[ RadSafe ] Nuclear power conference to open in Paris

[Sandy Perle]

Index:

Nuclear power conference to open in Paris
Japan-built nuclear reactor installed at Taiwan power plant
S.Japan nuclear plants unaffected by quake-Kyodo
Transfer of material to Nevada Test Site delayed
A-bomb exhibit opens at college in California
Officials investigating possible low-level radioactive waste leak
=============================

Nuclear power conference to open in Paris

PARIS (AP) - Government energy ministers and other high-level envoys 
from more than 60 countries meet in Paris on Monday for talks on the 
future of nuclear power.

The two-day meeting, billed as the first of its kind in decades, 
comes as high oil prices and efforts to reduce global warming have 
made nuclear power development more attractive.

Meanwhile, the United States has expressed concerns that Iran is 
allegedly using its planned nuclear power program to mask its desire 
to develop nuclear weaponry.

The conference, sponsored by the Organization for Economic 
Cooperation and Development and the U.N.'s International Atomic 
Energy Agency, was to plot out energy needs and examine threats to 
the global environment in the future.

"This meeting is all about energy policy and the use of nuclear power 
in the 21st century," said Karen Daifuku, a spokeswoman for the 
OECD's Nuclear Energy Agency. She said the ministerial-level 
conference will be the first of its kind on the future of nuclear 
energy since the 1950s.

About half of the participating countries already use nuclear energy, 
while the others are considering development or seeking to keep an 
eye on the industry's prospects, she said.

Host France, a co-sponsor with the two international agencies, 
generates nearly 80 percent of its electricity from nuclear power, 
more than any other country.

The United States, the world's top nuclear energy producer, lines up 
alongside recent nuclear-armed countries like Pakistan and India and 
potential newcomers like Iran at the Finance Ministry conference.

Thorny topics on the agenda include discussions about security 
measures to prevent the theft or disappearance of fissile material 
used in nuclear power plants and efforts to crack down on the 
proliferation of nuclear weapons.
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Japan-built nuclear reactor installed at Taiwan power plant

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) - A Japanese-built nuclear reactor was being 
installed Sunday in an oceanside nuclear power plant in Taiwan, 
officials said.

The 1,350-megawatt boiling water reactor was designed by America's 
General Electric Co. and built by Japan's Hitachi Ltd.

The reactor will generate less waste and run more effectively than 
those using older technology, said the Taiwan Power Company, which 
runs the plant in Kungliao, northern Taiwan.

The installation will take at least 12 hours to complete with a giant 
crane employed to lift the 1,000-ton (1,100-short ton) reactor, 
officials said.

Dutch engineering firm Mammoet oversaw the entire installation, said 
Lin Yuan-teh, a Taiwan Power official.

The installation was delayed for months and the nuclear power plant 
may not be operational until 2008, Lin said, two years behind 
schedule.

A second reactor for the power plant, built by Japan's Toshiba 
Company, arrived in Taiwan last July. It is scheduled to be installed 
by the end of 2005, officials said.
-----------------

S.Japan nuclear plants unaffected by quake-Kyodo

TOKYO, March 20 (Reuters) - Two nuclear reactors on Japan's 
southernmost main island of Kyushu were unaffected by a powerful 
magnitude 7.0 earthquake that struck the region on Sunday, Kyodo news 
agency said. The Genkai nuclear plant in Saga prefecture and Sendai 
nuclear plant in Kagoshima prefecture were unaffected, Kyodo quoted 
Kyushu Electric Power Co as saying.
-----------------

Transfer of material to Nevada Test Site delayed

LAS VEGAS (AP) - Additional shipments of weapons-grade nuclear 
materials from New Mexico to the Nevada Test Site have been delayed 
until the end of the year.

The delay was caused by last summer's shutdown of Los Alamos National 
Laboratory, said Linton Brooks, chief of the National Nuclear 
Security Administration.

"We will have half the material in Nevada by the end of the year," 
Brooks told the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on oversight 
and investigations during a hearing Friday in Washington, D.C.

NNSA began shipping nuclear materials in September to the site's 
underground Device Assembly Facility, which is considered far more 
secure than the current storage location at Los Alamos.

The lab was virtually shut down last July after reports surfaced that 
two classified computer disks had disappeared. An investigation later 
determined they never existed. But some of the lab's normal 
activities did not resume until February.

As a result, more shipments that had been scheduled for September of 
this year will be postponed until mid-November, Brooks said.

"The rest of the material will be moved ... to another location in 
Los Alamos temporarily, and then will be moved to Nevada over the 
next couple of years," Brooks said.

Danielle Brian, executive director of the watchdog group Project On 
Government Oversight, accused Los Alamos officials of purposefully 
creating the delay and said nuclear material from Lawrence Livermore 
National Laboratory near San Francisco also should be transferred to 
the underground Nevada facility.

"Removing all special nuclear materials from these facilities 
eliminates security vulnerabilities at those facilities while 
dramatically decreasing security costs," Brian said. "An underground 
facility would be much harder to penetrate and would serve as a 
greater deterrent to terrorists."
----------------

A-bomb exhibit opens at college in California

LOS ANGELES, March 18 (Kyodo) - The Hiroshima Nagasaki Atomic Bomb 
Exhibit 2005, which is intended to convey the real story of the 
atomic bombings and raise the awareness about nuclear weapons issues, 
opened at Compton Community College in southern California on Friday.

At the opening reception, Hisanobu Murozono, a Nagasaki atomic-bomb 
survivor, told about what he saw with his own eyes when the bomb was 
dropped and how he survived.

"Severely deformed people who were impossible to identify as man or 
woman, grabbed my legs and waist asking for help. But I couldn't give 
them any help," Murozono said.

He concluded his speech by saying, "The people of Nagasaki and 
Hiroshima wish that all the nuclear weapons will completely disappear 
from this world someday."

The exhibition, which runs through April 1 at the college library, 
showcases about 50 items such as burned clothes, melted accessories, 
and numerous photographs of severely burned people and cities.

"I have heard the stories it was pretty bad but I didn't notice it 
was this bad until I saw the photographs and listened to the story of 
the survivor," said Angelia Williams, a 38-year-old journalism 
student.

Jeanette Moore, another student at the college, said, "What we need 
to do is to pass on the knowledge to the new generation so that we 
can learn from the mistake and hope not to repeat it."

Hiroshima and Nagasaki launched the event in 1995 in the hope of 
raising international awareness about the need to abolish nuclear 
weapons. The exhibition has been held several times a year in places 
like Washington, New York, Paris and Amsterdam.

The United States dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki 
in the closing days of World War II. The nuclear attack on Nagasaki 
on Aug. 9, 1945, three days after Hiroshima was bombed.
-----------------

Officials investigating possible low-level radioactive waste leak

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - The Utah Department of Environmental Quality is 
investigating a radioactive waste shipment to the Tooele Envirocare 
facility that could have leaked low levels of waste into a rail car.

About half of the 17 cars in the shipment from the Brookhaven 
National Laboratory in New York arrived at the facility with puddles 
of liquid in the cars. Tim Barney, senior vice president of 
Envirocare of Utah, said only one of the cars was found to have some 
radioactivity in the water, and stressed that it was a small amount 
that posed no threat to the public.

"There was no exposure, no danger," he said.

Barney said the water was melted snow that had fallen into the cars 
when the waste was being loaded from Brookhaven - not leakage from 
the low-level waste.

The waste is put into plastic containers and loaded into the cars. 
Then, the cars are covered by a tarp for transport.

Department of Environmental Quality Director Dianne Nielson said the 
fact that one of the cars contained a radioactive puddle meant the 
waste could've somehow leaked, though there are no visible tears in 
the container that held it.

"They're low concentrations. But any leaks of this sort are serious, 
and we want to make sure that they don't occur," Nielson said.

She said the department would be investigating packaging procedures 
at Brookhaven and reviewing the route the waste took to Utah to 
determine if it could've leaked anywhere along the way.

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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

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