***************************************************************** 03/29/04 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 12.76 ***************************************************************** 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 [EMMAS] More fabricated propaganda about Iraq 2 Iraqi WMD defector was 'out-and-out fabricator' 3 NYT: Frank Rich: Operation Iraqi Infoganda 4 UK Independent: 'out-and-out fabricator' 5 Las Vegas SUN: Iran Says It Stopped Building Centrifuges 6 AU ABC: SKorea, China to push for third round of NKorea nuclear talk 7 BBC: Nuclear attack? Wear stout shoes 8 US: Independent Record: Officials mobilize to protect Malmstrom AFB 9 Pakistan News: No nuke inspection request received - Pak 10 CJAD 800: Russia says its new weapon will make U.S. missile defence 11 Hi Pakistan: Musharraf not involved in N-leaks - Rumsfeld 12 Scotsman: Nato's 'Unfriendly' Expansion Worries Russia 13 Mos News: Soviet Nuclear Briefcases Not a Myth — Expert - 14 Scotsman: Cold War nuclear scientists warm to Scotland 15 ic Wales: Welsh N-sites could get concrete curtains against terroris NUCLEAR REACTORS 16 US: projo.com: NRC says no on extra Vermont Yankee review 17 US: observer-reporter: Three Mile Island scare nothing to joke about 18 US: Times Record: Maine Yankee agrees to Sheepscot River study 19 KRT Wire: Fukui, Japan, Approves Stalled Program to Create New Nucle 20 KRT Wire: Niigata, Japan, Nuclear-Power Plant Soon to Return to Full 21 AJC: Ukrainian Nuclear Reactor Is Shut Down 22 NZCity: Nuclear power a no-goer 23 US: NBCSandiego.com: Guard Shoots Self At Nuclear Plant 24 US: NRC: Notice of Availability of Environmental Assessment and Find 25 US: NRC: Advisory Committee on the Medical Uses of Isotopes: Meeting 26 US: NRC: NRC to Meet with Detroit Edison Company to Discuss Performa 27 US: Oak Ridger: Three Mile Island anniversary: Nuclear research stro 28 US: Oak Ridger: Former DOE public info officer talks about Three Mil 29 US: Disaster News Network: Panel shares TMI lessons 30 US: NRC: NRC Seeks Public Input on Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant Licens 31 US: Columbus Telegram: Former NPPD official remembers Three Mile Isl 32 Reuters: Japan's TEPCO restarts ninth nuclear power reactor 33 National Post: Computer glitch forces shutdown of Canadian-designed 34 US: NRC: NRC Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards to Meet April NUCLEAR SAFETY 35 PRAVDA.Ru Scandal in Ukraine: hundreds of missiles disappeared. - 36 US: Salt Lake Tribune: New clinic screens for N-linked cancers 37 US: Seattle Times: Audit: Nuclear-plant injuries aren't tallied 38 US: Las Vegas SUN: Two reports say underground water at Test Site 39 US: Albuquerque Tribune: Standing watch on radiation 40 Mos News: Police Find 40 Abandoned Missiles in Georgia - 41 Mos News: Old and Dangerous: Russian Nukes in the Arctic - 42 AU ABC: Ranger workers wary of radiation tests - union. NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE 43 US: The Australian: Uranium mine still off limits after leak 44 US: Salt Lake Tribune: Shame on NAC 45 US: Star Telegram: Whose water? 46 KRT Wire: Kansai Electric Power Co. to Pick French Firm for MOX Fuel 47 UK Independent: UK told to clean up nuclear waste 48 NRC: NRC Approves Restart of First Stage in Uranium Hexaflouride Pro NUCLEAR WEAPONS US DEPT. OF ENERGY 49 DOE: Office of Environmental Management; Environmental Management 50 DOE: Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board, Oak Ridg 51 DOE: Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board, Paducah 52 DOE: Aluminum Visions of the Future Funding Opportunity Announcement 53 Post-Intelligencer: Sick DOE workers' claims languish 54 lamonitor.com: Former secretary of the Air Force to speak at Bradbur 55 U.S. Newswire: Secretary Abraham and Energy Officials to Testify 56 Times-News: Post-trial documents filed in INEEL cleanup lawsuit 57 Hawk Eye: New DOE rules could speed up claims 58 Oak Ridger: Report: Weapons plants threat to environment 59 amarillo globe: Pantex weighs worker training 60 lamonitor.com: DOE backs school funding plan 61 Fort Madison Daily Democrat: New rules should speed IAAP payments 62 Idaho Statesman: Final documents filed in Lockheed Martin case OTHER NUCLEAR 63 Google News Alert - nuclear 64 [Fwd: [du-list] DU in the news 30th March '04] ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** FULL NEWS STORIES ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** 1 [EMMAS] More fabricated propaganda about Iraq Date: Mon, 29 Mar 2004 22:15:13 -0600 (CST) Date: Mon, 29 Mar 2004 17:51:31 -1000 From: viviane Reply-To: viviane Subject: More fabricated propaganda about Iraq http://informationclearinghouse.info/article5996.htm Iraqi defector behind America's WMD claims exposed as 'out-and-out fabricator' By Andrew Gumbel in Los Angeles 29 March 2004 "The Independent" -- The case for war against Iraq was dealt another embarrassing blow yesterday due to claims by an American newspaper that the first-hand intelligence source on Saddam Hussein's alleged mobile bioweapons labs was a politically motivated Iraqi defector now dismissed as an "out-and-out fabricator". The mobile labs, since exposed by weapons inspectors as hydrogen production facilities at best and phantoms at worst, were one of the centre pieces of the US Secretary of State Colin Powell's prewar address to the United Nations. As recently as January, Vice President Dick Cheney maintained that discovery of the labs would provide "conclusive" proof that Iraq possessed WMD. A detailed investigation in the Los Angeles Times revealed that the source claiming to have seen mobile bioweapons labs was the brother of one of the senior aides to Ahmed Chalabi, the leader of the Iraqi National Congress, who recently boasted how the erroneous information provided by his group achieved his long-cherished goal of toppling Saddam. The source, given the unintentionally appropriate code name Curveball, was an asset of German intelligence and was never directly interviewed by US officials. The Pentagon and the Central Intelligence Agency do not even know exactly who he is, the LA Times reported. David Kay, the postwar weapons inspector whose declaration in January that Iraq had no WMD initiated a series of hammer-blows to the credibility of the Bush administration and the British government, described Mr Powell's use of Curveball's information before the UN as "disingenuous". He told the LA Times: "If Powell had said to the Security Council: 'It's one source, we never actually talked to him, and we don't know his name', I think people would have laughed us out of court." Mr Powell told the world on 5 February last year the administration had "firsthand descriptions of biological weapons factories on wheels and on rails" capable of producing enough anthrax or botulinum toxin to kill "thousands upon thousands of people". He showed "highly detailed and extremely accurate" diagrams of how the trucks were configured. Revealingly, he could only produce artist renditions, not actual blueprints or photographs. Since the Powell speech, Curveball's reliability has been destroyed. The German foreign intelligence service, the BND, later warned the CIA that it had "various problems with the source". Curveball also lied about his academic credentials and omitted to tell his interlocutors he had been fired as a chemical engineer for the Iraqi army and jailed for embezzlement before fleeing Iraq in the late 1990s. The possible existence of mobile labs was touted as a theory by UN weapons inspectors frustrated in 1992 at their failure to find evidence of chemical and biological weapons programmes. (Saddam's son-in-law, Hussein Kamal, later defected and said they had been destroyed in 1991.) The UN inspectors approached Mr Chalabi for help in establishing the existence of the mobile labs in late 1997. Scott Ritter, one of the inspectors, told the LA Times: "We got hand-drawn maps, handwritten statements and other stuff. It looked good. But nothing panned out. Most of it just regurgitated what we'd given them. And the data that was new never checked out." Evidence, much of it tentative, trickled in throughout the 1990s that Saddam may have built mobile labs to conceal his weapons programmes. In 1994 Israeli military intelligence indicated that poisons were being made in red and white ice cream trucks and in green moving vans labelled "Sajida Transport" after Saddam's wife. UN inspectors later concluded this information was bogus. The role of Israeli intelligence in the case for war was the subject of a parliamentary report released in Jerusalem yesterday. An eight-month inquiry resisted the notion that Iraq's weapons of mass destruction did not exist, but lambasted the intelligence agencies for exaggerating Iraqi capabilities, particularly before the war. Yuval Steinitz, the parliamentarian who led the inquiry, said: "Why didn't we succeed in laying down a broad and deep framework so we could rely on reports and not speculation? That is the central question." Much the same has been said in the US by veteran intelligence professionals appalled by their government's manipulation of information and Mr Powell's UN speech. Mr Powell is likely to come under the closest scrutiny because he was the member of the Bush administration most trusted internationally and because his presentation seemed so convincing. In addition to the mobile labs, Mr Powell showed slides of what he said were chemical munitions facilities surrounded by "decontamination vehicles". The "chemical munitions" works were later identified by Mr Ritter and others as a site well-known to UN inspectors. The vehicles were later shown to have been fire engines. Mr Powell also showed surveillance footage of an Iraq plane dropping simulated anthrax in what he said was a military exercise. It later emerged the plane was destroyed in 1991. ========= *** NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.*** ################################################################# " Social and economic well-being will become a reality only through the zeal, courage, the non-compromising determination of intelligent minorities, and not through the mass." Emma Goldman To SUBSCRIBE/UNSUBSCRIBE to the emmasdance list send email to with the message subscribe/unsubscribe emmasdance. [No subject is needed.] "If I can not dance, I want no part in your revolution." Emma Goldman ################################################################# ***************************************************************** 2 Iraqi WMD defector was 'out-and-out fabricator' Date: Mon, 29 Mar 2004 21:51:26 -0600 (CST) 29 March 2004 The Independent (UK) Iraqi defector behind America's WMD claims exposed as 'out-and-out fabricator' By Andrew Gumbel in Los Angeles The case for war against Iraq was dealt another embarrassing blow yesterday due to claims by an American newspaper that the first-hand intelligence source on Saddam Hussein's alleged mobile bioweapons labs was a politically motivated Iraqi defector now dismissed as an "out-and-out fabricator". The mobile labs, since exposed by weapons inspectors as hydrogen production facilities at best and phantoms at worst, were one of the centrepieces of the US Secretary of State Colin Powell's prewar address to the United Nations. As recently as January, Vice President Dick Cheney maintained that discovery of the labs would provide "conclusive" proof that Iraq possessed WMD. A detailed investigation in the Los Angeles Timesrevealed that the source claiming to have seen mobile bioweapons labs was the brother of one of the senior aides to Ahmed Chalabi, the leader of the Iraqi National Congress, who recently boasted how the erroneous information provided by his group achieved his long-cherished goal of toppling Saddam. The source, given the unintentionally appropriate code name Curveball, was an asset of German intelligence and was never directly interviewed by US officials. The Pentagon and the Central Intelligence Agency do not even know exactly who he is, the LA Times reported. David Kay, the postwar weapons inspector whose declaration in January that Iraq had no WMD initiated a series of hammer-blows to the credibility of the Bush administration and the British government, described Mr Powell's use of Curveball's information before the UN as "disingenuous". He told the LA Times: "If Powell had said to the Security Council: 'It's one source, we never actually talked to him, and we don't know his name', I think people would have laughed us out of court." Mr Powell told the world on 5 February last year the administration had "firsthand descriptions of biological weapons factories on wheels and on rails" capable of producing enough anthrax or botulinum toxin to kill "thousands upon thousands of people". He showed "highly detailed and extremely accurate" diagrams of how the trucks were configured. Revealingly, he could only produce artist renditions, not actual blueprints or photographs. Since the Powell speech, Curveball's reliability has been destroyed. The German foreign intelligence service, the BND, later warned the CIA that it had "various problems with the source". Curveball also lied about his academic credentials and omitted to tell his interlocutors he had been fired as a chemical engineer for the Iraqi army and jailed for embezzlement before fleeing Iraq in the late 1990s. The possible existence of mobile labs was touted as a theory by UN weapons inspectors frustrated in 1992 at their failure to find evidence of chemical and biological weapons programmes. (Saddam's son-in-law, Hussein Kamal, later defected and said they had been destroyed in 1991.) The UN inspectors approached Mr Chalabi for help in establishing the existence of the mobile labs in late 1997. Scott Ritter, one of the inspectors, told the LA Times: "We got hand-drawn maps, handwritten statements and other stuff. It looked good. But nothing panned out. Most of it just regurgitated what we'd given them. And the data that was new never checked out." Evidence, much of it tentative, trickled in throughout the 1990s that Saddam may have built mobile labs to conceal his weapons programmes. In 1994 Israeli military intelligence indicated that poisons were being made in red and white ice cream trucks and in green moving vans labelled "Sajida Transport" after Saddam's wife. UN inspectors later concluded this information was bogus. The role of Israeli intelligence in the case for war was the subject of a parliamentary report released in Jerusalem yesterday. An eight-month inquiry resisted the notion that Iraq's weapons of mass destruction did not exist, but lambasted the intelligence agencies for exaggerating Iraqi capabilities, particularly before the war. Yuval Steinitz, the parliamentarian who led the inquiry, said: "Why didn't we succeed in laying down a broad and deep framework so we could rely on reports and not speculation? That is the central question." Much the same has been said in the US by veteran intelligence professionals appalled by their government's manipulation of information and Mr Powell's UN speech. Mr Powell is likely to come under the closest scrutiny because he was the member of the Bush administration most trusted internationally and because his presentation seemed so convincing. In addition to the mobile labs, Mr Powell showed slides of what he said were chemical munitions facilities surrounded by "decontamination vehicles". The "chemical munitions" works were later identified by Mr Ritter and others as a site well-known to UN inspectors. The vehicles were later shown to have been fire engines. Mr Powell also showed surveillance footage of an Iraq plane dropping simulated anthrax in what he said was a military exercise. It later emerged the plane was destroyed in 1991 ***************************************************************** 3 NYT: Frank Rich: Operation Iraqi Infoganda Published: March 28, 2004 [R] eal journalism may be reeling, but faux journalism rocks. As an entertainment category in the cultural marketplace, it may soon rival reality TV and porn. Television is increasingly awash in fake anchors delivering fake news, some of them far more trenchant than real anchors delivering real news. Even CNBC, a financial news network, is chasing after the success of Jon Stewart; its new nightly fake newscast, presided over by a formerly funny "Saturday Night Live" fake anchor, Dennis Miller, is being promoted with far more zeal than was ever lavished on CNBC's real "News With Brian Williams." Turn on real news shows like "Dateline NBC" and "Larry King Live," meanwhile, and you're all too likely to find Jayson Blair, the lying former reporter of The New York Times, continuing to play a reporter on TV as he fabricates earnest blather about his concern for journalistic standards. Elsewhere on the dial you'll learn that a fake news show ("The Daily Show") has been in a booking war with a real news show ("Hardball") over who would first be able to interview the real (I think) Desmond Tutu. At such absurd moments, and they are countless these days in our 24/7 information miasma, real journalism and its evil twin merge into a mind-bending mutant that would defy a polygraph's ability to sort out the lies from the truth. This phenomenon has been good news for the Bush administration, which has responded to the growing national appetite for fictionalized news by producing a steady supply of its own. Of late it has gone so far as to field its own pair of Jayson Blairs, hired at taxpayers' expense: Karen Ryan and Alberto Garcia, the "reporters" who appeared in TV "news" videos distributed by the Department of Health and Human Services to local news shows around the country. The point of these spots — which were broadcast whole or in part as actual news by more than 50 stations in 40 states — was to hype the new Medicare prescription-drug benefit as an unalloyed Godsend to elderly voters. They are part of a year-plus p.r. campaign, which, with its $124 million budget, would dwarf in size most actual news organizations. When one real reporter, Robert Pear of The Times, blew the whistle on these TV "news" stories this month, a government spokesman defended them with pure Orwell-speak: "Anyone who has questions about this practice needs to do some research on modern public information tools." The government also informed us that Ms. Ryan was no impostor but an actual "freelance journalist." The Columbia Journalism Review, investigating further, found that Ms. Ryan's past assignments included serving as a TV shill for pharmaceutical companies in infomercials plugging FluMist and Excedrin. Given that drug companies may also be the principal beneficiaries of the new Medicare law, she is nothing if not consistent in her journalistic patrons. But she is a freelance reporter only in the sense that Mike Ditka would qualify as one when appearing in Levitra ads. As for the mystery of Alberto Garcia's journalistic bonafides, it remains at this writing unresolved. His reporting career has not left a trace on any data bank. Perhaps he is the creation of Stephen Glass, the serial fantasist who once ruled the pages of The New Republic. Back at Comedy Central, Jon Stewart was ambivalent about the government's foray into his own specialty, musing aloud about whether he should be outraged or flattered. One of his faux correspondents, though, was outright faux despondent. "They created a whole new category of fake news — infoganda," Rob Corddry said. "We'll never be able to keep up!" But Mr. Corddry's joke is not really a joke. The more real journalism declines, the easier it is for such government infoganda to fill the vacuum. George W. Bush tries to facilitate this process by shutting out the real news media as much as possible. By the start of this year, he had held only 11 solo press conferences, as opposed to his father's count of 71 by the same point in his presidency. (Even the criminally secretive Richard Nixon had held 23.) Mr. Bush has declared that he rarely reads newspapers and that he prefers to "go over the heads of the filter" — as he calls the news media — and "speak directly to the people." To this end, he gave a series of interviews to regional broadcasters last fall — a holding action, no doubt, until Karen Ryan and Alberto Garcia could be hired to fill that role. When the president made a rare exception last month and took questions from an actual front-line journalist, NBC's Tim Russert, his performance was so maladroit that the experiment is unlikely to be repeated anytime too soon. Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company ***************************************************************** 4 UK Independent: 'out-and-out fabricator' By Andrew Gumbel in Los Angeles 29 March 2004 The case for war against Iraq was dealt another embarrassing blow yesterday due to claims by an American newspaper that the first-hand intelligence source on Saddam Hussein's alleged mobile bioweapons labs was a politically motivated Iraqi defector now dismissed as an "out-and-out fabricator". The mobile labs, since exposed by weapons inspectors as hydrogen production facilities at best and phantoms at worst, were one of the centrepieces of the US Secretary of State Colin Powell's prewar address to the United Nations. As recently as January, Vice President Dick Cheney maintained that discovery of the labs would provide "conclusive" proof that Iraq possessed WMD. A detailed investigation in the Los Angeles Timesrevealed that the source claiming to have seen mobile bioweapons labs was the brother of one of the senior aides to Ahmed Chalabi, the leader of the Iraqi National Congress, who recently boasted how the erroneous information provided by his group achieved his long-cherished goal of toppling Saddam. The source, given the unintentionally appropriate code name Curveball, was an asset of German intelligence and was never directly interviewed by US officials. The Pentagon and the Central Intelligence Agency do not even know exactly who he is, the LA Times reported. David Kay, the postwar weapons inspector whose declaration in January that Iraq had no WMD initiated a series of hammer-blows to the credibility of the Bush administration and the British government, described Mr Powell's use of Curveball's information before the UN as "disingenuous". He told the LA Times: "If Powell had said to the Security Council: 'It's one source, we never actually talked to him, and we don't know his name', I think people would have laughed us out of court." Mr Powell told the world on 5 February last year the administration had "firsthand descriptions of biological weapons factories on wheels and on rails" capable of producing enough anthrax or botulinum toxin to kill "thousands upon thousands of people". He showed "highly detailed and extremely accurate" diagrams of how the trucks were configured. Revealingly, he could only produce artist renditions, not actual blueprints or photographs. Since the Powell speech, Curveball's reliability has been destroyed. The German foreign intelligence service, the BND, later warned the CIA that it had "various problems with the source". Curveball also lied about his academic credentials and omitted to tell his interlocutors he had been fired as a chemical engineer for the Iraqi army and jailed for embezzlement before fleeing Iraq in the late 1990s. The possible existence of mobile labs was touted as a theory by UN weapons inspectors frustrated in 1992 at their failure to find evidence of chemical and biological weapons programmes. (Saddam's son-in-law, Hussein Kamal, later defected and said they had been destroyed in 1991.) The UN inspectors approached Mr Chalabi for help in establishing the existence of the mobile labs in late 1997. Scott Ritter, one of the inspectors, told the LA Times: "We got hand-drawn maps, handwritten statements and other stuff. It looked good. But nothing panned out. Most of it just regurgitated what we'd given them. And the data that was new never checked out." Evidence, much of it tentative, trickled in throughout the 1990s that Saddam may have built mobile labs to conceal his weapons programmes. In 1994 Israeli military intelligence indicated that poisons were being made in red and white ice cream trucks and in green moving vans labelled "Sajida Transport" after Saddam's wife. UN inspectors later concluded this information was bogus. The role of Israeli intelligence in the case for war was the subject of a parliamentary report released in Jerusalem yesterday. An eight-month inquiry resisted the notion that Iraq's weapons of mass destruction did not exist, but lambasted the intelligence agencies for exaggerating Iraqi capabilities, particularly before the war. Yuval Steinitz, the parliamentarian who led the inquiry, said: "Why didn't we succeed in laying down a broad and deep framework so we could rely on reports and not speculation? That is the central question." Much the same has been said in the US by veteran intelligence professionals appalled by their government's manipulation of information and Mr Powell's UN speech. Mr Powell is likely to come under the closest scrutiny because he was the member of the Bush administration most trusted internationally and because his presentation seemed so convincing. In addition to the mobile labs, Mr Powell showed slides of what he said were chemical munitions facilities surrounded by "decontamination vehicles". The "chemical munitions" works were later identified by Mr Ritter and others as a site well-known to UN inspectors. The vehicles were later shown to have been fire engines. Mr Powell also showed surveillance footage of an Iraq plane dropping simulated anthrax in what he said was a military exercise. It later emerged the plane was destroyed in 1991. UK Independent Ltd. ***************************************************************** 5 Las Vegas SUN: Iran Says It Stopped Building Centrifuges By ALI AKBAR DAREINI ASSOCIATED PRESS TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran announced Monday it had stopped building centrifuges for uranium enrichment, a bid to allay suspicions about its nuclear intentions as U.N. inspectors visit the country. Iran was not expected to dispose of the centrifuges it already possesses, and inspectors have reported finding "hundreds" of the devices which is well below the number needed to build nuclear bombs. Gholamreza Aghazadeh, chief of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, said the Supreme National Security Council had ordered the suspension of centrifuge construction. Iran suspended uranium enrichment last year under strong international pressure over the aims and dimensions of its nuclear program. But it continued to build centrifuges, which are used in enrichment, despite criticism that activity violated the spirit of its pledge to cease enrichment. "The Islamic Republic of Iran has voluntarily expanded (the enrichment) suspension to include the production of components and assembly," state television quoted Aghazadeh as saying on its Web site. An official of the Atomic Energy Organization explained that this referred to centrifuges and said it had been done to build greater trust with the U.N. agency, the International Atomic Energy Organization, and with Iran's European partners. "Let the world know that Iran is doing this voluntarily to win greater trust in the world," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "Iran is taking this unilateral decision in the expectation that Iran's nuclear dossier will be taken off the IAEA's agenda," he added. The move was not a complete surprise. IAEA director Mohammed ElBaradei had told the agency's board of governors that Iran told his agency on Feb. 24 it would order the suspension of centrifuges assembly and testing by the first week of March. Monday's announcement, however, marks the first time Iran has officially said that it would stop building nuclear centrifuges, which the United States claims form part of Iran's bid to build nuclear weapons. Iran denies this. Washington has been pushing the IAEA to declare Iran in breach of its duties as a Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty signatory, which allows nuclear development only for peaceful purposes. Iran's announcement also came as IAEA experts inspected Iran's only declared uranium enrichment plant, located in the central Iranian city of Natanz, before later visiting a plant that processes uranium ore into gas in nearby Isfahan. Prominent U.S. nuclear analyst Jon Wolfsthal said Iran has had problems convincing the world that it's nuclear program is peaceful. "Iran is trying to regain the trust of the international community and has a big hole to climb out of," Wolfsthal, Associate Deputy Director for Non-Proliferation Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told the AP in an e-mail from Washington. "Taking concrete steps to freeze and hopefully end their uranium enrichment program will go a long way in helping them regain that trust," he said. But if Iran does not fulfill its commitments to open its nuclear sites for inspection or suspend uranium activities, Wolfsthal said this "will only give ammunition to those convinced Iran is seeking a nuclear weapons option." Aghazadeh, also an Iranian vice president, told state television Monday that the suspension of uranium enrichment won't apply to a nuclear plant in Isfahan, 155 miles south of Tehran, that processes uranium ore into gas, a step prior to uranium enrichment. He said the Isfahan facility will produce uranium hexofloride, metallic uranium and uranium oxide. Hexofloride is used for uranium enrichment. Earlier this month, the IAEA rebuked Iran for not disclosing certain aspects of its nuclear development. Last year IAEA inspectors found radioactive particles that had been enriched to weapons-grade level - higher than what Iran requires for fuel for a nuclear reactor. Iran said the particles had been found on contaminated imported equipment. ElBaradei, who is expected to visit Iran on April 6, says Iran has much to do before the IAEA can give its nuclear program a clean bill of health. He plans to present an assessment of Iran's nuclear activities to the IAEA board of governors in June. -- ***************************************************************** 6 AU ABC: SKorea, China to push for third round of NKorea nuclear talks South Korean Foreign Minister, Ban Ki-Moon, and his Chinese counterpart, Li Zhaoxing, have vowed to push for a third round of six-party talks on the North Korean nuclear issue. The Xinhua newsagency says during a visit to China by Mr Ban, the two ministers agreed to make concerted efforts to begin working group discussions for new six-country negotiations as soon as possible. The two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States have held two rounds of nuclear crisis talks in Beijing since last August. The second meeting last month failed to resolve differences over a key US demand for the complete dismantling of Pyongyang's nuclear programs, but did lead to a consensus that working groups should be set up. Chinese Foreign Minister Li visited North Korea last week with the nuclear issue on the agenda, and met with the country's leader, Kim Jong-Il. 29/03/2004 23:00:32 | ABC Radio Australia News abc.net.au ***************************************************************** 7 BBC: Nuclear attack? Wear stout shoes Last Updated: Monday, 29 March, 2004 By Sean Coughlan [hydrogen bomb poster] The public had to be informed without being "scared stupid" The question of how to cope if terrorists strike is one of today's worries. Forty years ago people were coming to terms with a different threat - a nuclear attack. So how did the authorities expect them to cope if the worst happened? "Stout shoes", whitewash and warm overcoats were to be the main line of defence against an atomic strike for Britain's civilian population during the Cold War. The advice on how to survive a nuclear winter was issued in 1963, after the Cuban Missile Crisis brought the threat of nuclear war closer than ever before. Civil defence plans had written off the chances of those living in the immediate vicinity of an attack. Instead, the advice focused on improving the chances of those who lived further away from the initial blasts. An information booklet, Advising the Householder on Protection Against Nuclear Attack, was published to tell people how they could survive atomic war. The leaflet forms the basis for an exhibition, Secret State, which opens next week at the National Archives in London. While its tone may seem naive from today's standpoint, it is at the same time reassuringly homely. 'Travelling rug' The precautions for leaving the house after an "H-bomb" sound more like advice for a chilly day in the Home Counties, rather than the beginning of a nuclear winter. People are reminded to take a "travelling rug" with them if they have to flee their homes - and drivers are asked to offer a lift to their neighbours. [Fall out ] Advice about the risks of nuclear war was issued in 1963 "If you have to go outside put on gumboots or stout shoes, a hat or headscarf, coat done up to the neck, and gloves," readers are advised. The preparations for an attack also emphasise how people could make their own homes safer, such as building an internal "fall-out room", sealed against radioactive dust. Householders are told to use the cupboard under the stairs as a "core shelter" and that whitewashing the windows would "greatly reduce the fire risk by reflecting away much of the heat". This advice was designed not to panic the public, giving the impression that nuclear weapons would not disrupt everyday life for long. Striking a reassuring tone, the guidance talks of storing enough tinned food for a fortnight. And this eerie image of post-nuclear normality is continued with a picture of a man in a cardigan cradling a cat - and the message "Do not forget your pets." There are no images of death, injury or treating radiation sickness - except a reminder to pack a first-aid kit with aspirin, bandages and a "four ounce packet of baking powder". Bunker staff But there were other official preparations under way which showed more starkly what was really expected. [Boots] People were told to put on "gumboots or stout shoes" The exhibition has documents showing what government departments really anticipated from war. While householders were being told to stock up on sensible clothing, the minister of housing and local government was making preparations for "disposal of the dead", mass homelessness, house demolition and maintaining the water supply. There is also a fascinating confidential letter which was to be given to civil servants assigned to work in underground bunkers during wartime. To be issued when a nuclear attack was imminent, it set out instructions for travelling to an undisclosed "headquarters" - probably one of the 12 seats of regional government from which the country would be run. "You are one of a number of officers who have been selected for duty at an important wartime headquarters. So far as anyone can say at the moment, you may be there for about one month." Staff were to be told to go straight home, collect a few personal belongings and to "make whatever financial arrangements you find necessary". Presumably this meant signing a will and saying goodbye. Underground headquarters They were then to be ordered to return immediately to receive directions to the "headquarters". The location and purpose of their work was to be kept secret, with communication with their families to be by post. [Windows] Whitewashing windows was a protection against "heat flash" Even though this letter would have been issued in the most extreme of circumstances, it still has a bureaucratic obsession with detail, explaining how pay would be arranged and who to contact about getting an advance ("not in excess of Ł5 in any one week"). It also advised that "facilities for entertainment or recreation at the headquarters will be limited" and that people travelling to the secret "headquarters" should bring a packed lunch. Stephen Twigge, head of research at the National Archives, says the documents reveal the mixed attitudes towards preparing for the threat of war. Government hideaway The authorities wanted to give the public useful advice - but "without scaring them stupid". [Explosion] Officials had private forecasts of 12m deaths if Britain was attacked There were also those within government who thought it was a waste of time planning for what would be complete devastation. Mr Twigge says there were confidential forecasts that 12 million would die in the initial attacks, with many more to follow. And as such, the Treasury argued that civil defence booklets were a waste of money on what could only be a "cosmetic" exercise. Another unknown factor for planners, he says, was how many of the 5,000 to 6,000 staff selected for working in the bunkers would really have left their families and gone underground. The exhibition has documents showing references to the proposed wartime seat of government, believed to be in a former underground factory in the west country. Looking at parallels with contemporary terror fears, he says it has been a constant dilemma for governments to find ways to advise the public about threats, without panicking them by showing how vulnerable they are to disaster. The Secret State exhibition runs from 2 April to 14 August at The National Archives in Kew. ***************************************************************** 8 Independent Record: Officials mobilize to protect Malmstrom AFB By The Associated Press - 3/29/04 GREAT FALLS (AP) — Renewed talk of possibly closing more military bases has galvanized some officials here to begin strengthening Malmstrom Air Force Base and its reasons for continuing to exist. They are planning to raise $300,000 to $500,000 to help lure new missions for Malmstrom and the Montana Air National Guard in Great Falls. ‘‘We are going to try to identify potential investors and shake the tree and see what's out there,'' Great Falls Mayor Randy Gray said. ‘‘It's not going to be limited to Great Falls, or Montana, for that matter.'' Other communities and even state governments are raising money for such efforts. The Arizona governor is asking for $1 million for base preservation efforts, and the governor of Washington is seeking $500,000. Local officials say Malmstrom contributes more than $250 million a year to the area economy. Its 4,300 military and civilian employees make it the largest employer in north-central Montana. The Montana Air National Guard adds about 1,000 full- and part-time employees. Malmstrom is the operations center for the largest nuclear missile field in the United States, while MANG is home to a detachment of F-16 warplanes. The first to be asked for money will be area contractors, car dealers, real estate agencies, financial institutions, hospitals, clinics and others that do business directly with local military installations and personnel. The appeal will be extended to surrounding counties that are home to missile sites. ‘‘They are going to get contacted and asked to contribute,'' said Warren Wenz, a local attorney active in the Committee of 80, a military lobbying group associated with the Great Falls Area Chamber of Commerce. Malmstrom's missiles emerged unscathed from the 1995 Base Realignment and Closure process, but the base lost a wing of KC-135 refueling tankers and 740 military personnel to a Florida base. Malmstrom was named as a possible target for closure in the March 12 issue of the Kiplinger Letter. ‘‘It's just wild speculation, and that's all that is,'' said J.P. Donovan, a spokesman for Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont. Donovan said he spoke to the author of the short Kiplinger piece, who said he had heard many base names tossed around. ‘‘Apparently there are several rumor lists that are making the rounds at this point.'' A report that Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld submitted to Congress last week found a clear need for military base closings, but it offered few specifics on how many or what type of bases might be most at risk. Copyright © Helena Independent Record; a division of Lee Enterprises Copyright © 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or ***************************************************************** 9 Pakistan News: No nuke inspection request received - Pak PakTribune.Com Safar 8, 1425 Hijri March 30, 2004 ISLAMABAD, March 30 (Online): Pakistan Monday said that International Nuclear Energy Agency (IAEA) had not made any request to inspect its nuclear installments. “Pakistan would not allow the inspection of nuclear installments as it keeps the status of non-NPT country”, said Foreign Office spokesman Masood Khan here at a weekly press briefing here. He reiterated government stance that no top army official was involved in nuclear proliferation. “The investigations proved that only a single Army officer was involved in this scam who has been put behind the bars but Army as an institution was not involved in this scam”, said Masood categorically. However, he said Pakistan was cooperating with IAEA and would continue doing so. On the recent Pak military operation in tribal areas he said that foreign militants were present in the region, who took sanctuary in various parts of the tribal areas, somewhere as guests and somewhere by force. He said that government was trying to streamline the tribal areas and various uplift schemes had been launched to achieve this goal. Welcoming the waiver of sanctions on Pak exports by US he said the bilateral relations between Pakistan and US would be further strengthened. He hoped that with the grant of non-Nato ally status to Pakistan by US would help in strengthening Pak-US military ties. He said that US has waived coup-related sanctions on Pakistan as it (US) was satisfied on prevailing democratic system in Pakistan. Once again rejecting the al-Qaeda no.2 Al-Zawahri’s statement in which he urged military coup in Pakistan to oust president Musharraf from power, he said that Pakistan would not deter from its commitment on war against terrorism by such threats. “War against terror is the hallmark of Pakistan’s national policy”, Masood declared. He said that Pakistan is wooing its friendly states to get the membership of ASEAN forum and as a part of this campaign Secretary Foreign Affairs have left for a four-country tour. He told the press briefing that Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri is due to leave for Germany on March 31, where he would attend an international moot on reconstruction of Afghanistan. To a question he said that PPPP delegation was visiting India on its own and government did not motivate the PPPP leaders to tour India. [http://www.paktribune.com Pakistan News Service © PakTribune.com Pvt Ltd 2003-2004 ***************************************************************** 10 CJAD 800: Russia says its new weapon will make U.S. missile defence useless Monday, Mar 29 MOSCOW (AP) - Russia has designed a "revolutionary" weapon that would make the prospective American missile defence useless, Russian news agencies reported Monday, quoting a senior Defence Ministry official. The official, who was not identified by name, said tests conducted during last month's military manoeuvres would dramatically change the philosophy behind development of Russia's nuclear forces, the Interfax and ITAR-Tass news agencies reported. If deployed, the new weapon would take the value of any U.S. missile shield to "zero," the news agencies quoted the official as saying. The official said the new weapon would be inexpensive, providing an "asymmetric answer" to U.S. missile defences, which are proving extremely costly to develope. Russia, meanwhile, also has continued research in prospective missile defences and has an edge in some areas compared to other countries, the official said. The statement reported Monday was in line with claims by President Vladimir Putin's that experiments performed during last month's manoeuvres proved that Russia could soon build strategic weapons that could puncture any missile-defence system. At the time, Col-Gen. Yuri Baluyevsky, the first deputy chief of the General Staff of the Russian armed forces, explained that the military tested a "hypersonic flying vehicle" that was able to manoeuvre between space and the earth's atmosphere. Military analysts said that the mysterious new weapons could be a manoeuvrable ballistic missile warhead or a hypersonic cruise missile. While Putin said the development of such new weapons wasn't aimed against the United States, most observers viewed the move as Moscow's retaliation to the U.S. missile defence plans. After years of vociferous protests, Russia reacted calmly when Washington withdrew from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in 2002 in order to develop of a countrywide missile shield. But U.S.-Russian relations have soured again lately, and Moscow has complained about Washington's plans to build new low-yield nuclear weapons. © The Canadian Press, 2004 ***************************************************************** 11 Hi Pakistan: Musharraf not involved in N-leaks - Rumsfeld March 30 2004 WASHINGTON: US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on Sunday that he had no reason to suspect President Pervez Musharraf of past involvement in an international nuclear black market but declined to rule out other possible high-level military complicity. "I do not believe that there’s any evidence or any suggestion that President Musharraf was involved," Rumsfeld said in an interview on the ABC programme "This Week." "I’m not going to say that," Rumsfeld replied when asked whether he was confident there had been no other "high-level military" involvement in Pakistan. "You can’t prove a negative," he added. "You can’t say that I know that every person connected with the Pakistani military over some sustained period of time had no knowledge or participation whatsoever. That’s silly. I couldn’t do that." Rumsfeld also defended the Bush administration’s focus on Iraq after taking power in January 2001, saying it was the only country in the world at the time where Americans were coming under attack. "When I came into office and the president came into office, the only place in the world that the Americans were being shot at was Iraq," Rumsfeld said in an interview with Fox television. "Our aircraft and our air crews were flying northern no-fly zones and southern no-fly zone watches, monitoring UN resolutions and almost on a weekly basis, our planes were being shot at," he said. "And the president was concerned about it, I was concerned about it," Rumsfeld said. "And we had spent a good deal of time talking about how would we respond in the event one of our planes were shot down and the crew was killed, or what would we do if the crew were captured. "And so, there was discussion of Iraq, and properly so, in my view," he said. Rumsfeld rejected charges in a new book by former White House counter-terrorism chief Richard Clarke that the administration of President George W Bush was obsessed with Iraq even after it was clear the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington had been carried out by al-Qaeda. Former treasury secretary Paul O’Neill made similar charges in a book released in January in which he said the Bush administration was looking for a reason to invade Iraq shortly after taking office. Rumsfeld also replied to the charges in an interview with ABC television. "I mean, if one looks at what was done, we went to Afghanistan, we didn’t go to Iraq," he said. "And it wasn’t an easy task. It was a highly successful effort. "And it did not destroy al-Qaeda, but it certainly took away their training haven, and it certainly destroyed the Taliban and eliminated them from running that country. "That’s what the president’s action was. It wasn’t Iraq, it was Afghanistan." Asked whether the president should emulate Clarke and apologise to the families of the victims for 9/11, Rumsfeld said: "I think the president has recognised the failure that existed and the concern he has for those people and the fact that the government, our government, was there and that attack took place. "I don’t know quite what else one would do," he told ABC. Copyright 1996-2002 . Hi Pakistan. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 12 Scotsman: Nato's 'Unfriendly' Expansion Worries Russia [http://www.scotsman.com/] Mon 29 Mar 2004 "PA" A senior Russian MP warned today of a growing rift between Nato and Moscow as the military alliance expands to include seven former Soviet-dominated nations. President George Bush was today to formally welcome the new members into the 55-year-old alliance, set up during the Cold War to shield the West from Soviet military might. While Russia’s relationship with Nato has improved in recent years and the former foes work together to combat threats such as terrorism, Moscow is wary about Nato’s creeping proximity. “Nato’s steps have had an unfriendly character toward Russia,” said Konstantin Kosachyov, head of the international affairs committee in Russia’s lower house of parliament. Of particular concern to Russia is the entrance into Nato of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. All are former Soviet republics which just 15 years ago were home to more than 100,000 Red Army soldiers, but today have eagerly turned West. Nato has agreed to include three Baltic states under its air defence shield, planning to enforce it by stationing four F-16 fighter planes in Lithuania. The planes will make regular flights near Russia’s border, close enough to conduct reconnaissance. “If significant Nato military bases appear near Russia’s borders and change the balance of forces in this region, then we can’t exclude that Russia will consider the possibility of taking corresponding action so that the balance is not breached,” Kosachyov said. Asked what those measures might encompass, he said boosting Russia’s own military deployments in north-west Russia – but he added this was a development no one wanted. A former Russian Air Force commander, General Anatoly Kornukov, suggested a harsher response: shooting down Nato planes. “If (a plane) violates the air space, shoot it down without ceremony and be done with it,” he said. “A warplane is a warplane ... after all, they are not flying for their own pleasure.” Nato has tried to reassure Russia that the expansion is not directed against Moscow. US Secretary of State Colin Powell said Russia should not view the bigger Nato as a threat, but as a partner. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said Russia is not threatened by the deployment of the four planes. But Russian concerns are still expected to dominate Friday’s planned Nato-Russia meeting in Brussels. Topping Russia’s list of demands is that the new Nato member states sign up to the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty, which regulates the deployment of warplanes, tanks and other heavy non-nuclear weapons. Kosachyov said that Nato gave Russia assurances that only ”essential, usual weapons” – not nuclear – will be placed on the territory of new members. “But what essential, usual weapons are, no one knows,” he said. Russia is also concerned about the European Union’s expansion eastward on Thursday to include 10 new nations. The EU and Russia have a Partnership and Cooperation Agreement but Moscow has balked at extending it to the new nations, fearing it would lose trade and travel rights. [http://www.scotsman.com/] | ***************************************************************** 13 Mos News: Soviet Nuclear Briefcases Not a Myth — Expert - MOSNEWS.COM Created: 29.03.2004 13:58 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 14:47 MSK Portable nuclear weapons really did exist in Russia’s armed forces, the former head of the Russian Strategic Forces, Colonel-General Victor Yesin, said in an interview published by the Newsru.com web site. But while the “nuclear briefcases", as they were known, are not a myth, there is no chance of them getting into the wrong hands, he said. According to the nuclear weapons expert, the devices were first created in the United States in 1964, where they were known as Special Atomic Demolition Munitions (SADM), weighed about 70 kilograms and numbered about 300. The Soviet Union created similar compact special purpose nuclear weapons, or “special mines", in 1967, but fewer than in the United States. As for the possibility of these weapons being stolen or falling into the wrong hands, Yesin said it is non-existant. “I am 100 percent certain that this is impossible,” he said in an interview given to a correspondent of the Yezhenedelny Zhurnal weekly. “Special mines were stored in a single depot in the Ministry of Defense. These weapons were stored in an arsenal that was on the territory of the Russian Federation. And special mines from this arsenal were never given out to troops. This has been determined by expertise.” General Alexander Lebed, the politician and presidential candidate who was killed in a helicopter crash in 2002, first sparked fears that the portable nuclear weapons could have gotten into the wrong hands in 1997. He claimed then that they numbered anywhere from 100 to 500, and even gave the serial number of a “nuclear briefcase” that had allegedly been lost. Later the Russian ecologist Alexei Yablokov said that about 700 compact nuclear mines existed in the Soviet Union, where they were developed for use exclusively by KGB agents. He gave this information before a U.S. Congressional committee. Meanwhile, Stanislav Lunev, a former agent for Russia’s Central Intelligence Directorate living in the United States since 1992, also testified before the U.S. Congress in 1998 that he had been given orders to plant these mines, which to him looked more like refrigerators than briefcases. Citing numerous examinations of arsenals where these special mines have been stored, Yesin denied in his interview that something like this was possible. However, he said that identical dummy heads could have sparked the controversy. “Plaster casts filled with sand that were identical to the special mines were used in training operations,” Yesin explained. “These casts may have been stolen after the collapse of the Soviet Union.” SEE ALSO Write us: info@mosnews.com [info@mosnews.com] Copyright © 2004 MOSNEWS.COM ***************************************************************** 14 Scotsman: Cold War nuclear scientists warm to Scotland [http://www.scotsman.com/] Tuesday, 30th March 2004 GETHIN CHAMBERLAIN RUSSIAN nuclear officials have turned to Scotland for help to keep weapons expertise out of the hands of rogue nations. With thousands of nuclear weapons scientists facing unemployment in the aftermath of the ending of the Cold War, the British government is keen to ensure that they are not tempted to tout their skills on the open market. Yesterday, a Russian delegation arrived in Rosyth as part of a week-long visit to Scotland to explore commercial alternatives based around the technical expertise of the nuclear scientists. Vladimir Starosotnikov, representing the Federal Agency for Atomic Energy, said they were keen to see how Rosyth had adapted to the loss of submarine work to England. "We have been facing problems since the beginning of the Nineties, when Russia was involved in the reduction of nuclear weapons," he said. Mr Starosotnikov, the deputy head of the Atomic Industry Conversion Department, said that with thousands of workers facing redundancy, programmes had been started to create new jobs within the civil sector. About 15,000 jobs had already been created, he said, but more were needed. "We are trying to do our best not to create a situation where people would want to leave the country," he said. "This visit contributes to some extent to improving the situation in Russia and avoiding those circumstances." The Defence Diversification Agency, which acts as a go-between with industry to exploit the Ministry of Defence’s technology, research and science resources, is also heavily involved in the visit. A spokeswoman, Antonia White, said the agency, set up in 1998 as an offshoot of the MoD, was keen to share its models for innovation with the Russians. "We are diverting them from other activities that the West might not like as much," she explained. "There is so much knowledge sitting there that could be used to turn round the Russian economy." Most of Russia’s nuclear weapons experts live in the Russian Federation’s ten closed nuclear cities, a legacy of the old soviet system. The cities were created to carry out the various stages of the design, manufacture and maintenance of nuclear weapons and were effectively sealed off from the outside world. The ten towns are home to a total of 770,000 inhabitants, of whom some 127,000 are employed in nuclear weapons-related activities. The DTI believes the Closed Nuclear Cities Partnership between the UK and the Russian Federation - under which this week’s visit is taking place - can limit the spread of weapons of mass destruction by tackling the threats inherent in the nuclear legacy of the former Soviet Union. In a statement it said: "Many of these are highly-skilled scientists and technicians, whose expertise could be extremely useful to states seeking to acquire the capacity to develop weapons of mass destruction. "In addition, these people are responsible for managing the production, storage and disposal of a massive inventory of sensitive nuclear materials, which could pose a threat to humanity if they fell into the wrong hands." The DTI said that one of the problems that had to be overcome was that, having worked for many decades for a single client in conditions of secrecy and isolation, the inhabitants and the institutions of the closed nuclear cities had been exposed to relatively little contact with commercial business practices. Yesterday’s programme for the delegation involved a presentation from Fife Council’s Economic Development Service about the Rosyth ferry project, and meetings with representatives from the BAE Systems &Defence Technology Centre. Although the visit is aimed at sharing information and business models, it is also expected to produce commercial opportunities which could lead to contracts with Scottish firms. [http://www.scotsman.com/] | ***************************************************************** 15 ic Wales: Welsh N-sites could get concrete curtains against terrorism [http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk] Mar 29 2004 The Western Mail REINFORCED concrete curtains could be built around nuclear waste storage facilities in Wales to protect against the possibility of terrorist attack. There are reports that the structures have already been agreed for Sellafield Nuclear Power Station, while similar screens may be introduced at other locations including the decommissioned site at Trawsfynydd and Wylfa Power Station, both in North Wales. According to reports, ministers were so alarmed at a "series of flaws" exposed by a anti-terror exercise last September that they ordered much of the drill to be repeated. To gauge how Britain would react to a terror attack it found that hospitals would be forced to close their doors if a biological weapons was used. It was discovered that panicking victims could overwhelm wards, passing infections to medical staff and other patients. In a leaked letter to Tony Blair from Sir Peter Gershon, a Whitehall adviser on government efficiency, plans to guard the UK's air and sea ports against a "dirty bomb" are being jeopardised by lack of money and, possibly, Home Office mismanagement. A spokeswoman for British Nuclear Fuels said, "All our security measures are confidential and they are reviewed by external bodies to keep security at a high level. We are ensuring that all our facilities are as safe as possible. "However, I cannot reveal what measures could be, are or have been put in place in Wales, or any other part of the UK, because they are confidential." Wylfa, on Anglesey, has been producing electricity since 1971, while the Trawsfynydd plant, in Snowdonia, stopped producing electricity in 1991 and its final closure announcement came in 1993. Copyright and Trade Mark Notice © owned by or licensed to Trinity Mirror Plc 2004 ***************************************************************** 16 projo.com: NRC says no on extra Vermont Yankee review | Providence, R.I. | AP's The Wire 03.29.2004 7:49 P.M. The Associated Press graf might be offensive to some readers; no pickup adgwarstf By DAVID GRAM Associated Press Writer MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) - The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Monday it will not perform the extra "independent engineering assessment" that the Vermont Public Service Board made a condition of its approval of a power increase at the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant. In letters sent to Vermont's two U.S. senators, the agency said Vermont Yankee's recent performance had been good and did not warrant any review beyond what the NRC normally does when nuclear plants seek to increase their power level. NRC reviews so far have produced more than 90 approvals for power increases at the nation's 104 commercial nuclear reactors - and no rejections, an agency spokeswoman said recently. William Travers, the NRC's executive director of operations, argued in his letters to the senators that the NRC's routine inspections are sufficient. "It is important to note that the NRC, as an integral part of its reactor oversight process, performs inspections of plants ... based on safety performance," Travers wrote. "Therefore, based on current plant performance the NRC will continue to perform its normal risk informed baseline inspection program at this time," he added. The impact of the NRC's decision was not clear. But in an order conditionally approving the power increase two weeks ago, the state board said its approval for the estimated $60 million in upgrades at Vermont Yankee was conditioned on the NRC ordering the extra level of review. "Prior to operating at increased generating capacity, the board finds it essential that the federal NRC conduct an independent engineering assessment of Vermont Yankee," the board said in its March 15 order. "This assessment is necessary to verify that Vermont Yankee will continue to operate reliably at the higher temperatures and flows following the (power boost)." Robert Williams, a spokesman for Entergy Nuclear, which owns Vermont Yankee, said the company thought it would be premature to comment. "It's between the regulators," he said. A spokesman for Gov. James Douglas said the governor was disappointed and hoped the NRC would change its mind and order the independent assessment. "It's the governor's view that the board's decision was fair and reasonable, and he will continue to support their decision," said Douglas spokesman Jason Gibbs. He said the governor had asked David O'Brien, commissioner of the Department of Public Service, to contact NRC officials on Tuesday to discuss the matter. Raymond Shadis of the nuclear watchdog group New England Coalition said Douglas needs to be aggressive in pushing the NRC on the issue. "It would be great if the governor would get off his ass and go to bat for the people of Vermont," Shadis said. Gibbs said that if the NRC continues to insist the extra review is not needed, Douglas would continue to support the power boost. "If the NRC through its established regulatory process determines that it's safe than the governor will support the uprate," he said. A spokeswoman for Sen. James Jeffords, Diane Derby, said the senator's office received the letter Monday afternoon and wanted to review it before commenting. Leahy's office released a statement in which the senator said, "The Vermont Public Service Board requested this, and the Vermont Senate made a similar request. I would urge the NRC to rethink their position and agree to the state's request." Whether an independent assessment was needed was a major issue in recent board hearings. The coalition had been pressing for the extra review, saying a similar "independent safety assessment" at the Maine Yankee nuclear plant in 1996 turned up so many problems that the owners decided to shut it down rather than try to fix it. Under federal law, safety issues at nuclear plants are the province of the NRC; the state board has jurisdiction over economic and environmental impacts of utility projects. Instead of an "independent safety assessment," the board called for an "independent engineering assessment," saying it wanted assurances about the plant's future reliability. The NRC said it didn't see the need for either. "The NRC has thrown the ball back into the board's court," Shadis said. © Belo Interactive Inc. ***************************************************************** 17 observer-reporter: Three Mile Island scare nothing to joke about [http://www.observer-reporter.com] Sunday, March 28, 2004 BY HARRY FUNK, Staff writer hfunk@observer-reporter.com [hfunk@observer-reporter.com] Mention you once lived near Three Mile Island, and you'll hear the wisecracks. "Oh, that explains it," they'll say. Or, "Do you glow in the dark?" But for residents of the Harrisburg area, what transpired 25 years ago today remains no laughing matter. We'd lived in the shadow of the Three Mile Island nuclear plant since its construction in the late 1960s, and the possibility of a disaster there seemed remote. Nothing like that had ever occurred; why start here? As children growing up within 10 miles of the plant, we'd joked about the aftermath of a calamity, conjecturing that people might develop telekinetic powers or grow to immense proportions. But those were cartoon-like images in our minds, nothing that actually could happen. Then came a film called "The China Syndrome," which hit the theaters March 16, 1979. It included this pronouncement by actor Donald Hotton on what might happen if the title situation came to pass: "The number of people killed would depend on which way the wind was blowing É render an area the size of Pennsylvania permanently uninhabitable, not to mention the cancer that would show up later." My brother and I escorted a pair of sisters to see "The China Syndrome" on a Tuesday night. Maybe six hours after we'd left the theater, at 36 seconds after 4 a.m. March 28, a mechanical failure in TMI-2, the plant's second unit, stopped the flow of water to a steam generator. Subsequent events would end all of our joking about Three Mile Island. The first news reports of the accident were broadcast on WKBO-AM, which was so close to where I lived that my friends and I occasionally would walk to the station and rap on the window, waving at the DJs. The whole world soon was watching Three Mile Island. Reports conflicted at times, but the message was clear: We might be in more serious trouble than we could ever have imagined. Personally, I took it all in stride. At 16, it never occurs to you that there might be no more tomorrows. Even as the news became increasingly pessimistic, even with the threat of my hometown or whole state being rendered uninhabitable, I had no doubt everything would turn out fine. Others took a different view, of course, as the week progressed. All Friday morning, apprehensive parents walked into our high school, then out again with their children in tow. No lessons were taught that day, as teachers and students awaited further word on what our fate might be. Finally, around noon - about the time Gov. Richard Thornburgh advised children and pregnant women to leave the area - school closed. I remember piling a few extra kids over capacity in our '74 Chevy as we scurried out of there and into the unknown. My parents had arrived home from work by then, and they ordered my brother and I to leave immediately for the relative safety of our grandparents' house, near Philadelphia. Weren't Mom and Dad coming with us? "Everything I have is here," my father told me. "I'll die with it." By the end of the weekend, we could breathe a lot easier, especially after President Carter visited the nuclear plant. We took that to mean all was as well as it ever was going to be. A quarter-century later, students learning about Three Mile Island might wonder what all the fuss was about. No one died or even, depending on whom you believe, got sick. The people of Chernobyl wish they could make such a claim. But the people of the Harrisburg area still get cold chills, thinking of what might have been, when they hear references to TMI. Even if they're meant as a joke. Copyright ©2004 Observer Publishing Co. [http://www.observer-reporter.com ***************************************************************** 18 Times Record: Maine Yankee agrees to Sheepscot River study 03/29/2004 Bob_Kalish@TimesRecord.Com [Bob_Kalish@TimesRecord.Com] WISCASSET - Maine Yankee and Friends of the Coast Opposing Nuclear Pollution have agreed on a contractor to conduct a study of the Sheepscot River estuary to determine if there is any radiation among marine sediments in the area. The winning contractor is a consortium led by Dr. C.T. Hess of the University of Maine. The group also includes members of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts and Normandeau Associates of Yarmouth. The study is a result of negotiations between the Friends of the Coast, which for years has monitored activity at the nuclear power plant, and Maine Yankee that date back to 1998 when, as part of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission settlement, Maine Yankee agreed to fund and conduct an environmental field survey of marine sediments in the Back River that abuts the power plant. In the 2001 License Termination Plan settlement, Maine Yankee further agreed to add a study of the intertidal zone surrounding selected portions of Maine Yankee property. The radiological survey will include deep marine sediments and intertidal zone sediments, flora and fauna. The intent is to calculate the health risk to a hypothetical subsistence farm family living on the former nuclear site and drawing standardized food from the local waters. Ray Shadis, spokesman for Friends of the Coast, said the radiological study, and much of the other work being done during Maine Yankee's decommissioning, is important because other generating plants will be able to learn from Maine Yankee's experience. "The Maine Yankee radiological surveys will be available to serve as a benchmark or jumping-off place should future generations want to conduct more in-depth studies of the behavior of nuclear power plant radionuclides in the marine estuary environment," he said. The studies will begin this summer, following the discharge of the spent fuel pool water. The pool has a capacity of 425,000 gallons of water, and was the storage area for the spent fuel rods before they were moved to the dry casks at the Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation, a process completed in late February. Without the fuel rods in the water, the racks that held the rods are currently being cleaned and shipped. Maine Yankee officials expect the pool water to be processed and released by the middle of June. Results of the radiation survey are expected to be available to the public by the end of the year. Decommissioning of Maine Yankee is due to be completed in 2005. (C) 2004 All Rights Reserved ***************************************************************** 19 KRT Wire: Fukui, Japan, Approves Stalled Program to Create New Nuclear Reactors | 03/29/2004 | Kyodo News International, Tokyo Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News Mar. 29--FUKUI, Japan - The Fukui prefecture government on Monday approved the creation of two more nuclear reactors at a Japan Atomic Power Co. power station in the city of Tsuruga amid moves to freeze construction of such plants. Fukui Gov. Issei Nishikawa conveyed the decision involving the Tsuruga Power Station's No. 3 and No. 4 pressurized light-water reactors to Yoshihiko Sumi, the operator's president, during a meeting Monday at the prefectural government office. Acting on this, Japan Atomic Power will submit papers to the state Tuesday, requesting its approval for a change in the setup of its nuclear reactors as well as papers to the prefecture to ask for permission to proceed with preparatory construction. The reactors are designed to be improved versions of the existing ones in terms of safety and operation. Each reactor will generate 1,538,000 kilowatts of power. The plan comes as initiatives to create or add nuclear power plants are either frozen or postponed due to government and industry views that future demand for electricity is not expected to increase. After his meeting with Nishikawa, Sumi visited Tsuruga Mayor Kazuharu Kawase, who welcomed the advancement of the plan. Japan Atomic Power eyes putting the No. 3 reactor into operation in fiscal 2013 and the No. 4 reactor the following fiscal year. The two reactors are expected to supply 50 percent of the energy to Kansai Electric Power Co., 40 percent to Chubu Electric Power Co., and 10 percent to Hokuriku Electric Power Co. ----- To see more of Kyodo News International, go to http://www.kyodonews.com [http://www.kyodonews.com] © 2004, Kyodo News International, Tokyo. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News. 9505, 9503, 9502, ***************************************************************** 20 KRT Wire: Niigata, Japan, Nuclear-Power Plant Soon to Return to Full Operation | 03/29/2004 | Kyodo News International, Tokyo Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News Mar. 26--NIIGATA, Japan - Niigata Gov. Ikuo Hirayama indicated Friday Tokyo Electric Power Co. may get its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power station in his prefecture back to full operation in April a year after its complete suspension. The company was forced to halt operation of all its nuclear power reactors, including the seven at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant, last April after its widespread practice of keeping nuclear reactor accidents secret came to light. Hirayama told a news conference that it would be appropriate to allow the No. 1 and 3 reactors to resume operations at the plant. Three other reactors there have already started up again. The No. 1 and No. 3 reactors will be the first to resume operations after repairs among reactors in which core shroud cracks were found. He said he will notify Tokyo Electric Power of his decision Saturday. Hirayama said he has the same view on resuming operations at the two remaining reactors at the plant -- the No. 2 and 5 reactors. ----- To see more of Kyodo News International, go to http://www.kyodonews.com [http://www.kyodonews.com] © 2004, Kyodo News International, Tokyo. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News. 9501, ***************************************************************** 21 AJC: Ukrainian Nuclear Reactor Is Shut Down [ajc.com] KIEV, Ukraine (AP)--A reactor at the Rivne nuclear power plant in western Ukraine was shut down early Monday by its automatic safety system, but radiation levels were not affected, energy officials said. Rivne's No. 3 reactor was pulled off the power grid, an officials at the state nuclear power company Energoatom said on condition of anonymity. The official declined to say what caused the halt. Officials at the State Committee on Nuclear Power Regulation said the shutdown was caused by a short circuit in the high-voltage equipment of the power generator, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported. Minor malfunctions occur frequently at the former Soviet republic's four operating nuclear power plants. Three of Ukraine's 13 functioning nuclear power reactors are undergoing maintenance. Ukraine was the site of the world's worst nuclear disaster in April 1986, with an explosion and fire at a reactor at the Chernobyl atomic plant. It was closed in 2000. AP-NY-03-29-04 1256EST Copyright 2004, The Associated Press. The information contained © 2004 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution [http://www.ajc.com/] ***************************************************************** 22 NZCity: Nuclear power a no-goer [New Zealand City Ltd] 30 Mar 2004 15:27 Energy Minister Hodgson says nuclear power not an option; Meridian says inability to secure river rights a problem Meridian Energy says it cannot make any guarantees about the issue of meeting New Zealand's power needs after deciding against proceeding with the Project Aqua scheme. The company is blaming red tape holdups including uncertainties in obtaining consents and rising costs as reasons for not going ahead with the $1.2 billion scheme on the Waitaki River. Meridian CEO Keith Turner says the company was working in a difficult legal environment. Court action is already underway to define water rights and Mr Turner says that until the results are through, there is no way Meridian can secure the river as a future source of electricity production. But he says alternative power generation sources will be considered by Meridian. Energy Minister Pete Hodgson is dismissing nuclear power as an option to meet New Zealand's future energy needs. He says nuclear power is in retreat worldwide and countries that are rejecting it include Germany and Sweden. He says the United States and Japan are the only nations persevering with it. Mr Hodgson says he will not change the law to allow nuclear power stations. He admits that while the end of Project Aqua is a significant loss, a mix of wind, geothermal, small hydro and gas from the Kupe field will help meet future needs. Mr Hodgson says the cancellation of Aqua provides an interesting challenge for the power sector. Meanwhile, an electricity lines company believes a valuable opportunity has been missed with the canning of Meridian's project. Orion chief executive Roger Sutton says it is a real pity that the environmental debate on the project has been shallow. He points out people have not really talked about alternatives, such as coal-fired or wind-generated power and what the consequences could be. Mr Sutton believes they are not as minimal as they have been made out to be. © 2004 NZCity, IRN >> More Business News © 2004 New Zealand City Ltd ***************************************************************** 23 NBCSandiego.com: Guard Shoots Self At Nuclear Plant Man Is Slightly Wounded By Accidental Discharge POSTED: 2:50 pm PST March 29, 2004 SAN ONOFRE, Calif. -- A security guard at San Onofre nuclear power plant was slightly wounded when his weapon accidentally discharged as it was being holstered, officials said. [San Onofre] The accident occurred Sunday afternoon when the guard was holstering his pistol in an armory at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station between San Diego and Los Angeles, which is operated by Southern California Edison. The top strap of the holster caught the trigger guard, causing the weapon to discharge, Edison spokesman Ray Golden said Monday. The bullet grazed the officer's leg. The guard, whose name was not released, was treated by first aid staff on-site and received a tetanus shot at a nearby hospital. Edison notified both the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the FBI as a precaution, Golden said. Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This ***************************************************************** 24 NRC: Notice of Availability of Environmental Assessment and Finding FR Doc E4-692 [Federal Register: March 29, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 60)] [Notices] [Page 16289] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr29mr04-87] [[Page 16289]] of No Significant Impact for License Amendment for Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, J. B. Smith Hall Building in New Brunswick, NJ AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission. ACTION: Notice of availability of Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Randolph C. Ragland, Jr., Decommissioning & Laboratory Branch, Division of Nuclear Materials Safety, Region I, 475 Allendale Road, King of Prussia, Pennsylvania 19406, telephone (610) 337-5083, fax (610) 337-5269; or by e-mail: [ rcr1@nrc.gov] . SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: I. Introduction The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is considering the issuance of a license amendment to Materials License No. 29-05218-28 issued to Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, licensee, to authorize release of their J. B. Smith Hall building, on Cook Campus, in New Brunswick, NJ for unrestricted use. NRC has prepared an Environmental Assessment (EA) in support of this action in accordance with the requirements of 10 CFR part 51. Based on the EA, the NRC has concluded that a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) is appropriate. The amendment will be issued following the publication of this notice. II. EA Summary The purpose of the proposed action is to authorize the release of the licensee's J. B. Smith Hall building, on their Cook Campus in New Brunswick, NJ for unrestricted use. Rutgers University was authorized by NRC from the 1970s to use radioactive materials for laboratory research and training purposes at the site. On November 21, 2003, Rutgers University requested that NRC release the facility for unrestricted use. Rutgers University has conducted surveys of the facility and provided information to the NRC to demonstrate that the site meets the license termination criteria in subpart E of 10 CFR part 20 for unrestricted release. The NRC staff has prepared an EA in support of the proposed license amendment. The staff evaluated Rutgers University's request and the results of the surveys and has concluded that the completed action complies with the criteria in subpart E of 10 CFR part 20. III. Finding of No Significant Impact The staff has prepared the EA, summarized above, in support of the proposed license amendment to release the J. B. Smith Hall for unrestricted use. The staff has found that the environmental impacts from the proposed action are bounded by the impacts evaluated by the ``Generic Environmental Impact Statement in Support of Rulemaking on Radiological Criteria for License Termination of NRC-Licensed Facilities'' (NUREG-1496). The staff has also found that the non- radiological impacts are not significant. On the basis of the EA, the NRC has concluded that the environmental impacts from the proposed action are expected to be insignificant and has determined not to prepare an environmental impact statement for the proposed action. IV. Further Information The EA and the documents related to this proposed action, including the application for the license amendment and supporting documentation, are available for inspection at NRC's Public Electronic Reading Room at [http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leaving FR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html] (ADAMS Accession Nos. ML040790360, ML033300511, ML040710910, ML040710882). These documents may also be viewed electronically on the public computers located at the NRC's Public Document Room (PDR), O 1F21, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 20852. The PDR reproduction contractor will copy documents for a fee. These documents are also available for inspection and copying for a fee at the Region I Office, 475 Allendale Road, King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, 19406. Persons who do not have access to ADAMS, should contact the NRC PDR Reference staff by telephone at 1-800-397-4209 or (301) 415-4737, or by e-mail to [ pdr@nrc.gov] . Dated in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania this 22nd day of March, 2004. For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Ronald R. Bellamy, Chief, Decommissioning & Laboratory Branch, Division of Nuclear Materials Safety, Region I. [FR Doc. E4-692 Filed 3-26-04; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P ***************************************************************** 25 NRC: Advisory Committee on the Medical Uses of Isotopes: Meeting FR Doc E4-693 [Federal Register: March 29, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 60)] [Notices] [Page 16289-16290] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr29mr04-88] Notice AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission. ACTION: Notice of meeting. SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission will convene a teleconference meeting of the Advisory Committee on the Medical Uses of Isotopes (ACMUI) on April 8, 2004. The topic of discussion will be ``ACMUI Vote on the Dose Reconstruction Subcommittee's Recommendation Relating to the NRC's Method of Dose Reconstruction.'' DATES: The teleconference meeting will be held on Thursday April 8, 2004, from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. eastern standard time. Public Participation: Any member of the public who wishes to participate in the teleconference discussion may contact Angela R. Williamson using the contact information below. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Angela R. Williamson, telephone (301) 415-5030; e-mail [arw@nrc.gov] of the Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001. Conduct of the Meeting: Manuel D. Cerqueira, M.D., will chair the meeting. Dr. Cerqueira will conduct the meeting in a manner that will facilitate the orderly conduct of business. The following procedures apply to public participation in the meeting: 1. Persons who wish to provide a written statement should submit a reproducible copy to Angela Williamson, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Two White Flint North, Mail Stop T8F5, Washington, DC 20555-0001. Hard copy submittals must be postmarked by March 30, 2004. Electronic submittals must be submitted by April 5, 2004. Any submittal must pertain to the topic on the agenda for the meeting. 2. Questions from members of the public will be permitted during the meeting, at the discretion of the Chairman. 3. The transcript and written comments will be available for inspection on NRC's Web site ( [http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leaving FR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www.nrc.gov] ) and at the NRC Public Document Room, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 20852-2738, telephone (800) 397-4209, on or about May 10, 2004. Minutes of the meeting will be available on or about May 30, 2004. This meeting will be held in accordance with the Atomic Energy Act [[Page 16290]] of 1954, as amended (primarily section 161a); the Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App 2); and the Commission's regulations in title 10, U.S. Code of Federal Regulations, part 7. Dated: March 23, 2004. Andrew L. Bates, Advisory Committee Management Officer. [FR Doc. E4-693 Filed 3-26-04; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P ***************************************************************** 26 NRC: NRC to Meet with Detroit Edison Company to Discuss Performance of Fermi 2 Nuclear Plant News Release - Region III - 2004-01 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs, Region III No. III-04-016 March 25, 2004 CONTACT: Jan Strasma (630) 829-9663 Viktoria Mitlyng (630) 829-9662 E-mail: opa3@nrc.gov [opa3@nrc.gov] representatives of Detroit Edison Company on Thursday, April 1, to discuss the results of the agencys assessment of safety performance at the Fermi 2 Nuclear Power Plant during 2003. The facility is located in Newport, Michigan. The meeting will be held at 5 p.m. in the City Council Chambers at the Monroe City Hall, 120 E. First St., Monroe, Michigan. The public is invited to observe the meeting, and NRC officials will be available before the conclusion of the meeting to answer questions from the public. In addition, the NRC staff will provide an overview of how the agencys Reactor Oversight Process works. The NRC concluded that the plant operated safely last year. One problem occurred which will warrant an additional NRC inspection beyond the normal inspection program. This inspection, planned for April, will review the utilitys response to a loose connection on a pressure switch for an emergency diesel generator. The loose connection, discovered by the utility last year, could have affected the operation of the diesel generator in the unlikely event of an earthquake. Routine inspections are performed by the two NRC resident inspectors assigned to the plant and by inspection specialists from Region III office in Lisle, Illinois. A March 4 letter from the NRC to Detroit Edison Company officials addresses the performance of the plant during 2003 and will serve as the basis for the meeting discussion. It is available at: http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/LETTERS/ferm_2003q4.pdf [PDF Icon] . With regard to security issues, the NRC has issued several orders and threat advisories to enhance security capabilities and improve guard force readiness since the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. The agency has also conducted inspections to review the implementation of these requirements and has monitored the action of plant operators in response to changing threat conditions. The NRC will continue security inspections during 2004. Current performance indicators and inspection findings for Fermi 2 are available on the NRC web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/FERM2/ferm2_chart.html. Last revised Friday, March 26, 2004 ***************************************************************** 27 Oak Ridger: Three Mile Island anniversary: Nuclear research strong at ORNL Story last updated at 11:57 a.m. on March 29, 2004 By: Paul Parson | Oak Ridger Staff [paul.parson@oakridger.com] Twenty five years afterthe Three Mile Island accident, Oak Ridge National Laboratory's nuclear-related research involves everything from revolutionary reactor concepts to power sources for space missions. "We have the broadest base of nuclear work," said David Hill, associate laboratory director for Energy and Engineering Technologies. That's a good thing, especially if you pay attention to news reports that indicate the nuclear power industry is talking about revival and that the American reliance on nuclear energy is likely to grow significantly in coming decades. [http://oakridger.com/photo_pages/032904/8136.html] Marie Moffitt/Staff At Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Jason Cook separates californium for High Flux Isotope Reactor-irradiated targets. Built in the 1960s, the research reactor produces a beam of neutrons for research experiments and also irradiates materials for the purpose of creating medical isotopes. Officials said the light-water reactor is subject to one of the nuclear industry's most rigorous safety programs, in which procedures to the most minor detail are meticulously followed. In the United States, there are just over 100 commercial nuclear power reactors, which generate about 20 percent of the nation's electrical use. The Tennessee Valley Authority operates two different types of nuclear power plants: Sequoyah and Watts Bar nuclear plants are based on a pressurized water reactor, while Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant has a boiling water reactor. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission serves as the watchdog of the nuclear power industry. And, the NRC's research program at ORNL addresses a wide range of "threats" to the industry, including electromagnetic interference from wireless technologies, terrorist attacks, human error and Mother Nature. In addition, ORNL has a key role in a new NASA program to construct a nuclear power reactor system for space exploration beyond Mars. The lab's work includes developing advanced materials to enable the reactor system to operate at high temperatures in addition to guiding the design of the reactor's nuclear shield. The Oak Ridge lab is also developing and selecting materials for the next generation of nuclear power plants, which would produce hydrogen as well as electricity. The materials in question will have to withstand harsh chemical conditions in addition to high temperatures, radiation levels and pressures. While ORNL is active in nuclear-related research, the federal government's new Idaho National Laboratory is expected to become the nation's preeminent nuclear research facility. ***************************************************************** 28 Oak Ridger: Former DOE public info officer talks about Three Mile Island Story last updated at 11:58 a.m. on March 29, 2004 By: Paul Parson | Oak Ridger Staff [paul.parson@oakridger.com] For a few days in 1979, Jim Alexander faced what he called an "interesting challenge." It involved the partial meltdown of a reactor core at the Three Mile Island nuclear plant near Harrisburg, Pa. Several Oak Ridge scientists were dispatched to the site to help determine the cause and impact of the accident. However, Alexander's area of expertise pertained to communication. Early reports coming from the plant's operators were considered by many to be contradictory and confusing. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission ultimately took over the information distribution role. However, mounting public interest in the Three Mile Island situation resulted in extensive media coverage of the accident. All the attention quickly swamped the NRC, which sought communication assistance from the Department of Energy. "They were being worn to a nub," said Alexander, who was working as a public information officer for DOE's Oak Ridge Operations office when the incident occurred. So, about a week after the March 28, 1979, accident, Alexander arrived in makeshift press center in Middletown, Pa. "It was absolutely packed with media," he said. Hundreds of journalists - some understanding, others argumentative - representing all types of media outlets awaited press conferences, news releases and updates from NRC technical advisers. "We could never supply enough information," Alexander said. He said reporters asked a lot of technical questions about the accident. Alexander also admitted that he sometimes got frustrated when he couldn't provide answers to all the questions. Alexander's Three Mile Island stint lasted only three to four days. But, during that time, he was able to introduce journalists to someone who became almost a celebrity - a robot from Oak Ridge named "Herman." The NRC initially sought the assistance of Herman to do some work in a building believed to have a high level of radiation. Alexander said Herman ultimately didn't get to do the job he was brought in to do. All-in-all, Alexander described his Three Mile Island assignment as a "very memorable and indelible experience." ***************************************************************** 29 Disaster News Network: Panel shares TMI lessons HEATHER MOYER WASHINGTON, D.C. (March 29, 2004) — On the 25th anniversary of the Three Mile Island nuclear accident, several key government officials in that disaster gathered at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History to share the lessons learned. Credibility can be an extremely fragile commodity in these situations. Gov. Richard Thornburgh The panel discussion, entitled “Three Mile Island: A Look Back After 25 Years,” offered the officials a chance to tell of their experiences during the most serious accident ever at a commercial nuclear power plant in the United States. J. Samuel Walker, historian for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), started by giving a historical overview of the event. There are two nuclear plants on Three Mile Island and the newest one was the site of the accident, he said. “A core meltdown is the worst kind of nuclear accident,” said Walker. “And we didn’t know until 1985 that one-half of the core had melted. We were fortunate that the accident didn’t result in large amounts of volatile radiation being released.” Three Mile Island sits only ten miles from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and 100 miles from Washington, D.C. Some 38,000 people lived within five miles of the plant. Despite the knowledge that the plant didn’t release large amounts of radiation, evacuation of nearby residents was still on officials’ minds. “The fundamental decision facing the response team was if an evacuation of the surrounding areas was necessary, said Walker. “This decision was complicated by the lack of information.” Part of the reason that officials didn’t know the severity of the accident was due to a combination of human error and a lack of safety and monitoring controls inside the reactor’s control room. Walker said the decision to evacuate all children and pregnant women in the area came on March 30. That total of people was around 3,500, yet at the same time, another 70,000 people in the area left on their own. Overall, the evacuation decision was up to then Pennsylvania Gov. Richard Thornburgh, who spoke at Sunday’s panel. He said the entire situation was very new to him, as a brand-new governor who was only 10 weeks into his office. “The day began as a normal day for a new governor, said Thornburgh, who served as Pennsylvania’s governor from 1979-1987. “But then once I was notified shortly after 7 a.m. about the accident, the next five days were a very trying and difficult time for all of us who were involved.” Thornburgh listed ten lessons he learned from the accident, which included "expect the unexpected, don’t try to manage an emergency away from the site, beware of the impulse of those involved to ‘just do something,’ forget partisanship, and it ain’t over ‘til it’s over. He also said that keeping people informed is a key to handling a disaster well. “Another lesson learned was to search for and evaluate the facts and their sources often – and then pass them on to the people, Thornburgh said. “Credibility can be an extremely fragile commodity in these situations.” Working with the media is another challenging aspect of disaster response, said Thornburgh. “Respect the media, but don’t rely on them in an emergency, he said. “Some of the reporting on this accident was good, and then some was outrageous.” Jessica Tuchman Mathews, Director of the Office of Global Issues in the National Security Council from 1977-1979, spoke next and said her list of lessons learned “has an eerie overlap with Thornburgh.” All of the speakers agreed when Mathews said this accident taught her how well the government can work. “For this accident we went from having nothing planned in preparation, to having dozens of agencies helping in their own way,” she said. “The crisis called up the best in everybody. Everyone performed at their absolute best.” Like Thornburgh, Mathews shared her amazement at how partisanship did not get in the way of the relief effort. “No one thought of the political ramifications of evacuations, and that was great, she said. “The state and federal government worked very well together.” She gave an example of how they avoided conflicting news releases. “We decided early on to have only President Carter’s press secretary give briefings on what the federal government was doing, only Gov. Thornburgh’s press secretary give briefings on state response, and only the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s press secretary five briefings on what the NRC was doing, she said. “This really helped control a rising sense of fear and panic.” Thornburgh agreed with Mathews when she said she doesn’t think that her points about non-partisanship and media control could happen today. “While the improved communication we have today – like cell phones and email – could’ve helped us more then, said Thornburgh, “the 24-hour cable news networks and non-stop media pressure of today could’ve had a harmful effect then. Yet with Mathews’ list of successes during the relief effort, came an example of a mistake. “What didn’t work well was the scientific community – they made some serious mistakes under the stress of the moment, she said. And despite that, she added that what struck her was how well the people of central Pennsylvania responded. “They were receiving so much conflicting information, she said. “I think history finds the right people to handle these events. Harold Denton, director of the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation for the NRC from 1978-1988, spoke after Mathews. He pointed out how unprepared the NRC was at that time for an event like Three Mile Island. “I thought we had constructed an iron-clad set of regulations, but one factor we hadn’t thought of was human performance, he said. “That was the number-one lesson for me: Don’t be complacent and think that anything is impossible.” Denton said another sign of the NRC's non-preparation was how it communicated with nuclear power plants in the US. “The NRC was an administrative agency then, we had no special way of communicating with affected plants, he said. “Communication was a challenge the entire time. In the early stages of the meltdown, Denton said his the NRC received notice that radiation was leaking from the core. Yet later, he said his and Thornburgh’s team of experts determined that the meltdown was fully contained. President Jimmy Carter also played an active role in the response, agreed the panelists. “He told me three things, said Denton. “First was that all resources of the federal government were available to Pennsylvania; second was to always tell the truth; and the third was to keep him informed at all times.” The panelists all said Carter’s trip to Three Mile Island just days after the accident helped boost both the public’s and the government’s confidence in the response effort. Good containment of the radiation in this accident was another key to the general success of the response, said Denton. His agency made efforts to test the surrounding areas for radiation often. He added that the University of Pittsburgh teams are still testing people who lived near Three Mile Island, and they’ve never found any signs of radiation exposure. Dr. Nils Diaz, current chairman of the NRC, said the lessons learned from Three Mile Island have been put forth into the current NRC regulations. “We established both internal and external command centers for U.S. power plants, he said. “We also keep significant amounts of the thyroid radiation blocking drug Potassium Iodide on hand for any state that needs access to it. The NRC of today is very different than it was in 1979, said Diaz. Thornburgh added that the 25-year-old accident was something that will stay with him for the rest of his life. “It was quite a chilling event, he said. “I know many of us who lived through it would choose to never do it again – and my hope is that we won’t." Posted March 29, 2004 2:48 PM [http://www.disasternews.net/about/contact.php] Disaster News Network, 7855 Rappahannock Ave., Suite 200, Jessup, MD 20794 . Phone (443) 755-9999 . Email: [info@villagelife.org] Copyright © 2001-02 Disaster News Network Inc. All Rights ***************************************************************** 30 NRC: NRC Seeks Public Input on Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant License Renewal at Meetings in Alabama News Release - Region II - 2004-01 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs, Region II No. II-04-019 March 26, 2004 CONTACT: Ken Clark (404) 562-4416 Roger D. Hannah (404) 562-4417 E-mail: opa2@nrc.gov [opa2@nrc.gov] The U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will hold two public meetings on Thursday, April 1, in Athens, Alabama, on the environmental review related to the application of the Tennessee Valley Authority to renew the operating licenses for the Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant, Units 1, 2, and 3. Members of the public are invited to attend and comment on environmental issues the NRC should consider in its review of the proposed license renewal. The meetings will be at the Athens State University Student Center Cafeteria Ballroom. There will be two similar sessions, one in the afternoon at 1:30 and one in the evening at 7:00. In addition, the NRC staff will host informal discussions one hour prior to each meeting. NRC staff members will be available to answer questions and provide additional information about the process during those informal sessions, but no comment submittals on environmental issues will be accepted at that time. For planning purposes, those who wish to present oral comments at the meeting are encouraged to contact Dr. Michael Masnik of the NRC by telephone at 1-800-368-5642, Extension 1191, or by email at BrownsFerryEIS@nrc.gov [BrownsFerryEIS@nrc.gov] . People may also register to speak before the start of each session. Individual comment time may be limited by the time available. The meetings will include an overview and NRC staff presentation on the environmental process related to license renewal, after which members of the public will be given the opportunity to present their comments on what environmental issues the NRC should consider during its review. Under NRC regulations, the original operating license for a nuclear power plant is issued for up to 40 years. The license may be renewed for up to an additional 20 years if NRC requirements are met. The current operating licenses for the Browns Ferry plants three units will expire on December 20, 2013, June 28, 2014, and July 2, 2016, respectively. The NRC is reviewing TVAs extensive work on Browns Ferry Unit 1, which TVA would like to restart after being shut down for an extended period. That unit has retained an operating license, but requires NRC approval to restart. TVA submitted its application for all three units license renewal on January 6 this year. The application is available for public review at the Athens-Limestone Public Library, 405 East South Street, Athens, Alabama. It is also available in the NRC Public Document Room at NRC Headquarters, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland, on the Internet at www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/licensing/renewal/applications/bro wns-ferry.html and from the Publicly Available Records component of NRCs Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS), accessible at www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. Persons who do not have access to ADAMS or who encounter problems accessing the documents in ADAMS should contact the NRCs Public Document Room reference staff by telephone at 1-800-397-4209, or by email at pdr@nrc.gov [pdr@nrc.gov] . An existing NRC document, Generic Environmental Impact Statement for License Renewal of Nuclear Plants, (NUREG-1437), assesses the scope and impact of environmental effects that would be associated with license renewal at any nuclear power plant site. The NRC staff is gathering information at these meetings for a supplement to the generic environmental impact statement that will be specific to Browns Ferry. It will contain a recommendation regarding the environmental acceptability of the license renewal action. At the conclusion of the information-gathering process, the NRC staff will prepare a summary of conclusions and significant issues and will send a copy to interested persons who participated in the scoping process. The summary will also be available for public review at the Athens-Limestone Public Library, and accessible electronically at www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html . The NRC staff will then prepare a draft environmental impact statement supplement for public comment and will hold a public meeting to solicit comments. After consideration of comments received on the draft, the NRC will prepare a final EIS supplement. Members of the public may also submit written comments on the scope of the Browns Ferry-specific supplement to the generic environmental impact statement. Comments should be submitted by April 26, 2004, either by mail to the Chief, Rules and Directives Branch, Division of Administrative Services, Mail Stop T-6-D-59, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, D.C., 20555-0001, or by email to: BrownsFerryEIS@nrc.gov [BrownsFerryEIS@nrc.gov] . Last revised Friday, March 26, 2004 ***************************************************************** 31 Columbus Telegram: Former NPPD official remembers Three Mile Island nuke plant disaster By ALGIS J. LAUKAITIS, Lee Enterprises Early Sunday morning, people in Middletown, Pa., gathered outside the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant and laid a wreath on the ground near the highway. It wasn't an anti-nuclear rally, although there were likely some activists in the crowd. Most of the 200 to 300 people were Middletown residents who lived through this nation's worst nuclear disaster 25 years ago. "The long-standing impact is in the local community. They still have an emotional tie. All the people who were there still remember," said Dave Simon, a spokesman for Exelon Corp. who used to work for the Nebraska Public Power District in Columbus. Simon took a job more than two years ago with Exelon, which operates Unit 2 on the Three Mile Island complex. The plant is owned by First Energy Corp. The nuclear accident happened to Unit 1 25 years ago Sunday. Unit 1 has been shut down ever since. Simon said the past week had been filled with media tours and special events. Last Monday, Harold Denton, sent by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to "handle the situation" in 1979, met with plant employees. Simon said Denton mostly talked about his experiences in dealing with an unprecedented situation. More than 40 reporters, including one from Germany, toured the plant Tuesday. Simon said the whole idea of the media tour was to explain what happened then and what was being done now to make nuclear power plants run safely. "We didn't want to rehash the whole incident," he said. Twenty-five years ago, Simon said, lack of information was a huge issue. The media couldn't get accurate information from plant management and regulators to pass on to the public, which, in turn, couldn't make informed decisions about whether they needed to evacuate. One of the biggest lessons learned from the Three Mile Island disaster was how to talk to the media, Simon said, and to share as much information as possible. "Even if it is bad news, you have to share the information and do it in a timely way," he said. "In some ways it was a huge learning experience for the industry and the facility." In 1979, NPPD officials had their own hands full trying to assure the public that nuclear power plants were safe. NPPD operates Cooper Nuclear Station near Brownville. Utility officials were peppered with questions about plant operations and what-if scenarios. NPPD called a news conference to respond to the flood of inquiries. [http://www.columbustelegram.com/articles/2004/03/29/news/news3.p This Page Last Updated Mar 29, 2004 - 11:32:17 am CST Copyright © 2004 Columbus Telegram ***************************************************************** 32 Reuters: Japan's TEPCO restarts ninth nuclear power reactor Mon Mar 29, 2004 06:57 AM ET SINGAPORE, March 29 (Reuters) - Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO), Japan's top power producer, resumed operations at its ninth nuclear power reactor late on Saturday and planned to restart the 10th unit as early as July, a spokeswoman said. TEPCO has restarted the No. 1 reactor at its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant in Niigata prefecture, and the unit is expected to generate power as early as Tuesday, its Tokyo-based spokeswoman said on Monday. The 1.1-million kilowatt reactor in northern Japan was shut on September 3, 2002 for regular inspections. TEPCO, which supplies electricity to Tokyo, a city that uses more energy than Italy, shut all of its 17 reactors by April last year after admitting in late 2002 that it had falsified safety documents for more than a decade. As TEPCO resumes each nuclear reactor, its monthly C-grade fuel oil demand falls by about 150,000 kilolitres, said Fumiaki Watari, president of Nippon Oil Corp, TEPCO's biggest supplier of fuel oil, said earlier this month. TEPCO bought 777,227 kl (about 4.8 million barrels) of fuel oil and crude oil in February. TEPCO may restart the 10th nuclear reactor, the No. 6 unit at its Fukushima-Daiichi plant in northern Fukushima prefecture, after the utility completes regular safety checks in July, the spokeswoman said. The Fukushima-Daiichi unit, which has a generating capacity of 1.1 million kw, was shut on September 30, 2003. As of March 2003, TEPCO's reactors had a combined capacity of 17.31 million kw, accounting for 28.7 percent of the company's total generating capacity. ***************************************************************** 33 National Post: Computer glitch forces shutdown of Canadian-designed nuclear plant in Romania Canadian Press Monday, March 29, 2004 CERNAVODA, Romania (AP) - A computer malfunction has forced the closure of a Canadian-designed nuclear power plant, Romanian officials said Monday. The Candu plant in the city of Cernavoda, about 200 kilometers east of Bucharest, was shut down late Sunday, the company which manages the plant said in a release. Plant director Ionel Bucur said no damage was done to the environment, the plant's personnel or to local residents. Bucur said workers repaired the system and were investigating the cause of the incident. He said the plant will be restarted on Thursday. In August, the plant was closed due to a severe drought which left insufficient water to cool the reactor. It was the first time the plant had encountered water level problems since it opened seven years ago. The plant has four reactors, but only one is in use. It produces 700 megawatts a day and provides 10 per cent of Romania's electricity. © The Canadian Press 2004 Search canada.com Copyright © CanWest Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 34 NRC: NRC Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards to Meet April 15-17 in Rockville, Maryland News Release - 2004-03 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs Telephone: 301/415-8200 Washington, DC 20555-0001 E-mail: opa@nrc.gov No. 04-037 March 25, 2004 The Nuclear Regulatory Commissions Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards will hold a public meeting April 15-17 in Rockville, Md. The committee will discuss, among other items, the license renewal application for the R.E. Ginna nuclear power plant, and proposed options and recommendations for containment structures of non-light-water reactors. The meeting, which is open to the public, will be held in Room T-2B3 of the agencys Two White Flint North building, at 11545 Rockville Pike. The meetings will begin at 8:30 a.m. each day. A complete agenda will be available on the NRCs Web site at this address: http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/acrs/agenda/2004. For additional information, please contact Sam Duraiswamy, at 301-415-7364, Monday through Friday between 7:30 a.m. and 4:15 p.m. Last revised Friday, March 26, 2004 ***************************************************************** 35 PRAVDA.Ru Scandal in Ukraine: hundreds of missiles disappeared. - 03/29/2004 14:37 Ukraine is in the midst of the "missile scandal": the authorities cannot find hundreds of missiles. Ukrainian authorities quit the hope to find missiles and call the incident "weird thing". Minister of Defense Evgeny Marchuk said in a BBC interview that he saw no papers on scrapping the missiles. The Minister said that the missiles were dismantled, but not destroyed after the demise of the USSR, NTV reports. NTV recalls the accusations made by the USA in 2003 that Ukraine was going to send Air Defense "Chain Armor" system to Saddam Hussein. This caused scandal and postponing US economic aid to Kiev. Reporters had different versions, such as terrorists gaining former Soviet weapons in Ukraine (including nuclear weapons) in possession. This version was not officially rejected, and now missiles disappearance proved to be a fact. Even Ukrainian Ministry of Defense has no idea where the missiles gone. Izvestia-Info [http://izv.info/world/news78685] L1999-2002 "PRAVDA.Ru". When reproducing our materials in ***************************************************************** 36 Salt Lake Tribune: New clinic screens for N-linked cancers March 29, 2004 By Mark Havnes ST. GEORGE -- A new clinic has opened to screen area residents for types of cancer linked to radioactive fallout spread over southwestern Utah by nuclear tests during the 1950s. The Radiation Exposure Screening Clinic, opened earlier this month on the south campus of the Dixie Regional Medical Center, 544 S. 400 East in St. George, is offering the screenings for free. Exams target cancers that are easily treated if detected early, as well as cancers associated with nuclear exposure that show up in high numbers of Utahns, such as leukemia, thyroid cancers and lymphoma. "It's worthwhile for those exposed to catch cancer early when it can be treated rather than when it becomes more extensive," says Becky Barlow, program director and a registered nurse certified in oncology. "We want to educate people about cancer if they were susceptible. It is the only way to protect them at this point." The clinic was opened with federal funds approved by Congress in 2000. Another Utah screening clinic will operate at Montezuma Creek in Utah's San Juan County. The St. George clinic caters to residents who lived in southwestern Utah between 1951 and 1958, as well as July 1962, during atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons at the Nevada Test Site. Those who lived in counties in northwestern Arizona and southeastern Nevada bordering southwestern Utah also are encouraged to take part. Barlow said the clinic plans on screening 500 people between now and August. "Many people often do not get tested because they don't have insurance and because food takes precedence over screening," says Barlow's colleague, case manager Carolyn Rasmussen. "We want to help those who would not go to a doctor otherwise because of financial concerns." The exams include a chest X-ray, if deemed necessary; a blood oxygen count; a test for sugar in urine; a blood-count test; a test for blood in the stool; and, if necessary, a blood test to determine if liver and kidneys are functioning normally. Test results are sent to participants and their physicians. If cancer is detected, the patient is notified about recommended courses of treatment. Clinic staff also will offer information about compensation programs such as the Radiation Exposure Compensation Program, providing federal compensation for those affected by radiation exposure from the testing, which was transferred underground after 1962. In addition to fallout victims, those encouraged to participate in the screening program are people who transported uranium ore between 1942 and 1971; worked in milling operations of uranium ore at any time and those who worked at the Nuclear Test Site. Screenings are conducted every Wednesday; appointments can be scheduled by calling the clinic at 435-688-5990. mhavnes@sltrib.com [mhavnes@sltrib.com] "> Copyright Salt Lake City Tribune ***************************************************************** 37 Seattle Times: Audit: Nuclear-plant injuries aren't tallied Monday, March 29, 2004 - Page updated at 12:00 A.M. By Blaine Harden The Washington Post The Department of Energy has failed to keep accurate count of worker injuries at nuclear-waste cleanup sites across the United States, and its records often downplay the dangers of cleanup work, according to a draft audit by the department's inspector general. For nine out of 10 private contractors that perform environmental cleanup at old bomb-making sites from Washington state to South Carolina, the audit found that the Department of Energy maintained "inaccurate and incomplete accident and injury data," according to a draft audit report dated March 3. "Some of the department's safety-performance statistics were overstated — that is, performance had been reported to be better than it actually was," the document said. The inspector general's investigation also found instances in which major cleanup contractors were not required by the department to report any information on how many workers were hurt or sickened while working around nuclear waste. It found that the department also fails to record a significant number of workplace injuries that contractors themselves have documented. The most serious example was at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory, where Bechtel reported 463 days lost to injury. The Department of Energy's database listed 166 days. The draft also said that one major contractor, CH2M Hill, the company that presides over the cleanup of buried nuclear and chemical waste at the Hanford nuclear reservation in Eastern Washington, kept incomplete records that understated workplace injuries by about 5 percent. "This is incredibly troubling, and it matches up with some of the anecdotal evidence we have been hearing from Hanford workers lately," said U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., who is visiting Hanford this weekend and has called for oversight hearings on worker health and safety. A spokeswoman for CH2M Hill, Joy Turner, said the company resolved the discrepancy last July and "has taken actions to make sure this doesn't happen again." The inspector general's investigation comes amid reports of increasing injuries to workers at Hanford, which is, by far, the largest and most expensive cleanup site in the United States. On Thursday, three more workers were seen for medical evaluation after smelling a "sweet odor," chemical vapors from underground tanks. In the past 14 days, at least 10 other workers were exposed and six sought medical evaluation, according to the Government Accountability Project, a nonprofit watchdog group. The group says that in the past two years, more than 90 workers have sought medical care for chemical-vapor exposures at Hanford's tank farms. Department of Energy spokesman Joseph Davis said the draft audit from the inspector general is "incomplete" and "wrong," because it does not include comments from department managers who strongly disagree with some of the findings. "There shouldn't be a rush to judgment on a draft IG report that does not consider all sides of the issues," Davis said. The inspector general, Gregory Friedman, said in a statement that federal managers have asked for additional time to comment on his report, and that "when we receive those formal comments, we will carefully evaluate the information provided." A final report is expected in mid-April. Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham has said he will not tolerate any contractor behavior that endangers workers. But critics of the Energy Department say that the Bush administration, as part of its push for an "accelerated cleanup," has created financial incentives for contractors to cut corners on safety and underreport workplace injuries. In many cases, those incentives involve extra cash for companies that work fast. CH2M Hill, for instance, can earn a bonus of as much as $2 million for each waste tank it empties by 2006. The system also penalizes contractors — by taking away as much as 10 percent of contract fees that in many cases run into the billions of dollars — if they report too many injuries. Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company More nation &world ***************************************************************** 38 Las Vegas SUN: Two reports say underground water at Test Site needs better monitoring Today: March 29, 2004 at 11:44:06 PST By Suzanne Struglinski WASHINGTON -- Two independent reports released today say radioactive contamination in water under the Nevada Test Site needs better monitoring, especially as the area population continues to grow, creating more competition for water resources. Nevada-based Citizen Alert, a community activist group, released a more than 100-page report completed in 2002 saying some of the department's monitoring wells drilled at the Nevada Test Site, 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas, are not located in places that could properly detect how radioactive pollution would move through underground water supplies. Peggy Maze Johnson, Citizen Alert executive director, said the department needs to spend about $2 million for each of the unspecified number of additional wells needed to better pinpoint the problem. Citizen Alert plans to send its report and a letter to Gov. Kenny Guinn asking for his support in declaring the Test Site a federal "Superfund" site, which would outline specific cleanup procedures under a law of the same name and tap into federal money set aside to remediate designated sites. The Energy Department paid for the $50,000 study out of a fund created by a court decision in 1998 that allows nonprofit groups to study the department's nuclear weapons complex. "We know there is contamination from the fact there was bomb testing, but they don't know how fast its going and in what direction," Johnson said. "Is is going to the Colorado (River)? We don't know." A separate report, released by the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability, examined major water supplies under all the department's nuclear weapons plants. The $75,000 study, funded through the same judgment account, calls for more public participation and better cleanup of department sites, among other recommendations. At the Test Site, the alliance said, underground nuclear weapons tests clearly contaminated ground water but how far the contamination spreads underground and exact figures of how much radioactive material remains underground vary. Test Site spokesman Kevin Rohrer, who had not yet reviewed either report, said generally that the test site has not detected any radioactive contamination of the site borders or in drinking water wells, and is confident it will not be a problem in the near term. "But can we say for certain it will never happen? No, we can't," Rohrer said. Rohrer said the department is in the midst of studying migration of radioactive material through the ground water and already has plans to drill more wells to study it more thoroughly. He said the site is testing and monitoring as much as it can that the budget will allow. The Nevada Test Site released its annual environmental report in February, which showed no airborne or groundwater radioactivity offsite based on monitoring by Bechtel Nevada. ***************************************************************** 39 Albuquerque Tribune: Standing watch on radiation By [svorenberg@abqtrib.com] Tribune Reporter David Mercer never knows when he'll get his next 2 a.m. phone call that someone's Geiger counter is clicking. The Los Alamos scientist spends about a week each month on call, helping U.S. customs inspectors, the FBI and the Department of Energy identify mysterious sources of radiation. The goal is to protect the country from terrorists who might bring in a nuclear weapon. Finding a weapon with a radiation detector might seem easy enough, but seemingly innocent things also set detectors off. One day it might be a shipment of medical isotopes, the next it might be a truck full of bananas or cocoa powder, Mercer said. Wait a minute: bananas and cocoa powder? "Cocoa power, like bananas, has potassium 40 in it," he said. "It's not harmful to humans, but it does set the detectors off. There are lots of things around us every day that have radiation in them. We even had a shipment of toilet tanks set off a detector once." Porcelain, it turns out, has a bit of thorium and uranium in it. Other weird things on the list: granite, which has a hint of thorium and uranium; camping lanterns, with thorium; propane, with radium 226; Brazil nuts, with potassium 40; kitty litter, with thorium and potassium 40; pottery, with uranium and thorium. "We get some very unusual things sometimes that we would have never expected," Mercer said. "We're rapidly learning what the normal radiological world looks like. Nobody was really looking at that very hard before (Sept. 11, 2001) - now we're finding many new things." Mercer and a group of about 50 scientists from Los Alamos, Sandia and Lawrence Livermore national laboratories all spend time on call answering radiation questions from various agencies. It's something they volunteer for, outside their regular scientific jobs at the labs. "We're all experienced (understanding different radiation types), some with 25 years of doing this kind of work," Mercer said. "We do it to serve our country. Also, it's exciting work. You never know what's going to hit you. Of course, you also never know if you'll sleep through the night." The scientists are part of two programs started after the Sept. 11 attacks to protect the United States from terrorists. The first started in January 2002 and is called the radiological triage program. It supports the FBI, Department of Defense, police, fire and other agencies. The second started in August 2003 and is called the secondary reachback program. It supports the U.S. Bureau of Customs and Border Protection lab, which in turn supports frontline customs officers. "Everybody on the front lines is coming up to speed on radiation detection technology, but to be confident they want experts in the field who can review their analysis," said Mark Abhold, a scientist in the Los Alamos Center for Homeland Security. "When they find something strange, and they need help, we have an expert look at the data who can call back with recommendations within an hour to an hour and a half." If inspectors or police come across something strange, they call a phone number at Lawrence Livermore in California. From there, a manager will page two experts, each from a different lab, to check the data, Abhold explained. "With two experts we get peer review of our results," Abhold said. "The expertise at the three labs overlaps in many areas, but the techniques each uses are different. That gives us lots of checks and balances on our results so we're even more certain that nothing dangerous is coming through." About 95 percent of the calls are for something innocent, like bananas or cat litter, Mercer said. And the other 5 percent? "So far we've seen no major terrorist activity, although we have seen some smuggling," he said, adding that he couldn't give more details for security reasons. The three labs are also building a database of radioactive objects in the natural environment, which will ultimately help customs and other agencies rely less on lab experts, Mercer said. "This is kind of a new area, but the first response teams are getting better and better," he said. "As that's happening, there are more new teams deploying, so our usage over the past few years has remained flat. We hope, by training people and building a database of sources, that one day we will become obsolete." Until that day, the scientists will remain glued to their cell phones and pagers, waiting for that next early morning call to come in, Mercer said. "I have all my equipment in a backpack I take everywhere with me," he said. "When those calls come in at night, you're not groggy. The adrenaline rush wakes you up. It's usually something benign, but every now and then there's a call about something strange. Those calls are just part of our job. We're glad to help our country." © The Albuquerque Tribune. ***************************************************************** 40 Mos News: Police Find 40 Abandoned Missiles in Georgia - NEWS - MOSNEWS.COM Created: 23.03.2004 18:40 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 18:49 MSK Georgian police discovered 40 air-to-surface missiles together with 20 launching devices in the course of a special operation on Georgia’s border with Russia, the Russian Information Agency Novovsti reports. “These were weapons that militants use in Chechnya,” the chief of the Georgian Internal Affairs Ministry, Georgy Baramidze said at a press conference. “I don’t doubt that Chechens transported the weapons to Georgia, but were unable to take them out in time.” The missiles were discovered in the Khevsuretia region, which borders the Russian republic of Dagestan. Baramidze told RIA Novosti that the special operation was planned after the ministry obtained information about a military arsenal that was to be transported from Georgia. Baramidze stressed that this was a positive step in Russo-Georgian joint efforts in the fight against crime and terrorism, and we hope that Russia has valued our work. He said it remains unclear how exactly the missiles were to be used and against whom. Write us: info@mosnews.com [info@mosnews.com] Copyright © 2004 MOSNEWS.COM ***************************************************************** 41 Mos News: Old and Dangerous: Russian Nukes in the Arctic - MOSNEWS.COM The nuclear cruiser “Peter the Great” / Photo: ITAR-TASS Created: 24.03.2004 09:40 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 18:24 MSK MosNews On Tuesday, the Russian Navy’s Commander-in-Chief Vladimir Kuroyedov docked the Northern Fleet’s nuclear cruiser ’Peter the Great’. He announced that the vessel, which won last year’s Russian Navy Best Ship award, is in dire need of maintenance and could “blow sky-high” at any moment. Later in the day, Kuroyedov denounced the mass media for blowing his statement out of proportion and said the cruiser’s living quarters and other facilities were indeed in an unsatisfactory condition, but there was no nuclear threat. It’s too early to breathe a sigh of relief, though — the state of Russian nukes in the Barents Sea is far from perfect, say experts at [http://www.bellona.no] , the international environmental foundation that monitors Russian nukes in the Arctic. With deteriorating nuclear storage facilities, dilapidated naval bases for refueling nuclear reactors, and generally poor conditions in which nuclear reactors are serviced, nuclear cruisers, which are actually kept in fairly good shape, should be the least of anyone’s worries. “Safety on ships of such high rank is high enough,” says Bellona’s Alexander Nikitin, a well-known Russian ecologist. Nuclear-powered icebreakers, cruisers, and submarines currently employed by the Russian Navy and commercial navy are safe — as long as they’re actually in use. The real threat lies in what happens to vessels that go out of date. Spent nuclear fuel unloaded from the ships’ nuclear reactors, radioactive waste, and decommissioned vessels that still have nuclear fuel in them often wind up being handled in hazardous conditions, stored in deteriorating storage facilities, or simply lost — like when the rusted K-159 nuclear submarine sank in the Barents Sea in August 2003 while being towed to a shipyard to be dismantled. Russia’s Northern Fleet, which sails in the Barents Sea, has been nuclear-powered for the past 45 years. At the peak of its nuclear capacity, it had had 120 nuclear-powered submarines; in 2001, this number was down to 40. Question: How much radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel can accumulate over such a long time? Answer: Way more than the six naval bases and ten storage facilities can handle, especially given the condition they’re in. Bellona is concerned with “everything that has to do with spent nuclear fuel, with radioactive waste in storage facilities — because the safety level involved in the maintenance of these things is very low,” Nikitin says. There just aren’t enough storage facilities and too much waste, he says. The submarines are refueled once every three to five years. In addition to accumulated fuel rods, the refueling of nuclear-powered ships yields an additional hazard: service ships used for refueling are old and worn out and in danger of sinking or developing leakages. Russia used to build its service ships at a shipyard in the city in Nikolayev, says Nikitin — but Nikolayev is in Ukraine, and since the Soviet Union broke up and the shipyard doesn’t belong to Russia anymore, the fleet of service ships hasn’t been upgraded in years. The service ships ferry ashore the spent fuel from nuclear reactors aboard submarines. If one of them should sink, it’ll be a full-scale nuclear disaster, with radioactive contamination leaking into the sea. These waters, Nikitin underscores, are international fishing territory. The international community is definitely concerned with the state of affairs in the Arctic — generous funding is provided for the Russian government to handle the storage of waste and maintain the ships and facilities. But the area will continue to be a problem, if only because of the sheer bulk of nuclear reactors in one spot — at 250, it’s the highest concentration in the world. The ’Peter the Great’ may not quite be on the brink of tragedy, but that doesn’t mean Kuroyedov hasn’t blown the right whistle. Write us: [info@mosnews.com] Copyright © 2004 MOSNEWS.COM ***************************************************************** 42 AU ABC: Ranger workers wary of radiation tests - union. 30/03/2004. ABC News Online [http://www.abc.net.au/] Energy Resources of Australia (ERA) says 16 of its 200 workers at the Ranger uranium mine have accepted an offer for radiation exposure testing after drinking water became contaminated with uranium last week. The mine remains closed as a result of the contamination incident and other leakages of processing water. An ERA spokesperson says workers supplied urine samples yesterday and the results should be known by the end of the week. Northern Territory Trades and Labor Council spokesman Didge McDonald says workers are concerned about a five day delay before testing was offered and the fact an in-house doctor is being used. "There's always an issue when a company doctor comes in and you know, there is very limited trust among the workers and management out there as it is," he said. "There's the question of bringing in a company doctor and whether he gives the all-clear, there's still that question of how much independence is there." [http://www.abc.net.au] © 2004 Australian Broadcasting Corporation ***************************************************************** 43 The Australian: Uranium mine still off limits after leak [March 30, 2004] By Nicholas Rothwell THE giant Ranger uranium mine within Kakadu National Park remains closed indefinitely today, despite a federal government report insisting there was no environmental harm caused by last week's leak of contaminated mine water. Supervising scientist Arthur Johnston gave an assurance to traditional owners of the park, and other Aboriginal people living in the region, that it was safe to drink the creek waters downstream from the mine. But Dr Johnston and his team were still assessing the quality of drinking water inside Ranger, following the incident last week when workers were exposed to water containing high levels of uranium. Two further inquiries into the contamination are under way, by the mining company and by the Northern Territory's Department of Business, Industry and Resource Development. Ranger, which is operated by Energy Resources of Australia, needs a recommendation from the Office of the Supervising Scientist before it can reopen production at the mine, where 200 workers have been laid off. But Dr Johnston said before giving an all-clear he would need to be convinced that the incident could not recur. It emerged yesterday that a similar episode occurred early in the mine's life, in 1983, when process water was mistakenly connected to the drinking water supply. Criticism of the company continued yesterday, with the Northern Land Council chief executive, Norman Fry, calling on ERA to upgrade its risk-management procedures. But the most striking aspect of the responses to the incident has been their moderation. The Aboriginal traditional owners have developed a co-operative relationship with ERA since its decision last year to mothball its nearby Jabiluka uranium project. A detailed Senate inquiry into the operations of the mine was held last year, and talks were expected to be held soon between ERA and the traditional owners of Kakadu about refinements to Ranger's operations. Six Ranger workers have reported minor symptoms after exposure to the contaminated water last Tuesday. The company's chief occupational health expert assured them they would not face any long-term health effects from exposure to uranium. It remains unclear how long the mine will have to stay closed. Dr Johnston said yesterday his guess was that it would be "days" until the company had taken steps to assure no repeat of the contamination could occur. The delay is costly, though precise figures are hard to estimate. ERA made a profit of $20million last year on uranium ore sales worth $196.2million. © The Australian ***************************************************************** 44 Salt Lake Tribune: Shame on NAC March 29, 2004 Shame on the Newspaper Agency Corp. for refusing to print Alan Vorwaller's obituary because his widow and physicians chemical weapons tests." Since when do survivors have to prove cause of death in an obituary? Obituaries have attributed deaths to a broken heart, smoking, substance abuse, struggle with mental illness or natural causes. Technically these deaths were probably due to respiratory failure or cardiac arrest, but who cares? I read the Tribune obituaries because the survivors are able to briefly catalog the successes, the poignant struggles, the humorous moments and the passions of the newly departed. Cats and dogs have been listed as survivors, though I'm sure DNA testing would prove otherwise. The NAC doesn't balk at taking money for advertising escort services, "adult" talk lines or the latest financial scam seminar. Why should they deny a widow a chance to point out (at her own expense) that defecating in one's own nest can be hazardous to health. Christine B. Helfrich Salt Lake City "> Copyright Salt Lake City Tribune ***************************************************************** 45 Star Telegram: Whose water? 03/29/2004 | STAR-TELEGRAM/DARRELL BYERS A shallow spring-fed creek flows through the Pinto Creek Canyon area of Presidio County. Some far West Texans worry that a water deal could threaten the area's water supply. Albert Miller, who lives just outside Valentine, worries that a proposed water deal between the state and a private company could draw down too much water, leaving him and others like him without enough water. Residents of Alpine are among those concerned about a proposed water deal between the state and Rio Nuevo. Albert Miller uses a pump-fed tank on his family's ranch in Jeff Davis County in far West Texas. A proposal to sell underground water rights to a private company has West Texans worried By Bill Hanna Star-Telegram Staff Writer VALENTINE - As Albert Miller stands next to a stock tank on his ranch outside this far West Texas town, he can't help but feel a vague sense of unease. The tank still holds water from a recent rain, and the springs that seep out of the nearby mountains and canyons continue to feed the ranch its much-needed water supply. But in a region that views water as a precious resource, especially in the midst of a decadelong drought, Miller and his neighbors say they are worried that the next threat could come not from Mother Nature but from the state of Texas. State Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson is negotiating with private investors for the sale of underground water rights on state-owned lands, a move that could affect up to 350,000 acres in as many as five West Texas counties. Nearby El Paso is considered a possible customer. The negotiations with Rio Nuevo Ltd. of Midland could be just the first instance of a state agency becoming a water broker. There has been speculation that the land office could become involved in water deals in Central Texas. And a host of private companies -- from Austin-based WaterTexas to Boone Pickens, who owns water rights in the Texas Panhandle -- are all trying to profit by quenching Texas' growing thirst. The negotiations have sparked outrage among West Texans, spurred the formation of a special Senate subcommittee to study statewide water issues and led to a rare public split between two top Republicans. In the starkest terms, West Texans worry that they could be sucked dry. "There may not be a whole lot of us out here, but we kind of like it here. We would kind of like to stay," Miller said. "We realize we may not be able to keep all of the water for ourselves, but we want enough to be able do our business. We don't want to be pumped dry," he said. If the negotiations are successful, water could be taken from the West Texas aquifers and shipped through pipelines to cities hundreds of miles away, at a cost of millions of dollars. Roger Abel, Rio Nuevo's acting president, said the water belongs to everyone. "People who live in Fort Worth have as much right to the benefits as those people in West Texas," Abel said. "It's the state's land. It's for all of the people of Texas, not just those who live out there." Lobbying, suspicion Intense lobbying and much suspicion about the deal continue to swirl. Rio Nuevo, which is made up primarily of oil and gas investors, wants to extract water from state land in Hudspeth, Culberson, Presidio, Jeff Davis and El Paso counties. At least 70 percent of the targeted land is in Hudspeth County, southeast of El Paso, where residents successfully fought an attempt to have a low-level radioactive waste dump placed near Sierra Blanca. The Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission rejected the request for the nuclear waste dump in 1998. State Agriculture Commissioner Susan Combs, whose family has ranched in neighboring Brewster County for 100 years, has publicly questioned the secrecy of the water negotiations and why Patterson hasn't sought other bids. She said the methods used by the General Land Office have fueled suspicion in West Texas. "There is a feeling in a lot of rural Texas that their voting strength is pretty small," Combs said recently. "They wonder if they can be run over. And they have some pretty good reasons for feeling that way." Austin lawyer Greg Hudson, who has done legal work for Brewster County, said he is considering filing a complaint with the Travis County district attorney's office against Patterson's office. The land office has provided limited paperwork in response to a request for public documents made under the state's public information laws, Hudson said. Patterson appears unruffled by the threats and criticism. "I don't think I'm going to be wearing stripes any time soon," Patterson said. Estimated costs An agreement could be reached between the state and Rio Nuevo in the next 30 to 60 days, Patterson said. The agreement would technically be handled by the School Land Board, a division of the General Land Office that oversees holdings for the Permanent School Fund. Patterson has touted the deal as one that would ultimately benefit Texas' schoolchildren by generating income for the fund. Even if a contract is signed, it could take four or five years before any drilling might begin. The first step would be to explore whether water could be extracted from underground aquifers without harming local water supplies, officials said. At that point, Rio Nuevo could begin pumping water from the sites to sell elsewhere. On March 10, Patterson sent a letter to Rio Nuevo laying out conditions the company must meet to proceed with negotiations. The letter said the company should meet with local water groups that could be affected, including the Far West Texas Regional Water Planning Group, an umbrella group for area water districts and counties. It also asks the company to specify the total acreage of any private deals it may have made and the estimated price range for providing the water. Tom Beard, chairman of the Far West Texas Regional Water Planning Group and a vocal critic of the Rio Nuevo plan, was skeptical about the letter's effect. "I take it to mean you dot your 'i' and cross your 't' and say you've done that," Beard said. "The whole requirement issue is really slippery." Critics also question the costs associated with properly studying the effect of the drilling on the West Texas aquifers. Some estimates put the cost as high as $25 million or possibly more, but Patterson has said it could be done for far less. "I think a lot can be done for $5 million," he said. "A lot of information can be garnered for $5 million -- and it may be that $5 million is spent to say we're not going to spend any more because we can't take any out of the ground." Beard said he believes all of the attention generated by Patterson's proposal could eventually work in West Texas' favor. He notes that the grass-roots opposition to the radioactive waste dump in Sierra Blanca could serve as a model for communities fighting Rio Nuevo. Furthermore, he said he's hopeful the Senate Subcommittee on the Lease of State Water Rights, which was formed in the wake of the controversy, gives legislators a forum to address water issues for the entire state. Among discussions would likely be Texas' arcane "rule of capture" law that allows landowners to pump an unlimited amount of water from underneath their land regardless of the implications for their neighbors. Patterson has said he will not wait for the subcommittee to finish studying the water issues, however, before proceeding with plans. Lack of interest Rio Nuevo has identified El Paso as its most likely customer for any water that it might pump from the West Texas counties. El Paso Water Utilities officials, however, say they're not interested. This month, El Paso officials announced that they were negotiating to buy the water rights to about 40 percent of the farmland around Dell City east of El Paso. The utility district is negotiating with two key players in the emerging private water industry in Texas: Woody Hunt, chairman of Hunt Building Co. in El Paso, and Denver billionaire Philip Anschutz. The proposed deal, which is far from final, could eventually cost El Paso close to $100 million a year. But it would help guarantee the city's water needs for the next century and could serve as a model for other private water deals across Texas, officials say. Still, Rio Nuevo officials say their offer to El Paso would eventually make more sense than the Dell City deal. "We think we can do it cheaper," Abel said. "If we can do it more cheaply, don't you think they're going to want to talk to us?" However, Ed Archuleta, general manager of the El Paso Water Utilities Public Service Board, said he does not believe a private entity should be profiting from state-owned lands. "I can tell you, we're not going to go with Rio Nuevo," he said. "We're just not interested." For Miller, the brewing dispute hits close to home. Some of the state lands that could be part of the Rio Nuevo deal are not far away, and El Paso Water Utilities already owns a ranch south of the Miller family holdings. The Miller ranch has been in his family for more than 75 years and includes a home and a cavalry post, now abandoned, that was built -- but never occupied -- to fight Mexican bandit Pancho Villa. "There's state land around here," said Miller, who also is a member of the Jeff Davis County groundwater water district. "Just down the road is the ranch where El Paso's water district owns the rights to the underground water, so I guess I'm surrounded. "I don't know what it all means, but I think there needs to be some studies done before they start taking water out of the ground." Bill Hanna, (817) 390-7698 billhanna@star-telegram.com [billhanna@star-telegram.com] ***************************************************************** 46 KRT Wire: Kansai Electric Power Co. to Pick French Firm for MOX Fuel Processing | 03/29/2004 | Kyodo News International, Tokyo Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News Mar. 26--OSAKA, Japan - Kansai Electric Power Co. decided Friday to conclude a basic agreement to have France's state-owned nuclear fuel company COGEMA process plutonium-uranium mixed oxide (MOX) fuel for its plutonium-thermal energy project in Fukui Prefecture, company officials said. The decision followed the formal go-ahead given earlier in the month by Fukui Prefecture for restarting the project to use MOX fuel at Kansai Electric's nuclear power plant in Takahama in the prefecture, which has been stalled since the falsification of data on the fuel by a British fuel company came to light in 1999. The project, in which MOX fuel is used in light-water reactors, is expected to restart in fiscal 2007. Under the basic agreement, COGEMA will need to clear Japanese requirements for the quality of MOX fuel in order to be picked as processor of the fuel. Following Friday's decision, Kansai Electric will hold negotiations with the French concern on such issues as specific terms of quality control, hoping to conclude a formal agreement this summer. ----- To see more of Kyodo News International, go to [http://www.kyodonews.com] © 2004, Kyodo News International, Tokyo. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News. 9503, ***************************************************************** 47 UK Independent: UK told to clean up nuclear waste By Stephen Castle in Brussels 30 March 2004 Britain faces an order today to end years of stalling and clean up more than a ton of highly dangerous radioactive waste at Sellafield, in an embarrassing ruling from the European Commission. The move comes after years of complaints from environmentalists and the government of Ireland about pollution from Sellafield, and marks a new tough attitude towards nuclear safety standards from officials in Brussels. The European Commission is expected to order the Government to come up with a comprehensive clean-up plan, possibly as soon as 1 May, then to produce six-monthly progress reports. If the UK fails to comply, it can be taken to the European Court of Justice. Under the Euratom Treaty, signed by the UK, the commission has the power to order the Government to document and dispose of the highly radioactive store of waste, some of which dates back to the 1950s. The plutonium and uranium is being stored under water in a series of reinforced concrete ponds known as B30. So dangerous is the site that staff are said to be restricted to one hour's work a day in the vicinity. The material, partly of military origin, has accumulated over the decades and, because of poor record-keeping, was not properly documented. B30 was built in 1959 to store uranium fuel rods used in military and civil reactors. The fuel was submerged in water both to ensure that it remainedat a low temperature and to shield workers from exposure to radiation. The pond is now thought to contain about 1.3 tons of plutonium. Today's action marks a victory for the Irish government and for environmental campaigners who have long attacked the UK's wider record on Sellafield, including its lack of reliable records and its reluctance to share information with the public. In June 2001, Dublin protested against the UK under the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North East Atlantic. It has also complained about the plant under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. The European Commission says that it is taking the action because it has to apply the same standards to the UK as to the former Soviet nations, such as Lithuania, which will join the EU on 1 May. But the Government says that the legal provisions being used by the commission are designed to stop nations supplying nuclear material to rogue states, rather than being health or environmental measures. Some diplomats believe that the UK is being punished for its failure in the past to support the European Commission's wider political ambitions to achieve greater responsibility for nuclear policy in Europe. A British official said: "We have been working with the commission for the last 15 years and we want to find a solution. We were very surprised that they have taken this approach. "No one has an easy solution. We are not going to be rushed into something that risks safety or environmental concerns." The European Commission's vice-president, Neil Kinnock, has argued for Britain to be given more time to draw up its plan, but a clear majority of commissioners are backing action against London. "The only question now is the timing," said one official. A commission official said that the UK had been "perfectly aware of the difficulties since the end of the 1980s and has said it was going to propose a solution for more than 10 years. They are clearly not able to ensure transparency and safety to neighbours." Euratom inspectors were at first kept away from the site, although they were finally given access in 1986, and since 1991 they have been visiting annually. However their reports have documented the continued problems of identifying the contents of B30. UK Independent Ltd. ***************************************************************** 48 NRC: NRC Approves Restart of First Stage in Uranium Hexaflouride Process at Honeywell Plant in Illinois News Release - Region II - 2004-02 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs, Region II No. II-04-020 March 27, 2004 CONTACT: Ken Clark (404) 562-4416 Roger D. Hannah (404) 562-4417 E-mail: opa2@nrc.gov [opa2@nrc.gov] After several inspections and meetings, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff has informed officials of the Honeywell International, Inc., uranium hexaflouride processing plant in Metropolis, Illinois, that the agency has no objection to the restart of ore preparation at the facility. Ore preparation is the first stage in a process that has been shut down since a December 22 release of uranium hexaflouride to the environment outside the plant. The NRC sent the company a Confirmatory Action Letter following the release which stated that Honeywell would discuss with the NRC both the results of its own investigation and proposed corrective actions prior to restarting the processes involved in the incident. Based on NRC inspectors reviews of corrective actions and observation of work activities, the agency is satisfied that the companys actions have been adequate to allow the safe restart of ore preparation. NRC inspectors will observe the restart of ore preparation and continue to review the companys activities related to the remaining stages of the process. The NRC approval for ore preparation does not include any approval for the following stages in the uranium hexaflouride production process. Upon further inspection and review, NRC officials will make decisions on restarting those stages of the process. Last revised Monday, March 29, 2004 ***************************************************************** 49 DOE: Office of Environmental Management; Environmental Management FR Doc 04-6911 [Federal Register: March 29, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 60)] [Notices] [Page 16243] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr29mr04-43] [[Page 16243]] Advisory Board Reestablishment Pursuant to Section 14(a)(2)(A) of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (Pub. L. No. 92-463), and in accordance with Title 41 of the Code of Federal Regulations, section 102-3.65(a), and following consultation with the Committee Management Secretariat, General Services Administration, notice is hereby given that the Environmental Management Advisory Board has been reestablished for a two-year period beginning in March 2004. The Board will provide advice to the Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management. The Board provides the Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management with information and strategic advice on corporate issues, with a focus on achieving closure of selected sites by 2006. It recommends options to resolve difficult issues faced in the Environmental Management program including: contracts and acquisition strategies, public and worker health and safety, integration and disposition of waste, regulatory agreements, roles and authorities, risk based end-state activities and risk reduction, cost-benefit analyses, program performance and functionality, and science requirements and applications. Consensus recommendations to the Department of Energy from the Board on programmatic nationwide resolution of numerous difficult issues will help achieve the Department's objective of the safe and efficient cleanup of its contaminated sites. Additionally, the reestablishment of the Environmental Management Advisory Board has been determined to be essential to the conduct of Department of Energy business and to be in the public interest in connection with the performance of duties imposed on the Department of Energy by law and agreement. The Board will operate in accordance with the provisions of the Federal Advisory Committee Act, and rules and regulations issued in implementation of that Act. Further information regarding this Advisory Board may be obtained from Ms. Rachel Samuel at (202) 586-3279. Issued in Washington, DC on March 22, 2004. James N. Solit, Advisory Committee Management Officer. [FR Doc. 04-6911 Filed 3-26-04; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6450-01-P ***************************************************************** 50 DOE: Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board, Oak Ridge FR Doc 04-6912 [Federal Register: March 29, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 60)] [Notices] [Page 16243-16244] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr29mr04-45] Reservation AGENCY: Department of Energy. ACTION: Notice of open meeting. SUMMARY: This notice announces a meeting of the Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board (EM SSAB), Oak Ridge. The Federal Advisory Committee Act (Pub. L. 92-463, 86 Stat. 770) requires that public notice of these meeting be announced in the Federal Register. DATES: Wednesday, April 14, 2004, 6 p.m. ADDRESSES: DOE Information Center, 475 Oak Ridge Turnpike, Oak Ridge, TN. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Pat Halsey, Federal Coordinator, Department of Energy Oak Ridge Operations Office, P.O. Box 2001, EM-90, Oak Ridge, TN 37831. Phone (865) 576-4025; Fax (865) 576-5333 or e- mail: halseypj@oro.doe.gov [halseypj@oro.doe.gov] or check the Web site at http://www.oakridge.doe.gov/em/ssab [http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leaving FR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www.oakridge.doe.gov/em/ssab] . SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Purpose of the Board: The purpose of the Board is to make recommendations to DOE and its regulators in the areas of environmental restoration, waste management, and related activities. Tentative Agenda Developing Recommendations on Soil Vapor Sampling at the East Tennessee Technology Park (ETTP) Remediation Strategies for Trenches 5 and 7 and the Melton Valley Area of Oak Ridge National Laboratory Discussion and Comments on the Focused Feasibility Study for Zone 2 Soils and Buried Waste at ETTP Public Participation: The meeting is open to the public. Written statements [[Page 16244]] may be filed with the Committee either before or after the meeting. Individuals who wish to make oral statements pertaining to agenda items should contact Pat Halsey at the address or telephone number listed above. Requests must be received five days prior to the meeting and reasonable provision will be made to include the presentation in the agenda. The Deputy Designated Federal Officer is empowered to conduct the meeting in a fashion that will facilitate the orderly conduct of business. Each individual wishing to make public comment will be provided a maximum of five minutes to present their comments. Minutes: Minutes of this meeting will be available for public review and copying at the Department of Energy's Information Center at 475 Oak Ridge Turnpike, Oak Ridge, TN between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, or by writing to Pat Halsey, Department of Energy Oak Ridge Operations Office, P.O. Box 2001, EM-90, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, or by calling her at (865) 576-4025. Issued at Washington, DC on March 24, 2004. Rachel M. Samuel, Deputy Committee Management Officer. [FR Doc. 04-6912 Filed 3-26-04; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6450-01-P ***************************************************************** 51 DOE: Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board, Paducah FR Doc 04-6913 [Federal Register: March 29, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 60)] [Notices] [Page 16244] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr29mr04-46] AGENCY: Department of Energy (DOE). ACTION: Notice of open meeting. SUMMARY: This notice announces a meeting of the Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board (EM SSAB), Paducah. The Federal Advisory Committee Act (Pub. L. 92-463, 86 Stat. 770) requires that public notice of these meetings be announced in the Federal Register. DATES: Thursday, April 15, 2004, 5:30 p.m.-9:30 p.m. ADDRESSES: 111 Memorial Drive, Barkley Centre, Paducah, Kentucky. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: William E. Murphie, Deputy Designated Federal Officer (DDFO), Department of Energy Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office, 1017 Majestic Drive, Suite 200, Lexington, Kentucky 40513, (859) 219-4001. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Purpose of the Board: The purpose of the Board is to make recommendations to DOE and its regulators in the areas of environmental restoration and waste management activities. Tentative Agenda 5:30 p.m.--Informal Discussion 6 p.m.--Call to Order; Introductions; Approve March Minutes; Review Agenda 6:05 p.m.--DDFO's Comments 6:25 p.m.--Ex-officio Comments 6:35 p.m.--Federal Coordinator Comments 6:45 p.m.--Public Comments and Questions 6:55 p.m.--Break 7:05 p.m.--Task Forces/Presentations Conflict of Interest Waste Disposition Water Quality Community Outreach Long Range Strategy/Stewardship 8:05 p.m.--Public Comments and Questions 8:15 p.m.--Administrative Issues Review of Work Plan Review of Next Agenda Chairs Meeting 8:35 p.m.--Review of Action Items 8:50 p.m.--Subcommittee Reports Executive Committee 9:15 p.m.--Final Comments 9:30 p.m.--Adjourn Copies of the final agenda will be available at the meeting. Public Participation: The meeting is open to the public. Written statements may be filed with the Committee either before or after the meeting. Individuals who wish to make oral statements pertaining to agenda items should contact David Dollins at the address listed below or by telephone at (270) 441-6819. Requests must be received five days prior to the meeting and reasonable provision will be made to include the presentation in the agenda. The Deputy Designated Federal Officer is empowered to conduct the meeting in a fashion that will facilitate the orderly conduct of business. Each individual wishing to make public comments will be provided a maximum of five minutes to present their comments as the first item of the meeting agenda. Minutes: The minutes of this meeting will be available for public review and copying at the Freedom of Information Public Reading Room, 1E-190, Forrestal Building, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20585 between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday-Friday, except Federal holidays. Minutes will also be available at the Department of Energy's Environmental Information Center and Reading Room at 115 Memorial Drive, Barkley Centre, Paducah, Kentucky between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. on Monday thru Friday or by writing to David Dollins, Department of Energy Paducah Site Office, Post Office Box 1410, MS-103, Paducah, Kentucky 42001 or by calling him at (270) 441-6819. Issued at Washington, DC on March 23, 2004. Rachel M. Samuel, Deputy Advisory Committee Management Officer. [FR Doc. 04-6913 Filed 3-26-04; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6450-01-P ***************************************************************** 52 DOE: Aluminum Visions of the Future Funding Opportunity Announcement FR Doc 04-6914 [Federal Register: March 29, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 60)] [Notices] [Page 16243] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr29mr04-44] AGENCY: Golden Field Office, U.S. Department of Energy. ACTION: Notice of issuance of funding opportunity announcement. SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is announcing its intention to seek applications for cost-shared research and development of technologies which will reduce energy consumption, reduce environmental impacts and enhance economic competitiveness of the domestic aluminum industry. The research is to address research priorities identified by the aluminum industry in the Aluminum Industry Technology Roadmap and the Inert Anode Roadmap (available at the following URL: http://www.oit.doe.gov/aluminum/visions.shtml [http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leaving FR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www.oit.doe.gov/aluminum/visions.sh tml] .) Potential benefits of the research must be realized in manufacturing processes, not in end-use applications. DATES: The funding opportunity announcement was issued March 22, 2004. ADDRESSES: To obtain a copy of the announcement, interested parties should access the DOE Golden Field Office home page at http://www.go.doe.gov/funding.html [http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leaving FR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www.go.doe.gov/funding.html] , click on the word ``access.'' The link will open the Industry Interactive Procurement System (IIPS) web site and provide instructions on using IIPS. The Announcement can also be obtained directly through IIPS at http://e-center.doe.gov [http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leaving FR.html&log=linklog&to=http://e-center.doe.gov] by browsing opportunities by Contract Activity, for those announcements issued by the Golden Field Office. DOE will not issue paper copies of the announcement. IIPS provides the medium for disseminating announcements, receiving financial assistance applications, and evaluating the applications in a paperless environment. The application may be submitted in the Industry Interactive Procurement System (IIPS) by the applicant or a designated representative that receives authorization from the applicant; however, the application documentation must reflect the name and title of the representative authorized to enter the applicant into a legally binding contract or agreement. The applicant or the designated representative must first register in IIPS, entering their first name and last name, then entering the company name/address of the applicant. For questions regarding the operation of IIPS, contact the IIPS Help Desk at IIPS_HelpDesk@e-center.doe.gov [IIPS_HelpDesk@e-center.doe.gov] or at (800) 683-0751. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: DOE Golden Field Office, 1617 Cole Boulevard, Golden, CO 80401-3393 or via facsimile to at (303) 275-4788, or electronically to aluminum@go.doe.gov [aluminum@go.doe.gov] . Issued in Golden, Colorado, on March 22, 2004. Jerry L. Zimmer, Director, Office of Acquisition and Financial Assistance. [FR Doc. 04-6914 Filed 3-26-04; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6450-01-P ***************************************************************** 53 Post-Intelligencer: Sick DOE workers' claims languish [seattlepi.com] Monday, March 29, 2004 Most cases unreviewed, no compensation paid under 4-year-old plan By CHARLES POPE SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT WASHINGTON -- Four years after Vice President Al Gore heralded it as the first step toward "compensating these workers for their suffering," an effort to provide payments to workers made sick by their jobs at Hanford and other nuclear weapons plants is collapsing. Although tens of millions of dollars have been spent on the program, not one penny has been paid out so far to workers, even though 23,350 claims have been filed since 2001 claiming illnesses caused by exposure to toxic substances on the job. Fewer than 6 percent have been reviewed. The system is overburdened, understaffed and sluggish, and officials say it's unlikely that the pace will accelerate anytime soon. "We're familiar with how it's working now, and how it's working now is not very good," said Joe Davis, a spokesman for the Department of Energy. "We are facing an incredible number of filings. We have faced the problem of ramping up our program to meet our own expectations of getting these cases dealt with in a timely manner. It hasn't been easy," he said. Energy officials say they need more money, even though Congress provided $55 million this fiscal year and probably will grant $43 million next year. But money will not fix the structural problems that afflict the program, critics say. The biggest problem, they say, is that the Energy Department is not responsible for paying former workers. Once claims make it through the department's bureaucracy, they are funneled either into state-run workers compensation programs or, in the case of Hanford workers and those from some other states, private insurers contracted by the Energy Department. Both kinds of programs are notoriously complicated and thick with even more bureaucracy, and at times adversarial. How much money a claimant would receive under such systems would vary, but generally it would be annual payments of roughly 60 percent of the worker's last salary. David Michaels was an assistant energy secretary until 2001, and was an architect of the program. What he envisioned and what became a reality are two very different concepts, he told Senate Energy Committee last year. "I am disappointed to report to this committee that DOE leadership made a series of decisions to set up a program that will compensate as few people as possible, as slowly as possible," Michaels testified. "Most of us believed that the new structure ... would overcome that old policy -- known in (DOE headquarters) as 'deny and defend' and would ensure that the goal shared by Congress and the administration of providing timely, adequate and uniform levels of compensation could be reached," he said. "Senators, I am here to tell you that we were wrong. The structure I recommended has failed." Action is demanded The record is so bad that Congress, health advocates and labor unions are intensifying their demands that the program be reformed or even reconstituted. Those frustrations and demands will be on display tomorrow when the Senate Energy Committee examines the program. "The federal government's implementation of this program has been an insult to the Americans who served our country," said Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, who will offer legislation again this year to reform the program. Critics want the program transferred to the Department of Labor, which is responsible for a separate, smaller initiative that compensates former workers who are ill because of exposure to beryllium and silica. That program, which began at the same time as DOE's, has so far paid out $720 million. The program's failure is especially galling to Hanford workers, whose work in hazardous conditions produced the essential materials for nuclear weapons that allowed the United States to win World War II and the Cold War. "They are patriots and they are Cold War veterans and they should be treated as such," said Randy Knowles, president of the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers International Union at Hanford. "The legislation was passed and a lot of people tend to think, OK, it's a done deal. But people are dying here. People are suffering. Families are suffering. It's time to pony up." The biggest bottleneck, according to DOE officials, is the review of each case by a physician's panel. This panel, usually composed of three doctors certified in workplace health issues, dissects each case to determine whether the ailment was caused by exposure to hazards at weapons plants. So far, such panels have finished work on just 1,296 of the 23,350 claims filed. "Sick workers do not have time for DOE to learn on the job. It is time to give this job to those who have the skills and infrastructure to perform," said Richard Miller, vice president of the Government Accountability Project, a non-partisan public interest group that has followed the compensation program closely from its origins. Miller supports moving the program out of the Energy Department to the Labor Department, which has long experience administering similar funds, including one for miners suffering from black lung disease. Two approaches, one success When Congress created the program in October 2000, supporters said it punctuated two indisputable facts. One was that the thousands of workers at Hanford, Savannah River, Oak Ridge and other weapons plants were just as much Cold War veterans as members of the military. The other recognized that the workers were getting sick because of the highly hazardous materials that they worked with and DOE's often-poor record protecting their safety. "While we cannot undo their suffering, today this administration begins the process of healing by admitting the government's mistakes, designing a process for compensating these workers for their suffering and by becoming an advocate for Department of Energy workers throughout the nuclear weapons complex," Gore said in April 2000 in asking Congress to act. The program that emerged later that year covered workers or their survivors who became ill or who died as a result of their employment in the nuclear weapons industry. In all, more than 300 facilities fell under the law. But the law that emerged, because of political considerations and health concerns, differed from the original idea. In the end, the program was divided into two parts for two different groups. One would be administered by the Labor Department and the other by the Energy Department. The Labor program applied specifically to workers who were killed or sickened by exposure to beryllium, silica, or radiation. Those who qualified could collect a lump sum payment of up to $150,000 directly from the federal government. That effort has drawn wide praise for its speed and efficiency. To date more than $720 million has been paid to workers or their families. More than 95 percent of all claims have been completed. Grassley plans to offer legislation that would transfer the program to the Department of Labor. That effort has bipartisan support in the Senate. Washington's two senators, Democrats Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray, support such a move. "It's clear (DOE has) not been moving fast enough and it has impacted a lot of people in Washington state who have serious health care problems. I'm supportive of whatever it takes," Cantwell said. Others, including Energy Department officials, oppose shifting the program to Labor. They say the program should stay in the department because it has access to all the health records, the people and the history. More money and such changes as reducing the number of physicians on each review panel from three to two, or in some cases even one, will allow the department to accelerate the pace, officials say. And, they point out the program has had far more claims than expected. At the beginning, officials estimated that 3,000 people would file. By the time the program ends that number could mushroom to 30,000. The Energy Department also complains that it can't attract enough physicians because Congress limits physicians' pay to $68 an hour while requiring an expertise in occupational medicine. Doctors with those qualifications routinely earn $150 an hour, officials say. "We're preparing a plan that we believe ... can clear this backlog by 2006," said Davis, the Energy Department spokesman. "That may seem like a long time, but without the changes we're asking for it would be another four years," Davis said. "We certainly hope Congress would back us up on that," he said, adding that when Congress provided more money last year the number of claims processed jumped from 20 a week to 60. The department has supporters in Congress. "I'm not sure (about moving the program to Labor). We're dealing with a pretty unique work force and it's fair to say which department is better able to understand that uniqueness that would be DOE," said Rep. Richard "Doc" Hastings, R-Wash., whose district includes Hanford. "I'm not sure that would be the panacea, and I think it's over-simplistic." CASE STATUS + Claims filed since 2001: 23,350 + Claims awaiting action: 22,054 + Claims that have been reviewed: 1,296 + Claims deemed ineligible: 1,038 + Claims accepted: 56 + Claims rejected: 53 P-I Washington correspondent Charles Pope can be reached at 202-263-6461 or charliepope@seattlepi.com [Seattle Post-Intelligencer] 101 Elliott Ave. W. Seattle, WA 98119 (206) 448-8000 Send comments to [newmedia@seattlepi.com] ***************************************************************** 54 lamonitor.com: Former secretary of the Air Force to speak at Bradbury The Online News Source for Los Alamos Monitor Staff Report Former Secretary of the Air Force Thomas C. Reed will present a talk at Bradbury Science Museum at 6:30 p.m. Friday. Reed will discuss his new book, "At the Abyss: an Insiders History of the Cold War." Following the talk, Reed will be at Otowi Station Bookstore to sign copies of his book and answer questions. In "At the Abyss," Reed provides a comprehensive history of the near-deadly power plays, political paranoia and unchecked nuclear one-upmanship that defined the second half of the twentieth century. Reed was a prominent player throughout the Cold War - as a former Secretary of the Air Force, as a Director of the National Reconnaissance office, and as a Special Assistant to President Reagan for National Security Policy - and is one of the few living Americans to have witnessed the detonation of a thermonuclear device. This perspective allows Reed to explore from a unique vantage point America's fight against Communism from 1953, beginning in 1953 - with the death of Stalin, the inauguration of Eisenhower, and the coming of the thermonuclear age - to the closing of the Strategic Air Command. The catalogue of real-life characters who devised weaponry, dictated policy, or deviously spied and subverted, discussed in "At the Abyss: include the following: Whittaker Chambers, the translator whose book Witness jump-started the hunt for Communists working in our government; Lavrenti Beria, the head of the Soviet nuclear weapons program who apparently killed Joseph Stalin; Colonel Ed Hall, the leader of America's advanced missile system, whose own brother was a Soviet spy; Admiral James Stockwell, the prisoner of war and eventual vice presidential candidate who kept his terrible secret from the Vietnamese for eight long years; and Nancy Reagan, the "Queen of Hearts," who was both a loving wife and instigator of palace intrigue in her husband's White House. As Reed writes, "The Cold War...was a fight to the death, fought with bayonets, napalm, and high-tech weaponry of every sort-save one. It was not fought with nuclear weapons." In addition to serving as secretary of the Air Force, Reed has been director of National Reconnaissance, a special assistant to President Reagan for National Security Policy, and a consultant to the director of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, where much of the country's nuclear weapons research takes place. He lives in northern California, and continues to advise Washington on national security issues and is a consultant to the Director of Lawrence Livermore. Contact Otowi Station at 662-9589, or Bradbury Science Museum at 665-0896 for more information. [http://www.lamonitor.com/articles/2004/03/29/features/features01 © 2003 Los Alamos Monitor All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 55 U.S. Newswire: Secretary Abraham and Energy Officials to Testify Before Congressional Committees 3/29/2004 12:21:00 PM To: Assignment Desk, Daybook Editor Contact: Jana Toner of the U.S. Department of Energy, 202-586-4940 News Advisory: The following officials from the Department of Energy are scheduled to testify on Capitol Hill this week: -- Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham is scheduled to testify Thursday before the House Energy and Commerce Committee. He will testify on the FY 2005 budget request for DOE. -- Under Secretary of Energy Robert Card is scheduled to testify tomorrow before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. He will testify on the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000 (EEOICPA). -- Jessie Roberson, assistant secretary for Environmental Management, is schedule to testify Wednesday before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development. She will testify on the FY 2005 budget request for Environmental Management. -- Margaret Chu, director of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, is scheduled to testify Wednesday on the FY 2005 budget request for her office before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development. -- Beverly Cook, assistant secretary for Environment, Safety and Health, is scheduled to testify Wednesday on the FY 2005 budget request for her office before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development. Following are details for the hearings. -- Tuesday, March 30, 2004 -- WHO: Under Secretary Robert Card WHAT: Testimony, EEOICPA WHEN: Tuesday, March 30 at 10 a.m. WHERE: Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, 366 Dirksen Senate Office Building -- Wednesday, March 31, 2004 -- WHO: Jessie Roberson, Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management WHAT: Testimony, FY 2005 budget request for Environmental Management WHEN: Wednesday, March 31 at 10 a.m. WHERE: Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, 138 Dirksen Senate Office Building WHO: Margaret Chu, director of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management WHAT: Testimony, FY 2005 budget request for Civilian Radioactive Waste Management WHEN: Wednesday, March 31 at 10 a.m. WHERE: Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, 138 Dirksen Senate Office Building WHO: Beverly Cook, assistant secretary for Environment, Safety and Health WHAT: Testimony, FY 2005 budget request for Environment, Safety and Health WHEN: Wednesday, March 31 at 10 a.m. WHERE: Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, 138 Dirksen Senate Office Building -- Thursday, April 1, 2004 -- WHO: Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham WHAT: Testimony, FY 2005 budget request for DOE WHEN: Thursday, April 1 at 9:30 a.m. WHERE: House Energy and Commerce Committee, 2123 Rayburn House Office Building http://www.usnewswire.com/ [http://www.usnewswire.com/] ***************************************************************** 56 Times-News: Post-trial documents filed in INEEL cleanup lawsuit [http://www.magicvalley.com/] Monday, March 29, 2004 • Twin Falls, Idaho POCATELLO, Idaho (AP) -- The final documents of last year's four-month trial to decide whether Lockheed Martin Advanced Environmental is responsible for a breech of contract have been filed. Judge B. Lynn Winmill will decide the case later this year. The trial lasted from August to November in the U.S. District Court. Lockheed Martin Idaho operated the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory from 1994 to 1999. It sued its sister company, Lockheed Martin Advanced Environmental, which was hired as a subcontractor in 1994 to cleanup Pit 9, a 1-acre site used from 1967 to 1969 to store waste from nuclear weapons production in Colorado. Lockheed Technology claims its sister company did not clean the site by deadline. Lockheed Martin Idaho filed the lawsuit for more than $100 million, including $54 million of progress payments. Cleanup of Pit 9, part of INEEL's 97-acre Subsurface Disposal Area at the Radioactive Waste Management Complex, is required under an early 1990s agreement between the Department of Energy and the state. The government is using Pit 9 to test technology that will eventually be used to clean up the rest of the area ***************************************************************** 57 Hawk Eye: New DOE rules could speed up claims [http://archive.thehawkeye.com] Monday, March 29, 2004, By MATTHEW LeBLANC mleblanc@thehawkeye.com [mleblanc@thehawkeye.com] The Energy Department has issued new rules for federally appointed physician panels involved in a workers' compensation program designed to compensate thousands of ailing former nuclear weapons workers nationwide. The rules, published in the Federal Register last week, concern panels of physicians assembled by the Department of Energy to determine whether workers who have filed claims under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program are eligible for compensation. New guidelines state that one physician — rather than three — can make the determination. The time allowed for a physician panel's final decision on compensation claims was also lowered from 30 days to 20 days. DOE officials say the changes will speed up the claims process for more than 20,000 applicants for compensation payments under subtitle D of EEOICP. "The rule permits a physician panel to be composed of a single qualified physician. Permitting single–physician panels will have the immediate effect of increasing the number of panels available to review completed applications," states a March 24 entry in the Federal Register. Compensation claims filed by more than 500 former Iowa Army Ammunition Plant employees are expected to remain stationary, however. DOE officials have not yet addressed a complicated and confusing law included in EEOICP that leaves eligible former IAAP workers without access to state compensation payments. Under subtitle D, former DOE workers can seek state workers' compensation payments if they contracted illnesses related to exposure to beryllium, asbestos and other chemicals while working at DOE–run facilities across the U.S. Iowa does not have a "willing payer" designated by the federal government to dole out the money, however. Federal and state law allows DOE contractors no longer associated with the facilities to contest the compensation claims, ensuring that the payments will never be made. IAAP's contractor — Mason and Hangar Corp. — left the Middletown plant in 1976, and can contest the more than 576 claims filed by its employees under Iowa statute of limitation laws. None of the former IAAP workers have received payments under subtitle D. Allison Dobson, a spokeswoman for Sen. Tom Harkin, called the revised physician panel rules "superficial" and said that DOE must find a willing payer. "We support it. We hope it speeds up the process," Dobson said of the changes, "but we're worried that it's more of a superficial approach that won't really address some of the most pressing problems. "They're giving some lip service to the willing payer problem, but no real solution." Sen. Charles Grassley, R–Iowa, called the rules "a step in the right direction," but stopped short of lauding DOE's efforts. An outspoken critic of EEOICP, Grassley also has pushed for a willing payer. "Everyone acknowledges that the log jam in the physicians panels is a problem that needs to be dealt with," he said in a prepared statement last week. "The Energy Department's recognition that this is a problem and actually moving forward to address the situation is a step in the right direction." Harkin, D–Iowa, sponsored legislation creating EEOICP in 2000. He has since criticized the pace of claims processing with Grassley and other lawmakers. Despite DOE's claims that the new rules surrounding the physician panels will speed up the process, the guidelines leaves open the option to allow three–person panels to evaluate claims applications. Also, negative panel determinations will be reviewed by a second one–person panel. A third one–person panel will review the application if the first two disagree on whether the claimant is eligible for payment. "The definition adopted today preserves DOE's discretion to convene three–person physician panels," the Federal Register entry states. "Nevertheless, DOE contemplates that a single–person physician panel will be used in most instances in order to expedite processing of the applications." Another section of EEOICP, subtitle B, allows cancer–stricken former DOE workers to apply for one–time $150,000 compensation payments given by the Department of Labor. Critics also have assailed that section, saying that claims are being processed too slowly. Grassley is expected to testify before a Senate energy subcommittee Wednesday about EEOICP. More than 1,600 former IAAP employees have filed claims under subtitle B. Only 39 have received compensation payments, according to DOL statistics. The Hawk Eye 800 S. Main St., Burlington Iowa 52601 319-754-8461 Front Desk · 319-754-6824 FAX · 1-800-397-1708 Toll Free ***************************************************************** 58 Oak Ridger: Report: Weapons plants threat to environment Story last updated at 11:52 a.m. on March 29, 2004 DANGER LURKS BELOW: Oak Ridge is one of more than a dozen sites mentioned in just-released document. By: Paul Parson | Oak Ridger Staff paul.parson@oakridger.com [paul.parson@oakridger.com] Federal weapons facilities pose a threat to major water supplies, according to a network of 30-plus peace and environmental groups. In a document partially titled "Danger Lurks Below," the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability states the water bodies, including the Clinch River, are at risk from radioactive and toxic contamination seeping from nuclear weapons production, research and testing facilities. The document also questions the adequacy of the Department of Energy's current remediation techniques at more than a dozen sites, including Oak Ridge. "Cleaning up the legacy of U.S. nuclear weapons production is the biggest environmental project in the nation's history, but DOE has failed to eliminate the threat of contamination to major water supplies," explained Susan Gordon, director of the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability. "It's time for DOE to obey all environmental laws, clean up its mess, and end plans to generate even more pollution by building new weapons plants. The first step is for DOE to tell the truth about pollution and allocate sufficient funds to remove contaminants instead of cutting corners," Gordon said. While DOE's Oak Ridge Operations office has not fully reviewed the report, Steven Wyatt, a spokesman, said most of its contents are not new to the federal agency. "We know the location and extent of contamination on the Oak Ridge Reservation," Wyatt said. "We have an aggressive plan to clean it up. "The DOE's Accelerated Cleanup plan was developed with the cooperation of stakeholders and regulators. We also carefully monitor the environment in and around the Oak Ridge Reservation. Our annual site environmental report indicates that activities on the Reservation are in compliance with air, water and radiation limits established under federal and state environmental laws." Released this morning, the organization's 250-plus page report classifies all of the dozen-plus sites that are mentioned as DOE facilities. However, the nuclear weapons complex technically falls under the purview of the National Nuclear Security Administration - a quasi-independent agency within the Energy Department. "When NNSA was created as a semi-autonomous agency under the Department of Energy several years ago, DOE's Environmental Management program retained responsibility for cleanup and waste management activities at all sites, including those whose production missions are now under NNSA purview," explained Bob Schaeffer of the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability. In addition, the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability lumps the three main local federal facilities together as the Oak Ridge Reservation. The facilities in question are the Y-12 National Security Complex, the actual weapons plant and storehouse for bomb-grade uranium; Oak Ridge National Laboratory, which conducts research in virtually all areas of science and energy; and the Oak Ridge K-25 site, which houses some private-sector companies in addition to undergoing a massive cleanup effort. When asked why the Oak Ridge facilities were classified together, Schaeffer responded: "The three facilities at Oak Ridge are covered together because they share a common geography/hydrology and are treated as a collective entity in DOE's clean-up budget documents." For one thing, the report suggests that a source of Oak Ridge contamination has been storage facilities of radioactive and hazardous materials including settlement ponds, seepage pits and trenches, inactive tanks, abandoned underground pipelines and surplus facilities. The settlement ponds and waste burial pits are leaking chemicals and other materials into the ground as well as affecting water sources, according to the document. "Groundwater accounts for approximately 42 percent of the public and domestic water supplies in the United States (crop irrigation is the largest use of this groundwater)," the report states. "Clearly this is an immensely important resource that nuclear weapons production has placed at risk. "As precipitation encounters surface contamination it can percolate through the soil, carrying the pollutants down towards the aquifers. And as surface water flows, it carries contaminants further from their source and may spread the contamination into nearby streams and rivers, municipal reservoirs, as well as further off site." Dennis Hill, a spokesman for Bechtel Jacobs Co., was unaware of the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability's report and declined to comment on the document. Bechtel Jacobs is under contract with DOE to oversee cleanup programs in Oak Ridge. In addition to Tennessee's Clinch River, the report states the other water bodies threatened by pollution from nuclear weapons plants are the Columbia River in Washington State and Oregon as well as the Savannah River on the South Carolina-Georgia border. Major underground water resources that are heavily used for drinking water or irrigation but face contamination include the Ogallala Aquifer beneath Texas, Idaho's Snake River Aquifer and the Great Miami Aquifer in Ohio, according to the report. Research for the report was funded by the Citizens Monitoring and Technical Assessment Fund, which was created as part of a settlement to a lawsuit brought by many Alliance for Nuclear Accountability member groups against DOE for inadequate planning of its cleanup program. The cost of the report was not available. As of this morning, the full report was posted on the Web at www.ananuclear.org/waterreport.html [http://www.ananuclear.org/waterreport.html] ***************************************************************** 59 amarillo globe: Pantex weighs worker training 03/29/04 By Jim McBride [jim.mcbride@amarillo.com] Pantex Plant is bolstering worker training, procedures and document reviews in the wake of a Jan. 8 incident when weapons technicians taped and moved a cracked high-explosive charge while dismantling a nuclear warhead. Steve Erhart, senior scientific and technical adviser for the Pantex Site Office, said contractor BWXT Pantex has finished a corrective action plan and Pantex was satisfied with the document. The plan has been presented to top National Nuclear Security Administration officials and the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board. Erhart said the Pantex Site Office conducted an internal self-assessment of the incident to review how plant workers responded. The assessment, he said, concluded workers' actions were proper and the incident was reported in a timely fashion up the chain of command. "Further, we concluded that local oversight of the nuclear explosive charge control process and weapons-specific training for facility representatives, although satisfactory, could be enhanced," Erhart said in a statement. Contractor BWXT Pantex also convened a review board of senior managers, engineers and weapons lab experts to study the incident. According to a safety board report, workers discovered the cracked high explosive during dismantlement work on the W-56, a retired nuclear weapon that is carried on a Minuteman intercontinental ballistic missile. "The configuration of the partially dismantled weapon and the nature of the cracks appear to have increased the opportunities for dropping all or part of the explosives and hence increased the potential for a violent reaction," the report said. But Pantex officials said Friday the Jan. 8 incident did not pose a safety problem. "Our investigation determined that there was never, at any time, a safety issue related to this incident. The safe control of all components and materials was maintained at all times," Jud Simmons, a BWXT Pantex spokesman, said in a statement. "The technicians were working in a safe and professional manner. They performed the process as they were trained, and they stopped work when appropriate." John Conway, chairman of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, said a weapons lab's nuclear safety expert should have helped workers responding to the incident and workers could have halted the procedure more quickly. "I think they should have stopped it sooner ... They called for assistance - that's the key thing - and the laboratory had a so-called expert there, who did not come down to eyeball it, but rendered an opinion that all they had to do was tape it up," he said. "Then it was taped, but not the way the safety expert would have done it presumably, as I have been told." Conway said assistance from laboratory weapons experts also should be stepped up. During the incident, workers were removing a high-explosives charge from a plutonium weapons core during a final dismantlement procedure. "The investigation team also concluded that enhancements in training, procedure development and document review would benefit the plant's operations, and these improvements are currently being communicated to our employees," Simmons said. Dismantlement operations are expected to resume after additional reviews and process enhancements are finished. The defense safety board earlier credited Pantex workers for their response but questioned the effectiveness of Pantex training and procedures for ensuring safe nuclear explosive operations. Experts from California's Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory should help Pantex officials as they do follow-up work, Conway said. "The main thing right now, if I say something, is that we make sure that the laboratory at Livermore - particularly since it was one of their weapons - gives them the assistance that they need on what they are going to do now with this unit," he said. Conway said the Pantex contractor has completed its portion of the analysis, but more work is needed. [http://www.amarillo.com/] ***************************************************************** 60 lamonitor.com: DOE backs school funding plan The Online News Source for Los Alamos ROGER SNODGRASS, roger@lamonitor.com, Monitor Assistant Editor Los Alamos Public Schools won a strong endorsement from one of its major patrons, but the issue of a stable, long-term funding mechanism has yet to be resolved. The $8 million LAPS expects to receive from the Department of Energy for next school year, appeared in DOE's budget proposal, then disappeared after it was sent to the Office of Management and Budget, and remained absent when Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham unveiled his department's budget proposal to Congress on Feb. 2. Now, the department in a formal statement to Congress has ratified the financial needs of the Los Alamos Public Schools. Last week, DOE's National Nuclear Security Administration issued a very tardy report on the history and rationale of the department's annual supplement to the Los Alamos Public Schools. The white paper, which had been requested by Congress two years ago and was due Dec. 31, 2003, recommended that the funding continue and spelled out three options for how to do it. "The report does an awesome job of explaining the history of the funding," said Jim Anderson, Los Alamos Schools' superintendent. He said the document makes a case that funding needs to continue and spells out the reasons why. "Continued, stable support is necessary to fulfill the missions of both the LAPSD (Los Alamos Public School District) and LANL (Los Alamos National Laboratory)," the authors of the report concluded. The report explained in detail the peculiarities and the extraordinary circumstances under which the laboratory was created in 1942. "It was understood from the outset that the new laboratory would need to recruit 'highly talented specialists' and keep them 'satisfied with their working and living conditions,' including the quality of schools for their children," wrote the authors, citing Pulitzer-Prize-winning historian Richard Rhodes. "In fact, from the beginning the construction of schools was 'a most urgent community problem.'" While the rationale of attracting and retaining excellent teachers remained the same, the Atomic Energy Commission's full support for the schools gave way to a grant-in-aid of 35 percent of the school revenues. The principle of support continued under the Department of Energy, although the supplement declined to about 25 percent of the revenue starting in 1998. The report said the extra assistance was necessary because of the high cost of living, the demand for excellence of the LANL staff, and "New Mexico law, which effectively prevents communities from increasing local taxes as a means of increasing operation funds for higher teacher pay and other operational costs." Los Alamos County may be the only school system in the country still funded to a significant degree by an annual appropriation to the Department of Energy. Anderson said, to his knowledge, there aren't any others. Critics find it hard to believe that one of the wealthiest counties in the country can't afford to fund its own school system, but the report explained why that is the case. A 1974 state law, the New Mexico Public School Finance Act set limits on how much local support communities could provide their schools. The report noted, "It is unlikely that the basic principles of the NMPSFA method of funding schools in New Mexico will change." The report concluded by listing three options, "presented in increasingly likelihood of success." Option 1 would throw the whole issue back on the state and county, "to ensure the continued high quality of LAPS." Option 2 advised establishing a charitable endowment that would provide a sustained annual income if funded appropriately. A single, one-time appropriation of $160 million, the report calculated, would be enough to generate $8 million in annual income for the schools. Longer term plans, from 5-15 years, would cost less up front, but would be subject to the unpredictability of congressional priorities. Option 3, the preferred plan, would include the supplement in the contract for managing the laboratory. Anderson said option 1 would not be a solution "We have no way to make it up, because we have no way to do that in New Mexico," he said. Option 2, which described the endowment, Anderson called "a buyout," and said it had been given serious consideration. The problem with option 2, he said, is that the current budget deficit and national security priorities make the higher short-term price tag harder to fund. Option 3, would enable the managers of the laboratory to take on supplementing school funding as a part of doing business. "One way that could happen is if the school funding were included in the RFP (Request for Proposal)," he said, when the lab contract is opened for competition later this year. "That would be another good way to do it." Nearly every year, LAPS struggles with whether and when a big chunk of its annual budget will become available. The schools are benefited by the congressional assistance but subject to its political whims. "One of the reasons we must find a long-range solution is because we won't have senators (Pete) Domenici and (Jeff) Bingaman forever," said Anderson. "They may be replaced by somebody who is sympathetic, but won't have the seniority or command the respect and influence of our current senators." © 2003 Los Alamos Monitor All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 61 Fort Madison Daily Democrat: New rules should speed IAAP payments BURLINGTON (AP) -- New rules issued by the U.S. Department of Energy should speed up payments to ailing nuclear weapons workers nationwide, officials say. The rules, published last week, say one physician instead of three can determine if someone is eligible for payment under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program. That lowers the time allowed for a physician's final decision on claims from 30 days to 20 days. DOE officials say the changes will speed up the claims process for more than 20,000 nuclear energy workers who are eligible for compensation. The single physician panels will mean more physicians will be freed up to review claims, officials said. Despite the changes, claims filed by more than 500 former Iowa Army Ammunition Plant workers are expected to remain stationary because DOE officials haven't addressed a complicated law that leaves those workers without access to state compensation payments. Under the law, former DOE workers can seek state workers compensation payments if they became ill from exposure to beryllium, asbestos or other chemicals while working at DOE facilities. Iowa doesn't have a "willing payer" designated by the federal government to distribute the payments, however. Allison Dobson, a spokeswoman for Sen. Tom Harkin, said the revised rules are superficial and that the DOE must find a willing payer. "We hope it speeds up the process, but we're worried that it's more of a superficial approach that won't really address some of the most pressing problems. "They're giving some lip service to the willing payer problem, but no real solution," she said. Sen. Charles Grassley said the new rules are a step in the right direction, but he also pushed the DOE to find a willing payer. "Everyone acknowledges that the log jam in the physicians panels is a problem that needs to be dealt with," he said in a prepared statement. "The Energy Department's recognition that this is a problem and actually moving forward to address the situation is a step in the right direction." Although the DOE claims the new rules will speed the process, the guidelines still allow for three-person panels to review claims. If a claim is rejected, it can be reviewed by a second panel, the rules say. And if the two first panels disagree, there are provisions for a third panel to review a claim. "Nevertheless, DOE contemplates that a single-person physician panel will be used in most instances to expedite processing of the applications," the rules state. Another section of the program allows former DOE workers who have cancer to apply for a one-time $150,000 payment from the Department of Labor. But critics also have attacked that provision, sayings claims are processed too slowly. More than 1,600 former IAAP employees have filed claims under that section, but only 39 have received compensation payments, Department of Labor records show. ***************************************************************** 62 Idaho Statesman: Final documents filed in Lockheed Martin case [http://www.idahostatesman.com] POCATELLO — The final documents are filed for last year´s four-month trial to decide whether Lockheed Martin Advanced Environmental is responsible for a breech of contract. Judge B. Lynn Winmill will decide the case later this year. The trial lasted from August to November in U.S. District Court. Lockheed Martin Idaho operated the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory from 1994 to 1999. It sued its sister company, Lockheed Martin Advanced Environmental, which was hired as a subcontractor in 1994 to clean up Pit 9, a 1-acre site used from 1967 to 1969 to store waste from nuclear weapons production in Colorado. Lockheed Technology claims its sister company did not clean the site by deadline. Lockheed Martin Idaho filed the lawsuit for more than $100 million, including $54 million of progress payments. Edition Date: 03-29-2004 ***************************************************************** 63 Google News Alert - nuclear Date: Mon, 29 Mar 2004 15:50:43 -0800 (PST) THREE Mile Island Nuclear Accident Remembered Voice of America - Washington,DC,USA March 28 marks the 25th anniversary of the accident at the Three Mile Island Unit two nuclear power plant near Middletown, Pennsylvania, the most serious ... See all stories on this topic: UK told to clean up nuclear waste Independent - London,England,UK ... after years of complaints from environmentalists and the government of Ireland about pollution from Sellafield, and marks a new tough attitude towards nuclear ... See all stories on this topic: INDONESIA warns of terrorists getting nuclear arms Daily Times - Pakistan JAKARTA: Indonesia on Monday urged Asian and Pacific governments to work together to prevent militant groups from obtaining nuclear weapons technology on the ... See all stories on this topic: GUARD wounded in accident at San Onofre nuclear power plant San Jose Mercury News - San Jose,CA,USA SAN ONOFRE, Calif. - A security guard at a Southern California nuclear power plant was slightly wounded when his weapon accidentally discharged as it was being ... See all stories on this topic: TEPCO delays construction of 4 nuclear reactors Japan Today - Tokyo,Japan TOKYO — Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) said Monday it will put off construction of four nuclear power reactors by one to three years beyond their original ... See all stories on this topic: PAKISTAN is a declared nuclear state, no question of roll back: ... Pakistani Newspaper - Pakistan WASHINGTON, March 29: Ambassador Ashraf Jehangir Qazi has said Pakistan is a declared nuclear state and there is no question of roll back. ... See all stories on this topic: THREE Mile Island anniversary : Nuclear research strong at ORNL Oak Ridger - Oak Ridge,TN,USA Twenty five years afterthe Three Mile Island accident, Oak Ridge National Laboratory's nuclear-related research involves everything from revolutionary reactor ... IRAN resumes nuclear fuel cycle Xinhua - China TEHRAN, March 29 (Xinhuanet) -- A top Iranian official announced Sunday night that the Islamic Republic has resumed work on a key part of its nuclear fuel cycle ... See all stories on this topic: MUSHARRAF Has Rumsfeld's Support in Nuclear Case Los Angeles Times (subscription) - Los Angeles,CA,USA ... Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Sunday that there was no reason to believe that Pakistan's president, Pervez Musharraf, was involved in the nuclear ... See all stories on this topic: NUCLEAR power a no-goer NZ City - New Zealand ... Energy Minister Pete Hodgson is dismissing nuclear power as an option to meet New Zealand's future energy needs. He says nuclear ... 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/ ***************************************************************** 64 [Fwd: [du-list] DU in the news 30th March '04] Date: Sun, 28 Mar 2004 22:34:36 -0800 Return-path: Envelope-to: rogerh@energy-net.org Delivery-date: Mon, 29 Mar 2004 20:17:46 -0800 Received: from root by darwin.ctyme.com with ctyme-spam-scanned (Exim 4.30) id 1B8Ah0-0005Qa-GA for rogerh@energy-net.org; Mon, 29 Mar 2004 20:17:46 -0800 Received: from n34.grp.scd.yahoo.com ([66.218.66.102]) by darwin.ctyme.com with smtp (Exim 4.30) id 1B8Ah0-0005QT-5w for rogerh@energy-net.org; Mon, 29 Mar 2004 20:17:38 -0800 X-eGroups-Return: sentto-1009892-5550-1080620252-rogerh=energy-net.org@returns.groups.yahoo.com Received: from [66.218.66.94] by n34.grp.scd.yahoo.com with NNFMP; 30 Mar 2004 04:17:32 -0000 X-Sender: davidbroatch@xtra.co.nz X-Apparently-To: du-list@yahoogroups.com Received: (qmail 83284 invoked from network); 30 Mar 2004 04:17:31 -0000 Received: from unknown (66.218.66.216) by m1.grp.scd.yahoo.com with QMQP; 30 Mar 2004 04:17:31 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO mta205-rme.xtra.co.nz) (210.86.15.187) by mta1.grp.scd.yahoo.com with SMTP; 30 Mar 2004 04:17:31 -0000 Received: from mta3-rme.xtra.co.nz ([210.86.15.186]) by mta205-rme.xtra.co.nz with ESMTP id <20040330041728.LGPE17934.mta205-rme.xtra.co.nz@mta3-rme.xtra.co.nz> for ; Tue, 30 Mar 2004 16:17:28 +1200 Received: from oemcomputer ([219.88.34.69]) by mta3-rme.xtra.co.nz with SMTP id <20040330041727.GSCF6422.mta3-rme.xtra.co.nz@oemcomputer> for ; Tue, 30 Mar 2004 16:17:27 +1200 Message-ID: <002801c4160e$be3c69c0$100afea9@oemcomputer> To: "du-" X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1158 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1165 X-eGroups-Remote-IP: 210.86.15.187 From: "David Broatch" MIME-Version: 1.0 Mailing-List: list du-list@yahoogroups.com; contact du-list-owner@yahoogroups.com Delivered-To: mailing list du-list@yahoogroups.com Precedence: bulk List-Unsubscribe: Date: Tue, 30 Mar 2004 16:23:24 +1200 Subject: [du-list] DU in the news 30th March '04 Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="----=_NextPart_000_0025_01C41673.52E361A0" X-Sender-Nameserver: ns2.yahoo.com ns3.yahoo.com ns4.yahoo.com ns5.yahoo.com ns1.yahoo.com X-Sender-Hostname: n34.grp.scd.yahoo.com X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.0-r9592 (2004-03-18) on darwin.ctyme.com X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-15.8 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,HTML_50_60, HTML_MESSAGE,MAILTO_LINK,MAILTO_WITH_SUBJ,SUBJ_GROUP,SUBJ_WHITELIST, YAHOO_EGROUP,YAHOO_HOST autolearn=ham version=3.0.0-r9592
KUWAITI minister leaves for US to attend non-NATO ally ceremony
SpaceDaily - USA
... Major non-NATO allies are eligible for priority delivery of defense
material and the purchase, for instance, of depleted uranium anti-tank
rounds. ...
<http://www.spacewar.com/2004/040328151106.icnr213n.html>

IT'S the end of the world as we know it
Vive Le Canada - Canada
... Depleted uranium is already used in "bunker busters" and armour-piercing
weaponry, and there seems to be no official acknowledgement of the costs
to health ...
<http://www.vivelecanada.ca/article.php?story=20040326120338159>


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