U.S. nuclear industry eyes new reactor projects

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

Index:



U.S. nuclear industry eyes new reactor projects

Mistake led to massive irradiation on Bikini Atoll: professor

New estimate cuts cost advantage of nuclear power

Vt. Pushes Anti-Radiation Pill on Locals

Mich. Health Center Offers Body Scans

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



U.S. nuclear industry eyes new reactor projects



SAN FRANCISCO, Dec 16 (Reuters) - A $1.1 billion project tucked into 

the stalled U.S. energy bill to develop a new kind of nuclear reactor 

has been touted as reviving nuclear energy and boosting the 

development of hydrogen-powered vehicles.



But scientists working on early stages of the project say the test 

reactor also could have industrial applications far beyond 

transportation, including improving the quality of heavy crude oils.



The House of Representatives passed the $31 billion energy bill in 

November but it fell just two votes short of passing the Senate. 

Republican leaders have vowed to try again early next year to move 

the legislation through Congress.



The bill's proposed nuclear project would end a long dry spell for 

the nation's nuclear industry, which hasn't approved a new plant 

since the near-meltdown of the reactor core at the Three Mile Island 

plant in Pennsylvania in 1979.



In addition to the new reactor, the bill includes $750 million a year 

in tax breaks for building 6,000 megawatts of new nuclear capacity, 

or about eight reactors.



Nils Diaz, chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which 

licenses and oversees the nation's 103 nuclear generators, has said 

the incentives in the bill "could be a turning point" for new 

construction.



Critics, however, label the project "pork barrel" work that will 

throw more dangerous spent radioactive fuel onto a growing pile.



Rep. Ed Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat and harsh critic of the NRC, 

called the VHTR "the most expensive way that could be imagined to 

produce hydrogen and nothing more, nothing less than one of the many 

pork barrel projects in the Republican bill."



IDAHO LAB PROJECT



The new reactor, to be developed at a federal Department of Energy 

research laboratory in Idaho, is called a "very high temperature 

rector," or VHTR, designed to produce both electricity and hydrogen 

while being safer to operate and less vulnerable to sabotage, said 

James Lake, associate laboratory director for nuclear research.



The VHTR would package uranium fuel in small pellets or "pebbles" 

covered in graphite and cooled by inert helium gas, Lake told 

Reuters.



This would allow heat to radiate away from the core of the reactor, 

eliminate the need for an elaborate cooling system, and prevent the 

possibility of a Three Mile Island-type accident. The reactor would 

be housed underground.



In addition to transportation, Lake said hydrogen stored in fuel 

holds promise for other industrial uses:



* Hydrogen can be inserted into heavy crude oil, adding more barrels 

of higher-quality oil to domestic stocks.



* Hydrogen fuel cells can provide a reliable supply of electricity in 

critical applications like semiconductor manufacturing and hospitals.



* Hydrogen is a key ingredient in ammonia, a building block for the 

chemical fertilizer business.



* The VHTR could make hydrogen without producing greenhouse gases 

formed by burning natural gas or coal.



The U.S. and nine other nations are working on new reactor designs. 

The VHTR reactor, however, will not be ready for demonstration until 

2015, while the $1.1 billion in the energy bill would pay for work 

only until 2010.



Nuclear utilities like Exelon Corp. , Dominion Resources Inc. and 

Entergy Corp. and equipment makers like General Electric Co. , the 

Westinghouse unit of British Nuclear Fuels, and the Framatome unit of 

France's Areva are interested in the project, Lake said.



In the shorter term, Exelon, Dominion and Entergy have asked the NRC 

for permission possibly to add new reactors at existing plant sites 

in Illinois, Virginia and Mississippi.



As a "bridge" between its existing fleet and the VHTR, Exelon 

supports a Westinghouse advanced light water reactor called the AP 

1000 now in development, a spokesman said.

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



Mistake led to massive irradiation on Bikini Atoll: professor



MENDOCINO, California, Dec. 11 (Kyodo) - A miscalculation of the 

force of the hydrogen bomb the U.S. tested on the Bikini Atoll on 

March 1, 1954, and a change in wind direction caused the massive 

irradiation that followed, a U.S. university professor who witnessed 

the blast said Thursday.



Donald Paglia, a professor of pathology at the University of 

California, Los Angeles, said the scale of bomb was unlike any test 

bomb he had seen till then, with a ball of fire like the sun filling 

the sky.



Paglia had been in charge of measuring radiation in nuclear tests in 

Nevada in 1953.



The U.S. hydrogen bomb "Bravo" was initially intended to have a force 

of five or six megatons, but its force actually grew to 15 megatons. 

An unexpected wind blowing eastward is also believed to have affected 

the blast.



The blast was almost 1,000 times as powerful as the atomic bombs 

dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II.



The blast irradiated local residents in Rongelap Island near the 

Bikini Atoll as well as 23 members of the Japanese fishing ship 

Fukuryu Maru No. 5, known as Lucky Dragon V in English.



Paglia was an intern officer on a U.S. destroyer when he saw the bomb 

explode. He helped the residents of Utrik Atoll near the test site 

evacuate three days after the test, and was later involved in medical 

tests of the local residents.

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



New estimate cuts cost advantage of nuclear power



TOKYO, Dec. 16 (Kyodo) - A new power industry estimate released 

Tuesday shows nuclear power has lost its cost advantage to some 

extent over thermal power.



The estimate by the Federation of Electric Power Companies put the 

overall cost of nuclear power, including the reprocessing of spent 

nuclear fuel and the disposal of nuclear waste, at 5.6 yen per 

kilowatt-hour.



While the figure is 0.3 yen lower than coal-burning generation and 

0.7 yen cheaper than producing electricity with natural gas, the cost 

gap is narrower than those calculated by a subcommittee on nuclear 

power under the government advisory panel in 1999.



The latest estimate could jolt long-held industry claims that Japan 

should promote nuclear power because it is a cheaper source of 

energy.



The federation has submitted the estimate to the government's 

Advisory Committee for Natural Resources and Energy.



There are 52 commercial nuclear reactors in Japan, which together 

supply a third of the nation's power demand.

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



Vt. Pushes Anti-Radiation Pill on Locals



BRATTLEBORO, Vt. (AP) - The Vermont Department of Health is 

encouraging Windham County residents to ask for a pill that would 

help prevent thyroid cancer in the event of an accident at the 

Vermont Yankee nuclear plant.



In a mass mailing sent to thousands of county residents, the 

department said that one dose of potassium iodide would be available 

to each person who works or lives in Dummerston, Brattleboro, 

Guilford, Halifax and Vernon. These five towns are located within 

Yankee's defined 10-mile-radius "emergency planning zone."



The program has been going on for the last two years, but not many 

people have asked for the pills, said Marilyn Lewis, a public health 

nurse for the Vermont Department of Health.



"This is just the next phase of our outreach," Lewis said. "We're 

also doing outreach to businesses, hotels and motels."



Rob Williams, a spokesman for Yankee, said that the plant keeps a 

supply of potassium iodide on hand for employees who would perform 

onsite duties after a radiation release.



Karen Barrett, a nurse at the Vernon Elementary School, said stocks 

of potassium iodide have been available for students and school staff 

for the past two years. The tablets are also on hand for students and 

staff at the middle school and Brattleboro Union High School.



Two years ago, Vermont was one of the first states to receive the 

chemical, which is offered in tablet form.



Lewis said the original four-page-long application form to receive 

the pills might have deterred some residents. A new application asks 

only for minimal information such as name, address and telephone.



"We're seeing a really good response," she said. "There is a lot of 

interest, but it is still only voluntary (to receive the pills)."



Potassium iodide, a chemical compound found in small amounts in table 

salt, ocean fish and shellfish, helps to prevent thyroid cancer.

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



Mich. Health Center Offers Body Scans



SOUTHFIELD, Mich. (AP) - Thanks to an area health center, holiday 

gift givers now have a chance to give something to help bring their 

loved ones peace of mind. EBT-Heart & Body Imaging is offering gift 

certificates for heart, lung and body scans as well as virtual 

colonoscopies that could pinpoint - or rule out - certain health 

problems.



The Southfield diagnostic and preventative imaging center's scans use 

high-speed, low-radiation electron beam tomography to help examine 

patients.



"We've found that our imaging gift certificates really mean a lot to 

the people who receive them," Dr. Marc Kahn, medical director of the 

imaging center, told The Daily Tribune of Royal Oak for a recent 

story. "Christmas and the holidays are for sharing time with loved 

ones.



"The idea behind the imaging certificates is that early detection can 

help ensure our loved ones will be with us for many years to come."



The center sold 16 gift certificates last year and hopes to sell even 

more this year. Jennifer King, office manager for the center, said 

interest has been high.



"We've had a lot of people ask about them," she said. "They haven't 

hit the mainstream yet, but as more and more people learn about them 

every year we expect to get more and more calls."



Customers interested in purchasing the gift certificates often have a 

specific worry in mind, but that doesn't always have to be the case, 

Kahn said.



"I can't tell you how many times I've had a seemingly healthy person 

walk in only to find out they had lung cancer, kidney cancer or 

aneurisms," Kahn said. "The people who walk in here could be 

asymptomatic and still be bleeding from colon cancer."



Kahn said he hopes that the gift certificates will become standard 

issue for gifts in the coming years - especially for those over the 

age of 40.



"Any one of these is a wonderful gift," Kahn said. "This is something 

everyone should consider. It's a great stocking stuffer."



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

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 Website: http://www.globaldosimetry.com/



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