***************************************************************** 06/08/04 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 12.136 ***************************************************************** RADBULL IS PRODUCED BY THE ABALONE ALLIANCE CLEARINGHOUSE ***************************************************************** Send News Stories to news@energy-net.org with title on subject line and first line of body NUCLEAR POLICY 1 Guardian Unlimited: Resolution Focuses on Iran Nuke Program 2 BBC: Iran censured over nuclear probe 3 Las Vegas SUN: Resolution Focuses on Iran Nuke Program 4 Interfax: Seoul wants Kyiv's experience in giving up nuclear weapons 5 US: [NL CBW] Kerry on NLW 6 US: [DisabledGreensNews] Senate Votes on New Nuclear Weapons 7 US: Las Vegas RJ: REMEMBERING REAGAN: Changes in nuclear arsenal rec 8 Indian Express: Place N-facilities under IAEA safeguard - US to Indi NUCLEAR REACTORS 9 US: JS Online: State seeks comments on nuclear plant sale 10 EU Business: EU to probe Czech nuclear plant after leak 11 US: NRC: Meeting Transcripts and Slides for 2004 12 US: Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter: Council against sale of power p 13 US: NRC: Sunshine Act Meeting 14 EU Commissioner Figel: Nuclear power station shutdown date has to NUCLEAR SAFETY 15 US: Tri-City Herald: Beryllium probe shows no exposure 16 US: AP Wire: Senators push for changes to nuclear worker program NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE 17 US: Nebraska StatePaper: Can Nebraska Negotiate An End To Nuke Dump 18 US: OneWorld.net: Senate Approves Reclassification of Radioactive Wa 19 IOL: Radioactive water leak fuels nuclear controversy NUCLEAR WEAPONS US DEPT. OF ENERGY 20 chillicothe gazette: Initiative given grant funds - 21 AP Wire: Ruling upholds withholding information from newspaper 22 kgw: Hanford contractor hires experts to review health program 23 Cincinnati Enquirer: Fix glitches in Fernald cleanup 24 U.S. Newswire: Energy Secretary Abraham Announces Environmental 25 Cincinnati Enquirer: Site here to control nuclear cleanups 26 Oak Ridger: Y-12 under lock, minus keys 27 Oak Ridger: Flight delay grounds EPA 28 Oak Ridger: ORNL project aims at heart of air quality, health issue 29 Oak Ridger: Shaping the future of science access 30 lamonitor.com: U.S. plans to cut nuclear weapons stockpile OTHER NUCLEAR 31 Google News Alert - nuclear 32 The Sunflower - June 2004 - Issue 85 33 ED: Russian Nuclear Watch Nr 5 (US-Russian plutonium disposition - S 34 UCS: Kathleen Rest Appointed Executive Director of the UCS ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** FULL NEWS STORIES ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** 1 Guardian Unlimited: Resolution Focuses on Iran Nuke Program www.guardian.co.uk From the Associated Press [UP] Tuesday June 8, 2004 6:31 PM By GEORGE JAHN Associated Press Writer VIENNA, Austria (AP) - Key European powers on Tuesday presented a draft resolution that takes Iran to task for lagging cooperation with a U.N. atomic agency probe into its suspect nuclear activities. The draft ``deplores'' the fact that Iran's ``cooperation has not been complete, timely and proactive,'' a diplomat quoting parts of the text to The Associated Press said. At the same time, it ``acknowledges Iranian cooperation'' in granting agency inspectors access to sites and locations in their investigation, the diplomat said. The draft was circulated informally among delegations representing the 35-nation board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency ahead of a board meeting that starts Monday Another diplomat also familiar with the text said that its language could change before it is formally presented at the board meeting. But he said expectations were that any resolution would express international impatience with Iran because of outstanding questions about its uranium enrichment programs and other suspect activities that the United States says points to weapons ambitions. ``We all agree that the Iranians cannot be trusted 100 percent,'' said the diplomat, from a board member nation. ``The Europeans and the Americans agree on the need to keep pushing the Iranians for transparency.'' The meeting of the IAEA board of governors will review of report on Iran by agency Director General Mohamed ElBaradei, as part of more than a yearlong probe of nearly two decades of covert nuclear activities. The IAEA report alleges Iran tried to buy critical parts for advanced P-2 centrifuges that can be used for energy purposes or to enrich uranium to weapons grade. It also says the origin of highly enriched uranium traces normally used to make nuclear weapons is still unclear - although Iran insists they were not produced domestically but imported on equipment it purchased through black market middlemen. 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 the 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 long has rejected U.S. allegations its nuclear program is for military purposes. ElBaradei said last month 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.'' Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004 ***************************************************************** 2 BBC: Iran censured over nuclear probe Last Updated: Tuesday, 8 June, 2004 [Iran's Bushehr nuclear plant] International pressure made Iran open up to nuclear inspections Britain, France and Germany have presented a draft resolution to the UN nuclear watchdog agency criticising Iran's attitude towards an inquiry. News agencies quote it as saying Iran's co-operation with an investigation into its nuclear activities is not "complete, timely and proactive". However, the draft acknowledges that Tehran has at least granted inspectors access to its nuclear sites. Iran categorically denies US claims that it is developing nuclear weapons. The draft resolution has been circulated informally among delegations representing the 35-nation board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The board will meet next week and decide whether to adopt the resolution. Reuters news agency says the draft also "deeply regrets" that Iran has not fully suspended all aspects of its uranium enrichment programme, as it promised to do under a deal struck last year with the three European states. Report Diplomatic sources say that Washington is disappointed that the resolution is not even more critical of Iran, which the US believes is using its nuclear energy programme as a front to build atomic weapons. They said US negotiators would push for harsher language to be used. An IAEA report published in April said suspicions still hung over Iran's nuclear programme. It said the discovery of bomb-grade uranium traces at Iranian facilities, and an Iranian attempt to buy centrifuges to speed up the enrichment of uranium, were a cause for concern. If the IAEA decides there are reasons to censure Iran, the case may be passed to the UN Security Council. ***************************************************************** 3 Las Vegas SUN: Resolution Focuses on Iran Nuke Program By GEORGE JAHN ASSOCIATED PRESS VIENNA, Austria (AP) - Key European powers on Tuesday presented a draft resolution that takes Iran to task for lagging cooperation with a U.N. atomic agency probe into its suspect nuclear activities. The draft "deplores" the fact that Iran's "cooperation has not been complete, timely and proactive," a diplomat quoting parts of the text to The Associated Press said. At the same time, the diplomat said, the draft, written by France, Britain and Germany, "acknowledges Iranian cooperation" in granting agency inspectors access to sites and locations in their investigation. The draft was circulated informally among delegations representing the 35-nation board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency ahead of a board meeting that starts Monday Another diplomat also familiar with the text said that its language could change before it is formally presented at the board meeting. But he said expectations were that any resolution would express international impatience with Iran because of outstanding questions about its uranium enrichment programs and other suspect activities that the United States says points to weapons ambitions. "We all agree that the Iranians cannot be trusted 100 percent," said the diplomat, from a board member nation. "The Europeans and the Americans agree on the need to keep pushing the Iranians for transparency." The meeting of the IAEA board of governors will review of report on Iran by agency Director General Mohamed ElBaradei, as part of more than a yearlong probe of nearly two decades of covert nuclear activities. The IAEA report alleges Iran tried to buy critical parts for advanced P-2 centrifuges that can be used for energy purposes or to enrich uranium to weapons grade. It also says the origin of highly enriched uranium traces normally used to make nuclear weapons is still unclear - although Iran insists they were not produced domestically but imported on equipment it purchased through black market middlemen. 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 the 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 long has rejected U.S. allegations its nuclear program is for military purposes. ElBaradei said last month 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." -- ***************************************************************** 4 Interfax: Seoul wants Kyiv's experience in giving up nuclear weapons Updated: Jun 8 2004 9:16PM (MSK) [http://www.interfax.com] Jun 8 2004 4:41PM KYIV. June 8 (Interfax-Ukraine) - South Korea wants to study Ukraine's experience in becoming nuclear weapon free, South Korean President No Mu-hyon said at a meeting with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Kostyantyn Hryshchenko. "We know Ukraine as a country that voluntarily gave up nuclear weapons, and we want to study your experience," spokesman for the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry Markiyan Lubkivsky quoted the Korean president as saying. No Mu-hyun believes this experience could be used in the negotiating process on settling the nuclear problem on the Korean Peninsula, Lubkivsky told Interfax. The Korean president praised Ukraine's achievements in building its economic and political systems, he said. In the course of the talks, the parties agreed to intensify political dialogue at the top level and make efforts to expand cultural and humanitarian interaction, including to help preserve the cultural identity of ethnic Koreans living in Ukraine. © 1991-2004 Interfax ***************************************************************** 5 New Iraqi government: USA will still call the shots - Green Date: Tue, 8 Jun 2004 03:32:41 -0500 (CDT) Green Left Weekly ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Green Left Weekly, #585, June 9, 2004 New Iraqi government: USA will still call the shots The selection of Iyad Allawi as prime minister of the Iraqi `interim government' is a clear demonstration that Washington has no intention of relinquishing its control over Iraq on June 30. Washington's moves to handover `sovereignty' to Iraqis, and to bring them `freedom' and `democracy' are nothing more than a public relations charade to disguise what is really going on -- the installation of a puppet regime that will provide an Iraqi face to the US corporate takeover of the Iraqi economy. [Full article] * Join the protests on June 30! * Lies, lies and more lies * John Pilger on the de-fanging of the Mirror ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Click here to join the GLW discussion list Become a Friend of Green Left Click here to visit the Socialist Alliance website ------------------------------------------------------------------------ International News # IRAQ: US still calls the shots # BRITAIN: John Pilger -- The de-fanging of the Mirror # INDIA: Voters strike blow against neoliberalism # INDONESIA: US researcher refused work permit # COLOMBIA: Workers halt privatisation process # SOUTH AFRICA: Activists charged for `intimidation' # WESTERN SAHARA: The wall of shame # VENEZUELA: President Chavez ready to go to the polls # CYPRUS: Washington seeks new military base Regular Features # Write on: Letters to the editor # Loose cannons Comment and Analysis # Join the protests on June 30! # Lies, lies and more lies # Safe at last: One refugee's fight for protection # Labor takes the anti-gay bait # A woman's place is in the struggle: Insufficient evidence? # Our Common Cause: If you don't fight, you lose # A slap in the face for free education activists # Howard attacks workers' rights ? yet again # Government risks young lives # Stop the corporatisation of our union! # Global warming: has the meltdown has begun? # We can avert a refugee crisis # Jack Roche: Terrorist or scapegoat for ASIO failures? # Australian detainees tortured in Camp X-Ray # `Bashing Muslims for votes' Cultural Dissent # Exposing government lies about GM foods # Troy: A sword and sandal anti-war allegory # Australia is refugees # After we torture our prisoners # On the box Australian News # `We must all do our bit' # Close the detention centres: house a refugee # Release all the children! # Cargo of hope heads for Nauru # Labor rams through road bill # News briefs #1 # Police shut down socialist campaign stall Click here for Green Left Weekly's copyleft details. About Green Left Weekly [NL CBW] Kerry on NLW Date: Tue, 8 Jun 2004 11:57:37 -0500 (CDT) This sounds like the old, indisciminate, "mow 'em all down and let God, no I mean the Marines, sort 'em out" approach to me. JNLWD favors it. Develop "non-lethal" weapons systems with the intent of targeting civilians.. EH ---- "I will also accelerate the development of non-lethal technologies, like directed energy weapons, that can incapacitate the enemy, without risking the lives of innocent bystanders. The need for this technology is driven by pure military strategy. With more of the world's populations living in cities, it's more critical than ever that our military be able to carry out their missions with the least harm to civilians. As we saw in Fallujah and Najaf, our forces may advance on the ground, but innocent casualties can cost us victory in the minds of the people. This is especially true in the war on terror, where our forces must track down leaders and their cells no matter where they're hiding, even if it's in the center of a densely populated city." ---- Text of Remarks by John Kerry on Strengthening Our Military as Prepared for Delivery June 3 in Independence, Mo. http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=133-06032004 6/3/2004 12:30:00 PM To: National Desk, Political and Defense reporters Contact: Allison Dobson of John Kerry for President, 202-464-2800; http://www.johnkerry.com INDEPENDENCE, Mo., June 3 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Following is the text of remarks by Sen. John Kerry on strengthening our military, as prepared for delivery today: Thank you General Wilson for that kind introduction, and thank you all for coming today. General Wilson is the quintessential example of what we mean by the opportunity Army. He rose from private to Commander of the Army Materiel Command, supplying the Army with everything from beans, to bullets, to boots. And I'm delighted that he's with us today. I can't tell you what a treat it is for me to stand here this afternoon in this remarkable library celebrating a remarkable man. In word and deed, Harry Truman embodied the highest ideals of the Greatest Generation. He desegregated our armed forces. He created the Marshall Plan that rebuilt Europe from the ground up, and gave life to the United Nations and NATO. And he set this nation and the world on a wise and patient path to win the Cold War without a third World War. President Truman understood that our military is only as good as the men and women in its ranks. And I know that he would be as proud of the soldiers who serve this country today as he was of those who sacrificed for our country sixty years ago. In the spirit of all the men and women in uniform we honor at this time every year, let me offer this pledge: As President, I will always remember that America's security begins and ends with the soldier, sailor, airman, and Marine -- with every man and every woman in our armed services standing a post somewhere in the world. Today, we salute each and every one of them for their commitment, strength, and extraordinary courage -- especially those serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. They, like all veterans of wars past, deserve our prayers and then, when they come home, they deserve the respect and support of a grateful nation. After all, the first definition of patriotism is to keep faith with those who have worn the uniform of the United States. And the first duty of a commander in chief is to make America strong and keep Americans safe. A week ago in Seattle, I outlined a new strategy of national security based on four imperatives. First, we must lead strong alliances for the post 9-11 world. Second, to secure our full independence and freedom, we must free America from its dangerous dependence on Mideast oil. Third, in addition to our military might, we must deploy all that is in America's arsenal -- our diplomacy, our intelligence, our economic power, and the power of our values and ideas. And fourth is the imperative I will discuss today: We must modernize the world's most powerful military to meet new and different threats. The Bush Administration was right to call for the "transformation" of the military. But their version of transformation was directed at fighting classic conventional wars, rather than the dangers we now face in Iraq, Afghanistan, and in the war against al Qaeda. To rise to the challenges we face, we must strengthen our military, including our Special Forces; improve our technology; and task our National Guard with Homeland Security. And there's a reason I decided to come here, to the birthplace of President Truman, to deliver this speech. In 1945, Franklin Roosevelt died unexpectedly, leaving his vice president of only eighty-three days, Harry S Truman, to finish a war that had claimed the lives of 400,000 Americans. Beyond the war, the new President inherited a shattered Europe and a divided world, with the warmth of democracy on one side and the chill of communism on the other. In describing what he saw before him that day, Harry Truman said: "I feel as though the moon and all the stars and all the planets have fallen upon me." In many ways, they had. But that plain spoken son of Missouri rose to a responsibility as grave as any given to any President. In a world divided between freedom and tyranny, his decisions set a course that saved the future of humanity. To contain communism, and build a mighty alliance, Truman had to rebuild our military both to deter conventional aggression and the threat of nuclear weapons, because, as he put it, "The will for peace without the strength for peace is of no avail." He modernized our armed forces by creating the Department of Defense and the Air Force -- the greatest change in our nation's military structure since the beginning of the Republic. Today, in the post 9-11 world, we stand at another historic crossroad, at another moment when the old enemy is gone but we face a new threat. We must change if we are to meet and defeat the danger. We must reshape our military and prepare it for the risks and tasks of a new era. Terrorist groups like Al Qaeda and its copycat killers are claiming the right to execute the innocent. They confuse murder with martyrdom and fanaticism with faith. They use terror as a sword and religion as a shield. They present the central national security challenge of our generation. But they are unlike any other adversary our nation has ever confronted. They have no president, capital city, territory, army, or national identity. We are not absolutely certain how they are organized or how many operatives they have. But we know the destruction they can inflict. We saw it here in America on September 11th. We saw it in Bali and in Madrid, and across the Middle East. And now we see it day after day in Iraq. To defeat these threats, we must draw on the four imperatives I described earlier -- especially the need to modernize America's military. Despite all its talk of transforming that military, the Bush Administration has done far too little to adapt our forces to the new missions they must undertake. We went into Iraq with too few troops to prevent looting and crime, and we failed to secure nearly a million tons of conventional weapons now being used against our troops. We failed to build alliances and squandered the opportunity to generate wider support inside Iraq, in the Arab world, and among the major powers. These mistakes have complicated our mission: a stable Iraq with a representative government secure in its borders. But as hard as it is to believe, there is little evidence that this Administration has learned from its mistakes. The rhetoric of toughness is not enough to make us safe. We need tough decisions to strengthen the American military, so we can find and get the terrorists before they get us. As President, I will build a highly-trained military, with more ground troops and Special Forces not just to win war, but to win the peace. Instead of over-relying on weapons and tactics to fight the battles of the past, against enemies out in the desert or on open seas, we must build mobile and modern forces to prevail against terrorists hiding in caves or in the heart of a city. We must broaden our capabilities to create a military ready for any mission, from armored battle to urban warfare to homeland security. Yes, we must invest in missile defense. But not at the cost of other pressing priorities. We cannot afford to spend billions to deploy an unproven missile defense system. Not only is it not ready, but it's the wrong priority for a war on terror where the enemy strikes with a bomb in the back of a truck, or a vial of anthrax in a briefcase. This is part of a larger problem. From day one, this Administration has been obsessed with threats from other states -- instead of opening their eyes to the perils of the new century: terrorist organizations with or without ties to rogue nations and failed states that can become their sanctuaries. These are the enemies our military is facing. And this is where we must train, arm, and equip our military to win. In addition, we must secure our own democracy and our own borders. Homeland security must be a top priority of the president. Today, it's too often something this Administration just pays lip service to when the cameras are rolling. We can't meet the new threats of this new century with a military from the last one. We must always be ready for strategic and conventional missions. But we must also be committed to build the strongest possible military to meet the new and greatest threats. I'm running for president to build a new military for a new time. My first order of business as commander in chief will be to expand America's active duty forces. Not to increase the number of soldiers in Iraq, but to add 40,000 new soldiers to prevent and prepare for other possible conflicts. The fact is, the war in Iraq has taken a real toll on our armed services. Nine out of ten active duty Army divisions -- eighty percent of the Army's active duty combat divisions -- are committed to Iraq, either currently there, preparing to go, or recently returned. That is a dangerous and potentially disastrous course that limits our capacity to respond to other crises. The war has been especially tough on the Army's critical post-war specialists. Civil affairs. Military police. Combat support units. Psychological operations units. All are in short supply. All are nearly exhausted. To pick up the slack, since 9-11, we've called up our Guard and Reserves at historic levels. Currently there are more than 165,000 Guardsman and Reservists on active duty. In fact, 40 percent of our forces in Iraq are from the Reserve and the Guard. They are America's workers, doctors, mechanics, and first-responders. Some have been on the ground in Iraq for as many as 15 months -- much longer than was expected or promised. And many of these units are being pushed the limit. The people of Missouri understand this situation well. More than 800 of your sons and daughters have had their deployments extended and their homecomings delayed. The Administration is even planning to send troops from the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment to Iraq -- a unit whose primary mission has been to prepare other units for future deployments. The effect is clear: our soldiers are stretched too thin. The Administration's answer has been to put band-aids on the problem. They have effectively used a stop-loss policy as a back door draft. They have extended tours of duty, delayed retirements, and prevented enlisted personnel from leaving the service. Just yesterday, the Army announced this would affect even more soldiers whose units are headed to Iraq and Afghanistan. By employing these expedients, they've increased the forces by 30,000 troops. But this has happened on the backs of the men and women who've already fulfilled their obligation to the armed forces and to our country -- and it runs counter to the traditions of an all-volunteer military. Because they're serving one tour after another, our soldiers are not getting the training they need or the rest they deserve. Military families are under incredible strain as it becomes harder and harder to balance the demands of family life and military duty. This is especially true at a time when more than half of our military is married -- a dramatic increase since Vietnam. When you add it up, we are in danger of creating another hollow Army -- a grave concern that I've heard time and again over the last few months from active duty personnel. I heard it in Pittsburgh from an Army Reserve Captain who had just returned from Iraq. Like me, he fears that our military will not be ready for the next mission. That's not the way to make America safer. The 40,000 new troops I am adding will not be soldiers who've already been on the front lines, but new volunteers trained and ready to defend their country. And this will help relieve the strain on our troops; it will bring more of our soldiers, guardsmen and reservists back home to their families and get them time for the new training they need. But numbers alone won't win the war in Iraq or the war on terror. We need to create a "New Total Force." Our military must be prepared to defeat any enemy, anytime, any place. And our soldiers must be capable of success in any conflict. As president, I will double our Special Forces capability to fight the war on terror. That's the second part of my plan to modernize the military. Our Special Forces are the troops who land behind enemy lines, conduct counter-terrorism operations, perform reconnaissance missions, and gather intelligence. In Afghanistan, after September 11th, they took the fight to the Taliban with remarkable creativity. They also train local forces to take on the responsibilities themselves and they build the relationships that are vital for our victory in the war on terror. We saw what they could do during the Iraq war, when two teams of American Green Berets totaling 31 men worked with Kurdish troops to defeat an Iraqi force numbering in the hundreds. The victory at the battle of Debecka Pass is a tribute to the flexibility, training, and courage of American Special Forces -- all essential to winning the war on terror. We must also recognize that the battle itself is only half the mission. In any conflict, we need an expanded, well-trained force, with soldiers prepared for both war and its aftermath. As President, I will also increase our civil affairs personnel - -- those who arrive on the scene after the conflict is over and help win the peace. They work with local leaders and officials to get the schools back in shape, the hospitals reopened, and banks up and running. We also need -- and a Kerry Administration will provide -- more military police, because public order is a critical step to winning the peace. At the same time, we should move greater responsibility for non-military missions to civilian agencies to ease the burden on our troops. As President, I will build a modern military, with the best trained troops and the most modern equipment and technology. That's the third part of my plan. The war in Iraq has left us with a hefty bill to pay. Our equipment is worn from the daily assault of battle and the harsh effects of an unforgiving desert. We must repair, replace, and upgrade it to maintain the highest level of readiness. We can't have a 21st century military unless we're using 21st century technology and preparing our forces for 21st century threats. We need a military that is equipped for the next fight, not the last one. That means educating, training, and arming every soldier with state-of-the-art equipment, whether it's body armor or weapons. And it means employing the most sophisticated communications to help our troops prevail and protect themselves in battle. Right now, the technology exists to let a soldier see what's over the next hill or around the next bend in the road. Every soldier in every unit should have access to that modern breakthrough, which can be the difference between life and death. As president, I will see to it that they do. I will also accelerate the development of non-lethal technologies, like directed energy weapons, that can incapacitate the enemy, without risking the lives of innocent bystanders. The need for this technology is driven by pure military strategy. With more of the world's populations living in cities, it's more critical than ever that our military be able to carry out their missions with the least harm to civilians. As we saw in Fallujah and Najaf, our forces may advance on the ground, but innocent casualties can cost us victory in the minds of the people. This is especially true in the war on terror, where our forces must track down leaders and their cells no matter where they're hiding, even if it's in the center of a densely populated city. Technology also plays a critical role in keeping the worst weapons out of the hands of rogue states and terrorists. On Tuesday, I proposed a broad agenda to limit the spread of nuclear weapons and material. But we must recognize if the worst does happen, and dangerous weapons technology falls into the wrong hands, the President must have at his disposal every instrument of force necessary to destroy those weapons before they are used against the United States, its citizens, or its allies. Before the war in Afghanistan, there were troubling reports that our military lacked forces specifically trained and targeted to seizing and dismantling nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. We simply can't win the war on terror if we can't control the world's most lethal weapons. As president, I will build new forces that specialize in finding, securing, and destroying weapons of mass destruction and the facilities that build them. However, technology alone isn't the answer. We must educate and train our forces differently. This commitment to innovation must be wedded to a continuing investment in the men and women of the American military. Their training, education, and professional development will transform this new technology into real military power. But one thing we've all learned in the war on terror is that America can't lead abroad unless we're secure at home. While this Administration has taken steps to protect our borders, they've left out a key asset in the fight on terror -- our National Guard. The Guard has kept our nation safe since the militias gathered at Lexington and Concord. They've served in every war, and they're serving now. In fact, after September 11th, they were the first ones called on to line city streets, guard bridges, and patrol our airports. But today, too many of them are far away from home and the Guard as a whole is not integrated into an effective strategy for homeland security. The National Guard was intended to complement, not be a substitute for, active duty forces. Sending thousands of National Guard members to Iraq has actually weakened our ability to defend our own country. Members of the Guard are first responders across the country -- fire fighters, police officers, and emergency medical technicians. To take them out of their communities is to take down a critical first line of defense. That's no way to protect America. As president, I will make homeland security one of the primary missions of the National Guard. While the military can't solve the entire homeland security challenge, the National Guard can make an important contribution to the mission. That's the fourth part of my plan -- modernizing our National Guard. I will assign Guard units to a standing joint task force, commanded by a General from the Guard. This task force will prepare and, if necessary, execute a coordinated strategy for homeland safety, working with the states and the federal government to react in times of crisis. Just as it was in the time of Harry Truman, and in all the years of the Cold War, the job of commander in chief is now central to the presidency. As President, I will use military force to protect our interests anywhere in the world, whenever necessary. But strong leadership demands more than the willingness to use force. It means directing the use of the right tools at the right time for the right purpose and the right cause. Only then will we be strong and respected around the world. Strong leadership means striking a balance between the Department of Defense and the other agencies focused on America's national security. It means coordinating our national power rather than competing for bureaucratic power. It means building a first-rate intelligence community, because no president can act wisely without it. Strong leadership means listening to and respecting the advice, wisdom, and experience of our professional military -- and never letting ideology trump the truth. It means working with Congress in a bipartisan fashion to make our military stronger. Strong leadership means setting goals for a new military, insisting on progress, and seeing the mission through to success. Strong leadership means building alliances to help win the war on terror and stem the spread of nuclear, biological or chemical weapons. If Harry Truman were standing here today, I know that he would believe, as I do, that America's strength demands a new military for a new time -- what he once called "the strongest, toughest and most enduring forces in the world." Above all, as President, I will never forget the pledge with which I began today: I will always remember that our security and our strength begins with a single soldier, standing a single post somewhere in the world. And we should be grateful to men and women willing to do it, with such grace and such courage. Thank you and God bless America. -- Paid for by John Kerry for President, Inc. -- http://www.usnewswire.com/ -0- /) 2004 U.S. Newswire 202-347-2770/ _______________________________________________ Distributed via the Sunshine Project's NL CBW list. Please visit http://www.sunshine-project.org for more information. To subscribe or unsubscribe, please visit: http://www.sunshine-project.org/mailman/listinfo/nlcbw_sunshine-project.org ***************************************************************** 6 [DisabledGreensNews] New Federal Budget Battle :) Alert Date: Tue, 8 Jun 2004 11:55:57 -0500 (CDT) Next week, the House of Representatives is expected to take up legislation amending the laws that govern how the federal budget is developed and controlled. Stop! Don't let your eyes glaze over! This is VERY important! Really! This issue is similar to the budget issue that we have been telling you about all spring, but now there is a dangerous new twist, and we need your help right away to stop it in its tracks (see Take Action below). As you may recall, the budget resolution governing specific spending for the coming fiscal year is still in limbo, hung up in a fight between the House and Senate. Why the holdup? Several Senators still insist that tax cuts should be paid for just like domestic spending proposals should be paid for (that is, both tax cuts and spending should be subject to the pay-as-you-go or PAY-GO requirement) rather than just added to our children's debt burden. The new but similar issue we are writing about today is legislation that aims to amend the laws that govern the federal budget process. At the time of this writing, the main bill under consideration is H.R. 3973 by Budget Chairman Nussle (R-IA). This bill would impose a one-sided PAY-GO rule only to entitlements and not to tax cuts. It would cap discretionary spending (on things like education, public health, etc., but not homeland security and defense) at levels likely to force $113 billion in cuts over the next five years. What's worse, more serious amendments may be included in, or offered to, this bill that would force huge cuts in entitlements (to programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, veterans' benefits, etc.). These cuts are estimated by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities to amount to $1,800,000,000,000 (that's $1.8 TRILLION!) over 10 years. While everyone predicts that these dramatic changes will not pass the Senate this year, it is very, very important that they not pass the House! If the House passes this bill, it would set a very bad precedent that could be cited next year as evidence that the Senate should follow. Take Action: Please contact your Representative and urge him or her to oppose these budget rule changes that cap and cut entitlements and leave tax cuts unpaid for. For information on contacting your Representative, click here. http://www.familiesusa.org/site/R?i=mgN3XGjyfwIDRYvcWDDmjg.. For more information on this topic, see a new report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. http://www.familiesusa.org/site/R?i=m3AWp50IxxUDRYvcWDDmjg.. HELP US SPREAD THE WORD: To forward this message to a friend or colleague, click here. http://www.familiesusa.org/site/R?i=JxE0_nD0SCQDRYvcWDDmjg.. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Make a clean sweep of pop-up ads. Yahoo! Companion Toolbar. Now with Pop-Up Blocker. Get it for free! http://us.click.yahoo.com/L5YrjA/eSIIAA/yQLSAA/iGurlB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DisabledGreensNews/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: DisabledGreensNews-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ [DisabledGreensNews] Senate Votes on New Nuclear Weapons Date: Tue, 8 Jun 2004 11:16:04 -0500 (CDT) Tell the Senate to Cut Funds for New Nuclear Weapons and Missile Defense Dear , The Senate is slated to vote on an amendment cut funds for new nuclear weapons on Tuesday, June 8, and on missile defense amendments Tuesday or after (earlier votes before Memorial Day had been expected). Click here to contact your Senators. http://capwiz.com/clw/mail/oneclick_compose/? alertid=5974231#letter&BMIDS=1707674-b6Jr-24173 When we wrote you about new nuclear weapons and missile defense a few weeks ago, you sent over 7,500 messages to your Senators and Representatives. As your Senators prepare to cast their votes in the next few days, it's crucial for us to keep the pressure on! Please contact your Senators and ask them to: 1. Support the amendment offered by Senators Edward Kennedy (D- Mass.) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) to cut funds to develop a new generation of nuclear weapons. 2. Support the amendment expected to be offered in the Senate by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif) to bar deployment of national missile defense until realistic missile defense testing has been completed. New nuclear weapons: The Bush Administration is preparing to build a new generation of nuclear weapons and resume nuclear weapons testing. It has requested $27.6 million to work on a nuclear bunker buster (Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator) and $9 million that could be used to develop a low-yield nuclear weapons. It is also requesting funds to prepare for new nuclear explosive weapons testing and to build a new nuclear weapons bomb plant. Reasons to cut the funding for new nuclear weapons: = The U.S. has an ample number of nuclear weapons, including more than 10,000 deployed or reserve nuclear weapons. = The Administration claims that it is only conducting research, but its 5-year budget request for the nuclear bunker buster is $485 million, far more than required for pure research. = Other countries may follow the U.S. example and consider building or expanding their nuclear weapons stockpiles, undermining our non- proliferation efforts. Click here for more analysis of the subject. Missile defense: The Bush Administration plans to deploy a national missile defense system in California and Alaska by September 2004. The Administration's budget request includes $10.2 billion for missile defense, although it has cut back the testing program. Thomas Christie, director of the Pentagon's testing office, has testified before Congress that there is no way to determine whether the system will work. The General Accounting office has confirmed his statement in April: "As a result of testing shortfalls and the limited time available to test the BMDS [Ballistic Missile Defense System] being fielded, system effectiveness will be largely unproven when the initial capability goes on alert at the end of September 2004." Reasons to cut funds and require testing: = The system has not been tested in realistic combat conditions. = As a result, there is no way of knowing if the system will be successful. = National missile defense will sap money from other budget priorities. Click here for more analysis of the subject. Click here to tell Members of Congress to cut funding for these dangerous and unnecessary programs. 322 4th St. NE Washington, DC 20002 ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Make a clean sweep of pop-up ads. Yahoo! Companion Toolbar. Now with Pop-Up Blocker. Get it for free! http://us.click.yahoo.com/L5YrjA/eSIIAA/yQLSAA/iGurlB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DisabledGreensNews/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: DisabledGreensNews-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ ***************************************************************** 7 Las Vegas RJ: REMEMBERING REAGAN: Changes in nuclear arsenal recalled Tuesday, June 08, 2004 Test site facednew challenges,ex-official says By KEITH ROGERS REVIEW-JOURNAL Troy Wade, seated in the far upper left corner of this photo, listens as President Reagan, right center, asks him a question during a National Security Council meeting at the White House in 1988. PHOTO COURTESY TROY WADE Longtime Las Vegas resident and Nevada Test Site official Troy Wade was involved in some of the most important nuclear weapons and strategic defense decisions of Ronald Reagan's presidency. In 1988, Wade sat in on a National Security Council meeting at the White House. During the meeting, Reagan pondered drastic changes in the nation's nuclear weaponry. The discussion focused on the so-called "Midgetman" weapon, a shift from the massive, multi-warhead missiles built in the era of mutually assured destruction, to smaller, single-warhead systems. "That was one of the things he was pushing. He wanted to develop smaller nuclear weapons that were more effective and more mobile," Wade said Monday, recalling other sessions he participated in as the assistant secretary of energy for defense programs. Reagan set the national weapons laboratories and the test site, 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas, on a course for new challenges, Wade said. Reagan died Saturday after a long battle with Alzheimer's disease. "I think early on in his administration he pushed defense. And, in his '83 speech about `Star Wars,' he said the same kinds of brains that developed nuclear weapons now need to develop ways to counter nuclear weapons," Wade said Monday. What surfaced was the "Star Wars" initiative, a nuclear bomb-pumped X-ray laser, at the Lawrence Livermore lab in California. Project manager Roy Woodruff was adamant that the X-ray laser, a space-based device that would knock out enemy nuclear missiles with intense X-rays, wasn't as far along as the late H-bomb brain trust Edward Teller had claimed. Teller had met with Reagan seven months before Reagan delivered his famous "Star Wars" address on March 23, 1983. In that speech, Reagan explained his vision to "embark on a program to counter the awesome Soviet missile threat with measures that are defensive." Whether "Star Wars" was as effective as Teller had advised Reagan, it forced the Soviets to invest in similar technologies for fear their weapons would be made obsolete. "There was a very good chance that if he (Reagan) really pushed defense and if he really pushed `Star Wars,' that he could just simply break the economy of the Soviet Union. "I don't think he ever wanted to go to war," said Wade, the chairman of the Nevada Test Site Historical Foundation. "I just think he wanted to break the economy of the Soviet Union, and he did." Wade estimated that as billions of dollars was spent on programs such as the X-ray laser, the Soviets were spending huge amounts to explore similar weapons systems. In 1986, at Reykjavik, Iceland, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev asked Reagan to give up "Star Wars." Reagan wouldn't do it. "They left the Reykjavik summit mad at one another," Wade said. In May 1988, Wade went with Reagan to a summit in Moscow, the last in his presidency. The warming of relations with the Soviets to verify limits on the size of nuclear weapons tests had begun. The discussions led to the Aug. 17, 1988, Joint Verification Experiment, dubbed "Kearsarge," at the Nevada Test Site. In that unprecedented nuclear test, Soviet scientists observed the detonation on location. A second test was later conducted in the Soviet Union while U.S. scientists watched and verified the data. Wade was the senior Department of Energy official at the Moscow summit that led to the agreement to conduct the treaty verification experiments. The agreement, Wade said, "was a very important thing to this country and a very important thing to Nevada." Wade noted that Reagan also signed the 1982 nuclear waste policy law that started the government's search for a nuclear waste repository site. That search later was narrowed to Yucca Mountain, on the southwestern edge of the test site. Wade said he admired Reagan for being able to pick "really high-class people" for his administration. "And when you're president of the United States, you're only as strong as the people that surround you." Copyright Las Vegas Review-Journal ***************************************************************** 8 Indian Express: Place N-facilities under IAEA safeguard - US to India [http://www.expressindia.com] Tuesday, June 08, 2004 Press Trust of India Washington, June 8: The United States has asked India to place its nuclear facilities under IAEA safe guards and said both New Delhi and Islamabad should maintain their nuclear moratoria to avoid a destabilising arms race. "We would like to see India place all of its civilian facilities under International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards," State Department Director of Policy Planning Mitchell B Reiss said. Reiss made the call, presumably knowing very well that India repeatedly rebuffed the US on this issue, in an address to a conference on "South Asia and the Nuclear Future" jointly organised by the Centre for International Security and Cooperation, the US Army War College and Stanford University. He spoke there on June 4 but the text of his speech was made available here by the State Department on Monday. India and Pakistan, as States with nuclear capabilities, have obligations to each other and to the world, Reiss said. "To each other, India and Pakistan owe the obligation to seek non-violent solutions to their political differences. We have urged both parties to maintain their nuclear moratoria, to refrain from assembling or deploying nuclear weapons, and to bring an early end to the production of fissile materials so as to avoid a costly and destabilising arms race", he said. More World Headlines'Boys, if you vote for the liberals, I'll strip'Indiana boy wins US spelling beeSaudi attack: Top BBC scribe critically illBush busy with Iraq: Will Indo-Pak ties worsen?Caution: China's Great Wall in big dangerRonald Reagan an eternal optimist: Nancy © 2004: Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd. ***************************************************************** 9 JS Online: State seeks comments on nuclear plant sale [http://www.jsonline.com/] Public has until June 15 to submit opinions on Kewaunee proposal By THOMAS CONTENT tcontent@journalsentinel.com Posted: June 7, 2004 Wisconsin residents with opinions on the proposed sale of the Kewaunee nuclear power plant have until June 15 to send state energy regulators their thoughts. The two utilities that own the plant, Wisconsin Public Service Corp. of Green Bay and Wisconsin Power &Light Co. of Madison, want permission to sell the plant to Dominion Resources Inc. of Virginia for $220 million. The Public Service Commission is looking at the economic impact of the sale on the two utilities and on electricity customers. The PSC is to consider whether the sale is in the best interest of Wisconsin residents. The utilities have said the sale would provide greater certainty for customers because they would no longer bear the risks and costs of running a nuclear power plant. They said rates would remain close to current levels under a power-purchase agreement that extends through 2013. But customer groups, including the Customers First! coalition, are opposing the deal, saying there is too much uncertainty about what will happen to rates if the plant's license is renewed in 2013. They also fear the loss of state jurisdiction over the plant, and they worry that the sale would set a precedent that could lead to the sale of other power plants. Written comments may be submitted electronically through the PSC's Electronic Regulatory Filing System at psc.wi.gov. Also, comments may be mailed to Tom Ferris, docket coordinator, Public Service Commission of Wisconsin, P.O. Box 7854, Madison, WI 53707-7854. Comments should include "Docket 05-EI-136." In addition, written comments may be presented in person at public hearings. Hearings are planned for 9 a.m. June 17 at the commission office in Madison and 10:30 a.m., 1:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. June 24 at the Holiday Inn, 4601 Calumet Ave., Manitowoc. On the Web: Wisconsin Public Service Corp.: [http://www.wpsr.com] From the June 8, 2004, editions of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Get the Journal Sentinel delivered to your home. [http://www.jsonline.com/services] ***************************************************************** 10 EU Business: EU to probe Czech nuclear plant after leak www.eubusiness.com 08 June 2004 The European Union dispatched a team of experts Tuesday to a Czech nuclear power plant after a weekend leak of radioactive water, a spokesman said. Officials at the Temelin plant said the leak of three cubic metrescubic feet) of radioactive water from a pipe was contained onsite and there was no danger. But the incident angered authorities in neighbouring Austria, which has been campaigning to shut down the plant ever since it opened four years ago. The Czech Republic, which joined the EU last month, contacted the European Commission to reassure the EU executive about the leak, a commission spokesman said. "But we decided this morning to send an investigation team to see exactly what is happening on the ground," said Gilles Gantelet, spokesman for the commission's energy and transport department. The team was expected to be on the ground in the afternoon. EU member states are bound by strict rules on nuclear safety, Gantelet noted. "It's only by applying these rules strictly that it's possible to ensure that everyone is safe." Text and Picture Copyright © 2004 AFP. All other copyright © 2004 EUbusiness Ltd. All rights reserved. This material is intended solely for ***************************************************************** 11 NRC: Meeting Transcripts and Slides for 2004 U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission [ border=] Date Description 06/02/2004 Meeting with Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS) + Slides + Transcript 06/02/2004 Briefing on Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Program + Transcript 05/27/2004 Chairman Discussion with Energy Daily + Transcript + [http://videocast.nih.gov/ram/nrc052704.ram] 05/26/2003 All Employees Meetings - Afternoon Session + Transcript + Meeting SRM 05/26/2003 All Employees Meetings - Morning Session + Transcript + Meeting SRM 05/20/2004 Affirmation Session + Transcript + Meeting SRM 05/11/2004 Briefing on Status of Office of International Programs (OIP) Programs, Performance, and Plans + Slides + Transcript + Meeting SRM 05/11/2004 Affirmation Session + Transcript + Meeting SRM 05/10/2004 Briefing on Grid Stability and Offsite Power Issues + Slides + Transcript + Meeting SRM 05/04/2004 Briefing on Results of the Agency Action Review Meeting + Slides + Transcript + Meeting SRM 05/04/2004 Affirmation Session + Transcript + Meeting SRM 04/21/2003 Affirmation Session + Transcript + Meeting SRM 04/13/2004 Briefing on Status of Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research (RES) Programs, Performance, and Plans + Slides + Transcript + Meeting SRM 03/24/2004 Briefing on Status of Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation (NRR) Programs, Performance, and Plans + Slides + Transcript + Meeting SRM 03/24/2004 Affirmation Session + Transcript + Meeting SRM 03/23/2004 Briefing on Status of Office of Nuclear Security and Incident Response (NSIR) Programs, Performance, and Plans + Slides + Transcript + Meeting SRM 03/09/2004 Briefing on Status of Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards (NMSS) Programs, Performance, and Plans - Material Safety + Slides + Transcript + Meeting SRM 03/04/2004 Briefing on Status of Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards (NMSS) Programs, Performance, and Plans - Waste Safety + Slides + Transcript + Meeting SRM 03/03/2004 25th Anniversary of Three Mile Island (TMI) Unit 2 Accident Presentation + Chairman Diaz - Opening Remarks + Chairman Diaz - Panel Remarks + Commissioner McGaffigan - Panel Remarks + Commissioner Merrifield - Panel Remarks + Transcript 03/02/2004 Meeting with the Advisory Committee on the Medical Uses of Isotopes (ACMUI) and NRC Staff + Slides + Transcript + Meeting SRM 03/02/2004 Affirmation Session + Transcript + Meeting SRM 02/26/2004 Status of Davis Besse Lessons Learned Task Force Issues + Slides + Transcript + Meeting SRM 02/18/2004 Briefing on Status of Office of Chief Financial Officer Programs, Performance, and Plans + Slides + Transcript + Meeting SRM 02/18/2004 Affirmation Session + Transcript + Meeting SRM 02/05/2004 Affirmation Session + Transcript + Meeting SRM 01/30/2004 Affirmation Session + Transcript + Meeting SRM 01/14/2004 Affirmation Session + Transcript + Meeting SRM 01/14/2004 Briefing on Status of Office of Chief Information Officer Programs, Performance and Plans + Slides + Transcript + Meeting SRM 01/08/2004 Affirmation Session + Transcript + Meeting SRM Last revised Tuesday, June 08, 2004 ***************************************************************** 12 Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter: Council against sale of power plant Posted June 08, 2004 BY TARA MEISSNER Herald Times Reporter MANITOWOC — Mayor Kevin Crawford and the Common Council oppose the sale of the Kewaunee Nuclear Power Plant to Dominion Energy Resources Inc., of Virginia. “It will have a devastating impact on rates,” Crawford told the council’s Committee of the Whole on Monday night. Dominion is proposing a $220 million purchase price for the 535-megawatt plant, owned by Wisconsin Public Service Corp. of Green Bay and Wisconsin Power. Completion of the sale is expected in the second half of the year. The companies’ purchase power agreement guarantees rates through 2013 when the nuclear plant’s operating license expires. The Common Council unanimously passed a resolution opposing the sale, because of concerns regarding potential rate increases after the current license expires. According to the resolution, if the Public Service Commission approves the sale, the state of Wisconsin will lose the authority to: n set the cost of service electricity rates for Kewaunee’s output; n rule on the reasonableness of plant expense; n review major construction requests; n enforce certain plant maintenance standards; and n review any subsequent plans by Dominion to sell the plant to a third party. The resolution indicates the sale will set precedent for the deregulation of the state’s electric industry. Crawford said the deregulation of the industry would have a negative impact on job creation in the state, and hamper residents’ ability to afford basic needs such as heat and refrigeration. States such as California and Montana, which surrendered state jurisdiction and oversight of their electric industry “are now finding it nearly impossible to reassert jurisdiction in those areas,” the resolution states, in part. Alderman Jim Brey questioned if the resolution would really be considered in the PSC’s decision regarding the plant sale. Crawford is confident the resolution will have an impact. It will be formally submitted as evidence at the PSC’s public hearing on June 24, in Manitowoc. Copies are being sent to members of the Wisconsin congressional delegation, Gov. Jim Doyle and other state leaders. The plant, which is located on Lake Michigan about 35 miles southeast of Green Bay, was built in 1968 and became operational in 1973. Tara Meissner: (920) 686-2137 or TMeissner@gannett.com Copyright © 2004 ***************************************************************** 13 NRC: Sunshine Act Meeting FR Doc 04-13018 [Federal Register: June 8, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 110)] [Notices] [Page 32070] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr08jn04-120] Agency Holding The Meeting: Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Date: Weeks of 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 June 7, 2004 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. Week of July 12, 2004--Tentative Tuesday, July 13, 2004 2:15 p.m. Discussion of Security Issues (Closed--Ex. 1) *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*] * * * * The NRC provides reasonable accommodation to individuals with disabilities where appropriate. If you need a reasonable accommodation to participate in this meeting, or need this meeting notice or the transcript or other information from the meeting in another format (e.g. braille, large print), please notify the NRC's Disability Program Coordinator, August Spector, at 301-415-7080, TDD: 301-415-2100, or by e-mail at aks@nrc.gov [aks@nrc.gov] . Determinations on requests for reasonable accommodation will be made on a case-by-case basis. * * * * * 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: June 3, 2004. Dave Gamberoni, Office of the Secretary. [FR Doc. 04-13018 Filed 6-4-04; 11:31 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-M ***************************************************************** 14 EU Commissioner Figel: Nuclear power station shutdown date has to be observed - Slovensko.com Wednesday, 09 June 2004 02:57 in Bratislava Tue 08 Jun 04, 15:13 RSI [http://www.rsi.sk/] Slovak European Commissioner Jan Figel said in Vienna Monday that the original date of the planned shutdown of old reactors at the nuclear power station in Jaslovske Buhunice, west Slovakia, should be observed. Reacting to Slovak Economy Minister Pavol Rusko's recent statement that the terms of the closure of the old nuclear reactors should be reconsidered, Figel said that the theme of nuclear energy was the most sensitive area in Bratislava's accession talks with the European Union. "The agreements must be observed," Figel said. Copyright © 1998-2004 Slovensko.com ***************************************************************** 15 Tri-City Herald: Beryllium probe shows no exposure This story was published Tuesday, June 8th, 2004 By Chris Mulick Herald Olympia bureau A Department of Energy-commissioned investigation concludes a watchdog organization's allegations criticizing Fluor Hanford's beryllium detection procedures "were partially substantiated in most cases." But the investigation also found there was no worker or public exposure. The issue revolves around equipment used in a central Hanford machine shop that is being prepared for shipment off the nuclear reservation to Parsons Hanford Fabricators Inc. in Pasco. Work stopped March 1 in the 272W building -- once home to an alloy containing beryllium back in Hanford's plutonium production days -- when a worker questioned whether efforts to detect any remaining particles were adequate. Exposure to beryllium can cause an incurable lung disease in people with an allergic-like sensitivity to the metal. The report, compiled by a five-member team of experts, said the contractor's risk assumptions "were not sufficiently protective" and that its "hazard analyses lacked sufficient rigor due to use of limited data." Fluor does not contest the report's lone official finding -- that it should have been providing monitoring information to all affected employees, not just those who were monitored -- nor the other concerns raised in the report, said spokesman Geoff Tyree. The company now posts monitoring information in the facility for all to see. Fluor sent a new data sampling plan to DOE last week with new provisions for taking more samples from more places. "The protection of our work force and the public is our primary concern," Fluor Hanford President Ron Gallagher wrote in a letter Monday to employees. Work could resume at the facility within days if the federal agency approves the new sampling plan or could be delayed further if more information is needed, said spokeswoman Colleen Clark. "We're not in a hurry," she said. Heart of America Director Gerald Pollet was mostly critical of the report, saying investigators should have contacted him about his allegations and that the team was not independent because four of the members work for DOE. "They fail Investigations 101," Pollet said. "They never even called me." But he also felt vindicated. "The only reason we don't have a more serious set of violations is we stopped them in time," he said. Confirming an earlier analysis that no workers had been exposed to beryllium, the report also indicated that minimum federal requirements were met in most cases and there was insufficient evidence to make a determination in a few others. The report questioned Fluor's strategy of collecting samples from relatively clean surfaces, saying it "avoided the selection of locations likeliest to have contamination." It also said detection strategies, on a statistical basis, were not "sufficiently aggressive" and that practices for analyzing the threat of exposure when uncovering surfaces where contamination may have accumulated were inadequate. The equipment is being shipped to Parsons as part of a new contract to turn Hanford fabrication work over to private industry and move it off the federal Hanford site. Three shipments already had been made when work stopped, but those have since been returned for cleaning. Fluor is transferring 215 pieces of major equipment to Parsons in all, and 50 from another facility already have been sent. Many of those remaining in the 272W building already have been cleaned and are ready to be shipped. Eleven Fluor Hanford employees already have gone to work for Parsons. That number is expected to ultimately reach 50. © 2004 Tri-City Herald, Associated Press &Other Wire Services ***************************************************************** 16 AP Wire: Senators push for changes to nuclear worker program | 06/08/2004 | [Lexington Herald-Leader] NANCY ZUCKERBROD Associated Press WASHINGTON - Sick nuclear weapons workers would have an easier time getting compensated for their job-related illnesses if an amendment to the defense bill passes the Senate, senators pushing the proposal said Tuesday. The measure would move the program aimed at compensating Cold War-era nuclear workers exposed to toxic chemicals from the Energy Department to the Labor Department, which runs a separate program for workers exposed to radiation. Lawmakers have criticized the Energy Department for its management of the program. So far, less than 3 percent of people who have applied to the agency for help have been told whether their jobs contributed to their illnesses - a finding that is necessary before workers can seek lost wages or medical benefits. Lawmakers say that's not a good enough track record, considering Congress has given the agency nearly $100 million since 2000 when the law creating the compensation program was passed. "Unfortunately, DOE from the start has done a poor job processing claims, and over the past four years it has not been able to iron out its problems," Sen. Jeff Bingaman, R-N.M., said. He sponsored the bill with Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., who said the amendment would "right the wrong of sick nuclear workers who have been let down by governmental bureaucracy for years." Sen. Pete Domenici, R-New Mexico, who chairs the committee that oversees the Energy Department, is a sponsor. Another is Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, and the chairman of the Appropriations Committee. The Energy Department opposes the transfer of the program. Department spokesman Joe Davis said moving it to another agency would just delay things even further. The four-year-old law directs the Energy Department to help workers submit claims with state workers' compensation authorities instead of telling contractors to fight the claims as was done historically. Problems exist at sites where contractors are no longer around to pay the compensation bills or where contractors are not self-insured but have worker's compensation insurance from private companies. The Energy Department cannot compel private insurers to pay claims, and the current program doesn't provide a solution to that problem. The Senate amendment would fix that by requiring the federal government to pay the claims in which workers' illnesses were deemed to be job-related outright rather than requiring the contractors to do so and then get reimbursed. The level of compensation will be based on the law in the state where a claimant worked. The Energy Department is expected to spend $49 million this year on the program. Sponsors of the Senate proposal say efficiencies associated with moving the program to Labor will keep the cost about the same. The largest number of claims has so far come from Tennessee, home to the Energy Department's Oak Ridge nuclear reservation. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., is a sponsor of the defense amendment. Most of the other claims the Energy Department has received are from people who worked for contractors at Energy Department facilities in: Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, New Mexico, Ohio, South Carolina, and Washington. The defense bill is expected to be debated next week in the Senate. The House-passed defense bill does not include the Senate provision but makes smaller changes to the Energy Department program, such as increasing fees paid to medical experts who review claims. ON THE NET http://www.eh.doe.gov/advocacy/prog_stats/index.html [http://www.eh.doe.gov/advocacy/prog_stats/index.html] ***************************************************************** 17 Nebraska StatePaper: Can Nebraska Negotiate An End To Nuke Dump Lawsuit? ne.StatePaper.com Tuesday, June. 08, 2004 Cross your fingers. Nebraska might be approaching the beginning of the end of a fight over a nuclear waste dump. Representatives of the Central Interstate Nuclear Waste Compact Commission the one that wanted to stick Nebraska with the dump will meet today in Lincoln. A discussion of Nebraskas desire to reach an out-of-court settlement in a major lawsuit is on the agenda, the Associated Press reported. Federal courts have held that the commission is entitled to collect $151 million dollars in damages plus interest from Nebraska. The commission includes Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana. U.S. District Judge Richard Kopf held that the administration of former Gov. Ben Nelson was politically motivated and acted in bad faith when it refused to license construction of the nuclear waste dump. The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that ruling. Nelson has consistently maintained that the license was refused solely on the basis of safety concerns. He said the state didnt get a fair hearing in front of Kopf. Nebraska joined the commission in 1983. In 1987, the commission voted to locate the multi-state dump in Nebraska. In 2003, the other commission members kicked Nebraska out of the organization. The could still appeal the case to the U.S. Supreme Court. Gov. Mike Johanns has said several times that he would prefer to settle the lawsuit. The AP report cited comments from Greg Hayden, Nebraskas representative to the commission, and from commission attorney Shawn Renner. Renner said the commission would discuss the Nebraska case during a closed session. © 2004 Nebraska StatePaper.com ***************************************************************** 18 OneWorld.net: Senate Approves Reclassification of Radioactive Waste As 'Incidental' http://www.oneworld.net 09 June 2004 Environment News Service (ENS) Senate Lowers Standard for High-Level Nuclear Waste Cleanup As the leaders of the eight most industrialized countries gather at Sea Island on the coast of Georgia this week, about 150 miles inland at the Savannah River Nuclear Site much of America's most radioactive waste sits in huge tanks, several of which are leaking. Some of that high-level waste will remain in the tanks instead of being enclosed in glass and buried in an underground repository, if a measure passed by the U.S. Senate last week becomes law. On Thursday, senators approved language as part of the 2005 Defense Department budget that allows the U.S. Energy Department to reclassify millions of gallons of high-level wastes as "incidental" thereby lowering the standard for cleanup. The reclassification would give the department the authority to leave the waste on site, a move opposed by environmentalists and Senate critics as irresponsible and unsafe. The Senate rejected an amendment by Democrats to strip language from budget bill to allow reclassification of the waste. The language was added to the Senate bill by South Carolina Republican Lindsey Graham, who called the measure an "environmentally friendly and cost-effective" way to expedite cleanup of 37 million gallons of liquid radioactive waste at the site and save billions of dollars. Federal law currently requires the government to encapsulate this waste in glass and bury it deep underground as set forth in the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 and the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982. "Ninety-nine percent of the waste would be removed from the tanks and turned into glass logs for eventual shipment to the permanent long-term storage site at Yucca Mountain, Nevada," said Graham. "Some residual waste, less than two inches deep, will remain in the tank and be mixed with concrete and grout. Removal of this material is impractical and poses dangers to worker safety. The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control would be given veto power over residual waste left in the tank and would determine when the tank is clean enough to be closed," Graham explained. “Because of this agreement, we’re looking to do it 23 years ahead of schedule and at a cost savings to the taxpayer of almost $16 billion,” said Graham. “It is a good plan for the Site, state, and the nation.” At issue is high-level radioactive waste stored in 51 massive underground tanks at the site, which contain more than half the radioactivity in the entire U.S. nuclear weapons complex. The Savannah River Site is located along 28 miles of the Savannah River between Aiken, South Carolina and Augusta, Georgia. The Energy Department is keen to grout the waste in the tanks and leave it on site, but for this to be legal, the waste must be reclassified as less hazardous. Last year a federal court in Idaho rejected the Department of Energy's attempt do this through a rulemaking process - the administration has appealed that ruling but has pressed Congress to provide it with a legislative remedy. Graham and proponents noted the rider has the support of South Carolina's governor. In a May 20 letter to Graham, Governor Mark Sanford, a Republican, wrote, "This Administration is concerned about the prospect of long-term storage of radioactive waste in aging tanks at the Savannah River Site. Under the current Nuclear Waste Policy Act, the cleanup process could leave the waste in those storage tanks for an additional 30 years." "Most important," wrote Sanford, "is ensuring that the State of South Carolina will be able to retain an oversight role in the cleanup process. According to analysis by the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control, the state's environmental regulatory agency, the clean up process will still require an equal partnership with the State." But officials in states with similar radioactive waste storage tanks – Idaho and Washington – oppose the language and fear it will give the Energy Department a precedent to force them into accepting a similar deal. Washington Democratic Senator Maria Cantwell, who authored the defeated amendment to strip Graham's language out of the legislation, remained defiant. “Let's see what the rest of America is saying about this because I guarantee this debate will not end today,” she told colleagues. Washington Senator Maria Cantwell proposed an amendment that would have removed all nuclear waste from tanks at the Savannah River Site. (Photo courtesy Office of the Senator) Cantwell is concerned because the huge Hanford Nuclear Site located in south-central Washington with its aging, leaking tanks of high-level radioactive waste presents the same problems as the Savannah River Site. Tanks at Savannah River are leaking, said Cantwell, and so are the waste tanks at Hanford. "The Hanford Reservation in Washington State has 50 million gallons of highly radioactive nuclear waste that is already leaking into the ground water." "No one in the region wants to believe that somehow radionuclides are now in the Columbia River, which, in fact, they are, and that it is going to grow to an amount where we cannot protect humans, fish, and safe drinking water," Cantwell said. "Similar leakage is happening at Savannah River." What bothers the critics of Graham's provision to leave some waste in the tanks and grout it, is that the Department of Energy (DOE) is using this budget bill to get around going through the formal procedure of reclassifying the high-level waste as less hazardous. "If DOE and the State of South Carolina had the authority to make a decision on this and work together, why don't they just do it?" asked Cantwell on the Senate floor. "If they are not trying to change existing law, why don't they just come together and make an agreement on cleanup?" "They are not," she said, "because they are trying to change existing law. They are trying to change the definition of what is high-level waste. They are trying to do that without having the proper hearings, without going through the proper committees of jurisdiction, without giving people enough time and enough notice on this issue." Waste is vitrified at the Savannah River Site's Defense Waste Processing Facility. (Photo courtesy BNFL Inc.) The other senator from South Carolina, Fritz Hollings, joined Cantwell in the amendment to strip Graham's language from the Defense Authorization Bill. Senator Hollings wants no radioactive waste left at Savannah River, because he says the site is too dangerous for it to be stored there. Hollings said he was warned 49 years ago, when he was lieutenant governor of South Carolina "that the Savannah River was not a place for permanent storage." "We had the Tuscaloosa aquifer, which is the water supply going into the Savannah River that now furnishes Savannah, Augusta, and other cities along that river their water supply." "Otherwise, it is on the very edge of an earthquake fault. The earthquake fault comes right through from Calhoun County to Orangeburg County over to Aiken County." Environmental groups are critical of the plan to reclassify high-level nuclear waste as "incidental," grout it and allow it to remain in waste tanks at Savannah River. Senator Hollings read into the record a letter he received from the South Carolina Wildlife Federation which said, "Merely changing the name of the waste from high-level with the wave of a magic wand does not make the risk to the environment any less." "Failing to clean up the tanks and remove the waste can lead to serious long-lasting pollution of the Savannah River and the groundwater resources of South Carolina, resources that provide water for drinking, industry, and agriculture," said the state wildlife federation. "The Savannah River is also an extremely important recreational resource for boating and fishing, and it provides critical wildlife habitat for diverse fishery, waterfowl and other species." But the Department of Energy is spending no time on these concerns. On Thursday, immediately after the Senate turned down the Cantwell-Hollings amendment and voted to allow grouted radioactive waste to remain on the Savannah River Site, Deputy Secretary of Energy Kyle McSlarrow directed the DOE to proceed with the Salt Waste Processing Facility in Savannah River. As far back as 2002, the DOE contracted with British Nuclear Fuels Ltd., Inc and Foster Wheeler USA to produce a conceptual design for a demonstration scale Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF) at the Savannah River Site capable of processing 15 percent of the amount of waste that might eventually be put through the facility. The absorption/filtration process will remove actinides and a solvent extraction process will separate highly active cesium from a sodium salt solution. The separated actinides and cesium streams will be sent the Defense Waste Processing Facility at the Savannah River Site to be encased in glass in a process called vitrification. The bulk sodium salt stream will be sent to the Saltstone Grout Facility. "There are approximately 34 million gallons of waste stored in tanks at SRS that will require salt processing," the DOE said. Although Senator Graham and his supporters said the reclassification language only addresses the waste at the South Carolina site, McSlarrow immediately issued a directive that would apply to "storage tanks in Idaho and Washington." “There remain issues relating to the final disposition of waste in Idaho and Washington," McSlarrow said, promising to negotiate with these states "to find a mutually agreeable solution that resolves these issues.” There is no similar language in the House Department of Defense budget bill. If it is included in the final Senate version of the spending bill, conference committee members will have to add it in the final committee report. The 48-48 Senate vote fell along party lines, with Republicans opposing the amendment and Democrats supporting the removal of the waste reclassification language. Only one Democrat – Georgia’s Zell Miller opposed the Cantwell-Hollings amendment; three Republicans - Pennsylvania’s Arlen Specter, Oregon’s Gordon Smith, Arizona’s John McCain - and the Senate’s lone Independent, Vermont’s James Jeffords, voted to strike the waste reclassification language from the bill. The senators not voting were Colorado Republican Ben Campbell and three Democrats – North Carolina’s John Edwards, Montana’s Max Baucus, and presidential candidate John Kerry of Massachusetts. Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2004. All Rights ***************************************************************** 19 IOL: Radioactive water leak fuels nuclear controversy [http://home.iol.ie] 07/06/2004 - 19:59:30 About 3,000 litres of radioactive water leaked at a troubled nuclear power plant in the Czech Republic close to the Austrian border, officials in Prague said today. They said the accident on Sunday at the plant in Temelin did not contaminate the environment – but it is likely to fuel concerns in non-nuclear Austria about the controversial power station. Plant spokesman Milan Nebesar said the water – equivalent to 800 gallons - leaked early on Sunday at the plant’s second unit, which had been shut down for repairs since Wednesday. “Some 3,000 litres have leaked, but it happened in a closed area and all the water went to a special tank through a special sewage system,” Nebesar said. He blamed the leak on a broken tube on which the flow of water is measured. The plant’s first unit has been shut down since mid-April for routine maintenance. It is expected to be back on line in mid-July. Located 35 miles north of the Austrian border, the plant has been a source of friction between the Czech Republic and Austria for more than 10 years. While the Austrian government has eased pressure on the Czechs, environmentalists in Austria consider the plant unsafe and want it closed. The Czech government says it is safe. © Thomas Crosbie Media, 2004. ***************************************************************** 20 chillicothe gazette: Initiative given grant funds - www.chillicothegazette.com Tuesday, June 8, 2004 By DANIEL PRAZER Gazette Staff Writer PIKETON -- The U.S. Department of Energy has awarded a $250,000 grant to the Southern Ohio Diversification Initiative, the group charged with helping the community cope with the job loss suffered when the gaseous diffusion process was mothballed at the Piketon uranium enrichment plant. Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham and Rep. Rob Portman, R-Terrace Park, made the announcement Monday morning at Lunken Field, an airport in Cincinnati. "The money's going to go toward enhancing the skills of the regional workforce by offering early education assistance and job retraining for workers at the DOE's Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant as the nation transitions toward a post-Cold War future," said Kyle Downey, a spokesman from Portman's office. SODI board chairman Randy Runyon accepted the check. He said the money will help the group continue and expand programs. "It's basically operational for us," he said. "We have, now, efforts going on in the industrial park in Zahns Corner, which SODI operates directly." SODI also has stakes in other regional industrial parks, but part of making a site successful is aggressive marketing. The money, he said, may allow SODI to hire a full-time marketing employee to enhance the current staff of two full-time employees. By marketing both the sites and the labor force in southern Ohio, Runyon said, SODI can help workers find and keep jobs. "We're always looking for opportunities to move the workforce around," he said. SODI Executive Director Greg Simonton said the money will help ensure the public's involvement as the plant's future use is decided. Public meetings are the main vehicle SODI uses to gather community input on the site's end-use and, by extension, the level of cleanup the site will see. But the grant is more to Simonton than just operating funds. "It demonstrates the commitment that the Department (of Energy) has to work with the local communities as we move forward," he said. "They have taken part ownership of the programs the community has prioritized, and so much so that they are willing to put together funding to achieve goals that the department and the community have jointly prioritized." (Prazer can be reached at 772-9364 or via e-mail at dprazer@nncogannett.com) [dprazer@nncogannett.com] Originally published Tuesday, June 8, 2004 Copyright ©2004 Chillicothe Gazette. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 21 AP Wire: Ruling upholds withholding information from newspaper | 06/07/2004 | [Lexington Herald-Leader] CHARLES WOLFE Associated Press FRANKFORT, Ky. - A newspaper that wanted to know about financial incentives the state offered to a major industrial prospect has lost an appeal under the Open Records Act. In a ruling made public Monday, the attorney general's office upheld the Cabinet for Economic Development in its partial denial of the request by The Paducah Sun. At issue were incentives offered in an attempt to persuade a federal contractor - United States Enrichment Corp., or USEC - to build two plants in McCracken County - a demonstration plant to test a new technology for processing uranium and a plant for actual manufacturing, using a new gas centrifuge technology. USEC instead decided to put both plants in Piketon, Ohio. Economic Development Secretary Gene Strong said in January that Kentucky had offered one of the largest incentive packages in its history - more than the $125 million offered by Ohio. The cabinet released some documents to the newspaper. But it said the incentive offers were "preliminary in nature" and thus generally protected from public disclosure. The offers never legally got any farther because USEC never actually applied for them, the agency said. Appealing for all the records, The Paducah Sun's attorney, Mark Whitlow, argued that "when negotiations cease irrevocably," incentive offers "are no longer preliminary and should be open for inspection and review by Kentucky residents." Cabinet attorney Catherine Staib countered that negotiations between the state and a corporate prospect are never complete until agreements are signed and approved by the appropriate board - in this case, the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority. "Anything up to that point is subject to change and is preliminary," Staib wrote. She also said "competition between the states in this arena is fierce," and disclosure of even a preliminary offer to USEC might hamper the state's efforts to find another company to take over the old plant USEC will phase out in Paducah. The attorney general's office agreed. Writing the opinion, Assistant Attorney General James M. Ringo said the cabinet "adequately explained the need for governmental confidentiality with respect to the records at issue." ***************************************************************** 22 kgw: Hanford contractor hires experts to review health program News for Oregon and SW Washington | AP Wire 06/08/2004 Associated Press A contractor accused of exposing workers to toxic vapors at the Hanford nuclear reservation has hired a team of national experts to evaluate and possibly improve its health program. CH2M Hill Hanford Group announced the changes Monday, saying the experts will evaluate the company's approach to chemical vapor monitoring and identify any steps that could further strengthen its health program. "We're leaving no stone unturned in making sure we have an aggressive health monitoring program in place," Robert Iotti, president of Colorado-based CH2M Hill's Nuclear Business Group, said in a news release. "We want to ensure we have a topflight health and safety program and that employees and the public have the utmost confidence in it." The changes follow a report last week by the Energy Department's inspector general, clearing the contractor of any criminal conduct involving ammonia vapor readings. About 53 million gallons of radioactive liquid, sludge and saltcake sit in 177 underground tanks less than 10 miles from the Columbia River. Plans call for turning much of that waste into glass logs and burying it at a nuclear waste repository. Months ago, a government watchdog group alleged that workers at the Hanford tanks were being endangered to speed cleanup. The Government Accountability Project reported that more than 90 workers had sought medical care for exposure to vapors from the tanks in the past two years. CH2M Hill and the Energy Department, which manages the cleanup, have said most of the chemicals are diluted and pose no danger to workers. Following the claims, the company has hired more industrial hygiene specialists, increased vapor monitoring and enhanced worker protection in the tank farms. The team hired to review the health program will include experts in the areas of epidemiology, toxicology, occupational medicine and industrial hygiene, the company said. For 40 years, the Hanford reservation made plutonium for the nation's nuclear weapons arsenal. Today, work there centers on a $50 billion to $60 billion cleanup to be finished by 2035 under an accelerated schedule pushed by the Bush administration. 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. © Belo Interactive Inc. ***************************************************************** 23 Cincinnati Enquirer: Fix glitches in Fernald cleanup [http://www.cincinnati.com] Tuesday, June 8, 2004 Editorial New glitches have brought the $4 billion cleanup at Fernald's former nuclear weapons plant to another standstill. Federal and state officials along with cleanup contractor Fluor Fernald need to quickly revive the plan to remove 153 million pounds of "low-level" radioactive waste from three concrete silos - but not at the cost of public or worker safety. Those silos in northwest Hamilton County date from the Cold War 1950s. Fluor could earn a $250 million bonus if it completes Fernald's cleanup by a June 2006 deadline, but the contractor and the Department of Energy (DOE) face serious hang-ups at both ends of the plan. Fluor's technology for removing and packaging the radioactive powder grossly failed a test run on May 18, and Nevada Attorney General Brian Sandoval has threatened to sue DOE to keep Fernald's waste from being trucked to the Nevada Test Site 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas. It's up to DOE to make the next move. DOE lawyers assured Sandoval that they will give the state 45 days notice before the trucks start rolling. That would allow him plenty of time to file suit. DOE abandoned an earlier plan to truck Fernald's silo waste to Utah. Now Nevada, bristling over getting stuck with the Yucca Mountain repository for highly radioactive waste, also is balking at low-level waste going to the Nevada Test Site. Fernald's waste includes thorium which emits cancer-causing radon gas. Nevada's Sandoval has asked the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to take over jurisdiction for silo wastes at Fernald. DOE officials all along have pushed to make Fernald one of the first contaminated sites to be cleaned up, and say they will go ahead with removal even if Nevada sues. Both U.S. EPA and Ohio EPA warned Fluor that if the silo waste were removed, packaged for shipment but stored even temporarily on site, it would violate DOE's own rules. They have to treat, load and ship it in one continuous flow. The citizens group Fernald Residents for Environmental Safety and Health (FRESH) strongly objects to DOE and Fluor taking the waste out of the silos until they identify a clear path forward. But the residents group also wants action. FRESH president Lisa Crawford said, "We think DOE should give Nevada the 45-day notice." DOE and Fluor already failed with an earlier plan in the mid-1990s to encapsulate Fernald waste in glass. The pilot plant blew tens of millions of dollars. The new method tested in May went awry and accidentally dumped test material on the ground. Luckily, it was fly ash, not radioactive waste. Fluor officials say they have fixed the computer program that controls dumping powder from a chute into bags moving along a conveyor belt. The 2006 cleanup deadline is looking more iffy all the time. DOE should keep pushing, but too much of a rush could cost taxpayers millions more plus added environmental damage. Or mail to: The Cincinnati Enquirer Letters to the Editor 312 Elm Street Cincinnati, OH 45202 Copyright [http://cincinnati.com/copyright] 1995-2004. The Cincinnati Enquirer [http://enquirer.com] , a Gannett Co. Inc. ***************************************************************** 24 U.S. Newswire: Energy Secretary Abraham Announces Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center in Cincinnati, Ohio 6/7/2004 11:10:00 AM To: National Desk, Energy Reporter Contact: Chris Kielich of the Department of Energy, 202-586-5806 CINCINNATI, Ohio, June 7 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham today announced the selection of the greater Cincinnati area as the site for the Department of Energy's (DOE) national Consolidated Business Center (CBC) for DOE's Environmental Management program. Joined by Rep. Rob Portman, the Secretary stated that the Cincinnati region will serve as a central clearinghouse for a wide range of activities supporting DOE's national environmental cleanup mission from financial management and contracting to human resources and information resource management. The Secretary also presented the Southern Ohio Development Initiative (SODI) with a $250,000 Economic Development Grant. SODI is the local Community Re-use Organization for the communities surrounding DOE's Portsmouth, Ohio site. "This Consolidated Business Center will combine essential business and technical support services in one location to serve DOE's environmental management efforts all over the country," Secretary Abraham said. "In short, it will allow us to do our job better, more efficiently, and at greater savings to the taxpayers." Cincinnati was chosen for the CBC site after studying more than 300 metropolitan statistical areas around the United States. Criteria examined included available flights and airline accessibility, housing costs, local taxes, and quality of life factors including crime rates and the availability of quality medical services. Ohio has a distinguished history producing materials for our nation's nuclear weapons program. That work, at sites like Ashtabula, Mound, Portsmouth and Fernald - as well as other locations around the country - helped win both World War II and the Cold War. The Energy Department is charged with cleaning up the legacy of that nuclear weapons work. The location to house the CBC is under review. DOE anticipates having the center operational within the next nine months. The Economic Development Grant awarded to SODI today will enhance the skills of the regional work force by offering early education assistance and job retraining to workers at DOE's Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant as the nation transitions to a post-Cold War future. SODI is also investigating ways to maintain the future viability of the plant as an industrial site. With this grant, DOE has committed nearly $15 million over the last seven years for community transition activities with SODI, which has preserved and created jobs and built several state-of- the-art industrial parks. To date, through SODI's efforts, a total of approximately 2,000 jobs have been created or retained. An additional 2,000 jobs are expected to be created by the end of FY 2006. [http://www.usnewswire.com/] /© 2004 U.S. Newswire 202-347-2770/ ***************************************************************** 25 Cincinnati Enquirer: Site here to control nuclear cleanups [http://www.cincinnati.com] Tuesday, June 8, 2004 125 jobs coming By Gregory Korte The Cincinnati Enquirer The cleanup of former nuclear energy sites from Washington state to South Carolina will soon be managed from a federal office in Cincinnati, bringing about 125 jobs to the area, U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said Monday. The department's new Consolidated Business Center is part of a reorganization of the Department of Energy to centralize the department's environmental management activities. Each year, the government spends $7 billion to clean up 38 former nuclear processing sites such as Fernald in Crosby Township. With that list changing each year as projects are closed and others are added to the list, it makes sense to centralize accounting, human resources and information technology in Cincinnati, Abraham said. "It will allow us the do the job better, more efficiently and at greater savings to the American taxpayer," he said. Abraham's announcement came during a one-hour fly-in visit to Cincinnati's Lunken Airport, hosted by U.S. Rep. Rob Portman, R-Terrace Park, and attended by members of the Greater Cincinnati and Clermont County chambers of commerce. The department hopes to have the office open within nine months, but a specific site hasn't been determined. It could be downtown or suburban, in an existing federal office building or leased commercial space, Abraham said. Portman's presence - and the presence of Clermont County business leaders - suggested that it's likely to be on the east side, in Portman's 2nd Congressional District. Abraham, however, denied that politics played a part in the decision. If anything, the former Michigan senator joked that he had personal reasons to locate the office here. His mother was born in Ohio. "I don't want to give the impression that there's a bias, but a certain fondness exists," he said. Abraham, the first of three high-level Bush administration officials scheduled to visit Cincinnati Monday and today, said Cincinnati won out over about 300 American cities under consideration. There were 17 finalists. Ohio's history of being a leading Cold War center of uranium production and the proximity of Energy Department facilities at Fernald, Piketon and Paducah, Ky., played a small part in the department's decision to locate here, Abraham said. The bigger factors were the overall quality of life and the international airport, he said. "It's a wonderful place, in our judgment." The jobs will pay an average of $70,000 - "the kind of high-paying, high-technology jobs we need in this region," said Portman, who also touted the spin-off benefits to the economy should Energy Department contractors open offices here. The federal government is already an important source of jobs in Cincinnati, one of the smallest of the 28 cities outside of Washington deemed a "major center of government activity" under a 43-year-old executive order. With more than 14,000 employees in the region, the federal government is the area's second-largest employer after the University of Cincinnati, according to the Cincinnati Federal Executive Board. About 4,800 of those jobs are at the Internal Revenue Service's processing center in Covington. E-mail [gkorte@enquirer.com] [http://cincinnati.com/copyright] 1995-2004. [http://enquirer.com] , a [http://www.gannett.com] newspaper. [http://cincinnati.com/copyright] updated 12/19/2002. ***************************************************************** 26 Oak Ridger: Y-12 under lock, minus keys Story last updated at 11:46 a.m. on June 8, 2004 CHANGES: Security initiatives in line with energy secretary's proposed plans. By: Paul Parson | Oak Ridger Staff paul.parson@oakridger.com [paul.parson@oakridger.com] A pilot program at Oak Ridge's nuclear weapons plant will result in keyless security locks being implemented and in use by late summer. It's part of an initiative BWX Technologies Inc. recently launched to make security improvements at nuclear facilities the company owns and those it has a hand in operating for the federal government. The Y-12 National Security Complex is managed by BWXT Y-12 - an alliance between BWX Technologies and Bechtel National Inc. Installation of the locks is a timely upgrade given that Y-12 was one of several federal facilities to have reported missing keys in the past year. Between 200 to 250 keys turned up missing from the Oak Ridge plant. The initiatives also follow a May announcement by Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham regarding proposed new security measures for the nation's nuclear weapons complex. His proposal included possibly federalizing some security units currently managed by contractors; consolidating sensitive nuclear material into fewer locations; implementing a keyless security environment at facilities; and enhancing protections of classified computer information. Prior to Abraham's announcement, officials had already adopted another Y-12 security initiative that involves a "diskless strategy" for its classified desktop computing environment, according to a news release. Much of the implementation for this strategy was completed by October 2003, beginning with a server-based computing technology that allows use of desktop workstations with no disk storage or media-writing capability. Y-12 officials are also working on a storage facility that will consolidate the plant's stockpile of weapons-useable uranium. "Security will always be our top priority at BWXT Y-12," Dennis Ruddy, president and general manager of the company, noted in a prepared statement. Ruddy said he fully supports the corporate security initiatives recently announced by John Fees, president of BWX Technologies. Richard W. Loving was appointed chief security officer and will lead the multi-tiered security program. "Butch Clements, (Y-12's) manager of safeguards and security, and our entire security team look forward to working with Rick Loving as this program goes forward," Ruddy stated. ***************************************************************** 27 Oak Ridger: Flight delay grounds EPA Story last updated at 11:51 a.m. on June 8, 2004 RESIDENT: Oak Ridge has suffered enough 'ridiculous statements,' and enough is enough. By: Paul Parson | Oak Ridger Staff paul.parson@oakridger.com [paul.parson@oakridger.com] An emergency landing and the wait for another flight resulted in an Environmental Protection Agency official missing a Monday night public forum that was supposed to address differing opinions on a report concerning uranium releases from Oak Ridge's nuclear weapons plant. The absence of Bonnie Gitlin, who works in EPA's Office of Radiation and Indoor Air, meant any concerns the office has noted about the document essentially were not addressed at the meeting. In addition, any of the concerns or disagreements on the document were virtually non existent in presentations by EPA Region 4 officials and representatives of the Agency for Toxic Substances that were prepared in advance of the forum. ATSDR - a federal public health agency involved with hazardous waste issues - prepared the report on past and current off-site exposures to uranium released from the Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant. Focusing heavily on the Scarboro neighborhood near Y-12, the document states that the releases pose "no apparent health hazard," which, according to officials, means that people could've been or were exposed, but the estimated doses weren't at levels expected to cause adverse health effects. James Lewis, an Oak Ridge resident, said he was upset that the difference of opinion on the report could not be resolved and was not addressed at the forum like it was scheduled to be. Lewis is also a member of the Oak Ridge Reservation Health Effects Subcommittee - essentially an advisory group to ATSDR. Lewis was a driving force in getting EPA officials to Oak Ridge to talk to the general public given that concerns have been raised about various forms of the document for about a year. The final version of ATSDR's report - known as a public health assessment - was released a couple of months ago. EPA's Office of Radiation and Indoor Air and Region 4 both noted some type of concern about the Y-12 document during the past year. The most negative criticism has come from the Office of Radiation and Indoor Air. "We concur with the PHA (public health assessment) for Y-12 that there are no apparent adverse health effects in the Scarboro [neighborhood] from past uranium releases," said Jeffrey Crane with EPA Region 4 Monday night. Representing the Oak Ridge Environmental Justice Committee, Oak Ridge resident Al Brooks told the forum panelists that the city has long suffered from "ridiculous exaggerations" pertaining to the community, including statements like "people glow in the dark." Brooks said the community should not be forced to endure the same type of negative impact if the concerns over the Y-12 report are the result of "jurisdictional disagreements." He read aloud a recommendation for a joint statement that EPA and ATSDR could issue to foster a better working environment. "Each agency has its own unique and different purposes, goals, objectives and methodologies for estimating the effects of environmental contamination on the exposed public," Brooks said. "The agencies will publicly critique each other's health effects estimates as they relate to a specific site only in terms of the responsible agency's accepted methodology and will refrain from inter-comparison of agencies methods. "The agencies will conduct the public discussions of the differences in agency methodologies in appropriate forums and in manners that do not relate to a specific site that is under study," he continued. "The agencies will clarify for each site which branch of the agency will speak for that agency." ***************************************************************** 28 Oak Ridger: ORNL project aims at heart of air quality, health issue Story last updated at 1:10 p.m. on June 8, 2004 from staff reports A study by Oak Ridge National Laboratory and partners aims to explain whether there is a relationship between inhalation of small particles, reduced heart rate variability and death. Heart rate variability refers to the beat-to-beat alterations in heart rate on a micro-second time scale, according to an ORNL news release. As people age, this micro-chaos tends to diminish, and there is evidence linking this condition to sudden death for people who have had previous heart attacks. The study by the lab and the University of Kentucky will address what ORNL's Roger Jenkins describes as a major flaw in previous studies that typically measure outdoor particulate concentrations. Most people, however, spend the majority of their time indoors, according to Jenkins, who works in ORNL's Chemical Sciences Division. "The big challenge - and the only way to get a real handle on the problem - is to simultaneously measure heart rate variability, respiration and particulate concentrations," said Jenkins, who has published several papers about real-world exposures to environmental tobacco smoke. According to ORNL officials, the two-year study will involve 40 participants who will be exposed to three commonly encountered indoor air pollutants. The research is funded by Philip Morris. Jenkins expects recruiting of subjects to begin in July. In each year, about 20 non-smokers between age 25 and 45 with an equal number of men and women will participate in the study. Each participant will undergo a physical examination to rule out certain risk factors such as diabetes, systemic hypertension, and respiratory and heart abnormalities. The Oak Ridge Sitewide Institutional Review Board has granted approval to use human subjects and the associated research project protocol. Each exposure cycle will be less than three hours in duration, and actual exposures to the test aerosols likely will be less than one hour. In addition, maximum concentrations of smoke and fumes will be lower than what is allowed by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration for workers for eight hours. If the study shows sufficient reason to believe there are cardio-pulmonary responses to exposures to airborne contaminants, Jenkins said there could be a follow-up project to develop instrumentation that can be worn by participants under real-world exposure conditions. ***************************************************************** 29 Oak Ridger: Shaping the future of science access Story last updated at 1:10 p.m. on June 8, 2004 from staff reports Walter Warnick, director of the Department of Energy's Office of Scientific and Technical Information, has been named chair of CENDI - an interagency working group of senior scientific and technical information managers from 11 federal agencies in the United States. CENDI agencies represent over 93 percent of the fiscal year 2004 federal research and development budget. The group addresses science- and technology-based national priorities to improve productivity of programs and to strengthen U.S. competitiveness. In addition, Warnick was recently appointed to the Depository Library Council to the Public Printer. The council addresses policy issues and seeks practical options toward efficient management and operation of the nation's Depository Library Program. Submitted Walter Warnick, director of the Department of Energy's Office of Scientific and Technical Information, recently visited the British Museum's Queen Elizabeth II Great Court Reading Room in London, during the General Assembly of the International Council for Scientific and Technical Information. Warnick, through initiatives at OSTI, works to ensure every American has access to government scientific information. According to a news release, this year's council appointees also include three university officials from Duke, South Carolina and Illinois as well as a New York Public Library representative. "These individuals have dedicated their lives to ensuring that every American has access to government information," said Public Printer of the United States Bruce James. Access to information is an area Warnick specializes in. OSTI's mission is to collect, preserve, disseminate, and leverage the scientific and technical information resources of DOE to expand the knowledge base of science and technology and facilitate scientific discovery and application. Last month, with Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham's assistance, OSTI launched Science.gov Version 2.0. "In these times of information overload, helping citizens sort through results to find the information they really need is a critical accomplishment," said Warnick. "Our staff has aggressively pursued development of groundbreaking Internet tools and technologies to help deliver science information to desktops everywhere." From the Web portal, users can find more than 1,700 government information resources about science, including technical reports, journal citations, databases, federal Web sites and fact sheets. The information is all free and no registration is required. Established in Oak Ridge by the Atomic Energy Commission during the Manhattan Project era, OSTI still houses the world's most comprehensive collection of energy-related information. This vast national resource, most of it managed electronically, is publicly available. In the past decade, OSTI has created a suite of tools and technologies for researchers and the public, including the following: * Information Bridge (www.osti.gov/bridge [http://www.osti.gov/bridge] ) - for quick Internet access to more than 80,000 searchable full-text research reports; * E-print Network (www.osti.gov/eprints [http://www.osti.gov/eprints] ) - an Online community for scientists; * Energy Citations Database (www.osti.gov/energycitations [http://www.osti.gov/energycitations] ) - a searchable repository of DOE bibliographic records from 1948 to the present; * and ScienceLab (www.osti.gov/sciencelab [http://www.osti.gov/sciencelab] ) - an education Web site touting the DOE labs and user facilities. ***************************************************************** 30 lamonitor.com: U.S. plans to cut nuclear weapons stockpile The Online News Source for Los Alamos [http://www.lac-nm.us] ROGER SNODGRASS, roger@lamonitor.com, Monitor Assistant Editor The nation's top nuclear weapons official announced a plan for a significant reduction in the total U.S. stockpile by the year 2012, the largest percentage reduction ever made in the number of nuclear weapons in the U.S. arsenal. In a teleconference Thursday afternoon, Linton F. Brooks answered questions from the press about the plan, which has been submitted to Congress as a classified report. While many details remain undisclosed to the public, Ambassador Brooks, administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration, described in a general way a proposal for meeting the commitments of the Moscow Treaty concerning operationally deployed nuclear weapons and reducing the numbers of weapons held in reserve. Brooks said the total number of weapons would be cut "almost in half," reducing the stockpile to the smallest it has been in several decades. "You have weapons that will come out of the deployed stockpile and go into the reserve," he said. "Some in the reserve will be put into the cue for dismantlement." There are two kinds of weapons in the non-deployed reserve, he noted, some considered active and some that would be inactive and awaiting dismantlement at the Pantex plant in Carson County, Texas. Work at Pantex is expected to continue at the current pace, but will last longer because the numbers of weapons to dismantle will grow. "Some of the weapons in the active stockpile are logistical spares," Brooks said. "Then, some of the reserve weapons that are a hedge against geopolitical or technical problems are also maintained in the active stockpile." The new stockpile plan will have implications for the future of the Modern Pit Facility, proposed to replace the previous pit manufacturing facility that was shut down at Rocky Flats, Colo. Two New Mexico locations, Carlsbad and Los Alamos, were on the list of potential sites for the replacement facility. Plutonium pits are the triggers for the first stage of a nuclear warhead. NNSA's selection process stalled when Congress balked at funding the facility until the makeup of the future stockpile was more clearly defined. Brooks submitted Thursday's report in response to those concerns. He said he wished the Modern Pit Facility had been named the "pit rework facility," to avoid a misconception that the new facility "has to do with some vast new build-up." Brooks said the reduction plan does not alter the need for the MPF, but probably will have a bearing on its size, suggesting it would be at the lower end of the options under consideration, but still more than could be handled by the current provisional pit-making capability at LANL's Plutonium Facility. New weapons, including modifying existing weapons to create a Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator and the smaller nuclear weapons under the Advanced Concept Initiative were not considered part of the stockpile plan, Brooks said, because they are still under study. The W-62, an ICBM warhead, a project of the Sandia and Lawrence Livermore laboratories has been scheduled to be retired in 2009. David B. Thomson, a nuclear arms control historian and member of the Los Alamos Committee on Arms Control and International Security, said, "I'm pleased that Linton has taken the position that we're going to reduce the total number of warheads based on the Moscow Treaty, but we're going to do it stage by stage and watch what the Russians do. We don't want the numbers to get out of balance." The START I Treaty signed with the former Soviet Union in 1991, included a system of verification for reducing deployed warheads, but no progress has been made on verifying non-deployed stockpile reduction. Thomson recalled that during the Senate Hearings on the Moscow Treaty, administration officials said they had brought up the issue of verifying non-deployed warheads with the Russians, but the issue was not pressed to avoid stalling the negotiations. Brooks said, "The Russians wouldn't welcome us to watch their weapons being taken apart and we wouldn't want them to watch us." Thomson said there are verification regimes where one might watch what you have left over once you taken the weapons apart. "I feel that you have to have a verification regime (for all warheads) if you're going to get the parties to agree to the low numbers that you want," he said. © 2003 Los Alamos Monitor All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 31 (Radio NZ Internat) GROUP CALLED ARENA SAYS FORUM RECOLONIZING Date: Tue, 8 Jun 2004 04:54:47 -0500 (CDT) http://pidp.eastwestcenter.org/pireport/2004/June/06-08-12.htm GROUP SAYS FORUM RECOLONIZING PACIFIC WELLINGTON, New Zealand (RNZI, June d7) - There are claims that New Zealand and Australia are recolonizing Pacific Islands nations through organizations such as the Pacific Islands Forum. In Rotorua yesterday, a group called ARENA, the Action Research and Education Network of Aotearoa, staged what it called a forum on past and present practices of colonization. It came as Forum Economic Ministers gather in Rotorua for discussions that will include the organizations plans for greater regional cooperation. The Forum says this is vital if the region is to weather the impacts of globalization. But ARENA spokesman Robert Reid says the colonization that began with the arrival of the Spanish in the Pacific is being continued through the Forums activities. Though it might be through countries acting as deputy sheriffs to the United States, nonetheless the Australia and New Zealand Governments are pushing their agenda and a colonizing agenda through institutions such as the South Pacific Forum [renamed to Pacific Islands Forum]," the group said in a statement. [ Radio New Zealand International: http://www.rnzi.com/ ] Find local movie times and trailers on Yahoo! Movies. http://au.movies.yahoo.com Google News Alert - nuclear Date: Tue, 08 Jun 2004 12:54:46 -0700 (PDT) G-8 Close to Accord on Curbing Nuclear Proliferation, US Says Bloomberg - USA ... major industrialized nations are close to an agreement designed to make it harder for terrorist groups and rogue nations to gain nuclear weapons technology, a ... See all stories on this topic: EU 'Big 3' Rebuke Iran in Draft Nuclear Resolution Reuters - USA VIENNA, Austria (Reuters) - France, Britain and Germany circulated a draft UN nuclear resolution Tuesday that sharply rebukes Iran for sluggish cooperation ... See all stories on this topic: CONCRETE Steps to Stop Nuclear Terrorism Center For American Progress - Washington,D.C.,USA ... the world's leading powers an opportunity to put serious resources and commitment behind efforts to stop terrorists from acquiring and using nuclear weapons or ... See all stories on this topic: PRAGUE criticises EU inspection of Temelin nuclear plant EUbusiness - London,UK The Czech Office of Nuclear Safety on Tuesday criticised the decision of the European Commission to dispatch a team of experts to the Czech nuclear power plant ... See all stories on this topic: GUANGDONG in line for another nuclear plant The Standard - Hong Kong Beijing wants to speed up the development of nuclear-generated electricity in Guangdong province in an attempt to counter the mainland's increasing inability ... SENATE Lowers Standard for High-Level Nuclear Waste Cleanup Environment News (subscription) - USA ... the eight most industrialized countries gather at Sea Island on the coast of Georgia this week, about 150 miles inland at the Savannah River Nuclear Site much ... See all stories on this topic: MANITOWOC Council Opposes Kewaunee Nuclear Plant Sale WBAY - Green Bay,WI,USA The Manitowoc City Council is on record in opposition to the sale of the Kewaunee nuclear power plant. The council voted Monday ... See all stories on this topic: EU Commissioner Figel: Nuclear power station shutdown date has to ... Slovakia Daily Surveyor - Bratislava,Slovakia Slovak European Commissioner Jan Figel said in Vienna Monday that the original date of the planned shutdown of old reactors at the nuclear power station in ... CHINA Says No Date Decided Yet for North Korea Nuclear Talks Bloomberg - USA ... said no date has been decided yet for the next round of six-nation talks aimed at resolving a 20-month dispute over North Korea's nuclear development program. ... See all stories on this topic: MAINTAIN nuclear moratoria: US tells India Sify - Delhi,India The United States has asked India to place its nuclear facilities under IAEA safegurards and said both New Delhi and Islamabad should maintain their nuclear ... See all stories on this topic: This daily-once News Alert is brought to you by Google News (BETA)... - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Remove this News Alert: http://www.google.com/newsalerts/remove?s=92d1672a1b037a07&hl=en Create another News Alert: http://www.google.com/newsalerts?hl=en Try Google News: http://news.google.com/ ***************************************************************** 32 Falun Gong = CIA ? Date: Tue, 8 Jun 2004 02:06:58 -0500 (CDT) Falun Gong = CIA ? -------------- Sinister motives may lurk in sect South China Morning Post/October 8, 2000 By Philip Cunningham Last October, I visited Tiananmen Square, mingling among mainland tourists and day-trippers. As I reminisced about this historic spot, where rebellious students erected their headquarters in 1989, a police van pulled over and I saw a more subdued form of protest and crackdown take place. I watched silently as a tanned, middle-aged woman sitting a few metres away was questioned brusquely by two police officers. As I reached for my camera, a man in plain clothes wearing an earphone took my photograph. I sat motionless, watching his accomplices order her into the van. She did as she was told, offering no resistance. The van took off, gliding carefully past the marble pedestal that was partly damaged by tanks and gunfire in 1989. The political portent of the event and my powerlessness in the face of it troubled me. Was this the arrest of an innocent? Was the mainland taking a step towards fascism? Who was she? Who were they? What right did they have to arrest her? How did they know if she was Falun Gong? It is a year later and I still don't know if I witnessed something evil, akin to the arrest of the gypsies in pre-war Germany or something more benign, as the central Government struggles awkwardly to persuade its citizens not to join a potentially dangerous cult. Over the past year, Falun Gong protests have been an almost daily occurrence, sometimes involving the passive disobedience of middle-aged people, sometimes daring orchestrated movements of hundreds. National Day celebrations this year were marked by more Falun Gong demonstrations at Tiananmen with more arrests. The People's Daily has sought to reassure the public that everything is under control, and that the mainland's proud harvest of 28 Olympic gold medals on this 51st National Day could not be upstaged, by comparing the Falun Gong protesters to mosquitoes at a picnic. The problem with the mosquito analogy is that almost everyone agrees it is OK to swat and destroy little buzzing things. I have tried on several occasions to read Li Hongzhi in his own words to better understand his undeniably powerful, populist movement. But his writings are long-winded, illogical and often opaque. He is cryptic at best, other times outright evasive. He talks of passing through walls and playing tricks on other gurus. He says he can fly and control people from a distance and that scientists would agree with him if scientists weren't too politicised to see the real truth. Having lived in Japan during the time of the now notorious Aum Shinrikyo cult, just hearing boastful talk of levitation and special powers by a guru with messianic intentions makes me want to cringe. It predisposes me so much against meditation groups with charismatic leaders making unscientific claims that I am ready to give the mainland Government the benefit of the doubt on this one. Falun Gong is not an exercise group, it is a cult. I can even understand, though don't necessarily agree with, Beijing's analysis of the Falun Gong threat. It's lonely at the top of the mainland's governmental pyramid and the world is a hostile place, full of potential threats. Knowing full well they are in power by fiat, not popular choice, the Communist Party is a jealous god, intent on knocking down all potential rivals for the hearts and minds of the mainland's vast populace. Home-grown protests and peasant revolts are troubling enough, but Falun Gong smacks of foreign complicity. After all, its founder, Mr Li, is based in the United States, and the US refuses to deport him. It doesn't take too bold a leap of imagination to see Mr Li as a lackey of Western anti-China forces, since he has enjoyed tacit, sometimes vocal support of pro-democracy groups, and Tibet and Taiwan separatists. As far as Beijing is concerned, Falun Gong is anti-Communist Party, which is to say anti-China, which makes it part of an international united front plotting to overthrow the Government. It is seen as part of the same nefarious American plot that employs dissidents Wei Jingsheng and Harry Wu Hongda, who "made clear their common stance" with the cultists. Beijing hates the phrase "human rights" because it loses face every time some trading partner complains about the mainland's callousness towards its own citizens. In their jaded eyes, human-rights supporters don't really care about individual rights, they just want to humiliate the mainland. These groups have therefore been characterised as anti-China fronts for the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) that use the human-rights stick to bash the motherland. Not all of this rhetoric is unreasonable. For example, Beijing argues that Falun Gong must be smashed to protect human rights. It sounds like communist doublespeak, but incredibly enough, they have a valid point despite a weak record in protecting the rights of ordinary citizens. If Falun Gong truly is a cult, it needs to be controlled. Cults are notoriously suicidal when it comes to making a point, and notably thin-skinned when it comes to media criticism. Japan's Aum and the mainland's Falun Gong are similar in respect to information control. During Aum's short, inglorious reign as an officially sanctioned new religion, the crypto-Hindu-Buddhist meditation cult targeted and harassed publications and TV stations that dared to raise questions about abuses. Cults always want to be "left alone" to pursue their ambitious apolitical agendas. When the media heat was turned up and the Japanese government investigators reluctantly decided to look into claims of disappearances and lost children, the cultists gassed the Tokyo subway, killing a dozen and injuring hundreds. Only after the cult was dismantled did the shocking story of their ruthless chilling political ambitions come to light. It turned out that they had produced enough gas to kill tens of thousands, had attempted to obtain nuclear weapons and were producing their own guns for a self-styled apocalyptic battle for supremacy in Japan. Falun Gong, when the full truth is finally known, may turn out to be far more gentle and peace-loving than Aum, but the similarities in the tip of the iceberg that we can see are unsettling. Both groups oppose objective media scrutiny, employing slick public-relations techniques of their own to deflect criticism, and avoid close attention. The earliest Falun Gong rallies in Tianjin and Beijing were designed to intimidate unfriendly media coverage, long before the group was deemed an evil cult and banned. What of the allegation that Falun Gong is part of a CIA plot to destabilise the mainland? It is theoretically possible. After all, the CIA worked with Vietnamese cults to combat Communism during Vietnam's wars with the French and Americans, as depicted in Graham Greene's The Quiet American. Unfortunately the CIA has become the icon of secret intelligence work, which means it is assumed to be more efficient and clever than it really is. (The CIA's bungled targeting of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade during the Nato strikes shows that the agency is not what it's commonly cracked up to be.) Nonetheless, from Beijing's point of view, the mere fact that "Master Li", its No 1 trouble-maker of the moment, resides in the US raises uncomfortable questions. Who expedited the 1996 immigration formalities of the then unknown guru at a time when Chinese were lining up in record numbers at US embassies and consulates to try to get permission to enter the US? In the newly published Falun Gong's Challenge to China, New York media critic Danny Schechter offers an insightful account of how anti-Falun Gong rhetoric, for all its flowery anger, was not initiated by Beijing - which tolerated the sect for a very long time - but by ex-members who had a falling out with the master. How Falun Gong Harassed Me and My Family, by He Zuoxiu, is one of the earliest texts to criticise Mr Li and his followers, in language that was later co-opted by the Government. More importantly, Schechter also hints that the Communist Party was divided on how to proceed, with Premier Zhu Rongji reportedly sympathetic to the sect (he had met key members) and President Jiang Zemin incensed about it, one of many fascinating loose ends in his report. This raises questions about the possibility that discord in Zhongnanhai, where the party leadership is based, is one reason for the discord on mainland streets. How else can we understand Beijing's 180-degree turn, going from a pointed lack of interest in a qi gong exercise group, to an unhealthy obsession with obliterating it? If such an impasse existed due to sharply divergent views in the corridors of power, it is eerily reminiscent of the conflict between former party chief Zhao Ziyang and the then premier Li Peng 10 years earlier when the party could not agree on how to handle student unrest. Needless to say, the results, played out for the world to see on Tiananmen Square, were disastrous. So what is the real story? Is Mr Jiang and the party he commands really scared of Falun Gong or are they just irritated by it, using it as a convenient "enemy" to whip the nation into line? Regardless of Mr Jiang's motives, there is no justification for kicking, beating and roughing up suspects. Furthermore, accounts of prison abuse, torture and criminal negligence leading to death are mounting and incriminating. In this respect Beijing has a lot to answer for. On the other hand, the US record in handling apocalyptic groups in the thrall of egotistical, messianic gurus is far from sterling, and shocking abuses, including murder and negligent homicide, have occurred. Yet few, besides defenders of the extremist militias behind the bombing of the federal offices in Oklahoma in 1995, would argue that the US Government is fascist and needs to be overthrown. Allowing for the possibility that many, even most, individual members have been very simple-minded about their reasons for joining, and "pure" in their motives to do whatever their guru is having them do, they are part of a political movement, whether they like it or not. Tiananmen is the most overtly political place on the mainland, and anyone who sends his or her followers to risk arrest and imprisonment by demonstrating there knows that. In September, Li Hongzhi recklessly, from the safety of exile, urged his flock to step up confrontation with police to achieve "consummation" even though it could mean death on this planetary sphere. On its characterisation of Falun Gong as a cult that aims to destabilise the regime, I think Beijing is largely in the right. Falun Gong looks, acts and smells like a cult with grandiose earthly political ambition, not to mention the interplanetary stuff. The idea that it is merely an old ladies' exercise group is disarming and disingenuous, despite the bona fide presence of followers who seek health-restoring exercise regimes. Cults thrive on pulling in political innocents who are then used as pawns in a larger political struggle. -------------- To see more documents/articles regarding this group/organization/subject click here. http://www.rickross.com/groups/falun.html --------------- http://www.rickross.com/reference/fa_lun_gong/falun193.html -------------- The Sunflower - June 2004 - Issue 85 Date: Mon, 7 Jun 2004 23:56:12 -0500 (CDT) The Sunflower is a monthly e-newsletter providing educational information on nuclear weapons abolition and other issues relating to global security. Download the complete PDF Version To receive our free monthly e-newsletter subscribe at http://www.wagingpeace.org/subscribe/ * Perspectives * Sunflower Peace Day * The Role of the United States in Nuclear Disarmament * Take Action * Lobbying Congress: WE NEED YOU! * Low-Level Nuclear Waste Deregulation Part II * Support a Congressional Amendment to Stop Funding for Nuclear "Bunker-Busters" and Other Advanced Nuclear Weapons * Nuclear Terrorism * Democratic Presidential Candidate Offers Counter-Proliferation Plan * Security at US Nuclear Sites Insufficient in Meeting Terrorist Threats * Europe Participates in "Black Hawk Down" Exercise * Aircraft Crash into UK Nuclear Plants "Could Kill Millions" * Proliferation * Iran Investigations Continue * North Korea a Player in the Nuclear Black Market Club * North Korea and US Relentless in Deadlock * UK Expanding Role in US Nuclear Plan * US Nuclear Budget * House Vote to Shift Nuclear Funds Narrowly Defeated * GAO Questions Pentagon Laser Project * Nuclear Testing * US Conducts Sub-Critical Nuclear Test * Non-Proliferation * US Unveils Global Threat Reduction Initiative * Panama Joins Proliferation Security Initiative * Pakistan Tightens Nuclear Controls * Russian Concerns on Decommissioned Submarines * International Law * 2004 NPT PrepCom Ends in Stalemate * US Attempts to Exempt Troops from ICC * Missile Defense * Scientists Reveal "Technical Realities" on US Missile Defense * Pakistan Tests Nuclear-Capable Missile * Nuclear Energy and Waste * High-Level Nuclear Waste Reclassification * Radioactive Spill Ignored by US Authorities * Radioactivity Found Near Livermore Lab * Vietnam and France Sign Nuclear Deal * Nuclear Insanity * Lovelock Advocates Nuclear Power as Solution to Climate Change * Foundation News * International Law Symposium on Charting a New Course for US Nuclear Policy * Foundation Outreach * Resources * Mini Nukes on Primetime ABC * Battle Ready by Tom Clancy, Anthony Zinni, and Tony Koltz * Securing the Bomb: An Agenda for Action * The Proliferation Security Initiative: Dead in the Water or Steaming Ahead? * Support * Support the Foundation's National Campaign to Chart a New Course for US Nuclear Policy * Quotable * Camilo Mejia, conscientious objector sentenced to prison for his stance against the Iraq War * Senator John Kerry (D-MA), Presidential Candidate * Former US Vice President Al Gore * Representative Ellen Tauscher (D-CA) * Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900), German philosopher, classical scholar, critic of culture * Irene Khan, Secretary General of Amnesty International * Editorial Team * Luke Brothers * David Krieger * Carah Ong * Justine Wang Perspectives Sunflower Peace Day | Top by David Krieger June 4th is the eighth anniversary of Sunflower Peace Day. It marks the day in 1996 when the Defense Ministers of Ukraine, Russia and the United States came together at a former missile base in Ukraine to celebrate Ukraine becoming a non-nuclear weapons state. Ukraine had inherited some 1,900 strategic nuclear warheads when the former Soviet Union split apart. Through an agreement with Russia and the US , Ukraine turned over all of these nuclear weapons to Russia for dismantlement, and the last weapons were transferred to Russia on June 1, 1996 . When the Defense Ministers gathered at the Pervomaisk military base, which once housed 80 underground silos for SS-19 missiles aimed at the United States , they held a very unusual ceremony involving the scattering of sunflower seeds and the planting of sunflowers. On this occasion, US Defense Secretary William Perry said, "Sunflowers instead of missiles in the soil will ensure peace for future generations." It was a moment of exhilaration, celebrating the complete nuclear disarmament of what was then the world's third largest nuclear weapons state. Hope was in the air. If Ukraine could make this commitment to zero nuclear weapons and carry it out, why not the other nuclear weapons states? Wouldn't "sunflowers instead of missiles in the soil" make as much sense for the US and Russia as for Ukraine ? When Ukraine gave up its nuclear weapons, Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma called upon other nations to follow in Ukraine 's footsteps and "to do everything to wipe nuclear weapons from the face of the Earth as soon as possible." Although this is excellent advice, it seems to have fallen on deaf ears in the US , Russia and the other nuclear weapons states. The sunflower is a symbol of hope and life. It is natural, bright and beautiful. It is even nutritious and useful. Sunflowers stand in stark contrast to manmade nuclear-tipped missiles, the most horrendous instruments of mass murder yet devised by man. On June 4 th , Sunflower Peace Day, people everywhere should take stock of the reversal of progress on nuclear disarmament in recent years and recognize the danger this creates for the world. The more nuclear weapons that exist in the world, the more likely it is that they will be used and the more likely that terrorists, who cannot be deterred from using them, will obtain one or more. On Sunflower Peace Day, make a commitment to increase your efforts to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons. Here are three things you can do that will make a difference: * Order packets of sunflower "Seeds of Peace" from the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation and send them to elected officials in nuclear weapons states with a personal note calling for nuclear disarmament and the cessation of research and development of dangerous new nuclear weapons. Visit our Peace Store at http://www.wagingpeace.org/menu/store/other/seeds-of-peace.htm * Visit the Foundation's web site at www.wagingpeace.org and learn more about nuclear dangers and what actions you can take to change dangerous nuclear policies. * Share this article with five friends, or with your entire email list. To view the entire Sunflower, visit: http://www.wagingpeace.org/menu/resrources/sunflower or Download the complete PDF Version To receive our free monthly e-newsletter subscribe at http://www.wagingpeace.org/menu/resources/subscribe/ To be removed from this mailing visit: http://www.optinpro.com/scripts/remove.asp?u=900&i=19552267 ***************************************************************** 33 ED: Russian Nuclear Watch Nr 5 (US-Russian plutonium disposition - SPECIAL) Date: Tue, 8 Jun 2004 20:54:38 +0400 Russian Nuclear Watch * June 2004 * N 5 (23) CONTENTS ACTIVISTS TELL G8: NO MORE FUNDS FOR PLUTONIUM PRODUCTION Two enviromentalists detained for protesting against U.S.-Russian plutonium program TOMSK ENVIRONMENTALISTS ARE CONCERNED ABOUT PLUTONIUM PROGRAM TOMSK DUMA WORKS OUT A LAW ON REFERENDUM ROUND TABLE ON CONSTRUCTION OF PLUTONIUM FACILITY IN TOMSK: RECOMMENDATIONS BALAKOVO RESIDENTS OPPOSED TO MOX PLAN AT NUCLEAR POWER PLANT Statement by Balakovo department of the Russian Society for Nature Conservation _______ ACTIVISTS TELL G8: NO MORE FUNDS FOR PLUTONIUM PRODUCTION Two enviromentalists detained for protesting against U.S.-Russian plutonium program By MARIA DANILOVA (Associated Press) June 7, 2004 Two environmental activists were detained Monday as they protested against a U.S.-Russian weapons-grade plutonium disposal program ahead of the Group of Eight summit, officials said. Police arrested Zakhar Mukhin and Maria Gordeyeva of the group Ecodefense for attempting to hold an unsanctioned protest in front of the U.S. Embassy, Moscow police spokeswoman Yelena Agapova said. Mukhin, Gordeyeva and Ecodefense will be fined, she said. Ecodefense said funding for the Russian part of the program, under which Russia and the United States have pledged to convert some 68 metric tons (75 US tons) of weapons-grade plutonium into nuclear fuel, is expected to be discussed at the G-8 summit that starts Tuesday in the United States. Ecodefense spokesman Vladimir Slivyak claimed the program poses serious dangers. He said that Russian authorities cannot afford proper security when transporting plutonium by Russian railroads, creating a risk that the material could fall into the hands of terrorists. Slivyak also said that many Russian nuclear reactors, originally made to use uranium, are too old and cannot safely handle plutonium, and that an accident involving plutonium fallout would cause severe damage. Slivyak said environmentalists have long suggested the method of immobilization, or adding liquefied glass to plutonium, which he said would deter terrorists because of the cost and difficulty of separating the plutonium from the liquefied glass. Russian Atomic Agency spokesman Nikolai Shingaryov dismissed the claims "a political action having nothing to do with the environment or technology." He said Russian reactors can be re-equipped to process plutonium safely, as has been done in some Western countries, and that plutonium can be transported with no threat to security. ____ TOMSK ENVIRONMENTALISTS ARE CONCERNED ABOUT PLUTONIUM PROGRAM By Russian Nuclear Watch June 5, 2004 Tomsk environmentalists are concerned about Russian-American cooperation in the field of reprocessing of weapon grade plutonium into MOX fuel. Tomsk environmental organizations are worried about a weapon plutonium reprocessing facility planned to be constructed in Tomsk region. In a statement signed by representatives of Institute for International Environmental Safety (IIES), Tomsk Environmental Student Inspection (TESI), Siberian Environmental Agency (SEA), they mention vitrification (immobilization) method to dispose plutonium as the most acceptable way to remove reduced nuclear arsenals. As Leonid Rikhvanov, a head of geoecology and geochemistry department of Tomsk Polytechnic University, told to REGNUM agency, involving of MOX fuel to the nuclear fuel cycle and reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel do not only increase risk of spread of nuclear fission materials but also intensify the problem of radioactive waste treatment. According to him, plutonium as an element alien to biosphere has high chemical activity and is very toxic and, thus, in order to ensure environmental safety it must be isolated as soon as possible. But this process should be organized with minimal amount of radioactive waste produced. Currently, over 80 cities and villages with 650,000 residents, including towns of Seversk and Tomsk, are located in 30-km zone around the Siberian Chemical Complex (SCC), military facility that produces plutonium, and where Russian MOX plant may soon be constructed. One of the largest oil-chemical facilities in Russia, "Tomskneftekhim", is located in several kilometers from reactor and radiochemical plants of the complex. Administrative border of Tomsk adjoins the sanitary zone of SCC. All hazardous loadings are transported to the complex via single-lane railway road that crosses Tomsk immediately close to densely-populated areas. MOX fuel is a mixture of uranium and plutonium oxides (UO2 + òuï2) supposed to be used in commercial nuclear reactors. MOX abbreviation means "íiÈÅd-ïÈidÅ fuel". A new $1 billion facility is planned to be constructed by 2010 in framework of Russian-American program on plutonium disposition which is aimed to turn 68 metric tones of weapon grade plutonium (34 tones on each side) into MOX fuel to be used as fuel for generating electricity at civil NPPs. _____ TOMSK DUMA WORKS OUT A LAW ON REFERENDUM By Russian Nuclear Watch June 5, 2004 City Parliament (Duma) of Tomsk is speeding up its work toward regional legislation on referendum over construction of a MOX fuel producing facility in Tomsk region. Duma intends to pass a document regulating region-wide vote to the regional parliamentarian early in June. Previously, it was announced that new bill will be presented by July 1. "We unanimously consider it's necessary to conduct a referendum regarding construction of MOX fuel producing facility at Siberian Chemical Complex (SCC)", - Vladimir Kazakov, the Committee chairman said. - "Attempts to hold the referendum have been initiated before but were rejected by the regional parliament legislative committee due to the absence of vote procedure regulations." A bill, under a draft name "On procedure of discussion of nuclear energy usage in Tomsk region", will include mechanism and procedures for implementation of the public's rights for referendum, public inspection and public environmental impact assessment of any nuclear fuel cycle facilities projected to be located in the region. This document will provide for rights and duties of citizens, facilities, regional and municipal authorities with regard to construction and proposed building site issues as well as responsibility for failure of execution or improper execution of regulations. Yury Zubkov of the regional Committee for nature protection reported about radiation situation in Tomsk region. According to him, SCC is a major source of radioactive contamination of the environment in the region. 30 incidents totally have happened at the facility for 50 years of its history. The largest of them is an accident of April 1993 at radiochemical plant of the complex which resulted into a zone of radioactive contamination spread for 100 km2 outside the complex. ___ ROUND TABLE ON CONSTRUCTION OF PLUTONIUM FACILITY IN TOMSK: RECOMMENDATIONS By Russian Nuclear Watch June 5, 2004 In mid April, a Round table "MOX producing facility - pro and contra" was held in Tomsk. Representatives of Siberian Chemical Complex (SCC), Regional authorities, City parliament, Universities and non-governmental organization participated in it. As Institute for International Environmental Safety reports, the round table adopted recommendations to TVEL (state-owned company in charge of construction of MOX plant in Tomsk); SCC and non-governmental organizations. Text of recommendations: TO: TVEL company and Siberian Chemical Complex (SCC): 1. To conduct official comparative analysis of alternative methods of weapon grade plutonium disposal (Th - Pu energy, vitrification). 2. We insist the following aspects must be clearly identified in the investment plan and the technical-economical assessment of the project: 2.1. Operation period of MOX producing facility; 2.2. Decommission process; 2.3. Transportation of radioactive and chemically dangerous substances via Tomsk (to make provision for construction of detour railway road outside Tomsk); 2.4. Decision on MOX producing facility must be tightly connected to preliminary decisions on environmental risk insurance for 30-km zone of SCC; 3. To conduct the environmental impact assessment over MOX plant project, which would assess level of accumulating plutonium and americium in the environment of 30-km zone around SCC. 4. To conduct the probability analysis of safety of the planned operations. 5. To develop worst possible scenario including radiation release and evacuation of the residents as well as the related range of means focused on the residents' protection. TO: Siberian Chemical Complex: 1. To conduct radio-environmental study of 30-km zone involving scientists, ecologists, non-governmental organizations of Tomsk. To report the results to the residents. To set a database for further radiation monitoring. 2. Before environmental impact assessment is made, to publish a map of environmental contamination with radioactive isotopes (of soil, surface water, bottom deposits, and subjects of biota). 3. SCC to establish a system to inform Tomsk residents about radiation situation in 30th zone and to emergency notification in case of nuclear or radiation accident. 4. To make public, via the web site, information on the investment plan and the technical-economical assessment' dates. 5. To provide non-governmental organization with necessary information related to the investment plan and the technical-economical assessment and other stages of the project of MOX producing facility in Tomsk region, on their request in accordance with the existing legislation. TO: Non-governmental organizations of Tomsk region and the rest of Russia: If the investment plan and the technical-economical assessment are developed, to take part in preparation and conducting of the public environmental impact assessment of the MOX plant project. To hold public hearings for wider discussion on the project in accordance with the Russian legislation. Recommendation adopted at Round table "MOX producing facility - pro and contra", Tomsk, April 15, 2004 _____ BALAKOVO RESIDENTS OPPOSED TO MOX PLAN AT NUCLEAR POWER PLANT Statement by Balakovo department of the Russian Society for Nature Conservation By Russian Nuclear Watch June 5, 2004 Text of the statement by the Russian Society for Nature Conservation: "In just 8 km from Balakovo, a city with 206,000 residents, violating current standards of placing an NPP, Balakovo nuclear monster has been constructed. Currently it has 4 VVER-1000 units operating right by the bank of Volga which is a source of drinking water for all the Volga area. A cooling pool is a later fish spawning area which was fenced off with a dam. Due to a mistake made by "nuclear and construction experts" water is filtered not to the cooling pool, as it was supposed by its design, but from it. In just 6 km with the current the city water supply system is located. Nuclear industry together with Governor Ayatskov are lobbying for construction of 5th and 6th units and planning to construct two units more later on. They ignore public opinion declared at on-going rallies, statements, referendum. Several (largest in Europe) chemical facilities in Balakovo, combined with small radiation doses, determine bad health and short lifespan of Balakovo residents. Now 4 more units of Balakovo NPPs will serve to test MOX idea. How many more cancer, blood disease and congenital defects do we need in Balakovo to feed up this nuclear Minotaur? When will this country stop experimenting with live children and adults without asking them? When will human rights and interests declared in Russian laws stop being violated by those highly paid as guarantors of these rights implementation? We say No and No once again to dangerous MOX experiment in Balakovo! Signed by Anna Vinogradova, charwoman of Balakovo department of the Russian Society for Nature Conservation". RSNC is largest natural conservation organization in Russia established in 1924. Published by Ecodefense, Russian branch of NIRS-WISE Post address: Ecodefense Nizhegorodskaya 70/2-5 109052 Moscow, Russia e-mail: ecodefense@online.ru WWW http://www.antiatom.ru Editor: Vladimir Sliviak Editor: Alisa Nikulina Translator: Galina Ragouzina ***************************************************************** 34 UCS: Kathleen Rest Appointed Executive Director of the UCS Union of Concerned Scientists [http://www.ucsaction.org] June 8, 2004 The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) today announces the appointment of Dr. Kathleen Rest as Executive Director. Dr. Rest will provide management for day-to-day affairs, supervising all program departments to achieve UCS's goals on issues ranging from climate change to global security. "I am happy to welcome Dr. Rest as our new Executive Director," said UCS president, Kevin Knobloch. "We are faced with the most hostile policy environment in our history and Dr. Rest will be a tremendous asset in our work to fight for a cleaner, healthier environment and a safer world. Dr. Rest brings extensive management experience to UCS, a strong grounding in public policy and a seasoned understanding of the federal government." Dr. Rest came to UCS from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), where she was the Deputy Director for Programs. Throughout her tenure at NIOSH, she held several leadership positions, including serving as the Institute's Acting Director over the period of September 11, 2001, and the anthrax events that followed. "These are challenging times, with threats and opportunities on many fronts," said Dr. Rest. "With the compelling need for rigorous scientific analyses, creative solutions, and effective partnerships, UCS's role and mission could not be more relevant. I am honored to be a member of the UCS team as we move forward to address these critical needs." Prior to her work with the federal government, Dr. Rest was an associate professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center and an adjunct associate professor at the University of Massachusetts School of Public Health. She has extensive experience as a researcher and advisor on public health policy in countries such as the Netherlands, Slovakia, Poland, Romania, Canada and Greece. Dr. Rest was a founding member of the Association of Occupational and Environmental Clinics (AOEC), a national non-profit membership organization. She also served as the Chairperson of the National Advisory Committee on Occupational Safety and Health (NACOSH). Dr. Rest earned her Doctorate in health policy from Boston University and her Masters degree in public administration, with a focus on health services, from the University of Arizona. ERIC YOUNG Assistant Press Secretary 202-223-6133  eyoung@ucsusa.org [eyoung@ucsusa.org] LINDA GUNTER Press Secretary 202-223-6133 lgunter@ucsusa.org [lgunter@ucsusa.org]   © Union of Concerned Scientists Page Last Revised: 06.07.2004 ***************************************************************** NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. For more information go to: *****************************************************************