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line and first line of body
NUCLEAR POLICY
1 New Reports on U.S. Planting WMDs in Iraq
2 Is the US Planting WMDs in Iraq?
3 [du-list] War on Iraq is a nuclear war
4 AFP: UN nuclear watchdog says material, buildings gone missing in Ir
5 FT: IAEA raises fears on Iraq nuclear sites
6 NEWS.com.au: Iraqi nuke facilities 'unguarded'
7 AFP: Preparations for next round of NKorea nuclear talks "stalled"
8 Las Vegas SUN: Cheney Warns of Asian Nuclear Arms Race
9 US: Tri-Valley Herald: Mini-nuke research 'OK'
10 US: Arbiter Online: Idaho's nuclear watchdog celebrates 25 years wit
11 US: Austin Chronicle: Politics: Will Shill for Nukes
12 FPIF News | Nuclear Dominoes
13 Vanunu release conditions
14 Guardian Unlimited: Israeli Nuke Whistleblower Has No Regrets
15 ZDF.de: Vanunu restrictions
16 ENN: Global energy demand to rise 54 percent by 2025, says U.S. EIA
17 Calgary Herald: Canada set to cut deal on electricity with U.S.
18 moscow times: Pale Imitation of Justice
NUCLEAR REACTORS
19 US: Study claims infant deaths increased after Three Mile Island
20 US: Is Another Nuclear Power Plant Disaster Inevitable?
21 US: NRC: NRC to Meet with Nuclear Management Company to Discuss Perf
22 US: NRC: Progress Energy Carolinas, Inc.; Notice of Docketing, Notic
23 US: NRC: U.S. Armed Forces: Environmental Assessment and Final Findi
24 BBC: Lithuania facing nuclear fall out
25 DJ: Changing Philippine Nuke Plant To Use Gas Too Costly-Exec
26 US: toledoblade: FirstEnergy is cited over facility east of Clevelan
27 US: JOURNAL NEWS: Entergy plans forum on Indian Pt.
28 US: Maine Today: Report to look into feasibility of fixing up old nu
29 Budapest Sun: Nuclear loss: Ft4.7bn
30 US: YDR: Peach Bottom power station slated for extra inspections -
31 US: PR News: EPA's Pronouncement that 'Air is Getting Cleaner' Shows
32 US: PRN: Duke Energy and EPA Move to Dismiss NSR Trial Proceedings
33 SMN: Bulgarian N-Plant Construction Faces Public Discussion
34 US: NRC: NRC to Meet with FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Co. to Discu
NUCLEAR SAFETY
35 US: Seattle Cancer Center Won't Release Thyroid Study
36 [du-list] EU checks du weapons ranges welcomed
37 [du-list] Three Japanese hostages set free in Iraq
38 [du-list] US Whitewashes Warthogs Killing Marines
39 Bellona: Murmansk Prosecutors Office closes criminal case on irradi
40 US: Las Vegas SUN: More information requested on proposed biological
41 Scotsman: Court Case Hospital Accused of Losing Radioactive Rod
42 US: New Jersey Herald: Radiation levels low in Sparta water; Uranium
43 US: NRC: NRC Proposes $6,000 Fine for 21st Century Technologies
NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE
44 US: FR: NWTRB meeting 5-18 5-19
45 Las Vegas Mercury: Editor's Note: Railroaded by the DOE
46 Las Vegas RJ: URANIUM BYPRODUCT: Shipmentsto test siteface lawsuit
47 US: Las Vegas SUN: State to sue over more nuke waste
48 US: RGJ: Public officials want to find all abandoned mines, secure t
49 US: Arizona Daily Sun: Governor to push for joint clean-up of Colora
50 US: Cincinnati Enquirer: Fernald's nuke waste refused
51 US: Disaster News Network: Toxins threaten drinking water
52 US: Austin Chronicle: Politics: From the Desk of ... Big Nuke
53 PRN: Nuclear Regulatory Commission Accepts LES Quality Assurance Pro
54 KRNV: US to stay with plan, despite Nevada's opposition
NUCLEAR WEAPONS
US DEPT. OF ENERGY
55 Hanford workers fear for health
56 DOE: Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board, Rocky
57 U.S. Newswire: NNSA Elevates National Ignition Facility Program
58 Oak Ridger: Funding drops, cleanup work will continue
59 Paducah Sun: Tests set for plant builders by DOE -
60 Paducah Sun: UF6 production by Honeywell to resume Friday -
61 Paducah Sun: No contamination found; USEC gas leak reported
OTHER NUCLEAR
62 [NukeNet] New Newsletter on Depleted Uranium
63 Google News Alert - nuclear
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FULL NEWS STORIES
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1 New Reports on U.S. Planting WMDs in Iraq
Date: Thu, 15 Apr 2004 06:22:40 -0500 (CDT)
New Reports on U.S. Planting WMDs in IraqIf you were wondering why Bush was
still harping about finding WMD at his news conference this may explain it :
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0413-02.htm
Published on Tuesday, April 13, 2004 by the Mehr News Agency (Tehran, Iran)
New Reports on U.S. Planting WMDs in Iraq
BASRA -- Fifty days after the first reports that the U.S. forces were
unloading weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in southern Iraq, new reports
about the movement of these weapons have been disclosed.
Sources in Iraq speculate that occupation forces are using the recent unrest
in Iraq to divert attention from their surreptitious shipments of WMD into
the country.
An Iraqi source close to the Basra Governor's Office told the MNA that new
information shows that a large part of the WMD, which was secretly brought
to southern and western Iraq over the past month, are in containers falsely
labeled as containers of the Maeresk shipping company and some consignments
bearing the labels of organizations such as the Red Cross or the USAID in
order to disguise them as relief shipments.
The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, added that Iraqi officials
including forces loyal to the Iraqi Governing Council stationed in southern
Iraq have been forbidden from inspecting or supervising the transportation
of these consignments. He went on to say that the occupation forces have
ordered Iraqi officials to forward any questions on the issue to the
coalition forces. Even the officials of the international relief
organizations have informed the Iraqi officials that they would only accept
responsibility for relief shipments which have been registered and managed
by their organizations.
The Iraqi source also confirmed the report about suspicious trucks with fake
Saudi and Jordanian license plates entering Iraq at night last week,
stressing that the Saudi and Jordanian border guards did not attempt to
inspect the trucks but simply delivered them to the U.S. and British forces
stationed on Iraq's borders.
However, the source expressed ignorance whether the governments of Saudi
Arabia and Jordan were aware of such movements.
A professor of physics at Baghdad University also told the MNA correspondent
that a group of his colleagues who are highly specialized in military,
chemical and biological fields have been either bribed or threatened during
the last weeks to provide written information on what they know about
various programs and research centers and the possible storage of WMD
equipment.
The professor also said these people have been openly asked to confirm or
deny the existence of research or related WMD equipment. A large number of
these scientists, who are believed to be under the surveillance of U.S.
intelligence operatives, have claimed that if they refuse to comply with
this request, they may be killed or arrested on charges of concealing the
truth if these weapons are found by the Bush administration in the future.
He said that the Iraqi scientists believe their lives would be in danger if
they decline to cooperate with the occupation forces, especially when they
recall that senior U.S. officer Michael Peterson once said, "Iraqi
scientists are at any case a threat to the U.S. administration, whether they
talk or not."
A source close to the Iraqi Governing Council said, "In the meantime, many
suspect containers disguised as fuel supplies have been moved about by some
units of the U.S. special forces. The move has been carried out under heavy
security measures. Also, there are unofficial reports that the containers
held biological and bacteriological toxins in liquid form. It is possible
that the news about the discovery of the WMDs would be announced later."
He also said that such mixtures had been used by the Saddam regime in the
1990s.
The source added that some provocative actions such as the closure of
Al-Hawza periodical by U.S. administrator Paul Bremer, the secret meetings
between his envoys with some extremist groups who have no relations with the
Iraqi Governing Council, the sudden upsurge in violence in central and
southern Iraq, a number of activities which have stoked up the wrath of the
prominent Shia clerics, and finally, the spate of kidnappings and the
baseless charges against the Iranian charge d'affaires in Baghdad are
providing the necessary smokescreen for the transportation of the WMD to
their intended locations.
He said they are quite aware that the White House in cooperation with the
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has directly tasked the Defense Department
to hide these weapons. Given the recent scandals to the effect that the U.S.
president was privy to the 9/11 plot, they might try to immediately announce
the discovery of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq in order to overshadow
the scandals and prevent a further decline of Bush's public opinion rating
as the election approaches.
) Copyright 2004 Mehr News Agency
*****************************************************************
2 Is the US Planting WMDs in Iraq?
Date: Thu, 15 Apr 2004 11:08:52 -0500 (CDT)
Forwarded with Compliments of Government of the USA in Exile (GUSAE):
Free Americans Proclaiming Total Emancipation and Working Towards
Democracy.
www.globalresearch.ca
Is the US Planting WMDs in Iraq?
Tehran Times 12 April 2004
www.globalresearch.ca 13 April 2004
The URL of this article is: http://globalresearch.ca/articles/TEH404A.html
BASRA, April 12 (MNA) -- Fifty days after the first reports that the
U.S. forces were unloading weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) in
southern Iraq, new reports about the movement of these weapons have
been disclosed.
Sources in Iraq speculate that occupation forces are using the recent
unrest in Iraq to divert attention from their surreptitious shipments
of WMDs into the country.
An Iraqi source close to the Basra Governor's Office told the MNA
that new information shows that a large part of the WMDs, which was
secretly brought to southern and western Iraq over the past month,
are in containers falsely labeled as containers of the Maersk
shipping company and some consignments bearing the labels of
organizations such as the Red Cross or the USAID in order to disguise
them as relief shipments.
The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, added that Iraqi
officials including forces loyal to the Iraqi Governing Council
stationed in southern Iraq have been forbidden from inspecting or
supervising the transportation of these consignments. He went on to
say that the occupation forces have ordered Iraqi officials to
forward any questions on the issue to the coalition forces. Even the
officials of the international relief organizations have informed the
Iraqi officials that they would only accept responsibility for relief
shipments which have been registered and managed by their
organizations.
The Iraqi source also confirmed the report about suspicious trucks
with fake Saudi and Jordanian license plates entering Iraq at night
last week, stressing that the Saudi and Jordanian border guards did
not attempt to inspect the trucks but simply delivered them to the
U.S. and British forces stationed on Iraq's borders.
However, the source expressed ignorance whether the governments of
Saudi Arabia and Jordan were aware of such movements.
A professor of physics at Baghdad University also told the MNA
correspondent that a group of his colleagues who are highly
specialized in military, chemical and biological fields have been
either bribed or threatened during the last weeks to provide written
information on what they know about various programs and research
centers and the possible storage of WMD equipment.
The professor also said these people have been openly asked to
confirm or deny the existence of research or related WMD equipment. A
large number of these scientists, who are believed to be under the
surveillance of U.S. intelligence operatives, have claimed that if
they refuse to comply with this request, they may be killed or
arrested on charges of concealing the truth if these weapons are
found by the Bush administration in the future.
He said that the Iraqi scientists believe their lives would be in
danger if they decline to cooperate with the occupation forces,
especially when they recall that senior U.S. officer Michael Peterson
once said, "Iraqi scientists are at any case a threat to the U.S.
administration, whether they talk or not."
A source close to the Iraqi Governing Council said, "In the meantime,
many suspect containers disguised as fuel supplies have been moved
about by some units of the U.S. special forces. The move has been
carried out under heavy security measures. Also, there are unofficial
reports that the containers held biological and bacteriological
toxins in liquid form. It is possible that the news about the
discovery of the WMDs would be announced later."
He also said that such mixtures had been used by the Saddam regime in
the 1990s.
The source added that some provocative actions such as the closure of
Al-Hawza periodical by U.S. administrator Paul Bremer, the secret
meetings between his envoys with some extremist groups who have no
relations with the Iraqi Governing Council, the sudden upsurge in
violence in central and southern Iraq, a number of activities which
have stoked up the wrath of the prominent Shia clerics, and finally,
the spate of kidnappings and the baseless charges against the Iranian
charge d'affaires in Baghdad are providing the necessary smokescreen
for the transportation of the WMD to their intended locations.
He said they are quite aware that the White House in cooperation with
the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has directly tasked the Defense
Department to hide these weapons. Given the recent scandals to the
effect that the U.S. president was privy to the 9/11 plot, they might
try to immediately announce the discovery of weapons of mass
destruction in Iraq in order to overshadow the scandals and prevent a
further decline of Bush's public opinion rating as the election
approaches.
=====================================================
Email this article to a friend
To express your opinion on this article, join the discussion at
Global Research's News and Discussion Forum , at
http://globalresearch.ca.myforums.net/index.php
The Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG) at
www.globalresearch.ca grants permission to cross-post original
Global Research (Canada) articles in their entirety, or any portions
thereof, on community internet sites, as long as the text & title of
the article are not modified. The source must be acknowledged as
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www.globalresearch.ca . For cross-postings, kindly use the active
URL hyperlink address of the original CRG article. The author's
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print or other forms including commercial internet sites, contact:
editor@globalresearch.ca .
) Copyright MNA AND TEHRAN TIMES 2004. For fair use only/ pour usage
iquitable seulement.
*****************************************************************
3 [du-list] War on Iraq is a nuclear war
Date: Thu, 15 Apr 2004 21:26:10 -0700
RECENT ARTICLE:
> http://www.awakenedwoman.com/moret_nuclear.htm
>
> Awakened Woman e-Magazine
>
> War on Iraq is a Nuclear War
> And the fallout is coming this way, says independent
> scientist Leuren Moret
>
> by Stephanie Hiller
> April 10, 2004
>
> In May, 2003, the United States dumped 2,200 tons of
> depleted uranium on Iraq, according to reliable
> sources, and it's logical to assume that more
> depleted
> uranium is being employed in the current attacks on
> Faluja that began April 8 to put down Iraqi
> resistance
> to the American presence there.
>
> According to independent geoscientist Leuren Moret,
> the war on Iraq - like the war on Afghanistan - is a
> nuclear war. "Depleted uranium is a nuclear weapon
> and
> it is a weapon of mass destruction under the U. S.
> government's definition of weapons of mass
> destruction," Moret says.
>
> The Pentagon has repeatedly denied that DU is
> harmful,
> despite the symptoms of half the returning veterans
> from the first Persian Gulf Wars who are now
> disabled.
> But researchers have shown that the Pentagon has
> been
> fully aware of the consequences of what is called
> "low
> level radiation" since 1943, when depleted uranium
> was
> first suggested for development as a military weapon
> under the Manhattan Project.
>
> On Sunday, April 6, the New York Daily News reported
> that nine soldiers who returned from Iraq last
> summer
> had symptoms typical of DU poisoning. The News
> arranged for them to be tested by Asaf Duracovic, a
> former Colonel in the Army Reserves who served in
> the
> 1991 Persian Gulf War, and one of the world's
> foremost
> experts on the medical effects of radioactive
> weaponry. Depleted uranium was found in the urine of
> four of the men - Sgt. Hector Vega, Sgt. Ray Ramos,
> Sgt. Agustin Matos and Cpl. Anthony Yonnone - the
> first confirmed cases of inhaled depleted uranium
> exposure from the current Iraq conflict
>
> Recently completed laboratory analyses show two
> members of Uranium Medical Research Centre's (UMRC)
> field investigation team are contaminated with
> Depleted Uranium (DU). The two field staff, one from
> Canada and the other, Beirut, toured Iraq for
> thirteen
> days in October 2003; five months after the
> cessation
> of Operation Iraqi Freedom's aerial bombing and
> ground
> force campaign. Using mass spectrometry, UMRC's
> partner laboratory in Germany measured DU in both
> team
> members' urine samples.
> (Please see
> http://www.umrc.net/UMRC_bulletin_07_Feb_2004.asp)
>
> If short-term visitors and soldiers have been so
> affected, what of the people, living near bomb
> sites,
> breathing the air every day, drinking the water?
> What
> of the children who play in these sites and collect
> pieces of exploded material to sell so their
> families
> can eat?
>
> Using figures developed by Japanese physicist,
> Professor Yagasaki from the University of the
> Ryukyus,
> Okinawa, and explained in his presentation at the
> World Conference on Depleted Uranium Weapons held in
> Hamburg last October, the radioactivity of 2,200
> tons
> (or 440,000 pounds) of depleted uranium together
> with
> some 1,000 tons used in Afghanistan, is the
> atomicity
> equivalent of 400,00 Nagasaki bombs.
>
> Depleted uranium is cheap and plentiful. When
> uranium
> is processed for fission bombs or fuel rods for use
> in
> power plants, only U-235, about half a percent of
> the
> total, is used. Most of what's left over is U-238,
> so-called "depleted" uranium. The US has over a
> million tons of the stuff, and storage is becoming a
> serious problem.
>
> Though less radioactive than U-235, DU is still
> highly
> radioactive internally, and chemically toxic as
> well.
> "There is no allowable level of risk," says Moret.
> Nearly twice as dense as lead, DU is used in tanks
> and
> airplanes, as well as bullets, handguns, cannons,
> all
> the way up to large bombs weighing more than 5,000
> pounds.
>
> It's not dangerous until it blows up.
>
> Depleted uranium is pyrophoric. Relatively innocuous
> as a metal alloy used in planes, tanks, missiles,
> bullets and rounds, when depleted uranium burns, it
> releases a radioactive gas. Larger particles may
> settle to the ground, but winds blowing across the
> desert may carry the fine particles to locations in
> a
> 1000-mile radius from the explosion. As a result,
> areas as far west as Egypt and as far east as India
> are likely to be contaminated. "The U.S. has staged
> a
> nuclear war in the Middle East, from Iraq and
> Central
> Asia, to the northern half of India. Half of Egypt,
> Israel, the Saudi Arabian peninsula, Turkey, Iran,
> the
> Russian oil-rich states, the Caspian oil region, and
> northern are now, or will be, all contaminated."
>
> Depleted uranium - U-238 - has a half-life of 4.5
> billion years. It's effects will be with us forever.
> It is in the soil, in the groundwater, in food, but
> the worst of all, it is in the air. When inhaled, it
> enters directly into the bloodstream. One uranium
> particle behaves in the body like a tiny nuclear
> bomb,
> sending out alpha and beta particles and gamma rays
> to
> adjacent cells. These are permanently damaging to
> the
> cells and chromosomes and lead to a host of deadly
> diseases, including cancer and leukemia. They also
> cause mutations of the genetic material that will
> show
> up in subsequent generations as terrible birth
> deformities, weakened health, and infertility.
>
> Moret says the fallout from these foreign wars is
> headed our way. Spread by powerful desert winds,
> the
> fallout will be carried certainly as far as Britain
> (where dust storms from the Middle East commonly
> leave
> residual dust) and then across the Atlantic Ocean.
> It
> will also travel across Asia and the Pacific Ocean
> and
> be slowly and silently deposited across the North
> American continent.
>
> American citizens have already been exposed to
> radiation from a variety of sources including
> malfunctioning nuclear power plants, the disasters
> at
> Chernobyl and Three Mile Island, above-ground bomb
> tests conducted from 1957 to 1963, and the enormous
> existing pile of depleted uranium, about 1 million
> tons, poorly stored in the United States. Radiation
> has caused the geometric rise of cancers in the US -
> 1
> in 3 Americans compared to 1 in 20 before the second
> World War. It is also responsible for the rise in
> autism, learning disabilities, chronic immune
> deficiency disorders (chronic fatigue syndrome,
> Epstein-Barr and so forth), higher rates of infant
> mortality and the general weakening of the public's
> health.
____________________________________________________________
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4 AFP: UN nuclear watchdog says material, buildings gone missing in Iraq
[http://www.spacewar.com/]
UNITED NATIONS (AFP) Apr 15, 2004
Contaminated metal, equipment and even entire buildings in Iraq
that had been monitored by UN nuclear inspectors have disappeared
since the war, the UN's nuclear watchdog said on Thursday.
Diplomats said the discovery, much of it from commercially
available satellite pictures, raises concerns about whether the
US occupation in Iraq has been able to effectively monitor
sensitive Iraq sites.
"The imagery shows that there has been extensive removal of
equipment and, in some instances, removal of entire buildings,"
International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei said
in a letter to the UN Security Council.
"Other information available to the agency, confirmed through
visits to other countries, indicates that large quantities of
scrap, some of it contaminated, have been transferred out of
Iraq," he said.
ElBaradei said it was unclear if the material had gone missing in
the looting that engulfed Iraq in the aftermath of Saddam
Hussein's ouster or "as part of systematic efforts to
rehabilitate some of the locations."
He said that the United States had been informed of the
discovery.
"We have seen the report and we are concerned, and we told the
IAEA we are looking into the matter," a US diplomat said.
UN inspectors left Iraq in March 2003 on the eve of the US-led
war, and ElBaradei said the movements of the material could have
a major impact on their "continuity of knowledge" about whatever
nuclear capacity Iraq still has.
There is also concern about the proliferation of so-called
dual-use material, which could either serve as part of weapons
systems or have civilian, non-military applications.
WAR.WIRE
*****************************************************************
5 FT: IAEA raises fears on Iraq nuclear sites
By Mark Turner
Published: April 15 2004 5:00 | Last Updated: April 15 2004
A review of satellite imagery over the past six months has
revealed the "extensive removal of equipment and, in some
instances, of entire buildings" from sites related to Iraq's
nuclear programme, the International Atomic Energy Agency has
warned.
The findings raised concern over the "proliferation risk
associated with dual use material and equipment disappearing to
unknown destinations".
In a letter to the UN Security Council, Mohamed ElBaradei, IAEA
chief, added that "large quantities of scrap, some of it
contaminated, had been transferred out of Iraq, from sites
monitored by the IAEA".
It was unclear whether the disappearances were a result of
looting after the war, or "part of systematic efforts to
rehabilitate some of the locations". Mark Turner, New York
© Copyright The Financial Times Ltd 2004. "FT" and
"Financial Times" are trademarks of the Financial Times. Privacy
*****************************************************************
6 NEWS.com.au: Iraqi nuke facilities 'unguarded'
(April 16, 2004)
SOME Iraqi nuclear facilities appear to be unguarded, and
radioactive materials are being taken out of the country, the
UN's nuclear watchdog agency reported after reviewing satellite
images and equipment that has turned up in European scrapyards.
The International Atomic Energy Agency sent a letter to US
officials three weeks ago informing them of the findings. The
information was also sent to the UN Security Council in a letter
from its director, Mohamed ElBaradei, that was circulated today.
The IAEA is waiting for a reply from the United States, which is
leading the coalition administering Iraq, officials said.
The United States has virtually cut off information-sharing with
the IAEA since invading Iraq in March 2003 on the premise that
the country was hiding weapons of mass destruction.
No such weapons have been found, and arms control officials now
worry the war and its chaotic aftermath may have increased
chances that terrorists could get their hands on materials used
for unconventional weapons or that civilians may be unknowingly
exposed to radioactive materials.
According to ElBaradei's letter, satellite imagery shows
"extensive removal of equipment and in some instances, removal of
entire buildings," in Iraq.
In addition, "large quantities of scrap, some of it
contaminated, have been transferred out of Iraq from sites"
previously monitored by the IAEA.
In January, the IAEA confirmed that Iraq was the likely source
of radioactive material known as yellowcake that was found in a
shipment of scrap metal at Rotterdam harbour.
Yellowcake, or uranium oxide, could be used to build a nuclear
weapon, although it would take tons of the substance refined with
sophisticated technology to harvest enough uranium for a single
bomb.
The yellowcake in the shipment was natural uranium ore which
probably came from a known mine in Iraq that was active before
the 1991 Gulf War.
The yellowcake was uncovered on December 16 by Rotterdam-based
scrap metal company Jewometaal, which had received it in a
shipment of scrap metal from a dealer in Jordan.
A small number of Iraqi missile engines have also turned up in
European ports, IAEA officials said.
"It is not clear whether the removal of these items has been the
result of looting activities in the aftermath of the recent war
in Iraq or as part of systematic efforts to rehabilitate some of
their locations," ElBaradei wrote to the council.
The IAEA has been unable to investigate, monitor or protect
Iraqi nuclear materials since the US invaded the country in March
2003. The United States has refused to allow the IAEA or other UN
weapons inspectors into the country, claiming that the coalition
has taken over responsibility for illicit weapons searches.
So far those searches have come up empty-handed and the CIA's
first chief weapons hunter has said he no longer believes Iraq
had weapons just before the invasion.
The Associated Press
*****************************************************************
7 AFP: Preparations for next round of NKorea nuclear talks "stalled"
[http://www.spacewar.com/]
BEIJING (AFP) Apr 15, 2004
Differences among six nations involved in talks over North
Korea's nuclear drive were delaying the establishment of a
working group to prepare for the next round of negotiations,
China said Thursday.
"Admittedly, there are some differences among the various sides
on the agenda and operating mechanism for the working group,"
foreign ministry spokesman Kong Quan said.
"I'm not in a position to give you details. The various sides are
still in discussions and consultations."
Kong declined to say whether US Vice President Dick Cheney's
just-ended visit to China had helped push forward the process of
organizing a third round of six-nation talks.
The talks involve China, Japan, North and South Korea, Russia and
the United States.
"I hope that Vice President Cheney's visit to China, through the
exchange of views between China and the United States, will be
helpful to the early implementation of the consensus reached at
the second round of six-party talks not long ago," Kong said.
At the last round of talks in Beijing in February all sides
agreed to set up the working group to make preparations for a
third round of six-party discussions.
Kong said Chinese leaders had told Cheney that Washington and
Pyongyang should both be flexible and practical.
"Through this visit (Cheney's) ... the Chinese side expressed
that during the process of resolving this issue, both sides face
differences, even serious differences, and should show a
practical and flexible attitude," Kong said.
"Only through this practical and flexible attitude can the
working group be set up, to hold meetings of the working group
and to make preparations for the third round of six-party talks."
The first two rounds of talks hosted by China failed to narrow
differences over a US demand for the complete dismantling of
Pyongyang's nuclear programs.
WAR.WIRE
*****************************************************************
8 Las Vegas SUN: Cheney Warns of Asian Nuclear Arms Race
By TOM RAUM ASSOCIATED PRESS
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -
Vice President Dick Cheney warned in China Thursday that failure
to contain North Korea's nuclear weapons program could trigger a
new arms race that could sweep across Asia.
He was bringing the same message to South Korea, arriving here
in the middle of a national election on his final stop on a
weeklong tour of the region.
"We have no alternative but to act with diligence," Cheney told
students at Fudan University in Shanghai, China.
He suggested that North Korea, an impoverished communist
country, posed a double threat - either directly or if it
decides to raise cash by selling nuclear weapons to terrorist
groups.
North Korea's nuclear program is also a top agenda item for
Cheney in South Korea, but he arrived here at a challenging
time.
Washington is not only looking to Seoul to help revive stalled
six-nation nuclear talks with North Korea, but also is counting
on South Korea's commitment of more than 3,000 troops for Iraq.
That commitment has been shaken by the recent kidnapping of
dozens of foreigners in Iraq, including eight South Korean
missionaries who were later released.
Opposition is also growing among many South Koreans to the
continued presence of 37,000 U.S. troops here.
Cheney arrived in Seoul just before polls closed on a day in
which South Koreans voted in closely contested parliamentary
elections that could determine the future of impeached President
Roh Moo-hyun and reshape relations with the United States.
The vice president planned to meet Prime Minister Goh Kun, the
acting president and visit U.S. troops at Yongsan Garrison in
downtown Seoul on Friday before returning to Washington.
Cheney in his speech in Shanghai praised China's leading role in
seeking to persuade North Korea to dismantle its nuclear
programs. But he suggested more action was needed.
"We must see this undertaking through to conclusion," he said.
"Time is not on our side."
"The people of Asia are particularly vulnerable to the threats
of (weapons) proliferation," Cheney said. "Many countries that
have the means to develop the deadliest weapons have refrained
from doing so."
But he said a continued North Korean nuclear threat could
persuade other powers in the region to develop their own nuclear
weapons, triggering a new arms race across the region "and the
likelihood that one day those weapons would be used."
Cheney praised China for its breakneck economic growth, but said
that "prosperous societies also come to understand that
clothing, cars and cell phones do not enrich the soul."
"That can only come with full freedom of religion, speech,
assembly and conscience," Cheney said in the speech. U.S.
officials said that the speech was broadcast on China's state
television - without any deletions or blackouts.
Cheney noted that his speech comes 20 years after then President
Reagan spoke at the same university "and expressed the essence
of economic and political freedom.".
In a question-and-answer period, Cheney defended the U.S. policy
of providing military equipment to Taiwan such as the recent
sale of a sophisticated radar system.
He said that the arms provided to Taiwan were only defensive
ones, and that the United States had not changed its opposition
to Taiwanese independence despite the recent independence
movement on the self-governing island.
"We oppose unilateral action on either side of the (Taiwan)
Strait to change things," he said. China views Taiwan as a
renegade province.
One student asked Cheney to describe his relationship with
President Bush, given that he was often described as "the most
powerful vice president in history.
"That's not a question I had anticipated," he said to laughter.
He said the role of the U.S. vice president had evolved over
recent years into one of more responsibility. But he said that
the vice president's actual authority, other than his
constitutional duty to cast tie-breaking votes in the Senate,
was "based strictly upon your relationship with the president."
"I've been fortunate," he said.
--
*****************************************************************
9 Tri-Valley Herald: Mini-nuke research 'OK'
4/15/2004
Report says U.S. pursuit
By Ian Hoffman, STAFF WRITER
The Bush administration argues in a new report that lifting a
decade-old ban on low-yield nuclear weapons development poses
little or no harm to U.S. efforts at discouraging the spread of
nuclear arms abroad.
In delivering the report to Capitol Hill last week, the nation's
top nuclear-weapons executive wrote that "there is no reason to
believe that repeal has had, or will have, any practical impact"
on other nations' pursuit of new nuclear arms or on international
efforts to discourage those pursuits.
At worst, wrote Linton Brooks, head of the National Nuclear
Security Administration, ending the ban "will slightly complicate
U.S. nonproliferation diplomacy."
Stanford arms-control expert Dean Wilkening said the
administration probably is right in asserting that its nuclear
research will not be a direct driver for global nuclear
proliferation.
"Allowing a certain amount of research to go forward, I don't
think that would be terribly destabilizing or conflict with our
nonproliferation objectives," said Wilkening, director of the
science program at the university's Center for International
Security and Arms Control. "However, if we were actually to build
or test or deploy an arsenal with such weapons in it, that could
present serious problems."
Congress asked for the report last year in repealing a 1994 law
that forbid research leading to production of nuclear arms with
explosive yields of less than 5,000 tons of TNT, roughly
one-third as powerful as the bomb that devastated Hiroshima in
1945.
Critics led by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Rep. Ellen
Tauscher, D-Alamo, warned that U.S. pursuit of the banned
"mini-nukes" and "micro-nukes" would undermine American efforts
to stop nuclear programs in other countries and perhaps make
battlefield use of nuclear arms more likely.
The Bush administration report dismissed both arguments.
It said low-yield nuclear weapons do not blur distinctions with
conventional bombs or lower the "very high" threshold for nuclear
use.
The report stresses that "no president would be inclined to
employ any nuclear weapon, irrespective of its explosive power,
in anything but the gravest circumstances."
As support, the administration makes its first public
acknowledgement that "from the 1950s and continuing through
today, the U.S. nuclear stockpile has contained warheads capable
of producing very low nuclear yields."
In fact, all 7,500 U.S. nuclear weapons are multistage explosives
capable of delivering less than 5 kilotons of yield, variable in
many cases to a few hundred tons of TNT.
The administration report also says that terrorists and foreign
nations, whether rogue states such as North Korea and Iran or
major powers such as Russia and China, will make their own
decisions on acquiring nuclear capabilities regardless of what
the United States does in nuclear-weapons research.
Though Moscow says U.S. nuclear forces influence its own
research, "we believe there is relatively weak coupling between
Russian and U.S. nuclear weapons (research and development)
efforts," the report said.
"Russia, for example, has a very active (and unrestrained)
exploratory nuclear research program that has accelerated over
the past several years."
Some analysts say the report tosses aside proliferation concerns
too glibly. The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency
repeatedly has criticized U.S. plans for low-yield weapons and
other new nuclear arms.
"Double standards are being used here. The U.S. government
insists that other countries do not possess nuclear weapons. On
the other hand they are perfecting their own arsenal. I do not
think that corresponds with the (Nuclear Non-Proliferation)
treaty they signed," IAEA Director Mohamed ElBaradei said last
September.
David Culp, legislative liaison for the Friends Committee on
National Legislation, a congressional monitoring arm of the
Quakers, said U.S. pursuit of new, low-yield weapons provides
ammunition to weaponeers in other nations, including Russia.
"As the hawks take ascendancy in Washington, it builds the case
for nuclear hawks in Moscow and Beijing," Culp said. "It's the
guys at the Russian weapons labs who want bigger budgets and to
get back in the game. It's the mirror image of what's going on
here. They're going to match us step by step."
Stanford's Wilkening agrees.
"It makes it easier for domestic constituencies in other
countries to pursue more aggressive nuclear programs if they
perceive that the United States is doing the same," he said.
Tri-Valley Herald All Rights Reserved
*****************************************************************
10 Arbiter Online: Idaho's nuclear watchdog celebrates 25 years with
symposium at BSU
disability compliant version of publication
Apr 15, 2004
By Jeremy Maxand
Special to The Arbiter
The Snake River Alliance, Idahos Nuclear Watchdog, will celebrate
its 25th anniversary with a nuclear activism symposium at Boise
State University Monday and Tuesday, April 19 and 20.
The symposiums title, 25 Years of Nuclear Activism: Swimming
Upstream to Protect Communities Downstream, is a fair description
of the Alliances history.
The Alliance was founded by a handful of people who met on a park
bench in Julia Davis Park after they learned that the Idaho
National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory routinely
injected hazardous and radioactive waste into the Snake River
Aquifer, which now provides drinking water for 270,000 people and
maintains one of Idahos richest agricultural regions.
Through a quarter-century of responsible research, a broad public
education and outreach program, and steadfast community advocacy,
the Alliance has challenged the U.S. nuclear weapons program here
in Idaho and on the national stage. It has a number of impressive
victories to its credit. During the height of the Cold War, it
helped the people of Idaho stop the construction of three nuclear
weapons production facilities at INEEL. It helped block
construction of a plutonium incinerator there. Working with
allies across the country, the Alliance highlighted secret
shipments of irradiated reactor fuel coming to INEEL and helped
limit those shipments. It was one of the earliest and remains one
of the strongest advocates for cleaning up the substantial
nuclear pollution at INEEL that continues to threaten the Snake
River Aquifer. Its most significant recent victory was to join
with the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Shoshone-Bannock
Tribes, and Yakama Nation in Washington State to stop the federal
governments plan to abandon high-level waste above crucial water
supplies, including the Snake River Aquifer. Six states Idaho,
Washington, Oregon, South Carolina, New York, and New Mexico
support the environmental groups and Indian nations position in
the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Next weeks symposium includes a panel discussion involving
activists from across the country discussing how to make social
change happen. There will also be an overview of Idahos role in
nuclear weapons production and the Alliances efforts to challenge
nuclear weapons programs at INEEL, and a panel of Idahoans will
relate their own experiences dealing with INEEL and their
concerns about its effects positive and negative on their
future. The head of a nation-wide coalition of groups that work
on nuclear weapons issues will describe the weapons plants across
the country and communities efforts to protect themselves from
their pollution. An activist from the Lawrence-Livermore National
Lab in California will describe all the new nuclear weapons
programs the US government is undertaking, and in light of INEELs
role in nuclear energy research and development, a panel of
experts and activists will discuss the future of energy. Dr.
Arjun Makhijani, who first came to this country as a student and
whose work now includes trying to democratize science and use it
to evaluate government policy, will speak on democracy. Monday
evening there will be a special showing of Dr. Strangelove.
All programs with the exception of the Monday evening film are
free. They have been designed to give BSU students and others a
clear-eyed view of the nuclear picture in Idaho, future
challenges this country faces, and ways activists can engage
their government to make meaningful policy changes.
-Jeremy Maxand is the executive director of the Snake River
Alliance
EVENT HIGHLIGHTS
APRIL 19
9:05 a.m. Beatrice Brailsford, Idahos Nuclear History
10 a.m. Susan Gordon, The DOE Complex: Living in the Shadows of
Death
11:15 a.m. Marylia Kelley, Arms Race Redux: New Nuclear Weapons
vs. Non-proliferation
1:30 p.m. Arjun Makhijani and Bill Chisholm, forum on The Future
of Energy
APRIL 20
9:05 a.m. Chuck Geska, John Peavey and Andy Guerra, forum on
Living Downstream
11 a.m. Arjun Makhijani on Democracy
1:30 p.m. Liz Paul, Geoff Fettus, Susan Gordon, Bob Schaeffer
and Beatrice Brailsford, forum on Tools of the Movement: How You
Make a Difference
Idaho's nuclear watchdog celebrates 25 years with symposium at
BSU Post your feedback on this topic here No feedback has been
posted yet. Please post yours!
2004 Arbiter Online
*****************************************************************
11 Austin Chronicle: Politics: Will Shill for Nukes
APRIL 16, 2004:
Decommissioning the nuclear lobby's phony op-ed campaign
BY WILLIAM M. ADLER
illustration by Jason Stout
On March 4, the Austin American-Statesman published an op-ed
article by Sheldon Landsberger, professor of nuclear engineering
at UT. Headlined "Funds for nuclear waste storage should be used
for just that," the column argues that the government is fleecing
electric-utility ratepayers, who contribute mandatory
per-kilowatt-hour fees toward the development of the proposed
national nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain in Nevada.
Landsberger charges that a portion of the fees earmarked for the
federal Nuclear Waste Fund are diverted to the general U.S.
Treasury. "This is stealing money from taxpayers who were
required to support the waste management project," Landsberger
writes.
Strong words.
But they're not Landsberger's. Nor are the other 633
words that appeared in the Statesman that morning under
Landsberger's byline. "It was something which was written for
me," Landsberger told me later on the phone. "I agreed with it, I
went over it, read it a couple of times, took all of 15, 20
minutes."
The op-ed was ginned up, assembly-line style, by a
Washington, D.C., public relations firm that the nuclear power
lobby retains to tilt public opinion in favor of the stalled
Yucca Mountain project. (Unmentioned in Landsberger's plea for
official rectitude are the myriad of unresolved scientific,
technical, and legal questions about the viability of burying
high-level waste in Nevada.) Besides reading and approving the
column, all Landsberger did to take credit for authorship was
insert his name and position at UT, and forward it via e-mail to
the Statesman even that address provided by the PR firm. (He
also sent the column to several other Texas newspapers, none of
which printed it.)
On Tuesday, the Statesman published a letter from
Landsberger apologizing for his misrepresentation.
Landsberger says he doesn't know who actually wrote his
column. He received it, via e-mail, from an employee at Oak Ridge
National Laboratory in Tennessee. (Landsberger emphasized that he
believed the employee, whom he wouldn't name, sent him the column
as a private citizen, rather than on behalf of the national lab.)
Nor was this the first time; when it comes to deceiving newspaper
readers on behalf of a stealth nuclear lobbying campaign,
Landsberger is an acknowledged recidivist. "I've been doing this
four or five years," he says. "They [op-ed columns] come from Oak
Ridge maybe two or three times a year, particularly when there's
a hot-button issue."
Landsberger's accomplice is Theodore M. Besmann, an Oak
Ridge employee since 1985. Besmann is a prolific correspondent.
Beginning at least as far back as 1978, he has had published
under his own or others' names dozens of nuclear love songs in
newspapers across the country, from The New York Times to the San
Francisco Chronicle to The Washington Post to the Houston
Chronicle to The Christian Science Monitor ("Nuclear: The
Environment's Friend," appeared in the Monitor in 1994).
None but a blockhead, Samuel Johnson said, writes for
free. Ted Besmann is no blockhead. He moonlights as a paid
consultant to Potomac Communications Group, the Washington PR
firm that works for the Nuclear Energy Institute, the nuclear
industry's stentorian voice and lobby. The NEI's current primary
concern besides beating the congressional bushes for tax breaks
and subsidies for nuclear power is opening the atomic garbage
dump at Yucca Mountain. Many of the nation's 103 reactors are
running out of on-site storage space for their spent fuel rods,
the NEI says, and may have to close if the Energy Department
doesn't soon open the Yucca Mountain facility.
To spread its message, the electric utility-funded NEI
relies on generous campaign contributions to key members of
Congress, virtually unbridled access to the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission, and academic "experts" who prostitute their
reputations and those of their universities.
Everybody Does It Enter Sheldon Landsberger, Ph.D. He directs the
Nuclear Engineering Teaching Lab at UT and coordinates the
Nuclear and Radiation Engineering Program. He's a busy guy. So
when Ted Besmann forwarded him the op-ed on Yucca Mountain,
Landsberger read it, "signed off" on it, and passed it on to the
Statesman as his own, just as he'd done with the Statesman and
other papers, once or twice a year for at least five years. Is
that such an outrage?
Well, yes, says Jonathan Knight, an ethics specialist for
the American Association of University Professors. "If I see an
article by Jack Spratt, then I assume that Jack Spratt has indeed
developed the ideas that are in his document," says Knight, who
directs the AAUP's program on academic freedom and tenure. "If I
learn that in fact Jack Spratt has only lent his name to that,
I've got a problem in terms of being seriously misled."
Unsurprisingly, the perpetrators of this "public affairs
campaign" see it differently. It matters not who writes the
piece, says Bill Perkins, founding partner of Potomac
Communications, but what the piece says. "Whether the words are
largely theirs, or largely not theirs, the views are. Nobody
would submit an article if they didn't totally agree with it."
Sheldon Landsberger
Besides, Perkins says, everyone does it. "I doubt that
there is a public affairs campaign by any advocacy group in the
country that doesn't have some version of this. The op-ed pages
are one of the ways people express their views in these debates."
But Landsberger did not exactly express his views; he
appropriated those of the nuclear lobby, in their words. The
distinction is crucial. Otherwise, says Knight of the AAUP, he is
"foisting an illusion upon us: that he really has come up with
those ideas himself."
Landsberger acknowledges an offense but claims it was
he who was victimized. He says that a "few months ago" he had a
"sneaking suspicion" that Ted Besmann was forwarding him the same
op-ed columns other professors were receiving. "When I started
doing this, I was under the impression that rightfully or
wrongfully I was the only guy." He said he has since told Besmann
he will no longer participate.
Besmann says Landsberger is mistaken about his place in
the PR machine. "I do help with letters to the editor," he says.
"It's always original material, unique to that person." But
Besmann says he only occasionally ghostwrites op-eds, that more
often he merely passes them on from the ghostwriters of Potomac
Communications Group.
Was Landsberger saying that it's ethical to slap your
name on writing that's not yours as long as no one else claims
it, too? "I had no problems with them coming to me," Landsberger
says, "but then going on to someone else and having them do the
same thing, I felt betrayed, duped, whatever the word is."
No Credit Suppose, the professor was asked, a student of his
submitted a paper he didn't write as his own. Wouldn't he and the
university consider that cheating, and how is that different from
what he, Landsberger, did?
There was a long, long pause. "I don't put them both in
the same light," Landsberger finally said. "There was no monetary
value in here, number one, and number two, there was no credit to
be given."
Knight, the ethics expert with AAUP, disagrees: "Whether
it's an op-ed in a local newspaper or an article in a learned
journal, we're talking about the same phenomenon, which is
plagiarism: presenting the ideas as if they were one's own."
University policy appears similarly unforgiving. Under UT
guidelines, governing "all research conducted at the university,"
any allegation of "scientific misconduct" defined as
"fabrication, falsification, or plagiarism" would be referred
to the associate vice-president for research, Sharon Brown. As
for the university's "working definition" of plagiarism, Brown
referred me to the federal Office of Research Integrity, which
"considers plagiarism to include both the theft or
misappropriation of intellectual property and the substantial
unattributed textual copying of another's work." The ORI defines
"unattributed textual copying of another's work" as "the
unattributed verbatim or nearly verbatim copying of sentences and
paragraphs which materially mislead the ordinary reader regarding
the contributions of the author."
If an allegation of scientific misconduct is made, Brown
said, she and university ethics officer Lee Smith, an attorney in
the legal affairs office, would conduct an initial inquiry to
determine "whether there is enough evidence to warrant a full
investigation."
Trust Them, They're Experts
Professor Landsberger is hardly Big Nuke's lone academic
conduit for conducting stealth PR campaigns. His March 4
testimonial to Yucca Mountain in the Statesman apparently rolled
off the same assembly line as a piece three months earlier in The
State of Columbia, S.C. That column, "Time to move ahead on
nuclear waste disposal," appeared Dec. 9, 2003, under the byline
of Abdel E. Bayoumi, chairman of the mechanical engineering
department at the University of South Carolina.
For at least 25 years, an Oak Ridge employee named Theodore M.
Besmann has had published nuclear love songs in newspapers across
the country, under his own or others' names.
Landsberger's column is at times a replication of
Bayoumi's. And when it's not identical, it can be downright
fraternal. Take the beginning of Landsberger's last paragraph:
"The record demonstrates that since the advent of nuclear
electricity more than 40 years ago, scientific organizations
across the world have examined the issue of radioactive-waste
management." Compare Bayoumi's words: "The record shows that
since the advent of nuclear electricity more than 40 years ago,
scientific organizations around the world have examined the issue
of radioactive waste management."
Landsberger's column concludes by quoting a line from a
14-year-old study supporting burial underground as the "best,
safest long-term option for dealing with high-level waste."
Bayoumi quotes the same, "best, safest long-term option" line
from the same study, but ends his column with a flourish: "The
government should get on with it."
Landsberger and Bayoumi each told me he was unaware of
the other's column. And while Landsberger now acknowledges his
duplicity, Bayoumi insists the language in his column is his
alone. How, then, to explain that three paragraphs of Bayoumi's
column as well as his grand "The government should get on with
it" finale appeared in an op-ed piece by a University of
Pittsburgh professor in The Buffalo (N.Y.) News on July 26, 1993,
a full 10 years earlier? Or that the Buffalo News columnist also
used the industry's time-honored refrain: "The record shows that
since the advent of nuclear energy more than 30 years ago" note
the earlier time-frame "scientific organizations around the
world ..."
"I have nothing really to say," Bayoumi replied when
asked to explain his verbatim language. "I have no knowledge of
that [Buffalo News] column. I have no idea who did what 10 years
ago." Bayoumi did allow that some of his "numbers" came from
"fact sheets" posted on the Web site of the American Nuclear
Society, a professional organization based near Chicago. "But all
the writing is my own," he insists, adding, "I didn't consent to
let anyone else use it."
Opinions 'R' Us
But Bayoumi apparently allowed himself to be used. And
there he is not alone. Like Landsberger, Bayoumi deceived his
hometown newspaper by submitting and representing as his own work
what apparently originated as an industry-generated and -funded
column. Could these two professors of engineering, one at Texas,
the other at South Carolina, be the only beneficiaries of the
Nuclear Energy Institute's ghostwriter-in-residence program?
Further investigation has uncovered what might be called
Big Nuke's vast op-ed conspiracy: a decades-long, centrally
orchestrated plan to defraud the nation's newspaper readers by
misrepresenting the propaganda of one hired atomic gun as the
learned musings of disparate academics and other nuclear-industry
"experts."
The conspiracy stretches from Washington, D.C., home to
the NEI and to the inexhaustible pen of Peter Bernstein.
Bernstein, a vice-president of the lobby's PR firm, Potomac
Communications Group, is the man whose prose stylings have been
cloned by nuclear scientists and engineers from Oregon to
Florida. (Over the course of two weeks, Bernstein declined to
respond to three phone messages and an e-mail requesting an
interview.)
In Oregon, for instance, state climatologist and Oregon
State University professor George H. Taylor publishes under his
name columns written entirely or in part by Bernstein. Says
Taylor: "There have been people who have sent me things and said,
'We just want you to say that you wrote this.' And I'm
uncomfortable doing that; I'd prefer just to write things
myself."
But an examination of Taylor's collected works reveals he
doesn't always get around to dashing off his own words. Asked
about his op-ed that appeared in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer
on April 9, 2002, Taylor recalled that he worked from an outline
Bernstein sent him and that he "basically did the writing myself
and sent it back to them." Somehow, however, between the time
Taylor returned his piece to Bernstein and its publication, it
came to echo a handful of other op-eds published previously.
Each of those other columns, published under similar
headlines ("Nuclear Power Provides a Cheaper, Cleaner, Safer
Alternative" is representative) and different bylines in The San
Diego Union-Tribune, The Detroit News, The Beaumont Enterprise,
Richmond Times-Dispatch (and after Taylor's, in Florida Today,
Melbourne, Fla.), used at least one stock sentence: "Far from
being an atoms-for-peace relic heading for extinction, nuclear
power now sets the competitive bench mark for electricity
generation." (Occasionally a minor word was changed "today"
substituted for "now," for example.) And there were a multitude
of interchangeable paragraphs or sentences that appeared to be
cut-and-pasted from one to another.
Don't Waste Your Words Before you dismiss this argument as little
more than an exercise in LexisNexis-fueled pedantry, consider yet
another serial instance of nuclear collusion a chorus of
received and parroted ideas likely to induce cynicism in even the
staunchest believer. Here it may help to note that no matter how
indefatigably Bernstein yanks his puppets' strings to argue that
nuclear power is, well, a "cheaper, cleaner, safer alternative,"
the industry's Achilles' heel is still the waste question: how to
safely manage nuclear waste remains unresolved.
Meanwhile, the radioactive waste piles high. And not just the
high-level spent fuel rods, but so-called low-level waste
generated in medicine and manufacturing. In the early 1990s, the
industry launched a PR campaign to site commercial low-level
nuclear waste dumps in various states: Nebraska, Pennsylvania,
North Carolina, and Texas.
Statesman, March 4, 2004
Writing in the Omaha World-Herald of the proposed Boyd County,
Neb., dumpsite, Dr. Samuel H. Mehr, the director of nuclear
medicine at an Omaha hospital, proclaimed in November 1990 that
"the best scientists and engineers available ... believe that
the ... facility will be among the safest and best-engineered
waste facilities of any type in the country."
Two years later, a nuclear engineering professor at Penn State,
Anthony Baratta, took to the pages of Harrisburg, Pa.'s Patriot
to champion a dump in Pennsylvania as, yup, "among the safest
and best-engineered waste facilities of any type in the
country."
Not to be outdone, Charles M. Harman, a Duke University
professor of mechanical engineering, struck a blow in the News
&Record of Greensboro, N.C., for a planned facility in Wake
County, N.C. "The design of the ... facility," Harman wrote in
April 1994, "is such that it would be" all together now
"among the safest and best engineered of any waste disposal
facility." (Professor Harman also included other language not
his own. Here is the last line from Mehr's 1990 Omaha column:
"It is past time to move on to real and present problems that
lack solutions." Here is Harman's: "It is past time to move on
to real and present problems and to available solutions.")
It is also past time to conclude these ruminations, so let us
return to the engineering department on the campus that spawned
them: the University of Texas. In the June 29, 1996, edition of
the Statesman, Dale E. Klein, then associate dean for research
and administration of the College of Engineering, published a
letter to the editor in support of building the proposed nuclear
dump in Sierra Blanca, in far West Texas. (In November 2001,
Klein moved from the Forty Acres to the Pentagon. He is
presently assistant to the secretary of defense for nuclear and
chemical and biological defense programs. His wife, Rebecca
Armendariz Klein, is the Republican candidate for U.S. Congress
in CD 25.)
Klein wrote in response to coverage of an Austin rally to
protest the dump. He declared that to leave the waste "at
multiple sites many in populous areas of the state is a
monitoring nightmare and brings into question the motives of the
most strident opponents of the facility."
After insulting those who might wonder why nuclear waste is
safe for rural residents but not for city folk, he suggests that
an effort be made to tell those many families who trooped to
Austin from Hudspeth and surrounding counties that "the food
they eat and the water they drink will not be radioactive."
Why's that, Dr. Klein?
Because, he wrote, the Sierra Blanca facility "will be among
the safest and best-engineered waste facilities in the country."
But of course. [end story]
Copyright © 1995-2004 Austin Chronicle Corp. All rights
*****************************************************************
12 FPIF News | Nuclear Dominoes
Date: Thu, 15 Apr 2004 17:42:28 -0500 (CDT)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Whats New at FPIF
"Working to make the U.S. a more responsible global leader and partner"
http://www.fpif.org/
April 15, 2004
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Introducing a new report from Foreign Policy In Focus
Nuclear Dominoes: Will North Korea Follow Libya's Lead?
By Mark Caprio
The Libyan Foreign Ministry's December 19, 2003 "Statement" outlining its plan
to "get rid of [weapons of mass destruction] materials, equipment and
programs, and to become totally free of internationally banned weapons"
prompted some to ponder whether North Korea might be next. Will the Northeast
Asian "rogue state" join the Middle East "rogue state" in renouncing its
nuclear weapons programs? The Japanese weekly magazine Aera questioned whether
Kim Jong Il would follow the cooperative path of Moammar Gadhafi, or continue
along the confrontational, and ultimately self-destructive, path that Saddam
Hussein
trod. In an interview with the Nikkei Press, Deputy Secretary of State Richard
Armitage held out this offer: if they chose to voluntarily end their weapons
programs like Libya, North Korea "would very rapidly find herself integrated
into the vibrant community of East Asia." Neither of these two statements,
however, address the central fact that the capacity to produce nuclear
weapons, or the threat of their production, is the lone asset that the North
Korean government under U.S. threat has as a bargaining chip in its effort to
survive.
Like other states, North Korea and Libya respond to international developments
not as part of a "rogue alliance" but on the basis of analysis of their
specific interests and needs.
Mark Caprio, a specialist on Japan-Korea Relations, teaches at Rikkyo
University. This is reprinted by Foreign Policy in Focus (www.fpif.org) from
Japan Focus (www.japanfocus.org).
See new FPIF commentary online at:
http://www.fpif.org/papers/2004nuke.html
With printer friendly PDF version at:
http://www.fpif.org/pdf/reports/PR2004nuke.pdf
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Distributed by FPIF:"A Think Tank Without Walls," a joint program of
Interhemispheric Resource Center (IRC) and Institute for Policy Studies
(IPS).
For more information, visit www.fpif.org. If you would like to add a name to
the "Whats New At FPIF?" list, please email: communications@irc-online.org,
giving your area of interest.
Also see our Progressive Response newsletter at:
http://www.fpif.org/progresp/index.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Interhemispheric Resource Center(IRC)
http://www.irc-online.org/
Siri D. Khalsa
Outreach Coordinator
Email: communications@irc-online.org
Siri D. Khalsa
Communications Coordinator
Interhemispheric Resource Center (IRC)
siri@irc-online.org
IRC Projects Online:
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Americas Program (www.americaspolicy.org)
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Project Against the Present Danger (www.presentdanger.org)
*****************************************************************
13 Vanunu release conditions
Date: Thu, 15 Apr 2004 12:28:24 -0500 (CDT)
Mordechai Vanununu blew the whistle on Israeli production of nuclear arms.
He was enticed from London to Rome - he was there kidnapped to placed on
board an Israeli in a crate labelled "Diplomatic" - HENCE FREEE FROM
INSPECTION - and he was tried in Israel in secret proceedings
After 18 years in jail, 11 of those years being in solitary confinement,
Mordechai Vanunu is scheduled for release on April 21.
But NOW they are proposing that he be restricted and barred from
speaking for at least six more months.
Michael
========================
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/415273.html
Ha'aretz (Israel) April 13, 2004
Shin Bet security service officials will visit Mordechai Vanunu at his
cell in Ashkelon's Shekma Prison this week to brief the former nuclear
plant technician about restrictions he will face after his release from
jail next Wednesday.
The restrictions are based on clauses 108-109 of the State of Emergency
statute passed in 1945 under the British Mandate.
Under the regulations, Vanunu will be allowed to choose his town of
residence, but will be forbidden to leave city limits unless he reports
his intentions to the local police force.
In addition, Vanunu will not be allowed to approach any border terminal,
including Ben-Gurion International Airport, the country's ports, or
borders with the Palestinian Authority, as stipulated in a list of
crossing points to be given to him by security officials.
Also, Vanunu will not be allowed to be in contact with foreigners -
whether in face-to-face meetings or by telephone, fax, or email -
including foreign citizens residing in Israel.
Vanunu also will not be allowed to approach foreign embassies and divulge
details to anyone regarding the Dimona plant where he worked or the
circumstances of his being kidnapped and transported to Israel.
Vanunu will be informed that he will not have passport privileges, and
therefore, cannot leave the country.
Security officials will tell Vanunu that these restrictions will be in
effect for six months. During that time, his behavior will be reviewed: if
he does not try to circumvent the prohibitions, the restrictions might be
lifted. The officials will warn Vanunu that should he try to violate the
restrictions, he could be placed on trial.
Vanunu will be given a few days to appeal the restrictions.
After having cut off relations several months ago with his long-time
attorney, Avigdor Feldman, Vanunu has asked the Association for Civil
Rights in Israel (ACRI) to represent his legal interests. Vanunu recently
informed relatives who are allowed to visit him in prison that he does not
want ACRI officials to handle his affairs until he is released from
prison.
*****************************************************************
14 Guardian Unlimited: Israeli Nuke Whistleblower Has No Regrets
Thursday April 15, 2004 7:46 PM
By PETER ENAV
Associated Press Writer
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) - Nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu
believes his disclosure of Israel's nuclear secrets provoked an
essential debate on nuclear weapons and has no regrets over the
action that sent him to prison for 18 years, his brother told The
Associated Press on Thursday.
Vanunu is due to be released Wednesday after completing his term
for treason and espionage. He plans to go to court to challenge
restrictions on his movement, to be imposed after his release.
Vanunu disclosed details and photos of Israel's top-secret
nuclear plant and the country's reputed nuclear weapons arsenal
to The Sunday Times of London in 1986. He subsequently was seized
in Europe by the Mossad intelligence agency and spirited to
Israel for trial.
In an AP interview on Thursday, a day after visiting Vanunu in
prison, his brother, Meir, said Vanunu has no second thoughts.
``It is obvious that Mordechai regrets nothing in his action,''
he said.
Based partly on photographs that Vanunu provided to the Sunday
Times, it is widely believed Israel has a large stockpile of
nuclear weapons. The CIA recently estimated Israel has 200-400
nuclear weapons.
Israel has an official policy of ``nuclear ambiguity,'' saying
only that it won't be the first to introduce nuclear weapons into
the Middle East.
Meir Vanunu said his brother's action put an effective end to the
policy. ``Nuclear ambiguity - there's not much left of it,'' he
said.
Senior Israeli officials have suggested that Vanunu may still
have sensitive security information and could divulge it after
his release, but Meir Vanunu denied that. ``Mordechai spoke to
the Sunday Times in 1986,'' he said. ``Everything he had to say
he said then.''
Though Israeli military censorship still weighs heavily against
specifics about Israel's nuclear programs, in recent years
members of parliament have spoken out on the issue, and the
subject of nuclear weapons has been debated at times in the local
media.
Vanunu, who was a technician at the nuclear plant near the desert
town of Dimona, served 12 years in solitary confinement in prison
after being convicted in an Israeli court.
He has become a hero of anti-nuclear weapons activists around the
world.
Vanunu was adopted by a family in Minnesota in the mistaken
belief that the adoption would provide him with American
citizenship. After visiting him Thursday in prison, Nick and Mary
Eeloff expressed disappointment that they could not take him back
to the United States.
``He just wants to lead a normal life and we just want to bring
him home,'' Nick Eeloff told the AP.
Vanunu's cell has been emptied of books and other belongings,
which are being checked as part of a pre-release routine, Moss
said. The Prisons Authority declined comment.
On Sunday, Vanunu learned that following his release, Israel's
Shin Bet security agency will impose a series of restrictions on
him, including barring him from leaving Israel, approaching
border terminals and foreign embassies, and communicating with
foreigners, including foreign residents of Israel.
Security officials said the restrictions would be re-evaluated
after six months and might be eased if Vanunu fulfills the
conditions.
Meir Vanunu said his brother will challenge the restrictions in
court.
``But our hopes are not high, because for more than 17 years,
they have gone with the secret services against Mordechai,'' he
said.
Meir Vanunu said his brother had expressed great frustration
about the restrictions.
``It is unbelievable what they are doing now after 17 years of
persecution,'' Meir quoted him as saying. ``I didn't believe they
would do this after all this time.''
Meir Vanunu said his brother wants to live abroad ``as a free
man.''
``He wants to go to the United States,'' he said.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004
*****************************************************************
15 ZDF.de: Vanunu restrictions
Die Welt sollte es wissen
Dieter Thomas Heck
16.04.2004
aspekte: What's the reason for the restrictions? What do the
Israeli authorities want to achieve?
Meir Vanunu: The main one, we think, is that he has suffered 17
1/2 years: being kidnapped, injected with drugs, put in solitary
confinement, psychological war against him, secret short trial,
not a real trial, exaggerated charges. And how he was treated, is
something that could be embarrassing to the Israeli government.
They want basically to shut him down when he is out of the prison
and control his freedom of expression in Israel.
Number two, (...) this issue of nuclear weapons program of
Israel, which they don't want to speak of yet - officially. They
put him in prison. So, now he's out. So, they are again afraid of
giving their nuclear program a higher profile. Because a country
that produces nuclear weapons is not allowed to - according to
the Symington amendment - get aid, as Israel does. Or there can
be some sanctions: let's say - especially now with the Iraqi,
Iranian and other, Pakistan and so on - to do with nuclear
weapons proliferation. This will expose the double standard of
the Israeli nuclear weapons program vis-a-vis the Americans.
aspekte: How do they see him, the state, the Israeli
authorities?
Vanunu: There was a continuous incredible attack on Mordechai
from the first day when the story came to the Israeli arena. They
used the media in a very serious smear campaign, humiliating
campaign, and they portrayed him as the worst traitor ever in the
history of Israel, the enemy number one of Israel. So there is a
kind of terrorizing atmosphere around and people were afraid -
even liberals and left wing - to speak on his behalf.
In the last couple of months they came up with a new orchestrated
attack again, incredible, with very low level reports in the
media - lies 100% - to try again to prepare the public opinion,
again to stifle his freedom of expression, his speaking about all
his experiences. There are a few figures, including one in the
Knesset saying "I know what's the best solution for Vanunu: We
eliminate him, make him vanish". We can't forget that one man has
been isolated for 17 1/2 years in a cell 2 by 3 metres without a
window, without being able to speak for himself. His voice hasn't
been heard yet, but we can hear the government and the press all
this time.
aspekte: Into what kind of atmosphere is Mordechai coming now?
Are you afraid of attacks against him when he is out?
Vanunu: That is all possible. The atmosphere is hostile in some
way. On the other hand I have to say there is an opening to a
different direction. More people are questioning and they don't
buy these stories of the Israeli government. There were some good
media articles, programs on television, questioning a lot of
these issues. So, we see now different ideas, the ones who are
saying "Enough is enough, let this man be free." And there is the
international public opinion. The media is watching. With human
rights organisations like Amnesty International, Human Rights
Watch in Washington. And I think, the Israelis are aware of that
the world is watching how they are breeching basic human rights
in my brother's case.
aspekte: They say he's still a security problem, there is the
danger of revealing more secrets.
Vanunu: It's totally hollow, it's totally empty. Because a man
who was a technician - he was not a scientist. From 1985, when he
finished his work there - almost 20 years ago - technology has
changed. And, more importantly, whatever he had in mind, he was
debriefed by scientists and journalists in the Sunday Times in
London. So, there is nothing more that my brother can reveal.
With the books that have been written, with the information that
is in the internet, which is a lot more than my brother's
information. There is nothing left in Mordechai's hands.
aspekte: What were his motives to reveal Israel's nuclear
arsenal?
Vanunu: Mordechai's reasons were to speak to the public about
this reality, to inform the Israeli parliament, to inform the
world about a subject which is needed for the world to know.
That's the main thing. He said "I'll supply the information. They
have to know this and then it's up to them to do what they need
to do with it." The Israeli and the world community. He knew that
there is a certain knowledge of this and on the other hand he saw
the reality in its real size and he thought "I have to tell the
people what is happening here behind the backs. It's a lot more
than people maybe assume."
Even basic information was never allowed for 25 years. From 1960
to 1986 Israel just said "We will not be the first to introduce
nuclear weapons to the Middle East." But, no debate, no
information by censorship - military and self censorship -
allowed any basic information, basic discussion in Israel. And,
he thought, that was wrong. In a democracy we need to bring this
issue up to be part of the knowledge of the people.
aspekte: He was found guilty to be a spy and a traitor. Is he?
Vanunu: My brother wasn't a scientist and he didn't know
formulas. But, he thought, it should be part of the democratic
reality and world knowledge. He went to a newspaper. So, for
speaking to a newspaper you can't be, it's no way that you can be
called as a spy or as a traitor who is trying to help the enemy
with intention and giving the information to the enemy.
aspekte: In Israel you often hear "He sold his country." Did he
receive money for his information?
Vanunu: No. The journalist Peter Hounam who came to Australia to
take him to England has testified again and again that my brother
gave all the information to him in Australia. He said: "Here is
all the information. I don't want anything. I don't want my name
to be published, I don't want a picture, I don't want to risk my
family, and publish it and that's all. I don't want anything."
But the Sunday Times wanted him to come to England and have a
picture and have a person behind the information and that's what
he did. He never received anything.
aspekte: Mordechai lost 18 years of his life. Will he ever be
able to get over that?
Vanunu: I don't think that I can find words to describe what it
means: 12 years in solitary confinement. In the Guinness book of
records they say he's the longest isolation person in modern
times in the Western society. The damage is there, in the mental
and physical and it will definitely go with him for the next
decades. There is a price he paid, a very heavy price. And there
is some possibility to fix something and re-normalize. On the
other hand there is a good part of him which is, I think, quite
solid and healthy in mind and physically. We hope that when he is
free and he tastes real freedom after 18 years that he can come
back to experience life in a much better way than he did until
now.
*****************************************************************
16 ENN: Global energy demand to rise 54 percent by 2025, says U.S. EIA
Thursday, April 15, 2004By Tom Doggett, Reuters
WASHINGTON World demand for all forms of energy is expected to
grow by 54 percent over the next two decades, with oil
consumption alone jumping by 40 million barrels a day, the U.S.
government said Wednesday.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration's long-term forecast
to the year 2025 projects the strongest growth in energy use from
developing countries, especially China and India, where buoyant
economies will boost demand.
Energy use in developing countries is forecast to soar by 91
percent over the next two decades, while rising 33 percent in
industrialized nations.
"Generally, the nations of the industrialized world can be
characterized as mature energy consumers with comparatively slow
population growth," said the EIA, the Energy Department's
analytical arm. These countries are also shifting from
energy-intensive manufacturing to service industries, which means
slower growth in energy use, it said.
World oil demand is forecast to rise from 81 million barrels per
day (bpd) this year to 121 million bpd in 2025, with the United
States, China, and the rest of developing Asia soaking up almost
60 percent of those extra barrels, EIA said.
"Over the past several decades, oil has been the world's foremost
source of primary energy consumption, and it is expected to
remain in that position," the agency said.
To meet that demand, global oil production capacity would have to
rise by 44 million bpd over current levels, it said.
OPEC is expected to be the major supplier of the extra oil, with
the cartel's production at 56 million bpd in 2025 compared to 27
million bpd this year. Additional non-OPEC barrels will also come
from offshore wells in the Caspian Sea, Latin America, and West
Africa.
Average annual oil prices are expected to decline after this year
to $25 a barrel in inflation-adjusted 2002 dollars and then rise
slowly to $27 in 2025, which would be $51 a barrel in nominal
dollars, the agency said.
Other highlights of EIA long-term energy forecast include:
* Natural gas is the fastest growing primary energy source
through 2025, increasing 67 percent to 151 trillion cubic feet
(Tcf) a year. That would be down from the 176 Tcf forecast in
last year's report because of slower projected declines in
nuclear power generation and concerns about long-term gas
production.
* World electricity demand will almost double by 2025, growing
3.5 percent a year in developing countries from newly purchased
home appliances and air conditioning.
* Coal use will grow by 1.5 percent a year, with demand increases
in all regions expect for Western Europe and the former Soviet
states in Eastern Europe, where coal will be displaced by natural
gas.
* Nuclear power use will increase because of higher generating
capacity rates for existing plants and fewer facilities will be
retired. In the developing world, consumption of electricity from
nuclear power increases by an average 4.1 percent a year during
the forecast period.
* Carbon dioxide emissions will rise from 23.9 billion metric
tonnes in 2001 to 27.7 billion tons in 2010 and 37.1 billion tons
in 2025. The developing world will account for 61 percent of the
increase because of reliance on coal and other fossil fuels.
Source: Reuters
ENN is a registered trademark of the Environmental News
Network Inc. Copyright © 2004 Environmental News Network Inc.
*****************************************************************
17 Calgary Herald: Canada set to cut deal on electricity with U.S.
[Calgary Herald]
Kelly Cryderman
Thursday, April 15, 2004
Premier Ralph Klein is set to sign an electric transmission
agreement with western U.S. states that could see Alberta
significantly increase its electricity exports south of the
border.
The signing is scheduled to go ahead today, shortly after Klein
gives his keynote speech at the North American Energy Summit,
organized by the Western Governors' Association.
Klein will sign an addendum to the existing Western Governors'
Association agreement that establishes the beginning of a review
process for sites and permits for new inter-jurisdictional
electricity transmission lines.
While no immediate action is on the horizon, the agreement could
be the start to greater exports in the years ahead.
On Wednesday, in front of the governors of New Mexico, Colorado
and Wyoming, Klein expressed his belief that Alberta coal could
supply substantial amounts of electricity to the United States.
"When we're speaking about Alberta, we're talking about a
land-locked province with about a 700-year supply of coal," Klein
said. "So we're very interested in learning about clean-coal
technology, how to develop that technology so we can generate
electricity to meet not only our own needs but also to feed into
the North American grid."
The agreement's aim is to expedite new transmission projects by
pushing for inter-jurisdictional co-operation in areas such as
environmental reviews. Klein is to emphasize that the signing
will in no way compromise the province's jurisdiction over
electric transmission projects.
The premier will be in Albuquerque for the next two days, along
with Energy Minister Murray Smith and other Alberta officials.
Besides the governors of the western states, U.S. senators and
other U.S. federal officials, energy industry representatives and
Mexican officials have converged on the mid-sized desert city to
discuss everything from nuclear power to solar energy to the
future cost of natural gas. Manitoba Premier Gary Doer is also
attending.
Klein is also heavily touting Alberta's political security in the
face of great uncertainty in Iraq and other oil-rich countries in
the Middle East. © The Calgary Herald 2004
Copyright © CanWest Interactive Inc. All rights reserved.
CanWest Interactive Inc. is an affiliate of CanWest Global
*****************************************************************
18 moscow times: Pale Imitation of Justice
Opinion / Comment
themoscowtimes.com
Travel Guide
Friday, Apr. 16, 2004. Page 6
By Alexander Petrov
Igor Sutyagin was sentenced last week to 15 years in prison, the
longest sentence for espionage since Soviet times. The Moscow
City Court handed down a guilty verdict to the 39-year-old
nuclear scientist, who has been in prison since 1999 on high
treason charges leveled by the FSB.
More broadly, Sutyagin's case reflects two worrying trends in
Russia today: the chilling effect that the FSB is having on
freedom of information and the overall degradation of basic
freedoms. His trial followed a 4 1/2-year investigation that was
deeply flawed by due process violations. And the trial, which
was closed to the public, raises further concerns about due
process.
The court found that Sutyagin had passed on information
regarding Russian nuclear armaments to a foreign firm in
exchange for a fee, a fact that Sutyagin himself has never
denied. But this doesn't amount to espionage, which under
Russian law either requires evidence that an individual passed
information to a foreign intelligence agent or evidence that
information passed to another party was secret, and that the
accused intended to cause harm to state security.
Allegations that Alternative Futures, the British-based
consultancy that employed Sutyagin on a legal freelance
contract, was linked to a foreign intelligence service were
based on testimonies of experts from the FSB Research Institute.
According to the lawyers the experts were not able to say
unambiguously that the company was linked to intelligence.
Because there is no proven link to foreign intelligence, the law
obliges the judge to ask the jury whether the information passed
on to this firm constitutes a state secret. According to
Sutyagin's lawyers, the judge failed to do this.
For years, Sutyagin and his attorneys repeatedly insisted that
all of the information he passed on to Alternative Futures had
been obtained from the public domain. Throughout the
investigation, the FSB refused to verify Sutyagin's claim in
this regard. Inconsistent and confusing testimonies by experts
from the FSB and Defense Ministry, which are not impartial state
agencies, left in doubt whether Sutyagin had disclosed real
secrets and caused damage to the state. According to the
previous decision of the Kaluga regional court, one expert
stated that the material disclosed state secrets and another
said that it did not. A third expert stated, to the confusion of
many, that the material was "partially inaccurate, however it
contained state secrets."
According to Sutyagin's attorneys, the court failed to examine
any evidence of his intent to harm the state, as the law
demands. The only thing we can be sure of is that he intended to
earn some money to support his family.
The trial itself was highly controversial from the start. After
the first hearing in December, the composition of the jury was
entirely and inexplicably changed. The presiding judge, a
leading expert on jury trials, was also replaced without
explanation by another judge who had no previous experience in
directing a jury. In her closing speech, the judge dwelled
extensively on Alternative Futures, although allegations that
the company was tied to a foreign intelligence service were
based on assumptions rather than on proven facts. Sutyagin's
lawyers believe that, in doing so, the judge may have
inappropriately influenced the jury.
These are only the latest examples of a series of due process
violations that marked Sutyagin's case throughout its four-year
history. In 2001, after Sutyagin had been in jail for two years,
Kaluga regional court observed that the charges against him and
the indictment were so vaguely formulated that they "interfered
with Sutyagin's right to a defense."
Sutyagin's protracted legal battle with Russia's security
services is not unique. Throughout the past eight years, the FSB
has pressed dubious espionage charges against about a dozen
scientists, journalists and environmentalists. Each of the
defendants had worked with foreign contacts on issues that, in
Soviet times, were under the exclusive control of the KGB --
nuclear waste dumping, environmental degradation, Russia's
military preparedness, military technology and so on -- but
which became topics of broader public debate in the post-Soviet
era. In pursuing these cases, the FSB appears to be seeking to
restore what it sees as its exclusive dominion over these
issues, and to impose new limitations on freedom of expression
on such topics.
Reassertion of control has become a common theme in Russian
politics today. The Kremlin handily reasserted its control over
national television, and there is little doubt that it is
reasserting its command over the political process. Several
years ago, President Vladimir Putin established a system of
regional "super-governors" that assured the Kremlin's control
over the regions. The Putin administration was delivered an
utterly acquiescent parliament in December's Duma elections. The
Yukos-Khodorkovsky saga can also be seen within this context.
The conduct of the Sutyagin case demonstrates the Russian
government's transparent emphasis on form over content in
matters that affect human rights. The government will no doubt
argue that Sutyagin was tried by a jury, though it appears that
this was merely an imitation of a fair trial. The government
also boasts that Russia is a democracy, yet recent parliamentary
and presidential elections bore little resemblance to democratic
votes. Last year, the government claimed that a local referendum
and presidential election in Chechnya showed that the war-torn
republic was on its way toward "normalization," though the votes
were deeply flawed and violence continues to rage there. Putin
frequently stresses his commitment to a free press, but after
his first term in office, all independent television stations
have been muzzled.
It reminds me of an old joke we used to tell each other in the
Soviet days: "We pretend to work, and they pretend to pay us."
Russian society needs to resist accepting form over content,
otherwise we may soon find ourselves watching imitation news on
state-run television, voting in imitation elections and
imitating joy and happiness by marching in rows in mass
demonstrations -- approved by the government, just like in the
"good old days."
Alexander Petrov, deputy director of Human Rights Watch's Moscow
office, contributed this comment to The Moscow Times.
© Copyright 2002, The Moscow Times. All Rights Reserved.
*****************************************************************
19 Study claims infant deaths increased after Three Mile Island
Date: Thu, 15 Apr 2004 00:26:05 -0500 (CDT)
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/04087/292294.stm
Nuclear accident was 25 years ago Saturday, March 27, 2004
By Bill Toland, Post-Gazette Harrisburg Bureau
HARRISBURG -- A nuclear industry watchdog group yesterday released
a study claiming infant death rates in the counties surrounding the
Three Mile Island nuclear plants rose in the years after the 1979
accident.
Tomorrow: Cloud from Three Mile Island remains.
Three Mile Island Alert, which organized a seminar to commemorate
the 25th anniversary of America's most notable nuclear accident,
released the study at the seminar, suggesting the number of infants
who died within a month of birth grew by 21 percent immediately
after the accident.
That percentage increase is calculated in "the counties closest and
directly downwind of the plant." The group, which has criticized
previous University of Pittsburgh studies on the health effects of
Three Mile Island's radioactive fallout, did not provide the total
number of infant deaths in the years after the accident, or the
difference between total infant deaths and what would be considered
average.
The study was compiled by New York's Radiation and Public Health
Project, http://www.radiation.org/ a nonprofit nuclear research
group. That group said the data doesn't prove any correlation between
the near-meltdown and infant death rates or increased radiogenic
cancer rates, but recommends following up on the numbers.
The Radiation and Public Health Project's board of directors includes
Dr. Ernest Sternglass, a longtime opponent of the former Shippingport
Atomic Power Station in Beaver County.
Dave Lochbaum of the Union of Concerned Scientists http://www.ucsusa.org/
the same group that's scuffling with the Bush administration over
its bending of scientific reports to fit political goals said most
of the nuclear plants still in operation in the U.S. are three
decades old or more and nearing the end of their useful lives.
The likelihood of an accident at a nuclear plant generally follows
a "bathtub curve," he said, meaning likelihood is higher when a
plant first begins operating, lower in the middle, then higher at
the end, when machinery grows old and wears down.
He called it a "recipe for disaster."
If a near-meltdown similar to Three Mile Island's happened today,
"the outcome would be just as bad."
Steve Wing, an epidemiology professor at the University of North
Carolina, said it's OK to keep questioning "accepted" findings and
standard government reports on Three Mile Island health effects,
even though the accident is a quarter-century in the rear view
mirror.
"To fail to question is to fail our ability to exercise democracy,"
he said.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Bill Toland can be reached at btoland@post-gazette.com or
1-717-787-2141.)
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/blairsvilledispatch/s_187369.html
*****************************************************************
20 Is Another Nuclear Power Plant Disaster Inevitable?
Date: Thu, 15 Apr 2004 00:25:17 -0500 (CDT)
http://www.earthfiles.com/news/news.cfm?ID=693&category=Environment
http://tinyurl.com/3y26t
This page is something you should see for yourselves.
April 12, 2004 Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and Washington, D. C. - One man who
has lived in Harrisburg all his life is Scott Portzline, Security Consultant
for Three Mile Island Alert. Born in 1958, Scott was twenty years old when
TMI's Unit 2 reactor began to melt down. Five years later in 1984, he wanted
to know the truth about what had caused the near-meltdown. A decade later,
Scott had lost confidence in government explanations and began to question
how much radiation had escaped from the TMI reactor. What had radioactive
contamination done to the people, plants, animals and insects? Why did the
government and nuclear industry tell the public that only small quantities
of radiation had been released with exposures far below levels that could
affect health? In fact, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and the 1979
President's Commission on the Accident at Three Mile Island concluded that
the maximum possible radiation dose beyond Three Mile Island was less than
average annual background levels.
How was that possible if up to 13 million curies of radioactive gases and up
to 17 curies of radioactive iodine were released during the disaster?
Scott became increasingly disturbed by what he learned and his research has
been cited by the U. S. Department of Energy, Stanford and Harvard
Universities, and various military branches.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
Interview:
Scott Portzline, Security Consultant, Three Mile Island Alert, Harrisburg,
Pennsylvania: "Just one curie is 37 billion radioactive disintegrations per
second, and each disintegration has the potential to harm a human cell. If
we multiply 37 billion disintegrations per second by the 13 million curies
released at Three Mile Island in 1979, we get a number so big that you have
to state it scientifically: 4.81 x 10 to the 17th power.
It's actually billions of chances each second for the radioactivity to find
and damage cells that can potentially lead to cancer or leukemia or other
problems. And the NRC and the industry want to tell us that nobody around
Three Mile Island was even harmed from it. That's impossible! (See
Earthfiles Part I)
American Nuclear Power Plant Problems in Last Half of March 2004
Scott Portzline: "The nuclear industry likes to say how much safer things
are today after the 25th anniversary of Three Mile Island. But listen to the
track record of the industry just in the last half of March 2004. We do see
and are concerned that another accident (like TMI) is just a couple of years
away as all the nuclear plants age.
- So far, there have been 8 reactor scrams.
- 2 manual shut downs.
- 1 low level emergency declared at the St. Lucie plant in Florida during
re-fueling when a reactor coolant started leaking.
- The high pressure injection systems were found inoperable at 3 plants.
Two plants were in Pennsylvania - the Peach Bottom and Limerick plants - and
this is a major safety system.
- Cracks were found in the Susquehanna Pennsylvania reactor.
-Both emergency diesel generators were found inoperable at the Cooper
plant in Nebraska.
- It was discovered that an earthquake could cause electrical short
circuits at the Wolf Creek reactor in Kansas.
- Three workers were injured when their bucket truck contacted a high
voltage line at the Susquehanna reactor.
- And a fourth worker injured his hand when a grinder he was using lost
power during that event and he lost control of the grinder.
- Two supervisors were found to be on drugs, one at Turkey Point in
Florida and another at Callaway in Missouri.
- Two incidents of controlled substance testing were positive in the
workers.
- A guard shot himself in the leg at San Onofre in California.
- The NRC released a press release on the disturbing re-licensing exam
failure rates of the control room operators at Cooper Station, Nebraska."
*****************************************************************
21 NRC: NRC to Meet with Nuclear Management Company to Discuss Performance of Point Beach
Nuclear Plant
News Release - Region III - 2004-02
U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Office of Public Affairs, Region III
No. III-04-023 April 15, 2004
CONTACT: Jan Strasma (630) 829-9663
Viktoria Mitlyng (630) 829-9662 E-mail: [opa3@nrc.gov]
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will meet with
representatives of Nuclear Management Company on Wednesday,
April 21, to discuss the results of the agencys assessment of
safety performance at the Point Beach Nuclear Power Plant during
2003. The facility, which has two reactors, is located near Two
Rivers, Wisconsin.
The meeting will be held at 7 p.m. in the Holiday Inn, 4601
Calumet Avenue, Manitowoc, Wisconsin. 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 has concluded that the plant operated safely last year.
The plant, however, remains under increased NRC oversight
because of problems with the auxiliary feedwater system which
were identified during 2001 and 2002. The auxiliary feedwater
system is used to safely cool the reactor if problems occur
during plant operations and to continue removing heat from the
reactor after shutdown.
While the specific problems with the auxiliary feedwater system
were corrected, the NRC found that some of the utilitys broader
corrective actions were incomplete and of inconsistent quality.
During the year, NRC inspectors identified a number of instances
where human performance contributed to problems at the plant. In
addition, the NRC found that when problems were found by the
utility, the evaluation and resolution of those problems was
inconsistent, resulting in a recurrence of the problems.
From July through December of last year, the NRC conducted an
intensive inspection of operations, engineering, corrective
actions, and emergency preparedness at Point Beach. The report
of this inspection was issued February 4, and, on February 20
the NRCs Executive Director for Operations and the Region III
Regional Administrator held a public meeting with utility
officials to discuss the inspection findings and the NRCs
evaluation of Point Beachs performance.
Also in February, Nuclear Management Company submitted its plans
for improving human performance, corrective actions, engineering
and other activities at the plant. These plans are currently
under review by the NRC.
During inspections planned for this year, the NRC will continue
its expanded oversight of the Point Beach to review the
effectiveness of corrective actions being taken by the utility
in the areas of human performance, problem identification and
resolution, emergency preparedness, and engineering. In
addition, routine inspections will be 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 Nuclear Management Co.
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/poin_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 Point
Beach are available on the NRC web site at: (Unit 1)
http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/POIN1/poin1_chart.html
and (Unit 2)
http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/POIN2/poin2_chart.html.
Last revised Thursday, April 15, 2004
*****************************************************************
22 NRC: Progress Energy Carolinas, Inc.; Notice of Docketing, Notice of
FR Doc 04-8549
[Federal Register: April 15, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 73)]
[Notices] [Page 20073-20075] From the Federal Register Online via
GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr15ap04-97]
Proposed Action, and Notice of Opportunity for a Hearing for
Renewal of Materials License SNM-2502 for the H. B. Robinson,
Unit 2, Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation ACTION:
Notice of license renewal, and opportunity to request a hearing.
DATES: A request for hearing and/or petition for leave to
intervene must be filed by June 14, 2004.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Christopher M. Regan, Project
Manager, Spent Fuel Project Office, Office of Nuclear Material
Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission,
Washington, DC 20555. Telephone: (301) 415-1179; fax number:
(301) 415-1179; e-mail:
cmr1@nrc.gov [ cmr1@nrc.gov] .
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: I. Introduction The U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission (NRC or Commission) is considering an
application dated February 27, 2004, from Progress Energy
Carolinas, Inc. (applicant or PEC) for the renewal of materials
license SNM-2502, under the provisions of 10 CFR part 72, for the
receipt, possession, storage and transfer of spent fuel, reactor-
related Greater than Class C (GTCC) waste and other radioactive
materials associated with spent fuel storage at the H. B.
Robinson, Unit 2, Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation
(ISFSI), located at the H. B. Robinson Steam Electric Plant, Unit
2, site in Darlington County, South Carolina. If granted, the
renewed license will authorize the applicant to continue to store
spent fuel in a dry cask storage system at the applicant's H. B.
Robinson, Unit 2, ISFSI. Pursuant to the provisions of 10 CFR
part 72, the renewal term of the license for the ISFSI would be
twenty (20) years; however, the applicant has submitted a
separate exemption request with the license renewal application,
which, if granted, would allow the license to be renewed for 40
years. This application was docketed under 10 CFR part 72; the
ISFSI Docket No. is 72-3. An NRC administrative review,
documented in a letter to PEC dated April 7, 2004, found that the
application contains sufficient information for the NRC staff to
begin its technical review.
Prior to issuance of the requested license, the Commission will
have made the findings required by the Atomic Energy Act of 1954,
as amended (the Act), and the Commission's regulations. These
findings will be documented in a Safety Evaluation Report. The
issuance of the renewed materials license will not be approved
until the NRC has reviewed the application and has concluded that
renewal of the license will not be inimical to the common defense
and security and will not constitute an unreasonable risk to the
health and safety of the public. The NRC will complete an
environmental evaluation, in accordance with 10 CFR part 51, to
determine if the preparation of an environmental impact statement
is warranted or if an environmental assessment and finding of no
significant impact are appropriate. This action will be the
subject of a subsequent notice in the Federal Register.
II. Opportunity To Request a Hearing In accordance with the
general requirements in subpart C of 10 CFR part 2, ``Rules of
General Applicability; Hearing Requests, Petitions to Intervene,
Availability of Documents, Selection of Specific Hearing
Procedures, Presiding Officer Powers, and General Hearing
Management for NRC Adjudicatory Hearings,''\1\ any person whose
interest may be affected by a proceeding and who desires to
participate as a party must file a written request for hearing or
petition for leave to intervene (``request for hearing'') and a
specification of the contentions which the person seeks to have
litigated in the hearing.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
---------- \1\ The references to 10 CFR part 2 in this notice
refer to the amendments to the NRC Rules of Practice, 69 FR 2182
(January 14, 2004).
-----------------------------------------------------------------
---------- In accordance with 10 CFR 2.302(a), a request for
hearing must be filed with the Commission either by: 1. First
class mail addressed to: Office of the Secretary, U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, Attention:
Rulemakings and Adjudications Staff; 2. Courier, express mail,
and expedited delivery services: Office of the Secretary,
Sixteenth Floor, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike,
Rockville, MD 20852, Attention: Rulemakings and Adjudications
Staff, between 7:45 a.m. and 4:15 p.m., Federal workdays; 3.
E-mail addressed to the Office of the Secretary, U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission, hearingdocket@nrc.gov
[hearingdocket@nrc.gov] ; or 4. By facsimile transmission
addressed to the Office of the Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission, Washington, DC, Attention: Rulemakings and
Adjudications Staff, at (301) 415-1101; verification number is
(301) 415-1966.
In accordance with 10 CFR 2.302(b), all documents offered for
filing must be accompanied by proof of service on all parties to
the proceeding or their attorneys of record as required by law or
by rule or order of the Commission, including: 1. Mr. J. W.
Moyer, Vice-President--HBRSEP, Unit 2, Progress Energy Carolinas,
Inc., H. B. Robinson Nuclear Plant, 3851 West Entrance Road,
Hartsville, SC 29550.
2. The NRC staff, by delivery to the Office of the General
Counsel, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville,
MD 20852, or by mail addressed to the Office of the General
Counsel, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington DC
20555-0001. Hearing requests should also be transmitted to the
Office of the General Counsel, either by means of facsimile
transmission to (301) 415-3725, or by e-mail to
ogcmailcenter@nrc.gov [ ogcmailcenter@nrc.gov] . The formal
requirements for documents are contained in 10 CFR 2.304(b), (c),
(d), and (e). In accordance with 10 CFR 2.304(f), a document
filed by electronic mail or facsimile transmission need not
comply with the formal requirements of 10 CFR 2.304(b), (c), and
(d), as long as an original and two (2) copies otherwise
complying with all of the requirements of 10 CFR 2.304(b), (c),
and (d) are mailed within two (2) days thereafter to the
Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC
20555-0001, Attention: Rulemakings and Adjudications Staff.
In accordance with 10 CFR 2.309(b), a request for a hearing must
be filed by June 14, 2004.
In addition to meeting other applicable requirements of 10 CFR
2.309, a request for hearing must state: 1. The name, address,
and telephone number of the requestor; 2. The nature of the
requestor's right under the Act to be made a party to the
proceeding; 3. The nature and extent of the requestor's property,
financial or other interest in the proceeding; 4. The possible
effect of any decision or order that may be issued in the
proceeding on the requestor's interest; and 5. The circumstances
establishing that the request for a hearing is timely in
accordance with 10 CFR 2.309(b). Nontimely requests will not be
entertained absent a determination by the Commission, the
presiding officer or the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board
designated to rule on the request and
[[Page 20074]] contentions that the request should be granted and
the contentions should be admitted based upon a balancing of the
factors specified in 10 CFR 2.309(c). In accordance with 10 CFR
2.309(f)(1), a request for hearing must set forth with
particularity the contentions sought to be raised. For each
contention, the request must: 1. Provide a specific statement of
the issue of law or fact to be raised or controverted; 2. Provide
a brief explanation of the basis for the contention; 3.
Demonstrate that the issue raised in the contention is within the
scope of the proceeding; 4. Demonstrate that the issue raised in
the contention is material to the findings that the NRC must make
to support the action that is involved in the proceeding; 5.
Provide a concise statement of the alleged facts or expert
opinions which support the requestor's position on the issue and
on which the requestor intends to rely at hearing, together with
references to the specific sources and documents on which the
requestor intends to rely to support its position on the issue;
and 6. Provide sufficient information to show that a genuine
dispute exists with the applicant on a material issue of law or
fact.
This information must include references to specific portions of
the application (including the applicant's environmental report
and safety report) that the requestor disputes and the supporting
reasons for each dispute, or, if the requestor believes the
application fails to contain information on a relevant matter as
required by law, the identification of each failure and the
supporting reasons for the requestor's belief.
In addition, in accordance with 10 CFR 2.309(f)(2), contentions
must be based on documents or other information available at the
time the petition is to be filed, such as the application,
supporting safety analysis report, environmental report or other
supporting document filed by the applicant, or otherwise
available to the petitioner. On issues arising under the National
Environmental Policy Act, the requestor shall file contentions
based on the applicant's environmental report. The requestor may
amend those contentions or file new contentions if there are data
or conclusions in the NRC draft, or final environmental impact
statement, environmental assessment, or any supplements relating
thereto, that differ significantly from the data or conclusions
in the applicant's documents. Contentions may be amended or new
contentions filed after the initial filing only with leave of the
presiding officer upon making the showings specified in 10 CFR
2.309(f)(2). Each contention shall be given a separate numeric or
alpha designation within one of the following groups: 1.
Technical--primarily concerns issues relating to matters
discussed or referenced in the Safety Analysis Report for the
proposed action.
2. Environmental--primarily concerns issues relating to matters
discussed or referenced in the Environmental Report for the
proposed action.
3. Emergency Planning--primarily concerns issues relating to
matters discussed or referenced in the Emergency Plan as it
relates to the proposed action.
4. Physical Security--primarily concerns issues relating to
matters discussed or referenced in the Physical Security Plan as
it relates to the proposed action.
5. Miscellaneous--does not fall into one of the categories
outlined above. If the requestor believes a contention raises
issues that cannot be classified as primarily falling into one of
these categories, the requestor must set forth the contention and
supporting bases, in full, separately for each category into
which the requestor asserts the contention belongs with a
separate designation for that category.
Requestors should, when possible, consult with each other in
preparing contentions and combine similar subject matter concerns
into a joint contention, for which one of the co-sponsoring
requestors is designated the lead representative. Further, in
accordance with 10 CFR 2.309(f)(3), any requestor that wishes to
adopt a contention proposed by another requestor must do so in
writing within ten days of the date the contention is filed, and
designate a representative who shall have the authority to act
for the requestor.
In accordance with 10 CFR 2.309(g), a request for hearing may
also address the selection of hearing procedures, taking into
account the provisions of 10 CFR 2.310. The Commission hereby
provides notice that this is a proceeding on an application for a
license amendment falling within the scope of section 134 of the
Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (NWPA), 42 U.S.C. 10154. Under
section 134 of NWPA, the Commission, at the request of any party
to the proceeding, shall use hybrid hearing procedures with
respect to any matter which the Commission determines to be in
controversy among the parties. The hybrid procedures in section
134 provide for oral argument on matters in controversy, preceded
by discovery under the Commission's rules. Following oral
argument, those factual issues that involve a genuine and
substantial dispute, together with any remaining questions of
law, shall be designated for resolution in an adjudicatory
hearing.
Adjudicatory hearings are to be held on only those issues found
to meet the criteria of section 134 and set for hearing after
oral argument.
The Commission's rules implementing section 134 of NWPA are found
in 10 CFR part 2, subpart K, ``Hybrid Hearing Procedures for
Expansion of Spent Fuel Storage Capacity at Civilian Nuclear
Power Reactors,'' (as revised at 69 FR 2182, 2266-2267; January
14, 2004). Under those rules, any party may invoke the hybrid
hearing procedures by requesting an oral argument in a request
for hearing filed in accordance with 10 CFR 2.309, or in the
applicant's or the NRC staff's response to a request for hearing.
If it is determined that a hearing will be held, the presiding
officer shall grant a timely request for oral argument. The
presiding officer may grant an untimely request for oral argument
only upon a showing of good cause by the requesting party for the
failure to file on time and after providing the other parties an
opportunity to respond to the untimely request. If the presiding
officer grants a request for oral argument, any hearing held on
the application must be conducted in accordance with the hybrid
hearing procedures. If no party to the proceeding requests oral
argument, or if all untimely requests for oral argument are
denied, the presiding officer shall conduct the proceeding in
accordance with the subpart under which the proceeding was
initially conducted as determined in accordance with 10 CFR
2.310. III. Further Information In accordance with 10 CFR 2.390
of NRC's ``Rules of Practice,'' final NRC records and documents
regarding this proposed action, including the application for
license renewal dated February 27, 2004, and supporting
documentation, are publicly available in the records component of
NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS).
These documents may be inspected at NRC's Public Electronic
Reading Room at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html
[http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leaving
FR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html]
under Accession No. ML040690774. These documents may also be
viewed electronically on the public computers located at the
NRC's Public Document Room (PDR), O1F21, One White Flint North,
11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 20852. The PDR
[[Page 20075]] reproduction contractor will copy documents for a
fee. Persons who do not have access to ADAMS or who encounter
problems in accessing the documents located in 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 [
pdr@nrc.gov] . Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 7th day of
April, 2004.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Christopher M. Regan, Project Manager, Spent Fuel Project Office,
Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 04-8549 Filed 4-14-04; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P
*****************************************************************
23 NRC: U.S. Armed Forces: Environmental Assessment and Final Finding of
FR Doc 04-8550
[Federal Register: April 15, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 73)]
[Notices] [Page 20075-20078] From the Federal Register Online via
GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr15ap04-98]
No Significant Impact, Exemption to the Requirements in 10 CFR
20.1801, 20.1802 and 20.2201 I. Summary The U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission (NRC) has performed an Environmental
Assessment (EA) to evaluate a license amendment that would add a
license condition exempting the U.S. Armed Forces (Armed Forces)
from certain requirements involving the use and storage of
radioactive sealed source devices used for monitoring and
detecting chemical warfare agents during military exercises and
maneuvers.
During these times, the Armed Forces would be specifically exempt
from requirements contained in: (1) 10 CFR 20.1801, ``Security of
stored material,'' when the Armed Forces store authorized
radioactive sealed source devices that are used for monitoring
and detecting chemical warfare agents during military exercises
or maneuvers on U.S. Government-controlled property;\1\ (2) 10
CFR 20.1802, ``Control of material not in storage,'' when the
Armed Forces employ these devices during exercises or maneuvers
on U.S. Government-controlled property; and (3) 10 CFR 20.2201,
``Reports of theft or loss of licensed byproduct material,'' when
these devices are lost when they are stored or used during
military exercises or maneuvers on U.S. Government- controlled
property. The conclusion of the EA is a Finding of No Significant
Impact (FONSI) for the proposed licensing action.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
---------- \1\ Government-controlled property refers to property
that is permanently maintained by the U.S. Federal Government for
planned training exercises or maneuvers by individual units,
commands, and inter-commands of the U.S. Armed Forces, including
friendly foreign military elements.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
---------- II. Environmental Assessment 1.0 Introduction 1.1
Background U.S. Department of the Army reported a number of lost
licensed radioactive sealed source devices that are used for
monitoring and detecting chemical warfare agents. In response to
this, NRC performed a reactive inspection (Report No.
030-35349/2002-001). In an ``Exercise of Enforcement Discretion''
letter dated October 3, 2003, to the Director, Integrated
Material Management Center, U.S. Department of the Army (Army),
NRC stated that the NRC plans to amend the Army's license to
exempt the licensee from the requirements in 10 CFR 20.1801,
20.1802, and 20.2201 when the licensee is storing or using
devices intended to monitor and detect chemical warfare agents
during military exercises or maneuvers on U.S.
Government-controlled property. The U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force
have also acquired these types of devices and are using them
under Master Materials Licenses issued by the NRC. Thus, NRC
plans to grant them the same license amendment.
NRC staff has evaluated the environmental impacts of a license
amendment that would exempt the Armed Forces from the requirement
in: (1) 10 CFR 20.1801, ``Security of stored material,'' when the
Armed Forces store authorized radioactive sealed source devices
that are used for monitoring and detecting chemical warfare
agents during military exercises or maneuvers on U.S.
Government-controlled property; (2) 10 CFR 20.1802, ``Control of
material not in storage,'' when the Armed Forces employ these
devices during exercises or maneuvers on U.S.
Government-controlled property; and (3) 10 CFR 20.2201, ``Reports
of theft or loss of licensed byproduct material,'' when these
devices are lost when they are stored or used during military
exercises or maneuvers on U.S. Government-controlled property.
This EA has been prepared pursuant to the NRC regulations in 10
CFR part 51, which implement the requirements of the National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969. The purpose of this
document is to assess the environmental consequences of the
proposed action and the alternatives to the proposed action.
1.2 Review Scope In accordance with part 51, this EA: (1)
Presents information and analysis for determining whether to
issue a FONSI or to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement
(EIS); (2) fulfills NRC's compliance with NEPA when no EIS is
necessary; and (3) facilitates preparation of an EIS if one is
necessary. Should NRC issue a FONSI, no EIS would be prepared and
NRC would issue a license condition to the Armed Forces exempting
them from meeting the requirements in 10 CFR 20.1801, 20.1802,
and 20.2201, when the Armed Forces use authorized radioactive
sealed source devices for monitoring and detecting chemical
warfare agents during planned military exercises or maneuvers on
U.S. Government-controlled property located in the United States,
as described herein. This EA applies to consideration of
amendments to licenses held by the Army, Navy and Air Force as
discussed hereafter.
The Army holds NRC Byproduct Material License No.
12-00722-16, (Ref. 2) (previously License No. 19-30563-01),
pursuant to 10 CFR part 30, which authorizes the possession and
use of chemical agent detectors or chemical agent monitors
containing small amounts of radioactive sealed source material.
NRC has established a license category known as a Master
Materials License (MML). An MML can be issued only to a Federal
organization that successfully meets the criteria stated in 10
CFR 30.33 (and 10 CFR 40.32 or 10 CFR 70.31, as appropriate), and
can demonstrate to NRC, through its diverse licensing activities,
experience of complex radiation-program centralized management,
inspection, education, qualification, training, and experience as
outlined in NRC NUREG-1556 Volume 10, (Ref. 4) that it is able to
administer effectively a licensing program.
The U.S. Navy (Navy) holds MML No. 45-23645-01NA, (Ref. 3) from
NRC, that allows the Navy to possess and use sealed sources as
required. The Navy and Marine Corps use the Navy's license for
chemical agent detectors in their possession. NRC issued MML No.
42-23539-01AF, (Ref. 1) to the U.S. Air Force (Air Force) for
byproduct, source, and special nuclear material, as needed. The
Air Force has acquired and uses chemical detectors under this
license.
Armed Forces licenses authorize possession and use of devices
containing up to 300 microcuries of Americium-241 (Am-241) or up
to 30 millicuries of Nickel-63 (Ni-63). The U.S. Armed Forces use
these chemical detecting and monitoring devices on Department of
Defense (DOD) installations and temporary job sites, where NRC
has jurisdiction.
[[Page 20076]] A chemical detector typically consists of a
detector cell; electronic circuitry; a power source; an air pump
(air or vapor sample ingress is much smaller than the human
finger); a heater; and a robust outside case. The detector cells
contain a radioactive source that is normally coiled into a
cylindrical shape, with the radioactive side inward. Am-241 is
extracted from Plutonium-241 generated during normal operations
of nuclear reactors. The Ni-63 sources are made by electroplating
the nickel onto a metallic foil, which then can be formed into a
cylindrical source. NRC regulations require that generally
licensed devices be tamper-resistant. Normally, tamper- resistant
screws are used to restrict unauthorized human access to the
radioactive source or sources installed in the generally and
exempt licensed chemical detector. There is a wide variety of
devices; numerous U.S. and foreign-based organizations
manufacture them. Devices that the Armed Forces acquire are
intended for the soldiers to use in training and in the
battlefield to monitor and detect chemical warfare agents. NRC
regulations require that the manufactures, distributors, or
maintenance providers of devices using radioactive sealed sources
have a specific license. The regulations allow general licensees
to use certain tamper-proofed certified radioactive sealed source
devices. Individuals who would be responsible for conducting any
maintenance on generally licensed sealed source devices that
requires opening the device casing, housing, or modules must have
a specific license. In real-time battlefield-simulated military
exercises, the Armed Forces may have to conduct insitu
maintenance. For dual specific- general licenses to be used
within the various branches of the Armed Forces, specific
licenses would be necessary for maintenance activities, and
replacement of radioactive sources and source safety features.
The NRC staff believes that the current regulations addressing
the accountability, tracking, and loss of control of these
devices are not appropriate when the detectors are used during
military exercises and maneuvers on U.S. Government-controlled
property, because these areas are generally remote areas, with
restricted or no access to the public or the private sector.
Furthermore, the radioactive sealed sources used for the above
activities are solid metallic fixed forms of radioactive material
that are housed in robust structures; therefore, loss of control
of these devices does not result in a release of radioactive
material. The radiation dose rates associated with these devices
are very low. Comparable devices with similar designs have been
authorized by the NRC as exempt devices and distributed to public
end users exempt from the loss, loss of control and security
requirements mentioned herein. Because of the restricted access,
harsh and hazardous environments associated with the military
exercises, it is difficult for the Armed Forces to effectively
enforce the regulations addressing the accountability, tracking
and loss of control of these devices during maneuvers and
exercises. However, the radiological and security risks
associated with the use of these devices during Armed Forces
maneuvers and exercises were evaluated in determining whether an
exemption should be granted, so as to arrive at a balanced
decision, without impacting the safety of the Armed Forces
personnel or the members of the public.
Currently, the Armed Forces possess approximately 65,000 of these
detection and monitoring devices. The Army has reported a loss of
3 to 4 devices per year, per 10,000 devices. Because the Armed
Forces use detectors in both wartime and simulated military
battlefield exercises, and ordered maneuvers, in the air, on
land, and at sea, it is anticipated that the loss of these
devices will continue at the current rate, or increase a small
amount because of the increased deployment warranted by the
current world political situation, and the associated wide-spread
deployment of the Armed Forces.
1.3 Proposed Action Given the circumstances described above, the
staff is considering granting a license amendment exempting the
Armed Forces from certain control and reporting requirements
during military exercises and maneuvers. During these times, the
Armed Forces would be specifically exempt from requirements
contained in: (1) 10 CFR 20.1801, ``Security of stored
material,'' when the Armed Forces store these authorized
radioactive sealed source devices for monitoring and detecting
chemical warfare agents during military exercises or maneuvers on
U.S. Government-controlled property; (2) 10 CFR 20.1802,
``Control of material not in storage,'' when the Armed Forces
employ these devices during exercises or maneuvers on U.S.
Government-controlled property; and (3) 10 CFR 20.2201, ``Reports
of theft or loss of licensed byproduct material,'' when these
devices are lost when they are stored or used during military
exercises or maneuvers on U.S. Government- controlled property.
The exemption would not apply to: (1) Devices stored or used at
other times, or lost under other conditions; (2) theft of the
devices; or (3) devices lost in the U.S. public domain.
Additionally, the Armed Forces licensees would continue to
implement their established existing programs for tracking
military assets and storage records of these devices. The Armed
Forces would be required to keep records onsite of losses and
loss of control of these devices and on request, make them
available for review by the NRC Inspection staff.
1.4 Need for Proposed Action NRC has closely reviewed the Armed
Forces control and tracking procedures.
Although the Armed Forces have established an effective tracking
and control program for these devices, losses have occurred and
losses could still reasonably occur because of the unique
circumstances associated with the use of such devices by the
Armed Forces. The use of these detectors is critical for the
safety of Armed Forces personnel, and, indirectly, critical to
the safety of U.S. citizens. In addition, the use of these
detectors (i.e., for military exercises and maneuvers to prepare
soldiers for battlefield conditions) is outside the scenarios
envisioned when NRC regulations and policies on the
accountability, tracking, and loss of control of radioactive
sealed sources were developed.
Given the scope and nature of the U.S. military exercises,
constant control and surveillance over such devices during
military exercises and maneuvers may not always be possible or
practical. For example, during these exercises and maneuvers, the
devices are deliberately camouflaged to avoid detection by the
enemy, and deployed manually or remotely from the air. To ensure
constant control could be hazardous and may put some military
personnel in harm's way. According to the Armed Forces reports,
the majority of the losses have occurred during combat exercises
and, with some exceptions, on U.S. Government- controlled
property. Additionally, current requirements to report each
separate loss of a device or devices may interfere with, and may
even hinder, smooth military maneuvers and exercises, since the
current regulations may trigger reactive or augmented team
inspections by NRC after the repeated reported losses of
detection and monitoring devices.
1.5 Alternatives Available alternatives to NRC are:
[[Page 20077]] 1. Continue the current mode of operations to
ensure compliance with referenced NRC regulations at all times
(See section 1.2 for details of the current mode of operations).
This is a no-action alternative.
2. Grant the exemption to the Armed Forces for the devices by
issuing a license amendment (See section 1.3 for more details).
This is the staff's preferred alternative.
3. Modify regulatory provisions applicable to these devices
through the rulemaking process. The effect of this alternative
would be to grant the same exemptions discussed for the proposed
action.
This type of action takes about 2 to 3 years.
2.0 Affected Environment The affected environment for
Alternatives 1, 2, and 3 is considered to be the immediate
vicinity of the deployment of a device primarily on
federally-controlled facilities and properties. Loss or loss of
control of a device or devices would not lead to a release of
radioactive material to the environment because the protective
features (shielding and containment), as described in section
1.2, are robust and remain functional. Further, these devices
contain small quantities of radioactive sealed sources (up to 300
microcuries of Americium-241 or up to 30 millicuries of
Nickel-63).
These devices are normally tracked from central locations under
the supervision of the licensee's staff and are issued on request
to armed services units that may be stationed throughout the
world.
However, this exemption is only applicable to devices used or
stored during military exercises or maneuvers on U.S.
Government-controlled property, e.g., DOD installations
throughout the United States of America. The Armed Forces
currently inform NRC of lost devices that occur both in the U.S.
and overseas, including some losses that occur in areas outside
NRC's jurisdiction.
3.0 Environmental Impacts of Proposed Action and Alternatives 3.1
Public Health Because of their portability (hand-held or capable
of swift setup and dismantling in field) and potential
radiological risk (if devices are taken apart), isolated lapses
in control and accountability of these devices have continued to
concern the Commission. However, the U.S. Armed Forces have
established a safe operational record with these low-dose, robust
radioactive devices, even when extensively deployed. Thus, taking
into account the military's safety record with these devices and
their need for these devices, the staff is assessing the need for
this license amendment and its impact on public health.
The three alternatives described in Section 1.5 represent the
approaches that could be used in addressing the exemption
request. The staff evaluated the three alternatives and their
individual impact on public health. The impact of implementing
any of these alternatives on public health will be the same
because the alternatives address procedural and device loss, loss
of control and accountability issues. Alternative 2 is being
proposed since this alternative was found to be more efficient
and practical compared to the other two alternatives. Also, this
alternative reduces unnecessary regulatory burden on the
licensees.
Alternative 1 (No action): The impact of this alternative would
be similar to the proposed action. NRC believes that these very
low-risk detection devices are currently over-regulated for the
uses discussed in this EA. Based on the review of the
circumstances surrounding the loss of the detectors, NRC believes
that both the burden to the licensee of frequent reporting and
the expenditure of NRC and MMLs resources performing reactive
inspections after reports of loss of control of these devices, do
not enhance the safe use of these devices. In fact, continued
application of the current approach requiring reporting of loss
of control events could inadvertently provide information to
United States adversaries and could adversely impact the purpose
or the intended outcome of a military exercise.
Alternative 2 (Proposed action): The principal users of chemical
agent detectors and monitors are the Armed Forces. The devices
are used to protect personnel when entering areas where the use
of chemical warfare agents is likely. Other users could also
include Federal, State, or local government agencies that support
Emergency First Responders. These devices are portable (hand-held
or able to be swiftly set up and dismantled in the field) and
used by trained personnel, making them operable under dynamic or
stressful situations and, at times, under very trying
circumstances.
NRC performed analysis to support and verify the allowed use of
exempt radioactive quantities of Americium-241 and Nickel-63 in
chemical monitoring. The model, computer codes used, and
assumptions made in the exemption analysis for chemical
monitoring devices are presented in section 2.15.5 of NUREG-1717
(Ref. 5). The analysis estimated maximum individual doses from
chemical detectors containing 160 microcuries of Americium-241
and 10 millicuries of Nickel-63 and compared them to the
regulatory limits (shown in Table 2.15.6 and Table 2.15.7 of
NUREG-1717). The results of the NRC analysis indicate very small
radiation doses which are an order of magnitude below the
specified dose limits contained in 10 CFR sections 32.27 and
32.28. Armed Forces licenses authorize possession and use of
devices containing up to 300 microcuries of Americium-241
(Am-241) or up to 30 millicuries of Nickel-63 (Ni-63), which are
two to three times higher than the radioactive source strength
considered in NUREG-1717.
However, the maximum doses associated with devices used by the
U.S. Armed Forces would still be below the regulatory limits.
Also, the radiation dose to a member of the public from a loss of
control of a device would be extremely small. This is due, in
part, to the fact that the U.S. Armed Forces use these chemical
detection and monitoring devices on remote DOD installations and
temporary job sites that are great distances from each other, and
the time spent by individuals near or close to a lost device is
estimated to be about one hour. It is expected that the
individual dose from normal use or the potential dose from a loss
of control, a temporarily displaced device, or a lost device,
would not result in radiation exposure to the workers or the
public significantly above the background radiation.
Although the Armed Forces have established an effective tracking
and control program, losses could still reasonably occur because
of the unique circumstances associated with the use of such
devices.
This use is critical for the safety of U.S. Armed Forces
personnel, and is certainly outside the scenarios envisioned when
NRC regulations and policies on the loss of sources were
developed. Given the scope and nature of military activities,
constant control and surveillance over such devices may not
always be practical or possible. According to the Armed Forces
reports, the majority of the losses have occurred during combat
exercises and, with one exception, on U.S. Government-controlled
property (one loss occurred when a device, which was believed to
be in use on U.S. Government-controlled property, was later
discovered in the U.S. public domain). We conclude that no
significant impacts on the public health under normal and
accident conditions are expected as a result of granting this
exemption to the Armed Forces.
[[Page 20078]] Further, implementation of this alterative will
reduce unnecessary burden on the Armed Forces and enable them to
more efficiently use these devices when conducting exercises and
maneuvers.
Additionally, this license exemption should improve staff
efficiency and effectiveness by reducing the work load of NRC and
MMLs inspectors, who are required to conduct a reactive
inspection each time a device is reported lost.
Alternative 3 (Rulemaking): It is expected that the impact from
the rulemaking alternative would be similar to the impact of the
proposed action; however, a lengthy time frame and large
expenditures of resources are associated with the rulemaking
process. A long-term reliable impact assessment that would
support a rulemaking may not be available for more than five
years. A rulemaking would not, in this case, provide a timely
response to the current need. By the time a rule making could be
completed, the Armed Forces may have shifted to using
non-radioactive detection devices or other emerging technologies.
NRC anticipates that, with the passage of time, the use of sealed
sources in detection and monitoring devices for chemical agents
is likely to diminish.
3.2 Water, Geology, Soils, Air Quality, Demography, Biota, and
Cultural and Historic Resources The NRC staff has determined that
the proposed licensing exemption (Alternative 2) will not impact
the quality of water resources, since the radioactive source
quantities are very small and are not soluble in water. The staff
has determined that the proposed exemption will not significantly
impact geology, soils, air quality, demography, biota, and
cultural and historic resources, under normal and accident use
scenarios. NRC staff has reviewed the historical performance of
this type of detection device and the potential for future
deployment and concluded that no significant cumulative impacts
are anticipated.
NRC staff has determined that the proposed action will not affect
listed or proposed threatened or endangered species or critical
habitat. NRC staff has determined that the proposed action is not
the type that has the potential to cause effects on historic
properties. Therefore, no further consultation with the
regulatory authority responsible for overseeing section 106 of
the National Historic Preservation Act was found necessary.
Impacts on water, geology, soils, air quality, demography, biota,
and historic resources of implementing Alternatives 1 and 3
(described in section 1.5) are expected to be similar to those in
the proposed action. As discussed in section 3.1, Alternative 2
is being proposed because it is the more efficient and practical
alternative, and reduces unnecessary regulatory burden on the
concerned licensees.
4.0 Conclusion The NRC staff has determined that granting of this
exemption will have no significant adverse effect on the public
health and safety, or the environment. Based on its review, the
NRC staff has determined that the environmental impacts
associated with the proposed action do not warrant the
preparation of an EIS.
5.0 Agencies and Persons Contacted NRC contacted the U.S. Navy
and U.S. Air Force MML National Radiation Program Oversight
Committees and the Appropriate U.S. Army Commands. The need to
contact State government officials was considered; however, it
was concluded that such consultation was not necessary, since the
proposed limited exemption is limited to federally-controlled
facilities and properties.
6.0 References 1. U.S. Air Force Master Materials License No.
42-23539-01AF. 2. U.S. Department of Army License No.
12-00722-16. 3. U.S. Navy Master Materials License No.
45-23645-01NA. 4. U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission,
Program-Specific Guidance About Master Materials Licenses,
December 2000, NUREG-1556, Vol.
10.
5. U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Systematic Radiological
Assessment of Exemptions for Source and Byproduct Materials, June
2001, NUREG-1717.
III. Finding of No Significant Impact The action that NRC is
considering is to issue an exemption to the Armed Forces in the
form of a license condition that would exempt them from the
requirements contained in: (1) 10 CFR 20.1801, ``Security of
stored material,'' when the Armed Forces store these authorized
radioactive sealed source devices for monitoring and detecting
chemical warfare agents during military exercises or maneuvers on
U.S. Government-controlled property; (2) 10 CFR 20.1802,
``Control of material not in storage,'' when the Armed Forces
employs these devices during exercises or maneuvers on U.S.
Government-controlled property; and (3) 10 CFR 20.2201, ``Reports
of theft or loss of licensed byproduct material,'' when these
devices are lost when they are stored or used during military
exercises or maneuvers on U.S. Government- controlled property.
The exemption would not apply to: (1) Devices stored or used at
other times, or lost under other conditions; (2) theft of the
devices; or (3) devices lost in the U.S. public domain.
Additionally, under this exemption, the Armed Forces licensees
would continue to implement their established existing programs
for tracking and controlling these devices, and would be required
to keep records of losses and loss of control available onsite
for review by the NRC Inspectors.
The Commission has prepared this EA in light of the proposed
action. In the assessment, the Commission has concluded that
environmental impacts associated with the proposed action would
not be significant and do not warrant the preparation of an EIS.
Accordingly, based on the environment impacts described in
section II, the Commission is issuing a FONSI for this licensing
action.
IV. Further Information Any questions about this action can be
directed to Ujagar S.
Bhachu at (301) 415-7894, or by e-mail at usb@nrc.gov
[usb@nrc.gov] . Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 8th day of
April, 2004.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Thomas H. Essig, Chief, Materials Safety and Inspection Branch,
Division of Industrial and Medical Nuclear Safety, NMSS.
[FR Doc. 04-8550 Filed 4-14-04; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P
*****************************************************************
24 BBC: Lithuania facing nuclear fall out
Last Updated: Thursday, 15 April, 2004
By Ben Richardson
BBC News Online business reporter in Visaginas, Lithuania
Lithuania has agreed to close its Chernobyl-style reactors after
joining the European Union on 1 May. In the third of a series of
reports from Poland and Lithuania, BBC News Online looks at how
it will keep that promise.
[Ignalina nuclear reactor]
No smoke from a chain reaction
Lithuania's Ignalina nuclear plant is keen to play up its
environmental credentials.
A video for visitors cuts between workers on the reactor-room
floor and cows grazing in nearby fields. The sky is streaked by a
rainbow.
Get closer to the reactor buildings, however, and it becomes more
evident why the European Union wants to shut down the plant that
recently celebrated its 20th birthday.
The concrete is showing its age and the ruins of a planned third
reactor are still visible after Russia's Chernobyl nuclear
disaster brought construction to a premature halt.
Controversial
Some environmentalists have called Ignalina a disaster waiting to
happen because it is based on the same design as the Russian
plant that exploded in 1986, belching radioactivity and turning
the countryside into a dead zone.
Had Lithuania not agreed to pull the plug, it probably would not
be among the 10 countries joining the EU on 1 May.
According to the timetable agreed with Brussels, the first
reactor will shut at the end of this year, with the second
scheduled for closure by 2010.
Shutting down will cost the best part of 1bn euros and the
decision to do so is proving controversial.
Fear
Lithuania relies on Ignalina for about 80% of its power and many
of the population see it as a key part of economic independence.
Even one reactor can produce enough electricity for domestic use,
plus a healthy surplus for export.
[Viktor Sevaldin]
Mr Sevaldin wants people to see nuclear power as clean and safe
Viktor Sevaldin is Ignalina's Russian-born director.
He has run the plant since it started and sees himself as a
pioneer of the technology that helped build it.
Speaking in his cavernous office, his unwillingness to close is
evident.
He talks about the safety record and of the dedicated workers who
keep a vigilant eye on every dial and counter.
And although he understands why people are worried, he reckons
that it is due to fear and ignorance rather than sound science.
Employment
Mr Sevaldin is at pains to explain that since the collapse of the
Soviet Union, security and safety have been constantly upgraded
with the help of the EU and Sweden.
"The irony is that the power plant is at the peak of its safety,"
he says.
"For sure, you will not get a repeat of Chernobyl here."
Visaginas]
Visaginas is trying to attract investment as well as tourists
His biggest concern is the fate of the plant's 3,600 workers,
most of whom live in nearby Visaginas.
The importance of Ignalina on the local economy is evident at the
end of the day shift as a convoy of cars and buses head back into
the town of almost 35,000.
It has been like that since the construction of the town was
started in 1975, well into the Cold War.
The site, in a dense pine forest, was chosen for its proximity to
the railway line that ran from St Petersburg and would bring
nuclear fuel.
Today, Visaginas trumpets its green and leafy streets, but as a
visitor it is difficult to shake the idea that the trees were
originally left more to hide the place than to decorate it.
Devastation
In a 2001 report, the EU said that there were three possible
future scenarios for Visaginas.
[Entrance to the Ignalina plant ]
The clock is ticking for Visaginas
The first one they called "regeneration," the second was named
"green field" and the third got the chilling title of
"town-zombie".
Locals, many of whom came from Russia to work at the plant, are
convinced that closing it down would kill the city.
There is little other industry in the region that the EU calls
underdeveloped even by Lithuanian standards.
Rising prices
And the effects may reach further afield.
According to the same report, the "decommissioning of Ignalina
will have a direct impact on the whole social-economic situation
of the country."
Two hours drive to the south in the Lithuanian capital of
Vilnius, 30-year-old mother of two Viktoria Valickowa is certain
of what it will mean.
"Prices will rise and that is a problem," she says from behind
her market stall of amber necklaces and jewellery.
"Pay is not very high here."
Bright future
[Ignalina visitor centre]
A model of safety and efficiency?
The concern among some environmentalists is that Lithuania's
politicians may not press too hard to close down Ignalina when
faced with the stark choice of alienating voters or the EU.
Either that, or they will push to replace the aging Soviet
reactors with a more modern and supposedly safer plant.
That is the outcome that makes most sense to Mr Sevaldin, and he
visibly perks up when explaining the benefits of fission over
fossil fuels.
"Nuclear power is a very young form of electricity generation,
but it has made very great achievements to date," he says.
"It is something for the future."
The question facing the EU and Lithuania today is how bright they
want that future to be.
*****************************************************************
25 DJ: Changing Philippine Nuke Plant To Use Gas Too Costly-Exec
Thursday April 15, 7:18 PM
MANILA (Dow Jones)--It would be cheaper for the Philippines to
build a new power station than convert the country's unused
620-megawatt nuclear plant to use another type of fuel, an
industry executive said Thursday.
Lee Gil Gu, president and chief executive of Kepco Philippines
Corp., said converting the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant into a
gas-fired plant would be too costly to be economically viable.
Gu said an in-house study Kepco did several years ago when it
was considering converting the plant to use natural gas projected
a conversion cost of $600 million.
"But considering the escalation of costs, this will be even
higher now," he said. "With that amount, we'll be able to put up
another power plant."
Kepco, a unit of Korea Electric Power Corp. (015760.SE), operates
a 1,200-MW natural gas-fired power station and a 650-MW oil-fired
power plant in the country.
The government is trying to find an alternative use for the
nuclear plant, which cost around $2.2 billion - all borrowed - to
build. The nuclear plant sits between two major fault lines and
is just a few kilometers away from a volcano.
U.S.-based Westinghouse Electric Corp. started building the
nuclear plant in 1977 under a government contract, but
construction was stopped after the 1979 Three Mile Island
accident in the U.S.
Although the plant hasn't produced a single watt of electricity,
the government is still paying off the loan, including around
$155,000 a day in interest payments. It will continue doing so
until 2018.
Copyright © 2004Dow Jones &Company Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2004 Yahoo! Pte Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
*****************************************************************
26 toledoblade: FirstEnergy is cited over facility east of Cleveland
Article published Thursday, April 15, 2004
By BLADE STAFF WRITER
PERRY, Ohio - Days after getting its Davis-Besse nuclear plant
running consistently again following a two-year hiatus,
FirstEnergy Corp. has been cited for not being inquisitive enough
and for failing to adhere to procedures at its other nuclear
plant in Ohio.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission yesterday said FirstEnergy's
Perry 1 facility, east of Cleveland, will be subjected to more
inspections, even though the site did not have an incident that
endangered the public.
The NRC said it was not satisfied by the utility's evaluations of
safety equipment and the company's failure to follow its
emergency plan by declaring an alert soon after realizing a spent
fuel assembly had been damaged. The latter resulted in higher
radiation inside the plant's fuel storage area, the NRC said.
Although the issues were classified as low to moderate in terms
of safety significance, the NRC said they have prompted
heightened oversight at the facility.
The agency has said Davis-Besse could remain under heightened
oversight for years after the 2002 discovery of a near-hole in
the reactor head of that plant, 30 miles east of Toledo. The
problem eventually was described by NRC officials as the nation's
worst safety failure since the Three Mile Island meltdown that
began March 28, 1979.
Numerous other safety-related design, equipment, performance,
workplace atmosphere, and management issues were revealed during
Davis-Besse's outage, which ended March 8. The plant took nearly
a month slowly ascending in power and having multiple tests done
under close NRC scrutiny.
© 2004 The Blade. The Toledo Blade Company, 541 N. Superior St.,
Toledo, OH 43660 , (419) 724-6000
*****************************************************************
27 JOURNAL NEWS: Entergy plans forum on Indian Pt.
By THE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original publication: April 15, 2004)
A public forum on a proposal to transfer 1,275 tons of highly
radioactive spent fuel from the water-filled pools at Indian
Point into steel and concrete casks will be held this evening
from 6:30 to 8:30 at the Crystal Bay restaurant in Peekskill.
Entergy Nuclear Northeast, which owns the twin nuclear power
plants in Buchanan, is hosting the open house to explain the
project, which it expects to begin in July 2005. Transfer of the
fuel into the 185-ton casks, which would sit outdoors on a pad
the size of a football field, would provide more protection of
the fuel against a possible terrorist attack. The pad would hold
the fuel from the defunct Indian Point 1 plant and the two
operating reactors, Indian Point 2 and 3.
The storage system also would have to hold hundreds of tons of
additional radioactive waste that would be generated by the
reactors if Entergy is given 20-year extensions on its operating
permits. The permits for Indian Point 2 and 3 expire in 2013 and
2015, respectively. Entergy has not yet formally sought
extensions from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
The storage casks have been approved for use by the NRC, but have
been controversial. The NRC's Office of Inspector General is
investigating allegations that the casks are poorly manufactured.
[http://www.thejournalnews.com] -
Copyright 2004 The Journal News, [http://www.gannett.com/] .
Inc. newspaper serving Westchester, Rockland and Putnam Counties
in New York. Use of this site indicates your agreement to the
[http://www.thejournalnews.com/include/terms.html] (updated
12/17/2002)
*****************************************************************
28 Maine Today: Report to look into feasibility of fixing up old nuclear plant
[http://www.mainetoday.com]
Thursday, April 15, 2004 5:45 pm
Associated Press
FREDERICTON, New Brunswick Skeptics in New Brunswick are already
downplaying the significance of a report to be released Friday on
the feasibility of fixing up the province΄s aging nuclear power
plant.
The Conservative government will release a report on the Point
Lepreau nuclear power plant prepared by Robin Jeffrey, former
president of Bruce Power in Ontario and chairman of British
Energy.
The report will give the government information on the viability
of investing roughly $1 billion to keep the 21-year-old station,
the only nuclear power plant in Atlantic Canada, running for
another 25 to 30 years.
But Elizabeth Weir, leader of the New Brunswick NDP, said it΄s
highly unlikely a nuclear energy expert would recommend anything
other than maintaining the plant, located near Saint John, about
25 miles from the Maine border.
"You buy the report you want," Weir said on Thursday. "You know
when you pick the consultant what kind of report you΄re going to
get. You know what they΄re going to recommend."
Weir said she does not want to see the Lepreau plant refurbished.
She said the thought of giving NB Power a free hand to rebuild
the plant makes her wake up at night in a cold sweat.
"I΄m not prepared to give NB Power a green light to rebuild a
nuclear plant inside one that is falling to pieces," she said.
"They didn΄t get it right the first time and I΄ve got no
confidence that they΄d ever get it right the second time."
The Point Lepreau generating station, with an output of 635
megawatts, began operating in 1983, and provides 30 per cent of
the electricity used in New Brunswick.
Construction of the plant was plagued by huge cost overruns in
the 1970s and 1980s. It ended up at least $1 billion over budget.
Copyright © Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.
*****************************************************************
29 Budapest Sun: Nuclear loss: Ft4.7bn
www.budapestsun.com
Volume XII, Issue 16 April 15, 2004
HUNGARY'S sole 1,880 MW (about 40% of Hungary's total) nuclear
electricity generating company Paksi Atomeromu (Paks) expects to
suffer losses to the total of Ft4.7 billion ($23 million) this
year.
Istvαn Kocsis, CEO of Paks, announced the news following the
company's annual general meeting (AGM). Kocsis added that the AGM
had approved Paks' losses of Ft6.6 billion ($32.2 million) on its
2003 fiscal year.
He said the plant had managed to reduce losses related to the
temporary shut down of its No2 generating block by about 60%.
The unit was closed down in March 2003 and was due to go back on
line on May 1, 2003. That never happened due to a technical
problem on April 10, 2003 when uranium fuel rods submerged in a
cleaning tank overheated and deformed.
The fault has still not been resolved, but experts from the
Russian nuclear company TVEL are working on the issue.
Kocsis said that Paks had originally planned a pre-tax profit of
Ft1.5 billion ($7.3 million) in its business plan for 2003 before
the fuel rod glitch.
Kαroly Molnαr, Chairman of the Board at Paks, said that the
company expects to resolve the problem soon and to operate with a
profit in 2005.
However Kocsis emphasized that safety is the priority. "I am not
going to give any specific dates or deadlines," he said.
Paks plans to boost capacity by at least 200MW by 2006, which
would allow it to reduce the cost of its electricity from Ft8.05
($0.39)/KWh (the lowest price already available) to Ft6
($0.29)/KWh.
Copyright 2001 * The Budapest Sun * All Rights Reserved
*****************************************************************
30 YDR: Peach Bottom power station slated for extra inspections -
York Daily Record [ydr.com]
Unplanned shutdowns and equipment failure were to blame.
By SEAN ADKINS Daily Record staff Thursday, April 15, 2004
With little more than a projection screen between them, officials
with both the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Exelon Generation
met Wednesday night at the Peach Bottom Inn to walk through the
agency's annual safety performance assessment of Peach Bottom
Atomic Power Station.
Based on a 2003 low-to-moderate safety violation,
commission officials will host a supplemental inspection of Unit
2 to ensure the reliability of the plant's diesel generators.
In September, NRC staff will investigate through an
additional inspection the reason behind Unit 2's four unplanned
shutdowns per 7,000 critical hours, or roughly one year of
operation. The unscheduled shutdowns occurred between the fourth
quarter of 2002 and the fourth quarter of 2003.
The fourth shutdown that occurred during the third
quarter of 2003 netted the second reactor a white performance
indicator a violation of low to moderate safety significance.
Between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31, 2003, both Peach Bottom
Atomic Power Station's Unit 2 and 3 reactors racked up 17 green
violations an infraction of very low safety significance, said
Brian Holian, deputy director of reactor projects for the NRC's
Region 1.
Some of the green infractions include problems with the
second unit's safe shutdown emergency lights and the emergency
diesel generator fire protection system.
"Seventeen green violations," Holian said, "it's a hefty
amount. But you have to remember it's a twin reactor plant and
that's for both units."
Bill Levis, vice president of mid-Atlantic operations for
Exelon, said the company views the violations as an indicator
that the plant did not meet expectations.
"We can clearly do better than that," he said.
The commission will follow a normal inspection schedule
for the power station's third unit through Sept. 30, 2005.
On Sept. 15, one of the plant's four emergency diesel
generators seized. The equipment's failure occurred in the hours
following an unplanned shutdown of both reactors.
A commission inspection team later found that deficient
procedures were followed during the 1992 installation of
generator adapter gaskets.
Gas leaked into the equipment's jacket water cooling
system a problem that led to the automatic tripping of the
generator.
Typically, the plant runs all four diesel generators for
at least two hours every two weeks to check for reliability, said
Craig W. Smith, senior resident NRC inspector at Peach Bottom
Atomic Power Station. The NRC team determined that corrective
actions Exelon took to repair the observed low jacket water
pressure conditions in March and April 2003 were inadequate. The
problem was not resolved.
"We didn't do enough fast enough," Levis said. "We
recognize our obligation to public health and safety. We take
that very seriously." Since the generator failure, the plant has
instituted a monitoring system that tracks the amount of gas that
could leak into the generator's cooling system, said Paul
Davison, director of engineering for the power station.
Following the failure, the plant checked all the
generator adapter gaskets and installed new equipment as needed,
he said.
Other tests that were in place prior to the generator
shutdown scan for temperature, engine reliability and vibration
control.
"We will follow all this up with inspections," Holian
said. "The proof will be in the pudding."
Reach Sean Adkins at 771-2047 or sadkins@ydr.com
[sadkins@ydr.com] .
Copyright © York Daily Record 2004 122 S. George St., P.O. Box
15122 York, PA 17405, (717) 771-2000
*****************************************************************
31 PR News: EPA's Pronouncement that 'Air is Getting Cleaner' Shows Impact
of Nuclear Power Plants
WASHINGTON, April 15 /PRNewswire/ -- The U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) today identified areas of the United
States that have not attained more stringent air-quality
standards established under the federal Clean Air Act. The EPA
announced that nearly 2,700 of the nation's 3,000-plus counties
are meeting the agency's new eight-hour standard for levels of
ozone, or smog. Approximately 100 metropolitan areas, including
part or all of 474 counties, are designated as being in
"non-attainment" for either failing to meet the eight-hour ozone
standard or for causing a downwind county to fail. Nuclear Energy
Institute Executive Vice President Angie Howard made this
statement about EPA's announcement:
"Notably, in making today's announcement, EPA Administrator
Mike Leavitt emphasizes that, 'The air is getting cleaner.' It
is not happenstance that the nation's strides in cleaning the air
over the past 20 years coincide with dozens of nuclear power
plants coming on-line and producing huge amounts of emission-free
electricity.
"The 103 nuclear power plants operating across the country
supply three- fourths of the electricity from sources that don't
emit pollutants into the air. Nuclear energy has proven itself
to be absolutely vital in helping to meet the nation's growing
electricity needs and helping to clean the air.
"One of the best and most recent pieces of evidence of the
clean-air benefits of nuclear energy is the EPA's own '1999-2002
Progress Report' jointly issued in March 2003 by the Ozone
Transport Commission. The report shows that power producers have
been shifting electricity production to emission-free nuclear
power plants from other sources. A benefit of this change is
that more nuclear power helps the electric utility sector comply
with federal air pollution laws. Specifically, in examining how
compliance with the ozone standard is being achieved, the report
states that 'significant increases in nuclear generation indicate
that fossil fuel generation is more likely to have shifted to the
nuclear sector.' (See
http://www.epa.gov/airmarkets/otc/otcreport.pdf
[http://www.epa.gov/airmarkets/otc/otcreport.pdf] )
"As air quality standards grow more stringent, the nation's
need for nuclear energy will only continue to grow."
The Nuclear Energy Institute is the nuclear energy industry's
policy organization. This news release and additional
information about nuclear energy are available at
http://www.nei.org [http://www.nei.org] .
SOURCE Nuclear Energy Institute Web Site:
http://www.nei.org [http://www.nei.org]
http://www.epa.gov/airmarkets/otc/otcreport.pdf
[http://www.epa.gov/airmarkets/otc/otcreport.pdf]
Copyright © 1996-2004 PR Newswire Association LLC. All
Rights
*****************************************************************
32 PRN: Duke Energy and EPA Move to Dismiss NSR Trial Proceedings
http://www.duke-energy.com]
[http://www.dukepower.com]
[http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/257451.html]
CHARLOTTE, N.C., April 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Duke
Energy and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today
filed a Joint Motion calling on U.S. Middle District Court of
North Carolina trial Judge Frank Bullock to rule in favor of Duke
Energy in the government's Clean Air Act "New Source Review"
(NSR) enforcement litigation brought against the company.
The Joint Motion for Entry of Final Judgment -- signed by
Duke Energy and the plaintiffs including EPA, the U.S. Justice
Department and Plaintiff- Intervenors: Environmental Defense,
North Carolina Sierra Club and North Carolina Public Interest
Research Group -- notifies Judge Bullock that the parties agree
the plaintiffs cannot prove their case against Duke Energy at
trial.
If accepted by the Court, the Joint Motion will result in a
Final Order from Judge Bullock in favor of Duke Energy,
effectively ruling the company did not violate the Clean Air Act.
The Final Order will also close, without a trial, the enforcement
litigation before Judge Bullock. A trial date is currently set
for July 6, 2004.
The Joint Motion provides the government an option to appeal
elements of the litigation to the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of
Appeals.
"With the filing of this Joint Motion, we're moving a big
step closer to resolving this matter in a way that is favorable
to Duke Energy," said Fred Fowler, president and chief operating
officer of Duke Energy.
"Prevailing at the federal trial court level validates Duke
Energy's position that we have operated in compliance with the
Clean Air Act's NSR rules."
In December 2000, EPA filed suit against Duke Energy,
alleging numerous violations of the Clean Air Act's NSR rules. At
issue was routine maintenance, repair and replacement work
performed at eight coal-fired power plants between 1988 and 2000.
The plants are operated by Duke Power, Duke Energy's franchised
electric utility.
In August 2003, Judge Bullock issued an opinion on the case
after both parties had filed various motions for summary
judgment. While the judge denied requests for summary judgment,
he defined the legal standards for applying NSR rules to
maintenance, repair or replacement projects. Judge Bullock's
findings were consistent with Duke Energy's understanding of the
NSR program.
Duke Energy continues to reduce emissions from its coal-fired
plants. In 2003, the company embarked on a $1.5 billion program
to reduce nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide emissions far below
current federal limits by 2013. Through this effort the company
will comply with North Carolina's Clean Smokestacks Act which was
signed into law in June 2002 with the company's full support.
In March, EPA recognized Duke Power and other supporters of
the legislation with its 2004 National Clean Air Excellence
Award.
"Our commitment to the environment has never been stronger at
Duke Energy," Fowler said. "Our current program to reduce
emissions has been a win- win situation for our region and our
customers."
Duke Power, a business unit of Duke Energy, is one of the
nation's largest electric utilities and provides safe, reliable,
competitively priced electricity and value-added products and
services to more than 2 million customers in North Carolina and
South Carolina. In 2004, Duke Power celebrates 100 years of
service. The company operates three nuclear generating stations,
eight coal-fired stations, 31 hydroelectric stations and numerous
combustion turbine units. Total system generating capability is
approximately 19,900 megawatts. More information about Duke Power
is available on the Internet at: [http://www.dukepower.com] .
Duke Energy (NYSE:
[http://alliance.marketwatch.com/custom/alliance/interactivechart
.asp?symb=DUK&astyle=0,0,0,0,0,0,0,10,0,0&c=179&urlpull=&logourl=
&post=0] ) is a diversified energy company with a portfolio of
natural gas and electric businesses, both regulated and
unregulated, and an affiliated real estate company. Duke Energy
supplies, delivers and processes energy for customers in North
America and selected international markets. Headquartered in
Charlotte, N.C., Duke Energy is a Fortune 500 company traded on
the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol DUK. More
information about the company is available on the Internet at:
[http://www.duke-energy.com] .
CONTACT: Peter Sheffield Phone: 704/373-4503 24-Hour:
704/382-8333 SOURCE Duke Energy Web Site:
[http://www.duke-energy.com]
*****************************************************************
33 SMN: Bulgarian N-Plant Construction Faces Public Discussion
Sofia Morning News novinite.com Google
Business: 15 April 2004, Thursday.
The construction of the second N-plant in Belene will be launched
for public discussion on May 4 in Sofia.
The restart of the plant project, its ecological and health
impact are reviewed in the technical and business report prepared
by the US contractor Parsons.
Among the scenarios of project development, a no-go option is
also considered. In that case, the researcher estimates that
Bulgaria would need additional 1,000-2,000 MWh power capacities.
The report points out the risks involved in the construction
works for environment and human health.
The Parsons' report rules out the use of the Canadian-made Candu
reactor favouring the Russian type VVER manufactured by
AtomStroyExport, Skoda and Westinghouse. June is the deadline for
selecting the technology for the Belene's N-units operation.
The building of the 1,000 MWh Soviet-designed Belene plant
started in the 1980s. The project was shelved in 1992 after
pressure from environmentalists with 40 percent of construction
works worth of USD 1 B has already been completed.
Last year Bulgaria's Cabinet lifted the ban on the construction
of Bulgaria's second nuclear plant. The completion of the project
will cost between EUR 1,5 B and 3 B.[ width=] [ your opinion ] [
Chitatel 15 Apr 2004 [ 16:36:54 ] [ reply ]
"Bulgarian N-Plant Construction Eyes Public..."
A plant doesn't have eyes, neither a brain. It can not "eye" a
discussion. It could "face" a discussion, but it can not "eye"
it. No way.
You are using the verb "to eye" to often on this site,and most of
the time very inappropriately. Please learn when and how to use
it, or even better, avoid using it. No need to look smart, use
ordinary words and avoid idioms that you do not understand fully.
Prosto malka preporyka, inache saita vi e mnogo hubav....samo
deto e mnogo baven ot vreme na vreme.
Radik Ixanov 16 Apr 2004 [ 02:05:15
] [ reply ]
Could somebody share his/her opinion, why Parsons' report "...
ruled out CANDU project..."
Was that based on VVER design completion or something else...
All Rights Reserved © Novinite Ltd., 2001-2004 - Copyright
Novinite.com (thebulgariannews.com also) is unique with being a
real time news provider in English that informs its readers
about the latest Bulgarian news. The editorial staff also
*****************************************************************
34 NRC: NRC to Meet with FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Co. to Discuss Performance of
Perry Nuclear Plant
News Release - Region III - 2004-02
U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Office of Public Affairs, Region III
No. III-04-022 April 14, 2004
CONTACT: Jan Strasma (630) 829-9663
Viktoria Mitlyng (630) 829-9662 E-mail: [opa3@nrc.gov]
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will meet with
representatives of FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company on
Tuesday, April 20, to discuss the results of the agencys
assessment of safety performance at the Perry Nuclear Power
Plant during 2003. The facility is located in Perry, Ohio.
The meeting will be held at 6 p.m. in the Quail Hollow Resort,
11080 Concord-Hambden Road, Painesville, Ohio. 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. However, plant
performance warrants additional NRC regulatory oversight because
of several issues of low to moderate safety significance.
These issues will lead to additional NRC inspections.
The issues which have led to the heightened NRC oversight
include the failure of a high pressure emergency cooling pump to
start during testing in October 2002. A followup inspection by
the NRC in July 2003 found that, while the utility had repaired
the pump, it had not adequately evaluated other safety systems
for similar problems; a subsequent inspection in December found
that the issue had been adequately addressed.
A second issue involved the failure in September 2003 of a pump
in the system which supplies cooling water to various plant
safety components. A third finding involved the failure of the
utility to declare an alert under its emergency plan in a
timely manner following damage to a spent fuel assembly which
led to increased levels of radioactivity inside the fuel storage
area.
All three issues were classified as white -- low to moderate
safety significance -- under the NRCs system of determining
safety significance. The evaluations range from green for
problems of minor safety significance to white, yellow, and red,
which indicates a problem of high safety significance.
Two additional inspections are planned for this year at Perry,
one looking at the utilitys response to the emergency plan
issue and the second, a broader inspection to examine the
equipment problems.
In addition, the routine inspection program will be performed by
the two NRC resident inspectors assigned to the plant and by
inspection specialists from NRCs Region III office in Lisle,
Illinois.
A March 4 letter from the NRC to FirstEnergy 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/perr_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 Perry
are available on the NRC web site at:
http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/PERR1/perr1_chart.html.
Last revised Thursday, April 15, 2004
*****************************************************************
35 Seattle Cancer Center Won't Release Thyroid Study
Date: Thu, 15 Apr 2004 00:25:57 -0500 (CDT)
http://www.kvewtv.com/index.php?section_id=501&xstate=view_story&story_id=169462
Lawyer representing downwinders file subpoena
Chris Durden
Last Updated: Friday, April 02nd, 2004 08:14:00 PM
A Seattle cancer center is refusing to release data from a study
of thyroid disease among Hanford downwinders. Thousands of downwinders
are suing Hanford contractors over radiation releases from the 1940s
to the 1970s. Lawyers for the downwinders have subpeonaed the Fred
Hutchinson Cancer Research Center for the results of the 1999 study.
The center has refused to turn over the information. The center
says it paid for the study, so it owns the results. The trial is
scheduled for March 2005.
*****************************************************************
36 [du-list] EU checks du weapons ranges welcomed
Date: Thu, 15 Apr 2004 21:26:12 -0700
CELTIC LEAGUE PRESS INFORMATION
> >
> >
> > EU CHECKS ON DEPLETED URANIUM WEAPONS RANGES
WELCOMED
> >
> >
> > The Celtic League welcome the news that the EU is
to investigate the
> > impact of depleted uranium shells fired from
ranges in the North Irish
> > sea area near Galloway.
> >
> > The announcement follows lobbying by a number of
pressure groups,
> > community organisations and also SNP members of
the Scottish Parliament
> > for an independent inquiry.
> >
> > The MoD maintain the shells fired into the Solway
Firth from the
> Dundrennan
> > range do not harm the environment, however these
assurances have not
> > calmed fears about the long term impact of the
testing.
> >
> > Any steps taken by outside agencies such as the EU
to restore public
> > confidence is welcome however in the long term an
end to such weapons
> > testing is desirable.
> >
> >
> >
> > See also:
> >
> > Celtic News No 1392 MoD IRISH SEA WEAPONS-TESTING
BLOCKED BY MANX
> >
> >
> >
> > J B Moffatt
> >
> >
____________________________________________________________
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37 [du-list] Three Japanese hostages set free in Iraq
Date: Thu, 15 Apr 2004 18:49:21 -0700
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=511724
Three Japanese hostages set free in Iraq
AP
15 April 2004
Three Japanese hostages were released in Iraq today and are in good health,
with the pan-Arab television station Al-Jazeera showing them sitting on
sofas and arm chairs in a Baghdad office.
The station, monitored in Cairo, said the two aid workers and a journalist
were free as "the guests of Muslim scholars" in Baghdad.
In Tokyo, the national broadcaster NHK reported Japanese government
confirmation of their release.
The three Japanese civilians were taken hostage in Iraq last week by
militants who threatened to kill them unless Japan withdraws its non-combat
troops from southern Iraq. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi had refused,
insisting the soldiers will complete their humanitarian mission.
A video released last Thursday showed the three - two men and a woman -
blindfolded before captors armed with rifles and swords. They threatened to
burn the Japanese to death in three days unless Tokyo pulled out troops on
a humanitarian mission in southern Iraq.
The video included scenes of the gunman making the captives lie on the
floor and pointing swords and knives at their chests and throats.
The kidnappers had identified themselves as the "Mujahedeen Brigades," one
of several shadowy groups in Baghdad claiming to be fighting the U.S.-led
coalition. Some espouse Iraqi nationalism and others seem inspired by
anti-Western, militant Islamic thought.
To unsubscribe from this groups send a message to
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38 [du-list] US Whitewashes Warthogs Killing Marines
Date: Thu, 15 Apr 2004 18:49:24 -0700
US Whitewashes Warthogs Killing Marines
Wednesday 14th April 2004 Traprock Peace Center
http://www.traprockpeace.org/du_friendly_fire_add.html
The US Central Command has issued its investigative report
on the attack on Marines at An Nasiriyah by 2 A-10 Warthogs
on March 23, 2003. Initially, Americans were told, and US
media reported, that the Marines died as a result of Iraqi's
pretending to surrender, and then firing on the Marines. It
was then revealed that two A-10's had attacked the Marines
during the worst so-called 'friendly' fire incident of the
war. 18 Marines died and 17 were wounded during the
engagement with Iraqi forces and the US A-10's. The A-10's
fired Maverick missiles at vehicles and strafed vehicles and
US Marines on the ground with 30 mm 'depleted' uranium
rounds. One Marine witnessed 9 strafing runs. On March 19,
2004, NPR had broadcast accounts by Marines given shortly
after the battle to Marine historians. Marines described
multiple deaths from the A-10's; a sergeant said that most
of the Americans deaths were caused by the A-10's.
Col. Reed Bonadonna, Marine historian, described the
devastating effect of the 30 mm DU rounds and called for a
legitimate investigation of the incident: "I think that most
of the Marines felt that with the kind of price that is
being paid by this war, by a lot of people, and with the
stakes being what they are, that falling back on some kind
of no comment or bland, evasive or euphemistic language is
really inadequate to the situation. That this kind of
sacrifice, only the truth is good enough. That to try to
protect somebody's nasty little career or to try to throw a
gloss over this as if it didn't exist. The proper function
of military history is to instruct people so we do it better
next time, save people's lives." (transcription from NPR
broadcast.)
Yet, the Central Command report did not confirm a single
death caused by the A-10's. It found that the cause of death
for 10 Marines was "indeterminable." Of Marines wounded, the
Central Command said in its press release: "Of the 17
wounded, only one was conclusively determined to have been
hit by friendly fire." Further, that "three Marines were
wounded while inside vehicles that received both friendly
and hostile fire, and the exact sequence and source of their
injuries could not be determined." It is unbelievable that
the military could not confirm if these Marines were injured
by an A-10's strafing, as DU is radioactive.
There was barely a mention of 'depleted' uranium in the
report itself, even though it played a key role. It was
mentioned in connection marking vehicles that had been hit
by the 30 mm rounds as radioactive.
It seems clear that the military has minimized this deadly
incident. Why?
http://www.traprockpeace.org/du_friendly_fire_add.html
covers this controversy.
It also provides exclusive commentary by Dr. Doug Rokke
(retired Major USAR); Tedd Weyman, Iraq Field Team leader
for the Uranium Medical Research Center, and Ross Wilcock,
MD., as well as links to the NPR and Central Command
original resources and media accounts.
Charles Jenks, attorney at law President of the Core Group
Traprock Peace Center 103A Keets Road Deerfield, MA 01342
413-773-1633; Fax 413-773-7507 charles@mtdata.com
http://traprockpeace.org
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39 Bellona: Murmansk Prosecutors Office closes criminal case on irradiation
at SevRAO
ST. PETERSBURGThe Murmansk Regional Prosecutors Office has
closed criminal case on the accidental irradiation of the workers
from the N2 branch of the SevRAO nuclear clean up company that
occurred during an 12-person operation to dismantle solid
radioactive waste last July at the retired Gremikha Naval Base.
Bellona suspects the rationale behind the decision to close the
case is unfounded.
Gremikha is situated some 350 kilometers from the mouth of the
Kola Gulf. It has no land transportation to the mainland, and
relies exclusively on air or sea travel. Pictured here is the
ferry "Clavdia Yelanskaya," which plies between Gremikha and
Murmansk.
gremicha.narod.ru
Rashid Alimov, 2004-04-15 17:36
The statement from the Murmansk Prosecutors Office, distributed
verbatim by several Russian news agencies, reads that the senior
investigator of the prosecutors Special Cases Department
Vladimir Bogdanov decided to close the case only having
thoroughly examined all the details of the accident and after a
court ordered medical examination, carried out in Moscow.
The medical examination was performed at the Main medical
examination bureau of the Federal Administration of the Ministry
of Health.
According to the Prosecutors Office, the doctors found no proof
that the over-irradiation of the workers of the second branch [of
SevRAO] would have any negative effect on their health.
Based on the medical report and on fact that Bogdanov found
nothing untoward in the actions of those responsible for carrying
out the radioactive dismantlement procedure, he found no corpus
delecti and issued a decision to close the criminal case.
Accident in Gremikha The criminal case, which was based on the
article 293, part 1 of the Russian Criminal Code, dealing with
negligence resulting in an essential breach of rights and legal
interests of citizens or organizations or the legally protected
interests of the society and the state was initiated on
October, 21 2003.
The case was opened as the result of a radiation accident in the
closed town Ostrovnoyalso known as Gremikhawhich first reported
by Bellona Web in September 2003. Bellonas report came as a
shocking surprise to officials with the former Ministry of Atomic
Energy, or Minatom, who had managed to successfully conceal
information about the accident for more than two months.
Through sources in Gremikha, Bellona Web revealed that 12 workers
of SevRAO had been irradiatedthree of them high above accepted
normson July 11th 2003 while they were dismantling a dump of
solid radioactive waste that had been left in the open on
Gremikha territory. They were exposed again on July 14 when the
workers put the waste into casks and grouted it with a cement
solution.
The solid waste was dealt with by SevRAO was left in Gremikha by
the Russian Navys Northern Fleet. In 2001 the former naval base
at Gremikha was transferred from the Navy to SevRAO, which was
created by Minatom in 1998 for building an infrastructure for
decommissioning nuclear submarines, securing their spent nuclear
fuel and radioactive waste and for clean-up of dangerous nuclear
equipment in the Russias North-West.
But several details of the accident remain unclear. The statement
from the prosecutors office concerning the incident, and spread
by Russian news agencies, said that 21 workers were irradiated.
According to information, acquired by Bellona through its sources
in Gremikha, the number of irradiated workers was 12.
The statement reads that soon after the accident the
administration of the company sent all the irradiated to a
hospital for a thorough medical examination. Bellona Web,
however, had learned that the accident victims were sent to an
examination only a month after the accident. This was confirmed
in September by Valery Lobanov, the chief physician at the
Murmansk region's Medical-Sanitary Unit No. 120, where the
workers were first treated.
Moreover, on October 21st 2003 Bellona Web learned that the
branch administration of SevRAO in Gremikha had illegally fired
three out of the twelve irradiated workers. Facing harsh public
criticism, the Gremikha SevRAO administration soon restored them
to the work status.
Commentators weigh in Its rather strange the case has been
closed, commented the Gremikha source, who had furnished Bellona
with its original information after the accident, in a telephone
interview with Bellona Web Wednesday. Some of the irradiated
havent yet returned from Moscow, where theyre undergoing
medical checkups.
Attracting attention to the accident brought about resultsfor
example, those people, [illegally] fired in October were restored
to the work thanks to Bellonas reporting, he added.
The Gremikha source was also puzzled about the 21 irradiated
workers cited in the statement from the Prosecutors Office.
Perhaps, having learned about the accident, somebody declared
oneself victim, to get indemnity, he said.
Alexei Pavlov, a lawyer with the Environmental Rights Center
Bellona, in St Petersburg, said today that Bellona will lodge a
letter of inquiry with the Murmansk Prosecutors Office asking on
what basis the case was closed.
The International Commission for Radiological Protection
absolutely prohibits purposeless irradiation. Here, irradiation
clearly had no purpose, said Bellonas expert Sergei Kharitonov,
a former nuclear waste specialist at the Leningrad Nuclear Power
Plant.
Anyway, there are reasons to call the [Gremikha] administration
to account, so that such accidents arent repeated. Even if the
over-irradiation was not so significantwhich itself needs to be
provedit could well be much more serious. The administration can
be deprived of its license even for the mere creation of such
critical situationfor the total [professional] illiteracy,
Moreover, all the stuff must be re-examined. The careless
attitude toward the radiation, which was the case in [Soviet
nuclear physicist Igor] Kurchatovs time, is inadmissible now.
Kharitonov added, that article 55 of the Provisions for Securing
Radioactive Safety, known by Russian acronym OSPORB-99, reads:
for breach of sanitary legislation disciplinary, administrative
and criminal liability is set. He stressed that one of the main
principles of OSPORB-99 is the necessity that the dose received
by a worker is calculated and established beforehand.
In October, SevRAOs chief engineer Anatoly Grigoriev told
Bellona Web that: An unusual occurrence has taken place and the
management [at Gremikha] was unable to evaluate it in the
corresponding manner. The management of the facility will face
disciplinary action. Addionally, a criminal case for neglect of
duty will be filed."
Kharitonov said the actions of the branchs administrtion were a
neglect of duty and disregard for the life and health of people.
Before launching the [waste dismantlement[ operation, they
should have counted the irradiation dose and minimized it. They
had to limit the time that people were in the proximity of the
source of iradiation. None of that had been done.
Bellona Murmansk head and radiation expert Sergei Zhavoronkin
said the closing of the criminal case was a particular juridical
question.
But its a fact, that there was an unplanned irradiation, he
said. The question is: what measures of administrative nature
had been taken? What disciplinary measures: reprimands, fines?
Have the instruction briefings been carried out? SevRAO must
answer for this.
Zhavoronkin said that closing the case and even punishing the
guilt is not enough. The main issue, he said, is to eliminate the
cause of such accidents.
Does SevRAO have specialists and funds to prevent the accident
from being repeated? Let SevRAO announce what they are
lackingits important. Have they carried a detailed examination
of all their installations? said Zhavoronkin.
I know, that after the accident they got new Geiger countersbut
Im not sure that their monitoring team started to perform their
work any better, whether theyve got new specialists. I know that
radioactive rods were unloaded from the dump manually, without
even simple, widely used [mecanichal] grasping devices. SevRAO
workers must be sure, while going to work, that specialists wont
allow them to be irradiated and will be able to take measures in
a critical situation.
Zhavoronkin stressed that there was nothing that could be
classified as secret at the installation.
There is no naval base, only two written-off subs, he said. I
appeal to the SevRAO administrationwhy dont you let a
non-governmental organization [NGO] in? Because not everything is
in order? [Giving NGOs accesss] could facilitate your workyou
wouldnt step in the same puddle twice. SevRAO does a very
important work but it shouldnt be done at the cost of peoples
health.
Bellona Web will continue to follow the situation at Gremikha.
Publisher: Bellona Foundation [bellona@bellona.no] , President:
Frederic Hauge [frederic@bellona.no] Information: info@bellona.no
[info@bellona.no] , Technical contact: webmaster@bellona.no
[webmaster@bellona.no] Telephone: +47 23 23 46 00 Telefax: +47 22
38 38 62 * P.O.Box 2141 Grunerlokka, 0505 Oslo, Norway
*****************************************************************
40 Las Vegas SUN: More information requested on proposed biological
tests
April 14, 2004
By Mary Manning
A federal and a state agency have requested more information
from the National Nuclear Security Administration on plans for
small releases of simulated biological agents and chemicals that
could jump Nevada Test Site borders.
The Interior Department and the Nevada Division of
Environmental Protection asked the administration to explain the
six biological materials proposed for tests and the variety of
chemicals and their persistence in the environment.
Interior officials are concerned about the federally threatened
Mojave Desert tortoise, migrating birds and other sensitive
species of plants, animals and insects.
"For example, it would be important to know specific details on
the various biological materials, including their persistence in
the exposed environment, to assist in determining potential
effects to these species," wrote Robert Williams, Interior
Department field supervisor.
Sensitive species could be affected on the Desert National
Wildlife Refuge and the Nellis Test and Training Range, the
state Environmental Protection Division said in a letter.
The Nuclear Security Administration proposed more testing,
training and research using common bacteria found in soils and
chemicals. The expanded testing planned at the Test Site, 65
miles northwest of Las Vegas, came after the 2001 terrorist
attacks, the agency's Nevada Site Office said in its
environmental assessment.
The 77-page document concludes that there would be no impacts
on workers or the public because the materials under
consideration would be released in such small amounts.
In the case of bacteria released in the soil, less than an acre
would be affected, the environmental assessment said. Airborne
chemical exercises would be subject to wind and weather
conditions.
Public comments are being accepted on the draft report until
May 14.
The document may be viewed online at www.nv.doe.gov, or at the
Nuclear Security Administration's Nuclear Testing Archive,
located at the Desert Research Institute, 755 E. Flamingo Road
at the corner of Swenson Avenue. The facility is open from 7:30
a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Comments may be e-mailed to nepa@nv.doe.gov [nepa@nv.doe.gov] ,
or by mail to: Chem Bio EA, NEPA Document Manager, National
Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Site Office, P.O. Box
98518, Las Vegas, Nev., 89193, Attention: Michael Skougard.
*****************************************************************
41 Scotsman: Court Case Hospital Accused of Losing Radioactive Rod
[http://www.scotsman.com/]
Thu 15 Apr 2004
By Caroline Gammell, PA News
A hospital is being taken to court over claims that it βlostβ
a highly radioactive substance and did not notice for nearly
three months, health and safety watchdogs said today.
The Royal Free Hospital in London is accused of losing the high
activity sealed radioactive source caesium 137, which was used to
treat a cancer tumour in 2001.
The caesium 137 effectively burns the malignant cancer cells
away.
It is alleged that the lost caesium in the rod being used in the
treatment was 1.5mm wide β the equivalent of a pen tip.
The case against the Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust is being
brought jointly by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and the
Environment Agency.
It will be heard at the City of London Magistratesβ Court
tomorrow and is expected to last a day.
The Trust is accused of health and safety breaches under the
Radioactive Substances Act 1993 and the Health and Safety at Work
Act 1974.
Breaches include a failure βto ensure, so far as was reasonably
practicable, the safety of their employees and others not in
their employment arising from the use of and subsequent loss of a
radioactive sourceβ.
If found guilty at magistrates, the maximum fine the Trust could
face is Β£20,000, whereas if the case goes to the Crown Court,
the fine is unlimited.
[http://www.scotsman.com/]
*****************************************************************
42 New Jersey Herald: Radiation levels low in Sparta water; Uranium test results
expected this month
Posted Thursday, April 15, 2004 by Webmaster
[webmaster@njherald.com]
By BRENDAN BERLS
Herald Staff Writer
Sparta officials lifted the ban on drinking uranium-rich tap
water in 600 Seneca Lake-area homes more than a month ahead of
schedule, due in part to early test results showing negligible
radiation levels in an alternative water source.
Since officials announced on March 9 that unsafe amounts of
uranium were found in the seven wells serving the Seneca Lake
water system one of eight such systems in the township the
few thousand residents in southeast Sparta and northern Byram
have relied on bottled water and on a tanker truck parked at a
local firehouse for drinking and cooking water.
Municipal Engineer Charles Ryan told residents at a public
information meeting last month that water utility workers would
reroute untainted water from elsewhere in Sparta to serve the
Seneca system, but that it could be as late as June 1 before the
work was complete.
However, the first interconnect with the two Buttonwood
Estates wells and the two Newstar wells was in place on April
1, and the remaining Seneca Lake wells were shut off, Ryan said
Wednesday. After a backup interconnect at Spring Brook Trail was
put in place on Monday, officials made the decision to lift the
ban.
The uranium was first discovered when officials, in early
compliance with new federal regulations, took water samples from
the Seneca wells which they knew had high levels of radon, a
uranium byproduct in December, and got the results in February.
Utility workers have since tested the rest of Spartas 40 public
wells for uranium, but do not expect to have all the results
until later this month. But the results of another test the
gross alpha test, which indicates radioactivity have shown
almost nonexistent levels in the Buttonwood/Newstar wells and
acceptable ones at Spring Brook Trail, Ryan said.
The highest acceptable level of uranium in drinking water, by
federal standards, is 30 parts per billion.
The Spring Brook interconnect requires a pump to get the water
uphill to the Seneca Lake area, but a temporary, trailer-mounted
pump is there in case it is needed before the permanent pump,
which is on order, arrives, Ryan said.
As a way of compensating residents for the inconvenience of the
past several weeks, the Township Council voted on Tuesday night
to waive affected residents quarterly water utility bills,
which are around $20.
The water system can now basically go indefinitely with the
interconnects in place, Ryan said, but the township will be
exploring treatability options, with the help of Picatinny
Arsenal which has uranium treatment experience and the
Stephens Institute of Technology, to see whether the Seneca Lake
wells can ever be reopened.
Picatinny officials will offer some services free of charge, by
conducting a pilot testing program at one of the defunct Seneca
wells.
Thats a good neighbor situation from Picatinny Arsenal,
certainly, Ryan said.
Back to the main page. [http://www.njherald.com/news/]
© 2000, 1999, Quincy Newspapers, Inc. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
43 NRC: NRC Proposes $6,000 Fine for 21st Century Technologies
News Release - Region IV - 2004-01
U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Office of Public Affairs, Region IV
No. IV-04-018 April 15, 2004
CONTACT: Victor Dricks
Phone: 817-860-8128
E-mail: opa4@nrc.gov [opa4@nrc.gov]
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff has proposed a fine
of $6,000 for 21st Century Technologies, Inc. of Las Vegas,
Nevada, for unauthorized distribution of products containing
radioactive materials.
In a letter to the company, Bruce S. Mallett, Administrator of
the NRCs Region IV Office in Arlington, Texas, said that during
an NRC inspection completed in October 2003, the agency
identified apparent willful violations involving the
distribution of radioactive tritium-bearing gun sights (that
glow in the dark) and other radioactive products not authorized
by its NRC license.
Company officials met with the NRC staff in January to discuss
four apparent violations of NRC requirements. At the
conference, 21st Century representatives denied having willfully
committed any violations of NRC requirements, Mr. Mallett said.
While acknowledging that the company may have violated NRC
requirements by distributing products that were not authorized
by the license, 21st Century attributed this to error, and to
misinterpretations or misunderstandings of the license, and
committed to developing processes and procedures to assure
compliance in the future.
During the conference, 21st Century representatives said its
license could be interpreted to authorize distribution of some
of the tritium-bearing gun sights that were found in violation.
But, Mr. Mallett noted this is not the case, since the companys
NRC license authorizes it to distribute only nine different
series of gun sights. Attaching a description of other gunsights
to its NRC license application, as the company did, does not
make it part of the license, Mr. Mallett said.
21st Centurys distribution of unapproved products...
circumvented the regulatory processes that are designed to
assure the acceptability of products distributed to members of
the public, Mr. Mallett said. The NRC can have confidence in
the acceptability of such products only if they are designed,
manufactured and distributed in accordance with NRC
requirements.
The NRC has proposed a $6,000 fine against 21st Century for two
violations of NRC requirements. The violations assessed a civil
penalty are classified collectively as a Severity Level III
problem. The NRC uses a four-level severity scale on which
Severity level I is the most serious. Because the company has
been the subject of escalated enforcement actions during two
prior inspections, the base penalty of $3,000 has been doubled.
The NRC letter, its enclosures, and the companys response will
be made available to interested members of the public through
the agencys electronic reading room at:
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. Help in accessing
these documents is available from the NRC Public Document Room
at (301) 415-4737 or at 1-800-397-4209.
The company has 30 days from receipt of the letter to either pay
the civil penalty or to protest its imposition.
Last revised Thursday, April 15, 2004
*****************************************************************
44 FR: NWTRB meeting 5-18 5-19
FR Doc 04-8532
[Federal Register: April 15, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 73)]
[Notices] [Page 20078-20079] From the Federal Register Online via
GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr15ap04-99]
NUCLEAR WASTE TECHNICAL REVIEW BOARD
Notice of Meeting
Board Meeting: May 18-19, 2004--Washington, DC: The U.S.
Nuclear Waste Technical Review will meet with the DOE and
interested parties to discuss the potential for localized
corrosion during periods of above boiling temperatures in a
repository planned for Yucca Mountain in Nevada.
Pursuant to its authority under section 5051 of Public Law
100-203, Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act of 1987, on Tuesday
and Wednesday, May 18 and 19, 2004, the U.S. Nuclear Waste
Technical Review Board (Board) will hold its spring meeting in
Washington, DC. The Board has invited the U.S. Department of
Energy (DOE) and several other interested parties--including the
Nuclear Regulatory
[[Page 20079]]
Commission (NRC), the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI),
and the State of Nevada--to present their research and views on
the potential for corrosion of waste packages during the
``thermal pulse,'' the period of approximately 1,000 years after
closure when temperatures would be above boiling inside a
repository for high-level radioactive waste planned for Yucca
Mountain in Nevada. In a letter and a report to the DOE last
fall, the Board concluded that, based on analyses of DOE and
other data, all the conditions necessary for localized corrosion
of waste packages will likely be present in repository tunnels
during the thermal pulse.
The Board meeting will be held at the Embassy Suites Hotel;
1250 22nd Street, NW., Washington, DC 20037. The telephone number
is 202- 857-3388, and the fax number is 202-293-3173. The meeting
is open to the public, and opportunities for public comment will
be provided. The meeting sessions will begin at 8 a.m. on both
days.
Tuesday's session will begin with overviews of the status of
program activities related to the Yucca Mountain project and
updates on activities related to basic science, seismicity, and
transportation of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive
waste. On Tuesday afternoon, representatives of the NRC, EPRI,
and the State of Nevada will present their views and relevant
research on the potential for corrosion on waste packages during
the thermal pulse.
Most of the meeting on Wednesday will be devoted to
presentations by the DOE and to discussion of DOE views,
research, and analyses related to repository tunnel environments
and the potential for localized corrosion during the thermal
pulse. Meeting participants will have an opportunity to make
brief wrap-up comments at the end of the day on Wednesday.
The meeting agenda will include time for public comment
before adjournment on both days. Those wanting to speak during
the public comment periods are encouraged to sign the ``Public
Comment Register'' at the check-in table. A time limit may have
to be set on individual remarks, but written comments of any
length may be submitted for the record.
An agenda will be available approximately one week before the
meeting. Copies of the agenda can be requested by telephone or
obtained from the Board's Web site:
[http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leaving
FR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www.nwtrb.gov] . Beginning on June
21, 2004, transcripts of the meeting will be available on the
Board's Web site, via e-mail, on computer disk, and on a
library-loan basis in paper format from Davonya Barnes of the
Board staff.
A block of rooms has been reserved at the Embassy Suites
Hotel. A meeting rate is available for reservations made by April
19, 2004. When making a reservation, please state that you are
attending the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board meeting. For
more information, contact the NWTRB; Karyn Severson, External
Affairs; 2300 Clarendon Boulevard, Suite 1300; Arlington, VA
22201-3367; (tel) 703-235-4473; (fax) 703- 235-4495.
The Board was created by Congress in the Nuclear Waste Policy
Amendments Act of 1987. The Board's purpose is to evaluate the
technical and scientific validity of activities undertaken by the
Secretary of Energy related to managing the disposal of the
nation's spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste. In
the same legislation, Congress directed the DOE to characterize
the Yucca Mountain site to determine its suitability as the
location of a potential repository for the permanent disposal of
spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste.
Dated: April 5, 2004. William D. Barnard, Executive Director,
Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board. [FR Doc. 04-8532 Filed
4-14-04; 8:45 am]
*****************************************************************
45 Las Vegas Mercury: Editor's Note: Railroaded by the DOE
Thursday, Apr 15, 2004, 09:32:24 PM
Copyright © Las Vegas Mercury
The U.S. Department of Energy announced earlier this month that
it intends to use trains rather than trucks to transport most of
the nation's high-level nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain, 90
miles northwest of Las Vegas. The federal agency's reasoning is
that trains are safer than trucks.
This may be true, considering that trains don't encounter
nearly as many variables as trucks negotiating America's
perilous highways. But it would be a stretch to suggest that
trains eliminate the possibility of accident or disaster.
Anybody who keeps a casual eye on the news knows that trains
sometimes derail and crash, sometimes run into each other and
sometimes are terrorist targets.
The DOE also has released the preferred route of its planned
rail line between Caliente, site of an existing rail hub in
Lincoln County, and Yucca Mountain. Like so much of the DOE's
activity concerning Yucca Mountain, this scheme is completely
lacking in common sense. The route, starting in Caliente, heads
west, then veers north, then west again, then south, skirting
the Nevada Test Site and Nellis Range, not to mention Area 51.
This circuitous route measures about 320 miles--three-quarters
of the mileage between Las Vegas and Reno--with cost estimates
starting at $880 million. As the crow flies between Caliente and
Yucca Mountain--directly across the high-security federal
installations--the distance is half that.
The DOE's primary motivation for the meandering rail route is
to appease Las Vegas. For years, the strongest opposition to
Yucca Mountain has come from Las Vegas, which fears the dump
would put its economy and the safety of residents and tourists
at tremendous risk. Particularly alarming has been the prospect
of trucks laden with deadly radioactive waste coursing through
the city. The horrors of a nuclear waste shipment being involved
in an accident in, say, the Spaghetti Bowl are not difficult for
Las Vegans to imagine.
The government thinks that by keeping the waste out of the Las
Vegas area--thus, the railroad option--it will reduce opposition
to the dump. But Las Vegans know this issue too well to be
swayed by this relatively minor maneuver. "If the DOE thinks the
Nevada [congressional] delegation's commitment to halting the
Yucca Mountain project will somehow lessen because they have
bypassed more heavily populated areas in favor of Caliente, the
department is completely mistaken," said Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev.
Most of the rail route is on federal land, which means the
government wouldn't have to buy up many private parcels. But
it's more complicated than that. Much of the 300,000 acres of
public land the DOE covets is used by ranchers for grazing
cattle. The ranchers have been leasing this land for decades,
putting up fences and digging wells at their own expense.
Cutting a wide swath through this rangeland for a rail line
could put some of them out of business. Longtime rancher Joe
Fellini told the Las Vegas Sun last week: "It takes years and
years to build these ranches, and with one stroke of a
bureaucrat's pen, they're gone. Hell, we've been here 130
years."
Some folks in Lincoln County support the nuclear waste dump--as
well as this new railroad project--in the belief that it could
boost their economically stagnant region. The railroad's
construction certainly would bring some good jobs to the area,
but once it's finished in a couple of years, the work
disappears. It's unlikely Yucca Mountain would create more than
a handful of permanent jobs in Lincoln County, and that meager
benefit could be offset by losses in the ranching industry.
The DOE has received support from Congress and President Bush
to proceed with Yucca Mountain, and the agency is acting as if
it's a done deal. But it's premature to consider Yucca Mountain
a foregone conclusion. The state's lawsuits against the DOE are
still pending, with possible court rulings this summer. Plus,
the state is now considering other lawsuits it might file.
Meanwhile, the DOE has yet to apply for a license to operate the
dump. The process of obtaining a license from the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission is likely to start toward the end of this
year and take at least two years. The licensing process is based
primarily on science, not politics, which puts the DOE at a
disadvantage.
The Yucca Mountain project's momentum also could be slowed
significantly, if not halted altogether, by November's
presidential election. Sen. John Kerry, the Democratic Party
nominee, voted against Yucca Mountain in 2002, and he has gone
out of his way in recent months to draw a sharp distinction
between his and President Bush's stance on the issue. If Kerry
wins the election, the project's future is far less certain.
Nevadans undoubtedly have Yucca Mountain fatigue. It's been a
long, drawn-out fight, with ample reasons to lose hope that it
can be won. But they must not give up now. The federal
government wants Nevada, which does not even have a nuclear
power plant within its borders, to bear the entire nation's
nuclear waste burden. This is wrong and unfair, not to mention
unsafe.
For Nevada, Yucca Mountain is, first and foremost, an idealistic
fight. It's not about a handful of jobs in depressed rural
counties. It's not about which transportation option is safer,
because they are all inherently unsafe. It's not even really
about whether the government can invent a metal canister capable
of containing the waste for 400 years or 4,000 years.
Yucca Mountain represents a galling abuse of political power, a
venal manipulation of the democratic process by the nuclear
power industry and its puppets in Washington. Nevada is right
and the federal government is wrong. The government's plan to
sacrifice Nevada so that other states can be rid of the waste
they created must not be allowed to stand.
--GEOFF SCHUMACHER
Copyright © Las Vegas Mercury, 2001 - 2004
*****************************************************************
46 Las Vegas RJ: URANIUM BYPRODUCT: Shipmentsto test siteface lawsuit
Thursday, April 15, 2004
State threatens lawsuit to halt radioactive waste from Ohio
By STEVE TETREAULT STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU
WASHINGTON -- Nevada Attorney General Brian Sandoval has
threatened to block the shipment of more than 3,700 truckloads of
radioactive waste to the Nevada Test Site, setting the stage for
a new showdown with the Energy Department.
Initial shipments of a potent uranium byproduct are scheduled to
start next month and continue through November 2005 as part of
the cleanup of a former uranium ore processing plant in Fernald,
Ohio. The waste would be buried at the test site, 65 miles
northwest of Las Vegas.
Sandoval told the Energy Department that Nevada is prepared to
press a lawsuit to prevent shipments of up to 153.6 million
pounds of tainted material that is distinct from the low-level
radioactive waste the government normally buries at the test
site.
The state already is fighting the Energy Department in the
courts over a plan to entomb the nation's high-level nuclear
waste inside Yucca Mountain, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
Sandoval alleged the Fernald waste has been misclassified for
disposal at the test site in violation of federal law and
department regulations.
"There appears to be no legal, regulatory or scientific
justification whatsoever for DOE's plan to dispose of massive
quantities of Fernald's most hazardous and radioactive wastes at
NTS," Sandoval said in a letter sent Tuesday to assistant Energy
Secretary Jessie Roberson, who oversees environmental cleanups.
The Energy Department's initial plan to bury the waste at a
commercial landfill in Utah collapsed in the fall, amid growing
opposition from the public and members of the Utah Legislature.
The department then turned its focus to Nevada.
Sandoval gave the Energy Department until April 30 to change its
plans before the state seeks action in court to stop the
shipments.
Nevada officials also filed a petition Wednesday asking the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission to step in and assert control over
the Fernald material, according to Bob Loux, executive director
of the Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects.
Energy Department attorneys will review the state's charges,
department spokesman Joe Davis said. He said the material falls
into a classification of low-level defense nuclear waste that can
be buried in Nevada. "We believe we can go to the Nevada Test
Site with this," he said.
Energy Department officials have said the waste, contained in
half-inch thick steel cylinders, will be buried in 25-foot deep
trenches.
The dispute is the first involving nuclear waste at the test
site since the late 1990s, when Nevada sued over the Energy
Department's use of public land to bury low-level waste from
weapons factories. State and federal officials reached a
settlement on that matter.
The material is stored in three silos at the Fernald plant,
where the government processed high-grade uranium ore into
nuclear weapons fuel during the Cold War. The facility has been
declared a Superfund site that is being remediated through costly
cleanup.
The radioactive content of the ore processing waste at Fernald
is not as potent as spent nuclear fuel proposed to be buried at
Yucca Mountain. But it contains unusually concentrated
radioactive byproducts that cleanup contractors plan to dilute
with ash and cement before encasing them for travel and burial.
The government has buried about 21 million cubic feet of
low-level radioactive waste at the test site since 1978,
including 6.4 million cubic feet of waste from the Fernald site.
Low-level waste typically includes tainted medical and research
materials, tools and fabrics.
The silo waste is more dangerous and could pose health concerns
if radioactive material escapes from corroding canisters and
seeps into groundwater, state officials said.
"This isn't low-level waste. This is a different breed," Loux
said.
Sandoval charged that disposing of the Fernald material at the
test site would violate federal laws that require such specially
classified radioactive waste to be buried in lined and closely
monitored landfills licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission.
"The NTS disposal facility is clearly not such a facility,"
Sandoval said.
He also said Energy Department regulations prohibit disposal in
Nevada of the concentrated waste in the quantities it plans to
ship from Ohio.
Copyright Las Vegas Review-Journal
*****************************************************************
47 Las Vegas SUN: State to sue over more nuke waste
Shipments from Ohio to Nevada Test Site to be reclassified
By Suzanne Struglinski
SUN WASHINGTON BUREAU
WASHINGTON -- Nevada will file another lawsuit against the
Energy Department if it does not halt its plan to ship
radioactive waste from Ohio to the Nevada Test Site, Attorney
General Brian Sandoval said Tuesday.
The department's plan to move waste from a former uranium
processing plant in Fernald, Ohio, violates its own rules on
disposal as well as state and federal law, Sandoval said in a
letter sent Tuesday to Jessie Roberson, the department's
assistant secretary for environmental management.
Shipments are set to start in May and last for about 18 months,
but Sandoval set an April 30 deadline for the Energy Department
to tell the state it will not ship the waste to the Test Site or
"Nevada intends to seek prompt judicial redress." The suit would
be filed in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas.
Nevada also filed a petition with the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission asking it to order the department to stop its plans
to move the waste.
Energy Department spokesman Joe Davis could not be reached for
comment this morning.
Some waste from the Fernald site has been shipped to Nevada for
years, said Fernald spokesman Gary Stegner, but the waste in
question is from a different source.
At issue is 153 million pounds of waste that now sits in three
concrete silos at Fernald, 18 miles northwest of Cincinnati. The
department used the treated uranium for nuclear weapons.
Silos 1 and 2 contain uranium ore residue from when uranium was
extracted during processing at Fernald and another department
site. The department wants to treat the waste, mix it with
concrete and send it to the Test Site. Silo 3 contains powdery,
metallic production wastes that are to be removed with a large
vacuum device, treated and bagged for shipment.
But Nevada says this waste is not the type that can be stored
at the Test Site.
"There appears to be no legal, regulatory, or scientific
justification whatsoever for DOE's plan to dispose of massive
quantities of Fernald's most hazardous and radioactive waste at
(the Nevada Test Site)," Sandoval wrote. "DOE's plan is reckless
and unsafe, and it flagrantly violates the law."
The makeup of the waste should not let it be classified as
low-level waste, but the department has opted to ship it to the
Nevada Test Site anyway, Bob Loux, executive director of the
state Office of Nuclear Projects, said. The Test Site can store
low-level waste.
"They (the department) are substituting their determination
that it is low-level waste and under their control for Congress'
determination that it is not and should be controlled by the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission," Loux said.
Department rules say it can reclassify a small quantity of
waste, but Sandoval points out that the 14,000 cubic yards,
which could equal 7,000 containers, is not a small amount.
"Two specific examples given by DOE of 'small quantities' were
'a few vials' and '100 cubic meters' of non-eligible wastes,"
Sandoval said.
Sandoval wrote that the department does not have the authority
to change how waste is classified and "magically exempt" it from
all federal and state hazardous waste rules. He points to one
law that says the material should be moved only to a Nuclear
Regulatory Commission facility, which the Test Site is not, and
a department decision that says uranium cannot be classified as
low-level waste.
If the matter does end up in court, Rep. Shelley Berkley,
D-Nev., said she would file a brief supporting the state and
would contact the department and the Environmental Protection
Agency to "inform them that this plan is unsafe, unfair and
completely illegal under federal and state law."
"Changing the classification of this waste does not change the
fact that is too dangerous to be buried at the Nevada Test
Site," Berkley said. "The safety of Nevadans is once again being
shoved aside in favor of doing what is cheap and easy. This is
an ongoing pattern of behavior by the DOE which continues to
operate as if it is above the law."
*****************************************************************
48 RGJ: Public officials want to find all abandoned mines, secure them
[http://www.rgj.com/]
Thursday | Apr 15, 2004
Reno Gazette-Journal]
Provided by Bureau of Land Management
GETTING RID OF DANGER: Abandoned mines are very dangerous because
theyre unpredictable. They can collapse with no warning, and can
contain poisonous gases.
Avoid mines What to do if you find an abandoned mine: o Stay
away. Dont even step to the edge of the hole or pit, as the dirt
on the edges is often loose and can collapse. o Note the location
and call the Nevada Division of Minerals at 684-7040 or (775)
721-7625.
RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL
4/14/2004 03:17 pm
Since Nevadas Abandoned Mine Lands program began tracking
hazards and incidents in 1987, a human or dog has been injured
or died in an abandoned mine shaft or open pit nearly every year.
With an estimated 50,000 hazards from abandoned mines in Nevada,
the Bureau of Land Management and Nevada Division of Minerals
are trying to find and secure every single one of them.
For every one that shows up on the map, theres 21/2 more out
there, said Bill Durbin, chief of the program.
In the meantime, public officials are urging people to stay away
from abandoned mine sites.
A Reno resident drowned in 2002 in a pit lake at a reclaimed
gold mine near Virginia City. One man became a quadriplegic
after falling down a 25-foot shaft that year in Clark County. An
11-year-old girl died in 1999 after falling 130 feet down a
shaft near Beatty. Two dogs had to be rescued from mines in two
separate incidents in 2000.
So far, the program has identified 9,700 hazards at abandoned
mine sites and secured 7,800 of them, Durbin said.
Many dangers can be encountered at such sites, said Chris Ross,
the BLMs abandoned mines expert. To begin with, mine shafts can
collapse suddenly.
They didnt build them to last 100 years, he said.
Gases found in mine shafts include carbon dioxide, carbon
monoxide and hydrogen sulfide, all of which can cause
asphyxiation or suffocation. Methane and other explosive gases
can also be in mines. Highly unstable explosives have often been
left behind.
Dynamite gets to the point where it goes off all by itself,
Ross said.
Some injuries and deaths have occurred when people exploring
mine tunnels have fallen down winzes shafts that are often
hidden by brittle old planks. Ross has been scared on more than
one occasion by bobcats, deer and elk living in mines.
Boy Scouts working on their service projects for the Eagle Scout
rank have fenced off many mine shafts. The Nevada Mining
Associations members have also pitched in by providing heavy
equipment, workers and other services.
They recognize its a serious hazard, and they have the
equipment to deal with it, Ross said.
Thanks to the donations and volunteer work, the cost of the
program, other than paperwork and official staffing, has come to
zero dollars, Ross said. Some people ask him why Nevadas mining
companies arent held responsible for sealing the mine shafts.
Well, its not their stuff, he said. This was pick and
burro stuff. Theres been mining in Nevada for over a hundred
years.
The long history of mining in Nevada means that many sites have
cultural or archaeological significance, Ross said.
Archaeological experts study each site before anything is done.
Right now, for example, some sites havent been secured after
experts found scattered glass, a sheepherders trailer and
headframes.
We have to balance safety issues with historical issues, he
said. Its something were working through.
Sites are also checked for sensitive or endangered species, such
as bats, desert tortoises, yucca and cacti, he said. If
possible, the species are removed. Plants are dug up, kept alive
and then replanted at the site. The program also installs bat
gates, which allow bats in and out but not humans or large
animals. Holes in the ground are filled in with materials from
the dumps next to them, where miners once piled the dirt and
rocks they dug out.
Theres not a big destruction of the resources and now nobody
is going to fall into them, Ross said.
© Copyright Reno Gazette-Journal, a Gannett
*****************************************************************
49 Arizona Daily Sun: Governor to push for joint clean-up of Colorado River
[http://www.azdailysun.com]
Thursday, April 15, 2004
By HOWARD FISCHER
Capitol Media Services
04/15/2004
PHOENIX -- Gov. Janet Napolitano says she will meet "as soon as
possible'' with the state's congressional delegation to find ways
to halt pollution flowing into the Colorado River.
The governor, reacting to a report by American Rivers naming the
Colorado as the most threatened in the country, said she takes
little comfort from the report that the water remains safe to
drink because it is treated.
"That does not relieve us of our responsibility to look at the
long term health and quality of that water because it is life
sustaining to so many millions in Arizona and in the lower basin
states,'' Napolitano said.
The report by the conservation group found that an facility where
rocket fuel is manufactured continues to dump more than 400
pounds of ammonium perchlorate into the river every day.
Napolitano said tests showed perchlorate levels below Hoover Dam
as high as 24 parts per billion, nearly twice as high as state
guidelines permit.
Arizona Rivers also found that radioactive water enters the river
from a now-closed mill in Utah. And nitrate levels are four times
higher than the Environmental Protection Agency public health
limits, due at least in part to septic tanks by homes and
businesses along the Arizona and California sections of the
river.
"Many of the sources of pollution that have been identified are
federal sources,'' Napolitano said. "This needs to be a joint
state-federal effort.''
Napolitano also said she is cont]acting counterparts in
California, Nevada and Utah to determine what can be done to
clean up the river in the long term.
And the governor said she wants to bring federal, state and
tribal officials together along with representatives of the
agricultural industry to find examine the problem and suggest
solutions by the end of the year.
Napolitano said those recommendations may or may not include
changes in state law.
The governor said one goal already has presented itself: Working
with Lake Havasu City which Napolitano said is the largest
community in the country not on a sewer system. "And that impacts
river quality issues,'' Napolitano said.
She said more needs to be done to get those homes and businesses
onto a sewer system to keep human wastes from finding its way
into the river
Site last updated: 04/15/2004, 02:12 PM
© 2000-2004 Arizona Daily Sun
*****************************************************************
50 Cincinnati Enquirer: Fernald's nuke waste refused
ENQUIRER [http://www.enquirer.com] | POST
Thursday, April 15, 2004
'Low-level' classification a ruse, Nevada claims
By Dan Klepal The Cincinnati Enquirer
Radioactive waste in this silo - one of three at Fluor Fernald
Inc. - was to be shipped to Nevada for burial. But Nevada
officials have threatened legal action to halt the shipment,
charging that the waste was falsely reclassified as "low-level"
waste. The Associated Press/DAVID KOHL
CROSBY TWP. - Nevada's attorney general is threatening to sue the
U.S. Department of Energy to keep radioactive waste from the
Fernald silos out of the state's Nevada Test Site, a low-level
nuclear-waste repository 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
Nevada Attorney General Brian Sandoval wrote a letter to the
Department of Energy Tuesday saying the plan to dump the waste in
his state violates federal and state law, and is contrary to the
agency's rules regulating the disposal of nuclear waste. He
threatens in the letter to file a federal lawsuit and seek a
court injunction to stop the shipments before they can begin. The
letter demands a response from the Department of Energy by April
30.
"In short, there appears to be no legal, regulatory, or
scientific justification whatsoever for DOE's plan to dispose of
massive quantities of Fernald's most hazardous and radioactive
waste at NTS," Sandoval's letter says. "DOE's plan is reckless
and unsafe, and it flagrantly violates the law."
Sandoval's action threatens further delay in the Fernald cleanup,
which was found in an October audit to be $20 million over budget
and months behind schedule. Any more delay in the removal or
shipment of the silo waste threatens the government's ability to
meet its June 2006 deadline for completing the entire cleanup.
The first shipments of waste were to begin next month.
The Fernald plant, in northwest Hamilton County, is a cold-war
relic at which uranium was extracted from ore for use in nuclear
weapons. It helped the country win the arms race against the
Soviet Union but left in its wake nuclear and other
hazardous-material contamination that has taken more than a
decade and $4 billion to clean up.
One of the last steps in the complicated and dangerous cleanup is
the removal of about 153 million pounds of radioactive material
from three concrete silos, which date to the 1950s.
Taxpayers are spending $320 million a year, or almost $1 million
per day, cleaning up the site.
It is the second time in five months a state has balked at taking
Fernald's waste. Initially, the silo waste was to be sent to a
private landfill in Utah. But after months of public outcry
against that plan in Utah, the facility declined in November to
accept the waste.
That left the Department of Energy with its fall-back plan -
sending the material to Nevada.
Department of Energy spokesman Joe Davis would not comment on
Sandoval's letter. He said government lawyers are reviewing the
letter and the plan, and would respond to the letter in writing.
Davis did say, though, that the agency would move forward with
the plan to truck the waste to Nevada until a lawsuit is filed.
"Our philosophy is pretty simple: We're moving forward with
closing these plants," Davis said. "If someone decides to file a
lawsuit, that's beyond our control. We believe we can (legally)
ship the material to the Nevada Test Site."
Davis would not say whether the waste would be removed from the
silos on schedule if a suit should be filed.
Marta Adams, a senior deputy attorney general in Nevada and the
person who would handle any lawsuit over the waste, said the
Department of Energy reclassified the waste in the silos as less
hazardous so it would not have to comply with federal and state
regulations regarding the disposal of hazardous materials.
"The Nevada Test Site is not licensed or set up to receive this
waste," Adams said. "They can't change that merely by a
sleight-of-hand, and take the state out of the equation."
The waste "needs to be treated with the right kind of criteria so
as to protect the public,'' she added. "They can't just call it
'low-level' because it's convenient."
Nevada has been battling with the Department of Energy for years
over Yucca Mountain, the government's chosen site for the first
long-term geologic repository for spent nuclear fuel and
high-level radioactive waste.
Lisa Crawford, leader of a local citizens group that monitors
progress at Fernald, said she thinks the politics of the Yucca
Mountain fight led to Sandoval's letter.
"I think this is political backlash," she said. "DOE has pretty
much thumbed their noses at the states, and I think the states
are fighting back. But I'm just stunned. This is another setback,
and they can take 2006 (deadline) and kick it out the window,
because it's not going to happen now."
The project has encountered many setbacks over the years.
Cleaning the silos poses dangers to workers, nearby residents and
the environment. Any spill during the removal, packaging or
shipping of the waste would be an environmental catastrophe,
potentially exposing many people to radiation.
Two previous efforts to clean up the silos were abandoned after
more than $69 million in taxpayer dollars was spent because they
were deemed not technically feasible or because the contractor
gave up before doing the work.
Those failures led project manager Fluor Fernald to redesign the
plan to remove the waste and ship it west, at a $400 million
additional cost.
E-mail dklepal@enquirer.com [dklepal@enquirer.com]
CINCINNATI.COM [http://www.cincinnati.com] | ENQUIRER
Copyright [http://cincinnati.com/copyright] 1995-2004. The
Cincinnati Enquirer [http://enquirer.com] , a Gannett Co. Inc.
*****************************************************************
51 Disaster News Network: Toxins threaten drinking water
HEATHER MOYER
BALTIMORE (April 15, 2004)
The Colorado River, a water supply for some 25 million
Americans, is facing pollution issues so dire that it is number
one on the American Rivers' list of the most endangered rivers
of 2004.
[Presbyterian Disaster Assistance]
The drums can't remain in the floodplain because the big concern
is if the waste ends up in the river - that's the nightmare
scenario. Eric Eckl
The report released yesterday by the environmental non-profit is
aimed at bringing awareness to immediate but solvable pollution
problems with ten of the country's rivers.
"This list focuses on what can happen this year," said American
Rivers spokesman Eric Eckl. "The list is not of the most polluted
rivers in the country, but rather those that face the most
threatened futures."
The problems on the list include everything from toxic waste to
abandoned mines to sewage release. The listed rivers cover the
U.S. from New England to the west coast.
The Colorado River, which runs through five states, faces three
major issues. First, a rocket fuel plant in Nevada is leaching
the toxic chemical ammonium perchlorate into the river. The
chemical can cause cancer and thyroid problems, but Eckl says
there's no clear consensus on how much it takes to harm humans.
"What we do know is that it's already been measured in the river,
and water from the Colorado is used for drinking as well as
watering crops that end up on our tables," said Eckl. "Pollution
in the Colorado River affects all Americans."
The contentious issue with the perchlorate also involves the
government regulation on how much can be allowed into waterways.
The Department of Defense is seeking exemptions for some plants
that produce this chemical, a move that is angering local water
districts.
Just this week, the Metropolitan Water District (MWD) of Southern
California announced its opposition to the Defense Department's
exemptions.
"Granting broad exemptions to the Department of Defense would be
bad public policy," said Metropolitan board Chairman Phillip Pace
in a statement. "While we appreciate the need to allow the
Defense Department to do its important work, we need to safeguard
water quality. Ultimately, protecting the public is a task we
share with the department."
The MWD reported that evidence of perchlorate has been found in
more than 300 groundwater wells through Southern California.
The second major issue facing the Colorado River is radioactive
waste. In Moab, Utah, a small city in the eastern section of the
state, sits a former uranium mill site. The mill owners abandoned
the site, and now the Department of Energy (DOE) must deal with
the remaining 12 million tons of radioactive waste sitting on the
banks of the river.
"The drums can't remain in the floodplain because the big concern
is if the waste ends up in the river - that's the nightmare
scenario," said Eckl.
Eckl says the DOE is currently working on an environmental impact
statement for the waste, and the decision on where the waste goes
will happen this year. One idea involves moving the waste to an
underground salt cavern. "The only responsible thing to do is
move it," he said. "We hope the cavern idea is as promising in
real life as it is on paper."
Down the river in Arizona, the Colorado faces its third major
issue. More and more communities are popping up in the lower
river basin, and with new homes come more septic tanks and
sewage. Those systems don't remove all of the toxins in
wastewater, said Eckl, leaving the problem of excessive nitrate
in the water.
According to the American Rivers report, excess sewage is a
problem plaguing many of the rivers in the U.S., including
several on the list released this week. Eckl said his
organization is impressed by how much the local communities are
doing to stop the sewage problems, but more help is needed.
"They need federal help - and yet the Bush Administration is
asking Congress to cut federal assistance to these projects by
one-third," he said. "Obviously we don't think the government
should pay for all of it, but some consistency is needed."
The number of organizations and people that assisted American
Rivers in producing the river report is long. It is a bottom-up
report, said Eckl. He added that the response to the report thus
far is excellent.
Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano announced today that she will call
a meeting of the state's congressional delegates to focus on
pollution problems. Napolitano also called for a summit with the
governors of California, Utah and Nevada to discuss long-term
pollution control.
Overall, the report lays most of the pollution blame at the doors
of the federal government, saying "Congress has effectively
shifted the burden of cleaning up contaminated river bottoms and
other toxic sites from polluters to the public."
"Letting our kids splash in the creek, eating a fish we caught on
a camping trip, and drinking water from the tap without worrying
are things that Americans should be able to take for granted,"
American Rivers President Rebecca Wodder in a news release.
"Washington is misspending our money if our children won't enjoy
these things, too."
The other nine rivers on the list are the Big Sunflower River,
the Snake River, the Tennessee River, the Allegheny and
Monongahela rivers (counted together), the Spokane River, the
Housatonic River, the Peace River, Big Darby Creek and the
Mississippi River.
Posted April 15, 2004 5:18 PM
[http://www.amrivers.org/]
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 Reserved
*****************************************************************
52 Austin Chronicle: Politics: From the Desk of ... Big Nuke
HOME: APRIL 16, 2004
Garbage Out, Garbage In
"The fact that the best scientists and engineers ... believe that
the [Boyd County, Neb.] low-level radioactive waste facility will
be among the safest and best-engineered waste facilities of any
type in the country ..." Dr. Samuel H. Mehr, Omaha
World-Herald, Nov. 4, 1990
"[T]he best scientists and engineers ... believe [a proposed
Pennsylvania facility] would be among the safest and
best-engineered waste facilities of any type in the country."
Anthony Baratta, The Harrisburg Patriot, Nov. 12, 1992
"The design of the Wake County [N.C.] facility is such that it
would be among the safest and best engineered of any waste
disposal facility in the country if constructed using the current
plans." Charles M. Harman, News &Record (Greensboro, N.C.),
April 10, 1994
"The planned Sierra Blanca [Texas] facility will be among the
safest and best-engineered waste facilities in the country."
Dale E. Klein, Austin American-Statesman, June 29, 1996
Hardy Decennial
"In fact, the ... budget for fiscal year 1994 is meager at best.
The best way to correct this is to move spending for the waste
program out of the regular budget process so that work at Yucca
Mountain can be accelerated despite the budget deficit. ...
"The government should get on with it." Edgar Berkey, The
Buffalo News, July 26, 1993
"In fact, the ... budget for fiscal year 2004 is jeopardizing the
success of the entire program. ... The best way to correct this
is to move spending for the waste program out of the regular
budget process, so that work on Yucca Mountain can be accelerated
despite ... the overall budget deficit. ...
"The government should get on with it." Abdel E.
Bayoumi, The State (Columbia, S.C.), Dec. 9, 2003
The 'Capacity'/'Capability' Numbers Are Off, but Who's Counting?
"What's more, the median capacity factor a measure of
reliability at nuclear plants has shown a steady, marked
improvement and reached an impressive 84 percent in 1997,
compared with 70 percent in 1989." Anthony Baratta, Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette, March 10, 1999
"The median capability factor a measure of reliability at
nuclear plants has shown a steady marked improvement and
reached an impressive 84 percent in 1998 compared to 70 percent
in 1997." Sheldon Landsberger, Houston Business Journal, April
2, 1999
"What's more, the median capability factor a measure of
reliability at nuclear plants has shown a steady, marked
improvement and reached an impressive 87 percent in 1998,
compared with 70 percent in 1989." Barclay G. Jones, Chicago
Sun-Times, July 10, 1999
One Man's Dream ...
"Some environmentalists assert that emissions can be reduced by
such large amounts quite cheaply. They are dreaming." Henry S.
Rowen and John P. Weyant, The Wall Street Journal, Dec. 2, 1997
"Some environmentalists ... assert that greenhouse emissions can
be reduced by large amounts without requiring nuclear power. They
are dreaming." Benjamin Stevenson, The Record (Northern N.J.),
Jan. 5, 1998
"Some skeptics ... insist that greenhouse-gas emissions can be
significantly reduced without nuclear power. They are dreaming."
Sheldon Landsberger, The Dallas Morning News, April 5, 1999
"Plagiarism is every editor's nightmare." John J. Zakarian,
editorial page editor, Hartford Courant, March 9, 2004 William
M. Adler. Source: LexisNexis and Factiva databases
Copyright © 1995-2004 Austin Chronicle Corp. All rights
*****************************************************************
53 PRN: Nuclear Regulatory Commission Accepts LES Quality Assurance Program
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M., April 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Louisiana Energy
Services (LES) today announced the acceptance of the company's
Quality Assurance Program Description (QAPD) part of the license
application by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). The NRC
staff concluded that in the QAPD LES has provided assurance of
protection to the public, to workers health, to safety and to the
environment.
The NRC stated, "The NRC staff concludes that LES has, in its
QAPD, adequately described its management measures for QA
elements, and that the QAPD commitments meet the requirements of
10 CFR Part 70 and provide reasonable assurance of protection of
public and worker health and safety and the environment."
"We are excited about the acceptance of our quality assurance
program," said LES President, Jim Ferland. "It demonstrates
again the quality of our license application. We have made it
this far thanks to the strong support from the citizens of Lea
County and look forward to the next step in the NRC review
process."
The NRC staff determined that the LES QAPD is acceptable for
the application to the design, construction, operation (including
maintenance and modification), and decommissioning of the
proposed National Enrichment Facility (NEF).
LES expects the NRC to spend 24 to 30 months reviewing the
remainder of the application, including holding public meetings
in the Lea County area and collecting feedback from residents on
the impact of the proposed facility on the community. The NRC
will also hold public hearings to address safety and
environmental concerns.
The NEF will provide more than 200 permanent jobs and 400 to
800 short-term construction jobs in Southeast New Mexico.
When the complete license application is approved, the NEF
will introduce the world's most advanced uranium enrichment
technology into the U.S. and provide an alternative, domestic
enrichment supply source to U.S. nuclear energy companies.
LES is a partnership of major nuclear energy companies.
Partners include Urenco, Westinghouse and U.S. energy companies
Duke Power, Entergy and Exelon.
SOURCE Louisiana Energy Services
Copyright © 1996-2004 PR Newswire Association LLC. All Rights
*****************************************************************
54 KRNV: US to stay with plan, despite Nevada's opposition
CINCINNATI,OH, April 15
The US Department of Energy said today it plans to go ahead with
its plan to ship radioactive waste to Nevada from a southwest
Ohio cleanup site.
Energy Department spokesman Joe Davis said the government
believes it has the legal right to truck the waste from the
Fernald site near Cincinnati to the department's Nevada Test
site.
The former weapons-testing site is 65 miles north of Las Vegas.
Nevada says the Fernald waste is too radioactive to be stored at
the desert site.
Nevada is threatening to sue in federal court to stop the waste
shipments unless the Energy Department voluntarily backs off by
April 30th.
(Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
News 4
[http://www.worldnow.com] All content © Copyright 2001 -
2004 WorldNow and KRNV. All Rights Reserved.
*****************************************************************
55 Hanford workers fear for health
Date: Thu, 15 Apr 2004 00:26:37 -0500 (CDT)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2001900089_hanford10m.html
RICHLAND Steve and Virginia Wallace know the symptoms of exposure to chemical vapors: headaches, nosebleeds, a metallic taste.
With a combined 30 years working at the Hanford nuclear site, the two respiratory-equipment specialists believe workers there aren't being adequately protected.
The state and federal governments are investigating procedures at Hanford's so-called "tank farms" amid allegations that corners are being cut and workers endangered to speed cleanup of the nation's most contaminated nuclear site.
More than 90 workers have sought medical care for exposure at the tank farms in the past two years, according to data gathered by the Government Accountability Project, a nonprofit watchdog group. Few workers will speak publicly.
A 1997 draft report by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory concluded that the risk of contracting cancer from exposure to the vapors could be as high as 1.6 in 10.
In the industrial world, normal risk is for one worker in 10,000 to contract cancer from exposures in the workplace, according to Tim Jarvis, a former researcher at the laboratory and peer reviewer of the report. Jarvis now is a private consultant often contracted by the Government Accountability Project.
"The report shows that exposure to tank vapors is extremely hazardous and will most likely lead to fatal cancers in the workers if exposure is continued," he said.
"My own personal opinion is I'm not being protected," said Virginia Wallace, who takes samples inside the tanks. Her husband is an instrument technician. "People are afraid to seek medical attention. I've been scared."
For 40 years, the Hanford reservation made plutonium for the nation's nuclear-weapons arsenal. Today, work there centers on a $50 billion to $60 billion cleanup to be finished by 2035. The most deadly waste, about 53 million gallons of radioactive liquid, sludge and saltcake, sits in 177 underground tanks less than 10 miles from the Columbia River. Plans call for turning much of that waste into glass logs and burying it at a nuclear-waste repository.
Experts have identified as many as 1,200 chemicals, including some known cancer-causing agents, in the tanks.
CH2M Hill, the Colorado-based contractor hired to handle the cleanup, and the Energy Department, which manages the project, say most of the chemicals are diluted and pose no danger to workers. Only three ammonia, nitrous oxide and butanol have been found in the tanks' air cavities at levels exceeding occupation exposure limits, CH2M Hill said.
"No one has received a toxic dose of these chemicals," said Rob Barr, director of environment safety and quality for the Energy Department's Office of River Protection.
"We are concerned, and they should be concerned," Barr said. But, he added, "We have a very high assurance that there are no long-term effects of the chemicals that are out there, because they are at such a low level."
CH2M Hill says the rising number of exposures are, in part, a result of educating workers about vapors and encouraging them to report unusual smells.
More than 800 people work in the tank farms for CH2M Hill. The total work force at Hanford is about 11,000 people.
Following four vapor incidents in two weeks last month which sent nine workers for medical evaluations CH2M Hill halted routine work in the tank farms. The company has restarted some work since, but employees who enter the tank farms must wear respirators.
Critics argue that respirators can't protect against all 1,200 chemicals.
Last month, the Energy Department began formally investigating the Hanford Environmental Health Foundation, the private contractor that monitors and provides health care to Hanford workers. The contractor has denied allegations that include fraud and medical-records mismanagement. Officials there did not return telephone messages seeking comment yesterday.
Copyright ) 2004 The Seattle Times Company
*****************************************************************
56 DOE: Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board, Rocky
FR Doc 04-8572
[Federal Register: April 15, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 73)]
[Notices] [Page 19989-19990] From the Federal Register Online via
GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr15ap04-43]
Flats 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), Rocky Flats.
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, May 6, 2004, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
ADDRESSES: College Hill Library, Room L211, Front Range Community
College, 3705 West 112th Avenue, Westminster, CO.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ken Korkia, Board/Staff
Coordinator, Rocky Flats Citizens Advisory Board, 10808 Highway
93, Unit B, Building 60, Room 107B, Golden, CO, 80403; telephone
(303) 966-7855; fax (303) 966-7856.
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: 1. Board Discussion and Approval of
Recommendations on the Draft Interim Measure/Interim Remedial
Action for the 903 Pad Lip Area 2. Board Education Session on
Groundwater Modeling 3. Report on the April 21-22 EM SSAB Chairs
Meeting 4. Other Board business may be conducted as necessary
Public Participation: The meeting is open to the public.
Written statements may be filed with the Board either before or
after the meeting. Individuals who wish to make oral statements
pertaining to agenda items should contact Ken Korkia at the
address or telephone number listed above. Requests must be
received at least five days prior to the meeting and reasonable
provisions 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: The minutes of this meeting will be available for public
review and copying at the office of the Rocky Flats Citizens
Advisory Board, 10808
[[Page 19990]] Highway 93, Unit B, Building 60, Room 107B,
Golden, CO 80403; telephone (303) 966-7855. Hours of operations
are 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday. Minutes will also
be made available by writing or calling Ken Korkia at the address
or telephone number listed above. Board meeting minutes are
posted on RFCAB's Web site within one month following each
meeting at:
[http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leaving
FR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www.rfcab.org/Minutes.HTML] .
Issued at Washington, DC on April 12, 2004.
Rachel M. Samuel, Deputy Committee Management Officer.
[FR Doc. 04-8572 Filed 4-14-04; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6450-01-P
*****************************************************************
57 U.S. Newswire: NNSA Elevates National Ignition Facility Program
4/15/2004 5:02:00 PM
To: National Desk, Energy Reporter
Contact: Bryan Wilkes of the U.S. Department of Energy,
202-586-7371
WASHINGTON, April 15 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The National Nuclear
Security Administration (NNSA) has named a new, senior-level
manager to oversee the Inertial Confinement Fusion Program and
the construction and activation of the National Ignition Facility
(NIF), NNSA Deputy Administrator Everet Beckner announced today.
The move consolidates the NIF Project Office and the Inertial
Confinement Fusion Program under an assistant deputy
administrator for inertial fusion and the NIF project, who will
report directly to Beckner. NIF construction had previously been
organized in the deputy administrator's immediate office and the
Inertial Confinement Fusion Program had been placed in the Office
of Research, Development and Simulation.
"This is the right time to make a move," Beckner said. "Although
NIF is not yet complete, construction has proceeded far enough
for us to begin stockpile stewardship experiments later this
year. The reorganization will help ensure that a senior manager
has direct responsibility for NIF construction as well as
coordination of the project with the Stockpile Stewardship
Program."
In addition to NIF the new office will oversee the other
components of the Inertial Confinement Fusion and High Yield
Campaign, including the OMEGA laser at the University of
Rochester and the Z machine at Sandia National Laboratories.
When completed in 2008, NIF will be the world's largest and
highest energy laser system, and a key component of NNSA's Office
of Defense Programs Stockpile Stewardship Program. NNSA has set a
central goal of achieving inertial confinement fusion ignition
with energy gain at NIF in 2010. This is a major scientific
milestone. Ignition, which has never occurred other than in the
stars of the universe or in exploding nuclear devices, will
provide researchers with a better understanding of the processes
that occur in nuclear weapons and valuable data for future fusion
energy production.
Beckner has named Dr. Christopher J. Keane, currently director of
the division of secondaries and inertial fusion, as acting
assistant deputy administrator for inertial fusion and the NIF
project. Keane has been at NNSA since 1996, and director of the
division of secondaries and inertial fusion since 2000.
The Stockpile Stewardship Program is responsible for ensuring the
safety, security, and reliability of the United States nuclear
weapons stockpile without nuclear testing.
NNSA is a semi-autonomous agency of the Department of Energy. It
enhances U.S. national security through the military application
of nuclear energy, maintains the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile,
promotes international nuclear nonproliferation and safety,
reduces global danger from weapons on mass destruction, provides
the U.S. Navy with safe and effective nuclear propulsion, and
oversees its national laboratories to maintain U.S. leadership in
science and technology.
http://www.usnewswire.com/ [http://www.usnewswire.com/]
/© 2004 U.S. Newswire 202-347-2770/
*****************************************************************
58 Oak Ridger: Funding drops, cleanup work will continue
Story last updated at 11:39 a.m. on April 15, 2004
DOE OFFICIAL: 'We don't want to give up on anything yet.'
By: Paul Parson | Oak Ridger Staff paul.parson@oakridger.com
[paul.parson@oakridger.com]
Though the Department of Energy is still facing a shortfall in
its cleanup budget for the current fiscal year, the state of
Tennessee expects the federal agency to get the job done.
In February, DOE officials said the fiscal year 2004 shortfall
was a little less than $35 million, with around $29.2 million
actually impacting its cleanup mission. The reason for the
shortfall, according to some officials, was that money not spent
from the previous year was counted against the funds appropriated
for this fiscal year.
However, DOE's Oak Ridge Operations office was reportedly able to
regain some of those funds for its efforts to cleanup
contaminated sites and unused properties on the Oak Ridge
Reservation.
Dave Adler, who is with the Oak Ridge Operations office, told the
Oak Ridge Site-Specific Advisory Board Wednesday night that the
federal agency now figures the shortfall is in the neighborhood
of $21 million to $22 million. The SSAB is a federally appointed
citizens' panel that provides advice to DOE on its cleanup
efforts.
Adler said DOE doesn't think the shortfall will impact cleanup
milestones for this fiscal year. However, he didn't completely
rule out that FY 2005 would go unscathed.
"We don't want to give up on anything yet," Adler told the SSAB
during its meeting at the DOE Information Center.
DOE's optimistic view toward the cleanup funding might have been
influenced by a March 22 letter from Doug McCoy, a manager with
the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation's
Environmental Restoration Program.
McCoy's letter approved a DOE-requested extension in delivering
proposed changes to portions of the Federal Facility Agreement,
which is required by federal law and provides a framework for
cleanup activities.
However, McCoy pointed out that the funding shortfall is
occurring in the face of commitments made to the state and the
Environmental Protection Agency pertaining to DOE's plan for
cleaning up its Oak Ridge Reservation.
"These negotiations and the resulting agreements for adequate
funding to accomplish milestones were made in good faith by the
state of Tennessee and with full expectations that DOE would
honor those commitments," wrote McCoy.
The TDEC official also noted it was the state's expectation that
"DOE will fully explore all avenues to honor these commitments"
and fund the cleanup work.
*****************************************************************
59 Paducah Sun: Tests set for plant builders by DOE -
Joe Walker jwalker@paducahsun.com--270.575.8650
Thursday, April 15, 2004
DOE will set up an office in Paducah to track down and test the
29,000 workers who helped build the gaseous diffusion plant.
Vaughn
In the summer of 1953, just out of high school, Ken Coley helped
bury a huge water line from the Ohio River to the Paducah Gaseous
Diffusion Plant.
Coley, who grew up in Paducah, was one of 29,000 construction
workers nationwide who helped build the massive nuclear fuel
plant. He returned in the early 1990s to install troughs to catch
oil laced with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in some of the
plant's most contaminated buildings, and again in the late 90s
to run air lines for warning sirens.
Nearing age 70 and now living in Mayfield, Coley plans to
participate in a new medical screening program for former Paducah
plant construction workers, who were spread out among 14 unions.
The program, which already tests current and former plant
employees, was unveiled Wednesday afternoon at the West Kentucky
Building and Construction Trades Council offices at 1930 N. 13th
St.
"I have asbestosis, and it's only going to get worse," Coley
said, noting shortness of breath when he exercises. "I don't know
where I got it. I worked all over the country from south Florida
to the Alaska pipeline."
The screenings start next month, and Coley hopes to take
advantage of a lung CT scan made available to plant workers and
construction workers. Funded by the U.S. Department of Energy,
the work will be done by a consortium led by the University of
Cincinnati Medical Center. Work-ups include medical and job
history, blood tests, a chest X-ray and physical exam.
The office will be open weekdays. The toll-free information line
is 888-464-0009. It has voice messaging.
Former construction workers at closed nuclear fuel plants in Oak
Ridge, Tenn., and Piketon, Ohio, had been tested. The oldest
program, at Oak Ridge, has screened about 2,000 people since
1998. Of those, the average time worked at the Oak Ridge plant
exceeded 16 years.
Among those working at the plant at least five years, 17 percent
had cancer possibly linked to chemical and radiation exposure,
and 57 percent had lung diseases such as asbestosis and chronic
beryllium disease, said Dr. Eula Bingham, program director and
environmental health professor at the medical center.
"Some people will come in who already know they have cancer," she
said. "But they'll want to have that medical history taken."
Micheal Vaughn, president of the local trades council, said at
least two former Paducah plant construction workers have received
compensation from the U.S. Department of Labor for
radiation-induced cancers. That program, separate from the Energy
Department health screenings, pays $150,000 plus lifetime medical
costs to people who have specific types of cancer or beryllium
disease linked to plant work.
Information about the Department of Labor program is available by
calling 534-0599. The local claims office is in Barkley Centre
off Blandville Road.
"A lot of people who worked at the Paducah plant don't have
anything wrong with them, but they want their work documented in
case something happens," Vaughn said.
A big challenge in testing construction workers is finding them
because they have moved from job to job during their lifetime and
are growing old, Bingham said. Out of 8,000 workers identified in
Oak Ridge six years ago, a third were dead, having worked at that
plant from the 1960s to the 80s.
"A lot of the workers who worked here in the 1950s are going to
be gone," she said.
The consortium will hire someone to staff the new office who it
hopes has a construction background and can relate to workers.
Bingham said another strategy is to locate older workers who
remember early plant construction and would be willing to help
coordinate screenings.
*****************************************************************
60 Paducah Sun: UF6 production by Honeywell to resume Friday -
Joe Walker jwalker@paducahsun.com--270.575.8650
Thursday, April 15, 2004
Friday
METROPOLIS, Ill. By the end of the week, Honeywell International
expects to resume uranium hexafluoride (UF6) production for the
first time since a Dec. 22 toxic gas release that threatened
neighbors of the plant on U.S. 45 North.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission told plant officials Wednesday
morning they may resume making uranium tetrafluoride (UF4), or
greensalt, the second stage of the three-stage process of
manufacturing UF6. Plant Manager Rory O'Kane said greensalt
production probably would be under way by the end of the day and
he hoped to get NRC approval Friday to resume fluorination, the
final stage.
"So by the end of this weekend, we would expect to be in full
production of UF6 and about the middle of next week actually
start filling cylinders," he said.
Honeywell makes raw-product UF6 that other plants enrich, or
raise the radioactivity level, for use in nuclear fuel. On March
27, the NRC authorized Honeywell to resume first-stage ore
preparation. The agency said Wednesday that based on reviewing
corrective actions and observing work, it was safe for the plant
to restart greensalt production.
The NRC has scheduled another public meeting for 6 p.m. Wednesday
in the second-floor large courtroom of the Massac County
Courthouse. The agency said a decision on restarting production
may be made before the meeting.
Despite the four-month UF6 shutdown, the plant continued to make
other specialty chemicals and there were no layoffs. Honeywell
actually has added 40 workers to raise employment to 350, O'Kane
said. "Before Dec. 22, we were projecting business to go through
a significant growth spurt," O'Kane said. "We're still expecting,
once we're up and running, to pretty much sell everything we can
make."
The shutdown followed the release of seven pounds of UF6 gas,
mildly radioactive but highly caustic. Four people were
hospitalized, and more than two dozen others were evacuated from
nearby homes. Honeywell is still trying to rebuild the trust lost
because of the scare.
During two previous public meetings, residents expressed concern
about the chemical and problems with a community warning system.
Sirens have been added, as well as an automated phone system that
in an emergency calls people living within 1.3 miles of the
center of the plant notification zone. Dialing 250 numbers per
minute, the system calls nearest residents first, working
outward. Honeywell activates it by dialing an 800 number. After
recent tests, some neighbors complained they couldn't hear the
sirens while indoors. O'Kane explained Wednesday that the sirens
are designed to warn people outdoors to take shelter. Those who
couldn't hear the sound indoors live on the fringe of the sirens'
range of 1 miles from the plant, and the phone system is designed
to take care of those people, he said.
"Based on our tests and tests done by the community awareness
council, we believe the tests were adequate and sufficient."
*****************************************************************
61 Paducah Sun: No contamination found; USEC gas leak reported
Staff Report @@UPLOAD_TIME:200404142316 @@EDITION: @@SUMMARY:No
detectable traces of uranium hexafluoride were found Wednesday
morning following the report of a suspected gas leak inside a
building at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant, spokeswoman
Georgann Lookofsky said.
[http://www.paducahsun.com/]
The Paducah Sun
Paducah, Kentucky
Thursday, April 15, 2004
Staff Report
No detectable traces of uranium hexafluoride were found Wednesday
morning following the report of a suspected gas leak inside a
building at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant, spokeswoman
Georgann Lookofsky said.
An employee inside the building reported a smell around 10:30,
Lookofsky said. The eight workers in the building were evacuated.
Four others inside an adjacent annex, where trucks are loaded,
also were evacuated as a precaution, Lookofsky said. No other
buildings were evacuated.
Our understanding was that there may have been a very, very
small release that probably dissipated immediately. There was no
visual indication of a leak, Lookofsky said. There was no
evidence of a leak other than the employees word, and we do not
doubt that.
Smell and visibility are the initial signs of a release,
Lookofsky said. Uranium hexafluoride, also known as UF6, is
mildly radioactive and emits toxic hydrogen fluoride when exposed
to moisture in the air.
Radiological surveys of the employees showed no detectable
contamination, Lookofsky said. One of four stations inside the
building will remain out of operation for a few days while the
equipment is tested, she said.
Another reason that plant officials suspect there may not have
been a leak is that the automatic alarms inside the building that
sound when gas is detected were functioning and remained silent,
Lookofsky said.
The three remaining stations inside the building returned to
operation at 11:30 a.m.
After detecting the smell, the employee notified co-workers and
radioed for emergency support, Lookofsky said. Plant firefighters
and 10 employees of the shift emergency squad, who have
first-responder training, were dispatched to the building, which
is standard practice, Lookofsky said. Several air samples were
then taken inside and outside the building.
The tests on equipment are not expected to interrupt work inside
the sampling building, Lookofsky said.
*****************************************************************
62 [NukeNet] New Newsletter on Depleted Uranium
Date: Thu, 15 Apr 2004 21:26:14 -0700
For additional links to websites on Depleted Uranium, see:
http://www.energyjustice.net/nuclear/du/
----------------------------------------
"FRIENDLY FIRE" NEWSLETTER #1
Newsletter of the International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons (ICBUW)
ICBUW Website: http://www.bandepleteduranium.org
April 12, 2004
In this issue:
1. EDITORIAL
2. THE MCDERMOTT BILL
3. GAO STUDY
4. LET'S GET THE STORY STRAIGHT
5. DUTCH MILITARY IN IRAQ DELAYS TROOP TRANSFER FROM SUSPECTED DU
CONTAMINATED AREA
The Newsletter can also be viewed at the ICBUW Website. See:
http://www.bandepleteduranium.org/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=120
1. EDITORIAL
At the moment of writing this editorial, the situation of the Japanese
hostages in Iraq still remains unclear. A group named the "Saraya
al-Mujahidin" kidnapped three Japanese civilians. One of them, Noriaki Imai,
18 years old, works on the Depleted Uranium (DU) issue. The NO DU Hiroshima
Project and five other Japanese organisations against the military use of DU
have done an emergency appeal to save Noriaki Imai and the other two
hostages. As a journalist, Noriaki went to Iraq to investigate cases of
radiation sickness due to DU contamination. He has planned to publish a
picture collection revealing the damage caused by DU. He is working from a
sincere desire to let as many people as possible know the reality of the
damage.
We call on everyone to use their personal contacts to try to free the
hostages. A recent release of a Dutchman held hostage in Dagestan was
mediated by a speed skate coach and a soccer trainer!
Meanwhile, the New York Daily News on April 3 reported that DU was found in
the urine of 4 out of 9 US soldiers coming back home from Iraq with health
problems. The GI's were stationed in As Samawah, the capital of Iraq's
province Al Muthanna, which is also the area where currently Dutch, Japanese
and Moldavian troops are staying. Apparently realizing that this news
reveals a serious situation, no one less than Senator Hillary Clinton
immediately demanded health checks for all returnees from Iraq.
The list of grassroots and other non-governmental organisations, politicians
and institutes that demand a clean up of affected areas and to investigate
DU poisoning has steadily grown over the years. Even the British Royal
Society and the US General Accounting have joined the list. However, nothing
has happened so far. Because of this, ICBUW is zealous for an immediate ban
on the military use of DU in weapons.
The international office has started and coordinates a wide range of
studies. For example, an assessment is currently carried out to determine
the most appropriate sponsor state, which will bring the draft Convention
for the prohibition on the military use of DU in weaponry into the United
Nations, and other states, which would be willing to serve as a co- sponsor.
We keep you posted on developments after a May ICBUW meeting with the
founding organisations. Decisions have to be made, for instance, about the
membership criteria.
Meanwhile, in Belgium, a National Coalition is set up which has already met
twice. Such National Coalitions are a means to lobby governments, and to
organise public actions and meetings to influence the opinion makers.
This first issue of FRIENDLY FIRE features contributions from Maarten H.J.
van den Berg (RISQ) on developments in As Samawah, Dan Bishop (IDUST) on
necessity to publish correct information on DU, and Gretel Munroe
(Grassroots Actions for Peace) on the US McDermott Bill and the US General
Accounting Office.
Lizzy Bloem,
Henk van der Keur,
ICBUW Secretariat:
Website: http://www.bandepleteduranium.org
Amsterdam, 12 April, 2004
______________________________
2. THE MCDERMOTT BILL
By Gretel Munroe
Grassroots Actions for Peace
Website: http://www.grassrootsconcord.org
On April 10, 2003 Congressman Jim McDermott (D-Washington) introduced the
Depleted Uranium (DU) Munitions Study Act of 2003 (H.R. 1483) to the U.S.
House of Representatives. Specifically the bill asks for studies of the
health effects of DU to be done jointly by the Agency for Toxic Substances
and Disease Registry and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. In
addition, the bill would require the Environmental Protection Agency to
identify sites in the U.S. where DU munitions had been manufactured or used
as in test firing, and would study the air, water and soil/vegetation at
these sites for possible DU contamination. The bill also requires clean-up
of contaminated sites.
At the present time the McDermott Bill is in three committees: the House
Subcommittee on Health, the Committee on Energy and Commerce and the
Committee on Armed Services.
Congressman McDermott, a physician, has been concerned about Gulf War
veterans' illnesses for some time. He has also been to Iraq where he talked
with pediatricians and learned of their concerns about increased cancer
rates in children and increases in congenital abnormalities in infants.
Initially the McDermott Bill had six co-sponsors in Congress. My
congressman, Edward Markey, (Democrat, Massachusetts) was one of the
original co-sponsors. There are now 31. McDermott's office would like to
have at least 50 co-sponsors. Grassroots Actions for Peace intends to work
on this issue and increase the number of co-sponsors in conjunction with
other grassroots groups.
The McDermott Bill, H.R. 1483, can be accessed at Thomas.loc.gov/ by
plugging in the number of the bill on the computer screen.
There is a movement in progress to ask different Senators such as Sen.
Hilary Clinton and Sen. Edward Kennedy to work towards having a companion
bill in the Senate. Such a bill would essentially ask for studies of the
health effects of depleted uranium and an environmental clean-up of sites in
the U.S. contaminated by DU. However, it might be a somewhat different bill.
Several years ago, Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney introduced a bill in the
House of Representatives asking in addition for a ban on DU munitions,
including manufacture and use of DU weapons until it could be proved that DU
was harmless. Congresswoman McKinney lost in the primaries (before the 2002
elections) and consequently the bill died. A possible Senate bill would
probably not go this far.
______________________________
3. GAO STUDY
by Gretel Munroe, Grassroots Actions for Peace
Website: http://www.grassrootsconcord.org
The General Accounting Office (GAO) is doing a study of the health effects
of exposure to DU in veterans of the 1991 Gulf War as well as policies of
the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs in identifying and medically
treating veterans exposed to DU. Congressmen Robert Filner (Democrat of
California) and Ciro Rodriquez, (Democrat, Texas) persuaded the GAO to take
on this study. Results of the study will be available by June.
______________________________
4. LET'S GET THE STORY STRAIGHT
by Dan Bishop, IDUST
Website: http://www.idust.net
Once again I find myself cringing at an op-ed piece about depleted uranium
written by a well-meaning but misinformed activist. Don't get me wrong. I'm
more than pleased to see another article presenting the hazards and problems
associated with DU brought before the public. We can't get enough publicity,
to be sure. Minor misstatements here and there probably don't hurt our cause
too much, but over time they could undermine our credibility. We don't need
to provide our opponents with ammunition....
To read the article online, go to:
http://www.bandepleteduranium.org/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=118
DU or DU coating?
In this specific case, the author used the phrase "depleted uranium coated
bullets" in one place and "depleted uranium tipped weapons" in another. The
words "coated" and "tipped" are entirely wrong, and tend to leave the
impression that not very much DU is involved. After all, take a bullet,
paint it with a DU coating, and how much DU have you really used?
In fact, a 30mm DU bullet (those used by the A-10A Thunderbolt II aircraft)
is almost SOLID depleted uranium (a small amount of titanium (1%) or
molybdenum (2%) is added to make for a stronger alloy). Each shell contains
300 grams of DU. That's 2/3 of a pound! These are the bullets fired from the
7-barrel GAU8A cannon in the A-10A's nose. A 4 second burst from this gun
delivers between 140 and 280 rounds, depending on the firing rate. 140
rounds spread approximately 93 pounds (42 kg) of DU into the environment. If
a fully loaded gun, with its ammunition capacity of 1350 rounds, were fired
till empty, 891 pounds (405 kg) of DU munitions will have been expended.
105mm and 120mm tank penetrators used by the US and UK armies in their
Abrams and Challenger tanks are much larger. Each of these shells contains a
long rod of SOLID depleted uranium alloy. Imagine a fat broom handle made
out of DU. The DU rod in a 120mm penetrator is 27 inches (68 cm) long. The
105mm shells contain between 7.41 and 8.08 pounds (3.36 kg to 3.67 kg) of
DU, and the 120mm shells contain between 6.90 and 8.69 pounds (3.13 kg and
3.95 kg) of DU.
As you can see, using the terms "tipped" and "coated" in a description of
these munitions totally misrepresents the amount of environmental
contamination from DU weapons. Military spokespersons are more than happy to
let this error slip by.
Alpha, beta, gamma...
Another misconception is one that is perpetrated (purposely) by military
spokespersons and is seldom corrected by the anti-DU activists debating
them. "Depleted uranium is an alpha emitter," they will say, "and alpha
particles are the least penetrating type of radiation." Everything in that
statement is 100% correct. But the statement itself tells only half of the
story - the half the military would like you to believe.
The nature of radioactive decay is such that alpha or beta emission from a
radioactive atom results in that atom's being transformed into a new and
different element. When an atom of U- 238 (the 99.8% component of DU) emits
an alpha particle, it decays into an atom of thorium, Th-234, which is also
radioactive, but which is a BETA emitter. Furthermore, with a half life of
only 24.1 days, this thorium atom will soon decay, emitting its beta
particle, and transforming itself into an atom of protactinium, Pa- 234,
which is ALSO a beta emitter, and has a half life of 6.75 hours. So within
hours, that atom also decays and emits its beta particle. Both of these
beta decays are accompanied by strong GAMMA ray emission as well. A gamma
ray is a very high-energy X-ray, and is extremely penetrating.
To make a long story short, a sample of DU fresh out of the processing plant
where it has just been purified, emits only alpha particles. But within
days, testing that same sample will reveal beta and gamma radiation as well.
After the sample is five or six months old, the concentrations of Th-234 and
Pa-234 will have built up enough so that the amount of beta and gamma
radiation from the sample will each be TWICE the amount of alpha radiation.
Thus external exposure to DU entails exposure to alpha, beta and gamma
radiation. Although the skin will block alpha particles, beta and gamma
radiation can penetrate beyond the dead outer skin layers and create damage
to living tissue. Beta particles can penetrate up to 2 cm, while gamma
radiation (which, through a process called the Compton effect) generates
beta particle radiation all along its track through the body. Not all
external exposure to alpha radiation is harmless, either. Cataracts, for
example, can be caused by exposure to alpha radiation.
Just how radioactive is DU?
I read a transcript the other day of a radio interview with a well known and
widely traveled anti-DU activist. When her host asked if DU was radioactive,
she replied, "Oh, yes. It is very radioactive." Once again I cringed. I
could only assume that she misspoke accidentally under the pressure of the
microphone. I've been there, so I understand.
Most of the substances with which we come into contact every day are not
radioactive at all. But of the substances that are radioactive, depleted
uranium is one of the least radioactive substances known to man. The
military has that fact right on the money. Generally, the longer a substance
's half-life, the lower its specific activity. U-238, with a 4.5 billion
year half life, thus ranks near the bottom of the scale for radioactivity.
One milligram of U- 238 has a specific activity of 14.4 Becquerel, which
means it emits 14.4 alpha particles every second. For comparison, it is not
uncommon for a particular radioactive substance to have a specific activity
of several millions of Becquerels.
Now before you rip me to shreds for daring to say the truth about DU's
radioactivity, let's remember that the important issue is NOT "how
radioactive is DU", but rather "how is DU's radioactivity dispensed?" If DU
shells merely shattered into fragments when striking a target, the larger
pieces could be picked up and stored in a repository. Only a tiny fraction
of the DU would remain behind as smaller fragments dispersed into the
environment. Although this would increase the background radiation levels,
the observable health effects on the exposed population would be difficult
to measure. (Note, however, that the presence of radioactive transuranics in
the DU, such as plutonium, neptunium and americium, totally nullifies this
last statement.)
However, this is not how a DU shell behaves. When the penetrator strikes a
hard object, its kinetic energy is converted to heat. The heat causes the DU
to ignite. Military studies report that from 10% to 70% of the DU in the
penetrator is converted to micron-sized aerosol particles of DU-oxide. Other
studies show that over 50% of these particles are smaller than 5 microns in
diameter. Particles that small, when inhaled, become permanently lodged into
the deepest recesses of one's lungs.
Inside the lungs, these particles are in intimate contact with living cells.
No layer of dead skin stands between the particle and live tissue. Every
alpha, beta and gamma ray that is not absorbed internally by the particle
itself slices a path of destruction through living tissue. Over a year's
time, 1 mg of DU undergoes over 450 million alpha decays, and the decay
products (thorium and protactinium) produce over 900 million beta decays and
release over 900 million gamma rays. Because the DU-oxide particles are so
small, it can be assumed that a significant fraction of that radiation
actually makes it into the victim's body tissue.
Dr. Durakovic has been able to estimate the initial DU-oxide body burden of
several 1991 Gulf War veterans by measuring the levels of DU in their urine
nine and ten years after the war (a fact that in itself proves how
long-lasting DU can be when absorbed into body tissues). He determined that
these veterans had absorbed an average of 0.34 mg of DU that became
permanently incorporated into their bodies. (Their initial actual exposure
may have been much greater.) If this is the case, then over 750 million
total radiation events (1/3 of the total given in the previous paragraph)
have taken place in these veteran's bodies every year, year after year,
since 1991. Even if you assume that only a very small fraction of this
radiation exits the particle, say 0.2%, this still results in 3.3 damaging
radiation events every minute, or 1.7 million damaging events each year from
the 0.34 mg of DU dispersed throughout the lungs in the form of 4.3 million
2.5 micron diameter particles.
Most scientists now believe that there is no safe level of exposure to
ionizing radiation. This comes from a realization that cancer and genetic
damage begins with unrepaired damage to crucial molecules (such as DNA)
within a single cell. Molecular damage is exactly what takes place when
alpha, beta or gamma radiation passes through a cell. Electrons are ripped
from molecules as the ionized particles zip by. Each radiation event leaves
a wake of disrupted molecules behind it, most in the form of free radicals.
Alpha particles, being much larger and more massive than beta particles, can
actually destroy whole cells. Although the body maintains a marvelous system
for DNA repair and cell replacement, over time, with so many assaults, it is
completely illogical to assume that no permanent damage takes place.
Atomicity
A new term was introduced in October, 2003 at the Hamburg World Uranium
Weapons Conference. That term was "atomicity". Dr. Yagasaki of Japan showed
that the number of radioactive atoms produced from 800 tons of DU is
equivalent to 83,000 Nagasaki sized atom bombs. Since that conference, this
statistic was quoted on the radio during the aforementioned interview, and I
have seen it appear in print as well.
Unfortunately, the comparison between DU contamination and the Nagasaki atom
bomb explosion is very misleading. Over 100,000 residents of Nagasaki were
killed in the atomic blast, either instantly or shortly afterwards due to
exposure to the intense radiation, which included neutrons as well as alpha,
beta and gamma radiation. Over 18,000 buildings were destroyed. Comparing
the atomic bomb blast and its effects to those of depleted uranium is
dramatic and delivers a strong emotional appeal, but the comparison based on
number of radioactive particles released (atomicity) is quite meaningless.
Second, no effort is made to qualify the different types of "atomicity"
involved. The U-238 atoms in that 392 tons of DU have a half-life of 4.5
billion years. In other words, their radioactive decay is spread out over
such a long period of time that only half of them will have decayed by the
time this Earth comes to its end in the Sun's expanding corona. On the other
hand, the majority of radioactive atoms dispersed over Nagasaki had much
shorter half- lives. Many are essentially no longer radioactive, having
progressed through 25 or 30 half-lives since 1945. But remember, the shorter
the half-life, the more intense the radiation. Thus the Nagasaki victims who
survived the initial blast were exposed to much more radiation in a very
short period of time than the civilians in Iraq who have been exposed to
depleted uranium, while the problem facing civilians where DU has been used
is long term (read "forever") and chronic.
Third, the Nagasaki blast produced a tremendous mixture of radioactive
substances, each having its own unique biological impact on survivors.
Strontium-90 replaces calcium in bone tissue; iodine-131 becomes
concentrated in the thyroid; cesium-137 is a natural replacement for
potassium in the body. With DU, the principal isotopes of concern are those
of uranium, with very small amounts of thorium, protactinium, and
contaminants such as plutonium. I say this not to understate the
significance of exposure to DU, but merely to point out that the effects can
be expected to be very different from exposure to elements resulting from an
atomic bomb explosion.
Finally, the area significantly affected by direct DU contamination is much
more wide-spread than that of a single atomic explosion. True, radioactive
fallout from any nuclear test ultimately affects the entire earth, but with
decreasing concentration the further one moves from the blast site. In a
military conflict where DU munitions are used, every battle site throughout
the entire country becomes contaminated with DU. And with the frequent sand
storms that blanket wide areas, there is virtually no escape, no place to
hide.
So although it is true that there are far more radioactive atoms in the 392
tons of DU than there were resulting from the explosion of a single atom
bomb over Nagasaki, there can be no meaningful comparison between the two.
To attempt to do so merely clouds the issue and strains credibility,
something we can ill afford to allow happen.
The Truth is Out
Sometimes those who lie become entangled in their own web of deceit. Last
summer a van which contained several pounds of DU was stolen from a city
street in Essex, UK. Authorities were particularly anxious to recover the
vehicle and its contents. They publicly expressed the fear that terrorists
might use the DU to create a "dirty bomb", that is, a bomb that could spread
harmful radioactivity into an urban environment. If DU were as harmless as
they wish us to believe, how could it be of any use in a "dirty bomb"? On
the other hand, if it can be used effectively in that way, how can the USA
and UK justify their use of DU weaponry in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kosovo and
Serbia? Every 30mm shell and 105/120 mm penetrator clearly becomes a
miniature "dirty bomb". Their cumulative effect easily exceeds that of a
dozens of large bombs. Would someone tell me why the use of such dirty bombs
does not constitute a crime against humanity?
______________________________
5. DUTCH MILITARY IN IRAQ DELAYS TROOP TRANSFER FROM SUSPECTED DU
CONTAMINATED AREA
by Maarten H.J. van den Berg
RISQ | Review of International Social Questions
Website: http://www.risq.org
When Dutch marines arrived in a base camp near the town of As Samawah, Iraq,
to replace American troops last summer, they measured unacceptably high
levels of radioactivity. Yet troop transfer from the area was delayed by
three weeks, putting both Dutch and American troops at risk of exposure to
depleted uranium (DU)...
To read the article online, go to:
http://www.bandepleteduranium.org/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=119
On July 24th last year, Dutch troops arrived in 'Camp Smitty', a base set up
by the Americans in an abandoned train depot near the town of As Samawah.
Located along the railway track from Basra to Baghdad, and consisting of
several concrete buildings big enough to lodge both troops and their
vehicles, the location seemed a perfect outpost.
Set to replace the 442nd US Military Police Brigade stationed in the depot
since early June, the Dutch troops put up their field beds inside, granting
them at least some shelter from the ever-present desert heat and sand storms
in the area, even though the buildings were dirty, dusty, vermin-infested
and most windows were broken. Meals and other collective gatherings were
held outside on the yard along the railway tracks amidst abandoned train
engines and carriages, wrecked Iraqi tanks, unexploded ordnance, and other
remnants of war.
Settled all right thus by military standards, the Dutch troops could have
made Camp Smitty their 'home', just as the Americans had done for months.
Yet shortly after their arrival, they made an alarming discovery, which
according to Sgt. Juan Vega, senior medic with the US 442nd, led the Dutch
"to pitch camp in the desert instead". As Mr Vega told the New York-based
Daily News "the Dutch swept the area around the train depot with Geiger
counters and their medics confided to [me] they had found high radiation
levels".
According to Mr Vega and other soldiers interviewed by the paper, the
radiation may have come from the remains of DU shells scattering the
compound or one of the wrecked Iraqi tanks, which had been hauled onto
railroad cars just outside the depot. Yet, since DU can take the form of a
very fine, toxic and radiocative dust that easily spreads, a much greater
part of the compound may have been contaminated.
As quite a few of the American troops who were based in Camp Smitty, are
still suffering from chronic nausea, skin rashes and migraines, they suspect
they may have inhaled a toxic dosis of DU dust during their stay. Already,
four out of nine veterans who volunteered for a test, were found to have
higher than normal levels of uranium in their urine.
While the US Department of Defence has recently announced it will
investigate the case of the veterans from Camp Smitty, military personnel
representatives in the Netherlands have raised concerns about the health of
Dutch troops that have stayed there. Yesterday, a spokesperson of the Dutch
Military of Defence merely conceded that "upon arrival, the marines declared
part of the compound off-limits", assuring that "all necessary precautionary
measures were taken". A source in one of the military personnel unions
confirmed that they were informed by the Ministry about "certain
measurements, which led the troops to close off a building on the compound".
However, the source said, "no reference was made to the possibility of DU
contamination there".
As the new camp out in the desert was still under construction, the Dutch
troops stayed in the train depot at least until mid August. Pictures
archived on the website of the Ministry of Defence show marines resting on
field beds set up inside one of the buildings and sharing meals on the yard
outside as late as 6 August 2003. By that time, they had been on the
compound for over two weeks, even as 90 of them fell ill - some so much so
that they had to be IV-fed. According to the Ministry they had contracted a
virus, "due to the high temperatures, the change in food and lifestyle, and
the higher concentration of viruses in the air of hot countries such as
Iraq".
Note: All over Iraq, the remains of spent DU shells and DU-contaminated
debris have been found littering the streets in urban areas. Some wrecked
vehicles have been towed away, and the most obvious contaminated sites are
marked. However, most locations have not even been identified let alone
cleaned, even though there is a widely shared consensus that DU
contamination can be a potential health hazard.
To minimize the risk of exposure, foreign troops have been instructed to
stay away from potentially contaminated areas as much as possible or to
wear, at least, respiratory protection and gloves when it is inevitable to
enter such sites.
As for Iraqi civilians, there is no indication that the Coalition
Provisional Authority (CPA) has properly informed the population about DU
contamination. The British Ministry of Defence merely affirms that Iraqi
locals have been warned "that they should not go near or touch any debris
they find on the battlefield" Perhaps this would have sufficed, were it not
for the fact that quite a few battles have been fought in densely populated
areas, where it is virtually impossible for residents to avoid all remnants
of war.
For earlier RISQ reports on DU and links to external resources, please refer
to the DU Dossier at RISQ.
See: http://www.risq.org/link-61.html
_______________________________________________________________________
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63 Google News Alert - nuclear
Date: Thu, 15 Apr 2004 15:17:41 -0700 (PDT)
INVESTIGATION shows nuclear facilities remain unguarded, ...
Boston Globe - Boston,MA,USA
UNITED NATIONS (AP) Iraq's nuclear facilities remain unguarded, and radioactive
materials are being taken out of the country, the UN's nuclear watchdog
agency ...
See all stories on this topic:
PEACH Bottom, Pa., Nuclear Power Plant to Undergo Inspection
Miami Herald - Miami,FL,USA
15 - With little more than a projection screen between them, officials
with both the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Exelon Generation met
Wednesday night at ...
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NUCLEAR Whistleblower has 'No Regrets'
The Scotsman - Edinburgh,Scotland,UK
Vanunu disclosed details and photos of Israels top-secret nuclear plant
and the countrys reputed nuclear weapons arsenal to The Sunday Times
of London in ...
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FORMER councillor takes part in anti-nuclear power march
ic Berkshire.co.uk - Reading,England,UK
... among hundreds of protesters who marched 52-miles from London to Britain's
atomic weapons headquarters in Aldermaston to protest against nuclear
weapons last ...
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CHENEY fears NKorea will give terrorists nuclear knowhow
Channel News Asia - Singapore
SHANGHAI : US Vice President Dick Cheney voiced fears that North Korea
will provide nuclear technology to terrorist groups like Al-Qaeda, and
warned of a ...
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PAKISTAN quiet on nuclear scientist's trip to N Korea
Taipei Times - Taipei,Taiwan
... top scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan, but refused comment on a report he
had visited a secret underground plant in communist North Korea and seen
nuclear devices. ...
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GOVERNMENT Going Crazy Over Nuclear Waste
The Progress Report - USA
Firing nuclear waste into the sun, placing it in Antarctic ice sheets so
it sinks by its own heat to the bedrock, or putting it under Earth's crust
so it is ...
NUCLEAR Technology: A Powerful Arm of Development
AllAfrica.com - Africa
Economic actors and decision makers have been made to understand that nuclear
technology could contribute significantly in the development of a country.
...
CHENEY fears N. Korea will give terror groups nuclear technology
Khaleej Times - Dubai,United Arab Emirates
SHANGHAI - US Vice President Dick Cheney said on Thursday he feared North
Korea, given its current capabilities, would provide nuclear technology
to terrorist ...
NEVADA AG fights plan to dump Ohio nuclear waste in his state
Akron Beacon Journal (subscription) - Akron,OH,USA
... if the US Department of Energy doesn't keep radioactive waste from
a former uranium processing plant in Ohio out of the low-level nuclear-waste
repository in ...
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