Radiation victim of U.S. H-bomb test John Anjain dies at 81

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

Index:



Radiation victim of U.S. H-bomb test John Anjain dies at 81

2nd generation of A-bomb victims seeks more gov't help

S. Korean A-bomb survivor dies while awaiting claim ruling

Feds Halt Classified Work at Los Alamos

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Radiation victim of U.S. H-bomb test John Anjain dies at 81



LOS ANGELES, July 22 (Kyodo) - John Anjain, the community leader of 

Rongelap Island when the United States tested a hydrogen bomb at 

Bikini Atoll on March 1, 1954, died Tuesday in Hawaii, his family 

said Thursday. He was 81.



The cause of his death was not immediately known.



Anjain was exposed to the bomb's radiation together with other 

residents on Rongelap, one of the Marshall Islands. His son, then 1, 

died at age 19, and is recognized by the U.S. government as the sole 

victim of the bomb test.



The bomb test also affected the crew of the Japanese fishing boat 

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



For years, Anjain appealed for help over damage caused by nuclear 

testing as well as the hardships of radiation victims. He visited 

Japan several times to attend rallies and deliver lectures as part of 

his antinuclear activities.

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



2nd generation of A-bomb victims seeks more gov't help



TOKYO, July 25 (Kyodo) - A group of Japanese and Koreans born to the 

victims of the 1945 U.S. atomic bombings agreed at a symposium Sunday 

to step up cooperation in urging the Japanese government to improve 

medical and welfare measures for them.



The government "should work to grasp more accurately the situation 

surrounding us, the second generation of radiation victims," said 

Nobuto Hirano, who heads a nationwide group of second-generation 

victims in Japan.



In their fourth annual forum held in Tokyo, Hirano and others, 

including Lee Seung Deok, representative of the South Korean group, 

expressed hope that Japan will conduct health checks for them more 

frequently. Checks are currently offered only once a year, symposium 

participants said.



They also want the government to amend an existing law for supporting 

A-bomb victims.



The law compensates only Japanese radiation victims and babies in the 

womb of mothers who were pregnant at the time of the bombings. It 

does not extend to newborns or mothers who became pregnant after the 

attacks, as well as foreign nationals.



When Hiroshima and Nagasaki were bombed in the closing days of World 

War II in 1945, a number of Koreans and other foreigners were in the 

areas, where they were held as prisoners of war or as forced 

laborers.



The exact number of second-generation radiation victims is unknown, 

according to Hirano, who also said that as long as the Japanese are 

concerned, they were born to a roughly estimated 300,000 victims.



Researchers have noted the second generation can develop health 

problems such as cancer, hypertension, diabetes, and hardening of the 

arteries because of the radiation.



The Japanese government has not ruled out the possibility of 

radiation effects on the second generation, given studies by a Japan-

U.S. research organization, Radiation Effects Search Foundation.



The foundation, however, also says it still needs more time to reach 

a definitive conclusion on the effects of radiation on the second 

generation of victims.

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



S. Korean A-bomb survivor dies while awaiting claim ruling



NAGASAKI, July 26 (Kyodo) - A South Korean man who filed a lawsuit 

over medical allowances for victims of the 1945 U.S. atomic bombing 

of Nagasaki, died Sunday in South Korea while awaiting the ruling on 

the case, which was scheduled for September, his supporters said 

Monday.



Choi Gye Chol died at a hospital in Busan. The cause of death was not 

immediately known.



Choi, 78, was exposed to radiation at the time of the bombing on Aug. 

9, 1945, and in 1980 the Japanese government granted him the right to 

receive medical benefits when he visited Japan.



But permission was invalidated later in the same year after he left 

Japan for South Korea.



In 2002 the Osaka High Court ruled against the government, enabling 

overseas victims to receive the allowances. Choi was then required to 

visit Japan again to apply to have his allowance reinstated.



In poor ill health, Choi was unable to travel and entrusted his 

supporters in Japan with the task. However, the Nagasaki municipal 

government dismissed their application and demanded Choi apply in 

person.



He then sued the city government in February seeking to overturn its 

decision.



Lawyers working for Choi asked the Nagasaki District Court to move 

quickly as his condition was worsening, the supporters said. The 

court is to hand down its ruling on Sept. 28.



"We wanted a judgment before his death," said Nobuto Hirano, one of 

the supporters. "We will take over his hope."



Choi had filed another lawsuit against the national and municipal 

governments for a total of about 9.6 million yen in unpaid allowances 

for 24 years, as well as compensation.

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



Feds Halt Classified Work at Los Alamos



ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. July 26 (AP) - While teams at Los Alamos National 

Laboratory searched for two missing disks, the Energy Department 

halted classified research at facilities around the country that use 

disks like those missing from the New Mexico lab.



The mandate came down Friday from Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, 

who said it was necessary to get better control over the disks.



Suspension of operations, which officially takes effect Monday, will 

be lifted once the inventory of the disks is completed and new 

controls are established. Employees using the disks will also undergo 

security training.



Classified work was stopped July 15 at Los Alamos after the disks, 

known as controlled removable electronic media, or CREM, went missing 

about a week earlier. That shutdown was broadened to all Los Alamos 

operations July 16. On Thursday, 19 Los Alamos employees were 

suspended pending an investigation into security and safety lapses.



Abraham described the halt at other facilities as precautionary and 

said he had no evidence that problems at Los Alamos occurred 

elsewhere.



"We have a responsibility to take all necessary action to prevent 

such problems from occurring at all," he said, noting that he wanted 

to "minimize the risk of human error or malfeasance."



Agency officials declined to list the facilities affected, but said 

the number would range between 15 and 24. The department runs 59 

facilities around the country. Among those affected are in 

California, Tennessee, Idaho, Missouri, New York, Nevada, New Mexico, 

Texas and Illinois.



"It's obviously unprecedented and suggests that the situation is even 

more severe than has been realized," said Steven Aftergood, head of 

the Project on Government Secrecy for the Federation of American 

Scientists.



The moratorium could prevent DOE from shifting tasks from Los Alamos 

to other labs, as had been threatened, Aftergood said.



"I think it also reflects a change of heart by Secretary Abraham, who 

said in May that removable media would be phased out over a period of 

five years," Aftergood said, suggesting that Abraham now apparently 

feels it has to be done quicker.



Aftergood said scientific work obviously will go slower, delaying 

goals that national labs set for themselves every year.



"They have milestones to meet," he said, "and this will set them 

back."



Danielle Brian, executive director of the Project On Government 

Oversight in Washington, praised Abraham's decision. The group wants 

nuclear weapons labs to use "media-less" computers, arguing an 

insider could download classified information onto removable disks 

and walk out with them.



"We always believed poor cyber security was a systemwide problem," 

Brian said.



Aftergood agreed: "The Los Alamos problem is no longer limited to Los 

Alamos - it's a systemic problem."



While Los Alamos teams are searching more than 2,000 safes and vaults 

for the missing disks, the Nevada Test Site has already accounted for 

its classified material. Administrators there were checking whether 

its nuclear stockpile stewardship programs will shut down, said 

Darwin Morgan of the National Nuclear Security Administration in 

Nevada.



The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Wash., is not 

a weapons lab but had already began an inventory of computer disks 

related to classified work.



"PNNL is always looking for ways to better handle classified 

material, so we welcome this," said spokesman Geoff Harvey.



The Pantex plant near Amarillo, Texas, the nation's only nuclear 

weapons dismantling plant, will shut down, Pantex spokesman Jud 

Simmons said.



Spokesmen also confirmed the order affects the Y-12 nuclear weapons 

plant and parts of Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee; NNSA's 

site office in Kansas City, Mo.; Argonne National Laboratory outside 

Chicago; Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California; and 

Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque.



Lawrence Livermore spokesman David Schwoegler said the order affects 

876 of 9,000 workers at the lab, which has accounted for all 

removable disks - about 12,000 - in three straight annual 

inventories. Two-thirds are centrally stored.



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

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 Website: http://www.dosimetry.com/



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