Dounreay
The UKAEA has pledged to pore through medical records of former workers at its sites, including Dounreay, to establish whether it cases similar to Sellafield where body parts of deceased workers have been used for research without their relatives’ consent.
John O’Groat Journal 20th April 2007
REAY golf course is to be surveyed for radiation following concern that it could be contaminated by historic leaks from Dounreay. Site contractor the UK Atomic Energy Authority has agreed to carry out a follow-up scan following an approach from landowner Geoffrey Minter. Mr Minter’s family-run Sandside Estate includes the 18-hole links course, which was previously monitored in 2002. Mr Minter is keen to establish whether any of the radioactive pollution washed up on Sandside beach has found its way on to the adjoining parts of the course.
John O’Groat Journal 20th April 2007
North Korea
North Korea restated its commitment to a landmark nuclear disarmament deal Friday, saying it would invite U.N. atomic inspectors and discuss shutting down its bomb-making atomic reactor as soon as it confirmed the release of its funds frozen in a banking dispute. The statement appeared aimed at quelling concern that the unpredictable regime – which has a track record of reaching agreements and then scrapping them – may be dragging its feet after missing an April 14 deadline to shut down the reactor.
Guardian website 20th April 2007
Iran
Iran still needs several years to be in a position to manufacture enough nuclear fuel through uranium enrichment for industrial use, Gholamreza Aghazadeh, head of Iran’s atomic energy agency said.
Hemscott 20th April 2007
Interactive Investor 20th April 2007
The European Union and Iran are to hold direct preliminary talks on Tehran’s nuclear programme, the first since UN sanctions were imposed in March.
BBC 20th April 2007
Channel 4 News 20th April 2007
Guardian website 20th April 2007
Capenhurst
AN INQUIRY has been launched into the removal of body tissue from 65 nuclear workers including one former employee at Capen-hurst near Chester.
Chester Chronicle 20th April 2007
Sellafield
Research carried out on organs removed during the autopsies of Sellafield workers and local people in Cumbria in the 1980s found higher levels of plutonium than in people from other parts of the country. The data also provided “strong circumstantial evidence” that local people were being affected by aerial discharges from the plant. The raised plutonium levels are well below that which would have an impact on health. But the research papers give a unique insight into studies at Sellafield by medical officers and scientists up to the early 1990s.
Guardian 21st April 2007
