Radiators

An expedition to monitor seas near an experimental Soviet atomic submarine, which sank off Norway nearly four years ago, has found no radiation leaks, Itar-Tass news agency said on Saturday.

Eight workers at the Oyster Creek nuclear power plant were slightly contaminated by radioactive steam today during an automatic reactor shutdown caused by an electrical fault, a plant spokesman said.

A Japanese anti-nuclear group said Friday that it has developed a cheap radiation detector that it hopes to market overseas. "We got the idea to develop a cheap radiation monitoring device in the wake of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in the Soviet Union last April," group leader Tetsuo Iesaka said. He said the detector costs $500, compared to $1,200 to $1,800 for conventional detectors in Japan.

Intense radiation therapy for three weeks after surgery for early breast cancer keeps the disease at bay just as well as lower doses for five weeks, a study found. More than 1,200 women were treated with either the accelerated three-week dose of radiation or the standard five-week therapy, then tracked for recurrences for up to 12 years. The cancer returned to the same breast a decade after treatment in 6.2% of those treated for three weeks and 6.7% of those getting standard therapy, according to the study presented this week at the annual meeting of the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology in Boston.

Your story on the "downwinders" who were exposed to large amounts of radiation from the Hanford Nuclear plant in Washington was alarming ("How Dare They! Atom Critics Cry," Part A, July 14). Not because of the government information recently released, but because of the prevailing sheep-like attitude that the residents have toward the facility and its effects. For years, environmental and nuclear experts have warned the local residents of the impending problems caused by the Hanford plant, including the radioactive debris released into the air and waste water dumped into the river.

Re "Weather Tower on Sulphur Mountain," Ventura County letters, Feb. 16. I feel compelled to rebut Bruce Garber's concerns about radiation from the tower. First, the antenna is mounted 90 feet above the terrain--well above the local population. To operate efficiently, the radiation is focused into a narrow beam of only a very few degrees vertically and horizontally, which should obviate spraying of the local populace with radiation. Second, the intensity of such radiation varies in inverse proportion to the square of the distance from the site.

Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani underwent radioactive seed implantation to treat his prostate cancer. Doctors said the hourlong procedure went "perfectly," and the mayor was released later in the day. "There were absolutely no complications at all," said Dr. Richard Stock at a news conference. Giuliani appeared healthy and relaxed afterward.

People who have received radiation treatment for Hodgkin's disease have a high risk of developing thyroid problems decades after the treatments end, according to new research. Hodgkin's, a cancer of the lymph nodes and spleen, usually strikes people in their 20s and between 55 and 70 years of age. The thyroid gland, which produces important hormones, is vulnerable to the radiation used to treat Hodgkin's.

The Kansas City Royals said Friday that Manager Dick Howser will undergo about five weeks of radiation treatments for the cancerous tumor found in his brain earlier this week. But the team declined to provide detailed results of pathological tests. The club released a statement saying that Dr. Charles Clough, the neurosurgeon who operated on Howser Tuesday at St.