[ RadSafe ] Officials to consider new nuclear plant for South Carolina

[Sandy Perle]

Index:

Officials to consider new nuclear plant for South Carolina
~100 rally against nuclear power in peaceful demonstration in Germany
Too-Hot Ukraine Nuclear Plant Shuts Down
Special Fuel Arrives at Nuclear Power Plant
AmerGen Seeks Longer Life For Three Mile Island 1 Reactor
NRC Probing Nuclear Fire Protection Material Problem -NYT
U. of Texas Renews Interest in Los Alamos
Czech nuclear power plant reconnected to the country's power grid
Greenpeace activists arrested protest at nuclear power plant in Spain
Experiment Creates Nuclear Fusion in Lab
Tribe's Lawyer Argues Yucca Mountain Case
Bush Gives Energy Plan Amid High Prices
Scan Shows Nev. Radiation Didn't Hit Town
U.S. Panel: Open Door to Radiation Claims
======================================

Officials to consider new nuclear plant for South Carolina

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) - Almost a decade after the nation's last 
licensed nuclear power plant went on line, South Carolina officials 
will meet with utility representatives to see if there is interest in 
building a new reactor in the state.

The May 9 meeting in Columbia will include representatives from the 
state Commerce Department, the governor's office, utility officials 
and U.S. Rep. Gresham Barrett of the state's 3rd Congressional 
District.

"We just want to get everyone together, see if anyone's interested in 
South Carolina, and then we'll move forward from there," said Tim 
Dangerfield, chief of staff at the Commerce Department.

The state already has four nuclear plants accounting for just over 
half the electricity generated in South Carolina. The last nuclear 
generating plant to go on line in the nation was the Tennessee Valley 
Authority's Watts Bar plant in 1996.

NuStart Energy Development, a consortium of eight utilities, the 
Tennessee Valley Authority and two reactor manufacturers, was formed 
last year to gain federal approval for building and operating new 
nuclear plants.

Representatives from the consortium, which includes both Duke Energy 
and Progress Energy based in North Carolina, will join South Carolina 
utilities at the meeting.

"Right now, there are not any (state) incentives that anybody has 
identified, but I do believe some could be forthcoming," said Neville 
Lorick, president of SCE&G, which owns two-thirds of a nuclear plant 
in Jenkinsville, S.C.

Dangerfield said the Savannah River Site has been suggested as a 
possible site for a plant.

"It's kind of a natural," Dangerfield said. "Everybody says, 'Not in 
my backyard.' The Savannah River Site is a 300-square-mile fenced 
area, so this is a good opportunity to put it in a place where you 
won't have a lot of people complaining about it."

Utilities that are part of NuStart have filed for preliminary permits 
to build new nuclear plants near existing plants in North Anna, Va.; 
Clinton, Ill.; and Grand Gulf, Miss.

Some environmental groups oppose nuclear power because of the waste 
it generates. Most spent nuclear fuel from the nation's 104 reactors 
is kept in containers at reactor sites.

There is a plan to bury such waste underground in Yucca Mountain, 
Nev., but lawsuits have delayed the move for years. Several 
utilities, including Santee Cooper and South Carolina Electric & Gas' 
parent company, Scana, have sued the federal government for not 
taking the waste.

NuStart hopes one of its members will break ground on a new nuclear 
plant within six years and have the plant on line in a decade.
------------------

Nearly 100 rally against nuclear power in peaceful demonstration in 
Germany

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) - About 100 people, including many children, 
protested the use of nuclear power by Germany, police said Sunday.

The peaceful demonstration was aimed at marking the planned shutdown 
of Germany's oldest nuclear plant, police said. There were no 
arrests.

The 36-year-old plant in Obrigheim, southwestern Germany, is 
scheduled to be shut down by the end of May, part of a national plan 
to phase out the use of atomic energy by 2020.

Germany is the first major industrialized nation to renounce nuclear 
technology. Under a deal negotiated after years of wrangling between 
the government and power company bosses, all of Germany's 19 nuclear 
reactors are to close in the next 15 years.

The Obrigheim reactor is only the second to be shut down, after a 
plant in Stade, near Hamburg, was closed in November 2003.
----------------

Too-Hot Ukraine Nuclear Plant Shuts Down

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) - A nuclear reactor in western Ukraine shut down 
automatically Friday when sensors indicated rising temperatures in 
one of its systems, officials said.

There was no increase in radiation levels at reactor No. 2 in western 
Ukraine's Khmelnitsky nuclear power plant, said Ilona Zayats, a 
spokeswoman for the state-run Energoatom company.

The reactor has faced a series of shutdowns since its high-profile 
launch in August. Officials had said it was part of fine-tuning and 
testing procedures.

Ukraine was the site of the world's worst nuclear accident, the 1986 
explosion and fire at the Chernobyl nuclear plant, which spewed 
radiation over much of northern Europe. Chernobyl was shuttered in 
2000.

This ex-Soviet republic continues to operate 15 nuclear reactors, and 
it has said it is committed to modernizing all of them.
------------------

Special Fuel Arrives at Nuclear Power Plant

COLUMBIA, S.C. (April 29) - A shipment of nuclear power plant fuel 
made from weapons-grade plutonium has been delivered to a South 
Carolina power station that will be the first in the United States to 
use it, officials said Friday.

The MOX fuel, a mixture of plutonium oxide and uranium oxide, was 
converted at a nuclear plant in France and shipped back to the 
Charleston Naval Weapons Station earlier this month.

It was then transported to the Catawba Nuclear Station on Lake Wylie, 
about 20 miles south of Charlotte, N.C., where it will be tested, 
officials said. The plan is part of a 2000 U.S.-Russia disarmament 
accord under which both countries promised to destroy 34 tons of 
military plutonium each.

"We're going to use this and actually look at how it performs," said 
Duke Energy spokeswoman Rita Sipe.

Activists have argued that the MOX shipment posed environmental and 
terrorist threats. The environmental organization Greenpeace also 
opposes the use of MOX to run reactors, saying it becomes hotter and 
more radioactive than the enriched uranium used to fuel most 
reactors.

However, Sipe said the nuclear station is meeting all Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission security requirements.

"It's an opportunity for us to help out not only our country, but the 
world," she said. "We feel good that we are making a contribution to 
ridding the world of this surplus plutonium for weapons."

After this first test run, U.S. officials plan to build a MOX 
conversion facility with French help at the Savannah River nuclear 
site, near Aiken, to dispose of the rest of the plutonium the United 
States has agreed to destroy. Another conversion facility would be 
built in Russia.

No U.S. plant is capable of making MOX, which is produced only in 
France and Britain.
-----------------

AmerGen Seeks Longer Life For Three Mile Island 1 Reactor

CHICAGO (Dow Jones)--Exelon Corp. (EXC) unit AmerGen Energy Co. said 
Friday that it plans to seek U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission 
approval to run its Three Mile Island 1 nuclear unit until 2034.

The 850-megawatt unit's original 40-year operating license expires in 
April 2014. AmerGen said it expects to ask the NRC in 2007 to approve 
a 20-year license renewal.

The Three Mile Island plant, located near Harrisburg, Pa., is well 
known for the partial meltdown at Unit 2 in 1979. The event remains 
the worst-ever U.S. nuclear plant incident, and it's credited for 
putting the brakes on a major boom in nuclear plant construction.

But the nuclear industry has undergone a resurgence in recent years, 
with the original fleet running efficiently amid high fueling costs 
for fossil fuel plants and the formation of industry plans for 
another building cycle.

Also, the original fleet is being prepared for longer life. The NRC 
to date has approved license renewal for about 30 of 103 operating 
U.S. reactors, and is reviewing applications for many others.

AmerGen noted that it's spent more than $100 million on capital 
improvements at Three Mile Island 1 since buying the unit in 1999, 
and expects to spend $600 million more in the next 15 years by 
upgrading several parts of the plant.
--------------------

NRC Probing Nuclear Fire Protection Material Problem -NYT

NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Federal nuclear regulators have learned that a 
material meant to protect nuclear reactor equipment would shrink 
during a fire and expose the equipment to excessive heat, the New 
York Times reported Thursday.

The material, called Hemyc, is used at four nuclear reactors in New 
York and 10 others around the country, the newspaper said.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission plans to meet with plant 
owners Friday to ask them to show why their reactors should continue 
running until the problem can be fixed, according to the newspaper.

The plants include Entergy Corp.'s (ETR) Indian Point units 2 and 3 
north of New York City, and its James A. FitzPatrick reactor upstate.

A company spokesman said the company had established fire patrols in 
the area where the material is used and will determine whether it 
needs to be replaced, according to the Times.

Constellation Energy Group's (CEG) Ginna reactor near Rochester, 
N.Y., also uses the material, the newspaper said.

The immediate risk of the problem may be small, commission officials 
said, according to the Times.

The discovery that the material doesn't offer enough protection to 
meet the NRC's rules follows a move to replace a different fire-
protection material, the Times said.

Hemyc is often wrapped around cable trays or junction boxes. 
Commission rules require that cables that power or control crucial 
equipment, usually pumps or valves, be protected with a fire barrier 
that would last an hour if the area has fire-detection equipment and 
sprinklers or other suppression systems, the Times said. In other 
areas, the fire protection material is supposed to last three hours.

According to tests, Hemyc shrinks by about 8% if exposed to 
temperatures of about 800 degrees Fahrenheit, and could then expose 
the cables. It isn't clear whether a fire could reach that 
temperature, but the material doesn't meet the agency's standard, the 
Times said.
----------------

U. of Texas Renews Interest in Los Alamos

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - University of Texas officials expressed renewed 
interest Thursday in managing the Los Alamos National Laboratory in 
New Mexico, with Lockheed Martin Corp. as a partner.

UT System Chancellor Mark Yudof had recommended in February that it 
drop its pursuit of the nation's largest nuclear weapons lab after a 
series of security breaches there and after the university failed to 
find a corporate management partner.

Since then, Lockheed Martin has revived its intent to bid on the lab 
contract, and university officials have been in contact with the 
company, Yudof told UT regents at a meeting.

The Texas system already partners with Lockheed in research at Sandia 
National Laboratories in Albuquerque, N.M.

The regents heard testimony from supporters and opponents of the 
system's possible involvement in the lab where the first nuclear bomb 
was developed a half century ago.

Supporters, including U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, say the 
research and economic opportunities the lab could provide would be 
invaluable to the university and Texas.

Opponents, including Democratic state Rep. Lon Burnam, want the 
university to back away from a relationship they say is tantamount to 
promotion of nuclear armaments.

The federal nuclear facility has been operated by the University of 
California System since it was established in 1943. The Department of 
Energy opened bidding on the contract after a spate of security and 
money management problems at Los Alamos.

The original contract proposal with Los Alamos would have required a 
system to manage the entire workings of the lab. The Energy 
Department is expected to change the contract, allowing for corporate 
management with academic oversight of research.

UT Austin President Larry Faulkner said: "The nation needs a solution 
at Los Alamos, and that solution will involve some linkage to the 
academic world if it is to be effective."

Karen Hadden, chairwoman for Peace Action Texas, told the regents 
they should take a stand against nuclear weapons proliferation rather 
than participating in their development.
------------------

Czech nuclear power plant reconnected to the country's power grid

PRAGUE, Czech Republic (AP) - Authorities on Wednesday reconnected to 
the country's power grid a nuclear power plant near the border with 
Austria, an official said.

A spokesman for the plant, Milan Nebesar, said the first unit of the 
facility at the town of Temelin was reconnected to the power grid a 
day after workers restarted its reactor following a four-week 
shutdown, which was caused by a malfunction in the plant's non-
nuclear section.

The plant's second unit is currently shut down for routine 
maintenance and fuel replacement.

Construction of the plant's two 1,000-megawatt units, based on 
Russian designs, started in the 1980s. The reactors later were 
upgraded with U.S. technology, but they have remained controversial 
because of frequent malfunctions.

The station, 60 kilometers (35 miles) north of the Austrian border, 
has been a source of friction between the two countries. 
Environmentalists in Austria demand it be closed, while Czech 
authorities insist it is safe.
---------------------

Greenpeace activists arrested after protest at nuclear power plant in 
Spain

MADRID, Spain (AP) - Spanish police detained 22 Greenpeace members on 
Tuesday after they staged a peaceful protest at a nuclear power 
station in northeastern Spain.

The activists placed big banners at the Vandellos power station, on 
the outskirts of the city of Tarragona, calling on the government of 
Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero to fulfill his electoral 
promise to abandon nuclear energy in Spain, Greenpeace said in a 
statement.

In front of the main building, they unfurled a banner with the 
picture of a big lock reading: "Zapatero, keep your word, close them! 
Another banner read: "For security, let's quit nuclear energy".

They also placed five windmills, which were 3 meters (9 feet) high, 
inside the perimeter of the nuclear power station asking the 
government for "safer, cleaner, and less expensive energy," the 
environmental group said.

Greenpeace added that its members, who were not immediately 
identified, had been detained when the activists ended their protest. 
They were expected to be released after questioning, the statement 
added.
-------------------

Experiment Creates Nuclear Fusion in Lab

LOS ANGELES (AP) - A tabletop experiment created nuclear fusion - 
long seen as a possible clean energy solution - under lab conditions, 
scientists reported. But the amount of energy produced was too little 
to be seen as a breakthrough in solving the world's energy needs.

For years, scientists have sought to harness controllable nuclear 
fusion, the same power that lights the sun and stars. This latest 
experiment relied on a tiny crystal to generate a strong electric 
field. While falling short as a way to produce energy, the method 
could have potential uses in the oil-drilling industry and homeland 
security, said Seth Putterman, one of the physicists who did the 
experiment at the University of California, Los Angeles.

The experiment's results appear in Thursday's issue of the journal 
Nature.

Previous claims of tabletop fusion have been met with skepticism and 
even derision by physicists. In 1989, Dr. B. Stanley Pons of the 
University of Utah and Martin Fleischmann of Southampton University 
in England shocked the world when they announced that they had 
achieved so-called cold fusion at room temperature. Their work was 
discredited after repeated attempts to reproduce it failed.

Fusion experts noted that the UCLA experiment was credible because, 
unlike the 1989 work, it didn't violate basic principles of physics.

"This doesn't have any controversy in it because they're using a 
tried and true method," said David Ruzic, professor of nuclear and 
plasma engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. 
"There's no mystery in terms of the physics."

Fusion power has been touted as the ultimate energy source and a 
cleaner alternative to fossil fuels like coal and oil. Fossil fuels 
are expected to run short in about 50 years.

In fusion, light atoms are joined in a high-temperature process that 
frees large amounts of energy.

It is considered environment-friendly because it produces virtually 
no air pollution and does not pose the safety and long-term 
radioactive waste concerns associated with modern nuclear power 
plants, where heavy uranium atoms are split to create energy in a 
process known as fission.

In the UCLA experiment, scientists placed a tiny crystal that can 
generate a strong electric field into a vacuum chamber filled with 
deuterium gas, a form of hydrogen capable of fusion. Then the 
researchers activated the crystal by heating it.

The resulting electric field created a beam of charged deuterium 
atoms that struck a nearby target, which was embedded with yet more 
deuterium. When some of the deuterium atoms in the beam collided with 
their counterparts in the target, they fused.

The reaction gave off an isotope of helium along with subatomic 
particles known as neutrons, a characteristic of fusion. The 
experiment did not, however, produce more energy than the amount put 
in - an achievement that would be a huge breakthrough.

Commercial neutron generators work in a similar way. But the UCLA 
instrument was "remarkably low-tech" in comparison, Michael 
Saltmarsh, a retired physicist from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory 
in Tennessee, wrote in an accompanying article.

UCLA's Putterman said future experiments will focus on refining the 
technique for potential commercial uses, including designing portable 
neutron generators that could be used for oil well drilling or 
scanning luggage and cargo at airports.
------------------

Tribe's Lawyer Argues Yucca Mountain Case

LAS VEGAS (AP) - A lawyer for an American Indian tribe that wants to 
stop a national nuclear waste dump from being built on ancestral 
lands told a federal judge that workers might have provided false 
information to win the project's approval.

Robert Hager, an attorney for the Western Shoshone tribe, said in 
oral arguments Wednesday that the $58 billion project should be 
halted because of Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman's disclosure last 
month that information may have been falsified to obtain 
congressional approval for the project.

"Misrepresentations were made. Lies were made," Hager told Judge 
Philip Pro. "At some point, it's got to stop, your honor, and it's 
got to stop with the courts."

Bodman's revelations came after the tribe sued to stop the nuclear 
repository in U.S. District Court on March 4, claiming the Ruby 
Valley Treaty of 1863 gives the tribe the right to halt the nuclear 
repository from being built at Yucca Mountain.

President Bush and Congress selected the Yucca Mountain site in 2002 
after years of study. The Energy Department plans to transport 77,000 
tons of highly radioactive waste now stored at sites around the 
nation and entomb it beneath an ancient volcanic ridge 90 miles 
northwest of Las Vegas.

Department of Justice lawyer Sara Culley argued before Pro that the 
tribe is challenging a "direct congressional mandate" and its 
complaint was filed in the wrong court. Challenges on constitutional 
and site selection are before a federal appeals court in Washington, 
D.C.

Culley said the Energy Department has some 1,600 people working on 
the project but argued that since the repository was not expected to 
open for at least five more years, the tribe could show no 
"irreparable or immediate harm."

However, Hager countered that Shoshone prayer sites have already been 
declared off-limits and ancestral remains have been removed from 
graves while the site was being prepared.

"Activity in the mountain is desecrating the mountain itself," he 
said.

The Ruby Valley treaty recognized vast stretches of territory in 
present-day Nevada, California, Utah and Idaho as Western Shoshone 
tribal land. However, the Indian Claims Commission decided in 1946 
that the tribe had lost the land through "gradual encroachment" 
during settlement of the West.

Tribal members lost a U.S. Supreme Court challenge of that decision 
in 1985 and President Bush and Congress last year approved paying the 
tribe more than $145 million in compensation and accrued interest for 
the land based on the 1872 value of 24 million acres.

Tribal members are split on whether to accept payments or continue to 
press the fight over rights to the land.

Pro did not indicate when he would rule on the tribe's request for a 
preliminary injunction.
-------------------

Bush Gives Energy Plan Amid High Prices
   
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush, facing economic and political 
damage from soaring gas prices, offered proposals Wednesday to speed 
construction of nuclear power plants and oil refineries and boost 
sales of energy-efficient vehicles.

Bush outlined his initiatives in his second energy speech in a week, 
reflecting growing concern in the White House that high energy prices 
are beginning to slow economic growth and undercut the president's 
approval rating.

Speaking to small business leaders, Bush lamented that he was 
powerless to cut gas prices. "I wish I could," he said. "If I could, 
I would."

"This problem did not develop overnight and it's not going to be 
fixed overnight. But it's now time to fix it," he said. Bush said the 
problem is that energy supplies are not growing fast enough to meet 
the growing demand in the United States and in other countries.

"See, we've got a fundamental question we got to face here in 
America," Bush said. "Do we want to continue to grow more dependent 
on other nations to meet our energy needs? Or, do we need to do what 
is necessary to achieve greater control of our economic destiny?"

America has not ordered a new nuclear power plant since the 1970s. 
Bush said that France has built 58 plants in the same period and 
today France gets more than 78 percent of its electricity from 
nuclear power.

"It's time for America to start building again," he said.

Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid called Bush's initiatives "little 
more than half measures and wrongheaded policies that will do nothing 
to address the current energy crisis or break the stranglehold that 
foreign oil has on our nation."

He said Senate Democrats will offer a much larger package of tax 
incentives - double the $8 billion approved by the House - and funnel 
more of the money to renewable energy sources and energy efficiency 
measures.

Bush urged using closed military bases as sites for new oil 
refineries. The Energy Department is being ordered to step up 
discussions with communities near such bases to try to get refineries 
built. He said the United States has not built a new oil refinery 
since the 1970s.

Bush also called on Congress to provide a "risk insurance" plan to 
insulate the nuclear industry against regulatory delays if it builds 
new nuclear power plants. And he endorsed giving federal regulators 
final say over the location of liquefied natural gas (LNG) import 
terminals. LNG terminal projects have been stymied in some regions by 
local opposition, even though the need for more LNG imports has been 
widely accepted.

As he did last week, he called on Congress to give him an energy bill 
by this summer.

Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., who is trying to put together an energy 
package that can pass the Senate, said he welcomed some of the 
president's proposals. He is "making it clear that energy remains a 
top priority of this president," said Domenici in a statement.

Bush's support for giving the federal government clear authority in 
locating LNG terminals comes after the House included such a 
provision in the energy bill it passed last week. Some lawmakers 
strongly opposed the measure, arguing it would deprive states and 
communities of a say in locating LNG import terminals, even in 
heavily populated areas.

Nuclear power accounts for about 20 percent of the country's 
electricity. Some utilities have expressed interest in building a new 
reactor, perhaps as early as 2010, but want assurance of a smooth 
regulatory process to get financing.

To address their concern, the president is directing the Energy 
Department to develop a federal "risk insurance" plan that would kick 
in if there were lengthy delays in licensing a new reactor. Such a 
program would need congressional action, and White House officials 
would not speculate on its cost.

The president also wants the Energy Department to discuss with local 
communities the possibility of building refineries on closed military 
sites. A shortage of U.S. refining capacity has been blamed in part 
for the high gasoline prices, most recently by Saudi Arabia's Crown 
Prince Abdullah at a meeting this week with Bush.

The president's call for a tax credit for gas-electric hybrid 
automobiles and for use of clean diesel is similar to a proposal in 
his budget earlier this year. The hybrid tax break was left out of 
the energy bill passed by the House last week.

Such a credit would provide $2.5 billion in tax incentives over 10 
years, White House officials said. Consumers would get a credit, up 
to $4,000, depending on the level of a vehicle's fuel efficiency, if 
they purchase a hybrid or clean-diesel vehicle.
----------------

Scan Shows Nev. Radiation Didn't Hit Town

YERINGTON, Nev. (AP) - Federal environmental officials examining 
uranium contamination at a closed copper mine near this northern 
Nevada town say an initial screening of homes and roads in the area 
has turned up nothing unusual.

Officials who spent 10 days measuring radiation levels confirmed that 
the former Anaconda copper mine just east of Yerington has unusually 
high amounts of radiation, but they found only normal radiation 
levels outside the six-square-mile mine property.

Some residents are concerned that radiation from the mine could be 
making them sick, especially since building foundations and road beds 
in and near town have been built with dirt and rocks from the mine 
for the past three decades.

Jim Sickles, a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency specialist in 
charge of cleaning up the mine, said Wednesday the readings show that 
the materials used for construction are safe, although other concerns 
remain.

"We still have a lot of work to do, but this allows us to allay some 
community concerns about the kind of rocks their houses were built 
on," Sickles said.

"Two weeks ago I couldn't tell somebody for certain whether they 
should be concerned if their house had mine tailings under it. Now I 
can tell them I would not expect any problem," he said.

The mine operated for about 30 years until 1978. The acid used to 
leach the copper from rocks apparently left concentrated uranium in 
processing ponds, federal regulators learned in the past year.

Many of the 3,000 residents of Yerington, about 60 miles southeast of 
Reno, fear the poisons spread off the site in wind-blown dust or 
leaked through unlined evaporation ponds into groundwater supplies.

Peggy Pauly, organizer of a community group concerned about possible 
health effects of the mine, said she was pleased the EPA scanned the 
community.

"But it is just a screening tool. It doesn't mean there isn't 
anything to worry about," she said.

Atlantic Richfield, a former owner of the mine site, is responsible 
for the cleanup because the most recent owner, Arimetco Inc. of 
Tucson, Ariz., filed for bankruptcy in 1997 and abandoned the site in 
2000. The company, under order from the EPA, plans more air and water 
tests.
------------------

U.S. Panel: Open Door to Radiation Claims

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - A panel of experts is recommending the 
government open the door to hearing cancer claims from people in all 
states who think they were affected by nuclear fallout from 1950s 
weapons tests in Nevada.

However, those cancer victims would have to prove it was the nuclear 
fallout that caused their illness, and making that case would be very 
difficult.

The recommendation was released Thursday by a panel under the 
National Research Council, the chief operating arm of the National 
Academy of Sciences. The panel's finding is a nod to scientific data 
that wasn't available in 1990 when the government initially 
apologized to cancer victims with a law that set up a compensation 
fund.

Whether the proposal will have any practical effect seems 
questionable.

The data suggest people from as far away as the East Coast could have 
been exposed to radiation carried from the Nevada test sites by wind 
and weather patterns. Previously, only people who worked with uranium 
and residents of certain counties in the region were eligible for the 
$50,000 to $100,000 lump-sum payments.

However, the Board on Radiation Effects Research was also quick to 
point out the recommended expansion would likely benefit few 
additional people, because it would require Congress to redraw its 
criteria for eligibility.

U.S. Rep. Jim Matheson, a Utah Democrat and longtime advocate for 
compensation, said it's not immediately clear when or how Congress 
would act on the recommendation.

Currently, anyone who has one of 19 kinds of cancer and who was a 
child in the 1950s living in one of the designated areas downwind of 
the Nevada test site is eligible for money. But if the program were 
expanded to include all 50 states and U.S. territories, as the board 
suggests, victims would have to prove to at least some degree their 
cancer was caused by radioactive fallout.

"In most cases it is unlikely that exposure to radiation from fallout 
was a substantial contributing cause to developing cancer," the board 
writes in a nearly 390-page report. "The problem faced by the legal 
system is that no specific form of cancer is caused only by 
radiation."

The review was ordered after complaints that the compensation bill 
shortsightedly included only certain counties in Utah, Arizona and 
Nevada - ignoring others that were as polluted or worse than eligible 
regions.

A scientific model in the board's report showed people in unprotected 
counties in Idaho, Montana, Arizona, Nebraska, Tennessee, Vermont and 
New York could have absorbed higher levels of radiation to the 
thyroid than people in at least one of the Utah counties eligible for 
compensation.

So far, the federal government has paid more than $700 million to 
more than 11,000 radiation victims and their families affected by 
radioactive exposure between 1945 and 1971.

The board was asked to recommend improvements for the program, be it 
covering more diseases or wider geographic areas.

Board members intentionally ignored the question of cost, instead 
preferring to let Congress make those calculations, said R. Julian 
Preston, an EPA researcher who worked on the recommendation. The 
board also didn't weigh in on how Congress should refine eligibility 
requirements with the gates open to everyone across the country.

Instead, Preston said, the board was charged with evaluating whether 
the government's standards for eligibility were fair in light of new 
information.

Jonathan Moreno, head of the University of Virginia's Biomedical 
Ethics program and one of several academics who peer-reviewed the 
study, said the board's conclusion is based on science, regardless of 
whether that satisfies seriously ill people who blame the tests for 
their suffering.

"The fact that terrible things have happened to people can't 
necessarily be traceable to a specific event," he said. "So it's 
awful to have to tell someone that you can't help them. But I think 
often that's the honest answer in many of these instances."

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

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