*****************************************************************
05/27/04 ****     RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL)       **** VOL 12.127
*****************************************************************
   RADBULL IS PRODUCED BY THE ABALONE ALLIANCE CLEARINGHOUSE
*****************************************************************
Send News Stories to news@energy-net.org with title on subject
line and first line of body

                         NUCLEAR POLICY
 
1 UN Watchdog Welcomes Us Plan To Keep Nuclear Weapons Out Of Terroris
2 Israel arrests Vanunu's original 1986 reporter
3 Ha'aretz :the new Vanunu shroud
4 Seattle Times: Brazil-China uranium deal downplayed
5 BBC: US and Russia sign nuclear deal 
6 Haaretz: Tape of Vanunu interview may already have left the country 
7 AFP: India's new leftist coalition committed to 'credible' nuclear p
8 Xinhuanet: Nation intends to join NSG   
9 IAEA: IAEA Welcomes US New Global Threat Reduction Initiative
10 CNN.com: U.S., Russia signing N-threat pact - 
11 AFP: Israel's nuclear whistleblower under close watch since release
12 Online NewsHour: Nuclear Challenge -- 
 
                         NUCLEAR REACTORS
 
13 US: Brattleboro Reformer: Entergy: Utilities should pay costs for fu
14 US: NRC: Notice of Opportunity To Comment on Model Safety Evaluation
15 US: NRC: New NRC Resident Inspector Assigned to Indian Point 3 Nucle
16 IAEA:  Chernobyl's Challenge
17 FT: China set to seek bids for four atomic power plants  
18 FT: China asks for tenders in nuclear expansion  
19 China Daily: Nuclear plants beneficial, but caution is needed Xiao Y
20 Xinhuanet: Nuclear giants eye up China   
21 Asia Times: Vietnam, France sign nuclear power deal 
22 US: Eureka Reporter: Humboldt Power Plant May Soon Store Nuclear Fue
23 AFP: Hanoi's nuke programme gets steam
24 MySA.com: CPS wants more of nuke plant 
25 US: NRC: NRC to Conduct Pilot Inspection Program Focused on Nuclear 
26 US: NRC: Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards, Meeting of the AC
27 US: NRC: Agency Information Collection Activities: Submission for th
28 US: NRC: Tennessee Valley Authority; Notice of Extension of the Scop
 
                          NUCLEAR SAFETY
 
29 US: U.S. RADIATION TESTING ON HUMANS
30 Nuclear Jet Crash Could Kill Millions
31 US: Salt Lake Tribune: $1.5M revives fallout study 
32 US: chillicothe gazette: A-plant workers should not be considered ex
33 US: Times Record: Uranium found in classroom   
34 US: phillyBurbs: CDC Offers $1.5 Million for Thyroid Study 
35 IAEA: Nuclear Security at the Summer 2004 Olympic Games
 
                         NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE
 
36 JoongAng Daily: Uljin county requests nuclear waste dump
37 US: Casper Star Trib: Toxic waste clean-up proposed
38 US: Bradenton Herald: Tallevast well pollution spurs official action
39 US: AP Wire: DEP tests show contaminated wells near former plant
40 US: Bradenton Herald: Pollution found in more wells in Florida town
41 ABQjournal: Nuke Panel Objects to N.M.'s Petition on Uranium Plant 
42 ITAR-TASS: US ready to pay for nuclear fuel supplies to Russia
43 lamonitor.com: Headline News Wallace tours Yucca Mountain 
44 US: Herald-Palladium: Vanished in a cloud of smoke
45 Whitehaven News: CORE HIGHLIGHTS MOX FAILURE 
 
                         NUCLEAR WEAPONS
 
 
                        US DEPT. OF ENERGY
 
46 Groups urge more talk on LLNL lab impact
47 DOE: Office of Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board
48 DOE: Agency Information Collection Extension
49 Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Hanford cleanup danger to workers
50 Las Vegas RJ: Energy secretary warns of layoffs if budget is cut 
51 Media Beat: 50 Years Later, The Tragedy of Nuclear Tests in Nevada
52 chillicothe gazette: DOE gives update on USEC plant - 
53 Las Vegas SUN: DOE warns of job losses in Nevada if funding cut
54 PISJ: DOE issues request for proposals for INL site
 
                          OTHER NUCLEAR
 
55 Google News Alert - nuclear
*****************************************************************
*****************************************************************
                         FULL NEWS STORIES
*****************************************************************
*****************************************************************
 1 UN Watchdog Welcomes Us Plan To Keep Nuclear Weapons Out Of Terrorist Hands
 
Date: Thu, 27 May 2004 11:00:23 -0400

 

 
UN WATCHDOG WELCOMES US PLAN TO KEEP NUCLEAR WEAPONS OUT OF TERRORIST 
HANDS
New York, May 27 2004 11:00AM
Stepping up the battle to prevent nuclear weapons from falling into 
the clutches of terrorists, the United Nations atomic watchdog 
agency has welcomed a new United States plan to strengthen nuclear 

The Global Threat Reduction Initiative (GTRI), announced by US Secretary 
of Energy Spencer Abraham yesterday at a meeting with senior 
officials of the International Atomic Energy Agency (<"http://www.iaea.org/NewsCenter/News/2004/GTRI_Initiative.html">IAEA) 
in 
Vienna, aims to minimize as quickly as possible the amount of nuclear 
material available that could be used for nuclear weapons. 

“The proposal is a continuation and extension of initiatives that 
the IAEA, the USA and others have been working on for many years, 
and with renewed intensity in the past couple of years, to address 
nuclear security around the world,” IAEA Director General Mohamed 

Security issues have become a global priority in the past several 
years, with nuclear weapons related know-how spreading extensively, 
Mr. ElBaradei told a news conference. This makes control of nuclear 
material that could be used for nuclear weapons extremely 

GTRI seeks to set up mechanisms ensuring that nuclear and radiological 
materials and related equipment anywhere in the world are not 

Under the initiative, the US will work with the IAEA and other partners 
to repatriate all Russian-origin, fresh high-enriched uranium 
fuel (in cooperation with Russia and other countries concerned) 
by the end of next year, and accelerate and complete the repatriation 

They will also take all steps to accelerate and complete the repatriation 
of all US-origin research reactor spent fuel, work to convert 
the cores of civilian research reactors that use high-enriched 

They will seek to identify other nuclear and radiological materials 
and related equipment that are not yet covered by existing threat 
reduction efforts to ensure that there are no gaps that would 
enable a terrorist to acquire these materials for malevolent purposes. 

Mr. Abraham also proposed that the IAEA and international community 
join in holding a Global Threat Reduction Initiative Partners’ 
Conference to examine how to address material collection and security 
in places where a broader international effort is required. 
 2004-05-27 00:00:00.000 

________________

For more details go to UN News Centre at http://www.un.org/news

To change your profile or unsubscribe go to:
http://www.un.org/news/dh/latest/subscribe.shtml
*****************************************************************
 2 Israel arrests Vanunu's original 1986 reporter
 
Date: Thu, 27 May 2004 00:12:03 -0500 (CDT)

 
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s1117251.htm

Australian Broadcasting Corporation 

Israeli police yesterday arrested a visiting British journalist who in 
1986 exposed the Jewish state's most sensitive military secrets in an 
interview with nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu.

Witnesses said plainclothes policemen met Peter Hounam at his Jerusalem 
hotel, bundled him off in a car and searched his room.

A spokeswoman for the Prime Minister's office, which oversees Israel's 
security services, confirmed the arrest.

A government gag order prevented release of further details in the case.

According to the web site of the leading Yedioth Aharonoth newspaper, 
Hounam was being questioned on suspicion of committing "security 
offences".

In 1986, Hounam secured an exclusive interview with Vanunu, a former 
technician at the Israeli atomic reactor in Dimona.

His story in Britain's Sunday Times led independent analysts to conclude 
Israel had stockpiled as many as 400 nuclear weapons.

Israel abducted Vanunu and jailed him for 18 years.

Hounam came to Israel for Vanunu's release last month and has since spent 
time with him in a Jerusalem church despite government restrictions on 
Vanunu's contacts with the press.

A spokeswoman for Britain's Foreign Office confirmed they were looking 
into the arrest.

===============

http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0700world/tm_objectid=14279172&method=full&siteid=50082&headline=israeli-gag-order-on--uk-reporter-s-arrest-name_page.html

The Western Mail (Wales)  May 27 2004

THE British journalist who interviewed nuclear whistleblower Mordechai 
Vanunu in the 1980s has been arrested in Israel, it emerged tonight.

Israel Radio reported that Peter Hounam was arrested but no other details 
were given because of a gagging order.

Mr Vanunu gave The Sunday Times information and photographs from Israel's 
top secret Dimona nuclear reactor in 1986.

The newspaper published an extensive article by Hounam that led experts to 
determine that Israel had a large arsenal of nuclear weapons.

Mr Vanunu, now aged 50, spent 18 years in an Israeli prison for espionage 
and treason before his release on April 21.

Sunday Times foreign editor Sean Ryan tonight said 60-year-old Hounam 
arrived in Israel on April 16 to cover Vanunu's release for the newspaper.

"I understand he has been arrested and he has been taken away from his 
hotel," he said.

"We are trying to establish exactly what the situation is, where he is now 
and why he has been detained."

Hounam, now a freelance journalist based in Perthshire, Scotland, was 
staying in Jerusalem at the time of his arrest. He was working on a 
documentary on Israel for the BBC.

Israeli officials were not available for comment.

Mr Vanunu is currently banned from travelling abroad, speaking with 
foreigners or approaching Israeli ports or borders. He also is barred from 
discussing his work at Israel's nuclear reactor.
*****************************************************************
 3 Ha'aretz :the new Vanunu shroud
 
Date: Thu, 27 May 2004 10:10:09 -0500 (CDT)

 
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=432382&displayTypeCd=1&sideCd=1&contrassID=2

Background / Israel v. Israel: the new Vanunu shroud 

Ha'aretz (Tel Aviv)
	By Bradley Burston, Haaretz Correspondent

Fresh from condemnation by Amnesty International for what the rights group 
explicitly called war crimes; taken aback by scorn from ally Turkey's 
prime minister, who equated Israeli house demolitions with Palestinian 
terrorism; the Jewish state this week faced a new challenge from one of 
the thorniest of its adversaries in the struggle to maintain its 
international image as a democracy:

Without apparent consultation with Justice Ministry officials, especially 
the attorney general's office, agents of the Shin Bet domestic 
intelligence service swooped down on British journalist Peter Hounam, 
whisking him off into custody of a determinedly indeterminate nature.

Housan first came to Israeli attention as a member of the team which broke 
the story of Mordechai Vanunu, the one-time Dimona nuclear reactor 
technician whose revelations and photographs of his former workplace 
reverberate even today, nearly two decades after they were published in 
the Sunday Times of London.

The arrest late Wednesday had something of the ham-handed air of Vanunu's 
1986 abduction at the hands of the Mossad, the Shin Bet's international 
counterpart. Even under intense Israeli security, Vanunu's time in custody 
was studded with pictures that embarrassed his captors, such as footage of 
a policeman's hand clamped over Vanunu's mouth, and a shorthand message to 
the press conveyed on the prisoner's upraised palm.

In Hounam's case, after the journalist's East Jerusalem hotel was 
ransacked, he was brought out close to one of the last people Israeli 
authorities hoped to see at the time.

"I was sitting in the garden when he was brought in by five plainclothes 
security men," said fellow hotel guest Donatella Rovera, a researcher with 
the human rights group Amnesty International.

"As they were bringing him through the garden he broke away from them and 
came running to my table. He said 'I'm being arrested, tell the Sunday 
Times'," she said, adding that he was taken away immediately.

A gag order shrouded the details of the arrest, coupled with a directive 
that kept Hounam from meeting with defense counsel, assured that the case 
would not only become an immediate cause celebre throughout the world, but 
that Israel would be seen in as poor a light as possible, commentators 
noted.

"In the only democracy in the Middle East, one doesn't arrest 
journalists," analyst Hanan Krystal wryly noted on state-owned Israel 
Radio.

Told by a veteran foreign correspondent that she was not shocked at the 
arrest, said to have been the first such incident in Israeli history, 
Krystal asked, "Why are you not in shock? In Cuba, for example, you would 
expect journalists to be arrested, not in Israel."

Adding to the sense that Franz Kafka had scripted the incident were a 
string of Israeli officials past and present who - while prefacing their 
remarks by making clear that that they themselves did not know what Hounam 
was alleged to have done - declared that if the Shin Bet had decided on 
the arrest, it surely had its reasons.

The details of the case were not made known to him, said Yuval Steinitz, 
the chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, "But in 
general, the Shin Bet does not arrest people arbitrarily, rather it does 
so with considered judgement,"

If Hounam was arrested it was for serious offenses, said Danny Seaman, 
director of the Government Press Office. "This is irregular and so I 
assume they did not arrest him as a journalist but because they have real 
reasons," Seaman told the media. "The Shin Bet is a serious organization 
that deals with serious issues."

Defense Ministry Director-General Amos Yaron said that he did not know how 
at what echelon the decision was made to arrest a journalist, nor did he 
know the suspicions leveled at him, but the discussions over the case were 
"conducted at very high levels."

Asked if the possible damage to Israel's image had been taken into account 
by those who gave the go-ahead to the arrest of a journalist, "If the 
situation had been reversed, and an Israeli journalist had done in a 
Western country what this journalist has likely done," Yaron said, "they 
would have taken much stronger action on this matter."

Perhaps most peculiarly, Steinitz said that his lack of knowledge of the 
allegations freed him to speculate on the reasons for the gag order. "My 
assessment, and all of Mr. Hounan's past and present behavior suggests 
this, that it is possible that there was a possible violation of the legal 
restrictions placed on Vanunu."

CURBS BASED ON BRITISH LAWS

In a bottomless well of irony lost on many of its participants, the many 
restrictions placed on Vanunu after his April release from prison were 
based on laws placed on the books by the British mandatory rulers of 
pre-state Palestine, specifically, clauses 108-109 of the Mandatory State 
of Emergency statute passed in 1945.

"It's hard for me to believe that this was done in consultation with the 
attorney general's office," said Hounan's attorney Avigdor Feldman, who 
has also represented Vanunu. "This seems to me a hasty decision of the 
General Security Service [Shin Bet], which decided to show Peter who was 
really boss. In the end, we are speaking here of a colossal fashla 
[blunder]."

Feldman told reporters that he thought the affair would end Thursday, 
having caused the country great shame.

"In a most worrisome manner, they are preventing a meeting between Peter 
and his attorney, a step which is generally taken in cases of grave 
security offenses, against terrorists or spies. In Hounam's case, "the 
most you can say is that he did his job as a journalist."
 
Although British-enacted laws were invoked in curbing the post-prison 
activities of Vanunu, enjoined from speaking with foreigners or giving 
interviews touching on his former work at the Dimona plant - widely seen 
abroad as a factory for Israel's never-acknowledged nuclear arsenal - the 
possible allegations against Hounam arise from the native Israeli criminal 
code.

"Israeli criminal law has clauses allowing legal action to be brought 
against journalists, providing that the alleged violations are in the 
security sphere," said legal commentator Moshe Negbi.

"This is something that is not generally an accepted norm in proper 
democracies, but it exists."

Hanegbi was referring to Clause 13 in Israel's criminal code, the same 
clause under which Vanunu was originally charged. According to the clause, 
"Whoever publishes a state secret in a newspaper has committed a crime 
punishable by 15 years imprisonment, without connection to the question of 
whether the information poses or is liable to pose a danger to the state," 
Hanegbi said.

Mere possession of the secret information - whether dangerous or not - by 
a journalist is punishable by seven years in jail.

Moreover, Negbi said, "Peter Hounam was in danger of being brought to 
trial from the moment that Vanunu made public the [original Dimona reactor 
material]. The law grants journalists no special privilege in that 
regard."

In Hanegbi's view, "At time, in 1986, apparently there was better 
judgement on the part of the authorities, who essentially said, 'Let's not 
open a new front against the international press, and not bring to trial a 
journalist for doing his job as he saw fit."
*****************************************************************
 4 Seattle Times: Brazil-China uranium deal downplayed
             
Thursday, May 27, 2004 - Page updated at 12:00 A.M.
 			 			 			 			
By Knight Ridder Newspapers
 			 			
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil — One day after announcing that Brazil was 
negotiating the export of uranium and nuclear technologies to 
China, the Brazilian government yesterday tried to calm fears 
raised by the potential accord. 

"Brazil has not made any decision," Eduardo Campos, Brazil's 
science and technology minister, told the state news agency 
Agencia Brasil yesterday during a state visit to China. 

It was reported Tuesday that Brazil and China would negotiate the 
sale of nonprocessed uranium to supply 11 new nuclear reactors in 
China. 

Profits from the export of uranium, officials had said, would be 
used to jump-start the flagging nuclear program in Brazil, Latin 
America's largest nation. 

Campos also said cooperation with China could extend to enriched 
uranium, an ingredient for nuclear weapons. 

Brazil has been under fire since last year for refusing to allow 
spot inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency 
(IAEA), which wants to inspect centrifuge technology that will be 
used to enrich uranium at a nuclear-research center in Resende, 
outside Rio de Janeiro. 

Brazil sits on the world's sixth-largest uranium reserves and 
maintains that uranium enriched at Resende would be used only for 
peaceful purposes, since Brazil's constitution forbids 
development of hostile nuclear technology. 

During Brazil's 21-year dictatorship, ending in 1985, Brazil 
secretly sold more than 26 tons of uranium dioxide to Iraqi 
dictator Saddam Hussein. In 1989, the head of Brazil's 
nuclear-weapons programs was hired by Saddam as a consultant. 

			

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company
*****************************************************************
 5 BBC: US and Russia sign nuclear deal 
 
  Last Updated: Thursday, 27 May, 2004
 
[US Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham (left) and the head of 
Russia's Atomic Energy Agency, Alexander Rumyantsev, during the 
signing ceremony in Moscow]                                  

The US pledged over $100m for the project                                                           

Russia and the US have signed a deal to recover highly enriched 
uranium (HEU) from Soviet-era research reactors. 

The agreement is aimed at reducing the threat of nuclear 
materials falling into the hands of terrorists. 

It covers 24 reactors in the former Soviet Union, Eastern Europe 
and south-east Asia which, Russia says, contain enough HEU to 
make 10 nuclear bombs. 

The deal is part of America's $450m initiative to secure nuclear 
materials scattered across the world. 

'Global threat' 

The agreement was signed in Moscow by US Energy Secretary Spencer 
Abraham and the head of Russia's Atomic Energy Agency, Alexander 
Rumyantsev. 

[Plutonium from Russia]                                 

'Dirty bombs' can spread radioactive material over a wide area                                                           

Under the deal, Moscow will remove HEU from each reactor and then 
transport both the fresh and spent nuclear fuel back to Russia 
for storage. 

Washington will foot the bill, estimated at more than $100m. 

After a signing ceremony, Mr Abraham said the deal showed that 
"America and Russia were working to reduce the global threat 
posed by nuclear and radiological materials". 

The research reactors have long been a concern to the US because 
of poor maintenance and lax security, the BBC's Steve Rosenberg 
in Moscow reports. 

The fear is that they could be an easy target for terrorist 
groups seeking nuclear materials, our correspondent adds. 

Weapons-grade HEU or plutonium extracted from spent fuel 
potentially can be used in nuclear weapons. 

On Wednesday, at the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy 
Agency (IAEA), Mr Abraham unveiled America's Global Threat 
Reduction Initiative aimed at securing nuclear materials around 
the world. 

The plan also aims to stop potential terrorists from building a 
so-called "dirty bomb". 

A dirty bomb is a device that uses conventional explosives to 
spread low-level radioactive material. 





*****************************************************************
 6 Haaretz: Tape of Vanunu interview may already have left the country    
 
Homepage [http://www.haaretz.com]          

  Last Update: 28/05/2004 03:42   
    
  By Yossi Melman [ymelman@haaretz.co.il] , Haaretz
Correspondent, and The Associated Press   	 
    
Copies of a videotaped interview given by Mordechai Vanunu to a 
local journalist on Saturday may already have been smuggled out 
of Israel, the Shin Bet security service admitted Thursday, 
meaning that the agency may have failed in its task of preventing 
this.        

The videotape was the main reason for the controversial detention 
of British journalist Peter Hounam, who was released Thursday 
night, after being held in custody for 24 hours. The Shin Bet 
claims that Yael Lotan, a leftist activist who conducted the 
videotaped interview, was "a front for Peter Hounam and the BBC 
team."

However, the Shin Bet added, its initial investigation indicates 
that the interview did not violate the limitations set on 
Vanunu's activities upon his release from prison last month. 
Vanunu served 18 years for spilling Israel's nuclear secrets.

The Shin Bet attempted Thursday to justify its decision to detain 
Hounam, calling the journalist "a central source of risk for an 
information leak." The organization made extraordinary efforts to 
explain its position, with the deputy head of the service meeting 
with foreign correspondents at a Tel Aviv hotel Thursday night to 
brief them on the Shin Bet's version of events.

The detention of Hounam, who broke Vanunu's account of the Dimona 
atomic program in 1980s, evoked vigorous criticism from 
journalists, politicians and human rights groups.

The Shin Bet said it had warned Vanunu's brother, Meir, that 
Vanunu was not to meet with foreign parties without prior 
permission, yet Vanunu met with Hounam a number of times. As for 
the interview, the Shin Bet said, "we had to know what was on the 
tape, and we had no other way of doing so except by detaining and 
interrogating [Hounam]."

On Thursday, the Shin Bet also detained producer Chris Mitchell, 
who works for a company hired by the BBC to produce a film about 
Vanunu, at Ben-Gurion International Airport. Mitchell and his 
crew have been in Israel since Vanunu's release, documenting the 
affair. In a search at the airport, Shin Bet operatives 
confiscated a number of tapes from Mitchell.

Hounam: Israel should be ashamed for arresting me After his 
release Thursday night, Hounam told reporters outside the 
Jerusalem lockup that Israel should be ashamed for arresting him, 
complaining of being kept overnight in solitary confinement in a 
"dungeon with excrement on the walls" and limited to "two hours 
of sleep." 

Hounam said he was questioned for more than four hours by Israeli 
security, without being charged. He said he was detained on 
suspicion of espionage, but during the interrogation, the Shin 
Bet admitted it made a mistake in its investigation. 

"I really have to question the standards in this country," he 
said. "This is a country which prides itself on being a democracy 
in the Middle East, and yet what I've experienced in the last 24 
hours I'm afraid doesn't stand up to that."

Hounam was released with no restrictions. He said he was 
threatened with deportation, but planned to leave Israel anyway 
on Friday. 

Attorney General Menachem Mazuz ordered Hounam's release, 
following a meeting between officials from the Shin Bet security 
service and representatives of the Justice Ministry. 
  	 
[feedback@haaretz.co.il] 
  
  © Copyright  Haaretz. All rights reserved   
*****************************************************************
 7 AFP: India's new leftist coalition committed to 'credible' nuclear program

[http://www.spacewar.com/]
 
NEW DELHI (AFP) May 27, 2004

 India's new left-leaning ruling coalition said Thursday it 
remained committed to keeping a "credible" nuclear weapons 
program, but believed in a nuclear-free world and peace with 
rival Pakistan.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's coalition, known as the United 
Progressive Alliance (UPA), defeated the Hindu nationalist-led 
government, which in 1998 carried out shock nuclear tests, in 
polls this month. Pakistan carried out its own tests within days.

"The UPA government is committed to maintaining a credible 
nuclear weapons program while at the same time it will evolve 
demonstrable and verifiable confidence-building measures with its 
nuclear neighbours," the coalition's governing agenda said.

It added: "It (the government) will take a leadership role in 
promoting universal nuclear disarmament and working for a 
nuclear-weapons-free world."

Reiterating statements by Singh and his cabinet, the governing 
agenda said the new administration would maintain the current 
peace process with Pakistan launched by the previous government.

"Dialogue with Pakistan on all issues will be pursued 
systematically on a sustained basis," it said.

jay-er-pk/sct/lpo

  WAR.WIRE
*****************************************************************
 8 Xinhuanet: Nation intends to join NSG   

  www.xinhuanet.com

  www.chinaview.cn 2004-05-27 20:31:32   

    BEIJING, May 27 (Xinhuanet) -- China hopes the Nuclear 
Suppliers Group (NSG) will consider its application to join, said 
Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao here Thursday. 

    When asked at a routine press conference about China plans to 
join the NSG, Liu said that China supports the NSG's positive 
role, objectives and principles in nuclear non-proliferation. 

    China hopes, by joining the NSG, to make its due contribution 
to international non-proliferation endeavors, he said. 

    Established in 1975, the NSG is an unofficial organization of 
countries with nuclear capability which exercises control on 
nuclear exports. It has played an important role in nuclear 
non-proliferation and nuclear export control. 

    China applied to join it on Jan. 26 this year. Enditem 

    
  Copyright ©2003 Xinhua News Agency. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
 9 IAEA: IAEA Welcomes US New Global Threat Reduction Initiative
 
IAEA Staff Report

 27 May 2004 [Dr. ElBaradei and Secretary Abraham at the GTRI
Announcement] 

IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei (left), U.S. Secretary
Spencer Abraham (center) and U.S. Ambassador Kenneth Brill at
the press conference following the announcement of the GTRI
initiative 26 May in Vienna, Austria. (Photo credit: D.
Calma/IAEA) 
  + Story Resources 
  + 
[http://www.doe.gov/engine/content.do?PUBLIC_ID=15949&BT_CODE=PR_
SPEECHES&TT_CODE=PRESSSPEECH ] 
  +  [http://www-ns.iaea.org/security/ ] 
  +  [http://www.nti.org/] 
  + Nuclear Trafficking Statistics 
  + 
[http://www.nti.org/e_research/analysis_cnwmupdate_052404.pdf ]
[pdf] 

The IAEA has welcomed the US announcement of a new comprehensive
global initiative to address the issue of nuclear security
around the world and reduce the threat of nuclear terrorism. 

The Global Threat Reduction Initiative (GTRI) was announced by
United States Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham 26 May at a
meeting with IAEA senior officials at the IAEA headquarters in
Vienna. The initiative aims to minimize as quickly as possible
the amount of nuclear material available that could be used for
nuclear weapons. It will also seek to put into place mechanisms
to ensure that nuclear and radiological materials and related
equipment -- wherever they may be in the world -- are not used
for malicious purposes. 

"We will do this by the securing, removing, relocating or
disposing of these materials and equipment-whatever the most
appropriate circumstance may be-as quickly and expeditiously as
possible", Secretary Abraham said. 

At a press conference, IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei said
security issues have become a global priority in the past
several years, with nuclear weapons related know-how spreading
extensively. He said this makes the control of nuclear material
that could be used for nuclear weapons extremely critical, and
welcomed the proposal on the part of Secretary Abraham and the
United States. 

"The proposal is a continuation and extension of initiatives
that the IAEA, the USA and others have been working on for many
years, and with renewed intensity in the past couple of years,
to address nuclear security around the world", Dr. ElBaradei
said. 

Under the GTRI initiative, the US would work with the IAEA and
other partners to: 
  + Repatriate all Russian-origin fresh high enriched uranium
fuel (in cooperation with Russia and th eother countries
concerned) by the end of next year, and accelerate and complete
the repatriation of all Russian-origin spent fuel by 2010. 
  + Take all steps necessary to accelerate and complete the
repatriation of all U.S.-origin research reactor spent fuel
under existing US program from locations around the world. 
  + Work to convert the cores of civilian research reactors that
use high enriched uranium to use low enriched uranium fuel,
throughout the world. 
  + Work to identify other nuclear and radiological materials
and related equipment that are not yet covered by existing
threat reduction efforts, and rapidly address the most
vulnerable facilities first, to ensure that there are no gaps
that would enable a terrorist to acquire these materials for
malevolent purposes. 

The US will establish a single organization within the
Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration
to focus exclusively on these efforts. It plans to dedicate more
than $450 million to them. 

International and global cooperation will be an integral part of
the GTRI initiative. At his announcement, Secretary Abrahams
also proposed that the IAEA and international community join in
holding a Global Threat Reduction Initiative Partners'
Conference. 

This conference would examine how to address material collection
and security in places where a broader international effort is
required. It would also focus on material collection and
security of other proliferation-attractive materials, such as
those located at conversion facilities, reprocessing plants, and
industrial sites, as well as the funding of such work. Copyright
2003-2004, International Atomic Energy Agency, P.O. Box 100,
Wagramer Strasse 5, A-1400 Vienna, Austria 
Telephone (+431) 2600-0; Facsimilie (+431) 2600-7; E-mail: 
[Official.Mail@iaea.org] 
*****************************************************************
 10 CNN.com: U.S., Russia signing N-threat pact - 

May 27, 2004

MOSCOW, Russia (CNN) -- The United States and Russia were 
expected to sign an agreement Thursday to protect against the 
threat of highly enriched uranium falling into the hands of 
terrorists.

U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham and Russian nuclear agency 
chief Alexander Rumyantsev were to sign the initiative, in which 
uranium from 20 reactors in 17 countries will be brought to 
reprocessing facilities in Russia for dilution.

Washington is funding the Global Threat Reduction Initiative, 
which is expected to cost $450 million.

Abraham announced the initiative in Vienna at the International 
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Wednesday.

The initiative is designed to prevent terrorists from stealing 
highly enriched uranium (HEU) from poorly guarded research and 
university reactors and using the fuel to build any number of 
devices, including nuclear weapons and "dirty bombs."

"Where 100 years ago authorities had to worry about the anarchist 
placing a bomb in the downtown square, now we must worry about 
the terrorist who places that bomb in the square, but packed with 
radiological material," The Associated Press quoted Abraham as 
telling the IAEA.

"It has become clear that an even more comprehensive and urgently 
focused effort is needed to respond to emerging and evolving 
threats. ... Moreover, we are prepared to spend the resources 
necessary to guarantee success," Abraham was quoted as saying.

"But we will need more funds, and heightened international 
cooperation, to finish the job. ... We hope there will be 
universal participation in this. By not only returning fuel from 
our own country (but also Russia's), we hope to set an example 
others will follow."

IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei said the initiative was an important 
step in fighting the black market in nuclear technology.

"This is clearly a key in our fight to control proliferation ... 
to protect ourselves from nuclear terrorists," AP quoted 
ElBaradei as saying. 

"We need to re-examine our rules of the game. We need to adjust 
our defenses ... The first line of defense is having adequate 
protection of nuclear material."

Although most of the countries slated to participate in the 
initiative are former Soviet satellites, both China and North 
Korea are among those that are listed to participate in the 
program.

The initiative will offer participating countries the opportunity 
to safely shut down their facilities or convert the reactors to 
low enriched uranium, and it will provide a means for 
participating countries to safely dispose of spent nuclear fuel.

CNN Moscow Bureau Chief Jill Dougherty contributed to this report

© 2004 Cable News Network LP, LLLP.
*****************************************************************
 11 AFP: Israel's nuclear whistleblower under close watch since release

[http://www.spacewar.com/]

JERUSALEM (AFP) May 27, 2004

 Mordechai Vanunu, who served 18 years in prison for blowing the 
whistle on Israel's nuclear program, is still subject to serious 
security restrictions and under constant threat of being 
re-arrested.

That threat grew more acute Thursday, one day after Israeli 
police detained Peter Hounam, the British journalist who revealed 
the one-time technician's secrets about the Jewish state's 
nuclear arsenal in the Sunday Times almost 20 years ago.

Vanunu was abducted by Israeli secret service agents in Italy, 
smuggled back to Israel and then jailed in 1986 after leaking 
top-secret details about the Dimona plant in southern Israel's 
Negev desert to the British newspaper.

The Moroccan-born Vanunu, 50, is defiant and says he does not 
regret his actions, but denies he had further secrets to reveal.

"To all of those who are calling me a traitor, I am proud and 
happy that I did what I did," Vanunu told reporters upon leaving 
Shikma prison in southern Israel on April 21, to the cheers of 
hundreds of foreign supporters.

"The whole Middle East is free of nuclear weapons. Israel does 
not need nuclear weapons," he said.

He called on Israel to open up the Dimona nuclear plant to 
inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the 
UN's nuclear watchdog.

A convert to Christianity in the 1980s, Vanunu now lives in the 
Anglican church's St George's Cathedral in east Jerusalem.

Reviled as a traitor by most Israelis and disowned by his devout 
parents for abandoning Judaism, Vanunu is viewed abroad as a hero 
and cause celebre for the anti-nuclear movement.

He would like to live in the United States, home of Nick and Mary 
Eoloff, the Minnesota couple who legally adopted him in the 
1990s.

But for the time being, he will remain in Israel due to the 
severe restrictions placed on his movements and contact with 
foreigners. 

He is barred from leaving Israel for a year, and cannot go 
anywhere near the country's ports or airports for at least six 
months following his April release. Both measures are subject to 
renewal by Israeli authorities.

He must alert security services of his movements, and obtain 
prior approval for any meetings with foreign nationals.

Israel has never acknowledged having a nuclear arsenal but 
foreign experts believe it has produced between 100 and 200 
nuclear warheads.

  WAR.WIRE
*****************************************************************
 12 Online NewsHour: Nuclear Challenge -- 

May 26, 2004
 
[http://www.pbs.org

The United States and Russia will sign a treaty tomorrow to 
repatriate much of the enriched uranium the two countries 
distributed during the Cold War. Margaret Warner discusses the 
new initiative with former Department of Defense and Department 
of Energy threat-reduction specialist Laura S.H. Holgate and 
Harvard University proliferation researcher Matthew Bunn. 
  
MARGARET WARNER: Nearly every country in the world has 
radioactive materials that they use for peaceful purposes, but 
are believed to be of great interest to terrorists. This week, 
two Harvard researchers warned that the supply of loose nuclear 
material is growing, not shrinking. Much of the material was 
originally supplied by the U.S. and Russia. 

In February the Energy Department's inspector general said the 
department wasn't moving quickly enough to recover it. Today 
Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham announced a joint U.S.-Russia 
program to recover that material. 

To explain the problem that triggered this and to assess the new 
program itself, we're joined by Matthew Bunn, a former White 
House science advisor and now senior research associate at 
Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. He is 
co-author of the report we just mentioned; and Laura Holgate, 
vice president at the Nuclear Threat Initiative, a nonprofit 
organization devoted to reducing nuclear dangers-- she managed 
nonproliferation programs in the departments of defense and 
energy during the Clinton administration. 

Welcome to you both. Laura Holgate, let's start with basic ABCs 
of this. What is the material that this program is going after 
and where is it? 

LAURA HOLGATE: Well, this program is going after two different 
categories of material. Essentially it's going after material 
commonly called highly enriched uranium that is something you can 
make an actual nuclear weapon with. It's what we made the weapon 
that we dropped on Hiroshima. 

That material is located at... we know of, 130 research reactors 
in 40 countries and several other civilian-type facilities around 
the world in addition to military stockpiles. The second category 
of material that this program addresses is radiological material. 
This may exist in a hospital environment, having to do with 
treatment or diagnosis of disease. It may exist in an industrial 
environment, for example, using it to image oil pipelines. It may 
exist in a research environment to support experiments. But the 
use of that is something that would be much lower casualties, 
much lower impact. 

MARGARET WARNER: Matt Bunn, what would you add to that in terms 
of what the material is and where it's found, and can we assume 
from the description Laura Holgate gave us that some of this is 
pretty lightly guarded? 

MATTHEW BUNN: Absolutely. Unfortunately for civilian research 
reactors around the world which are using this highly enriched 
uranium which is the easiest material in the world to make a 
nuclear bomb from, many of these facilities really have no more 
security than a night watchman and a chain link fence. 

For the radiological material it's often even worse because it's 
in such a wide range of civilian contacts and hospitals and 
industry and agriculture. There are many, many sources in 
essentially every country in the world that use radiation for 
beneficial purposes. Only a small fraction of those would really 
be a big problem if dispersed by terrorists. 

Still it's a huge... that part of it is a huge problem. The 
highly enriched uranium is a finite job. One can easily imagine 
if we take the right actions now ten years from now being able to 
say, I've got that done. That material is secure. 

MARGARET WARNER: Now, explain how that material particularly the 
highly enriched uranium. I said at the top that the U.S. and 
Russia really exported most of this. How did that come about. 

LAURA HOLGATE: Well, it has its origins in the Atoms for Peace 
program that was launched by President Eisenhower. He essentially 
was trying to find a way for the rest of the world to get the 
benefits of the nuclear technology without putting at risk the 
notion of getting access to materials that could be used to make 
weapons with. So this was something that the U.S. and the Soviet 
Union seemed to be able to do together.
 
It also had its sort of element of a proxy war with that as well 
in terms of we supply our allies, they supply theirs. The point 
was these would go to research facilities, that it would help to 
develop the peaceful atom in countries all over the world. At the 
time no one thought about al-Qaida or the way terrorists might 
use this material. 

MARGARET WARNER: Matt Bunn, are the U.S. and Russia still 
exporting it? And are there any other countries exporting it 
either overtly or covertly? 

MATTHEW BUNN: Unfortunately there is still a small global 
commerce in highly enriched uranium to fuel research reactors, to 
fuel reactors that produce medical isotopes. The good news is 
that we are now developing the fuels that will make it possible 
to do those things without using fuel that can be used in a 
nuclear bomb. And part of Secretary Abraham's initiative is to 
get all those reactors that still need to keep running converted 
to those safer fuels. But right now today, there is about 20 tons 
of highly enriched uranium at the civilian facilities around the 
world. That's enough for hundreds of nuclear weapons. A lot of 
that came from the United States. 

MARGARET WARNER: But Laura Holgate, in raising the specter of 
terrorism here, the implications seem to be that is this easy to 
handle for terrorists; what makes this kind of material 
particularly attractive as opposed to other kinds of nuclear 
materials?
 
LAURA HOLGATE: It's not particularly easy. I don't want anyone to 
think that this is something that can be done, you know, in 
passing. But getting access to the material is the hardest part. 
And highly enriched uranium would be the most attractive because 
it's not very radioactive. It can be easily handled by somebody 
without being the risk of incapacitating them in the time they're 
trying to handle it. The designs for how you might transform it 
into a nuclear weapon are well understood and publicly available. 
The amount of material that you need is not overwhelming. 

So if the terrorist groups were searching for a bomb-- and we 
know al-Qaida has said it is -- that is its religious duty to get 
a nuclear weapon-- then the relative ease of use of this material 
makes it the most attractive of the materials that might be 
available. 

MARGARET WARNER: So Matt Bunn let's go to the program. How will 
it go about getting all this back? I mean, are we going to pay 
these other countries to get it back? You mentioned what we hope 
they'll use in its place. But how do we get that going? 

MATTHEW BUNN: Well, really what Secretary Abraham is doing is 
he's putting together a number of small pieces of programs that 
we had already and making sure that they cover the entire picture 
of the nuclear material that could be a danger to us -- that's 
critically important -- and then making sure that we have 
flexible approaches to negotiate targeted incentives for each 
facility to get it to give up that material. 

In one case it might be help with nuclear waste that they have on 
site as Laura helped arrange through the nuclear threat 
initiative in the case of almost three bombs' worth of material 
that was air lifted out of Yugoslavia a couple of years ago. In 
another case it might be help employing the scientists after a 
reactor shuts down. In another case it might be help with 
decommissioning a facility. In pretty much every case it will 
require work to just get the material packaged and transported to 
somewhere where it can be secure. 

MARGARET WARNER: And then, Laura Holgate, what are these 
countries, companies, facilities, supposed to use in its place? 

LAURA HOLGATE: Well, in many cases these reactors simply should 
be shut down. They're not providing a significant research 
capability. There's all kinds of interesting ideas about regional 
centers of excellence that might provide to a group of countries 
a single facility at which they can send their scientists to do 
research or to gain access to medical isotopes. 

There's also research underway that is delayed unfortunately. It 
may be in trouble to convert these facilities so that they use a 
type of uranium that can't be used in weapons -- low-enriched 
uranium. That could be the solution path. The great thing about 
what Abraham has announced is that it recognizes that 
accomplishing the outcome of securing this material is going to 
require a diversity of tools. What he's done is put a whole group 
of tools together under the rubric of nonproliferation as opposed 
to a whole variety of excuses and reasons that they were 
invented. And so now he's said we're going to take this tool kit, 
broaden it and integrate and put it in the service of securing 
and removing this material. 

MARGARET WARNER: Matt Bunn, the phrase that keeps being used is 
that they want this material repatriated, quote-unquote, that is 
sent back to the U.S. or Russia from whence it came. How safe is 
the material back in the U.S. or Russia? Aren't there huge 
concerns about the safety of similar material in Russia?
 
MATTHEW BUNN: That's absolutely true. However, where we're going 
to send it is particular facilities where substantial security 
upgrades have already been performed. And once there in most 
cases it's going to be destroyed -- blended to this low-enriched 
uranium that can't be used in nuclear weapons so that it can 
never again pose that kind of proliferation threat - and, in 
fact, Secretary Abraham's initiative is quite important but it's 
only one of the steps that we need to take. 

The next step we need to take is that President Bush needs to 
work with President Putin at their next summit to sweep aside the 
bureaucratic obstacles that convenient slowing our efforts to 
secure nuclear weapons and nuclear materials within Russia itself 
so that we can get all of those stock piles secured within the 
next presidential term. At the same time, President Bush needs to 
move out to forge a fast-paced global partnership to secure all 
of the material that exists in countries around the world. Not 
all of it is going to be removed under this kind of initiative 
that Secretary Abraham announced. We need to be working with 
countries on the very sensitive and difficult task of getting 
them to help us secure the stuff that's going to stay in their 
countries. 

MARGARET WARNER: Because we, Laura Holgate, have been talking 
mostly about the highly enriched uranium. There's 80 or 70 other 
countries where they're using this less deadly but material that 
could be used in a dirty bomb or something else provides the 
explosive device but could, in fact, people will come into 
contact with it - I mean, that sounds like an overwhelming task 
to recover all of that. 

LAURA HOLGATE: Well that's a real challenge. As Matt pointed out 
the difficulty there is identifying what are the top priority 
most dangerous elements because there's no way that the U.S. even 
with a variety of international partners will address every last 
curie of potential radiological damage. The question is what's 
the most important step. How do you get a collection of people to 
deal with it? Different countries, the International Atomic 
Energy Agency. Prioritization is the critical part. Every gram is 
important but not every radiological device is critical. 

MARGARET WARNER: What do you see, Matt Bunn, as the greatest 
challenges just for securing this material that the program today 
is designed to address? 

MATTHEW BUNN: Well, I think there are quite a number of key 
challenges. We need to make sure that we move out rapidly and 
flexibly to get this material out. We need to be... to be 
creative in providing the incentives that these facilities are 
going to require to give up their material. They're worried if 
they give up the material what happens to those of us who work at 
that site, what happens to our facility, what happens to this 
nuclear waste that it's generated over the years? 

We need to be able to address those concerns flexibly so we can 
get this material out of those sites. And there's a lot of work 
to do to overcome bureaucratic hurdles in Moscow, bureaucratic 
hurdles in Washington to get those kinds of things done. But if 
we do move out rapidly and flexibly on Abraham's initiative I 
think we have a good chance within just a few years of getting 
the potential bomb material out entirely of the world's most 
vulnerable sites and thereby significantly reducing the chance 
that terrorists could ever get the essential ingredients of a 
nuclear bomb. 

MARGARET WARNER: Very briefly, Laura Holgate, Spencer Abraham 
said they're devoting 450 million but over an unspecified period 
of time. Is that enough money? 

LAURA HOLGATE: It's hard to know until we understand what that 
money is intended to cover. Also until we get a threat 
assessment, a very clear vulnerability assessment across the 
board to know what's the first place we need to go. 

MARGARET WARNER: Laura Holgate, Matt Bunn, thank you both. 

MATTHEW BUNN: Thank you. Pleasure to be here. 
  
[http://www.pbs.org/newshour/home.html] 
*****************************************************************
 13 Brattleboro Reformer: Entergy: Utilities should pay costs for fuel rod search
 
[http://www.reformer.com/]   
 					   						 
May 27, 2004 Brattleboro, VT                                                                                 
 			 								 					
By CAROLYN LORIÉ Reformer Staff

BRATTLEBORO -- Entergy Nuclear is holding Vermont Yankee Nuclear 
Power Corp.responsible for all the costs associated with the two 
segments of fuel missing from the Vernon plant.

 Entergy purchased the nuclear power station from Vermont Yankee 
Nuclear Power Corp. (VYNPC) in 2002. Although the purchase 
agreement entailed taking on the liabilities of running the 
plant, Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee spokesman Rob Williams said 
that the agreement stipulated that certain liabilities remained 
with the original owner.

 "I can't get into specifics," said Williams, when pressed about 
the contract's details.

 VYNPC was composed of nine New England utility companies, all of 
which still exist and could be held financially liable for the 
missing fuel.

 Entergy is still searching for the segments that were discovered 
missing on April 20, after the container supposedly holding them 
was found to be empty. The pieces were placed in the container in 
1979, after a fuel rod came apart. 

It is not known when the highly radioactive segments were removed 
from the fuel pool. Most industry insiders have speculated that 
the pieces were most likely shipped to a low-level nuclear waste 
site.

 An exhaustive search of the pool with a robotic camera turned up 
nothing. Entergy is now concentrating its efforts on reviewing 
records and interviewing former personnel.

 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is investigating the matter.

 Although VYNPC no longer owns the plant, there are three 
remaining staff. Their offices are located in Entergy Nuclear 
Vermont Yankee's headquarters on Old Ferry Road in Brattleboro.

 According to company president Bruce Wigget, he and his two 
co-workers stayed on board to manage all the "accounting, 
financial and tax ramifications" associated with the plant's 
sale.

 Wigget said VYNPC was "studying" the May 5 letter.

 "We don't have nearly enough information," said Wigget.

 When asked whether VYNPC believed that the purchase agreement 
assigned all liability to Entergy, Wigget said yes.

 "We feel that they accepted the responsibility," said Wigget.

       Copyright ©1999-2004 New England Newspapers, Inc., a 
*****************************************************************
 14 NRC: Notice of Opportunity To Comment on Model Safety Evaluation on 
 
                        FR Doc 04-11992 
[Federal Register: May 27, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 103)] 
[Notices] [Page 30339-30341] From the Federal Register Online via 
GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr27my04-109] [[Page 
30339]]
 
Technical Specification Improvement Regarding Revision to the 
Control Rod Scram Time Testing Frequency in STS 3.1.4, ``Control 
Rod Scram Times'' for General Electric Boiling Water Reactors 
Using the Consolidated Line Item Improvement Process AGENCY: 
Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
 
ACTION: Request for comment.
 
SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that the staff of the Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission (NRC) has prepared a model safety 
evaluation (SE) relating to changing the testing frequency for 
the surveillance requirement (SR) in Standard Technical 
Specifications (STS) 3.1.4, ``Control Rod Scram Times.'' The 
proposed change revises the test frequency of SR 3.1.4.2, control 
rod scram time testing, from ``120 days cumulative operation in 
MODE 1'' to ``200 days cumulative operation in MODE 1'' via 
changes to the NUREG-1433 (BWR/4) and NUREG- 1434 (BWR/6). The 
Owners Group participants in the Technical Specification Task 
Force (TSTF) proposed this change to the STS in the Improved 
Standard Technical Specifications Change Traveler TSTF-460, 
Revision 0 \1\. This notice also includes a model no significant 
hazards consideration (NSHC) determination relating to this 
matter.
 
----------------------------------------------------------------- 
---------- \1\ In conjunction with the proposed change, technical 
specifications (TS) requirements for a bases control program, 
consistent with the TS Bases Control Program described in Section 
5.5 of the applicable vendor's standard TS, shall be incorporated 
into the licensee's TS, if not already in the TS.
 
----------------------------------------------------------------- 
---------- The purpose of these models is to permit the NRC to 
efficiently process amendments to incorporate this change into 
plant-specific Technical Specifications (TSs) for General 
Electric (GE) boiling water reactors (BWRs). Licensees of nuclear 
power reactors to which the models apply could request amendments 
conforming to the models.
 
In such a request, a licensee should confirm the applicability of 
the SE and NSHC determination to its reactor. The NRC staff is 
requesting comments on the model SE and model NSHC determination 
before announcing their availability for referencing in license 
amendment applications.
 
 
DATES: The comment period expires June 28, 2004. Comments 
received after this date will be considered if it is practical to 
do so, but the Commission is able to ensure consideration only 
for comments received on or before this date.
 
 
ADDRESSES: Comments may be submitted either electronically or via 
U.S. mail.
 
Submit written comments to: Chief, Rules and Directives Branch, 
Division of Administrative Services, Office of Administration, 
Mail Stop: T-6 D59, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 
Washington, DC 20555-0001.
 
Hand deliver comments to: 11545 Rockville Pike, Rockville, 
Maryland, between 7:45 a.m. and 4:15 p.m. on Federal workdays. 
Copies of comments received may be examined at the NRC's Public 
Document Room, One White Flint North, Public File Area O1-F21, 
11555 Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, Maryland.
 
Comments may be submitted by electronic mail to CLIIP@nrc.gov 
[CLIIP@nrc.gov] . FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Bhalchandra 
Vaidya, Mail Stop: O-7D1, Division of Licensing Project 
Management, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, U.S. Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555- 0001, telephone 
(301) 415-3308, or William Reckley at (301) 415-1323.
 
 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Background Regulatory Issue Summary 
2000-06, ``Consolidated Line Item Improvement Process for 
Adopting Standard Technical Specification Changes for Power 
Reactors,'' was issued on March 20, 2000. The Consolidated Line 
Item Improvement Process (CLIIP) is intended to improve the 
efficiency and transparency of NRC licensing processes. This is 
accomplished by processing proposed changes to the STS in a 
manner that supports subsequent license amendment applications.
 
The CLIIP includes an opportunity for the public to comment on 
proposed changes to the STS following a preliminary assessment by 
the NRC staff and a finding that the change will likely be 
offered for adoption by licensees. This notice is soliciting 
comment on a proposed change to the SR in STS 3.1.4 ``Control Rod 
Scram Times.'' The proposed change revises the test frequency of 
SR 3.1.4.2, control rod scram time testing, from ``120 days 
cumulative operation in MODE 1'' to ``200 days cumulative 
operation in MODE 1'' via changes to the NUREG-1433 and 
NUREG-1434 for the GE STS. The CLIIP directs the NRC staff to 
evaluate any comments received for a proposed change to the STS 
and to either reconsider the change or proceed with announcing 
the availability of the change for proposed adoption by 
licensees. Those licensees opting to apply for the subject change 
to TSs are responsible for reviewing the staff's evaluation, 
referencing the applicable technical justifications, and 
providing any necessary plant-specific information. Each 
amendment application made in response to the notice of 
availability would be processed and noticed in accordance with 
applicable rules and NRC procedures.
 
NUREG-1433, SR 3.1.4.2 states, ``Verify, for a representative 
sample, each tested control rod scram time is within the limits 
of Table 3.1.4-1 with reactor steam dome pressure >= [800] 
psig.'' NUREG- 1434, SR 3.1.4.2 states, ``Verify, for a 
representative sample, each tested control rod scram time is 
within the limits of Table 3.1.4-1 with reactor steam dome 
pressure >= [950] psig.'' Both SRs have a frequency of ``120 days 
cumulative operation in MODE 1.'' The proposed change revises the 
frequency to ``200 days cumulative operation in MODE 1.'' The 
Bases are revised to reference the new frequency and to reduce 
the percentage of the tested rods which can be ``slow'' from 20 
percent to 7.5 percent. Industry operating experience has shown 
the control rod scram times to be highly reliable. For example, 
at the Grand Gulf Nuclear Station, out of 7,660 control rod 
insertion tests, only 12 control rods have been slower than the 
insertion time limit (with the exception of test data from an 
anomalous cycle). The control rod drive system has shown to be 
highly reliable. This high reliability supports the extension of 
the surveillance frequency from 120 days of cumulative operation 
in Mode 1 to 200 days. The current TS Bases states that the 
acceptance criteria have been met if 20 percent or fewer of the 
random sample control rods that are tested within the 120-day 
surveillance period are found to be slow. The Bases are revised 
to change the control rod insertion time acceptance criterion for 
percentage of slow rods allowed, reducing the value to 7.5 
percent of the random at-power surveillance sample when the 
surveillance period is extended to 200 cumulative days of 
operation in Mode 1. The more restrictive 7.5 percent acceptance 
criterion for testing the random sample is consistent with the TS 
3.1.4 objective of ensuring that no more than a small percentage 
of control rods are slow at any given time.
 
Applicability This proposed change to revise the TS testing 
frequency for the SR 3.1.4.2 in
 
[[Page 30340]] STS 3.1.4 is applicable to GE BWR/4s and BWR/6s 
\2\. 
----------------------------------------------------------------- 
---------- \2\ Although TSTF-460 includes 200 days in brackets 
indicating a plant-specific value, proposed changes exceeding 200 
days will require additional review and may result in the 
proposed amendment being processed using routine review 
procedures instead of using the CLIIP.
 
----------------------------------------------------------------- 
---------- To efficiently process the incoming license amendment 
applications, the staff requests each licensee applying for the 
changes addressed by TSTF-460 using the CLIIP to address the 
plant-specific verifications identified in the model SE. Namely, 
each licensee submitting amendments to extend the surveillance 
frequency should demonstrate the reliability of the control rod 
insertion system based on historical control rod scram time test 
data, and by the more restrictive acceptance criterion for the 
number of slow rods allowed during at-power surveillance testing.
 
The CLIIP does not prevent licensees from requesting an 
alternative approach or proposing the changes without the 
requested verifications. Variations from the approach recommended 
in this notice may, however, require additional review by the NRC 
staff and may increase the time and resources needed for the 
review.
 
Public Notices This notice requests comments from interested 
members of the public within 30 days of the date of publication 
in the Federal Register. Following the staff's evaluation of 
comments received as a result of this notice, the staff may 
reconsider the proposed change or may proceed with announcing the 
availability of the change in a subsequent notice (perhaps with 
some changes to the SE or proposed NSHC determination as a result 
of public comments). If the staff announces the availability of 
the change, licensees wishing to adopt the change will submit an 
application in accordance with applicable rules and other 
regulatory requirements. The staff will in turn issue for each 
application a notice of consideration of issuance of amendment to 
facility operating license(s), a proposed NSHC determination, and 
an opportunity for a hearing. A notice of issuance of an 
amendment to operating license(s) will also be issued to announce 
the revised requirements for each plant that applies for and 
receives the requested change.
 
Proposed Safety Evaluation Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Office 
of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, Consolidated Line Item 
Improvement, Technical Specification Task Force (TSTF) Change 
TSTF-460, ``Control Rod Scram Time Testing Frequency.'' 1.0 
Introduction By application dated [Date], [Licensee] (the 
licensee) requested changes to the Technical Specifications (TSs) 
for [facility].
 
The proposed changes would revise TS testing frequency for the 
surveillance requirement (SR) in TS 3.1.4, ``Control Rod Scram 
Times.'' These changes are based on Technical Specifications Task 
Force (TSTF) change traveler TSTF-460 (Revision 0) that has been 
approved generically for the boiling water reactor (BWR) Standard 
TSs, NUREG- 1433 (BWR/4) and NUREG-1434 (BWR/6) by revising the 
frequency of SR 3.1.4.2, control rod scram time testing, from 
``120 days cumulative operation in MODE 1'' to ``200 days 
cumulative operation in MODE 1.'' A notice announcing the 
availability of this proposed TS change using the consolidated 
line item improvement process was published in the Federal 
Register on [DATE] (XX FR XXXXXX).
 
2.0 Regulatory Evaluation The TS governing the control rod scram 
time surveillance is intended to assure proper function of 
control rod insertion.
 
Following each refueling outage, all control rod scram times are 
verified.
 
In addition, periodically during power operation, a 
representative sample of control rods is randomly selected to be 
partially inserted to verify the insertion speed. A 
representative sample is defined as a sample containing at least 
10 percent of the total number of control rods. The current TS 
stipulates that no more than 20 percent of the control rods in 
this representative sample can be ``slow'' during the post outage 
testing. With more than 20 percent of the sample declared to be 
``slow'' per the criteria in Table 3.1.4-1, additional control 
rods are tested until this 20 percent criterion (e.g., 20 percent 
of the entire sample size) is satisfied, or until the total 
number of ``slow'' control rods (throughout the core, from all 
surveillances) exceeds the Limiting Condition for Operation 
limit. For planned testing, the control rods selected for the 
sample should be different for each test. The acceptance 
criterion for at-power surveillance testing has been redefined 
from 20 percent to 7.5 percent. This tightened acceptance 
criterion for at-power surveillance aligns with the TS 3.1.4 
requirement for the total control rods allowed to have scram 
times exceeding the specified limit.
 
The proposed change does not affect any current operability 
requirements and the test frequency being revised is not 
specified in regulations. As a result, no regulatory requirements 
or criteria are affected.
 
3.0 Technical Evaluation 3.1 Statement of Proposed Changes 
NUREG-1433, SR 3.1.4.2 states, ``Verify, for a representative 
sample, each tested control rod scram time is within the limits 
of Table 3.1.4-1 with reactor steam dome pressure >=[800] psig.'' 
NUREG- 1434, SR 3.1.4.2 states, ``Verify, for a representative 
sample, each tested control rod scram time is within the limits 
of Table 3.1.4-1 with reactor steam dome pressure >=[950] psig.'' 
Both SRs have a frequency of ``120 days cumulative operation in 
MODE 1.'' The proposed change revises the frequency to ``200 days 
cumulative operation in MODE 1.'' The Bases are revised to 
reference the new frequency and to reduce the percentage of the 
tested rods which can be ``slow'' from 20 percent to 7.5 percent. 
3.2 Evaluation of Proposed Change Over the course of the 
operating life of [Plant Name], the control rod insertion time 
test results have shown the control rod scram rates to be highly 
reliable. During [XXX] years of operation, out of [XXX] control 
rod insertion tests, only [XXX] control rods have been slower 
than the insertion time limit. The extensive historical database 
substantiates the claim of high reliability of the [Plant Name] 
control rod drive system. The current TS requires that 10 percent 
of the [XXX] control rods, or [XXX] rods, be tested via random 
sampling every 120 cumulative days of operation in Mode 1.
 
The current TS states that the acceptance criteria have been met 
if 20 percent or fewer of the random sample control rods that are 
tested are found to be slow. The acceptance criterion has been 
re-defined for at-power surveillance testing from 20 percent to 
7.5 percent when the surveillance period is extended to 200 
cumulative days of operation in Mode 1. This tightened acceptance 
criterion for at-power surveillance aligns with the TS 3.1.4 
requirement for the total control rods allowed to have scram 
times exceeding the specified limit.
 
The licensee will incorporate the revised acceptance criterion 
value of 7.5 percent into the TS Bases at the next periodic 
update in accordance with
 
[[Page 30341]] their Bases Control Program and as a condition of 
this license amendment.\3\ 
----------------------------------------------------------------- 
---------- \3\ Conditioning of the license amendment is 
accomplished by including wording similar to the following in the 
implementation language (typically included as item 3) in the 
Amendment of Facility Operating License: This license amendment 
is effective as of its date of issuance and shall be implemented 
within [XX] days from the date of issuance. The licensee shall 
incorporate during the next periodic update into the TS Bases 
Section the changes described in its application dated [Date].
 
----------------------------------------------------------------- 
---------- The NRC staff considers the extended surveillance 
interval to be justified by the demonstrated reliability of the 
control rod insertion system, based on historical control rod 
scram time test data, and by the more restrictive acceptance 
criterion for the number of slow rods allowed during at-power 
surveillance testing. The NRC staff finds the proposed TS change 
acceptable.
 
4.0 State Consultation In accordance with the Commission's 
regulations, the [State] State official was notified of the 
proposed issuance of the amendments. The State official had 
[choose one: (1) no comments, or (2) the following comments--with 
subsequent disposition by the staff].
 
5.0 Environmental Consideration The amendment changes a 
requirement with respect to the installation or use of a facility 
component located within the restricted area as defined in 10 CFR 
Part 20 and changes surveillance requirements. The NRC staff has 
determined that the amendments involve no significant increase in 
the amounts and no significant change in the types of any 
effluents that may be released offsite, and that there is no 
significant increase in individual or cumulative occupational 
radiation exposure. The Commission has previously issued a 
proposed finding that the amendments involve no significant 
hazards consideration, and there has been no public comment on 
such finding (XX FR XXXXX). Accordingly, the amendment meets the 
eligibility criteria for categorical exclusion set forth in 10 
CFR 51.22(c)(9). Pursuant to 10 CFR 51.22(b) no environmental 
impact statement or environmental assessment need be prepared in 
connection with the issuance of the amendment.
 
6.0 Conclusion The Commission has concluded, based on the 
considerations discussed above, that: (1) There is reasonable 
assurance that the health and safety of the public will not be 
endangered by the operation in the proposed manner, (2) such 
activities will be conducted in compliance with the Commission's 
regulations, and (3) the issuance of the amendment will not be 
inimical to the common defense and security or to the health and 
safety of the public.
 
Proposed No Significant Hazards Consideration Determination 
Description of Amendment Request: The proposed amendment changes 
the Technical Specification (TS) testing frequency for the 
surveillance requirement (SR) in TS 3.1.4, ``Control Rod Scram 
Times''. The proposed change revises the test frequency of SR 
3.1.4.2, control rod scram time testing, from ``120 days 
cumulative operation in MODE 1'' to ``200 days cumulative 
operation in Mode 1.'' Basis for proposed no significant hazards 
consideration determination: As required by 10 CFR 50.91(a), an 
analysis of the issue of no significant hazards consideration is 
presented below: 1. Does the change involve a significant 
increase in the probability or consequences of an accident 
previously evaluated? Response: No.
 
The proposed change extends the frequency for testing control rod 
scram time testing from every 120 days of cumulative Mode 1 
operation to 200 days of cumulative Mode 1 operation. The 
frequency of surveillance testing is not an initiator of any 
accident previously evaluated. The frequency of surveillance 
testing does not affect the ability to mitigate any accident 
previously evaluated, as the tested component is still required 
to be operable. Therefore, the proposed change does not involve a 
significant increase in the probability or consequences of an 
accident previously evaluated.
 
2. Does the change create the possibility of a new or different 
kind of accident from any accident previously evaluated? 
Response: No.
 
The proposed change extends the frequency for testing control rod 
scram time testing from every 120 days of cumulative Mode 1 
operation to 200 days of cumulative Mode 1 operation. The 
proposed change does not result in any new or different modes of 
plant operation.
 
Therefore, the proposed change does not create the possibility of 
a new or different kind of accident from any previously 
evaluated.
 
3. Does the proposed change involve a significant reduction in a 
margin of safety? Response: No.
 
The proposed change extends the frequency for testing control rod 
scram time testing from every 120 days of cumulative Mode 1 
operation to 200 days of cumulative Mode 1 operation. The 
proposed change continues to test the control rod scram time to 
ensure the assumptions in the safety analysis are protected. 
Therefore, the proposed change does not involve a significant 
reduction in a margin of safety.
 
Based on the above, the proposed change presents no significant 
hazards consideration under the standards set forth in 10 CFR 
50.92(c), and accordingly, a finding of ``no significant hazards 
consideration'' is justified.
 
Dated in Rockville, Maryland, this 20th day of May, 2004.
 
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
 
Robert A. Gramm, Chief, Section 1, Project Directorate IV, 
Division of Licensing Project Management, Office of Nuclear 
Reactor Regulation.
 
[FR Doc. 04-11992 Filed 5-26-04; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P

 
*****************************************************************
 15 NRC: New NRC Resident Inspector Assigned to Indian Point 3 Nuclear Plant
 
News Release - Region I - 2004-03
 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 

Office of Public Affairs, Region I
  No. I-04-031   		        May 27, 2004   
  CONTACT:     Diane Screnci (610) 337-5330
 		Neil A. Sheehan (610) 337-5331   		   E-mail: opa1@nrc.gov
[opa1@nrc.gov]   
  


Thomas R. Hipschman has been assigned as the new Nuclear
Regulatory Commission senior resident inspector at the Indian
Point 3 nuclear power plant. He joins NRC Resident Inspector
Robert Berryman at the plant, in Buchanan, N.Y. Mr. Hipschman
replaces Peter Drysdale, who is retiring after 30 years of
government service. 

NRC Region I Administrator Hubert J. Miller said, Tom
Hipschman's extensive experience and commitment to safety will
help the NRC in its mission to ensure that Indian Point meets
the high standards we insist upon for reactor operation in the
United States. 

Hipschman first joined the NRC in December 1997 as a reactor
inspector in the Region I Office in King of Prussia, Pa. He was
assigned as an NRC resident inspector at the Oyster Creek
nuclear plant in Lacey Township, N.J. in 1998. In July 2001,
Hipschman took a position with the National Nuclear Security
Agency in Oak Ridge Tennessee. He returned to the NRC in June
2002 as a reactor inspector in the Region I office. 

Prior to joining the NRC, Hipschman worked as an operations
supervisor at the Salem Generating Station in Lower Alloways
Creek, N.J., and at the Westinghouse Hanford Company in
Richland, WA. He also served as an officer in the United States
Navy. 

Hipschman is a graduate of the United States Naval Academy in
Annapolis, Md., where he earned a bachelors degree in applied
science. He also earned a masters degree in science of
engineering from the Wharton School and the School of
Engineering and Applied Science at the University of
Pennsylvania. 

Hipschman lives in Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y. 

Each U.S. commercial nuclear plant has at least two NRC resident
inspectors. They serve as the agency's eyes and ears at the
facility, conducting inspections, monitoring major work projects
and interacting with plant workers and the public. 

The Indian Point resident inspectors can be reached at
914/739-8565.   



  


 	Last revised Thursday, May 27, 2004 	   
*****************************************************************
 16 IAEA:  Chernobyl's Challenge
 
Clarifying the Consequences
 
UN Chernobyl Forum Focuses On Health &Environmental Effects 

[Ukrainian family] 
The Forum will provide authoritative advice to help people, like
this Ukrainian family, recover from the accident. (Credit:
Elisabeth Zeiler/IAEA) See photo gallery. 	 
  + Facts & Figures 	 
  + 	 [Top 15 Questions] 

	 
  + IAEA-Chernobyl Timeline 	 	 	 	 	 	 
  + Feature Stories 	 	 
  + [Oleseyuk] 15 Years After Chernobyl 	 	 	 
  + [thyroid] Thyroid Cancer Effects in Children 	 
  + [agricultural consequences] Countering Agricultural
Consequences 	 
  + [Seeds of Promise] Seeds of Promise for Farmers 	 	 
  + [Ukrainian Dairy] Prospects for Ukrainian Dairy 	 	 
  + [Liquidators] Chernobyl's Liquidators 	 	 
  + [Websites] Chernobyl on the Web 
News Updates
 	 
Chernobyl: Clarifying Consequences
 

Eighteen years after the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident,
people in the region still live 	with wildly varying reports
about what impact the accident will have on their families’
future health and the environment. The IAEA initiated “UN
Chernobyl Form” is working to give people in the affected
villages greater certainty, by issuing factual, authoritative
statements on the health effects caused by radiation exposure
from the reactor explosion and its environmental consequences.
Full Story » 	 

UN Chernobyl Forum Activities
 	 
  + UN Forum Seeks End to Chernobyl Confusion
[http://www.enn.com/news/2004-04-28/s_23248.asp] , Press Story,
26 April 2004 	 
  + Terms of Reference & Work Plan
[http://www-rasanet.iaea.org/downloads/waste-safety/chernobyl_for
um_launch_2003.pdf] 		
  + Experts Meet 3-5 February 2003 to Set Roles and Work Plans 		
  + Forum Sharpens Focus on Consequences,
 6 Feb 2003 		
  + IAEA Nuclear Security & Safety Pages
[http://www-rasanet.iaea.org/meetings/chernobyl_forum.htm]  		
  + For further information: M. Balonov [M.Balonov@iaea.org] 	
 	
Background & Key Documents
 	 
  + The Human Consequences of the Chernobyl Accident: A Strategy
for Recovery
[http://www.undp.org/dpa/publications/chernobyl.pdf] ,
 UN Report 2002 		
  + UN organizations Call for Action,
 February 2002 		
  + Ten years After Chernobyl 		
  + Executive Summary Kiev Conference, 
		English : Russian 		
  + Post-Chernobyl Global Co-operation: 5 Years Later, April
1991 		
  + The Chernobyl Shelter Fund: A report from EBRD 		 	 	 
Copyright 2003, International Atomic Energy Agency, P.O. Box
100, Wagramer Strasse 5, A-1400 Vienna, Austria 
Telephone (+431) 2600-0; Facsimile (+431) 2600-7; E-mail:
Official.Mail@iaea.org [Official.Mail@iaea.org] 
*****************************************************************
 17 FT: China set to seek bids for four atomic power plants  

  By James Kynge in Beijing and Andrew Taylor in London  

  Published: May 27 2004 5:00 | Last Updated: May 27 2004 5:00  
     
China is to invite inter-national tenders before the end of this 
year for four new nuclear power reactors, as part of a huge 
nuclear expansion programme designed to reduce dependence on 
imported fuel and plug growing gaps in electricity generating 
capacity. 

China is the world's biggest potential market for nuclear power, 
at a time when few countries outside Asia are considering 
building new reactors. The government has proposed increasing its 
nuclear capacity from about 8 gigawatts to about 40GW by 2020.

To meet this target would require construction of about two 
reactors a year, each costing about $1.5bn (¬1.2bn, £827m) 
according to the London-based World Nuclear Association. The 
scale of development would be similar in size to the large 
nuclear power construction programme conducted by France in the 
1980s.

The next round of development will involve four reactors of 1GW 
each - two to be installed in a new plant at Yangjiang, Guangdong 
province, and two in the new Sanmen plant in Zhejiang province - 
officials said. The construction of both plants is due to start 
in 2006.

Framatome, the French nuclear engineering group, is expected to 
be one of the favourites to develop the Guangdong site, as it has 
already provided four reactors on an adjacent site. Candu, the 
Canadian nuclear developer, has similarly provided two reactors 
at the Sanmen site.

Other potential developers include Westinghouse, the US nuclear 
engineering group owned by British Nuclear Fuels; and GE of the 
US in partnership with Japanese engineering groups.

"We are holding the tenders in order to get competitive prices," 
said an executive at China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC), a 
state-owned entity. "They bring in the technology and then it 
will help us to develop our own," he added.

China already produces electricity from nine nuclear reactors, 
with another two Russian-built reactors under construction in 
Jiangsu province, north of Shanghai.

A recent government blueprint foresees China increasing its 
nuclear power capacity sixfold by 2020.

The resultant investment bonanza, which is expected to total more 
than $30bn, follows an erosion of concerns over the safety, cost 
and waste disposal issues associated with nuclear power.

China has been deeply concerned over its growing dependence on 
imported oil and the air pollution caused by its coal-fired power 
stations.

Nuclear power represents a way of diversifying the mix of China's 
energy sources and reducing Beijing's reliance on uncertain 
foreign supply sources.

One beneficiary of China's appetite may be Brazil. Brazil will 
help in the construction of 11 nuclear power plants and may do a 
deal to sell uranium to China, according to a spokeswoman 
accompanying the delegation of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, 
Brazil's president, in China yesterday.  
     
      © Copyright The Financial Times Ltd 2004. "FT" and
"Financial Times" are trademarks of the Financial Times. Privacy
*****************************************************************
 18 FT: China asks for tenders in nuclear expansion  

  By James Kynge in Beijing and Andrew Taylor in London  

  Published: May 27 2004 5:00 | Last Updated: May 27 2004 5:00  
     
* Reactor capacity to be raised from 8GW to 40GW 

* Total investment expected to be more than $30bn

China is to invite international tenders before the end of this 
year for four new nuclear power reactors as part of a huge 
nuclear expansion programme designed to reduce dependence on 
imported fuel and plug growing gaps in electricity generating 
capacity.

China is the world's biggest potential market for nuclear power 
at a time when few other countries outside Asia are considering 
building new reactors. The government has proposed increasing its 
nuclear capacity from about 8 gigawatts to about 40GW by 2020.

To meet this target would require construction of about two 
reactors a year, each costing about $1.5bn according to the 
London-based World Nuclear Association. The scale of development 
would be similar in size to the large nuclear power construction 
programme conducted by France in the 1980s.

The next round of development will involve four reactors of 1GW 
each - two to be installed in a new plant in Yangjiang, Guangdong 
province, and two in the new Sanmen plant in Zhejiang province - 
officials said. Construction of both plants is due to start in 
2006.

Framatome, the French nuclear engineering group, is expected to 
be one of the favourites to develop the Guandong site as it has 
already provided four reactors on an adjacent site. Candu, the 
Canadian nuclear developer, has similarly provided two reactors 
at the Sanmen site.

Other potential developers include Westinghouse, the US nuclear 
engineering group owned by British Nuclear Fuels; and GE of the 
US, in partnership with Japanese engineering groups. National 
governments have been campaigning on behalf of their companies 
for several months, executives said.

"We are holding the tenders in order to get competitive prices. 
This tender is being conducted according to the principle of 'our 
market for your technology'," said an executive at China National 
Nuclear Corporation, a state-owned entity.

"They bring in the technology and then it will help us to develop 
our own," he added.

China already produces electricity from nine nuclear reactors 
with another two Russian-built reactors under construction in 
Jiangsu province, north of Shanghai.

A recent government blueprint foresees China increasing its 
nuclear power capacity sixfold by 2020. The resultant investment 
bonanza, which is expected to total more than $30bn, follows an 
erosion of concerns over the safety, cost and waste disposal 
associated with nuclear power.

China has been concerned over its growing dependence on imported 
oil and the air pollution caused by its coal-fired power 
stations. Nuclear power represents a way of diversifying the mix 
of China's energy sources and reducing Beijing's reliance on 
foreign supplies.

In addition to the four reactors to be put out for foreign tender 
this year, CNNC is to start building four generators using mainly 
domestic technology next year at two existing nuclear power 
stations: one at Qinshan in the east coast province of Zhejiang 
and the other at Ling'ao in the southern province of Guangdong.

One beneficiary of China's appetite may be Brazil, which will 
help in the construction of 11 nuclear power plants and may do a 
deal to sell uranium to China, a spokeswoman accompanying the 
delegation of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Brazil's president, said 
in China yesterday.

Nuclebras Equipamentos Pesados, a Brazilian state-owned company, 
would take part in the projects. "In the future, the agreement 
could also include the transfer of Brazil's uranium-enriching 
technology to China but a commercial deal to sell uranium is what 
the Chinese want to work on right away," the company said.  
     
      © Copyright The Financial Times Ltd 2004. "FT" and
"Financial Times" are trademarks of the Financial Times. Privacy
*****************************************************************
 19 China Daily: Nuclear plants beneficial, but caution is needed Xiao Yang

 2004-05-28 06:38

The central government mapped out a scheme earlier this year to 
quadruple the current amount of nuclear power in use nationwide 
by 2020 and raise the share of this type of energy in the 
country's overall electricity output to 4 per cent.

Some two decades after China started building its first nuclear 
power plant, the country now has nine nuclear power units 
operating in Qinshan in Zhejiang Province, Daya Bay and Ling'ao 
in Guangdong Province, providing a total of 8.7 million kilowatts 
in energy.

The clear-cut goal is in sharp contrast with the government"s 
previous stance on the issue, which simply favoured "moderate 
development" of nuclear plants.

The change comes at a time when China is suffering widespread 
electricity shortages as conventional hydro- and thermo-power 
stations cannot sufficiently supply the demands of the nation's 
booming industries. The construction of more plants is intended 
to ease these shortages.

Nuclear reactors have proven to be a clean and efficient source 
of power without the byproducts of thermo-power stations, such as 
dust emissions, carbon dioxide and sulfides which cause the 
greenhouse effect and acid rain.

According to estimates from experts, realizing the government's 
goal to quadruple the country's gross domestic product from the 
2000 level by the year 2020 will involve more than 450 million 
kilowatts of new power-generating capacity, which is equivalent 
to burning 1.2 billion tons of coal.

Construction of nuclear power plants will reduce the unbearable 
pressure on mining and transportation and avoid further damaging 
the fragile environment.

China's huge need for nuclear power will also bring forth bright 
hope for the declining international nuclear power industry.

Despite all the advantages of nuclear power, however, one 
question remains worrying: nuclear waste disposal.

Even in countries with advanced nuclear power technology, the 
disposal of radioactive waste is technically a hard nut to crack 
and requires extremely cautious handling.

Although the central government already has a decree on the 
administration of nuclear materials, rules concerning nuclear 
waste disposal are little-known by the public compared to the 
attention on the construction of nuclear power plants.

The government should work out a clear design on how to take good 
care of waste disposal before kicking off its nuclear power 
projects.


(China Daily 05/28/2004 page6)       
*****************************************************************
 20 Xinhuanet: Nuclear giants eye up China   

  www.xinhuanet.com

  www.chinaview.cn 2004-05-27 13:22:58   

    BEIJING, May.27 (Xinhuanet) -- Foreign nuclear power 
companies from the United States, France and Russia have geared 
up their sales pitches in China over the past few months as China 
is selecting partners to help develop its nuclear power industry. 

    It is widely anticipated that the potential partners could 
win billions of dollar in technology and equipment export 
contracts and hire thousands more workers as China is planning to 
launch a massive nuclear power construction scheme over the next 
few years. 

    Earlier this month, a vice-president from the 
Pittsburgh-based but UK-owned Westinghouse came to Beijing to 
meet executives from the China National Nuclear Corp (CNNC), the 
nation's major nuclear power conglomerate. 

    The visit is the US side's latest promotional activity. In 
April, US Vice-President Dick Cheney flew to Beijing to talk with 
leading Chinese Government officials on terrorism and the 
Democratic People's Republic of Korea's nuclear issues, but he 
also promoted Westinghouse's nuclear power technology to Chinese 
leaders. 

    Coinciding with Cheney's visit, Anne Lauvergeon, president 
and CEO of French nuclear giant Areva, was in China to discuss 
business co-operation opportunities with CNNC executives. 

    While the development of nuclear power stagnates in other 
parts of the world, China has become a "nuclear goldmine" that 
everyone is coveting. 

    Beijing has unveiled a massive new round of nuclear power 
plant construction. China wants to use more clean energy such as 
natural gas and nuclear power to meet the surging energy demands 
in its economically booming coastal areas and also reduce 
pollution. 

    The government plans to raise the country's nuclear power 
generating capacity fourfold to 36,000 megawatts by 2020. That 
can be translated into at least two more nuclear reactors 
annually over the next 16 years. 

    "China's market is probably showing the future of the world 
nuclear industry," said Rene de Preneuf, the chief China 
representative of Areva. 

    More importantly, China is considering picking up one strong 
partner to help it build dozens of new nuclear plants over the 
coming years. 

    By selecting one partner, China wants to standardize 
technology and build up competence. 

    This standardization helps the operators cut costs with the 
mass production of equipments. And it also helps improve the 
skills and capability of local suppliers more quickly, and thus 
increase the localization of the new nuclear plants. 

    China now has 11 nuclear reactors operating and under 
construction in East China's Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces and 
South China's Guangdong Province, importing technology from 
France, Russia and Canada. 

    Analysts say China is likely to duplicate more reactors, with 
improvements in current technology, on existing sites for quick 
expansion. Meanwhile, it will also seek the latest technology 
from the foreign partner to build new reactors at new sites. 

    By duplication, the nuclear plant could slash the costs by as 
much as 25 per cent as a result of the standardized designs, 
shared infrastructure, increased localization and shorter 
construction period, said Gary Kugler, senior vice-president of 
Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. 

    CNNC General Manager Kang Rixin said the company is expected 
to duplicate new reactors at Qinshan Phase II in Zhejiang and at 
the Ling'ao plant in Guangdong. The Qinshan Phase II now has 
installed two self-developed 600-megawatt reactors, while two 
1,000-megawatt French reactors are operating at the Ling'ao 
plant. 

    CNNC will also invite international tenders for new plants in 
Sanmen in Zhejiang Province and Yangjiang in Guangdong Province, 
said Kang. 

    Both plants are understood to be equipped with at least two 
1,000-megawatt nuclear reactors each. 

    For the new plants, it is not clear whether China will 
implement the latest next-generation reactors right now or will 
the current technology with some improvements. 

    Areva's de Preneuf believes it is more pragmatic for China to 
adopt a step-by-step approach, rather than jump to the latest 
Generation III at once. 

    "If you stick to Generation II Plus, the advantage is that 
you can increase the localization more as much of the technology 
has been transferred," said de Preneuf. 

    "If you jump from now to Generation III, you will have some 
bottlenecks in the manufacturing of key components," Preneuf 
continued. 

    Experts said the major competition of selecting the partner 
will be between Areva and Westinghouse. 

    Areva supplied four nuclear reactors to China's Daya Bay and 
Ling'ao Nuclear Power plant through Framatomen ANP - a joint 
venture between Areva and Germany's Siemens. 

    It was also involved in supplying technology and equipment to 
the other two plants in Qinsha Phase II and Tianwan. 

    No Westinghouse reactors are currently operating in China. 
Westinghouse plans to sell its new AP1000 reactor which is to be 
approved by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission within this 
year. 

    Both Areva and Westinghouse say they are confident of carving 
a niche into the Chinese market. 

    Both stressed their long-relationship with Chinese industry, 
their low costs and willingness to transfer technology. 

    "We have been working in China for more than 20 years," said 
de Preneuf. 

    "We have been introducing new technology. Our competitors, 
however, did not do this for quite a long time. They only have 
paper products." 

    Stressing that its technology has logged a total of 2,500 
years of safe operation through out the world, Westinghouse 
claimed its AP 1000 was the safest, most economical reactor in 
the marketplace. 

    Vaughn Gilbert, the spokesman for Westinghouse, also stressed 
co-operation between China and the United States. He said Chinese 
engineers have participated in the development of the AP600, the 
precursor to the AP1000 design. 

    Analysts said politics will also play a role in deciding the 
partnership. The high-tech export has been raised as an issue in 
Beijing's talks with Washington to resolve the huge trade deficit 
between the two nations. 

    He Yafei, director-general of the ministry's Department of 
North American and Oceania Affairs, has said China was interested 
in buying US nuclear power technology to build nuclear power 
stations. But he added that export restrictions imposed by the 
United States has impeded this co-operation. 

    Although attaching importance to foreign co-operation, 
Chinese officials also say they will increase domestic input in 
the new reactors with increased localization until the nation can 
rely on its own in this field. 

    Unlike the earlier turn-key projects in which China directly 
imported existing foreign technology, Beijing will set its own 
standards and specifications for the new reactors, Chinese 
officials and foreign executives said. 

    "We should rely on ourselves, supplemented with foreign 
co-operation. In the long run, it could be a third way neither 
ERP nor AP1000 but a Chinese way," said one CNNC official. 

    Chinese officials said they will stick to the 
pressurized-water reactor technology and have ruled out the 
possibilities of launching heavywater reactors in the near 
future. But Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd (AECL), which only 
supplies heavywater reactors, also has an eye on long-term 
prospects. 

    "We are very patient," said AECL's Kugler. "It's such a huge 
market. All we need to do is to prove our strength." 

    AECL supplies two 728-megawatt Candu units to Qinshan Nuclear 
Power Phase III, which are the only two heavywater reactors in 
China. 

    Kugler recommends China to adopt both pressurized-water and 
heavywater technology for the sake of diversification and 
security. 

    "Don't put all your eggs in one basket," said Kugler. "If 
there is one flaw in one type of reactor, then you do not have to 
shut down all the reactors for inspection." 

    The company is developing the Candu 6 which could be with 
lower costs and higher safety controls, and will market it in 
three years.Enditem 

    (China Daily) 

  Copyright ©2003 Xinhua News Agency. All rights reserved. 
*****************************************************************
 21 Asia Times: Vietnam, France sign nuclear power deal 

[http://www.atimes.com

HANOI - Vietnam and France on Wednesday signed an agreement on 
nuclear cooperation for peaceful purposes.

 Nguyen Xuan Thuy, Vietnam's Deputy Minister of Industry, and a 
representative of France's Ministry of Economy, Finance and 
Industry signed the document, according to which Paris pledged to 
support Vietnam in developing its fledgling nuclear technology.

France displayed a stand at an exhibition on nuclear power 
technology in Hanoi on Wednesday, igniting hope for increased 
access to electricity through the Vietnamese nuclear industry.

 Five countries among the world's leading nuclear electricity 
producers - India, France, Japan, South Korea and Russia 
-attended the exhibition. 

They outlined their experience in radioactive waste management, 
methods of operating a nuclear reactor and safe storage of 
radioactivity material and the advantages of a nuclear power 
plant.

"Vietnam is preparing to build its first nuclear power plant in 
the central coast by 2020," the director of the Vietnam Atomic 
Energy Commission, Vuong Huu Tan said. The nuclear power plant is 
expected to have a capacity of 2,000 to 4,000 milliwatts.

 Demand for electricity is expected to grow by 13 percent each 
year until 2010, and by 8 to 9 percent between 2011 and 2020.

 It is estimated that Vietnam will lack 8 billion kilowatt hours 
(KWh) by 2015 and between 36 billion and 65 billion KWh by 2020.

(Asia Pulse/VNA) 													   												 												
 													  
May 28, 2004                                                                                                                    
 								   									No 											material from Asia Times
Online may be republished in any form without written
Online, 4305 Far East Finance Centre, 16 Harcourt Rd,
Policies</FONT> [http://www.atimes.com/atimes/policies.html]
*****************************************************************
 22 Eureka Reporter: Humboldt Power Plant May Soon Store Nuclear Fuel In Dry Casks   

[http://www.eurekareporter.com]   
      
  5/27/04     

  by Wendy Butler The Eureka Reporter   

 Humboldt Bay Power Plant Director/Plant Manager Roy Willis 
displays a model of a “transportation shield cask.” The cost for 
the six casks the plant will need to purchase is $10 million.   

Pacific Gas and Electric Co.’s Humboldt Bay Power Plant has a 
pool, but a person wouldn’t want to swim in it.
 
Director/Plant Manager Roy Willis said spent nuclear fuel has 
been stored in the plant’s refueling or “containment” building’s 
pool next to the reactor since before the reactor was shut down 
in 1976.
 
The nuclear operation was initially stopped for seismic retrofit 
work and then, following much debate about safety, the Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission ordered the nuclear reactor permanently 
shut down. 

Plant officials hope to get the fuel out of there in the next two 
years, with the possibility of “entombing” it with “dry-cask 
storage” on the bluff behind the plant, Willis said. 

The plant applied to the NRC in December for a “dry-store” 
license. The application included an environmental report and a 
safety analysis. It also included a seismic-hazard study, which 
completed the seismic study that was first begun in 1976.
 
“We think it’s about time,” said Michael Welch, a longtime 
volunteer with the Arcata-based nonprofit Redwood Alliance.
 
The group was started in 1978, with the purpose of urging PG to 
dismantle its nuclear component. It participated in NRC hearings 
about the plant in the early 1980s.
 
Welch said his group suggested the then newly developed dry-cask 
storage for the plant’s nuclear fuel. At that time, however, 
plant officials refused, claiming budget constraints.
 
The 1982 Nuclear Waste Policy Act called for the construction of 
a national facility for states to dispose of their nuclear waste. 
The U.S. Department of Energy was due to develop a facility for 
storage and disposal of spent nuclear fuel in 1998, Willis said. 

Initially, it was looking at sites in Nevada and Tennessee. Then, 
the federal government decided on Yucca Mountain, 100 miles 
northeast of Las Vegas.
 
The Yucca Mountain site opening was first postponed, largely due 
to an outcry from residents, until 2000. 

The next projected time to open is 2010, Willis said.
 
“With no place to move the high-level radioactive waste, … they 
started looking at what it was costing them annually to maintain 
the spent fuel pool and the facilities out there,” Welch said.
 
Humboldt Bay Power Plant has 390 nuclear fuel assemblies leftover 
from the plant’s Unit No. 3, Willis said. Each assembly is 6 ½ 
feet long and each has 36 rods, which each house uranium pellets.
 


  [width=210 width=] Artwork courtesy of Pacific Gas and Electric 
Co. Humboldt Bay Power Plant plans to purchase dry-cask storage 
containers, load the plant’s remaining nuclear fuel into them and 
bury them in concrete.   

Since the nuclear reactor was first put in operation in 1963, he 
said, some of the fuel had already been sent to West Valley, 
Ill., for reprocessing. But reprocessing was discontinued, as 
part of the 1982 Waste Policy Act, Willis said.
 
Dry-cask storage was developed that same decade. 

According a Nuclear Regulatory Commission report, the storage 
allows spent fuel that has already been collected in a “spent 
fuel pool” for at least one year to be surrounded by inert gas 
inside a container called a “cask.”
 
The casks are typically steel cylinders that are either welded or 
bolted closed. According to the NRC, each cylinder provides a 
leak-tight containment of the fuel and is surrounded by 
additional steel, concrete or other material to provide radiation 
shielding to workers and the public.
 
However, Willis said, the first casks were for storage only. 
Therefore, when and if Yucca Mountain or another federal site is 
opened, the Humboldt fuel would not have been able to be 
transported there in the casks.
 
He said the first licensed dual-purpose cask was developed in 
1996-97. It stores the fuel and can be shipped.
 
The steel cylinder PG wants to purchase — a “transportation 
shield cask” — will hold 80 fuel assemblies, so the plant will 
need to purchase five of them, Willis said. A sixth cask will 
have to be purchased for “extra waste.”
 
Once the casks arrive, the fuel will be loaded while it is still 
underwater. Then, the casks will be embedded in concrete on the 
bluff. Willis said that is different from the process used by the 
first dry storage installation licensed by the NRC in 1986 at the 
Surry Nuclear Power Plant in Virginia.
 
The cement storage, he said, will withstand an earthquake which 
is approximately 9.0 on the Richter scale, even though the plant 
sits on the “Little Salmon” earthquake fault. It will also 
provide for protection from a 35-foot tsunami, as well as extra 
security from potential terrorist attacks.
 
The cost for the casks is $10 million. The cost to construct the 
new storage facility at the plant is $28 million, Willis said.
 
The money will come from a nuclear decommissioning trust fund, 
which is part of PG rate-payers’ monthly bills.
 
Willis said if Yucca Mountain were ever to open, PG would then 
decide whether to keep the fuel onsite or ship it to the new 
facility.
 
Welch is on a citizens’ advisory board for the power plant, which 
includes local interest groups, residents and politicians.
 
He said Redwood Alliance is against shipping the fuel offsite.
 
“A (large) amount of high-level nuclear waste … will be traveling 
our highways over the first 10 to 20 years that Yucca Mountain is 
open,” he said. “There (are) going to be some very serious 
accidents that will happen.”
 
He said energy activists also believe that nuclear waste should 
stay in the community from which it had been generated.
 
The next step, Welch said, following the removal of the nuclear 
fuel from the pool and storage in the ground above the plant, is 
decommissioning the plant’s entire nuclear portion. 

He said Redwood Alliance has received a written agreement from PG 
that once the spent fuel is removed from the plant, it would 
begin dismantling the nuclear reactor and containment facility. 
 
*****************************************************************
 23 AFP: Hanoi's nuke programme gets steam
 
  May 27, 2004
                        
  HANOI (AFP) - Vietnam's programme to build its first nuclear 
power plant by 2020 is gathering steam, with officials saying 
Wednesday that a pre-feasibility study will be submitted to the 
government this year.

 Le Doan Phac, the director of the international affairs 
department at the Vietnam Nuclear Energy Institute, said the 
study had determined three possible locations for the plant in 
the coastal provinces of Phu Yen and Ninh Thuan.

 "We cannot give a precise date when we will formally submit the 
pre-feasibility study. That depends on the government, but we can 
say that we expect it to happen this year," he said.

 The blueprint envisages that the plant, which will have a 
capacity of either 2,000 or 4,000 megawatts, will be built with 
international cooperation.

 Phac's comments came as government experts and nuclear power 
companies from France, Russia, Japan, South Korea and India -- 
the frontrunners hoping to cash in on Vietnam's nuclear ambitions 
-- began a four-day meeting in Hanoi.

 Experts say the communist nation is not capable of developing 
nuclear technology on its own, even though it profited during the 
1980s from information exchanges with the former Soviet Union.

              Copyright © 2004 Brunei Press Sdn Bhd 
[http://www.bruneipress.com.bn] . All right reserved.         
*****************************************************************
 24 MySA.com: CPS wants more of nuke plant 
 	 	 	 
  [San Antonio's Home Page From The Express-News and KENS 5]     

[http://www.mysanantonio.com] 

Web Posted: 05/27/2004 12:00 AM CDT 

William Pack Express-News Staff Writer 

A divided City Public Service board of trustees decided Wednesday 
to depend more heavily on nuclear power for the city's energy 
future, going against a staff recommendation and expectations 
that the move will increase the city's base electric rate. 

In a 3-2 vote, trustees gave the go-ahead for CPS to acquire at 
least an additional 12 percent share of the South Texas Project 
nuclear plant, which the city-owned utility and three other 
entities built in 1988. 

Such a move is not expected to hit local power customers harder 
in the pocketbook because the potential rise in the electric rate 
is only one component of a customer's bill. 

An increase in the electric rate would be offset by a 
corresponding decrease in fuel costs that would spring from the 
expanded use of the nuclear plant, utility officials said. 

Texas Central Co., a successor to one of the original partners in 
the South Texas Project, has found a buyer for its 25.2 percent 
interest in the plant. 

But before it can accept the offer, it first must offer that 
share  at the same price  to the companies that built the 
plant. 

CPS, which already owns 28 percent of the nuclear plant's 
generating capacity, is the first of the partners to accept the 
offer. 

The decision by the utility, which sprung from a motion made by 
trustee Stephen Hennigan, commits the utility to purchasing at 
least 12 percent, or almost half, of the 630 megawatts of 
nuclear-generated power Texas Central has up for sale. 

But if another co-owner of the plant, Texas Genco, decides not to 
participate in the purchase, that percentage could increase. 

The proposed purchase price was not available Wednesday because 
the final percentages were not worked out. 

But Texas Central has been offered $332.6 million for its share 
of the nuclear plant, and the partners' offer cannot be less than 
that. 

That price tag is fairly cheap when compared with the original 
price tag for the 2,500-megawatt generation facility, Hennigan 
said. 

Estimates show the purchase price is less than a third of what 
the 25.2 percent interest originally cost partners when they 
constructed the plant 16 years ago, he said. 

Still, additional staffing and other maintenance costs associated 
with the city's expanded nuclear interest are expected to drive 
up CPS' base electric rate by as much as 5 percent, officials 
said. 

That increase must be approved by the CPS board and the City 
Council. 

Mayor Ed Garza, who was part of the majority that voted for the 
purchase, said he expects the increased electric rate to be 
negated by lower fuel costs. 

CPS officials said the new share of the nuclear plant will not 
eliminate the need for a $1 billion, coal-fired power plant 
planned at Calaveras Lake. 

That plant, which has aroused outrage from environmentalists, is 
still in the permitting stage. 

Utilities pay less to generate power from nuclear plants than 
from their other primary energy sources, natural gas and coal, 
when construction and other fixed costs are excluded. 

CPS staff, after a lengthy evaluation, had recommended against 
the purchase. 

Jim Nesrsta, director of generation planning for CPS, said there 
were too many unknowns, including maintenance costs and the 
potential risks associated with a major operational breakdown at 
the plant. 

On the plus side, officials said if natural gas prices stay high, 
the additional investment in the nuclear plant could pay for 
itself in less than five years through cost savings passed on to 
customers and extra energy sales available to CPS. 

"Management felt it was a close call," Nesrsta said, explaining 
the staff's recommendation. "If it's that close, maybe this is 
not the right time." 

Trustees also were divided, but they came down on the side of 
additional nuclear power based in part on their confidence in the 
performance of the nuclear plant. 

CPS' citizens advisory panel backed the proposed purchase, as did 
many of the utility's engineers, who are most familiar with the 
reliability of the nuclear plant, Hennigan said. 

One technical consultant estimated, at most, a 1 percent chance 
the plant could go down for an extended period of time. 

Hennigan, Garza and board Chairwoman Aurora Ortega-Geis supported 
the purchase, while trustees Alvaro Sanchez Jr. and Clayton Gay 
Jr. opposed it. 

Also questioning the board's decision was the consumer watchdog 
group Public Citizen, the environmental advocacy group 
Sustainable Energy and Economic Development Coalition and the 
local chapter of the Sierra Club. 

Those groups said the utility should be pursuing energy 
efficiency savings and renewable energy options rather than 
investing in nuclear power. 

"It's never been a well managed plant," Karen Hadden, executive 
director of Sustainable Energy, said about the STP. "CPS would do 
better to send a message of cleaner energy." 

wpack@express-news.net 

KENS 5 [http://www.mysanantonio.com/aboutus/kens/]                      
Portions © 2004 KENS 5 and the San Antonio Express-News.
*****************************************************************
 25 NRC: NRC to Conduct Pilot Inspection Program Focused on Nuclear Plant Engineering and Design Issues
 
News Release - 2004-06
U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION   
  Office of Public Affairs     Telephone: 301/415-8200   
  Washington, DC 20555-0001     E-mail: opa@nrc.gov
  No. 04-064     May 27, 2004   
  


The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is preparing a new inspection
program that could eventually be applied to the nations 104
commercial nuclear power plants. 

The program is intended to provide a more in-depth inspection
of engineering activities, thereby improving the ability of the
agencys current Reactor Oversight Process to identify
significant engineering issues before they could impact plant
safety, said NRC Chairman Nils Diaz. 

The new program will focus on verifying that a plants design
basis has been correctly implemented for selected components
that play a significant role in either reducing the risk of an
accident or mitigating one. A pilot inspection will be carried
out at four sites -- Vermont Yankee and three others yet to be
determined. The pilot program incorporates aspects of existing
and past programs, and includes: 	 -- Devoting significant
effort to assessing industry operating experience relevant to
the components being inspected;
 -- Enlarging the inspection sample, which could now include
components that could contribute to the initiation of an
accident;
 -- Creating a more detailed inspection report that integrates
assessment of any design/engineering weaknesses, and;
 -- Conducting approximately 700 hours of direct inspection. 		 

An important aspect of the new inspection is that it will more
intently focus resources on areas of risk significance and
components operating close to design margins. 

The NRC expects the pilot inspections will be completed in six
to nine months. The agency will then review the inspection
results and determine whether permanent changes to the Reactor
Oversight Process are warranted. Additional information on the
pilot inspection program is available electronically through the
NRCs Agencywide Documents Access and Management System on the
NRC web site at:
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams/web-based.html, by entering
accession number ML040970328.   



  


 	Last revised Thursday, May 27, 2004 	   
*****************************************************************
 26 NRC: Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards, Meeting of the ACRS 
 
                        FR Doc 04-11988 
[Federal Register: May 27, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 103)] 
[Notices] [Page 30338] From the Federal Register Online via GPO 
Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr27my04-108]                         
 
Subcommittee on Plant Operations; Notice of Meeting The ACRS 
Subcommittee on Plant Operations meeting on June 10, 2004, Region 
III, 2443 Warrenville Road, Lisle, Illinois.
 
The entire meeting will be open to public attendance.
 
The agenda for the subject meeting shall be as follows: Thursday, 
June 10, 2004--8:30 a.m. Until the Conclusion of Business The 
Subcommittee will hear presentations by and hold discussions with 
representatives of the NRC Region III staff and other interested 
persons regarding matters related to plant and the region's 
operations. The Subcommittee will gather information, analyze 
relevant issues and facts, and formulate proposed positions and 
actions, as appropriate, for deliberation by the full Committee.
 
Members of the public desiring to provide oral statements and/or 
written comments should notify the Designated Federal Official, 
Ms. Maggalean W. Weston (telephone 301-415-3151) five days prior 
to the meeting, if possible, so that appropriate arrangements can 
be made. Electronic recordings will be permitted.
 
Further information regarding this meeting can be obtained by 
contacting the Designated Federal Official between 8 a.m. and 
5:30 p.m. (e.t.). Persons planning to attend this meeting are 
urged to contact the above named individual at least two working 
days prior to the meeting to be advised of any potential changes 
to the agenda.
 
Dated: May 20, 2004.
 
Ralph Caruso, Acting Associate Director for Technical Support, 
ACRS/ACNW.
 
[FR Doc. 04-11988 Filed 5-26-04; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P

 
*****************************************************************
 27 NRC: Agency Information Collection Activities: Submission for the 
 
                        FR Doc 04-11989 
[Federal Register: May 27, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 103)] 
[Notices] [Page 30337-30338] From the Federal Register Online via 
GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr27my04-106]                         
 
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Review; Comment Request 
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).
 
ACTION: Notice of the OMB review of information collection and 
solicitation of public comment.
 
SUMMARY: The NRC has recently submitted to OMB for review the 
following proposal for the collection of information under the 
provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 
chapter 35). The NRC hereby informs potential respondents that an 
agency may not conduct or sponsor, and that a person is not 
required to respond to, a collection of information unless it 
displays a currently valid OMB control number.
 
1. Type of submission, new, revision, or extension: Extension.
 
2. The title of the information collection: NRC Form 136, 
``Security Termination Statement''; NRC Form 237, ``Request for 
Access Authorization''; and NRC Form 277, ``Request for Visit''.
 
3. The form number if applicable: NRC Form 136; NRC Form 237; and 
NRC Form 277.
 
4. How often the collection is required: On occasion. 5. Who will 
be required or asked to report: NRC Form 136, any employee of 68 
licensees and 7 contractors, who have been granted an NRC access 
authorization; NRC Form 237, any employee of approximately 68 
licensees and 7 contractors who will require an NRC access 
authorization. NRC Form 277, any employee of 2 current NRC 
contractors who holds an NRC access authorization, and needs to 
make a visit to NRC, other contractors/licensees or government 
agencies in which access to classified information will be 
involved or unescorted area access is desired.
 
6. An estimate of the number of annual responses: NRC Form 136: 
225; NRC Form 237: 420; and NRC Form 277: 6.
 
7. The estimated number of annual respondents: NRC Form 136: 75; 
NRC Form 237: 75; and NRC Form 277: 2.
 
8. An estimate of the total number of hours needed annually to 
complete the requirement or request: NRC Form 136: 23; NRC Form 
237: 84; and NRC Form 277: 1.
 
9. An indication of whether section 3507(d), Pub. L. 104-13 
applies: N/A.
 
10. Abstract: The NRC Form 136 affects the employees of licensees 
and contractors who have been granted an NRC access 
authorization. When access authorization is no longer needed, the 
completion of the form apprizes the respondents of their 
continuing security responsibilities. The NRC Form 237 is 
completed by licensees, NRC contractors or individuals who 
require an NRC access authorization. The NRC Form 277 affects the 
employees of contractors who have been granted an NRC access 
authorization and require verification of that access 
authorization and need-to-know in conjunction with a visit to NRC 
or another facility.
 
A copy of the final supporting statement may be viewed free of 
charge at the NRC Public Document Room, One White Flint North, 
11555 Rockville Pike, Room O-1 F21, Rockville, MD 20852. OMB 
clearance requests are available at the NRC World Wide Web site: 
http://www 
[http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leaving 
FR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www] . nrc. gov/ public -involve / 
doc- comment / omb / index. html. The document will be available 
on the NRC home page site for 60 days after the signature date of 
this notice.
 
Comments and questions should be directed to the OMB reviewer 
listed below by June 28, 2004. Comments received after this date 
will be considered if it is practical to do so, but assurance of 
consideration cannot be given to comments received after this 
date. OMB Desk Officer, Office of Information and Regulatory 
Affairs (3150-0049; -0050; and -0051), NEOB-
 
[[Page 30338]] 10202, Office of Management and Budget, 
Washington, DC 20503.
 
Comments can also be submitted by telephone at (202) 395-3087.
 
The NRC Clearance Officer is Brenda Jo. Shelton, (301) 415-7233.
 
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 20th day of May, 2004.
 
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
 
Brenda Jo. Shelton, NRC Clearance Officer, Office of the Chief 
Information Officer.
 
[FR Doc. 04-11989 Filed 5-26-04; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P

 
*****************************************************************
 28 NRC: Tennessee Valley Authority; Notice of Extension of the Scoping 
 
                        FR Doc 04-11990 
[Federal Register: May 27, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 103)] 
[Notices] [Page 30338] From the Federal Register Online via GPO 
Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr27my04-107]                         
 
Comment Period for the Environmental Impact Statement for the 
License Renewal of Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant, Units 1, 2, and 3 
Notice is hereby given that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission (the Commission) has extended the public comment 
period for the draft plant-specific supplement to the ``Generic 
Environmental Impact Statement (GEIS), NUREG-1437,'' regarding 
the renewal of operating licenses DPR-33, DPR-52, and DPR-68 for 
an additional 20 years of operation at the Browns Ferry Nuclear 
Plant, Units 1, 2, and 3 (BFN).
 
The application for renewal was received on January 6, 2004, 
pursuant to 10 CFR part 54. A notice of receipt and availability 
of the application, which included the environmental report (ER), 
was published in the Federal Register on January 13, 2004, (69 FR 
2012). A notice of intent to prepare an environmental impact 
statement and conduct scoping process (69 FR 11462) and a notice 
of acceptance for docketing and notice of opportunity for hearing 
(69 FR 11460) regarding renewal of the facility operating license 
were published in the Federal Register on March 10, 2004. The 
purpose of this notice is to inform the public that the U.S. 
Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has extended the comment 
period on the environmental scope of the BFN license renewal 
review in response to a request from a member of the public. In 
view of the importance of meaningful stakeholder input on the 
environmental scope of the BFN license renewal review, the NRC 
has decided to extend the comment period.
 
Any interested party may submit comments on the environmental 
scope of the BFN license renewal review for consideration by the 
NRC staff. To be certain of consideration, comments on the draft 
supplement to the GEIS and the proposed action must be received 
by June 4, 2004.
 
Comments received after the due date will be considered if it is 
practical to do so, but the NRC staff is able to assure 
consideration only for comments received on or before this date. 
Written comments on the environmental scope of the BFN license 
renewal review should be sent to the Chief, Rules and Directives 
Branch, Division of Administrative Services, Office of 
Administration, Mailstop T-6D59 U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001.
 
Comments may also be delivered to the NRC, Room T-6D59, Two White 
Flint North, 11545 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland, from 7:45 
a.m. to 4:15 p.m. on Federal workdays. Electronic comments may be 
sent by the Internet to the NRC at BrownsFerryEIS@nrc.gov 
[BrownsFerryEIS@nrc.gov] . All comments received by the 
Commission, including those made by Federal, State, and local 
agencies, Indian tribes, or other interested persons, will be 
made available electronically and accessible through ADAMS at 
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html 
[http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leaving 
FR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html] 
.
 
Persons who do not have access to ADAMS, or encounter problems in 
accessing the documents located in ADAMS, should contact the 
NRC's Public Document Room reference staff at 1-800-397-4209, or 
(301) 415-4737, or by e-mail to pdr@nrc.gov [pdr@nrc.gov] . FOR 
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. Michael T. Masnik, License 
Renewal and Environmental Impacts Program, Division of Regulatory 
Improvement Programs, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 
Washington, DC 20555. Dr. Masnik may also be contacted at the 
aforementioned telephone number or e-mail address.
 
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 20th day of May, 2004.
 
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
 
K. Steven West, Acting Program Director, License Renewal and 
Environmental Impacts Program, Division of Regulatory Improvement 
Programs, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
 
[FR Doc. 04-11990 Filed 5-26-04; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P

 
*****************************************************************
 29 U.S. RADIATION TESTING ON HUMANS
 
Date: Thu, 27 May 2004 12:05:34 -0500 (CDT)

 
http://www.netti.fi/~makako/mind/radiatio.htm

DUCK AND COVER(UP): U.S. RADIATION TESTING ON HUMANS
by Tod Ensign and Glenn Alcalay

If you have any lingering thoughts that the government's failure
to disclose radiation experimentation on humans was driven by
misguided national security concerns, throw them in the nearest
nuclear waste dump. At least some officials knew what they were
doing was unconscionable and were ducking the consequences and
covering their tails. A recently leaked Atomic Energy Commission
(AEC) document lays out in the most bare-knuckled manner the policy
of coverup. It is desired that no document be released which refers
to experiments with humans and might have adverse effect on public
opinion or result in legal suits. Documents covering such work field
should be classified `secret,' wrote Colonel O.G. Haywood of the
AEC. *1 This letter confirms a policy of complete secrecy where
human radiation experiments were concerned.

The Haywood letter may help explain a recently discovered 1953
Pentagon document, declassified in 1975. The two-page order from
the secretary of defense ostensibly brought U.S. guidelines for
human experimentation. in line with the Nuremberg Code, making
adherence to a universal standard official U.S. policy. Ironically,
however, the Pentagon document was classified and thus was probably
not seen by many military researchers until its declassification
in 1975.2 As these and a steady stream of similar reports confirm,
for decades, the U.S. government had not only used human guinea
pigs in radiation experiments, but had also followed a policy of
deliberate deception and cover up of its misuse of both civilians
and military personnel in nuclear weapons development and radiation
research. While the Department of Energy (DoE) has made some belated
moves toward greater openness, there are clear indications that
other federal agencies and the White House have not yet deviated
from the time-honored tradition of deceit and self-serving secrecy.

CRACKS IN THE WALL OF SILENCE The Clinton administration's first
halting step toward taking responsibility for past government
misdeeds occurred on Pearl Harbor Day 1993, when DoE Secretary Hazel
O'Leary confirmed that the AEC, her agency's predecessor, had
sponsored experiments in which hundreds of Americans were exposed
to radioactive material, often without their consent.

That O'Leary had decided to break with her agency's long tradition
of secrecy and deception was something of a surprise. After all,
she came to the job after a career in the nuclear power industry.
But, confronted by a media firestorm over the government's Cold War
nuclear experiments, O'Leary was left with few options.

Her decision to confirm some government abuses and reveal others
was precipitated by a series of reports by journalist Eileen Welsome
in the Albuquerque Tribune last November and the nearly simultaneous
release of a Government Accounting Office (GAO) report on radiation
releases. *3 Following a six-year investigation, Welsome uncovered
details of five experiments in which plutonium was injected into
18 people without their informed consent.

The GAO report, meanwhile, is an important finding that government
scientists deliberately released radioactive material into populated
areas so that they could study fallout patterns and the rate at
which radioactivity decayed. It profiles 13 different releases of
radiation from 1948-52. All were part of the U.S. nuclear weapons
development program. The report concludes that other planned
radioactive releases not documented here may have occurred at ...
U.S. nuclear sites during these years. *4 The disclaimer suggests
that a good deal of information about radiation experiments remains
locked away in government files.

Top DoE aide Dan Reicher pulled O'Leary out of a meeting last
November just before the story broke to warn her that People were
injected with plutonium back in the 1940s, and there's a newspaper
in New Mexico that's about to lay out the whole thing. *5 O'Leary
provided information about experiments at major universities,
including MIT, the University of Chicago, California, and Vanderbilt.
Experimenters exposed about 2,000 Americans to varying degrees of
radiation. These numbers may grow as more information about experiments
is released.

INCIDENTAL FALLOUT When O'Leary confirmed the human experiments,
she also revealed two other important activities. First, she admitted
her agency had secretly conducted 204 underground nuclear tests in
Nevada from 1963-1990. These clandestine blasts were in addition
to the 800-plus nuclear tests publicly announced during that period.
DoE's secrecy may have deceived only Congress and the U.S. public.
In 1990, the Soviet Union's minister for atomic energy produced an
estimate of U.S. detonations that was very close to the actual
number including the secret ones.

O'Leary's other significant disclosure concerned DoE's massive stock
of weapons-grade plutonium: 33.5 metric tons of stockpiled plutonium
and another 55.5 metric tons deployed in nuclear warheads and for
similar uses. *6 This admission calls into question DoE's past
claims that national security required the continued operation of
unsafe plutonium processing plants to produce unnecessary stockpiles
of plutonium.

O'Leary's disclosures about the human experiments have produced a
torrent of publicity. Much less attention has been paid to her
admissions about secret nuclear tests and plutonium stocks, which
have much greater long-term implications for nuclear weapons policy.

DOWN THE MEMORY HOLE O'Leary's promises of full disclosure by DoE
aside, *7 one well-placed source within the agency suggested that
the Pentagon, NASA and the CIA were just going through the motions.
*8 For example, the CIA announced in January 1994 that after searching
its files it could locate only one reference to human experimentation
with radiation. Former CIA official Scott Breckenridge charged that
in 1973, Dr. Sidney Gottlieb, chief of the chemical division of the
CIA's Technical Services Division, may have destroyed many secret
files, including those on human radiation experiments. *9 The history
of partial revelation and near complete inaction is long. In 1975,
the Rockefeller Commission first revealed that the CIA may have
conducted radiation experiments, *10 but the records if not destroyed
have yet to be uncovered. William Colby, CIA director from 1973 to
1975, recently said, I recall the various drug tests, which were
scandalous, but nothing about radiation. *11 So far, the institutional
memories of the implicated agencies appear to be as conveniently
spotty as Colby's.

SECRET EXPERIMENTS While officials have dallied, dedicated reporters,
angry victims, and a handful of government whistleblowers have
exposed a pattern of secrecy and deception. A brief sampling of
some of the macabre, secret human experiments uncovered by Welsome
and others is chilling.

# * In 1945, Albert Stevens, a 58-year old California house painter
suffering from a huge stomach ulcer, was injected with doses of
plutonium 238 and 239 equivalent to 446 times the average lifetime
exposure. *12 Doctors recommended an operation and told his children
he had only six months to live. For the next year, scientists
collected plutonium-laden urine and fecal samples from Stevens and
used that data in a classified scientific report, A Comparison of
the Metabolism of Plutonium in Man and the Rat. There is little
doubt scientists knew of the danger: The problem of chronic plutonium
poisoning is a matter of serious concern for those who come in
contact with this material, the report concluded.13 AEC officials
in 1947 refused to release the information because it contains
material, which in the opinion of the [AEC], might adversely affect
the national interest. 14 # * In 1947, doctors injected plutonium
into the left leg of Elmer Allen, a 36-year-old African American
railroad porter. Three days later, the leg was amputated for a
supposed pre-existing bone cancer. Researchers analyzed tissue
samples to determine the physiology of plutonium dispersion. *15
In 1973, scientists summoned Allen to the Argonne National Laboratory
near Chicago, where he was subjected to a follow-up whole body
radiation scan, and his urine was analyzed to ascertain lingering
levels of plutonium from the 1947 injection. *16 # * Beginning in
1949, the Quaker Oats Company, the National Institutes of Health,
and the AEC fed minute doses of radioactive materials to boys at
the Fernald School for the mentally retarded in Waltham, Massachusetts,
to determine if chemicals used in breakfast cereal prevented the
body from absorbing iron and calcium. The unwitting subjects were
told that they were joining a science club. The consent form sent
to the boys' parents made no mention of the radiation experiment.
*17 # * In 1963, 131 prison inmates in Oregon and Washington state
were paid about $200 each to be exposed to 600 roentgens of radiation
(100 times the allowable annual dose for nuclear workers). They
signed consent forms agreeing to submit to X-ray radiation of my
scrotum and testes, but were not warned about the possibility of
contracting testicular cancer. Doctors later performed vasectomies
on the inmates to avoid the possibility of contaminating the general
population with irradiation-induced mutants. *18 # * From 1960-71,
in experiments which may have caused the most deaths and spanned
the most years, Dr. Eugene Saenger, a radiologist at the University
of Cincinnati, exposed 88 cancer patients to whole body radiation.
*19 Many of the guinea pigs were poor African-Americans at Cincinnati
General Hospital with inoperable tumors. All but one of the 88
patients have since died. *20 There is evidence that scientists
forged signatures on the consent forms for the Cincinnati experiments.
Gloria Nelson testified before the House that her grandmother,
Amelia Jackson, had been strong and still working before she was
treated by Dr. Saenger. Following exposure to 100 rads of whole
body radiation (about 7,500 chest X-rays), Amelia Jackson bled and
vomited for days and became permanently disabled. Jackson testified
that the signa- ture on her grandmother's consent form was forged.21
WATCHING THE BOMB While researchers were running tests on relatively
small numbers of hapless civilians, the military was conducting a
series of potentially lethal experiments on a massive scale. From
1946-63, the military ordered more than 200,000 active-duty GIs to
observe one or more nuclear bomb tests either in the Pacific or at
the Nevada Test Site. The 195,000 GIs who served as part of the
occupation force in Hiroshima and Nagasaki may also have suffered
the effects of radiation. A vast body of information about nuclear
bomb testing and its effects on humans has yet to see the light of
day, but some individual accounts are harrowing.

One atomic veteran, Jim O'Connor, provided a detailed account of
the Turk blast at the Nevada test site in March 1955. O'Connor
reported seeing someone crawling from a bunker near ground-zero
after the blast:

"There was a guy with a mannequin look who had apparently crawled
behind the bunker. Something like wires were attached to his arms
and his face was bloody.

I smelled an odor like burning flesh. The rotary camera I'd seen
[earlier] was going `zoom, zoom, zoom' and the guy kept trying to
get up." *22 At this point, O'Connor fled and was picked up by AEC
rad-safety monitors who took him to a hospital where he was treated
for radiation overdose. The Defense Nuclear Agency refused to confirm
or deny O'Connor's account, although there are reports which refer
to a volunteer officer program at several of the test blasts.

Navy officer R.A. Hinners was another nuclear guinea pig. *23 Only
a mile from ground zero, he and seven other volunteers witnessed
the detonation of a 55-kiloton bomb (four times the Hiroshima blast)
on April 25, 1953. While the Army's report, Exercise Desert Rock
VII and VIII, covers the 1957 test series and notes that the observers
suffered no adverse effects, the Pentagon has not released any
material relating to the use of volunteers at any other tests. *24
DELIBERATE ATMOSPHERIC RADIATION RELEASES Nuclear researchers did
not limit themselves to small groups of selected guinea pigs or
large groups of soldiers under orders. The U.S. government also
deliberately released radioactive materials into the atmosphere,
endangering military personnel and untold numbers of civilians.
Unsurprisingly, the people exposed during these tests were not
informed.

In four of these tests at the AEC's facility at Los Alamos, New
Mexico, bomb-testers set off conventional explosives to send aloft
clouds of radioactive material, including strontium and uranium.
When the AEC tracked the clouds across northern New Mexico, it
detected some radioactivity 70 miles away. According to a Los Alamos
press officer, there may have been as many as 250 other such tests
during the same period.25 Nor was this intentional release the
largest. During the December 1949 Green Run test at the Hanford
(Washington) Nuclear Reservation, the AEC loosed thousands of curies
of radioactive iodine-131 several times the amount released from
the 1979 Three Mile Island disaster into the atmosphere simply to
test its recently installed radiological monitoring equipment.
Passing over Spokane and reaching as far as the California-Oregon
border, Green Run irradiated thousands of downwinders, as civilians
exposed to the effects of airborne radiation tests are known, and
contaminated an enormous swath of cattle grazing and dairy land.
*26 A team of epidemiologists is now looking into an epidemic of
late-occurring thyroid tumors and other radiogenic disorders among
the downwind residents in eastern Washington state.

The plant's emissions control systems were turned off during the
experiment, releasing into the atmosphere almost twice as much
radioactive iodine-131 as originally planned. The GAO report notes
that the off-site population was not forewarned [nor] made aware
of the [test] for several decades. It also notes that although
adverse weather patterns kept the radiation from spreading as far
as expected, monitoring Air Force planes detected hot clouds over
100 miles northeast of the site. *27 SACRIFICIAL LAMBS Even when
the government took steps to create the appearance of openness, it
was less than candid.

You are in a very real sense active participants in the Nation's
atomic test program, proclaimed a 1955 AEC propaganda booklet widely
disseminated to downwind neighbors of the Nevada Test Site. Some
of you have been inconvenienced by our test operations, and at times
some of you have been exposed to potential risk from flash, blast,
or fallout. You have accepted the inconvenience or the risk without
fuss, without alarm, and without panic. *28 The AEC's concern for
inconveniences or honesty, however, did not extend to the 4,500
Utah and Nevada sheep who died mysteriously in 1953 after exposure
to fallout. The AEC denied any causal connection between the sheep's
exposure to radioactive fallout from the 1953 Upshot-Knothole tests
and their deaths. *29 In a 1956 trial, Utah and Nevada sheep ranchers
lost their lawsuit against the government.

But years later, Harold Knapp, a former AEC scientist who analyzed
the 1953 sheep deaths, challenged the AEC's accounts. The simplest
explanation, he told a 1979 congressional committee, of the primary
cause of death in the lambing ewes is irradiation of the ewe's
gastrointestinal tract by beta particles from all the fission
products ingested by the sheep along with open range forage. *30
In a 1982 retrial, A. Sherman Christensen, the same judge who
presided over the 1956 trial, noting that fraud was committed by
the U.S. Government when it lied, pressured witnesses, and manipulated
the processes of the court, ruled for the ranchers. *31 PARADISE
LOST U.S. government callousness and deception extended halfway
around the world. Another nuclear experiment was underway in the
Marshall Islands a de facto strategic colony of the U.S. located
in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Between 1946 and 1958, the U.S.
exploded 67 atomic and hydrogen bombs at Bikini and Enewetok, two
Marshall group atolls. Once again, the full impact and consequences
of this experiment would not be disclosed for decades, and then
only reluctantly.

The largest and dirtiest of the Marshall Islands blasts was code-named
Bravo. At 15 megatons more than 1,000 times the size of the Hiroshima
bomb Bravo rained lethal radioactive fallout over thousands of
unsuspecting islanders under circumstances which remain mysterious.
The people of Rongelap atoll were especially hard-hit. They were
evacuated from their home islands two days after Bravo, following
the absorption of massive doses of high-level fallout.

Following the Rongelap evacuation, the AEC considered repatriating
the islanders to their home atoll in order to gather vital fallout
data. In 1956, Dr. G. Failla, chair of the AEC's Advisory Committee
on Biology and Medicine, wrote to AEC head Lewis Strauss: The
Advisory Committee hopes that conditions will permit an early
accomplishment of the plan [to return the Rongelap people]. The
Committee is also of the opinion that here is the opportunity for
a useful genetic study of the effects on these people. 32 Three
years later, Dr. C.L. Dunham, head of the AEC's Division of Biology
and Medicine, reiterated the AEC's interest. Studying the Rongelap
victims of the Bravo blast will, he wrote, ... contribute to estimates
of long term hazards to human beings and to an evaluation of the
recovery period following a single nuclear detonation. *33 Having
established the near-perfect longitudinal human radiation experiment
in 1954, DoE continues to compile data from their Marshallese
subjects.

It appears that AEC was guilty of both negligently disregarding the
well-being of the Marshallese and then lying about its actions. On
February 24, 1994, Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), chair of the House
Committee on Natural Resources, convened a hearing on Bravo. Recalling
weather data that demonstrated prior knowledge that islanders would
receive substantial fallout, and that winds had not unexpectedly
shifted, *34 Rep. Miller declared that We have deliberately kept
that information from the Marshallese. That clearly constitutes a
cover-up. *35 A PATTERN OF IGNORED DISCLOSURES The record of U.S.
government lies, misrepresentation, and cover-ups to support its
nuclear research program is incontrovertible, if not yet complete.
>From the inception of the U.S. nuclear program, government policy
has placed military and scientific interests above both the well-being
of thousands of people and the truth. And, Secretary O'Leary's
evident openness notwithstanding, the government's record in
responding to earlier disclosures is not reassuring. When faced
with damaging disclosures in the past, the government attempted to
stonewall. When that would not suffice, the government only grudgingly
responded. A few examples:

# * In 1980, Congress issued a stinging report, The Forgotten Guinea
Pigs, which concluded that the AEC chose to secure, at any cost,
the atmospheric nuclear weapons testing program rather than to
protect the health and welfare of the residents of the area who
lived downwind from the site. *36 # * In 1982, the New York Times
provided evidence that policy-makers foresaw dangers and acted to
cover them up. The story included a statement by a former Army
medic, Van R. Brandon, of Sacramento, that his medical unit kept
two sets of books of radiation readings at the Nevada Test Site
during the 1956-57 tests. One set was to show that no one received
an [elevated] exposure, Brandon told the paper. The other set of
books showed ... the actual reading. That set was brought in a
locked briefcase every morning, he recalled. *37 DoE officials
simply denied Brandon's allegations, and no further investigation
was pursued. *38 # * In 1986, Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) released
a report detailing human radiation experiments that AEC and its
successors conducted between the 1940s and the 1970s. Many were
designed to measure the effects of radiation on humans, and according
to Markey, American citizens thus became nuclear calibration devices
for experimenters run amok. 39 The Markey report, American Nuclear
Guinea Pigs, described 31 grisly experiments involving 695 people
who were captive audiences or populations that some experimenters
frighteningly might have considered `expendable.' 40 When the Reagan
administration refused to investigate the disclosures, the Markey
report was quickly forgotten. There was a massive public relations
relationship that existed between the [Reagan] administration, the
defense contractors and experimenters in America, charged Markey,
that worked very effectively throughout the 1980s. I'd say something,
and I'd get attacked, and it would be a one-day story. *41 A LONG,
HARD ROAD TO JUSTICE From the beginning of the nuclear age, the
federal government not only ignored or suppressed knowledge of
abuses in the nuclear experimental program, it also fought all
attempts to hold it accountable for damages. A series of Supreme
Court decisions dating back to 1950 bars both atomic veterans and
downwinders from suing the federal government. *42 Veterans are
denied the right to sue for injuries suffered while on active duty
because the Court believes that this would interfere with military
necessity and national security. *43 Downwinders have also encountered
many obstacles in their long struggle for medical studies and
compensation. One group of Utah residents who lived under the fallout
during the 1950s and early 1960s finally succeeded in bringing their
federal lawsuit to trial in 1982. They scored an important victory
when the trial judge found the bomb tests were responsible for their
cancers and awarded them damages. *44 But the appeals court reversed
this verdict by re-defining the discretionary function exception
to the Federal Tort Claims Act to make the government immune from
lawsuits of this kind. *45 In essence, the court held that setting
off nuclear bombs was within the discretionary power of high-ranking
officials and could not be questioned in a lawsuit for damages.

After the federal appeals court stripped the downwinders of their
victory, in 1990, Congress finally stepped in and adopted the
Radiation Exposure Compensation Act for downwinders and some groups
of uranium miners. Claimants must document residence in the fallout
area and that they suffer from one of 13 cancers linked to radia-tion
exposure. The program, administered by the Department of Justice,
places a ceiling of $50,000 per claim, although many awards were
smaller. Justice granted 818 claims out of 1,460 which were submitted
as of January 1994.46 In 1988, Congress acted on behalf of atomic
veterans, forcing the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to establish
a limited compensation plan with a $75,000 cap. It provides presumptive
disability to veterans who can prove that they suffer from one of
a list of 13 cancers (e.g., bone, breast, skin, stomach, thyroid,
leukemia, etc.), and that they were present during one or more
nuclear test blasts.

Of more than 15,000 veterans' claims filed as of January 1994, only
1,401 have been approved, indicating that most claimants are unable
to qualify under the terms of the program. *47 One problem confronting
many veterans is inaccurate or missing military records that omit
service at a nuclear test site. *48 Another is to prepare a radiation
dose reconstruction that estimates the amount of exposure the veteran
received. Many vets have challenged the accuracy of dose estimates
prepared by a private contractor, Science Applications International.
This privately held research corporation includes among its
stockholders Defense Department officials including Secretary William
Perry and Deputy Secretary John Deutch, and one-time nominee Bobby
Ray Inman. The Defense Department has little to say about potential
conflicts of interest. We're going to decline to comment on this.
I don't think we would have anything that would be meaningful to
say, said Pentagon spokesman Capt. Michael Doubleday. *49 A final
obstacle is that just having cancer isn't enough; veterans must
prove they are disabled by it.

WHAT WILL CLINTON DO?

The Clinton administration is about to undergo a test of its own.
The key question will be how it defines who will be considered a
nuclear test victim for purposes of health research and compensation.
Given the decades-long record of coverup and callousness, there is
little reason to assume that the recent revelations concerning human
experimentation will produce any lasting benefit for the tens of
thousands of veterans and civilians harmed by nuclear weapons testing
and radiation experiments over the past half century let alone the
estimated five million U.S. citizens exposed to dangerous levels
of radiation during the Cold War. * Early indications are that the
White House will stake out a restrictive position. DoE head O'Leary
also appears to be seeking some remedy short of compensating all
categories of victims. So, apparently, is the GAO.

The GAO's report on atmospheric radiation releases provides a glimpse
of the emerging strategy. In assessing the significance of the Green
Run test, the GAO struck a cautious note. The test [was not] intended
to be a radiation experiment or a field test of radiobiological
effects. [After] examining still classified passages [we] found
that they don't refer to any such intentions. *50 This interpretation
could provide the basis for a restrictive reading of who is entitled
to compensation and follow-up health studies.

STACKING THE DECK The Clinton administration may also be moving to
head off potentially monstrous payouts to victims. To deal with the
predicted avalanche of claims, as well as to fend off adverse
publicity, the administration has established an advisory committee
and an interagency working group to define policy. The advisory
committee's mission statement, as well as the backgrounds of some
of the people appointed to the panels, give victims cause for
skepticism.

The President's Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments
is composed of scientists, medical ethicists, and lawyers and is
chaired by Dr. Ruth Faden of Johns Hopkins University. The White
House announcement stated that its mission is to evaluate the ethical
and scientific standards of government sponsored human experiments
which involved intentional exposure to ionizing radiation. *51
(emphasis added) When read in conjunction with the GAO report's
cautious conclusion, this language appears to sharply limit possible
claimants.

And one of the advisory panel members, Washington, D.C. lawyer
Kenneth Feinberg, has credentials that have raised eyebrows. Feinberg
played a controversial role in forging an 11th-hour settlement of
the class action lawsuit against Agent Orange manufacturers in 1984.
Working at the direction of trial judge Jack Weinstein in Brooklyn,
New York, Feinberg helped ram through a $180 million settlement.
Although the figure seems large, it is grossly inadequate in light
of the 250,000 veteran-claimants and the severity of their disabilities.
Since the settlement, Judge Weinstein has blocked every subsequent
lawsuit against the Agent Orange makers even for veterans whose
cancer appeared years after the settlement was reached. * The
Interagency Working Group has representatives from every federal
agency involved in radiation research and also includes a lawyer
member whose past clients raise questions about his impartiality.
Joel Klein, recently named White House Deputy Legal Counsel, was
previously a partner in Klein Farr Smith & Taranto, a Washington,
D.C. law firm which represented a number of corporate defendants
in cases involving the due process rights of class action members.
In 1985, Klein's firm won a Supreme Court decision in Phillips
Petroleum v. Shutts, which narrowly interpreted the rights of
claimants in class actions. Klein also has a case pending before
the Supreme Court, Ticor Title v. Brown, which experts expect will
further diminish the rights of injured parties in class action
suits.

CLOUDED HORIZONS It is too early to tell what role either Feinberg
or Klein will play in determining compensation for nuclear test
victims, but their histories don't lend cause for optimism. And
given the administration's efforts at damage control, some advocates
of radiation victims are dubious that the recent disclosures will
bring any more change than those in the past. Rob Hager, a public
interest lawyer in Washington, has been fighting the DoE for years.
He has waged an 11-year legal battle on behalf of the widow of Joe
Harding, who developed cancer after working at a DoE uranium
processing plant in Paducah, Kentucky.

The DoE's approach to compensation is a scorched earth policy;
settle no claims and litigate to the hilt, Hager charges. They've
changed their head, but it doesn't seem to be connected to the body.
*52 Eileen Welsome agrees. The Albuquerque journalist, who recently
won a Pulitzer Prize for her reporting on this issue, was asked
what she learned. She responded, The DoE of today is no different
from the DoE of 50 years ago. It's an obstructionist agency; it
doesn't follow the law. I think it's an agency that bears careful
scrutiny and constant scrutiny. 53 *************************** THE
BUCHENWALD TOUCH *************************** The still-emerging
history of nuclear experimentation raises important issues of medical
ethics and calls into question the scientific community's sensitivity
to and awareness of these issues. It also raises the question of
whether these experimenters, in furthering the Pentagon's military
and security demands, violated international standards on human
experimentation. Even at this late date, it seems that some scientists
involved are unable to see any problems with their behavior. Patricia
Durbin, a scientist at the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory in California
who participated in plutonium experiments, recently said:

"They were always on the lookout for somebody who had some kind of
terminal disease who was going to undergo an amputation. These
things were not done to plague people or make them sick and miserable.

They were not done to kill people. They were done to gain potentially
valuable information. The fact that they were injected and provided
this valuable data should almost be a sort of memorial rather than
something to be ashamed of. It doesn't bother me to talk about the
plutonium injectees because of the value of the information they
provided. *1"

And Dr. Victor Bond, a medical physicist and doctor at Brookhaven
National Laboratory, recently defended the Fernald experiments, in
which retarded children were deliberately given radioactive substances
in their breakfast cereal. A question arose as to whether chemicals
in breakfast cereals interfered with the uptake of iron or calcium
in children. An answer was needed, declared Bond. In reference to
the entire series of cold war nuclear experiments, Bond offered
that It's useful to know what dose of radiation sterilizes; it's
useful to know what different doses of radiation will do to human
beings. *2 While Drs. Bond and Durbin rationalized such programs,
other scientists have spoken out. Referring to the Cincinnati
experiments in which 88 cancer patients were exposed to massive
whole body doses of radiation, Dr. David Egilman, a former Cincinnati
faculty member, said, The study was designed to test the effects
of radiation on soldiers. It was known that whole-body radiation
wouldn't treat the patients' cancer. What happened was one of the
worst things this government has done to its citizens. *3 And Dr.
Joseph Hamilton, a neurologist at the University of California
Hospital in San Francisco, referred to his own human radiation
experiments in the 1940s as having a little of the Buchenwald touch.
*4 THE BUCHENWALD TOUCH is not limited to Cold War-related experiments.
In what has come to be known as the Tuskegee Study, 412 African
American sharecroppers suffering from syphillis were rounded up in
Tuskegee, Alabama, in the early 1930s. For forty years, the men
were never told what had stricken them while doctors from the U.S.
Public Health Service observed the ravages of the disease, from
blindness and paralysis to dementia and early death. Even after
penicillin proved to be an effective treatment for syphilis, they
were left untreated. *5 Nor are such experiments a thing of the
past. Recent congressional hearings revealed studies on schizophrenia
in the late 1980s where doctors intentionally worsened patients'
symptoms, causing relapses and leading to the death by suicide of
at least one of the patients. Dr. Michael Davidson, who led a study
at the VA Hospital in the Bronx, defended the study, saying, it
would not be advisable to [warn] the patients about psychosis or
relapse. *6

BACK TO MAIN MINDCONTROL PAGE
*****************************************************************
 30 Nuclear Jet Crash Could Kill Millions
 
Date: Thu, 27 May 2004 13:24:42 -0400

 

 CRAC-2 Report:
http://www.mothersalert.org/crac.html
 Nuke Terror Site: http://www.tmia.com/sabter.html


1. Nuclear Jet Crash Could Kill Millions
      2. Terror Alert Renews Search For 7 Suspects


       See the use of hot air balloons and hang
gliders to potentially attack nuclear facilities.

      http://www.NewScientist.com








http://www.NewScientist.com

      The World's No.1 Science & Technology News
Service




      Nuclear jet crash 'could kill millions'


      19:00 26 May 04

      Exclusive from New Scientist Print Edition.
Subscribe and get 4 free issues.

      Fears that the UK's nuclear plants are
vulnerable to a 9/11-style attack or accident are
growing. Evidence is emerging that the no-fly
zones around nuclear plants are regularly breached
by both military and civilian aircraft. And a
report for the UK parliament leaked to New
Scientist says that such an attack might kill
millions.

      Since the 2001 attacks on New York and
Washington DC, the area of the ban has been
doubled to cover a radius of two nautical miles
(3.7 kilometres). Planes also have to stay above a
certain height, which varies for different sites.

      But these restrictions have been flouted on
numerous occasions. Over the past five years, the
operators of 19 nuclear sites around Britain have
lodged more than 100 complaints about aircraft
flying too close. The sites include reactors and
stores of radioactive waste or nuclear bombs.


           Alleged breaches of no-fly zones around
UK nuclear sites
      Declassified reports from the Ministry of
Defence (MoD) reveal that there were 56 alleged
breaches of the no-fly zones by military aircraft
between 2000 and 2003.

      Four of the complaints came from the MoD's
own nuclear weapons sites at Aldermaston and
Burghfield in Berkshire, and at Faslane near
Glasgow. Most of the other complaints were made by
the government agencies and private companies that
run the UK's civil nuclear programme.

      The incidents include one on 24 April 2002,
when a jet flew so close to the Torness reactors
in East Lothian that it set off three intruder
alarms on the perimeter fence. And on 10 June 2003
three military jets were seen rehearsing a flypast
for the queen's birthday near the Sizewell
reactors in Suffolk.


      Hot air balloon


      The MoD's internal investigations have
confirmed only five breaches of the no-fly zones:
three at Berleley in Gloucestershire, one at
Torness and one at Dungeness in Kent. "We can only
confirm that a breach has occurred when we have
proof," an MoD spokesman says.

      There have been 71 complaints of civilian
aircraft breaching the no-fly zones since the
beginning of 1999. According to the Civil Aviation
Authority, there was only enough evidence to
launch formal investigations in 12 cases,
including three at Aldermaston, two at Burghfield
and two at Sellafield in Cumbria.

      Four investigations are ongoing, and there
have been two successful prosecutions: one for a
hot air balloon at Aldermaston in 2001 and the
other for a powered hang-glider at Heysham nuclear
station in Lancashire in 2003.

      The breaches will do little to reassure the
public that nuclear sites are adequately protected
from a terrorist attack or an accidental aircraft
crash. In 2002 the UK House of Commons Defence
Committee requested a report on the risks of
terrorist attacks on nuclear facilities, and the
UK Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology
is due to publish its long-awaited reply in the
next few weeks.

      New Scientist has seen a copy of the report
and can reveal that it says that a large plane
crashing into a reactor could release as much
radioactivity as the Chernobyl accident in 1986,
while a crash into waste tanks at Sellafield in
Cumbria could cause at worst, "several million
fatalities".


      Confidential information


      The report acknowledges that the risks are
difficult to assess because so much information -
including operators' estimates of the health
impacts of radiation releases - is kept secret.




            Subscribe to New Scientist for more
news and features

                  Related Stories


                  Fake fog could defend nuclear
plants
                  12 January 2004

                  Japan's nuclear safety
"dangerously weak"
                  1 October 2002

                  UK nuclear safety report
discloses deficiencies
                  12 June 2002


                  For more related stories
                  search the print edition Archive



                  Weblinks


                  Ministry of Defence, UK

                  Civil Aviation Authority

                  British Nuclear Group




      But it concludes that it would be possible
for terrorists to cause a radioactive release -
and that the UK's current emergency arrangements
may not be sufficient to cope.

      "It is totally unacceptable that the
information we need to judge the risks is kept
confidential, and that we have to take so much on
trust," says Llew Smith, a Welsh MP who has been
investigating the risks of nuclear attacks by
terrorists.

      But the British Nuclear Group, which
operates the Sellafield site, has dismissed the
report's suggestion that flying a plane into the
waste tanks might kill millions, saying the idea
is implausible.

      Smith says this attitude is dangerously
misleading: "The consequences of deliberately
crashing an aircraft into a nuclear plant would be
horrific."


      Rob Edwards










































































































































































http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Terror-Threat.html
Terror Alert Renews Search for 7 Suspects
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: May 27, 2004


Filed at 12:07 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Al-Qaida is close to completing
its avowed plan to strike America again with a
major attack, according to top U.S. law
enforcement officials who want the public's help
in locating seven terror operatives labeled a
``clear and present danger'' by Attorney General
John Ashcroft.

Ashcroft said a steady stream of ``disturbing''
intelligence, collected for months, indicates that
could mean terrorists already are in the United
States to execute the plan, though he acknowledged
there is no new information indicating when, where
or how an attack might happen.

     Advertisement


``We do believe that al-Qaida plans to attack the
United States, and that is a result of
intelligence that is corroborated at a variety of
levels,'' Ashcroft said at a news conference
Wednesday with FBI Director Robert Mueller.

On Thursday in New York, Ashcroft told a news
conference that the government had in the past
successfully apprehended al-Qaida operatives in
the United States who were involved in activities
related to plots against this country.

``We also know that there are individuals that we
are surveilling and investigating at this time,''
he said.

Ashcroft said up to 700,000 state and local police
authorities were asked to join federal
investigators in reviewing the nation's
intelligence because ``we understand that there
may be people who are in place whose activities it
would be important for us to disrupt and
understand.''

At the same news conference, New York City Police
Commissioner Raymond Kelly tried to allay
terrorism fears.

``We do not subscribe to the notion that another
terrorist attack on the United States is
inevitable, but it is inevitable that the
terrorists will try. Our goal is to get them
before they can act,'' Kelly said.

On Wednesday, Ashcroft and Mueller announced an
intensified level of counterterrorism activity for
the summer. This includes:

--Interviews with individuals who could provide
intelligence about terrorism.

--Creation of a new FBI task force to focus on the
threat.

--An appeal to all Americans to be extra vigilant
about their surroundings, their neighbors and any
suspicious activity.

There was no immediate plan to raise the nation's
terror threat level, now at yellow, the midpoint
of the five-level warning system. Asa Hutchinson,
Homeland Security Department undersecretary for
border and transportation security, said, ``We
don't have the specific information that would
justify raising it or would cause us to do it.''

Some Democrats charged that the administration was
needlessly scaring people, perhaps to divert
attention from the continuing problems in Iraq.
Ashcroft's announcement came two days after
President Bush began a monthlong initiative to
explain administration policy on Iraq and the war
on terrorism.

Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee John
Kerry stopped short of charging the announcement
was politically motivated. But he questioned the
Bush administration's commitment to providing the
resources necessary to protect the country, citing
gaps in chemical and nuclear plant safety and
inadequate protection for U.S. ports.

Ashcroft rejected talk of a political motive,
saying greater public vigilance could help head
off an attack.

``My job isn't to worry about whether someone will
be second-guessing,'' he said.

Six of the al-Qaida operatives, including two
Canadian citizens, whose photos and backgrounds
were highlighted Wednesday have been the subject
of FBI pursuit for months. The seventh, Adam
Yahiye Gadahn, 25, is a U.S. citizen who grew up
on a California goat farm and converted to Islam
as a teenager. He was described by Mueller as
having attended al-Qaida training camps in
Afghanistan and served as an al-Qaida translator.

Each of the suspects, Ashcroft said, presents ``a
clear and present danger'' to the United States
because of their language skills, familiarity with
U.S. culture and ability to travel under multiple
aliases and use forged documents.

Ashcroft said al-Qaida has made adjustments to its
tactics to escape easy detection, such as having
operatives travel with their families to lower
their profiles and recruiting people who can pass
for having European ethnicity rather than Middle
Eastern backgrounds.

Ashcroft acknowledged there is no new intelligence
about the suspects indicating they are in the
United States or part of a specific al-Qaida plot.
He said it was important that the public be given
``a reminder'' about them.

Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, a member
of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said that
for ``several months'' the panel has been hearing
reports about a new al-Qaida danger. While he
agreed that the threat was serious, he questioned
why the threat level wasn't being changed if new
warnings were being made public.

``We'll never know if the administration has new
and justifiable information for this new
warning,'' Durbin said in an interview. ``I think
there's a building skepticism about warnings from
the Bush administration.''

Ashcroft and Mueller, though, said the summer
could offer a number of inviting targets for
al-Qaida.

The political repercussions from the March 11
train bombings in Spain, which contributed to
defeat of the ruling party in subsequent
elections, could embolden al-Qaida to try to
influence U.S. elections through attacks here,
Ashcroft said.

There is also concern about a number of
high-profile summer events, beginning Saturday
with dedication of the new World War II Memorial
in Washington and next month's economic summit of
the eight industrial powers, being held at Sea
Island, Ga. The Democratic and Republican
conventions, in Boston and New York, respectively,
also are potential targets.

Jim Evans of San Marcos, Calif., said he still
planned to attend the World War II Memorial
ceremony.

``It concerns me, but you can't live your life in
fear. You have to go about your business,'' said
Evans, 80, who served in the Marine Corps during
World War II. ``It's just like telling me it's
going to rain. What are you going to do about
it?''

------

On the Net:

Justice Department: http://www.usdoj.gov

FBI: http://www.fbi.gov

3 Mile Island Alert:
http://www.tmia.com/sabter.html





*****************************************************************
 31 Salt Lake Tribune: $1.5M revives fallout study 
 
May 27, 2004   

By Judy Fahys 
 
    The federal government is breathing new life into a unique, 
Utah-based study on the health impacts of atomic weapons testing. 
 
    The Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta is offering $1.5 
million for the next phase of a controversial thyroid study 
involving people exposed to fallout from the tests between 1944 
and 1957. A University of Utah team has kept the program on life 
support for years as the federal government snubbed the work, the 
only analysis of its kind measuring the connection between 
fallout exposure and illness. 
 
    Study manager Mary Bishop Stone said participants are eager 
to continue the work that federal investigators began nearly 40 
years ago. 
 
    "They tell us they are glad someone is addressing the concern 
they have had all these years," she said. 
 
    For decades, there has been debate over how the more than 900 
atomic tests at the Nevada Test Site affected people who, as 
children, were sprinkled with fallout dust and consumed it in 
contaminated milk and produce. The federal government had 
reassured the public at the time there was no reason to fear the 
radioactive dust, but government studies released in 1997 
revealed that as many as 75,000 Americans have developed cancer 
or will as a result of exposure to fallout. 
 
    The first phase of the thyroid study began in the 1960s and 
ended with the federal Bureau of Radiation Health concluding that 
fallout had not increased disease among 4,818 people living in 
Washington County, Utah, and Lincoln County, Nev., with residents 
of Graham County, Ariz., used as a control group. 
 
    In the mid-1980s, U. researchers tracked down 3,122 of the 
original subjects and found instead that exposure to fallout led 
to a higher-than-usual incidence of thyroid tumors. 
 
    To complete its study, the research team wants to conduct 
in-depth thyroid examinations of about 2,000 of the original 
study participants. The team has already reanalyzed the past data 
and begun in-depth examinations of 500 study participants at 
clinics in St. George, Phoenix and Safford, Ariz. Ultimately, to 
complete it, the U. will need about $800,000 more than the CDC 
has promised. 
 
    The exams involve feeling the thyroid for abnormalities and 
drawing blood for hormone analysis, as well as ultrasounds. 
 
    Preston Truman, of the advocacy group Downwinders, applauded 
the decision to resume funding of the study. 
 
    "This new round would let them examine us now some 50 years 
after we were exposed to the heavy original fallout and to see 
what the effects would be over that segment of time from when we 
were checked last in the 1980s," said Truman, who became a study 
subject as a seventh-grader. He said it will be important to 
compare the U.S. results with those from studies of fallout in 
Chernobyl and Kazakhstan. 
 
    Mary Jane Collipriest, spokeswoman for U.S. Sen. Bob Bennett, 
R-Utah, also applauded the funding. She noted Bennett has tried 
for at least six years to revive the agency's support. 
 
    "The release of additional money," she said, "is great news 
because the information resulting from this research is extremely 
important for the citizens of this state." 
 
    fahys@sltrib.com [fahys@sltrib.com] 
 
Copyright Salt Lake City Tribune
*****************************************************************
 32 chillicothe gazette: A-plant workers should not be considered expendable -
 
www.chillicothegazette.com

Thursday, May 27, 2004   

By Glenn Bell
 
  L E T T E R 

Editor, the Gazette: 

I certainly hope those in charge of the beryllium investigation
at Piketon take their task seriously. 

For some individuals, there is no known "safe" exposure level to
beryllium. I have been a machinist at the Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant
since 1968, and was diagnosed with Chronic Beryllium Disease
(CBD) in 1993 as a result of exposure there. To date, we have
about 200 current and former workers from Oak Ridge operations
who have been diagnosed with CBD or its precursor, Beryllium
Sensitivity (BeS). Some never develop symptoms, while others,
such as myself, have severe lung and immune system distress. CBD
can kill. 

Beryllium has been steeped in controversy since it was first
used in nuclear weapons production back in the 1940s. An
arbitrary limit was set in 1949, based roughly on a fraction of
the then-standard for lead. This "taxicab standard" was in place
in the AEC/DOE facilities until 2001, when it was reduced by a
factor of ten, from 2 micrograms per cubic meter, to 0.2
micrograms. 

We have found even this does not protect. I have had three
confirmed medical incident reports in less than a year, where I
had a severe and immediate reaction to trace amounts of
beryllium brought into my work area. The long-term, or
cumulative effects are unknown. 

Our beryllium support group has been attempting to work with
management to raise the awareness of beryllium's danger to those
of us susceptible to the toxin. We have had limited success,
because most of the problem exposures have been "within the
limit." Recognized experts in treating beryllium illnesses agree
we should avoid any detectable beryllium. 

And since there is no pretest at present to determine who might
be at risk, it would seem prudent to protect all workers who
have exposure potential. We should not be considered expendable. 

Glenn Bell 

Oak Ridge, Tenn. 

Originally published Thursday, May 27, 2004
*****************************************************************
 33 Times Record: Uranium found in classroom   

05/27/2004         
  
[http://www.timesrecord.com

   Christopher_Cousins@TimesRecord.Com
  
  Maine Yankee officials called to scene; HazMat team responds as 
well.

 BATH - A Morse High science teacher this morning discovered what 
a Maine Yankee official described as a small uranium rock in a 
classroom.

Bob Gann, superintendent of radiological remediation at Maine 
Yankee, examined the rock and said that it posed "no health risk 
whatsoever."

Gann said he and his team from Maine Yankee were asked by school 
officials to take the rock and other materials found with it to 
Wiscasset for disposal.

Rescue workers and hazardous substance experts had blocked off 
the main entrances to Morse High School this morning while 
officials tried to identify what initially they described as a 
potentially hazardous substance in a science classroom.

At 10 a.m., a hazardous materials team from Brunswick Naval Air 
Station was setting up tarps and equipment on the school's front 
lawn to deal with the substance in case it turned out to be 
hazardous. Those measures were meant as a precaution until more 
could be learned about the substance, said a Bath firefighter on 
the scene.

Students had not been evacuated from the school, but Carlos 
Williams, who had been inside the building, said two science 
classrooms at the end of a hallway had been blocked off with 
yellow plastic tape. 

Classes remained in session while the investigation went on and 
will continue as usual, according to school officials.

Uranium rock was found in a coffee can packed with lead shot, 
according to Gann, who held the rock in his hand as he spoke.

Rescue workers were allowing access at the south end of the 
building but they directed students and teachers not to use any 
of the three entrances at the front of the building. 

Four students who came out of the building to move their cars 
said they didn't know anything was going on until they came 
outside and saw rescue vehicles and fire scene tape. Most of the 
school was operating as if nothing happened, they said. 

"This has definitely never happened before," said Joe Alexander, 
a senior. "I'm very surprised they didn't evacuate the building."

Seniors Stephanie Fisher and Abigail Plummer, who were in 
accounting class before leaving the building to move their car, 
said a firefighter told them they were in no danger.

"Our teacher didn't even know anything was going on," said 
Fisher. 

Bath Fire Chief Steve Hinds and Superintendent Michael Lafortune, 
who were at the scene, were not available to make a statement by 
press time.   

(C) 2004 All Rights Reserved
*****************************************************************
 34 phillyBurbs: CDC Offers $1.5 Million for Thyroid Study 

   | Edit [http://www.phillyburbs.com/

The Associated Press

SALT LAKE CITY - The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 
is offering $1.5 million for the next phase of a thyroid study 
involving people who lived downwind from nuclear weapons testing.

Southeastern Nevada, southwestern Utah and northwestern Arizona 
all were hit by radioactive fallout from the aboveground testing 
in Nevada from 1951 through 1962. A University of Utah team has 
kept the program going for years after the federal government 
lost interest.

Study manager Mary Bishop Stone said participants are eager to 
continue the work that federal investigators began nearly 40 
years ago. "They tell us they are glad someone is addressing the 
concern they have had all these years," she said.

For decades, there has been debate over how the more than 900 
atomic tests affected downwind residents. Past studies produced 
conflicting conclusions as to whether the fallout caused 
increased numbers of cases of particular types of cancer.

The first phase of the thyroid study began in the 1960s and ended 
with the federal researchers concluding that fallout had not 
increased disease among 4,818 people living in Washington County, 
Utah, and Lincoln County, Nev., with residents of Graham County, 
Ariz., used as a control group.


    



In the mid-1980s, University of Utah researchers tracked down 
3,122 of the original subjects and found that exposure to fallout 
led to a higher-than-usual incidence of thyroid tumors.

To complete its study, the research team wants to conduct 
in-depth thyroid examinations of about 2,000 of the original 
study participants.

The team has reanalyzed the past data and has started in-depth 
examinations of 500 study participants at clinics in St. George, 
Phoenix and Safford, Ariz. The researchers say that to complete 
the study, they will need about $800,000 more than the CDC has 
promised.

The exams involve feeling the thyroid for abnormalities and 
drawing blood for hormone analysis, as well as ultrasounds.

Preston Truman, of the advocacy group Downwinders, applauded the 
decision to resume funding of the study.

"This new round would let them examine us now some 50 years after 
we were exposed to the heavy original fallout and to see what the 
effects would be over that segment of time from when we were 
checked last in the 1980s," said Truman, who became a study 
subject as a seventh-grader. He said it will be important to 
compare the U.S. results with those from studies of fallout in 
Chernobyl and Kazakhstan. May 27, 2004 7:08 AM 

©2004 Copyright Calkins Media, Inc. All rights reserved. back to 
*****************************************************************
 35 IAEA: Nuclear Security at the Summer 2004 Olympic Games
 
Press Release 2004/04

 Vienna, 25 May 2004 | The International Atomic Energy Agency 
(IAEA) today announced an unprecedented joint action plan to help 
ensure a high level of nuclear security at the 2004 Olympic 
Games.
 
Cooperation between the IAEA, the Greek Atomic Energy Commission 
and the Greek Olympics Games Security Division to provide expert 
advice and technical assistance followed a request for assistance 
from the two Greek authorities to the IAEA last summer.

The action plan is designed to protect facilities and materials, 
to detect illicit trafficking and malicious use of radioactive 
materials, and to ensure that emergency response forces are 
effective and efficient.

Much of the work in Greece has been undertaken in co-operation 
with some IAEA Member States – with substantial support provided 
by the United States and France in the fields of equipment, 
training and technical advice.
 
The physical protection of the Demokritos nuclear research 
reactor, in a suburb of Athens, has been upgraded and the 
security of radioactive sources used at medical and industrial 
facilities in six Greek cities has been tightened.
 
Radiation detection equipment has been installed at borders and 
other entry points into Greece, and mobile detection equipment 
will be deployed elsewhere. Hand-held radiation monitors are 
being distributed amongst the thousands of security personnel and 
customs officials who are involved in the security for the Games. 
The equipment is being deployed to detect radioactive materials 
that might be used as a weapon by terrorists in a radiological 
dispersal device, a so-called "dirty bomb". Detailed information 
on the steps that have been taken cannot be disclosed for reasons 
of security.
 
“There has been good cooperation with the Greek Atomic Energy 
Commission and with the other international partners in 
developing and implementing this work” said Mohamed ElBaradei, 
Director General of the IAEA. “We are collectively striving for a 
high measure of security and the work being undertaken should 
enhance the capabilities of the Greek authorities.” 

The IAEA from its Vienna headquarters operates a major programme 
to help its Member States to combat the threat of nuclear 
terrorism. The IAEA takes a lead role in providing international 
standards and guidance on both security and related safety 
issues. And it provides advisory services, training, technical 
assistance and information support. Since it was established, the 
IAEA nuclear security programme has provided assistance and 
support to dozens of States across the globe.

Press Contacts
 
Mark Gwozdecky Director and Spokesperson Division of Public 
Information [43-1] 2600-21270 [43] 664-154-6989 (mobile) 
m.gwozdecky@iaea.org [m.gwozdecky@iaea.org] About the IAEA

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) serves as the 
world's foremost intergovernmental forum for scientific and 
technical co-operation in the peaceful use of nuclear technology. 
Established as an autonomous organization under the United 
Nations (UN) in 1957, the IAEA carries out programmes to maximize 
the useful contribution of nuclear technology to society while 
verifying its peaceful use.
 
NOTE TO EDITORS: For additional information visit the Press 
Section of the IAEA's website 
(http://www.iaea.org/Resources/Journalists/), or call the IAEA's 
Division of Public Information at (431) 2600-21270. 

Copyright 2003-2004, International Atomic Energy Agency, P.O. Box 
100, Wagramer Strasse 5, A-1400 Vienna, Austria Telephone (+431) 
2600-0; Facsimilie (+431) 2600-7; E-mail: Official.Mail@iaea.org 
[Official.Mail@iaea.org] Disclaimer 
*****************************************************************
 36 JoongAng Daily: Uljin county requests nuclear waste dump
   
  Residents of Geunnam and Giseong villages in Uljin county,
North Gyeongsang province, applied yesterday to the Ministry of
Commerce, Industry and Energy, saying that they want the
construction of a nuclear waste disposal facility in their
region, in return for economic benefits promised by government.

 It is the first voluntary application for a nuclear dump. The
central government had originally planned such a facility in
Buan county, North Jeolla province, but that ended in the face
of strong resistance from residents. 

A representative of Uljin county said yesterday, "Of the 6,114
adult residents in the two villages, we received endorsements
from 2,657 people, or 43.5 percent." 

Residents of two other Jeolla province counties are also
believed to be considering sending similar applications.   

  2004.05.28       

[http://joongangdaily.joins.com
*****************************************************************
 37 Casper Star Trib: Toxic waste clean-up proposed
 
Casper, Wyoming - Thursday, May 27, 2004    
  
By WHITNEY ROYSTER

Star-Tribune environmental reporter Thursday, May 27, 2004 

JACKSON -- Just three residents turned out Tuesday night to hear 
about a Department of Energy plan to clean up a highly toxic site 
outside of Idaho Falls.

The plan calls for, in part, using simple visual identification 
of toxic materials, then using a trenching machine with a fully 
rotating bucket to precisely excavate the waste.

Jeff Perry, DOE project leader, said the hope is to begin 
clean-up before a final analysis for the project is completed.

"We know we need to retrieve some of the waste," he said. "We 
know how much we have to do and how far we have to go." 

The DOE is asking for public comment on the waste-retrieval plan 
in the half-acre area known as "Pit 4" at the Idaho National 
Engineering and Environmental Laboratory, which is upwind of 
Jackson Hole and Yellowstone National Park.

Perry said the agency also knows what wastes are in the toxic 
site. It is largely transuranic wastes -- radioactive substances 
made up of plutonium and neptunium. The pit also holds volatile 
organic compounds.

The need to clean up the pit is to protect the Snake River 
Aquifer -- the second largest in the country. The aquifer 
stretches from Ashton to Twin Falls, Idaho, and from Idaho Falls 
to Howe.

Many of Wyoming's agricultural foods come from crops fed from 
water in the aquifer.

The DOE's proposal calls for putting a tent around Pit 4 and 
using television cameras to watch as excavators dig up the soil. 
An operator outside the area will visually identify waste and the 
machine operator will be told what to take out. The machine 
operator will be in a sealed booth with his own air supply, Perry 
said.

Air filters will be used to prevent toxic dust from reaching 
outside air, he said.

Transuranic waste and VOCs will be treated and stored, and 
possibly moved to other sites. So-called "non-targeted waste," 
rags, personal clothing and other wastes found in the pit, will 
be re-buried at the site.

The waste in Pit 4 was buried between 1954 and 1970. Several 
years ago, INEEL proposed incinerating the waste made from the 
same nuclear process but in later years, now stored on asphalt.

Residents of northwest Wyoming protested the incineration, saying 
the toxic smoke would be highly polluting.

At Tuesday's meeting, Tat Maxwell said the visual retrieval 
seemed better than other options, and it was crucial to get the 
waste out of the ground.

Jim Laybourn questioned the DOE's plan to leave "non-targeted" 
waste in the pit, saying any potential hazard should be removed.

The DOE is accepting public comments through June 4, and hopes to 
reach a decision by July. It hopes to begin excavation of Pit 4 
by fall.

For more information visit (http://cleanup.inel.gov). 

  Copyright © 2004 by the Casper Star-Tribune published by Lee
*****************************************************************
 38 Bradenton Herald: Tallevast well pollution spurs official action 

| 05/26/2004 | 

  [Frank Williams, right, who has lived in Tallevast since 1926,
sits on his porch with his grandsons, Rafael and Lamar.
Residents are living with a growing realization of pollution of
their drinking water wells.]   

  TIFFANY TOMPKINS-The Herald   

  Frank Williams, right, who has lived in Tallevast since 1926, 
sits on his porch with his grandsons, Rafael and Lamar. Residents 
are living with a growing realization of pollution of their 
drinking water wells.   

KEVIN O'HORAN and DANA SANCHEZ

 Herald Staff Writers

TALLEVAST - Cancer-causing chemicals have contaminated a much 
larger area of groundwater near the former American Beryllium Co. 
plant in Tallevast than originally stated, according to tests by 
Florida environmental regulators. 

The tests of private wells in the community show that toxic 
solvents, likely leaked from the plant years ago, now have spread 
to five private water wells in the area, just two weeks after 
officials said no homes were affected by the poisons. 

The new finding forced officials to pass out bottled water to the 
affected homes late Tuesday, and hurriedly begin connecting all 
homes in the area to the Manatee County water system. 

Anxiety levels have been high in the community since November, 
when residents learned that former plant owner Lockheed Martin 
Corp. had discovered toxic metals in soil at the site and 
poisonous solvents in groundwater there and nearby. 

The list of chemicals beryllium, chromium and trichloroethylene, 
all identified by federal health officials as linked to cancers 
found in people. 

Until late Tuesday, Florida environmental officials had said 
residents in the area faced no threat from the contamination 
because the soil had been cleared and, according to Lockheed's 
reports, no private wells tapped the groundwater. 

But residents convinced the Florida Department of Environmental 
Protection to come back to the community May 14 and check for 
wells, a process that found 17 homes still had pipes dipping into 
the groundwater. 

Late Tuesday, the agency learned that tests had found 
trichloroethylene in five of the 17 wells, at levels from two to 
70 times the maximum allowed by Florida codes. 

Also found in the water at two of those five homes was 
dichloroethylene, a closely related liquid, with one sample at 
five times the allowable level. 

See Thursday's Bradenton Herald for the complete story.   

*****************************************************************
 39 AP Wire: DEP tests show contaminated wells near former plant

| 05/27/2004 | 

Bradenton.com

Associated Press

TALLEVAST, Fla. - Some drinking water wells in this southwest 
Florida community were found to be contaminated with chemicals 
from a nearby manufacturing plant, prompting county workers to 
hand out bottled water and extend water lines to affected homes. 

Department of Environmental Protection tests found 
trichlorethylene, or TCE, a cleaning solvent that can cause a 
host of ailments, including liver and kidney cancer, if consumed 
over a long time period. 

The wells are near the former American Beryllium Co. plant, which 
operated for 40 years before closing in 1996. Officials spent 
weeks assuring residents they had nothing to fear from a 
five-acre plume of polluted ground water coming from the site. 

But one area well contained 70 times more TCE than the state 
considers safe, and two others showed levels 60 times higher than 
the state standard. 

DEP spokeswoman Merritt Mitchell said the agency was wrong when 
it repeatedly said none of the wells in this community near 
Sarasota were threatened by the toxic plume. 

Manatee County workers started installing temporary water lines 
on Wednesday, one day after learning of the contamination. 
Defense contractor Lockheed Martin, which bought the property 
when the plant closed, said it will pay for the connections. 

Residents of the area, who were ordered not to drink or cook with 
the well water, said they have higher-than-normal rates of 
cancer, birth defects and other health problems. 

"The whole community has been drinking this stuff for 30 years," 
said Wanda Washington. 

Tests of other area wells indicated they were safe, said Charles 
Henry, of the county health department. 

--- 

Information from: Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 
[http://www.heraldtribune.com]   

*****************************************************************
 40 Bradenton Herald: Pollution found in more wells in Florida town

| 05/27/2004 | 

Tallevast residents start getting bottled water to replace
drinking water from their polluted wells 

BY KEVIN O'HORAN and DANA SANCHEZ 

Bradenton (Fla.) Herald

TALLEVAST - Cancer-causing chemicals have contaminated a much 
larger area of groundwater near the former American Beryllium Co. 
plant in Tallevast than originally stated, according to tests by 
Florida environmental regulators. 

The tests of private wells in the community show that toxic 
solvents, likely leaked from the plant years ago, now have spread 
to five private water wells in the area, just two weeks after 
officials said no homes were affected by the poisons. 

The new finding forced officials to pass out bottled water to the 
affected homes late Tuesday, and hurriedly connect all homes in 
the area to the Manatee County water system. 

"If it ain't good enough to drink, it ain't good enough to cook 
with," Frank Williams, a 78-year-old lifelong Tallevast resident, 
said of the contaminated water at his home. 

Anxiety levels have been high in the community since November, 
when residents learned that former plant owner Lockheed Martin 
Corp. had discovered toxic metals in soil at the 1600 Tallevast 
Road site and poisonous solvents in groundwater there and nearby. 

The list of chemicals included beryllium, chromium and 
trichloroethylene, all identified by federal health officials as 
linked to cancers found in people. 

Officials at Lockheed, the aerospace giant that bought the site 
in 1996 and sold it to current owner WPI Interconnect Inc. in 
2000, expressed surprise at the finding that the solvents had 
spread through the groundwater, but vowed to eliminate the 
threat. 

"We're taking immediate action," said Gail Rymer, Lockheed's 
director of corporate and community affairs. 

Testing continues 

The company is paying to run county water lines to all 17 
Tallevast homes still on well water, she said, and will widen its 
investigation to determine the extent of contamination in the 
community. 

Lockheed had stated in its latest reports to DEP that the 
contamination plume - the area of fouled groundwater - slid just 
beyond the plant's boundaries but didn't affect any private wells 
in the area. 

And until late Tuesday, Florida environmental officials had said 
residents in the area faced no threat from the contamination 
because the soil had been cleared and, according to Lockheed's 
reports, no private wells tapped the groundwater. 

But residents convinced the Florida Department of Environmental 
Protection to come back to the community and check for wells, a 
process that on May 14 found 17 homes still had pipes dipping 
into the groundwater. 

The agency later tested water from the wells, with results, 
completed around 4 p.m. Tuesday, showing trichloroethylene in 
five of the 17 wells, at levels from two to 70 times the maximum 
allowed by Florida codes. 

Also found in the water at two of those five homes was 
dichloroethylene, a closely related liquid, with one sample at 
five times the allowable level. 

In all, the tests found some solvents in 13 of the 17 drinking 
water wells. 

And roughly doubled the extent of the contamination plume - that 
area of fouled groundwater - reaching off the 5-acre plant 
grounds. 

Still, officials downplayed the threat. In a May 25 letter sent 
to each of the homes, Gladys Branic, director of the Manatee 
County Health Department, stated that Florida's water standards 
"are set 100 to 1,000 times below the level at which we would 
expect to see a health effect in people." 

They stuck to that theme today. 

"These (allowable) levels are very, very protective," said 
Charles Henry, environmental health director at the health 
department, a local branch of the state health agency. 

Questions remain 

Residents note that none of Lockheed's experts or DEP's 
scientists have been able to pin down when the contamination hit 
the wells or how much hit the drinking water. 

Nor can they put a date on when the toxins spilled to the ground. 
Or for how long. 

"American Beryllium has been here for so many years," said Tony 
Williams, a Tallevast resident since 1963. "There's never been 
anything done to stop the spread of contamination." 

A team of DEP, Department of Health and Manatee County utility 
department officials rolled into Tallevast late Tuesday, heading 
to each of the five homes to alert residents to the findings. 

They brought with them bottled water for each of the homes, as 
well. And they sent county utility crews into the area Wednesday 
to shut down the private wells and hook the homes into Manatee's 
water system. 

Temporarily, but with an eye on the longer run. 

"We want to make them permanent connections," said John Barnott, 
customer service administrator at Manatee utilities. 

Within the next six months, he added, the county would like to 
run water lines to any Tallevast home still drawing from a well, 
regardless of contamination findings. 

"That's the direction we're heading," Barnott said. 

The direction DEP leaders had been touting for the site was one 
well on its way to clean status, one that posed little or no 
threat to residents of the area. 

They talked about previous work that had scraped away the tainted 
soil and carted it off for disposal, and of recent reports that 
pegged the contamination plume at just five acres. 

And in a recent conference call with Herald editors and 
reporters, Deborah Getzoff, DEP's district director, stated 
emphatically that the plume actually had shrunk by about half 
from previous reports. 

On Wednesday, they said they were blindsided by the new findings. 

"Based on the information that we had, this was unexpected," said 
Merritt Mitchell, a spokeswoman in DEP's Tampa office. 

"We felt we had a very good perspective on the (type of) 
contamination and the extent of the contamination. We don't, at 
this particular point in time, have information that this 
information wasn't good." 

Part of the problem, she said, might be that sources other than 
the former American Beryllium plant - now operating as WPI 
Sarasota, after a 2000 sale by Lockheed - could be fouling the 
groundwater. 

Manatee crews did recently announce they had found toxins at an 
abandoned industrial site in the 1500 block of Tallevast, a 
neighboring plot where county officials had considered adding a 
stormwater pond and possible neighborhood park. 

With all the recent findings, she said, the agency now plans to 
push Lockheed - which owned the land when contamination was first 
found in 2000 - to drop more testing wells into the ground to 
determine where the toxins end. 

And, she said, DEP soon will send its own crews back to the area 
to check more wells, as well as beef up reviews of all activities 
associated with the site. 

"I can promise you," Mitchell said, "the department is putting 
all of its best technical experts on this." 

But neither the environmental department nor the health 
department has any plan to change the schedule they follow for 
notifying communities of contamination findings. 

"I want to stress," said the health agency's Henry, "that it is 
now and always has been DEP's policy and the Department of 
Health's policy to conduct immediate notification of residents if 
we believe there is an immediate health threat. 

"And those policies haven't changed." 

Residents and some local politicians have lobbed heavy criticism 
at DEP and Lockheed for not alerting Tallevast residents sooner 
to contamination findings, the earliest of which came January 20, 
2000. 

Lockheed, for its part, just Wednesday completed a round of 
private well sampling in Tallevast. Working and sharing samples 
with FOCUS, a community activist group, the company hopes to 
learn more about contamination from the well samples. 

And some residents hope to learn a little about what their shared 
past can tell them of their individual futures. 

"The problem is broader than the five wells," said Wanda 
Washington, a Tallevast resident and vice president of FOCUS. "At 
one point, we were all drinking from the wells." 

Bradenton.com 
*****************************************************************
 41 ABQjournal: Nuke Panel Objects to N.M.'s Petition on Uranium Plant 

www.abqjournal.com

May 26, 2004 

The Associated Press 

   HOBBS  —   The staff of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission says the New Mexico Environment Department is trying
to raise new evidence in a petition to intervene in hearings for
a planned uranium enrichment plant near Eunice. 

    The staff, in a document Monday to the federal Atomic Safety
and Licensing Board, contends the state agency's reply
"improperly seeks admission of new evidence and contentions and,
thus, should not be considered by the board in ruling on
intervention." 

    The reply "fails to focus at all on issues raised in the
staff or LES answers" and instead tries "to introduce entirely
new information and expert opinion under the guise of a reply,"
the document said. 

    Environment Department spokesman Jon Goldstein said the
recommendation does not mean the state will stop trying to
pursue questions over the proposed $1.2 billion Louisiana Energy
Services plant. 

    "We continue to believe the points we have raised are valid
ones and we will continue to push them," he said. 

    The department's petition to intervene contended LES would
be able to store uranium byproducts throughout the plant's
30-year life despite that being unacceptable to the state and
contrary to representations the LES made. The petition also
contends LES's proposed storage plan lacks detail and does not
demonstrate that licensing the plant would not hurt public
health and safety. 

    Earlier this month, Gov. Bill Richardson asked the NRC to
allow the state to fully participate in all hearings on the
application. He said the state in particular "wants to ensure
that the depleted uranium byproduct generated by the facility is
safely disposed of." 

    Uranium processing generates a type of waste that cannot be
dumped anywhere in the country. Such waste requires processing
to convert it before it can be shipped to a low-level nuclear
waste dump, but no U.S. facility can do that. 

    The state wants to ensure that waste would be moved out of
New Mexico regularly to prevent any possible creation of a
legacy stockpile. 

    LES, which wants to build the plant to make fuel for nuclear
reactors, has asked federal regulators not to let the state and
two public interest groups raise certain types of questions. 

    However, Marshall Cohen, vice president of communications
and government relations for LES, said Wednesday LES supports
letting New Mexico raise issues about waste disposal because
they pertain to health and safety. 

    "While we have some differences with the state's concerns as
reflect in their filings, we remain quite confident and
convinced that a thorough discussion of the issue will lead to
complete resolution of all relevant issues," he said. 

    The company on Wednesday also reaffirmed its support for the
Environment Department being able to raise issues issues related
to the costs of decommissioning the plant and a radiation
protection program. 

    LES said, however, it is concerned the Environment
Department is raising concerns in its reply that disregard the
approach established by the NRC in February. The company did not
support the agency raising questions about a new issue about the
proposed plant's emergency plan. 

    Cohen said LES's plans to work with companies toward a
private deconversion facility are proceeding well. 

    LES is discussing the option with Cogema, which does
deconversion in Europe, and with two other firms, he said. He
identified one of them as ConverDyne, and said it possesses the
necessary technology. 

    The Environment Department, the state attorney general's
office and a coalition of two Washington, D.C.-based public
interest groups, the Nuclear Information &Resource Service and
Public Citizen, have been granted standing to intervene in the
case. That gives them the right to raise issues, ask questions
and cross-examine witnesses. 

    Under the licensing process, the NRC prepares an
environmental impact statement and safety report on the
facility, then holds hearings. 

    LES is a partnership of major nuclear energy companies,
including Urenco, Westinghouse and U.S. companies   —   Duke
Power, Entergy and Exelon. 

Copyright Albuquerque Journal
*****************************************************************
 42 ITAR-TASS: US ready to pay for nuclear fuel supplies to Russia

27.05.2004, 07.50

MOSCOW, May 27 (Itar-Tass) -- The United States is ready to pay
for nuclear fuel supplies to Russia from all Soviet-made foreign
research reactors. “A relevant intergovernmental Russian-US
agreement will be signed at the meeting between head of the
Russian Nuclear Agency Alexander Rumyantsev and US Secretary of
Energy Spencer Abraham on Thursday,” a spokesman for the Federal
Atomic Energy Agency told Itar-Tass. “The implementation of this
agreement will assist in preventing the proliferation of nuclear
weapons and reducing a threat of falling nuclear materials in
the hands of international terrorists,” he emphasised. 

He recalled that “the fresh nuclear fuel has already been
brought to Russia for storage from former Yugoslavia, Romania,
Libya and Bulgaria by joint efforts.” “Nuclear fuel from about
20 research reactors of CIS, Eastern European and Southeast
Asian countries is to be supplied,” the spokesman pointed out. 
“Some other trends of bilateral cooperation in non-proliferation
of nuclear weapons and carrying out joint researches in nuclear
energy” will also be discussed at the Russian-US meeting on
Thursday. “More than 20 joint projects including the processing
of Russian highly enriched uranium into nuclear fuel for US
nuclear power plants are being implemented,” he remarked. 

© ITAR-TASS. All rights reserved. You undertake not to copy,
*****************************************************************
 43 lamonitor.com: Headline News Wallace tours Yucca Mountain 

The Online News Source for Los Alamos
 
   [http://www.lanl.gov/worldview]   
   [http://www.lac-nm.us]   

CAROL A. CLARK, lanews@lamonitor.com, Monitor Staff Writer

Rep. Jeannette Wallace, R-Los Alamos, accompanied a high-level 
radioactive waste working group to a conference at Yucca Mountain 
earlier this month. The National Conference of State Legislatures 
sponsored the trip to the Yucca Mountain repository located at 
the Nevada Test Site in Nye County Nevada about 100 miles 
northwest of Las Vegas.

"We went to the top of Yucca Mountain where we could see the 
highest and lowest points in the area," Wallace said. 

"We saw the snow covered peaks of Mount Whitney at 14,494 feet 
and the desolate desert of Death Valley almost 300 feet below sea 
level."

The purpose of the May 10-13 conference was a fact-finding 
mission, Wallace said. The meetings focused on presentations from 
the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, the Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission and the Nuclear Waste Technical Review 
Board.

Members from the NCSL contingent also heard about State-Tribal 
issues related to spent fuel transportation and the state of 
Nevada's perspective on Yucca Mountain. John Heaton, high level 
waste committee chair spoke about how waste is classified.

"We also discussed funding and safety issues," Wallace said. "We 
are hearing that approximately 67 percent of the people from 
Nevada have accepted that the repository is going to be there. 
The rural areas have accepted it as part of economic development 
but the city of Las Vegas is violently opposed."

The talk is that the waste will probably be transported through 
Nevada by rail, Wallace said. "I think more probably one of the 
routes will be through the old range land and that changes our 
history in some ways," she said.

On Apr. 8, DOE published a record of decision in the Federal 
Register selecting the Caliente, Nev. route as the rail route and 
selecting mostly rail as the transportation mode.

Concurrent with DOE's announcement of the Caliente corridor, the 
Bureau of Land Management announced that the land withdrawal 
process for the portions of the route that traverse BLM land had 
begun.

The land identified in the withdrawal is wider than DOE requires, 
which allows some flexibility to decide where within the corridor 
the rail spur would be built.

DOE anticipates that, by the end of FY 2004 they will have 
defined the transportation requirements, developed an acquisition 
strategy and begun procurements, according to DOE reports.

The long-term goal is to have the system in place to begin 
transportation to Yucca Mountain by 2010.

"Yucca Mountain is built similar to Los Alamos although our 
volcanoes weren't as long ago or as large," Wallace said. "People 
worry, but the repository is 2000 feet down and there is no way 
water could ever follow a fault and get 2000 feet down to become 
contaminated."

The DOE began studying Yucca Mountain in 1978 to determine 
whether it would be suitable for the first national long-term 
repository for spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive 
waste.

These materials are currently stored at 131 sites around the 
country.

"The Los Alamos National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore, Sandia 
Laboratory and Bechtel have the contract to manage Yucca 
Mountain," Wallace said.

She noticed a man at Yucca Mountain with a LANL logo on his hard 
hat who said he has worked for LANL for 18 years and never worked 
in Los Alamos.

This February, President George W. Bush proposed $24 billion for 
the Energy Department, in his FY 2005 budget - an increase of 
close to four percent over the FY 2004 budget.

The Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management received the 
largest percentage increase among DOE programs in the new budget, 
tripling the program's transportation budget to $186 million, 
said a news release.

A huge U-shaped tunnel exists inside Yucca Mountain, Wallace 
said. She walked a few hundred yards inside the north entrance 
and noticed various adjoining tunnels. "We saw tags on the walls 
from samples taken over the years by various laboratories," she 
said. "The tags listed the name of the person that took the 
sample, which lab they represented and what they did that day."

"I feel confident that the scientists that have worked on this 
project for years are correct in saying Yucca Mountain is a good 
place to store high level waste rods," Wallace said.

Conference sponsor NCSL is a bipartisan organization founded in 
1975. It provides research, technical assistance and 
opportunities to legislators and staffs in all 50 states, 
commonwealths and territories.

"I have really enjoyed being invited by the committee to visit 
Yucca Mountain," Wallace said.

The NCSL has invited Wallace to visit several national 
laboratories and state and federal projects around the country.

Wallace also attends important and interesting meetings through 
her membership on the executive board of the Council of State 
Governments-West. The energy council is made up of oil producing 
states like Texas, Ark., Okla., Ala., and Alaska. They meet four 
times a year in places like Nova Scotia, Alberta, Canada and 
Venezuela.   

  © 2003 Los Alamos Monitor All Rights Reserved.   
*****************************************************************
 44 Herald-Palladium: Vanished in a cloud of smoke

  St. Joseph-Benton Harbor, Michigan     
   
Thursday, May 27, 2004 
  
 [http://www.heraldpalladium.com]    
 
By SCOTT AIKEN / H-P Staff Writer 

BENTON TOWNSHIP -- With a boom and a cloud of dust, a towering 
piece of Berrien County's industrial past crashed to the ground.

Demolition workers used explosives Wednesday morning to knock 
down a 150-foot smokestack off North Shore Drive, the last 
remaining structure on a factory complex used for nearly a 
century. Paid for with $50,000 in federal Superfund money, the 
demolition is part of the last phase of cleanup on the 17-acre 
property. The project began in 1996 after radioactive material 
from thousands of stored World War II-era aircraft gauges was 
detected in buildings on the Aircraft Components site.

Federal EPA officials said the smokestack, though not 
contaminated, could have toppled during upcoming cleanup work in 
the nearby Paw Paw River.

The steel-reinforced concrete stack had no lights and was a 
hazard to pilots making instrument landings at the Southwest 
Michigan Regional Airport to the east.

The site cleanup has been done in three phases at a cost of $12 
million. More than 10,000 tons of building debris and radioactive 
aircraft parts have been hauled away for disposal, EPA reported.
 

Five contaminated warehouse buildings have been torn down and 
removed, along with portions of concrete foundations and a small 
storage building.

Kevin Adler, project manager for the EPA, said all traces of 
radiation have been removed from the site. Other contaminants 
will now be addressed, including lead and cadmium in a 20-yard by 
50-yard "hot spot" in the Paw Paw River.

To clean the area, sheet steel pilings will be driven so that a 
portion of the river bottom is exposed. Contaminated sediment is 
then removed, and when the work is done, the pilings will be 
removed.

Adler said officials were concerned that vibrations set up by the 
pile driver would cause the top part of the smokestack to fall.

A three-foot section fell off the top while demolition workers 
were drilling holes to set explosives, officials said.

Don Meeks Construction of Benton Harbor was hired to do 
excavating work on the site, including debris removal. Meeks 
subcontracted with Pitsch Co. of Grand Rapids to demolish the 
smokestack.

Meeks said the demolition went as planned. The stack, which had 
foot-thick walls at the base, fell to the northwest. Streets were 
cordoned off before the explosion and a warning siren was sounded 
twice before detonation.

When work is done, Meeks said, the property will be "totally 
clear" of building debris.

U.S. Rep. Fred Upton, R-St. Joseph, operated the detonator to set 
off the explosives.

Upton, who worked to get the site designated for Superfund 
cleanup, credited the EPA for acting quickly and seeing the 
project through.

With the smokestack gone, EPA and the Michigan Department of 
Environmental Quality are to oversee the removal of several 
thousand tons of contaminated surface soil and wetland and river 
sediments.

Adler said a groundwater contamination problem on the site is 
also being addressed. To eliminate solvent contamination, a 
chemical "hydrogen releasing compound" will be injected into the 
groundwater. The process renders the contaminants inert.

EPA intends to declare the work complete in September. After that 
time groundwater will be monitored for several years.

In 1907, Baker-Vawter Co. moved from Chicago and opened a factory 
on the site. The company merged with several other companies in 
1927 to form Remington-Rand Inc.

The name came from Remington Typewriter Co. and Rand Kardex 
Bureau Inc. The company later became Sperry-Rand.

The company made paper forms at the site, and closed in 1964, 
citing changes in technology that reduced demand for hand-posted 
and manual accounting forms.

The vacant building complex was purchased by the late Charles 
Zollar, a Benton Harbor industrialist and state senator. For many 
years Zollar and his brother, Herman, operated Aircraft 
Components Co., a mail order company, from the site.

Among the items sold were military surplus aircraft instruments, 
some with their faces and needles coated with luminescent paint. 
The paint made the dials visible in the dark, but contained a 
radioactive element.

The company moved out of the buildings in 1991, leaving behind 
thousands of the tainted instruments. Paint flaked from the 
gauges, and poor storage conditions spread the contamination.

The problem surfaced when a truckload of scrap, including some of 
the gauges, set off an Arkansas dealer's radiation detector.

Investigators traced the materials back to Aircraft Components, 
and an investigation began.
         
Copyright © 2004 The Herald-Palladium 
*****************************************************************
 45 Whitehaven News: CORE HIGHLIGHTS MOX FAILURE 

ANTI-nuclear group CORE has been highlighting the failure of 
BNFL's Sellafield MOX Plant (SMP) to get into production in time 
to win a key Swiss contract.

BNFL last week confirmed reports from CORE that MOX has failed to 
deliver a MOX fuel order for the Beznau nuclear power station in 
time for the station reactors' annual refuelling outages this 
summer.

CORE spokesman Martin Forwood said: “A similar failure in the 
Spring of last year led to BNFL having to subcontract at least 
two SMP orders to rivals in France and Belgium. 

Government estimates have shown that last year's delay and loss 
of contracts alone will have cost SMP 10's of £Millions in lost 
revenue. The financial and contractual fall-out from this year's 
failure is likely to be catastrophic for BNFL and SMP in terms of 
further lost revenues and damage to customer confidence.

“Ongoing research by CORE shows that the delays to actively 
commissioning all stages of SMP's production line have resulted 
in not one single MOX fuel assembly being produced.even though 
active commissioning of the plutonium fuel production line 
started over two years ago, in April 2002 when the first 
plutonium was introduced into the plant.”

Mr Forwood said; "This MOX cock-up must be a huge embarrassment 
to BNFL. It will ring alarm bells with Government Ministers who 
controversially gave the go-ahead for the plant despite 
environmentalists' predictions that the plant was economically 
and technically unviable. With its reputation already in tatters, 
the kindest thing is to put SMP out of its misery and close it 
down right away ".

SMP was built at a cost of £470M with an eye to filling most of 
its order book with business from Japan.

With the £470M construction costs 'written off', the plant was 
assessed by Government appointed consultants in 2001 to have a 
Net Positive Value of just £216M - a value that relied heavily on 
Japanese business being secured. 

Kansai Electric, has recently published its intention to sign a 
contract for MOX fuel with COGEMA in France.

But BNFL spokesman Ali McKibbin said: “It is true to say we have 
as yet to produce the first MOX fuel assemblies, but that is due 
to the need to complete commissioning to ensure that plant 
operates safely. We have kept our customer fully informed and we 
will not sub-contract this work. BNFL are confident that Japanese 
customers will want their plutonium returned to them is MOX fuel. 
It is Japanese national policy to recycle plutonium and Japanese 
plutonium is here at Sellafield.”


*****************************************************************
 46 Groups urge more talk on LLNL lab impact
 
Date: Thu, 27 May 2004 14:41:22 -0700

 
<x-flowed>
Dear colleagues:
Newspaper article pasted below --
Please note that DOE has not yet extended the deadline for public comment
on the Site Wide EIS for Livermore Lab. Below is a nice article on this
topic. My favorite line is where DOE tries to minimize the fact that the
agency has received 2,000 (!!!) public comments on the document. Please get
your comments to DOE today, Thursday, May 27 -- or as soon as you can.
DOE's Tom Grim has said he will consider comments offered late -- but
please don't be too late! For sample comments, see www.trivalleycares.org.
Read on...

Posted on Thu, May. 27, 2004

Groups urge more talk on lab impact

By Betsy Mason
CONTRA COSTA TIMES

Nearly two dozen environmental organizations are asking for more time for
the public to comment on an environmental impact statement on Lawrence
Livermore Laboratory.

Earlier this week, U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., joined the effort and
sent a request for a 30-day extension to Secretary of Energy Spencer
Abraham.

The comment period is scheduled to end tonight. The Department of Energy has
not yet responded to the appeals.

The environmental impact statement, updated once every 10 years, includes
proposals to more than double the amount of plutonium allowed to be stored
at the lab from 1,540 pounds to 3,300 pounds. It would also increase the
amount of plutonium scientists can work with at any given time from 44
pounds to 132 pounds. Amounts of tritium and uranium stored at the lab would
also be raised.

Much of the increase will likely go to restarting the plutonium atomic vapor
laser isotope separation program, in which plutonium is vaporized and then
sorted by different weights with a laser. Originally developed in the 1980s,
the program was shut down after reviews determined it wasn't practical.

The planned increases caught the attention of several environmental
organizations including Livermore-based lab watchdog group Tri-Valley
Communities Against a Radioactive Environment, which is leading the push to
have the 90-day comment period extended.

A 90-day period is usually sufficient, says Marylia Kelley, executive
director of Tri-Valley CAREs, "but this isn't your garden variety
(environmental impact statement)."

The statement is about 2,500 pages long and filled with complex technical
details. Much of the public only became aware of the statement a month ago
when the first public hearing was held in Livermore, Kelley said. More than
450 people attended the hearing, and many said they would need more time to
adequately comment on the lengthy document, she said.

Tri-Valley CAREs requested an extension on April 28 after the hearing and
again on May 11, along with 21 other organizations.

"This is a once-in-a-decade opportunity for the public to have a little
light shed on this super-secret nuclear weapons lab," she said.

Extension requests are normally handled by Thomas Grim, the National Nuclear
Security Administration's document manager for the environmental impact
statement, but the current request was elevated to the secretary of energy's
office in response to Sen. Boxer's letter.

Grim estimates he is receiving between 20 and 30 comments a day as the
deadline nears, and the total number is approaching 2,000. The number is
less than Grim expected based on public response to site-wide environmental
impact statements for other national labs. But participation at the public
hearing was much higher than average, he says.

Under the National Environmental Policy Act, the lab must respond in the
statement to all public comments. The final statement is expected to be
complete in December.

Marylia Kelley
Executive Director
Tri-Valley CAREs
(Communities Against a Radioactive Environment)
2582 Old First Street
Livermore, CA USA 94551

<http://www.trivalleycares.org> - is our web site address. Please visit us
there!

(925) 443-7148 - is our phone
(925) 443-0177 - is our fax

</x-flowed>
*****************************************************************
 47 DOE: Office of Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board 
 
                        FR Doc 04-12031 
[Federal Register: May 27, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 103)] 
[Notices] [Page 30289] From the Federal Register Online via GPO 
Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr27my04-50]                         
 
Renewal Pursuant to Section 14(a)(2)(A) of the Federal Advisory 
Committee Act (Pub. L. No. 92-463), in accordance with Title 41 
of the Code of Federal Regulations, section 102-3.65(a), and 
following consultation with the Committee Management Secretariat, 
General Services Administration, notice is hereby given that the 
Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board has been 
renewed for a two-year period beginning May 16, 2004. The 
Environmental Management Site- Specific Advisory Board will 
provide advice and recommendations to the Assistant Secretary for 
Environmental Management.
 
The Board provides the Assistant Secretary for Environmental 
Management (EM) with information, advice, and recommendations 
concerning issues affecting the EM program at various sites.
 
These site-specific issues include clean-up standards and 
environmental restoration; waste management and disposition; 
stabilization and disposition of non-stockpile nuclear materials; 
excess facilities; future land use; long-term stewardship; risk 
assessment and management; and science and technology activities.
 
Furthermore, the renewal of the Environmental Management Site- 
Specific Advisory Board has been determined to be essential to 
the conduct of Department of Energy business and to be in the 
public interest in connection with the performance of duties 
imposed on the Department of Energy by law and agreement. The 
Board will operate in accordance with the provisions of the 
Federal Advisory Committee Act, and rules and regulations issued 
in implementation of those Acts.
 
Further information regarding this Advisory Board may be obtained 
from Ms. Sandra L. Waisley at (202) 586-3087. Issued in 
Washington, DC on May 17, 2004.
 
James N. Solit, Advisory Committee Management Officer.
 
[FR Doc. 04-12031 Filed 5-26-04; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6450-01-P

 
*****************************************************************
 48 DOE: Agency Information Collection Extension
 
                        FR Doc 04-12032 
[Federal Register: May 27, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 103)] 
[Notices] [Page 30288-30289] From the Federal Register Online via 
GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr27my04-49]                         
 
AGENCY: U.S. Department of Energy. ACTION: Notice and Request for 
Comments.
 
SUMMARY: The Department of Energy (DOE), pursuant to the 
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, intends to extend for three 
years, an information collection package with the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB). The Department's Office of 
Environment, Safety and Health information collection package, 
1910-5105, allows the Department and its contractors to provide 
management control and oversight over health and safety programs 
concerning worker exposure to ionizing radiation. Comments are 
invited on: (a) Whether the extended collection of information is 
necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the 
agency, including whether the information shall have practical 
utility; (b) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden 
of the proposed collection of information, including the validity 
of the methodology and assumptions used; (c) ways to enhance the 
quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; 
and (d) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of 
information on respondents, including through the use of 
automated collection techniques or other forms of information 
technology.
 
 
DATES: Comments regarding this proposed information collection 
must be received on or before July 26, 2004. If you anticipate 
difficulty in submitting comments within that period, contact one 
of the persons listed in the ADDRESSES section as soon as 
possible.
 
 
ADDRESSES: Written comments may be sent to: Dr. Judith D. Foulke, 
Office of Worker Protection Policy and Programs (EH-52), Building 
270/CC, Office of Environment, Safety and Health, U.S.
 
[[Page 30289]] Department of Energy, 1000 Independence Ave., SW., 
Washington, DC 20585-1290; or by fax at (301) 903-7773 or by 
e-mail at  [ Judy.Foulke@eh.doe.gov] . Susan L. Frey, Director, 
Records Management Division, (IM-11), Germantown Bldg., Office of 
the Chief Information Officer, U.S. Department of Energy, 1000 
Independence Ave., SW., Washington, DC 20585-1290, or by fax at 
(301) 903-9061 or by e-mail at  [ sharon.evelin@hq.doe.gov] . FOR 
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information 
or copies of the information collection instrument and 
instructions should be directed to the two individuals specified 
in the ADDRESSES section.
 
 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This package contains: (1) Current OMB 
Number: OMB No. 1910-5105; (2) Package Title: Occupational 
Radiation Protection; (3) Type of Review: Renewal; (4) Purpose: 
the recordkeeping and reporting requirements that comprise this 
information collection will permit DOE and its contractors to 
provide management control and oversight over health and safety 
programs concerning worker exposure to ionizing radiation; (5) 
Respondents: 35 DOE management and operating contractors and 15 
other contractors; (6) Estimated Number of Burden Hours: 50,000 
following each revision of 10 CFR 835 and 5000 for other years.
 
Statutory Authority: Section 3507(h)(1) of the Paperwork 
Reduction Act of 1995 (Publication No. 104-13) (44 U.S.C. 3501 et 
seq.). Issued in Washington, DC on May 21, 2004.
 
Susan L. Frey, Director, Records Management Division, Office of 
the Chief Information Officer.
 
[FR Doc. 04-12032 Filed 5-26-04; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6450-01-P

 
*****************************************************************
 49 Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Hanford cleanup danger to workers
 
[seattlepi.com]     

        [OPINION] 
Friday, May 28, 2004 

SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER EDITORIAL BOARD

While the Bush administration wants to fast-forward nuclear 
cleanup, the challenges are greater than most of us like to 
admit. As a new report would seem to suggest, workers at Hanford 
could pay the price for hurrying. 

The federal Department of Energy's inspector general has found 
that records supplied by contractors significantly undercount the 
injuries and illnesses at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation and 
other facilities nationally. The inspector general's report 
recommended more frequent Energy Department reviews of the data 
for mistakes. 

But the report notes past discoveries of errors haven't always 
led to improvements. Perhaps that is because the department's 
system, including contracts that may encourage companies to 
report fewer worker injuries, promotes an attitude that 
everything is OK. 

It's especially worrisome that the counting problems involve 
companies with excellent reputations. If even these firms have 
trouble tracking worker safety now, nuclear cleanup projects may 
have to move more slowly, rather than being accelerated. 

The administration's ideas for faster cleanups depend in part on 
reclassifying waste as less dangerous than the law says it is. 
That strategy risks long-term environmental damage. 

More immediately, the inspector general's report shows the 
threats to workers could be greater than believed. The Energy 
Department must be more vigilant. Back to top                 

  [Seattle Post-Intelligencer] 101 Elliott Ave. W. Seattle, WA 
98119 (206) 448-8000
 
Home Delivery: (206) 464-2121 or (800) 542-0820

 Send comments to newmedia@seattlepi.com [newmedia@seattlepi.com] 
©1996-2004 Seattle Post-Intelligencer Terms of Service/Privacy 
*****************************************************************
 50 Las Vegas RJ: Energy secretary warns of layoffs if budget is cut 
 
Thursday, May 27, 2004

Nevada legislators say letter a scare tacticto get more money
for Yucca Mountain By STEVE TETREAULT
STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU
 
WASHINGTON -- Almost 1,700 workers would face layoffs in Nevada
and in other states this summer if Congress forces a deep budget
cut in the Yucca Mountain Project, Energy Secretary Spencer
Abraham has told lawmakers.
 
 Abraham said job losses would amount to 70 percent of the work
force for the planned nuclear waste repository.
 
 The layoffs, most of them in Nevada, would shut down most
activities on the repository program when the Energy Department
is rushing to complete a license application by Christmas,
Abraham said. A repository opening scheduled for 2010 would be
delayed "for an indefinite period of time." 
Abraham issued a dark outlook in a letter sent Monday to Rep.
David Hobson, R-Ohio, a subcommittee chairman. Hobson is DOE
ally but has said he might need to write an 85 percent budget
cut, down to $131 million, for the Yucca program in the fiscal
year that starts in October.
 
 The letter might be cited by Hobson and other repository
supporters who are trying to avert a setback as Congress debates
spending bills in the coming weeks.
 
 Repository critics dismissed Abraham's remarks when the letter
became public Wednesday. They said the interplay between Hobson
and the energy secretary was a scare tactic to motivate Congress
to approve an $880 million Yucca budget for next year.
 
 "I think this is absolutely jockeying over the numbers," said
Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev. 
Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., said in a statement Abraham was
"holding Nevada jobs hostage" to get more money.
 
 "It's the same old rhetoric they use every time to threaten
Congress," said Bob Loux, executive director of Nevada's Agency
for Nuclear Projects. 
Abraham said the Yucca program carries a $400 million annual
payroll for 231 federal workers and 2,264 employed by
contractors. He said layoffs would reach beyond Nevada, where
105 federal workers and 1,650 contract workers are based.
 
 Idaho is home to 161 workers studying cask designs, and another
159 work in California. Dozens of others work in New Mexico,
Colorado and Washington state. Tennessee is home to five, and
two are employed in Arizona and two in Texas, according to DOE
figures.
 
 Abraham said delays in a 2010 repository opening would cost the
government and private utilities a combined $1 billion annually.
 
 The DOE letter is not a scare tactic, said Sara Perkins, a
spokeswoman for Hobson. The leader of the House energy and water
subcommittee asked Abraham in a letter earlier this month to
calculate a $131 million Yucca Mountain budget next year.
 
 "There is a significant difference between the (DOE) funding
request and the $131 million that has been spelled out," Perkins
said. "At first blush, it looks like DOE has provided a candid
and objective response to the chairman's letter."
 
 Hobson said he might have no more than $131 million available
for Yucca Mountain in a bill his subcommittee will write later
this month. He said the shortfall would come from complications
in the way the Bush administration wrote its budget request.
 
 Ensign predicted Congress will face pressure from the nuclear
industry and will appropriate the same amount it did last year
for the Yucca project, about $580 million.
 
 "The chances of us getting a lower number are virtually nil,"
Ensign said. "If we hold the line from last year that's pretty
good. There are people who really want to build that
(repository)."
 
 
Copyright Las Vegas Review-Journal
*****************************************************************
 51 Media Beat: 50 Years Later, The Tragedy of Nuclear Tests in Nevada

[http://www.fair.org

 By Norman Solomon

As golden anniversaries go, it's a somber occasion. In a forlorn 
expanse of desert scarcely an hour's drive northwest of Las 
Vegas, on Jan. 27, 1951, the Nevada Test Site went into operation 
by exploding an atomic bomb. 

During more than a decade, mushroom clouds often rose toward the 
sky. Winds routinely carried radioactive fallout to communities 
in Utah, Nevada and northern Arizona. Meanwhile, news media 
dutifully conveyed U.S. Atomic Energy Commission announcements to 
downwind residents: "There is no danger." 

In the region, journalists followed the national media spin and 
threw in some extra bravado. "'Baby' A-Blast May Provide Facts on 
Defense Against Atomic Attack," said a headline in the Las Vegas 
Sun on March 13, 1955. 

That week brought the unveiling of a taller detonation tower -- 
500 feet instead of the previous 300-foot height. The Las Vegas 
Review-Journal informed readers that the change would make them 
even more secure: "Use of taller towers from which atomic devices 
are detonated at the Nevada Test Site introduces an added angle 
of safety to residents living outside the confines of the Atomic 
Energy Commission's continental testing ground, nuclear 
scientists believe." 

Eleven days later, when the "added angle of safety" did not 
prevent a hot storm of radioactive particles from blanketing the 
city, the Review-Journal reported that the day's events were 
benign. "Fallout on Las Vegas and vicinity following this 
morning's detonation was very low and without any effects on 
health," the newspaper explained. 

Pundits of the day were eagerly patrolling ideological frontiers 
for the benefit of all Americans. The Los Angeles Examiner 
published a column by International News Service writer Jack 
Lotto under the headline "On Your Guard: Reds Launch 'Scare 
Drive' Against U.S. Atomic Tests." The article warned: "A big 
Communist 'fear' campaign to force Washington to stop all 
American atomic hydrogen bomb tests erupted this past week." 

It was a popular theme among prominent commentators like 
syndicated columnist David Lawrence, whose wisdom appeared in the 
Washington Post and other leading newspapers. "The truth is," he 
wrote in spring 1955, "there isn't the slightest proof of any 
kind that the 'fallout' as a result of tests in Nevada has ever 
affected any human being anywhere outside the testing ground 
itself." 

By then, children and others living in downwind areas were 
beginning to develop leukemia. As time passed, people in affected 
areas suffered extraordinarily high rates of cancer and thyroid 
ills. Functioning in tandem, the news media and the federal 
government continued to deny that nuclear testing was a health 
hazard. 

In August 1980, nearly three decades after the Nevada site opened 
for nuclear business, the U.S. House of Representatives 
Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations concluded: "All 
evidence suggesting that radiation was having harmful effects, be 
it on the sheep or the people, was not only disregarded but 
actually suppressed." 

That assessment was no surprise to thousands of downwind 
residents like Jay Truman, who grew up in southwestern Utah under 
the shadow of the test site. After watching many friends die, he 
had no interest in pretending that the U.S. government did not 
kill his schoolmates. 

When I met Truman in 1980, he was already an expert on nuclear 
testing. Today, as director of the Downwinders organization 
(www.downwinders.org [http://www.downwinders.org] ), he's still 
fighting the good fight. 

From the Rockies to remote Russian sites, nuclear industries have 
taken an enormous toll. Victims include Native American uranium 
miners, nuclear-plant workers and far-flung residents, soldiers 
exposed to atomic bomb tests at close range, Pacific islanders, 
and people whose lives were forever changed during a few split 
seconds in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. 

"Nuclear testing made the Cold War possible," Truman said a few 
days ago. "Without it, humanity could never have developed and 
deployed the weapons that still stand ever-ready to wipe our 
species off this planet." Unable to admit the inevitable health 
effects of nuclear tests, "all governments of all testing nations 
learned how to -- and perfected being able to -- lie to their own 
citizens." 

Fifty years after the first mushroom cloud overshadowed the 
Nevada desert, military contractors and their allies are eager to 
spread the news about the latest technologies offering "an added 
angle of safety." In 2001, Star Wars is back on the media 
horizon. It's never too late to make a killing. 

Norman Solomon's new book is "The Habits of Highly Deceptive 
Media." 

*****************************************************************
 52 chillicothe gazette: DOE gives update on USEC plant - 

www.chillicothegazette.com

Wednesday, May 26, 2004   

 Waste must be moved before building begins

 By DANIEL PRAZER Gazette Staff Writer 
  
PIKETON -- At a semi-annual meeting conducted by the Department 
of Energy Tuesday night, the DOE official charged with overseeing 
operations at the Piketon uranium enrichment plant gave a rundown 
of the site's status to a relatively sparse crowd. 

Bill Murphie, manager of the Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office 
that oversees the Piketon plant and its sister site in Paducah, 
Ky., said the department is making strides on readying the 
buildings that will house United States Enrichment Corp.'s 
next-generation enrichment plant. 

"We are going through these facilities and essentially getting 
the DOE legacy waste out of here," Murphie said. 

The buildings slated to house the $1.5 billion American 
Centrifuge were built for a plan to use similar technology in the 
1980s, but those plans were scrapped. USEC said the buildings 
were a major incentive to place the centrifuge facility in 
Piketon. 

But the buildings are housing DOE waste and must be vacated 
before any of the new plant can be installed. Beside moving 60 
personnel from the buildings, the DOE has moved thousands of 
containers of waste either off site or to other locations on 
site, Murphie said. 

"USEC needs this space to do its pilot plant," he said. 

He also said construction on a waste-conversion facility is on 
track to begin this July, and the department has been moving 
containers of waste up from its Oak Ridge, Tenn., facility to 
Piketon. 

An average of 15 cylinders a day are moved up to the Piketon 
plant by truck, with plans to move 2,900 of them during fiscal 
year 2004. 

The conversion facility will take the depleted uranium compound 
that is a byproduct of the enrichment process and chemically 
treat it so the depleted uranium is in a stable state for either 
reuse or disposal, said Doug Adkisson, Operations and Maintenance 
Manager of Uranium Disposition Services, the company contracted 
to build the conversion facility. 

The other byproduct produced, hydrofluoric acid, is widely used 
and will be sold to industry, Adkisson said. 

(Prazer can be reached at 772-9364 or via e-mail at 
dprazer@nncogannett.com) [dprazer@nncogannett.com] 

Originally published Wednesday, May 26, 2004
*****************************************************************
 53 Las Vegas SUN: DOE warns of job losses in Nevada if funding cut

By Suzanne Struglinski <suzanne@lasvegassun.com 
[suzanne@lasvegassun.com] > SUN WASHINGTON BUREAU 

WASHINGTON -- Escalating the political battle over the funding 
for the proposed nuclear waste repository, Energy Department 
officials say more than 1,700 of its employees and contractors in 
Nevada could be laid off if Congress does not give the department 
$880 million for the project.

 The department, which for years has been pushing for more money 
for the Yucca Mountain site 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, has 
put the funding of the site on a collision course with 
congressional members who oppose the department's approach.

 "This is just jockeying for more money for the department," Sen. 
John Ensign, R-Nev., said of the layoff predictions. "It's a 
numbers game played in Washington, D.C."

 The department has failed so far in its efforts to get Congress 
to agree to change the rules to allow it to sidestep the regular 
budget process. The department wants $749 million of next year's 
money to come directly from the Nuclear Waste Fund, an account 
funded directly by a surcharge on nuclear power.

 The proposed policy change has been criticized because many 
people in Congress have said it would cut them out of the funding 
loop, letting the Energy Department draw from the fund without 
going through the competitive budget process. Sen. Harry Reid, 
D-Nev., has cut the Yucca Mountain budget requests several years 
in a row through the regular process.

 Rep. David Hobson, R-Ohio, chairman of the House Appropriations 
Subcommittee, which creates the Yucca budget, doubts the policy 
change will go through. If it fails to pass, that would leave the 
department with only $131 million in the subcommittee's bill for 
next year's budget.

 If Congress gives the Yucca project only $131 million, "the 
department would have to conduct a Reduction-in-Force (RIF) of 
approximately 70 percent of the 2,400-person federal and 
contractor workforce," Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said in a 
letter sent to Hobson on Monday. The project's payroll is about 
$400 million alone, Abraham wrote.

 Hobson wrote the department April 29 asking 13 questions about 
how a lower budget would affect the department.

 Abraham said more than 70 percent of the workforce would have to 
be eliminated and the remaining employees would focus on 
preparing the license application. The job cuts "would likely 
cause turmoil within the program and result in the loss of highly 
skilled technical personnel" that would put the license 
application "at risk," he wrote.

 If the license application goes to the Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission later than December, the project may not open in 2010, 
its projected date.

 "This would deprive the nation of a nuclear waste repository for 
an indefinite period of time," Abraham wrote.

 In Nevada the lower funding could affect 105 federal employees 
and 1,650 contractor employees. Additionally, the state and local 
governments would not receive any funding. The change would also 
affect employees in eight other states and Washington, D.C.

 Yucca Mountain project spokesman Allen Benson said the letter 
does not mean all the Nevada employees would be fired. Once 
Congress allocated the exact amount of money, if it is lower, the 
program would be refocused.

 The department fights for full funding for the project every 
year, always arguing that without it, the site could not open on 
schedule. Last year the department requested $591 million but 
received only $580 million.

 The threat of layoffs didn't change any of the congressional 
delegation's strong opposition to the project.

 "Given the potential economic catastrophe that Las Vegas could 
face as a result of Nevada becoming the nation's nuclear garbage 
dump, including the loss of countless jobs, I am willing to 
accept the limited impact that reduced funding for Yucca Mountain 
could have locally," Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., said. "Rather 
than continue to waste billions of dollars on Yucca Mountain, 
Congress should use the funding from this hopelessly flawed 
program to pay for the on-site storage of high-level waste."

 Amy Spanbauer, spokeswoman for Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., said 
the economy in Nevada continues to grow and new jobs are created 
every day, whereas adding the waste site to the state would be 
"detrimental to the state, its safety and public health."

 Adam Mayberry, spokesman for Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., said the 
loss of jobs overall is a "tremendous concern" for Porter.

 "There could be opportunities for those workers to be 
reassigned," Mayberry said. "He (Porter) still opposes the 
project 100 percent."

 Reid had not seen the letter yet and could not be reached for 
comment Wednesday, his press office said. Reid is the top 
Democrat on the Senate Appropriations subcommittee that will 
create the Senate's version of the Yucca budget.

 Also in the letter, the department listed all of the federal and 
commercial sites holding spent nuclear fuel or high-level 
radioactive waste destined for Nevada, including 19 metric tons 
of foreign reactor fuel collected from 41 countries.

 The department estimated it would spend $500 million a year to 
store high-level waste in Idaho, Washington and South Carolina 
until it can be removed. In Idaho, under another agreement, the 
department would have to pay the state $60,000 a day for every 
day waste is not removed by Jan. 1, 2035.

 Also mentioned are the potential damages the department will 
have to pay to nuclear utilities for failing to take waste in 
1998, the original date the agency was to take nuclear waste for 
storage. So far, 66 lawsuits have been filed against the 
department by nuclear power companies.

 "This really is a matter of DOE (the Energy Department) putting 
politics over science," said Bob Loux, director of Nevada's 
Agency for Nuclear Projects.

 A Hobson aide said the letter shows, as expected, that the lower 
number would cause serious damage to the project and other 
department programs. She said the exact next steps based on the 
response remain to be seen. 

*****************************************************************
 54 PISJ: DOE issues request for proposals for INL site

 Pocatello Idaho State Journal: 

By Journal Staff 

POCATELLO - Let the bidding begin.

The U.S. Department of Energy released a final Request for 
Proposals Wednesday, meaning companies can begin filing proposals 
on assuming control of the restyled Idaho National Laboratories. 
  
The INL will combine several components from INEEL and Argonne 
National Laboratory West to form the nation's premier laboratory 
for nuclear energy research and development.

In his remarks following the announcement, DOE Secretary Spencer 
Abraham said, "The Idaho National Laboratory will point the way 
toward a clean energy future where we will reduce the nation's 
dependency on foreign sources of energy and demonstrate clearly 
that we can have both strong economic growth and a strong 
commitment to the environment." At least one group, a consortium 
headed up by the University of Chicago, has already named a 
candidate for laboratory director. The University of Chicago 
currently manages and operates Argonne National Laboratory West.

Bechtel BWXT Idaho, the company that manages INEEL, also recently 
announced a new lab director, Paul Kearns. A contract for a 
different, but related facility, the Idaho Cleanup Project, will 
be awarded in a separate process.

DOE officials say contract awards will be made in November, with 
recipients taking control Jan. 31. Two source evaluation boards 
will score the proposals and make a recommendation to a source 
selection official. Several companies have opened offices in 
Idaho Falls to better their chances of landing the contract.

Provisions included in the RFP include: 

- A requirement to include small and regional businesses.

- A stipulation to set up a joint laboratory/university for 
advanced energy studies. - A 10-year base contract with an option 
for an additional five years.

The released RFP also states the new INL must honor several INEEL 
agreements which establish labor terms, wages, hiring and other 
practices. Most of these agreements have been in place at INEEL 
since 1984. 


Copyright © 2004 Pocatello Idaho State Journal
 P O Box 431 Pocatello, ID 83204-0431   
*****************************************************************
 55 Google News Alert - nuclear
 
Date: Thu, 27 May 2004 13:07:35 -0700 (PDT)

 
US, Russia Sign Agreement on Nuclear Fuel
Voice of America - Washington,DC,USA
The United States and Russia have signed an agreement on the removal of
nuclear fuel from Soviet-built nuclear reactors around the world. ...
<http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectID=95854321-44C1-4AF1-B798B84B14B4C26F>
See all stories on this topic:
<http://news.google.com/news?ie=utf8&oe=utf8&persist=1&num=30&hl=en&client=google&newsclusterurl=http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm%3FobjectID%3D95854321-44C1-4AF1-B798B84B14B4C26F>

IAEA to Circulate Report on Iran's Nuclear Ambitions
Voice of America - Washington,DC,USA
The International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna says it will soon circulate
a new report on Iran's nuclear ambitions, but says this might not close
the file ...
<http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectID=0EEE7334-A222-43BF-B820DC60267414B2>
See all stories on this topic:
<http://news.google.com/news?ie=utf8&oe=utf8&persist=1&num=30&hl=en&client=google&newsclusterurl=http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm%3FobjectID%3D0EEE7334-A222-43BF-B820DC60267414B2>

POLICE Arrest British Reporter Who Exposed Nuclear Secrets
Radio Free Europe - Prague,Czech Republic
Israeli police have arrested a British journalist who exposed the Jewish
state's atomic secrets in a 1986 interview with nuclear whistleblower
Mordechai Vanunu ...
<http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2004/05/37dfbb46-564b-4d83-a2f7-6f5c6e37fd14.html>
See all stories on this topic:
<http://news.google.com/news?ie=utf8&oe=utf8&persist=1&num=30&hl=en&client=google&newsclusterurl=http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2004/05/37dfbb46-564b-4d83-a2f7-6f5c6e37fd14.html>

VIETNAM, France sign nuclear power deal
Asia Times Online - Hong Kong
HANOI - Vietnam and France on Wednesday signed an agreement on nuclear
cooperation for peaceful purposes. Nguyen Xuan Thuy, Vietnam's ...
<http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/FE28Ae01.html>
See all stories on this topic:
<http://news.google.com/news?ie=utf8&oe=utf8&persist=1&num=30&hl=en&client=google&newsclusterurl=http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/FE28Ae01.html>

CHINA hopes nuclear group will consider its application: ... 
Xinhua - China
BEIJING, May 27 (Xinhuanet) -- China hopes the Nuclear Suppliers Group
(NSG) will consider its application to join, said Foreign Ministry spokesman
Liu ...
<http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-05/27/content_1494485.htm>
See all stories on this topic:
<http://news.google.com/news?ie=utf8&oe=utf8&persist=1&num=30&hl=en&client=google&newsclusterurl=http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-05/27/content_1494485.htm>

TOP Nuclear Scientist Refuses To Be Iraqi Premier
IndoLink - San Ramon,CA,USA
Baghdad, May 27 (NNN): A top nuclear scientist tipped to become prime minister
in the new Iraqi cabinet has rejected the post, according to the UN envoy
in Iraq ...
<http://www.indolink.com/displayArticleS.php?id=052704125704>
See all stories on this topic:
<http://news.google.com/news?ie=utf8&oe=utf8&persist=1&num=30&hl=en&client=google&newsclusterurl=http://www.indolink.com/displayArticleS.php%3Fid%3D052704125704>

NUCLEAR giants eye up China
China Daily - Beijing,China
Foreign nuclear power companies from the United States, France and Russia
have geared up their sales pitches in China over the past few months as
China is ...
<http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2004-05/27/content_334098.htm>
See all stories on this topic:
<http://news.google.com/news?ie=utf8&oe=utf8&persist=1&num=30&hl=en&client=google&newsclusterurl=http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2004-05/27/content_334098.htm>

BRAZIL, China discuss nuclear deal
Salt Lake Tribune - Salt Lake City,UT,USA
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil -- One day after announcing that Brazil was negotiating
the export of uranium and nuclear technologies to China, the Brazilian
...
<http://www.sltrib.com/2004/May/05272004/nation_w/170194.asp>
See all stories on this topic:
<http://news.google.com/news?ie=utf8&oe=utf8&persist=1&num=30&hl=en&client=google&newsclusterurl=http://www.sltrib.com/2004/May/05272004/nation_w/170194.asp>

HIGH US natgas prices stir nuclear power interest
Forbes - USA
... Reuters) - Record high natural gas prices have raised concerns that
the United States has placed too big a bet on gas and revived interest
in nuclear power to ...
<http://www.forbes.com/business/newswire/2004/05/27/rtr1387040.html>

INDIAN new govt promises to maintain nuclear weapon program
Xinhua - China
NEW DELHI, May 27 (Xinhuanet) -- India's new government vowed on Thursday
to maintain a "credible nuclear weapons program" as it evolved confidence-building
...
<http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-05/27/content_1494661.htm>
See all stories on this topic:
<http://news.google.com/news?ie=utf8&oe=utf8&persist=1&num=30&hl=en&client=google&newsclusterurl=http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-05/27/content_1494661.htm>

This daily-once News Alert is brought to you by Google News (BETA)...
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
Remove this News Alert:
http://www.google.com/newsalerts/remove?s=92d1672a1b037a07&hl=en

Create another News Alert:
http://www.google.com/newsalerts?hl=en

Try Google News:
http://news.google.com/
    
*****************************************************************

NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 this 
material is distributed without profit or payment to those who 
have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for 
non-profit research and educational purposes only. For more 
information go to: 
<http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml> 
    
*****************************************************************