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"With the renewed interest in nuclear weapons I have been struck by how few people there still are who have seen one explode. There are a few survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and there are a small number who witnessed some of the above ground test explosions. But the last American above-ground test was in 1962 and the last above-ground test by any country was conducted by the Chinese in 1980. This means that the Indians, Pakistanis, Israelis-to say nothing of the Iranians and North Koreans-have never seen a nuclear explosion. In the main, this is a very good thing: the fallout from such a test is a real health hazard. But there is a downside. We have lost the experience of watching a nuclear explosion-perhaps the most powerful lesson about nuclear bombs there is."

In the late nineties, the State Department of Health looked into a possible cancer cluster in St. Lucie County. There were 28 cases of brain and central nervous system cancers in kids. No pattern was established. No cluster proven. As well and soil tests wrap up this week, some sobering facts about providing clusters exist. The centers for Disease Control conducted 108 cancer cluster investigations between 1961 and 1990. None of them found an environmental cause for cancer. Local and State Health Departments now bear the burden of investigating clusters and there are 1,000 reported in the U.S. every year. Since 1995, only about 50 clusters have been confirmed in the country. The DEP tests of wells and the counties tests of soil at schools go forward with the knowledge that in only one case, at Southside High School in Elmira New York, have children been victimized by toxic exposure. 20 cases of testicular cancer was documented.The school had been built near an industrial site.

In the late nineties, the State Department of Health looked into a possible cancer cluster in St. Lucie County. There were 28 cases of brain and central nervous system cancers in kids. No pattern was established. No cluster proven. As well and soil tests wrap up this week, some sobering facts about providing clusters exist. The centers for Disease Control conducted 108 cancer cluster investigations between 1961 and 1990. None of them found an environmental cause for cancer. Local and State Health Departments now bear the burden of investigating clusters and there are 1,000 reported in the U.S. every year. Since 1995, only about 50 clusters have been confirmed in the country. The DEP tests of wells and the counties tests of soil at schools go forward with the knowledge that in only one case, at Southside High School in Elmira New York, have children been victimized by toxic exposure. 20 cases of testicular cancer was documented.The school had been built near an industrial site.

A group of island residents and members of the Pacific Association for Radiation Survivors met yesterday to discuss legislation that proposes to include Guam in the federal Radiation Exposure Compensation Act. Advertisement The federal RECA law, passed in 1990, compensates people who have been diagnosed with specific cancers and chronic diseases that could have resulted from exposure to agents associated with nuclear weapons testing, according to a 2005 report published by the National Academy of Sciences' National Research Council. The law covers exposure to nuclear tests carried out for more than 20 years during and after World War II. According to the report, both on-site participants of above-ground nuclear tests and "downwinders" in areas designated by RECA are eligible for compensation. Areas of Nevada, Utah and Arizona are covered in the law as "Downwind Counties," the report states.

A group of island residents and members of the Pacific Association for Radiation Survivors met yesterday to discuss legislation that proposes to include Guam in the federal Radiation Exposure Compensation Act. Advertisement The federal RECA law, passed in 1990, compensates people who have been diagnosed with specific cancers and chronic diseases that could have resulted from exposure to agents associated with nuclear weapons testing, according to a 2005 report published by the National Academy of Sciences' National Research Council. The law covers exposure to nuclear tests carried out for more than 20 years during and after World War II. According to the report, both on-site participants of above-ground nuclear tests and "downwinders" in areas designated by RECA are eligible for compensation. Areas of Nevada, Utah and Arizona are covered in the law as "Downwind Counties," the report states.

Contents KK-7 Stopped Due to Radioactive Leak, KK-6 Begins Start-up Tests Local groups demand that start-up tests be suspended until investigations into KK-7's leaking fuel rod problem have been concluded and that both KK-6 and KK-7 be immediately shut down. Hamaoka Nuclear Power Station Struck By Earthquake The fact that an earthquake that arose so far away could cause so large a ground motion begs the question of whether the plant could withstand an earthquake immediately beneath the plant. Nuclear Energy Policy Under a New Government It might be hoped that a change of government would herald a change of nuclear energy policy, but we should not be too sanguine about the chances of a significant improvement. Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant: 14 Month Delay The estimated date of completion of construction and testing of its Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant has been extended by fourteen months to October 2010. It is the seventeenth time that the schedule had been extended. Public Finance and Export Insurance for Nuclear-Related Exports NGOs demand rigorous safety assessment, information disclosure and stakeholder involvement. An accident not to be forgotten: 10 Years have passed since the JCO Criticality Accident It might not have been so when the plant was first constructed, but at the time of the accident the plant was surrounded by houses. Nuclear fuel should not be handled in such places. Workers' Radiation Exposure Data for FY2008 The total collective dose in FY 2008 for people working at nuclear power plants was 84.04 person sieverts, an increase of 5.86 person sieverts compared to the previous year. Who's Who: Hiromitsu Ino There are many superb specialists in all sorts of academic fields, but there is one important difference between Ino and a large percentage of these "experts". That is that Ino succeeded in bridging the gap between specialist research and social activism.

Contents KK-7 Stopped Due to Radioactive Leak, KK-6 Begins Start-up Tests Local groups demand that start-up tests be suspended until investigations into KK-7's leaking fuel rod problem have been concluded and that both KK-6 and KK-7 be immediately shut down. Hamaoka Nuclear Power Station Struck By Earthquake The fact that an earthquake that arose so far away could cause so large a ground motion begs the question of whether the plant could withstand an earthquake immediately beneath the plant. Nuclear Energy Policy Under a New Government It might be hoped that a change of government would herald a change of nuclear energy policy, but we should not be too sanguine about the chances of a significant improvement. Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant: 14 Month Delay The estimated date of completion of construction and testing of its Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant has been extended by fourteen months to October 2010. It is the seventeenth time that the schedule had been extended. Public Finance and Export Insurance for Nuclear-Related Exports NGOs demand rigorous safety assessment, information disclosure and stakeholder involvement. An accident not to be forgotten: 10 Years have passed since the JCO Criticality Accident It might not have been so when the plant was first constructed, but at the time of the accident the plant was surrounded by houses. Nuclear fuel should not be handled in such places. Workers' Radiation Exposure Data for FY2008 The total collective dose in FY 2008 for people working at nuclear power plants was 84.04 person sieverts, an increase of 5.86 person sieverts compared to the previous year. Who's Who: Hiromitsu Ino There are many superb specialists in all sorts of academic fields, but there is one important difference between Ino and a large percentage of these "experts". That is that Ino succeeded in bridging the gap between specialist research and social activism.

A rapid-fire exchange of press releases this week Friday, Nov 13 made short order of a claim [press release] by Friends of the Earth (FOE) and the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) that the end of testing of MOX fuel in a Duke Power reactor is a "huge setback" to the program. Identical letters sent Nov 10 by Tom Clements representing both two green organizations to Energy Sec. Steven Chu and NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko claimed that a decision by Duke not to reload test bundles of MOX fuel at the Catawba reactor represents a "failure to demonstrate" the safety of the fuel in a conventional light water reactor. The letter called the situation "an aborted test" and claimed that as a result the MOX fuel is unsafe for use in civilian nuclear reactors. The remainder of the letter is incendiary with claims that the MOX fuel program should not proceed as a result of the "decision" by Duke Energy.

A rapid-fire exchange of press releases this week Friday, Nov 13 made short order of a claim [press release] by Friends of the Earth (FOE) and the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) that the end of testing of MOX fuel in a Duke Power reactor is a "huge setback" to the program. Identical letters sent Nov 10 by Tom Clements representing both two green organizations to Energy Sec. Steven Chu and NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko claimed that a decision by Duke not to reload test bundles of MOX fuel at the Catawba reactor represents a "failure to demonstrate" the safety of the fuel in a conventional light water reactor. The letter called the situation "an aborted test" and claimed that as a result the MOX fuel is unsafe for use in civilian nuclear reactors. The remainder of the letter is incendiary with claims that the MOX fuel program should not proceed as a result of the "decision" by Duke Energy.

Reporting from Yucca Flat, Nev. - A sea of ancient water tainted by the Cold War is creeping deep under the volcanic peaks, dry lake beds and pinyon pine forests covering a vast tract of Nevada. Over 41 years, the federal government detonated 921 nuclear warheads underground at the Nevada Test Site, 75 miles northeast of Las Vegas. Each explosion deposited a toxic load of radioactivity into the ground and, in some cases, directly into aquifers. When testing ended in 1992, the Energy Department estimated that more than 300 million curies of radiation had been left behind, making the site one of the most radioactively contaminated places in the nation. During the era of weapons testing, Nevada embraced its role almost like a patriotic duty. There seemed to be no better use for an empty desert. But today, as Nevada faces a water crisis and

Reporting from Yucca Flat, Nev. - A sea of ancient water tainted by the Cold War is creeping deep under the volcanic peaks, dry lake beds and pinyon pine forests covering a vast tract of Nevada. Over 41 years, the federal government detonated 921 nuclear warheads underground at the Nevada Test Site, 75 miles northeast of Las Vegas. Each explosion deposited a toxic load of radioactivity into the ground and, in some cases, directly into aquifers. When testing ended in 1992, the Energy Department estimated that more than 300 million curies of radiation had been left behind, making the site one of the most radioactively contaminated places in the nation. During the era of weapons testing, Nevada embraced its role almost like a patriotic duty. There seemed to be no better use for an empty desert. But today, as Nevada faces a water crisis and

How careful do patients have to be following nuclear diagnostic tests, or after radiation for the treatment of cancer? How long do these nuclear materials remain in the body? And how long will this radiation remain detectable and transmissible to others? A report from Johns Hopkins University says that patients, following radiation, must be made aware that they can pass along radiation to others. But unlike cholesterol, this subject is rarely, if ever, discussed at the dinner table. The problem is that nuclear diagnostic tests are not going to go away or decrease. Rather, unless we develop other means of diagnosis, these tests will increase in the years ahead. During scans to detect thyroid disease, coronary troubles and cancer, radioactive drugs are either injected, taken orally or inhaled. Gamma cameras or positron emission tomography (PET) scanners can then detect this energy and use it to produce images of the body on a computer.

How careful do patients have to be following nuclear diagnostic tests, or after radiation for the treatment of cancer? How long do these nuclear materials remain in the body? And how long will this radiation remain detectable and transmissible to others? A report from Johns Hopkins University says that patients, following radiation, must be made aware that they can pass along radiation to others. But unlike cholesterol, this subject is rarely, if ever, discussed at the dinner table. The problem is that nuclear diagnostic tests are not going to go away or decrease. Rather, unless we develop other means of diagnosis, these tests will increase in the years ahead. During scans to detect thyroid disease, coronary troubles and cancer, radioactive drugs are either injected, taken orally or inhaled. Gamma cameras or positron emission tomography (PET) scanners can then detect this energy and use it to produce images of the body on a computer.

"Nearly two months after the start of the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, only 10 percent of workers there had been tested for internal radiation exposure caused by inhalation or ingestion of radioactive substances, due to a shortage of testing equipment available for them. Tokyo Electric Power Co., operator of the crippled nuclear compound, is finding it impossible to use testing apparatus set up inside the facility because of high radiation levels recorded near the equipment. A number of personnel working to overcome the nuclear crisis at the facility are increasingly alarmed by their lack of internal exposure testing. Some have said they may have to continue to work at the facility without knowing whether their radiation exposure levels have exceeded the upper limit set by the government. On Tuesday, the government revealed a timetable for ending the nuclear crisis. The road map called for increased surveillance of the workers' radiation levels, including a measure requiring TEPCO to periodically report such data to the government."

"Tularosa downwinders prepare for vigil, meetings this week There will be a candle for Ruthina Utter Tyler, who died after battling a series of cancers. There will be a candle for Tony Cordova, who endures two types of cancer, and a candle for Demetrio Montoya, a former mayor of Tularosa who died of pancreatic cancer. There will be candles for mothers, sons, a daughter or a father, a grandparent who told their children of their memories of that morning 65 years ago when the brilliant light and roar of the very first detonation of a radioactive bomb at the historic Trinity Test site brought a secret military project to the Tularosa Basin and an unexamined legacy. These and hundreds of others will be honored at a candlelight vigil Friday evening at the Tularosa Little League Park to begin a weekend of educational programs and documentation of as many oral histories as possible of the fateful day. Organizers hope it will bring more light onto the dark secret of suffering and a widespread "cancer culture" among residents of the area. Ruthina Tyler believed her cancers were a result of exposures throughout her life to the contaminated food, water and land after the Trinity Test. Her son Fred Tyler agreed with her and while she was still alive, he publicly questioned the impacts of the historic test on local residents in Tularosa and the surrounding areas."

Nearly 1,000 veterans made ill after British nuclear bomb testing are going to the High Court to claim the MoD knowingly exposed them to the affects of radiation. The 970 British, New Zealand and Fijian claimants say that they have suffered illnesses - including cancers, skin defects and fertility problems - after testing in the South Pacific in the 1950s. The claimants say it has only been due to new technology that the link between the tests are their illnesses has been established They are claiming millions of pounds of compensation from the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and say the Government knew it was exposing them to contamination.

One of Poolesville's wells may need to be taken out of use due to elevated levels of radiation-emitting elements, according to preliminary test results. The town has been testing its water since the Maryland Department of the Environment detected elevated alpha-emitting radionuclide levels in three of Poolesville's nine wells - 4, 7 and 9/10 - in November 2005. All community water systems were tested to ensure compliance with new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standards.

A bill to "provide supplemental ex gratia compensation to the Republic of the Marshall Islands for impacts of the nuclear testing program of the United States, and for other purposes" was reported and placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders, Calendar No. 976, on September 16, 2008. The cost estimate, completed last week by the Congressional Budget Office(CBO), follows: S. 1756 would amend the Compact of Free Association Amendments Act of 2003 and the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000. The legislation would appropriate $4.5 million annually (plus adjustments for inflation) over the 2009-2023 period to supplement health care in communities affected by the U.S. nuclear testing program. In addition, under S. 1756, workers employed at nuclear test sites would be eligible for compensation and medical benefits. Finally, the legislation would require monitoring of a specific nuclear test site. CBO estimates that enacting this bill would increase direct spending by $7 million in 2009, $31 million over the 2009-2013 period, and $57 million over the 2009-2018 period. Enacting the bill would not affect revenues. We estimate that additional administrative costs would total less than $300,000 annually over the 2009-2013 period, assuming appropriation of the necessary funds. S. 1756 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA) and would not affect the budgets of state, local, or tribal governments. ESTIMATED COST TO THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

Kazakstan's nuclear test zone has lain deserted for the last 20 years largely forgotten by the outside world, but experts say radiation will continue to be a health risk until the huge site is cleaned up thoroughly. The testing ground was closed for use in 1991. This month, the international Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization is running a series of trials at the Semipalatinsk site to test equipment that can identify and give the location of nuclear explosions

India's status as a nuclear power has been described as a "myth" by the scientist who carried out its controversial hydrogen bomb tests in 1998. He said the device had only "fizzled". The claims by the test director K Santhanam have provoked an outcry in India which treasures its nuclear status as a symbol of its power in Asia where it has been locked in an arms race with both Pakistan and China. The Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh recently unveiled India's first nuclear submarine as a statement of its naval ambitions. But according to K. Santhanam, who directed the secret detonations of five Shakt' nuclear devices at their nuclear test site at Pokhran, in the Rajasthan desert, the true test results were covered up and falsely hailed as a success by the Hindu nationalist BJP government.

Four security guards at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant were fired after testing positive for steroids, a spokeswoman for Wackenhut Services Inc., the government's security contractor, confirmed today. The guards union, however, is challenging two of the cases, claiming the positive readings were linked to use of over-the-counter supplements. Security police officers at Y-12 are subject to regular and random drug testing, but those tests are typically for Schedule I and II drugs - such as cocaine and marijuana. Courtney Henry of Wackenhut said the company began testing some guards for anabolic sterioids, a Schedule III drug, "for probable cause."

The EPA will drill test holes looking for uranium-contaminated waste that villagers fear is a threat to their downstream springs. A dump near Tuba City that has been leaching low levels of radioactive waste into the shallow aquifer finally is getting some federal attention, if not an actual cleanup yet. The Environmental Protection Agency plans to fence off a remaining section of an old dump, near two Hopi villages, and test for hot spots of radioactivity close by. This includes one area where the agency says uranium levels in the water exceed what's federally considered safe for drinking water by eight times. Local villagers who believe their downstream springs are threatened have long sought a total excavation of the dump. Uranium-related waste found in the testing will be removed with heavy equipment beginning in October, and 263 new testing holes will be dug to search for more.

Energy Secretary Steven Chu today announced that $44 million will be used for environmental cleanup at the Nevada Test Site where nuclear weapons experiments were conducted during the Cold War. The funding is part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and is part of $6 billion to be used for cleanup nationwide. The Nevada Test Site, 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas, will continue its activities to monitor groundwater, explore soil and groundwater contamination and remove contaminated materials, Chu said. The Test Site was the continental proving ground for experimenting with both above-ground and underground nuclear weapons for the United States from 1951 until 1992.

"When the U.S. Government began testing nuclear weapons between July 1945 and November 1962, about the only things test officials were sure of was that the bombs made big explosions and intriguing mushroom clouds. Since then, scientists and doctors have identified the deadly effects of radiation poisoning. Representatives from the Radiation Exposure Screening and Education Program (RESEP) offer an educational lecture forum at 9 a.m. Thursday at Sharlot Hall Museum Library and Archives, 115 S. McCormick St., in Prescott. "Commonly known as the 'Downwinder Program,' RESEP helps individuals who live, or lived, in areas where U.S. nuclear weapons testing occurred," Sharlot Hall archivist Scott Anderson wrote in a press release. "The RESEP website lists Arizona as a high impact state." The Health Resources and Services Administration, which is an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, oversees the radiation exposure program. The Radiation Exposure Compensation Program offers compensation payments from $50,000 to $100,000 for specific cancers and chronic diseases that may have resulted from radiation exposure. Sharlot Hall Museum Archives is one of the statewide locations where residents can search for proof of residency during the testing periods in order to file a claim for compensation."

"Former Nevada Test Site workers who are seeking compensation from the federal government for cancer they contracted while working on underground nuclear tests are one big step closer to achieving that goal. The Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health has granted "special exposure cohort status" to individuals who worked at the Test Site from 1963 through 1992, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., announced today. Reid hailed the unanimous vote as great news for workers who served the nation during the Cold War."

"The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Thursday a decision about whether Powertech USA will be permitted to conduct an aquifer pump test for its proposed Centennial Project uranium mine northeast of Fort Collins will be announced by mid-April. If approved, Powertech will be allowed to test the feasibility of in situ leach mining for uranium at the Centennial Project site. The test could help regulators find answers to questions about how the underlying aquifer works and how any contamination from the mine could move through it and affect groundwater elsewhere. Powertech's in situ leach mining method would pump a baking-soda-like fluid into the ground, which would loosen uranium from the underground rock formation, then pump the fluid back out of the ground, taking the uranium with it. The proposed pump test would allow Powertech to pump water out of the uranium-containing aquifer, store it and reinject it. The mining could have the greatest impact on the Laramie-Fox Hills aquifer, which many surrounding landowners have tapped for their well water. "