[ RadSafe ] BNFL might announce Westinghouse sale - sources

[Sandy Perle]

Index:

BNFL might announce Westinghouse sale - sources
Study shows radiation causes cancer but rarely
NASA Funds Space Radiation Research Proposals
France targets greenhouse gas, nuclear plan to help
Report: North Korea resumes building nuclear reactors
Report Of Hamaoka Nuclear Plant Disposal Unit Fire-Kyodo
Radioactive Material Detection With High-Energy Cargo X-ray Screening
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BNFL might announce Westinghouse sale - sources

LONDON, June 30 (Reuters) - UK nuclear energy company BNFL plans on 
Friday to announce it is reviewing options including a sale of its 
Westinghouse power plant construction business, sources familiar with 
the situation said on Thursday.

Westinghouse, which operates mostly in the United States, is worth 
about 1 billion pounds ($1.8 billion) and is expected to attract 
interest from engineering companies such as General Electric Co. and 
possibly private equity firms, the sources said.

"BNFL will be commenting on their results and any further 
announcements at a press conference tomorrow morning," said a 
spokeswoman for BNFL, which is being advised by investment bank 
Rothschild.

A small information pack on the business -- known as a teaser -- 
could be sent to prospective bidders for the unit as early as next 
week and state-owned BNFL expects to take about six months to reach 
any sale agreement, the sources said.

The UK may eventually opt to sell BNFL, which owns the Sellafield 
nuclear reprocessing plant in northwest England, but first will come 
the decision on Westinghouse, bankers said.

The British government agreed in 2003 to underwrite the firm's 
nuclear liabilities as part of a rescue package for rival nuclear 
company British Energy Plc. This could make BNFL more attractive to 
potential bidders such as France's Areva.

Still, the political sensitivity of the company's operations may 
preclude a full sale, the bankers said.
-------------------

Study shows radiation causes cancer but rarely

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Exposure to everyday sources of radiation, 
mostly medical X-rays, raises the risk of cancer but not by much and 
there is no clear line between a harmless dose and a disease-causing 
dose, an expert panel reported Wednesday.

People should think twice about having unnecessary high-dose X-rays 
such as the full-body CAT scans being offered by some clinics, the 
panel advised, but otherwise should be reassured by the findings.

The report from the National Research Council updates 1990 findings 
based mostly on survivors of the 1945 atomic bomb attacks against 
Japan, about 45 percent of whom are still alive.

A low dose of about 100 millisieverts of radiation -- the equivalent 
of 1,000 chest X-rays -- can be expected to cause cancer in one out 
of every 100 people, the report finds.

"About 42 additional people in the same group would be expected to 
develop solid cancer or leukemia from other causes. Roughly half of 
these cancers would result in death," adds the report, available at 
http://national-academies.org.

Cancer is the second-biggest killer in much of the world after heart 
disease.

The American Cancer Society estimates that nearly 1.4 million 
Americans will learn this year that they have cancer and 563,700 will 
die of it, but it says two thirds of cases are caused by tobacco use, 
poor eating, lack of exercise and obesity.

The report ties in with another issued Wednesday, from the 
International Agency for Research on Cancer in France, which studied 
more than 400,000 nuclear industry workers and found they had a 10 
percent increased risk of death from cancer.

The National Research Council is part of the National Academy of 
Sciences, an independent organization set up by Congress to guide 
government on matters of health and science.

This is its seventh report on radiation.

NO SAFE EXPOSURE

"The scientific research base shows that there is no threshold of 
exposure below which low levels of ionizing radiation can be 
demonstrated to be harmless or beneficial," said committee chair 
Richard Monson, a professor of epidemiology at the Harvard School of 
Public Health in Boston.

"The health risks -- particularly the development of solid cancers in 
organs -- rise proportionally with exposure."

But the report said few people are exposed to very much radiation. It 
recommends further study of infants and children exposed to radiation 
through X-rays or radiation treatment for cancer.

It also recommends more study of people who get frequent doses, such 
as those who get repeated CAT scans.

"I think what we can do is assure people that medical radiation as 
currently done for good reasons is part of medical care," Monson told 
a news conference.

"But ... prudence should be the guideline and exposure to any 
unnecessary radiation should be avoided and what is unnecessary is up 
to an individual."

Most sources of radiation are natural -- gamma rays from space, and 
radon from the ground, air and water. "These sources account for 
about 82 percent of human exposure," the report reads.

The 18 percent of human-made radiation comes mostly from medical 
radiation but also tobacco, televisions and smoke detectors.
--------------------

NASA Funds Space Radiation Research Proposals

WASHINGTON, June 29 /PRNewswire/ -- NASA selected 21 space radiation 
research proposals for funding. Approximately $19 million will be 
spent on the research to support the Vision for Space Exploration.

The goal of NASA's Space Radiation Program is to ensure humans can 
safely live and work in space. Safely means acceptable risks are not 
exceeded during crews' lifetime. Acceptable risks include limits on 
post and multi-mission consequences, such as excess lifetime fatal 
cancer vulnerability.

Exposure to radiation during space flight is unavoidable. Space 
radiation penetrates the crew, spacesuits, spacecraft, habitats, and 
equipment. The interaction of radiation with materials changes both; 
and the interaction with living organisms leads to potentially 
harmful health consequences. The consequences include tissue damage, 
cancer, cataracts, electronic upsets, and material degradation.

Space radiation is distinct from terrestrial forms. Space radiation 
is comprised of high-energy protons, heavy ions and their secondaries 
produced in shielding and tissue. Since there are no human 
epidemiological data for these radiation types, risk estimation is 
derived from mechanistic understanding. The estimates are based on 
radiation physics, molecular, cellular, and tissue biology related to 
cancer and other risks.

NASA received 115 responses to the request for proposals issued on 
August 24, 2004. Proposals were peer-reviewed by scientific and 
technical experts from academia, government, and industry. The 21 
proposals will seek to reduce the uncertainties in risk predictions, 
including cancer, degenerative tissue damage, cataracts, hereditary, 
fertility, and sterility. They also cover acute risks and development 
of effective shielding or biological countermeasures for them.
--------------------

France targets greenhouse gas, nuclear plan to help

CADARACHE, France, June 30 (Reuters) - President Jacques Chirac said 
on Thursday the country stood by its pledge to cut greenhouse gas 
emissions and said a new nuclear fusion project hosted by France 
could lead to a cleaner form of energy.

France was picked on Tuesday to build the world's first nuclear 
fusion reactor in the southern town of Cadarache, about 70 Km (45 
miles) from Marseille. Backers of the project said it could one day 
provide the world with endless cheap energy.

But environmentalists have criticized France for hosting the reactor, 
calling it a waste of money and resources that could be better used 
to cut greenhouse gases.

"Given the greenhouse effect, our battle is to stabilise emissions 
between now and the end of 2012 and to cut them by a quarter between 
now and 2050," Chirac said at a visit to the site of the future 
nuclear reactor.

The experimental reactor has a price tag of 10 billion euros ($12.18 
billion).

"The aim is one day to be able to develop an abundant energy source 
for humanity, an energy source that doesn't damage the climate," he 
said.

Environmental campaigners Greenpeace said it was a "ridiculous" 
project and the Sortir du Nucleaire grouping of 718 anti-nuclear 
groups, called it a "financial black hole".

The ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) project 
seeks to mimic the way the sun produces energy, potentially providing 
an inexhaustible source of low-cost energy using seawater as fuel.

It will create 1,000 research jobs and a further 3,000 jobs 
indirectly related to the project, which involves fusing rather than 
splitting atoms to release energy.

Chirac praised France's nuclear energy programme as a "major asset".

France has been a big producer of nuclear energy since the oil shocks 
of the 1970s and has 58 nuclear reactors, more than any country in 
the world except the United States.

France beat off a rival bid from Japan to host the reactor.

The ITER project is backed by China, the European Union, Japan, 
Russia, South Korea and the United States.
-------------------

Report: North Korea resumes building nuclear reactors

TOKYO (AP) - North Korea has resumed the construction of two nuclear 
reactors suspended under a 1994 agreement with the United States, a 
Japanese newspaper reported Thursday.

North Korea restarted building a 50,000-kilowatt reactor in Yongbyon 
and a 200,000-kilowatt reactor in Thaechon - both are plutonium-
producing graphite-based - Japanese economic daily Nihon Keizai said, 
quoting unidentified U.S. government and other sources.

Japan's Foreign Ministry said it couldn't confirm the report.

North Korea had suspended the construction of the two reactors under 
the 1994 deal in exchange for energy aid and two light-water reactors 
that are less likely to be used in nuclear arms development.

Pyongyang recently "indirectly" notified Washington that it has 
resumed the construction of the nuclear plants, the Nihon Keizai 
quoted the sources as saying. The resumption was also confirmed by 
spy satellites, the paper said.

North Korea claimed in February it had nuclear weapons and has since 
made moves that would allow it to harvest more weapons-grade 
plutonium.

North Korea also said through its official news media in May that it 
would be preparing to restart the construction.

Kim Hong-je, a spokesman with South Korea's Unification Ministry, 
said some have said that the North claimed doing so in its broadcast 
several months ago, but the ministry can't confirm it.

It is expected to take several years before the reactors are 
completed, and the U.S. government does not think the latest 
resumption of the construction immediately escalates nuclear threats 
from North Korea, the Nihon Keizai said.

When completed, the two facilities will give North Korea a capability 
of nuclear weapons mass production, the paper said.
--------------------

Report Of Hamaoka Nuclear Plant Disposal Unit Fire-Kyodo

NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- A fire broke out at a facility of the Hamaoka 
nuclear power plant in Omaezaki, Shizuoka Prefecture, on Thursday 
night, but no radioactivity was released outside of the plant, the 
operator of the plant said Thursday, Kyodo News reported.

The company said there were no injuries from the fire.

The fire occurred at 9:10 p.m. in the second basement of a building 
constructed for disposal of waste materials, Chubu Electric Power Co. 
(9502.TO) said, Kyodo reported.
--------------------

Smiths Detection Integrates Radioactive Material Detection With High-
Energy Cargo X-ray Screening

PINE BROOK, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)---- Smiths Detection's HCV x-ray 
inspection systems integrated with Radetect+ significantly 
accelerates screening by eliminating need for separate radioactive 
material screening

Smiths Detection, the world's leading provider of trace detection and 
x-ray security screening equipment, introduces Radetect+, an 
automated radioactive material detector that can be integrated into 
the Company's HCV product line of fixed, relocatable and mobile high-
energy x-ray screening systems.

The Smiths Detection HCV x-ray systems are used at ports and borders 
and by customs authorities to non-intrusively screen fully-loaded 
trucks, containers and vehicles. The high-resolution images generated 
by these systems are used to assist in the identification of 
conventional explosives, weapons and contraband. While x-ray 
screening is a critical component to stopping contraband from 
entering the United States, it cannot automatically detect the 
presence of radioactive material, a key concern for customs and 
border authorities.

"Traditionally, screening containers and vehicles at ports and 
borders for conventional threats and radioactive material is done in 
two separate steps," said Bret Bader, Vice President and General 
Manager Civil Business, Smiths Detection, North America. "The 
integration of Radetect+ into Smiths Detection's HCV cargo screening 
systems combines these two steps, significantly reducing the time 
required to effectively screen for multiple threats."

With an HCV system that incorporates Radetect+, authorities can 
simultaneously and non-intrusively screen for explosives, contraband, 
weapons and nuclear material in one pass with one system. The x-ray 
image and radioactive material scan results are graphically displayed 
on the same monitor. In the event of a radioactive material 
detection, its approximate location in the container or vehicle is 
easily visible to the operator, allowing for quick identification in 
a manual vehicle search.

Radetect + meets the requirements of the American National Standards 
Institute (ANSI) for evaluation and performance of radiation 
detection portal monitors for use in homeland security.

-------------------------------------
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) 296-1902 

E-Mail: sperle at dosimetry.com
E-Mail: sandyfl at earthlink.net 

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