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NUCLEAR POLICY
1 Star Tribune Editorial: Iran/Make the most of opening
2 UPI: Analysis: Bush tells Tehran: 'Let's talk'
3 Las Vegas SUN: N. Korea to Let U.S. Experts See Nuke Site
4 Las Vegas SUN: North Korea Invites U.S. to Nuclear Site
5 Guardian Unlimited: U.S. Cool to North Korea
6 Korea Herald: Nuke crisis Seoul's top diplomatic task
7 BBC: N Korea agrees US nuclear visit
8 War Wire: US government keeps delegations to North Korea at arms len
9 AU ABC: N-Korea agrees to host US nuclear delegation
10 MSNBC: N. Korea to allow nuclearinspection but why?
11 US: Loring Wirbel's New Book: Star Wars: US Tools of Space Supremacy
12 US: Guardian Unlimited: Rebranding Bush as man of peace
13 Zionism is racism, latest exhibit.
14 Guardian Unlimited: The new cold war
15 Las Vegas SUN: Libya Seeks Reward Over Nuke Inspections
16 Ananova: Secret papers reveal Heath's fury with Nixon
17 EU Business - EU Commission offers closer ties with Libya
18 War Wire: Libya cooperated fully with UN nuclear inspectors: IAEA
19 AFP: IAEA stakes its claim in Libya despite US opposition
20 TIMES OF INDIA: Pak's nukes are secure, says Bush
21 AFP: Libyan nuclear cargo was loaded in Dubai
22 Daily Times: Libyan nuclear cargo was loaded in Dubai
23 IRIB PERSIAN NEWS: UN watchdogs, stay out of here
24 DW: German Freighter Was Carrying Nuclear Weapons Components to Liby
25 NEWS.com.au: US security deadline on our ships
NUCLEAR REACTORS
26 US: NRC: Florida Power and Light Company, St. Lucie Plant, Unit No.
27 US: NRC: NRC Proposes $60,000 Fine for Fitness for Duty Violation at
28 Toronto Star: Candus can't do it, nuke critics say
29 Taipei Times: Taipower's nuclear budget frozen By Chiu Yu-Tzu
30 Xinhuanet: DPRK says committed to peaceful settlement of peninsula's
31 US: Brattleboro Reformer: Vermont Yankee drill simulates radiation s
32 SIFY: Industry told to face nuclear challenges
33 US: Citizens Voice: Court upholds Conahan ruling on nuclear plant
NUCLEAR SAFETY
34 Low dose radiation in infancy may affect intellect
35 CT scans may harm children's brains
36 US: DU: Radioactive Nightmare in Concord, Massachusetts
37 US: NRC: In the Matter of Safety Light Corporation, Bloomsburg, PA;
38 US: NRC: NRC to Provide Preliminary Inspection Results For Honeywell
39 US: thedailytimes: Sick nuclear workers discouraged by claims bottle
40 US: thedailytimes: Worker compensation law has mixed results
41 Globe and Mail: Results of radiation study troubling
NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE
42 US: Las Vegas SUN: EPA Lists 15 More Hazards in Sewage Sludge
43 Las Vegas SUN: Head of panel examining Yucca Mountain technical issu
44 US: Las Vegas RJ: CONFLICT DENIED: Chairman ofnuclear wasteboard res
45 US: Las Vegas SUN: Editorial: Impartiality is essential for board
46 Las Vegas SUN: State receives OK to spend money on nuke hearings
47 US: Salt Lake Tribune: Goshute rail won't ruin wilds
48 US: Deseret News: Goshute N-waste site on track as panel gives OK to
49 Las Vegas Mercury: Yucca: Dump gets dumped
50 Whitehaven News: ANGER AT BNFL BOSS'S BIG SALARY
51 Whitehaven News: 'PLUTONIUM IS NOT ACTUALLY MISSING'
52 Whitehaven News: COUNCIL HOPES SELLAFIELD ROLE WILL BOOST AUDIT RATI
NUCLEAR WEAPONS
US DEPT. OF ENERGY
53 Las Vegas SUN: Nuclear Officials to Review Security
54 DOE: National Energy Technology Laboratory; Notice of Availability o
55 DOE: National Energy Technology Laboratory; Notice of Intent To Issu
56 Grand Junction Sentinel: Energy lab closes shop; 15 jobless
57 CBS News: Missing Keys At U.S. Nuke Labs
58 WATE: Y-12 Plant Part of Natl. Investigation into Missing Keys
OTHER NUCLEAR
59 Google News Alert - nuclear
60 Google News Alert - nuclear
61 War Wire: Nukes may launch NASA on long-range missions
62 Arizona Republic: Calif. wind farm a model for the future
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FULL NEWS STORIES
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1 Star Tribune Editorial: Iran/Make the most of opening
[startribune.com]
Published January 3, 2004 ED0103A
President Bush seemed caught in a one-hand, other-hand moment
with Iran Thursday. On the one hand, the United States was
offering a high-level delegation to travel to Tehran, possibly
including Sen. Elizabeth Dole - a fitting choice because of her
previous work as head of the American Red Cross. On the other
hand, Bush was at pains to sound tough in enumerating the things
Iran must do if it wishes closer relations with the United
States.
The apparent inconsistency is easy to explain: As with nuclear
aspirant Libya, Bush knows well that whatever he says about Iran
will be carefully parsed by North Korea, the truly dangerous
nuclear threat among the world's rogue nations. And the
consistent message Bush seeks to send to North Korea is that
words are important but actions count most. If North Korea truly
wants to back away from the nuclear abyss and enjoy better
relations with Washington, it must demonstrate its good faith on
the ground.
That said, we hope the administration finds quiet ways to take
full advantage of the opportunity for a new opening to Tehran.
The Iranian response to U.S. earthquake help has been
phenomenally positive.
Bush said Iran must move ahead on three issues: It must abandon
its nuclear weapons program, turn over members of Al-Qaida and
pursue democratic reform. On the first, it would seem that Tehran
indeed has given up its nuclear pretensions. It has agreed to
broad, invasive inspections by the International Atomic Energy
Agency, has pledged to suspend its uranium enrichment program and
has been very open about where it acquired aid for its nuclear
program. A number of issues remain, but Iran has made a credible
start that gives the United States room for some reciprocity.
On the issue of Al-Qaida members enjoying protection in Iran,
closer contact between Washington and Tehran would help build the
confidence to facilitate their surrender, or at least their
transfer to a third country.
The issue of democratic reform will require a delicate diplomatic
dance. Iranian President Mohammad Khatami is a reformer, but he
can't be seen tilting toward Washington, or the reactionary
mullahs who hold actual power will crack down on Khatami and his
supporters, especially Iran's frustrated young people who want
out from under the mullahs' theocratic thumbs. Movement toward
democracy in Iran is going to be fitful and slow.
So a great deal of careful work still needs to be done, and this
slight thaw could refreeze overnight. But give the Bush
administration this: It has handled the situation with great
skill. It's not fanciful to foresee a day when the Middle East
will indeed be free of both nuclear-weapons programs and the
weapons themselves -- save for Israel. There are miles to go
before Israel will feel safe enough to contemplate nuclear
disarmament. But eliminating the potential threat from Libya,
Iran and Iraq surely moves the region a far piece down the right
road. Return to top© Copyright 2004 Star Tribune. All rights
reserved.
*****************************************************************
2 UPI: Analysis: Bush tells Tehran: 'Let's talk'
By Martin Sieff UPI Senior News Analyst Published 1/2/2004 5:47
PM View printer-friendly version
WASHINGTON, Jan. 2 (UPI) -- The U.S. proposal to send Sen.
Elizabeth Dole, R-N.C., on a humanitarian mission to Tehran
initiates an important U-turn in an administration still fiercely
divided on its policy towards Iran.
The U.S. proposal to Iran about sending Dole was delivered to
Tehran Tuesday and announced Thursday. If Iranian leaders agree,
the former American Red Cross chief and current Republican
senator would be the highest-ranking U.S. official or political
figure to go there since the fall of the shah and the
establishment of the Islamic Republic 24 years ago.
The proposal is also the first serious move towards exploring
any rapprochement since the ill-fated and even ludicrous
Iran-Contra initiative of 1987. It follows surprisingly
encouraging comments from Iranian leaders including moderate
President Mohammad Khatami. Even former President Al-Akbar
Hashemi Rafsanjani, one of Iran's top hard-liners, signaled a
readiness to open serious negotiations with the United States in
comments in the earthquake-devastated city of Bam Thursday.
Washington had "shown positive results in recent months," he said
according to Iran's official Islamic Republic News Agency.
These comments followed a dramatic change in tone in the Iranian
media in hard-line and reformist newspapers alike over the past
week responding to generous offers of U.S. aid after the Bam
quake that killed at least 30,000 people.
The offer of the Dole mission also marks a dramatic triumph for
the long outgunned and often despised traditional Republican
internationalists in the Bush administration. Only a few weeks
ago, they appeared to be on the retreat yet again, with their
leader, Secretary of State Colin Powell, laid low with prostate
cancer and in any case a lame duck as the end of the first Bush
administration approaches. He has made clear, as has his loyal
Deputy Secretary Richard Armitage, that he will not return if the
president is re-elected.
However, the pragmatic internationalists got a huge boost from
the success of former Secretary of State James A. Baker III in
his recent tour of European capitals, to negotiate debt relief
arrangements for Iraq. And that mission followed the return of
Gen. Brent Scowcroft, twice national security adviser to
Republican presidents including the current one's father, as an
informal but influential White House adviser to current President
George W. Bush.
To underline the symbolism of moves back towards more
traditional Republican policies, the president spent New Year's
Day in Texas hunting with his father, former President Herbert
Walker Bush.
But the current president, speaking in Crawford, Texas,
Thursday, repeated his determination not to compromise on three
key policy areas that he has demanded from Tehran. "The Iran
government must listen to the voices of those who long for
freedom, must turn over (the members of) al-Qaida that are in
their custody and must abandon their nuclear weapons program," he
said.
Still Bush has already taken a first cautious but important step
possibly signifying his willingness to deal with Tehran. On Dec.
26, less than a day after the horrific quake destroyed 70 percent
of Bam, he lifted some economic sanctions against Iran that have
been in place ever since more than 50 Americans were taken
hostage in the U.S. Embassy there in 1979. As part of relief
efforts, restrictions were lifted for 90 days allowing U.S.
companies and individuals to transfer funds for relief and
reconstruction operations.
Within the administration, the forces opposed to any serious
negotiations or deal with Tehran remain apparently overwhelming.
Vice President Dick Cheney and his influential staff remain dead
set against it, as do Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and the
neo-cons who run the Office of the Secretary of Defense for him.
Outside the administration, neo-conservative pundits close to
both groups are launching a new policy blitz to try and convince
the president to topple the Syrian government of President Bashar
Assad and arguably the government in Tehran too. All these groups
have regained their former high confidence following the capture
of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein near Tikrit a few weeks ago.
However, the president's most influential adviser by far remains
his political master-strategist Karl Rove and as long as the
current slow but still steady procession of body bags continues
to come home from Iraq, White House insiders say Rove remains
averse to more bold pre-emptive strikes to topple foreign
governments, especially with the president's re-election cycle
about to start.
It remains to be seen if Dole will ever get to Tehran, let alone
if any serious negotiations on other issues flow from her visit.
But the very fact that the president was willing to authorize
suggesting it to Tehran in the first place sends the very clear
message that maybe this will look a bit more like "Daddy's" White
House in the coming year than it did in the past one.
Copyright © 2001-2004 United Press International
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3 Las Vegas SUN: N. Korea to Let U.S. Experts See Nuke Site
Today: January 02, 2004 at 1:55:12 PST
BY SANG-HUN CHOE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -
North Korea has agreed to allow a U.S. delegation to visit its
main nuclear complex next week, a South Korean official said
Friday.
The trip, first reported Friday by USA Today, would mark the
first time outsiders have been allowed to inspect North Korea's
main nuclear facilities at Yongbyon, north of Pyongyang, since
the communist country expelled U.N. nuclear monitors in late
2002.
USA Today reported that Washington approved the trip and it was
scheduled for Jan. 6-10. The newspaper said the U.S. delegation
would include Sig Hecker, director of the Los Alamos National
Laboratory from 1985 to 1997. The laboratory produced the first
U.S. nuclear bomb.
"The report is true," an official at the South Korean Foreign
Ministry said. "The U.S. side has informed us of the trip."
USA Today said the delegation also included a China expert from
Stanford University, two Senate foreign policy aides who have
previously visited Pyongyang and a former State Department
official who has negotiated with North Korea.
Jason Rebholz, a spokesman of the U.S. Embassy in Seoul, said he
had no information on the trip and could not comment on the news
report.
North Korea is believed to be running a nuclear weapons program
at Yongbyon. The United States is trying to persuade the North
to give up its nuclear program in return for aid and better ties
with the outside world.
North Korea demands that the United States provide it with
economic aid and security assurances in return for dismantling
its nuclear weapons program. Washington wants Pyongyang to
abandon its program first.
The nuclear standoff flared in October 2002 when U.S. officials
said Pyongyang admitted having a secret nuclear program in
violation of a 1994 pact.
North Korea has said it is willing to hold a second round of
six-nation talks early this year on ending the crisis. The first
round ended in August without agreement or a date for a new
meeting. Russia, China, South Korea and Japan also are taking
part.
Also Friday, South Korea vowed to intensify diplomatic efforts
to end the standoff.
"Resolving the nuclear issue peacefully is the most important
goal of our diplomacy in the new year," Foreign Minister Yoon
Young-kwan said.
Unification Minister Jeong se-hyun, whose agency is in charge of
relations with the North, predicted that "international efforts
to resolve the nuclear issue will gain speed this year."
--
*****************************************************************
4 Las Vegas SUN: North Korea Invites U.S. to Nuclear Site
Today: January 02, 2004 at 13:10:20 PST
By GEORGE GEDDA ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON (AP) -
North Korea invited a delegation of U.S. nuclear experts to
visit its main nuclear complex next week, but the Bush
administration said Friday the privately arranged trip should
not delay the renewal of six-party negotiations over the North
Koreans' weapons program.
The visit would be the first exposure of outside experts to the
site since Pyongyang expelled U.N. monitors at the end of 2002.
The administration is doing nothing to facilitate the mission
but would welcome any new information about the activities at
the site, located north of Pyongyang, North Korea's capital.
The delegation is expected to include Sig Hecker, former
director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, a
nuclear weapons research center.
Scheduled to accompany him are Jack Pritchard, a former State
Department official; and Frank Januzzi, a senior aide to Sen.
Joseph Biden of Delaware, senior Democratic member of the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee.
The invitation appeared to be an effort by North Korea to prove
it has built a nuclear bomb, or is capable of building one, and
to strengthen its negotiating position ahead of the planned
talks with the United States and four other nations toward
ending the nuclear standoff.
North Korea could also be signaling its willingness to allow
more extensive inspections in the future, should Washington meet
its demands for a promise not to attack North Korea and to
provide humanitarian aid.
The planned visit was reported first on Friday by USA Today.
"The report is true," an official at the South Korean Foreign
Ministry told The Associated Press. "The U.S. side has informed
us of the trip."
It was unclear how much access to key facilities the North would
allow the U.S. experts. U.N. monitors never had full access to
the facilities at Yongbyon, believed to be the center of the
North's weapons program, before they were thrown out in late
2002.
One U.S. administration official expressed doubt the initiative
would produce much information, based on the record of visits of
previous delegations to North Korea.
Word of the visit came as the United States, North Korea and
four other countries have been attempting to arrange a meeting
in Beijing on the North's nuclear program.
The United States has been insisting on the verifiable
elimination of the program.
White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan said Friday the
administration believes "the appropriate format for addressing
the North Korea nuclear issue is in the six-party talks."
She said the administration has had nothing to do with any
outside group's plans to visit North Korea.
"It should be clearly understood that groups or individuals
acting outside the six-party talks would not be acting on behalf
of, or with the approval of, the administration," Buchan said.
Joining the United States and North Korea in the six-party
process are China, South Korea, Japan and Russia.
The North says it has completed reprocessing 8,000 spent nuclear
fuel rods at Yongbyon. It true, that would yield enough
plutonium for half a dozen atomic bombs. North Korea is believed
to already have one or two nuclear bombs.
The administration has been unable to confirm these claims.
--
*****************************************************************
5 Guardian Unlimited: U.S. Cool to North Korea
Friday January 2, 2004 10:01 PM
By GEORGE GEDDA
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Bush administration, pressing for the
irreversible and verifiable elimination of North Korea's nuclear
program, distanced itself Friday from planned visits there by
congressional aides and private scientists.
White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan said that a six-nation
effort to address the issue - which began last August - is the
appropriate forum for such an undertaking.
The American experts have been dealing with the North Koreans as
separate groups but apparently will be traveling to the
communist state in the same time frame and may join together for
the proposed tour of the nuclear facility at Yongbyon.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is sending Republican
staff member Keith Luse and a Democratic colleague, Frank
Jannuzi. Both are East Asia experts and work respectively for
committee chairman Richard Lugar, R-Ind., and Joseph Biden of
Delaware, the panel's ranking Democrat.
A second group planning a trip consists of John Lewis of
Stanford University; Sig Hecker of the Los Alamos National
Laboratory in New Mexico, a nuclear weapons research center; and
Jack Pritchard, a former State Department official who left the
government last summer.
The six-nation effort to halt the nuclear program began with a
meeting in Beijing. Efforts to reconvene the discussions last
month fell through. Participants, aside from the United States
and North Korea, are South Korea, China, Japan and Russia.
The United States is hoping that North Korea can be persuaded to
disarm through security guarantees as well as economic benefits.
Asked about the plans of the two groups to visit Pyongyang,
State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said they are not acting
on behalf of the administration.
``Any efforts that complicate prospects or undertakings to
reconvene six- party talks and to achieve forward movement in
dismantling North Korea's nuclear program aren't helpful,''
Ereli said.
Asked whether the administration opposes the visit, he said,
``We neither facilitate nor oppose.''
There has been no outside access to the nuclear facility at
Yongbyon since U.N. inspectors were expelled at the end of 2002.
The North says it has completed reprocessing 8,000 spent nuclear
fuel rods at Yongbyon. If true, that would yield enough
plutonium for half a dozen atomic bombs. North Korea is believed
to already have one or two nuclear bombs.
In addition to the plutonium bomb project at Yongbyon, North
Korea also has acknowledged a separate effort to produce a
uranium bomb.
During a visit to East Asia in late summer, Luse and Jannuzi
spent three days in North Korea.
In a report, they said they told North Korean officials that the
United States views Pyongyang's nuclear programs as a ``grave
threat to international peace and stability.''
They urged the officials to seek a peaceful, negotiated solution
to the impasse through multilateral dialogue.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004
Guardian Newspapers Limited
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6 Korea Herald: Nuke crisis Seoul's top diplomatic task
2004.01.03
Foreign Minister Yoon Young-kwan said yesterday that the nation's
top diplomatic priority for 2004 will be a peaceful resolution of
the North Korean nuclear crisis.
"The most important diplomatic goal in the New Year will be
settling the North Korean nuclear problem peacefully as a first
step toward turning the nation into an economic hub of Northeast
Asia," Yoon said during a speech at the ministry's New Year
ceremony.
The minister said the nation's diplomacy should put more
emphasis on countries other than the four major powers around the
Korean peninsula - the United States, China, Japan and Russia,
adding that it is time for South Korea to pursue what he called
"global diplomacy" as the world's 12th-largest economy.
Yoon also said he will try to ease staff shortages at the
ministry.
*****************************************************************
7 BBC: N Korea agrees US nuclear visit
Last Updated: Friday, 2 January, 2004
[Yongbyon nuclear plant]
Yongbyon has been off-limits to outsiders for a year
North Korea has invited American experts to visit its top nuclear
facility at Yongbyon.
The visit, set to take place next week, will mark the first time
outsiders have seen the plant since inspectors were forced to
leave a year ago.
A US paper said the team will include a nuclear expert,
congressional aides and a former state department member.
The White House has confirmed the invitation, but stressed it was
not an official US Government mission.
"It's not our deal," deputy state department spokesman Adam Ereli
told journalists at a news briefing in Washington.
Nevertheless, it is clear that the January visit could not go
ahead without the blessing of the Bush administration, the BBC's
Jon Leyne in Washington says.
A congressional visit to North Korea planned for last October was
blocked by the White House, our correspondent says.
This time it appears that President Bush is more open to the
prospect of dialogue with Pyongyang, he adds.
North Korea is under pressure from its ally China to resume talks
with the US on its nuclear ambitions. The last round of
negotiations, held in Beijing in August, ended without progress.
YONGBYON
Site of several nucle facilities, 100km north of Pyongyang
Includes 5MWt experimental nuclear reactor and fuel rod storage
facility North Korea says it has reprocessed plutonium from 8,000
spent fuel rods at site
The USA Today newspaper said the visitors to Yongbyon would
include Sig Hecker, a former director of the US' top nuclear
facility, the Los Alamos National Laboratory.
Other delegates were said to include a China expert from Stanford
University, two Senate foreign policy aides who have visited the
North Korean capital of Pyongyang before, and a former State
Department official who has been involved in negotiations with
North Korea.
An official at the South Korean Foreign Ministry confirmed the
report's detail to the BBC, though it remained unclear which of
the various facilities at Yongbyon would be open to the visitors.
The BBC's Seoul correspondent, Charles Scanlon, says that North
Korea has threatened on a number of occasions to show off what it
calls its nuclear deterrent, and the visit would provide such an
opportunity.
North Korea and the US have been locked in a stand-off over the
nuclear issue for over a year.
Last year the North claimed to have finished reprocessing 8,000
spent fuel rods being stored at Yongbyon, enough to help it build
up to six more nuclear weapons.
Foreign intelligence agencies have been sceptical about the
claims, but have been unable to check them.
Some analysts see the North's claims as bargaining counters, as
it seeks to negotiate diplomatic recognition and economic aid
from the US.
The negotiations have been bogged down over the timing of
concessions to be made, but news of the proposed visit suggested
some diplomatic progress had been made.
The Bush administration withdrew support for a congressional
visit to North Korea in October because it said the timing was
not appropriate. The Congressmen had also been promised a tour of
Yongbyon.
North Korea said at the weekend that it would take part in fresh
diplomatic talks with the US and its allies early this year.
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8 War Wire: US government keeps delegations to North Korea at arms length
WAR.WIRE
WASHINGTON (AFP) Jan 02, 2004
The US government on Friday disassociated itself from two
American delegations heading for North Korea in the hope of
securing a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the nuclear power plant
that is in the eye of a diplomatic storm.
Two teams -- one of academics and a scientist, the other from
Congress -- will be in the Stalinist state at a critical point of
the crisis, as China strives to bring Washington and Pyongyang
plus Japan, Russia and South Korea, back to the negotiating
table.
"We have nothing to do with this group or groups' reported plans
to visit North Korea," said State Department deputy spokesman
Adam Ereli.
"I think it should be clearly understood that the groups or
individuals are not acting on behalf of the administration,"
Ereli said, using words echoed by the White House.
One delegation is led by a top Stanford University China expert
and includes Jack Pritchard, who retired as State Department
envoy to talks with North Korea last year, and nuclear scientist
Sig Hecker, former director of the Los Alamos National
Laboratory.
USA Today newspaper said the group would visit the Yongbyon
nuclear plant, where they would be the first foreigner visitors
since Pyongang expelled UN inspections a year ago.
But a member of the delegation told AFP the Yongbyon visit was
still not certain.
There was also some uncertainty, fanned by Friday's publicity,
over whether the team would in fact be allowed into notoriously
insular North Korea at all.
A second US delegation is made up of Keith Luse, an aide to
Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Richard Lugar, and
Frank Jannuzi, who works for the ranking Democrat of the panel,
Senator Joseph Biden.
But a congressional source said the second team would focus on
human rights and humanitarian aid, on a trip which is a followup
to previous visits to North Korea.
South Korea said earlier Friday that Pyongyang had agreed to
allow a US delegation to visit between January 6-10.
Though neither delegation is endorsed by the US government,
officials here would be keen for any readout from members who
made it inside the Yongbyon nuclear plant.
The State Department, keeping both delegations at arms length,
said it neither facilitated nor opposed the visits to North
Korea.
US academics and congressional aides have made a series of
unofficial visits to North Korea, but observers say none of them
have reached the level of "track two" diplomacy as Pyongyang's
political system lacks the sophistication for such an approach.
Pyongyang said last June that the Yongbyon plant had completed
reprocessing 8,000 spent fuel rods -- thought to be enough for
around six nuclear weapons -- in addition to the one or two
nuclear devices US intelligence services assume North Korea
already possesses.
North Korea has rejected the idea of resuming inspections in the
plant, which were frozen after the fracture of a 1994
US-anti-nuclear deal, after Washington said in late 2002 that
Pyongyang had embarked on a banned enriched uranium nuclear
crusade.
News of the visiting US delegations follows North Korea's
statement that it was ready to join delayed six-nation talks on
the crisis sparked by its drive for nuclear weapons in October
2002.
While vowing to continue diplomatic arm-wrestling with the United
States over the communist country's nuclear threat, Pyongyang
said in a New Year's message Thursday that it was ready to
peacefully resolve its nuclear crisis.
A second round of six-nation crisis talks had been expected in
Beijing this month, but was postponed due to differences over the
steps needed for a settlement.
Washington has demanded that Pyongyang unilaterally scrap its
nuclear program, while North Korea has insisted on a legally
binding security guarantee from the United States in return for a
nuclear climb-down.
WAR.WIRE
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9 AU ABC: N-Korea agrees to host US nuclear delegation
Last updated: 2/01/2004 9:17:40 PM AEDT
North Korea has authorised an American delegation, which includes
a top nuclear scientist, to visit its Yongbyon nuclear complex
next week.
This will be the first foreign visit to North Korea's
controversial nuclear facilities since UN inspectors were
expelled by Pyongyang a year ago.
The delegation will also include a China expert from Stanford
University, two Senate foreign police aides and a former State
Deparetment official who has negotiated with Pyongyang.
News of the US delegation's visit follows North Korea's recent
announcement to the US Embassy in Beijing that it was ready to
join delayed six-nation talks on the crisis sparked by its drive
for nuclear weapons.
The talks, between the two Koreas, China, the US, Japan and
Russia are expected to take place sometime this month.
ABC Asia Pacifc TV / Radio Australia News & Current Affairs
on TV Today [ title=] Comprehensive coverage of the world's most
dynamic nations.
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10 MSNBC: N. Korea to allow nuclearinspection but why?
Latest move by Pyongyang points to renewed posturing
By Kari HuusReporter
Jan. 02, 2004
On Friday, officials in Seoul confirmed reports that North Korea
had approved the visit of a U.S. delegation and would allow it to
inspect the Yongbyon nuclear facility â the first foreign
access to the countryâs atomic sites since U.N. nuclear
inspectors were expelled more than a year ago.
Some engagement with the secretive North Korean regime is thought
by most experts to be better than no contact. But analysts were
quick to say that by welcoming the delegation, Pyongyang likely
was not suggesting a reversal in its pursuit of nuclear weapons
and, in fact, could be sending the opposite message.
The imminent delegation visit, first reported by USA Today, is
slated for Jan. 6-10 and includes former State Department
official Jack Pritchard who has favored engagement with the
hermetic communist nation. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee
is sending Republican staff member Keith Luse and a Democratic
colleague, Frank Jannuzi, both East Asia experts. It also
includes Sig Hecker, director of the Los Alamos National
Laboratory from 1985 to 1997, and China specialist John Lewis of
Stanford University.
âAt this stage, itâs hard to know if itâs good news or bad
news,â said Eric Heginbotham, a senior fellow and Korea expert
at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington. âAre [the
North Koreans] trying to prove that they are reprocessing
[nuclear fuel] or that they are not reprocessing?â
As usual, the latest move by Pyongyang raises more questions than
it answers. Why would North Korea allow an inspection now? The
regime of President Kim Jong Il has been insisting that it is
pursuing a nuclear weapons program for most of a year and will
continue unless the United States offers an ironclad assurance
of non-aggression. The administration has refused any such
assurance without âfull and verifiableâ elimination of
nuclear programs.
How much will the delegation be allowed to see at Yongbyon, and
will it be enough to clarify North Koreaâs success or
abandonment of nuclear fuel reprocessing or leave those questions
unanswered? Based on the information available so far, the
delegation does not have the technical manpower to do a careful
analysis of the facility.
The delegationâs plans raise questions on this side of the
Pacific, as well. Why did the Bush administration not block this
teamâs visit after barring a congressional delegation led by
Sen. Curt Weldon, R-Pa. â also expected to visit Yongbyon â
just two months earlier? Is there a new White House strategy
afoot, sparked either by changes in Libya or related to 2004
election strategy?
Concerns about a nuclear North Korea have been on the rise for
the past several years, and particularly since October 2002, when
a North Korean official conceded to a visiting U.S. official that
the country had a secret uranium enrichment program, which the
United States said was a violation of a 1994 agreement.
Washington then cut off fuel aid to North Korea under the same
agreement.
North Korea, in turn, expelled the inspectors from the
International Atomic Energy Agency and has made a series of
claims about its nuclear weapons development. Among other moves,
it reopened the Yongbyon facility, which had been mothballed for
years, and said it had reprocessed all 8,000 spent nuclear plant
fuel rods into weapons-grade plutonium.
Bargaining ploy? One very plausible theory, say North Korea
watchers, is that Pyongyang is trying to prove progress in
producing nuclear weapons program, to strengthen its hand in
six-party talks â which are expected to restart early in
the year despite delays.
A first round of the talks â which, at the insistence of the
Bush administration, also include Japan, Russia, China and South
Korea â took place in August but ended inconclusively, and
planning for new rounds has stalled. North Korea has indicated
that it would take part in another round but would prefer to cut
a deal directly with the United States.
The United States fought alongside South Koreans in the 1950-53
war. Fighting halted, but technically the two Koreas are still at
war; massive troop deployments face off across the 38th parallel,
and 37,000 U.S. troops are stationed in the South to bolster its
defenses.
By some estimates, North Korea has the capacity to produce up to
six nuclear weapons. Even that is uncertain, and it is unclear
which of its additional claims are mere bluff. Revealing some of
its hand may strengthen its bargaining power.
North Korea âmay be playing one of their usual games where they
show a little of their nuclear program â but nothing really
vital â and hope to get something in return ... which could be
American concessions,â said Robert Dujarric, a senior fellow of
national security studies at the Hudson Instituteâs Washington
office.
âTheir message may be that, politically, they are willing to
cut a deal and, by the way, without a deal weâre moving toward
nuclear weapons,â Heginbotham said.
Political considerations But there may be political forces at
play that have indeed changed the equation. For one thing, recent
concessions by North Korea â such as its agreeing to six-party
discussions â have come as the result of pressure
from neighboring China, and approval of this visit may bear
Beijingâs imprimatur, as well.
Despite playing communist big brother to Pyongyang in the early
days of its revolution, Beijing has long since become more
pragmatic on most fronts â and developed extremely important
economic relationships (as well as political ties) with
capitalist South Korea and the United States.
Beijing may have once again used its traditional ties to pressure
Pyongyang to curry favor with the United States in hope of
countering a rising tide of trade protectionism aimed in
particular at Chinese products.
For years, China continued its material and ideological support
of North Korea in part because it feared that if the North fell
or became irrelevant under a unified Korean peninsula, it would
put a hostile South Korea and its U.S. allies right on Chinaâs
borders.
These days, said Dujarric, Beijingâs waning fears of South
Korea and the importance of its economic ties with the United
States may be trumping Beijingâs old alliance.
âBeijing may have figured out that now is a time when they need
to earn credits in the U.S.,â he said. âThey may need to tell
Congress, âWe helped you on this,ââ hoping to ease rising
trade tensions and U.S. demands that China revalue its currency.
The U.S. trade deficit with China hit a record in October, at
$13.57 billion â the largest monthly imbalance ever recorded
with any country â and a big chunk of the total deficit
recorded.
The White House on Friday issued a cool response to the planned
delegation. White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan said that the
six-nation effort to address the issue was the appropriate forum
for such an undertaking.
And the State Department, asked about the plans of the two groups
to visit Pyongyang, said they were not acting on behalf of the
administration. âAny efforts that complicate prospects or
undertakings to reconvene six-party talks and to achieve forward
movement in dismantling North Koreaâs nuclear program arenât
helpful,â a spokesman said.
Asked whether the administration opposed the visit, he said,
âWe neither facilitate nor oppose.â
But the White House position has been nearly as mysterious as
Pyongyangâs. The Bush administration has been roundly
criticized by experts for failing to produce a coherent strategy
â apparently caught in a tug-of-war between hard-line and
moderate forces.
A first, bipartisan Weldon delegation that visited North Korea in
May returned home with a plan to defuse the nuclear crisis â
but that plan would have required the White House to offer North
Korea a written security guarantee. The White House, or at least
its hard-line component, was apparently miffed by the visit and
the scheme and was reportedly behind its opposition to a
subsequent trip led by Weldon slated for December.
Some experts suggest that the latest diplomatic progress in Libya
and Iran, and the defeat of Saddam Hussein, if not all his
followers, could allow the president to take a more moderate
position on North Korea, while doing so from a position of
strength.
In any case, keeping some contact with the communist regime â
albeit low-level or unofficial â may prevent North Korea from
issuing more alarming rhetoric or, worse still, from conducting a
nuclear test in the run-up to the 2004 vote. In that way, North
Korea would remain a complicated muddle on the sidelines, rather
than a high-profile election issue that could hurt the
presidentâs standing.The Associated Press contributed to this
report.
© 2003 MSNBC.com
*****************************************************************
11 Loring Wirbel's New Book: Star Wars: US Tools of Space Supremacy
Date: Thu, 1 Jan 2004 21:38:54 -0500
From: Bill J Sulzman
To: Sent: Thursday, January 01, 2004 4:05 PM
Subject: Fw: Loring Wirbel's new book: Star Wars:
US Tools of Space Supremacy
Star Wars: US Tools of Space Supremacy" provides a
fresh look at the role of space as an enabler of
the Bush administration's plans for endless
preventive war. It debunks the benign notions of
missile defence, and expands the definition of
space supremacy beyond that of weapons in space,
to include the unilateral misuse of space-based
intelligence, communications, and targeting
technologies.
Loring Wirbel shows how space militarization forms
a key part of the explicit unilateral
empire-building of the Bush administration. The
book is also a stark reminder that preventive war
theory did not originate with Donald Rumsfeld.
First used as a term by Reagan, 'Star Wars' was an
idea rooted in the Cold War. Wirbel argues that
the current space supremacy doctrine was first
developed in the immediate aftermath of the Cold
War, in the early days of the Clinton
administration. Giving a historical overview of
governmental policies through the 1980s and 1990s
to the present, Wirbel shows that 'Star Wars' is
an idea that never went away.
Examining the evolution of space-based technology,
and the way it is now used in a variety of
settings including intelligence operations and
on-the- ground military campaigns, this is a
comprehensive critical guide to the real aims and
capabilities of US space technology and the
missile defence program.
Loring Wirbel has been involved in military
conversion and peace work for 25 years, and has
studied technical intelligence and civil liberties
issues for nearly as long. He is currently
editorial director for communications initiatives
at CMP Media LLC, headquartered in New York and
London. He has worked for daily newspapers in the
US southwest, and has held key positions in
leading technology publications such as Electronic
Engineering Times." Pluto Press, London -
Sterling, VA
Loring connects about as many dots in 155
pages as is humanly possible. It is a bit of an
insiders book, but it deserves a much wider
audience than that. If our political reality is
to change more people have to know what is really
going on. The book should be in bookstores soon
and is also available on-line at Amazon.
Bill Sulzman
P.O. Box 915
Colorado Springs, CO 80901
Ph 719 389 0644
*****************************************************************
12 Guardian Unlimited: Rebranding Bush as man of peace
Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington, Simon Tisdall and
Nicholas Watt
Saturday January 3, 2004
The Guardian
The White House has retreated from its doctrine of regime change
and pre-emptive military action and is returning to traditional
diplomacy in an effort to repackage George Bush as a president
for peace.
Signs of the new strategy that have emerged in the past few weeks
include:
· North Korea, where authorities yesterday agreed to allow US
inspectors to visit its nuclear complex next week.
· Iran, where the US proposed, through UN channels, sending a
high-level humanitarian mission after last week's earthquake -
although Tehran last night asked for any visit to be delayed.
· Libya, where the US welcomed Muammar Gadafy's surprise decision
to give up weapons of mass destruction.
· Iraq, where the Bush administration is pressing for greater
involvement from the international community.
· Palestine, where US peace envoy John Wolf may be sent to try to
restart talks.
The signs of a thaw in US relations with these and other
countries point to a different approach emerging in Washington.
It emphasises cooperation, dialogue and diplomacy in place of the
policies that have characterised the Bush administration's
thinking to date. While Mr Bush publicly asserts Washington's
right to defend its interests by any means, in practice he is
increasingly pursuing a collaborative approach.
"There is a definite shift in US policy in everything but words,"
said Joseph Cirincione, an arms control expert. "The official
doctrine has not changed but all our actions have, and the result
is a shift away from military action towards diplomatic
engagement. First with Iran, then with Libya and now with North
Korea, we see a much greater effort to affect changes in regime
behaviour rather than changes of regime."
Analysts in Washington say the Bush administration has little
choice if it is to fulfil a highly ambitious election year agenda
that seeks to disarm "rogue states" such as North Korea while
advancing towards a settlement between Israel and the
Palestinians, encouraging conflict resolution in Sudan, and
achieving credible transformations in Afghanistan and Iraq.
All these objectives are complicated and to some degree hindered
by the "war on terror" against a resurgent al-Qaida, and by
America's failure to capture or kill Osama bin Laden.
Despite notable successes in overthrowing and capturing Saddam
Hussein and toppling the Taliban in Afghanistan, White House
hopes of bringing democratic governance in Iraq and Afghanistan
hang in the balance amid continuing violence and discord.
Iraq is crucial to the administration's policy shift - either
because, as conservatives argue, leaders of other rogue regimes
learnt a lesson from Saddam's fate, or, as others say, because
the conflict has so extended the military, Washington cannot
contemplate the opening of a new front.
"It's just the force of reality, the consequences of Iraq which
has made them change," said Anatol Lieven, a fellow at the
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "Even by their
standards it is not rational to think that America can run
another war."
With elections 11 months away, Mr Bush does not want to be
vulnerable to claims that he has presided over a warmongering
strategy that has left Americans little safer than September 11
2001. His shift follows an established pattern in Washington of
politicians moving to the centre during an election year.
But Mr Bush has an additional consideration with Iraq. He is
keenly aware that the electorate's judgment of his performance
depends heavily on events there. Despite a rally in his
popularity after Saddam's capture two weeks ago, opinion polls
suggest overall attitudes towards the war have not fundamentally
changed. Public concern at American casualties in Iraq has
continued to rise and, ominously for Mr Bush, the violence in
Iraq has not lessened.
White House policy is also being influenced by Washington's
allies, notably Britain. After the chasms over Iraq, the US and
the Europeans seem to have reached an understanding about the
right mix of diplomacy and force - particularly during
negotiations with Iran and Libya.
Britain's influence is particularly strong. British government
sources were reluctant to talk about the US change of tack last
night for fear of giving any impression of gloating. But any
signs that Mr Bush is moving back to a multilateral foreign
policy will be welcomed in London - if only in private - as a
vindication of Tony Blair's strategy of dealing with the
president. Friends describe this as "complete solidarity in
public, and complete candour in private".
Sources say Mr Blair's relationship with Mr Bush is so strong
that an informal weekly video conference has now become a regular
fixture in their diaries.
The conferences are primarily designed to discuss Iraq, though
the two leaders have also discussed other issues such as Iran.
Sensitive issue, such as Libya, are discussed on more secure
lines.
Sir Nigel Sheinwald, the prime minister's chief foreign policy
adviser, talks on an almost daily basis with Condoleezza Rice,
the president's national security adviser. Sir David Manning, the
British ambassador in Washington, meets Dr Rice regularly.
The change in direction is also a result of the constant struggle
for influence between pragmatists and hawks that has been a
defining feature of the Bush administration. The
neo-conservatives appear to be losing ground, with speculation
about upcoming bureaucratic reshuffling.
"The state department pinstripes have replaced the department of
defence bluster," Mr Cirincione said.
The move to negotiated, diplomatic solutions is unlikely to be
welcomed by the vice president, Dick Cheney, the most influential
of Washington's hawks, who have often dominated policy making.
But in an interview published this week, the secretary of state,
Colin Powell, seemed to suggest the policy battle was finally
going his way. Mr Powell acknowledged that the administration's
top priority in the coming months would be cooperative peace
making, rather than war making.
"I'm going to work very hard in making clear to our friends in
Europe and elsewhere in the world that America is a partner -
spend more time with them, spend more time listening to them and
finding ways what we can cooperate together," Mr Powell told the
Washington Post.
On Iraq, Mr Powell indicated that a switch in US policy was
required. He said the UN and Nato had essential roles to play and
the US needed to persuade other countries to forgive or
reschedule Iraq's $120bn (Ł67bn) foreign debts.
Guardian Newspapers Limited
*****************************************************************
13 Zionism is racism, latest exhibit.
Date: Thu, 1 Jan 2004 21:40:59 -0600 (CST)
Thanks KB for this link:
Michael
====================
We are not them ...we are not made that way
"For the Arab countries, nuclear weapons are weapons of destruction. For
us, they are weapons of defense, which make our continued existence
possible.
"To allow Muslim countries to continue to possess nuclear weapons is
tantamount to agreeing to global suicide. To demand that Israel disarm
itself of these weapons is like asking it to please consent to commit
suicide.
==========================
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1072844157839&p=1006953079865
WE ARE NOT THEM
Jerusalem Post Dec. 31, 2003
Matti Golan
*The writer is the former editor-in-chief of Haaretz and Globes.
Does Israel have a problem with nuclear weapons? At first glance, it would
appear that we do. Libya is willing to disarm itself of its weapons of
mass destruction and to commit not to manufacture them in the future.
Sooner or later, Iran will probably take the same path and Pakistan may
not lag far behind.
After all, the Iraqi example is still very fresh in the minds of these
countries.
It is only natural for Arab countries -- those that are required to
disarm themselves of weapons of mass destruction -- to try to direct
attention toward Israel.
Why just us, they say?
And what about you? After all, it's no secret that Israel's reactors have
not been in the textile-manufacturing business for ages. Everyone knows
what and how much Israel has. So if we, the Arab countries, are being
required to disarm ourselves of these types of weapons, why isn't Israel
required to do the same thing?
There are very few cases in which an argument so logical can also be so
wrong. There is nothing more logical that to demand that Israel do exactly
what others are required to do. There is nothing more logical than to
expect Israel to practice what it preaches to others. There is no more
logical argument than to say that it does not make sense that nuclear arms
in one country represents a danger to the world, while the same arms in
another country are okay.
On the other hand, it is entirely clear that Israel has no intention of
disarming itself of its nuclear weapons, even if the entire world does its
utmost to make us.
So what should be done? What should we tell the world?
First of all, we must not stammer. We must not attempt to whitewash the
matter or sweep it under the rug. What we have is the most logical
counterargument possible, and it is so because it is founded on the truth.
What we have to tell the world is that the situation is simply not the
same because we are not out to destroy any country. We have no reason to
do so and we are not made that way.
The fact is that there have already been existential situations when the
employment of nuclear weapons was considered. But it was never done. We
don't have anything equivalent to the Arabic battle cry of itbah al yahud
-- slaughter the Jews.
FROM THE outset, Israel became involved in the entire matter of nuclear
weapons for only one purpose: defense. This includes the balance of
terror.
If we did not have these weapons at our disposal, we might not exist
anymore. The Arab countries might already have destroyed us. The thing
that deters them more than anything else is the knowledge of a possible
nuclear response.
In fact, all those that seek peace in the Middle East should be supporting
the continued possession of nuclear arms by Israel.
Because if Israel did not have these arms, no Arab or Muslim country --
Egypt and Jordan included -- would have been willing to talk peace.
Their willingness to make peace, to the extent that such willingness
exists, stems from their acceptance of the existence of the State of
Israel, and acceptance of the fact that we cannot be erased from the face
of the earth. And this acceptance on the part of the Arabs and Muslim
countries is the direct result of their knowledge that we have nuclear
weapons.
The state, in essence, owes its very existence to a single individual who
brought nuclear weapons to Israel, and who did so despite the opposition
of almost all his fellow government members. If we manage to reach peace
with the Arab countries, it will be thanks to the person who brought
nuclear weapons to Israel out of a prophetic view to the future and out of
a sober understanding of the reality in this region, a reality that has
not and will not change. It is not superfluous to remind ourselves again
and again that this man was none other than Shimon Peres.
Those who say that the same rule should apply to us and the Muslim
countries regarding nuclear weapons are not looking out for our welfare.
And if asked how we can be so confident that these weapons will never be
used improperly, we must state frankly: Our confidence stems from the fact
that we are not them; we are not like them and those that say otherwise
are not interested in the truth.
For the Arab countries, nuclear weapons are weapons of destruction. For
us, they are weapons of defense, which make our continued existence
possible.
To allow Muslim countries to continue to possess nuclear weapons is
tantamount to agreeing to global suicide. To demand that Israel disarm
itself of these weapons is like asking it to please consent to commit
suicide.
*****************************************************************
14 Guardian Unlimited: The new cold war
The long struggle between the US and Russia has found
a new focus
Jonathan Steele
Saturday January 3, 2004
The Guardian
In the dying weeks of another war-filled year, one bit of good
news was the non-violent uprising which toppled Eduard
Shevardnadze's regime in Georgia. But as the Caucasian republic
goes to the polls tomorrow to choose a successor, the risk of
bloodshed remains high and powerful external forces are trying to
determine how the new president behaves.
Indeed, it is no exaggeration to say that Georgia is the cockpit
of a new cold war. During the Soviet period the struggle between
the US and Russia was on a global scale. Massive arsenals were
locked in stalemate in Europe, but wars ravaged Africa and Asia
as the superpowers found it easier to compete there by
interfering in local conflicts without the fear of nuclear
conflagration. These were the so-called proxy wars.
The USSR's collapse did not end the rivalry. It merely recast it
on a more complex stage which stressed deviousness rather than
outright hostility. Washington wooed post-communist Russia with
offers of partnership while expanding the old anti-Russian
alliance, Nato, to take in former Soviet allies as well as the
three Baltic states.
Even as that task was being completed, the Clinton administration
was turning its attention to Russia's southern flanks in central
Asia and the Caucasus. With Russia's formal system of control
dismantled, the aim was to reduce as much of Moscow's political
and economic influence as possible.
Georgia was a good candidate to start the process because
Shevardnadze, as Soviet foreign minister, had shown great
readiness to comply with western demands. Aid money poured in,
making Georgia the biggest per-capita recipient of American
government funding after Israel. Help also went to develop a
range of civil society organisations, from private media to
polling organisations and new political parties. While few would
quarrel with the need for "good governance" initiatives in
authoritarian or failed states, it would be better if they were
run by less partisan bodies, like international non-governmental
organisations or the United Nations agencies, than by states with
an imperial agenda.
However, by 2003, after 10 years of Shevardnadze's rule, "reform"
in Georgia was unimpressive. The country had become an archetype
of the worst kind of post-communist state, where a corrupt
rentier class of narrowly selected officials and mafia
businessmen enriched itself through smuggling, crony
privatisation, theft from the few remaining state enterprises,
and control of customs duties and port revenues.
They tolerated opposition newspapers and multiparty polls on the
assumption that state control of television would allow them to
manipulate the electoral contest, while loyal officials would
announce fraudulent results if voters went wrong. The last line
of defence was always the army and police who, it was thought,
would put down protests by force in order to save the regime
because they were part of it.
Serbia broke the mould in September 2000. Popular frustration
over corruption and a failing economy, plus anger over too many
lost wars, produced Europe's first post-communist revolution.
When the regime tried to cheat on the election results, people
took to the streets in huge numbers and the army split. This was
different from the revolutions of 1989, which were more political
than economic. They also took place under a single-party system
in which large sections of the leadership had themselves lost
faith and wanted a soft landing.
Milosevic's downfall led to predictions that Georgia would be the
next post-communist state to have an uprising. There was similar
anger over crony capitalism. Shevardnadze had not sparked any
wars, but nationalists were upset that he had failed to regain
two lost provinces, South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Mikhail
Saakashvili, who led the November street protests and is expected
to win tomorrow's election, is a nationalist who regularly plays
that card in his speeches.
Bush's people supported Clinton's strategy of diminishing Russia.
In power, they sharpened it. They exploited the terrorism scare
of 9/11, plus Putin's desire for US acquiescence to his failed
war in Chechnya, as a way to get Moscow's consent to the
establishment of US bases in central Asia. Geared as a temporary
measure against the Taliban, they are determined to keep them for
possible use against Russia, China and the Middle East. They
accelerated the "pipeline wars" in the Caucasus by pressing
western companies to cut Russia out of the search for oil in the
Caspian and make sure that none was transported through Russia.
Why then did Washington decide to abandon Shevardnadze? It was
not an uncontested move. Before the November fraud, most US
officials hoped to see him remain in office until his term
expired next year, provided he let the opposition form a majority
in parliament, start to root out corrupt officials, and debate
the drafting of a new constitution which might reduce the power
of the presidency.
Even after the fraud some US officials wanted to keep
Shevardnadze in power. There were sentimental ties, as well as
the argument that direct US interference in regime change could
play badly in central Asia and Azerbaijan, raising their rulers'
suspicions and encouraging them to balance between Moscow and
Washington rather than lean too heavily to the US side. Worries
over Saakashvili's impetuous nationalism and the risk that as
president he might try to regain the lost provinces by force, or
at least take provocative actions on the border, also played a
restraining role.
In the end the US tipped against the old dictator and told him to
go. Anger over his cheating in last November's elections was not
the main factor - equally fraudulent behaviour by the Aliev
dynasty in nearby Azerbaijan in elections last October produced
minimal American protest, even though hundreds of opposition
demonstrators were detained and several editors and politicians
remain in prison.
Two things probably triggered the US shift. One was fear of
instability and even civil war, if the demonstrators did not
quickly get their way. The other was the fact that Shevardnadze,
for all his pro-western sympathies, was a realist who understood
that Georgia needs good political and economic ties to Russia.
The Bush administration was furious last year when Russia's
state-controlled gas giant Gazprom made a long-term deal for
continuing supplies to Georgia. First the US ambassador Richard
Miles complained that Washington must be informed of such deals
in advance. Then Bush's energy advisor Steven Mann flew to
Tbilisi to warn Shevardnadze not to go ahead with it. Meanwhile
Saakashvili, and even his more moderate allies like Nino
Burjanadze - who is expected to be speaker of parliament again -
denounced the Gazprom negotiations.
Saakashvili is sure of election tomorrow, but what happens next
is unclear. Like Turkey, Georgia's other big neighbour, Russia is
no longer an imperial power. It has normal regional interests and
Georgia is doomed by geography and economics to need good
relations with it. Will the new team in Tbilisi move towards a
more confrontational anti-Russian nationalism, or will they
understand that supporting Bush's policy of a new cold war in the
Caucasus offers Georgia no benefit?
Guardian Newspapers Limited
*****************************************************************
15 Las Vegas SUN: Libya Seeks Reward Over Nuke Inspections
Today: January 02, 2004 at 1:50:09 PST
ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK (AP) - Libya's prime minister said his country wants to
be rewarded for opening up to nuclear inspections, and stressed
that the United States must lift sanctions by May 12 or his
government won't have to pay $6 million to each family of the
1988 Lockerbie bombing victims, according to an interview
published Friday.
Prime Minister Shukri Ghanim told The New York Times that Libya
wants to be paid for turning over nuclear materials. Libyan
leader Moammar Gadhafi pledged in mid-December to give up his
unconventional weapons programs and to open weapons sites to
inspectors.
Ghanim told the Times that the North African country wants to
"accelerate to the maximum" the dismantling of its
unconventional weapons programs so that Libya could be declared
free of the weapons in the next few months.
At the same time, Ghanim reiterated that his country won't have
to pay the remaining $6 million to each family of the 1988
Lockerbie bombing victims unless Washington lifts the sanctions
that it imposed in 1986 by May 12.
In August, Libya agreed to accept responsibility for the 1988
Lockerbie bombing and has paid the families of the 270 victims
$4 million each so far. That led the United Nations to lift
sanctions on Sept. 12.
Libya promised to pay another $4 million if the United States
lifts its own sanctions against Libya and another $2 million if
Libya is removed from the State Department's list of countries
sponsoring terrorism within eight months.
"The agreement says that eight months after the signing, if
American sanctions are not removed, then the additional $6
million for each family of victims will not be paid," Ghanim
said. "This would be for the good of the families of the
victims, but we will leave this to the decision of the
Americans."
--
*****************************************************************
16 Ananova: Secret papers reveal Heath's fury with Nixon
The full fury of Prime Minister Edward Heath when the Americans
staged a nuclear face-off with Russia without informing Britain
or other Nato allies, is disclosed in secret files made public
today.
The decision by President Richard Nixon to put US forces on
worldwide nuclear alert after the Soviets threatened to
intervene in the Arab-Israeli war of October 1973 marked one of
the gravest moments of the Cold War.
It took the superpowers closer to nuclear conflict than any time
since the Cuban missile crisis - the only other occasion during
the Cold War when US forces were put on "Alert Stage 3".
Nixon, already mired in the Watergate scandal, and his Secretary
of State Henry Kissinger had wanted to send a clear signal to
the Russians not to intervene on the side of the Arabs.
However, documents released to the National Archives under the
30 year rule show the crisis marked a low ebb in the "special
relationship" between Britain and America as Heath fumed over
the US action.
The files suggest Kissinger apparently misled the British
ambassador in Washington, Lord Cromer, over the US alert, even
though it covered American troops stationed in Britain.
Heath only learned what had happened from news reports several
hours later while sitting in the Commons alongside Foreign
Secretary Sir Alec Douglas-Home who was preparing to make a
statement on the crisis.
His embarrassment was compounded by the fact that GCHQ - the
secret "listening" agency - had discovered what had happened but
the information was not passed on to No 10 or the Foreign Office
because it was assumed that they already knew.
Story filed: 08:51 Thursday 1st January 2004
Ananova Ltd.
*****************************************************************
17 EU Business - EU Commission offers closer ties with Libya
eubusiness.com
02 January 2004
The head of the European Union's executive has invited Libya to
join the trade and aid partnership between the EU and the
countries of the Mediterranean basin, the bloc said on Friday.
The offer was made during a telephone conversation on Tuesday
between European Commission President Romano Prodi and Libyan
leader Moamer Kadhafi and follows an announcement by Tripoli
earlier in December that it was giving up its quest for chemical,
biological and nuclear weapons.
"The time has come for Libya to join the circle of EU friends,"
the Commission quoted Prodi as saying.
Prodi was ready to receive Kadhafi in Brussels as soon as
possible to formalise Tripoli's membership of the
Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, the Commission said in a
statement. Khadafi had replied he was ready to consider such a
move.
The Euro-Mediterranean Partnership links the 15-nation EU to 12
countries around the Mediterranean -- Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia,
Egypt, Israel, Jordan, the Palestinian Authority, Lebanon, Syria,
Turkey, Cyprus and Malta.
One of its main aims to create an area of shared prosperity
through the progressive establishment of a free-trade area
coupled with EU aid for economic transition.
Libya currently has observer status at certain meetings of the
group.
The EU had previously declined to accept Libya as a full member
because of international sanctions against Tripoli in retaliation
for the bombing of a PanAm passenger jet over the Scottish town
of Lockerbie in 1988.
The United Nations agreed to lift the sanctions in September 2003
when Libya agreed to pay compensation for the bombing.
Kadhafi and Prodi have spoken by phone at New Year for the last
five years, the Commission said. Text and Picture Copyright ©
2003 AFP. All other copyright © 2003 EUbusiness Ltd. All rights
reserved. This material is intended solely for personal use. Any
other reproduction, publication or redistribution of this
material without the written agreement of the copyright owner is
strictly forbidden and any breach of copyright will be considered
actionable.
Powered by ICP Europe © Copyright © 2003
*****************************************************************
18 War Wire: Libya cooperated fully with UN nuclear inspectors: IAEA
WAR.WIRE
VIENNA (AFP) Jan 02, 2004
UN nuclear inspectors received full cooperation from the Libyan
authorities during their first mission to the country, but it is
still too early to draw conclusions from their findings, a
spokesman for the UN watchdog agency said on Friday.
A team of six senior inspectors from the International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA) returned to Vienna on Thursday following the
first of a series of in-depth inspection missions, said IAEA
spokesman Mark Gwozdecky.
The inspectors "received active and full cooperation from Libyan
authorities" throughout their mission, during which they visited
nine out of a total of 10 sites declared by Libya as relevant to
its nuclear activities.
The 10th site is a storage facility for natural uranium, and will
be inspected in the near future, added Gwozdecky.
"In the past two weeks we have acquired considerable information
and understanding of the history, scope, and development of
Libya's nuclear program," he said.
"However we aren't ready to draw any conclusion, it will require
much more and thorough work before we can do so."
The IAEA mission and a visit to Libya at the weekend by IAEA head
Mohamed ElBaradei followed Libya's surprise announcement last
month that it was giving up any ambitions to acquire weapons of
mass destruction and would allow UN inspections of its nuclear
sites. The announcement came after nine months of secret talks
with London and Washington.
Tripoli pledged during ElBaradei's visit to allow snap
inspections of suspect nuclear sites as if it had already signed
the additional protocol to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
The IAEA spokesman also responded indirectly to the apparent
discontent of Washington, which wants inspections to be conducted
by the United States and Britain.
The New York Times on Friday quoted a Bush administration
official who called ElBaradei's visit to Libya "a 'badly advised'
public relations exercise at a time when the United States
Central Intelligence Agency and Britain's MI6 spy agency were
developing strong bonds with Libya's military and intelligence
chiefs."
"We want to have more conversations in private with the Libyans
before doing anything in public," the senior official was quoted
as saying this week.
He added that ElBaradei "has (only) got a minuscule percentage of
the knowledge" about the full assortment of Libya's illicit
weapons programs, therefore "he has a role, but only with the
technical aspects" of verifying the dismantling of the Libyan
nuclear program .
The same article quoted Libya's Prime Minister Shukri Ghanem as
urging Washington to lift sanctions against his country before
May 12 -- the deadline for Tripoli to complete compensation
payments to the families of the victims of the Lockerbie disaster
-- or Libya might not feel obliged to pay the six million dollars
that remains to be paid in compensation to families of victims of
the 1988 bombing of a Pan American airliner over Lockerbie,
Scotland.
Gwozdecky noted the IAEA had exclusive responsibility for
verifying the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. It reacted
quickly and had done its work, he said.
For the IAEA the success of any verification hinges on "the
authority that the inspectors have", he added.
That is why the UN agency advocates "that all countries sign the
additional protocol, and it is here important to know that Libya
decided this week to act in accordance with the additional
protocol", he said.
In order to better accomplish their task, the inspectors also
want any country having information relevant to the IAEA's work
to share it with the UN agency.
WAR.WIRE
*****************************************************************
19 AFP: IAEA stakes its claim in Libya despite US opposition
VIENNA (AFP) Jan 02, 2004
The UN atomic watchdog has staked its claim in Libya by sending
inspection teams to take stock of Tripoli's nuclear sites,
provoking sharp US criticism in the latest battle between the
world body and Washington.
Six inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
returned to Vienna on Thursday after their first mission to
Libya. A spokesman reported that they had enjoyed "active and
full cooperation from Libyan authorities".
"In the past two weeks we have acquired considerable information
and understanding of the history, scope, and development of
Libya's nuclear programme," the IAEA's Mark Gwozdecky told AFP.
The inspectors landed in Tripoli eight days after Libyan leader
Moamer Kadhafi on December 19 renounced any quest for weapons of
mass destruction after nine months of secret talks with the
United States and Britain.
In a surprise move, IAEA director general Mohamed ElBaradei
travelled with them and met with Kadhafi.
The IAEA inspectors visited nine sites declared by Libya as
relevant to its nuclear activities, Gwozdecky said, and would
inspect the 10th, a storage facility for natural uranium, soon.
Gwozdecky pointed out that "we aren't ready to draw any
conclusion, it will require much more and thorough work before we
can do so."
But ElBaradei has declared his satisfaction that Tripoli was
acting as if it had already signed the additional protocol to the
nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) by allowing in-depth,
suprise searches of sensitive sites.
The US administration of George W. Bush has accused the IAEA of
rushing into Libya, suggesting that Washington would have liked a
bigger role in verifying Libya's disarmament.
The New York Times on Friday quoted a senior US official who
called ElBaradei's visit "a 'badly advised' public relations
exercise at a time when the United States Central Intelligence
Agency and Britain's MI6 spy agency were developing strong bonds
with Libya's military and intelligence chiefs."
He added that ElBaradei "has (only) got a minuscule percentage of
the knowledge" about the full assortment of Libya's illicit
weapons programs, therefore "he has a role, but only with the
technical aspects" of verifying the dismantling of the Libyan
nuclear programme.
According to the US state department, under secretary of state
John Bolton was due to travel to London in the near future for
talks on verifying Libya's claims.
But Gwozdecky on Friday pointed out that the IAEA had sole
responsibility for verifying compliance with the NPT.
It had reacted quickly and "done its job", he said, adding that
the IAEA's success at verification hinges on "the authority that
the inspectors have."
He said another vital factor was "any state having information
relevant to our work sharing this information with us."
A diplomat in Vienna said in support of the agency: "There are
people who are well-equipped to conduct verification missions."
The controversy recalls other clashes between the United Nations
and the United States over verification missions.
When Washington claimed in the run-up to the Iraq war that Saddam
Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, IAEA inspectors
countered that they had found no proof of this.
Washington has since sent in its own inspectors to look for
unconventional weapons, with no success, and ignored ElBaradei's
requests that his officials be allowed to return to complete
their work.
The United States also criticised a report by ElBaradei on Iran
in which he concluded that there was no proof that Tehran had a
nuclear arms programme.
In November, IAEA member states condemned Iran for covert nuclear
activities but stopped short of taking Iran before the UN
Security Council which could impose sanctions, as the United
States had wished.
WAR.WIRE
*****************************************************************
20 TIMES OF INDIA: Pak's nukes are secure, says Bush
AFP[ SATURDAY, JANUARY 03, 2004 06:48:10 AM ]
CRAWFORD: US President George W Bush on Thursday said that
Pakistan 's nuclear arsenal was "secure" following two failed
assassination attempts on President Pervez Musharraf in the last
three weeks.
Bush also said he emerged from a recent telephone conversation
with Musharraf convinced that the "friend of the United States "
and ally in the global war on terrorism had the situation under
control.
Copyright © 2004 Times Internet Limited. All rights reserved. |
*****************************************************************
21 AFP: Libyan nuclear cargo was loaded in Dubai
: German press
BERLIN (AFP) Jan 02, 2004
Uranium enrichment components found on a German ship headed for
Libya but seized in a US-led operation had been loaded in Dubai
for an Asian company, Germany's Sueddeutsche Zeitung daily
reported Friday.
Seizure of the cargo sparked speculation that it sealed Tripoli's
surprise decision last month to publicly renounce weapons of mass
destruction.
US officials, while confirming a freighter was diverted after
intelligence reports that it was shipping centrifuge parts, have
so far refused to specify the equipment's country of origin or
the Gulf port where it was loaded.
However, the Sueddeutsche daily identified the port as Dubai and
also said British businessmen were involved. It did not name its
sources.
The unidentified Asian company declared a false cargo, it added.
Neither the crew nor the shippers -- the Germany-based firm, BBC
Chartering and Logistic GmbH -- knew that the real cargo was
components for a centrifuge capable of enriching uranium.
They have been cooperating well with authorities, the paper
added, quoting German government sources.
The seizure was made in October, US authorities announced
Wednesday, after the ship was diverted to an Italian port for
searching.
US State Department spokesman Adam Ereli did not want to comment
on whether it had been the key impetus in convincing Libyan
leader Moamer Kadhafi to give up weapons of mass destruction.
He noted that it occurred months after Kadhafi initiated secret
talks with the United States and Britain on giving up such arms.
But he also pointed out that, after the seizure, Libya agreed to
let US and British experts inspect its weapons facilities.
WAR.WIRE
*****************************************************************
22 Daily Times: Libyan nuclear cargo was loaded in Dubai
January 03, 2004
BERLIN: Uranium enrichment components found on a German ship
headed for Libya but seized in a US-led operation had been loaded
in Dubai for an Asian company, Germanys Sueddeutsche Zeitung
daily reported on Friday.
Seizure of the cargo sparked speculation that it sealed Tripolis
surprise decision last month to publicly renounce weapons of mass
destruction. US officials, while confirming a freighter was
diverted after intelligence reports that it was shipping
centrifuge parts, have so far refused to specify the equipments
country of origin or the Gulf port where it was loaded.
However, the Sueddeutsche daily identified the port as Dubai and
also said British businessmen were involved. It did not name its
sources.
The unidentified Asian company declared a false cargo, it added.
Neither the crew nor the shippers - the Germany-based firm, BBC
Chartering and Logistic GmbH - knew that the real cargo was
components for a centrifuge capable of enriching uranium.
They have been cooperating well with authorities, the paper
added, quoting German government sources.
The seizure was made in October, US authorities announced
Wednesday, after the ship was diverted to an Italian port for
searching.
US State Department spokesman Adam Ereli did not want to comment
on whether it had been the key impetus in convincing Libyan
leader Moamer Kadhafi to give up weapons of mass destruction. He
noted that it occurred months after Kadhafi initiated secret
talks with the United States and Britain on giving up such arms.
But he also pointed out that, after the seizure, Libya agreed to
let US and British experts inspect its weapons facilities. AFP
Daily Times - All Rights Reserved Site developed and hosted by
WorldCALL Internet Solutions
*****************************************************************
23 IRIB PERSIAN NEWS: UN watchdogs, stay out of here
IranNews Tehran Times Iran Daily
2004/01/01
Tehran, Jan 1 - Israel has piled up over 200 nuclear warheads,
which have posed a serious threat to the regional and global
stability as the western states, mainly the United States keep
silence over the issue.
Tel Aviv has been empowered with nuclear energy since 57 years
ago. In 1950s, French scientists have been comissioned to build
the Israeli nuclear plant in Dimona.
The United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) had
confirmed the nuclear plant construction in 1968.
Following the news broken out in 1986 by the fugitive Israeli
nuclear worker Mordechai Vanunu, it was confirmed that the
Israeli Regime has been turned into the sixth nuclear power in
the world.
The Berlin University professor Saeed Doudin hit out at the
western double standard policy on Israeli nuclear programs.
The western governments attempt to equip Israel with weapons of
mass destruction, but they never let the idea come into the minds
of other countries, the German peace movement spokesman said.
The United States is viewing the world from his own angle
defiant to any opposition, the German writer and peace activist
Sigfried Bormzter said.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Mohammad
Elbaradei has urged Israel to admit the Non-Proliferation Treaty
(NPT) while hinting to the clouds of concerns hovering over the
Middle East in a bid to put an end into the arms race underway to
balance their nuclear power with the Israeli regime.
Israel has never been threatened by internaitonal sanctions, nor
the UN watchdogs were permitted to inspect the regime's nuclear
facilities.
mr/kd
Copyright 2002, All Rights Reserved By Islamic Republic of Iran
Broadcasting News Network Sponsored By IRIB News Computer Center.
E-Mail: Webmaster@IRIBNEWS.COM
*****************************************************************
24 DW: German Freighter Was Carrying Nuclear Weapons Components to Libya
| Germany | Deutsche Welle | 01.01.2004
German-flagged ship was carrying parts to build a nuclear bomb
from a Persian Gulf country to Libya in October. Investigators
seized the shipment before it reached its destination.
Just a few months before Libya declared it would cease its
efforts to create weapons of mass destruction, American and
British agents seized a German freighter ship loaded with
centrifuges and other parts that are used to create enriched
uranium, the material needed to build nuclear bombs. The seizure
is believed to have influenced Tripoliâs decision to suspend
its weapons program last month.
On Wednesday, U.S. State Department spokesman Adam Areli
confirmed the discovery following a report in the Wall Street
Journal, a financial daily, that the German ship had been en
route to Libya but was diverted to an Italian port so that U.S.
investigators could seize the content. The newspaper cited
officials saying the German company which owns the ship,
Hamburg-based BBC Chartering and Logistic, had been extremely
cooperative with investigators after they were alerted to
intelligence that the ship might be carrying the parts.
"A ship was diverted, based on intelligence, that it was carrying
centrifuge parts in early October," Areli said, adding that the
seizure demonstrated the value of the U.S.â Proliferation
Security Initiative, which aims to prevent the production of
weapons of mass destruction. Sixteen countries, including
Germany, are participating in the global initiative.
Thousands of components seized
U.S. and British intelligence agents had learned the ship would
be leaving a Persian Gulf state with the parts and an ultimate
destination of Libya. German authorities were informed and
contact was made with the German shipping company. A U.S. Navy
ship then escorted the "BBC China" to port. Investigators found
several thousand components on the ship that are used to enrich
uranium.
Washington officials said Wednesday they believed the discovery
might have helped sway Libya towards agreeing to stop its weapons
program and open its doors for international inspections.
Following months of secret negotiations with Tripoli, the U.S.
and Britain announced on Dec. 19 that Libyan leader Moammar
Gadhafi had agreed to a deal on inspections.
After the seizures, an unnamed U.S. government official told the
paper, Tripoli "saw how much we knew about what they were doing."
With the investigation continuing, U.S. officials have refused to
state who sold the centrifuges or where they originated from.DW
Staff with wire services (dsl)
[en:dw_radiolive]
*****************************************************************
25 NEWS.com.au: US security deadline on our ships
By John Kerin January 3, 2004
AUSTRALIA is in danger of failing to meet a mid-year deadline for
tough new maritime counter-terrorism standards demanded by the US
to counter terrorist attacks using hijacked oil tankers or
smuggled radioactive dirty bombs.
Acting Prime Minister John Anderson has warned Australia faces an
"enormous task" to devise security plans for its 70 ports, to
prevent ships being turned away from US ports and threatening
billions of dollars in exports.
"We are literally involved in a race against time," Mr Anderson
told The Weekend Australian.
"We are making good progress with aviation security but the
maritime industry and the states are going to have to work with
the commonwealth to leave no stone unturned to meet the July 1
deadline on maritime security," said Mr Anderson, who is also
Transport and Regional Services Minister.
The new counter-terrorism crackdown is being conducted by the
International Maritime Organisation on behalf of the US, which
has been on high-risk terrorist alert since December 21.
The US has adopted a more aggressive approach to aviation
security, demanding sky marshals on incoming flights and
diverting or turning back flights it considers a security risk.
But Australian port and shipping operators have expressed
concerns over having to bear the upfront cost of implementing the
maritime changes, estimated to be up to $300 million.
The US is devoting almost $600 million to tightening its
standards for its own ports and shipping fleet. Mr Anderson said
failure to meet the deadline could not only mean ships being
turned away from US ports but loss of valuable export income for
Australia.
"Given Australia has to put in place 300 security plans covering
70 ports and some 12 per cent of the world's shipping uses our
ports each year, we face an enormous task in tightening port
security," Mr Anderson said.
Australian ports, most of which are state-owned or privately
operated, will have to employ extra security personnel and impose
measures such as perimeter fencing and/or wharfside exclusion
zones and introduce or reinforce security patrols and
surveillance.
Ships will also have to submit security plans to the Transport
Department to register the ship, crew and cargo and minimise the
risk of infiltration by unauthorised personnel or cargo.
Ships wanting to enter ports in IMO member countries will have to
provide crew and cargo manifests before departure from the
country of origin and again when nearing the country of
destination.
Up to 3500 foreign ships visit Australian ports each year and
those that fail to comply with the IMO crackdown could also be
turned away under the counter-terrorism regime.
Australian National University terrorism expert Clive Williams
said the US's determination was understandable given the threat
to shipping.
"Up until now, given the volume of cargo, shipping has been an
easy target," he said. "The US authorities fear terrorists could
smuggle a nuclear weapon in a shipping container, although the
more likely scenario is smuggling in the highly enriched uranium
to make one within the US.
"In terms of using a ship as a weapon, driving an LPG tanker into
a warship at anchor could also do a lot of damage."
The federal Government has already provided $15 million to beef
up x-ray examination facilities for shipping containers at ports
in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Fremantle.
Customs has also boosted patrols and introduced new 24-hour
surveillance cameras at ports across the country.
The US has also placed inspectors at up to 20 busy foreign ports
around the world to clear shipping containers before they leave
for the US.
Ironically, amid demands for the rest of the world to upgrade
maritime security, the US failed this week to meet its own
December 31, 2003, deadline to have its 5000 ships and more than
1100 ports and other facilities meet tougher standards.
The Australian
Copyright 2003 News Limited. All times AEDT (GMT+11).
*****************************************************************
26 NRC: Florida Power and Light Company, St. Lucie Plant, Unit No. 1;
FR Doc 03-32252
[Federal Register: January 2, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 1)]
[Notices] [Page 120-121] From the Federal Register Online via GPO
Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr02ja04-96]
Exemption 1.0 Background The Florida Power and Light Company
(FPL, the licensee) is the holder of Facility Operating License
No. DPR-67, which authorizes operation of the St. Lucie Plant,
Unit No. 1. The license provides, among other things, that the
facility is subject to all rules, regulations, and orders of the
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC, the Commission) now or
hereafter in effect.
The facility consists of a pressurized water reactor located in
St. Lucie County, Florida.
2.0 Request/Action Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations
(10 CFR), part 50, appendix R, Section III.G.2.d specifies
separation of cables and equipment and associated nonsafety
circuits of redundant trains by a horizontal distance of more
than 20 feet with no intervening combustibles or fire hazards as
one means of providing adequate fire protection for redundant
trains of safe-shutdown equipment located inside noninerted
containments.
On February 21, 1985, the NRC approved an exemption from Appendix
R to allow redundant trains in the St. Lucie Unit 1 containment
to have less than 20 feet horizontal separation. On March 5,
1987, the NRC approved a revision to this exemption to allow
minimal intermittent combustibles between the redundant trains.
The staff approved the exemptions based, in part, on the
redundant trains being separated by more than 7 feet horizontally
and 25 feet vertically. The licensee subsequently determined that
the assumption of 25 feet vertical separation was incorrect. The
proposed action resubmits the exemption request and provides a
detailed fire model to demonstrate that, with the existing
vertical separation and a minimum of 7 feet horizontal
separation, a fire in one train will not damage the redundant
train. The revised request limits the exemption to the cable
trays in the containment annular region between radial column
lines 2 and 6 with the following assumptions: (1) Redundant trays
are at least 7 feet apart with no intervening combustibles (2)
Electrical cabinets near the redundant trains are enclosed with
no ventilation openings (3) Cables crossing redundant trays are
in conduit and protected (4) The bottom tray in each stack of
cable trays is fully enclosed by a noncombustible cover (5)
Vertical cable trays have noncombustible covers (6) Existing
cables are covered with fire retardant coating (7) New cables
added will be IEEE 383 qualified and limited in number by the
fire analysis.
In summary, the exemption would be revised to allow separation of
cables of redundant trains by a horizontal distance of at least 7
feet with no intervening combustibles inside containment in the
annular region between radial column lines 2 and 6.
3.0 Discussion Pursuant to 10 CFR 50.12, the Commission may, upon
application by any interested person or upon its own initiative,
grant exemptions from the requirements of 10 CFR part 50, when
(1) the exemptions are authorized by law, will not present an
undue risk to public health or safety, and are consistent with
the common defense and security, and (2) special circumstances
are present. These include the special circumstance that
application of the regulation is not necessary to achieve the
underlying purpose of the rule. The underlying purpose of the
rule is to limit fire damage so that one train of systems
necessary to achieve and maintain hot shutdown conditions remains
free of fire damage.
The staff examined the licensee's rationale to support the
revised exemption request and concluded that granting the
exemption to allow less than 20 feet horizontal separation
between redundant cable trays would meet the underlying purpose
of 10 CFR part 50. The licensee provided a detailed fire model
that postulates a self-initiated cable fire, spreading
horizontally and vertically in one stack of cable trays until the
original combustible material (i.e., cable jacket insulation) is
completely consumed. Based on the maximum postulated fire, a
maximum radiant heat flux and the heat flux imposed on the
redundant cable trays can be calculated to see if ignition of the
redundant cables is possible. The model demonstrates that the
resulting heat flux from the largest postulated exposure fire is
less than half the heat flux needed to ignite the redundant cable
trays. There was a degree of conservatism throughout the
correlations and, therefore, a larger safety factor probably
exists.
Based upon a consideration of the licensee's fire model, which
indicates that, with a minimum of 7 feet horizontal separation, a
cable fire in one train is highly unlikely to damage cables in
the redundant train, the staff concludes that application of the
regulation is not necessary to achieve the underlying purpose of
the rule.
Therefore, the staff concludes that pursuant to 10 CFR
50.12(a)(2)(ii) special circumstances are present and that an
exemption may be granted to allow less than 20 feet horizontal
separation between redundant trains.
4.0 Conclusion Accordingly, the Commission has determined that,
pursuant to 10 CFR 50.12(a), the exemption is authorized by law,
will not present an undue risk to the public health and safety,
and is consistent with the common defense and security. Also,
special circumstances are present. Therefore, the Commission
hereby grants FPL an exemption from the requirements of 10 CFR
part 50, appendix G, Section II.G.2.d for St. Lucie Unit No. 1.
Pursuant to 10 CFR 51.32, the Commission has determined that the
granting of this exemption will not have a significant effect on
the quality of the human environment (68 FR 69728).
This exemption is effective upon issuance.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 24th day of December 2003.
[[Page 121]] For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Ledyard B. Marsh, Director, Division of Licensing Project
Management, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 03-32252 Filed 12-31-03; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P
*****************************************************************
27 NRC: NRC Proposes $60,000 Fine for Fitness for Duty Violation at Kewaunee
News Release - Region III - 2004-00
U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Office of Public Affairs, Region III
No. III-04-001 Janurary 2, 2004
CONTACT: Jan Strasma (630) 829-9663
Viktoria Mitlyng (630) 829-9662 E-mail:
worker fitness for duty requirements at the Kewaunee Nuclear
Power Plant, located at Kewaunee, Wisconsin.
The fine stems from a 2001 incident in which a supervisor for a
contractor at the Kewaunee plant, failed to require that a
worker be tested for alcohol after he detected the smell of
alcohol on the worker. The NRC has strict requirements for
assuring the fitness for duty of workers at nuclear plants
including the testing of workers when drug or alcohol use is
suspected.
An investigation by the NRC Office of Investigations concluded
earlier this year that the supervisor had deliberately violated
the required fitness for duty procedures.
NRC Regional Administrator James Caldwell, in notifying the
utility of the proposed fine, said the fine was proposed as a
result of ...the need to maintain a work environment that is
free from the effects of drugs and alcohol.
The utility has taken corrective actions including counseling of
the supervisor, modifying the fitness for duty procedures, and
improving employee fitness for duty program training.
The notice to the utility on the proposed fine is available on
the NRC web site at:
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/enforcement/actions
/reactors/k.html
The utility has until January 29 to pay the fine or to protest
it. If the fine is protested and subsequently imposed by the NRC
staff, the utility may request a hearing.
Last revised Friday, January 02, 2004
*****************************************************************
28 Toronto Star: Candus can't do it, nuke critics say
TheStar.com -
Fri. Jan. 2, 2004. | Updated at 10:01 AM
Ontario's new Energy Minister Dwight Duncan is keeping an open
mind on nuclear power.
AECL's $12 billion proposal scorned
Minister wants to look at all options
JOHN SPEARS BUSINESS REPORTER
Critics of nuclear power said a $12 billion proposal by Atomic
Energy of Canada Ltd. to build eight new nuclear reactors in
Ontario to generate electricity has little credibility, given the
nuclear industry's track record.
But Energy Minister Dwight Duncan says he'll look at the nuclear
option, along with all other solutions to the province's
electricity issues.
"For $12 billion, a lot of people have solutions to our
problems," Duncan said in an interview.
AECL, owned by the federal government, says its first choice
would be to build four pairs of its "advanced Candu reactor" or
ACR, which is still being developed.
Duncan said he won't make up his mind whether to pursue the
nuclear option until after he sees two reports. One, due within
two weeks, is from a task force on electricity conservation and
supply.
The second, from a panel headed by former federal finance
minister John Manley on the future of publicly owned Ontario
Power Generation, is due in March.
Duncan said he already has a meeting with AECL scheduled for
January, but also wants to hear from the public before making
decisions.
While Duncan kept his options open, the AECL proposal drew
scathing criticism yesterday from critics of the nuclear industry
.
David Martin of the Sierra Club of Canada said the advanced Candu
doesn't yet exist.
"The ACR is a pig in a poke. The design work isn't even done, and
they're claiming cost reductions as if it were a fact," he said.
"It's dishonest."
AECL estimates the new plants will produce power at a cost of 4.4
cents a kilowatt hour, but Martin said that's yet to be tested.
"Until there's a demonstration plant, their claims of cost
reduction are meaningless," he said.
Tom Adams, executive director of Energy Probe, called the
proposal a "very, very tired sales pitch."
Adams said that AECL has no bright sales prospects in overseas
markets now that it has recently completed a project in Qinshan,
China.
The company has not been able to persuade regulators in the U.S.
to approve the design of the ACR, he noted, so Ontario is one of
the few options the company has left.
Martin agreed that AECL's export prospects are dim.
"This is an act of desperation from AECL because they know they
have no sales prospects offshore," he said.
Martin speculated that the company is trying to get big public
subsidies for the venture.
"I think they're trying to float a public-private partnership in
which the federal and provincial governments would take a large
part of the risk," he said.
"There's no way the private sector would get into building a
demonstration plant like the ACR without extremely generous
public support."
Martin said the focus on building more generating capacity to
meet Ontario's electricity needs is a mistake.
"The big contribution has to come from conservation," he said.
A very large portion of Ontario's electricity is used to heat
buildings and hot water, he said, and there are more efficient
alternatives to both that could reduce electricity consumption in
Ontario.
Adams said the track record of AECL's Candu technology has been
poor.
He pointed to the refit of the Pickering A nuclear plant, which
is years behind schedule and billions over budget. Pickering A,
completed in the early 1970s, had already had an extensive refit
in the mid-80s, which also went over budget, Adams said.
"It's going to discourage anybody else with any brains from
retooling their Candus," he said.
In New Brunswick, the province's public utilities commission has
recommended against overhauling the province's AECL-designed
reactor at Point Lepreau, he noted.
*****************************************************************
29 Taipei Times: Taipower's nuclear budget frozen By Chiu Yu-Tzu
taipeitimes.com
STAFF REPORTER
Thursday, Jan 01, 2004,Page 2
Anti-nuclear groups yesterday urged the Legislative Yuan to
review part of the state-run Taiwan Power Company's (Taipower)
budget proposal, which asked for NT$3.92 billion this year to
continue the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant construction project.
Being responsive to demonstrators, the Legislative Yuan's
Economics and Energy Committee yesterday decided to freeze the
allocation, which was earmarked for Taipower to maintain two
reactors at the nuclear plant in the future.
Yesterday morning, dozens of anti-nuclear activists and
residents from Kungliao township, Taipei County, where the
controversial plant is situated, carried out a sit-in
demonstration in front of the Legislative Yuan.
"The ruling party, the Democratic Progressive Party [DPP],
should recall carefully how it opposed the project in the 1990s,"
said Wu Wen-tung (§d€ćłq), spokesman for the Kungliao-based
Yenliao Anti-Nuclear Self-Help Association.
The estimated cost of completing construction of the plant is
NT$169.7 billion. In 1994, the Legislative Yuan passed an
eight-year proposal by Taipower, which received NT$112.5 billion
for construction purposes. At that time, most DPP lawmakers
opposed the budget allocation.
Wu stressed that President Chen Shui-bian (łŻ€ô«ó) promised to
hold a referendum on the plant's future. Before the referendum is
held, the government should halt the project and stop allocating
related budgets, Wu said.
Activists of other environmental groups, including the Taiwan
Environmental Protection Union and the Homemakers' Union and
Foundation, joined the sit-in.
Activists said that giving taxpayer's money to Taipower was
contradictory to the government's goal of turning Taiwan into a
nuclear-free homeland.
Meanwhile, at a budget review meeting, DPP Legislator Eugene Jao
(»Ż„ĂČM) said that allocating more money for the project would
incur a financial loss.
"Before Taipower ensures nuclear safety and a referendum [on the
plant's future] is held, I suggest that not a cent more should be
allocated for the project," Jao said.
The committee accepted Jao's suggestion, which was supported by
some lawmakers. Depending on the result of further negotiations
between the parties in March at a legislative assembly meeting,
Taipower might this year not receive any money for the project.
According to Yang Jiao-yen (·šŒbÆv), a legislative assistant to
Jao, Taipower will propose an additional budget of NT$52.3
billion for the plant in the next parliamentary session, but
might face similar opposition.
In September, Taipower officials reported to the Ministry of
Economic Affairs, which supervises state-run companies, saying
that the additional NT$52.3 billion is necessary for completing
construction of the plant.
According to Taipower, in an ideal situation, the plant will
begin operating commercially in July 2006. This story has been
viewed 384 times. + Advertising [ height=] [ height=] [ height=]
Copyright © 1999-2004 The Taipei Times. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
30 Xinhuanet: DPRK says committed to peaceful settlement of peninsula's nuclear issue
www.xinhuanet.com
www.chinaview.cn 2004-01-01 18:36:09
PYONGYANG, Jan. 1 (Xinhuanet) -- The Democratic People's
Republic of Korea (DPRK) said Thursday that it wants to resolve
the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula peacefully through
dialogue.
In the editorial jointly released by the country's three
leading newspapers as a New Year message, the DPRK said seeking a
negotiated peaceful solution to the nuclear issue is its
invariable principle stand.
The DPRK also reiterated that it will react with the toughest
measures to the US hard-line policy.
On its diplomatic ties, the DPRK said it will in the future
develop its relations with countries of the world in the spirit
ofi ndependence, peace and friendship.
The editorial also urged the nation to pursue rapid economic
and technological growth so as to build a prosperous nation.
Although no important breakthrough was made in the first
round of six-party nuclear talks which was attended by China, the
DPRK, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States in Beijing
at the end of August, 2003, all participants agreed to continue
the multilateral negotiations in the next round of talks.
The DPRK has expressed its willingness to hold the next round
of six-party talks early this year. Enditem
Copyright ©2003 Xinhua News Agency. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
31 Brattleboro Reformer: Vermont Yankee drill simulates radiation spike
January 02, 2004 Brattleboro, VT
By TOBY HENRY Reformer Staff
BRATTLEBORO -- Vermont Emergency Management officials have
branded Tuesday's "fast-breaker" drill a success, adding that the
public would have been notified of an emergency at the Vermont
Yankee nuclear plant within the established 15-minute time frame.
Lew Stowell, program chief for VEM, said the early-morning drill
simulated increased radiation levels inside the reactor at the
Vernon plant.
The simulated accident was categorized as a site-area emergency,
the second-highest category in terms of severity in the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission's four-tiered accident classification
system.
Stowell said the simulated emergency began at 5:44 a.m., and was
verified as a drill in progress two minutes later.
According to documentation, Stowell said the emergency alert
system, a radio broadcast notifying area residents of the
accident, would have been ready to go at 5:56.
But Stowell added that tone-alert radios, which are made
available to residents living in towns within a 10-mile radius of
Vermont Yankee, have to broadcast the message first so that
residents would know to listen for more updates on the local
radio stations.
Tone-alert radios sounded at 6:01, and air-raid sirens in
Brattleboro and Vernon would have sounded simultaneously, Stowell
said.
Five Vermont towns -- Brattleboro, Dummerston, Guilford, Halifax
and Vernon -- are within Yankee's designated 10-mile emergency
planning zone.
Five towns in New Hampshire and six towns in Massachusetts are
also in this zone.
The fast-breaker drills, which are held randomly each month,
consist of a series of pager notifications, simulated siren
activations and responses from dispatchers and other emergency
response personnel.
Stowell said the term "fast-breaker" refers to an emergency that
may begin at a lower level, perhaps causing an impact isolated to
the Vermont Yankee plant itself, but then worsens and requires
immediate protective action.
These actions could include sheltering within homes or other
buildings or evacuation of local residents to the Bellows Falls
Union High School, which is the designated evacuation center for
Brattleboro-area residents.
"That way, (in a fast-breaker) we're all prepared, and New
Hampshire, Vermont and Massachusetts can coordinate and shelter
in place or evacuate," he said. "The state nuclear engineer and
the governor can be briefed, and we can have everything else all
up and running as if it was (the highest-level) emergency."
One break with the typical format of the drills conducted
earlier this year concerns the classification level of the
Tuesday drill, Stowell said. While most of the drills held this
year have simulated a general emergency, the highest level of
classification, this month's drill was one level lower.
But Stowell said that for the most part, the general public will
see this distinction within the drills as transparent, and the
15-minute alert window applies to all emergency levels regardless
of their severity.
The main difference between the two levels is the notifications
that take place within VEM and the simulated protective actions
that will be recommended, he said.
Stowell said he has seen continued improvement in the monthly
drills held throughout the year. Although a drill this autumn
failed to meet the 15-minute window because of a faulty pager
that would have resulted in the Vernon air-raid siren being
sounded late, the problem has since been eliminated, Stowell
said.
A remote activation button in the Brattleboro Fire Department
allows the Vernon and Brattleboro sirens to be sounded
simultaneously.
In the coming year, Stowell said he expects the drills to
progress more smoothly with the addition of updated alert
hardware at Vermont Yankee.
VY spokesman Rob Williams confirmed Wednesday that the new
hardware is slated for installation at the plant in June, but did
not specify what type of instruments will be installed.
The system will replace the existing one, which uses invisible
microwaves to relay communications, Williams said.
"It replaces the old microwave system and can duplicate its
capabilities, plus it adds more notification contacts as has been
requested by the state," Williams said. "Also, it has a satellite
phone as backup."
*****************************************************************
32 SIFY: Industry told to face nuclear challenges
Friday, 02 January , 2004, 07:53
With India putting in place the world's largest nuclear power
development programme with the ongoing construction of nine
reactors, the time is ripe for the Indian industry to take up
both the challenges and the risks, the nuclear expert, Dr R.
Chidambaram, said.
Its true that the domestic industry's capabilities to build world
class equipment has gone up substantially, but the fact is "So
far the research laboratories and national institutes under the
Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) and others, have taken the
risks and the industry met the demands placed on them," he said.
In both the building of nuclear power reactors and missiles and
other security systems the Indian industry has to take bigger
challenges, Dr Chidambaram, currently Principal Scientific
Adviser (PSA) to the Prime Minister said, while delivering the
annual day celebrations address at the Advanced Systems
Laboratory (ASL), a Defence R organisation.
Dr Chidambaram, former Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission
(AEC) and Secretary, DAE, defended the country's progress towards
fast breeder reactor (FBR) technology and said it was necessary
to close the nuclear fuel cycle, better utilise plutonium and the
large deposits of thorium in the country.
Since the prices of uranium are low globally, the US has no need
for reprocessing of the spent fuel for plutonium. "But India
cannot wait, we have to take plutonium from the reprocessed fuel
and use it in the FBRs. This is essential for sustainable
development and energy security," Dr Chidambaram said. Work on
the first FBR at Kalpakkam is already beginning.
The US has an open cycle, where uranium is used and the nuclear
wastes buried in mountains in `nuclear repositories'. "They do
not need to reprocess this spent fuel for Plutonium because
Uranium is available at low costs. These `nuclear repositories'
are plutonium mines," he said.
The Director of ASL a key facility in the development programme
of Indian missiles, Dr R.N. Agarwal, said: "The technologies
needed for Agni-3 had to be completed fast and it was a big
challenge to the scientists. The first two versions of Agni have
made considerable advancement."
Sify
Sify.com hosted at SifyHosting India's first Level 3 Internet
Data Centre
© Copyright Sify Ltd, 1998-2003. All rights reserved. See
*****************************************************************
33 Citizens Voice: Court upholds Conahan ruling on nuclear plant
By Fred Ney ,
Citizens' Voice Staff Writer 01/02/2004
Commonwealth Court has decided not to hear an appeal requested by
the City of Philadelphia regarding the taxable value of PPL's
nuclear power plant in Salem Township.
The decision effectively upholds a precedent-setting ruling
handed down by Luzerne County President Judge Michael Conahan in
May, 2002, in which the jurist sided with PPL in setting fair
market value on the company's nuclear plant.
It also means that if Philadelphia does not appeal the case
further, it will likely lose the millions of dollars in back
taxes it was seeking from PPL for the years 1998 and 1999, the
only two years it can go after back taxes under the law.
It was not immediately clear if Philadelphia would appeal to a
higher court.
The very complicated case stems from a legislative change several
years ago in the way utility properties are taxed.
At one time, utilities across the state were taxed by way of a
complex formula, unlike the way all other residential and
commercial properties are taxed which requires them to pay taxes
to municipal, county and school district jurisdictions in which
they are located based on assessed valuations, a percentage of
fair market value.
The old utility taxation system lumped all utility properties
into one category and the taxes produced were apportioned to
taxing jurisdictions.
Under this method, Philadelphia, being the state's largest city,
reportedly received between 16 and 20 percent of the total.
PPL subsequently lobbied state lawmakers to change the taxation
system so that its properties would be taxed just as any other
commercial property.
The legislature subsequently did just that in 2000.
That change prompted Luzerne County, the Berwick School District
and Salem Township to determine an "assessed value" of PPL's
nuclear plant.
The county, which had been getting only several hundreds of
thousands of dollars annually from the nuclear plant's taxes,
speculated it could receive as much as $4 million a year from the
new taxing system.
That set off a tug of war between county assessors, who valued
the plant in its entirety, including all property used to
generate electricity, and PPL lawyers who argued that generating
equipment was not taxable.
The issue, predictably, wound up in court. But a settlement
reached between Luzerne County and the Berwick School District on
one side and PPL on the other side, set the fair market value of
the nuclear generating plant at $164 million.
That meant the county would collect about $1 million a year from
the utility while the Berwick School District would get about $2
million.
Philadelphia, watching the case closely because of its huge
financial stake in the outcome, maintained that the Salem
Township facility was worth much more, possibly more than $1
billion.
The city intervened and filed a challenge to the out of court
settlement. It hired expert witnesses who placed the value of the
plant at $927 million for 1998 and $1 billion for 1999.
PPL experts put the value at $56 million for 1998 and $71 million
for 1999.
Judge Conahan, on April 9, 2000, sided with PPL lawyers in
setting the fair market value of the nuclear plant at $57.1
million for the 1998 tax year and $71.2 million for the 1999 tax
year.
fney@citizensvoice.com
©The Citizens Voice 2004
*****************************************************************
34 Low dose radiation in infancy may affect intellect
Date: Fri, 2 Jan 2004 06:29:04 -0600 (CST)
Low dose radiation in infancy may affect intellect
Public release date: 1-Jan-2004
Contact: Linda Millington
pressoffice@bma.org.uk
44-207-383-6473
BMJ-British Medical Journal
Low dose radiation in infancy may affect intellect
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2004-01/bmj-ldr123103.php
Effect of low dose of ionising radiation in infancy on cognitive function in
adulthood: Swedish population based cohort study BMJ Volume 327, pp 19-21
Exposure to low doses of ionising radiation in infancy affects intellectual
capacity in later life, conclude researchers from Sweden in this week's BMJ.
CT scanning, which delivers high doses of ionising radiation, is
increasingly being used in young children after minor head trauma.
The study involved 3,094 men who had received radiation therapy before age
18 months during 1930-59. At age 18 or 19 years, their intellectual capacity
was tested and high school attendance was recorded.
The proportion of boys who attended high school decreased with increasing
doses of ionising radiation to both the front and back parts of the brain.
A significant dose-related response was also seen for learning ability and
logical reasoning, but not for spatial recognition.
Intellectual development could be adversely affected when the infant brain
is exposed to ionising radiation at doses equivalent to CT scans of the
skull, say the authors.
The risk and benefits of CT scans in minor head trauma need re-evaluating,
they conclude.
###
*****************************************************************
35 CT scans may harm children's brains
Date: Fri, 2 Jan 2004 11:52:22 -0600 (CST)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1114765,00.html
CT scans may harm children's brains
Sarah Boseley, health editor
Friday January 2, 2004
The Guardian
CT scans, used increasingly in hospital on children with head
injuries, may damage their intellectual development, according to
new research on the effects of low doses of ionising radiation on
the brain.
Studies of those who were exposed to radiation while still in the
womb from the atomic bombs dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima have
shown that high doses can harm the brain. But little is known about
the effects of low doses according to Per Hall, an associate professor
at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, and colleagues writing
in this week's British Medical Journal.
Professor Hall and his team followed up 3,094 men who had received
low dose ionising radiation to their head as treatment for birthmarks,
such as port wine stains, when they were less than 18 months old.
Some received more than one treatment.
All Swedish men undergo cognitive and psychological tests when they
are 18 before military service.
These results and other information, such as education and the
father's occupation, which gives a rough guide to socio-economic
status, were used to compare the intellectual abilities of men who
had received different doses of radiation to different parts of the
brain.
They found that low doses of ionising radiation, similar to those
from a CT scan, "may adversely affect intellectual development".
The numbers of those going on to high school, and their scores in
cognitive ability tests, decreased as the dose of radiation to which
they had been exposed as babies increased. The men were all born
between 1939 and 1959. At the time in question academic performance
was the main criterion for high school entrance in Sweden.
The use of CT scans in hospitals to assess the extent of brain
injuries in children who have been in accidents needs to be reassessed,
the researchers say.
It is possible that some young patients are receiving a dose of
radiation which will permanently affect their intellectual development.
CT scans are not routinely recommended for children, but they are
often used.
*****************************************************************
36 DU: Radioactive Nightmare in Concord, Massachusetts
Date: Fri, 2 Jan 2004 10:19:26 -0600 (CST)
http://www.emagazine.com/january-february_2004/0104curr_concord.html
A Radioactive Nightmare in Concord, Massachusetts
By Ed Ericson, Jr.
The waitress at the ice cream shop in Concord, Massachusetts was
surprised. A Superfund site? she asked, incredulous, on Main Street?
Not just a Superfund sitea Superfund site that a cleanup contractor
has dubbed near the tip of the peak in terms of [cleanup] difficulty.
A radioactive Superfund site.
Concord, the crucible of the American Revolution, where the shot
heard round the world rang out on April 19, 1775, is a Boston suburb
filled with professionals and stately homes. Tourists still come
to see the war sites, and to visit the bucolic Walden Pond that
Thoreau celebrated.
Few know about the nuclear waste dump at 2229 Main Street. But this
shady burg of 15,000 residents quietly struggles with its legacy
as the maker of depleted uranium slugs for the U.S. militarys latest
wars. The soil more than a mile from the nuclear dump is radioactive.
A 1993 epidemiological study found the towns residents suffered
higher rates of cancer than the state average.
Today, atop and buried beneath a low hill above a cranberry bog,
more than 3,800 barrels of radioactive and toxic waste lie, subject
to a government-paid cleanup estimated to take 10 years and cost
at least $50 million.
The company responsible for most of the waste, Starmet, declared
bankruptcy in 2002. Massachusetts has sued Starmet and several
related companies to enforce state laws against radioactive dumping,
but so far has had little success on the legal front. The Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) hastily concluded that Starmet was broke
and has made no move to charge it for the pending cleanup.
All of the people who benefited and made millions from the process
are not being tagged at all with the cleanup process, says Mark
Roberts, an environmental lawyer and member of Citizens Research
and Environmental Watch (CREW), a citizens group that has fought
to get the site cleaned up for more than 20 years.
Since 1958, Starmet (formerly known as Nuclear Metals) processed
depleted uranium into tank shells and armor for the U.S. Army, using
caustic acids, beryllium and other dangerous substances. From the
early 1970s until 1985, the company dumped depleted uranium into
an unlined lagoon on the property, sending a toxic plume of radiation,
heavy metals and solvents migrating into the groundwater, fouling
at least two wells. The company resisted pressure to clean up the
lagoon until 1997, when the pond was finally dug up and the soils
shipped to a low-level nuclear waste dump in Utah. That project was
costly, though, and the remediation company sued Starmet for unpaid
bills. Just about this time, military orders for depleted uranium
munitions stopped too. Starmet began to lose money.
In May 2001, Starmet officials illegally shipped 1,700 barrels of
depleted uranium greensalt from a company facility in Barnwell,
South Carolina to Concord. The cash-strapped company was cleaning
the South Carolina facility in preparation for sale, EPA documents
say.
When Massachusetts health and environmental officials protested,
Starmets president, Robert Quinn, threatened to abandon the Concord
site and stick the state with the cost of cleanup. In 2002, after
the state forced bankrupt Starmet into receivership, according to
EPA records, the company did abandon the site for several weeks.
Nowadays Quinnwho angrily blames the U.S. Army for Starmets
bankruptcysits at a lonely desk in a low building on the site while
a few security guards watch over the mess. And what a fine mess it
is. Conservatively speaking, there is at least 20 times more depleted
uranium on and under Starmets 46 acres on Main Street, Concord than
the 340 tons that were fired in all of Iraq during the first Gulf
War. There are tons of berylliuma probable carcinogenin the soil
and leaking from buried drums. And in a recently discovered area
known as the old dump there are unknown substances, possibly including
high-level radioactive waste and exotic explosives.
Much of the work during the next four to five years will consist
of determining whats in the barrels buried in the old dump, according
to Bruce Thompson of De Maximis, Inc., the engineering group chosen
by EPA to head the cleanup process. He says some preliminary research
indicates that exotic radioactive and heavy metals may have been
buried there by MIT scientists during the Manhattan Project. He is
also concerned about the potential presence of an explosive, zirconium
azide. Thats something I dont want to hit with a backhoe, Thompson
told a town subcommittee meeting in September.
That Thompson and the EPA arrived in Concord at all is credit to
the efforts of a small group of committed activists. CREW is led
by Rick Oleson, a Princeton and Harvard-educated radiation biologist
and toxicologist whose late father was a nuclear physicist. Oleson
spent part of his childhood in a house near the factory. State
records show the most contaminated area on the site is adjacent to
Camp Thoreau, a summer camp for children ages three and up.
Its one industrial setting in a very residential area, says Oleson.
People later could put a house or well there, or grow vegetables.
Oleson and CREW are focusing their efforts to make sure the EPA
demands that the dump is cleaned up to a residential level, rather
than the looser standards allowable for an industrial site.
Jeffrey McNabola was a member of Concerned Citizens of Concord,
CREWs predecessor, in the 1970s and early 1980s. He notes that the
group was warning people about the dangers of depleted uranium and
other activities at Nuclear Metals for decades before anyone in
officialdom gave them any credence. There was a cavalier attitude
about depleted uranium, he says. They said that its safe as chocolate
milk.
Even Oleson took years to conclude that Nuclear Metals activities
were unacceptable. I used to cross-country ski and run back there,
he says of the woods bordering the dumpsite. It was a very pretty
place...and there was this big pond. It was full of psychedelic
colors.
Oleson and CREW are hunkering down for a long battle, keeping a
wary eye on the EPA and its contractors. Loath to link deaths from
cancer or rare diseases to the factory, Oleson (who works for
Monsanto) and others in CREW strive to hue a strict scientific
linelest they appear as radicals.
The strategy seems to be working. The real story behind the story
I tell people, Oleson says, is that a few people volunteered their
time to do something that needed doing. And for years they were
dismissed and made fun of. And they totally turned the town around.
*****************************************************************
37 NRC: In the Matter of Safety Light Corporation, Bloomsburg, PA;
FR Doc 03-32253
[Federal Register: January 2, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 1)]
[Notices] [Page 121-122] From the Federal Register Online via GPO
Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr02ja04-97]
Demand for Information Safety Light Corporation (the Licensee) is
the holder of Byproduct Material Licenses issued by the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission (NRC or Commission) pursuant to 10 CFR Part
30 for the facility at 4150-A Old Berwick Road in Bloomsburg,
Pennsylvania. License No. 37-00030-08 authorizes, in part, the
licensee to manufacture self-luminous devices, foils, targets,
and pins containing tritium, and to distribute those items to
persons specifically licensed by the NRC or an NRC Agreement
State. License No. 37-00030-02 authorizes the licensee to
characterize and decommission its contaminated facilities,
equipment, and land. The Licenses were last renewed on December
28, 1999, and are due to expire on December 31, 2004.
In the December 1999 renewal of License Nos. 37-00030-02 and 37-
00030-08, conditions were included in each License that exempted
the Licensee from certain of the Commission's financial assurance
requirements set forth in 10 CFR 30.32 and 10 CFR 30.35. This
exemption was granted in response to the licensee's request to
the Commission based on the lack of sufficient funds at the time
to assure that adequate financial ability existed to decommission
the facility.
The NRC specifically approved the exemptions (originally in
Condition 16 of Amendment No. 51 for License 37-00030-02 and
Condition 20 of Amendment No. 13 for License 37-00030-08),
provided that the Licensee make specified monthly payments into
an NRC trust fund to support decommissioning activities,
including $8,000 for each month in 2001 and 2002, and $9,000 for
each month in 2003. The NRC granted renewal of each License based
on the Licensee's ability to continue to remediate and adequately
secure radioactive materials at the facility using the money
deposited into the NRC trust fund.
During telephone conversations between Ms. Marie Miller, NRC
Region I, and Mr. Larry Harmon, Plant Manager for the Licensee,
on November 21, 2003, the NRC learned that the Licensee had
neither made some of the required payments into its NRC trust
fund, nor notified the NRC that payments were not being made.
This failure to make the required payments was confirmed in a
subsequent telephone conversation between Mr. William Lynch, Vice
President for the Licensee, and Dr. Ronald Bellamy, NRC Region I,
on the same day. The bank records for the NRC trust fund period
from April 2001 through October 2003, list twenty- four deposits
to the fund, rather than the required thirty-one deposits. For
the twenty-one month period from April 2001 through December
2002, two of the required $8,000 monthly deposits had not been
made. For the ten month period from January 2003 through October
2003, eight of the required $9,000 monthly deposits had not been
made (no funds were deposited during six of the months, and only
$8,000 was deposited during January and February 2003). In
addition, the NRC has since learned that the required $9,000
deposit was not made in November 2003. The failure to make these
deposits resulted in a total deficit of $81,000 (plus interest)
to the NRC trust fund. However, the NRC was subsequently
informed, during a telephone conversation between Ms. Marie
Miller and Mr. Larry Harmon on December 9, 2003, that the
Licensee had deposited $13,500 to the NRC trust fund on December
9, 2003. Based on the last deposit, it appears that the NRC trust
fund is $67,500 in arrears, not including the interest that would
have accrued had the required monthly payments been made.
By not making the required monthly deposits to the NRC trust
fund, the Licensee has violated Condition 16 of License No.
37-00030-02 and Condition 20 of License No. 37-00030-08 as well
as 10 CFR 30.32 and 10 CFR 30.35. This violation is significant
because these deposits are necessary to fund ongoing
decommissioning activities, including the disposition of
radioactive waste presently stored at the facility. The NRC is
concerned that without payment of these funds into the NRC trust
fund, no funds will be available for decontamination of the
facility and proper disposal of radioactive waste stored at the
site.
Therefore, further information is needed, to determine whether
the Commission can have reasonable assurance that the Licensee
will adhere to all License requirements and otherwise conduct its
activities in accordance with the Commission's requirements.
Accordingly, pursuant to sections 161c, 161o, 182 and 186 of the
Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, and the Commission's
regulations in 10 CFR 2.204 and 10 CFR part 30, in order for the
Commission to determine whether your licenses should be modified,
suspended or revoked, or other enforcement action taken to ensure
compliance with NRC regulatory requirements, the Licensee is
required to submit to the Director, Office of Enforcement, U.S.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555, within 30
days of the date of this Demand For Information, in writing and
under oath or affirmation: A. The detailed schedule for making
all overdue payments, with interest, to the trust fund; B. The
reasons why the Licensee did not make the required payments, as
scheduled, to the NRC trust fund; C. The reasons why the NRC
should have confidence that the Licensee will, in the future,
make the monthly deposits to the NRC trust fund as required by
License Condition 16 of Amendment No. 53 for License 37- 00030-02
and License Condition 20 of Amendment No. 13 for License 37-
00030-08; D. Assurance from the Licensee, should it encounter any
difficulty making required monthly deposits in the future, that
it will promptly notify the NRC that there will be a delay in
making a specific deposit, and provide the reasons for the delay;
E. The reasons why the NRC should have confidence that in the
future, the Licensee will adhere to license conditions and
applicable NRC requirements; F. The reasons why, in light of the
Licensee's past failure to make all required payments to the
trust fund, License Nos.
37-00030-02 and 37-00030-08 should not be modified, suspended, or
revoked.
Copies also shall be sent to the Assistant General Counsel for
Materials Litigation and Enforcement at the same address, and to
the Regional Administrator, NRC Region I, 475 Allendale Road,
King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, 19406.
After reviewing your response, the NRC will determine whether
further action is necessary to ensure compliance with regulatory
requirements.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
[[Page 122]] Dated this 19th day of December 2003.
Frank J. Congel, Director, Office of Enforcement.
[FR Doc. 03-32253 Filed 12-31-03; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P
*****************************************************************
38 NRC: NRC to Provide Preliminary Inspection Results For Honeywell's Illinois Fuel
Plant at Public Meeting on January 6
News Release - Region II - 2004-00
U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Office of Public Affairs, Region II
No. II-04-001 January 2, 2004
CONTACT: Ken Clark (404) 562-4416
Roger D. Hannah (404) 562-4417 E-mail: opa2@nrc.gov
preliminary results of an inspection the agency conducted
following a December 22 chemical release (uranium hexafluoride)
at the companys uranium processing plant near Metropolis,
Illinois.
The meeting, which will be open to public observation, will
begin at 6:00 p.m. (CST) and be held in the Second Floor Large
Courtroom at the Massac County Courthouse at 1 Superman Square
in Metropolis. The public is invited to observe and NRC staff
members will be available to answer questions from members of
the public before the close of the meeting.
The NRC decided to send an Augmented Inspection Team (AIT) to
the Honeywell facility to review the December 22 event and
assess the plant operators performance, the plant equipment
involved, company procedures and the companys overall response
including its own investigation and any corrective actions.
The Honeywell plants uranium hexafluoride production remains
shut down and an NRC Confirmatory Action Letter issued to the
company states that it will discuss with the NRC both the
results of its own investigation and proposed corrective actions
prior to restarting the processes involved in the incident.
The written report of the inspection teams findings will be
issued within 30 days of the meetings and will be publicly
available from the Region II Office of Public Affairs and on the
NRCs web site at www.nrc.gov. Assistance in using the NRCs web
reading room is available by calling the NRC Public Document
Room at 800-397-4209.
Last revised Friday, January 02, 2004
*****************************************************************
39 thedailytimes: Sick nuclear workers discouraged by claims bottleneck
with Department of Energy
2004-01-02
by Linda Braden Albert
of The Daily Times Staff
A Maryville woman has taken her fight for the rights of sick
nuclear industry workers to the national news.
Janine Anderson was featured in a segment on NBC Nightly News
with Tom Brokaw Thursday evening. The Knoxville affiliate is
WBIR-TV, Channel 10.
Anderson worked at K-25 Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant (now
East Tennessee Technology Park) for eight years. Like many other
Department of Energy (DOE) employees, she has health problems
that her medical records directly link to her employment.
Hope in the form of the Energy Employees Occupational Illness
Compensation Program Act (EEOICPA) of 2000 has proven to be a
mixed blessing. Claims filed under Subtitle B with the Department
of Labor (DOL) have been acted upon in a timely manner.
However, the more than 20,000 claims filed under DOE-administered
Subtitle D are caught in what Anderson calls a ``bureaucratic
bottleneck.''
In the meantime, workers and their families, including Janine
Anderson, suffer physically, emotionally and financially, she
said.
One worker's story
In 1978, Janine Anderson was a vigorous young woman of 25
beginning a career as an administrative assistant at the K-25 Oak
Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant. She said she was in excellent
health.
Within one month of her employment, Anderson's overall health
began to decline. Her K-25 medical records show that she began to
suffer cluster migraines, then heart arrhythmia.
By the time she ended her employment with K-25 eight years later,
the health problems included anxiety and panic attacks, severe
memory loss, acute daily muscle and joint pain and swelling,
night sweats, intestinal problems, fibroid tumors, reoccurring
cystitis and nephritis, diseased sublingual and submaxillary
glands in the left side of her neck which were surgically
removed, reoccurring pneumonia and pleurisy in her left lung, and
asthma.
Anderson visited one doctor after another seeking the cause of
her deteriorating health. She found no answers, only more expense
and more discouragement.
Financial hardships followed; almost one-third of the income she
received from a country gift shop she owned and operated in
Maryville went to medical expenses.
By 1998, Anderson, a single mother of 16-year-old Callie Pierce,
was physically, emotionally and financially devastated.
``I had an overwhelming feeling of hopelessness,'' Anderson said.
Then, on Sept. 28, 1998, a glimmer of hope caught her eye in the
form of a newspaper article on the front page of The Daily Times.
``I saw this headline, `Mysterious ailments uncovered around
nation's nuclear facilities,''' Anderson said during a December
interview at her Maryville home. The article told of scores of
former and current workers at the Oak Ridge Nuclear Reservation
that were suffering from a pattern of unexplained illnesses, just
like Anderson's.
A conversation with a member of DOE's Oak Ridge office yielded no
answers, but Anderson was advised confidentially by another
employee of that office to contact Coalition for a Healthy
Environment (CHE).
After speaking with members of CHE, a group of workers and
citizens who were sickened by the toxins produced by the DOE
nuclear facilities in Oak Ridge, Anderson found that she was not
alone. Many others who had been employed at the nuclear facility
were also suffering from a variety of unexplained illnesses and
health problems arising from exposure to heavy metal toxins in
the course of their work.
Fighting for justice
Subsequent toxicology tests revealed that the numerous health
problems Anderson faced after beginning her employment at K-25
are the result of heavy metal toxins in her body, including
mercury, cadmium, arsenic, lead, nickel, thallium, tin, tungsten,
uranium, cobalt, beryllium and others. Her claim for compensation
under EEOICPA was filed with the Oak Ridge claims office Aug. 8,
2001. Like her fellow ``Cold War veterans,'' she has received
little acknowledgment of her claim from DOE, she said.
``This is unacceptable,'' she said. ``What is the problem? DOE
has already received millions of dollars of taxpayer money, yet
they have paid no one any money.''
Anderson is a private person. She does not speak of her
illnesses, including the life-threatening surgery she underwent
in June to remove a huge tumor and approximately one- fifth of
her liver. She does not speak of the days filled with doctor's
appointments, or the numerous medications she must take for
several conditions, including diabetes and heart arrhythmia, and
for nausea and the ever-present pain.
She tires easily, but still she fights to get justice, not just
for herself but for others who also feel betrayed by an
organization she says put production above the welfare of the
people it employed.
When her health allows, Anderson is an outspoken activist for her
comrades and provided written testimony to fellow Maryvillian,
U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, which he presented to Congress at
hearings held Nov. 21. Anderson and her husband, Richard, were
invited to attend, but time constraints prevented the trip.
``This is not about me,'' Anderson said, her resolution battling
the lines of fatigue radiating from her eyes. ``This involves
thousands of workers all over the country. I wonder how many have
died since they opened the claims offices, workers who have filed
claims. I think that would be an interesting thing to find out.''
`DOE has failed'
After EEOICPA was enacted, including a formal apology by
President Clinton to those who had suffered illness or disease as
a result of being put in harm's way by DOE, Anderson hoped that
she and the thousands of others who were suffering would find at
least some financial relief. Instead, she said, many lost hope
and became totally discouraged.
``There has been a total disregard for these sick workers and
their families by DOE,'' Anderson said.
She wants others to know that hope does remain and she intends to
continue fighting, both to let people know that the claims
package exists and to make sure DOE does what the EEOICPA
intended for it to do.
``DOE has failed,'' Anderson said. ``There is no other option but
to turn this over to DOL. The perpetrator shouldn't be the
compensator -- it's a direct conflict of interest.
``Can we turn and look away another two years, another four
years, before these workers are helped? They have sacrificed
everything for our nation's security and now they have nowhere to
turn.''
Anderson faces an uncertain future but she's determined to ``put
my boots back on and hike again,'' she said. ``I will not be a
victim of the DOE. I will speak my mind till the day I die on how
unfair and unjust this has been. There is no justice in this.''
Materials All materials Copyright © 2003 Horvitz Newspapers.
The Daily Times 307 East Harper Ave. Maryville, TN 37804
Mailing Address: PO Box 9740 Maryville, TN 37802-9740
Phone: 865-981-1100 Fax: 865-981-1175 ![]()
WASHINGTON -- After waiting more than seven months for a
decision, Nevada officials have been told the state can spend a
$2.5 million congressional allocation on participation in the
upcoming Nuclear Regulatory Commission hearings regarding
licensing of the Yucca Mountain project.
The Energy Department intends to file a license application for
its potential nuclear waste storage site at Yucca before the end
of the year.
The state plans to file several objections during the licensing
proceedings that will follow. In April the DOE sent a letter to
Bob Loux, head of the Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects, saying
the money Congress approved for the state to use for oversight
in 2003 should not be spent on the state's opposition to the
project until further notice.
W. John Arthur, the Yucca project's deputy director, apparently
has now lifted that freeze. In a Dec. 23 letter to Loux, Arthur
wrote that the department has evaluated the issue and nothing
under federal nuclear waste law prohibits the use of that
federal money for NRC hearings preparation.
Loux called the letter "a home run for us."
State officials and lawyers are still preparing Nevada's case
against the licensing, but they also say they are confident the
federal court will rule in their favor on several lawsuits the
state has filed and stop the project later this year.
There also are lingering questions about future federal funding
for the state regarding Yucca Mountain.
Nevada still has not heard back from the Energy Department or
the Office of Management and Budget on a letter Nevada Attorney
General Brian Sandoval sent Dec. 10 regarding funding for 2005.
Sandoval threatened legal action if the administration did not
restore funding for the state's oversight activities by today.
Sandoval's spokesman, Tom Sargent, said Sandoval has not
received a response yet, but there is no immediate intention to
file legal action. He said Sandoval is giving federal officials
a grace period, but that the issue is still being watched.
The administration usually releases the next fiscal year's
budget in February. An OMB spokesman said it is customary not to
discuss anything about the next budget until the president
issues his requests.
President Bush's budget for 2004 contained no funding for
Nevada oversight of the Yucca-related activities, but Congress
eventually approved $1 million for the state.
*****************************************************************
47 Salt Lake Tribune: Goshute rail won't ruin wilds
January 01, 2004
By Judy Fahys
A federal nuclear panel on Wednesday rejected
environmentalist claims that a rail spur planned for the
proposed Skull Valley nuclear storage site would ruin the
wilderness quality of the northern Cedar Mountains in Tooele
County.
The Atomic Safety and Licensing Board ruled against the
Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, which had tried to force the
storage-project proponents to relocate the rail line because it
would ruin the scenery south of Interstate 80 to the Skull
Valley Band of Goshutes Indian Reservation, about 26 miles
south.
"As a factual matter, we can say -- based on the
comprehensive evidence before us [which was fully consistent
with what was observed on the site visit we made in the company
of all parties] -- that the 'imprint of man' seen in existing
land uses and appearances is already so noticeable that the rail
line will not constitute a significant impingement from a
wilderness standpoint, " the board wrote in its decision.
The ruling is the latest issued by the board, which helps
assess nuclear projects for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission, in favor of letting the storage project go forward.
The panel of three judges also sided with project proponents in
recent months on questions about the potential for an earthquake
at the site and on the company's financial plan.
A representative of SUWA was not immediately available for
comment.
But Private Fuel Storage, the utility consortium partnering
with the Goshutes on the project, applauded the latest licensing
board ruling.
"It confirms all of our analysis showing that our proposed
route is the best option from an environmental perspective,"
said PFS Chairman John Parkyn.
Private Fuel Storage currently has just one major fight left
before the licensing board: trying to prove that it would be
insignificant -- to people and the environment -- if one of the
thousands of jet fighters that flies over Skull Valley each year
were to crash into the nuclear waste casks, which are to be
stored for up to 40 years on an open-air, above-ground parking
lot.
Even if the licensing board ultimately agrees with the
consortium on this point, the project still must survive any
Nuclear Regulatory Commission administrative appeals from the
state of Utah, the project's most bitter opponent, and legal
challenges in federal court.
On the question of wilderness, the licensing board pointed
out that the northern Cedar Mountains did not have the support
of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management as potential wilderness
based on two past inventories. Nor did Congress back the idea of
wilderness for the area, as proposed in legislation by former
U.S. Rep. Jim Hansen, R-Utah, in 2004, the board pointed out.
And, even if Congress were to go forward with new
legislation to designate the north Cedar Mountains as
wilderness, or if the spur took a different route down the
10-mile-wide Skull Valley, it would not affect the
characteristics of the area as defined by the 1964 Wilderness
Act, the licensing board said.
"The evidence leads us to find that, contrary to SUWA's
claims, none of the alternative routes suggested for that rail
line would be better from an environmental standpoint," said the
ruling. "[I]ndeed, all would be worse in terms of creating
greater adverse environmental impacts than those associated with
[PFS's] proposal."
© Copyright 2004, The Salt Lake Tribune.
*****************************************************************
48 Deseret News: Goshute N-waste site on track as panel gives OK to
rail line
[deseretnews.com]
Thursday, January 1, 2004
Panel partially OKs rail line to deliver spent nuclear fuel
By Donna Kemp Spangler
Deseret Morning News
A proposed nuclear waste storage site on the Skull Valley Goshute
Indian Reservation in Utah's western desert is on a short track.
Deseret Morning News graphic
An administrative panel of the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission on Wednesday partially cleared the way for Private
Fuel Storage to construct a rail line that would deliver spent
nuclear fuel some 26 miles down the west side of Skull Valley,
along the Cedar Mountains.
The Atomic Safety and Licensing Board ruled against a
Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance challenge that the rail line
runs afoul of wilderness quality lands bordering the Goshute
tribal lands.
"We recognize that SUWA has worked diligently to preserve
such values elsewhere in the state, but we must say that those
values are neither apparent nor affected here," the three-judge
panel wrote in a 61-page decision.
Private Fuel Storage is a consortium of nuclear-powered
utilities seeking to store up to 40,000 tons of spent nuclear
fuel in above-ground canisters on Goshute tribal lands, 75 miles
southwest of Salt Lake City. The consortium made a deal with
Goshute tribal leaders in 1997 to lease 820 acres of the
reservation to temporarily store the nuclear waste until a
permanent storage facility opens up in Yucca Mountain, Nev.
Wednesday's ruling wraps up one of the last remaining
issues the state and SUWA raised to put the brakes on nuclear
waste ending up in Utah. The board still has to consider Private
Fuel Storage's appeal of a March 10 ruling a temporary victory
for the state on the issue of Air Force overflights in the
western desert and the risks of jet crashes into the facility.
The NRC then makes a final decision.
The latest round of rulings came as a blow to the state,
which has fought the plan every step of the way.
"Obviously we are disappointed with the decision," said
Dianne Nielson, executive director of Utah Department of
Environmental Quality. "We think those were legitimate concerns
and we had hoped the board would take them into consideration,
but it's not the first time that's happened. We'll just consider
what our next steps are and what's appropriate."
SUWA officials could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
But proponents rejoiced at the decision.
"We are pleased," said Sue Martin, spokeswoman for PFS.
"We felt that we had looked at all reasonable alternatives to
the site. At the very beginning when we started the process we
were looking at either taking the shipments via Skull Valley
Road by heavy truck or building a rail line along the Skull
Valley Road. We had a lot of input on that from residents of
Skull Valley and also the county, and that prompted us to look
at other alternatives that would be safer."
The proposed rail spur would link the facility with the
Union Pacific main line, near I-80, run down the west side of
Skull Valley, along the east side of the Cedar Mountains. When
the rail spur reaches the south side of I-80, known as Low
Junction, the rail line would run for 3 miles, passing through a
narrow corridor between the end of the mountains and the
interstate, then south for some 26 miles.
"It would skirt the north edge of the Cedar Mountains and
the west side of Skull Valley," Martin said.
SUWA argued that part of that route would be on lands
administered by the Bureau of Land Management lands SUWA says
are pristine wilderness. In fact, a bill pending in Congress,
America's Redrock Wilderness Act, would preserve the north Cedar
Mountains as perpetual wilderness free of roads and train
tracks. But the BLM had looked at the wilderness potential in
the Cedar Mountains in the 1980s and rejected it as wilderness.
The board agreed with the BLM.
"Whether or not we would have jurisdiction to reach a
different conclusion, on the record before us we agree with
BLM's determination that the lands described by the Southern
Utah Wilderness Alliance as the 'North Cedar Mountain Area' do
not contain sufficient wilderness values or characteristics to
warrant either designation or protection on that basis," the
judges concluded.
Next year PFS will still have to face a big hurdle as the
licensing board makes a final decision on whether the facility
can safely withstand a fighter plane crash. PFS has applied for
a license to reduce the size 336 steel-and-concrete casks of
waste instead of the 4,000 it originally proposed saying that
would reduce the risk of a jet crash.
PFS may also face a public relations battle.
Recent federal indictments against Goshute tribal
Chairman Leon Bear and others have cast a bad light on the
nuclear storage deal, although it's unknown what, if any,
ramifications will come about as a result of the criminal
charges. Bear, the principal negotiator behind the PFS deal, has
been charged in a six-count indictment alleging theft from
Indian tribal organizations and federal funds and the filing of
false tax returns.
Now critics are calling on the NRC to suspend the
licensing process until the allegations of corruption within the
Goshute leadership are sorted out.
© 2004 Deseret News Publishing Company
*****************************************************************
49 Las Vegas Mercury: Yucca: Dump gets dumped
Thursday, January 01, 2004
The proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump will go away.
That tunnel the Department of Energy reamed into a poor Nevada
mountain's backside? Gone, sealed with a kiss-my-ass from
Nevada's legal team. Those pro-waste tours of the prospective
site, designed to sway even the most rancorous average citizen?
Stalled, outta fuel. This is the hope that springs new-year
green from the Carson City office of Bob Loux, director of
Nevada's Agency for Nuclear Projects.
"We're going to win at least three out of four" of the lawsuits
filed against the project to store nuclear waste in Yucca
Mountain, says Loux. One, against the DOE, is a consolidation of
three lawsuits. Loux says we'll win that one. Another, against
the EPA, we'll win. And we'll win the one against the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission. We might not win the one against the
United States seeking to have declared unconstitutional the July
2002 Congressional Joint Resolution that approved the Yucca
Mountain site.
A win of any one of these cases "could set the program back
several years," says Loux. But if we win in particular the DOE
case or the EPA case, "then the whole site could go away."
Oral arguments on the cases, to be heard in court together,
will take place Jan. 14, and the decisions could come by
June.--Heidi Walters
Copyright © Las Vegas Mercury, 2001 - 2003
Stephens Media Group
*****************************************************************
50 Whitehaven News: ANGER AT BNFL BOSS'S BIG SALARY
Published in The Whitehaven News on 31/12/2003
SELLAFIELD workers reacted angrily after learning that the new
chairman of BNFL will earn more than Ł165,000 for working one day
a week.
News of the massive salary, which equates to more than Ł3,000 a
day, comes less than a fortnight after the company and trade
unions finally reached a settlement in a long-running dispute
over shift pay.
Workers are being balloted over whether to accept the settlement,
which will close a Ł2,000-a-year pay gap between manual and white
collar workers over the next three years.
But Peter Kane, GMB site convener, said they would find it hard
to accept the fat cat salary of the yet-to-be-appointed new
chairman, whose salary would equate to more than Ł800,000 a year
if projected over a full five-day working week.
He said: It seems a lot of money to me and I think the shop
floor will find it very hard to accept.
We are being told we have to tighten our budgets and cut costs,
that the company wants to be the contractor of choice and improve
efficiency and then they are paying out Ł165,000 for a new
chairman for one day a week. I think the workforce will find it a
bit much.
Another GMB spokesman said it seemed outrageous at a time when
BNFL has had to renegotiate harmonising staff pay.
The salary comes out of the British taxpayers pocket as BNFL is
state-owned.
The company is looking for a successor to Hugh Collum, who has
been chairman since 1999 and is due to step down next year. He
announced his resignation last month, just hours before
Sellafield shift workers walked out in the first industrial
action at the plant in 26 years.
Sellafields director of operations, Brian Watson, had urged
workers not to strike, saying despite a Ł100 million investment
and taking on 1,500 workers following the 1999 data falsification
scandal, BNFLs financial performance was poor with significant
operating losses of Ł3.5billion.
The company said the appointment of a new chairman and level of
salary was set by the Department for Trade and Industry.
The DTI defended the pay package, saying it had to pay the going
rate to attract high calibre candidates.
A spokesman said: Its exactly the same salary that has been
paid in the past. There is no improvement on that, in fact, there
has been a three-year salary freeze.
The advert for new chairman reads: WANTED: New chairman for
BNFL, the nuclear clean-up and services business. Will only take
one day a week and pays a salary of Ł165,000 (more may be
available for an exceptional candidate). Knowledge of the nuclear
industry is not essential. Back
*****************************************************************
51 Whitehaven News: 'PLUTONIUM IS NOT ACTUALLY MISSING'
Published in The Whitehaven News on 31/12/2003
EVEN though a large amount of plutonium is officially
unaccounted for at Sellafield, the highly dangerous radioactive
material has not actually gone missing, BNFL insisted this week.
The sites annual audit has revealed that in the last year some
19.kg of plutonium could not be traced. Independent nuclear
experts said this was enough to make five nuclear bombs.
One of them, Dr Frank Barnaby, a nuclear consultant who formerly
worked at the Aldermaston atomic weapons factory, said: in
reprocessing, an amount of material is bound to be lost in the
process but 19kg is very significant.
The company might say this is not a cause for concern but if
they cannot find where the plutonium is, how can they say it has
not been stolen?
If a terrorist group were to claim it had stolen 5kg of
plutonium from Sellafield the authorities could not say with any
certainty that they had not taken it.
It is a very unsatisfactory situation. This amount of material
could be made into five or six weapons.
BNFL spokesman Alan Hughes claimed that Sellafields strict
security measures would make it virtually impossible for
radioactive materials to be stolen.
There is a degree of uncertainty in the measuring process and we
would expect to see a slightly larger figure at Sellafield than
for other reprocessing plants because of the huge amount of
material that is put through each year, he explained.
At Sellafield, spokeswoman Tracy Riley said: No plutonium has
actually gone missing. It is in the plants, in the pipeline and
in the process. It is accounting difficulties, it is not possible
to estimate everything that is there at any one time. We have
nuclear safeguards inspectors on the site all the time, they
monitor what comes in and what goes out and they are happy that
we havent lost anything.
In this case the plutonium unaccounted for is a bit more than
usual but part of the increase is due to the fact that SMP, the
new Mox fuel plant, has come on stream, and this has been taken
into the accounting equation for the first time.
No other industry would be allowed to get away with such poor
industrial practice, said Dr Dan Barlow, head of research at
Friends of the Earth Scotland. He added: The fact that material
such as this is unaccounted for, whether lost or surplus, is a
concern. For bomb-making material to go missing in such large
quantities has to be a cause for concern. The question of where
this material has gone is one that demands an answer.
*****************************************************************
52 Whitehaven News: COUNCIL HOPES SELLAFIELD ROLE WILL BOOST AUDIT RATING
Published in The Whitehaven News on 31/12/2003
By Alan Irving
TROUBLED Copeland Council is banking on Sellafield rescuing it
from a bad report from government audit watchdogs who have power
to take over the running of below-par local authorities.
Highly-paid officers and leading councillors have spent months,
and in excess of Ł50,000, challenging a Comprehensive Performance
Assessment (CPA) giving the council more black marks than good.
The verdict was likely to be poor and unlikely to improve.
But the council leader Elaine Woodburn revealed this week that
following the challenge the Audit Commission had been back to
Catherine Street and taken into account the fact that Copeland
Council had Sellafield right in the middle of its patch.
A new inspector has been in and with a fresh pair of eyes seen
our unique role with Sellafield and the nuclear industry, said
Labour leader Elaine Woodburn.
This is one of the things the Audit Commission did not recognise
when they came in originally but the new inspector has
acknowledged that no other local authority has the same kind of
responsibility. Copeland Council has to spend a great deal of
time and expense dealing with Sellafield and the community on
nuclear issues and we are finally getting the message over. It is
one of our most important roles.
With the final CPA verdict unlikely to be published for another
two months, the council leader said: I am more confident and
happy.
From April 2005,the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) will
effectively take over ownership of Sellafield from BNFL|UKAEA and
the council is worried that this will only serve to increase the
pressures.
It is vital that we continue to play a major role on behalf of
Copeland but it needs the money which we havent got. There is
always the fear that we will miss something because we dont have
the people or the resources for proper consultation.
Our communities need to know whats happening and at the moment
we dont really have what it takes to do a proper job, said Coun
Woodburn.
She would not be drawn on what effect the Sellafield connection
might have in turning round the supposedly weak CPA report but
added: We have strengths as well as weaknesses. What we want is
a fair scoring.
Meanwhile, Elaine defended her councils stance over building a
Ł6 million new HQ at a time when it may have to be merged with
Allerdale and other local authorities if regional government gets
voted in.
Whatever happens we will need good offices in both Copeland and
Allerdale. If there is any criticism about the money its
costing, well it is a Private Finance Initiative half covered by
government credits. Its not coming out of our pockets.
And on the prospect of job losses with staff having less work to
do, the Egremont councillor said: Our top priority is to spend
money wisely on behalf of the community. We will fight hard to
try and avoid redundancies but when I am asked if there will be
any I would rather be honest and say there is a possibility. I
wont tell lies.
At the county council, the Leader, Rex Toft, (Con) said that the
council had taken on board the Audit Commissions criticisms of
the county and had made it a priority to address them. He said:
I would like to make it clear that Cumbria County Council is a
good authority, delivering quality services across a wide range
of council activities.
The report from the CPA needs to be put into perspective. We
have our weaknesses, it is true, but we are a good authority.
It is also important to recognise that there is a tension
between the drive for higher standards by Inspectors and other
regulators and pressures upon the council tax.
*****************************************************************
53 Las Vegas SUN: Nuclear Officials to Review Security
Today: January 02, 2004 at 13:05:08 PST
By JOHN HEILPRIN ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON (AP) - Worries about missing keys and other security
lapses at some of the nation's top-secret nuclear weapons labs
have prompted the federal agency that maintains the U.S. nuclear
weapons stockpile to review locks, keys and procedures at
facilities nationwide.
The Energy Department's semiautonomous National Nuclear Security
Administration, which oversees nuclear weapons programs within
the department, is sending a team of inspectors to launch the
security review in February. The action follows NNSA initiatives
last summer, after some in Congress complained about specific
security breaches at several facilities.
"We're doing a complexwide inventory of lock and keys ... (at)
anything that's under NNSA," Bryan Wilkes, an agency spokesman,
said Friday.
"The idea is not to go over every lock and key, but to sit down
and review with folks the controls that were put in place last
summer," he said. "We want to make sure stupid little things,
whether they're large or small, don't happen again."
In July, the NNSA announced new plans to reinforce safeguards
with added security experts, more frequent surveillance, a
review of past studies and investigations and creation of a
commission and separate panel for more long-range planning.
The NNSA is responsible for maintaining the U.S. nuclear weapons
stockpile, for promoting international nuclear nonproliferation
and for providing nuclear propulsion systems for the Navy's
submarines and aircraft carriers.
Wilkes said the most recent case of missing keys involves NNSA's
plant for processing weapons-grade uranium in Oak Ridge, Tenn.
Last summer, he said, the facility reported missing "a little
under 250" keys, but that "none of them were for any sensitive
areas."
"Most of that were to janitorial areas or to file cabinets;
simple things that people lose keys to every day. A small
portion of that - under 40 - went to people's offices or to a
conference room where you can have classified information for up
to an hour," Wilkes said.
A set of master keys went missing for several days at Sandia
National Laboratories in Albuquerque, N.M., and an electronic
key card was gone for six weeks before top managers were
informed at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in
Livermore, Calif. A set of keys to perimeter gates and office
doors also was lost at Livermore and went unreported for three
weeks.
Sandia is expecting a review. Chris Miller, a spokesman for
Sandia, said Friday the lab was advised a couple of weeks ago
"that DOE probably was going to be visiting early in the new
year just to look at security again. There are always ongoing
looks at security."
The inventory also is being conducted at other NNSA offices,
plants and nuclear research labs in Missouri, Nevada, New York,
Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Texas.
---
Associated Press reporters Sue Major Holmes in Albuquerque,
N.M., and Duncan Mansfield in Knoxville, Tenn., contributed to
this report.
---
On the Net:
National Nuclear Security Administration: http://www.nnsa.doe.gov
--
*****************************************************************
54 DOE: National Energy Technology Laboratory; Notice of Availability of
FR Doc 03-32266
[Federal Register: January 2, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 1)]
[Notices] [Page 52-53] From the Federal Register Online via GPO
Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr02ja04-24]
a Funding Opportunity AGENCY: National Energy Technology
Laboratory (NETL), Department of Energy (DOE).
ACTION: Notice of availability of a funding opportunity.
SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given of the intent to issue a Funding
Opportunity No. DE-PS26-04NT15460 entitled ``Focused Research in
Federal Lands Access and Produced Water Management in Oil and Gas
Exploration and Production.'' The Department of Energy (DOE)
National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), on behalf of its
National Petroleum Technology Office (NPTO), seeks applications
for cost-shared research projects that address specific Federal
lands access or produced water management issues faced by the oil
and gas industry. Applications will either address (1) solutions
to improve access to oil and gas resources on Federal lands or
(2) produced water management issues in low cost treatment
technologies, beneficial use of produced water, or best
management practices for handling, treatment and/or disposal. The
goal is to provide solutions to issues that are limiting domestic
on-shore or off-shore production while providing the same or
higher levels of environmental protection.
DATES: The Funding Opportunity will be available on the
DOE/NETL's Internet address at and on the ``Industry Interactive
Procurement System'' (IIPS) Web page located at on or about
January 15, 2004.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Martin Byrnes, U.S. Department
of Energy, National Energy Technology Laboratory, P.O. Box 10940,
MS 921- 107, Pittsburgh, PA 15236-0940. E-mail address: ,
telephone number: 412-386-4486.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Department of Energy (DOE)
National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), on behalf of its
National Petroleum Technology Office (NPTO), is soliciting
applications for cost-shared research projects that address
access to Federal lands or produced water management issues faced
by the oil and gas industry. The goal is to provide solutions to
issues that are limiting domestic on- shore or off-shore
production while providing the same or higher levels of
environmental protection.
The mission of the Department of Energy's Fossil Energy Oil
Program is derived from the National need for increased oil
production for national security, requirements for Federal lands
stewardship, and increased protection of the environment. The Oil
and Gas Environmental Program supports those goals and the
National Energy Policy goal of increasing domestic oil and gas
production, by providing technologies and approaches that reduce
the cost of effective environmental protection and by providing
technologies and approaches that improve environmental
protection.
The program will accept applications for cost-shared research
projects that address (1) solutions to improve access to Federal
lands or (2) produced water management issues in low cost
treatment technologies, beneficial use of produced water, or best
management practices for handling, treatment and/or disposal. The
goal of this Funding Opportunity is to provide solutions to
issues that are limiting domestic on-shore or off-shore
production while providing the same or higher levels of
environmental protection. These access issues and produced water
management issues are limiting domestic production by restricting
additional development or by adding costs that cause operators to
abandon existing wells while substantial recoverable reserves
remain in the ground.
The issues listed above are multi-faceted problems. In many
cases, the overall solution may vary by region or may require
several separate steps to resolve completely. Selected projects
are expected to describe the overall problem and the region or
regions affected as well as describing how the proposed project
fits into the overall solution. Selected projects are also
expected to describe as completely as possible the impact that
the project will have on increasing or maintaining domestic
production. The description of the production impact should
discuss in detail the resource affected and the amount of
domestic production that can be added or maintained as a result
of the successful completion of the project.
DOE anticipates issuing financial assistance (Cooperative
Agreement) awards. DOE reserves the right to support or not
support, with or without discussions, any or all applications
received in whole or in part, and to determine how many awards
will be made.
Multiple awards are anticipated. Approximately $9 million of DOE
funding is planned over a 3 year period for this Funding
Opportunity. The program seeks to sponsor projects for a single
budget/project period of 36 months or less. All applicants are
required to cost share at a minimum of 20% of the project total
for projects submitted under the two areas of interest. Details
of the cost sharing requirements, and the specific funding levels
will be identified in Funding Opportunity.
Telephone requests, written requests, E-mail requests, or
facsimile requests for a copy of the Funding Opportunity package
will not be accepted and/or honored. Applications must be
prepared and submitted in accordance with the instructions and
forms contained in the Funding Opportunity Announcement. The
actual Funding Opportunity
[[Page 53]] Announcement will allow for requests for explanation
and/or interpretation.
Issued in Pittsburgh, PA on December 19, 2003.
Dale A. Siciliano, Director, Acquisition and Assistance Division.
[FR Doc. 03-32266 Filed 12-31-03; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6450-01-P
*****************************************************************
55 DOE: National Energy Technology Laboratory; Notice of Intent To Issue
FR Doc 03-32267
[Federal Register: January 2, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 1)]
[Notices] [Page 53-54] From the Federal Register Online via GPO
Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr02ja04-25]
a Funding Opportunity Announcement AGENCY: National Energy
Technology Laboratory (NETL), Department of Energy (DOE).
ACTION: Notice of intent to issue funding opportunity
announcement.
SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given of the intent to issue Funding
Opportunity Announcement No. DE-PS26-04NT42068 entitled State
Energy Program (SEP) Special Projects Opportunity for Funding.
The Department of Energy's (DOE's) Office of Energy Efficiency
and Renewable Energy (EERE) is anticipating the availability of
financial assistance to the States for a group of special project
activities. Funding is being provided by a number of programs in
the EERE Office. States may apply to undertake any of the
projects being offered by these programs. Financial assistance
will be awarded to the States separately for each special
project, with activities to be carried out in conjunction with
their efforts under SEP. The special project's funding and
activities are tracked separately so that the DOE Program Offices
may follow the progress of individual projects.
DATES: The funding opportunity will be available on the
``Industry Interactive Procurement System'' (IIPS) Web page
located at http://e-center.doe.gov on or about January 8, 2004.
Applicants can obtain access to the solicitation from the address
above or through DOE/NETL's Web site at
http://www.netl.doe.gov/business. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
CONTACT: Kelly A. McDonald, MS I07, U.S. Department of Energy,
National Energy Technology Laboratory, P.O. Box 880 / 3610
Collins Ferry Road, Morgantown, WV 26507-0880. E-mail address:
kelly.mcdonald@netl.doe.gov, telephone number: (304) 285-4113.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The proposed projects must meet the
relevant requirements of the program providing the funding, as
well as of the SEP as specified in the 2004 State Energy Program
Special Projects Funding Opportunity. The goals of the special
projects activities are to directly involve States in activities
to accelerate deployment of energy efficiency and renewable
energy technologies; to facilitate the commercialization of
emerging and underutilized technologies; and to increase the
responsiveness of federally-funded technology development efforts
to the needs of the marketplace.
Fiscal Year 2004 is the ninth year special project activities
have been funded in conjunction with the State Energy Program (10
CFR 420). Most of these special projects are related to or based
on similar efforts that have been funded by other DOE programs.
Availability of Fiscal Year 2004 Funds With this publication, DOE
is anticipating the availability of an estimated $14 million in
new financial assistance awards from Fiscal Year 2004
appropriations. DOE's obligation for performance of this Funding
Opportunity is contingent upon the availability of appropriated
funds from which financial assistance awards can be made.
The awards will be made through a competitive process. The
programs that are participating in the State Energy Program
Special Projects Opportunity for Fiscal Year 2004, with the
estimated amount of funding available for each, are as follows:
[sbull] Clean Cities: This program will provide funds to support
the deployment of alternative fuels and alternative fuel vehicles
(AFV) in the following six categories: (1) Projects that promote
acquisition of commercially-available AFV's that maximize
alternative fuel use, especially when those vehicles support an
AFV niche market activity center or niche deployment strategy;
(2) projects that promote AFV infrastructure development; (3)
projects that promote truck idle reduction technologies; (4)
projects that promote alternative fuel ferry demonstrations; (5)
projects that promote the acquisition of AFV school buses and
refueling infrastructure; and (6) projects that support coalition
activities ($5,000,000).
[sbull] Industrial Technology Program: The objective of this
program is to broaden the impact of investments in advanced
industrial technologies and practices geared toward energy
savings and waste reduction. This will be done through increased
partnerships composed of State agencies, universities, and local
small and mid-sized manufacturing entities ($1,500,000).
[sbull] Building Codes and Standards: This program will support
States' actions to adopt, update, implement, enforce and evaluate
the effectiveness of their residential and commercial building
energy codes ($1,650,000).
[sbull] Rebuild America: This program supports Rebuild America
State Programs which are consistent with the Rebuild America
Strategic Plan that identifies specific and measurable building
and related energy saving projects. The goal is for 50 percent of
the partnerships to have completed at least one major building
renovation project by 2005. The partnerships must define a
program and process that would show a significant opportunity for
completion of building projects ($3,000,000).
[sbull] Building America: Applications under this program should
include research that coordinates with Building America's goal of
creating building system performance packages that make new
houses 40 percent to 70 percent more energy efficient than those
built to local building code standards. Existing houses should be
30 percent more energy efficient than the local building code
($400,000).
[sbull] Federal Energy Management Program: Applications should
promote and facilitate sustainable design and construction,
energy efficient operations and maintenance, distributed and
renewable energy, renewable energy purchases, siting of renewable
power on Federal sites, and assessment and implementation of load
and energy reduction techniques ($400,000).
[sbull] Solar Technology Program: The objective of this program
is to deploy solar energy technologies onto brownfield sites in a
manner consistent with local economic development activities and
relevant local, State and Federal environmental regulations using
the following activities: (1) Solar arrays located directly on
the site; (2) solar technologies integrated into buildings on
site; and (3) solar energy businesses located directly on site
($250,000).
[sbull] State Wind Energy Support: Applications will be sought
for instrumentation of existing tall towers (100 meters or
taller) in areas suitable for potential wind power development
where wind shear is expected to be a significant factor.
($250,000). [sbull] Distributed Energy and Electric
Reliability--Regional Combined Cooling Heating and Power
Applications Centers: The objectives of the Regional Application
Centers will be to provide essential and appropriate applied
research and development support, focused on the technology
transfer and deployment of advanced Combined
[[Page 54]] Heat and Power (CHP) technologies. The Regional
Application Centers will achieve this objective through targeted
education and outreach programs as well as project assistance
($800,000).
[sbull] Biomass: To foster significant penetration of
biomass-based technologies and products, cost-shared applications
are sought under two broad categories: (1) Outreach and
information transfer to consumers, producers, and industry; or
(2) development of innovative State or local incentives that
facilitate increased market development of bio-based power,
fuels, and other valuable products ($600,000).
Restricted Eligibility Eligible applicants under this opportunity
are limited to the 50 States, the District of Columbia, American
Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the
U. S. Virgin Islands. Applications must be submitted by the State
Energy Office or other agency responsible for administering the
State Energy Program pursuant to 10 CFR part 420, although States
may work in collaboration with non- State partners. For
convenience, the term ``State'' in the funding opportunity will
refer to all eligible applicants.
The Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance number assigned to the
State Energy Program Special Projects is 81.119. Requirements for
cost sharing contributions will be addressed in each category in
the anticipated opportunity. Cost sharing contributions beyond
any required percentage are desirable.
Evaluation Review and Criteria A first tier review for compliance
will be conducted by the DOE NETL office. Applications found to
be in compliance will undergo a merit review process by panels
comprised of members representing the participating programs at
DOE's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. DOE
reserves the right to fund, in whole or in part, any, all or none
of the applications submitted in response to this notice.
Once released, the funding opportunity will be available for
downloading from the IIPS Internet page. At this Internet site,
an applicant will also be able to register with IIPS, enabling
submission of an application. Technical assistance in registering
with IIPS, or any other IIPS function, may be obtained via
calling the IIPS Help Desk at (800) 683-0751, or E-mailing the
Help Desk personnel at IIPS-- HelpDesk@e-center.doe.gov. The
funding opportunity will only be made available in IIPS, no hard
(paper) copies of the opportunity and related documents will be
made available. Once the funding opportunity is issued, all
questions regarding the opportunity must be submitted via the
``Submit Question'' feature in IIPS; the Government reserves the
right to not answer questions submitted via any method other than
the ``Submit Question'' feature in IIPS. Telephone requests,
written requests, E-mail requests, or facsimile requests for a
copy of the funding opportunity package will not be accepted
and/or honored. Applications must be prepared and submitted in
accordance with the instructions and forms contained in the
opportunity.
Issued in Pittsburgh, PA on December 17, 2003.
Dale A. Siciliano, Director, Acquisition and Assistance Division.
[FR Doc. 03-32267 Filed 12-31-03; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6450-01-P
*****************************************************************
56 Grand Junction Sentinel: Energy lab closes shop; 15 jobless
01.02.04
By MARIJA B. VADER
The laboratory at the U.S. Department of Energy's B1/2 Road
complex closed Wednesday, leaving 15 people out of work.
The workers were chemists and sample-preparation technicians.
The lab will retain two to three persons "for safe shutdown of
the operations," said Wendee Ryan, public-affairs manager for the
S.M. Stoller Corp., the prime contractor to the Energy
Department.
Those two to three individuals will stay until the lab equipment
is properly cleaned and moved to a permanent location, Ryan said.
Some of the workers who lost their jobs retired, and others were
searching for jobs outside the Grand Valley, Ryan said.
Stoller and Teledyne Brown, the lab operator, are helping the
lab employees find jobs elsewhere, Ryan said.
Around 150 people work at the Energy Department complex, either
for the DOE, Stoller or Teledyne Brown. With the exception of the
lab employees, those people will continue to work there, Ryan
said.
At the site, the Energy Department will operate its new Office
of Legacy Management, which will manage low-level radioactive
sites in the U.S., Ryan said.
Local officials learned of the closure plans in November and
attempted to persuade Energy Department officials to keep the lab
open.
Local officials learned in late November the operation cost $2
million to run and generated only $240,000 to $400,000 annually.
The lab was used to analyze environmental samples collected for
use by the Grand Junction office as well as other offices of the
Energy Department.
The number of samples sent to the office declined in recent
years, leading to the decision by Energy Department officials to
close the lab today after completing analysis on the last samples
sent in during December.
{M4Marija B. Vader can be reached via e-mail at mvader@gjds.com.
© 2004 Cox Newspapers, Inc. - The Daily Sentinel
*****************************************************************
57 CBS News: Missing Keys At U.S. Nuke Labs
WASHINGTON, Jan. 1, 2004
The Inspector General says it will cost $1.7 million dollars to
replace 100,000 locks at Livermore alone. The lab claims it
won't cost nearly that much.
Security worries have hit the Los Alamos lab since the 1999
investigation of scientist Wen Ho Lee. (Photo: AP)
(CBS/AP) The Energy Department is conducting a widespread review
of security at America's nuclear weapons laboratories after
reports of hundreds of missing keys, some of which could allow
access to sensitive areas.
Sources tell CBS News that lock and key experts will begin
visiting all U.S. nuclear labs next month to assess the problem
of missing keys and apparent security lapses, reports CBS News
Correspondent Sharyl Attkisson.
The review follows reports last summer that a government facility
known by its World War II code name "Y-12" had reported "a
number" of keys missing.
In fact, 200 keys were missing.
Located in Tennessee, Y-12 was part of the Manhattan Project
where uranium was processed for the first atomic bomb and is
today considered the Fort Knox of highly enriched uranium -- the
kind terrorists could use for a devastating bomb. Some of the
missing keys, according to one source, "provide possible access
to sensitive areas" at the Y-12 facility.
Some of the missing keys, according to one source, "provide
possible access to sensitive areas" at Y-12.
At Sandia National Labs in New Mexico, a set of master keys went
missing for more than a week, including keys that could get
someone as far as the glass doors leading to the nuclear
reactors. At the time, nobody bothered to change the locks or
report the security breach as required.
Someone also lost track of master keys at Lawrence Livermore Lab.
The Energy Department's Inspector General investigated Livermore
and recently determined the lab "did not immediately recognize
the significant security implications
did not report the
security incidents within the required timeframes," and "did not
immediately assess the potential security risks."
During the Inspector General's review, Livermore officials
admitted five more master keys were missing, some for years. The
Inspector General says it will cost $1.7 million dollars to
replace 100,000 locks at Livermore alone. The lab claims it won't
cost nearly that much.
In response to the reports, the Energy Department is launching a
"lock and key inventory" to try to pinpoint the extent of the
security breach. Sources say it will be a "top to bottom review"
at all the nation's nuclear weapons labs.
The missing keys are only the latest blow to confidence in
security at U.S. nuclear weapons labs.
The Energy Department announced last year it would take
competitive bids for the contract to run Los Alamos National
Laboratory for the first time in the nuclear weapons lab's
history, after high-profile management breakdowns shook
confidence in current management.
The University of California has managed the lab since it was the
birthplace of the atom bomb six decades ago.
The review of the contract was prompted after reports of
financial abuse by several employees, equipment that was missing
or unaccounted for, and the firing of two lab investigators who
raised concerns about porous management.
Two lab employees used lab money to buy hunting equipment,
sunglasses, television sets, gas barbecues and other merchandise
apparently unrelated to their jobs. Another used a lab charge
card to try to purchase a customized Ford Mustang.
The University of California made sweeping changes, firing or
reassigning several top lab managers and instituting a series of
reforms.
But the latest problems at Los Alamos come in the wake of the
1999 investigation into Lee, a Taiwanese-born scientist who was
imprisoned for nine months while under investigation. He was
never charged with spying.
The next year, two computer hard drives with secret
nuclear-related material disappeared, only to turn up later
behind a copy machine. ©MMIV, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights
Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast,
rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to
this report.
©MMIV, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.
*****************************************************************
58 WATE: Y-12 Plant Part of Natl. Investigation into Missing Keys
January 2, 2004
By TEARSA SMITH 6 News Reporter
OAK RIDGE (WATE) -- A team from the Department of Energy (DOE)
will soon come to Oak Ridge to help create a better system for
keeping track of keys.
A recent national report indicated an Oak Ridge facility had 200
missing keys to sensitive areas. But that report wasn't entirely
correct.
Starting in February, Y-12 and all other weapons labs in the
nation will be confronted about security lapses, including
missing keys.
"It has been a department-wide issue specifically to some other
facilities," said DOE spokesman Steven Wyatt. "We've been looking
into this issue for a number of months. We've taken steps to
improve our program, to ensure that keys are manage properly."
Wyatt said it's a move that's been in the works for months
nationwide. But recent published news reports incorrectly
identified ORNL and Y-12 as the same facility. The report went on
to say ORNL had 200 missing keys.
"There are really significant differences between the facilities.
This is a common problem. This has happened a number of times
where the national media has assumed that everything in Oak Ridge
is Oak Ridge National Laboratory and that simply is not the
case."
Wyatt confirmed keys had been missing from the Y-12 plant, but
none that would grant access to nuclear material. As a result, at
least two minimum security buildings have since been re-keyed.
"I can't get into specifics regarding Y-12," Wyatt said. "I can
say that we're working very closely with the contractor to ensure
that the keys are managed properly. Bottom line to us is that
both sensitive information and nuclear materials are being stored
properly."
There's no word on the exact date when the DOE security team will
arrive at Y-12. A report should follow, but it could be stamped
classified and not for public review.
Y-12 managers took a key inventory following disclosure of lost
keys at nuclear weapon sites in California and New Mexico. The
Y-12 missing keys were mostly administrative keys like those used
for file cabinets.
All content © Copyright 2000 - 2004 WorldNow and WATE. All
*****************************************************************
59 Google News Alert - nuclear
Date: Fri, 2 Jan 2004 15:00:45 -0800
NUCLEAR Officials to Review Security
ABC News
2 Worries about missing keys and other security lapses at some of the
nation's top-secret nuclear weapons labs have prompted the federal agency
that ...
IRAN: Tehran's Latest Nuclear Efforts Weighing Heavy On Minds Of ...
Radio Free Europe, Czech Republic
... Iran also says it plans to build a 40-megawatt heavy water nuclear
reactor next to it. Arms experts are expressing concern over ...
US Cool to North Korea Nuclear Visit
ABC News
2 The Bush administration, pressing for the irreversible and verifiable
elimination of North Korea's nuclear program, distanced itself Friday
from planned ...
US Team to Inspect North Korean Nuclear Site
The Scotsman, UK
North Korea has invited a delegation of US nuclear experts from outside
President George Bushs administration to visit its main nuclear complex
next week ...
US to negotiate presence in Pak nuclear facilities: Analysts
Deepika, India
Washington, Jan 2 (UNI) The brief detention and questioning late last month
of the father of Pakistan's nuclear programme, Abdul Qadeer Khan, makes
the top ...
US Officials Confirm N Korea Visit by Nuclear Experts
Quicken
WASHINGTON [AP]--North Korea has invited a delegation of US nuclear experts
from outside the Bush administration to visit its main nuclear complex
next week ... North Korea authorises US nuclear visit: report
- ABC Online North Korea authorises US delegation to visit nuclear
complex: ...
NORTH Korean official: US experts to visit nuclear site
Ha'aretz, Israel
SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea has agreed to let a US delegation visit
its main nuclear complex next week, a South Korean official said Friday.
...
SICK nuclear workers discouraged by claims bottleneck with ...
Maryville Daily Times, TN
by Linda Braden Albert. A Maryville woman has taken her fight for the rights
of sick nuclear industry workers to the national news. ...
ISRAEL in no hurry to clear the nuclear fog
Sydney Morning Herald, Australia
But Gaddafi's announcement that Libya was ready to dismantle its nuclear
weapons caused few, if any ripples in Israel, possessor of arguably the
most secretive ... Dr. Marwan Al Kabalan: Libya's untimely deal
is shrouded in ...
COUNTRIES undecided on how to store nuclear waste
Environmental News Network, CA
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Since the start of the nuclear era, highly radioactive
waste has been crossing continents and oceans in search of a secure and
final ...
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60 Google News Alert - nuclear
Date: Thu, 1 Jan 2004 17:18:24 -0800
ISRAELIS urge nuclear disarmament
Al-Jazeera, Qatar
One in four Israelis believe their country should give up its nuclear arsenal
to rid the Middle East of weapons of mass-destruction. ...
INDIA, Pak exchange lists of nuclear facilities
Sify, India
Islamabad: India and Pakistan exchanged upgraded lists of nuclear facilities
and installations under aa bilateral agreement for the 13th year in succession
...
US nabbed centrifuge shipment sought by Libya for nuclear project
Cleveland Plain Dealer, OH
... Department official, John Bolton, plans to fly to London today to make
plans with Britain for holding Moammar Gadhafi to his pledge to dismantle
his nuclear ... IAEA Completes First Assessment of Libyan Nuclear
Program - Voice of America US findled to Gadhafi decision - Washington
Times ''Libya Welcomes Weapons Inspectors in Return for Normalized
...
GERMAN Freighter Was Carrying Nuclear Weapons Components to Libya
Deutsche Welle, Germany
Officials have confirmed that a German-flagged ship was carrying parts
to build a nuclear bomb from a Persian Gulf country to Libya in October.
...
PAK-INDIA To Exchange List Of Nuclear Installations
Pakistan News Service, Pakistan
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: Jan 01 (PNS) - Pakistan and India are to exchange
the lists of their nuclear installations on January 1 (Thursday) under
an agreement that ...
CONTEMPLATING nuclear war is madness: Vajpayee
Sify, India
New Delhi: Is there a nuclear button? Is there a possibility of Prime Minister
Atal Bihari Vajpayee pressing it? "The only button ...
TERRORISM and liberty, Pakistan and nuclear arms
International Herald Tribune, France
While Ruth Wedgwood ("Handicapped in the fight against terrorism," Views,
Dec. 24-25) states correctly that information gathered ...
DPRK says committed to peaceful settlement of peninsula's nuclear ...
Xinhua, China
1 (Xinhuanet) -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) said
Thursday that it wants to resolve the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula
peacefully ...
NUCLEAR Plant Faces Safety Inspection
Los Angeles Times (subscription), CA
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will perform a special structural safety
inspection of the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant, which was rocked
by last week's ...
NORTH Koreans went to Pakistan for nuclear study - report
Reuters, India
TOKYO (Reuters) - North Korea, involved in a crisis over its nuclear weapons
programme, sent three engineers to Pakistan in 1999 to study uranium enrichment
...
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61 War Wire: Nukes may launch NASA on long-range missions
WAR.WIRE
PASADENA, California (AFP) Jan 02, 2004
Nuclear power may give NASA's long-range missions the speed and
range that combustion engines cannot, but research is sputtering
for lack of funds.
NASA's head of the Prometheus program said the agency has three
billion dollars for the next five years.
"Beyond that, we know we need more money," Al Newhouse told AFP.
"We are at a very early stage of this program. It has been in
existence for slighty under a year."
Nuclear propulsion first became a NASA budget line item in 2003,
with 125 million dollars. NASA requested 279 million dollars for
2004 but Congress allocated 250 million.
Prometheus is part of a program called "New Frontiers," which
includes a mission to the moons of Jupiter -- Ganymede, Callisto
and Europa -- using nuclear electrical generation and propulsion.
Nine people are working on the project at NASA headquarters in
Washington as well as at least 100 others in 10 NASA centers
around the country, but some basic questions remain unanswered.
"I don't know what kind of power conversion I can use" to
generate electricity, Newhouse said. "We are developing, with
recent successes, ion propulsion techniques."
Tests at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena,
California, showed that a jet of ionized atomic particles can
furnish propulsion.
NASA says the nuclear electric xenon ion system, or NEXIS, could
be used in the rocket destined for the Jupiter mission, adding
that such a system could propel a spacecraft for 10 years or
more.
But the announcement in early 2003 that NASA was explore the use
of nuclear power in space raised heated opposition.
The Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space,
based in Gainesville, Florida, claimed such engines pose a risk
both during launch and in space.
"It increases the chance of an accident from Florida or
elsewhere," coordinator Bruce Gagnon said. The Prometheus rocket
would likely be launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Center on
Florida's Atlantic coast.
Southern US residents remember well the Space Shuttle Columbia
break-up, which rained debris on Texas and Louisiana last
February 1.
"One of our major concerns," said NASA's Newhouse, "is making
sure that we do not in any way create a hazard for the public --
and that's the public in the world.
"We want to make sure that we don't operate this thing (the
nuclear reactor) until we are in a position where it's going away
from the Earth, so that it can't come back.
"We have to make sure that we can launch it safely.
"Our intention is to design it so that the reactor part of the
package will be intact as a result of a launch vehicle
explosion."
WAR.WIRE
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62 Arizona Republic: Calif. wind farm a model for the future
Efficient, environment-friendly
Terence Chea Associated Press Jan. 1, 2004 12:00 AM
BIRDS LANDING, Calif. - One of the nation's largest wind energy
projects is being completed in the rolling hills between San
Francisco and Sacramento, where dozens of turbines rising more
than 300 feet tower over wheat fields and herds of sheep.
The High Winds Energy Center is a model for how wind energy
should be developed, environmentalists say. With turbines nearly
20 times more powerful than earlier generation machines, it
produces electricity at competitive prices and doesn't disturb
the surrounding farms and wildlife.
When all of its 90 turbines are operating by year's end, it will
have the capacity to generate 162 megawatts of electricity,
enough to power about 75,000 homes, according to Florida-based
FPL Energy, which owns and operates High Winds along with 30
other wind facilities in 10 states. Set in the Montezuma Hills in
Solano County, the new wind farm rises above six farms and
ranches just north of the Sacramento River.
"This is the future of wind power," said Ralph Cavanagh, energy
program director for the Natural Resources Defense Council. "It
doesn't displace agricultural uses, it complements them."
Environmentalists have championed wind power as an alternative
form of energy for decades because wind is a free, renewable
resource that generates electricity without polluting the air or
water.
But since the first large wind facilities were built in the
early 1980s, they have run into technological, economic and
political obstacles. Early versions didn't produce electricity
efficiently enough to compete with fossil fuel, while communities
complained that small forests of turbines marred the landscape
and environmentalists fretted that the blades were killing birds.
The Solano County wind farm, environmentalists say, has overcome
obstacles.
High Winds is different kind of wind farm from the ones familiar
to most Californians. The state's two biggest areas for wind
energy, the Altamont Pass east of San Francisco and the Tehachapi
Pass north of Los Angeles, are home to dozens of wind farms where
thousands of small, low-power turbines dot the hills.
High Winds' turbines are taller, more powerful and more
efficient than older generation turbines, which means the project
can generate more energy with fewer machines. Each turbine
generates 1.8 megawatts, 18 times the 100-kilowatt turbines built
two decades ago.
Older turbines can't rotate from side to side, so they often
remain idle, and only operate at maximum efficiency when the wind
blows in the right direction. High Winds' turbines swivel to face
oncoming breezes, capturing energy at wind speeds as low as eight
mph, FPL spokesman Steven Stengel said.
High Winds hasn't run into the kind of opposition plaguing other
wind energy projects, such as the offshore towers near
Massachusetts' Cape Cod, where residents worry that 40-story
turbines will harm ocean views, seabirds and tourism.
"It's a win-win situation," said Jackie Crockett, chief of staff
for Solano County Supervisor Ruth Forney, who represents the
district where the wind farm has been built. "We just assumed
when we took office that it was another thing we'd get complaints
on, and we haven't had any."
Unlike Altamont Pass, where turbine blades have killed an
estimated 22,000 birds, High Winds' turbines rotate more slowly,
so few birds get caught in the blades.
And local landowners welcome the extra income; FPL pays $2,500
to $4,000 a year to lease the space for each turbine, while the
surrounding land can still be used to raise animals, grow crops
and other activities.
"Far from being an intruder on the landscape, this represents
economic opportunity for rural America," said the NRDC's
Cavanagh. "This is adding value to farms without displacing the
farming."
Projects like High Winds also benefit from government
incentives. Wind energy projects developed since 1994 get 10
years of federal tax credits of 1.8 cents for every kilowatt-hour
of energy produced. The latest credit expires at the end of the
year, but wind advocates expect Congress to extend it again next
year.
About a dozen states require utilities to increase their use of
renewable sources such as wind, solar and geothermal energy. A
California law passed last year requires 20 percent of the
state's electricity to come from renewable energy by 2017, and
state regulators want to push the deadline up to 2010.
For now, wind remains a minor player in the U.S. energy markets,
and while California leads the nation in use of wind power, less
than 2 percent of the state's electricity came from wind last
year, according to the California Energy Commission.
Technological advances, along with government incentives, have
now made wind energy cost-competitive with oil, gas, coal and
nuclear energy, said Jan Johnson, a spokeswoman for PPM Energy,
an energy wholesaler that has already sold most of High Winds'
output to cities including Anaheim, Pasadena, Glendale and
Sacramento.
"If you have a choice between any form of electrical
generation," Johnson said, "are you going to choose one that
generates greenhouse gases or wind power?"
Copyright 2004, azcentral.com. All rights reserved. USA Today|
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