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Workers Exposed to Radiation at Nev. Base
Index:
Workers Exposed to Radiation at Nev. Base
S.Africa to boost use of nuclear power-minister
Americans Need New Nuclear Energy, Taylor Says
Finnish, Swedish grids plan new subsea link
Japan nuclear plant finds radiation contamination
Iran Weighs Restarting Uranium Enrichment
Nakasone says Japan considered going nuclear
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Workers Exposed to Radiation at Nev. Base
FALLON, Nev. (AP) - At least two Boeing Co. workers have been exposed
to potentially harmful doses of radiation at the Fallon Naval Air
Station, company officials confirmed.
The two men were exposed over a three-month period while working
around an X-ray machine used to check for metal fatigue on Navy
fighter jets. The machine was staying on when it appeared to be
turned off, Boeing officials said Thursday.
Base and company officials were still trying to determine how the
malfunction happened and the exact amount of radiation each man
received. Meanwhile, officials have stopped X-raying aircraft at the
base.
"We are working closely with the Navy in investigating this incident,
as well as providing the necessary health care for those employees
involved," Boeing spokesman Paul Guse told the Lahontan Valley News
and Fallon Eagle Standard.
An official at the Navy Radiological Affairs Support Office declined
to comment.
The problem was detected in late May, more than two months after
radiation badges showing high levels of exposure were sent to a
private lab, base spokesman Zip Upham said.
Guse said four employees were exposed to radiation but only two
workers received high enough doses to cause physical symptoms. The
two men have been examined at a California hospital and allowed to
return to work, but the full health effects of the exposure are not
yet known, he said.
The machine is owned and maintained by the Navy but operated by the
civilian employees. About 200 Boeing employees maintain the jets at
the base, about 60 miles east of Reno.
----------------
S.Africa to boost use of nuclear power-minister
CAPE TOWN, June 22 (Reuters) - South Africa must boost its use of
nuclear energy in the face of dwindling reserves of coal, but the
country is 10 years away from producing a commercial pebble bed
reactor (PBMR), the energy minister said on Tuesday.
It is estimated that the country's demand for energy will exceed its
generating capacity by 2007, leading to a scramble for new energy
sources.
"South Africa needs to wake up to the reality that we do not have
infinite coal reserves," Minerals and Energy Minister Phumzile Mlambo-
Ngcuka told parliament.
"In fact we have less than previously thought and we do not have oil
and gas, so we cannot avoid nuclear energy."
She gave no new figures for the country's coal reserves. The cabinet
has endorsed a five-to-10-year-plan for a programme to build a PBMR,
Mlambo-Ngcuka said.
She later told reporters South Africa was about 10 years away from
producing a commercial PBMR.
"The research is ongoing and if we receive all the approvals that we
are expecting from the department of environmental affairs we will
then be in a position to move to the next stage."
"We will set up a model which we will then test and only when the
model has given particular results then we will move into the stage
which is commercialisation."
The government is looking for foreign partners for the project and is
in negotiations with France's Areva.
But environmental groups have fiercely opposed plans for a new
generation helium-cooled mini nuclear reactor to add to Koeberg, its
single nuclear plant near Cape Town.
The country sources about 88 percent of its energy from coal, with
nuclear making up about six percent of power generated.
Mlambo-Ngcuka said nuclear energy would help increase diversity,
security of supply and reduce energy-related emission levels.
"It is a cleaner burning fuel, as scary as it is," she said.
Mlambo-Ngcuka said the government had endorsed a plan for the PBMR
project to grow a research and skills base to support setting up the
reactor and to grow the nuclear industry in South Africa.
Tseliso Maqubela, chief director for nuclear energy in the department
of minerals and energy affairs, told Reuters the government was also
considering constructing other nuclear facilities similar to the
Koeberg plant, and had already identified possible sites.
"We have got to cover our tracks, 50 years from now where will we get
our security of supply? So, we should not exclude nuclear in this
equation," Mlambo-Ngcuka said.
-------------------
Americans Need New Nuclear Energy, Taylor Says
PALM BEACH, Fla., June 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- America cannot
afford to continue to turn its back on a source of electric energy
that is low cost, dependable, safe, domestically fueled and can
protect our air -- nuclear energy -- an executive of one of the
nation's leading nuclear power operating companies said Tuesday.
"Thirty nuclear plants are being built today in 12 countries around
the world -- most using American nuclear power technology as their
foundation -- and not a single one of those new plants is in the
United States," said Gary J. Taylor, president and chief executive
officer of Entergy Nuclear.
"In America, we have a de facto moratorium on nuclear energy,
intended or not."
Entergy Nuclear, a unit of New Orleans-based Entergy Corporation, is
the second largest U.S. nuclear operator with 10 units and the
largest operator in the Northeast.
"Our national economy and our national energy security would benefit
from the federal government and the U.S. Congress deciding on and
acting to support policies that promote more nuclear energy," he told
an Executive Forum on Emerging Challenges and Trends, organized by
Framatome ANP, a French power reactor service vendor.
"The most important issues are how we can maintain our quality of
life and protect our environment," Taylor said. "Nuclear energy must
be a greater part of our generation mix. Nuclear generates about 20
percent of America's power.
"France, by comparison, generates about 75 percent of its power with
nuclear energy. As a result, France has no significant carbon dioxide
emissions from power plants -- that's the greenhouse gas -- and the
Kyoto Protocol is a non-issue there."
Taylor said China, coping with the world's fastest growing power
demand because of its rapidly growing economy, is well under way with
the world's largest nuclear power plant construction program. China
plans to construct 34 new nuclear plants, and about half of them are
already being built.
Nuclear power now supplies more than half the power in six U.S.
states -- Connecticut, Illinois, New Hampshire, New Jersey, South
Carolina and Vermont. As a result of deregulation of power markets
and other market- and policy-based uncertainties, no nuclear power
company can afford to take the financial risk of building new nuclear
plants.
Taylor said the American people are ready for their government to get
serious about nuclear energy -- and want the U.S. Congress to agree
on an energy bill that would kick start new nuclear plants.
A national survey of 1,000 Americans in April by Bisconti Research
showed 65 percent thought nuclear energy "should be one of the ways"
to provide electricity. After the California power shortage in 2000,
positive sentiment jumped to 65 percent. After the 9-11 terrorist
attack, favorable attitudes dropped to 63 percent but in April were
back to California power shortage levels, the highest since the
question has been asked going back to 1995.
Taylor said the federal government has underfunded nuclear energy
research for over a decade. For the past 10 years, Congress has
appropriated less than $60 million a year for research in nuclear
energy while fossil energy and energy efficiency each has received
$600 million a year. Solar and renewables like wind energy have
received $320 million a year.
--------------------
Finnish, Swedish grids plan new subsea link
OSLO, June 22 (Reuters) - The Finnish and Swedish electricity grids
plan to build a new subsea cable link by 2010, which will raise
Finland's ability to export nuclear-generated power to Sweden, the
grids said on Tuesday.
The plans by Finland's grid operator Fingrid and Sweden's Svenska
Kraftnat highlight the different paths chosen by the neighbouring
Nordic countries in respect to nuclear power.
Finland is preparing to expand nuclear capacity by adding a fifth
reactor by 2009. Sweden, which has 11 reactors at four installations,
has grappled with how to replace atomic power ever since Swedes voted
in a 1980 referendum to phase it out.
"The new direct current connection is expected to be ready in 2010,"
grid company Fingrid said in a statement. "The estimated investment
cost is more than 200 million euros ($241.9 million)."
A final decision on whether to build the 600-800-megawatt link will
be made in early 2005, said state-owned Svenska Kraftnat and Fingrid,
the latter owned by industry, the Finnish government and
institutional investors.
"One major factor contributing to increased electricity transmission
needs between the two countries is the decision made in Finland to
construct a fifth nuclear power plant in the country," Fingrid said.
A consortium led by Finnish power company Teollisuuden Voima Oy (TVO)
has chosen France's Areva and Germany's Siemens to build the new
1,600 MW reactor at the Olkiluoto nuclear power plant in western
Finland by 2009.
That means Finland is likely to be able to export more power to
Sweden in the future, Fingrid's chief said.
"That seems to be the direction for the future, although the
connection will function in both directions," Fingrid President Timo
Toivonen told Reuters.
He declined to comment on how that fits in with Sweden's plans to
reduce dependence on nuclear power domestically.
Toivonen said that it was the grid operators' job simply to provide
the infrastructure for transmitting power while "the markets decide
where power is bought."
Finland is already exporting power equivalent to that produced by
"one nuclear unit" -- or of about 600 megawatts -- to Sweden yearly,
Toivonen said.
A recent study by Fingrid and Svenska Kraftnat showed that it would
be feasible to build the new Finland-Sweden link alongside the
existing Fenno-Skan sea cable.
"The increase in transmission capacity offered by the new cable
connection will improve the functioning of the Nordic electricity
market by reducing congestion between Finland and Sweden," Fingrid
said.
"The security of supply will also improve," it said.
Finland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark have a common electricity market.
The new connection would consist of an underwater cable about 200
kilometres (124 miles) long and power converter stations at each end
of the link, Fingrid said.
------------------
Japan nuclear plant finds radiation contamination
TOKYO, June 21 (Reuters) - Some radiation contamination was detected
on Monday at a nuclear fuel reprocessing facility at Tokaimura, the
site of Japan's worst nuclear accident, but there was no leak to the
outside environment, officials said. The contamination was detected
on a wall inside a room of a reprocessing facility in Tokaimura, 140
km (90 miles) north of Tokyo, and the cause is being investigated,
said an official for the regional government's nuclear energy safety
division.
Access to the room has been restricted, but no workers have been
exposed to radiation, and it is unlikely to develop into a major
incident, the official said.
"Radiation has not escaped to the outside...there is no impact on the
environment," he said.
Japan's worst-ever nuclear accident took place at a uranium
processing plant in Tokaimura in October 1999, when an uncontrolled
nuclear chain reaction was triggered.
Two workers died and hundreds of residents were exposed to radiation.
Tetsuo Omura, an official for the Agency for Nuclear and Industrial
Safety, said that an initial measurement found that the level of
radiation contamination was a maximum of over 555 Bq per square
centimetre.
That is more than 100 times the four Bq per square centimetre which,
by law, requires entrance to contaminated areas to be restricted,
Omura said, adding that more thorough checks could lead to
significant increases or decreases in measurements.
But information gathered so far indicates that the incident was a
minor one, said Omura, who heads the agency's nuclear incident
response office.
"Our provisional assessment is that this is a level zero incident,
which means it is not a significant safety concern," Omura said.
Under the internationally recognised INES grade, nuclear accidents
are measured on a scale of zero to seven with seven being the most
severe.
"We don't think this will have an impact on people or to the
outside," Omura said. He added, however, that the rating could change-
------------------
Iran Weighs Restarting Uranium Enrichment
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran will resume some nuclear activities it
suspended under world pressure and is considering restarting the
uranium enrichment, its top nuclear official said Saturday, defying a
resolution from the U.N. nuclear watchdog that rebuked Iran for past
cover-ups in its nuclear program.
Iran also rejected demands by the U.N. group to stop building a heavy
water nuclear reactor and halt operations of a nuclear conversion
facility in central Iran.
"Iran will reconsider its decision about suspension and will do some
uranium activity in the coming days," Iran's top nuclear negotiator
Hasan Rowhani said.
Rowhani did not say what activities would be resumed. Chief among the
suspended activities was the building of parts for centrifuges used
in the enrichment process.
Resuming uranium enrichment could spark a crisis in international
attempts to resolve questions of Iran's nuclear program. The United
States accuses Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons, while Iran
insists its program is peaceful, aiming only to produce energy.
On Friday, the IAEA passed a resolution rebuking Iran for not
cooperating enough in the probe into its nuclear program.
The European-drafted resolution said the IAEA "deplores" that "Iran's
cooperation has not been as full, timely and proactive as it should
have been" - angering Tehran.
Rowhani said Iran would continue to work with the IAEA and allow
inspections of its facilities.
"If they (the IAEA) have any ambiguities, problems or want to visit
sites, they can raise it with us and we will solve it," he said. "We
won't lose our patience toward inspections. The more they inspect,
the more the world will learn Iran has not diverted from a peaceful
nuclear path."
He said Iran would inform the agency on any resumption of activities.
"Whether we are going to resume enrichment - meaning injecting gas
into centrifuges - we haven't decided yet," he said. "Perhaps we will
continue suspension of injecting gas into centrifuges for some time,
but we will end suspension of some other measures in the coming
days."
Last year, under IAEA pressure, Iran suspended enrichment and some
other activities and opened facilities to inspections. In a deal for
the suspension, Britain, Germany and France promised to make it
easier for Iran to obtain advanced nuclear technology.
Rowhani accused those countries of breaking what he said was their
promise to help close the Iranian nuclear issue at the IAEA.
In February, according to Rowhani, the three European powers promised
to work toward closure by June if Iran stopped making centrifuges, as
it did in April.
"The promise was broken by the Europeans. Therefore, we can't be
committed to our promise," he said.
A top lawmaker said Saturday that the Iranian parliament may not
approve unfettered inspection of Iranian facilities by IAEA.
"IAEA's continued negative stance ... would give the parliament extra
reason not to approve the Additional Protocol to the Nuclear Non-
Proliferation Treaty," the official Islamic Republic News Agency
quoted the head of the parliament's National Security and Foreign
Policy Committee Alaeddin Boroujerdi as saying.
Under the protocol, Iran has to agree to unfettered inspection of its
nuclear facilities without prior notice. Iran's government has
approved it, but it cannot become law without parliament's approval.
The IAEA said Iran still needs to answer questions relating to the
sources of enriched uranium, including weapons-grade samples, found
in Iran and the scope of Iran's centrifuge program.
The IAEA has also questioned work at the Iranian nuclear plants at
Arak and Isfahan.
"The work at Isfahan and Arak is not up for bargaining," Rowhani
said. "Iran has already made its decision about Isfahan and Arak and
the work will continue."
Iran is building a heavy water reactor at Arak, and its plant at
Isfahan, which has already been opened, has a nuclear conversion
facility to process yellow cake uranium into gas.
Rowhani dismissed accusations that Iran had been running and then
razing parts of an undisclosed site next to a military complex in a
Tehran suburb.
"Excluding from the sites we have openly declared (to IAEA) ..., Iran
has no other places for enriching uranium," Rowhani said.
He was referring to satellite photos showed that several buildings
had been destroyed and topsoil had been removed from a site at
Lavizan Shiyan and
-------------------
Nakasone says Japan considered going nuclear
TOKYO, June 18 (Kyodo) - Former Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone
ordered the Defense Agency to investigate the possibility of Japan
becoming a nuclear power when he was the agency's director general in
1970, he reveals in his memoirs to be published next week.
Nakasone, who was prime minister from 1982 to 1987, says he
instructed military experts to work out the costs involved and the
time it would take for Japan to develop and deploy nuclear weapons.
They estimated Japan could go nuclear within five years at a cost of
200 billion yen at 1970 prices, but concluded it would be impossible
for Japan to develop nuclear weapons in the absence of a testing
ground, Nakasone says.
In the book, which goes on sale on June 25, Nakasone says, "I have
persistently been against (Japan's possession of nuclear weapons)."
"If the United States removed its nuclear umbrella on Japan, however,
this would not be the case," he says. "Japan would then have to
consider various options including the possession of nuclear
weapons."
------------------------------------
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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