[en] Viewed critically, it is apparent that the current mixed waste stream is the result of conflicting regulatory regimes. The current mixed waste system is neither functional nor rational. Despite numerous and elaborate attempts by NRC, EPA, and DOE to minimize and avoid conflicts between the existing regulatory schemes for radioactive and hazardous waste, the fundamental conflict between Atomic Energy Act and Resource Conservative and Recovery Act requirements remains obvious and unabated. Regulatory paralysis is the result. In this article, the authors outline some of the key inconsistencies between hazardous and radioactive waste management and disposal requirements and trace the effect these conflicts have had on the existing mixed waste system. The authors argue that mixed waste is of two primary types: Waste that is either primarily radioactively hazardous or primarily chemically hazardous and that regulatory requirements should reflect this fact. Hence, where a mixed waste contains only low levels of radioactivity and is primarily chemically hazardous, RCRA controls should predominate. Where a mixed waste contains any significant amount of radioactivity, however, AEA requirements, not RCRA should control

[en] The US domestic uranium industry is at a crossroads. Historic low prices for uranium, combined with stringent and often irrational regulatory requirements, pose a very real threat to the industry's continued viability. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has taken a number of innovative steps to reform and rationalize its regulatory program. However, if the domestic uranium recovery industry is to remain viable, additional steps toward innovation and reform are needed, and effective implementation of reforms adopted by the Commission is essential. (author)

[en] The US domestic uranium industry is at a crossroads. Historic low prices for uranium, combined with stringent and often irrational regulatory requirements, pose a very real threat to the industry's continued viability. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has taken a number of innovative steps to reform and rationalize its regulatory programme. However, if the domestic uranium recovery industry is to remain viable, additional steps toward innovation and reform are needed, and effective implementation of reforms adopted by the Commission is essential. (author)

[en] DEcontamination and decommissioning (D ampersand D) of radioactively contaminated sites is one of the major issues in radioactive waste management. Emerging developments in this area involving the USNRC, the USEPA, the USDOE, and the USDOD, the states and the publish will soon result in generic regulatory programs determining who must decontaminated, to what level and how, when decontamination will take place, how much radioactive waste will be generated by D ampersand D, and the conditions for disposal of such waste. This article discusses the process of setting guidelines for D ampersand D and the potential for interagency conflict, duplicative regulation and infeasible control standards. Topics covered include: recent D ampersand D developments at the NRC and EPA; the NRC's D ampersand D rulemaking; the EPA's D ampersand D efforts; additional Agency Interplay; history - the Uranium Mill Tailing Experience; Dual Regulation under UMTRCA; Dual regulation under the Clean Air Acts

[en] Patients with primary progressive MS demonstrate differences in the pattern and extent of MRI abnormality and in the dynamics compared to those with secondary progressive MS. (H.W). 16 refs.; 3 figs

[en] A number of regulatory positions that are of central importance to the uranium recovery industry today have their origins in regulatory interpretations that were developed by Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC or Commission) staff almost two decades ago, shortly after Congress first granted the Commission the direct authority to regulate uranium mill tailings and related wastes by enacting the Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act (UMTRCA) as an amendment to the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (AEA). Consequently, several key regulatory positions that govern uranium recovery activities today were developed at a time when the regulatory programme for uranium milling operations, including the management and disposition of uranium mill tailings and related wastes, was in the earliest stages of conception, and when the uranium recovery industry was at or near peak levels of production. Often, the policies and positions that were developed by the Commission staff dining this period, and subsequently, were developed in an ad hoc manner, rather than being formulated as part of a deliberate, coordinated regulatory strategy. Moreover, many of these positions and policies were based on assumptions that would later turn out to be completely incorrect regarding the future development of the uranium recovery industry and of the regulatory programme governing the industry. In the twenty years that have elapsed since Congress first enacted UMTRCA, a robust programme has been created for the comprehensive regulation of uranium recovery activities. At the same time, the nature of the uranium recovery industry has changed dramatically. As a result, some of the policies and positions that were developed by Commission staff almost two decades ago, that may have seemed reasonable at the time they were developed, appear increasingly unreasonable and inappropriate today, given the current regulatory framework and the realities of the modern uranium recovery industry. This raises concerns about the effectiveness of the current regulatory system at controlling uranium mill tailings and related wastes in a manner that optimizes protection of public health, safety and the environment. In addition, the patchwork of sometimes outdated and sometimes erroneous policies and positions that have been developed over the past 20 years has led to increasing confusion within the uranium recovery industry, which has been exacerbated by the inconsistent and sometimes ill - considered manner in which NRC staff have, in some of their policies and positions, deviated from the definitions of key terms set out in the statute and the relevant regulations. These terms, particularly 'source material' and 'byproduct material', have jurisdictional significance for NRC and for uranium recovery licensees. While the Commission certainly has flexibility in interpreting these statutory terms, it must do so in a way that is carefully thought out and legally supportable, and in a way that does not jeopardize the consistent implementation of the overall regulatory programme created in the AEA, as amended by UMTRCA. In this White Paper, NMA examines several of the more important policies and positions that have been adopted by NRC staff over the past two decades pertaining to uranium recovery activities. Through this examination, NMA hopes to provide the Commission with a fresh perspective on the implications that these staff policies and positions carry for regulatory policy under the AEA in general, and for the uranium recovery industry in particular. The White Paper focuses on staff policies and positions in the following areas: (i) the concurrent jurisdiction of non-Agreement states to regulate non-radiological aspects of 11e.(2) byproduct material; (ii) NRC's jurisdiction over in-situ leach (ISL) uranium recovery facilities; (iii) the disposal of non-11e.(2) byproduct material in uranium mill tailings piles; and (iv) NRC's alternate feed policy. It is NMA's hope that the fresh perspective offered by this White Paper will provide the Commission with a useful framework for realigning some of the staff policies governing uranium recovery activities in a manner that optimizes the net benefit to public health, safety and the environment. (author)

[en] Gd-DTPA enhanced T1 weighted MRI is a discriminating test for a defective blood-brain barrier, with MS lesions showing considerable variation in the pattern of enhancement. Since little is known of the changes in the blood-brain barrier in the active plaque over time, the natural history of blood-brain barrier disturbance in the MS lesion was examined to confirm earlier reports that Gd-DTPA enhancement is a consistent early event in new lesions of relapsing/remitting MS. This knowledge is essential for the use of MRI in monitoring treatment. (author). 9 refs

[en] In a fatal case of central pontine myelinolysis (CPM) a low field strength (0.08 Tesla magnetic resonance image revealed reduction of image intensity in the pons with sparing of two central symmetrical areas in the ventral portion. The latter correlated with preservation of centrally located groups of longitudinal myelinated nerve fibres shown at autopsy. Although such sparing is well recognised in pathological studies of CPM it has never previously been demonstrated in life. (orig.)

[en] We report assessment of a new three-dimensional fast spin echo (3D FSE) sequence in ten patients with clinically definite multiple sclerosis, comparing it with standard 2D FSE, and in ten normal controls. We saw 29 focal lesions on the 2D images and 53 on the 3D FSE imgages (P = 0.05); none were seen in controls. Lesion length was significantly smaller on the 3D FSE than on to the 2D FSE images (3D: 1.36; 2D 2,0; P = 0.03). This may relate in part to separation into several lesions on the 3D images of confluent abnormal signal seen on 2D and in part to detection of small lesions missed by the thicker 2D FSE slices (3 mm compared to 1.5 mm). The 3D FSE sequence looks promising in improving spinal cord imaging. (orig.)

No abstract available