[ RadSafe ] Tenth shipment of reprocessed Japanese nuclear waste heading home

[Sandy Perle]

Index:

Tenth shipment of reprocessed Japanese nuclear waste heading home
Missing Halliburton radioactive package found
Hanford breaks ground on pilot project to glassify waste
Government questions Fernald testing
U.S. gives initial OK to China nuclear plant loans
State makes deal with DOE over WIPP shipment
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Tenth shipment of reprocessed Japanese nuclear waste heading home

CHERBOURG, France (AP) - Reprocessed nuclear waste headed for Japan 
was loaded aboard a ship Thursday for the nearly two-month journey 
home, France's state-run reprocessing plant said.

The "Pacific Sandpiper" was loaded with 124 containers of highly 
radioactive waste which was reprocessed at the Cogema plant at nearby 
La Hague.

Trucks traveling under tight security delivered the containers, bound 
in five packages, to this western port.

Details of the sea route were not divulged. The cargo - the tenth 
such shipment to Japan - is to leave on Thursday night and arrive in 
Japan in April.

Japanese electricity companies are under contract with Cogema to 
reprocess the waste from plants in Japan.

The waste is routinely sent on ships to Britain and France for 
vitrification, a process by which it is packed into glass, then 
returned home.

Environmental groups, as well as some Pacific and Caribbean states, 
have said the shipments pose a potential threat.
---------------

Missing Halliburton radioactive package found

HOUSTON, Feb 10 (Reuters) - A shipment of radioactive material 
ordered by Halliburton Co. that went missing in New Jersey was found 
in Boston on Wednesday, the company said in a filing to federal 
regulators this week.

The shipment of americium came from Russia via Amsterdam and arrived 
at New York's John F. Kennedy airport, but disappeared sometime after 
it cleared U.S. Customs on October 9, according to a Halliburton 
filing made to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Wednesday.

"It appears that (the shipments) were trucked to Boston after a 
Boston label was inadvertently placed on the package" at a Newark, 
New Jersey facility, Halliburton said in the filing.

The material, Am-241 BE and Am-241, was contained in a two-foot (60 
cm) cylinder weighing 182 lbs (83 kg) and locked in a metal box.

It was not believed to present a danger to the public or the 
environment, Halliburton spokeswoman Wendy Hall said in an e-mailed 
statement.

"The shipping company that was responsible for the shipment made a 
mistake and sent the material to the wrong location. We notified the 
NRC as soon as the shipping company confirmed this to the company," 
she said.

Hall did not identify the shipper.

Halliburton Energy Services uses americium in oil and gas well 
equipment.

It is also commonly used in small quantities in home smoke detectors 
as well as by the glass industry.
-----------------

Hanford breaks ground on pilot project to glassify waste

RICHLAND, Wash. (AP) - Of three Hanford nuclear reservation cleanup 
projects deemed urgent because of the risk they posed to the public 
and the environment, only one remains: treating and disposing of 
millions of gallons of highly radioactive waste stored in underground 
tanks.

Last year, workers dealt with two of the projects - stabilizing 4.4 
tons of plutonium and removing spent nuclear fuel from two leak-prone 
pools of water just a few hundred yards from the Columbia River.

And construction is under way on a nearly $6 billion plant that will 
use a process called vitrification to turn some of the tank waste 
into glass logs for permanent disposal in a nuclear waste repository.

But the plant was never designed to treat all of the waste in time 
for the 2028 deadline imposed in the Tri-Party Agreement, a cleanup 
pact signed by the state, the U.S. Department of Energy - which 
manages the Hanford site - and the U.S. Environmental Protection 
Agency. State and federal officials now hope a pilot project aimed at 
treating the remaining waste in a similar fashion will be successful.

The technology, called bulk vitrification, will be tested at a new 
facility at the Hanford site under a research and development permit 
approved by the state Department of Ecology. If bulk vitrification 
proves viable, a full-scale production facility will be built to 
treat as much as 42 percent of Hanford's tank waste.

"This combination of the waste treatment plant and a supplemental 
treatment technology is the surest way for DOE to meet its Tri-Party 
Agreement commitment," Roy Schepens, manager of the Energy 
Department's Office of River Protection, said Wednesday at a ceremony 
to celebrate the start of the project.

For 40 years, the 586-square-mile Hanford reservation in south-
central Washington made plutonium for the nation's nuclear weapons 
arsenal, beginning with the top-secret Manhattan project to build the 
atomic bomb.

Today, work there centers on a $50 billion to $60 billion cleanup, to 
be finished by 2035. That includes cleaning up 53 million gallons of 
highly radioactive liquid, sludge and saltcake sitting in 177 
underground tanks, less than 10 miles from the Columbia River.

The Energy Department estimates that roughly 2 million to 3 million 
gallons of high-level waste will be treated by the vitrification 
plant. The goal is to divide the remaining 50 million gallons of less-
radioactive waste between the plant and whatever supplemental 
technology is chosen for treatment.

That is where bulk vitrification plays a role. Similar to the 
vitrification process that is used in the waste treatment plant now 
under construction, bulk vitrification turns waste into a glasslike 
substance by melting it at a very high temperature with soil and 
chemicals for hours.

The difference is that the melting process occurs inside the 
container the waste will be stored in, said Rick Raymond, director of 
supplemental treatment for contractor CH2M Hill Hanford Group.

In addition, the melter for bulk vitrification - electrodes inserted 
into the waste and the soil mixture - is only used once.

The state Ecology Department last year approved a research permit for 
the pilot project. The very specific permit allows the Energy 
Department to test the technology for 365 operating days in a 
building that will be torn down when the testing is completed.

The full-sized, but not full-production, facility will allow for some 
of the equipment to be used later if bulk vitrification is chosen to 
treat tank waste permanently, Raymond said.

The product it produces - a glass often compared to obsidian - must 
be as protective as glass produced by the waste treatment plant, said 
Suzanne Dahl, tank waste disposal project manager for Ecology.

"This testing will give us the needed information to prove or 
disprove the viability of bulk vitrification to treat Hanford waste," 
Dahl said.

Construction on the building should be completed by June, followed by 
several months of testing. In December, workers will begin making 
radioactive glass, which then will be subjected to a number of tests 
to ensure the process is working adequately and that the glass is of 
a high enough quality for long-term disposal, Raymond said.

A decision on whether to pursue bulk vitrification to treat Hanford's 
tank waste will be made in 2006.
------------------

Government questions Fernald testing

CINCINNATI (AP) - The federal government is challenging the way a 
contractor is using safety tests in its $4.4 billion cleanup of 
radioactive material at the Fernald site.

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, which oversees the 
nation's nuclear weapons complexes, said Fluor Fernald Inc. has 
failed tests meant to show workers can safely remove dangerous 
materials left on the site.

The government also said Fluor Fernald is improperly using safety 
tests to train workers rather than to gauge their readiness.

John Conway, chairman of the safety board, said his agency will meet 
with Fluor Fernald management next week to discuss the concerns.

"The problem is that these tests are not a management tool to learn 
how to get ready," Conway said. "They're meant to be a demonstration 
that management is ready."

Fluor Fernald had to shut down a test last week so it could further 
train workers on how to remove radioactive sludge from storage tanks, 
mix it with cement and package it for shipment for burial, the 
government said.

Fluor Fernald officials said they have been stressing safety while 
cleaning up waste storage silos on the site, located 18 miles north 
of Cincinnati.

"The bottom line is I'm not going to start a facility unless I know 
it's safe to operate," said project manager Dennis Carr. "I believe 
we've effectively demonstrated that we do safely operate."

Fluor Fernald has received $12 million under a contract to clean up 
waste at the 1,050-acre site, where uranium was processed for use in 
nuclear weapons.
------------------

U.S. gives initial OK to China nuclear plant loans

WASHINGTON, Feb 18 (Reuters) - The U.S. Export-Import Bank has given 
preliminary approval for up to $5 billion in direct loans and 
guarantees to help British-owned Westinghouse Electric Co. and other 
U.S. suppliers win contracts to build four nuclear power plants in 
China, the bank said on Friday.

China wants to build the plants to meet increased power demand in a 
heavily industrialized region.

"Aggressive competition is expected from companies from other 
countries, along with the support of their respective governments," 
the bank said in a statement.

The U.S. Ex-Im Bank board of directors approved a preliminary 
commitment request from Westinghouse to support exports to construct 
the power plants at two China sites.

Westinghouse is pursuing contracts with China and will submit bids to 
its government by Feb. 28, a company spokesman said.

No new nuclear plants have been ordered by U.S. utilities since the 
partial meltdown of the reactor core at the Three Mile Island plant 
in Pennsylvania in 1979.

But China could build more than 20 nuclear plants over the next 15 
years to fill widespread growth in demand for electricity, according 
to Westinghouse.

Other U.S. companies participating in the project include Bechtel 
Power Corp., the bank said.

The bank said its award is nonbinding, and its board will decide 
whether the deal qualifies for support when Westinghouse submits its 
final application.

Westinghouse, now owned by state-owned British nuclear firm BNFL Plc, 
has developed reactors used in about half of all plants worldwide, 
including South Korea and Japan.
------------------

Finnish study shows handset radiation within limits

HELSINKI, Feb 18 (Reuters) - A Finnish survey of some of the world's 
most popular mobile phones found the amount of radiation they emit is 
well below agreed limits and largely in line with data published by 
manufacturers.

The annual survey by Finland's Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority 
(STUK) covered 16 new models made by top handset makers including 
Finland's Nokia , Motorola of the United States and South Korea's 
Samsung Electronics <005930.KS>.

It follows the first study of 12 models done in 2003.

Mobile phones are essentially tiny radios that send and receive 
signals over airwaves.

All the tested models showed a specific absorption rate (SAR), which 
measures the amount of heat trapped by a phone user's head, well 
below the 2 watts per kilogram level agreed on in Europe.

At this level, head tissue does not warm significantly and no other 
harmful effects have been proved scientifically, STUK said. It said 
the SAR levels in all the 28 models tested so far ranged from 0.45 to 
1.12 watts per kilogram.

Some health advocates are concerned that mobile phone use can lead to 
problems ranging from headaches to tumours, but various studies on 
the health effects of cellphone usage have proved inconclusive.

Britain's National Radiological Protection Board, an independent 
advisory group, said in January mobile phone users -- especially 
children -- should take care, although no hard evidence exists to 
show mobile phones damage health.

"It is important that also in the future the limits set for radiation 
from mobile phones and base stations are based on current and 
confirmed scientific proof of the effects of radiation on health," 
Kari Jokela, a researcher at STUK, said in a statement.

STUK said in a statement that some of its studies have indicated that 
microwave radiation from mobile phones may cause small changes in how 
cells operate, but the findings were insufficient for concluding what 
effects of this radiation had on health.

STUK will start testing third-generation UMTS-standard mobile phones 
during 2005, focusing on the most popular models. Other phones in the 
current study were made by Sony Ericsson <6758.T> and Siemens .
----------------

A-bomb museum opens exhibition on boat irradiated by nuclear blast

HIROSHIMA, Feb. 15 (Kyodo) - The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum on 
Tuesday opened an exhibition of a fishing vessel that with its crew 
of 23 was showered with radioactive ash from a U.S. hydrogen bomb 
test at Bikini Atoll in 1954.

The exhibition of the Fukuryu Maru (Lucky Dragon) No. 5 opened at the 
museum in Hiroshima's Naka Ward two weeks ahead of the 51st 
anniversary of the test and the fatal radiation fallout. The museum 
is dedicated to the victims of the 1945 atomic bombing of Hiroshima.

The exhibition, which will run through June 30, highlights the 
relationship between the accident and movements across Japan against 
nuclear bomb testing.

Aikichi Kuboyama, chief radio operator of the Fukuryu Maru, died of 
radiation sickness six months after the blast at the age of 40.

"We hope that the exhibition will provide a fresh opportunity to 
think about campaign to abolish nuclear weapons," an official at the 
museum said.

The radioactive ash that fell on the trawler from Yaizu, Shizuoka 
Prefecture, came from the explosion of the U.S. hydrogen bomb on 
March 1, 1954. The hydrogen bomb was 1,000 times more powerful than 
the atomic bomb the United States dropped on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 
1945.

The accident evoked the 1945 atomic bombings of Hiroshima and 
Nagasaki and triggered a nationwide movement against nuclear weapons 
testing and led to the first World Conference against Atomic and 
Hydrogen Bombs in Hiroshima in 1955.

Among the 228 items on display is radioactive ash brought from the 
Fukuryu Maru No. 5 Exhibition Hall in Yumenoshima Park in Tokyo and 
the diaries of the crew members written during their stays in 
hospital.

On March 26, the museum plans to invite one of the survivors, 
Matashichi Oishi, 71, to talk about his experience of the blast and 
his health problems since then.

"The victims of the atomic bombing and radioactive ash should join 
hands against nuclear weapons," Oishi said.
-------------------

State makes deal with DOE over WIPP shipment

SANTA FE (AP) - The state Environment Department has reached a 
settlement with the U.S. Department of Energy over a violation last 
year of radioactive waste shipping rules.

Negotiators settled on a $90,000 fine, but the agreement announced 
Tuesday also calls for the DOE to pay $600,000 a year over the next 
three years to operate an oversight office at the Waste Isolation 
Pilot Plant in southern New Mexico.

The state had accused the DOE of not properly testing more than 100 
drums of plutonium-contaminated waste that was shipped from the Idaho 
National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory to the federal 
government's underground repository near Carlsbad.

The DOE suspended shipments from the Idaho lab in mid-July after 
workers discovered drums of waste that should have not been in the 
shipment. The drums were added after a batch readied for shipment had 
been tested for explosives, chemicals and other materials prohibited 
at WIPP.

WIPP watchdog Don Hancock argued that the DOE was already paying the 
$600,000 per year to support the state oversight office before the 
Idaho shipment problem was discovered.

"The $600,000 is exactly what DOE is paying now," he said.

But New Mexico Environment Secretary Ron Curry said the settlement 
assured the state that the $600,000 would be paid.

Without the agreement, he said, there was no guarantee the DOE would 
not cut off funding next year.

----------------------------------------------------------------
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/