*****************************************************************
03/04/04 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 12.55
*****************************************************************
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 reviewjournal: Yucca health hearing March 15
2 Sioux City Journal: State appeals nuclear waste ruling
3 Wall Street Journal OpEd WMD/Iraq Constitution
4 Hi Pakistan: Blair grapples with Iraq
5 UK Independent: Attorney General conceded doubts over legality of wa
6 Hi Pakistan: IAEA seeks Pak help to verify Iran's claim
7 Korea Herald: Russia urges 'flexibility' on N.K. nukes
8 KoreaTimes: Seoul Softens `Balanced Diplomacy' in Security Initiativ
9 Guardian Unlimited Officials: N. Korea Denies Uranium Program
10 US: The Hill.com: Investigations could make or break Bush=
11 NYT: Op-Ed Contributor: Nukes 'R' Us
12 [NukeNet] Pakistan Official Offers Aid to Nigeria Of NPPs, More
13 Las Vegas SUN: Malaysian Leader Denies Nuke Whitewash
14 BBC: Nigeria's nuclear power 'mix-up'
15 Hi Pakistan: Straw talks nuclear proliferation, terrorism with Musha
16 New Straits Times Editorial: Controlling nuclear materials
17 CNN.com: Nuclear link may haunt Malaysia
18 Janes: JID specialist reviews Israel's nuclear deterrent
19 Scotsman.com: Nuclear Scandal Dominates Straw Talks in Pakistan
20 ITAR-TASS: India interested in joint nuclear power projects with Rus
21 Newindpress: Pak rejects Nigerian claim about nuke assistant
22 Asahi Shinbaum: Japan, U.S. to launch hydrogen project
23 Australian: You police the Pacific - US
NUCLEAR REACTORS
24 US: Las Vegas SUN: Letter: Country should be phasing out nuclear pow
25 US: toledoblade.com: Davis-Besse problems blamed on lax oversight
26 US: NRC: State of Utah: NRC Staff Draft Assessment of a Proposed Ame
NUCLEAR SAFETY
27 Bellona: Delta-III back in service after 11 years repairs
28 US: Salt Lake Tribune: Widow says Tooele toxins killed mate
NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE
29 Las Vegas SUN: Nevadans say panel shouldn't consider Yucca budget pr
30 Las Vegas SUN: Yucca foes see hearing as opportunity
31 Nevada Appeal Gibbons: Yucca budget request too high
32 Japan Times: Nuclear waste shipment arrives
33 US: Deseretnews: Goshutes winning support for a non-nuke landfill
34 US: Berkshire Eagle: Radioactive shipment spills on road in Rowe
NUCLEAR WEAPONS
US DEPT. OF ENERGY
35 Platts: DOE expects to meet Yucca Mt. milestone by August
36 Deseretnews: Downwinders may get IOUs
OTHER NUCLEAR
37 Experts Say New Desktop Fusion Claims Seem More Credible
38 Google News Alert - nuclear
*****************************************************************
*****************************************************************
FULL NEWS STORIES
*****************************************************************
*****************************************************************
1 reviewjournal: Yucca health hearing March 15
Thursday, March 04, 2004
Copyright (c) Las Vegas Review-Journal
Yucca health hearing March 15
STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU
WASHINGTON -- A Senate energy subcommittee has scheduled a March
15 hearing in Las Vegas to explore worker health and safety at
the Yucca Mountain Project, Sen. Harry Reid announced Wednesday.
Reid, D-Nev., said the hearing will investigate reports that
workers who dug the 5-mile nuclear waste repository tunnel for
the Energy Department during the mid-1990s were exposed to
hazardous mineral particles without adequate protective gear.
The hearing, organized through the Senate's energy and water
subcommittee, will be 10 a.m. to noon in the commission chambers
of the Clark County Government Building.
Current and former workers, DOE officials and medical and
industrial health experts were invited to testify.
[http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2004/Mar-04-Thu-2004/news//news/yuccamtn/]
[http://www.lasvegas.com] lasvegas.com
*****************************************************************
2 Sioux City Journal: State appeals nuclear waste ruling
Thursday, March 04, 2004 [top] Sioux City, Iowa
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) -- Nebraska fired its next-to-last shot
Wednesday in its fight to avoid paying a $151 million judgment
for blocking construction of a radioactive waste dump within its
borders.
Attorney General Jon Bruning asked the entire 8th U.S. Circuit
Court of Appeals to review an earlier ruling by one of its
three-judge panels that Nebraska had to pay the judgment.
"The ramifications of this lawsuit are enormous and we must
pursue all avenues to find a resolution," Bruning said.
Few people are giving the state much -- if any -- chance to win
on further appeal to the 8th Circuit or in the U.S. Supreme
Court, which would be the next and final step in the case.
Finding the money to pay the judgment will be difficult.
The state faces a $315 million budget shortfall after two years
of budget cuts.
The nuclear waste dump was to hold waste from Nebraska, Kansas,
Arkansas, Louisiana and Oklahoma -- which joined in 1983 to form
the Central Interstate Low-Level Radioactive Waste Compact.
The 8th Circuit panel last month upheld an earlier ruling that
the state acted in bad faith to block the compact from building
the dump in Nebraska.
The ruling upheld an earlier decision by U.S District Judge
Richard Kopf of Lincoln.
Kopf ruled that former Gov. Ben Nelson, now a U.S. senator,
engaged in a politically motivated and orchestrated plot to keep
the dump from being built in Nebraska.
Kopf said Nelson's office "directly interfered with the
regulatory process."
Nebraska officials argued that they refused to license the dump
because of concerns over possible pollution and a high-water
table at the proposed site in Boyd County, near the South Dakota
border.
The appeals court rejected those claims, saying Nelson "had
campaigned on a pledge to block construction of the disposal
facility."
The Legislature's Revenue Committee has revived a bill it had
earlier voted to kill that could be used to pay the judgment. The
proposal, introduced by Lincoln Sen. Chris Beutler, would impose
a 3.5 percent tax on electric bills to pay the damages.
Over five years, the tax would raise $215 million.
The battle had its genesis in 1970, when Nevada, South Carolina
and Washington grew tired of accepting low-level radioactive
waste from the rest of the country.
Congress told states in 1980 to build their own dumps or join
regional groups to dispose of the waste, which includes
contaminated tools and clothing from nuclear power plants,
hospitals and research centers.
The other states in the Central Interstate compact voted in
1987 to put the dump in Nebraska.
The fight began soon after, with both sides wrestling in court
on several issues.
Copyright (c) 2004 Sioux City Journal [#top] Go to top of page [http://www.siouxcityjournal.com/ter
*****************************************************************
3 Wall Street Journal OpEd WMD/Iraq Constitution
Date: Thu, 4 Mar 2004 12:46:01 EST
Wall Street Journal
March 4, 2004
Opinion
A ‘No War’ Constitution
By BENNETT RAMBERG
The Iraqi Governing Council’s unanimous agreement on the draft of an interim
constitution is a victory for Iraqi democracy. In the months to come, however,
Washington will likely press for other elements to be included in the
permanent constitution. Among them should be a ban on military belligerence. Germany
and Japan provide constitutional precedents, which the U.S. -- as occupying
power after World War II -- was instrumental in promoting.
Japan’s denunciation of war in Article Nine emerged in 1947. Its origins
remain obscure. Some historians attribute the clause to Charles Kades, an aide to
Gen. Douglas MacArthur, who sought to apply the spirit of the 1928
Kellogg-Briand Pact renouncing war. Others suggest that the emperor became an advocate of
the "no war" provision to prevent criminal prosecution and preserve the
throne. Whatever the origins, the provision marks a bold repudiation of war as an
acceptable instrument of statecraft: "Aspiring sincerely to an international
peace based on justice and order, the Japanese people forever renounce war as a
sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as a means of
settling disputes.
"In order to accomplish the aim of the preceding paragraph, land, sea, and
air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained. The right
of belligerency of the state will not be recognized."
Germany’s May 1949 constitution or "Basic Law," as it was called, proved more
muted. Still, it upheld the "no war" principle. Under Article 26, "Activities
tending and undertaken with the intent to disturb peaceful relations between
nations, especially to prepare for aggressive war, are unconstitutional."
These provisions have withstood the test of time. They prompted and gave
expression to the dramatic transformation of both countries away from their
martial past. However, they did so not in isolation. Rather, they were part of an
American effort to contain latent military ambitions first through the
occupation and later through military alliances.
Germany’s integration into NATO and the U.S. security treaty with Japan
allowed these former adversaries to contribute to the common effort to deter the
Soviet Union while holding in check their ability to promote war. In Tokyo’s
case, the Washington alliance poked a hole through paragraph two of Article Nine.
Limitations on the force projection capacity made the concession palatable.
The result today generates a paradox: Both countries retain large armies that
threaten no one. Although tempted, neither acquired nuclear weapons. In the
Japanese case, domestic nuclear opponents utilized Article Nine and the three
derivative non-nuclear principles -- no nuclear deployment, development or
introduction -- to their benefit. The irony: Washington’s successful pacification
has contributed to a lament that both Germany and Japan could do more to bear
the burdens of peacekeeping. Germany has responded by energizing a commitment
to the Balkans and Afghanistan, while Japan, more tepid, has made a small
contribution to peacekeeping forces in Iraq.
There is much that Baghdad can draw from this experience. A "no war"
constitutional provision will establish a new standard of behavior for a new Iraq.
Baghdad also has an opportunity to exceed the restraints adopted by Germany and
Japan. To make amends for its use of chemical weapons against the Kurds and
Iran, the "no war" clause should also prohibit all WMDs and means to produce
them. Marking the first such constitutional restraint adopted by any country, it
would establish a new international benchmark.
* * *
The German and Japanese experience further demonstrates the benefits of a
military alliance with the U.S. Such an alliance would safeguard Iraq’s
territorial integrity while transforming belligerent impulses lingering from the past.
In so doing it would help sustain a new democratic bent. The result will be
far superior to the failed 1950s British-backed Baghdad Pact which had a
colonial odor.
Fashioning the alliance, which could include links to relatively progressive
Arab states such as Jordan, must await the future. For now, a "no war" article
and a WMD prohibition installed in the permanent constitution will not only
codify Baghdad’s peaceful orientation but also provide Iraq with the foundation
to someday join Germany, Japan and others as peackeepers in the region.
Mr. Ramberg served in the State Department’s Bureau of Politico-Military
Affairs in the first Bush administration.
*****************************************************************
4 Hi Pakistan: Blair grapples with Iraq
For almost a year Tony Blair has been grappling with one Iraq
intelligence headache - over his government's claims that Iraq
had WMD and the opposition claims that intelligence was
manipulated to make the case for war.
Now he faces another potentially more damaging one - over the
charge that Britain spied on UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in
the run-up to war. The former (getting it wrong about WMD) could
plausibly be explained as a failure on the part of the security
services.
But there is no way to avoid the conclusion generated by the
latter (if proven): the British government ordered what was a
clear violation of both international law and ethics. Tony Blair
will need all his political skills to get out of this one.
The charge that Britain spied on Kofi Annan was made by Blair's
former international development secretary Clare Short in an
interview with the BBC's flagship Today programme. [An interview
on the same programme triggered the Kelly affair and Hutton
inquiry.] The context of the interview was the decision by the
prosecution service to drop charges against GCHQ whistle-blower
Katherine Gun.
Gun was sacked from Britain's premier intelligence listening
agency, after she leaked a memo to the press in which the
Americans asked Britain to spy on UN diplomats. Gun was freed
after the prosecution said it could offer no evidence. When asked
to comment, Clare Short said Britain had spied on Kofi Annan. She
claimed to have seen for herself transcripts of his
conversations.
Taken alone, Short's allegations could plausibly have been
dismissed. Here is a woman with ample reason to hate the prime
minister. Having threatened for months to resign her ministerial
post if Britain went to war without UN backing, she was flattered
into staying by Blair - 'Iraq would need her in the post-war
reconstruction'.
Weeks later, having belatedly realized that she'd been suckered,
she finally quit her post. By then her reputation was in tatters.
Since resigning she has been engaged on a campaign to malign
Blair and the Labour Government. Little wonder that, given this
background, the government's main defence has been to attack
Short and her motives.
Given that background, one could well find oneself agreeing with
the government. Perhaps this is just a case of sour grapes:
venting of frustration and anger by a woman who has lost her
place at the cabinet table, her credibility, her career. Clare
Short could be dismissed as a woman out for revenge.
But hold on. Short might well be bitter and desperate, but her
words have a ring of truth. Consider the corroborating evidence.
Katherine Gun's for one. The memo she leaked in January 2003 was
from Frank Koza of the US National Security Agency, asking
British intelligence to spy on six non-permanent members of the
Security Council. Of the six Security Council members suspected
of being targets of Anglo-American spying, two have since
confirmed this.
Boutros-Boutros Ghali, Annan's predecessor, has stated that he
was spied on and he is sure the same thing is happening with
Annan. Scot Ritter and other UN weapons inspectors have also
reported being bugged by the Americans and Brits. Consider also
the discovery last year that British intelligence was plotting to
plant bugs at the Pakistani High Commission in London during its
refurbishment.
Add to this the context in which Britain is alleged to have spied
on the Secretary-General. In early 2003, America and Britain were
bent on waging war against Iraq.
The sole purpose of their engagement with the UN was to secure
Security Council backing for military action. The UN and its
Secretary-General however, were equally bent on preventing the
war. UN weapons inspectors, returned to Iraq after years and
enjoying Iraqi cooperation, were finding no weapons. Hans Blix,
chief weapons inspector, wanted more time.
Six members of the Security Council - including Pakistan - were
still wavering about whether they would support a war resolution.
As Washington and London considered placing such a resolution
before the Security Council, it would have been extremely useful
for them to know which way these countries were bending, and what
role the Secretary-General was playing. The charges of spying on
the UN are thus all too plausible.
Then there is the Prime Minister's less than ringing denial. His
'offensive defence' move (attacking Clare Short as
'irresponsible') and his taking refuge behind the convenient
umbrella of 'national security interests', do not wash. They have
the stamp of evasion all over them.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The 'national interest permits absolutely no discussion about the
security services' line is a cop-out. No one is asking about who
Britain's spies are and how they carry out their operations. The
issue here is who decides their operations and on what grounds.
This is not a discussion about the security services: this is a
discussion about the political manipulation and abuse of
intelligence and intelligence resources. Democracy demands that
this discussion be held - openly and quickly.
Listening to Blair's attempts to stifle such a discussion, one
gets a depressing sense of deja vu. Last summer, when the BBC's
Andrew Gilligan alleged that intelligence dossiers were 'sexed
up' by Downing Street, it reacted by attacking the BBC.
The resulting confrontation successfully deflected attention and
criticism from the failure to find WMD in Iraq. At least for a
while - too bad for the government that David Kelly killed
himself and shifted the focus firmly back onto intelligence. Now
again we see the government attacking its accusers (Short and
Gun) and thereby trying to deflect attention from the allegations
they made.
Blair could plausibly use the defence that, as the evidence
presented above highlights, spying on other countries' diplomats
(including UN diplomats) is widespread and has been going on for
years. [Some say the US government pushed in 1945 for the UN to
be headquartered in America, simply to make it easier for the NSA
to spy on it.] Though a violation of international law, it is
something that everyone does and accepts.
The defence that 'everyone does it' is no defence. As any child
who has used it knows all too well, it is not important what
'everyone else' does but what you do. Britain and Tony Blair have
to take responsibility for their own actions.
If something is morally and legally wrong - and spying on the UN
Secretary-General definitely fits both those categories - it
should not have been done. The Anglo-American war-mania that
motivated it makes it even less savoury and acceptable.
For Britain's prime minister, the allegations of spying on the UN
(if proven) have all manner of worrying implications. The obvious
one, of course, that Britain broke international law.
Two, that Blair's overtly 'I count him as a friend' posture
towards Annan is deceitful and hypocritical. Three, that he has
made Britain such a lackey of Washington, that it even carries
out these dirtiest of tasks.
And four, it is further proof that Britain (and America) went to
war on totally false pretences. To what we already know - that
there are no WMD in Iraq, that the threat was deliberately played
up by Washington and London, that intelligence was manipulated,
that the UN and international law were blatantly, even
arrogantly, ignored - we can add this new episode. The decision
on whether or not to place a war resolution before the Security
Council was based on spies' reports of overheard conversations.
There is also a fifth issue, already raised by some MPs: who else
have Britain's security services been spying on? In particular,
who in Britain? - Anti-war activists, political opponents,
Members of parliament? Should that come out, Blair will not be
able to use the 'national interest' defence.
Blair has been lucky so far. The Hutton 'whitewash' report got
him technically off the hook after the Kelly-Gilligan
intelligence scandal. Lord Butler has been appointed to
investigate the intelligence that led Britain to declare that
Iraq had WMD. But the mandate of his inquiry is so tight, that
the government has little to fear from his findings.
Now, however, Blair's luck could run out. The outcry generated by
Short's allegations could finally lead to an independent (and
non-establishment) investigation into how Tony Blair took his
country to war. Answers to this question are long overdue.
Copyright 1996-2002 . Hi Pakistan. All rights reserved. No part
*****************************************************************
5 UK Independent: Attorney General conceded doubts over legality of war document.write( getDateString() );
[http://www.independent.co.uk]
By Paul Waugh, Deputy Political Editor
04 March 2004
The Attorney General's secret legal advice on Iraq conceded that
a key United Nations resolution on the issue did not
automatically authorise war, a government memo has suggested.
A Foreign Office memorandum, giving detailed reasons behind Lord
Goldsmith's opinion, made clear that there was no "automaticity"
in resolution 1441 to justify the use of force.
The resolution, passed in November 2002 by the UN Security
Council, gave Saddam Hussein a final opportunity to comply with
disarmament demands and has been used by Tony Blair as legal
cover for last year's war .
The Foreign Office memo, which has been submitted to a Commons
select committee, was seized on by critics as evidence that
important caveats in the legal advice were excluded from the
summary published by the Government.
The controversy emerged as Mr Blair came under fire again in the
Commons yesterday for refusing to publish the Attorney General's
opinion in full. Charles Kennedy, the Liberal Democrat leader,
said that unless the full advice was made public there was a
danger that voters would think it had been "sexed up".
After pressure from military chiefs, the Attorney General
published a short summary of his legal opinion on 17 March, three
days before the war began. The 358-word summary gave a rough
outline of the case for military action, stating that UN
resolution 1441 authorised the use of force because it revived
earlier resolutions passed at the end of the Gulf War in 1991. No
further UN resolutions were needed, the summary suggested.
But on the same day that the summary was published, Jack Straw,
the Foreign Secretary, wrote a little-noticed letter to the
Foreign Affairs Select Committee, including what he described as
a paper which gave more detail. The paper makes the point that
earlier UN resolutions 687 and 687 from the Gulf War allowed
force to be used against Iraq. The advice goes on to state that
UN resolution 1441 warned of "serious consequences" if Iraq
failed to comply with its disarmament obligations.
In a passage that in effect agrees with arguments made at the
time by critics such as France and Russia, the Foreign Office
paper adds: "It is important to stress that SCR 1441 did not
revive the 678 authorisation immediately upon its adoption. There
was no 'automaticity'. The resolution afforded Iraq a final
opportunity to comply and it provided for any failure by Iraq to
be 'considered' by the Security Council." The paper goes on to
argue that the lack of automatic force of 1441 "does not mean
that no further action can be taken without a new resolution" of
the Security Council.
Sir Menzies Campbell, the Liberal Democrat foreign affairs
spokesman, said last night that the memo's admission that UN
resolution 1441 gave no automatic authority for war was
"extremely significant".
"A possible inference to be drawn from this document is that the
Attorney General too shared the view that 1441 did not create
'automaticity'," he said. "We can't be sure, but it is yet
another compelling piece of information justifying the
publication of the whole of the Attorney General's advice."
(c) 2004 Independent Digital (UK) Ltd
*****************************************************************
6 Hi Pakistan: IAEA seeks Pak help to verify Iran's claim
March 04 2004
BRUSSELS: In a fresh move, the International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA) has asked Pakistan to provide some nuclear related
samples to verify Iran's claim that traces of Highly Enriched
Uranium (HEU) found at the Iranian nuclear installations came
with the nuclear equipment imported from Pakistan.
During his sojourn in Brussels, the IAEA chief Mohammad
ElBaradei confirmed on Tuesday that the UN nuclear watchdog's
fresh official contacted with Islamabad urging Pakistan to
provide what he described as "particle samples" enabling the IAEA
to verify the Iranian explanation that the traces of highly
enriched uranium spotted at nuclear installations of Iran were
just contamination caused by nuclear imports from Pakistan.
"It is really important for us to get particle samples from
Pakistan", ElBaradei said, "This really is the most important
outstanding issue still in Iran...which really raises the
question of whether these are just contamination through imports
or a question of undeclared nuclear material."
The traces of weapon grade highly enriched uranium were found
by the IAEA inspectors at the Kalaye Electric Company near Tehran
and another Iranian nuclear facility at Natanz. Iran acknowledged
that traces of highly enriched uranium had been found at its
nuclear facilities, but contended that the source was
contaminated equipment purchased from "another country".
ElBaradei's statement indicates that Iranian leaders in their
explanation now have told the UN agency that the equipment
contaminated with weapon grade highly enriched uranium was
supplied by Pakistan. In response to a question ElBaradei, said,
"The UN agency has urged Islamabad to provide particle samples to
verify Iran's explanation that traces of enriched uranium found
at sites in the country came from equipment imported from
Pakistan".
Pakistan is under no legal obligation to provide 'nuclear
particle samples' as requested by the IAEA as Pakistan has not
signed/ratified the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Pakistan is
also not subjected to comprehensive safeguards. The IAEA,
however, hopes that Pakistan would send the required particle
samples to Vienna soon.
ElBaradei came to Brussels on a short visit to attend a
European Parliament Energy conference. Speaking to reporters
accredited at the European Union, he said that Iran was
cooperating better with global Non-Proliferation efforts and the
IAEA was confident that it would make good on a pledge to suspend
uranium enrichment activities. He praised Iran's better
co-operation with global Non-Proliferation efforts as a "sea
change".
He gave full credit to Britain, France and Germany for
persuading Iran to suspend its enrichment activities. "The
Europeans try to cut this vicious circle by saying if you can
build confidence over time we are ready to review our relations,"
ElBaradei said. Related Stories No Related News
Copyright 1996-2002 . Hi Pakistan. All rights reserved. No part
*****************************************************************
7 Korea Herald: Russia urges 'flexibility' on N.K. nukes
(shj@heraldm.com) By Seo Hyun-jin
2004.03.05
The international community may not have the legal right to ask
North Korea to stop peaceful nuclear activities, the top Russian
envoy to Seoul said yesterday.
Whether North Korea would be allowed to keep nuclear programs for
nonmilitary purposes was a bone of contention during six-party
nuclear talks last week.
Pyongyang insisted on maintaining such programs even though it
was ready to accept the demand to abandon its atomic weapons
development. Washington said Pyongyang must dismantle all of
them.
"If North Korea were revealed to have pursued nuclear weapons
even if KEDO had completed the light-water reactors, the
international community would be able to stop even peaceful
nuclear activities," Russian Amb. Teymuraz O. Ramishvili said in
a press conference.
"But the situation is different."
Under the 1994 Agreed Framework, Pyongyang promised to freeze its
nuclear weapons program in return for two 1,000-megawatt nuclear
reactors by KEDO, the Korean Peninsula Energy Development
Organization.
KEDO has delayed the construction, which was originally slated
for completion in 2003. The consortium finally halted the project
in December, citing North Korea's nuclear tension after finishing
30 percent of the power plant construction in the North Korean
village of Geumho.
But the ambassador said the countries could consider the halt of
North Korea's nuclear capability for peaceful purposes in a
political context.
"According to international law, it is impossible to stop such
programs," Ramishvili said. "But it could be considered in a
diplomatic and political context."
He urged the participants in the nuclear talks - the two Koreas,
the Untied States, China, Japan and Russia - to demonstrate
flexibility and find alternative ways to settle the issue.
The ongoing tension erupted in October 2002 when U.S. officials
said North Korea had admitted to harboring a new atomic weapons
program using highly enriched uranium in addition to its
acknowledged plutonium program.
The ambassador said energy assistance to North Korea would
constitute part of a package deal to resolve the nuclear tension
and Russia made its pledge to join South Korea and China in the
possible power aid to the North.
"The three countries affirmed their willingness to assist the
North with energy, and this was a general one," he said. "For
this all the countries, including Pyongyang, should demonstrate
flexible attitudes."
Ramishvili also said the second round of talks in Beijing on Feb.
25-28 made a stride in developing the dialogue mechanism but
little progress in narrowing down differences between Pyongyang
and Washington on fundamental issues.
The participants agreed to reconvene their talks by June and
establish working groups aimed at tackling details in between
rounds. Despite these agreements, they remain divided on ways to
defuse the 17-month nuclear tension. '
*****************************************************************
8 KoreaTimes: Seoul Softens `Balanced Diplomacy' in Security Initiatives
[http://www.hankooki.com] Hankooki.com > [/] Korea Times
By Shim Jae-yun Staff Reporter
South Korea will continue to strengthen cooperation with its
allies including the United States to resolve the lingering
crisis over North Korean nuclear program and efficiently deter
possible attacks from the North.
The National Security Council (NSC) on Thursday came up with a
package of initiatives aimed at maintaining peace and prosperity
in Northeast Asia and on the Korean peninsula.
The booklet of initiatives features balanced pursuit of
``cooperative security ties'' with key allies and focuses on
national self-defense, which is expected to soften its so-called
``independent diplomacy'' policy aimed at bringing more equality
to the relationship between the U.S. and South Korea. The
independent diplomacy stance has been a controversial issue after
the foreign affairs and trade minister was sacked for his
subordinates' disparaging remarks regarding President Roh
Moo-hyun's attempts to devolve the nation from U.S. orbit.
``The national diplomacy will also be carried out in a balanced
and pragmatic manner to achieve the national interests and tackle
the differing interests of the parties concerned,'' according to
the booklet, published to mark the first anniversary of the Roh
government.
It is the first time that the government has officially issued a
booklet regarding the nation's overall security.
Relevant authorities from the NSC, Defense Ministry and the
National Intelligence Service took part in compiling the 90-page
booklet over the past few months.
National Security Advisor Kwon Jin-ho, speaking in a media
briefing, expressed hope that the publication of the booklet will
help the people understand the government's security policies and
promote national consensus on security matters.
Late last year the nation became engulfed in a debate over the
planned dispatch of troops to Iraq to help rehabilitate the
war-devastated nation.
Progressives and conservatives are still at odds over some
sensitive security issues, such as the alliance with the U.S. and
the realignment of U.S. forces on the peninsula.
``The government will press ahead with reconciliation and
cooperation with North Korea based on the peace and prosperity
policy pursued since the onset of the administration from a
long-term perspective,'' Kwon said.
He noted major security issues like the North Korean nuclear
standoff and the U.S. forces' restructuring should be accepted as
not only challenge but also chances to realize peace and
prosperity.
jayshim@koreatimes.co.kr
03-04-2004 15:05
*****************************************************************
9 Guardian Unlimited Officials: N. Korea Denies Uranium Program
Thursday March 4, 2004 8:31 AM
By HANS GREIMEL
Associated Press Writer
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - Despite reported progress in recent
North Korean nuclear talks, South Korean officials said Thursday
that the North still denies having a secret uranium-based program
and that other crucial issues - including an agenda for
working-group meetings - are up in the air.
The agreement for lower-level officials to meet in working groups
to nail down details of a possible deal was seen as a step
forward at the six-nation talks that ended Saturday in Beijing.
Diplomats say they are crucial in striking common ground before
the next round of six-way talks, expected before July.
But a South Korean diplomat familiar with the talks said the
countries have yet to decide when those meetings will take place
or what will be discussed.
That will require more haggling through diplomatic channels, he
said.
``We don't know what the working group will really deal with,''
he said on condition of anonymity. ``It's very difficult to
predict what sort of job the working group will do.''
Lee Soo-hyuck, South Korea's chief negotiator, said North Korea's
stance had hardly shifted since the first round of talks last
August among the United States, China, the two Koreas, Russia and
Japan.
``Overall, the North Korean delegation's positions have not
changed from those they expressed in the first round,'' Lee said
this week in an interview with South Korea's CBS Radio. ``They
firmly denied that they have a uranium-based nuclear program, and
they also did not change their position on security guarantees.''
During the Beijing talks, North Korea insisted on keeping a
nuclear program for medical and other peaceful purposes. But it
said it would give up its weapons program in exchange for aid and
U.S. security guarantees.
But Washington says North Korea must first start its nuclear
dismantlement. It also insists that any deal include the North's
alleged uranium-based program, in addition to a plutonium program
it readily acknowledges.
The nuclear standoff flared in late 2002 when U.S. officials said
North Korea admitted having a secret uranium program after being
confronted with evidence.
Another diplomat familiar with the negotiations said Thursday
that the latest talks allowed more ``in-depth discussions on
substantial matters of a North Korean nuclear freeze and related
measures'' but ``didn't get into what to freeze and what to
dismantle.''
U.S. officials said earlier this week that the chief problem at
the talks was North Korea's refusal to acknowledge having a
uranium-based program.
James Kelly, the U.S. State Department's top official on Asia,
told a U.S. Senate panel that the North Koreans ``wouldn't give
us any satisfaction'' about the uranium claim.
But Kelly noted that North Korea was less vocal in asserting that
position in Beijing than before because of what he said was
growing evidence that the denials lack credibility.
Abdul Qadeer Khan, a Pakistani nuclear scientist, has admitted
providing North Korea with assistance for developing a uranium
bomb.
Guardian Unlimited (c) Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004
*****************************************************************
10 The Hill.com: Investigations could make or break Bush=
Candidates and political parties that bank on their opponents'
getting dragged down by scandal usually end up disappointed R12;
think the Democrats in 1984 and the Republicans in 1996. Barring
earth-shattering revelations, elections get decided on the
incumbent's management of the economy and foreign affairs.
But for President Bush this year, neither looks to be holding
unambiguous election-year advantages. And there are increasing
signs a perfect storm of scandals is brewing, one that could end
up making a real difference in what is bound to be a
down-to-the-wire election this fall.
First up is the Plame investigation, Special Counsel Patrick
Fitzgerald's ongoing look into whether senior Bush
administration officials broke a federal law by leaking to the
press the identity of undercover CIA operative Valerie Plame. The
investigation has been focusing on the vice president's
office. And though the press has thus far failed to give it
sufficient attention, a D.C. grand jury has already heard the
testimony of numerous White House appointees.
There's never been much doubt that at least one senior
administration official did leak Plame's identity to columnist
Robert Novak. The question is whether Fitzgerald can prove it or
whether those who did the leaking will be able to find enough
wiggle room in the law to slip through.
Next up is the much-less-discussed investigation into those
forged documents that purported to prove that Iraq was purchasing
large quantities of uranium from the African nation of Niger.
The Senate investigation is focusing on what happened to those
documents after that they got into U.S. government hands. But
there's also an ongoing FBI investigation into just who forged
them and how this fraudulent evidence of an Iraqi nuclear program
was peddled into American hands.
The results of that investigation could be bad news for the White
House, too.
Consider one piece of evidence that has more than one
reporter's attention.
We normally think of the uranium claims with reference to the
2003 State of the Union speech. But the real controversy came
months earlier.
In September 2002, the White House was beginning a major press
offensive designed to prove that Iraq had a robust nuclear
weapons program. That campaign was meant to culminate in the
president's Oct. 7 speech in Cincinnati.
But behind the scenes, a battle royal was shaping up between the
White House and the CIA. On Oct. 1, U.S. intelligence agencies
released to the White House and Congress a top-secret national
intelligence estimate (NIE) that mentioned the Niger reports as
well as claims about attempts to purchase uranium in Somalia and
Congo.
Despite the NIE, however, the CIA clearly had grave concerns
about the accuracy of the Niger story. And there was a wrestling
match between the White House and the CIA over whether the
president should publicly refer to it in his speech.
The struggle culminated in the two days (Oct. 5 and 6, 2002)
before the president traveled to Ohio, when the CIA sent two
separate top-secret memos to the president's staff insisting
that the references be removed from the speech. Fearing that even
that hadn't done the trick, CIA Director George Tenet
personally telephoned Deputy National Security Adviser Steve
Hadley insisting that the references to uranium sales be removed
from the speech, as they were.
Though none of this was publicly known at the time, it was
clearly in that first week of October 2002 that the White House
was most in need of some new evidence on the Niger uranium front.
And on Oct. 7, within 48 hours of those memos flying back and
forth between the National Security Council (NSC) and the CIA, an
Italian businessman was offering those forged documents to a
reporter in a bar in Rome.
To call that timing convenient is rather an understatement.
Was the source of those documents (or someone associated with
him) privy to a high-level, secret dialogue between the NSC and
the CIA? And if so, how and why?
Finally, there's that pesky matter of the Democratic Senate
Judiciary Committee staff memos pilfered by Republican Senate
staffers. We'll know more when Sergeant at Arms Bill Pickle
issues his report. But even most committee Republicans now
concede that the pilfering was potentially criminal.
The issue behind the memos is the highly contentious matter of
judicial appointments. The strategy for those battles is
quarterbacked out of the White House counsel's office.
If GOP staffers had access to those memos, their contents almost
certainly figured into their discussions with members of the
counsel's office, whether the latter knew it or not.
If Memo-gate leads to a criminal referral, that investigation
will have to take a hard look at what folks at the counsel's
office knew and when they knew it.
To date, the White House has been able to blunt or delay
investigation into these matters with disciplined scandal
management and solid control on the hill. But once these
investigations get into the hands of career prosecutors they
become much more difficult to control. And each could each pop
to the surface at what R12; for the White House R12; would be
the most inconvenient of times.
Fasten your seat belts.
Josh Marshall is editor of talkingpointsmemo.com. His column
appears in The Hill each week. Email:
[mailto:jmarshall@thehill.com] jmarshall@thehill.com
[http://www.thehill.com/cgi-bin/birdcast/birdcast.cgi]
[http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;7246545;8827350;r?http://
www.alz.org/maintainyourbrain]
[http://learntoday.info/ubalt/mpa/HillsNewsResponse.asp]
[/e_news/subscribe_new.asp]
-----------------------------------------------------------------
(c) 2004 The Hill
733 Fifteenth Street, NW Suite 1140
Washington, DC 20005
202-628-8500 tel | 202-628-8503 fax
web site design + development
[http://www.tammayegrissom.com] www.tammayegrissom.com
*****************************************************************
11 NYT: Op-Ed Contributor: Nukes 'R' Us
By GARY MILHOLLIN and KELLY MOTZ
Published: March 4, 2004
WASHINGTON
America's relations with Pakistan and several other Asian
countries have been rocked by the discovery of the vast smuggling
network run by the Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan.
Unfortunately, one American ally at the heart of the scandal,
Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, seems to be escaping
punishment despite its role as the key transfer point in Dr.
Khan's atomic bazaar.
Dubai's involvement is no surprise to those who follow the
murky world of nuclear technology sales. For the last two decades
it, along with other points in the emirates, has been the main
hub through which traffickers have routed their illegal commerce
to hide their trails. Yet the United States, which has depended
on the emirates as a pillar of relative stability in the Middle
East and, since 1991, as a host to American troops, has done
little to pressure it to crack down on illicit arms trade.
In the wake of the Khan scandal, Washington has at least
acknowledged the problem. President Bush singled out SMB Computers,
a Dubai company run by B. S. A. Tahir, a Sri Lankan businessman
living in Malaysia, as a "front for the proliferation activities
of the A. Q. Khan network." According
to the White House, Mr. Tahir arranged for components of
high-speed gas centrifuges, which are used to enrich uranium so
it can be used in nuclear weapons, to be manufactured in
Malaysia, shipped to Dubai and then sent on to Libya. (In its
investigation, the Malaysian government implicated another Dubai
company, Gulf Technical Industries.)
American authorities say that Mr. Tahir also bought centrifuge
parts in Europe that were sent to Libya via Dubai. In return for
millions of dollars paid to Dr. Khan, Libya's leader, Col.
Muammar Qaddafi, was to get enough centrifuges to make about 10
nuclear weapons a year.
Why ship through Dubai? Because it may be the easiest place in
the world to mask the real destination of cargo. Consider how the
Malaysian government is making the case for the innocence of its
manufacturing company. "No document was traced that proved" the
company "delivered or exported the said components to Libya,"
according to the country's inspector general of police. The real
destination, he said, "was outside the knowledge" of the
producer. One can be certain that if the Khan ring's European
suppliers are ever tracked down, they will offer a similar
explanation.
Dubai provides companies and governments a vital asset:
automatic deniability. Its customs agency even brags that its
policy on re-exporting "enables traders to transit their
shipments through Dubai without any hassles." Next to Dubai's
main port is the Jebel Ali free trade zone, a haven for
freewheeling international companies. Our organization has has
documented 264 firms from Iran and 44 from rogue regimes like
Syria and North Korea.
With the laxity of the emirates' laws, there is simply no way
to know how many weapon components have passed through. But
consider some incidents that our organization has tallied based
on shipping records, government investigations, court documents,
intelligence reports and other sources over the last 20 years.
In 1982, a German exporter and former Nazi, Alfred Hempel,
sent 70 tons of heavy water, a component for nuclear reactors,
from Sinochem in China to Dubai. The shipping labels were then
changed to mask the transaction, and 60 tons of the heavy water
were forwarded to India, where it enabled the government to use
its energy-producing reactors to create plutonium for its atomic
weapons program. The other 10 tons went to Argentina, which was
interested in atomic weapons at the time.
In 1983, Mr. Hempel sent 15 tons of heavy water from Norway's
Norsk Hydro, and 6.7 tons from Techsnabexport in the Soviet
Union, through the emirates to India.
In 1985 and 1986, Mr. Hempel sent 12 more tons of Soviet
heavy water to India that were used to start the Dhruva reactor,
devoted to making plutonium for atomic bombs. (The details of
these transactions come from German and Norwegian government
audits, but Mr. Hempel, who died in 1989, was never convicted of
a crime.)
*****************************************************************
12 [NukeNet] Pakistan Official Offers Aid to Nigeria Of NPPs, More
Date: Thu, 04 Mar 2004 17:48:44 -0800
http://www.nytimes.com
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Nigeria-Pakistan.html
Pakistan Official Offers Aid to Nigeria
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: March 4, 2004
Filed at 9:54 a.m. ET
ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) -- Nigeria's Defense Ministry
said Pakistan's top military official offered to
share unspecified assistance with Nigeria's armed
forces, but a Nigerian defense spokesman later
retracted a statement that the offer included
``nuclear power.''
In a late night communique, Nigeria's Defense
Ministry claimed the chairman of Pakistan's joint
chiefs of staff, Gen. Muhammad Aziz Khan, said
during a scheduled visit to Nigeria that Pakistan
``is working out the dynamics of how they can
assist Nigeria's armed forces to strengthen its
military capability and to acquire nuclear
power.''
Advertisement
However, Nwachukwu Bellu, the Nigerian Defense
Ministry spokesman who signed Wednesday's
statement, told The Associated Press on Thursday
that ``it was a mistake'' for the communique to
have mentioned nuclear power as an area of
possible cooperation.
``It was a mistake,'' Bellu said without further
clarification. When asked whether officials from
the two countries discussed nuclear cooperation at
all, he replied: ``Nothing like that happened.''
He declined further comment. Other Nigerian
officials were not immediately available for
comment.
The statement, issued late Wednesday, did not say
if Pakistan was offering nuclear weapons, or if
Nigeria was seeking them.
Pakistani officials quickly denied the claim.
``This is a baseless story and a conspiracy to
hurt our image,'' Pakistan's information minister,
Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, told The Associated Press
Thursday in Islamabad.
The Pakistani military also issued a statement
that Kahn did not ``offer of Pakistan's assistance
to Nigeria to acquire nuclear power.''
``Pakistan is a responsible nuclear state. It
fully understands its obligation'' toward
non-proliferation, the Pakistani military said.
Pakistan came under significant international
pressure after one of its top nuclear scientists
admitted last month that he sold nuclear
technology to Iran, as well as North Korea and
Libya -- all nations on the U.S. list of terrorism
sponsors.
Less than two months ago, Nigeria announced that
North Korea had agreed to share missile technology
with Nigeria, an offer that was subsequently
denied by North Korea.
Nigeria said any North Korean missile help would
be used for ``peacekeeping'' and to protect its
territory. It said it was not seeking nuclear
technology or weapons of mass destruction.
Under former army dictators, Nigeria's military
was viewed as an international pariah for
ruthlessly suppressing dissent. Involvement in
African peace missions since elections restored
civilian rule in 1999 has helped repair its image
abroad.
_______________________________________________________________________
Subscribe/Unsubscribe Here: http://www.energyjustice.net/nukenet/
Change your settings at:
http://chrome.nocdirect.com/mailman/listinfo/nukenet_energyjustice.net
*****************************************************************
13 Las Vegas SUN: Malaysian Leader Denies Nuke Whitewash
Today: March 04, 2004 at 12:00:40 PST
By SEAN YOONG ASSOCIATED PRESS
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) -
Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi denied Thursday that his
government whitewashed an investigation of Malaysia's role in a
worldwide nuclear black market, and said he wasn't worried the
issue would hurt him in upcoming elections.
The vote, which Abdullah called Wednesday, will be the first
since former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad retired in October.
The Islamic opposition has promised to focus on the nuclear
network during its campaign for the election, expected by the end
of March.
The government faces allegations that a Malaysian company owned
by Abdullah's son played a key role in a nuclear black market,
led the father of Pakistan's nuclear program, to traffic nuclear
technology and know-how to Libya, Iran and North Korea.
A police investigation cleared Scomi Precision Engineering of
knowingly making centrifuge components that were seized in
October in the Mediterranean en route to Libya.
The Islamic opposition claims the government went easy on
Abdullah's son, even while the prime minister wages a very public
anti-corruption campaign. The opposition also says the government
has detained about 70 terror suspects over the past three years
without trial.
Badawi, speaking publicly for the first time since calling the
elections, said he said he wasn't troubled by the Pan-Malaysian
Islamic Party's allegations.
"I am not worried at all," Abdullah told reporters. "I think PAS
just wants to find something to attack me and embarrass me. They
are trying to resort to character assassination. They have
nothing else to capitalize on."
Abdullah said police had investigated the trafficking case as
"best they could" and that the results would be given to the
International Atomic Energy Agency.
"They will scrutinize it," Abdullah said. "They are not fools.
They cannot be misled."
A top U.S. nonproliferation envoy met Malaysian leaders this week
to urge this Southeast Asian country to tighten export
regulations and plug criminal loopholes to prevent trafficking.
Abdullah confirmed that he met John Stern Wolf, the assistant
secretary for the State Department's non-proliferation bureau.
"He did not ask for strict controls," Abdullah said. "He is aware
that we were already looking into it, even before this. Of
course, we need time. It's not something that can easily be
resolved."
Badawi called the elections in an apparent bid to solidify
control of his 14-party coalition and reverse gains that the
Islamic party made in a 1999 vote. The coalition, which has 152
of 193 seats in parliament, is almost certain to extend its
50-year grip on power. The date for the elections is to be
announced Friday.
All contents copyright 2004 Las Vegas SUN, Inc.
*****************************************************************
14 BBC: Nigeria's nuclear power 'mix-up'
[startcontent] Last Updated: Thursday, 4 March, 2004
The reference to nuclear weapons was a "typographical error,"
said a defence ministry spokesman.
The statement was released after talks between Pakistan's chief
of staff and Nigeria's defence minister in Abuja.
Pakistan has been at the centre of a storm since its top nuclear
scientist AQ Khan last month admitted to passing secrets to
Libya, Iran and North Korea.
"There were no discussions at all on nuclear power, development
and acquisition," said defence ministry spokesman Nwachukwu
Bellu.
Pakistan has also denied offering nuclear technology to Nigeria.
'Military co-operation'
The original defence ministry statement, issued late on Wednesday
night, quoted chairman of Pakistan's joint chiefs of staff
General Muhammad Aziz Khan as saying that Pakistan "is working
out the dynamics of how they can assist Nigeria's armed forces to
strengthen its military capability and to acquire nuclear power."
Nigeria now insists that General Khan was only discussing
"military co-operation" with Defence Minister Rabiu Musa
Kwankwaso.
Pakistan's Foreign Minister Khursheed Kasuri told journalists in
Islamabad that the reports were "unadulterated rubbish".
In January, there was similar confusion in Nigeria after a
spokesman for Vice-President Atiku Abubakar said he had discussed
acquiring missile technology with his North Korean counterpart,
Yang Hyong-sop.
A government spokesman later said that Nigeria had no plans to
acquire such technology.
[http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/mpapps/pagetools/email/news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3533225.stm]
*****************************************************************
15 Hi Pakistan: Straw talks nuclear proliferation, terrorism with Musharraf
March 04 2004
ISLAMABAD: British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw held talks
with President Pervez Musharraf today on nuclear proliferation
and the war on terrorism, officials said. Details of Straw's
talks with Musharraf were not immediately available, but a senior
official said earlier that he would discuss Islamabad's
four-month probe into the sale of nuclear equipment and designs
by Pakistani scientists to Iran, Libya and North Korea.
Copyright 1996-2002 . Hi Pakistan. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
16 New Straits Times Editorial: Controlling nuclear materials
-Malaysia News Online
Friday, March 05 2004,
[mailto:nstedit@nstp.com.my]
MALAYSIA has long opposed the spread of nuclear arms, having
ratified the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in 1970 and signed
the safeguards agreements under the treaty in 1972.
[http://iklan.emedia.com.my/adrevolver/href?place=26&rnd=1000]
The country has strictly adhered to its obligations under the
NPT. Given our track record, there is no reason to doubt
Malaysia's intention to do its utmost to prevent nuclear
materials or nuclear-related materials from falling into the
wrong hands. There is no necessity for Malaysia to sign any
additional protocols to the NPT on nuclear-related components.
Those pressuring Malaysia to do so will not succeed because, as
Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar has stressed, the
country will not bow to pressure. Why should we? In fact,
Malaysia has gone beyond its treaty obligations to prevent
proliferation. It has not violated any provisions under the
additional protocol despite not having signed it.
The country has acted responsibly and no more can possibly be
asked of it than what it has done under the NPT. Besides, there
are also practical considerations in signing the protocols, as
raised by the Malaysian Institute for Nuclear Technology Research
director-general Datuk Dr Ahmad Sobri Hashim. He said the country
lacked the capacity to fulfil the obligations under the
protocols, such as being able to regulate the import and export
of components used in nuclear development.
The case of a Malaysian company's involvement in unwittingly
supplying materials that could have been used for uranium
enrichment has been cleared by police in a transparent and fair
manner. This is no longer an issue that should cloud any matter
concerning the NPT. It is understandable that the United States,
in pursuing its worldwide campaign against terrorism and weapons
of mass destruction, wants to have Malaysia sign the protocols
and thereby tighten its control of nuclear proliferation. The
Americans need not worry or feel uncomfortable about this.
Malaysia will continue to fulfil all its responsibilities and
obligations in stamping out nuclear proliferation, with or
without signing the protocols.
Excel, not exceed
BREAKING records is something many may aspire to achieve. For
many, it will only be a dream. But there are those who will
strive to achieve the extraordinary. It may take immense effort
and dedication to reach such goals, but they will bring
recognition to ourselves and country. Striving to achieve
excellence is noble but, remember, the records we break must
somehow mean something. The reminder by Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad
Badawi on Tuesday should guide such endeavours. Speaking at the
Malaysia Book of Records award ceremony, he lauded those who
strove to achieve the unprecedented but cautioned that "this
should not lead to indiscriminately choosing the categories in
which we aim to excel".
Break records by all means. Human nature being what it is, we
want to be recognised as the best. But do not be frivolous about
it. Meaningless and sub-standard challenges do not benefit
anyone. It has to be something of substance, otherwise the
records we break may only invoke derisive laughter. As the Prime
Minister noted, we must be judicious in choosing our challenges,
and our endeavours should seek to "raise the bar" of achievement.
There are many areas we have yet to conquer and with the push
towards globalisation, we must also be global competitors. The
Prime Minister has pointed out that we seldom become champions
outside the "comfort zone of home". He has thrown down a
challenge: Strive to eliminate this limitation. Let our "Malaysia
Boleh" slogan spur us on to excel in the things that really
matter, and not necessarily on doing things that have never been
done before for the simple reason that there's absolutely no
reason to do them.
[mailto:mailed@nstp.com.my] and questions. Write to the
[mailto:mailed@nstp.com.my] or get [mailto:sales@nstp.com.my]
Copyright (c) 2004 NST Online. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
17 CNN.com: Nuclear link may haunt Malaysia
PM - Mar. 3, 2004
Abdullah, left, must emerge from the shadow of the long-serving
Mahathir.
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) -- Malaysia's Islamic fundamentalist
opposition is vowing to wage its election campaign over the prime
minister's handling of a nuclear trafficking scandal involving a
company controlled by his son.
Parliament and state assemblies were formally dissolving
Thursday, a day after Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi called snap
elections.
The Election Commission will meet Friday to set a date for the
first elections in more than 20 years that will not feature
Mahathir Mohamad, the charismatic prime minister who retired four
months ago. The polls are expected March 20-21.
The election will pit the long-ruling secular coalition, headed
by Abdullah, against an Islamic opposition that promises to
hammer the government over alleged corruption and cronyism.
Abdullah will almost certainly extend his coalition's
half-century grip on power. But he wants his own mandate as
leader and to reverse gains by his party's biggest rival, the
Pan-Malaysia Islamic Party, in the last election in 1999.
The election comes as the government grapples with allegations
that a Malaysian company controlled by the prime minister's son
played a key role in a nuclear black market, led by the father of
Pakistan's nuclear program, which allegedly trafficked nuclear
technology and know-how to Libya, Iran and North Korea.
In October, authorities seized a shipment of nuclear centrifuge
parts bound for Libya that were manufactured by Scomi Precision
Engineering, or SCOPE.
The prime minister's son, Kamaluddin Abdullah, owns a majority
stake in an investment company that controls SCOPE.
A police probe cleared the company of knowingly making nuclear
components. Abdullah, whose government keeps tight control over
the domestic media, has sought to shut down debate on the issue.
His campaign themes instead are promises to curb corruption and
scale down the excesses of the Mahathir era.
The Islamic opposition said Wednesday it would expose
contradictions between the treatment of Abdullah's son and the
anti-corruption campaign -- as well as the detention without
trial of some 70 terror suspects over the past three years.
"The government has been quick to put away people on mere
allegations they were involved in militant activities, yet
nothing is done when evidence is produced against Abdullah's own
son," Kamaruddin Jaafar, a senior member of the Pan-Malaysian
Islamic Party, told The Associated Press.
The issue could resonate with rural voters, who often view the
government as corrupt.
The fundamentalists control assemblies in two northern states and
hope to add a third -- which could trigger a leadership challenge
to Abdullah within the ruling party.
Voters will select 219 members of a new federal Parliament and
505 representatives of legislatures in 12 of Malaysia's 13
states.
Abdullah's United Malays National Organization, which has
supplied every prime minister since Malaysia's independence from
Britain in 1957, leads a 14-party ruling coalition that holds 152
of the 193 seats in the current Parliament.
Export controls
The government's five-year term does not expire until November,
but early polls have been expected since Mahathir left.
Moderate, but with strong Islamic credentials, Abdullah is viewed
as better suited than Mahathir to check the influence of the
Islamic party, which wants to establish a hardline theocracy.
Abdullah will likely try to exploit fear of the Islamic party,
playing on revelations since the September 11, 2001, attacks in
the United States that extremists linked to al Qaeda and the
Jemaah Islamiyah terror group operated in Malaysia.
On Tuesday, government leaders met a top U.S. envoy who urged
them to tighten export controls and to plug criminal loopholes
for nuclear traffickers.
But a U.S. official said later that the Malaysians made no
commitments in the meetings, and the government-controlled New
Straits Times newspaper said Malaysia would not "kowtow" to
foreign pressure. (
[/2004/WORLD/asiapcf/03/02/malaysia.nuclear.ap/index.html] Full
story)
Malaysia, a mostly Muslim country of 25 million people, is an
important regional ally of the United States in its fight against
terrorism.
Relations under Mahathir's rule were prickly, but U.S. diplomats
say they are improving under Abdullah.
Copyright 2004 The [/interactive_legal.html#AP] Associated
*****************************************************************
18 Janes: JID specialist reviews Israel's nuclear deterrent
March 2004
The proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in the
Middle East has been driven by Israel's possession of nuclear
weapons. Its vulnerable position within an overwhelmingly hostile
region led it to develop a vast array of technologically advanced
weapons systems to bolster its security against a wide range of
threats, including the threat that Iraq would launch chemical
weapons during the 1991 Gulf War and, more recently, Iran's
nuclear aspirations and medium-range missile capability.
Of course, Israel has not openly declared itself to be a nuclear
power, preferring to maintain a policy of 'nuclear ambiguity'
that is considered to provide a level of deterrence against
would-be aggressors. However, satellite images have to a great
extent ended the operational and technical uncertainties that
underlined the covert status of Israel's nuclear weapons
programme.
At present, Israel is believed to have at least 200 nuclear
weapons - possibly more than the UK - including thermonuclear
weapons. Its intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) systems
are capable of reaching most Arab countries and include 50
Jericho-2 missiles with 1,500km range and 1,000kg payload. It
also includes around 50 Jericho-1 missiles, which have a 500km
range and a 500kg payload. The Jericho-3 programme, which is
currently under development, will produce missiles with a range
up to 4,800km and 1,000kg payload. Nuclear weapons could also be
delivered by F-4E Phantoms, Kfir-C2s, F-l5s or A-4 Skyhawks.
The Israeli nuclear programme, which began almost as soon as
Israel became a nation-state in 1948, is centred on the 150MW
heavy-water reactor and plutonium reprocessing facility at
Dimona, which are not under IAEA safeguards, and an IRR-1 5MW
research reactor at Soreq, which is safeguarded. In 1986, 60
photographs of activities in the Dimona facility, taken by
Mordechai Vanunu, an Israeli nuclear technician who had been
dismissed, were published in the UK's Sunday Times. His
information remains the most specific and detailed information to
be made public about the Israeli nuclear weapons programme.
Vanunu's photographs covered almost all areas of Dimona's Machon
2 facility, revealing plutonium production, plutonium spheres
used in nuclear warheads and bomb component fabrication. This
information also revealed Israel's possession of over 200 bombs
with boosted devices; neutron bombs; F-16-deliverable warheads
and Jericho warheads. Vanunu's release from prison - possibly
this April - may result in further revelations.
The continued focus on WMD proliferation may have unintentionally
brought Israel's own capabilities to Washington's attention.
Israel is never mentioned in the six-monthly reports the US
Congress requires the intelligence agencies to prepare on the
acquisition of WMD by foreign countries. The National Air and
Space Intelligence Center lists 18 nations with missiles, with
Israel noticeable by its absence from the list. The USA, which is
Israel's main foreign ally and aid donor, seeks to prevent 'rogue
states' from seeking WMD while tolerating their possession by
states deemed responsible.
The proliferation of weapons of mass destruction in the Middle
East has been driven by Israel's possession of nuclear weapons.
Its vulnerable position within an overwhelmingly hostile region
led it to develop a vast array of advanced weapon systems to
bolster its security against a wide range of threats.
Of course, Israel has not openly declared itself a nuclear power,
preferring to maintain a 'nuclear ambiguity' that is considered
to provide a level of deterrence against would-be aggressors.
However, satellite images have to a great extent ended the
operational and technical uncertainties that underlined the
covert status of Israel's nuclear weapon programme.
copyright.shtml] (c) Jane's Information Group.
*****************************************************************
19 Scotsman.com: Nuclear Scandal Dominates Straw Talks in Pakistan
Thu 4 Mar 2004
"PA"
Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said he had thorough and frank
discussions with Pakistan on nuclear proliferation issues and was
satisfied with progress in an investigation of a top Pakistani
scientist who admitted spreading weapons technology to Iran,
Libya and North Korea.
“What’s important is that we learn the lessons from what
has happened and take action to ensure that there isn’t such
similar proliferation in the future.” he said in Islamabad.
“What happens to those involved is a matter for the Pakistani
authorities and not for us.”
He also said he was satisfied with the cooperation Pakistan is
providing to the International Atomic Energy Agency.
It is Straw’s first trip to Pakistan in 15 months " a
period during which Pakistan has stepped up efforts to hunt down
al-Qaida and Taliban fugitives in its tribal regions bordering
Afghanistan.
Straw held formal talks with Pakistan’s Foreign Minister
Khursheed Kasuri, and met President General Pervez Musharraf.
Straw will travel to Afghanistan after Pakistan.
Much of the focus of Straw’s visit centred on the nuclear
scandal. Pakistan has vowed to stop the proliferation but
pardoned Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of its nuclear programme,
who is believed to have accrued a personal fortune from the
sales.
Many doubt the official version that Khan was acting alone,
saying it would have been difficult for his actions to have gone
unnoticed by Pakistan’s military establishment. However,
Washington and London have both carefully avoided criticising the
nation, a crucial ally in the war on terrorism.
Straw also voiced support for the peace process between India
and Pakistan, after the nuclear-armed neighbours restarted peace
talks in February, and for Pakistan’s military operations in
its volatile tribal regions " a suspected hiding place of
al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden.
Straw’s visit comes in a week when unidentified militants
attacked a Shiite Muslim religious procession in Quetta, in
southwestern Pakistan, killing at least 43 people and triggering
sectarian unrest. A Sunni Muslim extremist group with al-Qaida
links is believed behind the violence.
Straw hailed Pakistan for its crackdown on al-Qaida, saying of
the fight against terrorism: “It’s your fight. It’s our
fight. It’s everybody’s fight. And we have exactly the same
interests in defeating it.”
Pakistan’s army has deployed 70,000 troops and established
more checkpoints on the Afghan border in an unprecedented drive
to prevent terrorists from finding a safe haven on Pakistani
soil.
The operations, including one last week in South Waziristan,
are resented by elements among the fiercely independent tribal
population. At the weekend, Pakistani forces opened fire on a
minibus that failed to stop at a checkpoint, killing 13 people.
Tomorrow, Straw will travel to the northwestern city of
Peshawar and give a speech at the university there on “Engaging
Islam.” He will also visit an Islamic religious school.
Britain is the largest foreign investor in Pakistan and its
fourth largest trading partner. Bilateral trade totalled £600
billion last year, heavily in Pakistan’s favour, the state
Associated Press of Pakistan news agency reported. <___>
[http://www.scotsman.com/] (c)2004 Scotsman.com
*****************************************************************
20 ITAR-TASS: India interested in joint nuclear power projects with Russia
04.03.2004, 14.14
NEW DELHI, March 4 (Itar-Tass) - Russia's Deputy Atomic Energy
Ministry Vladimir Asmolov said during the visit to India "an
interesting an useful exchange of views took place regarding the
development of bilateral cooperation in the field of nuclear
power engineering."
The parties focused on such issues as joint research in using
thorium and safety control over operating light-water reactors,
Asmolov told Itar-Tass on Thursday.
India was interested in participating in and the funding of the
developing a more powerful light water reactor, which Russia
plans to install at its Leningrad plant.
Unfortunately, Russia has no opportunities to fully take part in
implementing Indian program in the field of nuclear power
engineering, because of the bans introduced by the Nuclear
Suppliers Group, Asmolov said.
But Russia, he emphasized, is ready to support New Delhi in the
issue of lifting these restrictions.
At the same time, India, as the interested party, should also
show the appropriate initiative, he said.
In the course of the visit, the deputy minister visited the
construction site in the southern state of Tamilnadu, where India
is building the Kudankulam nuclear power plant with Russia's
assistance.
India expressed readiness for boosting cooperation in the
Kudankulam project, and increasing the number of reactors from
two to four or six.
(c) ITAR-TASS. All rights reserved. You undertake not to
*****************************************************************
21 Newindpress: Pak rejects Nigerian claim about nuke assistant
- Newindpress.com
Thursday March 4 2004 19:53 IST
PTI
ISLAMABAD: Amid Nigerian Defence Ministry's claim that a top
Pakistani General offered to help the African state "strengthen
its military capability and acquire nuclear power", Islamabad on
Thursday rejected it as an "unadulterated rubbish."
"This is such an unadulterated rubbish. For a Pakistani General
who is travelling these days to offer nuclear help," Pakistan
Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri said addressing a joint
press conference with visiting British Foreign Secretary Jack
Straw here.
Kasuri was reacting to Nigerian Defence Ministry's statement
claiming that Pakistan's chairman of the joint services
committee, General Muhammad Aziz Khan, who visited Nigeria this
week, said that Pakistan "is working out the dynamics of how they
can assist Nigeria's armed forces to strengthen its military
capability and to acquire nuclear power."
"This tells you sometimes how media picks up stories. I do not
know what to say. Why would Pakistan do this," Kasuri said,
adding if Pakistan wants Abuja's help to regain the commonwealth
membership, there were other ways to go about it.
"Surely there are other ways. We do not have to have seek
support of this nature."
Pakistan was currently lobbying hard to get readmission into
Commonwealth.
Kasuri said it was not in the interest of Pakistan to offer
nuclear technology, that too when it faced so many problems on
the nuclear front.
"We are absolutely shocked that some wire services carried this
story. After all the stories regarding nuclear proliferation, how
can a Pakistani general be offering this to Nigeria yesterday. I
cannot understand," Kasuri said.
Straw, who was sitting by his side, jocularly commented that
nuclear technology did not appear to be on the priority list of
Nigeria when he was there recently.
"When I was in Nigeria during Christmas, it did not seem to be
on top of their agenda. They have lot of oil reserves, though,"
he said in the lighter vein.
Gen Aziz was third in the hierarchy of Pakistan army after Gen
President Pervez Musharraf, who is the Chief of Army, and Gen
Younus Khan, Vice Chief of Army.
The Nigerian Defence Ministry statement comes at a time when
Pakistan is battling hard to wriggle out of international
spotlight on its nuclear programme after the recent admission by
top scientist A Q Khan that he transferred nuclear technology to
Iran, Libya and North Korea.
e-mail: [/Mail/] info@newindpress.com
*****************************************************************
22 Asahi Shinbaum: Japan, U.S. to launch hydrogen project
The government, looking into the feasibility of producing
hydrogen at next-generation nuclear reactors, plans to start a
joint research project in the United States with its U.S.
counterpart, sources said.
The government aims to accumulate the basic technologies needed
to mass-produce hydrogen-the fuel used in fuel cells-at
high-temperature, gas-cooled nuclear reactors, or HTGRs.
The project calls for the Japan Atomic Energy Research
Institute (JAERI), under the science and technology ministry, to
work in tandem with the U.S. Department of Energy to produce
hydrogen at an HTGR to be built in Idaho in or after 2005.
Observers say the government is also hoping the project will
provide momentum for the construction of new nuclear reactors in
Japan by expanding their role to include hydrogen production.
Demand for hydrogen is expected to grow as use of fuel cells in
automobiles and other devices becomes widespread.
The United States began generating electricity at a prototype
HTGR in the 1980s, but high costs forced the government to shelve
the operations.
Having learned that JAERI had been operating an experimental
HTGR at its research center in Oarai, Ibaraki Prefecture, since
1998 and had succeeded in generating a constant supply of 850-C
heat in 2001, the U.S. Department of Energy called on the
institute to participate in the research project.
The U.S. government earmarked $9 million (990 million yen) for
the project in its fiscal 2005 budget, 50 percent more than in
fiscal 2004.
Producing hydrogen at HTGRs is considered a greener alternative
to the steam-reforming method currently employed to produce the
fuel: burning natural gas at temperatures of about 880 C to
produce methane, which creates hydrogen when reacting with water
vapor.
Because the burning of natural gas produces carbon dioxide, the
main culprit behind global warming, critics contend the method
erases the benefits of fuel-cell vehicles that reduce
greenhouse-gas emissions.
In contrast, no carbon dioxide is emitted during production of
hydrogen at HTGRs, and the iodine and sulfur dioxide used as
catalysts to obtain hydrogen can be recycled for further
production.
One drawback, however, is the high cost of treating the nuclear
waste HTGRs generate.
The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has begun studying
ways to transport and store hydrogen, which is difficult to
liquefy and highly explosive.(IHT/Asahi: March 4,2004)
Copyright Asahi Shibaum
*****************************************************************
23 Australian: You police the Pacific - US
[March 05, 2004]
THE US has formally recognised Australia's role as South Pacific
policeman in the war on terror - but Canberra wants more back-up
in the region from its superpower ally.
Washington says Australia's professionalism in leading military
coalitions in East Timor and the Solomon Islands has given the US
confidence that it can let Canberra lead the way in future
regional conflicts and assistance missions.
But Australia, while generally happy with the direction of the
53-year-old ANZUS alliance, wants the US to take a more active
role in providing financial and training support for Southeast
Asian countries to combat the war on terror - particularly
Indonesia.
Washington's recognition of Canberra's role comes in a submission
to a parliamentary inquiry into the Australia-US defence
relationship. In its submission, the US for the first time
recognises John Howard's so-called Pacific doctrine of primarily
fighting the war on terror in Australia's own backyard.
The US government submission, prepared by Washington's embassy in
Canberra, says the experience of Australians and Americans
working together in Afghanistan and Iraq, and conducting at least
37 training exercises over the past two years, meant the
coalition partners had "a very good idea of what capabilities the
other possesses".
"This confidence level in each other's abilities has allowed the
US to play a supporting or non-military role in some recent
regional conflicts, deferring to the Australians' professionalism
and keen understanding of the region," it says.
"The very proximity of Australia to terrorist-threatened nations
in Southeast Asia means that a ready first-response neighbour is
on hand to help in crisis situations."
Australia also acknowledges its new role in its own submission to
the inquiry.
"The US recognises the stabilising role that Australia plays in
the Southwest Pacific.
"It recognises that in Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands (and
now PNG) ... Australia does the heavy lifting in terms of
security assistance, foreign aid, humanitarian relief and
economic support," it says.
The US also says in its submission that it will remain "fully
engaged in the Asia-Pacific region working proudly alongside its
Australian ally", consulting Canberra about realigning its forces
in the region.
Washington also nominates efforts to get North Korea to give up
its nuclear program as the most pressing threat to security in
the region, but it also says it values Australia's leadership in
its relations with Indonesia.
But Australia says in its submission that "in terms of the war on
terror, Australia remains particularly keen to see more US
engagement in the Southeast Asian region".
"Australia and the US can co-operate in providing support to
regional agencies to combat terrorism," it says.
Defence Minister Robert Hill said last night that Australia was
particularly keen to have the US more heavily involved in
supporting counter-terrorism efforts in Indonesia.
"The US is a force for stability, and in Indonesia, for example,
we would like to see them be even more active in what they are
doing," he said.
Australian Strategic Policy Institute director Hugh White said
last night that the US comments represented clear recognition
that after East Timor, Australia was more than capable of leading
coalitions to restore stability in its own backyard.
"There's no doubt Australia is playing, and is expected to play
in future, a leadership role both diplomatically and militarily
in its own region in the war on terror.
"You can read this as US recognition of the Howard doctrine that
Australia's role is not one of giving open-ended commitments to
conflicts on the other side of the world, but looking to play
that lead role close to home," Mr White said.
Reinforcing Australia's role, the Prime Minister met with both
New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark and Solomon Islands Prime
Minister Alan Kamekeza this week to discuss progress in efforts
to restore law and order in Pacific nations.
The Australian
*****************************************************************
24 Las Vegas SUN: Letter: Country should be phasing out nuclear power
[http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/text/2004/mar/04/]
Today: March 04, 2004 at 9:04:39 PST
Balderdash is my reply to the Feb. 18 letter by Richard Rychtarik
headlined, "Championing Nuclear Power."
The American people were sold out in 1954 when we were saddled
with the responsibility of nuclear waste by the federal
government. If all the subsidies and tax breaks would be added
back and included in the cost of electricity produced by nuclear
energy it would be double the cost of producing power by natural
gas.
Alaska has ample supplies of natural gas that should be accessed
by the construction of a pipeline linked with the present
pipelines. Instead Gov. Murkowski is promoting a far more
expensive route that will take years.
Nevada should become a laboratory for solar, wind, geothermal and
hydrogen production to produce electricity, and nuclear power
should be phased out. Italy, Germany, Sweden and The Netherlands
are slowly phasing out nuclear power because renewable sources
are safer and better for our environment.
Just because Nevada served our nation from 1951 to 1992, and
Nevadans and downwinders died or got sick while our land was
poisoned, is no reason to further pollute our land and water at a
Yucca Mountain nuclear dump.
All future real estate contracts should have disclosure about the
risks inherent in transporting nuclear waste. When these risks of
accident and terrorism are understood along with the deficiencies
of Yucca Mountain, there will be a groundswell of protest
nationwide.
FRANK PERNA
All contents copyright 2004 Las Vegas SUN, Inc.
*****************************************************************
25 toledoblade.com: Davis-Besse problems blamed on lax oversight
Thursday, March 04, 2004
NRC official warns of complacency risk
By [mailto:thenry@theblade.com] TOM HENRY BLADE STAFF WRITER
Davis-Besse stands out as a vivid reminder that the public is
never completely out of danger if government and industry
officials don't stay on their toes and avoid a repeat of the
complacency problem that led to the Three Mile Island meltdown in
1979, a member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's governing
board said yesterday.
"Complacency clearly played a role at Davis-Besse," NRC
Commissioner Edward McGaffigan, Jr. said near the end of a
21/2-hour program at the NRC's headquarters in Rockville, Md.
yesterday that was devoted to the upcoming 25th anniversary of
the meltdown near Harrisburg, Pa.
"I think there was complacency at the NRC in that we were
fighting other wars and didn't have the right people there" at
Davis-Besse, he said.
The NRC's Office of Inspector General said in an October report
the agency needs to shoulder part of the blame for the
near-rupture of Davis-Besse's reactor head, because it had
allowed its Midwest regional office near Chicago to be distracted
by issues at other plants.
NRC officials have said lax enforcement at Davis-Besse seemed
reasonable at the time because they had given FirstEnergy Corp.
high marks on earlier evaluations.
The inspector general has said those scores raise even more
questions about a controversial method the NRC began using a few
years ago to evaluate plants. The internal probe revealed that at
least one NRC resident inspector saw a photograph of
Davis-Besse's reactor head with heavy rust streaks during the
plant's 2000 outage - but didn't know what to make of the
picture.
Unbeknownst to the NRC, a problem of unparalleled magnitude
festered for years at Davis-Besse. The agency was so clueless to
the extent of the reactor head's problem that its immediate focus
after the plant was shut down on Feb. 16, 2002 was on an entirely
different - and considerably smaller - problem, officials have
said.
Mr. McGaffigan, one of three commissioners holding seats on the
NRC's five-member governing board, said yesterday he believes one
of the root causes at both Davis-Besse and Three Mile Island was
denial.
An overconfidence problem at Davis-Besse prior to that plant's
2002 shutdown mirrored the overconfidence problem before the
meltdown that began March 28, 1979, at Three Mile Island's No. 2
reactor, he said.
He said he hopes Davis-Besse "has ended the
complacency here and within the industry for a long time."
NRC Chairman Nils Diaz agreed.
Complacency "should not be" possible today, but the NRC needs
to remain on guard for it, Dr. Diaz said. "We have seen a few
cases [of complacency] that have led to extended shutdowns here
and abroad," he said.
Commissioner Jeffrey Merrifield and Bill Travers, the NRC's
executive director of operations, agreed that fighting
complacency is one of the agency's biggest challenges - or the
public faces the risk of history repeating itself.
"Using a rear-view mirror for judging where you are now is not
always accurate," Mr. Merrifield said. "We must continue to have
a questioning attitude."
Three Mile Island is the only meltdown in U.S. nuclear
history, although the extent of core damage wasn't known until
1985. Radioactive gases were vented to the atmosphere, but were
nothing in comparison to what happened as a result of the
explosion at Russia's Chernobyl nuclear plant near Kiev in 1986.
That's largely because American reactors, unlike Chernobyl, are
shielded by concrete-and-steel containment structures.
For earlier stories on Davis-Besse, go to
www.toledoblade.com/davisbesse Search The Toledo Blade Company,
541 N. Superior St., Toledo, OH 43660 , (419) 724-6000
*****************************************************************
26 NRC: State of Utah: NRC Staff Draft Assessment of a Proposed Amendment
FR Doc 04-4671
[Federal Register: March 4, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 43)]
[Notices] [Page 10269-10272] From the Federal Register Online via
GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr04mr04-88]
to Agreement Between the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the
State of Utah
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Fourth notice of a proposed amendment to the Agreement
with the State of Utah; request for comment.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: By letter dated January 2, 2003, Governor Michael O.
Leavitt of Utah requested that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission (NRC) enter into an amendment to the Agreement with
Utah (the Agreement) as authorized by section 274 of the Atomic
Energy Act of 1954, as amended (Act).
Under the proposed amendment to the Agreement, the Commission
would relinquish, and Utah would assume, an additional portion of
the Commission's regulatory authority exercised within the State.
As required by the Act, NRC is publishing the proposed amendment
to the Agreement for public comment. NRC is also publishing the
summary of a draft assessment by the NRC staff of the portion of
the regulatory program Utah would assume. Comments are requested
on the proposed amendment to the Agreement and the staff's draft
assessment, which finds the program to be adequate to protect
public health and safety and compatible with NRC's program for
regulation of 11e.(2) byproduct material.
The proposed amendment to the Agreement would release (exempt)
persons who possess or use certain radioactive materials in Utah
from portions of the Commission's regulatory authority. The Act
requires that NRC publish those exemptions. Notice is hereby
given that the pertinent exemptions have been previously
published in the Federal Register and are codified in the
Commission's regulations as 10 CFR part 150.
DATES: The comment period expires March 15, 2004. Comments
received after this date will be considered if it is practical to
do so, but the Commission cannot assure consideration of comments
received after the expiration date.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any one of the following
methods.
Please include the following phrase (Utah Amendment) in the
subject line of your comments. Comments will be made available to
the public in their entirety. Personal information will not be
removed from your comments.
Mail comments to: Michael T. Lesar, Chief, Rules and Directives
Branch, Division of Administrative Services, Office of
Administration, Washington, DC 20555-0001.
E-mail comments to: [mailto:NRCREP@nrc.gov] NRCREP@nrc.gov. Fax
comments to: Chief, Rules and Directives Branch, at (301) 415-
5144.
Publicly available documents related to this notice, including
public
[[Page 10270]]
comments received, 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.
Publicly available documents created or received at the NRC after
November 1, 1999, are also available electronically at the NRC's
Electronic Reading Room at
[http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leavingFR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html]
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html.
From this site, the public can gain entry into the NRC's
Agencywide Document 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 1- 800-397-4209, 301-415-4737 or by
email to [mailto:pdr@nrc.gov] pdr@nrc.gov. Documents available
in ADAMS include: The request for an amended Agreement by the
Governor of Utah including all information and documentation
submitted in support of the request (ML030280380); NRC comments
on the request (ML031810623), Utah's response to NRC comments
(ML032060090); Utah's additional clarification (ML033640565), and
the full text of the NRC Staff Draft Assessment (ML040370585).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dennis M. Sollenberger, Office
of State and Tribal Programs, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission,
Washington, DC 20555-0001. Telephone (301) 415-2819 or e-mail
[mailto: DMS4@nrc.gov] DMS4@nrc.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Since section 274 of the Act was added
in 1959, the Commission has entered into Agreements with 33
States. The Agreement States currently regulate approximately
16,850 material licenses, while NRC regulates approximately 4550
licenses. NRC periodically reviews the performance of the
Agreement States to assure compliance with the provisions of
Section 274. Under the proposed amendment to the Agreement, four
NRC licenses will transfer to Utah.
Section 274e requires that the terms of the proposed amendment to
the Agreement be published in the Federal Register for public
comment once each week for four consecutive weeks. This fourth
Notice is being published in fulfillment of the requirement.
I. Background
(a) Section 274d of the Act provides the mechanism for a State to
assume regulatory authority from the NRC over certain radioactive
materials \1\ and activities that involve use of the materials.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ The radioactive materials are: (a) Byproduct materials as
defined in section 11e.(1) of the Act; (b) byproduct materials as
defined in section 11e.(2) of the Act; (c) source materials as
defined in section 11z. of the Act; and (d) special nuclear
materials as defined in section 11aa. of the Act, restricted to
quantities not sufficient to form a critical mass.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
In a letter dated January 2, 2003, Governor Leavitt certified
that the State of Utah has a program for the control of radiation
hazards that is adequate to protect public health and safety
within Utah for the materials and activities specified in the
proposed amendment to the Agreement, and that the State desires
to assume regulatory responsibility for these materials and
activities. The radioactive materials and activities (which
together are usually referred to as the ``categories of
materials'') which the State of Utah requests authority over are:
The possession and use of byproduct material as defined in
section 11e.(2) of the Act and the facilities that generate such
material (uranium mill tailings and uranium mills). Included with
the letter was the text of the proposed amendment to the
Agreement, which has been edited and is shown in Appendix A to
this notice.
(b) The proposed amendment to the Agreement modifies the articles
of the Agreement that:
--Specify the materials and activities over which authority is
transferred; --Specify the activities over which the Commission
will retain regulatory authority; and --Specify the effective
date of the proposed Agreement.
The Commission reserves the option to modify the terms of the
proposed amendment to the Agreement in response to comments, to
correct errors, and to make editorial changes. The final text of
the amendment to the Agreement, with the effective date, will be
published after the amendment to the Agreement is approved by the
Commission and signed by the Chairman of the Commission and the
Governor of Utah.
(c) Utah currently regulates all radioactive materials covered
under the Act, except for conducting sealed source and device
evaluations which will remain under NRC jurisdiction, and the
possession and use of 11e.(2) byproduct material, which would be
assumed by Utah under the proposed amendment to their Agreement.
Section 19-3-113 of the Utah code provides the authority for the
Governor to enter into an Agreement with the Commission. Section
19-3- 113 also contains provisions for the orderly transfer of
regulatory authority over affected licensees from NRC to the
State. After the effective date of the Agreement, licenses issued
by NRC would continue in effect as Utah licenses until the
licenses expire or are replaced by State issued licenses. The
regulatory program including 11e.(2) byproduct materials is
authorized by law in section 19-3-104.
(d) The NRC staff draft assessment finds that the Utah program is
adequate to protect public health and safety, and is compatible
with the NRC program for the regulation of 11e.(2) byproduct
material and the facilities that generate such material.
II. Summary of the NRC Staff Draft Assessment of the Utah Program
for the Control of 11e.(2) Byproduct Materials
The NRC staff has examined Utah's request for an amendment to the
Agreement with respect to the ability of the Utah radiation
control program to regulate 11e.(2) byproduct material. The
examination was based on the Commission's policy statement
``Criteria for Guidance of States and NRC in Discontinuance of
NRC Regulatory Authority and Assumption Thereof by States Through
Agreement,'' referred to herein as the ``NRC criteria'' (46 FR
7540, January 23, 1981, as amended by policy statements published
at 46 FR 36969, July 16, 1981, and at 48 FR 33376, July 21,
1983).
(a) Organization and Personnel. The 11e.(2) byproduct material
program will be located within the existing Division of Radiation
Control (Program) of the Utah Department of Environmental
Quality. The Program will be responsible for all regulatory
activities related to the proposed amendment to the Agreement.
The Program performed an analysis of the expected Program
workload under the proposed amendment to the Agreement and
determined that a level of three technical and one administrative
staff would be needed to implement the 11e.(2) byproduct material
authority. The distribution of the qualifications of the
individual technical staff members will be balanced with the
technical expertise needed for 11e.(2) byproduct material (i.e.,
health physics, hydrology, engineering). The Program currently
has and intends to initially use existing qualified staff to
conduct the 11e.(2) byproduct materials activities. At least two
staff are qualified in each of the three technical areas
identified in the Criteria: Health physics, engineering, and
hydrology.
The educational requirements for the 11e.(2) byproduct material
program staff
[[Page 10271]]
members are specified in the Utah State personnel position
descriptions, and meet the NRC criteria with respect to formal
education or combined education and experience requirements. All
current staff members hold at least bachelor's degrees in
physical or life sciences, or have a combination of education and
experience at least equivalent to a bachelor's degree. Several
staff members hold advanced degrees, and all staff members have
had additional training plus working experience in radiation
protection.
The Program also plans to hire three new staff into the program
to supplement the existing staff (two professional/technical and
one administrative). New staff hired into the Program will be
qualified in accordance with the Program's training and
qualification procedure to function in the areas of
responsibility to which the individual is assigned.
Based on the NRC staff review of the State's need analysis,
current staff qualifications, and the current staff assignments
for the 11e.(2) byproduct material program, the NRC staff
concludes that Utah will have an adequate number of qualified
staff assigned to regulate the 11e.(2) byproduct material
workload of the Program under the terms of the amendment to the
Agreement.
(b) Legislation and Regulations. The Utah Department of
Environmental Quality (Department) is designated by law to be the
implementing agency. The law establishes a Radiation Control
Board (Board) that has the authority to issue regulations and has
delegated the authority to the Executive Secretary the authority
to issue licenses, issue orders, conduct inspections, and to
enforce compliance with regulations, license conditions, and
orders. The Executive Secretary is the director of the Division
of Radiation Control in the Department. Licensees are required to
provide access to inspectors. The law requires the Board to adopt
rules that are compatible with equivalent NRC regulations and
that are equally stringent. Utah has adopted R313-24 Utah
Administrative Code that incorporates NRC uranium milling
regulations by reference, with a few exceptions, and other
regulatory changes needed for the 11e.(2) byproduct material
program. The NRC staff reviewed and forwarded comments on these
regulations to the Utah staff. The final regulations were sent to
NRC for review. The NRC staff review verified that, with the one
exception of the alternative groundwater standards, the Utah
rules contain all of the provisions that are necessary in order
to be compatible with the regulations of the NRC on the effective
date of the Agreement between the State and the Commission. The
alternative groundwater standards were addressed in a separate
Commission action (see 68 FR 51516, August 27, 2003, and 68 FR
60885, October 24, 2003) and will be resolved prior to the
Commission's final approval of an amendment to the Agreement with
Utah. The NRC staff also concludes that Utah will not attempt to
enforce regulatory matters reserved to the Commission.
(c) Evaluation of License Applications. Utah has adopted
regulations compatible with the NRC regulations that specify the
requirements which a person must meet in order to get a license
to possess or use 11e.(2) byproduct material. Utah will use its
general licensing procedures, along with the additional
requirements in R313-24 specific to 11e.(2) byproduct material.
Utah will use the NRC regulatory guides as guidance in conducting
its licensing reviews.
(d) Inspections and Enforcement. The Utah radiation control
program has adopted a schedule providing for the inspection of
licensees as frequently as the inspection schedule used by NRC.
The Program has adopted procedures for the conduct of
inspections, the reporting of inspection findings, and the
reporting of inspection results to the licensees. The Program has
also adopted, by rule based on the Utah Revised Statutes,
procedures for the enforcement of regulatory requirements.
(e) Regulatory Administration. The Utah Department of
Environmental Quality is bound by requirements specified in State
law for rulemaking, issuing licenses, and taking enforcement
actions. The Program has also adopted administrative procedures
to assure fair and impartial treatment of license applicants.
Utah law prescribes standards of ethical conduct for State
employees.
(f) Cooperation with Other Agencies. Utah law deems the holder of
an NRC license on the effective date of the proposed Agreement to
possess a like license issued by Utah. The law provides that
these former NRC licenses will expire either 90 days after
receipt from the Department of a notice of expiration of such
license or on the date of expiration specified in the NRC
license, whichever is earlier. Utah also provides for ``timely
renewal.'' This provision affords the continuance of licenses for
which an application for renewal has been filed more than 30 days
prior to the date of expiration of the license.
NRC licenses transferred while in timely renewal are included
under the continuation provision.
III. Staff Conclusion
Subsection 274d of the Act provides that the Commission shall
enter into an agreement under subsection 274b with any State if:
(a) The Governor of the State certifies that the State has a
program for the control of radiation hazards adequate to protect
public health and safety with respect to the agreement materials
within the State, and that the State desires to assume regulatory
responsibility for the agreement materials; and (b) The
Commission finds that the State program is in accordance with the
requirements of subsection 274o, and in all other respects
compatible with the Commission's program for the regulation of
materials, and that the State program is adequate to protect
public health and safety with respect to the materials covered by
the proposed Agreement.
On the basis of its draft assessment, the NRC staff concludes
that the State of Utah meets the requirements of the Act. The
State's program, as defined by its statutes, regulations,
personnel, licensing, inspection, and administrative procedures,
is compatible with the program of the Commission and adequate to
protect public health and safety with respect to the materials
covered by the proposed amendment to the Agreement.
NRC will continue the formal processing of the proposed amendment
to the Agreement which includes publication of this notice once a
week for four consecutive weeks for public review and comment.
Dated in Rockville, Maryland, this 25th day of February, 2004.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Josephine M. Piccone, Deputy Director, Office of State and Tribal
Programs.
Appendix A
Amendment to Agreement between the United States Nuclear
Regulatory Commission and the State of Utah for discontinuance of
certain Commission regulatory authority and responsibility within
the State pursuant to section 274 of the Atomic Energy Act, as
amended.
Whereas, the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission
(hereinafter referred to as the Commission) entered into an
Agreement on March 29, 1984 (hereinafter referred to the
Agreement of March 29, 1984), with the State of Utah under
section 274 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended
(hereafter referred to the Act) which became effective on April
1, 1984, providing for discontinuance of the regulatory authority
of the Commission within the State under chapters 6, 7, and 8 and
section 161 of the Act with respect to byproduct materials as
[[Page 10272]]
defined in section 11e.(1) of the Act, source materials, and
special nuclear materials in quantities not sufficient to form a
critical mass; and Whereas, the Commission entered into an
amendment to the Agreement of March 29, 1984 (hereinafter
referred to as the Agreement of March 29, 1984, as amended),
pursuant to the Act providing for discontinuance of regulatory
authority of the Commission with respect to the land disposal of
source, byproduct, and special nuclear material received from
other persons which became effective on May 9, 1990; and Whereas,
the Governor requested, and the Commission agreed, that the
Commission reassert Commission authority for the evaluation of
radiation safety information for sealed sources or devices
containing byproduct, source or special nuclear materials and the
registration of the sealed sources or devices for distribution,
as provided for in regulations or orders of the Commission; and
Whereas, the Governor of the State of Utah is authorized under
Utah Code Annotated 19-3-113 to enter into this amendment to the
Agreement of March 29, 1984, as amended, between the Commission
and the State of Utah; and Whereas, the Governor of the State of
Utah has requested this amendment in accordance with section 274
of the Act by certifying on January 2, 2003, that the State of
Utah has a program for the control of radiological and
non-radiological hazards adequate to protect the public health
and safety and the environment with respect to byproduct material
as defined in section 11e.(2) of the Act and facilities that
generate this material and that the State desires to assume
regulatory responsibility for such material; and Whereas, the
Commission found on [date] that the program of the State for the
regulation of materials covered by this amendment is in
accordance with the requirements of the Act and in all other
respects compatible with the Commission's program for the
regulation of byproduct material as defined in section 11e.(2)
and is adequate to protect public health and safety; and Whereas,
the State and the Commission recognize the desirability and
importance of cooperation between the Commission and the State in
the formulation of standards for protection against hazards of
radiation and in assuring that the State and the Commission
programs for protection against hazards of radiation will be
coordinated and compatible; and Whereas, this amendment to the
Agreement of March 29, 1984, as amended, is entered into pursuant
to the provisions of the Act.
Now, therefore, it is hereby agreed between the Commission and
the Governor of the State, acting on behalf of the State, as
follows: Section 1. Article I of the Agreement of March 29, 1984,
as amended, is amended by adding a new paragraph B and
renumbering paragraphs B through D as C through E. Paragraph B
will read as follows: ``B. Byproduct materials as defined in
Section 11e.(2) of the Act;'' Section 2. Article II of the
Agreement of March 29, 1984, as amended, is amended by deleting
paragraph E and inserting a new paragraph E to implement the
reassertion of Commission authority over sealed sources and
devices to read: ``E. The evaluation of radiation safety
information on sealed sources or devices containing byproduct,
source, or special nuclear materials and the registration of the
sealed sources or devices for distribution, as provided for in
regulations or orders of the Commission.'' Section 3. Article II
of the Agreement of March 29, 1984, as amended, is amended by
numbering the current Article as A by placing an A in front of
the current Article language. The subsequent paragraphs A through
E are renumbered as 1 through 5. After the current amended
language, the following new section B is added to read: ``B.
Notwithstanding this Agreement, the Commission retains the
following authorities pertaining to byproduct material as defined
in Section 11e.(2) of the Act: 1. Prior to the termination of a
State license for such byproduct material, or for any activity
that resulted in the production of such material, the Commission
shall have made a determination that all applicable standards and
requirements pertaining to such material have been met; 2. The
Commission reserves the authority to establish minimum standards
governing reclamation, long-term surveillance or maintenance, and
ownership of such byproduct material and of land used as a
disposal site for such material. Such reserved authority
includes: a. The authority to establish terms and conditions as
the Commission determines necessary to assure that, prior to
termination of any license for such byproduct material, or for
any activity that results in the production of such material, the
licensee shall comply with decontamination, decommissioning, and
reclamation standards prescribed by the Commission; and with
ownership requirements for such materials and its disposal site;
b. The authority to require that prior to termination of any
license for such byproduct material or for any activity that
results in the production of such material, title to such
byproduct material and its disposal site be transferred to the
United States or the State of Utah at the option of the State
(provided such option is exercised prior to termination of the
license); c. The authority to permit use of the surface or
subsurface estates, or both, of the land transferred to the
United States or the State pursuant to 2.b. in this section in a
manner consistent with the provisions of the Uranium Mill
Tailings Radiation Control Act of 1978, as amended, provided that
the Commission determines that such use would not endanger public
health, safety, welfare, or the environment.
d. The authority to require, in the case of a license for any
activity that produces such byproduct material (which license was
in effect on November 8, 1981), transfer of land and material
pursuant to paragraph 2.b. in this section taking into
consideration the status of such material and land and interests
therein, and the ability of the licensee to transfer title and
custody thereof to the United States or the State; e. The
authority to require the Secretary of the Department of Energy,
other Federal agency, or State, whichever has custody of such
byproduct material and its disposal site, to undertake such
monitoring, maintenance, and emergency measures as are necessary
to protect public health and safety, and other actions as the
Commission deems necessary; and f. The authority to enter into
arrangements as may be appropriate to assure Federal long-term
surveillance or maintenance of such byproduct material and its
disposal site on land held in trust by the United States for any
Indian Tribe or land owned by an Indian Tribe and subject to a
restriction against alienation imposed by the United States.''
Section 4. Article IX of the 1984 Agreement, as amended, is
renumbered as Article X and a new Article IX is inserted to read:
``ARTICLE IX
In the licensing and regulation of byproduct material as defined
in Section 11e.(2) of the Act, or of any activity which results
in the production of such byproduct material, the State shall
comply with the provisions of Section 274o of the Act. If in such
licensing and regulation, the State requires financial surety
arrangements for reclamation and or long-term surveillance and
maintenance of such byproduct material: A. The total amount of
funds the State collects for such purposes shall be transferred
to the United States if custody of such byproduct material and
its disposal site is transferred to the United States upon
termination of the State license for such byproduct material or
any activity that results in the production of such byproduct
material. Such funds include, but are not limited to, sums
collected for long-term surveillance or maintenance. Such funds
do not, however, include monies held as surety where no default
has occurred and the reclamation or other bonded activity has
been performed; and B. Such surety or other financial
requirements must be sufficient to ensure compliance with those
standards established by the Commission pertaining to bonds,
sureties, and financial arrangements to ensure adequate
reclamation and long-term management of such byproduct material
and its disposal site.'' This amendment shall become effective on
[date] and shall remain in effect unless and until such time as
it is terminated pursuant to Article VIII of the Agreement of
March 29, 1984, as amended.
Done in Rockville, Maryland, in triplicate, this [day] day of
[month, year].
For the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Nils J. Diaz, Chairman.
Done in Salt Lake City, Utah, in triplicate, this [day] day of
[month, year].
For the State of Utah.
Olene S. Walker, Governor.
[FR Doc. 04-4671 Filed 3-3-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P
*****************************************************************
27 Bellona: Delta-III back in service after 11 years repairs
November last year Russian Delta-III nuclear submarine returned
to its base at the Pacific Fleet, Daily News from Vladivostok
reported.
2004-03-04 20:45
The sub returned to the 25th Squadron of the Strategic Missile
Cruisers on Kamchatka. Nuclear submarine Svyatoy Georgiy
Pobedonosets, project 667 BDR, Delta-III class (before 15.09.1998
K-433) was built at the Sevmash plant in Severodvinshk,
Arkhangelsk region. It has two nuclear reactors onboard.
Submarines of this class carry the D-16RM missile system with 16
R-29RM (SS-N-23) missiles. The sub entered active service at the
Northern Fleet on December 15th, 1980. On April 28th, 1992, the
submarine crossed the Arctic and reached Kamchatka. It joined the
Russian Pacific Fleet on November 3, 1993 and then spent 11
years, half of its lifetime, at the shipyard Zvezda. It was about
to be dismantled in the end of 90's, but somehow the Russian
Defence Ministry recently provided the funds and the sub was
quickly repaired. The submariners even have the official priest
onboard who serves the crewmembers onboard.
Publisher: [mailto:bellona@bellona.no] Bellona Foundation,
President: [mailto:frederic@bellona.no] Frederic Hauge
Information: [mailto:info@bellona.no] info@bellona.no, Technical
contact: [mailto:webmaster@bellona.no] webmaster@bellona.no
Telephone: +47 23 23 46 00 Telefax: +47 22 38 38 62 * P.O.Box
2141 Grunerlokka, 0505 Oslo, Norway
*****************************************************************
28 Salt Lake Tribune: Widow says Tooele toxins killed mate
March 04, 2004
By Christopher Smart
When the Tooele newspaper refused to print Alan Vorwaller's
obituary, his widow saw a conspiracy of silence shrouding a
sensitive topic: exposure to biological and chemical weapons.
But the Tooele Transcript Bulletin's associate publisher,
Clayton Dunn, feared that running the lengthy piece -- submitted
by Bonnie Adamsson-Vorwaller and blaming Alan's death on such
toxins -- would be the equivalent of screaming "fire" in a
crowded theater.
"Her claims were unsubstantiated, and we feel that an obituary
is not a place to push a political agenda," Dunn said.
Besides, he added, Tooele County residents are tired of the
hazardous-zone label applied to their community in news reports
on such things as Envirocare's radioactive waste facility, the
Army's chemical weapons incinerator and biological warfare
laboratories.
Alan Vorwaller, 42, died Feb. 1 of cancer that had spread
throughout his body. His notarized death certificate from Austin,
Texas, lists the cause of death as "metastatic adenocarcinoma of
unknown origin." It also lists a related condition of "adult
respiratory distress syndrome."
But his widow says she knows the origin of his illness: exposure
to fallout from weapons testing during the 30 years he lived in
Tooele.
In March 1968, Alan Vorwaller was a first-grader at a Tooele
elementary school, playing in the snow during recess. The same
day about 6,000 sheep from two herds were found dead in
neighboring Skull Valley after chemical-weapons testing at the
Army's Dugway Proving Ground, 40 miles southwest of Tooele.
Thirty-two years later, Vorwaller's hip was so riddled with
tumors that it simply snapped, Adamsson-Vorwaller said. "It's the
exposure in Utah that caused his death," she said in a telephone
interview from Austin, where the couple moved 11 years ago.
"The doctors don't know which poisons caused it," she conceded.
"But it follows something called the Hiroshima-Nagasaki pattern
where, 20 to 30 years later, you get cancer. Before he died, his
doctor asked him, 'Where were you 30 years ago?' "
After two or three decades, it is impossible to prove that a
specific toxin spawned cancer or other illnesses, explained
environmentalist Chip Ward. His 1999 book, Canaries on the Rim,
describes potential hazards faced by Tooele County residents
since the 1950s, including biological and chemical weapons
testing at Dugway, as well as above-ground nuclear weapons
testing in Nevada that ended in 1962.
"There isn't a direct link," Ward said. "But you can't flood a
room and then say the reason people drowned is because they
weren't tall enough."
In 1995, Ward documented more than 200 people with cancer in
Grantsville, 10 miles northwest of Tooele, after canvassing only
half the town of 5,000. That nonscientific survey equates to
eight out of every 100 residents with cancer.
Despite such data, Vorwaller's father, Donald Vorwaller,
disagrees with his daughter-in-law's assertion. The senior
Vorwaller worked at the Tooele Army Depot for more than 25 years
and has not experienced any ill effects.
"She's politicizing his illness and his death," said Donald
Vorwaller after reading the obituary this week in Provo's Daily
Herald. "All he did was grow up here. He didn't work at Dugway or
the depot. But it makes it look like he worked in the midst of
it, and that couldn't be further from the truth."
However, Beverly White, a former state legislator from Tooele,
says residents are leery of discussing the health hazards that
exist in the west desert. It's part of the "conspiracy of
silence," she noted.
White represents 250 former Dugway workers who suffer from
cancer, multiple sclerosis, and heart and lung ailments. They
have unsuccessfully sought compensation from the federal
government.
"I believe every bit of it," White said of Adamsson-Vorwaller's
allegations. "It happens all the time."
[mailto:csmart@sltrib.com] csmart@sltrib.com
The Salt Lake Tribune and associated news
*****************************************************************
29 Las Vegas SUN: Nevadans say panel shouldn't consider Yucca budget proposal
Today: March 04, 2004 at 9:59:18 PST
By Suzanne Struglinski
< [mailto:suzanne@lasvegassun.com] suzanne@lasvegassun.com>
WASHINGTON -- The House Budget Committee should not consider an
increase in funds or a proposal to change how the Energy
Department receives money for the Yucca Mountain project,
Nevada's members of the House of Representatives said Wednesday.
As part of a "Members Day" hearing in the House Budget
Committee, where lawmakers can discuss any issue for the
upcoming 2005 budget process, the Nevada lawmakers explained
their opposition to the department's $880 million request for
nuclear waste storage site and its attempt to funnel money from
the nuclear utilities directly into the project.
"As fellow fiscal conservatives, you and I both understand that
annual congressional oversight of every funding measure that is
signed into law is key in executing our duty of ensuring that
every cent of American taxpayers' dollar is spent responsibly
and efficiently," Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., said in testimony
submitted to Chairman Jim Nussle, R-Iowa.
"Certainly, the unanswered scientific questions, public safety
and health concerns, and unresolved issue of how the nuclear
waste will be shipped across the country to Yucca Mountain
warrant further examination before Congress allows the budget
for this proposed repository balloon to this unprecedented
level."
Gibbons said it would be "ill-considered" for Congress to allow
a $303 million increase from last year to move forward when it
should be "tightening its spending belt whenever possible."
Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., said allowing money to be spent on the
project "without congressional oversight would deny my
constituents their right to be represented when taxpayer dollars
are spent."
Nuclear utilities have put about $20 billion into a special fund
earmarked to fund the Yucca project, but only about $7 billion
has been spent so far because Congress does not usually allocate
the department's full request for the project. The department
wants to use $750 million from that fund that can only be used
to fund the Yucca project and nothing else.
The department was supposed to have had a federal repository
complete in 1998 to take the waste from the utilities, but
failed to do so. Now companies must pay into the fund as well as
figure out a way to pay for extra on-site storage.
Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., on Wednesday advised the committee
that "in view of our staggering deficit and considering the
rapidly mounting proof that the Yucca Mountain Project is
dangerous policy ... there is absolutely no need to provide this
administration with the funding to accelerate a project that has
not even met the qualifications for licensing."
The department anticipates submitting it license application to
the Nuclear Regulatory Commission by the end of the year. It
wants to open the Yucca Mountain site, 90 miles northwest of Las
Vegas, by 2010.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Return to the
[http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/text/2004/mar/04/]
referring page.
[http://www.lasvegassun.com/stories/../] Las Vegas SUN main page
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Questions or problems?
[http://www.lasvegassun.com/stories//about/] Click here.
All contents copyright 2004 Las Vegas SUN, Inc.
*****************************************************************
30 Las Vegas SUN: Yucca foes see hearing as opportunity
Today: March 04, 2004 at 11:23:34 PST
Congressional committee will hear testimony in Las Vegas
By Suzanne Struglinski
< [mailto:suzanne@lasvegassun.com] suzanne@lasvegassun.com>
WASHINGTON -- A congressional committee will try to sort through
the Energy Department's plans for shipping nuclear waste to
Nevada at a hearing in Las Vegas on Friday.
Nevada lawmakers hope it will educate the four other members of
Congress coming to the hearing about the state's concerns
regarding the plan to store 77,000 tons of nuclear waste at
Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. There is still
a list of items to be accomplished before any transportation
plan moves ahead.
In November the department released its 11-page strategic plan
for moving spent nuclear fuel from 129 sites in 39 states to the
proposed storage site at Yucca, outlining how it would involve
states, local governments, tribes, utilities and the
transportation industry in the process. The plan said parties of
interest would have input on the selection of routes and methods
of transportation, security issues, emergency response plan and
other issues.
But a month later, before receiving formal comments from all of
those groups and before notifying the state or the Nevada
congressional delegation, the department announced it preferred
the so-called Caliente corridor, which runs near Caliente, for
rail shipment of the waste, complained Bob Loux, executive
director of the Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects.
"So much for the strategic plan," said Loux, who plans to
testify at Friday's hearing. "I'm going to be talking about the
faulty decision-making process involved with this."
The Energy Department hasn't made a formal decision on the rail
line, but has said if it decides to ship the waste via rail it
would use the Caliente route.
The department originally proposed five rail lines in Nevada in
the Final Environmental Impact Statement released in February
2002. The other routes included one that would have started in
Beowawe, east of Battle Mountain in north-central Nevada, one
that would have gone through Jean, one that would have gone
northeast of Las Vegas and another that would have gone through
the Nellis Air Force Range.
Loux said there was no comparison to other routes or explanation
as to why the Caliente route is preferred. He said that if the
route was chosen to avoid the highly populated Las Vegas area,
it could lead other major cities like Chicago, St. Louis, Salt
Lake City and others wanting to opt out due to population, which
could cause problems for the department.
Nevada is waiting for the department to make a formal
announcement about a preferred method of shipping and selection
of routes. After that, the department will need to do an
environmental analysis and hold public meetings before the
project can advance. Loux said the department predicts an 18- to
24-month process will be needed to select just the Nevada route.
He said doing the Nevada route first without knowing where it
would be coming from leaves the project "somewhat dysfunctional"
but the department has not indicated when it will name national
routes.
"It will be helpful to have others come that are not from Nevada
to hear about this and learn how DOE (the Energy Department)
operates," Loux said.
Loux, and other critics of the Yucca Mountain project, point to
the security risks associated with moving waste cross-country
from sites mainly concentrated in East Coast states. The
department says moving the waste is the best option. The nuclear
industry maintains the waste is safe where it is now but will be
safer in one secure location. Industry officials have downplayed
any potential risks of moving the waste.
Under the law, the federal government is required to take the
waste.
Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., brought up the project's increasing
cost and transportation concerns at a Senate Appropriations
subcommittee this morning with Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham,
saying he was concerned about the Caliente route.
"Not a word of explanation has been offered to the ranchers
whose land this line would intrude upon," Reid said. "It means
that ranches that have been in operation since the time of the
Civil War will be put out of business."
Reid asked Abraham what he was supposed to tell Gracian Uhalde,
a rancher in northwestern Lincoln County whose land is in the
middle of the proposed rail line. Abraham did not respond, and
Reid said he would be submitting more questions to him to be
answered for the record.
Rep. Jon Porter, who is vice chairman of the House Railroad
Subcommittee, called the Las Vegas hearing and Rep. Shelley
Berkley, D-Nev., a member of the House Transportation Committee
will be there along with subcommittee chairman Rep. Jack Quinn,
R-N.Y., the panel's top Democrat, Rep. Corrine Brown of Florida,
subcommittee member Rep. Julia Carson, D-Ind., and full
committee member Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah.
That board has limited oversight of railroad construction and
handles disputes on shipping rates, but it is unclear to
officials there yet if it would be involved with the Yucca
railroad. It has not been determined if the railroad line to
Yucca will be a private, contractor-based rail line or a common
carrier line that anyone could use.
If it is a private line, it would not fall under the board's
jurisdiction, but the department would have to make an ample
case that the board did not have to be involved, according to
the board. Officials there are still watching the issue.
The department has not responded to repeated attempts to get
more information on the transportation aspects of the project,
so many unanswered questions remain. It is unclear who will be
responsible for building the rail line, if it chooses that
method, the estimated costs and other information.
*****************************************************************
31 Nevada Appeal Gibbons: Yucca budget request too high
March 4, 2004
[mailto:nvappeal@govmail.state.nv.us] by Geoff Dornan
Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., has asked House Budget Committee
Chairman Jim Nussle, R-Iowa, to oppose major increases in funding
for the Yucca Mountain project contained in President Bush's
proposed budget.
Gibbons said a 50 percent increase in funding for the project to
more than $880 million for next year is fiscally irresponsible
given the deficit and in light of unanswered scientific questions
about the dump plan.
"Certainly the unanswered scientific questions, public safety and
health concerns and unresolved issue of how the nuclear waste
will be shipped across country to Yucca Mountain war`rant further
examination before Congress allows the budget for this proposed
repository to balloon to this unprecedented level," said Gibbons.
"At a time when Congress should be tightening its spending belt
whenever possible, it would be ill-considered for us to allow
funding to increase at an astronomical rate for a project that
may very well be proven unfeasible before it is even licensed,"
he added.
Gibbons also urged Nussle to support his efforts to prevent the
Yucca Mountain project "off-budget."
Bush's administration has proposed allowing utility contributions
to the project to be paid directly to the Department of Energy,
which he said would severely limit congressional ability to
oversee how those funds are spent.
Gibbons raised the issues in a letter to Nussle saying the Yucca
Mountain proposals by the administration would be fiscally
irresponsible given the status of the project and the nation's
budget deficit.
Contact Geoff Dornan at nevadaappeal@sbcglobal.net or
687-8750.
All contents (c) Copyright 2004 Nevada Appeal.
*****************************************************************
32 Japan Times: Nuclear waste shipment arrives
Friday, March 5, 2004
AOMORI (Kyodo) A freighter carrying highly radioactive
reprocessed Japanese nuclear waste from Cherbourg in northern
France arrived Thursday in Rokkasho, Aomori Prefecture.
The waste is to be placed in a long-term storage facility at
Rokkasho, officials said.
After being offloaded from the 5,000-ton Pacific Swan at
Mutsu-Ogawara port, 132 cases of waste, which has been packed
into solidified glass, will be transported about 7 km and kept at
the facility, owned by Japan Nuclear Fuel Ltd., for 30 to 50
years.
The shipment is the ninth of its kind. The Tokyo, Chubu, Kansai,
Shikoku and Kyushu electric utilities own the waste, which was
reprocessed in France from spent nuclear fuel removed from
nuclear reactors in Japan.
The transport of nuclear waste between Japan and Europe for
recycling has sparked criticism in Japan and abroad.
The Japan Times: March 5, 2004
*****************************************************************
33 Deseretnews: Goshutes winning support for a non-nuke landfill
Thursday, March 4, 2004
Site would take construction and business waste
By ['http://deseretnews.com/dn/staff/card/1] Geoffrey Fattah
Deseret Morning News
Bales of construction and business waste are not as politically
hot as spent nuclear fuel rods, and thus the Skull Valley Band of
Goshute Indians is finding its latest project smoother sailing
than its last, more controversial endeavor.
During a hearing Wednesday evening by the Bureau of Indian
Affairs, no comments were given about the Goshutes' plan to build
a landfill project that would take compacted cubes of waste from
two solid waste companies.
The tribe has struck a contract with CR Group, made up of Ace
Disposal and Metro Waste. The contract must be approved by the
Bureau of Indian Affairs and, ultimately, by Congress.
Tribal chairman Leon Bear said that this project, like the
contract for spent nuclear fuel with Envirocare, is essential to
the economic future of the tribe's some 150 members, about 20 of
which still live on the 18,000-acre reservation located 80 miles
southwest of Salt Lake City in Tooele County.
The proposal, introduced to tribal members and other Tooele
County residents Wednesday, includes collecting construction
waste from various home and office sites, as well as restaurant
and other business waste and taking it to two facilities where
recyclable materials such as cardboard, carpet pad, concrete,
wood, hard plastics and scrap metal would be removed by hand,
said Paul Richards with Metro Waste.
The remaining refuse, mostly dirt, glass, branches and small
pieces of waste, would then be compressed into 4,000-pound
bricks. They would then be loaded onto flatbed trucks, covered
with a tarp and transported to the reservation's landfill via
I-80.
Phil Reese, a consultant for the tribe's environmental impact
study, said the 20-acre landfill cells would be 20 feet deep and
lined with clay, a thick plastic liner and gravel to prevent
seepage into the soil. A special pipe system would catch any
liquid runoff created by rain, which would then be funneled into
a retention pond. Once a cell was full, it would be capped with
another liner and covered with topsoil and revegetated according
to federal regulations.
Once the landfill is in full operation, it may create up to 20
jobs for tribal members and earn the Goshutes $15,000 a month.
Public comments Wednesday were limited to basic questions.
"This looks like a great project to me," said Tooele County
resident Bill Hogan. "There's just not a lot you can do in Skull
Valley." Hogan did ask about water collection and transportation
issues, which were answered to his satisfaction by consultants.
Tribal member Lawrence Bear asked if there were similar projects
on other reservations. Reese responded that no other "balefill"
exists west of the Mississippi but that another Indian
reservation in California has a proposal before the federal
government.
Bureau of Indian Affairs spokeswoman Amy Heuslein said the bureau
will take public comments again during a second hearing in Salt
Lake City tonight at 6:30 at the Little America Hotel. Written
comments will be accepted until March 29. Heuslein urged the
public to review the environmental impact study, which covers the
effect the project would have on local groundwater, wildlife and
the overall environment.
A copy of the environmental study can be accessed online at
[http://www.skullvalleygoshutes.org] www.skullvalleygoshutes.org.
Once public comment is taken, the Bureau of Indian Affairs will
either approve a 25-year lease between CR Group and the Goshutes,
with an option to extend for another 25 years, or deny it. If
approved , the lease will be sent to Congress for final approval.
Chairman Bear said this project was approved by tribal members in
August 2003 and was seen by members as a project that "made good
sense."
E-mail: [mailto:gfattah@desnews.com] gfattah@desnews.com
(c) 2004 Deseret News Publishing Company
*****************************************************************
34 Berkshire Eagle: Radioactive shipment spills on road in Rowe
March 04, 2004
Pittsfield, MA
By ['mailto:cmarcisz@berkshireeagle.com'] Christopher Marcisz
Berkshire Eagle Staff
ROWE -- The Rowe Selectmen were scheduled to hold a special
meeting with officials of the Yankee Nuclear Power Station
yesterday evening to discuss a spill of low-level radioactive
construction debris on a town road that occurred Tuesday, and
what will be done to prevent spills from happening in the future.
At about noon Tuesday, a cargo container containing close to
47,000 pounds of construction debris spilled from a flatbed truck
on Fort Hill Road. Local police and fire departments and the
state police responded to the accident, and plant officials
quickly gathered the spilled material and brought it back to the
plant.
Hazmat team not called
"The radiation level in the shipment is about the same as if it
were the same weight in logs," said Kelley Smith, spokeswoman for
Yankee Atomic Electric Co. "But because it is man-made and
licensed, the shipping and disposal is regulated."
Police and plant officials quickly determined that there was no
need to call for special hazardous material assistance, and no
one was injured.
Smith said that the truck company was issued a citation by state
police for using the wrong tie-down equipment, and that the plant
would suspend shipments until an investigation is completed.
The Yankee Rowe plant, which shut down in 1992 after a 32-year
active life, is in the midst of a decommissioning process that
began in fall 2003. Smith said most of material that spilled is
"building rubble," which includes concrete and steel rebar.
The shipment was one of the between 10 and 20 shipments that run
from the plant each day. Shipment routes go through Rowe up to
Whitingham, Vt., where they take Route 100 to Interstate 91. From
there, they go down to Palmer, Mass., where they are packed onto
railcars and sent to a permanent dump in Utah.
The winding route is necessary because many of the shipments are
too heavy to cross a bridge in Charlemont on Route 2, and because
the neighboring town of Heath refused to let the shipments
through last summer.
Rowe Selectman Leonard Laffond said the board decided to hold a
special meeting to hear from plant officials the extent of the
problem, and what they intend to do to prevent future accidents.
"It wasn't as spectacular as what I thought at first -- it was
just a big thing full of concrete," he said. "But it's something
of a wake-up call."
Deb Katz, a Rowe resident and executive director of the Citizens
Awareness Network, said that she is concerned about the accident,
and that the plant's answers are inadequate.
"If it was really not radioactive, they wouldn't have to ship it
to Utah," she said. "The [Nuclear Regulatory Commission] doesn't
set these rules to make things hard on Yankee Atomic."
Katz is particularly concerned that hazmat teams were not called.
"I think hazmat should have shown up and done a separate
evaluation," she said. "This is the company that had the spill
telling hazmat there's no danger, and that's not very
comforting."
She said the trucks travel along side roads past people's homes.
The plant says it will take more than 2,000 shipments to complete
the demolition.
"There certainly are lessons to be learned about why the truck
was traveling the way it was," she said. "There's a question of
it being slipshod."
High-level worries
The incident raises some concerns about the future removal of the
high-level spent nuclear fuel still at the plant site. Although
the physical decommissioning of the plant is set to end next
year, the 533 fuel assemblies stored on-site in 15 hardened dry
casks will stay on-site until a permanent federal nuclear waste
repository is established.
The debate currently focuses on a proposed site at Yucca Mountain
in Nevada, which is undergoing a lengthy federal licensing
process. Smith said the material may not be removed from the site
until 2015.
Smith said the transportation of the high-level material would be
handled by the federal government. "The transportation of the
fuel to a federal facility is the responsibility of the federal
government," she said.
The material would be moved in casks "very specifically designed
to withstand serious accidents."
Until it is moved, Yankee Atomic is responsible for monitoring
and protecting the spent fuel. The federal Department of Energy
was supposed to have taken title to the fuel in 1998.
Yankee Atomic is suing DOE for not taking it as promised. The
lawsuit -- which Smith said will go to trial this summer -- is
asking for $231 million to cover the costs of keeping the fuel.
The costs are currently passed on to the customers of the nine
New England electricity companies that jointly own Yankee Atomic.
*****************************************************************
35 Platts: DOE expects to meet Yucca Mt. milestone by August
Tucson, Ariz.
(Platts)--3Mar2004/557 pm EST/2257 GMT
DOE will address all 293 key technical issue (KTI) agreements
with NRC by August, the department's April Gil said March 2. The
KTI agreements were put in place in 2001 to ensure DOE supplies
NRC with the information needed to review DOE's license
application for a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain,
Nev. in the three to four years required by law. DOE intends to
submit the application in December. "Completeness of the LA
(license application) depends on the extent to which DOE
addresses the KTIs," Gil told a waste management conference in
Tucson, Ariz. In some cases, DOE will present the results of the
work it performed to address technical issues. In others, the
department will describe how long-term research will proceed. The
department already has submitted work on 213 agreements to NRC
for review, Gil said. NRC has determined 90 of those contain
sufficient information to support a license application.
Copyright (c) 2004 - Platts,
All Rights Reserved
*****************************************************************
36 Deseretnews: Downwinders may get IOUs
[http://deseretnews.com/dn/cit] Thursday, March 4, 2004
Hatch says funds for victims likely to run out in 2005
By ['http://deseretnews.com/dn/staff/card/1] Lee Davidson
Deseret Morning News
WASHINGTON -- Instead of cash for compensation, qualifying
downwind cancer victims of atomic testing may soon have to settle
for government IOUs -- again.
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, says trust funds are projected to run
out of money to pay expected claims by June 2005. It happened
once before, in 1991. Congress then thought it had fixed such
problems by ordering higher, automatic annual funding.
But the government is receiving more claims than expected -- and
processing them more quickly than anticipated. With that, Hatch
says the U.S. General Accounting Office now projects a total
shortfall of $78 million in funding through 2011. The Justice
Department projects shortfalls nearer to $100 million.
Hatch says the Bush administration recognizes the problem and
tried to help fix it by requesting an additional $72 million in
Bush's just-proposed 2005 budget -- above the $65 million already
ordered for that year through prior legislation.
Hatch reinforced that request Tuesday by writing to leaders of
the Senate Budget Committee, asking them to include that extra
money in the 2005 budget resolution they are now preparing.
Hatch noted that when the compensation program ran out of money
in 1991, "claimants were very upset because even though their
claims had been approved, there was no money available to
compensate them."
He added, "I am deeply concerned that we will be in the same
situation we were in during 2001 -- in fact, according to the
Department of Justice, the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act
trust fund is expected to run out of money by June 2005. I am
extremely concerned about this situation; it is one of the most
important issues facing my home state of Utah."
Hatch and the late Rep. Wayne Owens, D-Utah, passed the
compensation program for downwinders in 1990. Hatch expanded it
with amendments in 2000 to make people with more types of cancer
eligible for payments.
The Justice Department said the program has paid $666 million to
10,141 claimants through the years, as of Monday. Also, it said
another 2,592 claims now pending but not yet decided have a
potential value of $180.8 million.
The program set up compensation for five different types of
radiation victims.
Victims of some types of cancer who lived downwind of Nevada
atomic bomb testing -- who lived in some southern Utah counties
and in Arizona and Nevada at certain times -- qualify for
payments of $50,000 each. About 66 percent of such claims that
have been decided so far have been approved.
Victims from other categories -- uranium miners, uranium millers,
ore transporters and participants at the Nevada Test Site --
qualify for $100,000 each. Higher amounts are available to them,
in part, because the government was shown to clearly know their
work could cause illness and death but did not warn them.
Onsite participants have won 41 percent of the claims decided so
far; uranium miners have won 60 percent; uranium millers and ore
millers have both won 87 percent.
More information about the compensation and how to apply is
available on the Justice Department's Web page,
[http://www.usdoj.gov/civil/torts/const/reca/index.htm]
www.usdoj.gov/civil/torts/const/reca/index.htm.
E-mail: [mailto:leed@dgsys.com] leed@dgsys.com
(c) 2004 Deseret News Publishing Company
*****************************************************************
37 Experts Say New Desktop Fusion Claims Seem More Credible
Date: Fri, 5 Mar 2004 01:33:15 -0500
http://www.nytimes.com
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/03/science/03FUSI.html
Experts Say New Desktop Fusion Claims Seem More
Credible
By KENNETH CHANG
Published: March 3, 2004
cientists are again claiming they have made a Sun
in a jar, offering perhaps a revolutionary energy
source, and this time even some skeptics find the
evidence intriguing enough to call for a closer
look.
Using ultrasonic vibrations to shake a jar of
liquid solvent the size of a large drink cup, the
scientists say, they squeezed tiny gas bubbles in
the liquid so quickly and violently that
temperatures reached millions of degrees and some
of the hydrogen atoms in the solvent molecules
fused, producing a flash of light and energy.
Advertisement
"It can do some interesting science stuff as is,"
said Dr. Richard T. Lahey, a professor of
engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
and an author of a paper describing the findings
that will appear in the journal Physical Review E.
"Our interests are to see if we can't scale it up
to something more exciting," he said.
The experiment could conceivably shrink the
science of fusion - slamming hydrogen atoms
together, producing heat and light - from giant,
expensive reactors to the tabletop.
When this team of researchers made the same claim
in an article in the journal Science two years
ago, many scientists reacted with skepticism, even
ridicule. But new experiments, using better
detectors, offer more convincing data that the
phenomenon is real.
"We've addressed all the issues and now they all
speak for themselves with far greater intensity
than they did before," said Dr. Rusi P.
Taleyarkhan, the scientist who conducted the
experiments at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in
Tennessee and is a professor of nuclear
engineering at Purdue University.
Skepticism remains, but Dr. Lawrence A. Crum, a
professor of electrical engineering at the
University of Washington who was highly critical
of the Science paper, said the new work was "much
better" and deserved attention to determine
whether the effect could be reproduced.
"It's getting to the point where you can't ignore
it," Dr. Crum said.
For decades, physicists have dreamed of harnessing
the ferocious alchemy of the Sun as a clean,
limitless energy source. Most experiments have
been conducted in giant, expensive reactors using
magnetic fields to confine the ultrahot gases.
In contrast, the new experiment, which cost less
than $1 million, uses the power of sound to create
energy comparable to the inside of stars.
To many scientists, however, the phenomenon,
nicknamed sonofusion, bears uncomfortable
similarities to "cold fusion," which has now been
discredited.
Sonofusion has already achieved more scientific
respectability than cold fusion ever did, with two
articles published in major journals.
And unlike cold fusion, sonofusion is based on
known science. Scientists have long observed a
phenomenon known as sonoluminescence, in which a
burst of ultrasound causes a bubble in a liquid to
collapse and emit a flash of light; some have
speculated that the gases trapped in the
collapsing bubbles could be heated to temperatures
hot enough for fusion to occur.
Still, controversy enveloped the Science paper two
years ago. The new research by Dr. Taleyarkhan and
Dr. Lahey provides a much clearer picture of
neutrons that are ejected when fusion occurs.
Many scientists like Dr. Glenn Young, head of the
physics division at Oak Ridge, said the experiment
was solid, but still incomplete.
"Neutrons are slippery little rascals," he said.
"They can fool you. They can bounce and show up
around corners you don't expect."
*****************************************************************
38 Google News Alert - nuclear
Date: Thu, 04 Mar 2004 12:36:33 -0800 (PST)
MARCH 8 Event DC on Moral Reasons for Nuclear Disarmament
Worldwide Faith News (press release) - USA
Media Advisory for Monday, March 8, 2004 - 11:15 News Conference, Washington,
DC, on Moral Reasons for Nuclear Disarmament Religious, Scientific, Medical
...
BRITAIN Praises Pakistan's Crackdown on Nuclear Proliferation
Voice of America - Washington,DC,USA
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw is praising Pakistan for its crackdown
on nuclear proliferation. His statement, made on a visit ...
See all stories on this topic:
INDIA interested in joint nuclear power projects with Russia
ITAR-TASS - Moscow,Russia
... during the visit to India "an interesting an useful exchange of views
took place regarding the development of bilateral cooperation in the field
of nuclear ...
See all stories on this topic:
IRAN gained nuclear know-how through free market: Raza
Daily Balochistan Express - Quetta,Pakistan
ISLAMABAD: Denying acquisition of nuclear technology from Pakistan visiting
Iranian First Vice President, Dr Raza Aaref Thursday said that Iran acquired
...
See all stories on this topic:
TOP US official: Iran hiding nuclear weapons program
Ha'aretz - Israel
LISBON - A top US official accused Iran on Thursday of concealing a nuclear
weapons program, and said international pressure must be kept up to make
Tehran ...
See all stories on this topic:
PAKISTAN denies nuclear help offered to Nigeria
ABC Online - Australia
Pakistan has rejected claims by Nigeria that its armed forces chief offered
to help the African state acquire nuclear power. A military ...
See all stories on this topic:
JID specialist reviews Israel's nuclear deterrent
Jane's (subscription) - UK
The proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in the Middle East
has been driven by Israel's possession of nuclear weapons. ...
VOICES: Nuclear fallout
Toronto Star - Toronto,Ontario,Canada
Pickering council has decided not to put up nuclear warning sirens, saying
they will hurt property values. We asked whether you ...
STRAW talks nuclear proliferation, terrorism with Musharraf
Khaleej Times - Dubai,United Arab Emirates
ISLAMABAD - British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw held talks with Pakistani
President Pervez Musharraf here on Thursday on nuclear proliferation and
the war on ...
See all stories on this topic:
'NK Has Right to Nuclear Development'
Korea Times - Seoul,South Korea
The international community should show more flexibility toward North Korea's
peaceful nuclear program, Russian Ambassador to Seoul Teymuraz O. Ramishvili
said ...
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/
*****************************************************************
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:
*****************************************************************