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NUCLEAR POLICY
1 UN Nuclear Watchdog Concerned By Removal Of Equipment, Buildings Fro
2 CNN.com - IAEA: Iraq nuke plants apparently unguarded -
3 Mehr News: Iran Expects Its Nuclear Dossier to Be Closed - Official
4 US: Salt Lake Tribune: Energy official pushes diversification
5 US: Cato: Energy Bill Illusions
6 Free Vanunu? Outrage Over Israel's New Punishment
7 Vanunu Rejects Restrictions
8 Guardian Unlimited: The Guardian profile: Mordechai Vanunu
9 Guardian Unlimited: Anger at restrictions on Vanunu
10 Las Vegas SUN: Cheney Warns of Asian Nuclear Arms Race
NUCLEAR REACTORS
11 US: Brattleboro Reformer: DPS rejects coalition's request to reconsi
12 US: projo.com: Cracks found in nuclear plant during outage
13 US: JOURNAL NEWS: Nuclear-fuel forum changes few minds
14 canadaeast: Expert says no economic advantage in overhaul of N.B. nu
15 canadaeast: Nuclear repair deal flawed
16 courier-journal: Poet reflects on Chernobyl and horrors still too vi
17 US: C Enquirer: Perry nuclear power plant flagged for minor violatio
18 CBC News: Rebuilding NB nuclear plant '$1.4 billion question'
19 US: Sun Herald: Rep. Paul pushes nuclear institute
20 US: NRC: NRC to Meet with Exelon Generation Co. to Discuss Performan
21 CBC - New Brunswick: NB Power needs to do more homework - expert
22 US: NRC: NRC Announces Opportunity for Hearing on Application to Ren
23 US: NRC: Review and Status of Surface and Volumetric Survey Design a
NUCLEAR SAFETY
24 BBC: Fine over missing
25 US: Las Vegas SUN: Gun-sight maker facing nuke fine
26 online.ie: Residents at centre of uranium scare to undergo further t
NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE
27 US: NRC: Request To Amend a License To Import Radioactive Waste
28 US: Salt Lake Tribune: Study up on waste
29 Las Vegas SUN: Editorial: State right in opposing burial plan
30 RGJ: Energy Department to ship radioactive waste to state
31 US: CNW Telbec: Environment Minister announces decision on Cluff Lak
32 Pahrump Valley Times: A monthly pilgrimage (Yucca and U.S. Ecology)
33 Pahrump Valley Times: Nevada refuses Ohio's 'hot' waste
34 US: 7Online.com: Westschester Residents Upset Over Radioactive Waste
35 US: Las Vegas SUN: Nevada asking NRC to stop plan to ship nuclear wa
NUCLEAR WEAPONS
36 The Sunflower - April 2004 - Issue 83
37 Pravda.RU: Russia concerned over spread of weapons of mass destructi
38 KoreaTimes: [Book Review] Hiroshima - A Tragedy Never to Be Repeated
US DEPT. OF ENERGY
39 UC and the Nuclear Weapons Business
40 Tri-City Herald: Lawyer barred from Hanford health case
41 Oak Ridger: Cleanup company to talk shop
42 Newsday.com - Opinion Reactor disposal: good news at lab
OTHER NUCLEAR
43 Google News Alert - nuclear
44 THE TIGER: Grant funds nuclear study
45 IEER: Postings to IEER's site since January 2003.
46 U of Western Ontario: Nuclear research
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FULL NEWS STORIES
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1 UN Nuclear Watchdog Concerned By Removal Of Equipment, Buildings From Iraq
Date: Fri, 16 Apr 2004 12:37:31 -0400
UN NUCLEAR WATCHDOG CONCERNED BY REMOVAL OF EQUIPMENT, BUILDINGS FROM IRAQ
New York, Apr 16 2004 12:36PM
The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog agency says it is
concerned that equipment - even entire buildings - and contaminated
scrap have been removed from sites in Iraq, in some cases even
out of the country.
In a <"http://www.un.org/Docs/journal/asp/ws.asp?m=S/2004/285">letter
to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, which was then transmitted
to the Security Council, Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei of
the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) says other information
available to the IAEA, confirmed through visits to other countries,
indicates that large quantities of scrap, some of it contaminated,
have been transferred out of Iraq from sites monitored
by the Agency.
"It is not clear whether the removal of those 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
the locations," Mr. ElBaradei writes.
He says these activities may have a significant impact on the Agency's
"continuity of knowledge" of Iraq's remaining nuclear-related
capabilities and raise concern about the proliferation risk associated
with dual-use material and equipment disappearing to unknown
destinations.
The United States Government has been informed of these observations,
Mr. ElBaradei adds, and clarifications are expected.
Under previous Security Council resolutions, the <"http://www.iaea.org/index.html">IAEA
is required to submit progress reports every
six months on its verification activities in Iraq. However, the
Agency pulled out of the country on the eve of the war last year,
and since then has been concentrating on analyzing information
collected since it began inspections in 1991.
2004-04-15 00:00:00.000
________________
For more details go to UN News Centre at http://www.un.org/news
To change your profile or unsubscribe go to:
http://www.un.org/news/dh/latest/subscribe.shtml
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2 CNN.com - IAEA: Iraq nuke plants apparently unguarded -
Apr 16, 2004
UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- Some Iraqi nuclear facilities appear to be
unguarded, and radioactive materials are being taken out of the
country, the U.N.'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 U.S.
officials three weeks ago informing them of the findings. The
information was also sent to the U.N. Security Council in a
letter from its director, Mohamed ElBaradei, that was circulated
Thursday.
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 harbor.
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 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 U.S. invaded the country in March
2003. The United States has refused to allow the IAEA or other
U.N. 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.
Copyright 2004 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This
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3 Mehr News: Iran Expects Its Nuclear Dossier to Be Closed - Official
Province, April 16 (MNA) – A United Nations nuclear inspection
team will visit Iran before the International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors meeting in June, the director of
the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization (IAEO), Gholamreza
Aqazadeh, said on the sidelines of a visit to the Arak heavy
water reactor.
In view of Iran’s negotiations with the IAEA and its director
general, Mohamed ElBaradei, and the agreement with the European
states, Tehran expects its nuclear dossier to be closed, Islamic
Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) quoted Aqazadeh as saying.
The IAEO director also said the delay in the transfer of nuclear
fuel to the Bushehr power plant by Russia has been caused by
technical issues, but added that developments in Russia also have
had an effect on the fuel transfer.
MS/HG End
MNA
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4 Salt Lake Tribune: Energy official pushes diversification
April 16, 2004
By Sue Major Holmes
The Associated Press
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- The Bush administration envisions a
future America that has a more diverse supply and uses more
different types of fuels to meet its energy needs, a top energy
official said Thursday.
Deputy Energy Secretary Kyle McSlarrow presented an overview
of energy policy from the standpoint of the executive branch in a
speech before a three-day North American Energy Summit here
sponsored by the Western Governors' Association.
He said America must take advantage of coal, nuclear power
and alternative energy sources in the future to move away from
dependence on oil and natural gas. And he said the nation's
energy strategy must plan for the long term.
Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., in a keynote address written for
Thursday night's summit banquet, warned that the United States is
"headed down the same dangerous path with natural gas as we have
gone down with oil," with use increasing faster than supply and
dependence on imported supplies growing.
He also blamed the loss of more than 2 million manufacturing
jobs in the past three years on soaring natural gas prices that
will only continue to climb. By 2025, prices are expected to be
nearly six times those of 1995, he said.
The United States must address its heavy dependence on
natural gas by diversifying its source of electricity, Domenici
said. The Energy Information Administration, part of the
Department of Energy, forecasts coal production to increase by
1.5 percent a year between now and 2025 -- all in the West, he
said.
Domenici, Senate floor leader for the administration-backed
energy bill before Congress, used much of his speech to tout the
proposed legislative help for natural gas and coal, including
incentives to expedite construction of an Alaska natural gas
pipeline, royalty relief to stimulate natural gas production, a
streamlined process for permits and a clean coal technology
provision.
McSlarrow said the United States needs an energy mix that
includes cleaner use of coal, advanced nuclear designs and
alternative energy as well as continued production of oil and
The country also should be looking now toward a future
hydrogen energy economy because hydrogen is clean, can be
extracted from other fuels and can meet the needs both of
transportation and generating electricity, he said.
Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., appearing on the same program,
said some energy policies the administration is pushing have
bipartisan support and could be passed separately rather than
being held hostage to more controversial sections of the massive
energy package that failed to get through Congress last year.
Copyright Salt Lake City Tribune
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5 Cato: Energy Bill Illusions
[The Cato Institute] http://www.catostore.org
by Jerry Taylor and Peter VanDoren
Jerry Taylor is director of natural resource studies at the Cato
Institute. Peter Van Doren is editor of the Cato magazine,
Regulation.
With Congress back from recess and energy prices soaring,
politicians are beating the drums to stir up public support for
the energy bill stalled in the Senate. The United States
"desperately needs a coherent energy policy, and S. 2095 (the
bill in question) will address many of the critical issues facing
our nation," say 20 senators of both parties in a letter to
Senate Majority leader Bill Frist. President Bush likewise
charges, "If [lawmakers] are interested in jobs staying here at
home, if they're interested in creating an environment in which
we're competitive, we need an energy bill, one that encourages
reliability for electricity, and one that encourages conservation
and helps us become less dependent on foreign sources of energy."
This is not simply nonsense -- it's nonsense on stilts.
Why must the government establish a "coherent energy policy"?
Generally, we've left decisions about energy investments to
private investors. Five- or ten-year economic plans are
traditionally the stuff of Russian Politburos, not American
presidents. It's amazing to hear Republican politicians argue
that, absent some guidance from Washington, businessmen will
blindly stumble through the marketplace, unable to intelligently
invest in the energy sector absent some sort of congressional
blueprint. It's also insulting to one's intelligence to hear
politicians claim that, absent political interference in the
marketplace, consumers will not have the faintest idea how to
conserve energy or even be aware of the benefits of doing so in
the face of high prices.
In short, we can either allow private investors and supply and
demand to dictate the contours of America's energy economy or we
can allow politicians and government planners to do so. Aren't
Republicans supposed to favor the former and not the latter?
President Bush's contention that the energy bill promises a cure
for everything that ails the economy is likewise preposterous.
Almost every one of the 1,000-plus pages of the bill is dedicated
to throwing taxpayer subsidies at politically favored energy
industries. Now, it's no surprise that the companies which will
receive this kind of gift are all for it -- or that the employees
of those companies and the businesses dependent upon them are
likewise charmed by the proposal. But with the federal government
already a half trillion dollars in the red, can we really afford
such generosity, particularly when the recipients of this
tax-funded largesse are among the largest and healthiest
corporations in the world?
Nor is there any reason to think that spreading federal tax
dollars like pixy dust over uncompetitive technologies will
magically transform them from ugly market ducklings into
beautiful economic swans. If something like clean coal technology
has economic merit, it will have no trouble attracting investors.
If it doesn't, then no amount of federal subsidy will magically
give it economic merit.
This is not ivory tower theory -- it's hard historical fact. If
throwing tax money at "neat-o" technologies that couldn't pull
their weight in the marketplace were a worthwhile endeavor, we'd
all be driving cars powered by "synfuels," or, alternatively,
tooling around in roomy, conventional automobiles getting 75-plus
miles per gallon. Meanwhile, we'd be lighting our homes with
electricity generated by the neighborhood fusion power plant (or,
alternatively, from nuclear power plants delivering electricity
that was literally "too cheap to meter"), or would even have
unplugged from the power lines completely thanks to ubiquitous,
low-cost residential solar energy panels.
Today's political energy fads -- be they "clean coal" technology,
hydrogen powered fuel cells, or whatever -- are no different than
yesterday's. Nor are today's politicians any better positioned to
outguess private investors than yesterday's. All that has changed
is a new set of hucksters have come around to fleece a new set of
voters. We might as well burn the money and dance around the fire
for all the good these expenditures will do.
Putting established energy sectors on the dole is even less
justified. If investors can't make a buck by building a natural
gas pipeline from the Alaskan North Slope to southern Alaska,
then fine -- it tells us that the project will be a net drain on
the economy. Likewise, if small oil producers in the Lower48
can't compete with producers elsewhere, it tells us that their
labor and capital could be more productively invested elsewhere.
Subsidizing such projects and industries simply shovels money
into an economic black hole.
Virtually nothing in the energy bill currently languishing in the
Senate will improve the performance of America's energy markets.
On the contrary, it would transfer money from taxpayers to
well-connected energy industries that either don't need the hand
out or shouldn't get it in the first place. America should "just
say no" to this modern version of political tonic water.
1000 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W. Washington D.C. 20001-5403 Phone
(202) 842-0200 Fax (202) 842-3490 All Rights Reserved © 2004 Cato
Institute
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6 Free Vanunu? Outrage Over Israel's New Punishment
Date: Fri, 16 Apr 2004 15:06:42 -0700
Free Vanunu? Outrage Over Israel's New Punishment
News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 16, 2004
Contact:
The U.S. Campaign to Free Mordechai Vanunu
(in the US) 520-323-8697
The Israeli Committee for Mordechai Vanunu and for a Middle East Free of
Atomic, Biological and Chemical Weapons - Tel. +972-02-6254530,
+972-051-368236
International Outrage Over Israel's Further Punishment of nuclear
whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu
The State of Israel has detailed its intention to continue
punishing nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu even after he completes
his 18-year prison sentence next Wednesday, April 21. The proposed
restrictions, akin to South Africa's "banning" of apartheid's opponents,
have sparked outrage world wide among advocates for human rights and
nuclear disarmament. According to law, the restrictions are being appealed
to the High Court. The Association for Civil Rights in Israel is
representing Dr. Vanunu in these proceedings.
Officials who recently visited Ashkelon Prison informed Dr. Vanunu
that he faces at least a year of additional restrictions. The restrictions
would keep Vanunu in Israel and require advance notice if he wishes to
leave the town of his residence. He would be prohibited from approaching
any borders or embassies, and barred from possessing a cell phone, using
the internet, or having any communication with foreigners at all, even
those residing in Israel.
Here is a sampling of international condemnations:
Mary Eoloff [Minnesota, USA] adoptive mother of Mordechai Vanunu:
"This is a destructive decision for Mordechai. The terrible thing is, that
the State is denying basic human rights to a person who has already
completed his sentence. They are assuming in advance, that he will use his
freedom of speech to speak out against Israel. He has the right of
expression just like any citizen, and that cannot be taken away from
him." [Yediot Ahronot -15 April 2004]
The Israeli Committee for Mordechai Vanunu and for a Middle East Free of
Atomic, Biological and Chemical Weapons:
"The restrictions and prohibitions which the Sharon-Lapid government
intends to impose characterize tyrannical regimes, and it is not surprising
that the order was signed by the Homeland Defense Commander, based on the
draconian State of Emergency Regulations, the legacy of the British
Mandate. We wish to remind the public, that former Prime Minister Menachem
Begin and two former Justice Ministers, Yakov Shimshon Shapira and Dov
Yosef, denounced the regulations as being Nazi in nature."
Issam Makhoul, Israeli-Arab Member of the Knesset:
"When Mordechai Vanunu is released from that terrible cell in Ashkelon
Prison, he will not leave behind a void; he will leave behind a shout,
which should become the call for the emergence of an Israeli anti-nuclear
movement."
Alyn Ware [New Zealand], Vice-President of International Peace Bureau and
global coordinator of the Parliamentary Network for Nuclear Disarmament:
"The situation in the Middle East is very tense at the moment and the
safety of well-known peace advocates is of concern. One of the
parliamentary network members from Israel, Mr Issam Makhoul, who has spoken
out on nuclear weapons issues in the Israeli parliament, narrowly escaped
an assassination attempt recently, an action which prevented him from
attending an international conference we were organizing on the
issue. Given the tense situation, the presence of extremists willing to
direct violence against individuals, and the fact that some reports in
Israeli media have labelled Vanunu a traitor to the country, we would be
concerned if he is prevented from leaving Israel, if that were to be his
choice. It is in fact a fundamental and universal human right to be allowed
to leave and return to one's country."
Felice Cohen-Joppa [Arizona, USA], Coordinator of the U.S. Campaign to Free
Mordechai Vanunu
"With these restrictions, the Israeli government is building a special
prison just for Mordechai Vanunu. This is an outrageous injustice not
fitting for a democratic nation."
The international campaigns to free Mordechai Vanunu together
denounce and protest the continued harassment of Dr. Mordechai Vanunu by
the Israeli authorities and call on all people of conscience, in Israel and
around the world, to join the struggle to lift all of these
restrictions. The soon-to-be released Prisoner of Conscience deserves to
live as a free person wherever he chooses.
More condemnations are expected as news of the additional
punishment circulates.
-30-
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7 Vanunu Rejects Restrictions
Date: Sat, 17 Apr 2004 00:04:51 -0500 (CDT)
http://www.israelnn.com/news.php3?id=60948
Vanunu Rejects Restrictions 06:50 Apr 16, '04 / 25 Nisan 5764
(IsraelNN.com) Convicted nuclear spy Mordehai Vanunu told security
authorities he does not intend to sign a document agreeing to restrictions
being imposed upon him following his release later this month.
Restrictions include his inability to hold a passport, visit any foreign
embassy or diplomatic installation, or leave the country.
==================
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,1193735,00.html
ANGER AT RESTRICTIONS ON VANUNU
The Guardian (London) Saturday April 17, 2004 Duncan Campbell
Protests were lodged yesterday against the restrictions that are to be
imposed on the Israeli nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu, who is due
to be released from prison next week.
Vanunu, who will have served 18 years for revealing details of Israel's
nuclear arsenal, is to be forbidden to have contact with foreigners either
in person or by correspondence. He will not be allowed to leave Israel or
move from his home town without reporting to police.
"This is ludicrous and in breach of international law," said the Labour MP
Jeremy Corbyn, who is to travel to Israel next week as one of around 90
supporters who plan to welcome Vanunu on his release from Shekma prison in
Ashkelon.
Mr Corbyn said at a press conference in London that one of the reasons for
going to Israel was to demonstrate the international concern about Vanunu.
Around 40 British supporters, 30 Americans and others from Japan, Poland,
Italy and elsewhere in Europe are due to be outside the prison for his
release on Wednesday.
The restrictions put on Vanunu are based on clauses 108 and 109 of the
state of emergency statute passed by the British mandate in 1945. Vanunu
will be allowed to choose where he lives, but will not be able to leave
that town or city without police permission. He will not be allowed to go
near foreign embassies, borders, ports or airports.
He will also be barred from talking about his work as a technician at the
Dimona nuclear plant, or the circumstances in which he was kidnapped by
the Israeli security services in Italy in 1986.
The restrictions are due to last for six months, after which they can be
renewed. If he is found to be in breach of the restrictions, he could face
another trial.
David Polden, of the Campaign to Free Vanunu, said that it was unclear
whether Vanunu would be able to talk to his adoptive parents, the American
peace campaigners Nick and Mary Eoloff. It was also unclear whether he
would be able to answer journalists' questions, even if they are directed
to him via a third party.
Susannah York, the actor, who has corresponded with Vanunu, said that he
was anxious for a non-confrontational exit from prison.
"I want to look forward, not back," he had written to her in a letter 10
days ago.
-------------------------------------
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/04/16/1082055655992.html
VANUNU WILL NOT BE COMING IN FROM THE COLD
Morning Herald (Sydney) April 17, 2004
Whistleblower's crime was to offend against Israel's unifying creeds,
writes Ed O'Loughlin in Jerusalem
Philip Nolan was a lieutenant in the US army who, court-martialled for a
youthful mutiny, publicly damned his country and said he never wished to
hear its name again. As punishment, Nolan was forced to spend the rest of
his life at sea, transferred from one US naval vessel to another, never
allowed to return home or even hear news of it.
Lieutenant Nolan is a fictional character, subject of a famous 19th
century American short story The Man Without a Country. But an oddly
similar fate faces a real man without a country, Israeli nuclear
whistle-blower Mordechai Vanunu, who is due to leave prison on Wednesday
after serving every day of an 18-year sentence for treason and espionage.
While Nolan could not return to his home state, the Israeli security
establishment has told Vanunu that it will not grant his wish to leave it.
It is also forbidding him from communicating with foreigners or moving
about without permission. Any violation of these security orders, any
attempt to go near a border or a foreign embassy, will land him back in
prison without trial, Vanunu told his brother Meir last week. Like the
fictional lieutenant, the 50-year-old Vanunu could well spend the rest of
his life at the mercy of a country which he rejected, and whose people
despise him, but which will not let him go.
Vanunu's crime was to offend grievously against all three of Israel's key
unifying creeds - Zionism, Jewish identity and total loyalty to the
government on questions of national security.
Vanunu became involved with left-wing and pro-Palestinian causes while
studying philosophy as a mature student at Ben Gurion University. In 1985
he was laid off from his job as a technician at Israel's top secret
nuclear facility at Dimona and left the country, ending up in Australia.
There he worked at odd jobs in Sydney and committed his second act of
disloyalty by embracing Anglicanism. His parents and most of his 10
siblings have since renounced him.
Vanunu's third and biggest offence came in 1986 when The Sunday Times of
London published an expose, backed up by photos secretly taken by Vanunu,
showing that Israel had produced a covert nuclear arsenal at the Dimona
plant.
Vanunu's supporters say it was primarily his principled opposition to
nuclear weapons which made him leak the story. But the fact that he was
due to obtain $US100,000 from a related book and serialisation deal made
him doubly odious in Israeli eyes.
Vanunu did not receive the money, or even see his story in print. Before
The Sunday Times could publish the article an American Jewish woman
working for Mossad lured him from London to Rome, where he was smuggled on
board a disguised Israeli naval vessel.
When he was spotted again two months later, being hustled out of an
Israeli court room, he revealed his plight to the world by writing the
details of his abduction on the palm of his hand and holding it up towards
press photographers.
A secret trial convicted him of treason and espionage, even though he had
made no attempt to provide his secrets to foreign or hostile powers.
Vanunu spent most of the next 12 years in strict solitary confinement
ostensibly on security grounds. His mail was heavily censored and visits
severely restricted.
It emerged last month that Vanunu has written to the Israeli interior
ministry formally applying to renounce his Israeli citizenship - a request
that is not likely to be granted.
It is still not certain that Vanunu will even be allowed to leave Ashkelon
prison on Wednesday. With the backing of Israel's spy chiefs the Attorney-
General applied to have him detained without trial following the expiry of
his sentence, arguing that Vanunu still has nuclear secrets which could
damage Israel. Although the courts rejected this application, Vanunu might
yet find himself reincarcerated if he breaches the Government's
restrictions on his freedom, or perhaps even if he refuses to sign them.
His supporters from Israel and abroad - including brother Meir who lives
in Australia - say that after 18 years Vanunu has no more secrets to
reveal. They charge that the Israeli Government is really concerned about
avoiding unwelcome focus on its harsh treatment of a man they regard as a
political dissident and publicity about its covert possession of weapons
of mass destruction.
Among the welcoming committee will be the Reverend David Smith, the pastor
from Dulwich Hill, Sydney, who befriended Vanunu and oversaw his
conversion to Anglicanism. "I feel very emotional about it. I'm extremely
hopeful that he will be allowed out and that he'll be safe," Mr Smith said
in Tel Aviv this week
==============================
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8 Guardian Unlimited: The Guardian profile: Mordechai Vanunu
An imprisoned hero, a Nobel prize nominee, a victim, or a
traitor: Israel's nuclear whistleblower represents many things to
many people. How will he and his country react when the day of
his release from jail dawns next week?
Duncan Campbell
Friday April 16, 2004
The Guardian [http://www.guardian.co.uk]
Nearly 18 years ago, a young Israeli nuclear technician went to
London to reveal the secrets of his country's atomic weapons
programme to the world. Then, lured to Italy by an Israeli secret
service agent, he was drugged, gagged, bound and returned to
Israel, where he was convicted of treason and espionage and
sentenced to 18 years' imprisonment.
Next week, after serving most of that sentence in solitary
confinement, he will finally be released.
Mordechai Vanunu is 49 and has become a symbol for the
international peace movement. He has been nominated for a Nobel
peace prize, and a long-running campaign has sought his release.
When he finally walks out of the gates of Shekma prison next
Wednesday, to be met by scores of his supporters from a dozen
different countries around the world, he will not be allowed to
leave the country for at least six months, or communicate with
any foreigner.
Born in 1954 in Marrakesh, Morocco, into a large and deeply
religious Jewish family which emigrated to Israel in 1963, Vanunu
served for three years in the sappers' unit of the Israeli
Defence Force after he left school. He held the rank of sergeant
and was given an honourable discharge. He then became a
technician at the nuclear reactor centre in Dimona. He worked
there from 1976 to 1985, when he was made redundant.
At the same time, he was studying philosophy at Ben Gurion
university and already beginning to feel uncomfortable about a
number of his government's policies.
He was also beginning to come to the attention of the
authorities, not least because, along with four other Jewish
students and five Arab students, he had formed a radical group,
called Campus. He was also an admirer of his professor, Evron
Pollakov, a radical who had refused to serve with the Israeli
army in Lebanon and had been jailed as a result.
The security services noted Vanunu's increasing radicalism, his
professed sympathy for the Palestinians, and the fact that he had
links with an organisation called the Movement for the
Advancement of Peace.
By now he was starting to suffer what he later described as a
crisis of conscience while working at the Dimona plant, which was
clandestinely producing nuclear weapons.
He started to take photos of the plant, without having made a
decision to do anything with them. As he later explained: "It
crossed my mind, of course, but I just wanted to think over my
future and make plans to see more of the world."
Made redundant in 1985, he used his $7,500 payoff to travel round
the world, visiting Nepal, Burma and Thailand before arriving in
Australia, where he booked into a hostel in the Kings Cross
district and found himself odd jobs as a hotel dishwasher and
later a taxi driver. "The people are friendly," he wrote to a
former girlfriend. "They drink a lot of beer."
At around this time, he introduced himself to the local church,
St John's, where he was made welcome by the Rev John McKnight,
who was well known in the area for his work with homeless people
and drug addicts. He gradually decided to convert to
Christianity, being baptised as an Anglican in 1986 - a move that
was to alienate him from his parents and most of his 11 brothers
and sisters.
At the church, during a discussion on peace and nuclear
proliferation, Vanunu divulged some of the knowledge that he had
gained at Dimona. By chance, a freelance Colombian journalist
called Oscar Guerrero was working at the church. He heard about
Vanunu and encouraged him to tell all.
Guerrero contacted the Australian press, but without success. He
headed for Europe and approached the Sunday Times, which assigned
the investigative journalist Peter Hounam and the Insight team to
the story. In the summer of 1986, Hounam flew to Sydney to assess
the strength of the allegation that Israel, despite its denials,
was secretly developing a nuclear arsenal.
"I liked him straight away," said Hounam this week as he prepared
to set off to Israel for Vanunu's release. "We spent 12 days
together and he answered all my questions in a very
straightforward way. He spoke about his disillusionment about
what was going on in Israel."
It was agreed that Vanunu should come to London, where he could
talk to nuclear scientists in the peace movement and be
debriefed. Hounam continued to interview him, and the paper
prepared to publish the revelations.
However, before the story had even appeared in the Sunday Times,
Vanunu disappeared. He had grown frustrated with a delay in
publication, and was upset by a piece in the Sunday Mirror which
wrongly accused him of being a hoaxer. Crucially, he had also met
a woman, "Cindy", who he believed was an American tourist. She
seemed to be attracted to him, and was critical of the Israeli
government.
Hounam told him: "Morde, this woman might be lying, she might be
a Mossad plant," but Vanunu thought she was genuine.
"Cindy" paid for air tickets to Rome, said that her sister had a
flat on the outskirts of the city, and suggested that they could
have a holiday there. Vanunu believed her until the moment he
entered the flat and was overpowered by two men. He was injected
with a drug, smuggled on to a ship and taken back to Israel. At
Mossad's headquarters, he was shown a copy of the Sunday Times
story which had appeared on October 5 and told: "See the damage
you have done."
Convicted of treason and espionage at a closed trial, Vanunu was
jailed for 18 years. The first eleven and a half were spent in
solitary confinement. There was fear for his mental health as he
grew increasingly despairing. For the first part of his sentence,
the light in his cell was kept on all the time.
Since being allowed to mix with other prisoners, his health has
apparently improved considerably. He has read voraciously, for
many years studying Kant, Sartre, Camus and Nietzsche, but more
recently reading historical works, and in particular the history
of the US. He listens to opera on a cassette player and hopes to
travel eventually, possibly settling in Minnesota with Nick and
Mary Eoloff, a couple from the peace movement who have gone
through an adoption process to name him as their son.
His natural parents are still alive, but it has mainly been his
two brothers, Meir, a photographer in Israel, and Asher, the
deputy head of a high school there, who have supported him during
his long incarceration.
"It's a terrible tragedy," said Hounam. "I've been waiting since
1986 for this moment. I want him to be able to resume his life,
maybe get married and have kids. It's been a scandal what has
happened to him."
Although denounced as a traitor by his government and the subject
of frequent allegations about his motives in some of the Israeli
press, his actions have won him international support.
Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked the Pentagon papers in an attempt to
end the war in Vietnam in the 70s, has described Vanunu as
"heroic" and often refers to him as such in his public speeches.
Sabby Sagall, one of the founding members of the London-based
Campaign to Free Vanunu and for a Nuclear Free Middle East, said:
"He is one of the bravest and most inspirational people of our
time. If Bush and Blair want to find weapons of mass destruction
in the Middle East, Vanunu has told them where to go."
Professor Joseph Rotblat, a Nobel peace prize winner, has also
been outspoken in his support.
Among those flying to Israel this weekend are Bruce Kent,
vice-president of CND, and the actor Susannah York.
Ernest Rodker, the secretary of the campaign, said: "He is in
some physical danger if he remains in Israel. A talkshow host
called for him to be wiped out recently."
Rodker said that Vanunu had a wide range of correspondents who
had kept in touch with him over the years. He hoped that, if
Vanunu wanted to come to Britain, he would be allowed to do so -
Britain had a responsibility towards him because he was in effect
lured away while on British soil. It was believed at the time
that Vanunu was not seized in Britain because the Israeli
government did not want to embarrass Mrs Thatcher.
Over the years, pleas for his release or for a less harsh jail
regime met with little response. The Israeli government position
was made clear in 1997 when President Ezer Weizman said at a
press conference in London: "He was a spy who gave away secrets,
and the fact that he did so for conviction rather than for money
makes no difference. He was a traitor to his country."
In one of the hundreds of letters that Vanunu wrote in prison, he
said he saw himself as a free man.
"I'll stay free, to prove that I was right to reveal the madness
of the Israeli nuclear secrets. I am not a spy, but a man who
helped all the world to end the madness of the nuclear race."
Life in short
Born: October 13 1954, Morocco
Life
1963: family emigrates to Israel 1971-74: military service in
army 1976-1985: technician at Dimona nuclear reactor centre.
Travels in far east before arriving in London to talk to Sunday
Times
September 1986: disappears.
October 1986: Sunday Times publishes his story.
November 1986: Israel admits it has him in custody.
March 1988: convicted of treason and sentenced to 18 years'
imprisonment.
Vanunu on impending release
"I'll be free, I won. The gates and the locks will be opened.
They didn't succeed in breaking me or driving me crazy."
Vanunu on future
"I have no interest in fighting the state. I want to live a
normal life, a simple life, as a free man outside of Israel"
Guardian Newspapers Limited
*****************************************************************
9 Guardian Unlimited: Anger at restrictions on Vanunu
Duncan Campbell
Saturday April 17, 2004
The Guardian [http://www.guardian.co.uk]
Protests were lodged yesterday against the restrictions that are
to be imposed on the Israeli nuclear whistleblower Mordechai
Vanunu, who is due to be released from prison next week.
Vanunu, who will have served 18 years for revealing details of
Israel's nuclear arsenal, is to be forbidden to have contact with
foreigners either in person or by correspondence. He will not be
allowed to leave Israel or move from his home town without
reporting to police.
"This is ludicrous and in breach of international law," said the
Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn, who is to travel to Israel next week as
one of around 90 supporters who plan to welcome Vanunu on his
release from Shekma prison in Ashkelon.
Mr Corbyn said at a press conference in London that one of the
reasons for going to Israel was to demonstrate the international
concern about Vanunu. Around 40 British supporters, 30 Americans
and others from Japan, Poland, Italy and elsewhere in Europe are
due to be outside the prison for his release on Wednesday.
The restrictions put on Vanunu are based on clauses 108 and 109
of the state of emergency statute passed by the British mandate
in 1945. Vanunu will be allowed to choose where he lives, but
will not be able to leave that town or city without police
permission. He will not be allowed to go near foreign embassies,
borders, ports or airports.
He will also be barred from talking about his work as a
technician at the Dimona nuclear plant, or the circumstances in
which he was kidnapped by the Israeli security services in Italy
in 1986.
The restrictions are due to last for six months, after which they
can be renewed. If he is found to be in breach of the
restrictions, he could face another trial.
David Polden, of the Campaign to Free Vanunu, said that it was
unclear whether Vanunu would be able to talk to his adoptive
parents, the American peace campaigners Nick and Mary Eoloff. It
was also unclear whether he would be able to answer journalists'
questions, even if they are directed to him via a third party.
Susannah York, the actor, who has corresponded with Vanunu, said
that he was anxious for a non-confrontational exit from prison.
"I want to look forward, not back," he had written to her in a
letter 10 days ago.
Guardian Newspapers Limited
*****************************************************************
10 Las Vegas SUN: Cheney Warns of Asian Nuclear Arms Race
By TOM RAUM ASSOCIATED PRESS
SHANGHAI, China (AP) -
Vice President Dick Cheney warned Thursday that failure to
contain North Korea's nuclear weapons program could trigger a
new nuclear arms race that could sweep across Asia.
"We have no alternative but to act with diligence," Cheney told
students at Shanghai's Fudan University before leaving China for
Seoul, South Korea, his last stop on a weeklong Asia tour.
North Korea's nuclear program is a top agenda item for Cheney in
South Korea, but he heads there at a difficult 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 there. Cheney arrives
in the middle of national parliamentary elections that could
determine the future of impeached President Roh Moo-hyun and
reshape relations with the United States.
Cheney in his speech praised China's leading role in seeking to
persuade North Korea to dismantle its nuclear programs.
"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, which was
broadcast at least in part by China's state television.
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.
--
*****************************************************************
11 Brattleboro Reformer: DPS rejects coalition's request to reconsider VY uprate request
[http://www.reformer.com/]
April 16, 2004 Brattleboro, VT
By CAROLYN LORIÉ Reformer Staff
BRATTLEBORO -- The Department of Public Service has voiced its
support for a motion filed by Entergy Nuclear to amend the Public
Service Board's March 15 order, regarding the proposed 20 percent
"uprate" at Vermont Yankee nuclear power station.
In the same document, the department also responded to the New
England Coalition's motion for reconsideration of the uprate,
rejecting all of the coalition's arguments.
The March 15 board order gave conditional approval to Vermont
Yankee to increase its power output by 20 percent. The board has
not yet responded to the motions.
Entergy's motion requested that the following conditions be
amended: The installation of 22 new fan motors in the cooling
tower cells; the installation of the fans prior to the uprate,
and the rate of shut down in the event of a waste-heat cooling
system malfunction.
According to Entergy's motion, it will comply with the board's
request to install 200 horsepower fans in all but one of the
cooling tower cells, because one of the cells has a special
safety function that complicates refitting it with a new motor.
In its response, the department wrote that not changing the 22nd
fan "will have a very limited, if any discernible impact, on the
plume or cooling tower function. In fact, it appears that the
increased evaporative loss in the safety related cooling tower
cell could have a somewhat negative impact on one of the safety
related objectives of this particular cell."
The company also requested additional time to install the fans.
The order originally called for the installation to be completed
before the plant increased its power output, which, pending NRC
approval, is expected to happen sometime early next year.
The change would allow Entergy to install the fans either in
early summer of 2005 or the early summer 2006. Both were
suggested by Entergy and the department suggested that it be left
it up to the company's discretion when it will completed.
Entergy's initial uprate plan called for the installation of the
200 horsepower fans, but then revised the plan, requesting
instead to use high efficiency 125 horsepower fans. According to
the motion, the company based its engineering analysis on the
revised application and would subsequently require more time to
redo the analysis based on the installation of the larger fans.
The motion also states that in order for the work to be done
during this season's fuel outage would require additional
construction on the site, increasing the environmental impact.
Entergy's final request was for the board to allow the plant to
shut down at a rate of up to 10 percent per minute versus at
least 10 percent per minute, in the event of a waste-heat cooling
system malfunction.
In its response, the department noted that the Connecticut River
Watershed Council and the Agency of Natural Resources are
"satisfied with the protections afforded by the modified
condition language proposed by Entergy."
While the department supported all of Entergy's motions, it
responded much less favorably to the New England Coalition's
motion for reconsideration.
Among the points that the board was asked to reconsider was the
coalition's assertion that the cost of decommissioning would be
greatly increased with the uprate and that any decommissioning
fund surplus would be diminished.
In its response the department stated that the board "reasonably
concluded that there was a potential cost as high as $1.65
million in increased decommissioning costs, but discounted the
idea of the likelihood of an excess in decommissioning funds
occurring at all."
The coalition had argued the uprate would increase the cost of
decommissioning the plant by as much as $25 million.
The department also rejected the coalition's concerns regarding
the use of biocides, specifically glutaraldehyde, in the cooling
tower spray, stating that Entergy's use of "glutaraldehyde does
not meet the jurisdictional action trigger that would require
Entergy to obtain an air discharge permit."
Among the other points that the department took issue with was
the coalition's claim that there will be an increased likelihood
of outages due to the uprate and that the board's order did not
take into account the increased cost of emergency planning.
Although the board has yet to respond to the motions, Peter
Alexander, executive director of the coalition, said that he was
disappointed by the department's statement.
"The department's blanket acceptance of Entergy's request and
complete opposition to the added safeguards and assurances sought
by the New England Coalition show that the department is failing
in its responsibility to act as a advocate for the public
interest and instead has become a tool for the corporation. What
else should we expect from this administration?" said Alexander.
*****************************************************************
12 projo.com: Cracks found in nuclear plant during outage
| Providence, R.I. | AP's The Wire
04.16.2004 5:44 P.M.
The Associated Press
dateline to Montpelier, Vt., sted Vernon, Vt. adgllr
By DAVID GRAM Associated Press Writer
MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) - A Vermont Yankee nuclear plant component
believed by some to be at risk for cracking if the plant is
allowed to boost its power output is doing so already, plant
officials acknowledged Friday.
Workers at the plant, which is in the midst of an outage to
refuel and get modifications needed to produce up to 20 percent
more power, replaced four welds in the steam dryer as a result
of the problem, the plant's law firm wrote in a letter to the
Public Service Board.
The repairs to the steam dryer are not expected to affect the
approximately four-week expected length of the refueling outage,
or the plant's plans to boost its power output.
The reliability of the steam dryer has been raised as an issue
by critics of the power boost, including the nuclear watchdog
group New England Coalition. Steam dryer cracking has been a
problem at other plants' of similar design to Vermont Yankee
after they have increased their power output.
Jay Thayer, Entergy Nuclear's site vice president for Vermont
Yankee, said the cracks at Vermont Yankee were not in parts of
the steam dryer that had caused problems at other plants.
"These were in non-stressed areas of the dryer that are not
exposed to heavy steam flows," Thayer said in a statement
released by the plant. "In fact, the components of the dryer
that carry most of the load - the ones that presented the
problems at other plants - are in good shape. However, in
accordance with our uprate engineering analysis, those will be
replaced with heavier steel plates."
The plant's planned increase from 540 to 650 megawatts rated
capacity has been conditionally approved by the Public Service
Board and is undergoing review by the federal Nuclear Regulatory
Commission.
A key issue raised by the New England Coalition is how thorough
an inspection the 32-year-old reactor will get before it is
allowed to increase the stresses on various plant components to
produce more power.
Coalition leaders have said that when the NRC reviews a proposal
for such a power increase, it usually does a paper review of
reports from the plant, rather than a top-to-bottom physical
inspection.
The cracks in the steam dryer were found by inspectors from
General Electric, Vermont Yankee's original designer, plant
officials said. "A Nuclear Regulatory Commission inspector has
performed a review of the inspection results," the plant said in
a press release.
Arnie Gundersen, a former nuclear industry engineer who has been
acting as an expert witness for New England Coalition in Public
Service Board hearings, said in an e-mail sent to media outlets
Friday that the discovery pointed out the need for more thorough
inspections at the plant - particularly before it gets
permission to increase its power output.
Gundersen said that during the board hearings, Vermont Yankee
and nuclear engineer William Sherman of the state Department of
Public Service "touted how thorough the VY in-service inspection
program was. Yet these cracks went undetected for years.
"So much for the theory that the plant has been well inspected
for the last 30 years," Gundersen added. "Just another reason we
need an independent inspection of VY."
Plant officials said the four three-inch weld sections were
removed and rewelded. Both locations were then stiffened with
steel plate.
Two other cracks - one of them 14 inches long - were deemed
"inconsequential." Plant officials said they would take no
immediate action to repair them but would check them during
future Vermont Yankee outages.
Providence Journal newsroom at (401) 277-7303.
© Belo Interactive Inc.
*****************************************************************
13 JOURNAL NEWS: Nuclear-fuel forum changes few minds
By ROGER WITHERSPOON
(Original publication: April 16, 2004)
PEEKSKILL — Officials from the Indian Point nuclear power plants
met last night with many of their most persistent critics to
explain controversial plans to transfer 1,275 tons of highly
radioactive fuel from water-filled pools into dry casks.
But at the end of a cordial, two-hour forum at the Crystal Bay
restaurant, a few residents were reassured, most positions were
unchanged and Entergy Nuclear Northeast is moving ahead with its
plans.
"I'm in favor of moving the spent fuel to dry cask storage," said
Assemblywoman Sandy Galef, D-Ossining, as she viewed the
company's exhibits. "The more fuel we can get out of the pools,
the better I'll feel about it."
Galef said she found the forum informative, and that the new
plans for storing the highly radioactive spent fuel should make
the facility safer.
But Kyle Rabin of the environmental group Riverkeeper was less
sanguine about the project.
"It seems that the forum raised many more questions than Entergy
was able to answer," Rabin said. "There are new hazards, such as
earthquakes, that no one seems to have considered. This system is
not as robust as they would have us believe."
The safety of the irradiated fuel in the spent-fuel pools has
been an issue in the region since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist
attacks. The uranium fuel used in reactors has a zirconium
coating that permits nuclear reactions to occur, but helps
prevent the fuel from literally burning up and being dispersed
into the atmosphere.
The spent-fuel pools house more radioactive material than the
reactors, and are in warehouse-type structures that are
considered by some to be vulnerable to terrorist attacks. Loss of
water in the pools, which are 40 feet deep, would expose the fuel
to air, allowing it to heat up and catch fire. This, in turn,
could lead to a greater, more dangerous meltdown if the fire were
not contained.
The casks that Entergy plans to use are the subject of an
investigation by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's inspector
general because of allegations of flaws in the manufacturing. The
casks have been approved for use by the regulatory agency.
"We could have used other systems to store the fuel," said David
Smith, senior quality assurance manager for Entergy, "but we have
used these before and found them to be excellent."
Entergy is using the casks to empty the spent fuel at the James
A. FitzPatrick nuclear power plant it owns near Oswego. "There
are other casks which cost less," said Smith, "but our experience
with these gives us confidence in their integrity."
The reactors at Indian Point hold about 144.7 tons of uranium
fuel arranged in 193 bundles, called fuel assemblies, that are 12
feet long. Smith said Entergy has broken the project down into
separate phases, and will begin next year loading 193 bundles
into six 180-ton steel-and-concrete casks.
These, he said, will rest on a 3-foot-thick, reinforced concrete
pad about the size of a football field. The storage pad will be
fenced in and guarded, he said, and the first phase will cost
about $30 million.
"It's a wonderful project," Smith said.
More skeptical, however, was Dr. Lynn Sykes, the Higgins
professor of Earth and environmental sciences at the
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. Sykes, an earthquake
specialist, said the Indian Point plants "were designed to
withstand an earthquake about magnitude 5.25, the largest
historic earthquake recorded in the New York area in the last 250
years."
But Sykes said there is a 6 percent chance the region will
experience a more severe earthquake. "For many people," said
Sykes, "that is a small number, and they will feel there is no
problem. But for many others, it is too large a number for a
critical facility located so close to so many people."
There are no formal hearings scheduled for the proposal. But NRC
officials will discuss it during an April 27 meeting at Crystal
Bay, when they plan a public review of inspections of the
Buchanan plants.
Send e-mail to Roger Witherspoon [rwithers@thejournalnews.com]
Home [http://www.thejournalnews.com] -Business
Copyright 2004 The Journal News, a Gannett Co
*****************************************************************
14 canadaeast: Expert says no economic advantage in overhaul of N.B. nuclear plant
[http://www.canadaeast.com
CHRIS MORRIS
FREDERICTON (CP) - Fixing up New Brunswick's aging nuclear power
plant would have no clear economic advantage over building a new,
fossil fuel power plant, a nuclear expert has told the provincial
government.
Robin Jeffrey, former chairman of Bruce Power Inc. in Ontario,
said it would cost the Maritime province at least $1.4 billion to
refurbish the Point Lepreau generating station, Atlantic Canada's
only nuclear power plant. Jeffrey said the nuclear plant offers
New Brunswick attractive advantages in terms of diversity of
energy supply and availability of fuel, especially when compared
with the uncertain fossil fuel markets.
"But nuclear will have to prove itself in competition against
other options," he told a news conference Friday.
Jeffrey was asked by the New Brunswick government to consider
whether an upgrade of Lepreau would be worthwhile for the
province's ratepayers.
But his report, released Friday, offered no clear
recommendations.
Instead, Jeffrey presented options, including inviting bids for
the construction of other types of power plants, such as natural
gas, coal and oil-fired. Those bids could be used to determine
whether improving Lepreau would be the best deal.
"It's a $1.4-billion decision," Jeffrey said, noting that
Lepreau provides 30 per cent of New Brunswick's energy needs.
"There are also major issues of energy security and diversity."
Elizabeth Weir, leader of the New Brunswick NDP and an opponent
of nuclear power, said Jeffrey's report should end the debate.
She said since there is no economic advantage to refurbishing
the plant, that should end all discussion.
"Why would we go any further with this?" she said.
But Premier Bernard Lord said there is more to consider,
including the environment.
He said keeping Lepreau on-line for another 30 years would help
the province meet its targets for reducing greenhouse gas
emissions.
"It's cleaner than burning fossil fuels," said Lord, adding his
government will make a decision on Lepreau in the fall.
NB Power, a provincial Crown utility, wants to proceed with a
massive overhaul of the nuclear plant in southern New Brunswick,
not far from Saint John.
NB Power spokesman Bill Pilkington, a director at Lepreau, said
the utility has already spent about $70 million on its
refurbishment plans, including a $40-million assessment of what
needs to be fixed.
The plant has been running since 1983 and is expected to operate
until 2010.
A refurbishment, which would involve rebuilding the guts of the
plant, would allow it to keep operating for at least another 25
years.
If approved, the overhaul would begin in 2008. The nuclear plant
would have to be shut down for at least 18 months and during that
time NB Power would have to buy roughly $300 million worth of
replacement power.
Jeffrey said the refurbishment costs would be greater if NB
Power cannot secure a deal to buy a fuel called Orimulsion from
Venezuela.
The fossil fuel, a mixture of a tar-like substance called
bitumen and water, is supposed to be burned at the newly
converted Coleson Cove plant near Saint John. But Venezuela's
state-owned oil company has backed away from the deal and NB
Power has gone to court in a bid to enforce what it believes is a
contract.
Jeffrey said the problems with Orimulsion underscore the
unreliability of fossil fuels.
"Nuclear plants are expensive to build and refurbish," he said.
"However, nuclear fuel is cheap."
Jeffrey said that if the province decides to rebuild Lepreau, NB
Power should look for a partner to help with the costs of
maintaining the plant.
As well, he said improvements need to be made to proposed
refurbishment contracts with Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. to
reduce the province's financial risk.
Copyright © 2004 Brunswick News Inc. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
15 canadaeast: Nuclear repair deal flawed
As published on page A1/A8 on April 16, 2004
Consultant says Point Lepreau contracts leave utility on hook
in wake of Orimulsion fiasco
DANIEL McHARDIE
Times &Transcript Staff
FREDERICTON - A world-renowned nuclear power expert recommends
that NB Power renegotiate all existing contracts with Atomic
Energy of Canada Ltd. before moving ahead with a billion-dollar
project to modernize the province's nuclear power plant,
according to a government source.
Among the key findings contained in a 21-page report that will be
officially released today, Robin Jeffrey, the former president of
Ontario's Bruce Power and the former chairman of British Energy,
will outline several serious shortcomings in the existing
contracts that leave NB Power picking up a disproportionate
amount of the potential financial risk.
NB Power's ability to negotiate or sign contracts has come under
intense fire recently following the drama around the Coleson Cove
refurbishment.
First there was the Orimulsion fuel fiasco with Venezuela, where
there was no signed contract for the fuel to burn at the plant.
That was followed by the costs for the fuel delivery system deal
escalating from $40 million to $242 million without the
government or NB Power board of directors knowing about it.
Jeffrey is going to call on the power corporation, which has a
new chief executive, to make sure the right management team with
the appropriate skills works on the mega-project.
Many of the findings will be familiar to those in the energy
sector as the former British Energy chief executive echoed
several of the concerns raised by the Public Utilities Board in
2002 when the province's regulator turned down the project to
refurbish the Point Lepreau nuclear generating station.
Quick facts A bit of background about Dr. Robin Jeffrey:
+ Born: 1939.
+ Education: BSc in chemical engineering from Glasgow University
in 1960; PhD in fluid mechanics from Cambridge University in
1964.
+ History: Appointed chief executive officer of Scottish Nuclear
Ltd in March 1992.
+ Named chairman of Scottish Nuclear and joint deputy chairman
of British Energy in October 1995.
+ Named president of Ontario's Bruce Power in 1997.
+ Visiting professor of engineering at Strathclyde University
and a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering.
+ Awarded the Canadian Nuclear Association's International Award
in 2002 for his contribution to nuclear power.
Jeffrey will discuss the need to renegotiate the basis of the
contracts to refurbish and retube the nuclear generator so AECL
takes on a larger financial burden if the plant is not ready on
time.
Contained in the current deal is a total limit of $15 million
between both the retubing and refurbishment contracts and the PUB
considered those damages "may not be sufficient."
There is a recommendation that NB Power negotiate for a fixed
price for the deal, which would remain constant over the years,
instead of a firm rate that gives the amount in current figures
and then adds future increases, such as inflation rates. The
latest cost estimate for refurbishing Point Lepreau is $935
million and that does not include the cost of purchasing
replacement power while the station is down.
Included in the report, the nuclear expert recommends NB Power
renegotiate a better proportion of risk and reward for the plant
performance between it and AECL.
Under the existing deal, NB Power would pay AECL bonuses if Point
Lepreau operated at more than 80 per cent capacity.
Over the life of the refurbished plant, it is expected to run at
89 per cent. In 2003-04, the nuclear facility ran at 85.6 per
cent and from 1983 to the present, its average generation
capacity was 83 per cent. In the United States, nuclear reactors
operate at levels above 90 per cent.
Also in the report are recommendations to renegotiate or
terminate other existing arrangements with AECL and to further
examine the costs of replacement power during the time Point
Lepreau is being refurbished.
The Department of Energy hired Jeffrey at a cost of roughly
$120,000 plus expenses. To guide his report, the resident of
Oxford, England met with staff at NB Power, the PUB and the local
union and toured the nuclear facility.
The Jeffrey report was even more important considering the
controversy surrounding the botched Orimulsion deal with
Venezuela, according to Energy Minister Bruce Fitch.
"Let's be realistic we want to confirm some of the numbers we are
getting," Fitch said. "When you see the situation with Coleson
Cove, I want to double-check."
The Conservative government will announce its decision on whether
to refurbish the 21-year-old nuclear plant by the fall and the
Jeffrey report will be a key component in helping make that
choice. Even though no decision has yet been reached, NB Power
has spent at least $70.6 million to get ready for the overhaul.
New Democratic Party Leader Elizabeth Weir said the idea of
rebuilding Point Lepreau wakes her up "in the middle of the night
with a real cold sweat."
She remains skeptical of the report, considering the Conservative
government hand-picked the expert to do the analysis.
"You know when you pick the consultant, you know the report you
are going to get," Weir said.
Point Lepreau, the only nuclear station in Atlantic Canada, can
generate 635 megawatts of electricity and it has provided 30 per
cent of the power used in New Brunswick since it came on line in
1983. Critics of the nuclear station have also routinely pointed
out that when it opened in 1983, it was $1 billion over the
original budget of roughly $400 million.
By refurbishing the plant, NB Power would extend the life of the
facility by as much as 30 years.
Originally, the nuclear facility was going to be shut down for
refurbishing in 2006, but NB Power is saving $150 million in
various costs by delaying the project until 2008. The utility was
able to push back the refurbishment phase after learning the
facility was in better condition than once thought.
Copyright © 2004 Brunswick News Inc. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
16 courier-journal: Poet reflects on Chernobyl and horrors still too vivid
[http://www.courier-journal.com
Friday, April 16, 2004
Byron Crawford
Leonid Dayen, a masterful wordsmith, still searches after 18
years for adequate words to describe the Chernobyl catastrophe.
Dayen, who is now 74 and a U.S. citizen living in Louisville, has
published 20 books of poetry and prose in Russian and Ukrainian,
and he wrote the 1988 narrative "Chernobyl Bitter Grass." He
worked 42 years as a journalist in the former Soviet Union, and
many years for the newspaper Democratic Ukraine in Kiev, from
which he was dispatched to cover the Chernobyl nuclear reactor
meltdown on April26, 1986.
"Chernobyl, in my view and in my mind, doesn't have the age; the
first anniversary or the 18th anniversary or in 2086, the 100th
anniversary the memory will be
BY BYRON CRAWFORD, THE C-J "Chernobyl for me was, is and will be
the topic of pain. ... Not only for me, but a lesson for
humanity," Leonid Dayen said.
the same," Dayen said. "I'm not sure in what time it will
continue, not only in memory but in reality. The influence of
radiation was very, very deep, and we don't know what will be the
future."
Dayen, who was aboard a helicopter that circled at low level over
the burned-out reactor soon after the accident, was hospitalized
with radiation poisoning for one month, temporarily lost sight in
one eye and may have permanently damaged his immune system.
"THE FIREFIGHTERS who worked against the fire died during two
weeks in May from May 9th to May 26th and there is a statistic
that probably 4million people in some areas of Ukraine, Belarus
and Russia were victims in bigger or smaller levels, but
thousands of people died," Dayen said.
He described as a "dead zone" the 30-kilometer radius of extreme
contamination, from which most cities and settlements had been
abandoned by their entire populations of hundreds of thousands.
But by some estimates as many as 3million people still live in
contaminated areas. Dayen laments that censorship of many stories
he wrote about the Chernobyl catastrophe prevented critical
information from reaching those directly affected.
"Censorship threw out not only sentences, not only some
paragraphs, but sometimes the pages, too," he said. "Chernobyl
for me was, is and will be the topic of pain. Physical pain in my
life, and moral, human pain not only for me, but a lesson for
humanity."
DAYEN'S WIFE, Anna, a teacher, and his 4-year-old grandson, Max
Chopovsky and his parents, were evacuated from Kiev, about 90
miles from Chernobyl, after the disaster. The families moved to
Louisville in 1994.
Max, who is now 21 and a senior at Miami University of Ohio,
recently translated Leonid Dayen's latest booklet of poems,
"Voice of the Soul," (Richard's Printery) into the first English
publication of his poetry. Many of his poems, while not
specifically about the Chernobyl tragedy, are tinted by Dayen's
continuing sorrow for his homeland. And his poem "Zones" compares
the disasters visited upon Chernobyl and Manhattan.
"... Unforgiving connections of tragedy
Cruelly keep all the continents tied.
On Kreschatik (Kiev's main street) as well as on Wall Street
All the grief will it ever subside?"
Dayen's grandson said he spent about two years editing and
translating the more than 30 poems from Russian to English for
"Voice of the Soul."
"The reason it took me so long was because I tried to keep three
things constant within the poetry the rhyme, the meaning and the
meter, and that was very difficult to do," Max Chopovsky said.
"The challenge lay not in literally translating the poetry, but
in preserving its true meaning and the heart originally put into
it."
"Indulge our earth, oh kindness, grace us all
Protect our hearts from malice, from aggression
So we can all from magic pages read
The lines that speak of happiness and passion."
from Dayen's "Indulge."
Byron Crawford's column appears on the Metro page Sundays,
Wednesdays and Fridays. You can reach him at (502) 582-4791 or
e-mail him at bcrawford@courier-journal.com.
[bcrawford@courier-journal.com.] You can also read his columns at
www.courier-journal.com. [http://www.courier-journal.com.]
Copyright 2004 The Courier-Journal.
*****************************************************************
17 C Enquirer: Perry nuclear power plant flagged for minor violations
[http://www.cincinnati.com]
ENQUIRER [http://www.enquirer.com] | POST
Friday, April 16, 2004
The Associated Press
PAINESVILLE, Ohio - First-Energy Corp.'s Perry nuclear power
plant operated safely throughout most of last year, but some
minor problems warrant a closer look from federal regulators, the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission said.
In its annual assessment of Perry's operations, the NRC cited
First Energy for three violations, which the commission described
as having "low to moderate safety significance."
There were another 18 "noncited" minor violations for failing to
follow either federal rules or plant procedures in performing
routine maintenance.
The NRC said that it's sending two teams of inspectors to follow
up on the problems. One violation said the reactor's operators
failed to quickly alert the community when radioactive gas from a
damaged spent fuel rod escaped into a building last April.
Operators have 15 minutes but took nearly an hour to declare the
alert, said Perry plant spokesman Joe Mosbrook.
"Our operators were concentrating on evacuating the building," he
said, "as a precautionary measure."
When they did issue the alert, the potential danger was over, and
the alert was withdrawn, he said. No radioactive gas escaped into
the environment.
Operators have had more training for emergencies, and procedures
have been changed to more clearly define who has the
responsibility to communicate emergency plans, Mosbrook said.
The second citation was for an emergency cooling pump that failed
during routine testing last September. The pump had been rebuilt
in 1997 and was put back together incorrectly, the NRC
determined.
The third citation involved a high-pressure reactor core spray
pump that failed to start during a routine check in October 2002
because plant workers had not followed written procedures while
doing periodic maintenance beginning in 1994.
Employees also had improperly aligned circuit breakers in the
pump's switch. That led to the fouling of the electrical
connection.
[Cincinnati.Com]
*****************************************************************
18 CBC News: Rebuilding NB nuclear plant '$1.4 billion question'
[http://www.cbc.ca/news/]
Last Updated Fri, 16 Apr 2004 14:57:12
FREDERICTON - Refurbishing Atlantic Canada's only nuclear plant
would offer no clear advantage over building a new fossil
fuel-burning plant, according to a report released on Friday.
Power plant at Point Lepreau, N.B.
Dr. Robin Jeffrey, former chairman of British Energy, said in his
report the cost of refurbishing the Point Lepreau, New Brunswick
facility would be about $1.36 billion, not $935 million as NB
Power has estimated.
NB Power, the provincial operator, wants to overhaul the
21-year-old plant that provides about 30 per cent of New
Brunswick's power.
The utility has already spent about $70 million on the
refurbishment, including $40 million for an assessment on what
needs to be done.
Jeffrey, who makes no clear recommendation whether to refurbish
or not, said it was, "a $1.4 billion decision."
He noted that a nuclear plant offered some advantages including
better energy diversity and security, but added that refurbishing
the facility should be compared with the cost of other options.
The province should seek competitive bids for building natural
gas, coal and oil-fired plants, the report said.
According to the report, the province should also consider
finding a partner with which to share the cost of operating and
maintaining the power station.
Opposition politicians seized on the report and demanded the
government abandon refurbishment plans.
But Bernard Lord, the Conservative provincial premier, said
keeping the plant in production for another 30 years could help
New Brunswick reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Lord said his government would decide what to do in the fall,
reported The Canadian Press.
The plant, which went online in 1983 at a cost $1 billion higher
than planned, is slated to operate until 2010. A refurbishment,
intended to prolong its life by at least 25 years, would begin in
2008.
The process would involve shutting down Point Lepreau for at
least 18 months and buying about $300 million worth of
replacement power.
Written by CBC News Online staff [http://cbc.ca/bios.html]
Copyright © CBC 2004
*****************************************************************
19 Sun Herald: Rep. Paul pushes nuclear institute
www.sun-herald.com
Fri, April 16, 2004
School would leave legacy for UF
TALLAHASSEE -- If a legislative committee's bill to
establish an Institute for Nuclear Safety at the University of
Florida passes, it would allow state Rep. Jerry Paul
[paul.jerry@myfloridahouse.com] , R-Port Charlotte, to leave
behind a legacy for his alma mater.
But Paul -- a member of the House Coordinating Committee
on Public Security -- said Senate Committee Bill 1562 "should
stand on its own merits."
Paul earned a graduate degree in nuclear engineering from
UF in the early 1980s and worked in a Georgia power plant before
obtaining his law degree from Stetson University.
Paul has recently been nominated to serve as a deputy
director in a new federal agency for nuclear defense, once his
appointment is approved by the U.S. Senate.
So, the creation of a nuclear institute at his former
school would be an honor.
Paul said he thanks Sen. Paula Dockery, R-Lakeland, for
sponsoring the bill "for me." Dockery chairs the Senate Committee
on Home Defense, Public Security and Ports. The committee later
adopted the bill as its own.
Paul said on Wednesday that his federal appointment has
been delayed by a "bottleneck" of appointees waiting to be
scheduled for U.S. Senate endorsement hearings.
However, he said White House officials along with Florida
senators were lobbying Senate leaders to allow Paul to bypass the
bottleneck, apparently in the interest of national security. If
the effort proves successful, Paul said he could be interviewed
by the Senate as soon as the end of this month.
The bill creates a nuclear security institute within UF's
Department of Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences. The
institute would be funded by grants from federal, state and local
governments and private entities.
The institute would be designed to serve as a national
center for research and development of projects to advance the
nation's nuclear detection capabilities, Paul said.
Paul did not elaborate on the applications of the
research. However, he has supported expenditures to fund
radiological devices that are used to scan cargo at Florida ports
during previous budget sessions.
His radiological education has also been tapped to advise
top state security officials on security concerns at Florida
nuclear power plants.
UF is the appropriate university to house the school
based on its own merits, Paul said. The university already has
one of the best nuclear engineering schools in the nation, he
said. It's the only such school in the Southeast.
"There is a real need for an academic institution to
become a center for nuclear detection research," Paul said.
Paul's last bills as a lawmaker also include one to
establish a renewable energy institute to be housed at an unnamed
university. However, with just three weeks left in the 2004
session, that bill got "temporarily passed" during a House
Committee on State Administration hearing on Wednesday.
That bill must be approved by that committee and two
others before committee meetings end this week in order to get to
the floor, unless special exceptions are made by the House
speaker.
Paul has also sponsored a bill to relieve veterinarians
of onerous regulations governing the writing of prescription
medications for animals. The regulations were inadvertently
beefed up on veterinarians by a bill last year intended to hold
medical doctors more accountable for their prescriptions, Paul
said.
That bill appears destined for passage, Paul said.
By GREG MARTIN
Staff Writer
BORDER=0> [http://www.sunline.net] © 2004 All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
20 NRC: NRC to Meet with Exelon Generation Co. to Discuss Performance of Byron Nuclear
Plant
News Release - Region III - 2004-02
U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Office of Public Affairs, Region III
No. III-04-024 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 Exelon Generation Company on Wednesday, April
21, to discuss the results of the agencys assessment of safety
performance at the Byron Nuclear Power Station during 2003. The
facility, which has two reactor units, is located near Byron,
Illinois.
The meeting will be held at 1 p.m. at the Jarrett Prairie Center
in the Byron Forest Preserve, 7993 North River Road, Byron. 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,
and plant performance does not require additional inspections
beyond the normal inspection program. Routine inspections are
performed by the two resident inspectors assigned to the plant
and by inspection specialists from the NRCs Region III office
in Lisle, Illinois.
A March 4 letter from the NRC to Exelon officials addresses the
performance of the plant during 2003 and will serve as the basis
for the meeting discussion. It is available online at:
http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/LETTERS/byro_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 each
Byron unit are available on the NRC web site at:
(Byron 1)
http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/BYRO1/byro1_chart.html
and (Byron 2)
http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/BYRO2/byro2_chart.html.
Last revised Thursday, April 15, 2004
*****************************************************************
21 CBC - New Brunswick: NB Power needs to do more homework - expert
www.cbc.ca
WebPosted Apr 16 2004 12:41 PM EDT
FREDERICTON — A nuclear energy expert hired by the provincial
government says refurbishment of New Brunswick's aging Point
Lepreau offers no clear economic advantage over building a new
gas-fired plant.
In a report released Friday, Dr. Robin Jeffrey says extending
the life of the Point Lepreau facility would cost about $1.4
billion not the $935 million NB Power has been estimating.
+ Link: Point Lepreau Refurbishment Review
[http://www.gnb.ca/0085/docs/lepreau/index-e.asp] Jeffrey, the
former chairman of Bruce Power in Ontario and chairman of British
Energy, is critical of NB Power's efforts to hire Atomic Energy
of Canada Ltd. to do the work. He says the contracts aren't very
competitive and NB Power is taking on more than its share of the
risks. Jeffrey says NB Power needs to go back to the table and
renegotiate those deals
Given the costs, he says, it's not clear that it makes economic
sense to extend the life of the Point Lepreau nuclear power
plant. "What I've said in the report is that there aren't hard
facts available at this point in time." Jeffrey points out that
building a gas-powered plant to generate the same amount of
energy may be the better way to go. But he cautions that NB Power
doesn't really know those costs because it hasn't ever gone out
to get bids on supplying that power.
In his report, Jeffrey does say that economics isn't the only
consideration. He says Lepreau adds $70 million to the Saint John
economy and provides well-paying high-skilled jobs. He also
emphasizes that nuclear power plants don't produce greenhouse
gases and that means environmental benefits.
"By operating Lepreau rather than burning coal that saves four
million tonnes of CO2 being dumped into the atmosphere every
year," said Jeffrey.
In conclusion, Jeffery recommends that the provincial government
weigh the benefits against the costs.
Energy Minister Bruce Fitch says he'll be reviewing the report
and meeting with the board of directors at NB Power.
"There is a great deal of new information for government to
consider from Dr. Jeffrey's report," Fitch said. "It provides
various scenarios and an in-depth analysis that government must
consider before deciding whether or not to proceed with this
major project. Our main priority continues to be the protection
of taxpayers and ratepayers of New Brunswick." Fitch says the
government will make a decision on refurbishment before the end
of the year.
+ Link: New Brunswick government's news release
[http://www.gnb.ca/cnb/news/ene/2004e0444en.htm]
Meanwhile, NB Power President David Hay accepted Jeffrey's
suggestion that NB Power should renegotiate its contracts with
AECL. And Hay agreed that more information is needed for the
government to make a decision on refurbishing Point Lepreau.
Copyright © CBC 2004
'What I've said in the report is that there aren't hard facts
available at this point in time,' – Robin Jeffrey, author of
Point Lepreau report
*****************************************************************
22 NRC: NRC Announces Opportunity for Hearing on Application to Renew Operating Licenses for Point
Beach Nuclear Plant Units 1 and 2
News Release - 2004-04
U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Office of Public Affairs Telephone: 301/415-8200
Washington, DC 20555-0001 E-mail: opa@nrc.gov
No. 04-042 April 16, 2004
opportunity to request a hearing on an application from Nuclear
Management Company, LLC, to renew the operating licenses for
Units 1 and 2 of the Point Beach nuclear power plant for an
additional 20 years.
The Point Beach plant is located near Two Rivers, Wisconsin. The
current operating licenses for Units 1 and 2 expire on October
5, 2010, and March 8, 2013, respectively.
NRC staff have determined that Nuclear Management Company has
submitted sufficient information for the agency to formally
"docket," or file, the application. Docketing the application
does not preclude requesting additional information as the
review proceeds, nor does it indicate whether the Commission
will grant or deny the application.
A notice of NRCs determination and the opportunity to request a
hearing was published in the Federal Register on April 13. The
deadline to request a hearing is June 14. By that date,
petitions must be filed by anyone whose interest may be affected
by the license renewal and who wishes to participate as a party
in the proceeding. A request for a hearing and a petition for
leave to intervene must be filed with the Secretary of the
Commission, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, D.C.
20555-0001, Attention: Rulemaking and Adjudications Staff. They
may also be submitted by fax to 301-415-1101, or e-mail to
hearingdocket@nrc.gov [hearingdocket@nrc.gov] , or delivered to
the NRC Public Document Room at 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville,
Maryland.
Copies of petitions should also be sent to:
-- Office of the General Counsel, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, or by fax, 301-415-3725,
or e-mail, OGCMailCenter@nrc.gov [OGCMailCenter@nrc.gov] ; and
-- Mr. David R. Lewis, Esq., Shaw Pittman, 2300 N Street, NW,
Washington, DC 20037 (attorney for the licensee).
Additional information about the opportunity for a hearing may
be found in the Federal Register notice. A copy of the license
renewal application is available on the NRC web site at this
address:
http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/licensing/renewal/applicati
ons/point-beach.html. The document is also available for
inspection at the NRCs Public Document Room in Rockville,
Maryland, and at the Lester Public Library, 1001 Adams Street,
Two Rivers, Wisconsin, 54241.
For more information, contact Michael J. Morgan, License Renewal
Project Manager, Division of Regulatory Improvement Programs,
Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission, Mail Stop 011-F1, Washington, DC 20555-0001;
telephone 301-415-2232.
Last revised Friday, April 16, 2004
*****************************************************************
23 NRC: Review and Status of Surface and Volumetric Survey Design and
FR Doc 04-8634
[Federal Register: April 16, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 74)]
[Notices] [Page 20651-20652] From the Federal Register Online via
GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr16ap04-101]
Analysis Using Spatial Analysis and Decision Assistance (SADA)
Methods; Public Workshop AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Notice of workshop.
SUMMARY: The NRC will hold a public workshop in Rockville,
Maryland, to provide the NRC staff and the public with an
overview of progress on the development of a new computational
tool for use in the evaluation of sites with subsurface
contamination. Spatial Analysis and Decision Assistance (SADA) is
a freeware software program that is being supported jointly by
several Federal Agencies. SADA utilizes automated surveying
designs and analytical tools to enhance the demonstration of
compliance with criteria for volumetric contaminants and to test
and evaluate alternative survey designs. Distributions and total
contaminant inventories are sometimes required to assist in
determining risk and/or compliance.
Presenters at the workshop will provide information on federally-
sponsored survey design and analytical approaches under
development for volumetric assessments. The emphasis
[[Page 20652]] of the workshop will focus on the Multi-Agency
Radiation Survey & Site Investigation Manual (MARSSIM) evolution
into Geostatistical and Bayesian approaches to surficial and, in
particular, volumetric contamination characterization and
analysis. This information will be useful to the NRC in
developing realistic guidance for implementations requiring
sub-surface or volumetric knowledge. All interested licensees and
members of the public are invited to attend this workshop.
DATES: The workshop will be held on May 4th and 5th, 2004 from 8
a.m. to about 5 p.m. Registration is requested at
http://www.tiem.utk.edu/-sada/
[http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leaving
FR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www.tiem.utk.edu/-sada/] to help
plan for security issues and determine how many CD copies of the
Beta SADA software will have to be prepared for distribution.
ADDRESSES: The public workshop will be held in the NRC auditorium
at Two White Flint North, 11545 Rockville Pike, Rockville,
Maryland.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Designated Federal Official:
Cheryl A. Trottier (301) 415-6232. General Information: George E.
Powers, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research, U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555, telephone (301)
415-6212, fax (301) 415-5385, e- mail: GEP@NRC.GOV [GEP@NRC.GOV]
. The workshop program can be viewed at
http://www.tiem.utk.edu/-sada/
[http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leaving
FR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www.tiem.utk.edu/-sada/] .
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This workshop is one of a series of
interactions with the Agreement States, licensees, and the public
to inform and gather suggestions and ideas for improving
performance based protocols for conducting surveys that must
consider volumetric geometries. Techniques that apply Bayesian
and geostatistical methods are showing promise in reducing the
resources required to evaluate volumetric contamination while
increasing the accuracy and precision of the results. Therefore,
the NRC staff is considering expanding and extending the
performance guidance for conducting volumetric surveys by
applying statistics such as Bayesian and geostatistical analysis
that may be more appropriate for use in assessments. The workshop
will include brief formal presentations by invited speakers from
DOE national laboratories, EPA and other Federal Agencies. These
presentations will address survey techniques that can be applied
up to the initiation of volumetric sampling and analysis.
Question and answer periods will be provided.
Visitor parking around the NRC building is limited; however, the
workshop site is located adjacent to the White Flint Station on
the Metro Red Line. Seating for the public will be on a
first-come, first- served basis.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland this 12th day of April, 2004.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Cheryl A. Trottier, Chief, Radiation Protection and Health
Effects Branch, Division of Regulatory Applications, Office of
Nuclear Regulatory Research.
[FR Doc. 04-8634 Filed 4-15-04; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P
*****************************************************************
24 BBC: Fine over missing
Last Updated: Friday, 16 April, 2004
[The Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead ]
The missing rod was never found
A hospital trust has been fined £45,000 after it lost a
radioactive substance and took nearly three months to notice.
The Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead, north-west London, mislaid
a caesium 137 rod after it was used to treat a cancer patient in
March 2001.
On Friday, the hospital trust pleaded guilty to seven offences
under the Radioactive Substances Act and health and safety at
work legislation.
It was ordered to pay the fine and £45,619 legal costs.
The rod, which was never found, was the size of a pen tip and
used to burn away malignant cancer cells.
It was thought to have been returned to a locked store, but
instead it was thrown out with the clinical waste.
A spokesman for the Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust said it had
since reviewed its procedures for handling such substances.
He added: "The source would have to be in close contact with a
person's body for many hours to pose any risk."
The case, at City of London Magistrates' Court, was brought by
the Health and Safety Executive and the Environment Agency.
They said there were "serious deficiencies" in the trust's
handling and storage of the substance and weaknesses in staff
training and procedures.
Environment Agency officer Adrian Bush said the case highlighted
the trust's failure to protect its own staff.
He added: "Those entrusted with radioactive material have a great
responsibility to manage and dispose of such potentially harmful
substances appropriately."
*****************************************************************
25 Las Vegas SUN: Gun-sight maker facing nuke fine
By Mary Manning
A Las Vegas-based gun-sight manufacturer is facing a $6,000 fine
by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for distributing products
containing radioactive materials that the NRC said it was not
licensed to send.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission completed its inspection in
October 2003 of 21st Century Technologies Inc. after discovering
shipments of gun sights that glow in the dark and metal inserts
containing radioactive tritium.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's staff charged the company
with "willful" violations of the radiation rules and gave the
company either 30 days to pay the fine or protest it.
However, 21st Century officials said that the company had made
an error, or misinterpreted or misunderstood its NRC license
during a meeting in January.
The gun sights that 21st Century shipped were not part of the
nine types included in the company's NRC license, according to
Bruce Mallett, administrator of the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission's Arlington, Texas office.
By distributing the unapproved products, 21st Century
"circumvented the regulatory processes that are designed to
assure the acceptability of products distributed to members of
the public," Mallett said in a letter sent to the company.
Tritium occurs both naturally and in man-made material.
Tritium's radioactive half-life is 12 years, meaning half of the
radiation remains after 12 years.
The NRC has proposed a $6,000 civil penalty against 21st
Century for two violations because there have been problems in
the past.
In May 1996 a $7,500 fine was proposed against Innovative
Weaponry, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of 21st Century
Technologies for similar violations.
That fine was later reduced to $2,500 after the company
requested mitigation.
*****************************************************************
26 online.ie: Residents at centre of uranium scare to undergo further tests
online.ie 2004-04-16 08:10:05+01
Almost 50 people from the Baltinglass area of Co Wicklow who were
screened following the discovery of uranium in their drinking
water last year have reportedly been recalled for further tests.
Reports this morning said the recall was ordered after a small
number of those screened last year were found to have a
"relatively unusual renal disease".
The reports said the additional tests were being carried out in
an attempt to discover if the initial results were accurate and
whether there was any link between the renal disease and the
presence of uranium in the drinking water.
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on online.ie enquiry]
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27 NRC: Request To Amend a License To Import Radioactive Waste
FR Doc 04-8635
[Federal Register: April 16, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 74)]
[Notices] [Page 20651] From the Federal Register Online via GPO
Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr16ap04-100]
Pursuant to 10 CFR 110.70(C) ``Public notice of receipt of an
application,'' please take notice that the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission has received the following request to amend an import
license. Copies of the request are available electronically
through ADAMS and can be accessed through the Public Electronic
Reading Room (PERR) link http://www.nrc.gov/NRC/ADAMS/index.html
[http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leaving
FR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www.nrc.gov/NRC/ADAMS/index.html]
at the NRC Homepage.
A request for a hearing or petition for leave to intervene may be
filed within 30 days after publication of this notice in the
Federal Register. Any request for hearing or petition for leave
to intervene shall be served by the requestor or petitioner upon
the applicant, the Office of the General Counsel, U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555; the Secretary, U.S.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555; and the
Executive Secretary, U.S. Department of State, Washington, DC
20520.
The information concerning this amendment request follows.
NRC Import License Amendment Application
Date received Description of material Name of applicant date of
application number/
----------------------------------------------- End use
Country of origin application docket number
Material type Total qty
-----------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------- Diversified Scientific Services, March
25, 2004, IW012/ Class A radioactive 378,000 kg mixed Amend
to: (1) Canada Inc., March 18, 2004. 01, 11005322.
mixed waste in waste containing increase quantity
of
various forms 1,200 curies material; and (2)
including solids, tritium, carbon-14, extend expiration
semi-solids, and mixed fission date to 3/31/2006.
liquids. product
radionuclides and
other contaminants.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Dated this 7th day of April 2004 at Rockville, Maryland.
Edward T. Baker, Deputy Director, Office of International
Programs.
[FR Doc. 04-8635 Filed 4-15-04; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P
*****************************************************************
28 Salt Lake Tribune: Study up on waste
April 16, 2004
I recently attended a gubernatorial debate in Utah. It was
very interesting how uninformed they were. that has been a big
issue here in Utah. They were asked, if they were elected
governor, would they approve requests to allow class B &C
radioactive waste into the state of Utah. It was very surprising
how few of the candidates knew anything about this. I would think
that, as gubernatorial candidates, they should be informed about
the issues affecting Utah.
Nuclear waste has continued to affect Utahns over the past
few years and was a big issue on Capitol Hill in this last
legislative session. I think that nuclear waste is something that
these gubernatorial candidates should know something about. It
would help them in their campaigns for the governorship.
Ashley Trujillo
Salt Lake City
Copyright Salt Lake City Tribune
*****************************************************************
29 Las Vegas SUN: Editorial: State right in opposing burial plan
LAS VEGAS SUN
On a 1,050-acre site in Fernald, Ohio, 18 miles northwest of
Cincinnati, a uranium refinery operated from 1951 to 1989. Its
finished product was used by the federal government to make
nuclear weapons. In its 38 years of operation, the refinery
managed to heavily contaminate every acre of its grounds and, to
lesser extent, an area of 11 square miles. Since the refinery
closed, a massive cleanup managed by the Energy Department has
been under way. Congress ordered that all of the plant's
high-level radioactive material be removed to secure sites that
are under the control of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Impatient to finish the operation, which has been costing more
than $260 million a year, the Energy Department concocted a plan
to reclassify a large portion of the waste as low level and ship
it to the Nevada Test Site.
We support the fight being waged by Nevada Attorney General
Brian Sandoval to stop this plan, which could be put into motion
by as early as next month if he's not successful. Sandoval
correctly points out that the plan violates the Energy
Department's own rules for disposing of the waste, in addition
to violating federal law. The attorney general has given the
Energy Department an ultimatum -- either notify Nevada by April
30 that the plan is off, or the state will seek "prompt judicial
redress" in federal court.
If the Energy Department does not back off, we believe Nevada
will have an unbeatable case -- providing there is any justice
in the hostile world of nuclear waste disposal. The Nevada Test
Site is not under the control of the NRC, which would seem to
demolish the plan on its face. Also, the waste that the Energy
Department now considers "low level" sits in three concrete
storage silos. According to the Fernald Citizens Advisory Board,
a group that documents information about the site for the public
and whose voting members are area residents, the waste in the
silos contain "the highest level of radioactivity at Fernald."
Even more outrageous is the quantity of the waste in the silos
-- 153 million pounds. Energy Department rules give it the
authority to reclassify small amounts of waste. Certainly, 153
million pounds cannot be considered a "small amount."
For years Nevada has, in good faith, allowed quantities of
low-level waste from Fernald to be secured at the Test Site. But
from its fight against Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las
Vegas where the Energy Department plans to bury the nation's
high-level waste, Nevada has learned the department's unwritten
credo: No amount of good faith will go unpunished. We hope the
courts, if the state is forced to go there, will recognize that
pattern too.
*****************************************************************
30 RGJ: Energy Department to ship radioactive waste to state
[http://www.rgj.com/]
Reno Gazette-Journal] [online@rgj.com]
ASSOCIATED PRESS 4/16/2004 12:07 am
CINCINNATI — The Energy Department said Thursday it will proceed
with plans to ship radioactive wastes to Nevada from a southwest
Ohio nuclear cleanup site despite Nevada’s threat to go to court
to stop the shipments.
“They’re protesting our legal right to transport low-level
defense waste,” Energy Department spokesman Joe Davis said from
Washington. “We’ve got a plan in place. We’re going to go forward
with it.”
The Energy Department plans to truck wastes that it says are the
most dangerous remaining at the former Fernald uranium-processing
plant to its Nevada Test Site, a vast desert tract 65 miles north
of Las Vegas the government uses for disposal of low-level
radioactive wastes.
Other wastes from Fernald, about 18 miles northwest of
Cincinnati, have been shipped for years to the Nevada site, which
was used for 40 years for underground testing of nuclear weapons.
The shipments of uranium ore sludge residue and powdery, metallic
production wastes from three half-century-old concrete silos are
to begin this year and continue into 2006.
Fernald processed uranium metal from 1951 until 1989 for use in
government reactors elsewhere to produce nuclear weapons.
An earlier plan to ship the Fernald waste to the privately
operated Envirocare disposal facility near Clive, Utah, was
shelved because of opposition there.
Nevada officials say that under federal environmental law, the
Fernald silo waste cannot be disposed of at the Nevada Test Site
because it is more radioactive than low-level waste and is mixed
with hazardous wastes.
Nevada officials say that requires a more secure disposal site,
with lined pits to hold it.
“This material is singularly dangerous. It’s highly radioactive,
combined with various constituents that are hazardous
waste-related,” Marta Adams, a senior deputy attorney general for
Nevada, said Thursday. “I’m very sympathetic with the people of
Ohio who want to get rid of it. But we’re not the dumping ground
for the whole country.”
In a letter faxed Tuesday to the Energy Department in Washington,
Nevada Attorney General Brian Sandoval said he intends to sue in
federal court in Nevada to stop the Fernald shipments unless the
government informs him by April 30 that it will voluntarily stop
them.
“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 wrote. “DOE’s plan is reckless and unsafe, and it
flagrantly violates the law.”
A lawsuit could delay the Fernald cleanup, which has been under
way for more than a decade and has cost about $4 billion.
Nevada officials said the Energy Department is trying to slip in
the wastes at the test site to avoid missing a deadline worked
out with federal and Ohio environmental regulators to complete
the Fernald cleanup by 2006.
The Energy Department said in 1994, in a formal document called a
“record of decision,” that it had identified the Nevada Test Site
as the preferred disposal site for the Fernald waste, Davis said.
The government didn’t hear complaints at that time, he said.
Nevada already is battling the government in federal court over
Washington’s plan to permanently store 77,000 tons of highly
radioactive spent reactor fuel from 31 states and waste from the
government’s nuclear weapons program at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles
northwest of Las Vegas. The Energy Department wants to open that
dump in 2010.
Lisa Crawford, leader of a Fernald neighbors’ group that monitors
the government’s cleanup, said she wants the Energy Department to
have unquestioned plans for disposing of the waste before
removing it from the concrete silos.
The government should resolve Nevada’s concern, she said
Thursday.
“I blame the Energy Department. It’s their fault,” said Crawford,
president of Fernald Residents for Environmental Safety and
Health. “You can’t thumb your nose at the states.”
Copyright Reno Gazette-Journal, a [http://www.gannett.com]
*****************************************************************
31 CNW Telbec: Environment Minister announces decision on Cluff Lake Uranium mine decommissioning
[Le pouvior d'être entendu]
16 avril 2004 Recherche
communication de CNW Telbec
OTTAWA, April 15 /CNW/ - The Honourable David Anderson,
Minister of the Environment, today announced that the
decommissioning of the Cluff Lake Uranium Mine and Mill facility
in Saskatchewan does not require further assessment by a review
panel or mediator under the Canadian Environmental Assessment
Act. The Minister referred the project, proposed by COGEMA
Resources Inc., back to the federal responsible authority, the
Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC), for appropriate
action.
The Minister has determined that the project is not likely to
cause significant adverse environmental effects with the
implementation of the mitigation measures outlined in the
comprehensive study report. The Minister based his decision on:
- the comprehensive study report, including the
conclusions and recommendations, submitted by the CNSC;
- public comments received during the 30-day consultation
period, and the Commission's response to the comments;
- the implementation of mitigation measures;
- the implementation of a follow-up program.
The Cluff Lake Uranium Mine and Mill facility is located in
Saskatchewan, 75 km south of Lake Athabasca and 15 km east of the
provincial border with Alberta. The tailings management facility
will be covered in place. One open pit will be backfilled and two
others will be flooded. The remaining waste rock piles will be
covered. Long-term monitoring of the decommissioned facility will
follow.
The Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency administers the
federal environmental assessment process, which identifies the
environmental effects of proposed projects and measures to
address those effects, in support of sustainable development.
For further information: Media may contact: Elise Dhaussy, Senior
Communications Advisor, Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency,
Tel.: (613) 957-0406, Fax: (613) 957-0946, E-mail:
elise.dhaussy@ceaa-acee.gc.ca
CANADIAN ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT AGENCY - Renseignements sur cet
organisme
[http://sso.newswire.ca/fr/login.cgi?source=2-1&site=1]
*****************************************************************
32 Pahrump Valley Times: A monthly pilgrimage (Yucca and U.S. Ecology)
April 16, 2004
MARK WAITE MORE COLUMNS
The first Monday of the month is when it's time to take that
monthly political pilgrimage to the Nye County seat in Tonopah,
where commissioners are required by law to meet on the first
Tuesday.
It's not the most scenic drive, like a cruise down Highway 1
along Big Sur, Calif., or the Blue Ridge Parkway in the
Appalachians. Instead it's more like a chance to think about
things while driving out in the wide-open spaces, keeping track
of various milestones along the way.
A dust devil can be seen rising up from a dry lakebed in Crystal
while driving over Johnnie Summit, which affords the first view
of the desolation ahead.
The sign at the turnoff on U.S. Highway 95 says it's still 138
miles to Tonopah. A few hills later and the billboard at Lathrop
Wells comes into view, "Yucca Mountain Travel Center: Last
Service Before Area 51." The turnoff to Yucca Mountain is at
Lathrop Wells. I've often wondered why there's no sign.
Another interesting sight is the rust-colored, flattop mountain
on the right side near Beatty that stands out like a sore thumb.
It's the Cind-R-Lite Cinder Cone Mine. To the left of the
highway, the setting sun leaves a three-dimensional shadow on
parts of the Amargosa Valley sand dunes in the distance.
A little closer to Beatty is the entrance to U.S. Ecology, a
waste disposal site for some pretty nasty stuff, I'm told. Across
from U.S. Ecology a dirt road travels east into a canyon in the
desert mountains, leading me to wonder: what's up there? Is there
a secret military base over that ridge? Is there aliens camped
out up there?
Ruins of a few buildings dot the landscape just before the curve
through the mountains into Beatty. I can see why that area is
called Oasis Valley, with wetlands lining the Amargosa River. A
quick check from the highway and there actually is water flowing
under the bridge this time.
Tractor-trailer trucks are parked in front of the Burro Inn,
near a sign that boasts, "Last good food for 500 miles." I wonder
how the palm trees can survive the winter in front of the
Stagecoach Casino.
A few miles north and I pass Angel's Ladies Brothel with the
plane crash in front. Now, there is a for sale sign advertising
the availability of 48 acres and a brothel. I see there's also a
for sale sign for Bailey's Hot Springs which includes 90 acres.
Two crosses sit next to a bridge, Ethan and Kathy perished here.
Another sign advertises the Best Western High Desert Inn, still
another 92 miles away in Tonopah.
Street signs are named Pioneer Road, Boiling Pot Road, Oleo Road
and Fleur de Lis Road.
I come across Springdale, the halfway point, and wonder if
anyone will ever clean up the spread of junk cars and appliances.
A small hill leads to an almost deserted valley. I'm now reduced
to reading mile markers; at Nye County MM 81 a road leads east
into the mountains where this time there's a security guard
shack. On the west side of the highway is a dry lakebed that
sometimes holds water, but at this moment is no more than mud.
Another small hill leads into yet another valley. Now there's a
few signs of life: a deserted, rusted-out gas station at mile
marker 91, a tractor-trailer parked in front of an RV park
advertising $7 full hook-ups; an occupied mobile home with tires
holding the metal roof down; and the Shady Lady Ranch bordello.
It occurred to me about the only thing between Beatty and
Goldfield was the brothels.
A pair of mesas signals another hill, beyond which is Esmeralda
County. The Cottontail Ranch is just past the county line. I
wonder if there are any familiar vehicles parked outside?
I'm surprised to find there's no trucks parked along the road at
Goldfield Summit.
By now it's dark and Goldfield has some antique streetlights on
the block where the county courthouse and fire station sit. There
was a spell when there were no businesses open on the main street
through Goldfield, now there's gas available at Goldfield Fuels
and a store advertising beer and soft drinks. I see it's 8:25
p.m. on the red clock in front of Dreams Come True Antiques; at
least they remembered to set their clocks ahead.
I notice the sign for Gemfield, four miles, and wonder if there
would be some interesting artifacts there. After that is a sign
to Alkali and Silver Peak, then soon another sign to Silver Peak.
It makes me wonder if Silver Peak is some metropolis.
As I begin to climb that final hill to Tonopah Summit I begin to
wonder about the raison d'etre of this cold, isolated place on
top of a hill. Oh yeah, Jim Butler struck silver here way back in
1900.
(Write to Mark Waite at mwaite@pvtimes.com.)
For comment or questions, please e-mail
webmaster@pahrumpvalleytimes.com
[webmaster@pahrumpvalleytimes.com] Copyright © Pahrump Valley
Times, 1997 - 2003
*****************************************************************
33 Pahrump Valley Times: Nevada refuses Ohio's 'hot' waste
April 16, 2004
By STEVE TETREAULT PVT WASHINGTON BUREAU
WASHINGTON - Attorney General Brian Sandoval has set the stage
for a new Nevada showdown with the Energy Department, threatening
to block DOE from shipping more than 3,700 truckloads of "hot"
radioactive waste for burial at the Nevada Test Site.
Initial shipments to Nevada of potent uranium byproduct are
scheduled to start in May and continue through November 2005 as
part of a Superfund cleanup of a former uranium ore processing
plant in Fernald, Ohio.
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 attorney general charged 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
secretary Jessie Roberson, who oversees DOE environmental
cleanups.
"DOE's plan is reckless and unsafe and it flagrantly violates the
law," Sandoval said
The Energy Department focused on Nevada after initial plans to
bury the waste at a commercial landfill in Utah collapsed last
fall amid growing opposition from the public and members of the
Utah Legislature.
Sandoval gave DOE until April 30 to change its plans before the
state seeks action in court to stop the shipments. He likened the
matter to a lawsuit that DOE lost last summer after it sought to
classify nuclear waste for disposal at the Hanford reservation in
Washington State.
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.
DOE attorneys will review the state's charges, department
spokesman Joe Davis said. Davis said the material falls into a
classification of low-level defense nuclear waste that is
permitted to be buried in Nevada.
"We believe we can go to the Nevada Test Site with this," he
said. DOE officials have said the waste, contained in half-inch
thick steel cylinders, will be buried in 25-foot deep trenches.
Nevada's federal lawmakers began lining up behind Sandoval.
"Nevadans are well aware the Department of Energy cannot be
trusted to approach the issue of nuclear waste storage in a safe
and conscientious manner," Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., said.
"Nevada will not stand for this dangerous and ill-advised
re-classification."
Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., 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."
Nevada has long challenged government plans to dispose of high
level spent nuclear fuel at Yucca Mountain, 50 miles northeast of
Pahrump and 20 miles east and north of Beatty and Amargosa
Valley, respectively.
The latest dispute is the first involving nuclear waste at the
Test Site since the late 1990s, when Nevada sued over DOE's use
of public land to bury low-level waste from weapons factories.
The state and the government 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 reclamated 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 items like 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 maintain.
"This isn't low level waste, this is a different breed," Loux
said.
Sandoval charged that disposing the Fernald material at the
Nevada Test Site would violate federal laws that require such
specially classified radioactive waste to be buried in lined and
closely monitored landfills that are licensed by the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission.
"The NTS disposal facility is clearly not such a facility,"
Sandoval said.
He also charged DOE regulations prohibit disposal in Nevada of
the concentrated waste in the quantities it plans to ship from
Ohio.
Sandoval was on vacation and not available to comment on
Wednesday, his spokesman said.
Deputy Attorney General Marta Adams said DOE is pursuing a course
of convenience, "saying this is low level waste so they can send
it to the test site." The department announced its plan in
February.
"The DOE thinks that by waving a magic wand, they can propose to
send a huge amount of this material to the test site and nobody
will notice," Adams said.
Until last November, the Fernald material was destined for a
commercial hazardous waste and low-level radioactive waste
landfill in western Toole County, Utah, operated by Envirocare of
Utah. Several Utah and Ohio lawmakers inserted a provision into a
congressional energy bill last fall paving a way for the
arrangement.
But Envirocare withdrew its application for a license change to
accept the material amid growing public opposition in Utah to the
idea of increased radioactive waste shipments to the state and
after efforts by members of the Utah Legislature to assert a
voice in the matter.
DOE and its cleanup contractor, Fluor Fernald, turned to the
government-managed Nevada Test Site as a disposal option.
For comment or questions, please e-mail
webmaster@pahrumpvalleytimes.com
[webmaster@pahrumpvalleytimes.com] Copyright © Pahrump Valley
Times, 1997 - 2003
*****************************************************************
34 7Online.com: Westschester Residents Upset Over Radioactive Waste Plan
ABC 7
(Buchanan-WABC, April 15, 2004) — There is a serious uproar over
plans to move 1,200 tons of highly radioactive waste in
Westchester County.
The spent fuel rods in question are stored at the Indian Point
Nuclear Plant in Buchanan, inside the reactor dome. Entergy, the
owner, presented a plan to area residents on Thursday to move
the material, in special containers, to another part of the
property.
The system is called dry cask storage.
Entergy says the technology has been in use for almost 20 years
without a mishap. But neighbors say that is not enough
reassurance.
The dry cask storage containers are said to be able to withstand
the impact of a 747 jet.
Friday, April 16, 2004
ABCNEWS.com
*****************************************************************
35 Las Vegas SUN: Nevada asking NRC to stop plan to ship nuclear waste
from Ohio
Today: April 16, 2004 at 9:56:06 PDT
By KEN RITTER ASSOCIATED PRESS
LAS VEGAS (AP) - Nevada has asked the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission for an emergency order blocking shipment of
radioactive waste from Ohio to the federal Nevada Test Site.
Earlier this week, Nevada also threatened to file a lawsuit to
bar shipments.
The NRC received the state's request, but had no immediate
response, commission spokesman David McIntyre said in a telephone
interview Friday from Rockville, Md.
The state cited a 2003 law that requires radioactive waste from
the Cold War-era uranium processing facility in southern Ohio to
be stored at a NRC-regulated facility, said Bob Loux, director of
the state Nuclear Projects Office.
The test site, where the government tested nuclear weapons for
decades, is administered by the National Nuclear Security
Administration, a branch of the Energy Department.
"They cannot send it to the test site at all, under any
circumstances," Loux said. "It can only be disposed of at an NRC
facility. We don't have an NRC-regulated facility in Nevada of
any kind."
The Energy Department said it plans to go ahead with shipments
from the Fernald, Ohio, nuclear plant.
"We are aware of Nevada's activities to block our legal right to
ship this low-level defense waste, including their petition
before the NRC," Energy Department spokesman Joe Davis said by
telephone from Washington.
The threatened lawsuit is based on federal environmental law. The
NRC effort cites a 2003 congressional appropriations measure that
passed before plans to dispose of the Fernald waste at a private
facility near Clive, Utah, were shelved because of opposition
there.
Nevada officials say waste from Fernald is more radioactive than
low-level waste and is mixed with more hazardous waste - and will
need a more secure disposal site with lined pits.
A lawsuit could delay the Fernald cleanup, which has been under
way more than a decade and has cost about $4 billion.
Nevada already is battling the government in federal court over
Washington's plan to open a national nuclear waste repository at
Yucca Mountain, on the western edge of the test site, 90 miles
northwest of Las Vegas.
The Energy Department plans to entomb 77,000 tons of the nation's
most radioactive spent reactor fuel from 39 states at the
repository beginning in 2010.
---
On the Net:
Nevada Attorney General: [http://www.ag.state.nv.us]
Fernald: [http://www.fernald.gov]
Nevada Test Site: [http://www.nv.doe.gov/nts]
--
*****************************************************************
36 The Sunflower - April 2004 - Issue 83
Date: Fri, 16 Apr 2004 12:26:33 -0500 (CDT)
The Sunflower is a monthly e-newsletter providing educational
information on nuclear weapons abolition and other issues relating to
global security.
Download the complete PDF Version
To receive our free monthly e-newsletter subscribe at
http://www.wagingpeace.org/subscribe/
* Perspectives
* Disarmament: The Missing Link to an Equitable
Non-Proliferation Regime
* Take Action
* Watch the PBS Special on the New Nuclear Arms Race,
April 2nd, 2004
* Support Mordechai Vanunu
* Participate in the May 1st, No More Nuclear Excuses for
War Demonstration!
* Participate in the 12th Annual International Space
Organizing Conference
* Demand a Public Open Session for UN Resolution on
Non-Proliferation
* Advocate SMART Security: Sensible, Multilateral American
Response to Terrorism
* Proliferation
* Pentagon Panel Calls for Updating US Nuclear Arsenal
* US Bunker-Busters: More than a "Study"
* Iran to Stop Making Centrifuges, Rebuked for Suspicious
Nuclear Activities
* North Korea Rejects US Denuclearization Formula
* US Rewards Pakistan Despites Its Nuclear Modernization
* Man Held With Plutonium for Sale
* Nigeria's Nuclear Bluff
* Disarmament and Non-Proliferation
* ElBaradei Says WMD Threat is "Everybody's Fight"
* International Nuclear Saftey Group Inagurated
* Libya Completes Disarmament Efforts
* Democratic Republic of Congo Calls for Assistance
* US Fails to Retrieve Weapons-Grade Uranium
* Missiles & Missile Defense
* Generals and Admirals Cast Doubts On US Missile Defense
System
* Canada Resists Joining US Missile Defense Project
* Russia Responds to US Missile Defense
* Pakistan and India Test Missile Capabilities
* China Flaunts Missile Power In Face of Taiwan Decisions
* International Law
* US Pushes for Security Council Resolution
* Non-Aligned Movement Calls for Establishment of
Nuclear-Free Middle East
* Nuclear Energy And Waste
* Low-Level Nuclear Waste Deregulation
* 25 Years after Three Mile Island
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Perspectives
Disarmament: The Missing Link to an Equitable Non-Proliferation Regime |
Top
by David Krieger and Carah Ong, April 2004
When the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) entered into force in 1970,
nuclear weapons states and non-nuclear weapons states agreed upon
obligations for all parties to the NPT by committing both to
non-proliferation and complete nuclear disarmament as essential
components to achieving global security. At the heart of the NPT is a
central bargain in which the non-nuclear weapons states agreed to
refrain from acquiring nuclear weapons. In exchange, the nuclear weapons
states (China, France, UK, US, USSR) pledged to end the nuclear arms
race and to negotiate nuclear disarmament (Article VI). As an incentive,
the non-nuclear weapons states were promised assistance with research,
production and use of nuclear energy for "peaceful" purposes (Article
IV). Each non-nuclear weapons state also agreed to accept "safeguards"
under the auspices of the International Atomic Energy Agency. However,
these safeguards do not apply to the nuclear weapons states themselves
and thus, there is no built-in mechanism for their accountability on
both sides of the bargain.
The sad fact is that since the NPT's inception, the nuclear weapons
states have shown scant inclination to fulfill their part of the
bargain. As recently as the year 2000, the nuclear weapons states agreed
to 13 practical steps to achieve nuclear disarmament. Their near-perfect
record for failure in this pursuit is due primarily to the lack of
political resolve in these countries to pursue complete disarmament.
Without a serious effort by the nuclear weapons states to achieve
nuclear disarmament, the discriminatory nature of the NPT will continue
to allow nuclear weapons states to promote double standards that provide
them special privileges while denying these same privileges to the
non-nuclear weapons states ? a recipe for increased ill-will and
distrust.
Today, the non-proliferation regime is in serious danger of unraveling
altogether as witnessed by the fact that India, Israel and Pakistan have
joined the list of states in possession of nuclear weapons; North Korea
has withdrawn from the NPT and claims to have developed nuclear weapons;
nuclear powers are seeking to upgrade and improve their nuclear
arsenals; and a nuclear black market - capable of providing states and
extremist groups with nuclear technology and weapons-grade material -
has emerged. In order to meet the challenges of the 21st Century, the
NPT - and the non-proliferation regime in general - is in urgent need of
reconstruction.
[.] In order for a non-proliferation regime to be successful in the long
term, the same standards must be applied to all states. This means that
nuclear weapons states must engage with determination in fulfilling
their long-overdue obligations to achieve nuclear disarmament. In
today's world, the only way to halt nuclear proliferation is to
eliminate existing double standards and implement a more equitable
universal regime that includes a strict timetable for nuclear
disarmament, the criminalization of both horizontal and vertical
proliferation, effective international enforcement mechanisms and
adequate funding to achieve these goals.
For full text,
http://www.wagingpeace.org/articles/2004/03/26_road-prolilferation.htm
To view the entire Sunflower, visit:
http://www.wagingpeace.org/menu/resrources/sunflower
To receive our free monthly e-newsletter subscribe at
http://www.wagingpeace.org/menu/resources/subscribe/
*****************************************************************
37 Pravda.RU: Russia concerned over spread of weapons of mass destruction
[PRAVDA.RU] Last update:04/17/2004 07:00 MSK
Russia shares concerns of the International Atomic Energy Agency
on the illegal spread of weapons of mass destruction, Alexander
Yakovenko, official spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry,
told the RIA Novosti press conference on Friday.
Commenting on the statement of the IAEA director general that
such weapons are rapidly spreading in the world, Alexander
Yakovenko said: "There are in the world quite many, also
ownerless, sources of fuel. This is why we have submitted to the
United Nations Security Council a draft resolution on the
non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. The initiative
targets the strengthening of international cooperation in the
struggle against the illegal turnover of weapons of mass
destruction".
"In order to prevent the threat of dangerous nuclear materials,
Russia together with the United States and the International
Atomic Energy Agency is already working on the programme of
replacing nuclear fuel from reactors in Serbia, Rumania, Bulgaria
and Libya", recalled of the official spokesman for the Russian
Foreign Ministry.
"Work is already under way but interaction of the international
community should be stepped up so as to prevent weapons of mass
destruction from getting into the wrong hands", Alexander
Yakovenko said in conclusion.
© RIAN
Copyright ©1999 by "Pravda.RU [http://www.pravda.ru/] ". When
*****************************************************************
38 KoreaTimes: [Book Review] Hiroshima - A Tragedy Never to Be Repeated
Hankooki.com > Korea Times > Arts &Living > Book
By Han Eun-jung Staff Reporter
Author: Nasu Masamoto Illustrator: Nishimura Masamoto Publisher:
Sakyejul Publishing Inc. Publishing Date: April 2004 Price:
16,000 won
We are living in an age where war not only affects participating
parties, but in many aspects, has an impact on all of mankind.
Beholding the incredible power to destruct, the potential of
nuclear weapons is beyond imagination.
``Hiroshima¡¯¡¯ takes a look at the devastating consequences of
what the first actual experimentation of nuclear weapons brought
forth through the eyes of a little boy that witnessed the
dropping of the atomic bomb and reminds us how a catastrophe of
the like should never occur again.
Written in the form of a picture book, `Hiroshima¡¯ can be
broken up into a four parts. While the first part observes how
the peacefully bustling seaside town of Hiroshima is thrown into
a state of fear in the midst of World War ll, the second part
steps into the actual moment of havoc-the explosion of the
A-bomb. The graphs and pictures well describe what the town and
people went through as it turned to ashes in just a matter of
moments. Part three goes into the slow reconstruction of the city
and the final entry informs readers of the aftermath of war with
the use of timelines.
Each of the parts start off with an introduction that discuss
topics such as the ``The Outbreak of World War ll,¡¯¡¯ ``The
Discovery of the Atomic Bomb and its Activating Theory,¡¯¡¯
``Yalta Conference and the Potsdam Declaration,¡¯¡¯ ``The Effects
the A-bomb Takes on the Human Body,¡¯¡¯ and many more worthy of
further discussion.
``Hiroshima¡¯¡¯ brings to attention the heavy themes of nuclear
weapons, war, and peace. The book gives readers the opportunity
to reflect upon the past, relearn lessons, and march forward to a
better tomorrow.
Meant for adult and young audiences alike, `Hiroshima¡¯ is an
excellent choice for parent and child to read together. In
Korean.
04-16-2004 20:34
*****************************************************************
39 UC and the Nuclear Weapons Business
Date: Fri, 16 Apr 2004 00:37:32 -0500 (CDT)
http://horus.vcsa.uci.edu/article.php?id=1653
Originally Published in the Opinion Section of the New Univesity on April 12, 2004
By David Krieger
UC and the Nuclear Weapons Business
We.ve all heard about the inspections that took place in Iraq to
find weapons of mass destruction and programs to make them. As we
know, none were found in Iraq. That wouldn.t be the case if the
inspectors were to come to the University of California.
They would find that programs to research, design, develop, improve,
test and maintain nuclear weapons have been going on under the
auspices of this university for more than 60 years and that they
are going on today. They would find that the UC provides management
and oversight to the nation.s two principal nuclear weapons
laboratories: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Los Alamos
National Laboratory. They would find that today these weapons
laboratories are engaged in attempting to make new and more usable
nuclear weapons: .bunker-busters. and mini-nukes.
For a fee, UC has provided a fig leaf of respectability to the
research and development of the most horrendous weapons known to
humankind. It is ironic that our government cannot tolerate the
possibility of Iraqi scientists creating such weapons, but here at
the UC, such a horrid use of science is called .a service to the
nation..
Two of the weapons developed at the Los Alamos Laboratory were used
on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. These were relatively small
weapons, and they caused the deaths of over 200,000 persons, mostly
innocent civilians, by incineration, burning, blast and radiation
poisoning. There are no guarantees that the nuclear weapons being
developed today under UC auspices will not be used again. In fact,
the odds are that if we continue as we are, they will be used again,
by accident or design.
There are three important reasons the UC should get out of the
nuclear weapons business.
First, the UC is a great university, and no great university should
lend its talents to making weapons capable of destroying cities,
civilizations and most life on Earth. The function of a university
is to examine the amazing wonders of our world, to collect and
categorize knowledge, to expand the knowledge base and to pass
important knowledge from the past on to new generations. How can a
great university allow itself to be co-opted into becoming complicit
in creating weapons of mass destruction? How can the UC Board of
Regents justify this as .a service to the nation.?
Second, there is no moral ground on which nuclear weapons can rest.
These are weapons of mass murder. They cannot discriminate between
combatants and civilians. They kill indiscriminately.men, women and
children. By continuing to develop and improve these weapons, the
United States, economically and militarily the strongest country
in the world, is signaling to other nations that these weapons would
be useful for them as well.
Third, the International Court of Justice has stated that the use
or threat of use of nuclear weapons is illegal under international
law. It allowed only one possible exception in which the .very
survival of a state. was at stake. In such a situation, it said
that the law was unclear, but under any circumstance the use of
nuclear weapons would not be legal if it failed to discriminate
between civilians and combatants or caused unnecessary suffering.
There is no evidence that nuclear weapons could be used without
violating these precepts of international humanitarian law.
Sir Joseph Rotblat, a Manhattan Project scientist and Nobel Peace
Laureate, has written, .If the use of a given type of weapon is
illegal under international law, should not research on such weapons
also be illegal, and should not scientists also be culpable? And
if there is doubt even about the legal side, should not the ethical
aspect become more compelling?.
In 1995, Nobel Laureate Hans Bethe, a senior physicist on the
Manhattan Project, issued a plea: .I call on all scientists in all
countries to desist from work creating, developing, improving and
manufacturing further nuclear weapons . and, for that matter . other
weapons of potential mass destruction such as chemical and biological
weapons..
It is time to heed the words of Professors Rotblat and Bethe and
to bring nuclear weapons under control. If the scientists and
engineers at the laboratories are unwilling to give up their role
in creating and improving nuclear weapons, then at least the UC
community can send a message to the rest of the country and the
world that it is no longer willing to participate in the management
and oversight of laboratories making weapons of mass murder. The
motto of UC is Fiat Lux, meaning .let there be light.. It is unlikely
that the light the founders of the university had in mind was the
flash .brighter than a thousand suns. from the explosion of a nuclear
device. I think they meant the light of knowledge, truth and beauty.
UC should end its association with the nation.s nuclear weapons
laboratories when their contract expires in 2005.
David Krieger is president of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation
(www.wagingpeace.org). He is the author co-author of Nuclear Weapons
and the World Court and Choose Hope, Your Role in Waging Peace in
the Nuclear Age.
*****************************************************************
40 Tri-City Herald: Lawyer barred from Hanford health case
This story was published Friday, April 16th, 2004
By Annette Cary Herald staff writer
SPOKANE -- An attorney who once represented about 1,500 people
who believe their health was harmed by Hanford releases lost an
appeal to return to the case.
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against attorney Nancy
Oreskovich, according to recent filings in federal court in
Spokane.
About 1,800 people have a suit pending against former Hanford
nuclear reservation contractors. They claim they have thyroid
disease, cancer or other illnesses because of radioactive
material released from the site when plutonium was being made
during World War II and the Cold War.
The dominant release was radioactive iodine, which drifted
downwind to settle on crops and grass eaten by dairy cows. The
iodine concentrated in the thyroid of people who consumed
contaminated milk and other food.
In 1996, about 4,200 plaintiffs, often referred to as
downwinders, were participating in the case. The number of
plaintiffs has since dropped, partly because science cannot show
that radiation from Hanford could have caused their illness or
they received too little radiation for a strong case to be made.
That year, U.S. District Judge Alan McDonald removed Oreskovich
from the case, saying the public must be protected from "an
unqualified or unscrupulous practitioner."
He found she ran a substandard solo practice, violated court
orders, missed deadlines and overcharged her clients for work on
the case, The Associated Press reported at the time. The judge
said Oreskovich had never tried a case.
The Washington Bar Association also investigated. It dismissed
all allegations against her in October 2001.
The next summer Oreskovich used the dismissal by the bar to ask
the federal court to allow her to again participate in the case.
A federal court judge ruled that her motion, made more than nine
months after the bar decision, was too late.
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals agreed.
"Oreskovich had only personal excuses for her delay, not valid
reasons," the appeals court memo said.
Even if she had filed sooner, the court still would have ruled
against her, the memo said.
The bar association's dismissal of allegations was irrelevant in
the face of a federal court's adoption of a report with 150
factual findings of misconduct, the appeals court concluded.
The court also noted that the bar association, although
dismissing allegations, was critical of Oreskovich's handling of
the Hanford downwinders' case.
The bar concluded that evidence showed "a sloppy approach to
answering interrogatories that allows the possibility of false or
misleading answers."
In addition, the bar hearing officer found that she knew she
billed personal and other client costs to the Hanford account,
according to court documents.
Oreskovich moved from Spokane to Beverly Hills, Calif., by 2001.
Her clients have been reassigned.
The downwinder suit, now more than a decade old, is scheduled to
go to trial in March 2005 for an initial group of about 11
plaintiffs.
Federal Judge William Fremming Nielsen of Spokane has ordered a
small group of "bellwether" claims to be tried in the hopes that
will lead to settlement of the rest of the claims. All the
bellwether plaintiffs have had thyroid disease or thyroid cancer.
© 2004 Tri-City Herald, Associated Press &Other Wire Services
*****************************************************************
41 Oak Ridger: Cleanup company to talk shop
Story last updated at 12:46 p.m. on April 16, 2004
By: Paul Parson | Oak Ridger Staff paul.parson@oakridger.com
[paul.parson@oakridger.com]
The company tasked with overseeing the Department of Energy's Oak
Ridge cleanup efforts is looking at the future and ready to
discuss upcoming procurement opportunities.
Mark Neuhart, a spokesman for Bechtel Jacobs Co., said the
company will talk with current and prospective vendors and
subcontractors during a forum, which is scheduled from 9 to 11
a.m. Thursday at the American Museum of Science and Energy.
Not only will the forum provide information on cleanup schedules,
but officials will address changes in how business is being
conducted under the company's accelerated cleanup contract.
Last year, Bechtel Jacobs entered into the new contract with DOE
that calls for the company to expedite the cleanup of
contaminated sites and unused facilities. The deal is different
from the management and integration contract the company
previously had with the federal agency.
For additional information on the forum, contact Bob Dykes at
241-9304. For more information on Bechtel Jacobs' procurement and
subcontracting efforts, call McArthur Moore at 576- 3847 or visit
the company's Subcontractor/Supplier Information Center Web site
at www.bechteljacobs.com/info/
[http://www.bechteljacobs.com/info/]
*****************************************************************
42 Newsday.com - Opinion Reactor disposal: good news at lab
Newsday.com
[April 16, 2004]
Symbol Lookup
Not quite four months ago, environmentalists were fuming about
one option considered by the federal Department of Energy for
cleaning up the graphite research reactor at Brookhaven National
Laboratory, closed since 1969. That alternative would have left
it there for 87,000 years. Now, those folks are beaming: The
agency will take the reactor apart and ship it elsewhere. That's
very encouraging, for two reasons:
First, even though the dismantling will cost well over $90
million and carries hazards of its own, for employees and for the
environment, it seems far better than leaving a radioactive
reactor sitting on top of Long Island's sole-source aquifer.
Second, this result shows the government is listening and
remaining flexible, and it helps preserve the sharply improved
relationship between the lab and the community. The lab's
scientists didn't much like the 87,000-year option, anyway. So
they are likely to be as happy with this turn of events as civic
activists who monitor the lab.
This being government, however, nothing is ever done until it's
done. So officials who fought the 87,000-year plan - Rep. Tim
Bishop (D-Southampton), Rep. Steve Israel (D-Huntington),
Democratic Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Chuck Schumer, and
Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy - must remain vigilant to
make sure that the plan gets final approval and the funding is
there to complete it. But for now, there's reason to cheer.
Copyright © 2004, Newsday, Inc. [http://www.newsday.com] |
*****************************************************************
43 Google News Alert - nuclear
Date: Fri, 16 Apr 2004 14:34:56 -0700 (PDT)
NUCLEAR Regulators to Send Inspectors to Willoughby, Ohio-Area ...
Miami Herald - Miami,FL,USA
Apr. 16--WILLOUGHBY, Ohio - The NRC will send extra inspectors to Perry
Nuclear Power Plant next month after its annual safety review tallied
several "low-to ...
See all stories on this topic:
IRAQI Nuclear Facilities Unguarded
CBS News - USA
(AP) Some Iraqi nuclear facilities appear to be unguarded, and radioactive
materials are being taken out of the country, the UN's nuclear watchdog
agency ...
See all stories on this topic:
GENESIS of Nuclear Proliferation
PakTribune.com - Pakistan
It seems that Pakistan and its scientists are the first and only proliferators
in the history of nuclear weaponry. Nuclear proliferation ...
See all stories on this topic:
NO economic advantage seen in fixing NB nuclear plant
The Globe and Mail - Canada
Fredericton — Fixing up New Brunswick's rusting nuclear power plant would
have no clear economic advantage over building a new, fossil fuel power
plant, a ...
REBUILDING NB nuclear plant '$1.4 billion question'
CBC News - Canada
FREDERICTON - Refurbishing Atlantic Canada's only nuclear plant would offer
no clear advantage over building a new fossil fuel-burning plant, according
to a ...
See all stories on this topic:
NEVADA asking NRC to stop plan to ship nuclear waste from Ohio
Las Vegas Sun - Las Vegas,NV,USA
LAS VEGAS (AP) - Nevada has asked the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for
an emergency order blocking shipment of radioactive waste from Ohio to
the federal ...
See all stories on this topic:
NEVADA asking NRC to stop plan to ship nuclear waste from Ohio
Akron Beacon Journal (subscription) - Akron,OH,USA
LAS VEGAS - Nevada has asked the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for an emergency
order blocking shipment of radioactive waste from Ohio to the federal
Nevada ...
See all stories on this topic:
NUCLEAR scientists "split" the banana
Xinhua - China
BEIJING, April 16, (Xinhuanet) -- Indian nuclear scientists say they have
unpeeled one of the great mysteries of the soft-drinks world, how to extract
juice ...
See all stories on this topic:
NUCLEAR-FUEL forum changes few minds
The Journal News.com - Westchester,NY,USA
PEEKSKILL — Officials from the Indian Point nuclear power plants met
last night with many of their most persistent critics to explain controversial
plans to ...
See all stories on this topic:
CHENEY Says North Korea Must Dismantle All Its Nuclear Programs
Bloomberg - USA
April 16 (Bloomberg) -- Vice President Dick Cheney said the US is sticking
to its unconditional demand that North Korea dismantle its whole nuclear
program. ...
See all stories on this topic:
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44 THE TIGER: Grant funds nuclear study
www.TheTigerNews.com "South Carolina's Oldest College
Newspaper Roars for Clemson" Clemson University
Gabrielle Lahatte
staff Writer Published Friday, April 16, 2004 [photo] JUSTIN
AMES/graphics
WEAPONS: A United Nations grant will aid Clemson researcher Dr.
James Navratil to study radioactive material.
Recently, the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA) awarded a research grant to the University to improve
analytical systems used by the IAEA's Safeguard Analytical
Laboratory (SAL) in Seiborsdorf, Austria to separate radioactive
samples from various nuclear sites around the world.
The Clemson research team, headed by Dr. James Navratil, an
environmental engineering professor, hopes to improve the
analysis of uranium, plutonium and americium. The presence of
these elements often indicates a nuclear weapons program.
The group also plans to develop new radiochemistry separation
methods used in analysis of radionuclides. The goal for the team
is to create a system that is able to detect smaller quantities
of each substance. The team hopes to achieve its goal by using
different sizes and qualities of resin in order to separate the
samples more efficiently.
This research will help inspectors identify smaller samples of
uranium-235, which is desired for nuclear weapons because of its
fissile properties. It will also help them detect lower
concentrations of plutonium and americium isotopes, which also
indicate suspicious nuclear activity. Finally, it will allow
inspectors to separate and concentrate these radioactive isotopes
from diluted liquid samples.
With the uncertainty of the Iranian nuclear program and other
nuclear programs worldwide, this research is essential to the
IAEA's mission. Founded because of great fear and expectations
about nuclear energy, the IAEA was created to regulate nuclear
technology's use, security and safety. Using its inspection
system, the agency verifies that countries comply and are in
accordance with the Non-Proliferation Treaty and other
non-proliferation agreements, which say nuclear material and
facilities may only be used for peaceful purposes.
The SAL was created by the IAEA to interpret the samples
collected by inspectors, providing the agency with crucial
information that allows them to achieve their goals of nuclear
safety.
The major bulk of the research has yet to be conducted. Monday,
Dr. Navratil left for Austria to work at SAL during the summer
and Amanda Padgett, a team member and a Clemson environmental
science graduate student, will join him in mid-May for two to
three weeks in order to master SAL's radiochemistry separation
techniques before applying them in their research here at
Clemson.
Padgett, a recent Clemson graduate who officially joined the
project two weeks ago, explained the significance of the upcoming
trip to Seiborsdorf.
"As a chemical engineer, I haven't taken a chemistry lab since my
sophomore year. You get a basic understanding from concepts in
class, but there will certainly be a learning curve for me."
Padgett, also a current intern at Oconee Nuclear Power Plant,
hopes to apply her knowledge from her job to the project as well.
The grant seems appropriate for Clemson, one of the few
universities in the country that offers a nuclear-related
concentration in its environmental science graduate program. Dr.
Navratil's previous work experience with the SAL also helped
Clemson secure the funding for the project.
With better analytical systems to detect radioactive isotopes,
the IAEA hopes to be better equipped to determine the true nature
of suspicious nuclear programs before it is too late to act. With
the impending public report about Iran's program, any new
advances in analytical technology will be greatly appreciated by
the SAL. +
© 2004 The Tiger: Online Edition
PO Box 1586, Clemson, SC 29633-1586
News: 864.656.2150 Advertising: 864.656.2167 Fax:
864.656.4772
*****************************************************************
45 IEER: Postings to IEER's site since January 2003.
IEER [http://www.ieer.org/index.html] | Subject Index
Most recent postings listed first.
Cash Crop on the Wind Farm:
[http://www.ieer.org/reports/wind/cashcrop/index.html]
A New Mexico Case Study of the Cost, Price, and Value of
Wind-Generated Electricity
Full report
[http://www.ieer.org/reports/wind/cashcrop/report.pdf] [PDF,
1.7MB] | Slide Presentation
[http://www.ieer.org/reports/wind/cashcrop/slidepresentation.pdf]
[PDF, 150kB]
Prepared for a presentation at the Western Governors'
Association North American Energy Summit
Albuquerque, New Mexico, April 15-16, 2004
IEER Comments on the NRC Notice of Intent re: the Proposed
Uranium Enrichment Facility
[http://www.ieer.org/comments/lesnoi.html]
March 18, 2004
Nuclear Dumps by the Riverside:
Threats to the Savannah River from Radioactive Contamination at
the Savannah River Site (SRS)
Press release [http://www.ieer.org/reports/srs/pressrel.html] |
Report [http://www.ieer.org/reports/srs/fullrpt.pdf] [PDF, 3.9MB]
March 11, 2004
La Estructura del Apartheid Global y la Lucha por la Democracia
Global
(The Structure of Global Apartheid and the Struggle for Global
Democracy)
Articulo en espanol de SDA vol. 11 no. 3
Publicado en Junio, 2003; actualizado en el Internet en el 3 de
Marzo 2004
IEER Comments on the proposed uranium enrichment plant in New
Mexico [http://www.ieer.org/comments/uenrichnm.html]
January 7, 2004
NATO's Nuclear Conflict / Democratizing Money
[http://www.ieer.org/sdafiles/vol_12/sda12-1.pdf]
Science for Democratic Action, Volume 12 Number 1
December 2003
PDF only (398kB)
IEER Radio Shows [http://www.ieer.org/radio/index.html] on KUNM
[http://www.kunm.org] Albuquerque:
Money, Oil, and Security
[http://www.ieer.org/op-eds/radio/19oil$sec.html]
Occupation of Iraq
[http://www.ieer.org/op-eds/radio/18imperialism.html]
Drought threatens nukes
[http://www.ieer.org/op-eds/radio/17drought.html]
The great north east blackout
[http://www.ieer.org/op-eds/radio/16blackout.html]
Plutonium bomb plant and worker health
[http://www.ieer.org/op-eds/radio/15mpfca.html]
July-December 2003
Posted January 12, 2004
NATO and Nuclear Disarmament
[http://www.ieer.org/reports/nato/pressrel.html] : An Analysis
of the Obligations of the NATO Allies of the United States
under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the Comprehensive
Test Ban Treaty
Press release [http://www.ieer.org/reports/nato/pressrel.html] |
Report [http://www.ieer.org/reports/nato/index.html]
October 7, 2003
The "Usable" Nuke Strikes Back / Back to the Bad Old Days
[http://www.ieer.org/sdafiles/vol_11/sda11-4.pdf]
Science for Democratic Action, Volume 11 Number 4
September 2003
PDF only (583kB)
"'Always' the Target?"
[http://www.thebulletin.org/issues/1995/mj95/mj95.makhijani.html]
Article in Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
May/June 1995
IEER Comments on the Proposed Chemical and Metallurgical
Research Building
Replacement Project at the Los Alamos National Laboratory
Press Release [http://www.ieer.org/comments/cmrpr.html] | IEER
Comments [http://www.ieer.org/comments/cmr.html]
July 29, 2003
IEER Comments on the Proposed Modern Pit Facility
Press release [http://www.ieer.org/comments/mpfpr.html] | IEER
Comments [http://www.ieer.org/comments/mpf.html]
July 16, 2003
IEER Radio Shows [http://www.ieer.org/radio/index.html] on KUNM
[http://www.kunm.org] Albuquerque:
Anniversary of the First Nuclear Test
[http://www.ieer.org/op-eds/radio/14trinity.html] (includes Col.
Stafford Warren's 1945 memo
[http://www.ieer.org/op-eds/radio/14staffordmemo.pdf] )
July 2003
Global Apartheid versus Global Democracy
[http://www.ieer.org/sdafiles/vol_11/11-3/index.html]
Science for Democratic Action, Volume 11 Number 3 - Special
Issue
June 2003
Also in PDF [http://www.ieer.org/sdafiles/vol_11/sda11-3.pdf]
(320KB)
IEER Comments on the proposed rule on "controlling the
disposition of solid materials"
[http://www.ieer.org/comments/release2.html]
June 27, 2003
IEER Radio Shows [http://www.ieer.org/radio/index.html] on KUNM
[http://www.kunm.org] Albuquerque:
Wall Street Nixes Nukes?
[http://www.ieer.org/op-eds/radio/12subsidies.html]
Plutonium Dreams: Making Plutonium a Commercial Fuel
[http://www.ieer.org/op-eds/radio/13pudreams.html]
June 2003
Government Data Projects Worker Cancer Deaths at New Plutonium
Bomb Factory [http://www.ieer.org/latest/mpfpr.html]
Facility Would Also Violate U.S. Nuclear Nonproliferation
Commitments
No Scientific Basis for Replacing Plutonium "Pits"
Press release
June 26, 2003
Independent Institute in the United States Appointed to Review
French Research Program
[http://www.ieer.org/reports/bure/prjun03e.html]
on Geologic Disposal of High Level Radioactive Waste
[http://www.ieer.org/reports/bure/prjun03e.html]
Evaluation Will Make Recommendations to Official Local Oversight
Body
on Possible Improvements to Research Program
Press release
June 10, 2003
Un bureau d'étude américain indépendant est
retenu pour mener une étude critique du
[http://www.ieer.org/reports/bure/prjun03f.html]
programme françaisde recherche sur le stockage des
déchets radioactifs à haute activité et
[http://www.ieer.org/reports/bure/prjun03f.html]
à vie longue en formation géologique
[http://www.ieer.org/reports/bure/prjun03f.html]
Le bureau fera ses recommandations au Comite local d'information
et de suivi sur
les améliorations éventuelles du programme de recherche
Communiqué de presse
10 juin 2003
New IEER Radio Shows [http://www.ieer.org/radio/index.html] on
KUNM [http://www.kunm.org] Albuquerque:
Plutonium Pit Facility
[http://www.ieer.org/op-eds/radio/11pits.html]
Atomic Vets [http://www.ieer.org/op-eds/radio/10avets.html]
Nuclear targeting turns 60
[http://www.ieer.org/op-eds/radio/9targeting.html]
NPT Parties Meet in Geneva
[http://www.ieer.org/op-eds/radio/8npt.html]
April-May, 2003
IEER Letter to the NAS BEIR VII Committee
[http://www.ieer.org/comments/beir/ltr0503.html]
Re: tritium, low energy X-rays, and more
May 27, 2003
Benefit of the Doubt Should be Given to Atomic Vets who Have
Radiation-Related Diseases
[http://www.ieer.org/latest/nasavetpr.html]
New National Academy of Sciences Report Fails to Clearly
Recommend Compensation
Even in Cases When Doses Cannot be Reasonably Estimated
Press release
May 8, 2003
Nuclear targeting: The first 60 years
[http://www.ieer.org/latest/targetpr.html]
Press release and link to article in May/June 2003 Bulletin of
the Atomic Scientists
Posted May 2, 2003
New IEER Radio Shows [http://www.ieer.org/radio/index.html] on
KUNM [http://www.kunm.org] Albuquerque:
The War IS About Oil, Here's What We Should Do
[http://www.ieer.org/op-eds/radio/5oilwar.html]
History Offers Insights in North Korea Nuclear Dispute
[http://www.ieer.org/op-eds/radio/4nkorea.html]
What is Precision Bombing?
[http://www.ieer.org/op-eds/radio/3bombing.html]
Oil, GM, Chevron/Texaco and energy policy
[http://www.ieer.org/op-eds/radio/7oil&GM.html]
Broken Pledges [http://www.ieer.org/op-eds/radio/6broken.html]
February-March, 2003
A Looming Monetary Collision:
Oil, the dollar and the euro
[http://www.ieer.org/comments/econ/oil$euro.pdf]
A briefing paper on the global economy [PDF; 214kB]
19 March 2003
Precision Bombing, Widespread Harm: Environmental and
Legal Concerns About Modern War
[http://www.ieer.org/sdafiles/vol_11/sda11-2.pdf]
[PDF only; 236KB]
Science for Democratic Action, Volume 11 Number 2
February 2003
Open letter from people in the United States to people all over
the world [http://www.ieer.org/openletter/index.html] Sign on!
[http://www.ieer.org/openletter/index.html]
Letter to the United Nations Security Council
[http://www.ieer.org/openletter/unsc.html] based on the Open
Letter, February 13, 2003
Press release [http://www.ieer.org/openletter/pr.html]
Open Letter in many languages: 
[http://www.ieer.org/openletter/arabic.pdf] (Arabic
[http://www.ieer.org/openletter/arabic.pdf] ) | 
[http://www.ieer.org/openletter/chinese.pdf] (Chinese
[http://www.ieer.org/openletter/chinese.pdf] ) | Deutsch
[http://www.ieer.org/openletter/deutsch.html] (German
[http://www.ieer.org/openletter/deutsch.html] ) | English
[http://www.ieer.org/openletter/index.html] |
Español
[http://www.ieer.org/openletter/espanol.html] (Spanish
[http://www.ieer.org/openletter/espanol.html] ) |
Français
[http://www.ieer.org/openletter/francais.html] (French
[http://www.ieer.org/openletter/francais.html] ) | Hebrew
(Hebrew [http://www.ieer.org/openletter/hebrew.pdf] ) | Hindi
(Hindi [http://www.ieer.org/openletter/hindi.html] ) | 
[http://www.ieer.org/openletter/japanese.pdf]
(Japanese [http://www.ieer.org/openletter/japanese.pdf] ) | 
[http://www.ieer.org/openletter/korean.pdf] (Korean
[http://www.ieer.org/openletter/korean.pdf] ) |
[http://www.ieer.org/openletter/russian.html] (Russian
[http://www.ieer.org/openletter/russian.html] ) | Urdu (Urdu
[http://www.ieer.org/openletter/urdu.pdf] )
IEER Radio Shows [http://www.ieer.org/radio/index.html] on KUNM
[http://www.kunm.org] Albuquerque
War Will Not Stop Nuclear Proliferation
[http://www.ieer.org/op-eds/radio/1iraq.html] and Radioactive
Milk in America [http://www.ieer.org/op-eds/radio/2radmilk.html]
February 10 and 17, 2003
Compliance Assessment of North Korean and U.S. Obligations Under
the Non-Proliferation
[http://www.ieer.org/reports/treaties/nkorea.html]
Treaty and 1994 Agreed Framework
[http://www.ieer.org/reports/treaties/nkorea.html]
Briefing Paper
January 24, 2003
Rule of Power or Rule of Law?
[http://www.ieer.org/reports/treaties/index.html]
An Assessment of U.S. Policies and Actions Regarding
Security-Related Treaties
Now a book
January 16, 2003
IEER web posts in 2001-2002
[http://www.ieer.org/latest/posts2001-2.html]
Subject Index [http://www.ieer.org/webindex.html] Institute for
Energy and Environmental Research
[http://www.ieer.org/index.html] Comments to Outreach
Coordinator: ieer{insert the symbol "at"}ieer.org
Takoma Park, Maryland, USA
Updated April 15, 2004
*****************************************************************
46 U of Western Ontario: Nuclear research
[http://www.uwo.ca/]
Minac, Shoesmith pursue innovative research Apr 15th, 2004
by Mitchell Zimmer
Jan Minac
David Shoesmith
Jan Minac of the Department of Mathematics and David Shoesmith
of the Department of Chemistry are recipients of the
Distinguished Research Professorships in the Faculty of Science.
These awards release faculty from teaching for one year to focus
on innovative research.
“It’s quite an honor but especially it’s a great opportunity for
me.” says Minac, who focuses on a branch of abstract algebra
that studies the symmetries of the roots of polynomials known as
Galois theory.
The theory, although developed in the 19th century by French
mathematician Evariste Galois, continues to play a role in
mathematics.
“What is amazing is that this theory is still, even today, one
of the central parts of mathematics,” says Minac.
Part of that development includes the recent solving of what was
known as the Milnor conjecture by Vladimir Voevodsky. Milnor
believed there was an equivalence between different ways of
describing the properties of different kinds of surfaces.
Voevodsky created new tools that, in 1996, enabled him to solve
the problem.
Minac will spend a year at the Princeton Institute of Advanced
Study to assess the impact of this conjecture in various areas
of mathematics.
David Shoesmith is Industrial Research Chair in nuclear waste
disposal chemistry, funded by National Science and Engineering
Research Council (NSERC) and by Ontario Power Generation (OPG).
Shoesmith’s NSERC research deals with making long- term
predictions on what happens to nuclear fuel inside a failed
waste container. His lab will assess data accumulated over the
last four years and suggest how to change the model which then
they would use in a calculation.
Shoesmith will also continue consulting work for the U.S.
Department of Energy.
“They have a licence application to use the Yucca Mountain
repository in Nevada scheduled for late this year. They have
adopted a couple of our models in there and I’m anticipating
that it’s going to be a furor of review activity in that area to
support that licence application, which will involve a lot of my
time.”
Shoesmith’s group is constructing corrosion failure models for
the railway car-sized nuclear waste containers that will be
transported from all over the United States to the repository.
Although the site is located in a dry desert, the mountain
retains what little water it gets remarkably well.
“Amazingly, these holes can get to a humidity of 100%; it’s
quite incredible how the mountain does this.”
He is interested in how quickly it will take the moisture to
penetrate the barriers of the mountain, shield and containers
themselves.
The idea is to construct barriers that will last long enough to
allow the radioactivity to decay to a non-toxic level before the
containers breach.
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