*****************************************************************
01/19/04 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 12.15
*****************************************************************
RADBULL IS PRODUCED BY THE ABALONE ALLIANCE CLEARINGHOUSE
*****************************************************************
Send News Stories to news@energy-net.org with title on subject
line and first line of body
NUCLEAR POLICY
1 KoreaTimes: Roh Trying to Walk Tightrope in Nuke Dispute
2 KoreaTimes: Kim Jong-il Keeps Firm Grip on Power
3 Las Vegas SUN: S. Korea Vows Its Security Remains Strong
4 Korea Herald: Too late to stop North Korea
5 Washington Post: Arms Issue Seen as Hurting U.S. Credibility Abroad
6 US: SF Chronicle: Billions more for defense -- and we may not even k
7 US: Cavalier Daily: Preserving our nuclear past
8 BBC: Pakistan steps up nuclear probe
9 BBC: Emission cuts to lift energy bill
10 Washington Times: Hotbed of weapons deals
11 UK Independent: Pakistan holds scientists over sale of nuclear secre
12 Las Vegas SUN: U.S., U.K. Reach Deal With IAEA on Libya
NUCLEAR REACTORS
13 US: JOURNAL NEWS: Indian Point workers gain in deal
14 Asia Pacific News: Indonesia may revive plan to build nuclear power
15 US: Brattleboro Reformer: Petition: Prepare now for Yankee shutdown
16 Terra Wire: Thousands march in Paris anti-nuclear protest
NUCLEAR SAFETY
17 [du-list] DU info bulletin no 87
18 Depleted Uranium Weapons in Palestine
19 US: USA: Domestic Nuclear Terrorism at Home
20 US: Utahns Suffering from Nuclear Legacy
21 BBC: Referendum call on N-subs
NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE
NUCLEAR WEAPONS
US DEPT. OF ENERGY
22 Knox News: Y-12 medical director resigns
23 Knox News: Tracking the government is a walk on the wild side
OTHER NUCLEAR
24 Google News Alert - nuclear
25 Fuel Cell Today: First solid oxide fuel cell in Russia demonstrated
26 LJWorld.com: Energy leader pumped for futuristic power plant
*****************************************************************
*****************************************************************
FULL NEWS STORIES
*****************************************************************
*****************************************************************
1 KoreaTimes: Roh Trying to Walk Tightrope in Nuke Dispute
Hankooki.com > Korea Times > Nation
By Andrew Carroll News Editor
While the United States and North Korea dominate the six-way
talks, there are four other players involved.
However, the one country with the most vested in the results of
the dialogue has been the quietest at the negotiations table.
Some look at South Korea's supporting role at the six-way talks
as being inadequate while others claim that is the best way to
get things accomplished.
The relationship between the U.S. and South Korea has been
contentious at times and never more so when it comes to dealing
with North Korea. The tensions surrounding the North's pursuit of
nuclear weapons have definitely tested that relationship.
President Roh Moo-hyun was elected to office barely a month after
the first revelations that North Korea was conducting a
clandestine nuclear program. The issue has defined his foreign
policy during his first at Chong Wa Dae and it looks certain that
it will continue to be the number one issue in the second.
From the outset Roh has tried to walk a tightrope between
appeasing the U.S. while at the same time maintaining his
predecessor Kim Dae-jung's sunshine policy for engaging the
North. However, there have been a number of slips along the way
and he's ended up gaining detractors from both sides of the
issue.
``One of the key mistakes that the Roh administration made was
that it gave up inter-Korean relations in principle particularly
in Washington D.C. last May,'' says Paik Hak-soon, a North Korea
expert with the Sejong Institute. ``During the summit talks the
South Korean government promised to allow the U.S. to take
further steps without distinguishing whether those steps are
peaceful or non-peaceful if the North Korean nuclear problem
deteriorates.''
By linking itself to its ally, South Korea has limited its
maneuverability in dealing with an issue that is extremely
delicate and complex.
The second mistake Paik says Roh made was linking inter-Korean
relations to the nuclear problem. Considering that the dispute
has already taken a year, many projects and exchanges have been
delayed or cancelled. If the tensions are somehow heightened or
if the negotiations drag on the avenues for cooperation will only
decrease.
``That was very illogical in solving not only the nuclear problem
but also the promoting of inter-Korean relations,'' Paik says.
``Why so? If there is a channel that is maintained between the
two Koreas we can play a certain significant role in solving the
North Korean nuclear crisis. ``In other words if the Roh Moo-hyun
government did not give up the inter-Korean relations at the
summit talks in Washington we would have better leverage over
North Korea because of North Korea's dependence on the South for
its economic recovery is becoming more and more visible.''
As a result South Korea is caught in the middle of the dispute
between its long-time ally and its brothers to the North. A step
toward one only raises the ire of the other.
In response Roh appears to be trying to create a fine balance
between the two.
In his new year speech on Jan. 13, Roh said that the seemingly
contradictory policies of holding to the strong ties with the
U.S. and continuing to engage North Korea were essential to
resolving the crisis.
But as Scott Snyder, the representative of the Asia Foundation in
Seoul, sees it Roh is simply reflecting what the South Korean
public feels about the issue.
``From an external perspective it may seem a little bit
inconsistent that it would be possible to participate in
six-party talks and at the same time continue economic exchanges
at the level that has occurred thus far in the Roh Administration
so far,'' he says. ``But even though some might say that those
two impulses are contradictory it¡¯s actually, I think,
reflective of the Korean public view.''
However, the Roh administration, as it has with most domestic
issues, often becomes bogged down in reacting to every demand and
crisis that pops up, resulting in confusion.
``What I think is absent thus far is an overarching integrated
strategy for comprehensively managing the North Korea nuclear
issue and the issue of how to engage with North Korea,'' says
Snyder. ``At times it may look as though there are two policies
within the same government _ the Unification Ministry policy and
the Foreign Ministry policy.''
carrolland@hotmail.com 01-19-2004 11:47
*****************************************************************
2 KoreaTimes: Kim Jong-il Keeps Firm Grip on Power
Hankooki.com > Korea Times > Nation
By Andrew Carroll News Editor
To many outside observers North Korean leader Kim Jong-il is an
enigma. Little is known about him with anything resembling
certainty.
Many of the claims that circulate around in domestic and
international media reports border on urban mythology. But then
again who's to say they aren't true.
However one thing that does seem certain is that his grip on
power is not wavering and is unlikely to any time soon.
``You can think of the Kim regime as having two things going for
it. One, it has a kind of legitimacy derived from its
revolutionary tradition and its 'Juche' (self-reliance) ideology.
Secondly it has an enormous coercive apparatus internally'' says
Marcus Noland, senior fellow at the Institute for International
Economics in Washingotn D.C. ``So if you combine a certain amount
of legitimacy to start with, plus a monopoly on social control
that is just unparalleled in the world, then you can maintain
stability.''
Kim's regime has been rumored to be on the verge of collapse
numerous times, most prominently in the late 1990s when the
country went through a famine that may have killed up to 2
million people.
But he remained firmly in power and is about to embark on a new
decade as North Korean leader.
This year promises to be one of significance for Kim as 2004 is
very auspicious due to a number of important anniversaries. And
that may result in some big announcements.
Next year will be the 30th anniversary of Kim Jong-il being
appointed heir to his father Kim Il-sung, as well as the 10th
anniversary of his father's death. Re-appointed to the
chairmanship for a third time last year Kim is also beginning a
new decade at the top.
¡°That means next year will be a year which he has to demonstrate
his ability as the highest office holder in North Korea in terms
of economic reform and other issues including the nuclear
issue,¡± points out Paik Hak-soon , a North Korea expert with the
Sejong Institute in Seoul.
¡°So considering all these significant anniversaries next year I
think Kim Jong-il will announce quite significant or drastic
reform measures in economic areas.''
carrolland@hotmail.com 01-19-2004 11:57
*****************************************************************
3 Las Vegas SUN: S. Korea Vows Its Security Remains Strong
Today: January 19, 2004 at 4:50:02 PST
By SANG-HUN CHOE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -
The decision to pull all U.S. troops out of metropolitan Seoul
will not weaken South Korea's security against North Korea
military threats, President Roh Moo-hyun said.
Meanwhile, the city on Monday weighed a proposal to turn the
American base into a recreation space rivaling New York's
Central Park.
The agreement between the United States and South Korea to
relocate 7,000 American troops and family members from their
base in the heart of Seoul over the next three years will make
the South Korean capital free of foreign troops for the first
time in a century.
U.S. forces came to Seoul in 1945 to disarm Japanese colonial
troops at the end of World War II, later led U.N. forces during
the Korean War and have remained as a deterrent against North
Korea.
Conservative South Koreans said the move will make their nation
more vulnerable to attacks from the North.
"There is nothing to worry about it at all," Roh was quoted as
saying by his office Sunday evening when he met leaders of the
pro-government Uri Party.
"We have done our best" in negotiations with the U.S. military,
he said.
Public opinion on the pending move has been divided. To some,
the base symbolizes the alliance that repelled a communist
invasion during the 1950-1953 Korean War and provided the
security that made South Korea's economic growth possible.
But South Korea's postwar generations often see the foreign
military presence in their capital as a slight to national
pride. Others complain the 656-acre base occupies prime real
estate and worsens the city's chronic traffic congestion.
Crimes involving U.S. soldiers further fuel anti-American
sentiment.
The South Korean government asked that a contingent of up to
1,000 U.S. soldiers remain in Seoul, but that option foundered
on a disagreement over how much land would be needed to support
that contingent.
Instead, up 100 U.S. liaison personnel will stay while the rest
move to an expanded American facility about 45 miles south of
the capital.
Last year, the U.S. military announced it would move troops
stationed near the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas
to bases south of Seoul.
The redeployments will put U.S. soldiers out of the range of
North Korean artillery and rockets, which can reach Seoul. That
spurred South Korean fears the Americans no longer will serve as
a "trip wire" in case of a North Korean invasion - taking
immediate casualties and thus ensuring U.S. commitment to a
fight.
Both U.S. and South Korean officials have tried to mitigate such
fears, and note that the redeployment does not reduce the total
number of 37,000 U.S. troops in South Korea.
Pentagon strategists call the "trip wire" concept outdated, and
say the relocations are aimed at strengthening U.S. defense
capabilities on the Korean Peninsula and in the region.
The United States has announced an $11 billion package to
improve U.S. military readiness on the peninsula. The package
includes swift-action units, high-tech air surveillance and
anti-missile systems, and high-speed transport for troops based
in Japan.
Tensions remain high on the Korean Peninsula over the communist
North's nuclear weapons program. The United States, the two
Koreas, Japan, China and Russia are trying to hold a new round
of six-nation talks aimed at dismantling the North's nuclear
programs in return for possible economic aid and security
guarantees.
A Metropolitan Government official said Monday the city is
considering plans to turn the American base into a commons area
rivaling the 843-acre Central Park.
Relocation costs of up to $4 billion will be paid by the South
Korean government, a Foreign Ministry official said on condition
of anonymity.
--
*****************************************************************
4 Korea Herald: Too late to stop North Korea
2004.01.20
The following is the sixth in a series of contributions by
renowned foreign experts on the prospects of security on the
Korean Peninsual this year. - Ed.
By Wendy R. Sherman
For many months now, many voices, including my own, have argued
that where North Korea's nuclear program is concerned, time is
not on our side. With the recent visit of the private American
delegation led by Dr. John Lewis of Stanford University to
Pyongyang, it is clear that time may in fact be gone to stop
North Korea from becoming a full fledged nuclear power.
The delegation has reported that the spent fuel pond at
Yeongbyeong, the nuclear reactor site, is now empty. This means
that the spent fuel rods have been moved and likely reprocessed
into plutonium, the fissile material used to make nuclear bombs.
If reports that the delegation saw plutonium are accurate, the
stakes become very, very high in negotiations with North Korea.
North Korea, for its part, recently offered to freeze its
nuclear program in return for benefits from the United States.
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell responded that this was a
positive sign for future six-party talks. But those talks are yet
to be scheduled, and even when they hopefully are, it is not yet
clear that Assistant Secretary James Kelly, a very able
professional, will attend with sufficient negotiating authority
to make real progress. Dissension within the United States
government still continues and the game plan is not yet set.
Meanwhile, in South Korea, internal dissension over policy also
threatens to stall progress with North Korea. The recent
resignation of Foreign Minister Yoon portends ominous signals
that fissures in the close relationship between the United States
and South Korea that had begun to appear as early as President
Kim Dae-jung's March 2001 visit to Washington may now be growing
acute. Polls show that the South Korean people are increasingly
mistrustful of the United States, astonishingly even more than
they are of North Korea. It is increasingly clear that the two
allies have different views of how to deal with North Korea, and
the inability to reconcile them even after three years was almost
inevitably seen as a failure of diplomacy. But lack of clarity in
Seoul, like the lack of clarity in the U.S. government, is
putting North Korea more and more in the driver's seat, steering
negotiations.
Although Japan continues to try- and may succeed - to resolve
the painful issue of abductions, China struggles to get a
declaration agreed to in advance of a new round of talks and
Russia weighs in where it can, both the U.S. government and the
South Korean government through internal debate are ceding
control and responsibility to everyone but themselves. The result
is that time has moved on and North Korea has reprocessed spent
fuel into plutonium. Now, any negotiations proceed with North
Korea holding more leverage, not less. Rolling back a nuclear
program is always more difficult than preventing one.
So, given the increased threat that North Korea presents, how
should governments proceed? First, another round of talks must be
scheduled. President George Bush must give Assistant Secretary
Kelly wide discretion to be a negotiator, not just the discussant
he has been to date. As importantly, Kelly must have the
authority to truly coordinate within the U.S. government and with
other governments. If his other important duties limit his time
to do so, a senior North Korea Policy Coordinator should be
appointed. Although some in the U.S. administration would like to
keep the process moving at a snail's pace through the November
presidential election, avoiding a crisis but also avoiding any
political price, it is simply not acceptable that we continue to
accede to North Korea's being a burgeoning nuclear power.
South Korea must also organize its focus and its interests. If
South Korea believes that the United States must have serious
negotiations, even bilateral negotiations within the six-party
framework, it must display its famed tenacity to insist that the
United States act. If South Korea decides that ties with the U.S.
government are more important than resolving the North Korean
crisis, then it is important to strengthen our joint military
deterrent and accept the long term risk of North Korea as a
nuclear power; an option that creates great risk for the region
and the world and an option, I, for one, find unacceptable. South
Korea loses its own strength by lack of clarity, a fact not
missed by the North. A senior North Korea Policy Coordinator
would be just as useful in Seoul as in Washington.
The United States, South Korea and other members of the
six-party talks must not back away from requiring verifiable and
irreversible dismantlement of North Korea's nuclear program. But
there are a myriad of ways to sequence steps to reach that
objective in a manner that preserves everyone's dignity,
interests and the world's security. There are no two countries
who have a greater interest in peace and security on the
peninsula than South Korea and the United States. And there are
no two countries who should share a commonality of purpose where
North Korea is concerned. Our soldiers stand shoulder to shoulder
every day. It is time for our countries' governments to do the
same and put time back on the side of our people.
The writer is principal of the Albright Group. She worked as
counselor of the U.S. State Department, special adviser to the
president and secretary of state and North Korea policy
coordinator. - Ed.
*****************************************************************
5 Washington Post: Arms Issue Seen as Hurting U.S. Credibility Abroad
(washingtonpost.com)
By Glenn Kessler Washington Post Staff Writer Monday, January 19,
2004; Page A01
The Bush administration's inability to find weapons of mass
destruction in Iraq -- after public statements declaring an
imminent threat posed by Iraqi President Saddam Hussein -- has
begun to harm the credibility abroad of the United States and of
American intelligence, according to foreign policy experts in
both parties.
In last year's State of the Union address, President Bush used
stark imagery to make the case that military action was
necessary. Among other claims, Bush said that Hussein had enough
anthrax to "kill several million people," enough botulinum toxin
to "subject millions of people to death by respiratory failure"
and enough chemical agents to "kill untold thousands."
Now, as the president prepares for this State of the Union
address Tuesday, those frightening images of death and
destruction have been replaced by a different reality: Few of the
many claims made by the administration have been confirmed after
months of searching by weapons inspectors.
Within the United States, Bush does not appear to have suffered
much political damage from the failure to find weapons, with
polls showing high ratings for his handling of the war and little
concern that he misrepresented the threat.
But a range of foreign policy experts, including supporters of
the war, said the long-term consequences of the administration's
rhetoric could be severe overseas -- especially because the war
was waged without the backing of the United Nations and was
opposed by large majorities, even in countries run by leaders
that supported the invasion.
"The foreign policy blow-back is pretty serious," said Kenneth
Adelman, a member of the Pentagon's Defense Advisory Board and a
supporter of the war. He said the gaps between the
administration's rhetoric and the postwar findings threaten
Bush's doctrine of "preemption," which envisions attacking a
nation because it is an imminent threat.
The doctrine "rests not just on solid intelligence," Adelman
said, but "also on the credibility that the intelligence is
solid."
Already, in the crisis over North Korea's nuclear ambitions,
China has rejected U.S. intelligence that North Korea has a
secret program to enrich uranium for use in weapons. China is a
key player in resolving the North Korean standoff, but its
refusal to embrace the U.S. intelligence has disappointed U.S.
officials and could complicate negotiations to eliminate North
Korea's weapons programs.
Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations,
said the same problem could occur if the United States presses
for action against alleged weapons programs in Iran and Syria.
The solution, he said, is to let international organizations such
as the International Atomic Energy Agency take the lead in making
the case, as has happened thus far in Iran, and also to be
willing to share more of the intelligence with other countries.
The inability to find suspected weapons "has to make it more
difficult on some future occasion if the United States argues the
intelligence warrants something controversial, like a preventive
attack," said Haass, a Republican who was head of policy planning
for Secretary of State Colin L. Powell when the war started. "The
result is we've made the bar higher for ourselves and we have to
expect greater skepticism in the future."
James Steinberg, a deputy national security adviser in the
Clinton administration who believed there were legitimate
concerns about Iraq's weapons programs, said the failure of the
prewar claims to match the postwar reality "add to the general
sense of criticism about the U.S., that we will do anything, say
anything" to prevail.
Indeed, whenever Powell grants interviews to foreign news
organizations, he is often hit with a question about the search
for weapons of mass destruction. Last Friday, a British TV
reporter asked whether in retirement he would "admit that you had
concerns about invading Iraq," and a Dutch reporter asked whether
he ever had doubts about the Iraq policy.
"There's no doubt in my mind that he had the intention, he had
the capability," Powell responded. "How many weapons he had or
didn't have, that will be determined."
Some on Capitol Hill believe the issue is so important that they
are pressing the president to address the apparent intelligence
failure in the State of the Union address and propose ways to fix
it.
CONTINUED 1 2 Next > Print This Article
© 2004 The Washington Post Company
*****************************************************************
6 SF Chronicle: Billions more for defense -- and we may not even know it
/ Good guess: Double the Pentagon budget
Sunday, January 18, 2004 [San Francisco Chronicle]
chart attached
When President Bush signed the defense authorization bill for
fiscal year 2004 on Nov. 24, the event received considerable
attention in the news media. At $401.3 billion, the public's
visible cost of funding the nation's defense seemed to be
reaching astronomical heights, and the president took pains to
justify that enormous cost by linking it to the horrors of 9/11
and to the "war on terror." He pledged that "we will do whatever
it takes to keep our nation strong, to keep the peace, and to
keep the American people secure," clearly implying that such
payoffs would accrue from the expenditures and other measures
that the act authorizes.
Although the public may appreciate that $401.3 billion is a great
deal of money, few citizens realize that it is only part of the
total bill for defense.
Lodged elsewhere in the budget, other lines identify funding that
serves defense purposes just as surely as -- sometimes even more
surely than -- the money allocated to the Department of Defense .
On occasion, commentators take note of some of these additional
defense-related budget items, such as the nuclear-weapons
activities of the Department of Energy, but many such items,
including some extremely large ones, remain generally
unrecognized.
Since the creation of the Department of Homeland Security , many
observers probably would agree that its budget ought to be
included in any complete accounting of defense costs. After all,
the homeland is what most of us want the government to defend in
the first place.
Many other agencies, such as the Department of Justice and the
Department of Transportation, also spend money in pursuit of
homeland security.
According to the government's budget documents (Budget of the
United States Government, Fiscal Year 2004, Table S-5), in fiscal
year 2002, all these other agencies together added approximately
50 percent to the amount spent on homeland security by the
agencies later incorporated into the Department of Homeland
Security.
Much of the budget for the Department of State and for
international assistance programs ought to be classified as
defense-related, too. In this case, the money serves to buy off
potential enemies and to reward friendly governments who assist
U.S. efforts to abate perceived threats.
A great deal of U.S. foreign aid, currently more than $4 billion
annually, takes the form of "foreign military financing," and
even funds placed under the rubric of economic development may
serve defense-related purposes indirectly. Money is fungible, and
the receipt of foreign assistance for economic-development
projects allows allied governments to divert other funds to
police, intelligence, and military purposes.
Two big budget items represent the current cost of defense goods
and services obtained in the past. The Department of Veterans
Affairs, which is authorized to spend more than $62 billion in
the current fiscal year, falls into this category.
Likewise, much of the government's interest expense represents
the current cost of defense outlays financed in the past by
borrowing.
To estimate the size of the entire de facto defense budget, I
have gathered data for fiscal year 2002, the most recent fiscal
year for which data on actual outlays were available at the time
of this writing. In that fiscal year, the Defense Department
itself spent $344.4 billion. Defense-related parts of the Energy
Department budget added $18.5 billion. Agencies later to be
incorporated into the Homeland Security Department spent $17.5
billion, and other agencies (not including the Defense
Department) added $8.5 billion for homeland security. The
Department of State and international assistance programs spent
$17.6 billion for activities arguably related to defense purposes
either directly or indirectly. The Veterans Affairs Department
had outlays of $50.9 billion. When all these other parts of the
budget are added to the budget for the Defense Department itself,
they increase the total by nearly a third, to $457.4 billion.
To find out how much of the government's net interest payments on
the national debt ought to be attributed to past debt-funded
defense spending requires a considerable amount of calculation. I
have added up all past deficits (minus surpluses) since 1916
(when the debt was nearly zero), prorated according to each
year's ratio of national security spending -- military, veterans,
and international affairs -- to total federal spending,
expressing everything in dollars of constant purchasing power.
This sum is equal to 81.1 percent of the value of the national
debt held by the public in 2002. Therefore, I attribute that same
percentage of the government's net interest outlays in that year
to past debt-financed defense spending. The total amount comes to
$138.7 billion.
Adding this interest component to the previous all-agency total,
the grand total comes to $596.1 billion, which is more than 73
percent greater than Defense Department outlays alone.
If the additional elements of defense spending continue to
maintain approximately the same ratio to the Defense Department
amount -- and we have every reason to suppose that they will --
then in fiscal year 2004, through which we are passing currently,
the grand total spent for defense will be approximately $695
billion. To this amount will have to be added the $58.8 billion
allocated to fiscal year 2004 from the $87.5 billion supplemental
spending authorized on Nov. 6, for support of U.S. military
actions in Afghanistan and Iraq and for so-called reconstruction
of those despoiled and occupied countries.
Thus, the super-grand total in fiscal year 2004 will reach the
astonishing amount of nearly $754 billion -- or 88 percent more
than the much-publicized $401.3 billion -- plus, of course, any
additional supplemental spending that may be approved before the
end of the fiscal year.
Although I have arrived at my conclusions honestly and carefully,
I may have left out items that should have been included -- the
federal budget is a gargantuan, complex and confusing document.
If I have done so, however, the left-out items are not likely to
be relatively large ones.
Therefore, I propose that in considering future defense budgetary
costs, a well-founded rule of thumb is to take the Pentagon's
(always well- publicized) basic budget total and double it. You
may overstate the truth, but if so, you'll not do so by much.
Robert Higgs is senior fellow in political economy at the
Independent Institute in Oakland and author of the book "Crisis
and Leviathan." · Printer-friendly version · Email this article
to a friend
Page D - 3
©2004 San Francisco Chronicle
*****************************************************************
7 Cavalier Daily: Preserving our nuclear past
Monday, January 19, 2004
Daniel Bagley Cavalier Daily Associate Editor
REVISIONIST views of history can be quite dangerous. It is to
that end that the uproar recently raised over the Enola Gay is
indeed unfortunate. Recently, the Smithsonian opened an annex to
the popular Air and Space Museum in Dulles, Va. On display are
many larger aircraft and spacecraft that would be too big to fit
in the Washington, D.C.-based museum.
Among the many interesting pieces is the Enola Gay, the airplane
that dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, during
the Second World War. As the ever-liberal Washington Post was
happy to report, many people seem to be upset about the display
of the airplane. These critics' concerns are completely unfounded
on several different counts.
The more radical opponents believe the plane should not be
displayed in the first place, citing that the museum should be a
museum of peace and accomplishments, not war. As feel-good as
this ill-fated idea sounds, it is quite obvious that such events
in our history need to be remembered. The bombing of Hiroshima
and Nagasaki were not the highest points in human history, but
they must be remembered. We must constantly remind ourselves that
we cannot again allow a conflict to progress to the point of
utilizing atomic weapons. I can think of no better way to
accomplish this than to display the plane and remember what
happened.
Another group of activists believes that the display at the
museum should be constructed differently. Some believe that the
exhibit should emphasize the number of civilians killed in the
attack. Due to the controversial nature of the plane and the
events surrounding it, the Smithsonian made the correct decision
to minimize the exhibit surrounding the plane. The text gives the
specifications of the plane and what the B-29 was used for around
the globe. The exhibit then simply states that the Enola Gay
dropped the bomb on Hiroshima and flew weather reconnaissance for
the second nuclear weapon drop. These are irrefutable facts and
leave political comments completely out of the picture.
A slightly scarier group of individuals seeks to re-write history
and cast the use of atomic weapons and subsequent unconditional
surrender of Japan as an illegitimate event. According to the Web
site enola-gay.org, the "exhibit both legitimizes what happened
in 1945 and helps build support for the Bush administration's
dangerous new nuclear policies." This clearly leftist
organization picks and chooses their facts to portray the bombing
of Japan as an unnecessary act.
The real issue at hand is not the dropping of the atomic bomb.
There can be no doubt whatsoever that historians will continue to
argue and debate the pros and cons of the atomic attack for the
foreseeable future. The fact of the matter is that there is no
way for us to know what would have happened if we had not dropped
the bombs. This being said, the immediate effect of our nuclear
attack was to force the complete surrender of the empire of
Japan.
Quite frankly it matters very little if one believes that this
was the "right thing to do." Without getting into a history
lesson to rationalize the bombing, one can unequivocally say that
it is an intrinsic part of our history and must be preserved at
all costs. It is ridiculous to believe that the display of this
airplane somehow promotes war and suffering.
It is indeed unfortunate that many people feel the need to
protest this display. It would be hard to criticize the
information presented in the exhibit as it reads, "On August 6,
1945, this Martin-built B-29-45-MO dropped the first atomic
weapon used in combat on Hiroshima, Japan." Few can dispute this
fact, yet some claim that there is a lack of information present.
The Smithsonian has taken great pains to ensure that the display
is not politically charged. For better or for worse they have
left out information about the subsequent surrender of Japan. The
plane alone stands as a reminder, and interested parties can seek
more information on their own.
The killing of so many civilians is a tragic event. It is
horrible that it became necessary. This being said, it is
important that we remember this war and the weapons used in it.
If the display of the Enola Gay can in any way help us not to
allow history to repeat itself, its continued purpose will be
justified.
(Daniel Bagley is a Cavalier Daily associate editor. He can be
reached at dbagley@cavalierdaily.com.)
Copyright 1995-2002 The Cavalier Daily, Incorporated. All rights
Address: University of Virginia; PO Box 400703, Charlottesville,
VA 22904-4703
Phone: (434) 924-1086 | FAX: (434) 924-7290 | E-mail:
cavdaily@cavalierdaily.com
*****************************************************************
8 BBC: Pakistan steps up nuclear probe
Last Updated: Monday, 19 January, 2004
[Nuclear-capable Hatf missiles on parade in Islamabad]
Pakistan denies any state involvement in technology transfers
Pakistan has extended an investigation into the possible illegal
transfer of nuclear technology to Iran by taking in five more
people for questioning.
Two scientists and three officials linked to an uranium
enrichment plant were "debriefed" over the weekend.
Pakistan began a probe last month following information from Iran
and the International Atomic Energy Agency.
It has admitted some scientists may have passed nuclear
technology to Iran out of personal greed and ambition.
Foreign ministry spokesman Masood Khan appeared at a news
conference on Monday to stress again that the government had not
shared nuclear technology with Iran or other countries such as
North Korea and Libya.
What has come to the surfa is that there exists a black market
Masood Khan, foreign ministry spokesman
Mr Khan also said the round of questioning would soon be
completed.
Mr Khan said: "The government of Pakistan has never proliferated
and will never proliferate. No government institution or entity
has ever been involved in any such alleged transactions or
transfers."
He added: "We are moving towards the conclusion of these
debriefings... There is no presumption of guilt. It is probable
that some of these people will be cleared."
Mr Khan said the investigation had shown there was a "black
market" and that "we should all work to eliminate that black
market".
Staff officer
One of those reportedly taken over the weekend was Major Islam
ul-Haq.
[Abdul Qadeer Khan]
Nuclear pioneer Abdul Qadeer Khan, who was questioned last month
He was the principal staff officer of Abdul Qadeer Khan at the
uranium enrichment plant Kahuta Research Laboratories.
Mr Khan, credited as the father of Pakistan's nuclear programme,
was one of those questioned last month.
He has not been detained and is still treated as a hero by many
Pakistanis.
Last month, the foreign ministry promised legal action against
anyone thought to have passed sensitive information.
The United States has long been concerned about the transfer of
nuclear technology to countries it dubs "rogue states".
The New York Times reported last month that Iran had given
information to the IAEA, strengthening suspicion that Pakistan
had transferred sensitive nuclear information to Tehran.
US officials also suspect that Pakistan was a source of nuclear
technology for Libya.
Libya has promised to give up its nuclear programme and reveal
its sources.
*****************************************************************
9 BBC: Emission cuts to lift energy bill
Last Updated: Monday, 19 January, 2004
UK electricity prices are set to increase as a result of
government plans to cut carbon dioxide emissions, the energy
minister said.
Steven Timms said household bills may rise by 3% and industry
might have to pay 6% more.
Business leaders, meanwhile, complained that the scheme, which
would allow firms to buy and sell their right to pollute, may
make them uncompetitive.
Carbon dioxide is seen as one of the main causes of global
warming.
Deadline
European Union members have until the end of March to submit
their strategies for limiting emissions of so-called greenhouse
gases.
The UK on Monday said it would aim to cut the output of carbon
dioxide by a fifth by 2010.
Analysts said that would benefit power companies that rely on
cleaner types of energy generation, such as nuclear, water and
wind. Coal-powered generators would be the most heavily
penalised.
The targets, however, are stricter than required by either the EU
or international agreements such as the Kyoto treaty, and that
has angered business representatives.
'Over the top'
Digby Jones, director-general of the Confederation of British
Industry, told BBC Radio Four's Today programme that: "The UK
would be going over the top, big time".
He complained that the UK would be one of only a handful of
countries to meet the requirements, leaving foreign rivals free
to produce dirtier, cheaper energy.
Margaret Beckett, secretary of state for the department of
environment, food and rural affairs, said the plan would prompt
companies to find ways to become more efficient and greener.
"The allocation of emission allowances has been set at a
challenging but achievable level, which will encourage industry
to invest in emission abatement and take advantage of the
opportunities that trading has to offer," she said.
*****************************************************************
10 Washington Times: Hotbed of weapons deals
January 19, 2004
TIRASPOL, Moldova The deal involved Europe's biggest
Soviet army weapons cache, Russia's prime minister and the
leader of a separatist enclave in Moldova known as a gunrunner's
haven.
As described in a confidential 1998 agreement obtained by
the Associated Press, Russia and Transnistria would share
profits from the sale of 40,000 tons of "unnecessary" arms and
ammunition stored in a weapons depot in the breakaway region.
The transaction is only one piece of an arms-dealing puzzle
in Transnistria, where the decade-old depot also contained
hundreds of portable surface-to-air missiles until last month,
when Russia announced it had withdrawn them, amid concerns that
they could end up in terrorist hands.
A former Moldovan official said Transnistria, a region the
size of Rhode Island, also was a repository of rocket-mounted
"dirty bombs" warheads designed to scatter deadly radioactive
material that now are missing.
That widely publicized contention remains unresolved, with
officials not even sure that the dirty bombs ever existed.
But an AP investigation involving interviews with a dozen
officials and experts strengthened suspicions that Transnistria
is a hotbed of unregulated weapons transactions, legal and
illegal.
Moldova's western neighbor, Romania, shares that view.
Romanian Foreign Minister Mircea Geoana said Transnistria is a
"black hole of transborder organized crime, including drug
smuggling, human trafficking and arms smuggling."
Weapons from Transnistria have turned up in Russia's restive
Chechnya, in Georgia's breakaway Abkhazia region and in the
hands of insurgents in Africa, said a minister of another
country in the region. The official spoke on the condition that
he not be named.
Experts say just about every sort of weapon is available in
Transnistria.
"If I were in search of most commodities related to weaponry
... this would be the place to go," said William C. Potter,
director of the Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the
Monterey Institute for International Studies in California.
"Even if I did not find the weaponry, I would find the
individuals who could get me that weaponry."
Reportedly available are arms and ammunition, including tens
of thousands of assault rifles and other small arms and weaponry
attractive to terrorists, from the huge Soviet army depository
near the northern town of Kolbasna that is guarded by some of
the 2,000 Russian soldiers in the enclave as peacekeepers.
Additionally, at least six factories are thought to be
churning out grenades and rocket launchers, Makarov pistols and
Kalashnikov assault rifles, mortar tubes and other relatively
low-tech weapons under contract to the Russian military and
possibly skimming off surplus production to sell to arms
dealers, diplomats in the region said. Some, such as the
Tochlitmash and Elektromash factories in Tiraspol, are thought
to be dual-use plants, with civilian and secret
military-production lines.
Ruslan Slobodeniuk, whose business card identifies him as
Transnistria's "deputy foreign minister," said Elektromash, a
Soviet-era factory in Tiraspol, makes only transformers.
"We are ready to show our factories to journalists," he
said, but authorities did not respond to a request for a tour of
Elektromash.
The 1998 arms agreement between Russia and Transnistria
involved the Soviet army repository 40,000 tons of ordnance,
arms and ammunition that were dumped in this remote speck of
southeastern Europe in the early 1990s as the Soviet Union broke
up and Moldova became independent.
The negotiators: Viktor Chernomyrdin, then prime minister of
Russia, and Igor Smirnov, self-appointed president of separatist
Transnistria.
Moscow and Tiraspol, capital of Transnistria, would split
profits from the sale of "unnecessary weapons, ammunition,
military assets and materials," according to the 1998 agreement
that bears their signatures.
There seems to be no public record of the deal, but Russian
and Western officials confirmed its existence in a one-page memo
on what to do with Europe's biggest Soviet army weapons cache.
It was superseded a year later by a pact providing for a full
withdrawal to Russia of all military equipment.
One Russian official, who spoke on the condition of
anonymity, said his understanding was that the deal never was
finalized. But Western diplomats are skeptical, saying nobody
ever will know how much of what was sold, to whom or at what
price in that one-year window, or what criteria was used to
determine what was "unnecessary."
Mr. Smirnov has answered to no one since Transnistria broke
away from Moldova in 1992 after a brief war with Moldovans
brought on by fears that Moldova would seek reunification with
Romania.
Situated between Romania and Ukraine, Moldova was part of
Romania until 1940; most of its people speak Romanian or
Ukrainian. Transnistria, however, never was part of Romania and
is mainly Russian-speaking.
Tiraspol seems caught in a Soviet-era time warp. Some
Transnistria soldiers sport fur hats with the Red Star emblem,
and creaky Volga sedans vie for parking spots with Western cars
on the cracked pavement lining ugly, prefab concrete apartment
blocks in need of repair.
Business dealings by associates of Mr. Smirnov include
smuggling of all kinds, including weapons by the truckload,
diplomats say.
Though less than two hours by air from most European
capitals and 50 miles by car to the southeast of Moldova's
capital, Chisinau, Transnistria is as inaccessible as some of
the continent's most-remote regions.
To the east lies a 250-mile border with Ukraine unguarded
fields broken by stretches of fir trees, laced with twisting
dirt paths that can swallow a truck until it's well on its way
to nearby Odessa, the Black Sea gateway to hot spots in Asia,
the Middle East and elsewhere.
Customs officials at the three major international crossing
points are on the take, as are those at railway crossings, say
diplomats in the region, all speaking on the condition of
anonymity.
Oazu Nantoi, a well-connected former Moldovan government
official in Chisinau, gives the example of a senior Ukrainian
customs official in conversation with his Moldovan counterparts
in 2001.
"After some quantity of vodka, the official said: 'Guys, pay
us $2 million a week, and we'll close the borders [to illegal
traffic]. All it takes is $2 million a week cash,' " Mr.
Nantoi said, quoting a Moldovan official present at the talks.
Almost as porous are the unofficial borders to Moldova,
bordered to the west by Romania. Both are high on the list of
Europe's most-corrupt nations.
Illustrating the depth of the smuggling problem, even at
controlled crossing points, a Moldovan examination two years ago
of temporary customs stamps used by Transnistria turned up 350
counterfeit versions.
Vladimir Smirnov, son of the Transnistria leader, leads the
breakaway region's customs service. He is said to be the major
silent partner in Sheriff, the enclave's consortium with fingers
in everything from the enclave's mobile-phone network to gas
stations, supermarkets and a still-growing gargantuan sports
complex on Tiraspol's outskirts that Western diplomats estimate
already has cost $200 million twice as much as Moldova's
annual budget.
Mr. Nantoi, who runs the nongovernmental Institute for
Policy Studies in Chisinau, said dozens of dirty bombs formerly
stored near Tiraspol military airport are missing.
He showed what he said was a Russian military document dated
Oct. 18, 1994, urging "prohibition" of work with the warheads
24 ready to use, 14 dismantled because of radiation danger.
Another document from May that year recorded the "burning and
burying" of uniforms contaminated by radiation.
Mr. Nantoi said reports reached him in 1998 that Alazan
rockets short-range, inaccurate and normally used by the
Soviets for weather experiments had been fitted with warheads
modified to carry radioactive material. The rockets and warheads
since seem to have disappeared from storage.
"I could not discover what had happened to them," Mr. Nantoi
said.
Moldova's government has declined comment.
Valery Litzkai, who acts as Transnistria's "foreign
minister," described the reports of dirty bombs as a "smear
campaign."
"There are no weapons here," he insisted.
Mr. Potter of the Monterey Institute said some former Soviet
government officials think the documents could be authentic but
consider it unlikely that Russian units would keep such crude
weapons, "considering their access to much more sophisticated
weaponry."
Dismissing the dirty-bomb accusations as just one part of an
anti-Transnistria campaign, Mr. Litzkai and other Transnistria
officials say there have been no major finds of weapons in
terrorist hands that can be proven to have come from their
enclave.
Still, they cannot deny evidence of arms trading.
Moldovan police four years ago halted a truck leaving
Transnistria. Inside were anti-aircraft missiles made in Russia,
detonators and plastic explosives, members of Transnistria's
army and Lt. Col. Vladimir Nemkov, a deputy commander of
Russian peacekeepers in the enclave.
Although other officials denied the incident ever happened,
Mr. Litzkai confirmed it, but suggested it was a setup.
Asked about Col. Nemkov's whereabouts now, Mr. Litzkai
shrugged, then said after a pause: "He disappeared."
*****************************************************************
11 UK Independent: Pakistan holds scientists over sale of nuclear secrets
By Jan McGirk
19 January 2004
Pakistan has widened its investigation into the country's
biggest nuclear weapons laboratory amid allegations that nuclear
secrets have been sold to Iran, North Korea and Libya.
Officials said yesterday that up to seven scientists at the Khan
Research Laboratories were taken in for "debriefing", including
Islam-ul Haq, who was a director. He was picked up as he was
dining on Saturday evening at the home of Abdul Qadeer Khan,
Pakistan's "father of the bomb".
Dr Khan, a national hero for leading research that led to the
Islamic world's first nuclear bomb in 1998, was interrogated
last month after questions were raised by the UN nuclear
watchdog. Pakistan has denied any official role in proliferating
nuclear technology, but President Pervez Musharraf told
parliament at the weekend that the country must show that it is
a responsible power.
Pakistan is considered America's ally in its war on terrorism,
but the nuclear-armed nation was recently denounced in the US
Congress for selling technology to pariah states. The arrest at
Denver International Airport on 2 January of the wealthy Israeli
businessman Asher Karni, for trying to illegally export
detonators allegedly destined for Pakistan, has increased
speculation about the country's role in the world's nuclear
black market.
Mr Karni 50, who was detained while on a skiing holiday, is to
appear in court this week accused of flouting US export
restrictions to Pakistan. He runs Top-Cape Technology in Cape
Town, South Africa, which trades in military electronic gear and
allegedly sold a Pakistani firm 200 hi-tech electronic switches
capable of detonating a nuclear device.
A former Pakistani official said: "Pakistan has always acquired
its nuclear technology on the sly. There has to be deniability.
That's why they use these kinds of murky businessmen - if it
ever came out that our government was involved in trying to
break US laws like this, it would be very embarrassing all
round."
Authorities in Islamabad, under pressure from Washington, are
stepping up efforts to unmask the people behind the nuclear
bazaar. The Foreign Ministry has admitted the possibility that
individuals at the Khan Research Laboratories and the Atomic
Energy Commission of Pakistan may have been tempted to sell
nuclear technology out of greed or shared ideologies.
Two of Pakistan's atomic scientists were also interrogated last
month after Iran said that the centrifuge design it used was
identical to the Pakistani model.
Meanwhile, Pakistani agents raided an apartment complex in
Karachi yesterday and arrested seven suspected members of the
terrorist group al-Qa'ida. Grenades, guns, ammunition and maps
of Pakistan and Afghanistan were seized.
UK Independent Ltd.
*****************************************************************
12 Las Vegas SUN: U.S., U.K. Reach Deal With IAEA on Libya
Today: January 19, 2004 at 4:19:58 PST
By GEORGE JAHN ASSOCIATED PRESS
VIENNA, Austria (AP) - The U.N. atomic watchdog agency will
verify the scope and content of Libya's nuclear program and U.S.
and British experts will remove suspect materials from the North
African country under an agreement reached Monday.
The agreement - negotiated by International Atomic Energy Agency
chief Mohamed ElBaradei, U.S. Undersecretary of State John Bolton
and British disarmament expert William Ehrman - settles a dispute
over who should oversee the scrapping of Tripoli's program.
Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi announced last month his country
was giving up its weapons of mass destruction after months of
secret talks with the United States and Britain. He also promised
to sign the nuclear test ban treaty and become a party to the
convention prohibiting chemical weapons.
The treaty, once it enters into force, bans any nuclear test
blast in any environment.
The United States had pressed to supervise the process and
destroy any materials capable of being used in a weapon, but the
IAEA contended it should have sole responsibility for the
mission.
The IAEA has said Libya was nowhere near producing a weapon,
while Washington and London contended it was further along than
the agency realizes.
"It was a very productive meeting. I think we're on the same page
with the IAEA on this very important project," Bolton said after
the session at the U.S. mission in Vienna.
ElBaradei called the meeting "very constructive."
"We have agreement on what needs to be done," he said. "Clearly
the agency's role is very clear - that we need to do the
verification. A good part of the program needs to be eliminated,
it needs to be moved out, and we clearly need the British and
American support with logistics."
ElBaradei and a team of IAEA experts recently visited four
once-secret nuclear facilities in the Libyan capital.
Libya has promised to cooperate with the Vienna-based U.N. agency
and said it would sign a protocol allowing intrusive inspections
at short notice, similar to the one signed last month by Iran.
---
On the Net:
IAEA, http://www.iaea.org
*****************************************************************
13 JOURNAL NEWS: Indian Point workers gain in deal
By JORGE FITZ-GIBBON
THE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original publication: January 19, 2004)
NEW ROCHELLE — More than 550 workers at the Indian Point nuclear
power plants would receive gains in wages and medical benefits,
but some would have out-of-pocket health costs for the first
time, according to a tentative labor agreement reached early
yesterday between the plant's owner and union workers.
Neither Entergy Nuclear Northeast nor representatives of Local
1-2 of the Utility Workers Union of America would divulge details
of the four-year deal, which now must be voted on by the union's
executive board before it is put up for a ratification vote by
the union membership in the coming weeks.
But union President Manny Hellen said the contract provided
"across-the-board" gains for the union's workers at Indian Point.
"It's an excellent package to bring back to our membership,"
Hellen said. "We will ask for overwhelming ratification of this
collective-bargaining agreement, because we feel that confident
of what's contained inside it."
The agreement was announced at 10 a.m. at the Ramada Plaza Hotel
in New Rochelle after a marathon, 30-hour bargaining session
there. Both sides hailed the hard-fought agreement, which would
consolidate the labor contracts with workers at both the Indian
Point 2 and Indian Point 3 reactors for the first time, something
Entergy had sought.
"This is a first in Indian Point history," said Fred Dacimo,
Entergy's chief negotiator and site vice president at the Indian
Point plants in Buchanan. "Working with Local 1-2, we took a
public-sector contract, we took a private-sector contract, we put
the two of them together, and we did it peacefully. We did it in
a very professional fashion."
Entergy bought Indian Point 2 and 3 from Consolidated Edison and
the New York Power Authority, respectively, in 2000 and 2001.
In 1983, Indian Point 2 workers were on strike for nine weeks
before reaching an agreement with Con Edison. The plant remained
in operation during the strike. But there has never been a strike
at Indian Point 3, largely because of its prior ownership by the
New York Power Authority, a public utility.
Public workers are prohibited from striking under the state's
Taylor Law, which imposes heavy fines on public workers who walk
off the job. Under Entergy's ownership, there was no such
restriction.
Yet Entergy's ownership of Indian Point 3 provides another glitch
for workers there: Because their previous contract was negotiated
during the plant's ownership by the state Power Authority,
workers had all their medical costs covered, as is typical for
government employees, union spokesman Steve Mangione said.
That changes under the agreement negotiated with Entergy, which
would require all workers to pay some out-of-pocket costs. Most
benefit packages with private employers include those costs.
The tentative deal allowed relieved management workers at the
Indian Point plants to go home early yesterday. They had been
asked to remain on their posts overnight, one worker said.
"We've been released," shift manager Larry Townsend said. "We now
get to go home."
Talks were not going smoothly as the weekend began. Local 1-2
seemed poised to walk off the job at midnight Saturday, when its
contract expired for the 276 workers at Indian Point 3. The
contract for an additional 282 union workers at Indian Point 2 is
due to expire in June.
Entergy had submitted a contingency plan to the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission to continue operating the plant in the
event of a strike, and the agency found the plan acceptable.
Hoping to avert a walkout, both sides shut themselves in the New
Rochelle hotel early Saturday, determined to hash out a deal.
Shortly after 11 p.m. Saturday, the union agreed to "stop the
clock" on the strike deadline, Hellen said.
"The company started to move in the direction that we thought was
necessary to avoid a strike," Hellen said yesterday. "Once we saw
that positive movement and after talking with the federal
mediator and conferring with our negotiating team, the decision
was made to stop the clock."
The mediator, Vincent Watson, was brought in Saturday after talks
broke down Friday night.
Hours after the clock was stopped, there was a handshake
agreement, and Entergy announced at 2:30 a.m. that a tentative
deal had been reached. The union angrily called it premature:
Hellen said there were still details to be ironed out over
company and employee contributions to the medical benefits
package.
The union also was upset over what it deemed a breach in
protocol.
"Listen, tentative agreements are announced by the union," Hellen
said. "They're not announced by management. And that's protocol
and, in our opinion, that's the way it goes."
By 10 a.m., both sides were content with the deal, and Local 1-2
negotiators announced the agreement inside Room 419 at the
Ramada, where media had gathered through the night. Hellen said
Entergy wanted to be present to announce the deal, but the union
"asked them not to attend."
"Listen, they're good people," Hellen said of Entergy. "They just
have a different way of going about doing things. I honestly can
say this: I don't think they've ever come across a resolve like
this membership.
"What I think we did for my other fellow brothers and sisters in
other locals out there who deal with this company, maybe Local
1-2 softened them up a little bit for you. I'm not going to
change my opinion right now on Entergy. We'll see down the road,
but right now we're going to work on them a little bit more."
Still, Entergy's Dacimo said there was no bitterness between the
two sides.
"Not on our part, and I don't sense that on their part, either,"
he said.
Copyright 2004 The Journal News, . Inc. newspaper serving
Westchester, Rockland and Putnam Counties in New York. Use of
*****************************************************************
14 Asia Pacific News: Indonesia may revive plan to build nuclear power plant
: report
Channelnewsasia.com
Posted: 19 January 2004 1649 hrs
JAKARTA : Indonesia has revived a plan to build a nuclear power
plant that could begin operations in 2016, a report has said.
Yogo Pratomo, electricity director general at the Mines and
Energy Ministry, said state-owned Perusaan Listrik Negara, or
PLN, plans to build a 6,000-megawatt nuclear power plant in 2011
in Gunung Muria, Central Java, Dow Jones Newswires reported.
The plan was prompted by the rapid increase in the country's
electricity demand, the report said.
The idea of a nuclear plant was actually mooted in the early
1990s but it was met with strong opposition from non-governmental
organisations, who were worried that Indonesia may not be able to
prevent accidents in a nuclear power plant.
Construction of the project, which is expected to need $9 billion
in investment, will take five years, Mr Yogo said.
"We have done a feasibility study and several departments have
discussed the plan," he told reporters.
Mr Yogo said PLN will finance the projects from offshore
borrowing.
The government expects the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and
Japan's Bank for International Cooperation will take part in the
financing plan. - CNA
Copyright © 2004 MCN International Pte Ltd
*****************************************************************
15 Brattleboro Reformer: Petition: Prepare now for Yankee shutdown
January 19, 2004 Brattleboro, VT
By MIKE KALIL Special to the Reformer
BRATTLEBORO -- Should local officials start planning now for job
retraining and new energy sources to replace those lost when
Vermont Yankee shuts down?
That question may face voters on March 2 if supporters gather
enough signatures to place it on the town ballot.
Ed Anthes, member of Nuclear Free Vermont in 2012, said Friday
that the group is confident petitioners will collect enough
signatures by Thursday, though he did not have an exact count of
endorsements obtained so far.
Roughly 450 residents' signatures -- about 5 percent of the
town's population -- are required. Members of Nuclear Free
Vermont will be in front of the post office and the Brattleboro
Food Co-op with petitions all week, he said.
The question is: "Shall the voters of Brattleboro direct our
elected officials to begin now to prepare for the closing of
Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee when its operating license expires
in 2012, by developing strategies for re-employment of displaced
workers and replacement sources for electricity?"
The resolution would be non-binding, which means if it passes it
will only constitute a suggestion to elected officials. Town
Manager Jerry Remillard did not immediately return phone calls
seeking comment Friday.
Anthes suggested that town officials find out how many
Brattleboro residents work at the plant and what kind of job
skills they have, to curb the local unemployment rate when
Vermont Yankee closes.
The plant can stop producing power at any time, Anthes said, so
the sooner the better.
"The sooner we start planning, the better the chance we'll be
ready when they do close down," he said.
Moreover, he said, if Vermont Yankee fails to get approval to
put its 32-year supply of high-level waste into dry cask storage,
the plant could close years before 2012.
"It could be long before 2012 before we need to know this,"
Anthes said, adding that plant workers would need to be trained
in how to clean up nuclear waste.
Vermont Yankee spokesman Rob Williams said the plant had not
taken a position on the proposed resolution as of Friday. It's
still not clear exactly when Vermont Yankee will close, he said.
Entergy may seek a license extension from federal regulators to
allow the plant to remain on line beyond 2012, he said, because
workers have kept the plant up to date. But there is no consensus
yet and none expected in the near future.
"We would make that decision a few years prior to the end of the
license in 2012," Williams said.
Anthes said if Vermont Yankee closed, there wouldn't be a lack
of power in the area and there would still be cleanup jobs at the
power plant, which could last five to 10 years.
"Generally, there's more power than we need in New England," he
said, adding that series of dams along the Connecticut and
Deerfield rivers could provide two-thirds of the energy that
Vermont Yankee currently supplies.
"As far as replacement sources of electricity go, there's a lot
of room for conservation," Anthes said, "so we can have a
comfortable life without (so much wasted energy)."
Unlike past ballot questions, this one is for everybody, he
added.
"It's the duty of our local and state government to help prepare
for (closing the plant)," Anthes said. "I think anybody who is
concerned about economic development in the area should be able
to vote for this resolution.
"The best-case scenario is people really get behind this and
elected officials do as well," Anthes said.
*****************************************************************
16 Terra Wire: Thousands march in Paris anti-nuclear protest
TERRA.WIRE
PARIS (AFP) Jan 17, 2004
Up to 15,000 anti-nuclear protestors marched in Paris Saturday
against a new generation of reactors, accusing police of stirring
trouble by allowing a separate rally against a ban on religious
headscarves in schools.
The main target of the nuclear protests is the European
Pressurized Water Reactor (EPWR), the first of which is to be
built in Finland by a consortium including the French state-owned
Areva group and German engineering giant Siemens at a cost of
three billion euros (3.7 billion dollars).
France, which is one of the most nuclear energy-dependent
countries in the world, is expected to give the reactors the
green light in the near future to begin replacing some of the 58
plants that produce 80 percent of the country's electricity and
are nearing the end of service.
"It is in fact a veritable revival of nuclear energy which is
unfolding before us," said Stephane Lhomme, a spokesman for the
group End Nuclear Network which organized the demonstration.
French Industry Minister Nicole Fontaine said energy policy was
more complex than was portrayed by the activists.
"The fight against greenhouse gases and its effect on climate
change is also a priority, and the nuclear option may be a way to
help," she said in a statement, adding that an "objective debate"
would be as useful as Saturday's demonstration.
Lhomme criticized police for allowing another rally to be held,
starting from the same Paris site and at nearly the same time.
That rally, organized by the Party of French Muslims (PMF), drew
thousands to protest government plans to ban the Islamic
headscarf and other "conspicuous" religious insignia from
schools.
"We have been preparing for our demonstration for three months
and we announced what route we plan to take," Lhomme said,
adding: "We are convinced that the interior ministry is looking
for trouble." The interior ministry oversees police in French
cities.
The demonstrators, who numbered more than 15,000 according to
organizers and under 6,000 according to police, built a pyramid
of tin cans in the square denouncing what they called the
"radioactive waste scandal left for future generations".
They began their march to the ministry of finance and economy by
walking backwards for the first kilometer (0.6 miles) "to
symbolize the retrograde step in building the EPWR," Lhomme said.
Many wore protective suits emblazoned with the radioactive symbol
and masks, and marched under the banner "No to new reactors, the
future belongs to alternative energy!"
When it won the Finnish contract on December 18, Areva described
the 1,600 megawatt reactor, due to become operational in 2009, as
competitive, safe and environmentally friendly.
Anti-nuclear groups contest those claims, saying the EPWR will
suffer from some of the same problems as the current types of
reactors and produce more nuclear waste as it is to be larger.
"No matter how energy consumption develops the EPWR is of no
use," said Greenpeace France director Michele Rivasi.
"The three billion euros dedicated in France to building a
prototype could be spent instead on renewable energy (projects)
which would produce twice as much electricity," she said.
Lhomme said "astronomical investments" would be required for a
"project which carries all the risks associated with nuclear
energy."
"Our goal is attainable: to warn the public about the dangers of
a revival of nuclear energy," he said.
Members of dozens of environmental and anti-nuclear groups from
across Europe took part in the demonstration.
"They want to use Finland because it has a reputation for being
environmentally sensitive," Finnish anti-nuclear activist Ulla
Kloetze charged.
The protestors have also denounced the International
Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), a 4.5-billion-euro
project which France hopes to host.
The project partners, which include Canada, China, the European
Union, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States are
expected to announce their choice of site by mid-February.
TERRA.WIRE
*****************************************************************
17 [du-list] DU info bulletin no 87
Date: Mon, 19 Jan 2004 17:10:09 -0800
DU INFO BULLETIN NO 87
DU NEWs
1) When Right isn’t quite right
2) Radioactive Bridge
Veteran New
2) Isotope analysis shows exposure to DU
3) Gulf Report Revives Row
4) WHAT They Don ' t Want You To Know
5) Report blames Gulf War vet sickness on
injections
Other New
6) UN makes link between environment and war
DU News
When Right Isn’t Quite Right
Pauline Rigby
>From Green Left Weekly, January 14, 2004.
http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2004/566/566p9.htm
...Weapons of mass destruction were never found in
Iraq, yet the
country is
today contaminated forever, because weapons of mass
destruction have
been used against it. Thousands of tonnes of
radioactive waste were
dumped on Iraq during Gulf Wars I and II and during
the intervening
years when bombing continued through the use of
depleted uranium (DU)
ammunition.
DU is a waste product of the process that produces
enriched uranium
for
use in nuclear weapons and nuclear power plants. Much
like natural
uranium, it is both toxic and radioactive. This
radioactive waste -
with
a half-life of 4.5 billion years - has been
incorporated into
missiles
and bombs by the United States. The weapons burn and
oxidise into
microscopic particles that are ingested and inhaled,
irradiating the
victim from the inside.
Radioactive bridges?
Blackened, destroyed tanks and armoured vehicles hit
by and
thus contaminated by depleted uranium (DU) weapons in
the March
invasion of Iraq, are being melted down in a huge
smelting facility near
Basra, in southern Iraq under the auspices of the
British Army and being
turned into pre-fabricated bridges, litter bins and
even pots and
pans¹, believes the Independent¹s veteran Middle East
correspondent Robert
Fisk. He told the .......... that the story in Basra
is plausible and
consistent I believe it to be true, but I can¹t prove
it¹, since due to
time restrictions and travel complexities in current
circumstances: I did
not get to the facility.¹
Depleted uranium is a .... radioactive waste and, as
such, should be
deposited in a licensed repository¹ states the US Army
Environmental Policy Institute (AEPI) (June 1995.)
After the 1991 Gulf war, tanks hit with depleted
uranium were taken to
a nuclear decontamination facility at Barnwell, North
Carolina, built only
for the purpose of dealing with vehicles damaged and
contaminated by DU
in the war. Those which could not be decontaminated
were sent to a
special secure landfill site owned by Chem Nuclear or
to the US Department
of Energy¹s similar Savanna River Site. The Barnwell
Manager at the time,
Roger Johnson, talked of the vast amount of
radioactive and toxic material
http://www.xs4all.nl/~stgvisie/VISIE/mesopotamia.html#Radioactive
Veteran News
Isotope analysis shows exposure to depleted uranium in
Gulf War veterans
By Tim Stephens
Posted January 17, 2004, UC Santa Cruz Currents
http://currents.ucsc.edu/03-04/01-19/uranium.html
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.
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.
Gulf Report Revives Row
By Kate Gauntlett
The West Australian 14/1/04
GULF war veterans in Australia want acknowledgment and
better treatment of the so-called Gulf war syndrome,
after a top army doctor in Britain linked vaccines to
troops' severe health problems.
The Australian Government, like its British
counterpart, has claimed for more than a decade that
there is no evidence of such a syndrome.
But in the confidential report revealed this week, a
senior army doctor found "secret" injections a British
soldier received before the Gulf war were most likely
responsible for his osteoporosis. The soldier, who
never ended up going to war, revealed the 2001 report
to a British newspaper.
"Gulf war syndrome" is a term popularly applied to a
vast range of symptoms, including memory loss, chronic
fatigue, dizziness, swollen joints, depression and
lack of concentration.
In the past, soldiers have named depleted uranium,
chemical or biological weapons, anti-biological
warfare medications, or smoke and oil from burning oil
wells as likely causes. Australian Gulf War Veterans
and Peacekeepers Association chairman Philip Steele
said yesterday he hoped the British report could make
a difference to the treatment of Australia's 1871 Gulf
war veterans.
British and Australian veterans had experienced
similar symptoms and many struggled to get recognition
for their problems, he said.
Mr Steele, who lives in WA, was on board HMAS Sydney
in the Gulf in 1991 and now suffers from anxiety,
post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.
WHAT They Don ' t Want You To Know
Lew Rockwell, CA
What the normalizers don’t want you to know is the
nature and scale of the "coalition" crime in Iraq
which Kettle calls a "misjudgment" and the true
source of the worldwide threat. Outside the work of a
few outstanding journalists prepared to go beyond the
official compounds in Iraq, the extent of the human
carnage and material devastation is barely
acknowledged. For example, the effect of uranium
weapons used by American and British forces is
suppressed. Iraqi and foreign doctors report that
radiation illnesses are common throughout Iraq, and
troops have been warned not to approach contaminated
sites. Readings taken from destroyed Iraqi tanks in
British-controlled Basra are so high that a British
army survey team wore white, full-body radiation
suits, face masks and gloves. With nothing to warn
them, Iraqi children play on and around the tanks.
Of the 10,000 Americans evacuated sick from Iraq, many
have "mystery illnesses" not unlike those suffered by
veterans of the first Gulf war. By mid-April last
year, the US air force had deployed more than 19,000
guided weapons and 311,000 rounds of uranium A10
shells. According to a November 2003 study by the
Uranium Medical Research Center, witnesses living next
to Baghdad airport reported a huge death toll
following one morning’s attack from aerial bursts of
thermobaric and fuel air bombs. Since then, a vast
area has been "landscaped" by US earth movers, and
fenced. Jo Wilding, a British human rights observer in
Baghdad, has documented a catalogue of miscarriages,
hair loss, and horrific eye, skin and respiratory
problems among people living near the area. Yet the US
and Britain steadfastly refuse to allow the
International Atomic Energy Agency to conduct
systematic monitoring tests for uranium contamination
in Iraq. The Ministry of Defense, which has admitted
that British tanks fired depleted uranium in and
around Basra, says that British troops "will have
access to biological monitoring." Iraqis have no such
access and receive no specialist medical help.
...
Report blames Gulf War vet sickness on
injections [full interview at below)
http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2004/s1024762.htm] AM
- Tuesday, 13 January , 2004 08:18:41 Reporter: Fran
Kelly
DAVID HARDAKER: In Britain, Gulf War veterans
suffering health problems have received a boost in
their efforts to prove there is such a thing as Gulf
War Syndrome. A confidential report by a British Army
specialist has found that a list of severe medical
problems suffered by a former Army engineer were most
likely caused by the series of injections he received.
Alex Izett, didn't in the end go to the Gulf but his
symptoms match those of thousands of other veterans
who did. London Correspondent Fran Kelly reports. FRAN
KELLY:
Alex Izett was a Lance-Corporal in the Royal
Engineers. At the age of 20 he received a batch of
injections in preparation for deployment to the Gulf
War. Now, aged 33, his life is one long story of pain
and despair.
ALEX IZETT: I have osteoporosis, which seems to be a
very large problem within the Gulf veterans' community
for the fact that it's an illness which young men
shouldn't have. Secondly, I have nerve problems, I
have a nerve disorder. I have chronic fatigue. I have
severe depression. I have ulceration on my stomach.
The list just goes on and on and on.
FRAN KELLY: How would you describe your life and your
level of disability?
ALEX IZETT: It's not fun at all. I mean, I've already
had two suicide attempts and the way things are going
just now, life just doesn't seem worth living.
FRANKELLY: It's a horrible cycle familiar to tens of
thousands of Gulf War veterans and their families in
America, Britain and Australia, who are still fighting
their governments for recognition and compensation.
OTHER NEWS
.UN. aims to study link between environment and wars
Wednesday,January 14, 2004
By Alister Doyle, Reuters
OSLO, Norway — The United Nations wants to study links
between the environment and human conflict to see how
future wars might be sparked by factors like global
warming. Pollution, droughts, floods, storms,
desertification, and rising sea levels are among
possible triggers of wars in a world with more and
more people competing for limited resources. "The
environment can be a trigger of conflict but we don't
know enough about it," Steve Lonergan, director of the
U.N. Environment Program division of early warning and
assessment in Nairobi, told Reuters.
A new UNEP survey
of governments around the world showed that the two
main gaps in environmental understanding were links
between the environment and conflict, as well as the
environment and poverty, he said. "Under climate
change we expect more extreme events, more floods,
more droughts," said Lonergan, a Canadian scientist.
He added that global warming could in turn lead to
instability by forcing people to move to other areas,
causing conflict with people already living there.
Many scientists say that emissions of gases like
carbon dioxide, mainly from cars and factories, are
blanketing the planet and driving up temperatures.
"But this is not just about climate change. Resource
scarcity and abundance can also contribute to
conflict," he said.
Disclaimer****************************************************Web
> site: www.pandoraproject.org Send info to DU
> Information List pduproject@yahoo.co.uk . How to
> subscribe and unsubscribe to this letter To
subscribe:
> Everyone is welcome to subscribe to this free
> newsletter. Send an email to
> pandora-project-subscribe@yahoogroups.com To
> unsubscribe: Send an email
> to
Unsubscribe:pandora-project-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
>
Disclaimer: While The Pandora DU Information List
> and its members and associates use their best
efforts
> in collecting and preparing the information
published
> here in. The Pandora DU Information List here by
> disclaims any liability for any loss or damage
caused
> by errors or omissions, whether such errors or
> omissions resulted from negligence or other causes.
> Without limiting the generality of the foregoing,
The
> Pandora DU Information List does not in any way
vouch
> for the information supplied by its members or
> associates or for the quality of their work. Please
> notify us about any perceived errors or omissions.
Any
> views expressed in this e-mail are those of the
> author, except where the sender specifically states
> them to be the views of The Pandora DU Information
> List.
________________________________________________________________________
Yahoo! Messenger - Communicate instantly..."Ping"
your friends today! Download Messenger Now
http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com/download/index.html
To unsubscribe from this groups send a message to
du-list-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com. In the body of the message type
unsubscribe and send.
Yahoo! Groups Links
To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/du-list/
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
du-list-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
*****************************************************************
18 Depleted Uranium Weapons in Palestine
Date: Tue, 20 Jan 2004 00:13:15 -0600 (CST)
http://www.xs4all.nl/~stgvisie/VISIE/palestina.html#Depleted
Depleted Uranium Weapons in Palestine
Tuesday, December 19 2000 10:56 22 Kislev 5761
_MIDEAST NOTES: Palestinian Hiroshima_
By Jerusalem Post Staff
(December 19) - Minister of Interior Dr. Yusuf Abu-Safieh has confirmed
that the occupation authorities have started using radioactive uranium
ammunition to suppress the intifada and destroy Palestinian society.
Abu-Safieh added that President Yasser Arafat has decided to assemble a
special committee to examine the situation.
The minister has warned of the dangers of Israel's use of uranium waste
and radioactive materials, explaining that their destructive effects
only appear at a later stage through genetic deformities affecting
several generations, as happened in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. -
*(Al-Hayat Al-Jadidah, Ramallah, December 15)*
1995-2000, The Jerusalem Post - All rights reserved
*****************************************************************
19 USA: Domestic Nuclear Terrorism at Home
Date: Mon, 19 Jan 2004 12:10:44 -0600 (CST)
http://www.washingtonfreepress.org/62/shellGame.htm
opinion by Rodger Herbst
Most folks know that production of weapons-grade plutonium has made the 560
square mile Hanford facility in Eastern Washington one of the most
contaminated sites in the world. Most folks also know that the Hanford
facility sits on the banks of the Columbia River, one of our region's most
valuable natural resources. In 1986, the US Department of Energy (DOE) made
public thousands of documents showing there had been off-site releases of
radiation as well as considerable contamination of the site.
The DOE's current mission at Hanford is cleanup. In 1989, the DOE agreed to
a 30-year, $50 billion schedule called the "Tri-Party Agreement" (TPA),
between the DOE, the Washington Department of Ecology, and the US
Environmental Protection Agency.
By mid-1997 it was clear that the existing TPA schedule for completing
interim stabilization of the single-shell waste holding tanks would not be
met. In 1998 Washington State stated its intention to sue for failure to
meet cleanup milestones. After this, Washington State and the DOE entered
into another consent decree agreement with "court enforceable, technically
sound schedules" for single shell holding tank stabilization, which would
vitrify 99 percent of the liquid tank waste by 2028.
The shell game now continues, as the DOE has developed a plan to implement a
Bush administration goal, announced in 2001, to save money by eliminating
vitrification of 75 percent of the nation's High-Level Nuclear Wastes from
nuclear weapons production. Two thirds of that High level nuclear waste
resides at Hanford.
Many of the elements of this plan are illegal:
a.. Abandonment of High-Level Nuclear Wastes in the Single Shell Tanks,
which have already leaked over one million gallons of waste that is moving
towards the Columbia River. The plan involves pouring cement (grout) into
tanks--even before the DOE prepares a legally required Environmental Impact
Statement (EIS).
b.. Illegitimate "reclassification" of wastes at Hanford, per Bush
Administration review released February 4, 2002. Pages A-10, 11 seek
classification of waste left in the bottom of tanks as "incidental," which
would avoid retrieval and treatment. The DOE's efforts to leave wastes in
tanks and reclassify them is the subject of a federal lawsuit brought by the
the Snake River Alliance, the Yakama Indian Nation, and others.
c.. Bypassing of congressional, regulatory, and public oversight by
allowing Hanford managers to shift funds appropriated by Congress for
specific efforts (i.e., for legally required soil or groundwater cleanup, or
tank waste safety work) to any other project without Congressional approval
or notice.
d.. Forcing the pending Hanford Site Solid Waste EIS to deceptively
"justify" the DOE's proposal to import and bury 340,000 cubic meters of
Low-Level Waste (LLW)--a figure that is several times higher than any prior
proposal.
e.. Importation of 70000 truckloads of mixed (chemical and nuclear) waste
from out of state into the Hanford facility for burial in unlined soil
trenches. The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requires a
comprehensive look at all the impacts in bringing waste to Hanford,
including risk of accident and impact to soil and groundwater.
Based on the public's experience, DOE has lost all credibility for meeting
established deadlines and upholding legally binding agreements, but the
Washington State Attorney General's office has agreed to continue playing
the game. Watchdog groups such as Heart of America Northwest
(www.heartofamericanorthwest.org) fear that Hanford will become a "National
Sacrifice Zone".
Citizens are urged to write Governor Locke that we do NOT want more
radioactive waste trucked into Hanford: Governor Gary Locke, PO Box 40002,
Olympia WA 88504. Email www.governor.wa.gov.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Search the Free Press back issues:
The Washington Free Press
PMB #178, 1463 E Republican ST, Seattle WA 98112 (206) 860-5290
freepress@scn.org
*****************************************************************
20 Utahns Suffering from Nuclear Legacy
Date: Mon, 19 Jan 2004 12:21:43 -0600 (CST)
http://www.thespectrum.com/news/stories/20031221/localnews/80336.html
After 50 years, some Utahns continue to pay the price - some with
their lives - for the nuclear testing in Nevada.
By Patrice St. Germain
patrices@thespectrum.com
The Associated Press
The mushroom cloud of an atomic bomb rises above the Nevada Test
Site on April 22, 1952. About 1,500 civilian observers, journalists,
ground soldiers and paratroopers in the air witnessed the blast.
The first blast exploded at 5:44 a.m. PST on Jan. 27, 1951. The
bomb, known as "Able," set into motion 11 years of nuclear tests
in the Nevada desert.
Between that initial detonation and the final above-ground test in
July 1962, about 100 nuclear devices exploded, spreading radioactive
material into the atmosphere, where the wind pushed it into Southern
Utah and points farther east.
The tests were considered vital to national security. In a booklet
called Atomic Tests in Nevada, published by the United States Energy
Commission in March 1957, the agency said that each test fired in
Nevada was justified. It also stated that people who lived near the
Nevada Test Site were active participants in the nation's atomic
test program and that some had been "inconvenienced." But to the
commission's knowledge, no one outside the test site had been hurt
in what, to that point, had been six years of testing.
In the years since, site workers and their family members have been
afflicted by curious cancers. Many of the survivors have faced
serious health problems that have harmed their quality of life.
While the testing may have been vital to the Cold War with the
Soviet Union, the testing has left behind a legacy -- one of illnesses
and bitterness toward a government that assured the "active
participants" in the tests were safe.
'Rotten existence'
Born in 1936, Kent Prisbrey has spent most of his life in Washington
County. He calls the area the most unique place in the world, with
beautiful scenery and perfect weather.
Prisbrey remembers the nuclear testing -- the ash that fell after
the bombs were detonated, the car checkpoints throughout the town
on old Highway 91 where cars were washed three times to prevent
radioactive dust from being carried to parts unknown. He remembers
times when he couldn't leave school at the old Woodward School in
St. George because radiation levels after nuclear tests were too
high.
But throughout this time, he heard "radiation is not harmful" or
"It's not enough to bother you" and "Don't worry about it."
"Nobody questioned it -- not until a few years later when the cancers
started turning up and the animal deformities," he said. "Deer herds
dwindled, and you would find some with great big humps or growths
on them."
There was a three-legged calf born at a dairy farm, and Prisbrey
said an uncle claimed that his fingernails glowed in the dark,
possibly results of radiation.
Over the years, Prisbrey has encountered a host of health problems.
He's missing part of his esophagus and stomach, and he has had his
gall bladder and his left eye removed.
His mother died of breast cancer, and his three brothers all have
some form of cancer. One sister has a pacemaker.
Prisbrey said he remembers as a teenager living on Bluff Street and
seeing the flashes from the nuclear tests and the rumbles that
followed. In 1958, he actually worked at the test site in the
cafeteria as a vegetable man.
Prisbrey remembers an occasion while working at the Nevada site
when all the workers were asked to go outdoors during a test because
of fears that the buildings might collapse. They were told to look
away from the blast.
Once it was over, Prisbrey said, they were allowed to open their
eyes.
"With the morning sun, you could see every color you could imagine,"
he said. "It was magnificent -- mind boggling and the shock wave
picked you up about four feet into the air."
But those beautiful mushroom clouds with glowing colors now weigh
heavily on Prisbrey, and he said they have created nightmares for
many families.
Prisbrey has yet to file for compensation under the Radiation
Exposure Compensation Act. Last Monday, residents, scientists and
politicians gathered to offer testimony before a committee of
scientists and health care experts selected to consider expansion
of the classes of individuals, geographic areas and illnesses covered
under RECA. The act is meant to compensate people who were afflicted
by the radioactive fallout.
Prisbrey calls RECA a Band-Aid approach to the problem.
"Radiation did a number on anything that was not protected," he
said. "Back in 1974, I was told I was lucky to be alive."
Comparing the U.S. government to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler with the
Jews, Prisbrey, like many downwinders, said he and other residents
were guinea pigs.
During some of his illnesses, Prisbrey had to go on Medicare and
now has little strength. He said he is thankful that his children
have pitched in to help him out in hard times.
Looking at propaganda he has saved over the years and a booklet of
the history of his life that he is putting together, Prisbrey loses
his smile.
"It's a bleak, rotten existence," he said.
Downwinders advocate
Preston Truman's first memory was sitting on his father's knee and
watching a bomb go off.
"It was a frightening experience," Truman said.
Truman was born and raised in Enterprise and came into this world
the same year the first nuclear test was conducted at the Nevada
Test Site.
By the time he reached junior high, Truman became an activist by
writing letters to politicians. He said despite hearing from the
government that the nuclear tests were safe, he didn't feel
comfortable. The big test-ban debate had started, and reports in
the newspaper and on the radio were contradictory to what the
government said about nuclear tests being safe.
Truman continues to be an activist for downwinders by operating a
Web site -- www.downwinders.org.
He's had his share of health problems but has not received compensation,
nor has he ever applied.
"I was deeply involved in getting the program (RECA) set up, and I
didn't feel comfortable applying for compensation when a lot of
friends haven't got it," he said.
Losing everything
Richard Myers received a check for $50,000 from the RECA fund for
his wife, Kathren "Kathy" Myers. He received the check after writing
to the Department of Justice and the White House, but he didn't
receive the check until his wife of about 30 years had passed away.
He then had to re-file because she had died.
Myers lived in Mesquite during a critical period of nuclear testing
and was diagnosed with breast cancer twice before she passed away
in 2001.
During those two bouts with cancer, the family lost everything --
their home, their cars. The second time, Richard Myers said the
couple didn't have anything to lose.
"The second time, we didn't have anything. Bills piled up, we had
lawsuits, our credit was damaged, and we couldn't pay the bills,"
he said.
During his wife's second illness, Myers himself was diagnosed with
cancer but decided to forgo treatment until his wife's ordeal was
over. Subsequently, the cancer spread, and he is now in poor health.
On her deathbed, Kathy Myers told her husband that when she received
her compensation check, the doctor's bill needed to be paid.
"The first check I wrote when I got the compensation money was to
the doctor for $33,000," he said. "Then I paid some bills."
'Atomic massacre'
Michelle Thomas said her class reunions are at cemeteries. The St.
George native was born in March 1952, and since high school she has
battled health problems she believes are directly linked to nuclear
testing at the Nevada Test Site.
"Fifty-one is not old, but it makes you feel old when you hang out
in mortuaries," she said.
Part of what bothers Thomas about what she calls the "atomic history
massacre" is that it's a bleak, dark part of history that often is
ignored. Thomas said the government doesn't want to talk about it
and would rather point fingers at other countries that have maimed
and destroyed their own people, yet the U.S. government has not
fully owned up to the decimation of its own residents.
A breast cancer survivor, Thomas said she's lucky she is still
alive.
She did receive compensation for her illnesses but feels guilty
about receiving a check for $50,000.
"Some have battled worse and didn't get it," she said. "It's
embarrassing."
Outside the boundaries
Growing up in the foothills of the Uintah Mountains on his family's
dairy farm, Dave Timothy is in an area not covered by RECA.
He remembers the smoky blue haze that hung in the air during a time
when there was no wind for days.
While cutting hay, particles came from the sky, stinging the skin.
And Timothy continued to wipe his face and arms.
"We were in it," he said. "We ate it, drank it, and it rained on
us like death."
No living creature was spared. Timothy said cows, sheep and people
miscarried their babies.
Timothy has gone through a bout of health problems throughout his
life -- migraines, fevers, allergic reactions and thyroid problems.
Because Timothy didn't live in an area designated by RECA for
compensation, he cannot receive any money through the program.
Despite that, Timothy feels like he and other downwinders are
veterans of atomic nuclear testing and should be compensated like
military personnel.
"What we get are labels, and days of remembrance are tokens," he
said. "We become an enemy of the state."
Governor afflicted
Rep. Jim Matheson said he has numerous relatives buried in Southern
Utah -- relatives who died of cancer from being downwinders.
Matheson's father, former Gov. Scott Matheson, had many relatives
in Iron County and received lists of those who died from cancer.
Scott Matheson was part of the effort to get reports of nuclear
testing in the hands of the Department of Defense declassified.
Those reports showed the government did know people downwind were
at risk, which is why tests were conducted when the prevailing winds
blew east, toward the least-populated areas.
Scott Matheson died at age 61. He was a downwinder.
It's this family legacy that has influenced Jim Matheson's approach
to politics, the lawmaker said. Whether it's the plan of renewed
testing, storing hotter nuclear waste in Utah or transporting spent
fuel rods across the state's highways, Matheson is opposed.
"My family history has made me know that without the knowledge that
it's safe, you don't do it," he said. "My history has influenced
my approach to politics. As a country, it's important to ask questions
of your government. That's what makes democracy work."
Navajo victims
Lori Goodman, communications coordinator with Nine Care, Citizens
Against Running Our Environment, grew up in Arizona.
Goodman's father, Pinon, died in 1993 of cancer.
"Culturally we don't talk about death," said Goodman, a Navajo
Indian. "It wasn't until my father died that relatives came, and
we found out 10 others died of the same thing."
Because Goodman had been involved in the RECA program, she knew of
the dangers and compensation for uranium miners. But her father and
his relatives herded sheep.
"We didn't know what was going on when our people had never worked
uranium mines and they were getting the cancers, the same cancers
as the uranium workers," she said.
Just last year, the Navajo Nation received money to help with a
health outreach program, but Goodman said the Navajo people only
go to a hospital as a last resort because, culturally, they don't
subscribe to Western medicine.
By the time they know something is wrong, they are in their last
stages, which is why the outreach program is so important.
But the Navajo Nation also has a legacy with its uranium miners and
mill workers. Goodman said about 10,000 Navajos worked in uranium
mines, and some in the area still need to be reclaimed. Some mines
are not capped.
"I think the mines are still there because out of sight, out of
mind" Goodman said.
Everyone's problem
While some counties in the West are eligible for compensation under
the RECA program, the problem is much more widespread, Richard
Miller said.
Miller is the author of several books about nuclear testing, including
"Under the Cloud," which discusses the fallout, and five volumes
of books called the U.S. Atlas of Nuclear Fallout.
Miller said every county in the continental United States received
fallout.
"Fallout landed in every back yard," he said.
Some counties in Missouri, New York and Iowa are hotter than spots
covered by RECA out West but by different types of radioactive
isotopes.
Miller said more studies are needed across the nation, and the
correlation between fallout and cancers is significant.
"When a scientist says no further studies are necessary, he is
closing the door on science, and no scientist should do that," he
said.
Originally published Sunday, December 21, 2003
*****************************************************************
21 BBC: Referendum call on N-subs
Last Updated: Monday, 19 January, 2004
[Nuclear submarine]
Space is running out for decommissioned nuclear subs
Safety campaigners in Plymouth are calling on the city council to
hold a referendum on proposals to dismantle nuclear powered
submarines in the city.
But the council leader Tudor Evans says a vote would not be
appropriate.
The firm which runs Devonport Dockyard, DML, is one of several
companies bidding for the work to dismantle Britain's fleet of
nuclear-powered submarines as they become decommissioned.
The University of Lancaster has been carrying out a consultation
exercise, called Project Isolus, on the plans on behalf of the
Ministry of Defence (MoD).
That consultation included a public meeting in Plymouth towards
the end of last year.
Nuclear safety campaigners in Plymouth want to see a referendum,
timed to coincide with elections later in the year.
Campaigner Ken Tucker has written to Tudor Evans calling for a
vote on the submarines issue.
He said: "If we hold a referendum on the same day, 10 June, there
will be time for more consultation and public meetings on the
issues and for councillors to be questioned."
But Mr Evans says it is not up to the council to do consultation
work for the MoD.
He said: "The referendum would have no purpose because it would
have no affect on the decision.
"The council does not make the ultimate decision, it is the MoD."
Eleven submarines have already been decommissioned but remain
with their reactors intact floating in the docks at Rosyth in
Fife and at Devonport, the UK's only nuclear-licensed dockyards.
But space is running out and there are 16 more submarines coming
to the end of their working lives.
The government will not make a decision where the work will be
done until 2006.
*****************************************************************
22 Knox News: Y-12 medical director resigns
Philosophical conflict with management cited as reason for
departure
By FRANK MUNGER, munger@knews.com
January 17, 2004
OAK RIDGE - Dr. David J. Wehrly, medical director at the Y-12
National Security Complex, resigned last week because of
philosophical differences with management.
Wehrly said he hopes his departure will serve as a wakeup call
to the U.S. Department of Energy and BWXT, the federal
contractor at Y-12, to modernize their approach to maintaining a
healthy work force.
"I want to make it clear that I don't believe the company or
DOE was failing to do anything that had to be done" to comply
with laws or regulations, said Wehrly, who came to Oak Ridge
31/2 years ago following a distinguished career in the U.S.
Army.
"I don't think they were doing anything illegal, unethical or
immoral," he said in an interview.
But Wehrly said much more could be accomplished at Y-12 if
budget and program barriers were to be removed, allowing a
coordinated program for health and wellness.
BWXT was unwilling to make what Wehrly described as a "fairly
radical culture change," and he said there really wasn't an
incentive for the federal contractor to support the effort. The
company's contract with the government doesn't include fee
rewards tied to important health issues, although much attention
is paid to safety milestones, he said.
Bill Wilburn, a BWXT spokesman, said the company had no comment
on Wehrly's departure or the concerns he raised.
About 4,800 people work at the warhead-manufacturing facility in
Oak Ridge.
Wehrly said he's not angry but frustrated that he couldn't enact
changes. The 54-year-old physician plans to join Covenant Health
in Oak Ridge next week and help create a regional
occupational-health program there.
Y-12 is in the midst of a hiring campaign to add youth to a
graying workforce, and Wehrly said this transition period is an
important time to address overall health issues.
The younger generation of workers in Oak Ridge reflects the
nation's population as a whole, with the emergence of new health
concerns, Wehrly said. Borderline high blood pressure, obesity
and other conditions once associated with late middle age are
now becoming prevalent in workers in their 20s and 30s, he said.
If this problem isn't addressed through lifestyle changes and
other efforts - at work and away from work - it could have a
significant impact on the plant's future viability and
productivity, Wehrly warned.
Health-related programs, ranging from worker's compensation and
medical insurance to preventive health care and non-occupational
illness, need to be managed as a whole, Wehrly said. At Y-12 and
other DOE facilities, these programs are segmented into
different "silos," both from a funding and management
perspective.
"If you spend money in one silo, you don't necessarily see a
gain in another, and you may have duplication of services,"
Wehrly said.
Y-12 gets a lot of scrutiny for radiological and chemical
hazards associated with its national-security missions. But
Wehrly said many of the health concerns at the Oak Ridge plant
are the same ones faced by business and industry throughout the
United States.
Nearly all lost workdays among Y-12 workers are due to
non-occupational illnesses, he said, citing recent statistics
that support that statement. Yet the off-the-job factors don't
receive enough attention, he said.
Wehrly said he was shocked when he arrived to learn that Y-12
did not have physical-fitness standards for its firefighters, a
common requirement at fire units around the country. Two
firefighters had to be barred from driving the fire truck
because of their severe obesity, he said.
Lockheed Martin Energy Systems, the previous contractor at Y-12,
hired Wehrly to direct its occupational health program in
mid-2000. Support for his ideas dwindled, however, following the
change of contractors later that year, he said.
One of the root problems, Wehrly said, is that DOE does not have
a "corporate medical director" to serve as an advocate for
health professionals at sites around the United States.
Dr. Bill Brady, medical director at Los Alamos National
Laboratory in New Mexico and chair of DOE's national steering
committee on occupational health, said several committee members
have raised the same concern. Without an advocate in Washington,
"sometimes the voice in the field isn't heard," Brady said.
Jeff Sherwood, a spokesman at DOE headquarters, said agency
officials were surprised to hear of Wehrly's resignation and
"sorry to lose his expertise."
Sherwood provided a response to some of Wehrly's concerns,
including the lack of a corporate medical director. He said Dr.
George Gebus serves as the agency's "medical officer" and
advises DOE on matters related to occupational medicine.
Wehrly, however, said Gebus' role had been "marginalized" by DOE
and that Gebus has had little, if any, impact on medical and
health affairs.
Sherwood said DOE agreed with Wehrly's concerns about obesity
and other non-workplace health factors, but he said those are
the responsibility of the contractor or the individual employee.
"While wellness programs are shown to be effective resources,
the decision to support those programs is made by the
contractor," the DOE spokesman said.
Sherwood also said DOE's creation of a physicians working group
was a positive step. "These physicians are encouraged to provide
advice or seek assistance from the department," he said.
Wehrly said he doesn't think the committee has any effect on DOE
policy. Brady, who heads the physicians group, said it might be
too early to draw conclusions because the committee has only
been in existence a couple of years.
Senior writer Frank Munger may be reached at 865-342-6329.
Copyright © 2004 The Knoxville News Sentinel Co. All Rights
*****************************************************************
23 Knox News: Tracking the government is a walk on the wild side
January 14, 2004
Have I told you lately how much fun it is to play ball with the
federal government?
No? Well, let me catch you up on things.
I filed a Freedom of Information Act request last summer with
the U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge office. I was seeking
documents I thought should be publicly available. DOE and its
contractor friends obviously disagreed with my assessment, which
is why I was forced to file the FOIA request in the first place.
Soon after my Aug. 4 filing, DOE acknowledged its receipt.
"We will log your request in this week and begin document
production," DOE's Freedom of Information officer, Amy Rothrock,
wrote in a cordial note. She even addressed me by my first name.
Rothrock noted, however, that DOE was "experiencing a significant
and overwhelming" number of FOIA requests related to compensation
claims from sick workers.
Therefore, she warned, it might take up to 120 calendar days to
complete a routine FOIA request and even more than 120 for a
complex request. My request fell under the category of complex
requests because it involved coordination with other parties, she
said.
A couple of months passed, and taking Rothrock's advice, I
checked the status of my request. In an Oct. 1 e-mail, the
federal official said the documentation was still being processed
by a DOE contractor.
"As soon as the compiled records are received in my office, we
will provide you with a complete response," she wrote. She also
reviewed her log records over the past decade to make sure I had
no other requests pending.
Time passed and so did the rest of 2003. Upon returning to work
in the new year, I realized it had been more than five months
since I filed my FOIA request. So I decided to bulldog the
process.
I placed a telephone call to Rothrock but was unable to leave a
message because her voice mailbox was full. Somewhat perturbed, I
dashed off a snitty e-mail to DOE's public information chief,
Steven Wyatt.
"What kind of federal response is this????" I wrote, using
multiple question marks to underscore my displeasure.
Wyatt apparently discussed the issue with Rothrock because come
Monday, at 10:22 a.m., I received a new e-mail message from the
FOIA chief in Oak Ridge. And it wasn't what I wanted to hear.
After apologizing for missing my earlier call, she informed me
that the FOIA review found that the requested documents contained
classified information and were forwarded to DOE headquarters at
Germantown, Md., for the mandatory declassification review.
"That review," Rothrock wrote, "could take an estimated 6 to 18
months to complete depending on the backlog of documents waiting
to be processed in that office and the nature of the subject
matter in the documents."
Fourteen minutes later, at 10:36 a.m., I received another e-mail
from Rothrock. It said simply, "The sender would like to recall
the message, 'Status of FOIA Request 03-291.' "
Six minutes later, at 10:42 a.m., I received a third e-mail from
the federal official. This time, copies also were sent to Wyatt
and Jennifer Fowler, DOE's chief legal counsel in Oak Ridge.
Once again, she apologized for missing my earlier call. This
time, however, Rothrock said the FOIA review showed the requested
documents contained "unclassified controlled nuclear information"
and had been forwarded to DOE declassification personnel in
November 2003 for the mandatory UCNI review.
"That review and reconciliation of determinations could take an
estimated 6 weeks to complete according to our declassification
officer," she wrote.
Hmmm. My head was sort of spinning at this point, trying to
figure out what was going on. I called Wyatt, who hadn't yet read
his copy of the last e-mail, to discuss the absurdity of the a.m.
proceedings.
Soon after hanging up, I received another e-mail, this one from
Wyatt. In his missive, apparently copied to me by accident, DOE's
chief spokesman told Rothrock and Fowler of some follow-up
questions I had submitted regarding the FOIA process.
Then, in an aside to the federal agency's top lawyer, Wyatt
noted:
"Jennifer this is related to what you and I discussed in the
hallway on Friday. He (that's me, the newspaper reporter) is
also amazed at the rapid change from classified to UCNI, which,
as described below, has decreased the time from 18 months to six
weeks. I could be wrong, but I would bet you lunch that this
will appear in his Wednesday column."
Well, I'll give DOE credit. The feds got one thing right.
Senior Writer Frank Munger covers the Department of Energy for
the News Sentinel. He may be reached at 865-342-6329 or at
munger@knews.com. This column is also available in the opinion
section of knoxnews.com.
Copyright © 2004 The Knoxville News Sentinel Co. All Rights
*****************************************************************
24 Google News Alert - nuclear
Date: Mon, 19 Jan 2004 12:36:42 -0800
GOVT may revive nuclear power plant project
Jakarta Post, Indonesia
The government is considering reviving a plan to build a nuclear power
plant in Muria Bay, Central Java to cope with increasing power demand
and declining ...
LANDMARK European Nuclear Power Project to Use Complete AVEVA ...
Yahoo News (press release)
... in Finland. The Nuclear Island for the turnkey project will be supplied
by Framatome ANP, the Turbine Island by Siemens. The overall ...
AIDE to father of Pakistan's nuclear bomb probed for leaks to ...
SpaceDaily
Pakistan Monday questioned a close aide to the father of its nuclear bomb,
two scientists and five other officials over alleged nuclear leaks to
Iran, an ...
PAKISTAN says nuclear probe drawing to close
Reuters, India
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Questioning of top Pakistani nuclear scientists over
reports that they exported bomb-making technology to Iran is nearly complete
...
AGREEMENT reached on killing Libyan nuclear program
The Globe and Mail, Canada
Vienna — The UN atomic watchdog agency will verify the scope and content
of Libya's nuclear program, and US and British experts will remove suspect
materials ...
VAJPAYEE Opposed Nuclear Option In ’ 79
Financial Express, India
... JAN 19: Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee teamed up with his boss,
the then Prime Minister Morarji Desai, in 1979 to oppose resumption of
India’s nuclear ...
MALAYSIA pledges to help US over nuclear shipments
Channel News Asia, Singapore
KUALA LUMPUR : Malaysia has told Washington it is willing to work with
the US to prevent material for nuclear weapons programmes being shipped
through its ...
SENTENCING date set in nuclear lab hack case
The Register, UK
A sentencing date has been set for a UK teenager who admits breaking into
the network of a US high-energy physics research lab. ...
PAKISTAN extends nuclear probe
swissinfo, Switzerland
Pakistan says it has stepped up its investigation into the possible illegal
transfer of nuclear technology to Iran. Government officials ...
FIVE Pakistani nuclear scientists held
Sify, India
Islamabad: Five scientists associated with Pakistan's premier nuclear facility
Khan Research Laboratories, including its director general, Mansoor Ahmad,
have ...
This once-a-day News Alert is brought to you by Google News (BETA)...
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Remove this News Alert:
http://www.google.com/newsalerts/remove?s=682e52ddd0720101
Create another News Alert:
http://www.google.com/newsalerts
Try Google News:
http://news.google.com/
*****************************************************************
25 Fuel Cell Today: First solid oxide fuel cell in Russia demonstrated
by Federal Nuclear Center
Author: Russian Science News Provider: Fuel Cell Today
The first Russian power system based on a solid-oxide fuel cell
had been tested in the All-Russia Research Institute of Technical
Physics (Russian Federal Nuclear Center, Snezhinsk, Chelyabinsk
oblast). In this system, hydrogen is obtained from natural gas,
and oxygen - from the air. For the first time, such a system has
been built up of units (air pump, reformer, and fuel cell) that
all are made in Russia at factories of the Ministry of Atomic
Energy (Minatom). Almost ten-year-long work of Minatom
specialists on creating the solid-oxide fuel cell has been
successful. The testing team has acknowledged an important
financial support of the ISTC that helped to solve key technical
problems.
Viktor Emel'yanov, co-coordinator of the ISTC fuel cell
construction initiative, has reported the following. The
scientists launched an experimental system, which was operated
several days and then turned off. But the main goal was attained:
it has been revealed, which units are to be modified and how. The
resource of the energy system functioning has been estimated in
pilot experiments with separate fuel cells at 50 thousands of
hours. Though the coast hasn't been evaluated yet, it is expected
to be acceptable. This event is comparable by importance with the
first automobile construction. The experimental system power is 1
kW. This makes us sure that building 2.5 kW system under the ISTC
project can be successfully accomplished.
Fuel cells and power systems on their basis are the key elements
of hydrogen energetic, which is a promising way to reduce the
consumption of fossil fuels and also to reduce or stop the air
pollution by exhaust gases of vehicles and power industries.
Hydrogen energetic in Russia is promoted by the alliance of
Minaton, ISTC, and Gazprom under aforementioned project, plus the
Norilsk Nickel Company and Russian Academy of Sciences under the
complex program of research and experimental-construction works
on hydrogen energetic and fuel cells signed in December of 2003.
A fuel cell creates electricity through an electrochemical
process that combines hydrogen and oxygen. For this purpose,
hydrogen atoms are driven to the hydrogen electrode, turned to
ions, and transferred by an electrolyte to the oxygen electrode,
where they join up with oxygen atoms to form water and leave the
fuel cell. There are several kinds of electrolytes that determine
the construction of a fuel cell and respective power system.
A solid-oxide fuel cell is a high-temperature fuel cell having an
operating temperature of more than 800 degrees. At room
temperature, this electrolyte does not conduct any ions. It is
unsuitable for an automobile, but quite appropriate for
generating electricity and heat for a severed cottage or
supplementary equipment of transport means. The main advantage of
this fuel cell is its adjustability to hydrocarbon fuels,
primarily, natural gas. The decomposition of natural gas to
hydrogen and carbon monoxide and dioxide results in the
production of synthesis gas. Here carbon monoxide can serve as a
fuel along with hydrogen due to the presence of oxygen anions in
the electrolyte. But it would be a poison in alternative
low-temperature fuel cells, where the electrolyte conducts
hydrogen ions (protons). Solid-oxide fuel cells produce not only
electricity, but also heat that can be used in heating of
buildings as well as generating an additional power supply, e.g.,
with the use of gas or vapour turbine.
Solid-oxide electrolyte is usually made of zirconium oxide
substances with the addition of alkaline-earth and rare-earth
metals. There are two ways of obtaining electricity with the use
of solid-oxide fuel cells, one of which is based on a tubular
construction developed in Snezhinsk. That fuel cell consists of
many modules. Each module is a tube about 1 cm in diameter and 25
cm long, consisting of the same material as the electrolyte,
i.e., zirconium oxide, in which the electrodes are implanted: the
hydrogen one is made up of nickel and zirconium oxide, and the
oxygen one of lanthanum-strontium manganate. The tube is filled
up with a porous insulator, in which a smaller metal tube is
incorporated. By this tube synthesis gas is supplied to the fuel
cell, and the electricity exits the fuel cell. A tube can be made
also from the material of cathode. In this case, it is clad in
electrolyte 20-30 cm thick, which is covered by the anode layer.
Such a tube having the power density 550 mW/sq cm at the
temperature of 950 degrees can produce the electric current of
0.55 V and 13 W. And these values do not change during 1.5
thousand hours of the operation test that has been conducted by
the scientists.
An alternative idea is a planar fuel cell. In this case, the base
is made of either a half-millimetre-thick plate of the same
electrolyte carrying micron-deep layers of porous cathode and
anode made of above-mentioned materials, or of a millimetre-thick
anode plate with electrolyte and cathode layers. Such a plate up
to 60 mm in diameter made of nickel/zirconium oxide with
adjustable porosity and conductivity can be produced, for
example, in the Institute of Physics and Power Engineering in
Obninsk. That is commented by one of the members of the research
team, N.I. Khramushin, as follows. The planar construction is
more efficient and compact than the tubular one. Its use allows
for obtaining a higher electric power density and decreasing
power and heat losses. We have managed to obtain a maximal power
density of 700 mW/sq cm at 950 degrees. Therefore, power systems
based on such fuel cells will cost lower than tubular ones - the
price for one kilowatt of power may drop to 400 dollars in case
of a massive production.
© 2001-2004 Johnson Matthey plc.
*****************************************************************
26 LJWorld.com: Energy leader pumped for futuristic power plant
[News Center - The Lawrence Journal-World, 6News, World
By Terry Rombeck, Journal-World
Monday, January 19, 2004
It's considered the "power plant of the future" -- so
cutting-edge, in fact, that the technology doesn't currently
exist to construct it.
The plant wouldn't spew greenhouse gases into the atmosphere,
and would turn other potentially harmful byproducts into usable
materials.
And some state leaders want the $1 billion project built in
Kansas.
"It would be building a state-of-the-art power plant, or really
more than state of the art," said Lee Allison, state geologist
and director of the Kansas Geological Survey, based at Kansas
University. "It would be good for the environment and good for
the economy."
As chairman of the State Energy Resources Coordination Council,
Allison is planning to appoint a task force to create a formal
proposal to lure the plant to Kansas.
Dubbed FutureGen, the project was announced in February 2003 by
the U.S. Department of Energy. The department has earmarked $800
million for the project and expects another $200 million to come
from utility or state sources. The initiative is part of
President Bush's efforts to address global warming issues.
New science
The technology behind the plant has been tested preliminarily
but never used on a large-scale basis, Allison said.
['photo']
Richard Gwin/Journal-World Photo
Steam pours from smokestacks at the Lawrence Energy Center
north of the city. A new generation of technology for coal-fired
energy plants would eliminate carbon dioxide and hydrogen
emissions into the atmosphere.
It involves creating a gas version of coal to separate the pure
carbon from other impurities, then burning the pure carbon to
create electricity. The byproducts, which include carbon dioxide
and hydrogen, would be trapped instead of released into the
atmosphere. The byproducts could be useful to Kansans, Allison
said.
Carbon dioxide is being pumped into oil reservoirs near Russell
in an effort to increase oil production. If the process is
successful, it could be expanded to other areas, creating a
market for carbon dioxide.
If the Energy Department is someday successful in establishing a
"hydrogen economy," in which hydrogen replaces petroleum as the
basis for vehicle fuels, the hydrogen also could be marketed.
Several other states already have made proposals to the Energy
Department, which plans to make a decision in 2005. Texas has
earmarked $10 million toward its efforts to compete for the
project, and West Virginia already has identified six potential
sites for its location. Leaders in Illinois and Wyoming also
have discussed proposals.
Legislative push
State Rep. Tom Sloan, a Lawrence Republican who serves on the
House Utilities Committee, said he thought the project using
carbon dioxide to increase oil production could make Kansas a
contender.
"It's going to be very competitive, but Kansas has a legitimate
opportunity," he said. "This has great potential for the state
of Kansas to reaffirm our leadership in technology that benefits
people."
Sloan said it was too early to know whether the state could
provide funding for the project but said he expected the state
to make a coordination effort among government, economic
development and utility entities.
"From the state's perspective, we'd be bringing in federal
dollars to help build a power plant that would be in operation
30 or 40 years," he said. "We'd be creating jobs for the
community that gets it. It'd be an economic boom for initial
construction and ongoing purchases made by the plant."
A spokeswoman for U.S. Rep. Jerry Moran, who represents much of
western Kansas, where the plant likely would be located, said
the congressman was traveling Friday and unavailable for
comment. She said Moran's staff hadn't investigated the issue.
Spokeswomen for Gov. Kathleen Sebelius and U.S. Rep. Dennis
Moore each said they supported the concept of the plant, though
they said their staffs hadn't done enough research to comment on
it.
Utility support
The proposal also has the blessing of Westar Energy, the state's
largest utility, which probably would need to be a partner for
the plan to proceed. Spokeswoman Karla Olsen said 81 percent of
Westar's electricity was generated by coal, compared with 5
percent produced using natural gas. The remaining 14 percent
comes from uranium at the Wolf Creek nuclear power plant near
Burlington.
"We're aware of the efforts, and we support them," Olsen said.
"I suspect most utilities that use coal in power plants would
like more environmentally friendly methods and to work with the
DOE on the project."
But the proposal isn't likely to go without opposition.
Charles Benjamin, attorney for Kansas Sierra Club, said he'd
prefer the state work on developing wind energy, noting Kansas
was identified as the No. 1 state for potential wind energy in a
recent national survey.
Benjamin said he'd rather the state figure out how to get wind
power from western Kansas to consumers elsewhere.
"We'd like to see the state putting resources into solving the
transmission line issue, and getting wind energy to the rest of
the state and to other states," he said. "You're using an
unlimited resource."
Copyright © 2004 The Lawrence Journal-World. All rights
*****************************************************************
NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 this
material is distributed without profit or payment to those who
have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for
non-profit research and educational purposes only. For more
information go to:
*****************************************************************