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                         NUCLEAR POLICY
 
1 [NukeNet] 9/11 report says al-Qaeda planned to crash planes
2 UK Independent: Official verdict: White House misled world over Sadd
3 AFP: Iran vows to continue cooperation with IAEA
4 MNA: Iran’s Nuclear Dossier Should Change As IAEA Admits Mistakes 
5 AFP: Europe's 'Big Three' submit resolution on Iran nuclear program
6 NUCLEAR WATCHDOG NOW ADMITS: IRAN WAS FALSELY ACCUSED
7 AFP: US has not asked for Iran nuclear case to go to Security Counci
8 AFP: Washington accuses Iran of razing nuclear sites
9 BBC: Nuclear agency admits Iran error 
10 AFP: UN agency admits mistake but pushes Iran for more nuclear coope
11 AFP: Russia expecting no breakthrough at North Korea crisis talks
12 Taipei Times: N Korea deal possible:
13 Xinhuanet: China calls for "reasonable" expectations on six-party ta
14 US: Guardian Unlimited: Zero protection from nuclear code
15 US: U.S. Senate Approves Development Of New Nuclear Weapons
16 US: Las Vegas Mercury: Backstory: The most contradictory man
17 Sify: Indo-Pak nuclear CBM talks tomorrow                   
18 Sify: Pak is our non-NATO ally, says Bush                   
19 Indian Express: US to boost N-ventures with India
 
                         NUCLEAR REACTORS
 
20 US: [NukeNet] 9/11 Terror Plans Called For Nuclear Power Plant
21 [NukeNet] Lovelock, Global Warming/NPPs
22 Sofia Morning News: EU Pays for Bulgaria's Nuke Safety
23 US: NRC: NRC Publishes Alternative Fire Protection Rule
24 US: NRC: Elimination of the Site Decommissioning Management Plan and
25 EUpolitix: EU and Japan spar for ITER
26 US: AP Wire: DHEC offers potassium pills to Midlands residents
27 BakuTODAY.net: License Extended for Armenian Nuclear Power Plant 
28 US: JOURNAL NEWS: River watchdog
29 US: NRC: NRC to Discuss Perry Inspection Findings with FirstEnergy O
30 FT: Ahead at half power  
31 FT: Rescue plan for British Energy faces delay  
32 FT: British Energy still at risk of insolvency  
33 US: RG: New nukes unnecessary: United States has more important fisc
34 US: Boston.com: Workers OK strike at nuclear plant as convention nea
35 Prague Post: Officials fume over Temelin visit     
 
                          NUCLEAR SAFETY
 
36 [NYTr] US Trying to Dump DU-contaminated Scrap on Jordan?
37 [DU-WATCH] DU in nukes and other warheads - get focused people
38 US: Cincinnati Enquirer: Energy workers' claims inch closer to resol
39 US: AP Wire: Senate passes measure to ensure sick weapons workers ge
40 US: Courier-Journal: Senate votes to move nuclear-worker program 
41 US: Hawk Eye: Double standard Record reflects vastly different appro
42 US: Boston.com: Following the disturbing trail of a boy who became a
 
                         NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE
 
43 US: BIA: Midnite Uranium mine damage assessment plan
44 Las Vegas SUN: Northern Nevada Democrats accuse president of
45 US: Salt Lake Tribune: Progress of Yucca Mountain project is quite m
46 Daily Yomiuri: Aomori plant to start test-using uranium 
47 Las Vegas SUN: House panel to study bill to reclassify fees
48 Las Vegas SUN: Editorial: Lies, lies and more lies
49 US: Las Vegas SUN: Bill could improve security on trains with nuke w
50 Las Vegas SUN: Yucca budget measure moves forward
51 RGJ: New Kerry chief focuses on Yucca
52 US: Bradenton Herald: Tallevast answers may be year away
53 US: heraldtribune.com: Tallevast residents voice concerns 
54 US: CNW Telbec: UEX and JCU Sign Agreement on Athabasca Uranium Proj
55 Xinhuanet: China to tighten hazardous waste management   
56 AU ABC: Govt postpones testing on radioactive waste dump sites.
57 US: ONN: Energy Department pledges to remove vast majority of nuclea
 
                         NUCLEAR WEAPONS
 
58 US: "Books not Bombs" rally and march in Livermore August 8
 
                        US DEPT. OF ENERGY
 
59 Paducah Sun: Canadian firm eyes Paducah for factory to reuse scrap m
60 Oak Ridger: Senate OKs sick worker switch 							 							 							
61 Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Hanford cleanup enters new phase
62 Seattle Times: Nuclear-waste vapors risky, group claims
63 Oak Ridger: No meth thefts at federal sites 							 							 							
64 Tri-City Herald: Committee working on plan to manage Hanford Reach 
65 Rocky Mountain News: Ill weapons makers get support in Senate
66 PISJ: Additional $50 million allocated for INEEL
67 PISJ: Nuclear site's security division targets modern threats
68 Daily Texan: DOE extends UC's Livermore Lab contract - 
69 U.S. Newswire: DOE Nuclear Worker Resource Center in Ames, Iowa, 
 
                          OTHER NUCLEAR
 
70 Google News Alert - nuclear
*****************************************************************
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                         FULL NEWS STORIES
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 1 [NukeNet] 9/11 report says al-Qaeda planned to crash planes
 
Date: Thu, 17 Jun 2004 11:53:00 -0700


 
<x-flowed>
Al Qaeda Originally Envisioned Plot With 10 Jets
9/11 Panel Finds No Collaboration Between Iraq, Al Qaeda

By Dan Eggen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, June 16, 2004; 1:40 PM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45853-2004Jun16.html


The terrorist attacks carried out on Sept. 11, 2001, were originally
envisioned as an even more spectacular assault involving 10 jetliners on
the east and west coasts, but the plan was scaled back and was nearly
derailed on several occasions by setbacks and squabbling among senior al
Qaeda officials, according to a new report released this morning.

The date for the attacks was uncertain until weeks before they were
carried out, and there is evidence as late as Sept. 9, 2001, that
ringleader Mohamed Atta had not decided whether the flight that crashed
in Pennsylvania would target the U.S. Capitol or the White House,
according to the report, which was issued by the independent commission
probing the Sept. 11 attacks. One of the hijacking pilots apparently
came close to abandoning the plot altogether, the panel found.

In an overview of al Qaeda released in a separate report earlier this
morning, the commission also found "no credible evidence" that al Qaeda
collaborated with Saddam Hussein's government in Iraq on the Sept. 11
strikes or any other attacks on the United States.

The commission's astonishingly detailed report on the planning for
Sept. 11 -- which relies heavily on the previously classified
interrogations of senior al Qaeda operatives in U.S. custody -- portrays
al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden as deeply involved in planning the
strikes, choosing the hijackers himself and consistently pushing to have
the attacks carried out earlier than they eventually were.

Bin Laden's fervor persisted despite heated opposition from many of his
closest aides, who urged him to abandon the plot as it neared its
completion in the summer of 2001, the report says.

Bin Laden "thought that an attack against the United States would reap
al Qaeda a recruiting and fundraising bonanza," the report says. "In his
thinking, the more al Qaeda did, the more support it would gain.
Although he faced opposition from many of his most senior advisers . . .
bin Laden effectively overruled their objections, and the attacks went
forward."

The commission's report represents by far the most detailed and
authoritative public account of the Sept. 11 attacks since the 19 al
Qaeda hijackers commandeered four jetliners and crashed them into the
World Trade Center, the Pentagon and the Pennsylvania countryside that
day. It also comes as one of the last documents to be issued by the
10-member bipartisan panel before the release next month of its final
report, which is likely to span some 500 pages.

Most of the report centers on the planning and deliberations for the
Sept. 11 plot, which began with a proposal in 1996 to bin Laden by
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who would eventually oversee the plot and whose
statements to his U.S. interrogators form a crucial part of the
commission's report. Another U.S. detainee, Sept. 11 financier and
would-be hijacker Ramzi Binalshibh, also figures prominently in the
account.

The report traces the emergence of the hijackers, beginning with
longtime jihad fighters Nawaf Alhazmi and Khalid Almihdhar and including
the formation of a hijacking cell in Hamburg, Germany. Bin Laden
approved a plan in 1999 that called for hijacking airliners in both the
United States and Southeast Asia, but the latter part was soon dropped
for logistical reasons.

In addition to the targets that were hit on Sept. 11, Mohammed
initially proposed crashing hijacked planes into the CIA and FBI
headquarters, unidentified nuclear power plants and the tallest
buildings in California and Washington state," the report says.

"The centerpiece of his original proposal was the tenth plane, which he
would have piloted himself," it says. Instead of crashing it in a
suicide
attack, Mohammed would have killed every adult male passenger on
the plane, contacted the media from the air and landed the aircraft at a
U.S. airport. Then he would have made a speech denouncing U.S. policies
in the Middle East before releasing all the women and children, the
report says.

When bin Laden finally approved the operation, he personally scrapped
the idea of using one of the hijacked planes to make a public statement,
the report says.

Commission staff also identify at least nine, and as many as 10,
potential hijackers who were at one point drafted for inclusion in the
attacks but either backed out or were removed by senior al Qaeda
officials. Al Qaeda had envisioned 25 or 26 hijackers total, for as many
as seven hijackers on each plane, according to Mohammed.

Contrary to the popular depiction of the plotters as disciplined and
unerring, the commission's investigators indicate that the plan was
beset with problems.

"Given the catastrophic results of the 9/11 attacks, it is tempting to
depict the plot as a set plan executed to near perfection," the report
says. "This would be a mistake. The 9/11 conspirators confronted
operational difficulties, internal disagreements, and even dissenting
opinions within the leadership of al Qaeda. In the end, the plot proved
sufficiently flexible to adapt and evolve as challenges arose."

The commission staff found that "internal disagreement among the 9/11
plotters may have posed the greatest potential vulnerability for the
plot." The clearest example is a serious rift that developed between
Atta, whom bin Laden had designated as the "emir" of the plot, and Ziad
Jarrah, one of the other trained pilots.

Jarrah was more gregarious and seemingly westernized than his
compatriots, and he pined for his girlfriend. He had married her in an
Islamic ceremony not recognized by German law, and he called her on an
almost daily basis. The breaking point appears to have come in July
2001, when Jarrah was taken to the Miami airport by Atta and issued a
one-way ticket to Germany.

Although Jarrah would rejoin the plot in the next month, the panel
concludes that Mohammed "may have been preparing another al Qaeda
operative, Zacarias Moussaoui, to take Jarrah's place" and that he was
intended "as a potential substitute pilot." Moussaoui, who was arrested
in Minnesota in August 2001, is charged as a conspirator in the Sept. 11
plot.

The panel, formally known as the National Commission on Terrorist
Attacks Upon the United States, also portrays an ongoing high-level
debate among bin Laden, Mohammed, Atta and others over the scope and
timing of the attacks.

Bin Laden, the report says, "had been pressuring KSM [Mohammed] for
months to advance the attack date," even asking that the attacks occur
as early as mid-2000 after Ariel Sharon caused an outcry by visiting a
contested holy site in Jerusalem. According to Mohammed, bin Laden later
pushed for dates of May 12, 2001 -- the seven-month anniversary of the
bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen -- and then for June or July, to
coincide with a visit by Sharon to Washington.

"In both instances," the report said, Mohammed "insisted that the
hijacker teams were not yet ready. Other al Qaeda detainees also confirm
that the 9/11 attacks were delayed during the summer of 2001, despite
bin Laden's wishes."

The final date was likely influenced in part by the targets chosen,
investigators also found. An electronic communication between Atta and
Binalshibh showed that Atta finally selected a date after the first week
in September "so that the United States Congress would be in session."

Bin Laden strongly favored targeting the White House, and Binalshibh
urged Atta to agree. But Atta was concerned that the presidential
mansion was too difficult to hit, and backed the U.S. Capitol instead.
The matter appears to have been unresolved as late as two days before
the attack.

The panel's report appears to generally side with FBI investigators on
the question of knowing accomplices within
the United States, ruling
out, for example, any terrorist connections to a Saudi national who
helped two of the hijackers in San Diego. The panel also found no
evidence that the Saudi royal family or government aided the plot. But
the commission raises questions about a handful of other individuals and
says its investigation is continuing.

The public hearings being held today feature testimony from FBI
investigators, a Justice Department prosecutor and a CIA officer about
the history of al Qaeda and the makings of the Sept. 11 plot.

In a staff report and testimony tomorrow, the commission will examine
the nation's poorly prepared air defenses on Sept. 11.

A 12-page report issued earlier today offered a broad examination of
the history of al Qaeda and bin Laden, who for years went unnoticed or
underestimated by U.S. intelligence officials.

That report says that bin Laden was intent on carrying out attacks on
the United States as early as 1992, viewing America as "the head of the
snake" because of its support for Israel and Arab regimes he considered
corrupt. But U.S. officials were not aware of these plans, or
knowledgeable about any details of his organization, until four years
later, the report says.

Although al Qaeda evidently never built a relationship with Iraq, the
terrorist group may have become involved with Iran, and may have
participated in the June 1996 bombing of the Khobar Towers apartment
complex in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, that killed 19 Americans and injured
372 others, the panel found.

Investigators concluded that the Khobar Towers attack was carried out
by a Saudi Shiite Hezbollah group with assistance from Iran. Initially,
because of the historical hostility between bin Laden's extremist brand
of Sunni Islam and Shiites, analysts had discounted cooperation between
the two.

"Later intelligence, however, showed far greater potential for
collaboration between Hezbollah and al Qaeda than many had previously
thought," the report says. It describes contacts between al Qaeda and
Iran, including a visit to Iran and Lebanon by a small group of al Qaeda
operatives for training in explosives, intelligence and security.

"We have seen strong but indirect evidence that [bin Laden's]
organization did in fact play some as yet unknown role in the Khobar
attack," the report says.

As al Qaeda developed, its terrorist training camps in Afghanistan
provided fertile ground for its operatives "to think creatively about
ways to commit mass murder," it says. Among the ideas that were raised:
taking over a nuclear missile launcher in Russia and forcing Russian
scientists to fire a nuclear missile at the United States, carrying out
mustard gas or cyanide attacks against Jewish areas in Iran, spreading
poison gas through the air conditioning system of a targeted building
and hijacking an aircraft and crashing it into an airport terminal or
nearby city.

In 1998, the suicide truck bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and
Tanzania -- which killed 224 people and injured more than 5,000 combined
-- marked a new departure in that "they were planned, directed and
executed by al Qaeda, under the direct supervision of bin Laden and his
chief aides," the report says.

But a January 2000 attempt to attack a U.S. warship, the USS The
Sullivans, failed because the boat to be used in the suicide attack was
overloaded with explosives and sank, the report says. Ten months later,
a similar attack was executed successfully against the USS Cole in
Yemen.

"Contrary to popular understanding," the report says, "bin Laden did
not fund al Qaeda through a personal fortune and a network of
businesses," and he never received a $300 million inheritance. He
actually received about $1 million a year over about 24 years as an
inheritance, a significant sum but not enough to fund a global terrorist
network.

"Instead, al Qaeda relied primarily on a fundraising network developed
over time," the report says. It says the CIA estimates that al Qaeda
spent $30 million a year, wi
th the largest outlays ($10 million to $20
million annually) going to fund the Taliban.

"Actual terrorist operations were relatively cheap," it says.

Since the Sept. 11 attacks and the defeat of the Taliban in
Afghanistan, "al Qaeda's funding has decreased significantly," the
report says. But the group's expenditures have decreased as well, and
"it remains relatively easy for al Qaeda to find the relatively small
sums required to fund terrorist operations," the report warns.

Now, the organization is far more decentralized, with operational
commanders and cell leaders making the decisions that were previously
made by bin Laden, the panel found.

Yet, al Qaeda remains interested in carrying out chemical, biological,
radiological or nuclear attacks against the United States, the report
says. Although an attempt to purchase uranium in 1994 failed -- the
material proved to be fake -- "al Qaeda continues to pursue its
strategic objective of obtaining a nuclear weapon," according to the
report.

By any means possible, it warns, "al Qaeda is actively striving to
attack the United States and inflict mass casualties."

In testimony before the commission today, federal officials said they
agreed that al Qaeda remains a threat to the United States.

U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald said that despite losing much of
its leadership in the U.S. war on terrorism, al Qaeda is still dangerous
and may now be more far-flung.

John Pistole, the FBI's executive assistant director for
counter-terrorism, said the FBI views the war against terrorism as a
"generational" one that may not be won until future generations in the
Muslim world are weaned away from radical anti-American views.

"It may be tantamount to a hundred-year war," he said.

Staff writer William Branigin contributed to this report.


� 2004 The Washington Post Company

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*****************************************************************
 2 UK Independent: Official verdict: White House misled world over Saddam
 
By Andrew Buncombe in Washington

 
17 June 2004

President George Bush, 

Saddam was a danger in the region where the 9/11 threat emerged 

The Bush administration's credibility was dealt a devastating 
blow yesterday when the commission investigating the attacks of 
11 September said there was no credible evidence that Saddam 
Hussein's regime had assisted al-Qa'ida - something repeatedly 
suggested by the President and his senior officials and held up 
as a reason for the invasion of Iraq. 

A report by the independent commission said while there were 
contacts between Iraq and al-Qa'ida operatives in the 1990s, it 
appeared Osama bin Laden's requests for a partnership were 
rebuffed. "We have no credible evidence that Iraq and al-Qa'ida 
co-operated on attacks against the United States," the commission 
said. It also discounted widespread claims that Mohamed Atta, the 
hijackers' ringleader, met an Iraqi intelligence official in 
Prague. 

The report forced the Bush administration on to the defensive, as 
it appeared to undermine one of its key justifications for the 
invasion of Iraq. 

While Mr Bush has been forced to admit there was no specific 
evidence to link Saddam to 11 September, his deputy, Dick Cheney, 
claimed on Monday that the former Iraqi leader was "a patron of 
terrorism [with] long-established ties with al-Qa'ida''. 

Last autumn Mr Cheney referred to the disputed meeting between 
Atta and an Iraqi official in the Czech Republic. 

Critics of the White House say there was a deliberate policy to 
manipulate public opinion and create an association between 
Saddam and the attacks on New York and Washington. If true, such 
a plan has certainly been successful: a poll taken last September 
by the Washington Post newspaper found 69 per cent of Americans 
believed that Saddam was involved in the 11 September attacks. 

The Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry seized on the 
commission's report last night. "The administration misled 
America and the administration reached too far," he told Michigan 
National Public Radio. 

The commission's report - issued at the start of its final two 
days of public hearings into the circumstances surrounding the 
attacks - confirmed that in the early Nineties al-Qa'ida and 
Saddam's regime had made overtures to each other. 

In 1994, for instance, Saddam had dispatched a senior 
intelligence official to Sudan to meet Bin Laden, making three 
visits before he finally met the al-Qa'ida leader. 

Bin Laden requested help to procure weapons and establish 
training camps but Iraq did not respond, the report said. There 
were also reports of contact with Bin Laden once he moved to 
Afghanistan in 1996 but these "do not appear to have resulted in 
a collaborative relationship". It added: "Two senior Bin Laden 
associates have adamantly denied that any ties existed between 
al-Qa'ida and Iraq." The commission's report also revealed that 
the initial plan for the attack on the US - drawn up by Khalid 
Sheikh Mohammed, a senior al-Qa'ida operative who is now in US 
custody - envisioned a much broader assault, simultaneously 
targeting 10 different US cities on both the east and west 
coasts. 

That expanded target list included the FBI headquarters in the 
plot was to have been the 10th plane - on which he which 
personally have flown. Rather than attacking a building, Mohammed 
would have killed all of the male passengers on board, before 
contacting media and landing at an airport where he would have 
released women and children. He then was to make a speech 
denouncing the US. That ambitious plan was rejected by Bin Laden, 
who gave his approval to a scaled-back mission involving four 
planes and costing as little as between $4-500,000. Mohammed had 
wanted to use more hijackers for those planes - 25 or 26, instead 
of 19. It said at least 10 other al-Qa'ida operatives who were 
initially due to participate in the attacks had been identified. 
They did not take part in the mission for a variety of reasons 
including visa problems and suspicions by airport officials in 
the US. 

The report also revealed that the plot was riven by internal 
dissent, including over whether to target the White House or the 
Capitol building that were apparently not resolved prior to the 
attacks. Bin Laden also had to overcome opposition to attacking 
the US from Mullah Omar, leader of the former Taliban regime, who 
was under pressure from Pakistan to keep al-Qa'ida confined. 

The commission confirmed that al-Qa'ida, though drastically 
changed and decentralised since 9-11, retained regional networks 
that were seeking to attack the US. 

"Al-Qa'ida remains extremely interested in conducting chemical, 
biological, radiological or nuclear attacks," said the report. It 
said that its ability to conduct an anthrax attack is one of the 
most immediate threats. The network may also try to attack a 
chemical plant or shipment of hazardous materials, or to use 
industrial chemicals as a weapon. 

The report said the CIA estimated the network spent $30m a year 
before September 11 on training camps and terrorist operations. 
The money was also used to support the Taliban.                    


UK Independent Ltd.
*****************************************************************
 3 AFP: Iran vows to continue cooperation with IAEA

[http://www.spacewar.com/]

VIENNA (AFP) Jun 17, 2004

 Iran said Thursday it will continue to cooperate with the 
International Atomic Energy Agency after Britain, France and 
Germany submitted a resolution critical of Tehran's nuclear 
program.

Iranian delegation chief Seyed Hossein Mussavian told reporters 
he had not examined the resolution, but based on versions he had 
already seen, "Iran would continue cooperation with IAEA."

He said: "Iran would be committed to (the nuclear) 
non-proliferation treaty (NPT) and there is no issue of 
withdrawal from the NPT."

"We would concentrate (focus) with the IAEA to resolve these two 
technical remaining issues which are P-2 and contamination," he 
said, referring to questions the IAEA has about advanced P-2 
centrifuges that can make bomb-grade uranium and contamination by 
highly enriched uranium (HEU) particles that IAEA inspectors have 
found on equipment in Iran.

"We hope this will be also resolved within a few months," 
Mussavian said.

Iranian President Mohammad Khatami had warned Wednesday that if 
the agency adopted a tough resolution the Islamic republic could 
back away from key commitments such as the suspension of uranium 
enrichment and allowing tougher inspections.

But Mussavian said Iran "would continue to cooperate with the 
IAEA also in the framework of the protocol 93 + 2," which is the 
additional protocol to the NPT that mandates tougher inspections.

  WAR.WIRE
*****************************************************************
 4 MNA: Iran’s Nuclear Dossier Should Change As IAEA Admits Mistakes - Fleming                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

Mehr News Agency English
 		 		 		 		
Tehran:06:31,2004/06/18   																 															
                                                                  
VIENNA, June 17 (MNA) –The spokeswoman for the UN atomic agency 
Melissa Fleming told the Mehr News Agency on Thursday that a 
draft resolution on Iran’s nuclear program written by the 
European big three should change as the agency admitted it had 
made a mistake in a June report on Iran's nuclear program.  
 																				   																					
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) admitted Thursday 
to having made a mistake in a June report on Iran's nuclear 
program that said Iran had failed to inform it about importing 
magnets for advanced centrifuges. 
    
IAEA Deputy Director General Pierre Goldschmidt told a meeting of 
the IAEA 35-nation board of governors that an Iranian interviewed 
in January had mentioned importing magnets, but it was not 
mentioned in an IAEA report in June. 
  
Goldschmidt said the IAEA "acknowledges that it omitted to take 
notice of the oral statement made in January with respect to the 
importation of magnets". 
  
ElBaradei himself also told reporters a resolution the IAEA board 
is to consider on Iran's nuclear program will "reflect" the 
mistake. 
  
MS/IS End MNA                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             
© 2003 Mehr News Agency
*****************************************************************
 5 AFP: Europe's 'Big Three' submit resolution on Iran nuclear program

[http://www.spacewar.com/]

VIENNA (AFP) Jun 17, 2004

 Britain, France, and Germany submitted a resolution at the UN 
atomic agency Thursday calling for a 15-month-old investigation 
into Iran's nuclear activities to be stepped up and for Tehran to 
do more to help it complete the probe within a few months, agency 
officials said.

Here are extracts from the draft text:

-- Reiterating its appreciation that Iran has continued to act
as if its Additional Protocol were in force and noting with
satisfaction that Iran has submitted to the Agency the initial
declarations pursuant to that Protocol... 

-- Noting... that important information about the P-2 centrifuge
program has often been forthcoming only after repeated requests
and in some cases has been incomplete and continues to lack the
necessary clarity and also that the information provided to date
relating to contamination issues has not been adequate... 

-- Noting with concern that the Agency's investigations have
revealed further omissions in the statements made by Iran,
including in the October declaration, in particular concerning
the importation of P-2 components from abroad and concerning
laser enrichment tests, which have produced samples enriched up
to 15 percent, and also that Agency experts have raised
questions and doubts regarding the explanations provided by
Iran... 

-- Acknowledging the statement by the Director General on 14
June that it is essential for the integrity and credibility of
the inspection process to bring these issues to a close within
the next few months

-- Acknowledges that Iranian cooperation has resulted in Agency
access to all requested locations, including four workshops
belonging to the Defense Industries Organization

-- Deplores at the same time the fact that overall, as indicated
by the Director General's written and oral reports, Iran's
cooperation has not been as full, timely and proactive as it
should have been, and in particular that Iran postponed until
mid-April visits originally scheduled for mid-March, including
visits of Agency centrifuge experts to a number of locations
involved in Iran's P-2 centrifuge enrichment program, resulting
in some cases in a delay in the taking of environmental samples
and their analysis...

-- Calls on Iran to take all necessary steps on an urgent basis
to help resolve all outstanding questions, especially that of
LEU and HEU contamination found at various locations in Iran... 

-- Calls on Iran as a further confidence-building measure
voluntarily to reconsider its decision to begin production
testing at the Uranium Conversion Facility... 

-- Recalls that the full and prompt cooperation with the Agency
of all third countries is essential in the clarification of
certain outstanding questions, notably contamination...

  WAR.WIRE
*****************************************************************
 6 NUCLEAR WATCHDOG NOW ADMITS: IRAN WAS FALSELY ACCUSED
 
Date: Thu, 17 Jun 2004 08:18:23 -0500 (CDT)


 
(Check for page 16,317 of Fox News style  reporters for where this
story
will get buried....)

Nuclear agency admits Iran error

The UN atomic energy agency has admitted wrongly reporting that Iran
withheld information from it.

Iran has recently come in for strong criticism from the International
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the United States over its nuclear
programmes.

The IAEA reported in June that Tehran had failed to inform it about
importing magnets for advanced centrifuges which can produce
weapons-grade uranium.

However, it now says Iran made an oral statement about the magnets in
January.

..

'Technical mistake'

Admitting the mistake on Thursday, IAEA deputy director general Pierre
Goldschmidt said the agency "acknowledges that it omitted to take
notice of the oral statement made in January with respect to the
importation of magnets".

But IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei played down the importance
of the admission.

..

Hossein Mousavian, secretary of the foreign policy committee of Iran's
Supreme National Security Council, said: "This has been a big
mistake."

He was speaking on the sidelines of an IAEA meeting that is expected
to issue a resolution that criticises Tehran for its patchy
co-operation.

Mr Mousavian welcomed the correction but said it came too late and the
inaccurate report had tainted the whole atmosphere of the meeting.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/3815105.stm

= = = =
STILL FEELING LIKE THE MAINSTREAM U.S. CORPORATE MEDIA
IS GIVING A FULL HONEST PICTURE OF WHAT'S GOING ON?
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 7 AFP: US has not asked for Iran nuclear case to go to Security Council

[http://www.spacewar.com/]


WASHINGTON (AFP) Jun 17, 2004

 The United States so far has not asked for the Iran nuclear case 
to be put before the UN Security Council so Tehran could face 
possible sanctions, the State Department said Thursday.

"We have not been seeking referral at this moment to the Security 
Council," spokesman Richard Boucher said, adding that the United 
States wanted to see the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy 
Agency adopt a firm resolution on Iranian compliance.

"We have been pressing for a resolution that's strong, that asks 
Iran to meet its own commitments, that asks Iran to disclose what 
it has promised to disclose, that asks Iran to meet the 
requirements that have been put forward by its membership in the 
IAEA and put forward by the Board of Governors of the IAEA," 
Boucher said.

"The United States has felt that it's important for the IAEA to 
continue its pressure on Iran, to continue its investigation, its 
inspections, to continue finding things out about this program," 
he said.

"And as they have continued to do that, including in recent days, 
including by this revelation that we had in recent days, we think 
it's appropriate for the board to continue the activity that's 
going on now," the spokesman added.

Britain, France, and Germany submitted a resolution at the UN 
atomic agency Thursday calling for a 15-month-old investigation 
into Iran's nuclear activities to be stepped up and for Tehran to 
do more to help it complete the probe within a few months, agency 
officials said.

The United States is concerned Tehran may be seeking to develop a 
nuclear weapon under the cover of a civilian nuclear program, 
which the Islamic republic denies.

  WAR.WIRE
*****************************************************************
 8 AFP: Washington accuses Iran of razing nuclear sites

[http://www.spacewar.com/] 


WASHINGTON (AFP) Jun 17, 2004

 The United States on Thursday accused Iran of razing nuclear 
sites to hide banned nuclear activity.

"It's deplorable but not surprising that Iran's deception has 
gone to the extent of bulldozing entire sites to prevent the IAEA 
from discovering evidence of its nuclear weapons program," said 
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher.

"I can't give you any independent information, but commercial 
satellite photography shows the complete dismantling and the 
razing of a facility at Lavizan Shiyan.

"And that's a site that was previously disclosed as a possible 
Iranian weapons of mass destruction-related site," he said.

During a press conference, Boucher was asked about an ABC News 
report saying that Iran had torn down buildings at an industrial 
complex in Lavizan Shiyan, a Teheran suburb.

ABC television said the IAEA had recently received information 
that the site had been hidden.

The network, which did not cite sources, published two 
photographs, apparently of the site, taken by commercial 
satellites about 12 months ago and in March 2004, showing the 
buildings were gone and the top soil replaced.

The ABC report also said that in May 2003, the National Council 
of the Resistance of Iran, an Iranian opposition group, said the 
government had built a bacterial weapons plant at Lavizan Shiyan.

Although the United States believes the group has links with 
terrorism, it has in the past used the group's information on 
banned weapons.

"This raises serious concerns and fits a pattern, as I said, that 
we've seen from Iran of trying to cover up on its activities, 
including by trying to sanitize locations which the IAEA should 
be allowed to visit and inspect."

The United States accuses Iran of seeking to arm itself with 
nuclear weapons under the guise of a civilian nuclear program, a 
charge the Islamic republic denies.

The IAEA has been examining a draft resolution demanding that 
Tehran cooperate fully to dispel any doubts about its intentions.

  WAR.WIRE
*****************************************************************
 9 BBC: Nuclear agency admits Iran error 
 
  Last Updated: Thursday, 17 June, 2004

 
[Mohamed ElBaradei, IAEA secretary general ] 

Mohamed ElBaradei called for more transparency from Iran                        
			   		
The UN atomic energy agency has admitted wrongly reporting that 
Iran withheld information from it. 

Iran has recently come in for strong criticism from the 
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the United States 
over its nuclear programmes. 

The IAEA reported in June that Tehran had failed to inform it 
about importing magnets for advanced centrifuges which can 
produce weapons-grade uranium. 

However, it now says Iran made an oral statement about the 
magnets in January. 

On Wednesday, the US has accused Iran of bullying foreign 
diplomats. 

The US ambassador to the United Nations in Vienna, Kenneth Brill, 
said Iran's president was using "intimidation" by saying Tehran 
might resume its uranium enrichment programme. 

'Technical mistake' 

Admitting the mistake on Thursday, IAEA deputy director general 
Pierre Goldschmidt said the agency "acknowledges that it omitted 
to take notice of the oral statement made in January with respect 
to the importation of magnets". 

But IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei played down the 
importance of the admission. 

"This is not a major mistake. Iran could have corrected it," he 
said. 

He added that "this technical correction doesn't change the fact 
that we need more transparency from Iran" in reporting on its 
nuclear programme. 

The IAEA is investigating US charges that Iran is secretly 
developing nuclear weapons. 

Hossein Mousavian, secretary of the foreign policy committee of 
Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said: "This has been a 
big mistake." 

He was speaking on the sidelines of an IAEA meeting that is 
expected to issue a resolution that criticises Tehran for its 
patchy co-operation. 

Mr Mousavian welcomed the correction but said it came too late 
and the inaccurate report had tainted the whole atmosphere of the 
meeting. 





*****************************************************************
 10 AFP: UN agency admits mistake but pushes Iran for more nuclear cooperation

[http://www.spacewar.com/] 


VIENNA (AFP) Jun 17, 2004

 The UN atomic agency admitted Thursday it made a mistake in a 
report on Iran's nuclear program but was still pushing for a 
tough resolution urging Iran to do more to answer US charges it 
is secretly developing nuclear weapons.

The United States accused Iran of seeking to divert attention 
from its slow cooperation with the International Atomic Energy 
Agency, while IAEA head Mohammed ElBaradei said the omission in 
the June report was "not a major mistake."

A Western diplomat said the error, and the accompanying 
embarrassment for the IAEA, was not affecting talks on the 
British-French-German resolution that calls for the IAEA's 
15-month-old investigation into Iran's activities to be stepped 
up and for Tehran to do more to help it complete the probe within 
a few months.

But it was "delaying things because there have to be 
clarifications," the diplomat said.

Other diplomats said Iran, backed by non-aligned nations, was 
pushing for stronger support for the right of developing nations 
to the peaceful use of nuclear energy, a right Tehran says 
justifies its atomic program.

A senior IAEA official told a meeting of the agency's 35-nation 
board that a private Iranian citizen interviewed in January had 
spoken of importing magnets for advanced P-2 centrifuges -- which 
can be used to make bomb-grade uranium -- a fact that was not 
mentioned in the June report.

Iran claims its research into P-2 technology is small-scale but 
has also admitted to inquiring about buying thousands of magnets 
for the centrifuges, which would be enough for industrial 
production of highly enriched uranium.

IAEA deputy director general Pierre Goldschmidt said the agency 
acknowledged that it failed to take notice of the statement about 
magnet imports but said that Iran had since claimed it was only 
working with Iranian-made equipment.

"The information provided by Iran has lacked the necessary 
clarity to allow the (agency) to fully understand the details of 
the P-2 program," he said.

The development comes against a backdrop of an increasingly 
acerbic war of words between Tehran, which insists its nuclear 
activities are solely for peaceful purposes, and IAEA members 
including the United States and Europe's so-called Big Three.

Iranian President Mohammad Khatami warned Wednesday that if the 
agency adopts a tough resolution the Islamic republic could back 
away from key commitments such as the suspension of uranium 
enrichment and allowing tougher inspections.

The IAEA board adjourned its plenary session until Friday 10:00 
am, with diplomats locked in tense closed-door talks as Western 
nations seek to table the draft resolution Thursday in order to 
decide on it Friday.

Iranian delegation chief Seyed Hossein Mussavian, describing the 
magnets omission as an "innocent mistake," said Iran was still 
willing to work with the IAEA and would accept the investigation 
of its nuclear program being extended until September instead of 
being wrapped up in June, as Iran had previously wished.

But he called for the IAEA to "change substantially" its 
resolution, arguing that the "atmosphere created in the board has 
been that information from Iran has been contradictory and with 
changes."

The US ambassor to the IAEA, Kenneth Brill, accused Iran of 
diversionary tactics.

"I think the Iranian tactic here is to try to divert attention 
from the thrust and complete analysis" of IAEA reports "by 
finding little small red herrings that have really no substantive 
bearing on the issue at hand, which is that Iran continues to try 
to keep from coming to light information about its program."

IAEA director general Mohamed ElBaradei said: "This is not a 
major mistake. Iran could have corrected it."

He said the IAEA board's resolution would "reflect" the mistake 
but added: "this technical correction doesn't change the fact 
that we need more transparency from Iran."

However, Mussavian said Tehran rejected the text, especially its 
call for a halt to tests at a uranium conversion facility, a key 
step in the nuclear fuel cycle, according to a copy of the text 
obtained by AFP.

Mussavian said uranium conversion is not forbidden by the nuclear 
Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

  WAR.WIRE
*****************************************************************
 11 AFP: Russia expecting no breakthrough at North Korea crisis talks

[http://www.spacewar.com/]


TASHKENT (AFP) Jun 17, 2004

 Russia said Thursday it was unlikely that any breakthrough will 
be reached at next week's crisis talks on North Korea but urged 
the six nations involved to press on with the negotiations.

"I do not think that this meeting will be the last. The problem 
is a difficult one, and several years of mutual mistrust is 
slowing down the solution of the problem," Foreign Minister 
Sergei Lavrov told reporters on the sidelines of a regional 
summit in the capital of Uzbekistan.

"We are not expecting a breakthrough at this meeting, but it is 
important to keep this format and advance passionately toward our 
joint objective," he said.

The third round of negotiation on North Korea's nuclear standoff 
with the United States will begin in Beijing on June 23.

The previous two rounds have only ended with agreements to 
continue the talks and Pyongyang pressing ahead with its nuclear 
program.

Russia remains one of the few nations that has access to North 
Korean leader Kim Jong-Il, with Russian President Vladimir Putin 
having met him three times since his own election in 2000.

Lavrov is expected to visit both North and South Korea in early 
July.

The six-nation negotiations involve the two Koreas, Russia, 
China, Japan, and the United States.

Russia has tried to act as a neutral mediator between North Korea 
and the United States in their nuclear weapons dispute, although 
its role has been overshadowed by that of China.

  WAR.WIRE
*****************************************************************
 12 Taipei Times: N Korea deal possible:

[http://www.taipeitimes.com


N Korea deal possible: analysts NUCLEAR PROGRAM: Analysts believe 
the communist state might be open to an agreement that would 
allow IAEA inspections in exchange for support from the US 

AFP , BEIJING 

Thursday, Jun 17, 2004,Page 5 

  North Korean soldiers look at the southern side through 
binoculars at the border village of Panmunjom, north of Seoul, 
yesterday. Ahead of nuclear talks in Beijing, South Korean 
Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon said yesterday that North Korea must 
prove to the international community that it can be trusted. 
PHOTO: AP

North Korea could agree to inspections by the International 
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on its nuclear weapons program at 
six-party talks next week, if the US agrees to compensation in 
return, analysts said yesterday.

 The third round of talks will be held from June 23 to June 26 in 
Beijing with few expecting any big breakthroughs because of 
uncertainties over US presidential elections in November, they 
said.

 "During the talks there will be a possibility of some movement, 
but there is not a big chance that there will be a breakthrough," 
said Cui Ying-jiu, a leading North Korea expert at Peking 
University.

 "If the United States can agree or can accept that some fuel oil 
or other aid can be given by other parties, in exchange for North 
Korea announcing a freeze on its nuclear weapons program and its 
acceptance of IAEA inspections, then this would be a step 
forward.

 "This is a possibility."

 Cui was speaking after a US official in Washington Tuesday said 
that the US would not oppose aid concessions to North Korea in 
exchange for a pledge from Pyongyang to freeze its nuclear 
weapons program.

 "We're not against a freeze and we're not against people saying 
if they freeze on the way to dismantlement they might even do 
something for the North Koreans," the official said, speaking on 
condition of anonymity.

 "But it has to be clear that any freeze is a step toward 
elimination of nuclear programs," he said.

 The statement appeared to be an adjustment to a US position that 
has refused any aid to the starving Stalinist nation until its 
nuclear weapons program is "completely, verifiably and 
irreversibly dismantled."

 Earlier this week, North Korea rejected the US demand for 
complete disarmament and urged Washington to change its 
long-standing position.

 In the last round of talks in February, Pyongyang insisted that 
any dismantling of its nuclear program must come with 
simultaneous concessions, namely badly needed food and fuel aid, 
from the other members of the talks.

 Since then working-level talks have been held in Beijing in May 
and will reconvene again ahead of the higher vice-ministerial 
talks that were to begin yesterday.

 So far China, South Korea and Russia have agreed to the 
step-by-step approach, while Japan has demanded that North Korea 
first resolve the thorny issue surrounding the kidnapping of 
Japanese nationals by North Korean agents in the 1970s.

 That issue was addressed when Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro 
Koizumi visited Pyongyang last month and brought some of the 
families of kidnapped victims back to Japan.

 "The Americans would see a freeze [of its nuclear weapons 
program] and acceptance of IAEA inspections by North Korea as 
progress," said Paul Harris, an international affairs expert at 
Hong Kong's Lingnan University. This story has been viewed 320 
times. + Advertising [ height=]           

  

Copyright � 1999-2004 The Taipei Times. All rights reserved. 
*****************************************************************
 13 Xinhuanet: China calls for "reasonable" expectations on six-party talks   

  www.xinhuanet.com


  www.chinaview.cn 2004-06-17 21:15:15   

  ��BEIJING, June 17 (Xinhuanet) -- China on Thursday urged the 
international community to have "reasonable" expectations on the 
third round of six-party talks on the Korean Peninsula nuclear 
issue, scheduled from June 23 to 26. 

    The nuclear issue is very complicated and as the talks begin 
to focus on substantial issues, disputes and differences among 
the parties will become more obvious and difficulties will 
increase, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said 
at the ministry's regular briefing. 

    "This is the real situation and the parties concerned are 
fully aware of the possible difficulties during the process of 
talks," Zhang said. 

    The spokeswoman said China will continue to engage itself in 
promoting peaceful negotiations so as to push the six-party talks 
forward. 

    China hopes the third round of six-party talks will carry on 
the results of the second round of talks and continue to focus on 
substantial problems, Zhang said. 

    "We also hope the third round of talks will increase trust 
among the relevant parties and reduce suspicions so as to achieve 
larger consensus," she said. 

    Zhang said the third round of talks will be again held in the 
Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing and the head of the Chinese 
delegation remained unchanged. 

    The spokeswoman said she was informed that the US delegation 
will be headed by US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian 
and Pacific Affairs James Kelly and the Russian delegation will 
beled by Russian Ambassador-At-Large Alexander Alexeyev. 

    No information on delegation heads from the other parties has 
been confirmed yet, Zhang said. Enditem   

  Copyright �2003 Xinhua News Agency. All rights reserved. 
*****************************************************************
 14 Guardian Unlimited: Zero protection from nuclear code
 
 Oliver Burkeman in Washington

Thursday June 17, 2004
The Guardian [http://www.guardian.co.uk]  		
 		
In the darkest days of the cold war, as the world trembled on the 
brink of a nuclear war, one thing above all stood in the way of 
catastrophe: the secret eight-digit access number required to 
launch America's arsenal of intercontinental ballistic missiles. 

Without that vital obstacle, anybody - a crazed military 
commander, or a terrorist - might have been able to spark a 
conflict that would have killed millions. 

For the sake of our sanity, then, perhaps it's best that we have 
had to wait until now to discover that for many years, according 
to an expert closely involved in the process, the eight digits in 
question were 00000000. 

"The codes were the only real mechanical or technical impediment 
to the crews launching missiles," said Bruce Blair, who worked as 
a launch officer in an underground nuclear silo in Montana. "And 
they were all set to zero. The safeguard was non-functional." 

Mr Blair, now president of the Centre for Defence Information, a 
Washington thinktank, said he recently revealed the information 
to Robert McNamara, who served as secretary of defence during the 
administrations of John F Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson. He said Mr 
McNamara responded he was shocked and outraged, and asked: "Who 
the hell authorised that?" 

The codes were set to zero because they were so deeply disliked 
by the military, Mr Blair argues in a CDI document. 

He says Mr McNamara "basically forced" the system on senior 
commanders, who were far more concerned with eliminating anything 
that might slow down their otherwise lightning-fast response to a 
Soviet attack. 

Mr Blair and one other colleague were in a position to fire up to 
50 Minuteman missiles at the Soviet Union. "That's the whole of 
World War Two in one go," he pointed out. 

Steven Bellovin, a researcher for AT&T who has studied launch 
codes, declared himself puzzled by Mr Blair's revelations, and 
suggested he was confusing two sets of codes, one required to 
detonate the nuclear bomb and one required to launch the missile 
containing the bomb. 

The codes that had been set to zero, he argued in an email, were 
mainly used to stop missiles being launched in the event of 
"physical capture of the devices - it had nothing to do with our 
own launch officers" sparking a war on their own initiative. 
	
 	
        Special report United States of America

World news guide North American media

Media New York Times [http://nytimes.com] Washington Post 
[http://washingtonpost.com] CNN [http://cnn.com] 

Government US government portal [http://www.firstgov.gov/] White 
House [http://www.whitehouse.gov/] Senate 
[http://www.senate.gov/] House of Representatives 
[http://www.house.gov] 


[UP] 
      Guardian Unlimited � Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004
*****************************************************************
 15 U.S. Senate Approves Development Of New Nuclear Weapons
 
Date: Thu, 17 Jun 2004 01:29:44 -0500 (CDT)

 
 http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/?sid=c19e533972722ae1
In a Bush administration victory, the Senate Tuesday rejected an attempt to
cut funding for the development of several new types of nuclear weapons.

The Senates defeated, 42-55, an amendment to the $447.2 billion 2005 defense
appropriations bill that would have cut $36.6 million for two programs at
the Department of energy to study the development of a so-called bunker
buster nuclear bomb intended to disable underground bunkers.

While the funding remains in the Senate bill, it has been cut by a House
subcommittee, setting up a fight on the issue in conference because the
programs are a priority for the Bush White House.

However, with GOP leaders in control of the negotiations on the final
legislation, the funding will likely ultimately be provided.

Linton Brooks -- the director of the National Nuclear Security
Administration, the federal agency responsible for the nation's nuclear
stockpile -- has said the programs are just research and are not part of a
plan to resume testing or development of new nuclear devices, a claim
dismissed by opponents to the funding.
*****************************************************************
 16 Las Vegas Mercury: Backstory: The most contradictory man
 
Thursday, Jun 17, 2004, 07:01:46 PM                                    


 Copyright � Las Vegas Mercury 

By Michael Green

 Why did so many Americans love Ronald Reagan? Besides being a
pleasant sort whose policies won considerable support, he
embodied one of our classic characteristics: He was as
contradictory as we are.

 He was a New Deal Democrat who became a Republican, a
rags-to-riches story who presided over our worst maldistribution
of wealth to the rich, a soft touch who slashed social programs
that served the neediest, a lover of freedom who aided the
communist witch hunt of the late 1940s and '50s. He attacked
evil empires and coddled dictators, but overruled his advisers
to improve relations with the Soviets. He espoused family
values, but was our only divorced president and often got along
poorly with his children.

 If those contradictions aren't enough for you, consider his
ties to Nevada.

 Reagan's ascent especially boosted the fortunes of Paul Laxalt,
a popular governor and senator who chaired his campaigns. As a
junior senator from Nevada, Laxalt figured to be a minor cog on
Capitol Hill. His close friendship with Reagan gave him and
Nevada influence they otherwise couldn't have had.

 That helped when Nevada didn't want the MX, the goofiest
missile system ever--a bunch of fake missiles and one live one
on railroad cars running around tracks in Nevada and Utah; the
Soviets would have to take out all of the missiles to get the
dangerous one, then we could take advantage of their
vulnerability. Right.

 Reagan listened to Laxalt, among others, and eliminated the
MX--and Reagan rarely met a weapons system he didn't like. Yet
Reagan was president when Yucca Mountain became the preferred
site for nuclear waste. At first, that reflected the views of
his Nevada GOP friends. They learned their lesson later--or too
late. If George W. Bush is truly his heir, would Reagan have
lied about sound science?

 Laxalt's connections helped several prominent Nevadans move up
in the Reagan years--County Commissioner Bob Broadbent to the
Interior Department, Frank Fahrenkopf to Republican Party
leadership, Sig Rogich to advertising and spin eminence. They
helped counter the perception, which persists in too many
places, that Nevada was just a mob haven.

 At the time, though, local FBI Agent-in-Charge Joe Yablonsky
believed this really was a mob haven. He was partly right.
Laxalt and some of his friends pushed for his removal. Despite
their ties to Reagan, Yablonsky's sting operation went on,
catching and convicting several influence-peddlers.

 As California's governor, Reagan and Laxalt, his Nevada
counterpart, formed the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency to
protect the lake--in other words, conservatives creating more
government. Yet Reagan supported policies that destroyed other
environmental gems and supported the Nevada-rooted Sagebrush
Rebellion, whose leaders wanted the federal government to leave
them alone to do as they wanted to public lands. 
Many think Reagan simply cut government, but he knew enough to
raise taxes when necessary. Many think he ended the Cold War and
his defense buildup undoubtedly contributed--and certainly
helped the Western economy, which, ironically, suffered when the
Cold War ended. But Mikhail Gorbachev took greater risks, and
before giving him and Reagan the credit, ponder the prediction
of Jean Monnet, the architect of European unity in the 1950s:
"We won't change Russia, but the computers will."

 Reagan and Nevada also share the benefits and problems of
persona. No president since Franklin Roosevelt used the media so
brilliantly to push his policies and construct his image--just
as Las Vegas constructs its image, and sometimes suffers for it.
One critic called Reagan an "amiable dunce," yet he was better
read than he appeared--or possibly wanted to appear. Like Bush,
Reagan was "misunderestimated." He used the powers of his office
superbly. Whether he used them wisely always will be debated.

 In retrospect, Reagan looks better to many because the current
occupant of the White House looks so much worse. At least Reagan
didn't think being president made him dictator for life, but few
remember that his unnecessary invasion of Grenada followed from
the attack on U.S. Marines in Lebanon, and he acted before
informing the British government, which controls Grenada. In
comparison to the immorality and lying in connection with Iraq,
though, it looks statesmanlike. And if the Rug denies knowing
his aides twisted the facts to go to war and the law to justify
torture, Reagan claimed not to know Oliver North and company
trampled the Constitution.

 Many Republicans cite their party's success as one of Reagan's
legacies. Well, Rush Limbaugh claimed Democrats wanted his
funeral to be "bipartisan"--after spreading the vicious lie that
Democrat Paul Wellstone's funeral was partisan. Bill O'Reilly
lamented the polarization of politics after Reagan and demanded
respect for the presidency. Few in the media have contributed
more to polarization or shown less respect for being honest
about presidents when they aren't his fellow Republicans than
the man Al Franken aptly calls O'Lielly.

 If those Republicans who regularly trample the truth are part
of Reagan's legacy, it disgraces his memory. Even those who
disagreed with him didn't hate him, and he didn't seem to hate
anyone, either. Then again, his biggest legacy may have been
best expressed by Rosalyn Carter years ago: We like Ronald
Reagan because he makes us feel comfortable with our prejudices.
Some are more comfortable than others.
 	 	 	 	   	 	 	
Copyright � Las Vegas Mercury, 2001 - 2004
*****************************************************************
 17 Sify: Indo-Pak nuclear CBM talks tomorrow                   

PTI   


Thursday, 17 June , 2004, 18:29               
     	
Islamabad: Stepping up contacts ahead of the resumption of the 
Composite Dialogue between the two countries, an eight-member 
Pakistani delegation arrives in New Delhi on Friday for two-day 
expert-level talks on nuclear CBMs beginning on Saturday, which 
would focus on strategic stability, nuclear crisis management and 
risk reduction. 

The delegation, including several top nuclear defence officials, 
would be headed by Tariq Usman Haider, Additional Secretary in 
Pakistan Foreign Office. Haider will be assisted by former Deputy 
High Commissioner to New Delhi and currently Director General of 
South Asia Jalil Abbas Jilani and Foreign Office spokesman Masood 
Khan. | Discuss: Will India and Pakistan come to a consensus this 
time? | 

Summing up the agenda for the talks, Khan said the parleys would 
focus on strategic stability, nuclear crisis management, risk 
reduction and coordinated as well as responsible stewardship. 

"We are not starting from scratch and had cooperation in the past 
in elaborating CBMs and even implementing some measures like 
advanced notification of missile tests and we hope to build on 
them," he told PTI. 

Asked about External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh's proposal for 
a common nuclear doctrine for India, Pakistan and China, Khan 
said Islamabad had reacted to it saying that it was new and 
innovative and required serious consideration. 

He said it could be discussed during the expert-level talks on 
nuclear CBMS and the Foreign Secretary-level parleys starting 
from June 27 if it is a serious proposal. "We could hear the 
Indian position on this proposal." 

The nuclear CBM talks are being held just a week before the 
resumption of the Composite Dialogue between the two Foreign 
Secretaries in New Delhi to discuss Kashmir, Peace and Security 
and CBMs. As per the agreed roadmap, the talks would be followed 
by a meeting between the Foreign Ministers of the two countries 
in August. 

The Composite Dialogue also covers talks on Siachen, Wullar 
Barrage, Sir Creek, terrorism and drug trafficking, economic and 
commercial cooperation and promotion of friendly exchanges in 
various fields. 

Already the two sides reached an understanding to adopt a 
cooperated strategy and share intelligence to prevent drug 
trafficking and smuggling at the two-day official-level talks 
which concluded on Wednesday. Talks on the subjects would be held 
at the agreed levels next month. 

The nuclear CBM talks between the two countries were a follow up 
to an MoU signed by the two countries after the Lahore 
Declaration in February, 1999. 

Under the MOU signed by the then Foreign Secretaries the two 
countries agreed to engage in bilateral consultations on security 
concepts and nuclear doctrines both in nuclear and conventional 
fields aimed at avoiding any conflict.                      

  Sify.com hosted at SifyHosting India's first Level 3 Internet
Data Centre
� Copyright Sify Ltd, 1998-2004. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
 18 Sify: Pak is our non-NATO ally, says Bush                   
      
Thursday, 17 June , 2004, 18:22               

     	
  New York: US President George W Bush on Wednesday formally 
designated Pakistan as his country's major non-NATO ally. 

"I hereby designate the Islamic Republic of Pakistan as a major 
non-NATO ally of the United States for the purposes of the act 
and the Arms Export Control Act," the Daily Times quoted Bush as 
saying in a White House statement.

But according to The Nation, Bush's proposal had already gone 
through Washington's executive and legislative processes, though 
Bush is yet to sign on the dotted line. 

Through the proposal, the US has elevated its military ties with 
Pakistan, granting it benefits enjoyed by few countries outside 
the NATO alliance, the report added. 

The new status would make Pakistan eligible for priority delivery 
of defence materials. US administration aides said that the move 
recognizes Islamabad's help in the US-led war on terrorism. 

A State Department official, citing other benefits, said, "These 
include having US-owned war reserve stockpiles on its territory 
outside of US installations, entering certain cooperative 
training agreements with the United States and eligibility for 
expedited processing of export licenses of commercial 
satellites." 

Further elaborating, the report said the benefits (for Pakistan) 
that come attached along with the status include eligibility to 
have US-owned stockpiles of defence articles in Pakistan outside 
US military installations. 

Besides, it makes Pakistan eligible to use US-provided foreign 
military financing to commercially lease some defence articles. 

Meanwhile, the US administration has said that its latest move 
had nothing to do with its relations with India. Specifying the 
point, White House spokesman Sean McCormack said: "We have 
separate relations with each country. We don't link actions of 
one country with those of another." 

It may be recalled that New Delhi had strongly protested when 
Secretary of State Colin Powell had made public Bush's planning 
in this regard in March. Powell had proposed making Pakistan a 
non-NATO ally during a visit to Islamabad on March 18, the report 
said. 

Thereafter, in April, the administration notified the US Congress 
of its intention to make Pakistan a major non-NATO ally. But, the 
fact that the proposal was not challenged is significant, as the 
Indian lobbies were working hard to block the designation. 

A pro-India Congressman Gary Ackerman even demanded that the 
decision to designate should be delayed until President Bush had 
determined whether Pakistan qualified for nuclear-related 
sanctions. 

But the administration stood firm on the decision and at a recent 
congressional debate, US Under-Secretary of State for Arms 
Control and International Security, John Bolton, declared that it 
was "entirely appropriate to declare Pakistan a major non-NATO 
ally" despite the reported involvement of some Pakistani 
scientists in nuclear proliferation. 

ANI   

� Copyright Sify Ltd, 1998-2004. All rights reserved. See
*****************************************************************
 19 Indian Express: US to boost N-ventures with India
 
[http://www.expressindia.com] [http://www.indianexpress.com/]   

    
Thursday, June 17, 2004   

 ['US/India'] Washington, June 17: Building on the progress in 
relations in the last three years, the United States has said it 
wants to continue strengthening its ties with India and said the 
next step in strategic partnership is to be able to "help or 
cooperate" in civilian nuclear endeavours.

Though there has been a change in government in New Delhi, the 
priorities of the Indo-American agenda remain very much the same 
in many ways, senior administration officials told South Asian 
correspondents on Thursday.

"We want to continue to strengthen the relationship between the 
two countries. This is not just lip service. If you look at where 
we have come in the last three years, we have come a long way. We 
want to do more upfront," they said while pointing out that 
External Minister Natwar Singh and the US Secretary of State 
Colin Powell knew each other already and their talks went very 
well.

The officials played down the importance of the reported 
statement made recently by the State Department's policy planning 
director who wanted all of India's civilian nuclear reactors 
placed under IAEA control.

"The director's views reflected only one view. It was not the 
government view. The Government realizes that neither India nor 
Pakistan is going to give up their nuclear programmes though the 
US Supported the Nuclear Proliferation and other treaties," they 
said.

The officials said that the next step in Strategic Partnership 
provides for steps to be taken by both the US and India to get to 
a situation "where we will be able to help or to cooperate in 
civilian nuclear endeavours.

Stressing that the US is working with both India and Pakistan on 
export controls, they said, "We want to see an end to all nuclear 
weapons, and that includes the United States as well.

But there is absolute understanding that this is not going to 
happen today or tomorrow."

Asked whether the director's statement implied that without full 
scope safeguards the US would refuse to sell nuclear reactors to 
India, the officials said that in any case, "we are not going to 
be in a position" to sell nuclear power rectors to India 
immediately.

"Whether it can be done in the distant future, the officials 
said, "would depend on a lot of steps being taken by both 
governments. It involves, among other things, taking steps to 
improve export controls, their legislation and implementation. We 
are not there yet. You cannot (however) exclude it as a 
possibility in the distant future."

Emphasizing that there is a lot of work to do, they said the US 
is interested in "seeing India strengthen its commitments, for 
instance, on intellectual property rights.

"The US wants very much to work with India to complete the Doha 
round. There will be intensive discussions between Indian 
officials and the US Trade Representative Ken Justeris who will 
be in India next week," they added.

        Us [http://www.expressindia.com/about] |
    
� 2004: Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
*****************************************************************
 20 [NukeNet] 9/11 Terror Plans Called For Nuclear Power Plant
 
Date: Thu, 17 Jun 2004 11:53:03 -0700


 
<x-flowed>


   CRAC-2 Report On Fatalities, Injuries, Cancers,
Economic Damage at nuclear power plants from the
nuclear industry itself [greatly watered down from
what would really happen]:
http://www.mothersalert.org/crac.html
http://www.mothersalert.org/crac.html

   Some of the 9/11 terrorist plans, the commission
staff said, called for the hijacked jets to be
crashed into the headquarters of the Federal
Bureau of Investigation and the Central
Intelligence Agency, various nuclear power plants,




http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/16/politics/16CND-REPORT.html?hp
Original Plan for 9/11 Attacks Involved 10 Planes,
Panel Says
By DAVID STOUT

Published: June 16, 2004



                   Agence France-Presse -- Getty
Images
                   Ted Davis, a C.I.A. official,
testified today to the Sept. 11 commission along
with other government experts on Al Qaeda.




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                         RELATED
                         Today's Reports: Al Qaeda
| The 9/11 Plot








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                   Associated Press
                   John Pistole, an assistant
director of the F.B.I., testified today to the
Sept. 11 commission along with other government
experts on Al Qaeda.




ASHINGTON, June 16 - As horrendous as they were,
the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, were only a small
part of terrorist visions that called for using 10
hijacked airplanes to attack both the East and
West Coasts, including the United States Capitol
and the White House, the staff of the independent
commission investigating the attacks reported
today.

The staff also asserted that "no credible
evidence" had been found that Iraq and Al Qaeda
terrorists cooperated in the attacks, a conclusion
likely to fuel the debate over President Bush's
decision to go to war to topple Saddam Hussein.

Some of the 9/11 terrorist plans, the commission
staff said, called for the hijacked jets to be
crashed into the headquarters of the Federal
Bureau of Investigation and the Central
Intelligence Agency, various nuclear power plants,
and skyscrapers in California and Washington
State, a captured leader of Al Qaeda, Khalid
Sheikh Mohammed, has told interrogators.

Mr. Mohammed, who is believed to have originated
the idea for the Sept. 11 attacks and whose
nephew, Ramzi Yousef, was the mastermind of the
1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, was seized
in Pakistan in March 2003 and is being held at an
undisclosed location.

The reports, the 15th and 16th by the panel staff,
were issued as the commission, meeting in
Washington, began its last two days of public
hearings. A final report is to be issued by July
26.

Today's interim report on the outline of the 9/11
plot offers new details and far more context than
has previously been known. It says, for instance,
that Zacarias Moussaoui, who has often been dubbed
"the 20th hijacker" out of speculation that he was
to have joined the 19 actual hijackers, was
instead meant to participate in a "second wave" of
attacks, an idea thwarted when he was arrested in
August 2001 after his behavior at a Minnesota
flying school aroused suspicion.

The 9/11 conspirators and their leaders, while
joined in their hatred of the United States, often
argued among themselves over what targets to
attack, and when, the staff of the bipartisan
investigating commission said.

For instance, Osama bin Laden, Al Qaeda's top
leader, initially pushed for a date of May 12,
2001, exactly seven months after terrorists
attacked the American destroyer Cole in Yemen.
Then, when he learned that Prime Minister Aeriel
Sharon of Israel would visit the White House in
June or July, Mr. bin Laden pressed to amend the
timetable.

"In both instances," the report notes, Mr.
Mohammed "insisted that the hijacker teams were
not yet ready."

The plot was also riven by personality clashes
and, it seems, by at least one case of cold feet.
In the summer of 2001, Mohamed Atta, the
operational leader of the conspiracy, drove
another conspirator, Ziah Jarrah, to Miami's main
airport so that Mr. Jarrah could fly to Germany to
visit his girlfriend.

That Mr. Atta drove Mr. Jarrah to the airport was
an "unusual circumstance suggesting that something
may have been amiss," the report said. At the
time, Khalid Mohammed was fretting to his fellow
terrorists that if Mr. Jarrah "asks for a divorce,
it is going to cost a lot of money," apparently an
allusion to the costs of putting another hijacker
in place.

"Given the catastrophic results of the 9/11
attacks, it is tempting to depict the plot as a
set plan executed to near perfection," the staff
report said. "This would be a mistake."

One apparent "failure" of the plot has been known
since the day of the attacks: the Boeing 757
designated United Flight 93, which took off from
Newark, crashed in a field in southwestern
Pennsylvania, apparently after its hijackers
struggled with the doomed passengers. (That plane
is believed to have been piloted by Mr. Jarrah,
who got over his case of cold feet and said
good-bye to his girlfriend, and his life.)

There has been conjecture ever since that the
hijackers on Flight 93 meant to crash the plane
into a high-profile Washington target - the White
House, perhaps, or the Capitol. Another jet,
hijacked after it took off from Dulles Airport,
near Washington, crashed into the Pentagon, while
two jetliners that were hijacked after taking off
from Boston were flown into the World Trade
Center, destroying the Twin Towers.

Mr. Mohammed has told interrogators that "the U.S.
Capitol was indeed on the preliminary target list"
that he originally developed with Al Qaeda's top
leader, Osama bin Laden, and other terrorist
ringleaders as early as the spring of 1999.

"That preliminary list also included the White
House, the Pentagon and the World Trade Center,"
said the staff of the commission, formally known
as the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks
Upon the United States. Mr. Mohammed "claims that
while everyone agreed on the Capitol, he wanted to
hit the World Trade Center, whereas bin Laden
favored the Pentagon and the White House."

Among Mr. bin Laden and his confederates, the
Capitol was "the perceived source of U.S. policy
in support of Israel," while the White House was
considered "a political symbol."

Mr. bin Laden expressed his target preferences in
the summer of 2001 to Mr. Atta, who was destined
to fly a jetliner into the North Tower of the
World Trade Center. Had he not been able to hit
the tower, Mr. Atta was determined to crash the
jet he was flying into the streets of Manhattan,
the report says.

Mr. Atta said he thought the White House would be
too difficult a target, though it was not clear
why. Better to hit the Capitol, Mr. Atta
reportedly argued. "Atta selected a date after the
first week of September so that the United States
Congress would be in session," the report states.

As have previous staff reports on the Sept. 11
carnage, this one reveals some tantalizing "what
ifs." Two of the hijackers got speeding tickets in
the months before the attacks, and one was
involved in a car crash on the George Washington
Bridge.

There is no suggestion whatever that the police
officers should have sensed that the people
involved in the traffic incidents were up to
something. On the other hand, Timothy McVeigh, the
Oklahoma City bomber, was brought to justice in
part because of a traffic stop.






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 21 [NukeNet] Lovelock, Global Warming/NPPs
 
Date: Thu, 17 Jun 2004 11:53:26 -0700


 
<x-flowed>


But, the greatest threat from terrorists is
probably a well-planned plant takeover by armed
insurgents who would face only locally trained
pretend-a-cops who stand in their way. Taking over
a plant could result not only in holding an entire
country hostage, but the right person at the
controls could cause a disaster way beyond that
experienced at either TMI or Chernobyl.

Should that happen, the radiation unleashed could
have devastating impacts on regional and global
mortality and morbidity as well as severely
impacting the genetics of several future
generations.


   http://www.counterpunch.org/blair06152004.html

June 15, 2004

James Lovelock's Misquided Call
Nukes Aren't a Solution to Global Warming
By JOHN BLAIR

A recent call by respected environmental leader,
Professor James Lovelock, to combat global climate
change by building nuclear plants may seem logical
on the surface.

Afterall, we don't hear much about nukes these
days-just the occasional story of a forced shut
down or the ongoing story about the controversy
surrounding Bush's decision to move forward with
the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump in
Nevada-opposed, incidentally, by nearly everyone
in Nevada.

But, nukes problems are many-waste, security, lack
of political support and most ominous for the
proponents themselves, the enormous cost and doubt
about dealing with the other issues.

When Indiana's Marble Hill plant was forced to
shut down construction in 1984, more than $2.8
billion had been squandered by an arrogant Public
Service Indiana and it was only 20% complete. That
compares with an original cost estimate of $700
million when the plants were announced.

Capital markets found that money could not be
spent fast enough to finish a nuke. It was so bad
that PST's sister utility in Cinergy, Cincinnati
Gas & Electric canceled their Zimmer nuke when it
was more than 90% complete and converted it to
coal.

Across the US, nuclear investors saw their
investments wither in the foul wind that followed
Three Mile Island. It was not only construction
costs that ran uncontrolled. Nukes require
"enriched uranium" to form their fuel pellets. The
record of enrichments plants around the country is
a legacy of waste, disease and fraud.

Since the nuclear industry has failed to grow, we
have not had a community seeking to build an
enrichment facility for a very long time.
Enrichment is just the second phase of the nuclear
fuel cycle. First comes mining of the precious
uranium which, by itself, leaves huge volumes of
contaminated waste that mainly stays piled up on
mining company land.

No solution for that is even discussed.

Nuclear's third phase is transporting the
commercial grade fuel. It is usually transported
quietly by either rail or truck through
unsuspecting communities. So far the record is
good but we only operate slightly more than 100
nuclear plants in the US today. Will that record
remain if we increase the number to, say, 300
plants across Central America and the US?

Opposition to nukes in the past has mainly been
locally based. Marble Hill was just one of many
nukes that were either forced to cease
construction by democratic action or stockholder
revolt. Marble Hill caused PSI stock to fall from
$28 per share during the height of construction to
only $7 per share and should have caused PSI to go
belly up, and it would have if it had not been
bailed out by then Indiana Governor Orr's
administration.

Other nukes were either canceled or drastically
reduced in size.

Resistance grew strong after the meltdown at Three
Mile Island in 1979 and the disaster at Chernobyl
in Ukraine in 1986.

There has not been a nuclear facility to break
ground since.

It is academic to wonder how such a proposal would
be met today in a community desperate for "jobs"
at any cost. We are likely to find out in the near
future since Bush is busy promoting more nukes and
the huge taxpayer subsidies to make it happen.

Trade issues come to bear as well. It used to be
that corporations that owned U.S. based nukes had
to be owned by Americans only. Free trade rules
are likely to render that moot. Perhaps some angry
Saudis could build a nuke in our midst in
deference to the World Trade Organization.

Or maybe, since political opposition is strong in
the US, we will just build the nukes in Honduras
or another Central American Free Trade Association
country to promote economic development in that
region.

Yes, there are safety problems with nuclear
plants. Since they are built by humans and
operated by humans, they are subject to error all
along the way. What would be a minor error at a
coal plant could turn into a major disaster at a
nuke. They must operate perfectly but yet they
usually do not.

Nukes in the private sector are built and operated
by people who are trying to cut as many costs as
possible so they can brag to their bosses about
their profitability. News that major expense will
be required to make something right while the
plant is shut down for extensive repairs will not
gain the plant manager favor in a multinational
corporation hierarchy. That results in less than
adequate oversight at any level of operation.

Then, too, the regulatory feature of nukes has
been severely compromised in ways that appear to
allow nearly self regulation. A good example is
First Energy's Davis-Besse plant in Ohio which had
boron rusting away the steel dome of one of the
units for years before the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission acted. Numerous inspections failed to
reveal the flaw. Most nukes are now owned by
energy merchants, it is almost certain that the
voluntary approach to inspection will be lacking.

But it is not just the possibility of accidents
that make nukes scary for neighbors, near and far.
In today's world, terrorism is a far greater
threat to the sanguine prospect of nuclear energy.
Many of today's nukes are within a few feet of
roads or highways that are accessible to the
public. It may be that concrete containment
buildings may be impervious to a rocket propelled
grenade or a tornado, but they have never really
been tested against a larger, tank type of weapon
or a 747 piloted by a terrorist.

But, the greatest threat from terrorists is
probably a well-planned plant takeover by armed
insurgents who would face only locally trained
pretend-a-cops who stand in their way. Taking over
a plant could result not only in holding an entire
country hostage, but the right person at the
controls could cause a disaster way beyond that
experienced at either TMI or Chernobyl.

Should that happen, the radiation unleashed could
have devastating impacts on regional and global
mortality and morbidity as well as severely
impacting the genetics of several future
generations.

And, then there is nuclear waste.

Each 1000 megawatt reactor yields enough plutonium
each year to produce as many as forty nuclear
bombs. Plutonium has a half-life of 24,000 years,
meaning that in 24,000 years, half of its potency
is gone. It takes at least ten half-lifes for it
to become moderately inert-that is nearly a
quarter million years.

It seems logical to assume that in a quarter
million years, there may be some despot emerge who
would have the ability to process ever increasing
volumes of nuclear waste into military use, at
least creating a crude but highly lethal weapon.
If we increase the volume of nuclear waste, there
will be a corresponding volume of dirty bomb grade
plutonium. It is impossible to avoid.

But that is just one aspect of the nuclear waste
issue. With such extraordinary long potency,
nuclear waste must be kept from our physical
environment forever. That is a task that has never
been accomplished.

What right do we have, as 21st Century humans
whose species has existed for just about a quarter
of the time it will take for today's plutonium to
decay, to condemn future generations to protecting
themselves from our greed for energy?

What makes us think that we even need additional
energy when our power plants operate at levels
barely above 30% efficient so we can use it in
appliances that operate at even less efficient
levels?

There is only one reason to build new power
plants, nuclear, or coal-so we can continue to
needlessly consume as if there is no tomorrow and
create waste that will end up burying us in our
own filth. And, they say that man has dominion
over the Earth and all its beings-indeed!

A massive public and private program to rebuild
our energy infrastructure with more efficient
appliances and generators is a tremendous economic
growth opportunity. Efficiency gains could be our
new export industry.

Lovelock is right to recognize the immediate need
to respond to global warming, but nuclear power
carries too heavy a price for our grandkids to
pay.

John Blair runs Valley Watch, an environmental
group in Evansville, Indiana that battles against
big coal and the nuclear industry. In 1979, he won
the Pulitzer Prize for news photography. He can be
reached at: ecoserve1@aol.com






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 22 Sofia Morning News: EU Pays for Bulgaria's Nuke Safety
 	 	 	 	 	 	
SOFIA NEWS AGENCY

[http://www.novinite.com/]

Business: 17 June 2004, Thursday.

Bulgaria's power plant Kozloduy will be financed with EUR 61.9 M 
for the decommissioning of its two oldest units.
 
A EU financial aid program has envisaged assisting Bulgaria meet 
expenditures on the closure of units 1 and 2, closed on December 
31, 2002.
 
About EUR 2 M of the total aid is slated for the state nuclear 
watchdog to support its work on compliance with procedures for 
both units' decommissioning.
 
The EU has vowed to provide a total of EUR 550 M to help Bulgaria 
offset huge spending on reactor closures and losses that they 
would entail.
 
In the course of accession talks, Bulgaria has agreed on the 
closure of another two units on the grounds of EU concerns over 
the safety of Soviet-designed 440-MW pressurized water reactors. 
The EU claimed they lack a concrete safety encasement that would 
prevent radioactive stuff from spreading in case of an accident.
 
Decommissioning units 3 and 4 was set as a precondition for the 
country's accession to the EU in 2007, as scheduled.
 
The nuclear lobby and Bulgarian opposition parties, including the 
head of state Georgi Parvanov, protested that the reactors are 
economically necessary and called EU demands "arm-twisting."[ 

 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.
*****************************************************************
 23 NRC: NRC Publishes Alternative Fire Protection Rule
 
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. 04-076     June 17, 2004   
  

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is amending its fire
protection requirements for nuclear power plants to allow
licensees to voluntarily adopt a new set of requirements that
incorporate risk insights. The new fire protection rule
maintains safety and provides flexibility to existing
requirements. 

The new rule permits reactor licensees to use the fire
protection requirements contained in the National Fire
Protection Association (NFPA) Standard 805, Performance-Based
Standard for Fire Protection for Light Water Reactor Electric
Generating Plants, 2001 Edition. 

Utilities that operate reactors can now adopt the standard as
their fire protection program by submitting a request to amend
their license, said David Matthews, Director of the Division of
Regulatory Improvement Programs in the NRCs Office of Nuclear
Reactor Regulation. After approval by the NRC, the utilities
can then modify their fire protection program consistent with
the standard, without prior specific NRC review and approval. 

For alternatives to compliance with NFPA 805, licensees must
submit a license amendment request for NRC review. The rule is
part of an effort by the agency to incorporate risk information
into its regulations.   



  


 	Last revised Thursday, June 17, 2004 	   
*****************************************************************
 24 NRC: Elimination of the Site Decommissioning Management Plan and 
 
                        FR Doc 04-13665 

[Federal Register: June 17, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 116)] 
[Notices] [Page 33946-33947] From the Federal Register Online via 
GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr17jn04-93]                         
 
Management of All Sites Undergoing Decommissioning Under a 
Comprehensive Decommissioning Program; Information Notice AGENCY: 
Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
 
ACTION: Information notice.
 
SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has decided 
to eliminate the Site Decommissioning Management Plan (SDMP) 
designation for sites and manage the SDMP sites as ``complex 
sites,'' under a comprehensive decommissioning program. 
Elimination of the SDMP designation and the discontinuance of the 
SDMP as a separate site listing is appropriate, because the 
original intent of the SDMP and SDMP Action Plan (i.e., to 
achieve closure on cleanup issues so that cleanup could proceed 
in a timely manner) has been achieved. The SDMP sites have been 
incorporated into a comprehensive decommissioning program that 
facilitates the cleanup of
 
[[Page 33947]] routine and complex sites in a manner that is 
consistent with the goals of the SDMP and SDMP Action Plan.
 
Viewed in the context of this comprehensive decommissioning 
program, which includes routine decommissioning sites, formerly 
licensed sites, SDMP sites, non-routine/complex sites, fuel cycle 
sites, and test/research and power reactors, the continued use of 
the SDMP does not provide the same benefits that it did when it 
was first developed. The staff believes the cleanup of these 
sites is managed more effectively as part of this larger program. 
As the SDMP sites will be managed as complex sites under this 
comprehensive program, the level of safety currently in place at 
SDMP sites will not be diminished. In addition, as sites are 
identified and managed as complex sites, and as more sites are 
evaluated pursuant to the comprehensive decommissioning program, 
common problematic technical issues should be identified more 
easily, and resolutions to these issues should be implemented in 
a more consistent manner.
 
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, CONTACT: Daniel M. Gillen, Mail Stop: 
T-7F27, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 
20555-0001. Telephone: (301) 415-7295; Internet: dmg2@nrc.gov 
[dmg2@nrc.gov] .
 
 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Background The SDMP was developed by 
the staff, in response to the Commission's direction to develop a 
comprehensive strategy for NRC to deal with a number of 
contaminated sites, so that closure on cleanup issues could be 
attained in a timely manner. In 1992, the staff developed the 
SDMP Action Plan to: (1) Identify criteria that would be used to 
guide the cleanup of sites; (2) state the NRC's position on 
finality; (3) describe the NRC's expectation that cleanup would 
be completed within 3-4 years; (4) identify guidance on site 
characterization; and (5) describe the process for timely cleanup 
on a site-specific basis.
 
Discussion Since development of the SDMP Action Plan, the staff 
has addressed the issues identified in the Action Plan, as 
follows. The criteria for site cleanup and NRC's position on 
finality were codified in 10 CFR part 20, subpart E [License 
Termination Rule (LTR)]. NRC's expectations regarding the 
completion of site decommissioning have been codified in 10 CFR 
30.36, 40.42, 70.38, and 72.54. Issues associated with site 
characterization have been addressed in the Multi-Agency 
Radiation Survey and Site Investigation Manual (MARSSIM) 
(NUREG-1575, Rev.
 
1, August 2000) and in Volume 2: Characterization, Survey, and 
Determination of Radiological Criteria, of the Consolidated NMSS 
Decommissioning Guidance (NUREG-1757, Vol. 2, September 2003). 
The process for timely cleanup on a site-specific basis is 
addressed in NUREG-1757, Consolidated NMSS Decommissioning 
Guidance.
 
In addition, the NRC staff tracks significant decommissioning 
issues in its operating plan, and resolution of an issue is 
integrated with the work being done at the site and with other 
activities in the decommissioning program. The staff has also 
developed a standard review plan (NUREG-1727, NMSS 
Decommissioning Standard Review Plan, September 2000) and has 
completed its efforts to consolidate, risk-inform, and 
performance-base the policies and guidance for its 
decommissioning program, with the issuance of a three-volume 
NUREG report (NUREG-1757, Consolidated NMSS Decommissioning 
Guidance). This guidance addresses compliance with the 
radiological criteria for license termination of the LTR, and it 
incorporates the risk-informed and performance-based alternatives 
of the rule. The guidance provides NRC staff with the evaluation 
and acceptance criteria for use in reviewing decommissioning 
plans, allowing NRC staff to determine if the decommissioning 
could be conducted such that the public health and safety are 
protected and the facility could be released in accordance with 
NRC's requirements.
 
Dated at Rockville, MD, this 7th day of June, 2004.
 
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
 
Daniel M. Gillen, Deputy Director for the Decommissioning 
Directorate, Division of Waste Management and Environmental 
Protection, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards.
 
[FR Doc. 04-13665 Filed 6-16-04; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P

 
*****************************************************************
 25 EUpolitix: EU and Japan spar for ITER
 
The battle between Japan and Europe over hosting the 

international nuclear fusion reactor  is set to rage on in Vienna 
as officals from the six participating parties gather for a 
meeting on Friday. 

Japan is reported be planning to stump up an extra €750 billion 
for the world's first thermonuclear reactor - if it means it can 
host the project known as ITER. 

Brussels wants the $10 billion dollar project sited within the EU 
in the southern French town of Cadarache, and has reportedly won 
support from China and Russia. 

But the Japanese site, in the northern village of Rokkasho-mura 
has won support from South Korea and the US. 

Japan and the EU are the only two competing to host ITER. Spain 
threw in the towel to provide the European site last November. 

On Wednesday, EU research commissioner Philippe Busquin told 
journalists to "spread the word. The European plant is best". 

There are nine factors used to assess the two proposed sites, and 
Busquin said the French site met eight out of the nine criteria. 

Cadarache only fell short on transport facilities, the nineth 
criteria. 
    
Published: Thu, 17 Jun 2004 16:29:49 GMT+02 Author: Henrietta 
Billings 

�2004 EUpolitix.com     
*****************************************************************
 26 AP Wire: DHEC offers potassium pills to Midlands residents

| 06/17/2004 | 


Associated Press

COLUMBIA, S.C. - Midlands residents who live near the V.C. Summer 
Nuclear Station can receive potassium iodide pills that could 
protect them in case of an accident. 

The Department of Health and Environmental Control will 
distribute the pills on June 26 to those who live within 10 miles 
of the station. 

Potassium iodide is similar to table salt. It can help block the 
buildup of radioactive iodine in the thyroid and reduce the risk 
of cancer. 

About 15,000 pills have been sent to Richland, Lexington, 
Newberry and Fairfield counties for distribution, said Sandra 
Threatt, manager of DHEC's Nuclear Response and Emergency 
Environmental Surveillance section. 

The agency also distributed potassium iodide pills to residents 
in Pickens and Oconee counties in July 2003 and York County 
residents in May 2003.   

*****************************************************************
 27 BakuTODAY.net: License Extended for Armenian Nuclear Power Plant 
 
Baku Today 17/06/2004 10:39 


The Armenian commission that regulates public services in the 
country has extended the operating license for the Metsamor 
Nuclear Power Plant, Russia�s Interfax news agency reported on 
Tuesday, citing a source in the commission's press service. 

The source told Interfax that the decision to extend the license 
was reached on June 8 and it took effect on June 10. 

According to the report, the previous license for the plant, 
which was issued 15 years ago, expired on June 10 this year. An 
application to receive a new license was submitted to the 
commission a month ago the source said. 

Armenian Nuclear Power Plant plans to halt operations on June 15, 
for 65 days for maintenance and for fuel to be loaded. 

The Metsamor Nuclear Power plant produced 1.9 billion kilowatt 
hours of electricity in 2003, or 36 percent of the total 
generation of electricity in Armenia. ZAO Inter RAO UES, a 
subsidiary of Russia's Unified Energy System, and Armenia signed 
a contract in September 2003 to hand over trust management of the 
plant to Inter RAO UES. 

The Nuclear Power Plant, which has two reactors with a total 
capacity of 815 megawatts, was closed in 1988 due to political 
and economic reasons. Its second reactor was restarted at a 
capacity of 407.5 megawatts in 1995. 

Armenian Economic Development and Trade Minister Karen Jshmartian 
announced earlier that a program for the mothballing of the plant 
should be prepared by the end of 2004.     

[http://www.azer.net/] 
Copyright � 1999-2004 BAKU TODAY. | Contact Us   
*****************************************************************
 28 JOURNAL NEWS: River watchdog

 By MICHAEL RISINIT

 THE JOURNAL NEWS
 (Original publication: June 17, 2004)

 ABOARD THE R. IAN FLETCHER � Storm King Mountain rises some 
1,300 feet out of the Hudson River. On a hot spring day, the 
river below the granite hump is studded with about 30 boats � all 
with fishing lines dropped in the water. 

The scene provides a moment of professional contentment for John 
Lipscomb, captain of the 36-foot wooden boat that serves as a 
patrol vessel for Riverkeeper. 

"This is the whole Storm King story," said Lipscomb, gazing out 
the boat's windshield at the river winding its way into the 
highlands. Green foliage and the day's haze shrouded the rocky 
hills. 

"Here are the stripers. They're sitting here," said Lipscomb, a 
50-year-old Piermont resident and a former documentary filmmaker. 

The Storm King story reaches back to 1963, when Consolidated 
Edison wanted to build a power plant on the mountain. The plant 
would have drawn water from the Hudson into a holding pond and 
released it through turbines during peak times to generate 
electricity. River advocates contended the plant would destroy 
striped bass spawning grounds and mar the valley's beauty. A 
federal court ruled in the advocates' favor, giving them legal 
standing to sue Con Edison and telling the utility to consider 
natural beauty a part of the planning process. 

That ruling gave birth to the environmental advocacy movement and 
was reinforced by the federal Clean Water Act in 1972. The act 
allows private citizens to collect evidence and file lawsuits 
against polluters � the central tenet of Riverkeeper's crusade to 
keep the Hudson and its tributaries clean. 

It is a waterway Robert H. Boyle, Riverkeeper's first president, 
described as a "trout stream and estuary, water supply and sewer, 
ship channel and shad river, playground and chamber pot," in his 
1969 book "The Hudson River, A Natural and Unnatural History." 
Boyle was the founder of the organization's forerunner, the 
Hudson River Fishermen's Association, in 1966. 

"It really inspires people and gives them satisfaction that there 
is somebody watching their resource," said Alex Matthiessen, 
whose fourth anniversary as the Hudson Riverkeeper and the 
group's executive director will be July 10. 

Riverkeeper has championed the closing of the Indian Point 
nuclear power plants, called for power plants along the river to 
reduce the number of fish killed in their cooling systems and 
encouraged controls on development in New York City's watershed. 
But the trip Lipscomb makes once a month from March until just 
before Christmas harkens to Riverkeeper's 1983 origins, when the 
fishermen's association hired John Cronin, a former commercial 
fisherman, to patrol the river on a regular basis. 

"I always thought the patrol was essential," said Boyle, 75, who 
no longer leads Riverkeeper. "That was the idea I had when I 
started Riverkeeper." 

Each patrol on the refurbished Chesapeake Bay scallop boat from 
Troy to the southern tip of Manhattan takes about five days. 
Lipscomb spends 1,000 hours a year on the river, beginning and 
ending each excursion from a berth at Petersen's Boat Yard in 
Upper Nyack, which he managed for 10 years. The distance from 
Troy to Manhattan's end � the Hudson's navigable length � is 134 
nautical miles. 

On a recent warm Friday, he was on the Kingston-to-Tarrytown leg 
of the journey. As the boat pulled abreast of Storm King, 
Lipscomb stood on the deck, peering at ledges where the droppings 
of peregrine falcons whitewashed the rock. The birds weren't 
visible, but Lipscomb spotted a beer keg in the bushes. 

The metal container is relatively harmless compared to Lipscomb's 
other finds, including pipes from industrial sites and 
restaurants pumping contaminants into the river, eroding 
construction sites sending soil into the waterway and landowners 
who enlarge their properties by dumping fill in the river. 

"You're trying to really get a sense of what the shore is so you 
can see changes," said Lipscomb, who started his patrols in fall 
2000. 

That cognizance comes after hours of eyeballing the backside of 
life in the Hudson Valley � loading docks, train tracks and storm 
drains. Poughkeepsie and Tarrytown are 66 minutes apart by train. 
The two cities are eight hours apart on the Riverkeeper boat 
because the trip is about the journey, not the destination. 

"What I'm looking for is a pipe doing something it shouldn't be," 
Lipscomb said. 

His office is the Fletcher's wheelhouse. His desk is the boat's 
console on which sit a roll of paper towels, a pulley, piles of 
photos and charts, a compass, a cell phone and a depth finder. A 
great blue heron on the Poughkeepsie shoreline, a herring gull on 
a dock in Cortlandt and a double-crested cormorant on a piling in 
Haverstraw Bay were just some of his office mates last month. 

Sitting in a canvas tote bag is a black, three-ring binder filled 
with the names and telephone numbers of building inspectors, 
municipal officials and environmental inspectors who may be able 
to check on or rectify a problem spotted from the water. With 
numerous inlets and tributaries to patrol, Lipscomb also relies 
on others to pass along information. A tugboat engineer two years 
ago reported a leaking oil pipe near Albany. 

"It's about relationships," Lipscomb said, shortly after a man 
with a white beard sped by in a gray motorboat, giving the 
Riverkeeper boat a thumbs-up. 

Just the boat's presence is a deterrent, said Matthiessen, 
Riverkeeper's director, causing some to think twice about any 
action that may harm the river. Even those who appear not to be 
fans are aware of the boat. A half-dozen men sitting around a 
table last month inside the Cold Spring Yacht Club declined to 
talk about Riverkeeper's work but acknowledged seeing the boat 
pass by regularly on the Hudson. One, a former Con Edison 
employee, criticized Riverkeeper's efforts to shut down the 
nearby Indian Point nuclear power plants. 

But Jack Gilman, a freelance graphic artist from Yonkers, said 
Riverkeeper is "a great service." 

"Basically, it's because of who they represent, which is us," 
said Gilman, a kayaker. "Riverkeeper has played a very serious 
role in keeping the Hudson River clean and safe for all of us." 

Maureen Wren, a state Department of Environmental Conservation 
spokeswoman, said the eyes of the public, including 
Riverkeeper's, have helped protect the Hudson. 

"The DEC definitely encourages the public to contact the 
department if there are violations in the community," Wren said. 
"Notification by Riverkeeper and others have led to action." 

Many of Riverkeeper's investigations are resolved through 
conversations, Matthiessen said, rather than the filing of a 
lawsuit, as in the past � a result he attributed to the 
groundwork laid by Boyle, Cronin and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the 
group's chief prosecuting attorney. 

The grass-roots effort to protect a waterway has given rise to 
about 120 Waterkeeper programs across the country, in Canada and 
in Europe. Once just a person, Riverkeeper has also become an 
institution. That achievement has made the individual into an 
administrator with meetings, phone calls and travel. 

"One of the things I knew is I wanted to get the boat back on the 
river. It's the romantic part of the job. But I couldn't do it 
either," said Matthiessen, 39, referring to the similar 
predicament faced by his predecessor, Cronin. 

"John (Lipscomb) has one of the best jobs in the world," 
Matthiessen said. "To me, what's most important is we're doing 
our job." 

That job is watching pipes and the substances dribbling or 
gushing out of them, collecting dead fish from the river or 
following the odor of gasoline as it wafts across the river just 
south of Garrison. Lipscomb tacked back and forth across the 
river, sniffing the air, but gave up after a few hundred yards 
when the odor dissipated. 

"You end up with a billion little things going along and some big 
things," Lipscomb said. "Basically, we're doing a neighborhood 
watch for the river." 

Send e-mail to  Michael Risinit  [mrisinit@thejournalnews.com] 

  Home [http://www.thejournalnews.com] -Business 

  Copyright 2004 The Journal News, a Gannett Co
[http://www.gannett.com/] . Inc. newspaper serving Westchester,
Rockland and Putnam Counties in New York.
*****************************************************************
 29 NRC: NRC to Discuss Perry Inspection Findings with FirstEnergy Officials
 
News Release - Region III - 2004-03

 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 

Office of Public Affairs, Region III
  No. III-04-038           June 16, 2004   
  CONTACT:     Jan Strasma (630) 829-9663
 Viktoria Mitlyng (630) 829-9662     E-mail: opa3@nrc.gov
[opa3@nrc.gov]   
  


The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will meet Monday in
Painesville, Ohio, with representatives of FirstEnergy Nuclear
Operating Company to discuss the preliminary findings of an NRC
team inspection reviewing the causes and corrective actions for
several equipment problems that have occurred over the past 18
months at the Perry Nuclear Power Station. The plant is located
in Perry, Ohio. 

The meeting will be at 4 p.m. at the Quail Hollow Resort, 11080
Concord-Hambden Road, Painesville. The public is invited to
observe the meeting, and NRC officials will be available before
the conclusion of the meeting to answer questions from the
public. The four-member team inspection took place during the
weeks of May 17 and June 7. 

The inspection team has focused on the utilitys response to
three equipment problems: the failure of an equipment cooling
water pump on September 1 of last year; an air buildup in piping
that affected the operation of another pump during the August 18
blackout; and the failure of a high pressure core spray pump
during testing in October 2002. 

Each of these equipment problems was determined to be of low to
moderate safety significance -- white inspection findings in
the NRC classification of problems which ranges from green,
for findings of minor safety significance, through white,
yellow, and red, indicating increasing safety significance. 

This inspection was scheduled because of the number of white
findings involving equipment failures, said James Caldwell, NRC
Regional Administrator. The inspectors have been looking at how
well FirstEnergy finds, evaluates, and fixes equipment problems.
What we learn in the inspection will determine whether or not we
need to conduct further inspections looking at the effectiveness
of their corrective actions. 

During the inspection, the pump, which had failed on September
1, failed again during testing on May 21. The NRC conducted a
separate special inspection to review this repetitive pump
failure. While the meeting Monday will focus on the team
inspection looking more broadly at equipment issues, the results
of the inspection of the May 21 pump problem will also be
discussed. 

The report of the team inspection will be available in about 30
days from the NRC Region III Office of Public Affairs and in the
NRCs ADAMS online library at:
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams/web-based.html - use docket
number 05000440 to facilitate locating the report.   



  


 	Last revised Wednesday, June 16, 2004 	   
*****************************************************************
 30 FT: Ahead at half power  
    
  Published: June 17 2004 5:00 | Last Updated: June 17 2004 5:00

 
From the reaction this week of unions at Electricit� de France 
and Gaz de France, you would think the government was threatening 
immediate privatisation and mass sackings at the state-owned 
utilities. Workers cut EdF's power output to some cities, railway 
lines and motorway toll booths, stole the electricity meter from 
the country house of Jean Pierre Raffarin, the prime minister, 
and blockaded GdF terminals. All this to mark this week's 
parliamentary debate on a bill just to give the utilities a share 
structure so that, at some later and undetermined date, a 
minority of these shares might be sold to private investors. 

As predictable as the unions' over-reaction has been the 
concessions by the Raffarin government, which has been further 
weakened politically by its poor showing in last weekend's 
European elections. But by adopting half-measures on energy 
liberalisation as on even more important issues such as pension 
reform, the government risks creating more trouble for itself 
later.

The immediate point of transforming the utilities into 
incorporated but still state-owned companies is to remove the 
commercial advantage of a sovereign guarantee on borrowing that 
they currently have as mere appendages of the French state. 
Removal of this unfair advantage is part of the European Union 
energy liberalisation programme. Nothing in this legislation 
requires privatisation of EdF or GdF. But the government has made 
it clear that it eventually wants to go down this road because it 
no longer has the money to fund the investment needs of EdF in 
particular. Yet privatisation will now be later and more partial 
than originally planned. Nicolas Sarkozy, the finance minister, 
bowed to the union protests by promising to set up a 
parliamentary commission to assess EdF's cash needs. He also 
reaffirmed that the state stake in the two utilities would not 
drop below 70 per cent.

The unions deserve no such concessions. They have two main 
arguments against privatisation, and both are bogus. One is that 
security of energy supply requires state ownership. This is 
nonsense in the case of French gas, which overwhelmingly comes 
from abroad. In France's predominantly nuclear-generated power 
sector, the state will always have a role, but it could be as 
regulator not owner. The other argument is that private utilities 
will cherry-pick the best customers and discriminate against 
poorer, rural ones. Such a problem can be avoided, as it is 
elsewhere in Europe, by regulators imposing "universal service" 
obligations on operators.

The strikers' real motive is self-interest. The two utilities 
provide one of the few remaining bastions for France's communist 
trade union and party. They may invoke the iconic status of EdF 
and GdF in post-war French politics, but their eyes are on 
special pensions and perks. This is the reality and the 
government should force it out into the open.  
     
      � Copyright The Financial Times Ltd 2004. "FT" and
"Financial Times" are trademarks of the Financial Times. Privacy
*****************************************************************
 31 FT: Rescue plan for British Energy faces delay  

  Andrew Taylor, Utilities Correspondent  


  Published: June 17 2004 19:34 | Last Updated: June 17 2004
19:34  
     
The government-backed rescue of British Energy could be delayed 
until the end of the year, the financially distressed nuclear 
generator has warned. 

British Energy, which reported its first annual profit for three 
years, said it was taking longer than expected to complete the 
financial assessments needed to win EU approval.

The European Commission had been due to decide this summer 
whether the planned restructuring breached state aid rules.

However, Patricia Hewitt, trade and industry secretary, told MPs 
on Thursday that it would "not be possible for the government to 
present all the necessary information in time." As a result, the 
Commission would not be able to announce a decision until the 
autumn.

Signals from Brussels suggested that the rescue will be approved 
but British officials are concerned to make their case as 
watertight as possible to head off any future legal challenges 
from anti-nuclear opponents.

Ms Hewitt warned that "contingency plans" remained in place to 
put British Energy into administration if the rescue failed.

British Energy said that, if the EU approved the deal, it would 
be required "to complete the restructuring by January 31 2005 at 
the latest."

The group's latest annual results emphasised the need to improve 
the poor operating performance of many of its reactors. It has 
hired experienced US nuclear engineers to help beef up its 
performance and intends to increase capital spending by 34 per 
cent to �175m in the current year, rising to �220m to �255m in 
the following two years.

Underlying operating profit rose from �7m to �57m despite a 7.5 
per cent fall in average wholesale prices. But pre-tax profit of 
�232m included exceptional credits of �403m while the previous 
year's �4.3bn pre-tax loss was after a �3.7bn write-down in the 
value of its business. A return to paying dividends would be 
delayed for at least two years, said Mike Alexander, chief 
executive.

He said operating costs had fallen by about 11 per cent after a 
4.4 per cent rise in electricity output. Earnings per share were 
38.9p (losses of 654.7p).

FT CommentBritish Energy's potential for life after death is no 
consolation to existing shareholders who stand to lose up to 97.5 
per cent of their investment under a debt-for-equity swap. Rising 
electricity wholesale prices should help in future as long-term 
fixed-priced contracts unwind; so should lower fuel charges 
renegotiated with BNFL, generating cash savings of �58m last 
year. Big premiums paid recently for British Energy debt and a 
share price of 12.54p look expensive and fail to take account of 
increased capital spending plans and electricity output, which 
will remain flat in the short term.  
     
      � Copyright The Financial Times Ltd 2004. "FT" and
"Financial Times" are trademarks of the Financial Times. Privacy
*****************************************************************
 32 FT: British Energy still at risk of insolvency  

  By Gordon Smith in London  


  Published: June 17 2004 12:12 | Last Updated: June 17 2004

But the nuclear generator remained cautious about its future and 
said obstacles still stood in the way of its survival - 
principally the agreement of the European Commission to the �5bn 
restructuring plan agreed with the UK government and other 
creditors last October.

The company, which has suffered from falling electricity prices 
in the past two years, repeated a warning made at the release of 
its third quarter results in February.

"It must be recognised that the restructuring remains subject to 
a large number of significant uncertainties and important 
conditions and, that if, for any reason, the restructuring cannot 
proceed, the board may have to seek the protection of insolvency 
proceedings," it said.

British Energy shares, which peaked in January 1999 at 730p, fell 
10 per cent to 11.5p on Thursday, valuing the company around 
�64m.

Under the terms of the restructuring agreement, the energy 
group's banks, bondholders and other senior creditors have agreed 
to swap �1.3bn of company debt for �425m of new debt and shares.

The UK government has agreed to shoulder the financial costs of 
decommissioning outdated nuclear power stations, estimated by the 
Commission to be worth about �3.3bn.

The company, which recieved a �275m emergency loan from the 
government last year, said the Commission was not expected to 
decide on whether the rescue plan breached its rules on illegal 
state aid until the autumn.

The statement overshadowed an improved trading performance from 
the utility group, which reported an operating profit on 
continuing activities and after exceptional items for the year to 
March 31 of �57m. This compares to a loss of �3.9bn for the 
previous year.

Operating profits before exceptional items on continuing 
activities jumped to �57m from �7m the year before. The company's 
pre-tax loss shrunk to �194m from �274m the previous year, 
excluding the operations of US groups Bruce Power, Huron Wind and 
AmerGen, which were disposed of during the year.

The company said its future success depends on the performance of 
its eight nuclear power stations in the UK, which have come under 
fire from environmental groups for their threat to safety.

As part of its reorganisation the power group created position of 
chief nuclear officer. It turned to the US to fill the new 
position and appointed Roy Anderson, currently president of PSEG 
Nuclear in the US, who will take up his new post from July.  
     
      � Copyright The Financial Times Ltd 2004. "FT" and
"Financial Times" are trademarks of the Financial Times. Privacy
*****************************************************************
 33 RG: New nukes unnecessary: United States has more important fiscal needs 

- The Register-Guard, Eugene, Oregon, USA

 		 		 	 	 		
June 17, 2004
 						
 A Register-Guard Editorial

This just in from the Senate's "Apocalypse Now" Committee: The 
terrorists will win unless the U.S. spends $27.6 million to study 
development of a Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator, the 
"bunker-buster" bomb.

 Oh, and even if Americans have the Robust Penetrator (no 
snickering, people), the terrorists will still win if we don't 
throw in $9 million more to explore the development of cute 
mini-nukes. Hiroshima Lite: Wastes great; less killing.

 Never mind that American troops in Iraq occasionally run short 
of ammunition and gun lubricant. Pay no attention to the 
billion-dollar cut in veterans medical benefits President Bush 
has pencilled into the 2006 budget. Who cares about a federal 
deficit that seems to swell larger every week as Congress pumps 
election-year pork into every spending bill.

 No, the United States Senate wants to make certain the nation 
isn't caught short the next time it invades another country and 
needs to assassinate a leader who may be hiding out deep 
underground. So senators voted 55-42 Tuesday to kill a Democratic 
proposal to cut the $37 million earmarked for that vital research 
into the development of brand new nuclear weapons.

 Apart from the obvious reasons funding nuclear weapons research 
sends exactly the wrong message to the world right now (think: 
Iran), senators ought to have spent a bit more time reflecting 
about this:

 Suppose U.S. forces had access to a Robust Penetrator during the 
initial attack on Baghdad. Is anyone seriously suggesting that 
America, attempting to "liberate" the oppressed Iraqi people, 
would have dropped a nuclear device into the center of a city of 
almost 6 million? Boom goes the battle for hearts and minds.

 Developing new nuclear weapons for possible use in a stateless 
war on terror makes about as much sense as trying to stamp out 
terrorism by bulldozing poor people's homes.

Copyright 2004 The Register-Guard<br>
*****************************************************************
 34 Boston.com: Workers OK strike at nuclear plant as convention nears
 
The Boston Globe


  Workers OK strike at nuclear plant as convention nears Boston
Globe Workers at the Pilgrim Station nuclear power plant in
Plymouth are joining the Boston Police Patrolmen's Association
and other unions and using a threat to disrupt next month's
Democratic National Convention to try to win a new labor
contract. 

Peter J. Howe June 17, 2004 

Timing may give union leverage
 
By Peter J. Howe, Globe Staff  |  June 17, 2004 

Workers at the Pilgrim Station nuclear power plant in Plymouth
are joining the Boston Police Patrolmen's Association and other
unions and using a threat to disrupt next month's Democratic
National Convention to try to win a new labor contract. 

Technicians and other members of the Utility Workers Union of 
America, Local 369, who have for months been seeking a new 
contract with Pilgrim Station's owner, Entergy Corp., last night 
voted 96 percent in favor of authorizing a strike July 13, two 
weeks before the convention begins at the FleetCenter in Boston. 

Union president Gary Sullivan said a strike would shut down the 
670-megawatt plant, which produces enough power for 500,000 homes 
and plays a big role in ensuring Greater Boston and the South 
Shore have enough power. 

Sullivan said executives of New Orleans-based Entergy have been 
stalling since March on a new contract for the 400 of the 580 
Pilgrim Station employees represented by Local 369. 

''It's almost as if they want us out, and they're daring us to 
strike, even though it's not what we want to do," he said. ''To 
replace us, we think, would be a real safety problem for them, 
and in my opinion, this place would not stay open very long." 

Spokeswoman Carol Wightman said Entergy hopes to negotiate a 
contract by July 13, when current union pacts expire. But she 
said Entergy could keep the plant running with replacement 
workers and managers. 

''It's our goal that there will be a contract that is fair for 
both the employees and the company, and obviously our highest 
priority is the continued safe operation of Pilgrim," Wightman 
said. ''Entergy does have a contingency plan in the event of a 
work stoppage. It's a prudent thing to be prepared. The people 
that we'd bring in in the event of a work stoppage are highly 
trained nuclear workers as well, and we have a management team 
here that's highly trained." 

Entergy bought Pilgrim Station from Boston Edison Co. in November 
1998, for $121 million. It operates nine other nuclear plants at 
seven US locations, which could provide replacement workers for 
Pilgrim. 

Many labor leaders, including Local 369's, hope that the pressure 
on Boston, state, and Democratic Party officials to stage a 
successful convention will give them extra leverage in completing 
contract negotiations. 

The 1,400-member Boston police union, whose contract expired two 
years ago, is barred by law from striking. But it has threatened 
to set up picket lines outside the convention -- which it expects 
few Democrats would cross -- unless Mayor Thomas M. Menino agrees 
to a new four-year contract. 

Other unions representing about 20 percent of Boston's municipal 
workers are also in contract negotiations and hope Menino will 
feel pressure to sign contracts before the convention. 

Sullivan said Local 369 members are bracing for ''a forced 
lockout or strike, which if it occurs, unfortunately comes at an 
inopportune time -- during peak electricity usage and during the 
time when the Democratic National Convention is in town." 

Paul Harrington, a Northeastern University professor and 
assistant director of its Center for Labor Market Studies, said: 
''As a bargaining strategy, it's probably a pretty smart move 
without much of a cost for the Pilgrim employees. It gives them a 
certain amount of media visibility, and it brings their 
negotiations to the attention of political leaders, who are 
probably going to be making some calls to the company asking, 
'What's going on here?' " 

Sullivan said Pilgrim employees feel increasingly overworked, to 
the point that safety is a concern. Entergy used retirement 
incentives last year to reduce staff at Pilgrim to 580, from 670. 

''It's a high-pressure environment, and you just can't be 
overworking these people for the sake of making a profit," 
Sullivan said. Health insurance is another contentious issue, he 
said. 

If an emergency develops at Pilgrim during a strike, Sullivan 
pledged that employees would immediately ''man our posts and 
ensure safety." 

Peter J. Howe can be reached at howe@globe.com. [ /]  � Copyright 
2004 Globe Newspaper Company. 


  feedback [http://www.boston.com/help/bostoncom_info/feedback]
*****************************************************************
 35 Prague Post: Officials fume over Temelin visit     

HOME</b> [http://www.praguepost.com]   


 Authorities say EU trip to nuclear plant was politically
motivated 

By Dinah A. Spritzer 
Staff Writer, The Prague Post The Prague Post -->
(June 17, 2004)

 What nuclear experts consider to be a minor incident at the 
Temelin nuclear power plant has caused the first rift between the 
European Union and the Czech Republic since the country became an 
EU member May 1. 


      "They should be happy that the matter is resolved." 
                                
                        Gilles Gantelet,
                  European Commission spokesman 

The State Office for Nuclear Safety (SUJB) is filing a formal 
complaint against the European Commission for what it says was a 
surprise inspection visit to south Bohemia June 7 after 3,000 
liters (780 gallons) of radioactive water leaked within Temelin's 
second power station the previous day. 

Czech and EU inspectors reported that the leak was contained and 
posed no environmental danger. 

SUJB spokesman Pavel Pitterman said the state's problem is not 
with European safety officials' findings, however, but instead 
with the manner in which the inspections were carried out. "We 
found out through the press that the European Commission was 
sending its own inspectors, and the way this was done, so quickly 
and with no consultation, is totally out of line with our 
agreements with Euratom," Pitterman said, referring to the 
European Commission's nuclear safety arm. 

Pitterman said the Czech Republic was being singled out for an 
unannounced inspection to appease Austria and the German state of 
Bavaria, which have long opposed Temelin. Located 50 kilometers 
(30 miles) from the Austrian border, Temelin was constructed 
during the communist era and has since been outfitted with modern 
safety systems, although not to the satisfaction of many 
antinuclear protestors in Austria and Germany. 

"When an incident of the same caliber occurred in Ireland or 
Portugal, it took the EU 16 months before they sent inspectors 
there," Pitterman said. 

He said the Temelin leak was a zero or 1 on the Ines scale, the 
rating method used by the International Atomic Energy 
Organization in Vienna to evaluate atomic accidents. The scale 
runs from 1 to 7, with events rated zero, or off-scale, 
considered to have no safety significance. 


Czechs overreacting 

Gilles Gantelet, a European Commission spokesman, said Czechs 
overreacted to the inspection. "The EU treaty for all member 
states gives our inspectors the right to go to a nuclear site at 
any time. I think it is a mistake for the Czechs to see this as 
against them," Gantelet said. 

Since the EU inspectors found no problems, Gantelet said the 
situation should be a closed chapter. "But the Czechs are keeping 
it open by filing a complaint," he said. "This is a shame because 
they should be happy that the matter is resolved." 

He said current European Commission Energy Commissioner Loyola de 
Palacio plans to become more aggressive with inspections of 
nuclear energy sites throughout the newly expanded EU. 

Gantelet also noted that Temelin has experienced numerous 
incidents, albeit minor, over the last decade. "Perhaps we would 
not have sent someone so quickly had there not been a history of 
problems," he said. 

But Jan Kohout, Czech ambassador to the EU, said, "The reason we 
were not that enthusiastic about the European Commission coming 
so fast to Temelin was that we do not like double standards." 

By way of example, Kohout mentioned a minor incident that 
occurred in mid-May at one of the two nuclear power plants in 
Philippsburg, Germany, located in the state of Baden-Wurttemberg. 
"A similar incident occurred in Germany with 10 times the amount 
of radioactive leakage and not a single inspector was sent to 
check it," Kohout claimed. � OPEN CONTRIBUTION -->

 Dinah Spritzer can be reached at dspritzer@praguepost.com 
[dspritzer@praguepost.com] 
  										   
The Prague Post, a weekly newspaper published in the Czech
*****************************************************************
 36 [NYTr] US Trying to Dump DU-contaminated Scrap on Jordan?
 
Date: Thu, 17 Jun 2004 15:39:33 -0500 (CDT)


 
Via NY Transfer News Collective  *  All the News that Doesn't Fit
 
sent by Mart

[Important - Pay particular attention to the last line
of this article. This is literally genocide perpetrated
by the U.S and Israel against the Arab population
of Jordan!]

Islam OnLine - June 16, 2004
http://www.islamonline.net/English/News/2004-06/16/article06.shtml

Jordan Considers Ban On Iraqi Scrap Imports

By Tareq Delwani, IOL Correspondent

AMMAN, June 16 (IslamOnline.net) - Jordan is considering a ban on Iraqi
military scrap imports amid fears that they could be contaminated.

A committee of ten ministries and other government-run institutions has
recommended the ban, citing health and environmental hazards of the booming
scrap business.

Tons of scrap metals have been imported from Iraq by Jordanian traders at
low prices since the fall of Baghdad to the US-led occupation forces.

The committee said that local inhabitants of northern Amman have complained
of health problems including breath difficulty and severe headaches.

The imported scrap metals include destroyed military vehicles and tanks of
the disbanded Iraqi army.

Jordanians fear that these military vehicles were shelled by depleted
uranium during the US-British invasion of Iraq .

On April 25, the Observer quoted military sources as affirming that depleted
uranium shells and bombs used by US and British troops during Iraq invasion
were five times more than the number used during 1991 Gulf war.

The Pentagon had admitted shelling Iraq with about 350 tons of depleted
uranium in 1991, aggravating cancerous tumors cases among Iraqis.

In a report issued Thursday, April 24, the UN Environment Program (UNEP)
pressed the occupation forces to pinpoint Iraqi sites hit by depleted
uranium.

Booming Business

With a large amount of scrap metals trucked from the neighboring country,
the trade is booming in Jordan .

In Al-Zarqa district in southern Amman , people tell of gangs smuggling the
scrap metals from Iraq .

Others allege they had seen dismantled parts of Russian-made tanks of the
Iraqi army.

Some estimated that more than 100 trucks loaded with scrap metals drive from
Iraq to Jordan and the other five countries sharing borders with the
war-scarred country every month.

"Spare parts of military equipment used in the Iraqi water and oil sectors
are also smuggled every month to Jordan ," said Abu Abdel-Rahman, a worker
in the "Scrap Area" in the northern Amman city of Sahab .

Acting chief UN inspector Demetrius Perricos told the Security Council on
Tuesday, June 10, that 20 engines from banned Iraqi missiles were found in a
Jordanian scrap yard, raising new security questions about Iraq 's scrap
metal sales since the occupation of the country.

The missile engines and some other equipment discovered in the scrap yards
had been reportedly tagged by UN weapons monitors because of their potential
dual use in legitimate civilian activities.

Perricos suggested that the interim Iraqi government, which will assume
power on June 30, may want to reconsider policies for exporting scrap metals
that apparently began in mid-2003.

He told reporters that up to a thousand tons of scrap metals were leaving
Iraq every day.

"The only controls at the borders are for the weight of the scrap metal, and
to check whether there are any explosive or radioactive materials within the
scrap," he said.

But the Jordanian government's spokeswoman, Asma Khedr, dismissed the
statements.

"The spare metals are only disposable scraps."

Khedr said that Jordan has carried out stringent procedures to prevent
access of poisonous materials across borders.

But traders still make good money out of the smuggling.

US To Blame

Analysts heaped blame on the US-led occupation forces for allowing the scrap
metals to move from Iraq .

Sufyan Al-Tal accused the American troops of facilitating the scrap exports
to protect their soldiers.

"The scrap metals had been hit by depleted uranium, something which
highlights the danger of keeping them in Jordan ," he said.

A military source close to NATO unveiled in July last year that several
mysterious diseases were reported among a number of American troops within
the vicinity of Baghdad airport.

He asserted there were levels of radioactive pollution with destructive
impacts on man and environment that may lead to risks suffered by
generations to come.

Following the invasion, the US occupation authority signed contracts with
Israeli companies to export the scrap metals to Jordan .

The contracts could not be cancelled by the Jordanian government or the new
Iraqi interim government.

       
                                *
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=================================================================
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           Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us
              339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012
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*****************************************************************
 37 [DU-WATCH] DU in nukes and other warheads - get focused people
 
Date: Thu, 17 Jun 2004 19:20:30 -0500 (CDT)


 
URL for Naval call for expresssions of interst in DU research

http://wwwnswc.navy.mil/wwwDL/XD/SUPPLY/solicita/04r1026/1026syn.htm

Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC), Dahigren Division, Virginia has
just closed its call for expressions of interest by weapons'
developers for designing and testing DU warheads in a wide variety
of warhead technologies: shaped charges, deep earth penetrators, ram-
jet boosted kineteic energy penetrators, tactical battlefield and
strategic CBW defeat weapons. The designer/builder is expected to
develop DU applications in thermonuclear weapons and hyper-velocity
rockets (i.e. that means the J-SSCM which I revealed a few months
back, covered by Traprock).

"The contractor must have a Radioactive Materials License for
testing of depleted uranium and have a BASTF license."

Testing is comprehensive over all warhead ballistic
configurations:"Fragments, projectiles, continuous rods, shaped
charge, reactive fragments,and blasts".

Testing of 20,000 pound TNT equivalent HE's indicates mini-nuke
testing. Probably in LLNL's soon to be build nuclear explosion
indoor testing laboratory. The program will test reactive fragments
and reactive fragment warheads. "Reactive" is the code word for
intermetallic warheads that react explosively and with high and
prolonged heat when exposed to water, titanium, and hydrogen".

Here we have ample demonstration of the experimentation and advaning
developme of several generations of uranium ballasted penetration
warheads, liquid metal and explosively formed penetration warheads,
high explosive-uranium composite warheads, and DU as an integral
componet to deep earth fissile penetration ram jet boosted warheads.

N00178-04-R-1026
A--Weapon Testing Support
XDS11 - Highly classified joint warhead testing program
Naval Surface Warfare Center
Dahlgrn, VA
March 2004

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 38 Cincinnati Enquirer: Energy workers' claims inch closer to resolution 

   [http://www.cincinnati.com] [http://www.enquirer.com]         


  Thursday, June 17, 2004 

Senate acts to facilitate payment 

By Greg Wright Gannett News Service

WASHINGTON - Thousands of ailing nuclear-weapons workers who have 
waited years for government compensation checks got a step closer 
Wednesday to relief. 

The Senate passed legislation from Sens. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., and 
Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., to transfer a controversial energy 
workers' compensation program to the Labor Department. 

The Energy Department received more than 24,300 claims as of June 
4 but has helped only four Cold War-era bomb-plant employees get 
workers' compensation checks. Bunning, Bingaman and a bipartisan 
group of senators said the move makes sense because the Labor 
Department has more staff and experience on workers' compensation 
issues. 

The Labor Department "will move through this backlog pretty 
quickly, and I think people will see payments," said Richard 
Miller, policy analyst at the Government Accountability Project. 

But the move might never happen. The Bush administration is 
against the Bunning-Bingaman amendment because it says the two 
departments still must consult to finish claims. The 
administration may try to kill the legislation when Senate and 
House lawmakers craft a compromise defense spending bill later 
this year, Bunning spokesman Mike Reynard said. 

In 2000 Congress created a two-prong program to help the workers. 
The Energy Department would help get workers' compensation checks 
from states. And the Labor Department would give eligible workers 
a $150,000 lump sum and cover medical bills. 

As of June 4, the Labor Department had processed 60 percent of 
55,888 claims it received. But some sick workers still complain 
they have hit roadblocks. 

Vina Colley, 56, of McDermott, Ohio, says she developed tumors, 
breathing problems and an immune deficiency because of her work 
as an electrician at the Portsmouth plant about 25 miles away. 

Colley filed claims with both departments after 2000 but said she 
still has not been paid. 

"Labor's already involved in it, and it's not working," she said. 

Thousands of workers claim they contracted cancer, lung diseases 
and other illnesses from exposure to radiation and toxic 
chemicals at nuclear-weapons plants in Tennessee, Ohio, Iowa, 
Kentucky and other states. 

The Senate voted by voice Wednesday to move the program to Labor. 
The legislation was added to a $422 billion defense bill the 
Senate is working on this week. 

Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, said Congress has a "moral 
obligation to help workers who sacrificed their health to protect 
the nation." Voinovich represents more than 1,300 sick workers 
from the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant near Piketon, Feed 
Materials Production Center at Fernald, and Mound Plant in 
Miamisburg. 

"I believe these men and woman have paid a high price for our 
freedom," Voinovich said. 

 [http://cincinnati.com/copyright] 1995-2004. 
[http://enquirer.com] , a  [http://www.gannett.com] newspaper. 
*****************************************************************
 39 AP Wire: Senate passes measure to ensure sick weapons workers get paid

| 06/17/2004 | 


The Lexington Herald-Leader  

NANCY ZUCKERBROD

 Associated Press

WASHINGTON - The Senate approved a plan Wednesday to have the 
government, not federal contractors, compensate Cold War-era 
nuclear weapons workers sickened from exposure to toxic 
substances while on the job. 

The amendment to the Senate defense bill also would transfer the 
program to the Labor Department. Lawmakers had complained that 
the Energy Department has paid out only $140,000 in claims since 
the law establishing the program was passed four years ago. That 
is despite receiving nearly $100 million from Congress. 

"It became clear that the program has not been working as 
intended and this measure will help correct the situation," said 
Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., chairman of the Senate Energy and 
Natural Resources Committee. 

The Energy Department now helps present and former workers at its 
weapons plants file claims for lost wages and medical expenses 
under state compensation programs, but relies on contractors who 
operated the plants to pay them. 

Some of those contractors are no longer in business. Others have 
purchased worker's compensation insurance from private companies. 
The government has no power to compel those insurers to pay 
claims. 

Under the Senate plan, approved by a voice vote, the government 
would pay the claims once it has evidence a worker's illness was 
job-related. Payments would be based on compensation laws in 
states where claimants worked. 

Most of the nearly 25,000 claims the Energy Department has 
received are from people who worked for contractors at 
weapons-making facilities in Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, New 
Mexico, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee and Washington state. 

"Many of these workers are dying and should not have to wait even 
longer for the Department of Energy to get its act together to 
process and pay the valid claims in a timely manner," said Sen. 
Jim Bunning, R-Ky., the lead sponsor of the amendment. 

The Energy Department is expected to spend $49 million this year 
on the program. Sponsors of the Senate proposal say efficiencies 
associated with moving the program to Labor will keep the cost 
about the same. 

The amendment also would expand the Labor Department program for 
workers exposed to radiation by making it available to people who 
worked at bomb-making facilities after the weapons work was 
finished there. 

Lawmakers say that is needed because in some instances those 
facilities remained contaminated with cancer-causing radiation 
long after the government stopped using the sites. 

Some of the facilitates thought to be contaminated after the 
government left are in Illinois, Missouri, New York and 
Tennessee. 

The House-passed defense bill makes smaller changes to the 
program, such as raising fees paid to medical experts who review 
claims, but keeps it in the Energy Department. A committee will 
likely to be tasked with negotiating a consensus bill. 

ON THE NET 

Energy Department Program: 
http://www.eh.doe.gov/advocacy/prog_stats/index.html 
[http://www.eh.doe.gov/advocacy/prog_stats/index.html] 

Labor Department Program: 
http://www.dol.gov/esa/regs/compliance/owcp/eeoicp/main.htm 
[http://www.dol.gov/esa/regs/compliance/owcp/eeoicp/main.htm]   

*****************************************************************
 40 Courier-Journal: Senate votes to move nuclear-worker program 

[http://www.courier-journal.com


Thursday, June 17, 2004     
  
By JAMES R. CARROLL

WASHINGTON  Having paid only four claims out of 24,000 filed 
nationwide, the Department of Energy's compensation program for 
sick nuclear workers from Paducah and other plants must be put 
under new management, the Senate decided yesterday. 

On a voice vote, the Senate approved an amendment that would move 
the claims program to the Department of Labor. That agency has a 
far better track record on payments, lawmakers said. 

The measure sponsored by Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., and more than a 
dozen other Republicans and Democrats was approved during 
deliberations on the fiscal 2005 defense authorization bill. 

"It is imperative that we protect those workers who risked their 
health and safety to help us win the Cold War," Bunning said in 
remarks on the Senate floor. 

Once the defense measure clears the Senate, it goes to a 
conference with the House, which last month passed its own bill, 
but without a provision moving the Energy Department's claims 
program. 

Robert Pierce, a 49-year-old former employee of the Paducah 
Gaseous Diffusion Plant, said the change would help his claim and 
those of others because the government would pay the compensation 
costs, rather than industry. 

"It's not being taken care of right," said Pierce, who has 
endured 11 surgeries and speaks in a whisper after losing his 
vocal cords to cancer three years ago. He said he doesn't believe 
the United States Enrichment Corp., which has managed and 
operated the Paducah plant for the Energy Department since July 
1998, was at fault for his cancer. 

Although Pierce said a physicians' panel agreed his exposure to 
toxic chemicals during his 27 years at the Paducah facility 
caused his larynx cancer, his claim would have to be paid by the 
USEC. 

But Elizabeth Stuckle, spokeswoman for the company at its 
Bethesda, Md., headquarters, said it is not legally liable for 
exposure of employees that occurred before USEC took over the 
plant. 

"To our knowledge, there's been no exposure at all," she said. 

As a result, Pierce is unsure whether he will be paid, despite 
approval of his claim. 

"It still doesn't get you anywhere," Pierce said. 

Stuckle said USEC was not legally liable, but "of course we'll 
help him." 

Claims languish 

As of June 4, 2,906 former workers at the Paducah plant were 
waiting for approval of claims for exposure to toxic chemicals 
under the Energy Department program, according to the agency's 
Web site. The Kentuckians are among the 24,000 claims filed 
nationwide with the agency. 

None of the four paid claims were in Kentucky. 

"The Department of Energy has just not done the job," said Sen. 
Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., one of the Bunning amendment's 
co-sponsors. 

By contrast, the Labor Department has been praised for its 
handling of a separate program providing payments to nuclear 
workers made sick by exposure to radioactive materials and 
beryllium. Of the 54,000 cases it has received nationwide, more 
than 95 percent have been completely processed, according to 
Bunning. 

Former Paducah workers had filed 5,229 claims with the Labor 
Department as of June 10, according to that agency. Of those, 
1,798 were denied and 1,524 were approved. Of the approvals, 
1,461 claims totaling more than $150 million have been paid. 

Several congressional hearings and reports by the General 
Accounting Office, the nonpartisan auditing arm of Congress, 
found that the Energy Department's compensation program, created 
in 2000 with the Labor Department program, was slow in getting 
organized. The energy agency also was plagued by "insufficient 
strategic planning" for the claims program, the GAO said in a 
report last month. 

By the end of 2003, the Energy Department had received 23,000 
cases and fully processed about 6 percent of them, the GAO found. 
However, most of the fully processed cases were found ineligible 
because people filing claims did not work at facilities covered 
under the program or did not have illnesses related to exposure 
to toxic materials, congressional auditors said. 

As of the end of last year, the Energy Department had not begun 
processing 60 percent of the cases it had received, the GAO 
found. 

"Claimants who deserve answers and compensation are experiencing 
endless delays," said Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, another 
co-sponsor of the amendment. 

New management 

If claims for toxic exposure go to the Labor Department, workers 
would not have to wait for reviews by a special panel of 
physicians, as they do now at the Energy Department. The GAO said 
the energy agency was having trouble finding enough qualified 
physicians to look at cases, adding to the delays in handling 
claims. 

The Bunning amendment also would head off a problem many former 
nuclear workers may face if claims are approved: the absence of 
companies to cover the payments. 

Under the Labor Department, all claims would be paid by the 
government, based on what state workers' compensation programs 
would provide. 

In Kentucky, that would mean former workers would receive 66 2/3 
percent of their average weekly pay, back to the start of their 
disability, according to Richard Miller, senior policy analyst 
with the Government Accountability Project, a government watchdog 
group based in Washington. 

Miller has worked on nuclear worker compensation issues for years 
and is a former policy analyst with the Paper, Allied-Industrial, 
Chemical &Energy Workers International Union. 

"There is light at end of the tunnel for people whose claims have 
been sitting unprocessed year after year after year," Miller 
said. "It could be much, much, much faster when the Department of 
Labor takes over." 

House version 

In the House, Rep. Ed Whitfield, R-1st District, and Rep. Ted 
Strickland, D-Ohio, tried last month to insert an amendment like 
Bunning's into the House version of the defense authorization 
bill, but the measure was ruled out of order. 

Whitfield's district includes Paducah, and Strickland's includes 
a sister facility, the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in 
Piketon, Ohio. 

Whitfield and Strickland have been critical of the Energy 
Department program and attempted several times to pass 
legislation transferring the program to the Labor Department. 

"The Department of Labor is much more effective in dealing with 
these issues than the DOE," Whitfield said. 

Whitfield said he and Strickland will press for House conferees 
to agree to Bunning's amendment when the two chambers get 
together to work out differences in the two versions of the 
defense authorization bills. The House passed its bill last 
month. 

The Energy Department does not want to lose the program, and the 
White House Office of Management and Budget said in a statement 
it opposed moving the claims to the Labor Department, "creating 
an unworkable process." 

Asked about the Energy Department's stance on Bunning's 
amendment, agency spokesman Jeff Sherwood referred to the OMB's 
opposition. 

Documents the Energy Department circulated to senators last month 
said that the pace of claims processing has increased 
dramatically since last fall. By the end of this year, more than 
500 claims would be paid, the department said. The documents were 
obtained by The Courier-Journal. 

The Energy Department also said that with "sufficient funding," 
it would eliminate the case backlog in 2006. 

"DOE underestimated the number of applicants and was slow to both 
start the program and respond to the backlog," the agency 
admitted.

Copyright 2004 The Courier-Journal.
*****************************************************************
 41 Hawk Eye: Double standard Record reflects vastly different approach by
the government toward victim compensation. 


[http://archive.thehawkeye.com] 

Wednesday, June 16, 2004 Site updated daily at 11 a.m. CST   

Workers and family members of the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant are 
justifiably angered at their government because efforts for just 
compensation are clearly lingering in red tape. 

About 200 people attended a meeting Monday in Burlington with 
federal officials and staffers representing U.S. Sens. Tom Harkin 
and Charles Grass�ley. It did little to alleviate frustration 
over the process they must go through to receive up to $150,000 
in compensation for exposure to cancer�causing particles, 
by�products of an era when the facility was used to build, 
test�fire and disassemble components of nuclear weap�ons. 

Since 2001, more than 1,000 claims have been filed by former 
workers, or their family members, who have been diagnosed with 
cancer or have died. Only 40 payments have been made, fewer than 
4 percent of the claims filed. 

Conversely, during that same period, the federal government's 
Sept. 11 Victims Compensation Fund processed 2,449 injury claims 
out of about 4,400 filed, slightly more than 61 percent. Payments 
for those injured in the World Trade Center attack have ranged 
from $500 to $8.6 million. 

Most assuredly, no one begrudges the recipients of WTC 
compensation. And the government has an obligation to verify IAAP 
claims presented for payment. 

But it's taking far too long, a sentiment many tried to express 
Monday. Most believed they were unsuccessful. 

Monday's session was called to explain changes in the 
four�year�old Energy Employees Illness Compensation Program, the 
vehicle from which victims receive compensation. The changes were 
made to expedite payments. But they haven't. 

The red�tape route toward compensation sends a strong message 
that the federal government cares little of the damage the 
cancer�causing products inflicted on IAAP workers. 

Federal officials owe it to IAAP victims to process claims with 
the same fervor as that of the 9/11 compensation panel. Both 
groups were unwitting victims deserving of equal treatment from 
their government. The disparity in the percentage of claims 
processed over the same period of time makes local victims assert 
a double standard at work. 

That's the only conclusion one can draw in the absence of a 
sincere effort to make good on the suffering IAAP workers have 
endured.   
  
The Hawk Eye 800 S. Main St., Burlington Iowa 52601 319-754-8461 
Front Desk � 319-754-6824 FAX � 1-800-397-1708 Toll Free 
*****************************************************************
 42 Boston.com: Following the disturbing trail of a boy who became a 
nuclear menace
 

 BOOK REVIEW 
 
By Jan Gardner, Globe Staff  |  June 17, 2004 

The Radioactive Boy Scout: The True Story of a Boy and His
Backyard Nuclear Reactor, By Ken Silverstein, Random House, 209 
pp., $22.95 

At 15, David Hahn couldn't get enough of science. Growing up in 
suburban Detroit, he made his own moonshine, tanning lotion, and 
fireworks. Yet over a period of years, he gave little thought to 
his safety or that of the community in which he lived. That 
failing now haunts his adult life. 

After an explosion of red phosphorus rocked the house David 
shared with his father, Ken, and impaired David's vision for a 
year, he was barred from conducting experiments at home. But Ken 
never told his ex-wife, Patty, David's mother, about the 
accident. And the boy took over a potting shed in his mother's 
backyard. 

David plunged into building a nuclear breeder reactor in the 
shed, a mission that put thousands of people at risk. Months 
later, in June 1995, federal workers in protective suits shut 
down his lab and buried it at a radioactive dumpsite. 

"The Radioactive Boy Scout: The True Story of a Boy and His 
Backyard Nuclear Reactor" is a compelling tale rich in family 
dysfunction about a junior scientist run amok. 

After David's Geiger counter registered radiation five doors down 
the block, he got scared and shut down the crude device he had 
cobbled together. 

Fortunately, the police, searching for a tire thief, approached 
David in his parked car late one night and found the storehouse 
of radioactive and explosive materials in his trunk. That 
discovery led to the federal government's involvement. The 
teenager's aim in constructing a reactor was to fulfill 
requirements for an atomic-energy merit badge from the Boy Scouts 
and make a splash in the world of science. 

How did David get so far? Why didn't anyone recognize the danger 
he posed? Author Ken Silverstein, a reporter for the Los Angeles 
Times, largely blames David's parents, who split up when David 
was 9 and were too distracted by their own lives to pay attention 
to him. 

His teachers didn't take him seriously either. David was so 
obsessed with science that many people steered clear of him. At 
dinner at his girlfriend's house, he spent the entire meal 
discussing the chemical composition of roast beef and beef 
Stroganoff. "I couldn't get him to shut up," the girl told 
Silverstein. Some friends were scared by the boy's talk of his 
experiments but never told an adult. David obtained key 
information about nuclear reactor design simply by asking 
government officials. 

Silverstein also takes issue with the rosy picture of nuclear 
power offered in the literature that David surrounded himself 
with, especially the boy's bible, "The Golden Book of Chemistry 
Experiments," published in 1960. 

David had little trouble procuring radioactive materials. Posing 
as a physics teacher, the teenager wrote letters rife with 
misspellings and bad grammar to federal agencies. He corresponded 
with a scientist at the Department of Energy. The Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission told him what commercial products contained 
radioactive materials. This was his shopping list. 

The year after the Environmental Protection Agency dismantled his 
radioactive lab, David joined the Navy. Dubbed the Nuclear Kid by 
his shipmates, David had hoped to further his atomic energy 
education in the Navy, but officers wouldn't let him near the 
nukes, and he was barred from entering an engineering training 
program. At one point David was going to be tested to see how 
much radiation he had been exposed to, but he backed out because 
he was fearful of what he might learn. 

One can't help but wonder: What if David's parents and teachers 
had seen not just his peculiarities but also his promise? What if 
the government officials with whom he corresponded had questioned 
what he was doing? Could the boy's passion for science have been 
put to better use? 

In this post-Columbine and 9/11 era, thorny questions come to 
mind. Is it as easy now as it was in 1995 to assemble the 
building blocks for a nuclear reactor? Should the responsibility 
for thwarting dangerous ambitions fall on the government, or on 
every one of us who might shake our heads at a teenager with a 
wild look on his face whose knowledge of science far exceeds our 
own? [ /]  � Copyright 2004 Globe Newspaper Company. 

*****************************************************************
 43 BIA: Midnite Uranium mine damage assessment plan

                        FR Doc 04-13672 

[Federal Register: June 17, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 116)]
[Notices]               
[Page 33934-33935]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access
[wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr17jn04-77]                         
[[Page 33934]]

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Indian Affairs
 
Notice of Availability, Midnite Uranium Mine Natural Resource 
Damage Assessment Plan, Part I: Injury Determination
AGENCY: Bureau of Indian Affairs, Interior.
ACTION: Notice.

SUMMARY: The Department of the Interior (represented by the 
Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Fish and Wildlife Service, and the 
National Park Service), the Spokane Tribe of Indians, and the 
Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation (the Trustees) 
announce the release for public review of the Midnite Uranium 
Mine Natural Resource Damage Assessment Plan, Part I: Injury 
Determination. This Assessment Plan was developed by the Midnite 
Uranium Mine Natural Resource Trustee Council, consisting of 
representatives of the Trustee agencies listed above. The purpose 
of the Plan is to communicate the Trustees' proposed approach for 
determining injury to natural resources resulting from the 
release of hazardous substances from the Midnite Mine Superfund 
Site, an associated uranium mill site, haul road and other areas 
to potentially responsible parties (PRPs) and the public so that 
these stakeholders can productively participate in the assessment 
process. All interested parties are invited to submit comments on 
the Assessment Plan.

DATES: Comments on the Assessment Plan are due on or before July 
19, 2004.

ADDRESSES: Written comments should be sent to the Lead 
Administrative Trustee: Spokane Tribe of Indians, Department of 
Natural Resources, c/o Dr. F.E. Kirschner, P. O. Box 312, 
Valleyford, WA 99036 (Telephone (509) 924-0184, Facsimile (509) 
924-4515, E-mail: fredk@icehouse.net [fredk@icehouse.net] ). 

The Assessment Plan is available for review at the Spokane Indian 
Reservation, Department of Natural Resources Reading Room, 
Wellpinit, WA 99040. The Assessment Plan is available for public 
inspection during normal business hours by appointment.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. F. E. Kirschner, (509)
924-0184.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
Background

    This Assessment Plan addresses the Trustees' approach for 
determining injury to natural resources resulting from the 
release of hazardous substances from the Midnite Mine Superfund 
Site (Mine), including its associated uranium mill (Mill), haul 
road, and other areas where hazardous substances have come to be 
located (the facility or Assessment Area). The Mine is an 
inactive, open-pit uranium mine situated entirely within the 
boundaries of the Spokane Indian Reservation in eastern 
Washington. The Mine's impacted areas include two large 
water-filled mining pits, several mining pits now backfilled with 
mine waste and waste rock, a retention pond, a leachate 
collection pool, outfall ponds and seeps, at least eight 
abandoned uranium ore and protore piles, large mining spoils 
disposal areas, a mine water treatment plant, a system of weirs, 
ditches, and sumps for seepage collection, and various buildings 
housing pump equipment and storage tanks for collected seep 
water. The uranium Mill is located near the town of Ford, 
Washington, northwest of the City of Spokane. The Mill is 
comprised of a number of buildings, 14 acres of storage pads 
where uranium ore was stockpiled prior to milling, and a tailings 
disposal area. The haul road, a public road used for hauling 
uranium ore from the Mine to the Mill, runs for approximately 20 
miles through the communities of Wellpinit and Ford.

    The Dawn Mining Company and/or Newmont Mining Company (the 
Companies) operated the Mine from 1955 to 1981. The Mill was 
operated by the Companies from 1956 until 1982, then from 1992 to 
2000 limited operations resumed for the processing of water 
treatment plant sludge from the Mine. Uranium ore was transported 
over the haul road throughout the period of Mine operation. More 
recently it has been used to haul water treatment plant sludge.

    Beginning in the 1950s and continuing today, hazardous 
substances, including radiological and non-radiological 
contaminants, have been released into groundwater, surface water, 
and air in the Assessment Area. As a result, natural resources of 
the Blue Creek, Sand Creek, Chamokane Creek watersheds, portions 
of the Spokane River, the Spokane Arm of Lake Roosevelt, and 
other areas have been exposed to elevated levels of hazardous 
substances.

    In 2000 the U.S. EPA listed the Mine site on the Superfund 
National Priorities List. A Remedial Investigation/Feasibility 
Study is being developed, and response actions at the Mine 
include development of a control system for the management of 
drainage water. Cleanup of the Mill is under the authority of the 
Washington State Department of Health. A Groundwater Remedial 
Action Plan was put in place at the Mill in 1992; the 
effectiveness of this plan is being evaluated under a Corrective 
Action Assessment Plan. Removal actions to address contamination 
along the haul road are currently under consideration. Despite 
these past actions, releases of hazardous substances from the 
Assessment Area continue, and trust natural resources continue to 
be exposed to elevated levels of hazardous substances.

    The Trustees have completed a Preassessment Screen, which 
concluded that there is a reasonable likelihood that natural 
resources have been injured and that the Trustees should conduct 
an assessment to develop a damage claim under 42 U.S.C. 9607. The 
Trustees' goal for the assessment is to fully restore the 
ecological and human use services lost or diminished as a result 
of injuries caused by the release of hazardous substances from 
the facility. This phase of the assessment is the first step in 
this assessment process. It provides a description of the 
Assessment Area, confirms exposure of trust resources to 
hazardous substances, and describes the Trustees' approach to 
injury determination for surface water, groundwater, air, 
geological, and biological resources.

Public Comment Availability

    Comments, including names and addresses of respondents, will 
be available for public review at the mailing address shown in 
the ADDRESSES section, during regular business hours. Individual 
respondents who prefer confidentiality and wish to have their 
name and/ or address withheld from public review or from 
disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act, must state this 
prominently at the beginning of their written comment. Such 
requests will be honored to the extent allowed by law. We will 
not, however, consider anonymous comments. All submissions from 
organizations or businesses, and from individuals identifying 
themselves as representatives or officials of organizations or 
businesses will be made available for public inspection in their 
entirety. Authority

    The authority for this action is the Comprehensive 
Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980, 
as amended (42 U.S.C 9601 et seq.), and published under the 
authority delegated by the Secretary of the Interior to the 
Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs in the Departmental Manual 
at 209 DM 8.

[[Page 33935]]

    Dated: May 27, 2004. David W. Anderson, Assistant 
Secretary--Indian Affairs. [FR Doc. 04-13672 Filed 6-16-04; 8:45 
am]

*****************************************************************
 44 Las Vegas SUN: Northern Nevada Democrats accuse president of
lying on Yucca Mountain
 

Today: June 17, 2004 at 15:16:59 PDT 

ASSOCIATED PRESS 

RENO, Nev. (AP) - On the eve of George W. Bush's first visit to
northern Nevada, Democrats again accused the Republican
president of lying about a southern Nevada issue - Yucca
Mountain. 

"President Bush came to Nevada four years ago and he lied,"
Chris Weller, chairman of the Washoe County Democratic Party
said at a news conference on Thursday. 

"He said it was based on sound science and he lied." 

A handful of Democrats spoke out to reporters and television
crews a day before Bush was scheduled to tout a booming economy
and national security at the Reno-Sparks Convention Center. 

The Democrats, along with opponents of the war in Iraq and foes
of the Patriot Act said they planned to be on hand outside
Friday's visit by the president. 

In a telephone interview on Tuesday, Bush-Cheney campaign
chairman Marc Racicot said he didn't know whether Bush's support
for a high-level nuclear waste dump in southern Nevada would
figure in tightening his race against the expected Democratic
nominee, John Kerry, who opposes the dump. 

Racicot said the president has been entirely honest with
Nevadans about Yucca Mountain. In the 2000 campaign, Bush said
he would base his decision on "sound science" and not politics.
Racicot said the president lived up to that promise. 

-- 



*****************************************************************
 45 Salt Lake Tribune: Progress of Yucca Mountain project is quite molehill-like 
 
June 17, 2004   

 
  [PHOTO] 
Welder Sid Dickey uses a core drilling machine last month at the
Republicans are trying to rescue funding by assessing owners of
atomic power plants. (Laura Rauch/The Associated Press)   
By H. Josef Hebert 
The Associated Press 
 
    WASHINGTON -- The proposal for a nuclear waste site in
Nevada took a tiny step forward Wednesday as House members tried
to resolve a budget problem that threatens to dramatically
curtail work. 
 
    A House Energy and Commerce subcommittee approved
legislation that would send a steady stream of money for the
Yucca Mountain waste project over the next five years, so the
facility could open on schedule in 2010. 
 
    But Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, the bill's sponsor,
acknowledged there's no assurance the bill will get through the
House and it's likely to run into trouble in the Senate. The
full committee was expected to take up the bill next week,
Barton said. 
 
    Meanwhile, proposed spending for the Yucca Mountain project
for the 2005 fiscal year beginning Oct. 1 has been set at only
$131 million, well short of the $880 million requested by the
Bush administration. At that spending level the program will be
thrown into turmoil, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham has said. 
 
    Rep. David Hobson, R-Ohio, chairman for the drafting of the
spending bill that includes the Yucca program, said he could
find no additional money because the administration linked $749
million of its request with congressional approval of Barton's
legislation. 
 
    The Barton bill approved by a voice vote in the subcommittee
Wednesday would require that at least $750 million a year
collected over the next five years for the nuclear waste fund
must be spent on the Yucca project. 
 
    The fund was created in 1982 specifically to pay for
development of the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste facility. The
money comes from a one-tenth of a penny per kilowatt assessment
on users of electricity generated by nuclear reactors. 
 
    The fund "has been cannibalized over the years to pay for
unrelated federal programs (and) ... to pay down the national
debt," Barton said. 
 
  
 
 
 
  
 
    Barton acknowledged that the legislation would apply only to
future revenue and not require drawing on the $15 billion the
fund already has collected. 
 
    Attempts to tinker with the way Congress uses the fund have
been unsuccessful in the past and are expected to run into
trouble again. Some lawmakers believe at most a one-year fix of
the problem -- enough to assure continue funding of the Yucca
project next fiscal year -- may be all that will be possible. 
 
    While Barton expressed optimism about getting his bill
through the House and clearing the way for more spending on
Yucca Mountain, he acknowledged problems in the Senate. 
 
    It was unlikely that similar legislation would have much of
a chance in the Senate given the strong opposition to the Yucca
Mountain project by Nevada Sen. Harry Reid, who as the
second-ranking Democrat could find ways to block it, Barton told
reporters. 
 
    Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., was talking with administration
officials about ways to get more money for Yucca Mountain in the
Senate, but has conceded it could be "very, very difficult." 
 
    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, northwest of Vegas. 
 
    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 DOE 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. 
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
   
 
   
			   				 	 "> 	   -->             				 
 
  
Copyright Salt Lake City Tribune
*****************************************************************
 46 Daily Yomiuri: Aomori plant to start test-using uranium 

Yomiuri Shimbun 


The government Thursday approved test operations at a nuclear 
fuel reprocessing plant being constructed in Rokkashomura, Aomori 
Prefecture, using depleted uranium. 

The test will start next month at the earliest if the Aomori 
prefectural government also approves the test. 

The Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry's Nuclear and Industrial 
Safety Agency approved a safety regulation related to the test 
plan of the plant, which is owned by Japan Nuclear Fuel Ltd. 

If the test starts, progress can be made after a long delay in 
the government's policy for creating a recycle system of nuclear 
fuel. 

The plant is being constructed to reprocess used nuclear fuel 
discharged from nuclear power plants across the nation. 

In the process, plutonium that is created during the power 
generation processes and uranium that remains unburned are 
extracted. High-level radioactive waste is separated from the 
used fuel. 

The planned test will be conducted before another test operation 
of extracting plutonium from used nuclear fuel. 

Using 53 tons of depleted uranium with low-levels of 
radioactivity, the test will examine whether a problem would 
occur in the reprocessing process. 

Japan Nuclear Fuel plans to start test operations of the 
reprocessing plant using used nuclear fuel in June next year. 

Full-scale plant operations, which were initially scheduled to 
begin in 2000, likely will start in July 2006, officials of the 
company said. 

A series of accidents involving water leaks have occurred in a 
pool to store used nuclear fuel since 2001. Several other 
problems, including poor welding in 291 places, have been 
identified in the plant. 

Repairs to fix the problems have delayed the start of the test 
operation using uranium.   

  
Copyright 2004 The Yomiuri Shimbun 
*****************************************************************
 47 Las Vegas SUN: House panel to study bill to reclassify fees

By Suzanne Struglinski <suzanne@lasvegassun.com 

[suzanne@lasvegassun.com] > SUN WASHINGTON BUREAU

 WASHINGTON -- A House subcommitee will evaluate a bill today
that could allow the Energy Department to tap into about $750
million a year for the Yucca Mountain project, without going
through the usual budgeting process.

 Nevada's congressional delegation strongly opposes the bill
because it would make it easier for the department to spend
money on the project, and they say it would lessen congressional
oversight.

 The bill would reclassify fees in the nuclear waste fund, an
account funded directly by a surcharge on nuclear power to build
a federal storage site for nuclear waste, now planned for Yucca
Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

 Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, introduced in the bill February and
it has six co-sponsors, all Republicans.

 The bill needs to pass out of subcommittee, the full Energy and
Commerce Committee and the full House and the Senate before
becoming law.

 So far, the House spending bill that covers Yucca Mountain only
contains $131 million of the department's $880 million request
for the project since this funding change has not yet been
approved. The House Appropriations Committee expects to pass
that bill today. 



*****************************************************************
 48 Las Vegas SUN: Editorial: Lies, lies and more lies

 LAS VEGAS SUN


 President Bush, as part of a campaign swing across the country,
will visit Reno on Friday. In advance of that trip, Bush-Cheney
campaign chairman Marc Racicot insisted in an interview with the
Associated Press that the "president has been entirely honest"
with Nevadans about the Yucca Mountain project.

 Yes, Racicot is referring to the same man who during the 2000
campaign said that he would use "sound science" in deciding
whether to recommend if 77,000 tons of nuclear waste should be
buried here. It's also the same man who, less than a year after
being sworn into office, found that it was safe to send nuclear
waste here despite the known perils from shipping man's
deadliest waste and burying it in a geologically unsafe location
like Yucca Mountain. That wasn't "sound science," that was all
about politics and appeasing the nuclear power industry. Despite
what the White House might think, adding another layer of lies
to the first -- which was that Nevada would be treated fairly --
won't work this time and will further anger Nevadans. 

*****************************************************************
 49 Las Vegas SUN: Bill could improve security on trains with nuke waste

Today: June 17, 2004 at 11:18:13 PDT 


By Suzanne Struglinski <suzanne@lasvegassun.com 
[suzanne@lasvegassun.com] > SUN WASHINGTON BUREAU

 WASHINGTON -- A new railroad bill could provide $350 million
for improved security for trains transporting hazardous
material, which could include nuclear waste, as well as
additional money to strengthen railroad security nationwide.

 Various hazardous materials, including nuclear waste, are
already shipped on trains throughout the country every day, but
the Energy Department plans to ship 77,000 tons of spent nuclear
fuel and other radioactive waste to Yucca Mountain, 90 miles
northwest of Las Vegas, via railroad.

 Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev, today co-sponsored the $1 billion
railroad security bill that, in addition to dedicating money to
hazardous material issues, would require the Transportation
Department and Homeland Security Department to complete a
railroad transportation security plan and implement other
security measures.

 The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and the train bombing
in Madrid, Spain, earlier this year have brought increased
attention to passenger and freight rail transportation.

 "Even before the Madrid attacks, we knew that our rail lines
were terrorist targets," said Porter, who is the vice chairman
of the House Railroad subcommittee. "In my fight against plans
to ship nuclear waste to Nevada, I have been reminding members
of Congress and the public of the terrible vulnerability of the
tracks that carry hazardous material. This is not just a Nevada
issue, but a national issue that needs our support."

 The bill does not specifically name nuclear waste or single out
Yucca Mountain, but Porter said, "when I think about the hazards
of Yucca Mountain, I am talking about the transportation of that
waste across the country and those issues that impact the
transportation of all hazardous materials."

 Porter held a hearing in Las Vegas earlier this year that
focused on the nuclear waste issue. Subcommittee Chairman Jack
Quinn, R-N.Y., said today that hearing helped the committee
members get a better understanding of the issue. Porter said a
lot of the research that had been done for the hearing and other
research on general railroad security helped the bill get done
today.

 Porter co-sponsored a bill Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev.,
introduced last year that calls for a comprehensive study on the
risks of transporting high-level nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain
by train, truck or barge. Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., and four
other House members have co-sponsored the bill, but no further
action has taken place.

 Today's bill would provide $350 million for hazardous shipment
security, intelligence and information on rail security threats,
additional railroad police and train tracking, and improved
communication technology. It would also use $10 million for a
unified railroad emergency operations center and $1.5 million
for signal system improvements.

 "All of these interact with that piece of legislation," Porter
said, referring to the earlier Nevada bill.

 The Nuclear Energy Institute maintains that spent nuclear fuel
shipments have taken place for years with no release of
radiation so moving the waste to Nevada poses no additional
threat. NEI official have said it prefers "dedicated trains"
that would ship the waste since only a few cars would hold it.
The Energy Department, however, has not decided whether waste
will be shipped by trains moving only spent nuclear fuel or
among cars on trains unrestricted in what they can carry toward
Nevada.

 Specific plans on security, shipment routes and carriers are
still being decided by the department. 



*****************************************************************
 50 Las Vegas SUN: Yucca budget measure moves forward

Plan to dramatically boost funding of dumpsite faces stiff

opposition

 By Suzanne Struglinski <suzanne@lasvegassun.com 
[suzanne@lasvegassun.com] > SUN WASHINGTON BUREAU 

WASHINGTON -- The Energy Department's desire to have Congress
change how it gives money to the Yucca Mountain project moved
forward this week, but its chief supporter acknowledged that it
will be tough to finalize the policy.

 A bill passed by the House Energy and Air Quality Subcommittee
on Wednesday would provide the Yucca Mountain project with $750
million a year in each of the next five years.

 That was the first step in the complicated appropriations
process that could allow the department to access more money
than it has in the past for the nuclear waste storage site, 90
miles northwest of Las Vegas.

 It will remain unclear what will happen with the funding until
the House Energy and Commerce Committee takes up the bill and
the House votes on the separate Energy and Water spending bill,
which contains the Yucca budget. Both may take place next week.

 The bill approved Wednesday allows Congress to get the $750
million from a pool of money funded directly by a surcharge on
nuclear power, so the project would not have to compete with
other programs for federal money and the money in the pool could
not be used for anything other than the Yucca project.

 The initial bill, offered by Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, would
have allowed the funding change until the department completed
construction on the surface facilities at Yucca, but the
subcommittee approved an amendment by Rep. Ralph Hall, R-Texas,
that limited the change from fiscal year 2005 through 2009.
Congress would have to follow the regular appropriations rules
for the project after that, unless it would approve another
change.

 This is a small but important step in the department's effort
to fund the project, since other attempts to make the policy
change have failed in the past. The department complains that
the project is underfunded every year as the nuclear industry
points to the $14 billion collected in the project pool that
does not get used.

 Critics of the plan, including state officials and Nevada's
congressional delegation, say the step is bad for Nevada, since
the department needs the policy change to keep the project on
track for its 2010 opening date.

 "The Bush administration and Republican leaders in Congress are
pulling out all the stops in their effort to fund Yucca
Mountain," said Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev. "They are now
attempting to change the law in order to guarantee that the
majority of funding for Yucca Mountain does not have to compete
with other national priorities such as clean water, flood
control projects and renewable energy development."

 "We should not spend another dime on Yucca Mountain until DOE
adequately addresses nationwide concerns about the dangers of
transporting nuclear waste across the U.S. and answers the
hundreds of unresolved scientific questions surrounding the site
-- including findings that canisters used in the dump will
rapidly corrode and leak radioactive waste into southern Nevada
water supplies," Berkley said.

 It will get harder and harder for Congress to find money for
the Yucca project as its budget grows to $1 billion and beyond
in the coming years, unless the legislators want to take the
money from other federal programs.

 If the bill is finalized, Congress could provide at least $750
million without taking money from anything else. Anything above
that amount would still have to compete for funding.

 Barton, who leads the House Energy and Commerce Committee that
will also have to approve the bill, said he wants to take it up
in committee next week but said the "elephant in the tent" is
that Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev, will prevent the bill from moving
through. He said it was unlikely to move because of Reid's
opposition.

 Reid and Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., who already blocked the
change from getting into the Senate budget policy, have clearly
established their opposition to the policy. Reid is the top
Democrat on the Senate Energy and Water Appropriations bill and
will be a member of the conference committee that will finalize
the project's budget.

 Meanwhile, the House Appropriations Committee approved the
spending bill including the $131 million Yucca budget Wednesday.
That marks a $750 million decrease from the department's $880
million request. The Senate has not taken action on its version
of the budget yet.

 Barton said he still might ask for a delay on the final House
vote on the spending bill after his policy change gets through.

 Rep. David Hobson, R-Ohio, strongly supports more funding for
the Yucca project, but the schedule for additional action on the
spending bill was not known Wednesday, Hobson's spokeswoman said.

 

*****************************************************************
 51 RGJ: New Kerry chief focuses on Yucca
 
||| Home [http://www.rgj.com/]   


Reno Gazette-Journal] 

ASSOCIATED PRESS
6/16/2004 10:21 pm 	

LAS VEGAS � U.S. Sen. John Kerry�s new Nevada campaign chief said 
Wednesday she thinks federal plans for a national nuclear waste 
dump in the state will be a defining issue in the November 
presidential election.

Anne Sheridan pointed to what she called President Bush�s �broken 
promise� to Nevada to rely on sound science to decide whether to 
bury the nation�s most radioactive waste in Nevada. Sheridan 
previously served as the national organizer for Transportation 
Safety Coalition, a group opposed to the Yucca Mountain project.

In 2002, the Bush administration and Congress overrode state 
objections and picked Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las 
Vegas, as the nation�s nuclear repository. The Energy Department 
hopes to open it in 2010.

Opponents claim the selection overlooked scientific shortcomings.

Bush campaign spokeswoman Tracey Schmitt accused Kerry, D-Mass., 
of using Yucca Mountain �to distract voters from Kerry�s 
troubling record on the economy and defense.�

�The president based his decision on sound science,� Schmitt 
said.   

*****************************************************************
 52 Bradenton Herald: Tallevast answers may be year away

 | 06/17/2004 | 


DANA SANCHEZ

 Herald Staff Writer

TALLEVAST - Residents meeting Wednesday evening to voice health 
concerns about polluted groundwater were frustrated to learn that 
they'll have to wait up to a year for answers. 

"Our biggest concern is our health," said Lillie Fleming, who was 
born in the community. "We're frightened to death about our 
health." 

Cancers and other illnesses have plagued the community for 
decades, residents say. They fear that metals and solvents from 
the former American Beryllium plant leaked into the aquifer and 
well water, making them sick. 

Teams of officials from Lockheed Martin, which is now responsible 
for the plant, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection 
and the Manatee County Department of Health were on hand at Mount 
Tabor Church to hear health concerns of about 150 residents. 

In a statement released Wednesday, Congresswoman Katherine 
Harris, R-Sarasota, called for the federal Environmental 
Protection Agency to investigate the pollution of water and soil. 

Wednesday's meeting was arranged by the county's health 
department as part of a health assessment. Such an assessment, 
which takes a broad look at a hazardous waste site, is the first 
of its kind in the memory of public health employees in the 
county, said Gladys Branic, director of the DOH. 

It's a lengthy process that takes eight months to a year, said 
Randy Merchant, environmental administrator for the Florida 
Department of Health in Tallahassee. 

"We'll look at how much contamination got into your body," 
Merchant told residents. 

Unanswered questions 

Michael Darville, associate pastor at Tallevast's Bryant Chapel, 
was unsatisfied by what he heard. 

"I haven't heard anything tonight that eases me, that enlightens 
me about what the future will bring," Darville said. "As the 
watchdogs, they're supposed to have the answers." 

The government and Lockheed are looking at all possible sources 
of pollution, not just the former American Beryllium plant, 
officials said. 

Testing done by Lockheed shows potentially more than one plume of 
contamination, said Meredith Rouse Davis, a senior manager of 
corporate affairs for Lockheed. 

But Wednesday's meeting raised more questions than answers, 
residents said. 

Questions like: Will chemicals from groundwater get into our 
fruit trees? If someone has an illness that needs immediate 
medical attention, where can the poor go for a diagnosis? Will 
death certificates be pertinent in the assessment? Will the 
residual effects of chemicals be considered? And how will medical 
records be coordinated? 

The answers, health officials said, will come after soil and 
water test results and individual health histories have been 
evaluated and a potential link found. 

And all that takes time. 

The state agency's tests are based on current conditions, a sore 
point for residents who believe the pollution has been ongoing 
for years. 

"We can look at the science of what's found today and extrapolate 
from that what the health risks are," said Charles Henry, 
environmental health director for the county department. "That's 
the only scientific way to do it without knowing what happened in 
the past." 

Flossie Carmichael, a Tallevast resident of eight years, said the 
meeting did not address what she came to hear, but she was 
hopeful. 

"They said they were going to look back (at past history of 
health concerns) so maybe they'll find out," she said. 

Wednesday's meeting came too late, said Lewis Pryor, a Tallevast 
property owner. 

"The organizations we're entrusting with our health are all here 
today, but it's a little late in the dance," Pryor said. "I need 
as much information as possible." 

Instead of getting information, residents were asked to provide 
it to the state agency in Tallahassee in the form of a health 
assessment input sheet distributed at the meeting. The 
single-page sheet asked residents to write down health, 
environmental and other concerns. 

"The success of the assessment depends on their input," said 
Lindsay Hodges, spokesperson for the DOH in Tallahassee. 

More testing planned 

Tallevast residents have seen a flurry of activity in their yards 
in the past few months after the existence of polluted 
groundwater was made public. Pollution was discovered in routine 
testing during a property sale of the former American Beryllium 
plant in 1996 to Lockheed Martin. 

The DEP is conducting extensive soil and water tests of 240 
chemicals this week and next in an attempt to find the source of 
pollution. 

Tetrachloroethylene, a toxic cleaning solvent, was found in five 
wells at levels higher than the three parts per billion 
considered safe in tests done by Lockheed Martin. 

Other potential sources of pollution will be considered, Rouse 
Davis said. 

"The solvents we're finding are common to dry cleaners, 
electroplating companies, printers and routine industries," Henry 
said. 

The request by Harris for an Environmental Protection Agency 
investigation came in a letter. 

"I'm deeply concerned about the threat that this pollution poses 
to the health and safety of surrounding residents and to the 
environmental quality of the region," Harris wrote. 

The congresswoman urged "an immediate and thorough EPA 
investigation of the causes and extent of this pollution . . . 
(and) assistance in developing and implementing a clean-up plan." 

Harris referred in the letter to state and county environmental 
health officials apparently knowing for years of the pollution 
and not informing residents. 

In Atlanta, EPA Region IV spokesman Carl Terry said his office 
had not received Harris' letter late Wednesday. 

When it does reach the EPA, Terry said officials will treat it 
much as they would any appeal. 

"Any time EPA gets a request from a citizen, we take it into 
consideration, weigh the facts of the case and make a decision 
based on that," he said. 

Even after the review, though, the agency might not have the 
legal standing to enter the mix. 

Florida's environmental department has the authority, by federal 
mandate, to oversee cleanups at sites regulated under the 
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act - commonly known as RCRA - 
originally passed by Congress in 1976. 

And DEP regulated and regularly inspected the American Beryllium 
plant for nearly two decades as a RCRA site. In that time, they 
found no problems with leaks or spills or storage, just a handful 
of bookkeeping errors, according to records kept at DEP's Tampa 
office. 

Unless EPA finds some reason to roll the project into another 
program such as Superfund, formally known as the Comprehensive 
Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act, they'll 
likely have to watch from the outside. 

"Florida's (RCRA) program does have authority for those types of 
cleanups," Terry said. 

-Dana Sanchez, Herald business reporter, can be reached at 
[dsanchez@bradentonherald.com] or at 745-7080, ext. 4500.   

*****************************************************************
 53 heraldtribune.com: Tallevast residents voice concerns 

From left, Terrance Ward, Essie Sims and Vanessa Peterson take

pamphlets provided by Manatee County on Wednesday. 

By SCOTT CARROLL

scott.carroll@heraldtribune.com
[scott.carroll@heraldtribune.com] 

TALLEVAST -- About 100 residents peppered state officials at a 
town hall meeting here Wednesday with questions about the 
pollution in their back yard.

They wanted to know if it's safe to plant gardens, and if their 
fruit is safe to eat. They asked whether tests can show long-term 
exposure to the tainted ground water, and if so what can be done 
about it. Mostly, they wondered why it took so long to discover 
the pollution in their south Manatee County neighborhood and 
what's being done to clean it up.

They got promises to do further studies, but few answers.

"There's a lot that's still unknown," Michael Sole of the state 
Department of Environmental Protection told the group.

He pledged to test soil and ground water in the area to find the 
source of the pollution and make sure it's cleaned up. Officials 
from the state Department of Health promised to conduct a 
yearlong study to determine how the pollution might have affected 
residents.

Officials passed out fliers on how to handle stress when living 
near a hazardous waste site, and brought with them sign-up sheets 
to collect the medical histories of residents.

"I haven't heard anything tonight that consoles me, that eases my 
mind, that makes me feel good about my future," resident Mike 
Carville said. "Can I get an amen?"

"Amen," the group said in unison, filling the crowded Mount Tabor 
Missionary Baptist Church.

The concern is over wells in the community that contain dangerous 
chemicals, including the cleaning solvent trichloroethylene, or 
TCE, at concentrations as high as 500 parts per billion. The 
state drinking water standard for TCE, which has been linked to 
liver and kidney cancer and a host of other ailments, is 3 parts 
per billion.

The wells are near the site of the former American Beryllium Co. 
plant on Tallevast Road. The DEP has said 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.

The DEP learned about the pollution in early 2000, but only 
notified residents this year.

The state is also looking at other sources for the ground-water 
pollution, including the property directly west of the former 
American Beryllium site. 

Last modified: June 17. 2004 12:00AM                    Missed a 

heraldtribune.com | Advertise With Us Serving the Herald-Tribune 
newspaper and SNN Channel 6 � Sarasota Herald-Tribune. All rights 
*****************************************************************
 54 CNW Telbec: UEX and JCU Sign Agreement on Athabasca Uranium Project 
 	
17 juin 2004                                                                                                                                                            Recherche


Attention Business Editors: 
    Trading Symbol: UEX-TSX

    VANCOUVER, June 16 /CNW/ - UEX Corporation ("UEX") announced 
today that an agreement (the "Agreement") has been signed with 
Japan-Canada Uranium Company, Limited ("JCU") whereby JCU has 
granted UEX an option to acquire a 25% interest in the Beatty 
River uranium project ("Beatty River" or the "Project"), located 
in the western Athabasca Basin in northern Saskatchewan. Beatty 
River is located 40 kilometres south of the Shea Creek uranium 
deposits. At present, COGEMA Resources Inc. ("COGEMA") of 
Saskatoon, SK, owns a 50.71% interest and JCU owns a 49.29% 
interest in Beatty River. Under the Agreement, UEX can earn a 25% 
interest in Beatty River by funding $865,000 in exploration 
expenditures by December 31, 2008.

    COGEMA plans to maintain its 50.71% interest in Beatty River 
by matching UEX's exploration expenditures. COGEMA, as operator, 
will utilize its team of experienced geoscientists who have 
participated in several important uranium discoveries in the 
Athabasca Basin, including Cluff Lake, Cigar Lake and most 
recently, Shea Creek. COGEMA's preliminary budget estimate for a 
2005 winter exploration program at Beatty River is approximately 
$400,000, and is planned to include geophysical surveying and 
diamond drilling.

    "UEX is pleased with its new association with JCU, one of the 
leading explorers in the Athabasca Basin," said Stephen Sorensen, 
President and CEO of UEX. "The Beatty River Project has 
outstanding exploration potential and ties in well with UEX's 
recent acquisition of eight other projects operated by COGEMA in 
the Western Athabasca."

    To view maps of Beatty River, please refer to UEX's website 
at www.uex-corporation.com under "Latest Updates". About the 
Beatty River Uranium Project

    --------------------------------------

    Beatty River presently consists of seven claims totaling 
6,813 hectares (17,032 acres) The Project was one of the first 
areas staked when COGEMA resumed exploration in the Western 
Athabasca in the late 1980's. Airborne geophysical surveys 
(GEOTEM in 1990) and several ground electromagnetic and magnetic 
surveys were carried out, which highlighted a number of quality 
conductors. Only 22 drill holes were completed within the 
original historical boundaries of the Project, which once covered 
a much larger land position than exists today.

    The Anne Lake conductive trend is the most attractive target 
found at the Project to date, with a strike length of 
approximately 10 kilometres. Twelve drill holes have tested this 
conductive trend. In the 2004 winter program, drillhole BR-22 
intersected an important graphitic structure. The results of 
BR-22 led to a revised geological and geophysical interpretation, 
prompting a restaking program, just completed in June 2004. Other 
historical drill holes displayed anomalous clay alteration in the 
sandstone and basement, which is indicative of unconformity-type 
uranium mineralization observed in the Athabasca Basin. Drillhole 
BR-21 displayed uraninite-coffinite mineralization in a fault 
gouge with values of 873 ppm U3O8 and 500 ppm nickel, with 
associated anomalous copper, vanadium, and molybdenum values.

    The recent 2004 winter program, with a single hole (BR-22), 
identified the need for further work in the Anne Lake area as at 
least two major structures are present and may lead to 
mineralization. Information gained from the planned 2005 winter 
drilling campaign should help in refining the exploration model 
at Beatty River. Geophysical techniques such as resistivity 
surveys may be used to assist in targeting the best areas for 
drilling.

    About COGEMA

    ------------

    COGEMA, a private corporation with its head office in 
Saskatoon, SK, is a uranium exploration and mining company owned 
by AREVA, a worldwide expert in the energy field, with a strong 
industrial presence in over 40 countries. The AREVA group, 
through COGEMA has significant interests in several uranium 
deposits in the Athabasca Basin, including the producing McClean 
Lake Deposit operated by COGEMA, the producing McArthur River 
Deposit operated by Cameco Corporation ("Cameco"), and the Cigar 
Lake Deposit, which is scheduled for production in 2007.

    About JCU

    ---------

    JCU was incorporated in Japan on October 18, 2000 by four 
companies, Itochu Corp., OURD Co. Ltd., Mitsubishi Corp. and 
Mitsubishi Materials Corp. JCU through its wholly owned 
subsidiary JCU (Canada) Exploration Company, Limited holds 
interests in 14 uranium exploration projects that were purchased 
from the Japan Nuclear Cycle Development Corporation in late 
2000. Significant quantities of uranium have been found on four 
projects; the remaining projects are still in early to middle 
phase of exploration. A majority of the 14 exploration projects 
are either operated by COGEMA Resources Inc. or by Cameco 
Corporation. OURD, one of the four owners of JCU, also holds 
minority interests in the McClean Lake mining and milling 
facility and the Midwest uranium deposit, both located in the 
Athabasca Basin.

    About UEX

    ---------

    UEX is a uranium exploration company formed under an 
agreement between Pioneer Metals Corporation and Cameco. Cameco, 
the world's largest supplier of uranium, is UEX's largest 
shareholder and manages exploration at UEX's Hidden Bay Project. 
UEX began trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange in July 2002 and 
is actively involved in the exploration and development of 
uranium projects in the Athabasca Basin. UEX will now have 13 
projects either 100% owned, joint ventured or under option 
totaling approximately 228,000 hectares (563,000 acres) located 
in the eastern, western and northern perimeters of the Athabasca 
Basin, the richest uranium belt in the world. UEX presently has 
cash reserves in excess of $11.0 million (CDN).

           ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF UEX CORPORATION 
"signed" Stephen H. Sorensen, President & C.E.O. %SEDAR: 
00017609E
 
For further information: UEX CORPORATION, BOX 12151, NELSON 
SQUARE, SUITE 1007 - 808 NELSON STREET, VANCOUVER, B.C., CANADA, 
V6Z 2H2, PH: (604) 669-2349, FAX (604) 669-1240, 
www.uex-corporation.com,
        
uex@intergate.ca
 	
UEX CORPORATION - Renseignements sur cet organisme  
*****************************************************************
 55 Xinhuanet: China to tighten hazardous waste management   

  www.xinhuanet.com


  www.chinaview.cn 2004-06-17 21:12:03   

    BEIJING, June 17 (Xinhuanet) -- China's burgeoning economy 
produces over 10 million tons of hazardous wastes every year, but 
it has only six disposal complexes. Most of the wastes has been 
buried or burned untreated by unauthorized small trash 
businesses. 

    "China's management of hazardous wastes faces grave 
challenges," said Pan Yue, vice-director of the State 
Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA), here Thursday at 
a press conference. 

    China's annual total hazardous wastes includes 10 million 
tons of industrial wastes, 650,000 tons of medical wastes and 
115,300 tons of radioactive wastes. However, only 24.2 percent of 
them have been disposed of and one third are stored in 
makeshifts. From1996 to 2004, 26.34 million tons of hazardous 
wastes have been stored untreated. 

    According to Pan, there are four problems in the hazardous 
wastes treating industry, including the lack of disposal 
complexes,outdated technologies, absence of a unified monitoring 
system and emergency mechanism and no liability-compensation 
system. 

    SEPA is to promulgate a regulation on licensing hazardous 
wastes treatment businesses in July, and Pan Yue believed this 
regulation will help solve the problem. 

    The regulation raises standards to enter the hazardous wastes 
treatment industry and makes two categories of licenses: one 
permits only collection and another also storage and disposal. 
Besides, the regulation defines the supervision power of SEPA and 
the public. 

    According to a construction plan of SEPA in 2001, which would 
cost 14.92 billion yuan (about 1.8 billion US dollars), every 
province and autonomous region must establish a disposal complex 
for industrial wastes and a storehouse for radioactive wastes. In 
addition, 300 cities are required to set up collection and 
disposal centers for medical wastes. 

    Though only six of them have been finished, Pan said all the 
projects will start before the end of 2005. 

    To absorb capital for construction, the once totally 
government-funded industry has been allowed since 2004 to charge 
its users, such as heavy industry plants and hospitals, to 
attract private and foreign investors. Enditem   

  Copyright �2003 Xinhua News Agency. All rights reserved. 
*****************************************************************
 56 AU ABC: Govt postpones testing on radioactive waste dump sites.
        
18/06/2004. ABC News Online

 	
   [http://www.abc.net.au/]

First Posted: Friday, June 18, 2004 . 8:32am --> Last
 
South Australian Premier Mike Rann says the Federal Government
has backed down and cancelled testing on a site proposed for a
national radioactive waste dump.

 Groundwater tests were planned to be conducted today for the
remote Arcoona sheep station site, near Woomera, in South
Australia's far north.

 The State Government has asked the Federal Court to test the
legality of the Federal Government compulsorily acquiring the
land to build the dump.

 Mr Rann says last night staff from Federal Science Minister
Peter McGauran's department contacted his office to say the
testing has been postponed.

 "Now it's interesting that despite all the huffing and puffing
that we saw on television from Mr McGauran, he's blinked under
pressure, they've backed down and they won't be moving onto the
site today," he said. 

 [http://www.abc.net.au] 

� 2004 Australian Broadcasting Corporation 
*****************************************************************
 57 ONN: Energy Department pledges to remove vast majority of nuclear waste 

. Ohio News Now: 


June 17, 2004   

Capitol Hill-AP -- The Energy Department has assured skeptical
senators that it's serious about removing nuclear waste from
weapons sites.Assistant Energy Secretary Jessie Roberson
(ROH'-buhr-sun) told a Senate hearing that the department is
committed to extracting 99 percent from underground tanks. She
says anything less is "off the table."There's been talk of
reclassifying residual sludge in some 177 tanks, and leaving up
to ten percent of it behind. That would mean changing the law,
which has sparked opposition.Roberson says she doesn't see any
chance that the Energy Department will dispose of only 90
percent at a special facility in Nevada.Democratic Senator Ron
Wyden of Oregon said he's encouraged but not totally satisfied
by the assurance. He asked for it in writing.	 								

Copyright 2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This

[http://www.worldnow.com]     All content � Copyright 2004,
WorldNow and Dispatch Productions, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
*****************************************************************
 58 "Books not Bombs" rally and march in Livermore August 8
 
Date: Thu, 17 Jun 2004 11:52:54 -0700

 
<x-flowed>
Dear friends and colleagues:
Hi. Please consider publishing the following short article in any
newsletters to which you have access. And, circle your personal calendar
today, we hope to see you there on August 8.
--Marylia

"Books Not Bombs":
Major Hiroshima Commemoration and Protest to Take Place Sunday, August 8 in
Livermore

by Tara Dorabji, Tri-Valley CAREs

Everywhere you look, you see school budgets cut, libraries closed and
social programs gutted -- yet funding for nuclear weapons continues to
rise. In the City of Livermore, two schools will close while money for
nuclear weapons increases at the nearby Livermore Laboratory.

The Livermore nuclear weapons lab has long been the appropriate site for
creative, nonviolent resistance to nuclear weapons. It is fitting that we
will gather there on Sunday, August 8, 2004, to mark the 59th anniversary
of the U.S. atomic bombings of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki. On that day, Tri-Valley CAREs and allied groups will host a major
rally and march to say: "Books not Bombs."

In the U.S., billions have been, and continue to be, spent on the invasion
of Iraq, shrouded by claims that we sought to eliminate weapons of mass
destruction. WMD's were not found in Iraq. However, right here in the Bay
Area, scientists are developing new and modified nuclear weapons at
Livermore Lab. They are modifying the B83, hoping to make it a "bunker
buster" called the Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator.

Stopping the programs at Livermore that enable the creation of new and
modified nuclear weapons is essential to achieving global nonproliferation
and disarmament.  Our August action is part of an international series of
events. Join us and tens of thousands around the world to say "NO" to
nuclear weapons and U.S. nuclear policy. Say "YES" to changing our
priorities.

The "Books Not Bombs" rally will take place August 8 at 1 PM at Jackson
Elementary School, 554 Jackson Ave., a couple blocks off East Ave. in
Livermore. The rally will be followed by a march to the Livermore Lab at 3
PM. This year we are demanding: the abolition of nuclear weapons, the
demilitarization of education and an end to a war economy that funds bombs
over school books for our children.

Bring water, sunscreen, signs, banners, musical instruments, friends and
family members! Children and their books welcome! To volunteer, contact
Tara at (925) 443-7148 or tara@trivalleycares.org.

ends

Marylia Kelley
Executive Director
Tri-Valley CAREs
(Communities Against a Radioactive Environment)
2582 Old First Street
Livermore, CA USA 94551

<http://www.trivalleycares.org> - is our web site address. Please visit us
there!

(925) 443-7148 - is our phone
(925) 443-0177 - is our fax

</x-flowed>
*****************************************************************
 59 Paducah Sun: Canadian firm eyes Paducah for factory to reuse scrap metal 

Paducah, Kentucky

 
  Thursday, June 17, 2004;Paducah, Kentucky     

Page [http://www.paducahsun.com/] 

Its U.S. subsidiary is testing gaseous diffusion plant nickel to 
see if it can be cleaned for reuse 

By Joe Walker jwalker@paducahsun.com--270.575.8650

The American subsidiary of a Canadian firm wants eventually to 
build a factory here to convert nickel and other scrap metal at 
the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant for commercial use.

 "We have a demand for the products now," said Mike Hargett, 
president of CVMR (Chemical Vapor Metal Refining)-USA. 
"Ultra-pure nickel is very, very expensive, and in having a 
greater supply, we would make that available for these new 
products and the technologies that go with them."

 The Paducah plant has 9,700 tons of nickel worth $8 million to 
$10 million, plus tons of other scrap metal left over from 
decades of uranium enrichment and Cold War weapons work.

 Hargett declined to identify the products, saying his firm is in 
sensitive negotiations with companies interested in them. 
CVMR-USA is an American subsidiary of Chemical Vapor Deposition 
Manufacturing, which has a plant in downtown Toronto where nickel 
and other metals are converted to gas and recycled.

 Hargett also wouldn't speculate how many people the Paducah 
plant would employ. He said the plant hinges on:

 Proving that the radiologically contaminated nickel can be 
sufficiently cleaned.

 Showing it can be safely put into commercial products.

 Getting the Department of Energy to lift a ban on the commercial 
use of the metal here and at other plants.

 "The nickel has to be clean or these companies just would not be 
interested," he said. "The caution is too great."

 Hargett spoke Wednesday in an interview after briefing committee 
members of the Paducah Area Community Reuse Organization, a 
DOE-funded group that is trying to create jobs to offset the 
closing of the 1,300-employee plant starting in 2010.

 PACRO Director John Anderson said he hopes the Kentucky 
congressional delegation can use the results of the CVMR-USA 
tests to persuade the Energy Department to lift the 2 1/2-year 
ban. Initial tests are promising that the nickel can be cleaned 
for commercial reuse, he said.

 CVMR-USA expects to complete the testing in Lynchburg, Va. � the 
headquarters of partner firm BWX Technologies � by the end of the 
summer, Hargett said. It will take 12 more months to open a pilot 
vapor-processing plant there to do limited work for the U.S. 
Navy, using some scrap nickel from a closed uranium enrichment 
plant in Oak Ridge, Tenn.

 If that goes well, a similar eight-employee plant will be built 
in Paducah to process annually 2,000 tons of nickel, considered 
to be much purer than the Oak Ridge nickel, he said. The factory 
would be able to handle as many as 34 other types of high-value 
metal.

 "You have a significant reserve of material," Hargett said. 
"This is a very logical place for us to come."

 More jobs in Paducah would be needed for a plant to grind blocks 
of the nickel into finer form so they can be more efficiently 
converted using the vapor process, he said, adding, "Right now, 
you have some 4,000-pound hockey pucks out there." 

[http://www.paducahsun.com/cgi-bin/mailto.cgi?/200406/17+0jFj_bus 
iness.html+20040617] All staff photographs are available for 
purchase. Please call 270-575-8682 or 270-575-8683. 

ONLINE [http://www.paducah.com/] 
*****************************************************************
 60 Oak Ridger: Senate OKs sick worker switch 							 							 							
 
Story last updated at 12:35 p.m. on June 17, 2004


By: Paul Parson | Oak Ridger Staff
paul.parson@oakridger.com [paul.parson@oakridger.com] 

One hurdle was overcome Wednesday when the U.S. Senate 
unanimously passed an amendment that would transfer a 
compensation program for job-sickened nuclear workers from the 
Department of Energy to the Labor Department.

Representatives from the offices of U.S. Sens. Lamar Alexander, 
R-Tenn., and Jim Bunning, R-Ky., confirmed the passage.

"It has been four long years and $95 million since the Department 
of Energy has been administering this program, and only four 
claims have been processed so far," said Bunning, the lead 
sponsor of the amendment.

"That is simply unacceptable," he continued. "With the passage of 
this amendment the time has finally come for our Cold War 
patriots to get the compensation they rightfully deserve."

Tennessee has more than 4,800 claims filed with DOE, according to 
information released by Alexander's office. As of March 18, 60 
percent of these cases were still awaiting action by DOE.

"This is a serious matter for a great many Tennesseans and 
Americans," Alexander said.

The U.S. House has already passed its defense bill, which calls 
for some changes to the sick worker program but keeps it with 
DOE. Once the Senate passes its defense bill, a conference 
committee of House and Senate members will debate the two bills.

A spokesman for Bunning's office noted that anything can happen 
in the conference committee, but added that the senator would 
continue to fight for the amendment. 

*****************************************************************
 61 Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Hanford cleanup enters new phase
 	 	 	 	 	 
[seattlepi.com]     


Thursday, June 17, 2004 

 Workers digging near old reactors make interesting finds 

By SHANNON DININNY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

RICHLAND -- Workers at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation have begun 
a new phase of cleaning up along the Columbia River corridor: 
digging up solid waste near two dormant nuclear reactors. 

The chore represents the last major hurdle for soil cleanup near 
Hanford's B and C reactors. When completed, the B and C areas 
will be the first reactor sites where cleanup will be finished 
along the river. 

But unearthing nuclear junk comes with its share of surprises. 
Already, there have been times workers were left scratching their 
heads wondering what exactly they had dug up, said Rex Miller, 
on-site manager for Bechtel Hanford, the contractor responsible 
for tearing down and cocooning Hanford's reactors and cleaning up 
the grounds nearby. 

"You have to dig as if you expect a surprise with every 
bucketful," Miller said. "Every bucketful is kind of an 
adventure." 

Both reactors at the south-central Washington nuclear reservation 
were closed in the late 1960s after more than two decades of 
producing plutonium for the nation's nuclear weapons arsenal. 
Over the years, reactor workers buried nuclear junk and garbage, 
some of which could still be radioactive or contaminated by 
chemicals. 

Liquid waste at the two reactor sites already has been removed. 
Removing the solid waste -- which can include everything from old 
files to rusty reactor parts to telephone poles and wires -- then 
backfilling and replanting the areas is scheduled to be completed 
by December 2006. Bechtel says work is ahead of schedule. 

Final decisions on handling groundwater contamination in the 
river corridor and the future of the cocooned reactors still lie 
ahead. 

There are about 22 waste sites to be cleaned up at the B and C 
reactors alone, and at least a half-dozen are expected to contain 
solid waste. They range in size from a few feet to larger than a 
football field. 

More than 1 million cubic feet of material is expected to be dug 
up at the burial grounds. About 35 containers weighing 18 tons 
each are hauled away each day. 



    
    

Monitors check for chemical or radiological contamination. After 
repeated sorting, most of the waste is hauled to an on-site 
landfill. Samples are sent away for laboratory testing if 
questions or concerns arise about the contents of any waste. 

"We have unknown contaminants buried all over the place out here. 
We believe we've identified most," Miller said. But, "no matter 
how well you manage something, you can always run into things." 

Case in point: While digging into a mound of dirt last month, 
workers heard a hissing sound and pulled out of the area after 
realizing they had uncovered some type of compressed gas. 

No one was injured, and safety procedures at the site worked 
exactly as they are supposed to, said Dennis Faulk, environmental 
scientist for the Environmental Protection Agency. 

"They never did find what actually caused the release of gas. 
That was just one of the surprises they can expect to encounter 
as they go through these sites," Faulk said. 

Digging up the burial grounds near the B and C reactors also 
serves as an education for what to expect at the other sites, 
Faulk said. 

"We're kind of the trailblazers since this is the first area," he 
said. "And hopefully the uncertainty here will remove a lot of 
the guessing work for a lot of the other burial grounds."    
            
  [Seattle Post-Intelligencer] 101 Elliott Ave. W. Seattle, WA 
98119 (206) 448-8000
 
Home Delivery: (206) 464-2121 or (800) 542-0820

 Send comments to newmedia@seattlepi.com [newmedia@seattlepi.com] 
�1996-2004 Seattle Post-Intelligencer Terms of Service/Privacy 
*****************************************************************
 62 Seattle Times: Nuclear-waste vapors risky, group claims
 	 	 	
Thursday, June 17, 2004 - Page updated at 12:00 A.M.

 			 			 			 			
By The Associated Press
 			 			
YAKIMA � A government-watchdog group yesterday again claimed 
workers at the Hanford nuclear reservation have been endangered 
by vapors from underground waste tanks, saying a new study shows 
workers in the tank farms face a greater risk of developing 
cancer. 

The Department of Energy (DOE), which manages environmental 
cleanup at the nuclear site, disputed the findings. Both the 
agency and the contractor handling tank cleanup have repeatedly 
said workers are in no danger. 

A recent federal investigation cleared contractors at the site of 
any criminal wrongdoing with regard to vapors and medical 
monitoring. 

But the Government Accountability Project (GAP), a nonprofit 
group long critical of worker safety at Hanford, contends there 
is danger. A study for the group found that workers face an 
increased chance of developing cancer from exposure to vapors 
from Hanford's 177 underground tanks, which contain 53 million 
gallons of radioactive liquid, sludge and saltcake. 

"We are asking DOE to take some action on these tank vapor issues 
and around these tank farms to better protect workers and watch 
out for health in the future," said Tom Carpenter, director of 
GAP's nuclear-oversight campaign. "And also to look at who's been 
exposed so far and provide some remedies for them." 

The report relied on data from a 1999 study by the Pacific 
Northwest National Laboratory, a DOE research center near the 
Hanford site. That study looked at gases retained in the waste 
itself, rather than vapors in the air cavity of the tank, said 
Tom Brouns, program manager for the lab's tank-farm research.                   

Copyright � 2004 The Seattle Times Company
*****************************************************************
 63 Oak Ridger: No meth thefts at federal sites 							 							 							
 
Story last updated at 11:50 a.m. on June 17, 2004


AUDITORS: 'We were told that there have been no identified
instances to date where employees from Y-12 or ORNL have been
arrested in connection with illegal methamphetamine.' 

By: Paul Parson | Oak Ridger Staff
paul.parson@oakridger.com [paul.parson@oakridger.com] 

There are no signs that chemicals used to manufacture
methamphetamine have been stolen from Oak Ridge's nuclear
weapons plant or its major research facility, according to
auditors.

The Department of Energy's Inspector General's Office reported
that finding in an audit released Wednesday afternoon. The Ninth
Judicial District Drug Task Force requested the inspection
because meth is recognized as one of the greatest drug threats
in Tennessee.

"We did not find any indicators of theft of precursor chemicals
from Y-12 or ORNL during our inspection," the report stated.

"However, given the existence of precursor chemicals at these
sites and the heightened concern that these chemicals could be
targeted for theft, we believe that supplementary steps could be
taken to reduce the possibility of site chemicals being diverted
for the illegal production of methamphetamine."

While there are a number of precursor chemicals used to produce
meth, DOE's Inspector General's Office narrowed its review to
those "that are not easily obtained or that are tedious to
gather."

These chemicals included potassium metal, anhydrous ammonia,
pseudoephedrine, iodine, ether and lithium metal. According to
the audit, investigators also looked at red phosphorous "because
the method commonly used to acquire it is to scrape it from the
heads of matches, which is tedious and time consuming; hence,
bulk holdings of this chemical can be an attractive target for
theft."

Auditors figure that more than 8,000 federal and contractor
personnel have access to ORNL and Y-12 on a daily basis.

"In discussions with an area law enforcement official, we were
told that there have been no identified instances to date where
employees from Y-12 or ORNL have been arrested in connection
with illegal methamphetamine," the audit reported.

"The individuals responsible for maintaining the chemical
inventories at Y-12 and ORNL said that they were unaware that
certain chemicals could be used in the production of
methamphetamine. Therefore, no special controls or procedures
had been implemented for these chemicals."

For example, in one review at an ORNL building, auditors found
that more than 1,000 employees have access to the building, and
most of the labs are kept unlocked due to safety concerns.

"We found a sealed container labeled 'red phosphorous' in an
unlocked room," the document stated. "The container held 1.5
pounds of red phosphorous and was placed in the room awaiting
disposal. When we returned to the laboratory over two months
later, we found that the red phosphorous remained unsecured."

The audit noted that one law enforcement official said the
local street value for ready-to-use red phosphorous is
approximately $90 per gram. Therefore, the estimated local
street value of the 1.5 pounds of red phosphorous awaiting
disposal is over $61,000, according to the document.

In its report, the Inspector General's Office suggested that
the local DOE-related facilities implement additional internal
controls pertaining to the precursor chemicals and consider
implementing additional checks and balances in the process for
purchasing narcotics. 







*****************************************************************
 64 Tri-City Herald: Committee working on plan to manage Hanford Reach 

This story was published Wednesday, June 16th, 2004 


By Anna King Herald staff writer 

A federal committee is expected to decide this week how it 
believes the Hanford Reach National Monument should be managed. 

The Federal Advisory Committee for the monument meets in Richland 
today and Thursday to choose from four options. 

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will use the committee's 
recommendation to draft a management plan to use for the next 15 
years. 

Each option includes detailed discussions and strategies for 
dealing with issues such as wildfires, public access, hunting, 
wildlife and plants, access roads and fencing. 

The first option would essentially leave the Reach as it exists 
today, including limited access for hunters and the public. Other 
options include more access, possibly a campground and more 
environmental restoration. 

The Reach was designated a national monument by President Clinton 
on June 9, 2000, and the committee has been working on a proposed 
plan since January 2001. 

During that time, the group of 13 committee members and 13 
alternates have learned about the Reach and hammered out the 
vision, goals and management alternatives. 

Members represent cities, counties, Washington state, utilities, 
scientists, environmentalists, irrigators, outdoor enthusiasts, 
conservationists and the interests of Native Americans, the 
public and economic development. 

"This is what they have been waiting for," said Gregory Hughes, 
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service project leader for the monument. 

Jim Watts, chairman of the committee, said he thought the group 
was up for the challenge. 

"We are not too far off," Watts said. "There are one or two 
issues that might be tweaked (today)." 

A few years of hard work has brought the diverse group together, 
he said. 

"They've worked really well to come up with a management plan for 
the Reach," he said. "I think they have taken everyone's concerns 
into consideration." 

Hughes said the amount of information compiled in recent years 
and the group's cooperation have been impressive. But making a 
decision on how to manage the Reach still will be difficult. 

"Planning is messy. There is no other way to say it," he said. 

Fish and Wildlife employees could draft a management plan by late 
fall or early winter, Hughes said. 

"Once we get through this one, the only thing left is public 
comment," he said. 

If all goes according to schedule, the new management plan could 
be in place by fall 2005. '[sys/section/path]', map=>{ 

� 2004 Tri-City Herald, Associated Press &Other Wire Services
*****************************************************************
 65 Rocky Mountain News: Ill weapons makers get support in Senate

Compensation reform proposal wins easy approval


By Ann Imse, Rocky Mountain News June 17, 2004

The U.S. Senate approved a bipartisan plan Wednesday to reform a 
compensation program for sick atom-bomb makers that has spent 
nearly $95 million on paperwork and paid only four workers. 

The proposal sailed through the Senate on a voice vote, despite 
the Bush administration's opposition. Not one senator rose to 
speak against it. 

 Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky, the plan's prime sponsor, said the 
program "is completely broken and the Department of Energy has 
done an abysmal job running it." 

Congress created the compensation program in 2000, saying workers 
at plants such as Rocky Flats near Denver risked their lives from 
exposure to radiation and toxic chemicals to build nuclear 
weapons. Many died young, and others suffered from cancer and 
other illnesses they blame on the job. 

The program is split between the Department of Labor and the 
Energy Department. Lawmakers had complained that the Energy 
Department has paid only four people $140,000 in claims in four 
years. The Department of Labor, on the other hand, has paid 
11,000 people a total of $834 million. 

The reform transfers the Energy Department part of the program to 
the Labor Department. It also promises the federal government 
will pay valid claims. The federal budget already covers the 
claims in the Labor Department half of the program. 

The Energy Department has been allocated $95 million during the 
past four years for the complex process of searching out records 
of radiation and toxic-chemical exposure. Doctors then decide if 
that caused a worker's illness. The Energy Department has ruled 
on only 681 of 24,000 pending cases, and winning only provides 
workers with the opportunity to file for workers' compensation. 

In Colorado, where 1,700 former Rocky Flats workers have applied 
for help, no company is willing to pay their claims without a 
fight, according to the General Accounting Office. Rocky Flats 
workers expect to have to sue the insurance firms that covered 
the plant to collect. 

The Bush administration has opposed the bipartisan plan, saying 
the Energy Department has improved its claims processing. It says 
transferring the program to the Labor Department will slow the 
approval of claims. 

But none of the six senators who spoke for the plan had any 
intention of giving the DOE another chance. 

"Many of these workers are dying and should not have to wait any 
longer for the DOE to get its act together to pay these claims in 
a timely manner," Bunning said. 

"We have kept them waiting too long," said Sen. George Voinovich, 
R-Ohio. "They sacrificed their health and even their lives, in 
many cases without knowing the risks they were facing. They have 
paid a high price for our freedom, and the nation has a moral 
obligation to provide for these Cold War veterans." 

The reform is attached to the Defense Authorization Bill, which 
is expected to pass the Senate soon. The House-passed defense 
bill doesn't include this amendment; rather, it keeps the program 
in the Energy Department and makes only smaller changes, such as 
raising fees paid to medical experts who review claims. The two 
versions must be reconciled in a conference committee. 

The Senate amendment does not solve another problem with the 
program: missing exposure records. Worker activists at Rocky 
Flats hope to prove the weapons plant did not keep accurate 
records of their exposures. In that case, all sick workers would 
qualify for help without having to prove individual exposures.  

*****************************************************************
 66 PISJ: Additional $50 million allocated for INEEL

Pocatello Idaho State Journal: 


By Holden Parrish [hparrish@journalnet.com] - Assistant City
Editor 

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Southeast Idaho's largest employer, the Idaho 
National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory, could receive 
about $50 million more than originally requested in federal money 
next year.

Wednesday, the U.S. House of Appropriations Committee passed the 
Energy and Water Appropriations Bill for the 2005 fiscal year, 
which begins Oct. 1. Rep. Mike Simpson, a Blackfoot Republican 
and appropriations committee member, said the bill is "excellent 
news" for INEEL's future nuclear energy research and development 
programs. 
  
"This is really a giant step forward for the site," Simpson said 
Wednesday.

Tim Jackson, a spokesman with the U.S. Department of Energy - the 
federal agency that supervises the site - was pleased with the 
announcement. "This is a good sign for the laboratory," he said.

However, the appropriation is far from official. The committee's 
endorsement means the bill now goes to the House floor. Should 
the House approve the bill, it will advance to a conference 
committee, where the House's version of the bill will be compared 
with one from the Senate. If groups find common ground, the bill 
goes to the president to be signed into law or vetoed.

Simpson expects the House to vote on its bill next week, but said 
the process will probably take longer in the Senate. He is 
hopeful the bill's portions pertaining to INEEL funding can clear 
the House and conference committee intact. "If you've got a bill 
like this one, it's something to fight for," he said, adding he 
worked closely with fellow Idaho Congressman Butch Otter, who 
sits on the House Authorizing Committee.

In its current form, the House appropriations bill calls for a 
$15 million increase in INEEL facilities management funds, 
including $8 million for the planning and design of a new 
office-laboratory building to replace the laboratory's aging 
facilities. 

The bill also earmarks an additional $10 million for upgrading 
and maintaining the site's one-of-a-kind Advanced

Test Reactor, which studies radiation's effects on various 
materials and fuels. The reactor also produces medical- and 
industrial-grade isotopes. Another $21 million more than the 
requested amount was set aside for the Department of Energy's 
Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative, which develops nuclear fuels that 
result in less radioactive waste and cannot be converted into 
military weapons. Half of those funds must be spent at INEEL.

The bill also includes some $10 million more than requested to 
benefit the department's Generation IV Nuclear Energy Systems 
program, which works toward designing and developing 
next-generation nuclear power reactors. 

Finally, some $5 million is slated for the laboratory's 
Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition testbed, which develops 
ways to protect the country's communications, electronics and 
electrical power infrastructure.

Simpson said the bill's total INEEL appropriation comes to about 
$1 billion, with some $700 million reserved for ongoing cleanup 
operations. The rest of the money, which includes the additional 
$50 million, will go toward the laboratory's energy, science and 
national security projects. 

"We're going to make this lab the pre-eminent nuclear facility in 
the country," Simpson said.

Holden Parrish [hparrish@journalnet.com]  is the Journal's 
assistant city editor and covers politics and general assignment 
stories. He can be reached at (208) 239-6001 or by e-mail at 
hparrish@journalnet.com. 

Copyright � 2004 Pocatello Idaho State Journal
 P O Box 431 Pocatello, ID 83204-0431   
*****************************************************************
 67 PISJ: Nuclear site's security division targets modern threats
 
 Pocatello Idaho State Journal: 


IDAHO FALLS (AP) - Finding ways to handle the threats that are 
becoming increasingly common in today's world is one of the 
fastest-growing programs at the Idaho National Engineering and 
Environmental Laboratory.

The INEEL's National Security Division has produced several 
weapons detection systems, including the latest to scan the 
chemical makeup of a truck's load to quickly determine whether it 
contains explosives. 
  
The site has also created a training regimen to teach emergency 
responders how to deal with nuclear, chemical and biological 
threats.

Both were at center stage this week as the explosive-detection 
system was subjected to its first field test and a National Guard 
unit underwent a training exercise involving radioactive, albeit 
low-level, material. Security research with a $45 million annual 
budget has become the second most important division at the site, 
trailing only INEEL's designation as the nation's lead research 
facility for nuclear energy.

The explosive-detection device, developed with existing 
technology over the past two years, tests for nitrogen, which is 
present in all explosives. Depending on the level, it triggers a 
red light on the computer screen, telling security personnel 
within minutes to check the truck load more closely. "The real 
challenge was getting the analysis down," said Edward Reber, a 
physicist who was the technical leader on the project that 
required special computer software to interpret the results in a 
way a nonscientist would know explosives could be present.

The disaster-response program was developed a year ago to provide 
realistic training exercises for regional military and 
law-enforcement staff, using some of INEEL's buildings and 
low-level radioactive sources. "Our clients want real stuff to 
add the human factor and to get the adrenaline pumping," said 
Yvette Leppert, the training project leader.

On Tuesday, members of the guard's Weapons of Mass Destruction 
Civil Support Team had to contain radioactive white powder 
puffing from an overturned van, determining the extent of the 
radiation so waiting emergency technicians could get in to free a 
make-believe victim. 

"I think the 9/11s will be rare, but there are smaller threats we 
need to be concerned about," said Major Brain Shields, commander 
of the Civil Support Team.

Although the exercises so far have used very low levels of 
radiation and other threats, procedures are being developed to 
involve higher levels of radiation, Leppert said. 

Copyright � 2004 Pocatello Idaho State Journal
 P O Box 431 Pocatello, ID 83204-0431   
*****************************************************************
 68 Daily Texan: DOE extends UC's Livermore Lab contract - 

Advanced Search  [http://www.dailytexanonline.com]   


| 6/17/2004 
 
Los Alamos bid will be separate from Livermore

 By Tessa Moll 

The U.S. Department of Energy has announced separate bidding 
dates for the Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Lawrence 
Livermore National Laboratory, both currently under the 
management of the University of California System.
 
The two nuclear research facilities were originally scheduled for 
bidding when their contracts were set to expire in September of 
2005. 

However, the DOE has decided to extend the expiration date for 
UC's contract to run the Lawrence Livermore lab in an effort to 
increase competition for the management bids. 

"I have concluded that it is very important to ensure that we 
have the broadest possible competition for future contracts," 
Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham said in a statement. 
"Separating these two competitions will achieve that result."
 
The DOE's decision came in response to a recommendation made by 
the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board. 

In November 2003, the board published a report that advised the 
department to increase competition for laboratory management. 

"The commission members determined that the principles arguing 
for free and open competition and benefits to be gained through 
competition could address the management problems perceived in 
the current operation of the laboratories," the report stated.
 
Both Livermore Lawrence and Los Alamos have been run by the UC 
System for more than 50 years.
 
The nation's third weapons-research lab, Sandia National 
Laboratory, has facilities in New Mexico and California, and is 
managed by Lockheed Martin Corporation, a weapons manufacturer 
that sells 62 percent of its products to the U.S. Department of 
Defense.
 
The DOE announced in April of last year that it intended to open 
up the management contract for Los Alamos to competition 
following an investigation of security breaches at the nuclear 
research lab. However, it was unclear at the time whether 
contracts for Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore would be bid on 
as one or separately.
 
The UT System announced its plans to bid for Los Alamos in 
February. 

In a UT Board of Regents meeting June 2, System Chancellor Mark 
Yudof said that the System is paying attention to the issues 
raised by students concerning the bid. 

Yudof said students raised concerns about the University'ys 
desire to manage a weapons lab.
 
Yudof said the issue was still months away and a final decision 
would not be made until the fall. 

The DOE will request bid proposals for Los Alamos in three to 
four months.
 
The extension and separation of the Lawrence Livermore bid does 
not affect UT's plan to bid for Los Alamos, said Randa Safady, 
vice chancellor for external relations for the UT System.
 
"The [request for proposals] still isn't out yet, but we [are] 
only considering the bid for Los Alamos," Safady said.
 
The University of California still intends to bid to continue 
managing Lawrence Livermore, Los Alamos and Lawrence Berkeley 
National Laboratory, UC spokesman Chris Harrington said in a 
statement.
 
"This decision neither changes the University of California's 
ongoing preparations to compete for continued management of all 
three UC-managed national laboratories, nor alters its continuing 
commitment to serving the nation," Harrington wrote.
 
According to a statement issued by the DOE, the National Nuclear 
Security Administration, a department in the DOE concerned with 
nuclear security and research labs, will announce the schedule 
for management bids "in the near future."                

*****************************************************************
 69 U.S. Newswire: DOE Nuclear Worker Resource Center in Ames, Iowa, 
Area to Provide Information on the EEOICPA
 

 6/17/2004 4:12:00 PM 

To: Assignment Desk, Daybook Editor 

Contact: Jeff Sherwood of the U.S. Department of Energy, 
202-586-5806 

News Advisory: 

A joint U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and U.S. Department of 
Labor (DOL) Traveling Resource Center will be in the Ames area 
during the week of June 21st to assist individuals with filing 
claims under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness 
Compensation Program Act (EEOICPA). Representatives from DOE and 
DOL will also be on hand to answer specific questions about the 
program. 

The EEOICPA program provides two different types of assistance. 
DOL administers the Part B program, which provides a lump sum 
compensation of up to $150,000 and payment of medical expenses to 
current and former DOE employees and DOE contractor employees who 
suffer from specific diseases - radiogenic cancers, beryllium 
disease and chronic silicosis. Qualified survivors of deceased 
covered employees are also eligible for the lump sum compensation 
benefit. 

Part D of the EEOICPA, which is administered by DOE, helps DOE 
contractor employees or their survivors apply for state workers 
compensation benefits for job-related illnesses caused by 
workplace toxic exposures. Toxin-related illnesses could include 
such diseases as: asbestosis, liver disease, nervous system 
disorders, non-cancerous respiratory or kidney disease, heavy 
metal poisoning, and certain reproductive disorders. 

Iowa is home to four current or former DOE facilities or private 
firms who produced or processed radioactive material as part of 
the Atomic Weapons Program: Ames Laboratory, Bendix Aviation 
(Pioneer Division), Iowa Ordnance Plant, and Titus Metals. Ames 
Laboratory is located on the Iowa State University Campus. 

Workers or survivors who need help filling out claim forms can 
schedule appointments at the Traveling Resource Center by 
calling, toll-free, (800) 861-8608, or drop in during the hours 
listed below. Claimants who have already applied do not need to 
call or visit the center. More information can be found at 
www.eh.doe.gov/advocacy 

Time and Date: Tuesday - Thursday, June 22-24, 8:30 a.m. 6 p.m. 

Location: Hampton Inn, 1400 South Dayton Avenue, Ames, IA 



 [http://www.usnewswire.com/] 

-0- 

/� 2004 U.S. Newswire 202-347-2770/ 			 		   		   			 		   		   
*****************************************************************
 70 Google News Alert - nuclear
 
Date: Thu, 17 Jun 2004 14:01:37 -0700 (PDT)


 
ATOMIC Energy Agency Fears Iran Nuclear Cover-Ups
Scotland on Sunday - Edinburgh,Scotland,UK
The International Atomic Energy Agency appears to be on the track of new
nuclear cover-ups on the part of Iran, diplomats said today. ...
<http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=3079918>
See all stories on this topic:
<http://news.google.com/news?ie=utf8&oe=utf8&persist=1&num=30&hl=en&client=google&newsclusterurl=http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm%3Fid%3D3079918>

BRASH would cede sovereignty over nuclear issue says Goff
New Zealand Herald - Auckland,New Zealand
Foreign Affairs Minister Phil Goff has accused National of planning to
drop New Zealand's independent foreign policy over the anti-nuclear legislation.
...
<http://www.nzherald.co.nz/latestnewsstory.cfm?storyID=3573343&thesection=news&thesubsection=general>
See all stories on this topic:
<http://news.google.com/news?ie=utf8&oe=utf8&persist=1&num=30&hl=en&client=google&newsclusterurl=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/latestnewsstory.cfm%3FstoryID%3D3573343%26thesection%3Dnews%26thesubsection%3Dgeneral>

PAK. to send panel for nuclear CBM talks
The Hindu - Chennai,India
... Dialogue between the two countries, an eight-member Pakistani delegation
arrives in New Delhi tomorrow for two-day expert-level talks on nuclear
CBMs beginning ...
<http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/holnus/001200406171811.htm>
See all stories on this topic:
<http://news.google.com/news?ie=utf8&oe=utf8&persist=1&num=30&hl=en&client=google&newsclusterurl=http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/holnus/001200406171811.htm>

INDIA, Pak should initiate global nuclear disarmament
Indian Express - New Delhi,India
New Delhi, June 17: Ahead of expert-level talks between India and Pakistan
on nuclear confidence building measures, an NGO on Thursday asked the
two countries ...
<http://www.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=32686>
See all stories on this topic:
<http://news.google.com/news?ie=utf8&oe=utf8&persist=1&num=30&hl=en&client=google&newsclusterurl=http://www.expressindia.com/fullstory.php%3Fnewsid%3D32686>

INDIA News > Give reasons for holding man selling nuclear secrets ... 
New Kerala - Ernakulam,Kerala,India
... to the Maharashtra and central governments seeking reasons for the
detention of a man deported from Dubai for allegedly trying to sell India's
nuclear secrets. ...
<http://www.newkerala.com/news-daily/news/features.php?action=fullnews&showcomments=1&id=23766>
See all stories on this topic:
<http://news.google.com/news?ie=utf8&oe=utf8&persist=1&num=30&hl=en&client=google&newsclusterurl=http://www.newkerala.com/news-daily/news/features.php%3Faction%3Dfullnews%26showcomments%3D1%26id%3D23766>

SA deemed safe despite warning of possible nuclear attack
The Star (subscription) - Johannesburg,South Africa
By Graeme Hosken. South Africa and its citizens are not at risk from any
imminent nuclear terrorist attack. This announcement was ...
<http://www.thestar.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=129&fArticleId=2115693>
See all stories on this topic:
<http://news.google.com/news?ie=utf8&oe=utf8&persist=1&num=30&hl=en&client=google&newsclusterurl=http://www.thestar.co.za/index.php%3FfSectionId%3D129%26fArticleId%3D2115693>

NORTH Korea's nuclear ambitions
Economist (subscription) - London,England,UK
... between the Koreas have a habit of coming unstuck), might all this
augur well for the third round of six-way talks on the North Korean nuclear
crisis that ...
<http://www.economist.com/World/asia/displayStory.cfm?story_id=2773091>
See all stories on this topic:
<http://news.google.com/news?ie=utf8&oe=utf8&persist=1&num=30&hl=en&client=google&newsclusterurl=http://www.economist.com/World/asia/displayStory.cfm%3Fstory_id%3D2773091>

INDIA - Pakistan nuclear talks to test peace process
Reuters AlertNet - London,England,UK
NEW DELHI, June 17 (Reuters) - India and Pakistan will hold talks this
weekend to reduce the risk of nuclear conflict in south Asia, testing
the resolve of the ...
<http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/DEL70462.htm>
See all stories on this topic:
<http://news.google.com/news?ie=utf8&oe=utf8&persist=1&num=30&hl=en&client=google&newsclusterurl=http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/DEL70462.htm>

FORMER top Iran nuclear official calls for NPT pullout
IranMania News - Iran
TEHRAN, June 17 (AFP) - Iran's deputy energy minister on Thursday called
for the Islamic republic to pull out of the nuclear Non-Proliferation
Treaty (NPT) in ...
<http://www.iranmania.com/news/170604e.asp>
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PROGRESS joins effort to win nuclear plant license
St. Petersburg Times - St. Petersburg,FL,USA
The consortium the St. Petersburg power company has entered has no immediate
plans to build a nuclear power plant. By LOUIS HAU, Times Staff Writer.
...
<http://www.sptimes.com/2004/06/17/Business/Progress_joins_effort.shtml>
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