*****************************************************************
06/09/04 ****     RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL)       **** VOL 12.137
*****************************************************************
   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 New York Times: Items That Could Make Illict Arms Gone From Iraq, 
2 ThisisLondon: Blair changes tack on WMD ... again 
3 Las Vegas SUN: Resolution Focuses on Iran Nuke Program
4 BBC: N Korea nuclear talks 'due soon' 
5 US: Scientists Say Dirty Bomb Would Be a Dud
6 US: CT: Opinion: Dave Zweifel: Nuke war is still a real, awful threa
7 US: PRN: Platts Announces Marketing Green Power Conference 
8 Scotsman: Secret plans for Trident replacement
9 moscow times: Court Orders Danilov Retrial
10 People's Daily: Nuke talks in "substantial period" 
 
                         NUCLEAR REACTORS
 
11 US: [NukeNet] What A FRAUD- Indian Point "Terrorism" Drill  
12 US: azr: Palo Verde unit shuts down
13 US: LJWorld.com : Kansas Guard running drills at nuclear plant
14 US: Times-Standard Online: County hears report on power plant decomm
15 Pravda.RU EU to give 100 million euros to close Armenian Nuclear Pla
16 NEI: Renowned Environmentalist Challenges Greens to Embrace Nuclear 
17 US: NRC: NRC to Discuss Performance, Work Environment Assessments of
18 US: Advocate: Drill for IP nuclear plants includes fake terrorist pl
19 Scotsman: 'Low-Level' Leak at Nuclear Power Station
20 US: NRC: NRC to Hold Public Meeting June 15 on Proposed License Rene
21 Sofia Morning News: Bulgaria Rules out Energy Chapter Reopening
22 US: NRC: Licensee; Notice of Issuance of Amendment to Facility Opera
23 US: NRC: Tennessee Valley Authority; Sequoyah Nuclear Plant;
 
                          NUCLEAR SAFETY
 
24 US: [du-list] Depleted Uranium Screeing and Testing Act of 2004
25 US: [DU-WATCH] Navy calls for DU experiments in tactical &
26 US:  Near Nuclear Catastrophe & Media Blackout
27 US: Rocky Mountain News: Researchers keep 40-year-old thyroid study 
28 US: projo.com: Possible cuts in submarine fleet worry Congress membe
29 Interfax: EU to give 1M euros to convert icebreaker Lenin into museu
30 Xinhuanet: HK Customs gets two more vehicle scanning systems   
31 US: courier-journal: Defense bill might help nuclear workers 
 
                         NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE
 
32 Yucca In Deep $$ Trouble
33 Alert: Take Action to help stop LES/Urenco
34 Las Vegas SUN: Nevada nuclear waste project faces budget issues,
35 US: Bradenton Herald: Tallevast tests reveal no toxic metal in dirt
36 US: AP Wire: Might Nebraska accept nuclear dump?
37 US: Carlsbad Current-Argus: State, WIPP officials stress unity
38 Globe and Mail: Group outlines cost of storing nuclear waste   
39 Toronto Star: Radioactive waste plan proposed for Ontario
40 Japan Times: U.S. researcher warns MOX fuel plan is too costly
41 Waste News: Canada court allows Saskatchewan mine waste facility to 
42 OA Online: Conference set on proposed New Mexico uranium plant
43 National Post: Ontario won't take plan to store nuclear waste lying 
 
                         NUCLEAR WEAPONS
 
 
                        US DEPT. OF ENERGY
 
44 Las Vegas SUN: Federal government planning security training
45 Seattle Times: Hard reality of cleanup at Hanford
46 Las Vegas RJ: Test site gets new security mission 
47 Las Vegas SUN: Test Site may land a ship 
48 SJ Mercury News: UC contract to run Lawrence Livermore will be exten
49 SF Chronicle: Feds: UC contract to run Lawrence Livermore will be ex
50 U.S. Newswire: Energy Secretary Abraham Notes Improving Short 
51 U.S. Newswire: DOE to Conduct Separate Competitions for Los 
52 Times-News: Report: Lack of waste cleanup oversight adds to cost
53 DOE: Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board, Fernald
 
                          OTHER NUCLEAR
 
54 Google News Alert - nuclear
*****************************************************************
*****************************************************************
                         FULL NEWS STORIES
*****************************************************************
*****************************************************************
 1 New York Times: Items That Could Make Illict Arms Gone From Iraq, 
U.N. Told
 
   [http://www.nytimes.com/]     [The New York Times
    
 By WARREN HOGE
Published: June 9, 2004

[U] NITED NATIONS, June 9 — Equipment and material that could 
have been used to produce banned weapons and long-range missiles 
have been emptied from Iraqi sites since the war and shipped 
abroad, the head of the United Nations inspectors office told the 
Security Council today.

Demetrius Perricos, deputy to the former chief weapons inspector 
Hans Blix and now the acting executive chairman of the United 
Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission, told 
a closed-door session of the council that many of the items bear 
tags placed by United Nations inspectors as suspect "dual use" 
ones having capabilities for creating harmless consumer products 
as well as unconventional weapons.

 Mr. Perricos accompanied his briefing with a report showing 
satellite photos of a fully built-up missile site near Baghdad in 
May 2003 and the same site denuded in February 2004.

 His spokesman, Ewen Buchanan, said that items removed from the 
site included fermenters, a freeze drier, distillation columns, 
parts of missiles and a reactor vessel — all tools suitable for 
making biological or chemical weapons.

 "It raises the question of what happened to the dual use 
equipment, where is it now and what is it being used for," Mr. 
Buchanan said.

 He said that a fermenter was a good example of a dual use item 
that was potentially dangerous if it fell into the wrong hands. 
"You can make all kinds of pharmaceutical and medicinal products 
with a fermenter," he said. "You can also use it to breed 
anthrax."

 Another photo showed an engine from a banned SA-2 surface-to-air 
missile that had been tagged by the United Nations in Iraq in 
1996 and recently discovered in a scrapyard in Rotterdam, the 
Dutch port.

 The report said that workers there had told inspectors from 
UNMOVIC and the International Atomic Energy Agency that as many 
as 12 such engines may have passed through the yard in January 
and February 2004 and that additional items made of stainless 
steel and other corrosion-resistant metal alloys with the 
inscriptions "Iraq" and "Baghdad" had been observed since 
November 2003.

 "This is only a snapshot," said Mr. Buchanan. Two inspectors, he 
said, acting on information from the Netherlands, went to 
scrapyards in Jordan this past week and found 20 more such 
engines in addition to tagged processing equipment such as 
chemical reactors, heat exchangers and a solid propellent mixing 
bowl.

 "The problem for us is that we don't know what may have passed 
through these yards and other yards elsewhere," he said. "We 
can't really assess the significance and don't know the full 
extent of activity that could be going on there or with others of 
Iraq's neighbors." Inspectors are hoping to check scrapyards in 
Turkey, he said.

 Last month, The New York Times reported that large quantities of 
new reconstruction equipment and sensitive military material was 
being plundered in Iraq and trucked to Jordan to be sold as 
scrap. Mohamed El Baradei, director of the International Atomic 
Energy Agency, warned the Security Council in April that nuclear 
facilities were unguarded and that large amounts of material, 
some of it contaminated, were being smuggled out of the country.

 The United Nations inspectors were removed from Iraq just before 
the war broke out in March 2003, and, the report says, have been 
ignored by the American-led Iraq Survey Group that has been 
searching for arms since then.

 In the negotiations leading to Tuesday's passage of a Security 
Council resolution on Iraq, Russia pressed for inclusion in the 
measure of language promising to reinvigorate the United Nations 
inspectors, but the final version simply pledged to "revisit" 
their mandate. 


Copyright 2004  [http://www.nytco.com/]  | 
*****************************************************************
 2 ThisisLondon: Blair changes tack on WMD ... again 
 
[http://www.thisislondon.co.uk

By Joe Murphy, Evening Standard Political Editor 

8 June 2004 

The Prime Minister shifted tack on Saddam Hussein's weapons of 
mass destruction again today - fuelling doubts that hard evidence 
of their existence will ever be found. 

Challenged whether he believed pre-war intelligence about Iraqi 
arms was accurate, Tony Blair said he was convinced evidence 
would confirm Saddam's "complete determination" to obtain illegal 
weapons. 

The form of words marked another marked change in his language on 
the issue since the war ended over a year ago. 

Before the war Mr Blair referred to Iraq having WMD on 45-minute 
standby and the need to "disarm" Saddam. 

Since the fall of Saddam and the failure to find hidden 
stockpiles of chemical, biological or nuclear weapons, Mr Blair 
has been promising to uncover evidence of "weapons programmes". 

But in his interview with Radio 4's Today programme, Mr Blair 
appeared to weaken expectations even further. 

He promised only that inspectors would confirm "basic patterns" 
to prove Saddam's intentions, saying: "I think the basic pattern 
- i.e. this was someone who still retained complete determination 
to pursue this WMD business - I would be very surprised if that 
turned out to be wrong." 

Mr Blair added: "You have obviously to wait for the inquiry 
[being carried out by former Cabinet Secretary Lord Butler] 
whether there were particular aspects of intelligence and so on. 

"My experience is they very rarely get a pattern wrong." His 
change in tone will fuel speculation that next month's Butler 
Report will say that crucial intelligence about whether the 
weapons really existed was wrong or misrepresented by the 
Government. 

Lord Butler has been taking evidence from a wide range of senior 
intelligence and Whitehall officials in an attempt to explain why 
expectations of weapons stockpiles were not fulfilled. 

In the US President Bush has also played down hopes for concrete 
evidence, using the phrase " WMD programmerelated activity" in 
his State of the Union address in January. 

Mr Blair insisted, however, that the US-backed Iraq Survey Group, 
which is examining suspect sites, would conclude that Iraq was in 
breach of UN resolutions. 

Former ISG head David Kay last weekend described Mr Blair as 
"delusional" if he continued to believe weapons would be found. 

  ©2004 Associated New Media [http://www.anm.co.uk] | Terms 

*****************************************************************
 3 Las Vegas SUN: Resolution Focuses on Iran Nuke Program

 By GEORGE JAHN ASSOCIATED PRESS 

VIENNA, Austria (AP) - Leading European nations presented a
draft resolution Tuesday that criticizes Iran for not answering
key questions raised by a U.N atomic agency probe of its suspect
nuclear program. 

The draft, written by France, Britain and Germany, "deplores"
Iran's failure to cooperate in a "complete, timely and
proactive' way, said a diplomat quoting parts of the text to The
Associated Press. He spoke on condition of anonymity. 

At the same time, the diplomat said, the draft acknowledges
Iranian cooperation in granting agency inspectors access to key
locations, including "defense industry" sites. 

While the Islamic Republic says its programs are geared solely
toward producing energy, the United States and its allies say
Tehran wants to build nuclear weapons. 

In an allusion to Pakistan - which indirectly supplied much of
Iran's covert nuclear program through renegade scientist A.Q
Khan - the draft calls for the "full and close cooperation of
third countries" to clear up Iran's nuclear ambiguities. 

Diplomats close to the International Atomic Energy Agency say
Pakistan has refused to allow U.N. experts to independently take
samples that would test Iranian assertions that traces of
weapons-grade uranium found in Iran came from equipment bought
from the Khan network. 

If the IAEA cannot match trace samples from Pakistan and Iran,
it cannot verify whether Iran's version is accurate or a cover
up. 

The diplomat said the draft - circulated among delegations
representing the U.N. agency's 35-nation board ahead of a
meeting Monday - also focused on Iran's centrifuge program, the
other main outstanding issue in the IAEA's more than yearlong
probe. 

After initial denials, Tehran has acknowledged that it
researched advanced centrifuges capable of uranium enrichment.
But it denied it wanted to embark on full-scale enrichment,
despite IAEA findings that it bought thousands of parts, far in
excess of what it needed for research only. 

The draft called on Iran to reveal the full scope of its
centrifuge program. 

It also urged Tehran to rethink plans to build a uranium
conversion plant and heavy water reactors. 

Another diplomat said the United States largely approved of the
draft, but was likely to push to toughen up the wording. 

Monday's board meeting will review a report on Iran by IAEA
Director General Mohamed ElBaradei, as part of the agency's
probe of its covert nuclear activities. 

The report voiced the same concerns as the draft circulated
Tuesday - that Iran tried to buy critical parts for advanced P-2
centrifuges and that it was unclear where traces of weapons
grade uranium found inside Iran came from. 

In the face of mounting international pressure, Iran suspended
uranium enrichment last year, and in April said it had stopped
building centrifuges. 

Iran has rejected U.S. allegations its nuclear program is for
military purposes. ElBaradei said last month his agency had not
found proof of a concrete link between Iran's nuclear activities
and its military program, but "it was premature to make a
judgment." 

---- 

On the Net: 

International Atomic Energy Agency, www.iaea.org 

-- 



*****************************************************************
 4 BBC: N Korea nuclear talks 'due soon' 
 
  Last Updated: Wednesday, 9 June, 2004
 
[North Korean spent nuclear fuel rods in Yongbyon] 

The six-nation talks will centre on N Korea's nuclear facilities                                                              

A new round of six-nation talks aimed at ending a standoff over 
North Korea's nuclear ambitions looks set to resume in Beijing 
before the end of June. 

The US, China, Japan, Russia and both Koreas have already held 
two rounds of talks but are still far from agreement. 

Washington has accused Pyongyang of a secret uranium programme, 
and insists it dismantle its nuclear facilities. 

But a Chinese official is said to have doubts over Washington's 
claims, and has urged the US not to hold up talks. 

"The six nations share an understanding on the date, but we are 
not at a stage to officially announce it," South Korean Foreign 
Minister Ban Ki-moon said. 

His comments backed up previous reports that talks would start 
before the end of June. 

Mr Ban also said officials from Japan, South Korea and the US 
would meet in Washington before the main talks to co-ordinate 
their proposals. 

The various parties still seem a long way from reaching 
agreement. 

According to a New York Times report on Wednesday, China's deputy 
foreign minister Zhou Wenzhong remains unconvinced by 
Washington's claim that North Korea has both uranium and 
plutonium weapons programmes. 

"We know nothing about the uranium programme," Mr Zhou told the 
newspaper. "We don't know whether it exists." 

North Korea has acknowledged a plutonium programme but has denied 
a uranium one. 

The six-nations talks are likely to centre on the disagreement 
between the US and North Korea. 

Washington wants North Korea to completely dismantle its nuclear 
programme, while Pyongyang says it will only do so in return for 
aid and security guarantees. 

Meanwhile, tensions remain high between North Korea and its 
southern neighbour. 

On Wednesday, the North's military accused the South of 
"reckless" military provocation along the disputed sea border, 
just five days after the two sides agreed to take measures aimed 
at preventing further naval clashes. 

South Korea has deployed more ships in the area "under the 
pretext of tightening control over fishing boats and inspection," 
the North's navy said in a statement issued through the official 
news agency KCNA. 



*****************************************************************
 5 Scientists Say Dirty Bomb Would Be a Dud
 
Date: Wed, 9 Jun 2004 15:42:09 -0400

 

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/science/AP-Dirty-Bomb-Dud.html

Scientists Say Dirty Bomb Would Be a Dud
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: June 9, 2004



Filed at 2:57 p.m. ET

NEW YORK (AP) -- The ``dirty bomb'' allegedly
planned by terror suspect Jose Padilla would have
been a dud, not the radiological threat portrayed
last week by federal authorities, scientists say.

At a June 1 news conference, the Justice
Department said the alleged al-Qaida associate
hoped to attack Americans by detonating ``uranium
wrapped with explosives'' in order to spread
radioactivity.

     Advertisement



But uranium's extremely low radioactivity is
harmless compared with high-radiation materials -- 
such as cesium and cobalt isotopes used in
medicine and industry that experts see as
potential dirty bomb fuels.

``I used a 20-pound brick of uranium as a doorstop
in my office,'' American nuclear physicist Peter
D. Zimmerman, of King's College in London, said to
illustrate the point.

Zimmerman, co-author of an expert analysis of
dirty bombs for the U.S. National Defense
University, said last week's government
announcement was ``extremely disturbing -- because
you cannot make a radiological dispersal device
with uranium. There is just no significant
radiation hazard.''

Other specialists agreed. ``It's the equivalent of
blowing up lead,'' said physicist Ivan Oelrich of
the Federation of American Scientists.

When Padilla was arrested in June 2002, after
returning to Chicago from Afghanistan and
Pakistan, Attorney General John Ashcroft said the
ex-Chicago gang member and Muslim convert had
planned a dirty bomb that could ``cause mass death
and injury.'' Washington, D.C., was the likely
target, his department said.

But it wasn't until Deputy Attorney General James
Comey's briefing for reporters last week that
authorities said Padilla had uranium in mind for
his radiological dispersal device, or RDD, the
technical term for such a weapon. Comey said the
detainee disclosed he'd also been sent to set off
natural gas explosions in U.S. apartment
buildings.

``Just saying the word `uranium,' the public
automatically assumes, `Oh, it sounds bad,''' said
physicist Charles Ferguson of the Washington
office of California's Monterey Institute of
International Studies. He co-authored one of the
most detailed reports on the dirty-bomb threat.

Those studying the RDD potential envision a
combination of explosives with a lethal
radioisotope, such as cesium-137, diverted from
use in cancer radiotherapy, for example, or from
machines that irradiate food. Particularly if in
powder form, it could spew intense radioactivity
over a section of a city, making it uninhabitable.

Radiation from uranium, on the other hand, is
billions of times less intense than that of
cesium-137, cobalt-60 and other radioisotopes.
It's not radioactivity but another property of
uranium -- its ability in some forms to sustain
atomic chain reactions -- that makes it a fuel for
nuclear power and bombs.

The Justice Department didn't respond directly
when asked this week whether it had consulted with
experts and knew that uranium wouldn't make a
dirty bomb.

Instead, spokesman Mark Corallo said Padilla's
statements, in view of his al-Qaida links, made
clear that he was ``willing to cause devastating
harm to innocent Americans.''

Padilla has been held by the U.S. military since
2002 as an enemy combatant, without charge and
with little access to lawyers. The Bush
administration has been criticized for denying a
U.S. citizen normal access to the courts. The
Supreme Court is considering whether the
government, in defending against terrorism, has
such power.

Padilla's lawyer, Donna Newman, said Wednesday of
the dirty-bomb allegation that U.S. authorities
``should have known that this was nonsense.''

``When they frightened everybody, what were they
trying to do, if they knew better? To show the
administration is on top of things?'' she asked.

She wants the government to attempt to indict and
try her client. ``Maybe the problem is the
evidence is so weak, it's laughable,'' she said.

Comey said the news conference was called ``to
help people understand the nature of the threat''
Padilla posed.

Based on what he said were Padilla's admissions to
interrogators, he described a ``highly trained
al-Qaida soldier'' who accepted an assignment to
blow up U.S. apartment buildings, and ``planned to
do even more by detonating a radiological device,
a dirty bomb, in this country.''

Spokesman Corallo reaffirmed this week that it was
Padilla who said uranium would be used.

``If that's what he planned,'' physicist Oelrich
said of Padilla, ``it shows he doesn't know what
he's talking about and hasn't done even
rudimentary homework.''

He wasn't the only one, according to a Justice
Department summary of interrogations.

It said Abu Zubaydah, a top al-Qaida lieutenant
now in U.S. custody, also envisioned a uranium
device when urging Padilla to mount a U.S. attack.
At another point, however, the summary said
Zubaydah told Padilla the dirty bomb was ``not as
easy to do as they thought.''

Padilla claims ``he was never really planning to
go through with'' any of the terrorist assignment,
Comey told reporters.

As a heavy metal, like lead, uranium poses one
health risk: If ingested or inhaled, it can damage
kidneys or other organs. But unlike radioisotopes,
byproducts of nuclear reactors, uranium doesn't
emit penetrating gamma rays that cause acute
radiation poisoning. Instead, it slowly radiates
weak alpha particles, which don't even penetrate
skin.

``Granted, it (uranium) could have a psychological
effect'' because of unfounded fears, said
physicist Ferguson. But he said a government
information campaign should quell any panic if
such a weapon appeared.





*****************************************************************
 6 CT: Opinion: Dave Zweifel: Nuke war is still a real, awful threat

(captimes.com) The Capital Times   
 	 	 	 	 	 
Wednesday, June 9, 2004  7:48 PM              
 		     	 
 [dzweifel@madison.com] , editor 

About Dave
 
Dave Zweifel has been editor of The Capital Times since 1983. A
native of New Glarus, Wis. and a graduate of the University of
Wisconsin-Madison, his life-long goal was to be the editor of
this newspaper. He has had more luck achieving that than his
other fondest hope — watching the Chicago Cubs win the World
Series. He served for many years as president of the Wisconsin
Freedom of Information Council and served two years as a juror
for the Pulitzer Prizes. 
 [dzweifel@madison.com]  [dzweifel@madison.com]     



Like his mother, former state Rep. Midge Miller, Steve Leeper
has devoted his life to ridding the world of nuclear weapons.

To the cynics among us, it sounds like a hopeless task. Several
countries already have atomic bombs, still others are trying to
get them, and if the Bush administration has its way, the United
States will soon be making more, too.

But Leeper will quickly tell you that the countries with nuclear
capabilities are by far in the minority and that if the majority
of the world could have its way, all nuclear weapons would be
destroyed and banned for eternity.

Leeper, a graduate of Madison West High, is the U.S.
representative to a group called the World Conference of Mayors
for Peace. It was founded in 1982 by the mayors of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki, Japan, who were convinced that the world was once
again on the brink of exploding a nuclear bomb.

Since then, mayors of some 600 cities throughout the world have
joined the Conference of Mayors, including the mayors of the
capitals of all the atomic powers in the world today except two
- our own Washington, D.C., and Islamabad, Pakistan. It is a
nongovernmental organization accredited by the United Nations.
Its headquarters is in Japan, but Leeper runs an office in
Atlanta and spends much of his time in New York, lobbying and
cajoling world leaders to join the anti-nuclear campaign.

It's understandable why it all started in Japan. The Japanese
have been the only people, after all, to have actually
experienced the incredible pain, suffering and devastation that
atomic bombs unleash. Never again, the mayors of those two
cities said, should a nuclear bomb be exploded.

It looked as though the world itself was coming to that same
conclusion, but then along came 9/11.

The Bush administration's response has served to again put nukes
back on the front burner. It has stated that it wants to develop
atomic "bunker busters" that would burrow into the ground before
exploding. It wants to resume testing atomic bombs in the Nevada
test area. And in the U.S. Nuclear Posture Review, an important
national policy document, it has identified seven nations
targeted for nuclear attack and specifies the circumstances
under which the attacks could occur.

"This is exactly the scenario Hiroshima is trying to prevent,"
Leeper told me on a visit to Madison last week.

Japan is convinced, for example, that the United States will use
a bunker weapon in Afghanistan to finally get Osama bin Laden.
That, in turn, would double the resolve for terrorists to get
their own nukes to retaliate. That possibility is all too real
because there are so many nuclear bombs unaccounted for in
various parts of the world. That scenario, plus the
ever-escalating Israel-Palestinian situation, makes this a
dangerous time.

So Leeper has been traveling around the country, speaking to
whomever and wherever he can to raise the public consciousness
that the world still faces the awful possibility of nuclear
warfare.

After all these years, we still haven't learned. 
Published: 6:27 AM 6/09/04   		
   
Technical questions and comments may be directed to The Capital
Times . Please state your concern in the subject line. 
Copyright 2003 The Capital Times
*****************************************************************
 7 PRN: Platts Announces Marketing Green Power Conference 

 [http://www.prnewswire.com/]            [ /]           
[http://www.events.platts.com] 

    WOBURN, Mass., June 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Platts is 
pleased to announce its Marketing Green Power conference, August 
5-6, 2004, in San Francisco, CA.

    As the green power movement gains momentum in North America, 
several large and small power suppliers have begun to offer green 
power programs to their customers.  However, since the purchase 
price of green power tends to be higher than electricity 
generated from other fuels, utilities must market the overall 
benefit of "going green" to their customers.

    Attend Platts' timely "Marketing Green Power" conference to 
discuss the strategic use of renewable energy certificates and 
the direct marketing best practices that utilities can embrace to 
ensure that their programs are successful.  Hear 9 case studies 
from utilities that have the largest and most successful green 
power programs including 3 Phases Energy, Austin Energy, City of 
Palo Alto Utilities, Enel North America, Evolution Markets, 
Oklahoma Gas & Electric, Pacific Gas & Electric Company, 
Sacramento Municipal Utility District and Tennessee Valley 
Authority.

    Benefit from keynote addresses from Blair Swezey, Principal 
Policy Advisor, National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Mark 
Kapner, P.E., Senior Strategy Planner, Austin Energy.  Also hear 
key green marketing perspectives from the Environmental 
Protection Agency and the Center for Resource Solutions.

    Plus, participate in a panel discussion on "Promoting a 
Regulatory Environment to Grow the Renewable Energy Credit 
Market."

   To register, or for more information, contact Steve Ebeling, 
P: 781-860-6113 or e-mail Stephen_ebeling@platts.com [ 
Stephen_ebeling@platts.com] .  Get the complete agenda at 
http://www.events.platts.com [http://www.events.platts.com]  .

    Platts, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies (NYSE: MHP 
[http://studio.financialcontent.com/Engine?Account=prnewswire&Pag 
eName=QUOTE&Ticker=MHP] ), is the world leader in providing 
energy information.  For nearly a century, Platts has helped to 
enable ever-changing global energy markets enhance their 
performance through such offerings as independent industry news 
and price benchmarks. From 14 offices worldwide, Platts covers 
the oil, natural gas, electricity, nuclear power, coal, 
petrochemical and metals markets. Additional information on 
Platts real-time news and price assessment services, 
publications, databases, geospatial tools, conferences, 

*****************************************************************
 8 Scotsman: Secret plans for Trident replacement

[http://www.scotsman.com/]                                             
 		   		   			
Wed 9 Jun 2004   			 			
 		   	 	
  HMS Victorious, a Trident ballistic missile submarine, sails up 
Gare Loch on the west coast of Scotland. Picture: PA  

TIM RIPLEY 

Key points

 • Royal Navy prepares multi-purpose nuclear submarine to
replace Trident

 • Claims announcement delayed to avoid upsetting Labour voters

 • Reports UK preparing to design new atomic warhead at
Aldermaston
 
Key quote

 "By making the submarine more versatile, we get more value for
our money and don’t have billions of pounds of capital
investment tied up in a submarines that can never be used for
anything except blowing up the world" - MoD source
 
Story in full ROYAL Navy experts are preparing secret designs
for a new generation of multi-purpose nuclear submarines to
replace Britain’s 

[http://www.royal-navy.mod.uk/static/pages/177.html] fleet at
the end of the next decade. 

The Scotsman has learned that work on a replacement for the
Royal Navy’s nuclear deterrent is further advanced than had
previously been known - despite claims by the government that no
decision has been made on a successor for the four Faslane-based
Trident submarines. 

The aim of the plan is to give ministers the chance to
accelerate work on the Trident’s successor immediately after
the next election, to allow a replacement for the existing fleet
of ballistic-missile-firing submarines to be entered into
service around 2020. 

About 3,000 sailors and 4,000 civilian workers employed at the
Trident’s bases - Faslane and Coulport, on the Clyde - are
anxiously awaiting developments. 

Naval sources suggest Tony Blair has all but made up his mind to
replace the ÂŁ9billion Trident system to ensure Britain retains
its "seat at the top table of nuclear powers". 

The government commissioned an opinion poll on a replacement for
Trident last year, and just over half the respondents gave it
their support, reinforcing views in Downing Street that it
should move ahead on the project once the next election is out
of the way. 

Even if it is popular with the wider public, Mr Blair appears
not to want to antagonise Labour activists by raising the
Trident replacement issue ahead of the next general election. 

In last year’s white paper, the Defence Secretary, Geoff Hoon,
said: "Decisions on whether to replace Trident are not needed in
this parliament but are likely in the next one," implying that a
decision could be put off until the end of the decade. 

The head of the Royal Navy, however, has said any decision would
be expected in the "next two or three years", because of the
need to begin work to have a replacement for Trident ready for
when the first of the Vanguard class submarines is due to start
retiring in 2020. 

The First Sea Lord, Admiral Sir Alan West, made the comments at
a conference on naval warfare held at the Royal United Services
last month. 

The United States-based publication Defense News has since
revealed that the Royal Navy has launched design studies to
examine replacing both the service’s existing Trident
missile-firing submarines and hunter-killer submarines with a
single class of multi-role, nuclear-powered submarine. 

The costs of designing a new submarine and then keeping two
types in service are described as "astronomical" by Royal Navy
officers. 

The futuristic submarines, dubbed the "maritime underwater
future capability", would be fitted with vertical-launch missile
tubes to allow them to fire both nuclear-tipped long-range
missiles or conventionally-armed Tomahawk cruise missiles. 

This new vessel was originally envisaged as only replacing the
Royal Navy’s hunter-killer submarines, but The Scotsman now
understands it is becoming multi-role in nature. 

Britain recently bought 64 new "smart" versions of the Tomahawk
from the US for ÂŁ70 million, to replenish stocks fired during
last year’s Iraq war. 

"By making the submarine more versatile, we get more value for
our money and don’t have billions of pounds of capital
investment tied up in a submarines that can never be used for
anything except blowing up the world," an MoD source said. 

"It cost more than ÂŁ9 billion to buy Trident, and there is just
no way we can justify that kind of money any more." 

Futuristic designs of the new submarine include undersea
remotely piloted vehicles to penetrate enemy coastal defences.
The key to making the new multi-role - but smaller - submarine
work is a new family of miniaturised nuclear warheads. There
have been persistent reports that Britain is preparing to design
a new warhead at the Atomic Weapons Establishment at
Aldermaston, in Berkshire, and is already co-operating with the
US on a new family of mini-nuclear warheads, but the MoD has
denied any such work is under way. 

The huge costs of designing and operating nuclear submarines,
however, might derail the plans for a new class. The new 
[http://www.mod.uk/dpa/projects/astute.htm] , currently being
built by BAE Systems, are already ÂŁ800 million over budget and
several years late. 

The Royal Navy’s shipbuilding programme is under intense
pressure from the Treasury, which is balking at the cost of the
future aircraft carrier and Type 45 destroyers being built by
BAE Systems on the Clyde. 

The ministry’s cash shortages have led some to suggest it
might be forced to undertake a "life extensive" programme for
the four Trident submarines. This would involve replacing key
components and modifying the submarines. 

Even this might be no longer affordable and the RAF is reported
to be pushing to take over responsibility for nuclear
deterrence.

*****************************************************************
 9 moscow times: Court Orders Danilov Retrial
 
themoscowtimes.com

Thursday, June 10, 2004. Page 1. 

By Anatoly Medetsky Staff Writer 

Itar-Tass Valentin Danilov                   
    
The Supreme Court on Wednesday overturned the acquittal of
physicist Valentin Danilov on charges of spying for China and
ordered a retrial. 

Prominent human rights activist Lev Ponomaryov said the ruling
discredits Russia at a time when President Vladimir Putin is
taking part in the Group of Eight summit in the United States. 

The Federal Security Service accuses Danilov, a former professor
at Krasnoyarsk State Technical University, of selling classified
information about space technology to China while working on a
contract between the university and China's Export and Import
Company of Precise Machine Building. Danilov says he only used
public information. 

After a four-year investigation and trial, a jury acquitted
Danilov in December in a rare slap in the face of the FSB, whose
pursuance of a number of espionage cases against researchers in
recent years has been likened to the KGB's efforts to keep tight
control over scientists' contacts with foreigners. 

Prosecutors filed an appeal, and the Supreme Court on Wednesday
agreed with two counts: that defense lawyers had unfairly put
pressure on the jury -- by referring to documents that the judge
had ruled could not be submitted as evidence -- and that there
were mistakes in the minutes of the trial and on a questionnaire
given to the jury to fill out during deliberations, said
Danilov, who flew to Moscow for the hearing. 

The court dismissed two other counts: that jurors had violated
the rules during their deliberations by walking out of their
room to use the bathroom and that the defense had colluded with
one of the jurors, Danilov said by telephone. 

The court ordered a retrial under a new judge in the Krasnoyarsk
regional court. 

The trial may begin in August or September and will again be by
jury, although with new jurors, said Danilov's lawyer, Yelena
Yevmenova, who also attending Wednesday's hearing. 

But Danilov said that as "an experiment" he will ask for a panel
of three judges instead of a jury, if the law allows. He did not
elaborate. 

Danilov and Yevmenova said they were not surprised by
Wednesday's ruling. 

"I had expected it. I just smiled," Danilov said, chuckling. 

"I'm going to go to see a movie," Yevmenova said. 

Prosecutor Yevgeny Naidyonov praised the ruling. "I consider the
court's decision to be legitimate and substantiated. The Supreme
Court has upheld the appeal's argument that the verdict was
handed down with considerable procedural violations," he said,
Interfax reported. 

Danilov acknowledged that Yevmenova had referred to documents
not in evidence during his trial, but said they could not have
influenced the jury. When instructing jurors before their
deliberations, "the judge told them to ignore that," he said. 

The documents in question contained the conclusions of experts
from four Russian research institutions that the information
Danilov passed to China was not sensitive, Danilov said. 

Danilov and Yevmenova said they had anticipated Wednesday's
ruling because the Supreme Court had been unusually quick in its
handling of the prosecutors' appeal and also because the FSB's
Krasnoyarsk branch had sent a cameraman and representatives to
cover the hearing. 

"They knew the result," Danilov said of the FSB. 

Expressing irony at what might have been FSB pressure on the
court, he said the three women judges "perhaps didn't have a
choice" but at least he had a good time during the hourlong
session because they "looked good." 

Ponomaryov, head of the For Human Rights organization, said the
Supreme Court appeared to have been under "colossal pressure" to
overturn the acquittal. "We will speak out in defense" of
Danilov in the retrial, he said. 

He said the reversal of a jury verdict sends out a signal of
"Don't be so brave" to prospective jurors. 

"The authority of Russia has been undermined at a time when the
president of Russia is abroad at the Group of Eight summit,"
Ponomaryov said. 

Alexander Petrov, deputy head of Human Rights Watch in Moscow,
said the ruling shows that "the spymania is continuing in
Russia," Interfax reported. 

Nobel Prize winner Vitaly Ginzburg, who with other leading
physicists signed a statement last year confirming that the
information Danilov passed to the Chinese was not secret,
condemned the decision. "What I know shows he is absolutely
innocent," he said, Interfax reported. 

The deputy director of the Novosibirsk Nuclear Physics
Institute, Eduard Kruglyakov, said the information that Danilov
passed to China could not help it simulate a nuclear explosion
in space, "and that's the information that he's accused of
passing," according to Interfax. 

In his trial, Danilov also was accused of misappropriating
university funds while working on the contract. Danilov, who was
acquitted of the charge in December, said the Supreme Court's
ruling means he will be tried on it again. 

Danilov was arrested in 2001 and spent 19 months in detention
before being released on his own recognizance. 

Danilov, who lost his job at the university in May 2003, is now
director of a private company that sells new fuel-saving
technologies to heating plants. However, he continues to
maintain contacts with physicists and is planning to attend a
conference on the physics of plasma in Novosibirsk this year. 

The reversal of Danilov's acquittal comes less than two months
after another researcher, Igor Sutyagin, was sentenced on
espionage charges to 15 years in prison -- the longest sentence
for espionage since Soviet times. The arms control expert at the
respected USA and Canada Institute was convicted of passing
military secrets to U.S. intelligence through a British firm for
which he did consulting work. 

Danilov dismissed the case against him as a waste of state money
and said he was counting on being acquitted again. 

"Why should I doubt that?" he said. "The people who will hand
down the verdict will be guided by their conscience." 

Investigators and prosecutors "have been wasting state funds and
wearing on the nerves of my relatives and myself for all of
these four years," he said. 

"This issue isn't worth peanuts." 

© Copyright 2004, The Moscow Times. All Rights Reserved.
*****************************************************************
 10 People's Daily: Nuke talks in "substantial period" 

UPDATED: 09:52, June 09, 2004   

China's special envoy for the nuclear issue on the Korean 
Peninsula said in Washington that negotiations on the standoff 
have entered a "substantial period", according to Tuesday's China 
Daily. 

Ning Fukui, Chinese ambassador of nuclear issue on the Korean 
Peninsula, met with State Department and other US officials as 
part of a visit to that country late Monday. 

Ning did not confirm reports that the new round of six-party 
talks would take place on June 23. 

He stressed that difficulties will increase as more in-depth 
discussions progress. 

Chinese Foreign Ministry [http://www.fmprc.gov.cn/eng/] 
spokesman Liu Jianchao said Monday in Beijing 
[http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/data/province/beijing.html] 
that the final date for the third round of talks has still not 
been set, adding that the different sides are still trying to 
find a suitable time. 

"Various parties have put forward proposals for when the talks 
should be held. The Chinese side is keeping consultations with 
the other parties in order to achieve consensus for an early 
date," he said. 

The six nations -- China, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, 
the United States 
[http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/data/usa.html] , Republic of 
Korea, Russia 
[http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/data/russia.html] and Japan 
[http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/data/japan.html] held two 
rounds of talks on the nuclear standoff in Beijing in August and 
February. 

At the first working group meeting held in Beijing last month, 
negotiators agreed the third round of six-party talks should be 
held in Beijing before the end of June after one more 
working-level discussion. 

In Washington, Adam Ereli, deputy spokesman of the US Department 
of State said on Monday that there have been developments since 
last round of talks and the situation now is "very different" 
from before. 

"We are close to convening a second working group meeting and a 
third plenary," Ereli said. 

Source: Xinhua

Copyright by People's Daily Online, all rights reserved   
*****************************************************************
 11 [NukeNet] What A FRAUD- Indian Point "Terrorism" Drill  
 
Date: Wed, 09 Jun 2004 14:32:09 -0700

 
<x-flowed>

   But much to the disappointment of those who are
skeptical of the plant's emergency plans, there
was no simulated leak of radiation, leaving many
unconvinced of the drill's effectiveness.

    Duhhhhh.............   What the hell does
anyone expect when the phony drill is in effect
being run by Entergy. Kind of like the Nazis
showing the Red Cross their model concentration
camp/transit point to Auschwitz, Theresenstadt and
telling them, "showing" them that everything was
just fine shortly before  murdering "their" Jews.

   The New York Times, NRC, Bernard Kerik and
Entergy need to be  excoriated and held
accountable for this complete fraud/LIE. The
concept of a safe nuclear power facility is an
oxymoron. Like a good Nazi. There's no difference.

  This must be done again with a simulated huge
radiation release. What are they afraid of, the
truth?

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/09/nyregion/09indian.html
A Routine Drill at a New York Power Plant, With a
New Focus on Terrorism
By IAN URBINA

Published: June 9, 2004


UCHANAN, N.Y., June 8 - The crisis was coming fast
and furious at the Indian Point nuclear power
plant. First came a report that weapons, maps and
documents concerning the plant had been found in a
car on a highway in Connecticut. Then a Boeing 767
jet crashed near a transformer, causing a major
fire and damaging several buildings.

"People were really scrambling and the mood was
intense," said Bernard B. Kerik, the former New
York City police commissioner, who is now a risk
management consultant for Entergy, the owner of
the plant, and was in its command center during
Tuesday's simulated emergency.

The emergency drill was the same exercise
performed every other year at the plant, but for
the first time, the script involved terrorism. The
event, which involved more than 1,000 state and
local officials in addition to the F.B.I., Norad
and the White House, challenged local governments,
including Putnam, Westchester, Rockland and Orange
Counties, to respond to a staged crisis that
started around 8 a.m. and lasted until 4. The
possibility that a plane could crash into the
plant has been a source of concern ever since
Sept. 11, 2001, when a 767, the same type of plane
used in Tuesday's exercise, flew over the plant on
its way to the World Trade Center.

During the drill, officials pretended to mobilize
firefighters, dispatch helicopters and redirect
traffic. Evacuations of parts of Westchester,
Rockland and Orange Counties were simulated.
Operators at the plant were confronted with
mechanical malfunctions that caused Indian Point
to shut down, and they also faced a major valve
rupture, which leaked radioactive water. But much
to the disappointment of those who are skeptical
of the plant's emergency plans, there was no
simulated leak of radiation, leaving many
unconvinced of the drill's effectiveness.

Assemblyman Richard L. Brodsky, a Westchester
Democrat and a longtime critic of the plant,
dismissed the exercise as an "elaborate cartoon,"
calling it "a simulation of entertainment but
little more."

Andrew J. Spano, the county executive of
Westchester, where Indian Point is located, said
he was unimpressed by the drill. "We asked for a
scenario which would involve a fast-breaking
release of radiation so that we could really be
tested," he said. "Instead, we got a slow-motion
drill with no actual radiation release into the
environment."

But Michael J. Slobodien, director of emergency
programs for Entergy, dismissed the criticism.
"The whole critique that the drill was inadequate
because there was no actual radiation released
into the environment is unfounded," he said.
"There was a leak at the plant which could have
affected the population at large, which meant that
all the counties had to be ready for a general
release of radiation into the environment."

Mr. Spano also noted that gridlock, a major
concern in a real crisis, was addressed only
before the drill's evacuation stage. "It hardly
came as a surprise that they reported that there
was no gridlock," he said.

Around 30 protesters, some dressed in head-to-toe
anticontamination suits, held signs saying "What
About the Gridlock?" and "Forget about an
Evacuation!" Kyle Rabin, a policy analyst from
Riverkeeper, one of the organizers of the protest,
said local hospitals had never had to treat the
huge number of casualties that a real emergency
would entail. He also questioned why the
simulation did not consider the potential for
contamination of a larger area. "In a realistic
case, the emergency would last long enough that
the wind might change directions," he said.

Representative Nita M. Lowey, a Westchester
Democrat whose district includes the plant, which
is 35 miles north of Midtown Manhattan, said she
was glad the drill included an air-based attack.
But she added she was still concerned that the
plant had not proven its ability to deal with a
fast-breaking release of radiation.

Part of the drill involved a mock media center at
the Westchester County Airport, which provided
updates throughout the day about the unfolding
emergency. People posing as reporters sat in the
front and asked officials questions, while other
observers, including actual reporters, stood in
the back of the room and were told to remain
silent so as not to interfere with the drill.



Federal observers said the terrorism script made
Tuesday's drill much more difficult than previous
ones. "Something instantly happened,'' said Joseph
F. Picciano, the acting regional director of the
Federal Emergency Management Agency, "and as a
result the counties had to get on their feet
really quickly." In earlier drills, problems
typically began with a small mechanical
malfunction and took hours to build up to a major
crisis. "This was, 'Boom, the plane hits,' and we
need to see decisions made," he said in a
telephone interview.

Nils J. Diaz, the chairman of the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission, speaking from his office in
Washington, said he thought that the drill went
well.

"There's always things we can do a little better,"
he said. "That's why we drill."

Dr. Diaz said that the drill was conducted in real
time, without compressing several days' events
into a few hours, at the request of the county
executives, who said that this was more realistic.

He said the drill included placing calls to the
White House Situation Room and receiving
communications back. Besides the F.B.I. and the
North American Aerospace Defense Command, the
Federal Aviation Administration and the Department
of Homeland Security participated, he said.

At one point, he said, when the "attack" appeared
to have cut off the plant from outside power, the
federal agencies prepared to bring in
truck-mounted emergency generators, although
eventually this was not needed, he said.

Around the plant there was little sign of
activity. Three heavily armed men stood sentry at
the front gate, but a pickup truck and a string of
sedans went in and out with little seeming rush.

Traffic was light through the entire morning on
Broadway, where the plant sits, as well as in
neighboring areas and on Route 9, which leads to
and from the plant.

On a residential street in downtown Buchanan, Tate
Avenue, lawns were decorated with signs saying
"Indian Point. Safe. Secure. Vital."

At Phil's Barbershop, Phil Nisi, the owner,
shrugged dismissively at news of the emergency
drill. "It's just a normal day," he said. "This is
a quiet town, and it's a quiet day."


Matthew L. Wald and Marek Fuchs contributed
reporting for this article.






_______________________________________________________________________
Subscribe/Unsubscribe Here: http://www.energyjustice.net/nukenet/
Change your settings at:
http://energyjustice.net/mailman/listinfo/nukenet_energyjustice.net

</x-flowed>
*****************************************************************
 12 azr: Palo Verde unit shuts down
 
Arizona Republic">
[http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/]           
    
 Max Jarman The Arizona Republic Jun. 9, 2004 12:00 AM 

A 1,270-megawatt generator at Palo Verde Nuclear Generating 
Station, west of Phoenix, shut itself down late Monday when a 
control system malfunctioned. 

Jim McDonald, spokesman for Palo Verde's operator, Arizona Public 
Service Co., said Unit 3 would be out of service for much of the 
week. The unit shut down after its control system arbitrarily 
reduced production. There was no release of radioactive material. 

A long-term outage could affect rates if the utility has to 
purchase more expensive power to replace the lost supply. 

This was the fourth unexpected shutdown at Palo Verde this year. 
Three of those involved radiation leaks. 

In addition to those shutdowns, Unit 3 last month had a 
non-radioactive vent-line leak. 

Unit 3 is a critical component in meeting the Valley's summer 
electricity demand, but because of the cooler weather forecast 
for the rest of the week, the outage should not pose problems, 
McDonald said. Still, APS purchased a block of hydroelectricity 
from Idaho to cover any shortfall. 

*****************************************************************
 13 LJWorld.com : Kansas Guard running drills at nuclear plant
 		 			
[LJWorld.com | The Lawrence Journal-World] 
 		
Terror prevention priority at Wolf Creek site 

By John Milburn - Associated Press Writer 
Wednesday, June 9, 2004 

Burlington — Members of the 1st Battalion 127th Field Artillery
looked like anything but artillerymen Tuesday as they trained. 

Their 155 mm Paladin howitzers weren't around. Instead, they
were on foot and in Humvees in and around the grounds and fields
of the Wolf Creek nuclear plant, training for an emergency or
act of terrorism. 

"If you are a terrorist and you want to create headlines, you're
not going to the Capitol, you're going to the nuclear plant,"
said Col. Milton Ayala, of San Antonio, commander of the Kansas
National Guard's 130th Field Artillery Brigade of Topeka, which
includes the 1st Battalion, 127th Field Artillery. "We're taking
this mission seriously. This might be where we fight." 

Cathy Atrey, spokeswoman for Wolf Creek, said security at the
plant had changed dramatically since September 2001 and
continued to evolve. She spent 10 years in the security division
at the plant and is now seeing changes that some had sought for
years. 

Soldiers were around the plant to augment security following the
2001 attacks and during the heightened threats of December 2003.
Atrey said some residents in Coffey County at first were
concerned there was more of a threat or danger. 

"They're just a precaution," Atrey said. 

Wolf Creek, which produces about 1.2 million kilowatts of
electricity for 800,000 customers in Kansas and Missouri,
employs its own security force. U.S. nuclear plants have
invested more than $500 million in upgrades since 2001. 

"We have never been under the misperception that we can protect
the health and safety of the county on our own," Atrey said. 

The 127th Field Artillery, based in Ottawa, is responsible at
the state level for supporting activities on the northern edge
of Wolf Creek in time of need. However, with the upcoming
deployment to Iraq of the 891st Engineer Battalion in Iola later
this year, this week's training takes on greater importance, as
the artillery unit will be asked to pick up more of the security
burden if needed. 

As the war continues, the strain on National Guard units
continues to increase. Joy Moser, spokeswoman for the Kansas
National Guard, said about 1,500 guardsmen from Kansas currently
are deployed or are about to be deployed, including 351 members
of the 2nd Battalion, 130th Field Artillery, which is a sister
unit of the Ottawa battalion. About 5,400 people are in the
Kansas Army National Guard. 

"The National Guard Bureau has set a goal of no more than 50
percent of a state deployed, and we expect our numbers to get
close to 40 percent," she said. 

Contents of this site are &copy; Copyright
[http://ljworld.com/site/new_copyright.html] 2004 The Lawrence
Journal-World. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
 14 Times-Standard Online: County hears report on power plant decommissioning 
 
Article Last Updated: Wednesday, June 09, 2004 -
 		   	 	
By James Tressler The Times-Standard

 EUREKA -- A report on the decommissioning of the Humboldt Bay 
Power Plant presented to the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday 
turned out to be a relatively low-key affair. 

Roy Willis, plant manager, discussed plans to dispose of the 
nearly 400 spent fuel rods that have remained onsite at the plant 
ever since it was shut down in the early 1980s because of seismic 
concerns. The plant is located atop a faultline.                        
 					   						 					   				 				
 The plan is to store the rods in five 10-feet-tall casks and 
ultimately ship them to a long-term storage facility, which the 
federal government has tentatively identified as being located in 
Yucca Mountain in Nevada. Willis said he expects the federal 
Nuclear Regulatory Commission to issue a license needed for the 
casks by August 2005. The casks won't actually be up and running 
until 2009. The federal permanent storage facility is expected to 
be open by 2010. Humboldt County probably won't be able to ship 
the rods to Nevada until four to five years after, Willis said. 

The plant has received about $10 million from the state's plant 
decommissioning trust fund for the licensing. Willis estimated 
$30 million will be needed to acquire material and construct the 
casks, plus another $26 million to complete the decommissioning 
project. That money is also slated to come from the trust fund, 
which is managed by the California Public Utilities Commission. 

Willis' report was made at the request of 1st District Supervisor 
Jimmy Smith, who represents the area near Humboldt Hill where the 
plant is located. 

"We're trying to get the word out," Willis said, adding the 
public is invited to attend an informational meeting set for June 
12 at the Wharfinger Building.

 Smith asked Willis how water quality is maintained in the plant. 
Willis said water that comes into the facility, especially rain 
water, is analyzed for potential radioactive contamination before 
the water is discharged back into Humboldt Bay. 

Eureka resident Aldo Bongio said he expects the decommissioning 
process to move forward without changes to the timeline.

 "Stick to the timeframe: don't extend it another five years and 
keep collecting your paychecks," Bongio said. 

In other business, the board voted unanimously to send to its 
budget task force recommendations by the Humboldt Taxpayers 
League to slash some $800,000 in perks to help with the county's 
cash-strapped budget. 

According to the league's report, the county pays some $105,800 
in annual "benefit allowances" to each elected and appointed 
official. That's a payment of $3,920 to each official. There are 
12 elected and 15 appointed officials in county government. Along 
with the benefit allowances, the county pays $53,100 annually in 
deferred compensation to these same officials -- checks equal to 
three weeks pay -- on July 1. League representatives also say the 
county could save $615,700 in annual benefit allowances given to 
the remaining 185 management and confidential employees, such as 
executive secretaries. 

While the recommendations will be considered by task force, the 
supervisors said they'd received additional information by county 
Personnel Director Rick Haeg that may dispute some of the figures 
the league has put forth. 

"They've done some good work," said 4th District Supervisor 
Bonnie Neely, a budget task force member. "We're definitely going 
to discuss their recommendations."
 		   	 	
© 2004 Times - Standard 		   	 
*****************************************************************
 15 Pravda.RU EU to give 100 million euros to close Armenian Nuclear Plant
 
[PRAVDA.RU]         Last update:06/10/2004 04:40 MSK     
                    
 14:06 2004-06-09

 The European Union is ready to finance the closure of the 
Armenian Nuclear Power Plant. As reported by a Rosbalt 
correspondent, Minister of Trade and Economic Development, Karien 
Chshmaritian, reported the news at a press conference while 
commenting about the results of the Armenia-EU conference held in 
Brussels on June 4. 

He stated that a concrete date for the plant's closure has not 
been set, because Armenia is not in the financial position to 
finance the closure. According to Karien Chshmaritian, the EU 
confirmed its intent to allocate 100 million euros for the 
closure of the Armenian Nuclear Power Plant, and the organization 
of alternative energy sources.

Last year, the Armenian Nuclear Power Plant was transferred to
the Russian joint-stock company EEC Russia for asset management. 

© RosBalt

  Copyright ©1999 by "Pravda.RU [http://www.pravda.ru/] ". When
*****************************************************************
 16 NEI: Renowned Environmentalist Challenges Greens to Embrace Nuclear Energy
 
June 7, 2004

In a commentary published in Londons Independent newspaper in 
late May, renowned environmental scientist James Lovelock 
advocated wide-scale deployment of emission-free nuclear energy 
as the only option to avoid disaster from the threat of global 
warming. 
  
[W]e cannot continue drawing energy from fossil fuels, and there 
is no chance that the renewables, wind, tide and water power can 
provide enough energy and in time, Lovelock stated. If we had 
50 years or more we might make these our main sources. But we do 
not have 50 years; the Earth is already so disabled by the 
insidious poison of greenhouse gases that even if we stop all 
fossil-fuel burning immediately, the consequences of what we have 
already done will last for 1,000 years. 
  
By all means, let us use the small input from renewables 
sensibly, but only one immediately available source does not 
cause global warming and that is nuclear energy. True, burning 
natural gas instead of coal or oil releases only half as much 
carbon dioxide, but unburnt gas is 25 times as potent a 
greenhouse agent as is carbon dioxide. Even a small leakage would 
neutralize the advantage of gas. 
  
Lovelock chided his allies in the global environmental movement 
for exaggerating the risks of nuclear energy, and creating 
opposition to the widespread use of nuclear energy. 
  
Opposition to nuclear energy is based on irrational fear fed by 
Hollywood-style fiction, the Green lobbies and the media, 
Lovelock said. These fears are unjustified, and nuclear energy 
from its start in 1952 has proved to be the safest of all energy 
sources. ... If we fail to concentrate our minds on the real 
danger, which is global warming, we may die even sooner. 
  
The article had the most immediate effect in the United Kingdom. 
Former British Energy Minister Brian Wilson reacted to Lovelocks 
challenge by saying, as quoted in the Independent, I hope that 
many others will follow him in questioning the basis of their 
hostility to nuclear power in the age of global warming & It is 
the bird in the hand yet the Green lobby wants to shoot it. 
  
Lovelock gained fame a generation ago as the author of the Gaia 
hypothesis that the Earth keeps itself fit by the actions of 
living things themselves. He was among the first researchers to 
warn of the threat of global climate change. To read the rest of 
Lovelocks article, visit the following link:   
[http://argument.independent.co.uk/commentators]  and type 
Lovelock in to the search engine.         

Copyright © 2004 Nuclear Energy Institute.   
*****************************************************************
 17 NRC: NRC to Discuss Performance, Work Environment Assessments of Hope Creek and
                   Salem Nuclear Power Plants
News Release - Region I - 2004-03
 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 

Office of Public Affairs, Region I
  No. I-04-032   		        June 9, 2004   
  CONTACT:     Diane Screnci (610) 337-5330
 		Neil A. Sheehan (610) 337-5331   		   E-mail: opa1@nrc.gov
[opa1@nrc.gov]   
  

June 16 to discuss the results of the agencys annual assessment
of safety performance at the Hope Creek and Salem Unit 1 and
Unit 2 nuclear power plants. PSEG operates the plants, which are
located in Hancocks Bridge (Salem County), N.J. 

Following the discussion of the annual assessment results, PSEG
will also discuss the results of three assessments of the
environment for raising and addressing safety issues at the
plants, as well as its plans to address the assessment findings
and improve the environment. In a January 28, 2004 letter, the
NRC provided PSEG with interim results of an ongoing agency
special review of the work environment at the plants. PSEG, in a
February 27, 2004 letter to the NRC, responded by outlining its
plans to assess the work environment. Since then, the NRC and
PSEG conducted a public management meeting on March 18th to
discuss the assessment plans. Current information related to the
work environment assessments is available at
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams/web-based.html using
Accession Number ML040610856. 

This is an important matter, NRC Region I Administrator Hubert
J. Miller said with regard to the work environment issues. The
company has undertaken a thorough review. We look forward to
discussing the results and plans for improvement. 

The June 16th meeting, which will be open to the public for
observation, is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. at the Holiday Inn
Select Bridgeport, which is located off Exit 10 of Interstate
295 in Swedesboro, N.J. Before the session is adjourned, NRC
staff will be available to accept questions and comments from
the public on the plants safety performance and work
environment, as well as the role of the NRC in ensuring safe
operation of the facilities. 

The annual assessment performance period to be discussed is
January 1 to December 31, 2003. In addition, NRC staff will
provide a brief overview of how the agencys Reactor Oversight
Process works. 

Letters sent from the NRC Region I Office to PSEG regarding the
annual assessment results are available on the agencys web
site. The letter regarding the Hope Creek plant can be found at:
www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/LETTERS/hope_2003q4.pdf.
 The letter regarding the Salem plants can be found at:
www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/LETTERS/salm_2003q4.pdf. 

Overall, the Salem units operated safely and met all cornerstone
objectives during the period. (Cornerstones are program areas
where NRC measures plant safety performance.) All of the
inspection findings and performance indicators at Salem Unit 2
were classified as green in 2003. However, Salem Unit 1
received a white inspection finding, representing low to
moderate safety significance, involving inadequate corrective
actions to prevent the recurrence of emergency diesel generator
turbocharger failures. (The NRC uses color-coded inspection
findings and performance indicators to assess performance at
nuclear power plants. The colors start with green and then
increase to white, yellow or red, commensurate with the
safety significance of the issues involved.) As a result, the
plant will receive additional scrutiny until the NRC is
satisfied the problem has been satisfactorily addressed. 

Current performance information for Salem Unit 1 is available on
the NRC web site at:
www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/SALM1/salm1_chart.html. 

Current performance information for Salem Unit 2 is available on
the NRC web site at:
www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/SALM2/salm2_chart.html. 

The Hope Creek plant also operated safely and met all
cornerstone objectives during the period. On May 10th of this
year, however, the NRC finalized a white inspection finding
for the facility. The finding involved procedural inadequacies
and adherence issues that led to one of the plants
service-water traveling screens failing on July 1, 2003. The
screens filter water pumped from the river for cooling purposes.
On June 1st, as part of its continuous review process, the NRC
completed an assessment of the finding. Because of the finding,
the agency will conduct a supplemental inspection to review the
companys root cause analysis and corrective actions for the
problem. 

Current performance information for the Hope Creek plant is
available on the NRC web site at:
http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/HOPE/hope_chart.html. 

In addition, the NRC staff last year identified a substantive
cross-cutting issue in the area of problem identification and
resolution affecting all three of the plants. The issue involved
instances of ineffective and untimely problem evaluations and
corrective actions. As part of the annual assessment of the
plants, the NRC concluded the issue should remain open based on
numerous inspection findings indicating continued weaknesses in
this area. The issue will be discussed at the June 16th meeting. 

On the subject of security issues, the NRC has issued several
orders and threat advisories to enhance security capabilities
and improve guard force readiness since the terrorist attacks on
September 11, 2001. The agency has also conducted inspections to
review the implementation of these requirements and has
monitored the action of plant operators in response to changing
threat conditions. The NRC will continue security inspections
during 2004.   



  


 	Last revised Wednesday, June 09, 2004 	   
*****************************************************************
 18 Advocate: Drill for IP nuclear plants includes fake terrorist plane crash
 	 	 	
StamfordAdvocate.com

Associated Press
 	 	
June 9, 2004

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. --           

A drill of emergency plans for the Indian Point nuclear power 
plants theorized a terrorist plot that included the crash of a 
767 just outside one of the reactors.

 The fake crash Tuesday set off an ever-worsening cascade of 
simulated events for plant operators and emergency responders to 
deal with. By the time the drill ended, the containment building 
at Indian Point 3 was portrayed as filling with radioactive steam 
and portions of Westchester, Rockland and Orange counties had 
been "evacuated," although the actual residents knew nothing 
about it.

 It was the first time terrorism has been included in a drill 
scenario for Indian Point. Since the terrorist attacks of 2001, 
40 miles to the south in lower Manhattan, plant owner Entergy 
Nuclear Northeast and federal regulators have been criticized for 
not taking terror into account in emergency planning.

 The critics were not assuaged by Tuesday's drill. Kyle Rabin, of 
Riverkeeper, one of the organizations in the Indian Point Safe 
Energy Coalition, said, "It speaks to the farcical nature of this 
exercise" that the scenario did not include a simulated release 
of radiation to the atmosphere.

 "We want to know if the public can be protected from a release 
of radiation," he said.

 He also criticized as "unbelievable" the announcement that there 
were no traffic control problems during the evacuations.

 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Federal Emergency 
Management Agency will evaluate the exercise at a public meeting 
on Thursday.

 The drill began with word that a group of men, possibly Middle 
Eastern, had been stopped on a Connecticut highway in a car laden 
with weapons and documents pointing to an attack on Indian Point. 
Then the North American Aerospace Defense Command alerted the NRC 
that a 767 cargo jet seemed to be on a heading for Indian Point.

 Former New York City police Commissioner Bernard Kerik, who 
endured the 2001 attack on the World Trade Center and is now a 
consultant whose clients include Entergy, watched the 
make-believe crisis develop from inside a mock-up of the control 
room at Indian Point.

 "I know it's a drill, I know it's a simulation, but when it 
comes over the speakers that this jet is five minutes out, it was 
chilling," Kerik said.

 The "crash" wiped out offsite power to the reactor as it was 
being shut down.

 Another grim moment came as conditions at the plant worsened in 
the scenario, with backup generators failing and a leak of 
reactor coolant raising the specter of a meltdown.

 A fake general emergency was declared, and Westchester County 
ordered the evacuation and advised those who have potassium 
iodide to "swallow one dose now." Potassium iodide is meant to 
inhibit the effect of radiation on the human thyroid.

 The drill ended without wrapping up all the scenario's loose 
ends, and it was never made clear who was at the controls of the 
767, although all occupants were believed killed, along with one 
Entergy worker on the ground.

 The official announcement of the crash said the cargo jet came 
down in an area of transformers just outside the Indian Point 3 
reactor without damaging the reactor's concrete containment 
building. Brian Holian, of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 
said the assertion reflected the conclusion of recent studies 
that showed "most plane crashes into containment buildings would 
not result in significant releases of radiation."

 Westchester County Executive Andrew Spano, who has called for a 
shutdown of the Indian Point plants, took part in the drill but 
"still feels the evacuation wouldn't work in a fast-breaking 
scenario of radiation escaping," said his chief adviser, Susan 
Tolchin.

 A group of about 30 protesters, some in make-believe moon suits, 
were kept behind barricades outside the airport conference room 
where reporters - real ones and simulated ones - received 
intermittent briefings on the drill. One demonstrator carried a 
sign that said, "Westchester's A-Glow, Where Do We Go?"

 	

 	Copyright © 2004, The Associated Press 	 
*****************************************************************
 19 Scotsman: 'Low-Level' Leak at Nuclear Power Station
 
 [http://www.scotsman.com/]  
 		   		   			
Wed 9 Jun 2004   			 			
 		     	 
By Tom Wilkinson, PA News 

Around 850 staff at a nuclear power plant were assembled at 
muster points following a low-level radioactive leak, a British 
Energy spokesman said today.
 
Around three times the normal number of workers were at 
Hartlepool Power Station, close to the River Tees, as routine 
maintenance work was being carried out on one of the two 
reactors.
 
Around 12.15pm a leak of tritiated water – a by-product of the 
electricity generation process – was spotted coming from a 
pipe.
 
A British Energy spokesman stressed the water had not come from 
either reactor.
 
He said there was no danger to the public and no-one had been 
harmed.
 
A clean-up operation at the plant has begun.
 
“It was a minor incident that we took seriously,” he said.
 
“Our staff are trained to deal with situations like this.”
 
A Cleveland Police spokeswoman said: “An incident has occurred 
at the Hartlepool Power Station involving a leak of contaminated 
water.
 
“This leak has been confined to a building on the site and 
there are no off-site implications.
 
“There have been no casualties and the leak has been sealed and 
the affected area is currently being cleaned up.”                   

*****************************************************************
 20 NRC: NRC to Hold Public Meeting June 15 on Proposed License Renewal of Point Beach
                          Nuclear Plant
News Release - Region III - 2004-03
 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 

Office of Public Affairs, Region III
  No. III-04-037           June 8, 2004   
  CONTACT:     Jan Strasma (630) 829-9663
 Viktoria Mitlyng (630) 829-9662     E-mail: opa3@nrc.gov
[opa3@nrc.gov]   
  

environmental review related to the application of Nuclear
Management Company (NMC) to renew the operating licenses for the
Point Beach Nuclear Plant, Units 1 and 2. The plant is located
near Two Rivers, Wisc. 

Members of the public are invited to attend and comment on
environmental issues the NRC should consider in its review of
the proposed license renewal. 

The meetings will be held at Fox Hills Resort, 250 West Church
Street, in Mishicot. There will be two similar sessions, one in
the afternoon at 1:30 and one in the evening at 7:00. In
addition, the NRC staff will host informal discussions one hour
prior to each meeting. NRC staff members will be available to
answer questions and provide additional information about the
process during those informal sessions, but no comment
submittals on environmental issues will be accepted at that
time. 

All are welcome to attend. For planning purposes, those who wish
to present oral comments at the meeting may register by
contacting William Dam of the NRC by telephone at 1-800-
368-5642, Extension 4014, or by email at PointBeachEIS@nrc.gov
[PointBeachEIS@nrc.gov] no later than June 11. Interested
persons may also register to speak before the start of each
session. Individual comment time may be limited by the time
available. 

The meetings will include an overview and NRC staff presentation
on the environmental process related to license renewal, after
which members of the public will be given the opportunity to
present their comments on what environmental issues the NRC
should consider during its review. 

Under NRC regulations, the original operating license for a
nuclear power plant is issued for up to 40 years. The license
may be renewed for up to an additional 20 years if NRC
requirements are met. The current operating licenses for Point
Beach will expire on October 5, 2010, and March 8, 2013,
respectively. NMC submitted its application for license renewal
on February 26, 2004. 

The application is available for public review at the Lester
Public Library, 1001 Adams Street, Two Rivers. It is also
available in the NRC Public Document Room at NRC Headquarters,
One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville,
Maryland, on the Internet at
www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/licensing/renewal/applications/poi
nt-beach.html. 

An existing NRC document, Generic Environmental Impact
Statement for License Renewal of Nuclear Plants, (NUREG-1437),
assesses the scope and impact of environmental effects that
would be associated with license renewal at any nuclear power
plant site. The NRC staff is gathering information at these
meetings for a supplement to the generic environmental impact
statement that will be specific to Point Beach. It will contain
a recommendation regarding the environmental acceptability of
the license renewal action. 

At the conclusion of the information-gathering process, the NRC
staff will prepare a summary of significant issues and will send
a copy to interested persons who participated in the scoping
process. The summary will also be available for public review
through the NRC Public Electronic Reading Room at
www.nrc.gov/NRC/ADAMS/index.html. Help in accessing documents on
the Reading Room site is available from the NRC Public Document
Room reference staff by telephone at 1-800-397-4209, or by email
at pdr@nrc.gov [pdr@nrc.gov] . 

The NRC staff will then prepare a draft environmental impact
statement supplement for public comment and will hold a public
meeting to solicit comments. After consideration of comments
received on the draft, the NRC will prepare a final EIS
supplement. 

Members of the public may also submit written comments on the
issues they believe should be considered in the Point
Beach-specific supplement to the generic environmental impact
statement. Comments should be submitted by July 14, either by
mail to the Chief, Rules and Directives Branch, Division of
Administrative Services, Mail Stop T-6-D-59, U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission, Washington, D.C., 20555-0001, or by email
to: PointBeachEIS@nrc.gov [PointBeachEIS@nrc.gov] .   



  


 	Last revised Tuesday, June 08, 2004 	   
*****************************************************************
 21 Sofia Morning News: Bulgaria Rules out Energy Chapter Reopening
 	 	 	 	 	 	
 SOFIA NEWS AGENCY

[http://www.novinite.com/]

Thursday 10 June 2004

Politics: 9 June 2004, Wednesday.

The Bulgarian government counteracted calls for reopening the 
Energy chapter of the acquis communautaire, describing such a 
move as "short-sighted". 

EU concerns over the safety of Soviet-designed 440-MW reactors of 
Bulgaria's only nuclear power plant Kozloduy has hinged the 
country's EU accession in 2007 on their closure the previous 
year. 

Bulgaria is nearing the end of its pre-accession negotiations and 
it is not worth it to bring its EU entry in question by opening 
again the Energy Chapter, government spokesman Dimitar Tsonev 
told private bTV channel. 

He echoed the position of EU Enlargement Commissioner Gunter 
Verheugen, who warned that Bulgaria's accession to the European 
Union will be delayed should it open again the Energy chapter.
 
In the words of Tsonev the government has never promised to 
reopen the Energy chapter. That was just an option, Tsonev said. 

The ruling party Simeon II National Movement has called "cheap 
populism" the proposal of the Bulgarian Socialists to hold a 
referendum on the shutdown of Kozloduy units.
 
The decommissioning of botholdest units at the end of 2002 came 
after strong pressure from the European Union. The nuclear lobby 
and opposition parties protested that the reactors are 
economically necessary and called EU demands "arm-twisting."
 
At the beginning of the week the European Commission has proposed 
that Bulgaria closes the Competition chapter, which would bring 
the country to one chapter of ending its pre-accession 
negotiations.[ width=] 

 All Rights Reserved © Novinite Ltd., 2001-2004 - Copyright
*****************************************************************
 22 NRC: Licensee; Notice of Issuance of Amendment to Facility Operating 
 
                        FR Doc 04-13020 
[Federal Register: June 9, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 111)] 
[Notices] [Page 32372] From the Federal Register Online via GPO 
Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr09jn04-98]                         
 
License The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (Commission) has 
issued Amendment No. 139 to Facility Operating License No. DPR-22 
issued to Nuclear Management Company, LLC (the licensee), which 
revised the Technical Specifications for operation of the 
Monticello Nuclear Generating Plant, located in Wright County, 
Minnesota. The amendment is effective as of the date of issuance.
 
The amendment modified the Technical Specifications to change 
design bases and the Updated Safety Analysis Report (USAR) for 
(1) long-term containment response to the design-basis 
loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA) and (2) containment overpressure 
required for adequate available net positive suction head for the 
low-pressure emergency core cooling system pumps following a 
LOCA, reactor vessel isolation, and Appendix R fire.
 
The application for the amendment complies with the standards and 
requirements of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (the 
Act), and the Commission's rules and regulations. The Commission 
has made appropriate findings as required by the Act and the 
Commission's rules and regulations in 10 CFR Chapter I, which are 
set forth in the license amendment.
 
Notice of Consideration of Issuance of Amendment to Facility 
Operating License and Opportunity for a Hearing in connection 
with this action was published in the Federal Register on January 
27, 2003 (68 FR 3900). No request for a hearing or petition for 
leave to intervene was filed following this notice.
 
The Commission has prepared an Environmental Assessment related 
to the action and has determined not to prepare an environmental 
impact statement. Based upon the environmental assessment, the 
Commission has concluded that the issuance of the amendment will 
not have a significant effect on the quality of the human 
environment (69 FR 29983).
 
Further details with respect to the action see (1) the 
application for amendment dated December 6, 2002, as supplemented 
September 24, 2003 and March 12, 2004, (2) Amendment No. 139 to 
License No. DPR-22, (3) the Commission's related Safety 
Evaluation, and (4) the Commission's Environmental Assessment. 
Documents may be examined, and/ or copied for a fee, at the NRC's 
Public Document Room, located at One White Flint North, 1555 
Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, Maryland. Publicly 
available records will be accessible electronically from the 
Agencywide Documents Access and Management Systems (ADAMS) Public 
Electronic Reading Room on the Internet at the NRC Web site, 
http://www.nrc.gov/NRC/ADAMS/index.html 
[http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leaving 
FR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www.nrc.gov/NRC/ADAMS/index.html] . 
Persons who do not have access to ADAMS or who encounter problems 
in accessing the documents located in ADAMS, should contact the 
NRC Public Document Room Reference staff by telephone at 
1-800-397-4209 or 301-415-4737, or send an e-mail to pdr@nrc.gov 
[ pdr@nrc.gov] . Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 2nd day of 
June, 2004.
 
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
 
L. Mark Padovan, Project Manager, Section 1, Project Directorate 
III, Division of Licensing Project Management, Office of Nuclear 
Reactor Regulation.
 
[FR Doc. 04-13020 Filed 6-8-04; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P

 
*****************************************************************
 23 NRC: Tennessee Valley Authority; Sequoyah Nuclear Plant;
 
                        FR Doc 04-13021 
[Federal Register: June 9, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 111)] 
[Notices] [Page 32372-32373] From the Federal Register Online via 
GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr09jn04-99]                         
 
Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact The 
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is considering issuance 
of an exemption from the requirements in Title 10 of the Code of 
Federal Regulations (10 CFR) Part 50, Appendix G, ``Fracture 
Toughness Requirements'' for Facility Operating License Nos.
 
DPR-77 and DPR-79, issued to Tennessee Valley Authority (the 
licensee), for operation of the Sequoyah Nuclear Plant (SQN), 
located in Hamilton County, Tennessee. Therefore, as required by 
10 CFR 51.21, the NRC is issuing this environmental assessment 
and finding of no significant impact.
 
Environmental Assessment Identification of the Proposed Action 
The proposed exemption would allow use of the methods described 
in WCAP-15984, Revision 1, ``Reactor Vessel Closure Head/Vessel 
Flange Requirements Evaluation for Sequoyah Units 1 and 2,'' 
instead of the requirements in 10 CFR Part 50,
 
[[Page 32373]] Appendix G, footnote 2 to Table 1, ``Pressure and 
Temperature Requirements for the Reactor Pressure Vessel,'' for 
the SQN.
 
The proposed action is in accordance with the licensee's 
application dated September 6, 2002, as supplemented on December 
19, 2002, March 28, June 24, September 3, October 22, and 
December 18, 2003. The supplemental letters provided clarifying 
information that did not expand the scope of the original 
request.
 
The Need for the Proposed Action The licensee's exemption request 
was made in support of an associated licensing action, submitted 
in the same letter, to adopt a Pressure-Temperature Limit Report 
for SQN, Units 1 and 2.
 
Section 50.12(a) of 10 CFR allows licensees to apply for an 
exemption from the requirements of Part 50 if, (1) the exemption 
will not present an undue risk to the protection of public health 
and safety and common defense and security and (2) the 
application of the regulation in the particular circumstances is 
not necessary to achieve the underlying purpose of the rule. The 
licensee has stated that compliance with the reactor pressure 
vessel (RPV) flange minimum temperature requirements of Appendix 
G to 10 CFR Part 50 is not necessary to meet the underlying 
purpose of the rule (i.e., to provide adequate margins of safety 
with regard to pressure boundary integrity for any condition of 
normal operation for the service life of the RPV).
 
Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action The NRC has 
completed its evaluation of the proposed action and concludes 
that the exemption described above would continue to satisfy the 
underlying purpose of 10 CFR 50.68(b)(1). The details of the 
staff's safety evaluation will be provided with the letter to the 
licensee approving the exemption to the regulation.
 
The proposed action will not significantly increase the 
probability or consequences of accidents. No changes are being 
made in the types of effluents that may be released off site. 
There is no significant increase in occupational or public 
radiation exposure.
 
Therefore, there are no significant radiological environmental 
impacts associated with the proposed action.
 
With regard to potential nonradiological impacts, the proposed 
action does not have a potential to affect any historic sites.
 
It does not affect nonradiological plant effluents and has no 
other environmental impact. Therefore, there are no significant 
nonradiological environmental impacts associated with the 
proposed action.
 
Accordingly, the NRC concludes that there are no significant 
environmental impacts associated with the proposed action.
 
Environmental Impacts of the Alternatives to the Proposed Action 
As an alternative to the proposed action, the staff considered 
denial of the proposed action (i.e., the ``no-action'' 
alternative). Denial of the application would result in no change 
in current environmental impacts. The environmental impacts of 
the proposed action and the alternative action are similar.
 
Alternative Use of Resources The action does not involve the use 
of any different resources than those previously considered in 
the Final Environmental Statement for the Sequoyah Nuclear Plant, 
Units 1 and 2 dated February 13, 1974.
 
Agencies and Persons Consulted On April 28, 2004, the staff 
consulted with the Tennessee State official, Elizebeth Flannagin 
of the Tennessee Bureau of Radiological Health, regarding the 
environmental impact of the proposed action. The State official 
had no comments.
 
Finding of No Significant Impact On the basis of the 
environmental assessment, the NRC concludes that the proposed 
action will not have a significant effect on the quality of the 
human environment. Accordingly, the NRC has determined not to 
prepare an environmental impact statement for the proposed 
action.
 
For further details with respect to the proposed action, see the 
licensee's letter dated September 6, 2002, as supplemented on 
December 19, 2002, March 28, June 24, September 3, October 22, 
and December 18, 2003. Documents may be examined, and/or copied 
for a fee, at the NRC's Public Document Room (PDR), located at 
One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike (first floor), 
Rockville, Maryland. Publicly available records will be 
accessible electronically from the Agencywide Documents Access 
and Management System (ADAMS) Public Electronic Reading Room on 
the Internet at the NRC Web site, 
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html 
[http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leaving 
FR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html] 
.
 
Persons who do not have access to ADAMS or who encounter problems 
in accessing the documents located in ADAMS, should contact the 
NRC PDR Reference staff at 1-800-397-4209 or 301-415-4737, or 
send an e-mail to pdr@nrc.gov [pdr@nrc.gov] . Dated at Rockville, 
Maryland, this 3rd day of June, 2004.
 
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
 
William F. Burton, Acting Chief, Section 2, Project Directorate 
II, Division of Licensing Project Management, Office of Nuclear 
Reactor Regulation.
 
[FR Doc. 04-13021 Filed 6-8-04; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P

 
*****************************************************************
 24 [du-list] Depleted Uranium Screeing and Testing Act of 2004
 
Date: Wed, 09 Jun 2004 14:32:22 -0700

 
<x-flowed>
HR 4463 IH


108th CONGRESS

2d Session

H. R. 4463
To provide for identification of members of the Armed Forces exposed during
military service to depleted uranium, to provide for health testing of such
members, and for other purposes.


IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

May 20, 2004
Mr. SERRANO (for himself, Mr. CROWLEY, and Mr. ENGEL) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services



----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----


A BILL
To provide for identification of members of the Armed Forces exposed during
military service to depleted uranium, to provide for health testing of such
members, and for other purposes.


Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the `Depleted Uranium Screening and Testing Act of
2004'.

SEC. 2. DEPLETED URANIUM RISK NOTIFICATION FOR DEPLOYING FORCES.

(a) Notification- The Secretary of Defense shall establish procedures to
require that, as part of the procedures for preparing members of the Armed
Forces for deployment to a theater of operations, that such members be
notified of--

(1) any known or likely use of depleted uranium in that theater of
operations (whether by forces of the United States and its allies or by any
opposing forces); and

(2) any health risks associated with exposure to depleted uranium.

(b) Training- The Secretary shall provide for training deploying forces on
how to handle depleted uranium before deploying them to a theater in which
depleted uranium is used.

SEC. 3. DEPLETED URANIUM SCREENING AND TESTING.

(a) Identification and Testing Required- The Secretary of Defense shall
carry out a program to identify individuals who during active service in the
Armed Forces are or have been exposed to depleted uranium and to provide
those individuals with bioassay testing and notification of the results of
such testing.

(b) Du-Exposed Personnel Identification Methods- (1) The Secretary of each
military department shall establish procedures to identify members of the
Armed Forces under the Secretary's jurisdiction who are, or may have been,
exposed to depleted uranium. For such purpose, the Secretary shall identify
units and members under paragraph (2) and shall accept self-identification
reports by members under paragraph (3).

(2) The Secretary of each military department shall identify units, and
personnel assigned to units, that have been, or could have been, exposed to
depleted uranium, based upon information about known exposure events (as
determined under subsection (c)).

(3) The Secretary of each military department shall accept a report by an
individual that the individual, while a member of the Armed Forces under the
Secretary's jurisdiction, was, or may have been, exposed to depleted uranium
based upon service on active duty (or training duty or funeral honors duty)
in a theater of operations where depleted uranium was used, including travel
through such an area. The Secretary shall prescribe procedures for receiving
such reports.

(4) In carrying out this subsection, the Secretary of each military
department shall ensure that individuals no longer on active duty (including
members of the reserve components who have been released from active duty,
members who have been retired, and members who have been separated from
service) are treated, for identification purposes, in the same manner as
individuals remaining on active duty.

(c) Exposure Events- The Secretary of Defense shall identify depleted
uranium exposure events for purposes of this section. The exposure events
identified shall include the following:

(1) An event in which an individual--

(A) is struck by depleted uranium munitions or depleted uranium armor
fragments;

(B) is within 50 meters of a vehicle or structure containing or equipped
with depleted uranium cargo or components (such as aircraft counterweights
and helicopter rotor tips) at a time that the vehicle or structure was
struck, exploded, burned, or crashed; or

(C) while acting as a first responder to an event described in subparagraph
(B), enters within 50 meters of the vehicle or structure to render aid.

(2) An event in which an individual--

(A) enters a vehicle or structure with possible depleted uranium residues in
order to perform maintenance, recovery, intelligence, or battle damage
assessment; or

(B) breathes smoke from fires involving depleted uranium materials.

(3) An event in which an individual may inhale depleted uranium particulates
as a result of the handling of depleted uranium contaminated equipment or
wreckage or exposure to particulate residues as part of maintenance duties
(including duties as a welder or ammunition handler or duties involving
cleanup or processing of depleted uranium contaminated equipment).

(4) Other incidental exposures identified by the Secretary, including the
performance of activities in the area of depleted uranium damaged vehicles
or structures or the traveling through or residing in any such area.

In addition to exposure events described in paragraphs (1) through (4)
occurring on or after the the date of the enactment of this Act, such events
during the period between January 1, 2003, and the date of the enactment of
this Act may be considered for purposes of this section, but only if
reported during the 60-day period beginning on the date of the enactment of
this Act.

(d) Health-Care Services Required- (1) Any individual identified under
subsection (b) shall be provided a health screening test by the Secretary of
Defense. Such test shall be carried out using a bioassay procedure developed
by the Secretary of Defense in consultation with the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention. The same bioassay procedure shall be used for all
types of exposure or possible exposure under subsection (c).

(2)(A) In the case of an individual with an exposure event described in
subsection (c) other than under paragraph (4) of that subsection, the
bioassay under paragraph (1) shall be administered not later than 180 days
after the date of the event.

(B) In the case of an individual with an exposure event described in
subsection (c)(4), the bioassay under paragraph (1) shall be administered
not later than 30 days after the end of the individual's deployment in the
theater of operations, but such individual may be provided the bioassay
earlier upon the individual's request.

(3) The Secretary of Defense shall provide the results of any bioassay
procedure under this subsection to the individual tested, and the primary
care manager or primary care provider of that individual, not later than 30
days after the Secretary receives those results.

(e) Personnel Tracking- The Secretary of each military department shall
establish procedures for collecting, tracking, and maintaining information
on the health status of individuals tested under subsection (d) for the
purpose of assessing any long-term health consequences of exposure to
depleted uranium.

(f) Independent Review of Bioassay Types and Contamination Thresholds- The
Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shall conduct an
independent review of bioassay types and contamination thresholds for
purposes of the testing under subsection (d).

(g) Treatment- Based on the results of the bioassay tests, the Secretary of
the military department concerned shall provide appropriate treatment for
any illness of an individual resulting from a depleted uranium contamination
or exposure.

SEC. 4. SURVEY OF RADIOISOTOPE IDENTIFICATION EQUIPMENT USED BY DEPARTMENT
OF DEFENSE.

(a) Survey- The Comptroller General shall conduct a survey of radioisotope
identification equipment used by the Department of Defense in order to
assess the capability of Department of Defense facilities to identify
concentrations of different radioisotopes in naturally occurring levels of
uranium.

(b) Report- The Comptroller General shall submit to Congress a report on the
results of the survey under subsection (a) not later than 180 days after the
date of the enactment of this Act.
END


Tara Thornton
Executive Director
Military Toxics Project
P.O. Box 558
Lewiston, ME 04243
(207)783-5091 phone
www.miltoxproj.org



------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~-->
Yahoo! Domains - Claim yours for only $14.70
http://us.click.yahoo.com/Z1wmxD/DREIAA/yQLSAA/FGYolB/TM
--------------------------------------------------------------------~->

To unsubscribe from this groups send a message to 
du-list-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com.  In the body of the message type 
unsubscribe and send.
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
      http://groups.yahoo.com/group/du-list/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
      du-list-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
      http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
  

</x-flowed>
*****************************************************************
 25 [DU-WATCH] Navy calls for DU experiments in tactical &
 
Date: Wed, 9 Jun 2004 18:04:58 -0500 (CDT)

 
Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC), Dahigren Division, Virginia has 
just closed its call for expressions of interest by weapons' 
developers for designing and testing DU warheads in a wide variety 
of warhead technologies: shaped charges, deep earth penetrators, ram-
jet boosted kineteic energy penetrators, tactical battlefield and 
strategic CBW defeat weapons. The designer/builder is expected to 
develop DU applications in thermonuclear weapons and hyper-velocity 
rockets (i.e. that means the J-SSCM which I revealed a few months 
back, covered by Traprock).

"The contractor must have a Radioactive Materials License for 
testing of depleted uranium and have a BASTF license." 

Testing is comprehensive over all warhead ballistic 
configurations:"Fragments, projectiles, continuous rods, shaped 
charge, reactive fragments,and blasts".

Testing of 20,000 pound TNT equivalent HE's indicates mini-nuke 
testing. Probably in LLNL's soon to be build nuclear explosion  
indoor testing laboratory. The program will test reactive fragments  
and reactive fragment warheads. "Reactive" is the code word for 
intermetallic warheads that react explosively and with high and 
prolonged heat when exposed to water, titanium, and hydrogen".

Here we have ample demonstration of the experimentation and advaning 
developme of several generations of uranium ballasted penetration 
warheads, liquid metal and explosively formed penetration warheads, 
high explosive-uranium composite warheads, and DU as an integral 
componet to deep earth fissile penetration ram jet boosted warheads.
  

N00178-04-R-1026
A--Weapon Testing Support
XDS11 - Highly classified joint warhead testing program
Naval Surface Warfare Center
Dahlgrn, VA
March 2004

http://wwwnswc.navy.mil/wwwDL/XD/SUPPLY/solicita/04r1026/1026syn.htm
 

------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> 
Yahoo! Domains - Claim yours for only $14.70
http://us.click.yahoo.com/Z1wmxD/DREIAA/yQLSAA/Sj.0lB/TM
--------------------------------------------------------------------~-> 

[Brought to you by HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK] 
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
     http://groups.yahoo.com/group/du-watch/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
     du-watch-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
     http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
*****************************************************************
 26  Near Nuclear Catastrophe & Media Blackout
 
Date: Wed, 9 Jun 2004 23:41:15 -0400

 

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Stephen Kobasa
To: Recipient List Suppressed:
Sent: Wednesday, June 09, 2004 10:50 PM
Subject: An accident and the courts


http://washingtonfreepress.org/basil/accidentsPugetSound.htm
http://washingtonfreepress.org/basil/accidentsPugetSound.htm



Calculating Disaster

Accidents at Puget Sound's Trident installation
cast doubt on Navy and Lockheed safety claims

by Glen Milner

The below article was first offered to the Seattle
Times and Bremerton's Sun newspaper, but these two
dailies were apparently uninterested in printing
it. Because this article has extreme importance
for the welfare of the region, the WA Free Press
is filling in where the mainstream papers are
amiss. --ed.

There is no weapon system in the US arsenal with
the operational risks of a Trident submarine. No
weapon has as much explosive material, in the form
of solid rocket propellant, and the number of
nuclear warheads tightly packed in a confined
vessel.

On November 7, 2003 a missile handling crew at
Bangor, WA hoisted a Trident C-4 missile into a
ladder that was left inside the launch tube. A
nine-inch hole was made in the nose cone as the
ladder came within inches of a live nuclear
warhead.

All missile handling operations at the Strategic
Weapons Facility were stopped for nine weeks until
Bangor could be recertified for handling nuclear
weapons. The top three commanders were dismissed.

When the accident became public in March 2004,
many acknowledged the Navy's concern for safety
but failed to recognize one critical fact--the
design of the missile is inherently flawed.

The critical issue at the Bangor Explosives
Handling Wharf in November 2003 was not how close
the ladder had come to the nuclear warhead, but
instead, how close it had come to the third stage
rocket motor. Lockheed Martin and the Navy
consider the Trident propellant to be 1.25 percent
more explosive than conventional TNT. Some tests
show it to be twice as volatile at TNT. The
propellant is capable of detonating upon impact.

Had the ladder struck the third stage rocket motor
with sufficient force, the resultant explosion
would have detonated the much larger first and
second stage rocket motors and spread the
plutonium across Puget Sound.

Safety studies of the Trident missile system have
been conducted through a process of "fault tree
analysis", in which every identified hazardous
event in deployment operations were analyzed.
Based upon analysis by Lockheed Martin and the
Navy, the chance of an accident leading to the
dispersal of plutonium is better than the
acceptable number of "one in a million." The
analysis, however, is dependent upon correctly
identifying every causative event that could lead
to a catastrophic failure.

In July 2003, a federal lawsuit, Milner v. US
Department of the Navy [of which the writer is the
plaintiff], brought the public release of the
Navy's Trident missile accident review and
propellant hazard analysis. While issues such as
tornadoes and crane failure were considered in the
safety reviews, no mention was made of missile
technicians leaving for coffee break and
forgetting the ladder in the missile launch tube.
A number of other causative events, such as
falling objects and electrical fires, were not
studied because the chances of such an event at
the Explosives Handling Wharf at Bangor were
considered too remote.

The Space Shuttle program is similar in complexity
to the Trident submarine system. NASA, with the
assistance of Lockheed Martin and other prime
contractors, had concluded the chances of a
catastrophic accident involving a Space Shuttle to
be 1 in 100,000. Actual operations resulted in two
tragic accidents in 113 launches, giving the
program a 1 in 57 failure rate.

The cause of the last Shuttle disaster,
light-weight foam on an external fuel tank, had
never been considered a potential problem.

A Freedom of Information Act response in September
2003 brought the release of documents from the
Bangor Submarine Base safety office showing three
accidents at Bangor involving Trident missiles.
One accident, in November 2001, involved a cover
that was pulled off the side of a Trident first
stage rocket motor in a scenario the Navy had not
thought was possible. The report concluded, "...we
need to understand how the contact could have
happened..."


One Trident submarine, loaded with the newer D-5
missile, has enough solid rocket propellant to
equal 3.7 million pounds of TNT. This conventional
explosive is equal to a small 1.8 kiloton nuclear
bomb. Add to this the nuclear reactor and up to
192 nuclear warheads on one Trident submarine.

In June 2001, a coalition of two environmental and
three peace organizations filed a federal lawsuit
against the D-5 missile upgrade at Bangor. The
case, focusing on the risks involved in missile
handling operations at Bangor, is now in the 9th
Circuit Court of Appeals. The risks of a
catastrophic accident at Bangor are enormous. The
Navy could lose the operational base for
approximately 25 percent of our nation's deployed
nuclear arsenal. Citizens of Puget Sound could
lose their homes and their lives.

Glen Milner lives in Seattle and is a member of
the Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action in
Poulsbo, Washington. Please see www.gzcenter.org .


Environmental lawsuit against Navy's Trident
missile at Bangor submarine base in 9th Circuit
Court of Appeals



Environmental lawsuit against the Trident D-5
missile upgrade at Bangor is in the 9th Circuit
Court of Appeals.  The lawsuit, Ground Zero Center
for Nonviolent Action, et al. v. U.S. Department
of the Navy, was filed in June 2001 and
specifically addresses the hazards of nuclear
missile handling operations at the Trident nuclear
submarine base.

 Oral arguments in the 9th Circuit Court of
Appeals regarding the environmental threat of the
Trident D-5 missiles on Thursday, June 10.
Attorneys representing plaintiffs and the
defendants in the case are given 20 minutes to
state their case.




The Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action is
one of five peace and environmental organizations
involved in a federal lawsuit against the U.S.
Navy for violations of the Endangered Species Act
and NEPA regarding the D-5 missile upgrade at
Bangor.  A 60 Day Notice was filed in March 2001.
A decision by Judge Franklin Burgess in Tacoma in
October 2002 is currently under appeal in the 9th
Circuit Court of Appeals.  Plaintiffs seek an
injunction against the new Trident D-5 missile
deployment.



David Mann, Seattle environmental attorney
representing the coalition, stated, "We are only
asking that the U.S. Navy follow NEPA guidelines
as any other agency or organization."   Mann
added, "It is time the courts recognize the
extreme danger to our environment involved in
missile handling operations at the Trident
submarine base."




In defense of the Trident submarine system, Navy
personnel in the lawsuit and in the appeal to the
9th Circuit have stated, "...there has never been
an accident involving the handling, loading, or
unloading of a Trident C-4 or D-5 missile."
Documents recently released through the Freedom of
Information Act, however, as a result of a
separate lawsuit, Milner v. U.S. Department of the
Navy, disclosed the Navy has created an artificial
distinction between the terms "accident" and
"incident."  While newly released Navy documents
report no "accidents" involving Navy missiles,
they do show a total of 53 "incidents" prior to
1986.  Sixteen of the identified "incidents" were
classified by the Navy as "potentially serious
events; incidents which had the potential to cause
nuclear material dispersal."




The type of accident addressed in the
environmental lawsuit is the same as the missile
accident that occurred at Bangor in November 2003
in which a ladder, mistakenly left in the missile
loading tube, cut into the nose cone of a Trident
missile.  The ladder came within inches of a
Trident nuclear warhead on the missile.



A different Freedom of Information Act response in
September 2003 brought the release of documents
from the Bangor Submarine Base safety office
showing three accidents at Bangor involving
Trident missiles.  One accident, in November 2001,
involved a cover that was pulled off the side of a
Trident first stage rocket motor in a scenario the
Navy had not thought was possible.  The report
concluded, "...we need to understand how the
contact could have happened."








*****************************************************************
 27 Rocky Mountain News: Researchers keep 40-year-old thyroid study alive

By Associated Press
June 9, 2004

SALT LAKE CITY - The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 
is offering $1.5 million for the next phase of a thyroid study 
involving people who lived downwind from nuclear weapons testing. 

Southeastern Nevada, southwestern Utah and northwestern Arizona 
all were hit by radioactive fallout from the above-ground testing 
in Nevada from 1951 through 1962. 

 A University of Utah team has kept the program going after the 
federal government lost interest. 

Study manager Mary Bishop Stone said participants are eager to 
continue the work federal investigators began nearly 40 years 
ago. 

"They tell us they are glad someone is addressing the concern 
they have had all these years," she said. 

For decades, there has been debate over how the more than 900 
atomic tests affected downwind residents. 

Past studies produced conflicting conclusions as to whether the 
fallout caused increased numbers of cases of particular types of 
cancer. 

The first phase of the thyroid study began in the 1960s and ended 
with the federal researchers concluding that fallout had not 
increased disease among 4,818 people living in Washington County, 
Utah, and Lincoln County, Nev., with residents of Graham County, 
Ariz., used as a control group. 

In the mid-1980s, University of Utah researchers tracked down 
3,122 of the original subjects. They said they discovered 
exposure to fallout led to a higher-than-usual incidence of 
thyroid tumors. 

To complete its study, the research team wants to conduct 
in-depth thyroid examinations of about 2,000 of the original 
study participants.  

*****************************************************************
 28 projo.com: Possible cuts in submarine fleet worry Congress members        

| Providence, R.I. | AP's The Wire
 
06.09.2004 7:12 P.M.    

By LOLITA C. BALDOR Associated Press Writer         

WASHINGTON (AP) - A Navy study recommending cuts in the
submarine fleet should have no effect on the current
shipbuilding contracts by companies in Connecticut, Rhode Island
and Virginia. But it would hurt future ship production and
possibly influence what military bases are targeted for closure,
members of Congress said Wednesday. 

New England lawmakers got a classified briefing from Navy
officials Wednesday and argued against the cuts, but stressed
the Pentagon will still need to order at least one submarine a
year for some time. 

"I don't foresee any conflict with the five boats in the
Electric Boat contract," said Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., referring
to the contract that New London, Conn-based EB and Newport News
Shipbuilding in Virginia have with the Navy. "This is not a
situation where they're suddenly going to stop submarine
production for one, two or three years." 

Members of Congress requested the meeting after hearing reports
that a Navy study has proposed slashing the submarine fleet by a
third, from about 55 vessels to 37. The cuts would come through
retiring older submarines and ordering fewer of the new
Virginia-class models. 

Rep. Rob Simmons, R-Conn., said he felt better after Rear Adm.
Joseph A. Sestak explained that this is one of several studies
on the Navy force. But he and Rep. James Langevin, D-R.I., said
they are concerned about potential cuts and how they could hurt
the nation's ability to build submarines and keep productions
lines running. 

"We can't stop submarine production, then expect to increase
production levels overnight, once you've lost the intellectual
capital and trained work force," Langevin said. 

The meeting, which also included Sen. Lincoln Chafee, R-R.I.,
and Sens. Christopher Dodd and Joe Lieberman, both D-Conn.,
lasted about an hour and included a short slideshow presentation
on the study, which is still classified. Sestak is the director
of the Navy's assessment division, and was in charge of the
study. 

Lawmakers said they were pleased with the meeting, but said
there are still many unanswered questions, including how the
study will affect the 2006 Navy budget. And they noted that
several other studies have projected a greater need for
submarines. 

"I feel better knowing that this is a blue-sky assessment, that
it's an effort to project out over 15 years to see what the
threats might be and what resources we might need," Simmons
said. "It should not be given any more significance that that." 

A key concern is the impact on jobs in Connecticut and Rhode
Island, the Congress members said. EB employs about 1,100 people
in Groton, Conn., and at Quonset Point, R.I., where some of the
work is done. 

The Navy in January signed a five-year, $8.4 billion contract
with EB and Newport News for five Virginia class nuclear
submarines, cementing a congressional plan to provide a more
stable, cost-effective shipbuilding program. 	   

Providence Journal newsroom at (401) 277-7303. 

© Belo Interactive Inc.   
*****************************************************************
 29 Interfax: EU to give 1M euros to convert icebreaker Lenin into museum

Updated: Jun 9 2004 9:10PM (MSK)     Đóńńęŕ˙ âĺđńč˙    
Interfax.com

Jun 9 2004 8:30PM
 
MURMANSK. June 9 (Interfax) - An agreement has been reached that
the European Union will transfer 1.3 million euros to convert
the first Russian atomic-powered icebreaker, the Lenin, into a
museum, the Murmansk regional administration told Interfax. 

The Lenin should reach the place of its future permanent display
near the Murmansk seaport before the end of 2005. This decision
was made in Murmansk at a session of the oversight council and
the founders of the fund to support the icebreaker. Murmansk
regional Governor Yury Yevdokimov served as chairman at the
session. 

It is planned that a small hotel with a restaurant and
conference hall will be constructed inside the icebreaker, as
well as museum exhibits. In addition, an information center will
be opened that will distribute information on issues related to
nuclear and radiation safety. 

Over its 30-year service period in the Arctic region, the Lenin
cruised 654,400 thousand nautical miles - 560,600 through ice -
and escorted 3741 vessels. No malfunctions occurred on the
icebreaker or its atomic reactor.   

© 1991-2004 Interfax
*****************************************************************
 30 Xinhuanet: HK Customs gets two more vehicle scanning systems   

  www.xinhuanet.com

  www.chinaview.cn 2004-06-09 20:02:44   

    HONG KONG, June 9 (Xinhuanet) -- The Hong Kong Customs and 
Excise Department demonstrated its commitment to cracking down on 
contraband smuggling by adding two more mobile X-ray vehicle 
scanning systems. 

    The two systems are being used at the Kwai Chung Container 
Terminals to combat trade fraud, drug trafficking, weapon and 
human smuggling. 

    Hong Kong Customs has now in place four mobile X-ray vehicle 
scanning systems. The first two were installed in 2001. 

    To mark the formal commissioning of the two new systems, a 
hand-over ceremony was held at the Customs and Excise Senior 
Officers' Mess Wednesday. 

    Costing about 15 million HK dollars (1.92 million US dollars) 
each, the systems require about 80 seconds to scan a 40-foot 
container. The object being scanned remains stationary throughout 
the scanning process. 

    The systems, equipped with the latest technology -- the 
Radioactivity Detection System, are capable of locating any 
radioactive source emitting gamma or neutron radiation. 

    Each system is installed on a truck with an X-ray detector on 
one side, and is able to scan the truck and the container at the 
same time. They can be deployed outdoors in container yards, 
cargowharves or control points. 

    They can detect all forms of contraband including drugs and 
weapons, and illegal immigrants. 

    Since April 2004, with the assistance of the mobile X-ray 
systems, Customs officers have successfully detected 26 smuggling 
cases resulting in the seizure of vehicles, vehicle parts, 
electrical appliances, electronic wastes, firearms, clothing and 
dutiable cigarettes worth a total of about 38.6 million HK 
dollars(4.95 million US dollars). Enditem   


  Copyright ©2003 Xinhua News Agency. All rights reserved. 
*****************************************************************
 31 courier-journal: Defense bill might help nuclear workers 

courier-journal.com

Wednesday, June 09, 2004     
  
 Senate amendment would shift program to Labor Department  

By NANCY ZUCKERBROD Associated Press 

WASHINGTON  Sick nuclear weapons workers at places such as the 
Paducah uranium plant in Western Kentucky would have an easier 
time getting compensation for job-related illnesses if the Senate 
approves an amendment to the defense bill, senators pushing the 
proposal said yesterday. 

The measure would move from the Energy Department to the Labor 
Department a program aimed at compensating Cold War-era nuclear 
workers who were exposed to toxic chemicals. 

The Labor Department already runs a 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 $100million 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," said Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M. 

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-N.M. and chairman of the committee that 
oversees the Energy Department, also is a sponsor. Another is 
Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska and chairman of the Appropriations 
Committee. 

The Energy Department opposes the transfer. Department spokesman 
Joe Davis said moving it to another agency would delay the 
process further. 

The 4-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 $49million this year 
on the program. Sponsors of the Senate proposal say moving the 
program to Labor would keep the cost about the same. 

The largest number of claims has so far come from Tennessee, home 
of the Energy Department's Oak Ridge nuclear reservation. Sen. 
Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., is a sponsor of the defense amendment. 

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. 

  Home [http://www.courier-journal.com/index.html] · News 

Copyright 2004 The Courier-Journal.
*****************************************************************
 32 Yucca In Deep $$ Trouble
 
Date: Thu, 10 Jun 2004 00:58:40 -0400

 


  Hooray!!!!



http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Yucca-Mountain.html
Nev. Nuclear Waste Project Faces Problems
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: June 9, 2004


                 ARTICLE TOOLS


                 E-Mail This Article
                 Printer-Friendly Format
                 Most E-Mailed Articles






                 TIMES NEWS TRACKER




                  Track news that interests you.





Filed at 6:47 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A House panel approved only a
fraction of the money the administration says it
needs to keep a proposed nuclear waste project in
Nevada on schedule, jeopardizing its planned
completion by 2010.

While the facility at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles
northwest of Las Vegas, has widespread
congressional support, a budget glitch forced a
House Appropriations subcommittee Wednesday to
provide only $131 million for the program in the
next fiscal year.

The Energy Department had requested $880 million
it says it will need to begin seeking permits for
the waste repository, go ahead with design work
and develop a plan for transporting waste to the
site from nuclear power plants around the country.

``I think we have an obligation to get (the
facility) opened and funded,'' said Rep. David
Hobson, R-Ohio, chairman of the subcommittee.
``But I don't have the tools right now to get that
done.''

The Yucca Mountain money is part of a $28 billion
spending bill for energy and water projects that
the subcommittee approved by voice vote Wednesday.
While there may be opportunities to increase funds
for Yucca Mountain as the bill works its way
through the House, Hobson was not optimistic about
the prospects.

Hobson said funding for the program has been put
in jeopardy because the administration, in
requesting the funds, linked the remaining $749
million to Congress passing separate legislation
on how lawmakers use a special nuclear waste fund
for the Yucca project.

Congress has used that fund, which now totals
nearly $15 billion, to help shrink the federal
deficit, and there is little prospect that the
legislation offered by the administration will
pass this year.

Given the tight budget situation, Hobson could not
find the money elsewhere, so Yucca Mountain
funding for the 2005 fiscal year, beginning in
October, was limited to the $131 million allocated
for defense waste.

The government wants to bury 77,000 tons of
nuclear waste -- used reactor fuel now held at
power plants in 31 states as well as defense
waste -- at Yucca Mountain. Next year has been
described as pivotal for the program since the
Energy Department will begin the process for
getting a permit from the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission and developing a transportation plan
for the waste.

Margaret Chu, director of the Energy Department
office that heads the program, has told lawmakers
that if it does not get the full $880 million it
would be impossible to meet the 2010 deadline for
accepting the first load of waste.

Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., also a strong
supporter of the Yucca project, said it would take
``something extraordinary'' to find the funding
the administration says is needed given the
legislative box that the White House Office of
Management and Budget has created by linking the
funding to separate legislation.

The administration has always relied on the House
to come up with the needed money for Yucca
Mountain and counter problems in the Senate, where
Nevada Democrat Harry Reid, an ardent Yucca
opponent, is in the leadership and has the ability
to sidetrack legislation or keep funding down for
the waste project.

Although Congress overrode Nevada's objections to
the waste facility in 2002, the state and its
congressional delegation continue to fight the
project in the courts and anywhere else possible.

Domenici said he planned to discuss with
administration officials ways to get out of the
budget problem and ensure full funding for the
program. But he said finding the money may be
``very, very difficult.''





*****************************************************************
 33 Alert: Take Action to help stop LES/Urenco
 
Date: Wed, 09 Jun 2004 14:32:14 -0700

 
<x-flowed>
Dear Friends,

Below is a letter to New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, urging him to 
keep his state's pressure on Louisiana Energy Services (LES) and its plans 
to build a new uranium enrichment plant in the state.

As you may know, LES and its parent company--the European consortium 
Urenco--tried to build a uranium enrichment plant in Louisiana in the 
1990s, and had its license rejected on the grounds of environmental racism. 
Two years ago, they tried again in Tennessee, but local grassroots groups 
and political leaders found that LES repeatedly lied when confronted with 
questions about radioactive waste disposal and radioactive emissions. Local 
officials then set up impossible conditions for LES to meet, and the 
company gave up.

Now, LES is trying again, in southeast New Mexico. The same questions that 
have plagued the company from the beginning continue to do so: especially 
the fact that LES has no plausible plans to dispose of the hundreds of 
thousands of tons of radioactive/hazardous waste it would create. NIRS and 
Public Citizen have intervened in the licensing proceedings against LES, as 
have New Mexico's Attorney General and Department of Environment.

For more information on LES, visit NIRS' website, www.nirs.org. There is 
also information available at Public Citizen's website, 
www.citizen.org/cmep and from Tennessee groups at www.stoples.org.

We are seeking organizational sign-ons to the letter to Governor 
Richardson, to make sure he understands, as the letter states, that "The 
eyes of the environmental community across the world are on this project." 
We are seeking sign-ons from international and U.S. national organizations, 
as well as regional and local groups from across the world. To sign-on, 
please send your name, organization, city, state and country to 
jmalherek@citizen.org

Individuals can make their opinions known by sending a free fax to Governor 
Richardson at: www.citizen.org/cmep/richardson

Thanks for your help! Together we can stop LES, and prevent this 
unnecessary and dangerous project from ever being built.

Michael Mariotte
Nuclear Information and Resource Service


June 15, 2004

Hon. Rill Richardson
Governor of New Mexico



Dear Governor Richardson:

We are writing to thank you for New Mexico's intervention in the license 
application of the proposed Louisiana Energy Services (LES) uranium 
enrichment plant near Hobbs, and to encourage you to stand firm against 
this company and its plans that would create thousands of tons of 
radioactive and hazardous waste with no safe disposal method.

The eyes of the environmental community across the world are on this 
project. As you know, LES is dominated almost entirely by the European 
company Urenco, which itself is a consortium composed of entities like 
British Nuclear Fuels, Ltd., which the U.S. Department of Energy, under 
your leadership, considered banning from U.S. contracts for its poor record 
in containing nuclear pollution.

Moreover, LES has the dubious distinction of being the only company ever to 
be denied an operating license for a major nuclear facility by the Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission. That happened, as you know, when LES tried to build 
an earlier version of this same plant in Louisiana, and was rewarded with a 
landmark verdict of environmental racism by an NRC Atomic Safety and 
Licensing Board.

More recently, LES attempted to locate in Tennessee, wooing local political 
and community leaders, exactly as they have done in New Mexico. But when 
those same leaders began asking basic questions of LES; e.g., Where will 
the waste go? How much uranium will be released into local water supplies? 
honest answers were not forthcoming, and those officials put up legal 
roadblocks to prevent LES from operating in Tennessee.

In short, LES has a well-earned reputation for evading the truth and its 
responsibilities, and in attempting to place the real burden of its 
proposed plant--the lethal waste it would produce in huge quantities--on 
local citizens and governments in perpetuity.

As a global leader in the never-ending battle against nuclear 
proliferation, you also are surely aware of Urenco's poor record at 
protecting some of the most highly-guarded secrets of the atomic age: the 
technology behind its uranium enrichment process, which can be used not 
only to make reactor fuel, but also material for nuclear weapons.

Nearly every rogue nuclear country appears to have received its technology 
indirectly from Urenco. As you surely know, Pakistan's nuclear capability 
was obtained from Urenco, through the now-notorious Abdul Qadeer Khan, who 
obtained highly-classified Urenco blueprints. Khan then proceeded to sell 
this technology across the world, apparently to Libya, North Korea, Iran, 
and other heretofore non-nuclear countries. In addition, as has been noted 
in several reputable periodicals, other Urenco contractors have made Urenco 
blueprints available to non-nuclear countries, such as Iraq. Urenco itself 
is not blameless: as late as 1989, Urenco was training Iraqi technicians in 
the secret art of centrifuge welding, despite the fact that at that time 
Iraq was supposedly a non-nuclear country with no legitimate nuclear ambitions.

Now, in 2004, with Urenco's nuclear technology spread across the globe, 
threatening U.S. interests and the lives of our citizens, we are to think 
it is appropriate to reward this company with a license to operate in New 
Mexico? We think not.

As a former ambassador to the United Nations, we are sure you will agree 
that allowing Urenco/LES to build a new uranium enrichment plant in the 
U.S. would undercut our nation's efforts to prevent the construction and 
operation of similar facilities in other countries--striking a severe blow 
to nuclear non-proliferation efforts for decades.

We are well aware that Urenco/LES argues that its proposed facility would 
mean jobs for eastern New Mexico, and jobs are important. But look at the 
reality. There are probably no trained uranium enrichment plant operators 
in eastern New Mexico. In reality, the centrifuges--the expensive, bulk 
part of this plant--would be built in Europe, and the construction jobs 
available would be short-term. The operational jobs would go primarily to 
existing Urenco personnel--the company has no other choice. The remaining 
jobs--security guards, secretaries, janitors, etc.would go to local people, 
but a billion-dollar-plus project should be able to provide more than that. 
The actual benefit to the region and to New Mexico has to be weighed 
against the risks of accidents, of long-term radioactive/hazardous waste 
disposal, of the national priority against nuclear proliferation. And, when 
that weighing is complete, it is clear that LES must not be allowed to 
operate in New Mexico or anywhere else in the United States.

Again, we appreciate your administration's skepticism toward this project 
and your willingness to ask hard questions in the appropriate forum. We 
urge you not to back down from this stand, and indeed, to use the full 
powers of state government to stop LES from building in New Mexico.

Sincerely,

cc: Attorney General of New Mexico

</x-flowed>
*****************************************************************
 34 Las Vegas SUN: Nevada nuclear waste project faces budget issues,
possible delay
 
Today: June 09, 2004 at 14:56:49 PDT 

 By H. JOSEF HEBERT ASSOCIATED PRESS 

WASHINGTON (AP) - A House panel approved only a fraction of the
money the administration says it needs to keep a proposed
nuclear waste project in Nevada on schedule, jeopardizing its
planned completion by 2010. 

While the facility at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las
Vegas, has widespread congressional support, a budget glitch
forced a House Appropriations subcommittee Wednesday to provide
only $131 million for the program in the next fiscal year. 

The Energy Department had requested $880 million it says it will
need to begin seeking permits for the waste repository, go ahead
with design work and develop a plan for transporting waste to
the site from nuclear power plants around the country. 

"I think we have an obligation to get (the facility) opened and
funded," said Rep. David Hobson, R-Ohio, chairman of the
subcommittee. "But I don't have the tools right now to get that
done." 

The Yucca Mountain money is part of a $28 billion spending bill
for energy and water projects that the subcommittee approved by
voice vote Wednesday. While there may be opportunities to
increase funds for Yucca Mountain as the bill works its way
through the House, Hobson was not optimistic about the
prospects. 

Hobson said funding for the program has been put in jeopardy
because the administration, in requesting the funds, linked the
remaining $749 million to Congress passing separate legislation
on how lawmakers use a special nuclear waste fund for the Yucca
project. 

Congress has used that fund, which now totals nearly $15
billion, to help shrink the federal deficit, and there is little
prospect that the legislation offered by the administration will
pass this year. 

Given the tight budget situation, Hobson could not find the
money elsewhere, so Yucca Mountain funding for the 2005 fiscal
year, beginning in October, was limited to the $131 million
allocated for defense waste. 

The government wants to bury 77,000 tons of nuclear waste - used
reactor fuel now held at power plants in 31 states as well as
defense waste - at Yucca Mountain. Next year has been described
as pivotal for the program since the Energy Department will
begin the process for getting a permit from the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission and developing a transportation plan for
the waste. 

Margaret Chu, director of the Energy Department office that
heads the program, has told lawmakers that if it does not get
the full $880 million it would be impossible to meet the 2010
deadline for accepting the first load of waste. 

Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., also a strong supporter of the Yucca
project, said it would take "something extraordinary" to find
the funding the administration says is needed given the
legislative box that the White House Office of Management and
Budget has created by linking the funding to separate
legislation. 

The administration has always relied on the House to come up
with the needed money for Yucca Mountain and counter problems in
the Senate, where Nevada Democrat Harry Reid, an ardent Yucca
opponent, is in the leadership and has the ability to sidetrack
legislation or keep funding down for the waste project. 

Although Congress overrode Nevada's objections to the waste
facility in 2002, the state and its congressional delegation
continue to fight the project in the courts and anywhere else
possible. 

Domenici said he planned to discuss with administration
officials ways to get out of the budget problem and ensure full
funding for the program. But he said finding the money may be
"very, very difficult." 

-- 



*****************************************************************
 35 Bradenton Herald: Tallevast tests reveal no toxic metal in dirt

| 06/09/2004 | 

KEVIN O'HORAN and DANA SANCHEZ

 Herald Staff Writers

TALLEVAST - Six area yards feared to have received 
beryllium-tainted dirt from a long-ago dig at the former American 
Beryllium Co. plant showed no signs of the toxic metal, according 
to tests results released Tuesday by Lockheed Martin Corp., the 
company cleaning the site. 

Those tests at the plant at 1600 Tallevast Road, however, found 
arsenic, at roughly 14 times what Florida codes allow, in the 
yard at 1511 Tallevast Road, a home once owned by Clarence Byers 
and since passed to his daughter, Beverly Bradley. 

"My kids used to have a playpen out back there," said Byers, who 
also noted his daughter "only found out recently that I put dirt 
back there. 

"She was kind of upset." 

Lockheed will clean up the Byers' home, taking away 
arsenic-contaminated soil, its officials said. 

Neighbors of the plant have been upset since November, when they 
first learned that Lockheed Martin nearly four years earlier had 
discovered contamination in soil and groundwater at the 5-acre 
facility. Residents this week are still awaiting test results of 
well water near the plant. 

Much of the worry has focused on the groundwater, more so after 
late May tests by Florida regulators found cancer-causing 
trichloroethylene, a solvent, at two to 70 times state standards 
in well-water of five Tallevast-area homes. 

Manatee County crews responded by rolling into the community to 
shut down the wells and hook the homes into the county's water 
supply lines. 

But community members also raised concerns about soil they say 
Loral Corp., the site's former owners, had distributed to 
residents after an excavation project sometime during the plant's 
four-decade run. 

Years later, after learning about contamination at the site, many 
in the community wondered whether the soil the company had 
trucked to area homes in years past also contained beryllium, 
chromium or other toxic metals. 

It didn't. Not according to tests by Lockheed, the aerospace 
giant that had assumed ownership of - and legal responsibility 
for - the plant during a $9.1 billion deal in 1996 to acquire the 
bulk of Loral's operations. 

"This means the soil residents allegedly received by the former 
ABC facility was not contaminated," said Meredith Rouse Davis, 
senior manager of corporate affairs for Maryland-based Lockheed. 

Mixed reactions 

Byers has full faith in the findings. 

"I trust those results," he said. "I don't think they'd say 
something like that if it wasn't true." 

His daughter, though, harbors doubts. 

"After everything that's happened," Bradley said, "why would we 
trust them?" 

She points to the arsenic found in her back yard, a yard she 
notes with pride that she has spent countless hours grooming and 
gardening and sculpting, and wonders why the metal wasn't found 
anywhere else. 

"It seems kind of strange that mine is the only one that shows 
anything," Bradley said. 

And in a way, Lockheed's Davis agreed. 

The soil shouldn't have arsenic from the plant, she noted, since, 
unlike beryllium, the toxic metal wasn't typically used there. 

But the soil should have arsenic, she added, since the metal 
occurs naturally in Florida soils and rocks. 

A 2001 study by University of Florida professors showed just 
that, finding arsenic levels in 450 soil samples ranged from 
virtually none on up to 61 parts per million. 

Regardless of how it got there, the arsenic won't stay in 
Bradley's back yard. Lockheed will dig it up, cart it away and 
replace it with clean dirt, Davis said. 

"First, we're going to run some additional samples, just to 
understand the extent," she said. 

Waiting for results 

Lockheed and FOCUS - the Tallevast-area activist group titled 
Family Oriented Community United, Strong - also are waiting on 
final test results from Tallevast well samples the groups 
collected jointly. 

The two entities hit the community in late May to grab samples 
from 17 homes identified by FOCUS as still tapping the 
groundwater, according to Laura Ward, president of the community 
group. 

With owners away and some wells inaccessible or inoperable, they 
were able to grab samples from just seven of the homes, she 
added. 

The results have trickled in from those homes so far, with 
Lockheed's Davis shying away from specifics but noting the 
company's findings so far are "consistent with what the state and 
county" discovered in previous tests. 

Those tests in late May found trichloroethylene, a grease-cutting 
solvent, in five of the 17 private wells. 

Two of those five wells also contained dichloroethylene, a 
similar liquid, at levels beyond state codes. And 13 of the 17 
wells in all showed some level of chlorine-containing solvents. 

FOCUS's preliminary findings - the group still is working with 
the lab on final results - also mirror that. 

Of the seven homes tested, Ward said, lab results show "every 
well had something in it," though not necessarily beyond state 
standards. 

The latter distinction, she quickly added, means little. 

"Everybody else can just sit back and push paper," Ward said. 
"Unfortunately, the residents here are affected by it."   
*****************************************************************
 36 AP Wire: Might Nebraska accept nuclear dump?

| 06/09/2004 | 

KEVIN O'HANLON

 Associated Press

LINCOLN, Neb. - What could Nebraska possibly be offering to 
settle the lawsuit in which it's been ordered to pay $151 million 
for blocking construction of a nuclear waste site? 

With the iffy chances that the U.S. Supreme Court would take the 
case and reverse the judgment, some observers think Nebraska 
might have to agree to let the facility be built within its 
borders. 

"There are two bargaining chips here," said Sen. Chris Beutler of 
Lincoln. "One is the likelihood that the U.S. Supreme Court would 
reverse" the judgment. "The other is our ability to locate a 
facility in Nebraska." 

On Tuesday, the other members of the Central Interstate State 
Low-level Radioactive Waste Compact - Kansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana 
and Arkansas - rejected Nebraska's initial offer to settle the 
lawsuit. Details of the offer were not made public. 

The compact commissioners ordered their lawyers to prepare a 
counteroffer. 

But the onus clearly is on Nebraska, which doesn't have the money 
to pay the judgment because of an ongoing budget crunch. The 
state has until June 21 to ask the high court to hear the case. 

"There's not an enormous amount of leverage there," Beutler said 
of using an appeal in settlement talks. 

Sen. Kermit Brashear of Omaha, chairman of the Judiciary 
Committee, agreed. 

"Don't count on that hollow hope," Brashear said. "Certainly, it 
would appear that our position is such that we have not much to 
offer but the original concept" of putting the dump in Nebraska. 

"And the advantage of doing that is we might be able to pluck 
some benefit from the expenditure of all our money," Brashear 
said. "I'd rather have that money spent in Nebraska than some 
other state." 

Sen. Dave Landis of Lincoln noted that good negotiators are 
skilled at finding joint gain. 

Seemingly the only solution to benefit both sides would be for 
Nebraska to allow the dump to be built in return for not having 
to pay the judgment. 

"The onus is to find an innovative solution so that we don't 
reduce everything down to simply dollar damages," Landis said. 

In April, the full 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected 
Nebraska's request to rehear an appeal of the judgment. 

Earlier, a three-judge 8th Circuit panel upheld a 2002 ruling by 
U.S. District Judge Richard Kopf that concluded the state acted 
in bad faith to block the compact from building the dump in 
Nebraska. 

Kopf ruled that former Gov. Ben Nelson, now a U.S. senator, 
engaged in a politically motivated and orchestrated plot. Kopf 
said Nelson's office directly interfered with the regulatory 
process. 

Nebraska officials argued that they refused to license the dump 
because of environmental concerns and a high water table at the 
site, in Boyd County near the South Dakota border. 

The appeals court rejected those claims, saying Nelson had 
campaigned on a pledge to block construction of the disposal 
facility. 

Gov. Mike Johanns, who has said he would prefer to settle the 
case out of court, declined to comment through a spokeswoman 
Wednesday on the possibility of allowing the dump to be built in 
Nebraska. 

"It would be inappropriate to discuss ... at this critical point 
in the negotiations," said spokeswoman Terri Teuber. 

The battle had its genesis in 1970, when Nevada, South Carolina 
and Washington grew tired of accepting low-level radioactive 
waste from the rest of the country. 

Congress told states in 1980 to build their own dumps or join 
regional groups to dispose of the waste, which includes 
contaminated tools and clothing from nuclear power plants, 
hospitals and research centers. 

The five states formed the Central Interstate compact in 1983. 
The other states voted in 1987 to put the dump in Nebraska. 

Nebraska has spent some $15 million - more than $8,000 a day - 
over the past five years to defend itself in the lawsuit. 

---_ 

EDITOR'S NOTE: Kevin O'Hanlon has been covering the low-level 
nuclear waste issue since 1985. 

On the Net: 

8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals: http://www.ca8.uscourts.gov/
[http://www.ca8.uscourts.gov/] 

U.S. District Court for Nebraska: http://www.ned.uscourts.gov
[http://www.ned.uscourts.gov] 

Central Interstate Low Level Radioactive Waste Compact
Commission: http://www.cillrwcc.org/ [http://www.cillrwcc.org/] 
 

*****************************************************************
 37 Carlsbad Current-Argus: State, WIPP officials stress unity
 
    [http://www.currentargus.com/]   |  News  |  Outdoors  | 
Updated: June 8, 2004 - 11:30:27    

 By Walter Rubel/Current-Argus Santa Fe Bureau

SANTA FE — The state environment secretary and the top federal 
official at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, who had been 
adversaries for the past several months, spoke of cooperation and 
agreement on Tuesday.
 
At a legislative Radioactive and Hazardous Materials Committee 
meeting, R. Paul Detwiler, acting manager of the federal Energy 
Department’s Carlsbad Field Office, explained a compromise 
reached last week.
 
The DOE’s attempts to reclassify high-level waste to a lower 
level for shipment to WIPP had touched off a battle, including 
reported state threats to close the site.
 
Environment Secretary Ron Curry, seated next to Detwiler, vowed 
that the state would move quickly to act on site audit reports 
and permit modification requests, some of which have been pending 
for nearly two years.
 
“It’s unfortunate that this reclassification issue came up in 
October,” Curry said. “It’s essentially behind us now, and 
everything is in the process of moving forward, as opposed to 60 
or 90 days ago.”
 
Charles Lundstrom, the Environment Department’s director of water 
and waste management, said two new staff members were added, 
which should speed up the process.
 
When pressed by committee Chairman Rep. John Heaton, D-Carlsbad, 
Lundstrom said it would be difficult to give an exact estimate of 
when a final decision on the requests would be made.
 
The DOE is seeking modifications that would allow it to expand 
the WIPP site, increase its above-ground storage capacity, allow 
for the storage of remote-handled transuranic waste and change 
the confirmation methods as to what waste is acceptable to be 
shipped to WIPP.
 
Detwiler said the compromise reached last week would establish a 
procedure for the consideration of sending any tank waste 
classified as high-level to WIPP.
 
The DOE agreed not to reclassify any waste without a state 
review, complete with public hearings and a final decision by the 
secretary of the environment.
 
Detwiler said the DOE hopes to submit a modification that would 
establish the hearing procedure by the end of the month or the 
start of next month.
 
The WIPP Land Withdrawal Act of 1992 prohibits storage of 
high-level waste at the WIPP facility. The dispute is over 
whether certain tank waste should qualify as high level.
 
“None of us were arguing about the definition of no. We were 
arguing about the definition of ‘high-level,’” Detwiler said.
 
He said at the time the waste was put in storage tanks, the DOE 
wasn’t concerned about its classification.
 
“When the department didn’t know what it was going to do with 
these materials other than store them in tanks, it didn’t focus 
on the classification of this waste,” he said. “And it’s the 
department’s position that, as to WIPP and what is and is not 
high-level waste and what is and is not transuranic waste, it’s 
not so much reclassification as just classification of waste.”
 
Heaton suggested asking the National Academy of Sciences to come 
up with new definitions of “high-level” and “low-level” waste.
 
Waste is now classified based on its origin, not its level of 
radioactivity, causing confusion, Heaton said. 

Permit modifications requested by the Department of Energy and 
awaiting approval by the state Environment Department:
 
Construction and use of hazardous waste disposal units. The
permit limits the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant to four
constructed panels, only three of which can be used. The DOE
anticipates filling Panel 2 by February 2005 and Panel 3 by May
2006 and is seeking permission to use Panel 4 and begin mining a
fifth panel.
 
Container management. Would increase the above-ground storage
capacity to accelerate waste shipments.
 
Remote-handled transuranic waste. Would allow storage of waste
that must be handled by machines.
 
Requirement for waste analysis. Would change the conformation
methods used to ensure waste shipped to WIPP is acceptable. 

 
Copyright © 2004 Carlsbad Current-Argus, a Gannett Co., Inc.
*****************************************************************
 38 Globe and Mail: Group outlines cost of storing nuclear waste   
 	 		 		 		 		 				 				 				 				 			 
http://www.globeandmail.com
  
By MARTIN MITTELSTAEDT ENVIRONMENT REPORTER

 Wednesday, June 9, 2004 - Page A14 

Long-term burial of the highly radioactive used fuel from 
Canada's atomic power stations in the Canadian Shield will cost 
$14.5-billion to $18-billion, says the organization trying to 
find a way to safely dispose of the country's growing pile of 
reactor waste. 

The Nuclear Waste Management Organization issued the estimate 
yesterday in a series of reports posted on its website that 
outlined the high costs of handling spent fuel. It also said the 
waste may have to be monitored for hundreds of years to ensure 
that it doesn't become an environmental hazard. 

Ontario Power Generation, Hydro-Québec, NB Power and Atomic 
Energy of Canada Ltd. have produced the used fuel. 

The companies have stockpiled about 1.8 million bundles of 
radioactive fuel at sites in Eastern Canada, and will likely 
produce about two million more by the time Canada's nuclear power 
plants reach the end of their safe operating lives. 

Each bundle weighs about 22 kilograms and is about 50 centimetres 
long. 

Finding a safe place to store this waste is a major headache for 
the industry. An underground storage site is not expected to be 
ready until 2035, at the earliest, and environmentalists worry 
that waste may leak out of such sites over the thousands of years 
that the spent fuel will remain radioactive. 

But there have also been concerns that if the waste isn't buried, 
it may be vulnerable to terrorist attacks or could be stolen by 
groups trying to make nuclear weapons. 

The waste management group is also examining the costs of 
continuing the practice of storing spent fuel in pools and 
concrete silos at nuclear plants. It is also investigating the 
feasibility of moving all of the country's used nuclear fuel to a 
single centralized storage facility. 

These options could cost up to $28-billion over the first 300 
years. 

Mike Krizanc, a spokesman, said the organization hasn't decided 
which disposal route it prefers. 

The industry is believed to favour burying spent fuel deep in the 
Canadian Shield at a site in Ontario.   

*****************************************************************
 39 Toronto Star: Radioactive waste plan proposed for Ontario

TheStar.com - 

  Wed. Jun. 9, 2004. | Updated at 02:13 PM  

PETER CALAMAI SCIENCE REPORTER

OTTAWARoughly 70,000 tonnes of waste nuclear fuel would be 
stored at a site somewhere in Northern Ontario for centuries 
under two plans prepared by Canada's nuclear power industry and 
made public yesterday.

The site would begin receiving radioactive waste by road or rail 
by 2023 with more than 2,000 tonnes arriving annually for 30 
years. 

A third plan would leave the radioactive waste in place at the 
country's 22 nuclear power reactors and three small research 
sites. Because only two power reactors operate outside Ontario, 
90 per cent of the waste fuel would still be in the province.

Costs of storing an estimated 3.7 million fuel bundles for 300 
years range from $15.7 billion to $25.7 billion depending on the 
method chosen by the federal government. Under federal law that 
bill has to be paid by the industry but the cost is ultimately 
passed on to consumers in electricity rates.

The cost estimates were drawn up by the four companies that have 
used the fuel  Ontario Power Generation, Hydro Quebec, New 
Brunswick Power and Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd., a federal Crown 
corporation.

They were prepared for the Nuclear Waste Management Organization, 
an industry-financed agency set up in 2002. The agency must 
recommend by November, 2005 how Ottawa should manage the growing 
stockpile of waste fuel during the centuries that it remains 
dangerously radioactive.

In a speech to a Canadian Nuclear Society meeting in Toronto 
yesterday, NWMO president Elizabeth Dowdeswell said the agency 
received the estimates last year but was posting them on its 
website only after a lengthy review by independent consultants.

The delay was criticized by David Martin, a nuclear activist with 
the Sierra Club, who said prompt release would have let 
environmental groups corral the extra resources needed to analyze 
the reports.

The reports say the cheapest option is to leave the waste where 
it is, under water inside nuclear reactors or sealed in mammoth 
casks at places like the Pickering and Bruce power stations.

The most expensive option is the long-studied plan of permanently 
sealing the waste at least a kilometre underground at a central 
site. 

The mid-cost option is retrievable storage at a central site, in 
containers above ground or in caverns 30 metres deep.

The reports assume the central site will be in the Canadian 
Shield area of Ontario and lie roughly 1,000 kilometres from both 
Pickering and the AECL labs at Chalk River, Ont. But the NWMO 
stresses it is not recommending any of the three schemes  that 
decision is left to the federal government.

Additional articles by Peter Calamai

Legal Notice: Copyright Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. All
*****************************************************************
 40 Japan Times: U.S. researcher warns MOX fuel plan is too costly

  Wednesday, June 9, 2004   

 By ERIKO ARITA Staff writer

 Japan should rethink its plans to reprocess spent nuclear fuel 
and consider the much cheaper alternative of disposal, according 
to a nuclear power expert from the United States.

 Resource-poor Japan plans to turn the plutonium and uranium 
gained through reprocessing into mixed oxide uranium-plutonium 
fuel, known as MOX, for use in conventional nuclear reactors, but 
this process is more expensive than disposing of the fuel, says 
Steve Fetter, a professor at the School of Public Affairs at the 
University of Maryland.

 Japan Nuclear Fuel Ltd. is currently building a fuel 
reprocessing plant in Rokkasho, Aomori Prefecture, where it hopes 
to begin producing MOX fuel in 2006.

 But Fetter says his studies show the price of electricity 
generated from burning MOX fuel at a conventional nuclear reactor 
is about 10 percent higher than electricity derived from uranium.

 "If Japan wants to reconsider reprocessing, now is a good time 
-- before (the plant in) Rokkasho operates," Fetter said in a 
recent interview with The Japan Times. 

The government's Atomic Energy Commission is currently reviewing 
its long-term nuclear power development plan amid calls for 
closer scrutiny of the nuclear fuel recycling program.

 Although MOX fuel is planned for use in conventional and 
fast-breeder reactors, nuclear power plant construction has met 
with stiff resistance in recent years, and Monju, the only 
fast-breeder reactor in Japan, has been shut down since an 
accident in 1995.

 Fetter gave a presentation to the commission last week in Tokyo 
on the results of his study -- conducted jointly with Harvard 
University researchers -- on the cost comparison of reprocessing 
and disposal of spent nuclear fuel.

 Fetter does not object to using nuclear energy, as it would help 
alleviate global warming, but he explained how spent fuel 
reprocessing at the Rokkasho plant is not economically viable.

 The current price of uranium is about $40 per kg, but unless the 
figure tops $1,650, the cost of electricity generated by MOX fuel 
from the Rokkasho plant will continue to be more expensive than 
that from conventional nuclear power generation, he said.

 "Advocates (of reprocessing) argue that the cost difference is 
small and will disappear soon if demand for nuclear power grows," 
Fetter said. "But we argue that the cost difference is 
significant and is likely to persist for a long time -- at least 
75 to 100 years."

 Japan's decided in 1967 to use nuclear fuel recycling as a way 
to secure a stable energy supply. At that time, Fetter noted, it 
was believed that nuclear energy demand would grow quickly and 
that uranium resources were relatively scarce.

 In fact, the demand for nuclear power has grown slowly in the 
last four decades, and the price of uranium has decreased due in 
large part to the discovery that it is more abundant than was 
previously estimated, the professor said.

 According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and 
Development, uranium deposits worldwide are estimated at 16 
million tons, enough to last about 270 years at the current rate 
of consumption, he added.

 Most of Japan's spent nuclear fuel is now being stored at 
nuclear power plants. However, some plants are beginning to reach 
maximum capacity.

 Fetter blasted the argument that fuel reprocessing would help 
solve the nuclear waste problem, saying that heat and 
radioactivity levels are still high in the waste from the 
recycling process and it too has to be stored somewhere.

 "In fact, spent MOX fuel is hotter and more radioactive than 
spent LEU," the low-enriched uranium fuel used at conventional 
nuclear power plants, he said.

 The U.S. government has decided to dispose of spent nuclear fuel 
in a geological repository currently under construction at Yucca 
Mountain in Nevada.

 Fetter recommended that Japan also build a geological repository 
or an interim storage facility for spent fuel, but he 
acknowledged that local opposition often makes it difficult to 
find such a site.

 Antinuclear activists argue that such resistance is not 
surprising. According to the Citizens' Nuclear Information 
Center, a Tokyo-based nongovernmental organization, it would take 
millions of years for the radioactivity of spent nuclear fuel to 
decay.

 Japan Nuclear Fuel has said it plans to start trial operations 
with depleted uranium at its Rokkasho plant this month, but 
Fetter said Japan should halt the reprocessing program before 
trials take place.

 "The facility will become radioactive (from the trials), and you 
will have to spend a lot of money to decontaminate it," he said.

 The Japan Times: June 9, 2004 (C) All rights reserved 

*****************************************************************
 41 Waste News: Canada court allows Saskatchewan mine waste facility to resume
operations

[Wastenews.com
  
 OTTAWA (June 9) -- A Canada Federal Court of Appeal decision 
will allow the licensing of a tailings management facility at the 
McClean Lake Project uranium mine in Saskatchewan, allowing it to 
resume operations.

 On June 4, the court overturned a lower court ruling on Sept. 
23, 2002, that yanked the mining and milling facilities´ 
operating license because the Atomic Energy Control Board did not 
perform an environmental assessment under the Canadian 
Environmental Assessment Act before permitting the tailings 
management facility. The Inter-Church Uranium Committee 
Educational Co-operative of Saskatoon launched the case over 
concerns that radioactive waste could leak into groundwater near 
the site.

 The appeal court disagreed, stating that another environmental 
assessment was unnecessary because the Atomic Energy Control 
Board performed a study during the licensing of the facility.

 Cogema Resources Inc. owns 70 percent of the mine; Denison Mines 
Inc., 22.5 percent; and OURD Co. Ltd., 7.5 percent.

  Entire contents copyright 2004 by Crain Communications Inc.
 webmaster@wastenews.com [webmaster@wastenews.com] 
*****************************************************************
 42 OA Online: Conference set on proposed New Mexico uranium plant
 
 [http://www.oaoa.com] 
   
Wednesday, 09 June 2004   

 [brett_smith@link.freedom.com] American Online   
  
c /o Odessa American 222 E. 4th Street P.O. Box 2952 Odessa, TX 
79760
 
 By Ruth Friedberg Campbell 

 HOBBS, N.M. — Waste storage and disposal, radiation protection 
and water impacts will be the focus of a pre-hearing conference 
on Louisiana Energy Services’ proposed gas centrifuge uranium 
enrichment plant near Eunice, N.M.

The Atomic Safety and Licensing Board will conduct the conference 
at 9 a.m. (Mountain Time) both June 15 and 16 at the Lea County 
Event Center, 5101 Lovington Highway, in Hobbs, N.M., according 
to a Nuclear Regulatory Commission news release. 
                        
The panel will decide what issues to tackle and which to discard                         
during upcoming hearings. The New Mexico Attorney General’s 
office and New Mexico Environment Department have filed separate 
petitions for standing in a Nuclear Regulatory Commission 
hearing. 

Public Citizen and the Nuclear Information and Resource Service, 
both in Washington, D.C., filed a combined petition. 

Attorneys for LES will also attend, spokesman Marshall Cohen 
said.                   

The issues, or contentions as they are called, involve waste 
storage and disposal, radiation protection, foreign ownership of 
the plant, and ground and surface water impact.

The Atomic Safety and Licensing Board, comprised of Chairman G. 
Paul Bollwerk III, Dr. Paul B. Abramson and Dr. Charles N. 
Kelber, will also discuss schedules and how the case will be 
handled during the pre-hearing conference. 

Louisiana Energy Services wants to build a $1.2 billion uranium                         
enrichment plant near Eunice. The plant, to be called the 
National Enrichment Facility, would have 400 to 700 construction 
workers on site for five to seven years and permanently employ 
210 workers when operating. Operations are expected to start in 
mid- to late 2008.                            

*****************************************************************
 43 National Post: Ontario won't take plan to store nuclear waste lying down,
McGuinty says 
 	 	
nationalpost.com 

  James Mccarten Canadian Press   

Wednesday, June 09, 2004
 
  Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty. (CP /Donald Weber)  

TORONTO -- The Ontario government will make its views known about 
proposed plans to store nuclear waste underground in the northern 
reaches of the province, Premier Dalton McGuinty vowed Wednesday. 

McGuinty acknowledged the province has concerns about the 
proposals, which involve storing Canada's growing stockpile of 
spent nuclear fuel deep underground within the Canadian Shield. 

"We're concerned about that, there's no doubt about it, and we 
intend to have our say when it comes to the federal government 
making a decision on that front," McGuinty said before a cabinet 
meeting. 

"Obviously, if you start to transport the stuff out of existing 
communities, there are dangers with transportation and 
relocation, and we'll make sure we get our say when it comes to 
that." 

What the Liberal government's position would be is unclear, since 
the proposals - prepared by the nuclear energy industry for the 
Nuclear Waste Management Organization, which will make formal 
recommendations late next year - are still in the early stages. 

"They're looking at all kinds of options as I understand it, not 
just northern Ontario," said Energy Minister Dwight Duncan, who 
noted the government has not been involved in any discussions 
about the plan. 

"There's been nothing formal, no communications, formal or 
informal, so we'll wait until they have formal options and 
recommendations in 2005." 

But Duncan warned that if Ottawa did decide to proceed with a 
plan to bury the waste on federal land in northern Ontario, there 
would be little, if anything, the province could do about it. 

"They may well be able to (proceed), depending on what options 
they choose." 

The proposals were prepared by the four companies that need to 
dispose of the waste: Ontario Power Generation, Hydro Quebec, New 
Brunswick Power and Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. 

Two of the three proposals involve shipping some 70,000 tonnes of 
spent nuclear fuel from Canada's 22 nuclear reactor sites either 
by road or rail to a site deep in northern Ontario, where they 
would be stored underground for three centuries. 

Shipments would begin in 2023, with roughly 2,000 tonnes arriving 
each year over a 30-year span. 

A third proposal involves storing the spent fuel at the 
facilities themselves, 20 of which are located in Ontario. The 
other two are in Quebec and New Brunswick. 

Only 17 of Canada's 22 nuclear reactors are currently in service; 
another five are under review to be returned to service. © The 
Canadian Press 2004 

  Copyright © CanWest Interactive Inc. All rights reserved.
[http://www.canada.com/]   
*****************************************************************
 44 Las Vegas SUN: Federal government planning security training
complex in Nevada

Today: June 09, 2004 at 9:16:50 PDT 

ASSOCIATED PRESS 

LAS VEGAS (AP) - Mock border stations, a simulated airline
inspection terminal and a dry seaport replica are being planned
at the federal Nevada Test Site to train agents to thwart
nuclear materials smuggling. 

The Department of Homeland Security has allocated $13 million to
design at least eight training venues for a 100-acre complex at
the test site, according to plans made public Tuesday.
Construction could begin this fall. 

"I view this as a perfect match for the unique capabilities of
the Nevada Test Site," Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said in a
statement. 

The program would further expand homeland security operations at
the test site, where the nation's nuclear weapons stockpile is
tested and where counterterrorism and hazardous materials
training has been stepped up since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist
attacks. 

The National Nuclear Security Administration, which manages the
test site, made plans for the mock border facilities public
following the release of a draft environmental assessment. 

Darwin Morgan, a test site spokesman, said one program would
develop sensing equipment to detect radiological materials that
might be hidden in container ships. Another would test sensors
built into roadways to detect radioactive material in vehicles
passing above. 

About $60 million has been budgeted for the program over the
next five years, Morgan said. 

Up to 110 pounds of radioactive plutonium and highly enriched
uranium would be used in the training program, according to a
project report. 

Some facilities are expected to be operational next summer,
while construction on other segments will continue to 2007,
Morgan said. 

The facilities would be south of the Device Assembly Facility, a
bunker where radiological devices used in testing and training
can be stored in the east-central section of the test site, a
reservation nearly the size of Rhode Island. 

--- 

On the Net: 

National Nuclear Security Administration:
http://www.nnsa.doe.gov [http://www.nnsa.doe.gov] 

Nevada Test Site: http://www.nv.doe.gov/nts
[http://www.nv.doe.gov/nts] 

Information from: Las Vegas Review-Journal 

-- 



*****************************************************************
 45 Seattle Times: Hard reality of cleanup at Hanford
               
Wednesday, June 09, 2004 - Page updated at 12:00 A.M.
 			 			 			 			
Danny Westneat / Times staff columnist

I was once on a tour of the Hanford nuclear reservation, hearing 
the government's plan to clean up the abandoned bomb factories, 
when the truth unexpectedly popped out. 

The plan was to demolish nine nuclear reactors. Scrub toxic 
chemicals from hundreds of square miles of dirt and groundwater. 
Pump radioactive sludge from swimming-pool-sized tanks and ship 
it to Nevada. 

In the end, Hanford would be clean, a place where you could hike, 
farm, even build a house. 

A chemist joined the tour. I asked him about this vision. 

"It isn't within the realm of possibility," he said. "There isn't 
enough money in the universe." 

That was eight years ago. I was reminded of this incident last 
week, when the U.S. Senate voted to ease cleanup standards so 
some radioactive waste might be left forever at Hanford. 

The local reaction to this vote was emphatic. Our two senators, 
environmentalists and the state's major newspapers accused the 
federal government of reneging on its pledge to fully clean up 
the most polluted place in the Western Hemisphere. 

Well, yes. But as that chemist noted eight years ago — and as 
many scientists say today — the reality is that Hanford will 
always be radioactive. 

Why do we keep pretending otherwise? 

"The attempt to clean it all up is a fantasy," says Greg Dash, a 
University of Washington physicist. "It's going to be a national 
sacrifice area. We should be honest about that." 

I don't fault our politicians for pushing for the best cleanup 
they can get. The feds dumped radioactive waste there for 50 
years, then agreed to clean it up. 

Fifteen years and $25 billion later, there has even been grudging 
progress. Example: The last of 2,300 tons of radioactive rods 
will be moved away from the Columbia River this summer. 

In the middle of Hanford, though, the largest brew of radioactive 
waste sits largely untouched in underground tanks. 

Of 177 tanks, so far only one has been drained. What's left 
inside is a few inches of hard, radioactive crust. This is what 
the debate is about. The feds want to cover drained tanks with 
concrete and leave them, making Hanford's central plateau 
off-limits for centuries. 

They snuck in this major policy shift by changing the definition 
of radioactive waste. U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell held up Senate 
debate for a week trying to defeat it. She was right to try. 

But scientists have hinted for years that it's quixotic to insist 
on a full cleanup. 

"A scientifically justified case can be made for leaving some of 
the waste there," says Tom Leschine, a UW professor who studied 
Hanford for 12 years for the National Research Council. "The 
problem is there's no commitment for long-term stewardship. You 
can't just pave it over and walk away." 

The feds want to leave the waste, but don't want to safeguard it. 
Others want to remove it, but can't figure out how. 

The clock is ticking. As always at Hanford, with each tick 
millions of dollars waft away on the desert winds. 

Danny Westneat's column appears Wednesday and Friday. Reach him 
at 206-464-2086 or 

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company
*****************************************************************
 46 Las Vegas RJ: Test site gets new security mission 
 
Wednesday, June 09, 2004
 

Government planstraining to preventnuclear smuggling 

By STEVE TETREAULT STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU
 
WASHINGTON -- The government is preparing sites in the Nevada 
desert to build mock border stations, a simulated airline 
inspection terminal and a seaport -- without the water -- to 
train agents how to spot nuclear materials being smuggled into 
the country.
 
 As part of a new role in border protection, planners envision 
the Nevada Test Site as home to a test area where new generations 
of radiological sensors could be run through sophisticated 
evaluations.
 
 Test site contractors expect to break ground in the fall on the 
new homeland security mission, officials said Tuesday.
 
 The effort underscores an expanding homeland security role for 
the test site beyond its historical mission of developing and 
evaluating the nuclear weapons stockpile.
 
 Instructors on the range have trained thousands of 
counterterrorism specialists and rescue personnel in weapons 
response programs that have grown since the Sept. 11, 2001, 
terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the 
Pentagon in Washington.
 
 "I view this as a perfect match for the unique capabilities of 
the Nevada Test Site," Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said in a 
statement.
 
 The effort illustrates the government's concerns about 
tightening the nation's points of entry against terrorists trying 
to spirit dirty bombs and radiological weapons past border 
controls.
 
 The Department of Homeland Security has allocated $13 million 
this year to design eight or more training venues at the test 
site, such as a realistic border crossing with three to five 
traffic lanes and inspection booths, according to an assessment 
completed last month.
 
 Another venue would re-create parts of an international airport 
terminal where mail, cargo and baggage would be inspected and 
arriving passengers screened.
 
 Details of the project are contained in a draft environmental 
assessment made public in the past week by the National Nuclear 
Security Administration, which manages the test site. For the 
simulated seaport, planners envision placement of "a freighter 
type ship in some shape or form," said Darwin Morgan, an agency 
spokesman.
 
 "It can be in partial pieces or a replica, but it would be 
enough of a ship to do gantry-type operations," Morgan said.
 
 One of the goals is to develop powerful sensing equipment to 
detect radiological materials smugglers might hide deep inside 
giant containers of cargo, he said.
 
 About $60 million has been budgeted over the next five years, 
Morgan said. Some facilities are expected to be operational by 
next summer, while construction on other segments will continue 
to 2007, he said.
 
 "What this does is gives us the actual facilities where people 
are looking for weapons of mass destruction or illicit 
radioactive material you might find at border crossings and 
seaports," Morgan said.
 
 About 100 acres have been set aside in Area 6, in the 
east-central section of the test site about 65 miles northwest of 
Las Vegas. The acreage is north of Barren Wash and south of the 
Device Assembly Facility, a bunker where radiological devices 
used in testing and training can be stored, Morgan said.
 
 A project report said up to 110 pounds of radioactive plutonium 
and highly enriched uranium would be used, with amounts "expected 
to be used on a frequent basis, perhaps daily during certain 
operational campaigns."
 
 Morgan said that is a substantial amount of radiological 
material, "but if you are talking about what we are trying to do 
here, you would want a realistic amount of material."
 
 Plans call for construction of test bays and specially outfitted 
stretches of road track, the agency report said. Technicians plan 
to evaluate sensors built into the roadways that might detect 
radiological sources within vehicles speeding above.
 
 
Copyright Las Vegas Review-Journal
*****************************************************************
 47 Las Vegas SUN: Test Site may land a ship 
 
By Suzanne Struglinski 
<suzanne@lasvegassun.com [suzanne@lasvegassun.com] > SUN 
WASHINGTON BUREAU

 WASHINGTON -- A cargo ship may be seen in the Nevada desert as
part of a new $60 million training facility set to be built at
the Nevada Test Site.

 The National Nuclear Security Administration wants to use a
mock cargo ship to test radiation sensor systems and train
people how to use them at border crossings, airports and train
stations in a 100-acre section of the site.

 Construction could start this fall, if Congress provides enough
money for the Homeland Security Department project. Completion
is scheduled for 2007, NNSA spokesman Darwin Morgan said.

 The Homeland Security Department approved the initial $13
million grant for the Test Site to build the training center in
February.

 Beyond the ship, the facility will include two- or three-mile
section of highway, a railroad track section and a mock urban
area to conduct searches for radiological material, according to
the agency, which controls the Energy Department's nuclear
laboratories.

 Morgan said the facility will make sure sensors that would be
used to detect radiation at seaports, airport or other
transportation centers work properly and that people know how to
use them.

 Morgan said the Test Site has been doing first responder
training for at least the past five years and the new facility
will be the "next extension" of Homeland Security Department
activities taking place there.

 The Nevada congressional delegation supports the new center.

 "I view this as a perfect match for the unique capabilities of
the Nevada Test Site," Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said in a
statement.

 Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., said he was pleased the center will
use and expand the "unique capabilities" of the Test Site to
protect Americans from radiological threats.

 Democratic Rep. Shelley Berkley and Republican Rep. Jon Porter
highlighted the economic benefits and job opportunities it will
provide. Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., said the "Nevadans can be
proud of the work that will be done in our state on

 The National Nuclear Security Administration has $13 million of
Homeland Security money to spend this fiscal year on planning,
designs and other preparation. It has finished an environmental
assessment, which the public can comment on through July 8. 



*****************************************************************
 48 SJ Mercury News: UC contract to run Lawrence Livermore will be extended

| 06/09/2004 | 

WASHINGTON (AP) - The University of California's contract to run 
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory will be extended for at 
least two years beyond its 2005 expiration date, federal 
officials said Wednesday. 

The extension will allow the Energy Department to conduct 
separate competitions for contractors to operate Lawrence 
Livermore and Los Alamos National Laboratory, the other federal 
nuclear weapons laboratory now managed by the University of 
California. 

California officials welcomed the announcement, although Energy 
Department officials said it signaled no change in their plan to 
force the University of California to compete for the first time 
to operate two of the nation's premiere nuclear weapons 
laboratories. That policy emerged last year after a series of 
management lapses at the labs, mostly involving sloppy business 
practices. 

``I have concluded that it is very important to ensure that we 
have the broadest possible competition for future contracts,'' 
Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said in a statement. 
``Separating these two competitions will achieve that result.'' 

UC's management contract to run Lawrence Livermore is set to 
expire Sept. 30, 2005. The Energy Department has congressional 
sanction to extend the contract for two years but will seek an 
extension of three-and-a-half years, said department spokesman 
Anson Franklin. 

That time will allow any new management at Los Alamos to settle 
in well before the competition to manage Lawrence Livermore, he 
said. 

UC's contract for Los Alamos also expires Sept. 30, 2005. The 
contract bidding process has not begun and no date for it has 
been announced, but Franklin said it is expected to be completed 
by the time the current contract expires. 

Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-Alamo, whose district includes Lawrence 
Livermore, said she viewed Wednesday's decision as an endorsement 
of management changes by University of California and Lawrence 
Livermore officials that have improved operations at the lab. 
Separate competitions would also allow UC to be more competitive, 
she said. 

University of California regents have told administrators to get 
ready to bid on management contracts while stopping short of 
deciding whether to compete. 

``I think this is the right outcome for UC, the right outcome for 
the lab complex including all of the labs and I think it's the 
right outcome for the American people,'' Tauscher said. ``It 
assures the finest science and the best national security while 
we really work hard to achieve the right business model and the 
right accountability chain.'' 

The University of California's vice president for lab management, 
S. Robert Foley, issued a statement saying Abraham's decision 
``neither changes the University of California's ongoing 
preparations to compete for continued management of all three 
UC-managed national laboratories, nor alters its continuing 
commitment to serving the nation. The final decision to compete 
will be made by the UC Board of Regents following a review of the 
final request for proposals for each laboratory contract 
competition.'' 

The third laboratory is Lawrence Berkeley, a nonweapon lab.   

*****************************************************************
 49 SF Chronicle: Feds: UC contract to run Lawrence Livermore will be extended
 
[http://sfgate.com] 
 
ERICA WERNER, Associated Press Writer         
Wednesday, June 9, 2004
   
(06-09) 13:53 PDT WASHINGTON (AP) -- 

The University of California's contract to run Lawrence Livermore 
National Laboratory will be extended for at least two years 
beyond its 2005 expiration date, federal officials said 
Wednesday. 

The extension will allow the Energy Department to conduct 
separate competitions for contractors to operate Lawrence 
Livermore and Los Alamos National Laboratory, the other federal 
nuclear weapons laboratory now managed by the University of 
California. 

California officials welcomed the announcement, although Energy 
Department officials said it signaled no change in their plan to 
force the University of California to compete for the first time 
to operate two of the nation's premiere nuclear weapons 
laboratories. That policy emerged last year after a series of 
management lapses at the labs, mostly involving sloppy business 
practices. 

"I have concluded that it is very important to ensure that we 
have the broadest possible competition for future contracts," 
Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said in a statement. "Separating 
these two competitions will achieve that result." 

UC's management contract to run Lawrence Livermore is set to 
expire Sept. 30, 2005. The Energy Department has congressional 
sanction to extend the contract for two years but will seek an 
extension of three-and-a-half years, said department spokesman 
Anson Franklin. 

That time will allow any new management at Los Alamos to settle 
in well before the competition to manage Lawrence Livermore, he 
said. 

UC's contract for Los Alamos also expires Sept. 30, 2005. The 
contract bidding process has not begun and no date for it has 
been announced, but Franklin said it is expected to be completed 
by the time the current contract expires. 

Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-Alamo, whose district includes Lawrence 
Livermore, said she viewed Wednesday's decision as an endorsement 
of management changes by University of California and Lawrence 
Livermore officials that have improved operations at the lab. 
Separate competitions would also allow UC to be more competitive, 
she said. 

University of California regents have told administrators to get 
ready to bid on management contracts while stopping short of 
deciding whether to compete. 

"I think this is the right outcome for UC, the right outcome for 
the lab complex including all of the labs and I think it's the 
right outcome for the American people," Tauscher said. "It 
assures the finest science and the best national security while 
we really work hard to achieve the right business model and the 
right accountability chain." 

The University of California's vice president for lab management, 
S. Robert Foley, issued a statement saying Abraham's decision 
"neither changes the University of California's ongoing 
preparations to compete for continued management of all three 
UC-managed national laboratories, nor alters its continuing 
commitment to serving the nation. The final decision to compete 
will be made by the UC Board of Regents following a review of the 
final request for proposals for each laboratory contract 
competition." 

The third laboratory is Lawrence Berkeley, a nonweapon lab. 

The San Francisco Chronicle

*****************************************************************
 50 U.S. Newswire: Energy Secretary Abraham Notes Improving Short 
Term Energy Outlook; Energy Information Administration's Report 
Indicates Gasoline Prices for Summer Driving Season to be Lower 
than Expected
 
 6/8/2004 4:14:00 PM 

To: National Desk, Energy Reporter 

Contact: Jeanne Lopatto, 202-586-4940; Drew Malcomb, 
202-586-5806, both of the U.S. Department of Energy 

WASHINGTON, June 8 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The following is a 
statement by Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham: 

"Today's Short Term Energy Outlook released by the Department's 
Energy Information Administration is more good news for American 
consumers. For the second consecutive week, gasoline and 
petroleum prices have decreased and, barring any unexpected 
supply disruptions, the EIA expects this trend to continue well 
into the summer driving season. 

"The recent actions taken by producers to increase production, 
along with higher inventory data, are positive factors that 
should be viewed favorably by the oil markets. However, we cannot 
afford to be complacent. This nation will continue to face 
significant energy security challenges until Congress passes 
comprehensive energy legislation that increases our access to 
domestic energy resources such as ANWR, supports the President's 
increased investment in future technologies such as hydrogen, and 
promotes conservation and energy efficiency." 

 [http://www.usnewswire.com/] 

/© 2004 U.S. Newswire 202-347-2770/ 			 		   		   			 		   		   
*****************************************************************
 51 U.S. Newswire: DOE to Conduct Separate Competitions for Los 
Alamos National Laboratory and Lawrence Livermore National 
Laboratory
 
 6/9/2004 2:57:00 PM 

To: Metro Desk, Energy Reporter 

Contact: Jeanne Lopatto, 202-586-4940, or Anson Franklin, 
202-586-7371, both of U.S. Department of Energy 

WASHINGTON, June 9 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The Department of Energy 
announced today that it will conduct separate competitions for 
the management of Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore National 
Laboratories, both now managed by the University of California. 
The department also announced that it will extend the current 
contract for the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory beyond 
its current Sept. 30, 2005, expiration date in order to separate 
the two competitions. 

"I have concluded that it is very important to ensure we have the 
broadest possible competition for future contracts," said Energy 
Secretary Spencer Abraham. "Separating these two competitions 
will achieve that result." 

Secretary Abraham had announced in April 2003 his intention to 
conduct a competition for the management of the Los Alamos 
National Laboratory, which has been managed since its founding by 
the University of California on a noncompetitive basis, when the 
current contract expires in September 2005. 

The department had also previously announced its intention to 
conduct a competition for the management of Lawrence Livermore 
National Laboratory. The question it had not decided was whether 
these competitions should be linked, conducted as a single 
solicitation, or separated. The Secretary's decision is a result 
of significant internal study and is influenced by the 
recommendation of the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board's Blue 
Ribbon Commission on the Use of Competitive Procedures for 
Department of Energy Laboratories. 

The competition for the management of the Los Alamos National 
Laboratory will be conducted by the department's National Nuclear 
Security Administration. NNSA will announce the schedule for the 
RFP in the near future. 

http://www.usnewswire.com/ [http://www.usnewswire.com/] 

-0- 

/© 2004 U.S. Newswire 202-347-2770/ 			 		   		   			 		   		   
*****************************************************************
 52 Times-News: Report: Lack of waste cleanup oversight adds to cost
 			 			 			 			 			 				 
    www.magicvalley.com         The Times-News | AG Weekly |
    
    Wednesday, June 9, 2004   •   Twin Falls, Idaho   
    
Associated Press

BOISE -- The Energy Department failed to maintain control over 
cleanup projects at the Idaho National Engineering and 
Environmental Laboratory, letting private contractors ignore 
deadlines and milestones without penalty, the department's 
inspector general reports.

Failure to clearly define federal expectations of the contractors 
and require their compliance added millions of dollars to the 
cost of radioactive waste cleanup on the eastern Idaho desert 
above the regional aquifer, according to the report that assessed 
progress on three projects through 2003.

In response to the audit, Jessie Hill Roberson, assistant energy 
secretary for environmental management, said she has taken "a 
number of significant steps to improve project management."

The report said it appeared those steps would deal with the 
problems auditors had uncovered. They recommended more intense 
scrutiny of contract requirements and imposition of penalties 
when those requirements are not met.

The audit found that one contractor was reimbursed for 
construction costs before the facility was fully operational as 
required, that a delay in a waste processing plant created a 
multimillion-dollar disruption in waste shipments. Furthermore, 
failure to meet deadlines on two temporary storage projects might 
have cost tens of millions of dollars.

Roberson disputed some of the calculations but agreed that 
reorganization of the department's environmental management staff 
has created more intense assessment of project activity and 
closer control over changes in project circumstances.

The state's INEEL oversight administrator, Kathleen Trever, said 
none of the problems cited by the inspector general put the 
government afoul of deadlines in the state's 1995 court-enforced 
waste cleanup agreement because they generally involved attempts 
by the Energy Department to accelerate the cleanup schedule.

The three projects reviewed by the inspector general were 
construction of the facility to process plutonium-contaminated 
waste for shipment to New Mexico, removal of spent nuclear fuel 
rods from wet to dry storage and temporary dry storage for waste 
from the Three Mile Island nuclear accident that was sent to 
INEEL in the 1980s for research.

The auditors found that the waste processing plant built by BNFL 
Inc. was only able to retrieve pre-certified waste on March 31, 
2003, when it was supposed to be capable of retrieving, 
characterizing, treating and certifying waste for shipment. 
Still, the report said, the government paid BNFL $4.4 million for 
some construction costs that were not to be reimbursed until the 
plant was fully operational. That is not expected until this 
summer.

Premature payment, the report said, eased pressure on BNFL to 
finish the project.

The delay also resulted in nearly 600 scheduled waste shipments 
from INEEL to New Mexico to be canceled, resulting in $1.8 
million in stop-work costs for the transportation contractor.

Under the 1995 agreement, however, the treatment plant only had 
to be operating at some unspecified level on March 31, 2003, to 
avoid court sanctions.

Dry storage for the 45 metric tons of spent fuel rods was to be 
completed by last July, but construction has yet to begin and is 
not expected before next year at the earliest. The report said 
that delay could cost the department $47 million or more in lost 
savings by having to continue operating the wet storage facility.

Roberson disputed that assessment, pointing out that spent fuel 
is being moved out of wet storage even though the dry storage 
facility has not been built.

The state agreement only required that the department request 
money for the storage facility in its annual budget. The mid-2003 
deadline to begin moving spent fuel from wet to dry storage was 
met.

To comply with the storage requirement for Three Mile Island 
waste, the report found that the original project scope to 
include other high-level waste as well was dropped and only the 
Three Mile Island waste was stored to meet the mid-2001 deadline.

That decision, the auditors concluded, added $6 million to the 
overall project cost and siphoned cash from other cleanup 
efforts.                        

Copyright © 2004, Lee Publications Inc.

Magicvalley.com is an on-line division of The Times-News,
published daily at 132 W. Fairfield St.,
Twin Falls, Idaho 83301 by Lee Publications, Inc., a subsidiary
of Lee Enterprises.  
*****************************************************************
 53 DOE: Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board, Fernald
 
                        FR Doc 04-13025 
[Federal Register: June 9, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 111)] 
[Notices] [Page 32333] From the Federal Register Online via GPO 
Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr09jn04-47]                         
 
AGENCY: Department of Energy.
 
ACTION: Notice of open meeting.
 
SUMMARY: This notice announces a meeting of the Environmental 
Management Site-Specific Advisory Board (EM SSAB), Fernald. The 
Federal Advisory Committee Act (Pub. L. 92-463, 86 Stat. 770) 
requires that public notice of these meetings be announced in the 
Federal Register.
 
 
DATES: Tuesday, June 29, 2004; 6:15 p.m.-9 p.m.
 
ADDRESSES: Fernald Closure Project Site, 7400 Willey Road, 
Trailer 214, Hamilton, OH 45013-9402.
 
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Doug Sarno, The Perspectives 
Group, Inc., 1055 North Fairfax Street, Suite 204, Alexandria, VA 
22314, at (703) 837-1197, or e-mail; 
djsarno@theperspectivesgroup.com 
[djsarno@theperspectivesgroup.com] .
 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Purpose of the Board: The purpose of 
the Board is to make recommendations to DOE in the areas of 
environmental restoration, waste management, and related 
activities.
 
Tentative Agenda: 6:15 p.m.--Call to Order 6:15-6:30 p.m.--Chairs 
Remarks, Ex Officio Announcements and Updates 6:30-7:30 
p.m--Silos Projects Project Status Update on Dispute with State 
of Nevada Input from Critical Analysis Team 7:30-8 p.m.--Status 
of the Fernald Citizen Advisory Board Recommendations 8-8:30 
p.m.--Update on Stewardship Committee Activities 8:30-8:45 
p.m.--Preparation for August Meeting and September Retreat 8:45-9 
p.m.--Public Comment 9 p.m.-Adjourn Public Participation: The 
meeting is open to the public.
 
Written statements may be filed with the Board chair either 
before or after the meeting. Individuals who wish to make oral 
statements pertaining to agenda items should contact the Board 
chair at the address or telephone number listed below. Requests 
must be received five days prior to the meeting and reasonable 
provision will be made to include the presentation in the agenda. 
The Deputy Designated Federal Officer, Gary Stegner, Public 
Affairs Office, Ohio Field Office, U.S. Department of Energy, is 
empowered to conduct the meeting in a fashion that will 
facilitate the orderly conduct of business. Each individual 
wishing to make public comment will be provided a maximum of five 
minutes to present their comments.
 
Minutes: The minutes of this meeting will be available for public 
review and copying at the Freedom of Information Public Reading 
Room, 1E-190, Forrestal Building, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW., 
Washington, DC 20585 between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday-Friday, 
except Federal holidays. Minutes will also be available by 
writing to the Fernald Citizens' Advisory Board, c/o Phoenix 
Environmental Corporation, MS-76, Post Office Box 538704, 
Cincinnati, OH 43253-8704, or by calling the Advisory Board at 
(513) 648-6478.
 
Issued at Washington, DC, on June 2, 2004.
 
Rachel Samuel, Deputy Advisory Committee Management Officer.
 
[FR Doc. 04-13025 Filed 6-8-04; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6450-01-P

 
*****************************************************************
 54 Google News Alert - nuclear
 
Date: Wed, 09 Jun 2004 13:25:14 -0700 (PDT)

 
ONTARIO won't take plan to store nuclear waste lying down, ... 
National Post (subscription) - Canada
TORONTO (CP) - The Ontario government will make its views known about proposed
plans to store nuclear waste underground in the northern reaches of the
province ...
<http://www.canada.com/national/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=f5f32acb-5f97-4540-bbe4-2cadeeb91ed4>
See all stories on this topic:
<http://news.google.com/news?ie=utf8&oe=utf8&persist=1&num=30&hl=en&client=google&newsclusterurl=http://www.canada.com/national/nationalpost/news/story.html%3Fid%3Df5f32acb-5f97-4540-bbe4-2cadeeb91ed4>

NORTH Korea Nuclear Talks Expected June 23
Voice of America - Washington,DC,USA
South Korea says a new round of six-nation talks on North Korea's nuclear
program will likely start before the end of June. South ...
<http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectID=36017B50-2CAF-4D58-BA9B2709BA8D76CD>
See all stories on this topic:
<http://news.google.com/news?ie=utf8&oe=utf8&persist=1&num=30&hl=en&client=google&newsclusterurl=http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm%3FobjectID%3D36017B50-2CAF-4D58-BA9B2709BA8D76CD>

'LOW-LEVEL' Leak at Nuclear Power Station
The Scotsman - Edinburgh,Scotland,UK
Around 850 staff at a nuclear power plant were assembled at muster points
following a low-level radioactive leak, a British Energy spokesman said
today. ...
<http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=3041724>
See all stories on this topic:
<http://news.google.com/news?ie=utf8&oe=utf8&persist=1&num=30&hl=en&client=google&newsclusterurl=http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm%3Fid%3D3041724>

'NUCLEAR weapons to make Iran insecure'
Washington Times - Washington,DC,USA
9 (UPI) -- Iran will prompt an increase in threats to its security if it
acquires nuclear weapons, a senior Iranian diplomat warned Wednesday.
...
<http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20040609-113632-8790r.htm>
See all stories on this topic:
<http://news.google.com/news?ie=utf8&oe=utf8&persist=1&num=30&hl=en&client=google&newsclusterurl=http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20040609-113632-8790r.htm>

PALO Verde Nuclear Generating Station suffers 4th outage this ... 
KVOA.com - Tucson,AZ,USA
One of the three power generating units at Arizona's Palo Verde nuclear
power plant has shut down. Officials say the problem is ...
<http://kvoa.com/Global/story.asp?S=1929939&nav=HMO5Nmdh>
See all stories on this topic:
<http://news.google.com/news?ie=utf8&oe=utf8&persist=1&num=30&hl=en&client=google&newsclusterurl=http://kvoa.com/Global/story.asp%3FS%3D1929939%26nav%3DHMO5Nmdh>

PYONGYANG closer to nuclear deal, says Japan
Sydney Morning Herald - Sydney,New South Wales,Australia
The Japanese Prime Minister has told Washington he believes North Korea
may be more open to giving up its nuclear weapons in return for economic
aid and ...
<http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/06/09/1086749783428.html>
See all stories on this topic:
<http://news.google.com/news?ie=utf8&oe=utf8&persist=1&num=30&hl=en&client=google&newsclusterurl=http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/06/09/1086749783428.html>

NUCLEAR-ARMED Iran would be more vulnerable, top official says
IranMania News - Iran
TEHRAN, June 9 (AFP) - Iran would be less safe if it acquired nuclear weapons
because it cannot hope to match the arsenals of existing nuclear powers
such as ...
<http://www.iranmania.com/news/090604c.asp>
See all stories on this topic:
<http://news.google.com/news?ie=utf8&oe=utf8&persist=1&num=30&hl=en&client=google&newsclusterurl=http://www.iranmania.com/news/090604c.asp>

DRILL for nuclear plant north of New York includes fake terrorist ... 
Stamford Advocate - Stamford,CT,USA
WHITE PLAINS, NY -- For the first time, a fake terrorist attack was included
in a drill of emergency plans at a nuclear power plant near New York City,
with ...
<http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/local/state/hc-09144740.apds.m0172.bc-ct--indijun09,0,166664.story?coll=hc-headlines-local-wire>
See all stories on this topic:
<http://news.google.com/news?ie=utf8&oe=utf8&persist=1&num=30&hl=en&client=google&newsclusterurl=http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/local/state/hc-09144740.apds.m0172.bc-ct--indijun09,0,166664.story%3Fcoll%3Dhc-headlines-local-wire>

US plans to cut nuclear weapons stockpile
Los Alamos Monitor - Los Alamos,NM,USA
The nation's top nuclear weapons official announced a plan for a significant
reduction in the total US stockpile by the year 2012, the largest percentage
...
<http://www.lamonitor.com/articles/2004/06/09/headline_news/news02.txt>

NUCLEAR bunker siege into second day
grampian tv - Aberdeen,Scotland,UK
A siege at a former nuclear bunker in Fife is continuing into it's second
day this morning. Armed police and negotiating teams are ...
<http://northtonight.grampiantv.co.uk/content/default.asp?page=s1_1_1&newsid=4018>
See all stories on this topic:
<http://news.google.com/news?ie=utf8&oe=utf8&persist=1&num=30&hl=en&client=google&newsclusterurl=http://northtonight.grampiantv.co.uk/content/default.asp%3Fpage%3Ds1_1_1%26newsid%3D4018>

This daily-once News Alert is brought to you by Google News (BETA)...
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
Remove this News Alert:
http://www.google.com/newsalerts/remove?s=92d1672a1b037a07&hl=en

Create another News Alert:
http://www.google.com/newsalerts?hl=en

Try Google News:
http://news.google.com/
    
*****************************************************************

NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 this 
material is distributed without profit or payment to those who 
have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for 
non-profit research and educational purposes only. For more 
information go to: 
<http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml> 
    
*****************************************************************