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"Some research is suspended at a Columbia University center, but experts fear the case could deter people from participating in crucial brain-imaging studies. The suspension of some research at a prominent Columbia University brain-imaging lab because of sloppy practices could have repercussions beyond that laboratory, potentially affecting brain-imaging studies nationwide and raising questions about the safety of participants, research experts said Saturday. The Kreitchman PET Center in Manhattan, part of Columbia University, halted brain-imaging studies after federal authorities reportedly found safety violations that could endanger patients and invalidate research findings. The center has admitted to poor manufacturing processes of radioactive compounds injected in patients and to sub-par record-keeping. Columbia authorities reported the findings of its own internal investigation in a July 6 letter to the Food and Drug Administration. Lab personnel are alleged to have used chemicals that had failed required purity tests when conducting brain scans of people with mental disorders. The scans, called PET scans, produce images of the brain and various neurological processes. » Don't miss a thing. Get breaking news alerts delivered to your inbox. The chemicals used at the Columbia center were found to have contained impurities at levels well above what is permitted under FDA protocols. The center has halted research using those locally manufactured chemicals; the lab itself remains open, is still conducting other types of research and continues to see patients. Experts disagree on whether the Columbia incident is an anomaly or if such slip-ups are widespread in research labs. But the documented lapses highlight apparent disregard for patient safety that rarely comes to light at major research institutions. No patients were harmed, according to a statement from Columbia University released Saturday. But the practices also include failure to report use of the su

President George W. Bush today announced his intention to nominate two individuals, designate one individual, and appoint eight individuals to serve in his Administration. The President intends to nominate Paul A. Quander, Jr., of the District of Columbia, to be Director of the Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency for the District of Columbia, for a term of six years. Mr. Quander previously served as Director of Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency for the District of Columbia. Prior to this he served as Assistant United States Attorney in the District of Columbia. Earlier in his career, he served as Deputy Director of the District of Columbia Department of Corrections. Mr. Quander received his bachelor's degree from Virginia State University and his JD from Howard University.

New technology is providing information on how contaminated ground water from the Hanford nuclear reservation may be entering the Columbia River. A study for the Department of Energy of where ground water seeps into the river and what contaminants it contains won't be completed until the end of the year. But already there is evidence showing ground water enters the Columbia River in upwellings away from its shores, said Larry Hulstrom, Washington Closure Hanford project lead for the Columbia River investigation. It's generally been assumed that ground water enters the river in seeps and springs within the first 6 feet of its banks. But some of the ground water may become trapped below a hard layer in the ground and only seeps into deep areas of the river, rather than at its shores. "We've never had the technology available to determine if it was upwelling further beyond 6 feet," Hulstrom said.

"The Department of Energy is proposing extending a chemical barrier along the Columbia River at Hanford after a pilot project successfully trapped radioactive strontium before it entered the river. At the same time, a system to pump contaminated water out of the ground and treat it, which had disappointing results, would be torn out. DOE has been testing the chemical barrier technology since 2005, with the most recent results showing a 90 percent reduction in strontium contamination in ground water, according to DOE. The test area extends 300 feet along the Columbia near Hanford's N Reactor, but DOE is proposing extending the chemical barrier to 2,500 feet to span the width of the area where strontium exceeds drinking water standards in ground water near the river."

"Oregon officials are raising concerns about contamination at the Hanford nuclear site reaching the Columbia River. Oregon officials are raising concerns about contamination at the Hanford nuclear site reaching the Columbia River. The U.S. Department of Energy, which manages cleanup at the south-central Washington site, is taking public comments on its proposal for cleaning up storage tanks and managing waste. The proposal projects that some radioactive contaminants could threaten the Columbia River for thousands of years. Ken Niles, assistant director of the Oregon Department of Energy, says that should force the government to review its long-term cleanup plans at Hanford. The report also discusses the government's plan to import some radioactive waste from other sites to Hanford after 2022, which Niles says poses unacceptable risks."

A lab at the University of Missouri-Columbia has been temporarily suspended from using radioactive material after a researcher inadvertently spread radioactive material on the soles of his shoes. The Columbia Missourian, citing a report from the school's director of Environmental Health and Safety, also reported that a university committee will review the lab's radioactive material privileges in February. Frank Schmidt, a professor of biochemistry who heads the lab, told the Missourian that he had no comment about the report, which he had not yet seen.

A lab at the University of Missouri-Columbia has been temporarily suspended from using radioactive material after a researcher inadvertently spread radioactive material on the soles of his shoes. The Columbia Missourian, citing a report from the school's director of Environmental Health and Safety, also reported that a university committee will review the lab's radioactive material privileges in February. Frank Schmidt, a professor of biochemistry who heads the lab, told the Missourian that he had no comment about the report, which he had not yet seen.

Work is under way at Hanford to prepare the first huge processing canyon in the Department of Energy's nationwide nuclear weapons complex for demolition. DOE approved a plan for demolishing U Plant in central Hanford in 2005, but then decided to focus its budget on environmental cleanup closest to the Columbia River first. But with $1.96 billion in federal economic stimulus money allocated to Hanford, DOE has been able to begin preparing U Plant to be torn down.

Work is under way at Hanford to prepare the first huge processing canyon in the Department of Energy's nationwide nuclear weapons complex for demolition. DOE approved a plan for demolishing U Plant in central Hanford in 2005, but then decided to focus its budget on environmental cleanup closest to the Columbia River first. But with $1.96 billion in federal economic stimulus money allocated to Hanford, DOE has been able to begin preparing U Plant to be torn down.

A proposed energy park at Hanford could include piped natural gas, a biofuel plant and acres of solar panels that may help power the vitrification plant and one day produce commercial power. Gary Petersen, vice president of Hanford programs for the Tri-City Development Council, told Benton County commissioners Wednesday that Cascade Natural Gas has proposed piping natural gas to the future site, which could supply a significant amount of the energy needed to power the vitrification plant being built there. Two Cascade pipelines could be used. One would have to cross the Yakima River and the other would have to cross the Columbia. Natural gas is one of four proposals being eyed to offset energy consumption by the massive plant being built to turn some of Hanford's worst waste into a stable glass form.

A proposed energy park at Hanford could include piped natural gas, a biofuel plant and acres of solar panels that may help power the vitrification plant and one day produce commercial power. Gary Petersen, vice president of Hanford programs for the Tri-City Development Council, told Benton County commissioners Wednesday that Cascade Natural Gas has proposed piping natural gas to the future site, which could supply a significant amount of the energy needed to power the vitrification plant being built there. Two Cascade pipelines could be used. One would have to cross the Yakima River and the other would have to cross the Columbia. Natural gas is one of four proposals being eyed to offset energy consumption by the massive plant being built to turn some of Hanford's worst waste into a stable glass form.

Some of the progress made last year in cleaning up the Hanford nuclear reservation: -A leaky basin that once stored spent nuclear fuel has been torn out of the ground. -N Reactor is just a shell, gutted of hazardous materials. -Waste sites along the Columbia River have been dug up and buildings torn down. -More weapons-grade plutonium is gone, shipped offsite. -Nearly half of a one-of-a-kind plant to treat waste has been designed and built. -New technologies for sucking waste out of 177 underground tanks is ready to be deployed. Some of the significant work ahead: -Some 53 million gallons of radioactive and chemical waste - enough to cover 123 football fields, including end zones, a foot deep - stews in those underground tanks, some of which are known to have leaked and threaten the Columbia River. The tanks must be emptied and the waste treated. -The plant where that waste will be converted to a stable glass form must be completed and tested. The U.S. Department of Energy now says it will begin operating in 2019. -More old nuclear reactors need to be decommissioned and cocooned, and ancillary buildings at the site need to be decontaminated and torn down. -Drums of radioactive and hazardous waste and debris need to be dug up and hauled off site. -Tainted groundwater ne2eds to be pumped out of the ground and treated.

Richland, Washington. The outback of the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in eastern Washington State is called the T-Farm. It's a rolling expanse of high desert sloping toward the last untamed reaches of the Columbia River. The "T" stands for tanks-huge single-hulled containers buried some fifty feet beneath basalt volcanic rock and sand holding, the lethal detritus of Hanford's fifty-year run as the nation's H-bomb factory. Those tanks had an expected lifespan of thirty-five years; the radioactive gumbo inside them has a half-life of 250,000 years. Dozens of those tanks have now started to corrode and leak, releasing the most toxic material on earth-plutonium and uranium-contaminated sludge and liquid-on an inexorable path toward the Columbia River, the world's most productive salmon fishery and the source of irrigation water for the farms and orchards of the Inland Empire, centered on Spokane in eastern Washington.

Their homes were bulldozed and burned, but pictures of the White Bluffs sports teams, band and graduating senior class of 1930 give a glimpse of the settlers who were the first casualties of the nuclear age. The story of the early Hanford and White Bluffs residents is being recounted with an exhibit at the main branch of the Mid-Columbia Library on Union Street in Kennewick in October and a reunion on Oct. 25.

South Carolina's two largest utilities said Tuesday they have agreed to pay nearly $10 billion through 2019 to add two nuclear reactors in Fairfield County - only the second time power companies have made a financial commitment to build a nuclear plant in 30 years. Columbia-based South Carolina Electric & Gas and state-owned Santee Cooper signed a contract with Westinghouse Electric Co. and The Shaw Group to design and build two reactors at the V.C. Summer Nuclear Station in Jenkinsville, about 25 miles northwest of Columbia.

SCE&G ratepayers' bills would rise 37 percent by 2019 if the state approves the Columbia utility's plan to start paying costs upfront for two large nuclear reactors it would build 25 miles northwest of Columbia.

Oregon is joining a Washington state lawsuit against the federal government over its slow cleanup of the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, saying the delays increase the risk of "serious environmental damage" to the Columbia River. Gov. Ted Kulongoski and Attorney General John Kroger issued a joint statement today announcing plans to join the lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Energy. Hanford's hazardous waste also threatens the traditional fishing grounds of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, their statement said. Waste stored in 177 tanks at the former weapons production site threatens the Columbia, Washington and Oregon say, with at least 67 single-wall tanks already leaking.

Environmental group Friends of the Earth wants South Carolina regulators to reconsider their decision to allow a utility to build two nuclear reactors near Columbia. The law the Public Service Commission used to approve the project is unconstitutional and South Carolina Electric & Gas failed to demonstrate a need for the reactors or fully detail the environmental impact of the reactors, the group said in its request to reconsider filed Monday. State regulators last month approved SCE&G's request to build the two 1,100-megawatt reactors along with Santee Cooper at the same site where the utilities currently run a reactor near Jenkinsville, about 25 miles northwest of Columbia.

The Columbia Generating Station in Richland remained off-line Monday after a "brief, minor fire" forced operators to shut down the nuclear energy plant manually Friday, an Energy Northwest official said Monday. Rochelle Olson, Energy Northwest's corporate communications officer, said dripping oil sparked a fire in insulation around the plant's turbine system around 7:50 p.m. Friday. Operators used water and fire extinguishers to put out the flames, which Olson estimated at 1 to 2 inches tall. "This was more like combustion material," she said.

The Columbia Generating Station in Richland remained off-line Monday after a "brief, minor fire" forced operators to shut down the nuclear energy plant manually Friday, an Energy Northwest official said Monday. Rochelle Olson, Energy Northwest's corporate communications officer, said dripping oil sparked a fire in insulation around the plant's turbine system around 7:50 p.m. Friday. Operators used water and fire extinguishers to put out the flames, which Olson estimated at 1 to 2 inches tall. "This was more like combustion material," she said. No hazardous materials were released and no injuries occurred. The fire was extinguished at 8:06 p.m. Friday, Olson said. She described the oil as "typical oil," saying it "lubricates bearings and things."

"State House OKs moving energy council oversight OLYMPIA - The state House of Representatives voted on Monday to modify the administration and jurisdiction of the Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council. The bill passed 96-2, with all Mid-Columbia representatives voting in favor. House Bill 2527 transfers EFSEC from the state Department of Commerce to the Utilities and Transportation Commission, and gives the council authority to provide site certification for any commercially operated nuclear power facility. Current law allows EFSEC jurisdiction over larger-scale power plants such as Energy Northwest's Columbia Generating Station. Bill sponsor Rep. Jeff Morris, D-Mount Vernon, said during floor debate that the bill would give the state control over siting the new generation of smaller nuclear plants as technology changes and advances. The bill now moves to the Senate for consideration."

"There are four "fairly firm" proposals from companies interested in a proposed energy park at Hanford that would help provide power to the vitrification plant under construction at the site, a representative of the Mid-Columbia Energy Initiative said Tuesday. The Mid-Columbia Energy Initiative, a group seeking to establish the energy park, is working to secure 20 square miles of reclaimed land on the Hanford site for the energy park by 2013 and 60 square miles by 2015. Gary Petersen, vice president of Hanford programs for the Tri-City Development Council, told Richland City Council members at a Tuesday workshop that the types of energy the companies interested in the park would provide include piped natural gas supplied by Cascade Natural Gas, and biofuel, anhydrous ammonia and liquefied natural gas plants."

"State utility regulators have set three night hearings on a proposed rate increase for South Carolina Electric and Gas Co. The Public Service Commission said Wednesday the 6 p.m. hearings will be conducted in Summerville, Charleston and Columbia. SCE&G, a subsidiary of Scana Corp., is seeking 9.5 percent increase in electricity rates to pay for federally mandated environmental improvements to its plants and for its backup dam near Columbia."

"The most contaminated site in the Western Hemisphere is at Hanford, Washington state's sprawling nuclear waste reservation on the Columbia River. The Department of Energy wants to dump more nuclear waste at Hanford before cleaning up what's already there. The proposal doesn't sit well with watchdog groups or the public. Narration: A federal proposal to dump more radioactive waste at Hanford, the nation's most contaminated nuclear site, has watchdog agencies and the public on high alert. Sending more waste to the sprawling nuclear reservation before cleaning up what's already there could threaten the Columbia River for thousands of years, says the Heart of America Northwest. Gerry Pollett is Director of the non-profit which has monitored Hanford for over 20 years."