*****************************************************************
04/20/04 ****     RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL)       **** VOL 12.95
*****************************************************************
   RADBULL IS PRODUCED BY THE ABALONE ALLIANCE CLEARINGHOUSE
*****************************************************************
Send News Stories to news@energy-net.org with title on subject
line and first line of body

                         NUCLEAR POLICY
 
1 Daily Times: Kim ready to offer nuclear deal to Washington 
2 US: RGJ: Western energy summit is step in right direction
3 US: BulletinWire News: Revising peer review's revision              
4 Vanunu release tomorrow(Jewish Telegraph Agency
5 Guardian - Israel and WMD's
6 PEACE HERO VANUNU LEAVING PRISON BUT NOT FREE TO GO
7 VANUNU WELCOME PARTY GAGGED FOR PROTEST
8 Guardian Unlimited: Brazil Refusal on Inspection Angers IAEA
9 BBC: Brazil 'near deal' in nuclear row 
10 BBC: Vanunu spends last night in jail 
11 UK Independent: History catches up with Mossad seductress who trappe
12 Maariv International: Why muzzle Vanunu?
 
                         NUCLEAR REACTORS
 
13 Haaretz: CNN team questioned on suspicion of filming at nuclear plan
14 US: Nuclear Energy Institute: Devil's Advocate For Nuclear Power
15 US: San Luis Obispo Tribune: Of experts and transparency
16 US: Brattleboro Reformer: N.H. Senate passes resolution for review a
17 Toronto Star: Faulty work blamed for shutdown
18 US: MBJ: Prairie Island nuclear power plant to install new steam gen
19 US: NRC: NRC to Meet With Nebraska Public Power District to Discuss 
20 US: NRC: Union Electric Company; Notice of Partial Withdrawal of 
21 US: NRC: Duke Energy Corporation; McGuire Nuclear Station, Units 1 a
22 Japan Times: Industry wants reactor-check intervals extended
23 US: NRC: NRC Seeks Public Comment on Proposed Pilot Program for Use 
24 US: decaturdaily: Bad welds won't slow restart at B. Ferry
25 US: PRN: Study: Indian Point Contributes $763 Million to the Economy
26 US: PRN: Robinson Nuclear Plant's License Renewed by NRC Through Jul
27 US: projo.com: New Hampshire Senate passes resolution on Vermont Yan
 
                          NUCLEAR SAFETY
 
28 [DU-WATCH] US D.U.nial (Iraq) taking tragedy to new levels
29 [DU-WATCH] CNN 'Baghdad boil' afflicts US troops
30 [DU-WATCH] Operation Iraqi FUBAR
31 [DU-WATCH] Uranium weapons are the perfect WMD ....
32 US: [NukeNet] Precautions Raised for Preelection Terrorism
33 US: [EMMAS] G.I.s press Army for uranium test
34 US: [DU-WATCH] Death by slow burn - how america nukes its own
35 US: Tri-City Herald: Payments to nuclear workers picking up
36 US: Rockford Register Star: Radium levels high in wells
37 MOS News: Security at Moscow Nuclear Facilities Described as Lax 
38 US: NRC: Generic Safety Issue (GSI)-191, ``Assessment of Debris 
39 SacObserver.com Commentary: Earth Day And Vieques
40 Mos News: Numerous Violations Uncovered on Russia’s Nuclear Flagship
41 Vancouver Sun: Vancouver to get mobile nuclear lab 
 
                         NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE
 
42 US: Las Vegas SUN: Radioactive waste mounts at Test Site
43 Elko Daily Free Press: College plans Yucca session 
44 US: AU ABC: Ranger miner 'withholds' contamination data. 
45 Las Vegas SUN: Rural Nevada mayor says his town wants Yucca
46 PRN: LES Asks NRC to Assure State Participation in Licensing Process
47 US: Salt Lake Tribune: Another grain of salt 
48 Las Vegas RJ: Mayor says Yucca shipments would benefit Caliente 
 
                         NUCLEAR WEAPONS
 
 
                        US DEPT. OF ENERGY
 
49 [DU-WATCH] A story from oakridger.com
50 [DU-WATCH] Ploughshares Action at Oak Ridge
51 Oak Ridger: BWXT Y-12 staff's online, publications efforts awarded 	
52 Shorthorn Online: Lab involvement to be debated
53 lamonitor.com: NNSA seeks input on LANL's contract bid 
 
                          OTHER NUCLEAR
 
54 Google News Alert - nuclear
*****************************************************************
*****************************************************************
                         FULL NEWS STORIES
*****************************************************************
*****************************************************************
 1 Daily Times: Kim ready to offer nuclear deal to Washington 

Wednesday, April 21, 2004    

* Says any deal conditional upon US dropping hostile stance
towards North Korea 
* Confirms Pyongyang’s willingness to settle nuclear crisis at
next round of six-party talks 
* China declines to confirm Kim visit 

BEIJING: North Korean ruler Kim Jong-il has told Beijing he is 
ready to scrap his nuclear arms programmes if the United States 
changes what he called its hostile attitude, a South Korean 
newspaper said on Tuesday. 

Kim slipped unannounced into Beijing on Monday and held his first 
talks with Chinese President and Communist Party chief Hu Jintao 
on the crisis over communist North Korea’s nuclear ambitions and 
its threadbare economy. 

His rare overseas trip, expected to last up to four days, comes a 
week after US Vice President Dick Cheney visited China with new 
evidence of the North’s possession of nuclear arms and warning 
that time was running out to resolve the stalemate. 

The purpose of Kim’s visit and the significance of its timing 
were not immediately clear, but the reclusive leader of the 
world’s only communist dynasty may be eager to win Beijing’s 
support for his fledgling market reforms and nuclear position. 

However, Kim may calculate that an arsenal of nuclear weapons is 
the only way to guarantee the survival of his government, giving 
him leverage with the United States as he presses for security 
guarantees to prevent any possible US invasion. 

“Kim reportedly explained the reasons behind the nuclear weapons 
to Hu and added that North Korea is willing to give up nuclear 
developments if the United States changes its hostile attitude,” 
the Chosun Ilbo, South Korea’s biggest daily, said. 

The reclusive Kim had confirmed Pyongyang’s willingness to settle 
the nuclear crisis at the next round of six-party talks that 
include the two Koreas, China, Russia, the United States and 
Japan, the newspaper quoted its source as saying. 

South Korean media was abuzz with news of Kim’s trip. 

The Dong-a Ilbo newspaper cited rumours North Korea would soon 
make an announcement that could signal a breakthrough in 
resolving the crisis, which began in October 2002 when US 
officials say Pyongyang disclosed it was working on a secret 
programme to enrich uranium for weapons. 

“Some even speculate that Kim might have told Hu that North Korea 
has shifted its position,” the paper said. 

Meanwhile, China also urged visiting Kim Jong-il to soften his 
stance towards the United States to break an impasse over ending 
secretive Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions, South Korean media said.

Kim was due to meet Hu a second time before leaving Beijing, the 
South’s Yonhap news agency said. 

A Chinese source with knowledge of the visit said Kim would leave 
the Chinese capital on Wednesday. It was not clear where he would 
go, but South Korean media reports said he might visit the 
northeastern cities of Shenyang or Dalian. 

Asked if the United States had used the opportunity to pass a 
message to Kim, a US embassy spokeswoman was careful, saying 
only: “China knows our position well and this was reaffirmed 
during Vice President Cheney’s visit to China.” 

However, China declined on Tuesday to confirm that North Korean 
leader Kim Jong-il was in Beijing, underscoring the secrecy and 
sensitivity surrounding his trip. 

However, six-party talks on the North Korean nuclear crisis were 
on schedule to take place by June, officials said. —Reuters Home 

Daily Times - All Rights Reserved [http://www.wcis.com.pk] 
*****************************************************************
 2 RGJ: Western energy summit is step in right direction
 
Home [http://www.rgj.com/]

RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL

4/18/2004 08:38 pm      

The Western governors’ summit meeting organized to talk about 
energy issues is a step in the right direction for the Western 
states. Such a coalition to pool ideas and form a group to lobby 
Congress for effective legislation gives the Western Governors’ 
Association a strong voice. This is an issue that deserves 
attention at the national party conventions.

Dependable energy supply and delivery is important to the entire 
nation, however, the Western states have a better chance of 
arriving at policies and projects that best serve their interests 
if they work as a group.

It is especially important to focus on policies that encourage 
developing a clean energy industry and maintain air quality where 
it is good, and to discourage such projects as Yucca Mountain 
that aim to concentrate so much of the nation’s nuclear waste at 
one site. Utah and other states will have something to say about 
that, too.

The current energy plan, of course, offers subsidies for 
developing clean technology and for using it. Many experts, 
however, believe it doesn’t go far enough, especially since it 
includes so many supports for traditional producers.

While projects to supply wind, steam and solar power are still in 
their infancy, and it is arguable how cheap it will be in the 
short run, there is little argument about the long-term benefits. 
That’s especially true in Nevada and other states where the 
natural resources for such energy are plentiful. Some Northern 
Nevada cities are even now exploring the possible economic boost 
from encouraging such industry.

Since New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, an advocate of such 
policies and a former Energy Secretary, is rumored to be on tap 
as a running mate for the presumptive Democratic candidate, dare 
anyone hope clean energy will heat up as a topic for debate?    

Copyright Reno Gazette-Journal, a Gannett Co. Inc. 
*****************************************************************
 3 BulletinWire News: Revising peer review's revision                                                 
 		
[http://www.thebulletin.org

BulletinWire | April 19, 2004
 						
The White Houses Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released a 
scaled-back version of its proposal to remake the scientific peer 
review process, after its initial version drew strong criticism.
 						
The newest draft, released on April 15, relaxes the proposed 
rules that would require extra layers of review for research with 
a certain expected amount of economic impact. This change would 
in effect make less research eligible for the more intense 
review. It also lacks controversial language that had appeared to 
welcome industry representatives on peer-review panels while 
restricting participation by academic experts who had been 
recipients of federal grant money, according to a report in the 
Washington Post (April 16).
 						
We listened to the scientific community and made revisions 
designed to make the peer-review policy more objective and 
workable, John Graham, OMBs chief of regulatory affairs, told the 
Post.
 						
Despite the changes, some continued to criticize the proposal for 
centralizing the peer review process in the White House. In the 
March/April Bulletin, Linda Rothstein criticized OMBs original 
proposal for changes to the peer review process as designed to 
give a White House known for denying unpleasant facts absolute 
power over information.
 					
If the final--and only--say-so on science resides in the White 
House, it wont be long before all government statements will be 
sprinkled with political pixie dust, and what we now know as 
science will become science--just another of the fact-free 
ideological arguments being used to undermine democratic 
government as we know it, Rothstein wrote.
 													
*****************************************************************
 4 Vanunu release tomorrow(Jewish Telegraph Agency
 
Date: Tue, 20 Apr 2004 17:08:26 -0500 (CDT)

 
http://www.jta.org/page_view_story.asp?intarticleid=13999&intcategoryid=1

* Jewish Telegraph Agency (JTA) is a tax-exempt, not-for-profit agency 
that operates on an extremely tight budget. Because our mission is to 
educate and inform the Jewish People, JTA offers its news service on the 
Internet free of charge.

A hero to some peace activists, Vanunu seen as a traitor at home By Dan 
Baron

TEL AVIV, April 20 (JTA)  -- With his face turned away, the white-bearded 
vendor shuffles haplessly around his Beersheba market stall. Then 
something in him snaps and, cursing, he shoves the cameraman, who backs 
off.

The shot that opens the Israeli documentary "Who are you, Mordechai 
Vanunu?" shows the subject's elderly father, who changed his name in shame 
after Vanunu, Israel's nuclear whistle-blower, was jailed as a traitor 18 
years ago.

Vanunu was due to be released Wednesday, but the documentary images 
bespeak the emotional turmoil gripping the country over a national 
security imbroglio that is far from resolved.

Hundreds of anti-nuclear activists from all over the world had flocked to 
Israel, ready to receive the 49-year-old Christian convert when he emerged 
from behind the sun-bleached walls of Shikma Prison in Ashkelon.

But the hero's welcome will be short-lived and hands-off.

Under restrictions recommended by the Shin Bet security service, Vanunu is 
banned from meeting foreigners  -- let alone realizing his dream of 
emigrating  -- for at least a year. His phone and Internet connections 
will be tapped and his movements monitored to ensure he stays away from 
border crossings and foreign diplomatic missions, the sort of surveillance 
usually reserved for suspected spies rather than ex-convicts.

Security officials  -- who still fume at Vanunu's 1986 disclosures to a 
British newspaper about his work at the atomic reactor outside the 
southern desert town of Dimona  -- defend the gag measures as a national 
priority.

"Mordechai Vanunu has revealed state secrets about the Dimona nuclear 
plant. He still possesses state secrets, including some which he has not 
revealed," the Defense Ministry said in a statement. "Disclosure of these 
state secrets could seriously damage the security of the state."

Vanunu insists he has nothing to add to his Sunday Times interview, which 
led independent analysts to conclude that Dimona had produced at least 200 
nuclear weapons, making Israel a military superpower.

Yet the Moroccan-born former atomic technician has voiced no remorse at 
violating the pact of secrecy he signed with the Israeli security 
establishment before taking the Dimona job. Indeed, he has vowed to 
continue campaigning against the "strategic ambiguity" Israel maintains 
around its nonconventional capabilities.

Now it appears that Vanunu may have a higher target  -- Israel's very 
right to exist.

"There is no need for a Jewish state," he told Shin Bet officials in a 
jailhouse interview leaked to the press Monday. "There should be a 
Palestinian state. Whoever wants to be Jewish can live anywhere."

Such remarks are a drastic departure for the Vanunu family, which in 1963 
left Marrakesh for Israel, filled with Zionist fervor that was not 
dampened when the Jewish Agency dumped the Vanunus in a Beersheba transit 
camp.

The second of 10 children, the young Mordechai Vanunu studied hard and 
served as a sergeant in the Combat Engineering Corps, fighting in the Yom 
Kippur War.

In 1976, Vanunu applied to work at Dimona and was brought in as a junior 
reactor technician. According to friends, he attributed his acceptance to 
the fact that at the time, he was politically hawkish, at one point even 
linked to the far-right group Kach.

But things changed when Vanunu enrolled in the philosophy program of 
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in nearby Beersheba. He abandoned 
Jewish observance and became a vegan.

Slender and intense, he often preferred the company of Arab students and 
formed a left-wing group that demonstrated on campus with calls for a 
Palestinian state to be founded alongside Israel  -- virtually heresy in 
the early 1980s.

Meanwhile, Vanunu worked nights at Dimona, earning citations for his 
dedication. But at some point, he decided to smuggle in a camera and 
quietly snap off two rolls of film. The ease with which this was managed 
in a high-security facility, especially given Vanunu's unabashed student 
activism, has prompted some to speculate that he unwittingly was being 
groomed to spill nuclear secrets and thus boost Israel's deterrence even 
further.

Experts dismiss such conspiracy theories as atypical of a security 
establishment notorious for logistical oversights.

"Those in charge of keeping Dimona under wraps simply messed up, and now 
everyone has a serious beef with Vanunu for reminding the world of that," 
said Yossi Melman, senior security correspondent for Israel's daily 
Ha'aretz.

Vanunu eventually was included in 1985 layoffs from Dimona, and he spent 
his severance pay traveling the world. The reactor photographs stayed in 
his backpack as he passed through Russia and Asia, finally reaching 
Australia as his budget neared its end.

He found not just room and board at a Sydney church, but something else: 
the Anglican faith. After converting, Vanunu regularly took part in group 
discussions about world peace and let slip that he had once worked at 
Israel's main atomic reactor.

Overhearing this, a Colombian who sometimes worked as a journalist set 
about seeking a paper to run Vanunu's story. Word reached the Sunday 
Times, which flew Vanunu to London to be grilled by nuclear experts.

He also was promised $100,000 for any syndication or book deal that would 
emerge from the interview.

But the 32-year-old drifter's loneliness got the better of him. As the 
Sunday Times article was being readied for publication, the Mossad 
dispatched American-born agent Cheryl Hanin to befriend Vanunu at a 
Piccadilly cafe.

A former Mossad head said the spy agency had considered killing Vanunu, 
but decided just to abduct him. With the Mossad leery of conducting 
operations on British soil, Hanin, a comely blonde posing as a tourist by 
the name of Cindy, offered Vanunu a romantic weekend in Italy. The honey 
trap was set.

When the two landed in Rome, Vanunu was set upon by three burly Mossad men 
and hustled back to Israel to stand trial.

The circumstances of Vanunu's arrest, and the harsh conditions of his 
incarceration  -- 12 years of which were spent in solitary confinement  
have stoked the sympathy of thousands of foreign supporters who see him as 
a martyred pacifist, and he has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize 
several times. His anti-Zionist views helped attract other pools of 
support.

A retired American couple even legally adopted Vanunu in a failed bid to 
win him U.S. citizenship.

In Israel, Vanunu largely is reviled as a traitor. But his case set off 
deeper tremors in a country where assumptions about Sephardi Jews' hawkish 
tendencies still are prevalent.

"Mordechai shocked the country not just because he was traitor, but 
because he was the first Mizrachi traitor," said Vanunu's childhood friend 
Yehuda Elush. "Everyone before him was an Ashkenazi."

Legal debate is swirling over the idea of applying further sanctions to a 
man who already has served out his prison sentence.

"The restrictions heaped on the atomic convict' would not seem out of 
place in Stalin's Soviet Union," Israeli military expert Reuven Pedatzur 
said. The Association of Civil Rights in Israel has asked the government 
to reconsider, and Vanunu's lawyer said he likely will challenge the 
measures in court.

But other security veterans insist Vanunu poses a danger to an Israel 
still formally at war with 16 of its Middle East neighbors  -- one of 
which, Iran, is actively pursuing nuclear weapons.

Any new details he may have about Dimona could embarrass Israel and 
possibly fray a tacit understanding with the United States that dates back 
to the Nixon administration: Washington won't pressure Jerusalem into 
signing the United Nations Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear 
Weapons and submitting to international inspections, provided Israel 
doesn't carry out nuclear tests.

Israeli elder statesman Shimon Peres, who brokered the construction of the 
Dimona reactor with French help in the 1950s and devised Israel's 
ambiguity policy during 1964 talks with President Kennedy, expressed 
satisfaction with the restrictions imposed on Vanunu.

"Vanunu violated accepted norms and betrayed his country," Peres told 
Israel's Army Radio on Tuesday. "This is justice."

If, as Vanunu claims, he has nothing more to divulge about Dimona, he 
still might invent "revelations" to satisfy the anti-nuclear and 
anti-Israel lobbies  -- and perhaps secure lucrative interviews and 
lecture tours.

Others worry that Vanunu will reveal the names of his former co-workers at 
the plant.

Also troubling are the ample accounts of Vanunu's mental instability. His 
correspondents recall jailhouse letters filled with fiery denunciations 
against Israel and paranoid theories.

Yet for this very reason, some Israeli observers argue that Vanunu should 
be allowed to leave the country  -- and good riddance.

"I think it is a mistake to gag him," said David Kimche, a 30-year Mossad 
veteran and retired director general of the Foreign Ministry. "It only 
bolsters Vanunu's supposed credibility and, in turn, pretty much anything 
he may choose to concoct about Israel."
*****************************************************************
 5 Guardian - Israel and WMD's
 
Date: Tue, 20 Apr 2004 23:56:53 -0500 (CDT)

 
 http://www.guardian.co.uk/leaders/story/0,3604,1196961,00.html 

Verdict on Vanunu

The Guardian (London) Wednesday April 21, 2004
	Editorial	

The world has changed since Mordechai Vanunu was jailed 18 years ago, not 
least in the field of Israel's nuclear weaponry on which he had blown the 
whistle. The Israeli armed forces now possess missiles capable of 
delivering a nuclear payload up to 1,500 kilometres away, and are 
developing others with much longer range. They have acquired more than 200 
nuclear-capable aircraft, and have completed the land-air-and-sea triad by 
buying three nuclear-capable submarines. They probably have more nuclear 
warheads than Britain, including thermonuclear warheads. Israel is a 
fully-fledged member of the nuclear club and possessor of weapons of mass 
destruction, with just one difference - that it will not admit to the 
fact. Nor will its US ally: Israel is never listed by Washington's 
intelligence agencies among the countries which have acquired WMD. In 1970 
President Nixon agreed with Prime Minister Golda Meir that if Israel kept 
its weapons "in the basement", the US would not press it. In 1998 
President Clinton went further, with a pledge to support the enhancement 
of Israel's "deterrent capabilities" - a euphemism for nuclear weapons.

Other Western governments also steer clear of the subject: Israel still 
maintains its "nuclear ambiguity". Yet today is a rare opportunity, in the 
publicity surrounding Mr Vanunu's release, to take stock of this perverse 
silence. Whatever may have been argued in the past, the world now demands 
- and no one is more vociferous on the subject than the US - full 
transparency from those who may possess WMD. A war has just been fought 
with that avowed purpose in Iraq. At a time when Iran and Libya have been 
encouraged to take the open road, why should Israel be exempt? Any 
prospect of serious steps against nuclear proliferation, such as 
persuading the new nuclear powers (India and Pakistan as well as Israel) 
to accept international restraints, or working towards a nuclear-free zone 
in the Middle East - which Britain says it supports - is stymied as long 
as the Israeli bomb remains in the basement.

As for Mr Vanunu, we should deplore the inhumane way in which he was 
treated in prison where he spent two-thirds of his time in solitary 
confinement, the leaking of material designed to alienate any public 
sympathy in Israel for him and the restrictions now placed on his freedom. 
He may be a traitor to the Israeli state, as Shimon Peres, architect of 
the nuclear programme, called him yesterday, but in exposing a secret 
which needed to be told he has shown a higher duty to wider humanity.
*****************************************************************
 6 PEACE HERO VANUNU LEAVING PRISON BUT NOT FREE TO GO
 
Date: Tue, 20 Apr 2004 14:55:56 -0700

 
<x-flowed>
NEWS ADVISORY

PEACE HERO VANUNU LEAVING PRISON BUT NOT FREE TO GO

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 20, 2004

For updates and audio comment, contact:
Jack Cohen-Joppa
U.S. Campaign to Free Mordechai Vanunu
520-323-8697; call for Israel mobile #s.
Editors:  Live audio and video from the scene expected from multiple 
broadcast services.

"PEACE HERO" MORDECHAI VANUNU, LEAVING PRISON IN HOURS, WILL BE GREETED BY 
WHITE DOVES, FLOWERS... AND YET MORE PUNISHMENT

In less than twelve hours, Israel's captive Mordechai Vanunu is to walk out 
of Shikma Prison, where his home was a cell for the last 18 years.

Over 100 international anti-nuclear, peace and human rights activists, and 
at least as many Israeli supporters of the nuclear whistleblower will 
assemble outside the prison gate at 8:00 am Wednesday morning (1:00 am, New 
York;  4/20 - 10:00 pm, Los Angeles).  At 9:00 am there will be an open 
forum for people to voice their support for Dr. Vanunu.

At the moment of Dr. Vanunu's release, expected by 11:00 am (4:00 am New 
York - 1:00 am Los Angeles) eighteen white doves will be released, one for 
each year of the nuclear whistleblower's imprisonment.

Bouquets of flowers will greet him, and many signs with his smiling photo 
and the words "Thank you, Mordechai Vanunu - Peace Hero, Nuclear 
Whistleblower."

Then the leash stiffens, and the collar tightens. Although his full 
sentence has been served and all his secrets have been told, Mordechai 
Vanunu's next punishment is to shun all contact with foreigners and most 
modern communications while confined to the city of Jaffa for one year.  He 
is denied his passport and is forbidden to enter embassies or approach 
borders and airports.  He may not talk to Israelis about his work at the 
nuclear weapons factory in Dimona, nor even recite his published 
revelations from the pages of the London Sunday Times  in October, 1986.

Tuesday evening at a prison vigil and press conference, many of 200 
supporters tied black cloths across their mouths to symbolize the gag 
order, denounced by Amnesty International as a violation of Vanunu's human 
rights.

The International Campaign to Free Vanunu continues to stand with Mordechai 
Vanunu in condemnation of nuclear weapons and all weapons of mass 
destruction in the Middle East and around the world.  We continue to look 
for a free and open debate on the more than 200 Israeli thermonuclear 
weapons his revelations exposed 18 years ago.

We eagerly anticipate his first steps into freedom and condemn any 
restrictions that may be imposed.

Hundreds of people in over 20 cities around the world will gather tomorrow, 
April 21, to celebrate Mordechai Vanunu's release from Ashkelon Prison and 
condemn any restrictions.

There will be vigils in New York City, Detroit, San Francisco, Boston, 
Washington, D.C., Toronto, Rome, Lisbon, London, Bristol, Edinburgh, 
Glasgow, Dublin, Makati City (Philippines), Sydney, Wellington, Vancouver, 
Birmingham, Bethlehem (Pennsylvania), and Edina (Minnesota).

For more information, see <http://www.vanunu.co.uk>http://www.vanunu.co.uk, 
http://www.vanunu.com/, <http://www.vanunu.org>http://www.vanunu.org

Background:
         In 1986, at the height of the Cold War, Mordechai Vanunu's 
clandestine photos from inside the Dimona nuclear center exposed its 
secrets and confirmed Israel to be a major nuclear weapons 
power.  Kidnapped by Israeli agents just before his story was told in The 
Sunday Times of London, Vanunu was convicted of espionage and treason in a 
secret trial.  He acted out of a belief that in a democracy, people should 
know about and debate such a pivotal issue as nuclear weapons.


-end-
Felice Cohen-Joppa
Coordinator
U.S. Campaign to Free Mordechai Vanunu
POB 43384
Tucson, AZ 85733
Phone/Fax 520-323-8697
freevanunu@mindspring.com
www.nonviolence.org/vanunu

</x-flowed>
*****************************************************************
 7 VANUNU WELCOME PARTY GAGGED FOR PROTEST
 
Date: Tue, 20 Apr 2004 14:58:32 -0700

 
<x-flowed>
NEWS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 20, 2004

Contact:
Jack Cohen-Joppa, U.S. Campaign to Free Mordechai Vanunu
520-323-8697; call for Israel mobile #s.
Editors:  Background info at www.vanunu.com.

VANUNU WELCOME PARTY GAGGED FOR PROTEST;

BROTHER FEARS FOR WHISTLEBLOWER'S SAFETY IN TENSE ISRAEL

         Scores of international supporters of Mordechai Vanunu, their 
mouths gagged, will vigil outside his prison today.  The gags are a 
symbolic protest of the suffocating restrictions (see below) Vanunu must 
face following his release from prison.
         Vanunu, the long imprisoned nuclear whistleblower, is set to leave 
prison Wednesday morning but may not be free.   Authorities have issued a 
set of restrictions (below) with the intent of "banning" Mordechai Vanunu 
from participating fully in civil society, at risk of further imprisonment.
         Beginning at 1 p.m Israel time, some 90 international supporters 
from 13 countries will be joined by Israelis in the silent vigil. 
Representatives of the international delegation will remove their gags to 
speak at a press conference today at 5 p.m. Israel time (10 a.m. EDT), 
across the street from Shikma Prison in Ashkelon, Israel.
         On Monday, the government slightly relaxed the banning order, 
telling Vanunu he would be permitted to discuss his abduction, but not his 
work at Dimona; while sustaining the bar to his leaving the country for at 
least one year.  Other restrictions would be reviewed after six months.
         "Small adjustments of the restrictions are not enough," his 
brother Meir told supporters.  "My brother Mordechai is entitled to to 
leave the country.  With the tense and difficult situation in the country, 
Israel will be unable to guarantee his safety."
         Vanunu's supporters will return to the prison early Wednesday, 
where they will welcome him from the prison with flowers and the release of 
18 white doves, one for each year of his prison witness against nuclear 
weapons and secrecy.

Background:

Restrictions on Vanunu's freedom in brief -
1. He will not be allowed to leave Israel for 12 months.
2. Vanunu will have to register his residence, and receive permission of 
the authorities if he wishes to travel to another city.
4. He will be forbidden to contact foreigners either by phone or in person.
5. It remains unclear whether his American adoptive parents, who last 
visited him at the prison on Monday, will be allowed to communicate at all 
with him when free.
6.  He is forbidden to talk about his work at Dimona with journalists, 
although he may discuss his kidnapping from Italy.
7. He may be near but is forbidden to enter any foreign embassy, and may 
not approach any port of entry or international boundary.

         In 1986, at the height of the Cold War, Mordechai Vanunu's 
clandestine photos from inside the Dimona nuclear center exposed its 
secrets and confirmed Israel to be a major nuclear weapons 
power.  Kidnapped by Israeli agents just before his story was told in The 
Sunday Times of London, Vanunu was convicted of espionage and treason in a 
secret trial.  He acted out of a belief that in a democracy, people should 
know about and debate such a pivotal issue as nuclear weapons.

-end-

</x-flowed>
*****************************************************************
 8 Guardian Unlimited: Brazil Refusal on Inspection Angers IAEA

Tuesday April 20, 2004 2:31 AM

By GEORGE JAHN 

Associated Press Writer 

VIENNA, Austria (AP) - Brazil's refusal to allow the U.N. atomic 
agency to fully inspect one of its nuclear facilities has led to 
frustration within the organization, even though its officials do 
not believe the country is hiding a weapons program, diplomats 
said Monday. 

The diplomats, who are familiar with the International Atomic 
Energy Agency's work, suggested the Vienna-based U.N. nuclear 
watchdog is more annoyed than worried about Brazil's decision to 
deny access earlier this year to uranium enrichment centrifuges 
at a facility being built near Rio de Janeiro. 

``It's not a question of suspecting that Brazil has a covert 
nuclear weapons program,'' said one of the diplomats, who all 
spoke on condition of anonymity. ``It's more a question of 
principle.'' 

Although Brazil signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty in 
1997 and said its nuclear program has purely peaceful objectives, 
questions about its commitment have simmered for more than a 
year. 

The government earlier this month confirmed that IAEA inspectors 
were denied access in February and March to centrifuges at the 
facility, in the town of Resende. 

It cited the need to protect industrial secrets and said the 
centrifuges were, and will remain, off-limits for visual 
inspection. 

The diplomat in Vienna, however rejected that argument. 

``The agency monitors some 900 facilities around the world with a 
myriad of technologies and has a good record of protecting those 
trade secrets,'' he said. 

Another diplomat said Brazil's argument could set a worrying 
precedent at a time the agency is fighting to gain full access to 
Iran's nuclear secrets to test Tehran's assertions that it was 
not pursuing a weapons program. 

Iran became a focus of world concern after last year's discovery 
that it was assembling thousands of centrifuges for uranium 
enrichment, which has uses ranging from generating power to 
making nuclear weapons. Iran denies any weapons ambitions, saying 
it only wants to produce electricity. 

``Brazil's reticence could lead other countries to follow suit,'' 
and make the agency's job of policing nuclear programs more 
complicated, said the diplomat.     

Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004
                                
*****************************************************************
 9 BBC: Brazil 'near deal' in nuclear row 
 
  Last Updated: Tuesday, 20 April, 2004
 
[US Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham and Brazilian Science and 
Technology Minister Eduardo Campos]                                 
Brazil has the world's sixth largest uranium reserves                                                              

Brazil is close to agreeing terms for UN inspections of its new 
nuclear facilities, despite earlier blocking them, a Brazilian 
minister says. 

Only some technical adjustments were needed, Science and 
Technology Minister Eduardo Campos said. 

A row broke out when the government refused International Atomic 
Energy Agency (IAEA) officials access to a new uranium enrichment 
plant. 

Brazil said it was worried about possible industrial espionage. 

Diplomats suggested the UN agency was annoyed, but that it did 
not believe Brazil was concealing weapons. 

Secrets 

Eduardo Campos was optimistic that an agreement to allow 
inspectors in could be agreed, after meeting US Energy Secretary 
Spencer Abraham. 

"We're going to have a good accord, we just need to make some 
technical adjustments to accommodate the interests of the agency 
and protect interests in relation to technology," he said. 

	 		

			
			 				[The Resende nuclear plant in Brazil]  				Security is 
tight at the Resende plant 			 			   		

		 	 	 	 Inspectors were denied access in February and March to 
see new Brazilian-built centrifuges at the facility, in the town 
of Resende. 

Brazil said it needed to protect secret technology, developed by 
Brazilian scientists at a cost of $1bn. 

Diplomats say Brazilian non-compliance could set a worrying 
precedent at a time when the agency is battling with the Iranian 
government over access to all its nuclear secrets. 

"It's not a question of suspecting that Brazil has a covert 
nuclear weapons programme," said a diplomat speaking anonymously 
to the AP news agency. 

"It's more a question of principle." 

Brazil has the world's sixth largest uranium reserves and has had 
the capacity to enrich uranium since 1980. 

Last October it announced that it would start producing 
industrially-enriched uranium in 2004 to feed its two nuclear 
power plants. 

The country decided to abandon its nuclear weapons ambitions in 
1990. 
*****************************************************************
 10 BBC: Vanunu spends last night in jail 
 
  Last Updated: Tuesday, 20 April, 2004
 
	 		
[Protesters outside the Hashkima prison] 
Protesters covered their mouths with black bands                                                                

Anti-nuclear campaigners are gathering outside an Israeli prison 
to await the release of jailed nuclear technician Mordechai 
Vanunu on Wednesday. 

Supporters waved banners welcoming the impending release and 
calling him a "hero of peace". Others expressed anger at 
restrictions he will still face. 

Israel says he is a security threat and has barred him from 
travelling abroad. 

Vanunu spent nearly 18 years in prison for revealing details of 
Israel's clandestine nuclear arms programme. 

The government justified its decision to impose restrictions 
saying he "still possesses state secrets including some which he 
has not revealed". 

'Bravest man' 

Israel's Prisons Authority has announced that Vanunu will be 
freed from Shikma prison in Ashkelon at 1100 (0800 GMT) on 
Wednesday. 


VANUNU CURBS             [Mordechai Vanunu]                     

N passport        
May not leave Israel for a year         
Contact with foreigners only by permission   
Barred from foreign embassies 
Media interviews not permitted  
Banned from discussing nuclear secrets 
Israel's nuclear telltale               

He is widely despised as a traitor in Israel, but he has been 
embraced internationally as a hero by the anti-nuclear movement. 

Among the dozens of activists who have flown to Israel are 
British actress Susannah York and Irish Nobel Peace Prize 
laureate Mairaed Maguire. 

Vanunu was a "man of honour and principle. He is one of the 
bravest men of recent times," York said.

Justin Moraham, an activist who travelled from Ireland for the 
occasion, criticised the imposition of sweeping restrictions 
after he served his sentence. 

"There has been a backlash which has drawn more attention to 
Israel's nuclear programme," he said. "I would hate to think they 
[the Israeli government] are acting out of vengeance but I can't 
find any other reason." 

Fresh warnings 

Israel said it could have placed much tougher post-release 
restrictions on Vanunu - and the length of time the current 
regime will remain in force depends on his behaviour. 

The travel restrictions will be reviewed after one year. 

The defence ministry says it has given him a map of Israel 
marking the areas off-limits to him including ports and airports. 

He has been forbidden from entering any foreign embassy or 
telling the media about his work at the Dimona nuclear plant. 

Israelis heard the 50-year-old's voice for the first time on 
Monday in a tape recording of a recent interrogation in which he 
defended his actions. 

Correspondents said the tape incensed many listeners and was 
clearly broadcast to ensure his image remained tarnished. 

In it he said the Dimona nuclear reactor where he worked should 
be destroyed and Israel should not exist. 

"We don't need a Jewish state. There needs to be a Palestinian 
state," he said on the tape. 

In a BBC interview, Vanunu's brother Meir called into question 
the veracity of the tape and said governments including the UK 
had a duty to ensure his protection amid a "very hostile" media 
campaign against him. 



*****************************************************************
 11 UK Independent: History catches up with Mossad seductress who trapped Vanunu
 
21 April 2004

How 'Cindy' the sex spy found a new life (Vanunu)
at an exclusive Orlando golf suburb. 

Donald Macintyre reports
 
She was the only missing player in the drama which ended in the
18-year incarceration of the man who first told the world Israel
had nuclear weapons. But Cheryl Hanin, the agent who back in
1986 seduced Mordechai Vanunu in London, then lured him to Rome
and into the hands of Mossad, who drugged him and smuggled him
back to Israel, turns out to be alive, well, married and
distinctly prosperous in Alaqua, Florida. 

If the appetite of the Israeli public needed whetting for a
story too improbable for fiction, the country's largest
circulation daily has obliged. 

On the eve of Mr Vanunu's release from an Israeli prison this
morning, Yedhiot Arhronot yesterday painted, in the brightest of
colours, a portrait of the woman who persuaded Mr Vanunu she was
an American tourist called Cindy and sprang the trap from which
Mr Vanunu will escape only when he emerges from Shekma prison in
Ashkelon to a welcoming party of wellwishers and the world's
press. 

Then, she was an attractive, apparently open, and to Vanunu at
least, very friendly 26-year-old. Lyrically, the paper described
yesterday how 18 years on: "Cheryl, her husband and daughters
live today in a private home in the middle of a green and
manicured golf course. Cheryl drives in a blue town and country
van, her husband drives a shiny Chevy Impala. In the pastoral
landscape, white golf carts carrying the residents of the
prestigious neighbourhood move about quietly. 

"This is a dream residential compound for golf lovers, 25
minutes drive north of Orlando. Several hundred homes are spread
out in the neighbourhood land, among artificial ponds and dense
tropical growth." 

To many Israelis, particularly in the defence and security
establishment, Ms Hanin is a heroine who did her patriotic duty
by ensnaring in a honeytrap the man who betrayed the country's
defence secrets. To Vanunu's many supporters in the
international anti-nuclear movement she is the Mata Hari who
destroyed the life of an idealist who thought he was acting in
the higher cause of world peace. 

Understandably perhaps, Ms Hanin - Yedhiot calls her by the
married name of Bentov which she apparently prefers not to use -
has a bad case of media shyness. "For me this is a black story
and I just want to erase it and forget it," the paper quotes her
telling a friend in Israel. 

She has a history of moving on when confronted by the press.
When The Sunday Times, who first published Mr Vanunu's
sensational revelations of the secrets of the Dimona nuclear
plant, discovered her living quietly in the northern Israeli
town of Netanya in 1988, she left Israel for her native United
States. 

Since then, Yedhiot says, she and her family have not returned
to Israel, although they still maintain a home in Kochav Yair,
which, in effect, is their only link to Israel. She was
"rediscovered" by the press a decade later and moved within
Florida. Even her new life in Florida is not exactly a Yedhiot
scoop. Last month the St Petersburg Times in Florida unearthed
her again, and published a lengthy story which differed in some
details from Yedhiot's. 

It had her driving "a red Cutlass convertible" and estimated
that her house was worth just more than $500,000 (£330,000)
rather than the $1m value attributed to it by the Israeli paper. 

Neither Ms Hanin nor her husband were keen to be interviewed.
When approached by the American newspaper "the burly Ben Tov",
dressed in khakis and a maroon knit shirt, declined a request
for an interview, and when a reporter visited the firm's
headquarters in downtown Orlando. "So long, see you later," he
said, and quickly retreated to his office. When the American
paper reached a woman last month by telephone, she replied: "I
have no interest in talking." And hung up. 

Yedhiot quotes a close friend in Florida as explaining: "She
left Israel to flee the media and the people who burrowed into
her life. This bothered her a lot. She was terrified about
journalists who came into her home and asked her questions. She
felt a need to run. Since this affair Cheryl wants only one
thing: a normal, quiet life." 

This is a very different life from the one which prepared her
for her last major assignment. Gordon Thomas, author of Gideon's
Spies, the Secret History of Mossad, wrote: "She was sent on
practice missions, breaking into an occupied hotel room,
stealing documents from an office. 

"She was roused from her bed in the dead of night and dispatched
on more exercises: picking up a tourist in a nightclub, then
disengaging herself outside his hotel. Every move she made was
observed by her tutors." After her training, Ms Hanin joined the
Mossad unit that worked with Israeli embassies, where she
apparently posed as the wife or girlfriend of other agents. 

Her last mission began when she engineered a meeting with Vanunu
in Leicester Square and suggested a coffee, saying she was a
beautician on holiday. Next day they met in the Tate gallery and
began to see more of each other. 

Peter Hounam, the Sunday Times journalist who had debriefed
Vanunu, warned him that she could be a Mossad agent, but Vanunu
insisted: "She is just a tourist who is critical of Israel. I
think you would like her." 

There were plans for Mr Vanunu to bring his new girlfriend to Mr
Hounam's house but he cancelled because he "going out of the
city". The trap, in other words, had been set. 

Ms Hanin has until recently worked as an estate agent, as does
her husband, also a former Mossad operative. Their daughters,
aged 12 and 16, speak Hebrew, and according to Yedhiot, go every
year to "the prestigious Scouts' camp in Atlanta, which teaches
Zionism and has Israeli counsellers, to which Jewish children
from all over the US come. The Bentovs are among the generous
donors to the camp". 

The paper adds that the person closest to Cheryl Bentov, whom
she trusts unconditionally, is her mother, Riki Hanin, who lives
close by and works as a property agent in Orlando and is very
active in the Jewish community. 

Yedhiot quotes one unnamed acquaintance as saying she has
"exposed and shaky nerves. It was enough for her to suspect that
her friends were talking about her big secret, for her to
immediately cut off contact. Even relatives who talked about her
found themselves banished from the family. She moves between
discretion and paranoia". 

In particular, the paper suggests, she is apprehensive that
Vanunu, who is forbidden to go abroad for at least a year, will
somehow make trouble for her after his release. The paper asks
whether such seemingly unlikely fears are justified and remarks
that "at least according to what Mordechai told his brother
recently, he has no plans to get even with her". 

Going home: a nation transformed by 18 painful years 

The Israel into which Mordechai Vanunu will emerge this morning
has changed in many ways from the one he left behind 18 years
ago. 

The first of the two Palestinian intifadas was still more than a
year away; Yasser Arafat was in exile in Tunis, and not many
people would have bet that Ariel Sharon, rebuilding his career
as Trade and Industry Minister after being censured for the
massacres at the Beirut refugee camps of Sabra and Chatila in
1982, would nearly two decades later be prime minister after
winning two general elections. 

And not only the politics have changed. Tel Aviv, next-door
neighbour to the old town of Jaffa where Mr Vanunu is expected
to live, has changed almost beyond recognition: its high-rise,
architect-designed office blocks now dominate the skyline. 

The private, upscale Andromeda Hills housing complex, rising
above the slums of Jaffa, and where his home is likely to be,
was not even on an architect's drawing board. In Tel Aviv, he
may be amazed by the range of restaurants, wine bars and pubs in
what has become a sophisticated, cosmopolitan city, where then
there was a choice between staple Middle Eastern food and
central European Jewish cooking. 

Mr Vanunu may be initially bewildered by the almost universal
use of the mobile phone - 20 years ago there was a six-month
wait for a landline - perhaps even more so by multilingual,
multichannel satellite television. 

He may be surprised by the huge growth in Russian-speaking
citizens of Israel - not all of them Jews - with their own
newspapers and television stations, and by the gap between the
wealthy and the poor in what two decades ago was still a highly
egalitarian society. The soup kitchens of today were almost
unknown then. 

Another change has been the relative progress made in public and
commercial life by oriental Jews, a class to which Mr Vanunu's
own family as immigrants from Morocco belong, even if they are
still disproportionately represented among the poor. 

Another surprise may be the decline - or at least
individualisation - in property, private pensions and
differential incomes of the kibbutzim, then such a symbol of the
old Israel. 

He will probably find Israel, particularly Jerusalem, if and
when he is allowed to go there, more pervasively religious; but
also that the polarisation between the secular, reflected in the
dramatic growth of the Shinui party in the last two elections,
and the religious has sharply increased. Yet he will also find a
phenomenon virtually unknown then: openly gay and lesbian people
with their own bars and social networks. 

But you wouldn't have to be as political as Mr Vanunu to realise
how dramatically the political and security environment has
altered. The West Bank settlements have grown substantially. He
will not be accustomed to the multiplicity of checkpoints or by
the fact that Israelis no longer shop freely in West Bank towns.
And he will have to get used to the security man at the door of
almost every bar, restaurant and office: suicide attacks were
almost unknown 18 years ago. 	           

UK Independent Ltd.

*****************************************************************
 12 Maariv International: Why muzzle Vanunu?
 
4.21.2004         

Maariv Hebrew [http://www.maariv.co.il]   

In last interview, Rantisi claimed Israeli pullout as Palestinian 
victory   
    
But wasn't sure he'd live to see it. Told "Bitter Lemons" the day 
before he was killed by Israel that a full Palestinian triumph 
would mean "liberating the entire country."   
  
Op-Eds   

Why muzzle Vanunu? If Vanunu reveals any previously unknown 
information about â€œInstitute 2â€ in Dimona, he should be tried 
again. But talking about the nuclear option is not a crime. Rafi 
Mann [contact@maariv.co.il?subject=Rafi Mann] 

We may assume that it was coincidental that the tape of the 
interview with Mordechai Vanunu reached the media on Holocaust 
Martyrs and Heroes Memorial Day. It is doubtful that the security 
agencies consciously chose to present his comments that Judaism 
is a â€œretarded religionâ€ and about the State of Israel on a 
day when many people are inclined to consider nuclear weapons as 
the Jewish peopleâ€™s comprehensive insurance policy against 
another Holocaust. 

The timing was perfect for those who want to show Vanunu in the 
worst possible light and gather public support for some of the 
inscrutable actions that the security agencies have initiated. No 
less inscrutable is the fact that the Attorney General gave his 
approval for some of these moves even though he refused the 
request to place Vaanunu in administrative detention. 

Based on the intensive discussions of the past few months, one 
could think that Vanunu is going to recover secret documents â€“ 
perhaps a list of where bombs are hidden â€“ from a chest that he 
buried twenty years ago, fly abroad and display the hidden 
documents on every available platform, in front of every 
microphone and camera. 

In reality, the issue is something else, something that security 
officials rarely discuss. The â€œsecurity dangerâ€ that the 
security establishment used to convince the Attorney General to 
approve limitations on Vanunu even after he has served his full 
term, without any discounts or reduction, has nothing to do with 
secrets. It is related to the amount of public discussion, in 
Israel and internationally, about what is actually under that 
silver dome in the desert near Dimona.

As Director of Security at the Ministry of Defense, Yehiel Horev, 
told the Knessetâ€™s Law and Justice Committee in March, "It is 
as if you were walking with a glass of water. If the water 
spills, the ambiguity will dissolve. Then, according to some 
estimates, we could find ourselves under very severe sanctions". 
This quote goes to the heart of the matter, the issue of 
â€œambiguityâ€ or the cloud of partial uncertainty that Israel 
has developed around its nuclear program ever since the early 
1960â€™s, when Shimon Peres stated the principle, â€œIsrael will 
not be the first to introduce nuclear weapons into the Middle 
Eastâ€ during a meeting with the late US President John F. 
Kennedy. 

Note that Israel was not sanctioned either when Vanunu revealed 
information and pictures to the Sunday Times in 1986 or when Dr. 
Avner Cohen published his fascinating and detailed book Israel 
and the Bomb. Nor did sanctions follow the publication of the 
several thousand articles that have dispersed even more of the 
clouds around Dimona. Anyone who read those articles has no need 
for Vanunu, model 2004. 

Considering the spin and attempts to implant fear, it should be 
remembered: expressing an opinion, even one about nuclear 
weapons, is not a crime. Attorney General Meni Mazuz said that 
explicitly at the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Security Committee 
meeting. Security experts, Knesset members, professors and 
ordinary citizens have already written and spoken about every 
aspect of the subject. If Vaanunu reveals any previously unknown 
information about what is done in Institute 2 from the â€œGolda 
Balconyâ€ [the Dimona reactor] and down, he will become a crime 
suspect and it might be necessary to bring him to trial. However, 
a principled discussion of the countryâ€™s nuclear options is 
permitted in a democratic country.
 
(2004-04-20 13:46:10.0)   
      
  © Maariv International 2004 All Rights Reserved     

*****************************************************************
 13 Haaretz: CNN team questioned on suspicion of filming at nuclear plant  
 
Homepage [http://www.haaretz.com]          

Last Update: 20/04/2004 18:24   
    	 
  By Nir Hasson [nirh@haaretz.co.il] , Haaretz Correspondent,
and Haaretz Service   	 
    
A team from the American news corporation CNN was questioned by 
Israel Police on Tuesday on suspicion of trying to film at the 
country's nuclear reactor in Dimona.    

The four-strong team was detained at around 5 P.M. Tuesday after 
apparently attempting to shoot footage on a road to the right of 
the reactor. 

The four were originally questioned by the nuclear plant's 
security officers, who then reported the matter to Dimona police. 

During questioning, the four said that they had visited the 
nuclear plant as part of preparations for the release of nuclear 
whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu on Wednesday. 

The team's film was confiscated and the four were to be released 
shortly afterward. 

A spokeswoman for CNN told Haaretz that the four were not trying 
to film at the plant, but had mistakenly crossed into a secured 
area. 

  © Copyright  Haaretz. All rights reserved   
*****************************************************************
 14 Nuclear Energy Institute: Devil's Advocate For Nuclear Power

- Guest Author
 
 Dean M. Brooks, 04/20/04

 It's amazing what a little shortage of electricity will do for 
your view of what's needed for the future. -- Joe Colvin, a 
spokesman for the Nuclear Energy Institute

 With the possible exception of Big Tobacco, the nuclear energy 
industry has lived through the greatest public relations 
nightmare since the beginning of the Atomic Age in the 1950's. 
Disasters such as Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, worldwide 
anti-nuclear protests and coalitions, the NIMBY effect, and even 
such children's shows as Captain Planet, Toxic Avengers and The 
Simpsons, have all routinely portrayed the industry in a bad 
light. No other sector of the American economy needs a 
well-spoken, "devil's advocate" as much as nuclear power, and the 
Nuclear Energy Institute fulfills that need.

As the Washington-based lobbying arm of the nuclear energy 
industry, the NEI states its main mission is to "ensure the 
formation of policies that promote the beneficial uses of nuclear 
energy and technologies in the United States and around the 
world." These policies include helping to develop a national 
energy policy that promotes a diverse and reliable energy supply 
by educating the public and elected officials about the value of 
nuclear power, and rebuilding public and governmental support for 
nuclear initiatives. 

Since its founding in 1994, the NEI has developed over 260 
corporate members from 15 countries in nuclear related 
businesses. Donald Hintz, the chairman of the NEI, is also the 
president of Energy Corporation. Additionally, over 4,000 
industry professionals participate in NEI activities and programs 
year round. These activities include acting as an industry voice 
by providing information to the U.S. Congress, Executive Branch 
agencies, federal regulators as well as international 
organizations and venues. 

By and large, the NEI receives funding from corporations or via 
private donations from individuals. In the 2003-2004 year, NEI 
received a $1,000 donation from Peter Burg, the Chairman and CEO 
of First Energy Corp, and another $1,000 from Anthony Earley Jr, 
Chairman and CEO of DTE Energy. Still, the Institute is 
relatively small, concentrating its resources on the campaigns of 
those political candidates who look favorably upon the 
organization's ideas. As of its last report on February 29, 2004, 
the NEI had donated $48,320 to federal candidates, with 35% going 
to Democrats and 65% going to Republicans. The NEI has given the 
lion's share of its donations to Republicans over the years. In 
the 2002 election year cycle, 68% of $147,527 went to 
Republicans, and 32% went to Democrats. In 2000, Republicans took 
71% of $160,391 while Democrats got a scant 29%. In 1998, 
Democrats got slightly more, with 36% of $70,819, while the 
Republicans took 64%.

However, the NEI performs other functions besides distributing 
funds for worthy politicians. Over the last ten years it has 
provided "accurate and timely information on the nuclear industry 
to members, policymakers, the news media, and the public." On its 
website, the NEI even has a kid-friendly section called Science 
Club, where it explains the intricacies of nuclear power in an 
entertaining fashion. The NEI also publishes informative booklets 
in PDF format that are available on its website. 

Despite occasional appearances in the major news media, the NEI 
is no Greenpeace or NRA. This is partially due to the fact that 
its resources are scarce, and its members are few, consisting 
mainly of industry participants. Also, because the topic of 
nuclear power is often overwhelmed by those who cite fears over 
safety issues and the storage of nuclear waste (as seen with the 
ongoing debate over Yucca Mountain in Nevada), the NEI prefers to 
quietly deliver information to government officials mostly inside 
the Washington beltway. The NEI does not report any kind of 
student organizing or widespread public education, except for the 
information provided on its website. Nor does it seek to become 
controversial in a haughty fashion (i.e. scaling Big Ben to 
protest the Iraq war as Greenpeace members have).

In the fight to defend nuclear power, the NEI has performed well 
in keeping politicians informed of the benefits of the split 
atom. Overall public and governmental support for nuclear energy 
has begun to increase, especially after the East Coast blackout 
in August of 2003. Says Democratic Senator Bob Graham of Florida, 
"One of the reasons that I have been a supporter of nuclear power 
is because we've had such a good experience in Florida, where we 
have three nuclear farms and they contribute about 20 percent of 
our total energy supply." 

Perhaps the best trophy of success for the NEI, however, won't 
come until the construction of a brand new nuclear power plant -- 
something that last happened in 1978. In 2001 the Nuclear Energy 
Assembly, the NEI's annual meeting, announced its Vision 2020 
program, calling for the addition of 50,000 megawatts of power to 
the U.S. power grid by that year. However, difficulties still 
persist for companies who want to build power plants. The latest 
attempt was by Illinois-based Exelon Generation Co. and 
Virginia-based Dominion Energy, who submitted an early site 
permit to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in September of 2003 
for possible future nuclear plants in Clinton, Illinois and North 
Anna, Virginia. 

One way for the NEI to better promote nuclear power is to launch 
an aggressive media campaign (i.e. television and radio 
commercials) in support of constructing new plants. In an 
atmosphere of terrorism, it would certainly do no harm for the 
NEI to remind the public that every new power plant built reduces 
America's dependence on foreign oil. This is something both 
President George W. Bush and Democratic presidential nominee John 
Kerry have stressed in their speeches concerning energy, homeland 
security, and the economy. Kerry even wants to make the U.S. 
completely self-reliant for its energy needs within ten years. 
Interestingly, energy (or the lack thereof) touches nearly all 
aspects of life in the U.S. The country can no longer afford to 
turn its back to what very well might bring a host of solutions. 
Nuclear power means cheaper energy, more jobs, a safer, more 
reliable power grid with less chance of allowing a cascading 
effect as seen in the August ‘03 blackout, a cleaner environment 
(nuclear power plants emit no carbon dioxide), and ultimately, a 
freer, more independent America. 

Spokesmen of the NEI should also visit as many universities as 
possible not only to educate students about nuclear energy, but 
also to inform them of the growing employment needs in the 
industry. In the aftermath of the 2003 blackout, there is no 
better time for the NEI to inform the country what a cold, dark, 
expensive future awaits its citizens in a world without adequate 
power. Long the goat of the energy industry, it will not be long 
before nuclear power becomes the lion.
 
Dean M. Brooks is a junior at Loyola University Chicago majoring 
in political science. He enjoys reading Ayn Rand, discussing 
current events, and watching the Lakers.

  Send feedback to author [Brooks0503@aol.com; 
letters@americandaily.com?subject=American Daily Feedback]   - 
  
  Copyright © 2003 Guest Author.
*****************************************************************
 15 San Luis Obispo Tribune: Of experts and transparency

| 04/20/2004 | Opinion of The Tribune

 The Tribune

Question: How many nuclear power plants are located around 
Arlington, Texas? 

Answer: None. 

Question: How many nuclear power plants are located in San Luis 
Obispo County? 

Answer: One. 

Question: What links these two questions? 

Answer: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's regional office, 
based in Arlington, is the outfit that has federal jurisdiction 
over Diablo Canyon's safety. 

We bring this up to illustrate a point: If the people who live 
within an evacuation zone of a nuclear power plant want to have a 
say about that plant's safety, shouldn't they be given that 
opportunity? 

Not according to the NRC. And that's why, after two years of 
failed appeals for just such input, Mothers for Peace will 
finally have its day in federal court. The case could have 
far-reaching ramifications in how much input local governments 
may have in influencing nuclear plant safety and shipping of 
nuclear waste. 

Mothers for Peace is supported by the San Luis Obispo County 
Counsel's Office -- at the direction of the Board of Supervisors 
-- and attorneys general of California, Massachusetts, Utah and 
Washington. 

We agree with county lawyers, who have noted in their 
friend-of-the-court brief filed on behalf of the Mothers, that 
"... the NRC has cut itself off from practical benefit of the 
unique local knowledge that the county's citizens and elected 
representatives would bring to ... the environmental impacts of 
terrorist threats." 

We also agree that giving an opportunity to express concerns will 
go a long way toward giving residents a greater sense of security 
about Diablo and a buy into nuclear power in general. 

Unfortunately, the NRC, acting in what appears to be more of an 
industry lobbying role than an industry regulating agency, has 
chosen to take a paternal view toward local participation. When 
greater transparency in the process is urged, the NRC adopts an 
attitude that this will create a security breach for the 
industry. 

As a spokesman for the Nuclear Energy Institute notes: "... these 
plants were safe and secure before 9/11, and they are even safer 
now." 

That's good. But by bringing local experts, elected officials and 
the public at large into the conversation on terrorist threats to 
nuclear power plants, we're looking for "safest" not "safer."   

*****************************************************************
 16 Brattleboro Reformer: N.H. Senate passes resolution for review at Yankee

 [http://www.reformer.com/]   

April 20, 2004 
 			 								 					
By CAROLYN LORIÉ 
Reformer Staff

BRATTLEBORO -- The New Hampshire Senate added its voice to the 
long list of government bodies and public officials calling on 
the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to increase its scrutiny of 
Vermont Yankee, prior to the plant's proposed 20 percent 
"uprate."

 The non-binding resolution passed Thursday called on the NRC to 
perform an independent safety assessment, similar to the request 
made by the Vermont Senate last month.

 Vermont Yankee, which is owned by Entergy Nuclear of Louisiana, 
applied to the NRC and the state Public Service Board for 
permission to increase its power output from 540 megawatts to 650 
megawatts, the largest such increase allowed.

 On March 15, the board gave conditional approval for the uprate. 
Among the imposed conditions is that the plant undergo an 
independent engineering assessment. 

Although many opponents of the uprate were calling for an 
independent safety assessment, similar to the one performed at 
Maine Yankee nuclear power plant in 1996, the board was limited 
in what it could request. Because the NRC is the sole regulator 
of radiological health and safety, had the board's order included 
language regarding safety, Entergy could have appealed the order 
on the grounds that it was preemptive.

 Unlike the board, however, requests made by state legislatures 
and state officials have no such restrictions. Nonetheless, only 
the Vermont and New Hampshire Senates have asked specifically for 
safety assessments. All other requests have echoed the board's 
call for an independent engineering assessment.

 Among those who have publicly asked the NRC to increase its 
examination of the plant are the Vermont State Nuclear Advisory 
Panel, the Vermont House of Representatives, U.S. Sens. Patrick 
Leahy and Jim Jeffords, U.S. Rep. John Olver, D-Mass., Keene 
Mayor Michael Blastos, and Massachusetts state Rep. Stephen 
Kulik.

 Despite the number of requests, the NRC is under no obligation 
to augment its uprate review process. In a March 29 letter to 
Sens. Leahy and Jeffords, William Travers, executive director of 
operations for the NRC, wrote that "...the NRC will continue to 
perform the normal risk-informed baseline inspection program at 
this time."

 At a contentious public meeting held on the March 31, however, 
the NRC stated that its response to the senators was not its 
official response to the board's request. The commission has not 
yet replied to the board.

 Also included in the board's order is the right to retain 
jurisdiction over the case until the conditions are met.

 The NRC is expected to complete its uprate review process in 
early 2005.

 According to New Hampshire Sen. Clifton Below, D-Lebanon, an 
original sponsor of the resolution, the Senate unintentionally 
used more stringent language than was used by the Vermont Senate. 
The New Hampshire legislature depended on the State of Vermont's 
Web site and accidentally copied the original resolution as 
opposed to the amended version that was passed by the Senate.

 The version passed by New Hampshire, among other things, 
included a reference to the independent safety assessment done at 
Maine Yankee.

 Despite the error, opponents to the uprate applauded the New 
Hampshire Senate for its position.

 "The New Hampshire Senate hit the nail squarely on the head. 
It's safety that the people are concerned with," said Peter 
Alexander, executive director of the New England Coalition. "Now 
the governors of the New England states, including and especially 
[Vt.] Gov. [James] Douglas, should do the right and conservative 
thing by demanding a full independent safety assessment, similar 
to the scale and scope to the one performed at Maine Yankee in 
1996.

 Below said that he was "skeptical" of Vermont Yankee's request 
and that after last week's discovery of cracks in the steam 
dryers at the plant, his skepticism has only increased.

 "I would be concerned about a 20 percent uprate at such an old 
plant and would like to see a comprehensive revisit," said Below.

*****************************************************************
 17 Toronto Star: Faulty work blamed for shutdown

TheStar.com - 

  Tue. Apr. 20, 2004. | Updated at 08:51 PM  

Poor maintenance idled Pickering generator, source says
Nuclear unit's 50 days out of service costs up to $30 million

JOHN SPEARS BUSINESS REPORTER

A generator breakdown at one unit of the Pickering B nuclear 
station is costing Ontario Power Generation tens of millions of 
dollars in lost revenue.

The generator marked its 50th day out of service yesterday, a 
period in which OPG has lost as much as $30 million in revenue. 
And one source at the plant says that substandard maintenance 
triggered the unexpected shutdown.

Unit 6 was pulled out of service March 1, when OPG said a warning 
indicated problems with a hydrogen cooling system in the 
generator's rotor. The rotor spins an array of powerful magnets; 
electricity is generated when the spinning magnetic field 
interacts with stationary wire coils, which are cooled by water.

 When technicians started pulling the generator apart, they 
discovered the problem was not with the hydrogen cooling system, 
but more likely occurred in the water-cooling system, OPG 
spokesperson John Earl said. 

Because of the huge electrical charges present in the generator, 
the water must be kept pure. Contaminants can cause electric 
currents to arc and short-circuit, damaging the reactor.

"In one area of the turbine generator they did find some debris," 
Earl said in an interview. "What the debris is is still under 
investigation."

But a source at the plant says questionable maintenance is 
responsible for the breakdown.

The source said welds inside the generator were smoothed coarsely 
with a wire brush that left metal shards inside the generator. 

When the generator started, the metal shards triggered 
short-circuits and arcs that damaged the generator and forced the 
shutdown. 

Nuclear units are designed to run non-stop except for scheduled 
maintenance periods. The current shutdown was not scheduled.

Had it been running at full capacity over the past 50 days, the 
unit would have produced 600,000 megawatt hours of power. At the 
March average price of $50 a megawatt hour (5 cents a kilowatt 
hour), the lost revenue to date comes to $30 million.

 Even assuming a substandard performance of 80 per cent capacity, 
losing the generator for 50 days would have cost $24 million in 
lost revenue.

The loss of the unit, one of four at the Pickering B station, 
isn't causing power shortages because demand for electricity is 
low at this time of year.

OPG may have recouped some revenue by producing power from other 
sources, such as its coal-burning plants. But burning coal is 
more expensive than running a nuclear plant. And because of 
Ontario's competitive market, it's probable that privately owned 
generators stepped in to fill the void.

The generator continues to cost $600,000 a day in lost revenue as 
it sits idle. Earl said the repair work has been done and the 
generator is being reassembled, but the complex job will take 
more time. He said OPG used the generator's unexpected downtime 
for other maintenance work. OPG couldn't say yesterday how much 
it has spent to repair the damage.

Legal Notice: Copyright Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. All 
*****************************************************************
 18 MBJ: Prairie Island nuclear power plant to install new steam generators - 

2004-04-20 - The Business Journal (Minneapolis/St. Paul)

Xcel Energy Inc.'s Prairie Island nuclear plant on Tuesday 
received two replacement steam generators from a French company. 

The new generators will be installed in Unit 1 of the plant when 
the plant is temporarily idled this fall for a scheduled 
refueling. The shutdown will probably last from mid-September to 
mid-November. 

The 329-ton steam generators were made by Framatome in France, a 
joint venture between Areva of France and Siemens in Germany. 
They were transferred by boat across the ocean and up the 
Mississippi to Prairie Island. 

Steam generators are about 70 feet tall and have a diameter of 
about 15 feet. They are used to transfer heat from water heated 
under pressure inside the reactor to a second, closed water 
system. The water is turned to steam and drives the 
turbine-generators at the plant to make electricity. 

© 2004 American City Business Journals Inc.
 
*****************************************************************
 19 NRC: NRC to Meet With Nebraska Public Power District to Discuss Recent Inspection at
                     Cooper Nuclear Station
News Release - Region IV - 2004-01
 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 

Office of Public Affairs, Region IV
  No. IV-04-019           April 20, 2004   
  CONTACT:     Victor Dricks
Phone: 817-860-8128
     E-mail: opa4@nrc.gov [opa4@nrc.gov]   
  


Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will meet with
representatives of Nebraska Public Power District on May 12, to
present the NRCs findings resulting from a recently completed
inspection of Cooper Nuclear Station, located near Brownville,
Nebraska. The inspection was associated with the Confirmatory
Action Letter NRC issued on January 30, 2003. 

The meeting, which will be open to the public for observation,
is scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m. at Brownville Concert Hall,
Atlantic Avenue and Second Street, Brownville. NRC staff will
discuss results of the inspection, which looked at emergency
planning, human performance, equipment reliability, corrective
action programs and engineering at the plant. Before the session
is adjourned, NRC staff will be available to answer questions
from the public. 

Since April 2002, Cooper has been subject to increased NRC
oversight because of plant performance problems. The
Confirmatory Action Letter describes steps Nebraska Public Power
District officials agreed to take to improve plant performance. 

The letter can be found in the agency's electronic document
system (ADAMS) using the documents access number ML030310263 as
the search term. ADAMS can be accessed through the NRC's web
site at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams/web-based.html. Help
in using ADAMS is available by contacting the NRC Public
Document Room at (301) 415-4737 or 1-800-397-4209.   



  


 	Last revised Tuesday, April 20, 2004 	   
*****************************************************************
 20 NRC: Union Electric Company; Notice of Partial Withdrawal of 
 
                         FR Doc E4-893 
[Federal Register: April 20, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 76)] 
[Notices] [Page 21166] From the Federal Register Online via GPO 
Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr20ap04-102]                         
 
Application for Amendment to Facility Operating License The U.S. 
Nuclear Regulatory Commission (the Commission) has granted the 
request of Union Electric Company (the licensee) to partially 
withdraw its June 27, 2003, application for proposed amendment to 
Facility Operating License No. NPF-30 for the Callaway Plant, 
Unit 1, located in Callaway County, Missouri.
 
The proposed amendment will approve the application of 
leak-before- break methodology for the accumulator and residual 
heat removal lines and installation of an opening the secondary 
shield wall in terms of the effect of the opening on occupational 
exposure. The shield wall opening is related to plant 
modifications that would facilitate maintenance on the 
replacement steam generators to be installed in Refueling Outage 
(RO) 14 (Fall 2005). The licensee withdrew the part of the 
amendment request that would apply LBB to the pressurizer surge 
line Alloy 82/182 weld location.
 
The Commission had previously issued a Notice of Consideration of 
Issuance of Amendment published in the Federal Register on July 
22, 2003 (68 FR 43397). However, by letter dated April 5, 2004, 
the licensee partially withdrew the proposed change.
 
For further details with respect to this action, see the 
application for amendment dated June 27, 2003, and the licensee's 
letter dated April 5, 2004, which partially withdrew the 
application for license amendment. Documents may be examined, 
and/or copied for a fee, at the NRC's Public Document Room (PDR), 
located at One White Flint North, Public File Area O1 F21, 11555 
Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, Maryland. Publicly 
available records will be accessible electronically from the 
Agencywide Documents Access and Management Systems (ADAMS) Public 
Electronic Reading Room on the internet at the NRC Web site, 
[http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leaving 
FR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams/html] 
. Persons who do not have access to ADAMS or who encounter 
problems in accessing the documents located in ADAMS, should 
contact the NRC PDR Reference staff by telephone at 
1-800-397-4209, or 301-415-4737 or by email to  [pdr@nrc.gov] . 
Dated in Rockville, Maryland, this 12th day of April, 2004.
 
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
 
Jack N. Donohew, Project Manager, Section 2, Project Directorate 
IV, Division of Licensing Project Management, Office of Nuclear 
Reactor Regulation.
 
[FR Doc. E4-893 Filed 4-19-04; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P

 
*****************************************************************
 21 NRC: Duke Energy Corporation; McGuire Nuclear Station, Units 1 and 2; 
 
                         FR Doc E4-894 
[Federal Register: April 20, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 76)] 
[Notices] [Page 21165-21166] From the Federal Register Online via 
GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr20ap04-101]                         
 
Exemption 1.0 Background The Duke Energy Corporation (the 
licensee) is the holder of Renewed Facility Operating License 
Nos. NPF-9 and NPF-17 which authorizes operation of the McGuire 
Nuclear Station, Units 1 and 2 (McGuire). The license provides, 
among other things, that the facility is subject to all rules, 
regulations, and orders of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission 
(NRC, the Commission) now or hereafter in effect.
 
The facility consists of two pressurized-water reactors located 
in Mecklenburg County in North Carolina.
 
2.0 Request/Action Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations 
(10 CFR) part 73, appendix B, Section I.B.b.(1), ``Vision,'' (a) 
states, ``For each individual, distant visual acuity in each eye 
shall be correctable to 20/30 (Snellen or equivalent) in the 
better eye and 20/40 in the other eye with eyeglasses or contact 
lenses. If uncorrected distance vision is not at least 20/40 in 
the better eye, the individual shall carry an extra pair of 
corrective lenses. Near visual acuity, corrected or uncorrected, 
shall be at least 20/40 in the better eye. Field of vision must 
be at least 70[deg] horizontal meridian in each eye. The ability 
to distinguish red, green, and yellow colors is required. Loss of 
vision in one eye is disqualifying. Glaucoma shall be 
disqualifying, unless controlled by acceptable medical or 
surgical means, provided such medications as may be used for 
controlling glaucoma do not cause undesirable side effects which 
adversely affect the individual's ability to perform assigned 
security job duties, and provided the visual acuity and field of 
vision requirements stated above are met. On-the-job evaluation 
shall be used for individuals who exhibit a mild color vision 
defect.'' The regulation at 10 CFR part 73, appendix B, Section 
III.A.IV, ``Weapons qualification and requalification program,'' 
states, ``Qualification firing for the handgun and rifle must be 
for daylight firing, and each individual shall perform night 
firing for familiarization with assigned weapon(s). The results 
of weapons qualification and requalification must be documented 
by the licensee or the licensee's agent. Each individual shall be 
requalified at least every 12 months. The licensee shall retain 
this documentation of each qualification and requalification as a 
record for three years from the date of the qualification or 
requalification, as appropriate.
 
A. Handgun--Guards, armed escorts and armed response personnel 
shall qualify with a revolver or semiautomatic pistol firing from 
the national police course, or an equivalent nationally 
recognized course. Qualifying score shall be an accumulated total 
of 70 percent of the maximum obtainable score.
 
B. Semiautomatic Rifle--Guards, armed escorts and armed response 
personnel, assigned to use the semiautomatic rifle by the 
licensee training and qualifications plan, shall qualify with a 
semiautomatic rifle by firing the 100-yard course of fire 
specified in section 17.5(1) of the National Rifle Association, 
High Power Rifle Rules book (effective March 15, 1976) or a 
nationally recognized equivalent course of fire. Targets used 
shall be as stated in section 17.5 for the 100- yard course. Time 
limits for individuals shall be as specified in section 8.2 of 
the NRA rulebook, regardless of the course fired. Qualifying 
scores shall be an accumulated total of 80 percent of the maximum 
obtainable score.
 
C. Shotgun--Guards, armed escorts and armed response personnel 
assigned to use the 12-gauge shotgun by the licensee training and 
qualifications plan shall qualify with a full choke or improved 
modified choke 12-gauge shotgun. To qualify, the individual shall 
be required to place 50 percent of all pellets (36) pellets 
within the black silhouette.
 
D. Requalification--Individuals shall be weapons requalified at 
least every 12 months in accordance with the NRC approved 
licensee training and qualifications plan, and in accordance with 
the requirements stated in A, B, and C of this section.'' In its 
letter of June 12, 2003, the licensee requested an exemption from 
the distant visual requirements of 10 CFR part 73, appendix B, 
Section I.B.b(1). The licensee's letter of June 12, 2003, is 
being withheld from public disclosure pursuant to 10 CFR 
2.390(a)(6), because the letter contains information about an 
employee's personnel and medical records, a disclosure of which 
would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal 
privacy.
 
3.0 Discussion Pursuant to 10 CFR 50.12, the Commission may, upon 
application by any interested person or upon its own initiative, 
grant exemptions from the requirements of 10 CFR part 50 when (1) 
the exemptions are authorized by law, will not present an undue 
risk to public health or safety, and are consistent with the 
common defense and security; and (2) when special circumstances 
are present.
 
The NRC staff has reviewed the individual's visual medical 
evaluations and has determined that granting the exemption will 
not jeopardize the health and safety of the public or be inimical 
to the common defense and security. The NRC staff's Safety 
Evaluation is provided in the Enclosure, that is being withheld 
from public disclosure because it also contains information about 
an employee's personnel and medical records, a disclosure of 
which would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal 
privacy.
 
Therefore, the NRC staff concludes that, pursuant to 10 CFR 
50.12(a)(2), the exemption requested by the licensee in its June 
12, 2003, submittal should be granted.
 
4.0 Conclusion Accordingly, the Commission has determined that, 
pursuant to 10 CFR 50.12(a), the exemption is authorized by law, 
will not present an undue risk to the public health and safety, 
and is consistent with the common defense and security. Also, 
special circumstances are present. Therefore, the Commission 
hereby grants Duke Energy Corporation an exemption from the 
requirements of 10 CFR part 73, appendix B, Section I.B.b(1), 
``Vision,'' for the McGuire Nuclear Station, Units 1 and 2.
 
Pursuant to 10 CFR 51.32, the Commission has determined that the 
granting of this exemption will not have a significant effect on 
the quality of the human environment (69 FR 18655, April 8, 
2004).
 
This exemption is effective upon issuance.
 
 
[[Page 21166]] Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 13th day of 
April, 2004.
 
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
 
Ledyard B. Marsh, Director, Division of Licensing Project 
Management, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
 
[FR Doc. E4-894 Filed 4-19-04; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P

 
*****************************************************************
 22 Japan Times: Industry wants reactor-check intervals extended
    
  Tuesday, April 20, 2004   
                
 The power utility industry will urge the government to extend 
the interval between regular checkups of nuclear reactors by up 
to five months to raise their operation rates and competitiveness 
against low-cost new suppliers, industry sources said Monday.

 The government is expected to consider the request positively, 
partly because the state has already set operations of reactors 
in a longer cycle under its long-term atomic power research and 
development plan.

 High operation rates are also seen as a powerful means of 
reducing the amount of carbon dioxide, a major source of global 
warming, they said.

 But the proposal is likely to draw criticism from local 
residents and antinuclear civic groups concerned about safety.

 The sources said the power companies will ask to extend the 
maximum interval between checks to 18 months from the current 13 
months. They are expected to lobby the state through government 
councils and other means.

 The industry made the decision to boost its competitive edge 
amid intensifying competition from low-cost new power suppliers 
under progressive deregulation of the electricity business.

 If the proposal is realized, power companies could drastically 
improve the operation rates at nuclear power plants because they 
will be allowed to reduce the frequency and suspension periods of 
their reactors, the sources said.

 Baku Nishio, a representative of Citizens' Nuclear Information 
Center, said the utility industry's move gives priority to 
near-term economical efficiency.

 The longer the interval between checkups for reactors, the 
longer operations can continue without repairs to unstable 
factors, Nishio said. Such a plan would not help make the 
facilities last longer, he said.

 An industry estimate shows the whole industry can increase its 
annual earnings by 14 billion yen if the operation rates of 
reactors increase 1 percent a year.

 The capacity utilization rate of reactors run by 10 power 
companies was 59.7 percent in fiscal 2003 because many reactors 
were forced to suspend operations following a safety data coverup 
scandal involving Tokyo Electric Power Co. that came to light in 
the summer of 2002.

 The operating rate regularly reaches around 80 percent if 
reactors undergo checks every 13 months, they said.

 The operation rate of reactors in the United States is around 90 
percent due to different methods of safety assessment, they said.

 The Japan Times: April 20, 2004 (C) All rights reserved 
*****************************************************************
 23 NRC: NRC Seeks Public Comment on Proposed Pilot Program for Use of Alternative Dispute Resolution
 
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. 04-044     April 20, 2004   
  


The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is seeking public comment on a
proposed pilot program for the use of alternative dispute
resolution (ADR) in resolving discrimination complaints and
other allegations of wrongdoing in the agencys enforcement
program. 

The pilot program aims to use ADR in two potential scenarios:
before initiation of an NRC investigation (so-called early
ADR), when the parties would be the whistleblower and the
licensee; or after completion of an investigation, when the
parties would be the NRC and the licensee. The aim would be to
reach a settlement within 90 days of agreeing to mediation. In
the case of early ADR, the agency believes the timely resolution
of complaints will contribute to a safety-conscious work
environment. 

Mediators would be neutral third parties - not affiliated with
the NRC or the licensee - mutually acceptable to both parties in
the dispute. For early ADR, the mediators fees will be paid by
the NRC, and there will be a three-day waiting period before any
settlement takes full effect. For ADR after an investigation has
been completed, the NRC and the licensee will share the
mediators fee. 

The pilot program is generally consistent with input received
from public comments in response to a Federal Register notice
and during a public meeting held in December. 

The NRC encourages licensees to develop their own ADR programs
(independent of the NRCs pilot program) to address employee
concerns. The NRC proposes that should an employee who alleges
retaliation for raising safety or other concerns use a
licensees program to settle the discrimination complaint, no
NRC investigation will be initiated until it is determined
whether a settlement can be reached. If a settlement is reached,
the NRC will review it for restrictive agreements in violation
of NRC regulations or abuse of the ADR process. If the
settlement is acceptable, the NRC will not investigate or take
enforcement action. 

The NRC is developing a booklet for whistleblowers who are
considering requesting early ADR. The booklet will provide an
overview of the NRCs early ADR program and ADR in general,
supplementing the allegation booklet already provided to
concerned individuals. Information regarding the pilot program
will be placed on the Office of Enforcements Web page at
http://www.nrc.gov/what-we-do/regulatory/enforcement.html. 

A notice summarizing the pilot program was published today
(April 20) in the Federal Register. The deadline for submitting
comments is May 20. Comments may be submitted by e-mail to 
[SECY@nrc.gov] ; by fax to Secretary, NRC, at 301-415-1101; or
by mail to Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission,
Washington DC 20555-0001, Attention: Rulemaking and
Adjudications Staff. Comments will be posted in their entirety
on the NRC Web site, and personal information will not be
removed.   



  


 	Last revised Tuesday, April 20, 2004 	   
*****************************************************************
 24 decaturdaily: Bad welds won't slow restart at B. Ferry
 
decaturdaily.com

    TUESDAY, APRIL 20, 2004   

By Eric Fleischauer 
DAILY Staff Writer
 eric@decaturdaily.com · 340-2435 

Defective welds at Browns Ferry Unit 1 caused it to fail a 
January safety inspection by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 
but the problem should not delay a planned May 2007 start date. 

The Tennessee Valley Authority must present any defenses for the 
inspection failure April 28 at a public NRC meeting in Atlanta. 

NRC inspectors discovered the bad welds in the torus, a pressure 
suppression chamber designed to condense steam, to contain gases 
and radioactive particles and to cool temperatures in the event 
of an accident. 

The NRC's action did not impact Browns Ferry Units 2 and 3, which 
are in operation. 

Shut down in 1985 

In 1985, the year Unit 1 shut down, TVA began incorporating 
changes to torus welds in all three Browns Ferry plants. The NRC 
inspected Unit 1 in anticipation of the reactor's planned 
restart. 

Craig Beasley, a Browns Ferry spokesman, said about 10 percent of 
Unit 1's 8,300 torus welds needed to be repaired, "but not all of 
them made it into the design documents, and some did not make it 
into work orders. 

"There were some simply left off  left off of work orders or 
left off the design changes. On the torus all the (16) bays look 
alike. Because of that, sometimes folks simply went to the wrong 
location to check the weld. The final thing is, the Unit 1 
quality control organization did not independently verify the 
locations of some of the weld repairs," Beasley said. 

NRC officials did not immediately return calls. In a press 
release Monday, NRC said, "TVA initiated a 100 percent review of 
torus weld repairs, and the NRC staff says that review and 
subsequent corrective actions appear comprehensive enough to 
resolve the problem." 

Beasley refused to say whether TVA disciplined any quality 
control inspectors for the error. He said he did not know if TVA 
will penalize the builder, Stone &Webster, for the mistakes. 

The torus is shaped like a large steel donut. It holds 1.5 
million gallons of water and is 111 feet in diameter. 

Beasley said the main purpose of the torus is to cool the reactor 
in the event of an accident. If a pipe breaks in the primary 
containment portion of the reactor, steam would fill a 
lightbulb-shaped receptacle on top of the torus. The torus 
directs steam from the receptacle under water, where it 
condenses. The torus also channels water back to the reactor as 
an emergency cooling mechanism. 

Beasley said TVA did not wait for notice of the NRC citations  
which was issued this month  before correcting the problems. 

"When NRC was looking, we stopped work right away (on other 
aspects of the restart). We took some really extensive corrective 
action, just to make sure we're meeting the regulatory standards 
for quality and safety. ... We went back and inspected 100 
percent of the welds on the torus," Beasley said. 

Beasley said TVA-employed quality control inspectors were 
supposed to independently verify the adequacy of the welds, but 
they failed to do so. 

"They were supposed to go out there without assistance or 
direction and check these things out," Beasley said. 

To prevent similar mistakes in the future, Beasley said TVA and 
Stone &Webster "are increasing the involvement of the managers, 
engineers and quality control people." 

Beasley said TVA will do its best to avoid future mistakes. 

"We've got a lot of management attention  management, the 
engineers, the quality control people  looking to do better in 
the way work is planned, performed and verified," Beasley said. 

"That management attention means that if something is not living 
up to our expectations, we'll quit. We'll stop it right there." 
Copyright 2004 THE DECATUR DAILY. All rights reserved. AP 
contributed to this report. --> 

Copyright 2004 Associated Press. 
    
  THE DECATUR DAILY 201 1st Ave. SE P.O. Box 2213 Decatur, Ala. 
35609 (256) 353-4612 webmaster@decaturdaily.com 
[webmaster@decaturdaily.com]   
  
www.decaturdaily.com   
*****************************************************************
 25 PRN: Study: Indian Point Contributes $763 Million to the Economy of Five Downstate Counties 

PR Newswire [http://www.prnewswire.com/]            [ /

[http://www.area-alliance.org] 
    Also Facilitates Statewide Business Opportunities and 
Economic Growth While Improving Air Quality

    RYE, N.Y., April 20 /PRNewswire/ -- The Indian Point Energy 
Center in the Westchester County Village of Buchanan has an 
economic impact of $763.3 million in the five downstate counties 
of Westchester, Rockland, Orange, Putnam, and Dutchess, providing 
key jobs, commerce, and much-needed tax revenue to the region.

    This is the central conclusion of a just-issued study by the 
Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI), which assessed the economic, 
fiscal, and community benefits -- together with other benefits, 
provided by the Indian Point nuclear energy plants.

    The $763.3 million economic impact includes direct effects, 
such as compensation and labor income for people employed by the 
plant, plant expenditures within the community, corporate tax 
payments, and jobs created indirectly by plant expenditures in 
the local economy.  These findings are based on calendar year 
2002 data provided by Entergy, the owner of the Indian Point 
Energy Center, and independently reviewed and analyzed by NEI.

    Of particular note,

    * Jobs.  The direct and indirect compensation from the plants 
accounts for $171.4 million in labor income in the five counties 
and an additional $39.7 million in other areas of New York State.  
In addition to the employees located at Indian Point, more than 
1,200 jobs are created by economic activity in the five counties.

    * Purchases.  In addition to compensation and employee 
benefits expenditures, Indian Point spent $16.8 million with 
businesses in Westchester, Putnam, Orange, Rockland and Dutchess 
Counties in 2002. This included services to buildings ($3.7 
million), water supply and sewage services ($1.9 million), 
business services ($1.4 million), and equipment rental and 
leasing ($1.2 million).

    * Taxes.  Indian Point paid $25.3 million in taxes to 
entities within Westchester County, including 93 percent of the 
total tax revenues for the Hendrick Hudson Central School 
District.

    These key economic and business findings are being discussed 
today at a Noon meeting in Rye, New York, hosted by the New York 
Affordable Reliable Electricity Alliance (New York AREA) and 
co-organized by the Westchester County Association, The Business 
Council of Westchester, and the African American Men of 
Westchester.

    Commenting on the study, Arthur J. ("Jerry") Kremer, Chairman 
to the Advisory Board of New York AREA said, "I urge policy 
makers, business leaders, and the public to review this important 
path-breaking study.  It documents and quantifies Indian Point's 
importance to the downstate economy. The report is especially 
timely given our tenuous economic recovery and the pending summer 
demand for additional electricity.  We need more electricity to 
grow and prosper," said Mr. Kremer.

    Marsha Gordon, President and CEO of The Business Council of 
Westchester said, "This report makes clear that Indian Point is 
an important and dynamic part of Westchester's economy.  It's not 
just because Indian Point provides energy that all businesses 
need.  It also provides key jobs, commerce, and much-needed tax 
revenue."

    In addition to this report, which focuses on Indian Point's 
contributions to the local economy, other studies and research 
have pointed out important benefits that the plant provides.  
Indian Point currently provides 11 percent of the electricity 
needed in the state and there is a pressing demand for new 
sources of electricity, according to the New York Independent 
System Operator and other experts.

    A 2002 study, Electricity Systems Impacts of Nuclear Shutdown 
Alternatives, also estimates that if Indian Point were shut down, 
wholesale electricity prices in the downstate New York area would 
increase by 13-25 percent.  National Economic Research 
Associates, nationally recognized economic experts, prepared the 
report.

    Indian Point's emission-free power has added significance in 
light of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's announcement 
on April 15 that Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland and 
Westchester counties are not in compliance with federal clean air 
rules, the National Ambient Air Quality Standards.  If these 
counties do not see an improvement in air quality they could lose 
federal highway funds and face restrictions on industry 
development.

    The NEI study notes that, "Indian Point also provides a vital 
role in maintaining regional air quality.  Estimates indicate 
that in the absence of Indian Point, the state's nitrous oxide 
emissions would be 19 percent higher and sulfur dioxide emissions 
would be 11 percent higher because fossil-fuel power plants would 
offset Indian Point's electricity production. Additionally, 
carbon dioxide emissions, which have been linked to global 
warming, would be 20 percent higher."

    To read or download the NEI's report, Economic Benefits of 
Indian Point Energy Center, visit http://www.area-alliance.org 
[http://www.area-alliance.org] .  Reporters interested in 
obtaining specific fact sheets about the plant's importance in 
Westchester, Rockland, Orange, Putnam, and/or Dutchess counties 
should call 1-800-503-AREA (2732) or e-mail 
steidler@area-alliance.org.

    Founded in November 2003, the New York Affordable Reliable 
Electricity Alliance (New York AREA) is a diverse group of more 
than 35 business, labor, and community groups whose mission and 
purpose is to ensure that the New York metropolitan area has an 
ample and reliable electricity supply, and economic prosperity 
for years to come.  New York AREA helps to educate policy makers, 
businesses, and the general public regarding the necessity for 
safe, reliable energy and the importance of low-cost, reliable, 
clean electricity.  For additional information visit: 
http://www.area-alliance.org [http://www.area-alliance.org] .

 SOURCE New York Affordable Reliable Electricity Alliance
 Web Site: http://www.area-alliance.org
[http://www.area-alliance.org] 

 Copyright © 1996-2004 PR Newswire Association LLC. All Rights
Reserved.
*****************************************************************
 26 PRN: Robinson Nuclear Plant's License Renewed by NRC Through July 2030 
	 	 	
Progress Energy logo. (PRNewsFoto)[TC AG] 
RALEIGH, NC USA 12/29/2003

[http://www.progress-energy.com]  

    HARTSVILLE, S.C., April 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The H.B. 
Robinson Nuclear Plant near Hartsville, S.C., is operating today 
with a renewed commitment to meeting the future energy needs of 
Progress Energy's customers.

    The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has approved the 
renewal of the operating license for the Robinson Nuclear Plant 
through July 2030.

    "This is a significant achievement that positions the 
Robinson Plant to continue to provide safe, reliable, efficient 
power to Progress Energy customers for many years to come," said 
John Moyer, vice president of the Robinson Nuclear Plant. "This 
accomplishment is a testament to the dedication of our plant 
employees who have established the excellent safety and 
environmental record that led to license renewal. We are 
committed to continuing our focus on safety and environmental 
stewardship each and every day, throughout the operation of the 
plant."

    The Robinson Plant has consistently been ranked among the top 
nuclear plants in the nation in terms of safety, production and 
cost. The renewed operating license will allow the Robinson 
Nuclear Plant to continue to meet the energy needs of customers 
and provide economic benefits to both Progress Energy and the 
local community for decades to come.

    "I am pleased to hear that the license has been extended, so 
that the Robinson Plant will continue its powerful partnership 
with Darlington County through 2030," said Anne Warr, chairwoman 
of the Darlington County Council. "Progress Energy is the largest 
taxpayer in Darlington County, annually paying more than $8 
million in property taxes in our county, with the majority going 
towards enhancing the county's education system, safety services 
and other public uses. The more than 400 employees at the 
Robinson Plant have an excellent record for keeping the plant 
running safely and reliably. They also are good citizens in our 
community, taking active roles in our schools and in our civic 
and community organizations. I'm pleased that we will continue 
this valuable partnership for many years to come."

    The Robinson Nuclear Plant generates 710 megawatts of 
electricity for Progress Energy customers. The Robinson Plant 
received its operating license from the NRC in 1970. The plant's 
original license term of 40 years was set to expire July 31, 
2010. The NRC's action renews the plant's operating license for 
an additional 20 years, through July 2030.

    For license renewal, Progress Energy spent 21/2 years 
performing an extensive safety review of the Robinson Nuclear 
Plant's systems, structures and components. During that 21/2-year 
period, the company also performed a thorough review of the 
environmental impacts of license renewal.

    Once Progress Energy filed for a renewal of the operating 
license in June 2002, the NRC began conducting its own review 
including onsite inspections. In addition, the NRC performed its 
own review of the environmental impacts of renewing the license 
for an additional 20 years.

    Progress Energy (NYSE: PGN 
[http://alliance.marketwatch.com/custom/alliance/interactivechart 
.asp?symb=PGN&astyle=0,0,0,0,0,0,0,10,0,0&c=179&urlpull=&logourl= 
&post=0] ), headquartered in Raleigh, N.C., is a Fortune 250 
diversified energy company with more than 24,000 megawatts of 
generation capacity and $9 billion in annual revenues. The 
company's holdings include two electric utilities serving more 
than 2.8 million customers in North Carolina, South Carolina and 
Florida. Progress Energy also includes nonregulated operations 
covering generation, energy marketing, natural gas production, 
fuel extraction, rail services and broadband capacity. For more 
information about Progress Energy, visit the company's Web site 
at http://www.progress-energy.com 
[http://www.progress-energy.com]  .

         SOURCE Progress Energy, Inc.
 Web Site: http://www.progress-energy.com

[http://www.progress-energy.com] 

 	Copyright © 1996-2004 PR Newswire Association LLC. All Rights
*****************************************************************
 27 projo.com: New Hampshire Senate passes resolution on Vermont Yankee       

| Providence, R.I. | AP's The Wire

  projo.com     
   
        04.20.2004 2:46 P.M.    

The Associated Press    

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) - The New Hampshire Senate has joined the
campaign to persuade the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to
increase its scrutiny of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant
prior to the plant's proposed increase in power. 

A non-binding resolution passed Thursday called on the NRC to
perform an independent safety assessment, similar to the request
made last month by the Vermont Senate. 
Vermont Yankee, which is owned by Entergy Nuclear of Louisiana,
has applied for permission to increase its power output from 540
megawatts to 650 megawatts. 

The sponsor of the New Hampshire resolution, Sen. Clifton Below,
D-Lebanon, said he believes the assessment is a prudent thing to
do. 

"I would be concerned about a 20 percent uprate at such an old
plant and would like to see a comprehensive revisit," he said. 
Vermont Yankee is located in Vernon, Vt., across the Connecticut
River from New Hampshire. 	   

Providence Journal newsroom at (401) 277-7303. 

© Belo Interactive Inc.   
*****************************************************************
 28 [DU-WATCH] US D.U.nial (Iraq) taking tragedy to new levels
 
Date: Tue, 20 Apr 2004 00:37:10 -0500 (CDT)

 
<ninafeather@e...> wrote:
ANOTHER HIDDEN TRAGEDY HARDLY ANYONE HEARD ABOUT

From: http://www.almuajaha.com/feature/display/2267

Living by the Fence
by Jo Wilding

Modified: 10 Jan 2004   

The November 2003 study by the Uranium Medical
Research Committee (UMRC) said: "Witnesses living next
to the airport report 3,000 civilians were incinerated
by one morning's attack from aerial bursts of
thermobaric and fuel air bombs.      

December 25th

Living by the Fence

Dr Jinan at the clinic in Abu Ghraib says there are
patients coming in with illnesses that she and her
colleagues can't diagnose. Patients are referred to
the main hospital complex at Baghdad Medical City but
they return with still no diagnosis and having had no
treatment. In particular, there have been patients
presenting with bubbles on the skin. They "become hot,
like burning coals, get hard and spread." She said
they don't understand it.

There's been an enormous increase in allergenic
respiratory and skin problems with no apparent
trigger. In particular there has been a rise in three
conditions - alopeicia (hair loss), psoriasis and
viteligo (skin problems). These are not infections
spreading through the community but auto-immune,
caused by the body attacking itself, to put it simply.
They are related to nerves, so fear and stress could
be a factor in the increase, but environmental factors
are also believed to be important.

In the row of houses closest to the airport fence
every single household reported some kind of skin or
breathing problem. Probably the most common was white
patches on the skin, which started, for most people,
between April and July. Or spots on the skin, which
turn black and then the skin peels off. Or the
blisters or bubbles on the skin that Dr Jinan
mentioned, with or without fluid.

Women brought us inside, away from the men, took off
their hijabs and showed us bald patches on their
heads. The water is contaminated and, to combat that,
it's filled with chemicals. It means you can drink it
without spending the rest of the week in the toilet
but it wrecks your skin. One of the women brought us
to her small son whose scalp was like a toadstool of
red skin and white pustules under the hair, insanely
itchy but too painful to touch.

Immediately after the bombing of the airport, people
said, thousands of trucks started removing the soil
from the complex. No one can tell us where it was
dumped. Other trucks brought fresh soil from elsewhere
to replace it and tarmac trucks came in to cover it
over. About a month after the bombing, the trucks
started leaving their loads closer to the fence,
tipping rubble, metal, broken crockery and general
debris in the 1st June sector. Kids play and men
forage in the heaps between the houses.

One said "There are no jobs. Sometimes useful things
are dumped and we come and find them and sell them."
Some of the kids told us about sweets, food and
mineral water being thrown out. They go and eat the
sweets and bring home the water and military ration
MREs (Meals Ready to Eat). "No you don't," scolded one
of the mothers. "I do," the child said with a gleeful
grin. She went red and said "Well, sometimes."

The November 2003 study by the Uranium Medical
Research Committee (UMRC) said: "Witnesses living next
to the airport report 3,000 civilians were incinerated
by one morning's attack from aerial bursts of
thermobaric and fuel air bombs. Since the cessation of
the main phase of battle, several of the Baghdad area
battlefields. [were] landscaped by the US forces and
Iraqi contractors, thus preventing a thorough
examination."

One family living near the fence told us that all
their chickens died on the day of the bombing. There
was no harm to their bodies, they were still complete,
but they were dead." The grandmother's eye ruptured
during the bombing. A thermobaric weapon - stop eating
before you read this - is essentially a fireball which
sucks out all the oxygen in the area. Among other
things it sucks out eyeballs and suffocates victims.

"On the day of the bombing the smoke went in his eye
and it ran for a week and then stopped and the doctor
said he can't operate because the nerves are already
destroyed." The five-year-old boy watched us with his
other eye and his 22-year-old sister stood in silence
as their mother told us she was already deaf and mute
from birth. She had her first fit during the bombing
at the airport and has had them regularly, every week
or ten days, since then. The mother is one of the
women who have had several miscarriages in recent
years.

CLIP

<> <> <> <> <> <> <> <>

Nina 

______________________________________________________________________ 
Post your free ad now! http://personals.yahoo.ca

------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-->
Buy Ink Cartridges or Refill Kits for your HP, Epson, Canon or Lexmark
Printer at MyInks.com.  Free s/h on orders $50 or more to the US & Canada.
http://www.c1tracking.com/l.asp?cid=5511
http://us.click.yahoo.com/mOAaAA/3exGAA/qnsNAA/Sj.0lB/TM
---------------------------------------------------------------------~->

[Brought to you by HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK] 
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
     http://groups.yahoo.com/group/du-watch/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
     du-watch-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
     http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
*****************************************************************
 29 [DU-WATCH] CNN 'Baghdad boil' afflicts US troops
 
Date: Tue, 20 Apr 2004 01:13:06 -0500 (CDT)

 
"Doctors at Walter Reed have seen 653 cases of leishmaniasis, and
the hospital's infectious disease wards until recently overflowed
with soldiers undergoing a 20-day treatment regimen."

"In Moore's unit of about 750 men, more than 200 came down with
leishmaniasis"

"Leishmaniasis occurs in hot and tropical countries where sand flies
dwell, Hack said. Still, only about 20 soldiers got leishmaniasis
during the first Gulf War, and a handful more contracted it in
Afghanistan. This time, though, American forces arrived in Iraq
during the peak season for sand flies and were in the field much
longer. Many slept outside at night, exposing themselves at the
sand fly's favorite feeding time."

http://www.cnn.com/2004/HEALTH/04/18/baghdad.boil.ap/index.html
'Baghdad boil' afflicts U.S. troops Sunday, April 18, 2004 Posted:
7:46 PM EDT (2346 GMT)

[photo] Army Staff Sgt. Eric DiVona receives an IV infusion of
Pentosta, Tuesday, April 13, to treat the leishmaniasis he caught
while on active duty in Iraq.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Staff Sgt. Eric DiVona didn't notice the small
bumps on his face and left earlobe until he returned from serving
nine months in Iraq. Nothing much, he thought, probably just a
spider bite.

But soon those bumps erupted into open sores, one growing to the
size of a half dollar. The left side of his face puffed up, a
swelling that wouldn't go away. And he noticed he was not the only
one in his unit with such symptoms.

"A lot of people started coming down with sores," he said, sitting
at Walter Reed Army Medical Center with an IV taped to his right
arm. "It was like, 'You ain't cool unless you got it."' What DiVona
thought was a spider bite was actually caused by a tiny sand fly
with a fierce parasite stewing in its gut, an organism that causes
stubborn and ugly sores that linger for months.

Scientists and doctors refer to the disease caused by the parasite
as cutaneous leishmaniasis. But soldiers serving in sand-fly rich
Iraq call it, with little affection, the "Baghdad boil."

The sores are not painful or contagious, but left untreated they
can last up to 18 months and leave permanent, burn-like scars. Since
the flies bite exposed areas, many soldiers have sores on their
necks, faces and arms.

Doctors at Walter Reed have seen 653 cases of leishmaniasis, and
the hospital's infectious disease wards until recently overflowed
with soldiers undergoing a 20-day treatment regimen.

"We see a few cases every year, but not the numbers we saw come out
of Iraq," said Col. Dallas Hack, chief of preventive medicine at
Walter Reed.

The military has made a big effort to treat leishmaniasis, even
pulling soldiers out of the field who have confirmed cases and
flying them back to Washington for medical care.

But Walter Reed doctors say it was almost inevitable that they would
see a high number of cases this year.

Leishmaniasis occurs in hot and tropical countries where sand flies
dwell, Hack said. Still, only about 20 soldiers got leishmaniasis
during the first Gulf War, and a handful more contracted it in
Afghanistan.

This time, though, American forces arrived in Iraq during the peak
season for sand flies and were in the field much longer. Many slept
outside at night, exposing themselves at the sand fly's favorite
feeding time.

Iraqis have also done little to control the problem, such as using
insecticide to kill off the flies, Hack said. Local residents have
come to accept the disease, he said, exposing young children to
sand flies in hopes of building immunity.

Doctors have told soldiers in Iraq what to look for and implored
them to wear bug spray. Medical teams with front-line combat troops
have tested sand flies for the parasite.

But with enemy bullets flying, the first concern of most soldiers
was not slathering on bug spray every morning.

"You didn't think about leishmaniasis too much," said Maj. Eric
Moore, who contracted the parasite on the Iran-Iraq border with the
4th Infantry Division.

The lesions will eventually go away on their own and would not
affect a soldier's ability to serve. Even so, the military thought
it was important that soldiers with bad cases be flown out of Iraq
for treatment so they wouldn't be disfigured.

In Moore's unit of about 750 men, more than 200 came down with
leishmaniasis during a 10-month tour that ended in March. He was
relatively lucky -- he has only one quarter-sized sore on his left
arm. Others had lesions all over their bodies, he said.

Moore isn't too worried about scarring. He predicts it will delight
his children, especially his 3-year-old, who has a fascination with
Band-Aids.

"They will probably think it's cool," he said while getting his
daily dose of a drug called Pentostam. "They'll probably say, 'Daddy
has an ouchie."' "For most soldiers, it isn't a war stopper," said
Lt. Col. Glenn Wortmann, an infectious disease physician at Walter
Reed. "But most patients want treatment so the thing will go away."

Walter Reed is one of only two hospitals where patients are sent
because the treatment can only be done in a clinical trial setting.
With domestic cases a rarity, Pentostam is not licensed in the
United States. However, the Army is developing a treatment that can
be used in the field.

Many soldiers didn't realize they had the boils until weeks after
exposure.

DiVona remembers being bitten constantly by flies, but he and other
members of his unit didn't see any sores until after they got home
in November to Fort Campbell, Kentucky.

------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-->
Buy Ink Cartridges or Refill Kits for your HP, Epson, Canon or
Lexmark Printer at MyInks.com.  Free s/h on orders $50 or more to
the US & Canada.

http://www.c1tracking.com/l.asp?cid=5511
http://us.click.yahoo.com/mOAaAA/3exGAA/qnsNAA/Sj.0lB/TM
---------------------------------------------------------------------~->

[Brought to you by HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK] Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/du-watch/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:

du-watch-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:

http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
*****************************************************************
 30 [DU-WATCH] Operation Iraqi FUBAR
 
Date: Tue, 20 Apr 2004 00:41:39 -0500 (CDT)

 
The Crack-Up

By Chris Floyd, Moscow Times
http://www.moscowtimes.ru/stories/2004/04/16/120.html

As the red wheel of Operation Iraqi FUBAR continues to roll, spewing
hundreds of corpses in its wake, it becomes clearer by the hour
that there is only one way for America to end this stomach-churning
nightmare it has created:

Get out.

That's it.  The occupying armies -- including the 15,000 corporate
mercenaries -- should leave now.  They should never have been sent
in the first place on this ghoul's errand, this war of aggression,
this mission of murder and plunder -- the perversion of every
enlightened value of the civilization that the coalition's "Christian
leaders" purport to defend.

And what a sickening spectacle these "leaders" presented last
weekend:

George W.  Bush and Tony Blair piously kneeling in prayer on Easter
Sunday, pledging their fealty to Jesus Christ and His teachings of
mercy and lovingkindness -- while ordering missile strikes on crowded
cities, while filling hospitals with the mutilated bodies of young
children, while shoveling fat war profits to their cronies and
contributors.  Only the most craven, bootlicking sycophant could
fail to be revolted at the hypocrisy of these murderous cynics.

They're a perfect match in moral idiocy for their crack-brained
brother-in-arms, Osama bin Laden.

Their chest-beating pronouncements about "staying the course" and
"seeing it through" are just so much rag-chewing nonsense.  The way
to rectify a crime is not to keep doing it -- or in John Kerry's
ludicrous formulations, to keep doing it in some different, "better"
way -- but simply to stop doing it.  The illegal invasion was a
crime, the occupation is a crime, and if you would not be a criminal,
you must stop committing crimes.

The reprisal in Fallujah is a perfect example.  Late last month, a
four-day U.S.  military incursion there -- totally ignored in the
"coalition"

press -- left 18 Iraqis dead.  Days later, four American mercenaries
were killed and their bodies desecrated -- a savage act by a small,
angry crowd.  Now, in retaliation for those four deaths, U.S.  forces
have killed more than 600 people, including many women and children.
This isn't justice, this is collective punishment -- disproportionate,
indiscriminate, just as the Nazis practiced it during their
"liberation" of Europe.

With each new reprisal, each act of repression, each killing of an
innocent person -- intentional or not -- Bush is recruiting vast
cadres of new fighters, and an even larger pool of passive support,
for the armies of Islamic extremism.  America -- and the world --
will be reaping this whirlwind for generations.

The only solution that might -- just might -- offer some slim hope
would be the immediate withdrawal of coalition forces and their
replacement with a much larger United Nations force -- made up of
troops from countries acceptable to the Iraqis -- to provide security
and stability while the Iraqis themselves reconstruct their society,
hold elections, etc.  The United States and its war allies would
have nothing to do with this stabilization force, beyond helping
to fund and supply it.

The departing Americans should then give the $18 billion slush fund
now earmarked for Bush's "reconstruction" bagmen to the Iraqi people,
as reparations for the coalition's war crime.  Iraq's foreign loans,
procured by Saddam Hussein from sugar daddies like George Bush I,
should be written off -- and all of Little Bush's imperial edicts
opening Iraq's economy for despoliation by his cronies should be
rescinded.  The United States and Britain should also be prepared
to take in the vast horde of refugees who will flee the hard-line
Islamic regime that will doubtless be created in the ruins Bush has
made of the once-secular state.

As for the "leaders" who committed this crime, there is only one
thing left for them to do now, only one way for them to serve the
people they have betrayed so vilely and stupidly.  All of them --
Bush, Blair, Dick Cheney, Don Rumsfeld, Condi Rice, Paul Wolfowitz,
Geoff Hoon, Richard Perle, the whole sick crew -- should pick up a
rifle and go to the front lines in Fallujah and Baghdad.  Let them
take the places of the young men and young women who signed up as
soldiers to defend their country or make a better life for themselves
-- not to become pawns and killers for the Hitlerite ambitions of
the blood-soaked fools who threw them into this quagmire.

Yes, Hitlerite ambitions: dreams of global dominance, fetishes of
militarism, fantasies of superiority, and the willingness to impose
your self-serving vision of "universal truth" -- in this case, the
rapacious crony capitalism that Bush has officially named "the
single sustainable model of national success" -- at the barrel of
a gun.  That's what lies behind this madness.

As we've noted so often here before, the conquest of Iraq has nothing
to do with terrorism or liberation or WMD or national security or
Arab democracy or Bush family revenge.  It has been planned for
years by Cheney, Wolfowitz, Rumsfeld and other Bush retainers,
planned openly, and for one reason only: to give the United States
direct military control of the Middle East in order to dominate
global economic and political life for "the New American Century."

This need was so great, said the group -- openly, in September 2000
-- that it "transcends the issue of the regime of Saddam Hussein."
It wouldn't have mattered if Saddam had found Jesus, or freed his
people, or set himself on fire in Madison Square Garden: The Bushists
were always going to invade and occupy Iraq -- always, no matter
what.

So they'll never embrace any sensible solution for getting out.
The red wheel will just keep rolling on, spewing thousands more
unnecessary deaths -- until those rabid Easter Bunnies, Bush and
Blair, finally FUBAR themselves into the inevitable, ignominious
retreat

------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-->
Buy Ink Cartridges or Refill Kits for your HP, Epson, Canon or
Lexmark Printer at MyInks.com.  Free s/h on orders $50 or more to
the US & Canada.

http://www.c1tracking.com/l.asp?cid=5511
http://us.click.yahoo.com/mOAaAA/3exGAA/qnsNAA/Sj.0lB/TM
---------------------------------------------------------------------~->

[Brought to you by HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK] Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/du-watch/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:

du-watch-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:

http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
*****************************************************************
 31 [DU-WATCH] Uranium weapons are the perfect WMD ....
 
Date: Tue, 20 Apr 2004 01:30:38 -0500 (CDT)

 
I gotta wade in here. To refer to non-fissile uranium weapons as 
WMD's would not be incorrect in principle. If they escape a 
technical or administrative (UN political?) defintion there is a 
problem with it. 

Non-fissile uranium weapons are the perfect WMD. Consider what I 
said the other day:(1) relative quantity of radioactivity material 
and accumulative radiation emissions, (2) multi-generational 
toxicity, (3) environmental purvasiveness and endemic character of 
the contaminant, and (4) the 7 uranium-half-lives (28 billion years) 
of genetic effects. 

Uranium weapons (specifically non-fissile) are crimes against 
creation for the very reason that they are more pervasive than all 
other NBC weapons in all dimensions except the immediate ballistics. 
These weapons interfer with species' genetics. Name me another 
weapon that matches these effects. If a definiton of WMD doesn't 
catch uranium weapons in its teeth, its a toothless definition.

[Brought to you by HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK] 
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
     http://groups.yahoo.com/group/du-watch/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
     du-watch-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
     http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
*****************************************************************
 32 [NukeNet] Precautions Raised for Preelection Terrorism
 
Date: Tue, 20 Apr 2004 14:55:47 -0700

 
<x-flowed>
the last paragraph of this article is the most important for nuclear
purposes.  it might also be worth noting for many of you that Ridge's
speech yesterday also mentioned that "Special attention will be given to
areas of concern such as rail and air security, hazardous materials
shipments, chemical facilities, and protection of the electrical grid,
among others."

Brendan Hoffman
Organizer, Nuclear Energy & Waste
Critical Mass Energy and Environment Program
Public Citizen
p: 202.454.5130
f: 202.547.7392
bhoffman@citizen.org
www.citizen.org/cmep

=================================

Precautions Raised for Preelection Terrorism
Al Qaeda Intends to Strike, Officials Say

By John Mintz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, April 20, 2004; Page A03
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A25457-2004Apr19.html


The U.S. intelligence community believes al Qaeda is intent on
launching terrorist attacks in this country sometime before the November
elections, a conclusion that yesterday prompted the Department of
Homeland Security to announce that it is increasing precautions in a
number of areas.

Administration officials, including national security adviser
Condoleezza Rice, believe Osama bin Laden's terrorist network wants to
launch a new phase of opportunistic operations based on its apparent
reading that the March 11 bombings of trains in Madrid, which killed 191
people, led Spanish voters days later to oust the government of Prime
Minister Jose Maria Aznar. His government had supported the war in
Iraq.

Al Qaeda's new game plan, officials said, is to show its clout by
disrupting the upcoming U.S. elections or another large event scheduled
in coming months. These include the dedication of Washington's new World
War II memorial on the Mall, the Memorial Day and July 4 holidays, the
Group of Eight meeting of industrialized nations in Georgia in June, the
two parties' political conventions in Boston and New York, and the
Olympics in Greece.

Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge yesterday announced the formation
of a federal task force to coordinate heightened security at these and
other events. The task force will bring together Ridge's agency with
nine other departments, as well as hundreds of state and local agencies,
to coordinate security measures.

"We soon enter a season that is rich with symbolic opportunities for
the terrorists to try to shake our will," Ridge said in a speech
yesterday to the Radio-Television News Directors Association at the
National Association of Broadcasters convention in Las Vegas. "With so
many symbolic gatherings in the next few months, we must be
aggressive."

Bin Laden was apparently emboldened by the Madrid bombings' impact on
Spanish voters when he released a statement on April 15 offering
European nations a "peace treaty" if they withdrew their troops from
Muslim countries, an administration official said. Aznar's successor,
Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, on Sunday ordered the
withdrawal of Spain's 1,300 troops from Iraq.

European leaders rejected any deal with bin Laden, who said in a
tape-recorded statement that "the door of peace will remain open" for
three months after April 15. Government officials pointed out the
Olympics in Greece follow that deadline by only a few weeks.

Rice said Sunday that "we do have to take very seriously the thought
that the terrorists might have learned, we hope, the wrong lesson from
Spain."

"I think we also have to take seriously that they might try during the
cycle leading up to the election to do something," she added on Fox News
Sunday. "It seems like it would be too good to pass up for them."

Recently departed Spanish leader Aznar said on the same show that he
warned President Bush "to be extremely careful before elections,"
because terrorists are certain to time attacks to coincide with them.

Bruce Hoffman, a Rand Corp. expert on terrorism, said al Qaeda's goal
would not be t
o influence U.S. elections but to demonstrate its power by
disrupting them, perhaps by blowing up polling sites.

"In recent months al Qaeda has become more opportunistic than ever,
choreographing operations to symbolic events," Hoffman said. He cited
its headline-grabbing bombing of two synagogues, the British consulate
and a British bank in Istanbul on the same day last November that Bush
visited British Prime Minister Tony Blair in London.

Homeland Security spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said that the creation of
the multi-agency task force ratchets up security in key places and at
key moments throughout the country in coming months, and is more
generalized than the invocation of "special security" status for the G-8
conference in Sea Island, Ga., and the two political conventions. The
designation of special security status means that the Secret Service
will lead security procedures for those three events.

The Homeland Security Department yesterday also told sectors of
critical U.S. infrastructure -- such as water utilities, chemical and
nuclear plants and food processors -- to expedite execution of strict
security plans they have been discussing for months with government
officials.


© 2004 The Washington Post Company

_______________________________________________________________________
Subscribe/Unsubscribe Here: http://www.energyjustice.net/nukenet/
Change your settings at:
http://energyjustice.net/mailman/listinfo/nukenet_energyjustice.net

</x-flowed>
*****************************************************************
 33 [EMMAS] G.I.s press Army for uranium test
 
Date: Tue, 20 Apr 2004 03:52:37 -0500 (CDT)

 
 http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/185258p-160518c.html
April 19, 2004
G.I.s press Army for uranium test

How The News broke the story.

Hundreds of soldiers back from Iraq have asked the Army to test them for
radiation exposure after the Daily News revealed four members of a New York
Army National Guard unit are contaminated with depleted uranium.

Up to 800 G.I.s already have handed in their 24-hour urine samples, and
hundreds more are waiting for appointments, according to a source at Walter
Reed Army Medical Center.

But several independent uranium experts who reviewed one of the first
official lab results that Walter Reed doctors provided to a soldier last
week are questioning whether the Army's testing methods are adequate.

"They are using an instrument that apparently isn't very accurate," said
Glen Lawrence, a professor of biochemistry at Long Island University.

"The instruments they used are just not sophisticated enough to give
accurate readings," agreed Leonard Dietz, a retired scientist from the
Knolls Atomic Laboratories who invented one of the instruments for measuring
uranium isotopes.

The demand for tests was sparked by a News investigation that found four
soldiers from the 442nd Military Police Company are contaminated with
radiation likely caused by dust from depleted uranium shells fired by U.S.
troops.

One of the soldiers, Staff Sgt. Ray Ramos, was told at Walter Reed last week
that the Army's testing of his urine had come back negative.

Ramos, who has suffered for months from unexplained ailments, demanded
copies of reports from the two Army labs that analyzed his urine.

One lab reported that different uranium isotopes in the sample were "not
detectable."

The other lab listed an error ratio so large in its analysis that it was
impossible to tell for certain whether the uranium in Ramos' urine was
natural, depleted or enriched.

"We know the way this data is reported can be confusing," said Lt. Col. Mark
Melanson, the program manger for health physics at the second lab.

The main issue, Melanson said, is how much total uranium was found in
Ramos - and his total was 6.3 nanograms (parts per billion) per liter.

That "is within the dietary ranges reported by the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention and is safe," Melanson said.

The Army, according to Melanson, does not even bother to analyze a sample
for depleted uranium unless the total natural uranium concentration is more
than 268 nanograms per liter.

"That's an extraordinarily high cutoff," said Dr. Tom Fasy, a pathologist at
Mount Sinai Medical Center.

When told of the criticisms of the Army's methods, Melanson said, "As an
additional check, we are sending samples to the CDC for independent
analysis."

This is not the first time the Army's depleted uranium screening operation
has come under scrutiny. Last December, two congressmen demanded an
investigation of the program by the General Accounting Office.

Reps. Ciro Rodriguez (D-Tex.) and Robert Filner (D-Calif.) charged the
Defense Department has previously misled investigators about soldiers'
depleted uranium exposure during the 1991 Persian Gulf War.

=========
*** NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is
distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in
receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.***

#################################################################
" Social and economic well-being will become a reality only through the
zeal, courage, the non-compromising determination of intelligent
minorities, and not through the mass."  Emma Goldman

To SUBSCRIBE/UNSUBSCRIBE to the emmasdance list send email to
<majordomo@cs.pdx.edu>
with the message subscribe/unsubscribe emmasdance. [No subject is
needed.]

"If I can not dance, I want no part in your revolution."  Emma Goldman

#################################################################
*****************************************************************
 34 [DU-WATCH] Death by slow burn - how america nukes its own
 
Date: Tue, 20 Apr 2004 00:22:39 -0500 (CDT)

 
Death By Slow Burn - How America Nukes Its Own Troops 

What 'Support Our Troops' Really Means 

By Amy Worthington The Idaho Observer 4-16-3 

On March 30, an AP photo featured an American pro-war
activist holding a sign: "Nuke the evil scum, it
worked in 1945!" That's exactly what George Bush has
done. America's mega-billion dollar war in Iraq has
been indeed a NUCLEAR WAR. 

Bush-Cheney have delivered upon 17 million Iraqis tons
of depleted uranium (DU) weapons, a "liberation" gift
that will keep on giving. Depleted uranium is a
component of toxic nuclear waste, usually stored at
secure sites. Handlers need radiation protection gear.

Over a decade ago, war-makers decided to incorporate
this lethal waste into much of the Pentagon's
weaponry. Navy ships carrying Phalanx rapid fire guns
are capable of firing thousands of DU rounds per
minute.1 Tomahawk missiles launched from U.S. ships
and subs are DU-tipped.2 The M1 Abrams tanks are
armored with DU.3 These and British Challenger II
tanks are tightly packed with DU shells, which
continually irradiate troops in or near them.4 The
A-10 "tank buster" aircraft fires DU shells at
machines and people on the battlefield.5 

DU munitions are classified by a United Nations
resolution as illegal weapons of mass destruction.
Their use breaches all international laws, treaties
and conventions forbidding poisoned weapons calculated
to cause unnecessary suffering. 

Ironically, support for our troops will extend well
beyond the war in Iraq. Americans will be supporting
Gulf War II veterans for years as they slowly and
painfully succumb to radiation poisoning. U.S and
British troops deployed to the area are the walking
dead. Humans and animals, friends and foes in the
fallout zone are destined to a long downhill spiral of
chronic illness and disability. Kidney dysfunction,
lung damage, bloody stools, extreme fatigue, joint
pain, unsteady gait, memory loss and rashes and,
ultimately, cancer and premature death await those
exposed to DU. 

Award-winning journalist Will Thomas wrote: "As the
last Gulf conflict so savagely demonstrated, GI immune
systems reeling from multiple doses of experimental
vaccines offer little defense against further exposure
to chemical weapons, industrial toxins, stress,
caffeine, insect repellent and radiation leftover from
the last war. This is a war even the victors will
lose."6 

When a DU shell is fired, it ignites upon impact.
Uranium, plus traces of plutonium and americium,
vaporize into tiny, ceramic particles of radioactive
dust. Once inhaled, uranium oxides lodge in the body
and emit radiation indefinitely. A single particle of
DU lodged in a lymph node can devastate the entire
immune system according to British radiation expert
Roger Coghill.7 

The Royal Society of England published data showing
that battlefield soldiers who inhale or swallow high
levels of DU can suffer kidney failure within days.8
Any soldier now in Iraq who has not inhaled lethal
radioactive dust is not breathing. In the first two
weeks of combat, 700 Tomahawks, at a cost of $1.3
million each, blasted Iraqi real estate into
radioactive mushroom clouds.9 Millions of DU tank
rounds liter the terrain. Cleanup is impossible
because there is no place on the planet to put so much
contaminated debris. 

Bush Sr.'s Gulf War I was also a nuclear war. 320 tons
of depleted uranium were used against Iraq in 1991.10
A 1998 report by the U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances
confirms that inhaling DU causes symptoms identical to
those claimed by many sick vets with Gulf War
Syndrome.11 The Gulf War Veterans Association reports
that at least 300,000 Gulf War I vets have now
developed incapacitating illnesses.12 To date, 209,000
vets have filed claims for disability benefits based
on service-connected injuries and illnesses from
combat in that war.13 

Dr. Asaf Durakovic, a professor of nuclear medicine at
Georgetown University, is a former army medical
expert. He told nuclear scientists in Paris last year
that tens of thousands of sick British and American
soldiers are now dying from radiation they encountered
during Gulf War I. He found that 62 percent of sick
vets tested have uranium isotopes in their organs,
bones, brains and urine.14 Laboratories in Switzerland
and Finland corroborated his findings. 

In other studies, some sick vets were found to be
expressing uranium in even their semen. Their sexual
partners often complained of a burning sensation
during intercourse, followed by their own debilitating
illnesses.15 

Nothing compares to the astronomical cancer rates and
birth defects suffered by the Iraqi people who have
endured vicious nuclear chastisement for years.16 U.S.
air attacks against Iraq since 1993 have undoubtedly
employed nuclear munitions. Pictures of grotesquely
deformed Iraqi infants born since 1991 are
overwhelming.17 Like those born to Gulf War I vets,
many babies born to troops now in Iraq will also be
afflicted with hideous deformities, neurological
damage and/or blood and respiratory disorders.18 

As an Army health physicist, Dr. Doug Rokke was
dispatched to the Middle East to salvage
DU-contaminated tanks after Gulf War I. His Geiger
counters revealed that the war zones of Iraq and
Kuwait were contaminated with up to 300 millirems an
hour in beta and gamma radiation plus thousands to
millions of counts per minute in alpha radiation.
Rokke recently told the media: "The whole area is
still trashed. It is hotter than heck over there
still. This stuff doesn't go away."19 

DU remains "hot" for 4.5 billion years. Radiation
expert Dr. Helen Caldicott confirms that the
dust-laden winds of DU-contaminated war zones "will
remain effectively radioactive for the rest of
time."20 The murderous dust storms which ensnared
coalition troops during the first few days of the
current invasion are sure to have significant health
consequences. 

Rokke and his clean-up team were issued only flimsy
dust masks for their dangerous work. Of the 100 people
on Rokke's decontamination team, 30 have already
"dropped dead." Rokke himself is ill with radiation
damage to lungs and kidneys. He has brain lesions,
skin pustules, chronic fatigue, continual wheezing and
painful fibromyalgia. Rokke warns that anyone exposed
to DU should have adequate respiratory protection and
special coveralls to protect their clothing because,
he says, you can't get uranium particles off your
clothing. 

The U.S. military insists that DU on the battlefield
is not a problem. Colonel James Naughton of the U.S.
Army Material Command recently told the BBC that
complaints about DU "had no medical basis."21 The
military's own documents belie this. A 1993 Pentagon
document warned that "when soldiers inhale or ingest
DU dust they incur a potential increase in cancer
risk."22 A U.S. Army training manual requires anyone
who comes within 25 meters of DU-contaminated
equipment to wear respiratory and skin protection.23
The U.S. Army Environmental Policy Institute admitted:
"If DU enters the body, it has the potential to
generate significant medical consequences."24 The
Institute also stated that, if the troops were to
realize what they had been exposed to, "the financial
implications of long-term disability payments and
healthcare costs would be excessive."25 For pragmatic
reasons, DOD chooses to lie and deny. 

Dr. Rokke confirms that the Pentagon lies about DU
dangers and is criminally negligent for neglecting
medical attention needed by DU-contaminated vets. He
predicts that the numbers of American troops to be
sickened by DU from Gulf War II will be staggering.26
As they gradually sicken and suffer a slow burn to
their graves, the Pentagon will, as it did after Gulf
War I, deny that their misery and death is a result of
their tour in Iraq. 

Dr. Rokke's candor has cost him his career. Likewise,
Dr. Durakovic's radiation studies on Gulf War I vets
were not popular with U.S. officials. Dr. Durakovic
was reportedly told his life was in danger if he
continued his research. He left the U.S. to continue
his research abroad.27 

Naive young coalition soldiers now in Iraq are likely
unaware of how deadly their battlefield environment
is. Gulf War I troops were kept in ignorance. Soldiers
handled DU fragments and some wore these lethal
nuggets around their necks. A DU projectile emits more
radiation in five hours than allowed in an entire year
under civilian radiation exposure standards. "We
didn't know any better," Kris Kornkven told Nation
magazine. "We didn't find out until long after we were
home that there even was such a thing as DU."28 

George Bush's ongoing war in Afghanistan is also a
nuclear war. Shortly after 9-11, the U.S. announced it
would stockpile tactical nuclear weapons including
small neutron bombs, nuclear mines and shells suited
to commando warfare in Afghanistan.29 In late
September, 2001, Bush and Russian president Vladimir
Putin agreed that the U.S. would use tactical nuclear
weapons in Afghanistan while Putin would employ
nuclear weapons against the Chechnyans.30 

Describing the Pentagon's B-61-11 burrowing nuke bomb,
George Smith writes in the Village Voice: "Built ram
tough with a heavy metal casing for smashing through
the earth and concrete, the B-61 explodes with the
force of an estimated 340,000 tons of TNT. It is lots
of bang for the buck, literally two apocalypse bombs
in one, a boosted plutonium firecracker called the
primary and a heavy hydrogen secondary for that good
old-fashioned H-bomb fireball."31 

Drought-stricken Afghanistan's underground water
supply is now contaminated by these nuclear weapons.32
Experts with the Uranium Medical Research Center
report that urine samples of Afghanis show the highest
level of uranium ever recorded in a civilian
population. Afghani soldiers and civilians are
reported to have died after suffering intractable
vomiting, severe respiratory problems, internal
bleeding and other symptoms consistent with radiation
poisoning. Dead birds still perched in trees are found
partially melted with blood oozing from their
mouths.33 

Afghanistan's new president, Hamid Karzai, is a puppet
installed by Washington. Under the protection of
American soldiers, Karzai's regime is setting a new
record for opium production. Both UN and U.S. reports
confirm that the huge Afghani opium harvest of 2002
makes Afghanistan the world's leading opium
producer.34 Thanks to nuclear weapons, Afghanistan is
now safe for the Bush-Cheney narcotics industry.35 ABC
News asserts that keeping the "peace" in Afghanistan
will require decades of allied occupation.36 For years
to come, "peacekeepers" will be eating, drinking and
breathing the "hot" carcinogenic pollution they have
helped the Pentagon inflict upon that nation for
organized crime. 

As governor of Arkansas during the Iran-Contra era,
Bill Clinton laundered $multi-millions in cocaine
profits for then vice-president George Bush Sr.37 As a
partner in the Bush family's notorious crime machine,
President Clinton committed U.S. troops to NATO's
campaign in the Balkans, a prime heroin production and
trans-shipment area. DOD's campaign to control and
reorganize the drug trade there for the Bush mafia was
yet another nuclear project. 

For years, the U.S. and NATO fired DU missiles,
bullets and shells across the Balkans, nuking the
peoples of Serbia, Bosnia and Kosovo. As DU munitions
were slammed into chemical plants, the environment
became hideously toxic, also endangering the peoples
of Albania, Macedonia, Greece, Italy, Austria and
Hungary. By 1999, UN investigators reported that an
estimated 12 tons of DU had caused irreparable damage
to the Yugoslavian environment, with agriculture,
livestock and air water, and public health all
profoundly damaged.38 

Scientists confirm that citizens of the Balkans are
excreting uranium in their urine.39 In 2001, a
Yugoslavian pathologist reported that hundreds of
Bosnians have died of cancer from NATO's DU
bombardment.40 Many NATO peacekeepers in the Balkans
now suffer ill health. Their leukemias, cancers and
other maladies are dubbed the "Balkans Syndrome."
Richard Coghill predicts that DU weapons used in
Balkans campaign will result in at least 10,000 cases
of fatal cancer.41 

U.S. citizens at home are also paying a heavy price
for criminal militarism gone mad. DOD is a pollution
monster. The General Accounting Office (GAO) found
9,181 dangerous military sites in USA that will
require $billions to rehabilitate. The GAO reports
that DOD has been both slothful and deceitful in its
clean-up obligations.42 The Pentagon is now pressing
Congress to exempt it from all environmental laws so
that it may pollute and poison free from liability.43 

The Navy uses prime fishing grounds off the coast of
Washington state to test fire DU ammunition. In
January, Washington State Rep. Jim McDermott chastised
the Navy: "On one hand you have required soldiers to
have DU safety training and to wear protective gear
when handling DU...and submarines must stay clear of
DU-contaminated waters. These policies indicate there
is cause for concern....On the other hand the
Department of Defense has repeatedly denied that DU
poses any danger whatsoever. There has been no remorse
about leaving tons of DU equipment in the soil in
foreign countries, and there appears to be no remorse
about leaving it in the waters of your own country."44

DU has been used in military practice maneuvers in
Indiana, Florida, New Mexico, Massachusetts, Maryland
and Puerto Rico. After the Navy tested DU weaponry on
the Puerto Rican island of Vieques, one third of the
island's population developed serious illness. Many
people show high levels of uranium in their bodies.
Hundreds have filed a class action suit against the
Navy for $100 million, claiming DU contamination has
caused widespread cancers.45 

The Navy's Fallon Naval Air Station near Fallon,
Nevada, is a quagmire of 26 toxic waste sites. It is
also a target practice zone for DU bombs and missiles.
Area residents report bizarre illnesses, including 17
children who have contracted leukemia within five
years. A survey of groundwater in the Fallon area
showed nearly half of area wells are contaminated with
radioactive materials.46 

The materials for DU weaponry have been processed
mainly at three nuclear plants in Kentucky, Ohio and
Tennessee, where workers handling uranium contaminated
with plutonium have suffered for decades with cancers
and debilitating maladies similar to Gulf War
Syndrome.47 

Emboldened by power-grabbing successes made possible
by his administration's devious 9-11 project,
President Bush asserts that the U.S. has the right to
attack any nation it deems a potential threat. He told
West Point in 2002, "If we wait for threats to fully
materialize, we will have waited too long."48 Thus, it
is certain that Bush-Cheney future pre-emptive nuclear
wars are lined up like idling jetson a runway. Both
Cheney's Halliburton Corp. and the Bush family's
Carlyle Group are profiteers in U.S. defense
contracts, so endless war is just good business.49 

The Washington Post reported that the Pentagon will
create special nuclear weapons for use on North
Korea's underground nuclear facilities.50 Next August,
U.S. war makers will meet to consolidate plans for a
new generation of "mini," "micro" and "tiny" nuclear
bombs and bunker busters. These will be added to the
U.S. arsenal perhaps for use against non-nuclear
third-world nations such as Iran, Syria, Lebanon.51 

The solution? Americans must stop electing ruthless
criminals to rule this nation. We must convince fellow
citizens that villains like Saddam Hussein are made in
the U.S. as rationale for endless corporate war
profits. Saddam was placed in power by the CIA.52 For
years U.S. government agencies, under auspices of
George Bush Sr., supplied him with chemical and
biological weapons.53 Our national nuclear
laboratories, along with Unisys, Dupont and
Hewlett-Packard, sold Saddam materials for his nuclear
program.54 Dick Cheney was CEO of Halliburton in the
late 90s when its subsidiaries signed $73 million in
new contracts to further supply Saddam.55 The wicked
villain of Iraq was nurtured for decades as a cash-cow
by U.S. military-industrial piranhas. 

If America truly supports its troops, it must stop
sending them into nuclear holocaust for the enrichment
of thugs. Time is running out. If the DU-maniacs at
the Pentagon and their coven of nuclear arms peddlers
are not harnessed, America will have no able-bodied
fighting forces left. All people of the earth will
become grossly ill, hideously deformed and short-
lived. We must succeed in the critical imperative to
face reality and act decisively. Should we fail, there
will be no place to hide from Bush-Cheney's merciless
nuclear orgies yet to come or from the inevitable
nuclear retaliation these orgies will surely breed. 

Endnotes 

1."DOD Launches Depleted Uranium Training," Linda
Kozaryn, American Forces Press Service, 8-13-99. 

2."Nukes of the Gulf War,"John Shirley, Zess@aol.com.
See this article in archives at www.gulfwarvets.com. 

3. BBC News, "US To Use Depleted Uranium," March 18,
2003; U.S. General Accounting Office, Operation Desert
Storm: "Early Performance Assessment of Bradley and
Abrams," 1-2-92. 

4."Nukes of the Gulf War," op. cit. 

5. Ibid. 

6. "Invading Hiroshima," William Thomas, 2-4-2003,
www.willthomas.net 

7. "US Shells Leave Lethal Legacy," Toronto Star, July
31, 1999; also "Radiation Tests for Peacekeepers in
the Balkans Exposed to Depleted Uranium,"
www.telegraph.co.uk, 12-31-02. 

8. "Depleted Uranium May Stop Kidneys In Days," Rob
Edwards, New Scientist.com, 3-12-02; also "Uranium
Weapons Too Hot to Handle," Rob Edwards, New
Scientist.co.uk, 6-9-99. 

9. "Navy Seeks Cash for More Tomahawks," David Rennie
in Washington, Telegraph Group Limited, 1-4-03,
news.telegraph.co.uk. 

10. "Going Nuclear in Iraq--DU Cancers Mount Daily,"
Ramzi Kysia, CounterPunch.org, 12-31-01. 

11."Depleted Uranium Symptoms Match US Report As Fears
Spread," Peter Beaumont, The Observer (UK) 1-14-01,
www.guardianlimited.co.uk. 

12. "Gulf War Illnesses Affect 300,000 Vets," Ellen
Tomson, Pioneer Press, www.pioneerplanet.com. See also
American Gulf War Veterans Association at
www.gulfwarvets.com. 

13. "2 of Every 5 Gulf War Vets Are On Disability:
209,000 Make VA Claims," World Net Daily, 1-28-03,
WorldNetDaily.com. 

14. "Research on Sick Gulf Vets Revisited, "New York
Times, 1-29-01; "Tests Show Gulf War Victims Have
Uranium Poisoning," Jonathon Carr-Brown and Martin
Meissonnier, The Sunday Times (UK) 9-3-02. 

15. "Catastrophe: Ill Gulf Vets Contaminated Partners
With DU," The Halifax Herald Limited, Clare Mellor,
2-09-01. This article is available in archives at
www.rense.com. 

16. "Iraqi Cancer, Birth Defects Blamed on US Depleted
Uranium," Seattle Post- Intelligencer, 11-12-02; "US
Depleted Uranium Yields Chamber of Horrors in Southern
Iraq, Andy Kershaw, The Independent (London) 12-4-01. 

17. "The Environmental and Human Health Impacts of the
Gulf War Region with Special References to Iraq," Ross
Mirkarimi, The Arms Control Research Centre, May 1992.
See also Gulf War Syndrome Birth Defects in Iraq at
www.web-light.nl/VISIE/extremedeformities.html. 

18. "The Tiny Victims of Desert Storm, Has Our Country
Abandoned Them?," Life Magazine, November 1995; "Birth
Defects Killing Gulf War Babies," Los Angeles Times,
11-14-94; "Depleted Uranium, The Lingering Poison,"
Alex Kirby, BBC News Online, 6-7-99. 

19. "Depleted Uranium, A Killer Disaster," Travis
Dunn, Disaster News.net, 12-29-02. 

20. San Francisco Chronicle, 10-10-02. 

21. "US To Use Depleted Uranium," BBC News, 3-18-03. 

22. "Depleted Uranium Symptoms Match US Report As
Fears Spread," Peter Beaumont, The Observer (UK)
1-14-01. 

23. "Iraqi Cancer, Birth Defects Blamed on US Depleted
Uranium," Seattle Post- Intelligencer, 11-12-02. 

24. "US To Use Depleted Uranium," BBC News, 3-18-03. 

25. US Army Environmental Policy Institute: Health and
Environmental Consequences of Depleted Uranium in the
U.S. Army, Technical Report, June 1995. 

26. "Pentagon Depleted Uranium No Health Risk," Dr.
Doug Rokke, 3-15-03; also "The Terrible, Tragic Toll
of Depleted Uranium," Address by Dr. Rokke before
congressional leaders in Washington, D.C.,12-30-02;
also "Gulf War Casualties," Dr. Doug Rokke,
www.traprockpeace.org. 9-30-02. 

27."Tests Show Gulf War Victims Have Uranium
Poisoning," Sunday Times (UK), Jonathon Carr-Brown and
Martin Meissonnier, 9-3-00. 

28. "The Pentagon's Radioactive Bullet: An
Investigative Report," Bill Mesler, The Nation,
5-28-99, see www.thenation.com/
issue/961021/1021mesl.htm. 

29. "Tactical Nukes Deployed In Afghanistan," World
Net Daily, 10-7-01. 30. Ibid. 

31. "The B-61 Bomb,The Burrowing Nuke" George
Smith,VillageVoice.com 12-29-02.; also "Bunker-busting
US Tactical Nuclear Bombs, Nowhere to Hide," Kennedy
Grey, Wired.com, 10-9-01. 

32."Perpetual Death From America," Mohammed Daud
Miraki, Afghan-American Interviews, 2-24-03; also
"Dying of Thirst," Fred Pearce, New Scientist,
11-17-2001. 

33. Ibid. 

34. "Afghanistan Displaces Myanmar as Top Heroin
Producer," Agence France-Presse, 3-01-03. This article
is at www.copvcia.com.;also "Opium Trade Flourishing
In the `New Afghanistan,'" Reuters, 3-3-03. 

35. "The Bush-Cheney Drug Empire," Michael C. Ruppert,
Nexus Magazine, February-March 2000; The Politics of
Heroin: CIA Complicity in the Global Drug Trade,
Alfred W. McCoy, Lawrence Hill & Co., revised edition
due May 2003; Drugging of America, Rodney Stich,
Diablo Western Press, 1999; "Blood for Oil, Drugs for
Arms," Bob Djurdjevic, Truth In Media, April 2000,
www.truthinmedia.org. 36. ABC News, February 27, 2003.

37. Compromised, Clinton Bush and the CIA, Terry Reed
and John Cummings, S.P.I. Books, 1994; The Clinton
Chronicles and The Mena Cover-up, Citizens for Honest
Government, 1996; "The Crimes of Mena, Grey Money,"
Ozark Gazette, 1995 (see www.copvcia.com.) 

38. "Damage to Yugoslav Environment is Immense, Says a
UN Report," Bob Djurdjevic, 7-4-99, truthinmedia.org.
This report was submitted to the UN Security Council
on June 9, 1999; also, "New Depleted Uranium Study
Shows Clear Damage," BBC News,8-28-99; also "NATO
Issued Warning About Toxic Ammo," Associated Press,
01-08-01. 

39. CounterPunch.org, 12-28-01. 

40. "Hundreds Died of Cancer After DU
Bombing--Doctor," Reuters, 1-13-01. 

41."Depleted Uranium Threatens Balkan Cancer
Epidemic," BBC News, 7-30-99. 

42. "Many Defense Sites Still Hazardous," Associated
Press, 9-24-02; also Old US Weapons Called Hidden
Danger, Los Angeles Times, 11-25-02. 

43. "Pentagon Seeks Freedom to Pollute Land, Air and
Sea," Andrew Gumbel in L.A., 3-13-03, Independent
Digital (UK) Ltd. 

44. "Radioactive DU Ammo Is Tested in Fish Areas,"
Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 1-11-03; Letter from Rep.
McDermott to Department of the Navy: see "Navy Fired
DU Rounds Into Waters Off Coast of Washington,"
1-20-03, rense.com. 

45."Cancer Rates Soar From US Military Use of DU On
`Enchanted Island,'" www.telegraph.co.uk, 2-5-01; also
"Navy Shells With Depleted Uranium Fired in Puerto
Rico," Fox News Online, 5-28-99. 

46. "The Fallon, NV Cancer Cluster And a US Navy
Bombing," Jeffrey St. Clair, CounterPunch.org,
8-10-02. 

47. "DU Shells Are Made of A Potentially Lethal
Cocktail of Nuclear Waste," Jonathon Carr-Brown,
www.sunday-times.co.uk, 1-22-01. 

48. "Preventative War Sets Perilous Precedent," Helen
Thomas, Hearst Newspapers, 3-20-03. 

49. PIGS at the Trough, Arriana Huffington, Random
House, 2003 (New York Times best seller.); also "The
Best Enemies Money Can Buy, From Hitler to Saddam
Hussein to Osama bin Laden Insider Connections and the
Bush Family's Partnership With Killers of Americans;"
Mike Ruppert, From the Wilderness,10-10-01; also "Bush
Sr.'s Carlyle Group Gets Fat on War and Conflict,"
Jamie Doward, The Observer (UK), 3-25-03; also
"Halliburton Wins Contract for Iraq Oil Firefighting,
Reuters, 3-7-03; also "Cashing In-Fortunes in Profits
Await Bush Circle After Iraq War, Andrew Gumbel, The
Independent (London) 9-15-02; also "War Could Be Big
Business for Halliburton," Reuters, 3-23-03. 

50. "Pentagon Seeks a Nuclear Digger," Washington
Post, March 10, 2003. 

51. "Remember: Bush Planed Iraq War Before Taking
Office," Neil Mackay, The Sunday Herald (UK) 3-27-03;
also "US Mini-Nukes Alarm Scientists," The Guardian
(UK) 4-18-01; also "US Nuclear First-Strike Plan--It
Keeps Getting Scarier, Jeffrey Steinberg, Executive
Intelligence Review, 2-24-03. 

52. Wall Street Journal, 8-16-90: The CIA supported
the Baath Party and installed Hussein as Iraqi
dictator in 1968. 

53. "United States Dual-Use Exports to Iraq and Their
Impact on the Health of Persian Gulf War Veterans,"
Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban
Affairs, 1992, 1994; "U.S. Had Key Role in Iraq
Buildup," Washington Post, 12-30-02. 

54. "US Government, 24 US Corps Illegally Helped Iraq
Build Its WMD," Hugh Williamson in Berlin, Financial
Times, 12-19-02; "Full List of US Weapons Suppliers To
Iraq," Anu de Monterice, coachanu@earthlink.net,
12-19-02. 

55. Huffington, op. cit. 

Amy Worthington is a reporter for The Idaho Observer
Observer@coldreams.com 

 
  

 

 

 

 

 

 

	
		
____________________________________________________________
Yahoo! Messenger - Communicate instantly..."Ping" 
your friends today! Download Messenger Now 
http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com/download/index.html

------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-->
Buy Ink Cartridges or Refill Kits for your HP, Epson, Canon or Lexmark
Printer at MyInks.com.  Free s/h on orders $50 or more to the US & Canada.
http://www.c1tracking.com/l.asp?cid=5511
http://us.click.yahoo.com/mOAaAA/3exGAA/qnsNAA/Sj.0lB/TM
---------------------------------------------------------------------~->

[Brought to you by HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK] 
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
     http://groups.yahoo.com/group/du-watch/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
     du-watch-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
     http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
*****************************************************************
 35 Tri-City Herald: Payments to nuclear workers picking up
 
This story was published Tuesday, April 20th, 2004 

By Annette Cary Herald staff writer 

In the last two months, the federal government has paid $1.7 
million in compensation or medical costs for Hanford workers who 
suffered cancer or a rare lung disease because of exposures at 
the nuclear reservation. 

That brings the total claims paid to Hanford workers -- or in 
some cases their survivors -- to more than $9 million, said Pete 
Turcic, director of the Energy Employees Occupational Illness 
Compensation Program for the Department of Labor. 

He's in the Tri-Cities this week for a meeting of the Advisory 
Board on Radiation and Worker Health. The board will hear public 
comments today at the Red Lion Hotel in Richland. 

Payment of claims for workers harmed by exposure to radiation or 
the metal beryllium has picked up. But other portions of the 
complicated program have made little progress in the 3 1/2 years 
since it was announced. 

The Labor Department's portion of the program has paid $150,000 
in claims to each of 30 workers whose cancer was determined to 
likely have been caused by exposure to radiation at Hanford. 
Plutonium for weapons was produced at Hanford during World War II 
and the Cold War. 

In addition, 40 claims for $150,000 have been paid to Hanford 
workers with chronic beryllium disease. The incurable lung 
disease is caused by breathing in small particles of the metal 
used in the nuclear industry. 

In some cases, payments have been made to survivors of workers. 
But some of those workers, plus 100 Hanford workers with a 
sensitivity to beryllium, also have had their medical bills 
covered. 

Claims filed by Hanford workers also have picked up in the last 
two months with a federal effort to reach more eligible workers. 

About 275 claims were filed for Hanford workers, bringing the 
total to 3,565 Hanford claims. That's still far fewer than 
federal officials had expected from Hanford. 

When Department of Labor officials publicized a telephone number 
to ask why people had not filed a claim, many said they had only 
recently learned of the program, Turcic said. 

Some people also appear to have been discouraged from applying 
for compensation because of lack of progress in a portion of the 
program not administered by the Department of Labor. 

The Department of Energy is administering claims of Hanford 
workers for state worker compensation. Workers with a much 
broader range of exposures to toxic substances, such as asbestos 
or heavy metals, are eligible to apply. 

However, just one claim has been paid in that program, U.S. 
senators heard at a Washington, D.C., hearing in March. 

One portion of the Department of Labor program for radiation 
cancer victims also has been stalled. The U.S. Health and Human 
Services Department has yet to issue regulations for the "special 
exposure cohort" rule. 

Workers at Hanford and many other DOE sites may be given the 
$150,000 compensation if the government determines the likelihood 
of their cancer being caused by radiation was at least 50 
percent. The decision is based on an evaluation of their medical 
records, work history and radiation exposure. 

For workers at some sites, such as the gaseous diffusion plant in 
Paducah, Ky., the requirements are more lenient. By order of 
Congress, any workers there may be automatically compensated if 
they have one of 22 cancers and worked in jobs where they should 
have had their radiation exposure monitored. 

For workers at Hanford to be automatically compensated like 
workers in Kentucky, they must petition to be part of a group 
designated a "special exposure cohort." The designation would 
cover groups of workers whose radiation doses could not be 
accurately estimated. 

Procedures for designating special exposure cohorts were proposed 
and then withdrawn under heavy criticism in 2002. HHS tried again 
in 2003, but the rules have not been adopted 11 months after a 
comment period on them ended. 

Among those concerned about the delay is the Advisory Board on 
Radiation and Worker Health, which is meeting in Richland for two 
days. Meetings are scheduled beginning at 9 a.m. today and 8 a.m. 
Wednesday at the Red Lion in Richland. 

The board, which includes Wanda Munn of Richland, was appointed 
by the president to provide guidance to the federal government. 
It develops guidelines and methods for determining the amount of 
radiation received by workers, advises on the quality of dose 
reconstructions for workers and will give advice on special 
exposure cohorts when rules are set. 

Among the topics that will be discussed in the two-day meetings 
are updates on the program, profiles of nuclear sites and access 
to information for reconstructing radiation doses. 

The Department of Labor is continuing to accept applications from 
workers, former workers or their survivors for radiation and 
beryllium exposure. 

A push to get information out on the program has led to about 250 
to 300 claims being filed per week recently nationwide, Turcic 
said. 

"Plus there has been a decrease in uncovered diseases," Turcic 
said. 

Workers applying for the $150,000 compensation based on radiation 
exposure must have a doctor's diagnosis or other proof they 
suffered cancer. More than 650 invalid claims have been filed for 
Hanford workers who did not have cancer or a lung condition 
caused by beryllium exposure. The lung disease silicosis also is 
covered for workers at some other sites. 

Department of Labor officials have been concerned about the small 
percentage of present and former Hanford workers filing claims. 
They estimated in February that just 3 percent of them had filed 
claims, even though at least a third of U.S. residents get 
cancer. 

The Department of Labor is organizing mail campaigns with 
organized labor to try to reach more former Hanford workers. It's 
also discussing getting information more prominently displayed on 
an American Cancer Society Web page for cancer patients seeking 
financial assistance. 

In another attempt to reach cancer patients, it's discussing a 
program with Cancer Treatment Centers of America, which has a 
clinic in Seattle. Patients and former patients who worked for 
Department of Energy contractors would be sent a letter 
explaining the compensation program. If successful, it could be 
expanded to more clinics. 

The Department of Labor also is considering ways to reach more 
former Hanford workers in Oregon because information from death 
certificates showed many moved there, Turcic said. 

Anyone interested in filing a claim should call 783-1500 or 
1-888-654-0014. 

© 2004 Tri-City Herald, Associated Press &Other Wire Services
*****************************************************************
 36 Rockford Register Star: Radium levels high in wells

  Published: April 20, 2004
 
 Officials say the water remains safe to drink.

 	By BRIAN PETERS, Rockford Register Star
 	
ROCKFORD -- Radium levels in four Rockford water wells have 
exceeded federal drinking water standards in 2003, setting the 
stage for what could be an expensive cleanup process.

But city officials stressed at a news conference Monday that the
city's water supply remains safe to drink as the city does more
testing.

"These are preliminary numbers, and we have a year's worth of
testing still to go," said Nadine Miller, the city's water
quality manager. "And the water people are getting at their
houses is still safe to drink."

It's the first time since the city started testing for radium in
1997 that city water exceeded federally mandated drinking water
standards.

Loves Park's water system is already undertaking a $2.1 million
overhaul to clean up radium problems at two of its wells.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, a person
would have to drink upward of two liters of radium-laden water
every day for 70 years to increase his or her risk of developing
cancer.

The four wells exceeding federal requirements are on the city's
southeast and northeast sides. The city is waiting for the test
results on 11 other wells that might also show high radium
levels. The city has a total of 39 wells.

Part of the change in radium levels is being blamed on the fact
that the city must now test each well as opposed to the drinking
water coming out of the tap at people's homes, which the city
has been doing in the past.

 "To date, our system has not indicated that we had a radium
problem," said Public Works Director Bill Bittner. "I do not
believe the quality of our water is deteriorating. I believe
what is happening is a change in the testing process."

 Loves Park is looking to start construction on new radium
filtration systems for two of its wells in the next couple of
months, said Russ Bainter, Loves Park Water Department manager.
For Loves Park, the process of how to reduce the radium levels
in two of its wells took more than a year to develop.

 "We had to hire an engineering firm, and we looked at treatment
options and decided on one that fit us the best," Bainter said. 

The city of Rockford will continue to test the city's 39 wells
for radium levels during the next year. If radium levels
continue to exceed federal limits, the city will have to come up
with a plan to reduce the level of radium at the wells that
exceeds federal guidelines.

 Radium is a naturally occurring radioactive element found in
rocks and soil. Deep bedrock aquifers used for drinking water,
like Rockford's, are more likely than shallow wells or surface
water to contain radium.

 Of the 1,804 public water systems in Illinois, the IEPA has
identified 106 that have radium levels that exceed federal
standards. 

There are four water systems in Winnebago County that have high
radium levels: Alliant Energy in South Beloit, the city of Loves
Park, Great Oaks and Beacon Hill Apartments, and the Coventry
Creek subdivision.

 Alliant Energy closed the well in South Beloit that had the
high radium levels. South Beloit residents receive their water
from wells in Wisconsin now.

 No water systems exceed the federal standard of radium in Ogle
or Boone counties.

Contact:  [bpeters@registerstartower.com] ; 815-987-1369

Radium questions and answers 

QUESTION What is radium? 

ANSWER: Radium (Ra) is a naturally occurring radioactive element
that is present in varying amounts in rocks and soil within the
Earth's crust. Small quantities of radium derived from these
sources can also be found in groundwater supplies. Radium can be
present in several forms, also called isotopes. The most common
isotopes in Illinois groundwater are Ra-226 and Ra-228. The
primary form of radiation emitted by radium is the alpha
particle. 

Q: Is there radium in my water?
 A: Surface water is usually low in radium, but groundwater can
contain significant amounts of radium because of local geology.
Deep bedrock aquifers used for drinking water sometimes contain
levels of Ra-226 and Ra-228 that exceed regulatory standards. In
Illinois, high radium levels occur primarily in the northern
third of the state because of the presence of radium in the
granite bedrock that surrounds aquifers from which water
supplies are drawn. All public water supply wells are tested
regularly for radium. 

Most of the private wells in Illinois draw their water from
aquifers that are much more shallow than those used by public
water supplies. Most shallow aquifers do not contain significant
amounts of radium. However, radium has been found in some
private and noncommunity public wells. Radium cannot be seen,
tasted or smelled in your drinking water. Unless your water
supply has been tested for radium, you should not assume your
water is radium-free. 

The testing process for radium in water begins with a screening
for total alpha particle activity. If total alpha activity is
elevated, further testing for radium is conducted. Radium
samples from public water supplies are taken quarterly, tested
by the Illinois Department of 
Nuclear Safety and averaged over a one-year period. 

Q: Is radium in water harmful to my health? 
A: Radium in water may pose a hazard to human health when the
water is used for drinking. The federal Environmental Protection
Agency says that some people who drink water containing radium
for many years may have an increased risk of getting cancer. No
more than 20 percent of the ingested radium is absorbed from the
digestive tract and distributed throughout the body. The rest is
excreted unchanged. Some absorbed radium is excreted in urine.
The remaining radium behaves similarly to calcium and is
deposited in the tissues of the body, especially bone. The
radiation received externally through showering, washing or
other uses of 
radium-containing water is insignificant because the skin blocks
the alpha radiation. 

Internally deposited radium emits radiation as alpha particles
that may damage tissues found within the surrounding few
millimeters. Radium is not known to cause adverse health effects
at levels generally encountered in drinking water, diet or the
environment. However, studies of workers exposed to high levels
of radium and other sources of alpha radiation for extended
periods show that high levels of radium may cause depression of
the immune system, anemia, cataracts, fractured teeth and some
types of cancer. 

Q: Is there a safe level of radium in drinking water? 
A: It is assumed that any radiation exposure from any source
carries some degree of risk. However, the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency has established a maximum contaminant level
(MCL) for radium in public water supplies of 5 picoCuries per
liter (pCi/l). The MCL for radium has been set well below levels
for which health effects have been observed and is therefore
assumed to be protective of public health. Public water supplies
with radium levels that exceed federal standard are not
inherently "unsafe," but it is required to notify the public
that the water exceeds the standard. Officials must also
evaluate ways to reduce the radium levels in the system's water.
Water containing elevated levels of radium may carry a
correspondingly higher level of risk to health.

 Q: What happens if a public water supply exceeds the standard? 
A: The levels of radium in the public water supplies of some
Illinois communities exceed the federal standard. A public water
supply exceeding the standard is not permitted to extend water
mains and is placed on a "restricted status" list. However, some
communities have applied for and been granted a temporary
variance from these regulations by the Illinois Pollution
Control Board, which adopts environmental regulations. 

Q: Can radium be removed from water?
 A: A number of methods are available to public water supplies
to remove radium from water. Ion exchange, lime softening and
reverse osmosis are the most common and can remove up to 90
percent of radium present. Ion exchange (i.e., water softeners)
and reverse osmosis units are also available for home
installation and can often remove 90 percent of the radium
present along with hardness removal. For some people, an
undesired effect of ion exchange is the addition of sodium to
the treated water. Those on low-sodium diets should consider
this before installing a softener. 

Q: Where can I learn more about radium in the water supply?
 A: People interested in receiving additional information about
radium in groundwater supplies in Illinois can write to the
Illinois Department of Public Health, Division of Environmental
Health at 525 W. Jefferson St., Springfield, IL 62761, or call
217-782-5830, or 800-547-0466 for hearing-impaired only. 

Source: Illinois Department of Public Health 

A wealth of information is available about radium in drinking 
water on the Internet. A good place to start learning more about 
how the government monitors radium levels in the public water 
supply is by visiting www.epa.gov, the Web site for the federal 
Environmental Protection Agency. The site features information on 
what the agency does to monitor water supplies and water quality 
reports by state and county. Other sources of information include 
the United States Geological Survey Web site 
il.water.usgs.gov/proj/gwstudies/radium, and the state EPA Web 
site, www.epa.state.il.us. 

*****************************************************************
 37 MOS News: Security at Moscow Nuclear Facilities Described as Lax 

MOSNEWS.COM
 
    [Moscow's Kurchatov Research Institute, www.kiae.ru] 

Moscow’s Kurchatov Research Institute, photo — www.kiae.ru 

Created: 20.04.2004 11:30 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 11:49 MSK 

The Federal Service of Atomic Supervision has expressed concern 
about security at nuclear facilities in Moscow, the Itar-Tass 
news agency reports. . 

The agency cited a spokesman for the service, Valery Rozhnov, as 
saying on Monday that there were 11 research nuclear reactors in 
Moscow, having the combined capacity of 20 megawatts. The 
official said that part of those reactors were operating at 
higher educational institutions where it is hard to cerate the 
conditions for effective control over the production of 
radioactive materials. 

Rozhnov went on to say that “Such nuclear facilities as the 
Moscow Institute of Engineering and Physics, which works with 
radioactive materials on a daily basis, have a critical bench of 
two megawatts. The production generated by this bench may pose a 
threat if they fall into the hands of potential terrorists.” 

In his words, “This requires constant control over the activities 
of the institute by our service and its compliance with our 
recommendations.” 

In a separate interview, a source in the Federal Atomic Energy 
Agency has told Itar-Tass that there were several operating 
commercial nuclear reactors in Moscow that make radioactive 
isotopes for various purposes, including medical ones, which 
might be used to make a so-called dirty bomb. “It is necessary to 
introduce strict control over isotope products made in Moscow and 
experiments that involve radioactive materials,” the agency’s 
spokesman Nikolai Shingarev has said. 

In his view, physical protection of these facilities and the 
transportation of radioactive materials “are not properly 
financed”.     
    
MONEY
 
MOSNEWS Yukos and Sibneft Shares Plunge [Shares of Yukos and 
Sibneft plunged in midday trading on the Russian stock market / 
Image still from RTR] After the S ratings agency announced that 
it had lowered the corporate ratings of Yukos and Sibneft, their 
shares took a further plunge in midday trading. Yukos stocks lost 
6.3% of their value; Sibneft shares decreased by 2.9%. FEATURE
 
ANNA RUDNITSKAYA The Moscow News Weekly Russian Anti-Nazi Youth: 
“Rappers” and “SHARPs" [SHARP logo / Image from www.a-fa.tk] With 
all the news of xenophobia and neo-Nazism on the rise in Russia, 
some youths are organizing into anti-Nazi movements to oppose 
racists and skinheads — indeed, violently so. Conversations with 
a so-called “rapper” (what Russian hip-hop kids call themselves) 
and a SHARP (SkinHeads Against Racial Prejudices) help understand 
the attitudes of teenagers who come from very similar backgrounds 
as those they oppose. INTERVIEW
 
YELENA RUDNEVA Gazeta.Ru Russian President Unaware of Treacherous 
Azov Rocks [Sergei Shishkaryov / Photo from www.delo-group.ru] In 
an interview to Gazeta.Ru, Sergei Shishkaryov, a State Duma 
deputy of the Motherland faction and member of the joint 
Russo-Ukrainian commission on the state border, comments on and 
shares his misgivings concerning the ratification of a package of 
treaties on the Russian-Ukrainian border. COLUMN
 
YEVGENY KISELYOV, Editor-in-Chief Moskovskie Novosti weekly The 
State and Television [Yevgeny Kiselyov] Liberals could have taken 
warning three years ago when Gazprom took over the independent 
television channel NTV. Now, with six channels owned by the 
state, there is little hope for independent television — unless 
the government wills it.   

  Write us: <b>info@mosnews.com</b> [info@mosnews.com] Copyright 
© 2004 MOSNEWS.COM Designed by <b>kB "Gazeta.Ru"</b> 
[http://design.gazeta.ru/] 

*****************************************************************
 38 NRC: Generic Safety Issue (GSI)-191, ``Assessment of Debris 
 
                         FR Doc E4-885 
[Federal Register: April 20, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 76)] 
[Notices] [Page 21166] From the Federal Register Online via GPO 
Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr20ap04-103]                         
 
Accumulation on Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) Sump 
Performance;'' Meeting AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
 
ACTION: Notice of meeting.
 
SUMMARY: Representatives from Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI), 
Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), utility groups and 
stakeholders will meet with the staff of Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission (NRC) to discuss the chemical effects test plan and 
test facility that will be used to conduct the tests. This is a 
joint test program between the NRC and the industry (represented 
by NEI and EPRI). The meeting is a followup to a meeting in 
January 2004 on the same subject. The meeting is open to the 
public and all interested parties may attend.
 
 
DATES: April 28, 2004, from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.
 
ADDRESSES: Nuclear Regulatory Commission, One White Flint North, 
11555 Rockville Pike, Conference Room O-10B4, Rockville, 
Maryland, 20852.
 
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: T.Y. Chang, Mail Stop T-10D20, 
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001.
 
Telephone: (301) 415-6450; fax: (301) 415-5074; Internet: 
tyc@nrc.gov [tyc@nrc.gov] .
 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: One of the remaining open GSI-191 
issues to be resolved is the chemical effects for PWR Emergency 
Core Cooling System (ECCS) recirculation, which relates to 
possible chemical reactions between sump/spray fluids and 
materials in containment. The NRC Advisory Committee on Reactor 
Safeguards (ACRS) has asked if chemical reaction products or 
precipitates in post-loss of coolant accident (LOCA) sump fluid 
could be generated in sufficient quantity to significantly 
increase pressure drop (head loss) across ECCS recirculation sump 
screen debris beds. This test program will generate data needed 
by both NRC and the industry to address this question. NRC and 
industry will conduct data analysis and reach conclusions 
independently. These results will be made publicly available. 
Attendees are requested to notify T.Y. Chang at (301) 425-6450 of 
their planned attendance if special services, such as for the 
hearing impaired, are necessary.
 
The NRC is accessible to the White Flint Metro Station.
 
Visitor parking near the NRC buildings is limited.
 
Date in Rockville, Maryland, this 12th day of April, 2004.
 
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
 
Anthony Hsia, Acting Chief, Engineering Research Applications 
Branch, Division of Engineering Technology, Office of Nuclear 
Regulatory Research.
 
[FR Doc. E4-885 Filed 4-19-04; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P

 
*****************************************************************
 39 SacObserver.com Commentary: Earth Day And Vieques
 
SacObserver.com   

Posted: 04.20.04 @ 1 p.m.
  
Vieques is a beautiful little island off the coast of Puerto 
Rico. It is also a place which has experienced environmental 
devastation due to the test bombing that the U.S. Navy conducted 
there for 60 years. 

  Bernice Powell Jackson   

Now, since the withdrawal of the Navy a year ago, little has been 
done towards cleaning up our mess. So, as we celebrate Earth Day 
on April 22 and re-commit ourselves to saving the Earth and our 
own communities, maybe we should also focus on Vieques. 

For more than a decade, environmentalists, labor unions and peace 
activists in Vieques joined together with civil rights groups and 
Puerto Rican political leaders to protest the Navy's presence in 
Vieques. They protested the Navy's annexation of two-thirds of 
the island, which sandwiched the people between the Navy base and 
the target practice range which the Navy not only used itself, 
but even rented out to other nations. They also protested what 
was happening to the land and waters of Vieques, a place where 
farms once provided much of the beef for the Caribbean and where 
the waters hold one of the world's few phosphorescent bays. They 
protested the decimation of the tiny native frogs known as the 
coqui and the high rates of cancer, miscarriages and other 
diseases of the human beings living there. 

Finally, after a thousand days of protests by activists not only 
from Puerto Rico, but from across the U.S. and around the world, 
and after the accidental death of a civilian employee on the 
bombing range, the Navy agreed to withdraw from Vieques. They 
were also supposed to clean up the millions of rounds of 
unexploded ordinance and the radioactive contamination left by 
years of test bombing. Today, that has not yet happened and the 
hundreds of complaints filed on behalf of Vieques' residents have 
not yet been acted upon. As far as the people there know, there 
is not yet even a plan to clean up this environmental mess. 

Twenty members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and New York 
Congressman Charles Rangel have called upon the Secretary of the 
Navy to get personally involved in ensuring the immediate 
clean-up of Vieques. Last fall Congressman Rangel wrote that the 
residents of Vieques still experience "dangerous living 
conditions," including the high probability that the heavy metals 
and chemical compounds left in the land there "are now creating 
dangerous toxic levels in the environment and food chain." Little 
has changed since then. 

The irony is that for 60 years the people of Vieques were 
besieged by the military. Now, since the withdrawal of the Navy, 
the island is finding itself besieged by U.S. developers 
interested only in building the tourist industry on this 
beautiful place. While a wildlife sanctuary was established when 
the Navy withdrew, inadequate funds and plans have been put into 
place to clean up and protect the island and its wildlife in the 
future. Even less has happened to protect the health and the 
interests of the humans living there. 

On Earth Day 2004, many communities around the world will hold 
clean-up projects in their own neighborhoods, where they will 
plant trees and involve children in projects designed to teach 
them the importance of protecting the earth. This Earth Day, the 
people in Vieques need the help of the world's communities to 
insist that the U.S. Navy live up to its promises to truly clean 
up the environmental disaster which they created. This Earth Day, 
they need our support as they insist that they are part of the 
decision-making process about how their land is developed and 
used. Only then will they experience real justice. 

Bernice Powell Jackson is executive minister for the United 
Church of Christ Justice & Witness Ministries.         

  
  Copyright © 2004 Sacramento Observer. All Rights Reserved. 
Privacy Policy Report broken links to help@sacobserver.com 
[help@sacobserver.com?Subject=Broken%20%20link%20%20%20%20&body=P 
lease%20%20refer%20%20to%20%20http://www.sacobserver.com/news/com 
*****************************************************************
 40 Mos News: Numerous Violations Uncovered on Russia’s Nuclear Flagship -
          
NEWS - MOSNEWS.COM
 
fas.org] 

Atomic missile cruiser Peter The Great / Photo from fas.org 
 
Created: 20.04.2004 15:33 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 17:52 MSK 

MosNews
 
A commission led by staff of the Russian Navy uncovered numerous 
significant violations on the flagship of the Northern fleet, the 
atomic missile cruiser Peter The Great, Russian Information 
Agency Novosti reported Tuesday.

Those violations were uncovered within the framework of services 
organizations and special trainings. The commission, headed by 
deputy commander of the Navy Mikhail Zakharenko, also discovered 
that the team violated ship regulations, with the daily routine 
not being maintained.

It was decided to put the ship in for scheduled repairs for a 
month.
     
  Write us: <b>info@mosnews.com</b> [info@mosnews.com] 
Copyright © 2004 MOSNEWS.COM
*****************************************************************
 41 Vancouver Sun: Vancouver to get mobile nuclear lab 

Canada buying four laboratories to protect against dirty bombs 
                                                        
  Canadian Press   

Tuesday, April 20, 2004 

OTTAWA (CP) - Canada is buying four "mobile nuclear laboratories" 
to help protect communities in the event of a nuclear dirty-bomb 
attack by terrorists. 

The $1.5-million labs will be located in Ottawa, Halifax, 
Vancouver, and Pinawa, Man., and will be available for deployment 
across Canada. 

Each lab will have a van equipped with state-of-the-art equipment 
to allow scientific teams to identify the type and extent of 
radiological contamination and predict the dispersal pattern of 
contamination. 

"With this new capability, the government of Canada has greatly 
enhanced its national ability to respond to radiological-nuclear 
hazards," Defence Minister David Pratt said in a news release. 

"These mobile labs could be deployed or air-lifted in emergencies 
where time is of the essence." 

Operators from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Atomic 
Energy of Canada and the B.C. Centre for Disease Control will be 
trained to operate the labs. 

A government release said: "Potential threats from terrorism have 
created the need for response teams across the country that are 
able to respond rapidly with radiological nuclear expertise, 
particularly for incidents involving radiological dispersion 
devices - the so-called 'dirty bombs.'" 

Such bombs spread radioactive contamination using explosives, and 
the emitted radiation can only be detected with special 
instruments. 

Funding for the labs was provided under the Chemical, Biological, 
Radiological and Nuclear Research and Technology Initiative, 
which was set up to address threats as a part of the government 
's $7.7-billion security package announced in 2001. 

  Copyright © CanWest Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. 
[http://www.canada.com/]   

                                                                  
Vancouver to get mobile nuclear lab 
Canada buying four laboratories to protect against dirty bombs 

*****************************************************************
 42 Las Vegas SUN: Radioactive waste mounts at Test Site
 
By Suzanne Struglinski 
<suzanne@lasvegassun.com [suzanne@lasvegassun.com] >
 SUN WASHINGTON BUREAU 

WASHINGTON -- While the fight to keep high-level nuclear waste 
out of Nevada continues, two massive pits of low-level 
radioactive waste are already piling up at the Nevada Test Site, 
65 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

 The Energy Department ships contaminated material known as 
"legacy waste" from former nuclear weapons plants across the 
country to the Test Site, which now holds about 29.7 million 
cubic feet of low-level waste, enough to fill almost 277 
Olympic-sized swimming pools.

 Since October 1,287 shipments have come to the site, but the 
number of shipments vary from year to year. The program has been 
overshadowed by debate over the federal government's plan to ship 
high-level nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain, which borders the 
Test Site.

 The types of waste in those plans are different.

 Nevada is spending millions of dollars to fight the plan to ship 
77,000 tons of high-level waste -- used reactor fuel -- from 
commercial nuclear reactors and government sites to Yucca, which 
is 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

 While fighting the Yucca Mountain plan, Nevada has tolerated 
most of the low-level shipments to the Test Site, until now.

 Attorney General Brian Sandoval says he will sue the federal 
government if it does not stop a plan to move waste from the 
Fernald site in Ohio to Nevada.

 Nevada officials are arguing that the 153 million pounds of 
waste now stored in silos at Fernald cannot legally come to the 
Test Site based on state and federal laws and the department's 
own rules. The state says the waste is more radioactive than the 
department has classified it.

 The Energy Department said the waste can be moved to the Test 
Site and has no plans to stop shipments from starting next month 
as planned.

 "We don't agree with the attorney general's office contention," 
Energy Department spokesman Joe Davis said. "We will continue to 
move forward. Just like Yucca Mountain, if someone wants to file 
a lawsuit, we can't control that. We are just trying to do our 
job."

 Bob Loux, executive director of the Nevada Office of Nuclear 
Projects, said the state will wait for a formal response from the 
department before making any decision to move forward with the 
lawsuit.

 The Test Site, which is where the country tested atomic weapons 
for several decades, started collecting low-level waste in 1961, 
gathering contaminated equipment from tests at the site, and 
started taking the waste from other places around the country in 
1976.

 By October, the Test Site is expected to get another 3.5 million 
cubic feet of waste, among the 6.3 million cubic feet anticipated 
through 2009. The department, which has been taking the waste 
since 1976, expects to take waste until 2021, although an exact 
amount of how much waste it will take is not available, according 
to the department.

 The waste contains items that were contaminated by radiation, 
including workers' clothes, tools, soil, trash and remains of 
buildings, and has a low level of radioactivity.

 The waste is put in pits, and in some cases, craters from 
above-ground nuclear tests, and then covered with dirt.

 Material classified as high-level waste, transuranic waste, 
spent nuclear fuel or byproduct material such as uranium mill 
tailings are not included in the low-level labeling.

 The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, better known as WIPP, in New 
Mexico, holds transuranic waste or materials contaminated with 
radioactive elements plutonium, americium, curium and neptunium. 
The waste is not only the actual elements but also tool, soils, 
protective suits and other items contaminated by them.

 The Test Site sent seven shipments of transuranic waste to WIPP 
in January, the beginning of 60 shipments planned for this year. 
About 1,650 drums of the transuranic or mid-level radioactive 
waste will need to be moved from the Test Site over the next 
several years. Some of the waste is similar to what is stored at 
the Test Site but has a higher radiation level that the site can 
not dispose of properly.

 The state sued the department in 1994, saying the department 
needed to do a new Environmental Impact Statement for the Test 
Site if it was going to move it from weapons testing to a 
disposal facility. The department and the state eventually 
reached a settlement in April 1997. Nevada dropped the cases and 
the department agreed to a performance assessment and 
consultations with the Interior Department on what it could do 
with the waste.

 In 2000 the department decided to allow all former nuclear 
weapons plants to ship low-level waste to the Test Site or the 
Hanford Site in Washington. Most of the material has ended up in 
Nevada since the overdue cleanup of the Hanford Site and a series 
of lawsuits have kept new waste from entering Washington, Loux 
said.

 Through "handshake agreements" based on this decision, shipments 
to Nevada are supposed to avoid Hoover Dam and heavily populated 
areas, including Las Vegas, Loux said. A map of transportation 
routes shows a variety of different routes with one route coming 
north on Interstate 15, west on State Route 160 -- Blue Diamond 
Road -- and up to the Test Site.

 The department and Nevada also agreed on a 
50-cent-per-cubic-foot "tipping fee" on waste brought to the 
state. The money collected goes to emergency management and local 
governments to train emergency crews in handling a spill. The 
department is also supposed to give $500,000 a year to the 
state's cancer registry, which it is not doing, Loux said.

 Typically the state cannot do much to stop the shipments from 
coming in because low-level waste being transported from one 
Energy Department site to another is regulated only by the 
department and not state or federal laws under the Atomic Energy 
Act, Loux said.

 "We would if we could," Loux said. "We realize we can't stop 
it."

 Marta Adams, a Nevada senior deputy attorney general, agreed, 
saying the low-level waste does not fall under the state's 
hazardous material laws or federal hazardous material rules.

 As of 2003 the department has 26 sites that can ship waste to 
the Test Site, with eight additional sites that can ship waste as 
needed, according to the department.

 Drums and boxes of waste get buried in Area 5 at the Test Site. 
The area spans 732 acres, only 92 of which are used right now. 
The area is 770 feet above the groundwater. The department stacks 
the boxes and orders the boxes in a grid system of cells and 
covers it with eight feet of soil.

 Area 3 at the Test Site spans 128 acres and is 1,600 feet above 
the groundwater. The department uses large craters formed by 
underground nuclear weapons testing to bury larger contaminated 
items like shipping containers and other equipment. Layers of 
waste get separated by one to three feet of soil.

 "This stuff is pretty much just dumped," said Don Hancock, 
director of nuclear waste programs at the Southwest Research and 
Information Center in Albuquerque, N.M. "When you are talking 
about radionuclides, they are going to be around for a very long 
time. Just to say Nevada is a desert and nothing bad is going to 
happen is wrong."

 Hancock said there is a lot of waste the department has to deal 
with and it is running out of places to put it.

 "To assume everything is going to be fine is something DOE (the 
Energy Department) may be willing to do, but something citizens 
should be skeptical about," Hancock said.

 He said the stored waste could not explode but may not 
necessarily decay away. It is hard to say what is going to happen 
years from now.

 "Nevada doesn't want to be the nation's dump for everything," 
Hancock said. "The burden should be shared better." 

*****************************************************************
 43 Elko Daily Free Press: College plans Yucca session 

elkodaily.com

By ADELLA HARDING, Staff Writer 

ELKO - Former Nevada Gov. Robert List will be one of three 
speakers at a presentation on Yucca Mountain planned for 7 p.m. 
Wednesday at Great Basin College Theatre.

List and W. John Arthur of the U.S. Department of Energy will be 
presenting the side that favors DOE plans to store nuclear waste 
at Yucca Mountain in southern Nevada, according to GBC President 
Paul Killpatrick. He said John Hadder, northern Nevada 
coordinator for Citizen Alert, will be taking the opposing side 
on the project.

Although Hadder is the lone opposition speaker, the state 
continues to fight the project through the courts, and Nevada's 
congressional delegation continues to oppose the project.

Killpatrick said the debate is free and open to the public.

List is chief executive officer of The Robert List Co., a 
consulting firm providing government affairs, regulatory and 
political advisory services to corporate clients.

He serves on several boards, including the Business Bank of 
Nevada, Clark &Sullivan Constructors, Keystone Corp., Nevada 
Taxpayers Association and Venetian Resort-Hotel-Casino.

List also served on President George W. Bush's transition team 
for the U.S. Department of Interior in 2001 and is on the 
financial committee for the Bush-Cheney campaign for 2004.

He was Nevada attorney general from 1970 to 1978 and governor 
from 1978 to 1982.

Arthur is deputy director of DOE's Office of Civilian Radioactive 
Waste Management and leads the Office of Repository Development, 
which oversees the development of Yucca Mountain.

Prior to his current position, he was manager of the DOE's 
National Nuclear Security Administration's Albuquerque Operations 
Office, which provided oversight of two national laboratories and 
the nuclear weapons production complex.

He earlier served as acting deputy manager of the Albuquerque 
office.

According to his biography, Arthur has more than 23 years of 
experience with DOE in environmental restoration, waste 
management and nuclear-related programs, including the Uranium 
Mill Tailing Remedial Action Project, Brookhaven National 
Laboratory and the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant.

Arthur also has published more than 30 technical documents in the 
environmental field and service on several international working 
groups related to nuclear technology.

Hadder's Citizen Alert organization is a grassroots environmental 
organization that works to assure public participation and 
governmental accountability on issues affecting Nevada.

Citizen Alert is based in Reno.

Nevada's most recent lawsuit against Yucca Mountain was filed in 
March. Nevada Attorney General Brian Sandoval filed the suit in 
the federal Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C.

The suit states that Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham and the DOE 
violated federal law by failing to provide oversight funds to the 
state and to local governments affected by the proposed nuclear 
waste repository.

*****************************************************************
 44 AU ABC: Ranger miner 'withholds' contamination data. 

20/04/2004. ABC

[http://www.abc.net.au/]

Lawyers representing three workers affected by a contamination
incident at the Ranger Uranium Mine last month say the mine's
operator is still refusing to hand over critical information
about the men's health.

 Legal firm Slater and Gordon is representing three contractors
who complained of nausea, headaches and diarrhoea since drinking
or washing in water that was found to be contaminated with 400
times the legal limit of uranium.

 Lawyer Hayden Stephens says the men have rejected an apology
from the mine's operator Energy Resources of Australia (ERA).

 "An apology is one thing but we'd like some action to follow
their words," he said.

 "We consider it a pretty hollow apology when to date ERA have
refused to hand over vital information about the contaminated
water and its impact on the health of these men.

 "In the one breath they're expressing deep regret yet in the
next they're refusing to hand over what is vital information." 

 [http://www.abc.net.au] 

© 2004 Australian Broadcasting Corporation 
*****************************************************************
 45 Las Vegas SUN: Rural Nevada mayor says his town wants Yucca
Mountain shipments

Today: April 20, 2004 at 9:11:31 PDT 

ASSOCIATED PRESS 

CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) - The mayor of rural Caliente said his 
town would welcome the jobs that could come if a railhead is 
built nearby for shipment of nuclear waste to a Nevada nuclear 
waste dump. 

Kevin Phillips told state legislators Monday that he hoped more 
than 100 jobs would open at federal Energy Department facilities 
including a railroad maintenance center, a transportation 
operations center and a site for maintaining casks used to ship 
waste to Yucca Mountain. 

He pointed to a 1975 state Legislature resolution urging Congress 
to select the Nevada Test Site for disposal of high-level 
radioactive waste, and said Caliente leaders have not wavered in 
their support for the repository. 

"The political winds basically changed in the rest of the state," 
Phillips told the Legislature's Committee on High-Level 
Radioactive Waste. 

Gary Lanthrum, national transportation director for the Energy 
Department's Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, 
said no decision has been made about where transportation support 
facilities would be located. But he said some would probably be 
close to the repository, at the western edge of the vast test 
site. 

State Sen. Joe Neal, D-North Las Vegas, said he and others who 
believe the Yucca Mountain repository is inevitable would be 
upset if Caliente did not get economic benefits. 

The Energy Department announced April 5 that it wants to build a 
319-mile railroad line from Caliente, near the Nevada-Utah border 
150 miles northeast of Las Vegas, north around the test site to 
Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. 

The department plans to submit a license request to the Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission by December, and begin shipping and 
entombing 77,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel and government waste 
from 39 states at the repository starting in 2010. 

Nevada opposes the repository plan and is challenging the project 
in federal court. 

Phillips said his economically depressed community of 1,200 
people on the main Union Pacific line between Las Vegas and Salt 
Lake City wants the business the shipments would bring, and could 
handle emergencies with financial assistance and training from 
the federal government. 

"We view the rail corridor as an economic benefit for us," 
Phillips said of his town, where the main employers are Union 
Pacific and the Caliente Youth Center. 

He said his hardware store is 36 yards from the Union Pacific 
line, over which 50,000 shipments of hazardous waste are carried 
annually. 

Lanthrum told the legislators that more than 3,000 shipments of 
high-level radioactive waste have been made across the country 
over the years with no release of harmful radiation. 

The Energy Department plans community meetings May 3-5 in rural 
Amargosa Valley, Goldfield and Caliente to describe the plan to 
ship waste over what it dubs the Caliente corridor. 

State Sen. Dean Rhoads, R-Tuscarora, said he was skeptical the 
plan will benefit Caliente and rural counties. 

"A lot of these counties are owned 98 percent by the federal 
government and have declining populations," Rhoads said. "They 
have little hope of attracting companies." 

Information from: Las Vegas Review-Journal 

-- 



*****************************************************************
 46 PRN: LES Asks NRC to Assure State Participation in Licensing Process 

PR Newswire -  [http://www.prnewswire.com/]

    ALBUQUERQUE, N.M., April 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Louisiana Energy 
Services (LES) today recommended to the Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission (NRC) that it allow the New Mexico Environment 
Department (NMED) to have an official role in the company's 
license application proceedings for the proposed National 
Enrichment Facility (NEF) in Eunice, New Mexico.

    In papers filed with the NRC responding to the NMED petition 
to intervene, LES said it "recognizes the unique and important 
role that the State of New Mexico plays as the representative of 
its citizens on issues that touch on the public health and safety 
of New Mexico's citizens," on questions relating to uranium 
byproduct storage and disposal, costs of plant decommissioning, 
and the methods used to ensure that the facility workers and the 
public are properly protected from radiation.

    "We remain strongly committed to working with NMED and 
resolving any and all of their concerns on these matters," said 
Marshall Cohen, LES Vice President of Communications and 
Government Relations.  "We are confident that the information in 
our license application will fully address the issues they 
raised.  The State is clearly the most important intervener and 
should have a seat at the table."

    In its filing, LES also commented on two other NMED issues 
relating to waste classification and the project's economic 
viability. "Both issues were addressed by the NRC in its February 
6th Order setting forth the ground rules and parameters for the 
license application proceeding," Cohen said.  "While we will work 
with NMED to resolve these matters, we expect the existence of 
this NRC Order means these issues will not be allowed into the 
official proceeding."

    "While the NRC will make the final decision on who 
participates and on what issues, we will continue to work with 
the State of New Mexico on any and all issues they identify," 
Cohen said.  "We are confident that both the NRC and the State, 
through these proceedings and discussions, will conclude that the 
NEF will be safe, compliant with all environmental requirements 
and a significant asset to New Mexico and the United States."

    LES also said it will be responding with "great vigor" in 
opposition to the lone petition filed by anti-nuclear groups.  
"These groups have but one purpose-to kill this project," Cohen 
said, "and we will strongly oppose their intervention.  They have 
a very different purpose than the State of New Mexico."

    The NEF will provide more than 200 permanent jobs and 400 to 
800 short- term construction jobs in Southeast New Mexico.  It 
will use a proven technology that has been operated safely in 
Europe for 30 years.

    When the complete license application is approved, the NEF 
will introduce the world's most advanced uranium enrichment 
technology into the U.S. and provide an alternative, domestic 
enrichment supply source to U.S. nuclear energy companies.

    LES is a partnership of major nuclear energy companies. 
Partners include Urenco, Westinghouse and U.S. energy companies 
Duke Power, Entergy and Exelon.

 SOURCE Louisiana Energy Services
 
*****************************************************************
 47 Salt Lake Tribune: Another grain of salt 
 
April 20, 2004   
 
    I am responding to Envirocare's paid advertising message on
page AA7 of the April 18 Tribune. It is interesting to note that
distortions, untruths and misrepresentations" and how The
Tribune "will once again provide over-generous coverage" to
Envirocare's critics. 
 
    Remembering what Envirocare did to get Initiative 1
defeated, and most recently its attempts to cloud the truth when
it was trying to obtain high-level radioactive waste from Fluor
Fernald, I'm wondering if the facts Envirocare refers to are its
version or the facts as known by everyone else? From what we
have seen, The Tribune does report the facts but not always what
Envirocare would want us to believe. 
 
    As Envirocare wrote in its last paragraph: "And as we have
noted before, whenever you read about Envirocare in The Tribune,
remember to take it with a grain of salt." Does this also apply
to Envirocare's message? 
 
    
 
   Duane A. Dyer 
 
   West Jordan 
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
  
 
 
 
  
 
   
 
   
			   				 	 "> 	                 				 
 
  
Copyright Salt Lake City Tribune
*****************************************************************
 48 Las Vegas RJ: Mayor says Yucca shipments would benefit Caliente 
 
Tuesday, April 20, 2004

Repository could secure more than 100 jobs for struggling city,
Phillips tells legislators 

By ED VOGEL REVIEW-JOURNAL CAPITAL BUREAU
 
Caliente Mayor Kevin Phillips, shown in this April 8 photo, told 
lawmakers Monday a rail line from his town to the proposed Yucca 
Mountain nuclear waste repository would provide jobs for his 
community, which is about 130 miles north of Las Vegas. Photo by 
Cari&#241;o Casas [ccasas@reviewjournal.com] 
 
CARSON CITY -- The mayor of economically depressed Caliente told
legislators Monday that his city could secure more than 100 jobs
from being the railhead for shipment of nuclear waste to Yucca
Mountain. 

Kevin Phillips expressed hope the U.S. Department of Energy will
build facilities and hire workers in Caliente for a railroad
maintenance center, a transportation operations center and for
maintaining casks used to ship waste to Yucca Mountain, the site
of the proposed repository.
 
 He noted that in 1975 the Legislature approved a resolution
urging Congress to select the Nevada Test Site as the place
where the Energy Department would dispose of high-level
radioactive waste. Caliente leaders quickly gave their approval
and have not wavered in their support for the repository, he
added.
 
 "The political winds basically changed in the rest of the
state," Phillips told the Legislature's Committee on High-Level
Radioactive Waste.
 
 Later Gary Lanthrum, director of the DOE's Office of Civilian
Radioactive Waste Management's Office of National
Transportation, said no decision has been reached on where
transportation support facilities would be located. He said it
made sense that some of the facilities would be close to the
repository.
 
 Sen. Joe Neal, D-North Las Vegas, replied he and others who
have taken the position that the Yucca Mountain repository is
inevitable would be "pissed off" if Caliente did not receive
economic benefits.
 
 "It would be sad if we don't get jobs," he added.
 
 The Energy Department announced April 5 that it prefers to ship
waste to Yucca Mountain over a 319-mile railroad line that would
run from Caliente west around the test site border and then
south to the repository location, 100 miles northwest of Las
Vegas. Caliente is on the main Union Pacific line between Las
Vegas and Salt Lake City.
 
 The federal government wants to ship 77,000 tons of spent
nuclear fuel and government radioactive waste from 39 states to
the repository starting in 2010. 
Nevada political leaders have filed numerous lawsuits
challenging President Bush's decision to place the waste in
Yucca Mountain.
 
 But Phillips maintained his community of 1,200 welcomes the
repository and can handle emergencies with financial assistance
and training from the federal government. He noted his hardware
store is only 36 yards from the Union Pacific line, over which
50,000 shipments of hazardous waste are carried annually. 
Phillips said community volunteers have gone out of state to
receive training in handling hazardous waste emergencies.
 
 He noted if there were an accident, the emergency response team
would not come from Las Vegas, but locally.
 
 "We view the rail corridor as an economic benefit for us,"
Phillips said of his town, where the main employers are Union
Pacific and the Caliente Youth Center.
 
 Lanthrum told the legislators that more than 3,000 shipments of
high-level radioactive waste have been made across the country
over the years, and "never has there been a release of radiation
harmful to the environment."
 
 "We are not starting from ground zero," Lanthrum said about the
Yucca Mountain transportation plans.
 
 He noted the Energy Department has dropped off 1,000 leaflets
at rural Nevada gas stations and laundries to explain the
proposed Caliente rail plans and invite people to attend
meetings in rural cities May 3-5.
 
 Despite Lanthrum's view that the federal government prefers to
ship wastes by rail, anti-Yucca Mountain activist Judy Treichel
said options to ship wastes on trucks remain on the table.
 
 Sen. Dean Rhoads, R-Tuscarora, also was skeptical that the
federal government will provide financial assistance to help
Caliente and rural counties.
 
 "A lot of these counties are owned 98 percent by the federal
government and have declining populations," he said. "They have
little hope of attracting companies."
 
 He said community leaders need to know how and when the federal
government will provide the financial backing to ensure they do
not suffer any problems in case of a radioactive accident. 

Copyright Las Vegas Review-Journal
*****************************************************************
 49 [DU-WATCH] A story from oakridger.com
 
Date: Tue, 20 Apr 2004 01:22:52 -0500 (CDT)

 
Someone thought you might be interested in the following article
from oakridger.com.

Elaine  <kalubowilakids@yahoo.com> has sent you an article Elaine
says: Here we are.  At the "Fort Knox" of EUF6/DUF6, the Apex of
the EUF6/DUF6 Triangle. Won't you demonstrate at a nuclear facility
near your? on your next opportunity
**********************************************

SURPRISE! PROTEST NOT OVER YET

A counter-protester to an anti-nuke effort briefly caught the
protective force at Oak Ridge's weapons plant off guard Sunday
afternoon when she walked several feet past a "no cross" zone before
being noticed.

The incident happened just minutes after security police officers
from Wackenhut Services Inc. removed a sectioned metal fence that
was blocking the plant's Bear Creek Road entrance and then retreated
back from the area. The guards apparently thought the protest at
the Y-12 National Security Complex was over.

A non-security, Department of Energy official, who was one of the
first to spot the trespasser, jumped from his seat on a guardrail,
saying, "I'll be damned," as he did. He then motioned for security
who by this time had spotted the woman.

Complete Story >>>:

http://www.oakridger.com/stories/041904/new_20040419029.shtml

**********************************************

http://oakridger.com

------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-->
Buy Ink Cartridges or Refill Kits for your HP, Epson, Canon or
Lexmark Printer at MyInks.com.  Free s/h on orders $50 or more to
the US & Canada.

http://www.c1tracking.com/l.asp?cid=5511
http://us.click.yahoo.com/mOAaAA/3exGAA/qnsNAA/Sj.0lB/TM
---------------------------------------------------------------------~->

[Brought to you by HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK] Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/du-watch/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:

du-watch-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:

http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
*****************************************************************
 50 [DU-WATCH] Ploughshares Action at Oak Ridge
 
Date: Tue, 20 Apr 2004 01:45:55 -0500 (CDT)

 
Greetings all,
 
Drove back this evening from two beautiful days in Tennesseee--one at Knoxville for pre-action planning; one at OakRidge, the Fort Knox of EUF6/ DUF6, for  Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance annual April Action.  The theme this time was "Who Profits.  Who Pays."
 
The turn out for this action was smaller than usual, but no less dedicated.  A Buddhist Monk and Nun led the non-violent procession with their drum beats and chants from Bissel Park to the entryway of the Y-12 facility where nuclear bombs are currently being manufactured.  
 
There were three who chose to do civil disobedience:  Sister Mary Dennis Lentch, Gordon [whose last name I don't recall], an elder who left his job long ago, after Hiroshima, when he realixed he helped build that bomb, and Kip a younger.  They must appear in Oak Ridge court on Tuesday at 9 am;  please send them your paryers & blessings. They chose to confront Oak Ridge City Police rather than federal guards by crossing the blue line on to federal property.  Sister Mary Dennis has not long ago completed a 6-
month federal prison sentence.  
 
I realized I'd have to find a ride back to Bissel Park this time, because on previous occasions I went to jail in a full paddy wagon!  But it was easy to find a ride with Tim who brought Gordon back from jail.
 
There's more news to share, but I'm road weary from the drive and heat--it's been so cold and rainy this Winter & Spring, the heat gets to you.
 
Cheers,  Elaine

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-->
Buy Ink Cartridges or Refill Kits for your HP, Epson, Canon or Lexmark
Printer at MyInks.com.  Free s/h on orders $50 or more to the US & Canada.
http://www.c1tracking.com/l.asp?cid=5511
http://us.click.yahoo.com/mOAaAA/3exGAA/qnsNAA/Sj.0lB/TM
---------------------------------------------------------------------~->

[Brought to you by HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK] 
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
     http://groups.yahoo.com/group/du-watch/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
     du-watch-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
     http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
*****************************************************************
 51 Oak Ridger: BWXT Y-12 staff's online, publications efforts awarded 							
 
Story last updated at 11:25 a.m. on April 20, 2004

Members of BWXT Y-12's Communications Services and Public and 
Governmental Affairs have garnered several awards from the East 
Tennessee Chapter of the Society for Technical Communication.

The regional competition featured entries from Johnson City to as 
far away as Memphis, according to a news release issued by BWXT 
Y-12

At a recent awards ceremony at the Knoxville Radisson, 27 awards 
were presented in the publications and online competitions. BWXT 
Y-12 employees received five of those awards out of a total of 
eight BWXT Y-12 entries.

According to the news release, two Y-12 entries received awards 
of merit, the third-tier recognition. Pam Horning, Beth Eckerman 
and Sandra Schwartz were honored in the promotional materials 
category for the Engineering and Technology Strategic Plan.

Mike Baker, Schwartz and Kate Shaw were recognized for their work 
on the organizational manual Conduct of Research and Development.

Y-12 also brought home three of the nine awards of excellence, 
the second-tier recognition. Melissa Leinart, Betty Martin, 
Kathryn King-Jones and Heidi Spurling accepted an award in the 
newsletter category for the BWX TYmes.

Mike Lowe, Schwartz, King-Jones and Spurling were also honored in 
this category for the Safeguards and Security Sentinel.

Y-12's third award of excellence was in on-ine competition. 
Harriet Keener, Ken Davis, Eckerman and Stuart Hames were honored 
in the tutorials/training category for their entry, Facility 
Safety Engineering.

BWXT Y-12 manages the Y-12 National Security Complex for the 
federal government. 

*****************************************************************
 52 Shorthorn Online: Lab involvement to be debated

NEWS | april 20, 2004 

 The pros and cons of the UT System managing Los Alamos are to be 
discussed Thursday. 

By Josh Bohling [news-editor.shorthorn@uta.edu] The Shorthorn 
News Editor 

Prostitution.
 
Thats what State Rep. Lon Burnam, D-Tarrant County, compares 
nuclear research at Los Alamos National Laboratory to, and hes 
coming to the university Thursday to make the case that the UT 
System should have nothing to do with managing the facility.
 
The Student Peace Action Network has invited Burnam to lecture at 
4 p.m. in 108 University Hall. He will be followed by an 
ecological slideshow by history professor Jerry Rodnitzky.
 
The universitys nanotechnology research could be used to create 
low-grade nuclear weapons if the UT System wins a bid to manage 
Los Alamos, Burnam said.
 
Some academics may laugh, he said. But that is absolutely the 
intent.
 
On Feb. 4, the UT System Board of Regents approved plans to bid 
for management of the Santa Fe, N.M. facility. The lab developed 
the first atomic bombs during World War II. In 2002, 80 percent 
of its budget went to nuclear programs and disposal.
 
Defense dollars are used to leverage what kind of research is 
done, Burnam said. Thats a form of prostitution the UT System, 
and Texas taxpayers shouldnt be contributing to.
 
Organizer John Dickson, a history senior, said that if the UT 
System wins the contract, he has no doubt UTA nanotechnology 
research could be used to further the creation of nuclear 
weapons.
 
I think students know, but they dont seem to care, he said. 
Thats too bad.
 
But Rodnitzky said he sees nothing wrong with the system managing 
the lab and expects to spar with Burnam over the issue.
 
I understand the arguments against it, but there are better 
reasons to get involved, he said, citing important research 
advances over the past decades that have grown from Los Alamos 
research, including super computers, rocketry and mapping of the 
human genome.
 
Rodnitzky said someone has to manage the lab, and he would rather 
it be an academic institution than a corporate or government 
interest.
 
If there is going to be a whistle blower, its more likely to be 
an academic, he said. And if it should be academically-run, why 
shouldnt it be us?
 
Burnam said the nuclear research is just too detrimental to the 
planet and the human gene pool, regardless of what positives may 
come from the facility.
 
Something good could come out of someones death today, he 
said. But that doesnt change how overwhelmingly negative it 
is.
 
The event is expected to last two hours and includes time for 
audience questions.         

[http://www.theshorthorn.com] 
*****************************************************************
 53 lamonitor.com: NNSA seeks input on LANL's contract bid 

The Online News Source for Los Alamos

   [http://www.lanl.gov/worldview]   
   [http://www.lac-nm.us]   

ROGER SNODGRASS, roger@lamonitor.com, Monitor Assistant Editor

The public will have another chance to comment on the Department 
of Energy's management plans for Los Alamos National Laboratory. 
The Los Alamos area office of the National Nuclear Security 
Administration announced it would hold a public forum Wednesday 
to enable citizens of Los Alamos and surrounding communities to 
express their views on the pending competition for the contract 
now held by the University of California.

The decision was made late last week, during a visit to Los 
Alamos by NNSA Administrator Linton Brooks. 

A press release issued Monday by the Los Alamos site office said 
the meeting will take place at the Pojoaque Multi-Purpose Center, 
1574 N.M. 502, Pablo Roybal Elementary School, Building C, in 
Pojoaque, from 6:30-8:30 p.m.

Although Brooks will not attend the meetings, he has asked his 
chief assistant, C.S. "Tyler" Przbylek to hold the meeting. 
Przbylek is NNSA's acting chief operating officer and general 
counsel. He also served as acting site manager in Los Alamos for 
nine months, said Brenda Finley, spokesperson for the local site 
office. Finley said the public meeting would fulfill a commitment 
Brooks made last year.

Brooks spoke to a meeting of laboratory employees on May 6, 2003, 
shortly after Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham approved a 
recommendation that the laboratory's contract under UC should 
continue until it expires Sept. 30, but that it should be opened 
to competition. Although the meeting was closed to the public, a 
"non-verbatim" record of the informational meeting was reported 
in the Monitor at the time. Brooks was quoted as saying, "We must 
work in a way that gives people a reasonable expectation that 
they are not flying into a cliff on October of 2005."

Przbelek has promised the comments at Wednesday's public meeting 
will be recorded and made available to the source evaluation 
board, the entity that plans the selection, draws up the 
documents, evaluates the proposals, and recommends an award 
winner to the official charged with making the final decision.

In a statement to a Senate appropriations subcommittee on March 
23, Brooks named Przbylek to chair that board.

Przybylek plans to meet privately with the Eight Northern Indian 
Pueblo Governors earlier that day, along with laboratory 
employees and other community leaders.

This will be the second opportunity for community input in the 
process. A panel of the National Academies of Sciences met with 
lab officials and took suggestions from the community on 
management criteria for maintaining scientific excellence at the 
laboratories.

Scott T. Weidman, study director on the project for NAS, said 
Monday that the committee was scheduled to deliver its 
recommendations to NNSA on May 3.

Speaking by telephone from Washington, D.C., he said the report 
might not become public immediately. "The committee had access to 
classified information," he said. "NNSA might insist on looking 
it over before it becomes public."

He said the public input had been valuable and that the report 
would undergo an additional external peer review, before it went 
to NNSA.

"There was not a lot of disagreement on the main points, just 
some differences of emphasis," he said. The panel's credibility 
is enhanced by the varied make-up of the panel members, he said. 
They come from inside and outside the national laboratories, from 
for-profit research and development organizations and university 
settings "When the committee decides what rings true and what 
doesn't, it has a lot of value."

NNSA commissioned the committee as part of its procurement 
process. NNSA said it is in the process of establishing its 
source evaluation board.

They said there might be a separate pre-proposal conference for 
those entities that plan to submit a bid or proposal in the 
competition.   


 [http://www.dncu.org/] 

 [http://www.lanb.com/] 

  © 2003 Los Alamos Monitor All Rights Reserved.   
*****************************************************************
 54 Google News Alert - nuclear
 
Date: Tue, 20 Apr 2004 14:21:17 -0700 (PDT)

 
ISRAEL nuclear whistleblower handed travel ban
New Zealand Herald - Auckland,New Zealand
JERUSALEM - Israel has banned nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu from
leaving the country for a year after he completes an 18-year jail term
tomorrow ...
<http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=3561722&thesection=news&thesubsection=world>
See all stories on this topic:
<http://news.google.com/news?ie=utf8&oe=utf8&persist=1&num=30&hl=en&client=google&newsclusterurl=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm%3FstoryID%3D3561722%26thesection%3Dnews%26thesubsection%3Dworld>

THE Man who Knew too Much: Israel and Nuclear Weapons exposed
Axis of Logic - USA
... Worse still, said the paper, the inmate - once a keeper of Israel's
nuclear secrets - wants to endanger his country further after his release.
...
<http://www.axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/article_6683.shtml>
See all stories on this topic:
<http://news.google.com/news?ie=utf8&oe=utf8&persist=1&num=30&hl=en&client=google&newsclusterurl=http://www.axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/article_6683.shtml>

TVA SUED; PLAINTIFF ALLEGES INJURY AFTER PRANK AT NUCLEAR PLANT
WBIR-TV - Knoxville,TN,USA
A woman who worked as a contract employee at TVA's Sequoyah Nuclear Plant
has sued the energy utility. The lawyer for Stacey Fuller ...
<http://www.wbir.com/News/news.asp?ID=17889>
See all stories on this topic:
<http://news.google.com/news?ie=utf8&oe=utf8&persist=1&num=30&hl=en&client=google&newsclusterurl=http://www.wbir.com/News/news.asp%3FID%3D17889>

BRAZIL 'near deal' in nuclear row
BBC News - London,England,UK
Brazil is close to agreeing terms for UN inspections of its new nuclear
facilities, despite earlier blocking them, a Brazilian minister says.
...
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3642999.stm>
See all stories on this topic:
<http://news.google.com/news?ie=utf8&oe=utf8&persist=1&num=30&hl=en&client=google&newsclusterurl=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3642999.stm>

AREVA Steam Generators Complete Transatlantic Journey to Prairie ... 
Yahoo News (press release) - USA
... joint subsidiary with Siemens, Framatome ANP, today delivered two replacement
steam generators for Unit 1 of Xcel Energy's Prairie Island nuclear power
plant ...
<http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/040420/cltu052_1.html>

NORTH Korea's Talks With China Focus on Nuclear Weapons Program ... 
Bloomberg - USA
April 20 (Bloomberg) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong Il's talks with Chinese
President Hu Jintao probably centered around North Korea's nuclear weapons
program ...
<http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087&sid=aWZQVGXBDNzQ&refer=top_world_news>

NUCLEAR Threats: US stance differs for each case
Seattle Post Intelligencer - Seattle,WA,USA
WASHINGTON -- You could forgive the tyrant with designs on acquiring or
keeping nuclear, biological or chemical weapons for being a bit confused
about the ...
<http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/169760_wmd20.html>
See all stories on this topic:
<http://news.google.com/news?ie=utf8&oe=utf8&persist=1&num=30&hl=en&client=google&newsclusterurl=http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/169760_wmd20.html>

HB Robinson nuclear facility's license renewed through 2030
WIS - Columbia,SC,USA
(Columbia-AP) April 20, 2004 - The Nuclear Regulatory Commission says a
nuclear power plant near Hartsville has received approval to continue
operating until ...
<http://www.wistv.com/Global/story.asp?S=1798090&nav=0RaPMQdV>
See all stories on this topic:
<http://news.google.com/news?ie=utf8&oe=utf8&persist=1&num=30&hl=en&client=google&newsclusterurl=http://www.wistv.com/Global/story.asp%3FS%3D1798090%26nav%3D0RaPMQdV>

PAKISTANI nuclear chief's African visits revealed
Mathaba.Net (subscription) - Africa
Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of Pakistan's nuclear bomb, may have helped
sub-Saharan African countries develop weapons in clandestine exchanges
for the ...
<http://mathaba.net/0_index.shtml?x=44981>

SKOREA says nuclear talks still on schedule (14:00 PST)
Hi Pakistan - Lahore,Pakistan
SEOUL: South Korea's foreign ministry denied today that diplomatic efforts
to convene working level talks on North Korea's nuclear drive had broken
down. ...
<http://www.hipakistan.com/en/detail.php?newsId=en61972&F_catID=&f_type=source>

This daily-once News Alert is brought to you by Google News (BETA)...
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
Remove this News Alert:
http://www.google.com/newsalerts/remove?s=92d1672a1b037a07&hl=en

Create another News Alert:
http://www.google.com/newsalerts?hl=en

Try Google News:
http://news.google.com/
    
*****************************************************************

NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 this 
material is distributed without profit or payment to those who 
have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for 
non-profit research and educational purposes only. For more 
information go to: 
<http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml> 
    
*****************************************************************