[ RadSafe ] California port first to scan cargo for radiation

[Sandy Perle]

Index:

California port first to scan cargo for radiation
Gaza crossing point shutdown in protest at Israeli X-ray device
Chernobyl's 19th anniversary is commemorated in Ukraine
Ukrainian president - one month to decide on new Chernobyl shelter
Hungary detains four in parliament nuclear alarm
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California port first to scan cargo for radiation

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The Port of Oakland, California has started 
scanning cargo containers for radioactive material, becoming the 
first major U.S. port to do so as part of a broader effort to prevent 
smuggling of the material, port officials said Wednesday.

The port has installed federally funded radiation detectors in recent 
months at its international terminals and put them into full 
operation Tuesday, said Marilyn Sandifur, a spokeswoman for the Port 
of Oakland.

The port, across the bay from San Francisco, handles up to 5,000 
cargo containers a day and is America's fourth largest container port 
behind Los Angeles, Long Beach and New York-Newark.

The Port of Oakland's $4 million drive-through radiation monitors are 
so sensitive they can detect naturally occurring radiation like 
potassium in bananas, which can trigger alarms, Sandifur said.

"The detectors are sensitive to any kind of radiation that exceeds 
normal levels of background radiation," she said.

If alarms are triggered, customs agents inspect containers more 
closely.

The Department of Homeland Security plans to have the monitors in 
operation at all California seaports by the end of the year, said Nat 
Aycox, director of field operations for the customs and border 
protection unit in San Francisco.

California lawmakers have given initial approval to a bill that would 
raise $130 million annually to improve port security by imposing a 
$10 fee on each cargo container shipped into the state. The bill 
would authorize the state to collect fees on cargo container traffic 
and distribute the funds to ports.

If combined, the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach would be the 
world's fifth busiest complex after Hong Kong, Singapore, Shanghai 
and Shenzhen.

The two ports handle about two-thirds of all ocean cargo shipped to 
the west coast of the United States every year and last year handled 
the equivalent of 13.1 million cargo containers.
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Palestinian Authority shuts down Gaza crossing point in protest at 
Israeli X-ray device

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) - The Palestinian Authority shut down the 
Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt for several hours Tuesday to 
protest Israel's use of an X-ray chamber that allegedly gives off 
high radiation during security checks of Palestinians.

The crossing is the only link to the world for Gaza residents. On the 
Gaza side, it is operated by Israel and the Palestinians.

The Palestinian Authority repeatedly asked Israel to stop using the 
chamber, but Israel is still forcing travelers to pass through the 
device, said Salim Abu Safia, the Palestinian director general of 
border terminals.

"We received Israeli promises that the chamber would be dismantled. 
However, we have become tired of the Israeli procrastination policy, 
so we threatened to shut down the terminal," Abu Safia said.

The Palestinian side of the Rafah border was closed for several 
hours, during which Gazans could not leave for Egypt.

Orly Maman, a spokeswoman for the Israeli Ports Authority, said 
police instructed the authority to use the X-ray machine, which she 
said received all the necessary permits.

The chamber was set up about 40 days ago.
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Chernobyl's 19th anniversary is commemorated in Ukraine

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) - Hundreds of mourners laid flowers and lit 
candles early Tuesday before a monument in Ukraine's capital to mark 
the 19th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, which spewed 
radiation over much of northern Europe and claimed thousands of 
lives.

As the country slept on April 26, 1986, a reactor at the nuclear 
power station exploded and caught fire during a test.

An area roughly half the size of Colorado was contaminated by the 
accident, forcing the resettlement of hundreds of thousands of people 
and ruining some of Europe's most fertile farmland.

At first, the leaders of the Soviet Union hushed up the accident. 
People living next to the plant were not evacuated for more than 24 
hours after the No. 4 reactor blew up. Only after scientists in 
Sweden detected radioactivity did the Kremlin break its silence on 
April 28, acknowledging an accident had occurred.

"The Chernobyl plant that was regarded as Ukraine's pride has become 
a symbol of the biggest ever man-made disaster," the plant's 
management said Tuesday, an anniversary now observed worldwide as a 
memorial to victims of radiation catastrophes.

Ukraine has registered 4,400 deaths. In all, 7 million people in the 
former Soviet republics of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine are believed 
to have suffered health problems. Many were the firefighters, cleanup 
workers, soldiers and scientists sent in to help deal with the 
accident.

"They protected us like heroes of war," said Ganna Romanova, 75. "We 
must not forget them and we must tell our children about their feat."

In Kiev, about 80 miles south of the Chernobyl plant, hundreds of 
Ukrainians filled a small chapel dedicated to the disaster's victims 
as bells tolled 19 times at 1:23 a.m., the exact time of the 
explosion.

Many victims have complained that their governments are doing too 
little to help them. In the Russian city of Novovoronezh, some 300 
miles south of Moscow, a group of Chernobyl victims launched a new 
hunger strike, saying recent social reforms stripped them of some 
necessary benefits, Russia's NTV reported. Specialists from 
Novovoronezh's nuclear power plant were dispatched to Chernobyl to 
help after the accident.

The most frequent Chernobyl-related diseases include thyroid, blood 
and other cancers.

Yuriy Andreev, the head of the Chernobyl Union, an action group that 
represents victims, said the Ukrainian government has cut funding for 
victims every year.

"In 1992, we were receiving 12 percent of (national) budget expenses, 
in 2000 - 3.3 percent and in 2005 only 2.3 percent," he said.

Similar complaints have been made in Belarus, whose authoritarian 
leader has even encouraged farming to resume in areas near 
contamination zones.

Ukraine shut down Chernobyl's last working reactor in December 2000, 
but the decommissioning works continue. A Russian-Ukrainian 
consortium has recently started reinforcing the crumbling concrete-
and-steel sarcophagus hastily constructed over the damaged reactor.

Meanwhile, the cost of building a new shelter has increased by 
hundreds of millions of dollars.

Cash shortages continue to raise concern. Last week, the state-run 
company responsible for maintaining the site and decommissioning the 
plant warned it is facing a dangerous cutoff of energy supplies due 
to $6 million in unpaid bills for gas, electricity and overdue wages.

Also Tuesday, Deputy Prime Minister Mykola Tomenko urged 
investigators to scrutinize "enormously big sums" paid to consultants 
and experts for environmental safety work at Chernobyl. Prosecutors 
have already launched on criminal case against an unidentified person 
for alleged misappropriation of funds.
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Ukrainian president gives government one month to decide on new 
Chernobyl shelter

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) - President Viktor Yushchenko gave his government 
a one-month deadline Wednesday to decide on a new shelter for the 
destroyed reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

At a government session, Yushchenko urged officials to agree on a 
plan to replace the hastily erected structure that was built over the 
Chernobyl's reactor No. 4 after it exploded and caught fire 19 years 
ago, spewing radioactive fallout over Ukraine, Belarus and much of 
northern Europe.

The aging structure is crumbling, threatening to release new 
radioactivity. The Ukrainian government has long sought to build a 
safer structure, but lacks the funds for the project, estimated at as 
much as US$1 billion (770 million).

"The situation is delicate and we have been making international 
solicitation offers for three years now," Yushchenko told the 
government.

"I want you to end this issue in 30 days and to decide what type of 
shelter we need."

Yushchenko said that a French consortium has offered a cheaper 
structure for some US$830 million (638 million) and he ordered 
Emergencies Minister David Zhvanya to "launch urgent consultations."

"We have to move forward with this," Yushchenko said.

Work on the new confinement structure is scheduled to begin next year 
and be finished within three years. Separately, a Ukrainian-Russian 
consortium has begun a three-year operation aimed at reinforcing the 
existing structure over the destroyed reactor core.

Chernobyl's last functioning reactor was shut down in December 2000.
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Hungary detains four in parliament nuclear alarm

BUDAPEST, April 26 (Reuters) - Hungarian police detained four people 
on Tuesday protesting the export of nuclear waste to the Urals after 
the demonstrators triggered a radioactive contamination scare near 
parliament.

Guards sounded the alarm when the activists, three Russians and a 
Hungarian interpreter, produced a bottle of water and a box of earth 
outside the parliament building while the chamber was in session, 
police said.

Fearing the objects were radioactive, officials cordoned off part of 
the square around the building, and a disaster defence unit checked 
the area in protective suits.

"The water and earth were examined ... and the result was negative," 
Budapest police said in a statement. It said the men had been 
detained because they had not officially announced the demonstration.

A local official from the environmental activist group Greenpeace 
said the Russians came to Budapest from the Chelyabinsk region in the 
Urals.

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Sandy Perle 
Senior Vice President, Technical Operations 
Global Dosimetry Solutions, Inc. 
2652 McGaw Avenue
Irvine, CA 92614

Tel: (949) 296-2306 / (888) 437-1714 Extension 2306 
Fax:(949) 296-1144

Global Dosimetry Website: http://www.dosimetry.com/ 
Personal Website: http://sandy-travels.com/