Radiation Protection

News for October 24, 2008

Radioactive Waste

• Legal roadblock aims to keep Brazilian nuclear waste from Utah (Salt Lake Tribune)
  http://www.sltrib.com/polygamy/ci_10790733
  Even as debate has roiled for months over a proposal to bury radioactive waste from Italy in Utah, plans for a shipment from South America.
• Westinghouse big winner in nuclear power push (Atlanta Business Chronicle)
  http://atlanta.bizjournals.com/atlanta/stories/2008/10/27/story1.html?b=1225080000%5E1721515
  The two new units at Plant Vogtle are expected to generate 82.6 tons of used fuel and high-level radioactive waste annually.  

Nuclear Power

• The Energy Challenge Nuclear Power May Be in Early Stages of a Revival (New York Times)
  http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/24/business/24nuke.html
  But now, according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 21 companies say they will seek permission to build 34 power plants, from New York to Texas.
• Poland talks with South Korea about nuclear plants (guardian.co.uk)
  http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/feedarticle/7919014
  Slawomir Nowak, head of the Polish Prime Minister's office, later told Reuters: "Yes, we did talk nuclear power plants over with South Korea.
• UPDATE 1-Spain nuclear plant halts, another to refuel (Reuters)
  http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssIndustryMaterialsUtilitiesNews/idUSLO15220120081024
  That leaves just five of Spain's eight nuclear power plants working normally, as the 1000 MW Vandellos II plant has been halted almost continually.

Nuclear Weapons

• Russia Says US Sanctions Will Hit Ties (Post Chronicle)
  http://www.postchronicle.com/news/breakingnews/article_212181300.shtml
  Russia has given limited backing to UN sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program, but says there is no evidence Iran is seeking nuclear weapons.
• ACC team effort vital to nuclear evaluation mission (Media Newswire)
  http://media-newswire.com/release_1076896.html
  The sortie is a simulated nuclear missile launch over the Utah Test and Training Range. The entire process, the Nuclear Weapon Systems Evaluation Program.

Cosmic and Space Radiation

• Secret To Cleaner Energy Could Come From Within Planets (RedOrbit)
  http://www.redorbit.com/news/technology/1592650/secret_to_cleaner_energy_could_come_from_within_planets/
  Clean power source using sea water as its principal source of fuel, where no greenhouse gasses or long lived radioactive waste materials are produced.

News for October 23, 2008

Radioactive Waste

• Feds reject protest to nuke waste storage plan (Mid Columbia Tri City Herald)
  http://www.tri-cityherald.com/1182/story/359057.html
  Federal regulators have ruled that a radioactive waste storage plan can go forward at a California nuclear power plant.

                          Yucca

• Million year protection from Yucca Mountain radiation (Nuclear Engineering)
  http://www.neimagazine.com/story.asp?sectioncode=132&storyCode=2051301
  EPA first issued standards for limiting radiation doses to the public from the proposed facility in 2001, with a 10000-year compliance period for protection.

Safety and Security

• Uranium shifted in secret into Russia (Melbourne Herald Sun)
  http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24543043-5012749,00.html
  The 13 radiation-proof casks arrived by rail at the secure nuclear materiel facility at Mayak in Siberia yesterday, said Kenneth Baker, a US official.

Health

• Radioactive lift buttons traced to scrap (PerthNow)
  http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0,21598,24544580-950,00.html
  France's Nuclear Safety Authority announced Tuesday that 20 workers who handled the lift buttons had been exposed to excessive levels of radiation.

Nuclear Power

• Brief evacuation at nuke power plant after leak (International Herald Tribune)
  http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/10/22/america/NA-US-Vermont-Yankee.php?pass=true
  The workers, both Entergy employees and contractors, were exposed to a "very minor" amount of radiation that was below their yearly exposure limits.
• Workers evacuated at Vt. power plant (Nashua Telegraph)
  http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081023/NEWS02/310239898/-1/news
  Federal regulators are investigating the cause of radiation exposure that forced the evacuation of 25 workers at the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant.

Nuclear Weapons

• Switzerland rallies for nuclear disarmament (Swissinfo)
  http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/politics/foreign_affairs/Switzerland_rallies_for_nuclear_disarmament.html?siteSect=1521&sid=9884439&cKey=1224781004000&ty=st
  Thousands of nuclear weapons remain in a high state of alert and could fire at any moment – a fact Switzerland's United Nations ambassador.

News for October 22, 2008

Radioactive Waste

• Utah officials say Italy's N-waste bid subject to compact (Deseret News)
  http://deseretnews.com/article/content/mobile/1,5620,705257115,00.html?printView=true
  State officials contend in federal-court documents filed Tuesday that the Northwest Interstate Compact on Low-Level Radioactive Waste Management has authority over EnergySolutions Inc.'s Clive facility in Tooele County, where the company wants to store low-level nuclear waste from Italy.
• Otis fears lift buttons radioactive (The Times)
  http://www.thetimes.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=868496
  French elevator maker Otis said it would remove the buttons from hundreds of lifts it has installed after a radioactivity scare over Indian-supplied materials.
• Nuclear labs in the world’s spotlight (Whitehaven News)
  http://www.whitehaven-news.co.uk/news/business/1.258620
  A GROUP of experts in highly radioactive work from around the world have been visiting the newly-created National Nuclear Laboratory at Sellafield.

WIPP

• Action consolidates WIPP records projects (Carlsbad Current Argus)
  http://www.currentargus.com/ci_10779870
  The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant is bringing its records together. On Monday, the S.M. Stoller Corporation, and a host of partners, was awarded a subcontract to handle combined records management related to the transuranic nuclear waste repository near Carlsbad.

Safety and Security

• 2012 deadline to scan all port cargo won't be met (USATODAY)
  http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2008-10-20-cargo_N.htm
  Under that proposal, only a small fraction of the 11 million containers shipped to the U.S. each year — those from unknown companies and countries known to harbor terrorists — would be flagged to be scanned for nuclear or radiological materials.
• Swedish nuclear reactor shut down for safety check (Forbes)
  http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2008/10/21/ap5585402.html
  A Swedish nuclear reactor was shut down Tuesday for safety checks after an annual review of a similar reactor found cracks in several control rods.

Risk Assessment

• CT scans bring debate over benefits vs. risks (Northwest Herald)
  http://www.nwherald.com/articles/2008/10/22/news/local/doc48fef3e800e54928395965.txt
  residents are being exposed to higher levels of radiation in the course of medical treatment for everything from headaches to heart disease, mirroring a national trend that has raised cancer concerns.

Health

• New Breast Cancer Radiation Treatment Studied in Chicago (NBCChicago)
  http://www.nbcchicago.com/health/women/New_Breast_Cancer_Radiation_Treatment.html
  Oncologist Adam Dickler uses a tiny radiation balloon to kill any left-over cancer cells from the inside out. In standard therapy, it's used twice a day for five days. He's using the balloon therapy just once, during a patient's surgery, so she won't have to come back to the hospital at all.

Nuclear Power

• State lawmakers push for enlarged Barksdale nuclear role (Shreveport Times)
  http://www.shreveporttimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081021/NEWS01/81021002/1060
  Barksdale has been the cornerstone of nuclear operations for many years,” the members wrote. “We believe the co-location of the 8th Air Force at Barksdale and the new Nuclear Command would be the natural choice in addressing modern threats to our national security.”
• Nuclear regulators inspect NJ plant (Newsday)
  http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newjersey/ny-bc-nj--nuclearinspection1021oct21,0,1765053.story
  The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is investigating the Salem nuclear power plant to find out why there was an apparent loss of reactor coolant during a routine maintenance procedure.

News for October 21, 2008

Radioactive Waste

• EnergySolutions: Foreign nuke waste already finds its way to Utah (SaltLakeTribune)
  http://www.sltrib.com/ci_10753978?IADID=Search-www.sltrib.com-www.sltrib.com
  For months, EnergySolutions Inc. has been fighting for permission to bring foreign radioactive waste to its Tooele County landfill.    Turns out, the Salt Lake City-based nuclear-waste operation has been doing so for eight years, bypassing approval of regional regulators and running counter to past company promises.

Cleanup

• Cleaning Up Iraqi Nuclear Facilities, Radioactive Waste (Science Daily)
  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081020135225.htm
  Sandia scientists are helping train Iraqi scientists and technicians to clean up radioactively contaminated sites and safely dispose of the radioactive wastes as part of the Iraqi Nuclear Facility Dismantlement and Disposal Program.
• Estonia cleaned up Soviet era radioactive waste dump at Sillamae (The Baltic Course)
  http://www.baltic-course.com/eng/energy/?doc=6363
  Estonia has completed the decade-long clean-up of one of Europe's most hazardous radioactive waste dumps on the Baltic coast, an official in charge of the operation said Monday.

Safety and Security

• Congress cancels novel satellite program (The Washington Post)
  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/21/AR2008102100097.html
  The BASIC system was meant to spy on enemy troop movements, spot construction at suspected nuclear sites or alert commanders to militant training camps.
• UN specialist: Radiation from medical-imaging tests stirs concerns (SmartBrief)
  http://www.smartbrief.com/news/advamed/storyDetails.jsp?issueid=EA97892E-4ADD-4F7B-BDFE-A934DCF93BD6&copyid=A3AC96E8-4A86-4937-B7E6-D8C063F003CA
  Reports about the exposure of patients to unnecessary doses of radiation during diagnostic tests and accidents in radiotherapy facilities have prompted safety concerns over medical-imaging scans that use ionizing radiation.
• Radiation leak security drill held in the north (Peninsula On-line)
  http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=Local_News&subsection=Qatar+News&month=October2008&file=Local_News200810213345.xml
  The exercise deals with the process of facing leakage of gamma radiation from a vessel near the northern coast of the peninsula.
• Contamination fears after four university cancer deaths (guardian.co)
  http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2008/oct/21/universityofmanchester-cancer
  Manchester University is launching an inquiry into the safety of one of its most famous buildings amid fears that radioactive contamination may have contributed to the deaths of four staff.

Health

• Education Helps Women Make Safer Tanning Choices (Washington Post)
  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/20/AR2008102000834.html
  Six months after 430 college-age women received a booklet focused on the damaging effects of tanning and ultraviolet radiation, specifically related to indoor tanning, on the skin's appearance, about 35 percent of the women reduced their time in tanning booths from the previous year

Nuclear Power

• Japan may help N.Korea to scrap nuclear program  (Washington Post)
  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/21/AR2008102100137.html
  Japan may provide help to North Korea in scrapping its nuclear program but it still refuses to give energy assistance because of a feud over abducted Japanese citizens, the top government spokesman said on Tuesday.

Nuclear Weapons

• Sydney Weapons Summit Warns of Growing Nuclear Threat (Voice of America)
  http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-10-21-voa7.cfm
  A new non-proliferation group warns the world is on the brink of a massive increase in nuclear weapons.

Science

• CERN inaugurates Big Bang experiment despite glitch (Reuters)
  http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE49K5YQ20081021
  Amid massive security, top scientists and ministers went to CERN's sprawling site on the French-Swiss border to mark the start of the biggest scientific experiment ever launched, which will investigate the building blocks of matter to understand what makes the universe tick.

News for October 20, 2008

Radioactive Waste

• Tons of nuclear waste piling up at power plants (MiamiHerald.com)
  http://www.miamiherald.com/602/story/731069.html
  The unrelenting nuclear headache in the United States is how to dispose of radioactive waste. For 25 years, the federal government has considered putting it.
• Toxic plume spurs study of public health (Denver Post)
  http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_10758319
  It has been 24 years since the federal government designated the mill a Superfund cleanup site, based on radioactive contamination of air and groundwater.  

Safety and Security

• Iran arrests pigeons spying on nuclear site (Telegraph.co.uk)
  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/3229526/Iran-arrests-pigeons-spying-on-nuclear-site.html
  Controversial uranium enrichment facility is the focus of Iran's five-year standoff with the West, which fears it aims to develop nuclear weapons.
  

Nuclear Power

• Billions of fish, fish eggs die in power plants (The News Journal)
  http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20081020/SPORTS17/81020018/1002/SPORTS
  For a newly hatched striped bass in the Hudson River, a clutch of trout eggs in Lake Michigan or a baby salmon in San Francisco Bay, drifting a little too close to a power plant can mean a quick and turbulent death.

Nuclear Weapons

• Iran says West willing to help on second nuclear plant (Insurance News Net)
  http://insurancenewsnet.com/article.asp?n=1&neID=20081019375.4_468c0036d6d11c26
  Its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only. The United States and its Western allies, however, fear that Tehran is trying to build nuclear weapons.
• Nations aim for a world free of nukes (The South African Star)
  http://www.thestar.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=4670251
  Sydney, Australia - More than a dozen nations today held talks on strengthening an international agreement on preventing the spread of nuclear weapons.

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