Radiation expert charged with fraud

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

Index:



Radiation expert charged with fraud

Energy-starved China approves two nuclear projects

Energy Department Orders Halt to Operations Over Disks

Successful N-plant attack unlikely -UK report

NRC to open hearings on NY Nine Mile nuke renewal

Israel to Distribute Anti-Radiation Pills

Residents told planned Shimane reactor can withstand quakes

Malfunction Prompts Ohio Nuke Plant Alert

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



Radiation expert charged with fraud



A safety consultant who inspected mammogram and other diagnostic 

machines at more than 50 hospitals falsified reports and 

miscalibrated radiation equipment for at least 15 years, federal 

authorities charged Thursday. No patients were endangered, they said.



Perry M. Beale also allegedly lied to authorities about his 

qualifications, saying he was certified by the American Board of 

Radiology and that he had received a master's degree from the 

University of Virginia in radiologic technology, nuclear medicine and 

radiological physics. He had no such degree, authorities said.



"We know now that Perry Beale was a fraud," U.S. Attorney John L. 

Brownlee said.



Defense lawyer Richard Millner did not immediately return a phone 

call seeking comment. Brownlee said he expects Beale to plead guilty 

to all 38 counts of mail fraud.



Beale was suspended by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and has not 

worked since then. His inspections affected thousands of mammograms, 

X-rays and other procedures in Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, 

North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C., investigators 

said.



Dr. Charles Finder, the associate director of the Food and Drug 

Administration's Division of Mammography Quality and Radiation 

Programs, characterized Beale as one faulty inspector in a system 

that included numerous checks.



"FDA believes that, based on current information, Mr. Beale's 

activities posed no health risk to mammography patients," Finder 

said. "Therefore these patients do not need to take any action as a 

result."



Mammogram equipment manufacturers and installers, for example, 

perform their own checks that keep radiation emitted by mammograms in 

the "proper ballpark," he said.



NRC spokesman Roger D. Hannah said it is unlikely anyone received 

lethal doses of radiation. Like the mammography machines, radiation 

equipment is operated with its own system of radiation checks.

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



Energy-starved China approves two nuclear projects



BEIJING, July 22 (Reuters) - China has approved two projects to build 

nuclear reactors in the east and south of the country, the China 

Daily said on Thursday, as the world's fastest growing power market 

grapples with an expanding supply gap.



The decision would mark China's first approval for new nuclear 

projects in more than five years.



China's State Council, or cabinet, had approved the second phase of 

the Ling Ao nuclear power plant in southern Guangdong province and 

the Sanmen plant in eastern Zhejiang province, the paper said.



"Both will install two 1,000-megawatt nuclear reactors," the report 

said, although it did not elaborate on the planned capacity.



The approval comes as China tries to tackle an acute power shortfall 

expected to yield another summer of managed, limited power cuts, 

known as brownouts.



Last year, a heatwave sparked brownouts across half of the country, 

prodding China to hasten development of its nuclear power sector, 

which is forecast to represent up to six percent of the country's 

power mix by 2020 from 1.4 percent in 2003.



Approval for a third nuclear project in Qinshan, in eastern Zhejiang 

province, had been expected this week but appeared to have been 

delayed, the paper cited sources as saying.



International firms would be invited to bid to take part in 

construction of the Sanmen project, the paper said, without 

elaborating.



China now had nine nuclear reactors operating in Qinshan, Daya Bay 

and Ling Ao in Guangdong province, it said.



The government planned to quadruple China's nuclear power generating 

capacity to 36,000 megawatts by 2020, suggesting the construction of 

two more nuclear reactors annually over the coming 16 years, it said.

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



Energy Department Orders Halt to Operations Over Disks



ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (July 23) - Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham on 

Friday ordered a halt to all Energy Department operations across the 

country that use the kind of computer disks reported missing last 

week at Los Alamos National Laboratory.



Under his order, all nuclear weapons labs and other Energy Department 

installations will suspend work Monday involving removable data-

storage devices such as computer disks and zip drives. Each site will 

conduct an inventory of such items and perform weekly inventories 

after that. Staff members will get additional training and security 

procedures will be reviewed.



The trouble at Los Alamos "suggests that we must minimize the risk of 

human error or malfeasance to a much greater extent," Abraham said in 

a statement from Washington.



Energy Department officials did not say how long the halt in 

operations might last.



A department spokeswoman could not immediately say how many sites 

will be affected, but the installations that said they would comply 

included Argonne National Laboratory outside Chicago; Sandia National 

Laboratories in Albuquerque; the nuclear weapons plant in Oak Ridge, 

Tenn.; and Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York.



The announcement comes after two computer disks were reported missing 

from Los Alamos on July 7. On Thursday, the nuclear weapons lab 

announced that 19 employees had been suspended pending an 

investigation into the security breach and a separate incident in 

which a worker suffered an eye injury from a laser.



Officials at Los Alamos are searching more than 2,000 safes and 

vaults for the missing disks, Abraham said. Work at the nuclear lab, 

which created the first atomic bomb, has been halted for a week.



"While we have no evidence that the problems currently being 

investigated (at Los Alamos) are present elsewhere, we have a 

responsibility to take all necessary action to prevent such problems 

from occurring at all," Abraham said.



The incident at the Los Alamos lab was the latest in a series of 

embarrassments there, including other security breaches and 

allegations of mismanagement and theft. The lab's troubles have 

prompted the government to put the contract to manage Los Alamos up 

for bid for the first time in its 61-year history.



The University of California has operated Los Alamos for the 

government since the lab was set up during World War II to build the 

atomic bomb.



Colorado Sen. Wayne Allard, who has introduced legislation to 

terminate the contract, called Friday's action "a step in the right 

direction."

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



Successful N-plant attack unlikely -UK report



LONDON, July 22 (Reuters) - A successful attack on a British nuclear 

power plant would be "highly unlikely" to kill many people 

immediately but could cause large numbers of long-term cancers, 

according to a report on Thursday.



The study into the threat of terror attacks on both civilian and 

military nuclear facilities said even an unsuccessful attempt could 

have an economic or social impact by affecting public confidence in 

nuclear power generation.



The report by the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology, 

published on its Web site, drew only on publicly available 

information and made no recommendations.



It said there was enough information in the public domain to identify 

ways attackers might effect a release of radioactive material, but 

not enough to draw conclusions on the likelihood of a successful 

attack, nor the size and nature of any release.



Anyone planning an attack on a nuclear power plant would have two 

choices: either blast through the thick concrete shielding its 

superheated radioactive core, or get past security and damage the 

site's critical safety systems.



The report played down the likelihood of either approach succeeding.



Citing a U.S. study, it said a Sept. 11-style attack on a nuclear 

plant by a hijacked commercial airliner would probably fail because 

the aircraft would be unlikely to strike at the angle and speeds 

needed to cause sufficient damage.



And it said an attempt to damage safety systems would need a high 

degree of access, co-ordination and detailed plant knowledge.



If there were a release of nuclear material, its impact would depend 

on weather conditions and the efficiency of measures to protect 

people from radiation, including evacuation, sheltering and 

restricting food and water supplies.



Britain has 13 active nuclear power plants, with six in decommission, 

as well as large amounts of nuclear material at the Sellafield 

reprocessing plant in Cumbria, northwest England, and at a former 

research site at Dounreay in Scotland.



Since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, public access to nuclear plants has 

been greatly restricted and some information formerly in the public 

domain has been withdrawn, the study said.



A summary of the report can be found on the Internet at 

www.parliament.uk/parliamentary-offices/post.cfm .

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



NRC to open hearings on NY Nine Mile nuke renewal



NEW YORK, July 22 (Reuters) - The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission 

announced the opportunity for the public to request a hearing on 

Constellation Energy Group Inc. s application to renew the operating 

licenses for units 1 and 2 of the Nine Mile Point nuclear power plant 

in New York for an additional 20 years.



The current 40-year operating licenses for the 609 megawatt Unit 1 

and the 1,148 MW Unit 2 expire on Aug. 22, 2009, and Oct. 31, 2026, 

respectively. One megawatt powers 1,000 homes.



The deadline to request a hearing is Sept. 20.



The hearings are part of the licensing process. It usually takes a 

company about five years to obtain a new license (two years to 

prepare the application and two to three years for the NRC to review 

and approve it).



The Nine Mile Point plant is located in the town of Scriba, about 95 

miles east of Rochester, New York.



Baltimore-based energy holding company Constellation, which owns all 

of unit 1, operates the Nine Mile Point station for its owners.



Unit 2 is jointly owned by Constellation (82 percent) and the Long 

Island Power Authority (18 percent).

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



Israel to Distribute Anti-Radiation Pills

   

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) - Soldiers will begin distributing radiation 

sickness pills in cities near Israel's two nuclear reactors next 

month, the Defense Ministry said Thursday.



Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz informed the Cabinet of the project at a 

session on Sunday, the ministry said.



Distribution of the pills is to begin Aug. 8 in Dimona and Yavne, 

according to a report in Bamahane, a weekly publication for soldiers.



The pills are an iodine compound that blocks absorption of 

radioactive material by shutting down the thyroid gland. Bamahane 

reported that Israel has had the pills for decades, but decided to 

distribute them now to cut down on reaction time in case of a nuclear 

accident or attack.



The Maariv daily quoted unnamed security sources as saying that the 

decision does not indicate a change in the level of risk of a 

radiation incident.



In June, Israel announced it would collect the gas masks handed out 

to civilians over the past decade as protection against a possible 

chemical or biological attack from Iraq. The military said it decided 

to collect the masks because the threat from Iraq had been reduced 

after Saddam Hussein was removed from power.



In 1991, Iraq fired 39 Scud missiles with conventional warheads at 

Israel.

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



Residents told planned Shimane reactor can withstand quakes



MATSUE, Japan, July 21 (Kyodo) - Residents of Kashima, Shimane 

Prefecture, which hosts a nuclear power station, were assured at a 

public hearing Wednesday that a new reactor planned at the station 

can withstand the most powerful earthquakes that could hit the 

region.



The Nuclear Safety Commission sponsored the second hearing on the 

Chugoku Electric Power Co. project to build a 1.37 million kilowatt 

boiling-water reactor in addition to two existing reactors at Shimane 

Nuclear Power Station.



The new reactor "will have sufficient quake-resistance, based on past 

earthquakes and the biggest earthquake the newly found active fault 

could trigger," an official from the Nuclear and Industrial Safety 

Agency said at the meeting.



In 1998, an active seismic fault was discovered about 2 kilometers 

south of the Kashima plant. In applying for permission to build the 

third reactor, Chugoku Electric said it saw no problems with the 

reactor's ability to withstand earthquakes.



The agency, a unit of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, 

has completed a safety review of the project. The nuclear safety 

commission is conducting its own safety assessment of the project.



Residents representing Kashima and two neighboring municipalities -- 

the city of Matsue and the town of Shimane -- were present to voice 

their opinions at the hearing.



Chugoku Electric submitted a revised report to the nuclear agency in 

April after the agency ordered the utility to conduct an additional 

geological survey in 2002.



Construction of the third reactor is about two years behind schedule 

due to the additional geological survey. Chugoku Electric plans to 

begin work on the new reactor next March.

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



Malfunction Prompts Ohio Nuke Plant Alert



NORTH PERRY, Ohio (AP) - A malfunctioning instrument falsely 

indicated elevated radiation at the Perry nuclear power plant early 

Tuesday, prompting operators to declare an alert for more than five 

hours.



The plant continued to operate without interruption and no radiation 

was released, FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Co., a unit of 

FirstEnergy Corp. of Akron, said in a news release.



The emergency alert was declared at 3:44 a.m. and called off at 9:01 

a.m. The alert is the second lowest in seriousness of four emergency 

classifications ranked by federal regulators.



The company said that while a monitoring system indicated an elevated 

radiation level, other monitors showed normal readings, and the 

faulty one will be repaired. The plant is located alongside Lake Erie 

about 25 miles northeast of Cleveland.





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

Sandy Perle                           

Senior 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@dosimetry.com      

E-Mail: sandyfl@earthlink.net                      

                 

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

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



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