[ RadSafe ] INTERVIEW - Netherlands to shut nuclear plant in 2013

[Sandy Perle]

Index:

INTERVIEW - Netherlands to shut nuclear plant in 2013
Idaho to Study MS Link, Nuclear Testing
Some weapons workers skeptical of board decision
Number of leukemia cases brings parents together
Report: United States invites Indian experts to study nuclear safety
Former Nevada governor says nuclear-waste dump inevitable
Environmentalists to challenge nuclear waste disposal company
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INTERVIEW - Netherlands to shut nuclear plant in 2013

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 18 (Reuters) - The Netherlands will shut its sole 
nuclear power plant in 2013 as planned unless parliament decides 
otherwise, Economic Affairs Minister Laurens Jan Brinkhorst said on 
Friday.

Earlier this week Dutch Foreign Minister Bernard Bot and junior 
minister for environment Pieter van Geel revived the debate on 
nuclear energy in the Netherlands, indicating the only remaining 
plant Borssele should be kept open for longer.

Bowing to public and environmentalist pressure, the Dutch have phased 
out almost all nuclear power plants except the 450-megawatt Borssele, 
whose operator says its life could be extended by at least 20 years 
while keeping safety a priority.

Brinkhorst, a member of the centrist D66 -- the smallest partner in 
the three-way Dutch coalition government, said in an interview with 
Reuters the government should stick to its target closure date of 
2013 for now.

"The government agreement when we started in 2003 itself was that the 
power plant of Borssele shall be closed in 2013," said Brinkhorst, on 
a visit to Malaysia.

"For the time being, we stick to that and we will see what reasons 
there are not to fulfil the agreement."

Borssele, which produces some 4 to 5 percent of Dutch electricity, 
was built in 1973 and it was anticipated at the time it would have a 
40-year lifespan.

Concerns about radioactive waste and the 1986 disaster at the former 
Soviet Union's Chernobyl plant have sparked widespread opposition to 
nuclear power in the environmentally-conscious Netherlands.

But there have been growing calls to keep Borssele open.

Van Geel told Reuters on Wednesday his government had only recently 
become aware of the huge costs of shutting down the plant and wanted 
to launch a public discussion on prolonging its life and investing 
the savings in renewable energy.

His comments echoed those of foreign minister Bot, who said the 
country should keep open its option of producing nuclear energy to 
offset a growing dependence on energy imports.

A recent Dutch opinion poll showed that 65 percent think Borssele can 
remain open while 23 percent say it should not.

UNBUNDLING TO GO AHEAD

Brinkhorst also said the government would proceed with a plan to make 
power utilities unbundle their grids from production activities in 
the absence of a better plan and despite vehement opposition from 
companies.

"Unbundling is part of the programme to make electricity energy more 
competitive for the consumer in the liberalised market," he said.

"We are now looking at alternatives but I haven't seen yet a feasible 
alternative. As long as I have not seen a feasible alternative we 
will continue with the unbundling."

The plan, which exceeds the European Union's requirement that energy 
production companies set up a separate legal entity for their 
networks, has been severely criticised by the utilities, which fear 
becoming easy takeover targets.

Utilities fear the loss of grid operations would weaken them 
financially and cause substantial costs, putting them at risk and 
making them vulnerable to takeover attempts.

The government will submit a draft law on the unbundling in March and 
make utilities separate their grid networks from production 
activities by January 2007.
-----------------

Idaho to Study MS Link, Nuclear Testing

TWIN FALLS, Idaho (AP) - A study is under way to determine whether 
Idaho has a higher rate of multiple sclerosis than other Western 
states because of nuclear testing in Nevada decades ago.

State epidemiologist Dr. Christine Hahn said the group conducting the 
study has started by reviewing Idaho death certificates. But she said 
that may not paint a complete picture because many people with 
multiple sclerosis do not actually die from the disease.

The group also hopes to gather information from Medicaid claims, she 
said.

If Idaho's rates appear higher than other Western states, then more 
intensive research will be conducted.

The link and subsequent study was first suggested by Fred Trenkle and 
Arthur Vandenbark.

Trenkle, of Shoshone, has been working on his own research of 
multiple sclerosis rates around the Twin Falls region. He first posed 
the question of a possible link to nuclear fallout during last year's 
meeting of the National Academy of Sciences Board of Radiation 
Effects Research in Boise.

Vandenbark, a scientist, sent a letter to Gov. Dirk Kempthorne asking 
for help obtaining Idaho's disease rates.

Some components of nuclear fallout have already been linked to 
several types of cancer. But the federal Radiation Exposure 
Compensation Act, which pays $50,000 to residents with exposure-
related health problems in some parts of Nevada, Utah and Arizona, 
excludes Idaho residents from compensation.

Idaho downwinders have been pushing for a change to the law so they 
can receive the federal compensation.

The study group also includes representatives from the Bureau of 
Health Policy and Vital Statistics, the Idaho Department of 
Environmental Quality, Cancer Data Registry, district health 
departments and a toxicologist from the health department.
------------------

Some weapons workers skeptical of board decision

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) - For Marlene Rider, news that a federal 
advisory board had endorsed a plan to expedite compensation claims 
filed by former workers at an Iowa nuclear weapons plant brought 
sheer delight.

But Mary Grelk's response was a little different: Relief, tempered by 
skepticism.

"Because we're dealing with the federal government, it's still a wait-
and-see approach," said Grelk, who filed a claim four years ago on 
behalf of her father, a former Iowa Army Ammunition Plant worker who 
died of cancer in 1973.

In St. Louis on Wednesday, a board advising the National Institute 
for Occupational Safety and Health recommended waiving one of the 
most time-consuming steps in approving claims for hundreds of sick 
former workers - or their survivors - of the former Cold War nuclear 
weapons plant in Middletown, Iowa.

After a hearing, the board recommended waiving a step in the approval 
process called dose reconstruction, in which doctors review worker 
histories, medical records and plant records to determine the level 
of exposure each had to radiation and other harmful materials.

The board also approved making the Middletown claimants diagnosed 
with any of 22 types of cancer eligible for a Special Exposure 
Cohort, a step that would expedite $150,000 lump-sum payments to 
former workers or their survivors.

"This makes me very, very happy," said Rider, whose husband, Edmond, 
worked as a security guard at the plant and died of leukemia nearly 
11 years ago at age 63. "I feel a sense of relief that they are 
finally getting to the bottom of this. I just feel like that this is 
something that these people really deserve for their sickness, 
illness and early death," Rider said.

The advisory board spent the first two days of hearings in St. Louis 
dealing with concerns of workers for Mallinckrodt Chemical Co.'s 
downtown St. Louis plant, ultimately agreeing to recommend expedited 
payments for afflicted Mallinckrodt workers and their survivors.

Workers at Mallinckrodt processed uranium for the government. 
Mallinckrodt's St. Louis nuclear production facilities employed about 
3,500 people who were exposed to large doses of radiation, according 
to Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo, who testified before the board Monday.

The next step is for Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt 
to review the petition and forward it to Congress. If no steps are 
taken to block the recommendation, the cohort will take effect as 
early as April, according to Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa.

"This is great news for IAAP workers - they are the unsung heroes," 
Harkin said. "It is high time we meet our obligation to the workers 
of IAAP."

>From the late 1940s until the mid-1970s, government officials 
estimate that about 4,000 workers assembled and test-fired nuclear 
weapons at the 19,000-acre site west of Burlington. Another 35,000 
workers were assigned to the conventional weapons lines during that 
period.

In 2000, Congress passed legislation to compensate former workers at 
weapons plants nationwide who became ill because of their on-the-job 
exposure to harmful materials. At the time, lawmakers created a 
special class that authorized immediate payment for workers from 
plants in Ohio, Tennessee, Kentucky and Alaska. But workers at IAAP 
and a handful of other facilities were left out.

Workers began filing claims four years ago, but bureaucratic 
glitches, hurdles with lost or classified records and funding have 
slowed processing of claims. Fewer than 50 claims have been paid to 
Iowa workers with cancer.

Rider said her father, Herbert Specketer, worked as a pipefitter at 
the plant and had clearance to work on the nuclear weapons line. He 
died at age 64 from colon cancer.

"I really hope this comes through for everybody," she said. "This was 
one more hurdle, but we've heard about things progressing like this 
for the last three years. So we'll just see what happens now."
----------------

Number of leukemia cases brings parents together

FAIRHOPE, Ala. (AP) - Since 2001, at least six children from Daphne, 
Fairhope and Point Clear have been diagnosed with leukemia. Two have 
died.

While the number of known cases nearly matches the national rate of 
4.2 cases per 100,000 residents diagnosed each year, parents of those 
children and several adults who are also fighting leukemia said they 
wonder if something unique is happening in their communities.

On Feb. 22, those families are scheduled to meet with state 
toxicologist Neil Sass, who is studying the matter, and well-known 
environmental activist Wilma Subra of Louisiana, who said the cases 
seem concentrated enough within those communities that they could 
signal something gone awry in the environment.

The Alabama Cancer Registry said Baldwin County's numbers from 1996 
to 2002, the most recent data available, showed no fluctuation in the 
number of childhood leukemia diagnoses.

"It's right in line with what the expected case rate would be," 
registry project manager Vickie Nelson said. "That's what the numbers 
are telling us right now. Everything looks OK."

Still, parents said, they're worried about possible environmental 
connections.

"For some time now, several of us have noticed that there simply 
seems to be too many of us in the Fairhope area diagnosed with 
leukemia and lymphoma," Lesley and Chris Pacey, parents of a 4-year-
old girl who was diagnosed with leukemia in July, wrote in a Feb. 8 
letter to patients and their families inviting them to the meeting.

Lesley Pacey is also a Mobile Register correspondent.

Whether there are "too many" diagnosed with blood cancer is in 
question. Lesley Pacey has assembled a list of 12 names of leukemia 
and lymphoma victims from the three communities, but two had just 
moved to the area when they were diagnosed, one had died a decade 
earlier and another was diagnosed in the 1990s.

Alabama's cancer registry does not release numbers from individual 
communities when they are small enough to jeopardize patient 
confidentiality, Nelson said. The state compiles data a year behind 
and is working on 2003 figures now, she said.

Sass said he plans to meet with two Fairhope pediatricians before 
next week's meeting. It's part of Sass' job to travel to communities 
that have health concerns.

"Depending on the type of leukemia, we might be able to trace it back 
to a causative agent, some kind of exposure," he said.

He cautioned against unwarranted alarm. Potential causes must not be 
widespread, he believes, or there would be more cases.

Pacey said she hopes that the meeting will uncover other cases if 
they exist.

Leukemia is a cancer of the blood and bone marrow.

The only factors that scientists have linked to leukemia are chronic 
workplace exposure to the chemical benzene and exposure to 
extraordinary doses of radiation, according to the White Plains, N.Y.-
based Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, which funds research. Benzene is 
produced naturally by volcanoes and forest fires. It's also found in 
cigarette smoke, gas stations, industrial emissions, car exhaust and 
glues, paint, furniture wax and detergent, according to the federal 
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.

The M.D. Anderson Cancer Center at the University of Texas says that 
there may be a genetic predisposition to the disease, and those with 
immune system deficiencies may also be more at risk.

Fairhope veterinarian Teresa Marshall, diagnosed with leukemia in 
2002, said she is aware of others who have leukemia, and that she 
plans to attend next week's meeting.

"It'll be interesting to see if there's a pattern," she said.
----------------

Report: United States invites Indian experts to study nuclear safety

NEW DELHI (AP) - The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has invited 
Indian scientists to discuss ways to protect nuclear reactors from 
tsunami and other disasters, a news report said Saturday.

Representatives of India's Atomic Energy Regulatory Board will also 
discuss reactor operations and maintenance on their six-month visit 
to the United States, The Indian Express newspaper quoted NRC 
commissioner Jeffrey S. Merrifield as saying.

The discussions would be part of the Next Steps in Strategic 
Partnership initiative begun in January last year, in which India and 
the United States agreed to expand cooperation in civilian nuclear 
activities, space programs, and high-technology trade.

No other details were available. Indian atomic energy officials were 
unavailable for comment Saturday.

India's 14 nuclear reactors generate 2,720 megawatts of power and are 
mainly fueled by uranium.

One plant, in southern Tamil Nadu state, was shut down after being 
flooded by sea water during the Dec. 26 Indian Ocean tsunami. There 
was no damage to the reactor and no radiation leak. The plant has 
since resumed operation.

On Friday, Merrifield met with top Indian foreign ministry officials 
and nuclear experts. He visited two Indian atomic power stations 
earlier in the week.
------------------

Former Nevada governor says nuclear-waste dump inevitable

CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) - Proponents of a high-level nuclear waste 
dump at Yucca Mountain told state legislators on Tuesday that the 
federal project in the southern Nevada desert is inevitable despite 
some setbacks.

Former Nevada Gov. Robert List told the Senate Judiciary Committee 
"the likelihood of this project is greater than it has ever been." 
That's despite "a very valiant fight against Yucca Mountain" by state 
officials and the state's congressional delegation, he added.

List and Michael Bauser, associate general counsel for the Nuclear 
Energy Institute, updated legislators on litigation, both completed 
and pending, related to the project 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. 
NEI sets policy for the nuclear industry and includes companies that 
operate nuclear power plants and nuclear fuel suppliers.

Bauser said that out of 13 cases, nine of which were initiated by the 
state, all but one of the challenges to the Yucca Mountain project 
were rejected.

The successful challenge involved the Environmental Protection 
Agency's radiation standard. A federal appeals court found the 
standard inconsistent with a National Academy of Science 
recommendation and told the EPA that it can either revise its 
regulations or go to Congress for legislation to clear up the matter.

While that will take time, Bauser said the U.S. Department of Energy 
still plans to submit its application for a dump license sometime 
this year.

There also are two cases in the courts that Bauser said were 
"procedural in nature, and do not address any basic element of the 
project fundamental to its viability." They deal with a state request 
for funding related to the project and a challenge to the DOE's 
transportation plan for moving the waste.

Bauser also said holdups on the project - the DOE is putting the 
opening date at 2012, two years later than originally scheduled - 
have nothing to do with the litigation and are results of the 
"inability of DOE to complete tasks in a timely fashion."

Robert Loux, who heads the state agency fighting the DOE's efforts, 
has recently said the project is limping along and is likely dead.

Loux asked the Senate Finance Committee last week for $2 million in 
state general funds for each of the next two years to fund the 
state's legal fight against the project.
-----------------

Environmentalists to challenge nuclear waste disposal company

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - Environmentalists are challenging an operating 
permit for a low-level radioactive waste dump in Barnwell County.

Two environmental groups oppose re-licensing permit for Chem-Nuclear, 
which has buried nuclear waste such as radioactive clothing from 
hospitals and nuclear reactor parts from across the country since 
1971.

An administrative law judge is scheduled to hear the challenge 
Wednesday.

The state chapter of the Sierra Club and Environmentalists Inc. don't 
expect the permit to be denied but want Chem-Nuclear to change the 
way it handles some waste.

The state Department of Health and Environmental Control has in the 
past issued permits for the site with little or no opposition.

Chem-Nuclear spokeswoman Deborah Ogilvie said it would be unrealistic 
to make any substantial changes at the site, which by state law will 
close to the nation in 2008. Only South Carolina and two other states 
will use the site after that date.

"The idea that you would, all of a sudden, invest a lot of money in 
changing things I'm not sure would make sense, at this point," 
Ogilvie said. "This site has operated safely for over 30 years."

Ogilvie said practices have changed over the years. Instead of 
putting waste packages into trenches, the company now puts waste 
inside concrete vaults before burial.

Ruth Thomas, president of Environmentalists Inc. in Columbia, said 
"much safer technologies for managing these dangerous wastes are now 
available."

One way to better manage the waste, environmentalists plan to argue, 
is by placing it on above ground, concrete pads and sealing it in 
waterproof chambers.

That would be better than the current practice which could leak 
radioactive pollutants into groundwater, environmental lawyer Bob 
Guild said.

During the past two decades, regulators have found radioactive 
tritium leaking into groundwater in older sections of the landfill.

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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/