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NUCLEAR POLICY
1 IPS-English IRAQ-US: WMD 'a matter of little consequence' for
2 The Australian: No comfort for Howard on WMD
3 US: Guardian Unlimited: Rice admits US
4 sacbee.com: Opinion -- Editorial: Dangerous liaison
5 US: Washington Post: Hill Probers Fault Iraq Intelligence
6 US: Guardian Unlimited: Verdict raises questions over decision to go
7 WorldNetDaily: It's official: No weapons of mass destruction
8 WorldNetDaily: What WMD?
9 US: ajc.com: No mystery to untangling WMD puzzler
10 US: Online NewsHour: Newsmaker Interview: David Kay --
11 US: Townhall.com Mona Charen: A matter of integrity
12 PalmBeachPost.com: Find out why Kay found no Iraqi weapons
13 Iranmania: Iran defends right to peaceful nuclear power
14 Hi Pakistan: Nuclear powers should give Tehran access to N-technolog
15 ITAR-TASS: Russian, US officials to discuss Iran
16 AU The Age: Australia begins talks with North Korea -
17 Korea: Digital Chosunilbo: Seoul-Washington-Tokyo to Demand Pyeongya
18 Xinhuanet: US double-dealing tactics cannot work - DPRK paper
19 Tri-Valley Herald: North Korea raises nuclear arms stakes
20 US: AU THE AGE: White House opts for different war rationale -
21 US: delmarvanow.com: WMD absence seems troubling -
22 Las Vegas SUN: Editorial: Start weapons probe
23 US: U.S. Newswire: TomPaine.com Challenges Justice Scalia Over Vice
24 US: Las Vegas SUN: U.S. Presses Congress to Cut Energy Bill
25 PRAVDA.Ru: "Secret Russian weapons" still terrify Americans -
26 Washington Times: Pakistan's unraveling nuclear secrets
27 PTI: Pak nuke probe glossing over army's role - Report
28 TIMES OF INDIA: Wave of sympathy for N-scientists
29 Reuters:: Nuclear weapons among UNEP's Inspiring Ideas
30 ITAR-TASS: Russia, US discuss cooperation in nuclear field
31 albawaba.com: Ahead of talks with US: Russia defends nuclear coopera
NUCLEAR REACTORS
32 US: Ocean County News: Opposition gathers against Oyster Creek
33 US: NRC: Connecticut Yankee Atomic Power Company, Haddam Neck Plant;
34 US: NRC: Maine Yankee Atomic Power Company Independent Spent Fuel St
35 US: NRC: Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards, Meeting of the AC
36 US: NRC: Notice of Availability of Environmental Assessment and Find
37 US: toledoblade.com: Steam leaks cut operation at Fermi II
38 ITAR-TASS: Third unit shut down for maintenance at Novovoronezh powe
39 ITAR-TASS: Russian nuclear power industry to be reformed-Rumyantsev
40 ITAR-TASS: EU to provide safety equipment to Russian nuclear power p
NUCLEAR SAFETY
41 US: Deseretnews: Plutonium is a silvery radiological poison
NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE
42 US: [du-list] Nuclear Power and Weapons Waste to go to Regular
43 Las Vegas SUN: Former worker: Officials knew of toxic dust at Yucca
44 US: NRC: Advisory Committee on Nuclear Waste, Meeting on Planning an
45 US: Salt Lake Tribune: Hazardous waste bill introduced
46 US: Deseret news: 'Hot' waste issue heats up at Capitol
47 Las Vegas RJ: Yucca toxic dust afflicts workers
48 chillicothe gazette: Initiative gathers input on local plant's futur
49 Las Vegas SUN: Sen. Reid demands answers on Yucca silicosis illnesse
50 US: Express-Times: Owner wraps up case for landfill expansion
51 Elko Daily Free Press: Sandoval to keep fighting
52 SR: Reid demands to know why safety precautions were not enforced at
53 AU ABC: International experts criticise nuclear dump safety processe
54 US: The Courier: Truck hauling nuclear fuel rods crashes; no danger
55 The Australian: IAEA 'praised' N-dump choice
NUCLEAR WEAPONS
US DEPT. OF ENERGY
56 Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Hanford plant costs get review
57 Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Hanford jobs to plunge by 2008
58 Tri-City Herald: Hanford cleanup initiative certified
59 Las Vegas SUN: Letter: Workers can't speak up at DOE
60 KIFI: INEEL Invention Detects Radioactive Material
61 U.S. Newswire: Hydrogen Fuel Cars in the Classroom; Department
62 Tri-Valley Herald: Court orders a new trial in lab firing case
63 Shorthorn Online: Regents may bid for nuclear lab
64 Idaho Statesman: DOE fines Bechtel for safety violation
65 Jackson Hole Zone: Back Idaho lab pitches nuclear energy
OTHER NUCLEAR
66 Google News Alert - nuclear
67 [du-list] [Fwd: Peace/ No Nuke Fundraiser: New Flags
68 EU Business: Japanese Nobel laureate questions validity of nuclear f
69 SMH: Japan's energy battle triggers a nuclear reaction -
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FULL NEWS STORIES
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1 IPS-English IRAQ-US: WMD 'a matter of little consequence' for
Date: Fri, 30 Jan 2004 14:44:59 -0800
WD LA AP IF IP
IRAQ-US: WMD 'a matter of little consequence' for US elections, says UAE
daily
Att.Editors: The following item is from the Emirates News Agency (WAM)
ABU DHABI, Jan. 29 (WAM) - A major United Arab Emirates (UAE) English daily
today commented on the US President George W. Bush's desperate efforts to
justify his war on Iraq in the light of his failure to produce the evidence
of weapons of mass destruction, which he used as a pretext to wage the war.
Commenting editorially in its issue today the Dubai-based ‘Gulf News'
said: ôWiggle room. That is when a person leaves a ‘backdoor' open to escape
closer scrutiny of what was said. The dictionary defines it as flexibility
or ambiguous wording leaving room for further negotiation. Presently US
President George W. Bush is being held to task and being asked to produce
evidence of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in Iraq. Such questioning has
been brushed aside by Bush in typical wiggle room fashion. He and his
cohorts claim that the existence of WMD is unimportant now, what is
important is the ‘removal of the dictator, Saddam Hussain'.
ôBush, of course, is lucky. With the Democrats thrashing about trying to
find a leader who can steal the thunder from the White House incumbent, he
is riding high playing the ‘patriotism' card. An improvement in the
employment sector and for the public to feel a greater sense of prosperity
would qualify Bush as a shoo-in for a second term of office.
ôBut to ensure this, Bush has to try and extricate US troops from Iraq -
or at least ensure there is no more drastic loss of life. Additionally, the
US is hoping to hand over greater responsibility in the running of Iraq and
control of any elections, to the UN. An irony, considering how averse the
Bush administration was to involving the UN in Iraq.
ôAs the November elections advance, it is certain that Bush and his
associates will find many other ways to wiggle out of the responsibilities
that have been taken on in the past few years in regard to foreign policy.
These have only brought about the death of many young people, and are likely
to haunt his election campaign. Besides which, Americans, historically, do
not vote for their presidents based on foreign policy, but on those issues
which affect them at home. Watch out for more Bush wiggles,” concluded the
paper. (WAM)
*****************************************************************
2 The Australian: No comfort for Howard on WMD
[January 30, 2004]
By Cameron Stewart
THE Howard Government sought to embrace the Hutton report
yesterday as a vindication of Australia's involvement in Iraq -
but the British law lord's findings bear little relevance to
Canberra's participation in the war.
And questions surrounding Australian involvement deepened
further, with a call yesterday by former chief US weapons
inspector David Kay for an investigation into major intelligence
failures on Iraq.
Both John Howard and Foreign Minister Alexander Downer have drawn
long bows between their own circumstances and Lord Hutton's
vindication of British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
"We didn't manipulate intelligence in Australia any more than
Tony Blair, according to Lord Hutton, manipulated this particular
piece of intelligence," Mr Howard said.
"Those who have accused us of taking Australia to war on a lie
owe me as much an apology as those who made equal accusations
against Tony Blair owe him an apology."
Mr Downer went further, claiming the Hutton report proved "both
the British and the Australian Government were telling the truth"
and was "comprehensive evidence there was no attempt to try to
sex up the evidence or get intelligence agencies to tell a
different story".
But the relevance of the Hutton report to Australia is limited.
The inquiry simply examined the circumstances surrounding the
suicide of British weapons expert David Kelly. In so doing it
rejected claims the Blair Government embellished a September 2002
intelligence dossier on Iraq's weapons capability.
But the report did not examine the broader issue of all British
intelligence on Iraq or make any conclusions about the decision
to go to war.
The Australian Government argues the report is significant
because much of the intelligence on which Canberra relied came
from Britain -- the implication being that if Britain made its
decision to go to war in good faith, so did Australia.
But it is not that simple.
Australian intelligence agencies made independent assessments on
Iraq using numerous sources apart from the intelligence supplied
by Britain.
Although British intelligence was important, the bulk of the
intelligence received by Australia on Iraq came from US sources.
Canberra also had access to intelligence from countries such as
France, Germany and Israel.
Agencies such as the Office of National Assessments were given
raw intelligence data from those countries as well as the
analysis of that data by the overseas agencies. The information
was then assessed and reported independently by local agencies
such as the ONA.
The Hutton inquiry provides no answers for Australia. That will
have to wait until the parliamentary inquiry into intelligence on
Iraq releases its report in March.
Meanwhile Mr Kay's evidence to a US Senate hearing yesterday
offered no comfort.
Declaring "we were almost all wrong" about Saddam Hussein and his
production of or capacity to produce weapons of mass destruction,
Mr Kay said it was "time to begin the fundamental analysis" of
how US intelligence had failed to accurately assess Iraq's true
WMD capabilities.
The Howard Government has not conceded this key point. Canberra
has consistently defended the performance of Western intelligence
agencies, despite the growing evidence they made a miscalculation
of historic proportions in relation to Iraq.
© The Australian
*****************************************************************
3 Guardian Unlimited: Rice admits US
Adam Blenford and agencies
Friday January 30, 2004
The British government was today facing renewed pressure over the
case for war with Iraq after the Bush administration admitted for
the first time that Saddam Hussein may never have held stocks of
nuclear, chemical or biological weapons.
The national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, one of US
president George Bush's most trusted lieutenants and a strong
advocate of the invasion of Iraq, made the concession during a
series of interviews on major American news programmes.
Backing off from claims that months of inspections by the US-led
Iraq Survey Group would unearth hidden caches of illegal weapons,
Ms Rice appeared to be swayed by recent testimony from David Kay,
the former chief weapons inspector, who resigned his post last
weekend and claimed that such weapons probably never existed.
But she continued to defend the war itself, claiming that Saddam
Hussein remained a "gathering threat" who the US could not afford
to leave in power.
"What we have is evidence that there are differences between what
we knew going in and what we found on the ground.
"With Saddam Hussein, we were dealing with somebody who had used
weapons of mass destruction, who had attacked his neighbours
twice, who was allowing terrorists to run in his country and was
funding terrorists outside of his country," Ms Rice told CBS
news.
She added: "Given that, and his history of refusing to account
for his weapons of mass destruction and his efforts to conceal
his programmes, this was a very dangerous man in a very dangerous
part of the world.
"And the president of the United States had no choice but to deal
with that gathering threat and to American interests and to the
interests of our friends abroad."
Ms Rice's word prompted fresh calls for the British government to
clarify its position on Iraq's weapons. Former Foreign Office
minister Doug Henderson told the Press Association: "Speculation
will continue in this country about this issue unless the
government clarifies its position.
"Parliament should be told if Britain shared intelligence before
the war with the United States and, if so, to what extent; if
Britain accepted that its intelligence information contained the
same errors as the US; and does Britain now accept, as the US
government now seems to believe, that weapons of mass destruction
will not be found?"
Ms Rice's continued to defend the war despite Mr Kay's calls for
an independent inquiry into the intelligence used as the basis
for war. In testimony to a congressional committee this week, Mr
Kay accused the CIA and other US intelligence agencies of
misjudging the extent and sophistication of Saddam's weapons
programmes prior to war.
"It turns out we were all wrong, and that is most disturbing," he
said.
But Ms Rice stressed that no inquiry would be considered until
the Iraq Survey Group had finished its inspections and reported
back from Iraq - mirroring the words of Tony Blair, who has faced
similar calls this week against the backdrop of the Hutton
Report.
"We're going to need to go back and compare what we thought we
would find with what we found," she told the ABC network.
"And at that time, I think there are important questions about
how we deal with the proliferation problem with highly secretive
regimes that are using dual-use technologies to acquire weapons
of mass destruction."
One year ago the US secretary of state, Colin Powell, presented a
dossier of evidence to the United Nations security council
alleging that Saddam had an extensive programme of seemingly
legitimate civilian nuclear, chemical and biological laboratories
capable of being adapted to produce illegal weapons.
However, subsequent investigations have unearthed no real
evidence of large-scale weapons productions. The now infamous
British government claim in September 2002 that Saddam had an
arsenal of weapons ready to be deployed in 45 minutes was the
high watermark of official rhetoric.
In his state of the union address earlier this month President
Bush referred instead to evidence of "weapons of mass destruction
programme-related activities".
Guardian Newspapers Limited
*****************************************************************
4 sacbee.com: Opinion -- Editorial: Dangerous liaison
U.S.-Pakistan alliance faces strains
Bee Editorial Staff
Published 2:15 a.m. PST Friday, January 30, 2004
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf spends every day in a
precarious balancing act, poised between his anti-terror alliance
with the United States and anti-Western Muslim extremists at
home.
One symptom of this was the walkout by Islamist lawmakers during
the general's first speech to parliament since he seized power in
a military coup in 1999. If only that were the worst threat he
faced: There were two attempts on his life in December, and the
more he is seen to be in league with Washington, the greater the
likelihood of further attempts.
Musharraf's dilemma also explains why the Bush administration
has reacted with restraint to the slow pace of Pakistan's
crackdown on extremist groups and, lately, clear evidence that
nuclear weapons technology found its way from Pakistan to Libya
and Iran via an international black market.
Pakistani authorities have detained more than two dozen people
-- scientists, technicians and military officers -- but no one
has yet been charged. Moreover, the most high-profile suspect --
Abdul Qadeer Khan, "father" of Pakistan's atomic bomb -- is so
popular that Musharraf may balk at charging him.
Another test could come if President Bush decides that a planned
spring U.S. military offensive against resurgent al-Qaida and
Taliban forces along the Afghan-Pakistan border should include an
incursion into Pakistani territory. Some news reports say that is
likely but Musharraf said last week it "is not a possibility at
all."
Bush has vowed to pursue terrorists, or those who support them,
wherever they are. But a reported claim by some Pentagon
officials that a U.S. offensive in Pakistan would serve
Musharraf's interests by deterring further attempts on his life
seems to presume it would be a total success. That's
questionable, as is the apparent assumption that such an attack
would not provoke further attacks by Pakistani extremists who
fiercely oppose cooperation with America.
A recent warming trend in relations between Pakistan and India
over the disputed state of Kashmir is a welcome break in the
otherwise forbidding outlook in the region. But the prospect for
further progress hinges on mutual commitment, in which Musharraf
is an indispensable factor.
His fall from power, or even U.S. action that increases the
internal pressure on him, could be a major setback to hopes for
peace between the two South Asian nuclear powers and could
imperil the modest progress Musharraf has made toward reining in
Pakistan's extremists. They, after all, have no interest in
fighting terrorists who share their views.
Contact sacbee.com
Copyright © The Sacramento Bee [ width=]
*****************************************************************
5 Washington Post: Hill Probers Fault Iraq Intelligence
(washingtonpost.com)
Panels' Early Findings Are Similar to Kay's
By Dana Priest and Walter Pincus
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, January 30, 2004; Page A01
The House and Senate intelligence committees have unearthed a
series of failures in prewar intelligence on Iraq similar to
those identified by former weapons inspector David Kay, leading
them to believe that CIA analysts and their superiors did not
seriously consider the possibility Saddam Hussein no longer
possessed weapons of mass destruction, congressional officials
said.
The committees, working separately for the past seven months,
have determined that the CIA relied too heavily on
circumstantial, outdated intelligence and became overly dependent
on satellite and spy-plane imagery and communications intercepts.
Like Kay, the committees have found that CIA operatives and
analysts failed to detect that the Iraqi chain of command for
developing chemical, biological and nuclear weapons had fallen
apart, and that Iraqi scientists and others were engaged in their
own campaign to deceive the Iraqi leader, telling him they had
weapons that did not exist.
"It was like a runaway train," said Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.),
chairman of the Senate intelligence committee, referring to the
CIA's assessment of Iraq's weapons program. "Once it left the
station, it kept going faster and faster. Some analysts may have
been trying to slow it down, but it just kept going."
The White House, meanwhile, edged closer to acknowledging flaws
in the intelligence on Iraq but continued to say it is not yet
possible to draw final conclusions about Hussein's weapons. On
CBS's "Early Show," national security adviser Condoleezza Rice
said, "What we have is evidence that there are differences
between what we knew going in and what we found on the ground."
But, she added, "that's not surprising in a country that was as
closed and secretive as Iraq, a country that was doing everything
that it could to deceive the United Nations, to deceive the
world."
Asked whether the intelligence was wrong, Rice demurred: "I don't
think . . . that we know the full story of what became of Saddam
Hussein's weapons of mass destruction." Hussein, she added,
"concealed hundreds of weapons-related activities and programs
from the United Nations."
In Senate testimony Wednesday, Kay said that his months of
searching in Iraq had convinced him that Hussein did not have
weapons of mass destruction immediately before the war, and he
called for an independent inquiry into why U.S. intelligence
agencies were so far off the mark.
The statements reignited a fiercely partisan debate about the
performance of the CIA, and over whether the Bush administration
twisted the intelligence, as some Democrats contend, as it built
a case for war. Administration officials said Hussein had weapons
of mass destruction that posed a grave threat to the United
States.
That deep partisan split has also riven the two intelligence
committees, and members and staff members fear party-line
battling will make it impossible for Congress to provide a cogent
analysis of the issues and answers to the public. The committees,
which have yet to finalize their reports, have drawn on more than
175 interviews and a document trail that rivals the congressional
inquiry into the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, congressional officials
familiar with the separate House and Senate inquiries said.
"Bipartisanship has become the hardest" to achieve "since I've
been on the committee, and I'm very, very sad about it," said
Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.), ranking minority member of the House
intelligence panel. "This is a serious change. If these
intelligence committees can't do it, no one can do it."
A senior U.S. intelligence official declined to respond to the
committee findings, which have not been shared with them.
Besides, he said, any final judgment is premature. He said U.S.
weapons hunters still have "millions of pages of documents to
read, hundreds of sites" to explore and thousands of interviews
to conduct before determining whether Iraq possessed weapons of
mass destruction.
"We're not insisting in every case that what we said was right,
but much of it is not yet knowable," he said.
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher sounded a similar note
yesterday on the performance of U.S. intelligence. "I don't think
one can draw conclusions at this point. Certainly some of the
elements we know are subject to debate, disagreement. But until
we know what the real full extent of the program was, you don't
have anything to compare what the intelligence was at the time to
what the final answers are," Boucher said.
Roberts called the prewar estimates of Iraq's capabilities "a
world intelligence failure" and said: "There wasn't any real
attempt to follow up, . . . to do the kind of things you should
do to determine if it was true. They took it on faith."
CONTINUED 1 2 Next > Print This Article
© 2004 The Washington Post Company
*****************************************************************
6 Guardian Unlimited: Verdict raises questions over decision to go to war
Calls for inquiry on weapons reports in US and UK
Richard Norton-Taylor and Julian Borger in Washington
Friday January 30, 2004
The Guardian
Lord Hutton's decision to absolve the government from blame for
the Iraq weapons dossier placed the spotlight yesterday on the
accuracy of the intelligence provided to ministers.
Far from drawing a line under the controversy about the dossier,
the Hutton report has switched the focus on to the reliability of
intelligence, an issue also gathering steam in the US.
While Conservatives and Liberal Democrats renewed demands for an
inquiry into why Britain went to war, the debate in the US on the
use of intelligence on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction reached
a peak with the admission by the outgoing head of the Iraq Survey
Group that there was probably little to be found.
David Kay told a congressional committee: "It turns out we were
all wrong. And that is most disturbing."
The survey group has been charged by the US to find evidence of
Iraq's alleged WMD programmes.
Charles Kennedy, the Liberal Democrat leader, demanded an
independent inquiry. He said the Hutton report left "unanswered
the most fundamental question of all, and that question is, of
course, the basis upon which this country went to that war in
Iraq".
Richard Ottaway, a Conservative member of the Commons foreign
affairs committee, said Lord Hutton's report left unanswered
questions. "The case for war still needs to be examined," he told
the Guardian.
Air Marshal Sir John Walker, a former chief of defence
intelligence and former deputy chairman of the joint intelligence
committee, said the Kelly affair suggested it had been a mistake
to publish the Iraq dossier in the first place.
He told Radio 4's Today programme: "It is the first time in my
experience that we have tried to use JIC as an organisation in a
public relations exercise, publicly, with the government, and it
doesn't look as though it has been a great success."
He added: "If we take Hutton's results as read, that is that
there was no fault on the government side, we are left with an
intelligence failure."
Sir John said: "There is no doubt about it - we went to war on
the basis that WMD capable of being used within 45 minutes were a
threat to UK interests. We went to war on that basis and they
weren't there. It looks as though it [the intelligence] was
wrong".
Now the Hutton inquiry was over, the issue was "why did we go to
war", he said.
In the US, Mr Kay supported calls for a public inquiry into how
American intelligence could have been so wrong, but said he
thought the Bush administration had been misled by its
intelligence agencies and had not manipulated the intelligence to
support its case, as critics have alleged.
"If I had been there, presented with what I have seen as the
record of the intelligence estimates, I would have come to the
same conclusion that the political leaders did," he said.
Other weapons experts questioned that conclusion, pointing out
that there was dissent within the CIA and other intelligence
agencies long before the war. In Britain, intelligence and
security officials also disputed the case for war.
David Albright, a former colleague of Mr Kay's and a nuclear arms
expert, said: "I would reject this idea that these were
reasonable people making reasonable conclusions."
He said the administration's claim in 2002 that Iraq had resumed
its nuclear weapons programme was questioned by many intelligence
experts.
The Bush administration has argued that any decision on a public
inquiry should wait until the Iraq Survey Group has completed its
work. That is not expected to happen before the summer.
politics.editor@guardianunlimited.co.uk
Guardian Newspapers Limited
*****************************************************************
7 WorldNetDaily: It's official: No weapons of mass destruction
JANUARY 30 2004
© 2004 Tribune Media Services, Inc.
Let us all now praise David Kay. In Washington these days, he is,
indeed, a rare bird: a man who is willing to stand up and say he
was wrong.
Pat Buchanan and I met Kay in midsummer 2002, in the early days
of MSNBC's "Buchanan and Press." Before the mainstream media paid
any notice, and long before the White House started beating the
war drums, we focused on Iraq, Saddam Hussein and the possibility
of war over biological and chemical weapons.
David Kay became our favorite guest. He was former chief U.N.
weapons inspector in Iraq. He knew the territory. He knew the
players. He knew the technology. Despite our skepticism, he
insisted that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.
After the war, Pat and I enjoyed a good laugh when our good
friend was given the job of leading the search for Saddam's
illicit weapons. If anybody could find them, David Kay would, we
agreed.
He didn't. For 10 months, Kay led the Iraq Survey Group, looking
for WMDs. He came up empty-handed. This week he told the world he
was wrong. There were no biological weapons, no chemical weapons,
no nuclear weapons and no connection with terrorists. Reports
that Iraq was prepared to use chemical weapons against our troops
were false. Kay also said he found no evidence that Iraq had
moved any weapons to Syria.
"I'm personally convinced that there were not large stockpiles of
newly produced weapons of mass destruction," admits Dr. Kay. "We
don't find the people, the documents or the physical plants that
you would expect to find if the production was going on."
Ironically, documents discovered by Kay's team indicate that Iraq
destroyed its stockpile of weapons in the early 1990s because
they were afraid of U.N., or UNSCOM, inspectors. "The Iraqis say
that they believed that UNSCOM was more effective, and they
didn't want to get caught," Kay reports.
As for the $64,000 question – if Saddam Hussein didn't have WMDs,
why didn't he just admit it and save his country? – Kay concluded
that the Iraqi leader was just bluffing in order to boost his
prestige in the Arab world, frighten his rivals and deter a
possible U.S. invasion.
So there you have it. From President Bush's man in charge of
finding weapons of mass destruction: There weren't any. The
entire given basis for the war in Iraq was phony.
What's the White House response? Total denial. National Security
Adviser Condoleezza Rice says: Just give us more time and we'll
find them. And Vice President Dick Cheney, as divorced from
reality as Saddam Hussein ever was, cited discovery of two
semi-trailers in Iraq as "conclusive evidence" that Iraq "did, in
fact, have programs for weapons of mass destruction."
Here's David Kay on that canard: "When you look at those two
trailers, while they had capabilities in many areas, their actual
intended use was not for the production of biological weapons."
Dick Cheney, are you listening? Do you care about the truth?
David Kay urged Congress to launch an independent investigation
into the faulty intelligence on Iraq. He's right. How could the
same CIA that failed to connect the dots before Sept. 11 also be
so wrong about Iraq's military might? We pay $30 billion a year
for that outfit – for what?
But investigating the CIA is not enough. There should also be an
independent investigation of the White House, starting with
President Bush. It's too late for him to change his story and say
we really went to war to get rid of a bad guy. That's not what he
said at the time. He preached that we had to go to war to disarm
Saddam Hussein and eliminate a serious threat to the United
States.
How could he be so wrong? Was he duped by CIA Director George
Tenet? Or, as I believe, did he and Cheney tweak the little
evidence they had to make the case for a war they had already
decided to wage for political purposes? Did he deliberately
mislead the nation? After David Kay's testimony, is there any
doubt?
Of course, if Congress won't launch such an investigation, we the
people will have our own chance, on Nov. 2. After all, if lying
about sex is grounds for impeachment, then certainly lying about
going to war is grounds for no re-election.
Please repeat after me: President John F. Kerry.
Bill Press is a political analyst for MSNBC, a syndicated
columnist, and the author of "Spin This!"
© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com, Inc.
webmaster@worldnetdaily.com
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8 WorldNetDaily: What WMD?
JANUARY 30 2004
© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com
"The weapons do not exist," was David Kay's reply to the
question, "What happened to the stockpiles of biological and
chemical weapons that everyone expected to find in Iraq?"
Kay, a former top U.S. weapons inspector, endeared himself to the
media as an invasion enthusiast. The evidence he now marshals to
explain why no WMD were found in Iraq is the same old evidence
those of us who opposed this war cited back in the dying days of
2002. So, no, not everyone was bullish about the Bush
administration's WMD balderdash. And, yes, Kay has done no more
than validate some very old verities: There have been no WMD in
Iraq for some time.
Kay's official findings will doubtless be "withheld" until after
the election. But having publicly fumed about the impotence of
the U.N.'s Hans Blix, Kay now seemingly vouches for the
effectiveness of the much-maligned inspection process.
What Kay now parrots, the International Atomic Energy Agency's
Dr. Mohammed ElBaradei told the U.N. Security Council before the
war: There were no nuclear-designated aluminum tubes in Iraq; no
uranium was imported, and no nuclear programs were in existence.
Between 1991 and 1998, the IAEA had managed to strip Iraq of its
fuel-enriching facilities, tallying inventories to a T. Or in
Kay's belated words: "Iraq's large-scale capability to produce,
and fill new CW munitions was reduced – if not entirely destroyed
– during Operation Desert Storm and Desert Fox, 13 years of U.N.
sanctions and U.N. inspections."
According to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace,
Congress in 1999 was privy to intelligence reports which
similarly attested to a lack of "any direct evidence that Iraq
has used the period since Desert Fox (1998) to reconstitute its
WMD program ..." Accounts of this nature have evidently been
available to Congress for years. They reiterated, as one report
from the Defense Intelligence Agency does, that, "A substantial
amount of Iraq's chemical warfare agents, precursors, munitions,
and production equipment were [sic] destroyed between 1991 and
1998."
Kay's "news" ought not to have been new to the blithering boobs
in Congress.
The CEIP further bears out that in October of 2002, Congress was
apprised of a National Intelligence Estimate, a declassified
version of which was released only after the war. Apparently,
entire intelligence agencies disputed key contentions that the
administration – its experts, and its congressional and media
backers – seized on and ran with.
While clearly pandering to policy makers, U.S. intelligence
reports were still heavily qualified by conjectural expressions
such as, "we believe Iraq could, might, possibly, and probably
will." The State Department and the White House, however,
cultivated a custom of issuing "fact" sheets with definitive
statements from which all traces of uncertainty had been removed.
Condoleezza Rice (who had categorically denied she possessed the
analytical wherewithal to connect the dazzlingly close dots
between Arab men practicing their aeronautical take-off skills
and terrorism) was suddenly doing nothing but connecting
disparate dots. She, Powell, Rumsfeld, Cheney and Bush never
stopped gabbling about a reconstituted Iraqi nuclear-weapons
program, chemical and biological blights, Scuds and squadrons of
unmanned aerial vehicles streaking U.S. skies, and traveling
laboratories teeming with twisted scientists. The language they
used – and still do to this day, unrepentant – ignored the deep
dissent in the intelligence community.
The most immediate threat to Americans clearly came from their
own leaders.
Bush could have abided by the Constitution of the United States.
Instead, he chose to violate it, declaring war by executive
order. Members of Congress could have honored their oath to
support the Constitution. Instead, they flouted it, failing to
debate the wisdom of going to war and blithely approving the
president's usurpation of power.
The official decision to go to war was declared around the time
U.N. monitors were scouring Iraq, and, if we are to believe Kay,
doing so effectively. It was announced not long after, having
conducted hundreds of inspections between November 2002 and March
2003, ElBaradei reported, matter of fact, to a disinterested,
jingoistic media what Kay claims today to have "discovered":
There were no WMD.
And the decision was made by the executive, not the intelligence
community. The intelligence community is a causal link in the
chain of culpability – it is responsible for propagating the lies
that fed an unscrupulous executive. But it was not the
intelligence community that made the final decision that turned
Iraq from a contained "rogue" state to a chaotic "failed" state.
Kay and his Iraq Survey Group will be praised for their marvelous
forensic efforts, even though they've done nothing but verify the
veracity of existing evidence. These were the facts before a
bloody and unnecessary war; these are the facts now that over 500
Americans are dead, close to 3,000 are disfigured and maimed, and
thousands of Iraqis are similarly hurt and hobbled.
As the 19th-century American philosopher of liberty, Lysander
Spooner, pointed out, "Guilt is an intrinsic quality of actions."
Judging by the actions they commanded, Mr. Bush and his
privileged playmates are as guilty as sin.
Ilana Mercer is a columnist for WorldNetDaily. Her forthcoming
book is "Broad Sides: One Woman’s Clash With A Corrupt Culture."
To learn more about Ilana and her work, please visit her website.
© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com, Inc.
webmaster@worldnetdaily.com
*****************************************************************
9 ajc.com: No mystery to untangling WMD puzzler
| Opinion | Jay Bookman:
[ The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: 1/29/04 ]
E-mail: jbookman@ajc.com
How could U.S. officials have been so wrong about something so
important -- the stockpiles of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction
that we now know never existed?
The Case of the Two Trailers may hold the answer.
You may recall that when two oddly equipped flatbed trailers were
found in northern Iraq last spring, U.S. officials jumped to
claim them as mobile labs used to make anthrax and other weapons.
"We found the weapons of mass destruction. We found biological
laboratories," President Bush boasted at the time. "And we'll
find more weapons as time goes on. But for those who say we
haven't found the banned manufacturing devices or banned weapons,
they're wrong, we found them."
In reality, it was the president who was wrong. As retiring chief
weapons inspector David Kay admitted last week, the trailers that
we flaunted before the world to justify our invasion have turned
out to be harmless facilities that produced hydrogen to fill
weather balloons.
How could we make such an embarrassing mistake? Well, the initial
claim that Iraq possessed mobile weapons labs came from the same
source as so much of our faulty intelligence: Iraqi defectors, a
group with a long history of telling us whoppers about highly
advanced nuclear programs, smallpox research -- anything that
might goad us into invading. The CIA knew all too well that such
sources were often tainted, yet it went ahead and cited the
mobile labs as fact, with no physical evidence to corroborate the
claim.
Why? Without a thorough investigation, we have only conjecture.
But mobile labs did serve a convenient purpose for U.S.
policy-makers, who were scrambling to explain why U.N. inspectors
weren't finding anything in Iraq.
"We know that Iraq has at least seven of these mobile, biological
agent factories," Secretary of State Colin Powell told the United
Nations in February. "The truck-mounted ones have at least two or
three trucks each. That means that the mobile production
facilities are very few, perhaps 18 trucks that we know of. There
may be more. . . . Just imagine trying to find 18 trucks among
the thousands and thousands of trucks that travel the roads of
Iraq every single day."
Now skip ahead a few months to the discovery of the two trailers.
Here another glaring weakness in U.S. intelligence comes into
play. We did not investigate to see what the trailers were; we
investigated to prove that they were weapons labs. In other
words, the conclusion was preordained.
Kay, who was a strong supporter of the war, offers a compelling
example of that blindness at work. Last May, before his
appointment to head the U.S. weapons search, he was working as an
expert analyst for NBC News and was given the chance to inspect
one of the trailers firsthand. He immediately proclaimed them
proof that Saddam Hussein had been producing biological weapons.
"Literally, there's nothing else you would do this way on a
mobile facility," Kay told the world. He also rejected the
suggestion that the trailers might have been simple hydrogen
facilities, claiming that it "didn't pass the laugh test."
Inevitably, a lack of trust and coordination among U.S. agencies
also plays a role, as it has throughout this episode. In late
May, the CIA released a "white paper" admitting that it had no
evidence that the trailers were used to create germ weapons. "We
nevertheless are confident that this trailer is a mobile BW
[bioweapons] production plant," the agency said. The CIA reached
that conclusion without consulting the State Department's
intelligence bureau, and a few days later, State concluded that
the CIA report had little basis in fact.
That leads to one more question:
Why did CIA professionals release a white paper on the trailers
prematurely, a paper that even to laymen seemed to ignore
conflicting evidence and distort the available data? Well, they
were responding to a request from the White House, which at the
time needed help in fending off doubts about our failure to find
WMD.
That gives us the final piece of the puzzle: Intelligence was
corrupted for political purposes, not just in the Case of the Two
Trailers, but in almost every aspect of our intelligence effort.
Jay Bookman is the deputy editorial page editor. His column
appears Thursdays and Mondays.
2004 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
*****************************************************************
10 Online NewsHour: Newsmaker Interview: David Kay --
January 29, 2004
[a NewsHour with Jim Lehrer Transcript]
[Online NewsHour] [Online Focus]
NEWSMAKER: DAVID KAY
Former chief U.S. weapons inspector David Kay told Congress
Wednesday that U.S. prewar weapons intelligence assessments on
Iraq, which led to the American invasion, were "almost all
wrong." Jim Lehrer speaks with Kay about his findings and why an
independent investigation into the alleged intelligence failure
was crucial.
JIM LEHRER: Now to our newsmaker interview with David Kay. Until
last Friday, he was in charge of the U.S. search for weapons of
mass destruction in Iraq. He left that post saying none was
found, and that he no longer believed Iraq had any at the time
of the U.S.-led invasion last spring.
Mr. Kay, welcome.
DAVID KAY: Thank you, Jim.
JIM LEHRER: What exactly did you expect to find?
[Jim Lehrer and David Kay] DAVID KAY: Going in we expected to
find large stocks of chemical and biological agents, weaponized,
ready for use on the battlefield, as well as a fairly
substantial nuclear program. We did not find that. We have found
it a lot. We have found program activities in those areas. We
found a resurgent missile program. But, the large stockpile of
actual weapons, chemical and biological weapons simply have not
yet been found.
JIM LEHRER: Why did you expect to find them? Why did you think
they were there?
DAVID KAY: Well, I think, first of all, because that were the
estimates -- not just the estimates by the CIA or the Defense
Intelligence Agency, we were going in against the background in
which the UN had spoken of large numbers of missing material
that could have been weaponized. There were intelligence reports
from the British, the French, the Germans and even the Russians
which painted a picture of Iraq armed with weapons of mass
destruction.
JIM LEHRER: And you looked at all of this before you went?
DAVID KAY: Yes, I did.
JIM LEHRER: And what was it the accumulation of all of this --
or were there specific things that really convinced you as an
experienced weapons inspector that, my goodness these things are
there?
DAVID KAY: Well, there were on paper very specific things with
regard to the reports of movement in the weapons, a protection
of weapons, of weapons being assigned to specific units as well
as specific locations on paper. When we got there, they
certainly didn't exist then.
The main source of the prewar intelligence
JIM LEHRER: Now, what was this intelligence based on?
DAVID KAY: Well, multiple sources but when it gets right down to
it, it was made -- based mostly on the reports of people coming
out of Iraq, that is, defectors.
And that's an interesting question to raise about how much you
can rely on that. One has to say, though, that very often that's
the most valuable intelligence. In the case of Iran, for example
the Iranian nuclear program that we now know about, the one that
the UN has been currently investigating, was not found by the UN
nor found by U.S. intelligence. It was initially reported by a
group of Iranian dissidents outside of the country.
So you can't dismiss that sort of intelligence out of hand but
in the case of Iraq, it was a combination of technical
intelligence and that sort of reporting.
JIM LEHRER: How could so many people be so wrong about this?
That's what the laypeople are asking.
[David Kay] DAVID KAY: That was my question as well. And that's
the question I think we need to have an answer to. And I'm the
first to say, I don't have all the answers to that -- nor even
probably all the proper questions to it. I think it will turn
out to be an over-reliance on technical intelligence. A lack of
our own --
JIM LEHRER: Technical meaning what -- satellite stuff?
DAVID KAY: Spy satellites and communication intercepts.
A lack of our own dedicated secret agents, clandestine officers
operating in Iraq, as well as there's going be a deeper one in
which the Iraqis bear considerable responsibility. We tend to
when we analyze a failure look at our own failures and forget
there's another side to the equation. I'm convinced the Iraqis
tried to deceive us and in part they tried to deceive us and
others into believing that they really did have those weapons.
They also quite clearly during the UN days particularly '91 to
'95 lied and cheated the UN about what they had. So you based up
a record of lies and deceits on behalf of the Iraqis that made
it hard to believe even when they told the truth.
JIM LEHRER: But let's go back to that. They were under
sanctions. They were under heat from the international
community. Why would they want to claim they had these weapons
if they didn't have them?
DAVID KAY: Well, I think Saddam had at least two reasons. One,
he did not want to seem in the Arab world as an individual who
had caved in on the most valuable weapons that he believed you
could have in the world, the most intimidating weapons. Those
are chemical and biological arms and even the potential nuclear
arms. He thought that would be devastating to Iraq's position.
[David Kay] Secondly, we forget, chemical weapons Saddam used
against his own people. The Kurds and the Shia were potential
disruptions of Sunni rule there and the most effective tool he
had was chemical weapons and the threat of it. I think he was
afraid to give it because it would seem internally in terms of
the internal political mix that he had backed off and he had
backed off by giving the weapon most likely to be used against
an uprising.
JIM LEHRER: So he was bluffing?
DAVID KAY: I think if you want a simple term it's bluffing, yes.
I think it's a more complex game than the usual parlor bluff.
JIM LEHRER: You looked at all this material from all these many
sources. Was there not one discordant voice in any of them? Was
there not one analyst from some agency who said wait a minute
this guy may be bluffing, wait a minute, those stockpiles may no
longer be there, or was it unanimous that they were all there?
DAVID KAY: There were discordant voices about individual pieces
of information. For example was he producing remote piloted
vehicles capable of spreading biological agents? But with regard
to the weight of argument he has or does not have weapons of
mass destruction, there were very, very discordant voices and
most of those were outside the government.
A flawed understanding of prewar Iraq?
JIM LEHRER: Why? How does that -- when you think on it now and
looking back on all the material things, recalling all the
material you looked at and how you came to this conclusion, why
wouldn't experienced people picked have picked up on this? What
was missing, what was missing in the equation that led to such a
false finding?
DAVID KAY: I think part of it, Jim, is because we got in the
habit of believing that the Iraqis always lied because they did
lie and cheat to a large extent in the early '90s; made it hard
to accept pieces of information that the Iraqis provided that
showed they didn't have it.
Secondly, I think we really miss a deterioration of Iraqi
society that took place beginning around 1998 in which they spun
into a vortex of corruption and graft that made their own
interest in requiring more money and taking care of each
individual and in not producing weapons in society.
[David Kay] And, that's the reason we're having trouble in Iraq
today. The social glue of that society was destroyed by Saddam
Hussein. Saddam himself, we now know of about $6.5 billion of
money illegally skimmed off the oil for food program -- by the
Iraqis' own accounting 60 percent of that went into new palace
construction and as explained to me that was because that's how
could you take care of your friends new construction. It was a
society that had simply fallen apart and we didn't detect that.
We should have.
JIM LEHRER: We should have. Why didn't we? What is your analysis
of why we didn't?
DAVID KAY: The strange thing, Jim, is this isn't the first time
we failed to understand what is going on as a society. You can
go back to the Second World War. We missed what was going on in
Germany under strategic bombing; we found out only afterwards --
much more recently the Soviet Union.
When the Soviet Union fell, this giant, this superpower, we
suddenly discovered we had a basket case on our hands. They
couldn't feed its own people, couldn't care for it. I didn't
have power. It was falling apart. In Vietnam for those of us who
started our career sort of -- students of that era or creatures
of that era more than students -- we misread Vietnamese society
as well.
We are not very good as a nation in our intelligence capability
at reading the most fundamental secrets of a society, what are
its capabilities, what are it's intentions? You can't photograph
those. You need Americans on the ground penetrating those
societies and people who are speaking their languages.
The politics of the prewar intelligence
JIM LEHRER: Yesterday at the Senate hearing you appeared before
and Senator Collins of Maine said this has cast doubts with her
at least on whether we know what is going on in North Korea for
instance, on nuclear weapons. Is that a message here that
everybody should say, wait a minute we can't get this right,
whether or not Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, what can we
get right as far as intelligence goes? Is that what you are
saying?
DAVID KAY: Jim, I think that's the important message, far more
important than the "gotchaism" of U.S. politics, of who did what
to whom which we always like to focus on because it seems to be
our interest in personalities. Our credibility, our credibility
as a nation and that credibility is what allows us to cooperate
with others and influence others towards our own ends. If they
doubt the honesty and the objectivity of what we're telling,
we're going to be in a world of hurt.
JIM LEHRER: So the next time we sound an alarm about country
blank has got blank the world may say, oh, is this another Iraq
deal? Is what you mean?
DAVID KAY: I think they will say, 'is this true or are you wrong
on this one, too'?
JIM LEHRER: Is it your feeling that this is a system problem or
is it a matter of people? It is a matter of priorities. Where is
the failure here?
[David Kay] DAVID KAY: I'm convinced, Jim, it was a system
problem. There was an interesting discussion in the hearing
yesterday when Sen. Roberts, the chairman of Senate Intelligence
Committee, said he was tired of what he called oh, my god
hearings, and then he laid out a string: the U.S.S. Cole, the
embassy bombings..
JIM LEHRER: Ones in Africa?
DAVID KAY: In Africa. And he had a whole litany of the all --
the World Trade Center -- all of these. What he was saying is we
treat these as individual cases. There has to be a commonality
and a system to this problem. I hope he treat it as a systems
issue, a fundamental fault issue, as opposed to gocha politics.
JIM LEHRER: Speaking of gocha politics you are right in the
middle of it now. You notice that both sides. David Kay said
this: the administration uses your statements to prove that
there was not as big a problem here as people have said. The
Democrats who are attacking the administration said David Kay
said this. How do you feel about that?
DAVID KAY: Well, I like Senator McCain yesterday when he
explained to everyone that I was a technical person and I was a
knave and terrible in politics. I thought Senator McCain had it
about right. Yesterday, I had the experience as I was sitting
there and I was watching two or three simultaneous games only
one of which I was playing in and the other two I was the ball
in. It was a strange, almost an out of body experience watching
that.
JIM LEHRER: This is your future for the immediate -- the
immediate future, is it not?
DAVID KAY: I hope I have an immediate future. I had a friend of
mine call up today and say you know that book "What Color Is
Your Parachute," a job change book -- he said you better buy it,
and my response to him was I just want to find a parachute; I
don't care what color it is.
Calls for an outside investigation
JIM LEHRER: You also in your back and forth with Senator
McCain yesterday, you said -- and I mentioned in the news
summary -- that you are now in favor of an outside investigation
of the intelligence failures on Iraq. The White House says no;
Condoleezza Rice said no, no, no, no, the inspections are not
even over yet. It's too early to talk about that. Does that make
sense to you, the White House position?
DAVID KAY: It really doesn't. In some ways I'm brought back to
Apollo 13 in which the response was Houston we have a problem
and if the response back from Houston had been, well, ride it
out, we'll see how serious it is when you get to the Moon.
I think we know enough to know we have a problem and now is the
time to start the investigation. My reason for believing it has
to be outside -- there are many variations of how you can do it
outside -- is my reading on history is that closed orders and
secret societies, whether they are private, religious or
governmental, do not reform themselves internally very often.
JIM LEHRER: What is going on here?
DAVID KAY: I'll take the McCain did defense of character. I'm
probably not bright enough politically to know because it's a
mystery to me.
[Jim Lehrer] JIM LEHRER: Do you believe if there's no
independent investigation we might never find out what the
failures are that led you and other professionals to believe
there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq?
DAVID KAY: Jim, that's not my worst fear. My worst fear is that
we'll have other disasters of that sort. Walking the cat back
and explaining Iraq I think is politically important to the
country as a leader in the world. But my real fear as an
American is if we don't straighten out the systematic failures,
we'll repeat them in other disasters.
JIM LEHRER: This is a very serious matter to you, is it not?
DAVID KAY: It is absolutely the most serious matter I think I
can deal with.
JIM LEHRER: And do you feel that the political on both -- the
political folks on both sides share your serious feeling or is
it too -- this is just an awkward time. It's called a
presidential election campaign time. Is it possible to do what
you want right now?
DAVID KAY: It's certainly an awkward time, but I think if you
listened to yesterday's hearing in full as I had to as I was
sitting there, there was obviously a political game being played
by both sides but on the other hand every senator I think had
serious questions that they raised and wanted answers to.
That's what gives me hope is that if we can transcend this --
and I think it's really going to require the American people
speaking out and demanding it. Quite frankly very few answers
come from Washington on their own. This is a democracy and it is
a government that responds, regardless of political party to
pressure from the outside. If the American people do not demand
an answer through their elected representatives, wait for the
next crisis and the next event I'm afraid.
JIM LEHRER: Based on the reaction you have had to what you have
been doing the last few days, do you think the American people
want this?
DAVID KAY: Jim, I'm just not in a position -- mostly when I turn
on the television today, I'm watching political polls about
campaigns so maybe not. But I'm more hopeful than that actually.
JIM LEHRER: David Kay, thank you very much.
DAVID KAY: Thank you, Jim.
Copyright © 2004 MacNeil/Lehrer Productions. All Rights Reserved.
*****************************************************************
11 Townhall.com Mona Charen: A matter of integrity
214 Massachusetts Ave NE Washington, DC 20002 202-608-6099 Fax
202-544-7330
More on National Security
Bad Intelligence Does Not A Deceiver Make
Iraq’s WMDs: At Least We Have an Answer
Scholarship Recipients Share Their Stories at Defender of Freedom
Dinner
January 30, 2004
With David Kay's testimony on the fruitless search for Iraq's
weapons of mass destruction, the time has come for an
accounting.
In a more reasonable environment, politicians and opinion-makers
would absorb the new facts and make the needed reforms.
Reasonable people cannot avoid the conclusion that our
intelligence agencies were badly mistaken.
But are the Democrats reasonable? Their preposterous
interpretation of events has become mainstream. It goes as
follows. No stockpiles of WMDs were found in Iraq therefore: a)
George W. Bush knew that there were none to be found and b) took
the nation to war on false pretenses.
Let's examine the logic. The Democrats claim that Bush wanted war
in spite of the fact that there were no WMDs. Why? To put himself
in political jeopardy when this fact was discovered? And if he
knew that there were no WMDs, why did he speak about them so
often and so forcefully? Also, how many times must we remind the
Democrats that the president never argued that the threat was
"imminent?" He urged, to the contrary, that it would be reckless
to wait until a threat was imminent.
But the most amazing thing about the Democrats' argument is its
glaring disregard of very recent history. Everyone -- the
Democrats, the French, the Republicans, the Clinton
administration, the Russians, the United Nations Security Council
-- believed that Saddam had stockpiles of WMDs. It wasn't
disputed by anyone. Here is a small sample of quotations from
leading Democrats on the matter:
"If Saddam rejects peace and we have to use force, our purpose is
clear. We want to seriously diminish the threat posed by Iraq's
weapons of mass destruction." -- President Bill Clinton, Feb. 4,
1998.
"He will use those weapons of mass destruction again, as he has
10 times since 1983." -- Sandy Berger, national security adviser
to President Clinton, Feb. 18, 1998.
"We urge you, after consulting with Congress, and consistent with
the U.S. Constitution and laws, to take necessary actions
(including, if appropriate, air and missile strikes on suspect
Iraqi sites) to respond effectively to the threat posed by Iraq's
refusal to end its weapons of mass destruction program." --
Letter to President Clinton, signed by Sens. Carl Levin, Tom
Daschle, John Kerry and others, Oct. 9, 1998.
"Saddam Hussein has been engaged in the development of weapons of
mass destruction technology which is a threat to countries in the
region and he has made a mockery of the weapons inspection
process." -- Rep. Nancy Pelosi, Dec. 16, 1998.
"We have known for many years that Saddam Hussein is seeking and
developing weapons of mass destruction." -- Sen. Ted Kennedy,
Sept. 27, 2002.
"I will be voting to give the President of the United States the
authority to use force -- if necessary -- to disarm Saddam
Hussein because I believe that a deadly arsenal of weapons of
mass destruction in his hands is a real and grave threat to our
security." -- Sen. John F. Kerry, Oct. 9, 2002.
Two more points. I find much to criticize in the CIA, but it's
too easy to make the agency the fall guy for what is, let's be
honest, a truly weird development. Saddam used WMDs on Iran and
the Kurds; he threatened to incinerate Israel with chemical
weapons; he chased the U.N. inspectors out of his country; he
refused to provide proof that he had destroyed the weapons he
once had, though providing such proof would have staved off an
invasion that spelled the end of his reign. The whole thing is so
improbable that it cries out for alternative explanations.
Perhaps he has secretly shipped the weapons to Syria or the Bekaa
Valley. Perhaps he really believed that the weapons existed but
his underlings were lying to him.
In any case, we know that our intelligence services have become
risk averse and overly dependent on "national technical means" --
i.e., satellites, phone intercepts and other listening devices.
But nothing in the spy world can replace human beings. One lesson
of this episode is that we'd better rush to train Arabic, Farsi
and Urdu-speaking officers.
But it is purest cant to suggest that President Bush misled
anyone. Kay took pains to note that Saddam's regime was
continuing to pursue nuclear and other weapons. It was only a
matter of time, he estimated, before nuclear material and corrupt
nuclear scientists met and shook hands on a deal. And that was
one of the chief reasons President Bush thought it prudent to act
now and not wait. It is those who opposed the war, not those who
supported it, who have a lot to answer for.
©2003 Creators Syndicate, Inc.
*****************************************************************
12 PalmBeachPost.com: Find out why Kay found no Iraqi weapons
Palm Beach Post Editorial
Friday, January 30, 2004
David Kay tried to put his team's failure to find Iraqi weapons
into perspective. "At the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis," he
told National Public Radio listeners on Sunday, "the intelligence
estimate was that there were no nuclear weapons in Cuba. ... Two
societies came within seconds of destroying each other based on a
misperception."
President Bush, the evidence increasingly suggests, based the
Iraq invasion on a misperception, at least. Mr. Kay, who resigned
last week as chief weapons inspector, put that in proper
perspective, too: "Often, estimates are different than reality.
The important thing is when they differ, to understand why. This
is not a political issue. It's a fundamental issue of national
security."
But it's also a political issue. As Mr. Kay has advocated, an
independent commission should study the intelligence failures and
recommend reforms. But the Bush administration is nervous about
admitting its mistakes on Iraq and even more nervous about airing
the reasons for those mistakes during an election year. Not only
does it appear that Mr. Bush -- along with his predecessor and
most world leaders -- was wrong about Iraq's weapons of mass
destruction, Mr. Kay's findings indicate that United Nations
inspection regimes prevented Hussein from reestablishing weapons
programs.
Faulty intelligence puts the United States at risk of terrorist
attack, but President Bush isn't making improvements a priority.
His administration says that Mr. Kay's replacement, Charles
Duelfer, should complete the weapons search before any commission
is appointed to study intelligence failures. But Mr. Kay said he
quit, in part, because the Bush administration took away
translators and other resources necessary to complete the weapons
search. It is strikingly cynical for the White House to insist
that an investigation of bad intelligence should wait until the
conclusion of a weapons search the administration is delaying, or
to insist that any investigation be narrow.
Far from attacking Mr. Bush, Mr. Kay said, "I actually think the
intelligence community owes the president (an apology), rather
than the president owing the American people." In any case, the
overriding point is that somebody needs to explain the
intelligence failures. By attacking Iraq, Mr. Bush embraced a
policy of preemptive war. That policy demands the reliable
intelligence. "Attack first" is a defensible policy only if it
isn't followed by "And ask questions later."
Copyright © 2004, The Palm Beach Post. All rights reserved.
By using PalmBeachPost.com, you accept the terms of our visitor
*****************************************************************
13 Iranmania: Iran defends right to peaceful nuclear power
Friday, January 30, 2004
January 30, 2004 - ©2003 IranMania.com GENEVA, Jan 29 (AFP) -
Iran on Thursday defended its "inalienable right" to use nuclear
energy for peaceful ends at a UN conference on disarmament here.
Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi said in a statement that
as a signatory of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Iran had
"an inalienable right to nuclear technology for peaceful ends."
Kharrazi denounced "a virulent illegal campaign aimed at
depriving (Iran) of this right," and criticised what he called a
return to a militaristic and unilateral approach to international
relations since the September 11 2001 terror attacks on the
United States, an implicit reference to US policy.
In the message, read out to delegates, he also said that
reductions, either unilateral or bilateral, in nuclear arsenals
announced by the main nuclear powers like the US and Russia were
"unverifiable and limited."
In addition, nothing guaranteed that they could not be reversed,
the minister added. For his part the president of the conference,
Kenyan Amina Mohamed, welcomed the recent decision by Iran to
sign the additional NPT protocol, which allows greater scope for
verification, and to suspend all uranium enrichment and
reprocessing. Under international pressure, notably from the US,
the Iranian government agreed last November to suspend its
uranium enrichment programme to prove to the IAEA (the
International Atomic Energy Agency) that it was not secretly
trying to develop nuclear weapons, as Washington had suggested.
Last Thursday, speaking at the International Economic Forum in
the Swiss resort of Davos IAEA director Mohamed ElBaradei said
refusal by Iran to cooperate fully with the UN nuclear regulating
body would have had "serious implications." Iranian President
President Mohammad Khatami, who also attended the Davos meeting,
said there that Iran had never possessed atomic weapons and had
no intention of acquiring them.
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14 Hi Pakistan: Nuclear powers should give Tehran access to N-technology
January 30 2004
GENEVA: Iran’s foreign minister on Thursday told the world
disarmament forum that major countries should share peaceful
nuclear technology with Tehran, especially since it has opened
itself to tougher inspections.
"Iran, the last victim of weapons of mass destruction, has been a
committed member of all major international instruments dealing
with all classes of weapons of mass destruction," said Foreign
Minister Kamal Kharazi.
Kharazi added that UN inspections should reassure the world of
the absolute peaceful nature of Tehran’s nuclear activities.
"A robust verification mechanism is now in place to reassure the
IAEA and the international community of the absolute peaceful
nature of the Iranian nuclear activities," Kharazi said.
He told the 66-nation Conference on Disarmament that his country
has long been fervently committed to nuclear non-proliferation
and that the signing of an additional agreement on inspections
was in that spirit. Iran signed the agreement with the IAEA in
Vienna, Austria, on Dec. 18 after the IAEA’s 35-nation board of
governors warned Tehran to assist international efforts to ensure
it has no nuclear weapons ambitions.
Copyright 1996-2002 . Hi Pakistan. All rights reserved. No part
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15 ITAR-TASS: Russian, US officials to discuss Iran
[ITAR-TASS News Agency of Russia]
30.01.2004, 00.40
MOSCOW, January 30 (Itar-Tass) - Russian Atomic Energy Minister
Alexander Rumyantsev will meet on Friday with U.S. Under
Secretary of State John Bolton to discuss Iran among other
issues.
The Russian minister told reporters ahead of the meeting that
the under secretary in charge of arms control and international
security ”will most likely raise the issue of Iran”. He stressed
that “the situation has considerably improved” since their
previous meeting, as Tehran has signed an additional protocol
with the IAEA.
Besides, the two men will discuss “non proliferation of nuclear
materials, their registration and control over them as well as a
return to Russia of waste nuclear fuel from nuclear power
stations, built in the USSR times abroad,” he said.
“We shall discuss issues on the list of our constant
discussions,” the minister added.
© ITAR-TASS. All rights reserved. You undertake not to copy,
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16 AU The Age: Australia begins talks with North Korea -
www.theage.com.au January 31, 2004
An Australian delegation sent to North Korea yesterday had a real
chance to help solve the nuclear crisis on the Korean peninsula,
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said.
The delegation, led by the Department of Foreign Affairs and
Trade's North Asia division head Murray McLean, will meet
officials from today until February 3.
Mr Downer said Australia was well placed to help resolve the
crisis, which escalated in late 2002 with the expulsion of UN
weapons inspectors from North Korea.
"We are able to engage with them in ways that a number of other
countries, particularly those which have alliance relationships
with the United States, typically can't," he said.
The delegation will meet officials involved in last year's
six-party talks and with senior North Korean officials.
Copyright © 2004. The Age Company Ltd
*****************************************************************
17 Korea: Digital Chosunilbo: Seoul-Washington-Tokyo to Demand Pyeongyang for Nuclear
Updated Jan.30,2004 15:34 KST
Seoul, Washington and Tokyo are poised to urge Pyeongyang to let
nuclear inspectors into its country as an initial step to
resolving the current standoff between the communist regime and
the international community.
This is according to government sources in Korea who claim the
decision was reached during informal talks among officials from
the three governments in Washington last week while discussing
the Stalinist country's recent offer to halt all operations
related to its pursuit of nuclear power.
Delegates present at the exchange reportedly saw eye-to-eye on
the need to have experts outside the reclusive state verify the
North's complete abandonment of its nuclear program.
In a related development following previous reports of efforts
by relevant countries to jump-start multilateral dialogue on
nuclear concerns in the region next month, new media reports out
of neighboring Japan are indicating the six-party discussions
will likely be held in late February.
According to Tokyo Shinbun on Friday, efforts are underway to
ensure that the six-way negotiations take place after North
Korean leader Kim Jong-il's birthday on February 16th and before
China holds its National People's Congress in March.
Arirang TV
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18 Xinhuanet: US double-dealing tactics cannot work - DPRK paper
www.xinhuanet.com
www.chinaview.cn 2004-01-30 14:14:32
PYONGYANG, Jan. 30 (Xinhuanet) -- The United States should
accept the package solution proposed by the Democratic People's
Republic of Korea (DPRK) on the basis of the principle of
simultaneous actions, if it truly stands for a peaceful solution
to the nuclear issue, said DPRK newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, in a
signed commentary Friday.
The commentary accused the United States of "double-dealing
tactics" in tackling the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula.
While urging a diplomatic and peaceful solution to the
nuclear issue, the commentary noted, the United States has,
however, aired a string of provocative remarks that the "nuclear
crisis in north Korea was an issue that might be referred to the
United Nations Security Council and it might prompt the SC to
discuss the possibility of sanctions against it," and that
"Washington hoped that north Korea would solve the crisis over
its nuclear program diplomatically. "
It is nothing but a base trick to twist the nature of the
nuclear issue so the United States could assert that the DPRK-US
nuclear issue remains unsolved due to the DPRK's fault, the
commentary pointed out.
The nuclear issue is a direct product of the US hostile
policy toward the DPRK, said the commentary. And the situation
deteriorated as the United States threatened the DPRK, a
non-nuclear state, with nukes and attempted to mount a preemptive
nuclear attack on it.
The United States has delayed and obstructed a solution to
the nuclear issue, by insisting that "the DPRK should abandon its
nuclear program first," the commentary said.
Whether or not the United States accepts the DPRK-proposed
package solution based on the principle of simultaneous actions
is a touchstone of whether it is seeking a peaceful solution to
the nuclear issue, it said.
The United States should drop its double-dealing tactics and
take an honest approach, the commentary added. Enditem
Copyright ©2003 Xinhua News Agency. All rights reserved.
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19 Tri-Valley Herald: North Korea raises nuclear arms stakes
Article Last Updated: Friday, January 30, 2004 -
Missile peddling making Washington nervous
By Hans Greimel, Associated Press
SEOUL, South Korea -- North Korea's latest missile peddling in
sub-Saharan Africa underlines some of Washington's worst fears as
talks stall on dealing with the communist country's nuclear
weapons programs.
Some worry the cash-starved regime could next start selling
nuclear arms while Washington holds out for better ground rules
for negotiations. With no sign of a breakthrough, each country
says time is on its side.
It's a waiting game, a game of chicken, said Kim Sung-han, a
North Korea expert at the Institute of Foreign Affairs and
National Security, an affiliate of South Korea's Foreign
Ministry. North Korea is trying to coax the United States into
negotiations, and the United States says conditions aren't right
yet.
Wednesday's revelation that North Korea was discussing a possible
deal to share missile technology with Nigeria, a country far from
its traditional customer base in the Middle East, ratchets up the
tensions.
North Korea is sending the message that we are already exporting
the delivery systems for weapons of mass destruction, so how
would you like it if we started exporting nuclear matter as well,
Kim said.
South Korean Unification Minister Jeong Se-hyun said Thursday
that talk of a Nigerian deal smacked of a power play.
I see it as a tactic by North Korea to arouse anxiousness from
the United States ahead of the second round of six-nation talks,
Jeong said at a regular briefing.
The United States, China, Russia, Japan and the two Koreas have
been struggling to reconvene another round of six-nation talks on
the North's nuclear programs since a first round ended in August
without much progress.
Voices from inside the United States are increasingly urging
Washington to pocket North Korea's offer to freeze its nuclear
programs as a first step toward their eventual dismantlement.
Sen. Joseph Biden, the top Democrat on the U.S. Senate Foreign
Relations Committee, has accused the Bush administration of
dangerous delays. This week, he proposed that the United States
offer a nonaggression pact to North Korea to try to stop its
nuclear weapons program.
North Korea has publicly pledged not to export its nuclear
technology. But the North's chief negotiator, Ri Gun, told U.S.
Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly last April that his
country was prepared to test, export or use nuclear weapons,
depending on U.S. intentions, according to U.S. officials.
North Korea has proposed suspending its programs if Washington
lifts sanctions, resumes oil shipments, and removes the North
from its list of countries that sponsor terrorism.
Washington's stance is based partly on the belief that North
Korea's crumbling economy can't hang on.
If the resolution of the nuclear issue is delayed, it's
disadvantageous for North Korea in terms of the economy and
reactions from neighboring countries and the international
community, South Korean Defense Minister Cho Young-kil said
Thursday.
But a former U.S. State Department official, who visited North
Korea's secretive Yongbyon nuclear site on Jan. 8 as part of an
unofficial U.S. delegation, derided the notion that the country
could collapse because of economic decline.
Don't wait, Charles Pritchard said. It's not going to happen.
©1999-2003 by MediaNews Group, Inc. and ANG Newspapers
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20 AU THE AGE: White House opts for different war rationale -
www.theage.com.au
By Richard Stevenson Washington January 31, 2004
The Bush Administration says it was justified in going to war
against Iraq even if Saddam Hussein had not stockpiled weapons of
mass destruction - because Saddam had a history of trying to
acquire such weapons.
The White House, on the defensive since its former chief weapons
inspector, David Kay, said he believed that Iraq did not have any
substantial stockpiles of banned weapons at the start of the war,
dispatched National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice to appear
on three television morning news programs to carry the message
that the war had been justified - even if Saddam's weapons
stockpiles were not found.
"With Saddam Hussein, we were dealing with somebody who had used
weapons of mass destruction, who had attacked his neighbours
twice, who was allowing terrorists to run in his country and was
funding terrorists outside of his country," Dr Rice said on the
CBS Early Show.
"The President . . . had no choice but to deal with that
gathering threat and to American interests and to the interests
of our friends abroad."
Dr Rice continued to rebuff calls from many Democrats and Dr Kay
for an independent election-year inquiry into how the Central
Intelligence Agency and other US intelligence organisations
apparently misjudged the extent and sophistication of Saddam's
weapons programs before the war.
But she signalled that Mr Bush would support a more narrowly
focused review of US intelligence capabilities in the war on
terrorism if the inquiry could be done at a time and in a manner
under the White House's control.
The closest she came to acknowledging a problem with the
intelligence used by Mr Bush in making a case for the war was
when she told CBS that "what we have is evidence that there are
differences between what we knew going in and what we found on
the ground".
The Washington Post yesterday reported that the House and Senate
intelligence committees had unearthed a series of failures in the
prewar intelligence on Iraq similar to those identified by Dr
Kay, leading them to believe that CIA analysts and their
superiors did not seriously consider the possibility that Saddam
no longer had banned weapons.
The committees, working separately for the past seven months,
have determined that the CIA relied too heavily on
circumstantial, outdated intelligence and became overly dependent
on satellite and spy-plane imagery and communications intercepts.
Like Dr Kay, the committees have found that CIA operatives and
analysts failed to detect that the Iraqi chain of command for
developing chemical, biological and nuclear weapons had fallen
apart, and that Iraqi scientists and others were engaged in a
campaign to deceive the Iraqi leader, telling him they had
weapons that did not exist.
"It was like a runaway train," said Republican senator Pat
Roberts, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee,
referring to the CIA's assessment of Iraq's weapons program.
The committees have drawn on more than 175 interviews and a
document trail that rivals the congressional inquiry into the
September 11 attacks.
- New York Times, Washington Post
Copyright © 2004. The Age Company Ltd
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21 delmarvanow.com: WMD absence seems troubling -
Friday, January 30, 2004
Bush, intelligence gatherers owe Americans explanation
In summation
Although there were valid justifications for deposing Saddam
Hussein, the chief reason given to the American people was the
threat of weapons of mass destruction. In light of new
information that such weapons do not exist, an explanation is in
order.
EDITORIAL
The Bush administration's chief argument for invading Iraq was
that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and, left
unchecked, would inevitably use them.
The United States' outgoing weapons inspector, David Kay, has
led a team that ransacked Iraq for evidence of such weapons. On
Wednesday, Kay told congressional investigators flatly: "The
weapons do not exist."
What happened? Apparently a massive intelligence failure.
President Bush has already been accused of willfully deceiving
the American people to justify a war he was determined to fight
in any case. But it is important to remember that the British,
French and Russian intelligence services also believed Saddam
had covert weapons programs and hidden stockpiles of WMD. As did
the U.S. intelligence services during the Clinton
administration.
Even Saddam apparently believed he had a WMD program; he
certainly acted like he had something to hide. Iraqi scientists,
out of corruption or desperation, lied about their programs to
keep the money flowing from Baghdad. The programs were hollow
shells, the weapons nonexistent.
Even the military was fooled. Kay said Republican Guard
commanders interviewed by his search team each said that their
units did not have chemical weapons but they were convinced
other units did.
What seems likely is that the U.N.-led inspections program, much
derided by the Bush administration, really worked. By the end of
1991, Iraq's nuclear program had been dismantled and its
chemical weapons largely destroyed. In the mid-1990s, the West
learned, via a defector, of a germ warfare program but by then
the Iraqis had destroyed their biological weapons on their own.
When the inspectors were allowed back in 2002, after a four-year
absence, they found no evidence that the programs had been
restarted.
Still U.S. intelligence believed in the weapons' existence, and
the Bush administration was predisposed to believe the worst.
There were other valid rationales for deposing Saddam, but the
intelligence failure on WMD is deeply troubling.
"It's an issue of the capabilities of one's intelligence service
to collect valid, truthful information," Kay said.
Kay was asked whether he thought Bush owed an explanation to the
American people.
"I actually think the intelligence community owes the president,
rather than the president owing the American people," he said.
Actually, both of them owe us an explanation.
Originally published Friday, January 30, 2004
Copyright ©2004 DelmarvaNow. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
22 Las Vegas SUN: Editorial: Start weapons probe
Today: January 30, 2004 at 9:25:35 PST
Last week the former chief U.S. weapons inspector in Iraq said
that stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction probably didn't
exist in Iraq before the war started. David Kay's
acknowledgement undercut one of the Bush administration's
central reasons for launching a pre-emptive war: that Saddam
Hussein's regime had to be toppled because of the deadly weapons
he possessed.
When it comes to assigning blame, Kay has said that it was the
fault of the intelligence community -- himself included -- for
not providing President Bush with better information. Kay's
refreshing candor, something in short supply in Washington, is
even rarer at the White House. Bush administration officials
have yet to acknowledge that there was an intelligence gap,
noting that the search for weapons of mass destruction is still
ongoing in Iraq.
The big question is how did this failure happen? Despite
critics who suggest otherwise, Kay says he doesn't believe
political pressure was brought to bear on intelligence analysts
to change their assessments to support the rationale for an
invasion. Kay says inadequate "human intelligence" and an
over-reliance on high-tech means, such as using spy satellites
instead of observers or spies on the ground, led to the
shortcoming.
Kay recommended in his testimony before Congress on Wednesday
that an independent investigation be created to determine what
went wrong and how to make changes so such a grave
miscalculation doesn't happen again. The White House says it is
too soon for an outside probe. Too soon, we assume, means before
the 2004 election. While we supported the Iraq war, we also
believe an investigation is warranted. Our tax dollars are going
to fight this war, one where more than 500 Americans already
have lost their lives. An independent commission should
immediately investigate this intelligence failure -- for the
benefit of future life-and-death decisions.
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23 U.S. Newswire: TomPaine.com Challenges Justice Scalia Over Vice
President Cheney's Energy Commission
Ducking the Law: TomPaine.com Challenges Justice Scalia Over
Vice President Cheney's Energy Commission
1/30/04 6:01:00 AM
Contact: Nick Penniman, 202-332-2881 ext. 11, Ellen Miller,
202-332-2881 ext. 10, both of TomPaine.com
WASHINGTON, Jan. 29 /U.S. Newswire/ -- TomPaine.com, in its Op Ad
in The New York Times today, challenges Supreme Court Justice
Antonin Scalia for refusing to acknowledge his lack of neutrality
in a future ruling on Vice President Cheney's secret energy
commission.
Last month, after the Supreme Court announced that it would take
up the case of the vice president's Energy Task Force, Scalia and
Cheney went duck hunting together on the property of a Republican
donor and oil-industry executive. More than 15 major newspaper
editorial boards have urged Scalia to remove himself from
Cheney's case.
The TomPaine.com ad quotes the law, 28 U.S. Code 455:
Any justice, judge or magistrate of the United States shall
disqualify himself in any proceeding in which his impartiality
might reasonably be questioned...He shall disqualify himself in
the following circumstances: Where he has a personal bias or
prejudice concerning a party...
Scalia has responded to the concerns by quipping that the only
thing wrong with his weekend with Cheney was that the duck
hunting was "lousy."
To view the ad visit
http://www.tompaine.com/op_ads/opad2.cfm/ID/9866
TomPaine.com is a nonprofit, nonpartisan Internet journal. Since
1999, its online content and ads have been praised by Rolling
Stone, Forbes.com, the Columbia Journalism Review, Chicago
Tribune, PC Magazine and many others.
http://www.usnewswire.com/
*****************************************************************
24 Las Vegas SUN: U.S. Presses Congress to Cut Energy Bill
Today: January 30, 2004 at 7:25:19 PST
By H. JOSEF HEBERT ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON (AP) -
While energy prices across the spectrum - from gasoline at the
pump to heating oil, natural gas and crude oil - have soared,
the political steam in Congress to enact a new national energy
agenda has cooled with the winter frost.
The Bush administration is pressing congressional Republicans to
scale back a bloated $31 billion energy bill, arguing it has no
chance to pass this year unless it is stripped of billions of
dollars in direct spending and tax breaks.
The bill's supporters, along with the White House, are trying to
resuscitate the legislation, which was shelved in November after
Senate leaders were two votes short of overcoming a
Democratic-led filibuster. The House approved it.
Since then, opposition to the bill's cost - about $23 billion in
tax breaks and another $8 billion in spending -- has grown,
especially among some Senate Republicans, who argue it would
result in billions of dollars in spending above the
congressional budget ceiling.
Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., who chaired the House-Senate
conference that produced the bill, acknowledged that its price
tag needs to be re-examined to get the bill through.
"I am confident we can nail down the votes," he said. "We're
only two votes down."
But slashing programs and tax benefits that are the product of
months of negotiations among lawmakers may be harder than
expected.
The bill's cost ballooned from less than $20 billion to $31
billion largely because lawmakers wrangled concessions and
programs in return for their support. Abandoning those
agreements by chipping away at the bill could lose as many
supporters as it gains, several GOP senators conceded.
"Some of my colleagues have made it clear that in order to get
their support we have to include certain things in the bill,"
said Domenici. He said as the bill was being assembled, fellow
lawmakers wanting items in the bill "had me over a barrel"
because "I needed every vote."
Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, who led the Senate negotiations
on the bill's tax package, said there are intense discussions
under way on where to make cuts. But he said he hasn't signed
off on any proposals yet because "we have to maintain a well
balanced bill" or lose support.
The White House, which always has complained about the size of
the tax breaks, also has sent mixed signals.
President Bush, who in the past called energy legislation a
matter of national and economic security and one of his top
domestic priorities, included just a single sentence in his
State of the Union address last week, stopping short of calling
for passage of the broad-based bill before the Congress.
Some energy analysts saw it as confirmation of tepid support
within the administration for the bill. "The priority assigned
to this issue has faded," Christine Tezak, an energy analyst for
Charles Schwab's Washington Research Group, concluded in a
recent report to clients.
Senate Democrats maintain the bill could have passed last
November if it were not for one provision.
House Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas had insisted that the
bill include protection for the manufacturers of the gasoline
additive MTBE from product liability lawsuits. MTBE is being
phased out, but its makers, mostly in Texas, are faced with the
threat of lawsuits because the additive has contaminated
drinking water in many states.
Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., says he could
deliver six more votes for the bill if the MTBE provision were
removed. House Republicans so far have refused to budge, though.
DeLay views help to the MTBE industry as part of a compromise in
which the House agreed to a Senate proposal that would greatly
expand the use of another gasoline additive, corn-based ethanol,
a product important to farm states and their lawmakers.
DeLay "overplayed his hand by putting the MTBE issue in," says
Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D. "If it were not for that, the energy
bill would have passed."
Meanwhile, some senators already have begun to push for
piecemeal legislation, fearing that a compromise on a broad,
comprehensive energy bill will not pass anytime soon.
"More than five months after the worst blackout in our history,
Congress has yet to create mandatory, enforceable electricity
reliability standards," said Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y.
She and three other Democrats introduced a bill to set standards
for the power grid, similar to a key provision in the stalled
energy legislation aimed at helping prevent a blackout, such as
the one that occurred last year in the Northeast.
There also is talk of putting some ethanol provisions in an
upcoming transportation bill.
Domenici vows to fight such legislation. "I absolutely will not
consider breaking the (energy) bill up," he said.
--
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25 PRAVDA.Ru: "Secret Russian weapons" still terrify Americans -
[PRAVDA.RU]
01/29/2004 21:45
These missiles terrify Americans, and US lobbyists do their best
to force Russia to destroy these weapons. SS-18 Missile (Satan)
Having Satan missile, Russia may not be afraid of the US
withdrawal from the Anti-Missile Treaty and anti-missile systems.
This missile has Multiple Independently - Targetable Reentry
Vehicle and is still invulnerable for anti-missile systems. SS-18
missile bears 16 platforms, one of them contains false targets
system. After reaching high orbit, all missile heads become
hidden in the cloud of false targets and therefore invulnerable
for radars.
The missile heads are armored with the use of extremely dense and
heavy metal Uranium-239. Such an armory cannot be burnt by laser
in foreseeable future. UP-100N Missile Originally this missile
complex had good technical and tactical capacities, yet there
were some drawbacks in it. Big teams of designers started working
on its improvement in 1977, and in 1979 many its systems were
refined. The new missile had more reliable engine, operating
control system and more powerful military equipping. The flight
distance became longer. Operating the missile became easier along
with improving its protecting system from nuclear explosion. The
missile is remarkable for its simple design and high degree of
its systems reliability.
Topol M Complex In 1995 first information appeared about new
Topol-M missile complex and its adding to the Russian armory
arsenal. It underwent testing at that time.
The first four launchings were of success, and this allowed
Russian Ministry of Defense to speed up checking the complex
military capacities. The Ministry accepted the complex for the
Missile Strategic Troops on December 25, 1997.
Taman Missile Division in Samara region received the first two
intercontinental Topol-M shaft complexes (SS-X27 by the NATO
classification).
Heavy Missile with Laser Pointing S-25-0 missile is 3307
millimeters long and weights 381 kilograms. Its charge weights
150 kilograms and is equipped with a radio fuse exploding the
charge at the height from 5 to 20 meters depending on the
preliminary fuse set-up. Up to 10 thousand fragments were created
by the missile explosion.
Air MA-31 Target Pointing System MA-31 is capable of reaching the
target within 130 kilometers. Its cruising altitude ranges is
from 100 up to 15,000 meters. The flight route is inserted in the
system computer. In the march sector the missile can reach the
speed of 750 meters per second. The system is equipped with a
combined direct-flow air rocket engine.
X-55 Cruise Rocket It is capable to hit stationary targets with
high degree of precision. TU-95MC bomber can carry up to six
X-55 missiles. Supersonic TU-160 can carry 12 long-range missiles
with extra tanks. After the USSR collapse most of such missiles
remained outside Russia, in Kazakhstan and Ukraine.
Yakhont (Ruby) Supersonic Missile - one of the best in the world
The main advantage of the missiles of this class is supersonic
cruising speed making the missile invulnerable for air-defense.
The missile has navigation system and self-pointing head and is
capable to hit with its 200-300 kilogram war-head modern military
ship of cruiser class at the distance up to 300 kilometers.
Several such missiles can destroy aircraft carrier.Í 300 ÉË.
ŢÁŐŢĚÍßĹĆ.
Burya (Storm) Cruise Missile
This missile was designed according the aircraft scheme with
triangular wing and thin jet profile. The>
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missile body is cylinder-shaped and narrowed from the front and
behind, the missile is equipped with direct-flow air rocket
(SPVRD) RD-012 engine.
Granite Sea Based Cruise Missile To solve Russian Navy"s critical
problem of fighting aircraft carriers, commanders of Soviet and
Russian fleet used anti-ship cruise missiles. The methods for
fighting aircraft carriers are being developed and trained by
special naval operations of Russian Northern and Pacific Fleets.
X-35 Missile
Penetrating splinter, high explosive incendiary part of the
missile allows to hit above-water ships having tonnage up to 500
tons. Military effectiveness of the missile is increased by
flying at extremely low altitudes (3-5 meters depending on the
wave height). This makes the interception of the rocket by means
of ship anti-missile devices more difficult. When launched, the
missile carrier does not enter the zone of air-defense of the
ship under attack. It is launched from the altitude from 200 up
to 5000 meters.
R-77 Missile This is a modified missile of the "Air-to-Air"
class. Contemporary Russian MiG-31M fighter planes have this
missile.
X-29T Missile X-29T missile is designated for hitting visually
seen ground and above-water targets such as reinforced concrete
covers, stationary railway and highway bridges, industrial
constructions, depots, ships.
Club Missile-Torpedo
Club system is produced by Novator designing bureau in the city
of Ekaterinburg. It is installed in submarines for hitting ships.
It can pass the distance up to 300 kilometers and launched from
stationary torpedo device having 0.533 meters in diameter. The
cruising altitude is 20 meters above the sea level. By developing
this complex, Russian designers founded a counterbalance to
contemporary foreign missile complexes, such as Asrok, Milas and
Otomat.
Tochka (Dot) Missile
This SS-21 intermediate-range ballistic missile is capable of
bearing nuclear warhead. It can pass average distances and bears
125 kilograms of explosives.
R-33 Missile This missile is designated for intercepting and
hitting flying devices of various types, including low altitude
cruise missiles, at the distances over 100 kilometers, in the
daytime and at night, under various weather conditions, at big
range of targets altitude and speed.
R-27 Missile
R-27 intermediate range ballistic missiles are designated for
intercepting and destroying aircrafts of all types and cruise
missiles at long and average distances.
X-59 Ovod-ë Missile X-59M missile is designated for hitting small
ground and above-sea targets (in parking areas and sea ports) of
known location, which were visually discovered by plane operator.
The missile is known as AS-18 "Kazoo" in the West.
Mosquito Missile This recently developed Russian missile is
invisible for enemy air-defense devices and designated for
hitting ships. The missile has extremely high precision degree,
it annihilates itself in case of deviating from the target. This
is the most modern anti-ship weapon.
Vikhr (Hurricane) Complex
This complex is capable of effective destroying both the ground
targets and flying objects having speed up to 800 kilometers per
hour. High supersonic speed of the missile contributes to
invulnerability of the attacking helicopter carrying it and
allows to hit several targets at one attempt. The missile passes
the distance of 4 kilometers in 9 seconds. The US most powerful
helicopter anti-tank FGN-114K Hellfire rocket passes this
distance in 15 seconds and has no supersonic speed. Source: Vlasti.net
Read the original in Russian: (Translated by: Andrey Nesterov)
L1999-2002 "PRAVDA.Ru". When reproducing our materials in whole
*****************************************************************
26 Washington Times: Pakistan's unraveling nuclear secrets
January 30, 2004
Over the past two years, Pakistan's culture of denial had
produced a surreal nuclear theater of the absurd. Any suggestion
Pakistan's nuclear establishment was less than a paragon of
nonproliferation probity was deemed beyond contempt. The father
of the country's nuclear arsenal, Abdul Qadeer Khan (AQK), had
been elevated to the Islamic equivalent of sainthood.
After the Prophet and Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of
the Pakistani state 55 years ago, AQK was a nonpareil. AQK and
his team of nuclear scientists are devout Muslim
fundamentalists. But this, in turn, led AQK to pursue a hidden
agenda. Even though a Sunni, AQK was nonetheless awed by the
politico-religious revolution in Iran in 1979. The late
President Zia ul-Haq who ruled Pakistan as a military dictator
for 11 years (1977-88), also wanted his country to live under
strict Islamic law (Sharia) and gave orders AQK and his team of
scientists and engineers at the Khan Research Laboratories (KRL)
were to be given top priority for anything they required.
In early 2001, U.S. intelligence began suspecting AQK and
President Pervez Musharraf were not on the same page. In March
that same year, Mr. Musharraf relieved AQK and his top scientist
of direct control of the nuclear facilities. They were made
nuclear advisers to the office of the president. But the nuclear
horse had long bolted the Pakistani barn, surreptitiously
crossing the Iranian border in 1988 to help the ayatollah's
theocracy develop another Islamic bomb.
For the past two years, Mr. Musharraf suspected AQK was
free-lancing his nuclear assets, but the Inter-Services
Intelligence (ISI) agency kept assuring him nothing was amiss.
That was hardly surprising. ISI and AQK have worked hand in
glove since the very beginning of Pakistan's secret nuclear
weapons program.
The Libyan dictator's decision to take the secret wraps off
his own nuclear weapons program and dismantle it under
international inspection was a boon to IAEA's nuclear
inspectors. Suddenly, Col. Moammar Gadhafi, suitably impressed
by U.S. military capabilities in Iraq, had no compunction about
leaking secrets that led to a Pakistani and Iranian connection.
Libya over the years had given Pakistan about $100 million for
know-how and international nuclear black market connections
on centrifuges to enrich uranium to weapons grade quality. The
technology, according to IAEA, was the same in Libya and Iran,
which in turn had obtained it from AQK and his team. AQK had
stolen the entire plan for a centrifuge facility where he had
worked in the Netherlands.
Pakistan's transfer of nuclear secrets to North Korea did
not come under the rubric of an Islamist bomb. It was a straight
exchange for the Korean missiles Pakistan needed as delivery
vehicles for its nuclear weapons.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum, Mr. Musharraf conceded
what he had long denied. Pakistan's top nuclear scientists had
provided nuclear assistance to Iran's nuclear ambitions. The
reaction in Pakistan was predictable. "Busharraf," as his
legions of Pakistani detractors and enemies mock him, had
buckled yet again under U.S. pressure.
Pakistan's secrets were unraveling like a knitting ball of
wool that falls to the floor. A former army chief of staff, Gen.
Aslam Beg, and a former ISI chief, Gen. Hamid Gul, are
fundamentalists who have backed AQK's nuclear grand design.
Mr. Musharraf's inclination is to pick up the ball and
rewind the wool. Trials for treason of AQK or any of his top
nuclear scientists would not only trigger a nationwide upheaval
by MMA, a coalition of six politico-military parties that now
govern two of Pakistan's four provinces, but dangerous splits in
ISI and the all-powerful military establishment.
Mr. Musharraf had trouble making himself heard in parliament
last month when MMA and other parties jeered him throughout his
40-minute plea to moderates "to wage jihad against extremism."
He warned lawmakers against an "intolerant society" that is
giving Pakistan "a negative image." His blunt language was music
only to American and Indian ears.
The army engineered the ouster of Benazir Bhutto as prime
minister in 1990 because she tried to get a handle on Pakistan's
nuclear program. Since Mr. Musharraf took over in October 1999,
much clandestine nuclear activity by the country's Islamist
scientists and engineers has been carried out by giving the
president plausible deniability.
He did not know, for instance, prior to the ouster of the
Taliban by U.S. forces in October 2001, that two nuclear experts
had traveled to Kandahar to confer with Mullah Omar, the Taliban
chief, and Osama bin Laden. When the story leaked, the
government quickly explained they were in Afghanistan to offer
expertise for an agricultural project. And when journalists
tried to interview them, they were suddenly on temporary duty in
Burma and therefore beyond anyone's reach. The scuttlebutt in
Islamabad is they went to Kandahar to teach al Qaeda how to
engineer "a dirty radiation bomb," conventional explosives
wrapped around fissionable material.
Even though Pakistani authorities detained a dozen nuclear
experts for extensive "debriefings," the temptation for
time-tested, but not time-proven, denials resurfaced at week's
end. The blame was now assigned to an international black market
in nuclear bomb-making technology and one or two Pakistani
experts let filthy lucre get the better of them. Muhammad
Farooq, AQK's top assistant in charge of foreign procurement,
was assigned the fall guy role. But Mr. Farooq wasn't prepared
to do the honors. He, in turn, fingered AQK and the country
gasped.
Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of Pakistan's nukes, is
worshipped by most Pakistanis, but Mr. Musharraf has now begun
chipping at the pedestal. The Pakistani president has survived
six assassination plots and two recent attempts on his life
within 11 days. He has now authorized leaks about AQK's nuclear
free-lancing in Iran and Libya. The leaks even suggested the
saintly figure of AQK had filled his own pockets, too. Whether
Mr. Musharraf is fearless or foolhardy remains to be determined.
Arnaud de Borchgrave is editor at large of The Washington
Times and of United Press International.
*****************************************************************
27 PTI: Pak nuke probe glossing over army's role - Report
January 30, 2004 18:53 IST
Pakistani investigators are glossing over the role of the army in
the transfer of nuclear technology to Iran and other countries, a
report in the New York Times said on Friday.
The Pakistani army had tight control over the country's nuclear
programme.
For the past week senior government and intelligence officials,
speaking anonymously, have steadily disclosed details of a
deepening inquiry into what seems to have been the transfer of
Pakistan's nuclear technology to other countries in late 1980s
and early 1990's, the report said.
Their version of events, expected to be released publicly this
weekend, blames the country's nuclear scientists, including Abdul
Qadeer Khan, the father of Pakistan's nuclear bomb, for selling
technology for personal gain.
But one issue rarely addressed by officials of the military-led
government is the extent to which the inquiry has examined the
role Pakistan's powerful military may have played in the sale or
sharing of nuclear technology, the report said.
In interviews this week with the Times, retired Pakistani
civilian and military officials, former American diplomats and
proliferation experts said the country's government appeared to
be glossing over evidence that senior military officials might
have approved the sales.
More recent reports of proliferation, including allegations that
the governments of President Pervez Musharraf and former Prime
Minister Benazir Bhutto shared nuclear technology with North
Korea, are also being given 'short shrift', they said.
The officials and analysts emphasised that they had no proof that
the army was involved, but wondered why Pakistani investigators
had not questioned any senior army officials.
George Perkovich, a proliferation expert at the Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace, in Washington, was quoted as
saying that Musharraf, who seized power in 1999, was trying to
appease American demands for an investigation, while not angering
the army, his base of support.
"The problem for Musharraf is that people in the army would know
about this," Perkovich said. "And he wants to protect his club."
One focus of suspicion is General Mirza Aslam Beg, commander of
Pakistan Army from 1988 to 1991, the paper quoted American
analysts as saying.
Robert B Oakley, who served as the US ambassador in Islamabad
from 1988 to 1991, said that Gen Beg told him in the spring of
1991 that he was discussing nuclear and conventional military
cooperation with Iran's Revolutionary Guards.
"He said he had a good conversation with the Revolutionary Guards
about nuclear cooperation and conventional military assistance,"
Oakley said. "Iran was going to support Pakistan with
conventional military aid and petroleum and the Pakistanis would
provide them with nuclear technology."
In an interview with the Times this week, Gen Beg denied ever
sharing nuclear technology with Iran. But he did confirm that he
proposed that Islamabad adopt a doctrine of 'strategic defiance'
involving an alliance between Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan.
© Copyright 2003 PTI. All rights reserved. Republication or
*****************************************************************
28 TIMES OF INDIA: Wave of sympathy for N-scientists
IANS[ FRIDAY, JANUARY 30, 2004 02:21:51 PM ]
LAHORE: Protests by political parties, lawyers and students
condemning the arrest of scientists charged with illegally
transferring nuclear technology to other countries are sweeping
Pakistan.
Pakistanis hold rally in Karachi to condemn detention of nuke
scientists . (AP photo).
The arrested scientists are undergoing interrogation by
Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence and other investigating
agencies. The arrests began over two months ago, reports OneWorld
.
At a large public meeting in Rawalpindi, Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal
(MMA) leader Qazi Hussain Ahmad threatened to launch a
countrywide campaign against the government if it did not desist
from "anti-Pakistan" policies.
He said the party would call for a march to Islamabad to pressure
the government to release the detained scientists.
Many associations of lawyers have also joined the protest.
Pakistanis have been stunned by the arrests that began in
November under US pressure following allegations that many
Pakistani scientists, who are revered as national heroes,
illegally transferred technology to rogue nations.
While some of the scientists - including Abdul Qadeer Khan , the
father of Pakistan's "Islamic bomb" - have since been released,
others are still facing interrogation, which is officially
described as "debriefing".
Copyright © 2004 Times Internet Limited. All rights reserved. |
*****************************************************************
29 Reuters:: Nuclear weapons among UNEP's Inspiring Ideas
30 Jan 2004 12:55:17 GMT
LONDON, Jan 30 (Reuters) - What do nuclear weapons and Moroccan
forests have in common?
The answer at first sight would seem to be very little. But the
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) knows better.
It has included Britain's Atomic Weapons Establishment at
Aldermaston, southern England, in its list of Inspiring Ideas for
World Environment Day in June.
Each year the Nairobi-based UNEP has a theme for the June 5
World Environment Day ranging from water in 2003 to life on Earth
in 1997 and trees for peace in 1986.
This year the theme is the far broader "Inspiring Ideas" which
so far includes land-reclamation in Mauritius and tree-planting
in Morocco's Atlas mountains as well as an exhibition due to be
staged at Aldermaston -- the institution which has inspired
anti-nuclear marches since 1958.
*****************************************************************
30 ITAR-TASS: Russia, US discuss cooperation in nuclear field
[ITAR-TASS News Agency of Russia]
30.01.2004, 12.23
[Nuclear reactor of the atomic center (TASS Photo]
MOSCOW, January 30 (Itar-Tass) - - Russian Atomic Energy
Minister Alexander Rumyantsev and U.S. Under-Secretary of State
for Arms Control and International Security John R. Bolton have
considered issues of Russian-US cooperation in the nuclear field
here.
As Itar-Tass learnt at the press service of the Russian Atomic
Energy Ministry, during the meeting, the sides “discussed
current issues of Russian-American cooperation in the nuclear
field,” as well as problems related to non-proliferation of
nuclear materials and technologies.
According to the press service, the sides also considered
“topical problems of radiation and nuclear security in the
world.”
© ITAR-TASS. All rights reserved. You undertake not to copy,
*****************************************************************
31 albawaba.com: Ahead of talks with US: Russia defends nuclear cooperation
with Iran
Al Bawaba - Middle East News and Information
30-01-2004, 08:27
Moscow's nuclear cooperation with Tehran is fully legal and
transparent, Russian Atomic Energy Minister Alexander Rumyantsev
said ahead of talks Friday with top US arms control diplomat,
John Bolton.
"We keep to international law, our actions are fully legal and
transparent for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA),
and they have no complaints against us," Rumyantsev said,
according to Itar-Tass.
Rumyantsev is due to travel to Iran next month to discuss
speeding up the construction of a nuclear plant at Bushehr, in
the south of the country, a project Russia continues despite
Washington's objections.
"We are building a nuclear station (in Iran), for money. This
isn't some kind of aid, this is a commercial project," Rumyantsev
declared.
Nevertheless Russia's nuclear cooperation with Iran is high upon
the agenda of Rumyantsev's talks with Bolton, a prospect
Rumyantsev viewed with some humor.
"I always say that if we did not talk about Iran, it's as if we
haven't met," the minister commented.
© 2004 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
*****************************************************************
32 Ocean County News: Opposition gathers against Oyster Creek
January 30, 2004
Public seeks plant’s closure, calls it serious health threat
By JARRETT RENSHAW Staff Writer, (609) 978-2015
OCEAN TOWNSHIP - A cross section of the Ocean County community -
including mayors, councilmen, residents and a priest - called for
the closure of the Oyster Creek nuclear power plant Thursday,
calling it a serious threat to the region.
The Exelon Corp., which owns the Oyster Creek Generating Station,
has until April 15 to apply to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
for a 20-year license extension, which would allow the oldest
nuclear power plant in the nation to operate until 2029. Its
current license expires in 2009.
More than 40 people attended the meeting at the Waretown branch
of the Ocean County Library. About 10 of the people were from out
of the area.
The meeting was also attended by several Oyster Creek officials,
marking the first time in several months of one-sided discussions
on the plant's license extension that plant officials attended a
community meeting.
With the exception of one official, plant management did not
speak officially at the meeting, despite the fact that several
people called the plant a dangerous, useless "rust bucket" that
threatens the lives of the region's residents.
The opponents said the plant should be closed because it is too
old, provides just 1 percent of the energy in the area and has a
history of problems.
"If we can't close this plant, that is the oldest one in the
nation and has serious health risks, then we can't close any
nuclear power plant," a member of the New Jersey Environmental
Federation said.
The Rev. Chris Miller, a member of several Methodist
organizations, brought the issue from the political to the
spiritual.
"This issue is a moral one and an ethical one, and it is one that
has the potential to harm thousands of people," Miller said.
Noticeably missing were officials from Lacey Township, who at the
last township meeting urged residents to attend Thursday's
discussion.
Lacey officials have been consistent in their support of the
plant, calling the plant necessary to the financial future of the
town.
They also have viewed the extension as more of a local situation,
and have voiced contempt at the other towns that passed
resolutions calling for the closure of the plant.
Ten of the 33 municipalities in Ocean County passed such
resolutions, with Lacey being the lone public supporter of the
plant.
Ocean County freeholders have yet to take a position on the
issue. Freeholders Gerry Little and John Kelly assured the
audience that one is coming, adding that they are taking the
issue seriously.
"Our concern is safety. If we don't feel the plant is safe, then
we will oppose the renewal," Little said.
State Sen. Leonard Connors, R-Ocean, Burlington, Atlantic, issued
a statement Thursday calling for an independent body to look at
the safety of the plant. He also said the license should be
issued for less than 20 years to ensure more oversight and public
debate.
New Jersey Public Interest Research Group, which sponsored the
meeting, reported last week that the Exelon plans to announce in
February that it will seek the extension.
Officials from the company will not confirm or deny these
reports.
Last week, company spokesman David Simon confirmed that the
Exelon is increasing its lobbying efforts in Washington, D.C., a
sign that the company plans to pursue the extension.
The company recently hired Bud Swenson as the new vice president
at the power station.
When asked if he was given any assurances that the company will
seek the renewal during the hiring process, he said, "I was
assured that the company would stand behind any decision made.
And if the plant is found not be safe, I will be the first person
to say shut it down," Swenson said.
To e-mail Jarrett Renshaw at The Press:
JRenshaw@pressofac.com
*****************************************************************
33 NRC: Connecticut Yankee Atomic Power Company, Haddam Neck Plant;
FR Doc 04-1943 [Federal Register:
January 30, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 20)] [Notices] [Page
4542-4543] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access
[wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr30ja04-92]
Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact The
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC or Commission) is
considering issuance of an exemption to Connecticut Yankee Atomic
Power Company (CYAPCO or licensee), pursuant to 10 CFR 72.7, from
the specific provisions of 10 CFR 72,212(a)(2),
72.212(b)(2)(i)(A), 72.212(b)(7), and 72.214. The licensee is
using the NAC Multi-Purpose Cansiser System (NAC-MPC),
Certificate of Compliance (CoC) No.
1025, to store spent fuel under a general license in an
independent spent fuel storage installation (ISFSI) associated
with the operation of the Haddam Neck Plant (HNP), located in
Middlesex County, Connecticut. The requested exemption would
allow CYAPCO to use vacuum drying enhancements prior to
completion of the proposed NAC-MPC CoC amendment rulemaking.
Environmental Assessment
Identification of the Proposed Action The proposed action would
exempt CYAPCO from the requirements of 10 CFR 72.212(a)(2),
72.212(b)(2)(i)(A), 72.212(b)(7), and 72.214 for using the
NAC-MPC at HNP. These regulations specifically require compliance
with the conditions set forth in the CoC for each dry spent fuel
storage cask used by an ISFSI general licensee. The NAC-MPC CoC
provides limiting conditions for operation (LCO) requirements in
Appendix A, Technical Specifications, and Appendix B, Approved
Content and Design Features. The proposed action would allow
CYAPCO to deviate from (1) the vacuum drying, water cooling, and
forced air cooling time limits in LCO 3.1.1 of Appendix A, (2)
the canister in transfer cask time limits in LCO 3.1.4 of
Appendix A, (3) the fuel cooldown requirements in LCO 3.1.7, (4)
the canister removal from concrete cask requirements of LCO
3.1.8, (5) the surface contamination removal time limits in LCO
3.2.1, and (6) the allowable contents fuel assembly limits in
Table B2-3 of Appendix B. The proposed action would implement the
vacuum drying enhancements requested by NAC International in the
NAC-MPC CoC amendment request currently under staff review.
The proposed action is in accordance with the licensee's
application dated August 28, 2003.
The Need for the Proposed Action The proposed action is needed
because CYAPCO plans to initiate the transfer of the HNP spent
fuel pool contents to the independent spent fuel storage
installation in December 2003. The fuel transfer campaign is
scheduled to begin immediately following the transfer of Greater
than Class C (GTCC) material stored under CYAPCO's 10 CFR Part 50
license. The licensee has stated that the exemption is requested
to significantly reduce the time required for vacuum drying and
to significantly improve loading operations. Additionally,
eliminating unnecessary cooldown cycles and cask handling
activities reduces the potential dose to workers consistent with
good ALARA practices. Prolonged loading operations are not
desired because it would result in delays in the schedule, delays
in decommisioning activities, and associated resource impacts due
to the delays. The proposed action is necessary because the 10
CFR 72.214 rulemaking to implement the NAC-MPC CoC amendment is
not projected for completion until Spring 2004, which will not
support the HNP fuel transfer and dry cask storage loading
schedule.
[[Page 4543]] Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action The
NRC has completed its evaluation of the proposed action and
concludes that there is no significant environmental impact if
the exemption is granted. The staff reviewed the analysis
provided in the NAC-MPC amendment application addressing vacuum
drying enhancements. The safety evaluation performed by the staff
concludes that the NRC has reasonable assurance that the vacuum
drying enhancements have no impact on off-site doses. The
potential environmental impact of using the NAC- MPC System was
initially presented in the Environmental Assessment (EA) for the
Final Rule to add the NAC-MPC System to the list of approved
spent fuel storage casks in 10 CFR 72.214 (64 FR 12444, dated
March 9, 2000), as revised in Amendment No. 1 (66 FR 58956, dated
November 20, 2001), in Amendment No. 2 (67 FR 11566, dated March
15, 2002), and in Amendment No. 3 (68 FR 55304, dated September
25, 2003). The vacuum drying enhancements do not increase the
probability or consequences of accidents, no changes are being
made in the types of any effluents that may be released offsite,
and there is no significant increase in occupational or public
radiation exposure. Therefore, there are no significant
radiological environmental impacts associated with the proposed
action.
With regard to potential nonradiological impacts, the proposed
action does not have a potential to affect any historic sites.
It does not affect nonradiological plant effluents and has no
other environmental impact. Therefore, there are no significant
nonradiological environmental impacts associated with the
proposed action.
Accordingly, the NRC concludes that there are no significant
environmental impacts associated with the proposed action.
Alternatives to the Proposed Action Since there is no significant
environmental impact associated with the proposed action,
alternatives with equal or greater environmental impact were not
evaluated. As an alternative to the proposed action, the staff
considered denial of the proposed action. Denial of the exemption
would result in no change in current environmental impact, but
would result in a potential dose increase to workers involved in
cooldown cycle cask handling activities.
Agencies and Persons Consulted On December 31, 2003, the staff
consulted with Mr. Michael Firsick of the Connecticut Department
of Environmental Protection, regarding the environmental impact
of the proposed action. He had no comments. The NRC staff has
determined that a consultation under Section 7 of the Endangered
Species Act is not required because the proposed action will not
affect listed species or critical habitat. The NRC staff has also
determined that the proposed action is not a type of activity
having the potential to cause effects on historic properties.
Therefore, no further consultation is required under Section 106
of the National Historic Preservation Act.
Finding of No Significant Impact The environmental impacts of the
proposed action have been reviewed in accordance with the
requirements set forth in 10 CFR Part 51.
Based on the foregoing Environmental Assessment, the Commission
finds that the proposed action of granting an exemption from 10
CFR 72.212(a)(2), 72.212(b)(2) (i) (A), 72.212(b)(7), and 72.214
allowing CYAPCO to deviate from the current vacuum drying time
limits and incorporate other vacuum drying enhancements, will not
significantly impact the quality of the human environment.
Accordingly, the Commission has determined not to prepare an
environmental impact statement for the proposed action.
For further details with respect to this exemption request, see
the CYAPCO's letter dated August 28, 2003. The request for
exemption was docketed under 10 CFR Part 72, Docket 72-39. The
NRC maintains an Agencywide Documents Access and Management
System (ADAMS), which provides text and image files of NRC's
public documents. These documents may be accessed through the
NRC's Public Electronic Reading Room on the Internet at
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. If you do not have
access to ADAMS or if there are problems in accessing the
documents located in ADAMS, contact the NRC Public Document Room
(PDR) Reference staff at 1-800-397-4209, or 301-415-4737, or by
e-mail at pdr@nrc.gov. Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 22nd
day of January, 2004.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
L. Raynard Wharton, Project Manager, Spent Fuel Project Office,
Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 04-1943 Filed 1-29-04; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P
*****************************************************************
34 NRC: Maine Yankee Atomic Power Company Independent Spent Fuel Storage
FR Doc 04-1944
[Federal Register: January 30, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 20)]
[Notices] [Page 4543-4544] From the Federal Register Online via
GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr30ja04-93]
Installation Issuance of Environmental Assessment and Finding of
No Significant Impact for a Proposed Exemption The U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission (NRC or Commission) is considering issuance
of an exemption to Maine Yankee Atomic Power Company (MYAPC or
licensee), pursuant to 10 CFR 72.7, from specific provisions of
10 CFR 72.212(a)(2), 72.212(b)(2)(i), 72.212(b)(7), and 72.214.
The licensee is using the NAC-UMS Storage System to store spent
nuclear fuel from the decommissioning reactor at an Independent
Spent Fuel Storage Installation (ISFSI). The requested exemption
would allow MYAPC to deviate from requirements of the NAC-UMS
Certificate of Compliance No. 1015 (CoC or Certificate),
Amendment 2, Appendix B, Section B 3.4.2.6. Specifically, the
exemption would relieve MYAPC from the requirement to maintain a
coefficient of friction between the vertical concrete cask and
ISFSI pad surface of at least 0.5. Environmental Assessment (EA)
Identification of Proposed Action By letter dated October 2,
2003, as supplemented on October 21, 2003, MYAPC requested an
exemption from the requirements of 10 CFR 72.212(a),
72.212(b)(2)(i), 72.212(b)(7), and 10 CFR 72.214 to deviate from
the requirements in CoC No. 1015, Amendment 2, Appendix B,
Section B 3.4.2.6. MYAPC is storing spent nuclear fuel under the
general licensing provisions of 10 CFR part 72 in the NAC-UMS
Storage System at an ISFSI located at the Maine Yankee Atomic
Power Station in Wiscasset, Maine. The licensee is loading
additional spent fuel into storage at the ISFSI.
The current requirements in CoC No. 1015, Amendment 2, Appendix
B, state that physical testing shall be conducted to demonstrate
that the coefficient of friction between the vertical concrete
cask and ISFSI pad surface is at least 0.5. By exempting MYAPC
from specific provisions of 10 CFR 72.212(a)(2), 72.212(b)(2)(i),
72.212(b)(7), and 10 CFR 72.214 for this request, MYAPC will not
be required to maintain a coefficient of friction between the
vertical concrete cask and ISFSI pad surface of at least 0.5.
[[Page 4544]] The proposed action before the Commission is
whether to grant this exemption under the provisions of 10 CFR
72.7. The NRC staff has reviewed the exemption request and
determined that not maintaining a coefficient of friction between
the vertical concrete cask and the ISFSI pad surface of at least
0.5, is consistent with the safety analyses previously reviewed
for the NAC-UMS system, and would have no impact on the design
basis and would not be inimical to public health and safety.
Need for the Proposed Action During the 2002-2003 winter, MYAPC
discovered a condition in which the surface area between the
vertical concrete casks and the ISFSI pad had a significant
covering of ice (approximately 80-95 percent of the surface).
This winter icing condition may result in a reduced coefficient
of friction that does not meet the requirements of CoC No. 1015,
Amendment 2, Section B 3.4.2.6, for a coefficient of friction of
at least 0.5 between the vertical concrete casks and the ISFSI
pad surface. The icing condition was unanticipated and therefore
not explicitly addressed in the cask licensing basis. The
presence of ice causes a loss of contact between the vertical
concrete casks and the ISFSI pad and leads to an indeterminate
coefficient of friction.
Since the icing condition renders previous test results
insufficient to demonstrate a coefficient of friction greater
than 0.5, MYAPC would not be in compliance with the CoC during
these icing conditions.
Granting the requested exemption will allow MYAPC to regain
compliance with CoC No. 1015, Amendment 2, in a timely manner.
Section B 3.4.2.6 is a requirement specific to MYAPC and
applicable to no other licensees.
Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action The licensee
requested the exemption from maintaining a coefficient of
friction between the vertical concrete cask and the ISFSI pad
surface of at least 0.5 as specified in CoC No. 1015, Amendment
2. The NRC staff performed a safety evaluation of the proposed
exemption. Staff reviewed the analysis provided by MYAPC in the
exemption request for winter icing conditions which may result in
a reduced coefficient of friction between the vertical concrete
cask and the ISFSI pad surface, and limited vertical concrete
cask sliding during a design earthquake. Staff judged that the
design earthquake will not cause large sliding of the NAC-UMS
vertical concrete cask on the ISFSI pad surfaces. In the unlikely
event of vertical concrete cask impacts, staff evaluated the
magnitude of the impact load between two colliding casks and
determined the impact load would be far less severe than that
encountered in a tip-over accident for which the NAC-UMS system
has been demonstrated structurally adequate. The staff concludes
that the NRC has reasonable assurance that the proposed exemption
has no impact on off-site doses, and is acceptable.
Therefore, the environmental impact of not maintaining a
coefficient of friction between the vertical concrete cask and
the ISFSI pad surface of at least 0.5, is no greater than the
environmental impact already assessed in the initial rulemaking
for the NAC-UMS storage system (65 FR 62581, dated October 19,
2000).
The proposed action will not increase the probability or
consequences of the analyzed accidents, no changes are being made
to the types of effluents that may be released offsite, and there
is no increase in occupational or public radiation exposure.
Therefore, there are no significant radiological environmental
impacts associated with the proposed action. Therefore, the staff
has determined that there is no reduction in the ability of the
NAC-UMS system to perform its safety function, nor significant
environmental impacts, as a result of not maintaining a
coefficient of friction between the vertical concrete cask and
the ISFSI pad surface of at least 0.5. Alternative to the
Proposed Action Since there is no significant environment impact
associated with the proposed action, alternatives with equal or
greater environmental impact are not evaluated. The alternative
to the proposed action would be to deny approval of the
exemption. Denial of the exemption request will have the same
environmental impact.
Agencies and Persons Consulted This exemption request was
discussed with Mr. Charles Pray, State Nuclear Safety Advisor for
the State of Maine, on January 6, 2004, and he stated that the
State had no comments on the technical aspects of the exemption.
The NRC staff has determined that a consultation under Section 7
of the Endangered Species Act is not required because the
proposed action will not affect listed species or critical
habitat. The NRC staff has also determined that the proposed
action is not a type of activity having the potential to cause
effects on historic properties. Therefore, no further
consultation is required under Section 106 of the National
Historic Preservation Act.
Finding of No Significant Impact The environmental impacts of the
proposed action have been reviewed in accordance with the
requirements set forth in 10 CFR Part 51.
Based upon the foregoing EA, the Commission finds that the
proposed action of granting the exemption from specific
provisions of 10 CFR 72.212(a), 72.212(b)(2)(i), 72.212 (b)(7),
and 10 CFR 72.214, and not requiring MYAPC to maintain a
coefficient of friction between the concrete cask and ISFSI pad
surface of at least 0.5, will not significantly impact the
quality of the human environment. Accordingly, the Commission has
determined that an environmental impact statement for the
proposed exemption is not warranted.
The request for exemption was docketed under 10 CFR part 72,
Docket 72-30. For further details with respect to this action,
see the exemption request dated October 2, 2003, as supplemented.
The NRC maintains an Agencywide Documents Access and Management
System (ADAMS), which provides text and image files of NRC's
public documents.
These documents may be accessed through the NRC's Public
Electronic Reading Room on the Internet at
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. If you do not have
access to ADAMS or if there are problems in accessing the
documents located in ADAMS, contact the NRC Public Document Room
Reference staff at 1-800-397-4209, 301-415-4737, or by e-mail to
pdr@nrc.gov. Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 23rd day of
January, 2004.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Stephen C. O'Connor, Sr., Project Manager, Spent Fuel Project
Office, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 04-1944 Filed 1-29-04; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P
*****************************************************************
35 NRC: Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards, Meeting of the ACRS
FR Doc 04-2016
[Federal Register: January 30, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 20)]
[Notices] [Page 4545] From the Federal Register Online via GPO
Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr30ja04-96]
Subcommittee on Reliability and Probabilistic Risk Assessment;
Notice of Meeting The ACRS Subcommittee on Reliability and
Probabilistic Risk Assessment will hold a meeting on February 19,
2004, Room T-2B3, 11545 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland.
The entire meeting will be open to public attendance.
The agenda for the subject meeting shall be as follows: Thursday,
February 19, 2004--8:30 a.m. Until the Conclusion of Business The
purpose of this meeting is to review the ongoing resolution of
public comments on the proposed 10 CFR 50.69, ``Risk-Informed
Categorization and Treatment of Structures, Systems, and
Components,'' and the staff's draft Regulatory Guide endorsing
Revision D of NEI 00- 04, ``10 CFR 50.69 Structures, Systems, and
Components Categorization Guideline.'' The Subcommittee will hear
presentations by and hold discussions with representatives of the
NRC staff and NEI regarding this matter. The Subcommittee will
gather information, analyze relevant issues and facts, and
formulate proposed positions and actions, as appropriate, for
deliberation by the full Committee.
Members of the public desiring to provide oral statements and/or
written comments should notify the Designated Federal Official,
Mr. Michael R. Snodderly (telephone: 301-415-6927) five days
prior to the meeting, if possible, so that appropriate
arrangements can be made. Electronic recordings will be permitted
during the meeting.
Further information regarding this meeting can be obtained by
contacting the Designated Federal Official between 7:30 a.m. and
4:15 p.m. (e.t.). Persons planning to attend this meeting are
urged to contact the above named individual at least two working
days prior to the meeting to be advised of any potential changes
to the agenda.
Dated: January 23, 2004.
Sher Bahadur, Associate Director for Technical Support,
ACRS/ACNW.
[FR Doc. 04-2016 Filed 1-29-04; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P
*****************************************************************
36 NRC: Notice of Availability of Environmental Assessment and Finding
FR Doc 04-2018
[Federal Register: January 30, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 20)]
[Notices] [Page 4544-4545] From the Federal Register Online via
GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr30ja04-94]
of No Significant Impact for License Application for USEC, Inc.,
Bethesda, MD; Correction AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Notice of availability of environmental assessment and
finding
[[Page 4545]] of no significant impact for license application;
correction.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
------
SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission published a
Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) in the Federal Register
on January 27, 2004 (69 FR 3956), concerning the United States
Enrichment Corporation Inc.'s (USEC Inc.'s) license application
for its American Centrifuge Lead Cascade Facility (Lead Cascade)
in Piketon, Ohio. The FONSI contained an incorrect number.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Yawar Faraz, NMSS/FCSS (301)
415-8113.
Correction In the Federal Register of January 27, 2004, in volume
69, number 17, on page 3956, correct the 0.0001% value to 1%. The
corrected sentence, which is the third sentence of the third full
paragraph in the third column, should read as follows: ``For
example, NRC staff finds that public exposure to radiation from
the proposed action will be less than 1% of the limits in 10 CFR
part 20.'' Dated in Rockville, Maryland this 27th day of January,
2004.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Michael T. Lesar, Chief, Rules Review and Directives Branch,
Division of Administrative Services, Office of Administration.
[FR Doc. 04-2018 Filed 1-29-04; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P
*****************************************************************
37 toledoblade.com: Steam leaks cut operation at Fermi II
Friday, January 30, 2004
NEWPORT, Mich. - Detroit Edison Co.’s Fermi II nuclear plant is
operating at 60 percent of its normal capacity until further
notice. The company is deciding what to do about two minor steam
leaks it has found in the non-nuclear turbine system, a spokesman
said yesterday.
The plant, in northern Monroe County about 25 miles north of
Toledo, had its power reduced by the utility Wednesday afternoon
after workers discovered oil leaking from the high-pressure
turbine bearing system. That turbine, in conjunction with others,
generates electricity from steam. The turbines are separate from
the nuclear reactor.
The oil leak was fixed promptly. But in so doing, workers found
steam leaking from two spots on a nearby instrument manifold used
to monitor the flow and pressure of steam, John Austerberry, a
Detroit Edison spokesman, said.
© 2004 The Blade. By using this service, you accept the
terms of our privacy statement and our visitor agreement. Please
read them.
The Toledo Blade Company, 541 N. Superior St., Toledo, OH 43660
, (419) 724-6000
*****************************************************************
38 ITAR-TASS: Third unit shut down for maintenance at Novovoronezh power plant
[ITAR-TASS News Agency of Russia]
30.01.2004, 02.03
NOVOVORONEZH, January 30 (Itar-Tass) - The third
power-generating unit of the Novovoronezh nuclear power plant
has been shut down for maintenance purposes, a source at the
plant control service told ITAR-Tass on Friday.
The maintenance work that started on the unit’s turbo-generators
9 and 10 at midnight will take four days to restore temperature
control to the turbine equipment. No reactor-maintenance work
will be done.
The VVER-440 unit became operational in December 1972, and its
service life was extended by another 15 years in 2002 after 30
years in service.
At present, two power-generating units with a total capacity of
1,400 thousand kwt are functioning at the Novovoronezh nuclear
power plant. The radiation background inside and outside the
plant is standard.
© ITAR-TASS. All rights reserved. You undertake not to copy,
*****************************************************************
39 ITAR-TASS: Russian nuclear power industry to be reformed-Rumyantsev
[ITAR-TASS News Agency of Russia]
29.01.2004, 23.30
MOSCOW, January 29 (Itar-Tass) - Russian Atomic Energy Minister
Alexander Rumyantsev has said that Russia will not rush to
reform its nuclear power industry.
“Of course, it’s going to be reformed but this process will be
thorough and well-considered,” Rumyantsev told reporters on
Thursday.
Rumyantsev believes that several nuclear power enterprises
should be privatised but not those fulfilling defence orders.
The minister suggests that a group of defence enterprises should
be consolidated before privatisation in the industry actually
starts.
Rumyantsev said that the creation of joint-stock societies where
the state holds a 100-percent stake would be the best way to
consolidate the remaining enterprises.
Rumyantsev believes that privatisation may start earlier than in
three or four years.
The Russian Atomic Energy Minister noted that the reform was
aimed at increasing salary to employees which now averages
10,000 roubles a month.
“We should seek to increase this figure to the level of nuclear
power station operators who are now earning 30,000 roubles a
month,» Rumyantsev said.
© ITAR-TASS. All rights reserved. You undertake not to copy,
*****************************************************************
40 ITAR-TASS: EU to provide safety equipment to Russian nuclear power plant
[ITAR-TASS News Agency of Russia]
30.01.2004, 13.12
[Kursk nuclear power plant (TASS Photo)]
NOVOVORONEZH (Voronezh Region), January 30 (Itar-Tass) - Experts
from the Novovoronezh nuclear power plant and the European Union
have discussed here ways to modernise the control system of the
station’s fifth one million kilowatt reactor. They signed an
agreement on the delivery to the station of equipment to
modernise its control system and to make the nuclear reactor
safer, Deputy Director-General of the Power Plant Alexander
Revin, who is in charge of economic contacts with foreign
partners, told Itar-Tass on Friday.
This job is being done in keeping with the TACIS international
cooperation program and is estimated at approximately fifteen
million euros. To begin with, the French DS&S SAS company will
deliver to the power plant a set of equipment, worth 7.5 million
euros, to modernise the reactor’s control and safety systems.
Besides Russian specialists, experts from the Gundreminngen
nuclear power plant (Germany) will also took part in the drafting
of the blueprints to manufacture this hardware, which is expected
to make the station’s radiation protection much more dependable.
It is envisaged, at the next stage, to install the latest types
of emergency feed water and reactor shut down systems on the
plant’s fifth generating unit.
Modernisation of the fifth reactor, which was commissioned in
1980, is intended to prolong its designed service life, which
expires in 2010.
Today, there are two generators with a total capacity of
1,400,000 kilowatts in operation at the Voronezh nuclear power
plant. The third VVER-440 reactor is now undergoing preventive
maintenance to restore the temperature control of its turbine
equipment. The radiation level at the station and in the
adjoining territory is normal.
© ITAR-TASS. All rights reserved. You undertake not to copy,
*****************************************************************
41 Deseretnews: Plutonium is a silvery radiological poison
[deseretnews.com]
Friday, January 30, 2004
Plutonium is a radioactive chemical element (atomic number 94).
It is a silvery metal that sometimes has a yellow tarnish and
exists in six varieties with different densities and crystal
structure. It was first detected in the U.S. in 1940 and is
created by bombarding uranium with neutrons. It is an ingredient
in nuclear weapons and nuclear reactors.
Plutonium is a radiological poison and must be handled
with very special equipment.
© 2004 Deseret News Publishing Company
*****************************************************************
42 [du-list] Nuclear Power and Weapons Waste to go to Regular
Date: Fri, 30 Jan 2004 17:55:44 -0800
In a message dated 1/28/04 3:26:51 PM, nirsnet@nirs.org writes:
NIRS RADIATION ALERT and UPDATE (1/2004)
Nuclear Power and Weapons Waste to go to Regular Landfills
and other "Non-Regulated Management"
Environmental Protection Agency joins Nuclear Regulatory Commission,
Departments of Energy and Transportation in Deregulating Radioactive Waste
Comments due to EPA by March 17, 2004
Email to: a-and-r-Docket@epa.gov
The US Environmental Protection Agency is planning to make a new rule that
would allow nuclear waste to go to places that are not licensed for
radioactive materials.
The goal appears to be to redefine radioactive materials, no matter what
their source (nuclear power, nuclear weapons, naturally occurring or other),
based on EPA-calculated and projected risks. The new category of nuclear
materials (once called BRC or Below Regulatory Concern) would supposedly not
need radioactive regulatory controls. EPA does not consider all the
potential health effects of radiation and hazardous materials in estimating
the risks. They have never demonstrated the accuracy of their predictions.
1) First, EPA would allow mixed radioactive and hazardous wastes to go to
facilities permitted for hazardous waste only (RCRA C hazardous waste dumps
and processors).
2) Second, radioactive waste (not mixed with hazardous) could be permitted
to go to places that do not have radioactive licenses or regulations, such
as regular garbage dumps or incinerators or hazardous sites. EPA justifies
this by claiming they will provide an acceptable level of protection from
radiation risk. It seems obvious this would be a problem for communities
around the waste sites, many of which already leak.
3) Third, EPA suggests that a "non-regulatory approach" to management of
radioactive waste is an option and requests creative ideas for "partnering"
with waste generators or other schemes to relieve the regulatory burden.
Nothing would prevent radioactive materials from going to recycling
facilities and being mixed with the normal recycling streams which are made
into everyday household items like toys, cookware, personal use items, cars,
furniture and civil engineering projects like roads and buildings.
4) This dangerous proposal dovetails neatly into the US Nuclear Regulatory
Commission's rulemaking to deregulate and release radioactive material from
control, ironically called "Control of Solids." The NRC is considering
several options for nuclear waste deregulation including continuing the
current case-by-case release procedures, starting new release procedures
that are based on projected risks, sending the waste to sites that are not
licensed for nuclear materials. NRC is claiming they could approve
"restricted" release of nuclear waste meaning certain conditions would apply
but that NRC would not enforce them--someone else, as yet un-named would.
The upshot is that NRC and EPA are joining forces to allow nuclear power
and weapons waste which is now generally required to be regulated and
controlled, to be released to waste sites never designed to take radioactive
materials and either deliberately or unintentionally to the marketplace
where it will come into routine daily contact with us, our children and
environment.
5) To make matters even worse, the US NRC and US Department of
Transportation are on the verge of finalizing new transport regulations
(TSR-1) that would exempt various levels of hundreds of radionuclides from
regulatory control in transit. This will make it easier for NRC and EPA to
deregulate nuclear wastes since they will no longer require regulation,
labeling or control as radioactive material during transportation. (This is
especially distressing in light of increased security concerns about
transportation of nuclear materials that could be used for dirty bombs. More
unregulated nuclear materials will be on the roads, rails, barges and
aircraft.)
6) Finally, the Department of Energy is in the process of a Programmatic
Environmental Impact Statement on releasing radioactive materials from its
sites. In 2000, DOE halted the commercial recycling of potentially
radioactive metals from certain contaminated area on its sites, but could
resume it. DOE continues to allow radioactively contaminated metals out for
unregulated disposal and to allow other radioactively contaminated materials
out for recycling or unregulated disposal--soils, concrete, asphalt,
plastic, wood, equipment, buildings, sites and more. EPA's Nov. 18, 2003
notice would help legalize DOE's release of nuclear weapons wastes from
regulatory control.
ACTIONS:
1) Send a letter to the new EPA Administrator Mike Leavitt telling him
what you think of the EPA's proposed action, encouraging him withdraw it.
Administrator Mike Leavitt, US Environmental Protection Agency, 1101A,
Ariel Rios Building, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue N.W. Washington, DC 20460
leavitt.michael@epa.gov
2) Comment to EPA and get organizations and landfill boards to do so at
a-and-r-Docket@epa.gov
The proposal is on the EPA website (www.epa.gov/radiation) and will be
posted with comments on NIRS website (www.nirs.org) soon.
3) Tell EPA we need a 6 month extension to run their ideas by our
communities that will be impacted.
4) Let your elected officials know how you feel about these dangers by
sending them a copy of your letter to Secretary Leavitt, comments to EPA,
NRC, DOT and/or DOE and telling them about your opposition to the federal
rules that would deregulate and exempt nuclear materials from regulation.
For more information contact:
Diane D'Arrigo, Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS), 1424 16th
Street NW Suite 404, Washington, DC 20036, dianed@nirs.org, 202 328-0002 ext
16
See NIRS website under Campaigns at www.nirs.org for more info and
actions.
This is the NIRS E-Mail Alert list. You are on this list because you
signed up on our website, at a NIRS table at a concert, on a petition, or
directly to NIRS. Your name and address are never sold, rented, or traded
with anyone for any reason.
For address changes or to unsubscribe, just send an e-mail to
nirsnet@nirs.org. If you have friends or colleagues who would like to be on
this list, have them send a note to nirsnet@nirs.org
To unsubscribe from this groups send a message to
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http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
*****************************************************************
43 Las Vegas SUN: Former worker: Officials knew of toxic dust at Yucca Mountain
ASSOCIATED PRESS
LAS VEGAS (AP) - Workers at Yucca Mountain in the mid-1990s were
exposed to toxic dusts for several years before the Energy
Department established effective health protections, according
to several former employees with lung ailments they blame on
their work.
Whistle-blower Gene Griego told the Las Vegas Review-Journal for
a Friday report that workers were at risk from the onset of
tunnel operations in 1993 until Yucca managers improved
ventilation and dust controls in 1996.
A stop-work order in August 1996 prompted the Energy Department
to strengthen safety enforcement, project officials said.
The Energy Department acknowledged this month that some workers
may have been exposed to silica, a dust that can limit lung
capacity and lead to death.
Margaret Chu, director of the Office of Civilian Radioactive
Waste Management, said measures now in place are protecting
Yucca workers. About 140 work at the site.
Griego gathered documents suggesting the Energy Department knew
about the dangers of airborne silica and other fibrous minerals
disturbed during drilling. The Yucca Mountain tunnel is five
miles long with a diameter of 25 feet.
Griego began airing complaints before the Energy Department
announced Jan. 15 it would offer free silicosis screenings for
current and former workers at the proposed nuclear waste burial
site 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
Notifications are being sent to between 1,200 and 1,500 current
and former Yucca Mountain workers, the department said.
Energy Department spokesman Allen Benson said Thursday that
health protections were always in place but were not always
fully enforced.
Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., on Thursday demanded Energy Secretary
Spencer Abraham explain whether the department was aware of high
levels of silica at the Yucca site before tunnel construction
began and what steps were taken to protect workers.
"It seems the Department of Energy has once again risked health
and safety to push through the Yucca Mountain project." Reid
said. "They are trying to sell us a bill of goods that the
project is safe, and meanwhile some of their own workers may
have contracted a fatal illness from working at the site."
Griego said he has found 25 current or former workers who were
diagnosed with silicosis or who have reported symptoms, such as
coughing up blood.
Barbara Harris of Las Vegas said Thursday her son, Robert
Harris, 49, worked at Yucca Mountain and died in May 2002 of a
cancer that started in a lung. She declined to discuss details.
Jeff Dean, 41, was a conveyer operator from June 1995 to October
1998 and a drilling foreman at the Nevada Test Site. He was
diagnosed with silicosis last March.
"The workers were worried about the dust," he said, "but they
assured us the dust was within lab limits and your body gets
acclimated to it."
Before working at Yucca Mountain, Dean drilled underground
weapons tests cavities for Reynolds Electrical and Engineering
at the Nevada Test Site. He acknowledged his lung problems could
be related to that work.
Griego, 52, of North Las Vegas, said doctors have diagnosed his
condition as chronic obstruction pulmonary disease.
He is not a smoker, and blames his condition on exposure to a
mixture of airborne silica and components of a class of minerals
called zeolites.
He said he wore a painters mask as protection against the dust
at work, and said the use of water for dust control was limited
because scientists feared it would disrupt experiments on how
fluids travel through the cracks and pores of the mountain.
A 1991 Los Alamos study warned that dry drilling at Yucca
Mountain posed health concerns because of high silica content in
the rock and an abundance of zeolites whose inhalation "may
result in asbestos-like lung diseases."
The tunnel was completed with breakthrough on April 25, 1997.
Information from: Las Vegas Review-Journal
--
*****************************************************************
44 NRC: Advisory Committee on Nuclear Waste, Meeting on Planning and
FR Doc 04-2015
[Federal Register: January 30, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 20)]
[Notices] [Page 4545] From the Federal Register Online via GPO
Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr30ja04-95]
Procedures; Notice of Meeting The ACNW will hold a planning and
procedures meeting on February 26, 2004, Room T-2B1, 11545
Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland.
The entire meeting will be open to public attendance, with the
exception of a portion that may be closed pursuant to 5 U.S.C.
552b(c)(2) and (6) to discuss organizational and personnel
matters that relate solely to internal personnel rules and
practices of ACNW, and information the release of which would
constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.
The agenda for the subject meeting shall be as follows: Thursday,
February 26, 2004--8 a.m.-11 a.m. The Committee will discuss
proposed ACNW activities and related matters. The purpose of this
meeting is to gather information, analyze relevant issues and
facts, and formulate proposed positions and actions, as
appropriate, for deliberation by the full Committee.
Members of the public desiring to provide oral statements and/or
written comments should notify the Designated Federal Official,
Mr. Howard J. Larson (telephone: 301/415-6805) between 7:30 a.m.
and 4:15 p.m. (e.t.) five days prior to the meeting, if possible,
so that appropriate arrangements can be made. Electronic
recordings will be permitted only during those portions of the
meeting that are open to the public.
Further information regarding this meeting can be obtained by
contacting the Designated Federal Official between 7:30 a.m. and
4:15 p.m. (e.t.). Persons planning to attend this meeting are
urged to contact the above named individual at least two working
days prior to the meeting to be advised of any potential changes
in the agenda.
Dated: January 23, 2004.
Sher Bahadur, Associate Director for Technical Support,
ACRS/ACNW.
[FR Doc. 04-2015 Filed 1-29-04; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P
*****************************************************************
45 Salt Lake Tribune: Hazardous waste bill introduced
January 30, 2004
By Judy Fahys
The Salt Lake Tribune
Rep. Steve Urquhart introduced a state "don't-dump-on-us"
bill Thursday.
The measure was promised last fall by a legislative task
force on Hazardous and Radioactive Waste in response to the
federal government's plans to send highly concentrated radium
sludge to the privately owned Envirocare of Utah landfill in
Tooele County.
The bill doesn't have any wording yet because lawmakers
disagree on whether pending permit changes for Envirocare
require approval by the Legislature and the governor. Envirocare
said the changes are too minor to require political approval,
while radioactive-waste opponents and Urquhart insist
policy-makers should weigh in on any further expansion of
Envirocare's disposal services.
"If we are going to deal with whether Twinkies should be in
our schools," said Jason Groenewold, director of the Healthy
Environment Alliance of Utah, "then certainly the Legislature
should be willing to debate how much plutonium we should allow
to be dumped in our state and the levels of radioactivity."
Envirocare has been working for more than a year on changes
to its state mixed-waste permit and its "special nuclear
material" license, over which both the Division of Radiation
Control and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission have control.
"We feel the policy decision has already been made to allow
[low-level] class A waste and lower, and the two amendments in
question don't exceed those limits," said company Senior Vice
President Tim Barney. "Therefore, we don't understand what the
concern is."
Urquhart's bill was inspired by the public outcry over the
U.S. Energy Department's plans to hire Envirocare for the
disposal of highly concentrated radium waste from cleanups in
Fernald, Ohio, and Niagara Falls, N.Y. The waste was so
concentrated, its hazard level exceeded what is allowed under
state law but might have been allowed under federal regulations
that control a portion of the site.
Ultimately, Envirocare agreed not to bid on the contract.
But the flap left some lawmakers and their constituents at odds
with elected leaders for letting federal and state bureaucrats
decide what kinds and amounts of radioactive waste will be
dumped in Utah.
Envirocare was one of three facilities grandfathered into a
three-step approval process for hazardous and radioactive waste
facilities, enacted in 1992.
fahys@sltrib.com
Copyright Salt Lake City Tribune
*****************************************************************
46 Deseret news: 'Hot' waste issue heats up at Capitol
[deseretnews.com]
Friday, January 30, 2004
Plutonium is a silvery radiological poison
By Donna Kemp Spangler Deseret Morning News
A state lawmaker and radioactive waste giant
Envirocare of Utah appear to be at odds over the definition of
"hotter" waste.
Rep. Stephen Urquhart, R-St. George, said Thursday he
plans to move forward with legislation that forces Envirocare to
receive approval of the Legislature and governor before
accepting any waste "hotter" in radioactivity than what is
currently permitted under its federal and state licenses.
The bill, expected to be filed by the Legislature's
deadline Thursday, has struck a chord with Envirocare because
Urquhart doesn't want to make any exceptions.
At issue are two license amendments on which Envirocare
is seeking approval from the Utah Department of Environmental
Quality.
Currently Envirocare's landfill in Tooele County
primarily handles Class A waste, which consists of mostly dirt
that's slightly contaminated with radioactivity from government
cleanup projects. It also has a "mixed waste cell," which
contains a mix of radioactive and hazardous materials.
Envirocare has asked DEQ to review an order issued to it
by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that would allow the
company to take "special nuclear material" in larger containers.
On the surface, the waste materials sound ominous. The
waste does contain plutonium and other ingredients that go into
the making of a nuclear bomb, but none of the materials is
"hotter" in radioactivity than what Envirocare's Class A license
allows.
"Envirocare is authorized to take larger volumes of
liquids, but not hotter," said Dane Finerfrock, executive
director of the Utah Division of Radiation Control. The
amendment is still under review, he added.
The company also is seeking DEQ approval to take waste
that contains the same radioactivity levels at its mixed waste
cell that it can take at its Class A operation.
"These types of things are to improve our operation
efficiency," said Tim Barney, senior vice president of
Envirocare. These license modifications have been in the works
for over a year, he added.
"We felt like the policy decision has already been made
for Class A waste," Barney said. "These amendments do not exceed
the Class A limits, and therefore we are wondering why it is
included in the bill."
Urquhart, co-chairman of a legislative task force on
waste policy, said he believes both the amendments should be
subject to approval by the Legislature and governor. His bill
was prompted to stop Envirocare from disposing of uranium mill
tailings from a federal cleanup site in Fernald, Ohio — 10 times
hotter in radioactivity than the waste now being stored at
Envirocare.
Envirocare pulled the plug on that proposal and has no
plans presently to take similarly hot radioactive waste from
Niagara Falls, N.Y.
"One thing I learned is that the public wants us to make
policy decisions over radioactive waste," Urquhart said.
Jason Groenewold of Families Against Incinerator Risk and
Healthy Environmental Alliance of Utah agreed.
"If we are going to debate whether Ho Ho's are
appropriate to have in our schools," he added, "certainly we
should be able to debate how much plutonium we want to allow in
our state."
E-mail: donna@desnews.com
© 2004 Deseret News Publishing Company
*****************************************************************
47 Las Vegas RJ: Yucca toxic dust afflicts workers
Friday, January 30, 2004
Some early drillers got lung ailments despite warnings,
whistle-blower says By STEVE TETREAULT
REVIEW-JOURNAL CAPITOL BUREAU
By KEITH ROGERS REVIEW-JOURNAL
Gene Griego Former Yucca Mountain worker has chronic obstruction
pulmonary disease
December 1995 photo shows the portal that is the defining
physical feature of the Yucca Mountain Project.
REVIEW-JOURNAL FILE PHOTO
Workers drilling the exploratory tunnel into Yucca Mountain in
the mid-1990s were exposed to toxic dusts for several years
before the Department of Energy established effective health
protections, according to several former employees who have
contracted lung ailments they believe are connected to their
work.
Whistle-blower Gene Griego said workers were at risk from the
onset of tunnel operations in 1993 until at least several years
later, when Yucca managers say they began enhancing ventilation
and dust controls. A stop work order in August 1996 prompted DOE
to strengthen safety enforcement, project officials said.
The Energy Department acknowledged this month that some workers
may have been exposed to silica, a fibrous dust that can corrode
lung capacity and lead to death.
Documents Griego gathered suggest DOE was warned early about
airborne dangers from silica and other fibrous minerals
disturbed during drilling of the portal. The defining physical
feature of the Yucca Mountain Project, the portal is five miles
long with a diameter of 25 feet.
After Griego began airing complaints, DOE announced on Jan. 15
it would offer free silicosis screenings for current and former
workers at the proposed nuclear waste repository site.
Notifications are being sent to between 1,200 and 1,500 current
and former Yucca Mountain miners, muckers, engineers,
geologists, electricians and others who worked at the site 100
miles northwest of Las Vegas.
DOE spokesman Allen Benson said Thursday health protections
"were always in place but unfortunately were not enforced to the
full extent. There was a lapse in enforcement, and that's why
we've started the screenings."
Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., on Thursday demanded that Energy
Secretary Spencer Abraham explain whether the department was
aware of high levels of silica at the Yucca site before tunnel
construction began and what steps were taken to protect workers.
"It seems the Department of Energy has once again risked health
and safety to push through the Yucca Mountain project." Reid
said. "They are trying to sell us a bill of goods that the
project is safe, and meanwhile some of their own workers may
have contracted a fatal illness from working at the site."
Griego said he has been contacting current and former tunnel
workers, in part through the laborer's union local in Las Vegas.
He has found 25 current or former workers who were diagnosed
with silicosis or who have reported symptoms, such as coughing
up blood. He said he believes two have died.
Barbara Harris of Las Vegas said Thursday her son, Robert, died
in May 2002 of a cancer that started in a lung. She said Robert,
49, had worked at Yucca Mountain "for quite a while." She
declined to discuss details.
"I know there's a lawsuit being looked into," she said.
Jeff Dean, 41, was a conveyer operator from June 1995 to October
1998. A drilling foreman at the Nevada Test Site, he was
diagnosed with silicosis last March.
"I was on the swing shift, and it was the worst shift to be on,"
Dean recalled.
He said workers tried to keep the dust down during the day
shift, when government officials and politicians from Washington
would visit.
"It was mostly in the back shifts when they had the dust going,"
he said. "The workers were worried about the dust, but they
assured us the dust was within lab limits and your body gets
acclimated to it."
Before working at Yucca Mountain, Dean worked at the Nevada Test
Site for Reynolds Electrical and Engineering, drilling cavities
for underground weapons tests. Dean acknowledged it's possible
his lung problems could be related to that work.
In an interview at his home in North Las Vegas, Griego, 52, a
nonsmoker, said doctors have diagnosed his condition as chronic
obstruction pulmonary disease.
He blames the condition on exposure to a mixture of airborne
silica and components of a class of minerals, called zeolites,
found inside the volcanic-rock ridge where the Department of
Energy began tunneling in 1994.
At Yucca Mountain, he was a supervisor on the tunneling effort
who assisted geologists as they rode behind the "Yucca Mucker,"
a tunnel-boring machine that maps the mountain's interior
features. He said he would typically walk up to six miles on a
shift, wearing a painters mask as protection against the dust
laden with silica and zeolites.
"They knew that stuff was there years before they started
mining," Griego said.
"The other thing is they limited the amount of water for dust
control" at the request of scientists, who feared too much water
in the tunnel would disrupt their experiments on how fluids
travel through the cracks and pores.
A 1991 Los Alamos study warned that dry drilling at Yucca
Mountain posed health concerns because of high silica content in
the rock and an abundance of zeolites whose inhalation "may
result in asbestos-like lung diseases."
From when the continuous tunneling effort began in October 1994
until June 1995, when the boring machine was equipped with a
conveyor, the project crept along at about 30 feet per day.
It was after the conveyor went online, enabling the machine to
carve 150 feet of tunnel per day, that Griego believes he and
other workers received maximum exposure to the toxic dust
mixture.
"That's a lot of dust," he said. "And when we complained about
the dust, people were terminated."
It wasn't until June 1996 that workers in the tunnel were given
respirators. But even then, Griego said, the gear didn't protect
them from a type of zeolite, called erionite. At one point in
the operation, the boring machine encountered a 10-foot-thick
vein, one-third of which was erionite.
The tunnel was completed with breakthrough on April 25, 1997.
Griego has contacted Craig Depew, a Houston attorney who
specializes in industrial injury cases. Depew confirmed Thursday
he has sent investigators to interview Yucca Mountain workers.
Bill Robins, a Santa Fe, N.M., attorney who has handled
silicosis lawsuits, said he also has been approached by Yucca
workers.
"It seems pretty obvious to me there was some pretty clear
knowledge of hazards these workers were exposed to," Robins
said. "They were put in the hole without any real protections."
Margaret Chu, director of the Office of Civilian Radioactive
Waste Management, said measures now in place are protecting
Yucca workers. About 140 work at the site.
A memo written for the director of the Los Alamos lab in March
2003 by Wes Myers, an environmental safety official at Yucca
during initial tunneling, described work at the site at the
onset of tunnel-boring in the spring of 1994.
Myers said when operations became too dusty, tunnel workers were
given painters masks, which cover the mouth and nostrils of a
worker. "However, during the early course of the (tunnel boring)
operations, geologists/mineralogists detected silica minerals
and erionite in the tunnel, and they raised the issue ... of
possible associated chronic respiratory problems," he wrote.
Myers said health professionals working with TRW argued that
workers would need to be exposed to dusts over periods as long
as 30 years to be at risk for silicosis.
"With considerable effort," Myers wrote, a dust hazard expert
was assigned in 1994 to take samples on the boring equipment
while in operation. He found dust levels inhaled "higher than
acceptable levels with regard to long-term chronic exposure."
By then, Grieco said, workers were 2 1/2 miles into Yucca
Mountain. "Obviously, it was too late to do any good," he said.
Copyright Las Vegas Review-Journal
*****************************************************************
48 chillicothe gazette: Initiative gathers input on local plant's future -
Thursday, January 29, 2004
By DANIEL PRAZER Gazette Staff Writer
Martin S. Lerman/Gazette
Vina Colley listens to the information being said about the
future use planning committee for DOE Portsmouth Plant Wednesday.
PIKETON -- Residents of the area surrounding the Piketon uranium
enrichment plant got the first of several chances Wednesday night
to voice their opinions about the level of cleanup the plant will
see.
The meeting, hosted by the Southern Ohio Diversification
Initiative, was designed to gather input from the stakeholders in
the plant's future -- local governments, environmental regulators
and the community at large -- as the Department of Energy begins
to revise a document that spells out ways to make the cleanup at
the plant as cost effective as possible while still controlling
risk.
"Cleanup in the nuclear world is relative ... and it's based on
risk," said David Abelson, a consultant for SODI who lives near
the Rocky Flats nuclear weapons facility outside Denver.
The idea of the Risk Based End State (RBES) document the DOE is
drafting is to identify portions of the cleanup where expensive
means won't necessarily justify the end of decreased risk to the
environment or public -- getting more "bang for your buck," said
SODI director Greg Simonton.
But the RBES is a living document, said William Murphie, manager
of a recently formed DOE office in Lexington, Ky. that deals only
with operations at the Piketon plant and its sister plant in
Paducah, Ky. It's final draft isn't due to DOE higher-ups until
March 31, so as the public comes closer to reaching a consensus
as to the plant's final end-use, give and take with the cleanup
levels is to be expected.
The DOE's cleanup of the site in past years has put the plant on
a given course, though it's not necessarily the one the community
would prefer to see. SODI is trying to facilitate a process in
which the public will have input on the plant's future. Dan
Minter, president of the PACE Local 5-689 union that represents
the plant's workers, said the RBES creation process is similar to
drawing a roadmap that leads to a destination never visited.
The first draft of the RBES is due to the DOE's Washington office
in the next several days, and copies will be distributed around
the plant and online, Murphie said. He also said his office would
send representatives to Piketon in the following weeks to help
residents get a handle on the document and its effects, an offer
Simonton accepted.
Another stakeholder meeting should follow in about three weeks,
during which Simonton said he hopes to begin forming breakout
groups that will gather opinions to be returned to the group at
large.
Many of the seven speakers invited to make presentations,
including representatives from the Ohio and United States
Environmental Protection Agency and Governor Bob Taft's office,
expressed eagerness to work with the DOE in this process.
"I view this facility up here as an asset," said T. J. Justice,
the governor's regional representative for economic development.
"You have an opportunity that other communities don't have."
Waverly Mayor Bill Kelly stressed that local government is a tool
residents can use to make sure their opinions on the cleanup get
heard.
"Everyone in here knows a council member, a mayor, a trustee, a
county commissioner," Kelly said. "As a resident first, it's very
important that we have a safe site for our children and
grandchildren."
But not everybody was so optimistic. Vina Colley, president of
the Portsmouth/Piketon Residents for Environmental Safety and
Security and national advocate for National Nuclear Worker for
Justice, called the process a "lose-lose situation."
"I cannot believe that our government continues to push for more
dirty jobs for this community, for these workers who are dying of
cancer," Colley said. "I listen to what I've heard in this room
today and I just want to weep."
Colley said the only end-use she can see for the 3,800 acres of
land on site is as a nuclear waste facility, something she says
she doesn't want to see.
But SODI, in 1999, produced a land-use study that anticipated
turning the land into an industrial park. Simonton, however, said
the group is taking a look at the end-use with fresh eyes and
without preconceptions.
"SODI, in this instance, is looking at itself as a facilitator,"
Simonton said. "For this process, we're stepping back and we'd
like to hear the community voice their priorities."
(Prazer can be reached at 772-9364 or via e-mail at
dprazer@nncogannett.com)
Originally published Thursday, January 29, 2004
*****************************************************************
49 Las Vegas SUN: Sen. Reid demands answers on Yucca silicosis illnesses
By Suzanne Struglinski
WASHINGTON -- Some former Yucca Mountain workers are sick with
the chronic lung disease silicosis, and Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev.,
wants to know what the Energy Department knew about their
exposure to dangerous materials that cause the sickness.
Earlier this month, the department created a $500,000 silicosis
screening program for workers who help dig tunnels at Yucca
Mountian, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, as part of its
research for plans to store 77,000 tons of high-level nuclear
waste there. Department officials said workers may not have had
the most up-to-date safety protection available between 1992 and
2000.
"It seems the Department of Energy has once again risked health
and safety to push through the Yucca Mountain project," Reid
said Thursday. "They are trying to sell us a bill of goods that
the project is safe, and meanwhile some of their own workers may
have contracted a fatal illness from working at the site. We
cannot trust a word they say about the safety of the project."
In a letter sent to Energy Secretary Spencer Abrahm Thursday,
Reid asks what steps the department took to protect workers
against silica and whether the department knew about the high
levels of the mineral in the mountain.
"I am pleased that the Department of Energy initiated the
silicosis screening program to provide free health screenings
and to locate and notify workers who may have had long-term,
repeated exposure to airborne silica," Reid wrote. "I am
disturbed, however, that the DOE appears to have lacked adequate
safety precautions to protect workers at the site."
Reid also wants to know what the department will do for workers
who test positive for silicosis from their work at the mountain.
*****************************************************************
50 Express-Times: Owner wraps up case for landfill expansion
Pennsylvania News
Friday, January 30, 2004 By JEFF SCHOGOL
PLAINFIELD TWP. -- Waste Management Inc. on Thursday finished
presenting its case for a plan to expand by about 43 acres the
Grand Central Sanitary Landfill in Plainfield Township.
Supervisors have held 10 public hearings on the proposed
expansion since Sept. 11, 2003. 
Pen Argyl will present its case against the proposed expansion at
the next public hearing, said township Solicitor David
Backenstoe.
As of Thursday night, no date for the next hearing had been set.
The topic of Thursday's hearing was a health risk assessment
commissioned by Waste Management that found no general public
health risk from the landfill.
Waste Management consultant Dr. Arthur Frank reiterated the risk
assessment's conclusions Thursday night.
A professor of public health at Drexel University, Frank said he
was paid about $3,500 by Waste Management to oversee the health
risk assessment. He said he has no other affiliation with the
company.
Health risk assessments examine the likelihood that people will
become sick based on exposure to certain substances, Frank said.
As a neutral consultant, Frank said his role was to make sure the
health risk assessment commissioned by Waste Management measured
the right chemicals correctly.
Frank said the health risk assessment looked at emissions from
the landfill and found landfill dust and gas poses no measurable
public health risk.
Frank said he did not supervise how or when samples for the
health risk assessment were collected. Taking samples is not
within his expertise, he explained. He said he simply assumed the
data were collected correctly.
Landfill engineer Jan Hutwelker is president of a firm that
collected data for the health risk assessment. Hutwelker is not a
Waste Management employee.
Pen Argyl Solicitor Peter Layman asked Frank if he is concerned
that some of the data came from Hutwelker's firm.
Frank said any company that wants to stay in business must
provide accurate information.
Also Thursday, Frank said the health risk assessment did not look
for the possible health effects of radiation from the landfill
because it did not expect to find radiation there.
In December, representatives from Waste Management said the
landfill accepts some radioactive waste that the state Department
of Environmental Protection has deemed harmless.
Waste Management attorney Leonard Zito said Thursday the plan to
expand the landfill meets all legal requirements.
Waste Management spokesman Harry Smith said he is confident the
expansion plan will be approved.
Reporter Jeff Schogol can be reached at 610-863-4025 or by e-mail
at jschogol@express-times.com.
Copyright 2004 The Express-Times. Used with permission.
© 2004 NJ.com. All Rights Reserved.
*****************************************************************
51 Elko Daily Free Press: Sandoval to keep fighting
By ADELLA HARDING, Staff Writer
Nevada Attorney General Brian Sandoval chats with Mary Korpi,
manager of external affairs for Newmont Mining Corp.'s Nevada
operations, at Biltoki restaurant Wednesday evening.
ELKO - Nevada Attorney General Brian Sandoval said Wednesday he
is "absolutely convinced" storing nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain
would be "unsafe and dangerous."
He said he has spent the year studying the Yucca Mountain Project
and the law, and he is committed to fighting the project because
he doesn't want to "put the health and safety of Nevada residents
at risk." Sandoval, who was in Elko for a Town Hall Meeting
sponsored by the Nevada Broadcasters Association, said the site
is geologically porous, on an earthquake fault, and it is above
an aquifer that would be used to dilute radiation that might leak
out.
"As one of our attorneys says, it would leak like a sieve,"
Sandoval said in an interview at Biltoki restaurant.
Sandoval also said he was in Washington, D.C., for the U.S. Court
of Appeals hearing earlier this month, and he predicts the
outcome will be a "mixed bag."
He said he believes Nevada has a good chance of winning a federal
appeals court ruling that the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency was wrong in adopting a standard that the waste must be
safe for 10,000 years.
"I'm cautiously optimistic on the EPA case," he said.
The National Academy of Sciences called for 300,000 years of
isolation, and "the court looked favorably on our argument," he
said.
"Congress said DOE had to geologically isolate the waste,"
Sandoval said.
But, the constitutional case that Gov. Kenny Guinn's veto of the
project should have carried more weight "wasn't well received,"
he told the gathering of local residents and government
officials.
"One judge asked if it's federal land, why can't the federal
government do what it wants?" Sandoval said.
The court consolidated six state cases on Yucca Mountain, and
Sandoval said the next step would be to appeal to the U.S.
Supreme Court, if the appeals court doesn't rule in the state's
favor.
He said he expects the appeals court to issue a decision this
spring or early summer.
Another of the suits protested DOE's failure to provide plans for
transporting the waste in the original environmental impact
statement, but DOE is now looking at a route from Caliente that
skirts the Nevada Test Site.
Sandoval said this route could tie up hundreds of thousands of
acres of public land from grazing and mineral exploration.
DOE wants to move 77,000 tons of nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain,
90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, from nuclear power plants and
industrial and military sites around the country.
But Sandoval said he wants to see the waste stay where it's at
until new technology can be developed to recycle the waste.
"I've had conversations with other attorney generals. They are
sympathetic, but they don't want to host the most toxic substance
known to man," he said.
No federal benefits
Sandoval also said those who maintain that Nevada should accept
that Yucca Mountain will happen and instead focus on federal
benefits from the project are wrong.
"I've never heard of any offer in terms of benefits for the State
of Nevada. There is no money on the table and my understanding is
that there never was," he said in answer to a question at the
Town Hall Meeting and Basque dinner.
In addition, Sandoval said he recently sent a letter of protest
because the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and U.S. Department of
Energy met in private to discuss DOE's application for a license
for Yucca Mountain, without including Nevada.
The response was that they didn't think it was a problem that
Nevada wasn't included, "which I find offensive," Sandoval said.
DOE has to file the completed application by Dec. 31, and he said
he understands the application is "only about 30 percent
complete. My concern is there will be a rush to judgment."
On the other side of the coin, DOE is under pressure for missing
a 1998 deadline to open a national nuclear waste repository and
faces lawsuits from utility companies over the delay.
Board of Regents
Sandoval also said he has been busy on the state's case against
the University and Community College System Board of Regents over
the regents' actions against former Great Basin College President
Ron Remington.
His office found earlier this month that the regents violated the
open meeting law during the Nov. 17 and Nov. 20 meetings the
ended in Remington's demotion from president of the Community
College of Southern Nevada.
Remington remains on the college's faculty.
Sandoval also said he was pleased with District Judge Jackie
Glass' decision to issue a temporary restraining order against
regents discussing Remington in a future closed session.
Sandoval's office has a lawsuit over the violations, asking the
court to that the regents violated the open meeting law and to
void the demotions of Remington and college lobbyist John
Cummings.
"We want to nullify their actions," Sandoval said.
The regents would have to act all over again in accordance with
the open meeting laws regarding Remington and Cummings, he said,
stressing that the state's concern is the open meeting law.
The state's case is separate from Remington's legal battle over
his demotion, and the regents have their own counsel, he said.
Sandoval also told those at the meeting the open meeting is "just
that. I would encourage all public bodies to conduct business in
the open."
Patriot Act
Sandoval also commented on the Patriot Act that "it is very
important in terms of national security, but it shouldn't be
abused."
"The federal government has a fine line to walk," he said, adding
that he feels strongly about personal freedoms.
Nevada Broadcasters Association Chief Executive Officer Bob
Fisher also spoke briefly at the meeting about the importance of
radio for emergencies and homeland security.
Fisher and Sandoval were in Ely earlier in the day and head to
Winnemucca and Fallon today.
*****************************************************************
52 SR: Reid demands to know why safety precautions were not enforced at Yucca
Mountain project
Senator Harry Reid - Assistant Democratic Leader From Nevada">
Thursday, January 29, 2004
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Responding to the possibility that some
workers at the Yucca Mountain project have contracted silicosis,
Senator Harry Reid is demanding answers from Department of Energy
Secretary Spencer Abraham. In a letter sent to Abraham today,
Reid asked Abraham to answer questions about workers exposure to
silica and what DOE knew and when they knew it.
On January 15, DOE issued a press release announcing a silicosis
screening program for current and former workers at the Yucca
Mountain project. According to that press release, “regulatory
limits for airborne silica were exceeded at various times during
the tunnel mining operations at Yucca Mountain from 1992 to 2000.
During early work at the site, respiratory protection was
available but requirements for its use were not consistently
applied. Some workers may have been exposed to airborne
silica.”
“It seems the Department of Energy has once again risked health
and safety to push through the Yucca Mountain project.” Senator
Reid said. “They are trying to sell us a bill of goods that the
project is safe, and meanwhile some of their own workers may have
contracted a fatal illness from working at the site. We can not
trust a word they say about the safety of the project.”
A copy of the letter Sen. Reid sent to Secretary Abraham
follows:
January 29, 2004
The Honorable Spencer Abraham
Secretary of Energy
U.S. Department of Energy
1000 Independence Avenue, S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20585
Dear Secretary Abraham:
I am deeply concerned about the health of workers on the Yucca
Mountain project in Nevada. I have recently learned that two
current workers have contracted silicosis and that their illness
may have been caused by inhaling silica while working at the
Yucca Mountain site.
Silicosis is a disabling, nonreversible, and sometimes fatal
lung disease which causes scar tissue to form in the lungs,
reducing the lungs’ ability to extract oxygen from the air. I
am pleased that the Department of Energy initiated the Silicosis
Screening Program to provide free health screenings and to
locate and notify workers who may have had long-term, repeated
exposure to airborne silica.
I am disturbed, however, that the DOE appears to have lacked
adequate safety precautions to protect workers at the site.
Silica is known to exist naturally at the Yucca Mountain site,
and the dangers of consistent exposure to silica are
well-documented. In addition, the Department of Labor has found
that silicosis is “100 percent preventable.” Yet the DOE
stated in its press release on this issue that workers were
exposed to dangerous amounts of airborne silica “at various
times” between 1992 and 2000. The release also stated:
“During early work at the site, respiratory protection was
available but requirements for its use were not consistently
applied.” These statements suggest that the DOE recognized the
risk posed to workers at Yucca Mountain from silica and failed
to take sufficient measures to protect them.
In order to better understand these circumstances, please
provide me with answers to the following questions:
1. Was the DOE aware of high levels of silica at the Yucca
Mountain site prior to tunnel construction? If so, what steps
were taken to protect workers from exposure to airborne silica?
If not, when did the DOE become aware of this problem and what
steps were then taken to protect workers?
2. Did the DOE receive information from any workers about
potential exposure?
If so, what did the DOE do with that information?
3. In the January 15, 2004 DOE press release, you say: “During
early work at the site, respiratory protection was available but
requirements for its use were not consistently applied.” What
were these requirements? What enforcement mechanisms existed to
ensure they were applied?
4. What programs are currently in place to ensure that no
additional workers are exposed to harmful levels of silica?
5. How many workers at the Yucca Mountain site, working for DOE
or its contractors, were exposed to dangerous levels of silica?
6. Does the DOE have a program in place to identify individuals
who routinely visited the site who are not project employees?
7. What action does the DOE plan to take for workers who have
contracted silicosis from exposure to silica at Yucca Mountain?
We have a responsibility to protect first and foremost the
health and safety of workers at the Yucca Mountain project. If
you have any questions about my request, please contact me or
have your staff contact Sara Mills of my staff at (202)
224-3542.
I look forward to hearing from you and working with you to
ensure that these issues are immediately addressed.
Sincerely,
HARRY REID
United States Senator
cc: Mr. Gregory H. Friedman
Inspector General, United States Department of Energy
*****************************************************************
53 AU ABC: International experts criticise nuclear dump safety processes
"Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The World Today - Friday, 30 January , 2004 12:30:26
Reporter: Nance Haxton
HAMISH ROBERTSON: Scientific experts say there are significant
problems with the Federal Government's proposal for Australia's
first national radioactive waste repository.
The peer review panel, which visited the site of the proposed
dump in South Australia's outback, concluded that the site
selection process was thorough, but it was critical of safety
processes.
The experts want to see further environmental assessment studies
before a decision is made on whether the repository should be
built.
In Adelaide, Nance Haxton reports.
NANCE HAXTON: The international peer review panel says that more
work is needed before the proposal for a low-level radioactive
waste repository near Woomera in South Australia's north
progresses any further.
Australia's independent federal radiation agency, ARPANSA,
invited the International Atomic Energy Agency to select the team
of experts to help with its assessment of the Federal Department
of Science proposal.
ARPANSA CEO, Dr John Loy, says they may now have to review the
approval process in light of the report.
JOHN LOY: The thing that comes through strongly for me is that
this needs to think through the issues a bit more, to be able to
demonstrate safety. They weren't saying that they believed it was
likely not to be safe, that the demonstration of it needed to be
made much more open or clear and supported with clearer evidence.
NANCE HAXTON: The report says the siting, design, construction
and operation of the dump should be separated into a step-by-step
process, rather than the single licence that is in place.
It also calls for further studies of the faults and fractures on
the site to evaluate whether the dump could contaminate ground
water in the region.
The Australian Conservation Foundation's David Noonan says the
report is far more damning than ARPANSA is letting on.
DAVID NOONAN: They've really found that both the licensing
process and the nuclear dump plant itself fails the test of
international best practice.
It's a significant setback for John Loy, it's a critique of the
very fundamental licensing process he's put in place, and he's
got to accept that the information provided to him so far by the
Federal Government is simply inadequate to demonstrate any
safety.
NANCE HAXTON: The South Australian Government is also crowing.
State Environment Minister John Hill says this, on top of the
ALP's motion passed at its National Conference, to oppose the
dump being sited in South Australia, shows that momentum against
the national radioactive waste repository is growing.
JOHN HILL: The Federal Government is obviously going through a
process to try and get this dump up, and I suppose they would've
been aided if a group of international experts said ‘yes, this is
a great thing, go ahead’. But, well, clearly they haven’t said
that.
HAMISH ROBERTSON: South Australia's Environment Minister John
Hill, speaking to Nance Haxton in Adelaide.
*****************************************************************
54 The Courier: Truck hauling nuclear fuel rods crashes; no danger to area
Russellville, Ark.
The Courier 201 East Second St P.O. Box 887 Russellville, AR
72811-0887 THE COURIER / Fred Gladdis
Friday, January 30, 2004
Personnel from BNFL Inc., the Arkansas Department of Health,
Johnson County Office of Emergency Services and employees of HSI
Crane Services of Russellville work to secure containers holding
spent nuclear fuel rods from an overturned tractor-trailer
Thursday afternoon on Interstate 40 near Knoxville.
By Sean Ingram judicial@couriernews.com
The last remaining containers of spent nuclear fuel rods were
removed Thursday from a tractor-trailer involved in an accident
shortly after midnight Wednesday, according to authorities.
Pope County Office of Emergency Management director Dewey Traylor
explained the driver of an 18-wheeler bound for Oak Ridge, Tenn.,
left the eastbound lane of Interstate 40, crossed the median and
struck a utility pole near mile marker 67 in Johnson County, near
the Knoxville exit.
Arkansas State Police Cpl. Ben Cross arrived on the scene and
made contact with the driver, who sustained minor injuries and
was treated and released at Johnson Regional Medical Center.
Traylor said the rig was carrying ten 6-foot-by-10-foot DOT Type
A containers of “real low-yield” spent nuclear fuel rods in an
enclosed trailer. None of the containers, which weighed
approximately 3,600 pounds each, were damaged in the accident.
Representatives from the Department of Energy, Arkansas
Department of Emergency Management, Arkansas Department of Health
(ADH) and Fred Taylor, coordinator of the Johnson County Office
of Emergency Services responded to the scene Wednesday and are
overseeing the transfer of fuel rod containers to flatbed
tractor-trailers and their transport to Tennessee.
“We took several radiation tests Wednesday morning, and there was
no radiation hazard detected,” said Bernie Bell of the Arkansas
Department of Health office in Little Rock. “We took radiation
smears and took some radiation level measurements.
There was no radiation hazard that was evident to us.” Traylor
added that while it was being determined where to place the
flatbed trailer with the containers until they could be tested,
he offered to place them at the Office of Emergency Managment
yard in Pope County. It was later determined by Department of
Energy officials they would place the containers on flatbed
trailers to transport them to Tennessee.
Copyright © 2004, Russellville Newspapers, Inc.
*****************************************************************
55 The Australian: IAEA 'praised' N-dump choice
By Rebecca DiGirolamo January 31, 2004
THE federal Government yesterday validated its second-best site
for a national radioactive waste dump in South Australia
following international praise of its controversial site
selection process.
Finance and Administration Minster Nick Minchin said the
International Atomic Energy Agency had found the 11-year site
selection process had met world's best practice.
"Rather than being a flawed process as claimed by the South
Australian Government and federal Labor, the IAEA team praised
the transparency and arrangements for consultation in the siting
process," Senator Minchin said.
He said the review panel had also endorsed proposed transport
regulations and management systems for the dump in line with best
world practice.
The Australian yesterday reported the panel had criticised the
commonwealth's application process for the dump after failing to
meet international standards and recommended an alternative that
could delay the construction of the dump.
The five-member international panel spent the past two weeks in
Australia reviewing the licence application of the Department of
Education Science and Training to site, construct and operate a
low-level radioactive repository at a sheep station, near Woomera
in the state's far north.
© The Australian
*****************************************************************
56 Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Hanford plant costs get review
[seattlepi.com]
Friday, January 30, 2004
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
RICHLAND -- Congress has sent an Army Corps of Engineers review
team to the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in south-central
Washington, concerned about the price tag for a waste treatment
plant.
A team of 12 to 15 corps officials will be at Hanford through
April to prepare an independent assessment of the costs to build
and begin operating a plant that will turn some of the nation's
most dangerous nuclear waste into glass.
The review will cost $1.5 million, but that is just a fraction of
the cost of building the plant to treat waste stored in
underground tanks at Hanford.
The plant, which is the federal government's largest current
construction project, was estimated to cost $4.35 billion three
years ago. The price tag last year rose to an estimated $5.78
billion, a 33 percent increase.
"This increase reflects a troubling lack of accountability at the
Department (of Energy) for prior costs and schedule estimates,
and does not inspire congressional confidence," said a House and
Senate conference committee report that ordered the Corps review.
Bechtel National was hired as the contractor for the project in
late 2000, after BNFL was fired upon announcing the cost of the
plan had ballooned from $6.9 billion to $15.2 billion.
Jim Betts, project manager for Bechtel National, said Wednesday
he welcomed the independent review. Officials at the Energy
Department's Office of River Protection also said the review
should help build needed congressional support for the project.
HEADLINES
Semi almost blown off Deception Pass bridge USDA rejects calls to
test younger cows 'Captain' pioneered king crab fishery during
50-year career Levy plan irks some taxpayers Most homeowners in
county will pay less In the Northwest: Washington state may be do
or die for Dean Disagreement along entire light rail route Going
home to a place I've never been Price of books in college soars
Hanford jobs to plunge by 2008 Eugene woman pleads guilty to hit
and run Court throws out death sentence Hanford plant costs get
review No mandate to revamp County Council Officer charged with
trespassing Military bases to get scrutiny State looks at
tenant-billing rules Discovery Park chapel may not have a prayer
Mountain train a costly dream for city Flooding hits low-lying
spots Scientist was devoted to fish research Few couch potatoes
here Suspect pointed gun at officer, police say Fisheries agency
won't appeal orca decision Man pleads guilty in deadly boat
accident Sentencing delayed for garment factory owner King County
Deaths
[Seattle Post-Intelligencer] 101 Elliott Ave. W. Seattle, WA
98119 (206) 448-8000
Home Delivery: (206) 464-2121 or (800) 542-0820
©1996-2004 Seattle Post-Intelligencer
*****************************************************************
57 Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Hanford jobs to plunge by 2008
[seattlepi.com]
Friday, January 30, 2004
Cleanup efforts to accelerate, 'working the community out of
jobs'
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
RICHLAND -- The number of workers handling environmental cleanup
at the Hanford Nuclear Rreservation will begin to decline in
2006, with about 4,000 jobs expected to disappear by 2008, the
Energy Department said.
The figures released Wednesday at the Tri-Cities Regional
Economic Outlook Forum are only for environmental cleanup jobs
and do not include research unrelated to Hanford by Pacific
Northwest National Laboratory.
The lab employs about 3,500 people.
"What we're asking you to do is to help us speed cleanup. At the
same time, we're working the community out of jobs. I know that's
tough," Jeanie Schwier, chief financial officer for department's
Richland office, told the forum.
Hanford and the surrounding area have lived through boom and bust
employment cycles since World War II.
A 1945 study declared the mid-Columbia Valley's biggest economic
problem was losing Hanford jobs, said Dean Schau, state labor
economist for the Pasco, Kennewick and Richland areas.
At the time, the site employed 51,000 people. In 1971, the site
dipped to a low of 6,500 employees.
Hanford's early environmental cleanup years beginning in 1989
pushed the site's employment to 18,500 by 1994 amid heavy
criticism of a bloated work force.
Two years of belt-tightening then dropped Hanford's cleanup
employees to about 12,500 in 1996.
Energy Department officials predict that cleanup will employ
about 11,000 people in 2004. That number is expected to rise to
about 11,500 by 2006, then fall to about 9,800 one year later as
construction work winds down on a complex where highly
radioactive and hazardous waste will be transformed to glass.
In 2008, about 7,500 employees will complete construction of that
complex and begin testing. In 2011, employment will fall to about
6,300 employees, many of whom will work on completing cleanup of
the Columbia River corridor the following year.
Employment numbers will continue to decline through 2033, when
about 900 employees will be expected to shut down and demolish
the glassification complex.
For 40 years, the 586-square-mile reservation in south-central
Washington made plutonium for the nation's nuclear weapons,
beginning with the Manhattan Project to build the atomic bomb
during World War II.
Today, it is the nation's most contaminated nuclear site. Cleanup
costs are expected to total $50 billion to $60 billion.
[Seattle Post-Intelligencer] 101 Elliott Ave. W. Seattle, WA
98119 (206) 448-8000
Home Delivery: (206) 464-2121 or (800) 542-0820
Send comments to newmedia@seattlepi.com
©1996-2004 Seattle Post-Intelligencer
*****************************************************************
58 Tri-City Herald: Hanford cleanup initiative certified
This story was published Friday, January 30th, 2004
By Chris Mulick Herald Olympia bureau
OLYMPIA -- Heart of America's Hanford cleanup initiative was
certified Thursday as expected by Secretary of State Sam Reed,
meaning the Legislature must now enact it or send it to the
November ballot.
But three weeks into its 60-day session it's not clear what, if
anything, the Legislature will do. There's been nary a peep about
the measure since lawmakers convened Jan. 12.
Sen. Adam Kline, D-Seattle, has offered his support, but
otherwise, "Nobody else is even talking about it," said Rep. Mark
Schoesler, R-Ritzville.
Initiative 297, fronted by Hanford watchdog Gerald Pollet and
endorsed by environmental groups, the state Democratic Party and
the League of Women Voters, has created a stir in the Tri-Cities,
where some fear it would actually hamper cleanup efforts.
The measure would attempt to halt nuclear waste shipments from
other states to Hanford until existing wastes are cleaned up. It
would do so by preventing the state from approving permits for
new waste facilities.
Critics question the constitutionality of the measure and argue
such policy could make it difficult to ship Hanford's existing
wastes to other states such as Nevada and New Mexico for proper
burial.
But options are few. The only way to defeat it is at the ballot
box.
Pollet has made no effort to convince the Legislature to simply
enact the measure. He said he'd look forward to the impact it
would have on this year's campaigns.
"We want to see the strongest possible message," Pollet said.
"What would be stronger than a unanimous Legislature would be a
strong public vote in November."
It's widely believed the initiative would be an easy sell to the
public. It figures to be difficult to convince voters to reject a
plan that purports to boost nuclear waste cleanup efforts.
"The only hope is to try to fight the initiative head on," said
Rep. Jerome Delvin, R-Richland. "Who has the resources to put up
that kind of education program? I don't know. The burden falls on
the Tri-Cities."
Rep. Shirley Hankins, R-Richland, would prefer lawmakers develop
some sort of alternative. It's not clear what that would look
like.
Hankins said she's talking with House leaders to schedule a
hearing to help legislators begin to understand Hanford issues.
Right now, "It's about zero."
Sen. Pat Hale, R-Kennewick, submitted a letter this week to
Attorney General Christine Gregoire asking that she clarify a
laundry list of questions about whether sections of the measure
are legal, whether the initiative violates the U.S. Constitution,
and general questions about whether it would speed or delay
cleanup efforts.
If Gregoire were to issue a critical opinion, that could be used
as a basis to bring the initiative to the Senate floor and stage
a rare "No" vote, Hale said.
"That would certainly send a loud statement to voters," she said.
Pollet said he's certain the initiative would withstand any legal
challenge.
"We are very confident," he said. "This initiative was very
carefully drafted."
Gov. Gary Locke, who doesn't have a formal role in the process
but whose support or opposition could be influential, said this
week he hasn't yet studied the initiative but that he planned to
soon.
© 2004 Tri-City Herald, Associated Press &Other Wire Services
*****************************************************************
59 Las Vegas SUN: Letter: Workers can't speak up at DOE
Today: January 30, 2004 at 9:49:21 PST
At the recent meeting of the Nuclear Waste Technical Review
Board in Las Vegas, board member Mark Abkowitz asked John Arthur
of the Energy Department if employees within the agency can
freely express any concerns they might have about Yucca
Mountain. Mr. Abkowitz was told that the Energy Department is
creating an intra-agency Leadership Council, where employees can
direct their concerns.
What employee is going to voice a concern against the
repository project, knowing full well his or her superiors are
pushing the project full speed ahead?
Let's be realistic: Any intra-agency concern will simply be
given the runaround, and to expect otherwise is absurd. Let's
imagine that an Energy Department employee were to suggest that
nuclear wastes could be annihilated by high-energy X-rays, for
example. Are we to suppose that the department would rush to
test the employee's idea? Not a chance! The agency is bent and
determined to bury the wastes, period.
RON BOURGOIN Rocky Mount, N.C.
Editor's note: Ron Bourgoin was a consultant to the town of
Rolesville in Wake County, N.C., in 1984 when a site in that
area was being considered by the Energy Department as the
location for a high-level nuclear waste repository.
*****************************************************************
60 KIFI: INEEL Invention Detects Radioactive Material
www.localnews8.com
January 29, 2004
The Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory is
making a machine to fight terrorism. When finished, it's expected
to find radioactive materials hidden in cargo ships.
It's called Pulsed Photo Nuclear Activation Technology, otherwise
known as PPAT. A detector finds radioactive material used to make
bombs.
"That particular detector design is the key in this whole
process," says James L. Jones, National Security Scientist.
It's the first of its kind.
"What we're trying to do is enhance the ability of detecting in a
shorter period of time the larger configurations such as cargo
containers," says Jones.
"The material…that this technology is really focused to see,
which is highly-enriched uranium, really doesn't lend it self to
emitting a lot of radiation. So when you put a little shielding
around this material you can't see it any way," continues Jones.
PPAT will find uranium in about 20 seconds.
"The whole nature of being able to have this technology tied in
with the terrorist events of what has happened on Sept. 11. It
makes a beautiful match," says Jones.
"I think it's an issue where people would gain a tremendous
amount of strength knowing that your tax paying dollars has
really gone into something that is a tremendous benefit," says
Jones.
In the past two years, INEEL says it only spent $1.5 million to
develop this new detection machine. It's spending the Department
of Homeland Security is investing to keep our nation a safer
place to live in.
In the next few months the INEEL will package the accelerator to
effectively scan the large cargo bins. It expects every port to
have a working machine in about two years.
*****************************************************************
61 U.S. Newswire: Hydrogen Fuel Cars in the Classroom; Department
of Energy Introduces Future to Denver Students
1/29/04 1:18:00 PM
To: Assignment Desk, Daybooks
Contact: Tom Welch, 202-586-5806, Chris Powers (NREL),
303-275-4742, both of the U.S. Department of Energy
News Advisory:
A top U.S. Department of Energy official will introduce key
concepts of the "hydrogen economy" to middle and elementary
school students in Denver. Scientists believe hydrogen will
someday become the world's main source of energy, replacing oil
and other fossil fuels. Carl Michael Smith, Assistant Secretary,
Energy Department's Office of Fossil Energy, will introduce
activities and the study of hydrogen technology through classroom
activities that include demonstrating a model car powered by a
hydrogen fuel cell.
To help prepare the next generation of scientists and engineers
in the disciplines of hydrogen and fuel cells, the Department of
Energy is promoting the study of hydrogen and fuel cell
technologies in schools. Hydrogen technology and fuel cell
research have the potential to solve several major challenges
facing America today, including dependence on foreign oil, air
pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.
WHO: Carl Michael Smith, Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy,
U.S. Department of Energy, will lead the classes. Assistant
Secretary Smith will be accompanied by National Renewable Energy
Laboratory Associate Director Jessie Harris.
WHEN: Wednesday, February 4, 2004 10:45 to 11:30 a.m. -- 8th
grade science class in Spanish 12:45 to 1:30 p.m. -- 6th grade
science class in English
WHERE: Rishel Middle School 451 S. Tejon Street Denver, Colorado
80223 303-777-4436
http://www.usnewswire.com/
*****************************************************************
62 Tri-Valley Herald: Court orders a new trial in lab firing case
1/30/2004
Decision invalidates $1 million jury award
By Ian Hoffman, STAFF WRITER
A state appeals court threw out a $1 million jury award Wednesday
and ordered a new trial in a labor case at Lawrence Livermore
weapons lab that earned notoriety for the University of
California in Congress.
Former Livermore computer technician Dee Kotla said through
attorneys that she will return to court on allegations that she
was fired as punishment for testifying against the lab in a
sexual harassment case.
"This case is every bit as good now as it was then," said Kotla
attorney J. Gary Gwilliam.
Lab officials welcomed the ruling. "We're pleased with the
decision," said Livermore spokeswoman Lynda Seaver.
The lab and the university as its operator say they fired Kotla
for using government equipment to make $4.60 in personal phone
calls and doing work for a former lab worker's software business.
A lab attorney unearthed those violations in a search of Kotla's
phone and computer records while Kotla was testifying about a
pattern of sexual harassment by a senior lab scientist.
After a two-month trial in 2002, jurors split 6-3 in Kotla's
favor.
They awarded her $1 million after an expert witness testifying
that the picayune nature of Kotla's violations of lab policy, the
lab's history of disciplining workers more mildly for similar
violations and other factors were "indicative of retaliation."
UC and lab attorney Henry Lederman argued that the trial judge
never should have let industrial psychologist Jay Finkelman offer
his opinion on the core of the case.
"What motivates someone to do something, this is what jurors do
every day without the help of self-styled experts telling them
what to think," Lederman argued recently to California's1st
District Court of Appeals. "That was enough to have this matter
reversed because it was so damaging to the defense."
A three-judge panel agreed Wednesday, saying it appeared the
expert testimony "played a decisive role" in the verdict and
finding it "reasonably probable" that the lab otherwise would
have fared better.
The appellate court mentioned the case's most inflammatory
evidence in passing.
While testifying against the lab in a deposition, Kotla took a
restroom break and, sitting undetected in a stall, overheard one
lab attorney tell another, "If Kotla knew what was good for her,
she would shut up."
A Massachusetts congressman turned the Kotla case into a cause
celebre last year, holding it up as emblematic for the double
punishment that workers at U.S. nuclear-weapons facilities face
in lawsuits defended with federal taxpayer dollars. As of early
January, the U.S. Department of Energy has reimbursed the
University of California more than $800,000 in legal fees for the
Kotla case, in addition to $1.2 million in plaintiff's fees to
date.
Rep. Ed Markey used the case to hammer at UC executives and
Energy Department officials. Congress later ordered all UC-run
federal labs, including Livermore, put up for competitive bid for
the first time in more than 50 years.
Kotla's retrial is likely to coincide with the university's
efforts to retain its operation of Los Alamos, Livermore and
Lawrence Berkeley labs.
"Bring 'em on," Gwilliam said. "It's justice delayed but not
justice denied."
Tri-Valley Herald All Rights Reserved
*****************************************************************
63 Shorthorn Online: Regents may bid for nuclear lab
Editor:Brad Rollins 817-272-3661
NEWS | January 30, 2004
UT System
Regents may bid for nuclear lab
The project could provide the university with national
opportunities, Sorber says.
The UT System Board of Regents will decide next week whether to
make a bid for control of Los Alamos National Laboratories, north
of Santa Fe, N.M. If approved, outgoing President Charles Sorber
would be charged with securing the management contract.
Regents will consider the project Wednesday, the second day of
their two-day meeting in Brownsville. Dr. Sorber said his new
role as special engineering advisor to system Chancellor Mark
Yudof includes oversight of the Los Alamos project.
Los Alamos scientists developed the atomic bomb and have driven
nuclear weapons research in the six decades since. The
laboratories annual budget is $2.2 billion.
A decision to pursue control of Los Alamos could mean a research
role for the university at the forefront of the national
interest, Sorber said.
Whoever has the management contract assumes responsibility for
one of the most important components of our homeland security,
he said. Its an undertaking of considerable size and its
obviously a tremendous opportunity.
Reached by telephone in Austin, Yudof said he could not discuss
the systems possible bid for the contract.
I could tell you, but then I would have to kill you, he said.
Were laying this out for the Board of Regents, and I really
dont want any of the discussion to be pre-empted by articles in
the newspaper.
The U.S. Department of Energy, which oversees the lab, said in
April that it would entertain management bids. Los Alamos has
been managed by the University of California since the lab was
established 60 years ago but has come under scrutiny in the last
two years over alleged security breaches and purchasing fraud.
Regents, including panel chairman Charles Miller, did not return
telephone calls. Regents Rita Clements and Judith Cravens said it
was premature to discuss a possible bid.
Its certainly something to talk about, and Im certainly very
interested in the potential, said Clements, who is one of the
regents two vice chairs.
As a vice chancellor before his appointment here, Sorber oversaw
the systems bid for control of Sandia National Laboratories near
Albuquerque.
Its the type of project Im comfortable with, and I always like
a challenge, Sorber said.
The year-long Sandia effort, which cost about $800,000, was
ultimately unsuccessful when the Energy Department decided not to
accept bids and continued the contract of current manager
Lockheed Martin. Lockheed has said it is interested in pursuing
the Los Alamos contract.
Sorber said he was not discouraged by the relatively fresh
failure on the Sandia bid.
Im thinking, maintaining continuity [after Sept. 11] was
paramount in their minds, Sorber said. Obviously, some things
have changed.
A budget bill passed by Congress on Dec. 1 calls for Energy
secretary Spencer Abraham to announce competitions within 60 days
for six defense laboratories that have been closed for bidding
for half a century. Three such labs Los Alamos, Lawrence
Livermore National Laboratory and Lawrence Berkeley National
Laboratory are managed by the University of California System.
Californias management contract for Los Alamos will expire in
2005.
The Department of Energy had not finalized the bidding process
for Los Alamos and the other labs, but is expected to issue a
request for a proposal next month.
An Energy Department spokesman did not return a telephone call
requesting an interview.
Regent Rita Clements says she is open, but still undecided, on UT
System plans to bid for control of the lab.
University of Texas at Arlington| Department of Student
Publications © Copyright 2001. All Rights Reserved. Corrections |
*****************************************************************
64 Idaho Statesman: DOE fines Bechtel for safety violation
The Department of Energy has fined Bechtel BWXT Idaho $41,250 for
a nuclear safety violation at the Idaho National Engineering and
Environmental Laboratory..
The event occurred at the subsurface disposal area where
previously stacked low-level radioactive waste containers tipped
over and four came to rest against a forklift being used to set a
container in place. No one was injured in the event and no
radiation was released to the environment.
Bechtel BWXT Idaho reported the incident to DOE and has taken
corrective actions.
Edition Date: 01-30-2004
*****************************************************************
65 Jackson Hole Zone: Back Idaho lab pitches nuclear energy
January 30, 2004
An Idaho lab is seeking support from Jackson residents for its
new role in nuclear energy research, including plans to build a
$1.1 billion nuclear reactor to produce clean energy.
But Jackson Hole residents remained skeptical following a meeting
Tuesday at the 49’er Inn with officials from the Idaho National
Engineering and Environmental Laboratory.
“I commend them for coming over here” and informing Jackson
residents about work underway at the lab, said Mary Mitchell, a
board member of Keep Yellowstone Nuclear Free.
Also, plans to build a nuclear reactor to produce hydrogen as a
source of clean fuel for the nation “sounds great,” she said. But
it’s what officials do not disclose about emissions from such a
reactor and other activities at the Department of Energy lab,
roughly 90 miles upwind of Yellowstone National Park and Jackson,
that concerns Mitchell, she said.
Mitchell helped lead the fight against a nuclear waste
incinerator proposed at INEEL in 1999. The 10-month battle united
hollywood millionaires and ski bums, who said the incinerator
would pollute the air in Yellowstone and Jackson Hole. In a
landmark agreement, DOE agreed to convene a panel of independent
experts to find more environmentally-sound alternatives to
incineration.
On Tuesday, DOE experts said neither incineration nor any of the
thermal treatment methods forwarded by the independent panel
would be necessary to treat 65,000 cubic meters of radioactive
waste.
Initially, experts estimated that anywhere from 22 percent to 78
percent of the waste would need incineration. But disposal
criteria for the waste has changed with the opening of the Waste
Isolation Pilot Plant, the nation’s first underground repository
for transuranic radioactive waste, in southeastern New Mexico,
said Lorie Cahn, INEEL’s Jackson liaison.
Under the new criteria, only 1 percent of the waste would need
incineration, DOE officials said Tuesday. And even that 1 percent
may be disposed of through methods other than incineration,
officials said.
Town Councilman Scott Anderson questioned why the incinerator was
even considered. “I guess I’m just glad they didn’t spend [$1.2
billion] on the incinerator,” said Anderson, who also is a board
member of Keep Yellowstone Nuclear Free, which sprung up to fight
the incinerator.
But Cahn said the price-tag was not for just the incinerator but
for disposal of the 65,000 cubic meters of waste. That money will
still be spent to dispose of the waste, but without incineration,
she said.
Mitchell said the new figures show an incinerator was never
justified and questioned whether officials had planned to ship in
waste from other sites to make the project economically viable.
Copyright 2003 The Jackson Hole Zone All Rights Reserved. For
*****************************************************************
66 Google News Alert - nuclear
Date: Fri, 30 Jan 2004 20:17:30 -0800 (PST)
PAKISTAN'S Nuclear Responsibility
New York Times
... Washington can not settle for a repetition of this pattern in the Pakistani
investigation into whether its nuclear scientists passed bomb technology
to North ...
See all stories on this topic:
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KEDO holds board meeting on suspension of N Korea nuclear project
Channel News Asia
NEW YORK : The international consortium in charge of a frozen project to
build two nuclear power plants for North Korea, held an executive board
meeting, with ...
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ALLEGATIONS against nuclear scientists basless, says Nawaz
Daily Times
JEDDAH: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Leader Mian Nawaz Sharif said
on Friday that Pakistan was a responsible nuclear power and allegations
against its ...
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RUSSIAN nuclear forces plan huge war exercise
International Herald Tribune
Russian nuclear forces are preparing for an extensive exercise that would
be their largest in more than 20 years, a newspaper reported Friday. ...
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PROBE of illicit nuclear sales said to fall short ANALYSIS / ...
Bangkok Post
... and intelligence officials, speaking anonymously, have steadily disclosed
details of a deepening inquiry into the apparent transfer of Pakistan's
nuclear ...
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GOVT denies report damages nuclear dump proposal
ABC Online
... DAVID NOONAN: They're actually called for significant onsite studies,
actual physical studies of the proposed nuclear waste dump site. ...
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EDITORIAL: Review nuclear fuel cycle
Asahi Shimbun
The Atomic Energy Commission of Japan is the country's highest policy-making
body regarding nuclear power policy. Four of its five ...
UNCOVERING Pakistan's nuclear secrets
BBC News
An investigation into the possible involvement of some of Pakistan's best
known scientists in the illegal sale of nuclear technology has sent shockwaves
across ...
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JAPAN'S energy battle triggers a nuclear reaction
Sydney Morning Herald
The United States and China are locked in opposition over the siting of
a $US30 billion ($39 billion) nuclear fusion reactor in Japan that scientists
warn ...
See all stories on this topic:
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RUSSIA to test nuclear forces
Guardian
Russia's nuclear forces are preparing for their biggest exercise for more
than 20 years, a newspaper reported yesterday. The business ...
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67 [du-list] [Fwd: Peace/ No Nuke Fundraiser: New Flags
Date: Fri, 30 Jan 2004 17:55:43 -0800
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Peace/ No Nuke Fundraiser: New Flags Available:
EARTH/US/PEACE/CUBA/ RAINBOW/PUERTO RICO/AFRO Flags for Sale, 9.00 each;
bulk discounts ;]
Date: Thu, 29 Jan 2004 21:38:53 -0500
From: Norm Cohen
To: Norm Cohen
Hi all,
We have some new flags available for sale, in addition to the ones we've
posted in the past.
This email is in text file so as to not clog inboxes with a large email.
If you want an email showing color
pistures of the flags we have for sale, please email me at
mailto:ncohen12@comcast.net.
Please excuse the inevitable duplicate postings. The Coalition for Peace
and Justice and the UNPLUG Salem
Campaign are selling flags to raise money to fund our work. Being small
non-profits, these sales are a big help in covering our
yearly budgets. For those not from our area, CPJ is a regional chapter of
Peace Action and UNPLUG Salem watchdogs the Salem (NJ) nukes. We're
active in southern New Jersey. Websites: cpj -
www.coalitionforpeaceandjustice.org;
UNPLUG -www.unplugsalem.org
Flags are: $9.00 each, $24.00 for 3 (mix and match); 28.00 for 4 (mix and
match); shipping included:, except for overseas shipping,
for which we'll send you a quote on shipping costs anbd choices. We also
offer additional discounts for orders of 25 flags or more. Since we have
to order 150 flags at once to get the best price, volume orders help us
reach that minimum number.
Flagpoles that mount onto the side of your house are also available.
There are no discounts on pole prices unless you buy 12 at the same
time, due to shipping costs. Pole prices are at the bottom of this email.
You can order flags by sending us a check, money order, or
your credit card number, to CPJ, 321 Barr Ave, Linwood, NJ 08221. If you
want to take a tax deduction, please make your check out to "PAEF"
instead. Otherwise, please make your check out to "CPJ". Feel free to
call us at 609-601-8583/37.
Thanks
Norm Cohen
Executive Director, Coalition for Peace and Justice
Coordinator, UNPLUG Salem Campaign
Peace Flag
w/Red-White Stripe
DF 297 - 3' x 5'
$9.00 /each FREE SHIPPING
Rainbow with 50 Stars Flag
DF 425 - 3' x 5'
Polyester Flag:
$9.00 /each FREE SHIP
Rainbow Flag
DF 338 - 3' x 5'
Polyester Flag:
$9.00 /each FREE SHIP
Peace-Blue StandardFlag
DF 436 - 3' x 5'
Polyester Flag:
$9.00 /each FREE SHIP
United Nations Flag
DF239 - 3' x 5'
Polyester Flag:
White UN Logo on Light Blue
$9.00 /each FREE SHIP
World - Earth on Dark Blue
DF362 - 3' x 5'
Polyester Flag:
$9.00 /each FREE SHIP
Cuba Flag 9.00 each with free shipping
DF 225 - 3' x 5' Cuba Polyester Flag
Puerto Rico Flag 9.00 each; free shipping
DF 217 - 3' x 5' Puerto Rico Polyester Flag
United States of America 50 Star National Flag 9.00 each,
free shipping
DF 211 - 3' x 5' USA 50 Stars Polyester Flag
"Afro American" Flag 9.00 each, free shipping
DF 375 - 3' x 5' "Afro American" Polyester Flag
6 foot flagpoles, suitable for attaching to the side of the house
Steel (silver colored) $15.00 /each FREE SHIPPING
Aluminum (gold colored) $18.00 /each FREE SHIPPING
Coalition for Peace and Justice
(http://www.coalitionforpeaceandjustice.org);
and the UNPLUG Salem Campaign
(http://www.unplugsalem.org); 321 Barr Ave.,
Linwood, NJ 08221; 609-601-8583/37;
ncohen12@comcast.net. The Coalition for Peace
and Justice is a chapter of Peace Action
(http://www.peace-action.org). "You can say
I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one" (Lennon). "Don't be late for your
life" (Mary Chapin Carpenter).
--
Coalition for Peace and Justice
(http://www.coalitionforpeaceandjustice.org);
and the UNPLUG Salem Campaign
(http://www.unplugsalem.org); 321 Barr Ave.,
Linwood, NJ 08221; 609-601-8583/37;
ncohen12@comcast.net. The Coalition for Peace
and Justice is a chapter of Peace Action
(http://www.peace-action.org). "You can say
I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one" (Lennon). "Don't be late for your
life" (Mary Chapin Carpenter).
To unsubscribe from this groups send a message to
du-list-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com. In the body of the message type
unsubscribe and send.
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68 EU Business: Japanese Nobel laureate questions validity of nuclear fusion project
30 January 2004
The most recent Japanese winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics on
Friday questioned the validity of a multi-billion dollar nuclear
fusion project his country is competing for against France to
host.
Masatoshi Koshiba, 77, who shared the Nobel physics prize in
2002, told AFP that he had warned that the experiment to emulate
the sun's nuclear fusion might not live up to its billing in an
article more than three years ago.
The 10 billion dollar International Thermonuclear Experimental
Reactor (ITER) project aims to produce the clean, safe,
inexhaustible energy of the future, but once operational, it is
not expected to generate electricity before 2050.
"I wrote ... that the popular project ITER is like what is said
in ancient China: 'Sheep head and dog meat'," Koshiba said,
speaking in English.
"This implies that the shop says it is selling sheep meat but
actually they are selling dog meat."
Koshiba said he had also pointed out that before it could become
the next energy source, nuclear fusion had to be proven to be
both safe and economical, but no one had any experience in
dealing with the sort of power it could unleash.
He added that the resulting energy could cost more than estimated
if operations had to be halted to replace absorbers or walls.
But the professor emeritus at the elite Tokyo University said he
was also "scared" that scientists were not in charge of the
project.
"This project is not in the hands of scientists any more but in
the hands of politicians and businessmen, so there is no chance
scientists can make any change," he said.
The project is a joint effort between the European Union, the
United States, China, Japan, South Korea and Russia.
The partners will share the cost, but competition is intense to
host the project.
The partners are to vote in late February on whether the French
town of Cadarache or the northern Japanese village of
Rokkasho-mura should house it.
They failed to decide on the site at a meeting in December, with
Japan drawing backing from the United States and South Korea,
while France won support from China and Russia.
Earlier this week, Japan's science minister argued that the
Rokkasho site would win out on a fair assessment of technological
merit, but suggested one country might house the reactor site and
the other an information centre. [Web link] ITER - International
Fusion Energy Organisation - further information
Text and Picture Copyright © 2004 AFP. All other copyright ©
2004 EUbusiness Ltd. All rights reserved. This material is
intended solely for personal use. Any other reproduction,
publication or redistribution of this material without the
written agreement of the copyright owner is strictly forbidden
and any breach of copyright will be considered actionable.
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69 SMH: Japan's energy battle triggers a nuclear reaction -
www.smh.com.au [Sydney Morning Herald Online]
By Hamish McDonald Herald Correspondent in Beijing
January 31, 2004
The United States and China are locked in opposition over the
siting of a $US30 billion ($39 billion) nuclear fusion reactor in
Japan that scientists warn would turn the east Asian industrial
giant into a "virtual thermonuclear superpower".
Behind an argument ostensibly over technicalities, money and
scientific prestige lie concerns that the research reactor would
give Japan a ready supply of the last ingredient it needs to
build advanced nuclear weapons at short notice in a crisis.
The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor is planned
to create the world's first sustained nuclear fusion reaction,
combining hydrogen atoms, in the same way that the sun's energy
is created and thermonuclear or hydrogen bombs explode.
It will thereby create an abundant source of cheap energy whose
main by-product is water.
But two nuclear physicists, Andre Gsponer and Jean-Pierre Hurni,
of the Geneva-based Independent Scientific Research Institute,
point out in a paper published last week that the reactor will
provide a massive supply of the heavy hydrogen isotope tritium,
which can be used to "boost" atomic fission explosions and
thereby allow smaller warheads to fit on missiles.
Six nations are involved in a consortium to build the expensive
reactor. The United States and South Korea favour a site at
Rokkasho, a small fishing port close to a US military base in
northern Japan.
Russia and China favour a spot in Cadarache, near Marseilles in
France. France is one of the five powers with nuclear weapons
status recognised under the global nuclear non-proliferation
treaty.
The US position is seen in France as another punishment for its
refusal to support the war on Iraq. But China's opposition
appears motivated by concern at Japan's access to tritium-based
technology.
Faced with the split in the consortium, Japan this week suggested
it might somehow "share" the project with France, and the US is
reviewing its stand.
The two Swiss physicists
pointed out that a project involving kilogram-amounts of tritium
- when a few grams are enough to "boost" an atomic bomb made of
plutonium or enriched uranium - had implications for nuclear arms
control.
As an active supporter of nuclear non-proliferation, Japan was
especially sensitive to this spread of nuclear weapons. As a
counterweight, it was likely to welcome the siting of the fusion
reactor on its soil as enhancing its "already massive latent
nuclear capability" created by its existing fission reactors and
its reprocessing of spent fuel.
Dr Gsponer and Dr Hurni said: "With the construction of a large
fusion reactor, large-scale tritium production in a non-nuclear
weapon state becomes 'respectable', even though it is providing
at the same time a status of latent or virtual advanced
nuclear-weapon state."
They point out that Japan's extensive nuclear power industry and
its existing small fusion research laboratory at Osaka University
mean that Japan has the capability of making boosted fission
weapons, "but also the potential to build two-stage thermonuclear
weapons" in which the fission-bomb is the 'spark-plug' for a
large fusion reaction, that are likely to work without testing.
"Today, the main impediment that would prevent Japan from
building such second-generation nuclear weapons on short notice
is the unavailability of sufficient amounts of tritium," the two
scientists said.
Copyright © 2004. The Sydney Morning Herald. advertise|
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