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Send News Stories to news@energy-net.org with title on subject
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                         NUCLEAR POLICY
 
1 [southnews] US tried to plant WMDs, failed: whistleblower
2 London Free Press: WMDs? What WMDs?
3 Sunday Herald: Military breached nuclear no-fly zones 27 times - 
4 ITAR-TASS: IAEA unable to clear Iran of all suspicions so far 
5 Pravda.RU: Beijing session of working group on North Korea
6 Xinhuanet: Third six-party talks to open before end of June as sched
7 US: The US Nuclear Option and the "War on Terrorism"
8 US: WorldNetDaily: Bush Doctrine failure
9 Guardian Unlimited: U.N. Nuclear Chief Seeks Security Overhaul
10 News Issues: More Nations Want Nuclear Weapons
11 CNN.com: Niger president to decide on nuclear treaty - 
12 BBC: UN calls for new nuclear controls 
13 GIN: News Issues: More Nations Want Nuclear Weapons
 
                         NUCLEAR REACTORS
 
14 US: Tennessean: Some fear TVA losing sight of its mission - 
15 WorldNetDaily: Israel urged to attack Iran nuke plant
16 Bnn: Pro-nuclear Activist Accuses EU Official of "Manipulating" 
17 Moscow Timnes: Russia Pledges to Finish Iran Reactor
18 Jakarta Post: RI to hold nuclear seminar 
19 People's Daily: China's nuke plan lures foreigners
20 Scotsman.com: Fire at French N-Plant
21 Sofia Morning News: Top Expert: Verheugen Lies about Bulgaria's N-pl
 
                          NUCLEAR SAFETY
 
22 US: [FOODIRRADIATIONCA] Phonecalls Needed ASAP for AB 1988
23 Ancient Babylon Is Seriously Contaminated With Depleted
24 US: Boston.com: Screenings find people who may have been exposed to 
25 UK: News & Star:  RAF FEARS FOR NUCLEAR SAFETY 
26 US: chillicothe gazette: More trace beryllium levels found - 
 
                         NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE
 
27 US: [du-list] Radioactive Leak Shuts Down Road [in Tennessee]
28 US: Tennessean: Radioactive material leaked on highway - 
29 UK Independent: Ł470m nuclear plant does not work, admits BNFL
30 US: CE: No Firm Plans For Handling Radioactive Waste At Fernald
31 Las Vegas RJ: Candidate says Yucca a non-starter if he's elected 
 
                         NUCLEAR WEAPONS
 
32 US: Spectrum: DONT Group offers forum on nuclear testing 
33 US: Spectrum: Speak out on potential for nuke tests - Opinion - 
34 US: Majave Daily: Supervisors to discuss bike track, nuclear testing
35 New York Times: Nuclear Monitor Sees Treaties Weakening
 
                        US DEPT. OF ENERGY
 
36 Tri-City Herald: Nuclear expert takes post at PNNL 
37 Sun News: Savannah River Site awaits nuclear report
38 AP Wire: Graham, Hollings argue about SRS waste plans
39 Rocky Mountain News: Flats - dead and buried
40 ABQjournal: Los Alamos To Conduct 'Subcritical' Nuke Experiment
41 Cincinnati Enquirer: EPA calls Fernald plan illegal
42 ONN: U.S. EPA doesn't plan to stop storage of waste at Fernald site
 
                          OTHER NUCLEAR
 
43 Google News Alert - nuclear
44 Google News Alert - nuclear
45 Question on Solar Inverters and Transmission Voltage
*****************************************************************
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                         FULL NEWS STORIES
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 1 [southnews] US tried to plant WMDs, failed: whistleblower
 
Date: Mon, 17 May 2004 00:06:54 -0500 (CDT)

 
The US Central Intelligence Agency was wrong about Iraq's purported 
pre-war mobile biological weapons laboratories, a key part of the case 
about suspected weapons of mass destruction, Secretary of State Colin 
Powell said on Sunday.

"I'm very concerned," he said in reply to a question on the NBC program 
"Meet the Press" about having used claims in a U.N. Security Council 
speech now known to have been "inaccurate and discredited."

"When I made that presentation in February 2003, it was based on the 
best information that the Central Intelligence Agency made available to 
me," he said.

Last month, Powell described the assertions he made about the purported 
labs as "the most dramatic" element of his Feb. 5, 2003, speech. He 
acknowledged on April 2 the information was suspect but stopped short of 
drawing any public conclusions.

In his comments on NBC, Powell went further.

"It turned out that the sourcing was inaccurate and wrong and, in some 
cases, deliberately misleading. And for that, I am disappointed, and I 
regret it," he said.

As recently as January, Vice President Dick Cheney cited the discovery 
of two trucks as "conclusive" evidence of the mobile labs described by 
Powell. But CIA Director George Tenet later told Congress he had warned 
Cheney not to be so categorical about the discovery.

  _____________________________________________

US tried to plant WMDs, failed: whistleblower

Daily Times Monitor
May 14, 2004

According to a stunning report posted by a retired Navy Lt Commander and 
28-year veteran of the Defense Department (DoD), the Bush 
administration's assurance about finding weapons of mass destruction in 
Iraq was based on a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) plan to "plant" 
WMDs inside the country. Nelda Rogers, the Pentagon whistleblower, 
claims the plan failed when the secret mission was mistakenly taken out 
by "friendly fire", the Environmentalists Against War report.

Nelda Rogers is a 28-year veteran debriefer for the DoD. She has become 
so concerned for her safety that she decided to tell the story about 
this latest CIA-military fiasco in Iraq. According to Al Martin Raw.com, 
"Ms Rogers is number two in the chain of command within this DoD special 
intelligence office. This is a ten-person debriefing unit within the 
central debriefing office for the Department of Defense."

The information that is being leaked out is information "obtained while 
she was in Germany heading up the debriefing of returning service 
personnel, involved in intelligence work in Iraq for the DoD and/or the 
CIA. "According to Ms Rogers, there was a covert military operation that 
took place both preceding and during the hostilities in Iraq," reports 
Al Martin Raw.com, an online subscriber-based news/analysis service 
which provides "Political, Economic and Financial Intelligence".

Al Martin is a retired Lt Commander (US Navy), the author of a memoir 
called "The Conspirators: Secrets of an Iran-Contra Insider," and is 
considered one of America's foremost experts on corporate and government 
fraud. Ms Rogers reports that this particular covert operation team was 
manned by former military personnel and "the unit was paid through the 
Department of Agriculture in order to hide it, which is also very 
commonplace".

According to Al Martin Raw.com, "the Agriculture Department has often 
been used as a paymaster on behalf of the CIA, DIA, NSA and others". 
According to the Al Martin Raw.com story, another aspect of Ms Rogers' 
report concerns a covert operation which was to locate the assets of 
Saddam Hussein and his family, including cash, gold bullion, jewelry and 
assorted valuable antiquities. The problem became evident when "the 
operation in Iraq involved 100 people, all of whom apparently are now 
dead, having succumbed to so-called 'friendly fire'. The scope of this 
operation included the penetration of the Central Bank of Iraq, other 
large commercial banks in Baghdad, the Iraqi National Museum and certain 
presidential palaces where monies and bullion were secreted."

"They identified about $2 billion in cash, another $150 million in 
Euros, in physical banknotes, and about another $100 million in sundry 
foreign currencies ranging from Yen to British Pounds," reports Al 
Martin. "These people died, mostly in the same place in Baghdad, 
supposedly from a stray cruise missile or a combination of missiles and 
bombs that went astray," Martin continues. "There were supposedly 76 who 
died there and the other 24 died through a variety of 'friendly fire', 
'mistaken identity', and some of them-their whereabouts are simply 
unknown." Ms Rogers' story sounds like an updated 21st-century version 
of Treasure Island meets Ali Baba and the Bush Cabal Thieves, writes Martin.

"This was a contingent of CIA/DoD operatives, but it was really the CIA 
that bungled it," Ms Rogers said. "They were relying on the CIA's 
ability to organise an effort to seize these assets and to be able to 
extract these assets because the CIA claimed it had resources on the 
ground within the Iraqi army and the Iraqi government who had been paid. 
That turned out to be completely bogus. As usual."

"CIA people were supposed to be handling it," Martin continues. "They 
had a special 'black' aircraft to fly it out. But none of that happened 
because the regular US Army showed up, stumbled onto it and everyone 
involved had to scramble. These new Iraqi "asset seizures" go directly 
to the New US Ruling Junta. The US Viceroy in Iraq Paul Bremer is 
reportedly drinking Saddam's $2000 a bottle Napoleon-era brandy, smoking 
his expensive Davidoff cigars and he has even furnished his office with 
Saddam's Napoleon-era furniture.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/?page=story_12-8-2003_pg1_9

The archives of South News can be found at
http://southmovement.alphalink.com.au/southnews/ 

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 2 London Free Press: WMDs? What WMDs?
 
[http://www.lfpress.com] 

Disarming Iraq 

By Hans Blix 

Random House, $34 

Hans Blix, head of the UN weapons inspection team in Iraq, shared 
the U.S. government's misgivings about Saddam Hussein's regime. 

But, as Blix explains in his dry, lucid account, while they 
agreed that Saddam had been playing cat-and-mouse with the 
inspectors since the end of the Gulf War in 1991, their methods 
of searching for the truth were different. 

For the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush, trying 
to prove the existence of chemical, biological and nuclear 
weapons in Iraq was an exercise in futility, a total waste of 
time and resources. 

The reasoning was that Saddam was a stubborn liar. Besides, he 
had used such weapons to suppress the uprising of Kurds and 
Shiites; and before that, he used similar methods in his war 
against Iran, at a time when he was a friend of the United 
States. 

However, for Blix and his team, who required evidence to 
corroborate their suspicions, the only way to confirm that Saddam 
had possessed the weapons was to go to Iraq and look for them. 

And then the clashes started. Vice-President Dick Cheney and 
Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld spoke with undisguised 
contempt of the inspections. Cheney said that "we often learned 
more as the result of defections than we learned from the 
inspection regime itself." 

With charming irony, Blix reminds the reader that Cheney was 
alluding to the debriefing, in 1995, of a defector, Gen. Hussein 
Kamel, one of Saddam's sons-in-law who had been director of the 
Military Industrial Corporation and was responsible for Iraq's 
weapons program. During the debriefing, the general stated 
unequivocally that he "had ordered the destruction of all weapons 
of mass destruction in 1991." 

In his book, Blix refers respectfully to Secretary of State Colin 
Powell and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice. He 
describes a brief meeting with Bush in which the president said 
that "contrary to what was being alleged, he was no wild, gung-ho 
Texan hell-bent on dragging the U.S. into war." And Blix shows 
how afraid Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz was that Blix 
could torpedo the plan for Saddam's overthrow with extended 
inspections. 

The invasion, launched in March 2003, and Saddam's subsequent 
overthrow are now history. 

One year later, the Bush administration's rationale for the 
invasion has changed, since U.S. inspectors, with more resources 
than the Blix team and without the hindrance of Saddam's 
presence, still have failed to find the weapons. 

Now, many are questioning the wisdom of the invasion -- wouldn't 
it have been preferable to exhaust all diplomatic efforts first? 

Blix remembers that in February 2003, in a speech before the 
United Nations, Powell "declared that the window on diplomacy was 
closing and that 'the moment of truth' was arriving." 

"Armed action, indeed," adds Blix, "stands in contrast to 
diplomacy but it does not necessarily stand for truth." 
														
Copyright Š The London Free Press 2001,2002,2003 														
 
*****************************************************************
 3 Sunday Herald: Military breached nuclear no-fly zones 27 times - 

[Sunday Herald]
 
safety limits infringed

  MoD admits power stations reported close encounters but denies
safety limits infringed

By Rob Edwards, Environmental Editor 
 
 Military aircraft have been accused of breaching the no-fly
safety zones around Scotlands nuclear facilities 27 times over
the last three years, according to internal investigations by
the Ministry of Defence (MoD).

By far the most alleged breaches  15  occurred around the
Torness nuclear power station in East Lothian, including one
that set off perimeter alarms. There were six incidents at the
Dounreay complex in Caithness, with others at the aged
Chapelcross nuclear station in Dumfries and Galloway, at
Hunterston nuclear station in North Ayrshire and at Faslane
nuclear submarine base on the Clyde.

More than 50 declassified MoD documents passed to the Sunday
Herald on Friday reveal that infringements of the nuclear safety
zones are far more serious and widespread than previously
admitted. The news has alarmed Labour and Green politicians, who
plan to challenge the government in Westminster and Holyrood.

Scotlands former environment minister, Labour MSP Sarah Boyack,
described the documents as very concerning. She said: I would
call on defence ministers to look at this urgently to see
whether procedures need to be tightened up or revised.

In the wake of September 11, 2001, aircraft were banned from
flying within 2.3 miles (3.7km) of a nuclear site to reduce the
risk of a potentially catastrophic crash. They were also obliged
to fly higher than 2000-2400ft, depending on the site.

But the MoD documents show that since then nuclear operators
have frequently complained that the rules have been broken.
Three dozen military jets and helicopters were spotted too close
to Scotlands five nuclear sites on 27 occasions between 2001 and
2003, prompting officials to make formal complaints to the MoD.

Staff at Torness nuclear station saw a military jet fly so close
on April 24, 2002, that it set off three antipersonnel alarms on
the perimeter fence. On July 12, 2002, staff watched a jet
conducting aerobatics directly over the site for 10 minutes.

On April 10, 2001, two staff saw a military helicopter fly over
Tornesss cooling water outlet. And on October 4, 2002, a yellow
Canadian helicopter was spotted flying along the coast and over
the station.

In most cases, investigators from the MoDs Defence Flying
Complaints Investigation Team at RAF Henlow in Bedfordshire
concluded that there was not enough evidence to prove that a
breach had occurred. But often this relied on believing accused
RAF pilots in preference to eyewitness accounts.

In one incident involving four RAF Tornadoes at Torness on June
29, 2000, eyewitnesses and two pilots agreed that the no-fly
zone had been breached. But, bizarrely, MoD investigators still
managed to conclude that a breach of flying regulations has not
been established.

One problem highlighted by the MoD documents is that radar cover
around Torness is extremely poor, so there are no radar records
of flights. 

The site, run by the troubled nuclear company British Energy, is
within one of the MoDs designated low-flying training areas.
Torness is also the only nuclear site where a military jet is
known to have crashed in recent years. In November 1999 a
burning RAF Tornado plunged into the sea near the plant after
its two pilots had safely ejected.

The Sunday Herald disclosed last week that a scientific report
for the UK parliament concluded that a large plane crashing into
a nuclear reactor or a radioactive waste store could cause a
massive release of radioactivity. The disaster could be as bad
as that at the Chernobyl reactor in the Ukraine 18 years ago,
which spread a cloud of toxic contamination across Europe.

MoD documents describe six investigations into complaints about
low-flying from the Dounreay nuclear complex. In the most
recent, on April 28 last year, three witnesses said they saw a
military jet fly too low over the site, but this was denied by
an RAF pilot.

Three incidents at the 45-year-old Chapelcross nuclear plant
were investigated by the MoD in 2001 and 2002. Two weeks ago,
the Sunday Herald revealed that a fourth incident involving an
RAF Hercules transport plane on December 19, 2003, was under
investigation.

Two alleged breaches of the no-fly zone around Hunterston
nuclear station were investigated in 2001. And on January 9,
2003, two military aircraft were reported flying through the
exclusion zone at the Faslane nuclear submarine base on the
Clyde.

The MoD documents, all marked restricted and with names of
individuals blanked out, were placed in the House of Commons
library by the MoD in response to a request from the Labour MP
for Blaenau Gwent in Wales, Llew Smith. It is disturbing that
the MoD investigators give their own pilots the benefit of the
doubt, he said.

Green MSPs in the Scottish parliament called for an independent
analysis of the alleged breaches and promised to quiz the First
Minister, Jack McConnell, on the issue this week. The safety of
nuclear facilities must be based on more than arguments between
the nuclear industry and the MoD, said the Green environment
spokesman, Mark Ruskell.

The MoD pointed out there were problems proving that no-fly
zones had been breached. It is extremely difficult for even
experienced observers to accurately judge the height of an
aircraft, said a spokesman. We can only confirm that a breach
has occurred when we have proof. If proven, disciplinary action
will be taken.

According to environmental groups, however, the number of
alleged breaches was frightening. The no-fly zones were set up
after September 11 for a purpose, but over-enthusiastic pilots
are making a mockery of them, said Pete Roche, a consultant with
Greenpeace. 
16 May 2004 

  Š newsquest (sunday herald) limited. all rights reserved   
*****************************************************************
 4 ITAR-TASS: IAEA unable to clear Iran of all suspicions so far 

15.05.2004, 05.14

UNITED NATIONS, May 15 (Itar-Tass) -- The International Atomic
Energy Agency is still unprepared to clear Iran of all
suspicions its nuclear program may be weaponized, IAEA Executive
Director Mohammed ElBaradei has said. 

"We will close the file when we have dealt with all the issues
that require to be investigated," said ElBaradei, whose board of
governors will meet in June on Iran's nuclear activities. 

Tehran "has the know how" to enrich uranium but there is no
proof that it had been processed to a military level, he said. 

The United States suspects Iran harbors nuclear ambitions and it
has been urging the international community, in the first place,
Russia and the European Union, to stop any cooperation with Iran
in the nuclear field. 

Iran has strongly dismissed these charges and promised to submit
to the IAEA the full account of its peaceful activity in the
nuclear field in the middle of May. 

In the meantime, the last group of IAEA specialists is about to
finish inspections of Irans nuclear facilities. Their findings
are to be included in El-Baradeis report to be made at the IAEA
board of governors meeting in June before a final decision on
the Iranian nuclear dossier is made. 

Russia believes that Iran has been accused of breaching the
nuclear arms non-proliferation treaty without any serious
reason. Moscow hails Teherans active and constructive
cooperation with the IAEA. It wants the IAEAs remaining
concerns to be cleared up and confidence-building measures
continued, including Irans voluntary commitment to freeze all
uranium enrichment work. 

Š ITAR-TASS. All rights reserved. You undertake not to copy,
*****************************************************************
 5 Pravda.RU: Beijing session of working group on North Korea
: nothing but words
 
[PRAVDA.RU]         Last update:05/17/2004 05:50 MSK     
                    
 15:42 2004-05-15

 During the first session of the working group on the settlement 
of a nuclear problem on the Korean Peninsular held by six 
countries in Beijing, the participants reached understanding on 
the need for response measures for freezing North Korea's nuclear 
program. 

"The sides have reached understanding that the freezing of the 
nuclear program of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in 
exchange for the other sides' respective measures is a major 
stage in achieving denuclearization of the Korean Peninsular," 
says a press release of the Russian foreign ministry's 
information department. 

The first session of the working group took place on May 12 to 
15. Representatives of Russia, North Korea, the United States, 
China, the Republic of Korea and Japan took part in session at 
the level of deputy heads of the delegations at the talks. 

"The participants in the session confirmed that they were 
interested in the soonest possible settlement of the problem and 
the nuclear-free status of the Korean Peninsular to be achieved 
through constructive dialogue on the basis of due account taken 
of all the sides' concerns," reads the press release of the 
Russian Foreign Ministry. 

"An agreement on plans to hold the third round of the talks by 
the end of June has been confirmed. Exact dates of the third 
round and the timeframe for holding the working group's next 
session in order to organize preparations for this round will be 
agreed upon through diplomatic channels," the Russian Foreign 
Ministry reported. 

The press release also said that the sides reached an agreement 
to submit draft regulations on the working group's activities at 
the third round of talks for endorsement. 

The Russian Foreign Ministry stressed that "Moscow appraises the 
past consultations as useful, points to the businesslike and open 
character of the discussion, and expresses its readiness to make 
a further active contribution to the negotiating process.

Š RIAN

  Copyright Š1999 by " [http://www.pravda.ru/] ".
*****************************************************************
 6 Xinhuanet: Third six-party talks to open before end of June as scheduled 

  www.xinhuanet.com

  www.chinaview.cn 2004-05-15 20:33:06   

    BEIJING, May 15 (Xinhuanet) -- The six-party talks on Korean 
nuclear issue, involving the Democratic People's Republic of 
Korea,the United States, the Republic of Korea, Russia, Japan and 
China,will begin the third round of talks before end of June as 
scheduled after one more working group's meeting. 

    The first working group's meeting, held in Beijing from May 
12 to May 15 and participated by diplomats from the six 
countries, made such arrangement. 

    The first working group meeting was "an important step" to 
pushahead the peace talks process on the nuclear issue, said Ning 
Fukui, head of the Chinese working group and ambassador on Korean 
Peninsula affairs of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, at the end of 
the four-day meeting. 

    "All parties, in a candid and practical manner, exchanged 
viewson issues related the resolution of the nuclear issue, such 
as abandonment of the nuclear program, security guarantee, 
nuclear freezing and counter measures," he said. 

    "All parties wanted to make clearer the details on the 
settlement of the above issues and exchange views more 
specifically on the steps, methods and related measures," he 
noted. 

    All parties reiterated their adherence to all the important 
consensus reached at the second round of the six-party talks -- 
peaceful solution of the nuclear issue through dialogue, the 
ultimate goal of a nuclear-weapon-free Korean Peninsula with 
nuclear freezing as the first step to complete nuclear 
abandonment,while addressing the security concerns of DPRK. 

    A DPRK working group member gave a 10-minute press release 
outside the DPRK Embassy to China last Thursday mid-night, saying 
the DPRK would hold the position of solving problems through 
dialogue and coordination and would discuss the nuclear-freezing 
issue concerned by all sides with a frank attitude 

    According to the Associated Press, Joseph DeTrani, US State 
Department special envoy for Korean affairs, said Saturday that 
the working level meeting had been a "good meeting." 

    When asked if progress had been made, he answered: ``Yes, 
definitely,'' but did not elaborate. 

    US Secretary of State Colin Powell also made positive comment 
on the working-level meeting, saying it was good and frank. 

    Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao told a 
regular press conference last Thursday that all sides elaborated 
their stance during the working-level meeting and some fresh 
contents were added. 

    Russian delegation head V. Sukhinin, also deputy director of 
the first Asian Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry, said 
at an interview with the Itar-Tass news agency last Wednesday 
thatall the participants in the meeting are experts in specific 
fieldsand they can only exchange views on details of some issues 
but cannot revise the stance of their governments. 

    The working group's meeting is an important step to further 
thesix-party talks, said Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Dai 
Bingguo while meeting with heads of the working groups of the six 
parties Saturday after the meeting. 

    In the meeting, all sides has had frank and in-depth 
discussionbased on the fruits of the second round of six party 
talks, including new ideas for solving related questions, the 
vice minister said. 

    The working level meeting resulted in consensus and progress, 
enhanced mutual understanding and forged basis for furthering the 
talks, he noted. 

    "There is still a long way to go to settle the Korean nuclear 
issue," Dai said, "but if all sides, with full sincerity, enough 
patience and confidence, try to enhance trust and settle 
suspicion,they can expand consensus and push forward the six 
party talks." Enditem   

  Copyright Š2003 Xinhua News Agency. All rights reserved. 
*****************************************************************
 7 The US Nuclear Option and the "War on Terrorism"
 
Date: Sun, 16 May 2004 12:20:53 -0500 (CDT)

 
Forwarded with Compliments of Government of the USA in Exile (GUSAE):
Free Americans Resisting the Fourth Reich on Behalf of All Species.

www.globalresearch.ca
Centre for Research on Globalisation
The US Nuclear Option and the "War on Terrorism"

by Michel Chossudovsky

www.globalresearch.ca   14 May  2004
The URL of this article is: http://globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO405A.html

------------------------------------------------------------------------

The following text was presented at the opening plenary of the
European IPPNW Conference: "Nuclear Weapons and Energy in an Unstable
World - Analysis and Solutions", Berlin, 7-9 May 2004.

We are the juncture of the most serious crisis in modern history.

In the wake of the tragic events of September 11, 2001, in the
largest display of military might since the Second World War, the
Bush Administration has embarked upon a military adventure which
threatens the future of humanity.

The multilateral safeguards of the Cold War era with regard to the
production and use of nuclear weapons have been scrapped.

While Al Qaeda is presented to public opinion as constituting a
nuclear threat, the US Senate has provided a "green light" to the use
of tactical nuclear weapons in conventional war theaters against
"rogue states" and terrorist organizations.

According to the Pentagon, these weapons are "harmless to civilians".

Introduction

The wars on Afghanistan and Iraq are part of a broader military
agenda, which was launched at the end of the Cold War. The ongoing
war agenda is a continuation of the 1991 Gulf War and the NATO led
wars in Yugoslavia (1991-2001).

The war on Iraq has been in the planning stages at least since the
mid-1990s. A 1995 National Security document of the Clinton
administration stated quite clearly that the objective of the war is
oil. "to protect the United States' uninterrupted, secure U.S. access
to oil."

In September 2000, a few months before the accession of George W.
Bush to the White House, the Project for a New American Century
(PNAC) published its blueprint for global domination under the title:
"Rebuilding America's Defenses."

The PNAC is a neo-conservative think tank linked to the
Defense-Intelligence establishment, the Republican Party and the
powerful Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) which plays a
behind-the-scenes role in the formulation of US foreign policy.

The PNAC's declared objectives are:

* defend the American homeland;

* fight and decisively win multiple, simultaneous major theater wars;

* perform the "constabulary" duties associated with shaping the
security environment in critical regions;

* transform U.S. forces to exploit the "revolution in military affairs;"

Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, Defense Secretary Donald
Rumsfeld and Vice President Dick Cheney had commissioned the PNAC
blueprint prior to the 2000 presidential elections.

The PNAC outlines a roadmap of conquest.

It calls for "the direct imposition of U.S. "forward bases"
throughout Central Asia and the Middle East "with a view to ensuring
economic domination of the world, while strangling any potential
"rival" or any viable alternative to America's vision of a 'free
market' economy" (See Chris Floyd, Bush's Crusade for Empire, Global
Outlook, No. 6, 2003)

Distinct from theater wars, the so-called "constabulary functions"
imply a form of global military policing using various instruments of
military intervention including punitive bombings and the sending in
of US Special Forces, etc.

New Weapons Systems

The PNAC's "revolution in military affairs" (meaning the development
of new weapons systems) consists of the Strategic Defense Initiative,
the concurrent weaponization of space and the development of a new
generation of nuclear weapons.

The Strategic Defense Initiative, (Star Wars), not only includes the
controversial "Missile Shield", but also a wide range of offensive
laser-guided weapons with striking capabilities anywhere in the
world, not to mention instruments of weather and climatic warfare
under the High Altitude Auroral Research Program (HAARP). Recent
scientific evidence suggests that HAARP is fully operational and has
the ability of potentially triggering floods, droughts, hurricanes
and earthquakes. From a military standpoint, HAARP is a weapon of
mass destruction. Potentially, it constitutes an instrument of
conquest capable of selectively destabilizing agricultural and
ecological systems of entire regions.

Also contemplated is the Pentagon's so-called FALCON program. FALCON
is the ultimate New World Order weapons' system, to be used for
global economic and political domination. It can strike from the
continental US anywhere in the World. It is described as a "global
reach" weapon to be used to "react promptly and decisively to
destabilizing or threatening actions by hostile countries and
terrorist organizations". This hypersonic cruise weapon system to be
developed by Northrop Grumman "would allow the U.S. to conduct
effective, time-critical strike missions on a global basis without
relying on overseas military bases. FALCON would allow the US to
strike, either in support of conventional forces engaged in a war
theater or in punitive bombings directed against countries that do
not comply with US economic and political diktats.

The "Pre-emptive" Use of Nuclear Weapons

The Bush Administration has adopted a first strike "pre-emptive"
nuclear policy, which has now received congressional approval.
Nuclear weapons are no longer a weapon of last resort as during the
Cold War era.

In a classified Pentagon document (Nuclear Posture Review) presented
to the US Senate in early 2002, the Bush Administration established
so-called "contingency plans" for an offensive "first strike use" of
nuclear weapons, not only against the "axis of evil" (Iraq, Iran,
Libya, Syria and North Korea), but also against Russia and China.

The pre-emptive nuclear doctrine contained in the Nuclear Posture
Review is supported by the Republican Party and Washington's
conservative think-tanks:

"The Pentagon must prepare for all possible contingencies, especially
now, when dozens of countries, and some terrorist groups, are engaged
in secret weapon development programs." (quoted in William Arkin,
Secret Plan Outlines the Unthinkable, Los Angeles Times, 9 March 2002)

While scaling back - in agreement with Russia - on the number of
nuclear warheads, the Pentagon's objective is not only to 'modernize'
its nuclear arsenal, but also to establish "full spectrum dominance"
in outer space. With advanced surveillance equipment and space
weaponry, the U.S. would be able to inflict force locally and
instantly anywhere in the world, directly from orbiting satellites,
using an appropriate level of pain and doing so with impunity.

The US, Britain and Israel have a coordinated nuclear weapons policy.
Israeli nuclear warheads are pointed at major cities in the Middle
East. The governments of all three countries stated quite openly, in
the months leading up to the war on Iraq, that they were prepared to
use nuclear weapons "if they are attacked" with so-called "weapons of
mass destruction."

Barely a few weeks following the entry of the US Marines into Baghdad
in April 2003, the US Senate Armed Services Committee gave the green
light to the Pentagon to develop a new tactical nuclear bomb, to be
used in conventional war theaters, "with a yield [of up to] six times
more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb".

  The "Privatization" of Nuclear War:  The August 6, 2003 Hiroshima
Day Meeting at Central Command Headquarters

This green light decision of the Senate Armed Services Committee was
followed a few months later by a major redefinition of US policy
pertaining to nuclear weapons.

On August 6, 2003, the day the first atomic bomb was dropped on
Hiroshima, 58 years ago, a secret meeting was held with senior
executives from the nuclear industry and the military industrial
complex at Central Command Headquarters at the Offutt Air Force Base
in Nebraska.

"More than 150 military contractors, scientists from the weapons
labs, and other government officials gathered at the headquarters of
the US Strategic Command in Omaha, Nebraska to plot and plan for the
possibility of "full-scale nuclear war" calling for the production of
a new generation of nuclear weapons-more "usable" so-called
"mini-nukes and earth penetrating "bunker busters" armed with atomic
warheads." (Alice Slater, Bush Nuclear Policy A Recipe for National
Insecurity, August 2003,
http://globalresearch.ca/articles/SLA308A.html )

The new nuclear policy explicitly involves the large defense
contractors in decision-making. It is tantamount to the
"privatization" of nuclear war.

Corporations not only reap multibillion-dollar profits from the
production of nuclear bombs, they also have a direct voice in setting
the agenda regarding the use and deployment of nuclear weapons.

The Nuclear weapons industry, which includes the production of
nuclear devices as well as the missile delivery systems, etc. is
controlled by a handful of defense contractors with Lockheed Martin,
General Dynamics, Northrop, Raytheon and Boeing in the lead.

It is worth noting that barely a week prior to August 6 meeting, the
National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) disbanded its
advisory committee which provides an "independent oversight" on the
US nuclear arsenal, including the testing and/or use of new nuclear
devices. (The Guardian, 31 July 2003)

Meanwhile, the Pentagon had unleashed a major propaganda and public
relations campaign with a view to upholding the use of nuclear
weapons for the "defense of the American Homeland."

In an utterly twisted logic, nuclear weapons are presented as a means
to building peace and preventing "collateral damage". The Pentagon
has intimated, in this regard, that the 'mini-nukes' (with a yield of
less than 5000 tons) are harmless to civilians because the explosions
'take place under ground'. Each of these 'mini-nukes', nonetheless,
constitutes - in terms of explosion and potential radioactive fallout
- a significant fraction of the atom bomb dropped on Hiroshima in
1945.

Formally endorsed by the US Congress in late 2003, the mini-nukes are
considered to be "safe for civilians". Once this assumption has been
built into military planning, it constitutes a consensus, which is no
longer the object of critical debate. Decisions pertaining to the use
of these nuclear weapons will be based on the prior "scientific"
assessments underlying this consensus that they are "not dangerous
for civilians".

The propaganda campaign stipulates that the mini-nukes are harmless.
Based on this premise, the US Congress has given the "green light":
this new generation of nuclear weapons is slated to be used in the
next phase of the war, in "conventional war theaters" (e.g. in the
Middle East and Central Asia) alongside conventional weapons.

In December 2003, the US Congress allocated $6.3 billion solely for
2004, to develop this new generation of "defensive" nuclear weapons.

The overall annual defense budget is in excess of 400 billion
dollars, more than the entire Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the
Russian Federation.

Nuclear Weapons and the "War on Terrorism"

To justify pre-emptive military actions, the National Security
Doctrine requires the "fabrication" of a terrorist threat, --ie. "an
outside enemy." It also needs to link these terrorist threats to
"State sponsorship" by so-called "rogue states."

Spelled out in the 2002 National Security Strategy (NSS), the
preemptive "defensive war" doctrine and the "war on terrorism"
against Al Qaeda constitute essential building blocks of the
Pentagon's propaganda campaign. In the wake of September 11, 2001,
the nuclear option is intimately related to the "war on terrorism."

The objective is to present "preemptive military action" --meaning
war as an act of "self-defense" against two categories of enemies,
"rogue States" and "Islamic terrorists", both of which are said to
possess weapons of mass destruction:

"The war against terrorists of global reach is a global enterprise of
uncertain duration. 
America will act against such emerging threats
before they are fully formed.

Rogue states and terrorists do not seek to attack us using
conventional means. They know such attacks would fail. Instead, they
rely on acts of terror and, potentially, the use of weapons of mass
destruction (
)

The targets of these attacks are our military forces and our civilian
population, in direct violation of one of the principal norms of the
law of warfare. As was demonstrated by the losses on September 11,
2001, mass civilian casualties is the specific objective of
terrorists and these losses would be exponentially more severe if
terrorists acquired and used weapons of mass destruction.

The United States has long maintained the option of preemptive
actions to counter a sufficient threat to our national security. The
greater the threat, the greater is the risk of inaction- and the more
compelling the case for taking anticipatory action to defend
ourselves, (
). To forestall or prevent such hostile acts by our
adversaries, the United States will, if necessary, act
preemptively."12 (National Security Strategy, White House, 2002,
http://www.whitehouse.gov/nsc/nss.html )

This "anticipatory action" under the NSS includes the use of tactical
nuclear weapons, which are now classified as in theater weapons
alongside conventional weapons.

Nuclear weapons are presented as performing defensive functions to be
used against so-called "rogue states" and terrorist organizations,
including Al Qaeda,

The propaganda ploy emanating from the CIA and the Pentagon consists
in presenting Al Qaeda as capable of developing a nuclear device.
According to a report entitled "Terrorist CBRN: Materials and
Effects" by the CIA's Intelligence Directorate (released 2 months
prior to the August 2003 "Hiroshima day" meeting in Nebraska):

"Al Qaeda's goal is the use of [chemical, biological, radiological or
nuclear weapons] to cause mass casualties,

[Islamist extremists] "have a wide variety of potential agents and
delivery means to choose from for chemical, biological and
radiological or nuclear (CBRN) attacks," said the four-page report
titled " (quoted in the Washington Times, 3 June 2003)

Amply documented, the "war on terrorism" is fabricated.

The nuclear threat emanating from Al Qaeda is also fabricated, with a
view to justifying Washington's pre-emptive nuclear policy. Needless
to say, the September 11 2001 terrorist attacks have served to
galvanize public opinion, particularly in the US, in support of the
pre-emptive war doctrine.

While the media has its eyes riveted on Islamic terrorists and Al
Qaeda, the threats to global security resulting from Washington's
pre-emptive nuclear doctrine are barely mentioned. Deafening Silence:
the August 6 2003 "Hiroshima Day" meeting in Nebraska was not covered
by the mainstream media.

In the wake of September 11, 2001, the "war on terrorism" constitutes
a cover-up of the broader objectives underlying US military and
economic expansionism. The central objective is to eventually
destabilize Russia and China.

War and the Economy

The articulation of America's war agenda coincides with a worldwide
economic depression leading to the impoverishment of millions of
people.

The economic crisis is the direct result of a macro-economic policy
framework under IMF-World Bank-WTO auspices. More generally, trade
deregulation, privatisation and downsizing under the neoliberal
policy agenda have contributed to the demise of the civilian economy.

The recession hits the civilian sectors of economic activity. It
tends to support the growth of the military industrial complex.

The shift towards a war economy is has resulted in massive austerity
measures applied to all areas of civilian expenditure including
public investment in infrastructure and social programs. While the
civilian economy plummets, extensive financial resources are funneled
towards America's war machine. In North America and the European
Union, State resources which had previously been tagged to finance
health and education have been redirected towards defense.

The war economy will not resolve the mounting tide of unemployment.
This new direction of the US economy geared towards the military
industrial complex, will generate hundreds of billions of dollars of
surplus profits, while contributing very marginally to the
rehabilitation of the employment of specialised scientific, technical
and professional workers laid-off in recent years in the civilian
sectors of economic activity.

This redirection of the US economy is motivated by geopolitical and
strategic objectives. The most advanced weapons systems are being
developed by America's military-industrial complex with a view to
achieving a position of global military and economic dominance, not
only in relation to China and Russia, but also in relation to the
European Union, which Washington considers a potential encroachment.

Behind America's so-called "war on terrorism" is the militarization
of vast regions of the world.

Since the 1999 war in Yugoslavia, an Anglo-American military axis has
developed based on a close coordination between Britain and the U.S.
in defense, foreign policy and intelligence. The defense industries
of the US, Britain, Canada and Israel are increasingly integrated.

Under the Trans-Atlantic Bridge, an agreement signed in 1999, British
Aerospace Systems Corporation (BAES) has become increasingly
integrated into the system of procurement of the US Department of
Defense.

In turn, Israel, although not officially part of the Anglo-American
axis plays a central strategic role in the Middle East on behalf of
Washington.

Europe versus America

A rift in the European defense industry has occurred. There are
serious divisions within NATO.

While Britain is firmly aligned with the US, France and Germany have
joined hands in the development of a European based weapons arsenal,
which challenges the hegemony of the US.

Franco-German integration in aerospace and defence production since
1999 constitutes a response to U.S. dominance in the weapons market.
The latter hinges upon the partnership between America's Big Five and
Britain's defence industry under the trans-Atlantic bridge agreement.

In 1999, in response to the alliance of British Aerospace with
Lockheed Martin, France's Aerospatiale-Matra merged with Daimler's
Deutsche Aerospace (DASA) forming the largest European defence
conglomerate. And the following year, the European Aeronautic Defence
and Space Co. (EADS) was formed integrating DASA, Matra and Spain's
Construcciones Aeronauticas, SA.

The Franco-German alliance in military production under EADS, means
that Germany (which does not officially possess nuclear weapons) has
become a de facto producer of nuclear technology for France's nuclear
weapons program. In this regard, EADS already produces a wide range
of ballistic missiles, including the M51 nuclear-tipped ballistic
submarine-launched ICBMs for the French Navy.

Concluding Remarks

War and globalization go hand in hand. The powers of the Wall Street
financial establishment, the Anglo-American oil giants and the
U.S.-U.K. defense contractors are indelibly behind this process,
which consists in extending the frontiers of the global market system.

The purpose of America's New War is to transform sovereign nations
into open territories (free trade areas), both through military
means, as well as through the imposition of deadly "free market"
reforms.

The objective behind this war is ultimately to re-colonize not only
China and the countries of the former Soviet block, but also the
entire Middle Eastern region and the Indian peninsula.

Concurrently, Washington's objective is to exert global dominance in
military affairs, overshadowing the military capabilities of its
European "allies".

The development of America's nuclear arsenal including the
pre-emptive use of nuclear weapons in conventional war theaters is an
integral part of this process.

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*****************************************************************
 8 WorldNetDaily: Bush Doctrine failure
 
 MAY 15 2004           
                            
Š 2004 WorldNetDaily.com 

If you were transfixed this week by the goings-on at Abu Ghraib 
prison  reopened last year under new management  it may have 
slipped your notice that the Bush Doctrine has come a cropper in 
the Western Pacific. 

Our "diplomats" were in Beijing, this week, demanding that North 
Korea submit to a "complete, verifiable and irreversible 
dismantling" of all its "nuclear programs." 

It is conceivable that North Korea may agree to let the 
International Atomic Energy Agency re-enter to verify that there 
are no nuclear programs that are non-peaceful  and hence 
violations of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. 

But we are really asking the Koreans to submit to another 
application of the Bush Doctrine. 

In President Bush's first State of the Union message he 
essentially accused North Korea, Iran and Iraq  the axis of evil 
 of having clandestine nuke programs. 

But all three nation-states were signatories to the Nuclear 
Non-Proliferation Treaty. All three had their nuclear facilities 
subject to IAEA periodic inspection and/or continuous 
surveillance. 

So, Bush's charges essentially amounted to a vote of "no 
confidence" in the IAEA's ability to detect NPT violations. 

Then, as Bush completed assembling his invasion force in October 
2002, he demanded that Iraq submit to a complete, verifiable and 
irreversible dismantling of "weapons of mass destruction" 
programs, including uranium-enrichment facilities. 

Now, that latter demand got the North Koreans' attention. 

Under the US-DPRK Agreed Framework of 1994, all existing Korean 
"nuclear" activities had been "frozen"  under IAEA lock and seal 
 in return for a promise of free nuclear power plants and an 
interim supply of free fuel-oil. 

Some unnamed U.S. official had just informed a media sycophant 
that he had accused an unnamed North Korean official of having a 
clandestine uranium-enrichment program, and that the Korean had 
"admitted" that they did. 

Now, such a clandestine program would have been a violation of 
the spirit of the U.S.-DPRK agreement  if not the letter  and 
would have been a violation of the NPT if any enriched uranium so 
produced was to be used for nukes. 

Korean officials immediately denied "admitting" any such thing 
and have consistently denied  as recently as this week in 
Beijing  that they have such a program. 

Nevertheless, on the basis of the media sycophant's "report," we 
ceased making the fuel-oil shipments required by the U.S.-DPRK 
Agreed Framework in October 2002. 

Nevertheless, in early December, we got the IAEA Board of 
Governors to send the Koreans a request for "clarification" about 
the "reported" enrichment program. The North Korean response was 
to demand that the IAEA immediately remove all locks, seals and 
surveillance cameras from all facilities that had been subject to 
the Agreed Framework. 

The IAEA Board of Governors had agreed to monitor the Agreed 
Framework, but that bilateral agreement had been effectively 
abrogated months before. When the IAEA refused to recognize that, 
North Korea concluded that we controlled the IAEA Board of 
Governors. 

So, North Korea announced it was withdrawing from the NPT, too. 
They unsealed nuclear facilities, turned off IAEA surveillance 
cameras, restarted their plutonium-producing reactor and began 
recovering weapons-grade plutonium from their "frozen" spent 
fuel. 

On Dec. 31, 2002, IAEA inspectors left North Korea, thereby 
suspending IAEA verification activities for both the Nuclear 
Non-Proliferation Treaty and the U.S.-DPRK Agreed Framework. 

The neo-crazies ought to have been dancing in the streets. 
Ding-dong, the IAEA is dead. Or at least badly wounded. That had 
long been a neo-crazy goal. 

Now the neo-crazies could apply the Bush Doctrine anywhere, 
without having to worry about those pesky IAEA inspectors. They 
could claim North Korea had nukes, launch a massive "shock and 
awe" campaign, deploying hundreds of thousands of ground troops 
and employing our nukes only if it turned out North Korea 
actually did have nukes. 

What about China? Would they come to North Korea's aid? 

Not to worry. As Gen. Douglas MacArthur predicted, the Chinese 
won't assist Pyongyang, for fear we might nuke them, too. 

So what will we do if the North Koreans refuse to allow us to 
apply the Bush Doctrine to them? 

Well, initially, nothing, since we're bluffing. And after the 
disastrous application of the Bush Doctrine in Iraq, everyone 
knows it  including China. 

Eventually, however, China will rake in all the chips. There'll 
be a phased withdrawal of U.S. forces from South Korea and 
Okinawa, Korean re-unification and a repudiation of the Taiwan 
Relations Act of 1979. 

Meanwhile, the mess in the Persian Gulf will get worse and worse, 
even if President Bush is limited to one term.
 
Physicist James Gordon Prather has served as a policy 
implementing official for national security-related technical 
matters in the Federal Energy Agency, the Energy Research and 
Development Administration, the Department of Energy, the Office 
of the Secretary of Defense and the Department of the Army. Dr. 
Prather also served as legislative assistant for national 
security affairs to U.S. Sen. Henry Bellmon, R-Okla. -- ranking 
member of the Senate Budget Committee and member of the Senate 
Energy Committee and Appropriations Committee. Dr. Prather had 
earlier worked as a nuclear weapons physicist at Lawrence 
Livermore National Laboratory in California and Sandia National 
Laboratory in New Mexico. 


[WorldNetDaily.com] 

webmaster@worldnetdaily.com
*****************************************************************
 9 Guardian Unlimited: U.N. Nuclear Chief Seeks Security Overhaul

From the Associated Press        

[UP] 

Saturday May 15, 2004 8:16 AM

By EDITH M. LEDERER 

Associated Press Writer 

NEW YORK (AP) - The U.N. nuclear chief called for a major 
overhaul of global measures to prevent the spread of nuclear 
weapons, warning that ``extremist terrorists'' and several 
insecure countries still want to get their hands on nuclear 
material. 

Mohamed ElBaradei complained that the international community 
isn't thinking ``outside the box'' about trying to create a 
globally secure system where people can live peacefully without 
relying on nuclear weapons. 

In the post-Cold War world, especially after the Sept. 11, 2001 
terrorist attacks, he said many countries feel that security can 
only come through nuclear weapons, and ``we have realized there 
is a new group of people, the so-called extremist terrorists ... 
who would like to get their hands on some of this (nuclear) 
material.'' 

North Korea is the top global security problem, and the way the 
international community responds to that country's nuclear 
program will be an important precedent for other would-be 
proliferators, ElBaradei said. 

As far as countries that believe they will be more secure with 
nuclear weapons, ElBaradei argued that ``if a group of terrorists 
developed their own weapons right now, no matter how much 
horrific weaponry you have in your arsenal, it will not protect 
you.'' 

``So we need a better system of security ... that does not rely 
on horrific weapons, which won't protect you or anyone else,'' he 
said. 

During an hour-long question-and-answer session at the Council on 
Foreign Relations, ElBaradei repeatedly returned to this 
long-term challenge. But he said there were also short-term 
measures that should be taken to better protect nuclear material, 
prevent its export and give additional authority to the 
International Atomic Energy Agency, which he heads. 

He criticized the U.N. Security Council for not even expressing 
concern when North Korea withdrew from the Nuclear 
Nonproliferation Treaty - the cornerstone of global efforts to 
control the spread of nuclear weapons. 

``If a country is walking out of the system, they are saying, `we 
are getting out to exercise our option to develop nuclear 
weapons.' If that is not a threat to international peace and 
security, what is?,'' ElBaradei asked. 

He said a truly successful global regime must include all 
countries, noting that three de facto nuclear weapons states - 
India, Pakistan and Israel - aren't parties to the treaty. He 
also lamented that seven years after an additional protocol was 
adopted allowing intrusive inspections, more than 100 countries 
still haven't signed it. 

Still, ElBaradei said he wants to supplement the treaty to make 
it more effective, and one of his proposals will be a worldwide 
moratorium or ban on the development of plutonium and highly 
enriched uranium, the building blocks of nuclear weapons. 

``In the next couple of months, I'm establishing a group of 
experts to look into how we can develop a better system of 
security with regard to enrichment and reprocessing,'' he said. 

With 100 facilities in 40 countries using highly enriched 
uranium, he said it was also time for ``a clean-up'' of this 
nuclear material. 

U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham is planning to go to 
Vienna, where the IAEA is based, to launch a global clean-up of 
all the highly enriched uranium from civilian reactors, he said. 

``Ideally, I'd like to see the non-proliferation regime treated 
the way we treat genocide - that whether you're in or out of the 
treaty, you are banned from developing nuclear weapons or weapons 
of mass destruction,'' ElBaradei said. 

``We're far away from that,'' he lamented. 

ElBaradei, who is scheduled to present an assessment of Iran's 
nuclear activities to the IAEA board of governors in June, said 
his inspectors are getting the access they want but need 
additional information. 

On Libya, ElBaradei said he believes Moammar Gadhafi's decision 
to stop programs for developing weapons of mass destruction was a 
result of ``the change of the whole international landscape'' 
rather than the Iraq war. 

``I think he has concluded that it's in their interest to 
regularize relationships in the West'' partly because years of 
sanction have hurt Libya's economy, he said.     
  
      Guardian Unlimited Š Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004
*****************************************************************
 10 News Issues: More Nations Want Nuclear Weapons
 
  The Nuclear Temptation   
    
In the Wild West, the six-shooter was known as the "Equalizer" 
because it leveled the playing field. Even scrawny guys were 
powerful forces to be reckoned with if they had a pistol. 

For a growing number of nations, the nuclear bomb is the 21st 
century Equalizer. Attempting to build or buy a nuclear weapon is 
so logical (from a strategic perspective) we should stop being 
shocked every time we hear that India, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, 
Brazil, North Korea, or any other country wants "the bomb." 

Up until 9/11 the United States was being tough on Pakistan 
because the military government (which ousted civilian leaders in 
1999) was supporting the Taliban in Afghanistan and, directly or 
indirectly, helping Al Queda. Immediately after 9/11 the United 
States could have decided to oust the dictators of Afghanistan 
AND Pakistan in one fell swoop. Even now we aren't sure if Al 
Queda escaped through Pakistan (or is perhaps being harbored 
there today). 

Instead, the United States opted to give Pakistan and General 
Pervez Musharraf a big bear hug. We held them so close they had 
no choice but to cooperate with America. Why did we do this? 

Many observers say we did it because Pakistan is a nuclear power. 
An attack on Pakistan might have provoked them to use "the bomb" 
out of desperation. Or the intense instability caused by war on 
Pakistan could have allowed its nuclear weapons to fall into 
terrorist hands. 

Was US policy influenced by Pakistan's nuclear status? The real 
answer doesn't matter because most countries have already decided 
that the answer is "yes." And, learning from Pakistan's example, 
even more nations have intensified their efforts to get nuclear 
weapons. 

No country in the world can even dream of matching the U.S. 
military's strength in conventional weapons. Those aircraft 
carriers, stealth bombers, special forces, and bases circling the 
globe don't come cheap. But they can be trumped or at least 
slowed down by nukes. So some countries, especially those that 
are (or hope to be) regional powers, see nuclear weapons as a 
short cut to getting respect from the United States. 

Iran In a radio interview for Common Ground (full disclosure: I 
am executive producer and co-host of Common Ground) Judith Yaphe 
of the National Defense University and Amin Tarzi of the Monterey 
Institute of International Studies discussed Iran's nuclear 
aspirations. They agree that Iran is trying to acquire nuclear 
weapons and have been trying to since the days of the Shah. If 
the Ayatollahs were forced out of power in Iran tomorrow, chances 
are the new government would also want nukes. See the full 
transcript here. The president of Iran, however, says they have 
no plans to build nuclear weapons. 

Brazil The new president of Brazil, Luis Inacio Lula da Silva, 
has said Brazil should revive the nuclear weapons program it 
abandoned in 1994. "The Washington Times" has this reference. 

North Korea North Korea, more than any other country, plays on 
the world's nuclear fears. They may not be developing nukes, but 
they sure want us to think they are. Every time North Korea needs 
more heating oil or famine relief, they do something provocative 
to get the world to respond. This article details how this fear 
is impacting South Korean politics. Last week, North Korea 
removed U.N. seals from a nuclear power facility which could 
provide fuel for a nuclear weapon in a matter of months. The 
United States Institute of Peace (created by Congress) has just 
released this memo detailing three policy options 
[http://globalization.about.com/library/weekly/aa122302b.htm] 
posed by North Korea's pursuit of nuclear weapons. 

What do you think? So what do you think? Which nations want 
nuclear weapons? Can we stop them? Should we try? Click here to 
share your thoughts 
[http://forums.about.com/ab-worldnews/messages?lgnF=y&msg=821.1] 
. 

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 11 CNN.com: Niger president to decide on nuclear treaty - 

May 15, 2004

NIAMEY, Niger (AP) -- Lawmakers in the West African nation of 
Niger, the world's number three producer of yellowcake uranium, 
voted Saturday to join an international treaty calling on 
signatories to ensure the protection of their nuclear materials.

Niger's president has 15 days to reject the bill or sign it into 
law.

The bill calls for adherence to the 1980 Convention on the 
Physical Protection of Nuclear Material. The treaty, adopted in 
Vienna, set technical standards for protecting plutonium and 
enriched uranium -- the material used in making nuclear bombs -- 
during transport.

Niger signed the treaty in 1985, but never adopted it as law at 
home.

"Niger ... must adhere to this convention," said a report issued 
by the national assembly's foreign affairs commission in Niamey.

Concerns over Niger's uranium grew last year in the run-up to the 
U.S.-led war against Iraq when the United States and Britain 
alleged that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein had revived his 
banned nuclear weapons program.

U.S.President George W. Bush came under heavy criticism last year 
when he asserted in his State of the Union address that Iraq was 
shopping in Niger for yellowcake uranium, which can be processed 
into enriched uranium usable in a nuclear weapon -- intelligence 
that turned out to be based on forged documents.

The original suspicions apparently came from a British dossier 
and Britain's Foreign Office continued to maintain Iraq was 
trying to buy uranium in Niger, although no evidence was offered. 
Niger has denied the accusations.

Only to Canada and Australia produce more yellowcake uranium than 
Niger. Uranium sales generate about two-thirds of impoverished 
Niger's export earnings.

Copyright 2004 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This 
*****************************************************************
 12 BBC: UN calls for new nuclear controls 
 
  Last Updated: Saturday, 15 May, 2004
 
[Mohamed ElBaradei]                             

ElBaradei said countries felt a need for nuclear deterrence                                                              

The head of the United Nation's nuclear watchdog, Mohamed 
ElBaradei, has called for a new global system to prevent the 
spread of nuclear weapons. 

He said that after the Cold War and the 11 September attacks on 
the US, many countries felt they could only achieve security 
through nuclear deterrent. 

He also raised the threat of "extremist terrorists" who sought 
nuclear weapons. 

Mr ElBaradei said the crisis over North Korea's nuclear arms sent 
"the worst signal" to potential proliferators. 

Uranium worries 

Addressing a seminar of the Council on Foreign Relations in New 
York, Mr ElBaradei said that a first step towards better 
international control could be a global moratorium on the right 
of any country to develop plutonium and highly-enriched uranium. 

The two substances can be used to manufacture nuclear bombs. 

Mr ElBaradei said North Korea had shown that a country which 
protected its weapons programmes and accelerated them could force 
powerful countries to the negotiating table. 

"If you want to protect yourself, accelerate yourself ...then 
people will sit around the table with you," he said 

He said Iran had the "know how" to enrich uranium, although there 
was no proof it had done so to military levels. 

But, he said, the issue would only be brought to a close when "we 
can say Iran's programme is dedicated exclusively for peaceful 
purposes, and we are not there yet." 

Mr ElBaradei said there were 100 facilities in 40 countries using 
highly enriched uranium, adding that it was time for a nuclear 
"clean-up". 



*****************************************************************
 13 GIN: News Issues: More Nations Want Nuclear Weapons
 
  The Nuclear Temptation   
    
In the Wild West, the six-shooter was known as the "Equalizer" 
because it leveled the playing field. Even scrawny guys were 
powerful forces to be reckoned with if they had a pistol. 

For a growing number of nations, the nuclear bomb is the 21st 
century Equalizer. Attempting to build or buy a nuclear weapon is 
so logical (from a strategic perspective) we should stop being 
shocked every time we hear that India, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, 
Brazil, North Korea, or any other country wants "the bomb." 

Up until 9/11 the United States was being tough on Pakistan 
because the military government (which ousted civilian leaders in 
1999) was supporting the Taliban in Afghanistan and, directly or 
indirectly, helping Al Queda. Immediately after 9/11 the United 
States could have decided to oust the dictators of Afghanistan 
AND Pakistan in one fell swoop. Even now we aren't sure if Al 
Queda escaped through Pakistan (or is perhaps being harbored 
there today). 

Instead, the United States opted to give Pakistan and General 
Pervez Musharraf a big bear hug. We held them so close they had 
no choice but to cooperate with America. Why did we do this? 

Many observers say we did it because Pakistan is a nuclear power. 
An attack on Pakistan might have provoked them to use "the bomb" 
out of desperation. Or the intense instability caused by war on 
Pakistan could have allowed its nuclear weapons to fall into 
terrorist hands. 

Was US policy influenced by Pakistan's nuclear status? The real 
answer doesn't matter because most countries have already decided 
that the answer is "yes." And, learning from Pakistan's example, 
even more nations have intensified their efforts to get nuclear 
weapons. 

No country in the world can even dream of matching the U.S. 
military's strength in conventional weapons. Those aircraft 
carriers, stealth bombers, special forces, and bases circling the 
globe don't come cheap. But they can be trumped or at least 
slowed down by nukes. So some countries, especially those that 
are (or hope to be) regional powers, see nuclear weapons as a 
short cut to getting respect from the United States. 

Iran In a radio interview for Common Ground (full disclosure: I 
am executive producer and co-host of Common Ground) Judith Yaphe 
of the National Defense University and Amin Tarzi of the Monterey 
Institute of International Studies discussed Iran's nuclear 
aspirations. They agree that Iran is trying to acquire nuclear 
weapons and have been trying to since the days of the Shah. If 
the Ayatollahs were forced out of power in Iran tomorrow, chances 
are the new government would also want nukes. See the full 
transcript here. The president of Iran, however, says they have 
no plans to build nuclear weapons. 

Brazil The new president of Brazil, Luis Inacio Lula da Silva, 
has said Brazil should revive the nuclear weapons program it 
abandoned in 1994. "The Washington Times" has this reference. 

North Korea North Korea, more than any other country, plays on 
the world's nuclear fears. They may not be developing nukes, but 
they sure want us to think they are. Every time North Korea needs 
more heating oil or famine relief, they do something provocative 
to get the world to respond. This article details how this fear 
is impacting South Korean politics. Last week, North Korea 
removed U.N. seals from a nuclear power facility which could 
provide fuel for a nuclear weapon in a matter of months. The 
United States Institute of Peace (created by Congress) has just 
released this memo detailing three policy options 
[http://globalization.about.com/library/weekly/aa122302b.htm] 
posed by North Korea's pursuit of nuclear weapons. 

What do you think? So what do you think? Which nations want 
nuclear weapons? Can we stop them? Should we try? Click here to 
share your thoughts 
[http://forums.about.com/ab-worldnews/messages?lgnF=y&msg=821.1] 
. 

  Subscribe to the Globalization Issues Newsletter Name Email
     
Your Guide to Globalization Issues.  

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*****************************************************************
 14 Tennessean: Some fear TVA losing sight of its mission - 

Saturday, 05/15/04
 
Search [http://tennessean.com/search]

By NAOMI SNYDER Staff Writer 

TVA has increased its funding to care for land and river projects 
in recent years, despite having lost hundreds of millions of 
dollars a year from the federal government that once helped pay 
for items such as river navigation, environmental programs and 
flood control.

Now, TVA ratepayers must cover 100% of the cost of the so-called 
non-power programs, after Washington cut off the flow of federal 
funds entirely in 2000.

But not everyone is satisfied with TVA's commitment to the 
environment of late, and some point to a recent land swap to make 
way for a private developer's gated community on Tellico Lake as 
evidence that the federal utility's commitment to its historical 
mission of caring for the land and waterways may be getting 
weaker.

''Giving up those funds from Congress was the biggest mistake 
they've made,'' said Bill Waldrop, a former TVA water resources 
engineer, who is president of the Watershed Association of the 
Tellico Reservoir. The reservoir is located on the Little 
Tennessee River in the eastern part of the state.

Despite the loss of millions, TVA officials say they have 
continued to fund mammoth projects on the Tennessee River. Kate 
Jackson, the TVA executive vice president of river systems, 
operations and environment, said the utility had managed to keep 
its financial commitments through increased efficiencies and 
without raising utility rates.

In the last few years, TVA has spent $11 million on a water 
reservoir operations study. The utility tried to find a balance 
among all the competing interests and still protect the rights of 
people affected by the river and reservoir lakes. That included 
shippers who want deeper channels for their boats, recreational 
boaters who want higher water levels so their docks don't go dry, 
and cities that want flood protection.

''Everybody wants more,'' Jackson said.

The TVA also is spending $24 million on a dam renovation project 
in Blue Ridge, Ga.

Still, Jackson has been forced to make some cuts in her 
department as TVA has worked to reduce nearly $25 billion in 
debt. Recently, TVA an-nounced plans to trim 5% of its work 
force, and Jackson eliminated 85 of 1,479 jobs under her 
supervision.

''The entire organization is constantly looking for how we can do 
things better, faster and cheaper,'' she said.

Critics, though, wonder whether TVA is placing control of its 
debt service above its duty to protect land and waterways, and 
others worry that TVA's attitude about the environment may be 
changing. ''TVA is driven by a philosophy now that is focused 
entirely on debt service,'' said Will Callaway, executive 
director of the Tennessee Environmental Council. ''That is 
problematic.''

Others point to a land swap in July with a private developer in 
east Tennessee as an example of how, in their view, TVA is no 
longer a good steward of the environment.

Last summer, TVA sold 110 acres on the Tellico Lake to a private 
developer who wants to build a luxury, gated community there. In 
exchange, the utility got 255 acres from another governmental 
agency in a swap that proponents say allows for public 
recreation.

Promoters praised the economic impact of the developer's project, 
as well as the land swap.

Opponents said the swap was a net loss because both pieces of 
land were in the public domain, and that the TVA didn't have a 
right to give away land it had taken from private landowners 
itself decades ago.

John Moulton, a spokesman for TVA, said TVA got more land out of 
the deal, with better public access, and that it would be used 
for public recreation.

Today, TVA supplies power to 8.5 million people in the Tennessee 
Valley region, with a combination of mostly coal-fired plants, 
nuclear plants and dams. The state of Tennessee is covered and so 
are parts of six surrounding states.

Utility officials acknowledge there have been some cuts in its 
stewardship of non-power programs  everything from weed and 
mosquito control to the undeveloped 170,000-acre Land Be-tween 
the Lakes recreational area.

Land Between the Lakes has been transferred to the U.S. 
Department of Agriculture Forest Service. Mosquito and weed 
control that TVA used to do has been left to local governments. 
Six campgrounds and day-use areas have been transferred to cities 
or counties, and one site has been closed. About 25 campgrounds 
and recreation areas have been transferred to private operators.

The overall management of river navigation, flood control, 
maintenance of dams and other environmental programs are still 
TVA responsibilities.

Mike Butler, executive director of the Tennessee Conservation 
League, worries about the precedent set by the Tellico land swap. 
''TVA is faced with many challenges,'' he said. ''One is they are 
the primary producer of electricity. They have substantial debt. 
They have so many competing interests within their umbrella of 
work that they do. They do as good a job as anyone could do. The 
question is, in the long run, are we going to have the commitment 
to the public lands?''

TOP |  [http://www.tennessean.com/] | 
                                
Š Copyright 2004 The Tennessean A Gannett Co. 
*****************************************************************
 15 WorldNetDaily: Israel urged to attack Iran nuke plant
 
TROUBLE IN THE HOLY LAND

 Strategic report calls for second-strike capability
 
Posted: May 15, 2004

Š 2004 WorldNetDaily.com 

A report submitted to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon calls 
for the Jewish state to plan pre-emptive strikes against Irans 
nuclear plant and nuclear second-strike capability as a deterrent 
against its hostile neighbors in the Middle East. 

The report, "Israel's Strategic Future," says Israel must prevent 
its enemies from developing weapons of mass destruction through 
strikes against vital facilities. 

Joseph Farahs G2 Bulletin, a premium, online intelligence 
newsletter published by WorldNetDaily, first reported Israel has 
already begun drawing up plans for a strike at Irans nuclear 
facilities that could come before the end of the summer. 

The report says Israel has been threatened by a biological or 
nuclear first-strike that seeks to exploit Israel's small space 
and high population density. 

"To meet its ultimate deterrence objectives -- that is, to deter 
the most overwhelmingly destructive enemy first-strikes -- Israel 
must seek and achieve a visible second-strike capability to 
target approximately 15 enemy cities," the report says. "Ranges 
would be to cities in Libya and Iran, and recognizable nuclear 
bomb yields would be at a level sufficient to fully compromise 
the aggressor's viability as a functioning state. All enemy 
targets should be selected with the view that their destruction 
would promptly force the enemy to cease all 
nuclear/biological/chemical exchanges with Israel." 

The report also called on Israel to develop a multi-layered 
ballistic missile defense system. 

Iran last month announced plans to begin building a heavy-water 
reactor that can produce weapons-grade plutonium, Israel began 
drawing up plans to demolish it  much as it destroyed an Iraqi 
nuclear facility more than a decade ago. 

While Tehran insists the facility is purely for research, the 
decision heightens concern about Iran's ability to produce 
nuclear aims. 

The 40-megawatt reactor could produce enough plutonium for a 
nuclear weapon each year, according to sources. 

While construction is set to begin in June, Iran already had 
previously announced plans to build such a reactor last year to 
the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency. 

The reactor site is at Arak, next to an already built heavy-water 
production plant. It is to replace a reactor using non-weapons 
grade enriched uranium that the Iranians mothballed because they 
said it was outmoded and lacked fuel. 

Because enrichment can be used both to generate power and make 
nuclear warheads, Iran has said it has suspended all enrichment 
activities to prove its peaceful intentions. It also cannot buy 
enriched fuel on legal markets because of international 
suspicions about its intentions. 

Observers wonder out loud why Iran, a nation with vast oil 
reserves, is so intent on producing nuclear power. 

Subscribe to Joseph Farahs G2 Bulletin. 

[WorldNetDaily.com] 

webmaster@worldnetdaily.com
*****************************************************************
 16 Bnn: Pro-nuclear Activist Accuses EU Official of "Manipulating" 
Bulgaria to Close Reactors

, Bulgarian news network - online news agency \ Áíě,
  ['www.bgnewsnet.com / Bulgarian News network' ]    				    
				     					 				   							
  15:12 - 15.05.2004

SOFIA (bnn)- The leader of an international union of nuclear 
sector workers on Saturday accused the EU top official in charge 
of enlargement of "manipulating" Bulgaria to close four reactors 
at its only nuclear power plant.

Bulgaria has bowed to EU pressure to permanently shut down four 
of a total of six units at its only nuclear power plant in 
Kozlodui because of warnings that else it may miss its chance to 
join the bloc in 2007. 

Andre Maisseu, president of the World Council of Nuclear Workers 
told Bulgaria's state radio the closures were fraudulently 
presented as a EU requirement to Bulgaria by Commissioner on 
Enlargement Guenter Verheugen.
 
Maisseu said that in 2000 he received a letter from Verheugen 
saying it was actually the G-7 group of leading industrial 
countries that raised the issue of the closures in 1993.
 
"I accuse Verheugen that he has manipulated the Bulgarian 
government by making a number of inaccurate statements," Maisseu 
said.
 
Bulgaria has invested hundreds of millions of dollars to upgrade 
the Kozlodui reactors in question _ four Soviet-designed 
440-megawatt pressurized water units without safety encasement, 
vintage 1974-1982. The plant, 200 kilometers (125 miles) north of 
Sofia, has also two newer 1,000-megawatt reactors, which are not 
a security issue. 

A couple of years ago an inspection by the Vienna-based 
International Atomic Energy Agency has concluded that the plant 
fully matches international safety standards. So has concluded a 
mission of EU experts last November. 

However the EU top executive body the European Commission says 
the reactors are no longer a technical issue, but a political one 
and Bulgaria must close them to make good on its earlier 
commitments.
 
Many Bulgarians see this as arm-twisting tactics to displace 
their country as the chief electricity exporter on the Balkans. 
Opponents of the closures have collected half a million of 
signatures under a petition against the closures.
 
Maisseu is in Bulgaria to lead a campaign in defense of the 
Kozlodui reactors in which 300 members of his organization from 
across the world are taking part. /bnn/  
    
Bulgarian News Network (BNN)
*****************************************************************
 17 Moscow Timnes: Russia Pledges to Finish Iran Reactor
 
themoscowtimes.com

Monday, May 17, 2004. Page 3. 
Reuters 

BERLIN -- Russia will finish a nuclear reactor in Iran despite
technical complications, unresolved commercial issues and strong
objections from the United States, a senior official said
Friday. 

Sergei Antipov, deputy head of the Federal Nuclear Power Agency,
said strict UN controls will ensure no fuel can be diverted to
build a nuclear bomb. 

The United States accuses Iran of trying to build such a bomb
under the cover of what Tehran insists is a peaceful nuclear
energy program based around the planned $800 million
Russian-built reactor at Bushehr. 

Antipov said Moscow will supply fuel for the reactor only on the
condition that spent fuel be returned, although he said the
commercial terms for this have not yet been agreed with Iran. 

"Definitely, that is our demand. Otherwise we won't supply it,"
Antipov said in an interview during a visit to Germany. "The
only question that's being discussed is price." 

He said the Iranians are arguing that Moscow should sell the
fuel more cheaply if it is going to take it back at the end of
the reactor cycle. "It's a commercial issue, not a defense or
technical question," he said. 

Antipov also said construction at Bushehr, whose launch is
scheduled for 2006, is being slowed down by technical factors.
"There are some technical complications connected to the fact
construction of this station started many years ago and a lot of
equipment was supplied by Germany. Now, to activate that
equipment -- a lot of it is past its expiry date -- it needs to
be rechecked and retested," he said. "All the delays are
connected with purely technical engineering questions." 

Iran was found to have made omissions from what it had said last
October was a full declaration of its nuclear activities, and
the head of the UN nuclear watchdog said earlier this month that
the world would not wait forever for it to "come clean." 

Antipov said the watchdog, the International Atomic Energy
Agency, maintained strict controls on Iran's nuclear activities
at all stages. 

"Material must not be outside control for a second. It's an
absolutely closed fuel cycle. At no point can fuel be diverted
or extracted for nuclear weapons," he said. 

He said objections to Russia's involvement in building Bushehr
were based on commercial motives, not security concerns. 

"All the accusations against Russia in my personal opinion arise
from our unscrupulous rivals in this field. If Russia is forced
to give up the construction of the reactor in Iran, I assure you
that in a very short time this reactor or reactors will be built
by other countries," Antipov said. 

  
Š Copyright 2004, The Moscow Times. All Rights Reserved.
*****************************************************************
 18 Jakarta Post: RI to hold nuclear seminar 

The Journal of Indonesia Today

/www.thejakartapost.com

A seminar will be held in Jakarta for two days this week to 
discuss the possible development of nuclear power plants in 
Indonesia.

 The seminar, jointly organized by the National Atomic Agency 
(Batan) and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, was scheduled from May 
17 through May 18 at the Jakarta Hilton International hotel, a 
spokesman for the Japanese company, Hideo Ikuno, said in a 
statement on Saturday. 

"We expect some 100 participants from various nuclear-related 
agencies in Indonesia such as Batan and the Nuclear Energy 
Control Board (Bapeten)," he said. 

Ikuno said local initiatives aimed to introduce nuclear power 
generation in Indonesia ground to a standstill after the economic 
crises began in late 1997. The resignation the following year of 
president Soeharto, who had been the driving force behind the 
program, further weakened its chances of resuming in the future. 

Recently, however, momentum towards the goal had gathered renewed 
strength, he said. 

The country first launched plans to introduce nuclear power 
generation in the late 1980s. Initially, the program progressed 
quickly with a feasibility study targeting 2003 for the opening 
of a 1,800 megawatt (MW) nuclear power plant. -- JP 

[webmaster@thejakartapost.com]    

*****************************************************************
 19 People's Daily: China's nuke plan lures foreigners
 
UPDATED: 17:00, May 16, 2004   

China's ambitious plan to build more nuclear power stations in 
the coming decade has lured foreign nuclear power giants to 
promote their technology. And Westinghouse is the latest one. 

During his recent three-day visit to China, US Vice-President 
Dick Cheney was said to have made a pitch for the technology of 
leading US nuclear power company Westinghouse Electric Co Ltd. 

Westinghouse expects to sell four nuclear reactors to China, with 
an initial instalment cost of US$1.5 billion per piece. 

"Clearly, the China market is very important to the industry and 
a supplier like Westinghouse," Vaugh Gilbert, a spokesman for 
Westinghouse's reactor vendor in Pittsburgh, was quoted by 
Associated Press (AP) as saying. 

"The Chinese market is one that we are pursuing." 

China will, by the end of this year, issue tenders for four 
nuclear power plants, with an installation capacity of 1,000 
megawatts per piece. 

And the winner of these deals is very likely to take an upper 
hand in future bids, said senior officials from the US nuclear 
industry. 

Chinese officials estimate that by 2020 the country will need an 
additional installation capacity of 32,000 megawatts from the 
nuclear industry, or about 32 new reactors. 

If such a deal is clinched with a US company, it could be a 
win-win solution for both parties, experts say. The move will 
bring billions of dollars in business, help narrow the huge US 
trade deficit with China - amounting to US$113 billion last year 
- and create thousands of jobs in the 
[http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/data/usa.html] . 

Meanwhile, China would be offered the new reactor technology, 
which, as a special category of technology export, has been under 
the strict control of the US Government. 

China has given adequate assurances that such sales will not pose 
a proliferation threat, US officials were quoted as saying. 

Westinghouse is putting its hopes on the 1,100 megawatt AP 1000 
reactor, an advanced design that is still awaiting approval from 
the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission before it can be built in 
the United States. 

The company, owned by the British nuclear firm BNFL, is the only 
US-based manufacturer of a pressurized water reactor, the type of 
design that China said it wants to pursue. 

Westinghouse has a competitive rival, French company Areva. 

Areva has had a long-term co-operation with China and is peddling 
its next-generation reactor built by its Framatome subsidiary. 

It is believed that winning the first deal is vital to vendors, 
as China has indicated it will adopt a unified, standardized 
design across its nuclear industry and drop the existing combined 
technology of France, 

"We would assume there would be more than one order," Gilbert 
said. 

It costs less to build and maintain nuclear power plants with the 
same design, and this, meanwhile, offers better security. Vendors 
also can enjoy higher profit margins, said experts. 

Moreover, "the opportunity is not just in selling the Chinese a 
number of reactors, but engaging them for a longer-term strategic 
partnership," said Ron Simard, who deals with future plant 
development at the Nuclear Energy Institute, an industry trade 
group. 

That could mean future construction contracts as well as plants 
service business, according to AP. 

The US nuclear industry has received no more orders from any US 
clients since the Three Mile Island nuclear accident in 1979. 

Thus, US reactor vendors are relying on business elsewhere, 
especially in Asia, where fast-growing economies have generated 
new demand for nuclear power, AP reported. 

US President George W. Bush also introduced US nuclear technology 
in January last year during his talks with Chinese Premier 
[http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/data/people/wenjiabao.shtml] . 

Although China and the United States signed an agreement on 
nuclear technology transfer in 1998, the United States has been 
holding on tightly to its export of high-tech products to China, 
and nuclear technology is particularly restricted. 

French President Jacques Chirac and Canada's former prime 
minister, Jean Chretien, introduced French and Canadian nuclear 
technology respectively during their visits to China. 

China currently has nine operating reactors, with a capacity of 
6,450 megawatts, or 1.4 per cent of the country's total 
installation capacity of power plants. 

Even with the surge in reactor construction, nuclear power will 
only account for 4 per cent of China's electricity output by 
2020, analysts estimate. 

In contrast, the average among countries with nuclear power 
plants is 17 per cent. 

The prevailing power shortages in about two-thirds of China's 
provinces last year has propelled the government to more than 
double power generation by the end of 2020. 

And to prevent further air pollution, the country is looking to 
shift from relying on coal-burning plants to nuclear power 
stations. 

Source: China Business Weekly   
  

[http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/data/russia.html] . 

  Copyright by People's Daily Online, all rights reserved   
*****************************************************************
 20 Scotsman.com: Fire at French N-Plant
 
Monday, 17th May 2004    	 

"PA" 

A nuclear power plant in eastern France was shut down as a 
precautionary measure today after a fire broke out in a thicket 
of electrical cables at the site, plant officials said.
 
Firefighters were called to the Cattenom plant in the eastern 
Moselle region to put out the blaze that erupted just after noon, 
officials said. The second of the plantâs four reactors was 
halted.
 
The fire broke out in a non-nuclear area of the site, and there 
was no threat to any reactor or environmental damage, officials 
said. No one was injured.
 
The No 2 reactor remained shut down, and an investigation was 
under way.                [ border=]             

   &copy;2004 Scotsman.com [http://www.scotsman.com/]  | contact
[http://members.scotsman.com/contact.cfm]   
*****************************************************************
 21 Sofia Morning News: Top Expert: Verheugen Lies about Bulgaria's N-plant
 	 	 	 	 	 	
 SOFIA NEWS AGENCY novinite.com

Politics: 15 May 2004, Saturday.

The World Council of Nuclear Workers President accused EU 
Commissioner Gunter Verheugen of using his influence to talk 
Bulgaria into closing four units at its only nuclear power plant. 

Kozloduy nuclear power plant meets all safety requirements, Andre 
Maisseu, said in Sofia. Mr Verheugen has told you lies and the 
contract between Bulgaria and Europe has no worth at all, he said 
in an interview for 7 Days TV channel. 

He stressed that a stable energy policy in Bulgaria spells 
stability for the country and for the Balkans.
 
Should Bulgaria be deprived of its energy policy, this would be 
turned into its weakness because of the lack of oil resources, 
Andre Maisseu said. 

Bulgaria must be well dressed but not naked upon its entry into 
the European Union, he added. 

EU concerns over the safety of Soviet-designed 440-MW reactors of 
Bulgaria's only N-plant Kozloduy has hinged the country's EU 
accession in 2007 on their closure the previous year. 

The decommissioning of the two oldest units at the end of 2002 
came after strong pressure from the European Union, protests from 
the nuclear lobby and opposition parties that the reactors are 
economically necessary.[ width=] [ your opinion ] [ save ] [ 

 All Rights Reserved Š Novinite Ltd., 2001-2004 - Copyright

Novinite.com (thebulgariannews.com also) is unique with being a
real time news provider in English that informs its readers
about the latest Bulgarian news
*****************************************************************
 22 [FOODIRRADIATIONCA] Phonecalls Needed ASAP for AB 1988
 
Date: Sun, 16 May 2004 12:31:02 -0500 (CDT)

 
Phonecalls and Letters needed for AB 1988 ASAP!
AB 1988 (Hancock), the California Safe School Lunch Act, requires
school boards to approve irradiated foods before they are served in
schools, and requires parental notification and a non-irradiated meal
option to be provided.  AB 1988 will be heard by the Assembly
Appropriations Committee on Wednesday!  This is the final committee
before the bill goes to the floor.

Take Action  Contact Key Assembly Members!
Please contact the following target members and urge their support for
the bill.  Call or send a FREE fax by clicking on the link under their
name.
(To find out who your Assemblymember is, visit www.leginfo.ca.go   a
sample rap is provided below.)

Assemblymember Ellen Corbett
Call 916-319-2018 or send a FREE fax:
http://www.citizen.org/fax/background.cfm?ID=329&source=20

Assemblymember Marco Firebaugh
Call 916-319-2050 or send a FREE fax:
http://www.citizen.org/fax/background.cfm?ID=330&source=20

Assemblymember Jenny Oropeza
Call 916-319-2055 or send a FREE fax:
http://www.citizen.org/fax/background.cfm?ID=331&source=20

Assemblymember Herb Wesson
Call 916-319-2047 or send a FREE fax
http://www.citizen.org/fax/background.cfm?ID=332&source=20

Assemblymember Patricia Wiggins
Call 916-319-2007 or send a FREE fax
http://www.citizen.org/fax/background.cfm?ID=333&source=20

Assemblymember Leland Yee
Call 916-319-2012 or send a FREE fax
http://www.citizen.org/fax/background.cfm?ID=334&source=20

Sample Phone Rap:  Hi, I am a constituent and registered voter.  I am
calling to urge Assemblymember________ to vote YES on AB 1988.  I do not
think a school district should serve irradiated food unless they notify
parents and provide non-irradiated alternatives.  I also think the
decision to serve these foods should be made by an elected board that is
accountable to the public.

Background
In May of 2003, the USDA approved irradiated foods for the National
School Lunch Program, which provides free or reduced price meals to
needy schoolchildren.  Over 60% of the students in San Francisco Unified
School District receive subsidized meals.  This USDA decision was made
despite overwhelming opposition from parents, teachers, students, and
concerned citizens who oppose serving irradiated food to children.

Irradiation exposes food to extremely high doses of ionizing radiation
in order to kill bacteria.   In the process, nutrients are destroyed and
new toxic chemicals are formed.  Consumption of irradiated foods has
been linked to numerous health problems in humans and animals, including
reproductive dysfunction, fatal internal bleeding, and a rare form of
cancer.  Irradiation perpetuates the filthy and inhumane conditions in
factory farms and slaughterhouses, which cause massive amounts of water
contamination and degrade air quality.  Irradiated foods have been
rejected by consumers in the marketplace, and no population has ever
consumed irradiated food as a substantive part of their diet.

In February 2004 Assemblywoman Loni Hancock introduced AB 1988.  This
bill requires school board approval before a school can serve irradiated
meat, requires schools to notify parents, label irradiated foods as
such, and provide a non-irradiated meal option.

To read the bill visit www.leginfo.ca.gov
To learn more about irradiated foods and their inclusion in the
National School Lunch Program, visit www.safelunch.org

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tracy Lerman
Senior Organizer
Public Citizen, California Office
1615 Broadway, 9th Floor
Oakland, CA 94612
ph: 510-663-0888 x 103  f: 510-663-8569
tlerman@citizen.org
www.citizen.org/california

Keep irradiated food out of your child's lunch!
Visit www.safelunch.org to find out more.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**********
To unsubscribe, please send a email to tlerman@citizen.org with "unsubscribe foodirradiationca" in the subject line.
*****************************************************************
 23 Ancient Babylon Is Seriously Contaminated With Depleted
 
Date: Sun, 16 May 2004 18:13:12 -0700

 
<x-flowed>



<http://cuttingedge.org/newsletters/>http://cuttingedge.org/newsletters/

<http://cuttingedge.org/news/n1909.cfm>NEWS1909 -- "Ancient Babylon Is 
Seriously Contaminated With Depleted Uranium Poisoning - DU Contamination 
Lasts 4.5 Billion Years

NEWS BRIEF: "Rise in birth deformities blamed on Allies' deadly weaponry", 
By Nigel Morris, Independent.co.uk, 13 May 2004

"The number of babies born deformed and children suffering leukemia have 
soared because of the 'deadly legacy' of depleted uranium shells used by 
British and American forces in Iraq ... Releasing details of health 
problems and human rights violations suffered by Iraqi children in the past 
year, they claim the country's youngsters faced a worse existence today 
than they did under Saddam Hussein's dictatorship."

Did you catch that pertinent phrase? Children right now are facing a "worse 
existence today than they did under Saddam Hussein's dictatorship."?

Yet, President Bush continues to brag that we invaded Iraq to free the 
people from the unbearable yoke of Saddam's dictatorship! Joyce Riley of 
Gulf War Veterans Association has recently told me that a growing number of 
Iraqi citizens are beginning to understand that the Coalition military 
machine has delivered a death sentence upon the entire nation. Truly, the 
doctor in a foreign army whom I quoted in 
<http://cuttingedge.org/news/n1843.cfm>NEWS1843 gave me straight 
information, i.e., that Iraq will be totally unlivable in no more than a 
generation!

Therefore, more and more Iraqis are understanding that they are the 
"walking dead", that they will be dead shortly because of the D.U. our 
military machine has spread in huge numbers -- over 4 million pounds -- 
since March 20, 2003. As a result, anger and hatred is really building 
against us in Iraq, because the wanton killing of civilians is even more of 
an irritant to the Muslim than the torture and sexual degradation we have 
perpetrated against them [<http://cuttingedge.org/news/n1914.cfm>NEWS1914].

Now, let us return to this story for more information. I have highlighted 
pertinent words and phrases for your understanding.

"Caroline Lucas, a Green Party Euro-MP who recently visited Basra, said 
doctors there had told her that the number of children born with severe 
deformities, such as shortened limbs or eye defects, had increased 
sevenfold since 1991 (Year Gulf War I was fought). In addition they were 
treating several new cases of leukaemia every week - before 1991 the 
condition was very rare. 'Women in Basra are afraid to become pregnant 
because there are so many deformed babies', she said. 'We are leaving a 
deadly legacy for generations to come'." [Ibid.]

When mothers are afraid to have babies, the nation is doomed. Indeed, Iraq 
is doomed as her people are slowly dying of Depleted Uranium.

Now, let us examine another article on Depleted Uranium.

NEWS BRIEF: "The Truth About Depleted Uranium Weaponry: The Only Thing 
Depleting is Human Life", by Vincent L. Guarisco, Media Monitors, Monday 10 
May 2004

"... only approximately 14 percent of Americans at best understand the full 
matrix surrounding depleted uranium ... depleted uranium is a deadly weapon 
of mass destruction that has been banned by virtually every nation on the 
planet. Its illegal use by the United States breaks all existing 
international treaties, conventions, protocols, and articles of war. It was 
first introduced into our arsenal around 1983 under the leadership 
directives of then Vice-President George H. W. Bush, and used in the first 
Gulf War in Iraq to the tune of 350 tons of exploded poison. The main 
difference between father Bush and his son is that junior unleashed his 
radioactive arsenal mainly in Iraqi urban centers and civilian 
neighborhoods, rather than in desert battlefields. Untold thousands of 
Iraqi people, U.S. soldiers, and coalition troops will pay the price for 
generations in chronic illness, widespread cancers, long-term disabilities 
and genetic birth defects."

"The highly toxic 'Highway of Death' in 1991 after Desert Storm was only a 
warm-up session compared to what is happening in Iraq during Enduring 
Freedom under George W. Bush ... DU is perhaps the most lethal 
time-released agent ever to be unleashed on mankind except for maybe one 
exception -- its kin -- the Atom Bomb. Its poisonous effectiveness 
continues to take life long after the tanks, fighter jets, helicopters, 
Bradley vehicles, unmanned drones and troops have long gone, put simply, DU 
is a prolonged latent kiss of death that genetically keeps on embracing for 
generations to come."

THIS is the major story of this Gulf War II. If Americans ever really 
awakened from their collective stupor to realize what Bush had wreaked upon 
the people of Iraq and upon our own soldiers, he likely would not stay in 
office very long. Is it any wonder that the Bush Administration sought for, 
and received, an exemption for any war crimes committed in Iraq, starting 
in October, 2002? Let us now go back in history to remember this story; you 
are likely to understand it better now that you have the benefit of 
educated hindsight.

NEWS BRIEF: "US demands total impunity on war crimes: Ultimatum to Europe 
in advance of Iraq war", World Socialist Web Site, 12 October 2002

"With the Bush administration gearing up for a 'preemptive' war against 
Iraq, Washington this week dispatched a senior US diplomat, Marisa Lino, to 
Europe to demand that the governments of the European Union (EU) agree to a 
blanket exemption of all US citizens from the jurisdiction of the newly 
formed International Criminal Court ... it is insisting that governments 
around the world sign bilateral treaties agreeing not to turn over any 
American citizens in the event that they are indicted by prosecutors at the 
court. With the more impoverished and former colonial countries, Washington 
has threatened to cut off aid unless agreements are signed."

In early, 2003, Bush got his total exemption from War Crimes for himself 
and for his military commander, just in time for him to launch his war on 
March 20, 2003. Now that the truth of Depleted Uranium Munitions is 
beginning to unfold in the public eye, we can see why our President was so 
anxious about his potential criminal liability before the International 
Criminal Court!

</x-flowed>
*****************************************************************
 24 Boston.com: Screenings find people who may have been exposed to beryllium 
dust region 

By Associated Press, 5/15/2004 14:25    --> + 

By Associated Press, 5/15/2004 14:25 

WORCESTER, Mass. (AP) Ten people who worked at one of two central 
Massachusetts companies have developed beryllium sensitivity, 
according to a federally funded screening program. 

The ten people, among 168 former employees of either Norton Co. 
or Wyman-Gordon Co. who have been screened, may be more likely to 
develop the more serious chronic beryllium disease, said Dr. 
Lewis Pepper of the Boston University School of Public Health, 
which is administering the U.S. Department of Energy program. 

Beryllium is a non-radioactive metal that was used in the 
manufacture of some radioactive materials. It's not dangerous in 
solid form, but its dust can cause serious and potentially fatal 
respiratory ailments if inhaled. 

The program has so far identified more than 700 former employees 
of the companies. The program refers those who may have been at 
risk of exposure for a blood test. 

The program has only screened workers at the two central 
Massachusetts plants, but Pepper said there are other places in 
Massachusetts where workers may have been exposed to the dust. 

About 90 former employees from the two companies attended an 
information session in Worcester on Friday. Many told stories of 
how they worked with beryllium with little protection and little 
knowledge of the hazards. 

Charles Hajko, 82, who worked at Wyman-Gordon from 1950 through 
1983, said people working with beryllium at the Grafton plant 
were isolated in a tent-like enclosure from other workers, and 
they had to work and eat and take breaks inside the enclosure. 
''We didn't even have the opportunity to shower,'' he told the 
Telegram &Gazette of Worcester. 

Paul Soucy, former president of the union that represents 
Wyman-Gordon workers, said the companies have been ''less than 
cooperative'' in supplying names of former workers to the 
project. 

Saint-Gobain Abrasives, owner of the former Norton Co., said in a 
statement that it would help find former employees. Saint-Gobain 
said it appears that all beryllium work ended at its Worcester 
plant by 1950. 

Workers diagnosed with chronic beryllium disease, or their 
survivors, may be eligible for up to $150,000 in compensation. 

*****************************************************************
 25 UK: News & Star:  RAF FEARS FOR NUCLEAR SAFETY 
 
Published on 15/05/2004 

British nuclear plants are wide open to a September 11-style 
terror attack from the air, the RAF has warned.

Meanwhile it has also been reported in the Sunday Herald that 
Military aircraft have been accused of breaching the no-fly 
safety zones around Scotlands nuclear facilities 27 times over 
the last three years.

Internal investigations by the Ministry of Defence reveal that 
most alleged breaches  15  occurred around the Torness nuclear 
power station in East Lothian, including one that set off 
perimeter alarms. 

There were six incidents at the Dounreay complex in Caithness, 
with others at the aged Chapelcross nuclear station in Dumfries 
and Galloway, at Hunterston nuclear station in North Ayrshire and 
at Faslane nuclear submarine base on the Clyde.

Full story in tomorrow's News &StarWhat's your view of this 
story? Email the News &Star at news@cumbrian-newspapers.co.uk 
[news@cumbrian-newspapers.co.uk] or post it on our Forums

*****************************************************************
 26 chillicothe gazette: More trace beryllium levels found - 

chillicothegazette.com
 
Saturday, May 15, 2004   

 Sampling continues at enrichment plant buildings

 By DANIEL PRAZER Gazette Staff Writer 
  
PIKETON -- Low levels of beryllium contamination have been found 
in three more buildings at the Piketon uranium enrichment plant, 
internal United States Enrichment Corp. documents dated May 13 
show. 

The levels of the toxic metal found were "trace amounts," 
according to Dan Minter, president of the union representing 
workers at the plant, and were found in buildings housing machine 
shops and the mothballed uranium enrichment process buildings, 
X-700, X-330 and X-326. The buildings at the plant are each 
assigned a number starting with the letter X. 

"They are very low levels, and they continue to sample levels to 
determine if there is any contamination and, if so, what 
appropriate measures are necessary," Minter said. 

The documents show a concentration of more than 0.2 but less than 
3 micrograms per 100 square centimeters. Minter said fixing the 
problem could be as easy as painting over the dust to seal it in, 
but testing continues. 

"The first step is to determine what is there, what isn't there," 
he said. 

If breathed as a dust, some people develop beryllium sensitivity 
over a period of exposure. Along with an increased risk of lung 
cancer, those exposed may develop chronic beryllium disease, a 
scarring, inflammatory reaction in the respiratory system that 
can cause weakness, fatigue and breathing difficulties, anorexia, 
weight loss and heart disease and enlargement, according to the 
federal government's Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease 
Registry, part of the Centers for Disease Control. 

Over the past two years, eight employees have been found to have 
chronic beryllium disease, and another eight have been deemed 
sensitive to the metal, Minter said. 

Minter said the union is working with USEC to test areas most 
likely to be contaminated. One of the areas listed in the issue 
data sheets obtained by the Gazette showed the contamination was 
found on top of a crane rail in a weld shop, on top of the Health 
Physics Office and on top of the men's locker room, all in 
building X-700. 

"We're not necessarily surprised," he said. "That's why we asked 
to have these areas sampled." 

Jack Williams, of Bechtel Jacobs public affairs, said 12 areas at 
the plant have been sampled as part of the study, including those 
in which the beryllium was found on a crane rail in X-700, the 
exterior of a cell housing in X-330 and the interior of a cell 
housing in X-326. 

Bechtel Jacobs is the company handling cleanup at the plant. 

USEC public affairs manager Angie Duduit said the real danger is 
with airborne beryllium, and that hasn't been found in the 
ongoing study which began in December. What has been found are 
"residual amounts found on surfaces," and those areas have been 
restricted to workers. 

"Anytime beryllium is found above the Department of Energy's 
level of concentration, workers are restricted from the immediate 
area of contamination," Williams said. 

Also on Tuesday, U.S. Rep. Ted Strickland, D-Lucasville, 
announced testing for beryllium exposure will be expanded for 
workers at the Piketon plant, formerly in his district, and its 
sister plant in Paducah, Ky. About 185 workers formerly 
ineligible for the testing now will be included, according to a 
press release from Strickland's office. 

Minter said while he hopes there are no more cases of sensitivity 
or chronic beryllium disease discovered, if people are afflicted, 
they need to know it. 

In February, beryllium was found in compressors blades used in 
the gaseous diffusion enrichment process discontinued in 2001 and 
in machine shop areas of the plant. 

Minter said in February that, like asbestos, people years ago 
didn't realize they were working with a toxic material, and 
workers weren't required to wear respirators or other protective 
equipment. 

The levels found Tuesday were well below the Occupational Safety 
and Health Administration's threshold. 

Beryllium is a naturally occurring metal that used to be found in 
everything from bicycle frames to dental bridges, grinding wheels 
to fluorescent light bulbs. In its pure form, it's used in 
nuclear weapons and reactors, X-ray machines and space vehicles, 
according to the disease registry. 

(Prazer can be reached at 772-9364 or via e-mail at 
dprazer@nncogannett.com) [dprazer@nncogannett.com] 

Originally published Saturday, May 15, 2004
 
*****************************************************************
 27 [du-list] Radioactive Leak Shuts Down Road [in Tennessee]
 
Date: Sun, 16 May 2004 18:13:02 -0700

 
<x-flowed>
[I plan to research the veracity of this story Monday, but
this is such an important allegation I want to alert
activists ASAP -  et]

Radioactive Leak Shuts Down Road [in Tennessee]
Tests Confirm Contamination of Hwy. 95

5/15/04 11:27am WVLT Knoxville

http://www.volunteertv.com/Global/story.asp?S=1869474&nav=4QcHN8zl

Officials of the U.S. Department of Energy, the State of
Tennessee and Bechtel Jacobs Company are continuing to
respond Saturday to the incident involving the leakage of
radioactive contaminated water onto Highway 95 north of
Bethel Valley Road and south of Bear Creek Road on Friday.

Surveys of the road's surface were completed around 3:00am
Saturday morning. Tests confirm the road's surface is
contaminated in several places.

A recovery plan to address the removal of the contamination
is being developed and is being coordinated with the State
of Tennessee. State and local officials are continuing to
monitor the situation at the site and Highway 95 remains closed.

A Citizen Hotline is open and available to the public. If
you have concerns or traveled in the area of Highway 95
north of Bethel Valley Road to the intersection of Bear
Creek Road on Friday, you should call 362-8600 with any
questions.




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*****************************************************************
 28 Tennessean: Radioactive material leaked on highway - 

Sunday, 05/16/04
 
Associated Press 

OAK RIDGE, Tenn.  Federal and state health officials say they 
may have to tear up about a third of a mile of road on the Oak 
Ridge nuclear reservation and repave it after radioactive 
strontium 90 leaked out of a truck onto the road surface.

The road  Highway 95  was closed Friday night.

Authorities from the U.S. Department of Energy said a truck 
carrying waste byproducts leaked several drops of strontium 90 
over a 25-foot area of the highway. Strontium 90 is a byproduct 
of the fission of uranium or plutonium, the materials that fuel 
atomic bombs.

Officials said there was a possibility some vehicles may have 
driven over the contamination, and they encouraged anyone who may 
have done so to contact their local health department. 

TOP |  [http://www.tennessean.com/] | 
                                
Š Copyright 2004 The Tennessean
*****************************************************************
 29 UK Independent: Ł470m nuclear plant does not work, admits BNFL
 
By Geoffrey Lean, Environment Editor
 
16 May 2004

Britain's newest and most controversial nuclear plant does not 
work and has yet to produce a single finished product, senior 
sources at the company that runs it, BNFL, admitted yesterday. 

Their admission casts a blight over a visit to Japan by the 
Energy minister, Stephen Timms, which starts today. Mr Timms is 
attempting to rescue the plant, built at Sellafield at a cost to 
the taxpayer of hundreds of millions of pounds. 

The plant, designed to produce nuclear fuel made of mixed uranium 
and plutonium, is central to the viability of the controversial 
Cumbrian nuclear complex. Environ-mentalists have long attacked 
it as a waste of money and a terrorist target, since it will 
cause plutonium - which could be intercepted and used to make 
nuclear bombs - to be shipped around the world. Japan was meant 
to be the plant's main customer, hence Mr Timms' visit. 

A top BNFL source said yesterday: "Despite everyone's best 
efforts, the bloody thing does not work." He said its design was 
so complex that it kept breaking down. 

Tony Blair personally pushed through the go-ahead for the plant 
in 2001, against entrenched opposition from Michael Meacher, his 
then Environment minister. In an attempt to make it viable, the 
Government wrote off the entire Ł470m cost to the taxpayer of 
building the plant before giving it the green light. However, it 
still looks like being a financial catastrophe. 

Martin Forwood, of Cumbrians Opposed to a Radioactive 
Environment, said: "The kindest thing would be to put the plant 
out of its misery and close it." 

In a statement, BNFL admitted progress had been "disappointing" 
but said that delays were to be expected when commissioning a 
complex plant, and customers were being kept "informed".              
    
UK Independent Ltd.
*****************************************************************
 30 CE: No Firm Plans For Handling Radioactive Waste At Fernald
    
                                
   [http://www.cincinnati.com]       
   [http://www.enquirer.com]  |   [http://www.cincypost.com]  | 
    
  [ border=]   [http://www.nv.doe.gov/nts] 
  [ border=]   [http://www.eh.uc.edu/imby/sitemap.asp] 
 									
content or availability of external links. 									

 Reported by: AP News
 Web produced by: Neil Relyea
 Photographed by: 9News
 5/15/04 1:50:05 PM 

Federal environmental regulators say they do not know what they
can or will do if Cold War-era radioactive waste from the former
Fernald uranium processing plant is temporarily stored in steel
crates at the site. 

The rules do not call for any interim or long-term storage at
the site 18-miles northwest of Cincinnati, said Jim Saric, a
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency project manager on the $4.4
billion project. 

"They have to treat it, load it and ship it. It must be a
continuous activity," he said. "But I can't tell you how we'd
react to the material being stored temporarily at Fernald." 

The plant processed uranium metal for the government's nuclear
weapons program from 1951 until 1989, when production ended to
prepare for the site's cleanup. 

Department of Energy officials overseeing the cleanup say they
will begin removing wastes from a silo on June 14, even though
Nevada officials have threatened a lawsuit to stop shipments of
the wastes to the department's Nevada Test Site. 

Energy officials told residents at a community meeting this
month that they could temporarily store the waste on the
1,050-acre site until the dispute with Nevada is resolved. 

That could leave the powdery radioactive material stored for
weeks or months outside of the silos that have safely held it
for more than 50 years. 

Marta Adams, senior assistant attorney general in Nevada, said
she is concerned that energy officials might remove the waste
from the silos, thereby creating an "emergency" and argue to a
federal judge that the shipments must begin immediately. 

"My concern is that they're going to move this stuff in the
driveway and have a critical situation more than they do now,"
Adams said. "It's complicated because what they're about to do
is outside of the jurisdiction of any Nevada court." 

The Energy Department has promised to give Nevada 45 days notice
before waste shipments would begin, which would give Nevada
officials time to file their lawsuit. 

Shipments to Nevada would begin during the last week of June,
unless stopped by a federal judge, said Dennis Carr, project
manager on the silos cleanup for the prime contractor, Fluor
Fernald. 

As of Friday, the department had not told Nevada officials about
the shipments starting. 

Carr said the material can safely be stored outside of the
silos. 

"Taking the waste out of the silos is one more inch toward
completion of this job, and I don't want to give away an inch,"
Carr said. "Once we get it stored in the containers, we can ship
it anywhere in the world." 

If the dispute becomes drawn out, it could prevent the
department from achieving its agreement with federal and Ohio
environmental regulators to complete the cleanup in 2006. 

Fluor gets a $250 million bonus if it meets that deadline. The
department could face fines from the federal and Ohio EPAs if
the deadline is missed. 

Lisa Crawford, president of Fernald Residents for Environmental
Safety and Health (FRESH), said the department should not be
allowed to begin moving waste until a final destination is
identified. 

"DOE is merely avoiding the issue instead of addressing it head
on," Crawford wrote in a letter sent Thursday to U.S. Sens.
George Voinovich and Mike DeWine of Ohio. 

"The Fernald facility does not have adequate storage
capabilities for these wastes and this should not become a
defacto interim storage facility as a quick fix for DOE," said
Crawford. 

*****************************************************************
 31 Las Vegas RJ: Candidate says Yucca a non-starter if he's elected 

Not on my watch 
 
Sunday, May 16, 2004

By JOHN KERRY SPECIAL TO THE REVIEW-JOURNAL

One of the biggest environmental and security challenges facing 
Nevadans is the threat that Yucca Mountain will be turned into 
the nation's nuclear waste dump. I voted against the plan to 
dispose of waste at Yucca Mountain -- and as president I will 
fight against it.
 
 Four years ago in a letter to Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn, 
then-candidate George W. Bush pledged he would approve a nuclear 
waste repository at Yucca Mountain only if it was scientifically 
proven to be safe and secure. But before his first year in office 
was over, President Bush changed his position and approved the 
plan -- placing the profits of the nuclear power industry above 
the safety of Nevada families.
 
 Today George Bush is still trying to move forward with this 
misguided plan, despite the overwhelming opposition from Nevadans 
and the scientific evidence that it is unsafe. Two major 
scientific bodies have sounded alarms about Yucca Mountain. 
First, an independent commission advising Congress on Yucca 
Mountain determined that the metal to be used for the waste 
containers would corrode, leaking nuclear radiation into the 
surrounding environment. The Bush administration knew this when 
it approved the Yucca Mountain site, but unfortunately ignored 
it.
 
 Second, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) -- the final 
judge of whether a safe waste repository can be built at Yucca 
Mountain -- recently warned the Department of Energy that its 
proposed license to build Yucca Mountain was in inadequate shape. 
Apparently, despite billions of dollars and decades of research, 
DOE still lacks the technical and scientific information required 
to even submit the license application for review. The 
department's inability to produce information supporting the 
safety of the project speaks volumes. Despite this scientific 
evidence, the Bush administration is rushing to meet an 
arbitrary, self-imposed deadline of December 2004. The risks are 
tragically clear. In January, we learned that workers who dug a 
test tunnel at Yucca were exposed to hazardous dust and mineral 
hazards. Evidence shows that the Bush administration was aware of 
these risks and the procedures required to protect them. But 
pressure to keep the project on schedule pushed safety into the 
back seat. Tragically, many of these workers are now sick. It's a 
shame that the Bush administration has put the financial 
interests of the nuclear industry above the health and safety of 
DOE workers and Nevadans. I believe there is a better way to 
secure Nevada's health, environmental and financial well-being. 
That includes putting a stop to the dump once and for all.


John Kerry, a U.S. senator from Massachusetts, is the presumptive 
Democratic presidential nominee. 

Copyright Las Vegas Review-Journal
*****************************************************************
 32 Spectrum: DONT Group offers forum on nuclear testing 

thespectrum.com
 
Sunday, May 16, 2004   

By PATRICE ST. GERMAIN patrices@thespectrum.com 
  
If You Go 

What: A Forum on Nuclear Testing. 

When: 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Monday. 

Where: Washington County Commission Chambers, 197 East
Tabernacle, St. George. 


+ The forum will be broadcast live on KDXU 890 AM and will be
shown via tape on KCEC, Charter Cable channel 25, at the
following times: 


+ 7 p.m. Wednesday. 


+ 7 p.m. Friday. 


+ 7 p.m. Saturday. 


+ 7 p.m. May 23. 

DONT 


+ Downwinders Opposed to Nuclear Testing is a non-partisan
coalition working to educate Utahns statewide about the legacy
and consequences of testing. In addition public education, one
of DONT's objectives is to urge the Utah Delegation to join the
bi-partisan efforts to oppose the resumption of nuclear weapons
testing. 


+ DONT's Nuclear Weapons Testing Forum on Monday will provide
information about the nation's nuclear weapons program. There
will be several speakers and a question and answer session.   



ST. GEORGE -- An informational discussion about the concerns
over the possibility of renewed nuclear testing will be help by
the Downwinders Opposed to Nuclear Testing coalition Monday
evening. 

DONT member and forum coordinator Laura Bonham of Summit said
the forum timing is important because the Senate subcommittee
for energy and water will meet next month, and on its agenda is
the appropriation of more money to fund arms research at the
Nevada Test Site. 

DONT, a coalition of individuals and organizations that are
concerned about nuclear testing, organized last summer, said
Bonham. 

"The reason we formed is we see the development of a new line of
nuclear weapons and the testing that will follow and it's a bad
policy," she said. "It's very dangerous to all Utahns and all
the other folks who live down wind." 

Bonham's presentation at the meeting will cover atomic history
from when nuclear testing began to the medical effects to future
testing as well as transportation and storage of nuclear waste
at the Nevada Test Site. 

One of the speakers at the forum is local resident and
downwinder Michelle Thomas. Thomas, who has battled cancer
several times, said she is opposed to nuclear testing. 

"I barely survived the first chance they (the government) tried
to kill me, I don't want to give them another chance," Thomas
said. 

Thomas said she is always willing to speak about the horrors of
being a downwinder but said she hopes that local city council
members and mayors will attend the meeting rather than just
downwinders. 

"When just downwinders show up, you are preaching to the choir,"
Thomas said. 

While DONT tries to educate the public about the dangers of
nuclear testing, Congressman Jim Matheson's Southern Utah Field
Representative Mike Empey is working to build community support
for Matheson's HR3921, Safety for Americans from Nuclear Weapons
Testing act. 

Empey attended the Springdale Town Council meeting Wednesday and
the council, which placed the resolution to support the bill on
its agenda, passed it unanimously. 

Empery said the bill has been filed and Matheson is working on
co-sponsors, but the bill is still a ways from being passed. 

The St. George Chamber also has passed a resolution in support
of the house resolution and the Southern Utah Homebuilders
passed a similar resolution with the provision that the
resolution not be limited to the Nevada Test Site. 

Concerning the possibility of renewed nuclear testing, Thomas
said she feels let down by the government. 

"I can't help but cry to think that they (the government) want
to do it again," she said. 


Originally published Sunday, May 16, 2004
 
   [http://www.gannett.com]     [http://www.usatoday.com]     
Contact Us | Subscribe | Place an ad
 Copyright Š2004 The Spectrum. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
 33 Spectrum: Speak out on potential for nuke tests - Opinion - 

thespectrum.com
 

Sunday, May 16, 2004   

Nuclear Testing Forum 

+ What: Forum to provide information about the impacts of
nuclear testing 


+ When: 6:30 p.m. Monday 


+ Where: Washington County Commission chambers, 197 E.
Tabernacle 


+ Cost: Free   

IN OUR VIEW 

Much has been written and said about the crimes the United
States government perpetrated on its own citizens in the 1950s
and '60s. 

The repeated nuclear weapons testing during the Cold War led to
the deaths of many residents in Southern Utah, Southeastern
Nevada and Northern Arizona. Many more continue to fight
illnesses linked to the radioactive fallout that rained down on
our region as nuclear bomb after nuclear bomb was detonated in
the Nevada desert. 

All this occurred while the U.S. government assured residents
that the tests were perfectly safe. As records since have shown,
the government knew that the tests might not be as safe as they
originally thought. 

Now, the federal government is studying a new generation of
nuclear weapons, known to some as "bunker busters." Legislation
passed last year allows for the study of this new generation of
weapons, believed by some military experts to be a vital tool in
the war on terrorism. 

But the next step in the development of these weapons is,
frankly, scary. Despite assurances by both of Utah's U.S.
senators that only another vote by Congress would allow for
nuclear weapons tests, some bureaucrats and lawmakers have
indicated that another vote isn't necessary. 

It doesn't take much of a leap of logic to identify the next
possible step after examining the computer models approved by
Congress. If those studies come back as being favorable, there
could be a push for more nuclear tests using the new weapon. 

In the 1950s and '60s, the government at least had ignorance on
its side. In truth, there was no real way for officials to know
at the beginning just how toxic the nuclear tests would be over
the span of years. As we now know, the government soon
discovered how toxic the radioactive fallout really was and
chose to lie to the people. 

To be blunt, the government's track record on this issue isn't
good. 

Our region's residents have suffered greatly. And, regardless of
the current studies, the people of this region shouldn't have to
live in fear of having more weapons tests. 

Take the time to learn more about the potential effects of
nuclear testing. Attend a forum Monday sponsored by The
Spectrum, KDXU 890AM and KCEC, in conjunction with a new group
-- Downwinders Opposed to Nuclear Testing. Read about the
subject. Ask questions of those who lived in the region in the
1950s and '60s. 

Then, contact your lawmakers to let them know how you feel. 

Originally published Sunday, May 16, 2004
 
*****************************************************************
 34 Majave Daily: Supervisors to discuss bike track, nuclear testing,

Walker-Johnson feudBy JIM SECKLER

KINGMAN -- A dirt track for BMX bicycle racing in Bullhead City 
will go before the Mohave County Board of Supervisors Monday.

The Board will look at an agreement to extend a contract by two 
years for a proposed BMX facility in Bullhead City. The extended 
agreement would expire June 2006.

The facility would operate BMX bicycle racing at a track on 
county land off Highland Road south of the county offices.

In the planning stages for more than eight years, the dirt track 
still needs about 500 yards of dirt to complete, according to 
Barbara Davis, president of Colorado River BMX Inc.

The supervised track could be open in a few months. A tower has 
been donated and concessions and bleachers may be installed in 
the future.

Davis described the bike track as a U within a U shape track with 
hills and jumps. The track would be used for non-motorized 
bicycles only.

The track would be open several days a week probably after 
school. Lighting would be imperative with Bullhead City's hot 
climate during the summer, Davis said.

In other issues, Mohave County Manager Ron Walker will also ask 
the county attorney's office to look at possible criminal 
allegations District 3 Supervisor Buster Johnson made against 
Walker and District 1 Supervisor Pete Byers and District 2 
Supervisor Tom Sockwell.

The allegations involved a sexual harassment grievance filed 
against Johnson two years ago by two former employees.

Also under discussion is a resolution to oppose further nuclear 
testing at the Nevada test site. The concern is the health and 
safety of county residents who could be affected by the fallout 
of nuclear testing.

Of 900 tests, more than 800 were conducted below ground at the 
Nevada test facility. President George Bush and Congress recently 
lifted a ban on nuclear weapons research.

More than $34 million has been authorized to improve the Nevada 
test facility to resume underground testing in 18 months.

The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act has paid more than $700 
million to 10,000 radiation victims in Nevada and Northern Mohave 
County.

The resumption of nuclear testing could have a negative effect on 
the county from discouraging tourism, new residents and 
businesses.

The Board will also look at approving the financing of the new 
county building through a specifically worded resolution.

The lease-to-own contract would finance the construction of the 
new county administration building located off Beale Street near 
the sheriff's office in Kingman.

The supervisors will also look at setting June 7 for a public 
hearing to revise fees for the environmental health division and 
the nursing service division of the county public health 
department.

Also under discussion is the $850 million buy-out of UniSource 
Energy Corp. by Saguaro Utility group in November. The meeting is 
expected to be held in closed session.

UniSource provides gas and electricity to more than a half 
million customers in the state including most of Mohave County.

The Board will also discuss approving a transfer of $60,000 from 
the contingency fund to the county jail. The transfer is due to 
an increase in inmate population and other related costs.

The Board will also discuss approving a temporary use permit for 
Kingman Academy of Learning to use county land as storage for 
modular buildings for a new high school. 

Firefighters save house FridayBULLHEAD CITY -- A fire in a 
storage shed Friday morning was extinguished by firefighters 
before it spread to a house only feet away.

Judge denies new trial, amended payments for Bullhead 
magistrateKINGMAN -- A federal judge denied a new trial Thursday 
requested by a Bullhead City judge who was sued by her former 
employee.

Supervisors to discuss bike track, nuclear testing, 
Walker-Johnson feudKINGMAN -- A dirt track for BMX bicycle racing 
in Bullhead City will go before the Mohave County Board of 
Supervisors Monday.

Viola Stybing launched area's first food bankBULLHEAD CITY -- 
Enriching the lives of others by helping to feed families in the 
City for 30 years, Viola Strybing, 1st vice president of the 
Bullhead City Food Bank, admits that she started the first food 
bank in Mohave County with coffee and a few crackers.   

                                
[http://mohavedailynews.com/busdir
*****************************************************************
 35 New York Times: Nuclear Monitor Sees Treaties Weakening
 
 By JUDITH MILLER

Published: May 15, 2004

[T] he chief international nuclear weapons monitor warned 
yesterday that the intricate web of treaties and agreements that 
limit the spread of nuclear weapons was weakening and could be 
endangered unless sweeping reforms to the system were made in the 
United Nations Security Council and elsewhere.

Speaking at the New York-based Council on Foreign Relations,
Mohamed ElBaradei, the director of the International Atomic
Energy Agency, said he and President Bush had discussed at the
White House working jointly toward a package of measures to
bolster the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and on other reforms
that he called crucial to stopping the spread of nuclear,
biological, and chemical weapons. 

Specifically, he said, he and the Bush administration had
discussed a proposal to spend between $50 million and $100
million over the next five years to better guard stockpiles of
highly enriched uranium in atomic power reactors and other
sources throughout the world. Experts have warned that
terrorists who obtained such material could use it to make
nuclear or radiological weapons. 

He said Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham of the United States
would travel to the atomic agency's headquarters in Vienna this
month to announce details of the program. 

Jeanne Lopatto, spokeswoman for the Energy Department, confirmed
that the administration was developing a plan to "accelerate and
expand efforts to secure and remove high-risk nuclear and
radiological materials.''

 Dr. ElBaradei said Mr. Bush and he had also agreed on the need
to supplement the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, the main
treaty that seeks to limit the spread of nuclear weapons, and to
strengthen both the agency's ability to inspect suspect nuclear
facilities and international controls on sales of nuclear
technology. Both agreed, he added, on the need to penalize
states that opt out of the treaty after acquiring nuclear
equipment under the guise of a peaceful program.

He said there was further agreement on the need to find a way to
deny countries that refuse to sign the treaty, or those that are
suspected of cheating on it, access to technology that enriches
uranium or reprocesses fuel that has been used in peaceful
nuclear reactors. Such material can also be used in nuclear
bombs.

 Although he said Mr. Bush and he had disagreed about "some
approaches and specific proposals," he said he was struck by the
substantial degree of agreement about the need for urgent
reform. This assertion by Dr. ElBaradei, an Egyptian citizen who
studied law in New York, surprised several who heard the speech,
given previous tensions between the atomic agency and the
administration over the invasion of Iraq and over charges by
some in the administration that the agency has been too tolerant
of nuclear cheating and other treaty violations by member
nations like Iran.

Dr. ElBaradei said that his agency was not ready to state that
Iran was not using its peaceful nuclear program to acquire
nuclear weapons, but that Tehran was now cooperating more fully
with his agency than it had in the past. In a brief telephone
interview after his speech, he said that although he expected to
receive a "good deal of information" from Iran in the next two
weeks, he did not know whether Iran would clear up questions
about its nuclear program in time for his agency's board of
governors meeting in June.

He said that while Iran had the technology to enrich uranium, he
had no proof that such uranium had been processed to a level
adequate to make a nuclear bomb.

"We will close the file when we have dealt with all the issues
that require to be investigated," he said.

 Iran has been pressing the monitoring agency to state that it
does not have a nuclear weapons program, while the Bush
administration has been pushing the agency to go to the Security
Council with a resolution to punish Tehran for withholding
information about its nuclear activities.

Dr. ElBaradei also said North Korea's announcement that it was
withdrawing from the nuclear weapons treaty posed one of the
most significant challenges to international efforts to stop the
spread of nuclear weapons. He expressed disappointment that the
United Nations Security Council had failed to act against North
Korea in connection with over a decade of the agency's
complaints about that country's nuclear activities. The
Council's lack of action, he said "has not been optimum." 

Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations,
said Dr. ElBaradei's remarks reflected the growing recognition
that the nonproliferation system that had served the world well
during the cold war was now unraveling. "There's a consensus
that something needs to be done," he said. "But there's not yet
consensus on what needs to be done."

      	 Copyright 2004  [http://www.nytco.com/]  | 
*****************************************************************
 36 Tri-City Herald: Nuclear expert takes post at PNNL 

This story was published Saturday, May 15th, 2004 

By the Herald staff 

An international expert in nuclear safeguards and 
nonproliferation has been named director for Defense Nuclear 
Nonproliferation Programs at the Pacific Northwest National 
Laboratory in Richland. 

Thomas E. Shea brings 24 years of experience working at the 
International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, Austria, where he 
helped establish basic safeguards at plutonium reprocessing 
plants and uranium enrichment facilities. His responsibilities 
included safeguard implementation at nuclear operations in Japan 
and India. 

Shea will lead the Richland lab's programs focused on preventing 
the spread of nuclear weapons and terrorism, as well as nuclear 
safety and disposition of materials used in nuclear weapons. The 
lab's research programs in nuclear safety and nonproliferation 
are valued at $150 million. 

He fills a vacancy left by the retirement of former director Jim 
Fuller. 

Shea is a Fellow of the Institute of Nuclear Materials Management 
and founder and past chairman of the organization's Vienna 
chapter. He has a doctorate in nuclear science from Resselaer 
Polytechnic Institute in New York. 

His professional work includes developing verification systems 
for nuclear materials released from defense programs in the 
Russian Federation and the United States, leading investigations 
for a future Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty, verification of the 
Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, and serving on a United 
Nations Security Council panel on disarmament in Iraq. 

Š 2004 Tri-City Herald, Associated Press &Other Wire Services
*****************************************************************
 37 Sun News: Savannah River Site awaits nuclear report

 | 05/15/2004 | 

Facility could be home to modern $4 billion plant

 The Associated Press

AIKEN - The Savannah River Site could soon find out if it's in 
line for a $4 billion plant. 

Linton Brooks, the administrator for the National Nuclear 
Security Administration, says a highly anticipated report about 
the nation's nuclear stockpile was being reviewed and will be 
given to Congress within weeks. 

Officials had delayed locating the multibillion dollar plutonium 
trigger production plant until the agency outlined current and 
future conditions of the country's nuclear arsenal. 

Brooks had joined Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham at SRS 
recently to recognize the Savannah River National Laboratory. 
Brooks declined to discuss the report or which of five potential 
sites he favored, The (Augusta) Chronicle said. 

Other sites in contention for the modern pit facility are the 
Pantex Plant near Amarillo, Texas; the Los Alamos National 
Laboratory and Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, both in New Mexico; 
and the Nevada Test Site. 

"You can't make intelligent decisions if you don't know what the 
stockpile is," Brooks said. 

The plant would build plutonium pits used to detonate nuclear 
weapons. 

Brooks' agency at first wanted to have a final statement on 
environmental effects and choose a site by April. But it was 
announced in January that any decision would wait until Congress 
could review the country's nuclear weapons and what the United 
States might need in the future. 

"In my view, it is a complete mistake to reopen the nuclear door, 
so I am pleased that the administration has recognized - in light 
of congressional concern - that consideration of a modern pit 
facility is 'premature,' at least," U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, 
D-Calif., said in a statement she issued in January. 

Congressional delegates from South Carolina and Georgia have 
pushed to have the modern-pit facility at SRS. 

U.S. Rep. Gresham Barrett, R-S.C., recently wrote to Defense 
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld urging that the decision happen sooner 
rather than later. 

A spokeswoman for Barrett's office said the congressman had hoped 
to have received the report already. 

Supporters say SRS' extensive experience with plutonium and its 
vast infrastructure make it the best selection. 

"We have said from the beginning, if [Brooks] makes his 
recommendation to the secretary based on technical and economical 
matters, that SRS will win," said Mal McKibben, the executive 
director of Citizens for Nuclear Technology Awareness. 

"The secretary has to deal with the politics of it."   

*****************************************************************
 38 AP Wire: Graham, Hollings argue about SRS waste plans

| 05/15/2004 | 

Associated Press

COLUMBIA, S.C. - South Carolina's senators are at odds over how 
cleanup of the nation's deadliest nuclear materials at the 
Savannah River Site should be handled. 

For decades, the facility near Aiken was the place where the 
nation's nuclear arsenal got its power. That legacy left the site 
with waste that the Nuclear Waste Policy Act says must be removed 
to Yucca Mountain, Nev. , and buried in a deep repository. 

But U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., is pushing a plan through 
the federal Defense Department budget that would treat and keep 
that waste at the Savannah River Site. Retiring U.S. Sen. Ernest 
"Fritz" Hollings says any plan like that deserves scrutiny it 
won't get in a budget amendment. 

"We believe expert testimony is required to assess the impact 
this legislation will have on the carefully crafted set of laws 
that the Congress has developed for disposing of nuclear waste, 
as well as its environmental consequences for neighboring 
states," Hollings and two Senate colleagues said in a letter sent 
Friday to the Senate Armed Services Committee leaders. 

Hollings "feels this is some of the most dangerous waste in the 
world, and he wants to make sure it's disposed of properly," 
Hollings spokeswoman Ilene Zeldin said. 

Graham has said the difficulty and cost of extracting the waste 
from the site's tanks necessitates a solution other than sending 
it to Yucca Mountain. 

Changing the law would keep the waste in tanks at the site and 
speed cleanup efforts. 

"The accelerated cleanup program at SRS would clean up the site 
23 years ahead of schedule and at a cost savings to the taxpayer 
of almost $16 billion," Graham spokesman Kevin Bishop said. "Sen. 
Graham remains encouraged that ... we will be able to reach an 
agreement that satisfies the parties and addresses their 
concerns." 

--- 

Information from: The State,  [http://www.thestate.com]   

About TheState.com | 
*****************************************************************
 39 Rocky Mountain News: Flats - dead and buried
 		 		
Steven R. Nickerson Š News

Cleanup workers for Kaiser-Hill Co. use a small vacuum to 
decontaminate an area in former uranium Building 881 at the 
former Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant. The company has 
regulators' permission to use explosives in the building's 
demolition.
 					   				 				 				

Disputed plan may bring early demise to weapons plant

By Ann Imse, Rocky Mountain News
May 15, 2004

Rocky Flats is on track to close early and $1 billion under its 
worst-case budget if it goes ahead with controversial plans to 
blow up two former nuclear buildings and leave two contaminated 
basements buried in the ground. 

Cleanup contractor Kaiser-Hill Co. says the new strategy is safer 
for its workers and necessary because the buildings were hardened 
to withstand Soviet attack. The change is not meant to cut costs, 
it says. 

 The sprawling nuclear weapons plant 16 miles northwest of Denver 
is being demolished, decontaminated and restored to prairie grass 
in a project that began in 1995. 

Kaiser-Hill credits its faster-than-expected progress to 
technological innovations and a near miracle: being able to ship 
the plutonium and nuclear waste out of state without political 
interruption. 

The company is running $1 billion under its own worst-case 
estimate of cost and six months ahead of the planned closure date 
of December 2006. It has run scenarios for finishing even 
earlier, as soon as October 2005. 

Under its contract with the federal government, Kaiser-Hill 
stands to earn huge bonuses for this performance. As a result, it 
has doubled its early profit estimates to half a billion dollars, 
according to a recent Securities and Exchange Commission filing 
by one of its parent companies, Kaiser Group Holdings Inc. 

Watchdog groups are generally satisfied with the cleanup because 
most of the site is being completely decontaminated. But some 
have raised serious questions about plans - already partially 
approved - to use explosives on a pair of former plutonium and 
uranium buildings and to leave concrete basement walls coated 
with low-level nuclear waste as little as 6 feet below the 
surface. 

"I think it's a very bad idea," said Boulder County Commissioner 
Paul Danish, a member of the watchdog Rocky Flats Coalition of 
Local Governments. "A cleanup is a cleanup." 

The blasting plan in particular "gives some people real 
heartburn," said his colleague on the coalition, Arvada City 
Councilwoman Lorraine Anderson. No one wants radioactive dust 
floating downwind onto citizens, she said. 

Kaiser-Hill says that won't happen because the radioactive 
basements will be sprayed with glue and covered with dirt. Only 
then will decontaminated upper sections be collapsed into 
contaminated lower sections. 

The company also says the radioactive basements will be safe when 
buried because the plutonium will be stuck fast to the concrete 
and won't move into air or water, where it could harm people. 

"This presents zero risk, unless somebody digs down 40 feet and 
licks the concrete," said Joe Legare, the No. 2 Department of 
Energy official at Rocky Flats. 

Still, Danish looks at the cost-cutting, the bonuses and the 
changed cleanup plans and comes to this conclusion: 

"I think there's a rush to closure going on." 

Certainly, the cost of cleanup is dropping, and Kaiser-Hill's 
profit is rising. 

Kaiser-Hill originally estimated the cleanup cost at $7.8 
billion, including every dime of overrun money the government 
allowed, according to the SEC report. The company cut that to 
$6.75 billion as of Dec. 31, the report said. 

Kaiser-Hill now hopes to even beat that estimate, said spokesman 
John Corsi. It recently signed a contract update providing 
incentives to cut the cost as low as $6.12 billion. 

But Corsi cautions that much still could happen to change the 
estimates. 

Shipments unimpeded 

When Kaiser-Hill started the job in 1995, Rocky Flats was in 
critical condition. 

Over 38 years, the factory had churned out 70,000 nuclear bomb 
cores. After it stopped production in 1989, the Department of 
Energy, citing the unstable, leaking plutonium left there, 
decreed five Rocky Flats buildings among the 10 most dangerous in 
America. 

The government gave Kaiser-Hill an unusual contract to fix the 
mess. The company had wide latitude to invent its own cleanup 
methods and set its own schedule, said the DOE's Legare. 

"Nobody really knew if we were going to succeed," said David 
Shelton, a Kaiser-Hill vice president. 

Speed was paramount in dealing with the unstable plutonium, which 
could spontaneously combust when exposed to air or flash into a 
deadly nuclear reaction if too much accumulated in one spot. 

"Rocky Flats was considered an imminent danger to the community," 
said Victor Holm, chairman of the Rocky Flats Citizens Advisory 
Board. So the company dove into the work without first spending 
years on planning. 

Today, all of the weapons-grade plutonium has been removed and 
most of the buildings are empty, Shelton said. More than 70 
percent of the radioactive waste has been shipped out of state. 

Plant officials still can't believe no one delayed the shipment 
of plutonium and nuclear waste. South Carolina Gov. Jim Hodges 
tried, threatening to lie down in front of the Rocky Flats trucks 
headed to the Savannah River nuclear weapons complex in 2001. But 
he lost his fight in court before he could interfere with 
shipments. 

Colorado officials also staved off the Department of Energy's 
proposal in 1996 to create a nuclear-waste dump at Rocky Flats, 
so that much of the plant's waste could be buried on-site. That 
likely would have meant environmental lawsuits and years of legal 
wrangling. 

Kaiser-Hill also got lucky in another way. So far, it's found 
very little plutonium under the buildings or leaking from six 
miles of underground pipes. 

Even the soil under the "Infinity Room" in Building 771 - 
so-called because radiation monitors went off the scale - came up 
clean, said Steve Gunderson, the state health department's 
regulator on the Rocky Flats cleanup. "Nothing seeped underneath 
the floor. We were amazed." 

Federal funds also flowed without interruption, thanks to a 
united congressional delegation, Shelton said. 

But more than anything, Shelton credited worker innovation for 
his company's progress. For example, an adhesive was sprayed onto 
huge pieces of equipment, encasing the contamination. That 
eliminated the need to cut up the machines and fit the pieces 
into containers. 

One creation - a huge machine to package nuclear waste - saved 
workers from exposure to radiation, but "it was a nightmare" to 
keep running, Shelton said. 

Trade-off in standards 

With most of the equipment now gone, workers are trying to 
decontaminate the concrete walls and floors of the main nuclear 
buildings and demolish them. In several cases, it's proving to be 
a very tough job. 

Kaiser-Hill has regulators' permission to use explosives on 
former uranium Building 881, and to bury the contaminated 
basement of former plutonium Building 771. It is seeking 
permission to use both strategies on Building 371/374, where 
workers made bomb cores and recycled plutonium. 

Originally, the basements were to be removed or decontaminated 
completely before burial. 

In Building 771 - once rated the most dangerous in America for 
its leaking plutonium solutions - workers have scraped through 
the concrete to metal rebar and still haven't removed all the 
contamination, said the advisory board's Holm. 

"I'm convinced there are areas they can't clean up," he said. 

That's why Kaiser-Hill wants to use heavy equipment to demolish 
Building 771 and leave the still-contaminated deep basement 
buried where it lies. 

Kaiser-Hill's plan to leave behind low-level nuclear waste was 
made possible by a change in cleanup standards in 2003, said 
Gunderson of the state health department. 

Surrounding communities wanted tighter limits on radioactivity at 
the surface, where humans could breathe or ingest it. 

The Department of Energy agreed, but in return, it asked for 
weaker standards underground, so the total cleanup cost would not 
rise. 

"We all knew it would have been difficult to get more money" out 
of Congress, said DOE's John Rampe. 

Now, the maximum radioactivity below 6 feet is set on a 
case-by-case basis. It still must pose almost no risk of cancer 
for someone working on the site, Rampe said. 

Building controversy 

Kaiser-Hill has yet to win authority for its most controversial 
proposal: blowing up Building 371 and leaving its 
plutonium-tainted basement buried. 

That wasn't the original plan. The company proposed complete 
decontamination and demolition with heavy equipment instead of 
explosives, records say. 

Gunderson says Building 371 is probably the stoutest in the 
state, likely second only to NORAD's command center carved into 
Cheyenne Mountain. It has 12-foot-thick beams, and the slab at 
the bottom of the basement is 3 feet of concrete. 

Building 371 also was seriously contaminated, partly because 
1,200 gallons of radioactive water spilled there in 1992. 

Dismantling it and hoisting out huge concrete pieces would be 
very dangerous for workers, Rocky Flats officials say. Even 
Gunderson said that blasting "may be the smartest way to do it." 

Kaiser-Hill now plans to decontaminate the upper floor 
completely, clean the lower floors as much as possible, then 
blast the top into the basement in sections. The basement will be 
covered with several feet of dirt before the explosions to 
prevent the falling concrete from breaking the floor and 
releasing radioactive particles. 

If Kaiser-Hill is forced to cut out the contaminated concrete in 
Building 371, it will take the equivalent of 108 people working a 
month, according to its written proposal. 

But the issue isn't cost, said Karen Lutz of the Department of 
Energy. It's the danger of cleaning the concrete and dismantling 
the building, she said. 

Still, leaders of the surrounding towns are worried. 

Anderson, the Arvada councilwoman, summed up the dilemma: "Is the 
exposure to employees grinding it off more dangerous? Or is it 
more dangerous to leave it in the ground? I think those are the 
issues that everyone is struggling with. Nobody wants any 
exposure to their population," she said. 

The Rocky Flats Coalition of Local Governments, made up of nearby 
cities, objected to the amount of contamination Kaiser-Hill wants 
to leave buried in the basement of Building 371. 

"The coalition board remains concerned that, in the rush to beat 
the 2006 cleanup goal, DOE and Kaiser-Hill are yet again 
proposing leaving unacceptable levels of residual contamination 
at closure," the coalition wrote in January. 

But Gunderson, of the state health department, disagreed with the 
coalition's calculation that the basement will be more 
contaminated than low-level nuclear waste. He also promised he 
will insist on tight limits. 

"A lot of times, we say no" to Kaiser-Hill's requests, he said. 

The coalition also is concerned about the possibility of 
plutonium washing into groundwater. But Shelton said the 
plutonium is stuck to the concrete and won't dissolve. By sheer 
chance, Rocky Flats was built over a deep layer of nonporous 
clay, which protects the aquifer that supplies metro-area 
drinking water. 

There is one building just a few hundred yards from Building 371 
that is so badly contaminated that explosives are not even under 
discussion. 

Every cranny of Building 776/777 is radioactive. That's because a 
1969 fire nearly melted the roof, which would have contaminated 
Denver with plutonium ash. Smoke and water sent radioactive 
material into all parts of the building. 

As a result, the entire building will be cut up and the pieces 
moved to the Nevada nuclear bomb test site, Holm said. 

Refuge will emerge 

One nagging question remains: Will officials find all the nuclear 
waste at Rocky Flats? 

Over the years, former Rocky Flats workers have insisted that 
midnight dumping left radioactive waste in unmarked locations 
across the 6,400-acre site. 

Officials have interviewed 2,000 people and pored over decades of 
records looking for clues on the location of such unmarked 
contamination. Hundreds of suspect sites are being dug up. 

Gunderson said they are still looking, but he's convinced they'll 
find it all. 

In the end, when Kaiser-Hill completes the project, it will leave 
behind one or two buried basements with low-level radioactive 
waste stuck to the walls and floors, six miles of filled-in 
pipelines, and at least three underground water-treatment 
systems. 

The 800 former structures will be gone. 

Then, the mesa will become a wildlife refuge. Whether any 
citizens will be allowed in is still undecided. 

Even the 400-acre industrial section in the center will be 
"perfectly safe to walk on," said DOE's Rampe. But it will be 
fenced off and closed to the public because "we don't want 
someone drilling into contaminated groundwater, or deep 
basements, or waste lines," he said. 

For Leroy Moore, a lifelong peace activist and Rocky Flats 
watchdog, that's not enough. 

"Nobody thinks it can be cleaned completely now," he said. But 
technology will improve and complete decontamination should occur 
someday, he said. 

Plutonium remains radioactive for tens of thousands of years, so 
Moore worries it may rise to the surface after eons of erosion, 
and perhaps earthquakes and floods. 

That's why he'd like to see that potential billion dollars in 
savings applied to further cleanup. 

But that's not the plan. The Energy Department intends to spend 
any savings on cleaning up its environmental disasters elsewhere. 

Cleanup standards Kaiser-Hill is able to leave low-level nuclear 
waste in the ground at Rocky Flats because cleanup standards 
changed in 2003. The community wanted a stricter standard at the 
surface, where the chances of inhaling or ingesting plutonium 
would be most likely. To get this, Colorado agreed to lesser 
standards for the underground cleanup. 

 Pre-2003 standard: 651 trillionths of a curie per gram of soil 
at all levels 

 New standard: 

Top 3 feet of earth: 50 trillionths of a curie per gram 

3 to 6 feet deep: 1,000 trillionths of a curie per gram 

Below 6 feet: Case-by-case review 

Source: Steve Gunderson, state health department's supervisor of 
the Rocky Flats cleanup 

imsea@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-892-5438 

*****************************************************************
 40 ABQjournal: Los Alamos To Conduct 'Subcritical' Nuke Experiment
in Nevada 

The Associated Press 

       LOS ALAMOS      Los Alamos National Laboratory is
planning its eighth subcritical nuclear experiment, dubbed
"Armando," at the Nevada Test Site this spring. 

    Los Alamos researchers, touring the site with reporters this
past week, said the experiment      the 21st of a series     
will use bomb-grade plutonium but that the configuration of the
explosives will prevent a full-fledged nuclear explosion. 

    The detonation will take place inside a high-strength steel
spherical vessel to contain the explosion. The 3-foot vessel,
which has ports that allow for X-ray imaging and other
diagnostics, rests in a sealed chamber about 1,000 feet beneath
the Nevada desert 80 miles north of Las Vegas, Nev. 

    The United States banned nuclear testing in 1993, so such
experiments are as close to a thermonuclear weapon ignition as
the nation can get. 

    The U.S. Department of Energy conducted the last of 1,054
nuclear tests on Sept. 23, 1992, then moved on to what it calls
"science-based stockpile stewardship." Los Alamos now uses
experimental data to check computer codes that describe the
behavior of nuclear weapons, Los Alamos spokesman Jim
Danneskiold said. 

    Los Alamos kicked off its subcritical experiments in 1997. 

    Raffi Papazian, the lab's director of operations at the
Nevada Test Site, said subcritical tests help maintain expertise
and equipment in case the United States decides to restart
nuclear tests. 

    The first experiments in the series were designed to answer
basic scientific questions about the nature and behavior of
plutonium, the radioactive metal at the core of a modern
thermonuclear bomb, Papazian said. 

    Armando is the third, and most advanced, in a series geared
toward certifying nuclear pits      plutonium triggers for
bombs      now manufactured at Los Alamos, Papazian said. 

    Ultimately, the experiments should help scientists
understand such things as how plutonium holds up under extreme
shock, he said. 

    "It tells you how strong plutonium is, so that when you feed
it into a computer, you have the right number," he said. 

    Pits were made for decades at the Rocky Flats plant near
Denver, but it closed in 1989. In 1996, the DOE selected Los
Alamos to re-establish the capability, starting with the W-88
warhead carried by Trident submarines. Congress early this year
cut funding for a proposed plutonium trigger factory,
solidifying Los Alamos as the nation's primary pit manufacturer. 

    "What we are exploring today is the difference between what
we are producing at Los Alamos, which is cast plutonium, and
what was produced at Rocky Flats, which was wrought plutonium,"
Papazian said. 

    Researchers hope the results "will show that everything is
fine, which means a new-built pit functions just like an old
pit," he said. 

    The first pit to meet specifications came out last year, and
the lab has produced several more since. The next step is
certifying that the pits will work before putting them into the
stockpile. 

    The first fully certified pit is expected to be ready by
2007. 

    Papazian said he didn't know how much Armando will cost.
Past subcritical experiments ranged from $20 million to $30
million. 
    
Copyright Albuquerque Journal
*****************************************************************
 41 Cincinnati Enquirer: EPA calls Fernald plan illegal
 
   [http://www.cincinnati.com] [http://www.enquirer.com]  |   
[http://www.cincypost.com]  | 

  Saturday, May 15, 2004 

Storing waste outside silos set for June 

By Dan Klepal The Cincinnati Enquirer

CROSBY TWP. - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says that 
short-term storage of radioactive waste from the Fernald silos at 
the site in northwest Hamilton County clearly violates legally 
binding rules that govern the $4.4 billion cleanup. 

But EPA officials say they don't know what they can or will do if 
the material is temporarily stored at Fernald, outside of the 
silos that have safely held it for more than 50 years. 

In a plan outlined to residents last week, Department of Energy 
officials in charge of the cleanup said they plan to remove the 
silo waste on schedule starting in June. That decision could 
leave bags of radiological powder stored in steel crates at 
Fernald for weeks or months. 

The crisis, and confusion, stems from a threat by the Nevada 
Attorney General to file a federal lawsuit that could stop the 
shipments of waste, and its planned disposal at the Nevada Test 
Site, 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas. Nevada officials say the 
planned storage of 153 million pounds of the silo material is not 
only illegal and unsafe, but it violates the Department of 
Energy's own rules governing the disposal of radioactive 
material. 

"The (rules) do not call for any interim or long-term storage," 
at the Fernald site, said Jim Saric, a U.S. EPA project manager 
on the $4.4 billion project. "They have to treat it, load it and 
ship it. It must be a continuous activity. 

"But I can't tell you how we'd react to" the material being 
stored temporarily at Fernald. "We'd have to look at the 
particular injunction, or any decision the judge makes.'' 

There have been no negotiations between the Energy Department and 
the state of Nevada over the impasse during the four weeks since 
the letter was sent, although Energy Department lawyers have 
promised to give Nevada a 45-day notice before starting any 
shipments. That appeased Nevada officials, who say they can file 
their lawsuit within days. 

Marta Adams, senior assistant attorney general in Nevada and the 
woman who would handle any lawsuit against the Department of 
Energy, said she is concerned that energy officials might remove 
the waste from the silos, thereby creating an "emergency" and 
argue to a federal judge that the shipments must begin 
immediately. 

"My concern is that they're going to move this stuff in the 
driveway and have a critical situation more than they do now,'' 
Adams said. "It's complicated because what they're about to do is 
outside of the jurisdiction of any Nevada court." 

Removal of the waste is scheduled to begin June 14, said Dennis 
Carr, project manager on the silos cleanup for the prime 
contractor, Fluor Fernald. Shipments to Nevada would begin during 
the last week of June, unless stopped by a federal judge. 

As of Friday, the Department of Energy had not notified Nevada 
officials about the shipments starting. 

Carr said he expects the Energy Department and EPA to come to an 
agreement over the possible temporary storage of silos waste 
outside of the silos before his crews start removing material. 
Carr said the material can safely be stored outside of the silos. 
He dismissed as "not credible" concerns over an earthquake or 
tornado potentially releasing the material into the air. 

The silos are surrounded by earthen berms to protect them against 
a tornado. 

"Taking the waste out of the silos is one more inch toward 
completion of this job, and I don't want to give away an inch," 
Carr said. "Once we get it stored in the containers, we can ship 
it anywhere in the world." 

The cleanup has been ongoing for more than a decade, at a cost of 
more than $1 million per day. Congress is placing pressure on the 
Energy Department to begin closing its nuclear cleanup sites 
around the country. Fernald will be one of the first to close if 
the June 2006 deadline is met. 

Fluor gets a $250 million bonus if it meets that deadline. 

On Thursday, the president of a citizens watchdog group wrote to 
Ohio Sens. George Voinovich and Mike , along with Congressmen 
Steve Chabot and Rob Portman, saying the Energy Department 
-should not be allowed to begin moving waste until a final 
destination is identified. 

"DOE is merely avoiding the issue instead of addressing it head 
on," says the letter, signed by Lisa Crawford. "The Fernald 
facility does not have adequate storage capabilities for these 
wastes and this should not become a defacto interim storage 
facility as a quick fix for DOE! 

"DOE must address this issue in an open and public process, not 
only here but also in Nevada, with broad stakeholder 
participation." 

E-mail  [dklepal@enquirer.com] 


 [http://cincinnati.com/copyright] 1995-2004. 
*****************************************************************
 42 ONN: U.S. EPA doesn't plan to stop storage of waste at Fernald site

Ohio News Now: 

May 16, 2004   

CINCINNATI Federal environmental regulators say they do not know
what they can or will do if Cold War-era radioactive waste from
the former Fernald uranium processing plant is temporarily
stored in steel crates at the site.The rules do not call for any
interim or long-term storage at the site 18 miles northwest of
Cincinnati, said Jim Saric, a U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency project manager on the $4.4 billion project."They have to
treat it, load it and ship it. It must be a continuous
activity," he said. "But I can't tell you how we'd react to the
material being stored temporarily at Fernald."The plant
processed uranium metal for the government's nuclear weapons
program from 1951 until 1989, when production ended to prepare
for the site's cleanup.Department of Energy officials overseeing
the cleanup say they will begin removing wastes from a silo on
June 14, even though Nevada officials have threatened a lawsuit
to stop shipments of the wastes to the department's Nevada Test
Site.Energy officials told residents at a community meeting this
month that they could temporarily store the waste on the
1,050-acre site until the dispute with Nevada is resolved.That
could leave the powdery radioactive material stored for weeks or
months outside of the silos that have safely held it for more
than 50 years.Marta Adams, senior assistant attorney general in
Nevada, said she is concerned that energy officials might remove
the waste from the silos, thereby creating an "emergency" and
argue to a federal judge that the shipments must begin
immediately."My concern is that they're going to move this stuff
in the driveway and have a critical situation more than they do
now," Adams said. "It's complicated because what they're about
to do is outside of the jurisdiction of any Nevada court."The
Energy Department has promised to give Nevada 45 days notice
before waste shipments would begin, which would give Nevada
officials time to file their lawsuit.Shipments to Nevada would
begin during the last week of June, unless stopped by a federal
judge, said Dennis Carr, project manager on the silos cleanup
for the prime contractor, Fluor Fernald.As of Friday, the
department had not told Nevada officials about the shipments
starting.Carr said the material can safely be stored outside of
the silos."Taking the waste out of the silos is one more inch
toward completion of this job, and I don't want to give away an
inch," Carr said. "Once we get it stored in the containers, we
can ship it anywhere in the world."If the dispute becomes drawn
out, it could prevent the department from achieving its
agreement with federal and Ohio environmental regulators to
complete the cleanup in 2006.Fluor gets a $250 million bonus if
it meets that deadline. The department could face fines from the
federal and Ohio EPAs if the deadline is missed.Lisa Crawford,
president of Fernald Residents for Environmental Safety and
Health, said the department should not be allowed to begin
moving waste until a final destination is identified."DOE is
merely avoiding the issue instead of addressing it head on,"
Crawford wrote in a letter sent Thursday to U.S. Sens. George
Voinovich and Mike DeWine of Ohio. "The Fernald facility does
not have adequate storage capabilities for these wastes and this
should not become a defacto interim storage facility as a quick
fix for DOE."___On the Net:Fernald: http://www.fernald.govNevada
state Attorney General: http://www.ag.state.nv.usNevada Test
Site: http://www.nv.doe.gov/nts	 			 			Copyright 2003

Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be
published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. 			 		   

[http://www.worldnow.com]     All content Š Copyright 2004,
WorldNow and Dispatch Productions, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
*****************************************************************
 43 Google News Alert - nuclear
 
Date: Sat, 15 May 2004 13:18:56 -0700 (PDT)

 
MOSCOW Welcomes Iran's Cooperation With UN Nuclear Watchdog
Tehran Times - Tehran,Iran
... Moscow wants the IAEA issues concerning Iran's nuclear programs be
cleared, RIA Novosti quoted the Russian official as saying on the eve
of visit of Iran's ...
<http://www.tehrantimes.com/Description.asp?Da=5/16/2004&Cat=2&Num=002>
See all stories on this topic:
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RUSSIA Resisting US Pressure to Halt Nuclear Cooperation with ... 
Tehran Times - Tehran,Iran
Qashqavi told the Mehr News Agency that Iran-Russia cooperation in nuclear
energy is based on technical and legal matters, thus Russias goals
and policies ...
<http://www.tehrantimes.com/Description.asp?Da=5/16/2004&Cat=2&Num=004>
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PROPOSAL for Nuclear Waste Train Splits a Tiny Nevada Town
New York Times - USA
... Vegas. Nuclear waste. ... train. She and her husband earned that money
working at the nuclear test site where the waste is to be stored. ...
<http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/16/national/16NUKE.html?ex=1085284800&en=25b2637cfbb66994&ei=5062>
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OVERHAUL nuclear curb measures: UN
Times of India - India
NEW YORK: The UN nuclear chief has called for a major overhaul of global
measures to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, warning that "extremist
terrorists ...
<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/677183.cms>
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PRO-NUCLEAR Activist Accuses EU Official of "Manipulating" ... 
Bulgarian News Network - Sofia,Bulgaria
SOFIA (bnn)- The leader of an international union of nuclear sector workers
on Saturday accused the EU top official in charge of enlargement of "manipulating
...
<http://www.bgnewsnet.com/story.php?sid=5050>
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ALYN Ware: Shared memory vital to preventing nuclear holocaust
New Zealand Herald - Auckland,New Zealand
... I'm going to start with a memory that shaped much of the 20th Century:
the beginning of the Nuclear Age with the flash of the atom bombs dropped
on Hiroshima ...
<http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=3566645&thesection=news&thesubsection=dialogue>

NORTH Korea lashes out at the US after nuclear talks end
Channel News Asia - Singapore
... out at the United States, accusing Washington of wasting time after
working-level talks on the simmering 19-month crisis over Pyongyang's
nuclear drive ended ...
<http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/85118/1/.html>
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LOS Alamos to conduct  subcritical  nuclear experiment in ... 
KOB-TV - Albuquerque,NM,USA
(Los Alamos-AP) -- Los Alamos National Laboratory plans its eighth subcritical
nuclear experiment at the Nevada Test Site this spring. ...
<http://kobtv.com/index.cfm?viewer=storyviewer&id=10943&cat=HOME>

SAVANNAH River Site awaits nuclear report
Myrtle Beach Sun News - Myrtle Beach,SC,USA
Linton Brooks, the administrator for the National Nuclear Security Administration,
says a highly anticipated report about the nation's nuclear stockpile
was ...
<http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/mld/myrtlebeachonline/news/local/8673991.htm>

BRASH escaped nuclear outrage thanks to Clark Policy rethink kept ... 
Otago Daily Times - Dunedin,New Zealand
He has got away with issuing National's tortured rethink of its nuclear-free
policy without the findings exploding in his face to anywhere near the
extent his ...
<http://www.odt.co.nz/cgi-bin/getitem?date=15May2004&object=JED49B6659EK&type=html>
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 44 Google News Alert - nuclear
 
Date: Sun, 16 May 2004 12:42:37 -0700 (PDT)

 
REPORT: Iran on verge of nuclear breakthrough
Jerusalem Post - Jerusalem,Israel
Iran is on the verge of a nuclear breakthrough, but not in the area of
weapons, former President Hashemi Rafsanjani said Sunday, criticizing
the United States ...
<http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1084677179341>
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RUSSIA wants faster aid for 'rotting' nuclear subs
Stuff.co.nz - New Zealand
... faces grave environmental and terrorist threats unless donors accelerate
a slow trickle of international aid for dismantling its rusting nuclear
submarines, a ...
<http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,2909209a12,00.html>
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FIRE breaks out at French nuclear plant
Times of India - India
METZ , France : A nuclear power plant in eastern France was shut down for
emergency precautions on Sunday after a fire broke out in a thicket of
electrical ...
<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/679188.cms>
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TWO seconds from nuclear disaster
ic Birmingham.co.uk - Birmingham,UK
By Caroline Wheeler. A military helicopter came within two seconds of causing
a nuclear disaster in the Midlands, a secret document has revealed. ...
<http://icbirmingham.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0100localnews/tm_objectid=14246076&method=full&siteid=50002&headline=two-seconds-from-nuclear-disaster-name_page.html>
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NUCLEAR waste train splits Nevada town
Salt Lake Tribune - Salt Lake City,UT,USA
... Kevin Phillips has figured out a way to lift the fortunes of his struggling
hamlet tucked in the mountains about 130 miles north of Las Vegas: nuclear
waste. ...
<http://www.sltrib.com/2004/May/05162004/nation_w/166996.asp>
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BREAKING NEWS: RAF FEARS FOR NUCLEAR SAFETY
Carlisle News - Carlisle,England,UK
British nuclear plants are wide open to a September 11-style terror attack
from the air, the RAF has warned. Meanwhile it has also ...
<http://www.newsandstar.co.uk/news/viewarticle.asp?id=99042>
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NUCLEAR regime overhaul urged
Gulf Daily News - Manama,Bahrain
NEW YORK: The UN nuclear chief called for a major overhaul of global measures
to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, warning that "extremist terrorists"
and ...
<http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/Articles.asp?Article=81745&Sn=WORL>
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IRAN close to nuclear advance
News24 - South Africa
Tehran - Iran is on the verge of a nuclear breakthrough, but not in the
area of weapons, former president Hashemi Rafsanjani said on Sunday, criticising
the ...
<http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_1527906,00.html>

RI to hold nuclear seminar
Jakarta Post - Indonesia
A seminar will be held in Jakarta for two days this week to discuss the
possible development of nuclear power plants in Indonesia. ...
<http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailbusiness.asp?fileid=20040517.M02&irec=3>

US insistence  basic hurdle  to nuclear talks : North Korea
Daily Times - Pakistan
BEIJING: US insistence that North Korea commit to dismantling its nuclear
programme before asking for aid in exchange was the basic hurdle
in low-level ...
<http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_16-5-2004_pg4_2>
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 45 Question on Solar Inverters and Transmission Voltage
 
NNTP-Posting-Date: Fri, 14 May 2004 14:00:21 -0500

 
I'm new to solar photovoltaic applications, and I'm trying to understand
some of the basics of designing for such systems.    I'm employed by the
commercial end user in this case, and we are just cross checking the answers
(most of which conflict) that we have gotten from different contractors.

1) We have been told to run the solar panels in series and build the voltage
to 600V DC, to minimize transmission losses going from the roof to the
electric meter.    600V DC strikes me as an awful lot, and most of the
commercial inverters I have seen want 208V or 480V as input.   I've never
seen one with 600V inputs.    Can someone help me understand how much loss
we might expect per foot of transmission running the DC input to the
inverter at 208V, 480V, and 600V?

2) From the standpoint of cost of the inverter, would there be any reason to
prefer a 480V input (such as, there is a much wider selection of inverters
at that input voltage, or there is a high quality inverter that costs much
less at that input voltage, etc)?

3) How do you feed more than one solar array to one inverter?    Do these
devices typically have terminals in place for five or more input lines, each
of those representing a separate series of solar arrays?

4) Is there any reason to prefer a single large inverter versus many smaller
units?   The one advantage I do see to having smaller units is redundancy,
in case one of the inverters fails.     If you have a 30 kw system, I might
prefer six 5kw inverters to one 30kw system, since the impact of one downed
inverter would not disrupt business.   Another thought that occurs to me is
that you could wire some of the inverters directly to the load, and not to
the utility grid, thereby guaranteeing that some base level of energy is
always available, even during a utility blackout, and without introducing
any kind of expensive battery system.    Only those inverters tied to the
utility grid would shut down in a utility shutdown scenario.    Is a design
with multiple inverters going to increase installation cost or other costs
associated with running the system?

5) One thing I do not understand well enough is why the inverter must shut
itself off if the utility grid is down.    Why can't the inverter sense this
condition and simply redirect any excess electrical produced by the
photovoltaic panels to ground instead of to the utility?    It strikes me as
bizarre that a building must go dark during a utility failure when it has
30kw being produced on the roof.    Is the installation of a auto-sensing
bypass to ground either dangerous or just expensive because it requires some
kind of custom controls?    Isn't there any standard inverter that provides
this?    I do understand why you don't want to energize the utility grid
during a blackout because workers will be on those lines, so for safety
reasons you cannot energize them.     I just don't see why you couldn't
engineer things to keep the building lit, while keeping the utility grid
clear.

-- 
Will
westes AT earthbroadcast.com


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