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NUCLEAR POLICY
1 Guardian Unlimited: Iran Said Interested in Nuclear Parts
2 UPI: Iran to hold on to nuclear program
3 Korea: Digital Chosunilbo: U.S. Convinced N. Korea Has Covert Uraniu
4 US: Wired News: New Nuclear Program Sidelined
5 US: Tri-Valley Herald: Congressman slashes nuke plans
6 US: projo: Clean energy is here -- and it works
7 Bellona: Environmentalist’s detention shows the anatomy of an FSB in
NUCLEAR REACTORS
8 US: [NukeNet] NRC meeting on Salem/Hope Creek Safety Culture -
9 US: Democrat & Chronicle: Deal closes on sale of Ginna
10 NZ: Business Day: Greens and labour call for nuke summit
11 US: San Luis Obispo Tribune: Diablo concerns dominate NRC meet
12 St. Petersburg Times: Armenia has no money to close nuclear power pl
13 US: Brattleboro Reformer: Disgruntled delegates call for NRC review
14 US: Advocate: State officials get ideas from Indian Point nuclear dr
15 US: Brattleboro Reformer: Study finds disaster plan acceptable
16 US: WBIR-TV: TVA EMPLOYEES CONTAMINATED IN NUCLEAR MALFUNCTION
17 TDN: Atomic Energy Delegation Visits Turkey - Armenia Border -
18 US: Lompoc Record: Residents quiz NRC about Diablo Canyon
19 Prague Post: Leak at Temelin prompts concern
20 US: Newsday.com: Millstone booklet does not change after critical re
21 US: DECATUR DAILY: 6 Browns Ferry workers exposed to radiation
22 BuaNews: Cabinet approves Pebble Bed Modular Reactor Project
23 Sofia Morning News: Reactors' Shut Down Creates Tension in Bulgaria
NUCLEAR SAFETY
24 US: NRC: Notice of Availability of Environmental Assessment and Find
NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE
25 [NukeNet] Yucca In Deep $$ Trouble
26 [du-list] nuclear clean-up liabilities increase costs at
27 Las Vegas RJ: Yucca Mountainfaces cash crisis
28 Las Vegas SUN: House panel slashes project funding
29 US: Bradenton Herald: Tallevast residents' tests show solvent
30 US: herald tribune: New water tests show chemicals Tallevast wells e
31 US: Courier-journal: Responsibility for cleanup argued
32 sunday times.co.za: Cabinet approves pebble bed nuclear project
33 US: Cincinnati Enquirer: State wants no Fernald waste removal
34 Reuters: BNFL losses increase
35 UK Independent: Sellafield setback plunges nuclear reprocessor BNFL
36 ThisisLondon: Nuclear losses mushroom to Ł303m
37 Whitehaven News: SELLAFIELD FIRM FIRED AFTER SITE ACCIDENTS
38 NRC: NRC Establishes Additional Requirements for Electronic Submissi
NUCLEAR WEAPONS
39 Where are we At With Nuclear Weapons- Next60 Years/John Hallam
US DEPT. OF ENERGY
40 Las Vegas RJ: EDITORIAL: More DOE bungling
41 Las Vegas RJ: ACCESS LIMITS: Wildlife range might restrict water dri
42 Hanford News: Program to assess waste tank vapor exposure
43 Hanford News: Biology expert speaks at PNNL
44 Tri-City Herald: AdvanceMed up and running
45 SF Chronicle: UC keeps Livermore Lab till 2007 / Energy secretary
46 KGW: New Hanford medical provider takes over
47 BFC: Battelle vies to run Idaho National Laboratory
48 U.S. Newswire: Energy Secretary Abraham to Speak on Nuclear
49 U.S. Newswire: Eisenhower Institute Announces Presentation by DOE
50 U.S. Newswire: DOE/NNSA Cites BWXT Y-12 for Price-Anderson
51 Oak Ridger: Last stranded researcher cleared for visa
52 Oak Ridger: Sick worker program: Goodbye DOE, hello Labor Department
53 Colorado Daily: RFCLOG board talks independent verification,
54 lamonitor.com: Safety board cautions DOE on delegating responsibilit
55 Oak Ridger: Lab contractor gives $150K for area science education
56 PRNews: Battelle to Bid on Idaho National Laboratory Contract
57 Tri-Valley Herald: UC gets 2-year reprieve at Lab
OTHER NUCLEAR
58 [progchat_action] The Plutonium Files
59 Google News Alert - nuclear
60 NBC 4: California Firm Pleads Guilty To Exporting Nuclear
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FULL NEWS STORIES
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1 Guardian Unlimited: Iran Said Interested in Nuclear Parts
From the Associated Press
[UP]
Friday June 11, 2004 1:16 AM
By GEORGE JAHN
Associated Press Writer
VIENNA, Austria (AP) - Iran told a black market supplier it was
interested in ``tens of thousands'' of parts for its covert
nuclear program, diplomats said Thursday, as the U.N. atomic
watchdog prepared to rebuke Tehran for hindering an agency probe
of its activities.
The diplomats, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of
anonymity, said the revelation about Iran's offer was made at a
closed-door meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
An IAEA report leaked last week mentioned that Iran had
acknowledged inquiring about 4,000 magnets needed for uranium
enrichment equipment with a European black-market supplier and
had dangled the possibility of buying a ``higher number'' of such
markets.
At Thursday's preparatory meeting for Monday's IAEA board of
governors' conference an IAEA official was more precise, saying
that Iran had said it was interested in ``tens of thousands'' of
such magnets in future contracts, according to diplomats present
at the closed meeting.
With two magnets per uranium enrichment centrifuge, tens of
thousands of such parts would translated into a centrifuge
program that significantly exceeds what Iran insists was only an
experimental project.
Uranium enrichment can be used to generate power or make nuclear
weapons, depending on the level of enrichment. Iran insists it
was interested only in energy generation and that its offer was
purposely exaggerated to spark interest from the potential black
market supplier.
The United States and other nations say such arguments are an
attempt to cover up nearly two decades of covert activities aimed
at making nuclear weapons and point to what they say is continued
Iranian secrecy on the scope of its enrichment program and other
activities.
The other main area of concern remains the source of traces of
weapons-grade uranium on Iranian centrifuges. Tehran asserts the
traces were inadvertently imported on purchases through the
nuclear black market and that it has not enriched uranium beyond
the low levels used for power generation.
But IAEA investigators have not been able to test that claim
because Pakistan - the main source of the equipment - has blocked
free access to its nuclear material, meaning the agency cannot
match isotope samples to the traces found in Iran. At Thursday's
meeting Thursday, IAEA officials complained that the agency has
in some cases waited in vain for information on enrichment since
October.
Coming out of the meeting, Iran's chief delegate to the IAEA,
Amir Zamaninia said his country had attempted to clarify ``a
number of misunderstandings on the part of ... mainly the United
States.''
But another delegate present said members of the Iranian and U.S.
delegations had clashed on a number of issues at what was
supposed to be a technical meeting, likening their deep
differences on the nature of Iran's nuclear program to a chasm
between ``two worlds.''
The testiness reflected tensions ahead of Monday's board meeting,
which is expected to censure Iran for continued foot-dragging a
year into the IAEA probe of its nuclear ambitions.
A draft resolution written by France, Germany and Britain is
heavily peppered with negative terms, ``deploring'' omissions and
delays by Iran in cooperating with the agency probe or noting
them with ``serious concern.''
Diplomats said the United States, Iran's harshest critic, was
generally satisfied with the tone of the draft. But they said
Washington would push for some kind of deadline for Tehran to
come up with the missing information needed to prove or disprove
the Islamic Republic's weapons ambitions.
Speaking in Tehran for Iran's powerful conservatives, lawmaker
Manouchechr Mottaki warned of a ``strong reaction'' if the IAEA
rules against the country at the board meeting. That meeting will
review the IAEA report on Iran.
Mottaki said any decision by the IAEA board against Iran could
draw ``relatiation'' by Iran's paliament.
``The board decision will definitely affect the parliament's
debate whether or not approve the additional protocol to the
Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty,'' Mottaki told The Associated
Press.
The report addresses the same concerns voiced in the draft and
brought up at Thursday's meeting - that Iran had tried to buy
critical parts for advanced P-2 centrifuges and that ambiguity
remains on the source of traces of weapons grade uranium found
inside Iran.
In the face of mounting international pressure, Iran suspended
uranium enrichment last year, and in April it said it had stopped
building centrifuges.
Iran long has rejected U.S. allegations its nuclear program is
for military purposes. ElBaradei said last month his agency had
not found proof to date of a concrete link between Iran's nuclear
activities and its military program, but ``it was premature to
make a judgment.''
---
On the Net:
International Atomic Energy Agency, www.iaea.org
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004
*****************************************************************
2 UPI: Iran to hold on to nuclear program
- (United Press International)
June 10, 2004
Tehran, Iran, Jun. 10 (UPI) -- Iran's Foreign Ministry Thursday
upheld Iran's "legitimate right" to benefit from nuclear power
for peaceful purposes, the Iranian news Agency, IRNA, said.
Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asafi said his country "is fully
committed to honoring the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and
has the legitimate right to develop its nuclear program for
peaceful ends."
Asafi was responding to statements at the Group of Eight summit
in the United States, criticizing Iran for developing its nuclear
program.
"Using nuclear power for peaceful purposes is a legitimate right
which the member countries of the G-8 group should not expect
Iran to give up," he said.
[UPI Perspectives]
*****************************************************************
3 Korea: Digital Chosunilbo: U.S. Convinced N. Korea Has Covert Uranium-Enrichment
Updated Jun.10,2004 11:33 KST
The State Department says U.S. officials are firm in their
belief that North Korea has a covert uranium-enrichment program,
despite doubts expressed by China. Spokesmen say the United
States is ready to take part in more six-party talks on the
issue, sponsored by China later this month, and that only North
Korea has yet to agree.
The State Department says information supporting the U.S.
contention that North Korea has been enriching uranium as part of
a nuclear weapons program "is very conclusive", and it says
administration officials are puzzled by a new Chinese statement
calling that into question.
The comments follow a New York Times interview with China's
deputy foreign minister, Zhou Wenzhong. He said the United States
has yet to persuade Beijing that North Korea has had both uranium
and plutonium-based programs to develop fuel for nuclear bombs.
Pyongyang has acknowledged having a plutonium program, but denies
also enriching uranium for weapons. Mr. Zhou was quoted by the
New York Times as saying the United States has "not presented
convincing evidence" on this and should stop making charges about
it unless it can offer proof.
At a news briefing, State Department Spokesman Richard Boucher
said North Korean officials spoke of the uranium program during a
visit to Pyongyang by Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly in
October 2002, and that the picture, if anything, has gotten
clearer since then.
"Frankly, we find the assistant foreign minister's comments
somewhat puzzling. We have made clear over time that there is
very conclusive information that North Korea has a covert
uranium-enrichment program. North Korea at that time acknowledged
that it was pursuing uranium enrichment. Since that time, North
Korea has withdrawn from the NPT, the [Nuclear] Non-Proliferation
Treaty, they have restarted activities geared to the production
of plutonium-based weapons. They have asserted their so-called
right to develop nuclear weapons," he said.
A senior diplomat who spoke to reporters on condition on
anonymity said the United States has information that the
proliferation ring of Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer
Khan transferred both uranium-enrichment equipment and technology
to North Korea.
He also said that at the most recent set of working group talks
on the nuclear issue in Beijing a month ago, the North Korean
delegation, without admitting having a uranium enrichment
program, inquired as to what benefits might accrue to Pyongyang
"if they got rid of the program." "I know what their public
posture is," the official said, "but no one should be fooled by
it," he said.
The Bush administration has said it is prepared to join in
multi-lateral guarantees for North Korea's security, under an
agreement for the "complete, verifiable and irreversible"
dismantling of all elements of the North Korean program, or CVID
in diplomatic parlance.
At the last full round of Chinese-sponsored talks, in March, the
North Koreans offered to freeze their nuclear program in return
for aid.
The United States insisted on CVID, not a freeze, but also said
it would not stand in the way of other participants in the talks
providing aid to the impoverished communist state on an interim
basis.
The senior diplomat said the United States is ready to take part
in a new set of six-party talks the week of June 21, as proposed
by China, and that the only holdout now is North Korea.
As planned, the session would begin with a few days of
discussions in working groups and then go directly to a full
plenary level.
In addition to China, the United States and North Korea, the
talks also include South Korea, Japan and Russia.
VOA News
*****************************************************************
4 Wired News: New Nuclear Program Sidelined
11:42 AM Jun. 10, 2004 PT
It ain't dead, yet. But the Bush administration's push to
research and develop new nuclear weapons could be on the verge of
collapse, after a key Congressional leader moved on Wednesday to
eliminate funding for the atomic arms projects.
Ohio Republican Rep. David Hobson, who chairs the House Energy
and Water Appropriations Subcommittee, wiped out $96 million in
nuclear projects from the government's budget for next year --
including funds for researching nuclear "bunker-buster" bombs
and low-yield, "mini-nuke" weapons. Hobson also snapped the
purse strings of projects to build thousands more plutonium
hearts for nuclear weapons and to fast-track atomic testing.
Just last week, the Department of Energy submitted a plan
[http://www.nnsa.doe.gov/docs/PR_AdministrationPlansSignificantRe
duction(6-03-04).htm] to pare thousands of weapons from
America's existing nuclear arsenal. But, despite the proposal,
much of the country's nuclear arms budget is still at "Cold War"
levels, Hobson complained in a statement
[http://appropriations.house.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressReleas
es.Detail&PressRelease_id=383] . The Energy Department
"needs to take a 'time-out' on new initiatives until it
completes a review of its weapons complex in relation to
security needs, budget constraints and this new stockpile plan."
Anti-nuclear activists were giddy after Hobson's stand. Two
weeks ago, the full House of Representatives narrowly defeated
an amendment to take away the money for researching the "Robust
Nuclear Earth Penetrator
[http://www.fcnl.org/issues/item.php?item_id=88&issue_id=48]
" -- a weapon designed to burrow deep into the ground before
unleashing a nuclear hell-storm in underground bunkers. Taken
together, activists said they believe the maneuvers forecast a
gloomy future for a new atomic arsenal.
"With so little enthusiasm for research, there's not going to be
any chance for developing and deploying new nuclear weapons," "
said Stephen Young, a senior analyst with the Union of Concerned
Scientists [http://www.ucsusa.org/] .
But the nuclear weapons budget still has a long way to go before
Hobson's cuts are made final. And there are powerful members of
Congress -- including Republican New Mexico Sen. Pete Domenici
-- who have been successful at preserving atomic funds.
"An extremely significant line in the sand has been drawn,
courtesy of Mr. Hobson," said Jay Coughlan, executive director
of Nuclear Watch of New Mexico [http://www.nukewatch.org/] .
"But these are just cuts marked up by a subcommittee -- albeit a
very powerful subcommittee. Let's see how it survives the entire
appropriations process."
Hobson has had a contentious history with the Energy
Department's atomic overseers. Last year, he pared back proposed
funding for some weapons research programs. For others, he
withheld funds until the Bush administration came up with a plan
to shrink the country's nuclear weapons stockpile. That road map
-- to halve the American arsenal by 2012 -- was submitted last
week.
"After several years of frustration, we finally put a fence
around some of (Energy Department's) advanced concepts funding
and said that it would not be available until the department
delivered a revised stockpile plan," Hobson said in a statement.
"I admit that we held a DOE program hostage until they produced
this revised stockpile plan, and you know what? -- the power of
the purse does work!"
Now, Hobson is going several steps further. He has taken away
all the money for a plant to make nuclear weapons' plutonium
cores, and for researching so-called "mini-nukes" -- low-yield,
tactical nuclear weapons with less than a third of the
destructive power of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and
Nagasaki.
The Energy Department did not respond to requests to comment.
But Hobson's efforts are potentially bad news for the
department's nuclear weapons facilities, like Los Alamos
National Laboratory [http://www.lanl.gov] . After the House
lifted a ban on low-yield research last year, National Nuclear
Security Administrator [http://www.nnsa.doe.gov/] Linton Brooks
told lab chiefs in a memo
[http://www.lasg.org/LintonBrooksMemoDec5-2003_0001.pdf] (PDF)
that, "We should not fail to take advantage of this opportunity.
I expect your design teams to engage fully."
written by Noah Shachtman
and Japanese [http://www.hotwired.co.jp/news/] © Copyright
[http://www.lycos.com/lycosinc/legal.html#copy] 2004, Lycos,
Inc. All Rights Reserved.
*****************************************************************
5 Tri-Valley Herald: Congressman slashes nuke plans
6/10/2004
Republican puts dent in Bush administration's plan for new
nuclear weapons design
By Ian Hoffman, STAFF WRITER
A powerful House chairman slashed $96 million in nuclear weapons
design, manufacturing and testing funds sought by the Bush
administration, suggesting wan support for the president's
weapons plans in his own party.
Rep. David Hobson, R-Ohio, chairman of the House Energy and Water
Appropriations subcommittee, struck all of the Bush
administration's requests for research on a high-yield, nuclear
bunker buster and other new and modified nuclear weapons. He also
cut planning money for a plutonium bomb core factory and for
shortening the preparation time for a nuclear test, in case the
president orders one.
Last year, Hobson held up money for new weapons design until the
Bush administration delivered a report on the future size and
composition of the U.S. nuclear arsenal, now numbering 11,000
bombs and warheads.
The administration's stockpile report would cut the arsenal
almost in half by 2012, and reduce fielded nuclear weapons to
2,200, as agreed in the 2002 Moscow Treaty.
"After years of maintaining a nuclear stockpile sized for the
Cold War, we are finally bringing the numbers down to a more
realistic and responsible level," Hobson said Wednesday. "I admit
that we held a DOE program hostage ... and you know what? The
power of the purse does work."
But while the total arsenal is declining, Hobson said, the nation
still is paying for a huge complex of factories and
billion-dollar laboratories.
"Much of the DOE weapons complex is still sized to support a Cold
War stockpile," he said. The department's weapons arm, the
National Nuclear Security Administration, "needs to take a
'time-out' on new initiatives until it completes a review of its
weapons complex in relation to security needs, budget constraints
and this new stockpile plan."
Critics of the administration's weapons policies cheered the cuts
and Hobson's tough language.
"It's a pretty clear rebuke," said Kathy Crandall, an analyst at
the Union of Concerned Scientists.
"I'm ecstatic," said Marylia Kelley, head of a Livermore-based
lab watchdog and disarmament group that agitated against the new
weapons projects. "Today's a great day for nonproliferation and
our communities."
"Hobson is exhibiting refreshing common sense on this issue,"
said Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control
Association. "It's courageous of him to pursue this approach
given where the administration stands on the issue. There is
increasing concern about the ultimate direction of this research,
and it's going to become more and more difficult for the
administration to eke out a majority as they move into the
development phase."
The power of appropriations chairmen will come into play again by
fall, as Hobson and his Senate counterpart, New Mexico Republican
Pete Domenici, a reliable supporter of the administration's new
weapons initiatives, enter closed-door negotiations on weapons
and public works spending.
If the outcome this year matches the past, the result will be a
compromise that partially funds each of the four weapons programs
that Hobson cut.
If the National Nuclear Security Administration spreads the
leaner funding by the same logic as this year, most of the
weapons design money will end up in California, where Lawrence
Livermore lab and Sandia National Laboratories-California are
studying the bunker buster.
The funding shortage shut down a similar study in New Mexico,
directing almost all of the work to conversion of the B83 bomb,
the most powerful nuclear weapon in the U.S. arsenal at 1.2
megatons, into the Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator, designed to
plunge dozens of feet into rock and destroy underground military
bunkers.
Tri-Valley Herald All Rights Reserved
*****************************************************************
6 projo: Clean energy is here -- and it works
Providence, R.I. | Opinion: Contributors
Opinion: Contributors
Brian F. Keane:
01:00 AM EDT on Thursday, June 10, 2004
BACK IN THE 1970s, there was a lot of talk about using solar
panels and giant windmills to make pollution-free electricity for
our homes. Looking back at that time, you might be tempted to
view that interest in "green power" as an optimistic dream that
never became a reality. But you would be wrong, especially if you
are a Rhode Island resident!
Just ask Governor Carcieri. In March, the governor announced that
the state would soon buy clean, renewable energy equivalent to
the amount needed to generate 100 percent of the electricity used
at the State House for the next five years.
The governor's high-profile clean-power purchase was not an
aberration. It was, in fact, calculated to draw attention to the
fact that as of April 1, any residential or small-business
ratepayer in Rhode Island (except Block Island) could choose to
buy clean, renewable power from one of four clean-energy
providers. Buying electricity from these reliable sources is as
simple as notifying the electric company that you want to go
"clean."
Compared with burning oil and coal at large industrial power
plants to make electricity, clean power comes from far less
polluting sources, such as wind, solar, biomass (landfill gases)
and smaller hydro-power sources scattered across Rhode Island and
New England.
This new option makes Rhode Island one of more than 30 states
whose residents can buy various forms of renewable-energy
supplies. Over 300 utilities serving these states deliver clean
energy, helping to make communities healthier and America more
energy-independent.
Clean power is no longer idealistic science fiction. It is a
robust reality, and it will become more and more important to the
degree that Rhode Island residents buy it. As the tagline of a
new campaign to educate state residents says, "Clean Energy. It's
Real. It's Here. It's Working. Let's Make More."
By choosing clean energy over traditional sources, Rhode
Islanders can ensure an increasingly bright future for their
state.
According to a new survey, they are fully prepared to do so. The
survey, conducted by SmartPower -- a nonprofit clean-power
marketing campaign in Rhode Island -- showed that most Rhode
Islanders are confident that solar, wind, hydro and biomass power
can be relied on to provide electricity for their homes. Working
for the Rhode Island Renewable Energy Fund, SmartPower found not
only that Ocean State residents are optimistic about clean
energy, but also that 75 percent of those interviewed said they
would be willing to pay up to $10 more a month in addition to
what they currently pay on their electric bill to buy cleaner
energy. Half of those polled said they would pay up to $20 more.
That's good news, especially since the additional cost for a
typical residential customer is projected to be $6 to $12.50 a
month, depending on which power provider the customer selects.
What do Rhode Islanders expect to get for that? Most of the
nearly 500 Rhode Island electric-bill payers polled said the best
reason to shift to clean power was concern that toxic pollutants
released by oil-, coal- and nuclear-fueled plants producing
electric power used in Rhode Island pose a risk to their
children's health. The second most popular reason was that a
continued dependence on foreign oil jeopardizes America's
national security.
Compare that view with more gloomy prognostications. Last year,
the U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimated that the nation would need
10 new oil refineries and 1,300 new power plants by 2020. We
would need to drill at least 25,000 new natural-gas wells a year,
the Chamber said, and construct 38,000 miles of new transmission
pipelines and nearly a quarter of a million miles of new
distribution lines -- all of which would cost a whopping $150
billion.
On top of that, thousands of miles of new
electricity-transmission lines and oil pipelines would also be
required.
The Chamber's dour projections may turn out to be true, but it is
telling that they are all based on fossil-fuel consumption.
America's growth as the world's leading industrial power has been
fueled by fossil energy for over a century. It's no wonder that
the consumption of coal, oil and natural gas holds the American
imagination in a powerful grip. But it's an old paradigm, and due
to be updated.
Even though residents of more than 30 states can, and do, buy
clean energy, consumer research in recent years has shown that
many Americans continue to view fossil fuels as a necessary evil.
They know that our massive consumption of these energy sources is
polluting the environment and contributing to global warming, but
they can't imagine what the world would be like without fossil
fuels. And they are genuinely afraid that fossil fuels are
running out.
Ocean State residents are to be applauded for their enlightened
perspective. If the shift to clean power parallels the numbers
suggested by the SmartPower survey, Rhode Island is poised to
become the largest per-capita user of renewable energy in the
nation. In the process, it will become a cleaner, healthier and
more energy-independent place. And Rhode Islanders know that's
worth a few dollars more per month.
The suppliers of clean energy in Rhode Island are Conservation
Services Group, Community Energy, People's Power and Light, and
Sterling Planet. To learn more about them, and about Rhode
Island's new clean-energy option, visit www.smartpower.org
[http://www.smartpower.org/] .
Brian F. Keane is executive director of SmartPower, a nonprofit
group hired by the State of Rhode Island to conduct an
educational campaign urging residents to learn about clean-energy
options.
Brian F. Keane: Clean energy is here -- and it works
[http://www.projo.com/opinion/contributors/content/projo_20040610
_10ctkeane.268059.html]
Providence Journal newsroom at (401) 277-7303.
© Belo Interactive Inc.
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7 Bellona: Environmentalist’s detention shows the anatomy of an FSB interrogation
ST. PETERSBURG—A Moscow-based environmental activist was detained
by Russian security services and later set free after three hours
of questioning when he arrived in the Kola Peninsula town of
Polyarny Zori—where workers at the Kola Nuclear Power Plant
live—to distribute environmental literature to local libraries.
The Kola Nuclear Power Plant.
Bellona
Rashid Alimov, 2004-06-10 09:49
The detention of Andrei Ozharovsky, occurred ironically on May
27th—the Russian national holiday for librarians. It also
coincided with the day President Vladimir Putin delivered his
fiery State of the Union address, wherein he declared a severe
crackdown on Non-Governmental Organizations that receive money
from foreign donors. There are two NGOs in the whole of Russia
that don not accept foreign funding.
After he was freed, Ozharovsky— who heads the International
Discussion Club, a Moscow-based environmental and political NGO—
said his literature was returned to him and he distributed it to
local libraries and contacted Bellona and other environmental
organisations about the incident.
Among the books and magazines Ozharovsky brough to distribute
were recent issues of Bellona’s Russian-language monthly
Environment magazine, published by Bellona-St.Petersburg and
copies of Bellona’s Arctic Nuclear Challenge report.
Additionally, he distributed The Main Problems and Current
Condition of Safety at Nuclear Fuel Enterprises by Vladimir
Kuznetsov of the Russian Green Cross environmental NGO, How much
does nuclear electricity cost by Greenpeace-Russia Vladimir
Chuprov.
Finally, he had with him Russian-language translations of three
classics of international environmental thought—Defending Animal
Rights by Tom Reagan, The Abstract Wild by Jack Turner, and
Andrew Linsey’s Animal Theology.
After his release, Ozharovsky called Bellona’s St Petersburg
office—the Environmental Right Center Bellona, or ERC—where he
had been some days prior to his Polyarny Zori visit to collect
environmental literature. In a subsequent interview with Bellona
Web, he said the police and interrogators from the Federal
Security Service, or FSB—the KGB’s successor organization—
released him, saying the matter was closed. But according to
Ozharovksy, “the incident is far from closed.”
Bizarre circumstances lead to police custody Indeed, the
circumstances surrounding his detention by the police were odd.
by his own account, Ozharovsky did not stand out among the city’s
17,000 inhabitants—3,100 of which work at the Kola NPP—aside from
the fact that he was carrying a large duffle containing the
literature he planned to distribute. He required no special
permission to visit the city, so documentation trouble had
nothing to do with his trouble.
In general, the cities in which Russia’s nuclear power plants are
located have a semi-closed status, much like the closed city
system where Soviet nuclear weapons were made. But Polyarny Zory,
located several kilometers from the Kola NPP, requires no such
permits. In his interview with Bellona Ozharovsky traced his
contact and subsequent escort under armed guard to the local
police station to a verbal exchange he had with a teenage boy on
the street.
While walking from the train station to the local library and
asking directions along the way, Ozharovsky said he was
approached by a boy between 12- and 15-years old, who asked him a
question that could only have been answered by a native of the
city.
Andrei Ozharovsky. Viktor Teryoshkin/Bellona
“I don't remember, what exactly his question was about, something
like how to get to Sivko street,” said Ozharovsky. “But I
responded, that I didn't know, that I had just come to town.”
As he approached the library, Ozharovsky said he ducked into a
grocery story to buy a cake for the librarians as a gesture to
their national holiday. It was at that point that Ozharovsky
suspects that the boy to whom he had spoken on the street phoned
police, because within minutes, armed law enforcement agents had
rushed into the store and demanded Ozharovsky’s passport for
identification and documents, which were all in order.
He said the officers did not search his person, but that they
pounced on his duffle, discovering the anti-nuclear information
it contained. On the strength of this discovery, said Ozharovsky,
he was escorted under armed guard to the police station.
Ozharovsky also attributed the apparent hyper-vigilance of
police, and the boy who possibly phoned in his description and
location, to an announcement in Polyarny Zori’s Gorodskoe Vremya
newspaper that urged citizens to report “suspicious people”
coming to town.
“To report those who do something suspicious—I can understand
that. But if in Polyarnye Zori, every person coming here is
considered ‘suspecious,’ it seems like Middle Ages,” Ozharovsky
said. “I am terrified that police took the teenager's phone call
seriously, but, more than that, I am terrified that this teenager
probably considers himself a hero.”
A short history of the detention
Ozharovsky is president of the Moscow-based International
Discussion Club NGO, lives in Moscow, but at the moment is
engaged in Project Imandra (in assistance with Murmansk
region-based organizations: Nature and Youth NGO and the
Association “For Safety of Drinking Water and Food”. The
project’s goal is to arrange environmental literature and
information exhibitions in the small towns around Imandra lake in
the Murmansk region.
Ozharovsky intended to present to the local libraries
translations of classical world environmental ethics: works by
American environmental thinkers Tom Reagan and his Defending
Animal Rights, Jack Turner’s The Abstract Wild , and Animal
Theology by Andrew Lindsey.
Aside from that, Ozharovsky planned to present book Vladimir
Kuznetsov from Russian Green Cross NGO —The Main Problems and
Current Condition of Safety at Nuclear Fuel Enterprises— and by
Vladimir Chuprov from GreenPeace-Russia How much does nuclear
electricity cost. These books are especially cruicial in the
towns near the Kola Nuclear Power Plant. The libraries of
Olenegorsk, Monchegorsk, Apatity, Polyarnie Zori and Kandalaksha
also received the recent issues of Environment magazine,
published by Bellona-St.Petersburg and copies of Bellona’s Arctic
Nuclear Challenge report.
A stranger comes to town—law enforcement brings the welcome wagon
In a telephone interview with the Polyarny Zori branch of the
FSB, one of the officers who had interrogated Ozharovsky told
Bellona Web on the condition of anonymity that “Ozharovsky had
been detained as a person who was unknown in town, for the
establishment of his identity.”
Ozharovsky said the police behaved politely, and he was not
accused of anything.
“But they explained their interest [in me] based on the fact
that I was a stranger in town. They explained to me that
‘officially Polyarny Zori is an open town, but you should
understand that it is a ‘unique’ town,’” he said. It was
apparent they had no interest in establishing whether he was a
terrorist, Ozharovsky said.
“It was just unprofessionally on their part: it was as if they
stand guard against not terrorists, but critics, as if
[spreading] propaganda for nuclear energy is a goal for the
police.”
A short handbook for dealing with police interrogations
Ozharovsky said that, when he was brought in for questioning,
he had made use of advice on how to handle law enforcement
interrogations that Bellona’s Environment and Right magazine had
published in its 4th and 5th issues.
“First I asked to see their documents and badges and wrote down
their names and badge numbers,” he said. He also constantly
pressured them about his status in their custody—whether he had
been detained as a witness or a suspect, and what his rights
where. He was told he was detained to establish his identity and
that he did not yet stand accused of anything.
This, in itself, was illegal.
Ivan Pavlov. Bellona
“According to Russian legislation, a person can be detained only
if he is a suspect in an administrative or criminal violation —
but then the police have to tell him what he is accused of—and
compose an official report, of course,” said Ivan Pavlov, legal
advisor to ERC and director of the Institute for Information
Freedom Development, in an interview with Bellona Web. Pavlov
continued that legally, identification can only be established by
looking at the passport of the person concerned, which Ozharovsky
had already shown them when he was initially detained buying
cake. Pavlov also said that the search of Ozharovsky’s bag
revealed nothing dangerous—other than a number of books.
“Instead of releasing him [the police] took on the role of
censors, deciding how these books would influence the minds of
Polyarni Zori’s inhabitants,” said Pavlov.
Irregularities in the interrogation According to Pavlov and
Ozharovsky, no report of detainment was issued to the activist,
which is a procedural violation, as well as a violation of the
Russian constitution. This alone, said Pavlov, provides
Ozharovsky with the foundation to file suit through the
prosecutors’ office or the courts and demand that he be
compensated by the officers that detained him. Ozharovsky said he
plans to bring such a suit.
“[The police] did not compose any report because they couldn’t
even formulate what they were accusing [Ozharovsky] of, said
Pavlov. “But they really wanted to take a punch at an
environmentalist.”
The goal of the police in Polyarny Zori, said Pavlov, is to keep
the town and the nuclear power plant safe. “But not all measures
they are taking are good ones—it wouldn’t occur to anyone to
shoot every newcomer. If someone doesn’t reign the police in,
they will turn into the Soviet era NKVD.”
An environmmental education for the FSB Following the
establishment of the Ozharovsky’s identity by police, the FSB was
summoned and asked three hours worth questions about the
substance of the nuclear literature he had with him. The FSB
officer from Polyarny Zori confirmed this, calling what sounded
like an interrogation a “conversation.”
“They explained to me that it wasn’t an interrogation, but a
simple conversation. A conversation to which you’re brought by
armed men,” said Ozharovsky, with visible bewilderment.
Ozharovsky said he clarified his rights with the FSB officers
before the conversation began—such as: Did he have the right to
refuse to answer certain questions and was he allowed to take
notes of the conversation, both of which he was allowed to do.
He was asked by the agents whether they could download the
telephone numbers in his mobile telephone, and he declined on the
grounds that the agents needed a warrant, as such a procedure
would constitute a search. There would also be the procedural
requirement of having witnesses to the procedure and of writing a
report, Ozharovsky reminded them. The agents, he said, gave the
idea up.
Ozharovsky said that the agents who questioned him were more
interested in how he had got hold of Bellona’s Arctic Nuclear
Challenge report and the issues of Environment and Rights
magazine.
Ozharovsky explained that he had visited ERC’s offices on the way
from Moscow to Polyarny Zory.
Chirldern swimming in the water that is used to cool the
reactors at the Kola Nuclear Power Plant. Bellona
Of special interest to the agents were the origin of the photos
of the Kola NPP that appear in the Arctic Nuclear Challenge
report, said Ozharovsky. He said they were especially keen on a
photo showing children swimming and playing in reactor cooling
water for the Kola NPP. The agent protested that such an
occurrence would be impossible.
“Can you imagine—FSB officers spent three hours not catching
spies or terrorists to look at pictures in the report,” said
Ozharovsky.
At one point during the conversation, the FSB agents asked
Ozharovsky why he had such evidently strong opinions against the
FSB. He mentioned the constant threats from the government about
rooting organizations that receive western funding as spy
fronts, when the Russian government, at the same time, receives
a tidy sum toward security funding at the Kola NPP from.
Furthermore, foreign aid from western countries for Minatom in
2002 added up to more than 30 billion roubles ($1 billion).
Before the agents let him go, said Ozharovsky, they took special
interest in a brochure published by a Polyarny Zori NGO called
Nature and Youth which details problems at the Kola NPP.
“I gave it to them as a keepsake. I think other environmental
organizations could send their publications to the Polyarny Zori
branch of the FSB” said Ozharovsky. “It would be very useful.
Judging by the three-hour conversation I had with them, those in
the FSB have rather superficial ideas about the problems of
nuclear energy—but they really do have an interest in this
topic.”
Tell the Russian police about nuclear power plants
This can be an international action: environmentalists, who
want to improve environmental competence of the FSB and police
in Polyarnye Zori, can send books and literature about nuclear
dangers to:
184151, Murmanskaya obl., Polyarnye Zori, pr. Lomonosova, d.
16, OVD
184151, Murmanskaya obl., Polyarnye Zori, ul. Sivko, d.1, OFSB
During its interview with the Polyarny Zori FSB, Bellona Web
promised that ERC would send issues of Environment and Rights
magazine and copies of the Arctic Nuclear Challenge report to
agents there..
ERC will also send nuclear and environmental literature to local
law enforcement agencies in St. Petersburg. It is apparent that
such publications are, for such agencies, something alien and
the stuff of terrorist plots. Such a notion was summed up by
Igor Kostenko, the chief of the criminal division of the
Murmansk Regional Police, who commented on Ozharovksy’s
detention in an interview with Komsomloskaya Pravda-Murmansk.
“We are conducting anti-terrorist measures,” said Kostenko,
according to the paper. “It’s understood that a non-local person
near the Kola NPP with special literature containing
descriptions of the plants construction caught our interest. No
one has stopped the threat of terrorism. It was necessary to
find out why this person needed this literature and for what
purpose he came here.”
Is the incident really closed?
As soon as he was released, Andrei called his colleague
Vladimir Slivyak, co-chairman of Ecodefence (ecodefence.ru) and
informed him of the incident.
“Openness is the real weapon of the honest man,” said
Ozharovsky. He advised other activists who found themselves in
similar situations to call an appropriate NGO or the media.
“Otherwise, it is unknown how the power structures will spin
your detention,” he said.
Siberian envirogroup to bring suit against security police
Agents of the Federal Security Service, or FSB, raided the
office of an Irkutsk-based environmental organization and
confiscated 15 computer hard drives in late 2002. The criminal
case against the environmentalists was closed in October, 2003:
Maps in the group’s possession, which were alleged to contain
classified information, were proved not to be secret.
[http://www.bellona.org/en/international/russia/envirorights/info
_access/28285.html]
Ozharovsky considers the matter far from closed, as the Polyarny
Zori branch of the FSB does. He said that Polyarny Zori is an
open city insofar as you are not critical of the nuclear
industry.
“The local power structures demonstrably tried to show that,”
said Ozharovsky. “It looks like Soviet times are returning,
times when criticizing state policy meant serious trouble for
the average person.”
As Ozharovsky was leaving town, he said, he was wondering why
the delivery of open literature drew such interest from the
local police and FSB.
“My thoughts were interrupted by a maddening picture—the
building next to the train station was cover with swastikas,
big, black ones,” he said.
“Nearby, a police officer in uniform was strolling past. It
evidently didn’t catch his eye at all. I recalled the books
burned by the fascists, who are the peers of whoever put up the
graphitti next to the station. To be honest, I pitied those
police and FSB agents who so actively pursue ecologists, but who
couldn’t care less about fascist propaganda and xenophobia—as if
the reign of xenophobia in a nuclear city is a normal human
condition.”
Publisher: [bellona@bellona.no] , President:
[frederic@bellona.no]
Information: [info@bellona.no] , Technical contact:
[webmaster@bellona.no]
Telephone: +47 23 23 46 00 Telefax: +47 22 38 38 62 * P.O.Box
2141 Grunerlokka, 0505 Oslo, Norway
*****************************************************************
8 [NukeNet] NRC meeting on Salem/Hope Creek Safety Culture -
Date: Thu, 10 Jun 2004 15:03:58 -0700
NRC NEWS
U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Office of Public Affairs, Region I
475 Allendale Road, King of Prussia, Pa. 19406
www.nrc.gov
No. I-04-032 June 9, 2004
CONTACT: Diane Screnci (610) 337-5330
Neil A. Sheehan (610) 337-5331 E-mail: opa1@nrc.gov
NRC TO DISCUSS PERFORMANCE, WORK ENVIRONMENT ASSESSMENTS
OF HOPE CREEK AND SALEM NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will meet with representatives of
Public Service Electric and Gas (PSEG) on 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 plantssafety 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 greenin 2003. However, Salem
Unit 1 received a whiteinspection 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 greenand then
increase to white,yellowor 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 whiteinspection 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.
--
Coalition for Peace and Justice
(http://www.coalitionforpeaceandjustice.org);
and the UNPLUG Salem Campaign
(http://www.unplugsalem.org); 321 Barr Ave.,
Linwood, NJ 08221; 609-601-8583/37;
ncohen12@comcast.net. The Coalition for Peace
and Justice is a chapter of Peace Action
(http://www.peace-action.org). "You can say
I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one" (Lennon). "Don't be late for your
life" (Mary Chapin Carpenter).
_______________________________________________________________________
Subscribe/Unsubscribe Here: http://www.energyjustice.net/nukenet/
Change your settings at:
http://energyjustice.net/mailman/listinfo/nukenet_energyjustice.net
*****************************************************************
9 Democrat & Chronicle: Deal closes on sale of Ginna
democratandchronicle.com
By Todd Grady
Staff writer
(June 10, 2004) The Robert E. Ginna nuclear power plant in
Wayne County has a new owner.
Constellation Energy Group Inc. closed on the deal today,
according to Constellation and Energy East Inc., parent company
of Rochester Gas and Electric Corp.
The purchase price could still be adjusted, but stands at $408
million today, excluding $21 million for nuclear fuel and an
expected adjustment of $21 million based on pension assets, the
Baltimore-based Constellation said.
Ginna and its employees represent the best of Americas nuclear
industry and were extremely pleased to welcome them to the
Constellation Energy team, said Michael J. Wallace, president of
Constellation Energy subsidiary Constellation Generation Group,
in a statement.
Constellation Energy is bullish on nuclear power and is fully
committed to it as a safe, secure and economical source of power
now and well into the future, he said. Our acquisition of
Ginna, along with our operation of and ownership interests in
existing facilities at Nine Mile Point in upstate New York and
Calvert Cliffs in southern Maryland, is indicative of that
commitment.
RG has said proceeds from the sale would provide for $110 million
in refunds to eligible electric customers. The refunds were part
of an agreement with the state Public Service Commission. The
amount of the refunds, to be issued over four years, depends on
how much electricity customer uses. The average residential
customer, or someone who uses 600 kilowatt hours per month, is
guaranteed an initial check of $46.
RG built the 495-megawatt plant in Ontario more than 30 years ago
for $88 million. It is not the oldest plant but has been online
for more days than any other plant.
TGRADY@DemocratandChronicle.com
*****************************************************************
10 NZ: Business Day: Greens and labour call for nuke summit
www.businessday.co.za
Environmental organisations, backed by labour unions such as the
National Union of Mineworkers, have reiterated a call for a
parliamentary summit to debate the question of nuclear energy.
A parliamentary summit, during which pro- and anti-nuclear
proponents and experts would put their cases to parliamentarians,
was cancelled days before it was due to take place on February 16
and 17 this year.
"We believe that if any rational parliamentarian listens to all
sides of the story, there is only one conclusion they can come to
-- nuclear power is not for South Africa, and our country is not
to be used as a dumping ground for nuclear waste," read the
statement.
Activists said the summit would provide an opportunity for those
who have been speaking out against nuclear energy to voice their
views.
They say affected communities and organisations have tried to
participate in official processes such as the environmental
impact assessment for the proposed Pebble Bed Modular Reactor,
and the new radioactive waste policy, but "with the odds stacked
against us".
Those calling for the nuclear summit say the challenges are
enormous, with community concerns "largely ignored" within the
highly technical field.
"In our view, the nuclear industry is a relict of a bygone age
when the environmental degradation counted for nothing," they
say, arguing that the summit would provide organizations a
platform to articulate their views and call experts to counter
the "nuclear propaganda" put out by the nuclear industry.
The joint press statement was supported by the Environmental
Justice Networking Forum, Earthlife Africa, the Congress of South
African Trade Unions in the Western Cape, the National Union of
Mineworkers and the Atteridgeville community, among others.
Sapa
Friday 11 June 2004
BDFM Publishers 2002
*****************************************************************
11 San Luis Obispo Tribune: Diablo concerns dominate NRC meet
| 06/10/2004 |
Safety is the focus as more than 100 attend town hall
David Sneed The Tribune
GENERAL - Concerns about the safety of Diablo Canyon nuclear
power plant following the San Simeon Earthquake dominated a
Wednesday night town hall meeting of the federal Nuclear
Regulatory Commission.
More than 100 mostly skeptical and hostile people attended the
meeting, which was intended to be an informal venue for airing
concerns about the safety and operation of the power plant.
The agency flew in more than a dozen experts in various fields
from its regional office in Arlington, Texas, and its
headquarters in Rockville, Md. to answer questions. The agency
also brought in a professional moderator to run the meeting.
The informal town-hall format of Wednesday's meeting is unusual
for the NRC. The meeting was intended to address concerns from
some people who attended a Feb. 4 NRC meeting in SLO to discuss
the results of inspections of Diablo Canyon following the Dec. 22
San Simeon earthquake.
Some who attended that meeting said they felt frustrated because
their questions were not answered, and others said not enough
advance notification was given.
Those in attendance Wednesday included longtime nuclear watchdog
activists with the San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace and Green
Party as well as interested members of the general public. Many
said they were concerned by the Dec. 22 earthquake that killed
two women in Paso Robles and questioned the NRC's ability to
adequately protect public safety.
"You are constantly telling us that everything is OK, but what
don't you know?" asked Jesse Acosta, a Cal Poly student. "Show
some humility."
The plant sustained no damage in the quake, but 56 of the plant's
131 emergency warning sirens were knocked out for up to five
hours following the event due to power outages.
In light of community concerns in the wake of the outage, plant
owners Pacific Gas and Electric Co. announced in March that it
will equip its siren system with battery backups by the end of
2006.
On Wednesday, members of the public questioned whether PG&E and
the NRC have fully analyzed the earthquake potential at the site.
Many of the plant's seismic safety rules are based on geologic
information that is 13 years old, said Rochelle Becker, an
activist with the Mothers for Peace. She asked the NRC to do
additional surveys to determine if there are undiscovered faults
in the area or if known faults could be more dangerous than
originally predicted.
Participants also said they were unnerved by the recent
earthquake. The temblor did not damage the plant, but it left
some people asking that additional seismic analysis be done to
determine if the earthquake information used when the plant was
built in the 1980s is still valid.
Various geologists and engineers with the NRC responded that the
agency and PG&E are constantly updating their seismic information
based on recent earthquakes. They remain confident the plant can
withstand the maximum possible quake from the nearby Hosgri
fault. They said they plan no further geologic surveys.
They also pointed out that PG&E took the high earthquake
potential of the area into account when it designed its proposed
above-ground storage facility for highly radioactive spent
reactor fuel. The utility plans to exceed industry standards by
bolting in place the huge dry casks containing the spent fuel.
The agency left with a list of questions that need to be answered
in more detail. Pat Gwynn, a regional NRC administrator, promised
to either hold another meeting to give the answers or post them
on the NRC's Web site.
David Sneed covers environmental issues for The Tribune. E-mail
story ideas and comments to him at dsneed@thetribunenews.com
[dsneed@thetribunenews.com] .
*****************************************************************
12 St. Petersburg Times: Armenia has no money to close nuclear power plant
RBC, 10.06.2004, Yerevan 09:20:50.The Armenian Nuclear
Power Plant will work until alternative sources of energy are
found, Armenian Prime Minister Andranik Markarian told reporters
today. According to him, a lot of money is required for closing
the nuclear power plant. "Unfortunately, we do not have such a
sum," the Prime Minister added. Markarian underlined that the
international community did not provide Armenia with adequate
financing. "An amount of EUR100m is being considered, but this
sum is insufficient for closing the Armenian Nuclear Power Plant
and developing alternative sources of energy," the Prime
Minister pointed out.
According to Markarian, Armenian energy experts are
studying every possible source of energy. Additionally, they are
developing programs of reconstruction of the existing
thermoelectric and hydroelectric power plants to support
Armenia's independence in the energy sector, the ARKA news
agency reported.
As reported earlier, the EU plans to provide EUR100m for
Armenia for the development of alternative sources of energy,
after an exact date is set for closing the nuclear power plant,
which was put in use in 1980. The power plant was stopped in
1989 and was put back in operation in 1995. The power plant
generates about 40 percent of all electrical power in Armenia on
average. Experts reckon the nuclear power plant can remain in
operation until 2018.
to RosBusinessConsulting
All rights reserved. © 1995-2003 RosBusinessConsulting (095)
*****************************************************************
13 Brattleboro Reformer: Disgruntled delegates call for NRC review of Yankee
[http://www.reformer.com/]
June 10, 2004 Brattleboro, VT
By KEVIN MORAN and CAROLYN LORIÉ Reformer Staff
BRATTLEBORO -- An unsatisfied Vermont Congressional delegation
called on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Wednesday to
complete a "thorough review" of Vermont Yankee nuclear power
plant's records after two segments of spent fuel were reported
missing in April.
The joint statement -- a response to a six-page letter from Nils
Diaz, chairman of the NRC, sent to the Vermont delegation on
Tuesday -- also pressed the NRC to "improve its nuclear materials
accounting system."
"Now that the physical inspection of Vermont Yankee has
concluded, we expect the NRC to complete a thorough review of the
plant's records to see if they can yet account for this material
and to determine that Entergy's own investigation complies with
all applicable regulations," the statement said. Louisiana-based
Entergy Nuclear owns Vermont Yankee.
"The NRC needs to improve its nuclear materials accounting
system, and a thorough review is a first step in that direction.
We will continue to press the NRC to be clear about how they will
prevent the loss of fuel again at Vermont Yankee or at any other
nuclear facility in America."
The statement was issued by U.S. Sens. Jim Jeffords and Patrick
J. Leahy and U.S. Rep. Bernard Sanders. On April 22, a day after
the fuel segments were reported missing, the delegation wrote the
NRC demanding answers on why and how the radioactive material
could have turned up missing.
In a letter dated Tuesday, Diaz told the delegation that a
special investigation of the missing fuel was in progress. He
added that NRC staff "has closely monitored Entergy's actions and
investigation."
Diaz said that "while it is premature to make any conclusions on
their (the missing segments) location, we believe it is highly
unlikely that the material is in the public domain."
In response, the delegation wrote that, "It is not enough for
the NRC to say it is 'unlikely' that the highly radioactive
material is in the public domain."
Diaz also answered a number of questions posed by the
delegation, including when the NRC last inspected the pool and
confirmed the presence of the two pieces in question.
According to Diaz, "The NRC has never performed an inspection at
Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station specifically to verify that
the missing spent fuel road segments were in the spent fuel
pool."
He added, however, that the agency had conducted "materials
control and accounting inspection at Vermont Yankee," which
entailed verifying that fuel is stored appropriately and
according to the plant's license. Only a sample of the spent fuel
is physically accounted for under such an inspection.
Jeffords, Sanders and Leahy had also inquired about the cracks
discovered the plants steam dryer.
During the most recent fuel outage, Vermont Yankee officials
discovered 20 hairline cracks in the steam dryer. Although it is
not a safety-related component, pieces breaking off can affect
other safety-related parts.
According to Diaz, NRC staff "has inspected Entergy's analysis
and did not identify any safety concerns for operation of the
plant at the current licensed power level."
The inspection report regarding the steam dryer cracks will be
available in August.
Copyright ©1999-2004 New England Newspapers, Inc., a
*****************************************************************
14 Advocate: State officials get ideas from Indian Point nuclear drill
Associated Press
June 10, 2004
HARTFORD, Conn. -- State emergency management
leaders who observed a disaster drill this week at a New York
nuclear power plant came away with ideas about how to better
handle Connecticut's response to a disaster there.
The state would probably open its media center if there is a
disaster at the Indian Point plant in Buchanan, N.Y., because
Connecticut residents would probably have questions or need
information, said Deborah Ferrari, who oversees nuclear
preparedness for the state Office of Emergency Management.
This week's drill was the first time Connecticut officials
observed a disaster drill at the plant where a mock plume of
radiation was emitted from Indian Point.
Connecticut also may revise the internal message system that
state agencies use to stay in contact during an emergency. New
York's system may be better than the one the state has now,
Ferrari said.
The state border is more than 10 miles from Indian Point, but
Fairfield County and parts of Litchfield and New Haven counties
are within 50 miles of plant and could be affected in an
emergency.
Millstone Station in Waterford is planning to hold a disaster
drill in September.
Copyright © 2004, The Associated Press
© 2004, Southern Connecticut Newspapers, Inc.
*****************************************************************
15 Brattleboro Reformer: Study finds disaster plan acceptable
[http://www.reformer.com/]
June 10, 2004 Brattleboro, VT
By CAROLYN LORIÉ Reformer Staff
BRATTLEBORO -- Neighbors of Vermont Yankee have "reasonable
assurance" that their health and safety are protected by the
Vermont radiological emergency response plan, according to a
study released by Vermont Emergency Management.
The plan outlines what actions, including notification and
possible evacuation, would be taken in the event of a
radiological release from Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant in
Vernon.
Gov. James Douglas ordered the study when he took office. It was
managed by the Department of Public Safety.
According to the study, "the plan, on any given day, is
executable and covers a wide range of contingencies."
Many locals disagree.
"How would that plan have worked last Saturday with 25,000
people downtown?" asked Ed Anthes of Nuclear-Free Vermont,
referring to Brattleboro's annual Strolling of the Heifers
Festival parade.
Anthes also questioned why bus drills haven't been done for area
schools, something many parents are also wondering about.
Last week, Brattleboro resident Dianne Clouet sent a letter to
Ron Stahley, superintendent of schools for the Windham Southeast
Supervisory Union, requesting a meeting about evacuation plans at
the schools.
In addition to Clouet, 11 parents signed the letter.
"It was very easy for me to get signatures," said Clouet.
While the study declared that the overall plan was strong, there
were recommendations for improvement in some areas, including the
evacuation of school children.
According to Duncan Higgins, deputy director of Emergency
Management, considerable effort has been put into making sure
there is no confusion around how and where children will be
evacuated.
"This really comes out of the concerns from the public," said
Higgins, adding that assuring parents there is a workable plan is
part of what has to be improved.
Many towns in the emergency planning zone, the area within a
10-mile radius of Vermont Yankee, have rejected the state's plan.
One of those towns is Marlboro.
According to Selectboard member Gail MacArthur, the town is
working on an alternative plan. One of the major concerns is the
call for residents to evacuate to Bellows Falls, as is mandated
for all towns in the emergency planning zone.
"We really want a western reception center," said MacArthur.
While there are concerns about specifics of the plans, there are
also concerns about whether a plan can work at all.
"We don't feel any plan is going to adequately address a major
catastrophe at the plant," said MacArthur.
Pat DeAngelo, a member of the Brattleboro Selectboard and a
former VY employee, agrees with that assessment.
DeAngelo was the only board member to vote against accepting a
$300,000 grant from the Vermont Department of Homeland Security
to educate the public about the plant. According to DeAngelo, the
board would legitimize the emergency plan, which Brattleboro has
not officially approved, by taking the funds.
Many feel that a plan should encompass a larger area.
"Experience with the two major nuclear disasters that have been
widely publicized, Chernobyl and Three Mile Island, shows that a
10-mile emergency management zone is woefully insufficient," said
Peter Alexander, executive director of the nuclear power watchdog
group New England Coalition.
"This accommodation to the nuclear industry is a fundamental
flaw in the plan, especially under power-uprated conditions,
which increases the likelihood and dramatically increases the
consequences of a severe accident," he added.
While most towns in the emergency zone have voted to not approve
the plan because of a lack of confidence in its efficacy, Vernon
-- home to Vermont Yankee -- did not approve it because the plan
did not incorporate updated procedures implemented by the town.
Selectboard member Michael Ball said the state recently
responded to the town's revisions and Vernon will most likely
approve the revised plan.
In addition to concerns about how well the plan would work with
large crowds and the evacuation procedures for school children,
there are also concerns about what to do with farm animals.
"There isn't any plan," said Janet Bailey of Fair Winds Farm.
"You can't leave your animals to fend for themselves, but there
is no way to get them anywhere. Evacuation is not a possibility
for many of us."
The current plan calls for farmers to leave several days worth
of food for livestock.
According to Higgins, if a major radiological release from
Vermont Yankee did occur, a plume team from the Department of
Health would be dispatched within hours and they would let
farmers know when and if they could return to tend to their
animals.
He added that such a release is highly unlikely.
"The majority of farmers would probably not have to evacuate,"
said Higgins.
There are concerns about other animals as well. Tracey Tryba,
executive director of the Windham County Humane Society, said the
shelter does not have an evacuation plan in place but is hoping
to formulate one soon.
Other concerns voiced by local residents include methods of
notification, the evacuation of individuals with special needs
and the ability of the roads to handle the high volume of
traffic.
In addition to improving school evacuation, the study calls for:
* a more robust public education program;
* recruiting additional response personnel;
* drills that more closely simulate a real emergency;
* the expansion of current notification systems to include more
remotely activated sirens and other improvements in technology;
and,
* continued work with advocacy groups and social agencies to
address the emergency response plans for members of the "special
needs" community.
The study concludes that "the needed improvements have not been
accomplished in the past because of a lack of resources. ... The
Department of Public Safety needs to be provided with sufficient
funding to accomplish the work that this review has brought to
light."
Copyright ©1999-2004 New England Newspapers, Inc.,
*****************************************************************
16 WBIR-TV: TVA EMPLOYEES CONTAMINATED IN NUCLEAR MALFUNCTION
Knoxville, TN
Home [http://www.wbir.com]
The Tennessee Valley Authority says Wednesday's equipment
malfunction at a nuclear reactor at the Browns Ferry plant in
north Alabama exposed some workers to "low levels" of radiation.
TVA spokesman John Moulton said six workers inhaled very small
amounts of radiation and will be monitored for several days.
The shoes and clothes of 86 workers were also contaminated when
an air filtering machine failed to operate properly at Unit One.
Moulton said most of the affected workers were employees of Stone
and Webster Construction Company.
Unit One has been shut down since 1985 because of safety
concerns. TVA is working to get the unit back on line by 2007, a
job estimated to cost $1.8 billion. ---
6/10/2004 5:12:28 PM
Reporter: Copyright Associated Press
Story Feedback [feedback@wbir.com?subject=ID: 18476 - TVA
Feedback: Reporter: Copyright Associated Press
*****************************************************************
17 TDN: Atomic Energy Delegation Visits Turkey - Armenia Border -
Turkish Daily News from Turkey
[http://www.turkishpress.com/]
Anadolu Agency: 6/10/2004
IGDIR - A delegation from the Turkish Atomic Energy Agency (TAEK)
visited Turkey-Armenia border.
The delegation headed by Ozer Ozerdem, the chief advisor to the
TAEK Chairman, came to northeastern Alican Border Gate which is
very close to the Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant in Armenia and
conducted radiation calculation there and took soil and plant
samples.
Ozerdem said that they would examine those samples to determine
whether there was any leak from the power plant.
Meanwhile, Mehmet Yilmaz, the deputy governor of northeastern
province of Igdir, said that residents were worried about
''radiation leak'' from the Metsamor which was only 20 kilometers
from the city-center.
(MS-AÖ) 10.06.2004
Copyright 2004 Anadolu Agency. All rights reserved. This
*****************************************************************
18 Lompoc Record: Residents quiz NRC about Diablo Canyon
Malia Spencer - Staff Writer
6/10/04 A mostly skeptical crowd addressed members of the U.S.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission to discuss issues at Diablo Canyon
Nuclear Power Plant in a meeting that at times became heated as
the frustration of Central Coast residents came out. Thirteen
members of the commission were present to answer the questions of
the nearly 200 people who gathered at the Embassy Suites hotel in
San Luis Obispo. The main topic of discussion was the safety of
the plant after the Dec. 22 San Simeon Earthquake, and what types
of future safety precautions would be addressed.
It was clear that members of the commission could not answer many
of the questions in the way residents wanted because many of the
experts - which included structural engineers, project managers,
inspectors and a staff geologist - could not give an absolute
answer.
As for the San Simeon Earthquake, commission members said the
plant was designed to withstand a 7.2 temblor and the active
faults near Diablo Canyon are not capable of anything larger than
that.
"(The plant was designed) such that no quake that can happen on
the faults in this area can cause an accident at Diablo Canyon,"
said structural engineer Goutam Bagchi.
Some of the answers given by officials were met with boos from
the crowd and after resident David Weisman handed out colored
plates in order to grade the answers - red for disbelief, yellow
for maybe and green for complete belief - many statements were
met with a sea of red.
Weisman, who is concerned about a lack of communication between
emergency agencies, the plant and the NRC, told officials he came
up with the grading system that mimics one the NRC uses to gauge
the facility operations.
During the meeting, items that officials could not answer were
documented along with the idea of a future meeting. Otherwise
officials said answers would be posted on the NRC Web site.
Residents also wanted to know a specific timeline for the onsite
storage of spent fuel. Many said they were insulted when the
officials said the storage would be temporary since the location
of a permanent facility - such as Yucca Mountain in Nevada - is
still in question.
NRC officials will hold another meeting Friday to discuss the
annual assessment of Diablo Canyon's safety performance. At this
meeting, officials will be discussing a letter from the NRC to
Diablo Canyon officials, in which William Jones of the NRC
informs PG officials that the plan "operated in a manner that
preserved public health and safety" throughout 2003.
A copy of the letter is available on the NRC Web site at
www.nrc.gov/NRC/OVERSITE/ASSESS/LETTERS/diab_2003q4.pdf.
The performance period under discussion is January through
December 2003. There will also be a presentation by NRC staff of
how the agency's Reactor Oversight Process works.
Recently, PG was granted a license to operate a dry-cask, spent
fuel storage facility at the plant. The license allows up to 140
dry casks to be installed.
Staff writer Malia Spencer can be reached at 739-2219 or by email
at mspencer@pulitzer.net. [mspencer@pulitzer.net.] Print this
story
[http://www.lompocrecord.com/articles/2004/06/10/news/news09.prt]
The Lompoc Record - Serving the Lompoc and Santa Ynez Valleys
© Copyright 2001 Pulitzer Central Coast Newspapers. All Rights
*****************************************************************
19 Prague Post: Leak at Temelin prompts concern
[http://www.praguepost.com]
European Commission sends experts to inspect long-troubled
facility
--> By Peter Kononczuk Staff Writer, The Prague Post The Prague
Post --> (June 10, 2004)
A leak of radioactive water at the Temelin nuclear power station
has prompted new concerns about safety. The European Commission
is deploying experts to inspect the controversial plant.
Around 3,000 liters (780 gallons) of radioactive water seeped out
at the second unit at Temelin in southern Bohemia June 6.
As Austria and Bavaria demanded a probe, Temelin authorities
insisted that the leak had been contained within the power
station and that there was no danger. "No water escaped outside,
and there was absolutely no danger for the environment or for
people," Pavel Pittermann, spokesman for the State Office for
Nuclear Safety, told The Prague Post.
The problem was caused by a crack in a pipe that measured water
flow into a pump, according to Temelin spokesman Milan Nebesar.
"The water leaked into the room with the pump. Drains in the
floor led the water to ... a special tank," Nebesar told the CTK
news agency.
But that did not reassure the country's neighbors or the EU. At a
European Commission briefing June 8, a spokesman said the body
was sending a team of experts to inspect Temelin and ensure its
safety. It is the first such mission to Temelin since the country
joined the EU May 1, giving the union the right to monitor Czech
nuclear activities more closely.
Spokesman Gilles Gantelet said after the briefing that the
commission had been assured by the Czech government that no new
inspection was needed because the problem had been fixed. "But we
thought we should check it out for ourselves because that is our
right," he said. "It is our job to ensure that all safety
measures have been taken to protect the citizens of Europe."
Temelin is located 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the Austrian
border and has long been a source of contention between Prague
and Vienna.
The Austrian Environment Ministry demanded that the leak be
thoroughly investigated.
The Bavarian Environment Ministry said Germany should demand that
the Czech government provide "detailed information about the
incident without delay."
Pittermann called the incident unusual and said it was already
under investigation. "I expect our internal committee to arrive
at a conclusion in two weeks," he added.
Meanwhile, the Stop Temelin group said the Czech Republic had
taken 24 hours to inform Austrian authorities about the problem.
Pittermann said the State Office for Nuclear Safety had informed
Austria within 78 hours, as it was required to.
Campaigners are nevertheless uneasy. On June 1 the reactor of
Temelin's second unit was shut down by an automatic control
system because of a defect on a transformer, which is due to be
replaced.
"There are still questions around whether any radioactivity was
released," in the leak June 6, said environmentalist Jan
Haverkamp of Greenpeace and the Brno chapter of the World
Information Service on Energy.
The State Office for Nuclear Safety and Temelin operator CEZ
still "think silence calms things down," Haverkamp said.
Deputy Industry and Trade Minister Martin Pecina denied that
anyone had been contaminated in the incident and said the plant
is safe. • OPEN CONTRIBUTION -->
-- Dinah A. Spritzer, in Brussels, and Lenka Ponikelska
contributed to this report.
Peter Kononczuk can be reached at pkononczuk@praguepost.com
[pkononczuk@praguepost.com]
The Prague Post, a weekly newspaper published in the Czech
Republic.
*****************************************************************
20 Newsday.com: Millstone booklet does not change after critical report
[http://www.newsday.com]
[June 10, 2004]
By DIANE SCARPONI Associated Press Writer
WATERFORD, Conn. -- No substantive changes have been
made to the emergency planning booklet that the state sends to
residents of towns near the Millstone nuclear power station,
despite a consultant's report that criticized the publication.
The report, by James Lee Witt Associates, recommended last year
that the state include more realistic descriptions of radiation
poisoning and suggested giving residents more information about
when it might be advisable to stay put, rather than flee, a
nuclear emergency.
The report also recommended the state change the emergency
signals it would send out on loudspeakers in the 10-mile radius
of the plant.
The booklet is published by the state Office of Emergency
Management, in consultation with Dominion Inc., which owns
Millstone Station.
Officials from the state and Millstone said they reviewed the
Witt report, but they believe the booklet is fine the way it is.
"I think we put enough in there that meets the requirement, and
we walk a fine line between putting too much information in, that
the booklet is so big that people will not look at it, will be
put off by it," said Deborah Ferrari, who oversees nuclear
preparedness for the state Office of Emergency Management.
The 27-page booklet passed reviews by the Federal Emergency
Management Agency, she said.
FEMA requires the state to mail booklets every three years to
households within 10 miles of Millstone. The state exceeds that
requirement by sending out the booklets every year, Ferrari said.
The primary point of the booklet is to advise people what to do
if there is an emergency at the plant. The booklet includes maps
of the region and information about where people from area
communities should go if there is a call to evacuate.
Activists who want to shut down Millstone argue the booklet is
useless, because they believe there is no real way to flee from
the area around the plant if there is a radiation emergency.
"I think it's a PR effort to calm the fears of the public in
nuclear host communities," said Nancy Burton, a longtime
anti-nuclear activist.
The Witt report argued that the booklet should contain more frank
and realistic explanations about how radiation can sicken people.
"Engaging in a forthright discussion of the hazards of radiation
exposure is an important way to earn credibility with residents,"
the report said.
But the state and Millstone leaders argue that people can get
such information from the Internet, the state health department
and other sources. In an actual emergency, the state can get out
more information about radiation through radio, television and
the Internet, they said.
"We decided not to include that material, because we're not using
the emergency booklet as a reference guide on radiation. The
purpose of the emergency booklet was to help people evacuate
properly in an event," said Millstone spokesman Pete Hyde.
The Witt report also argued that the booklet should contain more
information about "sheltering," or staying put during a plant
emergency. The report argued that people might assume that any
emergency calls for a mass evacuation, but sometimes it is safer
for people to stay where they are.
The booklet tells people what to do if they are advised to stay
home, such as closing windows and flues. Ferrari said the
explanation already in the book was sufficient.
Likewise, the state has decided not to change the siren system
around the plant to include a distinctive tone for Millstone
emergencies.
The sirens would sound a steady three-minute tone if there were
an emergency at Millstone. The same tone is used for hurricanes
and other emergencies.
Ferrari said people already have been well-educated that they
should immediately tune to radio or television stations that are
part of the emergency alert system to get information if they
hear the siren sound.
"I still am a big believer that the sirens do reach a lot of
people," she said.
The state has investigated adding other security features, such
as a reverse 911 system that would allow emergency officials to
send out a mass telephone call with vital information to area
residents.
Ferrari said reverse 911 and other technologies are not being
implemented now, because of practical concerns about how they
might work. But, she said, the state would continue to look at
new technologies as they become available.
The Witt report was done for New York and primarily dealt with
that state's Indian Point plant, but it also examined Millstone
safety systems because some residents of Fishers Island, N.Y.,
live within 10 miles of Millstone.
Copyright © 2004, The Associated Press
*****************************************************************
21 DECATUR DAILY: 6 Browns Ferry workers exposed to radiation
http://www.decaturdaily.com
THURSDAY, JUNE 10, 2004
By Eric Fleischauer DAILY Staff Writer eric@decaturdaily.com ·
340-2435
ATHENS Six workers at Browns Ferry Unit 1 inhaled radioactive
material and the shoes and clothes of another 80 were
contaminated Wednesday when a filter at the plant failed,
according to a Tennessee Valley Authority spokesman.
The maximum exposure among the workers was 4 millirem, which TVA
spokesman John Moulton said is far less than the annual exposure
most people receive from natural sources and X-rays.
Moulton said the employees were not wearing protective clothing.
Moulton said the workers were cleaning a radioactive surface as
part of Unit 1's restart, slated for completion in 2007, when the
incident occurred.
"This was a very low-level radioactive material," Moulton said.
TVA evacuated all workers inside Unit 1 reactor building when the
contamination took place at 11 a.m.
All employees including those who were contaminated were back
to work today, Moulton said.
"We'll do no work in the contaminated areas until everything is
cleaned up," Moulton said.
TVA reported the incident to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Moulton said the contamination, which primarily affected
employees of subcontractor Stone &Webster Construction Co.,
should not delay the restart or increase its cost.
Unit 1 has been shut down since 1985 because of safety concerns.
TVA is working to get the unit back on line by 2007, a job
estimated to cost $1.8 billion.
On the Net:
Tennessee Valley Authority: www.tva.gov Copyright 2004 THE
DECATUR DAILY. All rights reserved. AP contributed to this
report. --> Copyright 2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved.
THE DECATUR DAILY 201 1st Ave. SE P.O. Box 2213 Decatur, Ala.
35609 (256) 353-4612 webmaster@decaturdaily.com
[webmaster@decaturdaily.com]
www.decaturdaily.com
*****************************************************************
22 BuaNews: Cabinet approves Pebble Bed Modular Reactor Project
BuaNews is a South African news
www.gcis.gov.za
Compiled by the Government Communication and Information System
Date: 10 Jun 2004
By Zibonele Ntuli, tel: (012) 314-2359
Cabinet has approved a programme to develop human capital and
improve research and innovation in relation to the Pebble Bed
Modular Reactor (PBMR) Project.
Cabinet approved the project at its meeting in Cape Town
yesterday.
"This will ensure that South Africa maintains its competitive
edge in, and broaden participation by the country's youth and
tertiary institutions in the development of this project," the
statement said.
The project is an electricity production plant and is expected to
be cheaper to run than the conventional method of electricity
generation.
The PBMR is used for different scientific processes but also as
power stations in some countries.
Government has already done environmental impact assessments on
demonstration module for a 110 MWe Class PBMR electricity
generating power station at Koeberg, Western Cape, by power
utility Eskom
Cabinet also approved the setting up of the board of directors
for the envisage National Energy Research Institute and further
clarified its mandate.
It was also briefed on National Research and Development spending
that has increased from 0.69 percent in 1997/1998 to 0.76 in
2001/2002.
"This however needs to be further increased, along with an
increase in the proportion of the country's workforce involved in
Research and Development in government, tertiary institutions and
the private sector," said the statement.
In 2002, the Department of Science and Technology commissioned
the Knowledge Management Group of the Human Science Research
Council of South Africa (HSRC) to conduct the biennial national
survey of financial and human resource inputs into Research and
Development (R&D).
This was done after Cabinet's approval of the National R&D
strategy, which aims to double government's investment in science
and technology by 2005.
The strategy is also aimed at achieving a national R&D
expenditure target of at least one percent of GDP by 2005.
The Research and Development Strategy also plots a map for the
country to tackle the issue of scarce skills. - BuaNews
Comments [nkosana@gcis.pwv.gov.za]
[http://www.gcis.gov.za/index.html] )
*****************************************************************
23 Sofia Morning News: Reactors' Shut Down Creates Tension in Bulgaria
SOFIA NEWS AGENCY
novinite.com
Politics: 10 June 2004, Thursday.
Bulgaria's government was put under strong pressure on Wednesday
over the fate of two of the units of the country's only nuclear
power plant, facing EU demand for shutting them down and national
demands for keeping them active.
EU Business reported that sixty-eight Bulgarian parliamentarians
from across the political spectrum placed a motion before the
240-seat parliament calling for a referendum on the future of the
reactors, located at the Kozlodouy plant in the north of the
country.
Still, Bulgaria's cabinet is determined to keep its word given to
the EU and to close the two reactors. The Bulgarian government
accepted to close down reactors 3 and 4 at Kozlodoui in return
for an undertaking from the EU that Bulgaria would accede to the
EU in 2007.[ width=]
All Rights Reserved © Novinite Ltd., 2001-2004 - Copyright
Novinite.com (thebulgariannews.com also) is unique with being a
real time news provider in English that informs its readers
about the latest Bulgarian news. The editorial staff also
*****************************************************************
24 NRC: Notice of Availability of Environmental Assessment and Finding
FR Doc 04-13114
[Federal Register: June 10, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 112)]
[Notices] [Page 32631] From the Federal Register Online via GPO
Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr10jn04-142]
of No Significant Impact for License Amendment for Millipore
Corporation's Facility in Lincoln Park, NJ AGENCY: Nuclear
Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Notice of Availability of Environmental Assessment and
Finding of No Significant Impact.
------ FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kathleen Modes, Nuclear
Materials Safety Branch 2, Division of Nuclear Materials Safety,
Region I, 475 Allendale Road, King of Prussia, Pennsylvania
19406, telephone (610) 337-5351, fax (610) 337-5269; or by
e-mail: kad@nrc.gov [kad@nrc.gov] .
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: I. Introduction The Nuclear Regulatory
Commission (NRC) is considering the issuance of a license
amendment to Millipore Corporation's Materials License No.
29-30108-01, to authorize release of its facility in Lincoln
Park, New Jersey for unrestricted use. NRC has prepared an
Environmental Assessment (EA) in support of this action in
accordance with the requirements of 10 CFR Part 51. Based on the
EA, the NRC has concluded that a Finding of No Significant Impact
(FONSI) is appropriate.
The amendment will be issued following the publication of this
Notice.
II. EA Summary The purpose of the proposed action is to authorize
the release of the licensee's Lincoln Park, New Jersey facility
for unrestricted use. Millipore Corporation (previously known as
CPG, Inc.) was authorized by NRC from 1994, to use radioactive
materials for research and development purposes at the site. On
January 27, 2004, Millipore Corporation requested that NRC
release the facility for unrestricted use. Millipore Corporation
has conducted surveys of the facility and determined that the
facility meets the license termination criteria in Subpart E of
10 CFR Part 20. The NRC staff has prepared an EA in support of
the proposed license amendment.
III. Finding of No Significant Impact The staff has prepared the
EA (summarized above) in support of the proposed license
amendment to terminate the license and release the facility for
unrestricted use. The NRC staff has evaluated Millipore
Corporation's request and the results of the surveys and has
concluded that the completed action complies with the criteria in
Subpart E of 10 CFR Part 20. The staff has found that the
environmental impacts from the proposed action are bounded by the
impacts evaluated by the ``Generic Environmental Impact Statement
in Support of Rulemaking on Radiological Criteria for License
Termination of NRC-Licensed Facilities'' (NUREG-1496). On the
basis of the EA, the NRC has concluded that the environmental
impacts from the proposed action are expected to be insignificant
and has determined not to prepare an environmental impact
statement for the proposed action.
IV. Further Information The EA and the documents related to this
proposed action, including the application for the license
amendment and supporting documentation, are available for
inspection at NRC's Public Electronic Reading Room at
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html
[http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leaving
FR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html]
(ADAMS Accession Nos. ML040300917, ML040710238, ML040860263 and
ML041390178). These documents are also available for inspection
and copying for a fee at the Region I Office, 475 Allendale Road,
King of Prussia, Pennsylvania 19406. Persons who do not have
access to ADAMS, should contact the NRC PDR Reference staff by
telephone at 1-800-397-4209 or (301) 415-4737, of by e-mail to
pdr@nrc.gov [pdr@nrc.gov] . Dated at King of Prussia,
Pennsylvania this 3rd day of June, 2004.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
John D. Kinneman, Chief, Nuclear Materials Safety Branch 2,
Division of Nuclear Materials Safety, Region I.
[FR Doc. 04-13114 Filed 6-9-04; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P
*****************************************************************
25 [NukeNet] Yucca In Deep $$ Trouble
Date: Thu, 10 Jun 2004 15:03:42 -0700
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
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TIMES NEWS TRACKER
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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.''
_______________________________________________________________________
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26 [du-list] nuclear clean-up liabilities increase costs at
Date: Thu, 10 Jun 2004 15:03:47 -0700
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_983898.html?menu=
Sellafield firm loses Ł303m
State-owned nuclear firm BNFL reported wider annual losses of Ł303 million
after seeing costs increase at operations including Sellafield.
BNFL's chief executive Michael Parker described the loss as "disappointing"
but said the financial position of the business was about to change
dramatically following the creation a new company to take care of
decommissioning issues.
Today's loss before exceptional items compared with a deficit of Ł261
million a year earlier and came after turnover increased by 5% to Ł2.32
billion.
Warrington-based BNFL said nuclear clean-up liabilities had increased costs
at Sellafield, Cumbria, while there was also the impact of start-up costs
for a plant set up to manufacture Mox fuel, also at Sellafield.
BNFL said more than Ł500 million had been spent on discharging historic
nuclear liabilities during the 12 months to March 31, adding that its
safety record during the year had been the best in its history.
Since the start of the new financial year, BNFL has put its clean-up
activities into a separate company as it prepares for next year's creation
of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority - a Government body to oversee the
clean-up of nuclear sites in the UK.
The new business, called British Nuclear Group, has annual turnover of
almost Ł2 billion and employs 15,000 people in work including nuclear
reprocessing at Sellafield and the decommissioning of Magnox reactors
around the UK.
Mr Parker said: "The loss sustained by the group in 2003/04 is
disappointing, but the financial position will change dramatically once the
DNA takes responsibility for a significant portion of our assets and
liabilities as well as the legacy issues."
As well as Westinghouse, BNFL will have a research and development unit and
a business handling spent nuclear fuel.
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27 Las Vegas RJ: Yucca Mountainfaces cash crisis
Thursday, June 10, 2004
House panel OKs fraction of budget request By H. JOSEF HEBERT
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON -- A House panel approved only a fraction of the
money the government says it needs to keep the Yucca Mountain
nuclear waste project on schedule, jeopardizing a 2010
completion.
The proposed facility, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, has
strong congressional support. But a budget glitch forced a House
Appropriations panel Wednesday to provide only $131 million for
the program in the next fiscal year.
Energy Department officials had requested $880 million to begin
seeking permits for the waste repository, go ahead with design
work and develop a plan for transporting waste 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, subcommittee chairman.
"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 opportunities to increase funds for
Yucca Mountain may arise 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 Bush 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 totals nearly $15 billion, to
help shrink the federal deficit. 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 use Yucca Mountain to bury 77,000 tons
of nuclear waste, including used reactor fuel now held at power
plants in 31 states as well as defense waste.
Next year is pivotal for the program. 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 said if the agency does not get the full
$880 million it would be impossible to meet the 2010 deadline
for accepting the first load of waste.
The Bush administration has always relied on the House to come
up with money for Yucca Mountain and counter problems in the
Senate, where Nevada Democrat Harry Reid, an ardent Yucca
opponent, is in the leadership and can sidetrack legislation or
keep funding down.
Copyright Las Vegas Review-Journal
*****************************************************************
28 Las Vegas SUN: House panel slashes project funding
Several steps before final budget OK'd
By Suzanne Struglinski SUN WASHINGTON BUREAU
WASHINGTON -- A House subcommittee approved $131 million for
the Yucca Mountain project on Wednesday, a severe cut from the
Energy Department's $880 million request.
There are several steps to go before the final budget is
approved for fiscal year 2005, and that amount could certainly
change before the budget is approved.
The House Appropriations Energy and Water subcommittee passed
the energy spending bill by a unanimous voice vote Wednesday in
under 30 minutes. The full Appropriations Committee could take
up the bill as early as next week.
Energy Department officials have insisted that without full
funding the department will not be able to meet its 2010
deadlines to open the nuclear waste repository at Yucca
Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
Congress has still not approved the department's request to
sidestep the regular budget process and take $749 million of
next year's money directly from the Nuclear Waste Fund, an
account funded directly by a surcharge on nuclear power.
Rep. David Hobson, R-Ohio, subcommittee chairman, has said for
months that with no "Plan B" there was nothing he could do but
fund the program with the $131 million that could go to the
program without the policy change.
"As I have mentioned many times, OMB (Office of Management and
Budget) has played Russian roulette when they assumed the House
and Senate would pass the proposed reclassification language,"
Hobson said. "I don't like going forward with so little money
for Yucca Mountain, but we are playing the hand frankly that we
were dealt."
Two bills that would make the change have yet to move through
committee and Congress has limited time left this election year.
Hobson said he did not think the change would get through this
year "but this is one of the few times I want to be proven
wrong."
He would not expand on suggestions he has given to the Office
of Management and Budget for other ways to solve the problem.
Even beyond this fiscal year, the department will need the
policy change to fund upcoming bigger budgets in coming years.
Hobson emphasized he wanted to give more money to the project,
as he did last year with a more than $100 million increase over
the department request, but he did not have the power to do it.
"I don't have the money allocated for me," he said.
Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham told Hobson last month that
more than 1,700 department employees and contractors in Nevada
could be laid off if Congress does not allocate the full $880
million for the program. "Reduction in Force" notices would need
to be given by July 31, Abraham said.
The license application, expected to be delivered at the end of
this year, would be at risk and the site would not be able to
open in 2010 as planned, Abraham also told Hobson.
"This is a problem," department spokesman Joe Davis said. "We
made it clear that the funding we requested in the funding we
needed."
Davis noted it is early in the appropriations process and that
Congress needs to fund the program it approved two years ago.
The Senate has not created its spending limits for each of the
appropriations bills, so it is not clear year how much money it
will allot for the project.
Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., is the top Democrat on the
subcommittee that creates the bill and works to cut the
project's budget every year. Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., fought
earlier to keep the funding change out of the budget approved by
Congress, which forced the department to try separate bills to
get the change through.
*****************************************************************
29 Bradenton Herald: Tallevast residents' tests show solvent
| 06/10/2004 |
DANA SANCHEZ
Herald Staff Writer
TALLEVAST - Test results from well water samples taken
independently by local residents show more contamination than
previously thought around a former American Beryllium Co. plant,
a community leader said.
Nine out of 24 well samples had traces of a solvent,
trichlorethylene, at two to 116 times the level considered safe,
Tallevast's community action group, FOCUS, learned late Tuesday.
The results are upsetting, said Laura Ward, president of FOCUS.
Residents have been reserving judgment until they could get their
hands on their own results, analyzed independently of government
and corporate samples, she said.
"We just don't trust readings from anyplace else," Ward said.
"Somebody we asked to do it for us, we would expect to get true
readings."
The results apparently contrasted with earlier assurances by the
government and Lockheed Martin that contamination likely hadn't
spread beyond a plume of pollution identified by Lockheed around
the former American Beryllium plant, which was purchased by
Lockheed in 1997.
That theory was shot down in late May when drinking water well
tests by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and
Manatee County Health Department showed trichlorethylene
contamination at two to 70 times the drinking water standard in
five of 17 area wells.
State and county tests were done only on drinking water wells.
"That's our area of concern," said Charles Henry, environmental
health director for Manatee County Department of Health.
Examining differences
The FOCUS group and Lockheed, by comparison, split samples on
irrigation wells as well as drinking water wells.
That difference could explain the FOCUS group's findings of
higher contamination levels, Lockheed and county officials said.
Both FOCUS and Lockheed declined to provide the Herald with a
printed summary of findings, pending notification of affected
residents.
Meredith Rouse Davis, senior manager of corporate affairs for
Lockheed Martin, said she would send Lockheed's results overnight
to Tallevast residents before making those results public early
Friday. She is expecting the results to be the same as the FOCUS
group's.
Lockheed tested 22 wells. Five of them were irrigation wells.
"We'll compare notes, give them a compilation of what we have,"
Rouse Davis said.
Henry said Wednesday that he had not seen the Tallevast results
for drinking water wells but heard from Ward that they were
consistent with DEP and county results.
He also received a preliminary summary report Wednesday from
Lockheed that mirrored the government's results, he said.
"Their summary shows exceedances for trichlorethylene," he said.
"They were consistent with ours."
The FOCUS group identified the name of the local lab that tested
the water, but the lab owner asked that his name not be made
public to protect his industrial client base.
The FOCUS group planned to tell affected residents of the
findings Wednesday, Ward said.
The Tallevast well with the highest trichlorethylene reading to
date - 350 parts per billion - was an irrigation well adjacent to
the former American Beryllium plant, Ward said.
"We are truly appalled by the fact that these numbers are coming
in like this," Ward said. "The DEP has failed us, the state has
failed us and Lockheed has failed us for not telling us the
contamination was there."
Soil testing
Results of soil tests made public Wednesday failed to show
beryllium contamination in area homes that received fill soil
years ago from the plant.
But the soil in one yard tested positive for arsenic, which
occurs naturally in rocks and dirt in Florida.
Lockheed Martin has promised to remove dirt from the affected
yard and replace it, officials said.
The new findings have raised more questions, Ward said.
The FOCUS group fears that excavation, along with a proposed road
project in Tallevast, could further expose residents to
contaminants.
"I don't think it's safe for anyone to be living here right now,"
Ward said. "There's no way that people should be sitting on top
of contaminated water. There's no way they can remediate without
further exposing us."
The once cherished neighborhood that in past decades was coveted
for an airport expansion and recently fought off a proposed
rehabilitation center, turned out to be a contaminated mess, Ward
said.
"Why would anybody continue to want to hold on?" she asked. "This
is our life, our health we're talking about. It's not about
increasing the size of the airport. I don't think anybody is
going to fight against protecting themselves, even if it means
moving."
*****************************************************************
30 herald tribune: New water tests show chemicals Tallevast wells exceed state
standards for a cleaning solvent
Thursday, June 10, 2004
By SCOTT CARROLL
[scott.carroll@heraldtribune.com]
TALLEVAST -- New tests of 22 private wells show that all but five
contain potentially dangerous chemicals, furthering concerns
among residents that much of the community has been poisoned.
The wells contain the cleaning solvent trichloroethylene, or TCE,
at concentrations ranging from less than 1 part per billion to
350 parts per billion. The state drinking water standard for TCE,
which can cause liver and kidney cancer and a host of other
ailments, is no higher than 3 parts per billion.
The wells are near the site of the former American Beryllium Co.
plant. The State Department of Environmental Protection has said
that American Beryllium polluted the soil and ground water at the
site, but it is still not clear how far that pollution migrated
or how many wells it contaminated.
Residents say the pollution is responsible for a high rate of
cancers and other illnesses in the community.
"Now we certainly know for sure that the contamination is here.
No one can say it isn't," said Laura Ward, president of the
community group FOCUS.
Ward and FOCUS Vice President Wanda Washington went door to door
Wednesday, explaining the test results.
Residents expressed surprise, dismay and fear.
"It's scary," said Mazzie Davis, who fears she grew up drinking
tainted water. The home Davis was raised in has a well that
contains TCE at 350 parts per billion. She said her mother died
of cancer and her father died of a brain tumor.
Davis now lives across the street from that house. It has been
hooked up to county water since 1985, but Davis said she drank
well water from a hose "all the time."
Elizabeth Wesley has lived around the corner from Davis for most
of her life and raised her nine children there. Wesley found out
Wednesday that her well contains Dichloroethylene, another
dangerous cleaning solvent, at levels nearly 10 times the federal
standard.
"I'm surprised. I never knew," Wesley said.
The latest round of tests follow those that state officials
completed two weeks ago of 17 wells at homes not hooked up to
county water. Those tests found that five wells contained TCE at
levels above state standards. The officials said the other wells
contained trace amounts of TCE and didn't pose a health risk.
Nevertheless, state and local officials temporarily hooked up all
17 homes to county water shortly after the results came in. The
recent round of tests included those 17 wells and five more at
homes that had already been hooked up to county water.
Before testing, officials from the DEP said they were confident
that no wells in the area were at risk from ground-water
pollution. After tests showed the wells were contaminated, the
DEP said those findings conflicted so much with preliminary test
results that they believed there was at least one other source of
contamination, perhaps a backyard mechanic in the neighborhood.
"That sort of activity would lend itself to this sort of
contamination," Deborah Getzoff, director of the DEP's Southwest
District, said in an interview last week.
The more recent tests involved water samples taken by Lockheed
Martin, which bought the plant property from American Beryllium
Co. in 1996 and is responsible for the cleanup. Lockheed split
its samples with the FOCUS group, which hired a Sarasota lab to
do the tests.
DEP officials said they hadn't seen the new test results and
couldn't comment.
Lockheed Martin spokeswoman Meredith Davis said her company also
wanted to examine the test results before commenting. Lockheed
concluded its testing Wednesday and is mailing results through
overnight delivery to area residents, Davis said.
Lockheed Martin also tested the soil at six homes where residents
said tainted dirt from the old American Beryllium plant had been
dumped more than 20 years ago.
Those tests found arsenic in the soil at one home at 14 times the
state standard.
Davis said that because the American Beryllium plant did not use
it in its operations, it probably came from another source.
Lockheed plans to do more water and soil tests in hopes of
finding the source of such pollution, Davis said.
Beverly Bradley, who lives at the house where the arsenic was
found, said she didn't believe anything the DEP or Lockheed
Martin said anymore.
"We have no idea what they did or dumped at that plant over the
years," Bradley said. "They said the wells wouldn't be
contaminated, and they were wrong about that. Who knows what else
they're wrong about?"
*****************************************************************
31 Courier-journal: Responsibility for cleanup argued
www.courier-journal.com
Thursday, June 10, 2004
Insurer wants decision upheld on who will pay
By JOE BIESK Associated Press
FRANKFORT, Ky. The Kentucky Supreme Court heard arguments
yesterday over who should help pay for cleanup costs at Maxey
Flats, an ill-fated nuclear waste site in Fleming County.
American Nuclear Insurers, which provided insurance coverage for
the northeastern Kentucky site, brought the appeal. The company
asked the court to uphold a trial verdict that found that the
company was not liable for cleanup costs.
ANI attorney Roger Warin told the justices that the policy was
not intended to cover cleanup costs or the costs of maintaining
the radioactive waste within the facility's bounds.
"In 1963, when this policy was issued, the purpose of this policy
was if off-site release hurt somebody or damaged somebody else's
property," Warin said.
State officials maintain the insurance covered some cleanup costs
and argued that a Court of Appeals order for a new trial should
stand.
The insurance case has been tied up in courts for years.
Originally, a Jefferson circuit judge sided with ANI. But the
state Court of Appeals overturned part of that decision and sent
it back for another trial. That led to yesterday's Supreme Court
proceedings.
Maxey Flats opened in the 1960s as an attempt to attract the
nuclear industry to Kentucky by offering a nuclear waste dump. It
closed in 1977 because water contaminated by radiation was found
migrating beyond the site.
While it was operational, about 4.75million cubic feet of
low-level radioactive waste was stored there. Millions of dollars
have been spent on cleaning it up. Regulators will have to
continue monitoring it for years.
ANI should pay for some of the cleanup costs, Cabinet attorney
Michael Haines contended.
"We want them to pay for the entire cost that we have incurred
because of the off-site migration," he said.
At its peak, the policy was worth up to $10million in liability
coverage, but its value had fluctuated, Warin said.
Home [http://www.courier-journal.com/index.html] · News
Copyright 2004 The Courier-Journal. Use of this
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of Service
[http://www.courier-journal.com/cjconnect/termsofservice.htm]
(updated 12/18/2003). Send questions and comments to The Webmaster [ricman@courier-journal.com]
*****************************************************************
32 sunday times.co.za: Cabinet approves pebble bed nuclear project
the Sunday Times: South Africa's
Thursday June 10, 2004 15:02 - (SA)
By Helmo Preuss
The cabinet has approved a programme to develop human capital and
improve research and innovation in relation to the Pebble Bed
Modular Reactor (PBMR) Project, which has been called the world's
sexiest baby nuclear reactor by its proponents.
The most immediate beneficiary of the cabinet decision will be
technology group, IST (IST), who should now get a R260 million
contract for the design of three key systems for the full-scale
demonstration plant at Koeberg.
PBMR technology in South Africa has been under development for
the past 10 years, while it has worked for more than 20 years in
Germany. It has also been implemented for lesser periods in other
parts of the world such as the US and the UK.
The aim of the South African PBMR is to provide a cheaper form of
electricity for the two thirds of humanity that have no or
limited access to electricity.
The PBMR project started life in 1993 when Eskom's then newly
appointed research manager, Steve Lennon, commissioned a
technology scan to assess future energy sources for the utility.
The scientist appointed by Lennon to oversee the technology scan,
Dave Nicholls, now adviser to the PBMR project, came across a
pebble bed modular technology that had been abandoned by German
utilities.
Gencor also considered the PBMR technology with development work
by Lurgi for its Torbanite project in Mpumalanga before oil
prices collapsed in 1986.
A PBMR corporation was formed to oversee the commercialisation of
the mini-nuclear reactor and comprised Eskom (30%), the
state-owned Industrial Development Corp (25%) and British Nuclear
Fuel Limited (22.5%). A 10% stake has been earmarked for a black
empowerment stake and the remaining 12.5% for a foreign partner.
US energy company Exelon, which had a 12.5% stake in PBMR until
2002, was instrumental in forcing the PBMR technology onto the US
government's energy agenda, which has included it on its list of
technologies to reduce the country's dependence on oil as its
main energy source.
If PBMR can prove that it can produce hydrogen at commercial
levels it may potentially offer a huge source of revenue to the
company. Another spin-off application is to use low-temperature
waste heat for seawater desalination.
Talks are under way to find other international partners to
provide the full US$1 billion required to construct a 110
Megawatt demonstration unit at Koeberg north of Cape Town, and a
fuel plant at Pelindaba, west of Pretoria.
Last year's black-outs in Europe, Asia and North America
highlighted the urgent need for more electricity generation
capacity. Coal is not the answer, given environmental concerns
about carbon dioxide emissions.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has forecast a
threefold rise in nuclear power globally to 1 trillion watts by
2050, a move that will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by some
1.8 billion tons.
At the end of 2002, there were 441 nuclear power plants operating
in 30 countries, representing a total capacity of 359 Gigawatts,
more than 10,000 reactor-years of operating experience, 16% of
global electricity generation and 7% of global primary energy
use.
In at least 16 countries, nuclear power contributes more than 25%
of the total electricity produced in each of those countries,
with France and Lithuania producing more than 80% of their total
electricity from nuclear power.
China is the latest country to face a severe shortage of
electricity. Although the Three Gorges Dam will address some of
this shortage, China also aims to increase its reliance on
nuclear power from its current 1.4%.
Chinese officials estimate that by 2020 the country will need
additional capacity of 32,000 megawatts from the nuclear
industry, or about 300 PBMRs.
China currently has nine reactors with a capacity of 6,450
megawatts with technology supplied by Canada, France, Japan, and
Russia.
Although China and the United States signed an agreement on
nuclear technology transfer in 1998, the United States has been
holding on tightly to its export of high-technology products to
China, and nuclear technology is particularly restricted.
I-Net Bridge -
[http://www.sundaytimes.co.za/sitemap/ombudsman.asp] © Johnnic
Publishing 1996-2001. All Rights Reserved.
*****************************************************************
33 Cincinnati Enquirer: State wants no Fernald waste removal
[http://www.cincinnati.com]
[http://www.enquirer.com]
Thursday, June 10, 2004
OEPA says no on-site storage
By Dan Klepal The Cincinnati Enquirer
CROSBY TOWNSHIP - Ohio's top environmental official wrote a
letter to the U.S. Department of Energy this week saying he
thinks that federal officials in charge of the Fernald nuclear
cleanup intend to remove radioactive waste from a concrete silo
and store it in steel shipping crates at the site.
Such a move would violate the rules governing the $4.4 billion
cleanup, but officials with the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency have said repeatedly that they don't know what they will
do if that step is taken.
The letter, sent Tuesday from OEPA Director Christopher Jones,
says such a move is "completely unacceptable."
Jones' letter says two factors led to his conclusion:
• Department of Energy officials overseeing the silos project
have said they can begin removing waste by the end of June.
• DOE has committed to giving the state of Nevada a 45-day notice
before the first shipment of waste is sent, and that notice had
not been given as of Wednesday.
"Any attempt to remove the silo contents and accumulate packaged
waste on-site would be a violation of the (rules), and actionable
by US EPA or a third party (such as the state of Ohio)," Jones'
letter says. "Consider this letter our rejection of that
proposal."
The letter also says Ohio environmental regulators expect a
15-day notice prior to removal of any material from the silos "so
that we can ensure complete implementation of the (rules)."
The removal of silo waste became an issue April 15, when the
Nevada Attorney General's Office threatened a federal lawsuit to
halt the waste shipments before they begin, saying the planned
disposal of the waste in Nevada is illegal and unsafe. Department
of Energy lawyers said they needed time to review the legal
arguments raised by Nevada, and promised to give state officials
a 45-day notice before the shipment hits the road.
Rules governing the silo cleanup state that the material must be
removed, packaged and shipped in a continuous process. The rules
say the silo waste cannot be stored temporarily at the Fernald
site after it's removed from the silos.
Removal of the waste could begin as early as June 28.
Officials with the Department of Energy at the Fernald site
refused to comment on the letter, referring all questions to a
spokesman in Washington. He did not return phone messages left
Wednesday.
E-mail [dklepal@enquirer.com]
[http://www.cincinnati.com] |
*****************************************************************
34 Reuters: BNFL losses increase
Thu 10 June, 2004 08:56
LONDON (Reuters) - State-owned nuclear firm BNFL has reported a
bigger annual loss due to the cost of starting up a new plant and
other higher costs at its Sellafield plant in north England.
Losses before tax and exceptionals widened to 303 million pounds
for the year to March 31, compared to a 261 million pound loss
last year.
Turnover rose to 2.3 billion pounds from 2.2 billion last year.
BNFL also had a cash outflow of 128 million pounds, due to heavy
investment to improve cleaning up of nuclear material.
Chief Executive Michael Parker said on Thursday that while the
group's loss was disappointing, BNFL's financial position would
improve once a new government body called the Nuclear
Decommissioning Authority assumes most of its assets and
liabilities.
BNFL will then be left with its U.S.-based Westinghouse business,
its research and development unit and a business that handles
used nuclear fuel.
"Overall we feel that we are in good shape to face the future,"
Parker said in a statement.
*****************************************************************
35 UK Independent: Sellafield setback plunges nuclear reprocessor BNFL deeper into
loss
By Michael Harrison, Business Editor
11 June 2004
The state-owned nuclear fuel company, BNFL, plunged deeper into
losses last year after problems with a controversial new fuel
manufacturing facility at its Sellafield plant in Cumbria.
Losses before exceptional items rose by 16 per cent to Ł303m due
in part to difficulties commissioning the new mixed oxide (Mox)
fuel plant, which produces nuclear fuel from reprocessed
plutonium and uranium. The plant was at the centre of a safety
scandal three years ago which cost the then BNFL chief executive
his job after it emerged that workers had falsified quality
checks on Mox fuel rods destined for customers in Japan.
The safety problems have since been overcome. But equipment
problems at the plant last year forced BNFL to sub-contract
orders to other producers of Mox fuel in Belgium and France,
resulting in higher costs.
In total, losses from BNFL's Sellafield operations before
amortisation and exceptional items were Ł551m compared with Ł366m
in 2002/03, more than offsetting profits elsewhere in the
business.
Michael Parker, BNFL's new chief executive, forecast, however,
that the company would make a Ł150m to Ł200m operating profit
this year when the Sellafield site, its Magnox nuclear reactors
and some Ł41bn of nuclear liabilities are offloaded into the
Government's new Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. This would be
its first operating profit since 1998.
The NDA will come into effect next April. Then BNFL will be left
with only its US Westinghouse business, which fabricates fuel and
decommissions former US government nuclear sites, a new division
called the British Nuclear Group, which will concentrate on
cleaning up UK nuclear sites and running the Magnox stations, and
a spent fuel services business. The UK government had intended to
part-privatise these operations through a public private
partnership but the plan was abandoned last year.
Westinghouse's operating profit before exceptional items fell
from Ł137m to Ł95m last year because of increased costs, in
particular higher medical insurance charges. Operating profits
from British Nuclear Group were Ł9m higher at Ł161m. BNFL's
bottom-line loss last year was Ł299m. This compared with a loss
of Ł1.09bn but that was inflated by exceptional charges of Ł833m
to reflect the increase BNFL's UK liabilities and write-downs
elsewhere in the business.
Mr Parker, who joined BNFL from the US chemicals company Dow,
said he expected to resume dividend payments this year to its
single shareholder, the Department of Trade and Industry. The
company will continue to manage the Sellafield and Magnox
facilities.
UK Independent Ltd.
*****************************************************************
36 ThisisLondon: Nuclear losses mushroom to Ł303m
[http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/
Robert Lea, Evening Standard
10 June 2004
BRITISH Nuclear Fuels plunged deeper into the red last year as it
failed to keep the lid on increased costs. BNFL, which produces
electricity from its ageing fleet of Magnox power stations as
well as cleaning up nuclear sites, reported underlying losses of
Ł303m in the year to the end of March, some 16% worse than in the
previous year.
Previous years' losses have run into the billions but only after
taking into account exceptional clean-up and write-down charges.
Chief executive Michael Parker admitted the results were
disappointing, with increased costs at its Sellafield plant and
at its US nuclear engineering business Westinghouse as well as
start-up costs of the delayed Mox plant.
Mox is reprocessed nuclear fuel to be reused in reactors but a
falsification-of-data scandal relating to the Mox business as
well as the group's continuing poor financial performance have
forced the Government to shelve plans to part-privatise the
company.
'The period since last summer has been one of the most
challenging in BNFL's history,' said Parker. 'The loss is
disappointing.'
However, he claimed the group's financial position will 'change
dramatically' when the Government's new Nuclear Decommissioning
Agency takes responsibility in 10 months' time for the business's
legacy clean-up issues.
Ex-pharmaceuticals industry executive Hugh Collum had been put in
to pilot BNFL into the private sector. He is now retiring and is
being replaced by former Courtaulds boss Gordon Campbell.
*****************************************************************
37 Whitehaven News: SELLAFIELD FIRM FIRED AFTER SITE ACCIDENTS
A CONTRACT company was ordered off the Sellafield site following
an incident in which some heavy duty lifting equipment
overturned.
Brian Watson, Sellafield’s top boss, has revealed that the
company has had its contract terminated. The incident happened
last January on the Calder landfill site.
Two months later there was another incident in which a fork-lift
truck overturned spilling chemicals.
Mr Watson told Sellafield Local Liaison Committee: “These trucks
are dangerous things when they are carrying chemicals and it is a
source of management concern. No one was injured and the clean up
work was extremely well managed..
“I worry deeply about these sorts of incidents, it is the second
of its type in a fairly short period of time. In the first we had
to ask the contract organisation to leave the site and terminate
their contract. We felt it was unavoidable. We did not like doing
it but we had to.”
The site’s director also expressed concern about a radiological
incident in March when four operators were contaminated. It
happened in the B299 plutonium plant and contamination was spread
in the building itself.
“It was the second incident in the plant and we must make sure we
break away from that pattern of incident. It is something of very
great concern to us and the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate.
We are working closely together to take all the necessary steps
and measures.”
NII principal inspector, Peter Watson, said BNFL’s follow-up
actions, to make sure there was no repeat of the incident, were
being watched closely..
[http://www.whitehaven-news.co.uk/
*****************************************************************
38 NRC: NRC Establishes Additional Requirements for Electronic Submission of Documents on Yucca
Mountain
News Release - 2004-07
U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Office of Public Affairs Telephone: 301/415-8200
Washington, DC 20555-0001 E-mail: [opa@nrc.gov]
No. 04-070 June 10, 2004
on the use of the agencys electronic Licensing Support Network
and electronic hearing docket for the expected licensing hearing
on the potential disposal of high-level radioactive waste at
Yucca Mountain, Nevada.
The primary purpose of these regulations is to establish
standards for the electronic submission of documents for the
hearing. Among other things, the changes to Part 2, Subpart J,
of the Commissions regulations in Title 10 of the Code of
Federal Regulations, specify how large and complex documents
should be submitted.
The agencys current regulations require all potential
participants in the license application hearing to make their
relevant documents available to other potential participants and
the public in electronic form through the Licensing Support
Network individual web site, accessible through
[http://www.lsnnet.gov] . The Network provides full text search
and retrieval access to the relevant documents of all parties
and potential parties to the hearing, beginning in the time
period before the Department of Energy submits a license
application for the repository. The changes clarify that
Licensing Support Network participants must continue to augment
their original information until discovery is completed, but
need not provide duplicates of documents provided by other
participants, and add a category of material (Congressional
correspondence) that may be excluded from the Network.
Under the current regulations, the Department of Energy must
make its material available no later than six months in advance
of submitting its license application to the NRC to receive and
possess high-level radioactive waste at the Yucca Mountain
geologic operations area. The NRC must make its material
available no later than 30 days after the DOE certification of
compliance with the submittal requirement. Other potential
parties must make their material available no later than 90 days
after the Department of Energy certification.
Further details of the changes to the regulations are contained
in a Federal Register notice to be published shortly. A proposed
rule on this subject was published for public comment on
November 26, 2003. Changes made in response to the comments
received are described in the Federal Register notice.
Last revised Thursday, June 10, 2004
*****************************************************************
39 Where are we At With Nuclear Weapons- Next60 Years/John Hallam
Date: Thu, 10 Jun 2004 15:04:05 -0700
----- Original Message -----
From: "FoE Sydney - Nuclear Campaign"
<nonukes@foesyd.org.au>
The article in text form below is also available on the following urls:
http://www.abolition2000.org
http://tcrnews2.com/NukeSpecter.html
John Hallam
WHERE ARE WE AT WITH NUCLEAR WEAPONS?
The Next 60 Years
John Hallam
Nuclear Weapons Campaigner Friends of the Earth Australia
1 Henry St Turella NSW Australia 2205
ph 61-2-9567-7644, 7533, fax 9567-7166
31/5/2004
SUMMARY
Nuclear Weapons can still destroy the world. While community concern
over the possibility of the destruction of civilisation and most life
by an apocalyptic nuclear war has become largely dormant, the
question to ask after the phrase 'the next 60 years' is 'will we
still be here'?
This is the sort of question that was being asked in the 1980s, but
has tended to slip off the agenda since 1990. The prospects for
nuclear arms-racing have increased in recent years, putting it back
on.
The answer is not certain, and depends on us. The ability to
re-kindle the massive community concern that existed in the 1980s
will be crucial. It is vital that nuclear weapons are put back on the
community agenda, and we should not wait until as in 1983, the world
was a buttons push from destruction to be concerned about them.
The Bush administration no longer pays even lip service to its clear
legal obligation set forward in Article VI of the NPT to achieve the
total and unequivocal elimination of nuclear weapons, preferring to
plan new nuclear weapons and even to contemplate new nuclear testing,
and the proliferation problem, long warned of by NGOs, has raised
itself in a new and frightening form.
The current situation with respect to nuclear weapons looks grim, and
current trends are not promising. Still it is as well to understand
that there have been moments in the 80s when life on earth literally
hung in the balance, with everything depending on a decision by one
individual. We are still here, and the situation is less dire than it
was then. It is therefore important to look for real avenues for hope
and levers for change.
There have been a number of terrifying near - misses between the US
and Russia, any one of which could have ended most life. Current US
and Russian policies that maintain large numbers of warheads on LoW
status do not make the world a safer place. Unfortunately, the
prospect of accidental nuclear war between the US and Russia is
steadily increasing.
Meanwhile, the prospect of a much larger number of nations obtaining
nuclear weapons, starting with India, Pakistan, Israel and the DPRK,
makes the actual use of nuclear weapons at some point more and more
likely. India and Pakistan have already come much too close for
comfort to actual nuclear war in 1999 and 2002.
The nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, (NPT) the instrument by which
both vertical and horizontal proliferation were to have been checked,
is challenged on the one hand by weapons-states refusal to live up to
their side of the NPT bargain, and on the other by the acquisition of
nuclear weapons by India, Pakistan, Israel and the DPRK, with others
(Iran??? Nigeria ??? Saudi Arabia??? Japan?? RoK?? Taiwan?? ) waiting
in the shadows.
Can Nuclear Weapons Still Destroy the world?
Yes they can. When in the 1980s, the theory of Nuclear Winter was
being discussed, it was suggested that roughly 500 warheads of
approximately megaton size would be sufficient, if used for 'city
busting', to create firestorms whose smoke would turn day to night
and drop temperatures below freezing.
Nuclear winter scenarios modelled by the Russians and the US suggest
that most nuclear exchanges would produce below-freezing temperatures
in the jungles of the Amazon and Africa, as well as south/southeast
Asia. A nuclear winter of the sort created by the mammoth US and
Soviet arsenals in the 1980s would have created an impact similar to
that of an asteroid hitting the planet - the kind of event that wiped
out the dinosaurs.
Current US and Russian nuclear arsenals still contain some 30,000
warheads total of which appx 4,000 Russian warheads and 5,000 US
warheads are in 'Launch-on-warning' status, able to be launched
immediately. The Moscow Treaty is supposed to require reductions in
the number of warheads, but as we shall see later is almost
worthless, in stark contrast to the detailed SALT and START
agreements.
France, with 400 warheads has just under the 'nuclear winter limit',
though these warheads are submarine- based and are not on LoW status.
China has 400 warheads but only 20 of these are actually mounted on
long- range ICBMs and these are not kept currently on LoW status,
though this may soon change.
Warhead Numbers - Who has What?
There are roughly 32,000 nuclear warheads in the world total, of
which over 30,000 are held by the US and Russia. This is about half
the number there were in 1986 (appx 60,000)
Warhead Totals:
USA - 8-12,000 warheads, of which 2,500 on LoW.(Silo-based ICBMs)
Russia - appx 22,000 warheads of which 3.500 on LoW (Silo-based ICBMs)
UK- 150-250 warheads
France - appx 400 warheads
China - appx 400 warheads of which 20 on long-range ICBMs
Israel - 200-400 warheads
India - 70-150 warheads (some estimates 40 warheads) Agni, Su-29, Mirage
Pakistan - 24-48 warheads (NRDC) 35-70 others, Ghauri(Nodong) Shaheen
DPRK ???maybe 6-12 warheads, Nodong, Taepo-Dong
Potential: Iran, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria (!!??), Japan, RoK, Taiwan.
US and Russia
As of now (2004) Russia and the US alone, between them, still have
the capability in spite of massive reductions in total warhead
numbers, to end civilisation worldwide and to render the world
uninhabitable for months to centuries for most land-based life forms.
Nobody else has this dubious ability.
The US has between 8,000 and 12,000 warheads depending how you count
them. Russia has up to 22,000 warheads, depending how you count them.
Of these, as of 1995, the US had 2,500 warheads on LoW status in
land- based ICBMs, and Russia had 3,500 land-based ICBMs on LoW
status.
As of 2002, according to NRDC, Russia had 3.011 warheads in
land-based ICBMs and 1.072 in submarines, while the US had 2,095 in
land- based ICBMs and 3.600 in submarines. This gives a total of 9778
strategic warheads of which 5,106 are on launch-on-warning status,
and thus liable to be used as a result of miscalculation or on the
basis of incorrect information, in an accidental nuclear war.
The current US-Russia warhead count is significantly below what it
was in the 1980s. In 1983, Russia would have lobbed some 15,000 land-
based ICBM warheads (thirty times the number needed to create a
nuclear winter) at the US, not 3,500.
According to the Moscow Treaty, by 2012, each is supposed to have
just 1,500 warheads (still three times the number required to create
a nuclear winter), in 'operational' status. However, there are a few
catches that render this almost a joke. 'Operational' status is
completely undefined. US or Russian defence authorities could simply
unplug power cords from missiles and declare them 'non-operational.'
The treaty does not have to be fulfilled till midnight Dec 31 2012,
and the treaty itself vanishes on Jan 1 2013. It is in other words,
all but worthless.
In fact, NRDC gives rather higher figures even for deployed warheads
under the Moscow Treaty, suggesting that by 2012 the US may have 2440
'deployed' warheads and a total strategic inventory of 7970 (down
from 6480 'deployed' strategic warheads in 2002) while Russia will go
from 5600 deployed 'strategic' warheads in 2002 to 2750 deployed
strategic warheads in 2012. However these numbers are a bit of an
illusion as what will matter under the Moscow Treaty will be what's
in 'hedge' stockpiles and these numbers will be far larger. In fact,
the Bush administration has already indicated that it will not be
reducing its warhead count even to these levels.
Meanwhile, recent statements in the US Nuclear Posture Review trumpet
continued US reliance on nuclear deterrence and the possible use of
nuclear weapons, as well as the development of new, 'useable' nuclear
weapons types, notably mini-nukes. The most recent US nuclear
weapons budget, according to the ACA, contains an overall 5% increase
in funding, with new expenditure largely on new nuclear weapons
types. Current US funding levels for nuclear programs are at their
highest levels since the end of the cold war and are steadily rising.
US plans to proceed with the development of new nuclear weapons types
('mini-nukes' and the 'bunker buster' or Robust Nuclear Earth
Penetrator), as well as plans to facilitate the readiness of the
Nevada test site for actual explosive nuclear tests, deny and mock US
NPT Article VI commitments. So does the development of the 'modern
pit facility', which will enable the assembly-line production of up
to 500 nuclear warheads per year, and would be ready by 2020. The
2004 Defence Authorisation Bill authorised $34 million to 'enhanced
test readiness' at the Nevada Test Site, while the Energy and Water
Appropriations Bill (which covers DOE), allocated $25million to
enhanced test readiness.
Recently, 84 Congresspeople wrote to the Bush administration, arguing
that the US cannot consistently ask other nations to forgo nuclear
weapons while developing new varieties of nuclear weapon itself, and
that the RNEP was not needed. They warned that US programs to enhance
and diversify its nuclear arsenal both violated the US's own Article
VI obligations, and encouraged other nations also to develop nuclear
weapons.
As Director General of International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohammed
ElBaradei, recently stated, "Double standards are being used here.
The US government insists that other countries do not possess nuclear
weapons." He adds, "On the other hand they are perfecting their own
arsenal. I do not think that corresponds with the treaty they signed."
Of Russia's 22,000 warheads, a large number are either in stockpiles
or non-operational, with some in very bad condition. Security is a
problem for many Russian weapons sites. Under the US/Russia
Nunn-Lugar plan, many Russian weapons are being turned into uranium
or plutonium, (effectively destroying the uranium industry), and
security at many sites is being upgraded. The Bush administration has
slashed Nunn-Lugar.
So bad has security been at some weapons sites however that there has
been doubt as to the whereabouts of some 100 'suitcase nukes', with
serious concern by the CIA, the FBI, and Pakistan's ISI, in October
2001, that Al Quaeda may have managed to smuggle one into New York.
(there was a TIME magazine centrespread on this) Fortunately this, so
far, does not seem to have been the case. However they were clearly
working on it at the time of the invasion of Afghanistan, and
Albright argues that they would eventually have built or obtained a
warhead. A recent report says that Al Quaeda may have obtained as
many as 20 miniature nuclear warheads via the Chechens and the Mafia.
My own inclination is to be sceptical of this on the basis that if
they had, we would already know in the most horrific way possible. In
this context however, the priority of the Nunn-Lugar program and the
folly of slashing it is clear.
A Few Occasions on which we nearly Destroyed the World
US and Russian nuclear arsenals have held the world on the brink of
destruction on a number of occasions, each time by accident or
misadventure. Looking at the record, one is inclined to agree with
General Lee Butler who opined that the human race has survived
largely by divine providence.
But will divine providence continue forever to ensure that a canny
Colonel Petrov,(Sept 26 1983) or even a drunk Boris Yeltsin (1995)
manages to make the right decision and refrain from blowing up the
world due to computer malfunction, miscalculation, and/or panic?
Perhaps the most dangerous occasion, because of the sheer
megatonnage involved, as well as the political situation at the time,
came on 26th September 1983, when a newly installed, state of the
art, Russian satellite surveillance system indicated that a series of
missile launches had taken place in North Dakota. It had mistaken
an unusual configuration of sunlight reflecting off rare very high
cloud formations over North Dakota, for a series of launches.
This took place soon after the Reagan speech in which the USSR was
likened to the 'evil empire', and at the same time as NATO manoeuvres
that the USSR found highly provocative.
The duty officer at the time was one Colonel Stanislaw Petrov, who
experienced possibly the most terrifying half hour a human can
endure, as flashing lights and blaring sirens in the Serpukhov-15
nuclear command bunker heralded imminent doomsday. We owe the fact
that we are here now, to Colonel Petrov, who now lives in obscurity,
his health ruined by the experience. As Colonel Petrov took calls on
a hotline from military top brass and the defence ministry, he had in
front of him a red flashing button with the word 'START' on it in
Russian. Pressing it would (presumably in combination with the
turning of keys and the insertion of codes), have commenced a
sequence whose end point was the sending of 15,000 warheads on land-
based ICBMs to turn the US, NATO, Japan and Australia to toast.
According to Colonel Petrov: "I simply had a feeling deep in my gut
that it was a mistake and I acted accordingly".
Colonel Petrov was awarded the World Citizens Award for saving the
world from destruction, more than 20 years later, on 21 May 2004. As
he accepted the award, he said 'I had a job to do - and I did it
well.'
Much later, in 1995, after the cold war was supposedly over, a
Norwegian weather research rocket was mistaken by the (by now very
decrepit) Russian perimeter radar, for a submarine-launched US first
strike aimed at taking out the Kremlin. By now, decisions were being
made, and the nuclear buck stopped, as in the US, with the
President, via the nuclear briefcase.
It is said that Boris Yeltsin was drunk at the time.
As Yeltsin's aides, in panic, again debated whether or not to send
(this time only 3,500 land- based ICBM warheads) to incinerate the US
and end civilisation as the book of procedures said they must, one of
them suggested 'let's wait another minute'. In the remaining minute,
the weather research rocket plunged into the arctic ocean, just as
the fax from the Norwegian ministry of science had said that it would.
Similar frightening near-misses have been recorded in the US. In
1979, a practice tape for 'doomsday' (presumably DEFCON-1) was
accidentally inserted into the main combat computer at NORAD in the
presence of a Congressional committee (which is the only reason we
know about it). What ensued was 'blind panic' according to the
Congressional committee.
In 1980 and again in 1981, computers at NORAD indicated that the US
was under massive Soviet missile attack, but the numbers of missiles
kept varying. Minuteman missiles were readied for launch and the
presidential Doomsday plane (National Emergency Airborne Command Post
-NEACP or 'Kneecap') took off three times, without the President, who
couldn't be found, before the problem was traced to a faulty
component in a switching station in Colorado.
The 1995 incident shook Yeltsin so deeply that when he next
encountered Clinton, he suggested that a 'joint strategic stability
centre' be created in Moscow, where US and Russian officers with
hotlines could jointly look at data from both NORAD and from
Serpukhov-15. The US and Russian governments have each considered the
idea so good that they have announced an intention to do it three
times (and a prototype such centre actually operated over the Y2K
rollover). The site in Moscow remains a vacant lot, and the Bush
administration shows no interest in it.
Okay, so Russia and the US show little if any sign of wishing to
renounce their ability to destroy the world, though to be fair total
warhead numbers are very much lower than the massive overkill of the
1980s. We have actually gone from sixty times the megattonnage
needed to create nuclear winter to a mere six times the megatonnage
needed to do that. That is, I suppose, progress.
But that about everyone else?
Apart from the US and Russia, the 'official' nuclear powers include
the UK, France, and China. The 'unofficial' ones include India,
Pakistan, Israel, and the DPRK, while there has been talk of Iran,
Saudi Arabia, and now Nigeria (!!?? yes), joining that once select
club. (Nigeria has more recently said that the report of this is a
'mistake'.)
The UK has between 150 and 250 warheads, now exclusively based in
trident submarines. Opposition to Trident is rightly fierce, but it
must be noted that the UK no longer keeps its missiles on LoW status.
While the UK has in the last few decades reduced both the number of
its warheads and the operating status of those warheads, more
recently it has seemed as if the UK were thinking of following the US
example with a long-term dependence on nuclear weapons.
Plans have been made for a 'replacement' for the Trident missile and
submarine system, and new laser and hydrodynamic facilities,
essential for warhead design, are being acquired for the Aldermaston
nuclear laboratories. These are not moves that are in any way
consistent with UK obligations to achieve the total and unequivocal
elimination of its nuclear arsenal. The renewal of the 1958 US/UK
nuclear cooperation agreement also arguably violates not only article
VI of the NPT, but also article I of the NPT which forbids the
transfer of nuclear weapons technology: According to Article I,"Each
nuclear-weapon State Party to the Treaty undertakes not to transfer
to any recipient whatsoever nuclear weapons or other nuclear
explosive devices or control over such weapons or explosive devices
directly, or indirectly..."
France, with roughly 400 warheads, also keeps these warheads
submarine-based, and has scrapped the missiles it once had on the
Plateau d'Albion. The justification for Frances 400 warheads has
more to do with national prestige than with any rational
consideration, as in the UK. It is understood that, like the UK,
France does not maintain its nuclear forces on LoW status.
China also has roughly 400 warheads, of which most are mounted in
aircraft and short-medium range missiles. Of these 400 warheads, a
mere 20 are mounted on long- range ICBMs able to reach the USA, and
these are not currently kept on LoW status. (this is because they are
liquid- fuelled and have to be fuelled immediately before use. They
are scheduled to go over to solid fuel.)
However, the Chinese have stated that in response to the US's
abrogation of the ABM treaty, they may both modernise their
long-range ICBM force and increase its numbers to 200. Current
indications are that the Chinese will steadily and quietly do this,
and that while the total number of Chinese warheads will probably not
rise, or not by much, a greater proportion of them will be mounted
on long- range ICBMs of a much more advanced nature than the current
20 D5 missiles. They are also more likely to be kept on LoW status,
raising the possibility of an accidental US/China nuclear exchange.
China is widely thought to have given an early, uranium-based bomb
design to Pakistan, who has, it is thought, given it to the DPRK in
return for missile technology, and to Libya.
THE UNOFFICIAL NUCLEAR WEAPONS POWERS
This brings us to the 'unofficial' nuclear powers, India, Pakistan,
Israel, and the DPRK.
ISRAEL
Of these, Israel, with between 200 and 400 warheads (depending whose
estimates you read), is easily the most dangerous. Israel has never
officially admitted its nuclear status, and has been protected by the
US in that status, in striking contrast to the incredible pressure
applied to the DPRK over its entirely real but tiny arsenal, and of
course, the completely nonexistent Iraqi warheads.
The lack of US tension over Indian and Pakistani arsenals in spite of
those countries having actually been on the brink of nuclear war in
2002 is also remarkable.
Israel's warheads are derived from fissile material from the Dimona
reactor in the Negev, and what we know about Dimona comes largely
from Mordechai Vanunu, now released from jail.
Israel's delivery system is the Jericho missile, with a range between
500 and 1500Km. Israel is said to be fitting at least one submarine
with a nuclear delivery system.
Israel is said to have prepared to use its nuclear weapons against
other states during the Yom Kippur war of 1967. The utility of
Israel's nuclear deterrent against suicide bombers has yet to be
demonstrated.
Israel's policy has been one of 'strategic ambiguity', in which it
has been protected by the USA on a 'don't ask - don't tell' basis,
though the existence of the Israeli nuclear deterrent has been an
open secret for decades. A parliamentary debate on Israel's nuclear
deterrent was forced by Arab deputies.
INDIA
India first obtained plutonium from the unsafeguarded CIRUS reactor
at BARC, and used it in the 'peaceful nuclear explosion' at Pokhran
in 1974. India was slow to weaponise its undoubted capability partly
out of deliberate policy. Since the Pokhran-II tests of May 1998,
estimates of the number of Indian warheads have varied between 70 and
150, with some recent estimates as low as 40 warheads, which could be
fewer than Pakistan. Indias delivery systems include Su-29 and
Mirage aircraft, and the Agni missile. While Indias longest-range
missiles seem to have greater range than anything Pakistan has,
Pakistan does seem to be better endowed with short-medium range,
truck-mounted missiles, with Soviet/DPRK style
transporter/erector/launch tubes.(TEL)
In March 2002, India announced plans for the integration of the
2000Km range nuclear- capable Agni-II missile into its armed forces.
A 700Km-range version of Agni was tested in the middle of the 2002
crisis (January 2002).
More recently, India has tested its shorter-range Prithvi missile,
and plans are being made to test an Agni-III missile.
India, like Pakistan, is in the process of installing more and more
automated and sophisticated C3I systems for nuclear command and
control. There has been talk in the Indian media of the
construction of bunkers under South Block in Delhi. However, unless
these bunkers are literally hundreds of metres deep they will be of
no use whatsoever. The paradox is that with missile travel times
between Delhi and Pakistani launch points in the order of minutes,
Indian (and Pakistani) commanders will not have half an hour, as
Colonel Petrov did, to decide whether a blip on a radar screen is an
incoming missile, a technical glitch, a flock of birds, or a meteor,
before deciding whether or not to release a sub-continental
apocalypse that could kill up to 150 million.
India in January 2003 set up a nuclear command and control structure
to be known as the 'Nuclear Command Authority'. While the authority
is headed by the Prime Minister, it seems that there are arrangements
for 'alternate chains of command', should the Prime Minister have
been incinerated.
In 1999, during the intense fighting that erupted over the occupation
by Pakistani forces of territory near the Ladakhi town of Kargil,
India is said to have placed its nuclear forces into a heightened
state of readiness.
In Dec 2001, India and Pakistan moved their Ghauri and Prithvi
nuclear missiles close to the line of control, over which they were
conducting intense, world war-II style artillery duels. India moved
the short-range, nuclear-capable Prithvi missile to locations close
to the border, bringing major Pakistani cities such as Islamabad,
Rawalpindi, Lahore and Faisalabad within striking range.
The following month, it was reported that Prime Minister Vajpayee had
granted authorization for the armed forces to use the missile at
their discretion.
Both Musharraf and Vajpayee, months later, admitted that the two
countries had come much too close to a nuclear exchange for comfort.
Nuclear brinkmanship has characterised both India and Pakistan, with
BJP president Jana Krishnamoorthy in 2002 warning Pakistan that if it
used nuclear weapons it would be 'wiped from off the map'. Prime
Minister Vajpayee warned that
'no weapon would be spared in self-defence. Whatever weapon was
available, it would be used no matter how it wounded the enemy '.
Indian Army Chief General Sundararajan Padmanabhan claimed that if
Islamabad dared use its nuclear weapons:
'The perpetrator of that particular outrage, shall be punished so
severely that the continuation of any form of fray will be doubtful',
and expressed his readiness 'for a second strike ' since he felt that
India had 'enough ' nuclear arms.
PAKISTAN
The proliferative activities of Mr A.Q, Khan and in all probability
the Pakistani government itself, need no comment here save that:
--uranium enrichment technology, most probably from URENCO, has been
vital to the Pakistani effort.
--also vital have been one or more Chinese, uranium-based, nuclear
weapons designs. Some of these designs have been passed on to others
such as Libya and possibly Saudi Arabia, either directly for large
sums of money or simply because both Libya and Saudi Arabia have
bankrolled the Pakistani effort to a high degree. Pakistan has also
used Chinese missiles, and reverse-engineered those missiles.
--also vital to the Pakistani delivery system has been the DPRK's
Nodong and Taepo-Dong missile, with the Ghauri, the main nuclear
delivery system, being a clone of the Nodong. The fact that the
Pakistanis have been able to fit uranium-based warheads originally of
Chinese design on to the Nodong and that a close relationship clearly
existed for some time between the DPRK and Pakistan with AQ Khan
making some 16 trips to Pyongyang, means that claims that Pyongyang
lacks a delivery system or has not been able to fit warheads onto
missiles lack credibility - especially in the light of Pyongyang's
previous claims that it has had an enriched uranium program, and
Pakistani claims that a technology swap did in fact take place.
Missile components were transported from Pyongyang by US-Supplied
C-130 aircraft as late as 2002.
The latest model of the Ghauri, (Based on the Nodong) was officially
inducted into Pakistani armed forces in January2003, and the 750Km
range Shaheen in March 2003, though in reality both were integrated
into the armed forces well before this. On Saturday 29May2004,
Pakistan tested a GhauriV missile of around 1500Km range. (Again,
this is in effect a test of a DPRK missile.)
Another Ghauri test was conducted in the presence of Colonel
Musharraf on July4 2004, accompanied by statements that India should
not think that these two tests so soon after each other were for
anything other than the most arcane technical reasons.
Indias government immediately responded by saying that this ensured a
continued nuclear arms race in the subcontinent.
Estimates of Pakistani warhead numbers vary from 24-48 (NRDC) to
35-70. Pakistan as previously noted, seems to be better endowed with
multi-wheel TEL vehicles, able to easily transport missiles to the
line of control.
Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in the 1999 Kargil
confrontation, was taken aback when informed by President Clinton
that his armed forces (unbeknownst to him??) had readied Pakistan's
nuclear forces for attack, and ordered a retreat. In 2002, both
sides expressed their readiness for nuclear conflict, but thankfully
later climbed down.
DPRK
North Korea/DPRK was said by the CIA to have just 1-2 warheads, but
this was always unrealistically low. More recent media reports have
suggested that even the CIA estimate has now been raised to around 8
warheads. The CIA estimate applies only to the DPRK's plutonium
based effort, and not to any uranium - based program, and does not
take into account the 8000 fuel rods recently reprocessed from
Yongbyon, which would give at least another 4-6 warheads. Lee Wha
Rhang, writing about 1997, estimated about 10-12 Pu-based warheads,
based on additional quantities reprocessed from Yongbyon, and
plutonium obtained from Russia.
I have tentatively suggested elsewhere that the DPRK may possibly
have 6-12 warheads of both Pu and uranium design, mounted on Nodong
and Taepo-Dong missiles.
The DPRK's current denials of its uranium-based program contradict
its earlier affirmation that it had such a program, while the DPRK
uranium-based program fits into the broader picture of a Pak/DPRK
technology swap.
The Nodong missile has ample range to strike Seoul (which requires
only artillery to strike it), Tokyo, and Beijing. The Taepo-Dong-II
has a theoretical but untested range sufficient to strike well beyond
the US west coast. While a wobbly Taepo-Dong might not be the most
accurate or reliable delivery system, even the 50% possibility that
the DPRK may have the capability to turn downtown LA or San Francisco
into a 'sea of fire' must be taken entirely seriously. To dismiss
it as bluff as certain members of the Bush administration are wont to
do and then to follow up with Pentagon memos on military options
and/or regime change is frankly, insanely foolish. Even thinking
loudly about such options- and the Bush administration has a way of
thinking very loudly - places west coast US cities as well as Tokyo
in extreme danger and positively ensures that the goal of the nuclear
free Korean Peninsula recedes further and further.
The most recent series of talks between the US, China, Russia, Japan,
the RoK and the DPRK ended in stalemate as the DPRK refused to give
up its nuclear program unless the US would change its 'hostile
policy'. DPRK talks with the RoK, still more recently, have been more
successful.
THE NPT
All the above is a direct threat to the NPT regime. The next NPT
review conference will be in 2005. The Prepcom took place over
April26-May7 (see below), and broke up in disarray.
The other issue that directly affects the NPT Prepcom, and to which
our attention has been drawn by Mr Mohamed El Baradei is of course,
the refusal of the nuclear weapons powers - not only the US and
Russia, but with a bit more subtlety, France, the UK, and China - to
realistically and credibly address their article VI NPT obligations
to achieve the total and unequivocal elimination of their nuclear
arsenals. The current Bush administration is the first in US
history to refuse to admit that the NPT says what it says and commits
the US to eliminate its nuclear arsenal. The Bush administration has
continued to do this at the NPT Prepcom itself, refusing to admit
that the NPT commits it to the total and unequivocal elimination of
its nuclear arsenal.
According to El Baradei, speaking a month or so before the Prepcom:
"We must abandon the unworkable notion that it is morally
reprehensible for some countries to pursue weapons of mass
destruction yet morally acceptable for others to rely on them for
security - and indeed to continue to refine their capacities and
postulate plans for their use."
We wish the Bush administration would listen to Mr El Baradei, who in
the same interview warned that nuclear weapons continue to endanger
civilisation.
THE NPT PREPCOM 26 APR-7MAY
>From 26 April to 7 May this year (2004), NPT signatories met in what
was officially the third of a series of preparatory meetings for the
main NPT Review Meeting in 2005. As we now know, the prepcom, as it
was called, ended up breaking up in disorder, as delegates deadlocked
over how to achieve the objectives of the nonproliferation treaty,
and even over what those objectives in fact were.
The nuclear nonproliferation treaty contains a series of bargains.
The core 'deal' in the NPT is in Article VI, according to which the
established nuclear weapons powers agree to eliminate their nuclear
arsenals completely, in return for which other countries that might
otherwise proceed to the acquisition of nuclear weapons agree not to
acquire them.
Given that the NPT was signed in 1968 and came into force around
1970, complete with its commitment on the part of the nuclear weapons
states to eliminate their nuclear arsenals, and given that the
International Court of Justice in 1996 declared unanimously that the
NPT commits the nuclear weapon states to the elimination of their
nuclear arsenals, the question that is asked at every NPT review
meeting is the same: When will the NWS live up to their part of the
NPT bargain?
At the last NPT Review Conference, in 2000, the final declaration of
that conference again committed the NWS to the 'total and unequivocal
elimination' of their nuclear arsenals, and to a plan, known as the
'13 steps' by which that was to be achieved.
At this most recent NPT Prepcom, what caused the breakup of the
Prepcom was the refusal of the US administration to even admit that
the decisions that had been taken at the Year 2000 review conference
had even been taken. The US refused to allow any reference whatsoever
to be made to either the final declaration of the Year 2000 review
conference, or to the 13 steps. Other nations and groups of nations
such as the Non Aligned Movement (NAM) and the New Agenda Coalition
prepared plans that referenced the Year 2000 review conference and
the 13 steps and included items such as universalising and bringing
into force of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) and taking
strategic nuclear forces of Launch on Warning status. The US refused
to sign on to anything that included these elements.
A detailed 'chairman's summary' was produced that if implemented
would have done much to help rid the world of nuclear weapons and
thus ensure the survival of civilisation and the human and other
species. It lacks status and clout. Though its recommendations are
eminently moderate and sensible, they are unlikely to be implemented.
WHERE TO FROM HERE?
Looking backwards looking forwards
The proliferative potential of the current situation is extreme - and
just how extreme, and the extent to which proliferation dangers now
come bearing out of left- field - is illustrated by recent reports
that Nigeria (!!!) is doing deals with Pakistan and the DPRK for an
unspecified nuclear capability.
The AQ Khan/Pak government proliferation machine, with the spread of
nuclear technology built into its very growth plan, raised the
prospect of Libyan nuclear weapons. This prospect seems now to have
receded. Last year, reports surfaced that the Saudi government had
considered acquiring a packaged, 'turnkey', nuclear deterrent from
Pakistan. This would likely have come not as a nuclear weapons
production capability, but as a number of TEL trucks with missiles
and warheads. The possibility that nations might sell a complete
warhead/missile package has emanated also from the DPRK. However, I
believe that Bush administration claims that the DPRK would sell to
terrorists are unlikely to be true.
Live proliferation concerns remain, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and now, out
of left field as it were, Nigeria. The worry with Nigeria coming
from left field is that there may be other nations who are also not
currently on the proliferation map.
Who else will appear as it were, out of nowhere?
The entirely predictable failure of the current round of talks with
the DPRK also raises the prospect of proliferation in northeast
Asia. If the DPRK maintains and augments a real, credible, nuclear
and delivery capability as I believe it will, then there is the
prospect that there may be the acquisition of nuclear weapons by the
RoK, Taiwan, and Japan. The acquisition of nuclear weapons by a
further three nations would probably spell the end for the Nuclear
Nonproliferation Treaty, and would raise the probability of the
actual use of nuclear weapons, possibly in the Japan/DPRK
confrontation or else in a China/Taiwan confrontation, by orders of
magnitude.
Looking at the Past, Looking at the Future
Let's look a bit at there we have come from and where we might be going.
In 1945, only one nation had warheads, namely the US, and this
situation was sustained until 1949, at which time the Soviet Union
had just one warhead for the US's 235 warheads. US predominance
continued past 1953, when the US had 1436 warheads, -more than 10
times its competitors - the USSR 120, and the UK tested its first
warhead in the Monte Bello islands off the coast of WA
By 1974, the USSR had begun to catch up, having 17,385 warheads as
against 28,170 for the US, 325 for the UK, 145 for France and 170 for
China. It was in 1974 that India tested its 'peaceful nuclear device'
at Pokhran, and the Israelis had had warheads since the early 1960s.
In the year that Colonel Petrov declined to end the world, 1983, the
USSR had 35,804 warheads - now well in excess of the US's 23,154, the
UK's 320, Frances 280, and China's 280. By now, India was on the way
to weaponising its Pokhran device, but moved slowly on this in part
as it wished to maintain the façade of being a non nuclear weapons
state.
Its as well to realise that in 1983 and in 1986, the peak year for
warhead numbers worldwide with 40,723 Soviet warheads, 23,254 US
ones, and France, the UK and China unchanged, that - assuming the
nuclear winter effect kicks in at 500 warheads used for 'city
busting' - there was over 120 times the megatonnage needed to create
a worldwide 'nuclear winter'.
The year 1986 may thus, hopefully, be seen as the peak tide of nuclear lunacy.
>From that point on, the nuclear weapons totals come slowly down on
both Soviet (then Russian) and US, sides.
As of 2002, we are down to 10,640 deployed US warheads, 8,600
deployed Russian ones (but many more on both sides in various forms
of stockpiling), and due to go down to 2750deployed(Russia) and 2440
deployed (US), for at least a few minutes at midnight Dec 31, 2012.
As we've already seen, however, the devil is in the details. The US
has recently said clearly that it will NOT be going down to the
Moscow Treaty mandated levels, and both Russia and the US continue to
refine plans for the actual use of nuclear weapons.
Meanwhile the refusal of these two powers to take seriously their
article VI obligations is slowly but surely, in spite of Bush
administration rhetoric, ensuring that other nations, starting with
the DPRK, will grow their own modest nuclear deterrents.
Where will we be in 60 years?
That depends on whether the established nuclear powers are able to or
are able to be pushed and shamed by others into, keeping the promise
they made under article VI of the NPT, reaffirmed in 2000, to
achieve the 'total and unequivocal elimination' of their nuclear
arsenals.
If over the next 60 years we do not do that the probability that
nuclear weapons will be used will be very high. If their 'use' by
accident, madness or malevolence includes the use of major parts of
the US or Russian strategic arsenal, or if the Chinese nuclear
arsenal grows to challenge that of the US and is used, or if the
Indian or Pakistani arsenals grow significantly and are used, then
casualties ranging up into the billions and major long term damage to
the living systems of the planet could still result.
Assuming that the NWS do not fulfil their part of the NPT bargain,
that treaty can be expected to fall apart and some countries - the
most likely being the RoK, Japan, Taiwan, Iran, and then possibly
Saudi Arabia, and maybe Nigeria - will obtain weapons. The DPRK may
be expected to enlarge its deterrent and if enough things go wrong
there could possibly be a DPRK/US nuclear exchange. India and
Pakistan can also be expected to continue to enlarge their nuclear
arsenals and a nuclear exchange between those two at some time,
possibly by accident is entirely possible.
A well-known activist was once asked, at a time when it looked as if
we might actually get rid of nuclear weapons 'How does it feel to be
making history?'
His famous reply was 'I'm not making history. I am making history possible.'
So the question is:
Will history be possible for the next 60 years?
The answer is completely uncertain. But what will make the difference
is your action and my action, to eliminate nuclear weapons.
20
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40 Las Vegas RJ: EDITORIAL: More DOE bungling
Thursday, June 10, 2004
Program to compensate nuke workers a typical boondoggle
Back in 2000, Congress gave the Department of Energy $74 million
to compensate workers -- potentially thousands of workers -- who
used to work at the country's nuclear weapons plants and
facilities, and who may have subsequently been stricken with
illnesses stemming from that work.
(There's some statistical evidence that former nuclear bomb
workers tend to die prematurely, and are burdened with large
medical bills for cancers and other illnesses that they claim
are job-related.)
The number of applicants who have sought compensation stands at
23,000 -- far more than originally expected. ("Raise your hand
if you saw that one coming," comment the folks at Citizens
Against Government Waste.)
But now four years have passed, the DOE has written all the
necessary rules and procedures, all the money has been spent,
and the General Accounting office has finally reported back to
Congress on the number of former weapons plants workers who have
been helped.
One.
One man in Washington state was paid $15,000.
"The remaining $73,985,000 has been spent on paperwork," report
the folks at CAGW, in their April newsletter. "No, this is not a
bad episode of the Simpsons; this is how our government works."
The DOE has thrown out about 5 percent of the claims, but has
moved forward on only about another 1 percent, according to the
General Accounting Office.
Yes, some safeguards had to be put in place to make sure money
wasn't handed out, willy nilly, without checking to make sure a
claimant actually had a job-related illness.
But statistically speaking, the taxpayers would be no worse off
-- and presumably some actual sick people would be better off --
if the DOE had simply mailed out a $3,000 check to every
claimant.
Even the DOE admits much of the program was botched from the
beginning, as they spent some two years just writing the
program's rules. Some are also curious about DOE's no-bid
contract with an outfit called Science and Engineering
Associates to administer the program. SEA paid a program manager
$400,000 per year.
But don't worry: DOE Undersecretary Robert Card has come
forward with a proposed solution. All Congress has to do to help
hundreds more workers get some compensation is -- ready? -- hand
the DOE another $76 million.
Hey, for that kind of money, we're sure at least one more
worker will receive his $15,000.
Understandably, some in Congress are balking. "The Energy
Department's problems are not going to be solved by throwing
more money into a black hole," warns Sen. Charles Grassley,
R-Iowa.
But brave talk is cheap. In the end, taxpayers will probably be
funding this compensation program -- with administrators making
$400,000 -- long after the last nuclear weapons plant worker has
gone to his or her reward.
Just explain to us one more time: Why is it anyone still
believes that if you want a problem handled, you should turn it
over to the federal government?
Copyright Las Vegas Review-Journal
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41 Las Vegas RJ: ACCESS LIMITS: Wildlife range might restrict water drilling
Thursday, June 10, 2004
Agency seeking to pump groundwaterfrom seven locations in
wilderness area
By HENRY BREAN REVIEW-JOURNAL
Federal restrictions on access to the Desert National Wildlife
Range could prevent the Southern Nevada Water Authority from
drilling a series of groundwater monitoring wells on the
protected land north of Las Vegas.
Officials from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Wednesday
the only wells likely to be approved are along existing,
maintained roads and away from wilderness study areas that cover
most of the 1.6 million-acre range.
"It is beyond the ability of the Fish and Wildlife Service to
grant access to these areas," said Michael Eberle, chief of the
water resources branch for the Fish and Wildlife Service's
Pacific Region.
The water authority faces similar access problems from the
Defense Department, which controls the Nevada Test and Training
Range, which overlaps about half of the wildlife range.
Technicians from the water authority and several federal
agencies discussed proposed well sites during a meeting Wednesday
in Las Vegas that was opened to the public at the request of two
Washington, D.C.-based environmental groups, Defenders of
Wildlife and The Wilderness Society.
Dick Birger, project leader for the Desert National Wildlife
Refuge Complex, said federal regulations do not require public
involvement at this stage, but the meeting was opened because of
the level of interest expressed.
If the agencies agree on locations for groundwater monitoring
wells, public input will be sought on a draft of the plan, Birger
said.
"The discussion (Wednesday) really points out how early we are
in the process," Eberle said. "There are a lot of details É that
need to be discussed." But Sara Barth, regional director for The
Wilderness Society, said she worries the discussion will be over
when the time comes for public input.
After observing Wednesday's meeting, Barth said she was struck
by how far along the talks already are.
The water authority is seeking state permission to pump
groundwater from seven locations on and around the wildlife range
and pump the water to Las Vegas.
Water authority hydrologists believe the seven groundwater
applications could yield 17,000 acre-feet of water a year, enough
to supply about 24,000 households.
State Engineer Hugh Ricci is expected to rule on the
applications by year's end.
A stipulation agreement filed with the state in late March, just
before a public hearing on the seven applications, gave the water
authority and the Fish and Wildlife Service 90 days to complete a
groundwater study plan for the 1.6 million acre range. The 90-day
period is set to expire in about two weeks, so both sides plan to
pursue an extension until Sept. 1.
Water authority officials said they want to drill as many as a
dozen monitoring wells on and around the range to fill a "data
hole" between existing wells around Yucca Mountain, Devil's Hole
near Amargosa Valley, and along the Muddy River near Moapa.
John Hiatt, conservation chairman for the Red Rock Audubon
Society, said the access issues could force water authority
officials to spend a lot more money on monitoring wells than they
anticipated by forcing them to drill in less than ideal spots.
Copyright Las Vegas Review-Journal
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42 Hanford News: Program to assess waste tank vapor exposure
Home [http://www.hanfordnews.com]
Reagan's 1956 Hanford visit a mystery
This story was published Wednesday, June 9th, 2004
By Annette Cary, Herald staff writer
CH2M Hill Hanford Group will bring in a team of five national
experts to help establish a program to assess possible long-term
health problems caused by exposure to waste tank vapors and to
look at related issues.
Huge underground tanks of radioactive wastes left from the past
production of plutonium at Hanford vent gases into the air,
including ammonia, nitrous oxide and volatile organic compounds.
The Department of Energy released a report last week saying that
too little is known about what's in the gases to be sure that no
worker has been exposed to levels above regulatory limits.
On the same day, another DOE report concluded that CH2M Hill,
which operates the "farms" of underground tanks, had no criminal
conduct in incidents in which workers were exposed to the vapors.
Over the last two years, CH2M Hill and DOE have brought numerous
experts and investigators to Hanford to try to better understand
what's in the tanks and how to protect workers.
"This is one more step in a long list of actions CH2M Hill is
taking," said Robert Iotti, president of CH2M Hill's Nuclear
Business Group in Denver, in a prepared statement. "We want to
ensure we have a top-flight health and safety program and that
employees and the public have the utmost confidence in it."
CH2M Hill's corporate office is paying for the latest team, which
will consider whether long-term health effects are possible from
vapor exposure and if monitoring is adequate.
Workers have had symptoms such as nosebleeds and dizziness after
smelling vapors and some believe they've suffered permanent
health damage from the vapors.
CH2M Hill has said some workers have had unpleasant symptoms, but
has not found evidence that the vapors have caused lasting health
damage.
The investigative team will be led by Jack Mandel, chairman of
the Epidemiology Department at Emory University. He will be
joined by experts in epidemiology, toxicology, occupational
medicine and industrial hygiene from Duke University, the
University of Maryland, UCLA and private industry.
The team will be independent of CH2M Hill, but the Hanford
contractor and the Hanford Atomic Metal Trades Council each will
supply a support member, said Dale Allen, senior vice president
for CH2M Hill.
The team has the right mix of professionals to look at health
concerns and to recommend long-term solutions to chemical health
monitoring concerns, said HAMTC officer Rebecca Holland in a
prepared statement.
The many experts and investigators looking at tank vapor concerns
have made 151 recommendations over the last two years and CH2M
Hill has completed work on 125, including expanding its
industrial hygiene program, Allen said.
That includes work on some of the recommendations in the DOE
report released last week. CH2M Hill made changes based on
comments DOE officials made while they were investigating tank
farm vapors in March and April, Allen said.
Other changes are under way, such as collecting more data from
personal monitors worn by workers.
"We have not seen anything unexpected," from vapor data collected
on those monitors, Allen said.
CH2M Hill also is expected to announce today the hiring of a
senior-level specialist in environmental health protection to
bring additional expertise to the operation of the tank farms.
© 2004 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved.
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43 Hanford News: Biology expert speaks at PNNL
Home [http://www.hanfordnews.com]
This story was published Wednesday, June 9th, 2004
By John Trumbo, Herald staff writer
Systems biology, an immature science with the potential to
reinvent health care, is the industry Washington needs to restore
its economic health in the 21st century, says a leading scientist
in molecular biotechnology.
And it's a science some believe can bring hundreds of high-tech
jobs to the Mid-Columbia.
Lee Hood, president of the Institute for Systems Biology in
Seattle and one of the scientists who invented the DNA sequencer
that made it possible to decode the human genome, spoke Tuesday
on the future for the new science at the Northwest Symposium for
Systems Biology at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in
Richland.
"Systems biology will lead into predictive medicine. This will
transform the health care industry in ways we can only begin to
imagine," Hood said.
Systems biology focuses on how proteins in cells interact and how
they affect everything else in the human genome. The science is
possible because of the ability of supercomputers to handle and
process large quantities of data.
"We'll be able to look at all the components and understand their
relationship," Hood said, adding that he believes Washington can
become home base for the new science.
In addition to Hood's company and PNNL being positioned in the
state, Washington has the advantage of being home to the Gates
Foundation and Fred Hutchinson Cancer and Research Center in
Seattle.
"I think we can convince Washington that biotechnology is what we
can do here," Hood said.
"Biology is at an historic moment," said Steve Wiley, who heads
up PNNL's systems biology work with an annual budget of $28
million. Although nearly three-quarters of the mission is to work
on projects for the Department of Energy, the remainder is for
research for the National Institutes of Health.
PNNL and Hood's Institute for Systems Biology recently agreed to
work together toward solving complex biological problems.
The goals include bringing more systems research funding to the
Tri-City lab with the potential of 200 to 300 more high-tech jobs
and advancing research for predictive and preventative medicine.
Hood believes that within 15 years, systems biology will make it
possible to use a simple blood prick to determine a person's
total health profile, and to use the results to plan an
individualized, preventative medicine program - all because of
the potential of systems biology.
The whys of cancers and aging may be answered with systems
biology, Hood said. "We'll finally be able to make real inroads
into solving these diseases," he said.
© 2004 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved.
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44 Tri-City Herald: AdvanceMed up and running
This story was published Thursday, June 10th, 2004
By Annette Cary Herald staff writer
Some boxes are still stacked along corridors, and a few
nonessential walls are nothing but blue tape outlines on the
carpet, but AdvanceMed Hanford is open for business.
It began offering occupational medicine services to about 11,000
Hanford workers this week. The Hanford Environmental Health
Foundation, or HEHF, had held the contract since 1965 but lost a
bid award to continue the contract early this year.
AdvanceMed Hanford plans a high-quality care program, but its
emphasis will be on preventing injury and illness, said Dr. Loren
Lewis, the medical director. Many Hanford workers are at risk of
chemical, radiological and construction hazards as they clean up
the Hanford site where plutonium was produced for nuclear weapons
from World War II through the Cold War.
"Work site visits will be very integral to what we do" so health
care professionals can develop a thorough understanding of the
risks workers face, Lewis said.
AdvanceMed Hanford officials have met with several of the Hanford
contractors and would like a close relationship on matters such
as exposure data and working with industrial hygienists to
identify hazards. Officials also are interested in extending
AdvanceMed Hanford's reach to work with the rest of the Tri-City
medical community and with advocates for the health and safety of
the workers.
AdvanceMed Hanford is hiring the equivalent of 79 full-time
employees, with a few positions yet to fill. About 70 positions
are being filled with employees who used to work at HEHF, said
Martin Zizzi, director of Healthcare Delivery Services for
Computer Sciences Corp., or CSC.
AdvanceMed, which won the occupational medicine contract valued
at about $96 million over 10 years, is a wholly owned subsidiary
of CSC of Falls Church, Va.
None of HEHF's doctors will transfer to AdvanceMed Hanford other
than a part-time doctor who also will do some part-time work at
the new contractor.
Four doctors, including Lewis, will work at AdvanceMed Hanford
full time. All will be board certified and residency trained in
occupational medicine, Lewis said.
AdvanceMed Hanford will be led by four principals:
-- Zizzi also has responsibility for AdvanceMed occupational
medicine service contracts at the U.S. Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health and the
Rocky Flats nuclear site in Colorado. He will be moving to the
Tri-Cities.
-- Lewis comes to the Tri-Cities from Hill Air Force Base in
Utah, where he was medical director of occupational medicine. He
holds a master's in public health and is trained in family
practice and occupational medicine.
-- Jason Zaccaria of Prosser will serve as clinic director. He
holds a master's in health administration and has a decade of
hospital and clinic experience.
-- Hollie Mooers, the owner of HPM Corp. in Richland, will serve
as deputy principal manager. She started HPM three years ago. She
also has worked for the Department of Energy as an occupational
health services program manager and is a former board member of
the Tri-Cities Cancer Center.
HPM is an embedded subcontractor for AdvanceMed Hanford and will
fulfill the contract requirements for small business
participation. HPM will own certain functions such as quality
assurance, accreditation and emergency preparedness.
Although DOE announced in January that AdvanceMed had won the
occupational medicine contract, the start of the contract was
delayed by protests by the losing bidders. HEHF also has filed
suit against AdvanceMed but could not persuade a federal judge to
delay the start of the contract while the suit is being heard.
AdvanceMed Hanford turned 22,000 square feet of empty space at
1979 Snyder St. in Richland into a clinic in six weeks with
office space, a behavioral health center, a conditioning center,
nine exam rooms, an X-ray room and two trauma rooms, which
include decontamination capabilities.
It's begun by offering essential services in the mornings and
doing staff training in the afternoons. It expects to be open
full days by June 21. The transition has been smooth, due in
large part to the professionalism, good attitude and good
training of the former HEHF staff, Lewis said.
AdvanceMed Hanford will draw on its corporate parent for some
functions, such as payroll. It also should benefit from technical
expertise at CSC's other occupational medicine programs,
including Rocky Flats, which has experience in chronic beryllium
disease. Some nuclear workers exposed to the metal beryllium
develop a chronic lung disease.
HEHF has questioned in court papers whether AdvanceMed and CSC's
many contractual relationships with the parent companies of
contractors responsible for Hanford cleanup will compromise its
dedication to patients.
Zizzi said he had never seen an issue come up that compromised
AdvanceMed's occupational medicine services. It's held many
long-term contracts, including a 20-year contract with CDC.
"The most important thing (for AdvanceMed Hanford) is a very
strong corporate philosophy to accord the highest priority to the
health and safety of Hanford workers," Lewis said.
After AdvanceMed Hanford has some time to become established,
Lewis has plans for additional programs. He's interested in
offering academic internships, bringing in occupational medicine
residents from the University of Washington and University of
Utah to do clinical rotations, hiring an epidemiologist and doing
research publishable in professional journals.
© 2004 Tri-City Herald, Associated Press &Other Wire Services
*****************************************************************
45 SF Chronicle: UC keeps Livermore Lab till 2007 / Energy secretary
adds 2 years to current contract
[http://sfgate.com]
[kdavidson@sfchronicle.com] Thursday, June 10, 2004
The U.S. Energy Department is extending the University of
California's contract for running Lawrence Livermore National
Laboratory until September 2007, two years longer than originally
scheduled.
The decision Wednesday came as a relief to officials at UC and
Livermore. Announced by Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, the
decision means the budget- strapped UC won't have to compete to
renew its contracts for two nuclear weapons labs, Livermore and
Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, at the same time in
2005.
UC has run both labs for a half-century. Over the past two years,
after repeated investigations of alleged UC mismanagement at
Livermore and Los Alamos, the Energy Department and Congress
ordered that future lab contracts be open to outside competition.
The current Los Alamos contract runs out in September 2005.
Until Wednesday, the Livermore contract was scheduled to expire
at the same time. The Energy Department has not yet issued formal
plans for the competitions; there has been speculation that a
competition might be a form of winner-take-all, in which the
winner would be awarded the contracts for both labs.
But Abraham announced Wednesday that he is extending Livermore's
contract until Sept. 30, 2007, and splitting the competitions
into separate races -- one for the Los Alamos contract ending in
2005, and one for the Livermore contract now ending in 2007.
Abraham is doing this because "it is very important to ensure we
have the broadest possible competition for future contracts.
Separating these two competitions will achieve that result," he
said in a press statement.
But Abraham's decision goes against a recent recommendation by
the nation's most distinguished scientific advisory body, the
National Research Council, which advised in May that competitions
to manage the two labs should be held at the same time.
The council's report emphasized the value of having a single
manager operate the two labs. They are "national treasures" and
"there is a strong sentiment at the laboratories that their
coordination and constructive competition are facilitated by
their being managed by the same contractor," said the report,
issued May 17.
George Blumenthal, vice chair of the UC Academic Senate, said
Wednesday that Abraham's decision is "possibly not good news for
UC." To Blumenthal, the decision seems to be saying that if an
institution other than UC is selected to manage Los Alamos, it'll
make for an easier transition for the new management if UC is
still running Livermore.
Nonetheless, Livermore spokeswoman Lynda Seaver said that people
there "are pleased with the decision. They support the decision."
The UC regents haven't formally decided whether to compete for
the contracts. At meetings over the past year, regents expressed
concern over whether the UC system can afford potentially
expensive competitions at a time of state budget crisis. Some
observers believe the competition for one lab might cost roughly
$25 million.
Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-Walnut Creek, issued a statement saying
Abraham's decision is "in the best interests of Livermore, our
nuclear mission, and our nation, in order to ensure continuity at
America's nuclear labs."
Abraham recently indicated he would investigate the possibility
of removing all plutonium -- the fissile trigger for nuclear
weapons -- from Livermore and shipping it to a remoter, less
populous region, perhaps rural New Mexico. In a phone interview,
however, Tauscher said she wants at least some plutonium to
remain at Livermore.
"Plutonium is a necessary component of the mission at Livermore,"
she told The Chronicle.
E-mail Keay Davidson at [kdavidson@sfchronicle.com] .
Page A - 3
©2004 San Francisco Chronicle | Feedback | FAQ
*****************************************************************
46 KGW: New Hanford medical provider takes over
News for Oregon and SW Washington | AP Wire
06/10/2004
Associated Press
The contractor who won the bid to take over occupational medicine
services for workers at the Hanford nuclear reservation has
opened for business here.
AdvanceMed Hanford began offering services to about 11,000
Hanford workers this week. AdvanceMed officials already have met
with several of the Hanford contractors managing cleanup at the
nuclear site, and plan to cooperate with contractors on matters
such as exposure data and working with industrial hygienists to
identify hazards.
AdvanceMed, a wholly owned subsidiary of Computer Sciences Corp.
of Falls Church, Va., won the occupational medicine contract
valued at about $96 million over 10 years. The company outbid the
nonprofit Hanford Environmental Health Foundation, which had held
the contract since 1965.
Earlier this month, a federal judge denied an HEHF motion to
block AdvanceMed from taking over services. Still pending is a
lawsuit filed by HEHF, arguing that state law bars for-profit
corporations not controlled by licensed medical professionals
from employing doctors and providing medical services.
AdvanceMed plans a high-quality care program, but its emphasis
will be on preventing injury and illness, said Dr. Loren Lewis,
the medical director.
Many Hanford workers are at risk of chemical, radiological and
construction hazards as they clean up the Hanford site where
plutonium was produced for nuclear weapons from World War II
through the Cold War.
AdvanceMed plans to hire the equivalent of 79 full-time
employees. About 70 positions were being filled with employees
who used to work at HEHF, Zizzi said. Only one part-time doctor
for HEHF will transfer to AdvanceMed.
Information from: Tri-City Herald, http://www.tri-cityherald.com
*****************************************************************
47 BFC: Battelle vies to run Idaho National Laboratory
- 2004-06-10 -
Business First of Columbus
Home [http://www.bizjournals.com/]
Columbus' Battelle Memorial Institute is bidding to run the
Idaho National Laboratory for the U.S. Energy Department.
Battelle, a nonprofit research institute, already manages or
co-manages four national laboratories for the federal government.
The laboratory is based in Idaho Falls, Idaho, and was formerly
known as the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental
Laboratory. The Energy Department is redeveloping it to focus on
nuclear and defense research.
© 2004 American City Business Journals Inc.
*****************************************************************
48 U.S. Newswire: Energy Secretary Abraham to Speak on Nuclear
Nonproliferation Efforts; Will Counter Critics of Administration
Accomplishments
http://www.usnewswire.com
6/10/2004 11:39:00 AM
To: National Desk
Contact: Jeanne Lopatto of the U.S. Department of Energy,
202-586-4940
News Advisory:
On Monday, June 14, Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham will
deliver a major policy speech to the Eisenhower Institute where
he will outline non-proliferation accomplishments and
opportunities posed by the evolving threats of the 21st century.
Two weeks ago in Vienna, Austria, Secretary Abraham announced
the Department of Energy's Global Threat Reduction Initiative, a
comprehensive global initiative to secure and remove high-risk
nuclear and radiological materials that continue to pose a
threat to the United States and the international community.
Monday's speech will discuss the Department of Energy's actions
to respond to the evolving threat posed by under-secured nuclear
and radiological materials and will address the challenges of
implementing and advancing the department's nonproliferation
programs.
In his speech, Secretary Abraham will answer criticisms of
administration efforts in this area that were recently raised in
a published opinion pieces in the Washington Post and Los
Angeles Times.
There will be a media availability with Secretary Abraham
following his speech.
WHO: U.S. Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham
WHAT: Speech to the Eisenhower Institute
WHEN: Monday, June 14, 2004 at 2 p.m.
WHERE: The National Press Club (Holeman Room), 529 14th Street
NW, 13th Floor, Washington, D.C.
http://www.usnewswire.com/ [http://www.usnewswire.com/]
/© 2004 U.S. Newswire 202-347-2770/
*****************************************************************
49 U.S. Newswire: Eisenhower Institute Announces Presentation by DOE
Sec. Abraham on Nonproliferation June 14 at National Press Club
6/10/2004 3:07:00 PM
To: Assignment Desk, Daybook Editor, Energy Reporter
Contact: Kristin Wedding of The Eisenhower Institute,
202-628-4444; or
http://www.eisenhowerinstitute.org
[http://releases.usnewswire.com/redir.asp?ReleaseID=31763&Link=ht
tp://www.eisenhowerinstitute.org]
News Advisory:
The Eisenhower Institute announces a special presentation by
Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham on nonproliferation challenges
and opportunities in the twenty-first century. This event will
be held at 2 p.m., Monday, June 14, in the Holeman Room at the
National Press Club.
As a follow-up to his announcement of the Department of Energy's
Global Threat Reduction Initiative two weeks ago in Vienna,
Austria, Sec. Abraham will discuss the Department of Energy's
actions to respond to the evolving threat posed by undersecured
nuclear and radiological materials. He will address the
challenges of implementing and advancing the Department's
nonproliferation programs to reduce nuclear proliferation risks
and enhance national security and the ways the Department is
working to overcome these obstacles. There will be a question
and answer opportunity following the presentation.
Interested individuals are advised to contact Kristin Wedding at
202-628-4444 or
The National Press Club is located at 529 14th Street, N.W.,
13th Floor, Washington, D.C.
http://www.usnewswire.com/ [http://www.usnewswire.com/]
*****************************************************************
50 U.S. Newswire: DOE/NNSA Cites BWXT Y-12 for Price-Anderson
Violations at the Y- 12 Plant
6/10/2004 4:10:00 PM
To: National Desk, Energy Reporter
Contact: Bryan Wilkes of the U.S. Department of Energy,
202-586-7371
WASHINGTON, June 10 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The Department of Energy's
(DOE) National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has issued
a Preliminary Notice of Violation (PNOV) to BWXT Y-12, the
contractor that manages and operates the Y-12 Plant for the
United States government.
The PNOV was issued for violations of nuclear safety rules and
procedures involving (1) a container explosion in a glovebox
associated with the newly built Saltless Direct Oxide Reduction
(SDOR) pilot facility and (2) continuing violations of Y-12 Plant
Safety Basis requirements. In the case of the SDOR event,
inadequacies in site hazards analyses and design controls
resulted in an unmitigated chemical process hazard. In the case
concerning Safety Basis implementation, BWXT Y-12 has not
effectively resolved the underlying causes associated with
violations of fundamental facility safety requirements so as to
prevent their recurrence.
A glovebox is a fully enclosed and ventilated containment device,
which is used to protect workers from radioactive materials. The
SDOR event resulted in gross container failure, loss of glovebox
containment, a spread of radioactive contamination within the
facility, and a minor unplanned radiological exposure to a
worker. Since a surrogate material was used in the operation,
there was no impact from this event to the public or environment.
The Safety Basis violations did not result in any immediate
consequences to site workers or the public. DOE/NNSA took this
action because, if not corrected, the violations could lead to
events with potentially more significant worker and public
radiological consequences. The DOE/NNSA also took this action
because BWXT Y-12 also failed to adequately address in a timely
manner problems in some areas addressed in the PNOV.
To emphasize the importance of maintaining a quality program for
DOE activities that comply with all requirements, DOE/NNSA is
assessing BWXT Y-12 with a civil penalty in the amount of
$82,500. The violation associated with the SDOR event was
mitigated by 50 percent of the maximum civil penalty for recently
implemented corrective actions that were a result of a prompt and
self-critical assessment and response to the events. The
violation associated with the longstanding Safety Basis
implementation deficiencies, which have persisted for several
years, did not meet the criteria for mitigation of the associated
penalty
The Price-Anderson Amendments Act of 1988 authorized the DOE/NNSA
to undertake enforcement actions against contractors for
violations of its nuclear safety requirements. The enforcement
program is designed to promote proactive efforts by contractors
to correct procedural violations so that more serious events are
prevented.
Additional details on this and other enforcement actions are
available on the Internet at http://www.eh.doe.gov/enforce
[http://releases.usnewswire.com/redir.asp?ReleaseID=31765&Link=ht
tp://www.eh.doe.gov/enforce]
http://www.usnewswire.com/ [http://www.usnewswire.com/]
/© 2004 U.S. Newswire 202-347-2770/
*****************************************************************
51 Oak Ridger: Last stranded researcher cleared for visa
Story last updated at 1:52 p.m. on June 10, 2004
By: Paul Parson | Oak Ridger Staff paul.parson@oakridger.com
[paul.parson@oakridger.com]
The last of three foreign postdoctoral researchers stuck in
Canada due to visa problems is heading back to the United States.
Feng Ye of China was cleared for a visa Wednesday, according to
Pam Bonee, a spokeswoman for Oak Ridge Associated Universities.
Through a program at ORAU, the three researchers work at Oak
Ridge National Laboratory.
Ye along with Seok Yun of South Korea and Julian Velev of
Bulgaria were attending a meeting of the American Physical
Society in Canada in March when they experienced the visa problem
because they all work in security-sensitive areas of science and
technology. They initially faced what could've been a lengthy
review by the U.S. Embassy before being cleared to return to the
United States.
Yun was cleared for his visa just days after the problem
occurred, and was able to return to Oak Ridge where his wife was
expecting their second child. Velev was allowed to return in May.
Bonee said she didn't know what caused the delay in Ye getting a
visa. Velev and Ye reportedly stayed at universities while in
Canada.
*****************************************************************
52 Oak Ridger: Sick worker program: Goodbye DOE, hello Labor Department?
Story last updated at 1:50 p.m. on June 10, 2004
ENERGY SPOKESMAN: 'We oppose efforts to transfer this program
Š'
By: Paul Parson | Oak Ridger Staff
[paul.parson@oakridger.com]
Janet Michel and Vikki Hatfield are both remaining cautiously
optimistic about the fate of a Senate amendment that would shift
a compensation program for job-sickened nuclear workers from one
federal agency to another.
Both agree the measure needs all the support it can get,
especially that of Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist.
"We need him behind this," said Hatfield, whose father, Leon
Meade, worked at federal facilities in Oak Ridge and died in
2002 after battling illnesses attributed to his work.
Nick Smith, spokesman for Frist's office, said Wednesday that
the senator has heard from a number of affected workers. Smith
said Frist understands there are outstanding issues regarding
the program run by the Department of Energy that provides no
direct benefits, but assists workers in pursuing claims with
state workers' compensation programs.
Janet Michel
However, Smith said Frist's office is still reviewing the
proposed amendment to transfer authority of the program from the
Energy Department to the Labor Department to determine "if it
will effectively fix the problems that exist."
Though the largest number of claims have come from Tennessee,
Michel stressed this isn't just a state issue. Claims have also
been filed from people who worked at DOE facilities in Colorado,
Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, New Mexico, Ohio, South Carolina and
Washington.
"People from other states would like to hear from Frist also,"
said Michel, who suffers from health problems tied to her work at
the Oak Ridge K-25 site.
On the other hand, U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., has signed
on as a supporter of the amendment filed on the defense bill.
Alexander's spokeswoman, Alexia Poe, said the bill will likely be
debated next week in the Senate. If the amendment is accepted as
part of the bill, Poe said it will be considered when the
conference committee of House and Senate members tries to
reconcile their two bills.
According to news reports, the House bill does not include the
provision to switch the program from DOE to the Labor Department,
but does call for some changes to the compensation effort.
A second part of the compensation program for job-sickened
nuclear workers is already run by the Labor Department. This part
pays lump sum benefits plus continuing medical coverage for
former workers with diseases potentially related to radiation
exposure, silicosis and chronic beryllium disease.
Michel and Hatfield stressed that there needs to be a combined
effort by the House and Senate to get improvements made to the
sick worker program.
"It's not politics, it's doing the right thing," Hatfield said.
DOE is also showing some resistance to losing its portion of the
compensation program.
"We oppose efforts to transfer this program to the Department of
Labor," said Joe Davis, spokesman for DOE headquarters. "We have
just received significant funding from Congress to move the cases
through the process.
"Moving this program to another department will delay these cases
and that will only hurt the workers who have applied under the
program," Davis continued. "Congress passed a program that is
fundamentally different from the Department of Labor's program
and, to the extent that there are problems with what Congress set
up, moving the program to the Department of Labor will not solve
those problems.
"Congress set up the program to help applicants file through the
state workers' compensation system, which we are making steady
progress in helping applicants," he said.
However, sick workers, watchdog groups and some lawmakers are not
satisfied with DOE's progress.
"It they were concerned about timeliness, they would have done a
better job," said Michel, who has argued for several years that
DOE should not be running a compensation program. "It's not part
of their mission."
DOE has managed to assist only four workers in securing state
workers' compensation benefits, and the agency has processed less
than 3 percent of its 24,000 claims through physicians panels to
determine if illnesses are work-related, according to a
Government Accountability Project news release. However, the
group noted that the Labor Department has processed over 95
percent of the 54,000 claims it has received through its systems
and paid out $830 million in benefits.
Founded in 1977, the GAP is a non-profit organization that
promotes government and corporate accountability.
The Alliance of Nuclear Worker Advocacy Groups also argued that
DOE has spent four years mismanaging its portion of the sick
worker program. The national alliance recently sent a letter to
lawmakers urging them to support the Senate amendment.
*****************************************************************
53 Colorado Daily: RFCLOG board talks independent verification,
fencing and signage Monday
By RICHARD VALENTY /Colorado Daily Staff Writer
Parts of the former Rocky Flats plutonium trigger manufacturing
plant could be open for human recreation within a National
Wildlife Refuge by the end of the decade, and now site officials
and government agencies must assure the public that the area will
be safe for hosting visitors.
For example, Kaiser-Hill Company, contracted by the U.S.
Department of Energy (DOE) to perform a site cleanup, released
statistics in May 2004 showing that it had collected almost 6
million analytical records from site samples.
Over the years, agencies such as the Colorado Department of
Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) and the EPA have also
collected and analyzed soil, air and water samples, yet one
question remains - will the public believe lists of government
statistics?
On Monday, the Rocky Flats Coalition of Local Governments
(RFCLOG), a group made up of officials from seven governments
with holdings bordering Rocky Flats, discussed whether citizens
might feel safer about the site if there was some form of
independent verification or testing of Kaiser-Hill or government
data after the cleanup is completed.
Shaun McGrath, City of Boulder RFCLOG representative, said the
city government would likely favor some form of extra testing.
"We will never be able to assure all the members of our community
that the refuge will be safe," said McGrath Tuesday. "I think
that we can do things to increase the level of public comfort
through things like independent verification. There's always
going to be the other side of it, which is cost. How much can we
spend, and at what point do we reach the point of diminishing
returns?"
Joe Legare, DOE project manager, said he would welcome further
discussion on verification after RFCLOG defines precise goals.
"We want to find out where they feel there's a need, where
there's a shortcoming, or how we can have a more transparent
process that provides the community with confidence that we are
doing a thorough cleanup, and that we understand the nature and
extent of contamination when all is said and done," said Legare.
David Abelson, RFCLOG executive director, recommended Monday that
the board consider what they want independent verification to
accomplish and take the issue up again at the August RFCLOG
meeting.
After the Flats cleanup, which is scheduled for completion by
Dec. 15, 2006, the Flats land will be divided into two sections.
DOE will control a still undefined portion of the center of the
site, where some of the weapons-production facilities still
exist, awaiting demolition.
Land on the outer portions of the site will be transferred from
DOE to the U.S. Fish &Wildlife Service if they are certified to
be below target levels of surface radiation by the EPA, and
Refuge trails could be constructed on those lands.
Dean Rundle, Fish &Wildlife Refuge manager for the Rocky Flats
project, said Fish &Wildlife sent a letter to the EPA, DOE,
CDPHE, RFCLOG and the Rocky Flats Citizens Advisory Board Tuesday
detailing physical security plans for the DOE-retained land.
"We are recommending that the DOE-retained lands be marked with a
minimum four-strand barbed wire stock fence, similar to the fence
that surrounds the entire site at this time," said Rundle. "Also,
we recommend that there be signs posted at corners, gates, and at
appropriate intervals along that fence line that notify the
public that this is DOE property, and unauthorized access is
prohibited."
DOE will maintain water and air quality monitors in the
industrial zone after the cleanup. Rundle said Fish &Wildlife
would accept any decision from DOE, EPA or CDPHE to build "more
robust" protection around the monitoring equipment to protect it
from vandalism.
Also, Rundle said Fish &Wildlife recommends that industrial-zone
areas where there was "known waste storage with subsurface
contamination" be marked with permanent monuments.
During Monday's meeting, several RFCLOG members questioned
whether the proposed measures would prevent deliberate acts of
vandalism, in the wake of the recent destruction of buildings
with a bulldozer in Granby.
"When we're talking about a demarcation that needs to be in place
for hundreds, if not thousands, of years, I think it's ridiculous
to think that a barbed wire fence is going to keep people out
over that time," said McGrath. "Clearly, people will be able to
cross under that fence. I don't think it will be effective, and
yet there has been a consistent policy position to keep DOE land
separate and protected from intrusion."
Legare said that the Fish &Wildlife plan will be reviewed and
could be revised before implementation.
"We have to make a determination as to whether we are protecting
against inadvertent intrusion or direct acts of vandalism," said
Legare. "We have to ask, first, is protecting against deliberate
vandalism achievable, and next what the consequences of that
vandalism would really be. Those are the things that we'll have
to factor into our decision making process."
*****************************************************************
54 lamonitor.com: Safety board cautions DOE on delegating responsibilities
The Online News Source for Los Alamos
[http://www.lac-nm.us]
ROGER SNODGRASS, roger@lamonitor.com, Monitor Assistant Editor
An independent federal safety board has asked the Department of
Energy for assurances that safety standards won't be diluted in
the nuclear weapons complex if responsibilities are delegated to
field offices and contractors. The recommendation, published
Monday in the Federal Register, calls for a clear acceptance of
responsibility at the top by the Secretary of Energy for any
transfer of authority over safety issues to local managers.
"By itself, the act of putting responsibility down in the field
can be a good thing to do, but not at a loss of responsibility at
headquarters," said Gen. John Conway, DNSFB chairman by telephone
on Tuesday from Washington, D.C.
A spokesperson for the Department of Energy said the
recommendation was under review.
The DNSFB's request grew out of a series of eight public hearings
that included a review of lessons learned from two contemporary
technological failures, the catastrophic break-up of the Columbia
Space Shuttle and a near-disaster of at the Davis-Besse Nuclear
Power Station in Ohio. The Columbia accident report cities as one
of the organizational causes of the failure, "the evolution of an
informal chain of command and decision-making processes that
operated outside the organization's rules."
The Davis-Besse plant narrowly averted a possible meltdown when a
known risk of reactor head corrosion was ignored and actual
inspections were postponed until it was nearly too late.
Complacency and self-assessment by a contractor without strong
government oversight were cited as important contributing factors
in both situations.
By contrast, representatives of the Naval Reactor Program
provided a description of a very tight safety system, Conway
said.
"They follow very strict adherence to safety rules and
regulations," he said. "Seldom, if ever, as they said, do they
grant a waiver if it applies to safety."
Conway said that the board's new recommendations were mindful of
a recent effort by the Department of Energy to revise its safety
rules for workers in a move that was interpreted by the board and
others as turning too much of the determination for safety over
to contractors.
Although Energy Secretary Abraham withdrew the safety proposal on
Feb. 23, the recommendation cites some "unfortunate consequences"
that may have resulted from preliminary changes that have
occurred in safety management.
One was a glove box fire at the Rocky Flats Environmental
Technology Site in Colorado, an event marked by so many lapses
and shortcuts by the contractor Kaiser-Hill that a board staff
report called it "a wholesale breakdown" in procedures.
Another concern expressed by the board is that a key headquarters
safety office (NA-53), under the DOE's nuclear agency, the
National Nuclear Security Administration is being downsized,
leaving field offices without adequate technical expertise.
Albuquerque Service Center is specifically mentioned as lacking
"adequate depth of understanding of such important matters as
seismic analysis and design, training of nuclear workers, and
protection against unintended criticality."
A related board action, the subject of a staff report last month,
found both the Sandia Site Office and the Los Alamos Site Office
have been underreporting their staffing needs for facilities
representatives (FRs) for the last four years.
Facilities representatives are supposed to be the front line in
the federal oversight of contractor's nuclear safety operations.
The board found that LASO with 16 authorized positions had three
FR vacancies at the time.
But considering the number of facilities under their oversight
(26 nuclear facilities, 41 radiological facilities and 350
moderate to low-hazard facilities), a 2001 analysis suggested
that 24 FRs were needed, five of whom could be expected to be
going through a qualification period at any given time.
"FR's are continually challenged to find time to observe the
multitude of activities tasked under the Los Alamos Contract,"
the staff report noted.
Conway said the board's intent was not to tell DOE what
management changes were acceptable, but rather to make sure that
safety considerations were taken fully into account.
"The board needs to be sure that any fundamental reorganization
does not degrade nuclear safety, and the likelihood of a serious
accident, facility failure, construction problem or nuclear
incident will not be increased as a result of well-intentioned
changes," the recommendations stated.
Conway said, "NNSA Administrator Linton Brooks has already
indicated that he is prepared to consider and reconsider some of
the points we make."
He also complimented LANL and Director G. Peter Nanos for visible
efforts and improvements.
"In the last year I've been impressed by how Los Alamos is trying
to get its house in order," he said.
© 2003 Los Alamos Monitor All Rights Reserved.
*****************************************************************
55 Oak Ridger: Lab contractor gives $150K for area science education
Story last updated at 11:47 a.m. on June 10, 2004
from staff reports
UT-Battelle, manager of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, has
donated $150,000 in support of the Nine Counties. One Vision
recommendation to help improve science education in the region.
"Improving science education is a natural goal for UT-Battelle
and Oak Ridge National Laboratory," said Brenda Hackworth, who
manages the lab's community outreach efforts. "Helping teachers
hone their science education skills is one way to boost science
education in the region."
UT-Battelle's donation will fund a science education workshop
July 13-23 for 40 middle school teachers from the nine Knox-area
counties, including Anderson and Roane. They will attend the
University of Tennessee workshops at Knoxville's West Valley
Middle School.
The teachers, nominated by their school principals, will hear
science lectures from UT faculty, develop lesson plans, and take
what they learn back to students.
Nine Counties. One Vision was launched in January 2000 to spur
economic, environmental and social progress in a nine-county
region. It is run by a steering committee of about 80 regional
residents and a 21-member board of directors.
The donation is part of UT-Battelle''s commitment to the Nine
Counties. One Vision regional planning initiative, which cites
improvement in science education as critical to East Tennessee's
future growth. UT-Battelle - a partnership between the University
of Tennessee and Battelle - has been managing ORNL since April
2000.
*****************************************************************
56 PRNews: Battelle to Bid on Idaho National Laboratory Contract
[http://www.prnewswire.com/]
[http://www.battelle.org]
Non-Profit Science and Technology Leader Brings World-Class Team
Focused on Simultaneous Excellence in Science and Technology,
Laboratory Operations, and Community Service
IDAHO FALLS, Idaho, June 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Battelle, one of
the world's leading science and technology organizations,
announced today that it will pursue the contract to manage and
operate the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) in Idaho Falls,
Idaho.
Battelle, which has 75 years of experience in operating
laboratories and whose core business is science and technology,
leads a world-class team to help INL enhance its world-renowned
nuclear capabilities and ensure that it becomes the nation's
preeminent nuclear research, development, and demonstration
laboratory. The Battelle team will also focus on helping INL
ensure that it is a center for national security technology
development and demonstration.
The Battelle team includes: - BWX Technologies, Inc. (BWXT)
-- The premier manager of complex, high- consequence nuclear and
national security operations. BWXT distinguishes itself with over
50 years as owner/operator of large nuclear development,
production and reactor facilities, including 47 years of
providing propulsion systems for the U.S. Navy. BWXT brings
considerable working knowledge of the Laboratory and its
infrastructure, as well as a decade of experience managing
nuclear facilities and programs at DOE/NNSA sites.
- Washington Group International -- An Idaho company based
in Boise since 1912, Washington Group delivers integrated
engineering, construction, and management solutions in such areas
as power, infrastructure, and homeland security.
- EPRI -- A non-profit, global electric power research
leader with outstanding links to the electric power and nuclear
industries. Nuclear R programs comprise more than one-third of
EPRI's total R portfolio.
- A national consortium of universities -- The Massachusetts
Institute of Technology (MIT) -- one of the world's greatest
science and technology universities -- will lead a major group of
universities, including North Carolina State, Ohio State, and
Oregon State, providing national, regionally representative
linkage to America's nuclear engineering and research programs.
In partnership with Idaho's major educational and research
universities (University of Idaho, Idaho State University, and
Boise State University), Battelle will not only work to enhance
advanced nuclear engineering programs, but will also realize the
vision of establishing a Center for Advanced Energy Studies in
Idaho Falls.
These institutions will bring an additional strong base in
science, engineering, and research that will support INL's
research agenda.
They will also play a leading role in supporting INL's
educational vision to facilitate the innovative recruitment and
education of the next-generation of scientists, engineers, and
supporting technologists.
- Industrial Partnerships -- Battelle, whose industrial R
network includes numerous technology alliances with leading
Fortune 500 companies, intends to establish a strong set of
industrial partnerships (including small business and large
business joint investment) to realize the nation's and region's
vision for INL.
"We are very excited about the opportunity to pursue the
contract to manage and operate INL, an outstanding laboratory and
tremendous national asset," said Dr. Carl Kohrt, President and
CEO, Battelle. "Our team has a strong track record in the
effective management of major laboratories, brings an absolutely
world-class science and technology record, has considerable
experience at INL, and offers a wide array of collaborations with
partners in science and technology, nuclear power, universities,
and industry."
"Bringing together the outstanding staff and facility
capabilities of the INL and ANL-W to create a future INL that is
synonymous with International Nuclear Leadership is an exciting
opportunity," Kohrt added. "We would be very proud to be the
operator at INL."
The non-profit Battelle is one of the world's largest,
private, independent research and development organizations.
Each year, it assists approximately 1,000 industrial and
government clients with more than 3,500 projects -- including a
strong focus on science and technology solutions and the
development of new technologies. In addition to its own private
laboratories in locations such as Columbus, Ohio and Aberdeen,
Maryland, Battelle manages or co-manages four National
Laboratories for the U.S. Department of Energy -- Pacific
Northwest National Laboratory (Richland, Washington); the
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (Golden Colorado); Oak Ridge
National Laboratory (Oak Ridge, Tennessee); and Brookhaven
National Laboratory (Upton, New York).
Battelle, with the national labs it manages or co-manages,
oversees 16,000 staff members and conducts $3 billion in annual
research and development. As a non-profit charitable trust,
Battelle distributes 20 percent of its net income back to the
communities it serves, with a special emphasis on education,
economic development, arts and culture, and human services.
Among Battelle's successes are the development of the office
copier machine (Xerox); pioneering work on technology for the
compact disc; development of prototypes of fuel elements for the
first nuclear submarine (the Nautilus); numerous energy,
environmental, and national security innovations; and medical
technology advancements.
BWXT manages high-consequence nuclear and national security
production facilities and is a principal supplier of nuclear
components and advanced energy products. BWXT is recognized as
an industry leader in nuclear materials handling, processing,
packaging, transportation, and safeguards and security, including
physical security, materials accountability and information
protection on many levels. BWXT also brings best practice
experience from their owner/operator experience in managing one
of the nation's largest commercial high-enriched (HEV) processing
facilities which include special nuclear materials storage and
handling; conversion, recovery and downblending services;
operation of licensed radiochemistry/environmental laboratories;
production of high- and low-enriched fuel for research test
reactors at National Laboratories, colleges and universities; and
the manufacture of uranium targets to support the medical isotope
industry. BWXT and their affiliates manage over 10,000 employees
at facilities that include the U.S. Department of Energy's Y-12
National Security Complex, Pantex Plant, and company-owned
nuclear facility operations in Virginia, Ohio, and Indiana.
BWXT's involvement at INL dates back over 50 years where BWXT was
involved with design activities for the Navy's Advanced Test
Reactor (ATR) facility.
Since 1991, BWXT has successfully managed and operated the
Specific Manufacturing Capability facility which produces armor
for the U.S. Army Abrams Tank Program, earning plaudits from the
Army project manager, who called SMC his "best facility." BWXT
is a major operating unit of McDermott International, Inc., a
leading worldwide energy services company.
Washington Group International -- based in Boise, Idaho --
delivers integrated engineering construction and management
solutions to business and governments in six primary markets
worldwide: power, energy and environment, industrial process,
infrastructure, defense, and mining. Since the 1940s, when they
first helped establish the Naval Proving Ground and later the
National Reactor Testing Station on the current Idaho laboratory
site, Washington Group engineers and constructors have been
active in supporting numerous site projects. Those projects have
included design and construction of many of the reactors on site,
operation of the Chemical Processing Plant from 1984 to 1994, and
serving as site-wide construction manager from 1979 to 1993.
Most recently, Washington Group supported construction of the
Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Facility.
Today, Washington Group provides engineering, construction,
and operational services to more than a dozen U.S. Department of
Energy facilities, including prime contracts at the Savannah
River Site and Savannah River National Laboratory (Aiken, South
Carolina); Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (Carlsbad, New Mexico);
and West Valley Demonstration Project (Buffalo, New York). With
approximately 26,000 employees at work in over 40 states and more
than 30 countries, the company provides professional, scientific,
management, and development services in more than two dozen major
markets.
EPRI, established by the U.S. electric utilities in 1973, is
an independent, non-profit research consortium that manages a
broad collaborative research program for the benefit of the
electric utility industry, their customers, and society. It has
more than 700 domestic members who represent 90 percent of the
electricity generated and sold in the United States. In
addition, there are 130 international electricity enterprise
organizations participating in EPRI's research and development
program. Its technical program is unique in its breadth,
spanning virtually every aspect of electricity generation,
environmental protection, power delivery, retail use, and power
markets. EPRI has more than 800 patents to its credit and world-
class staff whose expertise spans a broad range of technologies.
EPRI's Nuclear R programs comprise over one-third of EPRI's
total R portfolio. 100 percent of U.S. plants and 45 percent of
all reactor units world-wide are full members of the EPRI Nuclear
Program with another 30 percent participating in portions of the
program. The EPRI Nuclear Power Program mission is to develop
cost effective technology for safe and environmentally friendly
electricity generation.
Battelle's university collaborators include nationally
recognized leaders in nuclear engineering, and, across the board,
represent highly-respected research and educational programs that
can and will support the Idaho site, the region, and the nation.
For more information, visit [http://www.battelle.org] or
contact Media Relations Manager Katy Delaney at (614) 424-5544 or
at [ delaneyk@battelle.org] .
SOURCE Battelle Web Site: [http://www.battelle.org]
*****************************************************************
57 Tri-Valley Herald: UC gets 2-year reprieve at Lab
6/10/2004
Contract extension may mean tougher fight to keep New Mexico lab
By Ian Hoffman, STAFF WRITER
Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said Wednesday that he is
separating competitions to run two nuclear weapons labs, possibly
altering the odds that the University of California can keep
running both labs and preserve its 60-year monopoly on U.S.
nuclear explosive design.
Even so, Abraham's decision gave a measure of relief to the
university and managers at Lawrence Livermore lab. Abraham said
he will extend the university's contract to run Livermore at
least two years, until September 2007 and perhaps until 2009.
Abraham's decision is nonetheless a mixed one for the university
and its first weapons lab, Los Alamos, operated by UC in the New
Mexico high desert since 1943. It allows UC and lab officials
more time to prepare for each competition and eases anxiety among
U.S. weapons physicists that they will lose pension benefits and
association with an academic institution.
But it also could lessen the likelihood of the university staying
at the helm of both labs.
"This is a good thing for Lawrence Livermore because it avoids
the disruption of two major competitions at once," said Philip
Coyle, a former Pentagon testing official and former Livermore
executive. "However it makes it more likely that the University
of California will not necessarily be managing both Los Alamos
and Livermore in the future ... Once you decide you're not going
to bid them together, it seems to me that the (U.S.) Department
of Energy is increasing the likelihood that the same contractor
will not run both design labs."
Putting the two labs up for bid at the same time, on the same
contract, would have cut the field of competitors and made it
easier for the university to win a clean sweep without angering
lawmakers in Congress who demanded competition to address
repeated management failures at Los Alamos in particular.
Rep. Ellen Tauscher, the Democrat whose district includes
Livermore, applauded Abraham's decision as favoring orderliness
and predictability over the anxiety of 20,000 workers in two
states.
"I'm elated," she said. "We've been pushing for this ... This
puts the University of California on a level playing field by not
punishing them for 60 years of managing the labs" by forcing the
university to fight for Los Alamos, Livermore and an
unclassified, basic science lab, Lawrence Berkeley, at the same
time.
"We have got to maintain a sense of equilibrium for the American
people at these labs," Tauscher said. "To have the turbulence of
both balls in the air at once, which DOE appears to recognize and
we brought to their attention, is not the right outcome for the
American people and does not ensure we have the continuity of
science and national security."
University and lab officials struck a measured tone in reacting
to Abraham's announcement.
Livermore director Mike Anastasio said his lab "supports" the
decision to extend university operations there through at least
2007.
"DOE has emphasized that their actions are intended to provide a
stable scientific environment at LLNL over the next few years,"
he said.
Robert Foley, the retired admiral who heads lab management for
the university and is spearheading its competitions, said
Abraham's decision "neither changes the University of
California's ongoing preparations to compete for continued
management of the all three UC-managed national laboratories nor
alters its continuing commitment to serving the nation."
It was clear, however, that many university and lab officials had
hoped for a different outcome.
Ideally, Anastasio told a panel of the National Academy of
Sciences two months ago, both labs would be competed together and
run by the same contractor, namely the university.
He and other lab officials framed the matter as preserving
cooperation and collaboration between the two H-bomb design labs.
Labs led by different contractors might eat each other alive in
the scramble for weapons research and other U.S. government
projects, they said.
They did not mention that competing the two labs together also
would wipe most other competitors off the map: Few were willing
to bid for two large labs operating in two states.
"I have concluded that it is very important to ensure we have the
broadest possible competition for future contracts," Abraham
said. "Separating these two competitions will achieve that
result."
Potential competitors praised the decision.
"I think that's the right move for the nation and the lab
system," said Bill Madia, vice president for lab management at
Battelle Memorial Institute. "If you put both weapons labs up for
competition simultaneously, you're courting a whole lot of angst
and it's best not to have a whole lot of angst."
Tri-Valley Herald All Rights Reserved
*****************************************************************
58 [progchat_action] The Plutonium Files
Date: Thu, 10 Jun 2004 17:23:00 -0500 (CDT)
The Plutonium Files by Eric Alterman
Home | Newswire | About Us | Donate | Sign-Up | Archives Featured
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Printer Friendly Version E-Mail This Article Published on Friday,
February 11, 2000 in The Nation
http://www.thenation.com/issue/000228/0228alterman.shtml The Plutonium
Files by Eric Alterman
Eileen Welsome, a mild-mannered 48-year-old reporter laboring away
in obscurity for a tiny afternoon newspaper in Albuquerque, New
Mexico, is no one's idea of a media Bigfoot. She doesn't give pop
quizzes to presidential candidates. She doesn't schmooze with Tina
Brown or Graydon Carter at the Four Seasons, or chat up Strobe
Talbott at Maison Blanche.
Instead, working largely on her own time and her own dime, Welsome
helped unravel one of the biggest stories of the past half-century:
the identities of those anonymous US citizens drafted as human
guinea pigs for America's atomic arsenal.
In a gruesome plot that is impossible to square with our triumphalist
ideology, between April 1945 and July 1947 doctors and scientists
working for the US atomic weapons program injected plutonium directly
into the bloodstreams of eighteen unwitting Americans, thereby
committing all but one to slow, painful death. Their urine and stool
samples were packed up and sent to Los Alamos for study.
Welsome discovered the experiments while sifting through some
documents at Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque in the spring
of 1987, her curiosity piqued by a report on radioactive animal
carcasses.
Sitting inside a safe, the reports were "stiff with age and smelled
of dust."
They identified the victims only by code names.
Welsome's editor told her that while the story sounded very
interesting, she had been hired as a neighborhood reporter. So she
ended up working on the story in her spare time--tracking down
retired scientists, reading the technical data, consulting historians
and writing FOIA requests.
Welsome soon discovered that the experiments were part of an even
more disturbing story, in which the people in charge of testing the
US nuclear arsenal had exposed thousands of Americans, including
soldiers, to radiation poisoning over a period of decades until
1962. While no one had discovered the identities of the eighteen
victims deliberately infected--as Welsome eventually would--the
larger scandal had been aired in a newsletter called Science Trends
in 1976 and in Mother Jones in 1981. It had also inspired a 60
Minutes investigation and a hearing of the House Subcommittee on
Investigations and Oversight, chaired by a then-unknown Congressman,
Albert Gore Jr. Gore impressively identified what he called "the
critical question"
facing investigators: "Were the treatments for the patients altered
in order to satisfy or facilitate the acquisition of the data?" But
he dodged the obvious answer. Gore's subcommittee decided that the
radiation experiments were "satisfactory, but not perfect." When
Ed Markey became chairman three years later, he released a thorough
and damning report detailing thirty-one human radiation experiments
involving 700 people. Its revelations, too, were roundly ignored.
In 1992, five years after happening upon the initial documents,
Welsome was finally able to piece together the identity of one of
the victims: "CAL-3" was an African-American railroad porter named
Elmer Allen of Italy, Texas. Allen had received a hypodermic needle
loaded with plutonium on July 18, 1947, for what was then believed
to be cancer and had his leg amputated at midthigh. He had told a
friend that the doctors had "put a germ cancer in his leg." Allen
died in 1991 knowing nothing of his role in the experiments.
At this point, the editors of the Albuquerque Tribune (circulation
35,000) realized they had a great story on their hands and soon got
behind Welsome in a big way, providing high-powered legal assistance
for her FOIA requests. Working full time on her investigation,
Welsome began to uncover the identities of the rest of the victims.
One was a housewife, another a janitor, a third owned a cigar store.
Each received potentially lethal injections of plutonium from the
government and nothing more: no disability, no admission of
responsibility, not even an apology.
When Welsome published the results of her investigation in a
three-part series in the paper in November 1993, the silence, once
again, was deafening. The American media remained unfazed by what
was probably--in purely human terms--the grossest human rights
violation committed against any group of Americans by any nation
during the entire cold war. But on December 7 then-Energy Secretary
Hazel O'Leary, seeing the reports as a tool in her brave campaign
to open up the records of her department, denounced the experiments;
she later promised to compensate the victims. President Clinton
appointed a committee to investigate, and finally the story exploded
in the mainstream media. Suddenly Welsome and her tiny paper were
deluged with requests for information. At one point every single
phone in the office had someone waiting on hold to speak to her
except the one she was then using.
The net result is that after a half-century of official denial and
derision, the government is just now beginning to admit its
responsibility for poisoning its own citizens. In late January
O'Leary's successor, Bill Richardson, admitted that the government
had both a moral and a financial responsibility to make amends to
government workers exposed to cancer-causing radiation at
nuclear-weapons-manufacturing plants. While the decision covers
only a small number of the victims, the principle of official
responsibility has finally been accepted.
Meanwhile, Welsome won every journalism prize imaginable, including
a Pulitzer, a George Polk and many others. Dial Press has just
published her riveting account of the entire shameful story, The
Plutonium Files. When I spoke to her she was packing up to move to
Denver to join her husband, where she has taken a job at that city's
alternative weekly, Westword. When I expressed my disbelief that
so brilliant and dogged a reporter had not been snapped up by one
of the country's great journalistic institutions, she shyly admitted
that she had received no offers. "I guess I've been working so hard
on this story for so long," she explained, "I kind of lost touch
with what's what in the world of big-time journalism." More likely,
big-time journalism has lost touch with what was once--at least in
principle--its reason for being.
###
Copyright )2000 The Nation Company
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59 Google News Alert - nuclear
Date: Thu, 10 Jun 2004 13:11:11 -0700 (PDT)
NEW Nuclear Program Sidelined
Wired News - USA
But the Bush administration's push to research and develop new nuclear
weapons could be on the verge of collapse, after a key Congressional leader
moved on ...
See all stories on this topic:
EU inspectors find no danger after leak at Czech nuclear plant
EUbusiness - London,UK
EU experts sent to inspect a leak of radioactive water at a Czech nuclear
power plant found no escape of dangerous material outside the facility,
the European ...
See all stories on this topic:
CALIFORNIA Firm Pleads Guilty To Exporting Nuclear Equipment To ...
NBC4.TV - Los Angeles,CA,USA
... ANGELES -- A San Rafael, Calif., company has pleaded guilty to charges
it violated federal export laws by shipping equipment used in the nuclear
power industry ...
See all stories on this topic:
IRAN Says it Will Not End Nuclear Research
Voice of America - Washington,DC,USA
Iran is warning the Group of Eight industrialized nations that it has no
intention of ending its nuclear program, despite accusations that Tehran
is not fully ...
See all stories on this topic:
CONSTELLATION Energy Completes Acquisition of Ginna Nuclear Power ...
Yahoo News (press release) - USA
... June 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Constellation Energy (NYSE: CEG -
News) today announced the completion of the acquisition of the RE Ginna
Nuclear Power Plant ...
See all stories on this topic:
STATE officials get ideas from Indian Point nuclear drill
Stamford Advocate - Stamford,CT,USA
HARTFORD, Conn. -- State emergency management leaders who observed a disaster
drill this week at a New York nuclear power plant came away with ideas
about how ...
See all stories on this topic:
AIR attack on nuclear reactor? Scenario tested
MSNBC - USA
For the first time ever, a nuclear power plant this week incorporated a
9/11 scenario into its security drills: a terrorist strike using a commercial
aircraft. ...
See all stories on this topic:
NUCLEAR LOSSES RISE
Sky News - UK
... to Ł2.32bn. Nuclear clean-up liabilities had increased costs at Sellafield,
Cumbria, Warrington-based BNFL said. There was also ...
See all stories on this topic:
IRAN Warns G8 It Will Not Halt Nuclear Program
Reuters - USA
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran warned the Group of Eight on Thursday it had no
intention of halting its nuclear program despite criticism by G8 leaders
of Tehran's ...
See all stories on this topic:
ENERGY Secretary Abraham to Speak on Nuclear Nonproliferation ...
U.S. Newswire (press release) - Washington,DC,USA
... the Department of Energy's Global Threat Reduction Initiative, a comprehensive
global initiative to secure and remove high-risk nuclear and radiological
...
This daily-once News Alert is brought to you by Google News (BETA)...
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60 NBC 4: California Firm Pleads Guilty To Exporting Nuclear
Equipment To India
[http://www.ibsys.com/]
POSTED: 11:04 am PDT June 10, 2004
LOS ANGELES -- A San Rafael, Calif., company has pleaded guilty
to charges it violated federal export laws by shipping equipment
used in the nuclear power industry to India.
The United States Attorney's Office in San Francisco says
Berkeley Nucleonics Corporation, which also does business as BNC
Corp., was fined $300,000 and will be subject to five years of
probation.
The company admitted to shipping a generator used for calibrating
nuclear instruments to an atomic research center in India without
a license required by the U.S. government. The center is a
division of India's Department of Atomic Energy.
Two former employees of BNC have already pleaded guilty in the
case.
Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
© 2004, Internet Broadcasting Systems, Inc
[http://www.ibsys.com/] .
*****************************************************************
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material is distributed without profit or payment to those who
have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for
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information go to:
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