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Send News Stories to news@energy-net.org with title on subject
line and first line of body
NUCLEAR POLICY
1 NRO: Christopher Carson on New York Times and Iraq
2 Las Vegas SUN: Iran Largely Welcomes Report on Nukes
3 Xinhuanet: Iran not to give up NPT membership
4 CBS News: Iran: Report Shows No Nukes
5 AFP: Iran repeats warning to Israel against bombing nuclear faciliti
6 AFP: US accuses Iran of nuclear "deceit and denial"
7 Korea Herald: Perry urges joint stance on N. Korea
8 Korea Herald: [EDITORIAL] Starting all over again
9 KoreaTimes: Korean Nuclear Controversy
10 US: Fwd: June 6th, 2004 -- mark your calendars: MELTDOWN on FX: The
11 UN Nuclear Watchdog Draws Attention To Possible Terrorist Scenarios
12 Slovak news: ElBaradei praises Slovakia's achievements in nuclear sa
13 Xinhuanet: Japan may bring in seized nuke weapons in contingency
14 Hi Pakistan: Indo-Pak nuclear talks on 19th -->
15 Hi Pakistan: IAEA unable to verify Pak-Iran nuclear link -->
16 STUFF: Poll shows NZers prepared to ease nuclear ban
17 UN: UN nuclear watchdog draws attention to possible terrorist scenar
18 New Zealand News: Brash sidesteps nuclear minefield
19 AFP: Green groups worried about outcome for renewable energy confere
NUCLEAR REACTORS
20 US: NRC: Sunshine Act Meeting
21 US: projo: Senators disappointed with NRC's response
22 Bellona: Construction workers at the LNPP shut down reactor by tripp
23 US: EMS: Confronting Nuclear Power in Georgia
24 US: Green Bay Press-Gazette: Input sought on Kewaunee nuke plant sal
25 ENN: Latvian nuclear reactor to be decommissioned with U.S. funds
26 US: NRC: Live NRC Meeting Webcast
NUCLEAR SAFETY
27 US: 50 Years Later, The Tragedy of Nuclear Tests in Nevada
28 Las Vegas SUN: GAO: Pentagon Gulf War Illness Data Wrong
29 US: Guardian Unlimited: Contractors Cleared in Nuke Illness Case
30 US: kgw: Probes find no criminal misconduct in Hanford worker treatm
31 Mos News: Radioactive Truck Found Near Government Building in Far Ea
NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE
32 Guardian Unlimited: Iran Retains Option of Refining Uranium
33 US: LJWorld: Nebraska judge upholds stay on judgment in nuclear wast
34 EUROPA: Managing radioactive waste a European imperative
35 KoreaTimes: Building Nuclear Dump
36 US: NRC: Atomic Safety And Licensing Board to Hear Public Statements
37 US: NNWTF: A History of Nuclear Crimes
38 US: TheDay: Dominion needed an alternative storage for spent fuel be
39 Pahrump Valley Times: Yucca cuts could force huge layoff
40 US: NRC: Request for a License to Import Radioactive Waste
NUCLEAR WEAPONS
US DEPT. OF ENERGY
41 June 5: Speak Truth to Power at the White House
42 [BATN] Column: Car culture's excess rolls toward oblivion
43 Daily Texan: A will bid for nuclear laboratory -
44 Oak Ridger: Members sought for DOE-related advisory board
45 Oak Ridger: ORNL has key role in security effort
OTHER NUCLEAR
46 Google News Alert - nuclear
47 Today's GAO Reports - June 2, 2004
48 [BATN] Bush EPA guts park air quality rules
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FULL NEWS STORIES
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1 NRO: Christopher Carson on New York Times and Iraq
National Review Online
June 02, 2004, 8:45 a.m.
An Unapologetic Apology
The Times is only sorry it wasnt more antiwar.
By Christopher S. Carson
Last week, the New York Times issued an unusual mea culpa about
the history of its Iraq coverage. This strange self-flagellation
was published in multiple newspapers around the United States,
and gained wide coverage in the blogosphere. Unfortunately,
America's "paper of record," in the wake of a steady accumulation
of evidence of Iraqi WMD stocks and programs, and ties to al
Qaeda, was not apologizing for the near-uniform negativity of its
assessments of the Bush administration's pre-war intelligence.
The Times is sorry it wasn't negative enough.
The "Correction" article
[http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/26/international/middleeast/26FTE
_NOTE.html] , published on May 26, started out with a healthy
dose of self-hugging. "We found an enormous amount of journalism
that we are proud of," it read. "In most cases, what we reported
was an accurate reflection of the state of our knowledge at the
time, much of it painstakingly extracted from intelligence
agencies..."
KICK THE ANTI-CHALABI COVERAGE UP A NOTCH
But "looking back," the correction stated, "we wish we had been
more aggressive in re-examining the claims as new evidence
emerged — or failed to emerge." The Times believes that its
"problematic articles" shared a common feature: They relied on
those Iraqi "anti-Saddam campaigners" hanging around Ahmad
Chalabi and his Iraqi National Congress. The Times regrets that
it and certain U.S. officials "fell for misinformation" from
these "exile sources." The only exile named is Chalabi.
The logical extension of this surmise, then, is that the Times
should have run even more anti-Chalabi hit pieces than it has
already. But how could it? Almost every anti-Chalabi claim ever
spun by the unnamed desk-bound solons in the CIA and State
Department, no matter how ill-founded, found an instant national
audience in the Times's pages. For example, the headline of
Douglas Jehl's article on September 29, 2003, screamed that our
spy "Agency Belittles Information Given by Iraq Exiles,"
especially Ahmad Chalabi. Other Douglas Jehl stories, all
pre-dating Chalabi's "fall" in May 2004, read, "Pentagon Pays
Iraq Group, Supplier of Incorrect Spy Data," and, "Stung by
Exiles' Role, C.I.A. Orders a Shift in Procedures." The Times, on
the other hand, had no comment about General Richard Meyers's
recent testimony before Congress, in which he baldly stated that
Chalabi's INC had "saved American lives" time and again by its
accurate intelligence about anti-coalition forces.
SALMAN PAK
The correction article enumerated a few examples of not being
liberal enough: In the autumn of 2001, "page 1 articles cited
Iraqi defectors who described a secret Iraqi camp where Islamic
terrorists were trained and biological weapons produced." But
alas! "These accounts have never independently been verified,"
and thus presumably should never have even been reported.
Implication? The "defectors" were probably lying. The weekend
correction piece tried to make the "secret Iraqi camp" even more
willowy and insubstantial by not giving it a name — which, of
course, was Salman Pak.
I don't accept the Times's premise here. Indeed, as a trial
attorney, "verifying" the existence and true purpose of Salman
Pak in, say, a court of law would be one of the easier things I
could manage. The fact that the Salman Pak terrorist-training
school, 25 kilometers south of Baghdad, was first brought to the
attention of the world through the INC ought to boost Chalabi's
credibility before any reasonable jury. How? Let's look at the
evidence.
Interviewed about Salman Pak by the Times and PBS's Frontline in
October of 2001, Iraqi defector and army Captain Sabah Khodada
had this to say about the purpose: Training is majorly on
terrorism. They would be trained on assassinations, kidnapping,
hijacking of airplanes, hijacking of buses, public buses,
hijacking of trains and all other kinds of operations related to
terrorism.
Khodada pointed out that there was even a camp-within-the-camp
devoted entirely to the training of foreign jihadists. Who were
these people? His answer: "They look like they're mostly from the
Gulf, sometimes from areas close to Yemen, from their dark
skin..."
The airplane-hijacking courses were especially intensive, Khodada
recalled. The foreign terrorists would later break into small
groups and study the local language of the target nation, such as
Hebrew or English. Asked about the 9/11 attacks of the previous
month, Khodada was adamant: I assure you, this operation was
conducted by people who were trained by Saddam. And I'm going to
keep assuring the world this is what happened. Osama bin Laden
has no such capabilities. Why? Because these kind of attacks must
be, and have to be, organized by a capable state, such as Iraq; a
state where they can provide high level of training, and they can
provide high level of intelligence to do such training.
The camp has a "real whole 707 plane, a whole real plane,
standing in the middle of the training area in this camp,"
Captain Khodada related. This 707 was used to teach terrorists
how to take over commercial airliners and subdue and terrorize
the pilots and crew with materials already available on the
aircraft, such as plastic knives, pencils, and the like.
Saddam's government, of course, denied even that an airplane
existed 25 kilometers southeast of Baghdad. Iraq's U.N.
ambassador, Mohammed Aldouri, smiled genially and told Frontline
in the fall of 2001: "I am lucky that I know the area, this
Salman Pak. This is a very beautiful area with gardens, with
trees," Aldouri said. "It is not possible to do such a program
there, because there's no place for planes." Who ultimately
turned out to be more credible — Captain Khodada, or Ambassador
Aldouri?
The New York Times apparently believes that Saddam's man at the
U.N., Ambassador Aldouri, must have been telling the truth all
along. Khodada and the other defector, although no evidence ever
surfaced to discredit them, must have lied — apparently because
the prince of darkness, Ahmad Chalabi, brought them out to talk
to the press. But if the Times was remiss in its coverage, it was
not for reporting on Khodada's story. The bias was for not
reporting the corroboration of Khodada's story.
If the CIA had photos of Salman Pak at that time, it chose not to
release them to the public in the wake of the Times/Frontline
story, perhaps for fear of validating Ahmad Chalabi. A private
U.S. satellite-photo company, Space Imaging, then searched its
archives and duly found a photo showing the Boeing 707 parked in
the Salman Pak compound. There was no airstrip in sight. The
private Space Imaging photo, amazingly, exactly matched the
personal drawing Captain Khodada had made for the 2001
Times/Frontline story — before the photo was retrieved. Evidently
Captain Khodada must have had extraordinary telepathic drawing
capabilities.
In reading the "Correction" lamenting the supposedly nonexistent
"verification" of Salman Pak, it's obvious that the Times forgot
what the UNSCOM inspectors discovered about Salman Pak during the
mid-'90s. Then-deputy UNSCOM chief Charles Duelfer, who now heads
the Iraq Survey Group searching the country for WMDs, personally
visited the terrorism camp around 1995 and saw the Boeing. "He
saw the 707, in exactly the place described by the defectors,"
the liberal-leaning London Observer reported. "The Iraqis, he
said, told UNSCOM it was used by 'police' for counter-terrorist
training." "Of course we automatically took out the word
'counter'," Duelfer explained. "I'm surprised that people seem to
be shocked that there should be terror camps in Iraq. Like,
derrrrrr! I mean, what, actually, do you expect?"
Even before Duelfer visited Salman Pak, UNSCOM had a file on it.
A U.N. team that toured one of the "campus" buildings in 1994
found a decontamination shower and airlock doors, which were
obvious hallmarks of a high-risk environment. Sensing something
big was being concealed, the inspectors attempted to excavate a
recently dug and refilled trench there, looking for something
that had been quickly buried in anticipation of their arrival.
The digging met with what inspectors called a "nearly hysterical"
Iraqi reaction. Saddam called in compliant Sunni mullahs to
declare the barren stretch of sand "sacred" and off limits.
UNSCOM backed down. Salman Pak kept its secrets.
If Ahmad Chalabi, Captain Khodada, Space Imaging, Inc., and
UNSCOM Deputy Chief Charles Duelfer were presumably all lying or
misled about Salman Pak, the Iraq war itself would have exposed
this unlikely conspiracy. For example, at the location of the
mystery camp, the Marines who conquered this area during the
three-week war would find no 707 jetliner parked in the sand.
Unfortunately for the Times, they did.
In April 2003, advance elements of the 3rd Marine Battalion
shelled the camp, and then overran it. They corroborated the
defectors' reports in striking detail. "The rusted shell of an
old passenger jet sat out in a field, its tail broken off," the
Associated Press embed reported. "The passenger plane's
sun-bleached fuselage lay alone in a large, barren field. A fire
engine sat at one intersection. Elsewhere, the twisted metal
wreck of a double-decker bus stood near three decrepit green and
red train cars."
There was a lot of chatter among the captured foreign jihadists
in Iraq about Salman Pak. As U.S. Army spokesman Brigadier
General Vincent Brooks told reporters that week at his regular
press briefing, "The nature of the work being done by some of
those people that we captured, their inferences to the type of
training that they received, all of these things give us the
impression that there was terrorist training that was conducted
at Salman Pak."
To believe that Salman Pak was not a terrorism graduate school
for al Qaeda members and affiliates like Abu Musab Zarqawi, you
have to imagine that the Boeing 707, the double-decker bus, and
the train cars found by the Marines must really have been put
there for a bizarre Iraqi remake of the American movie Planes,
Trains and Automobiles
[http://www.nationalreview.com/redirect/amazon.asp?j=B00003CXC0]
.
URANIUM AND ROCKETS SURE LOOK LIKE WMD...
The Times next "criticize[d]" itself not for reporting on a claim
about Iraq's large-scale efforts at procuring high-strength
aluminum tubes, but for reporting on the challenges to this claim
half-way through its lengthy article. Apparently, the Times
believes it was supposed to criticize the uranium-enrichment
claim at the beginning of the article — before it described the
basic claim itself. The key dispute was not the purchasing of the
tubes; everyone acknowledged that. The dispute was that the
United States asserted that these tubes were for a
uranium-enrichment program, and Iraq maintained that these tubes
were simply for firing conventional rockets.
Once again, the Times forgets about the U.N. resolutions
prohibiting Iraq from ordering or having high-strength tubes at
all. Iraq was thumbing its nose at the U.N., and enduring
billions of dollars of lost oil revenue per year as a result, so
it could buy tubes for small conventional rockets, as now claimed
by IAEA head Mohammed al-Baradei? The New York Times apparently
now believes this claim, in retrospect, to have been so
self-evidently true that the Times should not even have given the
Bush administration's conclusions about uranium enrichment the
dignity of a discussion.
UNSCOM and the IAEA historically had a more nuanced picture of
Iraq's nuclear capabilities, to say the least. When Saddam booted
the U.N. inspectors in 1998, the IAEA was able to confidently
conclude that although there were as yet "no indications to
suggest that Iraq was successful in its attempt to produce
nuclear weapons," it was the case that "Iraq was at, or close to,
the threshold of success in such areas as the production of
highly enriched uranium through the EMIS process, the production
and pilot cascading of single-cylinder sub-critical gas
centrifuge machines, and the fabrication of the explosive package
for a nuclear weapon (emphasis added).
In other words, it's not as if the idea hadn't occurred to
Saddam. But when it became clear that America was using Saddam's
tube-procurement as an argument for going to war, the current
IAEA head Mohammed al-Baradei definitively switched course and
told the world that he believed the tubes were for little
rockets.
Finally the Times feels bad that it "never followed up on the
veracity" of a certain Iraqi chemical-weapons scientist, who told
the U.S. troops in the wake of the invasion last year that Saddam
had "destroyed chemical weapons and biological warfare equipment"
only days before the invasion, that Saddam had transported WMDs
to Syria, its fellow Baathist terror regime, and that Saddam had
cooperated with al Qaeda.
For once in its mea culpa, the Times got it right, though not for
the reason it thinks. The paper surely should have investigated
these claims. If it had done so, it might have learned that the
chief of Israeli military intelligence, in addition to David Kay
of the Iraq Survey Group, CentCom itself, and at least two former
Iraqi intelligence officials have now reported evidence of
Saddam's late pass-off of the WMDs to Syria. These recent lines
of evidence include specific locations of WMD stockpiles within
Syria, and, most recently, in the Bekka Valley in Syrian-occupied
Lebanon as well.
If Times editors were really interested in unbiased reporting
from Iraq, it might have "followed up on the veracity" of dozens
of former regime officials who have made startlingly consistent
and intransigent claims about the depth of the threat from Iraq,
especially concerning Iraq's operational links in logistics,
training, finance, and manpower support for Osama bin Laden and
his murderers. A few more trips outside of the Green Zone and
into Salman Pak for Times reporters would have made a world of
difference in the Gray Lady's Iraq coverage.
— Christopher S. Carson is a Milwaukee attorney in private
practice.
[http://www.nationalreview.com
*****************************************************************
2 Las Vegas SUN: Iran Largely Welcomes Report on Nukes
By ALI AKBAR DAREINI ASSOCIATED PRESS
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -
Iran's top nuclear negotiator said Wednesday a report by the
head of the U.N. atomic watchdog signaled that the deep dispute
over Tehran's nuclear program could soon be closed.
"The report makes it clear that Iran's nuclear activities are
peaceful and there has been no diversion from the peaceful
path," Hasan Rowhani told a news conference. "However, the
report has some problems ... (it) has touched upon cases that it
should not."
The report, issued Tuesday by Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the
International Atomic Energy Agency, said Iran has acknowledged
importing parts for advanced centrifuges that can be used to
enrich uranium.
It credits Iran with more openness about its nuclear program but
says the agency still has questions about nearly two decades of
secret activities.
The report also says Iran has continued production of centrifuge
components at three workshops belonging to private companies
despite its declaration it would suspend such activities. Iran
said the companies continued production because they had not
received adequate compensation for the termination of contracts,
according to the report.
The report was issued for the June 14 meeting of the IAEA's
35-nation board of governors, which has wrestled for more than a
year over what to do about what the United States and its allies
say is a weapons program.
The IAEA report alleges Iran had tried to buy critical parts for
advanced P-2 centrifuges that can be used for energy purposes or
to enrich uranium to weapons grade.
Rowhani acknowledged Iran has purchased parts that can be used
for P-2 centrifuges, but played down the significance.
"We told the IAEA that we didn't import P-2 centrifuge parts,
except a magnet that can be used for production of both the less
advanced P-1 or advanced P-2 centrifuges," Rowhani said.
Iran has confirmed it has produced P-1 centrifuges, which are
used for low-grade enrichment.
Rowhani said Iran has been doing research for years on the
advanced P-2 centrifuges, and has produced sample parts.
"On P-2 centrifuges, we are at the stage of completing our
research. We have produced sample parts of P-2 and we have
provided information and photos about it to the IAEA. Once
research is completed, we will make our decision about
production of P-2s," he said.
Rowhani also acknowledged parts for the P-1 centrifuge were
still being made in Iran.
Iran suspended uranium enrichment last year under strong
international pressure but continued with its centrifuge
program. It eventually said in April that it had stopped
building centrifuges.
"Government companies have already suspended building (P-1)
centrifuge parts but three private companies continue building
centrifuges because we haven't settled the issue of compensation
with them for stopping work," he said.
In an interview with The Associated Press before the report was
issued, U.S. Undersecretary of State John R. Bolton accused
Tehran of engaging in "denial and deception."
"We are convinced that they are pursuing a clandestine program
to acquire nuclear weapons," he said.
Bolton said Washington was determined to have Iran answer to the
U.N. Security Council.
Iran long has rejected U.S. allegations its nuclear program is
for military purposes. ElBaradei said Tuesday his agency had not
found proof to date of a concrete link between Iran's nuclear
activities and its military program, but "it was premature to
make a judgment."
ElBaradei's report did not appear critical enough of Iran to
marshal strong support at the IAEA board meeting for U.N.
Security Council action against Iran - which the United States
wants.
The agency had verified the suspension of uranium enrichment and
reprocessing activities at several sites, including Kalaye,
Natanz, Lashkar Ab'ad, the report said, but added that the
verification was delayed because Iran wouldn't give immediate
access to military sites and "not yet comprehensive" because of
the private companies' continued production.
Iran argues that its suspension declaration does not include the
production of uranium hexafluoride, a refined uranium that if
enriched in a centrifuge could be used to make a nuclear weapon,
and has said it plans to test a plant that would produce the
uranium hexafluoride.
These tests are "at variance with the agency's previous
understanding us to the scope of Iran's decision regarding
suspension," the report said.
--
*****************************************************************
3 Xinhuanet: Iran not to give up NPT membership
www.xinhuanet.com
www.chinaview.cn 2004-06-03 08:22:06
BEIJING, June 3 (Xinhuanet) -- Iran says it does not intend
to give up its membership of the nuclear Non-Proliferation
Treaty, or NPT, CRIENGLISH.com reported Thursday.
Iranian Supreme National Security Council Secretary Hassan
Rowhani said on Wednesday that Iran has announced to continue
cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency, or IAEA,
and it does not think about stopping it.
However, Rowhani added that Iran was going to issue a
statement on a recent report of the IAEA, pointing to special
problems of the report.
On Tuesday, two members of the parliament said that the
parliament would consider withdrawing from the NPT if the
country's cooperation on nuclear inspection could not be rewarded
justly.
Such an extremist move was also ruled out on last Thursday by
President Mohammad Khatami.
(CRIENGLISH.com)
Copyright ©2003 Xinhua News Agency. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
4 CBS News: Iran: Report Shows No Nukes
[http://www.cbsnews.com]
TEHRAN, Iran, June 2, 2004
"We are convinced that they are pursuing a clandestine program to
acquire nuclear weapons." Undersecretary of State John R. Bolton
Iran's Bushehr facility, one of the plants where nuclear
activity has aroused suspicion. (Photo: SPACE IMAGING
INCORPORATED)
(CBS/AP) Iran's top nuclear negotiator said Wednesday a report by
the head of the U.N. atomic watchdog signaled that the deep
dispute over Tehran's nuclear program could soon be closed.
"The report makes it clear that Iran's nuclear activities are
peaceful and there has been no diversion from the peaceful path,"
Hasan Rowhani told a news conference. "However, the report has
some problems … (it) has touched upon cases that it should not."
The report, issued Tuesday by Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the
International Atomic Energy Agency, said Iran has acknowledged
importing parts for advanced centrifuges that can be used to
enrich uranium.
It credits Iran with more openness about its nuclear program but
says the agency still has questions about nearly two decades of
secret activities.
The report also says Iran has continued production of centrifuge
components at three workshops belonging to private companies
despite its declaration it would suspend such activities. Iran
said the companies continued production because they had not
received adequate compensation for the termination of contracts,
according to the report.
The report was issued for the June 14 meeting of the IAEA's
35-nation board of governors, which has wrestled for more than a
year over what to do about what the United States and its allies
say is a weapons program.
The IAEA report alleges Iran had tried to buy critical parts for
advanced P-2 centrifuges that can be used for energy purposes or
to enrich uranium to weapons grade.
Rowhani acknowledged Iran has purchased parts that can be used
for P-2 centrifuges, but played down the significance.
"We told the IAEA that we didn't import P-2 centrifuge parts,
except a magnet that can be used for production of both the less
advanced P-1 or advanced P-2 centrifuges," Rowhani said.
Iran has confirmed it has produced P-1 centrifuges, which are
used for low-grade enrichment.
Natural uranium is enriched to produce molecules with the right
number of electron particles for fission. Centrifuges are used to
spin uranium gas rapidly to separate molecules of different
weights. More enrichment is required for weapons material than
for nuclear plant fuel.
Rowhani said Iran has been doing research for years on the
advanced P-2 centrifuges, and has produced sample parts.
"On P-2 centrifuges, we are at the stage of completing our
research. We have produced sample parts of P-2 and we have
provided information and photos about it to the IAEA. Once
research is completed, we will make our decision about production
of P-2s," he said.
Rowhani also acknowledged parts for the P-1 centrifuge were still
being made in Iran.
Iran suspended uranium enrichment last year under strong
international pressure but continued with its centrifuge program.
It eventually said in April that it had stopped building
centrifuges.
"Government companies have already suspended building (P-1)
centrifuge parts but three private companies continue building
centrifuges because we haven't settled the issue of compensation
with them for stopping work," he said.
In an interview with The Associated Press before the report was
issued, Undersecretary of State John R. Bolton accused Tehran of
engaging in "denial and deception."
"We are convinced that they are pursuing a clandestine program to
acquire nuclear weapons," he said.
Bolton said Washington was determined to have Iran answer to the
U.N. Security Council.
Iran long has rejected U.S. allegations its nuclear program is
for military purposes. ElBaradei said Tuesday his agency had not
found proof to date of a concrete link between Iran's nuclear
activities and its military program, but "it was premature to
make a judgment."
ElBaradei's report did not appear critical enough of Iran to
marshal strong support at the IAEA board meeting for U.N.
Security Council action against Iran — which the United States
wants.
The agency had verified the suspension of uranium enrichment and
reprocessing activities at several sites, including Kalaye,
Natanz, Lashkar Ab'ad, the report said, but added that the
verification was delayed because Iran wouldn't give immediate
access to military sites and "not yet comprehensive" because of
the private companies' continued production.
Iran argues that its suspension declaration does not include the
production of uranium hexafluoride, a refined uranium that if
enriched in a centrifuge could be used to make a nuclear weapon,
and has said it plans to test a plant that would produce the
uranium hexafluoride.
These tests are "at variance with the agency's previous
understanding us to the scope of Iran's decision regarding
suspension," the report said. ©MMIV, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All
Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast,
rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to
this report.
[http://www.cbsnews.com]
*****************************************************************
5 AFP: Iran repeats warning to Israel against bombing nuclear facilities
[http://www.spacewar.com/]
TEHRAN (AFP) Jun 02, 2004
Israel will suffer a "painful" response if it dares to attack
any of Iran's nuclear facilities, the Islamic republic's top
national security official warned Wednesday.
"I do not think Israel will make such a stupid move because it
knows full well how we will respond," Hassan Rowhani told a news
conference.
"Our response will be painful to Israel," he said, but dismissed
all talks of an Israeli attack as "propaganda".
Last month Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Iran was
"probably the main existential threat" to his country.
Both Israel and the United States suspect Iran is developing
nuclear weapons under cover of a effort to generate nuclear
energy. In 1981, Israel attacked an Iraqi nuclear facility, and
there has been specualtion it may consider doing the same for
Iran -- which continues to call for the destruction of the Jewish
state.
Rowhani's comments came as he answered to new revelations from
the UN nuclear watchdog that bolstered suspicions over the
Islamic republic's shadowy atomic energy programme.
WAR.WIRE
*****************************************************************
6 AFP: US accuses Iran of nuclear "deceit and denial"
[http://www.spacewar.com/]
VIENNA (AFP) Jun 02, 2004
The United States accused Iran on Wednesday of using "deceit and
denial" to secretly develop nuclear weapons after damning new
revelations from the UN nuclear watchdog on the Islamic
republic's atomic energy program.
US ambassador to the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy
AgencyKenneth Brill told reporters that Iran's refusal to fully
cooperate with the agency "fits a long-term pattern of denial and
deception that can only be designed to mask Iran's military
nuclear program."
He was commenting after an IAEA report released on Tuesday
charged that its inspectors had found more traces in Iran of
highly enriched uranium that could be bomb-grade.
The IAEA also reported that Iran has admitted to importing parts
for sophisticated P-2 centrifuges for enriching uranium, going
back on claims that it had made the parts domestically.
"Almost two years after the IAEA became aware of Iran's covert
nuclear program, and fully one year after the discovery of Iran's
attempts to conceal their work at the Kalaye Electric Company (in
Tehran), delayed access, inconsistent stories and unanswered
questions continue to be the hallmark of Iranian cooperation with
the agency," Brill said.
"Even a disinterested observer must now ask, what is it that the
Iranians are so intent on hiding," Brill said.
"The more the IAEA digs, the more problems it finds," he said.
The IAEA report is to be submitted to the agency's 35-nation
board of governors on June 14.
The United States has called for the IAEA, which has been
investigating the Iranian program since February 2003 after being
alerted to it in August 2002, to refer the Islamic republic to
the UN Security Council for possible international sanctions.
In Tehran, Iran's top nuclear negotiator Hassan Rowhani said
Wednesday that Iran had "no secret nuclear activities."
Rowhani said: "Iran's nuclear dossier is on the way to being
sorted out and there is nothing very important that is pending."
But Brill said: "Iran is still stalling, providing last-minute
declarations and contradicting earlier definitive statements. The
IAEA continues to find new, incriminating evidence of undeclared
activity.
"Iran is still not answering the most important questions when
confronted with evidence," Brill said.
"The question is how long the (IAEA) board of governors and the
international community will tolerate this," he said.
"Iran can clear up these serious questions quickly, if it is
willing to confess its clandestine nuclear weapons program and
activities, like Libya," Brill said, referring to Tripoli's
disarming its mass destruction programs in full cooperation with
the IAEA.
WAR.WIRE
*****************************************************************
7 Korea Herald: Perry urges joint stance on N. Korea
2004.06.03
By Choi Soung-ah koreaherald.co.kr
A diplomatic solution on North Korea's nuclear weapons program
can be found while the six-party talks provide an appropriate
venue for discussions, but Seoul and Washington must first agree
on how to handle the communist state, former U.S. Defense
Secretary Perry says.
"However, I believe that the United States and South Korea have
not come together on a strategy for how to deal with this
dangerous problem and as a consequence, we are not yet on a
constructive diplomatic track," he adds. "Most importantly, I
fear that time is not on our side."
Perry, defense secretary under former President Bill Clinton,
discusses the security situation in a speech he will make on
Thursday at Cheongju University under the title, "The Korean
peninsula: New dangers and new opportunities."
Perry arrived on Wednesday afternoon for a four-day visit to
attend a conference - "Peace Building on the Korean Peninsula and
the New World Order," hosted by Cheongju University in North
Chungcheong Province to commemorate the school's 57th
anniversary.
In his keynote speech, he criticized the lack of effort to date
on the nuclear issue by the current administration of President
George W. Bush, saying it had taken no concrete action to put a
halt to the standoff.
"The administration said it would 'not tolerate' a nuclear
weapon program in North Korea but in the last 16 months since the
Kelly meeting in Pyongyang, they have taken no action to stop the
North Korean program.
"The six-power meetings have been at the initiative of the
Chinese, and the Americans have not demonstrated any sense of
urgency in those meetings. The next meeting may not occur until
late summer, with suggestions that the resolution may not come
until next year. In the meantime, the work apparently continues
at Yongbyon."
Last October Washington concluded that Pyongyang was making a
third attempt to break out a covert program in uranium enrichment
designed to evade previous agreements.
Perry also stresses in his prepared remarks that Seoul and
Washington seem too far apart on how serious the Stalinist
state's nuclear threat is, and how to deal with it.
He points out that some South Korean officials have expressed
the view that a North Korean nuclear program does not threaten
the South because the North would never use nuclear weapons
against their brother nation.
"It seems to me that this view is a misconception of the
possible consequences to South Korea if North Korea used or
threatened to use nuclear weapons against any other nation," he
says.
"But until the United States and South Korea come to a common
understanding of the threat posed by the North Korean nuclear
program, it is unlikely that they will be able to agree on a
common policy for dealing with that threat."
He warns that these negatives, especially the inspection
challenge, are daunting, but failure is not an acceptable option,
since failure would entail either a second Korean War or the
acceptance of a North Korean nuclear arsenal.
"The allies would win any war with North Korea but at a terrible
cost. Indeed, a second Korean War could be even more intense and
deadly than the first Korean War," he says.
*****************************************************************
8 Korea Herald: [EDITORIAL] Starting all over again
2004.06.03
By Choi Soung-ah
Seven counties and cities have presented 10 new sites as
potential hosts to a nuclear waste storage facility the
government plans to build. Competition will be intensive among
the 11 candidates, with Wido in Buan County still in the race.
Selecting a site, however, will not be as easy as it looks.
Given residents' potential opposition to the project, the
government has a long way to go. If it hastens the selection
process, it will risk repeating the mistake it has made in Wido.
Residents in Wido, an island off the southwestern coast,
approved the project to build a facility in their backyard, which
would come with handsome government subsidies. But in February
this year other residents in Buan voted against the project.
The government is keeping Wido on the list of candidates,
claiming that the anti-Wido vote is not legally binding. But it
is practically impossible to go ahead with the project in the
face of opposition from a majority of county residents. It will
have to start the selection process all over again.
In nine of the 10 new sites, approval ratings are reportedly
below the 50 percent mark. In addition, residents have started to
organize opposition to the project in seven sites.
As long as it depends on nuclear power as a major energy source,
the government will have to build a storage site for spent
nuclear fuel. But it cannot force the project down the throats of
residents, no matter how much money it commits itself to pay in
subsidies.
Instead, it will have to win the approval of county or city
residents by explaining the safety of the storage facility and
benefits to be derived from various projects accompanying the
facility, including a proton linear accelerator.
It will also have to start a dialogue on its energy policy, as
well as its plan to build the storage facility, with
environmentalist groups and other civic organizations, which
succeeded in persuading Buan residents to vote against the Wido
project.
All this must be done successfully before the project is put to
local referendums and votes in county and city councils. That is
necessary to put an end to the costly 18-year search for a
storage site.
*****************************************************************
9 KoreaTimes: Korean Nuclear Controversy
06-02-2004 17:29
Hankooki.com > Korea Times > Opinion
It seems to be quite obvious that the ongoing six-way talks on
North Korea¡¯s nuclear weapons issue will lead all participants
on a road to nowhere. It is because in such endeavors, the
fundamental issues concerning the whole community of nations
remain unresolved.
The first basic question is that while the United States, Russia
and China can have nuclear weapons, why not India, Pakistan and
Korea? Let both North and South Koreas develop nuclear weapons.
It would enhance their sense of security and lessen their fear of
each other. It may also prompt them to seek mutual safeguards and
strive for a permanent peace arrangement or some kind of a treaty
ending the long-standing ``state of war.¡¯¡¯ As pointed out by K.
Subbarao, former Chief Justice of India, nuclear weapons are not
only the arms of war, they are also the instruments of diplomacy.
Already, both Koreas are negotiating on military matters and
collaborating in other fields.
In fact, there is no danger of a war between North and South
Korea right now. Neither of them would even think of such a
self-destructive misadventure even after possessing atom bombs.
South Korea would never take such a risky step simply because it
would not risk destroying all that has been built with tremendous
hard work and sacrifice during the last four decades. The North
Korean position is much more precarious in this respect, and
would remain so even if it were equipped with nuclear weapons.
Apart from its socioeconomic woes and limited financial
resources, the North is not at all likely to get any kind of
support from any quarters including former allies, Russia and
China. In such a situation, it would be impossible to face the
combined wrath of South Korean and U.S. forces. North Korean
leadership cannot afford to remain oblivious of these realities.
The second question, is that when big powers earn trillions of
trillions by selling all kinds of arms and ammunitions to other
countries, why are they so anxious to deprive lesser powers of
small benefits of a few million by transferring their nuclear
technologies and materials to needy nations? Do the arms and
ammunitions sold by the big powers not kill and destroy? Is it
the responsibility of only small nations to maintain world peace?
If the big powers are so concerned about world peace, why don¡¯t
they dismantle their own nuclear arsenals? These days, nuclear
weapons are not only the instruments of war and diplomacy; they
are also the means of technical and industrial advancement. Let
all nations, particularly belonging to the Third World, as well
as the Republic of Korea and the Democratic People¡¯s Republic of
Korea, take advantage of this advancement in order to solve their
socioeconomic problems.
Ultimately, the development of nuclear weapons by North and South
Korea would make them self-reliant in their spheres of defense.
It would lessen their burdens of conventional forces and reduce
their dependence on regional powers. It would not in any way harm
the prevailing structure of power-relationships in Northeast
Asia. It would, rather, strengthen the peace and stability in and
around the Korean peninsula.
Brahm Swaroop Agrawal, Visiting Fellow of the Korea Foundation.
brahmagrawal@yahoo.com
*****************************************************************
10 Fwd: June 6th, 2004 -- mark your calendars: MELTDOWN on FX: The
Date: Wed, 2 Jun 2004 01:31:07 -0500 (CDT)
Date: Thu, 27 May 2004 10:18:43 -0700
From: "Russell D. Hoffman"
Subject: June 6th, 2004 -- mark your calendars: MELTDOWN on FX: The
scariest thing in the world -- now a made-for-TV drama!
Dear readers,
I was informed of the upcoming show MELTDOWN by its producers last week,
and ads -- awesome, scary ads -- have appeared for it now, as well.
Meanwhile, we are being warned of new terrorist threats against us, against
unspecified targets, due this summer.
Everyone trying to close this nuke or that nuke, Oyster Creek or Diablo
Canyon, Davis-Besse or Indian Point, or any of the 100 other nuclear power
plants in the USA or 430 around the world, should push for a unified,
GLOBAL point of view right now. ALL the nukes need to be shut down because
they are an expensive, inefficient, undemocratic, corroded, corrupted,
dangerous, dirty way to push electrons into wires (i.e., to generate
electricity).
Wind, wave, tide, solar, geothermal, hydro (large and small scale) are the
cleanest forms of energy, and can produce more than enough for society's
projected needs forever. Conservation alone could allow the shutdown of
ALL nuclear power plants.
France generates a greater percentage of their electricity from nuclear
power than any other country (conservation alone could not replace their
nuclear power plants at this point). Due to a design error, they had to
replace the heads on all their reactors a few years back. They cannot even
build their country's main airport roof properly, so it will not collapse
(Charles de Gaulle airport outside Paris). Things built by humans
fail. With nuclear power, we cannot afford failure.
The Davis-Besse nuclear power plant nearly melted down in 2002, and yet, to
this day, hardly anyone knows about it. For example, nobody, to the best
of my knowledge, has written a history of the event as a book (would it be
titled, "We Almost Lost Ohio"?). Yet, the potential cost of a failure at
Davis-Besse (or at any nuclear power plant) would be much bigger than the
sum total of the Enron scandal, if lives and dollars are the measure
(except insofar as the Enron scandal was, in part, about secret support for
nukes).
San Onofre appears to be the model for the nuclear power facility that is
taken over by terrorists in the TV movie MELTDOWN. In the ad I saw on TV a
few nights ago, the power plant appears to be blown up! The name of the
facility is the San Juan nuclear power plant. From the trailer for the
show, you can see that the facility has two domes just like San Onofre,
which is right next to San Clemente, which is right next to San Juan
Capistrano.
25 million people need to be evacuated, according to the trailer for the
show. That would be about right for the immediate area (say, 50 miles
around the San Onofre plant, which would include most of San Diego and
Orange counties, and parts of Los Angeles, San Bernadino, Imperial, and
other nearby counties).
Unlike the U.S. Government's official position, a real evacuation may not
be orderly or even possible. The producers have said that they have tried
to be "accurate." They had ribbons of highways with stopped cars in the
trailer. Will they have fights? Flare-ups, riots, chaos? Swaths of
sickened and dying people, cut down because the winds cut across THAT
stretch of highway? Radiation from a nuclear meltdown is carried by the
wind, it does not simply radiate out evenly in all directions from the
stricken power plant. In a meltdown it is often carried thousands or even
tens of thousands of feet into the air before it begins to descend. The
radioactive "plume" -- which will be invisible but deadly -- can stay
fairly concentrated -- that is, in a relatively small volume of air -- for
hundreds or even thousands of miles. If that invisible foul wind rains on
your city, even half a world a way, it could kill thousands of people. Yet
in a city of a million people, it would be nearly impossible to prove what
caused any rise in cancer deaths over a period of decades after the
accident. Better health care in the area affected might mean cancer rates
will go down, yet still, they would have gone down more, if there had not
been an accident.
More likely than landing half a world a way, of course, is that the
"fallout" as it's called, will come down within the first couple of hundred
miles. Exposure to high doses of radiation via inhalation of nuclear
particles causes gruesome deaths among those who happen to be in the path
of the fallout -- downwinders, as they are called.
This new show on FX is bound to do a lot to open up dialog on this vital
issue. And I don't mean anyone yapping about how good it would be IF we
put anti-aircraft guns around our nuclear power plants! Yeah, sure, that
and 10,000 other things! Better we just shut them all down since they
don't actually do what they purport to do anyway, which is make cheap
electricity. In fact they make very expensive electricity, and they do it
very poorly, being subject to numerous planned and unplanned outages on a
regular (and irregular) basis.
I haven't seen the show, so I have no idea how they manage to stop a
catastrophe (or maybe they don't, but that would be awfully bleak (but
utterly realistic). Maybe in MELTDOWN the SWAT team moves in, shoots all
the terrorists, flips a few knobs and switches, and saves the day like the
guy in that extraordinary Holiday Inn Express commercial who is on a tour
of a nuclear power plant and -- while eating a donut and spilling coffee --
prevents a meltdown.
We've been lucky so far. Davis-Besse not melting down was pure luck. San
Onofre, Monticello, Indian Point -- they've all been LUCKY. It's time to
be smart. On June 6th, 2004 -- the 60th anniversary of D-Day -- luck will
run out in the virtual world of TV, for a hapless 25 million people.
Perhaps we cannot even wait that long to close the nuclear power plants.
Last time a movie this important to the nuclear debate, made-for-tv or
otherwise came out, it was about tornadoes hitting a nuclear power plant
and, as an Act of God, by golly, one nearly did right about the same
time! When The China Syndrome was being made, they had no idea Three Mile
Island was going to happen at about the same time, with so many similarities.
This time, real, live human beings can actively work to make the horrific
tale come true to life. That changes the odds of it happening
substantially, from random coincidences (or "acts of God" -- call them what
you will), to pure certainty IF some terrorist wants to make it so.
It's time to stop talking about merely protecting our nuclear power
plants. It's time to shut them down and start talking about what to do to
protect the waste. An operating nuclear power plant is many times more
likely to melt down than so-called spent fuel, which is actually "slightly
used reactor cores, made very deadly by severe irradiation." Prior to
their 18 months in the reactor, the fuel assemblies are barely more
dangerous than so-called "Depleted Uranium" (the stuff used in weapons in
Iraq, Afghanistan and in Kosovo, which is causing birth defects in those
areas now). AFTER being used for so brief a time, they must be completely
isolated from humanity for millions of years, the reactor cores will
destroy any container built for them, and they are terrorists' targets (and
also susceptible to "acts of God" such as asteroid strikes, fires,
earthquakes, etc.).
Please tell your friends, neighbors, family, co-workers, classmates, and
cohorts to watch MELTDOWN on FX, June 6th, 2004. (Check your local
listings for the exact time.) Let's start talking about this stuff! Let's
get those nuclear power plants closed NOW -- BEFORE a MELTDOWN really
happens in America. It's an accident we can't afford not to prevent.
Sincerely,
Russell Hoffman
Concerned Citizen
Carlsbad, CA
For more information about the upcoming made-for-TV movie MELTDOWN:
http://www.animatedsoftware.com/environm/onofre/2004/meltdown_on_fx.cfm
Some drawings of wind roses are available in my "Demon Hot Atom" guide:
http://www.animatedsoftware.com/hotwords/downwinders/downwinders.htm
Also please visit these web sites:
Internet Glossary of Nuclear Terminology / "The Demon Hot Atom":
http://www.animatedsoftware.com/hotwords/index.htm
SHUT SAN ONOFRE!:
http://www.animatedsoftware.com/environm/onofre/index.htm
NO NUKES IN SPACE: (FLASH animation):
http://www.animatedsoftware.com/mx/nasa/columbia/index.swf
or try:
http://www.animatedsoftware.com/mx/nasa/columbia/index.html
STOP CASSINI web site:
http://www.animatedsoftware.com/cassini/index.htm
List of every nuclear power plant in America, with history, activist orgs,
specs, etc.:
http://www.animatedsoftware.com/environm/no_nukes/nukelist.htm
List of ~300 books and videos about nuclear issues in my collection
(donations welcome!):
http://www.animatedsoftware.com/environm/no_nukes/mybooks.htm
Learn about The Effects of Nuclear War here:
http://www.animatedsoftware.com/environm/no_nukes/tenw/nuke_war.htm
*************************************************
** THE ANIMATED SOFTWARE COMPANY
** Russell D. Hoffman, Owner and Chief Programmer
** P.O. Box 1936, Carlsbad CA 92018-1936
** (800) 551-2726
** (760) 720-7261
** Fax: (760) 720-7394
** Visit the world's most eclectic web site:
** http://www.animatedsoftware.com
*************************************************
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*****************************************************************
11 UN Nuclear Watchdog Draws Attention To Possible Terrorist Scenarios
Date: Wed, 2 Jun 2004 13:01:23 -0400
UN NUCLEAR WATCHDOG DRAWS ATTENTION TO POSSIBLE TERRORIST SCENARIOS
New York, Jun 2 2004 1:00PM
Highlighting the battle to prevent nuclear weaponry from falling
into the hands of terrorists, the United Nations atomic watchdog
agency is drawing attention to the role it can play in reinforcing
national efforts to detect smuggling of nuclear material and equipment
that could be used in crude explosive devices and so-called
dirty bombs.
In a paper titled "<"http://www.iaea.org/NewsCenter/Features/NuclearSecurity/scenarios20040601.html">Promoting
Nuclear Security: Possible
Terrorist Scenarios," the Vienna-based International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA) gives top priority to the theft of a nuclear
weapon which, while highly unlikely, "represents the most serious
threat with potentially devastating consequences." Responsibility
for preventing theft rests with the states that possess nuclear
weapons.
Another theft scenario involves terrorists acquiring sufficient quantities
of plutonium or high-enriched uranium to construct a crude
nuclear explosive device. "Although sophisticated equipment and
expertise is required to manufacture and detonate a nuclear device,
the possibility cannot be discounted," the <"http://www.iaea.org/index.html">IAEA
says.
Terrorists could also obtain radioactive substances, primarily sealed
radioactive sources widely used for medical purposes or in industry
or stored as waste, and disperse the radioactivity. "One
dramatic way would be if a sealed radioactive source was used to
spike conventional explosives, in what is commonly referred to as
a 'dirty bomb,'" the Agency notes.
Such a device "would certainly cause panic and economic damage, in
addition to exposing the target population to radiation, the result
of which would have both immediate and long-term effects."
Finally, terrorists could target any facility using nuclear or radioactive
materials, be it nuclear power plants, fuel cycle facilities,
research reactors, hospitals or industries, causing immediate
dispersal of radioactivity, exposing the population to radiation
and damaging both property and the environment.
The IAEA is working to promote nuclear security measures considered
essential to forestalling these threats. Steps include the physical
protection of nuclear materials and related facilities as well
as the control of lost or "orphaned" radioactive material. In
addition, the Agency is helping countries to detect any black-market
activity through border patrols, training of customs officials,
and the maintenance of a database on illicit trafficking.
2004-06-02 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
*****************************************************************
12 Slovak news: ElBaradei praises Slovakia's achievements in nuclear safety
Slovakia's English language newspaper May 31 - June
6,2004, Volume 10, Number 21
[http://www.relo.sk]
SLOVAKIA has made great progress modernising and improving
security measures at its nuclear facilities, International Atomic
Energy Agency Director General Mohamed ElBaradei said in
Bratislava on June 1.
Speaking at the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, ElBaradei also
praised cooperation between the agency and Slovakia, adding that
it mainly provides Slovakia with advisory services.
"Slovakia has made great progress over the past few years as far
as the modernisation of its nuclear facilities is concerned. This
results from the efforts of Slovakia and the international
community," he said.
ElBaradei would not comment on the recent controversy related to
the possible completion of two blocks of the country's nuclear
power plant in Mochovce and suspension of the closure of the
Jaslovske Bohunice nuclear plant.
The completion of the Mochovce plant, recently proposed by Slovak
Economy Minister Pavol Rusko, is strongly opposed by neighbouring
Austria.
As for the Jaslovske Bohunice power plant, Slovakia pledged to
shut down its V1 block in the period between 2006 and 2008 in its
accession treaty with the European Union. A number of opposition
parties, mainly in the opposition, have urged the government to
reopen discussion on this issue at the EU level, but the union's
senior officials have warned that changes are unlikely, as they
would require the approval of all EU member countries.
Compiled by Beata Balogová from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the
information presented in its Flash News postings.
[6/2/2004 10:26:36 AM]
Copyright © 1998-2003 The Rock spol. s r.o. All rights
*****************************************************************
13 Xinhuanet: Japan may bring in seized nuke weapons in contingency
: FM
www.xinhuanet.com
www.chinaview.cn 2004-06-02 22:48:43
TOKYO, June 2 (Xinhuanet) -- Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko
Kawaguchi said Wednesday it is possible for Japan to bring into
the country nuclear weapons it seizes from an enemy in a
contingency and that such an exceptional case will not violate
Japan's three non-nuclear principles.
"Temporarily bringing in nuclear weapons seized from an
opponent in order to dispose of them and prevent them from being
used on Japan is not being ruled out," Kyodo News quoted
Kawaguchi as saying before a House of Councillors special
committee on Iraq and contingency legislation. "It does not
violate the three non-nuclear principles," she added.
Japan maintains the principles of not producing, not
possessing and not allowing the entry of nuclear weapons.
On a bill that would, if passed, allow the government to stop
and search foreign commercial vessels suspected of transporting
military materials for other countries, Defense Agency Director
General Shigeru Ishiba told that committee that it is legal under
the UN Charter and Japan's Constitution, according to Kyodo.
Japan's pacifist Constitution prohibits the nation from
engaging warfare.
"Third countries should tolerate such a measure as it is an
exercise of the right to self-defense," Ishiba said. Enditem
Copyright ©2003 Xinhua News Agency. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
14 Hi Pakistan: Indo-Pak nuclear talks on 19th -->
June 02 2004
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and India have agreed to hold the stalled
expert level talks on nuclear confidence building measures (CBMs)
in New Delhi on June 19-20.
This will be the first formal dialogue between Islamabad and the
new Congress government in New Delhi, as it will clear the way
for future peace talks.
Initially the former BJP government had decided that the two
sides would meet at the end of May but the new Indian government
had postponed the parleys at the last moment.
These talks will now precede a meeting in New Delhi between
Foreign Secretary Riaz Khokhar and his Indian counterpart
Shashank on June 27 and 28.
The announcement made by Indian External Affairs Minister Natwar
Singh in his maiden press conference has reassured Islamabad that
the future of Indo-Pak talks should be based on trust.
The Indian official remarks came after a categorical statement
made by Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri on Monday, in which he
spelt out the methodology of how the peace process between the
two sides should proceed.
According to the experts studying the future nuclear restraint
regime, Indo-Pak CBMs could be based on the 1975 Helsinki Final
Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, as
it would be very relevant for two antagonistic neighbours who
need to evolve practices to avoid inadvertent nuclear war.
Others feel that Pakistan should push for New Delhi to pullback
its short-range missiles from the borders, as well as seeking
eventual dismantling and elimination of these missiles. Another
nuclear CBM suggested would be to remove nuclear weapons from an
alert status to reduce chances of accidental or unauthorised
launch.
These expert level talks will go a long way in giving impetus to
the foreign secretary talks later in the month when there will be
focus on security in the region.
Agencies add: Indian Foreign Minister Natwar Singh has said: "We
attach the highest importance to relations with Pakistan. We want
to solve all our problems".
The two countries "should not be prisoners of the past," he said
as he sought to quell concerns the peace drive might slow under
the new Congress government.
At his first major news conference sketching the administration’s
foreign policy, he said India and Pakistan would hold talks on
easing nuclear tensions in New Delhi on June 19-20 followed by a
foreign secretaries’ meeting on the peace process on June 27-28.
The announcement was the latest step towards reconciliation
between the neighbours since they launched the peace drive a year
ago after coming to the brink of war in 2002.
About relations with Israel, Natwar said: "We value our relations
with the government of Israel ... But our relations with Israel
will not be at the expense of sacrificing the legitimate rights
... of the Palestinian people."
Copyright 1996-2002 . Hi Pakistan. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
15 Hi Pakistan: IAEA unable to verify Pak-Iran nuclear link -->
June 02 2004
VIENNA: The International Atomic Energy Agency was unable to
verify that contamination by highly enriched uranium found in
Iran was bought from Pakistan, a diplomat close to the agency
said on Tuesday.
The UN nuclear inspectors have found more contamination in Iran
by highly enriched uranium that could be bomb-grade, the agency
said ahead of a meeting on US charges that Tehran is secretly
trying to develop nuclear weapons.
Iran has also provided "changing or contradictory information" on
its work involving sophisticated P-2 centrifuges, which can
enrich uranium to bomb-grade levels, according to a confidential
report by International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed
ElBaradei, which was obtained by AFP.
Iran must clear up these questions about uranium contamination
and centrifuges if the international community is to believe
Iran’s claims its nuclear programme is strictly peaceful, the
IAEA said ahead of a June 14 meeting of its 35-nation board of
governors.
A diplomat close to the IAEA said the agency now felt it could
not verify that the contamination was, as Iran insists, from
contaminated equipment bought in Pakistan and not from Iranian
attempts to produce highly enriched uranium (HEU).
The contamination by 36 per cent U-235 was at a site in Farayand,
following on such contamination already found at the Kalaye
Electric Company in Tehran and the Natanz pilot enrichment plant,
the IAEA report said.
Copyright 1996-2002 . Hi Pakistan. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
16 STUFF: Poll shows NZers prepared to ease nuclear ban
[http://www.stuff.co.nz]
Thursday, 03 June 2004
Most New Zealanders would back easing the law banning visits from
nuclear-propelled ships if the United States promised not to send
any warships, a poll released today shows.
The Herald-DigiPoll found 53.1 per cent of 712 voters sampled
supported a proposal in a National Party taskforce report last
month.
It raised the prospect of easing the law banning
nuclear-propelled ship visits, and replacing it with a "policy"
ban.
The poll found 37.6 per cent of those surveyed did not want any
tinkering with the anti-nuclear legislation.
The Government last night told the New Zealand Herald newspaper
it would not amend the 1987 law that established a nuclear-free
zone, but also guaranteed tensions with the United States.
"No way," Disarmament Minister Marian Hobbs said.
"We will keep ourselves nuclear free."
Even National seemed surprised by the poll result. Acting leader
Gerry Brownlee described it as "interesting".
A party breakdown showed predictably strong National voter
support for a law change, provided no warships visited - but only
51.5 per cent of Labour voters opposed that prospect.
Four out of 10 Labour voters said they would support an easing of
the nuclear propulsion ban if the US agreed not to send warships.
The poll found 58 per cent against any easing of the ships ban to
improve relations with the US, and 34.4 per cent in favour of
change.
The National Party report said New Zealand should stay
nuclear-free, and the law banning nuclear weapons should not
change.
It raised the option of easing the legal ban on nuclear-propelled
ship visits, while retaining a policy ban.
It said Denmark operated such a policy and had retained good
relations with the US.
Ms Hobbs, who is also acting Foreign Affairs Minister, told the
Herald that National wanted to cuddle up to nuclear weaponry.
"I would not ever support a relaxation of the law when you've got
something as vague as an 'understanding' with the United States.
"That's giving the decision-making power to the United States.
Are we or are we not a sovereign state setting our own laws?
"We are not having any nuclear-powered or nuclear-armed ships in
our country, full stop."
Mr Brownlee said the poll suggested nuclear policy might not be
the "political hot potato" many people expected.
National leader Don Brash has said his party would make no change
to the law unless there is public backing for such a move.
That would come either through a manifesto promise before a
general election or through a referendum.
The poll of 712 voters was conducted between May 27 and June 1,
and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.7 per cent.
*****************************************************************
17 UN: UN nuclear watchdog draws attention to possible terrorist scenarios
Security experts assist in the prevention of nuclear
trafficking
2 June 2004 – Highlighting the battle to prevent nuclear weaponry
from falling into the hands of terrorists, the United Nations
atomic watchdog agency is drawing attention to the role it can
play in reinforcing national efforts to detect smuggling of
nuclear material and equipment that could be used in crude
explosive devices and so-called dirty bombs.
In a paper titled "Promoting Nuclear Security: Possible
Terrorist Scenarios
[http://www.iaea.org/NewsCenter/Features/NuclearSecurity/scenario
s20040601.html] ," the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA) gives top priority to the theft of a nuclear weapon
which, while highly unlikely, "represents the most serious threat
with potentially devastating consequences." Responsibility for
preventing theft rests with the states that possess nuclear
weapons.
Another theft scenario involves terrorists acquiring sufficient
quantities of plutonium or high-enriched uranium to construct a
crude nuclear explosive device. "Although sophisticated equipment
and expertise is required to manufacture and detonate a nuclear
device, the possibility cannot be discounted," the IAEA
[http://www.iaea.org/index.html] says.
Terrorists could also obtain radioactive substances, primarily
sealed radioactive sources widely used for medical purposes or in
industry or stored as waste, and disperse the radioactivity. "One
dramatic way would be if a sealed radioactive source was used to
spike conventional explosives, in what is commonly referred to as
a 'dirty bomb,'" the Agency notes.
Such a device "would certainly cause panic and economic damage,
in addition to exposing the target population to radiation, the
result of which would have both immediate and long-term effects."
Finally, terrorists could target any facility using nuclear or
radioactive materials, be it nuclear power plants, fuel cycle
facilities, research reactors, hospitals or industries, causing
immediate dispersal of radioactivity, exposing the population to
radiation and damaging both property and the environment.
The IAEA is working to promote nuclear security measures
considered essential to forestalling these threats. Steps include
the physical protection of nuclear materials and related
facilities as well as the control of lost or "orphaned"
radioactive material. In addition, the Agency is helping
countries to detect any black-market activity through border
patrols, training of customs officials, and the maintenance of a
database on illicit trafficking.
*****************************************************************
18 New Zealand News: Brash sidesteps nuclear minefield
[http://www.nzherald.co.nz/]
By HELEN TUNNAH, deputy political editor
Don Brash avoided using the "n" word while meeting United States
Trade Representative Robert Zoellick in Washington.
Dr Brash said yesterday that as National Party leader he had made
it clear there was bipartisan support for a free-trade agreement
with the US, but there had been no talk about nuclear policy.
Mr Zoellick had said there was virtually no chance of any move
towards free-trade talks before this year's US presidential
election.
Dr Brash will meet senior State Department officials in the US
this week, before meetings in London and Beijing. He has not
included Foreign Affairs and Trade officials in his talks, which
this week prompted Prime Minister Helen Clark to tell him to
leave his politics in his suitcase and pursue New Zealand's
national interests.
They have been sparring over Dr Brash's US visit since Helen
Clark last month quoted from normally secret foreign affairs
notes to accuse him of saying National would lift the ban on
visits by nuclear-propelled ships if elected.
Dr Brash told the Herald there had been no discussions about
nuclear policy with Mr Zoellick. Both countries' positions on
nuclear policy were well known.
"Neither he nor I mentioned the word 'nuclear' in the meeting."
Mr Zoellick had shown warmth for New Zealand, but there had been
no promises of any trade deal in the near future.
Dr Brash said he would support talks for an agreement, even
though Australia's was less extensive than hoped, with long
lead-in times for the removal of trade barriers in some areas,
such as the beef industry.
"My feeling is even a less than perfect deal would be better than
none."
© Copyright 2004, New Zealand Herald
Privacy Policy [http://www.nzherald.co.nz/privacypolicy/]
*****************************************************************
19 AFP: Green groups worried about outcome for renewable energy conference
[http://www.terradaily.com/]
BONN (AFP) Jun 02, 2004
Green activists fretted Wednesday that the outcome of a global
conference here aimed at boosting renewable energy would be
gutted by US opposition and European reluctance.
The four-day symposium, one of the most ambitious meetings ever
held on wind, solar, hydro, biofuels and hydrogen, wraps up on
Friday with a political declaration by ministers and senior
officials from more than 150 countries.
There will also be a bulky "action plan" in which participants
spell out their vision for increasing renewables' share of the
world energy mix.
But ecologists said that behind-the-scenes haggling could
dangerously water down these documents, ruining the best
political opportunity in a generation to help wean the world off
oil, a vulnerable commodity that on Tuesday spiked to a new
record high.
The United States, supported also by Japan, France and Brazil,
was trying to dilute terminology in the draft political statement
about the commitment to renewables, one source said.
A similar row dogged the 2002 World Summit for Sustainable
Development in Johannesburg, where the United States also pushed
through a conservative energy agenda that rooted out any
reference to timetables or market percentages.
As for the action plan, "we are seeing weak political commitment
from the EU," WWF International spokeswoman Mitzi Borromeo told
AFP.
"It looks as if the EU is failing in its commitment to go beyond
2010," she said, referring to the European Union's current goal
of having renewables meet more than 22 percent of its energy
needs by the end of the decade.
"The way things look at the moment, Asia could overtake Europe on
its commitment to renewable energies."
She singled out China for praise, noting that Beijing is
proposing a new law that would "practically double" renewables'
share of the national energy supplies, which are heavily
dependent on coal, and increasingly, on oil.
The Bonn conference gathers more than 3,000 representatives from
corporations, consumers, environmental groups as well as
policymakers.
Renewables account for just a tiny part -- only five percent --
of world energy supplies, according to International Energy
Agency (IEA) figures for
That compares with 38 percent for oil, 50 percent for coal and
gas, and seven percent for nuclear.
On current trends, the shares will be almost unchanged by 2030,
even though fossil fuels have been condemned for driving climate
change through carbon pollution.
One reason for this is that fossil fuels are well entrenched in
the global economy. They can only be dethroned if oil prices
remain high, giving the edge to renewable technologies that are
still in their infancy and remain costly and relatively
energy-inefficient.
The price of crude edged downwards in early London trading on
Wednesday, with North Sea Brent swapping hands at 38.65 dollars a
barrel for July delivery.
On Tuesday, Brent rocketed upwards by more than two dollars,
smashing the 39-dollar mark for the first time since October
1990, in a movement driven by terror attacks in Saudi Arabia as
well as the Iraq war and growing consumption by India and China.
In New York on Tuesday, crude surged 2.45 dollars to a record
closing price of 42.33 dollars a barrel.
TERRA.WIRE
*****************************************************************
20 NRC: Sunshine Act Meeting
FR Doc 04-12518
[Federal Register: June 2, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 106)]
[Notices] [Page 31145] From the Federal Register Online via GPO
Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr02jn04-91]
date: Weeks of May 31, June 7, 14, 21, 28, July 5, 2004.
place: Commissioners' Conference Room, 11555 Rockville Pike,
Rockville, Maryland.
status: Public and closed.
matters to be considered: Week of May 31, 2004 Wednesday, June 2,
2004 9:30 a.m.--Briefing on Equal Employment Opportunity Program
(Public Meeting) (Contact: Corenthis Kelley, 301-415-7380).
This meeting will be webcast live at the Web
address--http://www.nrc.gov
[http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leaving
FR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www.nrc.gov] 1:30 p.m.--Meeting
with Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS) (Public
Meeting) (Contact: John Larkins, 301-415-7360).
This meeting will be webcast live at the Web
address--http://www.nrc.gov
[http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leaving
FR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www.nrc.gov] Week of June 7,
2004--Tentative Thursday, June 10, 2004 1:30 p.m.--Discussion of
Security Issues (Closed--Ex. 1) Week of June 14, 2004--Tentative
There are no meetings scheduled for the Week of June 14, 2004.
Week of June 21, 2004--Tentative There are no meetings scheduled
for the Week of June 21, 2004.
Week of June 28, 2004--Tentative There are no meetings scheduled
for the Week of June 28, 2004.
Week of July 5, 2004--Tentative There are no meetings scheduled
for the Week of July 5, 2004.
*The schedule for Commission meetings is subject to change on
short notice. To verify the status of meetings call
(recording)--(301) 415- 1292. Contact person for more
information: Dave Gamberoni, (301) 415- 1651.
* * * * * The NRC Commission Meeting Schedule can be found on the
Internet at:
http://www.nrc.gov/what-we-do/policy-making/schedule.html*
[http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leaving
FR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www.nrc.gov/what-we-do/policy-makin
g/schedule.html*] * * * * This notice is distributed by mail to
several hundred subscribers; if you no longer wish to receive it,
or would like to be added to the distribution, please contact the
Office of the Secretary, Washington, DC 20555 (301-415-1969). In
addition, distribution of this meeting notice over the Internet
system is available. If you are interested in receiving this
Commission meeting schedule electronically, please send an
electronic message to dkw@nrc.gov [dkw@nrc.gov] . Dated: May 27,
2004.
Dave Gamberoni, Office of the Secretary.
[FR Doc. 04-12518 Filed 5-28-04; 9:38 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P
*****************************************************************
21 projo: Senators disappointed with NRC's response
| Providence, R.I. | AP's The Wire
projo.com
06.02.2004 10:14 A.M.
The Associated Press
MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) - Vermont senators are frustrated by the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission's response to their safety
concerns.
Sen. President Pro Tempore Peter Welch, D-Windsor, said Tuesday
the federal agency's letter did nothing to address concerns the
Senate raised in its March 17 resolution, which passed
unanimously.
"The NRC took six pages to say, 'NRC to Vermont Senate: Drop
dead,' that's what it basically says," Welch said.
Welch, one of the authors of the resolution asking for a more
detailed study of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant by
federal regulators, said he was very disappointed by the NRC's
response.
The Senate had asked for a detailed "independent safety
assessment" of Vermont Yankee prior to federal regulators giving
approval to Entergy Nuclear to increase power at the Vernon
reactor by 20 percent.
"The staff believes that the specific actions requested by the
Senate are already satisfied in one way or another through
current or planned NRC processes," wrote J.E. Dyer, director of
the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
"We believe the NRC's program of review and oversight is
comprehensive, effective and responsive to the needs of the
Vermont Senate," Dyer concluded.
A month ago, the NRC told the Public Service Board that it would
perform a "detailed engineering inspection" of Vermont Yankee in
light of the request to change its license to increase power
production.
Nils Diaz, chairman of the NRC, said that was part of a new
engineering inspection program the NRC had been developing.
The engineering assessment was described as not as extensive as
what the Senate wanted.
Welch said that since the letter was sent to the NRC, the
problems at Vermont's only nuclear reactor have only gotten
worse: Two pieces of irradiated fuel have turned up missing, and
about 20 cracks were discovered in a key component, the steam
dryer.
Sen. Roderick Gander, D-Windham, said the letter was
disappointing. "It was a brushoff, and they're not taking us
very seriously."
Gander said that people in Brattleboro and Windham County were
"waiting for the next shoe to drop" at the Vernon reactor, and
remained skeptical that the plant was capable of handling the
additional stresses associated with the power increase.
Providence Journal newsroom at (401) 277-7303.
© Belo Interactive Inc.
*****************************************************************
22 Bellona: Construction workers at the LNPP shut down reactor by tripping
emergency shut-down switch
ST. PETERSBURG - A minor storm of fear and contradictory reports
resulted from the unexpected shut-down of Reactor Block No.4 at
the Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant, or LNPP, on May 20th at two
minutes to five in the afternoon. Much information about the
incident indicates that the reactor’s emergency shut-down switch,
located near a ladder being used by repairmen, was accidentally
tripped by a construction worker.
Scaffolding surrounding the control panel of the LNPP's
reactor No. 1.
Vestnik LAES
Rashid Alimov, 2004-06-02 11:50
LNPP chief spokesman Sergei Averyanov told the Rosbalt Russian
news agency that the installation ceased operation because
emergency shut-down switch AZ-5 was unwittingly pushed.
“This is our problem—as far as the public is concerned, nothing
has happened at the station,” Averyanov said, according to
Rosbalt.
But experts have acknowledged that such abrupt shut-downs can
have deleterious effects on a reactor, causing damage to fuel
cladding and prematurely exhausting fuel assemblies. Frequent
abrupt shut-downs only increase the chances of such damage.
Reactor block No.4 experienced two emergency shut-down three
years ago—once for because of a false alarm, and another because
of a problem with its turbine system. The situation for the LNPP
is even more delicate, given the age and type of reactors it runs
on—four flawed Chernobyl style RBMK-1000.
Other such break-screeching stops—not counting reactor block No.
4’s—have occurred four times over the past three years—once at
reactor block No. 2 and three at reactor block No.2.
The emergency shut-down switch
According to Alexander Nikitin, Chairman of Bellona’s St.
Petersburg branch, using the emergency shut-down switch in a
reactor is “an extreme measure.”
“One is only allowed to use it in exceptional circumstances, when
all other means of controlling a nuclear reactor will not work,”
said Nikitin, who has worked as a reactor safety inspector for
the Russian Ministry of Defence’s nuclear safety regulatory body.
As a rule, one emergency shut-down key is located on the
reactor’s control board, and another in a central position within
the reactor control room.
Reasons behind the shutdown
“Most likely, there will be an under-production of electrical
energy, but the reactor block poses no danger,” said Averyanov.
Vestnik LAES, the LNPP’s official newspaper, reported that the
accidental shutdown cost the plant approximately $3.5 m.
According to Rosbalt, cosmetic repair work was underway in the
reactor block and after the workers left, a shift in the
electrical control unit occurred. Vestnik LAES, explained the
shutdown as “an unsanctioned activation of the emergency
shut-down switch by a [reactor] operator.”
“”We don’t know where Rosbalt found out about the repair
ladder—we won’t comment on that,” said a staffer with the LNPP
public information office. “We can only say that an accidental
movement against the emergency shut-down switch occurred. There
were no technical prerequisites for it [the shut-down] to occur.”
In August 2001, scaffolding was erected inside reactor block No.
4 that covered the ceiling of the reactor control hall’s block
shield. According to Vestnik LAES, because of the scaffolding,
“workers on duty are forced to work ‘in a haze’ with only local
lighting, which, however, has no effect on the fulfillment of
their duties.”
“There is still no intelligible explaination as to why the
[reactor] safety system kicked in,” said Bellona’s Sergei
Kharitonov, a former specialist at the LNPP.
“One version is that one of the construction workers, while
moving their ladder, accidentally broke the glass covering
emergency shut-down switch AZ, and thus stopped the entire
reactor block.”
According to one LNPP engineer, who himself has not been given
total access to the information surrounding the incident,
nonetheless said that the Rosenergoatom—the giant conglomerate
that owns all 10 of Russia’s nuclear power stations—was feeding
the public “a version that is profitable to itself.”
The LNPP press office offered that “as far as the button is
concerned, it is there to stop the block—and it worked properly.”
According to the St. Petersburg daily newspaper Smena, the
shut-down of the block was accompanied by a release of
radioactive steam into the atmosphere. This version of events
could not be independently confirmed.
Checks will be carried out
The LNPP has carried out its own checks as a result of the
incident, however the surprise shutdown will likely draw the
closer scrutiny of Rosenergoatom, which took control of the LNPP
on April 1st 2002. The LNPP will therefore get a Moscow-style
going-over.
“Without the assistance of Moscow, we won’t get anywhere.
Gosatomnazor [the former name of Russia’s nuclear regulatory
service] will be present,” said a representative of the LNPP
public information office.
“This incident is a result of the low culture of safety at th
LNPP,” said Kharitonov, who was fired from the LNPP after 27
years for blowing the whistle on the plant’s unsafe practices. He
has authored several articles and a report for Bellona detailing
the LNPP’s lapses in safety.
“In the given circumstances, irresponsibility and weak control
along the vertical chain of command are evident,” LNPP Director
Valery Lebedev was quoted as saying in Vestnik LAES.
The LNPP information service said that the shut-down occurred as
it should have, “without notice—all equipment and all systems
worked as per regulation, reliably.” On the international scale
of nuclear incidents, called INES, the event rated a zero—the
lowest possible rating on the INES scale.
The dangers of abrupt shut-downs
Specialists note that such unexpected changes in the routine of a
nuclear reactor—such as an emergency shutdown—are undesirable.
Russian fuel assemblies are not designed for frequent changes.
Such changes can lead to damage to the fuel cladding and
premature malfunctioning of the fuel assembly itself.
“Any mechanism needs to work evenly, without changes in its
routine,” said a representative of the LNPP information centre.
“It is an unpleasant situation, but the LNPP can boast that such
situations here are extremely rare.”
But are they really so rare? The same reactor—No, 4— was last
stopped with the emergency switch on October 15, 2001. The
automatic AZ-5 shut-down switch reacted to a false signal along
the chain of the apparatus’ functioning.
On April 20 this year, due to human error, turbine generator No.2
in reactor block No.2 was shut down.
Prior to that, on June 28st 2002, reactor block No. 2 was shut
down because of a defect in the electrical system. On January
21st 2002, an emergency shut-down system stopped reactor block
No. 1 because of an electronic defect. That same reactor
experiences a shut down the previous year on June 28th, and
reactor block No. 4 was stopped by the emergency shut-down system
because of a fault in its turbine section.
“This is the equivalent of slamming the breaks on a freight
train,” said Kharitonov.
By his account, reactor shut-downs that occur because of a sharp
pressure and temperature drops happen because of multiple
rush-job equipment switches, which have a negative impact on the
functioning of the apparatuses in question.
“In similarly acute situations, personnel transfer equipment
while inside the first zone [of the reactor],” Kharitonov said.
“During normal routines, that zone, which is highly irradiated,
is not entered by personnel. Therefore, because of such
shut-downs, people get unplanned irradiation.”
Up and running—for now
After reactor block No. 4 was shut-down, checks of all systems’
equipment were carried out as per regulation, and on May 23rd at
7:42 a.m., re-powering the reactor commenced. By the next day,
the reactor was operating at normal capacity.
At present, the LNPP’s reactor blocks No.1 and No. 2 are
undergoing repairs.
Publisher: [bellona@bellona.no] , President:
[frederic@bellona.no] Information: [info@bellona.no] , Technical
contact: [webmaster@bellona.no] Telephone: +47 23 23 46 00
Telefax: +47 22 38 38 62 * P.O.Box 2141 Grunerlokka, 0505 Oslo,
Norway
*****************************************************************
23 EMS: Confronting Nuclear Power in Georgia
[Environmental Media Services - Washington, DC]
[http://www.ems.org/index.html] Wednesday, 2 June 2004
Source: Southern Alliance for Clean Energy
Posted by: [http://www.cleanenergy.org] -
[http://www.ems.org/rls/authors.php?author=southern_alliance_for_
clean_energy]
Posted on: Wednesday, June 2, 2004 at 12:50 PM
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 2, 2004
Contact:
Sara Barczak 912.201.0354
Leading Advocacy Organization Releases Report Highlighting
Nuclear Threats
Savannah, GA—Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, a leading
advocacy organization, released an in-depth report for policy
makers to confront security, economic and environmental impacts
caused by nuclear power reactors in and around Georgia.
Today's press conference was held along the Savannah River, a
valuable water resource threatened by nuclear activities.
Coastal leaders and organizations including Senator Regina
Thomas, Citizens for Environmental Justice, Center for a
Sustainable Coast and the Savannah Riverkeeper also raised
concerns.
Southern Company, together with several other utilities in the
region, recently announced plans to pursue development of new
nuclear power plants. This comes on the heals of several federal
initiatives to promote nuclear power—an expensive, dangerous
energy technology that has cost taxpayers billions of dollars
and poses security concerns.
"It is reckless to revitalize a dying industry on the shoulders
of U.S. taxpayers, yet again," said Sara Barczak, Safe Energy
Director of Southern Alliance for Clean Energy and co-author of
the report. "Our report explains why nuclear power is no bargain
for Georgia, no matter how it is evaluated—the environment,
public health and national security all suffer because of this
ill-advised technology."
Georgia relies on nuclear energy for 27 percent of its
electricity and is home to four nuclear power reactors with
seven more within 15 miles of its border.
Because of their tremendously high operating temperatures,
nuclear power plants use enormous volumes of water for cooling.
"Nuclear power plants impose an unjustifiable burden on water
resources and threaten aquatic life," said David Kyler,
Executive Director of Center for a Sustainable Coast. "These
resources are essential to Georgia's commercial fishing and
seafood industries, as well as other nature-based businesses.
Combined, these businesses are worth more than one billion
dollars a year to the coastal Georgia economy."
"As a result, using nuclear energy works against our own
economic self- interest, as well as creating avoidable public
health risks," Kyler concluded.
"Radioactive contamination both on and off-site at the
Department of Energy's nuclear weapons facility near Augusta is
also a major concern for us including existing operations as
well as proposals such as plutonium bomb fuel for commercial
reactors," stated Dr. Mildred McClain, Executive Director of
Citizens for Environmental Justice.
"Understanding and reducing the negative consequences of nuclear
power and nuclear weapons on our region should be a top public
health and environmental priority. This report helps move us in
that direction," said Charlie Belin with the Savannah
Riverkeeper.
State Senator Regina Thomas commented, "As an elected official
deeply concerned about the impacts from these nuclear
facilities. I urge everyone to do more to protect our citizens.
It is our responsibility to help ensure a safe future for us
all."
"Nuclear power is a dinosaur of the Cold War era. Misguided
support for nuclear technologies must give way to safe energy
options that bolster the state's economy and protect the public
and valuable natural resources," remarked Barczak.
Southern Alliance for Clean Energy recommends that Georgia and
the region phase out nuclear power plants, replacing them with
safe, clean and economical energy supplies that would provide
secure jobs to the region. The regional organization is building
a coalition of businesses, community leaders, policy makers,
educators and citizens concerned about the negative impacts of
nuclear power on our economy, environment and security by
advocating for clean, safe and affordable energy solutions.
To access a summary of the report, detailed regional maps, and
view key policy recommendations, please visit
[http://www.cleanenergy.org/programs/hottopic.cfm?ID=16] or
contact Southern Alliance for Clean Energy.
The report should be of interest to both national and regional
press, given the hundreds of thousands of document pages
scrutinized that pertain to nuclear power plants in general.
###
Southern Alliance for Clean Energy is a not-for-profit,
nonpartisan organization working with citizens for clean air,
clean water and healthy communities in the Southeast by
advancing energy efficient and sustainable energy policies,
promoting clean energy technologies and holding polluters to
higher standards.
Environmental Media Services 1320 18th Street NW 5th Floor
Washington, DC 20036 (202) 463-6670 Website comments: Copyright ©
2003 Environmental Media Services
*****************************************************************
24 Green Bay Press-Gazette: Input sought on Kewaunee nuke plant sale
[http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/]
Posted June 02, 2004
Press-Gazette
The Public Service Commission of Wisconsin is accepting written
testimony through June 15 on the proposed sale of the Kewaunee
Nuclear Power Plant.
Last December, Wisconsin Public Service Corp. and Wisconsin
Power and Light Company asked for authority to sell the plant to
Dominion, an energy company headquartered in Virginia.
Written comments can be submitted electronically through the
commission’s Electronic Regulatory Filing System found at
psc.wi.gov/ or mailed to Tom Ferris, Docket Coordinator, Public
Service Commission of Wisconsin, P.O. Box 7854, Madison,
Wisconsin 53707-7854. The docket number “Docket 05-EI-136” should
be on all written comments.
Comment will not be accepted after June 15. Public hearings are
also scheduled for 9 a.m. June 17 at the commission office at 610
North Whitney Way, Madison. Three hearings are scheduled for
10:30 a.m., 1:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. on June 24 at the Holiday
Inn, 4601 Calumet Avenue, Manitowoc.
Copyright © 2004 Use of this site signifies your agreement to the
[http://www.wisinfo.com/terms.html]
*****************************************************************
25 ENN: Latvian nuclear reactor to be decommissioned with U.S. funds
Wednesday, June 02, 2004By Timothy Jacobs, Associated Press
RIGA, Latvia A nuclear reactor in this Baltic state will be
decommissioned and its uranium sent to neighboring Russia under
the auspices of a new U.S. program to stem the availability of
material that could be used in dirty bombs, officials said
Tuesday.
Andris Salmins, director of the Latvian Radiation Safety Center,
said that Latvia's Salaspils Nuclear Reactor will have its waste
nuclear fuel removed as part of the US$450 million Global Threat
Reduction Initiative unveiled last week in Vienna by U.S. Energy
Secretary Spencer Abraham.
Since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, concerns
have mounted that terrorists might be trying to acquire material
for a so-called dirty bomb, a device that uses conventional
explosives to spread low-level radioactive material over several
city blocks.
The Salaspils nuclear reactor, located 20 kilometers (12 miles)
southeast of the capital, Riga, was built in 1961 during the
Soviet occupation of Latvia for research into highly enriched
uranium. It has never been used to generate energy.
The facility was closed in 1999 after the government decided it
was obsolete, but the plant's decommissioning, including the
removal of its nuclear waste, has been put off several times
because of a lack of funds.
Under the U.S. plan, Salmins said Latvia will only pay a small
percentage of the costs of removing the spent fuel. He said the
decommissioning is expected to done by 2010.
Latvia will pay for the fuel to be stored in Latvia and then
shipped to Russia. The United States will pay for the
transportation of the fuel inside Russia and for its storage and
recycling there.
Salmins said the complete cost of decommissioning and removing
the uranium could range between US$10 million-US$20 million but
said the figures were initial estimates.
Source: Associated Press
Network Inc. Copyright © 2004 Environmental News Network Inc.
*****************************************************************
26 NRC: Live NRC Meeting Webcast
Webcast
Meeting Webcast [http://nrcvideo.cit.nih.gov]
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is currently broadcasting
some Commission meetings over the Internet as a means of
improving communications with the public.
Date Subject
date meeting name
time
-->
The following resources will assist you in participating:
+ Public Meeting Schedule - provides a complete listing of
agency meetings. Live meetings shown as [webcast]
+ Commission Meeting Schedule - lists all Commission meetings
for a six (6) week period. Live meetings shown as [webcast]
+ Slides - available in advance of the meeting
+ Transcripts - available within 48 hours of the conclusion of
the live meeting
To view a webcast you will need to Download Webcast Viewer
RealOne Plugin [RealNetworks Media Streaming Player icon] .
You may also view previously held webcast meetings at our
Webcast
Archive
[http://nrcvideo.cit.nih.gov/archive.asp] .
Comments and Feedback
To help us determine the value of continuing to provide this
service, the NRC would appreciate your assistance by providing
comments and feedback on the usefulness, performance, and
frequency with which you might use this service or any other
items related to this service.
+ Contact Us About Webcasts
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Notes on Accessibility
Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act requires equal access to
the Federal government's electronic and information technology.
In compliance with this Act, NRC is including text equivalents
(captioning) as part of the video image being shown over the
Internet during the Commission meeting. Although every effort is
made to assure the accuracy and completeness of this text, users
should be aware that errors may nonetheless occur. Expressions
of opinion in this text do not necessarily reflect final
determination or beliefs. No pleadings or other paper may be
filed with the Commission in any proceeding as a result of any
statement or argument contained in the text-equivalent
(captioned) material.
Last revised Wednesday, June 02, 2004
*****************************************************************
27 50 Years Later, The Tragedy of Nuclear Tests in Nevada
Date: Wed, 2 Jun 2004 01:13:58 -0500 (CDT)
http://www.fair.org/media-beat/010104.html
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),
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."
*****************************************************************
28 Las Vegas SUN: GAO: Pentagon Gulf War Illness Data Wrong
By SUZANNE GAMBOA ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Defense Department and the CIA used flawed
computer modeling to determine which and how many troops were
exposed to chemical warfare agents during the first Gulf War,
the General Accounting Office said Tuesday.
The Pentagon stood by its work, although it acknowledged some
shortcomings in the computer modeling. It also agreed to stop
performing computer models on the toxic plumes that occurred
after some bombings during the war.
The Defense Department refused to accept a GAO recommendation to
stop using the computer modeling data for studies on Gulf War
illness. The investigators said the flawed computer modeling led
to unreliable conclusions in Defense Department and Veterans
Affairs studies that there is no association between chemical
weapons exposure and rates of hospitalization and death of Gulf
War veterans.
"The modeling was not flawed," the Defense Department said in a
written response to the GAO, the investigative arm of Congress,
adding that not using the models for research would be reckless
and would endanger the lives of service members.
"The data the DOD used was and is the best information available
and any research that desired to use it would know the
limitations of the data," the Defense Department said.
The CIA told the GAO it had not had enough time to review the
report. The VA agreed not to use the computer models for future
epidemiological studies, although it has three studies based on
the model awaiting publication in journals.
Veterans of the 1991 Gulf War have suffered from illnesses they
believe are linked to their service in Gulf. Among reported
symptoms are chronic fatigue, diarrhea, migraines, dizziness,
memory problems, loss of muscle control and loss of balance.
The GAO said that since the end of 1991 about 700,000 U.S.
veterans have experienced undiagnosed illnesses. The Defense
Department estimates that 101,752 service members were
potentially exposed to chemical warfare agents.
Veterans and their advocates have been highly critical of
previous government research, some which attributed the
illnesses to stress. Some research, including studies by Dr.
Robert Haley, a Dallas epidemiologist, has suggested that some
of the illnesses could be attributed to soldiers' exposure to
nerve gas and other toxic substances.
"Because the DOD produced this flawed modeling, it set Gulf War
research back seven years at least," said Steve Robinson,
executive director of the National Gulf War Resource Center, a
Gulf War veterans advocacy group.
Reports on the number of troops exposed and who they were are
based a model of a vapor cloud that resulted when U.S. troops
blew up munitions in a bunker and open pit at Khamisiyah, Iraq.
It was later revealed that some of the weapons contained sarin
and cyclosarin.
The GAO said U.S. and coalition forces bombed other Iraqi sites
known or suspected to have been used for chemical warfare
research, materiel, storage and production.
---
The report number is GAO-04-159.
---
On the Net:
General Accounting Office: http://www.gao.gov
[http://www.gao.gov]
(RETRANSMITTING a0819 to correct category code)
--
*****************************************************************
29 Guardian Unlimited: Contractors Cleared in Nuke Illness Case
From the Associated Press
[UP]
Wednesday June 2, 2004 10:31 PM
AP Photo XKEN801
By H. JOSEF HEBERT
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - An Energy Department investigation found no
evidence of criminal misconduct by contractors accused of trying
to cover up evidence of worker illnesses at the Hanford nuclear
site in Washington state, the department's inspector general said
Wednesday.
The IG report said the investigation ``did not substantiate
criminal misconduct'' related to any of the charges against the
contractors that provide health services and are involved in
cleaning up highly radioactive waste in 177 underground tanks at
the facility near Richland, Wash.
A private watchdog group, citing complaints from some of the
workers, had accused the contractors of altering or destroying
health records, filing false injury reports and hiding
questionable ammonia vapor readings involving the tank cleanup.
But Inspector General Gregory Friedman said Wednesday, in
summarizing the report, that none of these charges could be
substantiated, despite interviews with more than 70 current and
former Hanford workers, managers and health specialists.
``Therefore, absent additional relevant and compelling
information, we intend to close this case,'' wrote Friedman in a
memo to Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham. He said he turned the
report over to the U.S. attorney's office.
Nevertheless, Friedman said the investigation revealed some
concerns in the way Hanford Environmental Health Foundation, the
contractor in charge of occupational medicine and hygiene
services at the facility, has handled illness and injury
complaints.
Noting that many workers interviewed ``had unresolved concerns''
about safety, Friedman said that ``management needs to intensify
its efforts to improve employee confidence in the occupational
health and safety program at Hanford.''
But on the allegations of criminal misconduct, the report said it
found no evidence that HEHF altered or destroyed medical records,
filed false injury reports or inflated the results of an annual
performance assessment report to downplay illnesses and injuries.
The report also cleared CH2M Hill, the contractor in charge of
the tank cleanup program, of any criminal conduct involving
ammonia vapor readings at the tank farm. Some workers had charged
that the company had covered up excessively high vapor exposure
readings.
``The facts developed during the investigation did not
substantiate criminal misconduct relating to alleged cover-ups of
vapor readings,'' wrote Friedman. He said that the investigation
produced ``conflicting testimony'' on the issue but that
investigators could find ``no independent corroborating
evidence'' to support the charges.
Based on worker complaints, the Government Accountability
Project, a nonprofit watchdog group, in September 2003 listed 45
incidents of workers exposed to chemical vapors from underground
tanks. In a previous report the IG said it had found two of the
45 incidents improperly classified and nonreportable.
Bob Carpenter of the watchdog group said he was dismayed by the
inspector general's findings and maintained that the
investigators took no sworn testimony and ``apparently ignored''
much of the information provided by some of the workers.
Abraham said in a statement that the inspector general's findings
demonstrated that ``worker protection is at a high level'' at
Hanford. But he said he has directed that recommendations made by
this report as well as others be implemented ``to further enhance
worker protections.''
On the Net:
Energy Department report: http://www.oa.doe.gov
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004
*****************************************************************
30 kgw: Probes find no criminal misconduct in Hanford worker treatment
| News for Oregon and SW Washington | AP Wire
06/02/2004
By JOHN K. WILEY / Associated Press
A Hanford watchdog group expressed disappointment Wednesday that
an Energy Department investigation found no evidence of criminal
misconduct by contractors accused of trying to cover up evidence
of worker illnesses.
The department's inspector general said its investigation "did
not substantiate criminal misconduct" related to any of the
allegations by the Government Accountability Project.
The report to Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham dealt with
allegations against contractors that provide health services and
are involved in cleaning up highly radioactive waste in 177
underground tanks at the Hanford nuclear reservation near
Richland.
"We're not overly surprised the IG is not finding anything,
because we don't think they did a very good job," said Tom
Carpenter, a Seattle attorney with GAP's nuclear oversight
campaign.
"We feel that the investigation is essentially a disservice to
the community. We're familiar with the evidence. We've taken
sworn statements," Carpenter said. "A lot of that evidence was
either ignored or not addressed."
Carpenter said his group would continue its own investigation
into the worker health and safety allegations, as are the state
Department of Health and National Occupational Safety and Health
Administration.
Citing complaints from some of the workers, GAP had accused the
contractors of altering or destroying health records, filing
false injury reports and hiding questionable ammonia vapor
readings involving the tank cleanup.
In his report to Abrahams, Inspector General Gregory Friedman
said those allegations could not be substantiated, despite
interviews with more than 70 current and former Hanford workers,
managers and health specialists.
Abraham released a statement saying he was pleased the
investigations turned up no evidence of criminal wrongdoing by
Hanford contractors, and that there were no known cases of
workers being exposed to excessive chemical vapors.
Friedman said he intends to close the case but had turned the
report over to the U.S. attorney's office.
Nevertheless, Friedman said the investigation revealed some
concerns in the way Hanford Environmental Health Foundation, the
contractor in charge of occupational medicine and hygiene
services at the facility, has handled illness and injury
complaints.
Noting that many workers interviewed "had unresolved concerns"
about safety, Friedman said that "management needs to intensify
its efforts to improve employee confidence in the occupational
health and safety program at Hanford."
Abrahams said he will direct Energy officials to implement
recommendations from Friedman's report to enhance worker
protection.
But on the allegations of criminal misconduct, the report said it
found no evidence that HEHF altered or destroyed medical records,
filed false injury reports or inflated the results of an annual
performance assessment report to downplay illnesses and injuries.
The report also cleared CH2M Hill Hanford Group, the contractor
in charge of the tank cleanup program, of any criminal conduct
involving ammonia vapor readings at the tank farm.
"The facts developed during the investigation did not
substantiate criminal misconduct relating to alleged cover-ups of
vapor readings," Friedman wrote. The investigation produced
"conflicting testimony" on the issue, but investigators could
find "no independent corroborating evidence" to support the
charges, he wrote.
Based on worker complaints, the Government Accountability Project
in September 2003 listed 45 incidents of workers exposed to
chemical vapors from underground tanks. In a previous report the
IG said it had found two of the 45 incidents improperly
classified and nonreportable.
Spokesmen for CH2M Hill Hanford Group were out of their offices
Wednesday and unavailable for comment. HEHF spokeswoman Jan McKee
did not immediately return a call for comment.
__
On the Net:
Energy Department report: http://www.oa.doe.gov
Government Accountability Project: http://www.whistleblower.org/
This text is invisible on the page, but this text is affected by
the invisible item's flow. This text is invisible on the page,
but this text is affected by the invisible item's flow.
*****************************************************************
31 Mos News: Radioactive Truck Found Near Government Building in Far East -
NEWS - MOSNEWS.COM
Created: 02.06.2004 20:30 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 20:30 MSK
MosNews
A truck loaded with radioactive cargo was discovered parked near
a government building in the seaport city of
Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy in Far Eastern Russia, NTV news channel
reported.
The truck was loaded with metal hardware resembling military
equipment. Radioactive contamination was found to be several
dozen times above the norm.
Taking special precautions, Emergency Ministry specialists and
military personnel drove the truck in an undetermined direction.
The local prosecutor’s office is investigating the incident.
Write us: [info@mosnews.com]
Copyright © 2004 MOSNEWS.COM
Designed by [http://design.gazeta.ru/]
*****************************************************************
32 Guardian Unlimited: Iran Retains Option of Refining Uranium
[UP]
Wednesday June 2, 2004 9:01 PM
By ALI AKBAR DAREINI
Associated Press Writer
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran left open the option of producing a
centrifuge capable of making weapons-grade uranium, its top
nuclear negotiator said Wednesday, a day after a U.N. agency
credited Tehran with more openness but expressed concern about
years of secret activities.
Hasan Rowhani said the International Atomic Energy Agency report
meant that scrutiny of Tehran's nuclear activities, which the
United States alleges is aimed at making weapons, was nearly
over.
``The report makes it clear that Iran's nuclear activities are
peaceful and there has been no diversion from the peaceful
path,'' Rowhani said.
``However, the report has some problems ... (it) has touched upon
cases that it should not,'' he said, adding the IAEA was getting
hung up on technical details.
The report by IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei was prepared for the
June 14 meeting of the agency's 35-nation board of governors,
which has wrestled for more than a year over what to do about
what the United States and its allies say is an Iranian weapons
program.
The IAEA report alleges Iran had tried to buy critical parts for
advanced P-2 centrifuges that can be used for energy purposes or
to enrich uranium to weapons grade.
Rowhani acknowledged Iran has purchased parts that can be used
for P-2 centrifuges but played down the significance.
``We told the IAEA that we didn't import P-2 centrifuge parts,
except a magnet that can be used for production of both the
less-advanced P-1 or advanced P-2 centrifuges,'' Rowhani said.
Although he didn't say so clearly, Rowhani implied that the
imported parts were for use in the P-1.
In Washington, the U.S. State Department expressed concern about
Iran exploring the possibility of producing a centrifuge capable
of making weapons-grade uranium.
``There is no doubt that they have an extensive program of
nuclear activity and that many of those activities are in no way
peaceful,'' said spokesman Richard Boucher. Rather, they ``are
specifically intended to create weapons.''
Kenneth Brill, chief U.S. delegate to the IAEA, told reporters
Iran was still stalling.
``The ... report provides just the latest evidence that Iran is
still trying to 'beat the system' and keep critical aspects of
its nuclear weapons program secret,'' he said. ``The question is
how long the Board of Governors and the international community
will tolerate this.''
Iran has confirmed it has produced P-1 centrifuges, which are
used for low-grade enrichment.
According to the IAEA report, Iran had imported some magnets and
had asked about buying 4,000 or more.
Rowhani said Iran held open the option of producing P-2
centrifuges, adding that it had been doing research for years on
P-2s, and had even produced sample parts.
``On P-2 centrifuges, we are at the stage of completing our
research. We have produced 9-12 sample parts of the P-2 and we
have provided information and photos about it to the IAEA,''
Rowhani said.
``Once research is completed, we will make our decision about
production of P-2s,'' he said.
Rowhani also acknowledged that parts for the P-1 centrifuge were
still being made in Iran.
``Government companies have already suspended building (P-1)
centrifuge parts but three private companies continue building
centrifuges because we haven't settled the issue of compensation
with them for stopping work,'' he said.
Rowhani said Iran had provided complete information about its P-2
program to the IAEA.
``Considering the latest information we have offered to IAEA in
the past two or three days, the issue of P-2 has been resolved.
The IAEA report also acknowledges the agency has obtained the
report but needs time to study,'' he said.
Iran suspended uranium enrichment last year, and in April it said
it had stopped building centrifuges. The moves followed mounting
international pressure after IAEA inspectors found traces of
highly enriched uranium at two Iranian sites last year and
evidence that Iran was trying to build centrifuges capable of
producing weapons-grade uranium.
Iran said the uranium was already on contaminated materials
imported from abroad.
In an interview with The Associated Press before the report was
issued, U.S. Undersecretary of State John R. Bolton accused
Tehran of engaging in ``denial and deception.''
``We are convinced that they are pursuing a clandestine program
to acquire nuclear weapons,'' he said.
Bolton said Washington was determined to have Iran answer to the
U.N. Security Council.
Iran long has rejected U.S. allegations its nuclear program is
for military purposes. ElBaradei said Tuesday his agency had not
found proof to date of a concrete link between Iran's nuclear
activities and its military program, but ``it was premature to
make a judgment.''
ElBaradei's report did not appear critical enough of Iran to
marshal strong support at the IAEA board meeting for Security
Council action against Iran.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004
*****************************************************************
33 LJWorld: Nebraska judge upholds stay on judgment in nuclear waste
dump case
[LJWorld.com | The Lawrence Journal-World]
By Kevin O'Hanlon - Associated Press Writer
Wednesday, June 2, 2004
Lincoln, Neb. — A judge on Tuesday refused to lift the stay on
the $151 million judgment against Nebraska for its failure to
build a regional nuclear waste dump within its borders.
U.S. District Judge Richard Kopf, of Lincoln, was asked to lift
the stay by the five-state group that wanted to build the dump
for low-level radioactive waste in Boyd County.
Kopf also denied a request that Nebraska post a bond for the
money until the dispute winds its way through the courts.
Lawyers for the Central Interstate Low-Level Radioactive Waste
Compact Commission argued that the state was no longer entitled
to an unbonded stay because of a measure passed earlier this
year by the Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Mike Johanns
on April 15.
It reduced the interest rate Nebraska pays on judgments from 10
percent to a flexible rate that changes with a U.S. Treasury
note yield.
The dump was to hold waste from Nebraska, Kansas, Arkansas,
Louisiana and Oklahoma.
Many feared that the Legislature would need to meet in a special
session if Kopf had lifted the stay or ordered Nebraska to post
a bond.
Kopf said he refused to lift the stay because Nebraska could
still appeal the judgment to the U.S. Supreme Court.
"It has been clear throughout this litigation that the losing
party was likely to petition the Supreme Court," Kopf wrote in
his order.
A three-judge 8th Circuit panel upheld a 2002 ruling by Kopf
that the state acted in bad faith to block the compact from
building the dump in Nebraska.
Contents of this site are © Copyright
[http://ljworld.com/site/new_copyright.html] 2004 The Lawrence
Journal-World. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
34 EUROPA: Managing radioactive waste a European imperative
Published on 02 June 2004
If energy drives the economy then nuclear power is in the front
seat, providing a large percentage of the EUs electrical needs.
But managing radioactive waste from the nuclear fuel cycle is a
major issue for its safe future use.
© Source: PhotoDisc
The European Union needs safe, reliable and clean energy to keep
the wheels of industry turning and to preserve the creature
comforts that Europeans have come to expect. This is recognised
in the European Commissions Green Paper, published in November
2000, on how to secure Europes energy supply. If nuclear power
is to remain an option for generating electricity, it noted, a
permanent and safe solution for managing all radioactive waste
must be found which is acceptable to Europes citizens.
Through its research programmes, the Union set about to examine
the best waste management strategies and to develop platforms for
open discussion about the alternatives available. To stir the
debate, the Commission has hosted a series of international
conferences presenting research progress in this field and
helping set the scene for future policy and initiatives aimed at
making nuclear energy not only safer but visibly so to the public
at large.
The most recent of these events, focusing on The management and
disposal of radioactive waste (Euradwaste 04), was held in
Luxembourg in late March. It was an important occasion to present
the EU policy on waste management, in particular the proposed
Directive on the management of spent nuclear fuel and radioactive
waste. Delegates also discussed related issues, such as the
effect of EU initiatives on national programmes, safety
standards, socio-political aspects governance, public
consultations, etc. and future site selection.
Summaries of the event In fact, the sixth edition of Euradwaste
04 was important for other reasons, too. It was a chance to
review many of the now completed Euratom European Atomic Energy
Community projects supported under the Unions Fifth Framework
Programme (FP5) for research. It also marked the official launch
of new projects under its successor (FP6) which with the help
of two new instruments, the integrated projects and networks of
excellence will work towards further integrating research in
the EU, thus fleshing out the European Research Area (ERA)
concept.
Over 160 nuclear plants provide 35% of the enlarged EUs
electricity supply, but they also produce a large volume of
radioactive waste. Research in FP5 and elsewhere has confirmed
that disposing of this spent fuel in deep geological
repositories, located over 300 metres below the Earths surface,
is feasible using todays technology. Scientists told delegates
that their models show long-term isolation of this sort of waste
within a variety of European rock formations is guaranteed for
one million years or more.
For an overview of the three-day event, several summaries have
been produced and are available via the official EU publications
office (OPOCE), or on-line. The four summaries are part of the
Unions Nuclear Science and Technology series and cover the
policy-making and socio-political challenges of nuclear waste,
the technical complexity of partitioning and transmutation, and
the technical barriers to geological disposal of spent
fuels.
Source: EU sources
Contact:
research@cec.eu.int
*****************************************************************
35 KoreaTimes: Building Nuclear Dump
06-02-2004 17:10
Hankooki.com > Korea Times > Opinion
Residents' Opinions Should Be Fully Respected
Much to the relief of government officials, as many as 10
townships throughout the country have applied to have the
long-overdue nuclear waste disposal facility built in their
areas. The number of applicants, far larger than expectation,
brightens the prospects for materializing one of the government's
longest-desired projects. One cannot help wondering why Seoul had
not used this formula in the first place instead of unilaterally
designating one place after another only to face enormous
resistance.
A careful look inside the applicants' situations, however,
doesn't warrant hasty optimism. Nine out of 10 candidate areas
have failed to get approval from the majority of their respective
residents. Already, anti-nuke facility committees have been set
up in seven areas. As the applications were made on the township
level, the rest of the counties seem to be opposing them. If
things go awry, they are highly likely to repeat the violent
confrontation between Puan County and Wido Islet several months
ago.
Even the proponents of the nuclear dump construction seem to have
only the government subsidies of some 300 billion won ($250
million) in mind without sufficient understanding of the nuclear
industry, reflecting their dire economic situations. Ironically,
more than half of the applicants were from the counties of Uljin
and Youngkwang, where atomic power plants are concentrated,
although it is not certain whether that shows the harmlessness of
nuclear facilities or the areas' self-abandonment.
Controversy is still going on here whether the government should
maintain its atomic-oriented energy policy. Some say it's
inevitable for Korea, which entirely depends on imported oil at a
time when international crude prices hover around $40 per barrel.
Others, including the environmental groups and the liberal
Democratic Labor Party, call for the fundamental reconsideration
of the nuclear-centered energy policy.
Whatever the outcome of the debate, at least this much is
certain: The nation has to keep operating the existing nuclear
plants; it must build a facility to store and dispose atomic
wastes from them; and there is nowhere else in the world but our
own territory to build such a facility. Besides, there is not
much time left. Building a nuclear dump takes seven to eight
years from the site selection to completing construction, but the
current temporary storage facilities would reach their full
capacity beginning in 2008.
This does not mean, however, the government should be in a hurry
at this stage. It ought to select the site in such ways as to
maximize the geological safety and minimize environmental
hazards. Also, the government should fully respect the residents'
opinions as shown by popular votes and the resolution of local
councils. The failed situation of Puan County should never be
repeated.
*****************************************************************
36 NRC: Atomic Safety And Licensing Board to Hear Public Statements on Use of Mixed Oxide
Fuel at Catawba
News Release - Region II - 2004-04
U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Office of Public Affairs, Region II
No. II-04-040 June 1, 2004
CONTACT: Ken Clark (404) 562-4416
Roger D. Hannah (404) 562-4417 E-mail: opa2@nrc.gov
[opa2@nrc.gov]
public statements, called limited appearance statements, in
Charlotte, North Carolina, on Tuesday, June 15, in connection
with a proceeding involving Duke Energys request to the U. S.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission to amend the operating license of
the Catawba Nuclear Station to allow the use of four mixed
oxide, or MOX, test assemblies.
Most commercial nuclear fuel used in this country contains
uranium as the primary material to be used during the fission
process. MOX fuel, however, contains a mixture of plutonium and
uranium oxides, with plutonium providing the primary fissile
material. Duke has submitted its request as part of the ongoing
U.S.-Russian Federation plutonium disposition program, a nuclear
nonproliferation program to dispose of surplus plutonium from
nuclear weapons by converting the material into MOX fuel and
using that fuel in commercial nuclear power reactors.
The ASLB will hear the statements on June 15 in two sessions,
from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. and from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m., in the Grand
Ballroom (lobby level) of the Omni Charlotte Hotel, located at
132 Trade Street.
Any person who is not a party to the proceeding will be
permitted to make an oral statement setting forth his or her
position on matters of concern related to the proceeding. These
statements do not constitute testimony or evidence, but may help
the Board and/or the parties in their deliberations in
connection with the issues.
An evidentiary hearing previously scheduled to commence on June
15 in Charlotte has been rescheduled for July 14 at the NRC
Offices in Rockville, Maryland. At that hearing, the Board will
receive testimony and exhibits and allow the cross-examination
of witnesses on certain matters at issue in this proceeding.
Those people who have submitted a timely written request to make
an oral limited appearance statement in Charlotte will be given
priority over those who have not. To be considered timely,
written requests to make an oral statement must be mailed, faxed
or sent by e-mail and received by the close of business (4:30
p.m. EDT) on Monday, June 7. Written requests to make an oral
statement should be sent to:
Mail - Office of Secretary
Rulemakings and Adjudications Staff
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Washington, D.C. 20555-0001
Fax - (301) 415-1101 (verification (301) 415-1966)
E-Mail - hearingdocket@nrc.gov [hearingdocket@nrc.gov]
A copy of the written request to make a limited appearance
statement should also, using the same method of service, be sent
to the Chairman of the licensing board as follows:
Mail - Administrative Judge Ann Marshall Young
Atomic Safety & Licensing Board Panel
Mail Stop T-3F23
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Washington, D.C. 20555 - 0001
Fax - (301) 415-5599 (verification (301) 415-7550)
E-Mail: - AMY@nrc.gov [AMY@nrc.gov]
The time allotted for each statement normally will be no more
than five minutes, but may be further limited, depending on the
number of written requests to speak and/or the number of persons
present at the designated times. If all speakers present have
made their oral statements prior to 9:00 p.m., the ASLB may
terminate the session before 9:00.
Interested persons may also submit written limited appearance
statements at any time by addressing them to those indicated for
receipt of requests for time to make oral statements.
Last revised Wednesday, June 02, 2004
*****************************************************************
37 NNWTF: A History of Nuclear Crimes
A History of Nuclear Crimes – The Past Predicts the Future
Most of the Department of Energy’s (DOE) research at Yucca
Mountain is done in accordance with the theory that the past
predicts the future. While scientists hold a range of conflicting
views on this assumption, it is clear that for communities who
have dealt with the DOE, there is NO dispute that the past
predicts the future. Since the splitting of the atom, every place
where the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) set up shop, and its DOE
offspring continued operations, has become a place where:
the land and environment are contaminated, people and other
living things have become sick or died prematurely, workers have
been subject to harassment and dangerous conditions, government
accountability and responsibility for damage have been denied.
The Nevada Nuclear Waste Task force salutes the courageous people
who have been involved in the struggle at the Rocky Flats nuclear
weapons lab for writing an outstanding book that gives a full
account of what happened there to the workers and citizens of
surrounding communities. It is a book that should be read by
anyone with an interest or concerns about the nuclear weapons
industry. We recommend the book and urge everyone to support and
help these good people in their efforts to protect all of us,
particularly the children, from the clear and present dangers
existing at Rocky Flats.
We feel a close affinity with the people who have written the
book and the Task Force is devoted to learning from their painful
lessons. We know what happened to workers and downwinders when
the AEC and DOE exploded nuclear weapons at the Nevada Test Site.
We know that they lied when they said that there was no danger.
We know that damage has already been done to workers and others
at Yucca Mountain because of involuntary exposure to toxic dust.
And we certainly know that highly radioactive wastes should never
be shipped across the country to a faulty Yucca Mountain
repository. We have learned the hard way: When it comes to the
DOE’s handling of radioactive materials – The past predicts the
future.
Please click below:
[http://www.Ambushedgrandjury.com]
and www.unitedtokeeprockyflatsclosed.com
[http://unitedtokeeprockyflatsclosed.com/]
Judy Treichel
[Judynwtf@aol.com] What can you do?
About the Nevada Nuclear Waste Task Force
*****************************************************************
38 TheDay: Dominion needed an alternative storage for spent fuel because
Millstone 2 is running out of room.
Right Decision For Everyone
Published on 6/1/2004
Nobody wants a nuclear waste dump in his backyard, and people in
Waterford are no different from anyone else in this regard. For
years the town has worried that the storage of increasing amounts
of spent nuclear fuel rods from the Millstone nuclear power
plants will make the town a permanent storage site for high-level
waste. That's one reason why there was so much haggling
concerning the proposals to store more spent fuel that the
plants' owner and operator, Dominion, put forward.
But perception is not reality. It's hard to imagine a
circumstance in which the town would become a repository for any
nuclear waste other than that which is produced by the plants.
The compromise decision by the Connecticut Siting Council to
allow Dominion to store rods in 49 above-ground
steel-and-concrete containers is important because the
40-foot-deep pools in which the rods are stored are running out
of room. They were never good alternatives for long-term storage,
and in an age of terrorism, they are simply more vulnerable than
above-ground storage. The canisters in which the rods will be
stored weigh many tons. The storage will be needed to transport
the spent fuel when the federal nuclear facility for high-level
waste is opened at Yucca Mountain, Nev. So it would be needed
eventually in any event.
The approved plan will allow Dominion to begin moving spent fuel
in time for the next planned refueling outage of Millstone Unit
2. Millstone 2, the older of the two operating units, is close to
running out of room in its spent-fuel pool.
The Siting Council's decision to grant Dominion permission to
store the waste above ground is a good one. It provides the
company certainty so it can plan the future of its local nuclear
plants. It gives the area reassurance, knowing that the storage
for spent-fuel rods is safe. It allows the state the necessary
ability of knowing it has a reliable source of electricity for
years to come. And the council carefully answered questions of
the public in an open process to assure citizens that the right
environmental issues were addressed.
All in all, it was a good process and a good resolution for the
company, the town and the public. Not a bad day's work.
The Day Publishing Company
*****************************************************************
39 Pahrump Valley Times: Yucca cuts could force huge layoff
June 2, 2004
REPOSITORY NEWS
AS MANY AS 1700, MOST IN NEVADA, COULD LOSE JOBS IF ABRAHAM
PREDICTION PROVES
PROPHETIC By STEVE TETREAULT PVT Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON - Almost 1,700 workers would face layoffs in Nevada
and in other states starting 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
workforce for the planned nuclear waste repository.
The layoffs - most of them in Nevada - would shut down most
activities on the repository program at a time when the Energy
Department is rushing to complete a key 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 who is friendly to
DOE but says he might need to write an 85 percent budget cut -
down to $131 million - for the Yucca program in the fiscal year
that begins in October.
The letter is expected to be cited by Hobson and other repository
supporters who are trying to avert a big setback for the project
as Congress debates spending bills in the coming weeks.
Repository critics dismissed Abraham's remarks when the letter
became public May 26. They said the energy secretary was dusting
off scare tactics to motivate Congress to approve an $880 million
Yucca budget he wants 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 that provides work to 231 federal employees and 2,264
employed by contractors. He said layoffs would reach beyond
Nevada, where 105 federal workers and 1,650 contract employees
are based.
Idaho is home to 161 workers studying cask designs, while another
159 work in California. Dozens of others work in New Mexico,
Colorado and Washington state. Tennessee is home to five while
two are employed in Arizona and two in Texas, according to DOE
figures.
Besides job losses in the short term, 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 be due to complications in the
way the Bush administration wrote its budget request.
Despite talk of deep cuts, Ensign predicted that Congress will
face pressure from the nuclear industry and in the end
appropriate the same amount it did last year for the Yucca
project, about $580 million. While not as much as DOE requested,
that would not be as big of a falloff.
"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)."
For comment or questions, please e-mail
webmaster@pahrumpvalleytimes.com
[webmaster@pahrumpvalleytimes.com] Copyright © Pahrump Valley
Times, 1997 - 2003
*****************************************************************
40 NRC: Request for a License to Import Radioactive Waste
FR Doc 04-12376
[Federal Register: June 2, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 106)]
[Notices] [Page 31145] From the Federal Register Online via GPO
Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr02jn04-90] [[Page 31145]]
Pursuant to 10 CFR 110.70(C) ``Public notice of receipt of an
application,'' please take notice that the U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission has received the following request for an
import license. Copies of the request are available
electronically through ADAMS and can be accessed through the
Public Electronic Reading Room (PERR) link
http://www.nrc.gov/NRC/ADAMS/index.html at the NRC Homepage.
A request for a hearing or petition for leave to intervene may be
filed within 30 days after publication of this notice in the
Federal Register. Any request for hearing or petition for leave
to intervene shall be served by the requestor or petitioner upon
the applicant, the Office of the General Counsel, U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission, Washington DC 20555; the Secretary, U.S.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555; and the
Executive Secretary, U.S. Department of State, Washington, DC
20520.
The information concerning this amendment request follows.
NRC Import License
Application
-----------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------
Name of applicant Date of Description of material
application
----------------------------------------
---------------------------------
End use Country of origin
Date received Application Material type Total
quantity
number Docket number
-----------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------
Diversified Scientific Services, Class A 20,000 kg
mixed Thermal Mexico.
Inc.; March [16, 2004; April radioactive mixed waste
containing destruction.
21, 2004; IW015; 11005485. waste in various 100 curies
forms including tritium
and
solids, semi-
carbon-14, and
solids, and 100
curies mixed
liquids. fission
product
radio-nuclides
and other
contaminants.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Dated this 21st day of May, 2004 at Rockville, Maryland.
Edward T. Baker,
Deputy Director, Office of International Programs.
[FR Doc. 04-12376 Filed 6-1-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P
*****************************************************************
41 June 5: Speak Truth to Power at the White House
Date: Wed, 2 Jun 2004 13:03:59 -0500 (CDT)
(unsubscibe instructions at the bottom)
http://www.VoteNoWar.org
--->MASS RALLLY & MARCH ON JUNE 5
Thousands at the White House will say:
"Bush and Rumsfeld - Guilty of War Crimes"
-->Visit the New VoteNoWar Resource Center
"I plan to be in Washington DC on June 5 at the
peace rally. We will be marching from Bush's White
House to Rumsfeld's house and I am hoping that
everyone who cares about peace in this country
will join us." Michael Berg
Dear VoteNoWar Member,
Michael Berg, the father of Nicholas Berg who was
murdered in Iraq, will be a speaker at the June
5th Speak Truth to Power mass demonstration and
speak-out in front of the White House. This rally
will reflect the grassroots voices of those who
have suffered and are suffering because of the
Bush administration's war in Iraq, Palestine,
Haiti and right here against working people in the
United States.
The Speak Truth to Power rally will feature the
voices of the mothers and fathers of soldiers who
oppose the war; those in the Muslim and Arab
communities whose families have been ripped apart
through raids, detentions, and secret hearings;
representatives of the working class communities
in Washington, DC and elsewhere who are struggling
to cope with the destruction of social programs;
we will hear the voices of the people of Haiti and
the Philippines and Korea who are living under U.S.
military intervention and occupation. June 5 is
the anniversary of the Israeli seizure of the West
Bank and Gaza and we will hear the voice of the
embattled Palestinian people who to this moment
are having their children shot and their homes
razed as the U.S.-backed violence escalates. These
are the voices of the people who are uniting to
bring an end to the war at home and abroad and to
fight for justice.
Following the People's Speak-Out, thousands of
people will march through working class
neighborhoods and arrive at the home - the mansion
- of Donald Rumsfeld. Coming as it does just three
and a half weeks before the June 30 phony
"transfer of sovereignty," the June 5 rally and
march will be a powerful challenge by the people
to the administration and its plans for continued
occupation. The people of the world and the world
media will be looking on June 5th to see if the
people stand against the Bush administration's
wars of aggression. There will be sister actions
in San Francisco and Los Angeles.
ABU GHRAIB AND VIETNAM
The scope and systematic practice of torture,
savage beatings, sexual assault and sick
humiliation of prisoners in U.S. custody in Iraq
and elsewhere burst again into the front pages of
newspapers around the world after the publication
of statements from detainees and new pictures in
the Washington Post (May 21), and the broadcast of
new videos documenting a few of the horrors
inflicted on an occupied people. No one should
doubt for a moment that the people of the region
are seething - they and the whole world now know
for a fact that the torture and cruelty visited
upon mass arrest detainees in Afghanistan,
Guantanamo and now Iraq was an approved operation
by Bush and Rumsfeld.
On the same day as the Washington Post released
the new horrifying photos, U.S. aircraft dropped
bombs on a wedding party in northern Iraq killing
more than 40 people, including the bride and groom
and a large number of children. The U.S. military
followed up on the ground shooting those that
lived one by one. In response to world outrage at
this massacre and the images of wounded, dead and
decapitated children, Maj. Gen. James Mattis,
commander of the 1st Marine Division, told
reporters in Fallujah, "Bad things happen in wars.
I don't have to apologize for the conduct of my
men."
With all the obvious differences, it is clear
that in its essence the Iraq occupation is George
W. Bush's Vietnam. The Bush and Rumsfeld fantasy
will be defeated, in many ways it is defeated.
That's what makes it their "Vietnam." Unless the
people of the United States act now, however, the
killing in Iraq will continue for years. In
Vietnam the killing and carnage continued for
years after U.S. policy makers knew full well that
they could not militarily defeat the Vietnamese.
U.S. political and military leaders became
convinced that the war in Vietnam was not winnable
as early as 1968 and yet the war dragged on for
another five bloody years. The bombing continued
on, the CIA assassinations of opponents in south
Vietnam escalated (the Operation Phoenix Program)
into the tens of thousands between 1968-1973,
another 30,000 soldiers went to their graves
during those years, and the number of Vietnamese
civilians killed could be counted in the thousands
each week. What a waste, what a crime, and it will
be repeated in Iraq unless the people unite to
demand: End the Occupation, Bring the Troops Home
Now!
The stakes are high and the June 5 mobilization
will open the next stage of the antiwar movement -
utilizing new tactics to begin mass organizing on
the grassroots level in every community. Please
see the below links to find out how you can get
involved.
WE NEED YOUR HELP to make the June 5 Speak Truth
to Power rally at the White House a powerful
message to the warmakers.
We have only two weeks left and donations are
urgently needed to get the word out and to make
Lafayette Park resound with the voices of the
People's Speak-Out - please help today by making a
donation now online through our secure server at:
http://www.VoteNoWar.org/donate.html , where you
can also get information to write a check. Thanks
to all those who have helped and are helping now,
your generous contributions make a difference.
CHECK OUT THE NEW VOTENOWAR RESOURCE CENTER
To serve activists around the country who are
organizing in their communities, who are getting
the word out to Bring the Troops Home Now! and who
are building the growing peace movement, we are
happy to announce the new VoteNoWar Resource
Center! Go to: http://www.VoteNoWar.org/resources
to be taken to the Resource Center page, to get
petitions and flyers for Bring the Troops Home Now
committees, as well as the brand new VoteNoWar and
Bring the Troops Home Now! t-shirts and bumper
stickers. Order today to get a T-Shirt you can
wear at the June 5 demonstration.
GET ON THE BUS TO DC! A listing of transportation
centers can be found at
http://www.answercoalition.
org/campaigns/j5/transport.html
(Please check back frequently, as this list is
updated daily.)
If you are organizing a bus, van or car caravan
to be in DC, SF or LA, fill out the Transportation
Form at
http://www.answercoalition.
org/campaigns/j5/transportation.html
HELP SPREAD THE WORD! Multiple versions of flyers
for Washington DC, San Francisco and Los Angeles
can be found on the Downloads page at
http://www.answercoalition.
org/campaigns/resources/index.html
Read the June 5 Call to Action at
http://www.answercoalition.org/campaigns/j5/index.
html#call
ENDORSE the June 5 Call to Action at
http://www.answercoalition.
org/campaigns/j5/endorse.html
To get more information about the June 5th
demonstration, you can contact VoteNoWar
organizing centers:
For the Washington D.C Speak Truth to Power Rally
at the White House, call the D.C. office
202-544-3389
For transportation from New York to D.C., call:
212-633-6646
For the June 5th demonstration in Los Angeles
323-464-1636
For the June 5th demonstration in San Francisco
415-821-6545
See you on June 5th!
All of Us at VoteNoWar.
org-----------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, do the following:
**To Subscribe**
If you were forwarded this message and would like
to SUBSCRIBE to receive action alerts on
progressive organizing and the anti-war movement
(low volume) please visit: http://www.capwiz.
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*****************************************************************
42 [BATN] Column: Car culture's excess rolls toward oblivion
Date: Wed, 2 Jun 2004 01:02:18 -0700
Published Monday, May 31, 2004, in the Los Angeles Times
Commentary
Car Culture's Excess Rolls Toward Oblivion
Hummer's woes may signal new 'clean' attitudes.
By Jane Holtz Kay.
Jane Holtz Kay is an architecture/planning critic and author of
"Asphalt Nation" (1998, University of California Press).
E-mail: jholtzkay@aol.com
Has the Hummer gone flat? Is the mobile icon of the born-to-drive,
bigger-is-better American vehicle now the target du jour? So it would
seem from recent news that the Hummer has dropped in popularity. As
the company's H2 continues its eight-month decline, is this symbol of
the car culture's excess beginning to pass into oblivion?
Demand is down, say Detroit's Hummer builders, who are giving rebates
on the once and former $50,000 kingpin vehicle. Meanwhile, sales of
the green-is-good Toyota Prius hybrid rise. With six-to-12-month
waiting lists for the high-mileage automobile, the questions arise:
Has auto-snob appeal shuffled from "big is beautiful" to "clean is
correct"?
Certainly, the fact that Prius sales are soaring and buyers are lining
up suggests a change. Could this status slump compel shamed Hummer
owners to hide their vehicles in the three-car garages of their
McMansions?
In 1908, when Henry Ford's Model T became the "machine for the
masses," prophets saw it as a tool to improve the nation, offer
freedom to the farmer "stuck in the mud" and provide a better life to
citizens suffering the waste and pollution of horse transportation.
Unyoked by this new freedom, they would command their lives and
landscape.
In time, however, the gains became losses; the car-as-tool was
transformed into the car-as-trap. Advancing sprawl, squeezing
pedestrian space, stripping streets of rails and funds for public
transportation -- thereby depriving the old, the young and the poor of
mobility, access and amenities -- the so-called vehicle of choice
throttles our lives.
The romance of the road has become the reality of cars choked in
traffic (8 billion hours a year, collectively), communities smothered
in pollution and the nation's fleet contributing 25% of global-warming
emissions.
No wonder, then, that drivers and pundits alike worry as gas prices
climb past $2.25 a gallon in some areas. Meanwhile, supplies shrink,
and feeding our oil appetite becomes ever more precarious. No wonder
the sticker-shock-sized Hummer has become not only a threat but a
parody of the gluttonous American, losing his independence to drive
free or die.
At the least it is a matter of sarcasm on the Sierra Club's
"hummerdinger" website, which includes parodies of the vehicle's
16-foot parallel parking problem and a mock prize: "Boy Scout Buys
Hummer: Earns Environmental Destruction Badge."
Beyond the parody though, the decline in oil supplies and our latest
war over oil now remind us that we must address the problem and pay
the price for our pedal-to-the-metal lifestyle. We in the U.S. are
recognizing that we need to lighten our automotive load and reduce
consumption. Our 5% of the planet's population owns close to half of
its cars, carrying with that ownership planetary destruction to
habitat and health.
Nearing the 100th anniversary of Henry Ford's life-altering
innovation, we have come to acknowledge that we must reduce our
addiction "dependence" -- and its deadly consequences.
The realization has grown that we are stuck in traffic and overrunning
our last-chance landscape with roads and cars that are the chief cause
of land consumption, pollution and a lack of biodiversity. Add the
ominous calculation that autos spew carbon dioxide gases that cause
25% of climate change, a figure that makes us fixate on
super-conspicuous consumers. Also, there are 42,000 car-related
fatalities a year.
When light-rail lines proceed in sprawling Phoenix; when rail comes to
slowpoke Austin, Texas; and even cowboy-culture Houston joins Dallas,
which keeps voting to fund new lines, the times they are a'changing.
As Los Angeles' Union Station bustles with Metrolink and train traffic
and mid-America Chicago pushes for a new commuter line to the
northwest suburbs, these alternatives to car congestion seem more and
more possible.
As for Hummer withdrawal? Those who mourn the loss of more automotive
bang for the buck may still secure a metallic silver toy Hummer H2 at
$19.95 for the asking, along with inscribed hats offering the
sprawling name across the peak as a fond memory. The mini-version of
the maxi-car goes on. But hurry while the stocks -- and the impulse
-- last.
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43 Daily Texan: A will bid for nuclear laboratory -
www.dailytexanonline.com
| 6/2/2004
Nuclear engineering program excited about opportunities By Tessa
Moll The Texas A University System has begun preparing a proposal
to manage the Idaho National Laboratory's nuclear research in
collaboration with corporate partners.
A's bid comes close on the heels of The University of Texas
System's potential bid for the Los Alamos National Laboratory in
New Mexico.
The Texas A University System, in conjuction with Bechtel
International, Honeywell International and Entergy Corporation,
will submit a bid to the U.S. Department of Energy this summer.
The DOE released the contract for competitive bidding for the
Idaho National Laboratories in late April. Bechtel, which
currently runs the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental
Laboratory, invited A to join the bid for the new Idaho lab.
The Idaho lab, currently named Idaho National Engineering and
Environmental Laboratories, is run by Bechtel and an assortment
of universities from Idaho, Montana and Utah.
"Our goal, within this decade, is to have this [INL] lab emerge
as one of the premiere applied research and nuclear engineering
institutions in the world, without losing focus on the cleanup
work that needs to be completed," said Secretary of Energy
Spencer Abraham in a DOE press release.
According to the statement, the DOE hopes to reinvigorate
research on nuclear power as a source of energy at the Idaho
complex. The complex is a conglomeration of the research
facilities of both INEEL and the Argonne West Laboratory.
INEEL focuses on efficient nuclear energy and nuclear waste
cleanup research. Major programs include Generation IV Nuclear
Reactors, an increasingly economically competitive form of
nuclear energy that decreases waste while improving safety. The
lab has also developed technology that can detect weapons of mass
destruction and the nuclear contents in munitions on location,
eliminating the need for laboratory testing.
The nuclear cleanup efforts, called the Idaho Completion Project,
will be contracted and managed separately from the Idaho National
Laboratory.
"A has an extremely strong nuclear engineering program," said
Rick Dale, spokesman for Bechtel.
The department has access to two nuclear reactors and is
comprised of more than 200 undergraduate students and a faculty
of 19. The U.S. News and World Report ranks the graduate nuclear
engineering program third in the nation.
"For us, really, the most attractive part of this is that it will
be the chance for our faculty and students to work with the labs
and lab researchers," said Lee Peddicord, A's vice chancellor for
research and federal relations.
The A team, led by Bechtel, will be competing with groups from
the University of Chicago, which manages the Argonne lab.
Following the DOE's request for proposals to run the Idaho lab,
all teams have 60 days to submit their proposals, which the DOE
will review and give the final decision to Energy Secretary
Abraham, Peddicord said.
Texas A's nuclear engineering program includes an external
advisory board that consists of field leaders and professionals
who periodically visit the university and provide suggestions and
recommendations to the program. Members of the board include
James Reinsch, president of Bechtel Nuclear, and James Lake,
associate laboratory director of INEEL.
"We certainly feel that this is going to add prestige to A and
Texas itself," said Peddicord, who is also a nuclear engineering
professor at the College Station campus. "We are very excited
about this opportunity for A and for Texas in general."
*****************************************************************
44 Oak Ridger: Members sought for DOE-related advisory board
Story last updated at 11:54 a.m. on June 1, 2004
from staff reports
The Department of Energy is seeking volunteers to fill future
vacancies on the Oak Ridge Site-Specific Advisory Board, which
provides advice and recommendations to the federal agency
concerning local environmental management issues.
The deadline for submitting applications is June 14. Membership
applications are available on the SSAB's Web site at
www.oakridge.doe.gov/em/ssab
[http://www.oakridge.doe.gov/em/ssab] or by calling 576-1590.
"The Board is an independent body making recommendations to DOE,"
said Steve McCracken, DOE's Oak Ridge cleanup chief and deputy
designated federal official to SSAB. "DOE will use an independent
process to screen applicants and recommend Board members to
ensure fair representation and a balance of technical and
non-technical membership."
Originally chartered in 1995 under the Federal Advisory Committee
Act, the SSAB is composed of up to 20 members, chosen to reflect
the diversity of gender, race, occupation and interests of people
living near DOE's Oak Ridge Reservation. The SSAB meets monthly
to discuss and develop recommendations on high-level policy
issues, which is the board's primary mission.
Technical expertise is not required for SSAB membership as a
variety of opinions and viewpoints are wanted, officials said.
SSAB members also serve on committees that study specific issues
in-depth, such as cleanup strategies, hazardous waste management
and long-term stewardship. The board also reviews major DOE
planning decisions and cleanup-related documents.
The SSAB's meetings are open to the public.
*****************************************************************
45 Oak Ridger: ORNL has key role in security effort
Story last updated at 1:29 p.m. on June 2, 2004
GOVERNOR: '[The lab] is tightly woven into the fabric of science
and defense.'
By: Paul Parson | Oak Ridger Staff paul.parson@oakridger.com
[paul.parson@oakridger.com]
KNOXVILLE - Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen sang the praises of Oak
Ridge National Laboratory during Tuesday's portion of a
technology summit.
U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge chimed in, too.
As Jeff Wadsworth sat quietly and listened to their words, the
look on the lab director's face was similar to that of a proud
father who was watching his son score a home run or his daughter
deliver a valedictorian speech.
left, and U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp, R-3rd District, laugh at one of
the lighter moments from Tuesday's technology summit at the
Knoxville Convention Center. Wamp was presented the first
'Corridor Champion' award for all his work involving the
Tennessee Valley Corridor, which runs from North Alabama through
East Tennessee into Southwest Virginia.
One might say that ORNL played a major role in the Knoxville/Oak
Ridge Technology Summit, given that the federal research facility
was at the heart of several big announcements during the second
day of the three-day event. On top of that, the summit's theme
was turning technology into jobs, and that's something ORNL is
developing a reputation for.
ORNL is managed by a partnership between the University of
Tennessee and Battelle - a global science and technology
enterprise that develops and commercializes technology and
manages laboratories. Bredesen said the state is only beginning
to realize the economic development potential of this
partnership.
"We've only scratched the surface," he said.
According to the governor, around 40 companies have been created
from lab-related technologies since UT-Battelle took over as
ORNL's manager in April 2000.
"It's clear and convincing evidence," Bredesen said.
The governor and Ridge also noted ORNL's participation in a
partnership dubbed the Tennessee Homeland Security Consortium.
This effort also involves the state's six Carnegie I research
institutions, an honor reserved for the nation's top research
universities.
"It's a smart way to improve collaboration," said Bredesen, who
described ORNL as a key player in the consortium. "[The lab] is
tightly woven into the fabric of science and defense."
Marie Moffitt/Staff Remotec employee Vito Gambino demonstrates
how one of the company's robots can be used for explosives
handling on the battlefield.
According to the governor, the consortium will enable the state
to "effectively marshal" its resources. The goal, according to
other officials, is for the consortium to provide leadership,
visionary solutions, training, education and technology for the
Homeland Security challenges facing the nation.
Ridge said one vital element to combating terrorism is to develop
"new means" for preventing future attacks.
"All knowledge does not reside in Washington, D.C.," he said
"Everyone must be freedom's protector."
The high-ranking security official also noted that the
communities and states that think regionally will outpace those
that think locally.
A key example, according to Ridge, is the Tennessee consortium.
Maj. Gen. Jerry Humble, Tennessee's Homeland Security director,
said the consortium represents a distinct advantage for the state
of Tennessee, drawing upon an exceptional array of intellectual
resources, experiences, and perspectives from the state's top
research institutions and ORNL.
Signing a memorandum of understanding for the consortium were
Wadsworth; Joe Johnson, UT's interim president; Shirley Raines,
president of the University of Memphis; Colleen Conway-Welch,
dean of the School of Nursing at Vanderbilt University; Tom
Cheatham, dean of the College of Basic and Applied Science at
Middle Tennessee State University; and Michael Woodruff, interim
associate vice president for Research of East Tennessee State
University.
U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp, R-3rd District, said the Tennessee
congressional delegation looks forward to working with the
Tennessee Homeland Security Consortium to ensure that priorities
support the overall Homeland Security goals of the state and the
nation.
During Tuesday's summit activities, Wadsworth and Bill Baxter,
director of the Tennessee Valley Authority, announced that the
two entities had formed a partnership that will soon allow
researchers and scientists at colleges and universities across
the Tennessee Valley to connect to ORNL's supercomputer center to
further strategic collaborations, enhance academic excellence and
leverage economic impact.
TVA - the nation's largest public power provider - has a fiber
telecommunications network throughout a significant portion of
the valley that will enable institutions to link directly to
ORNL's National Center for Computational Sciences and to other
major national research and education networks. The network is
aimed at providing superior research resources to foster
education and technology development, grow new business ventures
and assist in developing the overall economy of the Tennessee
Valley.
The National Center for Computational Sciences at ORNL was
recently chosen by the Department of Energy to lead a partnership
with a goal of developing the world's fastest supercomputer.
This summer, UT's Knoxville campus and Vanderbilt University in
Nashville are scheduled to gain access to the supercomputer
through a connection that represents a substantial increase over
the communications link currently available to UT Knoxville
researchers. A meeting will be held this fall with prospective
institutions that are near TVA's fiber network to discuss how
they can take advantage of the opportunity.
*****************************************************************
46 Google News Alert - nuclear
Date: Wed, 02 Jun 2004 12:36:25 -0700 (PDT)
TOUGH US rhetoric as Iran's nuclear intent remains unclear
Christian Science Monitor - USA
MOSCOW – Questions remain about the intent of Iran's nuclear programs,
according to a critical new report by UN inspectors that details misleading
claims and ...
See all stories on this topic:
UN Says Key Questions Remain About Tehran's Nuclear Plans
Radio Free Europe - Prague,Czech Republic
Prague, 2 June 2004 (RFE/RL) -- Iran today played down the importance of
new revelations about its nuclear program. Iran's chief ...
See all stories on this topic:
KERRY Says He Would Secure Nuclear Materials Within 4 Years
KTOK - San Antonio,TX,USA
... of enriched uranium and plutonium by the end of 2008 to prevent Al
Qaeda and other terrorist networks from obtaining the material to build
a nuclear weapon. ...
See all stories on this topic:
NUCLEAR SECURITY
PBS - USA
... Have we taken every step that we should to stop North Korea and Iran's
nuclear programs? ... Let me say it plainly: A nuclear-armed Iran is unacceptable.
...
See all stories on this topic:
NO cause found yet in outage at nuclear plant
San Jose Mercury News (subscription) - San Jose,CA,USA
A cause has not been determined for an hourlong complete power outage at
a nuclear weapons plant near Amarillo, and the investigation is expanding,
an official ...
NEW Delhi Calls For ' Common Nuclear Doctrine ' With Pakistan And ...
Radio Free Europe - Prague,Czech Republic
India's newly elected government has called for Pakistan and China to join
New Delhi in direct, three-way talks about a "common nuclear doctrine."
The move is ...
See all stories on this topic:
ROWHANI: Iran's nuclear activities, peaceful, legal
Payvand - Iran
... June 2, IRNA -- Secretary of Supreme National Security Council Hassan
Rowhani said here on Wednesday that fair investigation into Iran's nuclear
case would ...
See all stories on this topic:
BRASH sidesteps nuclear minefield
New Zealand Herald - Auckland,New Zealand
... National Party leader he had made it clear there was bipartisan support
for a free-trade agreement with the US, but there had been no talk about
nuclear policy ...
See all stories on this topic:
KOREAN Nuclear Controversy
Korea Times - Seoul,South Korea
It seems to be quite obvious that the ongoing six-way talks on North Korea’s
nuclear weapons issue will lead all participants on a road to nowhere.
...
See all stories on this topic:
POLL reveals support for easing Nuclear ban
New Zealand Herald - Auckland,New Zealand
Most New Zealanders would be prepared to ease the law banning visits from
nuclear-propelled ships - but only if the Americans promise not to send
any warships. ...
See all stories on this topic:
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47 Today's GAO Reports - June 2, 2004
Date: Wed, 2 Jun 2004 15:12:44 -0400
The General Accounting Office (GAO) today released the following
reports, testimonies, and correspondence:
REPORTS
1. Afghanistan Reconstruction: Deteriorating Security and Limited
Resources Have Impeded Progress; Improvements in U.S. Strategy Needed.
GAO-04-403, June 2.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-04-403
Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d04403high.pdf
2. Information Security: Continued Actions Needed to Improve Federal
Software Patch Management. GAO-04-706, June 2.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-04-706
Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d04706high.pdf
3. Joint Strike Fighter Acquisition: Observations on the Supplier Base.
GAO-04-554, May 3.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-04-554
Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d04554high.pdf
4. Technology Assessment: Cybersecurity for Critical Infrastructure
Protection. GAO-04-321, May 28.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-04-321
Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d04321high.pdf
CORRESPONDENCE
Status of FEMA's FY03 Pre-Disaster Mitigation Program. GAO-04-727R,
April 28.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-04-727R
TESTIMONIES
1. Farmer Mac: Some Progress Made, but Greater Attention to Risk
Management, Mission, and Corporate Governance Is Needed, by Jeanette
Franzel, director, financial management and assurance, and Davi
D'Agostino, director, financial markets and community investment, before
the House Committee on Agriculture. GAO-04-827T, June 2.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-04-827T
Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d04827thigh.pdf
2. Gulf War Illnesses: DOD's Conclusions About U.S. Troops' Exposure
Cannot Be Adequately Supported, by Keith A. Rhodes, chief technologist,
before the Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats, and
International Relations, House Committee on Government Reform.
GAO-04-821T, June 1.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-04-821T
Some products now have a link to Highlights (the link ends with
"high.pdf"). This one-page document gives the key findings and
recommendations of a GAO report or testimony. You can use the Highlights
to decide whether you wish to see the full report or testimony.
These and other GAO products are available from the "GAO Reports"
section of GAO's Internet site, http://www.gao.gov.
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Order printed copies of any of these items from GAO:
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Members of the press may request copies from the Office of Public
Affairs, 202-512-4800.
===========================================================
This list is produced by the U.S. General Accounting Office
to provide daily information about GAO Reports and Testimony.
Access GAO on the web at http://www.gao.gov
*****************************************************************
48 [BATN] Bush EPA guts park air quality rules
Date: Mon, 31 May 2004 00:02:06 -0700
Published Monday, May 31, 2004, in the New York Times
Critics Say Clean-Air Plan May Be a Setback for Parks
By Felicity Barringer
GATLINBURG, Tenn. -- The Cherokee called the lush Appalachian upheaval
"the land of blue smoke," in homage to the steamy billows that roll up
from the valleys of Great Smoky Mountains National Park after summer
thunderstorms.
The summertime haze that often swallows up the majestic views of
forested ridges these days is something else entirely: a
pollution-rich brew of sulfates that scatter light and small particles
that obscure it.
Not only can one often not see clearly in the park, the most visited
in the nation, one often cannot breathe cleanly. Nitrogen oxide cooks
in the sun with other chemicals to form ozone pollution, which
discolors leaves and pains lowland lungs.
On many summer mornings, the air above the asphalt in Philadelphia,
New York or Washington is healthier than the air around Clingman's
Dome, where ridges rise to 6,643 feet.
Polluted air in parks has been a persistent problem for the
Environmental Protection Agency and the National Park Service for a
decade. It has improved somewhat at parks like Acadia in Maine and
Yosemite in California, park service records show. But in Great Smoky
Mountains National Park, whose half-million acres straddle the
Tennessee-North Carolina border, ozone and haze have improved little,
if at all.
Since April, the Environmental Protection Agency has announced a new
regulatory strategy for improving park air. Two proposed rules are
central to the approach. One, involving the interstate drift of
pollutants, is part of a nationwide plan to reduce power plant
emissions. The other, called the haze rule, requiring states to
regulate power plants and many other sources of haze, is directed at
improving air in national parks.
Environmentalists say the hitch is that power plants may gain a
14-year free pass on complying with the engineering requirements
called for in the haze rule if they comply with the proposed
interstate rule's directives on reducing emissions.
E.P.A. officials argue that this is both a tough and a practical
approach. Bill Wehrum, the special counsel to the assistant
administrator for air and radiation at the E.P.A., said there was
"significant overlap" in the sources of emissions controlled by both
proposals. "It's all the same pollutants," he said. "Actions taken
to solve the interstate transport issue are the same as actions" taken
to meet the requirements of the haze rule.
The haze rule requires that sources of emissions, particularly power
plants, use the best available -- and often most expensive --
technology to reduce emissions from plants built from 1962 to 1977.
Environmentalists say the approach proposed by the E.P.A. is a
regulatory bait-and-switch. The 1977 law underlying the haze rule
aims to have park air pristine by 2064, and a Clinton-era version of
the regulation set up a decade-by-decade schedule for improvements.
No park was to be left in the haze. The new strategy, they argue,
compromises that basic goal by allowing trading of pollution credits
and averaging of air quality improvements among various parks.
"It is premature and inappropriate to take away this other tool that
states need to restore healthy clean air," said Jill Stephens, an
analyst in the Knoxville, Tenn., office of the National Parks
Conservation Association, an advocacy group. She said nothing in the
interstate rule requires cleanups to protect a park.
"In all likelihood we'll need both, and perhaps others, to restore air
quality in the parks and around the southeast," she said.
John Stanton, a lawyer with Clear the Air, another advocacy group,
said: "Even if you have some children failing, as long as the average
test scores go up, can you declare victory? The answer is no."
Mr. Stanton said Congress has said that each park "is such a special
place that it must be cleared up." He added, "Congress didn't say the
E.P.A. can pick and choose, or let the market decide."
The air and the view are at the heart of this park's appeal to more
than nine million visitors a year. "For the last 20 years we have
known through visitor surveys that people come here to view the
scenery," said Jim Renfro, the air quality specialist at the park.
"They expect clean air. Most of the time it's not."
Air pollution is only one of a panoply of issues facing this park. An
invasive pest, the balsam woolly adelgid, has turned most of the firs
on Clingman's Dome into weathered gray skeletons, and its cousin, the
hemlock woolly adelgid, threatens thousands of other trees. Soils are
saturated with nitrogen and streams are increasingly acidic.
A battle rages over the construction of a highway along the northern
edge of Fontana Lake -- in the North Carolina section of the park --
that would bring traffic, people and pollution to one of the largest
roadless mountain areas in the East. And, as with many parks across
the country, the park budget is stagnant at best: $15.6 million in
2003 and $15.4 million in 2004.
"All the types of issues that affect the national parks can be found
in the Smokies," said Don Barger, who heads the National Parks
Conservation Association's office in Knoxville.
But the reduced visibility is the paramount issue. On many summer
days, visitors on the ridges can see perhaps 14 miles, instead of the
77-mile range afforded the continent's first settlers on a clear
summer day. In 2002, the air in the park was unhealthy on a record 42
days; in 2003, thanks largely to the year's heavy rains, that number
dropped to 10.
"Some natural factors predispose our resources to the harmful effects
of pollution," Mr. Renfro said. "Warm temperatures. Air stagnation.
Humidity. Elevation. Naturally acidic soils."
While ozone levels in urban areas drop overnight and rise in the
afternoon, ozone levels along the ridges of the mountains here stay
constant because they poke upward into the clouds that carry
pollutants from around the southeast and the Ohio River Valley, if not
farther away.
Three of the Tennessee Valley Authority's 11 coal-fired power plants
sit close to the park's western borders. John Shipp, the authority's
vice president of environmental policy and planning, said that the
T.V.A. plant emissions are not necessarily a source of park haze.
"You can't say any particular source contributes some percentage to
haze or ozone in any particular place," he said. But he added,
"certainly there are weather conditions when the emissions from any
particular one of our plants has some influence on haze and ozone in
the park."
"That's why," Mr. Shipp said, "we're engaged in spending $1 million a
day to reduce our emissions." He said the interstate air transport
rule "would require us to do far more than the regional haze rule."
And after anticipating the haze rule for years, he said, "We are
already in the process of designing and building" the
emission-scrubbing equipment that the rule mandates.
David Hawkins, an air quality expert at the Natural Resources Defense
Council, argues that the new proposals would let operators like the
T.V.A. ignore stringent requirements of the Clinton-era haze rule.
For the current administration, he said, the proposed haze rule is
"thematically consistent. They find some other way to allow
particular power plants to avoid" the requirements established in
earlier laws or rules.
Not so, said John Bockman, an E.P.A. air quality expert in Raleigh,
N.C. For the next decade, he said, the interstate rule "is going to
be twice as good" at eliminating air pollution as the Clinton-era haze
rule would have been.
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