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Italy Should Not Dismiss Nuclear Power-Berlusconi
Index:
Italy Should Not Dismiss Nuclear Power-Berlusconi
Anti-nuclear groups considering bid for Los Alamos lab contract
State wants Wash Supreme Court to rule on Hanford initiative
NRC refuses to hear discrimination claims in Grand Gulf filin
Nuclear plant shut because of leak is restarting
Impotence from Prostate Radiation May Be Avoidable
Radiation May Help Breast Cancer Survival
===============================
Italy Should Not Dismiss Nuclear Power-Berlusconi
ROME (Reuters) - Italy should not dismiss the idea of having its own
nuclear power stations, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said on
Thursday, indicating a possible move away from Italy's traditional
anti-nuclear stance.
Italians voted to close Italy's nuclear power plants in a 1987
referendum but it imports electricity from France where nuclear power
is one of the main sources of energy.
"The government is preparing a study to look at the future and giving
the country energy reserves," Berlusconi said in a speech at the
opening of a new electricity line.
Berlusconi, in power for almost four years, hinted that if he is
reelected next year, the nuclear question will be back up for
discussion.
"One legislature is too short to impose a new energy plan and find
answers to the questions which weigh on our system like whether or
not to use nuclear power."
Berlusconi said Italian industry was "paying the penalty (for buying
electricity generated) in foreign power stations." "For the poor
choices made in the past our companies pay 20-30 percent more," he
said.
As for safety -- one of the main concerns of the opponents of nuclear
power -- Berlusconi said "if something negative happened" north of
the Alps, Italy would also be affected.
As well as having to import much of its energy, Italy is struggling
to keep down carbon dioxide emissions, a requirement of the Kyoto
Protocol climate change treaty which comes into force this year.
Nuclear power does not emit carbon dioxide, the main man-made
greenhouse gas blamed for causing climate change, but most
environmentalists still oppose it because nuclear waste can remain
highly radioactive for thousands of years.
---------------
Anti-nuclear groups considering bid for Los Alamos lab contract
LOS ALAMOS, N.M. (AP) - Anti-nuclear groups are banding together to
bid for the contract to manage Los Alamos National Laboratory, with
the aim of turning the lab into a center for non-nuclear research.
Nuclear Watch of New Mexico, a Santa Fe-based nonprofit group that
promotes nuclear disarmament, and California-based Tri-Valley CAREs,
which stands for Communities Against a Radioactive Environment, said
they will prepare a bid for the contract, which expires in September.
The nuclear weapons research lab has been run by the University of
California since its inception in World War II as a secret project to
build the world's first atomic bomb. However, a series of management
failures and security problems in recent years led Energy Secretary
Spencer Abraham to call for bids for the first time.
The anti-nuclear groups' bid could be used to make a point, but
they're serious about winning the contract to manage the lab and its
$2 billion budget, said Jay Coghlan, executive director of Nuclear
Watch. They also are trying to send a serious message, he said.
"We think (the lab's) overwhelming emphasis on nuclear weapons is
outdated," especially given the U.S. obligations to the nuclear
nonproliferation treaty, Coghlan said.
Nuclear Watch met earlier this month with the National Nuclear
Security Administration board, which is responsible for reviewing
proposals to run the northern New Mexico laboratory.
"They were very up front and answered every question that they
could," said Scott Kovac, research director for the group.
The board gave the impression the bid was being taken seriously, he
said. "They didn't accuse us of wasting their time or anything."
Marylia Kelley, head of Tri-Valley CAREs, said preparing a bid will
help the organizations influence the competition.
"We seek to ensure that the new management contract will increase
openness, improve health and safety provisions for workers and
communities, strengthen the whistle-blower protections and provide
incentive points for bringing more civilian science to LANL," she
said.
Working with Nuclear Watch and Tri-Valley is the Coalition to
Demilitarize the University of California, consisting of some student
leaders and faculty members who support changing the lab's vision.
"The idea of converting the weapons lab to a center for constructive
civilian research makes great sense, and it should appeal to many of
those who now work at the Los Alamos bomb factory," Charlie Schwartz,
a UC physicist and professor emeritus, said in a statement announcing
the bid.
Coghlan said the push for new nuclear weapons designs "is the wrong
example to set for the world."
The U.S. nuclear stockpile needs to be reduced, then irreversibly
dismantled, he said.
-----------------
State wants Wash Supreme Court to rule on Hanford initiative
YAKIMA, Wash. (AP) - State officials on Thursday asked a federal
judge to refer some questions regarding a Hanford nuclear waste
initiative to the state Supreme Court.
Initiative 297, overwhelmingly approved by Washington state voters
last fall, bars the U.S. Department of Energy from sending more
nuclear waste to the Hanford reservation until all existing waste
there is cleaned up.
A federal judge ordered a temporary halt to enforcement of the
initiative last month, pending resolution of a lawsuit to overturn
it. In that lawsuit, the federal government contends the initiative
violates federal laws governing nuclear waste, among other things.
The state attorney general's office has promised to defend the
initiative in court.
However, state officials believe some questions about the initiative
must be resolved by a state court first. State attorneys filed a
motion with the federal court in Yakima on Thursday, asking Judge
Alan McDonald to refer those questions to the state Supreme Court -
and stay the federal lawsuit pending a state high court ruling. There
was no indication when McDonald might rule.
According to the filing, the questions include whether the initiative
bars movement of waste already on the site or disposal of sealed
nuclear reactor vessels from retired U.S. Navy submarines. The state
also wants clarification on the definition of "mixed waste" under
state law and how waste in unlined trenches should be characterized.
In the event that the federal judge finds only part of the initiative
unconstitutional, the state also wants the state Supreme Court to
decide if the entire measure would be nullified.
At issue are the federal government's plans for disposing of waste
from nuclear weapons production nationwide. The Energy Department
chose Hanford to dispose of some mildly radioactive waste and mixed
low-level waste, which is laced with chemicals.
The site also would serve as a packaging center for some transuranic
waste before it is shipped elsewhere for long-term disposal.
Transuranic waste is highly radioactive and can take thousands of
years to decay to safe levels.
Waste shipments to the site already had been halted under another
lawsuit.
The initiative has raised questions on other fronts as well. On
Tuesday, a state lawmaker from Richland raised concerns that the
initiative would impact cancer research in the region.
When Initiative 297 went into effect Dec. 1, the Energy Department
immediately began taking action to halt some cleanup projects at
Hanford, as well as research involving radioactive material at
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, a national Energy Department
science lab.
In addition, cancer research conducted at the lab under a contract
involving a private Richland company, the Energy Department and the
lab, was halted.
On Dec. 2, McDonald stayed enforcement of the initiative.
The sponsor of the initiative, Hanford watchdog group Heart of
America Northwest, said the measure does not - and was not intended
to - regulate medical isotope production. However, several state
lawmakers are working with the group to draft legislation to clarify
that position, the group said Thursday in a news release.
----------------
NRC refuses to hear discrimination claims in Grand Gulf filing
PORT GIBSON, Miss. (AP) - The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will not
hear arguments that a possible new reactor at Entergy's Grand Gulf
Power Plant near Port Gibson would discriminate against minorities.
The NRC this week denied an appeal from the Claiborne County chapter
of the NAACP, the Mississippi chapter of the Sierra Club and two
Washington, D.C., organizations.
The groups wanted to argue before the NRC that a second reactor at
Grand Gulf would double risks and would be of no benefit to the
majority black population of Claiborne County. They contend the local
governments are not equipped to cope with the environmental and
health consequences of a nuclear accident, sabotage or routine
radioactive releases.
The parent company of Entergy Nuclear is in a process called early
site approval that could lead to a permit to build a second reactor
in Claiborne County. If the permit is issued, Entergy would have 20
years to make a decision whether to build a second reactor.
The current Grand Gulf reactor began operation in 1985 and its
operating permit expires in 2024.
"NRC once again has bowed to its master - the nuclear industry - to
pave the way for construction in an area where they expect the least
resistance," A.C. Garner, spokesman for the NAACP in Claiborne
County, said Wednesday in a statement.
The NRC recently changed its policy on environmental justice to make
it unlikely that issues of racial discrimination, fairness and
economic equity would be considered in licensing proceedings.
Governing boards in Claiborne County and the city of Port Gibson have
endorsed a permit for a second reactor.
The county's population is 84 percent black and 32.4 percent of its
citizens have income levels below the federal poverty line, according
to Census figures.
Opponents also have sited the Legislature's reallocation of tax
revenue from Grand Gulf to the 45 counties served by Entergy.
Claiborne County supervisors have hired Jackson attorney Mike Espy, a
former congressman, to lobby the Legislature for a change in the law,
first passed in 1986. The county wants a larger financial share of
taxes on any future construction.
Initially, Claiborne County received $16 million per year in taxes
from on the plant. After the Legislature ordered the split, that was
halved.
The NRC expects to hold a public meeting in Port Gibson this spring
or summer to discuss a draft environmental statement that is being
prepared.
Entergy spokesman Carl Crawford said the NRC decision allows the
company to keep open the option to build a second reactor.
-----------------
Nuclear plant shut because of leak is restarting
LOWER ALLOWAYS CREEK, N.J. (AP) - The Hope Creek nuclear power plant,
shut down after a radioactive steam leak in October, is being
restarted.
The shutdown was longer than expected for the plant in part because
of concern over a second problem with the reactor that was unrelated
to the burst pipe that caused the steam leak last fall.
Last week, the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission agreed with
plant owners the facility was ready to restart because the pipe
problem was fixed. The commission also accepted the plan of plant
officials to replace a vibrating recirculation pump in mid-2006.
Some activists and public officials said the pump should have been
replaced before the plant - one of three on Salem County's Artificial
Island - could be restarted.
The plant began generating power early Tuesday and will likely be
connected to the power grid that supplies energy to customers within
a few days, said Chic Cannon, a spokesman for Public Service Energy
Group, the Newark-based utility that owns the plant.
It will be even longer, Cannon said, before Hope Creek can produce
power at its full rate.
PSEG is merging with Chicago-based Exelon Corp. in a deal that would
make the new company the nation's largest operator of nuclear power
plants. Part of the reason for the merger, company officials said, is
that the new company could make the Salem plants more efficient and
more profitable.
------------------
Impotence from Prostate Radiation May Be Avoidable
for prostate cancer, but up to 90 percent of men will develop
impotence after the treatment. New research indicates that this
frustrating side effect may be avoided if both MRI and CT, rather
than just CT, are used to plan exactly how and where radiation will
be delivered.
Previous reports have suggested that prostate radiation causes
impotence by damaging the structures that control blood supply in the
penis. Therefore, radiotherapy that avoids these structures could
potentially preserve sexual function. This is where treatment
planning comes in.
With standard CT planning, it is often assumed that the distance
between the prostate and these key structures is 1.5 cm. However,
applying this estimate to all patients, "you're going to treat way
more (tissue) than you need to or you're going to miss the prostate,"
Dr. Patrick W. McLaughlin, from the University of Michigan in Ann
Arbor, said in a statement.
McLaughlin and his colleagues used a combination of MRI and CT scans
to determine the exact distance from the prostate to the blood-
containing structures in 25 men with prostate cancer. Although the
average distance -- 1.45 cm -- was close to that used with CT-based
planning, the values varied widely from 0.7 to 2.1 cm.
The exact determination of the distance allowed the team to target
radiotherapy more precisely, and dramatically reduce the dose to the
critical erection structures.
The new findings appear in the International Journal of Radiation
Oncology Biology Physics.
Further studies are needed to determine if MRI+CT planning of
radiation therapy actually prevents impotence, the authors note.
SOURCE: International Journal of Radiation Oncology Biology Physics,
January 2005.
---------------
Radiation May Help Breast Cancer Survival
WASHINGTON (AP) - A 20-year follow-up of a breast-cancer treatment
trial shows that radiation, given in addition to surgery and
chemotherapy, can increase women's survival prospects.
The report, in Wednesday's Journal of the National Cancer Institute,
extends the findings of shorter-term trials.
The study analyzed 318 women in British Columbia who were treated for
high-risk breast cancer between 1979 and 1986. Following mastectomy
and chemotherapy, some of the women were also treated with radiation
to the lymph nodes and chest wall.
The researchers, led by Dr. Joseph Ragaz of McGill University Health
Center in Montreal, found there was a 32 percent reduction in breast
cancer mortality and a 27 percent reduction in overall mortality in
the women who received the radiation, compared to those receiving
just surgery and chemotherapy.
An earlier 15-year analysis had shown improved breast cancer
survival, but not overall survival, for the women receiving
radiation.
In an accompanying editorial, Timothy Whelan and Mark Levine of the
Juravinski Cancer Centre in Hamilton, Ontario, urge a similar study
of radiation in women at lower risk of a return of the disease after
surgery.
On the Net:
Journal of the National Cancer Institute:
http://jncicancerspectrum.oupjournals.org
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