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NUCLEAR POLICY
1 New York Times: Blair Confronts Political Burdens of Iraq
2 BBC: Iran to review uranium suspension
3 Haaretz: Iran reconsidering suspension of some uranium enrichment
4 Las Vegas SUN: Iran Weighs Restarting Uranium Enrichment
5 Xinhuanet: Solving Iranian nuclear issue needs time
6 Daily Times: Uranium enrichment: Iran backs off from threat to UN
7 People's Daily: China hopes to solve Iranian nuclear issue peacefull
8 Guardian Unlimited: Iran Will Announce Uranium Details
9 MNA: Iran politicized
10 Korea: Digital Chosunilbo: North Proposes Three-Way Peace Treaty - A
11 Xinhuanet: Japanese delegation official: difficulties challenge six-
12 Daily Times: 9 Pakistani N-scientists might be in N Korea
13 Xinhuanet: ROK delegation for six-party talks arrives in Beijing
14 CNN.com: Japan 'to aid N. Korea on energy' -
15 ITAR-TASS: Russian, US experts verify positions on N Korean nuclear
16 US: Las Vegas SUN: Letter: Tactical nuclear bombs unneeded
17 US: Ithaca Journal: August blackout showed fractured system
18 BBC: India-Pakistan push for security
19 Times of India: 'N-spy' booked on charges of forgery -
20 Times of India: Spelling out the Indian N-word
21 WorldNetDaily: China, Iran and American soybeans
22 Daily Times: Indo-Pak nuclear CBM talks begin
23 Las Vegas SUN: India, Pakistan Establishing Nuke Hotline
24 Hi Pakistan: Nuclear talks begin today: Pakistan has positive sugges
25 Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter: Rate concerns worry some
26 Mehr News Agency: Nuclear Industry Completely Indigenous
NUCLEAR REACTORS
27 US: [NukeNet] Amazing Entergy Bought For Lies Re Indian Point]
28 The Hindu: Atom and the man
29 UK Independent: New lease of life for British nuclear reactors
30 Japan Times: Decision on site for fusion reactor put off again
31 US: Green Bay Press-Gazette: Public to weigh in on plan to sell Kewa
32 Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter: Businesses mixed on plant sale
33 US: SouthofBoston.com: Nuke strike looms
34 US: SouthofBoston.com: NRC asked to close plant
35 US: Corvallis Gazette-Times: Nuclear engineer joins environmental gr
36 US: ONN. NRC passed on video that showed acid leaks at Davis-Besse
NUCLEAR SAFETY
37 BBC: NHS plans for the unthinkable
38 US: Boston.com: Poisoning claims denied
39 Hawk Eye: IAAP effort raises concern
NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE
40 US: Salt Lake Tribune: Senators back Bishop's play on waste
41 Las Vegas RJ: Nye officialsseek to keeptheir water
42 Las Vegas RJ: Reno opens arms to Bush
43 Bellona: Notice served after radioactive gaskets found on Sellafield
44 Las Vegas SUN: Bush in Reno ignores Yucca; touts tax cut and securit
45 Las Vegas SUN: Editorial: Nuke dump silence
46 Las Vegas SUN: Bush brings presidential campaign to Nevada
47 US: Bradenton Herald: Nelson vows EPA support for Tallevast
48 US: Bradenton Herald: State seeks other Tallevast spills
49 US: heraldtribune.com: Feds coming to clean up Tallevast
50 AU Ninemsn: Commonwealth buckles on nuclear dump
51 Berkley Statement: on "Reclassification" Of Funding for Yucca Mounta
52 US: Times-News Senators: Bill assures Idaho cleanup ...
53 US: deseret news: Karras, Huntsman scowl at N-waste
54 US: FSJ: Scientists conclude no link between modern-day uranium mine
55 US: The Scientist: Frontlines | Recycling the Energy of Waste,
56 US: L.A. Daily News: Officials order rapid cleanup of plane gauges
NUCLEAR WEAPONS
57 tvnz.co.nz: Nuclear group revives efforts
58 I Tube Talk: Israel scientist Mordechai Vanunu on BBC World's
59 AU ABC: Israel bans British journalist after Vanunu interview.
US DEPT. OF ENERGY
60 The Columbian: Opinion: Clean Up First
61 Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Sludge removal begins at Hanford
62 Hanford News: DOE says it will clean up 99 percent of Hanford waste
63 Hanford News: Increased access to Reach proposed
64 Tri-City Herald: K Basin sludge removal begins
65 ANL: DOE ROD on Portsmouth project
66 Oak Ridger: Funding looking positive for Oak Ridge
OTHER NUCLEAR
67 Google News Alert - nuclear
68 Google News Alert - nuclear
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FULL NEWS STORIES
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1 New York Times: Blair Confronts Political Burdens of Iraq
By PATRICK E. TYLER
Published: June 20, 2004
[L] ONDON, June 19 — Every British prime minister faces dark
hours, but for Tony Blair it seems as if time has stood still at
the nadir of his political career. The slump in his popularity
brought on by the war in Iraq stubbornly will not come to an end.
Mr. Blair bounded into the top floor conference room at No. 10
Downing Street this week, radiating his trademark charm and sunny
disposition to 100 reporters gathered for his monthly news
conference.
"Iraq has dominated the agenda over many months and there is no
point pretending otherwise," Mr. Blair told them pre-emptively.
"But I should say to you that I believe every bit as passionately
now that rogue states, terrorism and weapons of mass destruction
are indeed the security threat of the 21st century, and we have
to confront them."
It was an assertion that did not carry the weight it did 16
months ago when he took the nation to war.
Though he tried valiantly in an hour of questioning to turn the
national discussion back to the domestic agenda, he found himself
in the familiar defensive crouch, over Iraq, over the poor
showing of his party in local and European parliamentary
elections and over the political malaise that grips much of the
country.
Ann Treneman, who covers Parliament for The Times of London,
wrote that the air was so heavy with torpor that it could have
been packaged as a tranquilizer. Only Mr. Blair seemed impervious
to the mood.
"He's like an aging relative who refuses to wear a hearing aid,"
wrote Polly Toynbee, a columnist of The Guardian. "He will lead,
he will not bend, and he will do what he thinks right, even if
he's the only one who thinks it."
As Britain begins to look for an exit strategy from Iraq before
national elections next year, Mr. Blair, like President Bush, is
struggling against strong political turbulence that has
significantly undermined the sense of high purpose with which the
two leaders sent their armies off to war in 2003.
It seems a strange plight for the youngest and most successful
Labor prime minister in a century, who dragged the socialists,
lefties and union chiefs of the old Labor Party back to the
center of British politics with landslide victories in 1997 and
2001, who adopted the pro-business outlook of Margaret Thatcher,
and who then planted the anchors of British foreign policy firmly
between the United States and Europe.
"In British politics, it is not unusual for a government of any
party to have a midterm slump in their support," said Nick Brown,
a former leader in Parliament for the Labor Party. "The only
government that hasn't had one is our own in the first term, so
it has come more as shock to us to have a second-term slump."
Like the American president, Mr. Blair has kept tight discipline
over his party to brave the onslaught of bad news about Iraq.
But where Mr. Bush's Republican base is secure, girded by
conservatives, Mr. Blair's liberal base is riven with revolt.
Many would like the prime minister to step aside and allow Gordon
Brown, chancellor of the Exchequer and Mr. Blair's longtime
political soul mate, to step up to the top job.
Iraq thus pulls like the millstone around Mr. Blair's neck, and
its weight has undermined his role as the pivotal prime minister,
one whose leadership in Europe was supposed to give him more
leverage over the Bush administration, and whose influence in
Washington was supposed to strengthen Britain's hand in Europe.
At a critical summit meeting in Brussels this week over the
future of Europe, Mr. Blair spent most of his time on the
defensive over the rise of anti-Europe sentiment among British
voters. And Mr. Blair's most recent trip to Washington, where he
endorsed the Bush approach to Middle East peace, set off a broad
protest at home from former diplomats who said the American
approach was "doomed to failure."
The pivotal prime minister has become the diminished prime
minister, facing a summer of more uncertain news about Iraq,
including a report from Lord Butler, who has been examining the
failure of British intelligence in the matter of chemical,
biological and nuclear weapons or their components.
Still, Mr. Blair, ever the one to make the best of it, is looking
forward to the 10th anniversary of his sudden ascent, at the age
of 41, to the leader's chair of the Labor Party, which put him in
opposition to Prime Minister John Major and then, with a
landslide victory, into office as Mr. Major's successor.
The era of a cooler and hipper Britannia seems now lost to the
rancor of a thousand political battles, but most overwhelmingly
to the war in Iraq.
"I think the tragedy of Tony Blair is that when he thought he was
being his most morally right, that he made his most fundamental
error, which has undone his entire premiership," concluded the
political historian, Anthony Seldon, in a BBC documentary on the
prime minister.
Mr. Blair most pointedly would not agree. Indeed, he asserted
this week, "I believe we were right to take military action and
remove Saddam Hussein from power, and that the judgment will
increasingly be seen to have been right as time goes on."
Even Churchill had his critics, among them Lord Winterton, who
complained in the midst of World War II that Britons were
following Sir Winston's disastrous war policies as blindly as the
Germans were following Hitler's. Nonetheless, voters here and
across Europe are in a punishing mood.
On the day of the news conference, the English countryside was in
the peak of bloom as gentlemen in top hats escorted well-hatted
ladies to the races at Ascot, and Wimbledon's lawns were getting
a final pedicure for the tennis duels just round the corner. Yet
Mr. Blair's charm was incapable of lifting the cloud.
"You will no doubt want to ask me about the results," he grinned
into the television lights as a way to bring up the drubbing his
party took at the polls this week.
Britons had staged one of their weakest turnouts in history for
local and European parliamentary elections. Those who bothered to
go to the polls cast their ballots for almost anyone but the
governing Labor Party candidates, who got a scant 26 percent of
the vote in local elections. Of the 78 British seats up for grabs
in the European Parliament, Labor won only 19.
The only solace was that the Conservative Party did little better
as protest voters abandoned Labor for the Liberal Democratic
Party, while others flocked to the upstart Independence camp,
which captured voter hostility to Europe and to immigrants in
Britain.
"No politician can afford to be deaf to the voice of the
electorate," Mr. Blair said, adding, "There are clearly big
challenges ahead for the country, concerns that we have to
address, big arguments to be won about the future direction of
policy in this country, but these are arguments that I intend to
win."
The collapse of trust in Mr. Blair's government is not the result
of any failure to deliver on promises to improve the national
health service, schools and police effectiveness against crime -
he has delivered. Poll after poll show that it is largely about
going to war in Iraq for reasons that have not stood up. It is
Mr. Blair's moral conviction, leading him to "the right thing to
do," that has opened a debate on whether his inner compass has
put the country on the right course.
Because there are no term limits in Britain, almost any crisis
this late in a political career poses the risk of party revolt
and a demand for leadership change. Gordon Brown has waited so
long to succeed Mr. Blair that this week he set the record for
longest serving chancellor since the 19th century, surpassing
David Lloyd George, who finally became prime minister during
World War I.
Still, the party stalwarts reached the conclusion this spring
that Mr. Blair must see Iraq through to the end, so as not to
render any new Labor prime minister so vulnerable that the Tories
might exploit the turmoil and force an election.
At least for now, Mr. Blair will soldier on into the Labor Party
conference in the fall, which will set the agenda for next year's
election, and then into what is likely to be his last campaign,
unless, like Churchill, the party summons him back.
Nick Brown, no relation to Gordon Brown but a close political
ally, said Mr. Blair still had a chance to rescue his legacy.
"There won't be any uprising at the Labor Party conference" this
fall, he said. "I don't think anyone is in any mood for that. The
party is very conscious what a mess we made of ourselves in the
1970's and 80's, and there is no desire to put ourselves through
that again."
Political recovery is not beyond Mr. Blair's reach, he said. "If
he has big ideas and is able to come through, then clearly his
position is strengthened. I think it depends very much on him."
In an interview, even Mr. Seldon, who faults Mr. Blair for
profound misjudgment for failing to fight harder to keep the
international coalition together over Iraq, argues that if
reconstruction succeeds in Iraq, if a peaceful and democratic
government emerges, if stability returns to the Middle East and
Al Qaeda style terrorism declines, "then he will go down in
history as the greatest prime minister since Churchill."
*****************************************************************
2 BBC: Iran to review uranium suspension
Last Updated: Saturday, 19 June, 2004
[Iran's top nuclear official Hassan Rohani] Rohani: Iran kept its
side of the agreement
Iran's top nuclear official says they will reconsider their
voluntary suspension of uranium enrichment after being censured
by the UN atomic agency.
Hassan Rohani told reporters in Tehran a decision about uranium
activities would be taken in the next few days.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Friday said Iran
had not co-operated fully with an investigation into the
country's nuclear programme.
The US says Iran is secretly developing nuclear weapons - Tehran
denies this.
Concern
Mr Rohani said their decision last October to suspend uranium
enrichment activities had been a confidence-building measure, not
a statutory requirement.
Since then, he said, the Iranian government had signed the
additional protocol to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)
and co-operated fully with the IAEA.
[Aerial view of Natanz facility]
Iran has been accused of keeping some of its nuclear activities
secret [Photo: Digitalglobe]
But he said Britain, France and Germany, which persuaded Tehran
to halt enrichment, had not kept their own promises.
"The Europeans pledged that the Iranian file would be closed in
June, and they have not met their commitments," he said.
This refers to the strongly worded resolution adopted on Friday
by the IAEA board which sets the scene for the matter to continue
at least until the next board meeting in September.
The resolution "deplored" the fact that "Iran's co-operation has
not been as full, timely and proactive as it should have been."
It also expressed serious concern that important information
about Iran's P2 centrifuges, which can be used to produce
bomb-grade uranium, had been incomplete and unclear.
Reactor
Highly enriched uranium can be used for both civil and military
purposes. Tehran rejects US allegations that its nuclear
programme is being used to make weapons and says it is solely for
generating electricity.
Iran would reconsider its decision about suspension in the coming
days, Mr Rohani said.
He also made it clear that Iran would not respond positively to
the IAEA's call for it to reconsider its plans for uranium
conversion at a plant in Isfahan and the construction of a heavy
water reactor in Arak.
"The work at Isfahan and Arak is not up for bargaining," said Mr
Rohani, who also stressed that Iran did not have any secret
uranium enrichment sites.
The IAEA resolution acknowledged that some progress had been made
into establishing the nature of Iran's nuclear programme
activities but said the inquiry should be wrapped up in the next
few months.
Britain, France and Germany drafted the resolution as a
compromise after the US wanted to hold Iran to a timetable that
could lead to UN sanctions.
*****************************************************************
3 Haaretz: Iran reconsidering suspension of some uranium enrichment
News Updates Sat., June 19, 2004 Sivan 30, 5764 Israel
By The Associated Press
TEHRAN - Iran's top nuclear official told reporters Saturday that
his country will reconsider its suspension of some uranium
enrichment activities, defiant in the face of censure from the
United Nations nuclear watchdog agency.
Hasan Rowhani did not say explicitly that Iran would resume
enriching uranium, but he said the country believed activities
related to enrichment at its nuclear plants at Arak and Isfahan
were "legal."
"Iran will reconsider its decision about suspension and will do
some uranium activity in the coming days," Rowhani said. "Whether
we are going to resume enrichment - meaning injecting gas into
centrifuges - we haven't decided yet. Perhaps we will continue
suspension of injecting gas into centrifuges for some time, but
we will end suspension of some other measures in the coming
days."
Other measures could include steps toward enrichment, such as
building centrifuges.
At the headquarters of the UN International Atomic Energy Agency
on Friday, delegates passed by consensus a resolution submitted
by France, Germany and Britain that "deplores" that "Iran's
cooperation has not been as full, timely and proactive as it
should have been.
It noted "with concern that after almost two years" since Iran's
undeclared program came to light that "a number of questions
remain outstanding."
The censure was a product of days of diplomatic maneuvering and
attempts by Iran to tone it down at a meeting of the IAEA
35-member board of governors. The board did not hand down
sanctions against Iran.
The IAEA has been under pressure to crack down on what the United
States says is Iran's nuclear weapons program. Iran says its
nuclear activities are only for peaceful purposes.
Most of the questions the IAEA wants Iran to answer relate to the
sources of enriched uranium, including weapons-grade samples,
found in Iran and the scope of Iran's centrifuge program, used to
enrich uranium.
The IAEA has questioned work at the Iranian nuclear plants at
Arak and Isfahan.
"The work at Isfahan and Arak is not up for bargaining," Rowhani
said. "Iran has already made its decision about Isfahan and Arak
and the work will continue."
Iran is building a heavy water reactor at Arak, and its plant at
Isfahan, which has already been opened, has a nuclear conversion
facility to process yellow cake uranium into gas.
Rowhani referred to the process of injecting gas into
centrifuges, a major step in uranium enrichment. He said Iran
would inform that the IAEA and its European partners of its
decisions on how it would proceed "in the next few days."
Rowhani indicated other measures could include making
centrifuges, which can be used to transform uranium for power or
weapons purposes.
Iran, in a deal with European leaders, had agreed months ago to
stop making centrifuges in exchange for help with nuclear energy
technology.
"We are not committed to that anymore because the Europeans did
not respect their commitments. The Europeans had promised to
close Iran's nuclear dossier in June," he said.
At an IAEA meeting in Vienna this week European powers like
France, Germany and Britain appeared to move closer to the U.S.
position on Iran's nuclear program.
© Copyright Haaretz. All rights reserved
*****************************************************************
4 Las Vegas SUN: Iran Weighs Restarting Uranium Enrichment
June 19, 2004
By ALI AKBAR DAREINI ASSOCIATED PRESS
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -
Iran will resume some nuclear activities it suspended under
world pressure and is considering restarting the uranium
enrichment, its top nuclear official said Saturday, defying a
resolution from the U.N. nuclear watchdog that rebuked Iran for
past cover-ups in its nuclear program.
Iran also rejected demands by the U.N. group to stop building a
heavy water nuclear reactor and halt operations of a nuclear
conversion facility in central Iran.
"Iran will reconsider its decision about suspension and will do
some uranium activity in the coming days," Iran's top nuclear
negotiator Hasan Rowhani said.
Rowhani did not say what activities would be resumed. Chief
among the suspended activities was the building of parts for
centrifuges used in the enrichment process.
Resuming uranium enrichment could spark a crisis in
international attempts to resolve questions of Iran's nuclear
program. The United States accuses Iran of trying to develop
nuclear weapons, while Iran insists its program is peaceful,
aiming only to produce energy.
On Friday, the IAEA passed a resolution rebuking Iran for not
cooperating enough in the probe into its nuclear program.
The European-drafted resolution said the IAEA "deplores" that
"Iran's cooperation has not been as full, timely and proactive
as it should have been" - angering Tehran.
Rowhani said Iran would continue to work with the IAEA and allow
inspections of its facilities.
"If they (the IAEA) have any ambiguities, problems or want to
visit sites, they can raise it with us and we will solve it," he
said. "We won't lose our patience toward inspections. The more
they inspect, the more the world will learn Iran has not
diverted from a peaceful nuclear path."
He said Iran would inform the agency on any resumption of
activities.
"Whether we are going to resume enrichment - meaning injecting
gas into centrifuges - we haven't decided yet," he said.
"Perhaps we will continue suspension of injecting gas into
centrifuges for some time, but we will end suspension of some
other measures in the coming days."
Last year, under IAEA pressure, Iran suspended enrichment and
some other activities and opened facilities to inspections. In a
deal for the suspension, Britain, Germany and France promised to
make it easier for Iran to obtain advanced nuclear technology.
Rowhani accused those countries of breaking what he said was
their promise to help close the Iranian nuclear issue at the
IAEA.
In February, according to Rowhani, the three European powers
promised to work toward closure by June if Iran stopped making
centrifuges, as it did in April.
"The promise was broken by the Europeans. Therefore, we can't be
committed to our promise," he said.
A top lawmaker said Saturday that the Iranian parliament may not
approve unfettered inspection of Iranian facilities by IAEA.
"IAEA's continued negative stance ... would give the parliament
extra reason not to approve the Additional Protocol to the
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty," the official Islamic Republic
News Agency quoted the head of the parliament's National
Security and Foreign Policy Committee Alaeddin Boroujerdi as
saying.
Under the protocol, Iran has to agree to unfettered inspection
of its nuclear facilities without prior notice. Iran's
government has approved it, but it cannot become law without
parliament's approval.
The IAEA said Iran still needs to answer questions relating to
the sources of enriched uranium, including weapons-grade
samples, found in Iran and the scope of Iran's centrifuge
program.
The IAEA has also questioned work at the Iranian nuclear plants
at Arak and Isfahan.
"The work at Isfahan and Arak is not up for bargaining," Rowhani
said. "Iran has already made its decision about Isfahan and Arak
and the work will continue."
Iran is building a heavy water reactor at Arak, and its plant at
Isfahan, which has already been opened, has a nuclear conversion
facility to process yellow cake uranium into gas.
Rowhani dismissed accusations that Iran had been running and
then razing parts of an undisclosed site next to a military
complex in a Tehran suburb.
"Excluding from the sites we have openly declared (to IAEA) ...,
Iran has no other places for enriching uranium," Rowhani said.
He was referring to satellite photos showed that several
buildings had been destroyed and topsoil had been removed from a
site at Lavizan Shiyan and U.S. accusations that Iran was
running a secret enrichment program there.
--
*****************************************************************
5 Xinhuanet: Solving Iranian nuclear issue needs time
www.xinhuanet.com
www.chinaview.cn 2004-06-19 13:02:03
VIENNA, June 19 (Xinhuanet) -- The International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA) on Friday pass a resolution over the Iranian
nuclear issue, urging Tehran to fully cooperate with the UN
nuclear watchdog.
However, according to the meaning between the lines of the
resolution, the final settlement of the issue would take quite a
long time.
One of the main reasons that the Iranian nuclear issue
remains unsolved is that the United States has been pressuring
the IAEA toforce Tehran to give up it nuclear program through
diplomatic means, said analysts.
Washington accused Iran of using the nuclear program as a
smokescreen for developing nuclear weapons, and urged the IAEA to
provethat Iran has violated the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty,
so asto pave the way for UN sanctions on the Gulf state.
But the accusation was repeatedly denied by Iran, which
insiststhat its nuclear program is only for peaceful purposes.
After one year of inspection, the IAEA find no clue to prove
that Iran has been developing nuclear weapons.
IAEA Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei has said more than
oncethat his team did not find that Iran's nuclear activities
"have connection with military purposes."
Britain, France and Germany, under the pressure of the United
States, submitted the draft resolution, which on the one hand
criticized Iran for not fully cooperating with the IAEA, and on
other hand tried to avoid making the IAEA take concrete measures
and affecting ties between Iran and the European Union (EU).
The document was a result of compromise among the parties
with revisions made following Iran's strong protest.
In the resolution, although the IAEA "deplores ... the fact
that, overall ... Iran's cooperation has not been as full, timely
and proactive as it should have been," it gave no deadline for
solving the "remaining problems," nor did it threaten to report
Iran to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions.
Meanwhile, the resolution made it clear that "all the
countrieshave the indeprivable right to develop atomic energy for
peaceful purposes."
Thus, both Iran and the United States expressed comparatively
positive attitude toward the resolution.
Despite unhappiness with the final resolution, "we still
believe that we should continue cooperation with the IAEA to
completely remove the remaining ambiguities," said Hossein
Moussavian, spokesman for Iran's delegation to the IAEA meeting.
"The resolution ... on Iran is more positive than the
previous ones," he added.
In Washington, US State Department deputy spokesman Adam
Ereli said the United States "would join in the resolution's call
for Iran to take all the necessary steps on an urgent basis to
resolveall of the outstanding questions that the IAEA has."
In addition, most part of the resolution was talking about
the places that Iran needs to improve.
Thus, in order to clear up these problems, the IAEA
considered it necessary to continue its inspection in Iran,
saying "the integrity and credibility of the inspection are
absolutely necessary in the next few months to settle all these
issues."
Since last June, with more transparency from Iran over its
nuclear issue, the inspection has gained some achievements and
theissue has been on the track of peaceful solution.
However, analysts said a final resolution over the issue
withinthe framework of the IAEA needs sincere dialogues and
cooperation on the basis of mutual trust among the parties
concerned.
As Iran and the United States remain widely divided over the
issue, the international community could only wait with patience
to see whether it eventually gets solved. Enditem
Copyright ©2003 Xinhua News Agency. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
6 Daily Times: Uranium enrichment: Iran backs off from threat to UN
Monday, June 21, 2004
* Hasan Rohani says Tehran believes its nuclear plants were
‘legal’
TEHRAN: Iran on Saturday reacted angrily to being slapped with
yet more criticism from the UN’s nuclear watchdog, but after
several hours backed away from a threat to resume its highly
sensitive uranium enrichment activities.
In a news conference, top national security official and nuclear
negotiator Hassan Rowhani first said the resolution passed by the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Friday had forced
the Islamic republic to review its key pledge. “In the next few
days, Iran is going to reconsider its decision to suspend
enrichment,” Rowhani told reporters.
But in an apparent U-turn later, the state news agency IRNA
carried revised comments from the cleric and head of the Supreme
National Secutiy Council. “We do not want to carry out enrichment
for the time being and no decision has yet been taken to resume
it, but we will reconsider the suspension of other activities,”
he was quoted as saying. The official news agency said Rowhani’s
new comments meant that “Iran will apparently resume the
production of centrifuge components” rather than resume
enrichment itself.
IRNA did not explain Rowhani’s changed stance, although the
revision of public statements from top officials is common
practice here and often leads to confusion. Iran agreed last year
to suspend enrichment following pressure from the IAEA, which is
trying to verify whether Iran’s nuclear programme is purely
peaceful as Tehran asserts or a cover for weapons development as
the United States alleges.
In particular, the IAEA is trying to account for traces of highly
enriched uranium found by inspectors here. Highly enriched
uranium can be used for both civil and military purposes. The
suspension was part of a package of “confidence-building
measures” brokered by Britain, France and Germany, which also
included Iran allowing tougher inspections by signing the
additional protocol to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). But
Rowhani said the European Union’s “big three” had failed to keep
their side of the bargain and had only stepped up pressure.
Reflecting frustrations voiced by IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei,
the three sponsored a text passed Friday that deplored the level
of Iranian cooperation and called for the IAEA’s 15-month-old
probe to be wrapped up within a few months. “The Europeans had
pledged that the Iranian file would be closed, and they have not
met the commitments,” Rowhani had complained earlier in the day.
However, Rowhani did pledge the country would not cut cooperation
altogether.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran will respect the NPT agreement and
will not withdraw from it, and will work within the framework of
the safeguards and will continue to implement the additional
protocol,” he told reporters in comments that were not revised
later in the day. afp Home | Foreign
Daily Times - All Rights Reserved Site developed and hosted by
WorldCALL Internet Solutions
*****************************************************************
7 People's Daily: China hopes to solve Iranian nuclear issue peacefully
UPDATED: 15:29, June 19, 2004
China hopes that the resolution newly adopted by the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) would help to solve the
Iranian nuclear issue quickly and peacefully, a senior Chinese
diplomat in Vienna said Friday.
China hopes Iran would further its full cooperation with the IAEA
and fulfill its promise in order to solve the outstanding issues
as soon as possible, said Zhang Yan, China's permanent
representative to the United Nations and other international
organizations in Vienna.
However, the right to peaceful use of nuclear energy by all
countries including Iran should be respected, Zhang said.
China welcomes the progress made by the IAEA in the nuclear
inspections in Iran, Zhang said, adding that Iran needs to
clarify the issues raised by IAEA head Mohamed ElBaradei.
The IAEA earlier on Friday passed a resolution, which "deplores"
Iran's lack of "full, timely and proactive" cooperation.
However, the draft, submitted by France, Britain and Germany,
does not threaten to report Iran to the UN Security Council for
possible sanctions.
Zhang said China supports IAEA's nuclear inspections in Iran in
accordance with relevant international agreements.
He expressed confidence that the Iranian nuclear issue could be
resolved peacefully within the IAEA framework through dialogue
and cooperation.
Copyright by People's Daily Online, all rights reserved
*****************************************************************
8 Guardian Unlimited: Iran Will Announce Uranium Details
From the Associated Press
[UP]
Saturday June 19, 2004 11:46 AM
By ALI AKBAR DAREINI
Associated Press Writer
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran said Saturday it was reconsidering its
decision to suspend some uranium enrichment activities, defiant
in the face of censure from the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency.
Hasan Rowhani, the country's top nuclear official, did not say
explicitly that Iran would resume enriching uranium, but he said
the country believed activities related to enrichment at the
nuclear plants at Arak and Isfahan were ``legal.''
The International Atomic Energy Agency has questioned work at
those two plants, and in a resolution adopted Friday rebuked Iran
for past cover-ups in its nuclear program. The document warned
the Islamic republic it has little time left to disprove it has a
nuclear weapons program.
Iran says its nuclear activities are only for peaceful purposes.
``The work at Isfahan and Arak is not up for bargaining,''
Rowhani said. ``Iran has already made its decision about Isfahan
and Arak and the work will continue.''
Iran is building a heavy water reactor at Arak, and its plant at
Isfahan, which has already been opened, has a nuclear conversion
facility to process yellow cake uranium into gas.
Rowhani referred to the process of injecting gas into
centrifuges, a major step in uranium enrichment.
``It's not clear whether we will inject gas into centrifuges
tomorrow,'' he said. ``Perhaps we may continue suspension ... for
some time, but we'll reconsider other measures. In the next few
days we will inform the IAEA and our European partners of our
decision.''
Rowhani indicated other measures could include making
centrifuges, which can be used to transform uranium for power or
weapons purposes.
Iran, in a deal with European leaders, had agreed months ago to
stop making centrifuges in exchange for help with nuclear energy
technology.
``We are not committed to that anymore because the Europeans did
not respect their commitments. The Europeans had promised to
close Iran's nuclear dossier in June,'' he said.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004
*****************************************************************
9 MNA: Iran politicized
Mehr News Agency English
Tehran:11:22,2004/06/21
2004/06/20
IAEA Should Not Be
Politicized: Majlis Deputy
TEHRAN, June 19 (MNA) – MP Elham Aminzadeh said here Friday
that the position adopted by European Union on Iran’s nuclear
program convinces Iran that it need not abide by its commitments.
Although President Mohammad Khatami warned the EU big three
(Germany, France and Britain) to honor their commitments to the
Islamic Republic of Iran, they altered their stance, Aminzadeh
told the Mehr News Agency.
The member of the Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy
Commission added that the EU attitude indicates that they are
trying to politicize the International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA).
Aminzadeh pointed out that the IAEA is a scientific organization,
which is not supposed to be used for political agendas.
Since the Islamic Republic of Iran has completely cooperated with
the IAEA, Aminzadeh concluded that France, Britain, and Germany
should rethink their stance toward Iran.
The IAEA Board of Governors adopted a European-drafted resolution
of Friday which angered Iranian officials.
FK/DWN/MS/HG End MNA
© 2003 Mehr News Agency
*****************************************************************
10 Korea: Digital Chosunilbo: North Proposes Three-Way Peace Treaty - Asahi
Updated Jun.20,2004 16:29 KST
Japan¡¯s Asahi Shimbun, citing North Korean and U.S. officials,
reported Sunday that North Korea proposed a three-way ¡°peace
treaty¡± signed by the two Koreas and the United States and
guaranteed by China, Russia and Japan. Until now, North Korea had
been demanding a bilateral peace treaty between itself and the
United States, as parties to the armistice agreement, but this
expression of willingness to include South Korea as a party of a
peace treaty is unprecedented.
Last month, North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Gye-gwan
instructed that this plan be relayed to the U.S. government
through its UN delegation in New York. The proposal was
eventually made to the U.S. State Department¡¯s Bureau of East
Asia and Pacific Affairs. The North said that as the nuclear
issue is linked to the continuing state of war between the U.S.
and North Korea and hostile U.S. policies, ending the state of
war and signing a peace treaty is something that must be done
beforehand.
It said it was possible for the three powers with troops on the
Korean Peninsula -- the two Koreas and the United States -- to
sign a peace treaty guaranteed by China, Russia and Japan. The
North claimed that Washington and Pyongyang must negotiate
bilaterally for a peace treaty, and after the signing of that
treaty, negotiations to terminate the North¡¯s nuclear program
and military reductions could begin.
About this, the Asahi reported that the U.S. rejected the
proposal, saying a peace treaty would have to be premised on the
establishment of diplomatic relations between Washington and
Pyongyang, and the Bush administration would not normalize
relations with North Korea as long as the nuclear issue remains
unresolved.
Meanwhile, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported that in the six party
talks, South Korea, the United States, and Japan plan to propose
an inspection plan centering on the International Atomic Energy
Agency. Up till now, plans calling for the formation of an
inspection team composed of members from nuclear-armed states
like the United States, China and Russia had been seriously
considered. South Korea, the United States and Japan decided to
entrust a third party body with inspections of North Korean
facilities in order to guarantee inspection fairness and minimize
opposition from North Korea. The paper said inspections would
begin once North Korea accepts freezing its nuclear program
premised on a complete dismantlement.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
*****************************************************************
11 Xinhuanet: Japanese delegation official: difficulties challenge six-party
talks
www.xinhuanet.com
www.chinaview.cn 2004-06-20 15:29:54
BEIJING, June 20 (Xinhuanet) -- Many difficulties challenge
the six-party talks on the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue, said a
senior official of the Japanese delegation here Sunday afternoon
at the Beijing international airport.
The results cannot be predicted as the talks is not started
yet,the official said when asked to make expectation on the
talks. Japanese delegation arrived here for the working group's
second meeting of the six-party talks, which will be held in
Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing from June 21 to June 22.
The other four foreign delegations for the working group
meeting from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK),
the United States, the Republic of Korea ROK) and Russia had
arrived here separately on Saturday and Sunday morning.
The ROK Yonhap (United) News Agency reported that delegations
from the ROK, United States and Japan will meet on Sunday
afternoon for consultations on their stance in the coming working
group meeting.
The third round of six-party talks, involving China, the
DPRK, the United States, the ROK, Russia, and Japan, will be held
in Beijing's Diaoyutai State Guesthouse from June 23 to 26,
accordingto China's Foreign Ministry.
The heads of the five foreign delegations to attend the talks
are expected to arrive in Beijing respectively from June 21 to
22,according to sources.
Russian Ambassador At Large Alexander Alexeyev has been
appointed Russia's new special envoy to the third round of
six-party talks, and the heads of the other delegations remain
unchanged. Enditem
Copyright ©2003 Xinhua News Agency. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
12 Daily Times: 9 Pakistani N-scientists might be in N Korea
June 21, 2004
SEOUL: Missing Pakistani nuclear scientists may be staying in
North Korea helping develop its uranium-based nuclear weapons
programme, reports said on Sunday.
Yonhap news agency, citing a report from the state-run Korea
Institute for National Unification (KINU) in Seoul, said North
Korea might have achieved a higher level of technology for
enriched uranium with the help of foreign scientists.
“Nine Pakistani nuclear scientists have been missing since they
left their country six years ago and we cannot rule out the
possibility that some of them are in North Korea,” KINU
researcher Jeon Sung-Hun was quoted as saying.
North Korea’s highly enriched uranium programme was at an early
stage in its development, he said. “However, we should be
prepared to find that North Korea has received a level of
technology and cooperation from Pakistan, Russia, Kazakhstan,
Ukraine and Belarus which surpasses general expectations,” he
added.
The nuclear standoff on the Korean peninsula flared in October
2002 when Washington accused North Korea of running a secret
nuclear programme based on enriched uranium.
North Korea has acknowledged having a plutonium programme but
denies that it is enriching uranium to make nuclear fuel. It has
rejected US demands for a complete dismantling of its nuclear
programmes without receiving rewards first. afp Home | National
Daily Times - All Rights Reserved Site developed and hosted by
WorldCALL Internet Solutions
*****************************************************************
13 Xinhuanet: ROK delegation for six-party talks arrives in Beijing
www.xinhuanet.com
www.chinaview.cn 2004-06-20 12:56:32
BEIJING, June 20 (Xinhuanet) -- The delegation from the
Republic of Korea (ROK) for the working group's second meeting of
the six-party talks on the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue arrived
in Beijing Sunday morning.
The working group's second meeting will be held in Diaoyutai
State Guesthouse in Beijing from June 21 to June 22. Cho
Tae-yong,head of the ROK Foreign Ministry's task force on the
Korean nuclear issue will attend the meeting as the ROK chief
representative.
The delegations for the working group meeting from the
Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), the United States
and Russia had arrived here separately on Saturday and Sunday
morning. The Japanese delegation is expected to arrive later on
Sunday, sources said.
The ROK Yonhap (United) News Agency reported that delegations
from the ROK, United States and Japan will meet on Sunday
afternoon for consultations on their stance in the coming working
group meeting.
The third round of six-party talks, involving China, the
DPRK, the United States, the ROK, Russia, and Japan, will be held
in Beijing's Diaoyutai State Guesthouse from June 23 to 26,
accordingto China's Foreign Ministry.
The heads of the five foreign delegations to attend the talks
are expected to arrive in Beijing respectively from June 21 to
22,according to sources.
Russian Ambassador At Large Alexander Alexeyev has been
appointed Russia's new special envoy to the third round of
six-party talks, and the heads of the other delegations remain
unchanged. Enditem
Copyright ©2003 Xinhua News Agency. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
14 CNN.com: Japan 'to aid N. Korea on energy' -
Jun 19, 2004
(CNN) -- Japan will offer energy assistance to North Korea if the
secretive state freezes its nuclear program, according to
Japanese media reports Saturday.
Japan will outline its position at a new round of six-nation
talks on North Korea's nuclear program that will be held next
week in Beijing.
The talks involving China, Russia, Japan, the United States and
North and South Korea are set down for June 23-26, the Chinese
Foreign Ministry confirmed earlier this week.
Working group talks set for Monday and Tuesday will lay the
groundwork for the discussions later in the week.
Beijing has already hosted two rounds of the six-party talks, but
both have made little headway into resolving the standoff.
Japan had stopped short of making the energy offer in the
previous talks. But Japanese media reports said it had now
decided to do so over concern that the momentum for the talks
might otherwise be lost.
At the earlier talks, South Korea, China and Russia offered
energy aid in return for the North's proposal to freeze its
nuclear activities.
North Korea's delegation to the working level talks arrived in
Beijing on Saturday and the other delegations were due in at the
weekend, China's Xinhua news agency reported.
"China hopes all sides will deepen their discussions based on
previously reached agreements, including to resolve the crisis
peacefully through dialogue and reaching the final goal of a
nuclear freed Korean Peninsula," Chinese spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue
said Tuesday in confirming the dates.
The United States and its key Asian allies, South Korea and
Japan, have been pushing Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear program
since the extent of the program became known in December 2002.
In a new round of rhetoric ahead of the Beijing meeting, North
Korea said the talks would be fruitless if Washington insisted on
complete dismantlement.
Such a demand "can be forced on a defeated country only," North
Korea said Tuesday on its official KCNA news agency.
Last week at the Group of Eight summit held at Sea Island,
Georgia, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi briefed U.S.
President George W. Bush on the North Korean nuclear issue.
According to officials in Tokyo, Koizumi believes that North
Korean leader Kim Jong Il is sincere about dismantling the
North's nuclear program, which is at the heart of security
concerns on the Korean peninsula.
Koizumi met North Korean leader Kim Jong Il in Pyongyang on May
22.
North Korea, which Washington has labeled part of an "axis of
evil," is believed to have processed enough nuclear fuel to
manufacture several nuclear weapons.
North Korea has said it will freeze its nuclear program as a
first step in resolving the dispute, but only if the United
States lifts sanctions, resumes oil shipments and removes the
nation from its list of countries sponsoring terrorism.
"North Korea's security concerns should also be addressed and
resolved," Zhang said.
China has been instrumental in bringing Pyongyang back to the
negotiating table in an attempt to resolve the nuclear stalemate
on the Korean Peninsula.
© 2004 Cable News Network LP, LLLP.
*****************************************************************
15 ITAR-TASS: Russian, US experts verify positions on N Korean nuclear problem
ITAR-TASS News Agency of Russia]
20.06.2004, 13.40
BEIJING, June 20 (Itar-Tass) - Groups of Russian and U.S.
experts have had a meeting here Sunday to discuss their
countries’ positions on the eve of the third round of
six-partite talks on the North Korean nuclear problem, scheduled
for June 23.
Valery Sukhinin, the director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s
First Asian Department and the head of Russian experts at the
meeting, called the Sunday consultations useful in terms of
clearing the situation at the talks and finding the areas where
the two countries had identical positions.
U.S. Special Envoy Joseph Detrani spoke on behalf of his country
at the meeting.
Russian experts are also supposed to have a separate meeting
with North Korean representatives, but it may take place during
a session of the workgroup steering the third round of the talks
or after the round begins, Sukhinin said.
“Let’s hope that the new round will be a success,” he said.
“I wouldn’t say the contradictions between the sides [North
Korea and the U.S. – Itar-Tass] are aggravating – there was a
wide gap between them from the very start,” Sukhinin said.
“There is better understanding between them now, however, and
we’ve noted a willingness to find practical clues of some sort,”
he said.
© ITAR-TASS. All rights reserved. You undertake not to copy,
*****************************************************************
16 Las Vegas SUN: Letter: Tactical nuclear bombs unneeded
June 19, 2004
LAS VEGAS SUN
WEEKEND EDITION
June 19 - 20, 2004
I noted with interest the recent article on the Senate keeping
alive the development study funding of low-yield, bunker-busting
nuclear weapons. As a nuclear weapons officer some 50 years ago,
I had knowledge of the fact that at that time there were
tactical nuclear weapons in the inventory. These weapons and
others are on display at the Nuclear Weapons Museum in
Albuquerque.
Why are we spending taxpayers' funds to develop a
bunker-busting tactical weapon? Secondly, why would we ever
expose our troops and the indigenous population to the residual
contaminants of any tactical nuclear weapon, bunker busting or
otherwise. I wouldn't want to be assigned the duty to inspect a
bunker recently devastated by any nuclear weapon. And why would
we create as our responsibility the problems associated with
collateral damage (both immediate and long-range), contaminated
soil and water supply, if indeed they can be managed and cleaned
up.
With these thoughts in mind, as well as perhaps a dozen others,
why in the world would the Senate ever consider spending half a
billion dollars to study and duplicate existent weapons in the
current inventory?
If I, as an old, retired person, can think of these factors,
why can't our younger representatives do likewise?
GIL EISNER
*****************************************************************
17 Ithaca Journal: August blackout showed fractured system
- ithacajournal.com
- Saturday, June 19, 2004
By JEFF PLATSKY Gannett News Service
NEW YORK -- Last August's blackout, which plunged millions into
darkness for a few hours up to a few days, showed the failings of
a highly fragmented national transmission grid, said Wesley W.
von Schack, Energy East chief executive.
In his first public comments on the incident, von Schack said the
blackout that began in Ohio and cascaded through Pennsylvania,
New York and into Canada should serve as a call for more
efficient operation of the nation's electric grid.
"We need greater coordination among the independent system
operators," von Schack said during comments at Energy East's
annual meeting. System operators are independent agencies that
control the flow of electricity over lines in specific regions.
New York has its own operator, while region system operators
control the flow of electricity, for instance, in Pennsylvania,
Maryland and New Jersey.
He blamed the fragmentation on the patchwork electric
deregulation process that has occurred across the nation, which
complicates the transmission process. The executive noted most
Energy East customers in New York had power restored within hours
after the late-afternoon blackout.
"We take the delivery of energy for granted," said von Schack,
59.
The New York Independent System Operator, in a report following
the blackout, absolved itself of any responsibility. It has
generally agreed with a national commission investigating the
incident that improper maintenance and a failure by an Ohio
utility to react properly and in a timely manner was largely
responsible for the blackout, which is estimated to have cost the
nation billions of dollars in lost productivity.
The Energy East executive blamed the blackout on miscommunication
between the independent system operators and the utility.
As a result of last year's incident, von Schack said, customers
will see utilities making further infrastructure investments such
as the $75 million the company is putting into the upgrade of a
transmission line near Rochester. The investments in the
Rochester lines are also necessary as the company prepares to
decommission the 257-megawatt Russell Station coal-fired plant
outside Rochester, said Scott P. Martin, Energy East's manager of
investor relations. He said the plant is in a high-demand pocket,
and the transmission upgrade is needed to bring power to the
vicinity of the plant when it's taken out of service.
The company's annual meeting, held in a midtown Manhattan office
tower, attracted a handful of shareholders, whose presence was
dwarfed by a contingent of about 25 people connected with the
utility. The auditorium had a capacity of about 370 people.
Energy East is the parent of New York State Electric &Gas Corp.
and Rochester Gas &Electric, plus a collection of electric and
gas utilities in Connecticut, Massachusetts and Maine.
Martin said the company is considering holding future annual
meetings at sites within its service territory to make them more
accessible to shareholders. The company's annual meeting has been
held at the same auditorium in the Citigroup building at Park
Avenue and 54th Street for at least six years.
Among the accomplishments von Schack cited during the 30-minute
meeting:
-- The completion of a companywide integration that moved much of
the accounting and information technology operation to offices
outside Portland, Maine. The facility employs about 150 people.
The company has cut about 650 people, about 8 percent of its work
force, in the past year. The integration, said Robert D. Krump,
vice president and treasurer, will save the $4.6 billion company
about $100 million annually by 2007.
-- The sale of the Ginna nuclear power plant that was acquired by
the company when it bought RG. The $400 million in proceeds will
be used to reduce debt. More important, von Schack said, it will
reduce the company's risk profile and keep it on course as a
utility focused on transmission and delivery.
-- An electric rate settlement with the New York Public Service
Commission in the contentious Rochester Gas &Electric case.
Though the rate fell short of what the utility believed was fair,
it provides a level of predictability and certainty that it did
not have previously, von Schack said.
Originally published Saturday, June 19, 2004
*****************************************************************
18 BBC: India-Pakistan push for security
Last Updated: Saturday, 19 June, 2004
[Pakistani Hatf V missile launch]
Pakistan test-fired a nuclear-capable missile three weeks ago
India and Pakistan have begun their first-ever dialogue to
discuss each other's nuclear policy, six years after the two
carried out weapons tests.
The talks are aimed at building mutual trust that could reduce
the risk of nuclear conflict.
After a two-hour meeting in Delhi, the two sides said the talks
were cordial and constructive, adding that they were looking to
advance the peace process.
A second round of discussions is due to be held on Sunday.
A Pakistani delegation headed by foreign ministry official Tariq
Usman Haider travelled to Delhi for the talks.
The Indian delegation is headed by Mr Haider's counterpart from
the Indian foreign ministry, Sheel Kant Sharma.
Risk reduction
A joint statement issued after the first round of talks said the
two sides had "identified areas of convergence".
"They also exchanged views on their respective security concepts
and nuclear doctrines, and agreed to elaborate and work towards
the confidence-building measures," the statement said.
The region has lived with the threat of nuclear war since India
and Pakistan tested nuclear weapons in 1998.
And neither side has developed the technology to recall a
nuclear-tipped missile fired in error.
Risk reduction will be a main topic of these talks, including the
possible establishment of a formal communications system and a
permanently manned communications centre to prevent such
accidents from occurring.
A mutual reduction in nuclear arsenals is another subject for
discussion, and Indian negotiators might also press their
Pakistan counterparts to make a commitment to no first use of
nuclear weapons, matching Delhi's non-aggression pledge.
Testing
The BBC's Nick Bryant in Delhi says that with the peace process
still in its infancy and with a recent change of government in
Delhi, the mood of these talks will also be examined carefully.
Both sides will be feeling each other out, as one analyst put it,
ahead of further discussions on more contentious points of
divergence.
Most notable of these is Kashmir, which the two countries'
foreign ministers will discuss on 27-28 June.
The two countries have twice veered close to war since the 1998
tests - over Kashmir in 1999 and again in 2002.
Ties between the nuclear-armed neighbours have thawed since last
year's peace initiatives between Pakistani President Pervez
Musharraf and former Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.
A number of confidence-building measures have been introduced
over the past year, including a resumption of rail, air and bus
links and a strengthening of diplomatic ties.
The Indian cricket team also toured Pakistan earlier this year,
despite security concerns.
bb
*****************************************************************
19 Times of India: 'N-spy' booked on charges of forgery -
indiatimes.com
PTI[ SATURDAY, JUNE 19, 2004 03:04:53 AM ]
MUMBAI: Akhtar Hussain Qutbuddin Ahmed, who was deported from
Dubai for allegedly trying to sell Indian nuclear secrets, was on
Friday arrested by city police on charges of forgery even as a
Bombay High Court dismissed a petition which alleged that he had
been illegally detained by central agencies for five days.
Akhtar, who was arrested for forgery of his wife's educational
documents, was remanded in police custody till July 1.
Additional chief metropolitan magistrate VP Taware remanded him
in police custody following the prosecution plea that they had
recovered forged BA (honours) degree of his wife, Razia from
Ranchi University and also an identity card, which has captain
prefixed to his name although he does not hold any such post.
It was also contented that a forged Bhabha Atomic Research Centre
identity-card issued in the name of his brother was also
recovered, although his brother is not an BARC employee.
Akhtar was handed over to the crime branch here by central
agencies on Thursday evening after they could not make a
breakthrough to establish if Akhtar had access to nuclear
secrets, police sources said.
Bombay High Court Justices SS Parkar and Ranjana Desai dismissed
the illegal detention petition filed by Akhtar's brother, Sayed
Adhil Husseni, saying it had become infructuous as the government
informed that central intelligence agencies had released Akhtar
on Thursday and handed over his custody to the crime branch to
probe his role in a case of suspected forgery.
Dismissing the petition, the judges asked Akhtar's brother to
place his grievances in front of the magistrate before him the
accused would be produced for remand in the case of forgery.
According to police, Akhtar was deported from Dubai on June 12
and was interrogated thoroughly by the central intelligence
agencies based on a tip-off that he was trying to sell nuclear
secrets to India.
However, nothing emerged during questioning, the court was
informed.
Sayed Adhil Husseini, a doctor based in Delhi, urged that his
brother had been detained illegally for five days and not
released after interrogation.
This amounted to violation of fundamental rights as guaranteed by
the Constitution. Husseini said he had three brothers, Akhtar,
Dubai-based businessman, Arif Husseini, garment exporter in
Jamshedpur and Asif Hussain who works with a multi-national in
Saudi Arabia.
Copyright © 2004 Times Internet Limited. All rights reserved. |
*****************************************************************
20 Times of India: Spelling out the Indian N-word
SUNDAY, JUNE 20, 2004 THE TIMES OF INDIA
indiatimes.com
The N-word has replaced the K-word in the ongoing Indo-Pak talks,
but not much is known about the nuclear arsenal of the two
nuclear neighbours. Though the many testfires of nuclear-capable
missiles receive due media coverage, details of the destructive
quotient are shrouded in secrecy.
Since the epoch-making nuclear blasts of 1998 in Pokhran and
Chagai Hills, both India and Pakistan have build up a formidable
nuclear delivery system. A lowdown on what India has stockpiled:
Estimated nuclear warheads of India:
100 to 150. Of these, up to 20 are nuclear bombs that could be
dropped from Jaguar, Mirage 2000 or Sukhoi 30 aircraft.
The remainder could be fitted to India's home-developed Agni or
Prithvi missiles.
Jaguar: Having served with the Indian Air Force for more than
20 years now, Jaguar was the first of the 18 on-loan aircraft
from the Royal Air force. Named as Shamsheer (Sword of justice),
this is a low level single seater attack aircraft. The Jaguar
carries a variety of ordanance including RAF-type slick and
retarded 1000 lb (454 kg) bombs, Hunting BL755 CBUs (cluster bomb
units), Lepus 8 in reconnaissance flares, Matra F1 and 155 (SNEB)
rocket pods and Matra Durandal anti-runway bombs. The Jaguar is
also designed to carry a tactical nuclear payload.
Copyright © 2004 Times Internet Limited. All rights reserved. |
*****************************************************************
21 WorldNetDaily: China, Iran and American soybeans
[WorldNetDaily]
JUNE 19 2004
© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com
The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission – a
bipartisan commission established by Congress in 2000 "to
investigate, analyze and provide recommendations to Congress on
the economic and national security implications of the U.S.-China
relationship" – reported to Congress this week.
The commission concluded that "a number of the current trends in
U.S.-China relations have negative implications for our long-term
economic and national security interests."
Example of an ominous economic trend? Our "goods" trade deficit
with China was an astounding 20 percent greater in 2003 than the
year before, with U.S. imports from China ($152 billion)
exceeding exports to China ($28 billion) by more than 5 to 1.
More ominous, American private-sector firms are rapidly
increasing their "investment" in U.S.-owned and/or joint-venture
research, development and manufacturing centers in China.
Furthermore, Chinese "private-sector" firms – many actually
state-owned – listed on international stock exchanges are
attracting billions of dollars from U.S. investors.
Even more ominous, China had an international trade deficit of
$8.4 billion in the first quarter of 2004, mostly because of huge
increases in raw-material imports, increasing its imports of
soybeans by 39.2 percent and crude oil by 35.7 percent.
Now, that huge increase in demand for soybeans ought to make
American farmers happy, but that huge increase in demand for oil
bodes ill for you SUV drivers.
As the commission noted:
China's growing energy needs, linked to its rapidly expanding
economy, are creating economic and security concerns for the
United States.
China's energy-security policies are driving it into bilateral
arrangements that undermine multilateral efforts to stabilize oil
supplies and prices, and in some cases may involve dangerous
weapons transfers.
So, now you know why the price of gasoline for your Chevy Equinox
– much of it made in China – went to historic highs earlier this
year.
And now you can begin to understand what a dangerous game
Undersecretary of State John Bolton is playing at the quarterly
meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency Board of
Governors.
The neo-crazies had been hell-bent on "regime change" in Iraq and
Iran for dogs' ages. But public opinion polls had revealed that
the only rationale you soccer moms would accept for such regime
change was the imminent prospect of Saddam and/or the mullahs
giving nukes to terrorists.
But, on the eve of Gulf War II, Iraq and Iran were signatories to
the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and were subject to
continuous monitoring and frequent inspection by the IAEA.
So, in order to justify their pre-emptive invasion of Iraq, the
neo-crazies lied to you. They told you that Saddam was secretly –
once more – enriching uranium and fully intended to give the
nukes he made from that highly enriched uranium to al-Qaida.
"Trust us" – quoth the neo-crazies – "Saddam has a secret
nuke-development program. Don't trust the IAEA inspectors who
can't find such a program, in spite of having unrestricted access
to any and all suspect sites."
Well, if you placed your trust in the neo-crazies – rather than
the IAEA – you must feel rather foolish by now.
But remember the old saying – "Fool me once, shame on you; fool
me twice, shame on me."
You see, the neo-crazies are attempting to fool you twice.
In the aftermath of the Gulf War, the IAEA Board of Governors
concluded that the IAEA inspectors needed to have essentially
unrestricted access to any and all "nuclear" sites in all
NPT-signatory states. The authority would be provided in an
additional protocol to the signatory's existing IAEA Safeguards
Agreement.
So, with threats of U.S. and/or Israeli pre-emptive strikes
against Iran's secret "nuke" sites filling the air, Iran worked
out a deal with France-Germany-UK. If Iran would speedily
negotiate an additional protocol, they would "protect" Iran from
such strikes and facilitate Iran's "inalienable right" under the
NPT to acquire "nuclear" technology, to be made subject to IAEA
Safeguards.
What were they to get in return?
Iranian oil.
But now Bolton has gotten France-Germany-UK – who also sit on the
IAEA Board – to renege on their deal with Iran. They won't
"protect" Iran nor will they provide – as the NPT requires them
to do – Iran access to "dual-use" nuclear technology.
So, Iran has decided it won't sign an additional protocol after
all. But it won't withdraw – as did North Korea – from the NPT.
But, who do you guess will provide Iran the technology
France-Germany-UK won't?
And who do you guess will get all that Iranian oil?
Hint: They'll get their soybeans from us.
Physicist James Gordon Prather has served as a policy
implementing official for national security-related technical
matters in the Federal Energy Agency, the Energy Research and
Development Administration, the Department of Energy, the Office
of the Secretary of Defense and the Department of the Army. Dr.
Prather also served as legislative assistant for national
security affairs to U.S. Sen. Henry Bellmon, R-Okla. -- ranking
member of the Senate Budget Committee and member of the Senate
Energy Committee and Appropriations Committee. Dr. Prather had
earlier worked as a nuclear weapons physicist at Lawrence
Livermore National Laboratory in California and Sandia National
Laboratory in New Mexico.
© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com, Inc.
*****************************************************************
22 Daily Times: Indo-Pak nuclear CBM talks begin
Monday, June 21, 2004
* Indian government says dialogue held in positive framework
* Talks will continue today
By Iftikhar Gilani
NEW DELHI: India and Pakistan on Saturday began talks on nuclear
confidence-building measures (CBMs) aimed at reducing the risk of
a nuclear confrontation between the two countries.
“The two sides identified areas of convergence. They also
exchanged views on their respective security concepts and nuclear
doctrines and agreed to elaborate and work towards CBMs,” Indian
External Affairs Ministry spokesman Navtej Serna said in a
statement after the first day’s session at Hyderabad House in the
Indian capital. Pakistan’s acting foreign secretary Tariq Osman
Haider led an eight-member team during talks with senior Indian
Foreign Ministry official Sheel Kant Sharma and others.
A second round of talks is slated for today (Sunday). Sources
said CBMs included cooperation in multilateral forums and setting
up a hotline to prevent any sudden nuclear escalation.
“Both sides approached the talks in a positive framework, aimed
at taking the process forward, and making talks result-oriented,”
the statement said.
Indian officials said that New Delhi’s basic approach was to
understand Islamabad’s nuclear doctrine and adopt
confidence-building measures. They said that India wanted both
sides to give positive signals to the people in the two countries
and to the international community.
Sources said that both sides had put aside controversial issues.
They said that India had reservations about Pakistan’s no war
pact offer and the proposal to form a ‘strategic restraint
regime’, which called for both countries to refrain from building
or deploying nuclear missiles.
On the other hand, India wants Pakistan to sign a ‘no-first use’
agreement, sources said. After the first round of talks, the
Pakistani delegation paid a courtesy call on Indian Foreign
Minister Natwar Singh and met Foreign Secretary Shashank and
National Security Adviser J N Dixit, Serna said in the statement.
The top officials “welcomed them and encouraged the delegation to
continue their work in a result-oriented framework,” Sarna added.
Home | Main
22 Iraqis die in US airstrike * Zarqawi was target, escapes
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FALLUJAH: US forces launched an air strike on Saturday on what
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people in a “precision strike.”
US military officers said there was... ['Full Story'] Clinton
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23 Las Vegas SUN: India, Pakistan Establishing Nuke Hotline
Today: June 20, 2004 at 6:01:59 PDT
By NEELESH MISRA ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW DELHI (AP) -
India and Pakistan announced Sunday they would establish a new
hot line to alert each other of potential nuclear accidents or
threats, a step forward in efforts to normalize relations
between the longtime South Asian rivals.
Pakistan said it hopes that the nuclear talks and other tracks
of dialogue eventually lead to a summit between Pakistani
President Gen. Pervez Musharraf and India's new prime minister,
Manmohan Singh.
"We are making preparations ... If they culminate in a summit,
it will be a good thing," said Pakistani Foreign Ministry
spokesman Masood Khan.
Reconciliation efforts launched between Pakistan and India under
Singh's predecessor, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, remain steady with
India's new government, Khan said.
"When there was a political transition in India, there was some
degree of uncertainty. That has been resolved. We are on track,"
Khan said.
Vajpayee was ousted in April-May elections and succeeded by
Singh at the head of a Congress party-led coalition.
In a joint statement at the conclusion of two days of talks in
the Indian capital, officials said the dedicated secure hot line
between the countries' foreign secretaries was intended to
"prevent misunderstandings and reduce risks relevant to nuclear
issues."
An existing hot line between directors-general of military
operations in both countries also will be upgraded and secured,
the statement said.
Both sides, which have gone to war three times since
independence from Britain in 1947, also reaffirmed their
moratorium on conducting further nuclear tests, "unless, in
exercise of national sovereignty, it decides that extraordinary
events have jeopardized its supreme interests."
"We are moving ahead step by step. Whatever we agree to do, we
must implement. That is the spirit," Khan told reporters in New
Delhi.
India and Pakistan carried out nuclear tests in May 1998,
provoking military and economic sanctions by the United States
and its allies. International fears of a nuclear confrontation
were exacerbated when the two countries fought in the Himalayas
in 1999, and came close to war again in mid-2002 when India
blamed Pakistan for a terrorist attack on its Parliament.
India and Pakistan also agreed to formalize an understanding to
notify each other when they conduct missile tests. Both sides
discussed a draft treaty prepared by the Indian delegation.
They also promised to continue talks toward implementing a 1999
agreement signed in Lahore, Pakistan, on reducing nuclear risks
through confidence-building steps. The agreement was held up by
the tensions after the attack on the Indian Parliament in
December 2001.
"The spirit right now in the nuclear realm is to transcend
beyond the rhetoric and do something substantive and concrete,"
Khan said.
The next round of talks will be held between the foreign
secretaries on June 27-28, in which they'll take up the thorny
issue of Kashmir, the disputed Himalayan province that has been
the flashpoint of two wars between India and Pakistan.
In the meantime, Indian External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh
and Pakistani Foreign Minister Khursheed Kasuri will meet Monday
on the sidelines of a regional conference in China.
India - which enjoys a substantial advantage in conventional
weapons over Pakistan - says it would not be the first to use
nuclear weapons. Pakistan has not committed to a no-first-strike
doctrine.
(LEADS throughout to UPDATE with quotes from Pakistani
spokesman, hopes for summit; corrects hot line will be between
foreign secretaries, sted foreign ministries)
--
*****************************************************************
24 Hi Pakistan: Nuclear talks begin today: Pakistan has positive suggestions-
official -->
June 21 2004
NEW DELHI, June 18: Pakistan and India will revive their stalled
talks on nuclear CBMs here on Saturday and the leader of a
six-member delegation from Islamabad said on Friday that he had
brought positive suggestions to be put on the table.
"We feel the delegations of both countries have a responsibility,
as responsible nuclear powers, to their own people," said Mr
Tariq Osman Hyder, the leader of the Pakistan delegation.
"We have come here with a very positive spirit. We will be
carrying positive suggestions," he told reporters on arrival from
Islamabad. The delegation is accompanied by Pakistan foreign
ministry's pointman for India, Mr Jalil Abbas Jilani.
He was expelled as deputy high commissioner in New Delhi in
February 2003 by the Vajpayee government even when it had barely
scaled down from a globally disapproved nuclear brinkmanship.
The talks would be held in an atmosphere when the Congress-led
government looks keen to improve ties with Pakistan. The Times of
India quoted Indian Foreign Minister Kunwar Natwar Singh as
saying in London he wanted to 'enlarge the scope' of the
'subjects' to be discussed with Pakistan.
"Singh's repeated assertions of bonhomie and buoyant good cheer
towards Pakistan came within earshot of his British counterpart
Jack Straw, as the two men concluded their first official meeting
in their new roles," the Times said.
The newspaper quoted Mr Singh as denying he had ever said that
India would be willing to change its borders. "The border issue
does not arise until we have reached the stage of a broad
approach on what we discuss," Mr Singh stressed, according to the
paper.
The two sides are scheduled to meet for two hours on Saturday and
Sunday for talks that would include pending issues and new
developments. The Pakistan delegation is expected to call on Mr
Singh and India's National Security Adviser Jyotindra Nath Dixit.
The talks are being held two years after the South Asian rivals
stood on the brink of war, raising worries around the world that
they could be headed for a nuclear conflict.
Understanding each other's command and control system will be a
key issue, analysts said. The countries may also discuss setting
up a hotline between their nuclear commands.
New Delhi has vowed not to use nuclear weapons as a first-strike
option. Islamabad says it wants to retain the first-strike option
because of India's superiority in conventional arms.
The nuclear talks will set the tone for peace talks to be held a
week later in New Delhi between the two governments' foreign
secretaries. During the parleys, the suggestion by Mr Singh for a
common nuclear doctrine among India, Pakistan and China may come
up though there is no formal proposal in this regard by the
Manmohan Singh government.
Qudssia Akhlaque adds from Islamabad: Signals picked from both
sides indicate that the joint press statement to be issued at the
end of the two-day talks would bear good tidings, reflecting
progress on certain aspects of the nuclear CBMs.
The optimism about the outcome of the crucial talks stems from
the recent unpublicized meeting between the top national security
officials of the two countries. Reportedly the meeting between
India's National Security Adviser J.N. Dixit and his Pakistani
counterpart Tariq Aziz took place at a hotel in Amritsar, 30km
from the Pakistan-India border.
"There is a strong possibility of making a headway on the
technical issues such as advance notification of missile testing,
improving coordination and communication measures, prevention of
incidents at sea and evolving a nuclear-risk reduction
mechanism," sources told Dawn.
Some movement on monitoring and verification mechanisms to review
and ensure effective implementation of the nuclear CBMs is also
likely, the sources maintained.
"As a consequence of the meeting, working groups could be formed
for further discussions to explore mechanisms for risk reduction
and upgrading communication linkages and hotline between the
Directors-General of Military Operations on both sides," said
another source.
Officials said the talks would focus mainly on strategic
stability, covering responsible stewardship, confidence-building,
crisis management and risk reduction. Prior to departure for New
Delhi, a member of the Pakistani delegation said: "We are going
in for the talks with an open mind and are hopeful that
reasonable progress will be made on the non-controversial areas."
"A general exchange of views on the security concepts and nuclear
doctrines is expected during the course of the talks," diplomatic
sources maintained. According to insiders, the issue of
moratorium on conducting further nuclear test explosions was
unlikely to figure in the bilateral consultations.
Also, it is learnt that at this stage Pakistan would not be
pushing for its proposal of 'Nuclear Restraint Regime' as a
package and instead advocate implementation of its key elements,
aiming at averting accidental nuclear conflict, in the overall
context of ensuring strategic stability.
The six-member delegation left for New Delhi on Friday morning.
The delegation includes Foreign Office Spokesman and
director-general UN Masood Khan, and Director Disarmament Shuja
Alam.
Group Captain Khalid Banuri, a nuclear expert from the Strategic
Plans Division, is also a member of the delegation. The Indian
delegation will be led by Sheel Kant Sharma, Additional Secretary
of the Ministry of External Affairs.
Copyright 1996-2002 . Hi Pakistan. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
25 Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter: Rate concerns worry some
Posted June 20, 2004
Rate concerns worry some Dominion says rates will have to be
competitive for it to sell power in open market
BY CHARLIE MATHEWS
Herald Times Reporter
MANITOWOC — Kevin Crawford is dead set against the deal and
doesn’t mince words.
“It will have a devastating impact on rates,” the mayor of the
city of Manitowoc said, explaining the main reason he is opposed
to the proposed sale of the Kewaunee Nuclear Power Plant to
Dominion Resources Inc. of Virginia.
Crawford estimated that in the 20 years after 2013, ratepayers
would pay an additional $500 million as a result of Dominion’s
purchase. And even though the municipally owned Manitowoc Public
Utilities generates 60 percent of the electricity used by the
community, it would be impacted by any increases since it
purchases the remainder from other suppliers.
Crawford, however, may not want to turn to Connecticut – where
Dominion owns the Millstone nuclear facility -- for support for
his argument.
“For us Millstone Power Plant has been a critical part of having
stable and reliable power and price. I can speak highly of
Dominion,” said Rob Earley. He’s an attorney with the Connecticut
Business and Industry Association, responsible for monitoring
energy issues including Dominion’s ownership of Millstone, which
supplies half of the state’s energy needs and 12 percent of New
England’s.
The rate for electricity generated by the Kewaunee plant would
be guaranteed through 2013, when the plant’s license expires,
under terms of the proposed purchase agreement between Dominion
and owners Wisconsin Public Service Corp. of Green Bay and
Wisconsin Power & Light of Madison.
Crawford and others fear that if Dominion purchases the Kewaunee
plant, energy rates will skyrocket after 2013, if the state
Public Service Commission no longer has oversight over the
operation.
Should Dominion have the license extended for another 20-year
period, it wants to continue to sell power as an unregulated
“merchant” facility. If that happens, it could charge whatever
the market will bear as opposed to “cost of service” plus fair
rate of return, as is the case currently in Wisconsin for power
generators.
“After 2013, that’s when money will be made,” Crawford said, and
Manitowoc and Wisconsin as a whole could suffer as a result.
But Dominion realizes it must keep a competitive edge in the
market.
“We will have to provide power competitively or we won’t be
selling power to them,” said Richard Zuercher, public affairs for
Dominion.WPS spokesman Kerry Spees said he doesn’t think
customers will get walloped in the short- or long-term if the
Kewaunee Nuclear Power Plant is sold.
Power from the plant is less than 15 percent of the power WPS
sells, including to residential and business customers in Two
Rivers.
“After 2013 power from Kewaunee will probably be around 10
percent of our portfolio … if we choose to buy from them,” Spees
said.
MPU’s role
Manitowoc Public Utilities, which provides electricity to 1,720
business and 15,400 residential customers, buys power from WPS to
supplement what it generates from the coal plant near Lake
Michigan just north of Lincoln High School.
“Our operators are constantly seeing which is most economical,
making or buying power. Each year about 45 percent of our power
needs are purchased,” General Manager Nilaksh Kothari said.
Kothari said the city’s coal plant is a 72-megawatt facility but
demand can sometimes approach 110 megawatts.
When the MPU’s power plant is expanded in 2006, it will have the
ability to produce about 120 megawatts. Crawford said the city
likely still will purchase nearly 40 percent of the power it
provides.
While Manitowoc and others could choose not to buy from
Dominion, Crawford maintains the company could then sell the
power from Kewaunee to out-of-state users, which would reduce the
amount of power available in Wisconsin and drive up the selling
prices of other suppliers.
Stanley McMillen, manager of research projects at the Connecticut
Center for Economic Analysis, presents a different point of view.
“In a deregulated environment it might seem Dominion could raise
their prices,” McMillen said. “But if any company does raise
prices exorbitantly, not only will customers scream but
competitors will look to nip at their heels. ‘Economics 101’ says
that other suppliers will come into the market as long as they
can’t be kept out.”
Crawford isn’t convinced.
“Energy is one of Wisconsin’s few advantages, because the Public
Service Commission has done a good job of setting rates,”
Crawford said. Without that advantage, he and others fear
manufacturing companies will go elsewhere.
In Connecticut, “Dominion has not been included in any
accusations directed at companies that may have taken advantage,
in some people’s mind, of market place rules,” Earley said.
“Their conduct has been above reproach in our state.”
Expansion may fuel competition
Other activities also could impact future costs of electricity.
“Wisconsin has embarked upon a fairly aggressive expansion plan
of generation and transmission,” Kothari said, noting rates could
be expected to rise as the capital investment is paid off.
While WPS wants to sell the Kewaunee plant, it is adding to its
coal generation.
With increased transmission lines, there may be increased
generators wishing to sell power.
That would be good for Wisconsin ratepayers, McMillen said.
“Competitors will figure out a way to get into the market, they
want a piece of that pie.”
Kothari said changes in the marketplace should impact Manitowoc
homeowners and businesses less than those elsewhere in the state
because the MPU plant will be able to supply most power needs.
*****************************************************************
26 Mehr News Agency: Nuclear Industry Completely Indigenous
Tehran:11:21,2004/06/21
TEHRAN, June 19 (MNA) –- Supreme National Security Council
(SNSC) Secretary Hasan Rowhani, Iran’s main negotiator on
nuclear issues, said on Saturday that Iran is determined to
continue its work on the Isfahan Uranium Conversion Facility and
the Arak heavy water project.
Rowhani stated that the fact that the Arak and Isfahan nuclear
projects were mentioned in the recent International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA) resolution on Iran is an aberration in the history
of the agency, adding that heavy water has never been part of the
safeguards agreement.
Rowhani told reporters that the IAEA has been aware of the
Isfahan UCF since the first day the project was inaugurated and
the agency has been informed during all its stages of
construction and installation of equipment, adding that agency
inspectors even fully supervised the testing period and any claim
to the contrary would discredit the agency.
Rowhani said the Isfahan and Arak projects are not negotiable and
the projects were not mentioned during Iran’s talks with
European Union officials or the discussions over the suspension
of uranium enrichment. He went on to say that Iran has decided to
continue the two projects.
He also said there is no reason for Iran’s nuclear dossier to
remain open at the IAEA Board of Governors, adding that if it
remained open for a long time the credibility of the agency would
be damaged and the prolongation of the issue would prove that the
IAEA is incompetent and unable to resolve such a simple matter.
He stressed that Iran will not create any obstacles in its
dealings with the agency, and the agency can continue its
inspections in Iran according to the additional protocol to the
nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
He also noted that the issue of suspension of uranium enrichment
is a political issue and no legal obligation can be imposed on
Iran in this regard.
Iran May Review Uranium Suspension
The SNSC chief said Iran may reconsider its voluntary suspension
of uranium enrichment after the IAEA Board of Governors on Friday
adopted a resolution on Iran’s nuclear program which angered
officials here.
Rowhani told reporters Iran’s decision last October to suspend
uranium enrichment activities had been a confidence-building
measure, not a statutory requirement and that Iranian officials
may make a new decision about uranium enrichment activities in
the coming days.
He said Iran suspended enriching uranium at a time when Iran had
not yet signed or implemented the additional protocol and it had
also not given a full report of its nuclear program to the UN
nuclear watchdog.
Rowhani said Iran told the European side that Iran has the
inalienable right to enrich uranium and it will never halt its
efforts to develop a complete nuclear fuel cycle.
Rowhani added the atmosphere has changed: Iran has signed and
implemented the protocol, inspections have been conducted, a
detailed report of Iran’s nuclear program has been submitted to
the IAEA, and Iran believes that an atmosphere of confidence has
been created between Iran and the agency.
He said now it has become clear that Iran has not breached the
NPT and instead it is the enemies of the Islamic Republic which
have breached Article 4 of the NPT.
Europe Ignores Commitments Toward Iran
Rowhani said Europe agreed in February to help close Iran’s
nuclear file at the June meeting and in exchange Iran agreed to
extend the suspension of its nuclear enrichment activities but
Europe ignored its commitment and now Iran feels no obligation to
continue its suspension of nuclear enrichment activities.
Rowhani said Europeans are saying that Iran’s nuclear file will
be closed soon but Iran doesn’t accept these European
assurances or their explanations.
He shrugged off the IAEA resolution, saying it is not obligatory.
Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator said Iran is committed to the
Tehran Declaration but Europe should also live up to the
commitments it made in the Tehran meeting.
The resolution has claimed that Iran's cooperation has not been
full, timely and proactive.
Tehran rejects U.S. allegations that its nuclear program is being
used to make weapons and says it is solely for generating
electricity.
Nuclear Industry Completely Indigenous
Rowhani said that Iran’s nuclear industry is now completely
indigenous, adding that, fortunately, the entire Uranium
Conversion Facility in Isfahan was constructed by Iranian
experts.
Although some of the designs of the UCF project have been gained
from others it has been constructed and initiated by Iranians and
the industry has become 100% local, he said.
He said that Iran has access to uranium mines and that the P-1
centrifuge is 100% domestically produced.
Rowhani said that the positive aspect in the IAEA resolution is
that Iran’s nuclear dossier will be closed in the following
months.
He added that the resolution has admitted there are only two key
issues left in Iran’s nuclear dossier, adding that Iran and
other countries have the right to the peaceful use of nuclear
technology.
MS/HG end MNA
*****************************************************************
27 [NukeNet] Amazing Entergy Bought For Lies Re Indian Point]
Date: Fri, 18 Jun 2004 10:59:07 -0700
Immensely watered down death [murder really],
cancers, injuries, economic damage from the
nuclear industry & NRC [almost indistinguishable
from industry]:
http://www.mothersalert.org/crac.html
This is one of the more astonishing lies I've
ever read:
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/20/opinion/opinionspecial/20WSpecter2.html
INDIAN POINT: A DIALOGUE
Why Running From Disaster Might Not Be a Good Idea
By HERSCHEL SPECTER
Published: June 20, 2004
TIMES NEWS TRACKER
Westchester County (NY)
N the recent emergency drill at the Indian Point
nuclear power plants, one point seems to have been
obscured: it's highly unlikely that many people
would die from radiation released in a terrorist
attack.
As an independent consultant who has reviewed
emergency planning for Entergy, which owns Indian
Point, I have had the opportunity to review many
disaster scenarios. While studies come with
obvious limitations, it is abundantly clear that
natural forces would profoundly limit the number
of early fatalities caused by a terrorist attack
or some other disaster. It's also clear that the
risks to people in the four surrounding counties
would be quite different, with 99.9 percent of the
small initial fatality risk occurring in
Westchester County within about two miles of the
site.
One recent Entergy-sponsored terrorist study,
conducted by a group of nuclear safety scientists,
was built around the following extreme
assumptions: a huge hole in the containment
building, destruction of all emergency equipment,
no action by the security guards or the operating
crew, and a reactor meltdown. Using up-to-date
figures on population, weather data and traffic
patterns, experts made a series of calculations to
determine the health consequences from the
radioactive material expected to leave the site.
These extreme assumptions were then coupled with
another extreme assumption: a failed emergency
plan. It was assumed that the public would be
unaware of the terrorist attack for six hours and
that a release of radioactive material had
occurred. When the people got the news, they left
the area at six miles per hour.
Under this scenario, there were fewer than 29
initial fatalities in the 10-mile emergency
planning zone. Some 99.99 percent of the zone's
population would survive, largely because natural
forces would protect them. (These natural forces
include trapping of much of the radioactive
material in the containment facility and a narrow
and weakening offsite radiation plume.) Only those
people exposed to the plume within two miles of
the reactor are at risk of becoming early
fatalities. If people simply took shelter
(limiting exposure to outside air, staying in a
basement, etc.) and then left the area six hours
later at six m.p.h., the estimated initial
fatalities would drop from 29 to 12. Better yet,
timely evacuation at three m.p.h. or more would
result in near zero early fatalities. This means
that just walking at normal speeds for a short
distance from the damaged plant would bring people
to a point of safety. Timely evacuation of the two
miles next to the site is a preferred emergency
response for Westchester, but probably superfluous
in the other counties in the emergency zone.
Most people in the zone would not be at risk.
These residents would do well to listen to
emergency broadcasts in case there is a wind
shift, at which point they might be advised to
take shelter until the plume had passed. This mix
of localized evacuation, sheltering and staying
indoors is much simpler than large-scale
evacuations and far more effective.
Indian Point is not a "soft target'' - that is, a
vulnerable and undefended structure - for
terrorists, because of its security systems,
robust buildings and multiple safety systems. In
the unlikely event of a terrorist attack, the
health consequences would be small. While the loss
of any life would be tragic, these studies make
clear that the potential for damage is far greater
when it comes to attacks on soft targets like the
World Trade Center, trains in Madrid - or
Westchester's dams or chlorine-based water
treatment facilities. Fears about fast-breaking
accidents are not scientifically supported and the
release of radiation from spent fuel pools can
easily be handled by the present emergency plan.
This suggests that while these Indian Point
emergency planning studies should certainly be
completed, we would do well to focus our attention
on more vulnerable targets throughout the region.
Herschel Specter, chairman of a Department of
Energy committee on emergency planning in 1984,
was the federal regulator in charge of reviewing
the licensing of Indian Point 3.
_______________________________________________________________________
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28 The Hindu: Atom and the man
Sunday, Jun 20, 2004
In these days of power scarcity, what is the role of atomic
energy? The renowned scientist and former Atomic Energy
Commission Chairman, M. R. Srinivasan, shares his thoughts with
R. Ramabhadran Pillai.
THE ATOM is a potential source of immense energy. Handling of
the energy released by it is a task that only experts can do. In
the Indian scenario, there are a few prominent names which are
synonymous with the development of technology to harness atomic
energy. M. R. Srinivasan belongs to this rare genre of
scientists.
Born in Bangalore, he was educated in Karnataka. After
completing his degree in Mechanical Engineering, he took a
masters degree and doctorate in engineering in Canada. Later, he
worked in the United Kingdom for an year before joining the
Atomic Energy Commission.
Having had served the Commission for over three decades in
various capacities including as its chairman, the renowned
scientist has clear-cut ideas on management of atomic energy.
His vision on the energy needs of the country is pragmatic. In
the overall power scenario, the share of nuclear power is a mere
3 per cent at present. This could be increased to 10 per cent in
the near future. By 2020, the nuclear power availability could
be about 20,000 megawatts. The country might need 1 million
megawatt energy by 2050 and the nuclear power generators should
be able to produce 100,000-300,000 megawatt energy by that time.
For such a leap, the country needs `accelerated systems' or fast
reactors which utilise thorium. As India has a pool of highly
trained scientists, the target could very well be achieved, the
74-year-old scientist says.
Closely involved in the development of the first atomic power
station at Tarapur, and later in the establishment of power
stations in Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu, he believes in the optimum
utilisation of power projects. And, he is happy that during the
last few years, the utilisation has been about 85-90 per cent.
Mr. Srinivasan was instrumental in mobilising Indian industry to
make almost all components for the nuclear power plants. His
scientific skills provided invaluable guidance for developing
new fabrication techniques, improving the quality of components
and training. Improved construction management techniques
propounded by him could cut down the time schedule for
completion of the projects while his proposals provided better
maintenance practices for the power stations.
The atomic energy expert admits that establishment of nuclear
power stations needs slightly more initial investment in
comparison to other kinds of power stations. He hastens to add
that the operating costs are low in the case of the former.
What about the safety of the atomic power plants? There is no
cause for worry, the scientist who has authored a book `From
fission to fusion', explains. ``Safety depends mainly on three
factors - quality of manpower, equipment and strict auditing. We
established the first atomic power plant in Tarapur in 1969. We
didn't have any mishap there so far,'' he argues.
Scientists have learned a lot of lessons in safety management
ever since the Chernobyl mishap happened. India has managed the
atomic power plants on international standards. Safety results
from professionalism and absence of political interference, he
says. France has 70 per cent of its power needs supplied by
nuclear reactors, he observes.
Is atomic energy the only answer for power scarcity in India?
No, he says. India has to develop energy based on gas, coal,
bio-mass, biogas, water and non-conventional sources, depending
on the availability and feasibility.
What are the prospects of setting up an atomic power station in
Kerala? The possibility was studied, but no suitable location
could be found in the thickly populated State, he reveals.
Population centres are not ideal for an atomic power plant. But
Koodankulam, situated in Kanykumari district near the Kerala
borders, can contribute to the State's energy needs.
Comments to : thehindu@vsnl.com Copyright © 2004, The Hindu
*****************************************************************
29 UK Independent: New lease of life for British nuclear reactors
By Tim Webb
20 June 2004
British Energy is trying to extend the life of its nuclear
reactors by five years, which would ease fears that the UK could
face power shortages in the future.
The nuclear generator had planned to close Dungeness B in Kent
first in 2008. But its chief executive, Mike Alexander, told The
Independent on Sunday that the board is planning to ask the
regulator, the NII, for permission to extend its life until
2013. The next two reactors slated for decommissioning are
Hunterston B in Ayrshire and Hinkley Point in Somerset in 2011.
Their lives could also be extended by five years each.
The company owns eight reactors, five of which had been
scheduled for closure by 2014. The most modern reactor, Sizewell
B in Suffolk, is the last due to close in 2035, according to the
company.
Mr Alexander must make a final decision on Dungeness B next
summer. "The commercial case is overwhelming," he said. The
company must convince the regulator that the reactor can meet
safety requirements. It was built in 1983.
He also revealed that advisory fees for the restructuring of
British Energy had reached the "high £80m figure", up from £72m
in September. Its market value is £75m.
It must pay bankers and lawyers advising both the company and
its creditors on the implementation of a £5bn gov-ernment rescue
deal, announced 18 months ago. It is awaiting approval from the
European Commission for the rescue.
UK Independent Ltd.
*****************************************************************
30 Japan Times: Decision on site for fusion reactor put off again
Sunday, June 20, 2004
VIENNA (Kyodo) Japan, the European Union and four other nations
failed Friday to forge an accord on whether to build the world's
first prototype nuclear fusion reactor in France or Japan.
In a meeting of sub-Cabinet officials from the six parties
involved in the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor
project, both Japan and the European Union remained adamant about
their proposals to host the reactor, conference sources said.
Japan has proposed that it host the project in Rokkasho, Aomori
Prefecture, while the European Union has selected the southern
French town of Cadarache as its candidate venue.
China, Russia, South Korea and the United States are the other
partners in the ITER project, estimated to require 1.3 trillion
yen over 30 years, including reactor construction and operation
costs.
The six parties agreed in previous negotiations that the
successful bidder will shoulder 48 percent of the reactor's
10-year construction costs estimated at 570 billion yen.
In the Vienna meeting, Japan expressed its readiness to raise
the share to 50 percent and also proposed shouldering half of the
92 billion yen construction costs for an ITER-related facility to
be hosted by the party failing to host the reactor.
But the EU made similar proposals and the meeting came to a
standstill, the sources said.
The Vienna meeting was held after the six parties failed to
reach a conclusion on the reactor construction site at their
ministerial meeting late last year and a sub-Cabinet meeting in
February.
The ITER project is aimed at creating the world's first
sustained nuclear fusion reaction, similar to the
energy-producing process that takes place in the sun.
The Japan Times: June 20, 2004 (C) All rights reserved
*****************************************************************
31 Green Bay Press-Gazette: Public to weigh in on plan to sell Kewaunee
Nuclear Plant
Posted June 20, 2004
By Richard Ryman rryman@greenbaypressgazette.com
The company that wants to buy the Kewaunee Nuclear Plant has a
good reputation for nuclear plant management, but opponents of
the sale say that’s not the issue.
They say the sale to an out-of-state company would deprive
Wisconsin of regulatory control and, ultimately, hit consumers in
their checkbooks.
Those are the sides staked out by the major players. This week,
the public gets its chance to weigh in. The state Public Service
Commission will conduct a public hearing on the sale at 10:30
a.m., 1:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Thursday at the Manitowoc Holiday
Inn.
The plant in the town of Carlton is owned by Wisconsin Public
Service Corp. of Green Bay and Wisconsin Power & Light, a
subsidiary of Alliant Energy of Madison. They propose to sell the
plant to Dominion Resources Inc. of Richmond, Va.
Dominion has received high marks for its work in improving
management of the Millstone nuclear plant in Waterford, Conn. The
plant was in such sorry shape that it was shut down by the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Dominion was one of three
companies brought in to fix the situation and it eventually
bought the plant.
“They brought some people in from Dominion and they corrected a
lot of the problems,” said Beryl Lyons, spokesperson for the
Connecticut Department of Public Utility Control.
But sale opponents say that after 2013, when a power-purchase
agreement between the sellers and Dominion expires, consumers
will lose the benefits of lower-cost nuclear power.
“If the sale is approved, state consumers will lose the benefits
of their investment in Kewaunee for the past 30 years,” said
Charlie Higley, executive director of Citizens Utility Board.
Copyright © 2004
greenbaypressgazette.com
*****************************************************************
32 Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter: Businesses mixed on plant sale
Posted June 20, 2004
By Charlie Mathews Herald Times Reporter
MANITOWOC — The reaction of many in the business community to the
proposed sale of the Kewaunee Nuclear Power Plant to Dominion
Resources Inc. has been mixed.
The board of directors of the Manitowoc-Two Rivers Area Chamber
of Commerce supports Dominion’s power purchase agreement, with
its guaranteed rates through 2013.
“It is good for the future and good for the economy. Dominion
has a great reputation in the field,” said David Ressler, chamber
executive director.
But the Wisconsin Merchants Federation, which represents 6,000
merchants in the state, is opposed to the sale.
“This proposed sale is backdoor deregulation and the market is
not ready for it, yet,” said Doug Johnson, senior vice president
of the organization. “If there is anything we desperately need to
maintain in what appears to be a growing resurgence of our
state’s economy is low-cost, reliable power.”
If the Wisconsin Public Service Commission approves the
transaction Dominion would sell power from the Kewaunee plant to
current owners, Green Bay-based Wisconsin Public Service and
Madison-based Alliant, at rates less than their current
production costs through 2013.
WPS and Alliant currently sell the power to residential and
business customers in their service territories and on the
wholesale market to other power generators, including Manitowoc
Public Utilities.
After 2013, Dominion is seeking permission to operate the plant
as an unregulated merchant facility selling power to whomever it
wants at whatever rates the market will bear.
Dominion, WPS and Alliant officials have talked with chamber
board members and several other groups, assuring them rates would
not dramatically escalate.
“There is still a competitive marketplace in the wholesale side
of our business,” said Charles Schrock, a senior vice president
of WPS.
“Dominion can’t just pass on whatever costs they want. They have
to compete against other wholesale suppliers of power,” Schrock
said. “As a utility, WPS can build a power plant if that’s
cheaper than buying power.”
Johnson shares a different view.
“We were on the wrong side when we supported deregulation in
California. We found out you don’t spit into the wind, sword
fight with Zorro, or deregulate into a monopoly.”
The largest electric bill in the county goes to The Manitowoc
Company, about $100,000 each month to run its ice machine and
crane plants in Manitowoc.
Terry Growcock, company president and board chairman, is
generally supportive of Dominion’s purchase, noting its
acknowledged expertise in operating nuclear plants.
“We have to continue to work with both state and federal
regulators to make sure we are continually exploring the most
cost-effective sources of energy and transmission to provide
power wherever needed,” he said.
*****************************************************************
33 SouthofBoston.com: Nuke strike looms
By Gregg Gethard
Patriot Ledger Enterprise Old Colony Memorial
9 Long Pond Rd. Plymouth, MA 02360 (508) 746-5555 CONTACT US
MPG Newspapers
PLYMOUTH (June 19) - Approximately 300 employees at Pilgrim
Station Nuclear Power Plant will go on strike in July if they
cannot reach a new contract agreement with the plant owner.
Almost all of the members of the Utility Workers Union of America
Local 369 voted Wednesday to strike if they do not settle with
Entergy, the plant's owner, by a July 13 deadline.
The main issue of contention, union representatives said, comes
from Entergy's decision last year to offer voluntary severance
packages to plant employees as a way to trim the payroll. Union
sources said nearly 90 people accepted the package. The company
has not replaced them, meaning less people have more work at the
plant.
"Now that there's less people, we have to pick up the slack,"
Gary Sullivan, Local 369 president, said. "We're all for senior
workers having an opportunity to have an early retirement, but
nothing says they can't fill behind them with new workers.
Anytime you have too few workers working extra hours, safety can
become a problem."
Union members also contend their healthcare benefits will be
shortchanged if they accept the deal Entergy has proposed.
"It's nothing more than pure corporate greed," said one Pilgrim
employee at St. Bonaventure's parish center in Manomet, where
union workers voted Wednesday afternoon. "Entergy is a Fortune
500 company. They're just trying to squeeze the little guy."
Sullivan said the health care plan Entergy proposed offered less
benefits than what employees currently have.
Both parties continue to negotiate.
"We've been in negotiations with them, and we're hopeful we can
negotiate a contract that is equitable for both the employees and
the company," Pilgrim spokesman David Tarantino said. "A strike
vote is kind of, in this type of negotiation, at this point,
expected. But, we hope they don't go on strike."
If a strike does occur, Entergy expects to keep the plant
operating.
"If the plant's employees do strike, Entergy plans on bringing in
workers from other nuclear power plants to avoid a shutdown,"
Pilgrim spokesman Carol Wightman said. "Our number one priority
is public safety and continuing the safe operation of the plant.
Entergy does have a contingency plan in case of a work stoppage.
We are a large company and own 10 other nuclear plants. We have
lots of resources and have brought in other workers from other
plants. We have done that for refueling. We have a lot of trained
nuclear workers who are very experienced, and we also have
management workforce at the plant."
But one Pilgrim employee said restaffing the plant may be
difficult, claiming it's unlikely union workers from other
Entergy-owned properties would cross a picket line. Pilgrim
workers employed as technicians or engineers belong to a separate
union, and are also currently negotiating a contract.
Entergy doled out $83 million in severance packages offered to
employees in its nuclear division. Paul Smith, president of the
other union, said the corporation offered either one week's
salary for every year they were employed at the plant or a lump
sum of a minimum of $30,000 up front. That made the offer
lucrative to veteran employees or newcomers not yet invested in
the plant's activities.
Entergy purchased the plant from Boston Edison in 1999.
A 40-year license to operate Pilgrim ends in 2012. Earlier this
year, Entergy decided to halt action on a renewal application,
which would have extended the lease for another 20 years.
In April, Entergy CEO Wayne Leonard told an audience on a
conference call he expects nuclear plants to continue to rise in
value, a sign Entergy could apply to renew their license.
According to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange
Commission, Entergy reported $9.2 billion in revenue last year
and earned profits of $950.4 million.
In the first quarter of this year, Entergy's nuclear division
earned $68.8 million, up more than $30 million from the same time
the year before. The company attributed the rise in earnings to
increases in wattage outputs from its nuclear plants.
At Pilgrim, reconfiguration of equipment and the installation of
a new turbine enabled the plant to increase output by 20MW, the
equivalent of powering 20,000 more homes.
SUBSCRIBE| CONTACT US MPG Newspapers, 9 Long Pond Rd., Plymouth,
MA 02360 Telephone: (508) 746-5555
*****************************************************************
34 SouthofBoston.com: NRC asked to close plant
By Gregg Gethard
Patriot Ledger Enterprise Old Colony Memorial
MPG Newspapers 9 Long Pond Rd. Plymouth, MA 02360 (508) 746-5555
CONTACT US
MPG Newspapers
PLYMOUTH - A local nuclear activist has petitioned the U.S.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission to shut down operations at Pilgrim
nuclear power plant. Mary "Pixie" Lampert claims the combination
of terror threats and a looming strike of plant workers makes the
plant unsafe.
Lampert serves on the nuclear watchdog committee for the town of
Duxbury. She has filed two petitions with the NRC.
The first, filed on Monday, June 12, asks the NRC to shut down
the plant in case its workers go on strike July 13. Entergy, the
owner of the plant, has said it will use replacement workers from
its management staff and from its other plants in case Pilgrim's
workers walk out.
"Each nuclear reactor has its own history, it's own quirks,"
Lampert said. "They are not stamped out of cookie cutters.
Therefore, the workers have to have specific training and
specific experience with Pilgrim to safely operate it. Therefore,
it is clear that you don't take chances by bringing someone in as
strikebreakers to keep generating cash."
A second petition, filed Friday, also asks the NRC to shut down
the plant from the July 4 holiday to the end of the Democratic
National Convention, held in Boston at the end of July.
Lampert said terrorist attacks could occur during the holiday
celebrating the nation's independence or during the time a
presidential candidate is expected to officially accept his
nomination.
"We've all read that the original al-Qaeda plan called for them
to attack a nuclear reactor," Lampert said. "We know they are on
the terrorists' list. Do we want new kids on the block operating
a reactor under this atmosphere? Obviously not."
MPG Newspapers, 9 Long Pond Rd., Plymouth, MA 02360
Telephone: (508) 746-5555
*****************************************************************
35 Corvallis Gazette-Times: Nuclear engineer joins environmental group
[gazettetimes.com]
Last modified Saturday, June 19, 2004 12:19 AM PDT
By the Gazette-Times
Kathryn Higley, an associate professor of nuclear engineering and
radiation health physics in the College of Engineering at Oregon
State University, will join the End Users Group of an
international consortium, Environmental Risks for Ionizing
Contaminants: Assessment and Management.
This consortium works to provide an integrated approach to
addressing scientific, managerial and societal issues surrounding
environmental effects of ionizing contamination, or potentially
harmful radioactive materials, with emphasis on biota and
ecosystems.
Higley is an expert in human and ecological risk assessment,
environmental pathway analysis, environmental radiation
monitoring, and environmental regulations. She has been on the
OSU faculty since 1994, and is a consultant to U.S. Department of
Energy's Office of Environment, Safety and Health.
*****************************************************************
36 ONN. NRC passed on video that showed acid leaks at Davis-Besse
Ohio News Now:
June 21, 2004
CLEVELAND Nuclear Regulatory Commission officials failed to view
a video that showed acid deposits on the Davis-Besse reactor
vessel, The Plain Dealer reported.
The agency has learned from the missed opportunity and has
toughened its requirements for corrosion checks, using the
Davis-Besse tapes as training aids for its inspectors, said NRC
spokesman Eliot Brenner.Davis-Besse, located along Lake Erie
about 30 miles east of Toledo, started producing electricity
again in March after it was shut down for more than two years.
A month after it was closed for routine maintenance in February
2002, inspectors found corrosion on the reactor vessel, where
leaking boric acid had eaten almost through a 6-inch-thick steel
cap.Davis-Besse was among 14 plants that were supposed to have
been inspected in the fall of 2001 because of cracking in nozzles
on the reactor head.
The NRC, however, allowed the plant to postpone the inspection
until a scheduled maintenance shutdown months later.
The Plain Dealer reported Sunday that a FirstEnergy Corp.
executive brought inspection videos to the commission's
Rockville, Md., headquarters in November 2001.
At the time, the utility was waging an ultimately successful
campaign to delay a costly shutdown to inspect for lid
cracks.Some of the NRC's most senior engineers, risk analysts and
at least one manager watched portions of tapes from inspections
in 1996 and 1998.
The staffers were frustrated by the poor lighting and awkward
camera angles but insist they saw no extensive corrosion.
Neither the agency nor FirstEnergy considered the increasing
amount of acid evident in those videos a corrosion threat. That
was despite the NRC's repeated warnings in the 1980s and '90s to
nuclear operators that acid could eat through steel.
Instead of seeing the acid deposits as an indication of trouble,
agency staffers considered them an impediment in their search for
signs of lid cracks.Convinced by the FirstEnergy executive that
the 2000 inspection tape was more of the same, the regulators
ended the after-hours screening without watching it, the
newspaper reported.
"Everyone who saw those tapes here after the fact _ I think
'stunned' would be a good word," said NRC metallurgist Ed
Hackett, who watched the video while helping direct the agency's
"Lessons Learned" review of Davis-Besse in 2002.
If staffers had seen the tape in November 2001, Hackett said,
FirstEnergy "would have had to have taken immediate action to
figure out what was going on there.
"The NRC is limited in what it can say about the videos because
they are part of a federal grand jury investigation. Authorities
are comparing what the tapes show with what the utility told the
NRC."
In as much as there is an ongoing federal investigation ... it
would be inappropriate for me to characterize the quality,
completeness or content of the materials staff was shown,"
Brenner said.
FirstEnergy declined to comment, also citing the grand jury
inquiry.
The Plain Dealer pieced together the videos' history through
interviews with NRC staffers and a review of hundreds of pages of
transcripts of interviews conducted by the agency's inspector
general.
Though none of the NRC's internal reviews has addressed the
tapes, the agency insists it has learned from them.
The NRC has completed training its managers and staff on "the
importance of maintaining a questioning attitude."Brenner said a
more rigorous inspection regimen adopted in May requires that NRC
inspectors physically observe while utilities are checking their
reactor lids, or watch videotapes of the inspections.
Copyright
2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not
be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
All content © Copyright 2004, WorldNow and Dispatch Productions,
Inc. All Rights Reserved.
*****************************************************************
37 BBC: NHS plans for the unthinkable
Last Updated: Saturday, 19 June, 2004
By Nick Triggle BBC News Online staff
[Emergency worker]
A terror attack would stretch the NHS
As the crews from the North East Ambulance Service sped to
Newcastle city centre, all they knew was that there had been a
sarin gas attack.
Arriving at the civic centre, they were met by chaos. Fourteen
people were dead, 30 seriously injured and hundreds were choking
on the deadly gas.
Fire crews and police were also on the scene and within minutes
Newcastle General Hospital was put on emergency alert.
Fortunately, the attack described was not real. It was just one
of 10 simulated emergencies organised by the Health Protection
Agency in the last year to test the health service's response to
major incidents.
Casualties with minor injuries were given disrobe packs and put
through the fire brigade decontamination unit to allow the
ambulance crews to deal with the most seriously hurt.
There
are some areas whe communication is not what is should be Dave
Jones
Wearing chemical suits, the paramedics rushed
them through their own decontamination units before whisking them
off to hospital.
But with so many people needing hospital attention two GP
surgeries were forced to start treating the injured.
Increased focus
With many predicting the UK is next in line for a terrorist
attack following the Madrid train bombings in March, the NHS is
getting used to the increased focus on emergency planning.
The health service already had a duty to prepare for major
emergencies, but the Civil Contingencies Bill, due to become law
in summer, demanded a much more robust approach to planning and a
closer working relationship with other emergency services.
The Newcastle exercise showed the city's health services were in
a good position to deal with emergencies, but doubts still remain
about whether the NHS can do all ministers are asking of it.
Jane Johnston, the emergency planning lead for Newcastle Primary
Care Trust, said: "The exercise gave us a better understanding of
what roles other agencies play, and should help the different
parts of the NHS avoid duplicating each other.
"But there are issues to do with training and additional funding
for things such as infection control, long-term support after a
major incident and screening."
Work remaining
The HPA was put in charge of helping the health service prepare
for a major emergency in April last year, at a time when it was
becoming clear the NHS was not as prepared as it should be.
NHS emergency planning h improved Department of Health
The public accounts committee warned just two weeks after the HPA
was set up that health agencies were not prepared enough for a
nuclear, chemical or biological attacks, with poor communication
a key factor.
Only six months earlier a National Audit Office review had
revealed the quality of the emergency plans was patchy from
region to region.
But, more than a year on, the NHS is still finding itself
struggling with the same issues.
Dave Jones, a member of the Emergency Planning Society and the
head of emergency planning for West Midlands and Shropshire
ambulance services, said communication remained a concern.
"First of all the NHS should be liaising with the other emergency
services. But it must also be remembered that utility companies
and voluntary agencies have expertise that can be tapped into."
Improvements
However, he said improvements had been made, particularly within
ambulance services.
Training was also an area of concern. NHS trust staff have
started to be given training to deal with chemical, radiological,
biological and nuclear attacks but as yet only about 15% of
frontline staff have had this training.
And in a broadly positive report on the London Ambulance Service
NHS Trust in March, the Commission for Health Improvement
reserved some of its strongest criticism for the level of
training, pointing out "many staff have had no specific
training".
A LAS spokesman conceded there were areas that needed to be
improved but pointed out NHS trusts have many competing demands
on their time.
"There are 3,000 plus emergency calls in London alone and the
service has to make sure there are the resources to deal with
them."
The Department of Health was quick to counter any criticism.
A spokesman said: "NHS emergency planning has improved, it is in
a better position than last year, new techniques are being
developed and better equipment introduced to build on what there
is."
*****************************************************************
38 Boston.com: Poisoning claims denied
The Boston Globe
By Associated Press | June 20, 2004
SPRINGFIELD -- A federal program that compensates families of
1940s atomic workers who may have been sickened or killed by
radiation exposure has so far rejected Springfield-area claims,
according to a published report.
The Republican of Springfield reported yesterday that none of the
253 claims filed by families of workers at the former Chapman
Valve plant in Springfield have been approved, and 100 of them
have been denied.
Relatives of the Chapman Valve workers plan to question federal
authorities at a June 28 meeting in Springfield.
The plant milled uranium in the late 1940s in a nuclear power
project for the Brookhaven National Laboratory on Long Island,
N.Y., the Republican reported.
More than 300 mills, factories, and other facilities have been
identified by the federal government as places where workers
processed uranium during World War II and the Cold War, and may
have been sickened by radiation exposure, the newspaper reported.
The compensation program provides up to $150,000 and
government-paid health care to atomic workers who were affected.
If they died as a result of the exposure, their families are
eligible for the cash benefit. [ /] ©
Copyright 2004 Globe Newspaper Company.
*****************************************************************
39 Hawk Eye: IAAP effort raises concern
Saturday, June 19, 2004, Site updated daily at 11 a.m. CST
Creation of unique category may create more paperwork for former
workers, families.
By MIKE AUGSPURGER
for The Hawk Eye
Four years and five rounds of applications later, Shirley Wiley
of Burlington hasn't given up seeking federal compensation for
the death of her father — one of the nuclear workers the Iowa
Army Ammunition Plant in Middletown.
But she's worried the workers will be left out the latest avenue
being explored, and being fought with legislation by Sen. Tom
Harkin, D–Iowa. He wants to get the IAAP workers placed unique
category called special exemption cohort, granting them an
immediate compensation of $150,000.
Wiley said when she talked to the new agency involved in the
matter, she was told to fill out another application for
compensation. She received a packet a few days ago and returned
the information.
She was told by the person in the National Institute for
Occupational Safety and Health that prior applications made by
the IAAP workers with other agencies won't be forwarded.
"I want to make sure people know they have to fill out more
forms," she said Friday.
However, Jennifer Carrier, a staff member for Harkin, said Friday
that IAAP workers shouldn't have to sign anything or fill out any
forms if the legislation passes. The U.S. Department of Labor
will forward pertinent information to NIOSH.
Wiley said the woman she talked to at NIOSH was adamant that new
applications would have to be submitted. Carrier said the heads
of the agency and the labor department have told Harkin that the
workers won't have to do it.
Carrier suggested that everyone wait and see if Harkin's
legislation passes before doing anything.
All of this adds to Wiley's frustration with the compensation
program that she believes is fairly cut and dry about giving
money to all of America's nuclear plant workers or their
survivors.
Wiley's father died of colon cancer, that's the primary cause of
death listed on his death certificate. Actually, the cancer
spread throughout his body and had eaten a hole through his back
by the time he died in 1973. Her father worked at the plant from
1960 to 1972.
She has had to fill out long and short questionnaires. Wiley has
made telephone calls — several of them seeking for clarifications
on how to fill out a federal form.
Some of those on the other end of the telephone line have been
helpful, some "want to blow you off" or have been "sneaky and
spooky acting," she said. One agency worker even laughed at her
when she said she was applying for benefits that may be given to
those who made, test–fired and disassembled nuclear weapons from
1948 to 1975 at the Iowa plant.
Wiley has sent stuff or talked to people in Washington, D.C., and
Denver. Her telephone calls have taken her to Cincinnati, Seattle
and now to some place in Louisiana.
"No wonder they lose things," Wiley said of the federal
government that seems to be shuffling —or avoiding, in her mind –
claims that many have said are due to the workers, who once were
called heroes by their government.
Four year ago, Congress pledged to give former nuclear weapons
workers, or their survivors, a $150,000 payment and coverage of
medical bills. When the law was passed, the IAAP workers were
left out of the mix. Various government agencies have since been
involved with the task of categorizing workers, collecting what
information was available about their jobs and what medical
problems have been encountered.
Under Harkin's provision, Congress will now have 60 days instead
of 180 to review a request for former nuclear plant workers to be
added to the SEC.
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
*****************************************************************
40 Salt Lake Tribune: Senators back Bishop's play on waste
June 19, 2004
By Christopher Smith
WASHINGTON -- Utah Sens. Orrin Hatch and Bob Bennett are
working to add language to a defense spending bill that could
provide an opening for Rep. Rob Bishop's legislation creating a
new wilderness area and blocking rail access to a proposed
high-level radioactive waste dump at Skull Valley.
The Republican senators are sponsoring a bare-bones
amendment to the Senate version of the 2005 defense
authorization bill that is expected to come to a final vote
early next week after the Senate spent the past week working
through a multitude of amendments.
The Hatch-Bennett amendment would legislate that the study
of federal lands below the military airspace of the sprawling
Utah Test and Training Range cannot hamper military overflights.
In turn, the low-level passes by military jets on training
missions in the west desert would not disqualify the wilderness
study areas below from consideration for federal protection.
Bishop's legislation in the House has similar language but
includes two crucial elements not found in the Hatch-Bennett
bill: creating the 100,000-acre Cedar Mountain wilderness area
beneath the airspace and prohibiting the Department of the
Interior from granting a right of way across public lands to
access the proposed temporary repository for spent nuclear plant
fuel rods on the Goshute Indian Reservation, 60 miles west of
Salt Lake City.
Although the Bishop bill unanimously cleared a House
committee last month, it came too late to be included in the
House version of the defense spending bill and has little hope
of passing this year as stand-alone legislation.
But if the stripped-down version in the Hatch-Bennett
amendment is included in the Senate version of the defense bill,
it could serve as a "placeholder" for the additional Bishop
language when a congressional conference committee convenes to
reconcile the House and Senate versions of the spending bill.
"Anything they could get into the Senate bill would make it
easier to have all the language from my bill put into the final
authorization during conference," the 1st District Republican
said. "Even as currently written, their amendment is significant
for the Utah range because other training ranges have had time
and flight path restrictions placed on them as a result of court
rulings" from wilderness protection lawsuits.
The Hatch-Bennett amendment could come up on the Senate
floor debate schedule as early as Monday, barring any procedural
hurdles. According to congressional staff and lobbyists
monitoring the issue, the outlook for its passage is mixed.
While Republicans in the closely divided Senate largely
favor both the wilderness and Goshute rail line prohibition in
the Bishop language, Democratic support for the latter component
is less predictable because of potential opposition by Sen.
Harry Reid, D-Nev.
Reid, the assistant minority leader, may view the Bishop
language's potential to scuttle the Utah waste dump as
increasing the likelihood that the radioactive trash will go to
Yucca Mountain in Nevada. Reid has recently pulled out all
political stops to thwart the federal government's plan to make
Yucca Mountain the nation's permanent nuclear waste repository,
working to slice funding of the project and force confirmation
of one of his former staffers to the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission.
Lobbying of senators to incorporate the Bishop language in
the Hatch-Bennett amendment is being done by an unlikely
political ally to a Western conservative Republican --
environmental groups.
"Congressman Bishop has done a good job carrying the water
on this, and given the widespread support his bill enjoys in the
House we certainly want Congress to pass that language," said
Peter Downing, legislative director for the Southern Utah
Wilderness Alliance's Washington office. "Our position on the
Hatch and Bennett bill is it would need substantial improvements
so that it reflects the Bishop bill for it to gain our support."
"> -->
Copyright Salt Lake City Tribune
*****************************************************************
41 Las Vegas RJ: Nye officialsseek to keeptheir water
Sunday, June 20, 2004
By HENRY BREAN
REVIEW-JOURNAL
A tank stands above Pahrump, Nye County's largest and fastest
growing town. Officials want to protect groundwater from Las
Vegas and develop a new source for Pahrump. Photo by K.M. Cannon.
If the Las Vegas Valley is like a thirsty cottonwood spreading
its roots in a dry season, Nye County wants to be like a
rototiller.
In response to the Southern Nevada Water Authority's renewed
push to tap groundwater in rural areas, Nye County officials have
filed a barrage of protests and pre-emptive water applications
meant to keep their most precious natural resource from flowing
down a pipeline to Las Vegas.
The filing frenzy began last month and now includes 13
applications for new water rights and more than a dozen protests
of similar applications from Clark County as well as entities
that Nye County fears will sell water to Las Vegas.
The latest round of protest filings were approved Tuesday by Nye
County commissioners, who also adopted a new policy to protest
any future water filings from outside entities that seek access
to groundwater basins even partially contained within the county.
"We aren't making a water grab. We're trying to protect the
county's water resources," Commission Chairman Henry Neth said.
"What we're trying to avoid, especially on the eastern side of
the county, is any more of the Las Vegas Valley water filings or
filings by private companies."
But like its neighbor to the east, Nye County also needs to
develop new sources of water to feed growth in its largest and
fastest growing community. Pahrump is home to about 30,000
people, nearly 80 percent of the county's total, and all of them
get their water from underground.
"One of the things we know about the Pahrump basin is it's
over-allocated," Neth said. "This is just part of the possible
answer."
The first three Nye County applications, filed May 11, seek
approximately 19,000 acre-feet of water per year from three
aquifers on Nevada Test Site, just north of U.S. Highway 95
between state Route 373 and the county's eastern boundary.
Tom Buqo, a consulting hydrogeologist for Nye County since 1996,
said two of the three aquifers could be tapped and a share of
their water pumped to Pahrump for a cost of $60 million to $100
million.
The county filed 10 more applications, totaling another 32,000
acre-feet per year, on June 3.
"Every bit of unallocated water in the county is our goal," Neth
said.
That tactic comes as no surprise, said Vince Alberta, water
authority spokesman. "We'd heard they were going to make some
filings, but we do not have any filings in any of those basins,"
Alberta said.
At least not yet, Neth said.
The water authority's only pending applications in Nye County
date back to 1989, when the Las Vegas Valley Water District made
a sweeping grab for unallocated water throughout rural Nevada.
On May 6, the water authority filed seven applications seeking
16,000 acre-feet of groundwater a year near Indian Springs, just
east of the Nye County line.
That same day, the Vidler Water Co. teamed with developer Hidden
Ridge LLC to file seven applications, totaling 8,615 acre-feet of
water a year, just inside Nye County near Mercury.
The timing and location of the Vidler-Hidden Ridge applications
raised suspicion among Buqo and others that the applicants
planned to sell the water for use in Las Vegas.
But Steve Hartman, vice president of Vidler, insists the water
is being sought for a planned development in Pahrump Valley, just
as the applications state. "Contrary to popular opinion, our
activities are to generate development in the rurals," Hartman
said. Preliminary estimates indicate that Vidler and Hidden Ridge
would have to build about 30 miles of pipeline at a cost of $10
million to $20 million to deliver the water to Pahrump, Hartman
said.
Early this month, Nye County commissioners directed staff to
file protests on the Vidler-Hidden Ridge applications. On
Tuesday, they voted to protest the water authority applications
near Indian Springs as well.
Buqo said Nye County can expect a few protests of its own. Among
those likely to object to the county's recent applications are
the National Park Service, the Air Force, U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service, and Department of Energy, he said.
Nye's plans have met some resistance from within the county,
particularly from residents in the north. "They think we're
poaching, and we're trying to protect them from poachers," Neth
said.
"The northern communities do not want to see any water exported
from their valleys," Buqo added, "and they made it clear that
they don't care whether the water is exported to Pahrump or to
somewhere outside Nye County."
There are about 326,000 gallons in an acre-foot. According to
water authority figures, the average household in the Las Vegas
Valley consumes about 230,000 gallons of water per year.
On the surface, developing water resources in Nye County seems
like a fool's errand. Nye is the third largest county in the
United States, but there are no naturally occurring lakes within
its 18,159 square miles. The county's only significant river, the
Amargosa, flows perennially in a few spots but stays underground
for most of its downhill run toward Death Valley.
"Nye County probably has the most limited water resources of any
county in the country," Buqo said.
If the state signs off on the applications, Nye County would be
required to put the water to beneficial use within 10 years of
the permits being granted. Buqo said it would cost the county
hundreds of millions of dollars to develop the groundwater
resources outlined in all 13 applications.
But Neth does not expect all of the applications to be granted,
let alone developed. "Some of the water we obviously cannot use,"
Neth said.
For example, one application targets the western edge of the
aquifer that is home to the government's classified installation
along Groom dry lake bed, a site widely known as Area 51. Three
other applications seek permission to pump groundwater from an
area where hundreds of underground nuclear tests were conducted.
"We have reason to believe that there is freshwater available
(there), and it would be prudent to go get that water before it
becomes contaminated," Buqo said.
Buqo estimated that a total of 5 million acre-feet of water has
been fouled by four decades of nuclear testing in Nye County.
Between 1957 and 1992, 878 detonations were conducted at more
than 800 different locations at the test site. More than one bomb
was exploded at some locations, and some 260 of the detonation
cavities are near or below the water table.
If no usable water can be found in the contaminated areas, Buqo
said, the county might be in line for compensation from the
federal government.
"I would think the issue of lost resources would have to be
addressed," he said.
Copyright Las Vegas Review-Journal
*****************************************************************
42 Las Vegas RJ: Reno opens arms to Bush
Saturday, June 19, 2004
State leaders, president agree to disagree on Yucca storage
By SEAN WHALEY and ED VOGEL REVIEW-JOURNAL CAPITAL BUREAU
President Bush and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., talk for a moment
before McCain introduced the president to the crowd at a campaign
stop Friday in Reno. Behind them are Gov. Kenny Guinn, left, Rep.
Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., second from right, and Attorney General
Brian Sandoval, far right. Photo by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Air Force One glides over the Truckee River as Joan Scafidi of
Reno, center, Casandra Pike, 12, left, and her brother Anthony,
7, of Sparks, cool off and take in the sight at Rock Park in
Sparks. In the background is the Reno Hilton.
Photo by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
RENO -- President Bush talked up the improving national economy
and his successful efforts to combat terrorism in a brief
campaign stop Friday, but the words Yucca Mountain never came up
in his 40-minute speech.
After his remarks, Gov. Kenny Guinn and Attorney General Brian
Sandoval said that in a private discussion with Bush prior to
his speech, the leaders "agreed to disagree" on the proposal to
store nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain.
"We agreed that the courts will decide," said Guinn, who with
Sandoval serves as chairman of the Bush-Cheney re-election
campaign in Nevada.
Bush was greeted by chants of "four more years" as he took to
the podium at the Reno-Sparks Convention Center, accompanied by
a host of state Republican leaders and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.
An estimated 9,700 people waited patiently for two hours for
the president to arrive, waving flags and listening to patriotic
music as a motorcade made its way from Reno-Tahoe International
Airport.
Bush got a big laugh right away.
Apparently recalling criticism directed at him for his
mispronunciation of Nevada in his visit to Las Vegas last fall,
Bush made sure he pronounced the state's name correctly.
"You didn't think I'd get it right, did you?" he joked.
In his remarks, Bush attributed the country's rebounding
economy to his tax cuts, and he urged Congress to vote to keep
them in place.
"Here in Nevada, you have added 3,800 new jobs last month," said
Bush, visiting Northern Nevada for the first time since his
campaign in 2000. "You've added 50,000 new jobs in the last
year. The tax relief we passed is working."
Outside the convention center, an estimated 600 people, most of
them women carrying anti-Yucca Mountain signs, protested.
The protesters heckled supporters of the president as they
entered and left the convention center, and Bush supporters
mixed it up as well, but the clashes were verbal only.
Jon Summers, communications director of the Nevada Democratic
Party, contended Bush was "afraid to go to Las Vegas" because he
would face a more hostile audience there. As it was, the
president did not come near where the protesters gathered along
South Virginia Street.
"He holds this event here, but he won't talk to reporters,"
Summers added. "He doesn't want to answers questions about Yucca
Mountain. That's being a chicken." Bush approved the site, 100
miles northwest of Las Vegas, in 2002 for burial of the nation's
nuclear waste.
In his speech, Bush cited Joe and Tammy Barkowski and their
three children, of Reno, as why the tax cuts need to be
preserved. The family saved about $2,200 on their taxes last
year because of the cuts, he said.
"If Congress does not act, if Congress does not make sure that
the tax relief we have passed stays in place, their tax bill is
going to go up by $1,000 next year," Bush said. "I don't think
it's right, I don't think that makes sense. "
The president, who arrived in Reno after speaking to soldiers
in Fort Lewis, Wash., also defended his decision to go to war in
Iraq.
"We showed the dictator and the watching world that America
means what it says," Bush said. "Because we acted, Iraq's
weapons programs are ended forever. Because we acted, nations
like Libya have gotten the message and renounced their own
weapons programs."
Bush also criticized Sen. John Kerry, the presumptive
Democratic presidential nominee, for what he said was a
pessimistic view of the national economy.
"The other side has not offered much in the ways of strategies
to win the war, or policies to expand our economy," he said.
"We're well into the campaign, and all we have heard is old
bitterness and partisan anger.
"The voters will have an unmistakable choice this year," Bush
said. "It is a choice between keeping the tax relief that is
moving the economy forward, or putting the burden of higher
taxes back on the American people.
"It is a choice between an America that leads the world with
strength and confidence, or an America that is uncertain in the
face of danger," he said.
Bush was introduced by McCain, who praised Bush for his actions
following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, including
both the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq.
"He has not wavered," McCain said. "He has not flinched from
the hard choices."
Guinn and Sandoval accompanied Bush from the airport to the
convention center and briefly discussed the Yucca Mountain
Project. Both said Bush remains convinced the science shows
Yucca Mountain is suitable as a repository, although state
officials maintain it is unsuitable.
"The president knows the governor and I are steadfast in our
opposition to the storage of nuclear waste in Nevada," Sandoval
said. "The president respects that. We agreed to disagree."
Sandoval said there was no discussion about negotiating for
benefits in exchange for accepting nuclear waste in Nevada. He
added the criticism that Bush lied to Nevada by making a
political decision to support Yucca Mountain rather than relying
on "sound science" is spin by political opponents.
Guinn echoed Sandoval's comments.
"We're in court and we're going to see how it gets settled up
out of there," he said. "And he's acceptable to that. And he was
before."
Asked why Bush did not address Yucca Mountain during his
remarks, Guinn said the nuclear waste issue is not the top
concern of Nevada residents. Poll results suggest the economy
and terrorism are more important to Nevada voters, he said.
Only a handful of Bush supporters mingled with the protesters.
Bush backer Michael Horton stood on roof of his truck, argued
with hecklers and blared the president's speech from his truck's
radio.
"Not all hippies are liberals," said Horton, a Kid Rock
look-alike who works three jobs and considers the economy in
America as amazing. "I would die for my family. I would die for
my president."
Among the signs carried by protesters: "Bush: Are your Yucca
facts like your Iraq facts?," "Bury Bush at Yucca Mountain," and
"No one died when Clinton lied."
Copyright Las Vegas Review-Journal
*****************************************************************
43 Bellona: Notice served after radioactive gaskets found on Sellafield beach
The discovery of two pieces of a radioactively contaminated
rubber gasket on a beach near Sellafield, has led to a so-called
Enforcement Notice being served to British Nuclear Fuels Plc, or
BNFL.
This picture shows the Sellafield discharge pipeline.
Photo: Erik Martiniussen/ Bellona
Erik Martiniussen, 2004-06-20 13:49
The British Environment Agency served the enforcement notice—a
legal warning to the company to more strictly guard its
facilities—to BNFL on Thursday.
The enforcement notice follows an incident earlier this year when
two pieces of a rubber gasket, contaminated with radioactivity,
were found on a local beach outside the company’s Sellafield
site. BNFL operates two nuclear reprocessing plants at
Sellafield, both of which discharge large amounts of radioactive
wastes to the Irish Sea.
Low radiation levels Both of the two contaminated gaskets were
discovered separately during routine BNFL checks of the
Sellafield and Seascale beaches in January and February this
year. It was later discovered that both sections had become
detached from the sea-sideward end of one of the operational
pipelines used by the company.
Subsequent tests revealed that the radiation levels of both
gaskets were found to be low, thus presenting little potential
hazard to the public. The gaskets were, however, found to be
contaminated above agreed norms. The enforcement notice was
issued because of BNFL’s failure to comply with a condition of
their operating authorisation—which is granted by the Environment
Agency—to dispose of low level radioactive waste at their
Sellafield site in Cumbria.
The Environment Agency will ask BNFL for a review of
Sellafield’s pipeline design. On this picture, Andrew Mayall, the
Agency’s Sellafield Team Co-ordinator. Photo: Hanne Bakke/
Bellona
The authorisation from the Environmental Agency allows BNFL to
discharge radioactively contaminated water from the Sellafield
site via pipelines into the Irish Sea. However a key condition of
the permit requires BNFL to maintain the systems used for the
discharge of any radioactive waste in good repair.
In a statement Thursday, Andy Mayall, the Environment Agency’s
nuclear regulator, commented: "Although the risks to the public
on this occasion were low, this type of incident is both
undesirable and preventable. This will require BNFL to undertake
a thorough review of its inspection and maintenance of the
discharge pipelines and to make any required improvements."
The Agency will now ask for a review of Sellafield’s pipeline
design, with all work to be completed within an agreed timescale.
“The discovery of gasket material on the beach was publicly
reported by us at the time of the event,” said a BNFL spokesman
said Friday. “Since then, we have carried out a detailed internal
inquiry and are already implementing a range of improvements,
including all of the work required by the Environment Agency. We
are determined to learn from this event to ensure there are no
repeat occurs.”
Scraps have escape before Over the last year, BNFL has been
working on a £13m project to remove three redundant discharge
pipelines. Known as the Sealine Recovery Project, two 10-inch
steel pipelines originally laid in 1949, and an 8-inch temporary
plastic pipeline, laid around 1990, would be recovered from the
seabed over a twelve month period and disposed of in BNFL’s
onshore licensed low level waste dump at Drigg/Sellafield.
But operations have not been easy. In November last year, lengths
of the plastic discharge pipe principally used for evacuating
drainage water from the Sellafield site, escaped a seabed
containment cage. The dismantled sections were temporarily stored
in the seabed cage, waiting to be transported onshore. During
stormy weather more than 170 cut pieces broke free from the
containment cage and where washed ashore on different local
beaches. Four sections where recovered as far away as Isle of
Man. One showed slightly higher radiation than normal background
levels. The cage originally held 364 lengths of pipe pieces.
Publisher: Bellona Foundation, President: Frederic Hauge
Information: info@bellona.no, Technical contact:
webmaster@bellona.no Telephone: +47 23 23 46 00 Telefax: +47 22
38 38 62 * P.O.Box 2141 Grunerlokka, 0505 Oslo, Norway Menu
*****************************************************************
44 Las Vegas SUN: Bush in Reno ignores Yucca; touts tax cut and security
By Cy Ryan SUN CAPITAL BUREAU
RENO -- Making a brief campaign stop in Northern Nevada this
afternoon, President Bush touted the nation's recovering economy
and said Congress must make permanent the tax cuts that he
believes helped the country out of recession.
But he didn't mention Yucca Mountain.
Bush told a cheering crowd estimated at 9,700 people at the
Reno-Sparks Convention Center that nearly 1 million jobs have
been added in the last 100 days.
Business is growing and personal income is on the rise, he said
during a 40-minute speech that was repeatedly interrupted by
applause.
"We're on the path of progress and opportunity and we're not
going backward," he said.
Bush did not mention Yucca Mountain or his Department of
Energy's plans to store high-level nuclear waste at the site.
But Gov. Kenny Guinn and Attorney General Brian Sandoval, who
are the co-chairmen of the Bush re-election effort in Nevada,
said they talked to the president about Yucca Mountain.
Both said they agreed to disagree with Bush.
Guinn and Sandoval oppose the nuclear dump, with Sandoval
leading the state's legal fight against it.
Guinn did not find it strange that the president did not
mention Yucca in his speech. He said the issue has been talked
out and will be decided by the courts.
In addition, Guinn referred to a public opinion poll that
showed security and jobs were the top issues on the minds of
Nevadans. He said Yucca Mountain was down the list.
Hundreds of demonstrators paraded on the streets at the
convention center, carrying signs opposed to nuclear waste.
Others said "Illegal president, illegal war" and "Peace is
Patriotic."
A crowd of 6,500 was predicted but it turned out to be more
than expected. Reno Mayor Bob Cashell, who was the master of
ceremonies, joked, "Now you know what a sardine feels like."
Bush was introduced by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who had
opposed him in the GOP primary four years ago. McCain's name has
been mentioned as a possible running mate for Sen. John Kerry,
D-Mass., but McCain has denied any interest.
McCain said Bush has "not wavered and not flinched from the
hard choices. He has more than earned our support." He said the
president deserves "support and admiration" for his battle
against terrorism.
When Bush took the podium, he said McCain was a friend of both
major party candidates.
"But he's got only one vote and I'm proud that it's me," Bush
quipped.
Talking about the fight against terrorism, Bush said: "No cave
or hole is deep enough to hide from American justice" for those
involved in trying to harm the United States.
His speech was twice interrupted by chants of: "Four more
years."
Bush credited his tax cuts when he said he had talked earlier
with Joe and Tammy Barkowski of Reno, who he said saved about
$2,200 in the 2003 tax year and will save a like amount this
year.
If Congress fails to make the tax cuts permanent, the president
said the family will pay about $1,000 more in 2005.
Bush picked a favorite Republican target when he said there
must be federal legislation to protect small businesses from
frivolous lawsuits and regulations. "There must be a choice
between small business and trial lawyers and I made my choice --
small business," Bush said.
He predicted "tough times" in the near future in Iraq. The new
government takes over in less than two weeks and he predicts
there will be more bombings and more suicide missions.
The terrorists, he said, fear the new government. But he
pledged: "We will not be intimidated by them."
Referring to other nations who do not support the United States
in its efforts, Bush said, "We will never turn over American
security to the leaders of other countries."
Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe said
that Republican leaders were coming en masse to Nevada this week
because "they're really worried" about the progress Democrats
are making in the state.
Vice President Dick Cheney is making a brief stop Monday in
Henderson at an invitation-only event.
"It goes to show you how nervous they are," McAuliffe said.
The Bush administration was expected to crow about job numbers
released Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, numbers
that showed Nevada created 3,800 new jobs in May.
The total number of Nevada jobs created in the past year now
numbers 50,000, according to the statistics.
And the Bush-Cheney campaign argues that 46 percent of the new
jobs were created in industries that pay more than the national
average.
For example, 32 percent of gross job growth was generated in
the construction industry, which has an average non-supervisory
hourly pay of $19.21, compared to the national average of
non-supervisory jobs of $15.64, the campaign pointed out in a
release.
The state's unemployement rate is 4.1 percent, compared with
the national average of 5.6 percent.
The campaign also points to increasing personal incomes in the
state, increasing housing values and increasing exports.
But McAuliffe said Friday that the average salary of the new
jobs claimed by Bush is $9,000 less than what was earned by the
people who lost jobs over the past few years.
"It's all these little service sector jobs that are being
created," he said. "People working in fast food restaurants."
Kerry has pledged to create 10 million new jobs and cut the
deficit in half, McAuliffe said.
Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry would help
jump-start the country's economic engine by aiding the middle
class and small businesses with tuition credits, health care
credits and tax cuts for 98 percent of taxpayers, McAuliffe said.
The Kerry campaign also pointed out in a release that 20,240
Nevada households filed for bankruptcy in 2003, a 48 percent
increase from 2000. And state households have seen increases in
family health care premiums, gasoline costs, college tuition and
child care costs, the campaign noted.
McAuliffe also criticized Bush's decision to allow the Yucca
Mountain project to proceed, saying that Kerry has a 16-year
history of working with Nevada to fight the dump.
While Bush promised to wait for "sound science" before
proceeding with the dump, McAuliffe said there are still
questions about the safety of transporting nuclear waste to the
site and keeping it contained in the mountain.
"As a resident of Nevada, I would like a scientific study done
if I'm going to bring up my family," he said. "I'd be very
concerned. I'd think twice about it and I'd be darned mad at the
commander in chief who promised me he wouldn't move it until it
was safe. It just goes to the deception of George Bush."
+ Bush brings presidential campaign to Nevada18 June 17:52:39
*****************************************************************
45 Las Vegas SUN: Editorial: Nuke dump silence
June 19, 2004
LAS VEGAS SUN
WEEKEND EDITION
June 19 - 20, 2004
President Bush visited Reno on Friday and talked a lot about
what he sees as a national economy on the rebound, but he said
nary a word about his plans to send nuclear waste to Nevada's
Yucca Mountain. Of course, Bush fears talking about the Yucca
Mountain project, which is reviled in this state. Compounding
matters for Bush is that his advocacy of such an unsafe location
as Yucca Mountain directly contravenes his pledge to Nevadans
during the 2000 campaign that he would use "sound science" in
judging the site's suitability to contain 77,000 tons of
high-level nuclear waste.
If Bush doesn't believe Nevadans' argument that the Yucca
Mountain project has huge problems, you'd think he would at
least listen to the concerns expressed by the Nuclear Waste
Technical Review Board, whose members are appointed by the
president. Less than two weeks ago this group of independent
scientists warned Congress in a report that the Energy
Department is pushing ahead with a dump despite the board's
concerns that its current design is vulnerable to corrosion,
which could allow radioactive waste to escape into the
environment. But we're not holding our breath that Bush, whose
lack of intellectual curiosity has been well established, will
even bother to be briefed about this report.
It's obvious to us that if George Bush gets re-elected, his
plans to build a nuclear waste dump in Nevada will accelerate no
matter how much information continues to come out about how
unsafe it would be to do so.
*****************************************************************
46 Las Vegas SUN: Bush brings presidential campaign to Nevada
June 18, 2004
By BRENDAN RILEY ASSOCIATED PRESS
RENO, Nev. (AP) - President Bush focused on the Iraq war and the
economy in a campaign speech Friday - avoiding any comment on
his unpopular support for a nuclear waste dump in Nevada.
The president's 40-minute speech to a cheering, partisan crowd
of nearly 10,000 touched on a few Nevada-related issues, such as
his support for $300 million in federal funds for cleaning up
Lake Tahoe and legislation to ease fire hazards by thinning
forests.
Bush even teased himself for mispronouncing the state's name
during a Las Vegas stop last fall, this time stating it
correctly and then saying, "You didn't think I'd get it right,
did you?"
Bush was introduced by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who called the
Iraq war "a fight between right and wrong, good and evil - and
it's no more ambiguous than that."
Bush continued the war theme, saying, "I will never relent in
bringing justice to our enemies. I will defend our country
whatever it takes."
On the economy, Bush said 1 million jobs had been created in the
past 100 days thanks to his policies and that the nation's
jobless rate was down.
In Nevada, 50,000 jobs were added in the past year, Bush said.
Criticizing Sen. John Kerry, the expected Democratic
presidential nominee, Bush said Kerry has been in Washington,
D.C., long enough "to take both sides on just about every
issues."
Secretary of State Dean Heller, one of several GOP officials to
speak in advance of Bush's arrival, put it more bluntly, saying,
"John Kerry changes his position more often than a Nevada
prostitute."
After the speech, Gov. Kenny Guinn and state Attorney General
Brian Sandoval said they told Bush they'll continue fighting the
proposed nuclear dump at Yucca Mountain, but still support him.
"It's not certainly our only issue," the GOP governor said.
"We've had that issue for 20 years, and it's come through a lot
of presidents."
Sandoval and Guinn also said they remain hopeful the state's
legal battle will succeed in blocking the dump from opening 90
miles northwest of Las Vegas.
Democrats contend Bush's backing of Yucca Mountain broke a
promise he made as a candidate in 2000 to ensure science and not
politics determined the dump's future. Bush approved Yucca
Mountain after winning the presidency, even though many
scientific studies remained unfinished.
It was the second visit to Nevada by Bush as president, who
arrived after appearances in the state of Washington.
McCain accompanied Bush as a sign of Republican unity. Earlier
in Fort Lewis, Wash., the popular Republican senator who has
rebuffed overtures from Kerry to be the Democrat's running mate
praised Bush's efforts in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"You will not yield and neither will he," McCain told troops
just back from the battlefield.
Bush later met with wounded soldiers and families of others who
died in recent combat.
Outside the Reno convention center, about 600 Democrats and
Kerry supporters rallied. Opponents of the war in Iraq and foes
of the Patriot Act joined Democrats protesting the president's
Yucca Mountain decision.
"He lied to the citizens of Nevada and he did it for partisan
political gain," Terry McAuliffe, Democratic National Committee
chairman, said by telephone Friday.
Bush campaign chief Marc Racicot has said he doesn't know
whether Bush's support for the nuclear waste dump will tighten a
race already expected to be close.
Nevada's registered voters are almost evenly divided between
Republicans and Democrats. In 2000, Bush won the state's four
electoral votes by 4 percentage points, 50-46, over Al Gore.
Nevada will have five electoral votes this year.
Racicot said Nevada residents "know the president has been
entirely honest with them" about Yucca Mountain, and the
campaign's hope is that they will understand "their obligations
and duties" in helping resolve the problem of nuclear waste that
has collected for years in 39 states.
After his speech, Bush was to fly back to the Camp David
presidential retreat for the weekend.
On Sunday, Vice President Dick Cheney is scheduled to fly in to
Las Vegas and deliver a speech Monday in Henderson about the
economy.
---
On the Net:
Bush campaign: http://www.georgewbush.com
Kerry campaign: http://www.johnkerry.com/
--
*****************************************************************
47 Bradenton Herald: Nelson vows EPA support for Tallevast
| 06/19/2004 |
KEVIN O'HORAN
Herald Staff Writer
TALLEVAST - Adding his voice to a growing chorus, U.S. Sen. Bill
Nelson, D-Fla., is calling for federal regulators to take an
active role in making sure contamination around the former
American Beryllium Co. plant is cleared away.
Touring the neighborhood Friday, Nelson told residents that the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency must use its legal muscle to
make sure poisons that have fouled the area's groundwater are
cleared quickly and completely.
"If it makes it any safer or quicker for residents, then I'm
going to get EPA in it," said Nelson, a first-term senator
elected in 2000.
The comments came during a public meeting in Tallevast that
included Nelson and Florida Sen. Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, and a
throng of bureaucrats. The session was punctuated by a tour of
Tallevast during which residents pointed out specific concerns.
Nelson earned approving nods from community members when he
chastised Florida regulators for being slow to notify residents
and outright smiles when he informed them he already had
persuaded EPA leaders to lend the agency's support and expertise.
The folksy senator didn't offer specifics of what the federal
agency would bring to the table but said that would come soon
from James Palmer, director of EPA's Atlanta-based Region IV
office, which oversees projects in Florida and other southern
states.
"He has assured me," Nelson said of Palmer, "that he's going to
work with all of us, and he will present to us a paper as to
federal involvement."
Many Tallevast residents have been waiting to hear such words.
They have publicly stated their distrust of Florida regulators,
noting the state's Department of Environmental Protection knew
about the contamination in January 2000 but failed over the years
to notify the community.
Word of the poisonous release didn't reach residents until
November, and not until they noticed a series of test wells and
official vehicles in the neighborhood and grilled officials with
Lockheed Martin Corp. for answers.
Already worried that cancer-causing beryllium dust released from
the plant during three decades of operation had sickened them,
residents now feared the specter of cancer-causing solvents like
trichloroethylene reaching their private wells.
"It's been my concern over time as to why we're not notified, as
residents of this community, of things like this happening
earlier on," Billy Ward, a lifelong resident of Tallevast, said
to Nelson during a question-and-answer session.
Nelson's response was blunt.
"There is no excuse for you not to be notified," he said.
Galvano echoed the thought, adding that he's keeping close watch
on an internal DEP push, as reported first by the Herald on
Thursday, that would write into state law a quicker and more
complete notification process for residents.
That push would require any company that finds contamination
off-site to alert the property owner and/or renter, immediately
search for wells in the area, notify local government agencies
and inform the public when a cleanup plan is in place.
"It's my hunch that's not going to be enough," Galvano said, then
added he already has penned draft legislation "that's going to
hold DEP's feet to the fire."
*****************************************************************
48 Bradenton Herald: State seeks other Tallevast spills
| 06/20/2004 |
Watchdog group says continued DEP search nothing but a tactic
KEVIN O'HORAN
Herald Staff Writer
TALLEVAST - A mish-mash of poisoned wells alongside clean wells
in the Tallevast community has officials looking for pollution
sources in addition to the former American Beryllium Co. plant,
even as critics cry foul.
Florida regulators say they have to expand the search after
recent tests showed the mix of contaminated and clean water in
the area. Detractors say the work is little more than an effort
to deflect attention.
"It is a tactic often used by state regulatory agencies who are
trying to support the responsible party," said Connie Tucker, a
program director with the Southeast Community Research Center, an
Atlanta-based watchdog group.
"I've seen it before. It's almost like they want to look at
anything else other than what the obvious polluting source is."
Regulators at Florida's Department of Environmental Protection
scoff at the claim, arguing that the wider search is needed to
make sure they find all sources of pollution, key to making sure
that all groundwater contamination is cleared away.
So far, only the 1600 Tallevast Road plant has been fingered as a
source. Officials with aerospace giant Lockheed Martin Corp. have
acknowledged finding - and accepted responsibility for -
contamination at the site in January 2000.
That included finding petroleum residues in soil on the eastern
half of the five-acre property, and heavy metals and
grease-cutting solvents in groundwater beneath the plant's
northeastern reaches.
Later tests revealed solvents like trichloroethylene in the
groundwater on-site and immediately north and east of the
facility, but residents didn't learn about the cancer-causing
toxins until November and only after approaching Lockheed.
Tests to define spread
Fearing for their health, residents in mid-May convinced
regulators and Lockheed officials to test Tallevast-area private
wells for signs of contamination.
At best, regulators and executives viewed the tests as a way to
bolster their claims that the wells were clean and the community
safe. At worst, they reasoned, the tests would help define the
limited extent of solvent spread.
In reality, they've done neither.
"It isn't consistent," Gail Rymer, a Lockheed spokeswoman, said
of the groundwater contamination found so far. "It's way, far
away but clean in between. When you look at that, the data aren't
pointing to any one source."
Roughly half the drinking water, irrigation and study wells
tested so far have one or more solvents - trichloroethylene,
predominantly - at levels deemed unsafe by state codes. But
there's little rhyme or reason as to which wells contain
solvents.
The solvents show up in some wells adjacent to the plant, but not
others. They show up under, next to and hundreds of feet from the
plant but not everywhere in between.
Solvent levels run high and low in samples adjacent to and
distant from the plant, and water runs clean in samples gathered
neighboring and removed from the site.
In short, there's not the evenly dispersed spread typical of a
continuing release to flowing water - picture dripping ink
steadily into a moving stream - nor the gradually declining
levels seen from a single spill.
"In the course of knowing how groundwater moves, you might expect
there to be some offsite impacts," Rymer said, "but not like
this."
Search for a chemical link
Puzzled by the well findings, administrators at the Florida
Department of Environmental Protection asked Lockheed to head
back to the field for more tests on more wells.
Essentially, that process will involve testing groundwater
farther and farther from the sole identified source - the
American Beryllium plant - gradually working out from the plant
to find where the solvent contamination drops off to acceptable
levels.
Meanwhile, DEP will work on finding other sources, if any exist.
Crews last week rolled into the area to gather more samples for
the agency. DEP scientists then would try to pinpoint the source
by comparing what chemicals they find in the samples against what
compounds businesses in the area have used.
"There would be a way through the kind of constituents we find to
determine if it was linked to the former American Beryllium
facility or linked to another source," said Merritt Mitchell, a
spokeswoman for DEP's Tampa office.
"Other potential sources," she added, "that is something that the
department is looking into."
And Lockheed is watching - intently.
"Obviously," Rymer said, "Lockheed Martin would be interested."
Tucker, whose group works with health and environmental issues
across the southern states, also remains interested. Just for a
different reason.
"There is a pattern of state regulatory agencies, especially in
southern states, cooperating with the polluter rather than living
up to the mandate of protecting the public health," she said.
"It appears that regulatory agencies are trying to reduce the
liability for the company by trying to blame other sources."
So far, though, neither DEP nor Lockheed officials have pointed
the finger at any other source. And in the end, that "other"
source might wind up being American Beryllium itself.
Knowing of one spill or leak at the plant, and unable to as yet
pinpoint when it happened, Lockheed's Rymer couldn't rule out
other spills over the years, spills that might have created
random pockets of pollution flowing with the groundwater through
Tallevast.
"I really can't speculate on that," Rymer said.
*****************************************************************
49 heraldtribune.com: Feds coming to clean up Tallevast
Southwest Florida's Information Leader
Zoom
More photos [Picture]
STAFF PHOTO / PHIL DIEDERICH /
From left, U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson chats with Laura Ward and Wanda
Washington during a tour of the Tallevast neighborhood Friday.
Nelson: EPA to the rescue
The U.S. senator says the federal agency is coming to help clean
up soil and ground-water pollution in Tallevast.
By SCOTT CARROLL
scott.carroll@heraldtribune.com
TALLEVAST -- Local and state officials have done such a poor job
cleaning up pollution here that the federal government will step
in to help, Sen. Bill Nelson said Friday.
Nelson said he spoke to Environmental Protection Agency Director
Mike Leavitt this week and was assured that the agency will
participate in the cleanup in this south Manatee County
community. Leavitt will decide the specifics of the EPA's
involvement next week, Nelson said.
Soil and ground-water pollution at the former American Beryllium
Co. plant, a department of defense contractor, was first
discovered in 1997, but state officials never notified residents
and still haven't approved a cleanup plan.
"It's inexcusable that there's been these kinds of delays. That's
why I've gone to the EPA," Nelson said Friday during a walking
tour of the community. "I will do everything in my power to speed
things up."
State Rep. Bill Galvano, who said he'll work to change state law
so residents find out sooner about pollution in their
neighborhood, accompanied Nelson.
Recent tests found potentially dangerous chemicals in 17 private
wells here, and arsenic has shown up in the soil outside one
home. Ground-water pollution has also been discovered at a second
former manufacturing plant and at a nearby gas station.
Residents say the pollution, which they may have been exposed to
for decades, is responsible for a high rate of cancers and other
ailments in the community.
They say they have mixed feelings about the offers of help. They
are happy to hear that federal officials may help speed the
investigation and cleanup, but are dismayed that there are no
plans to test residents who may have been exposed to the
contamination.
State officials have said they plan to look at what effect any
current pollution may be having on residents, but won't perform
any medical tests or look at any problems that may have been
caused by long-term exposure.
"We have to base everything on science. We can't just guess what
was there," said E. Randall Merchant, who is heading up the
health assessment for the Department of Health.
C. Billy Ward, 62, a dentist and lifelong Tallevast resident,
said the government should begin testing people in the community
immediately.
"Really and truly, people are dying, and we don't have time to
wait," Ward said.
Wanda Washington, another lifelong resident, also said officials
need to focus more on people, instead Continued2 1 | 2
Last modified: June 19. 2004 12:00AM Missed a
the Herald-Tribune newspaper and SNN Channel 6 © Sarasota
Herald-Tribune. All rights reserved. Starting first parse .Build
*****************************************************************
50 AU Ninemsn: Commonwealth buckles on nuclear dump
11:54 AEST Sun Jun 20 2004
The federal government had buckled to threats of trespass and
called off contract work at the site of a proposed nuclear waste
dump in South Australia's outback, SA Premier Mike Rann said.
Commonwealth contract workers were scheduled to enter the site
near Woomera in SA's north and sink four wells for groundwater
testing.
But Mr Rann threatened to charge the workers with trespass if
they entered the site, saying his move prompted Canberra to
postpone the tests.
The Commonwealth recently made a compulsory acquisition of the
site after learning SA wanted to designate the area as a national
park, and thereby stop the dump being established there.
SA still owns the land pending its appeal of the compulsory
acquisition to the Full Federal Court.
"We will continue to do everything in our power to stop this
national radioactive waste dump from being built," Mr Rann said.
He said federal Science Minister Peter McGauran had "retreated"
on sending the contractors to the site.
"He talked tough, but when under pressure, he blinked," Mr Rann
said.
"It's an acknowledgement that the state government had every
reason to warn Mr McGauran that contractors moving onto the land
could be liable for actionable trespass.
"This land is still owned by the state government, unless the
Full Federal Court decides otherwise."
©AAP 2004
© 1997-2004 ninemsn Pty Ltd - All rights reserved Terms of use -
*****************************************************************
51 Berkley Statement: on "Reclassification" Of Funding for Yucca Mountain
June 16, 2004
The Bush Administration and Republican leaders in Congress are
pulling out all the stops in their effort to fund Yucca Mountain.
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.
I remain opposed to efforts that would reclassify funding for
Yucca Mountain and I will be working to rally support in the
House against allowing any such change to be included as part of
the FY 2005 Energy and Water Appropriations package.
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.”
439 Cannon HOB Washington, DC 20515 Phone - (202) 225-5965 Fax
- (202) 225-3119 2340 Paseo Del Prado, Suite D-106 Las Vegas,
NV 89102 Phone - (702) 220-9823 Fax - (702) 220-9841
*****************************************************************
52 Times-News Senators: Bill assures Idaho cleanup ...
www.magicvalley.com The Times-News | AG Weekly |
Monday, June 21, 2004 • Twin Falls, Idaho
But Kempthorne, others say South Carolina measure undermines
public confidence
Originally published Friday, June 18, 2004The Associated Press
BOISE -- Idaho's two Republican senators say they have left no
doubt that highly radioactive liquid waste must be completely
removed from a nuclear facility in eastern Idaho.
But Gov. Dirk Kempthorne remained concerned the Senate's support
of an Energy Department plan to reclassify similar waste in South
Carolina as "incidental," which permits its on-site burial, would
allow for the same reclassification in Idaho.
Against Kempthorne's recommendation, U.S. Sens. Larry Craig and
Michael Crapo voted earlier this month for the South Carolina
plan. They say it will not affect radioactive cleanup at the
Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory, and this
week inserted a provision in the legislation specifically stating
that it cannot be buried on site at the Idaho Falls facility.
"The language that the Senate passed two weeks ago regarding the
South Carolina cleanup did not affect Idaho, but now we have made
it that much more visible and obvious by stating that flat out,"
Craig said. "If people are still claiming doubt and confusion
about Idaho's tanks being implicated here, at this point, I don't
know what would satisfy them."
However, Kempthorne still has concerns about waste
reclassification, said his spokesman, Michael Journee.
"The governor hasn't changed his position at all," Journee said.
Kempthorne still worries that the South Carolina plan undermines
public confidence by reinforcing fear that the government wants
to walk away from its nuclear waste cleanup responsibilities,
Journee said. Kempthorne favors a House version of the bill that
does not endorse the South Carolina plan.
Assurances for lawmakers
Meanwhile, the head of the Energy Department's cleanup program
told lawmakers Thursday that the agency is committed to removing
99 percent of the nuclear waste in underground tanks at INEEL and
other sites, and anything less is "off the table."
Assistant Energy Secretary Jessie Roberson told a Senate hearing
in the nation's capital that she saw no chance that as much as 10
percent of the waste might be kept in the tanks -- even if the
department is allowed to keep residual sludge at the bottom of
the buried containers.
The assurance came as Roberson was pressed by senators about the
cleanup of highly radioactive waste left over from decades of
plutonium production for nuclear weapons at INEEL, the Energy
Department's Hanford nuclear reservation in Washington state and
in South Carolina.
Eleven tanks at the INEEL hold 900,000 gallons of liquid waste
from the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel. Should the tanks
leak, they could threaten the regional aquifer below that
supplies water to much of southern Idaho and feeds the Snake
River. Cleaning them up is a state priority.
A federal judge last year ordered the nuclear waste, or sludge,
could not be reclassified, must be removed and eventually stored
at the proposed permanent waste dump in Nevada. After that
decision, $90 million earmarked for cleanup at the INEEL was
withheld.
While Crapo and Craig bucked Kempthorne on the sludge, they
convinced the Senate to order the Energy Department to release
that cash as the governor wanted.
That was something the House had not done until this week when
the House Appropriations Committee approved a similar directive
for the money to be released.
That, combined with an extra $50 million for research and other
activities at INEEL, demonstrates "a genuine support for the
future" of the Idaho site, U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson said.
In light of the federal judge's ruling last year, the Energy
Department has been trying to convince Congress to reclassify the
residual sludge as having a "low level" of radioactivity. That
would allow the department to mix the sludge with a cement-like
grout and not remove it.
Roberson, who is leaving her job next month for personal reasons,
sought to allay some of the states' concerns at Thursday's
hearing before the Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., told Roberson he had been informed that
the department was considering leaving as much as 10 percent of
the waste and "dangerously high" levels of radiation in the
Hanford tanks.
Unless the state agrees to something different, Roberson said,
"99 percent is what we're living by ... I don't see any chance
that we're going to go to (disposing only) 90 percent."
Wyden said he was encouraged but not totally satisfied by the
assurance and asked for it in writing. Sen. Maria Cantwell,
D-Wash., also wanted a guarantee that the Energy Department would
stick to the 1 percent.
"That is our commitment," Roberson said.
Not convinced
Some environmentalists, when asked to respond to Roberson's
assurances, questioned the significance.
"One percent of what?" said Tom Cochran, a nuclear waste expert
at the Natural Resources Defense Council. He argued that a small
amount of waste volume left in the tanks could have a large
percentage of the radioactive intensity in a tank.
Geoff Fettus, an NRDC lawyer who brought the successful lawsuit
challenging the Energy Department's attempt to reclassify tank
waste without congressional action, said "what they plan to leave
behind in the tanks has been a moving target." In court papers
the department said it would remove "as much as economically and
technically feasible," said Fettus.
On a related issue, Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., told Roberson
that, should residual radioactive sludge be allowed to be kept in
the tanks, he was concerned that the Energy Department -- and not
the Nuclear Regulatory Commission -- would determine whether the
grout-sludge mixture met NRC criteria to leave it behind.
"I would feel much more comfortable if the NRC made the decision
on whether its own criteria had been met," Bingaman said.
Roberson said she was confident waste left in the tanks would
have a low enough radioactive intensity to classify it as
low-level once mixed with the grout. "We believe we are not
leaving high-level waste in the tanks," she insisted.
Copyright © 2004, Lee Publications Inc.
Magicvalley.com is an on-line division of The Times-News,
published daily at 132 W. Fairfield St.,
Twin Falls, Idaho 83301 by Lee Publications, Inc., a subsidiary
*****************************************************************
53 deseret news: Karras, Huntsman scowl at N-waste
[deseretnews.com]
Saturday, June 19, 2004
By Donna Kemp Spangler Deseret Morning News
Utah's years-long heated battles over nuclear waste won't be
ending anytime soon.
Both Republican candidates for governor are opposed to a
plan to temporarily store high-level nuclear waste on the Skull
Valley Band of Goshute Indian Reservation. And neither one of
them wants to see radioactive-waste giant Envirocare of Utah
allowed to dump "hotter" low-level radioactive waste than what
its current license allows at its landfill in remote Tooele
County.
"I strongly oppose any hazardous or radioactive waste of
a higher degree of toxicity allowed into Utah storage
facilities," Jon Huntsman Jr. said in response to a Deseret
Morning News questionnaire posted on the Web site,
www.deseretnews.com.
State regulators have given approval to Envirocare for a
license to take so-called "Class B and C waste," which are
primarily by-products of decommissioned power plants and
thousands of times hotter in radioactivity than what is now at
Envirocare. But the company must also receive the Legislature's
and governor's blessing. A task force of lawmakers studying the
issue are recommending the 2005 Legislature not to allow
Envirocare to take the waste.
But it's not the death knell; the governor has the final
say. Gov. Olene Walker and her predecessor, Mike Leavitt,
opposed Envirocare's plan.
It appears the gubernatorial candidates are as well.
"No, I oppose allowing any further hotter waste to be
stored in Utah," Nolan Karras said, without further comment.
Envirocare officials are disappointed but not surprised.
"It's a little disappointing," said Tim Barney, senior
vice president of Envirocare. "We'll continue to educate them on
the advantages and that there is no health and safety issues."
Tooele County leaders have expressed concern about
Huntsman's position on the matter.
In a recent letter to Huntsman, Tooele County
Commissioners and lawmakers representing Tooele, said
prohibiting Class B and C low-level radioactive waste could have
a significant impact on Tooele County's economy.
The letter was in response to comments Huntsman's running
mate, Gary Herbert, said on a radio talk show.
Environmentalists have entered the fray to make sure
Huntsman doesn't change his mind.
"We urge you to maintain your commitment to keep
higher-levels of nuclear waste out of Utah," Jason Groenewold of
Health Environment Alliance of Utah (HEAL) wrote to Huntsman and
Herbert.
E-mail: donna@desnews.com
© 2004 Deseret News Publishing Company
*****************************************************************
54 FSJ: Scientists conclude no link between modern-day uranium mines
and cancer
Fort St. John - canada.com network
Canadian Press
Friday, June 18, 2004
SASKATOON (CP) - Scientists have concluded that low radon gas
levels in newer Saskatchewan uranium mines make it impossible to
determine if exposure to the gas is linked to lung cancer, says
an industry report.
"Today's Saskatchewan uranium miners have radon exposures that
are between 100 and 1,000 times lower than those of past uranium
miners . . . because of dose limits, improved mining techniques,
and other radiation protection practices," said a Canadian
Nuclear Safety Commission news release.
"Any higher-than-normal rates of lung cancer from such workplace
exposures would be virtually impossible to measure."
Released on Friday, the feasibility study on miners at
Saskatchewan's Cluff Lake, Rabbit Lake, Key Lake, McArthur River
and McClean Lake mines was done by the Canadian Nuclear Safety
Commission, various Saskatchewan government agencies, and mining
companies Cameco and Cogema.
The study suggests that exposure to radon gas at these mines is
no different than exposure to radon levels in someone's basement,
said Michel Cleroux, spokesman for the commission that regulates
Canada's nuclear industry.
"Out of any population there will be people who get lung cancer,
but you would have no idea if this had anything to do with the
radon in the mines, the radon in their homes, or with air
pollution because the amount of radon they get in the mines is so
low," Cleroux said.
"This was a feasibility study and what it said was that on modern
mines you would be studying nothing."
But critic Bill Adamson of Saskatoon said he is not surprised the
industry is not interested in further studies.
"It's more of the same," said Adamson. "They've been neglecting
that area for quite some time and don't want to know what's
happening."
Adamson said he questions whether workers today are exposed to
that much less radon gas than those who first mined uranium in
the 1940s.
In 1993, a federal-provincial panel on uranium mining recommended
ongoing health studies of past, present and future uranium miners
to see if there is a correlation between radon gas inhalation and
lung cancer.
Cogema's radiation safety expert Dale Huffman said the companies
will continue to track miners' yearly exposure to radiation.
Cameco spokesman Lyle Krahn says Canadian standards allow for a
uranium worker to receive up to 20 millisieverts of direct
radiation exposure in the course of a year and no more than 100
millisieverts over a five-year span.
Despite a flood at the McArthur River mine last year where some
workers were exposed to an influx of radioactive water, Krahn
said workers there still showed a dose of only one to three
millisieverts for all of 2003.
Krahn says that level is similar to what people get from
above-ground background radiation.
(Saskatoon StarPhoenix) © Copyright 2004 The Canadian Press
Copyright © CanWest Interactive Inc. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
55 The Scientist: Frontlines | Recycling the Energy of Waste,
Volume 18 | Issue 12 | 14 | Jun. 21, 2004 Previous | Next
Every resource carried onto a manned spaceship is precious,
because it costs hundreds of dollars to lift each pound of
material past Earth's surly bonds. Now that NASA is in the
process of planning a trip to Mars that might take up to two
years, no type of recycling can be overlooked. One thing that can
provide three basic raw materials (water, energy, and fertilizer)
needed for a long space journey: human waste.
Most methods of recycling organic waste involve the production of
methane, a flammable gas that can easily turn a closed spaceship
into a roman candle. That's why NASA awarded a $100,000 (US)
grant to Bruce Rittmann, an environmental engineer at
Northwestern University, Evanston, to build a microbial fuel cell
that generates electricity from sewage.
Such fuel cells function like a conventional fuel cell, except
that individual bacterial cells split electrons from a food
source and transfer them to a metal anode. The electron stream
turns into electricity when it comes into contact with a cathode.
In Rittmann's model, the microbe used is Geobacter
metallireducens, an extremophile first discovered in the Potomac
River in 1987. He hopes to have a working prototype no bigger
than a test tube one year from now. He also hopes to better
understand the basic biology of these bacteria. "Right now we
know what they are doing, but we don't know how they're doing
it," he says. "That's what we want to find out." --Sam Jaffe
© 2004, The Scientist LLC, All rights reserved. Previous | Next
*****************************************************************
56 L.A. Daily News: Officials order rapid cleanup of plane gauges
Radiation is 100 times normal
Article Published: Saturday, June 19, 2004 - 10:45:12 PM PST
By Kerry Cavanaugh Staff Writer
Federal officials have launched a $7 million emergency cleanup of
radioactive contamination at a North Hollywood warehouse,
removing more than 1 million vintage airplane gauges that were
painted with radium to illuminate them during night flights.
Tests conducted in May show radiation levels inside the warehouse
at 10800 Burbank Blvd. -- where boxes of gauges are crammed into
a maze of 12-foot-high shelves -- are 100 times greater than
background for the area. Radiation in the outdoor storage yard is
about 10 times greater.
"We found that the material that's at the site, especially that
in the yard, was posing a hazard to human health and environment
at the sidewalk," said Pete Guria, chief of the Environmental
Protection Agency's emergency response section for the Western
region.
Though environmental regulators have known about the radioactive
gauges at Preservation Aviation since the 1990s, EPA staffers
were surprised by the high readings and immediately began moving
the boxes of radioactive gauges away from the fence line to lower
the levels near the sidewalk. They also installed
around-the-clock security.
The EPA will begin removing the hot instruments for disposal at
a radioactive waste dump in mid-July at an estimated cost of $7
million. Officials hold out little hope of recouping any of the
cost from the company or landowner.
Aviation historians oppose that plan, saying the gauges and
dials are vital to maintaining the thousands of World War II
planes still in operation.
"That's the stock of literally thousands of planes in the world.
It's not something that should be taken lightly and thrown away,"
said Tom Garcia, a retired airplane mechanic and volunteer with
the Commemorative Air Force, which aims to preserve World War
II-era planes.
EPA officials hope to have an aviation historian or expert from
the Smithsonian Institution on hand to help survey the gauges.
But environmental regulators say it will be expensive and
time-consuming to sort through gauges, and they don't want the
radioactive instruments simply stockpiled someplace else.
"They can get in people's hands that don't know what they have
and they can hurt themselves," Guria said.
Radium is a naturally occurring radioactive metal found at low
levels in rocks, soil, water, plants and even animals. Once
considered a miracle ingredient and used in toothpastes, hair
tonics and medicines, radium and its byproducts are now know to
cause cancer.
Purified radium glows in the dark and was commonly used to
illuminate markings on clock faces and gauges. Intact radium
gauges or watches don't pose a problem. But cracked, they can
release particles or dust, which if inhaled can cause cancer over
the long term.
Since the 1950s, the small red brick warehouse on Burbank
Boulevard has housed a growing inventory of aircraft parts.
Originally called Pen Air Parts, the owner, Alec Faulks, was a
dealer in government surplus aircraft instruments.
Preservation Aviation owner Jeffrey Pearson bought the inventory
in 1996 but never got around to getting a complete accounting of
the gadgets stored floor to ceiling.
Most of the instruments were from the World War II era, said
Charles Quilter II, a friend and aviation historian who spoke on
behalf of Pearson. Quilter estimates about 6 percent of the
pieces in the warehouse contain radium.
The California Department of Health Services found out about
Preservation Aviation's cache in the 1990s after a gauge sold by
the business triggered a radioactivity monitor at a metal scrap
yard.
Investigators traced the gauge back to the North Hollywood
company and discovered radiation was twice the health and safety
limit. Radon, which is formed from decaying radium, was found at
25 times the limit.
The state estimated between 30,000 and 300,000 radium gauges in
the warehouse and figured 10 percent were broken and
contaminated. However, the EPA puts the number of gauges at 1
million.
The state prohibited anyone from entering the warehouse and
ordered Preservation Aviation to get rid of the broken gauges and
decontaminate the building. Cleanup efforts were slow, and
frustrated county officials this year asked the EPA to get
involved.
Quilter said the company's cleanup plans were dismissed by the
state. Pearson is applying for a license to keep his radium
instruments.
"He wants to get his work going again," Quilter said. "His main
goal is to get out the 95 percent of the stuff that doesn't have
radium in it." Most of the instruments came from U.S. military
planes, and state regulators had hoped the Department of Defense
would clean up the property. However, the military declined.
Kerry Cavanaugh, (818) 713-3746 kerry.cavanaugh@dailynews.com
Copyright © 2004 Los Angeles Daily News
*****************************************************************
57 tvnz.co.nz: Nuclear group revives efforts
Fri Jun 18 11:12
The New Zealand branch of the group International Physicians for
the Prevention of Nuclear War is reviving its efforts following
renewed National Party interest in US ship visits.
The group was active in the nuclear stand off in the 1980s and
now argues New Zealand's anti nuclear legislation must be
retained to support the principles of nuclear disarmament and
nuclear safety. Its chairman Nick Wilson says he believes the
public supports the legislation so he can't see the point of
having a referendum as proposed by the National Party.
Wilson adds that the US removed nuclear wepaons from its Pacific
fleet after the Cold War, but reserves the right to put them
back.
*****************************************************************
58 I Tube Talk: Israel scientist Mordechai Vanunu on BBC World's
'World Uncovered'- Indiantelevision.com's Tube Talk
Indiantelevision.com's
(19 June 2004 5:00 pm)
This Saturday World Uncovered presents an exclusive TV
interview with Israel's nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu
at 1:40 pm and on Sunday 20 June on BBC World.
BBC World's weekly documentary strand, The World Uncovered,
presents an exclusive television interview with the former
Israeli scientist Mordechai Vanunu, in which he talks about his
18 years in jail for leaking photographs of the Dimona nuclear
reactor.
The images, handed to and published by the British newspaper The
Sunday Times in 1986, led experts to conclude at the time that
Israel had the sixth largest stockpile of nuclear weapons in the
world.
Although Vanunu, now 50 years old, has recently been released
from prison, the Israeli authorities insist he still possesses
state secrets and must not leave the country or speak to
foreigners.
In the interview, the whistleblower describes the circumstances
surrounding his arrest and responds to the charges made against
him that led to his sentence for spying.
Of his imprisonment, Vanunu says: "To move from being a free man,
walking in the streets of London, and to find yourself in a cell
is a huge fall, like you are falling from a very high building to
the ground. You lose everything...but the most worst is a special
case, my case, not to be as a prisoner as other prisoners, and
free to talk or use the phone. They put a lot of restrictions
from the beginning...they put a light, 24 hours for two years,
the light in my cell. I could not sleep well."
Made by an independent production company Magnetic North, the
interview also reveals many of the hidden facts about the
incident and the whistleblower.
© 2001- 2005 Indian Television Dot Com Pvt Ltd. All Rights
Reserved.
*****************************************************************
59 AU ABC: Israel bans British journalist after Vanunu interview.
21/06/2004. ABC News Online
"Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Israel has banned a British journalist from entering the country
because it believes he poses a security risk due to his
connection to nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu, an Israeli
official has said.
Interior Minister Avraham Poraz decided to bar Peter Hounam
from Israel after concluding the journalist "could act in Israel
to reveal sensitive and important information that could harm
national security", a ministry spokeswoman said.
Mr Hounam, who broke Mr Vanunu's account of Israel's nuclear
secrets in Britain's Sunday Times newspaper in 1986, left
Israeli officials red-faced last month after he was briefly
arrested for helping arrange a television interview with Mr
Vanunu.
Mr Vanunu was barred from having contact with foreign reporters
for six months when he was released from prison in April.
He served an 18-year prison term for espionage and treason for
his revelations about Israel's nuclear program.
Israeli officials accused Mr Hounam of bypassing the ban by
arranging for an Israeli journalist to interview Mr Vanunu for a
report that was broadcast on the BBC and published in the Sunday
Times last month.
Mr Hounam's 1986 interview with Mr Vanunu, a former technician
at Israel's Dimona atomic reactor, led independent analysts to
conclude the Jewish state had amassed between 100 and 200
nuclear weapons, the makings of a military superpower.
There was no immediate comment from Mr Hounam, who left Israel
shortly after his arrest by the Shin Bet security service last
month.
An Interior Ministry source said the decision to bar Mr Hounam
was taken after he applied to re-enter Israel.
-- Reuters
© 2004 Australian Broadcasting Corporation
*****************************************************************
60 The Columbian: Opinion: Clean Up First
www.columbian.com
Sunday, June 20, 2004
Columbian editorial writers
There's a bucket of reasons why Hanford's B Reactor would make a
marvelous museum. But there's another reason about 53 million
gallons' worth why it's a bad idea right now.
Turning the B Reactor into a museum would take money. And
using any amount of public dollars for a museum distracts from
the underfunded cleanup efforts of 177 underground tanks full of
radioactive waste.
It has been leaking into the groundwater just 10 miles from
the Columbia River for decades. So much so that when scientists
discovered bacteria living in the toxic sediment beneath the
tanks last month, Fred Brockman, a staff scientist at an Energy
Department research lab, told The Associated Press, "I believe
it's the most radioactive soil ever studied, with regards to
bacteria, in the world."
While the bacteria found is a major discovery that can help
us learn how microorganisms survive contamination and might even
be useful in cleaning up toxic messes, the words "most
radioactive soil" aren't encouraging.In fact, they stress the
urgency Washingtonians, Oregonians and other concerned people
feel that the site be cleaned up as quickly as possible.
An underground radioactive plume continues to make its way
toward the river. And contamination near Hanford has already been
detected at levels as much as 1,400 times the federal drinking
water standard.
Regardless, museum proponents are seeking federal dollars to
help the B Reactor become a full-fledged tourist attraction. For
years, the reactor has been a controlled-access museum. Public
tours of the site have been available, but are infrequent and
limited to adults given the hazards of the site. Since the Sept.
11 terrorist attacks on America, tours have been cancelled.
Thankfully, DOE has told museum seekers "no." Even last week,
after museum proponents got a boost from the Washington Trust for
Historic Preservation, which named B Reactor to the 2004 Most
Endangered Historic Properties, DOE reiterated that it cannot
take on the museum project.
Energy Department spokesmen have also said, and we agree,
that the government's lack of ability to shift any amount of
money or resources from cleanup efforts to the tourist industry
doesn't mean the hope that B Reactor becomes a museum some day
shouldn't be kept alive.
Hanford is a marvel. It was the world's first large-scale
nuclear reactor. It made the plutonium that would end World War
II. The B Reactor was such an important, brilliant, dangerous
place that it came with top secret assignments. As workers of the
facility in the 1940s point out, children didn't even know what
their dads did at work.
All this rich history is better kept alive with the B Reactor
preserved. But that cannot be done at public cost, especially
when Hanford's dangerous waste still threatens our way of life.
The Columbian
Copyright © 2004 by The Columbian Publishing Co. P.O. Box 180,
Vancouver, WA 98666. No part of this publication may be stored
*****************************************************************
61 Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Sludge removal begins at Hanford
[seattlepi.com]
Saturday, June 19, 2004
Starting work is 'a major accomplishment'
By SHANNON DININNY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
YAKIMA -- Workers at the Hanford nuclear reservation have begun
removing radioactive sludge from pools of spent nuclear fuel, a
move widely considered a significant step forward in cleanup
efforts at the contaminated site.
The indoor pools of water, known as the K East and K West basins,
once held 2,300 tons of spent nuclear fuel about 400 yards from
the Columbia River. More than 90 percent of the fuel has been
removed.
What remains in the basins is sludge from corroded spent nuclear
fuel stored in the huge water-filled basins, along with dust,
dirt and sloughed material from the basin walls.
Work on removing sludge began late Thursday, the Energy
Department said.
"That's a major accomplishment for us. It's been difficult
getting this particular evolution under way, but yesterday we
were able to pump our first unit of sludge, and it's gone like
clockwork and we're very proud," said Keith Klein, the Energy
Department's Richland operations manager.
The Energy Department missed a legal deadline established under
the 1989 Tri-Party Agreement -- the legal pact governing cleanup
at Hanford -- to begin removing the sludge by Dec. 31, 2002.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency fined the department
$76,000 last year. The Energy Department and regulators reached a
new agreement last month.
"This is a significant risk reduction for Hanford," said Larry
Gadbois, environmental scientist for the EPA. "Yes, it is very
late starting, but finally we're getting done what needed to be
done."
More than three-fourths of the 50 cubic meters of sludge inside
the basins is located in the leak-prone K East basin.
Under the new agreement, K East basin sludge must be removed by
Jan. 31, 2006, and K West basin sludge must be removed by June
30, 2006.
All fuel, debris and water will be taken out of the K East basin,
and the basin itself will be removed by March 31, 2007.
The other basin will be removed by spring 2009.
The previous plan called for total removal by July 2007.
But the new plan also requires that the sludge be treated before
being shipped out of state to New Mexico's Waste Isolation Pilot
Plant, a national waste repository.
The previous plan had called for the sludge to be eventually
removed from the basins and stored in containers at Hanford
before being shipped away.
"It will be a long journey, but the first step is always the
hardest, and that's what we celebrate this week," said Ron
Gallagher, president of Fluor Hanford, the contractor handling K
Basin cleanup.
[Seattle Post-Intelligencer] 101 Elliott Ave. W. Seattle, WA
98119 (206) 448-8000
Send comments to newmedia@seattlepi.com ©1996-2004 Seattle
Post-Intelligencer Terms of Service/Privacy Policy
*****************************************************************
62 Hanford News: DOE says it will clean up 99 percent of Hanford waste
This story was published Friday, June 18th, 2004
By Les Blumenthal, Herald Washington, D.C., bureau
WASHINGTON - The Bush administration will honor its current
commitment to clean up 99 percent of the radioactive waste stored
in the underground tanks at Hanford, the head of the Energy's
Department's environmental management office told a Senate
committee Thursday.
Under persistent questioning from two Democratic senators, Jessie
Roberson, a DOE assistant secretary, said the administration
would abide by the so-called Tri-Party Agreement that governs the
Hanford cleanup. That agreement, between the Energy Department,
the federal Environmental Protection Agency and the state of
Washington, calls for removal of 99 percent of Hanford's tank
waste.
For months, the department has been pushing Congress to allow it
to rewrite the definition of high-level nuclear waste, a change
that could mean only 90 percent of Hanford's tank waste would be
removed. Washington state has opposed such a move.
"I need a yes or no answer," Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., said
in questioning Roberson during a Senate Energy and Natural
Resources Committee hearing. "DOE will pursue, live with and
clean up all but 1 percent of the tank waste at Hanford?"
"That is our commitment," Roberson said.
In earlier questioning from Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Roberson
appeared to waffle a bit, explaining that while DOE supports the
Tri-Party Agreement, it might "evaluate other options" when it
came to the Hanford tank waste.
But Wyden wouldn't let up.
"Is there any chance you will go to 90 percent?" Wyden said.
"I don't see any chance we will go to 90 percent," Roberson said.
Asked by Wyden whether she would make that commitment in writing,
Roberson said she would.
Though Wyden said he thought Roberson's remarks were
"encouraging" and "constructive," Cantwell said in an interview
after the hearing that she remained skeptical.
Cantwell pointed out that Roberson announced her resignation
Tuesday, which she said makes a written commitment all the more
important.
"I've learned to take them at their word, but to stay on top of
them," Cantwell said.
Cantwell said the issue of how much waste will be left in the
Hanford tanks has been discussed for about two years and the
department could have reaffirmed its support for the Tri-Party
Agreement at any time during those discussions.
"We asked them numerous times and they wouldn't commit," Cantwell
said. "You have to wonder, why suddenly did they do it today?"
The hearing was expected to focus on worker safety issues at
Hanford, but instead was dominated by the department's plan for
accelerating the cleanup at Hanford and other nuclear defense
sites and on the tank issue.
Roberson defended the department's accelerated cleanup effort and
said it is not coming at the expense of worker safety or of
leaving more waste behind.
"There are some who say that accelerating cleanup means that we
are cutting corners and exposing our workers to more hazards,"
she said. "That is not the case. In fact, the opposite is the
case.
"There are others who say that accelerated cleanup means a dirty
cleanup. That could not be further from the truth," Roberson
said. "Our cleanup will be protective of the environment and
fully support the future use of the site."
At one point in the hearing, Roberson choked on tears as she
talked about the accomplishments of her staff.
But Cantwell and Wyden were pointed in their criticism of
accelerated cleanup, particularly at Hanford.
"The charade the department is engaged in is very clear,"
Cantwell said. "DOE doesn't want a scientific debate, it wants
carte blanche."
Wyden said DOE's notion of accelerated cleanup was to just "walk
away" from significant safety, health and environmental issues.
Roberson wouldn't yield.
"We don't have the luxury to debate all the issues before us,"
she said. "We have to move forward."
© 2004 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
63 Hanford News: Increased access to Reach proposed
This story was published Friday, June 18th, 2004
By Annette Cary, Herald staff writer
More public access to the Hanford Reach National Monument was
recommended Thursday by a federal advisory committee that's spent
two years developing a proposal.
The committee proposed developing campgrounds and boat launches
on the Columbia River at each end of the Reach, some access to
the sand dunes at the downstream end of the Reach and a hiking
trail to the top of Rattlesnake Mountain. Some previously closed
land would be opened for limited public use.
In one exception to the committee's push to increase access, it
recommended eventually closing the White Bluffs ferry landing
site on the north side of the Columbia to launches of motorized
boats.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will turn the recommendation
into a plan that should be ready for public comment by late fall
or early winter. It's not bound to accept the recommendation of
its public advisory committee without changes, but has a record
of following most of its advice.
The Hanford Reach National Monument was created in 2000 out of
the horseshoe-shaped buffer zone around the Hanford nuclear
reservation where plutonium was produced during World War II and
the Cold War. It includes the last free-flowing stretch of the
Columbia River and some land that's largely been untouched by
humans since the 1940s.
Other areas of the monument have been used for recreation for
decades.
A wide variety of interests, from the Wanapum Band to promoters
of Tri-City tourism, have been waiting to see how protection of
plants, animals and American Indian cultural sites of the Reach
would be balanced against recreational use in a management plan.
When the monument was created, Bruce Babbitt, then interior
secretary, promised local input on a management plan.
The recommendation approved by the local public advisory
committee Thursday represents an important step toward the first
15-year plan.
It considered four proposals, picking the one that offered the
second most access to the public. But in a compromise hammered
out Wednesday night by a few members of the committee, it added
some features of the least- restrictive plan.
There were no dissenting votes Thursday from committee members
who represented interests including cities, counties, Washington
state, utilities, scientists, environmentalists, irrigators,
outdoor enthusiasts, conservationists, American Indians, the
public and economic development.
However, Rex Buck of the Wanapum Band and a few others on the
committee said they'd also like the public to see the second most
restrictive plan considered. It closed more than half of the
monument to public use.
Much of the discussion Thursday was about boat access to the
river.
A boat ramp and campground is proposed for the Vernita area on
the upstream end of the Reach and another boat ramp and
campground at the downstream end, likely near the Ringold fish
hatchery.
That would concentrate most development on the outer edge of the
Reach. Exact locations for development would be determined by
Fish and Wildlife.
Now there are primitive boat ramps at each end of the Reach.
The old White Bluffs ferry landing midway between the two would
be changed into a launch for non-motorized boats, such as canoes.
Motorized boats could still stop there, but not launch from the
site.
"It would leave the center of the Reach a quiet area," said Eric
Gerber, who represented science and academic interests on the
committee.
The old ferry landing site would also serve as a place where the
public, even without a boat, could visit to see the heart of the
Reach, with salmon jumping and great blue herons. It might
include an improved road, some information kiosks, a picnic area
and a viewing site.
"It's a place where we know why we created a monument," said
Karen Wieda, representing educational interests on the committee.
Boats could land at spots along the entire stretch of the Reach,
with some limitations because of archaeological or other cultural
sites, nesting areas and old nuclear reactors.
Some controlled access would be allowed at the sand dunes on the
downstream end of the Reach. Now boaters stop along the water
line of the dunes, but that's where public access ends.
The proposed management plan would allow people to explore the
dunes up to a couple miles away from the river. But the dunes
farthest from the shoreline would be closed to protect nesting
areas.
It's a proposal that concerned committee members.
With the fun of sliding down the dunes, it would be easy for the
public to "love it to death," said Kris Watkins, representing the
public on the committee. But if that happens, more restrictions
could be put in place, she agreed.
Others were concerned that marking boundaries for the end of
public access would be difficult on the shifting dunes.
Most of the Arid Lands Ecology Reserve, or ALE, south of the
river on the west side of Hanford would remain closed to the
public. A hiking trail, likely following the existing road, would
be opened to the area of the observatory on Rattlesnake Mountain.
Another trail might be created on the northern part of ALE so
hikers could see the vistas on the McGee Ranch area.
The Saddle Mountain Refuge north of the river that's now closed
to the public would be opened to public access. Hunting would be
allowed on a portion of it.
The Saddle Mountain area that's already open to the public would
get a road to an outlook on the top. A small portion at the
northern end would be restricted to preserve rare plants.
© 2004 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
64 Tri-City Herald: K Basin sludge removal begins
This story was published Saturday, June 19th, 2004
By Annette Cary, Herald staff writer
Work has begun to retrieve radioactive sludge from the K East
Basin, an important step toward removing the leak-prone pool and
protecting the Columbia River.
The project has been a major headache for the Department of
Energy and its contractor Fluor Hanford, which was supposed to
begin pumping sludge by the end of 2002. Fluor lost $3 million in
fees as it struggled to start the project and the Environmental
Protection Agency assessed a penalty of $76,000.
"It's been a painful process to get going," said Nick Ceto,
Hanford project manager for EPA. "We're glad to see them get
started."
The spent fuel and sludge held in the basins has been considered
one of the major environmental risks at Hanford.
Work to remove the sludge began late Thursday in one of the less
radioactively contaminated areas of the K East Basin.
"We are cutting our teeth on the North Loadout Pit," said Keith
Klein, manager of DOE's Richland Operations Office.
The K Basins' two indoor pools were built in the early 1950s
within 400 yards of the Columbia River and were intended for
temporary storage of spent nuclear fuel from the production of
plutonium for the nation's weapons program.
The K East Basin, long past its design life of 20 years, has
leaked contaminated water.
Some of the spent fuel, stored in the basins for nearly three
decades, has corroded, fallen apart and collected on the bottom
of the basins. With desert sand that's blown in and sloughing
concrete from the basin walls, it's formed a radioactive sludge
on the bottom of the pool.
The North Loadout Pit within the K East Basin holds back-washed
sand from a filter system that keeps water in the basin clear,
rather than corroding the spent fuel.
That's left the 8 cubic yards of sludge in the pit, or section of
the pool, less radioactive.
The sludge is being vacuumed out of the pit underwater through a
strainer to remove fuel scraps, then being put into large
containers. Water will be filtered out. The containers, inside a
transportation cask, will be taken to T Plant until the sludge
can be treated.
Treatment equipment is being installed in Hanford's 300 Area. It
should be ready by late summer to start combining the sludge with
grout and packing it into 400 to 500 drums to be shipped to an
underground repository near Carlsbad, N.M.
Removing the sludge from the North Loadout Pit is expected to
take three to six months.
The New Mexico repository now is certified to accept "contact
handled" waste such as the drums that will be filled with treated
North Loadout Pit sludge, but not the "remote handled" waste from
the rest of the K East Basin.
Starting work on the North Loadout Pit has the advantage of
getting some of the waste shipped off Hanford, said Ron
Gallagher, Fluor Hanford president.
"We also will have gained skills and knowledge on how to treat
the material," Gallagher said. "There's very little hands-on
experience in doing exactly what we are doing."
Fluor and DOE are continuing to work on a plan for treating the
rest of the 65 cubic yards of sludge in the K East and West
Basins. Grouting it appears viable, but Fluor will solicit other
technical ideas.
Proposed new deadlines for the K Basins do not set a start date
for the sludge removal. Instead, they call for completing the
removal of sludge from the K East Basin before February 2006 and
having the K West Basin sludge in containers before July 2006.
Significant progress has been made to remove the 2,300 tons of
spent fuel from the basins. Ninety percent of the fuel has been
removed and by the end of the month all the fuel will be out of
the K East Basin, Klein said.
That will clear the way to start sludge removal in the K East
Basin beyond the North Loadout Pit.
Fluor is designing a system to move the sludge from the K East
Basin to the K West Basin. That will allow work to proceed to
empty the water from K East, then remove the concrete basin.
Previous deadlines for sludge removal at the K Basins did not
cover treatment of the waste and shipping it off-site. Instead,
it was to be shipped for storage at T Plant, far from the
Columbia River in central Hanford.
The proposed new deadlines call for treatment of the sludge and a
commitment that it be shipped.
"It's a real win for all parties because it greatly accelerates
the completion date," Gallagher said. "This material is not going
to be stored for another generation to handle."
© 2004 Tri-City Herald, Associated Press &Other Wire Services
*****************************************************************
65 ANL: DOE ROD on Portsmouth project
Uranium Quick Fact
Weight of DOE DUF6 Inventory
The 704,000 metric tons of DUF6 contains about 476,000
metric tons of uranium and 228,000 metric tons of fluorine. In
English, that means over 1 Billion pounds of uranium and over 500
million pounds of fluorine! more facts >>
6/18/2004
Records of Decision to Follow
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Portsmouth/Paducah Project
Office (PPPO) has released the two Final Environmental Impact
Statements (EISs) for its Depleted Uranium Hexafluoride
Conversion Project at the Kentucky and Ohio gaseous diffusion
plants.
A separate EIS was conducted at Paducah and at Portsmouth. Each
Final EIS considers the environmental impacts, respectively, of
three locations at Paducah and three locations at Portsmouth, to
construct and operate the depleted uranium hexafluoride (DUF6)
conversion plants. The two plants will convert DUF6 to a more
stable chemical form, uranium oxide, based on the dry conversion
technology of Uranium Disposition Services, LLC (UDS), the
contractor selected to construct and initially operate the
facilities.
The DOE conducted a public review and comment period on the
draft EISs from November 28, 2003 to February 2, 2004, and held
public hearings in January 2004 at Portsmouth, Paducah and Oak
Ridge, TN. All comments received were reviewed and considered
during preparation of the Final EISs, and are included with the
documents.
The Final EISs considered alternative locations within the
respective DOE sites for siting of each DUF6 conversion
facility. At the Paducah site, the preferred alternative is a
35-acre area at the south side of the current plant boundaries
east of the main access road. The preferred alternative at
Portsmouth encompasses 26 acres in the west central portion of
the current plant boundaries.
The DOE will issue Records of Decision (RODs) no sooner than 30
days following publication June 18 in the Federal Register of
the Notices of Availability of the Final EISs.
To view the full-length documents and/or the summaries, visit
the section of this site. For further information, contact Laura
Schachter at (859) 219-4010 or Chris Kielich at (202) 586-0581.
*****************************************************************
66 Oak Ridger: Funding looking positive for Oak Ridge
Story last updated at 11:32 a.m. on June 18, 2004
THE SITUATION: Projects impacted range from neutron research to
the construction and demolition of facilities.
By: Paul Parson | Oak Ridger Staff paul.parson@oakridger.com
The 2005 Energy and Water spending bill includes $114 million for
a new storage facility for bomb-grade uranium at Oak Ridge's
nuclear weapons plant.
That's $50 million over the budget request, according to U.S.
Rep. Zach Wamp, R-3rd District.
Several other projects at the Y-12 National Security Complex got
funding boosts in the appropriations bill. With an increase of
$160 million above the budget request, the bill next goes up for
a vote on the House floor, with trips to the Senate and a joint
conference committee to follow.
An additional $80 million was included to demolish outdated
buildings, modernize production facilities and reduce the
footprint of Y-12 in order to streamline manufacturing and cut
security costs, according to Wamp. Also, an extra $30 million was
tacked on to an account that will be used to continue to fortify
security at the plant.
Wamp said the total budget request for local Department of
Energy-related activities is around $2.9 billion. The
appropriations bill also includes funding for the following
projects:
* Full funding of $113.6 million for continued construction of
the Spallation Neutron Source, which will be the world's most
powerful neutron research facility when completed in 2006.
* $42.3 million for science laboratory infrastructure, which will
continue modernization efforts at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
* An additional $30 million in the area of advanced scientific
computing - a benefit since ORNL will soon house the world's
fastest supercomputer.
* $17.81 million for the Center for Nanophase Materials Science
at ORNL, which will be the first of its kind and leverage ORNL's
unique neutron scattering capabilities.
* An additional $12 million in the area of fusion energy, which
will fund research addressing the backlog of domestic projects in
this field.
* $750,000 for the Energy Reliability and Efficiency Laboratory
that will be used to research and develop electricity
transmission and distribution technologies - among other things.
*****************************************************************
67 Google News Alert - nuclear
Date: Sat, 19 Jun 2004 14:08:42 -0700 (PDT)
IAEA Critical of Iran's Cooperation on Nuclear Inspections
NPR (audio) - USA
The resolution deplores Iran's failure to fully cooperate with IAEA inspectors
amid growing suspicions Tehran is pursuing a nuclear weapons program.
...
See all stories on this topic:
IRANIAN Nation Will Not Accept Restrictions On Nuclear Activities ...
Tehran Times - Tehran,Iran
... A Science, Research and Technology Ministry official asserted here
Friday that Iran will not allow anyone to restrict its nuclear research
capabilities by ...
PAKISTANI Experts in India to Hold Nuclear Talks
Aljazeerah.info
... 19 June 2004 — Experts from Pakistan and India were preparing yesterday
for talks in New Delhi on how to reduce the risk of an accidental nuclear
attack, six ...
See all stories on this topic:
ONTARIO Power Wants Decision on Nuclear Reactor, Star Reports
Bloomberg - USA
wants the province's government to decide on restarting a reactor at a
nuclear energy generating plant in Pickering, Ontario, the Toronto Star
reported. ...
See all stories on this topic:
INDIA-PAKISTAN conclude first day of talks on nuclear CBMs
Deepika - India
New Delhi, June 19 (UNI) Setting in motion a crucial expert-level dialogue
on nuclear confidence building measures (CBMs), India and Pakistan today
identified ...
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IRAN Determinded to Continue Isfahan and Arak Nuclear Projects
Tehran Times - Tehran,Iran
TEHRAN (MNA) –- Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Secretary Hasan
Rowhani, Iran’s main negotiator on nuclear issues, said on Saturday
that Iran is ...
AGENCY blasts Iran over nuclear program
Indianapolis Star - Indianapolis,IN,USA
Vienna, Austria -- The International Atomic Energy Agency rebuked Iran
on Friday for past cover-ups in its nuclear program and warned the Islamic
republic it ...
WHY Shouldn't Iran Seek Nuclear Weapons?
jihadunspun.com - West Vancouver,British Columbia,Canada
... Minister Kamal Kharrazi, in a pugnacious and defiant statement on the
eve of this week's major IAEA meeting to discuss his country's nuclear
ambitions, finally ...
SWALLOW, Bridgewater opposed to nuclear transport, testing
St. George Daily Spectrum - St. George,UT,USA
... GEORGE -- Discussions continue in Washington, DC, about a feasibility
study for a new generation of nuclear weapons -- a study some say will
bring the nation ...
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EXPERTS: Spread of nuclear materials makes 'dirty bomb' likely
The Olympian - Olympia,WA,USA
... States, since it will take authorities too many years to track and
secure the radioactive materials of such "dirty bombs," a team of nuclear
researchers has ...
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68 Google News Alert - nuclear
Date: Sun, 20 Jun 2004 13:16:50 -0700 (PDT)
INDIA and Pakistan set up nuclear hotline
Financial Times - London,England,UK
India and Pakistan on Sunday unveiled their first "confidence-building"
agreement on nuclear weapons since 1999 in a largely symbolic move that
will ...
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NUCLEAR capabilities a factor for regional stability: India, Pak
Newindpress - Chennai,India
NEW DELHI: Exactly six years after they conducted tit-for-tat nuclear tests,
India and Pakistan on Sunday successfully concluded their first official-level
...
SIX nations open nuclear talks today
Korea Herald - Seoul,South Korea
Amid low expectations for a breakthrough, participants in multilateral
nuclear talks open a fresh set of negotiations today in their efforts
to end the North ...
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IRAN plans to revive nuclear program
Minneapolis Star Tribune (subscription) - Minneapolis,MN,USA
TEHRAN, IRAN -- Iran will resume some nuclear activities that it suspended
under world pressure and is considering restarting the uranium enrichment
program ...
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INDIA, Pak to set up nuclear hotline
NDTV.com - New Delhi,India
... to establish a "dedicated and secure" hotline between their Foreign
Secretaries to prevent misunderstandings and reduce risks with regard
to nuclear issues. ...
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WORLD / Nation Briefs
Newsday - Long Island,NY,USA
IRAN SAYS NUCLEAR PROGRAM TO RESUME. Iran's top nuclear official said yesterday
his country will resume some nuclear activities ...
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IRAN to defy UN, resume nuclear activities
Seattle Times - Seattle,WA,USA
TEHRAN — Iran will resume some nuclear activities it suspended under
world pressure and is considering restarting the uranium enrichment, its
top nuclear ...
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INDIA, PAKISTAN SUSPEND NUCLEAR TESTS IN FUTURE
International Reporter - India
A Seven-Point Joint Statement was issued after two days of high level talks
in Delhi on Nuclear Confidence Building Measures. The ...
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SECOND phase of Indo-Pak nuclear CBM talks todau
GEO - World
NEW DELHI: India and Pakistan set to undergo second phase of talks on nuclear
confidence building measures (NCBMs) here on Sunday and in the first phase
of ...
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PUBLIC to weigh in on plan to sell Kewaunee Nuclear Plant
Green Bay Press Gazette - Green Bay,WI,USA
The company that wants to buy the Kewaunee Nuclear Plant has a good reputation
for nuclear plant management, but opponents of the sale say that’s not
the ...
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