***************************************************************** 06/13/01 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 9.148 ***************************************************************** RADBULL IS PRODUCED BY THE ABALONE ALLIANCE CLEARINGHOUSE ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR POWER CONTENTS 1 Only energy firms allowed to acquire KEPCO affiliates, government 2 -Protests hit nuclear waste train bound for France 3 Cancellation of hearing on nuclear power plant at Temelin demanded 4 Germany Takes First Step to Scrap Nuclear Power 5 Public criticizes Bush plan to energy panel 6 ADAMS: Items of Interest - Wednesday, June 13, 2001 7 Consumers in Nuclear States Pay 25 Percent More for Electricity, 8 Clyde C. Osterholtz Named NRC Senior Resident Inspector at San 9 Nuclear energy agreement: an acceptable compromise - 10 Senate: Go slow on nuke restarts 11 Only energy firms allowed to acquire KEPCO affiliates, government 12 NRC to Meet with Entergy Nuclear Northeast 13 NRC to Hold Public Meetings on Discrimination Task Group Draft 14 AGs Warn Feds: Radioactive Waste Cleanup Delays Will Be Costly 15 Bush Extends Russian Uranium Order NUCLEAR WEAPONS CONTENTS 1 Expert witness for Rocky Flats workers violated gag order 2 _No bio hazard from radioactive waste_ 3 Town nears end of thorium saga 4 South Seattle pollution trail hard to follow 5 GROUNDWATER CONTAMINATION: Test Site monitoring faces review 6 Iraq did not make a nuclear test in 1989 7 Meetings set for Oak Ridge health compensation plan 8 Terrorism will become more violent, Canadians more likely targets, says CSIS 9 As protesters multiply, will actions escalate? 10 Search underway for source of human bones used in experiments 11 Energy Department Updates List Of Sites Covered by Worker 12 Democrats want Maralinga study to include disabled claims 13 Technology:Beryllium report attacked in court 14 Feds talk compensation to nuclear workers 15 Workers sacrificed, jurors told_ ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR POWER ARTICLES ***************************************************************** 1 Only energy firms allowed to acquire KEPCO affiliates, government says Korea Herald http://www.koreaherald.com The government has decided to restrict domestic candidates for the takeover of the power-generation units of Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) to corporations with affiliates engaged in the energy business, a government official said yesterday. The official said the decision is based on the principle recently enunciated by the Fair Trade Commission that the top 30 chaebol groups will be freed from regulations that restrict their equity investments once the investments are aimed at bolstering their core strengths. "It follows from this principle that corporations which have already engaged in the energy business will be allowed to participate in the KEPCO privatization process," the official said. Therefore, the LG and SK groups, which own power generating affiliates, are likely to participate in KEPCO's privatization either on their own or by forming a consortium with foreign companies. Five or six major foreign energy companies, such as Tractebel, Shell and El Paso, are also said to be interested in the sales of KEPCO's thermal power generation firms. The Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy is reviewing its policy to privatize one of KEPCO's five affiliates next February, selling its stakes through a competitive bidding process. The sale of the remaining four affiliates would depend on the result of the first project. "There's no change in the basic structure of the plan, but we need to thoroughly examine the buyers and the method of privatization considering national sentiment and the stock market," a ministry official said. "Therefore, the government will establish a plan shortly after it has consulted with related ministries and industries." KEPCO completed dividing its power generation operations into one nuclear power company and five thermal power generation firms April 2. The thermal power generation firms are to be privatized one by one starting in February next year, while the new nuclear unit will be retained by KEPCO. (jhl@koreaherald.co.kr By Lee Jae-hee Staff reporter (C) Copyright 2000 Digital Korea Herald. All rights reserved. for ***************************************************************** 2 -Protests hit nuclear waste train bound for France Welcome to The PMA OnLine Power Report ( June 12, 2001 ) ROUEN, France, June 12 (Reuters) - Protesters lay across rail tracks and lit firecrackers on Tuesday in a bid to halt a train carrying nuclear waste from Germany across northern France for reprocessing, French Green Party leaders said. The train, which left Germany on Monday evening, has encountered several protests on its way to the recycling plant at La Hague, on France's Channel coast. The controversial resumption of nuclear waste transfers from Germany to France for reprocessing and back again for storage, agreed in January, has angered environmentalists concerned about the dangers posed by nuclear energy and its waste. Close to the northwestern French city of Rouen, and again in Bayeux, the train carrying waste from German nuclear power stations Biblis and Philippsburg was held up by protesters lying on the tracks. A spokesman for the Rouen area Green Party said about 30 activists belonging to the Communist Revolutionary League took up positions on the tracks at a station near Rouen in the early morning and laid metal rods and sleepers on the rails. They succeeded in delaying the train by an hour. Local Green Party leader Alain Gruenais told Reuters some 20 people again delayed the train by half an hour near Caen. Earlier demonstrators set up two red lights and, in a separate protest, lit smoke bombs obscuring the driver's vision just ahead of a bridge, forcing the train to stop. Police arrested about a dozen activists but they were quickly released. The transfer is the third since France and Germany agreed to resume the movement of nuclear waste in January after a two-year break. Under the German government's plan to phase out nuclear energy such transfers will continue until 2005. Copyright © 2001 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 3 Cancellation of hearing on nuclear power plant at Temelin demanded Welcome to The PMA OnLine Power Report ( June 12, 2001 ) Linz (APA) - In Upper Austria province, parties and anti-nuclear activist groups demanded on Tuesday the cancellation of a hearing on the Czech nuclear power plant at Temelin scheduled for June 26. The documents provided by the Czech Republic made a serious environmental test process impossible, the opponents of the power plant told reporters. Provincial governor Josef Puehringer of the conservative People's Party (VP) said that he wanted to to effect a cancellation by environmental minister Wilhelm Molterer of the VP. Upper Austria's government member for the environment Ursula Haubner of the VP said, the province should not act "as a stage for such an event". She would do everything possible to prevent the hearing. Upper Austria Freedom Party (FP) leader Hans Achatz appealed to the government, not to "sacrifice Austria's interests on the altar of diplomacy". Head of the Social Democrat (SP) faction in the Upper Austrian parliament Karl Frais firmly rejected the hearing. Greens leader in the Upper Austrian parliament Rudi Anschober said, if the hearing took place, the government significantly damaged the anti-Temelin movement. Anti-nuclear activists threatened new protests. A speaker of environmental minister Molterer confirmed that the hearing would take place on June 26 as scheduled. On the location would be decided on Wednesday, he said. www.powermarketers.com_ ***************************************************************** 4 Germany Takes First Step to Scrap Nuclear Power Welcome to The PMA OnLine Power Report ( June 12, 2001 ) The German government and power companies are signing a formal agreement to shut down the country's 19 nuclear power plants. It will start a process which could take years to complete. The first of the plants, at Stade in northern Germany, is to be shut down in 2003. The deal sets no fixed date for the last plant to be shut down. It says the existing plants should have a standard life span of 32 years - which would see Germany's newest nuclear plant shutting down in 2021. Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder took office in late 1998 promising to negotiate an end to nuclear power in Germany - an issue especially dear to the hearts of his junior coalition partner, the environmentalist Greens party. The nuclear plants provide almost a third of the country's electricity. But the country also has a big anti-nuclear lobby that has regularly targeted shipments of nuclear fuel or waste for reprocessing with massive protests. Many activists would like to see a quicker shutdown. (NFA/WNWCAN/PDD) ***************************************************************** 5 Public criticizes Bush plan to energy panel Augusta Georgia: Metro: 06/13/01 *Web posted Wednesday, June 13, 2001 _By _ *Morris News Service* ATLANTA - Wesley Griffith grew up in the Atlanta area with a chronic cough. He didn't make the connection between his respiratory health and the region's dirty air because he didn't have anything to compare it with. Then he moved to upstate New York to attend Syracuse University. ''I lost my cough,'' Mr. Griffith, back home for the summer, told a seven-member panel of administrators with the U.S. Department of Energy on Tuesday. ''I didn't change anything else in my lifestyle. I just moved out of Atlanta, and I lost my cough.'' Mr. Griffith and other speakers during a daylong Energy Department-sponsored public hearing criticized the Bush administration's emphasis on solving what the president has described as an energy crisis by stepping up production of electricity using nuclear energy and fossil fuels. They urged that the president focus his new energy policy instead on energy efficiency and renewable sources of energy, including wind and solar. The hearing was the first of seven the department is holding across the country this month to hear from state and local government officials, energy experts and the public on what the new administration should be doing to promote energy efficiency and develop renewable-energy technology. The hearings are part of a review of the department's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy recommended by the team that drew up the new energy policy. In its report released last month, the energy task force called for dropping regulatory barriers that delay construction of power plants fueled by coal or natural gas. The report also calls for taking another look at the decades-old U.S. ban on reprocessing spent nuclear fuel that has helped discourage the building of new nuclear plants. And the administration is pushing to begin drilling for oil and gas in Alaska's pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. But on Tuesday, environmental advocates called Mr. Bush's priorities misplaced. Terrilyn Bayne, the Georgia director of the League of Conservation Voters Education Fund, cited a nationwide poll conducted May 21-23 that showed 62 percent of respondents opposed to drilling in ANWR. Voters surveyed also preferred energy policies based on conservation, efficiency and renewable sources of energy over increased production by margins of 15 to 19 points. ''(Mr. Bush is) out of step with the majority of Americans,'' Ms. Bayne said. 2001 *The Augusta Chronicle*. All rights ***************************************************************** 6 ADAMS: Items of Interest - Wednesday, June 13, 2001 ADAMS - Items of Interest Recent Released Documents Added - Wednesday, June 13, 2001 These documents and others may be retrieved at the NRC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Item ID: 011630176 Accession Number: ML011630369 Date Added: 6/12/01 4:11:34 PM Title: 06/26/01 - Mtg. w/NEI re: present overview of various generic activities that the nuclear industry is undertaking to prepare for licensing of new plants Author Affiliation: NRC/NRR/DRIP/FLO Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 011630180 Accession Number: ML011630469 Date Added: 6/12/01 5:11:11 PM Title: 06/28/2001 Meeting Re End-of Cycle Performance Assessment Meeting for Palo Verde Author Affiliation: NRC/RGN-IV/DRP/C Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 011630174 Accession Number: ML011530007 Date Added: 6/12/01 4:11:12 PM Title: 07/12/2001 Public Meeting to Discuss Implementation of the Revised Reactor Oversight Process. Author Affiliation: NRC/NRR/DIPM/IIPB Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 011630156 Accession Number: ML011090431 Date Added: 6/12/01 2:11:20 PM Title: Dept. of Energy - Results of Intercomparison Test 56 (TPO-RESL-01-061) Author Affiliation: US DOE Document/Report Number: Test 56 _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 011630125 Accession Number: ML011590015 Date Added: 6/12/01 12:12:18 PM Title: G20010215 - Ltr to Bruce Duncil re: Response to Request for NRC to deny license for construction of the MOX fuel facility - extension of comment period Author Affiliation: NRC/NMSS/FCSS/FSPB Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 011630113 Accession Number: ML011560645 Date Added: 6/12/01 12:11:02 PM Title: Lettr to J Flore, DOE from D Nelson; Dispersal of Title X Funds to the Moab Mill Reclamation Trust: Request for Incremental Dispersement for Early Release of Next Year's Claim Author Affiliation: State of UT Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 011630061 Accession Number: ML011560373 Date Added: 6/12/01 10:17:53 AM Title: May 24, 2001: Summary of Meeting with Risk-Informed Technical Specification Task Force (RITSTF) Author Affiliation: NRC/NRR/DRIP/RTSB Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ ***************************************************************** 7 Consumers in Nuclear States Pay 25 Percent More for Electricity, Analysis Shows *June 12, 2001* Expensive Nuclear Power Calls Into Question Key Component of Cheney's Energy Plan *_ WASHINGTON, D.C. - States that use nuclear power to generate electricity have significantly higher electricity rates - on average 25 percent higher - than states that do not, a Public Citizen analysisshows. In the District of Columbia and the 19 states without nuclear power plants, electricity cost an average of 5.52 cents per kilowatt/hour in 1999, the latest date for which data was available for all states. The average cost of electricity in the 31 states_ _that use nuclear power was 6.88 cents per kilowatt/hour in 1999. The trend holds true despite recent fluctuations in deregulated electricity markets. In fact, the higher a state's reliance on nuclear power, the higher electricity rates will be, Public Citizen concluded. This is because nuclear plants are more costly to build, operate and maintain. The findings call into question the viability of a key component of Vice President Dick Cheney's energy plan. Cheney's May report called for the president to "support the expansion of nuclear energy in the United States as a major component of our national energy policy." "The administration is living in a dream world if it thinks that nuclear energy will be a panacea to our current and future energy woes," said Wenonah Hauter, director of Public Citizen's Critical Mass Energy and Environment Program. "Aside from the critical questions of safety and waste disposal, these plants are prohibitively expensive to build and maintain." Capital costs represent between 60 and 75 percent of the cost of a nuclear plant, compared to 25 percent of the cost of a coal plant and 50 percent of the cost of a natural gas plant. When capital costs are included with operation, maintenance and fuel costs, nuclear power costs $2,080 per kilowatt/hour compared to $1,200 per kilowatt/hour for coal and $500 per kilowatt/hour for natural gas. For the analysis, Public Citizen used data from the U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration concerning electricity sales and revenues for the calendar year of 1999, the latest available._ _Since then, deregulation has increased prices in many areas. One of the driving forces behind deregulation was the high cost of power in states with nuclear power plants, many of which had high cost overruns. Nuclear power plant construction projects in the late 1970s and 1980s experienced cost overruns of as much as 700 percent, which represented the majority of the debt incurred by major utilities. In the 1990s, as state legislatures debated deregulation plans, utilities were able to convince state lawmakers to have consumers pay 100 percent of these nuclear-related debts, estimated to total $86 billion. In exchange, the utilities agreed to allow electricity rates charged to consumers to be frozen until these so-called "stranded costs" were paid off. This bailout of the utilities' nuclear capital costs in part has allowed for the recent fall in electricity prices in the western United States. (The drop can also be attributed to reductions in consumer demand and increased federal policing of the markets.) Increasing reliance on nuclear power involves not only building new plants but relicensing existing ones - a practice that raises a host of concerns about the safety of plants that are decades old. "Nuclear power is not the energy of the future," Hauter said. "Increasing our reliance on it will only worsen conditions for consumers in years to come." Public Citizen Home Page ***************************************************************** 8 Clyde C. Osterholtz Named NRC Senior Resident Inspector at San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station Press Release Region IV - 2001- 28 - _UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION_ _OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, REGION IV_ _611 Ryan Plaza Drive, Suite 400, Arlington TX 76011_ No. IV-01-028 June 12, 2001 CONTACT: Breck Henderson Phone: 817-860-8128 Cellular: 817-917-1227 e-mail: bwh@nrc.gov The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has named Clyde C. Osterholtz senior resident inspector at San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, a nuclear power plant near San Clemente, Calif. Mr. Osterholtz joins resident inspector John Kramer. Mr. Osterholtz is a 1990 graduate of The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, with a bachelor of science degree in Engineering Physics/Nuclear Engineering. Prior to college, Mr. Osterholtz was an electronics technician and reactor operator in the U.S. Navy submarine service. Mr. Osterholtz joined the NRC after graduation in 1990 and worked for six years in Region III offices, Lisle, Illinois, in the operator licensing branch. He then became resident inspector at Ginna Station near Rochester, New York. In December, 1999, he was assigned resident inspector at Fort Calhoun Station, in Nebraska. ***************************************************************** 9 Nuclear energy agreement: an acceptable compromise - 12/06/2001 CN Online - News - Power &Energy _*Dr. Dietmar Kuhnt, Chief Executive Officer of RWE AG, at the press conference on signing the nuclear energy agreement _* The signing today of the agreement on the use of nuclear energy in Germany is significant, especially for the following reasons: 1. It clearly demonstrates that we are able in Germany to resolve controversial issues. This does not rule out the basic need for being able to settle conflicts and to fight for the respective interests. 2. By signing this agreement, the German power industry pursues a clear aim: It intends to use nuclear energy for as long as possible without any political interference. The federal government has guaranteed the undisturbed operation of nuclear power plants as well as the management of nuclear waste. In recent months, major portions of the agreement have already been put into political and operational practice since it was initialed. This is shown by the resumed shipments of spent fuel assemblies or the licensing applications for on-site interim repositories, which have meanwhile been filed for all German nuclear power plants. This underscores the high degree of trust shown by the parties to the agreement. The basis for today's agreement will be an amendment to the Atomic Energy Act reflecting the spirit and content of this document. The last few months have shown that we have every reason to be optimistic in this respect. 3. The agreement does not eliminate the diverging views on the peaceful use of nuclear energy. For the power companies, their employees and shareholders it is the best of all possible alternatives. By limiting the residual volume of kilowatt-hours still to be produced in the nuclear power plants to altogether approximately 2,600 TWh, the companies have gone to the limit of what they can justify vis-à-vis their employees and shareholders. The occasion today must not conceal the fact, however, that the agreement now signed can at best only be one side of the energy-policy coin. It will now be important for all parties involved to agree on a consistent and sustainable overall scheme. Otherwise, the energy policy in Germany and Europe will run the risk of losing its international competitiveness. Reliable and cost-effective energy supply must remain an important component of German economic policy designed to keep Germany attractive as a place to do business. And we remain committed to Germany as an industrial location. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For questions about the news mail subscription please contact: kontakt@rwe.com © 2000,Isherwood Production Ltd. All ***************************************************************** 10 Senate: Go slow on nuke restarts Wednesday, June 13, 2001 Pickering reactor report _By , OTTAWA BUREAU_ OTTAWA -- Federal regulators should put the brakes on plans to re-open Canada's oldest and most accident-prone nuclear reactors in Pickering, says a Senate committee. The report by the Senate's energy committee stopped short of endorsing the Sierra Club's call for Environment Minister David Anderson to order a full, independent review. But it did call on the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission to closely review the re-opening of Pickering's four "A" reactors, shut down since 1997 after safety mishaps. The Ontario Power Generation (OPG) -- the provincial agency which owns the reactors -- goes before a public hearing in August on its application to restart the four reactors. The committee report demanded the commission "thoroughly" test new safety systems for the reactors and make their reports public. The committee also called for changes to federal and provincial human rights codes to allow drug testing of nuclear plant workers. "It's just like with airline pilots," said Alberta Liberal Senator Nick Taylor. The Sierra Club's Irene Kock said the report is a step in the right direction. "The Senate committee has recommended that there be a very thorough look at the consequences of a severe accident. You might think that's a normal part of looking at safety issues, but it isn't. It's never been done," she said. The committee pledged to monitor federal and provincial governments to see if their recommendations are followed. _Previous story:_ Tourney serves up HOPE _Next story:_ DVP toll proposal shot down Copyright © 2001, CANOE Limited Partnership. All ***************************************************************** 11 Only energy firms allowed to acquire KEPCO affiliates, government says The government has decided to restrict domestic candidates for the takeover of the power-generation units of Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) to corporations with affiliates engaged in the energy business, a government official said yesterday. The official said the decision is based on the principle recently enunciated by the Fair Trade Commission that the top 30 chaebol groups will be freed from regulations that restrict their equity investments once the investments are aimed at bolstering their core strengths. "It follows from this principle that corporations which have already engaged in the energy business will be allowed to participate in the KEPCO privatization process," the official said. Therefore, the LG and SK groups, which own power generating affiliates, are likely to participate in KEPCO's privatization either on their own or by forming a consortium with foreign companies. Five or six major foreign energy companies, such as Tractebel, Shell and El Paso, are also said to be interested in the sales of KEPCO's thermal power generation firms. The Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy is reviewing its policy to privatize one of KEPCO's five affiliates next February, selling its stakes through a competitive bidding process. The sale of the remaining four affiliates would depend on the result of the first project. "There's no change in the basic structure of the plan, but we need to thoroughly examine the buyers and the method of privatization considering national sentiment and the stock market," a ministry official said. "Therefore, the government will establish a plan shortly after it has consulted with related ministries and industries." KEPCO completed dividing its power generation operations into one nuclear power company and five thermal power generation firms April 2. The thermal power generation firms are to be privatized one by one starting in February next year, while the new nuclear unit will be retained by KEPCO. (jhl@koreaherald.co.kr By Lee Jae-hee Staff reporter WASHINGTON, DC -- The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has released an updated list of facilities whose workers may be eligible to apply for benefits under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000. (Public Law 106-398). The list revises and refines information first published in the Federal Register in January 2001. Specifically, the list adds five facilities, removes one facility, consolidates four sets of duplicates and changes one name. Additionally, more detail including the dates and type of work done at the sites is available in print and also on a new web page where individuals can search for companies by name and/or location. The website can be accessed on http://www.eh.doe.gov/advocacy. The Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000 establishes a program to provide compensation to individuals who developed illnesses as a result of their employment in nuclear weapons production-related activities. Workers at three types of facilities are eligible to apply for benefits and are included in the list: + Department of Energy facilities; + Atomic Weapons Employers - companies that were involved in the production of nuclear weapons under contract to DOE or its predecessor agencies; + beryllium vendors, or companies that sold beryllium metal or parts to DOE or its predecessor agencies. Because the operational history of the nuclear weapons system over 60 years was complex and often poorly documented, the department will continue to update the list when new information becomes available. DOE has found that some entries based on records prepared at the time work was performed identifies a corporate headquarters as a production location. Also, attempts to minimize duplication may have resulted in the inadvertent omission of subsidiaries or satellite locations. Additional information about facilities that may have supported atomic weapons activities and are not on this list, as well as information that clarifies the work done at facilities named should be sent to: _Office of Worker Advocacy (EH-8) U.S. Department of Energy 1000 Independence Avenue, SW Washington, DC 20585 email: worker_advocacy@eh.doe.gov toll-free: 1-877/447-9756 _ The list will be updated periodically as information is received. The Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program administered by the U.S. Department of Labor. Those interested in obtaining more information should contact the Department of Labor at their toll free number: 1-866/999-3322 or visit their website at http://www.dol.gov. _Media Contact: _Dolline Hatchett 202/ 586-5806 Release No. R-01-093 ***************************************************************** 12 Democrats want Maralinga study to include disabled claims ABC News - The Democrats say a Federal Government study into British nuclear testing in Australia must also investigate claims disabled people were subjected to radiation tests. The study will investigate cancer and mortality rates among nearly 16,000 military personnel and others who may have been exposed to radiation in the 1950s and 1960s. It has been claimed disabled people were flown from Britain to Maralinga, in South Australia, and used to measure the effects of fallout from atomic testing. Democrats Senator Lyn Allison says the claims must be included in the study. "If it is true that people with disabilities were brought to Australia to be part of the Maralinga nuclear tests then I think there are some very serious questions about how they came to be here, whether they did it willingly and what exactly they were subjected to," she said. A spokesman for the Veterans' Affairs Minister says the study will consider any new information about the claims. © 2001 Australian Broadcasting Corporation ***************************************************************** 13 Technology:Beryllium report attacked in court 06/13/01 *Web posted Wednesday, June 13, 2001 _By Ann Imse _ *Scripps Howard News Service* DENVER - The medical director of the nation's only beryllium producer misrepresented in a scientific publication the cause of chronic beryllium disease suffered by 11 neighbors of a company factory, according to evidence presented in a civil trial here. Former Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant workers are suing Brush Wellman Inc. of Cleveland, Ohio, claiming it conspired with the government to hide the dangers of beryllium used in manufacturing nuclear weapons. On Monday, their attorneys presented a scientific publication authored in 1983 by Dr. Otto Preuss, medical director of Brush Wellman. Preuss reported that all neighbors of the company factory in Lorain, Ohio, who became ill had been in contact with the beryllium-contaminated clothing of workers. In fact, only one of the 11 sick neighbors had washed clothing, according to testimony from Merril Eisenbud, the industrial hygienist who conducted the study 50 years ago. Testimony from Eisenbud read to the jury said he calculated the neighbors had been exposed by air to only about 0.1 to 1 microgram per cubic meter of air, substantially less than the 2 micrograms still set as the maximum safe exposure today. Eisenbud also testified that he and a colleague created the 2-microgram standard merely to help the designer of a new beryllium machine shop in 1949. Although they had given it weeks of thought, the two men settled on 2 micrograms instead of 5 micrograms during a taxi ride to the machine-shop site on Long Island. ''I never thought I'd be defending it 50 years later,'' said Eisenbud. Asked if there was an ''epidemiological basis'' for the 2-microgram standard, Eisenbud, an engineer by training, answered, ''No.'' About 50 people are suing Brush Wellman. The hearing is focusing on four workers to decide whether Brush Wellman is liable before the court goes into the details of the other workers' exposure and illness. Eisenbud also testified that Brush Wellman executives were very cooperative in researching the effect of beryllium exposure during his original studies in the 1940s. (Contact Ann Imse of the Rocky Mountain News in Denverat http://www.rockymountainnews.com.) All contents ©1996 - 2001 *The Augusta Chronicle*. All ***************************************************************** 14 Feds talk compensation to nuclear workers This story was published Wed, Jun 13, 2001 _By Annette Cary_ _Herald staff writer_ After decades of the government denying claims from ill nuclear workers, Washington, D.C., officials faced a sometimes skeptical audience Tuesday in Richland as they explained a new compensation program. "I'm getting so fed up with it," said Thad Coleman of Richland, who started work at Hanford in 1949 and has since been diagnosed with cancer and asbestos contamination. "I don't want to be the richest guy in the graveyard." But federal officials assured a crowd of about 300 people at an afternoon meeting that the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program represents a fresh start for the Department of Energy. About 100 attended an evening meeting. "A previous history of denial for compensation will not affect anyone applying for the new federal or state program," said Jeff Eagan of DOE's Office of Worker Advocacy. "They'll start with a clean slate. The standards are different." The meetings were the first of more than 50 planned across the country to explain how workers, former workers and survivors may apply for $150,000 in compensation for exposures at Hanford or other nuclear sites that caused cancer or certain lung diseases. "We realize you've been waiting many long years for compensation," said Pete Turcic, director of the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Task Force for the Department of Labor. The new compensation program is not perfect, Eagan said. But "our mission is to get money to workers as quickly as possible and in a nonadversarial way," he said. Under the program approved by Congress last year, Department of Health and Human Services officials will figure the radiation doses nuclear workers with cancer might have received. If they decide the radiation as likely as not caused the cancer, the worker will be entitled to medical care and $150,000. At Hanford, workers with any type of cancer will be considered for compensation. That's been confusing since a related program for certain workers at other nuclear sites limits the types of cancer covered. The federal compensation program also covers monitoring for workers who test positive for sensitivity to beryllium, which could lead to the development of chronic lung illness. Those who develop the illness would be eligible for $150,000 and medical treatment. Workers with asbestosis or other serious illnesses not covered by the federal program could apply to the state for benefits, which could include medical coverage or compensation of lost wages. DOE has ordered its contractors to stop fighting state claims that show merit. However, the benefits for survivors remained a sore point for many at the meetings Tuesday. One woman, who declined to give her name, described her many trips to Seattle hospitals with her suffering father, who eventually died of cancer. "I remember thinking, 'He didn't deserve this,' " she said. Because his wife also has died, his family will not receive any compensation from the government or even acknowledgment his death was caused by his dedication to work that helped win the Cold War, she said. Only dependents of nuclear workers at the time of their death are eligible for the $150,000 payment. That excludes grown children who were supporting themselves by the time the parent died. Spouses also are eligible, regardless of whether they remarried. The nuclear compensation is based on rules for another federal program that excludes those who remarry from collecting benefits. However, the Department of Labor's interpretation of the rules is that any spouse is eligible, Turcic said. Some other relatives, including siblings and grandchildren, also could be eligible if they were dependents of a worker at the time of the worker's death. Others at the meeting wondered how they could prove their true radiation exposures to federal officials estimating their doses. "At the time I worked at Hanford, there were some things we chose not to report," said Roy Carter of Prosser, a pipefitter who has chronic myelogenous leukemia. Workers took pride in their jobs and didn't want to cause problems, he said. "It's well known during certain secrecy years and up until the '80s, they were falsifying records," said Bonnie Wagner of Soap Lake, the widow of a Hanford worker. Job titles also may not explain the radiological risks of the job, she said. But for widows, finding former co-workers to verify what work their husbands performed would be difficult, she said. Federal officials said workers and their survivors should be as specific as possible, explaining special circumstances, such as radiological accidents, when they fill out their application forms. Not all at the meetings were doubtful about the details of the new program, however. "I've heard a lot of positive comments this will benefit" current and former production and construction workers, said Hank Hartley, of the Hanford Building Trades Medical Screening Program. "It's a positive step in a good direction." The Labor Department and DOE will hold meetings again today at 1 and 7 p.m. at the Red Lion Hotel in Richland. Those who want forms to apply for compensation may get them at the meetings or may call 866-888-3322. A resource center to help people apply for compensation under the federal or state program will open in the next few weeks in the Tri-Cities, although the address is not available yet. Claims will be considered starting July 31, and the first could be decided by the end of October. _Copyright 2001 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved. This ***************************************************************** 15 Workers sacrificed, jurors told_ Denver Post.com Stacie Oulton _ Denver Post Staff Writer_ --> _Wednesday, June 13, 2001_ - GOLDEN - Jurors on Tuesday heard a former energy secretary admit via videotape that the federal government conspired with an Ohio-based company to sacrifice workers' health at Rocky Flats. The recorded statements by Bill Richardson, energy secretary under President Clinton, were played for the jury Tuesday in a Jefferson County civil case. Four Flats workers and their wives are suing Brush Wellman, the world's leading producer of beryllium, because the workers contracted chronic beryllium disease from the toxic metal. "Priority one was the production of our nuclear weapons. As a last priority was the safety and health of the workers that built these weapons," Richardson said in an interview on ABC's "20/20" last fall. Attorneys for Brush Wellman tried to prevent the tape from being shown, and also tried to get ABC's unedited version of the interview. But Jefferson County District Judge Frank Plaut ruled against the company. Attorneys for the Rocky Flats workers and Brush were unsuccessful in forcing Richardson to testify or to give a sworn statement about what he knew. Richardson acknowledged in the television interview that the Department of Energy "cut a deal" with Brush Wellman to ensure the company would keep producing the lightweight metal for weapons. In return, the Energy Department actively opposed an effort by a different federal agency to tighten safety standards for workers' exposure. The secretary called the deal "wrong." Previous testimony in the case showed that Brush threatened to stop production in 1979 unless it received the help of the Energy Department to stop a tougher safety standard from being implemented. The company also received a 35 percent price increase as part of the deal. The lawsuit alleges that Brush and the government covered up the fact that the safety standard did not protect workers from the disabling lung disease. Richardson called the collusion between the two "incredible." "I think they feel their government let them down," he said of the workers. Attorneys for the workers also introduced evidence showing that Brush had a medical book published, which it distributed across the country, that contained false information about what caused chronic beryllium disease. The company also said in internal documents that it had to support the safety standard to protect itself from lawsuits. On another issue, Plaut may punish David Egilman, a Boston doctor, for publishing statements on his Web site accusing the judge of being in the company's pocket. Plaut said the statements violated a gag order. All contents Copyright 2001 The Denver Post or other copyright ***************************************************************** NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. For more information go to: *****************************************************************