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Japan cautious about resuming suspended KEDO nuke reactor project
Index:
Japan cautious about resuming suspended KEDO nuke reactor project
Russia sends troops to guard nuclear sites
Naval Reactors Director Bowman Named President-Elect - NEI
S.Korea enriched uranium close to atom bomb fuel
South Africa arrests one in WMDs, nuclear probe
Studies Show Radiation Not for All With Cancer
---------------------------------------------------------------
Japan cautious about resuming suspended KEDO nuke reactor project
TOKYO, Sept. 2 (Kyodo) - Japan's top government spokesman expressed a
cautious stance Thursday on resuming a suspended multinational
project to provide North Korea with light-water reactors, as the
United States is considering scrapping the project altogether.
"There is a country among those in the six-nation talks that believes
there should be no discussions on resuming the KEDO project before
the North Korean nuclear arms issue is resolved," Chief Cabinet
Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda told a news conference, apparently having
ally Washington in mind while not naming it.
The Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization is to provide
North Korea with two light-water nuclear reactors in exchange for the
North freezing and eventually dismantling its weapons-grade nuclear
facilities under a 1994 pact with the United States.
But KEDO decided last December to suspend the construction for a year
after the current standoff over the North's nuclear ambitions emerged
in October 2002. It also stopped fuel oil shipments in December 2002.
While South Korea hopes to restart the project after extending the
suspension for another year, Hosoda said, "We are still just in the
middle of discussions."
North and South Korea, China, Japan, Russia and the United States
have held three rounds of six-way talks and two preliminary working-
group meetings since August last year to resolve the standoff over
Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions.
They have yet to achieve any major breakthrough, but agreed to hold
the next round of talks in Beijing by the end of September.
Congressional sources said earlier that a bill approved recently by
the U.S. House of Representatives includes a provision that
effectively rejects any resumption of the KEDO reactor project.
The provision calls for stopping all transfers by the U.S. government
of any nuclear technology or materials to North Korea and other
countries on the State Department's list of state sponsors of
terrorism, the sources said.
-------------------
Russia sends troops to guard nuclear sites
MOSCOW, Sept 1 (Reuters) - Russia deployed extra troops to guard
dozens of nuclear facilities across the country on Wednesday after
militants seized a school in the south and a suicide bomb attack in
Moscow, the nuclear authority said.
Russia, the world's No.2 atomic power after the United States, has
come under international pressure to do more to protect its Soviet-
era nuclear facilities against attack.
"After the latest terrorist attacks security services decided to send
more interior ministry troops to all nuclear sites across the
country," a Russian Atomic Energy Agency spokesman said.
He would not say how many additional troops were sent.
He said the government extended the order right after militants
seized a school near rebel Chechnya, taking up to 150 people hostage,
and a Tuesday suicide bomb attack in central Moscow which killed at
least nine people.
Russia runs dozens of atomic reactors, uranium enrichment facilities
and nuclear research reactors -- some in the far-flung corners of
Siberia and which are poorly guarded.
Reactors are also attractive to militants because atomic fuel stored
at many sites can be used in nuclear bombs.
-----------------
Naval Reactors Director Bowman Named President-Elect at Nuclear
Energy Institute
WASHINGTON, Aug. 25 /PRNewswire/ -- Admiral Frank L. "Skip" Bowman
has been named president and chief executive officer-elect at the
Nuclear Energy Institute, the organization announced today.
Bowman will begin at NEI on Jan. 1, 2005, working with NEI President
and CEO Joe Colvin during a transition period, after which Bowman
will begin serving as President and Chief Executive Officer. Bowman
is Director of Naval Nuclear Propulsion, Naval Sea Systems Command,
and will retire from the Navy at the end of the year. He also is
deputy administrator - Naval Reactors in the National Nuclear
Security Administration at the Department of Energy. Bowman is the
third successor to Admiral Hyman G. Rickover.
In these dual positions, Bowman is responsible for 105 reactors
aboard 83 warships and four training sites. He also oversees two
Department of Energy laboratories in Pittsburgh and Schenectady,
N.Y., that employ approximately 6,000 scientists. Bowman also
supervises the 25,000 Naval officers and enlisted personnel who
operate the Naval reactors program safely and reliably. U.S. Naval
nuclear ships have safely traveled more than 130 million miles,
equivalent to more than 5,000 times around the earth.
"Admiral Bowman's strong leadership qualities, political experience
and knowledge of nuclear technology make him an excellent choice to
lead NEI and the industry at a time when there is great opportunity
for both our current plants and the potential for new plant
deployment," said George Hairston, chairman of the NEI Board of
Directors and president and chief executive officer at Southern
Nuclear Operating Company. "He has demonstrated exemplary leadership
of the U.S. Navy's nuclear fleet -- maintaining a world-class safety
and operational record for more than 100 reactors on U.S. Navy ships
around the world.
"Joe Colvin has provided superb leadership to our industry as NEI's
CEO. He has helped the industry create the opportunities that are
before us now. Further, his expertise and vision have developed NEI
into the policy leader for our industry," Hairston continued. "The
nuclear industry is grateful for Joe's significant contributions."
"Admiral Bowman brings to the industry the policy and technical
expertise that is imperative as we look to expand the significant
role of nuclear energy to our nation's energy security, environmental
protection and economic growth," Hairston said.
"Skip has overseen the design, development, maintenance and operation
of reactors onboard 40 percent of the Navy's major combatant fleet,
and he has demonstrated leadership that has earned him international
recognition," said Colvin, NEI's president and CEO since 1996. "He is
well respected by members of Congress with whom he has worked during
his Navy career and by commissioners at the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission (NRC)."
In his role directing the joint U.S. Navy and DOE program, Bowman has
worked closely with Congress and the Executive Branch on policy
issues in addition to maintaining an impeccable efficiency and safety
record among the U.S. Navy's nuclear fleet. Bowman also meets with
the NRC on issues related to naval nuclear propulsion.
"America is at a crossroads in determining our energy future, and
what our quality of life will be in the decades ahead," Bowman said.
"This is a critical time for our nation and for the nuclear energy
industry. Nuclear energy plays and will continue to play an important
role in our nation's energy future. We must take the necessary steps
to maintain the high levels of safe and reliable operations at our
current plants and ensure that these plants as well as new reactors
are part of a diverse energy supply for our high-tech, electricity-
driven economy. NEI plays an important role in leading the industry
in taking those steps. I am proud to have been selected and look
forward to the role I will play in that."
Prior to these assignments, Bowman served as Chief of Naval Personnel
from 1994 to 1996, as Director of Political-Military Affairs on the
Joint Staff from 1992 to 1994, and as deputy director of operations
on the Joint Staff from 1991 to 1992. Bowman has served on active
duty for 38 years.
The Nuclear Energy Institute is the nuclear energy industry's policy
organization. This news release and additional information about
nuclear energy are available on NEI's Internet site at
http://www.nei.org
-----------------
S.Korea enriched uranium close to atom bomb fuel
SEOUL/VIENNA (Reuters) - South Korea has admitted that government
scientists enriched uranium four years ago to a level that several
Vienna diplomats said was almost pure enough for an atomic bomb, the
U.N. nuclear watchdog said Thursday.
Although only a minute quantity of uranium was involved, two Western
diplomats close to the International Atomic Energy Agency said the
enrichment was below, but "very close" to, the threshold for bomb-
grade uranium.
"It was well beyond the level that would be needed for a civilian
program," one of the diplomats told Reuters. "The government says
that its program is peaceful and the (U.N. agency) is not making any
judgments on that issue."
South Korea said in a statement the U.N. nuclear watchdog was
investigating the disclosure. It said the experiments, which involved
enriching uranium with lasers, were carried out by a group of
scientists without government knowledge and soon ended.
"This is enrichment of uranium," a government official told Reuters
by telephone. Other government officials had earlier said the
experiments did not go as far as enriching uranium.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said in a statement that Seoul
had told the agency that "these activities were carried out without
the government's knowledge at a nuclear site in Korea in 2000."
At the same time, a Vienna diplomat said the scientists were
government employees working at a government-run facility.
David Albright, a former U.N. weapons inspector and currently
president of the Institute for Science and International Security,
said this could indicate that Seoul had not fully abandoned its
atomic weapons capability.
"This is an opportunity for South Korea to talk about all its past
nuclear weapons efforts and clear the air, to be an example for how
North Korea should act," Albright told Reuters.
South Korea began a secret atomic weapons program in the 1970s under
Park Chung-hee, a military dictator who was assassinated in 1979.
Under U.S. pressure. Park pledged in the late 1970s not to pursue a
bomb, though some analysts believe the program ended with his death.
South Korea has signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the
nuclear watchdog's Additional Protocol, which gives inspectors the
right to conduct more intrusive, short-notice visits to nuclear sites
than normal Non-Proliferation Treaty safeguards permit.
"With the Additional Protocol in force, it would have been difficult
for Korea to keep this a secret," one diplomat said.
The U.N. agency said a team of inspectors was now in South Korea and
would be returning to Vienna early next week. The agency's chief,
Mohamed ElBaradei, would present the inspectors' findings to the
agency's Board of Governors when it meets on Sept. 13.
CLEAR VIOLATION OF THE TREATY-DIPLOMATS
The experiments clearly did not constitute a violation of the Non-
Proliferation Treaty because they were not an attempt to build
nuclear weapons, the South Korean official said.
However, several diplomats on the atomic agency's 35-member Board of
Governors said South Korea had clearly violated its obligations under
the treaty, which requires that such activities be reported to the
nuclear watchdog. They said the board had no choice but to report
such violations to the U.N. Security Council.
"This will have to be reported to the Security Council, but the board
would want that to be with the consent of the South Korean
government, similar to what we did with Libya," one Western diplomat
said on condition of anonymity.
Earlier this year, the agency's board reported Libya to the Security
Council, which has the power to impose sanctions, though the report
was purely informative and praised Tripoli for coming clean about its
past secret atomic weapons program.
Another Western diplomat close to the International Atomic Energy
Agency said the agency would naturally want to fulfill its duty as
the watchdog of the Non-Proliferation Treaty by conducting a thorough
investigation to rule out the possibility that South Korea has a
secret weapons program.
The revelation could prove embarrassing to Seoul, which is a key
member of six-party talks aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear
ambitions.
U.S. officials said in October 2002 that the North had admitted to
running a secret nuclear program based on uranium enrichment
technology.
Pyongyang has since denied the claim. It has yet to comment on the
latest South Korean disclosure.
The agency has made similar discoveries of minute amounts of enriched
uranium and weapons-grade plutonium in Iran, which Washington
considers as evidence that Tehran is using its civilian nuclear
energy program as a front for developing atomic weapons.
Iran says the United States is wrong and insists its nuclear
ambitions are limited to the peaceful generation of electricity.
-----------------
South Africa arrests one in WMDs, nuclear probe
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (Reuters) - South African authorities have
arrested one person in an investigation into contraventions of laws
on weapons of mass destruction and nuclear energy, the government
said Thursday.
"Enquiries are being made into the activities of some companies and
individuals, who may have been involved," Abdul Minty, chairman of
the South African Council for the Non-Proliferation of Weapons of
Mass Destruction, a statutory government body, said in a statement.
-----------------
Studies Show Radiation Not for All With Cancer
BOSTON (Sept. 1) - Many older women with early breast cancer can
safely skip radiation after having a lump removed, two studies
suggest.
Most women should still undergo radiation, because it helps prevent
relapses within the same breast, the researchers say. But breast
cancer grows so slowly in older women - at least those over 70 - that
many could forgo those treatments with little risk of a relapse.
''This is a very reasonable option for these women, and they have to
weigh the risks and benefits with their physician,'' said Dr. Kevin
Hughes, a cancer surgeon at Massachusetts General Hospital and lead
researcher in one of the two studies reported Thursday in The New
England Journal of Medicine.
In view of the findings, some doctors suggested that up to 40,000
women a year in the United States might consider skipping radiation.
Many early tumors today are treated by lumpectomy, in which the lump
instead of the entire breast is removed. The drug tamoxifen is also
widely given to prevent the spread of cancer. Doctors also give
radiation to most patients just to be safe, though research shows
that the vast majority will not suffer a relapse anyway.
''We know that most women with these small tumors don't need
radiotherapy, but the problem is identifying them,'' said Dr. Ian
Smith of Royal Marsden Hospital in London, who wrote an accompanying
editorial.
In their five-year studies, both research teams compared early-cancer
lumpectomy patients on tamoxifen with and without radiation. A
Canadian team looked at 769 women ages 50 and older. The American
group, led by Hughes and backed by the National Cancer Institute,
focused on 636 women 70 and older.
To the researchers' disappointment, the Canadian study found that
without radiation, almost 8 percent suffered a relapse within the
same breast. With the treatments, it was less than 1 percent.
''The majority of women benefit from radiation, and the magnitude of
the benefit is enough to warrant the small side effects,'' said
researcher Dr. Anthony Fyles, at Princess Margaret Hospital in
Toronto.
Still, there was no difference in the risk of cancer spreading
elsewhere in the body. And the relapse rate within the same breast in
both patient groups combined was noticeably lower for women over 60
than for women in their 50s - 3.5 percent compared with 6 percent.
In the American study, 1 percent of women ages 70 or over had a
relapse within the same breast with radiation, and just 4 percent
without it - a very slight risk, in the eyes of the researchers.
Relapses in which the cancer has not spread to other parts of the
body are usually not catastrophic. Most can be effectively treated
with more surgery. In fact, patients without radiation lived just as
long on average as the other women in both studies - despite their
higher rates of relapse.
The typical five-to-six-week U.S. regimen - with side effects like
breast pain, redness, swelling and fatigue - can be trying for some
women, especially older ones. The treatments can cost $15,000 in the
United States, and perhaps less than half that in Canada.
However, Monica Morrow, a cancer surgeon at Fox Chase Cancer Center
in Philadelphia, suspects that fewer than 40,000 patients will prove
to be good candidates.
''The person who is terrified of dying of cancer wants to do
everything they can to prevent cancer from coming back,'' she said.
------------------------------------
Sandy Perle
Senior Vice President, Technical Operations
Global Dosimetry Solutions, Inc.
2652 McGaw Avenue
Irvine, CA 92614
Direct Line: (949) 296-2306
Local: (949) 419-1000 Extension 2306
Toll Free: (888) 437-1714 Extension 2306
Fax: (949) 296-1144
E-Mail: sperle@dosimetry.com
E-Mail: sandyfl@earthlink.net
Global Dosimetry Website: http://www.dosimetry.com/
Personal Website: http://sandy-travels.com/
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