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"As a 21-year-old, Ric Johnstone drove 150 miles daily across the scorching vastness of the Australian outback to work. A motor mechanic in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), he spent 1956 servicing military vehicles in the Great Victorian Desert. He lived with 300 other men in a tent town, eating dinners of bullied beef with the occasional vegetable. Johnstone described his first six months as similar to being a prisoner in a chain gang: "There was no church, no women, no entertainment, nothing.""

"DTE Energy is preparing to load highly radioactive bundles of used fuel from its Fermi 2 nuclear reactor into giant outside storage casks near the power plant. Six of the 20-foot-tall casks have been set up on a concrete pad in the plant's high-security "protected area," all part of a new $62.5 million spent-fuel storage facility. "We're in the testing and inspection phase right now," said Guy Cerullo, a DTE spokesman at the plant. "We're testing the process. They're doing sort of a dry run. Plans are to begin loading the first containers sometime this spring or early summer.""

"Some toiled in uranium mines, transported the extracted ore and carried it home on their clothes. Others participated in nuclear weapons testing or lived downwind from test sites. Not all have been compensated, let alone know about a federal program that does so. Larry Martinez knows of thousands of them who live on the Navajo Nation, and this summer he hopes to get some help finding more in the towns that dot the 27,000-square-mile reservation. A new U.S. Department of Justice program will select 30 students to travel the vast reservation and other communities in the Four Corners region to identify potential participants in the federal compensation program."

"A bill that would prohibit 'blending' of nuclear waste in Tennessee, a process that is being tested at an Oak Ridge facility, failed on a 3-3 tie vote Tuesday in a House subcommittee after a Roane County legislator said it would jeopardize East Tennessee jobs. The bill was sponsored by Rep. Ty Cobb, D-Columbia, who said the blended waste could pose a health risk and wind up being permanently stored in Tennessee. That could include 20,000 tons of nuclear waste from Italy, he said. But Rep. Dennis Ferguson, D-Harriman, said EnergySolutions Inc., which is testing the process, and other companies involved have a 'great safety record,' much expertise and employ about 600 people in Roane and neighboring counties at a time when the 'economy is critical.'"

"The Supreme Court won't hear an appeal from the indigious people of the Marshall Islands over whether they can sue the federal government again for blowing up and irradiating the land during nuclear tests in the 1940s and 1950s. The high court on Monday turned away the appeal from the people of Bikini Atoll and Enewetak Atoll, both part of the Marshall Islands. The United States detonated 67 nuclear tests in the Marshall Islands, then a U.S. protectorate under the United Nations. The blasts were equal to exploding 1.6 Hiroshima atomic bombs a day for 12 years. The federal government agreed to pay the people of Enewetak $385 million and the people of Bikini $563 million for the loss of their land. But only a token amount has been paid so far."

"Samples of the depleted uranium waste from a government cleanup in South Carolina show that it meets a key safety limit, said the Utah Department of Environmental Quality. State regulators heard about the test results Monday from a Tennessee laboratory, which sampled 171 of the 5,400 drums sent most recently to Utah from the Savannah River Project cleanup for technetium-99, a waste product of reprocessing. "

"It's the story of some Arizona residents who believe they have been victimized by the U.S. government not once, but twice. In February, Rep. Trent Franks introduced H.R. 4712, a measure meant to remunerate Mohave residents who were adversely affected by above ground nuclear testing that took place in the 1950s and '60s. The bill would allow those in Mohave County to make claims under the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, which was designed to proved payment to those who developed serious illnesses, including cancer, as a result of radiation exposure in the wake of those tests. Mohave County was not included as an eligible compensation area when RECA was passed in 1990. It was overlooked again when RECA was amended in 2000 to include more areas."

"Congresswoman Madeleine Bordallo says the The RECA Amendments Act of 2010 extends eligibility for compensation to residents of Guam who may have been exposed to radiation. The act makes claimants eligible for $150,000 in damages regardless of their occupation, provided that they were living. The Amendments to the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) were introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Congressman Ben Ray Luján of New Mexico. Congresswoman Bordallo was one of eight original co-sponsors of the House bill. Senator Tom Udall of New Mexico introduced identical companion legislation in the Senate yesterday as well. "The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) Amendments Act of 2010 will amend the RECA compensation program to expand the program to include geographic areas that were not part of the original legislation," Congresswoman Bordallo said. "Many people in the designated areas have been affected by nuclear testing, including downwinders on Guam. This bill is a coordinated and concerted effort by Members of Congress representing possible nuclear testing victims. I would like to thank Congressman Luján and Senator Udall for their leadership in introducing this legislation. I would also like to commend Mr. Robert Celestial for his many years of advocacy on behalf of the Pacific Association of Radiation Survivors.""

Expand eligibility for program A coalition of senators from the West is proposing to expand the number of Americans eligible for the Radiation Exposure Compensation Program. This would be a compassionate way to extend redress to people in Utah and other states who are not eligible for compensation now. Congress should enact it. Congress created the program in 1990 to compensate Americans who likely suffered cancers and other illnesses caused by nuclear fallout from above-ground testing of atomic weapons in Nevada between 1951 and 1962. It also compensates those who mined, milled and transported uranium for the weapons and got sick as a result. Congress expanded eligibility in 2000. People qualify for an award if they are diagnosed with one or more of 27 medical conditions and prove that they lived in a designated area downwind or worked in the uranium industry during a specific time period. The law covers all states where uranium was mined and processed as well as certain counties in Nevada, Utah and Arizona, where fallout from the nuclear testing was significantly measured. "

"Fly ash produced by the Marsa power station when it was still coal-fired, which was dumped on the cliff-edge in Bengħaisa, contained high levels of radioactivity, according to a University study. The pulverised fuel ash had "very high levels of all the radionuclides (radioactive contaminants) under test, namely K40, PB212 and PB214", the research found. The three elements are derivatives of potassium and lead. Winds and rain occasionally spill the fly ash, which was covered with soil off the cliff-edge and into the sea below. The mound is situated at the back of the Freeport on the south eastern cliff face that borders Ħal Far industrial estate. Scientific tests on the mound of fly ash were conducted five years ago by Josette Camilleri and Franco Montesin from the University's Faculty of Architecture and Civil Engineering and Michael Sammut from the hospital's Pathology Department. The study was published in the American journal Waste Management. "I was surprised by the reaction when it was recently revealed that fly ash from the power stations was dumped in a quarry, because everybody seems to have forgotten that radioactive fly ash produced when coal was burned at Marsa was dumped in a disused quarry at Bengħisa," Dr Camilleri said."

"Toshiba is still planning to apply this year for federal approval to test its small-scale nuclear power plant in Galena, according to various reports. The Japanese company is planning reactors known as "4S," meaing "super-safe, small and simple," with hopes of starting construction in 2014. "We aim to get 4S orders in remote areas where it is more cost-efficient to generate power on a local basis than use power grids," spokesman Keisuke Ohmori told Business Week. "A great many people are interested." Toshiba and TerraPower, a company controlled by Bill Gates, have been in talks about engineering and research issues related to what is known as a "traveling wave reactor" that would use depleted uranium."

"I thank you for this special opportunity. I am here as a Senator from Kwajalein Atoll in the National Parliament of the Marshall Islands, the Nitijela. With me from Kwajalein are Iroij Senator Michael Kabua, Iroij Senator Christopher Loeak, Iroij Rod Nakamura, Senator Jeban Riklon, Alap Fredley Mawilong, and Alap Irumne Bondrik. We appear before you today representing the four Traditional Leaders of Kwajalein: Iroijlaplap Imata Kabua, Iroijlaplap Anjua Loeak, Iroij laplap Nelu, and Leroij Likwor Litokwa, all their elders, and all the people who belong to Kwajalein. This all inclusive leadership and grass roots delegation is unique in this aspect but is also reflective of our fervent desire to find a solution to the continuing disagreement which threatens to undermine the long and enduring relationship between our two countries. The story of Kwajalein is not new to the Honorable Members of this Committee. Kwajalein continues to play a significant role in America's quest for superiority in military technology as well as in lending support to the many diverse efforts of the United States to maintain international peace and security. Since 1944, Kwajalein has been an integral part of America's defense, from its early days of serving as a naval ah base, through its role as support base for the testing of Nuclear Weapons in the Marshall Islands from 1946-1958, to its present status as America's foremost testing facility for its missile defense programs. The Marshall Islands are a proud and reliable friend of the United States, and Kwajalein is an indispensable component of that friendship."

"A Connecticut River fish caught four miles upstream from the Vermont Yankee nuclear reactor this winter tested positive for low levels of strontium-90, a highly dangerous radioactive isotope recently confirmed in soil outside the plant. But the Department of Health said Monday that the fish's strontium-90 was not related to this winter's radioactive leak at Vermont Yankee, and state officials attributed the strontium to atmospheric testing in the 1960s and the Chernobyl nuclear disaster 20 years ago, which spread radioactive fallout even as far away as Vermont."

"Breaking the tradition of not naming countries, the first draft of the final document of 2010 Nuclear-Non Proliferation Treaty Review conference has asked India, Pakistan and Israel to join NPT and CTBT. "The conference calls upon India, Israel and Pakistan to accede to the treaty as non-nuclear weapon States, promptly and without conditions, thereby accepting an internationally legally binding commitment not to acquire nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices," the first draft of the document said. "The conference also calls upon India and Pakistan to maintain moratoriums on nuclear testing and calls upon India, Israel and Pakistan to sign and ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) without delay and without conditions," it said."

" Workers at the Grand Gulf Nuclear Plant in Port Gibson, Miss., last Thursday released a large amount of radioactive tritium directly into the Mississippi River, according to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), and experts are currently trying to sort out the situation. An investigation is currently underway to determine why the tritium was even present in standing water found in an abandoned unit of the plant, as well as how much of this dangerous nuclear byproduct ended up getting dumped into the river. Many also want to know why workers released the toxic tritium before conducting proper tests. The Mississippi Natchez Democrat reports that crews first discovered the radioactive water in the plant's Unit 2 turbine building after heavy rains began hitting the area last week. Unit 2 was a partially-constructed, abandoned structure that should not have contained any radioactive materials, let alone tritium, which is commonly used to manufacture nuclear weapons and test atomic bombs (http://www.nirs.org/radiation/triti...)."

"According to Japanese news sources, Japanese whalers tested 6 of 17 whales captured 650 kilometers north-east of the Fukushima nuclear reactor. Of the 6 whales tested 2 were found to contain cesium radiation which must have come from the Fukushima nuclear reactor. The first whale contained 31 becquerels per kilogram of cesium radiation and the second whale and the 24.3 becquerels of radioactive cesium per kilogram. Japan Finds Nuclear Radiation In Whales Caught 650 KM From Fukushima Tokyo - Radioactive caesium was detected from two minke whales caught off a city on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, 650 kilometres north-east of a damaged nuclear plant, a news report said on Tuesday. Researchers examined six of the 17 whales during so-called research whaling in Kushiro city, which started this year's season in late April, and they detected 31 becquerels and 24.3 becquerels of radioactive caesium per kilogram in the two whales out of the six, Kyodo News reported citing a whalers' association."

The Semipalatinsk region suffered under four decades of Soviet nuclear testing. Now, the country wants to become an international research hub for the effects of radiation on future generations. Matilda Lee reports from Kazakhstan Ground zero is an hour and a half drive away from the Kazakh National Nuclear Centre (NNC) along a dusty road in the seemingly endless steppe. The Ecologist is in the Semipalatinsk (renamed Semey in 1991) region of eastern Kazakhstan to observe one of the world's nuclear hotspots: the epicenter of the Soviet Union's previous - and highly controversial - nuclear testing programme.

Title of article now represents the minimum percentage that the radiation found in Hawaii is over EPA standards. New EPA milk samples in Hawaii show radiation in milk at 800% above limits for Cs-134, 633% above limits for Cs-137 and 600% above EPA maximum for I-131 for a total of 2033%, or 20.33 times, above the federal drinking water limits. New readings have also been posted for Phoenix AZ with milk being above the federal limit and Los Angeles with milk being slightly below the limit for Iodine. Montpelier VT milk has tested positive for radioactive CS-137, above about 2/3rds the EPA maximum and Spokane WA milk testing less than half the limit for i-131.

"The state misidentified a town in a public announcement during a drill at the Salem nuclear power plant, the Office of Emergency Management said Thursday. The mistake and a delay in getting instructions out to the public mean the state will have to conduct a second drill in July. The drill tested the state's response to a nuclear disaster May 18. In a mock public notice, the state misidentified a town that was subject to a fish advisory, officials said. The state also took 62 minutes to make all the necessary preparations to direct the public to evacuate, take shelter or consume potassium iodide pills in response to the nuclear accident. The Federal Emergency Management Agency said the directions should have been issued within 45 to 50 minutes. Everything else in the biannual drill went smoothly, state officials said."

Tokyo Electric Power Co. will seek a ban on the operation of its quake-damaged nuclear plant lifted, paving the way for a test run when it completes repairs of one of the reactors next month. "We will ask the local fire department to check our facility," President Masataka Shimizu told reporters today. Tepco will fix a turbine in early February, the final repair on the No. 7 reactor at its Kashiwazaki Kariwa nuclear plant, he said. Six other reactors are still being worked on. The Kashiwazaki Fire Department imposed the ban after a magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck the plant on July 16, 2007, causing a fire and radiation leaks. Shimizu said he doesn't know when he can resume output at Kashiwazaki Kariwa, the world's biggest nuclear plant.