Radioactive

ROCKVILLE -- After more than 12 years of delay and sometimes acrimonious debate, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued revised safety regulations yesterday that it said would reduce the risk of radiation-induced cancers among people who work in and live near nuclear facilities.Independent nuclear experts and anti-nuclear groups, however, promptly rejected as inadequate and outdated the NRC's measures, which are the first full-scale revision of U.S. radiation safety regulations in 30 years.

GTS Duratek said yesterday it would acquire Scientific Ecology Group Inc., a move that will double the work force and triple the revenues of the Columbia-based nuclear waste disposal company.Duratek said it would pay $28 million and 156,986 shares of stock for SEG, which operates the nation's largest commercial radioactive waste processing facility.SEG is based in Oak Ridge, Tenn., and is a unit of Westinghouse Electric Corp.The deal "positions [Duratek] very clearly as the leader in the radioactive waste processing business in the United States," said Deutsche Morgan Grenfell analyst Rod Lache.

Physicians at the University of Maryland Medical Center are encouraged that a new method of implanting radioactive seeds into prostate tumors can shrink the cancerous growths -- and possibly spare patients from the second leading cancer-killer of all men.The specialists say they haven't had enough experience with the technique to claim success, but early signs offer hope that radioactive seeds can bring about significant shrinkage without the harmful side...

On the surface, it seems like some form of voodoo technology that's too good to be true.GTS Duratek Inc., a young Columbia-based company, has come up with a fresh approach to treating low-level radioactive waste. The new technique promises to save the federal government billions of dollars as it is used in the long and arduous task of cleaning up nuclear-weapon sites around the country.Although the Duratek process must be proved in the field, a local stock analyst who follows the company said it could be the kind of development that puts the Howard County company on track to becoming "one of the more successful growth companies of the 1990s."

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. government exposed an untold number of Americans to radioactive fallout during a dozen secret weapons tests from 1948 to 1952, according to a report released yesterday.The tests were kept secret for more than 40 years until the General Accounting Office, Congress' investigative arm, had the information declassified at the request of Sen. John Glenn, an Ohio Democrat."The Cold War frenzy which gripped the nation immediately after World War II created a climate where tests such as these were deemed necessary," Mr. Glenn said.

The Anne Arundel County Planning Advisory Board approved a transfer of $330,000 yesterday to pay for asbestos removal and the demolition of abandoned warehouses on county-owned property on Ordnance Road in Glen Burnie.County officials will demolish nine dilapidated warehouses on property that was once part of an Army munitions depot so the federal government can proceed with the removal of radioactive soil.The 85-acre tract was the site favored by County Executive Robert R. Neall for a new detention center, but that plan was dropped after the radiation was discovered.

Cancer researchers at the University of Maryland announced yesterday that they will soon be using radioactive material from Russia's nuclear stockpile to study a new approach to tumors. The radioactive isotope, called actinium, is in scarce supply in the United States. Scientists at the university are getting the material in several shipments as part of a federally funded partnership with Russian oncologists and scientists, the American Russian Cancer Alliance. The exotic isotope is appealing to researchers because its rays are powerful but go a shorter distance than other isotopes' rays.

County and federal officials will meet with north county residents May 23 to outline plans to demolish eight buildings and remove radioactive soil from the proposed detention center site on Ordnance Road in Glen Burnie.The 85 acres of county-owned land was contaminated by radioactive thorium nitrate that was stored in the warehouses when the property was part of the U.S. Army General Services Depot at Curtis Bay. The thorium was stored in granular form that dissolved when water got into the barrels.

A headline in yesterday's editions incorrectly stated that Analytical Resources Inc. bought GTS Duratek. In fact, GTS Duratek bought Analytical Resources.The Sun regrets the error.GTS Duratek, a Columbia-based technology company that specializes in hazardous waste disposal services, said yesterday that it has acquired Analytical Resources Inc. of Germantown.The publicly traded company bought the radioactive waste management and environmental consulting firm from its founder, C. Paul Deltete, for an undisclosed amount.

GTS Duratek of Columbia has won a $2 million contract to help plan the decommissioning of a nuclear power plant in Maine, and is aiming for a far bigger job.GTS Duratek will spend four to six months characterizing the radioactive and hazardous material at Maine Yankee Nuclear Power Plant in Wiscassett. Its report on the materials and how to handle them will serve as a framework for the overall decommissioning plan.The total cost of decommissioning could be as much as $500 million. GTS Duratek would like to win the job of handling all the dangerous waste, which could be 20 percent to 30 percent of the total work, a company spokeswoman said.