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Send News Stories to news@energy-net.org with title on subject
line and first line of body
NUCLEAR POLICY
1 Russia Journal Daily: Russia and China want North Korea talks soon
2 Las Vegas SUN: North Korea Offers to Freeze Nuke Program
3 Las Vegas SUN: U.S. Refuses to Lift Sanctions on Libya
4 Las Vegas SUN: U.S. Plans Three-Way Talks on Libya Nukes
5 IPS-English POLITICS-SOUTH ASIA: Nuclear Threat on
6 NYT: A Denial by Pakistan
7 AU THE AGE: Syria's deal on WMD - get Israel to disarm as well -
8 Las Vegas SUN: India, Pakistan Set to Hold Peace Talks
9 Las Vegas SUN: Key Dates in India, Pakistan Relations
10 AP: Nuclear-armed India and Pakistan agree to begin peace dialogue
11 Las Vegas SUN: Pakistan Angrily Denies Nuclear Report
12 Las Vegas SUN: Pakistan Denies Nuclear Transfer Report
NUCLEAR REACTORS
13 US: NRC: Entergy Nuclear Generation Company, Entergy Nuclear Operati
14 US: NRC: Sunshine Act Meeting
15 Taipei Times: Power plant referendum on hold
16 US: AP Wire: Oconee Nuclear Station repairs small leak
17 Xinhuanet: Russia proposes setting up team for further DPRK talks
18 US: Southern Illinoisan: OFFICIALS TO DISCUSS CAUSE OF RADIOACTIVE G
NUCLEAR SAFETY
19 US: NRC: NRC Proposes $6,000 Fine for Cooperheat-MQS, Inc. of Housto
20 US: USATODAY.com: Baby teeth offer radioactive clues
21 (DV) Sabri: Splendid Failure of Occupation, Part 5
22 US: WQAD: HHS says Middletown plant not making people sick
NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE
23 [progchat_action] Court showdown over nuclear waste dump
24 US: Las Vegas SUN: Radioactive shipments set on disputed
25 Las Vegas RJ: NUKE WASTE: DOE faces new Yucca hurdle
26 US: Las Vegas SUN: Radioactive waste shipments planned
27 Las Vegas SUN: For struggling rural county, Yucca route a tough call
28 RGJ: Energy Department responses to Nuclear Regulatory Commission
29 US: Albuquerque Tribune: WIPP shipment heads to Duke City
30 EI: State receives OK to spend money on nuke hearings, Elko County
31 PR Newswire: Nuclear Clean-Up Policy Doesn't Go Far Enough says Inde
NUCLEAR WEAPONS
32 (DV) Edwards: The BBC on Hiroshima
US DEPT. OF ENERGY
33 Knox News: BWXT gets high marks, $21 million for managing Y-12
34 DOE: Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board, Idaho
35 DOE: Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board, Northern
36 DOE: Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board, Hanford
37 Tri-Valley Herald: UC seeks business partner in lab bid
38 Oak Ridger: ORNL's voluntary departures to bring change
39 Oak Ridger: BWXT Y-12 gets a big paycheck
40 Oak Ridger: ORNL makes management staff changes
41 Oak Ridger: Dick Smyser: AEC-DOE official, Ridger columnist,
OTHER NUCLEAR
42 Google News Alert - nuclear
43 ACBJ: BTU International sells nuclear fuel-making furnace for $2M
44 EI: Gibbons' plan to sell public land for mining criticized
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FULL NEWS STORIES
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1 Russia Journal Daily: Russia and China want North Korea talks soon
Jan 07, 2004, 04:39 (Moscow time) | SEARCH
MOSCOW - Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov
declared on Monday that six-country talks on North Korea's
nuclear weapons programme were being delayed by participants
haggling over the agenda.
At a meeting between Russian and Chinese officials in Moscow on
Monday both sides agreed "the second round of six-way talks to be
conducted in Beijing as soon as possible", according to a
diplomatic source.
Since the first round of six-way talks in August, U.S., Asian
and Russian officials have been trying to convince North Korea,
believed by the United States to have one or two nuclear bombs
already, to attend a second round.
An exact date for the meeting had not been set, but Japanese
officials have mentioned that talks could be held in January. But
Losyukov expressed some doubt on Jan., 5 they would be this
month. "It is likely, but not that likely," Interfax news agency
quoted him as saying.
Losyukov, Russia's representative in the six-way discussions,
said the failure so far of the participants -- North Korea, the
United States, South Korea, Japan, China and Russia -- to agree
an agenda had hampered the setting of a date.
"We believe it is better not to hurry the meeting itself, but to
prepare it well... so that there is a basis to move further,"
Losyukov said.
The North Korean nuclear crisis began in October 2002 when the
United States said North Korea had admitted to having a covert
nuclear weapons programme.
North Korea wants security guarantees from Washington, which for
its part, insists on an "irreversible verification regime" to end
Pyongyang's nuclear programme, including production of plutonium
and highly enriched uranium for nuclear fuel. Russia and China
want North Korea talks soon
The Russia Journal magazine
Articles by Ajay Goyal on russiajournal.ru
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2 Las Vegas SUN: North Korea Offers to Freeze Nuke Program
Today: January 06, 2004 at 11:00:15 PST
By SOO-JEONG LEE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - North Korea offered on Tuesday to
freeze its nuclear program, including weapons and energy
development. Secretary of State Colin Powell called the offer
"positive" as a U.S. delegation traveled to the isolated
communist nation, possibly to tour a disputed nuclear plant.
The moves came as the United States, China, Russia, Japan and
the two Koreas scrambled to arrange a new round of negotiations
on Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program, with South Korea and
Russia saying they are unlikely this month.
North Korea has said before it is willing to freeze its "nuclear
activities" in exchange for U.S. aid and being removed from
Washington's list of terrorism-sponsoring nations.
On Tuesday, it specified it would not test or produce nuclear
weapons and even stop operating its nuclear power industry "as
first-phase measures of the package solution."
In a commentary carried by the official KCNA news agency, North
Korea called the offer "one more bold concession" aimed at
resolving the international standoff.
Powell said in Washington, "It was an interesting statement. It
was a positive statement. They, in effect, said they won't test,
and they implied that they would give up all aspects of their
nuclear program, not just weapons program."
He said he hoped the North Korean proposal "will allow us to
move more rapidly toward six-party framework talks."
The Bush administration has said it wants evidence that North
Korea is beginning to dismantle its nuclear weapons programs
before it delivers any concessions.
Meanwhile, the unofficial delegation of Americans, which
included a former government official, a nuclear expert and a
retired academic, flew from Beijing to North Korea, possibly to
tour the communist country's disputed nuclear plant at Yongbyon.
"It's a very private visit. We're not representing the U.S.
government or anyone else," said Jack Pritchard, once a member
of former President George H. W. Bush's National Security
Council staff and a one-time State Department official.
Members of the group refused comment on reports they might visit
the Yongbyon complex.
A South Korean Foreign Ministry official said on condition of
anonymity they were to stay in the North from Tuesday to
Saturday. Another pair of Americans, both congressional
staffers, also were scheduled to visit Pyongyang this week.
The Yongbyon complex is at the heart of the standoff, and there
has been no outside access to the facility since North Korea
expelled U.N. nuclear inspectors at the end of 2002.
On Tuesday, North Korea said its first-step proposal should be
the focus of preparations for new talks.
"If the United States keeps ignoring our efforts and continues
to pressurize the DPRK to scrap its nuclear weapons program
first while shelving the issue of making a switchover in its
policy toward the DPRK, the basis of dialogue will be demolished
and a shadow will be cast over the prospects of talks," KCNA
said.
DPRK stands for Democratic People's Republic of Korea, North
Korea's official name.
Powell said he is convinced that the six nations that
participated in talks last year - the two Koreas, the United
States, Russia, China and Japan - want to hold another round.
South Korea's Unification Ministry, which handles affairs with
North Korea, says North Korea has at least three nuclear
reactors.
Last year, it restarted a five-megawatt reactor at Yongbyon. An
unfinished 50-megawatt reactor also stands at Yongbyon, and a
200-megawatt one is located just northeast of the site at
Taechon.
A U.S.-led international consortium had been building two
1,000-megawatt light-water reactors on the country's east coast.
But that project was suspended last month amid the nuclear
standoff.
North Korea's neighbors agreed to help build the light-water
reactors because they are more difficult to convert to weapons
use. North Korea's offer to suspend all nuclear activities, even
those for peaceful purposes, could be aimed at easing their
suspicions.
Traveling to North Korea with Pritchard were Sig Hecker, a
nuclear specialist at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New
Mexico, and John W. Lewis, professor emeritus of international
relations at Stanford University.
--
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3 Las Vegas SUN: U.S. Refuses to Lift Sanctions on Libya
Today: January 06, 2004 at 9:15:06 PST
ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON (AP) -
President Bush refused to lift U.S. sanctions against Libya,
saying Moammar Gadhafi must take concrete steps to fulfill a
pledge to scrap his chemical and nuclear weapons programs.
Bush said Monday he was keeping in force a declaration of
national emergency first issued by President Reagan in 1986 when
the United States blocked Libyan assets in the United States,
accusing Gadhafi's regime of sponsoring terrorism.
The U.S. sanctions have denied Libya access to hundreds of
millions of dollars in property and bank assets, according to
U.S. estimates.
Bush, in a written notice, said Libya's promise last month to
abandon weapons of mass destruction marked "an important and
welcome step toward addressing the concerns of the world
community."
"As Libya takes tangible steps to address those concerns, the
United States will in turn take reciprocal tangible steps to
recognize Libya's progress," Bush said. "Libya's agreement marks
the beginning of a process of rejoining the community of
nations, but its declaration of December 19, 2003, must be
followed by verification of concrete steps."
The declaration of national emergency has been renewed every
year since 1986.
Bush said that "the crisis between the United States and Libya
that led to the declaration of a national emergency ... has not
been fully resolved, although there have been some positive
developments."
The United States abstained from voting last year when the
United Nations Security Council acted to end U.N. sanctions
against Libya. The U.N. acted after Libya agreed to compensate
families of the victims of the Pan Am 103 bombing and to take
responsibility for the actions of Libyan officials in the
bombing.
Explaining Monday's decision to keep U.S. sanctions in tact,
Bush said the United States has "serious concerns" about other
Libyan policies and actions, including Libya's pursuit of
weapons of mass destruction, Libya's role with respect to
terrorism, and Libya's poor human rights record.
The White House noted that while Bush is keeping the sanctions
in place, he has the power to modify or end the declaration of
national emergency whenever he believes it appropriate.
--
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4 Las Vegas SUN: U.S. Plans Three-Way Talks on Libya Nukes
Today: January 06, 2004 at 13:25:19 PST
By BARRY SCHWEID ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Bush administration is planning three-way
talks with Britain and Libya to set the stage for sending U.S.
and British analysts to Libya to check on the extent of
Tripoli's nuclear weapons program and its promise to dismantle
it.
A series of meetings with British officials, which began last
week with a trip to London by Under Secretary of State John R.
Bolton, will culminate with top-level Libyans joining the
conversation after additional U.S.-British meetings.
Then U.S. and British analysts will go to Libya, working on a
parallel track with the International Atomic Energy Agency,
whose estimate of the Libyan program is considered understated
by some senior Bush administration officials.
U.S. intelligence has uncovered an elaborate network of
technology assistance to Libya, including the shipment of
thousands of pieces of equipment for processing enriched
uranium.
A shipment was intercepted in early October and diverted to
Italy. There may have been other interceptions under a program
initiated last May, but senior U.S. officials declined to
provide any details on grounds any such information was secret.
The seizure sealed Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's decision Dec.
19 to dismantle his nuclear weapons program, a U.S. official
said last week on condition of anonymity.
Britain, which took the lead in pressuring Libya to end the
program, has invited the Libyan foreign minister, Abdelrahman
Shalqam, to London. Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said Monday the
reason was to discuss "the process of implementing the decision
by Libya to dismantle its weapons program."
Whether Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf could have been
unaware of the proliferation of sensitive technology is unclear.
A senior U.S. official, in disclosing forthcoming talks with
top-level Libyans, declined to say whether Musharraf knew about
any transfers by Pakistani nuclear scientists.
But Secretary of State Colin Powell said he had talked to
Musharraf about proliferation several times and found no
reluctance to look into the problem.
"To the extent we can help him with information we will," Powell
told reporters.
The government of Pakistan on Tuesday vehemently denied it had
helped Libya acquire centrifuge technology critical to producing
nuclear weapons.
Gen. Musharraf's support for the U.S. campaign to counter the
Al-Qaida terror network and to stop Pakistani extremists from
crossing into the Indian-held portion of Kashmir is considered
vital.
"This is a story still unfolding," White House press secretary
Scott McClellan said Tuesday in fending off questions about
sales of equipment to Libya.
McClellan said Musharraf had assured President Bush he would try
to restrain Pakistani scientists. "We fully expect President
Musharraf and the government of Pakistan to follow through on
those assurances," the White House official said.
At the same time, though, McClellan said it was difficult to
control "rogue individuals."
Bush has called for a U.N. resolution urging all nations to pass
legislation to prohibit and punish such transfers, "and we are
going to continue working tirelessly with our friends around the
world in that effort," McClellan said.
There is an extensive black market that provided Libya with tens
of millions of dollars in equipment, another senior U.S.
official said last week. But this official said there was now an
aggressive program of interdicting delivery, and the
administration intends to pursue middlemen actively.
--
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5 IPS-English POLITICS-SOUTH ASIA: Nuclear Threat on
Date: Tue, 06 Jan 2004 11:30:54 -0800
ROMAIPS AP IP
POLITICS-SOUTH ASIA: Nuclear Threat on Subcontinent Recedes
By Ranjit Devraj
NEW DELHI, Jan 6 (IPS) - The spectre of a nuclear holocaust, which has
loomed over the subcontinent ever since India and Pakistan conducted
tit-for-that nuclear tests in 1998, has finally begun to recede as they
agree to resolve their longstanding differences through a 'composite
dialogue' to begin in February.
The breakthrough, after five years of failed attempts at dialogue
punctuated by a border war in 1999 and a military standoff in 2001, came on
Tuesday at the close of the two-day summit of the seven-nation South Asian
Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) in Islamabad.
''The two leaders agreed that constructive dialogue would promote
progress towards the common objectives of peace, security and economic
development for our peoples and for future generations,'' according to a
joint statement at the end of the conference.
''It is always better that relations between the two countries improve
since that would make the danger from the nuclear weapons they possess less
likely,'' said Achin Vanaik nuclear specialist and co-founder of the
influential Movement in India for Nuclear Disarmament (MIND) and the group,
South Asians Against Nukes.
In an interview with IPS, Vanaik said the truly important outcome of the
SAARC summit was the agreement on the South Asia Free Trade Area (SAFTA),
which would ensure that the nuclear-armed neighbours were ''locked into a
new collective arrangement'' that included Bhutan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri
Lanka and the Maldives.
Vanaik said he was inclined to give the new accord ''cautious welcome''
and expected no ''dramatic transformation'' given ''the whole history of
oscillation'' when it came to war and peace between Pakistan and India,
which were divided on religious grounds in 1947.
That partition did not include the territory of Kashmir -- and the two
countries have since gone to war at least thrice in attempts to settle the
issue of militarily.
The just-finished summit saw Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee
and Pakistan President Gen Pervez Musharraf meeting, for the first time in
nearly three years, at the sidelines of the summit.
The two officials had previous meetings, but they were failures.
Vajpayee travelled to Pakistan in 1999 and Musharraf arrived in the Indian
city of Agra in 2001. India insisted that any discussion of the Kashmir
issue must be preceded by a ''cessation of cross-border terrorism'' carried
out by militant groups located in the Pakistan-held part of divided Kashmir.
Significantly, Tuesday's joint statement said: ''President Musharraf
reassured Prime Minister Vajpayee that he will not permit any territory
under Pakistan's control to be used to support terrorism in any manner.
President Musharraf emphasised that a sustained and productive dialogue
addressing all issues would lead to positive results.''
Musharraf has in the past insisted that the 1999 war on the Line of
Control (LoC) at Kargil was carried out by indigenous freedom fighters
seeking to liberate Kashmir. But the hostilities rapidly escalated and
involved the downing of each other's aircraft and the loss of thousands of
lives before it was stopped by the intervention of then U.S. President Bill
Clinton.
Officials said thatClinton, who afterwards described the region as ''the
most dangerous place in the world'', had reason to believe that the
Pakistan army was preparing to resort to nuclear weapons and there were
indications that India would respond in like fashion.
The years that followed saw the leaders of both countries publicly
threatening to use their nuclear weapons on each other, even as despairing
analysts pointed to how neither had effective command and control systems.
In any case, they said, it would take less than three minutes to deliver a
nuclear bomb on one of several key cities on the other side of the border.
Following an attempt by a suicide squad to blow up the Indian Parliament
in December 2000, India withdrew its high commissioner from Islamabad,
suspended overflights by Pakistani aircraft and massed some 700,000 troops
on the border. New Delhi also said it was ready to act against training
camps in Pakistan-held territory, disregarding the nuclear threat.
It took intense international 'shuttle-diplomacy' between New Delhi and
Islamabad, led by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, to defuse a
situation dangerous enough for several countries to carry out emergency
evacuations of its nationals from the two countries.
Since then, Pakistan has been under pressure from United States -- its
ally in the post-Sep. 11, 2001 'war on terrorism' in Afghanistan -- to
dismantle the militant camps that India insists exist along the Line of
Control.
At a press conference where he released the joint statement Tuesday,
Musharraf denied that any western power had influenced the resumption of a
peace dialogue with India. ''There is no question of any outside force...
the deal is between India and Pakistan.''
Curiously though, Pakistan has been forced in recent weeks by U.S.
investigators to concede that its top nuclear scientists may have been
involved in the illegal transfer of nuclear weapons technology to other
countries, including those Washington regards as ''rogue nations.''
Among the countries that may have received such technology are Iran,
Libya and North Korea - nations declared in 2002 by U.S. President George
W Bush as forming the ''axis of evil'' along with Cuba, Syria and Iraq.
''As investigators unravel the mysteries of the North Korean, Iranian
and now the Libyan nuclear projects, Pakistan - and those it empowered with
knowledge and technology they are now selling on their own - has emerged as
the intellectual and trading hub of a loose network of hidden nuclear
proliferators,'' the 'New York Times' reported on Jan. 4.
(END/IPS/AP/IP/RDR/JS/04)
= 01061816 ORP017
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6 NYT: A Denial by Pakistan
By THE NEW YORK TIMES
Published: January 7, 2004
[W] ASHINGTON, Jan. 6 — Pakistan on Tuesday denied a report in
The New York Times that Libya had obtained a design for enriching
uranium from Pakistani scientists, The Associated Press reported.
"This is total madness," Information Minister Sheik Rashid Ahmed
told the agency. "The report is absolutely false, and there is no
truth in it."
Asked today about the report, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell
said: "I don't have enough information at hand to answer a
question quite as specific as that. We know that there have been
cases where individuals in Pakistan have worked in these areas
and we have called it to the attention of the Pakistanis in the
past."
Copyright 2004 | | | | | | Back to Top
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7 AU THE AGE: Syria's deal on WMD - get Israel to disarm as well -
www.theage.com.au
[The Age Online]
By Benedict Brogan Damascus January 7, 2004
Syria's President Bashar al-Assad. Photo: Reuters
Syria is entitled to defend itself with its own chemical and
biological deterrent, President Bashar al-Assad said as he
rejected US demands for concessions on weapons of mass
destruction.
In his first statement since Libya's decision last month to scrap
nuclear and chemical programs, he came close to admitting that
his country had stockpiles of WMD. He said any deal to destroy
Syria's chemical and biological capability would come about only
if Israel agreed to abandon its nuclear arsenal.
Since Saddam Hussein's capture and Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's
decision to dismantle his weapons program, Mr Assad has risen in
America's target list.
President Assad spoke for more than 90 minutes at his villa,
which he prefers to the grand palace. Asked about US and British
claims that Syria had a WMD capability, he did not give the
categorical denial that has been his Government's stock response
until now. Instead, he pointed to the Israelis' recent attack on
alleged Palestinian bases in Syria and the occupation of the
Golan Heights as evidence that Syria needed a deterrent.
"We are a country which is (partly) occupied and, from time to
time, we are exposed to Israeli aggression," he said. "It is
natural for us to look for means to defend ourselves. It is not
difficult to get most of these weapons anywhere in the world."
The defiant speech coincided with Syria's lodging of a complaint
at the UN Security Council over Israel's possible drive to double
Jewish settlers in the Golan Heights. "This provocative Israeli
decision comes a few weeks after the Syrian initiative for the
resumption of peace talks . . . it unveils the true intentions of
Israeli leaders that contradict the goal of establishing peace,"
a letter to the UN said.
Mr Assad said Colonel Gaddafi's surprise decision to allow
inspectors to supervise the dismantling of WMD programs was a
"correct step". He called on the international community to
support the proposal that Syria presented to the UN last year for
removing all weapons of mass destruction from the Middle East -
including Israel's nuclear stockpile. "Unless this applies to all
countries, we are wasting our time," he said.
Colonel Gaddafi's surprise decision to allow inspectors to
supervise the dismantling of WMD programs was a 'correct step'.
He tempered his refusal to compromise on weapons by holding out
the prospect of joint patrols with America along the Syria-Iraq
border to stop the passage of arms and fighters.
Acknowledging pressure from the US and Britain to crack down on
Palestinian extremists based in Syria, he claimed that their
offices had been closed and their activities stopped.
But he risked infuriating the West by stepping up his defence of
Palestinian suicide bombers. He said the attacks had become "a
reality we cannot control" and blamed them on "the Israeli
killings, the Israeli occupations".
British Prime Minister Tony Blair, on a flight from Iraq before
news of the Assad interview, repeated his hope that Syria would
follow Libya's example. "We offer Syria the possibility of a
partnership for the future, but it is important that they realise
that the terms are very clear and have been set out by ourselves
and the Americans many times," he said.
- Telegraph, Reuters
Copyright © 2004. The Age Company Ltd advertise| contact us
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8 Las Vegas SUN: India, Pakistan Set to Hold Peace Talks
Today: January 06, 2004 at 4:35:07 PST
By PAUL HAVEN ASSOCIATED PRESS
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) -
India and Pakistan took a giant leap to put more than a
half-century of bloodshed behind them, agreeing Tuesday to start
talks next month on core disputes of nationalism and religion
that have taken the nuclear-armed nations into three wars.
The talks will touch on all topics, including the flashpoint
issue of Kashmir, foreign ministers from both countries said in
a joint statement.
"There are no winners or losers," Pakistani President Gen.
Pervez Musharraf said later. "I think victory is for the world -
for all those peace-loving people of the world. Victory is for
all the people of India and Pakistan."
Musharraf credited the deal to the "vision" and statesmanship of
Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. He said the two men
sealed the agreement early Tuesday in a phone call following
their historic face-to-face meeting a day earlier.
The surprise agreement followed two days of talks under the
cover of a major South Asian regional summit that provided the
impetus for Vajpayee's visit to the Pakistani capital,
Islamabad.
Indian Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha said details, including
the location of the talks and the level at which they will be
held, were still to be worked out, but that the negotiations
would be ongoing and comprehensive.
He expressed optimism the talks would lead to a lasting peace
agreement, including on the issue of Kashmir. The Himalayan
region is divided between the two countries, but claimed by both
in its entirety. The dispute has claimed at least 65,000 lives
since 1989.
"The two leaders are confident that the resumption of the
composite dialogue will lead to the peaceful settlement of all
bilateral issues, including Jammu and Kashmir, to the
satisfaction of both sides," Sinha said, reading from the joint
declaration.
A high-ranking Indian officials said on condition of anonymity
that the talks would revolve around eight points, including
Kashmir and two other territorial spats, fighting terrorism,
trade and confidence building measures.
The meetings between Vajpayee, Musharraf and Pakistani Prime
Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali on Sunday and Monday were the
first between Indian and Pakistani leaders in more than two
years, and they occurred in an atmosphere of optimism after
months of tit-for-tat steps to improve relations.
The two countries have called a cease-fire between their troops
faced off in the mountain region of Kashmir, resumed high-level
diplomatic ties and restored transportation links.
But there had been no indication such a breakthrough was
possible, and both sides had sought to dampen any expectations
ahead of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation
summit, which concluded Tuesday. Before leaving for Islamabad,
the 79-year-old Vajpayee said that discussion of bilateral
issues had no place at the summit.
The Indian leader flew home Tuesday over a South Asian landscape
that has undergone a sea change. He made no comment on the
agreement before boarding his plane at Islamabad's airport.
The summit wrapped up Tuesday after the leaders and foreign
ministers of India, Pakistan, Bhutan, Nepal, the Maldives, Sri
Lanka and Bangladesh signed agreements to fight terrorism,
improve the lot of hundreds of millions of their poor people,
and create a free trade zone area by 2006.
The deal came on the heels of two assassination attempts against
Musharraf in December, at least one of which was believed to be
carried out by militants of Jaish-e-Mohammed, an Islamic
militant group involved in the Kashmir fighting.
Pakistani Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said
Musharraf would hold a "very important" press conference later
in the day.
Musharraf, 60, has earned the wrath of militant groups since he
backed the U.S.-led war to oust the hardline Taliban in
Afghanistan, and began a crackdown at home.
To push the dialogue forward, Vajpayee demanded that any
Pakistani connection to violence and terrorism in Kashmir must
stop, Sinha said. Musharraf assured him that he would not permit
territory under Pakistan's control to be used to support
terrorism.
India has long maintained that Islamabad has given support to a
slew of Islamic militant groups fighting against its control of
part of Kashmir. Pakistan has denied claims it harbors the
militants, saying its support is strictly political and
diplomatic.
The South Asian giants fought wars in 1948, 1965 and 1971 and
have engaged in many more deadly skirmishes. More than 1 million
people are believed to have died during the 1947 partition of
India and Pakistan after the subcontinent gained independence
from Britain.
Tens of millions of Muslims migrated to the newly created
Islamic Republic of Pakistan, while an equal number of Hindus
left their belongings to migrate to predominantly Hindu India.
The main cause of their continued dispute is Kashmir, a
predominantly Muslim region whose Hindu leader chose to become
part of India. Pakistan has been demanding a referendum on the
fate of the region ever since.
--
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9 Las Vegas SUN: Key Dates in India, Pakistan Relations
Today: January 06, 2004 at 5:10:05 PST
By The Associated Press ASSOCIATED PRESS
Significant dates in relations between India and Pakistan:
Aug. 14, 1947: Pakistan is created as a nation. The next day,
India gains independence from Britain after two centuries of
colonial rule.
October 1947: War breaks out between India and Pakistan in
Kashmir. The United Nations brokers a truce 16 months later.
September 1965: The two countries fight a second war over
Kashmir, ending in a U.N.-brokered cease-fire after three weeks.
January 1966: India and Pakistan sign a Soviet Union-sponsored
peace deal.
December 1971: A third war breaks out - this time over
Bangladesh, which had been East Pakistan.
July 1972: India and Pakistan agree that a cease-fire line
called the Line of Control would divide Kashmir, although not as
an official border.
May 1974: India conducts first nuclear test.
November 1989: Islamic insurgency starts in Kashmir.
May 1998: India conducts five nuclear tests. Pakistan carries
out its first nuclear tests. The United States and several other
nations impose economic sanctions on both.
April 1999: India successfully tests a missile capable of
delivering a nuclear bomb deep inside Pakistan. Pakistan then
successfully tests its own similarly capable missile.
May-July 1999: India and Pakistan fight a limited 11-week battle
in the Kargil region of Kashmir.
October 2001: Islamic militants slam explosives-laden car into
the state legislature in India-controlled Kashmir, killing 40
people.
December 2001: Suicide attack on Indian parliament leaves 14
dead. India blames Pakistan's spy agency. New Delhi severs
diplomatic ties, cuts travel links and moves hundreds of
thousands of troops to the frontier, putting military on war
alert. Islamabad denies the charge and matches India's moves.
May 2002: Islamic militants attack passenger bus and an army
base in Jammu-Kashmir, killing 34 people, mostly soldiers' wives
and children.
April 19, 2003: During visit to Kashmir, Indian Prime Minister
Atal Bihari Vajpayee makes surprise offer to resume dialogue
with Pakistan.
April 28, 2003: Pakistan responds to Vajpayee's offer, proposes
a series of peace gestures.
May 2, 2003: India and Pakistan agree to take steps to restore
diplomatic relations and resume travel links. Diplomatic ties
restored in the following weeks.
Jan. 5, 2004: Vajpayee and Pakistan President Gen. Pervez
Musharraf meet for the first time since 2001.
Jan. 6: India, Pakistan announce resumption of bilateral talks
on all issues, including Kashmir, to begin in February.
--
*****************************************************************
10 AP: Nuclear-armed India and Pakistan agree to begin peace dialogue
in February
08:56 PM EST Jan 06
[Indian Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha smiles at a
press conference where he announced that talks will start next
month with Pakistan on core disputes of nationalism and
religion.(AP/Tariq Aziz)]
Indian Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha smiles at a press
conference where he announced that talks will start next month
with Pakistan on core disputes of nationalism and
religion.(AP/Tariq Aziz)
PAUL HAVEN
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CP) - Two years after nuclear-armed India
and Pakistan nearly went to war, their leaders agreed Tuesday to
hold landmark peace talks next month on all topics, including
the hot-button issue of Kashmir that lies at the heart of their
half-century of mutual hatred and mistrust.
"I think the victory is for the world," Pakistan's President
Gen. Pervez Musharraf declared, although observers cautioned a
lasting peace is far from assured. Musharraf and Indian Prime
Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee agreed to the talks in tightly
guarded meetings in the Pakistani capital under the cover of a
major regional summit.
In a joint declaration read separately by the Indian and
Pakistani foreign ministers, Musharraf pledged not to permit his
country to be used as a haven for terrorism, and Vajpayee
promised to seek a solution to the Kashmir dispute.
Gone were the usual Pakistani denials that it had supported
Islamic militants fighting Indian rule in the disputed Himalayan
territory, and gone were Indian demands that cross-border
infiltration stop before a dialogue could begin.
Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham welcomed the meeting
between the Indian and Pakistani leaders, calling it "an
important step toward finding a peaceful solution to their
outstanding issues."
The two leaders had agreed to meet while both were attending a
summit here of the South Asian Association for Regional
Co-operation.
"Canada has strongly encouraged a dialogue between the two
countries, and I urge them both to build on the momentum
generated by the successful SAARC Summit," Graham said in a
statement Tuesday.
More than 65,000 people have died since 1989 in the conflict
over Kashmir, a picturesque Muslim-majority region divided
between India and Pakistan and claimed in entirety by both.
Islamic rebels have been fighting for independence for the part
of Kashmir controlled by predominantly Hindu India, or for its
merger with mostly Muslim Pakistan.
There have been other attempts to end the feuding between
Pakistan and India, most recently in talks in July 2001 between
Vajpayee and Musharraf in the Indian city of Agra. An attack by
Islamic militants on India's Parliament in December 2001
scuttled any hopes and brought the two nations to the brink of a
devastating fourth full-scale war - this one with nuclear
weapons in play.
In February 1999, hopes were raised briefly after a meeting
between Vajpayee and then-prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of
Pakistan. A Pakistani incursion that summer into India's portion
of Kashmir doomed those talks, and months later Sharif was
overthrown by Musharraf, the military leader who had ordered the
incursion.
But observers on both sides said the atmosphere is very
different today.
Musharraf has become a staunch U.S. ally since the Sept. 11,
2001, terrorist attacks in New York and Washington. His
government has banned more than a dozen militant organizations
and arrested more than 500 al-Qaida suspects, turning most over
to American authorities.
Despite early cynicism about the general's motives, his
commitment to cracking down on militant groups seems genuine.
Musharraf has survived three assassination attempts, the latest
two in December. The last attack, a Christmas Day suicide
bombing that killed 16 people, was believed carried out by
Jaish-e-Mohammed, a Kashmiri militant group.
Kashmiri rebels denounced the news of talks as a sellout, an
ominous indication of the challenges ahead.
"The agreement reached by India and Pakistan is a massacre of
the Kashmiri cause," said Amanullah Khan, chairman of the Jammu
Kashmir Liberation Front, which favours independence for the
region. "It is not only a U-turn by Pakistan but a betrayal."
Syed Salahuddin, the chief of Hezb-ul Mujahedeen, the main
militant group in Indian Kashmir, warned that military
operations would continue until India frees jailed militants and
proves its sincerity.
"India should declare Kashmir a disputed territory, release
Kashmiri leaders from its torture cells and call its troops back
to barracks," Salahuddin told The Associated Press from
Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistan's portion of Kashmir. "Unless
that happens, the mujahedeen will continue their operations."
The peace deal was sealed in an early morning phone call Tuesday
that Vajpayee made to the Pakistani leader, a day after the two
met in private for an hour at President's House in Islamabad.
Musharraf said both men were overjoyed and thanked each other
for their courage.
"I wished him very good health, and he wished me protection,"
Musharraf quipped. He hailed his guest for his "vision" and
"statesmanship."
Indian Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha said details, including
the location of the talks and the level at which they will be
held, were still to be worked out.
A high-ranking Indian official said on condition of anonymity
that the talks would revolve around eight points, including
Kashmir and two other territorial spats, terrorism, trade and
confidence-building measures.
The meetings involving Vajpayee, Musharraf and Pakistani Prime
Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali on Sunday and Monday were the
first between Indian and Pakistani leaders in more than two
years and followed months of incremental steps to improve
relations.
The two countries have held to a ceasefire between their troops
in Kashmir, resumed high-level diplomatic ties and restored
transportation links.
But there had been no indication such a breakthrough was
possible, and both sides had sought to dampen any expectations
ahead of the South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation
summit, which concluded Tuesday.
Pakistan and India fought wars in 1948, 1965 and 1971 and have
engaged in many more deadly skirmishes since the 1947 partition
of the subcontinent.
© The Canadian Press, 2004
*****************************************************************
11 Las Vegas SUN: Pakistan Angrily Denies Nuclear Report
Today: January 06, 2004 at 1:09:58 PST
By PAUL HAVEN ASSOCIATED PRESS
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) - Pakistan on Tuesday strongly denied a
newspaper report that its scientists were the source of
high-tech centrifuge design technology to Libya, the latest in a
series of allegations linking this U.S. ally's nuclear program
to Washington's bitterest enemies.
"This is total madness. The report is absolutely false, and
there is no truth in it," Information Minister Sheikh Rashid
Ahmed told The Associated Press, in reference to a front-page
article in Wednesday's New York Times newspaper datelined out of
the Libyan capital, Tripoli.
The newspaper said the technology transfer to Libya took place
after a pledge by Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf in
the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks that he would rein
in his nuclear scientists in an effort to keep their
nuclear-know how from falling into the hands of rogue regimes or
terrorists.
A senior official at Pakistan's Atomic Energy Commission,
speaking to AP on condition of anonymity, also denied any
government involvement in any nuclear transfer, but he stopped
short of rejecting the charge outright.
"The government of Pakistan was not behind any move aimed at
transferring nuclear knowledge or technology or any other thing
to any other country," he said. But "Pakistan should not be
blamed for any individual's wrongful act."
"We do not know who has been helping Iran, North Korea or
Libya," he said.
Centrifuges can be used to enrich uranium for use in a nuclear
device. Hundreds of centrifuges are necessary to make enough to
construct a nuclear weapon, and each requires high-precision
tubing that is extremely difficult to produce.
The newspaper said there was no evidence the Pakistani
government knew that its scientists were selling the
information, but that the transfer raised doubts about
Musharraf's ability to make good on his promise to keep a lid on
the sensitive technology.
The latest allegations follow an embarrassing admission in
December by Pakistan's government that it was questioning a
number of its nuclear scientists on suspicion that "ambition and
greed" may have led them to sell their knowledge to Iran.
Islamabad vehemently denied government involvement in the plot,
and said any leaks were limited to Iran.
But it said it had called in the father of its nuclear program,
Abdul Qadeer Khan, to discuss the investigation. Pakistani
officials say he himself is not a suspect, and Khan was seen
Tuesday sitting with other dignitaries at a convention center
where Pakistan is hosting the South Asian Association for
Regional Cooperation, an important summit of regional leaders.
The Iran link was only disclosed after Tehran admitted the
Pakistan link after agreeing to come clean about its nuclear
program. Libya agreed in December to scrap its nuclear program
and open itself to full inspections.
A diplomat with knowledge of the Iran investigation recently
told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity that U.S.
intelligence also had "pretty convincing" evidence of a link
between Pakistan and North Korea's weapons program, something
Islamabad denies.
Ahmed, the information minister, hinted the allegations were
part of a smear campaign against his country, the only Islamic
nation that possesses nuclear capability.
"Pakistan's program is under tight control and in safe hands,"
he said. "People keep publishing this kind of trash. Let me
again say that Pakistan is a responsible state and Pakistan has
never proliferated."
Pakistan, has long been suspected of proliferation during its
30-year odyssey to build nuclear weapons as a deterrent against
nuclear rival India. The two nations tested their first nuclear
weapons in 1998.
---
Associated Press writer Munir Ahmad in Islamabad contributed to
this report.
--
*****************************************************************
12 Las Vegas SUN: Pakistan Denies Nuclear Transfer Report
Today: January 06, 2004 at 10:25:06 PST
By PAUL HAVEN ASSOCIATED PRESS
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) -
Pakistan on Tuesday denied a report that its scientists gave
high-tech centrifuge design technology to Libya, the latest
allegation linking the U.S. ally's nuclear program to
Washington's bitterest enemies.
The alleged technology transfer to Libya took place after
Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf pledged in the wake of
the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks that he would rein in his
nuclear scientists in an effort to keep their expertise from
falling into the hands of rogue regimes or terrorists, The New
York Times said in a story in Tuesday editions.
There's no evidence the Pakistani government knew its scientists
were selling information, but the alleged technology transfers
raised doubts about Musharraf's ability to make good on his
promise, the Times said.
"This is total madness. The report is absolutely false, and
there is no truth in it," Information Minister Sheikh Rashid
Ahmed told The Associated Press.
A senior official at Pakistan's Atomic Energy Commission,
speaking to the AP on condition of anonymity, also denied
government involvement, but stopped short of rejecting the
charge of nuclear transfers outright.
"Pakistan should not be blamed for any individual's wrongful
act," he said. "We do not know who has been helping Iran, North
Korea or Libya."
In Washington, Secretary of State Colin Powell said the Libyan
government was being "very forthcoming" just weeks after Libyan
leader Moammar Gadhafi pledged to give up nuclear weapons
development.
"The next step is to make sure we have a clear understanding of
what Libya possesses, make sure it matches up with what we think
they possess and what they tell us they possess," Powell said,
adding that the United States would work with the U.N. nuclear
agency and other experts.
Powell said he didn't have enough information to comment on the
charges of whether Pakistani scientists shared nuclear
technology, saying, "We will be examining all of this."
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said the International Atomic
Energy Agency will take the lead in monitoring Libya's progress
in destroying weapons of mass destruction. The Bush
administration wants the monitoring done by a team of American
and British experts.
"It was the atomic agency that sent in a team to follow through,
it is the atomic agency that is going to inspect to ensure that
Libya is really going to be rid of weapons of mass destruction,"
Annan said in New York.
A Western diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, declined
to discuss the allegations involving Pakistan and Libya, but
stressed that a black market in such components stretched across
Europe and Asia.
"Certainly all fingers are pointing at Pakistan," the diplomat
said. "But I don't think it's just Pakistan that needs to be
concerned."
In December, Pakistan's government said it was questioning a
number of its nuclear scientists on suspicion that "ambition and
greed" may have led them to sell their knowledge to Iran.
Islamabad denied government involvement in the plot and said any
leaks were limited to Iran.
Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of Pakistan's nuclear program, was
among the scientists questioned after officials received
documents from the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency about Iran's
nuclear program, officials say.
But Pakistani officials say Khan is not a suspect. He was seen
Tuesday sitting with other dignitaries at a convention center
where Pakistan is hosting the South Asian Association for
Regional Cooperation summit.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Musharraf had "made
his assurances" to President Bush that he would rein in
Pakistani scientists.
"We fully expect President Musharraf and the government of
Pakistan to follow through on those assurances," McClellan said
Tuesday.
Still, the White House spokesman added, "We recognize it's
always difficult to control the activities of rogue individuals
whose motives are personal gain. We are working with many
nations to overcome that issue."
Centrifuges can be used to enrich uranium for use in a nuclear
device. Hundreds of centrifuges are needed to make enough
material for a nuclear weapon. Each requires high-precision
tubing that is difficult to produce.
The Iran link with Pakistan technology was disclosed after
Tehran agreed to come clean about its nuclear program. Libya
agreed in December to scrap its nuclear program and open itself
to full inspections.
A diplomat with knowledge of the Iran investigation recently
told the AP on condition of anonymity that U.S. intelligence
also had "pretty convincing" evidence of a link between Pakistan
and North Korea's weapons program, something Islamabad denies.
Pakistan has long been suspected of proliferation during its
30-year effort to build nuclear weapons as a deterrent against
neighboring rival India. The two nations tested their first
nuclear weapons in 1998.
---
Associated Press reporters Munir Ahmad in Islamabad, Pakistan,
and Nick Wadhams in New York contributed to this report.
--
*****************************************************************
13 NRC: Entergy Nuclear Generation Company, Entergy Nuclear Operations,
FR Doc 04-186
[Federal Register: January 6, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 3)]
[Notices] [Page 690-691] From the Federal Register Online via GPO
Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr06ja04-120]
Inc.; Notice of Withdrawal of Application for Amendment to
Facility Operating License The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
(NRC or the Commission) has granted the request of Entergy
Nuclear Operations, Inc. (the licensee) to withdraw its August
19, 2002, application for proposed amendment to Facility
Operating License No. DPR-35 for the Pilgrim Nuclear Power
Station, located in Plymouth County, Massachusetts. The
licensee's application was supplemented by letters dated February
14, March 27, and April 14, 2003.
The proposed amendment would have modified the facility Technical
Specifications (TSs) pertaining to post-accident monitoring
instrumentation requirements to make the TSs more consistent with
the Standard Technical Specifications for boiling water reactors.
The Commission had previously issued a Notice of Consideration of
Issuance of Amendment published in the Federal Register on
December 24, 2002 (67 FR 78519). However, by letter dated
November 6, 2003, the licensee withdrew the amendment request.
For further details with respect to this action, see the
application for amendment dated August 19, 2002, as supplemented
by letters dated February 14, March 27, and April 14, 2003, and
the licensee's letter dated November 6, 2003, which withdrew the
application for license amendment. Documents may be examined,
and/or copied for a fee, at the NRC's Public Document Room (PDR),
located at One White Flint North, Public File Area O1 F21, 11555
Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, Maryland. Publicly
available records will be accessible electronically from the
Agencywide Documents Access and Management Systems (ADAMS) Public
Electronic Reading Room on the
[[Page 691]] http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams/html. Persons
who do not have access to ADAMS or who encounter problems in
accessing the documents located in ADAMS, should contact the NRC
PDR Reference staff by telephone at 1- 800-397-4209, or
301-415-4737 or by email to pdr@nrc.gov. Dated at Rockville,
Maryland, this 29th day of December, 2003.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Travis Tate, Project Manager, Section 2, Project Directorate I,
Division of Licensing Project Management, Office of Nuclear
Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 04-186 Filed 1-5-04; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P
*****************************************************************
14 NRC: Sunshine Act Meeting
FR Doc 04-311
[Federal Register: January 6, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 3)]
[Notices] [Page 691] From the Federal Register Online via GPO
Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr06ja04-121]
Dates: Weeks of January 5, 12, 19, 26, February 2, 9, 2004.
Place: Commissioners' Conference Room, 11555 Rockville Pike,
Rockville, Maryland.
Status: Public and closed.
Matters To Be Considered: Week of January 5, 2004 There are no
meetings scheduled for the Week of January 5, 2004.
Week of January 12, 2004--Tentative Wednesday, January 14, 2004
9:30 a.m. Briefing on Status of Office of Chief Information
Officer Programs, Performance, and Plans (Public Meeting)
(Contact: Jacqueline Silber, 301-415-7330).
This meeting will be webcast live at the Web
address--http://www.nrc.gov .
Week of January 19, 2004--Tentative Wednesday, January 21, 2004
1:30 p.m. Discussion of Security Issues (Closed--Ex. 1). Week of
January 26, 2004--Tentative There are no meetings scheduled for
the Week of January 26, 2004.
Week of February 2, 2004--Tentative There are no meetings
scheduled for the Week of February 2, 2004.
Week of February 9, 2004--Tentative There are no meetings
scheduled for the Week of February 9, 2004.
The schedule for Commission meetings is subject to change on
short notice. To verify the status of meetings call
(recording)--(301) 415- 1292. Contact person for more
information: Timothy J. Frye, (301) 415- 1651.
The NRC Commission Meeting Schedule can be found on the Internet
at: http://www.nrc.gov/what-we-do/policy-making/schedule.html.
This notice is distributed by mail to several hundred
subscribers; if you no longer wish to receive it, or would like
to be added to the distribution, please contact the Office of the
Secretary, Washington, DC 20555, (301) 415-1969. In addition,
distribution of this meeting notice over the Internet system is
available. If you are interested in receiving this Commission
meeting schedule electronically, please send an electronic
message to dkw@nrc.gov. Dated: December 31, 2003.
R. Michelle Schroll, Information Management Specialist, Office of
the Secretary.
[FR Doc. 04-311 Filed 1-2-04; 12:08 pm] BILLING CODE 7590-01-M
*****************************************************************
15 Taipei Times: Power plant referendum on hold
//www.taipeitimes.com
Tue, Jan 06, 2004
DENIED: The pan-blue legislative caucuses decided that a
referendum on the fate of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant should
not coincide with the March 20 election
By Ko Shu-ling STAFF REPORTER Tuesday, Jan 06, 2004,Page 2
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and People First Party (PFP)
legislative caucuses yesterday decided not to initiate a
referendum on the fate of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant during
this legislative session.
This means the question of what to do with the power plant will
not be put to the vote on the same day as the presidential
election on March 20, although the "defensive referendum"
proposed by President Chen Shui-bian (³¯¤ô«ó) could still be held
on that day.
At a press conference yesterday morning, KMT legislative whip
Lee Chia-chin (§õ¹Å¶i) said that the KMT and PFP legislative
caucuses will not initiate any form of referendum to be held in
conjunction with the presidential election, including the one to
decide the fate of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant.
"While we respect people's right to exercise direct democracy,
we, as a responsible party, will pass the opportunity to mount
any referendum alongside the presidential election because the
presidential poll is the best and most genuine way of expressing
people's opinions," Lee said.
He said voting for the blue camp's Lien Chan (³s¾Ô) and James
Soong (§º·¡·ì) will show people's support for the opposition's
causes of educational and legislative reform and opposing price
hikes in the national health insurance plan.
Lee held the news conference following a meeting between KMT
Secretary General Lin Fong-cheng (ªLÂ×¥¿) and his PFP
counterpart, Tsai Chung-hsiung (½²ÄÁ¶¯), at which they discussed
whether to initiate a referendum during this legislative session.
The KMT and PFP would have had to file their request today, as
the legislature is holding its last procedural committee meeting
to carve out the agenda for the last plenary session. The
legislature's winter recess is due to start on Jan. 13.
The controversial new Referen-dum Law (¤½¥Á§ë²¼ªk) enables the
Legislative Yuan to initiate a referendum on topics that
lawmakers feel should be referred to the public.
The electorate can also initiate a referendum by filing a
petition endorsed by 0.5 percent of eligible voters.
The topic of such a referendum must be screened by the Referendum
Review Committee before it can be put to the vote.
While it is widely believed that it might be too late for the
electorate to initiate a referendum on the same day as the
presidential election, Chen could get his wish to call a
"defensive referendum" if he obtains the Cabinet's approval by
Feb. 24.
Lee yesterday challenged the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)
to assist former DPP chairman and staunch anti-nuclear activist
Lin Yi-hsiung (ªL¸q¶¯) to initiate a referendum on the Fourth
Nuclear Power Plant before noon yesterday.
"I have only one thing to say to the DPP: credibility
bankruptcy," said KMT Legislator Liao Fung-te (¹ù·¼w).
"We quit playing the March 20 referendum game and we'll let
President Chen play it alone. People will eventually know they
don't mean what they say," Liao said.
PFP whip Chou Hsi-wei (©P¿üÞ³) said a referendum is a right that
belongs to voters, not a tool to be used for electioneering, and
called on Chen to put the brakes on his defensive referendum.
"Chen has tied the `defensive referendum' to the presidential
election. It is not only a waste of taxpayers' money, but also
creates social unrest and is clearly aimed at wooing voters,"
Chou said.
In response to the opposition bloc's accusation, DPP whip Chen
Chi-mai (³¯¨äÁÚ) said that the DPP will not "dance to the tune of
political jesters."
"Our stance on the matter is quite clear: We oppose the
legislature initiating a referendum. We'll launch a promotion
campaign on Sunday to encourage people to sign up for the
petition to hold a referendum on the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant,"
Chen said.
Meanwhile, DPP lawmakers Lai Ching-te (¿à²M¼w) and Chen Chin-de
(³¯ª÷¼w) yesterday filed a request to the Council of Grand
Justices to rule on articles in the Referendum Law which they
maintain are unconstitutional.
These articles include the legislature's right to initiate
constitutional amendments and the establishment of the Referendum
Review Committee.
The DPP's legislative caucus yesterday requested a
constitutional interpretation by the grand judges and is planning
to table some amendments to the Referendum Law. This story has
been viewed 420 times. + Advertising [ height=] [ height=] [
Copyright © 1999-2004 The Taipei Times. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
16 AP Wire: Oconee Nuclear Station repairs small leak
| 01/06/2004 |
[thestate.com - The thestate home page]
Associated Press
SENECA, S.C. - A small leak was identified at Oconee Nuclear
Station's unit one operation on Friday and has been repaired,
officials said Tuesday.
The leak on the reactor coolant system was found during a startup
process while the unit was not producing power, said Dayle
Stewart, Duke Power spokeswoman. The leak is considered the least
serious of the four classifications of nuclear station
emergencies, Stewart said.
Operators repaired the leak and the unit is now producing power,
Stewart said.
Oconee Nuclear Station is a three-unit power plant near Lake
Keowee.
*****************************************************************
17 Xinhuanet: Russia proposes setting up team for further DPRK talks
www.xinhuanet.com
www.chinaview.cn 2004-01-06 17:54:08
MOSCOW, Jan. 6 (Xinhuanet) -- A senior Russian official said
Tuesday that it is necessary to set up a multilateral working
group to tackle the difficulties hampering preparations for the
second round of talks on the nuclear program of the Democratic
People's Republic of Korea's (DPRK).
"It would possibly make sense to change the tactic of
consultations and set up a working group for preparing the second
round of negotiations," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander
Losyukov was quoted by Interfax news agency as saying.
He noted that the original idea of establishing a mechanism
after the second round of talks to work between sessions had been
put aside since the final document for further negotiations was
about to be approved by parties involved.
But considering that the coordination of the document is
taking more time than expected, "we will propose that a working
group be set up to jointly prepare for the talks."
The first round of negotiations on the DPRK's nuclear issue
was held in Beijing in late August with the participation of
representatives from the DPRK, South Korea, Russia, China, the
United States and Japan. Diplomatic efforts are underway to
decide the date for the next round of such talks.
Losyukov hinted Monday that the second round of the six-party
consultations was "still possible" to be held in January but "the
chances were slim."
"Mistrust and excessive demands on each other" by Washington
and Pyongyang hindered participants from reaching an agreement
upon the final document, according to him.
There is no need to hurry, Losyukov said. He proposed better
preparations for the next meeting so as to lay a foundation for
further progress. Enditem
Copyright ©2003 Xinhua News Agency. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
18 Southern Illinoisan: OFFICIALS TO DISCUSS CAUSE OF RADIOACTIVE GAS LEAK
BY KEN SEEBER
THE SOUTHERN
[Mon Jan 05 2004]
METROPOLIS -- The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will meet tonight
with officials of Honeywell International to discuss the
preliminary results of the agency's investigation into the Dec.
22 leak of radioactive uranium hexafluoride gas at the company's
nuclear fuel processing plant in Metropolis.
The meeting, which is open to the public, begins at 6 p.m. at the
Massac County Courthouse, 1 Superman Square, in Metropolis.
Residents will have the opportunity to ask questions and offer
comments.
A spokesman for the NRC said Monday that the plant's uranium
hexafluoride processing, which accounts for 80 percent of the
work at the Metropolis facility, will remain shut down until
regulators are satisfied problems have been corrected.
"At this point they are ... required to have a detailed
discussion with the NRC, not only on their own investigation, but
our investigation, and any corrective actions that they may have
taken," said Roger D. Hannah, a spokesman at the NRC's regional
office in Atlanta. "We have to be satisfied with all of that
prior to allowing them to restart those processes."
The Honeywell plant in Metropolis manufactures several types of
specialty gases, but the bulk of the business involves refining
uranium ore into uranium hexafluoride gas. That gas is then
transported to another facility to be further refined into fuel
rods used in nuclear power plants.
A Honeywell spokesman said Monday he doesn't know how long it
will be before the plant is back up and running, but he hopes it
will be a matter of days.
"There are quite a few things that we're going to be working
through, and that's going to take at least a few days, for sure,
to do that," said Mark McPhee, human resources manager at
Honeywell. "Bottom line is, we've just got to be in a position
where we feel confident that the plant is safe to start back up."
McPhee said none of the 312 employees at the Metropolis plant are
expected to be laid off as a result of the shutdown.
"Our hope is we'll be back up and running here shortly and that
no one will be laid off at all," he said.
In fact, McPhee said, Honeywell will add 21 more employees to the
Metropolis plant next week as part of an expansion that has been
in the works for about two months.
ken.seeber@thesouthern.com 618-529-5454 x15078
All pages & images, copyright © The Southern Illinoisan, a Lee
Enterprisessubsidiary
*****************************************************************
19 NRC: NRC Proposes $6,000 Fine for Cooperheat-MQS, Inc. of Houston, Texas
News Release - Region IV - 2003-00
U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Office of Public Affairs, Region IV
No. IV-04-002 January 6, 2004
CONTACT: Victor Dricks
Phone: 817-860-8128
E-mail: opa4@nrc.gov
fine of $6,000 against Cooperheat-MQS, Inc. of Houston, Texas,
for violating NRC requirements.
In a letter to the company, Bruce S. Mallett, Administrator of
the NRCs Region IV office in Arlington, Texas, said that as a
result of an NRC inspection December 11-12, 2002, and a
follow-up investigation, the agency determined that the company
violated NRC training requirements for radiographers and failed
to provide an NRC inspector with complete and accurate
information. Specifically, we conclude that your former
Facility Radiation Safety Officer in your Berlin, Connecticut,
field office falsified certain refresher training records and
provided these falsified records to an NRC inspector in an
attempt to show that the refresher training had been conducted
as required by your license, Mr. Mallett said.
The NRC must be able to rely on licensees and their employees
to conduct their activities in accordance with NRC requirements,
and to provide complete and accurate information to the NRC
during its inspections, Mr. Mallett said.
The company said it has taken corrective actions by conducting a
review of refresher training policies and procedures; performing
refresher training for radiography personnel in its Berlin,
Conn. field office; revising and improving training
documentation; and monitoring the work of its personnel to
assure they have adequate time to perform their safety
responsibilities, including training.
The NRC has classified the violations as a Severity Level III
problem, which carries a $6,000 fine. The agency uses a
four-level severity scale in which Severity Level I is the most
serious. The company has 30 days to either pay the proposed
civil penalty or to challenge it.
The NRCs letter, its enclosures, and the companys response
will be made available to interested members of the public
through the agencys public electronic reading room at:
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. Help in accessing
these documents is available from the NRC Public Document Room
at (301) 415-4737 or at 1-800-397-4209.
Last revised Tuesday, January 06, 2004
*****************************************************************
20 USATODAY.com: Baby teeth offer radioactive clues
Posted 1/1/2004 9:24 PM
Baby teeth offer radioactive cluesBy Gary Stoller, USA TODAY A
new study concludes that counties within 40 miles of six nuclear
power plants have higher levels of radioactive strontium-90 than
other counties in their states.
Joseph Mangano holds a baby tooth dating back to 1953.
By Todd Plitt, USA TODAY
Strontium-90, a byproduct of uranium fission, is one of the
pollutants emitted into the air by nuclear reactors. If inhaled
or ingested, it collects in bones and tissue and increases the
risks of cancer and leukemia, according to the Environmental
Protection Agency.
The study, published this week in the journal The Science of the
Total Environment, was done by the Radiation and Public Health
Project (RPHP), a New York-based non-profit group that analyzes
baby teeth for strontium-90. Baby teeth from counties near two
nuclear plants in Florida and plants in California, New York,
New Jersey and Pennsylvania were compared with baby teeth from
other counties in the same states.
Nuclear power companies denounce the RPHP study. They and some
scientists say RPHP's findings are not based on sound science.
"I don't question finding strontium-90 in teeth, because there
better be strontium-90 in teeth," says Ralph Andersen, chief
health physicist for the Nuclear Energy Institute, which
represents power plant owners and operators. "I question how
they compare data. I fail to see a factual basis for their
conclusions."
Everyone is exposed to small amounts of strontium-90, the EPA
says, because it was widely dispersed into the environment and
the food chain by above-ground nuclear weapons tests in the
1950s and 1960s. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission says
strontium-90 also was released into the environment by weapons
tests of the French and Chinese governments between 1970 and
1980 and by an accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in
the Ukraine in 1986.
The EPA wouldn't comment on the RPHP study and referred
questions to the NRC. NRC spokeswoman Elizabeth Hayden says the
agency won't comment until the study is reviewed by technical
staff.
Joseph Mangano, one of five co-authors of the study, says RPHP
takes no position on whether nuclear power plants should be
allowed to operate. But its researchers "strongly suggest that
the health risks of nuclear reactors should be given top
priority in formulating policies for nuclear reactors."
The study looked at 2,089 teeth sent to the RPHP and analyzed by
a radiochemistry laboratory in Ontario. It found that most
counties near nuclear plants had strontium-90 levels that were
31% to 54% higher than counties farther away.
The highest levels were found in three counties near the
Limerick power plant in Pottstown, Pa., and in three counties
near the Indian Point nuclear facility in Buchanan, N.Y.
Pottstown, the study notes, is "within 70 miles of 11 operating
and two closed reactors, a concentration unmatched in the U.S."
The study says its most unexpected finding is that strontium-90
levels have steadily risen after decades of decline. Baby teeth
of children born in 1994 to 1997 had nearly 50% higher
strontium-90 concentration than those from children born in 1986
to 1989, the study found.
Nuclear experts and the federal government say strontium-90
levels should be dropping because above-ground atomic bomb tests
stopped decades ago, below-ground tests and nuclear weapons
production halted at least 12 years ago and nuclear fuels
reprocessing ceased in the late 1970s.
"The only other source of strontium-90 that can explain this
steady and dramatic rise in the 1990s is emissions from nuclear
power reactors," the study says.
Robert Alvarez, an Energy Department senior policy adviser in
the 1990s, says that conclusion is "too much of a leap, because
of the need to factor in other multiple risk factors."
The EPA's Web site says, "People who live near or work in
nuclear facilities may have increased exposure to strontium-90."
But Patricia Milligan, NRC senior emergency preparedness
specialist, says only a speck of strontium-90 is released each
day from a nuclear plant.
The amount of strontium-90 released at every plant is less than
limits established by the NRC and the EPA, says Stephen
Klementowicz, the NRC's health physicist.
Alvarez, who is often critical of nuclear plant safety, isn't
convinced RPHP has proved its case. But he says there may be a
correlation between strontium-90 in baby teeth and childhood
cancers.
RPHP is currently studying whether children with cancer have
more strontium-90 in their teeth than other children, funded, in
part, by a $25,000 allocation from New Jersey.
© Copyright 2004 USA TODAY, a division of
*****************************************************************
21 (DV) Sabri: Splendid Failure of Occupation, Part 5
America and Depleted Uranium
Infatuation or Deliberation?
by B.J. Sabri
www.dissidentvoice.org
January 6, 2004
“We need to involve the world, the globe, because we’re talking
about freedom not just for the United States, not just for Iraq,
but indeed freedom for people around the world.” [1] (Emphasis
added)
-- Bill Frist, Senate Majority Leader
Is it reasonable to include different subjects such as the
U.N.’s role in the occupation of Iraq, the U.S.
hyper-imperialistic agenda, and radioactive “depleted” uranium
(RDU) all in one argument? Because the invasion of Iraq is the
first hyper-imperialistic experiment in supposedly civilized
times aimed at imposing enslaving colonialism on that country
through ruses and fascist barbarity, the answer is yes, if we
treat them as connected pathways leading to the supremacist
ideology, expansionist imperialism, and military choices of the
United States, and by default Israel.
However, to include all these separate subjects, particularly
the U.N., in one argument, and then insert the issue of
radioactive “depleted” uranium used by the U.S. in its wars of
aggression seems rather questionable. This is true, especially
knowing that the U.N. never endorsed its use in the wars it
authorized, such as the Gulf War (1991), where the US used
semi-spent but still radioactive nuclear material for the first
time since it dropped its nuclear bombs on Japan during WWII.
Nevertheless, aside from subtle technicalities, the inclusion of
the U.N. is valid: since the U.N. authorized that war, it is,
therefore, responsible for all of its destructive consequences
on Iraq and its people. Besides, after that war, and after the
collapse of the Soviet Union, the U.S. became the sole arbiter
of Iraq’s fate, while the rest of the UN was just watching,
approving, or engaging in shameless bureaucratic masturbations
in front of the US genocidal posture toward Iraq that lasted for
13 years, continued through invasion, and now is protracting
under occupation.
In addition, before and after the temporary rupture between
imperialist powers inside the U.N. consequent to the
Anglo-American invasion of Iraq, the distinction between U.S.
impositions and U.N. resolutions has become so irrelevant to the
point of transforming the U.N. into a postscript placed at the
end of an American text. Under this transformation, if we indict
one, we must indict the other. This is especially true when it
comes down to the crime of using radioactive material in
military operations. After the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki, it was unthinkable that the power that detonated the
first and last atomic bombs in history would intentionally
re-use radioactive material again in its aggression against
small nations with no capability for retaliation.
The culpability of the U.N. system in relation to the American
use of RDU is flagrant and requires no verification –- it never
condemned its use in battle. Consequently, we ended up with a
paradox whereby two imperialist states (the U.S. and the U.K.)
preaching on the immorality of WMD and claiming a self-given
mandate to ban them, deliberately used them against their
designated enemies! This conveniently and ideologically
structured dualistic attitude toward the use of WMD resembles an
association of paid assassins giving solemn public seminars on
the virtues of nonviolence and the value of human life.
When we inveigh against the U.N. for its silence on the use of
RDU, we have to remember that treating this organization as if
it were an independent entity, and including it in all
situations requiring criticism, is unfair. That is because we
already know that the Security Council controls the U.N.; we
also know that the U.S. controls the S.C.; therefore, the S.C.
could not criticize the use of radioactive shells. This leaves
us with the General Assembly, i.e., if the S.C. could not
condemn the use of RDU, maybe the General Assembly could have
taken that assignment instead. That did not happen either, as
even the General Assembly remained silent like a stone.
Moreover, we know that the U.N. is not in the business of
codifying what weapons its members can or cannot develop. In
addition, we would be naïve to believe that the U.N. is capable
of devising any rule regulating the use of any weapons.
Interestingly, if the U.N. cannot make big members agree to
clean up or prohibit the use of landmines, how can we expect it
to enforce a ban on the use of “dirty bombs” (RDU shells) whose
use is, so far, an exclusive American and British privilege,
until they sell them or give them to someone else…
At this point, we have to introduce a powerful contradictory
element in the conspiracy of silence as exercised by European
powers regarding the U.S. use of RDU in its war of aggression in
Yugoslavia-Kosovo: NATO (a ninety-nine percent Western-European
military alliance with a one percent share belonging to Turkey)
which launched that war under U.S. command had no say on the
U.S. decision to employ RDU on European soil!
Two things emerge from this contradiction. First: NATO, where
three of its members are also permanent members of the S.C., has
used (through the U.S.) RDU ammunitions; therefore, NATO cannot
condemn itself, consequently NATO members of the S.C.: the U.S.,
the U.K., and France are not going to condemn the use of RDU
elsewhere. It follows that the U.N., being an expression of
hegemonic powers and not a collective will of all nations,
cannot outlaw, prohibit, or condemn the use of radioactive
material. Second, the only time we heard European states
complain about RDU was after the U.S. used it in Yugoslavia. The
complaint was not accidental -- many NATO troops started to show
the effects of radioactive contamination! What happened later
was even more remarkable -- a few days after the European
short-lived outcry, the U.S. denied that DU is noxious to
humans. Suddenly, the matter ended in the wastebasket and no one
heard about it anymore! As for radioactive contamination of the
local population . . . not even a word!
This has two important implications: (1) if Western European
governments and respective nations are unconcerned to the point
of complacency about the use of RDU on nearby Eastern European
soil, and do not care that some of their citizens are sick
because of it, why should they care about Yugoslavians,
Kosovars, or Iraqis!? (2) Emphatically, the lack of world
condemnation against the use of RDU munitions in Iraq (1991) and
in Yugoslavia/Kosovo (2000) paved the way for the U.S. to use
them again in Iraq.
To sum it up, the use of radioactive “depleted” uranium (RDU) in
war is not only a monument to the appalling moral failure of the
United States, but also a solid demonstration of the genocidal
intent and criminality of three successive presidents: George H.
Bush, William J. Clinton, and George W. Bush. The charge of
genocidal intent and criminality is not baseless. George H. Bush
used it in Iraq knowing that it would kill in two ways: (1)
instantaneously by carbonization, and (2) slowly by progressive
systemic diseases. William J. Clinton refused to clean it up in
Iraq, and, then used it in Yugoslavia. George W. Bush, wanting
to surpass the record of his two predecessors and to demonstrate
his “unflinching” determination to wage his war of
“civilization”, unleashed more radioactive material on Iraq than
ever before.
Consequently, is there any military rationale for using RDU
twice in Iraq, particularly knowing that its use had already
wreaked havoc on the health of the Iraqi population since 1991
and that its side effects would last for many generations to
come?
The answer requires some elaboration. If six B-2’s (stealth
bombers) flying at 50,000 feet of altitude where most
traditional surface-to-air missiles can only reach 40,000 to
42,000 feet (if they are accurate), then why use RDU? If U.S.
bombers, cruise missiles, and conventional bombs can destroy an
emaciated and unarmed enemy such as Iraq, then why use
radioactive munitions to subdue an enemy that had already
surrendered even before the start of hostilities?
Originally, the U.S. designed “depleted” uranium shells as an
anti-tank weapon, considered effective against a hypothetical
overwhelming Soviet tank attack on Western Europe, because the
shells could easily pierce through the outer shield of heavily
hardened vehicles thus killing and carbonizing their inhabitants
inside. The first phase of the latest U.S. aggression on Iraq,
however, consisted only of aerial bombardment of Baghdad, while
a land invasion was proceeding from south (Kuwait) to north and
from West (Jordan) to center. A scant look at the opposing
forces would immediately reveal that the use of RDU shells was
unnecessary because the few decrepit Iraqi tank divisions
remaining from the Gulf War could not have posed any danger for
the invaders, even in the case of a limited intense ground war.
What reinforces the notion against that use is the fact that
during a 13-year war of attrition, the U.S. had already
devastated what remained of vital Iraqi military infrastructures
and ground air defenses thus making a ground war a useless
option. To conclude, my position is that there were no military
rationales or advantages, none whatsoever, to use radioactive
uranium on Iraq.
Consequently, is the U.S. experimentation with mass killing by
RDU or other means due to: (1) overkill because of stringent
military requirements or (2) infatuation with killing as an
integral part of imperialistic wars, and (3) rational and
deliberate calculation because of “hidden” purposes, ideological
aberrations, or prospects for building an unchallenged
hyper-imperialistic empire?
First, the overkill theory is inapplicable here for one reason:
if there is no resistance capable of stopping an overpowering
attack, killing more or less enemy soldiers cannot effect or
change the outcome of war. That leaves us with the other two
theories – infatuation and deliberation. However, discussing
these two theories in relation to the use of radioactive
material or other destructive conventional weapons is not
straightforward and requires a few analytical premises to
distinguish meaning, contextual applicability, and
intentionality. Moreover, even if we can find a comprehensive
explanation for these three theories, we may not be able to fit
it in all situations. How can we resolve this dilemma?
Let us start by first addressing the concept of killing as an
underlying and unifying factor between these two unrelated
notions. If infatuation means an extreme irrational fondness of
something, and deliberation is a rational and predetermined
decision to act in a certain way, then how does killing as a
unifying factor between these two opposing notions work, and how
does it apply vs. the use of unconventional weapons or
conventional but with an unconventional potency? If the purpose
of war is the mass killing and destruction of an adversary
nation, and if ideological rationales buttress that war, as in
the case of the U.S. (where every recent U.S. president thrives
to designate an adversary, wage war against his nation, and then
build a presidential library to display his trophies), then mass
killing becomes ideological too!
Conclusively, if one makes wars deliberately, then killing is
deliberate. If war and killing are deliberate, then what is the
condition under which killing can become either infatuation or
deliberation? Can it be both?
Unless it is accidental, and regardless of motive, the killing
of another person has always been a deliberate action meant to
end the life of an adversary through extreme violence, be it
through strangling, poisoning, stabbing, shooting, etc. No
culture in history has glamorized and glorified killing more
than American popular culture where the motion picture industry
made “killing” a form of family entertainment.
Filmmakers and writers compete to create scenes where the killer
invents extraordinary gruesome means to inflict the most
horrible acts of fictional killing including eating internal
organs. An example of this was when a macabre film, depicting a
psychopathic killer who eats the liver of his victims with a
side dish of fava beans accompanied by the pleasure of drinking
Italian wine, had earned for its makers millions of dollars and
Oscars to the two leading actors. The success of a film devoid
of any artistic, philosophical, or literary values had one
incontrovertible meaning -- the viewers enjoyed the storyline.
The question remains, “is the enjoyment derived from watching or
reading fictional mayhem, killing, or infliction of physical
harm comparable to, or can it transmute to enjoyment of real
acts of violence? The answer is uncertain because of the
unreliability of any sampling due to denials and other factors.
There are, however, strong indications that the culture of
violence is endemic in nature where physical pain and suffering
become glamorous and camouflaged as entertainment such as in
“bull riding” (animal cruelty), “boxing” (human cruelty).
It is not farfetched to assert that in a culture such as this,
the possible ecstasy derived from the killing of real people is
no different from the ecstasy that comes from reading or seeing
an imaginary killing, as both, provide a sense of sadistic
pleasure for those who imagine it and those who actually do it.
In real terms, when American opinion polls approve phrases used
by politicians and opinion makers such as, “Hunting down the
'terrorists' and killing them”, then the passage from the
imaginary to the real is a matter of natural transition. In
particular, pay attention to the word, “hunting”, which now,
among other things, means a form of sport or game, which in turn
gives pleasure! In this case, both, individual and mass
killings, in any war, aside from being a means to defeat an
enemy, are also an exteriorized pleasure derived from ending a
human life through violence where the license to kill erases
both the sense of guilt and the boundaries that separate between
fiction and reality of the act of killing itself.
A question: do you think that the mentality and culture of the
U.S. military and civilian leadership are different from the
mentality and culture that created them?
If you are skeptic, let us read what one of the assistants of
Robert McNamara (a former “Defense” Secretary) told Solly
Zuckerman (a former scientific advisor to the British Ministry
of “Defense”) about how the US would have attacked the Soviet
Union during the 1960’s.
Says the assistant, “First we need enough Minutemen to be sure
that we destroy all those Russian cities. Then we need Polaris
missiles to follow in order to tear up the foundations to a
depth of ten feet, maybe helped by Skybolt. Then, when all
Russia is silent, and when no air defenses are left, we want
waves of aircraft to drop enough bombs to tear the whole place
up down to a depth of forty feet to prevent the Martians
recolonizing the country. And to hell with fallout” [2]
[Emphasis added].
If you think that was only a hallucination by a disturbed
assistant, and are still skeptic, then please link to the
following audio-video clip (special thanks to political writer
Kim Peterson for catching it) and shown by CNN where you can see
the actual killing of an Iraqi and the ecstasy of the American
soldiers who killed him. [3] There are many other examples of
pleasurable killing in U.S. wars. A few of these include the My
Lai massacre in Vietnam where Charlie Company massacred 504
defenseless villagers [4] [5]; American earthmovers burying over
8,000 Iraqi soldiers alive without giving them the chance to
surrender (1991) [6], and when American soldiers, after raping a
young Vietnamese woman, stuck dynamite in her vagina and then
blew her to pieces [7]. Note: while the My Lai massacre, where
U.S. soldiers dismembered and cut off heads and limbs of
Vietnamese men and women came out to the surface and made news
headlines, the burying of over 8,000 Iraqis alive remains
obscure!
The expectation that one person, one thousand, or more would die
consequent to a violent action, especially in war, has a very
specialized attribute: because it is premeditated, it comes with
a definitive psychological component derived from the inner
certainty that the act of killing is satisfying as it is
equivalent to the sensation of a “mission accomplished.”
Satisfaction entails a very specific meaning -- pleasure. A
pilot that bombards a defenseless city repeatedly on different
days passes beyond the stage of duty to a sense of pleasure
where an emerging psychological rapture makes the person who is
experiencing the sensations that precede the bombardment, calm
on the outside but perturbed on the inside…this sensation cannot
be but trepidation. Fear is not valid in the Iraqi example, as
Iraq had no effective air defense. If the same pilot would
bombard Moscow, then fear could be a component because Russian
air defense are well equipped and capable of shooting him down.
Although trepidation is an undefined sensation of anxiety and
not pleasure, nevertheless it manifests itself as a pleasurable
expectation that people will die because of bombardment. A
repeated pleasurable expectation is a form of infatuation and
that is for one good reason. Because the pilot is killing people
under orders, therefore, he is a paid professional killer;
because he kills repeatedly, he is a professional serial killer;
and because he is a serial killer, he is infatuated with killing
regardless whether it is a professional killing or due to the
emergence of killer instincts. Let me explain. The more people
(soldiers or civilians) the pilot kills, the more he experiences
pleasure along the following sequence: he attacked, killed, and
survived! Further, as the killing increases proportionally to
the number of attacks he is conducting, so is his physiological
arousal that now goes beyond the normal threshold required to
accomplish a hazardous job to include a pleasure for being able
to inflict death with impunity! Keep in mind that during the
killing, the pilot does not see death actually happening beneath
him, but he, certainly, can sense and visualize it . . . It was
part of his indoctrination.
Nevertheless, all the above is not conclusive as far as
establishing a relation where killing is consequent to obeying
military orders is actually infatuation with the act of killing
itself; the fact remains that the behavior of a superpower
determined to inflict horrendous casualties among its invented
adversaries, definitively denotes homicidal tendencies that
could have an affinity with pleasure. Finally, the infatuation
with the idea of killing during war happens regardless of its
origin, i.e., consequent to an order, because soldiers kill out
of sadism, psychopathic tendencies, deranged sense of
patriotism, fear, racism, or just killing for the pleasure of
killing. What differentiates US wars from wars by other nations
is that the notion of mass killing and total destruction of
adversaries has become an object of desire, and an ideological
prize as well. To prove this, US war generals always threaten
others with sending them back to the “stone age”!
The passage from the pilot or soldier examples to the ruling
classes may follow different paths but it is essentially
identical to them in one sense -- interior psychological
satisfaction of mass killing as a synonym of victory or even
national or personal achievement. Robert McNamara exemplified
this when his department invented the tabulation of ratios
between the number of U.S. soldiers killed in battle and the
number of their killed adversaries. To add to the national pride
of the U.S., the tabulations went back in history to include
examples of the American-Indian wars.
Since we excluded overkill as a motive, and having tentatively
established infatuation with killing as a possible underlying
factor in the use of radioactive material, now we have to
consider the third alternative -- “deliberation”.
In part six, we shall discuss whether “deliberation” is at the
origin of the U.S. employment of radioactive “depleted” uranium
in Iraq.
Next, part 6: Deliberation, or Isaac Newton and the Naughty
Apple
B. J. Sabri is an Iraqi-American anti-war activist. He can be
reached at: .
Other Articles by B. J. Sabr
*
* The Hyper-Imperialist Paradigm, Part One
* The Hyper-Imperialist Paradigm, Part Two
* The Hyper-Imperialist Paradigm, Part Three
* The Hyper-Imperialist Paradigm, Part Four
* Reporting from the Colonialist Side of the Brain
* Thomas Friedman: The Insidious Prophet of Petty Fascism
* Nomen Nudum, Or, Hyper-Imperialists On a Rampage
* Which Prototype is Bush Following: Nero, Holagu, Malthus,
Hitler, or Sharon?
* From Guernica to Baghdad Via Dresden and Hiroshima
* Barbaric Era, Year 2003
* When Hercules is Intoxicated, Furious, and Unchained
* War on Iraq and the Pregnant Chads Factor
* Nuclear Blues and the Iraqi Question
NOTES
[1]
[2] Solly Zuckerman, Nuclear Illusion & Reality
[3]
[4]
[5]
[6]
[7] William Gibson, The Perfect War: Technowar in Vietnam
*****************************************************************
22 WQAD: HHS says Middletown plant not making people sick
January 6, 2004
Middletown, IA
The Iowa Army Ammunition Plant.
UPDATED: 1/6/04 7:52 AM
MIDDLETOWN -- A federal public health agency says the Iowa Army
Ammunitions Plant near Burlington is not making people sick.
The Department of Health and Human Services says radiation levels
here at the former bomb making plant in Middletown are too low to
hurt anyone.
The plant made components for nuclear weapons during the Cold
War. Some workers say high concentrations of beryllium and
uranium caused illnesses, including cancer.
Last April, the Department of Energy determined the workers had
indeed suffered from exposure to hazardous materials and ordered
the government to settle with the families.
content © Copyright 2001 - 2004 WorldNow and WQAD. All Rights
*****************************************************************
23 [progchat_action] Court showdown over nuclear waste dump
Date: Tue, 6 Jan 2004 11:35:27 -0600 (CST)
D.C. Circuit Showdown over Yucca Mountain Facility
Legal Times By Jonathan Groner January 6, 2004
http://www.law.com/jsp/ca/PubArticleCA.jsp?id=1073156970488
WASHINGTON -- A battle over a planned nuclear waste storage facility
in Yucca Mountain, Nev., that has spanned almost two decades will
reach what could be a final legal showdown in a federal appeals
court on Jan. 14.
A panel of the D.C. Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals is set to hear
three hours of oral argument on a federal government proposal to
bury 77,000 tons of waste from the nation's nuclear power plants
in the area 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
Nevada decries the proposal -- first made by Congress in 1987 and
currently backed by President George W. Bush's administration --
as unsafe, poorly designed, unnecessary and unconstitutional. The
state has put together a team of lawyers, at a cost of $4 million
in 2003, to try to defeat the project in the appeals court.
The Yucca Mountain controversy has created work for years for scores
of Washington lawyers and lobbyists. In 2002, the state spent $6
million on advocates, hiring former White House Chiefs of Staff
Kenneth Duberstein and John Podesta in a futile effort to head off
final congressional approval.
On the other side, the nuclear power industry has spent up to $25
million a year to promote approval of the toxic waste site, now
slated to open in 2010.
Since the early 1980s, the question of how to dispose of the highly
radioactive and potentially hazardous byproducts of nuclear energy
has led to a classic instance of the "not in my back yard" phenomenon
in American politics. No state wants to be the one that ends up
holding the waste for millennia.
Soon after Congress initially selected the Yucca Mountain site in
1987, Nevada politicians from both parties began a campaign to kill
the plan. Fifteen years of scientific studies and political
maneuvering, complete with a 42-million-page docket at the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission, ensued.
In 2002, Congress, acting under a statute that designated Yucca
Mountain as the disposal site but gave Nevada's governor a chance
to initially disapprove the project, overrode the veto of Gov. Kenny
Guinn and gave the project the go-ahead.
The D.C. Circuit has consolidated six separate cases about Yucca
Mountain and has placed the whole matter on its "complex docket,"
thus granting the issues more time and attention than are given to
ordinary cases.
"This is the first time in the 20-plus-year history of the Yucca
Mountain project that a federal court has been allowed to hear the
merits," says Joseph Egan, a McLean, Va., nuclear regulatory lawyer
who heads the Nevada team. "Up until now, the process has been
largely a political one."
Egan, 49, is a Massachusetts Institute of Technology-trained nuclear
engineer and former partner at Shaw Pittman who opened his three-lawyer
shop, Egan Fitzpatrick and Malsch, in 1994.
For the Yucca Mountain appeal, Egan assembled an informal group of
attorneys with a wide assortment of specialties -- a team that he
says is "as strong as I could possibly find." Their task is to make
an array of arguments before Judges Harry Edwards, David Tatel and
Karen LeCraft Henderson.
Edwards, a Jimmy Carter appointee considered a centrist on the
court, and Tatel, a Bill Clinton appointee and a liberal, are both
known for posing tough questions at oral argument. Henderson, a
George H.W. Bush appointee, is a less vocal questioner.
Among those who have signed on to Egan's team are Charles Cooper
of Cooper & Kirk, a constitutional expert and former Reagan
administration official and Shaw Pittman partner; Howard Shapar,
former Shaw Pittman counsel and former executive legal director of
the Nuclear Regulatory Commission; and William Briggs, a well-known
litigator at D.C.'s Ross, Dixon & Bell and a former NRC solicitor.
The Nevada team is arguing that the government has never adequately
proved that it is safe to store nuclear waste in the mountain. A
catastrophic release of radioactivity could result from slow leakage
or from sabotage or terrorism, Nevada's lawyers say.
The Energy Department, which is in charge of the project, "committed
the most egregious procedural violations of the National Environmental
Policy Act in the 31 years of that statute's existence," Egan says.
SAFE HARBOR
The government, represented in the appeal by Department of Justice
lawyers, denies this. It replies in court briefs that, in fact,
exhaustive analyses have been completed that rule out any possible
harm to the public.
The Energy Department's "scientific and technical investigations,
conducted over 20 years," have examined every possible source of
danger and concluded that the storage site is safe, the government
wrote in a brief.
Blain Rethmeier, a Justice Department spokesman, declines to discuss
the case beyond the arguments made in the government's briefs.
Ronald Spritzer and John Bryson, the department lawyers working on
the appeal, did not return calls for comment.
Nevada is also making a broad, and somewhat novel, constitutional
argument -- that by singling out one state without adequate
justification to store the nation's nuclear waste, Congress violated
the 10th Amendment and other principles of federalism.
Cooper, who has advocated federalism concerns in other cases, will
argue this aspect of the case at the circuit court.
"If a state is to be forced to bear a national burden that poses a
threat to the health and safety of its citizens, the state's sovereign
interest at least requires that its selection from among its sister
states was owing to neutral, rational criteria," Cooper wrote in
his brief.
Cooper, in an interview, said his argument is not based on one
single dictate of the Constitution but rather on "all the provisions
that support the sovereign nature of the states."
The federal government replies that Congress has broad power to
manage federal lands such as Yucca Mountain and that Nevada was
given an extraordinarily large role in the selection process,
including the provision that permitted its governor to veto the
site, subject to an override by Congress.
The federal government also says there's nothing in the U.S.
Constitution that prohibits Congress from treating one state
differently than the others.
"A law providing that a federally constructed facility shall be
located on federal land within a State's boundaries cannot be deemed
discrimination," the Justice Department lawyers wrote in a brief.
"If it were, Congress would enact such 'discriminatory' legislation
every time it authorizes a military base, a federal penitentiary,
a storage or disposal facility, or any other use of federal property
within a State."
Nevada is also arguing that in the past 20 years, waste-disposal
technology has improved, making a project like Yucca Mountain
unnecessary.
"I don't think there's any crisis at all in nuclear waste disposal,"
Egan says. "And neither does the industry. There are now 22 dry-storage
facilities, with 19 more on the way, that permit byproducts to be
stored on the site of the nuclear facility. And the NRC says this
is safe. The DOE's inaction has prompted the innovation of this new
technology."
Even if the D.C. Circuit permits the Yucca Mountain project to
proceed -- and if Nevada loses, it will almost certainly try to
take the case to the Supreme Court -- the Energy Department still
has to complete the lengthy process of obtaining a permit at the
NRC.
In a separate but related decision last October, a D.C. Circuit
panel, which by coincidence also included Judge Tatel, threw the
Energy Department a curve. It found that the DOE had not fully
examined allegations that Winston & Strawn, the firm it had used
from 1999 to 2001 as outside counsel for the NRC permit process,
had a disqualifying conflict.
The circuit sent the case, which was brought by LeBoeuf, Lamb,
Greene & MacRae, a competing bidder for the DOE legal work, back
to the U.S. District Court and raised the possibility that that
court should award the contract to LeBoeuf.
As litigation continues to swirl around the complex Yucca Mountain
matter, Nevada counsel Egan is now optimistic that the state's
efforts to kill the project will eventually succeed.
"I think that, at the end of the day, there will never be an ounce
of nuclear waste put into the Yucca Mountain repository," Egan says.
Jonathan Groner is editor at large at Legal Times, a Recorder
affiliate based in Washington, D.C.
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24 Las Vegas SUN: Radioactive shipments set on disputed
Nevada-to-New Mexico route
By KEN RITTER ASSOCIATED PRESS
LAS VEGAS (AP) - Shipments of medium-level radioactive waste
were to begin Wednesday on a previously disputed route from the
Nevada Test Site through California and Arizona to New Mexico,
officials said.
"The schedule is tomorrow," Ralph Smith, spokesman for the Waste
Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., said Tuesday. "We
have seven shipments planned this month."
California balked at allowing the shipments in July, but the
federal Energy Department and the four states' governors agreed
Oct. 9 to allow 40 to 60 shipments this year on the 1,130-mile
route, Smith said.
"A fair solution has been worked out," Sen. Diane Feinstein,
D-Calif., said Tuesday through a spokesman. Feinstein had led
the opposition to the shipments, arguing that the California
desert route included an old highway with poorly maintained
stretches unsuited for heavy trucks.
A spokeswoman for California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger referred
questions to the governor's office of emergency services, which
did not immediately respond to messages.
Bob Loux, Nevada Nuclear Projects Office chief, said the
agreement allowed for half the original number of shipments
along the California desert route, as long as the other half
goes another route.
Smith said no decision had been made on a second route. The
Energy Department did not consider as viable an alternate route
across 1,800 miles of Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado and New
Mexico, passing through Salt Lake City and Denver, he said.
Loux and an official with the National Nuclear Security
Administration office in North Las Vegas said about 1,650 drums
of "transuranic" waste have been stored for decades north of Las
Vegas at the Nevada Test Site, awaiting transport to the plant
in New Mexico.
The waste - much of it from the Lawrence Livermore National
Laboratory in California - includes items such as
plutonium-contaminated protective gear, tools and equipment that
can take thousands of years or more to decay to safe levels.
Smith said barrels of waste - will be mounted on specially
modified flatbed trucks owned by a contractor, Tri-State Motor
Transport of Joplin, Mo.
The shipments will go from a test site gate south along state
highways to Baker, Calif.; southwest on Interstate 15 to
Barstow, Calif.; and east on Interstate 40 through Flagstaff,
Ariz., and Albuquerque, N.M., before heading south on U.S. 285
to Carlsbad. The route avoids Las Vegas.
NNSA spokesman Darwin Morgan said security concerns prevented
him from discussing shipment times or routes.
"We're concerned that these shipments should not be a terrorist
target," Smith said. "We're trying to keep our shipments below
the radar screen and keep them safe."
He said the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant won't pay for police
escorts but the Energy Department will monitor the trucks by
satellite tracking system.
"It's up to the states whether they want to provide police
escorts," Smith said.
Loux, in Carson City, said emergency workers along the shipping
route have received training since July in responding to
radioactive waste hazards.
Smith said there have been 2,240 shipments to the New Mexico
plant from various states in the past five years, with no
release of radioactivity.
One shipment was involved in a crash in August 2002, when an
allegedly drunken driver hit the rear of a truck. No one was
seriously hurt, and officials said there was no leak of
radioactivity.
Loux said Nevada does not oppose transporting the transuranic
material to New Mexico, but the state is fighting plans to ship
77,000 tons of highly radioactive material from nuclear power
plants around the country to a planned national nuclear waste
dump at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
--
*****************************************************************
25 Las Vegas RJ: NUKE WASTE: DOE faces new Yucca hurdle
Tuesday, January 06, 2004
Critics say the process is being rushed By STEVE TETREAULT
STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU
WASHINGTON -- A push to get a license application finished by
the end of this year to bury nuclear waste in Nevada is causing
a new problem for the Energy Department.
Scientists with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission have
complained they cannot evaluate key pre-licensing research on
the Yucca Mountain Project because DOE has not supplied all the
necessary technical documents.
"DOE has not routinely provided supporting information," NRC
high level waste branch chief Janet Schlueter said in a Dec. 23
letter to a Yucca Mountain manager. "NRC cannot complete its
review of these agreements without the documentation."
Energy Department officials said they have responded by
proposing to make documents available to NRC reviewers on the
Internet.
But in some cases, DOE officials said, research has been
completed but volumes of documentation are still in draft form
and have not been approved for release to the public or to the
NRC.
The NRC has not yet responded to a DOE proposal to allow
reviewers to examine that material at Yucca program offices in
Las Vegas.
"The basic agreements have been researched and discussed with
the NRC," DOE spokesman Allen Benson said Monday. "The NRC wants
to have them more readily available, and we're going to give it
to them, as long as they understand it is draft material."
Critics of the Yucca project said the matter is evidence the
Energy Department is rushing to meet a self-imposed December
2004 deadline to file a repository application without
consideration for work quality.
"There's a conflict between the schedule and DOE's ability to
get the work done," said Bob Loux, executive director of the
Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects. "As the clock moves along
here, it's going to get worse.
"This should be a matter of DOE getting the work done and then
submitting it," Loux said.
The Energy Department is pushing to complete agreements to
supply the NRC by this summer with answers to key technical
questions surrounding the anticipated performance of the nuclear
waste repository proposed to be built 100 miles northwest of Las
Vegas.
Among the outstanding questions is how fast water might travel
through Yucca Mountain and seep into the tunnels where nuclear
waste canisters will be stored, and the chemical environment
within the drifts that might cause the containers to corrode and
allow radioactive materials to escape into the environment.
DOE scientists also are continuing research on possible impacts
of earthquakes or volcanic activity near Yucca Mountain.
Satisfying the NRC on those items would clear a path for DOE to
submit a formal request by the end of 2004 to build and operate
a disposal complex at the Yucca site.
Copyright Las Vegas Review-Journal
*****************************************************************
26 Las Vegas SUN: Radioactive waste shipments planned
Today: January 06, 2004 at 11:19:07 PST
By Suzanne Struglinski
WASHINGTON -- Shipments of plutonium-contaminated lab waste,
now stored at the Nevada Test Site, will start going to New
Mexico for the first time on Wednesday.
This will be the start of about 60 shipments this year from the
Test Site to the Energy Department's Waste Isolation Pilot Plant
in New Mexico. About 1,650 drums of transuranic, or mid-level
radioactive, waste need to moved over the next several years.
The shipments contain clothing, rags and other lab material
from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California,
DOE spokesman Darwin Morgan said. The waste has been stored at
the Test Site since the late 1970s and has been scheduled to
move to the New Mexico facility since its opening in 1999.
The New Mexico Energy, Minerals &Natural Resources Department
said 60 shipments will take place this year, with about 40 to 50
more in the future.
Shipments had been planned to head to New Mexico last summer,
but were canceled when Nevada and California officials could not
agree on a route, which will take the waste through parts of
both states.
William Mackie, nuclear waste transportation program manager
for the Western Governors Association, said Nevada and
California reached an agreement with the Energy Department to
move the waste.
Up to 60 shipments of the transuranic material can be moved
through California. After the first 60, a new route must be
selected that does not run predominantly through the state.
Mackie said any route will run at least 20 miles through
California but negotiations will make sure it is not much more
than that.
This is the first time waste will be moved through Albuquerque,
according to New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson's office.
Richardson was the Energy Secretary during the Clinton
administration.
WIPP, 26 miles southwest of Carlsbad, opened in 1999. It has
eight underground "panels" of storage space about a half-mile
underneath salt formations in the ground set to store 6.2
million cubic feet of waste containers. Only one panel is full
so far, Scott said.
*****************************************************************
27 Las Vegas SUN: For struggling rural county, Yucca route a tough call
By Ed Koch
LAS VEGAS SUN
CALIENTE -- On a slow Monday afternoon at the Knotty Pine
Restaurant, co-owner Mel Robinson waits on two customers.
Asked about the Energy Department's recently announced
preferred route that would bring trains carrying nuclear waste
through the small town near the Utah border, Robinson says she
believes that the federal government will win that fight and
that folks need to accept it, as well as a high-level nuclear
waste repository at Yucca Mountain.
"They (federal government officials) have to make it as safe as
possible and hopefully we will get some benefits from the
government such as an enhanced fire department and some
good-paying jobs for people around here who really need them."
Besides, she says, "Maybe our businesses and others will have
more customers."
Caliente's business district, 150 miles north of Las Vegas, is
hurting. The street is full of closed stores -- Vasu Video,
Carl's Burgers, the Nevada Club -- and buildings with boarded
windows.
A few doors down from the Knotty Pine lives one of the town's
most vocal anti-nuclear activists, Marge Detraz, whose frontyard
fence is covered with bright red signs telling the world she has
not accepted defeat in the battle to stop nuke trains from
traveling through her community.
While others dined at the Knotty Pine, she prepared to go to
the county seat, Pioche, to blast the Lincoln County Commission
at its first meeting since the route was announced Dec. 23 for
"selling out" to the federal government on the repository.
The Energy Department, which plans to open the high-level waste
dump at Yucca by 2010, has chosen as its preferred route a
yet-to-be-constructed, 319-mile rail line that would begin
outside Caliente and wind north of the Nevada Test Site and west
of the Nellis Air Force Range to its destination. The cost to
build it is estimated at $881 million.
The agency's second choice would bring waste along Interstate
80 in Northern Nevada through Carlin, 50 miles east of Battle
Mountain and south to Yucca Mountain along a rail line that
would also need to be built.
Only 4.6 percent of the land along the route is in private
ownership. The Bureau of Land Management owns 92 percent, the
Air Force 5.3 percent and the Energy Department, 2.3 percent.
At the county seat
On a bitterly cold Monday morning in Pioche, a historic mining
town 23 miles from Caliente, residents go to the Silver Cafe for
breakfast. None of the restaurant's half-dozen patrons plan to
join Detraz at the Lincoln County Courthouse down the street for
the County Commission meeting.
At the Lincoln County Commission chambers, a small basement
room in the two-story courthouse, the five commissioners --
Chairman Spencer Hafen, Tim Perkins, Tommy Rowe, Ronda Hornbeck
and Hal Keaton -- and several county workers outnumber the
audience.
The meeting begins promptly at 9 a.m., but the nuclear matters,
despite their apparent importance, are not immediately
addressed. First business such as the county's bills must be
approved.
In populous counties such vouchers are approved in a matter of
seconds with a single consent agenda vote. In this large rural
county, where the tax base is small, the process takes more than
a half-hour and includes discussion about whether some of the
bills can be put off until the next fiscal year because the
coffers are practically empty.
It quickly becomes apparent how such a poor entity could
welcome the opportunity to pick the federal government's deep
pockets in exchange for allowing nuke waste to be transported
over its grounds.
But a consultant who is paid $171,000 a year out of $699,000 in
Lincoln County's Energy Department oversight funds does not have
the best of news on that option.
Limits on fees
Mike Baughman, president of the Carson City consulting firm
Intertech Services Corp., tells the commission that
transportation fee increases could be imposed on the federal
government to get more money for Lincoln County's needs, but the
county cannot broker the deal -- only the state.
In addition, a raise in Nevada's $150-per-train or truck
shipment rate would have to show a corresponding hike in costs
for Lincoln County, such as to have additional emergency
response equipment and other safety measures, Baughman said.
"It (the increase of fees) cannot be an underwriter of a
general fund," Baughman said. "We must show that we are
incurring the costs."
Nothing is mentioned about the state of Nevada's chilly
relationship with the federal government over the nuclear issue
-- one that is not likely to produce meaningful talks for fee
hikes as the two entities are spending millions of dollars to
fight each other in court over Yucca Mountain.
A federal appeals court will hear arguments Jan. 14 and,
regardless of the outcome, both sides expect to take the case to
the Supreme Court to decide the fate of a nuke repository at
Yucca Mountain.
That battle, which has simmered for 20 years, became all-out
war in 2002, when Congress approved Yucca as the site to entomb
77,000 tons of radioactive waste produced by the nation's
nuclear power plants and the military over the vehement
objections of Nevada leaders.
No money for a fight
Robinson, who did not attend Monday's commission meeting, noted
that while Las Vegans can afford to fight an all-or-nothing
battle over Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of its core,
Lincoln County residents, who will have the nuke trains in their
back yard, cannot afford to fight the feds and lose what little
they have. Bargaining for concessions is their only logical
option, she and others say.
Karlynn Chatwin, manager of the bar and casino at the Knotty
Pine, says the nuke train could pump up business in her town.
"We are pretty recessed here -- we need something," says
Chatwin, a native Las Vegan and a Lincoln County resident of 10
years. "Children grow up here and leave because there is nothing
for them.
"I'm fine with (nuclear waste transports). I believe the
shipments will be safe because so much attention is on the issue
that (the feds) are going to watch it carefully."
Roy Johnston, a Pioche resident for 13 years who did not attend
the commission meeting, says many Lincoln County residents are
realistic about the nuclear waste issue.
"Nothing we say or do is going to stop the government from
shoving this on us," says Johnston, a railroad track welder.
"The government is not just going to walk away after building
what they've built at Yucca Mountain. Face it, it's coming here.
Let's get something in exchange for it."
Chatwin knows what she's like to get. "I believe one of the
concessions should be that the federal government pays to put
our children through college, she says. "Parents here certainly
cannot afford to do it."
An activist speaks
When the commission turns to the Yucca issues, Detraz begins by
berating the commissioners for their regular 4-to-1 votes.
Keaton, who opposes nuclear waste, is on the losing end.
Hafen warns her to stick to the agenda item and present her
Yucca Mountain update. Detraz instead criticizes council
members, including Hafen, for attending "secret meetings" with
Energy Secretary Margaret Chu and other DOE officials.
In November some of the commissioners met with Energy
Department officials in Amargosa Valley and in December at
McCarran International Airport.
Detraz is cut off by Hafen as she reads the third of three
newspaper clippings to support her claims. She turns to the
sparse audience and accuses the commission chairman of denying
her the right to speak. Hafen calls for the noon recess and
leaves the room.
During the break Hafen, a land surveyor by profession, denies
doing anything illegal.
Hafen said the meetings he and other commissioners have had
with Energy Department officials were "work groups" to address
transportation issues of nuclear waste and were not subject to
Nevada's Open Meeting Law.
"Our job is to protect the health, welfare and safety of the
people of Lincoln County,' Hafen said. "Nobody here shouted,
'Bring (nuclear waste) here! Bring it here!' But part of
addressing the issue is to look at the best proposal the DOE
will bring to the table.
"I don't believe (Yucca Mountain) is a done deal. But I have to
be open to work out what is best for the county if (nuclear
waste) eventually is going to come through here."
Hafen says such confrontations with Detraz "happen every
meeting, but was magnified" at Monday's meeting because Detraz
"had an audience," Hafen said.
"There is no question Marge is passionate on this issue," Hafen
said. "The clerk puts her issue on the agenda as a courtesy. She
says what she wants and we have taken the position not to
respond to what she says."
Others who were heard in the morning commission session were
Lincoln County resident Louis Benezet, a longtime Yucca Mountain
opponent and colleague of Detraz, who asked the commission to
ask for hearings by the Bureau of Land Management in Lincoln
County on the issue of trains carrying nuclear waste.
"We don't know what impacts from a rail route would be (in
Lincoln County)," he said. "We don't even know where the rail
route would be."
Another was Connie Simkins, editor of the Lincoln County Record
and a Panaca cattle rancher, who expressed concerns that the
DOE's preferred route would impact grazing areas.
The only nuclear waste item on the agenda Monday that required
a vote was a proposed letter to Chu to keep the lines of
communications open with Lincoln County to discuss safe
transportation plans. It passed 4-to-1, with Keaton voting no.
*****************************************************************
28 RGJ: Energy Department responses to Nuclear Regulatory Commission
questions
Reno Gazette-Journal] ASSOCIATED PRESS 1/5/2004 10:33 pm
LAS VEGAS — An Energy Department official on Monday defended his
agency’s response to a Nuclear Regulatory Commission request for
answers to questions about building a national nuclear waste dump
in the Nevada desert.
“Every time we have been asked, we’ve provided the information,”
said Allen Benson, an Energy Department and Yucca Mountain
spokesman in Las Vegas.
Benson was responding to a letter last month from Janet
Schlueter, head of the NRC’s high-level waste branch.
Schlueter told the Energy Department that she could not determine
whether it had answered some questions fully, leaving unresolved
questions about Yucca Mountain project safety.
A Dec. 23 letter to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission from Joseph
Ziegler, director the Energy Department office of license
application and strategy, crossed in the mail with Schlueter’s
letter, Benson said.
Ziegler’s letter said the Energy Department would make documents
available to the commission at the Las Vegas office or on the
Internet.
Beginning in 2010, the department plans to store 77,000 tons of
spent nuclear fuel at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las
Vegas.
The Energy Department has been working since September 2001 to
answer 293 scientific questions, or “key technical issues,” about
whether the repository can keep radiation from contaminating the
surrounding environment. So far, answers to 83 questions have
been completed and accepted by the commission.
Since September, the Energy Department has submitted 53 more
responses as it tries to finish the remaining questions by this
summer and submit its license application to the commission by
the end of this year.
Of those responses, 14 “appear to have adequately addressed” the
original question, Schlueter said, while 39 responses “do not
appear to fully satisfy the agreements.”
Schlueter’s Dec. 23 letter lists about 50 documents needed from
the Energy Department to move ahead with a review of how water
could seep into the tunnels holding the waste, how water moves
through the mountain, and possible volcanic activity.
The commission also is looking at other issues related to the
Yucca Mountain safety.
Water could hurt the Energy Department’s plan since it could
corrode waste containers holding spent nuclear fuel and allow
radiation to seep into the environment faster than expected.
Schlueter said the Energy Department was not providing all the
documentation it cited in its answers, leaving her staff digging
for information. She said her staff was evaluating Ziegler’s plan
to provide access to proper documents.
Nevada elected officials are fighting the Yucca Mountain plan,
and some members of the state’s congressional delegation were
critical of the Energy Department’s answers. Amy Spanbauer,
spokeswoman for U.S. Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Reno, said the Energy
Department was “trying to skate by on a shoestring in order to
get this repository approved.”
Copyright Reno Gazette-Journal, a Gannett Co. Inc.Newspaper. Use
*****************************************************************
29 Albuquerque Tribune: WIPP shipment heads to Duke City
-> By Sue Vorenberg
Tribune Reporter
A nuclear waste shipment to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant will
travel through Albuquerque for the first time this week.
A WIPP truck could reach the New Mexico border near Gallup at
12:30 a.m. Thursday. Traffic delays and other factors might push
that time back by as much as a day, said Matthew Silva, director
of the Environmental Evaluation Group, an independent oversight
agency that monitors shipments to WIPP.
"That's really the earliest it could get here, and that's not
set in stone," Silva said.
The shipment is the first of about 60 that will move through
Albuquerque on I-40 this year from the Nevada Test Site to the
permanent storage site, which is near Carlsbad.
The waste is garbage left over from nuclear weapons research at
Department of Energy labs in California and Nevada, said Susan
Scott, a WIPP spokeswoman.
"It's debris - things like protective clothing, beakers, tools,
rags, gloves, that sort of thing," Scott said. "It's trash - I
don't think a terrorist or anybody else could do anything bad
with it other than agitating people. It's alpha waste; so it's
only a problem if someone ingests it."
Alpha waste is one category of low-level nuclear material. The
material is classified according to the volume and type of
radioactivity it emits.
As of Monday evening, 2,240 shipments had traveled through New
Mexico to the WIPP site along routes in the southeastern and
northern parts of the state, Scott said.
This week's shipment will be the first to cross the western New
Mexico border. It will stop for about an hour at a checkpoint
about eight miles west of Gallup for inspection, said George
Anastas, a nuclear engineer and health physicist at EEG.
"An inspector from the Motor Transportation Division will
inspect the shipment there to what's called Level 6
requirements," Anastas said.
"Those are the most stringent transportation safety regulations
out there. For example, if there's a burned out light bulb, a
broken mudflap, a crack in the windshield, the truck can't move
until it's fixed."
Two drivers will operate the truck. Besides the rigorous
checkpoint inspections, the drivers also stop every two hours and
run through a Department of Energy inspection checklist, Anastas
said.
"I suppose it's possible they could stop in Albuquerque for one
of those inspections, but it's highly unlikely," Anastas said.
"Gallup is 2 half hours from Albuquerque doing the speed limit,
and these guys go slower than that. The drivers aren't paid by
how fast they deliver a shipment,but by how safely it was
delivered."
Albuquerque isn't the first major city through which shipments
have traveled: Trucks from Colorado's Rocky Flats Site and
Washington state's Hanford Site routinely travel through Denver
and have for the past few years, Scott said.
"Out of all of our shipments, there have been only two traffic
accidents," she said. "In one of them, a drunken driver
rear-ended the back of one of our trucks. In the other, the
driver felt sick and pulled over."
A pickup hit a WIPP truck near Carlsbad two years ago. It
totaled the pickup and dented the WIPP truck's fender, but no
waste was spilled, Silva said.
The incident of the sick driver happened in Wyoming. The
driver's illness wasn't related to the waste in the shipment,
Silva said.
Three more shipments are scheduled to travel through Albuquerque
in January. Over the next few years, 120 shipments are scheduled
from the Nevada Test Site and about 40 are scheduled from
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California. Those are
the only two sites that will send trucks through Albuquerque,
Anastas said.
"There essentially is a very, very low risk of any danger,"
Silva said. "People don't need to worry about this."
© The Albuquerque Tribune.
*****************************************************************
30 EI: State receives OK to spend money on nuke hearings, Elko County
not included - Suzanne Struglinski and Ursula Powers
Elko Independent
Monday, January 05, 2004
State receives OK to spend money on nuke hearings, Elko County
not included
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. The state is
awaiting the renewal of additional funding for oversight of the
project.
In addition to funding for the state, nine other counties in
Nevada are hoping to continue receiving oversight funds as well.
The nine counties were designated as “Affected Units of Local
Governments” (AULG) by the DOE five years ago and received
funding for the same type of oversight activity. Eureka County
launched a website at http://www.yuccamountain.org to explain
activities to Eureka County residents related to Yucca Mountain
as Eureka County could see approximately 14 miles located along
a proposed nuclear waste transportation route if the “Carlin
Corridor” route should become the DOE’s first choice route.
Although four Elko County cities and Elko County could be
impacted if the “Carlin Corridor” is selected by the DOE as the
first choice to transport nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain, the
local government units of Elko County and the cities of West
Wendover, Wells, Elko and Carlin were never designated as AULG
by the DOE or given funds over the past five years to provide
public oversight. The “Carlin Corridor” would cross much more
than the 14 miles it would connect to at Beowawe in Eureka
County.
However, Yucca Mountain officials have been in contact with
various public and elected officials from throughout Elko County
over the past five years who have made field trips to the
proposed facility or heard from former Nevada Governor Bob List
who is now employed by the DOE. Those who took field trips to
Yucca Mountain included elected officials from the City of Elko
and the Elko County Commission as well as board members and
administration staff of Great Basin College.
At this time, Elko County and the four cities are not included
to receive oversight funds from the DOE. Elko County
Commissioner Mike Nannini has been serving as the county’s
representative on Yucca Mountain related issues.
W. John Arthur, the Yucca project's deputy director, apparently
has now lifted the freeze on the State’s funds. 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 January
2.
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.
Compiled by Suzanne Struglinski, AP & Las Vegas Sun writer and
Ursula Powers, Elko Independent staff writer.
*****************************************************************
31 PR Newswire: Nuclear Clean-Up Policy Doesn't Go Far Enough says Independent
Expert
Tuesday 6 January 2004, 8:00 GMT
NUCLEAR [
Jackson Consulting (UK) Ltd
LONDON, January 6 /PRNewswire/ -- New proposals to overhaul the
UK's nuclear decommissioning policy offer little real improvement
over the previous policy, issued in 1995 by the Conservative
government, and could mean that some nuclear sites are never
fully cleaned-up.
Commenting on the Department of Trade and Industry's (DTI's)
draft policy statement, independent nuclear expert Ian Jackson
says "the need for decommissioning old nuclear sites is as much
an ethical issue as it is a technical one. But the government's
draft policy statement appears to be signalling that some nuclear
sites might never be fully cleaned-up. This will mean that they
must remain under some degree of public sector control, probably
funded by tax payers indefinitely."
Responding to DTI's consultation document, Ian Jackson says, "the
government's decommissioning policy needs to move to a position
where good environmental performance is seen to add real value,
rather than be perceived as a regulatory straightjacket on
nuclear operations. This means setting tough standards for
clean-up which will have two clear advantages. It will provide a
driver for innovation, because clean technologies don't just
happen by themselves, and it will reduce lifecycle costs by
establishing a common end-point for site decommissioning".
The total cost of the decommissioning programme is estimated to
be at least GBP50 billion - equivalent to about 2 pence on the
basic rate of income tax. An unambiguous set of clean-up
standards is needed to fix nuclear decommissioning costs once and
for all.
Jackson, an independent expert whose work on controlling nuclear
discharges was recently published by the OECD, was previously a
Nuclear Inspector with the UK's environmental watchdog the
Environment Agency. Jackson's response to the DTI consultation
can be downloaded free of charge from www.JacksonConsult.com
Notes for Editors
1. "A Public Consultation on Modernising the Policy for
Decommissioning the UK's Nuclear Facilities" was published by DTI
on 28 November 2003. The consultation period ends on the 27th
February 2004.
2. The OECD report "Effluent Release Options from Nuclear
Installations - Technical Background and Regulatory Aspects" was
prepared by an international Expert Group on the Implications of
Effluent Release Options (EGRO) published by the Organisation for
Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) in November 2003.
3. Ian Jackson is an independent nuclear consultant specialising
in regulatory governance and licensing issues. For media
enquiries please telephone +44(0)777 151 8610 or visit our web
site www.JacksonConsult.com
Distributed by PR Newswire on behalf of Jackson Consulting (UK)
Ltd
PR Newswire Europe Ltd.
Ludgate House, 245 Blackfriars Road, London SE1 9UY
+44 (0)20 7490 8111 Fax :
+44 (0)20 7490 1255 E-mail :
info@prnewswire.co.uk
Copyright © 2003 PR Newswire Europe Limited. All
*****************************************************************
32 (DV) Edwards: The BBC on Hiroshima
The BBC on Hiroshima
by David Edwards and Media Lens
www.dissidentvoice.org
January 6, 2004
The atomic bombing of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 was one of
history’s bloodiest single acts claiming 100,000 Japanese lives.
Exposing men, women and children to one million degrees of heat
and a supersonic blast wave, the attack had unimaginably
horrific results. In his classic essay, "Machiavellian Realism
and US Foreign Policy: Means and Ends," Howard Zinn presents
eyewitness testimony indicating the reality of what happened
that day. Here a seventeen-year-old girl describes what she saw:
“I walked past Hiroshima Station... and saw people with their
bowels and brains coming out... I saw an old lady carrying a
suckling in her arms... I saw many children... with dead
mothers... I just cannot put into words the horror I felt.”
A fifth-grade girl:
“Everybody in the shelter was crying out loud. These voices...
they aren’t cries, they are moans that penetrate to the marrow
of your bones and make your hair stand on end... I do not know
how many times I called begging that they would cut off my
burned arms and legs.” (Quoted, The Zinn Reader, Seven Stories
Press, 1997, p.354)
In last night’s one-hour documentary on the bombing, Days That
Shook The World, the BBC spent 35 seconds examining the
justification for the attack. This involved presenting,
unchallenged, the unfounded claim that the attack was required
to avoid one million US combat casualties in the event of an
invasion of the Japanese mainland. This was then followed by a
supportive quote from the US Army Chief of Staff in 1945.
In fact the one million figure is based on US Secretary of State
James Byrnes' claims at the time, but no serious attempt had
ever been made to estimate the likely costs of invasion. In his
essay, Howard Zinn writes that "the closest to such an attempt
was a military estimate that an invasion of the southernmost
island of Japan would cause 30,000 American dead and wounded".
(Ibid, p.351)
Thus, in reviewing the nuclear bombing of a defenseless city
claiming 100,000 civilian lives, the BBC justified the attack in
35 seconds, based on an unfounded claim supported by one US army
source with no counter-arguments being heard. Media Lens wrote
last night to Richard Walker, the writer and director of the
programme:
Dear Richard Walker
I watched tonight's Days That Shook The World on the atomic
bombing of Hiroshima. You briefly mentioned predictions of 1
million US combat deaths in the event of an invasion of the
Japanese mainland. You also quoted the US Army Chief of Staff's
justification for the bombing: "It seemed quite necessary, if we
could, to shock them [the Japanese] into action. We had to end
the war. We had to save American lives."
I wonder if you are aware that the US Strategic Bombing Survey
interviewed 700 Japanese military and political officials after
the war, and came to this conclusion:
"Based on a detailed investigation of all the facts and
supported by the testimony of the surviving Japanese leaders
involved, it is the Survey's opinion that certainly prior to 31
December 1945, and in all probability prior to 1 November 1945,
Japan would have surrendered even if the atomic bombs had not
been dropped, even if Russia had not entered the war, and even
if no invasion had been planned or contemplated."
On August 2, the Japanese foreign office sent a message to the
Japanese ambassador in Moscow:
"There are only a few days left in which to make arrangements to
end the war... As for the definite terms... it is our intention
to make the Potsdam Three-Power Declaration [which called for
unconditional surrender] the basis for the study regarding these
terms."
Barton Bernstein, a Stanford historian, comments:
"The message, like earlier ones, was probably intercepted by
American intelligence and decoded. It had no effect on American
policy... They were unwilling to take risks in order to save
Japanese lives."
After the war, American scholar Robert Butow went through the
papers of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the records
of the International Military Tribunal of the Far East, and the
interrogation files of the US Army. He also interviewed many of
the Japanese principals and came to this conclusion:
"Had the allies given the Prince (Prince Konoye, special
emissary to Moscow, who was working on a Russian intercession
for peace) a week of grace in which to obtain his Government's
support for the acceptance of proposals, the war might have
ended toward the latter part of July or the very beginning of
the month of August, without the atomic bomb and without Soviet
participation in the conflict."
The scientist Leo Szilard met with President Truman's main
policy adviser, secretary of state Byrnes, in May 1945 and
reported later: "Byrnes did not argue that it was necessary to
use the bomb against the cities of Japan in order to win the
war... Mr Byrnes' view was that our possessing and demonstrating
the bomb would make Russia more manageable."
American historian Howard Zinn comments:
"The end of dropping the bomb seems, from the evidence, to have
been not winning the war, which was already assured, not saving
lives, for it was highly probable no American invasion would be
necessary, but the aggrandizement of American national power at
the moment and in the postwar period... For the idea that any
means - mass murder, the misuse of science, the corruption of
professionalism - are acceptable to achieve the end of national
power, the ultimate example of our time is Hiroshima."
Why did you make no mention of these important counter-arguments
to the claim that the bombing of Hiroshima was necessary to end
the Second World War and to save American lives?
Yours sincerely ,
David Edwards
SUGGESTED ACTION
The goal of Media Lens is to promote rationality, compassion and
respect for others. In writing letters to journalists, we
strongly urge readers to maintain a polite, non-aggressive and
non-abusive tone.
Sample Email:
Why, in your hour-long documentary on the bombing of Hiroshima,
did you spend just 35 seconds examining the justification for
the killing of 100,000 civilians? And why did you present no
counter-arguments to unfounded claims based on US government
figures backed up by one quote from the US Army Chief of Staff?
Write to the programme’s writer and director Richard Walker:
Email:
Copy your emails to the BBC’s information department:
Email:
And to BBC Director-General, Greg Gyke:
Email:
Please also send all emails to us at Media Lens:
Email:
Visit the Media Lens website:
Please consider donating to Media Lens:
This media alert will shortly be archived at:
David Edwards is the editor of Media Lens, and the author of
Burning All Illusions: A Guide to Personal and Political Freedom
(South End Press, 1996). Email: editor@medialens.org.
*****************************************************************
33 Knox News: BWXT gets high marks, $21 million for managing Y-12
By FRANK MUNGER
January 6, 2004
OAK RIDGE -- Federal contractor BWXT received more than $21
million in fiscal 2003 for managing the Y-12 nuclear weapons
plant, according to documents released today.
BWXT Y-12 L.L.C, a partnership of Bechtel National and BWX
Technologies, received high marks in general management and most
rating categories.
The Y-12 contractor earned $21,188,511 in fees out of a total
possible $22,940,552. That's an increase from the $19.3 million
earned in 2002.
The Oak Ridge plant's primary mission is the production of
nuclear warhead parts. Y-12 specializes in so-called
"secondaries" -- the second stage of warheads.
"Overall, BWXT Y-12 made significant improvements at the Y-12
plant continuing the positive momentum generated...in the last
couple of years,'' Bill Brumley, the plant's federal overseer,
said in a letter to BWXT chief Dennis Ruddy.
"These improvements included meeting all customer deliverables,
specific safety-related accomplishments, project management,
non-nuclear proliferation, and infrastructure reduction," Brumley
wrote.
He praised the contractor for making progress in the
modernization of Y-12, including preparations for a new storage
facility for bomb-grade uranium.
The major downside was a poor performance in "conduct of
operations."
Brumley criticized the company for violation of procedures and
safety requirements. In his letter to Ruddy, Brumley cited an
increase of "near misses" in workplace accidents, even though
conduct of operations has been cited as a concern previously.
"Although contractor management continues to focus attention on
improving performance, results were inconsistent and isolated,"
said Brumley, who heads the Oak Ridge office of the National
Nuclear Security Administration.
Ruddy, the president and general manger of BWXT, said company
officials were pleased with the evaluation.
"We believe it acknowledges the significant progress we have made
in the three years since taking over as management and operations
contractor... This recognition is due to the efforts of many
people."
Ruddy said safety is the contractor's top priority, and he said
BWXT is launching a series of initiatives to improve conduct of
operations at the Oak Ridge defense plant.
Senior writer Frank Munger may be reached at 865-342-6329.
2004, Knoxville News-Sentinel Co.
*****************************************************************
34 DOE: Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board, Idaho
FR Doc 04-198
[Federal Register: January 6, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 3)]
[Notices] [Page 640-641] From the Federal Register Online via GPO
Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr06ja04-73]
National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory AGENCY:
Department of Energy.
ACTION: Notice of open meeting.
SUMMARY: This notice announces a meeting of the Environmental
Management Site-Specific Advisory Board (EM SSAB), Idaho National
Engineering and Environmental Laboratory. The Federal Advisory
Committee Act (Pub. L. No. 92-463, 86 Stat. 770) requires that
public notice of these meeting be announced in the Federal
Register.
DATES: Tuesday, January 20, 2004--2:45 p.m.-6 p.m. (Pre-meeting
tour of Idaho Nuclear and Technology Engineering Center, INTEC,
for INEEL CAB members 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.) Wednesday, January 21,
2004--8 a.m.-5 p.m. Opportunities for public participation will
be held Tuesday, January 20 from 5:45 to 6 p.m., and on January
21 from 11:15 to 11:30 a.m. and 3:20 to 3:35 p.m. Additional time
may be made available for public comment during the
presentations.
These times are subject to change as the meeting progresses,
depending on the extent of comment offered. Please check with the
meeting facilitator to confirm these times.
ADDRESSES: Ameritel Inn, 645 Lindsay Boulevard, Idaho Falls, ID
83402.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Peggy Hinman, INEEL CAB
Administrator, North Wind, Inc., P.O. Box 51174, Idaho Falls, ID
83405, Phone (208) 528-8718, or visit the Board's Internet Home
page at http://www.ida.net/users/cab .
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Purpose of the Board: The purpose of
the Board is to make recommendations to DOE in areas of future
use, cleanup levels, waste disposition and cleanup priorities at
the INEEL.
Tentative Agenda: [sbull] Cleanup and closure of the Idaho
Nuclear Technology and Engineering Center (INTEC) [sbull] New
Risk-Based End State Vision for the INEEL [sbull] Conduct process
to select new members Public Participation: This meeting is open
to the public.
Written statements may be filed with the Board facilitator either
before or after the meeting. Individuals who wish to make oral
presentations pertaining to agenda items
[[Page 641]] should contact the Board Chair at the address or
telephone number listed above. Request must be received five days
prior to the meeting and reasonable provision will be made to
include the presentation in the agenda. The Deputy Designated
Federal Officer, Gerald C. Bowman, Assistant Manager for
Laboratory Development, Idaho Operations Office, U.S. Department
of Energy, is empowered to conduct the meeting in a fashion that
will facilitate the orderly conduct of business.
Every individual wishing to make public comment will be provided
equal time to present their comments. Additional time may be made
available for public comment during the presentations. This
notice is being published less than 15 days before the date of
the meeting due to programmatic issue that has to be resolved.
Minutes: The minutes of this meeting will be available for public
review and copying at the Freedom of Information Public Reading
Room, 1E-190, Forrestal Building, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW.,
Washington, DC 20585 between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday through
Friday except Federal holidays. Minutes will also be available by
writing to Ms. Peggy Hinman, INEEL CAB Administrator, at the
address and phone number listed above.
Issued at Washington, DC on December 30, 2003.
Rachel Samuel, Deputy Advisory Committee Management Officer.
[FR Doc. 04-198 Filed 1-5-04; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6450-01-P
*****************************************************************
35 DOE: Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board, Northern
FR Doc 04-199
[Federal Register: January 6, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 3)]
[Notices] [Page 641] From the Federal Register Online via GPO
Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr06ja04-74]
New Mexico AGENCY: Department of Energy.
ACTION: Notice of open meeting.
SUMMARY: This notice announces a meeting of the Environmental
Management Site-Specific Advisory Board (EM SSAB), Northern New
Mexico. The Federal Advisory Committee Act (Pub. L. No. 92-463,
86 Stat. 770) requires that public notice of these meetings be
announced in the Federal Register.
DATES: Monday, January 26, 2004 1 p.m.-8:30 p.m.
ADDRESSES: Cities of Gold Hotel, 10-A Cities of Gold Road,
Pojoaque, NM.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Menice Manzanares, Northern New
Mexico Citizens' Advisory Board, 1660 Old Pecos Trail, Suite B,
Santa Fe, NM 87505. Phone (505) 995-0393; fax (505) 989-1752 or
e-mail: mmanzanares@doeal.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Purpose of the Board: The purpose of
the Board is to make recommendations to DOE and its regulators in
the areas of environmental restoration, waste management, and
related activities.
Tentative Agenda 1 p.m. Call to Order by Ted Taylor, Deputy
Designated Federal Officer (DDFO); Roll Call and Establishment of
a Quorum; Welcome and Introductions by Jim Brannon, Board Chair;
Approval of Agenda; Approval of November 19, 2003 Meeting Minutes
1:15 p.m. Public Comment 1:30 p.m. Board Business [sbull]
Recruitment/Membership Update [sbull] Report from Chairman
Brannon [sbull] Report from DOE, Ted Taylor, DDFO [sbull] Report
from Executive Director, Menice S. Manzanares [sbull] 2004
Meeting Schedule (Locations) [sbull] New Business 2:30 p.m. Break
2:45 p.m. Report from Committees [sbull] Environmental
Monitoring, Surveillance and Remediation [sbull] Waste Management
Committee [sbull] Community Involvement Committee [sbull] Budget
Committee [sbull] Ad Hoc Committee on CAB Self Evaluation 5 p.m.
Dinner Break 6 p.m. Environmental Management Presentation 7:30
p.m. Break 7:45 p.m. Public Comment 8 p.m. Recap of Meeting 8:30
p.m. Adjourn This agenda is subject to change at least one day in
advance of the meeting.
Public Participation: The meeting is open to the public.
Written statements may be filed with the Committee either before
or after the meeting. Individuals who wish to make oral
statements pertaining to agenda items should contact Menice
Manzanares at the address or telephone number listed above.
Requests must be received five days prior to the meeting and
reasonable provision will be made to include the presentation in
the agenda. The Deputy Designated Federal Officer is empowered to
conduct the meeting in a fashion that will facilitate the orderly
conduct of business. Each individual wishing to make public
comment will be provided a maximum of five minutes to present
their comments at the beginning of the meeting.
Minutes: Minutes of this meeting will be available for public
review and copying at the Freedom of Information Public Reading
Room, 1E-190, Forrestal Building, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW.,
Washington, DC 20585 between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday-Friday,
except Federal holidays. Minutes will also be available at the
Public Reading Room located at the Board's office at 1660 Old
Pecos Trail, Suite B, Santa Fe, NM. Hours of operation for the
Public Reading Room are 9 a.m.-4 p.m. on Monday through Friday.
Minutes will also be made available by writing or calling Menice
Manzanares at the Board's office address or telephone number
listed above. Minutes and other Board documents are on the
Internet at: http://www.nnmcab.org. Issued at Washington, DC on
December 30, 2003.
Rachel Samuel, Deputy Committee Management Officer.
[FR Doc. 04-199 Filed 1-5-04; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6405-01-P
*****************************************************************
36 DOE: Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board, Hanford
FR Doc 04-200
[Federal Register: January 6, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 3)]
[Notices] [Page 641-642] From the Federal Register Online via GPO
Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr06ja04-75]
AGENCY: Department of Energy.
ACTION: Notice of open meeting.
SUMMARY: This notice announces a meeting of the Environmental
Management Site-Specific Advisory Board (EM SSAB), Hanford. The
Federal Advisory Committee Act (Pub. L. No. 92-463, 86 Stat. 770)
requires that public notice of these meeting be announced in the
Federal Register.
Thursday, February 5, 2004--9 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday, February 6,
2004--8:30 a.m.-4 p.m.
ADDRESSES: Red Lion Hotel Richland, Hanford House, 802 George
Washington Way, Richland, WA, Phone: (509) 946-7611, Fax: (509)
943- 8564.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Yvonne Sherman, Public
Involvement Program Manager, Department of Energy Richland
Operations Office, 825 Jadwin, MSIN A7-75, Richland, WA, 99352;
[[Page 642]] Phone: (509) 376-6216; Fax: (509) 376-1563.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Purpose of the Board: The purpose of
the Board is to make recommendations to DOE in the areas of
environmental restoration, waste management, and related
activities.
Tentative Agenda: Thursday, February 5, 2004 [sbull] C-106 Tank
Closure Demonstration Plan [sbull] Hanford Solid Waste
Environmental Impact Statement [sbull] RAP workshop on Central
Plateau Cleanup Strategy and Site Wide Waste
Management--Groundwater [sbull] M-91 Change Package Friday,
February 6, 2004 [sbull] New groundwater issues in K & D Areas
[sbull] BCC proposal for public budget process [sbull] Committee
Updates [sbull] Adoption of Board Advise [sbull] Identification
of Topics for the April Board Meeting Public Participation: The
meeting is open to the public.
Written statements may be filed with the Board either before or
after the meeting. Individuals who wish to make oral statements
pertaining to agenda items should contact Yvonne Sherman's office
at the address or telephone number listed above. Requests must be
received five days prior to the meeting and reasonable provision
will be made to include the presentation in the agenda. The
Deputy Designated Federal Officer is empowered to conduct the
meeting in a fashion that will facilitate the orderly conduct of
business. Each individual wishing to make public comment will be
provided equal time to present their comments.
Minutes: The minutes of this meeting will be available for public
review and copying at the Freedom of Information Public Reading
Room, 1E-190, Forrestal Building, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW.,
Washington, DC 20585 between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday-Friday,
except Federal holidays. Minutes will also be available by
writing to Yvonne Sherman, Department of Energy Richland
Operation Office, 825 Jadwin, MSIN A7-75, Richland, WA 99352, or
by calling her at (509) 376-1563.
Issued at Washington, DC, on December 30, 2003.
Rachel M. Samuel, Deputy Advisory Committee Management Officer.
[FR Doc. 04-200 Filed 1-5-04; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6450-01-P
*****************************************************************
37 Tri-Valley Herald: UC seeks business partner in lab bid
1/6/2004
Executives want to team with private industry in running up to
three labs
By Ian Hoffman, STAFF WRITER
The University of California is headed into a first-ever
partnership with private defense and government contractors to
run as many as three federal laboratories.
Next week, UC executives will ask the university's governing
Board of Regents for authority to team with "industrial
organizations" for handling the business end and operations of
Los Alamos, Lawrence Livermore and Lawrence Berkeley national
labs.
University officials plan on pulling workers together to draw up
each lab bid and hiring subcontractors to polish the bids, all
financed by the fees that UC earns running Los Alamos and
Livermore, plus likely grants from the U.S. Department of Energy
and money from its industrial partners.
If the regents approve, as expected, these steps will mark UC's
most palpable moves yet to preserve its grip on the three labs,
which the university has run without competition for more than 50
years.
"The university has never developed a competitive proposal of the
type and scale that will be required for continued management of
the (Energy Department) laboratories," university officials wrote
to regents recently.
At stake is operation of two of the nation's largest defense
labs, the sole designers of all U.S. nuclear explosives, plus an
unclassified science lab sitting wholly on university land.
"The key to success in one or more of these competitions,"
university officials wrote to the regents, is for UC to prove "it
can be innovative in its business and operational approaches at
the laboratories."
Management failings at Los Alamos led Energy Secretary Spencer
Abrahama to put the New Mexico lab up for bid, but Congress
expanded the competition to Livermore, Berkeley and all federal
labs run by a single contractor for more than 50 years.
UC and other contractors read those changes as a sign that the
federal government, while pleased with the intellectual products
of the UC-run labs, was frustrated with university management.
But UC's decision to consider teaming with private industry
reflects the market in operating federal research centers: Two of
the last three U.S. research centers were awarded to
corporate-academic teams.
No university by itself has won an Energy Department lab
competition in the last decade.
Teaming with one or more firms, UC executives wrote the regents,
"may constitute an important step toward placing the university
in a novel and highly competitive position."
If the regents approve, UC president Robert Dynes will be cleared
for the standard first step in such a courtship --
confidentiality agreements.
Tri-Valley Herald All Rights Reserved
*****************************************************************
38 Oak Ridger: ORNL's voluntary departures to bring change
Story last updated at 11:43 a.m. on January 6, 2004
By: Paul Parson | Oak Ridger Staff paul.parson@oakridger.com
Change is the name of the game Oak Ridge National Laboratory is
playing as the facility prepares to deal with the recent
departure of close to 200 staff members.
"The most immediate change will be the absence of 172 staff who
took advantage of the voluntary separation program and departed
on Dec. 31," said Jeff Wadsworth, the lab's director, in a
staff-wide e-mail that most employees received this morning.
About a week before the departure date, ORNL officials estimated
that around 165 people would be participating in the program,
which did not include retirement incentives or pension
enhancements. The workers who voluntarily chose to leave ORNL
were funded or supported through overhead accounts, officials
said.
While ORNL's managers expect the voluntary separation program
will help lower the cost of doing business by nearly $9 million,
Wadsworth said the sudden reduction of so many staff members will
require employees to work smarter and more efficiently.
"The next few weeks will likely have some bumps in the road as we
redistribute our workload, and I urge you to be patient as
various support services reorganize to meet this challenge," the
lab chief said.
Wadsworth also told the lab's staff this morning that the
voluntary separation program made necessary some changes
pertaining to ORNL's group leaders that will be announced in the
coming weeks.
According to Wadsworth, a number of factors have contributed to
the high costs of doing business, including rising health care
insurance, the need to clean up a large volume of legacy
materials, an investment in modernizing ORNL's campus, and a
desire to make the salaries of the lab's staff more competitive
with other laboratories and the private sector.
*****************************************************************
39 Oak Ridger: BWXT Y-12 gets a big paycheck
Story last updated at 12:02 p.m. on January 6, 2004
RUDDY: 'This recognition is due to the efforts of many people.'
By: Paul Parson | Oak Ridger Staff
paul.parson@oakridger.com
It's a $21 million paycheck for BWXT Y-12, which manages Oak
Ridge's nuclear weapons plant.
That's the biggest fee the company has received since the
federal government awarded it a contract in August 2000 to run
the Y-12 National Security Complex. The company earned $16
million for its first 11 months as manager and received $19.3
million for fiscal year 2002.
"Overall, BWXT Y-12 made significant improvements at the Y-12
plant continuing the positive momentum generated by improvements
achieved in the last couple of years," said Bill Brumley, the
Oak Ridge chief of the National Nuclear Security Administration
- the quasi-independent agency within the Department of Energy
that oversees the nuclear weapons complex.
Brumley
In a letter to BWXT Y-12, Brumley pointed out that the company
had made progress in the areas of project management, safety
management, self assessment and fire protection programs, among
other things.
However, Brumley did note that continued focus on improving
Y-12's security program is required. The weapons plant has made
headlines recently when between 200 to 250 keys turned up missing
from the facility.
Dennis Ruddy, president and general manager of BWXT Y-12, said
this morning that he was pleased the company received $21,188,511
out of the $22,940,552 available fee for fiscal year 2003.
"We believe it acknowledges the significant progress we have made
in the three years since taking over as management and operations
contractor for the Y-12 National Security Complex," Ruddy said.
"This recognition is due to the efforts of many people.
"We are extremely proud of the accomplishments of the men and
women of BWXT Y-12 including breaking ground for the new
purification facility, receiving approval for the Highly Enriched
Uranium Materials Facility, being recognized by the National
Safety Council for our efforts in improving worker safety, being
recognized by the Small Business Administration for our support
of small business and having the lowest number of occupational
injuries in the last 10 years," he said.
Ruddy
Y-12 plays a major role in the security of the nation by its
production and refurbishment of weapons components, storage of
nuclear material and prevention of the spread of weapons of mass
destruction.
Ruddy said he and his staff are looking forward to a successful
future for BWXT Y-12 and the Oak Ridge plant.
"Because safety is always our first priority, we are currently
launching a major safety process called Behavior Based Safety and
we are starting a new housekeeping program called Y-12 Pride that
will emphasize control of combustibles and support conduct of
operations improvements," he said.
*****************************************************************
40 Oak Ridger: ORNL makes management staff changes
Story last updated at 12:13 p.m. on January 6, 2004
CHANGE: The departure of one leader team member results in the
consolidation of two positions.
By: Paul Parson | Oak Ridger Staff
paul.parson@oakridger.com
The new year has brought some significant changes to Oak Ridge
National Laboratory, specifically the realignment of some
management staff at the federal research facility.
Jeff Wadsworth, the lab's director, said the changes were a
result of retirements, people taking new jobs at other
facilities and the continued realignment of new business
opportunities that require ORNL to respond with similar staff
changes.
The most encouraging thing to me about these changes is the
depth of talent we have at ORNL," Wadsworth stated in a
staff-wide e-mail that most employees received this morning.
Under the realignment, Gil Gilliland is taking on an assignment
to work directly with Wadsworth
Mann
in helping position ORNL for a number of critical new programs
that will ramp up over the next 18 months. Wadsworth said
Gilliland will lead some early workshops associated with the
opening of the Oak Ridge Center for Advanced Studies - a "think
tank" of sorts.
"Gill also will be helping ORNL establish a recruiting presence
at a number of major universities in anticipation of the need to
fill a large number of vacancies in the next few years,"
Wadsworth said. "Success in these and other programs will require
special attention from someone who works across the leadership
team."
David Hill will replace Gilliland as associate laboratory
director of Energy and Engineering Sciences. Hill, who served as
director of ORNL's Nuclear Science and Technology Division, came
to Oak Ridge from Argonne National Laboratory, where he served as
associate laboratory director for Engineering Research.
"David has been a part of Gil's succession plan, and is well
prepared to assume responsibility for more than 700 personnel, an
annual budget in excess of $260 million and development of the
directorate's business strategy," Wadsworth said.
Joining Hill will be Joe Herndon, who will be the directorate's
new operations manager, dedicated to the directorate's safety and
operations. In addition, Jim Rushton will serve as the Nuclear
Science and Technology Division's acting director while officials
conduct a national search for Hill's replacement.
Hill
As far as the changes go, the departure of a current member of
ORNL's leadership team has given lab leaders the chance to do
some job tweaking. This pertains to Jan Preston, who will vacate
her role as director of Independent Oversight to serve as interim
vice president of Environment, Safety, Health and Quality at
Battelle headquarters in Columbus, Ohio.
"Jan's assignment provides an opportunity to gain efficiency in
our management of audit assessment and oversight programs,"
Wadsworth said.
The lab chief said Preston's position will be consolidated with a
post currently held by Scott Branham, who is director of Audit
and Management Advisory Services. Branham will continue in his
current role and will serve as the laboratory's chief audit
executive.
Reporting to Branham will be Julie Ezold, who will lead the
Independent Oversight function, and Gail Lewis, who will head
Audit and Management.
Another change involves Frank Akers, who will be taking on an
assignment as program director for Homeland Security while
officials conduct a search for a permanent replacement. Gordon
Michaels served in this role during the startup of the federal
government's nearly year-old Department of Homeland Security,
which has named ORNL as one of the agency's five "core" science
and technology laboratories.
Wadsworth also reminded his staff of an earlier management
change, which was reported by The Oak Ridger in September.
Reinhold Mann is taking over as associate laboratory director for
Biological and Life Sciences - replacing Frank Harris, who is
stepping down from the position.
*****************************************************************
41 Oak Ridger: Dick Smyser: AEC-DOE official, Ridger columnist,
Story last updated at 11:57 a.m. on January 6, 2004
legislator-judge, true humanitarian
By: Dick Smyser | Editor's License
James H. Hill first came to Oak Ridge in 1951 as an early
enrollee in the Oak Ridge School of Reactor Technology, the first
comprehensive training programs for those who would oversee the
operation of nuclear reactors built for nuclear engineering
student training and, more importantly, for the first generation
of civilian nuclear power reactors.
That training and his earlier distinguished World War II career
as a B-24 navigator on combat missions that destroyed key bridges
in Burma, he brought first to Oak Ridge National Laboratory's
Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion Program and then to the U.S. Atomic
Energy Commission. With the AEC he was a key aide to Commissioner
Robert E. Wilson and then special assistant to Glenn T. Seaborg,
Nobel Prize winner who became AEC chairman.
During his ORSORT training and his time at ORNL, the Hills became
fond of the Oak Ridge community. Thus he was pleased with his
assignment in 1971 as an assistant manager and then later as
deputy manager for Oak Ridge Operations of what now is the
Department of Energy.
His DOE responsibilities included overseeing special projects one
of which was the visit of President Jimmy Carter in the spring of
1978, then the first visit of a sitting president to Oak Ridge
nuclear operations. William Wilcox, who worked closely with Hill
on the arrangements, recalls, "Jim coordinated the planning . . .
masterminded the mountain of details . . . for the president's
party and press."
One detail about which Hill laughed long after, Wilcox said,
involved the hard hats that top members of the presidential party
were to wear in touring the K-33 building at the Oak Ridge
Gaseous Diffusion Plant. "These shiny white hats with personal
names embossed took more 'doing' than we expected," Wilcox
recalls.
"Jim and Union Carbide's senior vice president Paul Vanstrum went
through the mill getting the names just 'right' . . . . Requests
kept coming in changing both people coming and names. The
president was no exception. The first list resulted in a hat that
read 'President Carter,' then one was made with 'President Jimmy
Carter.' The final much photographed one just said 'Jimmy
Carter.'"
***
Dot Decamp was an original. She came to The Oak Ridger news staff
in the 1950s from the staff of Oak Ridge Public Library where she
had been a publicist.
Although essentially a distinctively creative writer, as a
reporter she understood and conscientiously adhered to rules of
good journalism. She wrote obituaries during years when
obituaries in the Ridger were relatively rare. Not many people
died among what was then the community's predominantly young
population.
Which accounts for her compilation of a point score for
determining whether an obituary should appear on page one, which
was, of course, as she herself later described it, "an inside
newspaperman's joke." ("One-fourth point for each year's
residence in Oak Ridge . . . five points for each accomplishment
of national or international interest . . . one point if picture
available . . . one point for being good-looking if picture is to
be used. . . .")
Dot was also a columnist, writing "Ridgemarole" weekly, her own
special insights, one memorable piece asking where, given all the
women with their hair in curlers she observed at the grocery
store, was the party, dance? Where were they all going and why
hadn't she been invited? There were others about outings with an
uncle in Washington, D.C. where she lived much of her childhood,
a kind of "Eloise" quality about them.
Dot was also a playwright, several of her scripts winners in
national and regional playwriting competition and one of them
produced at Carousel Theater at University of Tennessee in
Knoxville. She also authored skits that were part of the summer
"mellerdrammers" which Oak Ridge Playhouse produced at what was
once Oak Terrace in Grove Center.
Helen Knox, now of Pittsburgh who worked closely with Dot as an
Oak Ridger reporter, writes, "She had her very own versions of
human characteristics, foibles, attributes, weaknesses,
strengths, shortcomings. . . A different light shined on her so
that she saw things as no one else did."
Reflecting her unique sense of humor, she once submitted an
expense account: "Three peppermint candies @ 2 cents each in
order to cover up odor of Friday lunch beer before taking Girl
Scouts through office on tour." It is preserved even now in a
collage of early newsroom memorabilia that hangs in my Oak Ridger
office.
***
W. Buford Lewallen burst brightly onto the state's political
scene in the immediate post World War II years. An Air Force
veteran and successful young attorney in his home town of
Clinton, he was elected to the State Legislature, holding what
then was the floterial seat which Anderson and Morgan counties
shared. He then was named Speaker of the House, the youngest ever
to hold that post.
On his return to Clinton, where his family was prominent, he was
append judge of the Trial Justice Court, later known as the
General Sessions Court. Along with that judgeship he was also the
county's first Juvenile Court Judge, serving during years when
juvenile crime was a growing national as well as local concern.
During the Clinton integration crisis of the late summer of 1956,
he was one of the leaders of the "Home Guard" organized
expediently to maintain law and order amidst segregationist
rioting in opposition to the federal court-ordered admission of
black students to Clinton High School. One of the missions of the
Guard was to protect the homes of high school teachers and that
of then Clinton Mayor W. E. Lewallen, his father who was also
co-owner of Lewallen-Miller, then Clinton's leading department
store.
It is widely thought that the younger Lewallen's earlier career
as state representative, during which he became close friends
with then Gov. Frank Clement, was key to the governor's
willingness to order, first, the State Highway Patrol and then,
the next day, the Tennessee National Guard into Clinton to quell
the unrest.
***
Ruth Mae Grant Barton spent much -perhaps most - of her life
helping others in most meaningful ways: feeding the hungry,
housing the homeless or those in difficult domestic situations,
caring for children, offering comfort to the stressed.
Through her churches, Glenwood Baptist and First Baptist in Oak
Ridge, through the Clinton Baptist Association's Women Missionary
Union, the Prisoners Aid Society of Tennessee (she was among the
founders), through the CONTACT Helpline and simply by virtue of
her own caring, she did immense good in Oak Ridge and throughout
the surrounding rural areas.
It was her own family background - a childhood in impoverished
West Virginia - that drove her to help others, whether simply to
meet life's basic needs or, as she did herself against great odds
(the first of her family to graduate from college), to get a
proper education. A good person indeed. - RDS
*****************************************************************
42 Google News Alert - nuclear
Date: Tue, 6 Jan 2004 15:07:43 -0800
US welcomes N Korea nuclear offer
BBC News, UK
US Secretary of State Colin Powell has welcomed North Korea's offer to
suspend testing and producing nuclear weapons and freeze its nuclear industry.
...
LIBYA had Pakistani nuclear know - how - US official
Reuters AlertNet, UK
WASHINGTON, Jan 6 (Reuters) - Libya obtained nuclear weapons technology
from Pakistan, a key US anti-terror ally, but there was no sign Pakistan's
government ...
DEAN Weathers Nuclear Fallout
GOPUSA, TX
... his tenure as governor of Vermont, the Associated Press reports that
Democrat presidential front-runner Howard Dean was warned repeatedly,
both by the Nuclear ...
US Group Off to N.Korea, May Visit Nuclear Plant
Wired News
BEIJING (Reuters) - A group of prominent Americans set off for North Korea
Tuesday where it may be allowed to visit the Yongbyon nuclear complex,
believed to ...
DPRK demands friendly approach from US on nuclear issue
Xinhua, China
... United States should adopt a friendly attitude towards the efforts
by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) for a peaceful solution
to the nuclear ...
POWELL: US will pursue reports Pakistan gave Libya nuclear ...
WQAD, IL
Washington-AP -- The US will pursue reports that Pakistan provided Libya
with much of its nuclear technology. Secretary of State ... British
government: Libya was "on the way" to developing a ...
GOVERNMENT and Commercial Nuclear Industry Veteran Named ...
Business Wire (press release)
BOISE, Idaho--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 6, 2004--Washington Group International,
Inc. (Nasdaq:WGII) announced today that 38-year nuclear industry veteran
E ...
PAKISTANI experts helped Libya with nuclear weapons
Sydney Morning Herald, Australia
... source of the centrifuge design technology that made it possible for
Libya to make big strides in the past two years in enriching uranium for
use in nuclear ...
PAKISTAN Angrily Denies Nuclear Report
Atlanta Journal Constitution, GA
... that its scientists were the source of high-tech centrifuge design
technology to Libya, the latest in a series of allegations linking this
US ally's nuclear ...
WILL Korea's nuclear offer make a difference?
BBC News, UK
North Korea says it will suspend the testing and production of nuclear
weapons and freeze its nuclear industry in return for economic help from
the US and an ...
This once-a-day News Alert is brought to you by Google News (BETA)...
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43 ACBJ: BTU International sells nuclear fuel-making furnace for $2M
American City Business Journals
01/06/2004 10:30 AM
BTU International Inc., a North Billerica-based supplier of
thermal processing equipment for semiconductor packaging, surface
mount and advanced materials processing, has received an order
valued at more than $2 million for one of the company's Walking
Beam Furnaces designed for processing fuel for nuclear power
generation.
Ordered by an unnamed existing overseas user, the furnace is
expected to be delivered in the first half of 2004.
The BTU Walking Beam Furnace gets its name from the patented
conveying system that "walks" heavy product loads through the
high temperature processing chamber. BTU's patented eductor
technology, used in the furnace, enables uniform control of
temperatures up to 1,800 degrees Celsius.
"This repeat order for one of our largest and highest-temperature
processing systems is testament not only to our technological
leadership, but to our continuing strategy of providing
exceptional customer support. We remain committed to expanding
our leadership position as a provider of thermal processing
equipment to the nuclear fuel industry," said Mark R. Rosenzweig,
president and chief executive officer of BTU, in a statement.
Advertising All Rights Reserved. Mass
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*****************************************************************
44 EI: Gibbons' plan to sell public land for mining criticized
Elko Independent
Monday, January 05, 2004
Gibbons' plan to sell public land for mining criticized
FALLON, Nev. (AP) Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., and environmentalists
are clashing over his plan to sell public land in Nevada to two
mining companies that was announced after Christmas. Gibbons
maintains the plan would give a boost to the rural economy, but
environmentalists call it an end run on the nation's
environmental laws to the benefit of one special interest.
The bill calls for the sale of surface rights of roughly 60,000
acres to Placer Dome U.S. and Graymont Western U.S. and the
companies would then be required to provide roughly 20,000 acres
of private land to the federal government.
Gibbons, founder and co-chairman of the Congressional Mining
Caucus, was honored earlier this month by the Northwest Mining
Association for his distinguished service to the minerals
industry, including helping to repeal some Clinton-era
regulations.
His plan calls for the sale of various plots of federal land in
Elko, Eureka, Humboldt, Lander and White Pine counties to Placer
Dome U.S. Inc. or Graymont Western U.S. Inc.
The proposal would allow the companies to bypass what Gibbons
views as excessive red tape: the permitting process of the
National Environmental Policy Act.
Even mines on private land are subject to environmental
regulations but not through NEPA. Gibbons complained the NEPA
process takes several years and is subject to time-consuming
lawsuits.
"By eliminating that one step, the probability of permitting a
mine should increase, and the time frame should substantially
decrease,'' he told the Lahontan Valley News and Fallon Eagle
Standard newspaper.
But environmentalists said the NEPA process is an important step
that allows the public a chance to voice opinions.
"It's pretty transparent. What they're trying to do is take
public input out of the process,'' said Christie Whiteside, a
spokeswoman for the Great Basin Mine Watch environmental group.
"This is a direct attack on the people's right to have a say.''
Whiteside also decried the privatization of public lands to
placate corporate desires. Gibbons' proposal would earmark
mineral royalty payments to go toward the California Interpretive
Trail Center in Elko, the Bureau of Land Management's abandoned
mine reclamation program and the state's education fund.
In another unrelated case also involving Placer Dome and the
federal government, the Department of Energy recently announced
that it has identified two transportation corridors for
transportation of nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain. The second
choice route, known as the “Carlin Corridor,” is proposed to run
directly through Placer Dome’s mining operations in Crescent
Valley. During a pre-environmental impact statement hearing in
Crescent Valley several months ago, DOE officials were questioned
about the impact this route would have on Placer Dome. The DOE
officials responded that arrangements would be made with private
parties who owned land that would be impacted by the proposed
route.
Some of Gibbons' largest campaign contributions come from mining
companies, the Fallon newspaper reported.
Mining is the driving force of the rural economy, employing more
than 10,000 people directly and accounting for countless other
jobs. Nevada's second-largest industry is mining, and the state
is the world's third-biggest producer of gold behind only South
Africa and Australia.
Storied compiled from AP and Elko Independent staff reports.
*****************************************************************
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