***************************************************************** 05/14/04 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 12.116 ***************************************************************** 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 Scott Ritter was the Source of the Claim that Iraq had Nuclear 2 AFP: UN inspectors see signs Iran may have tried to make bomb-grade 3 Las Vegas SUN: North Korea Decries U.S. Nuke Demands 4 AFP: Working level talks end as NKorea vows never to accept US deman 5 US: U.S. Missile Shield Won't Work, Scientist Group Says 6 Reuters: Brazil's Envoy Criticizes Bush Nuclear Policy 7 EUpolitix: Nuclear battle over 8 Jakarta Post: Acehnese call for battles against corruption, poverty 9 ITAR-TASS: Federal nuclear centre in Sarov turns fifty NUCLEAR REACTORS 10 US: NRC: Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collecti 11 US: Tri-City Herald: Homeland Security picks PNNL for anti-terrorism 12 US: Tennessean: Environmental report by TVA cites blemishes, bright 13 US: toledoblade.com: Davis-Besse problems, gains noted by regulator 14 US: Free Internet Press: 3 U.S. Nuclear Officials Have Fake Degrees 15 US: TheChamplainChannel: Vermont Yankee Abandons Camera Search For M 16 FT: Brussels to approve British Energy rescue 17 ITAR-TASS: Leadership of Greenpeace offices familiarises with Lening 18 US: NRC: NRC to Meet with Nuclear Management Company to Discuss Perf 19 AFP: Nuclear workers protest against planned closure of reactors in 20 US: NRC: Notice of Public Meeting of the Interagency Steering Commit NUCLEAR SAFETY 21 US: Gallup Independent: Congress members fight nuke 'bunker busters, 22 AFP: Iraqi children now living in worse conditions than during Sadda 23 US: WVLT: Emergency Workers Clean Up Possible Radioactive Leak NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE 24 US: Comment to EPA on Nuke waste to landfills and more-Deadline 25 [NukeNet] Yucca Funding in Peril 26 US: AR: Colorado River uranium tailings environmental study delayed 27 US: Salt Lake Tribune: Plan to move waste away from river is delayed 28 Las Vegas RJ: Yucca funding warning issued 29 Las Vegas SUN: Letter: Yucca plank admits defeat 30 US: Rocky Mountain News: Congress ducks duty on waste site 31 Las Vegas SUN: Letter: State GOP's fight against nuclear dump was fr 32 Las Vegas SUN: Lawsuit warns of Yucca train troubles 33 RGJ: Lawmaker warns Energy Department of money cuts for nuclear wast 34 US: Bradenton Herald: Attorneys sign on to Tallevast case 35 US: Bradenton.com: Environmental official says Tallevast residents n 36 US: AP Wire: Nuclear group asks for lift on stay of $151 million jud 37 Nevada Appeal - Opinion: Negotiating on Yucca Mountain 38 Pahrump Valley Times: Yucca on DOE Christmas list 39 AU ABC: Govt unconcerned over nuclear dump delay. 40 US: AU ABC: Centre wants uranium report made public 41 US: WATE: Leaking truck forces shutdown of Hwy. 95 in Roane Co. 42 US: NRC: NRC Advisory Committee on Nuclear Waste to Meet May 25 - 27 NUCLEAR WEAPONS 43 STUFF: Aussies told to butt out over nuclear pot shots 44 Japan Times: China's proliferation serves to rouse Japan US DEPT. OF ENERGY 45 Charleston.Net: Opinion: Editorials Important new role for SRS 46 Oak Ridger: Supercomputer: More speed, power 47 Oak Ridger: Reactor reaches milestone, 400th fuel cycle 48 Oak Ridger: PR turnover common with Y-12 manager 49 Oak Ridger: TVA reports mixed results in environmental performance OTHER NUCLEAR 50 Google News Alert - nuclear 51 Newswise: High Flux Isotope Reactor Marks 400Th Cycle ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** FULL NEWS STORIES ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** 1 Scott Ritter was the Source of the Claim that Iraq had Nuclear Date: Fri, 14 May 2004 13:00:04 -0500 (CDT) Subscribe to Emperor's Clothes newsletter! http://emperors-clothes.com/f.htm Please send this text or the link to a friend. http://emperors-clothes.com/analysis/ritter-nuke.htm Emperor's Clothes * www.tenc.net ======================================================== Jared Israel on 'How the Lies of Scott Ritter Reveal the Strategic Goals of the Bizarre Iraq War' - A Series Part 2: The Source of the Claim that Iraq had Nuclear Weapons was... Scott Ritter by Jared Israel [Posted 13 May 2004] ======================================================== [ www.tenc.net ] We've gotten lots of letters, pro and con, about the first article in my series on Scott Ritter, the former UN weapons inspector who continues to play a key role in building opposition to the war in Iraq. [1] On the con side, a political activist named Josh (he didn't give his last name) wrote: [Excerpt from letter starts here] Many people have worked for the U.S. government with the belief they were helping an honorable cause only to find through experiences that it is not true, so they have to do an about face from previous stands. You say Ritter has been thoroughly covered in the mainstream Media but from what I saw much of it contained slander about his 'sex Crime'. Your article doesn't mention the attack-press he got. [Excerpt from letter ends here] Actually I did mention Ritter's sex arrest, stating that I will devote an article to how the media responded - or did *not* respond. The notable point about the 'attack press' is that there was almost no 'attack press'! The arrest story leaked in January 2003, two years after the arrest. Searching in Lexis-Nexis, I found that the media reported on Ritter about 950 times during 2003. But aside from the Albany Times-Union, which is Ritter's local paper, and the New York Post, Lexis-Nexis could find only 25 examples of US newspapers or TV stations even mentioning the arrest. Moreover, it appears that the Ashcroft Justice department has prevented the US Attorney's office in Albany from indicting Ritter on Federal sex offense charges. More on that later. Regarding Josh's point that Ritter flipped from hawk to dove because his experiences showed him that he was not "helping an honorable cause," this explanation doesn't wash. To understand why, let's see how Ritter answered a key question about Iraq's weapons in 1998 and then how he answered this question in 2000. ========================================================= Did Iraq have nuclear weapons? In 1998 Ritter said that based on facts the answer was 'Yes!' ========================================================= On September 3rd and 16th, 1998, Ritter appeared before the US Senate and House of Representatives, respectively. He testified that Iraq had several nuclear weapons which needed only the fissile cores to be operational. This created an international storm. Here's CNN: [2] [Excerpt from 30 September 1998 CNN broadcast starts here] Richard Ross, Cnn Senior U.N. Correspondent: Lou, the United Nations, the U.N. weapons inspectors, are not commenting at all on the "Washington Post" report, which says that the U.S. government was aware of reports from Scott Ritter, the former U.N. arms inspector, that Iraq had key devices which could be used to make nuclear bombs, provided Baghdad got the enriched uranium first. The world was already informed of this by Scott Ritter, who resigned recently from his post. In his opinion, in Ritter's opinion, Iraq had a much more developed nuclear program than the International Atomic Agency is reporting to the U.N. Ritter said this a few weeks ago to a congressional committee in Washington: (Begin video clip) Scott Ritter, Former U.N. Weapons Inspector: The Special Commission [i.e., UNSCOM, the weapons inspectors - EC] had received sensitive information of some credibility, which indicated that Iraq had the components to assemble three implosion type devices, minus the fissile material and that if Iraq were able to achieve -- or to obtain [through smuggling] fissile material of the quality and of the physical -- proper physical properties conducive to such a weapon, then they could assemble three nuclear devices in a very short period of time. (End video clip) Ross: Ritter later said it would be just a matter of days, in his opinion. [Excerpt from 30 September 1998 CNN broadcast ends here] In the above excerpt, CNN rebroadcasts a clip from Ritter's testimony September 16th before the US House of Representatives. In earlier testimony September 3rd before the US Senate, Ritter had the following exchange with Sen. McCain: [2A] [Excerpt from Ritter's Senate testimony starts here] McCain: I'd like to get back just for a second to the gravity of this situation. Do you believe that Saddam Hussein today has three nuclear weapons assembled, only lacking only the fissile material? Ritter: The special commission [[i.e., UNSCOM, the weapons inspectors - EC] has intelligence information which indicates that components necessary for nuclear -- three nuclear weapons exist lacking the fissile material, yes, sir. [Excerpt from Ritter's Senate testimony ends here] Ritter expanded on his Congressional testimony in later comments including an article that appeared in the New Republic in December 1998: [3] [Excerpt from New Republic article starts here] "Meanwhile, Iraq has kept its entire nuclear weapons infrastructure intact through dual-use companies that allow the nuclear-design teams to conduct vital research and practical work on related technologies and materials. Iraq still has components (high explosive lenses, initiators, and neutron generators) for up to four nuclear devices minus the fissile core (highly enriched uranium or plutonium), as well as the means to produce these." [Excerpt from New Republic article ends here] Notice that although CNN's Richard Roth referred to Ritter's "opinion", Ritter did not say he was expressing a personal opinion. He spoke as someone reporting facts. And in the New Republic he wrote that "Iraq still has components for up to four nuclear devices." More reporting of supposed facts. Nothing speculative about it. Ritter's assertion that Iraq could be just days from having operational nuclear weapons made a huge splash, creating pressure for the US to take military action to overthrow Saddam Hussein. Why did Ritter have such an impact? Because he had strong views? No, that wasn't why. People took Scott Ritter seriously because as the former head of the UNSCOM concealment team, he knew as much about Iraq's deadly weapons as anyone except top officials in Iraq. Of course, his special source of information ended the day he resigned from UNSCOM. So for Ritter to supposedly change his mind he would have had to explain: a) Why he was drawing opposite conclusions from the same facts or b) How it was that facts he learned before he quit UNSCOM had changed half a year later or c) Why he had lied. Ritter did none of the above. He simply about-faced. ========================================================= Did Iraq have nuclear weapons? In 2000 Ritter said that based on facts the answer was 'No!' ========================================================= In a June 2000 article entitled, "The Case for Iraq's Qualitative Disarmament," Ritter wrote: [4] "It is conceivable that Iraq could have retained certain components of a nuclear device. However, there is no credible evidence of this, and even if such material were retained, it would be of no use to Iraq, given the extent to which Iraq's nuclear program was dismantled by the IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency]." Did you notice that Ritter reversed himself on two points? In 1998 he said UNSCOM had "intelligence information which indicates that components necessary for nuclear -- three nuclear weapons exist lacking the fissile material..." But now he about-faced and said there was no credible evidence for the existence of even one nuclear device. And whereas in 1998 he wrote in the New Republic that Iraq had maintained "its entire nuclear weapons infrastructure" through dual-use facilities, now he said the infrastructure had been destroyed with the result that any remaining components would be useless. In both cases - when he stated that Iraq did have nuclear devices, and later when he said they did not - he was speaking with the authority of expert knowledge acquired as a weapons inspector. But he stopped being an inspector at the end of August 1998. So Scott Ritter is not a case of a public servant undergoing a romantic conversion in the cause of peace. Scott Ritter is a case of an expert expounding opposite conclusions based on knowledge of the same facts. Either Ritter was lying in 1998 when he said Iraq had nuclear weapons or he was lying in 2000 when he said they did not. But in either case, he was lying in 2003, in his book "Frontier Justice." There he scornfully accused so-called neoconservatives' of stirring up war hysteria in the fall of 1998 by leading "rampant speculation" concerning: [5] "what mischief Saddam Hussein and his scientists might be up to in the absence of the serious'American inspectors[R]umors flew about stockpiles of deadly chemical and biological agents, a resurrected nuclear weapons programs, and secret missile factories." [emphasis added] Yes, Mr. Ritter, a lot of people were frightened in the fall of 1998. But the claims about weapons of mass destruction in general and nuclear weapons in particular were not presented to us as speculation. They were presented by an expert who testified before both Houses of Congress and then blitzed the media 24/7 from September through January. That expert witness was not one of the so-called 'neoconservatives', Mr. Ritter. That witness was you. [More on Ritter's 'Frontier Justice' coming soon.] Jared Israel Editor, Emperor's Clothes [Footnotes and Further Reading follows the fundraising appeal] ============================== * Emperor's Clothes Needs Your Help! * =============================== To those who have responded to our fundraising appeal -Thank you! With your help we are now partly out of immediate trouble. To those who have not yet responded, if you can make a donation, and you value Emperor's Clothes, please help now! Your donations are our only source of funds. Our best is yet to come... Here's how to make a donation. * By credit card at our secure server https://emperor.securesites.com/transactions/index.php * Using Paypal (Visa & Mastercard) https://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=emperors1000@aol.com&no_shipping=1 * Mail a check to Emperor's Clothes, P.O. Box 610-321 Newton, MA 02461-0321 (USA) * Or by credit card over the phone. 1 (617) 916-1705 Thank You! Please send this text or the link to a friend. http://emperors-clothes.com/analysis/ritter-nuke.htm Subscribe to the Emperor's Clothes email list. Receive texts posted at Emperor's Clothes. To subscribe, go to: http://www.emperors-clothes.com/f.htm ======================================================== Footnotes and Further Reading [1] Jared Israel on 'How the Lies of Scott Ritter Reveal the Strategic Goals of the Bizarre Iraq War' - A Series "Part 1: Hawk-to-Dove Scott Ritter challenges Emperor's Clothes to Prove he's a Liar. EC accepts." At http://emperors-clothes.com/analysis/ritter.htm [2] Show: CNN Today 13:00 Pm Et; September 30, 1998; Wednesday; 1:24 Pm Eastern Time; Transcript # 98093005v13; Type: Live Report/Interview; Section: News; International; Length: 1222 Words; Headline: U.N. Receives Conflicting Reports On Iraqi Nuclear Weapons http://emperors-clothes.com/analysis/ritter-nuke-a.htm#2 [2A] FDCH Political Transcripts; September 3, 1998, Thursday; Type: Committee Hearing; Length: 23791 Words; Committee: Senate Foreign Relations Committee; Headline: Holds Hearing With The Senate Armed Services Committee On U.S. Policy Regarding Un Weapons Inspections Of Iraq; Location: Washington, D.C.; Senate Committees On Armed Services And Foreign Affairs Hold Joint Hearing On U.S. Policy Regarding Un Inspections Of Suspected Iraqi Chemical Weapons Sites September 3, 1998 The full transcript of Ritter's Sept. 3rd Senate testimony is now posted; the text referred to above is highlighted and can be accessed at http://emperors-clothes.com/analysis/ritter-nuke-sen.htm#2 -- JI [3] The New Republic; December 21, 1998; Section: Pg. 21; Length: 4490 Words; Headline: Saddam's Trap; Byline: Scott Ritter; Highlight: Why We're Doing Exactly What He Wants. http://emperors-clothes.com/analysis/ritter-nuke-new.htm#2 [4] "The Case for Iraq's Qualitative Disarmament," by Scott Ritter, Arms Control Association http://www.armscontrol.org/act/2000_06/iraqjun.asp [5] Ritter, Scott. 2003. Frontier Justice: Weapons of Mass Destruction and the Bushwhacking of America. New York: Content Books. (p.97) Emperor's Clothes [ www.tenc.net ] This Website is mirrored at http://emperor.vwh.net/ To unsubscribe, which can only be done from an email address which is actually subscribed, click or send an email to unsubscribe@emperor.vwh.net ***************************************************************** 2 AFP: UN inspectors see signs Iran may have tried to make bomb-grade uranium: diplomats [http://www.spacewar.com/] VIENNA (AFP) May 14, 2004 UN atomic energy inspectors see a pattern of radiation contamination in Iran which could indicate attempts to enrich uranium to bomb-grade level, diplomats close to the agency said as it waits for a report from Iran on its nuclear program. The report is due in mid-May, possibly next week, and comes as International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors are completing months of investigations into US allegations that Iran is secretly developing nuclear weapons. The IAEA is to hold a meeting of its 35-nation board of governors in Vienna on June 14. Reflecting the current thinking of investigators, one diplomat said that if the Iranians "weren't working on something that hasn't been declared, the contamination should be evenly spread throughout Iran's nuclear installations." Radioactive dust spreads in a uniform pattern but particles of highly enriched uranium have been found in specific sites, hinting that "someone brought material or equipment and then removed it." IAEA inspectors have reported two such concentrations -- at a Kalaye Electric Company workshop in Tehran and at the Natanz pilot fuel enrichment plant 250 kilometres (150 miles) south of the Iranian capital. The diplomat refused to confirm if other sites had been found but said that the Kalaye company had many sites in Tehran and throughout Iran. Another diplomat confirmed that contamination had been found at other sites but downplayed the importance of this. "They've moved equipment and we find what we expect to find. Unfortunately we don't learn much about it," he said. He did not provide details. Highly enriched uranium (HEU) can be the raw material for a nuclear bomb, with weapons-grade uranium enriched to over 80 percent of the U-235 isotope, usually by cascades of centrifuges. IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei said in April that no traces of HEU have been found beyond the two sites at Kalaye and Natanz. The traces found at "one room in the Kalaye Electric Company workshop" were particles of "uranium enriched to 36 percent," according to an IAEA report on Iran filed in February. Iran has been asked to explain this "particularly in light of its declaration that it has not enriched uranium to more than 1.2 percent U-235 using centrifuge technology," the report said. Nuclear expert David Albright told AFP from Washington that one would only try to take 36-percent enriched uranium and enrich it further in the framework of a weapons program. He said this could be done in "small experiments" to test centrifuges to know how many would be needed in an cascade of centrifuges to carry out enrichment. IAEA inspectors are looking for other sites where there is such telltale 36-percent enriched contamination and have been systematically visiting "places that have to do with Iran's nuclear program," including dual-use facilities not obviously related to suspect atomic weapons work, the first diplomat said. The Iranians have said the contamination is from imported equipment, with Pakistan believed to be a source for such equipment through an international black market. But the diplomat said that equipment imported from Russia or fuel used in IRT research reactors was likely to be the source for this particular kind of enriched uranium. The diplomat said the Iranians were "surprised" about the thoroughness of the IAEA quest, which has included visits to factories where machines are made that balance the rotors in centrifuges, special furnaces used to make uranium metal and sites where mass spectrometers are in operation. Last October, Iran gave the IAEA what it said was a complete declaration of its nuclear activities. It was later found to have made a number of omissions, including its acquisition of designs for sophisticated P-2 centrifuges. Iran is now to deliver a further report under the provisions of an additional protocol it signed in December to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). This report should be more complete than the one in October since the additional protocol mandates a tougher inspections regime. IAEA inspectors will then file their own report to the IAEA board ahead of its meeting in June. WAR.WIRE ***************************************************************** 3 Las Vegas SUN: North Korea Decries U.S. Nuke Demands By AUDRA ANG ASSOCIATED PRESS BEIJING (AP) - U.S. and North Korean envoys held a rare one-on-one meeting Friday, and the North denied claims that Pakistan provided it with uranium enrichment technology, a North Korean official said at the end of three days of nuclear talks. There was no immediate word on whether envoys made progress on the North's demand for aid in exchange for freezing its nuclear program. The United States and its allies say assistance will come only after North Korea pledges to dismantle the program completely - a stance that the North rejected earlier Friday as "humiliating." The six-nation "working level" talks held in the Chinese capital ended without setting a date for a third round of high-level talks, said Pak Myong Kuk, a member of the North's delegation. He said that date would be set later "through diplomatic channels." "The talks are over," Pak told reporters outside the North Korean Embassy. The U.S. Embassy in Beijing had no comment. China's Foreign Ministry said the talks would officially close Saturday but wouldn't give any other details. The head of Russia's delegation, Valery Sukhinin, told the Itar-Tass news agency that new high-level talks would take place before July, following one more round of working-level talks. Other participants in the talks are South Korea and Japan. In the one-one-one meeting Friday, the United States told North Korea about claims that Pakistan had provided the North with uranium enrichment technology, Pak said. "Such information is false," Pak said. "As we have said before, there were only missile deals between us and Pakistan." The former head of Pakistan's nuclear program, Abdul Qadeer Khan, said in February that he had transferred sensitive technology to North Korea, Iran and Libya. "The United States fabricated claims based on false information," Pak said. He said Washington was trying to create an "anti-North Korea atmosphere." The talks this week were meant to work out technical details and help create an agenda for new high-level negotiations. Host China says it hopes those talks can take place by July. In a separate announcement Friday, Japan said Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will travel to North Korea for wide-ranging talks with leader Kim Jong Il on May 22. The discussions will include the nuclear issue. The dispute erupted in October 2002 when the United States said North Korea admitted operating a secret nuclear program in violation of a 1994 agreement. The issue of uranium technology has been a key sticking point in the talks. North Korea says it has a nuclear weapons program based on plutonium, but denies American claims that it also has a second secret program based on highly enriched uranium, which can be used to make bombs. Washington is insisting that North Korea pledge to give up both programs as part of a comprehensive settlement - a condition the North rejects. North Korea reportedly demanded aid in exchange for freezing the nuclear program at the start of this week's talks. Early Friday, the North angrily accused the United States of refusing to discuss energy or economic assistance. The U.S. position "is the kind of humiliating measure that can only be imposed on a country defeated in a war," said the earlier statement, also read by Pak to reporters who were summoned to the North's embassy. But still, Pak said, the North promised to "maintain patience" and stick to the "six-party process with patience." Responding to the North's complaints, a Japanese government spokesman said diplomats were trying to persuade it to accept the notion of permanently scrapping the program. Negotiations are "now at the stage of fully explaining why this principle has been established internationally and is needed, how to achieve it and how other countries are doing so," spokesman Hiroyuki Hosoda said in Tokyo. -- ***************************************************************** 4 AFP: Working level talks end as NKorea vows never to accept US demands http://www.spacewar.com BEIJING (AFP) May 14, 2004 Working-level six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear weapons program ended Friday as Pyongyang vowed to never accept US demands for a complete dismantling of its nuclear programs. "The talks have ended," a spokesman for one of the six delegations told AFP on condition of anonymity. "All sides have basically agreed to meet once again before holding the third full meeting of the six nations before the end of June." The low level discussions that began Wednesday were seeking to set the agenda for a third round of vice-ministerial talks agreed to when the delegations from the two Koreas, China, the United States, Japan and Russia last met in February. Although the talks were basically over, the delegations were expected to have a "courtesy meeting" with a high-level Chinese foreign ministry official Saturday morning before departing, the spokesman said. A key sticking point is whether North Korea should give up its entire nuclear program, or only the military part. Washington wants a clear-cut commitment from the North for a "complete, verifiable and irreversible dismantlement" before any compensation can be considered. Prior to the talks, Pyongyang had reiterated a demand that it be rewarded, politically and economically, for giving up its nuclear program, while the US government had ruled out any immediate pay-off. The talks ended as Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said he would meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il in Pyongyang next week to discuss the abduction of Japanese citizens and the North's nuclear arms ambitions. He said the May 22 summit with Kim, their second in 20 months, would help break the stalemate in bilateral rapprochement talks stalled by the kidnap issue and nuclear stand-off. "I cannot make such a decision unless I have determined that my trip to North Korea will lead to some progress," Koizumi told reporters. He added that Japan had informed the United States, China and South Korea of his planned visit to the Stalinist state. The row over North Korea's nuclear program has been deadlocked since October 2002, when Washington said the Stalinist state had broken a 1994 nuclear freeze by launching a secret weapons drive. In a statement issued outside the North Korean embassy in Beijing late Thursday, foreign ministry official Park Myong-kuk expressed frustration at the US hardline stance. "We had expected the US to talk differently about what kind of reciprocal measures the US and related countries will take if we freeze our nuclear program," said Park, a member of the North's delegation at the working group meeting. "But the US repeated the same position as at the previous talks that discussions (on compensation) are possible only when we commit ourselves to CVID (complete, verifiable and irreversible dismantlement)." He called the US demand "the kind of humiliating measure that can only be imposed on a country defeated in a war". The statement followed warnings by China that "major" differences remain on solving the 19-month-old standoff and underscored remarks by Russia's envoy that chances of a breakthrough soon were remote. "With respect to this issue, our policy is clear. The US objective remains the complete, verifiable and irreversible dismantlement of North Korea's nuclear program," a US embassy spokeswoman said, citing a statement from Washington. In Seoul, South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-Moon voiced optimism that a solution could be found, but said Pyongyang must take the lead. "North Korea should completely dismantle all nuclear programs including those based on plutonium and highly enriched uranium. This will be the way to guarantee its national security and economic prosperity," he told the Asia Society. WAR.WIRE ***************************************************************** 5 U.S. Missile Shield Won't Work, Scientist Group Says Date: Fri, 14 May 2004 12:37:21 -0400 ``I actually worry that it's worse than useless, that it's really dangerous,'' George Lewis, a report co-author who is associate director of the security studies program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, told reporters at a briefing. http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/news/news-arms-missile-usa.html U.S. Missile Shield Won't Work, Scientist Group Says By REUTERS Published: May 13, 2004 Filed at 2:09 p.m. ET WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The multibillion-dollar U.S. ballistic missile shield due to start operating by Sept. 30 appears incapable of shooting down any incoming warheads, an independent scientists' group said on Thursday. A technical analysis found ``no basis for believing the system will have any capability to defend against a real attack,'' the Union of Concerned Scientists said in a 76-page report titled ``Technical Realities.'' Advertisement The Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency rejected the report, whose authors included Philip Coyle, the Defense Department's top weapons tester under former President Bill Clinton from 1994 to 2001. ``Even the limited defense we are mounting provides a level of protection against an accidental or unauthorized (intercontinental ballistic missile) launch or a limited attack where we currently have no protection,'' said Richard Lehner, an agency spokesman. ``It would be irresponsible to not make it available for the defense of our nation and our people.'' Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, the senior Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, concurred with the report's findings. The Bush administration should stop buying missile-defense interceptors until they are proven to work through ``combat-realistic'' operational tests, he said in a statement. The first U.S. deployment involves 10 interceptor missiles to be stored in silos in Alaska and California. The initial goal is to protect all 50 U.S. states against a limited strike from North Korean missiles that could be tipped with nuclear, chemical or biological warheads. 'KILL VEHICLES' Boeing Co. is assembling the shield, which would use the interceptors to launch ``kill vehicles'' meant to pulverize targets in the mid-course of their flight paths, outside the Earth's atmosphere. Guided by infrared sensors, the vehicles would search the chill of space for the warheads. So far, the interceptors have scored hits five times in eight highly controlled tests. The report's authors said demonstrating such a ``hit-to-kill'' capability was not the primary, or most difficult, missile-defense challenge. Even unsophisticated ``countermeasures'' that could be mounted by countries such as North Korea remain an unsolved problem, they said. For instance, inflatable balloons or other decoys coated with a thin polyester film could be given the same infrared signature as a warhead, the scientists said. The project could also be confused by sealing the warhead in a large balloon so the kill vehicle could not pinpoint its exact location, or tethering several balloons to it. Overstating the defensive capabilities was irresponsible, said the report by the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based group. It cited past Pentagon statements the capability was limited only by the number of interceptors. ``If the president is told that the system could reliably defend against a North Korean ballistic missile attack, he might be willing to accept more risks when making policy and military decisions,'' the report said. ``I actually worry that it's worse than useless, that it's really dangerous,'' George Lewis, a report co-author who is associate director of the security studies program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, told reporters at a briefing. The General Accounting Office, Congress's nonpartisan investigative arm, said last month the system's effectiveness would be ``largely unproven'' when it becomes operational. The Pentagon estimates it will need $53 billion in the next five years to develop, field and upgrade a multilayered shield also involving systems based at sea, aboard modified Boeing 747 aircraft and in space. ***************************************************************** 6 Reuters: Brazil's Envoy Criticizes Bush Nuclear Policy Fri May 14, 2004 06:29 PM ET WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Brazil called the Bush administration's demand that it submit to more stringent inspections of its nuclear facilities "very unpleasant" on Friday, saying it wanted the United States and others to agree to disarmament programs before making further concessions. In unusually strong criticism of the Bush administration's nuclear policy, Brazil's ambassador to Washington, Roberto Abdenur, said: "Having gone so far in terms of our non-proliferation commitments, it is very unpleasant to be under pressure, sometimes intense pressure, as if we have evil intentions." The Bush administration has been urging Brazil to accept more intrusive, visual inspections of a new uranium enrichment plant in Resende, scheduled for completion in October. Brazil and the International Atomic Energy Agency, or IAEA, the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog, have been talking since December about ways to establish "a set of procedures" to safeguard the Resende facility without jeopardizing commercial secrets, Abdenur said. But Abdenur suggested Brazil may accept more inspections provided other nations agree to disarm their nuclear weapons. "We believe firmly it is not enough to have an increasingly stricter and narrow non-proliferation (agreement) without balanced movement, parallel movement, in the area of disarmament," he said at the Woodrow Wilson Center, a Washington think tank. Abdenur, who became ambassador in April, previously served as Brazil's representative to the IAEA. He criticized the Bush administration for demanding more inspections for Brazil even as the White House has asked to be allowed to develop low yield nuclear weapons. "We are worried at the fact that, more recently, the U.S. has come out with a new defense strategy which gives more, and not less, value to the use of nuclear weapons, even against non-nuclear weapons states, even on a preventive basis," he said. ***************************************************************** 7 EUpolitix: Nuclear battle over Europe’s governments have failed to come to any agreement on new nuclear laws, putting the issue on ice for the foreseeable future. The ‘nuclear package’ – on atomic waste, installations and loans – had run into opposition from the Germany, Sweden and the UK, who were afraid it would take power away from their national governments. And with only Italy, France and Spain openly in support of the package at a Thursday meeting of EU ambassadors, the proposed laws have run into an impasse. They will now go back to the council's technical nuclear board – the Atomic Questions Group (AQG) – who are expected to advise a rethink at a much later date. Governments are particularly loathe to approve the package whilst some countries, led by Austria, are pushing for a revision of the Euratom treaty on which it is based. Thursday’s failure will be a blow to energy commissioner Loyola de Palacio, who had made it a priority of her term in Brussels to get the laws through. But greens were delighted, with Friends of the Earth saying “Mrs de Palacio's public relations exercise on behalf of the industry has failed”. “We call upon the Commission to respect the will of the Council and withdraw their plans.” The nuclear package will next be discussed at a Coreper meeting at the end of June, following the AQG opinion. Published: Fri, 14 May 2004 13:00:00 GMT+01 Author: Emily Smith 2004 EUpolitix.com ***************************************************************** 8 Jakarta Post: Acehnese call for battles against corruption, poverty as martial law ends The Journal of Indonesia Today May 15, 2004 BANDA ACEH, Aceh (AFP): Politicians and human rights activists in Indonesia's strife-torn Aceh province welcomed the end of martial law here Friday, expressing hope it would lead to a new war oncorruption and poverty. The government in Jakarta said Thursday it would call off martial law which has been in force in the resource-rich province for the past year while troops battled separatist guerrillas. On the first anniversary of the military campaign next Wednesday, Aceh's status will change to civil emergency, in which civilian authorities are in charge but have power to order press censorship, curfews and other restrictions. "I am of the opinion that the problems of Aceh stems from a lack of concern ... including misuse of authority," said Ahmad Human Hamid, a sociologist at Syiah Kuala University. "If firm steps aren't taken to gain the trust of the people, all efforts are just useless." He called for continued investigation of corruption in the province where, despite its wealth from oil and other natural resources, there is increasing unemployment and widespread poverty. A provincial legislator from the National Mandate Party, Almanar, said the priorities of a civil emergency administration should be security and economic recovery. "I reckon prosperity of the people is the key to settling the Aceh conflict. If the people still live in poverty, especially in a wealthy area like Aceh, maybe problems will continue," Almanar said. "Everyone knows there is an extremely large amount of money flowing to Aceh. Where has this -- the people's money -- been taken?" Rufriadi, a lawyer and human rights activist, called for suspected corruption cases to be followed up "so the people can see that the government is truly serious in wanting to get to the bottom of the conflict in its entirety." Saifuddin Bantasyam, a Syiah Kuala University legal expert, said people have the impression that the local government only wants to enrich itself while the people suffer. Rufriadi called for a return to dialogue involving all components of the community, including the Free Aceh Movement (GAM). The rebels have been fighting for an independent state since 1976. Maj. Gen. Endang Suwarya, the martial law commander, said Friday that despite the change in Aceh's status the military and police will continue their operations "so security and prosperityof the people can be attained." Teuku Kamal, director of a non-governmental organization, said that whatever Aceh's status the political and security conflict must be quickly settled. "Under civil emergency the fact is there is room fornegotiations. So the door to dialogue must soon be opened," said Kamal, of Caring for the Populist Aceh Economy (PEKA). The military says about 5,000 rebels and their sympathizers have been killed, captured, or surrendered during the year-long offensive. Rights activists say many of the alleged GAM members are civilians. Two more suspected rebels died in gun battles and a stray bullet wounded a civilian Thursday, the military said. Maryam, a vendor in the Aceh market, said people like her just want to earn a living without fear. "What's important for us is the creation of a peaceful environment, and an end to the shooting," Maryam said. for The Jakarta Post by Environmental Protection Agency Proposes New Rule: Nuclear Power and Weapons Waste to go to Regular Landfills and other Non-Regulated Management Comments due to EPA by MAY 17, 2004 (note deadline extended from March) Email to: a-and-r-Docket@epa.gov Attn: Docket OAR-2003-0095 or upload them onto EPAs website www.epa.gov/radiation The US Environmental Protection Agency is proposing a new rule (68 FR 22:65120-65151, Nov 18, 2003) that would allow nuclear and mixed waste to go to places that are not licensed for radioactive materials. The goal appears to be to "redefine" radioactive materials, no matter what their source (nuclear power, nuclear weapons, naturally occurring or other), based on EPA-calculated and projected risks. The new category of nuclear materials (once called BRC or Below Regulatory Concern) would supposedly not need radioactive regulatory controls. EPA does not consider all the potential health effects of radiation and hazardous materials in estimating the risks. They have never demonstrated the accuracy of their predictions. (See "Summary of EPA Proposal" below for more details.) TAKE ACTION! 1) Send a letter to the new EPA Administrator Mike Leavitt encouraging him to withdraw EPA's proposed action. leavitt.michael@epa.gov Administrator Mike Leavitt, US Environmental Protection Agency, 1101A, Ariel Rios Building, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue N.W. Washington, DC 20460 2) Send comments to EPA and get organizations and landfill boards to do so at: a-and-r-Docket@epa.gov Docket No. OAR-2003-0095. Or Upload at www.epa.gov/edocket; Click on View Open Docket; The proposal is on the EPA website www.epa.gov/radiation. 3) Let your elected officials know how you feel about these dangers by sending them a copy of your letter to Secretary Leavitt and telling them about your opposition to the federal rules that would deregulate and exempt nuclear materials from regulation. For more information contact: Diane D'Arrigo, Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS), 1424 16th Street NW Suite 404, Washington, DC 20036, dianed@nirs.org, 202 328-0002 ext 16. See NIRS website under Campaigns at www.nirs.org for more info and actions. The proposal was published Nov 18, 2003 at 68 FR 22-65120-65151. Summary of EPA Proposal 1) First, EPA would allow mixed radioactive and hazardous wastes to go to facilities permitted for hazardous waste only (RCRA C hazardous waste dumps & processors). 2) Second, radioactive waste (not mixed with hazardous) could be permitted to go to places that do not have radioactive licenses or regulations, such as regular garbage dumps or incinerators or hazardous sites. Since the nuclear waste would no longer be regulated for radioactivity, it could go to regular recyclers. EPA justifies this by claiming they will provide an acceptable level of protection from radiation risk. It seems obvious this would be a problem for communities around the waste sites, many of which already leak. 3) Third, EPA suggests that a non-regulatory approach to management of radioactive waste is an option and requests creative ideas for partnering with waste generators or other schemes to relieve the regulatory burden. Nothing would prevent radioactive materials from going to recycling facilities and being mixed with the normal recycling streams which are made into everyday household items like toys, cookware, personal use items, cars, furniture and civil engineering projects like roads and buildings. 4) EPAs rule threatens to preempt and supercede existing state laws that prohibit nuclear waste in solid waste landfills or other sites. VT, ME, OH, WI, IL, MN, CO, OR, PA, CT, WV, NM, IA, are among states that have passed such laws and regulations. OK, GA and VA passed resolutions in one or both houses and counties and towns in many other states have resolutions against this action. Notify your state and local officials to comment and uphold your protections against nuclear power and weapons wastes! 5) This dangerous proposal dovetails neatly into the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission's rulemaking to deregulate and release radioactive material from control, ironically called "Control of Solids." The NRC is considering several options for nuclear waste deregulation including continuing the current case-by-case release procedures, starting new release procedures that are based on projected risks, sending the waste to sites that are not licensed for nuclear materials. NRC is claiming they could approve "restricted" release of nuclear waste meaning certain conditions would apply but that NRC would not enforce them--someone else, as yet un-named would. The upshot is that NRC and EPA are joining forces to allow nuclear power and weapons waste which is now generally required to be regulated and controlled, to be released to waste sites and processors never designed to take radioactive materials and to the marketplace where it will come into routine daily contact with us, our kids and environment. 6) To make matters even worse, the US NRC and US Department of Transportation on 1-26-04 finalized new transport regulations (TSR-1) that would exempt various levels of hundreds of radionuclides from regulatory control in transit. This will make it easier for NRC and EPA to deregulate nuclear wastes since they will no longer require regulation, labeling or control as radioactive material during transportation. (This is especially distressing in light of increased security concerns about transportation of nuclear materials that could be used for dirty bombs. More unregulated nuclear materials will be on the roads, rails, barges and aircraft.) NIRS is challenging DOT & NRC on this. 7) Finally, the Department of Energy is in the process of a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement on releasing radioactive materials from its sites. In 2000, DOE halted the commercial recycling of potentially radioactive metals from certain contaminated area on its sites, but could resume it. DOE continues to allow radioactively contaminated metals out for unregulated disposal and to allow other radioactively contaminated materials out for recycling or unregulated disposalsoils, concrete, asphalt, plastic, wood, equipment, buildings, sites and more. EPAs Nov. 18, 2003 notice would help legalize DOEs release of nuclear weapons wastes from regulatory control. ***************************************************************** 25 [NukeNet] Yucca Funding in Peril Date: Fri, 14 May 2004 14:39:07 -0700 http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apus_story.asp?category=1110&slug=Yucca%20Mountain Nuclear waste project's funding in peril By H. JOSEF HEBERT ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER WASHINGTON -- The Energy Department has been warned by an influential lawmaker that it may get a fraction of the money sought next year for a proposed nuclear waste dump in Nevada, jeopardizing any chance that site can open by 2010. Congress has given the project the go-ahead, pending a permit by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. But securing the money needed every year so the Yucca Mountain project can stay on schedule has frustrated planners. The latest potential roadblock came from the House Appropriations subcommittee that is considering a department request for $880 million for the budget year that begins Oct. 1. The project 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas is facing major challenges in getting an NRC license and developing a waste transportation plan. In a recent letter, Rep. David Hobson, R-Ohio, the subcommittee chairman, advised Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham that he may get only $131 million, an amount that department officials say essentially would shut down the program. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the letter. Hobson, a strong supporter of the project, asked Abraham for detailed information on how these limited funds would affect the program and the nuclear industry. "We're working closely with chairman Hobson to address his concerns ... and advance the ball forward in getting the money we need," department spokesman Joe Davis said. The proposed repository is where the government wants to bury 77,000 tons of highly radioactive used reactor fuel now kept at commercial power plants, as well as defense waste. The effort has wide support in Congress. In 2002, lawmakers blocked an attempt by Nevada to short-circuit the project. When it comes to annual funds, Yucca Mountain planners must compete with other programs under the subcommittee's jurisdiction, including popular water projects dear to individual lawmakers. This year, the Energy Department sought to resolve that problem. It linked about $750 million of the $880 million requested for Yucca Mountain to congressional passage of legislation assuring that money collected through a special nuclear waste fund actually is spent for the project. The legislation has languished in another committee. So Hobson is faced with a $750 million shortfall that - if it is to be provided for Yucca - will have to come from other programs. To make matters worse, the Energy Department always has relied on the House to come up with more money for Yucca Mountain. In the Senate, Nevada Democrat Harry Reid, an ardent Yucca opponent, is in the leadership, and this chamber has been more stingy in providing funds for the program. Recently the Senate Armed Services Committee authorized funds for Yucca Mountain at $577 million next fiscal year, a little less than current spending. In March, Margaret Chu, director of the DOE office that heads the program, emphasized at a congressional hearing that the program is reaching a critical stage where spending below what the department is requesting would make it impossible to meet the 2010 target for opening the facility. To stay on schedule, she predicted a need to raise spending over the next few years: $880 million in fiscal 2005, $1 billion in 2006 and $1.2 billion the year after that. The federal nuclear waste fund is collected from a one-tenth of a cent per kilowatt assessment on power produced by a nuclear power plant. Currently the $14 billion already collected helps hold down the deficit. "It's money ratepayers have paid. We want to use that money and move the project forward," department spokesman Davis said. The bill proposed by the administration would require that Congress free up whatever revenue is collected in a given year and use it on the Yucca project, so the program does not have to complete with other programs. _______________________________________________________________________ Subscribe/Unsubscribe Here: http://www.energyjustice.net/nukenet/ Change your settings at: http://energyjustice.net/mailman/listinfo/nukenet_energyjustice.net ***************************************************************** 26 AR: Colorado River uranium tailings environmental study delayed [http://www.azcentral.com] azcentral Republic Associated Press May. 14, 2004 12:15 PM SALT LAKE CITY - The federal Energy Department is delaying an environmental report on how to deal with a massive uranium process tailings dump in Moab that is polluting the Colorado River, a water source for 25 million people. The draft environmental impact statement assessing four proposals for the Atlas uranium tailings was originally expected to be released this month. Energy Department spokesman Tom Welch said work on the environmental impact study isn't finished. The report now is scheduled for release in the fall, he said. One longtime advocate of removing the tailings says that the delay could be a good sign. Bill Hedden speculated that the Energy Department is taking a hard look at a new proposal that would dispose of the tainted waste in a salt cavern at the old Moab potash plant about 12 miles from the city. "We were lobbying hard to get them to study this," said Hedden, of the Grand Canyon Trust. Hedden said under the salt cavern proposal, the tailings would be transported in a slurry pipeline and injected into the newly excavated, 4,000-foot-deep cavern. Options already under review include securing the tailings pile where it is, heaped at the edge of the river three miles north of Moab, pumping it as slurry to the White Mesa uranium recycling mill near Blanding, or hauling it to a disposal site away from the river. The salt-cavern option would cost about the same as the cheapest alternative, which would cap the tailings where they sit, said Hedden. What to do about the tailings pile has vexed the Moab community for more than a decade, with a volume of uranium waste six times the rubble taken from the World Trade Center collapse. The pile is leaching uranium and ammonia into the river, endangering downstream users. Four years ago, Congress ordered the Energy Department to take over the site from the Atlas Corp.'s bankruptcy trustee. Lawmakers as far away as California have demanded removal of the tailings. So have Grand County officials and the state Department of Environmental Quality. With the Atlas environmental impact statement, the Energy Department plans to depart from the usual practice of choosing a "preferred alternative" for the cleanup. Critics have complained the agency is letting the project's price tag dictate its decision rather than finding the safest alternative. Print This | Email This | Most Popular [http://www.azcentral.com/php-bin/clicktrack/popular.php] | Subscribe | usa today news Rumsfeld at prison: Abuse was 'over edge' Ford goes hybrid with promising new Escape U.S. tipped to Holocaust in '42 Lawsuits target alcohol industry NASA: Ancient meteorite likely triggered extinction today's snapshot How many Americans suffer from osteoporosis? news as it happens The Arizona Republic - Front Page Local Sports Business Copyright 2004, azcentral.com. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 27 Salt Lake Tribune: Plan to move waste away from river is delayed May 14, 2004 By Judy Fahys The Atlas uranium tailings cleanup along the Colorado River at Moab has hit another snag, a delay likely to last through the summer. The draft environmental impact statement was originally expected to be released this month and assess four proposals for dealing with the uranium processing waste that is polluting the Colorado River, which is a water source for 25 million people downstream. "We are still evaluating the information," said Tom Welch, a spokesman for the Energy Department. "We've committed to release the EIS in the fall." Welch would not be more specific about the reasons for the delay. "All I can tell you is the work's not finished." One longtime advocate of removing the tailings says that the delay could be a good sign. Bill Hedden speculated that the Energy Department is taking a hard look at a new proposal that would dispose of the tainted waste in a salt cavern at the old Moab potash plant about 12 miles from the city. "We were lobbying hard to get them to study this," said Hedden, of the Grand Canyon Trust, who described the proposal as "a back of the envelope idea." Hedden said under the salt cavern proposal, the tailings would be transported in a slurry pipeline and injected into the newly excavated, 4,000-foot cave. Options already under review include securing the tailings pile where it is, heaped at the edge of the river three miles north of Moab, slurrying it to the White Mesa uranium recycling mill near Blanding, or hauling it to a disposal site away from the river. The salt-cavern option would cost about the same as the cheapest alternative, "the cap-in-place" proposal, said Hedden. What to do about the tailings pile has vexed the Moab community for more than a decade, with a volume of uranium waste six times the rubble taken from the World Trade Center collapse. The pile is leaching uranium and ammonia into the river revered for its scenic vistas and wholesome recreational opportunities. Four years ago, Congress ordered the Energy Department to take over the site from the Atlas Corp.'s bankruptcy trustee. Lawmakers as far away as California have demanded removal of the tailings. So have Grand County officials and the state Department of Environmental Quality. With the Atlas environmental impact statement, the Energy Department plans to depart from the usual practice of choosing a "preferred alternative" for the cleanup. Critics have complained the agency is letting the project's price tag dictate its decision rather than finding the safest alternative. Copyright Salt Lake City Tribune ***************************************************************** 28 Las Vegas RJ: Yucca funding warning issued Friday, May 14, 2004 But Berkley dismisses lawmaker's remarks By STEVE TETREAULT STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU WASHINGTON -- An influential lawmaker has warned the Energy Department may get only a small portion of the money it requested for the Yucca Mountain Project next year, a budget cut that could cause job layoffs and delays in opening a nuclear waste repository. Rep. David Hobson, the chairman of the House energy and water subcommittee, said spending for the repository may be limited to $131 million for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1. The warning from Hobson, R-Ohio, came in an April 29 letter to Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham that was made public this week. It came as House leaders are preparing to write their 2005 spending bills for federal departments. The Energy Department had asked for a record $880 million for the Yucca Mountain Project. It told Congress the money would be spent to defend a repository license application before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, continue developing a waste transportation plan and begin preparing utilities to turn over spent nuclear fuel to the government for disposal. Department spokesman Joe Davis said a budget cut of the magnitude Hobson mentioned would force layoffs and jeopardize the DOE plan to build a repository and have it opened by 2010. Davis said DOE would have money available to file a license application in December, but beyond that would face "significant problems" paying lawyers and contractors to defend the application before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Hobson, a supporter of the Yucca project, posted detailed questions to Abraham about the impact of a deep budget cut, including requesting a state-by-state listing of how many jobs might be lost. "Congress has on numerous occasions voted to support the project," Davis said. "Our answers will demonstrate why full funding for Yucca Mountain is important." Hobson could not be reached. John Scofield, a spokesman for the House Appropriations Committee, said the chairman's letter stemmed from "a very tight budget we're working under. Apart from a bake sale, we don't have a lot of cash lying around." But Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., said she did not take Hobson's warning seriously. She said it would be out of character for him to slash repository funding. "If you read between the lines, this is phony baloney," Berkley said. "The only reason I could see (Hobson) would send this letter is to give Abraham cover to come back to the Hill and start lobbying big time for additional funds. It's pathetic." Other sources in Congress, the nuclear industry and in the Energy Department also characterized Hobson's warning as part of the jockeying that accompanies the appropriations process. The Bush administration asked Congress for special legislation to change accounting methods for the fund that supplies the Yucca Mountain Project. That bill would enable Congress to spend as much as DOE says it needs, but chances of passage are growing increasingly slim, according to lawmakers. In a related development, Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., a senior lawmaker and a Yucca supporter, asked the White House budget office in a May 4 letter if it is possible for the Bush administration to change accounting for the project on its own, without action by Congress. Officials in the White House Office of Management and Budget had not responded as of Thursday. Copyright Las Vegas Review-Journal ***************************************************************** 29 Las Vegas SUN: Letter: Yucca plank admits defeat I wonder how many Nevada Republican legislators who voted for the Nevada protection fund voted for the defeatist "let's negotiate" plank at the state Republican convention? Negotiation makes no sense. Our lawsuits have not even been adjudicated! Gov. Kenny Guinn and Attorney General Brian Sandoval still insist their position is against the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository. There is going to be suspicion about this defeatism plank because both of them are on the president's re-election committee. This validates the Bush administration's political, not scientific, licensing effort. It can do nothing but harm our efforts, since it reinforces the national Republican campaign to deviously approve a Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump. Yucca Mountain is permeable because it is composed of welded and un-welded volcanic tuff which has voids. Water moves through the mountain, and along with minerals and micro-organisms, it will corrode the stainless steel and titanium nuclear waste containers. These containers will corrode far sooner than 10,000 years. Remember there were 36 possible sites and in 1987 only one was chosen -- that being Nevada, a politically weak state. It was politics then and it's politics now. The Republican party has shot itself in the foot. FRANK PERNA ***************************************************************** 30 Rocky Mountain News: Congress ducks duty on waste site May 14, 2004 It's another sign of the unreliability of Congress that a House subcommittee wants to hold back on giving the Yucca Mountain project in Nevada the money it needs to start receiving nuclear wastes by 2010. The problem is politics. Congress has agreed that Yucca Mountain will be the national repository for waste, and the money is there: Over the years, nuclear-power ratepayers have contributed $14 billion to a disposal fund. But some members of Congress have other uses for that money, including various pet projects. The politicians from Nevada want to kill the project because of the NIMBY disease: Not In My Back Yard. More extreme critics want to kill the Yucca project because doing so would help kill the nuclear industry, which they view as overly dangerous. In fact, nuclear power is efficient, nonpolluting and extraordinarily safe. Getting rid of waste that remains toxic for thousands of years is definitely an issue, but scientists have come up with nothing better than Yucca, which has been studied and studies and then studied again. ***************************************************************** 31 Las Vegas SUN: Letter: State GOP's fight against nuclear dump was fraud Today: May 14, 2004 at 8:56:03 PDT It looks like Nevada Republicans put into writing what we've all known all along -- that their supposed "fight" against Yucca Mountain was a lie. During the GOP's state convention, the party all but adopted a platform that included negotiating for "benefits" from the nuke waste dump. Like many people, I had my doubts about the Republican effort to fight the dump when party leaders not only threw their support behind George W. Bush, but took key positions on his re-election committee. Attorney General Brian Sandoval, who is supposed to be leading Nevada's legal fight, is the chair of Bush's Nevada re-election committee. Whenever asked about the clear conflict of interest, the Republican response was, "We agree to disagree with the president about Yucca." But now they agree 100 percent. And by putting it in writing, state Republicans proven, once again, how out of touch they are with the majority of the state's residents who don't want Nevada to become a nuclear dumping ground for the rest of the country. Flip-flopping President Bush can kill the dump at any time, but chooses to continue to break the promise he made to Nevada four years ago. Meanwhile, John Kerry has nearly a 20-year record of standing alongside Nevada in our fight against Yucca Mountain, and has vowed to stop it. I hope in November other voters will remember the choice Nevada Republicans made to sell out our state and elect people who aren't so out of touch. KYLE MURDOCH ***************************************************************** 32 Las Vegas SUN: Lawsuit warns of Yucca train troubles By Suzanne Struglinski SUN WASHINGTON BUREAU WASHINGTON -- A railroad company that could potentially move nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain consistently violates federal railroad safety laws, railroad employees claim in a lawsuit filed Wednesday. Employees of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad say the company does not disclose actual safety records, including accident reports, to the government, and that management at the Sioux City, Iowa, terminal directs employees not to follow safety standards, including when they handle shipments of hazardous materials. The lawsuit also expresses concerns that the company could handle high-level nuclear waste, which the Energy Department plans to ship by rail to Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. The Energy Department "is relying on the representations made by the BNSF (Burlington Northern Santa Fe) that ... BNSF has the capacity to safely move high-level nuclear waste," the lawsuit says. "In turn, DOE is informing the public and state and local government that using BNSF and other rail carriers is a very safe method to move high-level nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain from all over the United States and that the citizenry and its representatives has nothing to worry about." "DOE is wrong, it is not safe to move nuclear waste by rail across the BNSF," the lawsuit says. "DOE would not enter into such contracts if it knew the truth of the unsafe conditions of BNSF operations." Allen Benson, spokesman for the Yucca Mountain project, who had not heard of the suit, said no rail lines or companies have been selected to move the waste to Nevada and that it was premature to discuss. He said that the department will be involved with the safe transport of nuclear waste and that all of the safety elements are still under development. Nevada officials, though, said the lawsuit raises a concern they have voiced for years. "The more time that goes by, the more evidence there will be that this situation is chaotic," Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said. "We know railroad tracks around the country are in terrible disrepair. There are railroad accidents all the time." Reid said if the railroad cannot even handle the hazardous waste shipments, how will it manage the 20,000 train load of nuclear waste to Nevada? "The more people find out about this, the less good they will feel about this going past their homes, their schools," Reid said. Reid said he has been hearing for years that the department will figure out a safe way to move the waste, but he is not sure how, especially in light of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks it plans to do it. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has primary responsibility for overseeing the movement of nuclear waste, but the Federal Railroad Administration also has oversight of shipments. The railroad administration, the Energy Department, the Association of American Railroads, state officials and rail labor groups coordinated the plan, which was put in place in 1998. A plan for Yucca Mountain has not yet been developed. Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., said not only is there a lack of rules and regulations for moving the waste to Nevada, but there is the threat of a possible terrorist attack that has not been addressed. "We are totally unprepared," she said. "There is no safe way to transport 77,000 tons of toxic nuclear waste across the country," Berkley said. "It's an impossible situation." She said under the Price Anderson Act, a federal law that makes the government responsible for nuclear accidents, it is not clear who would pay for cleaning up an accident or how workers on the trains would be compensated if they find themselves sick from radiation exposure after moving all the material. Berkley said she was glad the railroad workers took it upon themselves to point to the safety problems. "It's only going to get worse," she said. The federal lawsuit lists 18 train accidents in 2003 alone including head-on collisions and derailments that could be traced back to "consistent disregard of federal safety requirements." The Energy Department announced in April that it would use rail lines to ship waste to the proposed repository at Yucca Mountain. It plans to build a new track in Nevada, but would use existing tracks, such as BNSF's, across the country to move waste from the 77 sites storing it. The department and the nuclear industry insist the shipments are safe and point to numerous shipments by commercial power plants, the Navy and the department itself that have been done without incident for years. The state and other critics of the site point to the problems with moving waste to Nevada from plants mainly concentrated in East Coast states. Threats of accidents, acts of terrorism and sabotage and basic human error could have dangerous effects with cleanup costs in the billions of dollars. But this is the first time attention has been called to possible problems with railroad management itself as another reason waste should not be sent to the state. Plaintiffs, which include Local 418 of the United Transportation Union, members of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes, 18 named individuals, including a train conductor who was allegedly fired in 2001 for trying to adhere to federal standards testing air brakes and several others, filed suit May 12 in the federal District Court for the Northern District of Iowa, in the Western Division. Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Company, which is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, does not comment on pending litigation, spokesman Patrick Hiatte said Thursday. Lead attorney for the plaintiffs, Harry Zanville, said the employees, some of whom are shareholders in the company, say it owes them the truth about its safety records as well as the true risks association with shipping hazardous waste, including spent nuclear fuel. The lawsuit notes: "Railroad employees in this terminal (Sioux City) face an impossible choice between being dismissed/disciplined if they do perform and comply with required tests, inspections and standards or being disqualified and fined by the government if they do not perform such inspections and tests." The suit says employees have been "repeatedly ordered or otherwise coerced," to skip inspections for defective cars, run trains without required monitoring or communication devices and other violations in order to "be more profitable when train departures and overall operations can be expedited." "Many trains are leaving with both known and unknown defects in equipment," plaintiffs claim. The Federal Railway Administration inspections have found numerous defects, including 11 times when trains loaded with hazardous materials were put in the wrong place, a direct rules violation, according to the lawsuit. "It is critical in nuclear shipments in where you put it on a train," Zanville said. Zanville said if the company was doing this with "carrots," "timber" or something else, safety would still be important but the consequences of a train crashing with carrots are nowhere near as problematic as one crashing with spent nuclear fuel. Plaintiffs also bring up problems with the FRA taking action on any of the accidents or other safety violations that do get reported. Bob Halstead, the state's transportation consultant on Yucca Mountain issues, said he could not tell the real motivation behind the case, whether is was valid safety concerns or unions worried about general employee cutbacks and dealing with management. "But they have raised some really good points," Halstead said. "It makes people aware of rail safety as an issue. The rail road option may not be a safe as the official statistics imply." Halstead said he is glad this came out now rather than after a railroad to the site is completed, if it is. ***************************************************************** 33 RGJ: Lawmaker warns Energy Department of money cuts for nuclear waste project http://www.rgj.com/] Reno Gazette-Journal] By H. JOSEF HEBERT [online@rgj.com] ASSOCIATED PRESS 5/13/2004 10:55 pm WASHINGTON The Energy Department has been warned by an influential lawmaker that it may get a fraction of the money sought next year for a proposed nuclear waste dump in Nevada, jeopardizing any chance that site can open by 2010. Congress has given the project the go-ahead, pending a permit by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. But securing the money needed every year so the Yucca Mountain project can stay on schedule has frustrated planners. The latest potential roadblock came from the House Appropriations subcommittee that is considering a department request for $880 million for the budget year that begins Oct. 1. The project 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas is facing major challenges in getting an NRC license and developing a waste transportation plan. In a recent letter, Rep. David Hobson, R-Ohio, the subcommittee chairman, advised Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham that he may get only $131 million, an amount that department officials say essentially would shut down the program. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the letter. Hobson, a strong supporter of the project, asked Abraham for detailed information on how these limited funds would affect the program and the nuclear industry. Were working closely with chairman Hobson to address his concerns and advance the ball forward in getting the money we need, department spokesman Joe Davis said. The proposed repository is where the government wants to bury 77,000 tons of highly radioactive used reactor fuel now kept at commercial power plants, as well as defense waste. The effort has wide support in Congress. In 2002, lawmakers blocked an attempt by Nevada to short-circuit the project. When it comes to annual funds, Yucca Mountain planners must compete with other programs under the subcommittees jurisdiction, including popular water projects dear to individual lawmakers. This year, the Energy Department sought to resolve that problem. It linked about $750 million of the $880 million requested for Yucca Mountain to congressional passage of legislation assuring that money collected through a special nuclear waste fund actually is spent for the project. The legislation has languished in another committee. So Hobson is faced with a $750 million shortfall that if it is to be provided for Yucca will have to come from other programs. To make matters worse, the Energy Department always has relied on the House to come up with more money for Yucca Mountain. In the Senate, Nevada Democrat Harry Reid, an ardent Yucca opponent, is in the leadership, and this chamber has been more stingy in providing funds for the program. Recently the Senate Armed Services Committee authorized funds for Yucca Mountain at $577 million next fiscal year, a little less than current spending. In March, Margaret Chu, director of the DOE office that heads the program, emphasized at a congressional hearing that the program is reaching a critical stage where spending below what the department is requesting would make it impossible to meet the 2010 target for opening the facility. To stay on schedule, she predicted a need to raise spending over the next few years: $880 million in fiscal 2005, $1 billion in 2006 and $1.2 billion the year after that. The federal nuclear waste fund is collected from a one-tenth of a cent per kilowatt assessment on power produced by a nuclear power plant. Currently the $14 billion already collected helps hold down the deficit. Its money ratepayers have paid. We want to use that money and move the project forward, department spokesman Davis said. The bill proposed by the administration would require that Congress free up whatever revenue is collected in a given year and use it on the Yucca project, so the program does not have to compete with other programs. ***************************************************************** 34 Bradenton Herald: Attorneys sign on to Tallevast case | 05/14/2004 | DANA SANCHEZ Herald Staff Writer TALLEVAST - Residents say they're tired of fighting. But the biggest fight of their lives may still be ahead. The neighborhood's community group, FOCUS, quietly sought legal counsel from a nationally known attorney after a plume of contamination extending beyond the boundaries of the former American Beryllium Co. plant was identified. Environmental law is not attorney Robert Walker's forte, but putting together teams of lawyers in cases "that have some value" is, he says. Walker, a personal injury lawyer from Richmond, Va., has worked on some large cases, including one that ended in a $60 million settlement - the greatest out-of-court settlement in Virginia history for a products liability case, he said. Tallevast residents were looking for someone who would believe in their cause, Walker said, and they had researched his 35 judgments reaping more than $1 million apiece. "Once I spoke to them and saw some of the evidence they had compiled, it seemed there might be a case there," Walker said. "But it needs to be developed. Tons and tons of documents have to be waded through." The firms that Walker is bringing together have worked on other environmental cases and bring specific areas of expertise to the table. "We're trying to determine whether Tallevast is going to be one of those," Walker said. Already on the team are lawyers from Motley &Rice LLC of Charleston, S.C., and Michie, Hamlett, Lowry, Rasmussen &Twill PLLC, of Charlottesville, Va. Motley &Rice is the firm famed for helping litigate against tobacco and winning a $370 billion settlement. The firm got its start in asbestos litigation, then moved to the tobacco legal wars. Now it's involved in 9-11-related lawsuits worldwide, taking on Saudi aristocrats who may have helped finance the 9-11 terror attacks. Michie, Hamlett, Lowry, Rasmussen &Twill PLLC are asbestos and environmental litigators. Walker, who has visited the Tallevast community and spoken to residents, plans to return Monday with Gregory Webb, an attorney for Michie, Hamlett. Walker said financial arrangements were confidential. Motley &Rice has a reputation for being a fearless, heady and aggressive bunch of lawyers who don't shrink from doing the heavy lifting, said John Freeman, a professor of legal and business ethics at the University of South Carolina School of Law. The fact that the firm is part of the Tallevast investigation is evidence of the law firm's "selective sense of smell," Freeman said. "If a lawsuit is brought, the defendants will know they have been sued and sued by pros," Freeman said. Edward Cottingham, a partner at Motley &Rice, said it's still uncertain what the firm will be able to do for Tallevast. And it's still too early to say how they'll get paid. "There's contamination on their property that shouldn't be there," Cottingham said. "What threat does it pose to their property and health? Those are questions we don't have answers to, but we intend to find out." None of the attorneys or FOCUS representatives would discuss any details about the cost of such legal representation or whether anyone has actually been retained. Tallevast potentially has a personal injury case with property damage components to it, Walker said. "Any time someone poisons your well, that's property damage, but if you drink the water, that's personal injury," Walker said. Whether Tallevast's concerns become a case depends on the evidence, lawyers say. "When you take on a case of this magnitude, you can't take anyone's word," Walker said. "You have to do the research yourself." Tallevast residents came to him with a wealth of information, including medical data they have been collecting for the past three years, Walker said. "If the corporate entities had been responsible, they would have advised the community," he said. Bradenton.com | ***************************************************************** 35 Bradenton.com: Environmental official says Tallevast residents not in danger Updated Friday, May 14, 2004 KEVIN O'HORAN Herald Staff Writer Looking to stem growing concerns, as well as defend her agency's actions, Florida's top environmental regulator for the area sounded off Thursday on perceived threats to residents from the former American Beryllium Co. plant in Tallevast. Deborah Getzoff, director of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection's southwest district, said residents near the plant are in no danger despite the discovery that toxic chemicals leaked from the plant had fouled the groundwater. "There is not anyone in that area whose drinking water is at risk," Getzoff said during a conference call with Herald editors and reporters. "All the residents involved are on public drinking water supplies. "We believe we have a good handle on the drinking water." The sentiment may not be shared by everyone, however, as residents who live near the 1600 Tallevast Road plant have sounded the alarm about contamination and enlisted a legal team to investigate possible action. That legal team, led by Robert Walker, a personal injury lawyer from Richmond, Va., hasn't yet identified a target or targets. DEP regulators have monitored work to determine the extent of contamination at and around the 5-acre American Beryllium Co. site, as well as a pending project to clean it up. Crews working for Lockheed Martin Corp., which took ownership of the site in a 1996 acquisition of Loral Corp. holdings, had discovered metals and solvents in soils at the site as early as 2000. Over the next three years, more testing revealed solvents had reached groundwater off site as well. But residents didn't learn about the findings until October 2003 and then only after approaching Lockheed leaders, prompting criticism of the company, the DEP and Manatee County environmental officials. Getzoff insisted Thursday that her agency had done nothing wrong in its handling of the project, following the letter of the law throughout the process. "Under Florida's environmental statutes," she wrote Thursday in a letter published today on the Herald's editorial page, "residents close to cleanup sites are notified once a restoration plan is approved. The department will certainly fulfill this obligation once Lockheed's plan, currently under review, is finalized." In the interim, she said, the agency will head to the community today with county officials and Lockheed representatives to again check for drinking water wells on homesteads. That, along with Thursday's public statements, should help to ease growing concerns, she said. "It isn't anything," Getzoff said of the American Beryllium contamination, "that folks need to be worried about." ***************************************************************** 36 AP Wire: Nuclear group asks for lift on stay of $151 million judgment | 05/14/2004 | Associated Press LINCOLN, Neb. - A five-state, low-level nuclear waste commission wants a stay lifted on the $151 million judgment against Nebraska for its failure to build a regional waste dump. If the stay is not lifted, the Central Interstate Low-Level Radioactive Waste Commission wants the federal court to order Nebraska to post a bond equal to the judgment amount, plus interest. Commission attorneys claim the state is no longer entitled to an unbonded stay because of actions the Legislature and governor took in April "to weaken the statutory means of promptly enforcing judgments against the state." The measure was signed into law by Gov. Mike Johanns on April 15. It reduced the interest rate Nebraska pays on judgments from 10 percent to a flexible rate that changes with a U.S. Treasury note yield. While the case has been on appeal, interest on the $151 million judgment has accrued since 2002 at a rate of 1.68 percent or about $7,000 a day. If the federal judge were to remove the stay before the new law goes into effect on July 16, the state would be locked into paying a 10 percent interest rate. The amended law reduced the state's incentive to pay its debts on time, the commission's attorneys said. Johanns said Friday that the compact has been very clear and forceful in saying it wants to be paid the damages. "Nothing about this at this point has shocked me," Johanns said. He also reiterated his desire to settle the lawsuit. Assistant Attorney General David Cookson described the compact's objection to the stay as a normal part of the lawsuit. The state is preparing a response to the compact's argument and will submit it next week, Cookson said. State Sen. Roger Wehrbein, chairman of the Appropriations Committee said Thursday that the judgment did have a partial role in prompting the legislation. Nebraska's 10 percent rate was also old - dating back to the 1870s. "We wanted to get a rate that was more up to date," Wehrbein said. The Legislature might need to meet in a special session if the federal court orders the state to post a bond, Wehrbein said. In February, a three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Nebraska acted in bad faith by blocking the regional compact from building a dump in the state. The ruling upheld a decision two years ago by U.S District Judge Richard Kopf of Lincoln. On April 22, the state learned its request for a rehearing before the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had been rejected. Johanns has said it would be worthwhile to take the lawsuit to the U.S. Supreme Court. The dump was to hold waste from Nebraska, Kansas, Arkansas, Louisiana and Oklahoma, which in 1983 formed the Central Interstate Low-Level Radioactive Waste Compact. ***************************************************************** 37 Nevada Appeal - Opinion: Negotiating on Yucca Mountain Lynn Hettrick May 14, 2004 I often enjoy Guy Farmer's column, despite his liberal leanings. But his May 10 column regarding Yucca Mountain simply must be corrected. He quotes me as saying, "I'm absolutely convinced there's no significant risk (from nuclear waste)." Those are his words in parentheses. The correct ending was "from the storage of spent nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain." I recently visited Yucca Mountain to see for myself the science that is going on there. It would be interesting to know if Mr. Farmer has visited the facility. The risk of continuing to store spent fuel at low security sites all over this country is far greater than the risk of storage at Yucca Mountain. According to Mr. Farmer, my position is "... if political rape is inevitable, just lie back and enjoy it." Wrong! Several years ago, a Democrat-controlled Congress effectively condemned Yucca Mountain to become the nation's repository. Refusing to negotiate some payment would be like refusing to negotiate a payment if the state of Nevada condemned your house to build a freeway. You don't have to agree with it, but the Constitution guarantees that you are entitled to just compensation. Nevada won't get compensation if we don't negotiate for it. Mr. Farmer says 70 percent of Nevadans oppose the repository, perhaps. But in the most recent poll I have seen, 76 percent supported negotiating for benefits. And Guy touts that the "political equation (in Washington, D.C.) has changed." Really? We have five - that's right five - votes in Congress. To win, we must get more than half of the 535 members of Congress to vote with us. Does Guy really believe we are going to convince 268 members to vote to trash the $6 billion already invested? And that 268 members will vote to spend another $6 billion somewhere else, only to meet similar resistance. The first rule of any political equation is to count the votes - we can count our votes on one hand. If we can win in Congress, why are we spending millions of taxpayer dollars filing lawsuits in the courts? To refuse to recognize the situation is to bury your head in the sand. It may feel good to ignore reality, but you present a mighty big target. In my opinion, we are about to get kicked in the target. Most of all I am disappointed at the normally sensible Mr. Farmer's implication that those who don't agree with him are some how corrupt. He uses the phrases: "your checks are in the mail," "most of us recognize a bribe" and "those who are willing to sell out the state of Nevada. ..." Mr. Farmer, a cursory look at my voting record will clearly show that my position on issues has nothing to do with who has or has not written a check. Indeed, the last session proved my willingness to stand up for my beliefs despite political pressure or deep pockets. Those of us who have chosen to be in politics are obligated to endure these implications in the name of free speech - we are not obligated to "just lie back and enjoy it." Lynn Hettrick, a member of the Nevada Assembly since 1993, represents District 39, which includes Douglas County and parts of Carson City and Washoe County. All contents Copyright 2004 nevadaappeal.com Nevada Appeal - ***************************************************************** 38 Pahrump Valley Times: Yucca on DOE Christmas list May 14, 2004 By STEVE TETREAULT PVT WASHINGTON BUREAU WASHINGTON - The Department of Energy has targeted Dec. 23 as the date it plans to apply for a license to build a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain. While department officials frequently had said DOE would have a license application ready by the end of 2004, a report delivered Tuesday to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission was the first time a date has been specified. John Arthur, deputy director of the Office of Repository Management, said he was "unguardedly optimistic" DOE would hit the target. Arthur said the department had completed 68 percent of the work necessary to prepare a license application, slightly behind schedule "but that will be covered." Bechtel SAIC Co. LLC, the project's management contractor, is scheduled to deliver a draft license application to Energy Department overseers by July 26, and an application for final DOE review by Nov. 30, Arthur said. Meeting those two deadlines would qualify Bechtel SAIC for $26.3 million in "performance incentives" under its contract, although a portion of that amount could be collected only once the NRC formally accepts the application for review. The application that will be sent to the NRC will consist of between 5,000 to 5,500 pages, Arthur said. It will detail the Energy Department's case that a tunnel system where decaying spent nuclear fuel would be stored in special alloy canisters could prevent radioactive particles from escaping into the environment for 10,000 years. "A couple hundred" additional documents will be made available to reviewers, said Joseph Ziegler, the project's licensing director. The documents will not be made part of the formal license application because DOE wants to continue updating them, he said. Yucca Mountain Project managers delivered an optimistic report during a scheduled quarterly management meeting with counterparts from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. "We are far from a train wreck, this project is gaining momentum," Ziegler said. "Overall the project is on a high as we get into the final stages of developing a license application." The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff and congressional auditors working for the General Accounting Office have issued reports over the past month critical of quality assurance aspects of the DOE's license preparations. Project managers said Tuesday they are heeding the NRC's report that called for more "clarity and consistency" in analysis reports that will support the license application. Arthur said about 150 workers have been detailed to "integrate" licensing documents, a task that will take into September to complete at a cost of $10 million to $11 million. webmaster@pahrumpvalleytimes.com [webmaster@pahrumpvalleytimes.com] Copyright Pahrump Valley Times, 1997 - 2003 ***************************************************************** 39 AU ABC: Govt unconcerned over nuclear dump delay. 14/05/2004. ABC News Online Australian Broadcasting Corporation [http://www.abc.net.au/] The Federal Government says it is in no rush to establish a radioactive waste dump at Woomera in South Australia. Australia's Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency has called for further investigation into the dump's impact on local ground water. Federal Science Minister Peter McGauran says he is not worried about the possible delay that may cause. "If the independent regulator takes several months to complete his task then so be it," he said. "No one is going to cut corners at this late stage." 2004 Australian Broadcasting Corporation This service may include material from Agence France-Presse ***************************************************************** 40 AU ABC: Centre wants uranium report made public ABC Darwin Local News "Australian Broadcasting Corporation [http://abc.net.au/] Friday, 14 May 2004 The Northern Territory's Environment Centre says the operator of the Ranger uranium mine should be prosecuted over a contamination incident. In March, workers at the mine drank and showered in water that was found to be contaminated with the mine's process water. The Environment Centre's Peter Robertson says the findings of Territory and Commonwealth investigations should be released to the public immediately. "We believe that the public has already had to wait a very long time for any real indication from either government as to what has been discovered as a result of all the investigations that have supposedly been taking place," he said "The public needs to know what's going on, it needs to know what the investigations have found and it needs to know what 's going to be recommended in terms of action against the mining company." [ more news ] Last Updated: 5:32:00 PM (ACST) [http://www.abc.net.au/privacy.htm] ***************************************************************** 41 WATE: Leaking truck forces shutdown of Hwy. 95 in Roane Co. May 14, 2004 OAK RIDGE (WATE) -- Authorities shut down Highway 95 Friday between Bethel Valley and Bear Creek Roads in Roane County after a truck carrying radioactive material was discovered leaking. Just before 11:30 Friday morning the truck left the waste management area just south of the ORNL complex. It left the west entrance to ORNL and went down Bethel Valley Road and then north on Highway 95 and onto Bear Creek Road. The truck ended up at a nuclear waste disposal site near the Y-12 complex. The truck was carrying an isotope known as strontium 90. As it headed up a hill on Highway 95, droplets of the material leaked onto the pavement in at least one spot. "Our concern is to deal with the emergency, work with the state, assess the situation, and bring it to a quick and safe resolution," Steven Wyatt, DOE spokesman said. Special meters were used to check state trooper's cars and any other vehicles to see if they drove through the radiation. They also checked the road. Roane County Emergency Management Agency Director Howie Rose showed 6 News the monitors being used to detect any radiation on the road. He said the detection process is "time consuming" because workers must check every inch the truck traveled. "What we would do is hold the probe approximately one inch above the surface and slowly sweep the area to see if we had any rise in the level of radiation that it says is present," explained Howie Rose, director of Roane Emergency Management. Health physics technicians spent the night monitoring the highway for other signs of radiation. The Department of Energy says the material is fixed into the pavement and doesn't pose a threat to the public. There are no homes in the area and no one has gotten sick so there is no reason for evacuation according to Rose. Highway 95 will remain closed to traffic until the cleanup is completed. Steve Wyatt, a Department of Energy spokesperson, told 6 News he doesn't know how long the road will be closed. He said state officials requested the closure and will make the decision when to reopen it. It's described as a by-product of radioactive decay, or low level waste. It can travel short distances of a few yards through the air. In large doses, beta radiation can burn and penetrate skin to the new skin cell layer. Thick clothing and glasses can provide sufficient protect from beta radiation in small doses. The greatest risk to health is if you inhale or ingest beta radiation. Wyatt said the leak was noticed when the truck arrived at the Y-12 disposal cell after traveling from ORNL. He said transportation between the two facilities is common. The Department of Energy says it was unrelated to any research at ORNL. Some ORNL workers were cleared Friday evening to drive part of Highway 95 after it tested okay. The Department of Energy is working with the state to figure out the best way to remove the radiation from Highway 95. The cleanup could be done as early as Saturday or as late as a few days. Officials said in a worst case scenario, crews could have to dig up some contaminated ground. 6 News Reporters Tearsa Smith and Anchor/Reporter Heather Donald contributed to this report. [http://www.worldnow.com] All content Copyright 2000 - 2004 WorldNow and WATE. All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 42 NRC: NRC Advisory Committee on Nuclear Waste to Meet May 25 - 27 in Rockville, Maryland News Release - 2004-05 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs Telephone: 301/415-8200 Washington, DC 20555-0001 E-mail: opa@nrc.gov No. 04-058 May 14, 2004 The Nuclear Regulatory Commissions Advisory Committee on Nuclear Waste will hold a public meeting May 25 - 27 in Rockville, Md. The Committees discussions will include, among other items, the Louisiana Energy Services application to build a uranium enrichment plant in New Mexico, as well as the NRC staffs review of the Department of Energys technical documents intended to support the expected application to license a high-level nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. The meeting will be held in Room T-2B3 of the agencys Two White Flint North Building, at 11545 Rockville Pike. The meeting will begin at 3:25 p.m. on May 25, and at 8:30 a.m. on May 26 and 27. A complete agenda will be available on the NRCs Web site at this address: http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/acnw/agenda/2004/. For additional information or schedule changes, please contact Howard Larson at 301-415-6805. Last revised Friday, May 14, 2004 ***************************************************************** 43 STUFF: Aussies told to butt out over nuclear pot shots New Zealand's leading news and information website Fairfax New Zealand Limited [http://www.fairfaxnz.co.nz] 14 May 2004 [http://www.stuff.co.nz] By TRACY WATKINS Australia has been told to butt out of New Zealand affairs after its Foreign Minister Alexander Downer revived the anti-nuclear row on the eve of a summit supposed to strengthen trans-Tasman ties. Mr Downer took a pot shot at New Zealand's nuclear-free policy and particularly former National prime minister Jim Bolger for failing to reverse the Labour-instigated ban when he had the chance during the 1990s. Prime Minister Helen Clark took a dim view of the remarks yesterday and said she was "disappointed" that Mr Downer had not observed the same "restraint" as New Zealand in commenting on Australian foreign policy. "Usually the same restraint is observed on both sides of the Tasman. The net effect of these comments of course is to cause his fraternal political party, the National Party, acute and enormous embarrassment. "But that really shows why you shouldn't, from offshore, be chirping about other people's affairs." Mr Downer, who is due to arrive in New Zealand today for the trans-Tasman leadership forum, questioned whether the nuclear ban was in New Zealand's interest. He could understand the Labour Government's stance on the legislation as it was an "article of faith" for them. But the Bolger government had always questioned the wisdom of the policy. "I did think that they should have taken the bit between their teeth. I mean, I did talk to members of that government at the time, people like Don McKinnon and Max Bradford, and I always thought that they were actually in favour ... of repealing this legislation, or making substantial changes to it which would accommodate New Zealand's readmission to the Anzus alliance," Mr Downer told National Radio. Mr Bolger refused to comment yesterday. A National Party discussion document proposes removing the legal ban on the nuclear propulsion part of the nuclear-free legislation so American warships would be free to visit New Zealand. National MPs, nervous about a backlash, have not rushed to embrace the proposal. National leader Don Brash dismissed Mr Downer's comments yesterday and said the nuclear ban was a matter for New Zealanders to decide. Miss Clark said it was "most unfortunate" the comments had been made on the eve of this weekend's Wellington summit "that is supposed to be positive". ***************************************************************** 44 Japan Times: China's proliferation serves to rouse Japan Saturday, May 15, 2004 By ROBYN LIM Special to The Japan Times China's support for North Korea has backfired. What would China prefer to see -- a Japan armed with nuclear weapons, or Japan's alliance with the United States strengthened by its participation in missile defense? In Beijing, neither option has much appeal. But in relation to Japan, China has been hoisted with its own petard. That's because a sea change in Japan's security outlook is being wrought by China's quasi-ally, North Korea. North Korean leader Kim Jong Il is rattling his missiles and bragging that he has nuclear weapons. Not surprisingly, Japan is rapidly abandoning its long-standing delusion that its security problems can be ignored, or left to others to resolve. No doubt, China would prefer a neutral Japan that it could dominate by virtue of size, proximity and demographic weight. Indeed, immediately after the Cold War, that outcome seemed possible. Many Japanese were inclined to think that "it's all economics now," and thus saw no danger in deferring to China as East Asia's rapidly rising economic power. Moreover, "multilateralism" became the code word for those who urged greater independence from America. That played into Beijing's hands by suggesting that U.S. alliances in East Asia were no longer needed. At the end of the Cold War, China also benefited from Japan's optimism that nuclear weapons could be abolished. Many countries that had been attracted to nuclear weapons were now abandoning their ambitions. In 1994, for example, Ukraine agreed to give up the nuclear weapons it inherited when the Soviet Union collapsed. Then in 1995, Japan played an active part in securing the permanent extension of the 1970 Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT), by which signatories pledged not to develop nuclear weapons. The flip side of that agreement was that the five "declared" nuclear-weapon states (United States, Russia, China, Britain and France) were to work toward abolishing their nuclear arsenals. Few in Japan questioned whether the abolition of nuclear weapons would serve Japan's interests. In fact, the reverse was the case. In the unlikely event that the declared nuclear-weapon states agreed to abandon their arsenals, the U.S. would have abided by its commitments. But how could Japan trust China, a totalitarian state, to do what it pledged to do? After all, the history of arms control is that bad regimes lie and cheat. Meanwhile, China's proliferation activities continued unabated. That helped usher in the "second nuclear age" after India tested nuclear weapons in 1998, and Pakistan followed. Japan was shocked, although it should not have been. The collapse of the Soviet Union had deprived India of its great power protector, while India was confronted by a rising China that proliferated missile technology to India's archrival Pakistan. For China, such proliferation was a means of containing India. That policy backfired when India sought security, as well as great-power status, in flaunting nuclear weapons. China also indirectly threatened Japan by proliferating missile technology to North Korea. Worse, we now know that China winked when Pakistan proliferated nuclear technology to North Korea in return for missile technology. And North Korea steadily built up its arsenal of medium-range missiles that threatened Japan. (So did China.) Then in 1998, North Korea tested its long-range Taepodong missile over Japan without warning. China proliferated to North Korea partly to secure advantage over the U.S. and Japan, with a Taiwan contingency in mind. In a future confrontation with America over Taiwan, Beijing seemed to calculate, China might gain leverage if North Korea precipitated a simultaneous crisis. But China has miscalculated, especially in relation to Japan. North Korea's provocations are making it easier for Shigeru Ishiba, the head of Japan's Defense Agency, to secure support for participation with the U.S. in the development of missile defenses. China has long railed against such defenses because they might nullify China's small nuclear arsenal, and would also create a shield behind which Taiwan could be emboldened to declare independence. But in today's Japan, China's complaints cut little ice. Missile defense is nonnuclear and defensive. Most Japanese will vastly prefer that to the development of offensive capabilities such as nuclear weapons. Thus China's proliferation policies are backfiring in relation to Japan, as they did with India. China has not been able to stop North Korea from behaving in ways that undercut China's own interests. Now the stakes are growing even higher because North Korea's belligerence risks a new Korean war. The U.S., while continuing to urge diplomatic solutions, cannot tolerate North Korea's acquiring and selling nuclear weapons. The Bush administration keeps the military card on the table because it must. Will China now rein in or overthrow Kim before further miscalculation leads to war? Robyn Lim is a professor of international relations at Nanzan University, Nagoya. The Japan Times: May 15, 2004 (C) All rights reserved ***************************************************************** 45 Charleston.Net: Opinion: Editorials Important new role for SRS 05/14/04 The designation of Savannah River Site as a national laboratory is an important development for the longtime nuclear weapons facility and for state research universities. It doesn't mean that SRS will immediately undertake research at the level of established laboratories, such as Oak Ridge and Los Alamos, but it's a step in that direction. "It broadens the horizons for jobs, longevity and stability" at SRS, says Ben Rusche, chairman of the state's Nuclear Advisory Council. Mr. Rusche, a former policymaker at the U.S. Department of Energy, tells us the designation will likely mean an expansion of current research in hydrogen for energy, robotics, waste management and national security, all of which are being done at SRS' Technical Center. Former Gov. James B. Edwards, who also served as President Reagan's Secretary of Energy and president of the Medical University of South Carolina, says the designation is a welcome recognition of SRS' record of excellence in research. Dr. Edwards also cited SRS' work in hydrogen research and expressed the hope that SRS will become a national center for research on hydrogen as a fuel of the future. The Technical Center also has research experience in nuclear waste management and mitigation for contamination, both related to the long-term environmental problems associated with the weapons plant. SRS operates a plant that encases nuclear waste in glass for long-term storage and is slated to see the development of a plutonium-to-fuel plant. Sen. Lindsey Graham, who was instrumental in gaining the designation, describes it as one of the most significant developments at SRS in recent years. "The potential research and development opportunities that could come to SRS and South Carolina from this new designation are staggering and on the cutting-edge of technology," he says. Despite the fears of state leaders in the recent past, the Energy Department clearly views SRS as more than a site for the storage and preparation of radioactive and chemical waste. SRS and its employees made a vital contribution to national security during the Cold War, and much of the work that will be conducted at the new national laboratory will continue to serve that goal. The designation is well deserved and good news for South Carolina. [http://charleston.net Copyright 2004, The Post and Courier, All Rights Reserved. [webmaster@postandcourier.com] ***************************************************************** 46 Oak Ridger: Supercomputer: More speed, power Story last updated at 12:18 p.m. on May 14, 2004 LAB CHIEF: 'The new machine will enable breakthrough discoveries in biology, fusion energy, climate prediction, nanoscience and many other fields that will fundamentally change both science and its impact across society.' By: Paul Parson | Oak Ridger Staff paul.parson@oakridger.com [paul.parson@oakridger.com] By 2007, Oak Ridge National Laboratory's new supercomputer could be operating around 5 megawatts of power supplied by the Tennessee Valley Authority. It will be housed in a facility that has the capacity of 12 megawatts. And, speaking of power, ORNL Director Jeff Wadsworth said he expects the lab's system to surpass the world's current fastest supercomputer, Japan's 40-teraflop Earth Simulator, within a year. The aggressive timetable calls for increasing the capacity of the current ORNL Cray X1 computer to 20 teraflops this year and adding a 20-teraflop Cray Red Storm-based machine in 2005, according to lab officials. Additionally, Argonne National Laboratory - a partner on ORNL's project - plans to install a 5-teraflop IBM Blue Gene computer at some point. Marie Moffitt/Staff George Phipps, a computer operator at the Center of Computational Sciences, works in the operating room adjacent to the supercomputer at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Breaking it down, a teraflop is a measure of a computer's speed, and it equals about a trillion calculations per second. ORNL officials also plan to add a 100-teraflop Cray system in 2006, which will be increased to a total of 250 teraflops in 2007. So, what will researchers do with all this speed at their disposal? A lot of research, of course. "The new machine will enable breakthrough discoveries in biology, fusion energy, climate prediction, nanoscience and many other fields that will fundamentally change both science and its impact across society," Wadsworth explained. Arthur "Buddy" Bland, director of operations for the Center of Computational Sciences, said ORNL's current computer system runs on 1.2 megawatts of power, but it could be using as much as 2.4 megawatts by the end of the year. Upgrades in 2006 and 2007 will likely boost the power need by a total of 2 megawatts, he added. ORNL's team beat out three other proposals from Department of Energy national laboratories for the opportunity to build the world's fastest supercomputer. It will be housed in a recently constructed 170,000-square-foot facility that includes 400 staff and 40,000 square feet of space for computer systems and data storage. DOE has awarded ORNL and its development partners - Cray Inc., IBM Corp. and Silicon Graphics Inc. - $25 million in funding to begin to work on the supercomputer. A DOE news release issued Tuesday stated: "It is anticipated - but not guaranteed - that, at a minimum, level funding will be available to support the DOE leadership-class computing capability for up to four years beyond FY 2004," which is the current federal fiscal year. U.S. Sen. Bill Frist, R-Tenn., said ORNL's supercomputer will make the United States more competitive globally while creating jobs and economic growth for Tennessee. "High-end computing is one of the critical science fields in which our nation needs to be the world's leader," said U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn. "The Japanese have held this distinction for the past two years, which is a very long time in the computing arena." On a recent trip to Japan, Alexander was briefed on Japan's Earth Simulator. "We are fortunate that Japan is one of our strongest allies and that we have the opportunity to learn from their experience with the Earth Simulator," Alexander told his colleagues in the Senate Thursday. The supercomputer will be open to the scientific community for research. U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp, R-3rd District, noted that ORNL's system will be a key to scientific advancements. "From biotechnology, bringing us new medicines, to fusion energy, reducing our dependence on foreign oil, to climate modeling, helping to clean the air we breathe, this investment will pay for itself many times over and bring greater prosperity to America," he said. The Bush Administration endorsed Thursday legislation that would help the United States regain its supremacy in the realm of supercomputing and advance competitiveness. Known as the High-Performance Computing Revitalization Act of 2004, the bill would focus federal computing efforts to reverse the trend of the diminishing dominance of the United States in high-end computing - an issue highlighted in a White House report released Thursday on federal supercomputing capabilities. Alexander is a sponsor of the bill. "This would authorize the secretary of energy to carry out research and development programs to put and keep our nation on the forefront of high performance computing," the senator said. "The act would also authorize the secretary of energy to establish scientific computing facilities and would authorize a minimum of $100 million per year for five years to establish these facilities," Alexander continued. "We must act to put our nation back at the forefront of science by supporting the development of this leadership class computational facility," he said. "We cannot expect to lead in science or even be among the leaders if we do not lead in computation." ***************************************************************** 47 Oak Ridger: Reactor reaches milestone, 400th fuel cycle Story last updated at 12:18 p.m. on May 14, 2004 FUTURE: HFIR is benefiting from upgrades that will ready it for another three decades of operation. By: Paul Parson | Oak Ridger Staff [paul.parson@oakridger.com] One of the world's most powerful research reactors marks a milestone this month - its 400th fuel cycle since it started operating around 38 years ago. The High Flux Isotope Reactor's fuel cycle represents the time it takes for the reactor's uranium fuel to become depleted. The time period is about 25 days. Located at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, HFIR produces a beam of neutrons for research experiments and also irradiates materials for the purpose of creating medical isotopes. Researchers from around the world conduct experiments at the reactor. About 400 HFIR employees and family members are expected to celebrate the 400th fuel cycle during a ceremony Saturday morning at the reactor. In addition to the milestone, HFIR is benefiting from some upgrades that will ready the research reactor for another three decades of operation. This includes the construction of a new experiment hall and the installation of new beam lines, which channel neutrons to experimental instruments, according to ORNL officials. Other upgrades include a new cooling tower and beryllium reflector as well as the preparation of a "cold source," which "literally chills the energetic neutrons, slowing them and making them more useful for studying polymers and biological materials," according to information released Thursday by ORNL. With HFIR's upgrades and the Spallation Neutron Source just a few years away from completion, ORNL is on the verge of becoming the world's leading center for neutron research. "SNS and HFIR are complementary," said Jim Roberto, associate laboratory director for Physical Sciences. "The combination of a world class research reactor with SNS, the world's most powerful pulsed neutron source, is unbeatable." The SNS will fire an ion beam down its linear accelerator tunnel toward a mercury target; a beam that, at 80 percent of the speed of light, could reach the moon in 1.5 seconds. The resulting protons will bombard the mercury target, generating neutrons for use in research. Pioneered in the late '40s and '50s by Clifford Shull and Ernest Wollan, neutron scattering research has been responsible for improvements in jets, compact discs, shatterproof windshields, satellite information for weather forecasts and stronger, lighter plastics. ***************************************************************** 48 Oak Ridger: PR turnover common with Y-12 manager Story last updated at 12:18 p.m. on May 14, 2004 INFORMATION: New documents address some details of working conditions for marketing and public relations firm. By: Paul Parson | Oak Ridger Staff [paul.parson@oakridger.com] At least three public affairs-related workers at Oak Ridge's nuclear weapons plant have left since Dennis Ruddy took over as manager. In February 2003, Ruddy replaced John Mitchell as head of BWXT Y-12, which manages Y-12 for the National Nuclear Security Administration - the quasi-independent agency within the Department of Energy that oversees the nuclear weapons complex. Since then, Sandra Plant and Mark Neuhart, who each served as manager of the public affairs department, have taken other jobs within the government contractor realm. A third person, Matthew Guilford, reportedly left his job at the Y-12 National Security Complex for a position in the private sector. Specific dates on these departures were unavailable. Donna Griffith has been serving as acting manager for public affairs-related activities, but The Oak Ridger was unable to officially confirm today if she was still assigned to that post. Officials with BWXT Y-12 would not discuss this morning any personnel matters pertaining to the communications department when asked by this newspaper to do so. As reported Thursday, BWXT Y-12 has contracted with Laine Communications, a Knoxville-based marketing and public relations firm, for assistance with the company's communications efforts. BWXT Y-12 denied repeated requests Wednesday and today for the number of contracts and the dollar figures associated with Laine's deals. The public relations firm also declined to provide that information. New documents obtained Thursday by The Oak Ridger show that Laine Communications has assigned Bill Gubbins as BWXT Y-12 consultant, and it's estimated he works specifically at Y-12 "four to 16 hours per week." However, the documents also indicate that BWXT Y-12 "will not provide any designated office space or equipment" under a contract it has with Laine. "If Mr. Gubbins needs to come onsite to work, BWXT will allow Mr. Gubbins to use an office that is available at that time," the documents also state. The documents include various dollar figures like $97,000 and "$125 per hour," but The Oak Ridger was unable to confirm what those figures were for since BWXT Y-12 would not discuss its deals with Laine. In a three-story report on Thursday, The Oak Ridger addressed the types of public relations-related activities Laine has been doing for Y-12. One of the items included arranging an exclusive broadcast with WBIR-TV of Knoxville from behind Y-12's security fence. Bill Shory, WBIR's news director, said Thursday he was proud of the two-part series that initially ran during the station's 6 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday news broadcasts. He said the series was the result of a question WBIR reporter Teresa Woodard asked Y-12 officials regarding the type of work that happens at the plant. "She said, 'What's the best way I can give a brief description of what Y-12 does?' And, they said they can't tell her," Shory said. "She said, 'You know if you ever do want to tell that, I think people would be interested to know.' "A couple of weeks later, she got a call back saying, 'Are you still interested in doing something like that cause we think we might want to,'" he said. However, a March report from Laine to BWXT Y-12 regarding public relations activities stated that local TV stations expressed "great fascination with being 'behind the fence'" at Y-12 while filming a press conference on a new piece of equipment. The event took place indoors so the cameras were actually limited in what could be filmed. "A natural step is to offer one of the stations an exclusive look inside the plant (this suggestion, as per Dennis Ruddy, has been implemented and WBIR-TV has agreed to do a multi-part story that would be aired, with great promotion, during May 'sweeps week' this year)," Laine's March report noted. When asked by The Oak Ridger, Shory said WBIR did not feel manipulated by Laine or BWXT Y-12 regarding the exclusive story. "PR companies are paid to create situations that cast their companies, their clients in a positive light," Shory said. "Sometimes their motivations line up with our motivations. "And, there's nothing wrong with that as long as we don't compromise our editorial independence," he added. "And, as long as they don't make the decisions for us." At some federal facilities, members of the news media have faced the obstacle of federal or contractor officials wanting to review the material they document - either in writing or on camera. Shory said WBIR's Y-12 footage was not reviewed. "We'd never allow anybody to screen news material," he said. ***************************************************************** 49 Oak Ridger: TVA reports mixed results in environmental performance Story last updated at 12:20 p.m. on May 14, 2004 The Associated Press KNOXVILLE - Delivering electricity to 8.3 million people can come with an environmental price - 5,000 dead catfish and 268 tons of bullet-laced dirt. The Tennessee Valley Authority, the nation's largest public utility, noted those blemishes Thursday in a report that generally presents an improving environmental record in 2002 and 2003. The catfish were caught in a discharge tube at the Watts Bar hydroelectric plant near Spring City when it experienced a powerhouse fire in 2002. The bullets were in 268 tons of lead-contaminated material considered hazardous that had to be removed from a firing range used by TVA Police at TVA's Environmental Research Center in Muscle Shoals, Ala., in 2003. "The results for 2002 and 2003 were mixed," TVA Chairman Glenn McCullough wrote. "For example, TVA's production of low-level radioactive waste and hazardous waste increased from 2001. "However, TVA continued to develop innovative ways to recycle other wastes into usable products, preventing additional pollutants from entering the air, water and land." The report covered TVA's stewardship of three nuclear plants, 11 coal-fired power plants, a growing renewable energy program, 652 miles of Tennessee River and 42,000 square miles of watershed covering Tennessee and parts of Alabama, Kentucky, Georgia, Virginia, North Carolina and Mississippi. Despite some delays, TVA moved ahead with its massive clean-air program to add $2 billion in pollution controls to its coal plant smokestacks by 2005, in addition to the $4 billion already invested. The agency also is testing new technologies to remove mercury and carbon dioxide. Unplanned outages at its nuclear plants created about 140 cubic meters more of low-level radioactive waste than planned in 2002 and 2003, missing targets by 10 percent in 2002 and 4 percent in 2003. There also were sewer discharges from an overflowing lagoon at the Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant near Athens, Ala., the result of an increased employee population. TVA is spending $1.8 billion to restore the plant's third reactor to service. It also fixed the lagoon. The report contains many successes, however: - The agency increased the recycling of waste products from its coal plants to 55 percent, up 6 percent since 2001. - The number of marinas participating in TVA's Clean Marina Boating Certification program, which reduces boating-related pollution, grew to 25 in 2003 and 22 more are expected to be added this year. - Reflecting improving water quality, lake sturgeon reintroduced three years ago in the French Broad River north of Knoxville have doubled in size and "appear in excellent condition." Also, TVA's Green Power Switch alternative energy program, the largest of its kind in the Southeast, continues to grow from 12 initial distributors to 65. There are now 6,928 residential customers and 346 businesses, including all of Lowe's Home Improvement stores in the region. TVA said it remains a challenge to find "qualified generation resources to meet customer demands" for more power from a program that gets its energy from wind turbines, solar collectors and recovered methane gas. On the Net: TVA report: http:// [http://www.tva.com/environment/reports] ***************************************************************** 50 Google News Alert - nuclear Date: Fri, 14 May 2004 13:40:58 -0700 (PDT) NUCLEAR workers protest against planned closure of reactors in ... EUbusiness - London,UK Hundreds of nuclear workers from 15 countries on Friday protested in Sofia against the planned closure of two reactors at Bulgaria's nuclear power plant at ... See all stories on this topic: UN nuclear chief says North Korea is No. 1 international security ... Billings Gazette - Billings,MT,USA 1 security problem, and the way the international community responds to its nuclear program will be an important precedent, the UN nuclear chief said Friday. ... See all stories on this topic: NUCLEAR note not on, says Brash Stuff.co.nz - New Zealand ... Don Brash is accusing the Government of breaching protocol after it released notes appearing to verify its claim he would scrap the ban on nuclear ships. ... See all stories on this topic: ELBARADEI: North Korea emboldens would-be nuclear proliferators Lex 18 - Lexington,KY,USA New York-AP -- The UN's nuclear watchdog calls North Korea's nuclear weapons program the world's top international security issue. ... NORTH Korea says working-level nuclear talks end in Beijing WANE - Ft Wayne,IN,USA Beijing-AP -- North Korea says it's held a one-on-one meeting with the US representative to nuclear talks in Beijing. No confirmation ... NORTH Korea vows never to accept complete dismantling of nuclear ... Channel News Asia - Singapore BEIJING : North Korea vowed Friday to never accept US demands for a complete dismantling of its nuclear programs, calling it a humiliating measure that can ... See all stories on this topic: RUSSIA hopes for success of talks on NKorea nuclear problem ITAR-TASS - Moscow,Russia ... of the working group, which is currently preparing the ground for the third round of the negotiations on the settlement of the North Korea nuclear problem, to ... See all stories on this topic: GOVT unconcerned over nuclear dump delay ABC Online - Australia Australia's Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency has called for further investigation into the dump's impact on local ground water. ... See all stories on this topic: NUCLEAR group asks for lift on stay of $151 million judgment Kansas City Star (subscription) - Kansas City,MO,USA LINCOLN, Neb. - A five-state, low-level nuclear waste commission wants a stay lifted on the $151 million judgment against Nebraska for its failure to build a ... 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/ ***************************************************************** 51 Newswise: High Flux Isotope Reactor Marks 400Th Cycle Source: Oak Ridge National Laboratory Released: Fri 14-May-2004, 07:50 ET DescriptionOak Ridge National Laboratory’s High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR), one of the world’s most powerful research reactors, is marking a milestone this month -- its 400th fuel cycle since it began operation in 1966. Newswise  Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR), one of the world’s most powerful research reactors, is marking a milestone this month -- its 400th fuel cycle since it began operation in 1966. A fuel cycle represents the time -- about 25 days -- it takes for the reactor’s uranium fuel to become depleted. During operation, HFIR uses the nuclear fission process to produce the world’s most intense neutron beams for materials research and isotope production. “HFIR’s unique characteristics are of immense value to both the scientific community, which uses its neutron beams for a wide range of studies on materials, and to industry, which relies on the neutrons for isotope production and advanced materials analysis and development,” said ORNL Director Jeff Wadsworth. HFIR’s research community has recently benefited from a series of upgrades supported by DOE’s Office of Science. New beam lines, which channel neutrons to experimental instruments, have been installed. A new experiment hall has been constructed, and a “cold source” is in preparation that literally chills the energetic neutrons, slowing them and making them more useful for studying polymers and biological materials. The reactor also has a new cooling tower and beryllium reflector as part of an ongoing program to upgrade components and infrastructure for another three decades of operation. Researchers from all over the world come to Oak Ridge to perform experiments at the HFIR. In 2006, the reactor will be joined by the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) to make ORNL the world’s leading center for neutron research. “SNS and HFIR are complementary. The combination of a world class research reactor with SNS, the world’s most powerful pulsed neutron source, is unbeatable,” said Jim Roberto, Associate Laboratory Director for Physical Sciences. While the HFIR produces steady-state beams of neutrons, the SNS will produce neutrons in pulses from an accelerated beam striking a target. HFIR and SNS will be equipped with a suite of state of the art instruments for neutron scattering experiments. Neutron scattering is a powerful tool for determining the structure and properties of materials at the atomic scale. The technique was developed at ORNL in the 1950s by Cliff Shull and Ernie Wollan. Shull later won the Nobel Prize in Physics for this work. The reactor also produces radioisotopes used in nuclear medicine. HFIR is the only domestic source of californium-252, an isotope used in industrial analysis. These nuclear materials are processed and refined at the nearby Radiochemical Development and Engineering Center. “The HFIR team is to be congratulated on this milestone,” Roberto said. “HFIR is a unique national facility that owes its success to the long term dedication of hundreds of people.” Oak Ridge National Laboratory is a multiprogram laboratory managed for the Department of Energy by UT-Battelle. 2004 Newswise. 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