***************************************************************** 02/24/04 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 12.47 ***************************************************************** RADBULL IS PRODUCED BY THE ABALONE ALLIANCE CLEARINGHOUSE ***************************************************************** Send News Stories to news@energy-net.org with title on subject line and first line of body NUCLEAR POLICY 1 BBC: Iran nuclear omissions worry UN 2 Las Vegas SUN: North Korea Seeks Compensation for Freeze 3 US: & What About The Nukes?: Climate Collapse/Pentagon/World Bank 4 Hi Pakistan: Pakistan's nuclear programme in danger: Qazi --> 5 Hi Pakistan: Senate resumes debate on N-proliferation --> 6 Hi Pakistan: EU to press for N-safeguards --> 7 Hi Pakistan: Nuclear devices kept apart to allay US concerns - Benaz 8 Hi Pakistan: I refused to sell Pakistan's nuclear technology - Benaz 9 Hi Pakistan: Sheikh Rashid contradicts Benazir's statement --> 10 Hi Pakistan: President blamed for nuclear roll back 11 Hi Pakistan: Iran made and tested polonium - report 12 Las Vegas SUN: U.N. Sees Progress in Nuke Market Probe 13 IAEA Chief ElBaradei Cites Libya's Cooperation 14 Arutz Sheva: PM to Discuss Vanunu Release Today 15 Las Vegas SUN: Malaysia's PM Defends Nuclear Probe 16 IAEA: Countries Work to End Radiums Hot Legacy 17 IAEA: The Promise of Underground Geological Repositories 18 IAEA: News Center : In Focus : IAEA and Iran NUCLEAR REACTORS 19 US: Brattleboro Reformer: Yankee safety study mulled 20 US: NRC: Regulatory Guide; Issuance, Availability 21 US: NRC: NAC International Issuance of Environmental Assessment and 22 US: NRC: Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collecti 23 US: NRC: Sunshine Act Meeting 24 US: Brattleboro Reformer: VY emergency funds may go directly to town 25 US: NRC: Regulatory Information Conference 26 asahi.com: Nuclear reactor plans take a hit 27 US: NRC: NRC to Hold Predecisional Enforcement Conference to Discuss 28 US: NRC: NRC Modifies Order Requiring Inspection of Pressurized Wate 29 US: NRC: Collection, Reporting, or Posting of Information; Availabil NUCLEAR SAFETY 30 [DU-WATCH] Must Read Clusterbombs 31 [DU-WATCH] DEPLETED URANIUM SAFETY FEARS CONTINUE 32 [DU-WATCH] DARPA creating a race of robo-grunts 33 [du-list] Audio and Powerpoint - Iraqi MD exposes effects of 34 [DU-WATCH] Audio and Powerpoint - Iraqi MD exposes effects of 35 [DU-WATCH] Scandal of Gulf war guinea pigs 36 [DU-WATCH] MOD accepts DU has the potential to cause ill health 37 [DU-WATCH] Depleted Uranium: The war crime that has no end 38 [du-list] Japanese split over Iraq mission 39 [du-list] This time, depleted uranium questions are coming 40 US: Las Vegas SUN: Fallon cancer cause remains unknown 41 US: RGJ: Panel says no more environmental testing recommended in Fal 42 Russia Journal: Editorial - Coming clean with submarines 43 Russia Journal: Defense - Russia gets $21.5m for nuclear submarine d 44 US: U.S. Newswire: DOE Suspends Rulemaking on Proposed Safety Rules 45 US: Daily Herald: Radium removal plan almost set NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE 46 US: ahimsa sumchai: Hunters Point Transfer controversy Heats Up 47 US: Las Vegas SUN: Brian Greenspun: Accidents are inevitable 48 AP Wire: Abraham: Plutonium plant will be completed on time 49 Australian: Protest on proposed N-waste dump NUCLEAR WEAPONS 50 US: Salt Lake Tribune: Matheson urges support against N-testing US DEPT. OF ENERGY 51 Tri-City Herald: Nuclear plant changes name 52 Oak Ridger: BWXT Y-12 gets 'prestigious' award 53 Oak Ridger: DOE shelves planned change to safety rules 54 Oak Ridger: Another View: Government contractors must pay their taxe 55 Oak Ridger: Boyd's crystal ball: Oak Ridge is a good place to be 56 DBJ: Flats workers look ahead to the end OTHER NUCLEAR 57 Google News Alert - nuclear 58 Google News Alert - nuclear 59 Bellona: Report: World fuel cell markets on the rise ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** FULL NEWS STORIES ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** 1 BBC: Iran nuclear omissions worry UN Last Updated: Tuesday, 24 February, 2004 [Iran's Bushehr nuclear plant under construction] Iran had agreed to fully disclose its past nuclear activity The United Nations nuclear agency has said it is seriously concerned by Iran's failure to declare aspects of its nuclear programme. It said in a report that Iran had not declared designs for a centrifuge used to make bomb-grade material. Iran had also experimented with polonium, a radioactive substance that can trigger a nuclear blast, it said. Western diplomats told the BBC the report raised questions about Tehran's readiness to co-operate with the UN. The Iranian government agreed last year to make a full disclosure of its nuclear activities. "I hope this will be the last time any aspect of the programme has not been declared to us," said Mohammed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Black market sources The latest IAEA report, obtained by the BBC, said it was seriously concerned that Iran did not declare designs for the advanced P-2 centrifuge. "The omission from Iran... to any reference to its possession of the P-2 centrifuge design drawings and associated research... is a matter of serious concern," it said. [The nuclear power plant in Bushehr, Iran] Tehran insists its nuclear programme is for energy The recent revelations about the nuclear black market that supplied Libya's atomic programme have also shed light on Iran, the IAEA said. "The basic technology is very similar [to that of Libya] and was largely obtained from the same sources," says the report. But the IAEA welcomed Iran's agreement to suspend enrichment activities and to stop the assembly and testing of centrifuges, saying it would help to build confidence. The US has accused Iran of pursuing a nuclear weapons programme, but Iran says its nuclear programme is for purely peaceful purposes. Pressure Polonium can be used in conjunction with another metal - beryllium - to ensure that the chain reaction leading to a nuclear explosion is initiated at the correct moment. Polonium-210 is a radioactive metallic substance that does have a number of industrial uses. The discovery that Iran has both produced and experimented with the substance has nonetheless caught the attention of nuclear weapons experts, says BBC defence correspondent Jonathan Marcus. In itself, this does not prove one way or another that Iran has or had a nuclear weapons programme, our correspondent says, but it does raise some worrying questions in the minds of inspectors. And, according to Western diplomats, it underlines the need for Iran to make a full disclosure of its past nuclear activities. Libya has agreed to give up all of its nuclear weapons-related activities. In the process, Western intelligence agencies and the IAEA have been able to lift the veil on the shadowy nuclear export operation run from Pakistan by the scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan. ***************************************************************** 2 Las Vegas SUN: North Korea Seeks Compensation for Freeze Return to the referring page. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Today: February 24, 2004 at 10:50:28 PST North Korea Seeks Compensation for Freeze By TED ANTHONY ASSOCIATED PRESS BEIJING (AP) - Ahead of six-country talks about its nuclear ambitions, North Korea demanded compensation Tuesday in exchange for freezing its weapons program as China, the host and mediator nation, played down expectations of an imminent breakthrough. North Korea issued its latest condition hours before delegates from the Koreas, China, the United States, Russia and Japan were to convene in Beijing on Wednesday. It was a common maneuver for the North, which often deploys such statements as leverage in sensitive situations. "Only if the compensation issue is settled can the North Korean freeze plan be achieved," a North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman was quoted as saying in Pyongyang, the North's capital, by China's official Xinhua News Agency on Tuesday. "If the `freeze first, compensate later' question is raised in these talks, North Korea will resolutely oppose it," the spokesman said in language that was nevertheless delicate for the North. In December, North Korea proposed freezing its nuclear activities in return for economic aid and other concessions from the United States. But Washington demanded that Pyongyang start dismantling its nuclear programs first. The talks are convening after months of efforts to get all six countries on board for the dispute, which is largely between North Korea and the United States. The previous six-party meeting, held in August, ended with no hint of agreement and only vague promises to meet again. North Korea's partners in the talks all have publicly expressed desire for a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula. At issue are allegations that Pyongyang has a uranium-based weapons program as well as its known plutonium-based one. North Korean leader Kim Jong Il's government has denied having a uranium-based program. The latest meeting was brokered by Beijing, which is in a unique position as North Korea's last major communist ally and an economic partner of the United States and the other nations involved. Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly is leading the U.S. delegation. "We are undertaking a significant yet arduous task," Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo told delegates at a welcome dinner Tuesday. "However, where there is a will, there is a way." Before Pyongyang's statement Tuesday afternoon, delegates from the six nations - North Korea included - sounded largely upbeat notes as they arrived in the Chinese capital. The North's Vice Foreign Minister, Kim Kye Gwan, said "the circumstance of the talks is better than the previous one." "We appreciate the efforts done by the Chinese side. We will do our best to make out good results at the talks," said Kim, as quoted by Xinhua. China prescribed realistic expectations for the talks and said any long-term solution would probably require more time. "The Chinese side hopes that consensus can be reached. But we don't believe it's possible to reach consensus on all issues," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said Tuesday. It was a notion she reiterated several times, suggesting China's unease about overinflated hopes for a quick breakthrough. Still, Zhang added, "We hope this will be a smooth round of talks, and we're hoping to get more results." The North has been "earnest and serious" about resolving the nuclear issue, Xinhua said, citing Vice Foreign Minister Wang Yi, China's top negotiator, who met with Kim after he arrived. Wednesday's opening was preceded by a flurry of diplomatic activity. Japan said North Korea had expressed "readiness" to abolish its nuclear program, and South Korea said the United States was considering Seoul's proposal to deliver "countermeasures" to the North in return for dismantling its nuclear programs. "The United States shares a significant understanding of the conditions we attached to the proposed North Korean nuclear freeze," Lee Soo-hyuck, the South Korean negotiator, said after meeting with Kelly and Japanese Foreign Ministry Director General Mitoji Yabunaka. The United States had no immediate comment on the matter. Delegates from Seoul and Pyongyang met late Tuesday to discuss South Korea's proposal, and Lee said later that the North presented no "specific disagreement" with a nuclear freeze. -- ***************************************************************** 3 & What About The Nukes?: Climate Collapse/Pentagon/World Bank Date: Wed, 25 Feb 2004 00:23:06 -0500 Click On URL [below] For Missing Hyperlinks. My questions pertain to the story below- hopefully someone has an answer or at least likely answer. If you do, please respond: 1. How would this mass chaos and physical/environmental radical changes including an ice age or ice age like conditions effect the 440 [about] nuclear power plants [ NPPs] and their waste around the globe? What would happen if one or many are simply flooded over Atlantis style? What would happen if they are buried by land and/or rock? What happens if they are in an area that is simply inaccessable and left running without any human control? 2. Ditto with nuclear weapons, their monitoring systems, nuclear waste dumps? Any/all responses or educated views to these questions are welcome. Maybe we can help mitigate a catastrophe or catastrophes before they happen? Any thoughts? http://www.greenpeace.org http://www.greenpeace.org/international_en/news/details?item_id=415878 World Bank, Pentagon: global warming red alert Weather of mass destruction bigger threat than terrorism Sun 22 February 2004 UNITED STATES/Washington, DC A world thrown into turmoil by drought, floods, typhoons. Whole countries rendered uninhabitable. The political capital of the Netherlands submerged. The borders of the US and Australia patrolled by armies firing into waves of starving boat people desperate to find a new home. Fishing boats armed with cannon to drive off competitors. Demands for access to water and farmland backed up with nuclear weapons. Sound like the ravings of doom-saying environmental extremists? It's actually from a report commissioned by the Pentagon on how to ready America for the coming climate Armageddon. Fifteen years ago, some of us were warning of the impacts of fossil fuels on the climate. The science was less conclusive than today, but we, along with most climatologists, believed that the consequences were of such magnitude that immediate action was prudent. Today, environmentalists aren't the only ones saying that. The World Bank and the Pentagon have both commissioned studies which finally admit that our world is in serious peril, and the biggest threat to our future is not terrorism, but our own dependence on fossil fuels. In other words, "We have met the enemy, and he is us." This year, the small circle of remaining climate "skeptics" -- scientists and politicians who don't believe that global warming is happening, or who refuse to accept a human element in its making, narrowed so far that Exxon/Mobil and the President of the United States may soon be the sole, shrill naysayers. Sir David King, Chief Scientist in Tony Blair's government, has said that global warming is a greater threat than terrorism. Hans Blix, who ran the UN weapons inspection programme in Iraq, says the same thing. And now, two of the most conservative institutions in the world, the Pentagon and the World Bank, have received studies recommending immediate action to address imminent threats posed by global warming, with the Pentagon's report warning that global warming is a greater threat than terrorism. World bank: "global warming requires immediate action" Earlier this month the Financial Times revealed that the World Bank was rejecting the recommendations of an independent panel that they had appointed. The panel's mission was to assess the environmental, institutional, poverty, and human rights impacts of the World Bank's investments in "extractive industries:" gas, coal, oil, and mining. Their recommendation was to phase out all investments in fossil fuels over the next eight years: "The WBG [World Bank Group] should aggressively increase investments in renewable energies by about 20 percent annually. WBG lending should concentrate on promoting the transition to renewable energy..." The World Bank's current energy lending dedicates 6 percent to renewables, 94 percent to oil. In rejecting the recommendation of the independent panel, the Bank is targeting $US 300-500 million annually in loans promoting development of oil -- and the slow cooking of our planet. Pentagon: "global warming requires immediate action" The Pentagon's planning scenario says that global warming "should be elevated beyond a scientific debate to a US national security concern." It declares that "future wars will be fought over the issue of survival rather than religion, ideology or national honour." It envisions the need to turn the US and other rich western countries into "fortresses," armed against an angry tide of people displaced by rising sea levels or unable to grow food, and running for their lives. The report doesn't hem and haw the way the White House does. It doesn't speak in tortured sentences to suggest that the scientific community isn't convinced. It hasn't been proof-read and edited by Exxon/Mobil. It says it plain: "Rather than decades or even centuries of gradual warming, recent evidence suggests the possibility that a more dire climate scenario may actually be unfolding." The report was commissioned "to develop a plausible scenario for abrupt climate change that can be used to explore implications for food supply, health and disease, commerce and trade, and their consequences for national security." Here's the "plausible scenario" that the Pentagon envisions: "By 2005 the climatic impact of the shift is felt more intensely in certain regions around the world. More severe storms and typhoons bring about higher storm surges and floods in low-lying islands such as Tarawa and Tuvalu (near New Zealand). In 2007, a particularly severe storm causes the ocean to break through levees in the Netherlands making a few key coastal cities such as The Hague unlivable. Failures of the delta island levees in the Sacramento River region in the Central Valley of California creates an inland sea and disrupts the aqueduct system transporting water from northern to southern California because salt water can no longer be kept out of the area during the dry season... As glacial ice melts, sea levels rise and as wintertime sea extent decreases, ocean waves increase in intensity, damaging coastal cities. Additionally millions of people are put at risk of flooding around the globe (roughly 4 times 2003 levels), and fisheries are disrupted as water temperature changes cause fish to migrate to new locations and habitats, increasing tensions over fishing rights." The Pentagon foresees fishing wars between Spain and Portugal. Pakistan, India, and China - all armed with nuclear weapons - skirmish at their borders over refugees, access to shared rivers, and arable land. Bangladesh becomes uninhabitable. Drought hits the American breadbasket. Britain's weather begins to resemble Siberia. India, South Africa, and Indonesia are ripped apart by civil war. And ultimately, the report forecasts a decrease in the planet's human carrying capacity, leading to sharp reductions in the world's population due to starvation, disease, and war. Bush: "the jury is still out on global warming." But so far, George Bush is sticking to the line that the Kyoto treaty was "unscientific," that "the jury is still out" on global warming, and that everyone "misunderestimates" him. Actually, Mr. Bush, the jury's been in for some time, and now even a report commissioned by your own Pentagon is saying you're wrong. Perhaps it's time you focussed on the real terrorist threat to our planet: the oil companies like Exxon which continue to fund your re-election, and whose interests you continue to defend at the expense of our future. While you're pursuing policies that accelerate the production of greenhouse gases and continuing to deny the existence of a threat, the World Bank is being told it has to stop subsidizing Armageddon, and the Pentagon is war-gaming ways to survive a catastrophe it's calling plausible. If you were willing to launch a pre-emptive war on enemies you believe may someday think about attacking the US, wouldn't it seem prudent to take pre-emptive action against climate change? Take action Tell the head of the World Bank to reconsider and start phasing out support for fossil fuels now. Don't buy Exxon. Don't buy Esso. More information Read the full report. The future of British summer? Key findings of the Pentagon Report (source: The Observer) a.. Future wars will be fought over the issue of survival rather than religion, ideology or national honour. b.. By 2007 violent storms smash coastal barriers rendering large parts of Holland inhabitable. c.. In California the delta island levees in the Sacramento River area are breached, disrupting the aqueduct system transporting water from north to south. d.. Between 2010 and 2020 Europe suffers an average annual temp drop of 6F degrees. Weather patterns in Britain begin to resemble Siberia. e.. Nuclear arms proliferation is inevitable. Japan, South Korea, and Germany develop nuclear-weapons capabilities, as do Iran, Egypt, and North Korea. f.. A 'significant drop' in the planet's ability to sustain its present population will become apparent over the next 20 years. g.. Rich nations like the US and Europe would become 'virtual fortresses' to prevent millions of migrants fleeing flooded or starving lands. h.. Deaths from war and famine run into the millions until the planet's population is reduced to a point the earth can support. i.. Access to water becomes a major battleground. Nile, Danube and the Amazon are all mentioned as high risk. j.. Europe will face huge internal struggles as it copes with massive numbers of migrants washing up on its shores. k.. Bangladesh becomes nearly uninhabitable because of a rising sea level, which contaminates inland water supplies. Read the full report here. Related stories US climate criminals descend on talks Greenpeace obtains smoking-gun memo: White House/Exxon link What is the cryosphere, and why should we care? Wind: more jobs and power for same investment Pay up, Exxon Where has all the ice gone? print send ***************************************************************** 4 Hi Pakistan: Pakistan's nuclear programme in danger: Qazi --> February 25 2004 PESHAWAR: Pakistan’s nuclear programme is in danger as the US forces has engulfed the country on the pretext of searching Osama bin Laden, warned MMA acting president Qazi Hussain Ahmad. "The US has been repeating its accusations that Pakistan army has given shelter to Osama and on the basis of this, it (US) could attack anywhere any time," he told a student gathering at Al-Markaz-e-Islami here on Monday. Qazi Hussain Ahmad suggested the rulers to review its policies as the US wanted to eliminate the Muslims from earth in its drive against terrorism. All those, who oppose the US hegemonic designs, he said, were taken to Guantanamo bay, where there is neither any court nor justice. The MMA leader said US wanted to occupy our resources and the sitting rulers were making their task easy. He said if the irresponsible rulers would not have supported US aggression in Afghanistan, it could never dare to accuse Pakistan of intruding in Kashmir and of terrorism. Condemning the frequent statement of President General Pervez Musharraf’s (Pakistan first) Qazi Hussain Ahmad said that US has in fact given this word to Musharraf. He posed a question as to what would be the role of Pakistan if US attack on Iran and whether Musharraf would still repeat "Pakistan first" if America attacked Madina? "The Muslim Ummah should be at the top," he said adding that the MMA was ready to face the challenges and foil the nefarious designs of enemies. He said the conspiracies against the MMA were being hatched on the directives of US. Severely criticising Punjabi conference at Lahore, the MMA president said such conferences were being organised to fan prejudice in the country. "Tomorrow, Baloch, Pakhtuns and Sindhis will organise such conferences, which will eliminate the very existence of Pakistan," he said adding that such conferences were reflecting a slave mentality. He asked the students to play their effective role in closing down such trend of holding such conferences. Earlier, the provincial minister for food, excise and taxation, Fazal Rabbani advocate, while addressing the meeting, highlighted the achievements and programmes of the MMA government in the province. Copyright 1996-2002 . Hi Pakistan. All rights reserved. No part ***************************************************************** 5 Hi Pakistan: Senate resumes debate on N-proliferation --> February 25 2004 ISLAMABAD: Proliferation of nuclear technology was the focus of the debate on Monday when the Senate resumed its discussions on the President's speech to the joint sitting, with the opposition accusing the government of bypassing Parliament , while treasury members appreciating government's handling of the issue. However, the lack of quorum again marred the Senate proceedings which was adjourned until Wednesday 3pm by Chairman Muhammadmian Soomro. PPP Senator Khawaja Akbar pointed out to the lack of quorum during the late night sitting. Earlier, the ANP parliamentary leader in the Senate Asfandyar Wali, in his speech, asked the government to take the parliament into confidence over the sensitive issue of nuclear proliferation and recalled that during the height of the Kargil conflict, the members of both the Senate as well as the National Assembly were informed about the issue during two separate briefings. "Today the country is standing at a crossroads and there is a strong need of doing away the personal interest for the sake of country's security," he said, adding that developing national reconciliation and the national consensus on sensitive issues was the need of the hour and the government should show magnanimity by taking a lead in this direction. Asfandyar Wali also accused the government of trampling on the concept of provincial autonomy by forming district governments to operate for six years under the local government system, and putting them under the direct control of the centre. Referring to the statement of President Gen Pervez Musharraf in which he stated that the military as an institution was being targeted due to ulterior motives, Mr Wali said, the Army would remain the subject of criticism because the president continued to wear the caps of the President as well as the army chief simultaneously. He suggested that Pakistan should avoid meddling in the affairs of Afghanistan and emphasized that only a strong and stable Afghanistan could guarantee a strong and stable Pakistan. "Al-Qaeda is not a creation of the Pakhtoon society," he said, adding that those responsible for its creation knew where the leaders of this group were hiding. He said the constitution of the National Security Council(NSC) would only weaken the existing institutions of the country. He was also bitter over the fact that the Supreme Court, which itself could not amend the constitution vested the power upon President Musharraf to amend the constitution according to his needs. PML-N Senator Sajid Mir in his hard hitting speech held the successive military rulers responsible for all the ills the country was facing and raised seven questions seeking answers from the government. He accused Gen Musharraf of failing to convince the West about the difference between fighting for freedom in Kashmir and terrorism. By assuring Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee that no future infiltration in Kashmir would take place from our side and that Osama Bin Laden and Mullah Omar were hiding somewhere in NWFP, we were ourselves accepting our role in these crimes. "Who supported Kashmiri jihad, who created Taliban, who trained Al-Qaeda and who proliferated nuclear technology," he asked demanding if these all were wrong than those involved should be punished. Dr A.Q.Khan and his team was being accused of transferring nuclear technology to countries like North Korea, Iran and Libya when these countries were themselves not naming Pakistan, President Musharraf was just passing the buck. Not a single citizen in the country was ready to accept that only Dr Khan himself is involved in proliferation. Copyright 1996-2002 . Hi Pakistan. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 6 Hi Pakistan: EU to press for N-safeguards --> February 25 2004 BRUSSELS, Feb 23: European Union foreign ministers pledged on Monday to keep a close watch on Pakistan's nuclear plan, and said they would continue to press Islamabad to accept international nuclear safeguards. In a wide-ranging discussion of relations with Islamabad, EU ministers also promised help in building closer India-Pakistan ties, spotlighted Pakistan's demands for a quick ratification of a trade agreement with the EU and for the first time recognised the need to tackle Islamabad's growing number of trade and anti-dumping problems. The nuclear part of the ministerial discussions were kept confidential but diplomats told Dawn the harshest words on Pakistan's nuclear stance came from Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moller who said worries over Pakistan's nuclear programme - and the fact that Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was probably still hiding in the country's mountains - were giving him sleepless nights. Irish Foreign Minister Brian Cowen, however, noted Islamabad's "surprising openness to discuss difficult issues in a constructive manner." "I think we should engage more on a regular basis with Pakistan, specially on nuclear proliferation and counter-terrorism," diplomats quoted Cowen as telling his EU counterparts. The Irish minister, whose country currently holds the EU presidency, also urged the bloc's governments to solve current bilateral trade problems with Pakistan, noting that "these are very important for the country." Mr Cowen also promised to inform the European Parliament on Pakistan's demands for a quick ratification of a trade agreement signed with the EU. A formal statement of ministers voiced strong support for improving ties between India and Pakistan. Copyright 1996-2002 . Hi Pakistan. All rights reserved. No part ***************************************************************** 7 Hi Pakistan: Nuclear devices kept apart to allay US concerns - Benazir February 25 2004 ISLAMABAD: PPP leader Benazir Bhutto Monday conceded that under US pressure she asked the army and the President during her regime not to assemble a nuclear bomb. Talking to BBC TV, Bhutto said she convinced the then president and the army not to put together the nuclear devices. Bhutto said that there were lot of concerns about Pakistan's nuclear programme and claimed "so I sat down and convinced the president and the army and co-opted the nuclear scientists to ensure there were no export of nuclear weapons and that we would not put together our nuclear devices." "So that there was a time lag in the event that there was a threat .. because when we put together a device it takes time," she said. Referring to the negotiations, which her government was having with the then Bush (senior) administration, she said the U.S. government was very worried about Pakistan's nuclear programme. She observed there was also a fear of an attack on Pakistan's nuclear assets - on the line of the one Israel had carried out on Iraq's nuclear plant. Bhutto said she addressed the concerns of the Bush administration to "protect" the country's nuclear programme. The concerns, she said, were over the export of Pakistan's nuclear programme and on handling of enriched uranium. They have a concern "whether we go on producing enriched uranium," she said. Copyright 1996-2002 . Hi Pakistan. All rights reserved. No part ***************************************************************** 8 Hi Pakistan: I refused to sell Pakistan's nuclear technology - Benazir Bhutto February 25 2004 LONDON: Benazir Bhutto said today that she was approached several times when she was Pakistani prime minister by military officials and scientists seeking permission to export nuclear technology, but turned down their requests. In an interview with the Financial Times newspaper, Bhutto said she and senior military officers had agreed on a bar on the export of nuclear technology in December 1988. This, however, did not prevent senior military officials and scientists persisting with the idea and later in her first term broaching the subject of raising money by selling nuclear know-how, she said. "It certainly was their belief that they could earn tons of money if they did this," she said. Copyright 1996-2002 . Hi Pakistan. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 9 Hi Pakistan: Sheikh Rashid contradicts Benazir's statement --> February 25 2004 ISLAMABAD: Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said on Monday the government was not involved in Nuclear proliferation. Speaking in BBC World programme, Asia Today, he said that Benazir Bhutto is the most corrupt, dishonest and power hungry politician of Pakistan. The Minister said Benazir Bhutto's frontman late Dr. Niazi had been getting money from Libya. He said Benazir wants to involve President Musharraf but he has nothing to do with it. At the time when all this was happening, he was somewhere else. He had nothing to do with either nuclear proliferation or KRL. Replying to a question the Minister said, he was very much involved in the investigation. "We have questioned General Jehangir Karamat and General Mirza Aslam Beg. Sheikh Rashid said, no government, was involved in Nuclear Proliferation. It was a personal act of two or three scientists. "We have investigated very deeply and when IAEA gave the information, we sent our very senior people there to check the case. And when we matched the statement of IAEA and the governments of Libya and Iran, at that time we took action and arrested 11 people." To another question why the government did not take money from Dr Qadeer Khan he said that it was not the question of money. "Even we did not receive money of money laundering or any other amount from Switzerland which we know belongs to Benazir Bhutto." He said, If, Mr. Khan or somebody else had received money, "We are investigating, we are not going to leave this case easily." As far as Benazir Bhutto's allegation about the involvement of others, he said it was not correct. When President General Musharraf took over, from that day till to date, there is a very strict command and control system. We have ensured that there should not be any case like this. He said, sooner or later, the people will come to know that all money came through Dr. Niazi who was the front man of Benazir Bhutto. "She wants to use the Media as American election campaign is underway and the media is preoccupied with election issues. Nuclear Proliferation case is also there." He said, she knows that she can't enter Pakistan. There are corruption cases against her, that's why she is going to use the media to create problems for the government which is committed against terrorism and against nuclear proliferation. Copyright 1996-2002 . Hi Pakistan. All rights reserved. No part ***************************************************************** 10 Hi Pakistan: President blamed for nuclear roll back February 25 2004 LAHORE: Deputy opposition leader in the Punjab Assembly, Rana Sana Ullah has alleged that Gen. Pervez Musharraf has rolled back the nuclear programme and handed over its control to the America. Talking to reporters at the premises of Punjab Assembly today, he said, the President has put the country's stability at stake saying supreme national interests are being compromised. "Gen. Musharraf alone has no right to decide the future of the nation of his own," he opined. He said the increasing graph of poverty and the deteriorating law and order showed the inefficiency of the government. He flayed government for defaming Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan to appease America. He said to protect the nuclear technology was the responsibility of the government. Copyright 1996-2002 . Hi Pakistan. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 11 Hi Pakistan: Iran made and tested polonium - report February 25 2004 WASHINGTON: Iran produced and experimented with polonium used in the timing of nuclear explosions some time ago, but says it was not used for such purposes, The Washington Post said today. The International Atomic Energy Agency will include Iran's experimentation with polonium in a report to be submitted this week at the United Nations, two people familiar with the report told the daily. ----------------------------------------------------------------- About Us | Private Policy | Advertise on HiP | Copyright 1996-2002 . Hi Pakistan. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the written permission and prior consent of the webmaster. ***************************************************************** 12 Las Vegas SUN: U.N. Sees Progress in Nuke Market Probe Today: February 24, 2004 at 4:25:28 PST By GEORGE JAHN ASSOCIATED PRESS TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) - The head of the U.N. atomic watchdog agency said Tuesday he was confident that Libya would be declared free of all traces of its nuclear weapons program within three months, and said Tripoli was helping the probe of the international black market. Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, spoke after meeting with Abdul Rahman Shalgam, the Libyan foreign minister, at the end of two days of talks on the progress being made in scrapping Tripoli's nuclear arms program. "We are very pleased with the results of my meeting," ElBaradei said, praising Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi and other officials for "complete openness and transparency," since Libya's decision in December to end its efforts to develop weapons of mass destruction. "Part of that program has already been eliminated and we still have some work to eliminate other parts that are less sensitive," he said, speaking of the nuclear component. He pledged his agency's support for peaceful Libyan nuclear programs in the field of agriculture and industry, once the last vestiges of military activity have been dismantled and removed. Shalgam urged other nations in the region to follow Libya's example and use nuclear energy only "for the sake of prosperity and progress." While not naming any particular countries, his comments appeared directed at Israel, which is thought to have nuclear weapons but has never acknowledged possessing them. Libya was able to work for two decades on a secret nuclear arms program because of imports of black market technology and know-how. In comments Monday on the illicit network that linked Europe, Asia, Africa and the Mideast, ElBaradei said new countries with illicit nuclear arms programs may be revealed through investigations by his agency and national intelligence services. On Tuesday, he called his talks with Libyan officials "very helpful ... in providing information on routes of supply, extent (and) scope" of the black market. He said he would be leaving Libya with a better "understanding (of) parts of the puzzle that were not very clear to us before." Libya, one of the key customers of the nuclear peddlers, has blown the whistle on the head of the network, Pakistani scientist Abdul Wader Khan, and more than a dozen of his middlemen. Libya's cooperation may prompt an end to the U.S. ban on American travel to the North African country that was imposed in 1981. After years of icy relations between the two nations, Secretary of State Colin Powell says the ban would be reviewed at 90-day intervals. The Bush administration already has decided to send a U.S. diplomat to Tripoli and is thinking about letting Libyan students return to American universities. Some key elements of Libya's nuclear weapons program are still in place three months after its government pledged to scrap them, ElBaradei said. He did not elaborate, but another delegation member, speaking on condition of anonymity, said centrifuge equipment that can enrich uranium to weapons grade still remained assembled and in Libya. Other equipment already has been shipped to the United States, which along with Britain, negotiated the process that led in December to Libya declaring its weapons programs - and it's desire to scrap them. Also in the United States, under IAEA seal, are drawings of a 1960s nuclear warhead supplied by Khan's network. Another delegation member said much of the investigative work into the nuclear supply chain would likely be finished within three months. But ElBaradei cautioned of possible surprises ahead. "We are still trying to understand the network, we are still trying to see whether other countries have received technology, have received weapons designs," he said. "We are putting the pieces of the puzzle together and trying to understand whether there is any additional work ... for us in the future." He did not elaborate, but diplomats familiar with the IAEA work have said Iran is suspected of buying nuclear warhead drawings, along with the enrichment equipment it acknowledges. Iran, which was also supplied by the Khan network, denies that it is producing nuclear weapons, insisting it wants to enrich uranium to lower grades for generating power. U.S. intelligence and Khan's associates have said North Korea received assistance from the Pakistan's network, a charge the communist nation denies. "We are getting the names of more individuals, more companies," not only from Libya but "many different sources," ElBaradei said. Since the first revelations from Libya in December, Khan, the father of Pakistan's nuclear weapons program, has confessed to heading the operation described by ElBaradei as a "nuclear supermarket." Khan and dozens of associates circumvented export controls in Europe, Asia and elsewhere to ship nuclear technology to Libya, which managed to hide experiments geared toward making weapons for nearly two decades. Separately, Libya's prime minister, Shokri Ghanem, said in an interview broadcast Tuesday that his government's decision to pay $2.7 billion in compensation for the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland is not amount an admission of guilt. "We thought that it was easier for us to buy peace," he told the British Broadcasting Corp. --- On the Net International Atomic Energy Agency: www.iaea.org -- ***************************************************************** 13 IAEA Chief ElBaradei Cites Libya's Cooperation + [IAEA.ORG :: Atoms for Peace] IAEA Chief ElBaradei Cites Libya's Cooperation Staff Report 24 February 2004 [ElBaradei and Libyan Foreign Affairs specialist Juma Alfare Jani] Dr. ElBaradei speaks with Libyan Foreign Affairs specialist Juma Alfare Jani during his two-day visit to Libya. (Credit: AP) + Story Resources + IAEA Director General to Visit Libya + IAEA Inspections in Libya Making Progress + IAEA, US and UK Discuss Libya + Director General to Visit Libya + IAEA Daily Press Review During his visit to Libya 23-24 February 2004, IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei briefed members of the international press corps on the IAEA's verification of Libya's nuclear programme. Following are excerpts from an unofficial transcript of the interviews. Overall Progress "We have discussed in detail where we are, what is needed to be done. We agree that we will make every effort to come to closure, hopefully by June... Overall I think it is going very smoothly, very well and I affirmed again (the importance of) their full cooperation, the readiness to answer all questions we have and to satisfy all technical requirements. Nuclear Supply Network "We are still understanding the network, we are still trying to see whether other countries have received the technology, have received the weapon design, this is obviously a matter of importance... an area concern for us, so we are putting the pieces of the puzzle together and trying to understand whether there is any additonal work cut out for us in the future. I think Libya has been very forthcoming on this but again we are getting more information. We are getting more details, getting names of more individuals, more companies, so it is helpful to get all this information from different sources, and we are getting it." Nuclear Transparency &Cooperation "A very important message is that the more transparent you are, the easier we can complete our job, the easier we can come to conclusion about the nature of the programme. What I preach everywhere I go is full transparency, full cooperation, because in a country which had been running an undeclared programme you need maximum transparency and maximum cooperation. Libya is good example so far on this score. "We are getting good information from many different countries." Copyright 2003-2004, International Atomic Energy Agency, P.O. Box 100, Wagramer Strasse 5, A-1400 Vienna, Austria Telephone (+431) 2600-0; Facsimilie (+431) 2600-7; E-mail: Official.Mail@iaea.org Disclaimer ***************************************************************** 14 Arutz Sheva: PM to Discuss Vanunu Release Today 08:54 Feb 24, '04 / 2 Adar 5764 (IsraelNN.com) Prime Minister Ariel Sharon today will chair a meeting dealing with the scheduled release of convicted nuclear spy Mordehai Vanunu, who is to be released from prison in Arpil. Senior officials will take part in the session including but not limited to the defense minister, GSS (General Security Service/Shin Bet) and Mossad officials, and Atomic Energy Commission officials. There are fears that after his release, Vanunu will compromise state security by disclosing classified information dealing with the nation’s nuclear program. The meeting today will include suggestions to limit his freedom following his release in the interest of “state security”. All rights reserved IsraelNationalNews © Arutz Sheva Israel Broadcasting Network webmaster@israelnationalnews.com ***************************************************************** 15 Las Vegas SUN: Malaysia's PM Defends Nuclear Probe Today: February 24, 2004 at 1:15:26 PST By PATRICK McDOWELL ASSOCIATED PRESS KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) - Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi rejected opposition allegations Tuesday that a police investigation into the trafficking of nuclear parts to Libya had been whitewashed to protect his son, who owns the company involved. Abdullah also said that Washington was unlikely to impose sanctions against this Southeast Asian nation over the trafficking, which was part of the clandestine effort by Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan to sell Libya, Iran and North Korea nuclear weapons capability. "I don't think the United States will go to the extent of imposing sanctions because of one small incident," Abdullah said. Abdullah said that Buhary Syed Abu Tahir, the Sri Lankan who brokered the parts deal with the company owned by Abdullah's son, Kamaluddin, would be available to U.S. investigators if they want to question him. "Mr. Tahir is a free man," the prime minister said. "He is not detained. What he did was entirely a business deal." Two opposition parties have called for a parliamentary inquiry into the sale of the nuclear components, an unlikely possibility since Abdullah's coalition has an overwhelming majority. In the meantime, the fundamentalist Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party is calling attention to the affair at campaign rallies. Kamaruddin Jaafar, a senior fundamentalist party official, said the government was shielding Abdullah's son and Tahir, who President Bush said was the chief financial officer of Khan's network. "This is an issue that puts a serious dent on Abdullah's `Mr. Clean' image," Kamaruddin said. "He has not come clean on his son's involvement with Tahir." A report released by police Friday declared that oil-and-gas company Scomi and its subsidiary SCOPE were "misled" into making 25,000 parts for centrifuges to enrich uranium, a key step in the weapons-making process. Under the contract brokered by Tahir, the company thought the parts were for the oil-and-gas industry in Dubai, the report said. Tahir was a partner with Kamaluddin, the premier's only son, in an investment company, Kaspadu, about the time the deal was struck. Kaspadu is the majority owner of Scomi. Abdullah said that he had not spoken with his son about the case in the three months since U.S. and British intelligence asked Malaysia to investigate SCOPE, after a ship with Libyan-bound parts was seized in the Mediterranean. "When the matter was brought to my attention, I realized that it affects the business in which my son has substantial investments, and I told the police that they have to make sure it is thoroughly investigated without fear or favor," Abdullah said. "I had no hand in how the investigation was carried out," Abdullah said. "As far as the company is concerned, I believe that transparency is their strongest defense. They are an innocent party." -- ***************************************************************** 16 IAEA: Countries Work to End Radiums Hot Legacy IAEA Experts Help Chile and Other Countries Control Sealed Radioactive Sources Staff Report 20 February 2004 [Radium source] A radium source on the end of its needle-like applicator. It was once used to shrink cancerous lymphoid tissues in patients. (Photo Credits and Copyright 1999: Oak Ridge Associated Universities) + Story Resources + Taking Charge in Chile + Finding Homes for "Orphan" Sources + IAEA Programme on Disused Sources + Keeping Radiation Sources Under Control + Safety & Security of Radiation Sources + IAEA Technical Cooperation + IAEA Features: Controlling Radiation Sources + Radium’s History, US Perspective Stopping radioactive sources from falling into wrong hands is a top international priority at the IAEA. People can get seriously injured from mishandling or breaking open a sealed hot source, and sometimes they can die from overexposure to it. A sealed radioactive source is a small device containing encapsulated radioactive material, which usually has the appearance of a small, harmless piece of metal. Thats mainly why such sources can end up in the hands of curious children, or in scrapyards where they have been wrongly or inadvertently dumped. And while it fortunately has not happened yet, the chance of a radioactive source being used for spiking dirty bombs feeds public fears about terrorist threats. Radium is among the sealed sources that the IAEA is helping countries to track down and safely control. Once widely used for medical purposes and valued at more than $100,000 per gram, radium sources are no longer in demand and their use is limited. But thousands of older disused sources remain behind, requiring proper control, packaging, and disposal. Many developing countries have joined forces through the IAEA to upgrade their capabilities to manage radium and other sealed sources that are no longer being used. Among these countries is Chile, where authorities have worked to end radiums hot legacy. The IAEAs Kirstie Hansen reports on work being done there, and on the help being provided by Agency experts through technical cooperation and assistance projects. Next: Taking Charge in Chile » Copyright 2003-2004, International Atomic Energy Agency, P.O. Box 100, Wagramer Strasse 5, A-1400 Vienna, Austria Telephone (+431) 2600-0; Facsimilie (+431) 2600-7; E-mail: Official.Mail@iaea.org Disclaimer ***************************************************************** 17 IAEA: The Promise of Underground Geological Repositories Centres of Excellence Help Build Confidence Worldwide Staff Report 23 January 2004 [The Grimsel underground rock laboratory in the Swiss Alps] The Grimsel underground rock laboratory in the Swiss Alps. (Credit: Comet). + Story Resources + High Science Inside the Belly of the Alps + Photo Gallery + Full Waste Coverage + [pdf] + [pdf] + Spent Fuel Storage Overview [pdf] + Public Opinion [pdf] Each year the world’s 441 nuclear power reactors create enough spent fuel to fill a football field. That’s about 10 500 tonnes of heavy metal. This waste is thermally hot and can stay radioactive for thousands of years. Because it is solid and does not readily dissolve in water, the fuel wastes are typically stored in water pools on site at the nuclear reactors for many years. But permanent disposal places are needed. Scientists warn that the ongoing storage of spent fuel is not sustainable for the long years needed for the waste to decay and lose its radioactivity. Right now only one permanent disposal facility exists – in New Mexico where long-lived radioactive waste from United States military programmes is carefully packaged and cocooned in tunnels deep underground, in what is called a geological repository. Containing the Heavy Metal Global scientific consensus is that disposal in these deep underground repositories is the best and safest option available to permanently separate this waste from humans and the environment. This consensus is backed by several decades of research and outlined in a position paper by international experts that the IAEA published on [pdf]. Over the last thirty years many IAEA Member States have developed the methodologies for the disposal of radioactive wastes in underground "geological" repositories. Underground Research Laboratories have been set up and used for this purpose. Total Stored Spent Fuel (1 January 2003) Region Amount (Tonnes of Heavy Metal) West Europe 36 100 East Europe 27 700 America 83 300 Asia & Africa 23 900 World 171 000 Source: IAEA Overview of Global Spent Fuel Storage In 2002 a group of Member States offered the use of their underground rock labs and some associated surface facilities to help build confidence and capacity throughout the world in geological disposal of radioactive wastes. This group, collectively known as the , includes the following: + Canada with the , Manitoba; + Switzerland with the ; + Wales, United Kingdom, with the in Cardiff; and + United States of America, with the WIPP facility near Carlsbad, New Mexico, the in Nevada, and in California. The in-situ laboratories in this network also provide the opportunity for hands-on training in waste disposal technologies for countries which do not have their own underground research facilities. More countries, such as Sweden with its Aspo Laboratory, are expected to join the IAEA network when they consider that they can fully commit themselves to this international project. Spent Fuel - Global Overview, 2003 Spent fuel and high level waste makes up about 3% of the world’s total nuclear waste but contains 95% of all the radioactivity. Global spent fuel storage capacity is about 244 000 t HM (tonnes of heavy metal). This capacity will be filled by 2017 if no new facilities are built by that time. Trends show that a storage shortage is not expected globally; however on a national level a shortage may occur – particular in some Eastern European countries. The first national geological repositories for permanent spent fuel disposal are expected to be in operation around 2010. Source: IAEA Overview of Global Spent Fuel Storage In a first of a series of in-depth profiles of waste disposal activities of this network of countries, the following article looks at the Grimsel Test Site in Switzerland. Next: High Science Inside the Belly of the Alps » Copyright 2003-2004, International Atomic Energy Agency, P.O. Box 100, Wagramer Strasse 5, A-1400 Vienna, Austria Telephone (+431) 2600-0; Facsimilie (+431) 2600-7; E-mail: Disclaimer ***************************************************************** 18 IAEA: News Center : In Focus : IAEA and Iran IAEA Safeguards Overview: Comprehensive Safeguards Agreements and Additional Protocols What are safeguards and what role do they play? Safeguards are activities by which the IAEA can verify that a State is living up to its international commitments not to use nuclear programmes for nuclear-weapons purposes. The global Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and other treaties against the spread of nuclear weapons entrust the IAEA as the nuclear inspectorate. Today, the IAEA safeguards nuclear material and activities under agreements with more than 140 States. Within the world’s nuclear non-proliferation regime, the IAEA’s safeguards system functions as a confidence-building measure, an early warning mechanism, and the trigger that sets in motion other responses by the international community if and when the need arises. Over the past decade, IAEA safeguards have been strengthened in key areas. Measures aim to increase the likelihood of detecting a clandestine nuclear weapons programme and to build confidence that States are abiding by their international commitments. What verification measures are used? Safeguards are based on assessments of the correctness and completeness of a State’s declared nuclear material and nuclear-related activities. Verification measures include on-site inspections, visits, and ongoing monitoring and evaluation. Basically, two sets of measures are carried out in accordance with the type of safeguards agreements in force with a State. + One set relates to verifying State reports of declared nuclear material and activities. These measures – authorized under NPT-type comprehensive safeguards agreements -- largely are based on nuclear material accountancy, complemented by containment and surveillance techniques, such as tamper-proof seals and cameras that the IAEA installs at facilities. + Another set adds measures to strengthen the IAEA’s inspection capabilities. They include those incorporated in what is known as an “Additional Protocol” – this is a legal document complementing comprehensive safeguards agreements. The measures enable the IAEA not only to verify the non-diversion of declared nuclear material but also to provide assurances as to the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities in a State. What kinds of inspections are done? The IAEA carries out different types of on-site inspections and visits under comprehensive safeguards agreements. + Ad hoc inspections typically are made to verify a State’s initial report of nuclear material or reports on changes thereto, and to verify the nuclear material involved in international transfers. + Routine inspections -- the type most frequently used -- may be carried out according to a defined schedule or they may be of an unannounced, short-notice character. The Agency’s right to carry out routine inspections under comprehensive safeguards agreements is limited to those locations within a nuclear facility, or other locations containing nuclear material, through which nuclear material is expected to flow (strategic points). + Special inspections may be carried out in unusual circumstances according to defined procedures. The IAEA may carry out such inspections if it considers that information made available by the State concerned, including explanations from the State and information obtained from routine inspections, is not adequate for the Agency to fulfil its responsibilities under the safeguards agreement. + Safeguards visits may be made to declared facilities at appropriate times during the lifecycle for verifying the safeguards relevant design information. For example, such visits may be carried out during construction to determine the completeness of the declared design information; during routine facility operations and following maintenance, to confirm that no modification was made that would allow unreported activities to take place; and during a facility decommissioning, to confirm that sensitive equipment was rendered unusable. Activities IAEA inspectors perform during and in connection with on-site inspections or visits at facilities may include auditing the facility’s accounting and operating records and comparing these records with the State’s accounting reports to the agency; verifying the nuclear material inventory and inventory changes; and applying containment and surveillance measures (e.g., seal application, installation of surveillance equipment). What is the Additional Protocol to safeguards agreements? The Additional Protocol is a legal document granting the IAEA complementary inspection authority to that provided in underlying safeguards agreements. A principal aim is to enable the IAEA inspectorate to provide assurance about both declared and possible undeclared activities. Under the Protocol, the IAEA is granted expanded rights of access to information and sites, as well as additional authority to use the most advanced technologies during the verification process. An overview of the strengthened safeguards measures under Additional Protocols and comprehensive safeguards agreements follows: Measures under Additional Protocols + State provision of information about, and IAEA inspector access to, all parts of a State's nuclear fuel cycle - including uranium mines, fuel fabrication and enrichment plants, and nuclear waste sites - as well as to any other location where nuclear material is or may be present. + State provision of information on, and IAEA short-notice access to, all buildings on a nuclear site. (The Protocol provides for IAEA inspectors to have “complementary” access to assure the absence of undeclared nuclear material or to resolve questions or inconsistencies in the information a State has provided about its nuclear activities. Advance notice in most cases is at least 24 hours. The advance notice is shorter - at least two hours - for access to any place on a site that is sought in conjunction with design information verification visits or ad hoc or routine inspections on that site. The activities carried out during complementary access could include examination of records, visual observation, environmental sampling, utilization of radiation detection and measurement devices, and the application of seals and other identifying and tamper-indicating devices). + IAEA collection of environmental samples at locations beyond declared locations when deemed necessary by the Agency. (Wider area environmental sampling would require IAEA Board approval of such sampling and consultations with the State concerned). + IAEA right to make use of internationally established communications systems, including satellite systems and other forms of telecommunication. + State acceptance of IAEA inspector designations and issuance of multiple entry visas (valid for at least one year) for inspectors. + State provision of information about, and IAEA verification mechanisms for, its research and development activities related to its nuclear fuel cycle. + State provision of information on the manufacture and export of sensitive nuclear-related technologies, and IAEA verification mechanisms for manufacturing and import locations in the State. Measures under Comprehensive Safeguards Agreements + IAEA collection of environmental samples in facilities and at locations where inspectors have access during inspections and design information visits (with sample analysis at the IAEA Clean Laboratory and/or at certified laboratories in Member States). + IAEA use of unattended and remote monitoring of movements of declared nuclear material in facilities and the transmission of authenticated and encrypted safeguards-relevant data to the Agency. + IAEA expanded use of unannounced inspections within the scheduled routine inspection regime. + IAEA enhanced evaluation of information from a State’s declarations, IAEA verification activities and a wide range of open sources. + State provision of design information on new facilities or on changes in existing facilities handling safeguarded nuclear material as soon as the State authorities decide to construct, authorize construction or modify a facility. The IAEA has the continuing right to verify the design information over the facility’s lifecycle, including decommissioning. + State voluntary reporting on imports and exports of nuclear material and exports of specified equipment and non-nuclear material. (Components of this reporting are incorporated in the Model Additional Protocol). + Closer co-operation between the IAEA and the State (and regional) systems for accounting for and control of nuclear material in Member States. + Provision of enhanced training for IAEA inspectors and safeguards staff and for Member State personnel responsible for safeguards implementation. Copyright 2003, International Atomic Energy Agency, P.O. Box 100, Wagramer Strasse 5, A-1400 Vienna, Austria zTelephone (+431) 2600-0; Facsimile (+431) 2600-7; E-mail: Official.Mail@iaea.org Disclaimer and Privacy Policy ***************************************************************** 19 Brattleboro Reformer: Yankee safety study mulled February 24, 2004 Brattleboro, VT By CAROLYN LORIE Reformer Staff BRATTLEBORO -- The Senate Finance Committee is considering a resolution calling for an independent safety assessment, or "ISA," of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant, to be completed prior to the plant's requested "uprate". The assessment would be done by a panel of experts chosen by the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which is reviewing the requested 20 percent uprate. According to Finance Committee member Rod Gander, D-Windham, the assessment would answer difficult questions for both supporters and opponents of the uprate. "There's no more divisive issue here in Windham County. (An ISA) would go a long way to rid the divisiveness in this community," said Gander. However, Rob Williams, spokesperson for Vermont Yankee, said that an ISA would be redundant. "The uprate request is already subject to separate, independent review by the NRC and their work in turn is independently reviewed by the Federal Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards that was established by congress," said Williams. He added that there is a precedent for the plant's uprate request, as eight other plants nationwide have had similar increases approved by the NRC. Vermont Yankee's claim that the safety assessment would be unnecessary concerns opponents of the uprate. "This is malarkey. This is preposterous," said Raymond Shadis, staff advisor to the New England Coalition, an anti-nuclear watchdog group and an intervener in the uprate process. According to Shadis, all four New England power plants that shut down did so following intense inspection. Among those was Maine Yankee, which underwent such scrutiny in 1996. The report filed by the NRC panel found that the plant operations were "adequate" but also identified a number of "weaknesses and deficiencies that will result in violations." The NRC inspection, said Shadis, was not routine but came only after a whistleblower exposed problems with the power plant's safety analysis. "I think that they (Vermont Yankee) protest it too much. They should welcome the idea of a top to bottom inspection," says Shadis. Gander said he thought the Finance Committee would vote on whether or not to bring the resolution to the Senate floor by the end of next week. ***************************************************************** 20 NRC: Regulatory Guide; Issuance, Availability FR Doc 04-3891 [Federal Register: February 24, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 36)] [Notices] [Page 8496-8497] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr24fe04-143] The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has issued a revision of a guide in its Regulatory Guide Series. This series has been developed to describe and make available to the public such information as methods acceptable to the NRC staff for implementing specific parts of the NRC's regulations, techniques used by the staff in its review of applications for permits and licenses, and data needed by the NRC staff in its review of applications for permits and licenses. Revision 1 of Regulatory Guide 1.168, ``Verification, Validation, Reviews, and Audits for Digital Computer Software Used in Safety Systems of Nuclear Power Plants,'' provides guidance to licensees and applicants on methods acceptable to the NRC staff for complying with the NRC's regulations on verification, validation, reviews, and audits for digital computer software used in safety systems of nuclear power plants. This regulatory guide endorses, with certain exceptions, two standards of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers: IEEE Std 1012-1998, ``IEEE Standard for Software Verification and Validation,'' and IEEE Std 1028-1997, ``IEEE Standard for Software Reviews and Audits.'' Comments and suggestions in connection with items for inclusion in guides currently being developed or improvements in all published guides are encouraged at any time. Written comments may be submitted to the Rules and Directives Branch, Division of Administrative Services, Office of Administration, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555. Questions on the content of this guide may be directed to Mr. R. Shaffer, (301) 415-7606; e-mail . Regulatory guides are available for inspection or downloading at the NRC's Web site at under NRC Documents and in NRC's ADAMS [[Page 8497]] System at the same site. Single copies of regulatory guides may be obtained free of charge by writing the Reproduction and Distribution Services Section, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, or by fax to (301) 415-2289, or by e-mail to . Issued guides may also be purchased from the National Technical Information Service (NTIS) on a standing order basis. Details on this service may be obtained by writing NTIS at 5285 Port Royal Road, Springfield, VA 22161; telephone 1-800-553-6847; . Regulatory guides are not copyrighted, and Commission approval is not required to reproduce them. (5 U.S.C. 552(a)) Dated at Rockville, MD, this 20th day of January, 2004. For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Ashok C. Thadani, Director, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research. [FR Doc. 04-3891 Filed 2-23-04; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P ***************************************************************** 21 NRC: NAC International Issuance of Environmental Assessment and FR Doc 04-3892 [Federal Register: February 24, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 36)] [Notices] [Page 8495] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr24fe04-141] [[Page 8495]] Finding of No Significant Impact Introduction The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC or Commission) is considering issuance of an exemption to NAC International, Inc. (NAC or applicant), pursuant to 10 CFR 72.7, from the requirement of 10 CFR 72.248(c)(6). This requirement mandates certificate holders to file an updated Final Safety Analysis Report (FSAR) to the NRC every 24 months from the date of issuance of a Certificate of Compliance (CoC) for a spent fuel storage cask design. NAC, located in Norcross, Georgia, is the holder of CoC Number 1015 for the NAC-UMS Universal Storage System, and is seeking NRC approval to delay filing of an updated FSAR for the NAC-UMS system. The NAC-UMS system is approved for use under the general license provisions of subpart K of 10 CFR part 72, and is designed for the dry storage of spent nuclear fuel at U.S. nuclear power reactors. Environmental Assessment (EA) Identification of Proposed Action: By letter dated January 9, 2004, NAC requested an exemption, pursuant to 10 CFR 72.7, from the requirement of 10 CFR 72.248(c)(6). NAC is seeking Commission approval to delay the biennial filing of the updated FSAR for the NAC-UMS system to the NRC. The exemption requested is from the requirement of 10 CFR 72.248(c)(6), which states that ``Updates [of the FSAR] shall be filed every 24 months from the date of issuance of the CoC.'' The original CoC for the NAC-UMS system was effective on November 20, 2000. The proposed action before the Commission is whether to approve a delay in the filing of the updated FSAR, and whether to grant this exemption pursuant to 10 CFR 72.7. Need for the Proposed Action: NAC requested the exemption to 10 CFR 72.248(c)(6) to allow sufficient time to incorporate the FSAR changes that are associated with its application to amend the CoC for the NAC- UMS system. This application and amendment was designated as Amendment No. 3 to CoC Number 1015. The Commission issued a direct final rule and a proposed rule to amend its regulations to include Amendment No. 3 in the CoC for the NAC-UMS in its list of approved spent fuel storage casks on January 16, 2004, (69 FR 2497 and 69 FR 2528). A final effective rule is not expected to be in place prior to March 31, 2004. Therefore, NAC has requested to file an updated FSAR within 60 days after Amendment No. 3 is issued to allow the compilation of FSAR changes related to Amendment No. 3 with other FSAR changes that are allowed under 10 CFR 72.48. Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action: The Environmental Assessment for the final rule, ``Storage of Spent Nuclear Fuel in NRC- Approved Storage Casks at Nuclear Power Reactor Sites'' (55 FR 29181 (1990)), considered the potential environmental impacts of storage casks that are used to store spent nuclear fuel under a CoC, and concluded that there would be no significant environmental impacts. The proposed action now under consideration would not affect the use of the NAC-UMS system to store spent nuclear fuel under the approved CoC, and in accordance with the regulations of 10 CFR part 72. Filing an updated FSAR to the NRC by a certificate holder is an administrative requirement and does not involve any radioactive materials or use of natural resources. Therefore, there are no radiological impacts or non- radiological impacts from a delay in filing an updated FSAR. Based upon this information, a delay in filing will have no significant impact on the environment. Alternative to the Proposed Action: Since there is no environmental impact associated with the proposed action, any alternatives with equal or greater environmental impact are not evaluated. The alternative to the proposed actions would be to deny approval of the exemption and not allow a delay in the filing of the updated FSAR. This alternative would have the same environmental impact. Agencies and Persons Consulted: Mr. Johnny James, North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and Mr. William Wright, Arizona Radiation Regulatory Agency, were contacted about the Environmental Assessment for the proposed action and had no comments. These two state agencies were contacted because the Amendment No. 3 of the CoC for the NAC-UMS system will be used at the McGuire Nuclear Station in North Carolina, and at the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station in Arizona. 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 Environmental Assessment, the Commission finds that the proposed action of granting an exemption from 10 CFR 72.248(c)(6) allowing NAC to delay updating the NAC-UMS FSAR 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. For further details with respect to this exemption request, see NAC's letter dated January 9, 2004. The request for exemption was docketed under 10 CFR part 72, Docket 72-1015. 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 11th day of February 2004. For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. L. Raynard Wharton, Project Manager, Spent Fuel Project Office, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards. [FR Doc. 04-3892 Filed 2-23-04; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P ***************************************************************** 22 NRC: Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; FR Doc 04-3893 [Federal Register: February 24, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 36)] [Notices] [Page 8494] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr24fe04-140] Comment Request AGENCY: U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). ACTION: Notice of pending NRC action to submit an information collection request to OMB and solicitation of public comment. SUMMARY: The NRC is preparing a submittal to OMB for review of continued approval of information collections under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35). Information pertaining to the requirement to be submitted: 1. The title of the information collection: 10 CFR part 95-- Facility Security Clearance and Safeguarding of National Security Information and Restricted Data. 2. Current OMB approval number: 3150-0047. 3. How often the collection is required: On occasion. 4. Who is required or asked to report: NRC-regulated facilities and other organizations requiring access to NRC-classified information. 5. The number of annual respondents: 8. 6. The number of hours needed annually to complete the requirement or request: 447 hours (335 hours reporting [2.3 hrs per response] and 112 hours recordkeeping [14 hrs per recordkeeper]). 7. Abstract: NRC-regulated facilities and other organizations are required to provide information and maintain records to ensure that an adequate level of protection is provided to NRC-classified information and material. Submit, by April 26, 2004, comments that address the following questions: 1. Is the proposed collection of information necessary for the NRC to properly perform its functions? Does the information have practical utility? 2. Is the burden estimate accurate? 3. Is there a way to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected? 4. How can the burden of the information collection be minimized, including the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology? A copy of the draft supporting statement may be viewed free of charge at the NRC Public Document Room, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Room O-1F21, Rockville, MD 20852. OMB clearance requests are available at the NRC Worldwide Web site: . The document will be available on the NRC home page site for 60 days after the signature date of this notice. Comments and questions about the information collection requirements may be directed to the NRC Clearance Officer, Brenda Jo. Shelton, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, T-5 F52, Washington, DC 20555-0001, by telephone at 301-415-7233, or by Internet electronic mail to . Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 17th day of February, 2004. For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Brenda Jo. Shelton, NRC Clearance Officer, Office of the Chief Information Officer. [FR Doc. 04-3893 Filed 2-23-04; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P ***************************************************************** 23 NRC: Sunshine Act Meeting FR Doc 04-4088 [Federal Register: February 24, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 36)] [Notices] [Page 8495-8496] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr24fe04-142] Date: Weeks of February 23, March 1, 8, 15, 22, 29, 2004. Place: Commissioners' Conference Room, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland. Status: Public and Closed. Matters to be Considered: [[Page 8496]] Week of February 23, 2004 Wednesday, February 25, 2004 9 a.m.--Discussion of Security Issues (Closed--Ex. 1) Thursday, February 26, 2004 9:30 a.m.--Meeting with UK Regulators to Discuss Security Issues (Closed--Ex. 1) 1:30 p.m.--Status of Davis Besse Lessons Learned Task Force Issues (Public Meeting) (Contact: Brendan Moroney, 301-415-3974) This meeting will be webcast live at the Web address-- . Week of March 1, 2004--Tentative Tuesday, March 2, 2004 9:30 a.m.--Meeting with Advisory Committee on the Medical Uses of Isotopes (ACMUI) and NRC Staff (Public Meeting) (Contact: Angela Williamson, 301-415-5030) This meeting will be webcast live at the Web address-- . Wednesday, March 3, 2004 9:30 a.m.--25th Anniversary Three Mile Island (TMI) Unit 2 Accident Presentation (Public Meeting) (Location: TWFN Auditorium, 11545 Rockville Pike) (Contact: Sam Walker, 301-415-1965) This meeting will be webcast live at the Web address-- . 2:45 p.m.--Discussion of Security Issues (Closed--Ex. 1) Thursday, March 4, 2004 1:30 p.m.--Briefing on Status of Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards (NMSS) Programs, Performance, and Plans--Waste Safety (Public Meeting) (Contact: Claudia Seelig, 301-415-7243) This meeting will be webcast live at the Web address-- . Week of March 8, 2004--Tentative Tuesday, March 9, 2004 9:30 a.m.--Briefing on Status of Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards (NMSS) Programs, Performance, and Plans--Material Safety (Public Meeting) (Contact: Claudia Seelig, 301-415-7243) This meeting will be webcast live at the Web address-- . 1:30 p.m.--Discussion of Security Issues (Closed--Ex. 1) Week of March 15, 2004--Tentative There are no meetings scheduled for the Week of March 15, 2004. Week of March 22, 2004--Tentative Tuesday, March 23, 2004 9:30 a.m.--Briefing on Status of Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research (RES) Programs, Performance, and Plans (Public Meeting) (Contact: Alan Levin, 301-415-6656) This meeting will be webcast live at the Web address-- . 1:30 p.m.--Briefing on Status of Office of Nuclear Security and Incident Response (NSIR) Programs, Performance, and Plans (Public Meeting) (Contact: Jack Davis, 301-415-7256) This meeting will be webcast live at the Web address-- . 2:30 p.m.--Discussion of Security Issues (Closed--Ex. 1) Wednesday, March 24, 2004 9:30 a.m.--Briefing on Status of Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulations (NRR) Programs, Performance, and Plans (Public Meeting) (Contact: Mike Case, 301-415-1275) This meeting will be webcast live at the Web address-- . Week of March 29, 2004--Tentative There are no meetings scheduled for the Week of March 29, 2004. * The schedule for Commission meetings is subject to change on short notice. To verify the status of meetings call (recording)-- (301) 4125-1292. Contact person for more information: Dave Gamberoni, (301) 415-1651. * * * * * SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: By a vote of 3-0 on February 18, the Commission determined pursuant to U.S.C. 552b(e) and Sec. 9.107(a) of the Commission's rules that ``Affirmation of (1) Maine Yankee Atomic Power Co. (Maine Yankee Atomic Power Station); State of Maine's petition for review of LBP-03-26, and (2) Duke Energy Corp. (Catawba Nuclear Station, Units 1); NRC Staff's Petition for interlocutory review of the LB's 1/2904 Memo & Order (Ruling on BREDL Motion for Need to Know Determination & Extension of Deadline for Filing Security- Related Contentions)'' be held on February 18, and on less than one week's notice to the public. * * * * * The NRC Commission Meeting Schedule can be found on the Internet at: * * * * This notice is distributed by mail to several hundred subscribers; if you no longer wish to receive it, or would like to be added to the distribution, please contact the Office of the Secretary, Washington, DC 20555 (301-415-1969). In addition, distribution of this meeting notice over the Internet system is available. If you are interested in receiving this Commission meeting schedule electronically, please send an electronic message to . Dated: February 19, 2004. R. Michelle Schroll, Office of the Secretary. [FR Doc. 04-4088 Filed 2-20-04; 9:53 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-M ***************************************************************** 24 Brattleboro Reformer: VY emergency funds may go directly to towns February 24, 2004 Brattleboro, VT By TOBY HENRY Reformer Staff BRATTLEBORO -- More than $100,000 of Vermont Emergency Management's requested 2005 budget could pass directly from Vermont Yankee nuclear plant owner Entergy to five Windham County towns, say members of the House Appropriations Committee. Committee member Patty O'Donnell, R-Vernon, said budget discussions last week included a proposal to allocate $126,000 of VEM's radiological fund -- a contingency plan to respond to an accident at the Vernon plant -- directly to towns in the plant's 10-mile-radius emergency planning zone. The money would be used for towns to independently purchase supplies and conduct training for the plan, she said. In past years, O'Donnell continued, VEM's Vermont Yankee accident plan budget, which is at $800,000 in the present budget, has gone from Entergy to VEM for further distribution to local towns through grants. If the proposal passes as part of the budget, which is typically voted on by lawmakers as the session winds down in May, it will mark the first time the legislature has bypassed VEM to give money directly to towns in the plant's vicinity. O'Donnell said that an additional one-time allotment of $76,000 from a planned budget adjustment detail could also accompany the funds, which could give local towns more than $200,000 in 2005 for Vermont Yankee-related emergencies. The budget is expected to pass the House Appropriations Committee and go to the Senate Appropriations Committee within the next few weeks. The plan to go around VEM came about after concern that VEM officials had not developed a budget on their own in consultation with VY staff and town representatives, O'Donnell said. Towns in the 10-mile "emergency planning zone," or EPZ, include all of Guilford and Vernon and most of Brattleboro. An area of southeast Dummerston, the east side of Halifax and a small corner of southeast Marlboro are also in the EPZ. "Vermont Emergency Management was supposed to meet with the towns and the plant to work on the budget together, but they didn't do that," she said. "It's been an issue for a long time, and this is something we've been trying to make happen. A while ago, we had problems because there were termites in the (local) VEM station -- I called VEM and they said they couldn't help. I had to call Vermont Yankee and get help from them. This year, we're taking it out of (VEM's) hands." Local officials such as Brattleboro town manager Jerry Remillard and Windham Regional Commission executive director Jim Matteau were present at last week's discussions, O'Donnell said. Sen. Jeanette White, D-Windham, represented the Senate during the discussions. White said that she expects the $126,000 to be deducted from VEM's requested budget, which stands at about $1.2 million this year. White echoed O'Donnell's comments that VEM has done a poor job of meeting towns to determine local radiological emergency response needs, and added that this has been an ongoing issue for the past two years. Last year, White said, VEM requested about $1.1 million, but the House Appropriations Committee opted to level-fund VEM at $800,000, saying that the increased expenditure had not been justified. The $126,000 allocation, if approved, would be an improvement over previous funding methods, in which towns had to either apply for grants for equipment they needed or to send an invoice to VEM after purchasing the supplies from their own funds, said White. In order to verify that the funds were spent on emergency plan-related items, White said that towns receiving this money will later have to show how the funds were spent. "A lot of people have just run out of patience and this seems like the only way to get things done," she said. "Towns shouldn't have to apply for it." Brian Cosgrove, a spokesman for Vermont Yankee, said that the company approves of the fund shift. Plant owner Entergy is required by statute to pay for any radiological emergency plan training and equipment in the EPZ towns. "We're happy to do it," he said. "Money's not an object. Having the best emergency response plan in the EPZ towns is." The emergency plan calls for a variety of responses, ranging from listening to media updates to a full-blown evacuation of EPZ towns. However, the plan has either been rejected or put off for vote in most Windham County towns where it has been presented for approval. Brattleboro, the most populous town in the EPZ, has put off a Selectboard vote on the plan until after the reorganized board has been elected next month. At a meeting with VEM officials earlier this month, Marlboro residents appeared peeved at the official's insistence that the town not go it alone without their plan by purchasing radios, radiation detectors and other equipment for use in a local emergency plan. Marlboro has still not accepted the plan, but has a local plan calling for school buses to bring Marlboro Elementary School students to Bennington's Molly Stark School in the event of an accident at Vermont Yankee. Andy Reichsman, Marlboro's emergency director, said on Monday that he was not aware of last week's VEM budget talks. The Marlboro Select Board has "some ideas they'd like to take to the state" regarding the emergency plan, Reichsman said, but he added that the board has not yet had time to fully formulate what they would like to see in their local plan. "We haven't really gotten that far yet, and I can't imagine what we'd spend the money on at this moment," Reichsman said. "At this point, we're coming up with ideas that are representative of what the town as a whole wants." Officials from VEM could not be reached on Monday. ***************************************************************** 25 NRC: Regulatory Information Conference RIC Notices On-line Conference Registration will close Monday, March 1, 2004! Registration information for the NEI Luncheon is now available. Regulatory Information Conference (RIC) "Promoting Openness Through Effective Communication" [Logo for Regulatory Information Conference 2002] Welcome to the NRC's Regulatory Information Conference (RIC) website. The 16th annual RIC is scheduled for March 10, 11, and 12, 2004, at the Capital Hilton Hotel, 16th and K Streets, NW, Washington, D.C. The conference is open to the public and there is NO conference fee. Read the Conference Chairman's message [PDF Icon] from our RIC Chairman, Jim Dyer. See the following for detailed conference information: + Conference Program + Keynote Speakers + Registration + Registrant List + Sponsored Events + Hotel Reservations + Travel Information + Past RIC Information + Frequently Asked Questions + Contact Us About RIC Throughout the RIC pages, you will see icons. The Exit icon is placed directly after an external link to let you know that the link is going to take you away from the NRC pages. For more information, refer to the Site Disclaimer. Last revised Friday, February 20, 2004 ***************************************************************** 26 asahi.com: Nuclear reactor plans take a hit The Asahi Shimbun The government plans to halve the number of new nuclear reactors needed by 2010 because of dwindling electricity demand, heightened competition and ever-persistent public opposition. The central government is revising its long-term energy supply and demand estimate put together in 2001, which determined that 10 to 13 new nuclear reactors had to be constructed by fiscal 2010 to meet the expected increase in electricity use. But power demand has remained stagnant, so government officials are now cutting that estimate to four to six new nuclear reactors. A new interim estimate of electric power demand in fiscal 2010 and fiscal 2030 is expected by June. Electric power companies acknowledge that plans to build new nuclear reactors must be curtailed in the tougher competitive environment brought about by market liberalization. ``Demand is not increasing and we are losing customers,'' said one executive. ``We cannot build nuclear reactors at the pace of the past.'' In addition, communities opposed to hosting nuclear reactors because of safety concerns have hampered sales of real estate needed to construct such reactors. Electric power plants have been built to cover peak electricity demand every summer. However, with the exception of 2001, which was a particularly hot summer, maximum electricity demand in August since fiscal 1994 has increased a maximum 2 percent. In some years, demand has actually fallen below the previous year's level. Electric power firms annually review their supply estimates for 10 years down the road. In the late 1990s, maximum electricity demand was estimated to increase by about 2 percent a year. However, that estimate has been falling since 2000. In fiscal 2003, the estimate of the rate of increase in demand fell for the first time below 1 percent, to 0.9 percent. The total electricity generating capacity of Japan's 10 electric power companies stood at about 190 million kilowatts in fiscal 2002. Even if the four nuclear reactors currently under construction are the only ones completed, capacity can be increased to about 210 million kilowatts by 2012, if thermal power plants are built according to plan. That supply capacity would be about 10 percent higher than the estimated maximum electricity demand for 2012, meaning a stable supply of electric power would be possible. The liberalization of the electric power industry has also led to an increase in competitors to the 10 traditional electric power firms. For example, almost all the tenant companies of the Roppongi Hills complex in Tokyo that opened last April use electricity supplied by a gas-powered generator installed underneath the complex. The department store chain Takashimaya Co. buys electricity from Diamond Power Corp. for its Tokyo and Yokohama outlets. Diamond Power is affiliated with the Mitsubishi Corp. trading firm. Since liberalization in 2000, Tokyo Electric Power Co. has lost about 20 percent of its commercial clients to other power companies. A TEPCO executive complained that the company could not compete against electricity rates that were between 10 and 20 percent cheaper than what TEPCO was offering. Electric power firms planning to construct nuclear reactors often have to dole out incredible amounts to local communities before receiving the go-ahead for a project. Initial costs for a single reactor are estimated at 400 billion yen. Huge expenses are also required to store the radioactive waste from nuclear reactors and to reprocess spent nuclear fuel rods. Opposition by residents has slowed other nuclear power projects, leading some electric power firms to abandon plans for new reactors. Last December, plans were either frozen or canceled for the construction of nuclear reactors in Suzu, Ishikawa Prefecture, and Maki, Niigata Prefecture. Other projects have had their start dates pushed back a number of times. For Tohoku Electric Power Co.'s Namie-Odaka project in Fukushima Prefecture, the start date has been pushed back 28 times since the plan was first compiled in 1973. Moreover, only 90 percent of the land needed for the site has been bought. Although plans to build a Kansai Electric Power Co. nuclear reactor in Hikigawa, Wakayama Prefecture, started in 1976, an initial study has yet to be undertaken. More recently, postponements in the start of operations have hit two reactors in Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture, operated by Japan Atomic Power Co., as well as two TEPCO reactors in Fukushima Prefecture.(IHT/Asahi: February 24,2004) (02/24) [Copyright Asahi Shimbun. All rights reserved. No reproduction ***************************************************************** 27 NRC: NRC to Hold Predecisional Enforcement Conference to Discuss Apparent Violation of Regulatory Requirements at Oconee News Release - Region II - 2004-00 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs, Region II No. II-04-005 February 24, 2004 CONTACT: Ken Clark (404) 562-4416 Roger D. Hannah (404) 562-4417 E-mail: opa2@nrc.gov predecisional enforcement conference with Duke Energy Corporation officials on March 2 in Atlanta to discuss an apparent violation of NRC safety requirements at the Oconee nuclear station near Seneca, South Carolina. The enforcement conference will begin at 1:30 p.m. in the NRC Region II office on the 24th floor of the Sam Nunn Atlanta Federal Center at 61 Forsyth Street, SW. The meeting will be open to observation by interested members of the public, and NRC officials will be available before its conclusion to answer questions from those who attend. NRC inspectors found that the licensee revised an analysis of a hypothetical steam or feedwater pipe break accident scenario in May, 2001, without first obtaining NRC review and approval. The revised analysis postponed the initiation time of required safety systems, which the NRC considers to be a change to the Oconee Final Safety Analysis Report that requires prior NRC approval. NRC officials said this is an apparent violation, pending results of the enforcement conference, because the staff believes the change may involve an increase in risk, and that the NRC was not afforded an adequate opportunity to perform its regulatory oversight function by reviewing the change. The conference is an opportunity for company officials to provide their perspective on the apparent violation and to clarify or correct any information they feel may be inaccurate or incomplete in the NRC inspection report. No decision on the apparent violation or any enforcement action will be made at the conference. Those decisions will be made later by NRC officials. Last revised Tuesday, February 24, 2004 ***************************************************************** 28 NRC: NRC Modifies Order Requiring Inspection of Pressurized Water Reactor Vessel Heads News Release - 2004-02 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs Telephone: 301/415-8200 Washington, DC 20555-0001 E-mail: opa@nrc.gov No. 04-025 February 23, 2004 inspection requirements for reactor pressure vessel heads at pressurized water reactors. The change is part of the Commissions ongoing efforts to provide a clear regulatory framework to ensure public health and safety. The revised Order primarily addresses requirements for bare-metal visual inspections and non-visual examination of reactor pressure vessel heads. The discovery of degradation in the vessel head at the Davis-Besse reactor in Oak Harbor, Ohio, and discovery of leaks and cracking at other plants, reinforced the need for more effective reactor vessel head inspections, leading the NRC to issue an Order in February 2003. The original Order required visual inspection of the entire bare-metal surface of a vessel head. Based on information provided in numerous requests for deviation from portions of the inspection regime, the NRC concluded that a revised Order, which requires at least a 95 percent bare-metal inspection for those vessel heads with portions obscured by certain support structures, was warranted. If any boron deposits or corrosive residue are identified in the vicinity of the support structure, the licensee must examine the vessel head under the obstruction to ensure the head is not degraded. In addition, the revised Order adds a Replaced category of vessel head degradation susceptibility to the existing High, Moderate and Low ratings. The categories determine the required frequency of vessel head inspections for plants during refueling outages, which typically occur about every 18 to 24 months. Plants in the High category must perform inspections during every refueling outage. Those in the Moderate category must perform inspections during at least every other refueling outage. Plants in the Low category must perform bare-metal inspections at least every third outage or every five years, whichever occurs first. Penetration nozzle non-visual inspections must be performed every fourth outage or every seven years, whichever occurs first. Plants in the Replaced category need not perform inspections during the outage when the head is replaced. However, these plants must thereafter perform the same inspections as the Low category. The revised Order continues to provide reasonable assurance of vessel head integrity and protection of public health and safety. The revised Order retains the requirement for licensees to submit a report to the NRC detailing the inspection findings within 60 days of restarting the plant. A copy of the revised Order (EA-03-009, Rev. 01) will be available through the NRCs Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) on the agencys web site, by entering accession number ML040220391 at this address: http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams/web-based.html. Last revised Tuesday, February 24, 2004 ***************************************************************** 29 NRC: Collection, Reporting, or Posting of Information; Availability FR Doc 04-3890 [Federal Register: February 24, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 36)] [Proposed Rules] [Page 8350-8352] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr24fe04-20] of Draft Rule Language AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission. ACTION: Availability of draft rule language. SUMMARY: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is making available the draft wording of possible changes to its regulations. The changes under consideration would clarify or revise the regulations to reduce unnecessary regulatory burden associated with the collecting, reporting, and posting of information. The NRC staff is making the draft rule language available to inform stakeholders of the NRC staff's consideration of possible changes to its regulations, and to solicit comments on the staff's direction and draft language. The draft wording and several specific requests for feedback are available on the NRC's public Web site at . DATES: Submit comments by April 9, 2004. Comments received after this date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but the Commission is able to ensure consideration only for comments received on or before this date. ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods. Personal information will not be removed from your comments: Mail comments to: Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, Attention: Rulemakings and Adjudications Staff. E-mail comments to: . If you do not receive a reply e- mail confirming that we have received your comments, contact us directly at (301) 415-1966. You may also submit comments via the NRC's rulemaking Web site at . Address questions about our rulemaking Web site to Carol Gallagher at (301) 415-5905; e- mail: . Comments can also be submitted via the Federal eRulemaking Portal . Hand deliver comments to 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852, between 7:30 am and 4:15 pm on Federal workdays (Telephone: (301) 415-1966). Fax comments to: Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (301) 415-1101. Publicly available documents related to this rulemaking may be viewed electronically on the public computers located at the NRC's Public Document Room (PDR), O1 F21, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland. The PDR reproduction contractor will copy documents for a fee. Selected documents, including comments, may be viewed and downloaded electronically via the NRC rulemaking Web site at . Publicly available documents created or received at the NRC after November 1, 1999, are available electronically at the NRC's Electronic Reading Room at . From this site, the public can gain entry into the NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS), which provides text and image files of NRC's public documents. 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 (800) 397-4209, (301) 415-4737, or by e-mail to . FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: William D. Reckley, Division of Licensing Project Management, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001; telephone: (301) 415-1323; e-mail: . SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Background In SECY-02-0081, ``Staff Activities Related to the NRC Goal of Reducing Unnecessary Regulatory Burden on Power Reactor Licensees,'' dated May 13, 2002 (ADAMS Accession No. ML020420137), the NRC staff described various interactions with stakeholders regarding ways to reduce unnecessary regulatory burden. By memorandum dated June 25, 2002 (ADAMS Accession No. ML021760768), the Commission directed the staff to proceed with its evaluation of possible rule changes. In developing the initiative described in SECY-02-0081, the NRC staff solicited observations and suggestions by placing a notice in the Federal Register (66 FR 22134; May 3, 2001) and sponsoring a workshop on May 31, 2001. In a letter dated July 2, 2001 (ADAMS Accession No. ML011870432), the Nuclear Energy Institute provided a list of suggestions from its members for possible changes to several regulations that could reduce unnecessary regulatory burden, including certain reporting and labeling requirements in 10 CFR parts 19 and 20. The NRC staff has evaluated the suggestions from industry and other stakeholders and selected 10 CFR 19.13, ``Notifications and reports to individuals,'' 10 CFR 20.2104, ``Determination of prior occupational dose,'' and container labeling requirements as being candidates for further consideration. The NRC staff is also considering changes to 10 CFR 20.1003 to clarify the use of the effective dose equivalent in place of the deep dose equivalent in dose assessments (see Regulatory Issue Summary 2003-04, ``Use of the Effective Dose Equivalent in Place of the Deep Dose Equivalent in Dose Assessments,'' dated February 13, 2003; ADAMS Accession No. ML030370122). The NRC staff's preliminary assessment is that these regulations result in regulatory burdens on licensees beyond what is needed to protect workers and the public against radiation. Discussion The rulemaking under consideration would revise several administrative requirements associated with the collection, reporting, and posting of information. The draft wording for the changes being considered by the NRC staff may be viewed on the NRC's public Web site at . The first change being considered would affect 10 CFR 19.13 and related regulations in 10 CFR Part 20. Prior to 1992, 10 CFR 19.13(b) required licensees to provide each worker annually the worker's occupational dose ``[a]t the request of any worker.'' Thereafter, the Commission amended its regulations (58 FR 23360; May 21, 1991) to conform to 1987 Presidential guidance for Federal agencies on [[Page 8351]] occupational radiation protection (52 FR 2822; January 27, 1987). NRC licensees are currently required to advise each worker annually of the worker's received dose as shown in records maintained by the licensee pursuant to 10 CFR 20.2106, ``Records of individual monitoring results.'' Licensees are required by 10 CFR 20.2106 to maintain records of doses received by all individuals for whom monitoring was required pursuant to 10 CFR 20.1502, ``Conditions requiring individual monitoring of external and internal occupational dose.'' Under 10 CFR 20.1502, licensees are required to monitor occupational radiation exposure for workers likely to receive a dose in excess of 10 percent of the limits specified in 10 CFR 20.1201, ``Occupational dose limits for adults,'' or for workers who enter a high or very high radiation area. Licensees make this determination prospectively with a measure of conservatism, so that many of the workers monitored by licensees actually receive no measurable exposure or only a small fraction of the doses specified in 10 CFR 20.1502. As a result, the recordkeeping and reporting requirements have applied to a large number of workers, thereby increasing administrative costs to licensees. The NRC staff is considering a change to the reporting requirement so that licensees would continue the current reporting for workers who receive more than 2 percent of the limits specified in 10 CFR 20.1201 (this would generally translate to exceeding a total effective dose equivalent (TEDE) of 100 millirem in one year), but would not be required to provide annual dose reports to workers who receive less than 2 percent of those limits. Licensees would continue to provide all workers access to information from their dose records and would provide any worker with a copy of their annual dose report upon request. The staff's initial criteria of 100 millirem was selected because it corresponds to the annual dose limit in 10 CFR 20.1301, ``Dose limits for individual members of the public,'' and is also the threshold for requiring employee training pursuant to 10 CFR 19.12, ``Instruction to workers.'' In addition to other comments or suggestions regarding this possible change to NRC regulations, the NRC staff requests that stakeholders responding to this solicitation address the following questions: (1) Does the language being considered appropriately balance the intent of the Federal government's guidance and regulations related to occupational exposure in terms of avoiding burdensome requirements for doses that are insignificant while adequately providing individuals with information about their occupational exposures? (2) Has the staff suggested appropriate criteria for when licensees are required to provide a report to workers (i.e., is ``exceeds 2 percent of the dose limits in 10 CFR 20.1201(a) or the worker makes a request for a report of their dose'' a reasonable threshold)? (3) Would the change, if made based on the language being considered, result in cost savings to licensees? If so, please provide an estimate of the savings. (4) Should licensees be required to notify workers periodically of their right to request their dose report (e.g., when the worker is issued a personal dosimeter or annually)? (5) Does the possible consolidation of required reports to individuals into 10 CFR 20.2205 and the deletion of 10 CFR 19.13(d) clarify the regulations and would there be a significant cost associated with implementing this possible change? The second change under consideration would revise 10 CFR 20.1905, ``Exemptions to labeling requirements,'' or alternatively add a new regulation to 10 CFR part 50 which would define an exemption from 10 CFR 20.1904 for certain containers within facilities with licenses issued under parts 50 or 52. The exempted containers would need to satisfy conditions such as being located within an area posted in accordance with 10 CFR 20.1902, being conspicuously marked, and being accessible only to trained individuals. In addition to other comments or suggestions regarding this possible change to NRC regulations, the NRC staff requests that stakeholders responding to this solicitation address the following questions: (1) Does the language being considered provide adequate controls for radioactive materials stored within facilities licensed under 10 CFR part 50? (2) Would the change, if made based on the language being considered, result in cost savings to part 50 licensees? If so, please provide an estimate of the savings. (3) Are there categories of materials licensees to which this exemption might be applied, where adequate controls for radioactive materials stored within these facilities could be provided by the conditions being considered for the exemption? If so, what would be the cost savings to these licensees? The third change under consideration involves 10 CFR 20.2104. This possible change would revise the requirement in 10 CFR 20.2104(a)(2) for licensees to attempt to obtain the records of cumulative occupational radiation dose for each worker requiring monitoring pursuant to 10 CFR 20.1502. The information on occupational doses in years other than the current year is not used except in performing evaluations required by 10 CFR 20.1206, ``Planned special exposures.'' Requirements related to obtaining information, performing evaluations, maintaining records, and making reports to individuals and the NRC about planned special exposures are codified in 10 CFR 20.1206 and 20.2104(b). The NRC staff is considering changing 10 CFR 20.2104 to require that licensees obtain the records of cumulative occupational radiation dose only for those individuals being authorized to receive a planned special exposure. In addition to other comments or suggestions regarding this possible change to NRC regulations, the NRC staff requests that stakeholders responding to this solicitation address the following questions: (1) Would the change, if made based on the language being considered, ensure adequate protection of radiation workers? (2) Would the change, if made based on the language being considered, result in cost savings to licensees? If so, please provide an estimate of the savings. The fourth change under consideration by the NRC staff is to revise the definition of TEDE in 10 CFR 20.1003 to be more consistent with the technical basis for the requirements in Part 20 (e.g., the recommendations of the International Commission on Radiological Protection in its Publication 30, a copy of which may be purchased through Elsevier at ). The change under consideration resolves a source of possible confusion in the current regulation by clarifying that the TEDE is the sum of the effective dose equivalent (for external exposures) and the committed effective dose equivalent (for internal exposures). If a licensee is not using a method approved by the NRC for determining effective dose equivalent with radiation measuring devices, the deep dose equivalent, determined for the highest exposed part of the whole body, will be substituted for the effective dose equivalent (for external exposures). Regulatory Issue Summary 2003-04 provides the regulatory basis, and approved methods, for using the effective dose equivalent from external exposures in complying with the regulatory requirements, and limits, on TEDE. In addition to other comments or suggestions regarding this possible [[Page 8352]] change to NRC regulations, the NRC staff requests that stakeholders responding to this solicitation address the following questions: (1) Is the proposed definition of TEDE consistent with the technical basis of the current regulations in 10 CFR part 20 (e.g., recommendations of the International Commission on Radiological Protections in its Publications 26 and 30)? (2) Does the language clarify the existing requirements as explained in Regulatory Issue Summary 2003-04? (3) Should the rule address approvals by Agreement States of dosimetry methods for using effective dose equivalent when external exposure is determined by measurement? If so, how should approval by one jurisdiction be considered by other jurisdictions to ensure consistent results and to minimize state-by-state variations in approach for licensees operating in multiple jurisdictions? The draft rule language is preliminary and may be incomplete in one or more respects. The NRC staff is releasing the draft rule language to inform stakeholders of the NRC staff's consideration of possible changes to 10 CFR parts 19, 20, and 50, and to invite stakeholders to comment on the draft revisions. As appropriate, the Statements of Consideration for the proposed rule will briefly discuss substantive changes made to the rule language as a result of comments received. Comments may be provided as indicated under the ADDRESSES heading. The NRC may post updates periodically on the rulemaking web site that may be of interest to stakeholders. Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 18th day of February, 2004. For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. William H. Ruland, Director, Project Directorate IV, Division of Licensing Project Management, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation. [FR Doc. 04-3890 Filed 2-23-04; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P ***************************************************************** 30 [DU-WATCH] Must Read Clusterbombs Date: Tue, 24 Feb 2004 01:36:05 -0600 (CST) The following article is about two Afghan women collecting unexploded clusterbomblets and risking their lives to clean their enclaves, Miraki, Risking Death, 2 Afghan Women Collected and Detonated U.S. Cluster Bombs in 2001 By CARLOTTA GALL The New York Times February 22, 2004 HAJI BAI NAZAR, Afghanistan Two women in this poor farming village have emerged as heroines after they witnessed the horror of two small boys being killed as they played with little cluster bombs from an American jet. The two cleared dozens of the bombs with their bare hands and detonated them, protecting the village. Mine removers learned of their feat when surveying the area for cluster bomb strikes a few weeks later. "We told them they were crazy, that they could have been killed," said Dr. Nasiri, who is with the the Halo Trust, a nonprofit British organization that specializes in removing mines. The women, Khairulnisah, 50, and Nasreen, 40, started to gather the dangerously volatile yellow canisters after the bombing in 2001 and after they had witnessed the explosion that killed the two boys and badly injured another child. The children had been playing with the two-pound bombs that littered the village. Over several days, the two women cleared 60 or 70 of these cluster bombs from the immediate area and detonated them in a hollow at night, according to the villagers' accounts, which the Halo Trust vouched for. In a country where women are subservient to the men of the family and excluded from decision-making, the courage of these two quickly took a place in local legend. "One man came and said, `With such a heart, your wife will become prime minister,' " said Muhammad Isa, the husband of Ms. Nasreen, with a laugh. The women are practical and hard-working, with rough hands and calm voices. Both said they had decided to clear the bombs out of concern for their children. "I was afraid my sons would get injured," said Ms. Nasreen, who was the first to pick one up. "They were all over the street, and there were 10 in our yard," said Ms. Khairulnisah, her neighbor. "We were stepping around the bombs for five days and we were not touching them. We knew they were dangerous. But after the children were killed I decided to do something." She added: "The men could not go close. They were not brave enough to pick them up and they were running back into the house. I was not afraid, I was just trusting in God." The cluster bombs were dropped during the American operation against Taliban forces who were occupying the village in October 2001. They are armor-piercing missiles that scatter in the air from a larger bomb and can shred both humans and tanks. Up to a third of the bombs do not explode on impact, but lie on or just below the surface of the ground, and detonate with the slightest vibration or increase in heat, mine removers at the Halo Trust said. Hundreds were dropped along the front line near the town of Khojar Ghar in northern Afghanistan, and The Halo Trust has spent two years clearing dozens of bomb strikes in the area. Last fall, they found five new sites on nearby hills. They are the most dangerous unexploded ordnance of all, and the agency lost two senior leaders clearing cluster bombs in 2002. The women said they felt endangered by handling the bombs. "Sometimes they made a noise, sometimes something turned inside, and that would press on my heart, and I would carefully lie them back down," Ms. Khairulnisah said. "Those ones I would pick up with a shovel." Ms. Khairulnisah has "always been like that," said Muhammad Jan, her husband. "When the bombing was going on, she would go up onto the roof, saying, `Only God can take my life.' " Ms. Nasreen said she sensed that the bombs were full of liquid explosive. "Most of the time when I was picking them up, they would vibrate and shake my whole arm," she said. "One was so hot it was burning my hand and I had to put it quickly in water." She collected 34 over three days, putting straw around them each time and setting fire to small groups of them, causing a big explosion, as she hid behind a wall. "I knew they were dangerous," she said. "I was risking my life for the life of others. I was sick for nine days after that. I don't know if it was the gas. It smells so bad it makes you want to vomit." When she began collecting them, she did not tell anyone what she was doing. But the explosions frightened the villagers, so she owned up. Her husband and son tried to stop her. "I will not pick up your body and I will say you committed suicide," her husband told her. But she ignored them. The men said the women just did not understand the dangers of the bombs. "We see the incidents and repercussions of warfare, but the women don't know," said Abdullah, 18, Ms. Nasreen's son. But his mother dismissed that idea. "That's not true," she said. "I saw the dead bodies of those children. I knew exactly the consequences but I thought we should clean the village of them and protect our children." ***************************************************************** 31 [DU-WATCH] DEPLETED URANIUM SAFETY FEARS CONTINUE Date: Tue, 24 Feb 2004 01:10:55 -0600 (CST) http://www.agi.it/english/news.pl?doc=200402161848-1185-RT1-CRO-0-NF11&page= 0&id=agionline-eng.oggitalia DEPLETED URANIUM SAFETY FEARS CONTINUE UN Observer 2004-02-20 | It has been reported that the U.K. Ministry of Defence have performed an astonishing u-turn on the safety of Depleted Uranium. All serving personnel working in IRAQ have now been issued with a Depleted Uranium information card. ( * Ed. Note: Please see copy below. ) For over a decade many 1990-91 Gulf War veterans have complained of ill health possibly associated with exposure to DU. To date many veterans still await tangible testing for their exposures and have faced a wall of opposition in their efforts to acquire help and advice. The decision raises many disturbing questions about the issues of DU. For instance why were 1990-91 Gulf war service veterans not informed about the dangers of DU or given advice cards? Why were they not given appropriate guidance on the use of DU and why are they still waiting to be tested for possible service-attributable exposures? We have all marvelled at the media images of this powerful weapon and we have been reassured for years that Depleted Uranium is safe, so why have the Ministry of Defence decided to issue the new FMED 1018 DU information cards? The card offers the following information_ You have been deployed to a theatre where Depleted Uranium (DU) munitions have been used DU is a weakly radioactive heavy metal, which has the potential to cause ill health You may have been exposed to dust containing DU during your deployment For many veterans this action and news has come as too little, too late. To date some 650 Gulf War veterans have lost their lives and hundreds, if not thousands have been left sick and disabled by their loyal war time service. Many of the worlds battlefields have been left contaminated and civilian populations now live under the shadow of the Depleted Uranium legacy. GULF WAR SYNDROME UK SUPPORT GROUP calls upon the Government to take urgent action in addressing the issues of Depleted Uranium. We would also like to see immediate testing for evidence of exposure to Depleted Uranium and additional Chromosome Aberration testing of service veterans and affected civilian populations. For further details refer to http://www.gwsuk.org.uk and/or http://www.mod.uk/issues/depleted_uranium/index.htm * MoD Accept DU has the potential to cause ill health British Troops serving in Iraq are now being issued with an F Med 1018. Why not before the Iraq war, Balkans or Gulf War? Are service personnel from other nations aware that British Troops carry this warning card? Are Iraqi Civilians aware of this warning card? Are Civilians aware of this warning card who around the world live near test firing range's? Copies of this card should be made for the Iraqi civilians to turn up at British & American Military establishments in Iraq and ask for testing as it was the US and the UK that used Uranium Munitions. Please distribute the faxed, photo-copy of the card that was sent to me. (Name withheld) REMEMBER The MoD have always told Gulf War 1 Vet's DU IS SAFE - another demonstration of an UNTRUTH It was said that DU was experimental during Gulf War 1 - then is this another demonstration of the breaking of the Nuremberg Code by observing the health effects on the Veterans after the War? MOD Card: "DU Information Card (introduced 03/03) F Med 1018 You have been deployed to a theatre where Depleted Uranium(DU) munitions have been used. DU is a weakly radioactive heavy metal, which has the potential to cause ill health You may have been exposed to dust containing DU during your deployment Further Information You are eligiable for a urine test to measure uranium. If you wish to know more about having this test, you should consult your unit medical officer on return to your home base. Your medical officer can provide information about the health effects of DU. Information is also available on the MOD web site: www.mod.uk/issues/depleted_uranium/index.htm" http://www.mod.uk/issues/depleted_uranium/index.htm Related Article ITALIAN SOLDIERS DON'T USE URANIUM PROTECTION MASKS - ASSOC PRESIDENT (AGI) - Rome, Italy, Wednesday February 18, 2004 Feb. 16 - Italian soldiers deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq do not wear protective masks that impede inhalation of depleted uranium dust, wrote Falco Accame, president of the Armed Forces Victims Association, in a letter to the Italian president. According to Accame, norms were issued by the United States in 1993 for the use of masks in order to "impede the inhalation of uranium oxide that deposits in the soil of areas bombarded by weapons containing depleted uranium, which can be carried by the wind." These norms are in effect for Italian forces since 1999. Accame also said that Italy has had "twenty deaths for suspected uranium contamination, and around 200 illnesses." [Brought to you by HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK] Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/du-watch/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: du-watch-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ ***************************************************************** 32 [DU-WATCH] DARPA creating a race of robo-grunts Date: Tue, 24 Feb 2004 01:37:05 -0600 (CST) DARPA creating a race of robo-grunts By Thomas C Greene in Washington Posted: 21/02/2004 at 00:01 GMT I'm taking little white pills And my eyes are open wide I just passed a Jimmy and a White... I've been passin' every thing in sight. Six days on the road, and I'm gonna make it home tonight. --Dave Dudley The Defense Sciences Office of the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is looking for a few good proposals to exploit soldiers in ways Rommel and Tojo could only have dreamed of. Imagine divisions of grunts able to go without food and sleep for days on end while performing at peak level. That's the perverse dream of the Defense Sciences Office's new Metabolic Dominance Program. "The vision for the Metabolic Dominance Program is to develop novel strategies that exploit and control the mechanisms of energy production, metabolism, and utilization during short periods of deployment requiring unprecedented levels of physical demand. The ultimate goal is to enable superior physical and physiological performance by controlling energy metabolism on demand," DARPA explains. Much of this will be a matter of uncapping the natural safety mechanisms against excessive strain that humans have evolved with - overclocking the grunt, so to speak. But the DoD doesn't seem much concerned by the potential ill effects; nowhere in the call for proposals is there a request for a long-term health impact study. The long-term effects will apparently be discovered the old-fashioned way. Numerous areas of pseudo-science will be explored to achieve "continuous peak physical performance and cognitive function for 3 to 5 days, 24 hours per day, without the need for calories." This will be accomplished without the traditional stimulants and the nervous edge they create. Firing up soldiers with amphetamines has had its drawbacks, illustrated most recently in Afghanistan, where two speed-addled US pilots panicked and attacked a group of Canadians on a training exercise, killing four and wounding eight. Rather, DARPA is interested in forcing soldiers' bodies to metabolize their own fat reserves, eliminating the need for food. It would like to overclock muscle mitochondria, increasing output beyond levels that the skeleton can withstand. It would like to suppress the painful signs of fatigue, so that soldiers can be pushed beyond the limits of human endurance without realizing it, at least until something breaks. DARPA has identified a number of problems that will need solving. One is body temperature management; super-metabolism will cause overheating, which can easily kill. Another is supplying nutrients to people who have stopped eating, though perhaps little white pills or transdermal patches can be used. And finally, there has to be a way of reversing the enhancements at will, "without deleterious or irreversible effects," DARPA says. "Adverse effects are to be identified with mechanisms for intervention." These mechanisms should "reduce post-exertion recovery time and minimize negative consequences of enhanced performance." Or at least the appearance of such. Soldiers must return to normal metabolism when the 'treatments' stop. We wouldn't take 'without ... permanent effects' to mean 'without permanent injury,' because that's something no military organization ever apologizes for. We take it to mean that when the burnt-out, desiccated husks of men who have been driven beyond natural limits are shipped home, their families will see them eating and sleeping normally, and therefore wonder less about why they can barely walk. DARPA will be accepting proposals from the 'scientific community' until mid-March. . http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/73/35721.html Law Offices of Indira Rai-Choudhury, Esq. 1201 Cornwall Ave., Suite 108 Bellingham WA 98225 360-676-0200 This e-mail and any attachments are confidential and may be protected by legal privilege. If you are not the intended recipient, be aware that any disclosure, copying, distribution or use of this e-mail or any attachment is prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify us immediately by returning it to the sender and delete this copy from your system. Thank you for your cooperation. ***************************************************************** 33 [du-list] Audio and Powerpoint - Iraqi MD exposes effects of Date: Mon, 23 Feb 2004 14:45:21 -0800 ** http://www.traprockpeace.org/jawad_al-ali_iraq.html Dr. Jawad Al-Ali, manager of the Oncology Center in Basrah, Iraq, has exposed the health effects of wars on Iraq. He has presented the results of cancer studies in Iraq at the World Uranium Weapons Conference in Hamburg and the recent Japan Peace Conference, Naha, Okinawa January 29 - February 1, 2004. He reveals that cancer mortality has increased 19 fold since Gulf War I in Basra, and the occurrence of unusual phenomena, such as familial clusterings of cancers, double and triple cancers in one patient, and cancers usually associated with elderly patients occurring in the young. Rates of cancer and radiation activity have both shown sharp increases since Gulf War I, when about 340 tons of uranium munitions were expended in Iraq, much of this in the Basrah area. (The US refuses to disclose how much tonnage of uranium weapons it used I Iraq during Gulf War II. Estimates have ranged from over 100 tons up to 2000 tons.) You can hear and read his presentation at http://www.traprockpeace.org/jawad_al-ali_iraq.html The page includes a link to the audio of his talk to the World Uranium Weapons Conference, the slide show in pdf format, the text of his talk to the Japan Peace Conference in Haha, Okinawa, January 29-Feb 1, 2004 and photographs of Dr. Jawad Al-Ali from the World Uranium Weapons Conference. The slide show contains tables and graphs explaining the health effects of the war, pictures of Iraq after bombings, and very graphic pictures of Iraqi cancer victims. (Warning: many of these photos are horrific and are not suitable for children in this writer's opinion.) The slide show photographs are the work of Japanese photo journalist Takashi Morizumi. Thanks to the efforts of Canadian physician Ross Wilcock, we've made available this easy to download 2.25 mg pdf version of the slide show. This version is friendly for download to people with dial-up connections while preserving the content, including photographs, of the original. You could also download the audio of his presentation, and listen to his talk while scrolling through the slide show. The talk and visual presentation cover most of the same ground do not exactly match given time restraints of his talk (he needed to skip or change the order of some slides.) The webpage above has a key to assist in going through the presentation while listening to the talk. AFSC has published a 42 mg version of the presentation in Powerpoint format. http://www.afsc.org/newengland/pesp/effects-of-wars.ppt We have audio of other speakers from the World Uranium Weapons Conference that we will be uploading to the Traprock site over the next few weeks. For more information on the conference, including conference reports, go to http://www.uraniumweaponsconference.de/ For the audio, we wish to thank Martin Voelker, who converted and edited audio we recorded at the Hamburg conference, and Marion Kuepker, a convener of the Hamburg conference and with Gewaltfreie Aktion Atomwaffen Abschaffen (GAAA) - http://www.gaaa.org/ She kindly provided their conference recordings. Thank you, Charlie Jenks Charles Jenks, attorney at law President of the Core Group Traprock Peace Center 103A Keets Road Deerfield, MA 01342 413-773-1633; Fax 413-773-7507 charles@mtdata.com http://traprockpeace.org ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Buy Ink Cartridges or Refill Kits for your HP, Epson, Canon or Lexmark Printer at MyInks.com. Free s/h on orders $50 or more to the US & Canada. http://www.c1tracking.com/l.asp?cid=5511 http://us.click.yahoo.com/mOAaAA/3exGAA/qnsNAA/FGYolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> To unsubscribe from this groups send a message to du-list-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com. In the body of the message type unsubscribe and send. Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/du-list/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: du-list-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ ***************************************************************** 34 [DU-WATCH] Audio and Powerpoint - Iraqi MD exposes effects of Date: Tue, 24 Feb 2004 17:55:20 -0600 (CST) ** http://www.traprockpeace.org/jawad_al-ali_iraq.html Dr. Jawad Al-Ali, manager of the Oncology Center in Basrah, Iraq, has exposed the health effects of wars on Iraq. He has presented the results of cancer studies in Iraq at the World Uranium Weapons Conference in Hamburg and the recent Japan Peace Conference, Naha, Okinawa January 29 - February 1, 2004. He reveals that cancer mortality has increased 19 fold since Gulf War I in Basra, and the occurrence of unusual phenomena, such as familial clusterings of cancers, double and triple cancers in one patient, and cancers usually associated with elderly patients occurring in the young. Rates of cancer and radiation activity have both shown sharp increases since Gulf War I, when about 340 tons of uranium munitions were expended in Iraq, much of this in the Basrah area. (The US refuses to disclose how much tonnage of uranium weapons it used I Iraq during Gulf War II. Estimates have ranged from over 100 tons up to 2000 tons.) You can hear and read his presentation at http://www.traprockpeace.org/jawad_al-ali_iraq.html The page includes a link to the audio of his talk to the World Uranium Weapons Conference, the slide show in pdf format, the text of his talk to the Japan Peace Conference in Haha, Okinawa, January 29-Feb 1, 2004 and photographs of Dr. Jawad Al-Ali from the World Uranium Weapons Conference. The slide show contains tables and graphs explaining the health effects of the war, pictures of Iraq after bombings, and very graphic pictures of Iraqi cancer victims. (Warning: many of these photos are horrific and are not suitable for children in this writer's opinion.) The slide show photographs are the work of Japanese photo journalist Takashi Morizumi. Thanks to the efforts of Canadian physician Ross Wilcock, we've made available this easy to download 2.25 mg pdf version of the slide show. This version is friendly for download to people with dial-up connections while preserving the content, including photographs, of the original. You could also download the audio of his presentation, and listen to his talk while scrolling through the slide show. The talk and visual presentation cover most of the same ground do not exactly match given time restraints of his talk (he needed to skip or change the order of some slides.) The webpage above has a key to assist in going through the presentation while listening to the talk. AFSC has published a 42 mg version of the presentation in Powerpoint format. http://www.afsc.org/newengland/pesp/effects-of-wars.ppt We have audio of other speakers from the World Uranium Weapons Conference that we will be uploading to the Traprock site over the next few weeks. For more information on the conference, including conference reports, go to http://www.uraniumweaponsconference.de/ For the audio, we wish to thank Martin Voelker, who converted and edited audio we recorded at the Hamburg conference, and Marion Kuepker, a convener of the Hamburg conference and with Gewaltfreie Aktion Atomwaffen Abschaffen (GAAA) - http://www.gaaa.org/ She kindly provided their conference recordings. Thank you, Charlie Jenks Charles Jenks, attorney at law President of the Core Group Traprock Peace Center 103A Keets Road Deerfield, MA 01342 413-773-1633; Fax 413-773-7507 charles@mtdata.com http://traprockpeace.org ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Buy Ink Cartridges or Refill Kits for your HP, Epson, Canon or Lexmark Printer at MyInks.com. Free s/h on orders $50 or more to the US & Canada. http://www.c1tracking.com/l.asp?cid=5511 http://us.click.yahoo.com/mOAaAA/3exGAA/qnsNAA/Sj.0lB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> [Brought to you by HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK] Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/du-watch/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: du-watch-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ ***************************************************************** 35 [DU-WATCH] Scandal of Gulf war guinea pigs Date: Mon, 23 Feb 2004 23:34:23 -0600 (CST) Scandal of Gulf War guinea pigs http://www.sundaypost.com/news1.htm EXCLUSIVE By Jackie Bytheway THE Ministry of Defence breached the Nuremberg Code by carrying out medical tests on soldiers during the first Gulf War. Injections with a cocktail of drugs were given to thousands of soldiers prior to being sent to the Gulf. But one medical unit 205 General Hospital, now 205 Field Hospital, based in Govan, Glasgow was used for vaccine experiments without being told. Immunisation The Nuremberg Code states that voluntary consent is absolutely essential before such experiments are carried out. Britain is bound by the code yet two of the soldiers in 205GH were unaware they were used as guinea pigs until told by The Sunday Post. A Government report into the immunisation of soldiers during the first Gulf War states, HQ British Forces Middle East decided a trial should be conducted at 205 General Hospital to assess how many personnel would suffer severe reactions as a result of plague immunisation before other units in theatre began the administration of plague vaccine. Tony Flint. The results of the trial would give an indication of the number of personnel who would be affected by severe vaccine reactions. Tony Flint, who was attached to the unit, added, We were guinea pigs and we are all pretty angry about it. We had no choice and they had no right to do that to us. It is against the Nuremberg Code. We all assumed this vaccine had been safe and tested out at Porton Down not on the battlefield. Symptoms Tony, from London, has not been able to work for 10 years and is only 56. He attributes all his symptoms to the vaccines he received for anthrax, whooping cough and the plague. Tony now suffers from a long list of ailments including flu-like symptoms every six to eight weeks and chronic fatigue. One Glasgow soldier, who served with 205 General Hospital and does not want to be named, said, There was a lot of peer pressure applied by comrades and senior officers. I wasnt aware of mass testing and if we had been told a lot of people would have refused. There were a lot of professional people in 205 such as doctors, nurses and lab technicians and there would have been a full-scale riot if they knew they were being tested. Emeritus Professor of Medicinal Chemistry, Malcolm Hooper, said, Its extremely disturbing that a number of situations in the first Gulf War were clearly experimental without the proper research being carried out. Prof Hooper, who retired from Sunderland University, is now chief scientific advisor to the National Gulf Veterans and Families Association. He said there is clear evidence of damage to the nervous system that he believes has been caused by the injections. Cold heart He added, The veterans are fighting for their lives, sanity and families. They have not received justice, theyve been met with a tin ear, cold heart and a closed mind. They are just asking that their health is taken care of properly. Now the National Gulf Veterans and Families Association plan to take legal action against the MoD. The MoD initially maintained personnel had given informed consent for the injections. But after we disputed their facts, they admitted the immunisations were meant to be voluntary. However, they accept that when the instruction was passed down the chain of command it may have led to the belief the immunisations were mandatory. An MoD spokesman said, It appears the voluntary nature of the anti-biological weapons immunisation programme was clearly understood in some cases but not in others. He added that a combination of leadership by example, peer pressure and lack of clear instructions left some personnel with the belief they could not refuse the immunisations. We are holding our hands up. In some cases the Nuremberg Code may have been breached, he added. ________________________________________________________________________ Yahoo! Messenger - Communicate instantly..."Ping" your friends today! Download Messenger Now http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com/download/index.html [Brought to you by HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK] Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/du-watch/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: du-watch-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ ***************************************************************** 36 [DU-WATCH] MOD accepts DU has the potential to cause ill health Date: Mon, 23 Feb 2004 23:38:42 -0600 (CST) Dear all this wrning card (see below) was sent out by a Gulf Veteran, please circulate cheers MoD Accept DU has the potential to cause ill health British Troops serving in Iraq are now being issued with an F Med 1018. Why not before the Iraq war, Balkans or Gulf War? Are service personnel from other nations aware that British Troops carry this warning card? Are Iraqi Civilians aware of this warning card? Are Civilians aware of this warning card who around the world live near test firing range's. Copies of this card should be made for the Iraqi civilians to turn up at British & American Military establishments in Iraq and ask for testing as it was the US and the UK that used Uranium Munitions. Please distribute the faxed, photo-copy of the card that was sent to me. REMEMBER The MoD have always told Gulf War 1 Vet's DU IS SAFE another demonstration of an UNTRUTH It was said that DU was experimental during Gulf War 1 - then is this another demonstration of the breaking of the Nuremberg Code by observing the health effects on the Veterans after the War? MOD Card: DU Information Card (introduced 03/03) F Med 1018 You have been deployed to a theatre where Depleted Uranium(DU) munitions have been used. DU is a weakly radioactive heavy metal, which has the potential to cause ill health You may have been exposed to dust containing DU during your deployment Further Information You are eligiable for a urine test to measure uranium. If you wish to know more about having this test, you should consult your unit medical officer on return to your home base. Your medical officer can provide information about the health effects of DU. Information is also available on the MOD web site: www.mod.uk/issues/depleted_uranium/index.htm ________________________________________________________________________ Yahoo! Messenger - Communicate instantly..."Ping" your friends today! Download Messenger Now http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com/download/index.html ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Buy Ink Cartridges or Refill Kits for your HP, Epson, Canon or Lexmark Printer at MyInks.com. Free s/h on orders $50 or more to the US & Canada. http://www.c1tracking.com/l.asp?cid=5511 http://us.click.yahoo.com/mOAaAA/3exGAA/qnsNAA/Sj.0lB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> [Brought to you by HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK] Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/du-watch/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: du-watch-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ ***************************************************************** 37 [DU-WATCH] Depleted Uranium: The war crime that has no end Date: Tue, 24 Feb 2004 01:35:08 -0600 (CST) DEPLETED URANIUM: THE WAR CRIME THAT HAS NO END by Paul Rockwell 2004-02-20 UN Observer http://www.unobserver.com/layout5.php?id=1462&blz=1 Depleted uranium is a crime against God and humanity. Dr. Doug Rokke, U.S. Army health physicist The international dispatches about the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq - replete with graphic details about overcrowded hospitals, U.S. cluster bomb shrapnel buried in the flesh of children, babies deformed by U.S. depleted uranium, farms and markets destroyed by U.S. bombs do not make pleasant reading. The mounting evidence from the invasion of Iraq establishes what many Americans may not want to face: that the highest leaders of our land violated many international agreements relating to the rules of war. Unless we address the war crimes of the Bush administration - and the prima facie evidence is overwhelming - we betray our conscience, our country, and our own faith in democracy. The United States is bound by customary law and international laws of war: the Hague Conventions of 1889 and 1907, the Geneva Conventions of 1949, and the Nuremberg Conventions adopted by the United Nations, December 11, 1945 - all of which set limits beyond which, by common consent, decent peoples will not go. Under the Constitution, all treaties are part of the supreme law of the land. Humanitarian law rests on a simple principle: that human rights are measured by one yardstick. Without that principle, all jurisprudence descends into mere piety and power. Nor do violations of the laws of war by one belligerent vindicate the war crimes of another. Of all the violations of the laws of war by the highest officials of our country, none is more alarming or portentous than the widespread, premeditated use of depleted uranium in Iraq. Eleven miles north of the Kuwaiti border on the "Highway of Death," disabled tanks, armored personnel carriers, gutted public vehicles the mangled metals of Desert Storm - are resting in the desert, radiating nuclear energy. American soldiers who lived for three months in the toxic wasteland now suffer from fatigue, joint and muscle pain, respiratory ailments - a host of maladies often known as the Gulf War Syndrome. Ever since the end of Desert Storm, when the Pentagon unloaded 350 tons of depleted uranium, American officials have been well aware of the health hazards of the residue that is collected from the processing of nuclear fuel. When President Bush and the Pentagon authorized the use of depleted uranium for the shock-and-awe campaign against Iraq in March 1983, the Bush administration not only committed a war crime against the people of Iraq, it demonstrated reckless disregard for the health and safety of American troops. Article 23 of the Geneva Convention IV is clear and unambiguous: It is forbidden to employ poison or poisoned weapons, to kill treacherously individuals belonging to the hostile nation or army, to employ arms, projectiles or material calculated to cause unnecessary suffering. The Geneva Protocol of 1925 explicitly prohibits asphyxiating, poisonous or other gasses, and all analogous liquids, materials or devices. The radiation produced by depleted uranium in battle is a poison, a carcinogenic material that causes birth defects, lung disease, kidney disease, leukemia, breast cancer, lymphoma, bone cancer, and neurological disabilities. Depleted uranium is much denser than lead and enables U.S. weapons to penetrate steel, a great advantage in modern war. But under the Geneva Conventions, the means of injuring the enemy are not unlimited. When DU munitions explode, the air is bathed in a fine radioactive dust, which carries on the wind, is easily inhaled, and eventually enters the soil, pollutes ground water, and enters the food chain. Unexploded casings gradually oxidize, releasing more uranium into the environment. Handlers of depleted uranium in the U.S. are required to wear masks and protective clothing - a requirement that Iraqi and American soldiers, not to mention civilians, are unable to fulfill. After the Gulf War in 1991, Iraqi hospitals recorded a surge in cancer and birth defects. Hospital statistics from Basra show that in 1988 there were 11 cancer cases per 100,000 people. By 2001, after schools, homes, and entire neighborhoods were leveled from the air, the number increased to 116 per 100,000. Breast and lung cancer and leukemia showed up in all areas contaminated by depleted uranium. Dr. Jawad al-Ali, cancer specialist at the Basra Training Hospital, noted that, The only factor that has changed here since the 1991 war is radiation. Thirteen members of his staff, all present when the hospital area was bombed, are now cancer patients. The Christian Science Monitor recently sent reporters to Iraq to investigate long-term effects of depleted uranium. Staff writer Scott Peterson saw children playing on top of a burnt-out tank near a vegetable stand on the outskirts of Baghdad, a tank that had been destroyed by armor-piercing shells coated with depleted uranium. Wearing his mask and protective clothing, he pointed his Geiger counter toward the tank. It registered 1,000 times the normal background radiation. The families who survived the tragic decade of sanctions, even the children who recently survived the bombing of Baghdad, may not survive the radiated aftermath of military profligacy. Uranium remains radioactive for two billion years. That's a long time for reconstruction. According to Dr. Doug Rokke, U.S. Army health physicist who led the first clean-up of depleted uranium after the Gulf War, Depleted uranium is a crime against God and humanity. Rokke's own crew, a hundred employees, was devastated by exposure to the fine dust. When we went to the Gulf, we were all really healthy, he said. After performing clean-up operations in the desert (mistakenly without protective gear), thirty members of his staff died, and most others - including Rokke himself-developed serious health problems. Rokke now has reactive airway disease, neurological damage, cataracts, and kidney problems. We warned the Department of Defense in 1991 after the Gulf War. Their arrogance is beyond comprehension. The growing outcry against the use of depleted uranium is not a matter of minor legal technicalities. The laws of war prohibit the use of weapons that have deadly and inhumane effects beyond the field of battle. Nor can weapons be legally deployed in war when they are known to remain active, or cause harm after the war concludes. The use of depleted uranium is a crime whose horrific consequences have yet to run their course. Years ago in the midst of France's brutal war in Algeria, the philosopher Jean Paul Sartre admonished the French intelligentsia: It is not right, my fellow-countrymen, you who know very well all the crimes committed in our name. It's not at all right that you do not breathe a word about them to anyone, not even to your own soul, for fear of having to stand in judgment of yourself. I am willing to believe that at the beginning you did not realize what was happening; later, you doubted whether such things could be true; but now you know, and still you hold your tongues. Paul Rockwell For addtional information... Afghan DU Recovery Fund: http://www.afghandufund.org/ Canadian Peacekeeping Veterans Association: http://members.shaw.ca/cpva/ Coalicisn Internacional para la Abolicisn de las Armas Radiactivas: http://www.amcmh.org/ The Eos life~work resource centre: http://www.eoslifework.co.uk/du2012.htm GULF WAR SYNDROME UK SUPPORT GROUP: http://www.gwsuk.org.uk Pandora DU Research Project:http://www.pandoraproject.org Traprock Peace Center: http://traprockpeace.org/RokkePressConf23July03.html United Nations Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights: http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu2/2/sc.htm Uranium Medical Research Centre: http://www.umrc.net/ Uranium Weapons Conference; http://www.uraniumweaponsconference.de -- ________________________________________________________________________ Yahoo! Messenger - Communicate instantly..."Ping" your friends today! Download Messenger Now http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com/download/index.html ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Buy Ink Cartridges or Refill Kits for your HP, Epson, Canon or Lexmark Printer at MyInks.com. Free s/h on orders $50 or more to the US & Canada. http://www.c1tracking.com/l.asp?cid=5511 http://us.click.yahoo.com/mOAaAA/3exGAA/qnsNAA/Sj.0lB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> [Brought to you by HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK] Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/du-watch/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: du-watch-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ ***************************************************************** 38 [du-list] Japanese split over Iraq mission Date: Mon, 23 Feb 2004 20:35:19 -0800 Japanese split over Iraq mission Chalmers Johnson, for the L.A. Times February 23, 2004, Minneapolis Star Tribune http://www.startribune.com/stories/1519/4620598.html Japan may have regained its sovereignty in 1952, but the decision to dispatch Japanese troops to Iraq earlier this month has reminded many of its citizens just how little independence the country really has -- and just how much control the United States retains. If British Prime Minister Tony Blair is President Bush's poodle, then Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is his cocker spaniel. "We are still occupied by the American military," said an acquaintance of mine who is a former official of Japan's Ministry of Education and now a university president. "We are a satellite. Our foreign policy revolves entirely around the wishes of Washington." Like many other Japanese, he believes that Koizumi ordered Japan's first military sortie into an active combat zone since World War II because he was too weak to stand up to Bush. According to a recent Japan Broadcasting Corp. poll, 51 percent of the country opposes getting involved in Washington's war against Iraq, while only 42 percent supports Koizumi's decision. What's more, 82 percent of those polled said they did not trust the prime minister's explanations for marching into the Iraqi quagmire. Most believe that Koizumi had to go along with Bush or risk damaging the alliance with the United States. There's no question that the United States takes Japan for granted. The Bush administration likes to boast about how successful the U.S. Army was in democratizing Japan after World War II, and it likes to suggest that it will accomplish the same feat in Iraq. But it fails to note that the U.S. military kept the Japanese prefecture of Okinawa as a Pentagon colony for more than 25 years -- until 1972 -- and that the United States still has 38 military bases on that small island. Okinawa is home to 1.3 million Japanese citizens who since 1945 have repeatedly had to bear the burdens of violent crimes by American soldiers, continuous environmental and noise pollution, hit-and-run accidents, bar brawls and behavior that would never be tolerated in the United States or the mainland of Japan. The Washington official charged with keeping Japan in the U.S. orbit is Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage. His name probably appears in the Japanese media more frequently than any other U.S. government figure. Armitage has been hammering Koizumi for more than a year "not to miss the boat" this time, referring to Japan's failure to support the United States militarily in the 1991 war against Iraq. (He has apparently forgotten that Tokyo bankrolled operations to the tune of $13 billion.) After his reelection as prime minister in September, Koizumi railroaded a vote through the Japanese Parliament endorsing the dispatch of Self-Defense Forces troops to Iraq, even though he acknowledged that this was probably a violation of Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution. Article 9, a key part of Japan's post-World War II constitution, prohibits Japan from using force in the conduct of its foreign relations. Koizumi tried to get around this by endorsing future efforts to amend the constitution and by claiming that the Japanese army would undertake "only humanitarian and reconstruction work" in Iraq. But this is hardly a risk-free operation -- militarily or politically. Domestic critics charge that sending the troops before amending the constitution suggests that Japan does not believe in the rule of law. Two former secretaries-general of Koizumi's Liberal Democratic Party, Koichi Kato and Makoto Koga, and the party's former policy chief, Shizuka Kamei, declined to vote for the troop deployment. The first of about 1,000 Japanese troops arrived Feb. 8 in Samawah, 168 miles south of Baghdad, Iraq. Four days later, they came under mortar attack. They've also been threatened by Al-Qaida for joining the U.S.-led coalition -- and given that Al-Qaida delivered painful blows to the Turks in Istanbul after issuing similar warnings, Japan should be braced for military and civilian casualties. Perhaps even more serious for the Japanese, Samawah was hit by U.S. depleted-uranium ammunition in both 1991 and 2003. Japanese journalist Mamoru Toyoda, equipped with a Geiger counter, found radiation levels in the town 300 times greater than normal. The Dutch troops also based there have refused to remove or go near any of the radioactive debris in the area. Death and disability because of radiation sickness is a particular horror for all Japanese after the World War II bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The British and Australian governments ignored their populations to join Bush's might-makes-right adventure, when they could have stood aside like France and Germany. It is too bad that Japan has now done the same thing, permanently destroying the idealism behind its antiwar constitution. Chalmers Johnson, president of the Japan Policy Research Institute and author of "The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic," wrote this article for the Los Angeles Times. -- Posted for educational and research purposes only, ~ in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 ~ See NucNews Links and Archives - http://nucnews.net ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Buy Ink Cartridges or Refill Kits for your HP, Epson, Canon or Lexmark Printer at MyInks.com. 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Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ ***************************************************************** 39 [du-list] This time, depleted uranium questions are coming Date: Mon, 23 Feb 2004 20:35:20 -0800 This time, depleted uranium questions are coming from the Army first By Kevin Dougherty, Stars and Stripes European edition, Monday, February 23, 2004 http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=20636 As concerns over depleted uranium grew in the aftermath of the Persian Gulf War, Army doctors were largely in a reactive mode, waiting for soldiers to broach the subject of radiation exposure. That approach was partly due to an absence of health and deployment data, which impeded efforts to cure and compensate people. Now, as the Army manages the largest force rotation in decades, troops returning from Iraq are being asked about depleted uranium — as well as other potentially dangerous toxins — before most have a chance to raise the issue themselves. This and other health-related questions form the basis of an Armywide post-deployment questionnaire. “We are doing more testing,” said Capt. James Mancuso, chief of epidemiology at the U.S. Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine-Europe in Landstuhl, Germany. Mancuso said officials are not finding any significant exposure, however, to depleted uranium, a dense substance used in projectiles to improve armor-piercing capability. But up and down the clinical chart, medical personnel are doing more these days to check and document a soldier’s health before and after deployment. The pace has accelerated in recent months to better capture baseline medical data on the waves of troops leaving and entering Iraq. Officials say servicemembers are also more involved in the process, partly because they are better educated about possible health threats. “We have a better trained soldier population,” said Army Lt. Col. Gary Matcek, chief of the center’s health physics division, “not just on DU, but on the whole litany of toxicants.” The effort to improve the process of collecting health and deployment data comes on the heels of a Government Accounting Office report that focused on 1,071 troops who deployed to Kosovo or Afghanistan between January 2001 and May 2002. Released in September, the GAO’s review found the Army and Air Force not in compliance with Defense Department policies on health protection and surveillance. The report, based on data covering four stateside bases, noted deficiencies in health assessments, immunizations and record-keeping. It also criticized the Defense Department for a lack of “oversight of department-wide efforts to comply with health surveillance requirements.” The Defense Department concurred with the report. The report “disclosed that 38 to 98 percent of servicemembers [sampled] were missing one or both of their [pre- or post-deployment] health assessments. ...” The basis of the GAO review, the second in six years, is rooted in health problems that arose after the 1990-91 Persian Gulf War, giving rise to what is known as Gulf War syndrome. One of the culprits, some say, was the use of depleted uranium by U.S. and British forces. DU is a byproduct of the enrichment process of natural uranium, and, because of its density, is highly effective in penetrating armored vehicles. But a lack of deployment data frustrated efforts to fully investigate the matter, the GAO later found. Today, troops wrapping up their Iraq tour are required to complete a four-page form that includes, among other things, a question about possible exposure to depleted uranium. The number of soldiers answering “yes” is “very low,” said Army Col. Allen Kraft, director of force health protection for Europe Regional Medical Command and U.S. Army Europe. Exposure to depleted uranium “is just one of the many, many things we are covering” in the survey, Kraft said. “Some are as innocuous as sand and dust.” Regarding health assessments and data collection, Kraft acknowledged Army doctors “learned some good lessons from Gulf War I.” But, he adds, people need to keep things in perspective. Ingesting particles of depleted uranium certainly isn’t desirable, Kraft said, but he noted that people who smoke do their body more harm. In a place such as Iraq, medical officials are just as concerned about other toxicants, from oil field emissions to lead paint. DU, Kraft said, “is on the low end of the totem pole” of things to worry about. “The word ‘radiation’ scares people,” Kraft said, “but you are exposed to [levels of] radiation every time you step outside.” By anyone’s measure, the greatest threat of depleted uranium exposure occurs when a soldier has the added misfortune of being in a vehicle struck by a DU shell, possibly from friendly fire. Upon impact, a round will pierce the metal and then mostly vaporize, sending fragments as well as particles of DU oxides flying. Matcek, the CHPPME health physics division chief, said the immediate threat soon dissipates and that even rescue personnel are not at serious risk when following basic safety standards. Troops who simply pass by are at no great risk of exposure, either. A measure of uranium, Matcek said, is in everyone’s body: “It’s part of the air we breathe.” “The conflict was different than the first time,” Matcek said. “… We did a much better job identifying between friend and foe.” Medical officials, Mancuso said, walk a fine line when talking to troops about DU. If you show too little interest, people wonder; if you show too much interest, people wonder. He said just because troops were near inert DU munitions or pass by an impact site doesn’t mean they’re in danger. Among departing troops, “no health affects have been seen relating to depleted uranium,” Mancuso said. “… Nothing has been seen so far.” -- Posted for educational and research purposes only, ~ in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 ~ See NucNews Links and Archives - http://nucnews.net ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Buy Ink Cartridges or Refill Kits for your HP, Epson, Canon or Lexmark Printer at MyInks.com. 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Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ ***************************************************************** 40 Las Vegas SUN: Fallon cancer cause remains unknown Today: February 24, 2004 at 11:09:27 PST Two-year study fails to determine how 16 got sick By Cy Ryan SUN CAPITAL BUREAU CARSON CITY -- After two years of study, a panel of experts says it could not find the cause of the childhood cancer cluster in Fallon. Between 1997 and 2002, 16 children who lived in Churchill County were diagnosed with leukemia. Three have died. The panel, led by Thomas Sinks, associate director for science at the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, delivered its final report Monday night in Fallon. Its conclusion: "The causes of childhood leukemia, including those from Churchill County, Nevada, remain unknown." The team said the biological samples taken from the children should be retained for further research into the problem that has occurred in other parts of the nation. It said, however, it does not recommend specific follow-up research of the Fallon cluster at this time. "To date, investigations of childhood leukemia clusters have been disappointing for researchers, health departments and communities," the final report said. "Additional efforts to establish and study biologically plausible theories and testable hypotheses for childhood leukemia clusters are warranted." The team examined the high levels of arsenic in the water system but noted those high arsenic levels have existed in the water supply that has been used in the area for at least 60 years. The team said the arsenic intake was considered hazardous, but added it was not associated with the occurrence of childhood leukemia. Construction is nearing completion on a new treatment facility to remove the arsenic. And a program has been started to encourage those who are served by private wells to have their water tested for arsenic. There also was an elevated level of tungsten in the drinking water, but there is no information that suggests it can cause childhood leukemia, the panel said. Other parts of Nevada have the same tungsten level, it said. It added there should be more study on the health effects in drinking water. In measurements of the soils, surface water, air and indoor dust, "No exposures of public health concern related to the leukemia investigation were identified." The pipelines bringing JP-8 jet fuel to the Navy were examined and "there were no past or present public health hazards from exposures," the report said. The team looked at the possibility that a large increase in population may have sparked the rise in the leukemia rate. It said rural communities may have a high percentage of children with limited exposure "to some infectious agent" and a rapid increase in population may spread the infection through the non-immune population of children. But it said there was no significant increase in the number of permanent Fallon residents in the years prior to the cancer cluster. But there were between 20,000 and 50,000 temporary personnel at the Naval Air Station between 1993 and 2000. The panel said these population changes may or may not be responsible for the relatively high incidence of childhood leukemia. The panel said the state should keep a close watch to determine if additional cases of leukemia develop among the youngsters. Other members of the panel were Dr. Malcolm Smith, head of the pediatric section of the cancer therapy evaluation program at the National Cancer Institute; Dr. William L. Carroll, chief of the combined division of pediatric hematology/oncology at Mount Sinai and New York University Schools of Medicine; Dr. Caroline Hastings of the Children's Hospital in Oakland, Calif.; and community members Carinsa Rivers, Roberta Lindeman and Rachel Dahl-Curtis. ***************************************************************** 41 RGJ: Panel says no more environmental testing recommended in Fallon Reno Gazette-Journal Sands, left, Tracy Balderas, center, and Matt Warneke listen as experts give their final report on the Fallon leukemia cluster investigation Monday night during a town hall meeting in Fallon, Nev. Sands’ daughter, Stephanie, died of leukemia in 2001. Warnekes daughter Anna was diagnosed with leukemia in 2000. - Becky Bosshart/ASSOCIATED PRESS] /ASSOCIATED PRESS Former Fallon resident Floyd Sands, left, Tracy Balderas, center, and Matt Warneke listen as experts give their final report on the Fallon leukemia cluster investigation Monday night during a town hall meeting in Fallon, Nev. Sands’ daughter, Stephanie, died of leukemia in 2001. Warnekes daughter Anna was diagnosed with leukemia in 2000. RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL 2/23/2004 10:56 pm FALLON — An expert panel involved in extensive studies of a childhood leukemia cluster in this rural town said Monday that no new environmental testing is recommended, but health officials should continue to monitor the town for new cases. Critics of the government’s investigation — including family members of cancer patients — said the probe was doomed by poor planning, political interference and the suppression of important information that could have identified the cause of the cancer cluster. “We still haven’t seen anything like a competent investigation,” said Floyd Sands, whose daughter Stephanie died of leukemia in September 2001. “So far, no one has had the skill or the will to really look for answers.” The panel’s report came a year after federal and state scientists said an 18-month probe into the cancer epidemic that sickened 16 Fallon children and killed three of them was inconclusive. The Fallon studies have been the most intensive ever conducted into a cancer cluster, officials said, and the massive amount of data compiled should help future researchers investigate cancer clusters. “All of us would love to be able to identify childhood leukemia,” said Thomas Sinks of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which headed the probe. “We simply can’t afford to be disappointed everytime we fail.” The studies turned up no link to high levels of naturally occurring arsenic in Fallon’s municipal water, a pipeline carrying jet fuel to the Fallon Naval Air Station, local pesticide spraying, high tungsten levels, an underground nuclear test conducted 30 miles away about 40 years ago or other possible causes. The testing found high levels of the metal tungsten in residents’ water and their urine, but researchers couldn’t connect the metal to leukemia. Experts said the chances of the cluster being random were one in 232 million. Critics of the probe said Monday that the government’s investigation was inconclusive by design and covered up important links to possible environmental culprits. Bryant Furlough, a California science writer who has been studying the cluster since 2001, said a draft report on the leukemia families showed that the children in the cluster were far more likely to have some exposure to family members in the military than were children in the “control” families. Yet the finding was omitted from the public report about the cluster. “It’s difficult to imagine a legitimate reason for failing to report this discovery to Fallon residents,” Furlow said. “That the CDC withheld such a statistically significant, biologically relevant finding from the public version is deeply disturbing.” Sinks said he needed to review the draft report before he could comment. Matt Warneke, whose daughter, Annastacia, 9, has recovered from leukemia, said state and federal officials warned residents in 2000 that no one should expect to find the causes of the cancer cluster. Warneke said the CDC’s warning was a self-fulfilling prophecy. Scientists took a year to plan for the probe and another 18 months doing tests, he said. “It was a farce from the beginning,” he said. Warneke, who is president of Families in Search of Truth, a research group begun by the leukemia patient families, said while FIST is grateful for everything that’s been done so far to pin down an environmental cause, much more needs to be done. “FIST believes that Fallon can and does serve as an example of what was done right and what should be done differently in a cancer cluster investigation,” he said. “Many resources should have been used that weren’t, such as linking scientists with ongoing cancer research currently conducted in California.” He said by ignoring other research, valuable time was lost in planning and that doomed the Fallon probe to failure. In addition, FIST said in a prepared statement, the government’s probe was skewed by political and economic concerns. “FIST believes that the investigation should be void of political and economic guidance,” he said. “It should be done in a way that bias is not allowed. We do understand the economic effect this cluster has had on Fallon, however we feel that one should never mention children’s lives and real estate in the same sentence.” Throughout the cluster investigation, some residents and public officials have said that the cancer cluster was reducing real estate values and harming economic development. Martha Framsted, spokeswoman for the Nevada State Division of Health, said the expert panel reviewed the final reports from the CDC and Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. She said the panel recommended tissue samples and other scientific evidence be preserved for future researchers. Private researchers also are working to investigate possible links among the cluster, jet fuel and tungsten. Air tests are scheduled to begin next month and an Arizona researcher is exposing leukemia cells to tungsten and testing tree rings for jet fuel residue. “It may be that the tungsten and the fuel are working together,” said Mark Witten, a toxicologist from the University of Arizona who is leading the private research into the cluster. “They could be co-factors.” Sands said he’s happy the government has bowed out of Fallon research. “Now that the Keystone Kops are out of the way, maybe a real investigation can proceed,” he said. © Copyright Reno Gazette-Journal, a Newspaper. Use of this ***************************************************************** 42 Russia Journal: Editorial - Coming clean with submarines Feb 25, 2004, 07:19 (Moscow time) | SEARCH September 01, 2003 Posted: 17:58 Moscow time (13:58 GMT) Russia seems to be having bad luck with its submarines. First, there was the awful tragedy of the sinking of the Kursk back in 2000, with its great loss of life and reprehensible attempt on the part of officialdom to evade responsibility. Now, that disaster has been repeated by a similar one on a smaller scale — the sinking of the K-159 nuclear submarine in the Barents Sea as it was being towed to a scrapyard, killing an estimated nine people. Its reactors were shut down at the time — thank Heaven for small favors. Watching events subsequent to the Kursk tragedy unfold, it was sickening to see the parade of blame-ducking, finger-pointing and just plain lying the military and government bureaucracy were engaged in. From the reflexive blaming of the wreck on a collision with an American submarine, to President Vladimir Putin's fleeing the limelight on such a critical occasion to desperate attempts by the Navy staff to dodge responsibility — the affair painted the Russian military and governmental elite as a bunch of callous, self-interested reprobates unwilling to do what had to be done. Many men died because of this disregard for human life and dignity. This time around, Navy officials have already been charged with violations of navigation rules. Sources in the Chief Military Prosecutor's Office have specifically named the deputy commander of the submarine division in question as "a person whose actions directly constitute a malfeasance in office," according to Interfax. On the one hand, this could indicate that the Navy is getting better at keeping an eye on its own, or maybe simply that the causes of the current accident are so much more obvious than those that brought about the sinking of the Kursk. Or this may be more of the tired old passing the buck we're so used to, with officials finding the nearest available unfortunate and making him into a scapegoat for their own failings. It is, after all, quite common for an underling to receive the blame when something goes wrong — rarely a higher-up. All this assumes that criminal human error was responsible, not an act of God. Accidents do, happen after all, and we certainly don't want to hang anyone ahead of time for what may just have been the result of catastrophically bad luck. In any case, what is to come out of all this should be based on the results of an unbiased and disinterested inquiry in which there are no attempts at obfuscation or evading the issue. We didn't see much of that in the aftermath of the Kursk disaster. We hope that that was the last time that the Russian military and government decided to act a disgraceful manner while confronting calamities. Coming clean with submarines Articles by Ajay Goyal on russiajournal.ru ***************************************************************** 43 Russia Journal: Defense - Russia gets $21.5m for nuclear submarine dismantling Feb 25, 2004, 07:19 (Moscow time) | SEARCH MOSCOW - The British government has allocated $21.5m for the dismantling of two Russian nuclear submarines, Britain’s Trade and Industry official said at a news conference in London. The financing of the Russian-British project is part of the G8 Global Partnership Against the Spread of Weapons and Materials of Mass Destruction. Two nuclear submarines, which were taken out of service, will be dismantled. The work started in December 2003, and it is expected to be completed next autumn. The dismatelling of the submarines will be carried out at the Zvoyzdochka plant, which British Trade and Industry Minister Nigel Griffiths is scheduled to visit on Tuesday. The G8 Global Partnership Against the Spread of Weapons and Materials of Mass Destruction was adopted at a G8 summit in June 2002. G8 countries pledged to support a number of joint projects in Russia aimed at solving the problem of non-proliferation, disarmament, nuclear security and the fight against terrorism. Among the priorities are the destruction of chemical weapons and the dismantling of mothballed nuclear submarines. On July 1, 2002, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said the UK would allocate up to $750m for the financing of the program over the next 10 years. In 2004, Britain plans to spend 35m pounds to 40m pounds on nuclear security projects in the former Soviet republics. In May 2003, Russia, Belgium, Britain, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, the United States and the European Union signed an agreement on joint efforts to dismantle mothballed nuclear ships. The State Duma of the Russian Federation ratified the framework agreement on the nuclear and environmental program in Russia on September 28. Russia gets $21.5m for nuclear submarine dismantling Articles by Ajay Goyal on russiajournal.ru ***************************************************************** 44 U.S. Newswire: DOE Suspends Rulemaking on Proposed Safety Rules 2/23/04 4:32:00 PM To: National Desk, Energy Reporter Contact: Joe Davis of the Department of Energy, 202-586-4940 WASHINGTON, Feb. 23 /U.S. Newswire/ -- In a letter to the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB), U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham announced today that he is suspending rulemaking on proposed changes to the department's worker safety rules and requirements. The Department of Energy will also publish a notice of this action in the Federal Register. Following is the text of a letter from Secretary Abraham to DNFSB Chairman John Conway: The Honorable John T. Conway Chairman, Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board Washington, D.C. 20004-7000 Dear Mr. Chairman: Thank you for meeting with me and Deputy Secretary (Kyle) McSlarrow, and for your correspondence relating to the Department's proposed rule on Worker Safety and Health, Title 10 Code of Federal Regulations, Part 851. As you know, ensuring the safety and health of workers at Department of Energy sites is a top personal priority for me. In January of this year, at the Department's Senior Leadership Summit, I designated 2004 the "Year of Safety," and intend to continue to communicate the meaning and breadth of this action through a series of Safety Summits. I intend that this Department build on an impressive record of success. As you are aware, the incidences of injury and days lost as a result of workplace injury have fallen at the DOE for the third straight year and are now well below the rates experienced in private industry. Nevertheless, as I have made clear to my senior managers, we must and will strive to do even better in the years to come. I am deeply concerned by the perception expressed by the Board and others commenting that the approach of the proposed rule may not be consistent with that goal. Consequently, I have directed that the current proposed rulemaking be suspended to allow further consultations with the Board and to consider the concerns of other interested stakeholders as appropriate. I have further directed Undersecretary Robert Card and Assistant Secretary Beverly Cook to work closely with the Board and with my Office of Security and Safety Performance Assurance to address the concerns that have been raised. Any final rule will reflect Congress's direction that the rule "provide a level of protection for workers at (DOE) facilities that is substantially equivalent to the level of protection currently provided to such workers at such facilities." Any final rule will carry out Congress' intent that civil penalties be added to the tools we have for enforcing compliance. And any final rule will reflect my policy that safety standards will not be "written by contractors," but instead will be subject to the personal approval of more senior Federal officials than is the case today. I welcome the opportunity to work closely with the Board on this important matter. Sincerely, Spencer Abraham Secretary of Energy http://www.usnewswire.com/ ***************************************************************** 45 Daily Herald: Radium removal plan almost set February 24, 2004 By John Johnston Daily Herald Correspondent Elburn is close to making the water safer without breaking the bank. The town expects to finalize and vote on its contract with Water Remediation Technologies, a company that would remove radium from the water, by the March 15 board meeting. The committee of the whole agreed Monday that it would like to pay for the set up of the filtering equipment, which will cost the town about $575,000. By paying up front, the town will get a better rate from WRT on the filtering, and save the town between $250,000 and $500,000 over the life of the 20-year contract. According to representatives of WRT and Elburn, the contract is about 90 percent done. Under the up-front paying plan to install the equipment, the filtering process will cost $.49 per 1000 gallons cleaned of the low-level radioactive element. If the town paid for the process upon delivery of the clean water, the price would be $.84 per 1000 gallons for the estimated usage of the year of delivery. Mayor James Willey said that the water bills are not the only cost that the committee is trying to keep under control. Ron Dollar, vice president of marketing for WRT, said his company would use a process called Z88 that scrubs the radium into a sand-like compound. Dollar said Z88 removes the radium instead of sending it to sewage that could be released back into the environment, which could lead to future cleaning costs. Dollar said the sand would be shipped to a storage facility in Washington State. At about $1.7 million, Z88 costs about a third of the next-cheapest alternative, ion exchange. Trustee William Grabarek said Z88 also does not alter the characteristics of the water, such as taste or salinity, like ion exchange does. Z88 is considered acceptable by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, which mandated the removal of radium by December 1, 2005. The committee said it had the money to pay for the set up costs, and will not need to take a loan from the IEPA. "We don't want Elburn to become part of the IEPA's debtors list, like so many other cities," Trustee Jeffrey Metcalf said. © 2004 Daily Herald, Paddock Publications, Inc. Privacy Policy | AP Copyright ***************************************************************** 46 ahimsa sumchai: Hunters Point Transfer controversy Heats Up Date: Mon, 23 Feb 2004 14:50:27 -0800 PARCEL A IS NOT SUITABLE FOR TRANSFER! "Ensure that no racial, ethnic or socioeconomic group bears a disproportionate share of environmental consequences resulting from industrial, municipal, and commercial activities; or from the execution of federal, state, local programs and policies." Environmental Protection Agency - Preliminary National Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Priorities for Fiscal Years 2005, 2006 and 2007 On February 11, 2004 the Department of the Navy released a controversial document which proposes to resolve problematic issues surrounding its attempts to transfer Parcel A of the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard to the City and County of San Francisco for early development. The principle concerns raised by regulators and members of the public are driven by the health and safety issues evident in the Navy and the City and County of San Francisco's aggressive efforts to transfer ownership of property that is both radiation impacted and adjacent to a toxic landfill for which a remedy has not been proposed under Federal Superfund laws. The landfill is producing toxic gases including methane, small concentrations of carbon dioxide and volatile organic compounds. In March of 2002, despite the detection of dangerous levels of methane gas from the landfill, the Navy attempted to approve a Finding of Suitability to Transfer for Parcel A. The Environmental Protection Agency refused to concur with the Navy's contention that the landfill gas posed no current or future threat to Parcel A. Additionally, the EPA required the Navy to obtain clearance from the California Department of Health Services for re-use of buildings on Parcel A utilized by the Naval Radiological Defense Laboratories in the post World War II era and found to harbor residual radiation contamination above background levels. Parcel A is not suitable for transfer and the Navy continues to minimize and ignore the fact that nearby Parcel E poses dangerous "adjacency" issues that will never be resolved without a timeline and plan for clean up of the most polluted parcel on the base. The proposed construction of new residential units on toxic property in a low income ethnic neighborhood screams of environmental injustice and efforts by city government officials and corporate development interests to repress and oppress opposition to the civil and human rights violations evident in their illegal will continue to spawn protest and rebellion. The Navy has failed to address legitimate concerns raised by community members, regulators and members of the Restoration Advisory Board of the shipyard, including myself. The most serious of these matters are as outlined: 1. The failure of the Navy to clear radiation impacted buildings by EPA standards. The standards used by the Navy are those adopted by the California Department of Health Services and have been challenged in civil courts and by the California State legislature. 2. The Navy was required to complete a document called the Historical Radiological Assessment and to conduct surveys to identify potential new sources of radiation exposure on the base. As a result of this additional research new radiation contaminated buildings were identified on Parcel A including Building 813, Building 819 and sanitary sewer lines associated with Building 819 along Fisher and Spear Avenues. Rather than bow to clean up demands by neighborhood and environmental activists, the Navy has taken the easy way out by revising the Parcel A boundaries to exclude these radiation impacted sites to advance the proposed transfer of the parcel for early development. In the words of Secretary England, eager to put Hunters Point back in civilian hands, "The Navy's business is not land management". 3. The failure of the Navy's landfill gas extraction and control system, instituted as a time-critical removal action to rapidly remove dangerous levels of methane gas, to offer sound assurance that Parcel A is not subject to continued toxic airborne emissions from the landfill. The Navy admits that "gas control has been achieved primarily by passive venting; however active extraction has been required occasionally within the vent trench to prevent gas migration" The Navy is performing regular gas monitoring to verify the performance of the gas control system. Just last month, in January of 2004, the Navy was forced to perform active extraction within the vent trench to address elevated methane concentrations detected along the fence line adjacent to property owned by UCSF laboratories. The Landfill Gas Removal Action is little more than a "bandaid" on the "gaping wound" of the Parcel E industrial landfill which is the most serious source of toxic emissions at the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard. ******* Representative Nancy Pelosi had a party last month. She invited her friends, Senator's Barbara Boxer, Dianne Feinstein and former Mayor Willie Brown to a ceremony with Secretary of the Navy Gordon England to sign a Conveyance Implementation Plan to delineate the final terms for cleanup, revitalization and transfer of ownership of the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard. She did not invite me. In fact, The "Gang of Five" failed to invite any representatives from the growing opposition to the proposed transfer of "dirty" property on a federal Superfund site in a neighborhood where environmental justice violations have mounted to a level of undeniable legal potency. ******* The Redevelopment Plan for the Bayview Hunters Point Redevelopment Project is an exercise in ethnic cleansing. It will forcibly remove current low income residents- predominantly people of color- and transform a total of 936 acres into a new mixed used neighborhood with over 1,400 residential units. The "bulldozer" mentality evident in efforts by the city to develope a parcel of land adjacent to radiation impacted property and a partially capped toxic landfill, played out in San Francisco City Hall during the final desperate days of former Mayor Willie Brown whose blazing conflicts of interest in the shipyard's development have been well documented and may soon come back to haunt his well deserved retirement. On December 2, 2003 I attended the hearing of the Redevelopment Commission on the Approval of the proposed Disposition and Development Agreement between the SFRA and Lennar Developers for the Shipyard. I waited graciously at the door of the hearing room and was told there was no room for seating. I was directed to an overflow room upstairs. I decided, instead, to wait for seating and within minutes a security gaurd opened the door and informed me that I had permission to take a seat next to a man in a blue shirt in the hearing. That man was Willie Ratcliff and when I entered the hearing room I was astounded to find that there were a number of vacant seats. When I attempted to sit down next to Mr. Ratcliff, a very angry man in front of me refused to remove his belongings from the open seat the uniformed security gaurd had just directed me to occupy. I removed his items and sat down. An argument ensued and Mr. Ratcliff came to my defense. Ultimately the angry man removed his personal property from the public seat in the City government hearing room and allowed me to sit down. I listened politely to the presentations and testimony at the public hearing that was obviously being conducted in violation of Brown Act and Sunshine Act stipulations that the public be allowed access to government proceedings. At one point I was astounded to hear a Redevelopment Agency representative state for public record that an Environmental Impact Report had been conducted and approved for Parcel A. I was further astounded to witness a woman enter the hearing and take one of a number of unoccupied seats. She was forcibly handcuffed, removed from the hearing room and sited for arrest. I expressed my outrage and left the hearing and followed the three security gaurds who were attempting to subdue the woman into a small room adjacent to the Board of Supervisors main chamber. The woman was physically resisting the arrest and the three officers were absorbed in their efforts to control her. The DDA for the Shipyard is a powerful example of a developer "giveaway" of property that in the words of community activist Kevyn Lutton, "they have no right to own. Nor does the City itself have a right to dispose of it for profit. To do so is illegal, and any entity that supports this current plan is either corrupt or ignorant of the law. There are many laws and regulations, Federal, state, and City that are being violated in the actions of the Redevelopment Agency. Some of these violations included, but are not limited to the Base Realignment and Closure Act, the Base Closure Community Redevelopment and Homeless Assistance Act of 1994, and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964." ***************************************************************** 47 Las Vegas SUN: Brian Greenspun: Accidents are inevitable Where I Stand -- Brian Greenspun: Accidents are inevitable Brian Greenspun is editor of the Las Vegas Sun. WE GOT AWAY with another accident. Who noticed? Rob Schlegel did. So did I, but I put it where I put most important matters of the day which means I was bound to forget about it, which I did. Fortunately, Rob jogged my memory. The story was not a major one, thankfully, because no one got hurt. The other newspaper devoted less than a handful of inches in the Sunday edition covering the event and that was about the only chance the public had to find out about the accident that closed both sides of Interstate 15. It was a tanker truck that burned so brightly and so intently that all traffic stopped on the interstate just south of Sahara Avenue early Saturday morning. I don't know what it was carrying, presumably fuel of some kind, but it burned red hot enough for people blocks away from the site of the accident to feel the heat. We can question forever why such an event is no longer considered the kind of news that television stations and news channels break into whatever programming is regularly scheduled to report the accident, but the fact is that we have become inured to such accidents. To the extent that when they occur they not only don't make the headlines, they also barely get a mention. Instead, they are relegated to the back ends of the newspapers, the part most news readers seem to miss. So, why am I mentioning this accident, especially since no one was hurt? For a few reasons. First and foremost, to make sure everyone understands that accidents still happen. They occur when they are least expected, when the public is least able to handle them, and they happen despite our every desire that they do not! Secondly, accidents with tanker trucks are not unlike the kind of accidents that will occur when the federal government starts shipping high-level nuclear waste from power plants around the country bound for Yucca Mountain. Even though the government tells us that accidents will not happen, and that radioactive plutonium and other deadly waste products will not leak, the fact remains that they will. Last week we got lucky. The only thing that happened is that the main artery into and out of Las Vegas was shut down for a few hours until the mess could be cleaned up and the freeway reopened. A fire raged, people were inconvenienced and, after awhile, life went on. We read constantly about trucks falling off bridges into rivers, trains burning out of control in tunnels that were not built to contain the enormous heat generated by such accidents, and cars creating miles-long accidents on crowded freeways because a driver fell asleep or dropped a cellular phone long enough to lose sight of the road ahead. So what is it about the people in this country that makes us believe that just because President George W. Bush says so, that these accidents, which are as common as a winter cold, will stop happening? The truth is they won't. No matter who tells us otherwise. And, given the overcrowded nature of our highway system, the chances are better than not that these accidents will get worse, not better. Think about driving along the freeway next to a convoy of trucks labeled "high-level radioactive waste, keep away." What do you think your reaction will be as you try to inch on by those deadly cargo-carrying behemoths, knowing full well your lives and those of your passengers hang in the balance of how well you handle that simple maneuver. Sweaty hands, anyone? And don't even get me started on the railway system. To even think that a train full of deadly nuclear waste won't run off the rails, just like every other kind of train does, is folly. As the Bush administration moves full speed ahead in trying to open Yucca Mountain as soon as possible, and as some money-hungry leaders in our community push equally as hard for the mothers and fathers in our state to "accept" their fate and trade their kids' futures for the promise of a few dollars, remember that tanker truck that burned the other day right in our backyard. Remember how the freeway was closed and remember the heat that neighbors felt from blocks away. Now, think what that would have been like if it had been a nuclear waste-laden truck. Think about the deaths that would have resulted. Think about the economic devastation that would have occurred when the word spread that Las Vegas was no longer safe. Think about how much the federal government would care about us, our families and our tourist industry once the waste was no longer their problem. Think. Think. Think. Think. Think. ***************************************************************** 48 AP Wire: Abraham: Plutonium plant will be completed on time | 02/24/2004 | Associated Press GREENVILLE, S.C. - U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham says a 10-month delay in construction has not changed the schedule for a new plutonium plant at the Savannah River Site near Aiken. Abraham has written the House Armed Services Committee, saying the plant to convert plutonium from nuclear weapons to a fuel for commercial nuclear reactors called MOX, will be completed by 2009. The Energy Department said earlier this month the MOX plant will be delayed because of a liability dispute over American contractors working on a similar plant in Russia. Abraham's letter was required under a bill that states the federal government must remove plutonium from SRS if the MOX plant is not built. The law includes fines of up to $100 million a year if the plutonium is not removed. Graham said he has talked with Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Colin Powell about the dispute. "We're going to get a deal, it's just a matter of time," Graham said. The plan to reprocess plutonium is part of a nuclear disarmament treaty and Congress wanted MOX programs in the United States and Russia to work in parallel. The MOX plant will cost $4 billion and create 500 jobs for 20 years at SRS, according to federal estimates. Information from: The Greenville News TheState.com | ***************************************************************** 49 Australian: Protest on proposed N-waste dump [February 24, 2004] ABORIGINAL elders will join environmentalists tomorrow to protest against the Federal Government's plan to build a nuclear waste dump in South Australia. The Kupu Piti Kungka Tjuta – senior Aboriginal women of Coober Pedy, in SA's north – will attend a public forum on safety of the dump, proposed for a site near Woomera. The Kupu Piti Kungka Tjuta will join a protest outside the forum and also make a presentation outlining their opposition to the dump. The forum, being held by the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency, will also hear submissions opposing the dump from South Australian Environment Minister John Hill, the Australian Democrats and environmental group Friends of the Earth Australia. It will also hear submissions from the Local Government Association of NSW, the Sutherland Shire Council in NSW and the Australian Nuclear Foundation. The Federal Government, through its Department of Education, Science and Training, will address the forum on Thursday. © The Australian ***************************************************************** 50 Salt Lake Tribune: Matheson urges support against N-testing February 24, 2004 By Dan Harrie Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, told Utah lawmakers Monday that Republicans and Democrats need to unite in opposition to the resumption of nuclear testing at the Nuclear Test Site in Nevada, in order to avert a repeat of the deadly fallout from atomic detonations in the 1950s and 1960s. "Once again, our Western home is in the path of the federal government plans involving nuclear weapons that pose serious health and safety risks," Matheson said in separate appearances before the Utah House and Senate. "Any testing of a new type of nuclear weapon at the Nevada Test Site would once again expose Utahns to the dangers of atomic fallout," he said. "We've got to speak with one voice on this issue." Matheson, Utah's lone Democrat in Congress, blames the death of his father, former Gov. Scott Matheson, on fallout from atomic testing. He said there was no question "Utah families were lied to and put at risk by the federal government." Matheson was the only member of the Utah congressional delegation to vote last year against an energy spending bill that includes $25 million for work at the Nevada Test Site that would allow resumption of nuclear testing, nearly $11 million for a plant to make plutonium triggers for nuclear bombs and $7.5 million for research into so-called "bunker busters" and "mini-nukes." Utah Republican Sens. Orrin Hatch and Bob Bennett and Reps. Chris Cannon and Rob Bishop defended their votes by saying the spending bill will allow the administration only to study resumption of nuclear testing. Matheson said he will this week introduce previously announced legislation to hold the federal government accountable for activities that might affect the health and safety of Utahns and other "downwinders." Copyright Salt Lake City Tribune ***************************************************************** 51 Tri-City Herald: Nuclear plant changes name This story was published Tuesday, February 24th, 2004 By the Herald staff That big nuclear fuel fabrication plant in northern Richland is now on its third name in the 21st century -- Areva. The 549-person plant, formerly known as Framatome ANP, recently switched its name as part of an overhaul in the reorganizing of its multinational, Paris-based corporate parent. The Richland plant makes low-enriched nuclear fuel assemblies for commercial power reactors. Entering 2001, the plant was Siemens Power Corp., a subsidiary of Germany-based Siemens AG. That year, Siemens finished a two-year merger with France-based Framatome Group. However, Europe-based CEA-Industries, Framatome and Cogema consolidated in late 2000. Cogema has a small Richland-based engineering and nondestructive testing subsidiary heavily involved in Hanford work. That new group came up with "Areva" for its new name. Areva is a variation of the name of the Arevalo abbey in northern Spain. The name was determined to be pleasant sounding and easy to remember, while being a wordplay on that abbey's reputed architectural symmetry and strength. Richland's Framatome ANP plant already has been under the Areva corporate umbrella. Areva is now phasing in its name to some subsidiaries, said Catherine Lenox, spokeswoman for the Richland plant. Areva employs at least 73,000 people worldwide. © 2004 Tri-City Herald, Associated Press &Other Wire Services ***************************************************************** 52 Oak Ridger: BWXT Y-12 gets 'prestigious' award Story last updated at 12:31 p.m. on February 24, 2004 Wiley W. Byers Jr., manager of construction estimating at BWXT Y-12, has received the Total Cost Management Award of Excellence from the East Tennessee Section of the Association for the Advancement of Cost Engineering International. This award - the AACE East Tennessee Section's most prestigious - is presented annually for distinguished service to the section, the profession and the community, according to a news release. Submitted Bob Briest, left, with the Association for the Advancement of Cost Engineering East Tennessee Section Board Member, presents Wiley Byers with an award. Byers has held several positions in the AACE East Tennessee Section and is currently on the board of directors as the regional representative. Byers holds a bachelor's degree in building construction from the University of Florida. and is an AACE certified cost consultant. BWXT Y-12 operates the Y-12 National Security Complex for the National Nuclear Security Administration. ***************************************************************** 53 Oak Ridger: DOE shelves planned change to safety rules Story last updated at 11:45 a.m. on February 24, 2004 ENERGY CHIEF: 'And any final rule will reflect my policy that safety standards will not be written by contractors.' By: Paul Parson | Oak Ridger Staff paul.parson@oakridger.com The Department of Energy has suspended a plan that could've replaced safety requirements at federal nuclear facilities with standards written by contractors. When announced earlier this year, DOE's proposed plan met with opposition from lawmakers, some contractors and the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board - an independent federal agency that Congress established in 1988 to provide safety oversight of the nuclear weapons complex operated by DOE. "The incidences of injury and days lost as a result of workplace injury have fallen at the DOE for the third straight year and are now well below the rates experienced in private industry," Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham wrote in a letter to John Conway, chairman of the Defense Nuclear Safety Board. "Nevertheless, as I have made clear to my senior managers, we must and will strive to do even better in the years to come," Abraham's letter stated. "I am deeply concerned by the perception expressed by the board and others commenting that the approach of the proposed rule may not be consistent with that goal." Upon learning of DOE's proposed rule, U.S. Rep. Ed Markey, D-Massachusetts, said the decision was "ridiculous." The congressman said, "We must end the culture of cozy cooperation between the Energy Department and its private contractors. This agency must start exercising more vigorous oversight over its contractors to ensure that they are complying with tough safety, health and environmental standards." In his letter to Conway, Abraham stated, "Any final rule will reflect Congress's direction that the rule 'provide a level of protection for workers at [DOE] facilities that is substantially equivalent to the level of protection currently provided to such workers at such facilities.' "Any final rule will carry out Congress' intent that civil penalties be added to the tools we have for enforcing compliance. And any final rule will reflect my policy that safety standards will not be written by contractors, but instead will be subject to the personal approval of more senior federal officials than is the case today." Given DOE's latest decision of the safety rules, Louis Clark, president of the Government Accountability Project, said it's time to bring the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to the table to regulate worker safety at most of the Energy Department's facilities. "The lesson we have learned from DOE's efforts to draft enforceable safety rules is that DOE cannot be trusted to draft its own rules for self-regulation of worker health and safety," said Clark, whose organization serves as a watchdog group and is a leading whistleblower organization. Officials with UT-Battelle, which manages Oak Ridge National Laboratory, have told The Oak Ridger that the company prefers one set of rules - based on OSHA guidelines - for all contractors. ***************************************************************** 54 Oak Ridger: Another View: Government contractors must pay their taxes Story last updated at 12:14 p.m. on February 24, 2004 (Binghamton, N.Y.) Press and Sun-Bulletin, Feb. 13 We've all heard horror stories about government contractors overcharging. There was the $127 washer that could have been purchased for $10.50. And there was the recent $6.3 million check Halliburton wrote the Army Materiel Command to reimburse it for a suspected overcharge for services provided in Iraq. Now auditors for the General Accounting Office have noted a disturbing trend of underpaying by some contractors. The GAO found that a total of $3 billion in taxes was owed by more than 27,000 contractors in the budget year that ended Sept. 30, 2002. The agency claims that if the Pentagon had pursued these contractors, it should have been able to collect at least $100 million in 2002. Most of the contractors involved are small businesses that failed to send the IRS taxes withheld from employee paychecks, the GAO reported. Nonetheless, this is the sort of housekeeping that must be maintained or else fiscal chaos will ensue. With the amount of overcharging some of these contractors have gotten away with in the past, you can see they're expecting to slip under the radar of a government choking on its own bureaucracy. ***************************************************************** 55 Oak Ridger: Boyd's crystal ball: Oak Ridge is a good place to be Story last updated at 12:14 p.m. on February 24, 2004 By: Dick Smyser | Editor's License The Strategic Plan of the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy, issued earlier this month, lists seven research priorities. Oak Ridge National Laboratory is poised to contribute to six of them, says Gerald Boyd, manager of DOE's Oak Ridge Operations office. Furthermore, Boyd says, Raymond L. Orbach, head of that Office of Science, now speaks of ORNL as the world center for yet another priority, neutron science, this in anticipation of completion of the Spallation Neutron Source. The SNS will bring an estimated 3,000 scientists annually to ORNL for experiments at this newest ORNL "user facility." But that's only a smattering of the upbeat news that Boyd brought to Friends of ORNL at their monthly luncheon forum Wednesday of last week at the University of Tennessee conference facility at the Turnpike and Rutgers Avenue. His presentation was reminiscent of the "crystal ball" speeches given by S.R. (Sam) Sapirie, manager from 1951 to 1972 of these same Oak Ridge Operations for the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, predecessor agency to the DOE. Virtually always Sapirie saw good things ahead. He actually had a large crystal ball on his office desk and would pose with it for a picture in advance of his looking ahead speech. Never in my memory, however, did Sapirie see as many positive prospects as did Boyd in his talk last week. *** Environmental cleanup, current and future budgets, historical preservation, safety in the workplace, community support and, maybe most upbeat of all, ORNL's place and prestige in DOE research for the next 20 to 30 years: Boyd, who also said how pleased he and his family are to be Oak Ridge residents, was optimistic about them all. The six of seven DOE research priorities for which Oak Ridge is poised to play a major role, Boyd said, are: fusion energy, advanced scientific computing, nanoscale science for new materials and processes, biology - the next revolution for genomics, high energy physics and the conception and creation of the facilities to make these areas of research possible. These priorities were conceived in large measure by Alvin Trivelpiece, director of ORNL under its previous operating contractor, Lockheed Martin, Boyd reminded his FORNL audience, many of whom were members of the ORNL staff under Trivelpiece. Significant elements of the new facilities of which the strategic plan speaks are already built, under construction or in the planning stage here, like the Joint Institute for Biological Science to be constructed at ORNL by the State of Tennessee. Of four other additional biology laboratories anticipated to be built, at least one is highly likely to come to ORNL, Boyd said. Of those 3,000 scientists coming to ORNL each year to "use" the SNS, Boyd said he will be eager to survey them to learn what it is that motivates them to come here to "catch" and use the neutrons that the SNS, the world's largest new scientific apparatus, will produce. Other upbeat "sightings" by Boyd: Cleanup: All "legacy waste" will be off site - out of Tennessee - by 2005; Melton Valley will be cleaned up by 2006; East Tennessee Technology Park, the former Oak Ridge K-25 site, will be cleaned up by 2008; all transuranic waste is already out of the state. Historic Preservation: The DOE is committed to maintenance of the American Museum of Science and Energy - perhaps renamed the Manhattan Project Museum - and also to preservation concepts for K-25, the original gaseous diffusion unit, the historic calutron, isotope production facilities at Y-12 and of course the historic Graphite Reactor at ORNL. The National Park Service, Boyd said, could play a role in future Manhattan Project preservation. Budgets: Oak Ridge Operations expect about a 4 percent increase this year and while there may be reductions in future budgets as clean up projects scale down, there are prospects for new projects that would compensate. Funds for Oak Ridge currently make up 12 percent of DOE's science budget. Land use: While DOE only recently deeded a tract west of Wisconsin Avenue for wildlife preservation, citizens should not expect future similar large land transfers. But the good news is that DOE covets what land is still available for sites for future projects, land availability being one of Oak Ridge's primary assets. Safety: The $1.4 billion SNS construction site, Boyd said, has completed 2 million man hours without a lost time workplace accident. Community, area support: No other DOE location gets the level of support that DOE gets from the city government and citizens of Oak Ridge. And, all of the major conditions that prompted the selection of Oak Ridge as a Manhattan Project site in 1942 during World War II exist still today - principally an available electric supply and a good area labor pool. (The SNS alone, Boyd said, will get an annual $10 million electric bill from the Tennessee Valley Authority.) *** As recently as a few years ago, Boyd said, the outlook for ORNL was not good. Circumstances, however, have turned around dramatically and ORNL is now, in his eyes and the eyes of many others in the scientific world, the premiere national laboratory. Oak Ridge, the local DOE chief said, has welcomed him, his wife and their two daughters and has given him "every opportunity to manage our programs. It is important to me to be involved and connected to the community"-- including efforts to upgrade Oak Ridge High School. "Oak Ridge," Boyd said of his look at its future, "is a good place to be." - RDS ***************************************************************** 56 DBJ: Flats workers look ahead to the end - 2004-02-23 - The Denver Business Journal EXCLUSIVE REPORTS From the February 20, 2004 print edition Cathy Proctor Denver Business Journal When Rocky Flats, the former nuclear weapons manufacturing plant along Colorado 93 northwest of Denver, closes for good in December 2006, all of its 4,000 workers will be gone -- and so will a payroll estimated to have a $1.5 billion economic impact on the Denver area each year. Every person working to clean up the radiation-tainted buildings and ground at the 6,000-acre site knows the end is looming. For about 900 workers laid off in 2003, it's already over. And another 1,000 layoffs are expected this year. It's a Catch-22 situation for Kaiser-Hill Co. LLC, the company under a $7 billion contract to clean up the site. Workers unsure of how long their jobs will last can be tempted to jump off the sinking ship now. Yet those same workers are needed at Rocky Flats if the job is to be finished in 2006, as Kaiser-Hill has pledged to do in its contracts with the U.S. Department of Eneergy. Cleanup started in 1995. To keep the workers in place -- yet prepare them for life after "the Flats," as workers call the complex -- Kaiser-Hill is spending between $5 million and $7 million on a multipronged Career Transition Center and job placement services. Employees of Kaiser-Hill and most of its subcontractors are eligible for these services. "It's a very delicate balance," said Len Martinez, Kaiser-Hill's vice president, director of administration and CFO. "We're balancing between finding opportunities and keeping people on site to finish the job." Martinez has touted Rocky Flats' work force and its skills in more than 60 meetings with local chambers of commerce, business people and companies thinking about moving to Denver. Kaiser-Hill has built a Web site, www.khecareer.com, to connect Rocky Flats workers and potential employers by posting jobs and résumés online. It has held job fairs and partnered with everyone from community colleges to the Colorado Institute of Technology to create retraining programs. The career center holds classes on everything from doing online job searches to creating résumés to starting a business. The classes emphasize talking to family members about the pending layoff and to include them in plans for the future. The company even ran a full-page advertisement describing specific workers' skills, a move that led to several job offers, Martinez said. Kaiser-Hill also has partnered with the Small Business Administration to help the more than 100 small businesses that contract with Rocky Flats survive the closure, something that's never been done before, Martinez said. He views the job-placement efforts as one of Kaiser-Hill's two legacies from the cleanup project -- the other being the environmental improvement of the site. "This is the work force that won the Cold War, never missed a production deadline and is now cleaning up the site faster than we ever thought they would," Martinez said. Workers' professions include engineers, accountants, security officers, electricians, machinists, laboratory technicians, painters and plumbers. Many Rocky Flats workers could be attractive to the life sciences industry because they're experienced in working with laboratory procedures and dealing with hazardous materials. "You name it and we've got it," Martinez said. "Because in the production days, those are the people who were needed out here to do the work," Martinez said. "They don't only want their legacy to be the cleanup of a nuclear weapons site, they want their legacy to be every person got a job -- and they've left no stone unturned," said Tom Clark, executive vice president of the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce and head of its economic development arm. "Our hope is that we can retain many of those people; it is an incredibly skilled work force." The career center is also a smart business move. At companies that have faced similar situations -- a change in business environment and massive layoffs -- but decided to cut corners with job placement services, "it wasn't pretty," said Kristi Nygaard, managing director of the Rocky Flats Career Transition Center and an employee with Spherion, the Florida-based human resources company hired to run the Rocky Flats outplacement effort. "For the people who were left behind after the layoffs, if you were among the last 20 electricians, you thought all the others got the jobs," Nygaard said. "People started bailing out ahead of time and left managers without the people to do the work. Workers' compensation, sick days and workplace violence went up because there's no one there to handle the emotional side of things." Behind the scenes and off the work site, family tensions increased, along with divorce rates, calls to employee assistance programs and even reports of child abuse, she said. While tensions among workers are high at Rocky Flats, the transition program has classes and one-on-one counseling sessions available to talk about emotions, she said. Workers say they're using the career center to plan their next moves -- some even going on job interviews -- while continuing to clean up Rocky Flats. Joe Martinez, 48, started working at Rocky Flats 15 years ago and went to the career center about three months ago with a friend to check things out. A member of the steelworkers union, and a maintenance pipe fitter and plumber by trade, he does demolition inside the Rocky Flats buildings. "We started seeing people getting layoff notices and the reality comes," Joe Martinez said. "We just wanted to start on our résumé and find out what was out there. I'm thinking this will be my last year at Rocky Flats." After crafting his résumé and attending job fairs, Joe Martinez said he's now in a "limbo" stage -- prepared for his layoff notice but not planning to jump ahead of time because the longer he stays, the better his benefits become. "I haven't looked for a job for 15 years, and I personally feel like I'm better prepared than I was before I went to the center," he said. Daryl Dubrovin, a member of Rocky Flat's security force for 20 years, said he's also prepared to leave, but in no hurry to rush out the door. "I expect to be here for a while," he said. "But I like to take advantage of things while they're here." Dubrovin, 44, who has been to job interviews and received a part-time job offer, said he's glad the center helped him build a professional résumé that can be easily updated -- and helped him figure out how to find a job in the computer age. "I haven't looked for a job in 20 years," said Dubrovin, who started visiting the center about six months ago. "It's not looking at classified ads and calling people. It's a computer and the networks and the links. I'm laying the groundwork for a job search." While Joe Martinez and Dubrovin are prepared to leave, but waiting for their notice, Kelly Hogue, 34, already knows her last day will come in September. Hogue, who works in Kaiser-Hill's planning office on budgets and schedules, used the career center to set up her own business importing ethnic household furnishings such as wood carvings and masks. A printer who agreed to cut prices for Kaiser-Hill employees going through the entrepreneurial program has created a business card and fliers for the fledgling company. She chose the independent route after deciding she wanted to work for herself. Many employees are taking the opportunity to entirely change careers, Nygaard said. But the biggest challenge facing Kaiser-Hill's management is getting employees to the center. Many employees still have the mindset that because they've survived this long at Rocky Flats, they'll be among the last employees left in December 2006, Len Martinez said. "There's a lot of people in denial, a lot of people waiting for something more definitive -- like a layoff notice," Joe Martinez said, adding that some managers are taking the initiative and sending workers to the career center for classes. It's also going to be hard to place the workers in the Denver job market -- something that's leading about 50 percent of workers to decide to leave the metro area, according to job counselors and Kaiser-Hill. The average age of Rocky Flats workers is 47 and the average salary is $55,000. "This is a game of onesies and twosies," Len Martinez said. "We thought it would be great to place 25 to 50 workers with companies, but that's not happening." /© 2004 American City Business Journals Inc./ ***************************************************************** 57 Google News Alert - nuclear Date: Mon, 23 Feb 2004 13:34:37 -0800 (PST) AUSTRALIA backs US as world's nuclear sheriff Sydney Morning Herald - Sydney,New South Wales,Australia Australia has aligned itself more strongly with the United States on nuclear proliferation, declaring that the superpower should be free to act without the ... See all stories on this topic: REPORT: Israel has 82 nuclear warheads Jerusalem Post - Jerusalem,Israel Israel has 82 nuclear warheads, according to a report published Monday in the US. Previous estimates by foreign agencies puts the ... See all stories on this topic: MALAYSIA Opposition Seeks Nuclear Probe Kansas City Star - Kansas City,MO,USA KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - Opposition parties Monday demanded a parliamentary inquiry into a Malaysian company's role in making nuclear parts for Libya, saying a ... See all stories on this topic: US ready to soften stand on nuclear crisis: South Korea Hindustan Times - New Delhi,India The United States may be ready to soften its stand and offer concessions to North Korea in return for a nuclear freeze at upcoming six-nation talks in Beijing ... See all stories on this topic: NUCLEAR devices kept apart to allay US concerns: Benazir Pakistani Newspaper - Pakistan ... Feb 23: PPP leader Benazir Bhutto today conceded that under US pressure she asked the army and the President during her regime not to assemble a nuclear bomb. ... See all stories on this topic: IRAN reveals nuclear secret ABC Online - Australia TONY JONES: The Iranian Government today confirmed what many had long suspected - that they have been actively trying to build nuclear weapons. ... See all stories on this topic: GLOSSY brochures helped Khan sell nuclear secrets Sydney Morning Herald - Sydney,New South Wales,Australia While Western intelligence policed the world to stop the spread of nuclear weapons, a Pakistani company that specialised in enriching uranium was offering its ... See all stories on this topic: VAJPAYEE stresses on checking secret nuclear tech. proliferation Deepika - India ... Bihari Vajpayee today said he was hopeful that the United Nations would make the necessary arrangements to check theft and subsequent proliferation of nuclear ... See all stories on this topic: NUCLEAR Power Debate is Far From Over AllAfrica.com - Africa THE debate over the storage and disposal of nuclear waste has been going on for more than 25 years, ever since the first major nuclear accident at Three Mile ... NEW book claims Israel possesses 82 nuclear warheads Ha'aretz - Israel A book recently published in the US claims Israel has 82 nuclear warheads, a figure which is substantially lower than previous figures published in the past ... This daily-once News Alert is brought to you by Google News (BETA)... - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Remove this News Alert: http://www.google.com/newsalerts/remove?s=92d1672a1b037a07&hl=en Create another News Alert: http://www.google.com/newsalerts?hl=en Try Google News: http://news.google.com/ ***************************************************************** 58 Google News Alert - nuclear Date: Tue, 24 Feb 2004 12:24:20 -0800 (PST) NUCLEAR Talks Resume Amid Guarded Optimism Radio Free Europe - Prague,Czech Republic Six-party talks aimed at resolving the standoff over North Korea's nuclear program are due to get under way in Beijing tomorrow. ... See all stories on this topic: IRAN Failed to Declare Sensitive Nuclear Technology, says IAEA Voice of America - USA An International Atomic Energy Agency report says its inspectors have uncovered highly sensitive nuclear technology in Iran that was not included in the ... See all stories on this topic: ENERGY Dept. Shifts on Nuclear Plant Rule New York Times - New York,NY,USA ... 23 — The Energy Department said Monday that it was suspending its proposal to have the contractors who run nuclear weapons plants take charge of planning for ... See all stories on this topic: NUCLEAR substance found in Iran BBC News - London,England,UK International inspectors have found that Iran has produced and experimented with polonium, a radioactive element that can help trigger a nuclear blast. ... See all stories on this topic: SIX parties support solving Korean nuclear issue via dialogue: ... Xinhua - China 24 (Xinhuanet) -- All the six parties involved in talks on the Korean nuclear issue have agreed to solve the issue peacefully through dialogue with the hope of ... See all stories on this topic: CHRONOLOGY of key events in nuclear issue on Korean Peninsula People's Daily - China The following is a chronology of key events in the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula since 1992. May. 25 A delegation of the ... See all stories on this topic: NUCLEAR watchdog to aid Libyan energy program ABC Online - Australia UN nuclear watchdog chief Mohamed El Baradei has said his agency is ready to help Libya develop its peaceful uses of nuclear energy. ... See all stories on this topic: FEDERAL Government Relaxes Nuclear Inspection Rules Ohio News Network - Columbus,OH,USA The Nuclear Regulatory Commission says it's relaxing visual inspection requirements at the nation's nuclear power plants. The move ... See all stories on this topic: PAKISTANI nuclear scientists' detention to be challenged in top ... Radio Australia - Australia Lawyers representing six detained Pakistani nuclear scientists and officials say they will appeal to the supreme court after applications for their release ... See all stories on this topic: INDIA need not be apologetic on nuclear management: Jaswant Deepika - India Jaipur, Feb 24 (UNI) Claiming India had better nuclear safety and security records than some of the P-5 countries, Union Finance Minister Jaswant Singh today ... See all stories on this topic: This daily-once News Alert is brought to you by Google News (BETA)... - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Remove this News Alert: http://www.google.com/newsalerts/remove?s=92d1672a1b037a07&hl=en Create another News Alert: http://www.google.com/newsalerts?hl=en Try Google News: http://news.google.com/ ***************************************************************** 59 Bellona: Report: World fuel cell markets on the rise A report recently appearing in the British periodical Materials Technology Publications indicated the market in fuel cell sales is booming and that the American Auto-making giant, General Motors, expects mass production of fuel cell vehicles by 2010. A polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell, or PEMFC, produced by Ballard. Bellona Archive Bent Isak Ramberg Oksvold, 2004-02-23 16:50 The 232 page report, entitled “The Fuel Cells Industry Worldwide: A Market / Technology Report”, presents the current status and potential markets for each of the myriad fuel cell types currently available. The report analyses current barriers to commercialisation of fuel cells and assesses the potential implications of their technical development. The potential uses for fuel cells are included in the report—including automotive and transportation. General Motors states in the report that it believes environmentally friendly () fuel cell-powered automobiles will be mass-produced by 2010. Fuel cell vehicles by 2010 “GM confirms what we have expected due to the recent technological developments in the industry,” said the Bellona Foundation’s president, Frederic Hauge. "But it is still important for industries and governments to understand that present hydrogen technology can be implemented right now, given the proper framework conditions. Bellona’s own vehicles, retrofitted from gasoline to hydrogen, have a range of 100 to 120 km depending on the driving style. Most fleet vehicles do not run more than this on an every-day basis.” Hauge added that it is important for society to be able to integrate the hydrogen fuel cell technology from 2010 on ward, and that this “calls for efforts on breaking down the non-technological barriers of today—through our own work, we have identified a number of such barriers.” The main of these barriers, said Hauge, are connected to the public perception of having explosive compounds, such as pressurized hydrogen, in one’s car. But Hauge also noted that hydrogen poses no more danger than does standard gasoline. “The earlier society introduces hydrogen vehicles and hydrogen as an energy carrier, the earlier you build competence, trust and acceptance towards this technology,” said Hauge.” “These efforts will significantly increase the chances of adopting the fuel cell vehicles by 2010, and hereby contributing to the preservation of the environment and human health.” Report findings The report highlights the state of fuel cell commercialisation for a number of applications, and discusses key growth areas. Some of its key findings include: • That the polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) is by far the most popular fuel cell type currently under development, with about 80 companies worldwide developing PEMFCs, mainly for stationary and automotive applications. The US market for PEMFC stacks is estimated to be about $150 million, and this will rise to nearly $500 million by 2009; • Ballard dominates in fuel cells for automobiles, having inked a supply agreement with DaimlerChrysler, Ford, Honda and Nissan. Among the major automobile producers, only Toyota and Honda are producing their own fuel cells. General Motors believes that fuel cell-powered automobiles will be mass-produced by 2010; • Molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC) costs are currently about $5000/kW, with a target for mass commercial applications set at $1000/kW. Current thinking is that MCFCs of up to 500 kW will be uneconomical, but cells of between a few MWs and a few hundred MWs are likely to be commercialised in five to eight years; • The global market for SOFCs is currently estimated at $123 million, of which the North American market is thought to account for at least $67 million. Applications for SOFCs, which include on-site power systems, transportation and utility supplies, are predicted to total $360 million worldwide by 2005; • Casio, Hitachi, Motorola, NEC, Smart Fuel Cell and Toshiba are developing methanol powered DMFCs for laptop computers. Integrated systems are expected to be commercialised by 2005; The report lists more than 500 fuel cell companies worldwide, providing information on the fuel cell systems, components and materials that they supply or are currently developing. Research organisations are also listed. The report contains full contact information is provided, including postal address, telephone and fax numbers, website address and the names of key personnel. The report also provides information on key international research programmes funded by government initiatives and commercial consortia. See and http://www.lbst.de/gm-wtw/ for more information. Publisher: , President: Information: , Technical contact: Telephone: +47 23 23 46 00 Telefax: +47 22 38 38 62 * P.O.Box 2141 Grunerlokka, 0505 Oslo, Norway ***************************************************************** NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. For more information go to: *****************************************************************