's atomic aims.  



But a senior Iranian official said Tehran would only halt uranium 

enrichment -- seen by Washington as the heart of a possible bid for 

nuclear arms -- for as long as it saw fit, prompting some analysts to 

suggest Iran was playing for time.



British, French and German foreign ministers, who flew to Tehran with 

a carrot-and-stick deal aimed at convincing Iran to comply with an 

October 31 U.N. deadline to prove it has no atomic bomb ambitions, 

greeted the agreement as an important step forward rather than a 

breakthrough.



"It's been an important day's work but you can only judge its 

significance in time and through implementation," British Foreign 

Secretary Jack Straw told reporters just before leaving the country 

after a series of talks with Iranian officials.



The United States said agreement to freeze uranium enrichment could 

be a positive step if fully carried out.



"Full compliance will now be essential," White House spokesman Scott 

McClellan, who is with U.S. President George W. Bush on an Asian 

tour, told reporters in Singapore.



He said Iran should cooperate fully with the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog, 

the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and end uranium 

enrichment and reprocessing.



"What is important now is not only the words by the Iranians, but the 

action to fully implement what their international obligations are," 

he said.



IAEA spokesman Mark Gwozdecky said the result of the talks was 

"encouraging" but said Iran had still to provide the U.N. with a full 

declaration of its past nuclear activities.



By offering economic and technological benefits in return for nuclear 

compliance, the big three European powers struck a different approach 

to Washington, which generally opposes offering Tehran's clerical 

rulers any rewards for cooperation.



SIGN PROTOCOL BY NOVEMBER 20



Iran's Supreme National Security Council chief Hassan Rohani said 

Tehran would probably sign the Additional Protocol to the nuclear Non-

Proliferation Treaty (NPT) on virtually unfettered snap inspections 

by a November 20 meeting of the IAEA board.



"I don't think we will sign it before October 31 but probably before 

November 20," Rohani said.



According to the declaration agreed in Tehran, Iran said it would 

implement the protocol before it had been ratified.



But Rohani was non-committal on how long Iran would maintain the 

freeze on uranium enrichment.



"We voluntarily chose to do it, which means it could last for one day 

or one year, it depends on us," he said. "As long as Iran thinks this 

suspension is beneficial it will continue, and whenever we don't want 

it we will end it."



The official Iranian news agency later quoted him as saying Iran was 

not prepared to abandon totally its uranium enrichment program.



Enriched uranium can be used to fuel reactors but if enriched 

further, can be used in warheads.



The IAEA has found arms-grade enriched uranium at two facilities in 

Iran this year. Iran blames the findings on contamination from parts 

it bought abroad on the black market.



Experts said the Tehran agreement, while a positive step, did not 

mean Iran was in the clear.



"Iran is responding and I think it calls for the U.S. to at least 

rethink its isolationist policy for Iran," former U.N. weapons 

inspector David Albright, now president of the Institute for Science 

and International Security, told Reuters.



NEED ENRICHMENT HALT



But he added: "A freeze is good, but what we need is a halt to the 

uranium enrichment program if there is going to be a solution to this 

crisis."



Rosemary Hollis of the Royal Institute of International Affairs 

agreed. "This will not be enough to satisfy the United States. It 

will be enough to buy time," she said.



French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin told a news conference: 

"We have achieved this morning important progress and we found a 

basis for agreement on the three pending issues."



These were: immediate signature and early implementation of the 

additional protocol to the NPT; full cooperation with the IAEA and 

suspension of all uranium enrichment.



According to the Tehran declaration, the three European countries in 

turn recognized Iran's right to develop a civilian nuclear energy 

program and held out the prospect of "easier access to modern 

technology and supplies in a range of areas."



German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said: "This agreement is 

opening a serious process to resolve the nuclear issue between Iran 

and the international community."



But a Western diplomat in Vienna said it might not be enough to 

prevent a negative report by IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei in 

November. "This doesn't mean it's over by a long shot," he said.



ElBaradei has warned Iran's case could be sent to the U.N. Security 

Council if he cannot verify by November that Tehran has no secret 

nuclear arms program.

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



EU pushes for better protection of workers' health



BRUSSELS, Oct 20 (Reuters) - European workers would be better 

protected from the effects of exposure to mobile phone masts, 

broadcasting antennae, or even shops' anti-theft devices, under 

proposals backed by European Union states on Monday.



EU employment, social affairs, and health ministers agreed on 

measures that would set maximum levels of exposure to electromagnetic 

fields (EMF) and waves in the third in a series of four packages of 

health and safety directives.



They also agreed exposure thresholds after which employers could be 

pressed to act to cut exposure and would want firms to assess risks 

posed by electro-magnetic fields and the effects of such exposure on 

medical equipment, such as pacemakers.



But key European business group UNICE said strict limits were not the 

best way to tackle the issue and plans to lobby the European 

Parliament which will also have to back the rules before they have to 

passed in national parliaments.



"For us, the issue is that many of the limits cannot be put into 

practice and what we want to see is work on guidance for business 

rather than strict targets," Natascha Waltke, adviser at UNICE, told 

Reuters.



"There would be cost consequences for each company affected by this 

directive -- and electromagnetic fields are widely used in a number 

of sectors."



However, the Commission welcomed the accord struck by EU states at a 

meeting in Luxembourg.



"The scientific data available shows that overexposure to 

electromagnetic fields can have serious consequences for workers' 

health," European Commissioner for Employment and Social Affairs Anna 

Diamantopoulou said in a statement.



"The directive foresees preventive actions to protect the health and 

safety of workers, in particular against induced electric currents in 

the body, shocks and burns, and absorption of thermal energy produced 

by electromagnetic fields."



EU states have already agreed on rules designed to protect workers 

from the risks arising from exposure to noise and vibrations.



The Commission has also tabled a proposal for further rules on 

protection from optical radiation which will be discussed by EU 

states next year.



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

Sandy Perle

Vice President, Technical Operations

Global Dosimetry Solutions, Inc.

3300 Hyland Avenue

Costa Mesa, CA 92626



Tel:(714) 545-0100 / (800) 548-5100  Extension 2306

Fax:(714) 668-3149



E-Mail: sperle@globaldosimetry.com

E-Mail: sandyfl@earthlink.net



Personal Website: http://sandy-travels.com/

Global Dosimetry Solution Website: http://www.dosimetry.com/



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