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Dining on yellowcake with the devil Sydney Morning Herald Grigory Pasko September 4, 2007 - "Russian nuclear power stations account for 16 per cent of the country's electricity production. Last year the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, demanded the proportion be increased to 25 per cent by 2030. These ambitious plans have already raised a storm of indignation from environmentalists in Russia. First and foremost because Russia is doing practically nothing to develop alternative power sources, following a path of least resistance and imperial desire to develop an industry that will be useful for military purposes as well.............................

A study is in progress to estimate the contamination of the human food chain by uranium, /sup 230/Th, /sup 226/Ra /sup 210/Pb, and /sup 210/Po originating from tailing piles associated with uranium ore processing mills.^Rabbits, cattle, vegetables, and grass were collected on or near two uranium mill sites.^For controls, similar samples were obtained from areas 20 km or more from the mining and mill operations.^For the onsite rabbits the mean /sup 226/Ra concentrations in muscle, lung, and kidney of 5.5, 14, and 15 pCi/kg wet, respectively, were substantially higher than those in the respective tissues of control animals (0.4, 1.5, and 0.2 pCi/kg).^The levels in liver did not differ significantly between the groups.^The concentrations in bone (femur and vertebra) were about 9000 and 350 pCi/kg ash for the onsite and offsite animals, respectively.^The levels of /sup 210/Pb and /sup 210/Po did not differ significantly for a given tissue between the two groups, except that the /sup 210/Pb level in the kidney was greater in the onsite group.^For cattle, the concentrations in muscle, liver, and kidney do not differ greatly between those grazed near the pile and the controls.^The levels of /sup 226/Ra, and possibly of /sup 210/Pb, appear to be greater in the femur of the animals near the piles.^Vegetables from a residential area on a mill site contained substantially greater concentrations of /sup 226/Ra and /sup 210/Pb than those reported for standard New York City diets.^Grass and cattle dung from land irrigated by water containing 60 pCi/L /sup 226/Ra from uranium mines had concentrations of /sup 226/Ra and /sup 210/Pb 50 and 8 times, respectively, those in control samples.^It is estimated that doubling the normal concentrations in meat and vegetables of uranium and daughter products could increase the dose equivalent rates to the skeletons of persons consuming these foods by 30 or more mrem/yr.

A high-ranking official in the Ministry of Electricity and Energy, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, claims that the nuclear deal between the government and the US-based Powered Corporation has been misrepresented by the Yemeni press.   “What has been said in the press about the deal between the Ministry of Electricity and Energy and the Powered Corporation is not true and is full of misleading information,” said a high-ranking source in the Ministry Electricity and Energy. “There are people in the government who do not want to see nuclear power working in Yemen because it will make corruption more difficult to get away with.”

June 25 & 28, 2007 IEPR Committee Workshop on Nuclear Power Issues Workshop Notice - Posted: May 10, 2007. (PDF File, 10 pgs, 64 kb). Workshop Agenda - Posted: June 15, 2007. Workshop Transcript (June 25) - Posted: July 23, 2007. Workshop Transcript (June 28) - Posted: July 24, 2007. (PDF File, 360 pgs, 1.89 mb) Reports Nuclear Power in California: Status Report 2007 - Draft Consultant Report. Publication # CEC-100-2007-005-D. (PDF, 302 pgs, 3.2 megabytes). Posted: June 8, 2007 Public Comments on the MRW Report Comments, (Acrobat PDF files). Updated: July 23, 2007. Presentations Presentations, (Acrobat PDF files). Updated: June 29, 2007. Panelist Submittals Panelist Submittals, (Acrobat PDF files). Updated: July 6, 2007. Panelist Bios June 25 Panelist Bios, (Acrobat PDF files). Updated: August 8, 2007. June 28 Panelist Bios, (Acrobat PDF files). Updated: August 8, 2007.