[ RadSafe ] Court Upholds Japan Nuke Reactor Approval

[Sandy Perle]

Index:

Court Upholds Japan Nuke Reactor Approval
Protesters attempt to block nuclear waste shipment crossing Germany
Two Wisconsin nuclear reactors still out of commission
Greenpeace activists climb nuclear reactor in the Netherlands
Westinghouse upbeat on China nuclear contract
German CDU would extend nuclear generators' life
Idaho Nuclear Watchdog Grp Wary Of Uranium Storage Plan
Germany extradites engineer accused of helping Libyan nuclear program
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Court Upholds Japan Nuke Reactor Approval

TOKYO (AP) - The Supreme Court upheld Japan's approval of an 
experimental fast-breeder nuclear reactor Monday, paving the way for 
the reopening of a plant that was shut down a decade ago by an 
accident and cover-up.

Environmentalists were outaged by the ruling, which overturned a 2003 
decision by a high court to nullify the government's 1983 approval 
for the Monju reactor in Tsuruga, 200 miles west of Tokyo, court 
spokesman Takao Arakawa said.

The decision was a big boost for the plutonium-fired plant, the 
centerpiece in the government's campaign to expand resource-poor 
Japan's reliance on nuclear energy. The project's original start-up 
ended after just four months in 1995 with an accident in its cooling 
system and cover-up that bred distrust of nuclear power among voters.

The Fukui regional government in February approved repairs at the 
mothballed plant, and construction there could allow the facility to 
restart within three years.

"We will resume our construction with a renewed commitment for 
safety," said Yuichi Tonozuka, president of Japan Nuclear Cycle 
Development Institute, which operates the plant.

Critics say the reactor's plutonium-based technology is dangerous. 
Aileen Mioko Smith of Green Action, a Kyoto-based environmental 
group, called the ruling "shocking."

"If there's an accident it could be disastrous," she said. "We 
haven't read the reasons for the court's decision yet, but it's 
astounding that the court could rule this way."

The Monju reactor uses plutonium fuel instead of conventional uranium 
and produces radioactive substances than can be reused as fuel. 
Japanese officials hope it will increase the oil-dependent nation's 
self-sufficiency.

Monju went into service in August 1995 but was shut down on Dec. 8, 
when more than a ton of volatile liquid sodium leaked from a 
secondary cooling system. No one was hurt and no radioactivity 
escaped, but Monju's operators came under fire for concealing 
videotape that showed extensive damage to the reactor.

Many other nations have abandoned similar projects because of high 
costs and dangers associated with handling plutonium, which is highly 
radioactive and can be used to make nuclear weapons.

Japan reportedly has already spent 800 billion yen (US$7.4 billion; 
5.9 billion) on the Monju reactor.

Japan's 52 nuclear reactors supply 35 percent of the country's 
electricity. The government wants to build 11 new plants and raised 
electricity output to nearly 40 percent of the national supply by 
2010.

The nuclear energy industry in Japan, however, has been plagued by 
safety violations, reactor malfunctions and accidents.

The Fukui region also was the scene of Japan's deadliest-ever nuclear-
plant accident, when a corroded cooling pipe - carrying boiling water 
and superheated steam - burst at a plant in Mihama last August, 
killing five workers. No radiation was released in that accident.
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Protesters attempt to block nuclear waste shipment crossing Germany

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) - Dozens of protesters staged a brief sit-
down protest Monday in an effort to prevent a convoy carrying nuclear 
waste from setting off across Germany on a trip to a storage 
facility.

About 1,500 police officers were being deployed to secure the roughly 
600-kilometer (372-mile) route from Rossendorf, in the eastern state 
of Saxony, to the Ahaus facility in western Germany, said Thomas 
Herbst, a spokesman for police in Dresden.

A group of 50 anti-nuclear protesters unsuccessfully tried to block 
the 18-container convoy's departure by staging a sit-down process at 
Rossendorf, the site of a communist-era reactor. They were cleared 
away by police.

The transport of six containers of radioactive waste is the first of 
three planned this year.
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Two Wisconsin nuclear reactors still out of commission

MILWAUKEE (AP) - Just as state residents get set for what's typically 
the busiest power season of the year, two of Wisconsin's three 
nuclear reactors remain out of service, potentially driving up the 
cost to consumers.

A Point Beach reactor that has been closed since April was expected 
to reopen Monday, but Wisconsin Energy Corp. said Friday that it will 
remain out of service for a substantial period while officials figure 
out how to install a new reactor cover.

That news comes about a week after the reopening of the Kewaunee 
nuclear plant was delayed for a second time, until sometime in June.

The twin-reactor Point Beach plant and single-reactor Kewaunee 
nuclear power plant together supply about a fifth of Wisconsin's 
electricity.

Wisconsin Energy estimates that replacing the low-cost nuclear power 
could cost $400,000 to $500,000 a day during the summer months and as 
much as $1 million a day on hot summer days.

On Friday, the state Public Service Commission said it would allow 
Wisconsin Energy subsidiary We Energies to apply to pass on the extra 
cost to customers.

The closures also raise fears that utilities could be forced to ask 
factories to turn off their power if a hot spell hits the state - 
something that hasn't happened for several years, said Nino Amato, 
president of the Wisconsin Industrial Energy Group, which represents 
large power plant customers.

"We may very well dodge a bullet; it may end up just being another 
cooler than normal summer, but if we fall back into any of our 
historical patterns of some hot spells in June, July and August and 
two major base-load plants aren't available, that puts us in a 
potential at-risk scenario," he said.

Four new natural gas-fired power plants are scheduled to start this 
year, but industry officials say Point Beach and Kewaunee are still 
critical to meeting customer demand.

At Point Beach, Nuclear Regulatory Commission inspectors have 
concerns about the crane that was to be used to lift a new reactor 
cover into place, said agency spokesman Jan Strasma. They've asked 
Nuclear Management Co., the company that runs the plant, to evaluate 
what kind of damage would occur if the crane failed and dropped the 
cover on the reactor.
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Greenpeace activists climb nuclear reactor in the Netherlands

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) - Greenpeace activists broke onto the 
grounds of a Dutch nuclear reactor Wednesday and painted a giant 
crack on its outer shell, a protest aimed at exposing the danger of 
nuclear energy.

Around 30 demonstrators, dressed in nuclear waste drum costumes, 
climbed a fence and scaled the walls of the high-flux Borssele 
reactor, the focus of decades of protests in the Netherlands.

Security guards were immediately at the scene with dogs, but did not 
stop the demonstrators.

Greenpeace, a staunch opponent of any form of nuclear energy, said in 
a statement that its safe use can never be guaranteed.

"Reactors not only produce nuclear waste, but also can be targeted by 
terrorist attacks. But the government is nonetheless considering 
allowing the reactor to remain open," it said.

After initially setting a closure date of 2013, the current Cabinet 
reopened the sensitive issue in February, saying all options must be 
kept open in addressing the country's growing energy needs.

The activists called on Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende's 
government to close the reactor and invest in renewable energy 
sources, such as solar, wind and biomass.

The reactor, operational since 1973, has been the focus of protests 
by environmental groups for decades. It is owned by the Zuid 
Nederland Electricity Company and has a thermal power of 450 
megawatts, enough to power a million homes.
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Westinghouse upbeat on China nuclear contract

BEIJING, May 20 (Reuters) - Westinghouse Electric Co. is optimistic 
about its chances of scooping a $8 billion contract to build four 
nuclear reactors in China, but does not expect a decision before 
September, the China Daily said on Friday.

"We have the quality and competitive price to back our bid ... The 
possibility for us to win is still 50-50," Donald Miller, 
Westinghouse's deputy project manager in China for nuclear power 
plants, was quoted as saying by the paper.

"China's decision over the bidding will be made in September at the 
earliest," Miller added.

Pittsburgh-based Westinghouse Electric, which belongs to Britain's 
state-run BNFL Plc., is one of three firms vying for the contract. 
The others are France's Areva and Russia's AtomStroyExport.

A decision on the contract is likely to be reached by October and 
construction is expected to start a year after the signing of the 
deal, the official paper said, without citing a source.

China has embarked on a plan to add two to three nuclear power plants 
a year for roughly the next 15 years so that nuclear power will 
supply about 4 percent of the country's power by 2020, a senior 
government official said last year.

U.S. officials said in March that the Bush administration saw little 
proliferation risk in helping Westinghouse build nuclear power plants 
in China for a state-run firm once accused of transferring sensitive 
technology to Iran and Pakistan.

But it will face strong competition for the deal from rivals who 
already have a foothold in China.

Areva earlier this week signed two contracts worth almost 400 million 
euros ($505.2 million) as part of a project to extend the Ling Ao 
nuclear power plant in China's Guangdong province.

The firm has had a presence in China for more than 20 years, and 
already holds a number of deals in the Chinese electricity 
transmission and distribution sector.

Meanwhile, Russian company Atomstroiexport is helping build two 1,060 
megawatt reactors in Tianwan, in the eastern coastal province of 
Jiangsu, the China Daily said.

The government aims to have 40,000 megawatts of installed nuclear 
capacity by 2020, the China Daily said.

Merrill Lynch this month cited China's nuclear expansion as a driver 
behind global nickel demand because the extremely high-grade steel in 
reactor plants contains so much of the expensive metal.
------------------

German CDU would extend nuclear generators' life

BERLIN, May 23 (Reuters) - Germany's opposition Christian Democrats 
(CDU) will let utilities operate nuclear power stations for longer 
than currently foreseen if they win an election this autumn, CDU 
leader Angela Merkel said on Monday.

Merkel told ARD television in an interview that, provided they were 
deemed safe, reactors could continue to produce electricity even if 
they had already used up quotas issued by the current government 
under a plan to phase out nuclear power.

Share prices in German utilities such as E.ON AG and RWE AG rose on 
Monday on expectations the CDU would reverse the current Social 
Democrat-Green government's anti-nuclear stance.

Merkel declined to say whether she would authorise the construction 
of new nuclear power stations. "The construction of new nuclear power 
stations is not an issue," she said in answer to a question.
----------------

Idaho Nuclear Watchdog Grp Wary Of Uranium Storage Plan

BOISE, Idaho (AP)--With the Idaho National Laboratory scheduled to 
dispose of the last enriched uranium stored at the sprawling desert 
complex by this summer, a nuclear watchdog group is criticizing 
prospects the site could become a repository for more bomb-grade 
material from other federal labs.

"One moment the Department of Energy is praising efforts to take 
special nuclear materials out of the state and that they've made the 
site safer," said Jeremy Maxand, director of the Snake River Alliance 
in Boise. "Then, in the same breath they say they are studying 
shipping these materials back into the state and sticking them back 
on the site."

An advisory task force to Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman is scheduled 
to complete a report next month evaluating the potential cost savings 
and security enhancements from consolidating the nation's stockpiles 
of highly enriched uranium and plutonium.

Hundreds of tons of nuclear material no longer needed for weapons 
manufacturing and destined for disposal to support international 
nonproliferation agreements are stored at more than a dozen federal 
labs and installations around the country, where scientists use small 
amounts for research.

Officials say reducing the number of places where the material is 
stored until it is converted or "downblended" into less dangerous 
forms may reduce the likelihood of a potential attack by terrorists 
seeking to detonate an improvised nuclear bomb at a site.

Linton Brooks, administrator of the federal agency that oversees 
America's nuclear bomb stockpile, recently told Congress the Bush 
administration is evaluating any legal barriers and construction 
requirements to using two buildings on the 890-square-mile INL 
complex in eastern Idaho for interim storage of bomb-grade uranium 
relocated from other installations.

"These facilities may offer exceptional opportunity to consolidate 
materials and components in a location with robust security features 
in place," Brooks, head of the National Nuclear Security 
Administration, told a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on 
nuclear site safety in March.

One of the structures is Building 691, a $450 million facility that 
has three levels of underground cells that were created to hold 
reprocessed spent nuclear fuel. Construction was halted on the 
building in 1992 when the U.S. decided to cease reprocessing. The 
building was locked and never used.

An analysis by the Energy Department's Office of Security and Safety 
Performance found Building 691 could hold 130 metric tons of 
plutonium or 260 metric tons of enriched uranium. To convert the 
structure into a repository for bomb-grade uranium, the security 
office estimated construction improvements of $ 100 million to $200 
million would be needed.

The other Idaho facility being evaluated for potential storage is 
Building 651, an older vault surrounded by reinforced concrete that 
has been used to house enriched uranium fuel for nuclear reactors. 
The remaining material stored in that bunker is expected to be 
disposed of by this summer, said Brad Bugger, a spokesman for the 
Idaho office of the Energy Department.

Highly enriched uranium was generated at the Idaho site during 
programs to reprocess spent nuclear fuel that ceased in 1992. More 
than 2.4 million tons of the bomb-grade material from the Idaho 
complex has been packaged and shipped to Energy Department sites in 
South Carolina and Tennessee for conversion into commercial nuclear 
reactor fuel to generate electricity.

Maxand said the Idaho site should not be rewarded with new shipments 
of weapons-grade nuclear material after "de-inventorying" its 
stockpile ahead of schedule.

"There is no good place to put something like this," he said. "Idaho 
has a very strong track record of opposing any project that relates 
to nuclear weapons and this is one of those projects."

A spokesman for the National Nuclear Security Administration said any 
decision whether to relocate enriched uranium or plutonium stockpiles 
to Idaho or any other Energy Department site won't be made until 
Bodman reviews the recommendations of the advisory board. Spokesman 
Anson Franklin said much of the board's report will likely be 
classified and not released to the public.

A Washington, D.C.-based activist group has released its own analysis 
of consolidating nuclear bomb materials. It also promotes the two INL 
buildings as leading candidates to become repositories for some of 
the enriched uranium and plutonium surplus because of their inherent 
security features.

"Idaho has these great facilities that are perfect for this, but the 
irony was that until DOE realized what they had, those buildings were 
scheduled to be demolished," said Danielle Brian, executive director 
of the Project on Government Oversight.
------------------

Germany extradites Swiss engineer accused of helping Libyan nuclear 
program

BERN, Switzerland (AP) - Germany has extradited to Switzerland an 
engineer accused of helping Libya's now abandoned effort to build a 
nuclear bomb, authorities said Monday.

The Swiss Justice Ministry said that Urs Tinner, a 40-year-old Swiss 
engineer arrested last year in Germany, was handed over to 
authorities Monday at the Swiss-German border near Basel.

Swiss authorities are investigating Tinner on suspicion that he 
violated Switzerland's exports laws on controlled goods and war 
materials, officials said.

German authorities said Tinner is suspected of being part of an 
international network of nuclear smugglers under ringleader Abdul 
Qadeer Khan, the creator of Pakistan's atomic weapons program.

Tinner is alleged to have overseen machine work in Malaysia on gas 
centrifuge parts that were intercepted by Western intelligence in 
October 2003 on a ship bound for Libya. He's also alleged to have 
trained Libyans in their use.

Gas centrifuges are needed to enrich uranium for use in nuclear 
weapons.

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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/