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Depleted Uranium Gives Off Small, Safe Doses Of Radiation, Army Says PHOENIX -- New research is raising questions about the safety of a type of material used to make weapons deadlier and armor stronger. Depleted uranium, a byproduct of nuclear weapons, is widely used to coat tanks and shells, among other military equipment; however, some believe that the radiation it emits can harm people. Jerry Wheat was in the army during the first Gulf War when the vehicle he was riding in was hit by a shell from a U.S. tank.

In 2008, the KiKK study in Germany reported a 1.6-fold increase in all cancers and a 2.2-fold increase in leukemias, among children living within 5 km of all German nuclear power stations. The study has triggered debates as to the cause(s) of these increased cancers. This article reports on the findings of the KiKK study; discusses past and more recent epidemiological studies of leukemias near nuclear installations around the world, and outlines a possible biological mechanism to explain the increased cancers. This suggests that the observed high rates of infant leukemias may be a teratogenic effect from incorporated radionuclides. Doses from environmental emissions from nuclear reactors to embryos/fetuses in pregnant women near nuclear power stations may be larger than suspected and hematopoietic tissues may be considerably more radiosensitive in embryos/fetuses than in newborn babies. The commentary concludes with recommendations for further research.

Entergy Nuclear has asked state regulators to approve a plan that would change the regulatory boundary surrounding Vermont Yankee nuclear plant, which would move the spot where radiation doses are measured further away from the reactor. Entergy, which has been buying properties bordering the Vernon reactor for the past couple of years, demolishing the homes and in some cases, donating them or the materials to the local Habitat for Humanity, said it wants the "fence-line boundary" and the "site boundary" to be the same for regulatory clarity. The nuclear company has asked the Vermont Public Service Board for permission to make the change, which would affect the location of the air monitors the Department of Health has installed surrounding the plant for public protection.

I am writing to you to make you aware of a little-known tragic mistake that was made by the medical community and physicists like myself during the early years of the Cold War that has been playing a major role in the enormous rise of the incidence chronic diseases such as cancer and diabetes, and thus the cost of healthcare in our nation. The mistake was to assume that the radiation exposure to the public due to the small amount of fallout from distant nuclear weapons tests or the operation of nuclear reactors would have no significant adverse effect on human health. This assumption was based on our experience with a half-century of studies that showed no detectable increase in cancer rates for individuals given one or two diagnostic X-rays. What was not understood at the time was that the radioactive elements created in the fission of uranium did not just produce a small increase in the external dose as received from the natural background sources. Instead, the particles and gases produced in the fission process released into the environment would lead to vastly greater radiation damage than from diagnostic X-rays or the gamma rays in background sources because the radioactive fission products and uranium oxides were inhaled and ingested with the milk, the drinking water and the rest of the diet, concentrating in critical organs of the body.

A STUDY into the effects of radiation from Sellafield on fishermen operating in the Irish Sea found they are only exposed to low levels. By Robert Johnson A report by the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland said those who are most exposed still only receive a radiation dose of less than one unit a year, out of the 4,000 units that the average Irish person is exposed to annually. David Pollard, director of the institute's monitoring and measurement services, said: "The levels are very low, but obviously there is particular concern because of the presence of Sellafield."

Former Pantex employees who developed cancer can state their case to a Federal Health Board. The Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health is in Amarillo Tuesday and Wednesday to discuss topics related to energy employees occupational illness. Although not officlally discussing Pantex, the Board will hear from the public from 7pm to 8pm Tuesday and 4pm to 5pm Wednesday at the Holiday Inn, 1911 E. I-40. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health has previously recommended that there is sufficient evidence at Pantex for a "dose reconstruction". It's a method to estimate how much radiation an energy employee was exposed to while working there.

Those working in, and living near, nuclear-power plants - such as the one being considered for construction in Saskatchewan - are more likely than the general population to develop cancer or die from it, according to a research paper being released Tuesday. The 30-page Exposure to Radiation and Health Outcomes, commissioned by the Saskatchewan Union of Nurses and the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, found that chronic exposure to low doses of radiation causes the higher risk. A 15-country, 12-year, 407,391-person study of nuclear-power workers found the employees are twice as likely to die from all causes of cancer than the general public because of the extra radiation exposure, said the report written by Saskatchewan-based health researcher, Mark Lemstra. But in Canada, one of the 15 countries studied, reactor workers are 7.65 times more likely to die from all causes of cancer

On a 2-2 vote, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission was unable to reach a decision on the staff's recommendation to issue a final rule expanding the number and type of radioactive sources covered under the National Source Tracking System (NSTS). "I appreciate the effort Commissioner Lyons has dedicated to the successful implementation of the current National Source Tracking System and the diligent work the NRC staff did to prepare a draft final rule to further expand it," Chairman Gregory B. Jaczko said. "Although the Commission did not approve the expansion of this system today, I look forward to working with my fellow Commissioners to continue to improve on this important piece of our radioactive source security efforts." The final rule would have expanded the NSTS to include Category 3 sources, requiring additional licensees to report information on the manufacture, transfer, receipt, disassembly and disposal of these radioactive sources to the NSTS. These sources include fixed industrial gauges (level gauges, conveyor gauges, thickness gauges, blast furnace gauges, dredger gauges, and pipe gauges); well-logging devices; medium and low-dose-range brachytherapy; and certain radiography devices. Additional details on the proposal can be found on NRC's Web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/commission/secys/2009/.

The operators of Sellafield are to be prosecuted after two contractors received a "higher than anticipated" dose of radiation. The workers were refurbishing a floor at the site's plutonium finishing and storage plant in July 2007 when they were exposed to airborne contamination. Sellafield Ltd is accused of failing to discharge its duty under Section 3 (1) of the Health and Safety Act 1974. The case will be heard at Whitehaven Magistrates' Court on 24 July.

Higher-dose nuclear waste from the Manhattan Project and the Cold War is headed for the first time to a special facility in Carlsbad, New Mexico, officials say. A spokesman for the Los Alamos National Laboratory says the initial truckload of waste material left Los Alamos Tuesday afternoon for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in Carlsbad, The New Mexican reports.

One of the tragic legacies of the nuclear age is the open-air testing that occurred in the 1950s with U.S. servicemen as the guinea pigs. Many contracted cancer from their exposure to radiation and have been trying to extract compensation from the federal government ever since. A recent decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims brings that testing closer to home because the claimant says he worked at Beale Air Force Base in the mid-1950s. But Lyle Larsen wasn't present during the nuclear testing. He claims he received a cancer-causing dose of radiation after the blast. Larsen filed his claim in 1998, alleging he contracted acute myelocytic leukemia - a rare bone marrow cancer - from radiation at the nuclear test site.

eil says: The tour kicks off with our guide, Yuri, telling us about the zone, how polluted it still is (or isn't, in some areas). This is the monument to the firemen who died after the explosion. The monument was erected by the firemen themselves. After the explosion, firemen raced to the plant within two minutes of hearing the alarm, unknowingly exposing themselves to lethal doses of radiation

"Stuart Hinnefeld, interim director of NIOSH (National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health ) explained certain gaps in report presentations on the Huntington Pilot/Reduction Pilot Plant (HPP/RPP), as well as informed speculation related to data. This agency functions to handle radiation dose reconstructions for workers (or their survivors) applying for benefits under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program (EEOICPA). These benefits , in brief, provide compensation to Department of Energy (DOE) employees, its contractors or subcontractors, and atomic weapons workers with radiation induced cancer if the cancer developed after working at a covered facility (of which HPP/RPP is a covered facility) or the cancer is "determined at least as likely as not related to that employment) or the employee fits a Special Exposure Cohort (by working at least 250 days before February 1, 1992 at one or more gaseous diffusion plants or underground nuclear test at Amchitka, Alaska) and developed specified cancers. "

"There is no doubt that there has been a large increase in thyroid cancer incidence due to Chernobyl. I helped to bring this to public attention in 1992; we later showed that most cases have occurred among those who were young children at the time of exposure to high levels of fallout. This increase, initially seen in children is now occurring in young adults. Your special report on radiation (11 January), using World Health Organisation figures, comments that "only a few children have died of cancers since the accident". Apart from the tragedy of any child's death, measuring the impact only by mortality ignores the morbidity. Thyroid cancer generally has a very high cure rate, but thousands of thyroid operations have been carried out, some followed by multiple treatments and other consequences. The effects on the rest of Europe, largely exposed to low-dose radiation, are much less certain. The widely varying assessments of the numbers of deaths attributable to Chernobyl illustrate the need for a definitive unbiased long-term assessment of the overall consequences of the accident, as well as the need to maintain a sense of perspective."

"At least one worker contaminated with radioactivity during an accidental release at the Bruce Power nuclear power station last November may have been exposed to amounts that exceed federally accepted regulations, according to a report submitted to Canada's nuclear industry watchdog. Last month, company officials told a meeting with the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) that workers who were exposed to alpha radiation in the Nov. 26 incident were only subject to "low doses" of contamination. But in a report Friday, the company says preliminary results show that one worker at the plant may have faced overexposure."

"Rates of certain birth defects appear higher than normal in one of the Ukraine regions most affected by the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster, according to a new study. Health The findings, reported in the journal Pediatrics, stand in contrast to a 2005 U.N. report stating that there is no evidence of an increased risk of birth defects or other reproductive effects in areas contaminated by radiation from the Chernobyl accident. The results point to a need for continuing research into birth defects in regions affected by chronic low-dose radiation from Chernobyl, according to researcher Dr. Wladimir Wertelecki of the University of Southern Alabama in Mobile."

"There are new calls for an independent audit into the Lucas Heights nuclear facility, with a whistleblower claiming staff are at risk from serious safety breaches. A suspended employee of the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) facility in Sydney's south has gone public with claims a worker was exposed to a "massive" dose of radiation in a 2008 accident. David Reid was a health and safety officer at ANSTO's Radiopharmaceuticals and Industrials business, ARI, and says a vial of highly radioactive material was dropped, but wasn't reported for hours."

"A man who worked at Australia's only nuclear facility for 28 years has alleged that serious breaches of safety have occurred at the reactor. David Reid has come forward to tell Lateline that safety breaches at Lucas Heights in Sydney were being played down or ignored. He says in 2008 a vial of highly radioactive material was dropped, exposing one employee to a substantial dose of radiation. Mr Reid says the incident was not reported for hours. "

"he Ukrainian Security Service has detained six Ukrainians in Slavyansk, Donetsk region, after allegedly attempting to illegally sell three slabs of depleted uranium weighing in total two and a half kilograms, the Ukrainian State Committee for Nuclear Regulation said in a statement on its website. The arrest was carried out almost two months ago on March 17, with the authorities reporting the arrest on May 12. "The power of the exposure dose on the surface of the seized nuclear material is over 1.2 millirem per hour, which is 100 times the natural background level," the statement said. At the same time, no damage to the population and environment has been detected. Two criminal cases have been launched. "

Radiation exposure is measured by the amount of energy deposited in people's bodies. High dose (10 rad or more in a short time (minutes) could affect some workers in accident situations. Early symptoms of radiation sickness hours to one week (more that 1 gray or 100 rads): nausea and vomiting, diarrhea. Later symptoms of radiation sickness: dizziness and disorientation, hair loss, bloody vomit and stools, infections, poor wound healing, low blood pressure.