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NUCLEAR POLICY
1 Attempt To Pin Nuclear WMD On Iraq?: Experts in Netherlands to Check
2 US: Sf Chronicle: Selling of a war
3 WorldNetDaily: Nuke 'yellowcake' from Iraq found?
4 The Australian: Double-whammy day awaits Blair
5 Las Vegas SUN: IAEA Says Iraq Likely Source of Material
6 AFP: North Korea does not want to be seen as stalling talks
7 Guardian Unlimited: Time on our side, Kim tells US
8 US: Las Vegas SUN: Editorial: Ensign takes high road on stalled ener
9 US: Waste News: Al Gore assails Bush administration´s environmental
10 Guardian Unlimited: Libya's black market deals shock nuclear inspect
11 War Wire: US dispatches diplomat to Libya ahead of IAEA consultation
12 REGIONAL FARE: India, Pak told to dismantle n-weapons
13 Las Vegas SUN: Russia, China Try to Broker Nuclear Talks
14 War Wire: Britain, US to meet with UN nuclear watchdog on Libya
NUCLEAR REACTORS
15 US: NRC: System Energy Resources, Inc; Notice of Hearing and Opportu
16 North County Times: Reactor shipment gets friction from Argentina
17 US: Brattleboro Reformer: Board hints at outside review of VY
18 US: wnbc.com Union: Nuclear Plant Workers Likely To Go On Strike
19 Sofia: Atomic Energy of Canada: Weight up Pros, Cons from Bulgaria's
20 War Wire: Hungarian nuclear plant, Framatome settle out of court ove
NUCLEAR SAFETY
21 [DU-WATCH] DU - Palestine
22 US: [RADFOOD] Take Action! Protect COOL!
23 [du-list] Depleted Uranium in the Aegean
24 NYT: Suspect Dutch Material Said to Be Uranium
25 US: Las Vegas SUN: Lung disease screenings available
26 US: Hawk Eye: Planned burning of IAAP buildings draw concerns
27 US: HollandSentinel.com: Grant will help buy radiation equipment
28 US: UCSC: New study shows exposure to depleted uranium
NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE
29 US: Panel says Energy Dept. can't justify relaxed testing of
30 US: [epa-impact] West Valley Demonstration Project Final Waste Manag
31 US: [epa-impact] List of Approved Spent Fuel Storage Casks: NAC-UMS
32 US: sacbee.com: Panel says Energy Department must test nuclear waste
33 Las Vegas RJ: Screening program started
34 Las Vegas RJ: EDITORIAL: Yucca goes to court
35 Las Vegas RJ: Lawyer relays good news, bad news on Yucca Mountain co
36 US: Baltimore Sun: Nuclear waste change opposed
37 Pahrump Valley Times: Nuke route a funny way to think
38 AU ABC: Reprocessed fuel rods found in N Korea.
39 Pahrump Valley Times: YUCCA MOUNTAIN Judges weigh state's case
NUCLEAR WEAPONS
US DEPT. OF ENERGY
40 DOE: Health Effects Subcommittee
41 DOE: Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board, Rocky
42 DOE: West Valley Demonstration Project Final Waste Management
43 North County Times: UC officials keep options open on weapons labs
44 El Paso Times: DOE sets meetings on permit changes
45 Tri-Valley Herald: UC allowed assistance to run labs
46 SF Chronicle: 2 UC regents push for in-depth talks on bidding to man
47 U.S. Newswire: DOE to Open New Lexington, Kentucky Program Office
48 Oak Ridger: Construction of uranium-related facilities may start in
49 Oak Ridger: CROET wins award from business magazine
50 Oak Ridger: Commissioner says he'll help get DOE money for county
51 Oak Ridger: Y-12 security review deemed 'pretty ugly'
52 Paducah Sun: Lexington opens DOE office
OTHER NUCLEAR
53 Google News Alert - nuclear
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1 Attempt To Pin Nuclear WMD On Iraq?: Experts in Netherlands to Check Box That Held Nuclear Material
Date: Fri, 16 Jan 2004 15:12:14 -0500
http://www.nytimes.com
http://snipurl.com/3vjj
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/16/international/eu
rope/16YELL.html
Experts in Netherlands to Check Box That Held
Nuclear Material
By GREGORY CROUCH
Published: January 16, 2004
IJMEGEN, the Netherlands, Jan. 15 - Nuclear
inspectors arrived in the Netherlands this week to
examine a shipping container from the Middle East
that was found to contain a small amount of
uranium oxide, a low-level radioactive material
that can be processed for use in a nuclear weapon.
Advertisement
Dutch officials confirmed Thursday that
representatives from the International Atomic
Energy Agency investigated the discovery of about
two pounds of uranium oxide, or yellowcake, found
last month inside a container at a scrap steel
company in Rotterdam.
Their findings have not been released.
A newspaper, the NRC Handelsblad, quoted an
official of Jewometaal Stainless Processing, where
the uranium oxide was discovered, as saying that
he was "99.9 percent certain that this stuff is
actually from Iraq" but officials of the Dutch
government were more guarded.
"The only thing I know for sure is that this
shipment was sent from Jordan," said Wim van der
Weegen, a spokesman for the Ministry of Housing,
Spatial Planning and the Environment. "Anything
beyond that is speculation."
Paul de Bruin, a spokesman for Jewometaal, told
the Associated Press that the shipment was handled
by a Jordanian exporter he has known for 15 years,
who insists the material was from Iraq.
Dutch officials said Jewometaal s employees and
nearby residents were never in any danger because
the uranium oxide was not highly radioactive.
Mr. van der Weegen said experts told him uranium
oxide has to be refined using sophisticated and
elaborate measures before it can be turned into
enriched uranium for possible use in nuclear
weapons.
Also, according to experts, Mr. van der Weegen
said, the amount of material discovered in
Rotterdam was too small to be of any use.
*****************************************************************
2 Sf Chronicle: Selling of a war
EDITORIAL
Tuesday, January 13, 2004 [San Francisco Chronicle]
"INTELLIGENCE gathered by this and other governments leaves no
doubt that the Iraq regime continues to possess and conceal some
of the most lethal weapons ever devised," said President Bush in
a national address on March 17, 2003.
A majority of Americans believed him. In fact, more than half the
public thought that Saddam Hussein not only had close links with
al Qaeda terrorist networks, but had a role in the terrorist
attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
But it was not true. The Bush administration used innuendo and
exaggerated evidence to persuade the American people that a
pre-emptive war against Iraq was necessary to protect the nation
from terrorism.
Now, the use of that distorted evidence is coming back to haunt
the Bush administration. Consider:
-- An extensive study by the nonpartisan Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace concluded that the Bush administration
"systematically misrepresented" intelligence assessments to the
American people.
-- The U.S. Army's premier academic institution, the War College,
issued a scathing report, criticizing the Bush administration for
pursuing an "unnecessary" war in Iraq that has left the Army
"near the breaking point." Authored by Jeffrey Record, a visiting
professor at the Air War College at Maxwell Air Force Base in
Alabama, the report argued that Iraq was "a war-of- choice
distraction from the war of necessity'' against al Qaeda.
-- Former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill, fired by Bush for
opposing a second round of tax cuts, now says that shortly after
taking office, senior Bush administration officials began to plan
for regime change in Iraq. In "The Price of Loyalty," written by
former Wall Street Journal reporter and Pulitzer prize-winner Ron
Suskind, O'Neill argues that neither Bush nor his senior
officials questioned why a war against Iraq was necessary;
instead, they discussed how to make it happen.
-- Kenneth Pollack, a former national security official in the
Clinton administration and author of "The Threatening Storm: The
Case for Invading Iraq," wrote in Atlantic magazine that
estimates of Iraq's capabilities to build weapons of mass
destruction were hugely exaggerated.
-- Barton Gellman, who interviewed key Iraqi scientists and
members of American weapons search teams, reported in the
Washington Post that sanctions and arms embargoes had ended
Iraq's efforts to produce weapons of mass destruction.
These recent reports and revelations are clearly unsettling to
people who have trusted their president. But they do support the
many defense analysts and experts who, before the war, argued
that Iraq did not represent an imminent danger to the United
States.
We support the Carnegie report's call for an independent
commission to investigate the administration's alleged misuse of
intelligence evidence. If this really was a "war of choice," the
American people have a right to hold their government
accountable. ·
©2004 San Francisco Chronicle
*****************************************************************
3 WorldNetDaily: Nuke 'yellowcake' from Iraq found?
JANUARY 16 2004
IAEA probing discovery of uranium oxide in shipment of scrap
steel
Posted: January 16, 2004
A shipment of scrap steel believed to be from Iraq contains
radioactive material known as yellowcake, according to a
recycling company in the Netherlands.
The shipment was passed on from a Jordanian metal dealer who
claims he was unaware it included uranium oxide, the Associated
Press reported.
The material, which can be used to make nuclear weapons, was at
the center of a controversy last year over President Bush's
reference in his State of the Union address to a report Iraq was
seeking to purchase it in Africa.
Key documents supporting the claim were found later to be
forgeries, but the U.S. said its original information about the
alleged attempt to buy yellowcake from Niger came from British
intelligence. The UK's Foreign Office still stands on its claim.
Paul de Bruin, spokesman for Rotterdam-based Jewometaal, told the
AP he has dealt with the Jordanian dealer for 15 years, and the
man is convinced the material came from Iraq. De Bruin has been
told to not reveal the dealer's name, however, because the find
is being investigated.
Uranium oxide is not highly radioactive, experts say, but with
advanced technology can be processed into enriched uranium,
suitable for a nuclear weapon.
The Dutch Environment Ministry confirmed yesterday Jewometaal
reported the find Dec. 16, the AP said.
The International Atomic Energy Agency visited Rotterdam
Wednesday but had no further comment, the newswire reported.
Environment Ministry spokesman Wim Van der Weegen said the
material was discovered in a small steel industrial container
used to connect pipes or electrical wires.
Dr. Alan Ketering, a researcher at the nuclear research plant at
the University of Missouri-Columbia, told the AP yellowcake has
no non-nuclear industrial use. It would be strange to find it in
random scrap metal, he said.
[WorldNetDaily.com]
webmaster@worldnetdaily.com
*****************************************************************
4 The Australian: Double-whammy day awaits Blair
17 January 2004
By Peter Wilson, Europe correspondent
TONY Blair faces the most nervous 24 hours of his six years as
British Prime Minister following the announcement that the two
biggest issues hanging over his Government will come to a head at
almost the same time later this month.
Senior judge Brian Hutton said yesterday he would release his
report into the apparent suicide of weapons scientist David Kelly
on January 28, less than a day after Mr Blair faces a backbench
revolt against his plan to impose new fees on university
students.
The Hutton inquiry has been one of the biggest controversies
faced by the Labour Government since its election in 1997. Lord
Hutton might criticise Mr Blair, his Defence Secretary Geoff
Hoon, the BBC and senior public servants over their events
leading up to Kelly's death.
But the timing of the report's release will actually help the
Government on the crucial university fees votes which begin at
7pm the previous night, because many wavering MPs may feel they
have to back their leader on the eve of the Hutton report.
The revolt by left-leaning Labour MPs could see the defeat of the
proposed new university fees, which have much in common with
Australia's university funding system, because the Conservatives
are also opposed to the planned user-pays system.
Mr Blair yesterday increased the pressure on Labour MPs to rally
behind him by deliberately lifting the stakes over the university
fees debate, on which a defeat could force a vote of
no-confidence on his leadership.
"There is no point in doing the job (of Prime Minister) unless
you carry these things through, and that's why we will do it," he
said.
Barring any major shocks the Hutton report is unlikely to cost Mr
Blair his job, with the William Hill betting agency yesterday
saying there was only a 20-1 chance of him resigning by the end
of the month.
Liberal Democrat frontbencher Menzies Campbell said yesterday
that Mr Blair faced "the biggest week in the history of this
Government". But Sir Menzies's own party leader, Charles Kennedy,
played down the chances the Hutton report would cost Mr Blair his
job.
"I think there will be legitimate criticism of government
decision-making processes and of the BBC," he said. "Whether
that's a resignation issue, I think we are quite a long way from
that."
Kelly slashed his wrists in July after being named by the
Government as the source of a contentious BBC radio news report
which accused the Government of "sexing up" its dossier on Iraq's
nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.
© The Australian
*****************************************************************
5 Las Vegas SUN: IAEA Says Iraq Likely Source of Material
Today: January 16, 2004 at 9:10:13 PST
By TOBY STERLING ASSOCIATED PRESS
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) - The U.S. nuclear watchdog confirmed
Friday that Iraq was the likely source of radioactive material
known as yellowcake that was found in a shipment of scrap metal
at Rotterdam harbor.
Yellowcake, or uranium oxide, could be used to build a nuclear
weapon, although it would take tons of the substance refined with
sophisticated technology to harvest enough uranium for a single
bomb.
A spokeswoman for the International Atomic Energy Agency said the
Rotterdam specimen was scarcely refined at all from natural
uranium ore and may have come from a known mine in Iraq that was
active before the 1991 Gulf War.
"I wouldn't hype it too much," said spokeswoman Melissa Fleming.
"It was a small amount and it wasn't being peddled as a sample."
The yellowcake was uncovered Dec. 16 by Rotterdam-based scrap
metal company Jewometaal, which had received it in a shipment of
scrap metal from a dealer in Jordan.
Company spokesman Paul de Bruin said the Jordanian dealer didn't
know that the scrap metal contained any radioactive material. He
said the dealer was confident the yellowcake, which was contained
in a small steel industrial container, came from Iraq.
Jewometaal detected the radioactive material during a routine
scan and called in the Dutch government, which in turn asked the
IAEA to examine it.
Fleming said the agency will compare the chemical composition of
the sample to other samples of ore taken from Iraq's al-Qaim
mine, which was bombed in 1991 and dismantled in 1996-97.
She estimated that the Rotterdam sample contained around 5 1/2
pounds of uranium oxide.
President Bush came under heavy criticism last year when he
asserted in his State of the Union address that Iraq was shopping
in Africa for uranium yellowcake - intelligence that turned out
to be based on forged documents.
--
*****************************************************************
6 AFP: North Korea does not want to be seen as stalling talks
: ex-US official
WASHINGTON (AFP) Jan 16, 2004
A former US envoy who was last week shown North Korea's
controversial nuclear complex said the United States can still
talk the regime out of building nuclear weapons.
Jack Pritchard, a past negotiator with North Korea, would not say
whether he had seen material that could be used in making bombs.
But he said: "There was some practical discussion that focused on
forging a deal in six-nation talks, which include the United
States."
"They don't want to be seen as the obstacle to six-party talks."
Pritchard was part of an unofficial delegation that was shown an
empty holding pond at the North's Yongbyon plant that once
contained 8,000 spent nuclear fuel rods.
But he would not say whether North Korea had shown them nuclear
bomb-making materials or what had happened to the rods.
"The North Koreans said they had moved them for reprocessing"
into plutonium, he said. Plutonium is needed for a nuclear
weapon.
"I continue to believe that they have a (highly enriched uranium)
program," he said.
Pritchard deferred to Siegfried Hecker, former director of the
nuclear Los Alamos National Laboratory, who was also on the trip
and who is to speak to Congress Tuesday. Pritchard said Hecker
had briefed Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham.
Pritchard spoke at the Brookings Institution, a Washington
think-tank, about his five-day trip with Hecker and three others
to North Korea.
Pritchard was present at a October 2002 meeting when the United
States said North Korea admitted to having a clandestine
enrichment program. That admission sparked the latest nuclear
standoff.
The United States said North Korea had breached a 1994 agreement
in which it had agreed to abandon its nuclear weapons program in
exchange for fuel oil and two light-water reactors.
North Korea demanded a US promise of non-aggression. Six-nation
talks between China, the United States, the two Koreas, Russia
and Japan were held in August but ended inconclusively.
John Lewis, a scholar at Stanford University, led the unofficial
delegation to Pyongyang. Congressional staffers Frank Jannuzi and
Keith Luse were also on the trip.
Pritchard said that during the visit, North Korean Vice Foreign
Minister Kim Gae Gwan denied that Pyongyang did not have a
program, the equipment or the scientists to create the enriched
uranium needed for a bomb.
Pritchard said Kim warned him: "Time is not on your side."
"'As time goes by, we are increasing our arsenal,' is their
message," Pritchard said.
North Korea offered recently to freeze its nuclear weapons drive
in return for concessions, including an end to US sanctions and a
resumption of energy aid. Washington is holding out for a
commitment from Pyongyang to scrap its nuclear programs.
Pritchard said he asked North Korean officials what it would take
to satisfy the United States.
"They did not say what the price tag was," he said.
WAR.WIRE
*****************************************************************
7 Guardian Unlimited: Time on our side, Kim tells US
Jonathan Watts in Beijing
Saturday January 17, 2004
The Guardian
Scientists and diplomatic experts from the US have confirmed that
North Korea's Yongbyon nuclear plant is operational and its spent
fuel rods have been removed from a storage pool.
The findings, which will raise concerns about North Korea's
ability to reprocess nuclear fuel into weapons grade material,
were released after the first foreign visit to Yongbyon since the
start of the year-long crisis.
Jack Pritchard, a former state department diplomat who was among
the unofficial delegation, said he had been warned by the North
Korean vice-foreign minister, Kim Kye Gwan, that "time is not on
the US side".
Speaking in Washington after a debriefing, Mr Pritchard quoted Mr
Kim as saying: "The lapse of time will result in the quantitative
and qualitative increase in our nuclear deterrent."
The world's last cold war standoff entered a new and dangerous
phase in October 2002 when US officials said North Korea had
admitted to a secret uranium enrichment programme.
Despite China's efforts to broker a compromise, Pyongyang and
Washington have been unable to find sufficient common ground to
set the date for a new round of six-country peace talks.
The Bush administration insists that North Korea must "verifiably
and irrevocably" scrap its nuclear weapons programme before it
will be provided with a security guarantee and economic aid.
North Korea is demanding "simultaneous steps" - equivalent, it
says, to both Washington and Pyongyang lowering their guns at the
same time.
Guardian Newspapers Limited
*****************************************************************
8 Las Vegas SUN: Editorial: Ensign takes high road on stalled energy bill
We agreed with every criticism that Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev.,
unleashed against the energy bill last year as Congress debated
its merits. Ensign noted that the bill, crafted in secret by Vice
President Dick Cheney and representatives from private energy
corporations, had numerous flaws. We agreed that the bill is
laden with unnecessary spending and that its huge subsidies for
the nuclear power industry are highly objectionable --
particularly when the plan for deadly nuclear waste is to dump it
at Yucca Mountain in Southern Nevada.
We were concerned, however, when Ensign voted on Nov. 21 to end
the Senate's filibuster of the bill. Passed easily by the House,
the bill would have passed in the Senate, too, if not for the
filibuster, which is supported by Nevada's Democratic Sen. Harry
Reid. Fortunately, the move to end the filibuster came up short
by three votes. This week Ensign said that he will not support
any new efforts to break the filibuster and will work against the
energy bill in all ways available to him. We agree with his new
stand and respect him for making a difficult decision to part
with the sizable majority in his party in order to work for what
is best for both Nevada and the country's energy future.
*****************************************************************
9 Waste News: Al Gore assails Bush administration´s environmental policies
NEW YORK (Jan. 16) -- Former Vice President Al Gore, who lost a
bitterly contested presidential campaign to George Bush four
years ago, called Bush a "moral coward" during a Jan. 15 speech
and attacked the administration´s environmental policies.
Gore, speaking in New York City, accused Bush of reneging on a
campaign promise to regulate emissions of carbon dioxide, a
greenhouse gas, from power plants and industrial sources.
He also accused the administration of ignoring scientific
evidence and participating with the business community in a
"massive disinformation campaign" using "pseudo science" to
mislead the public by downplaying the threat of global warming
and the impact of carbon dioxide emissions.
"It seems at times as if the Bush-Cheney administration is
wholly owned by the coal, oil, utility and mining industry," Gore
said. "While President Bush likes to project an image of strength
and courage, the real truth is that in the presence of his large
financial contributors, he is a moral coward so weak that he
seldom if ever says no to anything that they want to do, no
matter what the public interest at stake is."
Gore was speaking at a gathering organized by Moveon.org, a
political activist group that is opposing Bush´s re-election.
Gore delivered his speech during of one of New York City´s most
severe winter cold spells in decades.
Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., who has previously said that global
warming may prove to be a hoax, said after Gore´s speech that
only 30 years ago the scientific community expressed concerns
about whether the Earth´s surface was cooling. Now the threat is
from warming.
"What this shows is that, at times, emotion, politics,
shortsightedness, and alarmism can overwhelm objectivity," Inhofe
said. "Legislators must filter out these influences and follow
the best science when crafting public policy."
Rep. C.L. "Butch" Otter, R-Idaho, also defended Bush´s
environmental policies as striking a common-sense balance between
environmental concerns and national security and economic
concerns.
"We all want clean water, clean air, pristine vistas and an
unspoiled legacy for our children and grandchildren," Otter said.
"But we also need to make a living, put food on the table and pay
our taxes. Luckily, President Bush recognizes those realities,
and his environmental policies reflect them."
Otter criticized Democrats for standing in the way of
environmental progress. "While blasting the president for not
toeing the traditional environmentalist line, Mr. Gore´s
obstructionist allies in the Senate are standing in the way of a
comprehensive national energy policy that includes progress on
wind, solar and hydrogen research, the next generation of nuclear
reactors, clean-coal technology and other real-world solutions,"
Otter said.
Ed Gillespie, Republican National Committee chairman, accused
Gore of negative politics. "Like the Democrat presidential
candidates, Al Gore has once again chosen to use his time at the
podium to attack the president rather than put forward a positive
agenda of his own," Gillespie said.
Entire contents copyright 2004 by Crain Communications Inc.
*****************************************************************
10 Guardian Unlimited: Libya's black market deals shock nuclear inspectors
Ian Traynor in Vienna
Saturday January 17, 2004
The Guardian
Colonel Muammar Gadafy of Libya has been buying complete sets of
uranium enrichment centrifuges on the international black market
as the central element in his secret nuclear bomb programme,
according to United Nations nuclear inspectors.
The ease with which the complex bomb-making equipment was
acquired has stunned experienced international inspectors. The
scale and the sophistication of the networks supplying so-called
rogue states seeking nuclear weapons are considerably more
extensive than previously believed.
The purchase of full centrifuges, either assembled or in parts,
marks a radical departure in what is on offer on the black
market, sources said. While it is not yet clear where Col Gadafy
obtained the centrifuge systems, at least 1,000 machines,
believed to have been made in Malaysia, were seized last October
by the Italian authorities on a German ship bound for Libya.
Diplomatic sources familiar with the results of a recent visit to
Libya by nuclear experts from the International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA) said the Gadafy bomb programme differed in crucial
respects from nuclear projects in Iran, Iraq or North Korea.
"What was found in Libya marks a new stage in proliferation,"
said one knowledgeable source. "Libya was buying what was
available. And what is available, the centrifuges, are close to
turnkey facilities. That's a new challenge. Libya was buying
something that's ready to wear."
As the climax to nine months of secret negotiations with British
and US intelligence, Col Gadafy announced last month that he was
renouncing his weapons of mass destruction programmes after
purchasing what sources said were "a few thousand" centrifuges
for enriching uranium to weapons grade.
Another well-placed source said: "We all now realise there is
this extraordinarily developed and sophisticated market out there
enabling anyone to get this centrifuge equipment."
Mohammed El Baradei, the IAEA chief, visited Libya a couple of
weeks ago to view the Libyan equipment and take charge of the
upcoming effort to dismantle the Libyan bomb programme. He
described the experience as "an eye-opener".
A centrifuge is made up of hundreds of separate components.
Typically, a country covertly seeking the uranium enrichment
technology will seek to cover its tracks by obtaining a design
blueprint and then purchasing the varied components separately
from different suppliers.
The German ship was seized by Italians after a tip-off from the
CIA. Knowledgeable sources said the centrifuges on board were
"made-to-order" in Malaysia for Libya, based on designs directly
or indirectly from Pakistan.
While US government sources have claimed that the seizure
persuaded Col Gadafy to do his deal with Washington and London,
diplomats and analysts closely following the nuclear trade are
convinced that the ship was impounded because of information
provided by the Libyans.
According to this version circulating in Vienna, headquarters of
the IAEA, Col Gadafy told the CIA about the shipment as a
goodwill gesture to convince the Americans and the British that
he was committed to the deal being negotiated.
A Finnish expert leading the IAEA investigations into the Libyan
and Iranian nuclear projects has so far been denied access to the
equipment impounded by the Italians, apparently because of the
tug-of-war between the Americans and the Vienna agency over how
to dismantle the Libyan programme.
Senior US and British officials are due in Vienna on Monday to
negotiate with Dr El Baradei over how to proceed in Tripoli. The
Americans will be led by John Bolton, the hawk in charge of
nuclear proliferation issues at the State Department. He has a
reputation for scorning the UN agencies and his officials
disparaged the El Baradei trip to Tripoli as a publicity stunt.
Guardian Newspapers Limited
*****************************************************************
11 War Wire: US dispatches diplomat to Libya ahead of IAEA consultations
WAR.WIRE
WASHINGTON (AFP) Jan 16, 2004
The United States has dispatched a diplomat to Tripoli to
prepare for visits by US and British arms inspectors who will
assist Libya in meeting its pledge to dismantle its weapons of
mass destruction programs, diplomatic sources said Friday.
The diplomat, a mid-level State Department official who
specializes in the Middle East, arrived in Libya earlier this
week to begin the groundwork needed for the inspection teams, the
sources told AFP on condition of anonymity.
"We understand this is purely advance work that will involve
logistics, not policy, not inspections, not verification," said
one source.
A second source said the diplomat had arrived in Tripoli on
Tuesday to help with "facilitating" visits to Libya by the larger
teams that are expected to included between 12 and 15 people.
The State Department would neither confirm nor deny that the
diplomat was on the ground, but spokesman Richard Boucher said US
officials would travel to Libya occasionally as the disarmament
process continues.
"From time to time, we will send people into Libya to help in
that work, but I am not going to have any details on specific
travel for you," he told reporters.
Boucher did say that the top US diplomat for arms control, John
Bolton, would attend a meeting on Monday with the head of the
International Atomic Energy Agency to discuss its role in dealing
with Libya's nuclear weapons program.
Bolton and his British counterpart William Ehrman are to see IAEA
chief Mohamed ElBaradei in a bid to end what appears to be a turf
battle over Libya between the UN atomic watchdog and Washington
and London which negotiated the disarmament agreement with
Tripoli in secret talks last year.
Bolton "looks forward to productive meetings with the director
general and anticipates he'll have progress in ensuring our
cooperation between the IAEA and the United States and the United
Kingdom and Libya," Boucher said.
Bolton also expects to ensure "that the trilateral elimination of
mass destruction initiative proceeds smoothly," Boucher added,
referring to the US-British-Libyan agreement that was reached
without IAEA involvement.
US officials have privately expressed concerns that the IAEA,
with which they had disagreements in the run-up to the war in
Iraq, might try to exceed its mandate in Libya and are insisting
that US and British experts take the lead in verifying Tripoli's
pledge.
But the IAEA has been adamant that it is the sole agency
monitoring nuclear proliferation, according to diplomats in
Vienna where the agency is based.
Earlier Friday in Vienna, IAEA spokesman Mark Gwozdecky said
consultations between the agency, the United States and Britain
was ongoing.
"We are coordinating closely with the British, US and other
governments to ensure a common understanding or our respective
operational roles with regard to Libya's implementation of its
bilateral and international commitments for the elimination of
its WMD and related capabilities," he said.
WAR.WIRE
*****************************************************************
12 REGIONAL FARE: India, Pak told to dismantle n-weapons
NT Bureau
Chennai, Jan 16:
India and Pakistan should take steps to destroy its
nuclear arsenals in order to make the South Asian region as a
nuclear weapons- free region, John Hallam, head, Nuclear
Disarmament, Friends of the Earth (FoE), has said.
Speaking to mediapersonsTuesday at Chennai Press Club,
Hallam said FoE was a Australia- based non- governmental
organisation (NGO) which had been working on various issues like
nuclear arsenals that would directly affect the people. In the
present context, he said, after the South Asian Association for
Regional Cooperation (SAARC) meeting that was held recently in
Islamabad, both New Delhi and Islamabad had decided to hold
regular talks. So, this was the right time for them to take a
decision on dismantling nuclear weapons from the sub- continent.
It would also help in making the entire sub- continent as world's
safest place to live in.
Referring to his letters that he had wrote to the heads
of both the countries on nuclear disarmament, the Australian
peace activist noted that he had sent his first letter way back
in 1998 and the second letter recently. However, he said, 'there
was no official response from both the countries to these
letters.'
Further, he stressed on disclosing to public the safety
aspects taken by both the nations in their respective nuclear
power plants. 'Every thing related to safety aspects of nuclear
power plants should be disclosed to public by the government.
They (people) have the right to know on the safety aspects of the
power plants'. To disclose these details and to dismantle nuclear
weapons as a whole, he said heads of both the nations need a
political will in taking a decision on it.
*****************************************************************
13 Las Vegas SUN: Russia, China Try to Broker Nuclear Talks
Return to the .
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Today: January 16, 2004 at 11:45:18 PST
Russia, China Try to Broker Nuclear Talks
By HANS GREIMEL
ASSOCIATED PRESS
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -
Russia and China tried to broker new talks on the North Korean
nuclear crisis Friday amid warnings from Pyongyang that every
delay gives the communist nation more time to build a bigger and
better atomic arsenal.
South Korea, meanwhile, chose a new foreign minister, restoring
stability to its diplomatic corps after an upheaval over how to
balance relations with North Korea and the United States,
Seoul's biggest ally.
Ban Ki-moon, a 60-year-old former vice foreign minister, was
named new top diplomat after Yoon Young-kwan rattled the nation
Thursday by resigning.
Yoon's departure was seen as bolstering the influence of
presidential aides who preach greater independence from the
United States.
Vowing not to "kowtow" to Washington, President Roh Moo-hyun
took office last year promising greater openness to the North.
Ban, a 60-year-old career diplomat, served as vice foreign
minister in the government of Roh's predecessor, former
President Kim Dae-jung, who initiated the "sunshine" policy of
seeking reconciliation with North Korea.
National Security Adviser Ra Jong-Yil said Thursday that Ban's
appointment was "not going to affect our alliance" with the
United States, adding that "there is not going to be much
difference" in the administration's foreign policy.
Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov returned from a two-day
visit to Beijing on Friday and said China and Moscow were trying
to encourage dialogue between North Korea and the United States.
But, Ivanov added, Russia and China were not planning any joint
action on North Korea's nuclear program other than coordinating
efforts on the six-nation talks, the Interfax news agency
reported.
The United States, China, Russia, Japan and the two Koreas have
been trying for months to restart another round of six-nation
talks on persuading North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons
program. A first round ended in Beijing in August without much
progress.
Ivanov said China and Russia want to work toward a nuclear-free
Korean peninsula.
The developments come a day after an American who recently
visited North Korea said he was told that the communist
government sees every delay in negotiations as a chance to
strengthen its "nuclear deterrent."
Charles Pritchard, a former State Department official, met the
North Koreans last week as part of a private visit that included
a trip with American colleagues to the country's main nuclear
site at Yongbyon.
Speaking Thursday in Washington, Pritchard said he was told by
North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan: "Lapses of time
will result in quantitative and qualitative increases in our
nuclear deterrent.
"Time is not on the U.S. side," Kim reportedly said.
North Korea has insisted it needs nuclear weapons as a deterrent
against a possible U.S. attack. But it says it will freeze its
nuclear programs as a first step in talks if Washington lifts
sanctions against the North, resumes oil shipments, and removes
North Korea from the U.S. State Department's list of countries
that sponsor terrorism.
The United States has responded that North Korea must first
verifiably begin dismantling its nuclear programs before
receiving any concessions.
The nuclear dispute flared in October 2002 when U.S. officials
accused North Korea of running a secret nuclear program in
violation of a 1994 deal requiring the North to freeze its
nuclear facilities. Washington and its allies have since cut off
free oil shipments, also part of the 1994 accord.
--
*****************************************************************
14 War Wire: Britain, US to meet with UN nuclear watchdog on Libya
WAR.WIRE
VIENNA (AFP) Jan 16, 2004
High-level British and US government officials and technical
experts are to meet in Vienna on Monday with the UN nuclear
watchdog to discuss monitoring Libya's promise to dismantle its
programs to develop weapons of mass destruction, Vienna-based
diplomats said.
They did not provide details.
Officials of the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy
Agencyrefused to comment on the report.
But IAEA spokesman Mark Gwozdecky told AFP: "We are coordinating
closely with the British, US and other governments to ensure a
common understanding or our respective operational roles with
regard to Libya's implementation of its bilateral and
international commitments for the elimination of its WMD (weapons
of mass destruction) and related capabilities.
"Discussions are continuing over the coming days," Gwozdecky
said.
WAR.WIRE
*****************************************************************
15 NRC: System Energy Resources, Inc; Notice of Hearing and Opportunity
FR Doc 04-682
[Federal Register: January 16, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 11)]
[Notices] [Page 2636-2637] From the Federal Register Online via
GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr16ja04-110]
To Petition for Leave To Intervene Early Site Permit for the
Grand Gulf ESP Site Pursuant to the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as
amended (the Act), and the regulations in Title 10 of the Code of
Federal Regulations, Part 50, Domestic Licensing of Production
and Utilization Facilities, Part 52, Early Site Permits, Standard
Design Certifications, and Combined Licenses for Nuclear Power
Plants, and Part 2, Rules of Practice for Domestic Licensing
Proceedings and Issuance of Orders, notice is hereby given that a
hearing will be held, at a time and place to be set in the future
by the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC, the
Commission) or designated Atomic Safety and Licensing Board
(Board). The hearing will consider the application dated October
16, 2003, filed by System Energy Resources, Inc.
(SERI), a subsidiary of Entergy Corporation, pursuant to Subpart
A of 10 CFR Part 52 for an early site permit (ESP). The
application requests approval of a site for which it has 90
percentage ownership in Claiborne County, Mississippi,
approximately 25 miles south of Vicksburg, Mississippi, 6 miles
northwest of Port Gibson, Mississippi, and 37 miles
north-northeast of Natchez, Mississippi, as a location for one or
more new nuclear reactors that would, if authorized for
construction and operation in a separate licensing proceeding
under Subpart C of 10 CFR Part 52 or under 10 CFR Part 50, have a
capacity of no more than 8600 Megawatts (thermal) additional for
the site.
SERI has the exclusive rights to develop the Grand Gulf site
property outside the existing power plant and support facilities.
South Mississippi Electric Power Association maintains a 10
percentage ownership interest in the property associated with the
existing Grand Gulf Nuclear Station power plant and support
facilities. The docket number established for this application is
52-009.
The hearing will be conducted by a Board which will be designated
by the Chairman of the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel or
by the Commission. Notice as to the membership of the Board will
be published in the Federal Register at a later date.
The NRC staff will complete a detailed technical review of the
application and will document its findings in a safety evaluation
report (SER) and an environmental impact statement (EIS). In
addition, the Commission will refer a copy of the application to
the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS) in accordance
with 10 CFR 52.23, and the ACRS will report on those portions of
the application that concern safety. Upon receipt of the ACRS
report and completion of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)
staff's SER and EIS, the Director, Office of Nuclear Reactor
Regulation, NRC, will propose findings on the following issues:
Issues Pursuant to the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as Amended (1)
Whether the issuance of an ESP will be inimical to the common
defense and security or to the health and safety of the public
(Safety Issue 1); and, (2) whether, taking into consideration the
site criteria contained in 10 CFR Part 100, a reactor, or
reactors, having characteristics that fall within the parameters
for the site, can be constructed and operated without undue risk
to the health and safety of the public (Safety Issue 2).
Issue Pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of
1969, as Amended Whether, in accordance with the requirements of
Subpart A of 10 CFR Part 51, the ESP should be issued as
proposed.
The Board will conduct the hearing in accordance with Subpart G
of 10 CFR Part 2. If the hearing is contested as defined by 10
CFR 2.4, the presiding officer will consider Safety Issues 1 and
2 and the issue pursuant to NEPA set forth above.
If the hearing is not a contested proceeding as defined by 10 CFR
2.4, the presiding officer will determine: whether the
application and the record of the proceeding contain sufficient
information, and the review of the application by the
Commission's staff has been adequate to support a negative
finding on Safety Issue 1 above, and an affirmative finding on
Safety Issue 2 above, as proposed to be made by the Director,
Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation; and whether the review
conducted by the Commission pursuant to NEPA has been adequate.
Regardless of whether the proceeding is contested or uncontested,
the presiding officer will: (1) Determine whether the
requirements of Section 102(2) (A), (C), and (E) of NEPA and
Subpart A of 10 CFR Part 51 have been complied with in the
proceeding; (2) independently consider the final balance among
the conflicting factors contained in the record of the proceeding
with a view to determining the appropriate action to be taken;
and (3) determine, after considering reasonable alternatives,
whether the ESP should be issued, denied, or appropriately
conditioned to protect environmental values.
In accordance with 10 CFR 2.714, any person whose interest may be
affected by this proceeding and who desires to participate as a
party shall file a written petition for leave to intervene.
Petitions must set forth with particularity the interest of the
petitioner in the proceeding, how that interest may be affected
by the results of the proceeding, including the reasons why the
petitioner should be permitted to intervene with particular
reference to the factors set forth in 10 CFR 2.714(d)(1), and the
specific aspect or aspects of the subject matter of the
proceeding as to which the petitioner wishes to intervene.
The Commission, the presiding officer, or the Atomic Safety and
Licensing Board designated to rule on petitions to intervene
shall, in ruling on petitions to intervene, consider the
following factors, among other things: (1) The nature of the
petitioner's right under the Act to be made a party to the
proceeding, (2) the nature and extent of the petitioner's
property, financial, or other interest in the proceeding, and (3)
the possible effect of any order that may be entered in the
proceeding on the petitioner's interest.
All such petitions must be filed no later than 30 days from the
date of publication of this notice in the Federal Register.
Nontimely filings will not be entertained absent a determination
by the Commission, the presiding officer, or the Atomic Safety
and Licensing Board designated to rule on the petition, that the
petition should be granted based upon a balancing of the factors
specified in 10 CFR 2.714(a)(1)(i)-(v). The Board will convene a
special prehearing conference of the parties to the proceeding
and persons who have filed petitions for leave to intervene, or
their counsel, to be held at such times as may be appropriate, at
a place to be set by the Board for the purpose of dealing with
the matters specified in 10 CFR 2.751a. Notice of this special
prehearing conference will be published in the Federal Register.
The Board will
[[Page 2637]] convene a prehearing conference of the parties, or
their counsel, to be held subsequent to any special prehearing
conference, after discovery has been completed, or within such
other time as may be appropriate, at a time and place to be set
by the Board for the purpose of dealing with the matters
specified in 10 CFR 2.752. Not later than fifteen (15) days prior
to the holding of the special prehearing conference pursuant to
Sec. 2.751a, or if no special prehearing conference is held,
fifteen (15) days prior to the holding of the first prehearing
conference, the petitioner shall file a supplement to his or her
petition to intervene that must include a list of the contentions
which petitioner seeks to have litigated in the hearing. A
petitioner who fails to file a supplement that satisfies the
requirements of 10 CFR 2.714(b)(2) with respect to at least one
contention will not be permitted to participate as a party.
Additional time for filing the supplement may be granted based
upon a balancing of the factors in 10 CFR 2.714(a)(1). Each
contention must consist of a specific statement of the issue of
law or fact to be raised or controverted. In addition, the
petitioner shall provide the following information with respect
to each contention: (1) A brief explanation of the bases of the
contention, (2) a concise statement of the alleged facts or
expert opinion which support the contention and on which the
petitioner intends to rely in proving the contention at the
hearing, together with references to those specific sources and
documents of which the petitioner is aware and on which the
petitioner intends to rely to establish those facts or expert
opinion, and (3) sufficient information (which may include
information pursuant to 10 CFR 2.714(b)(2)(i) and (ii)) to show
that a genuine dispute exists with the applicant on a material
issue of law or fact. This showing must include references to the
specific portions of the application (including the applicant's
environmental report and safety report) that the petitioner
disputes and the supporting reasons for each dispute, or, if the
petitioner believes that the application fails to contain
information on a relevant matter as required by law, the
identification of each failure and the supporting reasons for the
petitioner's belief. On issues arising under NEPA, the petitioner
shall file contentions based on the applicant's environmental
report.
The petitioner can amend those contentions or file new
contentions if there are data or conclusions in the NRC draft or
final EIS, or any supplements relating thereto, that differ
significantly from the data or conclusions in the applicant's
document.
The Commission, the presiding officer, or the Atomic Safety and
Licensing Board designated to rule on petitions to intervene
shall, in ruling on the admissibility of a contention, refuse to
admit a contention if: (1) The contention and supporting material
fail to satisfy the requirements of 10 CFR 2.714(b)(2); or (2)
the contention, if proven, would be of no consequence in the
proceeding because it would not entitle petitioner to relief.
A person permitted to intervene becomes a party to the
proceeding, subject to any limitations imposed pursuant to 10 CFR
2.714(f). Unless otherwise expressly provided in the order
allowing intervention, the granting of a petition for leave to
intervene does not change or enlarge the issues specified in the
notice of hearing.
Petitions for leave to intervene may be filed by delivery to the
NRC Public Document Room at One White Flint North, 11555
Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852-2738, or by mail
addressed to the Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission,
Washington, DC 20555- 0001; Attention: Rulemakings and
Adjudication Staff. Because of the continuing disruptions in
delivery of mail to United States Government offices, it is also
requested that petitions for leave to intervene be transmitted to
the Secretary of the Commission either by facsimile transmission
to 301-415-1101 or by e-mail to . A copy of the petition should
also be sent to the Assistant General Counsel for Reactor
Programs, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC
20555-0001, Joseph L. Blount, Entergy Nuclear, 1340 Echelon
Parkway, Jackson, Mississippi, 39213, and to Mark J. Wetterhahn,
Esquire, Winston & Strawn LLP, 1400 L Street, NW., Washington, DC
20005-3502. All petitions must be accompanied by proof of service
upon all parties to the proceeding or their attorneys of record.
A person who is not a party may, in the discretion of the
presiding officer, be permitted to make a limited appearance by
making an oral or written statement of his position on the issues
at any session of the hearing or any prehearing conference within
such limits and on such conditions as may be fixed by the
presiding officer, but may not otherwise participate in the
proceeding.
A copy of the SERI ESP application is available for public
inspection at the Commission's Public Document Room (PDR),
located at One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike (first
floor), Rockville, Maryland. Publicly available records are
accessible from the Agencywide Documents Access and Management
System (ADAMS) Public Electronic Reading Room on the Internet at
the NRC Web site, .
The accession number for the application is ML032960315. Persons
who do not have access to ADAMS, or who encounter problems in
accessing the documents located in ADAMS, should contact the NRC
Public Document Room staff by telephone at 1-800-397-4209, 301-
415-4737 or by e-mail to .
The application is also available to local residents at the
Harriette Person Memorial Library in Port Gibson, Mississippi,
and is available on the NRC Web page at .
Dated at Rockville, Maryland this 7th day of January, 2004.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Annette Vietti-Cook, Secretary of the Commission.
[FR Doc. 04-682 Filed 1-15-04; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P
*****************************************************************
16 North County Times: Reactor shipment gets friction from Argentina
January 15, 2004 11:25 PM
By: PAUL SISSON - Staff Writer
SAN ONOFRE ---- The political seas are beginning to look rough
for San Onofre's plans to ship its decommissioned nuclear reactor
around Cape Horn in South America.
The French news service Agence France-Presse reported this week
that an Argentine court has ruled that the 770-ton nuclear
reactor cannot pass within 200 miles of Argentina's coastline or
use any of its ports during any emergency. Attempts to reach
Argentinian officials to confirm the ruling Thursday were
unsuccessful.
Cape Horn is considered one of the most dangerous ocean passages
in the world. Argentina and Chile border the cape. To pass
through the cape, the tug pulling the ocean barge Paul Bunyan
with its reactor cargo must pass near Chile in the Pacific and
Argentina in the Atlantic oceans.
The reactor is the final remaining component of San Onofre's
original nuclear power plant that was turned off in 1992. Edison
plans to ship the reactor from the San Onofre Nuclear Generating
Station to Barnwell, S.C., by way of Cape Horn in South America
no later than March.
Previous attempts to ship the reactor across the nation by train
and through the Panama Canal ran into legal issues, forcing
Edison to take the 13,000-mile route.
Encased in a concrete and steel canister, Edison claims that the
package emits less radiation than a chest X-Ray.
Ray Golden, spokesman for Southern California Edison, which owns
the nuclear power plant and the retired reactor, said the company
has read only news reports of the Argentinian court decision but
has received no official communication signaling the decision.
"We cannot comment on the ruling," Golden said Thursday.
However, he said Edison will refrain from beginning the voyage
until after it has worked out all potential snags with the
governments of foreign companies along the shipping route.
Tom Clements, spokesman for Greenpeace International's Nuclear
Campaign, said the organization has been actively contacting
countries along the shipping route, providing all the details of
Southern California Edison's plans to ship the low-level waste to
Barnwell.
"The U.S. State Department refused to meet their obligations to
contact the other countries. We had to fill that role," Clements
said.
He said that despite Edison's claims that it has notified every
country along the route, Greenpeace says it has been unable to
find any foreign officials who are aware of the shipment.
"The governments very much appreciate that we provide them with
information that shippers try to hide from them," Clements said.
Golden said he is sure the U.S. State Department has contacted
the embassy in Argentina and other countries along the route, and
that those embassies did contact someone inside the foreign
governments.
Mercopress, a newspaper that calls itself the "South Atlantic's
News Agency" posted an article on its Web site this week stating
that a Chilean congressman would protest the shipment entering
within 200 miles of its coast.
International shipments such as the one planned by Edison are
governed by the 1982 U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea.
Article 3 of the Convention defines the breadth of a nation's
coastal waters as "not exceeding 12 nautical miles." However,
individual countries such as Argentina and Chile often define a
much wider swath of ocean blue as their territorial waters, hence
Argentina's demands that Edison stay 200 miles away.
Golden said that, while Edison plans to remain several hundred
miles offshore for most of the voyage, "There may be times where
that becomes impossible or impractical."
He said the shipment should never leave international waters as
defined by maritime law.
Contact staff writer Paul Sisson at (760) 901-4087 or
psisson@nctimes.com.
webmaster@nctimes.com
© 1997-2004 North
County Times - Lee Enterprises editor@nctimes.com
*****************************************************************
17 Brattleboro Reformer: Board hints at outside review of VY
January 16, 2004 Brattleboro, VT
By TOBY HENRY
Reformer Staff
MONTPELIER -- The Vermont Public Service Board gave its strongest
indication to date that an independent safety assessment might be
in store for the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant as a marathon
week-long round of hearings concluded on Thursday.
"We are seriously considering whether to write a letter to the
NRC, in advance of our formal decision," board chairman Michael
Dworkin said. "If we do, we will request input (on wording) from
the involved parties."
Dworkin gave the statement as cross-examination of state nuclear
engineer Bill Sherman drew to a close that evening. Only moments
earlier, Sherman had echoed statements put forward by plant
officials that the breadth of the upcoming federal Nuclear
Regulatory Commission review on the proposed 20 percent power
boost makes an independent safety assessment redundant. Sherman
had added that the call for an assessment should arise from the
federal level, not from the state.
But Dworkin said that before making a decision on a certificate
of public good for the power boost, the board had the option to
draft its own letter to the NRC requesting an assessment.
According to the current schedule, the board is expected to issue
its decision on March 15.
Dworkin said the letter may be drafted before the end of the
month. Board member John Burke quickly added that board members
have not yet had time to discuss the issue among themselves.
Responding to questions from Dworkin, Sherman said he would have
no objection to being involved in the assessment to give
mechanical and background information, and he also had no
opposition to Dworkin's suggestion that David Lochbaum, a nuclear
safety engineer with the Union of Concerned Scientists, be
involved in the assessment as an advisor.
"The board has broad powers, and it can exercise its powers as
it sees fit," Sherman said.
The power boost proposal was first put forward nearly a year
ago. Since that time, statutory parties and intervenors involved
in the issue, including the Brattleboro-based anti-nuclear group
New England Coalition, have repeatedly called for the board to
require an independent safety assessment of the plant as part of
the criteria for issuing the certificate of public good.
"I think the board has expressed itself (at hearings) in
September and October that they would consider it, but that's
really all that they've said -- that they'll consider it," said
Ray Shadis, coalition advisor.
In a statement delivered shortly before Dworkin's announcement,
Vermont Yankee spokesman Rob Williams stood by plant officials'
previous statements that the plant will get a full review by the
NRC as well as the Advisory Committee of Reactor Safeguards, an
independent body that will review the NRC's findings. In
testimony delivered earlier this week, plant officials said that
they expect an NRC decision on the "uprate" in March 2005.
"'Uprating' nuclear plants has become routine in the industry
and our application will get a full safety review by the NRC and
the advisory committee," Williams said. "The Public Service Board
has conducted a very fair process and has given all parties a
full opportunity to make their case. We will be filing out final
briefs and looking forward to the decision in the coming months."
During earlier cross-examination from Shadis, plant site
vice-president Jay Thayer emphasized the depth of the impending
review by the NRC and said he had insisted that the board ask the
advisory committee to also conduct its own analysis. But Shadis
appeared to characterize the request as an empty gesture, asking
Thayer if he was aware that the committee reviews all uprates of
the magnitude proposed by Vermont Yankee whether or not the
committee is asked to do so.
"It's not a routine process," Thayer said. "There's a threshold
on whether they would review an application or not."
Throughout the week of hearings, intervenors and board members
weighed the benefits of the plant's $20 million deal with the
Department of Public Service against the possibility of $15
million or more in extra ratepayer costs if Vermont Yankee is
forced to close early. The department, which previously had not
supported the power increase proposal, finally consented on Nov.
5, after plant owner Entergy announced the deal.
Shadis blasted the department for its support of the agreement.
Although wording on some documents did suggest the department
would provide testimony to support the agreement, Shadis claimed
that at times the testimony instead appeared to be more of an
endorsement for Entergy. The department is supposed to be the
advocate for ratepayers, not Entergy, Shadis said.
Department of Public Service attorney Sarah Hofmann countered
that while the department does support the deal, if evidence
comes to light that the agreement has been falsified, the
department could withdraw. Dworkin interjected that the board
does not interpret support of the agreement as a conflict.
Dry cask storage -- a method of storing spent fuel rods -- also
came up as an issue in the power increase matter. After the
uprate, Vermont Yankee would burn through its store of fuel
faster and may run out of storage space for the spent rods by
2010, about 18 months before the end of its operating license.
Dworkin said that the estimated $15 million in extra costs to
ratepayers, an amount which some say could climb as high as $21
million, could outweigh what has been offered with the deal.
Vermont Yankee has not yet requested the storage, but Dworkin
and others present wondered aloud if agreeing to the uprate would
later necessitate having to agree to dry cask storage in order to
ensure a continued ratepayer benefit.
Dworkin strongly emphasized to Thayer that there was no
guarantee the board would grant dry cask storage to Yankee by
agreeing to the uprate, and asked if the two issues should
perhaps be considered simultaneously.
"If there is going to be a significant economic impact, don't we
need to worry about that now?" asked Dworkin.
Thayer responded that he needed more information on the issue,
but promised the board he would provide "as much advance notice
as possible" on when a dry cask storage proposal would be
submitted.
*****************************************************************
18 wnbc.com Union: Nuclear Plant Workers Likely To Go On Strike
POSTED: 8:05 PM EST January 16, 2004
NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. -- Negotiations between the union representing
workers at the Indian Point nuclear power plants and the plant's
owner have deteriorated so badly that a strike is likely when the
contract expires Saturday, union officials said Friday.
The two sides are so far apart that "there is absolutely not
enough time left to negotiate a contract" before it expires at
midnight Saturday, said Steve Mangione, a spokesman for Local 1-2
of the Utility Workers Union of America.
"There will be a strike at midnight Saturday if things don't
improve rapidly," he said.
Union president Manny Hellen was scheduled to hold a news
conference at 8 p.m. to announce that union negotiators had
stopped bargaining with their counterparts from plant owner
Entergy Nuclear Northeast.
The union represents 558 workers a the power plants, including
the control room operators. Workers at Indian Point 3 voted
192-20 last month to give union officials the power to call a
strike. Workers at the other plant, Indian Point 2, whose
contract runs until June, also approved a strike authorization.
Mangione said the union left the table after talks fell apart
over medical benefits and wages for workers. He declined to give
details, but union officials have said experienced workers at
Indian Point earn about $60,000 a year plus benefits.
Entergy spokesman Jim Steets said the company had "made a very
generous combined contract offer that far exceeds the current
contracts at both plants" and is committed to continuing talks
until a compromise is reached.
A contingency plan is in place in the event of a strike, he
said, and security at the power plants would be unaffected by a
walkout.
"We expect to continue to safely operate the plant if a strike
occurs," Steets said.
Besides the control room operators, the union represents
maintenance workers and operations workers, who take readings and
adjust valves. About a third of all the plants' workers are
members.
The nuclear facility is in a densely populated area in Buchanan,
about 35 miles north of midtown Manhattan.
Westchester County Executive Andrew Spano said on Tuesday that
if control room operators and other workers go on strike, the
plant should be shut down for the duration.
© 2004 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
WNBC.com Now
*****************************************************************
19 Sofia: Atomic Energy of Canada: Weight up Pros, Cons from Bulgaria's
2nd N-plant
SOFIA NEWS AGENCY novinite.com
Reps from Atomic Energy of Canada are heading for their meeting
with Bulgarian journalists. The company, Italy's Ansaldo Nuclear
and Japan's Hitachi and Itochu eye the construction of Belene
N-plant. Photo by Gergana Kostadinova (novinite.com)
Business: 16 January 2004, Friday.
Atomic Energy of Canada, one of the foreign companies that eye
the construction of a second nuclear power plant in Bulgaria,
recommended to the Bulgarian government to either back with
arguments the project or decide on using alternative technologies
which enjoy popularity in the European Union. The President of
the Canadian company also called on the government to weigh up
the economic pros and cons and choose the appropriate technology.
A day earlier chiefs of four world-leading energy companies
enquired about opportunities for the construction of Bulgaria's
second nuclear plant in Belene at a meeting with Prime Minister
Simeon Saxe-Coburg. Presidents and vice-presidents of Atomic
Energy of Canada, Italian Ansaldo Nuclear and two Japanese energy
companies, Hitachi Corp. and Itochu Corp., attended the meeting.
The Canadian company is willing to form a tie-in with Japanese
energy companies Hitachi Corp. and Itochu Corp. to sell to
Bulgaria two reactors for the future nuclear plant.
President of Atomic Energy of Canada promised to seek cooperation
from local energy company and international institutions for
securing credits.
Canadian state company Atomic Energy of Canada (AECL) is one of
the five companies, which confirmed their interest officially in
the construction of the new Nuclear Power Plant Belene last year.
Its principal bid includes the application of Canadian technology
CANDU.
On Dec 19, 2002 Bulgarian government lifted the ban on the
completion of Bulgaria's second nuclear plant. The project for
its construction was shelved in 1992 after pressure from
environmentalists.
The Team | Link to us | Partners | Top 100-->Top 100
All Rights Reserved © Novinite Ltd., 2001-2004 - Copyright
Novinite.com (thebulgariannews.com
*****************************************************************
20 War Wire: Hungarian nuclear plant, Framatome settle out of court over gas
leak
WAR.WIRE
BUDAPEST (AFP) Jan 16, 2004
French-German company Framatome ANP settled out of court with
the Paks nuclear power plant in Hungary after the company was
found responsible for a radioactive gas leak there last year,
Paks officials said Friday.
"The Paks nuclear power plant has settled out of court with
Framatome over compensation for last year's incident," the
plant's director, Istvan Kocsis, was cited as saying by MTI
state-run news agency.
Kocsis would not reveal the amount of the settlement.
The gas leak occured on April 10 after fuel rods heated up in one
of the plant's reactors, which remains out of order nine months
after the accident.
A fault in the cooling system of Framatome, a subsidiary of
France's Areva and Germany's Siemens, was found responsible for
causing the leak.
The plant at Paks, 100 kilometers (60 miles) south of the
capital, generates 40 percent of Hungary's total energy output.
WAR.WIRE
*****************************************************************
21 [DU-WATCH] DU - Palestine
Date: Fri, 16 Jan 2004 14:30:02 -0600 (CST)
The symptom profiles of unexplained illnesses in many areas of
Palestine resemble uranium internal contamination effects. There are
credible claims from private sources that 120-mm rounds deployed by
Israeli tanks are DU.
Some earlier obscure field evidence indicates Egyptian tank bodies
left in desert after defeat by Israeli tanks and combat aircraft are
radioactive.
Israel is on record as purchasing DU munitions.
Chariman Arafat accused Israel of using DU rounds in last years
incursions into Jeneen (sp?).
US gov docs show DU rounds were manufactured in '60's.
[Brought to you by HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
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22 [RADFOOD] Take Action! Protect COOL!
Date: Fri, 16 Jan 2004 00:20:19 -0600 (CST)
*please forward widely*
*apologies for cross-posting*
TAKE ACTION TO PROTECT COUNTRY OF ORIGIN LABELING!
Click on this link to send a free fax!
https://www.citizen.org/cmep/foodsafety/food_irrad/articles.cfm?ID=10902
The Senate will vote on the Omnibus Appropriations Package on January
20, 2004. This bill contains language that will delay mandatory Country
of Origin Labeling (COOL) until 2006, effectively killing COOL. Send a
fax to your senators to urge them to vote No on the Appropriations bill
until the anti-COOL language is removed. Congress has until January 31,
2004 to pass the bill because the current appropriations bill runs out
on this date. Therefore there is time to protect COOL without affecting
the funding for other government programs. Given the frequency of food
safety scares like Mad Cow disease in Canadian animals and hepatitis A
in green onions imported from Mexico, it's past time for consumers to
have the basic information necessary to buy food that was produced
closer to home.
Tell your senators that a two year delay for such vital consumer
information is unacceptable and that you want mandatory country of
origin labeling for food implemented on schedule!
*Background*
The 2002 Farm Bill requires the U.S. Department of Agriculture to write
rules for Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) of beef, lamb, pork, fish,
fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables, and peanuts. The label would be
found on foods sold in grocery stores, and would state the food's
country of origin. The Farm Bill calls for the rules to go into effect
in September 2004.
Since the passage of the Farm Bill, corporate agribusiness, especially
the meat and grocery industries, have been trying to delay and
ultimately kill COOL. This kind of labeling could benefit both
consumers, who will be able to make an informed choice and buy food
produced closer to home, and producers, who need a way to identify their
crops and livestock as products of the United States. Despite practical
suggestions from small farmers and ranchers for streamlining the COOL
process, the USDA instead has been taking its lead from big
agribusiness, which doesn't want consumers to know where food comes
from.
The House has already passed this version of the budget bill, so it is
up to the Senate to keep this anti-COOL language from becoming law. The
vote on January 20 will be a cloture vote -- to cut off debate on this
issue and bring the bill up for a vote.
Click on this link to send a free fax!
https://www.citizen.org/cmep/foodsafety/food_irrad/articles.cfm?ID=10902
********************
If you would like to be removed from the radfood list, send an email to listserv@listserver.citizen.org with the words "unsubscribe radfood" in the message.
If you would like to be added to the radfood list, send an email to listserv@listserver.citizen.org with the words "subscribe radfood" in the message.
To learn more about food irradiation, visit our website at http://www.citizen.org/cmep/
Questions about the radfood list can be directed to RADFOOD-request@LISTSERVER.CITIZEN.ORG
-Public Citizen's Critical Mass Energy and Environment Program
*****************************************************************
23 [du-list] Depleted Uranium in the Aegean
Date: Fri, 16 Jan 2004 14:20:21 -0800
Does anyone know anything about this subject please?
------- Forwarded message follows -------
Date sent: Tue, 6 Jan 2004 11:30:50 +0000 (GMT)
From: jenny
Subject: Depleted Uranium in the Aegean
To: info@cadu.org.uk
Dear CADU,
I am curretly working for a marine conservation
research organisation based in the Aegean and we are
interested in carrying out research into the use of DU
here by the military.
I would appreciate it if you could assist us in any
way, such as providing any information you have about
the use of DU in the Aegean, or advice on where we
could look for such information. If necessary we will
carry out scientific testing in the areas where DU has
been used.
In peace
Jenny Wilson
Archipelagos Aigaiou
Ikaria
___________________________________________________________________
___
__ Yahoo! Messenger - Communicate instantly..."Ping" your friends
today! Download Messenger Now
http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com/download/index.html
------- End of forwarded message -------
*********************************************************************************************
The Campaign Against Depleted Uranium, Bridge 5 Mill, 22a Beswick Street,
Ancoats, Manchester, M4 7HR Tel./Fax.: +44 (0)161 273 8293
E-Mail info@cadu.org.uk Website: http://www.cadu.org.uk
Affiliation costs to CADU are Ł8 a year unwaged/student and Ł10 a year
waged. For
this you will receive campaigning materials and CADU's quarterly
newsletter. Our
newsletter is also available free of charge by E-Mail (send us a message with
'Subscribe CADU News' as the subject). Please send your cheque draft or postal
order in Ł sterling to the address above.
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unsubscribe and send.
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24 NYT: Suspect Dutch Material Said to Be Uranium
By THE NEW YORK TIMES
Published: January 17, 2004
[N] IJMEGEN, the Netherlands, Jan. 16 — Nuclear experts said
Friday that preliminary tests on a small amount of low-level
radioactive material discovered in a Rotterdam shipping container
from the Middle East indicated it was natural uranium in the very
early stages of refinement. They said the material could have
come from Iraq.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said it was in the
process of comparing the material to laboratory samples taken
from a former Iraqi uranium processing plant that was dismantled
in the 1990's.
Investigators suspect that the Rotterdam material — too little
and too unrefined for use in a nuclear weapon — was overlooked in
the cleanup of the Iraqi plant.
The uranium was discovered inside a shipment of scrap metal.
Dutch officials said this week that the material was uranium
oxide, or yellowcake. But the agency said initial tests indicated
that it was in a "pre-yellowcake" stage.
Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company | Home|
*****************************************************************
25 Las Vegas SUN: Lung disease screenings available
Today: January 16, 2004 at 11:10:54 PST
By Suzanne Struglinski
WASHINGTON -- Energy Department employees who helped dig tunnels
at Yucca Mountain can get free screenings for the lung disease
silicosis through a new department program.
Current and former workers are eligible for the new Silicosis
Screening Program announced by the Office of Civilian Radioactive
Waste Management Office on Thursday.
The $500,000 prgrogam will offer free screenings to employees
who worked in the tunneling and other underground operations at
Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. The department
dug the tunnels as a part of its plan to store 77,000 tons of
nuclear waste there.
"Not only is the DOE willing to jeopardize the public health and
environmental safety of Nevadans, but now, because they ignored
regulatory limits, their own employees have also been put at
risk," said Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., in a statement. "While I
appreciate the fact that the DOE is stepping up to provide free
screening to project employees, the problems with the Yucca
Mountain boondoggle just continue to mount."
The program will include a work history interview, a medical
exam and worker notification. Up to 1,500 workers may be offered
participation.
Silica, a natural mineral in the rock and desert land making up
Yucca Mountain, can collect in a person's respiratory system if
inhaled and cause silicosis. As workers dug tunnels at the site,
the dust particles of the mineral could become airborne and
inhaled, putting them at risk for the chronic lung disease. The
most visible systems are coughing and shortness of breath,
according to the department.
Employees sent letters to department officials requesting the
program since there was such a risk. Department spokesman Joe
Davis said it investigated the concerns and decided to create the
screening program as a followup.
"It's the right thing to do," Davis said.
From 1992 to 2000 work at the site caused more than legal limits
of airborne silica and proper protection was not always used,
according to the department.
The University of Cincinnati and The Center to Protect Workers'
Rights will work to contact former Yucca Mountain workers through
trade unions and other organized labor forces.
*****************************************************************
26 Hawk Eye: Planned burning of IAAP buildings draw concerns
Friday, January 16, 2004
RAB co–chairman says chemical, historical studies will precede
any burning.
By MATTHEW LeBLANC
Paula Graham fears it could all go up in smoke — but she hopes
that doesn't happen.
Citing a proposal by government agencies to rid land at the Iowa
Army Ammunition Plant in Middletown of dangerous chemicals by
burning them to the ground, Graham questioned whether the burns
also would destroy evidence that could be used by injured former
workers to seek federal compensation payments.
"Particularly, I'm concerned about a good record for
the...workers," the former IAAP employee said at Thursday's
Restoration Advisory Board meeting. "It is a concern."
Graham's fears were allayed when RAB co–chairman Rodger Allison
said that numerous chemical and historical studies will be
conducted before the buildings — once used to assemble munitions
for the Army — are burned.
"The Army does plan to conduct a historical assessment before
performing remediation," Allison said. Contamination levels and
historical data will be documented to provide a record of
possible beryllium and radiation exposure to former workers, he
said.
The 19,000–acre Middletown plant was put on an environmental
National Priorities List in 1989 after water contaminated by
years of munitions manufacture was discovered in water on the
grounds. Now a federal Superfund site, more than $15 million has
been spent on cleanup as part of a nearly $60 million, 10–year
plan.
Thousands of former IAAP employees could be eligible for federal
workers' compensation benefits as a result of toxic chemical and
radiation exposure at the plant.
In a November 2003 RAB meeting, members discussed burning several
buildings once used to manufacture explosives to rid them of
possible contamination. No timeline has been set, though members
continue to discuss the proposal.
Graham said she feared evidence of what caused current heart and
lung illnesses would disappear if the buildings were lit aflame.
Allison said that might not be the case because the government is
largely unaware of what types of contaminants are in the
buildings.
"What they look like today may be cleaner than what it was then,"
he said, noting that tests will be conducted to determine the
data.
Beryllium is a metal used to strengthen other metals and is most
frequently used in the manufacture of weapons. It has been linked
to Chronic Beryllium Disease, a lung condition marked by night
sweats and breathing difficulty.
The RAB is made up of government and civilian representatives and
is charged with providing information about IAAP's environmental
cleanup, now in its 13th year. They meet six times per year at
the Burlington Apartments in the Burlington Ballroom.
The board will meet again in March to discuss further plans for
cleanup.
The Hawk Eye 800 S. Main St., Burlington Iowa 52601 319-754-8461
Front Desk · 319-754-6824 FAX · 1-800-397-1708 Toll Free
*****************************************************************
27 HollandSentinel.com: Grant will help buy radiation equipment
01/16/04
011604 local 7 The Holland SentinelA grant from the U.S.
Department of Homeland Security could provide Allegan County with
new radiation monitoring equipment and decontamination
supplies.--> Web posted Friday, January 16, 2004
Grant will help buy radiation equipment
By REGAN FOSTER Staff writer
A grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security could
provide Allegan County with new radiation monitoring equipment
and decontamination supplies.
The county board of commissioners, in a work session Thursday,
reviewed the $51,939.60 grant offer and agreed to place it on the
agenda for its Jan. 22 meeting. The grant is expected to be
formally accepted at that meeting.
County Administrator Michael Lombardo said in an interview that
he wanted the board to use the grant to purchase portable
radiation monitors which could be used to scan people and cars
for contamination during nuclear emergencies.
The Palisades nuclear plant is in Van Buren County, just outside
of South Haven. Federal regulations require the county to scan
and monitor residents within a 10-mile radius of the plant in a
crisis situation. That means about 4,400 people in Casco Township
would have to be checked in case of an emergency, according to
Paul Baker, the director of the county emergency management
division.
The county currently is using civil defense equipment that dates
back to the 1960s and requires hand checking each individual,
Baker said. He noted that the county's current procedure takes
between nine and 11 seconds per person to complete, but the new
equipment could cut that back to just two seconds for each
person.
The 36-inch wide walk-through monitor could easily be adapted to
a frame that expands to accommodate vehicles, Baker said.
All contents © Copyright 2003 The Holland Sentinel
*****************************************************************
28 UCSC: New study shows exposure to depleted uranium
January 19, 2004
Isotope analysis shows exposure to depleted uranium in Gulf War
veterans
By Tim Stephens
U.S. veterans who were exposed to depleted uranium during the
1991 Gulf War have continued to excrete the potentially harmful
chemical in their urine for years after their exposure, according
to a new study published in the journal Health Physics.
[Photo of munitions]
These 30mm munitions (jackets and penetrators) are made with
depleted uranium. Photo courtesy of the United Nations
Environment Program
The study indicates that soldiers may absorb depleted uranium
particles through inhalation, ingestion, or wound contamination,
said Roberto Gwiazda, an environmental toxicologist at UCSC and
lead author of the study.
Fine particles of depleted uranium are created when munitions
made with the material strike a target. The new study did not
address the health effects of exposure to depleted uranium, a
subject of ongoing debate, but focused on a technique for
detecting past exposure.
Low concentrations of uranium in the urine are normal due to
ingestion of naturally occuring uranium in food and water.
Depleted uranium is a by-product of the enrichment process used
to make nuclear fuel, in which one isotope of uranium (235U) is
extracted, leaving behind material depleted in that isotope.
Depleted uranium is still weakly radioactive and, like other
heavy metals, can be toxic in high doses. Because of its high
density and other properties, it has been used in armor-piercing
ammunition and in armor for fighting vehicles.
Gwiazda and Donald Smith, professor of environmental toxicology,
developed a sensitive analytical technique to detect depleted
uranium in urine samples. By measuring the relative abundances of
different isotopes of uranium in the urine samples, the
researchers were able to distinguish between natural and depleted
uranium.
"This is the only unambiguous way to determine past exposure and
uptake of depleted uranium," Gwiazda said.
The analysis of samples from Gulf War veterans was performed in
collaboration with the Baltimore Veterans Affairs Depleted
Uranium Follow-up Program, which is assessing, treating, and
monitoring veterans who may have been exposed to depleted
uranium during the war.
The researchers applied their technique to three different
groups of Gulf War veterans. The first group of soldiers had
shrapnel in their bodies as a result of "friendly fire"
incidents in which their tanks or armored vehicles were hit by
munitions containing depleted uranium. The second group
consisted of soldiers who did not have shrapnel in them but were
involved in the friendly fire incidents to different degrees,
either because they were in the vehicles that were hit or
because they participated in recovery operations. The third
group was a reference group and consisted of soldiers who
participated in the war but not in combat operations.
As expected, the soldiers with embedded shrapnel had high
concentrations of uranium in their urine, and the isotope
analysis showed that it was depleted uranium, presumably being
released into their bodies from the shrapnel.
A more striking finding was the presence of depleted uranium in
the urine of a significant number of soldiers in the second
group, without embedded shrapnel but with potential exposure
through inhalation, ingestion, or wound contamination. The
uranium concentrations detected in this group were, on average,
six times higher than in the reference group, but were still
within the normal range for the U.S. population. Nevertheless,
Gwiazda said, it was remarkable that the signature of depleted
uranium could still be detected so many years after the exposure.
"These samples were taken six to eight years later," he said.
The Veterans Affairs (VA) monitoring program has not reported
any findings of clinically significant health effects related to
exposure to depleted uranium, even in the highly exposed
soldiers with embedded shrapnel.
Any health effects of exposure to depleted uranium may not be
detectable without studying a large number of exposed
individuals. The technique developed at UCSC could be used to
screen a large number of people to identify those with past
exposure to depleted uranium.
In addition to possible health effects in soldiers exposed
during combat, concerns about depleted uranium include
environmental contamination of battlefield sites. Civilian
populations may be exposed through contact with depleted uranium
fragments and dust left in the soil or with contaminated
military equipment left behind after a conflict.
"We don't know if that kind of exposure will have any health
effects. But now we have a technique that enables us to detect
past exposure to depleted uranium," Gwiazda said.
The paper was published in the January issue of Health Physics.
The authors include Katherine Squibb and Melissa McDiarmid of
the University of Maryland School of Medicine, in addition to
Gwiazda and Smith.
[Maintained by pioweb@ucsc.edu]
*****************************************************************
29 Panel says Energy Dept. can't justify relaxed testing of
Date: Fri, 16 Jan 2004 06:35:19 -0600 (CST)
ENN News Story - Panel says Energy Dept. can't justify relaxed testing of
radioactive waste shipments
Friday, January 16, 2004
By Robert Gehrke, Associated Press
http://www.enn.com/news/2004-01-16/s_12152.asp
WASHINGTON - The Energy Department has not done the necessary tests to
justify relaxing the testing of radioactive waste shipments bound for a New
Mexico storage site, a panel of scientists said Thursday.
The department has argued that safety checks required on shipments to the
Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., cost $3.1 billion and
create delays. Changing the requirements would save time and money, the
department said in petitioning for changes last week.
A report by a panel of scientists appointed by the National Research
Council - a division of the National Academies of Science - said Energy has
not done adequate studies to support its argument for easing regulations and
those analyses should be done before it seeks to modify the state waste
disposal permit.
However, a provision backed by Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., and signed into
law last month by President Bush orders the Energy Department to request
that New Mexico relax its testing requirements and restricts the state's
ability to refuse the request.
"This is another example of the management failures coming from the highest
levels of DOE," said New Mexico Environment Secretary Ron Curry. "It is
another example of DOE putting the cart before the horse and making
unfounded assumptions to the detriment of New Mexicans."
The Carlsbad facility buries transuranic waste - such as gloves, rags,
tools, dried sludge, and other debris contaminated during nuclear weapons
making - in ancient salt beds 2,150 feet below ground.
Under the Energy Department's proposed changes, instead of testing each
shipment of waste, records kept on each drum of radioactive material would
be used to determine whether the waste inside is eligible to be buried at
the site.
There is no deadline for the state to act on the Energy Department
application.
Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., who objected to the Domenici provision, said the
scientists' report shows that Congress should only pre-empt state regulatory
authority "after a transparent process has taken place - a process that
yields thoughtful and careful analysis."
The law cannot be undone, Bingaman said, but it should serve as a reminder
"that there is a well-established process for modifying existing state
regulations and that the federal government should respect it."
Domenici defended the provision. "Experience has shown us that intrusive
sampling techniques have shown to have little environmental, public safety
or health benefits," he said.
The National Research Council panel said that when the Carlsbad plant became
the first operational waste facility of its kind four years ago, it made
sense for regulators to be cautious and impose rigorous measures for
screening waste.
Today, the site's track record could help identify changes that could be
warranted. However, a systematic analysis is needed before the Energy
Department can make its case that changes are justified, the panel said.
*****************************************************************
30 [epa-impact] West Valley Demonstration Project Final Waste Management
Date: Fri, 16 Jan 2004 11:03:12 -0500 (EST)
http://www.epa.gov/fedreg/EPA-IMPACT/2004/January/Day-16/index.html
http://www.epa.gov/fedreg/
=======================================================================
[Federal Register: January 16, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 11)]
[Notices]
[Page 2583-2584]
>From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr16ja04-45]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
West Valley Demonstration Project Final Waste Management
Environmental Impact Statement
AGENCY: Department of Energy.
ACTION: Notice of Availability.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The Department of Energy (DOE) announces the availability of
the West Valley Demonstration Project (WVDP) Final Waste Management
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), Cattaraugus County, West Valley,
New York (DOE/EIS--0337F). DOE has prepared this Final EIS pursuant to
the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and applicable NEPA
regulations issued by the Council on Environmental Quality (40 Code of
Federal Regulations (CFR) Parts 1500-1508) and by DOE (10 CFR part
1021). DOE proposes to ship radioactive wastes that are either
currently in storage on the WVDP site or that will be generated from
WVDP operations over the next ten years, to offsite disposal locations.
The Final EIS evaluates the potential environmental impacts of the
proposed action, including impacts to workers and the public from waste
transportation. The Final EIS also analyzes a No Action Alternative,
under which most wastes would continue to be stored over the next ten
years, and an alternative under which certain wastes would be shipped
to interim offsite storage locations prior to disposal.
ADDRESSES: Requests for copies of the Final EIS or requests for
information about this document should be directed to: Mr. Daniel W.
Sullivan, EIS Document Manager, DOE West Valley Area Office, 10282 Rock
Springs Road, WV-49, West Valley, NY 14171-9799, Telephone: (800) 633-
5280 or (716) 942-2152.
Copies of the Final EIS have been distributed to Federal, State,
and local officials; Members of Congress; agencies; organizations; and
individuals who may be interested or affected. The Final EIS will be
available at http://tis.eh.doe.gov/nepa/docs.docs.htm or
http://www.wv.doe.gov. Copies of the Final EIS and supporting
technical reports also are available for public inspection at the
following locations:
Hulbert Library of the Town of Concord, 18 Chapel Street, Springville,
NY 14141.
Central Library of the Buffalo, and Erie County Public Library System,
Science and Technology Department, Lafayette Square, Buffalo, NY 14203.
West Valley Central School Library, 5359 School Street, West Valley, NY
14171.
The Olean Public Library, 134 North 2nd Street, Olean, NY 14760.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For additional information on this
EIS, contact Mr. Daniel Sullivan at the address provided above. For
general information on the DOE NEPA process, please contact: Ms. Carol
Borgstrom, Director, Office of NEPA Policy and Compliance (EH-42), U.S.
Department of Energy, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC
20585. Ms. Borgstrom may be contacted by calling (202) 586-4600 or by
leaving a message at (800) 472-2756.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The WVDP is located on the Western New York
Nuclear Service Center (also referred to as the Center). The Center
comprises approximately 13.5 square kilometers (five square miles) in
West Valley, New York, and is located in the Town of Ashford,
approximately 50 kilometers (30 miles) southeast of Buffalo, New York.
The Center was the site of a commercial nuclear fuel reprocessing
plant, which was the only one to have operated in the United States.
The Center operated under a license issued by the Atomic Energy
Commission (now the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission [NRC]) in 1966
to Nuclear Fuel Services, Incorporated, and the New York State Atomic
and Space Development Authority, now known as the New York State Energy
Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA).
During reprocessing, spent nuclear fuel from commercial nuclear
power plants and DOE sites was chopped, dissolved, and processed by a
solvent extraction system to recover uranium and plutonium. Fuel
reprocessing ended in 1972 when the plant was shut down
[[Page 2584]]
for modifications to increase its capacity, reduce occupational
radiation exposure, and reduce radioactive effluents.
In 1976, Nuclear Fuel Services estimated that over $600 million
would be required to modify the facility to increase its capacity and
to comply with changes in regulatory standards. As a result, the
company decided to withdraw from the nuclear fuel reprocessing business
and exercise its contractual right to yield responsibility for the
Center to NYSERDA. Nuclear Fuel Services withdrew from the Center
without removing any of the in-process nuclear wastes. NYSERDA now
holds title to and manages the Center on behalf of the people of the
State of New York.
In 1980, Congress passed the WVDP Act (Pub. L 96-368). This Act
requires DOE to demonstrate that the liquid high-level radioactive
waste (HLW) from reprocessing can be safely managed by solidifying it
at the Center and transporting it to a geologic repository for
permanent disposal. In addition to HLW, the WVDP also manages low-level
radioactive waste (LLW), transuranic (TRU) waste, and mixed waste
(radioactive and hazardous) generated as a result of Project
activities.
The WVDP Facilities and areas storing the waste are: The Process
Building, which includes approximately 70 rooms and cells that
comprised the NRC-licensed spent nuclear fuel reprocessing operations
(one of the cells--the Chemical Process Cell--now serves as the storage
facility for the canisters containing the HLW, which has been
immobilized through vitrification); the Tank Farm, which includes the
underground HLW storage tanks; Waste Storage Areas, which include
several facilities such as Lag Storage Areas and the Chemical Process
Cell Waste Storage Area; and the Radwaste Treatment System Drum Cell
(Drum Cell), which stores cement-filled drums of stabilized LLW.
DOE announced its intent to prepare this EIS in a March 2001 Notice
of Intent (NOI) (66 FR 16447, March 26, 2001). DOE modified the
proposed scope of this EIS as a result of public comments received
during scoping and the Department's further evaluation of activities
that might be required independently of final decisions on
decommissioning and/or long-term stewardship at the WVDP. In the
future, DOE plans to issue an EIS on decommissioning and/or long-term
stewardship. DOE published an Advance NOI (66 FR 56090, November 6,
2001) inviting preliminary public comment on a proposed scope for the
decommissioning and/or long-term stewardship EIS and published an NOI
(68 FR 12004, March 13, 2003).
Public Comments
The Waste Management EIS was issued in draft on May 16, 2003, for
public review and comment (68 FR 26587 (2003)). The 45-day comment
period ended on June 30, 2003, although DOE also considered comments
received after that date. Two public hearings on the Draft EIS were
held on June 11, 2003, at the Ashford Office Complex near the WVDP
site. The Final EIS incorporates public comments received on the Draft
EIS and DOE responses.
In response to public comments, several changes were made in the
Final EIS. In particular, the option under Alternative B of placing
retrievable grout in the HLW tanks as an interim stabilization measure
has been eliminated. Information has been added regarding the extent to
which the Canadian population within 80 kilometers (50 miles) of the
site could be affected by the activities at the site and transportation
under routine and accident conditions. In addition, a number of
specific technical changes and corrections have been made in response
to public comments, and updated DOE guidance regarding health risk
factors was used to estimate potential impacts.
Description of Alternatives
The Final EIS analyzes three alternatives for the continued onsite
waste management and shipment of wastes to offsite disposal. Under the
No Action Alternative, Continuation of Ongoing Waste Management
Activities, waste management would include continued storage of
existing Class B and Class C LLW, TRU waste, and HLW. Limited amounts
of Class A LLW would be shipped for off-site disposal and the remainder
would be stored onsite. The waste storage tanks and their surrounding
vaults would continue to be ventilated to manage moisture levels as a
corrosion prevention measure.
Under DOE's Preferred Alternative A, Offsite Shipment of HLW, LLW,
Mixed LLW, and TRU Wastes to Disposal, DOE would ship Class A, B, and C
LLW and mixed LLW to one of two potential DOE disposal sites (in
Washington or Nevada) or to a commercial disposal site (such as the
Envirocare facility in Utah); ship TRU waste to the Waste Isolation
Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico; and ship HLW to the proposed Yucca
Mountain HLW Repository. LLW and mixed LLW would be shipped over the
next ten years. TRU waste shipments to the WIPP could occur within the
next ten years if the TRU waste were determined to meet all the
requirements for disposal in this repository. If some or all of WVDP's
TRU waste did not meet these requirements, the Department would need to
explore other alternatives for disposal of this waste. The waste
storage tanks would continue to be managed as described under the No
Action Alternative.
Under Alternative B, Offsite Shipment of LLW and Mixed LLW to
Disposal, and Shipment of HLW and TRU Waste to Interim Storage, LLW and
mixed LLW would be shipped offsite for disposal at the same locations
as Alternative A. TRU wastes would be shipped for interim storage at
one of five DOE sites: the Hanford Site in Washington; the Idaho
National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL); the Oak
Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Tennessee; the Savannah River Site
(SRS) in South Carolina; or WIPP. TRU wastes would subsequently be
shipped to WIPP for disposal or interim storage at WIPP until disposal
could be arranged. HLW would be shipped to SRS or Hanford for interim
storage, with subsequent shipment to Yucca Mountain for disposal. The
waste storage tanks would continue to be managed as described under the
No Action Alternative.
In addition, DOE considered, but did not analyze, an alternative to
construct and maintain waste storage facilities for indefinite storage
of waste at the WVDP. DOE presently does not consider that alternative
to be practical or reasonable over time, because of continuing costs of
construction of new facilities and maintenance of existing facilities.
Record of Decision (ROD)
DOE intends to issue a ROD no sooner than 30 days following
publication in the Federal Register of the Environmental Protection
Agency's Notice of Availability of the WVDP Final EIS. DOE will publish
its ROD in the Federal Register.
Issued in Washington, DC, on January 12, 2004.
Jessie Hill Roberson,
Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management.
[FR Doc. 04-988 Filed 1-15-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P
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31 [epa-impact] List of Approved Spent Fuel Storage Casks: NAC-UMS
Date: Fri, 16 Jan 2004 11:03:07 -0500 (EST)
http://www.epa.gov/fedreg/EPA-IMPACT/2004/January/Day-16/index.html
http://www.epa.gov/fedreg/
=======================================================================
[Federal Register: January 16, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 11)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Page 2497-2500]
>From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr16ja04-4]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
10 CFR Part 72
RIN 3150-AH25
List of Approved Spent Fuel Storage Casks: NAC-UMS Revision
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Direct final rule.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is amending its
regulations revising the NAC International, Inc., NAC-UMS cask system
listing within the ``List of Approved Spent Fuel Storage Casks'' to
include Amendment No. 3 to Certificate of Compliance (CoC) Number 1015.
Amendment No. 3 modifies the present cask system design to add an
alternate poison material, revise the structural analysis, revise the
thermal analyses, revise fuel assembly weight and dimensions, and
revise allowable fuel cladding temperature. The amendment also revises
the criticality analyses and reorganizes the Safety Analysis Report
(SAR) Criticality Section, revises Technical Specification A.5.5 to
remove the effluent reporting requirements, and makes several editorial
and administrative changes.
DATES: The final rule is effective March 31, 2004, unless significant
adverse comments are received by February 17, 2004. A significant
adverse comment is a comment where the commenter explains why the rule
would be inappropriate, including challenges to the rule's underlying
premise or approach, or would be ineffective or unacceptable without a
change. If the rule is withdrawn, timely notice will be published in
the Federal Register.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any one of the following methods.
Please include the following number--RIN 3150-AH25--in the subject line
of your comments. Comments on rulemakings submitted in writing or in
electronic form will be made available to the public in their entirety
on the NRC rulemaking Web site. Personal information will not be
removed from your comments.
Mail comments to: Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission,
Washington, DC 20555-0001, ATTN: Rulemakings and Adjudications Staff.
E-mail comments to SECY@nrc.gov. If you do not receive a reply e-
mail confirming that we have received your comments, contact us
directly at (301) 415-1966. You may also submit comments via the NRC's
rulemaking Web site at http://ruleforum.llnl.gov. Address
questions about our rulemaking Web site to Carol Gallagher (301) 415-5905;
e-mail cag@nrc.gov. Comments can also be submitted via the Federal
eRulemaking Portal http://www.regulations.gov.
Hand deliver comments to: 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland
20852, between 7:30 a.m. and 4:15 p.m. on Federal workdays (telephone
(301) 415-1101).
Fax comments to: Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission at
(301) 415-1101.
Publicly available documents related to this rulemaking may be
viewed electronically on the public computers located at the NRC's
Public Document Room (PDR), 0-1F21, One White Flint North, 11555
Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland. The PDR reproduction contractor
will copy documents for a fee. Selected documents, including comments,
may be viewed and downloaded electronically via the NRC rulemaking Web
site at http://ruleforum.llnl.gov.
Publicly available documents created or received at the NRC after
November 1, 1999, are available electronically at the NRC's Electronic
Reading Room at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html.
>From this site, the public can gain entry into the NRC's
Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS), which provides
text and image files of NRC's public documents. An electronic copy of the
proposed CoC, proposed TS, and preliminary SER can be found under ADAMS
Accession Nos. ML032890297 (CoC), ML032890300 and ML032890305 (TS), and
ML032890312 (SER). If you do not have access to ADAMS or if there are
problems in accessing the documents located in ADAMS, contact the NRC
PDR Reference staff at 1-800-
[[Page 2498]]
397-4209, 301-415-4737or by e-mail to pdr@nrc.gov.
CoC No. 1015, the revised TS, the underlying SER for Amendment No.
3, and the Environmental Assessment, are available for inspection at
the NRC Public Document Room, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD.
Single copies of these documents may be obtained from Jayne M.
McCausland, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, telephone
(301) 415-6219, e-mail JMM2@nrc.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jayne M. McCausland, Office of Nuclear
Material Safety and Safeguards, telephone (301) 415-6219, e-mail
JMM2@nrc.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
Section 218(a) of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, as amended
(NWPA), requires that ``[t]he Secretary [of the Department of Energy
(DOE)]
shall establish a demonstration program, in cooperation with the
private sector, for the dry storage of spent nuclear fuel at civilian
nuclear power reactor sites, with the objective of establishing one or
more technologies that the [Nuclear Regulatory]
Commission may, by
rule, approve for use at the sites of civilian nuclear power reactors
without, to the maximum extent practicable, the need for additional
site-specific approvals by the Commission.'' Section 133 of the NWPA
states, in part, that ``[t]he Commission shall, by rule, establish
procedures for the licensing of any technology approved by the
Commission under section 218(a) for use at the site of any civilian
nuclear power reactor.''
To implement this mandate, the NRC approved dry storage of spent
nuclear fuel in NRC-approved casks under a general license by
publishing a final rule in 10 CFR part 72 entitled, ``General License
for Storage of Spent Fuel at Power Reactor Sites'' (55 FR 29181; July
18, 1990). This rule also established a new subpart L within 10 CFR
part 72, entitled ``Approval of Spent Fuel Storage Casks'' containing
procedures and criteria for obtaining NRC approval of spent fuel
storage cask designs. The NRC subsequently issued a final rule on
October 19, 2000 (65 FR 62581), that approved the NAC-UMS cask design
and added it to the list of NRC-approved cask designs in Sec. 72.214
as Certificate of Compliance Number (CoC No.) 1015.
Discussion
On January 15, 2002, and as supplemented on February 4, July 3,
August 7, November 27, and December 11, 2002; and August 15, 2003, NAC
International (NAC) submitted an application to amend the NAC-UMS
Universal Storage System to Incorporate Enhanced Design Features. The
amendment adds an alternate poison material, revises the structural
analysis, revises the thermal analyses, revises fuel assembly weight
and dimensions, and revises allowable fuel cladding temperature. The
amendment also revises the criticality analyses and reorganizes the SAR
Criticality Section, revises Technical Specification A.5.5 to remove
the effluent reporting requirements, and makes several editorial and
administrative changes as described in the SER. No other changes to the
NAC-UMS cask system design were requested in this application. The NRC
staff performed a detailed safety evaluation of the proposed CoC
amendment request and found that an acceptable safety margin is
maintained. In addition, the NRC staff has determined that there is
still reasonable assurance that public health and safety and the
environment will be adequately protected.
This direct final rule revises the NAC-UMS cask design listing in
Sec. 72.214 by adding Amendment No. 3 to CoC No. 1015. The amendment
primarily consists of changes to the Technical Specification (TS) to
incorporate enhanced design features. The particular TS which are
changed are identified in the NRC staff's SER for Amendment No. 3.
The amended NAC-UMS cask system, when used in accordance with the
conditions specified in the CoC, the TS, and NRC regulations, will meet
the requirements of part 72; thus, adequate protection of public health
and safety will continue to be ensured.
Discussion of Amendments by Section
Sec. 72.214 List of Approved Spent Fuel Storage Casks
Certificate No. 1015 is revised by adding the effective date of the
initial certificate and the effective date of Amendment No. 3.
Procedural Background
This rule is limited to the changes contained in Amendment No. 3 to
CoC No. 1015 and does not include other aspects of the NAC-UMS cask
system design. The NRC is using the ``direct final rule procedure'' to
issue this amendment because it represents a limited and routine change
to an existing CoC that is expected to be noncontroversial. Adequate
protection of public health and safety continues to be ensured. The
amendment to the rule will become effective on March 31, 2004. However,
if the NRC receives significant adverse comments by February 17, 2004,
then the NRC will publish a document that withdraws this action and
will address the comments received in response to the proposed
amendments published elsewhere in this issue of the Federal Register. A
significant adverse comment is a comment where the commenter explains
why the rule would be inappropriate, including challenges to the rule's
underlying premise or approach, or would be ineffective or unacceptable
without a change. A comment is adverse and significant if:
(1) The comment opposes the rule and provides a reason sufficient
to require a substantive response in a notice-and-comment process. For
example, a substantive response is required when:
(A) The comment causes the NRC staff to reevaluate (or reconsider)
its position or conduct additional analysis;
(B) The comment raises an issue serious enough to warrant a
substantive response to clarify or complete the record; or
(C) The comment raises a relevant issue that was not previously
addressed or considered by the NRC staff.
(2) The comment proposes a change or an addition to the rule, and
it is apparent that the rule would be ineffective or unacceptable
without incorporation of the change or addition.
(3) The comment causes the NRC staff to make a change (other than
editorial) to the CoC or TS.
These comments will be addressed in a subsequent final rule. The
NRC will not initiate a second comment period on this action. However,
if the NRC receives significant adverse comments by February 17, 2004,
then the NRC will publish a document that withdraws this action and
will address the comments received in response to the proposed
amendments published elsewhere in this issue of the Federal Register.
Voluntary Consensus Standards
The National Technology Transfer Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-113)
requires that Federal agencies use technical standards that are
developed or adopted by voluntary consensus standards bodies unless the
use of such a standard is inconsistent with applicable law or otherwise
impractical. In this direct final rule, the NRC would revise the NAC-
UMS cask system design listed in Sec. 72.214 (List of NRC-approved
spent fuel storage cask designs). This action
[[Page 2499]]
does not constitute the establishment of a standard that establishes
generally applicable requirements.
Agreement State Compatibility
Under the ``Policy Statement on Adequacy and Compatibility of
Agreement State Programs'' approved by the Commission on June 30, 1997,
and published in the Federal Register on September 3, 1997 (62 FR
46517), this rule is classified as Compatibility Category ``NRC.''
Compatibility is not required for Category ``NRC'' regulations. The NRC
program elements in this category are those that relate directly to
areas of regulation reserved to the NRC by the Atomic Energy Act of
1954, as amended (AEA) or the provisions of title 10 of the Code of
Federal Regulations. Although an Agreement State may not adopt program
elements reserved to NRC, it may wish to inform its licensees of
certain requirements via a mechanism that is consistent with the
particular State's administrative procedure laws, but does not confer
regulatory authority on the State.
Plain Language
The Presidential Memorandum dated June 1, 1998, entitled ``Plain
Language in Government Writing,'' directed that the Government's
writing be in plain language. The NRC requests comments on this direct
final rule specifically with respect to the clarity and effectiveness
of the language used. Comments should be sent to the address listed
under the heading ADDRESSES above.
Finding of No Significant Environmental Impact: Availability
Under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended,
and the NRC regulations in subpart A of 10 CFR part 51, the NRC has
determined that this rule, if adopted, would not be a major Federal
action significantly affecting the quality of the human environment
and, therefore, an environmental impact statement is not required. The
rule would amend the CoC for the NAC-UMS cask system within the list of
approved spent fuel storage casks that power reactor licensees can use
to store spent fuel at reactor sites under a general license. The
amendment will modify the present cask system design to add an
alternate poison material, revises the structural analysis, revises the
thermal analyses, revises fuel assembly weight and dimensions, and
revises allowable fuel cladding temperature. The amendment also revises
the criticality analyses and reorganizes the SAR Criticality Section,
revises Technical Specification A.5.5 to remove the effluent reporting
requirements, and makes several editorial and administrative changes.
The environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact on
which this determination is based are available for inspection at the
NRC Public Document Room, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD. Single
copies of the environmental assessment and finding of no significant
impact are available from Jayne M. McCausland, Office of Nuclear
Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission,
Washington, DC 20555-0001, telephone (301) 415-6219, email
jmm2@nrc.gov.
Paperwork Reduction Act Statement
This direct final rule does not contain a new or amended
information collection requirement subject to the Paperwork Reduction
Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.). Existing requirements were
approved by the Office of Management and Budget, Approval Number 3150-
0132.
Public Protection Notification
The NRC may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to
respond to, a request for information or an information collection
requirement unless the requesting document displays a currently valid
OMB control number.
Regulatory Analysis
On July 18, 1990 (55 FR 29181), the NRC issued an amendment to 10
CFR part 72 to provide for the storage of spent nuclear fuel under a
general license in cask designs approved by the NRC. Any nuclear power
reactor licensee can use NRC-approved cask designs to store spent
nuclear fuel if it notifies the NRC in advance, spent fuel is stored
under the conditions specified in the cask's CoC, and the conditions of
the general license are met. A list of NRC-approved cask designs is
contained in Sec. 72.214. On October 19, 2000 (65 FR 62581), the NRC
issued an amendment to part 72 that approved the NAC-UMS cask design by
adding it to the list of NRC-approved cask designs in Sec. 72.214. On
January 15, 2002, and as supplemented on February 4, July 3, August 7,
November 27, and December 11, 2002; and August 15, 2003, NAC
International (NAC) submitted an application to amend the NAC-UMS
Universal Storage System to Incorporate Enhanced Design Features. The
amendment adds an alternate poison material, revises the structural
analysis, revises the thermal analyses, revises fuel assembly weight
and dimensions, and revises allowable fuel cladding temperature. The
amendment also revises the criticality analyses and reorganizes the SAR
Criticality Section, revises Technical Specification A.5.5 to remove
the effluent reporting requirements, and makes several editorial and
administrative changes.
The alternative to this action is to withhold approval of this
amended cask system design and issue an exemption to each general
license. This alternative would cost both the NRC and the utilities
more time and money because each utility would have to pursue an
exemption.
Approval of the direct final rule will eliminate this problem and
is consistent with previous NRC actions. Further, the direct final rule
will have no adverse effect on public health and safety. This direct
final rule has no significant identifiable impact or benefit on other
government agencies. Based on this discussion of the benefits and
impacts of the alternatives, the NRC concludes that the requirements of
the direct final rule are commensurate with the NRC's responsibilities
for public health and safety and the common defense and security. No
other available alternative is believed to be as satisfactory, and
thus, this action is recommended.
Regulatory Flexibility Certification
In accordance with the Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980 (5 U.S.C.
605(b)), the NRC certifies that this rule will not, if issued, have a
significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities.
This direct final rule affects only the licensing and operation of
nuclear power plants, independent spent fuel storage facilities, and
NAC International, Inc. The companies that own these plants do not fall
within the scope of the definition of ``small entities'' set forth in
the Regulatory Flexibility Act or the Small Business Size Standards set
out in regulations issued by the Small Business Administration at 13
CFR part 121.
Backfit Analysis
The NRC has determined that the backfit rule (10 CFR 50.109 or 10
CFR 72.62) does not apply to this direct final rule because this
amendment does not involve any provisions that would impose backfits as
defined. Therefore, a backfit analysis is not required.
Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act
In accordance with the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement
Fairness Act of 1996, the NRC has determined that this action is not a
major rule and has verified this determination with the Office of
[[Page 2500]]
Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget.
List of Subjects in 10 CFR Part 72
Administrative practice and procedure, Criminal penalties, Manpower
training programs, Nuclear materials, Occupational safety and health,
Penalties, Radiation protection, Reporting and recordkeeping
requirements, Security measures, Spent fuel, Whistleblowing.
• For the reasons set out in the preamble and under the authority of the
Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended; the Energy Reorganization Act of
1974, as amended; and 5 U.S.C. 552 and 553; the NRC is adopting the
following amendments to 10 CFR part 72:
PART 72--LICENSING REQUIREMENTS FOR THE INDEPENDENT STORAGE OF
SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL, HIGH-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTE, AND REACTOR-
RELATED GREATER THAN CLASS C WASTE
• 1. The authority citation for part 72 continues to read as follows:
Authority: Secs. 51, 53, 57, 62, 63, 65, 69, 81, 161, 182, 183,
184, 186, 187, 189, 68 Stat. 929, 930, 932, 933, 934, 935, 948, 953,
954, 955, as amended, sec. 234, 83 Stat. 444, as amended (42 U.S.C.
2071, 2073, 2077, 2092, 2093, 2095, 2099, 2111, 2201, 2232, 2233,
2234, 2236, 2237, 2238, 2282); sec. 274, Pub. L. 86-373, 73 Stat.
688, as amended (42 U.S.C. 2021); sec. 201, as amended, 202, 206, 88
Stat. 1242, as amended, 1244, 1246 (42 U.S.C. 5841, 5842, 5846);
Pub. L. 95-601, sec. 10, 92 Stat. 2951 as amended by Pub. L. 102-
486, sec. 7902, 106 Stat. 3123 (42 U.S.C. 5851); sec. 102, Pub. L.
91-190, 83 Stat. 853 (42 U.S.C. 4332); secs. 131, 132, 133, 135,
137, 141, Pub. L. 97-425, 96 Stat. 2229, 2230, 2232, 2241, sec. 148,
Pub. L. 100-203, 101 Stat. 1330-235 (42 U.S.C. 10151, 10152, 10153,
10155, 10157, 10161, 10168).
Section 72.44(g) also issued under secs. 142(b) and 148(c), (d),
Pub. L. 100-203, 101 Stat. 1330-232, 1330-236 (42 U.S.C. 10162(b),
10168(c),(d)). Section 72.46 also issued under sec. 189, 68 Stat.
955 (42 U.S.C. 2239); sec. 134, Pub. L. 97-425, 96 Stat. 2230 (42
U.S.C. 10154). Section 72.96(d) also issued under sec. 145(g), Pub.
L. 100-203, 101 Stat. 1330-235 (42 U.S.C. 10165(g)). Subpart J also
issued under secs. 2(2), 2(15), 2(19), 117(a), 141(h), Pub. L. 97-
425, 96 Stat. 2202, 2203, 2204, 2222, 2244 (42 U.S.C. 10101,
10137(a), 10161(h)). Subparts K and L are also issued under sec.
133, 98 Stat. 2230 (42 U.S.C. 10153) and sec. 218(a), 96 Stat. 2252
(42 U.S.C. 10198).
• 2. In Sec. 72.214, Certificate of Compliance 1015 is revised to read
as follows:
Sec. 72.214 List of approved spent fuel storage casks.
* * * * *
Certificate Number: 1015.
Initial Certificate Effective Date: November 20, 2000.
Amendment Number 1 Effective Date: February 20, 2001.
Amendment Number 2 Effective Date: December 31, 2001.
Amendment Number 3 Effective Date: March 31, 2004.
SAR Submitted by: NAC International, Inc.
SAR Title: Final Safety Analysis Report for the NAC-UMS Universal
Storage System.
Docket Number: 72-1015.
Certificate Expiration Date: November 20, 2020.
Model Number: NAC-UMS.
* * * * *
Dated in Rockville, Maryland, this 30th day of December, 2003.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
William D. Travers,
Executive Director for Operations.
[FR Doc. 04-976 Filed 1-15-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P
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32 sacbee.com: Panel says Energy Department must test nuclear waste
By ROBERT GEHRKE, Associated Press
Last Updated 9:03 p.m. PST Thursday, January 15, 2004
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Energy Department has not done the
necessary tests to justify relaxing the testing of radioactive
waste shipments bound for a New Mexico storage site, a panel of
scientists said Thursday.
The department has argued that safety checks required on
shipments to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M.,
cost $3.1 billion and create delays. Changing the requirements
would save time and money, the department said in petitioning for
changes last week.
A report by a panel of scientists appointed by the National
Research Council - a division of the National Academies of
Science - said Energy has not done adequate studies to support
its argument for easing regulations and those analyses should be
done before it seeks to modify the state waste disposal permit.
However, a provision backed by Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., and
signed into law last month by President Bush orders the Energy
Department to request that New Mexico relax its testing
requirements and restricts the state's ability to refuse the
request.
"This is another example of the management failures coming from
the highest levels of DOE," said New Mexico Environment Secretary
Ron Curry. "It is another example of DOE putting the cart before
the horse and making unfounded assumptions to the detriment of
New Mexicans."
The Carlsbad facility buries transuranic waste - such as gloves,
rags, tools, dried sludge and other debris contaminated during
nuclear weapons making - in ancient salt beds 2,150 feet below
ground.
Under the Energy Department's proposed changes, instead of
testing each shipment of waste, records kept on each drum of
radioactive material would be used to determine whether the waste
inside is eligible to be buried at the site.
There is no deadline for the state to act on the Energy
Department application.
Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., who objected to the Domenici
provision, said the scientists' report shows that Congress should
only pre-empt state regulatory authority "after a transparent
process has taken place - a process that yields thoughtful and
careful analysis."
The law cannot be undone, Bingaman said, but it should serve as
a reminder "that there is a well-established process for
modifying existing state regulations and that the federal
government should respect it."
Domenici defended the provision. "Experience has shown us that
intrusive sampling techniques have shown to have little
environmental, public safety or health benefits," he said.
The National Research Council panel said that when the Carlsbad
plant became the first operational waste facility of its kind
four years ago, it made sense for regulators to be cautious and
impose rigorous measures for screening waste.
Today, the site's track record could help identify changes that
could be warranted. However, a systematic analysis is needed
before the Energy Department can make its case that changes are
justified, the panel said.
[ The Sacramento Bee
*****************************************************************
33 Las Vegas RJ: Screening program started
Friday, January 16, 2004
Yucca employees checked for exposure to airborne silica
By KEN RITTER THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Yucca Mountain project managers began a lung disease screening
program Thursday for current and former workers who might have
inhaled airborne silica at the federal government's nuclear waste
repository in the Nevada desert.
Two hundred letters have been mailed, and more will be sent soon
to an estimated 1,200 to 1,500 current and former Yucca Mountain
site workers who are eligible to take part in the free silicosis
screening program, said program manager Gene Runkle.
Two current workers are being treated for silicosis, Runkle
said, although he said it was not clear whether they contracted
the disease working at Yucca Mountain.
Project managers did not know where most former workers were.
Most were involved in tunneling and underground operations, or in
setting up exploratory experiments underground from 1992 to
present.
Any worker who spends or spent 20 days a year working in the
tunnels is eligible, Runkle said.
The Energy Department was providing names of former workers to
the University of Cincinnati, which was handling silicosis
screening and research. The university also was working with The
Center to Protect Workers' Rights to contact trade unions and
find former Yucca Mountain workers. Most worked from 1992 to
1998, when tunnels were bored at the Yucca Mountain site, 100
miles northwest of Las Vegas. Workers were issued dust masks as
protective equipment, but Runkle said that from 1992 to 1996 mask
use was not consistently applied.
Tunnel ventilation and dust control was upgraded in 1995 and
1996, and worker monitoring for silica exposure was expanded in
1996.
Silica exists naturally in desert soils and in the rocks at
Yucca Mountain. It can become airborne during tunneling, and
inhaled silica can collect in the respiratory system. With
long-term exposure, it can cause silicosis, a chronic and
progressive lung disease with symptoms including coughing and
shortness of breath, the Energy Department said.
Margaret Chu, Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management
director, said current screening and measures were protecting the
140 workers now working at Yucca Mountain.
Runkle said that in 2001, two workers were exposed to elevated
silica levels in separate instances.
He declined to identify the workers, but said they are part of
the screening process and were showing no symptoms of silicosis.
Copyright Las Vegas Review-Journal
*****************************************************************
34 Las Vegas RJ: EDITORIAL: Yucca goes to court
Friday, January 16, 2004
Making their case before a judicial panel convened at the U.S.
Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Wednesday,
attorneys for Nevada argued the state had been unfairly singled
out for the Yucca Mountain nuclear repository -- a plea which
received a chilly reception, given that no one challenged Judge
David Tatel's contention that the land is, in fact, "federal
property."
"This concerns the use of federal property in the state," said
Judge Tatel. "When you are talking about federal property, it is
not intuitive to consult the states."
Nevada Attorney General Brian Sandoval had early on vowed an
objection to that premise would be one of the tactics the state
employed. So why did that premise apparently go unchallenged?
Nevadans opposed to the waste dump can at least take some solace
from the fact Judge Tatel and Judge Harry T. Edwards sharply
questioned an attorney for the Environmental Protection Agency,
demanding to know why the agency set an arbitrary 10,000-year
safety standard, when the Energy Department found the peak
radiation hazard of some waste at the site could occur 480,000
years in the future. The standard was cynically set because,
"They cannot prove those cannisters will last more than 10,000
years," points out Nevada Attorney General Brian Sandoval.
Good point. Unfortunately, though, today's politicized courts
are generally loath to set themselves up as scientific experts.
The judges are more likely to limit their ruling to procedural
matters, deferring on the substance to "experts" retained by the
U.S. government to shepherd Yucca Mountain to approval.
An appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court is expected, regardless of
Wednesday's result. But the opportunity to introduce a stronger
case for Nevada's sovereignty over her own lands may just have
gone a-glimmering.
Copyright Las Vegas Review-Journal
*****************************************************************
35 Las Vegas RJ: Lawyer relays good news, bad news on Yucca Mountain court
Friday, January 16, 2004
session
By STEVE TETREAULT
STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU
Joe Egan
Lawyer says he sees signs lawsuit against EPA can be won
WASHINGTON -- Nevada's lead nuclear waste lawyer delivered an
upbeat report on the fight against the Yucca Mountain Project on
Thursday although he conceded the state failed to land a knockout
punch in court this week.
While a three-judge panel has yet to rule on a suite of
lawsuits, Virginia-based attorney Joe Egan said the state's
constitutional challenge to the Yucca project and a separate
lawsuit against the Energy Department probably are going to be
rejected.
However, he said a lawsuit against the Environmental Protection
Agency appears winnable.
Also, he said he expected concessions from the court that will
strengthen Nevada's hand to contest DOE when it seeks a Nuclear
Regulatory Commission license to build a nuclear waste repository
in the state.
"While we would have liked to have come out with a court order
we could wave around saying the repository is history, the result
still could be a very serious challenge to the repository," Egan
told members of the Nevada Commission on Nuclear Projects.
Five members of the oversight body convened a postmortem session
with Egan and Nevada Attorney General Brian Sandoval after
witnessing the state's oral arguments Wednesday at the U.S. Court
of Appeals for the District of Columbia.
The court bundled 13 lawsuits, including a half-dozen the state
filed, into a 3 1/2-hour session. Judges Harry T. Edwards and
David S. Tatel challenged attorneys throughout the morning, while
Judge Karen LeCraft Henderson was less vocal.
Edwards and Tatel reacted skeptically to Nevada's argument that
Congress violated the U.S. Constitution by passing a law in July
2002 endorsing President Bush's pick of the Yucca site, 100 miles
northwest of Las Vegas.
The two judges also indicated they would dismiss a lawsuit
against the Energy Department, saying it was nullified when
Congress passed the Yucca Mountain law.
Some state officials and environmental activists said they were
downcast on Wednesday. On Thursday, they began to see silver
linings.
"A lot of us are more enthusiastic this morning than we were
yesterday afternoon," said former Attorney General Brian McKay,
chairman of the nuclear projects board.
Egan said the state could pin its hopes on the court possibly
invalidating standards that require DOE to prove the repository
can protect Nevadans from radiation harm for a period of 10,000
years. Seeming to embrace the view of Nevada and the Natural
Resources Defense Council, a co-plaintiff, Edwards and Tatel
sharply questioned the Environmental Protection Agency over how
the 10,000-year standard was set when a National Academy of
Sciences study indicated radiation wouldn't peak for hundreds of
thousands of years.
"This is indeed a crack if not a breach in the wall," Sandoval
said. "We are certain the fight did not end yesterday and it will
not end when the court issues its order."
Attorneys watching the cases said the Yucca project could face
delay if the judges send the standards back to be rewritten,
although some interviewed Wednesday said a ruling like that is
far from assured.
If the EPA radiation standard is lengthened, Nevada officials
and environmental advocates said they doubt the Energy Department
could prove Yucca Mountain is truly solid enough to prevent
decaying radionuclides from escaping into the environment.
"DOE would have to prove Yucca really can isolate waste for that
amount of time, and that is very much up for contention," said
Geoff Fettus, an attorney with the Natural Resources Defense
Council who argued before judges Wednesday.
Energy Department spokesman Joe Davis said DOE is confident it
could meet redesigned health standards. He could not say whether
it might take additional time.
Several lawyers who observed the court action cautioned not to
read too much into the judges' comments. Oral arguments are not
always good predictors of how judges will rule.
Despite asking tough questions, judges tend to give deference to
federal agencies on administrative matters, said Jerry Stouck, an
attorney whose clients include nuclear utilities Yankee Rowe,
Connecticut Yankee and Maine Yankee.
"You would have to think the government has an edge in any case
like this," said Stouck, a partner in the Spriggs &Hollingsworth
firm. "Agencies are not generally second-guessed by the court.
Having said that, the Nevadans and the NRDC are making a lot of
arguments and taking a shotgun approach to finding flaws in the
process."
Egan expects the appeals court will make a decision by late
spring.
Copyright Las Vegas Review-Journal
*****************************************************************
36 Baltimore Sun: Nuclear waste change opposed
sunspot.net - nation/world
Scientists question easing tests on shipments to N.M.
Associated Press
Originally published January 16, 2004
WASHINGTON - The Energy Department has not done the necessary
tests to justify relaxing the testing of radioactive waste
shipments bound for a New Mexico storage site, a panel of
scientists said yesterday.
The department has argued that safety checks required on
shipments to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M.,
cost $3.1 billion and create delays. It petitioned for the
changes last week.
A report by a panel of scientists appointed by the National
Research Council - a division of the National Academies of
Science - said Energy has not done adequate studies to support
easing regulations and those analyses should be done before it
seeks to modify the state waste-disposal permit.
However, a bill backed by Republican Sen. Pete V. Domenici of New
Mexico and signed into law last month by President Bush orders
the Energy Department to request that New Mexico relax its test
requirements and restricts the state's ability to refuse the
request.
"This is another example of the management failures coming from
the highest levels of DOE," said New Mexico Environment Secretary
Ron Curry. "It is another example of DOE... making unfounded
assumptions to the detriment of New Mexicans."
The Carlsbad facility buries gloves, rags, tools, dried sludge
and other debris contaminated during nuclear weapons making in
ancient salt beds 2,150 feet underground.
Under the Energy Department's proposed changes, instead of
testing each shipment of waste, records kept on each drum of
radioactive material would be used to determine whether the waste
inside is eligible to be buried at the site.
There is no deadline for the state to act on the Energy
Department application.
Democratic Sen. Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico, who objected to the
Domenici provision, said the scientists' report shows that
Congress should only pre-empt state regulatory authority "after a
transparent process has taken place - a process that yields
thoughtful and careful analysis."
Copyright © 2004, | Get home delivery
*****************************************************************
37 Pahrump Valley Times: Nuke route a funny way to think
January 16, 2004
COMMUNITY VIEWPOINT
By MEL BAUER
The preferred nuclear waste route selection made by the
Department of Energy as announced on Dec. 23 is truly ludicrous
in my way of thinking.
Why would anyone build a 319-mile rail line, locking up 300,000
plus acres in lieu of 214 miles and a lot less open public land,
just because the U.S. Air Force objected? The state of Nevada has
objected to the Yucca Mountain Project from the beginning and no
one seems to be listening to them, so why should the Air Force be
any different?
For that matter, why build even the 214 miles that generally
would follow the 1888 Union Pacific survey route when 90 miles of
rail on Montana Sen. William A. Clark's Las Vegas and Tonopah
Railroad path, a proven route that would go from Apex, Nev. to
Yucca Mountain, would be the least intrusive into military,
public and private holdings? The city of Las Vegas objected to
this route so the DOE listened.
Could it be that the city of Las Vegas has more political clout
than the state that has objected to YMP all along? If it's safe
for the many cities that the trains will traverse en route to the
proposed repository, why is Las Vegas any different? The DOE
certainly does not seem to show that same respect for the
residents in other cities across the country that have the
nuclear waste moving through their locale.
The DOE could even benefit from a better understanding of
history and perhaps talk to a few of the old timers before they
try to reinvent the wheel. From previous meetings it was apparent
that they failed to evaluate all of the potential alternatives
among the old rail routes.
Nearly five years ago I attended a meeting that told of the
routes under consideration that involved Carlin, Caliente, Las
Vegas and Pahrump as potential routes. No mention was made of the
old Tidewater and Tonopah rail route that could go from the
Basin, Calif. to Yucca Mountain. They were unaware that such a
railroad ever existed. Incidentally the old T route would also
have been a safer method to ship the accumulation of radioactive
waste at the Nevada Test Site to New Mexico in lieu of the truck
shipments currently being used, in my opinion.
While I'm on this soapbox, does anyone else wonder about the
course of action being taken by Nye County elected officials that
seem to ignore the risks that exist with Yucca Mountain as a
repository and the long-term safety of the residents living in
both southern Nevada and eastern central California? These
officials apparently feel that it is useless to object to the
whims of the DOE as long as at the end of the day they are given
token payments for services rendered.
I cannot believe that the "accept the inevitable" attitude
prevalent among so many will prove to be the prudent choice in
the end. Just ask the folks in New Mexico what they really got.
Bauer writes from Amargosa valley
For comment or questions, please e-mail
webmaster@pahrumpvalleytimes.com Copyright © Pahrump Valley
Times, 1997 - 2003
*****************************************************************
38 AU ABC: Reprocessed fuel rods found in N Korea.
16/01/2004. ABC News Online
Australian Broadcasting Corporation Online">
An unofficial United States delegation to North Korea says
officials told it spent fuel rods have been reprocessed to
extract plutonium, the material used in nuclear weapons.
A member of the delegation and former State Department
official, Charles Pritchard, says there is no way to verify
North Korea's claim independently.
North Korea claims it has nuclear weapons and is building up
its arsenal.
It reactivated its nuclear plant at Yongbyong just over a year
ago after expelling United Nations inspectors.
Charles Pritchard has given details of seeing an empty nuclear
fuel pond and 8,000 missing fuel rods at the plant.
"Those canisters were empty, the pond had contained no spent
fuel rods and the North Koreans told us they had moved them out
on a regular basis for reprocessing in the reprocessing
facility," he said.
--BBC
© 2004 Australian Broadcasting Corporation
*****************************************************************
39 Pahrump Valley Times: YUCCA MOUNTAIN Judges weigh state's case
January 16, 2004
By STEVE TETREAULT PVT WASHINGTON BUREAU
WASHINGTON - Nevada won some and lost some on Wednesday as
federal judges weighed the state's legal challenges to the Yucca
Mountain Project.
In a long-awaited court hearing, two out of three judges reacted
with skepticism to Nevada's claim that the government's bid to
bury nuclear waste in the state was in violation of the U.S.
Constitution.
The judges also foreclosed a direct challenge to President
Bush's designation of the site 50 miles north of Pahrump and
roughly 20 miles north of Amargosa Valley and east of Beatty, for
the proposed nuclear repository. They said that congressional
approval of the site in July 2002 made it a done deal that
couldn't be overturned in court.
At the same time, the judicial panel that convened at the U.S.
Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia signaled it might
support arguments that challenge the proposed nuclear waste
repository on other grounds.
Judges aimed sharp questions at whether health standards issued
by the Environmental Protection Agency would be sufficient to
protect Nevadans when radiation from the repository figures to be
at its peak hundreds of thousands of years in the future.
Additionally, Judge Harry T. Edwards said that Nevada should be
able to challenge Yucca Mountain environmental studies as part of
Nuclear Regulatory Commission's licensing hearings for the
project. State attorneys said it would give them more ammunition
in that venue.
"We were pleased with a lot of the things we saw," said Nevada
lead attorney Joe Egan, but the session contained possible
setbacks as well that might prompt an eventual appeal to the
Supreme Court.
The three-and-a-half-hour session signaled a probable mixed
outcome for Nevada and environmental organizations that filed
lawsuits against the government's efforts to develop the
repository.
An Energy Department official and an attorney for the nuclear
power industry said they saw nothing out of the session that
would kill the Yucca project.
"Our decision-making process and the question of whether Yucca
Mountain was selected appropriately is obviously over," DOE
spokesman Joe Davis said, referring to likely rejection of the
site selection lawsuit.
Robert Bishop, general counsel for the Nuclear Energy Institute,
said he could envision the court upholding the repository or
ruling in a way that would cause undetermined delays.
"But I can't see any exercise of this court's jurisdiction that
would stop the project," he said.
The state's constitutional argument against the Yucca Mountain
Project got a frosty reception.
Nevada-hired constitutional expert Charles Cooper advanced the
state charge it was singled out for a nuclear waste repository
without a reason that could stand constitutional muster.
"We hold that Congress must treat the states alike unless they
have a neutral and rational basis to treat them differently,"
Cooper said, adding such a reason did not exist for selection of
Yucca Mountain for nuclear waste burial.
"Sovereign interests have been invaded by the federal government
for this material that no other state wants," Cooper said.
"Property clause powers are not absolute."
Edwards called it "an interesting argument," but one he believed
was a stretch when placed beside the powers granted the
government to manage federal property. The Yucca repository would
sit on Bureau of Land Management land.
"This concerns the use of federal property in a state," Judge
David Tatel said. "When you are talking about federal property,
it is not intuitive to consult the states.
The third judge, Karen LeCraft Henderson, did not offer a view.
Tatel said Nevada might have a case "if Congress just dropped
this stuff on Yucca Mountain." But he said extensive studies by
the Energy Department and action by Congress to sign off on the
site suggest otherwise.
"How does the judgment on Yucca Mountain rise to the level of
irrationality?" Tatel said.
Afterwards, Egan said, "When you advance a theory that's new, you
are assured one way or another it's going to go to the Supreme
Court."
Attorney General Brian Sandoval said Nevada leaders "would look
very closely" at a Supreme Court petition if the state's views
were rejected at the appeals level.
On the site selection case, Edwards said Nevada could not
challenge President Bush's pick because Congress passed a law
setting it in stone. The Senate completed the legislation on July
9, 2002, and Bush enacted it on July 23 of that year.
"This is the most important issue here," Edwards said. "Once they
act, Congress can do what it wants to do, and they did it."
Edwards halted the proceedings shortly afterwards, cutting off
Nevada's arguments on one of its cases that were tied in part to
the president's actions.
Edwards said the judges would decide that case based on written
briefs "if we get to that."
While Henderson asked a handful of questions, Edwards and Tatel
engaged attorneys throughout the session.
Encouraged by attorneys for Nevada and the Natural Resources
Defense Council, the two judges intensely questioned an attorney
for the Environmental Protection Agency, which had set a 10,000
year radiation standard for the Yucca repository despite a
National Academy of Sciences report ordered by Congress that
suggested radiation dangers will exist for a much longer period.
An Energy Department study pegged the period of peak radiation at
480,000 years in the future, attorneys said.
"The facts are incontrovertible. This is an EPA standard that
cannot stand review," said Antonio Rossman, a San Francisco
environmental attorney representing Nevada. "The National Academy
of Sciences determined there was no scientific basis to confine
it to 10,000 years."
The argument seemed to strike a chord with Edwards. "It's
astonishing what the agency did compared to what the NAS said,"
he said.
EPA attorney Christopher Vaden said the agency had the authority
to consider other factors besides the academy's findings, but
Edwards said federal agencies often use the argument and he
didn't buy it.
"Yucca Mountain is no different than anything else," he said. "An
agency doesn't have the ability to do what it wants just because
it has rule-making authority. It's an old argument and you lose."
If the court ends up ruling against the EPA standards, Sandoval
said the Energy Department could face delays while new ones are
developed.
"It essentially would turn the program on its head because they
would have to start all over again," Sandoval said. "They cannot
prove those canisters will last more than 10,000 years."
Energy Department spokesman Davis said DOE would continue its
preparations to license a Yucca repository.
"For whatever standards the court might set, we are confident we
can meet them," Davis said.
The Energy Department plans to submit a license application by
the end of December. Davis would not say whether the project
could be delayed if the court orders any changes.
Outside the court, Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., said the day
"was obviously not a homerun (for Nevada), but I think we're
going to win the EPA process and that will cause delay."
Berkley also said the judges "opened up a can of worms for us,"
by indicating that Nevada can mount challenges to the project's
environmental impact before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., cautioned against reading too much into
the judges' reaction to oral arguments considering they also
would review thousands of pages of legal documents before issuing
decisions.
"These cases will not be won or lost today," Porter said. "We may
not win every case but there were points made today that will
help us.
Close to 200 onlookers filled the Ceremonial Courtroom, the
largest chamber in the federal courthouse. While most represented
industry groups, environmental organizations and federal
agencies, there were five students in the audience on a field
trip from the Community College of Southern Nevada.
"I've been hearing about Yucca Mountain since I was a young kid,"
said James Croft, 27, a biology major taking classes at CCSN and
UNLV. Croft said he and his classmates mingled in the hallway
with Environmental Protection Agency officials
"It was interesting to get their view and to talk to other people
who were very favorable about dumping in Nevada," Croft said.
"I'm still a little bit mixed on it. I don't know if the benefits
outweigh the risks but definitely if we research it more, there's
potential for storage there."
webmaster@pahrumpvalleytimes.com Copyright © Pahrump Valley
Times, 1997 - 2003
*****************************************************************
40 DOE: Health Effects Subcommittee
FR Doc 04-962
[Federal Register: January 16, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 11)]
[Notices] [Page 2598-2599] From the Federal Register Online via
GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr16ja04-64]
Name: Public meeting of the Citizens Advisory Committee on PHS
Activities and Research at DOE Sites: Oak Ridge Reservation
Health Effects Subcommittee (ORRHES).
Time and Date: 12 p.m.-6:30 p.m., February 3, 2004. Place:
Kingston Community Center, 201 Patton Ferry Road, Kingston, TN
37763. Telephone: (865) 376-9476. Status: Open to the public,
limited only by the space available. The meeting room
accommodates approximately 75 people.
Background: Under a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed in
October 1990 and renewed in September 2000 between ATSDR and DOE,
the MOU delineates the responsibilities and procedures for
ATSDR's public health activities at DOE sites required under
sections 104, 105, 107, and 120 of the Comprehensive
Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA
or ``Superfund''). These activities include health consultations
and public health assessments at DOE sites listed on, or proposed
for, the Superfund National Priorities List and at sites that are
the subject of petitions from the public; and other
health-related activities such as epidemiologic studies, health
surveillance, exposure and disease registries, health education,
substance-specific applied research, emergency response, and
preparation of toxicological profiles.
In addition, under an MOU signed in December 1990 with DOE and
replaced by an MOU signed in 2000, the Department of Health and
Human Services (HHS) has been given the
[[Page 2599]] responsibility and resources for conducting
analytic epidemiologic investigations of residents of communities
in the vicinity of DOE facilities, workers at DOE facilities, and
other persons potentially exposed to radiation or to potential
hazards from non-nuclear energy production and use. HHS has
delegated program responsibility to CDC. Community involvement is
a critical part of ATSDR's and CDC's energy- related research and
activities and input from members of the ORRHES is part of these
efforts.
Purpose: The purpose of this meeting is to address issues that
are unique to community involvement with the ORRHES, and agency
updates.
Matters to be Discussed: Agenda items will include a presentation
and discussion of the initial release of the Public Health
Assessment on White Oak Creek Radionuclide Release from the DOE
Oak Ridge Reservation, a response to recommendations regarding
the Needs Assessment Document, updates and recommendations from
the Public Health Assessment, Communications and Outreach,
Agenda, Guidelines and Procedures, and the Health Education Needs
Assessment Workgroups, and agency updates.
Agenda items are subject to change as priorities dictate.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Lorine Spencer, Executive
Secretary, or Marilyn Horton, Committee Management Specialist,
Division of Health Assessment and Consultation, ATSDR, 1600
Clifton Road, NE M/S E-32 Atlanta, Georgia 30333, telephone
1-888-42-ATSDR (28737), fax 404/498- 1744.
The Director, Management Analysis and Services Office, has been
delegated the authority to sign Federal Register notices
pertaining to announcements of meetings and other committee
management activities, for both CDC and ATDSR.
Dated: January 12, 2004.
Alvin Hall, Director, Management Analysis and Services Office,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
[FR Doc. 04-962 Filed 1-15-04; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 4163-18-P
*****************************************************************
41 DOE: Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board, Rocky
FR Doc 04-986
[Federal Register: January 16, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 11)]
[Notices] [Page 2584-2585] From the Federal Register Online via
GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr16ja04-46]
Flats AGENCY: Department of Energy.
[[Page 2585]] ACTION: Notice of open meeting.
SUMMARY: This notice announces a meeting of the Environmental
Management Site-Specific Advisory Board (EM SSAB), Rocky Flats.
The Federal Advisory Committee Act (Pub. L. 92-463, 86 Stat. 770)
requires that public notice of this meeting be announced in the
Federal Register.
DATES: Thursday, February 5, 2004; 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
ADDRESSES: College Hill Library, Room L211, Front Range Community
College, 3705 West 112th Avenue, Westminster, CO.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ken Korkia, Board/Staff
Coordinator, Rocky Flats Citizens Advisory Board, 10808 Highway
93, Unit B, Building 60, Room 107B, Golden, CO 80403; telephone
(303) 966-7855; fax (303) 966-7856.
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. Annual State of the Flats Presentation by
Rocky Flats Officials.
2. Presentation and Discussion of the Original Landfill Interim
Measure/Interim Remedial Action Document.
3. Presentation and Discussion of the Groundwater Interim
Measure/ Interim Remedial Action Document.
4. Other Board business may be conducted as necessary. 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 Ken Korkia at the
address or telephone number listed above. Requests must be
received at least five days prior to the meeting and reasonable
provisions 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.
Minutes: The minutes of this meeting will be available for public
review and copying at the office of the Rocky Flats Citizens
Advisory Board, 10808 Highway 93, Unit B, Building 60, Room 107B,
Golden, CO 80403; telephone (303) 966-7855. Hours of operations
are 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday. Minutes will also
be made available by writing or calling Ken Korkia at the address
or telephone number listed above. Board meeting minutes are
posted on RFCAB's Web site within one month following each
meeting at .
Issued at Washington, DC, on January 13, 2004.
Rachel M. Samuel, Deputy Advisory Committee Management Officer.
[FR Doc. 04-986 Filed 1-15-04; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6450-01-P
*****************************************************************
42 DOE: West Valley Demonstration Project Final Waste Management
FR Doc 04-988
[Federal Register: January 16, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 11)]
[Notices] [Page 2583-2584] From the Federal Register Online via
GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr16ja04-45]
Environmental Impact Statement AGENCY: Department of Energy.
ACTION: Notice of Availability.
SUMMARY: The Department of Energy (DOE) announces the
availability of the West Valley Demonstration Project (WVDP)
Final Waste Management Environmental Impact Statement (EIS),
Cattaraugus County, West Valley, New York (DOE/EIS--0337F). DOE
has prepared this Final EIS pursuant to the National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and applicable NEPA regulations
issued by the Council on Environmental Quality (40 Code of
Federal Regulations (CFR) Parts 1500-1508) and by DOE (10 CFR
part 1021). DOE proposes to ship radioactive wastes that are
either currently in storage on the WVDP site or that will be
generated from WVDP operations over the next ten years, to
offsite disposal locations. The Final EIS evaluates the potential
environmental impacts of the proposed action, including impacts
to workers and the public from waste transportation. The Final
EIS also analyzes a No Action Alternative, under which most
wastes would continue to be stored over the next ten years, and
an alternative under which certain wastes would be shipped to
interim offsite storage locations prior to disposal.
ADDRESSES: Requests for copies of the Final EIS or requests for
information about this document should be directed to: Mr.
Daniel W. Sullivan, EIS Document Manager, DOE West Valley Area
Office, 10282 Rock Springs Road, WV-49, West Valley, NY
14171-9799, Telephone: (800) 633- 5280 or (716) 942-2152.
Copies of the Final EIS have been distributed to Federal, State,
and local officials; Members of Congress; agencies;
organizations; and individuals who may be interested or affected.
The Final EIS will be available at
http://tis.eh.doe.gov/nepa/docs.docs.htm or
http://www.wv.doe.gov. Copies of the Final EIS and supporting
technical reports also are available for public inspection at the
following locations: Hulbert Library of the Town of Concord, 18
Chapel Street, Springville, NY 14141.
Central Library of the Buffalo, and Erie County Public Library
System, Science and Technology Department, Lafayette Square,
Buffalo, NY 14203.
West Valley Central School Library, 5359 School Street, West
Valley, NY 14171.
The Olean Public Library, 134 North 2nd Street, Olean, NY 14760.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For additional information on
this EIS, contact Mr. Daniel Sullivan at the address provided
above. For general information on the DOE NEPA process, please
contact: Ms.
Carol Borgstrom, Director, Office of NEPA Policy and Compliance
(EH-42), U.S. Department of Energy, 1000 Independence Avenue,
SW., Washington, DC 20585. Ms. Borgstrom may be contacted by
calling (202) 586-4600 or by leaving a message at (800) 472-2756.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The WVDP is located on the Western New
York Nuclear Service Center (also referred to as the Center). The
Center comprises approximately 13.5 square kilometers (five
square miles) in West Valley, New York, and is located in the
Town of Ashford, approximately 50 kilometers (30 miles) southeast
of Buffalo, New York. The Center was the site of a commercial
nuclear fuel reprocessing plant, which was the only one to have
operated in the United States. The Center operated under a
license issued by the Atomic Energy Commission (now the U.S.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission [NRC]) in 1966 to Nuclear Fuel
Services, Incorporated, and the New York State Atomic and Space
Development Authority, now known as the New York State Energy
Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA).
During reprocessing, spent nuclear fuel from commercial nuclear
power plants and DOE sites was chopped, dissolved, and processed
by a solvent extraction system to recover uranium and plutonium.
Fuel reprocessing ended in 1972 when the plant was shut down
[[Page 2584]] for modifications to increase its capacity, reduce
occupational radiation exposure, and reduce radioactive
effluents.
In 1976, Nuclear Fuel Services estimated that over $600 million
would be required to modify the facility to increase its capacity
and to comply with changes in regulatory standards. As a result,
the company decided to withdraw from the nuclear fuel
reprocessing business and exercise its contractual right to yield
responsibility for the Center to NYSERDA. Nuclear Fuel Services
withdrew from the Center without removing any of the in-process
nuclear wastes. NYSERDA now holds title to and manages the Center
on behalf of the people of the State of New York.
In 1980, Congress passed the WVDP Act (Pub. L 96-368). This Act
requires DOE to demonstrate that the liquid high-level
radioactive waste (HLW) from reprocessing can be safely managed
by solidifying it at the Center and transporting it to a geologic
repository for permanent disposal. In addition to HLW, the WVDP
also manages low-level radioactive waste (LLW), transuranic (TRU)
waste, and mixed waste (radioactive and hazardous) generated as a
result of Project activities.
The WVDP Facilities and areas storing the waste are: The Process
Building, which includes approximately 70 rooms and cells that
comprised the NRC-licensed spent nuclear fuel reprocessing
operations (one of the cells--the Chemical Process Cell--now
serves as the storage facility for the canisters containing the
HLW, which has been immobilized through vitrification); the Tank
Farm, which includes the underground HLW storage tanks; Waste
Storage Areas, which include several facilities such as Lag
Storage Areas and the Chemical Process Cell Waste Storage Area;
and the Radwaste Treatment System Drum Cell (Drum Cell), which
stores cement-filled drums of stabilized LLW.
DOE announced its intent to prepare this EIS in a March 2001
Notice of Intent (NOI) (66 FR 16447, March 26, 2001). DOE
modified the proposed scope of this EIS as a result of public
comments received during scoping and the Department's further
evaluation of activities that might be required independently of
final decisions on decommissioning and/or long-term stewardship
at the WVDP. In the future, DOE plans to issue an EIS on
decommissioning and/or long-term stewardship. DOE published an
Advance NOI (66 FR 56090, November 6, 2001) inviting preliminary
public comment on a proposed scope for the decommissioning and/or
long-term stewardship EIS and published an NOI (68 FR 12004,
March 13, 2003).
Public Comments The Waste Management EIS was issued in draft on
May 16, 2003, for public review and comment (68 FR 26587 (2003)).
The 45-day comment period ended on June 30, 2003, although DOE
also considered comments received after that date. Two public
hearings on the Draft EIS were held on June 11, 2003, at the
Ashford Office Complex near the WVDP site. The Final EIS
incorporates public comments received on the Draft EIS and DOE
responses.
In response to public comments, several changes were made in the
Final EIS. In particular, the option under Alternative B of
placing retrievable grout in the HLW tanks as an interim
stabilization measure has been eliminated. Information has been
added regarding the extent to which the Canadian population
within 80 kilometers (50 miles) of the site could be affected by
the activities at the site and transportation under routine and
accident conditions. In addition, a number of specific technical
changes and corrections have been made in response to public
comments, and updated DOE guidance regarding health risk factors
was used to estimate potential impacts.
Description of Alternatives The Final EIS analyzes three
alternatives for the continued onsite waste management and
shipment of wastes to offsite disposal.
Under the No Action Alternative, Continuation of Ongoing Waste
Management Activities, waste management would include continued
storage of existing Class B and Class C LLW, TRU waste, and HLW.
Limited amounts of Class A LLW would be shipped for off-site
disposal and the remainder would be stored onsite. The waste
storage tanks and their surrounding vaults would continue to be
ventilated to manage moisture levels as a corrosion prevention
measure.
Under DOE's Preferred Alternative A, Offsite Shipment of HLW,
LLW, Mixed LLW, and TRU Wastes to Disposal, DOE would ship Class
A, B, and C LLW and mixed LLW to one of two potential DOE
disposal sites (in Washington or Nevada) or to a commercial
disposal site (such as the Envirocare facility in Utah); ship TRU
waste to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico;
and ship HLW to the proposed Yucca Mountain HLW Repository. LLW
and mixed LLW would be shipped over the next ten years. TRU waste
shipments to the WIPP could occur within the next ten years if
the TRU waste were determined to meet all the requirements for
disposal in this repository. If some or all of WVDP's TRU waste
did not meet these requirements, the Department would need to
explore other alternatives for disposal of this waste. The waste
storage tanks would continue to be managed as described under the
No Action Alternative.
Under Alternative B, Offsite Shipment of LLW and Mixed LLW to
Disposal, and Shipment of HLW and TRU Waste to Interim Storage,
LLW and mixed LLW would be shipped offsite for disposal at the
same locations as Alternative A. TRU wastes would be shipped for
interim storage at one of five DOE sites: the Hanford Site in
Washington; the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental
Laboratory (INEEL); the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in
Tennessee; the Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina; or
WIPP. TRU wastes would subsequently be shipped to WIPP for
disposal or interim storage at WIPP until disposal could be
arranged. HLW would be shipped to SRS or Hanford for interim
storage, with subsequent shipment to Yucca Mountain for disposal.
The waste storage tanks would continue to be managed as described
under the No Action Alternative.
In addition, DOE considered, but did not analyze, an alternative
to construct and maintain waste storage facilities for indefinite
storage of waste at the WVDP. DOE presently does not consider
that alternative to be practical or reasonable over time, because
of continuing costs of construction of new facilities and
maintenance of existing facilities.
Record of Decision (ROD) DOE intends to issue a ROD no sooner
than 30 days following publication in the Federal Register of the
Environmental Protection Agency's Notice of Availability of the
WVDP Final EIS. DOE will publish its ROD in the Federal Register.
Issued in Washington, DC, on January 12, 2004.
Jessie Hill Roberson, Assistant Secretary for Environmental
Management.
[FR Doc. 04-988 Filed 1-15-04; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6450-01-P
*****************************************************************
43 North County Times: UC officials keep options open on weapons labs
January 15, 2004 10:24 PM PST
By: MICHELLE LOCKE - Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO -- University of California leaders are keeping
their options open on the nuclear weapons labs they've run for
decades, telling administrators to get ready to bid on management
contracts but stopping well short of deciding whether to compete.
The system's governing Board of Regents voted Thursday to allow
UC's president, with the agreement of the board chairman and the
chair of a board committee on the labs, to agree to contract
extensions, respond to government requests for information and
hire outside experts.
The vote doesn't commit UC to competing, but officials called it
an important first step.
"If we compete, we want to compete to win and we want to sweep
the board," said Robert Foley, UC vice president for laboratory
management.
UC has long been tied to the nation's nuclear weapons program,
running the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico since it
was formed to work on the atom bomb in World War II. It has
managed the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Northern
California since it was founded in 1952, largely because
scientist Edward Teller wanted to speed up work on the hydrogen
bomb.
But in recent years, UC's role as nuclear steward has been
shadowed by a series of management lapses at the labs, mostly
involving sloppy business practices. Last year, the Department of
Energy announced it would require bids when the Los Alamos
contract runs out in 2005.
A subsequent bill in Congress saying contracts more than 50 years
old should be put out for bid means the Lawrence Livermore
contract also may go up for bid as well as a third, nonweapons,
UC lab, Lawrence Berkeley, founded in 1931 by pioneering
physicist Ernest O. Lawrence.
Foley said officials don't know when bids will be sought. The
Lawrence Berkeley management contract runs out Jan. 31, but
officials are expecting an extension. The Livermore contract runs
out at the same time as Los Alamos', but extensions of up to two
years are possible.
Money for bid preparation will come from UC's federal lab
management fees and won't dip into the system's state funds,
which have been cut by hundreds of millions of dollars due to
California's fiscal crisis.
Bringing in outside help is an unusual step for UC, but one that
Foley said is necessary considering that UC has never competed
for the contracts and needs to overcome the perception that,
while its science is widely praised, its business and security
practices have been lacking.
"What we do here cannot be seen as business as usual," he said.
Before the vote, a number of speakers urged regents to sever ties
with the labs, reading from letters that were part of a
100-letter "UC Nuclear Free" campaign.
UC lecturer Urs Cipolat said UC has a moral responsibility to
challenge using nuclear weapons.
"A security concept risking the total annihilation of humankind
and life as such can and must not be sustained," he said.
webmaster@nctimes.com
© 1997-2004 North
County Times - Lee Enterprises editor@nctimes.com
*****************************************************************
44 El Paso Times: DOE sets meetings on permit changes
Borderland Friday, January 16, 2004
Associated Press
CARLSBAD -- The Department of Energy plans hearings in Carlsbad
and Santa Fe next month on its plan to modify its permit for a
nuclear waste dump near Carlsbad to change how waste is checked
before being shipped to New Mexico.
Legislation restricts the state's ability to reject DOE's request
to eliminate tests for dangerous gases.
Copyright © 2004
El Paso Times, a Gannett Co., Inc. newspaper.
*****************************************************************
45 Tri-Valley Herald: UC allowed assistance to run labs
Article Last Updated: Friday, January 16, 2004 -
Regents' move opens door for weapons labs
By Ian Hoffman, STAFF WRITER
SAN FRANCISCO -- For the first time in more than a half century,
the university that designed all U.S. nuclear explosives is
turning to private firms for help, a tacit admission that the
school alone is unlikely to prevail in competitive bidding for
them.
"What we do here cannot be seen as business as usual," said
University of California vice president for lab management Robert
Foley. "It's got to be seen as fixes, as management, as really
running it."
UC's governing regents gave power Thursday to UC president Bob
Dynes to team with private industry in running such critical lab
functions as operations, purchasing and the handling of
nuclear-weapons materials.
University executives made clear they weren't yet seeking money
or a green light to bid on staying at the helm of Los Alamos and
Lawrence Livermore nuclear weapons labs and an unclassified,
basic science facility, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
At least two regents said they wanted a full-blown debate on the
pros and cons of the university's continuing role in
nuclear-weapons design and maintenance.
"It's a very, very big decision," said Regent Sherry Lansing. "We
need expertise on both sides of the equation."
"Now is not the time to decide whether you want to compete or
not," Dynes told the regents. "But that time will come."
Congress last year ordered all three labs -- in fact all national
labs operated by the same contractor without competition for more
than 50 years -- put up for competitive bidding.
Since the U.S. government tapped UC in the early 1940s for what
became the Manhattan Project, the three labs' executives never
have had to prove in formal bidding that they are the best for
the job. Since the end of the Cold War, the U.S. Department of
Energy and Congress have demanded higher standards of UC in
business operations, safety and security, and UC's failings have
been widely publicized.
Foley said the university needs outside, industrial help running
Los Alamos and, to a lesser extent, Livermore and Berkeley labs,
whether it competes for them or not.
The university already has "handshake deals" with one industrial
partner and a second one that could be part of a consortium.
Their employees would become university employees, though still
collect a paycheck and benefits from their original firm. Foley
wants them working at the labs and on prospective bids as soon as
early February.
"We need those now," the retired admiral told UC's regents. "And
these fixes are absolutely needed regardless of whether the
university decides to compete," in order to bring lab practices
up to the same standards as their science.
"We've been chastised and rightly so," Foley said.
A bevy of universities, defense firms and government contractors
are eyeing one or more of the three lab management contracts.
The most likely competitors -- the University of Texas, several
New Mexico universities, defense contractor Lockheed Martin,
nonprofit government contractor Battelle Memorial Institute,
engineering giant Bechtel Corp., defense consultant SAIC and
others -- are weighing the details of team or solo lab bids.
"The truth is, they're all keeping it pretty close to the vest,"
Foley said. And so is the University of California; its
executives repeatedly turned aside requests for specifics, saying
they were unwilling to reveal their hand to competitors.
But all bidders are likely to have a private, for-profit element,
giving U.S. corporations a first-ever hand in the design and
maintenance of the nation's nuclear explosives.
"The partners that are brought in, are they profit-oriented?
Sure," Foley said.
Scientists at the three labs have fretted that for-profit
contractors would imperil their scientific freedom and curb the
scope of their inquiry.
They have a point when it comes to entirely for-profit
contractors, says Bill Madia, Battelle vice president for lab
management.
"They have a profit motivation. Their shareholders expect a share
of return. They want to limit risk and so your operations can be
biased by that," he said.
Lockheed Martin created Sandia Corp. partly as insulation against
bottom-line management in its operation of Sandia National
Laboratories in New Mexico and California.
Madia suggests nonprofits such as Battelle and UC provide even
more insurance against profits driving federal research.
But in the end, he said, "Having for-profit partners is not
inherently bad or good."
Exactly what universities and corporations team up won't be clear
for months, perhaps not until the Energy Department issues its
formal request for bids in late summer or early fall.
"The cake is not yet ready to come out of the oven," Madia said.
Meanwhile, nuclear disarmament activists and UC faculty are
campaigning to get the university out of the thermonuclear
weapons business.
UC lecturer Urs Cipolat told regents Thursday that the university
has a moral obligation to challenge using nuclear weapons.
"A security concept risking the total annihilation of mankind and
life as such can and must not be sustained," he said.
UC executives expect to tap the roughly $17 million a year that
the university receives, plus contributions from its private
partners and perhaps federal grants, to finance preparation of
the three bids.
"If we compete, we want to sweep the board on all three of these
labs," Foley said. "I don't go in to lose."
Contact Ian Hoffman at .
©1999-2003 by MediaNews Group, Inc. and ANG Newspapers
*****************************************************************
46 SF Chronicle: 2 UC regents push for in-depth talks on bidding to manage labs
Keay Davidson, Chronicle Science Writer
Friday, January 16, 2004
[San Francisco Chronicle]
Two members of the University of California Board of Regents
called Thursday for a serious discussion about whether UC should
compete for contracts to continue its longtime job running the
nation's nuclear weapons laboratories.
Nine months have passed since Department of Energy Secretary
Spencer Abraham said he would require competitive bidding on the
contract to manage the UC-run Los Alamos National Laboratory, the
nation's premier nuclear weapons design laboratory in New Mexico.
Since then, Congress also has ordered competitive bidding for
management at the two Bay Area labs UC has run for more than a
half-century -- Lawrence Livermore and Lawrence Berkeley.
Yet since Abraham's announcement, which followed a series of
management and financial problems at Los Alamos, the regents
haven't held a formal discussion about the pros and cons of
competing for the new contracts -- a competition that could cost
tens of millions of dollars at a time the university system is
cutting back and raising fees to deal with California's state
budget deficit.
During Thursday's regents meeting in San Francisco, student
member Matt J. Murray of UC Berkeley urged a full discussion
about whether UC should fight to hold on to its lab contracts.
But Regent Peter Preuss, who chairs the board's committee on
oversight of the Energy Department labs, said that kind of
discussion would be difficult because UC officials "don't know
what we're competing for yet."
University administrators have said they're waiting to decide
whether to compete to continue as the stewards of the labs until
the Energy Department produces its detailed description of the
job expected of the new lab managers -- the first step in the
bidding procedure.
UC President Robert C. Dynes added: "Now is not the time to talk
about whether we will compete or not. There will come a time."
But Regent Sherry Lansing stepped in to second Murray's point.
"Before I could make an intelligent decision" on whether UC
should compete for the new contracts, Lansing said, "I need a lot
more information. It's a very, very big decision, (and) we need
to be as well informed as we can. "
Lansing did not specify what such a discussion should involve.
However, she said, board members need to hear opinions from
"expertise that is balanced on both sides" of the issue.
Neither Murray nor Lansing took a stand on the question of
whether UC should compete, and neither specifically accused their
colleagues on the board of delaying such a discussion. They later
joined a unanimous vote to authorize Dynes to take what action he
deems necessary to keep open the possibility of competing, in the
event he has to take action without time for consulting with the
regents.
In that case, Dynes would need to consult only with Preuss and
board chairman John J. Moores before taking action.
The regents' vote does not commit UC to compete for any of the
lab contracts, officials emphasized. All the vote does is allow
UC to "stay in the stream for downstream competition" should the
regents ultimately vote to do so, said Robert Foley, UC vice
president for laboratory management.
"You certainly don't want to wait to the last minute and be in
reactive mode" should the Energy Department issue its
requirements for the management contract and request a quick
response, say within 45 days, Foley said at a press conference
after the regents' meeting.
A major potential competitor is the huge University of Texas
system, which has long hoped to enhance its stature by winning a
federal contract to run a national laboratory.
Asked Thursday if he considered the University of Texas a viable
competitor, Foley shrugged and said, "Why hypothesize on who
might do it?"
E-mail Keay Davidson at kdavidson@sfchronicle.com. ·
©2004 San Francisco Chronicle
*****************************************************************
47 U.S. Newswire: DOE to Open New Lexington, Kentucky Program Office
to Manage Cleanup Activities in Kentucky and Ohio
1/15/04 10:56:00 AM
To: Assignment Desk and Daybook Editor
Contact: Laura Schachter, 859-219-4010 (Ky. Office), or Chris
Kielich, 202-586-5806, both of the Energy Department
News Advisory:
The Department of Energy (DOE) will open its new
Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office in Lexington, Ky. on Friday,
Jan. 16. The new office will manage environmental cleanup
activities at the two DOE gaseous diffusion plants in Ohio and
Kentucky. U.S. Senator Jim Bunning is expected to attend the
event. The Lexington Project Office will provide a single point
of accountability to achieve safe and efficient cleanup at the
sites.
WHAT:
Opening of the DOE Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office
WHEN:
2 p.m., Friday, Jan. 16
WHO:
-- U.S. Senator Jim Bunning, Ky.
-- William Murphie, manager, Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office
WHERE:
1017 Majestic Drive, Suite 200, Lexington, Kentucky
http://www.usnewswire.com/
-0-
/© 2004 U.S. Newswire 202-347-2770/
*****************************************************************
48 Oak Ridger: Construction of uranium-related facilities may start in July
Story last updated at 12:15 p.m. on January 16, 2004
OFFICIAL: 'Safe and timely shipment of the cylinders is a high
priority in this community.'
By: Paul Parson | Oak Ridger Staff
paul.parson@oakridger.com
"Ship them out of here."
That's what needs to be done with the stockpile of depleted
uranium hexafluoride at the Oak Ridge K-25 site, according to
Norman Mulvenon. He's a member of two local environmental
watchdog groups - the Oak Ridge Reservation Local Oversight
Committee and the Oak Ridge Site-Specific Advisory Board.
And, shipping the material out of town is just what the
Department of Energy plans to do. But, before that happens, the
federal agency has to wrap up all the legal loose ends for a
proposed plan to construct depleted uranium hexafluoride
conversion facilities in Portsmouth, Ohio, and Paducah, Ky.
The federal agency held a public hearing Thursday evening in
Oak Ridge on two draft environmental impact statements
pertaining to the facilities. A final version of the document is
expected to be released in June, with a record of decision to
follow. Construction is set to begin by the end of July uranium
hexafluouride cylinders between storage yards at the Oak Ridge
K-25 site, according to officials.
Depleted uranium hexafluoride is a byproduct of the uranium
enrichment process, where uranium was ultimately processed into
nuclear reactor fuel and weapons-grade material. The growing
amount of this material has been a national concern for decades.
There are 4,800 cylinders of depleted uranium hexafluoride
currently stored at K-25. Current plans are for the cylinders to
be shipped to Ohio.
Bechtel Jacobs Co., DOE's cleanup contractor, will be responsible
for all off-site shipments of K-25's cylinders, according to
Chuck Jenkins, a Bechtel Jacobs spokesman.
"Safe and timely shipment of the cylinders is a high priority in
this community," said Susan Gawarecki, executive director of the
Local Oversight Committee.
Gawarecki said the shipments are a multi-state issue, adding that
emergency management officials should be notified and consulted
about the material coming through their states.
The new facilities will convert the depleted uranium hexafluoride
to a more stable chemical form for use or disposal.
*****************************************************************
49 Oak Ridger: CROET wins award from business magazine
Story last updated at 12:37 p.m. on January 16, 2004
The Community Reuse Organization of East Tennessee has been
recognized as one of the communities, corporations and
individuals who are the driving forces behind the world's
economic growth, according to Karim Khan, editor-in-chief of
Business Facilities magazine.
CROET has received the silver award in the regional program
category in the magazine's 11th annual Economic Development
Awards.
"These awards represent some of the most innovative work out
there in the economic development community," Khan said. "Anyone
seeking to expand his or her business should take a hard look at
these winning locations to see what a successful development
effort looks like."
CROET was recognized for its work to leverage regional
resources and build an infrastructure and private sector
industrial base that will replace the community's dependence on
the federal government, according to a press release.
Following the shutdown of government facilities in Oak Ridge,
CROET was formed through grants provided by the DOE Office of
Worker and Community and Transition. As a result, Heritage
Center LLC was created as a brownfield development in Oak Ridge
and 1,000 acres nearby were transformed to Horizon Center LLC.
*****************************************************************
50 Oak Ridger: Commissioner says he'll help get DOE money for county
Story last updated at 12:37 p.m. on January 16, 2004
By: Donna Smith | Oak Ridger Staff
CLINTON - Anderson County Commissioner David Bolling had a short
message for fellow commissioners Thursday night - "tell me what
you want me to do" to get more Department of Energy funds for the
county.
Bolling said considering the county's needs - jail expansion,
more jailers and $5 million in school improvements - and its
prospect of little tax growth, more DOE in lieu of tax funds
could be the only answer.
"Our only way out is to get something meaningful from the
Department of Energy," the former county executive said. "I want
this committee (commissioners) to tell me what to do because I
don't think we're getting the cooperation from Roane County and
Oak Ridge."
Bolling said it didn't appear to him that the three governments
were speaking with "one voice" about getting more DOE funds, a
request that was made by Tennessee's congressional delegation.
The Oak Ridge City Council has been examining its efforts to
acquire more DOE funds. It has a $12,000-a-month contract with
the Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell &Berkowitz law firm to
work toward obtaining more DOE funds. Total cost to the city so
far is $279,364.
Bolling has a history of working with local, state and national
leaders to get more funds from DOE, which doesn't pay property
tax on the land it holds. He and the late Gene Joyce, of Oak
Ridge, worked toward the financial goal.
Bolling spoke to the Commission, which met for a work session in
the Anderson County Courthouse on financial issues.
*****************************************************************
51 Oak Ridger: Y-12 security review deemed 'pretty ugly'
Story last updated at 12:37 p.m. on January 16, 2004
CONGRESSMAN: 'We have to make sure this facility, its workforce
and our community are strongly protected.'
By: Paul Parson | Oak Ridger Staff
In the event of a terrorist attack, Oak Ridge's nuclear weapons
plant could not adequately protect its supply of bomb-grade
uranium, according to a federal watchdog group.
The Washington, D.C.-based Project On Government Oversight
based its claims on unnamed government sources and a review last
month of protective security forces at the Y-12 National
Security Complex. Oak Ridge was apparently the first site to
undergo the high-level security exercise, which was conducted by
the Department of Energy's office of Security and Performance
Assurance.
"It (the review) was pretty ugly," said Peter Stockton, a
senior investigator with the watchdog group.
Joe Davis, chief spokesman for DOE headquarters, said this
morning that the Y-12 security review was not finished and added
that he wasn't sure where the Project On Government Oversight
got its information.
"I don't know if their information is even correct," Davis said.
Bill Brumley, the Oak Ridge chief of the National Nuclear
Security Administration, declined to discuss any details of the
review during a brief telephone interview Thursday afternoon.
However, Brumley said he recently discussed the review with
high-ranking NNSA officials - a typical procedure following such
inspections.
Officials with BWXT Y-12 also declined to comment on the review
or the Project On Government Oversight's claims. BWXT Y-12
manages Y-12 for the NNSA - the quasi-independent agency within
DOE that oversees the nuclear weapons complex.
Y-12, which is sometimes referred to as the "Fort Knox of
Uranium," 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.
Construction of Y-12 started in the early 1940s as part of
World War II's Manhattan Project. The uranium enriched at Y-12
ultimately fueled the "Little Boy" bomb, which was dropped on
Hiroshima, Japan, near the end of the war in 1945.
According to the watchdog group, most of the facilities at Y-12
that store highly enriched uranium are at least 50 years old,
and were not designed to store large quantities of weapons-grade
nuclear materials.
For quite some time, Y-12's storage arrangements have been
considered a weak point in the nation's nuclear security,
according to some observers. And, in early 2001, the Project On
Government Oversight issued a report stating that the federal
government had lax security at its nuclear weapons facilities,
including Y-12.
If a terrorist gains access to the highly enriched uranium, he
or she could create a so-called improvised nuclear device in a
matter of minutes, according to Stockton. Though several varying
definitions exist, an improvised nuclear device is essentially a
weapon designed to result in the dispersal of radioactive
material or in the formation of nuclear-yield reaction.
"It's not difficult," said Stockton of the construction of the
improvised nuclear devices. However, he would not discuss how
the weapons are made.
U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp, R-3rd District, described Y-12 as the
linchpin of the nation's nuclear weapons complex, adding that it
plays a strategic role in the defense of the country.
"Every facet of our country's infrastructure faces dramatically
increased security challenges in the aftermath of Sept. 11,
2001, and our nation's vital nuclear weapons facilities face a
dangerous new type of threat," the congressman said.
"I am briefed regularly and in depth by top NNSA officials as
they replace the aging structures, invest in cutting-edge
security technologies and increase the guard force to strengthen
Y-12's security posture. We have to make sure this facility, its
workforce and our community are strongly protected."
A new storage facility for highly enriched uranium is a key
element in the modernization of the aging Oak Ridge weapons
plant. In previous interviews, BWXT Y-12 officials have said
construction on the facility would begin this year, with the end
product being as big as "roughly four football fields."
"It's a step in the right direction," said Stockton of the
proposed storage facility. "I don't know if that's going to
solve the whole problem."
Stockton said he also had it on good authority that someone had
been "taken out of their position" at the Oak Ridge NNSA office,
possibly as a result of the recent review.
"No one has been demoted," said Brumley. "No one has been
fired. No one has been canned."
However, the NNSA chief said he recently made some management
changes in his local office to "further strengthen" the
organization. Brumley told The Oak Ridger that Sharon Daly, who
served as assistant manager of safeguards and security, was
detailed to an assignment focusing on the technical aspects of
security. The NNSA chief also said that Ken Ivey will assume the
top security position on an acting basis.
Brumley also said Thursday afternoon he might bring in some
people from the NNSA's field office in Amarillo, Texas, for some
temporary assignments in Oak Ridge. The Amarillo office oversees
the Pantex Plant.
Wackenhut Services Inc. has provided security at the Y-12
weapons plant since January 2000. Last September, the NNSA gave
its security contractor its highest scores to-date on an
evaluation. According to Wackenhut officials, the company
received "outstanding" scores in several areas including
protective force training and rapid response to changing
security condition levels.
Attempts to get a comment from the Oak Ridge Environmental
Peace Alliance were unsuccessful. The organization seeks to end
the production of nuclear weapons in Oak Ridge.
*****************************************************************
52 Paducah Sun: Lexington opens DOE office
Paducah, Kentucky
Friday, January 16, 2004
Sen. Jim Bunning will lead a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 1 p.m.
CST today for a new Department of Energy Office in Lexington to
oversee environmental work in Paducah and Piketon, Ohio.
Joining Bunning will be office manager Bill Murphie; Phil Foley,
president of the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant nuclear workers'
union; others from Paducah; and state and federal regulators. The
office is at 1017 Majestic Drive, Suite 200.
Bunning led an effort in Congress to put the office in Kentucky.
In 2002, lawmakers approved his provision to remove Paducah and
Piketon from control of DOE operations in Oak Ridge, Tenn., and
put the communities under direct funding and communications with
agency headquarters in Washington, D.C.
The change has been controversial because of eliminating most of
the Energy Department staff at Paducah.
*****************************************************************
53 Google News Alert - nuclear
Date: Fri, 16 Jan 2004 15:28:06 -0800
ISRAEL'S nuclear policy criticised
Al-Jazeera, Qatar
Political events in the Middle East in recent weeks have once again brought
to surface the question of nuclear weapons and weapons disarmament in
the region. ...
NEVADA looks to court to block nuclear dump
Infoshop News
... say a federal appeals court hearing this week on a collection of lawsuits
will give the state its best chance to block the government's plans to
entomb nuclear ...
US, Britain to meet with UN nuclear watchdog on Libya
Hindustan Times, India
US and British officials are to meet in Vienna on Monday with the UN nuclear
watchdog to discuss monitoring Libya's promise to dismantle its weapons
of mass ...
ENTERGY: Strike would not shut NY nuclear plant
Forbes
NEW YORK, Jan 16 (Reuters) - Entergy Nuclear said on Friday it plans to
keep its giant Indian Point 3 reactor in New York operating even if the
plant's union ...
EXPERTS in Netherlands to Check Box That Held Nuclear Material
New York Times
15 Nuclear inspectors arrived in the Netherlands this week to examine a
shipping container from the Middle East that was found to contain a small
amount of ... Nuke agency believes yellowcake from Iraq - WorldNetDaily
Experts in Netherlands to Check Box That Held Nuclear Material -
New York Times IAEA probing discovery of uranium oxide in shipment
of scrap ...
DPRK warns US not to waste time in resolving nuclear crisis
Xinhua, China
16 (Xinhuanet) -- Officials of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea
(DPRK) warned that any delay in resolving the nuclear crisis will only
give Pyongyang ...
EU backs funding for nuclear power stations and package on ...
Environmental Data Interactive, UK
The European Parliament has enraged environmentalists by adopting two non-binding
resolutions on the Commission's nuclear package and one proposal granting
...
N Korea 'warned US delegation on nuclear deterrent'
Financial Times (subscription), UK
North Korea revealed part of its nuclear weapons programme to a visiting
US delegation last week and threatened to increase the size and strength
of its ...
ISRAELI arrested in Denver for shipping nuclear-related parts to ...
Ha'aretz, Israel
... Thursday remanded to custody an Israeli citizen who was arrested on
suspicions he illegally shipped high-tech equipment to Pakistan that could
detonate nuclear ...
NORTH Korea highlights its nuclear capabilities
Kansas City Star (subscription), MO
WASHINGTON — North Korea displayed apparent new evidence of its nuclear
deterrent to a private US delegation last week, a member of the group
said Thursday. ...
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