Spikes in radiation caused by the Fukushima nuclear disaster were below cancer-causing levels in almost all of Japan, but infants in one town appear to be at a higher risk of developing thyroid cancer, the World Health Organization said on Wednesday.

In a preliminary report, independent experts said that people in two locations in Fukushima Prefecture may have received a radiation dose of 10-50 millisieverts (mSv) in the year after the accident at the power station operated by TEPCO.

The search for an underground storage site for high-level nuclear waste is likely to go ahead in Cumbria after a poll showed residents are in favour.

In Copeland, the local authority area encapsulating Sellafield, 68% of people backed entering formal talks with government on hosting the repository.

Across Cumbria as a whole, 53% are in favour and 33% opposed.

West Cumbria is the only region to show an interest in the repository; if talks fail, the UK has no "Plan B".

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) may have sold off land contaminated with chemical weapons and radioactive material buried at an RAF base in North-East Scotland, according to reports.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) is already investigating radioactive contamination at RAF Kinloss, believed to be from Second World War aircraft coated in radium and buried at the site.

Fatehabad: Senior officers of Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) had a tough time answering questions of medicos on safety aspects even as agitating farmers launched a fresh movement against the Gorakhpur atomic power project today. The NPCIL’s scientific meet last night with members of the local chapter of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) to allay public fears about radiation ill-effects proved counterproductive.

The Delhi high court on Wednesday slapped costs of `15,000 each on the city government and the DDA for their failure to file replies on a PIL seeking appropriate safety measures in Mayapuri scrap market following the 2010 radiation exposure incident.

Irked over the failure to file their responses on three different occasions since April 2011, a bench of Delhi HC Acting Chief Justice A.K. Sikri and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw also summoned the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) vice-chairman and principal secretary of the environment ministry, Delhi government, on May 23, the next date of hearing.

BHUBANESWAR: The State Government has started moves to establish a Directorate of Radiation Safety to regulate the functioning of medical diagnostic radiology facilities like X-ray units mushrooming in cities and towns. The directorate would take over the responsibility of monitoring the radiology facilities from the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB), which is finding it increasingly difficult to exercise control. The board is pushing for decentralisation through setting up of DRS or Radiation Safety Agency (RSA) at the State level.

NEW DELHI: The e-waste (Management & Handling) Rules, 2011 will come into effect from Tuesday. The rules were notified in May 2011 and aim at reduction in the use of hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment by specifying threshold for use of hazardous material including lead, mercury and cadmium.

These rules were notified in advance to give the various stakeholders adequate time to prepare themselves and also to put in place the required infrastructure.

A 1,300-acre dump to bury low-level radioactive waste has opened in a remote corner of west Texas, the fourth U.S. site to allow such waste, despite concerns about water seepage at the site, which sits above the huge and vital Ogallala aquifer.

In a letter to Waste Control Specialists LLC of Dallas, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality granted approval to the company's dump near Andrews, Texas, about 45 miles northwest of Midland and close to the New Mexico border.

Shillong, April 19: The preliminary report on the cause of the death of fishes in Kynshi and Rilang rivers, West Khasi Hills, has ruled out the possibility of radiation from uranium ore exploration. The report said the two possible reasons are coal mining and spread of toxic substances in the rivers by some individuals.

Briefing reporters on the interim report today, deputy chief minister Bindo Lanong, who also holds the mining and geology portfolio, said two geologists — K.B. Surong and E. Nongbri — visited the spot on April 17 and tested the waters of both the rivers.

French state-controlled utility Electricité de France SA said late Thursday that a leak was detected at one of its nuclear reactors in northwestern France, after two small fires were extinguished at the site earlier in the day.

France's nuclear regulator said it had provisionally ranked the leak as a low-level incident and had returned to normal management of the situation after shifting to crisis mode earlier in the day.