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                         NUCLEAR POLICY
 
1 EurActiv.com Portal: Nuclear revival in Europe possible, but not sur
2 AFP: Powell meets NKorean FM to review nuclear proposals
3 AFP: Security forum backs bid to solve nuclear crisis as US and Nort
4 Korea Herald: Rice to visit Seoul Friday   
5 Korea Herald: [EDITORIAL]Formal N.K.-Japan ties   
6 Korea: Digital Chosunilbo: Rice Visit Seeks to Solidify the Korea-U.
7 KoreaTimes: Rice to Visit Seoul Friday 
8 AFP: US, NKorea inch closer on nuclear standoff as Powell meets FM
9 AFP: Major security forum opens with signs of easing of N.Korean
10 Asia Times: The case for withdrawal
11 ZNet Top
12 Mehr News Agency: Studying Resumption of Uranium Enrichment
13 AFP: US warns Pakistan's missile test plan revives dangers in South 
14 AFP: Pakistan joins Asia-Pacific security forum, vows to seek Kashmi
 
                         NUCLEAR REACTORS
 
15 US: NRC: NRC Announces Opportunity for Hearing on Application to Inc
16 US: Brattleboro Reformer: NRC sets Aug. 30 deadline for requesting h
17 Times of India: New N-unit is need of the hour - Army - 
18 Mos News: Bank Failure Endangering Nuclear Plants — Companies 
19 US: NEI: Nuclear Power Provides Needed Diversity to U.S. Energy Supp
20 US: YDR: NRC COMMITTEE: Meetings on reactor safety - 
21 US: TheDay.com: Dominion Hires Peters To Help With Millstone License
22 US: TheDay.com NRC: Activist Fails To Back Up Millstone License Disp
23 US: NRC: NRC to Meet with Pacific Gas &Electric to Discuss Diablo Ca
24 AFP: Philippines revives charges against Marcos ally over nuclear pl
 
                          NUCLEAR SAFETY
 
25 Bellona: Radiation source found in Urals
 
                         NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE
 
26 Las Vegas RJ: YUCCA MOUNTAIN PROJECT: Internet database missing docu
27 Las Vegas SUN: Energy Department's document claim disputed by Nevada
28 US: USNWTRB: reports
29 US: KLAS: New Concerns Over Nukes Transport Routes
 
                         NUCLEAR WEAPONS
 
 
                        US DEPT. OF ENERGY
 
30 Deseret news: Military lacks data about test ranges
31 DOE:DSBTFE:NIF close meeting 7/12/04
32 DOE: Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board, Savannah
33 Tri-City Herald: K East Basin's last canister leaves site 
34 Tri-Valley Herald: UC cited for safety violations at lab 
35 Oak Ridger: ORNL earns more research awards 							 							 							
36 Oak Ridger: UT, ORNL chiefs eye bright future 							 							 						
37 Oak Ridger: DOE waste truck cited in Oliver Springs 							 							 
38 Oak Ridger: Officials: No conflict of interest between firms 							
 
                          OTHER NUCLEAR
 
39 Google News Alert - nuclear
40 [DU-WATCH] anti-du poster
41 [du-list] DU in the news -  2 july 04
42 BBC: Nuclear fusion decision 'urgent' 
43 JOURNAL NEWS: Dobbs Ferry contributor to the first atomic bomb died 
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                         FULL NEWS STORIES
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 1 EurActiv.com Portal: Nuclear revival in Europe possible, but not sure

News nr 1507960
 	 	 	 	 
  Date: 02/07/2004 08:20      [back] [Homepage]   

 
In short:

 The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has published its 
report on the future of nuclear energy in the world, saying that 
nuclear could experience a revival due to concerns about climate 
change.                                 
 		   		 		 	 		 		 	   
Background:

 No energy source has sparked so much controversy as nuclear
energy. Celebrated in the 50s and 60s as the cheap and clean
energy of the future, the drawbacks quickly became obvious.
Since the explosion at the Ukrainian power plant in Chernobyl in
1986 spewed a cloud of radioactivity across Europe and the
Soviet Union, the risk of severe accidents has been weighing
heavily on public perceptions. Environmentalist movements have
ever since campaigned against the use of nuclear power on the
grounds of the dangers posed to the environment and human
health. 

Also in the 1980s, global concerns about climate change led to
the establishment of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC), which published a report concluding that the
increase in man-made greenhouse gas emissions being pumped into
the atmosphere would result in global warming by the next
century. In 1997 in Kyoto, Japan, over 150 nations adopted the
Kyoto Protocol, which commits industrialised nations to reduce
their greenhouse gas emissions by an average of five percent by
2008-2012 in an attempt to combat climate change. 

Many governments, mainly in Europe, have taken the decision to
phase out nuclear energy on account of safety issues. However,
international efforts to curb emissions have prepared the ground
for a potential revival of nuclear energy, as it produces
substantially fewer greenhouse gases than the burning of fossil
fuels such as gas or oil, by comparison with renewable energy
sources like wind or hydro energy. 
Issues:

 On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of nuclear energy, the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) issued a report on the
future of nuclear power in the world. 

Political decisions
 At the moment the future for nuclear does not look rosy in the
EU: four countries (Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and
Sweden) are planning to phase out nuclear power, and only
Finland is planning the construction of a new plant. The main
reasons for this are public perception and concerns about safety
and waste disposal, a relatively slow growth in electricity
demand and the existence of viable alternatives. However, the
IAEA does not rule out a revival of nuclear power in the near
future, emphasising that "the future of nuclear energy in Europe
[...] is still far from clear in a period when energy needs and
concerns over global warming are both rising". 

"The more we look to the future, the more we can expect
countries to be considering the potential benefits that
expanding nuclear power has to offer for the global environment
and for economic growth," said IAEA Director General Dr Mohamed
ElBaradei. 

Elsewhere in the world the situation is already quite different.
Especially in Asia, growing demand pressure and scarce national
resources are leading to an increasing reliance on nuclear
power. Some countries, such as Japan and South Korea, are
especially vulnerable to import disruptions of natural gas and
oil, while others, such as China and India, experience
increasing demand due to rapid economic and demographic growth.
The majority of new facilities are therefore currently built in
Asia. 

Costs
 Construction costs for nuclear installations are, compared to
other plants, very high. For existing plants, however, these
have in most cases been paid off, only leaving very low
operating costs. In a deregulated market place, this means that
any increase in productivity translates directly into profits.
As a result, nuclear plants tend to operate much more
efficiently today than they used to. 

For new plants, however, the high production costs and
regulatory hurdles are often seen as an unacceptable financial
risk. This problem is magnified in a deregulated market where
rapid returns on investment are preferable to long-term
commitments. As nuclear plants are up to three times more
expensive to build than fossil-fuelled plants, investors have
started to steer away from nuclear, favouring natural gas. This
is especially true in North America and Western Europe, where
electricity demand is growing relatively slowly and alternatives
are available. 

Nuclear safety and waste
 Nuclear safety and the treatment of nuclear waste are among the
principal concerns of anti-nuclear groups and governments
deciding to phase out nuclear. As nuclear power spreads to more
countries developing their own designs, the resulting
diversification makes it even more important to have
internationally accepted safety standards and to promote close
co-operation and knowledge sharing. In Europe, there have been
special concerns with the safety of some Soviet-designed nuclear
plants in Eastern Europe. The Convention on Nuclear Safety is
one of the key components of the global commitment. Moreover the
EU's Phare programme has focussed on nuclear safety in Central
and Eastern Europe. 

Another unresolved issue concerns nuclear waste: the spent fuel
coming out of a nuclear power plant is highly radioactive, and
it must be contained for tens of thousands of years. Today,
spent fuel is mainly stored on-site at the power plant, but
other solutions need to be found for long-term storage. One
possibility consists in burying high-level waste and spent fuel
deep into hard rock, salt or clay formations, which some
countries such as Finland have decided to do. 

The future of nuclear
 The IAEA regularly issues projections on the share of nuclear
power in the world's total energy mix, but as these estimates
depend on future political decisions in many countries, there
are two different scenarios: a 'low' and a 'high' projection. 

According to the 'low' estimate the amount of nuclear
electricity would increase each year until 2020, but at a slower
rate than other energy sources, which would make the share of
nuclear fall from the current level of 16 per cent to 12 per
cent by 2020. In the 'high' projection, nuclear power will
generate seventy per cent more electricity in 2030 than in 2002,
which represents a more steady growth but does not increase the
share of nuclear in the overall power mix. 
Positions:

 The OECD's International Energy Agency (IAE) predicts a much
bleaker picture for nuclear energy in its World Energy Outlook
2002, saying that the role of nuclear power will decline
markedly, because few new reactors will be built and some will
be decommissioned. According to the IAE, the share of nuclear in
electricity production will peak at the end of this decade, then
decline gradually from 17 per cent in 2000 to nine per cent in
2030, with the biggest decline in North America and Europe.
However, the IEA also states that "some governments have
expressed renewed interest in the nuclear option as a means to
reduce emissions and to improve security of supply". 

James Lovelock, a renowned scientist, author and
environmentalist, famously published an article in the UK daily
the Independent entitled 'Nuclear power is the only green
solution' in May 2004. In the article, Lovelock advocates
nuclear as the only possibility available in the short term to
stop climate change. "By all means, let us use the small input
from renewables sensibly, but only one immediately available
source does not cause global warming and that is nuclear
energy," writes Lovelock. "Opposition to nuclear energy is based
on irrational fear fed by Hollywood-style fiction, the Green
lobbies and the media. These fears are unjustified, and nuclear
energy from its start in 1952 has proved to be the safest of all
energy sources. We must stop fretting over the minute
statistical risks of cancer from chemicals or radiation. [..] If
we fail to concentrate our minds on the real danger, which is
global warming, we may die even sooner." 

The Green lobby does not agree with the view that nuclear power
is the solution in the battle against climate change, as it does
not view it as a sustainable energy source. "Replacing fossil
fuel fired power stations with nuclear energy simply replaces
one fundamental environmental problem with another. It is clear
that nuclear power remains particularly dangerous and difficult
to control," says WWF. "The entire commercial chain of
processing nuclear materials produces a highly toxic legacy for
thousands of years to come. Moreover, the creation and handling
of highly toxic nuclear products and the unsolved issue of safe
storage of waste demonstrates the unsustainability of the
technology". 
Next steps:

 

Links: 

Time-saving overviews: 
  + LinksDossier: Energy outlook 

Official documents: 
  + Commission/DG TREN: The future of nuclear energy in the
European Union (23 May 2002) 
  + Commission/DG TREN: Nuclear Issues 
  + Commission/DG RELEX: Nuclear Safety in Central Europe & the
New Independent States 
  + CORDIS: IAEA looks to the future following 50 years of
nuclear power (28 June 2004) 

EU Actors' positions: 
  + International Atomic Energy Agency: Nuclear Power's Changing
Future (26 June 2004) 
  + International Atomic Energy Agency: Nuclear Power - an
evolving scenario 
  + International Atomic Energy Agency: Double or Quits? The
global future of civil nuclear energy 
  + International Atomic Energy Agency: Nuclear Energy among
choices facing the bigger EU 
  + International Energy Agency: World Energy Outlook 2002 -
Executive summary 
  + Electricité de France: Bienvenue dans l'espace Infos
Nucleaire 
  + Foratom: Nuclear Power and Climate Change 
  + James Lovelock (Independent): Nuclear power is the only
green solution (24 May 2004) 
  + WWF: Position statement on Nuclear Polwer (May 2003) 
  + Friends of the Earth: A comparison of CO2 emissions: nuclear
vs. non-nuclear European countries Press articles: Independent,
CNN/Reuters   		   	 

  © EurActiv 2000 - 2003     	 	React to Section Coordinator   

                EWEA [http://www.ewea.org/] 
 	WWF [http://www.panda.org/resources/programmes/epo/] 
 	 	   
Section Sponsors
 [ExxonMobil] [EDF] 

*****************************************************************
 2 AFP: Powell meets NKorean FM to review nuclear proposals

[http://www.spacewar.com/]

JAKARTA (AFP) Jul 02, 2004

 US Secretary of State Colin Powell and North Korean Foreign 
Minister Paek Nam-Sun met here Friday to review proposals for 
ending their nuclear standoff in the highest-level talks between 
the countries in two years.

Both sides acknowledged that deep mutual mistrust stood in the 
way of a quick resolution to the crisis but reconfirmed their 
commitment to reaching a deal to rid the Korean peninsula of 
nuclear weapons.

"These are difficult negotiations, it just doesn't happen 
overnight," Powell told reporters after the meeting. "There's a 
great deal of mistrust between the United States and North Korea. 
We just have to work our way through this."

North Korea echoed these thoughts in an official statement that 
complained that "under present conditions ... there is no trust 
between the DPRK and the 

Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing, whose country has been 
organizing and hosting multilateral talks aimed at ending the 
crisis, also noted a "conspicuous absence of mutual trust."

"I believe we have to go on working to gradually let the two 
countries have more and more mutual trust and to find a 
solution," he said.

However, the North Korean statement did say that the two 
countries need not be "permanent enemies" if the United States 
dropped its "hostile policy" toward Pyongyang.

And, a North Korean official who spoke of deep differences 
between the sides said Paek and Powell had "agreed to work 
together to build confidence between the United States and the 
DPRK (North Korea)."

"On that basis we can work together," said Chung Sung-Il, deputy 
director of the North Korean foreign ministry's department of 
international organizations.

"Then I think we can find a solution."

US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Powell had 
told Paek that "there was an opportunity for concrete progress" 
and characterized the discussion as "useful."

Powell said his 20-minute discussion with Paek on the sidelines 
of a regional security forum had not involved negotiation but was 
intended to clarify proposals presented last week in Beijing.

A new US plan, unveiled at the third round of so-called 
"six-party talks" between the United States, China, Japan, Russia 
and North and South Korea, gives Pyongyang three months to shut 
down and seal its nuclear weapons facilities in return for 
economic and diplomatic rewards.

Although North Korea rejected the US proposal, participants in 
the six-party talks noted flexibility in the negotiations and 
agreed to meet again by the end of September.

According to the North Korean statement, Paek told Powell that: 
"If the United States is of the position to improve the bilateral 
relations, the DPRK also will not regard the US as a permanent 
enemy."

He said "simultaneous actions" -- US rewards for North Korean 
concessions -- were the only way to resolve the standoff that 
erupted two years ago when Washington claimed Pyongyang admitted 
to violating an earlier agreement to end its nuclear weapons 
programs.

"Particularly, (Paek) emphasized the importance of the United 
States making a commitment to renouncing its hostile policy on 
the DPRK and taking measures to reward directly by accepting the 
DPRK proposal on 'reward for freeze'," the statement said.

On Thursday, Powell had said the United States was willing to 
match North Korea "deed for deed" in the short-term but only if 
it first agrees to dismantle its atomic weapons and halt their 
development in line with the US offer.

"As we follow the principle of word for word and deed for deed, 
we have to see deeds before we are prepared to put something on 
the table," he said on the eve of his meeting with Paek.

Powell and Paek met briefly on the sidelines of the same security 
forum in July 2002 in what was the last face-to-face, 
cabinet-level contact between the two countries.

The crisis erupted three months later and deepened when North 
Korea pulled out of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in early 
2003.

Since then, the United States had demanded that North Korea 
dismantle its atomic weapons programs in a verifiable manner and 
refused to offer concessions until that was done.

But at the Beijing talks last week, Washington toned down its 
insistence slightly in a bid to show it was committed to a 
peaceful and diplomatic solution, Powell said.

The plan was the first significant overture to Pyongyang since US 
President George W. Bush took office in early 2001 and branded 
the North part of an "axis of evil" alongside Iran and pre-war 
Iraq.

Bush, who is up for re-election this year, had been strongly 
criticized by presumptive Democratic presidential candidate John 
Kerry for his hardline stance on North Korea.

Kerry has vowed to talk directly with North Korean leader Kim 
Jong-Il to end the crisis and suggested he might be willing to 
offer further concessions to Pyongyang.


  WAR.WIRE
*****************************************************************
 3 AFP: Security forum backs bid to solve nuclear crisis as US and North Korea meet

 [http://www.spacewar.com/]

JAKARTA (AFP) Jul 02, 2004

 A major Asia-Pacific security forum gave strong support Friday 
to new efforts aimed at ending the North Korean nuclear crisis, 
as the US and North Korean foreign ministers held rare talks on 
the sidelines of the meeting.

Members of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), in a statement after 
their annual meeting, "emphasised the importance of a 
step-by-step process of 'words for words' and 'action for 
action'."

The ARF foreign ministers also condemned terrorism as a worldwide 
threat, agreed to work together to improve transport security and 
urged army-ruled Myanmar to move towards democracy.

Their statement on the North Korean issue followed a promise from 
US Secretary of State Colin Powell on Thursday to match North 
Korea "deed for deed" in the process of dismantling its nuclear 
weapons programme.

Powell and his North Korean counterpart, Paek Nam-Sun, met 
privately early Friday and both sides indicated some progress was 
made. 

It was the first face-to-face cabinet-level contact since 2002 
between the United States and the secretive communist state, 
which Washington has branded as part of an "axis of evil."

Powell spoke of an "opportunity for concrete progress" after his 
20-minute meeting with Paek.

The North Koreans said that if the United States intended to 
improve relations, "the DPRK (North Korea) also will not regard 
the US as a permanent enemy."

Paek in a statement said the North was still committed to 
denuclearising the Korean peninsula peacefully.

ARF, whose membership rose to 24 after Pakistan joined on Friday, 
includes all parties involved in separate "six-party" talks on 
resolving the nuclear crisis -- the United States, China, Japan, 
Russia and North and South Korea. 

At the latest round of those talks last week, the US presented a 
new plan which gives North Korea three months to shut down and 
seal its nuclear weapons facilities in return for economic and 
diplomatic rewards.

ARF ministers supported the commitment of the six parties "to the 
goal of denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula and underlined 
the need to take first steps toward the goal as soon as 
possible."

Their closing statement described terrorism as "a threat to all 
peoples and countries" but also called for the battle against 
extremism to be waged in accordance with human rights.

Terrorism should not be identified with any religion or ethnic 
group, the ministers said.

ARF links the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian 
Nations (ASEAN) with 13 other Asia-Pacific states and the 
European Union. Southeast Asia has been hard hit by terrorism in 
recent years, with the Al Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah staging 
bombings in Indonesia and the Philippines. 

Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda told reporters ARF 
members also discussed maritime threats.

The piracy-prone Malacca Strait, through which about half the 
world's oil supplies pass, has been of particular concern, with 
the narrow waterway widely regarded as a potential terrorism 
target.

Wirayuda stressed the nations that border the Malacca Strait -- 
Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore -- had sovereign rights in the 
waterway, following a now defused row over US suggestions earlier 
in the year it was considering deploying forces to patrol the 
area.

On controversial member Myanmar, ARF ministers emphasised the 
continued relevance of the ARF chairman's statement last year -- 
which urged Myanmar to lift restrictions on democracy leader Aung 
San Suu Kyi. 

They also "urged Myanmar to take every action that would add 
substance to the expression of its democratic aspiration."

Powell and the EU had been pressing ASEAN to take a tougher line 
on Myanmar. The Southeast Asians, at their own meeting Wednesday, 
dropped public calls for the junta to release Aung San Suu Kyi.

Aung San Suu Kyi's party won elections in 1990 by a landslide but 
has never been allowed to rule and she has been excluded by a 
national convention that began in May and is tasked with drafting 
a new constitution.

AFR ministers also welcomed the reassertion of Iraq's sovereignty 
and emphasised the United Nations role in building democracy. 
They underlined the need for global co-operation in preventing 
the spread of weapons of mass destruction.

  WAR.WIRE
*****************************************************************
 4 Korea Herald: Rice to visit Seoul Friday   
 
2004.07.03
 
U.S. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice will visit Seoul 
Friday for talks with the nation's top leaders, the presidential 
office said yesterday. 

During her one-day stay, Rice will pay a courtesy call on 
President Roh Moo-hyun to discuss North Korea's nuclear weapons 
development, realignment of U.S. forces in Korea and other 
bilateral issues. 

"We expect that Rice's visit will be an occasion to enhance the 
cooperation between the two countries," presidential spokesman 
Kim Jong-min said. 

The U.S. office will also meet her counterpart Kwon Chin-ho and 
Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon. 

Her trip to Seoul is part of her Asian tour, the spokeswoman of 
the National Security Council said. 

(shj@heraldm.com)

*****************************************************************
 5 Korea Herald: [EDITORIAL]Formal N.K.-Japan ties   
 
2004.07.03
 
It is not clear what prompted Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro 
Koizumi to say on Tuesday that he would seek to normalize 
relations with North Korea during the next two years.

 It could have been domestic politics, given that Japan is set to 
hold elections for the House of Councilors on July 11. Or it 
could have been his personal ambition to have the loose ends of 
Japan's colonial past tidied up and to contribute to regional 
peace before his term in office ends in September 2006.

 No matter what the motivation, Koizumi did well to dust off the 
2002 Pyongyang declaration he signed with North Korean leader Kim 
Jong-il and to prepare for bilateral talks on the opening of 
official relations.

 It is far from normal that Japan and North Korea have not 
formally recognized each other as sovereign states yet, as the 
Japanese colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula came to an end in 
1945. Since it is long overdue to turn this abnormal state of 
affairs into a normal one, it is worthwhile to put a time limit 
on the negotiations, as Koizumi did, and strive to meet the 
deadline.

 There has been much talk about the opening of official ties 
since the Cold War ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union. 
But it was Koizumi, among all the Japanese prime ministers, who 
took the initiative for a breakthrough in the standoff.

 Back in September 2002, he made a historic visit to North Korea 
for his summit talks with Kim Jong-il. He laid the groundwork for 
bilateral talks on normalization by acknowledging and apologizing 
for the "huge damage and sufferings" that Japan inflicted on the 
Korean people during its past colonial rule.

 The Pyongyang declaration adopted at the end of their talks set 
the direction for future negotiations by calling on Japan to 
provide North Korea with grants in aid, plus low-interest, 
long-term loans and humanitarian aid, as a means of atonement.

 But the talks on normalization had hardly started before they 
were derailed over North Korea's abduction of Japanese nationals 
decades ago. Koizumi visited Pyongyang again in May this year to 
break the impasse and succeeded in bringing the abductees' 
families to Japan for resettlement.

 True, North Korea has yet to provide more information on those 
abductees, who it said were dead. But this should not pose a 
serious threat to future talks on normalization.

 As the kidnapping case showed, the negotiations on normalization 
will be vulnerable to negative outside developments. There is 
little doubt that Japan will choose to suspend them immediately 
if North Korea, for instance, threatens its security by lifting a 
self-imposed, five-year-old moratorium on test-firing long-range 
missiles, as the North did over the island nation several years 
ago.

 The negotiations will demand prudence on the part of North 
Korea, which will badly need Japanese economic assistance in 
turning around its moribund economy. They will also call for 
patience, both from North Korea and Japan, as they will be 
time-consuming and mind-boggling, if the similar talks between 
South Korea and Japan, concluded in 1965, are any guide.

 North Korea will also have to be flexible in the six-way talks 
on its program to develop nuclear weapons. Ultimately, it will be 
the outcome of the ongoing six-way talks that will determine the 
fate of the Japanese-North Korean negotiations on normalization.

 That was confirmed when Japan's Liberal Democratic Party said 
before the November 2003 general elections that Japanese-North 
Korean relations would not be normalized until North Korea's 
nuclear program was dismantled.

 Given these close links between the two sets of talks, it may 
not have been a mere coincidence that Koizumi expressed his 
desire for official relations with North Korea at a time when 
progress was being made in the six-way talks.

 
*****************************************************************
 6 Korea: Digital Chosunilbo: Rice Visit Seeks to Solidify the Korea-U.S. Alliance   
 
      Updated July.2,2004 18:40 KST   
 

  U.S. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice will visit
Korea on July 9 as a special envoy for U.S. president Bush, said
Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Kim Jong-min on Friday. 

Kim added "Rice will meet president Roh in order to negotiate
key issues for both nations, such as North Korea's nuclear
weapons and USFK reorganizations." 

In addition, Rice plans to meet Kwon Jin-ho, senior advisor for
national security, and the foreign minister of Korea, Ban
Ki-moon. 

Her visit to Korea is gathering attention because the six nation
talks on North Korea's nuclear weapons are showing signs of
progress and negotiations of USFK reorganizations are going into
full steam. Rice's visit to Korea is her second time. Her first
visit was in Feb. 2002, escorting U.S. President George Bush. 

Rice is expected to exchange views on the three big issues in
U.S.-Korean relations -- the additional Korean troop dispatch to
Iraq, redeployment of U.S. soldiers in Korea, and the North¡¯s
nuclear issue. Rice is considered one of the most influential
U.S. foreign policy decision makers. 

A high-ranking government official evaluated the significance of
Rice¡¯s visit, saying, ¡°The purpose of her visit is to
consolidate the shaky alliance of the two countries. Her visit
would contribute to stabilizing U.S.-Korean relations by
coordinating each other¡¯s opinions on the three big issues.¡±
This means that with anti-American feelings running higher in
Korea and anti-Korean feelings sprouting in the U.S., the U.S.
is trying to end misunderstanding between the two countries by
sending its highest security official. 

As a result, rather than discussing details on those issues,
they will exchange views to a degree while reconfirming the
dominant principle that the alliance between the U.S. and Korea
is solid, said the official. 

Rice will first meet with her counterpart Kwon Jin-ho,
Presidential National Security Advisor, before meeting with
President Roh to deliver a signed document from President Bush
and Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon to discuss pending issues. 

Some analysts said that the fact that she made a plan to meet
with the president and foreign minister shows that the U.S.
itself put importance on the stability of the U.S.-Korean
relationship. 

In particular, she is expected to express her gratitude for the
government¡¯s decision to push for the troop dispatch despite
the Kim-Sun-il incident. It has also been learned that she plans
to deliver condolences over the death of Kim on behalf of the
U.S. government. Regarding this, an official said, ¡°As far as I
know, the plan is made to show the Bush administration¡¯s
concern for the feelings of Koreans following Kim's slaying.¡± 

(Kwon Kyong-bok, kkb@chosun.com ) 

*****************************************************************
 7 KoreaTimes: Rice to Visit Seoul Friday 

Hankooki.com > Korea Times   

By Shim Jae-yun Staff Reporter 

U.S. National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice plans to visit 
Seoul July 9 in her title as the special envoy of U.S. President 
George W. Bush, Chong Wa Dae announced Friday.

 During her visit, Rice will pay a courtesy call on President Roh 
Moo-hyun to discuss pending issues such as the current impasse 
over North Korea¡¯s nuclear weapons program and the realignment 
of U.S. forces.

 ``We expect Rice¡¯s visit will help further solidify the 
cooperative relations between the two nations,¡¯¡¯ an official at 
the National Security Council said.

 Rice will also meet with Foreign Affairs-Trade Minister Ban 
Ki-moon and her Korean counterpart Kwon Jin-ho to discuss 
security issues.

 Seoul will be one of her destinations during a visit to Asian 
nations, the officials said. 

jayshim@koreatimes.co.kr 07-02-2004 17:51         
        
*****************************************************************
 8 AFP: US, NKorea inch closer on nuclear standoff as Powell meets FM

[http://www.spacewar.com/]

JAKARTA (AFP) Jul 02, 2004

 The United States and North Korea appeared to move closer to 
resolving their nuclear standoff as US Secretary of State Colin 
Powell and Pyongyang's Foreign Minister Paek Nam-Sun met here 
Friday in the highest-level talks between the countries in two 
years.

Powell and Paek spoke for 20 minutes on the margins of a regional 
security forum to go over ideas for ending North Korea's nuclear 
arms programs that were presented last week in multilateral talks 
in Beijing, the two sides said.

Powell "emphasized the (US) administration's proposals to move 
forward on dismantlement of North Korean nuclear programs," State 
Department spokesman Richard Boucher said.

"The secretary said there was an opportunity for concrete 
progress," he said, characterizing the discussion as "useful to 
help clarify each side's proposals."

North Korea said in a statement that Paek had told Powell the two 
countries need not be "permanent enemies" if the United States 
dropped its "hostile policy" to Pyongyang.

The message contained none of Pyongyang's standard bombast, but 
reiterated North Korea's staunch position that it wants rewards 
for giving up nuclear weapons.

It also lamented that there was now "no trust between the DPRK 
and the US," a sentiment repeated by a North Korean foreign 
ministry official who had earlier termed the US proposal 
"inappropriate" and "not reasonable."

"The most important thing is trust between North Korea and the 
US," Chung Sung-Il told reporters.

According to the statement, Paek told Powell that: "If the United 
States is of the position to improve the bilateral relations, the 
DPRK (North Korea) also will not regard the US as a permanent 
enemy."

Paek said "simultaneous actions" -- US rewards for North Korean 
concessions -- were the only way to resolve the standoff that 
erupted two years ago when Washington claimed Pyongyang admitted 
to violating an earlier agreement to end its nuclear weapons 
programs.

"Particularly, (Paek) emphasized the importance of the United 
States making a commitment to renouncing its hostile policy on 
the DPRK and taking measures to reward directly by accepting the 
DPRK proposal on 'reward for freeze'," it said.

On Thursday, Powell said the United States was willing to match 
North Korea "deed for deed" in the short-term if it agrees to 
dismantle its atomic weapons and halt their development in line 
with the new US offer.

"As we follow the principle of word for word and deed for deed, 
we have to see deeds before we are prepared to put something on 
the table," told reporters at a news conference on the eve of the 
annual ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF).

"We don't think this will take long," Powell said. "We don't 
think that what's been asked for would be very difficult to 
achieve."

The new US plan, presented last week at the third round of 
so-called "six-party talks" between the United States, China, 
Japan, Russia and North and South Korea, gives North Korea three 
months to shut down and seal its nuclear weapons facilities in 
return for economic and diplomatic rewards.

Although North Korea rejected the US proposal, participants in 
the six-party talks noted flexibility and agreed to meet again by 
the end of September.

Powell and Paek met briefly on the sidelines of the July 2002 ARF 
in Brunei in what was the last face-to-face, cabinet-level 
contact between the two countries.

The crisis erupted three months later and deepened when North 
Korea pulled out of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in early 
2003.

Since then, the United States had demanded that North Korea 
dismantle its atomic weapons programs in a verifiable manner and 
refused to offer concessions until that was done.

But at the Beijing talks last week, that insistence was toned 
down slightly in a bid to cement a consensus among the six 
negotiating nations.

"We showed flexibility in our position last week because we 
wanted our colleagues in the six-party talks to recognize the 
United States was seeking a peaceful, diplomatic solution," 
Powell said on Thursday.

The plan was the first significant overture to Pyongyang since US 
President George W. Bush took office in early 2001 and branded 
the North part of an "axis of evil" alongside Iran and pre-war 
Iraq.

Bush, who is up for re-election this year, had been strongly 
criticized by presumptive Democratic presidential candidate John 
Kerry for his hardline stance on North Korea.

Kerry has vowed to talk directly with North Korean leader Kim 
Jong-Il to end the crisis and suggested he might be willing to 
offer further concessions to Pyongyang.

  WAR.WIRE
*****************************************************************
 9 AFP: Major security forum opens with signs of easing of N.Korean
nuclear crisis

http://www.spacewar.com/]
 
JAKARTA (AFP) Jul 02, 2004

 An Asia-Pacific security forum which groups the world's major 
powers met Friday in the Indonesian capital amid signs of an 
easing in the main regional threat, North Korea's nuclear 
programme.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell and his North Korean 
counterpart, Paek Nam-Sun, met privately on the sidelines of the 
ASEAN Security Forum (ARF) and both sides indicated that some 
progress was made.

It was the first face-to-face cabinet-level contact since 2002 
between the United States and the secretive communist state, 
which Washington has branded as part of an "axis of evil."

ARF foreign ministers in their meeting called for denuclarisation 
on the peninsula. They also highlighted the threat of 
international terrorism and urged army-ruled Myanmar to move 
towards democracy.

Powell spoke of an "opportunity for concrete progress" after his 
20-minute meeting with Paek. The North Koreans said that if the 
United States intends to improve relations, "the DPRK (North 
Korea) also will not regard the US as a permanent enemy..."

Paek in a statement pledged that the North is still committed to 
denuclearising the Korean peninsula peacefully.

ARF, whose membership rose to 24 after Pakistan joined on Friday, 
includes all parties involved in separate "six-party" talks on 
resolving the North Korean nuclear crisis -- the United States, 
China, Japan, Russia and North and South Korea. 

At the latest round of six-party talks in Beijing, the US 
presented a new plan which gives North Korea three months to shut 
down and seal its nuclear weapons facilities in return for 
economic and diplomatic rewards.

Paek said "simultaneous actions" were the only way forward given 
the lack of trust between North Korea and the US. He called on 
the Americans to follow a "reward for (nuclear) freeze" policy.

ARF ministers in a draft statement supported the commitment of 
concerned parties "to the goal of denuclearisation on the Korean 
peninsula and underlined the need to take first steps toward the 
goal as soon possible," according to Indonesia foreign ministry 
official Makarim Wibisono.

He said they also emphasised the importance of a step-by-step 
process on words for words and action for action.

"In the past the North Koreans had always rejected a reference to 
denuclearisation but here they accepted the term denuclearisation 
so we have here a win-win situation," Wibisono told reporters.

ARF links the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian 
Nations (ASEAN) with 13 other Asia-Pacific states and the 
European Union. Southeast Asia has been hard hit by terrorism in 
recent years, with the Al Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah staging 
bombings in Indonesia and the Philippines and plotting attacks in 
Thailand and Singapore. 

Singapore's Foreign Minister S. Jayakumar said the forum should 
encourage moderate Muslim leaders to speak up against efforts by 
terrorists to hijack their religion to inflame hatred.

Powell and the EU are pressing ASEAN to take a tougher line on 
its controversial member Myanmar. The Southeast Asians, at their 
own meeting Wednesday, dropped public calls for the junta to 
release democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Makarim said ministers in their draft emphasised the continued 
relevance of the ARF chairman's statement last year, which urged 
Myanmar to lift restrictions on Aung San Suu Kyi. 

They underline "the need for the involvement of all strata of 
Myanmar society in the ongoing national convention. The matter 
has implications for the political development in the region."

Aung San Suu Kyi's party won elections in 1990 by a landslide but 
has never been allowed to rule. Myanmar's national convention to 
draft a constitution, which began on May 17, has been boycotted 
by the democratic opposition and described as a sham by 
international human rights groups.

"The ministers urged Myanmar to take every action that would add 
substance to its democratic aspirations," Makarim quoted the 
statement as saying. 

Makarim described the statement as important "because all this 
time they (Myanmar) have always argued that this is their 
internal affair. But now we have a paragraph that says this is 
not only your issue because there are implications for the 
region."

The meeting was to close later Friday.







         


  WAR.WIRE
  
   
*****************************************************************
 10 Asia Times: The case for withdrawal

Asia's most trusted news source for the Middle East
 		 		 		 		 		 		 		 		 		 		 		
 [http://www.atimes.com

Exiting Iraq: Why the US Must End the Military Occupation and 
Renew the War against al-Qaeda by Christopher Preble

Reviewed by David Isenberg 

Cutting and running is bad. One should stay the course. Unless 
one is chief civil administrator in Iraq L Paul Bremer, of 
course, in which case one can hop on a jet plane two days ahead 
of schedule and start negotiating a book deal. 

Nevertheless, despite the enormity of America's political failure 
in Iraq, just about everyone says that the US military forces, 
approximately 140,000 at present, must stay to provide security 
and ensure stability. Even liberals who should know better buy 
into this argument. For example, the Washington, DC-based Center 
for American Progress, founded by former Bill Clinton 
administration officials, issued a paper on June 28 recommending 
increasing the troop level of the multinational force to improve 
security. 

Well, almost everyone that is. Enter the Cato Institute, a 
Washington, DC think-tank which advocates libertarian policies. 
On June 30 it published the book Exiting Iraq: Why the US Must 
End the Military Occupation and Renew the War against al-Qaeda. 
The book, the product of a special task force of 10 foreign 
policy experts, calls for the expeditious withdrawal of all US 
forces from Iraq. This process, they argue, should begin now that 
the new Iraqi government has taken power, and end no later than 
January 31 next year, the time of nationwide elections. 

According to task force director Chris Preble, director of 
foreign policy studies at the institute, the invasion of Iraq has 
been bad for America. "We're worse off in two senses: We've 
weakened ourselves militarily and by diverting resources." He 
noted, "Neo-cons love to quote Teddy Roosevelt's famous saying 
about carrying a big stick, but always manage to neglect 
mentioning the first part of it, which is to speak softly." 

The point of the book is straightforward. A long-term military 
presence in Iraq undermines the very goals that the US hopes to 
achieve there. "It emboldens anti-American terrorists to expand 
their operations, both against the forces in the neighborhood and 
ultimately on American soil. And the presence of an American 
military garrison in Iraq weakens the forces of democratic reform 
by undermining an indigenous government's authority and 
credibility." 

According to the book, the US requires only three things of the 
new Iraq. Do not threaten the US; do not harbor anti-American 
terrorists; and do not develop weapons of mass destruction. If 
you don't everything is fine. If you do, then the US will be 
back. Or, as the book puts it, "We're out, and we are not 
responsible for your security. But we'll be watching you." 

While the second requirement might seem overtaken by current 
events, the book notes that Iraq is serving as a model recruiting 
ground for radical Islam and global jihad. It notes that "[Osama] 
bin Laden's struggle against the United States now resonated with 
tens of millions of Muslims. The danger posed by such resonance 
increases as the American occupation of Iraq continues and images 
of humiliation and oppression are broadcast around the globe." 

Task force member Charles Pena, director of defense policy at 
Cato, said, "Iraq has weakened America in the world. We're 
significantly worse off - radical Islam has spread." 

No matter how one parses it, the costs for continued US military 
occupation are high. An analysis released June 25 by the US 
Congressional Budget Office estimated the costs of military 
operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and other operations 
associated with the global "war on terrorism" in three different 
scenarios. 

In the most costly scenario, current force levels would be 
maintained in Iraq and other locations through 2006. After that 
force levels would gradually decline to about 69,000 personnel by 
fiscal year 2010. The budget required would total about US$392 
billion over the 2005-2014 period. 

In the next-most costly scenario, the occupation force in Iraq 
would increase to 190,000 service members for the 2005-2006 
period and then decline so that all US forces would be removed 
from Iraq by 2009. 

According to Pena, "Short of a large scale occupation we can't 
fix what is broken, whether it was by Saddam or the US." 

Given that the Bush administration some time ago substituted 
establishing democracy as the new rationale for invading Iraq, 
once it was clear there were no nuclear, biological or chemical 
weapons to be found, the book is succinct on what can be expected 
on that score. "The prospects for creating a liberal democracy in 
Iraq are bleak; the ambitious goal of creating even a stable 
illiberal government certainly cannot be achieved in the near 
term." In fact, such an effort "could foster the very type of 
political situation that the United States was aiming to avert by 
going into Iraq in the first place; namely, the creation of a 
hostile, unstable, Islamist government in the heart of the Middle 
East." 

To the book's authors, an American withdrawal would be a boon for 
conducting anti-terror operations against al-Qaeda and similar 
groups. They note it would allow the US to refocus its military 
and intelligence assets on the fight against terrorists who seek 
to murder Americans. 

The book observes that a continued occupation of Iraq will 
further stress an already shaken military force. For example, the 
issuing of stop-loss orders last November to prevent military 
personnel from leaving the service when their enlistments run out 
means that thousands of men and women won't be able to leave 
until the spring of 2005 at the earliest. About 40,000 had their 
enlistments extended against their will for some period of time 
in 2003. According to Pentagon officials, as many as 19,000 
troops were coved by such orders when figures were released in 
April 2004. 

Exiting Iraq: Why the US Must End the Military Occupation and 
Renew the War against al-Qaedaby Christopher Preble. Publication 
Date: June 2004, ISBN: 1-930865-64-3, price: $15.00, 96 pages. 

David Isenberg, a senior analyst with the Washington-based 
British American Security Information Council (BASIC), has a wide 
background in arms control and national security issues. The 
views expressed are his own.

(Copyright 2004 Asia Times Online Ltd. All rights reserved. 

*****************************************************************
 11 ZNet Top
More Terror War
 		   
War Atrocities From Manchuria to Abu Ghraib: The Lexicographers
 																	 												 	 	 
Notes From Ground Zero:
Power, Equity and Postwar Reconstruction in Two Eras
 	 	         
Mark Selden                             July 01, 2004         
        
President George W. Bush has repeatedly presented the American
occupation of Japan as the model for Iraq's democratization.
Does the Japanese occupation really illuminate contemporary
reconstructions in Iraq, Afghanistan and other contemporary
war-torn societies? Certain similarities do stand out: as in
Japan half a century earlier, the U.S. has proclaimed its
intention to return "sovereignty" to a democratic Iraq and
assure a democratic transition in Afghanistan while preserving a
dominant American military presence in both the Middle East and
Central Asia. Yet beyond this obvious similarity lie profound
differences in American strategy, goals and commitments, as well
as in the nations and peoples it seeks to "reconstruct" and the
problems encountered in the two regions and two eras. 
  
By June 16, 2004, U.S. and coalition deaths in Iraq were rapidly
approaching 1,000: 952 deaths included 836 Americans, 59
Britons, and nationals of 12 other nations. 694 of these deaths
occurred after Bush proclaimed victory in Iraq on May 1, 2003,
with the largest numbers occurring in April and May, 2004 when
138 Americans died. Since May 1, 2003, 5,134 U.S. troops have
been wounded in combat, but including non-combat injuries, the
total was 16,000. Yet these figures do not begin to convey the
scale of U.S. and coalition casualties or the range and depth of
military conflicts that continue in both Afghanistan and Iraq,
and that provide one important reason for an American
preoccupation with military affairs to the detriment of reform,
reconstruction and development. 
  
Since 2001, the Landestuhl Regional Military Center in Germany
has treated 11,754 soldiers from the "War on Terror" (including
Iraq and Afghanistan) including more than 1,000 for mental
problems.These figures exclude numerous "non-combat" injuries.
The number of Iraqis killed by U.S. forces since the beginning
of the Iraq War is far greater, but fearing a Vietnam-type
backlash, the U.S. occupation authorities provide no figures. A
November 2003 report by MEDACT, the British affiliate of
Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War and Physicians for
Social Responsibility estimated the number of Iraqis killed
since the March 2003 invasion at between 20,000 and 55,000. Iraq
Body Count placed the numbers of Iraqis killed by June 16, 2004
at between 9,436 and 11,317. All informed observers agree that
many of the dead are children. Neither of these estimates
includes much larger numbers of Iraqis who have died from such
mundane causes as the collapse of nutritional and medical
systems prior to and subsequent to the war. The numbers of
combat-related deaths soared in spring 2004 with American
attacks in Fallujah, Mosul and other Iraqi cities. 
  
In Afghanistan, the U.S.-appointed government of Hamid Karzai
exercises little influence beyond the capital of Kabul. Warlords
control most of the country while fierce fighting pits U.S. and
Pakistani forces against a resurgent Taliban and domestic armed
groups. In contrast to Iraq, U.S. authority in Afghanistan is
largely limited to the military sphere while the United Nations,
World Bank and various non-governmental organizations attempt
rebuilding with slender resources and a narrow vision of
reconstruction. 
  
The Japanese case offers a stark comparison. In six years of
occupation (1945-51), not a single member of the occupying
forces was killed and issues of security were quickly turned
over to Japanese police, allowing the occupation authorities to
concentrate on political and social reform, economic
restructuring, reconstruction, and development. Nor were
Japanese the victims of American attacks. 
  
We can translate the language of security into another set of
critical issues. The Bush administration views Afghanistan and
Iraq as the front lines in its "war on terror," the central
slogan that masks the U.S. conflict with the Islamic world. That
conflict coincides with efforts to assure U.S. military control
over the world's richest oil fields and to shore up the Israeli
state, factors that exacerbate anti-American feelings in both
Afghanistan and Iraq as well as throughout the entire zone of
conflict in Central Asia and the Middle East. The occupation and
reconstruction of Japan also provoked regional conflicts, but
those were enacted externally in Korea and Vietnam and, far from
undermining the reconstruction and reform agenda, may have
contributed to both. 
  
World War II, Postcolonialism, and the Cold War: The historical
origins of postwar reconstruction 
  
Ground Zero is a powerful metaphor for a world in ruins in the
wake of the atomic bombings that brought down the curtain on the
most devastating war in human history. Hiroshima and Nagasaki
invite reflection on the nature of that wider carnage that was
the product, in Michael Sherry's phrase, of a "technological
fanaticism" shared by major powers. That fanaticism reached new
heights in World War II in the run up to Hiroshima with the
triumph of strategic bombing that targeted urban populations for
destruction. In the final year of World War II, following the
lead of Germany and Britain, the U.S. systematically destroyed
scores of German and Japanese cities from the air, killing
hundreds of thousands of civilians. The strategy was perfected
under the command of Curtis LeMay in the course of incinerating
sixty-four Japanese cities prior to the annihilation of
Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The scale of the carnage, and the
strategic lessons that U.S. military planners would subsequently
apply in Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq, allow us to
extend the metaphor of Ground Zero to entire nations. 
  
World War II enshrined and normalized what is best described as
terror bombing because of its deliberate targeting of civilians,
a doctrine that would be extended and adapted by the U.S. to
other terrains and applied with new weapons such as the
destruction of dams and dikes in North Korea, the use of Agent
Orange as a defoliant in Vietnam, and depleted uranium weapons
and cluster bombs in the Gulf War. 
  
Yet World War II also positioned the U.S. to frame and
legitimate three humanitarian principles that have been at the
heart of postwar efforts to refashion the international legal
and human rights order. These were the Nuremberg principles, the
legitimation of anti-colonial struggles, and postwar
reconstruction. 
  
A key Nuremberg principle holds individuals, notably important
political and military leaders, personally accountable for
crimes of war and crimes against humanity, and declares that
perpetrators of these crimes should be formally tried rather
than summarily executed or excused. These constitute the
foundations for a new international human rights regime
enshrined and subsequently extended through the United Nations
and the Declaration of Human Rights. However, as the dominant
power behind the Nuremberg, Tokyo, and subsequent tribunals, and
as the protagonist in many of the major wars conducted since
1945, the U.S. has consistently excluded its own acts and those
of its allies from examination or punishment while invoking the
right to prosecute and execute its enemies. Moreover, as Edward
Herman and others have documented, in Vietnam and subsequent
wars, the U.S. systematically tortured and abused prisoners and
civilians in wartime, and over many decades it trained military
and intelligence personnel among its allies to do likewise in
violation of international human rights norms. With the George
W. Bush administration it went even further: Defense Department
lawyers, with an eye to Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse atrocities and
other war crimes, elaborated a strategy that explicitly claimed
presidential immunity from such treaties as the Geneva
Convention on torture. 
  
Finally, the U.S. articulated practices of postwar
reconstruction in which the victor contributed to the
rehabilitation of the vanquished as well as of its own allies.
The result was to reverse the dominant logic of war reparations
in which the defeated were customarily further bled by the
victors. Nevertheless, postwar reconstruction of defeated
industrialized nations became one pillar of a hegemonic strategy
designed to accelerate restoration of international trade and
investment while subordinating others militarily. The creation
of a network of permanent U.S. military bases and the stationing
abroad of U.S. forces provided the sinews for this vision. In
short, U.S. global power and legitimacy rested in part on the
framing of international human rights principles and new
approaches to postwar reconstruction and in part on military
primacy. 
  
Postwar reconstruction after 1945 was attuned to American
strategic priorities. The U.S. aided in the relief,
rehabilitation and reconstruction of defeated enemies, notably
Germany and Japan, while providing assistance to selected
European allies whose recovery was central to rebuilding the
world economy in line with American interests. By contrast,
former colonies, including many in ruins at war's end, were
largely excluded from reconstruction agendas and left to their
own devices. Reconstruction of a U.S.-centered world order
pivoting on core nations contributed to the prosperity of the
nations restored even as it served U.S. interests in global
trade. 
  
The U.S. entered the Japanese occupation with almost as little
familiarity with Japanese culture and society as it does in Iraq
and Afghanistan, but with far more careful preplanning and a
staff that included educated and dedicated professionals in a
wide variety of fields. The immediate issues confronting the
occupying forces then as now included guaranteeing security,
insuring peace, and providing relief for a nation in ruins. But
in Japan the victors were able to immediately turn their
attention to structural issues. 
  
Three factors were critical in eliminating internal resistance
to the occupation, thereby making possible immediate focus on
relief, rehabilitation, reform and reconstruction. First was
Japanese war-weariness after protracted mobilization, the
experience of aerial pounding of the homeland, and the loss of
two to three million soldiers in the course of the fifteen-year
war. Second, the U.S. decision to rule indirectly through a
Japanese government that retained the emperor as a symbolic
ruler left in place the primary institutions of governance and
structures of authority, however circumscribed by U.S. power.
Third, key occupation programs were widely embraced by the
Japanese people. 
  
Historical factors facilitated the swift implementation, popular
response, and positive results of many key reconstruction
measures. These included the advantages of rebuilding a
technologically advanced nation whose physical infrastructure
had been destroyed, but which retained largely intact
institutional, cultural, educational and technological
foundations; the discrediting of a political and military
leadership that had led the country to ruin and defeat; and
shared Japanese and U.S. interest in Japan's economic
resurgence, an interest that was soon strengthened by the Cold
War. Japan's postwar reconstruction and democratization could
also build on a tradition of active state initiatives in
charting major economic directions, while experiments with
democracy from the Meiji era forward similarly paved the way for
postwar democracy. 
  
A consensus between Japan and the U.S. emerged in the early
occupation years on a reform agenda that included the Peace
Constitution, demilitarization, land reform, labor reform,
democratization, and women's rights. Democratization was
premised on New Deal-inspired social reforms. Land reform broke
the power of the rural elite and gave large numbers of formerly
landless and land- poor farmers a material stake in the new
order. The percentage of owner-cultivated land increased from 54
percent to more than 90 percent as former tenants gained access
to land at low occupation-imposed prices, stimulating the rural
economy and providing social foundations for a democratic order
in the countryside. Independent cultivators then farmed 90
percent of all land and the number of landless tenants fell to
just 7 percent of farmers. Organized labor, crushed by the
previous military regime, emerged in force, empowered by new
labor laws. Women, too, won important rights, including the vote
and economic and social rights. 
  
In Iraq and Afghanistan, by contrast, social reform of all
kinds, including land, labor and gender, are strikingly absent
from the agenda, and in fact are anathema to the supply-siders
running the occupation, leaving a rhetorical emphasis on
democracy and a real emphasis on military control,
privatization, and war profiteering. In the absence of a reform
agenda that addresses the social crises in Iraq and Afghanistan,
democracy and reconstruction remain hollow promises. 
  
Yet for all its achievements in relief, rehabilitation, reform
and reconstruction, the Japanese occupation embodied
contradictory elements whose legacy, both positive and negative,
continues to this day 
  
Studies of postwar Japan have paid insufficient attention to the
intimate relationship between military power and the
reconstruction and reform processes that were the hallmark of
the occupation. The U.S. monopolized military power, including
nuclear weapons, as well as the military colonization of Okinawa
and the permanent basing of U.S. forces in a Japan that was
constitutionally barred from resuming a militaristic course. The
bonanza of Korean War procurements that fueled Japan's economy
from 1950 was critical to reconstruction. With the U.S. assuring
Japan's security, domestic investment could be concentrated on
economic, infrastructure and social reconstruction. The
occupation gave rise to a shared U.S.-Japan vision of an
economically robust and democratic Japan within the ambit of
American power in a post-colonial Asia divided along Cold War
lines. 
  
Not all Japanese occupation programs proceeded smoothly, of
course. Deadlock between different sections of the occupation,
and at times between the occupation and the Japanese
administration, meant that programs designed to dismantle the
zaibatsu, the large economic-financial combines that dominated
the prewar economy and that occupation authorities initially
identified as the driving force behind Japanese militarism and
colonialism, were stillborn. Likewise, the occupation's reverse
course of 1947, driven by mounting Cold War concerns and the
anticipation of a Third World War, led to an attack on labor and
progressive forces generally. By contrast, programs that enjoyed
strong popular support including the peace constitution, land
reform, the vote for women, and numerous health and welfare
measures, not only were fully implemented but were sustained
following the formal end of the occupation in 1952, despite U.S.
pressures to scale back some of the most far-reaching reforms. 
  
In the immediate postwar years both the U.S. and Soviet
leadership were persuaded of the efficacy of social reform and
the capacity of the developmental state to heal the wounds of
war and guide nations on the path to economic growth and
prosperity. Indeed, one element of the Cold War was the
competition between them to promote reform. Consequently, land
reform was implemented not only in revolutionary China, Vietnam
and North Korea, but also in Japan, Taiwan and even, albeit
limited in scope, South Korea. Throughout much of postwar East
Asia, strong states emerged that controlled the workings of
capital and the market. 
  
The U.S. occupation profoundly shaped the postwar Japanese
order. Japanese colonialism and militarism were eliminated,
basic reforms implemented, and recovery, development and
democracy concentrated the national energies for the next five
decades. 
  
These gains were won at a price that included Japan's
dependency, involving its acquiescence in and support for all
U.S. wars and Cold War designs in the Asia-Pacific and beyond.
The occupation also perpetuated, albeit in a weakened form,
Japan's imperial system, thereby restricting the scope of
democracy and impeding efforts to fully come to terms with that
nation's wartime and colonial atrocities. 
  
In sum, broad congruence of Japanese and American interests in
reform and reconstruction made possible achievements of Japan's
postwar reconstruction while Japan became a keystone of American
military power in East Asia. 
  
Postwar Reconstruction in Central Asia and Iraq in the Early
Twenty-First Century 
  
Following the immediate postwar experiences of reconstruction
centered on Japan and Western Europe, four decades went by
during which postwar reconstruction disappeared from
international discourse. Neither the Korean War nor the Vietnam
War, neither the Iran-Iraq War nor any number of African wars,
occasioned international efforts at postwar reconstruction.
Since the breakup of the Soviet Union, however, the U.S. has
repeatedly mobilized other nations and international
organizations, notably the United Nations and the World Bank, to
support reconstruction projects. The varied experiences of
Kosovo, Somalia, East Timor, Kampuchea, Afghanistan, and Iraq
indicate that postwar reconstruction has become an international
norm, with the goal of stabilizing zones of conflict. This is a
component of late twentieth century global processes that merits
closer analysis. Postwar reconstruction is, of course,
intimately bound up with the fact that the U.S. has been
involved as a major player in six wars and occupations in a
twelve year span, five of them involving Muslim countries. 
  
The Bush administration has presented the Japanese success story
wedding democratization and development as a model for current
reconstruction efforts. However, as John Dower, Kang Sangjung
and others, have noted, recent experiences in Iraq and
Afghanistan bear closer analogy to the outcomes of Japan's
occupation following its 1931 military seizure of Manchuria,
leading to the creation of the puppet state of Manchuguo
(Manchukuo) and fifteen years of war. Manchuguo, in contrast to
Japan's earlier colonization of Taiwan and Korea, may be viewed
as an early initiative toward a post-colonial world. However,
Japan's failed effort to quell forces pressing for independence
in Manchuguo, which became a major reason for extending the war
to all China and eventually to Pearl Harbor, brought
militarization, repression at home and in the colonies and war
zones, and eventually military defeat, dismantling of the empire
and occupation of Japan. 
  
Japanese efforts to divide Chinese, Mongols, Manchus and
Muslims, and to suppress indigenous language, culture and
religions through Manchuguo's assimilationist linguistic,
educational and cultural policies provoked resistance. So too
did the migration of millions of Koreans and Japanese farmers,
resulting in the transfer of extensive land title from local
people to Japanese and Korean landowners, essentially land
theft. From Tokyo's perspective, there were also successes.
Japanese rule stimulated industrialization and natural resources
development, much of it dominated by the new and old zaibatsu.
Manchuguo well exemplifies the failure to gain support for the
secret but comprehensive policy directions from within that
produced certain economic results but simultaneously fueled
intense resistance. We will note that in certain respects the
role of the U.S. and the international community in postwar
Afghanistan and Iraq more closely resembles Japanese approaches
in Manchuguo than it does U.S.-led postwar reconstruction of
Japan, but with none of the programs promoting industry and
agriculture that Japan pioneered. 
  
Other critical differences distinguish the immediate postwar
period and contemporary approaches to postwar reconstruction. In
the aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet Union, the U.S.
became the sole superpower, with overwhelming weapons
superiority not only over any potential challenger but also over
any plausible combination of challengers. Nevertheless, almost
immediately the limitations of its power and vulnerability to
attack became clear, most spectacularly with the attack on the
twin symbols of American power on September 11, 2001. In the
wake of 9/11, the U.S. proclaimed its right and intention to
effect preemptive regime change at times and places of its own
choosing. This was the central tenet in a wider shift from
hegemony to empire, from a strategy that appealed to allies to
support U.S. policies on the basis of common interests to one
that insisted on subordination to U.S. power, even if in
violation of widely recognized international norms. Important
steps in this direction included the U.S. dismissal of the Kyoto
protocol on the environment, its renunciation of arms control
agreements, and the U.S.-led invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq
in the absence of United Nations support and in the teeth of
opposition from major powers. The designation of an "axis of
evil," singling out the improbable trio of Iraq, Iran and North
Korea in the wake of 9/11, was emblematic of the wide-ranging
scope of the projected American global order and its belligerent
stance. 
  
The new strategy required an expanded network of bases as well
as strategic redeployment of U.S. forces to reposition American
power in the face of what Washington views as the Islamic
challenge. To be sure, as Chalmers Johnson has documented, a
distinguishing feature of the post-World War II expansion of
American power has been its global base structure as opposed to
a territorial empire predicated on direct rule. What was new in
the 1990s was the fact that bases proliferated in volatile
regions that were previously beyond direct exercise of American
power, notably those within the former Soviet sphere of
influence and including both Central Asia and the Middle East.
At the same time, the old justification for such basesâ€”the
Soviet threatâ€”had evaporated. 
  
In both Afghanistan and Iraq the Bush administration has proved
incapable of assuring a peace that could bring stability,
democracy and reconstruction to the conquered areas, despite
having committed vast resources to the pursuit of war and
military primacy. This is particularly evident in the
electorally-driven 'transfer of power' to a handpicked
administration of Iraqi exiles that formally took place on June
28, 2004, despite the fact that none of the material and
financial foundations, not to speak of administrative
institutions, are in place for an independent Iraq and with U.S.
forces occupying the country under sustained attack. Instead, a
pseudostate, comprised of exiles imposed by the U.S., with
control of no significant military force, is now subject to U.S.
control through the long-term stationing of 138,000 U.S. forces,
20,000 coalition forces, and thousands of privately employed
mercenaries in bases across the country while decisions emanate
from the world's largest embassy. As Michael Schwartz observed,
the post-handover Iraq will have none of the conditions of
sovereignty: "a monopoly on the legitimate means of coercion;
the material capacity to sustain a country's social and economic
infrastructure; and an administrative apparatus capable of
overseeing and administering policy." It will also, as a
creature of the U.S., lack the legitimacy of, for example, the
Japanese government under occupation after 1945. It reproduces
instead most of the worst features of a puppet state adapted
from Japan's ill-fated imperial days. 
  
The contemporary U.S. approach to reconstruction is striking in
its rejection not only of social reform but of the very
state-centered approaches that were critical to the
reconstruction and subsequent economic growth in postwar Japan
and Germany. The U.S. authorities have taken steps in advance to
enfeeble a future Iraq government by dismantling the Iraqi tax
system along neoliberal tax lines, and handcuffing the
pseudostate through 97 "legal orders" crafted by the occupation
administration under Paul Bremer, while ruling out fundamental
social reforms and privatizing the economy in ways that turn
over many of its most lucrative sectors to American
corporations. 
  
With relief and reconstruction efforts sputtering, and the
Bremer administration allocating just $3.2 billion of the $18.4
billion in funds allocated by Congress for Iraq's
reconstruction, it is small wonder that efforts to create even
the faÃ§ade of a sovereign Iraq appear empty. The same is true,
in essence, for an Afghanistan that has been even more starved
for resources. 
  
A September, 2003 report by the U.S. relief organization CARE
pointed out that Afghanistan's stability and reconstruction
continue to be challenged by a combination of military attacks,
inability of the Karzai administration to control much of the
country, and widespread opium-trafficking by powerful regional
warlords. A year and a half after U.S. forces overthrew the
Taliban regime, projects worth just $192 million, approximately
1 percent of estimated reconstruction needs, had been completed.
The situation seems, if anything, to have worsened since then. 
  
The fate of rural Afghanistan, home to the great majority of
Afghans, most sharply shows the fundamental difference between
the contemporary postwar reconstruction of Afghanistan and
post-World War II Japan. Although the issues of land rights and
refugees are central to the economic, social and political life
of the nation, the Afghan government and its UN, World Bank and
NGO advisors, have systematically ignored them. 
  
Two years after declaring victory in the Afghan war, there is no
indication that programs have begun to address the acute
problems confronting the countryside and the needs of those
whose livelihood depends predominantly on animal husbandry and
secondarily on agriculture. Those problems include: 
  
â€¢ Clashes over land rights among ethnic groups, resulting in
the loss of land by many, particularly nomads, whose
vulnerability is increased by the long-distance cycle required
for pastoral herding. 
  
â€¢ Emigration of 4.6 million Afghans in the final years of
Taliban rule and the subsequent war, mainly to Pakistan or Iran. 
  
â€¢ The return of 2.1 million refugees, most of whom have no
access to land and little or no planning or assistance in
resettlement. 
  
â€¢ Afghanistan's re-emergence as the world's number one
supplier of opium after the crop and the traffic were virtually
eliminated in the final years of Taliban rule. 
  
â€¢ Ethnic conflicts that have deprived numerous farmers and
herders of historic rights to land. 
  
In short, the fundamental problems of postwar reconstruction
have barely been addressed. The problems in the countryside have
been worsened by five years of crippling drought. 
  
In one respect, however, the new government of Afghanistan acted
quickly: by passing legislation to insure land rights for
international corporations investing in the region. Nothing
better showed its priorities and those of the power that
installed it. Yet agrarian issues are of the highest relevance
to returning Afghan refugees, and to herders and farmers
displaced by ethnic conflict, immigration, and drought. And they
are integral to broader issues of social equity and the ability
to create viable communities and consensus on rehabilitation and
development issues against a historical background of intense
social conflict among ethnic groups over land rights. 
  
Issues of land are particularly fraught in Afghanistan given the
abortive Soviet-era land reform. The Karzai government, the
United Nations Aid Mission and the World Bank share the view
that land reform in all of its variants is not an active option
in Afghanistan. Indeed, it is a sign of the profound changes in
development priorities since the 1940s that land reform is
utterly neglected in all contemporary postwar reconstruction
efforts with which the United States or the United Nations is
associated. The end of the Cold War and the triumph of
neoliberal ideologies have eliminated land reform and other
reforms from the international agenda. 
  
No blueprint imposed from outside can resolve the complex
problems of Afghanistan's herding and agricultural communities.
Solutions will have to emerge out of careful study of local
problems and possibilities, and the needs and conflicting
interests of the multiple ethnicities that comprise its complex
social structure. As Takemae Eiji has documented, many of the
ideas for Japan's land reform emerged from Japanese scholars and
officials, with other important contributions made by Australian
and Soviet representatives, while American officials were
initially reticent. After General MacArthur threw his support
behind land reform, however, the process moved forward.
Extensive negotiations involving Japanese and occupation
authorities eventually hammered out an approach through which
Japan's chronic tenancy problem was eliminated and foundations
laid for economic development. 
  
In Afghanistan, the government and its international advisors
have yet to craft any significant program to address land
ownership, refugee resettlement, water conservancy, or agrarian
and pastoral development programs that can provide alternatives
to landlessness, starvation or the return of opium growing, the
latter again reminiscent of a Manchuguo awash in opium. 
  
The Afghan case differs from the postwar reconstructions of
Japan and Western Europe in other respects. Afghanistan, like
Iraq, was long subject to foreign conquest and confronts deep
ethnic and religious division. It seeks to reinvent itself after
decades of crippling wars and famines, and in the face of deep
communal and ethnic divisions that have important implications
for both resistance to foreign power and attempts by local
administrations to consolidate unified rule. The Afghan
Constitution takes some steps towards recognizing the salience
of ethnic divisions, but deep ethnic and tribal divisions mirror
warlord fragmentation and the issues remain volatile. 
  
Solution to such complex issues is undermined by the frenzy of
American politics to display dramatic "results", notably the
fastest possible reduction in U.S. casualties in Afghanistan and
especially in Iraq where the "handover" to a regime with no
legitimacy and few resources barely masks the American
abandonment of all hopes for reconstruction. Postwar
reconstruction is not a project to be measured in months, least
of all under conditions of extreme unrest. 
  
The solution to security problems, both national and regional,
is a precondition for the solution of humanitarian crises and
the possibilities for sound reconstruction and reform. But a
reconstruction and reform agenda serving the needs and interests
of the people of these war-torn countries is equally a
precondition for progress in solving security problems.
Ultimately, a viable reconstruction program for Afghanistan will
have to include equitable programs for the repatriation and
settlement of refugees, the provision of food, and the settling
of land tenure questions that are at the heart of ethnic and
tribal divisions as well as those between pastoral and agrarian
people. 
  
Conclusion 
  
U.S. approaches to postwar reconstruction in Japan and Europe
(under the Marshall Plan) following World War II differ
fundamentally from those adopted in the wake of the Cold War,
9-11, and subsequent wars. In both eras, postwar reconstruction
programs were designed to serve American interests, and involved
the establishment of permanent military bases and the stationing
of U.S. forces. Nevertheless, the fundamental character and
outcomes of U.S.-designed postwar reconstruction has changed
over time and space. 
  
Since the Cold War and, particularly since 9/11, the U.S.
preoccupation with military issues appears to have blinded it to
the fact that security is intimately bound up with matters of
livelihood, dignity and equity. Approaches to rehabilitation,
reform, and reconstruction in Japan and Germany were conducted
through strong governments that enjoyed broad legitimacy, in
contrast to the carpet-bag administrations that the U.S. has
constructed predominantly from Afghani and Iraqi exiles, regimes
that have little legitimacy within or beyond their nations. The
reform agendas that created democratic foundations through land
reform, labor reform, and women's rights have been replaced by a
hard, ideological insistence on the sanctity of the market in
general and on preferential rights for U.S. capital in
particular. Indeed, state institutions that earlier and
elsewhere provided the strength necessary for economic recovery
and development have been deliberately weakened. The "transfer
of power" to an interim Iraqi-administration with none of the
resources required to achieve autonomy makes plain the
bankruptcy of the U.S. vision for postwar Iraq. The result can
only be continued U.S. rule from behind the scenes, continued
slaughter of Iraqi civilians by U.S. forces, and failure to
provide direction or resources essential for the reconstruction
and independence of that country. 
  
Where the U.S. sought to recreate foundations of strong Japanese
and German governments half a century ago, its contemporary
obsession with military power underlines the likelihood of a
continued cycle of violence and conflict in Afghanistan and
Iraq, one likely to extend throughout a region that controls the
world's critical oil resources and pits the U.S. against Islamic
societies. 
  
Principal Sources 
  
Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit, Assessing subnational
administration in Afghanistan: Early observations and
recommendations for action. March 13, 2003. 
  
Phyllis Bennis et al, "Paying the Price: The Mounting Costs of
the Iraq War," June 24, 2004. http://www.ips.dc.org/iraq/costs
of war.pdf 
  
Yuri V. Bossin, "The Afghan Experience with International
Assistance," in John D. Montgomery and Dennis A. Rondinelli,
eds., Beyond Reconstruction in Afghanistan. New York: Palgrave
MacMillan, 2004, 75-92. 
  
James Dobbins, John G. McGinn, Keith Crane, Seth G. Jones,
Rollie Lal, Andrew Rathmell, Rachel Swanger, and Anga Timilsina,
America's Role in Nation Building: From Germany to Iraq. Santa
Monica, CA: Rand Corporation, 2003. 
  
John W. Dower, Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War
II. New York: Norton/The New Press, 1999. 
  
__________, "Remaking History: Bush's comparison of Iraq with
postwar Japan ignores the facts," Los Angeles Times December 8,
2003. 
  
Bradley Graham, "U.S. May Halve Forces in Germany. Shift in
Europe, Asia Is Aimed at Faster Deployment. Washington Post,
March 25, 2004. 
  
Edward Herman, "The United States as Torture Central: U.S.
Sponsors Regimes Using Torture Extensively," Z Magazine, Vol 17,
5, May 2004. 
  
Chalmers Johnson, the Sorrows of Empire. Militarism, Secrecy,
and the End of the Republic. New York: Metropolitan Books, 2004. 
  
Jim Lobe, "Donor Delay Spells Doom for Afghanistan," Asia Times,
September 20, 2003. 
  
Mark Sedra, " Afghanistan: Donor Inaction and Ineffectiveness,"
Foreign Policy in Focus, October 14, 2004. 
  
Mark Selden and Alvin So, eds., War and State Terrorism: The
United States, Japan and the Asia-Pacific in the Long Twentieth
Century. Lanham MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2003. 
  
Takemae Eiji, Inside GHQ: The Allied Occupation of Japan and Its
Legacy. Translated and adapted by Robert Ricketts and Sebastian
Swann. London: Continuum, 2002. 
  
David Turton and Peter Marsden, Taking Afghanistan Refugees for
a Ride? The Politics of refugee return to Afghanistan.
Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit, December 2002. 
  
Liz Alden Wily, Land and the Constitution. Current Land Issues
in Afghanistan. Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit,
August, 2003. 
  
Liz Alden Wily, Land Rights in Crisis: Restoring Tenure Security
in Afghanistan. Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit, March,
2003. 
  
Working Group [U.S. Department of Defense], "Report on Detainee
Interrogations in the Global War on Terrorism: Assessment of
Legal, historical and Operational Considerations," March 6,
2003. Wall Street Journal online, June 9, 2004.
http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/military_0604.pd
f 
  
Mark Selden teaches sociology and history at Binghamton
University. He is a coordinator of Japan Focus. His latest book
is War and State Terrorism: The United States, Japan and the
Asia-Pacific in the Long Twentieth Century. The author can be
reached at ms44@cornell.edu. He is indebted to Herbert Bix,
Uradyn Bulag, John Dower, Laura Hein, Gavan McCormack, and Steve
Shalom for critical comments and suggestions. Revised and
expanded from a talk to the founding conference of the UNITAR
Asia Office in Hiroshima, November, 2003. 
  

	         
          
      
      
      


*****************************************************************
 12 Mehr News Agency: Studying Resumption of Uranium Enrichment

Tehran:08:20,2004/07/03

2004/07/02  

(MNA) -- Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee 
Chairman Alaâ€™eddin Borujerdi said here on Friday that the 
committee is studying plans to resume uranium enrichment.  
																			 																			
Borujerdi told the Mehr News Agency that the issue would be 
discussed by the entire Majlis after the committee completes its 
study and presents its findings to the parliament. 
  
He said that no specific date has been set for the presentation 
of the report to the Majlis, but added that the committee is 
trying to complete it as soon as possible. 
  
Borujerdi said that the committee intends to prepare a 
comprehensive   report in the line with public and national 
interests. 
  
In conclusion, he said that Iran would continue dialogue on the 
issue with the international community, especially European Union 
states, in order to increase transparency. 
  
MT/HG End 
  
MNA   																			 																			
 																				   																					  
*****************************************************************
 13 AFP: US warns Pakistan's missile test plan revives dangers in South Asia

www.spacewar.com/]
 
WASHINGTON (AFP) Jul 01, 2004

 The United States warned Thursday that Pakistan's move to 
conduct a key missile test revived dangers posed by nuclear 
weapons and ballistic missiles as well as of an arms race in 
South Asia.

"On the issue of missile tests, we clearly remain deeply 
concerned about the dangers that continue to be posed by both 
nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles in South Asia," US State 
Department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli told reporters.

The United States continued to urge Pakistan and its neighbour 
and nuclear-rival India to take steps to prevent an arms race and 
to guard against possible nuclear use, Ereli said.

President Pervez Musharraf said Thursday that Pakistan would 
conduct an "important" missile test in two months' time, 
stressing that its nuclear and missile programmes remain 
irreversible.

Musharraf did not disclose details of the test but said domestic 
critics who believed that Pakistan had decided to roll back its 
nuclear and missile programmes were living in a "fool's 
paradise," Pakistan's Dawn newspaper reported.

He did not specify if the test would be of a nuclear-capable 
missile.

Musharraf was quoted by another newspaper as saying it would be 
an "extremely important substantive test", most likely of a long 
range missile.

Early last month nuclear armed Pakistan successfully test fired a 
ballistic missile Hatf V, which has a range of 1,500 kilometers 
(930 miles). The missile could carry nuclear warheads deep inside 
India.

"I would note that in this regard, we are encouraged that India 
and Pakistan have just agreed to work toward a number of measures 
to reduce risk in the region, including a more advanced agreement 
on notification of missile tests," Ereli said.

Musharaff's disclosure of the upcoming missile test came just as 
India and Pakistan agreed to strive for a final settlement to 
their 56-year-old dispute over Kashmir and to reopen consulates 
in their largest cities in the latest step to repair ties.

In their first talks in three years on Kashmir, the two sides 
issued a joint statement on Monday pledging to "continue the 
sustained and serious dialogue to find a peaceful, negotiated 
final settlement" on the dispute.

Asked whether he was especially concerned about Pakistan, as his 
statement sounded he was worried about the general situation in 
South Asia, Ereli said: "I would say there is no marked change in 
our level of concern.

"Regarding this issue, it is an issue that we continue to raise 
with both countries, and that I would note, both countries 
discuss between themselves. And that is a good thing.

"It is something that we see as a positive development, in the 
sense that sources of tension are being addressed in a bilateral 
and cooperative way, and that's to be welcomed," he said.

  WAR.WIRE
*****************************************************************
 14 AFP: Pakistan joins Asia-Pacific security forum, vows to seek Kashmir settlement

 [http://www.spacewar.com/]

JAKARTA (AFP) Jul 02, 2004

 Pakistan was formally accepted Friday as the 24th member of 
Asia's only security forum, in a move that could lessen tensions 
in the region and with fellow nuclear power India.

India had earlier dropped its opposition to Pakistan's entry into 
the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) after Pakistan gave assurances it 
would not raise bilateral isues like Kashmir in the forum.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Kurshid Kasuri welcomed his country's 
accession to the grouping, which represents all the world's major 
powers, but said it should not be seen in the context of 
relations with India.

But he told reporters he would continue to maintain dialogue with 
his Indian counterpart Natwar Singh. The two are due to meet 
later Friday.

The real challenge, he said, was for diplomats of both sides to 
come forward with an acceptable solution involving the people of 
Kashmir.

"I dont want to go into specific solutions. It's not really going 
to be productive in terms of bringing about a solution to the 
dispute if we start talking about it (in the media)," Kasuri 
said.

"Pakistan and India should try to resolve issues peacefully 
because too much is at stake, both are nuclear powers, both have 
the means to deliver nuclear weapons.

"It is eminently sensible for them to do so (resolve issues. 
One-third of the world's poor after all do live in South Asia and 
it's largely because of continuing and persisting tension between 
Pakistan and India," he stressed.

India and Pakistan have fought three wars over Kashmir, a region 
in the northern Himalayas divided between the two states and 
claimed by both.

Pakistani and Indian diplomats met in New Delhi last week for 
talks aimed at coming up with solutions for a final settlement of 
the dispute.

"I think both governments realize the need to resolve the Kashmir 
issue," Kasuri said.

He said his country's inclusion in ARF was a recognition "that 
Pakistan is playing a very important role, not just in promoting 
stability in the Islamic world but also in regional and 
international peace."

Delegates at Friday's meeting agreed with Pakistan's statement 
that there was a need for the international community to engage 
the Islamic world and understand the root causes of terrorism.

ARF links the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian 
Nations (ASEAN) with 13 other Asia-Pacific states and the 
European Union.

  WAR.WIRE
*****************************************************************
 15 NRC: NRC Announces Opportunity for Hearing on Application to Increase Power Output of Vermont Yankee
 
News Release - 2004-08
U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION   
  Office of Public Affairs     Telephone: 301/415-8200   
  Washington, DC 20555-0001     E-mail: opa@nrc.gov
  No. 04-081     July 01, 2004   
  


The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has announced the opportunity
to request a hearing on an application from Entergy Nuclear
Operations to increase the maximum authorized power level at the
Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station from 1,593 megawatts
thermal to 1,912 megawatts thermal. This would represent an
increase of approximately 100 megawatts electric. 

The Vermont Yankee plant is located in Windham County near
Vernon, Vermont, and the proposed change represents an
approximate increase of 20 percent over the current maximum
authorized output. The proposed amendment would also change
Vermont Yankees operating requirements to provide the means to
implement the power increase. The NRC will approve the amendment
only if the agency finds Vermont Yankee can operate safely at
the increased power level. 

The NRC has already received significant public comment on
issues related to the review, said Bill Ruland, the NRC power
uprate manager. The NRC staff will pursue these issues. We will
not approve the uprate unless we are satisfied it can be done
safely. 

A notice of the opportunity to request a hearing was published
July 1 in the Federal Register, and anyone wishing to request a
hearing must file a petition by August 30. Petitions may be
filed by anyone whose interest may be affected by the power
increase and who wishes to participate as a party in the
proceeding. The specific requirements for filing a request for
hearing are included in the Federal Register notice. 

A request for a hearing and a petition for leave to intervene
must be filed by sending it to this address: 
  + 

Secretary of the Commission
 Attention: Rulemaking and Adjudications Staff
 U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
 Washington, D.C. 20555-0001 
  + 

via fax to 301-415-1101 
  + 

or via e-mail to hearingdocket@nrc.gov [hearingdocket@nrc.gov] . 

Copies of petitions should also be sent to: 	 
  + 

Office of the General Counsel
 U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
 Washington, DC 20555-0001 
  + 

via fax to 301-415-3725 
  + 

or via e-mail to OGCMailCenter@nrc.gov ; and to: 
  + 

John M. Fulton, Assistant General Counsel
 Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc.
 440 Hamilton Avenue
 White Plains, NY 10601. 		 

The Vermont Yankee power increase application was submitted
Sept. 10, 2003, and was supplemented with information submitted
in letters dated Oct. 1, 2003; Oct. 28, 2003; January 31, 2004;
March 4, 2004; and May 19, 2004. These documents are available
on the NRC web site at this address:
http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/plant-specific-items/vermont-yankee-i
ssues/vermont-yankee-application.html#five. The documents are
also available for inspection at the NRCs Public Document Room
in Rockville, Maryland. For more information, contact Richard
Ennis, Senior Project Manager, Division of Licensing Project
Management, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission, Mail Stop O-8B1, Washington, DC
20555-0001; telephone 301-415-1420.   



  


 	Last revised Thursday, July 01, 2004 	   
*****************************************************************
 16 Brattleboro Reformer: NRC sets Aug. 30 deadline for requesting hearing on Vermont
Yankee uprate
 
[http://www.reformer.com/]   

July 02, 2004 Brattleboro, VT                                                                                 
 			 								 					
By The Associated Press

MONTPELIER (AP) -- Federal regulators set Aug. 30 as the deadline 
for anyone who wants to request a hearing on Entergy Nuclear's 
request to boost the amount of power produced at its Vermont 
Yankee plant.

 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is considering whether to 
permit a 20 percent increase, from 540 megawatts to 650, in the 
power produced at Vermont's sole nuclear power plant

 "The NRC has already received significant public comment on 
issues related to the review," said Bill Ruland, the NRC manager 
for the power boost. "The NRC staff will pursue these issues. We 
will not approve the uprate unless we are satisfied it can be 
done safely."

 Uprate is the term used to describe the power increase. 

Copyright © 2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This 
*****************************************************************
 17 Times of India: New N-unit is need of the hour - Army - 

  FRIDAY, JULY 2, 2004
 [http://www.indiatimes.com]    
  
SRINIVAS LAXMAN

  MUMBAI: The Indian Army's plan to have a dedicated nuclear 
force is now gathering momentum. 

Army officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity at an 
army-media interaction last week, said a need had been felt to 
expedite the formation of the new N-unit because of geo-political 
factors. 

"These factors need not be Pak specific,'' said an officer. He 
refused to be drawn into further discussion about these countries 
because of diplomatic reasons. 

The army's eagerness to form the unit also assumes significance 
in the context of the Indian Navy wanting to possess nuclear 
submarines which can launch nuclear weapons. 

In fact, there is a race among the three wings of the armed 
forces as to who will be the first to have a nuclear arm. The 
navy appears confident that it will beat the other two wings to 
it. 

The indigenous light combat aircraft is also capable of carrying 
nuclear weapons.The nuclear force in the Indian Army will 
basically handle nuclear capable intermediate range ballistic 
missiles Agni-1 and Agni-2. 

While Agni-1 has range of 800 km, that of Agni-2 is 2000 km. The 
Agni-1 can carry an oneton nuclear warhead. Recently, the Centre 
announced plans to launch Agni-3, having a range of 3,500-4,000 
km which can hit strategic targets deep inside China.   
    
Copyright © 2004 Times Internet Limited. All rights reserved. | 
*****************************************************************
 18 Mos News: Bank Failure Endangering Nuclear Plants — Companies 

MOSNEWS.COM
 
alt="Gazeta.Ru"> [http://www.gazeta.ru/english/] 
  
Created: 02.07.2004 14:38 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 16:08 MSK 

MosNews
 
The heads of several Russian energy companies have said that 
backlogged payments from the under-fire Dialog-Optim bank may 
lead to “emergency situations” at some of the nation’s nuclear 
plants which the energy companies supply. 

The energy companies have called on the Central Bank to take 
“immediate measures” to regulate the conflict, a Dialog-Optim 
spokesman told MosNews. 

He said, however, that the transactions involving the companies 
were between their own banks, and could not have affected atomic 
energy plants.

The four companies — Khimenergo, Energokaskad, Energogigant, and 
Spetsenergoprodukt-95 — are all clients of the Dialog-Optim bank 
and say the bank has frozen their accounts and is not making 
transfers. 

The companies have not informed Dialog-Optim directly, however, 
the spokesman told MosNews. 

As a result of the delays, repair work at several nuclear 
electric plants is under threat of cancellation, Ekho Moskvy 
radio quoted the letter as saying. The postponement of repairs at 
the Kalininskaya Nuclear Electric Plant, which is located only 
300 kilometers from Moscow and is as powerful as the late 
Chernobyl plant, may lead to disaster, the letter says. 

The companies say they renounce all responsibility for the 
nuclear stations if the Central Bank fails to take appropriate 
measures. 

The bank’s troubles began when clients issued complaints earlier 
this month that Dialog-Optim bank is limiting payouts on deposits 
and processing all client payments with delays. The problems 
sparked further fears of a liquidity crisis among banks that 
started when Sodbiznesbank was stripped of its banking license. 

Dialog-Optim, meanwhile, denies its role. “We cannot influence 
atomic energy in Russia,” the bank’s spokesman told MosNews. 
“[Nikolai Shinkarev of the Federal Atomic Energy Agency] said it 
is unacceptable to mention atomic energy in the context of the 
liquidity crisis.”

The Central Bank, quoted by Ekho Moskvy radio, has also said that 
nuclear plants are under no risk as of yet.
 
SEE ALSO
 
Another Two Banks Suffer from Liquidity Crisis
     
  Write us: <b>info@mosnews.com</b> [info@mosnews.com] 
Copyright © 2004 MOSNEWS.COM
*****************************************************************
 19 NEI: Nuclear Power Provides Needed Diversity to U.S. Energy Supplies
 
July 1, 2004

Turmoil in the nations energy markets underscores the importance 
of nuclear power to a diversified U.S. energy portfolio, nuclear 
industry executives are reminding the public. At a time when oil 
prices have soared to $40 per barrel and natural gas prices are 
hovering in excess of $6 per thousand cubic feet, businesses and 
consumers have all the more reason to recognize the value of 
reliable, affordable nuclear energy. 
  
Nuclear power plants provide diversity to any overdependence on 
fossil fuels and is the only expandable source of generating 
capability that doesnt contribute to air quality issues with 
greenhouse gases and controlled pollutants, NEI Executive Vice 
President Angie Howard says in a Sky Radio Network interview that 
soon will be heard on airline flights crisscrossing the country. 
Diversity is important as theres a limit to the fossil fuels we 
have, and we need to look at the best way to use them. 
  
In the interview Howard, discusses the critical role commercial 
nuclear power plays in the energy portfolio for the U.S., where 
it provides 20 percent of the nations electricity, and for the 
world, where nuclear energy accounts for 17 percent of 
electricity production. 
  
For example, Howard explains that natural gas, which since 1993 
has been the fuel used for 90 percent of new electricity 
generation, also is in high demand for chemical and fertilizer 
feed stocks as well as home heating. 
  
Natural gas and other fossil fuels should be limited in their 
use in production of electricity where there is an alternative 
like nuclear energy, she says. 
  
Nuclear energy long ago supplanted oil-fired power plants as an 
electricity producer. In the early 1970s, oil-fired power plants 
supplied nearly one-fifth of U.S. electricity supplies, while 
nuclear power plants supplied only the three or four percent of 
supplies that oil-fired power plants now do. Today, their 
positions on the electricity supply ladder are reversed. If the 
U.S. still relied on oil-fired power plants for that level of 
electricity generation, oil prices would be far higher than they 
are today. 
  
Howards five-minute Sky Radio interview will air on American 
Airlines flights in August, United Airlines in September and 
October, and US Airways flights in November and December. Sky 
Radio Network provides business, technology, health and 
entertainment programming on flights 24-hours a day, seven days a 
week. 
  
In addition to touching upon the direct relationship between 
nuclear energy and air quality, Howard discusses the prospects 
for new nuclear plant construction in the U.S. She cites a 
confluence of events including early site permit applications 
filed in recent months with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission and testing of the new regulatory process for 
licensing new plants as developments that bode well for the 
future. Click here to listen to Howards interview.         

  Copyright © 2004 Nuclear Energy Institute.   
*****************************************************************
 20 YDR: NRC COMMITTEE: Meetings on reactor safety - 

York Daily Record [ydr.com]                                       
[York Daily Record/Sunday News]   
		   			   	 
Meetings on reactor safety Friday, July 2, 2004 

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Advisory Committee on Reactor 
Safety will hold a series of public meetings from Wednesday 
through July 9 at the agency's Two White Flint North building in 
Rockville, Md.

        The committee will discuss the NRC staff's final safety 
evaluation report on a new Westinghouse reactor design.

        Other talks will focus on a letter to licensees regarding 
possible clogging of the reactor building sump at pressurized 
water reactors during design-basis accidents.

 	All discussions will be open to the public.

Copyright © York Daily Record 2004 122 S. George St., P.O. Box 
15122 York, PA 17405, (717) 771-2000
*****************************************************************
 21 TheDay.com: Dominion Hires Peters To Help With Millstone License Renewal
Informal legal opinion says there's no conflict

Friday, Jul 2, 2004   								   									 										

By PATRICIA DADDONA Day Staff Writer, Waterford Published on 
7/2/2004

State Sen. Melodie Peters, D-Old Lyme, will be working through 
the end of the year as a public relations consultant for license 
renewal with the owner of Millstone Power Station in Waterford.

 Peters, who is Senate chairwoman of the General Assembly's 
Energy and Technology Committee, is serving her sixth term and is 
not seeking re-election. 

In an informal legal opinion issued in writing last Friday to the 
legal counsel for Senate Democrats, Ethics Commission staff 
attorney Brenda M. Bergeron said it is not a conflict of interest 
for the lawmaker to work for Millstone owner Dominion Nuclear 
Connecticut on a federal action such as license renewal as long 
as she does not lobby for the company.

 Bergeron's letter states Peters must not lobby for Dominion for 
the remainder of her term or in 2005, and cannot represent the 
firm before state agencies. Peters also must not take any 
official action on Dominion's behalf that would have a direct 
and unique financial effect on her contract with the company, 
Bergeron wrote.

 A letter to Peters from Dan Weekley, Dominion's director of 
Northeast Government Affairs, describes her involvement with 
company efforts to renew licenses for two power plants as 
exclusively with public interest groups and not any state 
governmental entities.'' 

Dominion applied in January to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission for 20-year license extensions that would keep the 
Millstone 2 and 3 reactors running through 2035 and 2045, 
respectively. The federal agency oversees the licensing process, 
which typically takes two years or more.

 Melodie is a respected figure in the state and she has a good 
understanding of the issues, said Dominion spokesman Pete Hyde. 
We're asking her to be sort of a seismograph in the community 
and discern how people are thinking and feeling about license 
renewal.

 Hiring Peters is a standard corporate approach that helps the 
company assess its public image, Hyde said. 

Peters, the deputy majority leader, represents the 20th District, 
which includes East Lyme, Salem, New London, Old Lyme, Waterford, 
most of Montville and a portion of Old Saybrook.

 Peters said Wednesday that the consultant's work has nothing to 
do with her job as a lawmaker or the state energy committee.

 While a senator, Peters co-wrote the state's deregulation law, 
which provides subsidies to Waterford to offset the loss of tax 
revenue associated with the sale of the power plants in a newly 
competitive market. Dominion purchased the plants after the law 
went into effect, in 2001, for less than half their assessed 
value in the established, regulated market.

 So far, Dominion has encountered little public opposition to its 
license renewal plans, except for challenges from one 
anti-nuclear activist group, the Connecticut Coalition Against 
Millstone. The coalition's challenges to license renewal did not 
influence the hiring, Hyde said.

 p.daddona@theday.com   

442-2200  |  Â© 1998-2004 The Day Publishing Co.
*****************************************************************
 22 TheDay.com NRC: Activist Fails To Back Up Millstone License Dispute
Panel Rebuffs Group's Effort To Deny Renewal
 		 		 		
Friday, Jul 2, 2004   								   									 										
												 												 												 										 										
By PATRICIA DADDONA Day Staff Writer, Waterford Published on 
7/1/2004

New London  In testimony Wednesday before a branch of the 
Nuclear Regulatory Commission, anti-nuclear activist Nancy Burton 
argued that licenses for Millstone Power Station in Waterford 
should be revoked, not renewed, but failed to provide the panel 
with backup documentation for most of her claims.

In January, Millstone owner Dominion Nuclear Connecticut asked 
the NRC to extend licenses another 20 years for Millstone 2 and 
3, through 2035 and 2045, respectively. Millstone 1 is no longer 
operating and is being decommissioned. The NRC could make a 
decision on the application sometime in 2006.

Burton represents the Connecticut Coalition Against Millstone, a 
grassroots group that opposes nuclear power plants. 

Wednesday's hearing before the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board 
at the Radisson Hotel was a chance for Burton to persuade three 
administrative judges to grant a full hearing, beyond the normal 
re-licensing process. If granted, that hearing could be used to 
show evidence why license renewals should not be granted. 

Burton raised six allegations Wednesday, centering on the premise 
that continued operation of Millstone 2 and 3 constitutes 
existing or potential threats to safety and devastating and 
irreparable harm to the community and the environment. 

She documented her first claim  that Millstone's radiological 
emissions have caused cancer clusters in the region  with a 
report from the Connecticut Tumor Registry. The statistics she 
cited from the study, released in January, show that New London 
County has the highest incidence of cancer among women during the 
years 1995 to 1999, while the number of men's cases here rank 
second highest among the eight counties in the state.

She then claimed that Millstone's radiological emissions were 
responsible for the region's lymphoma, leukemia, breast cancer 
and other cancer cases.

Calling the data if true, extremely significant, Judge Ann 
Marshall Young said she needed more reasonably specific sources 
than Burton provided. Judge Paul Abramson, the panel chairman, 
chided Burton for assuming that the factual basis for many of her 
arguments was familiar to the judges because it is public 
information. 

In what would become a refrain through the rest of Wednesday's 
hearing, Young said, What I think about is basic legal practice 
 providing authority for statutes, some indication of the source 
of information you put forth ... The question that keeps coming 
to my mind is, How do you know these things, and why haven't you 
given us more information?'

Burton answered that the information she provided complied with 
NRC rules and that the coalition lacks funding to hire the 
experts it needs to make its case. 

Two hours into the hearing, she held a press conference with 
television and print reporters in another room, where four people 
whose relatives suffer from or have died from cancer said the 
power plants should be shut down. The press conference delayed 
the hearing by about 20 minutes. Abramson reprimanded her for not 
letting the panel know she needed extra time for that.

At the outset of the hearing Abramson said that testimony should 
focus on the aging of the power plants and their impact on the 
environment. Throughout the day, David Lewis, a Washington, D.C. 
lawyer for Dominion, and NRC staff attorneys, argued that five of 
Burton's six allegations, including the cancer cluster issue, 
were outside the scope of the hearing and should be rejected on 
that basis alone. 

Burton's other claims were that Millstone is a terrorist target 
the NRC is failing to adequately protect; that the area around it 
cannot be safely evacuated; that the plants are operating without 
a valid state permit to cool the reactors; and that the plants 
are destroying and could render extinct the winter flounder 
population of Niantic Bay.

Dominion and NRC staff attorneys cited the Maguire ruling, a 
recent court case involving the Catawba Power Plant in South 
Carolina. They argued that the case set a precedent that issues 
associated with terrorism cannot be addressed through the 
licensing renewal process. 

Burton argued that a state Department of Environmental Protection 
discharge permit expired in 1992 but has been renewed 
inappropriately for the past six years through a measure intended 
only for emergencies. The permit and fish kills are exclusively 
within DEP's jurisdiction, Dominion and NRC lawyers said. 

Burton also alleged that the power plants suffer from technical 
defects and premature aging. She argued that Dominion did not 
analyze the cumulative effects of 122 unplanned shutdowns during 
the 28-year lifespan of the plants. Lewis contradicted those 
arguments, citing specific sections of the license renewal 
applications.

The judges, who included Richard F. Cole, also denied Burton's 
request to stay or postpone the entire license renewal process 
while she contests the NRC's refusal to hold the hearing under 
procedures the NRC recently deemed obsolete. A final ruling on 
Burton's request for a stay and her claims will be made by July 
29, Abramson said. 

p.daddona@theday.com   

About The Day Publishing Company
*****************************************************************
 23 NRC: NRC to Meet with Pacific Gas &Electric to Discuss Diablo Canyon Issues
 
News Release - Region IV - 2004-03
 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 

Office of Public Affairs, Region IV
  No. IV-04-033           July 1, 2004   
  CONTACT:     Victor Dricks
Phone: 817-860-8128
     E-mail:  [opa4@nrc.gov]   
  


Officials of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission will meet
with officials from Pacific Gas & Electric Co. on July 27 to
discuss problem identification and resolution and human
performance issues at the Diablo Canyon power plant. PG&E
operates the plant, located in San Luis Obispo, California. 

The meeting, which is open to public observation, will be held
between 6 and 8 p.m. at PG&Es Community Center, 6588 Ontario
Road, San Luis Obispo. The public is invited to observe the
meeting and the NRC staff will be available for comments and
questions from the public before the meeting adjourns. People
interested in attending should contact Vincent Gaddy at (800)
952-9677, or via e-mail at:  [vgg@nrc.gov] . 

During its most recent safety assessment of Diablo Canyon, NRC
identified the need for improvement in PG&Es problem
identification and resolution program and in human performance.
These areas were discussed during a June 10 public meeting with
PG&E in San Luis Obispo.   



  


 	Last revised Thursday, July 01, 2004 	   
*****************************************************************
 24 AFP: Philippines revives charges against Marcos ally over nuclear plant

 [http://www.spacewar.com/]

MANILA (AFP) Jul 02, 2004

 Government prosecutors said Friday they have revived graft 
charges against a crony of the late deposed dictator Ferdinand 
Marcos over the construction of nuclear plant that was never put 
into operation.

Charges were filed in a special anti-graft court on Thursday, 
against businessman Herminio Disini for allegedly receiving 18 
million dollars in bribes in exchange for using his influence 
with Marcos to win contracts for the mothballed plant in Bataan 
province, north of Manila.

Chief special prosecutor Dennis Villa Ignacio said he had 
documents proving that Disini received payments from US firms 
Burns and Roe and Westinghouse, to give them the contract for the 
nuclear plant, completed in 1984 at a cost of 2.3 billion 
dollars.

Villa Ignacio said that Disini made additional profits by seeing 
to it that companies owned by his family were sub-contracted to 
build the nuclear plant.

The anti-graft court has not yet set hearings on the case.

A government ombudsman previously dismissed cases against Disini 
but the Supreme Court in 2003 ruled the government had enough 
evidence to "support a criminal complaint for the crimes of 
corruption," against him.

Disini dropped out of sight after a popular revolt in 1986 ended 
Marcos's 20-year rule and sent the fallen dictator fleeing into 
exile in Hawaii where he died in 1989.

The nuclear plant was never put into operation and a team of 
international inspectors earlier declared it unsafe and 
inoperable as it was built near major earthquake fault lines and 
near the Pinatubo volcano which at the time was dormant.

The Philippines still pays 155,000 dollars a day in interest on 
the structure but cannot operate it as a nuclear plant as nuclear 
power has been banned under the country's constitution.

  WAR.WIRE
*****************************************************************
 25 Bellona: Radiation source found in Urals
 
The source of radiation found on April 20th near the suspicious
container turned out to be iridium-192. 

2004-07-01 20:15

This information was received after spectrometric analyses of the 
source. The source was not inside the container as it was assumed 
before, ITAR-TASS reported on April 23d. The local police took 
measures to find the owner of the container and the radiation 
source. There is no threat to the environment or the local 
population, ITAR-TASS reported. The metal container was found in 
Beloyarsk district in Sverdlovsk region on the road between 
Yekaterinburg and Tyumen close to a café. The specialists of the 
Ministry of Emergencies detected gamma radiation equal to 2,800 
mikroroentgen per hour (20 muR/h is normal). 
  
  Publisher: Bellona Foundation [bellona@bellona.no] ,
President: Frederic Hauge [frederic@bellona.no] 
Information: info@bellona.no [info@bellona.no] , Technical
contact: webmaster@bellona.no [webmaster@bellona.no] 
Telephone: +47 23 23 46 00 Telefax: +47 22 38 38 62  * P.O.Box
2141 Grunerlokka, 0505 Oslo, Norway
*****************************************************************
 26 Las Vegas RJ: YUCCA MOUNTAIN PROJECT: Internet database missing documents 
 
Friday, July 02, 2004
 

NRC official says only portion of documents available for
posting By STEVE TETREAULT
STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU
 
WASHINGTON -- Although the Energy Department this week certified
a database crucial to the licensing of the Yucca Mountain
Project, only a portion of the documents are available for
posting, officials said Thursday.
 
 Energy Department officials announced Wednesday they had put
forward 1.2 million documents totaling 5.6 million pages related
to the planned Nevada nuclear waste repository. The documents
were posted in a search format to an Energy Department Web site.
 
 But administrators at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission have
received less than half the electronic documents for indexing
that will make them searchable and available on a licensing
support network for the Yucca Mountain Project, NRC spokeswoman
Sue Gagner said.
 
 "There are 700,000 documents that are coming," Gagner said.
"Our best estimate is five or six weeks, if no problems arise"
to make them available.
 
 In May, an internal Energy Department audit recommended Yucca
Mountain Project managers improve their document deliveries
because the NRC could index only about 150,000 documents per
week. The Energy Department began relaying electronic files for
processing and posting on May 5.
 
 Attorneys for Nevada seized on the information Thursday to
allege the Energy Department was trying to bend the rules to
keep the repository project on schedule to file a license
application by the end of the year.
 
 "If this is DOE's first volley, it is nothing short of
disaster," said state-hired attorney Joe Egan of the Virginia
firm Egan, Fitzpatrick, Malsch &Cynkar. 
Egan said the initial operations of the licensing support
network removed any doubt about whether Nevada will ask a NRC
administrative officer to examine how the department is carrying
out a legal responsibility to share its work products.
 
 "We certainly are going to challenge this certification," Egan
said.
 
 Meanwhile, Energy Department portions of the Web site,
www.lsnnet.gov, remained dark Thursday. Officials confirmed the
delay stemmed from an Energy Department request to withdraw
150,000 documents that already were submitted.
 
 Energy Department officials maintained the documents involved
homeland security and other privileged issues. Yucca Mountain
Project Deputy Director John Arthur asked NRC administrators not
to activate the Energy Department's portion until the deletions
could be confirmed.
 
 Although the NRC site was not yet ready, Energy Department
officials said they posted the 1.2 million document collection
to a DOE Web site, www.ocrwm.doe.gov.
 
 In so doing, Energy Department spokesman Allen Benson said the
department met its legal obligations.
 
 "It does comply with the regulations because the documents are
available and they are accessible," he said.
 
 When the licensing support network is up and running, it will
be the chief depository for millions of documents generated by
the Energy Department, the NRC, the state of Nevada and other
parties involved in licensing the proposed Yucca Mountain
repository.
 
 The Yucca Mountain site, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, must
be licensed by the NRC before construction officially can begin,
although miles of repository tunnels already have been carved
into the mountain as part of studies.
 
 
Copyright Las Vegas Review-Journal
*****************************************************************
 27 Las Vegas SUN: Energy Department's document claim disputed by Nevadans

Today: July 02, 2004 at 11:16:12 PDT 

By Suzanne Struglinski <suzanne@lasvegassun.com 
[suzanne@lasvegassun.com] > SUN WASHINGTON BUREAU

 WASHINGTON -- Despite Energy Department assurances, Nevada 
officials are calling into question whether the department hit a 
critical deadline it said it did this week on the planned Yucca 
Mountain repository.

 On Wednesday, Energy Department officials said they had reached 
a key benchmark with the public release of more than 1 million 
documents -- backup information about the science behind the 
repository plan.

 By law, the department has to make all of its documents publicly 
available six months before applying for a license to build the 
repository at the site 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

 State officials say those documents have to be on the Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission's Web site -- the Licensing Support 
Network.

 But the NRC said Thursday that it had received less than half of 
the documents and noted it will be at least a month before it 
gets all of the documents.

 The Energy Department, though, said the documents were available 
on its Web site, thus meeting the deadline because the site is 
public. The site, however, was down much of yesterday and today.

 "This obviously can't be the way the system works,"said Bob 
Loux, executive director of the state's Agency for Nuclear 
Projects.

 By sending those documents by the end of June, the department 
would be able to apply by the end of the year, and thus starting 
the clock on the regulatory process which could help the 
department meet its goal of building and opening the repository 
by 2010.

 Attorney Joe Egan, who's representing Nevada on the Yucca issue, 
said he does not believe the department has met the requirements.

 He said the state will challenge that the certification is "null 
and void" and the clock on the license process should not start 
ticking. Nevada has 90 day to gets it documentation together 
under the law once the department certifies.

 "They (Energy Department officials) have botched this up to a 
degree that would be hard to imitate," Egan said. "Where are the 
documents?"

 Attorney Charles Fitzpatrick, who also represents that state, 
was angry Thursday that the database was not complete.

 Fitzpatrick said there was "no landmark reached" with the 
certification because it appears the department is not done going 
through its documents.

 "They didn't complete everything," he said. "They've rendered 
the word certify really meaningless."

 The state will have to wait for the NRC to appoint someone to 
handle the pre-license application before officially complaining. 
An officer should be appointed in the next two weeks.

 Department spokesman Allen Benson said via e-mail the 1.2 
million documents the department released Wednesday are loaded 
onto its Web site, and additional documents will come later.

 "We are still working on technical documents that we may rely on 
for the LA (license application)," Benson said. "These would be 
in addition to the 1.2 million already loaded."

 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is still waiting to receive 
documents and post them to its own network, which will be used 
during the license hearings.

 Commission spokeswoman Sue Gagner said the commission will have 
about 500,000 documents available on its network "very soon." The 
department still needs to send the remaining 700,000. Ganger said 
the commission expects to receive and process them over the next 
five to six weeks.

 The commission computer system can only index about 150,000 
document a week, so it will take some time to get them all 
posted, she said.

 The department has been sending documents to the commission 
since May 5. The Energy Department section of the commission's 
Web site was still gray and not available for searches Thursday. 
Meanwhile, the department's Web site has not been working.

 The site went down last night, and this morning, those trying to 
access it received the message:

 "The DOE LSN site is temporarily down for maintenance. We will 
be back up as soon as possible.The estimated time it will be 
available is 11 a.m. PDT (2 p.m. EDT) Friday July 2, 2004," 
according to the Web site.

 Those trying to do searches on the site Thursday were warned 
that some software problems exists so all documents would not be 
available.

 Michele Boyd, a legislative representative for Public Citizen, a 
group that opposes the Yucca project, said trying to do searches 
was "horrible" and she received numerous error message Thursday. 
The group and nine others sent a letter to the department today 
complaining on the Web site's quality.

 "It is impossible for the public to participate in the NRC Yucca 
Mountain licensing process when only a small fraction of 
documents are indexed and available on the NRC Licensing Support 
Network," according to the letter, sent by Public Citizen and 
other environmental groups. "The usefulness of the DOE's database 
as currently configured is severely limited. The posted documents 
are not yet indexed, making it extraordinarily difficult, and for 
all practical purposes impossible, to navigate the database."

 But Rod McCullum, senior project manager for waste at the
Nuclear Energy Institute, said scientists and technical experts
he had spoken with Thursday, "have been happily downloading
documents all day" and did not seen any problems. 



*****************************************************************
 28 USNWTRB: reports

U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board - Reports
 
  [U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board] 
  
  NWTRB Reports
Updated June 8, 2004
   
      
  Note: The list provided below is in reverse chronological
order listing the most recent reports first.  These files are
provided in PDF format for reading by Adobe Acrobat reader,
which can be downloaded free from 
[http://www.adobe.com/prodindex/acrobat/readstep.html] File
sizes are provided..   
  
-----------------------------------------------------------------
  
  
[ height=] Report to Congress and the Secretary of Energy. 
May 2004 

In this report, the Board summarizes its major activities from
January 1, 2003, through December 31, 2003. During that period,
the Board continued its evaluation and held meetings on a range
of technical and scientific issues, including seismicity, DOE
plans for transporting spent nuclear fuel and high-level
radioactive waste, the design and operation of facilities at the
proposed repository site, performance-confirmation activities,
and the potential for localized corrosion. Correspondence and
related materials are included in the appendices to the report
along with the Board's strategic plan for fiscal years
2004-2009, its performance plans for 2004 and 2005, and its
performance evaluation for 2003. 



Available as:
Transmittal Letter, Table of Contents &Report (783KB)
 Appendicies A thru D (150 KB)
 Appendix E (5,304KB)
 Appendix F (1,149KB)
 Appendicies G thru J (233KB)
 Entire Report (7,044 KB)   
  
-----------------------------------------------------------------
  
  
Report to Congress and the Secretary of Energy. 
December 19, 2003 

This letter and attachments constitutes the Board's second
report to Congress and the Secretary of Energy for calendar year
2003. This letter report is composed of letters on localized
corrosion sent to the director of the Office of Civilian
Radioactive Waste Management (OCRWM) on October 21, 2003, and
November 25, 2003. 



Available as:
 [http://www.nwtrb.gov/reports/2003ltr.pdf]  (433KB)
   
  
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Board Technical Report on Localized Corrosion 
November 25, 2003 

Technical report supporting Board conclusions in October 21,
2003 letter to the DOE related to the potential for localized
corrosion of waste packages during the thermal pulse. 



Available as:
 [http://www.nwtrb.gov/reports/mlc019.pdf]  (239KB)
   
  
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Report to the Secretary of Energy and the Congress.
April 2003 

This report summarizes the Board's major activities between
January 1, 2002, and December 31, 2002. During this period, the
Board focused on evaluating the technical basis of the DOE's
work related to analyzing a planned repository site at Yucca
Mountain in Nevada. Included in an appendix to the report are
letters to the DOE related to technical issues identified by the
Board as part of its ongoing review in 2002. Also included in
the appendices are the Board's strategic plan for fiscal years
2003-2008, its performance plans for FY 2003 and FY 2004, and
its performance evaluation for FY 2002. 



Available as:
 [http://www.nwtrb.gov/reports/2002report.pdf]  (244KB)
 [http://www.nwtrb.gov/reports/2002appenad.pdf]  (177KB)
 [http://www.nwtrb.gov/reports/2002appenef.pdf]  (3.56MB)
 [http://www.nwtrb.gov/reports/2002appengj.pdf]  (254KB)   
  
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Report to the Secretary of Energy and the Congress.
April 2002 

This report summarizes the Board's major activities between
February 1, 2001, and January 31, 2002. During this period, the
Board focused on evaluating the technical basis of the DOE's
work related to a site recommendation, including the DOE's
characterization of the Yucca Mountain site, the DOE's design of
the repository and waste package, and the DOE's estimates of how
a repository system developed at the site might perform. The
report includes a description of activities undertaken by the
Board in developing its assessment of the technical basis for
the DOE's current performance estimates. 

Available as:
 [http://www.nwtrb.gov/reports/2001report.pdf]  (388K)
 [http://www.nwtrb.gov/reports/2001appenad.pdf]  (200K)
 [http://www.nwtrb.gov/reports/2001appene.pdf]  (1.8M)
 [http://www.nwtrb.gov/reports/2001appenf.pdf]  (764K)
 [http://www.nwtrb.gov/reports/2001appengj.pdf]  (372K)   
  
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Letter report to Congress and the Secretary of Energy
January 24, 2002 

Letter report summarizing the Board's evaluation of the DOE's
technical and scientific investigation of the Yucca Mountain
site. 

Available as:
 [http://www.nwtrb.gov/reports/2002ltr.pdf]  (135K)
   
  
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Proceedings from an International Workshop on Long-Term
Extrapolation of Passive Behavior, July 19-20, 2001, Arlington,
Virginia.
December 2001 

The Board conducted a workshop on issues related to predicting
corrosion behavior for periods of unprecedented duration. The
workshop was held on July 19 and 20, 2001, in Arlington,
Virginia. The workshop consisted of a panel of 3 Board members
and 14 internationally recognized corrosion scientists, 8 of
whom were from outside the United States. Following the
workshop, most panelists submitted brief papers giving their
views on issues related to predicting very long term corrosion.
This publication is a compilation of those submissions. 

Available as:
 [http://www.nwtrb.gov/meetings/passive/passive.pdf]  (2.4M)
   
  
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Report to the Secretary of Energy and the Congress.
April 2001 

In this report, the Board summarizes its major activities in
calendar year 2000. During 2000, the Board identified four
priority areas for evaluating the potential repository at Yucca
Mountain. The areas are the following: 
  + meaningful quantification of conservatisms and uncertainties
in the DOE's performance assessments
 
  + progress in understanding the underlying fundamental
processes involved in predicting the rate of waste package
corrosion
 
  + an evaluation and a comparison of the base-case repository
design with a low-temperature design
 
  + development of multiple lines of evidence to support the
safety case of the proposed repository, the lines of evidence
being derived independently of performance assessment and thus
not being subject to the limitations of performance assessment. 

The report summarizes the Board's views on each priority area. A
more detailed discussion of the priorities can be found in
letters to the DOE included among the appendices to the report. 

Available as:
 [http://www.nwtrb.gov/reports/2000report.pdf]  (201K)
 [http://www.nwtrb.gov/reports/2000appen1.pdf]  (58K)
 [http://www.nwtrb.gov/reports/2000appen2.pdf]  (6M)
 [http://www.nwtrb.gov/reports/2000appen3.pdf]  (92K)   
  
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  Report by letter to the Secretary of Energy and the Congress.
December 2000 

This report, in the form of a letter, presents a brief update of
the Board's views on the status of the DOE program. 

Available as:
 [http://www.nwtrb.gov/reports/00letter.pdf]    
  
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  Report to the U.S. Congress and the Secretary of Energy.
April 2000. 

In this report, the Board summarizes its major activities in
calendar year 1999. Among the activities discussed in the report
is the Board’s 1999 review of the DOE’s viability assessment
(VA) of the Yucca Mountain site. The Board’s evaluation of the
VA concludes that Yucca Mountain continues to warrant study as
the candidate site for a permanent geologic repository and that
work should proceed to support a decision on whether to
recommend the site for repository development. The Board
suggests that the 2001 date for a decision is very ambitious,
and focused study should continue on natural and engineered
barriers. The Board states that a credible technical basis does
not currently exist for the above-boiling repository design
included in the VA. The Board recommends evaluation of
alternative repository designs, including lower-temperature
designs, as a potential way to help reduce the significance of
uncertainties related to predictions of repository performance. 

Available as:
 [http://www.nwtrb.gov/reports/99front.pdf]  (640K)
 [http://www.nwtrb.gov/reports/99report.pdf]  (1.5M)
 [http://www.nwtrb.gov/reports/99appen.pdf] (138K)
 [http://www.nwtrb.gov/reports/99doe.pdf]  (6.8M)   
  
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  Report to the U.S. Congress and the Secretary of Energy.
April 1999. 

In this report, the Board summarizes its major activities during
calendar year 1998. The report discusses the research needs
identified in the DOE’s recently issued Viability Assessment of
the Yucca Mountain site, including plans to gather information
on the amount of water that will eventually seep into repository
drifts, whether formations under the repository will retard the
migration of radionuclides, the flow-and-transport properties of
the groundwater that lies approximately 200 meters beneath the
repository horizon, and long-term corrosion rates of materials
that may be used for the waste packages. The report describes
other activities undertaken by the Board in 1998, including a
review of the hypothesis that there were hydrothermal upwellings
at Yucca Mountain, a workshop held to increase understanding of
the range of expert opinion on waste package materials, and a
review of the DOE’s draft environmental impact statement for the
Yucca Mountain site. 

Available as:
 [http://www.nwtrb.gov/reports/98summ0.pdf]  (127K)
 [http://www.nwtrb.gov/reports/98summ1.pdf]  (1.5M)
 [http://www.nwtrb.gov/reports/98summ2.pdf]  (89K)
 [http://www.nwtrb.gov/reports/98summ3.pdf]  (107K)
 [http://www.nwtrb.gov/reports/98summ4.pdf]  (2.4M)   
  
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Report to the U.S. Congress and the Secretary of Energy: Moving
Beyond the Viability Assessment.
April 1999. 

In its report, the Board offers its views on the DOE’s December
1998 Viability-Assessment of the Yucca Mountain site in Nevada.
The Yucca Mountain site is being characterized to determine its
suitability as the location of a permanent repository for
disposing of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive
waste. The Board discusses the need to address key uncertainties
that remain about the site, including the performance of the
engineered and natural barriers. The Board addresses the DOE’s
plans for reducing those uncertainties and suggests that
consideration be given to alternative repository designs,
including ventilated low-temperature designs that have the
potential to reduce uncertainties and simplify the analytical
bases for determining site suitably and for licensing. The Board
also comments on the DOE’s total system performance assessment,
the analytical tool that pulls together information on the
performance of the repository system. 

Available as:
 [http://www.nwtrb.gov/reports/mbva.pdf]  (36K)   
  
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  Report to the U.S. Congress and The Secretary of Energy.
November 1998. 

In its report, the Board offers its views on the direction of
future scientific and technical research under way and planned
by the DOE as part of its program for characterizing a site at
Yucca Mountain, Nevada, as a potential repository for spent fuel
and high-level radioactive waste. The Board discusses some of
the remaining key scientific and technical uncertainties related
to performance of a potential repository. The Board’s report
addresses some of these uncertainties by examining information
about the proposed repository system presented to it in meetings
and other technical exchanges. The Board considers and comments
on some of the important connections between the site’s natural
properties and the current designs for the waste package and
other engineered features of the repository. 

Available as:
 [http://www.nwtrb.gov/reports/98front.pdf]  (104K)
 [http://www.nwtrb.gov/reports/98chap1.pdf]  (329K)
 [http://www.nwtrb.gov/reports/98chap2.pdf]  (101K) 
 [http://www.nwtrb.gov/reports/98chap3.pdf] (68K)
 [http://www.nwtrb.gov/reports/98chap4.pdf]  (176K)
 [http://www.nwtrb.gov/reports/98refs.pdf]  (39K)   
  
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  Board Completes Review of Material on Hydrothermal Activity.
July 24, 1998. 

This series of documents concerns the Board’s review of material
related to Mr. Jerry Szymanski’s hypothesis of ongoing,
intermittent hydrothermal activity at Yucca Mountain and large
earthquake-induced changes in the water table there. The series
includes a cover letter, the Board’s review, and the reports of
the four consultants the Board contracted with to assist in the
review. 

Available as:
 [http://www.nwtrb.gov/reports/review1.pdf] 
 [http://www.nwtrb.gov/reports/review2.pdf]    
  
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  1997 Findings and Recommendations.
April 1998. 

This report details the Board’s activities in 1997 and covers,
among other things, the DOE’s viability assessment, due later
this year; underground exploration of the candidate repository
site at Yucca Mountain, Nevada; thermal testing underway at the
site; what happens when radioactive waste reaches the water
table beneath Yucca Mountain; transportation of spent fuel; and
the use of expert judgment. The Board makes four recommendations
in the report concerning (1) the need for the DOE to begin now
to develop alternative design concepts for a repository, (2) the
need for the DOE to include estimates of the likely variation in
doses for alternative candidate critical groups in its interim
performance measure for Yucca Mountain, (3) the need for the DOE
to evaluate whether site-specific biosphere data is needed for
license application, and (4) the need for the DOE to make full
and effective use of formally elicited expert judgment. 

Available as:
 [http://www.nwtrb.gov/reports/97report.pdf] 
 [http://www.nwtrb.gov/reports/97appen.pdf]    
  
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  Report by letter to the Secretary of Energy and the Congress.
December 23, 1997. 

This report, in the form of a letter, addresses several key
issues, including the DOE’s viability assessment of the Yucca
Mountain site, design of the potential repository and waste
package, the total system performance assessment, and the
enhanced characterization of the repository block (east-west
crossing). 

Available as:
 [http://www.nwtrb.gov/reports/97letter.pdf]    
  
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  Report to the U.S. Congress and The Secretary of Energy: 1996
Findings and Recommendations.
March 1997. 

This report summarizes Board activities during 1996. Chapter 1
provides an overview of the Department of Energy’s high-level
nuclear waste management program from the Board’s perspective,
including the viability assessment, program status, and progress
in exploration and testing. The chapter ends with conclusions
and recommendations. Chapter 2 examines the three technical
issues-hydrology, radionuclide transport, and performance
assessment-and provides conclusions and recommendations. Chapter
3 deals with design , including the concept for underground
operations, repository layout and design alternatives,
construction planning, thermal loading, and engineered barriers.
The Board also makes conclusions and recommendations. Chapter 4
provides an overview of recent Board activities, including the
international exchange of information, the Board’s visit to the
River Mountains tunnel, and a presentation to the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission. Appendices include information on Board
members, the organization of the Board’s panels, meetings held
in 1996 and scheduled for 1997, the DOE’s responses to previous
Board recommendations, a list of Board publications, references
for the report, and a glossary of technical terms. 

Available as:
 [http://www.nwtrb.gov/reports/96report.pdf]    
  
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  Nuclear Waste Management in the United States - The Board's
Perspective.
June 1996. 

This publication was developed from remarks made by Dr. John
Cantlon, Chairman of the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board,
at Topseal ’96, an international conference on nuclear waste
management and disposal. The meeting was sponsored by the
Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Company (SKB) and the
European Nuclear Society. The publication highlights the Board’s
views on the status of the U.S. program for management and
disposal of commercial spent nuclear fuel and provides a brief
overview of the program’s organization. It summarizes the DOE’s
efforts to characterize the Yucca Mountain site and to develop a
waste isolation strategy for the site. The publication also
outlines legislative and regulatory changes under consideration
at that time and the Board’s views on the technical implications
of those possible changes. 

Available as:  [http://www.nwtrb.gov/reports/wastemgt.pdf]   
  
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  Report to the U.S. Congress and the Secretary of Energy: 1995
Findings and Recommendations.
April 1996. 

This report summarizes Board activities during 1995. Chapter 1
provides an overview of the DOE's high-level waste management
program, including highlights, current status, legislative
issues, milestones, and recommendations. Chapter 2 reports on
Board Panel activities and Chapter 3 provides information on new
Board members, meetings attended, interactions with Congress and
congressional staff, Board presentations to other organizations,
interactions with foreign programs, and a review of the Board’s
report on interim storage of spent nuclear fuel. Appendices
include Board testimony and statements before Congress, Board
correspondence of note, and the Department of Energy’s responses
to recommendations in previous Board reports. 

Available as:
 [http://www.nwtrb.gov/reports/95report.pdf] 
 [http://www.nwtrb.gov/reports/95appen.pdf]    
  
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  Disposal and Storage of Spent Nuclear Fuel - Finding the Right
Balance.
March 1996. 

This special report caps more than two years of study and
analysis by the Board into the issues surrounding the need for
interim storage of commercial spent nuclear fuel and the
advisability and timing of the development of a federal
centralized storage facility. The Board concludes in the report
that the DOE’s efforts should remain focused on permanent
geologic disposal and the site investigations at Yucca Mountain,
Nevada; that planning for a federal centralized spent fuel
storage facility and the required transportation infrastructure
be begun now, but actual construction delayed until after a
site-suitability decision is made about the Yucca Mountain site;
that storage should be developed incrementally; that limited,
emergency backup storage capacity be authorized at an existing
nuclear facility; and that, if the Yucca Mountain site proves
unacceptable for repository development, other potential sites
for both centralized storage and disposal be considered. 

Available as:
 [http://www.nwtrb.gov/reports/storage.pdf]    
  
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  Report by letter to the Secretary of Energy and the Congress.
December 13, 1995.
 

This report, in the form of a letter, addresses the DOE’s
progress in underground exploration with the tunnel boring
machine, advances in the development of a waste isolation
strategy, new work on engineered barriers, and progress being
made in performance assessment. 

Available as:  [http://www.nwtrb.gov/reports/95letter.pdf]   
  
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  Report to the U.S. Congress and the Secretary of Energy: 1994
Findings and Recommendations.
March 1995. 

This report summarizes Board activities during 1994. It covers
aspects of the DOE’s Program Approach, their emerging waste
isolation strategy, and their transportation program. It also
explores the Board’s views on minimum exploratory requirements
and thermal-loading issues. The report<->focuses a chapter on
the lessons that have been learned in site assessment from
projects around the world. Another chapter deals with volcanism
and resolution of difficult issues. The Board also details its
observations from its visit to Japan and the Japanese nuclear
waste disposal program. Findings and recommendations in the
report centered around structural geology and geoengineering,
hydrogeology and geochemistry, the engineered barrier system,
and risk and performance analysis. 

Available as:
 [http://www.nwtrb.gov/reports/94report.pdf] 
 [http://www.nwtrb.gov/reports/94appen.pdf]    
  
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  Report to The U.S. Congress and The Secretary of Energy:
January to December 1993.
May 1994. 

This report summarizes Board activities primarily during 1993.
It reviews the nuclear waste disposal programs of Belgium,
France, and the United Kingdom; elaborates on the Board’s
understanding of the radiation protection standards being
reviewed by the National Academy of Sciences; and, using “future
climates” as an example, examines the DOE’s approach to
“resolving difficult issues.” Recommendations center on the use
of a systems approach in all of OCRWM’s programs, prioritization
of site-suitability activities, appropriate use of total system
performance assessment and expert judgment, and the dynamics of
the Yucca Mountain ecosystem. 

Available as:
 [http://www.nwtrb.gov/reports/93report.pdf] 
 [http://www.nwtrb.gov/reports/93appen.pdf]    
  
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  Letter Report to Congress and the Secretary of Energy.
February 1994. 

This report is issued in letter format due to impending
legislative hearings on the DOE’s fiscal year 1995 budget and
new funding mechanisms sought by the Secretary of Energy. The
8-page report (ninth in the NWTRB series) restates a
recommendation made in the Board’s Special Report, that an
independent review of the OCRWM’s management and organizational
structure be initiated as soon as possible. Also, it adds two
additional recommendations: ensure sufficient and reliable
funding for site characterization and performance assessment,
whether the program budget remains level or is increased, and
build on the Secretary of Energy’s new public involvement
initiative by expanding current efforts to integrate the views
of the various stakeholders during the decision-making
process-not afterward. 

Available as:
 [http://www.nwtrb.gov/reports/letter.pdf]    
  
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  Underground Exploration and Testing at Yucca Mountain A Report
to Congress and the Secretary of Energy.
October 1993. 

This report (eighth in the NWTRB series) focuses on the
exploratory studies facility at Yucca Mountain, Nevada: the
conceptual design, planned exploration and testing, and
excavation plans and schedules. In addition to a number of
detailed recommendations, the Board makes three general
recommendations. First, the DOE should develop a comprehensive
strategy that integrates exploration and testing priorities with
the design and excavation approach for the exploratory facility.
Second, underground thermal testing should be resumed as soon as
possible. Third, the DOE should establish a geoengineering board
with expertise in the engineering, construction, and management
of large underground projects. 

Available as:
 [http://www.nwtrb.gov/reports/8report.pdf]    
  
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  Special Report to Congress and the Secretary of Energy.
March 1993. 

The Board’s seventh report provides a nontechnical approach for
those not familiar with the details of the DOE’s high-level
nuclear waste management program. It highlights three important
policy issues: the program is driven by unrealistic deadlines,
there is no integrated waste management plan, and program
management needs improvement. The Board makes three specific
recommendations: amend the current schedule to include realistic
intermediate milestones; develop a comprehensive,
well-integrated plan for the overall management of all spent
nuclear fuel and high-level defense waste from generation to
disposal; and implement an independent evaluation of the Office
of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management’s (OCRWM) organization
and management. These recommendations should be implemented
without slowing the progress of site-characterization activities
at Yucca Mountain. 

Available as:
 [http://www.nwtrb.gov/reports/special.pdf]    
  
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  Sixth Report to the U.S. Congress and the U.S. Secretary of
Energy.
December 1992. 

The sixth report begins by summarizing recent Board activities,
congressional testimony, changes in Board makeup, and the Little
Skull Mountain earthquake. Chapter 2 details panel activities
and offers seven technical recommendations on the dangers of a
schedule-driven program; the need for top-level systems studies;
the impact of defense high-level waste; the use of high
capacity, self-shielded waste package designs; and the need for
prioritization among the numerous studies included in the
site-characterization plans. In Chapter 3, the Board offers
candid insights to the high-level waste management program in
five countries, specifically those areas that might be
applicable to the U.S. program, including program size and cost,
utility responsibilities, repository construction schedules, and
alternative approaches to licensing. Appendix F provides
background on the Finnish and Swiss programs. 

Available as:
 [http://www.nwtrb.gov/reports/6report.pdf] 
 [http://www.nwtrb.gov/reports/6appen.pdf]    
  
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  Fifth Report to the U.S. Congress and the U.S. Secretary of
Energy.
June 1992. 

The Board’s fifth report focuses on the cross-cutting issue of
thermal loading. It explores thermal-loading strategies (U.S.
and others) and the technical issues and uncertainties related
to thermal loading. It also details the Board’s position on the
implications of thermal loading for the U.S. radioactive waste
management system. Also included are updates on Board and panel
activities during the reporting period. The report offers
fifteen recommendations to the DOE on the following subjects:
ESF and repository design enhancements, repository sealing,
seismic vulnerabilities (vibratory ground motion and fault
displacement), the DOE approach to the engineered barrier
system, and transportation and systems program status. 

Available as:
 [http://www.nwtrb.gov/reports/5report.pdf] 
 [http://www.nwtrb.gov/reports/5appen.pdf]    
  
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  Fourth Report to the U.S. Congress and the U.S. Secretary of
Energy.
December 1991. 

The fourth report provides update on the Board’s activities and
explores in depth the following areas: exploratory studies
facility (ESF) construction; test prioritization; rock
mechanics; tectonic features and processes; volcanism;
hydrogeology and geochemistry in the unsaturated zone; the
engineered barrier system; regulations promulgated by the
Environmental Protection Agency, the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission (NRC), and the DOE; the DOE performance assessment
program; and quality assurance in the Yucca Mountain project.
Ten recommendations are made across these diverse subject areas.
Chapter 3 offers insights from the Board’s visit with officials
from the Canadian nuclear power and spent fuel disposal
programs. Background on the Canadian program is in Appendix D. 

Available as:
 [http://www.nwtrb.gov/reports/4report.pdf] 
 [http://www.nwtrb.gov/reports/4appen.pdf]    
  
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  Third Report to the U.S. Congress and the U.S. Secretary of
Energy.
May 1991. 

The third report briefly describes recent Board activities and
congressional testimony. Substantive chapters cover exploratory
shaft facility alternatives, repository design, risk-benefit
analysis, waste package plans and funding, spent fuel corrosion
performance, transportation and systems, environmental program
concerns, more on the DOE task force studies on risk and
performance assessment, federal quality assurance requirements
for the repository program, and the measurement, modeling, and
application of radionuclide sorption data. Fifteen specific
recommendations are made to the DOE. Background information on
the German and Swedish nuclear waste disposal programs is
included in Appendix D. 

Available as:
 [http://www.nwtrb.gov/reports/3report.pdf] 
 [http://www.nwtrb.gov/reports/3appen.pdf]    
  
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  Second Report to the U.S. Congress and the U.S. Secretary of
Energy.
November 1990. 

The Board’s second report begins with the background and
framework for repository development and then opens areas of
inquiry, making 20 specific recommendations concerning tectonic
features and processes, geoengineering considerations, the
engineered barrier system, transportation and systems,
environmental and public health issues, and risk and performance
analysis. The report also offers concluding perspectives on DOE
progress, the state of Nevada’s role, the project’s regulatory
framework, the nuclear waste negotiator, other oversight
agencies, and the Board’s future plans. 

Available as:
 [http://www.nwtrb.gov/reports/2report.pdf] 
 [http://www.nwtrb.gov/reports/2appen.pdf]    
  
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  First Report to the U.S. Congress and the U.S. Secretary of
Energy.
March 1990. 

The first report sets the stage for the Board’s evaluation of
the Department of Energy’s (DOE) program to manage the disposal
of the nation’s spent fuel and high-level waste. The report
outlines briefly the legislative history of the nation’s spent
fuel and high-level waste management program including its legal
and regulatory requirements. The Board’s evolution is described,
along with its protocol, panel breakdown, and reporting
requirements. The report identifies major issues based on the
Board’s panel breakdown, and highlights five cross-cutting
issues. 

Available as:
 [http://www.nwtrb.gov/reports/1report.pdf]   

 
                                
                                
  
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   [http://www.nwtrb.gov/reports/reports.html#top]   


*****************************************************************
 29 KLAS: New Concerns Over Nukes Transport Routes
    
July 2, 2004   

  Kyle Zuelke, Photojournalist

There's new information on the project to put nuclear waste at 
Yucca Mountain. Thursday morning the State Commission on Nuclear 
Projects got an update on the dump site. Commissioners focused a 
large part of their time on transportation. Eyewitness News was 
the only station there. More>>
   
  Edward Lawrence, Reporter

klastv.com   

Gov't Documents on Yucca Mountain Project   



(Jul. 1) -- There's new information on the project to put
nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain. Thursday morning the State
Commission on Nuclear Projects got an update on the dump site.
Commissioners focused a large part of their time on
transportation. Eyewitness News was the only station there. 

The meeting lasted a little more than an hour. Most of it
attacked the Department of Energy for misleading southern Nevada
residents and not following through on promises to the state.
One important issue is transportation. 

Joe Strolin is the State Administrator of Planning for the
agency of nuclear projects. He told the panel that nuclear waste
would come through Las Vegas. The Department of Energy in public
meetings has said building a rail line through Caliente would
avoid waste traveling through this populated valley. 

Strolin stated, "The problem with that is that selecting the
Caliente rail route does not preclude shipments through Las
Vegas." Strolin says the railroads would determine the waste
delivery route -- not the DOE. 

After examining state funded studies, Strolin concluded, because
of weather and mid-western high traffic areas, the railroads
prefer to use a southern rail line that travels through Las
Vegas. "That would mean that almost 100-percent of the shipments
would go through the Las Vegas Valley even with the Caliente
railroad. 

Eyewitness News asked Department of Energy spokesman Allen
Benson if any of the nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain would
travel through this area. 

Benson, with the DOE, stated, "Can't say and I don't want to
speculate. We have made no decision with respect to
transportation." 

That frustrates skeptical state nuclear commissioners. "It's the
uncertainty. A lot of people keep hearing different stories.
It's been the DOE's trademark that a story today changes next
week or a year from today," said Larry Brown, state nuclear
commissioner. 

Joe Strolin added, "I think that makes us nervous as a state.
It's very difficult to plan when these uncertainties are so
great. That has been a major problem for us all the way along." 

With that, there are no answers. 

Earlier this year the state argued in front of a federal
three-judge panel that nuclear waste should not be brought to
Yucca Mountain. That lawsuit is still pending. The commission
hoped to have a verdict by now. It could come any day.   

  Edward Lawrence, Reporter
House Votes to Limit DOE Funding for Yucca

The House of Representatives voted Friday to severely restrict
the budget for the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste respository. NV
lawmakers hope to crush the project by under funding it. 
More>>
   
[http://www.worldnow.com]     All content © Copyright 2000 -
2004 WorldNow and KLAS. All Rights Reserved.
*****************************************************************
 30 Deseret news: Military lacks data about test ranges
 	 
[deseretnews.com] Friday, July 2, 2004
 	   	 
Training sites may be key to the future of HAFB, Dugway

By Lee Davidson Deseret Morning News

WASHINGTON — Congressional researchers say the
military doesn't have reliable estimates of how contaminated its
test and training ranges are, nor how much it would cost to
decontaminate them.

       In fact, the Pentagon may not even really know such basic
information as the size or number of its current and former
ranges.

       Without that information, Congress and base closure
commissions will have a difficult time weighing "the potential
costs versus benefits of closing operational ranges or entire
installations," according to a new report by the U.S. General
Accounting Office, a research arm of Congress.

       Utah is home to several military ranges, most notably the
Rhode Island-size Dugway Proving Ground operated by the Army and
the similarly vast Utah Test and Training Range operated by Hill
Air Force Base.

       Both could figure in the next round of base closures
scheduled for next year. Hill has faced, but narrowly escaped,
closure in the last two rounds — helped by its possession of the
UTTR. Dugway was proposed for closure in 1995 but escaped when
other states would not allow transfer of some of the chemical
and biological work conducted there.

       The military recently prepared, as ordered by Congress,
some inventories of ranges and estimates of costs to clean up
contamination there.

       In a review of that information, the GAO warns that the
Defense Department's resulting "estimate that it would cost
between $16 billion and $165 billion to clean up unexploded
ordnance, discarded military munitions and munitions
constituents on operational ranges is questionable."

       One major problem, it said, is the military truly does
not have a clear picture of how many ranges exist and how big
they are. The GAO said different arms of the military used
different criteria, assumptions and methods in their
inventories, which "raise questions about the reliability" of
comparisons and cost estimates made using them.

       It said the Pentagon reported 10,444 operational ranges
covering 24.6 million acres nationally in a 2003 inventory. But
a 2004 inventory listed 353 range complexes and 172 individual
ranges on 26 million acres worldwide.

       Sometimes the same arm of the military reported different
numbers in separate inventories for the same ranges, it said.

       For example, one inventory said the Marines' Camp
Lejeune, N.C., has 95,872 acres of rangeland, while a more
recent inventory says it has 152,000 acres, even though the
entire installation covers 153,000 acres.

       Another example is that the Marines' Camp Pendleton,
Calif., was listed having 39,084 acres of range in one
inventory, and 114,000 acres in a more recent one — a threefold
increase.

       The GAO also said the military does not have firm data on
the extent of likely contamination at the ranges.

       "DOD (the Department of Defense) does not have a
comprehensive policy requiring sampling or cleanup of the more
than 200 chemical contaminants associated with military
munitions on operational ranges," it said.

       It said the different arms of the military also used
different techniques to estimate how much of their ranges are
heavily contaminated. For example, the Air Force assumed in its
calculations that ranges were either 100 percent heavily
contaminated, or zero percent. Other services came up with
varying percentages per range, or type of range.

       GAO said the different arms of the military also used
different assumptions and methods to estimate how much it would
cost to clean up heavily contaminated areas.

       "The Air Force's average cost to clean up an acre with a
high density of contamination was $755, whereas the Army's
estimate was $7,577," GAO said. "As a result, the services cost
estimates are not comparable."

       GAO recommended that the military use more consistent
methodology for inventories and estimates.

       The Defense Department disagreed with many of the
findings. It wrote that it disagreed that data and cost
estimates were questionable, and said it is not necessary to
revise them because they are "accurate within reason."

       It also disagreed with the finding that it does not have
a comprehensive policy requiring sampling or cleanup of
munitions on operational ranges, and said it is developing a
system to better assess migration of contaminants off ranges.

E-mail: lee@desnews.com [lee@desnews.com] 

 © 2004 Deseret News Publishing Company 
*****************************************************************
 31 DOE:DSBTFE:NIF close meeting 7/12/04

                        FR Doc 04-15075 
[Federal Register: July 2, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 127)]
[Notices]               
[Page 40359-40360]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access
[wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr02jy04-43]                         
-----------------------------------------------------------------
------
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Office of the Secretary
 
Defense Science Board
AGENCY: Department of Defense.
[[Page 40360]]
ACTION:  Notice of Advisory Committee Meeting.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
------
SUMMARY: The Defense Science Board Task Force on Employment of
the 
National Ignition Facility (NIF) will meet in closed session on
July 
12-13, 2004, Institute for Defense Analyses, 4850 Mark Center
Drive, 
Alexandria, VA. This Task Force will review the experimental
program 
under development for the National Ignition Facility. NIF is a
key 
component of the National Nuclear Security Administration's
(NNSA's) 
Stockpile Stewardship Program to maintain the nuclear weapons
stockpile 
without nuclear testing. The NIF is a 192-beam laser designed to 
achieve fusion ignition and produce high-energy-density
condition 
approaching those of nuclear weapons. NNSA and the
high-energy-density 
physics community have developed a plan for activation and early
use of 
NIF which includes a goal to demonstrate ignition by 2010 and
also 
supports high priority, non-ignition experiments required for
stockpile 
stewardship. In this assessment, the task force will assess the 
proposed ignition and ``non-ignition'' high-energy-density
experimental 
programs at NIF. Review the overall balance and priority of
activities 
within the proposed plan and the degree to which the proposed
program 
of NIF experiments supports the near and long term goals of
stockpile 
stewardship and the overall NIF mission. Assess the potential
for NIF 
to support the design and development of new weapons. Focus on
the 
extent to which major stakeholders in NIF are effectively
integrated 
into the plan.
    The mission of the Defense Science Board is to advise the
Secretary 
of Defense and the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, 
Technology & Logistics on scientific and technical matters as
they 
affect the perceived needs of the Department of Defense. At
these 
meetings, the Defense Science Board Task Force will assess the
proposed 
ignition and ``non-ignition'' high-energy-density experimental
programs 
at NIF. Review the overall balance and priority of activities
within 
the proposed plan and the degree to which the proposed program
of NIF 
experiments supports the near and long term goals of stockpile 
stewardship and the overall NIF mission. Assess the potential
for NIF 
to support the design and development of new weapons. Focus on
the 
extent to which major stakeholders in NIF are effectively
integrated 
into the plan.
    In accordance with section 10(d) of the Federal Advisory
Committee 
Act, Pub. L. 92-463, as amended (5 U.S.C. App. II), it has been 
determined that these Defense Science Board Task Force meetings
concern 
matters listed in 5 U.S.C. 552b(c)(1) and (4) and that,
accordingly, 
these meetings will be closed to the public.
    Dated: June 24, 2004.
L.M. Bynum,
Alternate OSD Federal Register Liaison Officer, Department of
Defense.
[FR Doc. 04-15075 Filed 7-1-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 5001-06-M
 
*****************************************************************
 32 DOE: Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board, Savannah 
 
                        FR Doc 04-15089 
[Federal Register: July 2, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 127)] 
[Notices] [Page 40365-40366] From the Federal Register Online via 
GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr02jy04-47]                         
 
River AGENCY: Department of Energy.
 
ACTION: Notice of open meeting.
 
SUMMARY: This notice announces a meeting of the Environmental 
Management Site-Specific Advisory Board (EM SSAB), Savannah 
River. The Federal Advisory Committee Act (Pub. L. No. 92-463, 86 
Stat. 770) requires that public notice of these meetings be 
announced in the Federal Register.
 
 
DATES: Monday, July 26, 2004, 1 p.m.-6:30 p.m.; and Tuesday, July 
27, 2004, 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m.
 
ADDRESSES: Newberry Hall, 151 Bee Lane, Aiken, SC 29803.
 
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Gerri Flemming, Closure Project 
Office, Department of Energy Savannah River Operations Office, PO 
Box A, Aiken, SC, 29802; Phone: (803) 952-7886.
 
 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Purpose of the Board: The purpose of 
the Board is to make recommendations to DOE in the areas of 
environmental restoration, waste management, and related 
activities.
 
Tentative Agendas: Monday, July 26, 2004 1 p.m.--Combined 
Committee Meeting 5:45 p.m.--Executive Committee Meeting 6:30 
p.m.--Adjourn Tuesday, July 27, 2004 8:30 a.m.--Approval of 
Minutes; Agency Updates; Public Comment Session 9 a.m.--Chair and 
Facilitator Update 9:35 a.m.--Waste Management Committee Report 
10:40 a.m.--Strategic & Legacy Management Committee Report 11:45 
a.m.--Public Comment Session 12 noon--Lunch Break 1 
p.m.--Administrative Committee Report 1:45 p.m.--Bylaws Amendment 
Proposal; '05 Membership; Budget Update; Facility Disposition & 
Site Remediation Committee Report 2:45 p.m.--Nuclear Materials 
Committee Report 3:45 p.m.--Public Comment Session 4 
p.m.--Adjourn If needed, time will be allotted after public 
comments for items added to the agenda, and administrative 
details. A final agenda will be available at the meeting Monday, 
July 26, 2004.
 
Public Participation: The meeting is open to the public.
 
Written statements may be filed with the Board either
 
[[Page 40366]] before or after the meeting. Individuals who wish 
to make the oral statements pertaining to agenda items should 
contact Gerri Flemming's office at the address or telephone 
listed above. Requests must be received five days prior to the 
meeting and reasonable provision will be made to include the 
presentation in the agenda. The Deputy Designated Federal Officer 
is empowered to conduct the meeting in a fashion that will 
facilitate the orderly conduct business. Each individual wishing 
to make public comment will be provided equal time to present 
their comments.
 
Minutes: The minutes of this meeting will be available for public 
review and copying at the Freedom of Information Public Reading 
Room, 1E-190, Forrestal Building, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW., 
Washington, DC, 20585 between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday through 
Friday, except Federal holidays. Minutes will also be available 
by writing to Gerri Flemming, Department of Energy Savannah River 
Operations Office, P.O. Box A, Aiken, SC, 29802, or by calling 
her at (803) 952-7886.
 
Issued at Washington, DC on June 29, 2004.
 
Rachel M. Samuel, Deputy Advisory Committee Management Officer.
 
[FR Doc. 04-15089 Filed 7-1-04; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6450-01-P

 
*****************************************************************
 33 Tri-City Herald: K East Basin's last canister leaves site 

This story was published Friday, July 2nd, 2004 

By Jeff St. John Herald staff writer 

One of Hanford's critical cleanup missions reached a milestone 
Wednesday, as contractor Fluor Hanford Inc. removed the last 
canister of spent nuclear fuel from the leak-prone K East Basin, 
just 400 yards from the Columbia River. 

Fluor must still clean up contaminated equipment and radioactive 
sludge in the water-filled basin, one of two indoor pools once 
used to store 2,100 metric tons of spent fuel rods from Hanford's 
plutonium-producing era. 

But the removal of the East Basin's 1,150 metric tons of fuel 
represents a "very significant risk reduction," said Tom 
Halverson, Fluor spent nuclear fuel project vice president. 

"This has been a very difficult project, a first of its kind," he 
said. 

Fluor has worked overtime to accelerate the work, which had 
fallen so far behind schedule that the Environmental Protection 
Agency was poised to fine the company $500,000 earlier this year. 

K East Basin is known to have leaked twice, and removing its fuel 
was a priority, Halverson said. The fuel was moved to the K West 
Basin, where it and the remaining 200 metric tons of West Basin 
fuel will eventually will be packaged into specialized containers 
and moved to a storage vault in central Hanford. 

East Basin cleanup has been complicated because open fuel 
canisters allowed the fuel rods inside to corrode, causing highly 
radioactive sludge to collect at the basin bottom -- about 42 
cubic meters of it. 

The corroded fuel "has made the removal very slow and 
painstaking," Halverson said. 

Work on cleaning up that sludge began two weeks ago, and 
Halverson said a "good, aggressive schedule" could see the East 
Basin cleared of sludge by year's end. 

Fluor spokesman Geoff Tyree noted future K Basin milestones are 
being negotiated by the Department of Energy, the state of 
Washington and the EPA, the three parties of the Tri-Party 
Agreement, which governs Hanford cleanup. 

The agreement calls for all sludge to be out of the East Basin by 
February 2006 and for the basin to be demolished by April 2007. 

"The first phase was to remove all the fuel," Halverson said. 

Future steps include removing contaminated fuel canister racks 
and other equipment, then to vacuum up the radioactive sludge, 
fill the basin with grout from the bottom up, remove the 
contaminated water and leave a "concrete monolith" that can be 
cut into pieces and stored. 

Before that, the fuel rods from both basins will be cleaned and 
repackaged into fuel baskets, which will be put into the 
multi-canister overpack canisters. 

Those will be shipped to the central Hanford storage vault. 

Halverson said the goal is to clear the fuel from both basins by 
August. Workers on the East Basin fuel removal project will be 
shifted to sludge removal or other projects, he said. 

"It feels incredibly good" to be done with the East Basin fuel 
removal, he said. "We'll celebrate shortly, and then we'll get 
under way" with the August deadline. 

© 2004 Tri-City Herald, Associated Press &Other Wire Services
*****************************************************************
 34 Tri-Valley Herald: UC cited for safety violations at lab 
 prompts reprimand
 
 [http://www.trivalleyherald.com/]       

Article Last Updated: Friday, July 02, 2004 -
 		   	 	
Incident where workers inhaled plutonium at Los Alamos

By FROM STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

 The U.S. Department of Energy has cited University of California 
for safety violations at the Los Alamos National Laboratory for 
an incident last summer in which two workers inhaled plutonium. 

The workers were conducting an inventory of cans of plutonium 
residue on Aug. 5, 2003, at the main plutonium processing 
facility when an alarm sounded, the lab said. The workers 
evacuated the room but medical exams showed skin contamination 
with the radioactive metal and evidence that both had inhaled 
plutonium. 

Both have since returned to work, and Los Alamos officials said 
they shut down the facility for eight months and have since 
implemented new safety and security procedures. 



"Safety, security and compliance are our top priorities," lab 
Director Peter Nanos said in a statement. "I am fully committed 
to the work process improvements and management oversight we are 
putting in place to ensure we protect the health and safety of 
our workforce and the environment we live in." 

But the Department of Defense said the incident could have been 
much more serious, and said it was compounded by the lab's 
"failure to correct long-standing nuclear safety deficiencies." 

The violation would carry a $770,000 fine, but UC is exempt 
because it is a nonprofit.

 institution.

 UC manages the lab under contract with the federal government. 

        ©2004 by MediaNews Group, Inc. and ANG Newspapers
*****************************************************************
 35 Oak Ridger: ORNL earns more research awards 							 							 							
 
Story last updated at 1:34 p.m. on July 2, 2004

from staff reports

Researchers and engineers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have 
won three R 100 Awards, pushing their national lab-leading total 
to 119 since the awards program began in 1963.

R Magazine presents the awards annually in recognition of the 
year's most significant technological innovations. ORNL's total 
places it first among DOE laboratories and second only to General 
Electric.

The honors were for the following inventions:

* Highly Selective, Regenerable Perchlorate Treatment System - 
Developed by Baohua Gu, Gilbert Brown and David Cole of ORNL and 
Spiro Alexandratos of the University of Tennessee.

The system uses a unique, highly specific resin to trap the 
perchlorate, destroy it, and regenerate itself so it can be 
reused. Perchlorate, the primary ingredient of solid rocket 
propellant, is increasingly being discovered in soil and water. 
The chemical disrupts function of the human thyroid gland, which 
regulates metabolism in adults and physical development in 
children.

* Advanced Heating System for High-Performance Aluminum Forgings 
- Developed by Craig Blue, Puja Kadolkar, Peter Engleman, Charles 
Howell, Jackie Mayotte, Vinod Sikka and Evan Ohriner of ORNL; 
Robert Kervick of Komtek of Worcester, Mass.; Howard Mayer of 
Queen City Forging Co. of Cincinnati; George Mochnal of Forging 
Industry Association of Cleveland; Teiichi Ando and Hui Lu of 
Boston's Northeastern University; and Charles Blue of Infrared 
Heating Technologies of Oak Ridge.

The system uses an optimized combination of radiant and 
convection heating for processing materials.

* SniffEx - Developed by Thomas Thundat, Lal Pinnaduwage, Tony 
Gehl, Vassil Boiadjiev and Eric Hawk of ORNL; David Hedden of the 
University of Tennessee; Eric Houser of the Naval Research 
Laboratory; Linda Deel of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, 
Firearms, and Explosives; and Richard Lareau of the 
Transportation Security Administration.

SniffEx is a compact, low-cost explosive vapor sensor for 
detecting and locating a variety of explosives, including 
plastic-based explosives. 







*****************************************************************
 36 Oak Ridger: UT, ORNL chiefs eye bright future 							 							 							
 
Story last updated at 12:09 p.m. on July 2, 2004

ORNL DIRECTOR: 'Great labs have great universities associated 
with them. Great universities often have great labs.' 

By: Paul Parson | Oak Ridger Staff paul.parson@oakridger.com 
[paul.parson@oakridger.com] 

The relationship between Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the 
University of Tennessee is already strong, but two high-ranking 
officials at those institutions hope things only get better as 
far as new buildings, work force recruitment and other things are 
concerned.

"The sky's the limit," said John Petersen during an interview 
Thursday - his first day on the job as UT's 23rd president. "All 
the pieces are there. For us, it's a matter of marshaling our 
internal resources."

ORNL Director Jeff Wadsworth agreed.
                                                                  
                      John Petersen, left, the University of 
Tennessee's new president, and Jeff Wadsworth, director of Oak 
Ridge National Laboratory, talk about the future working 
relationship of their institutions during an interview Thursday 
in Petersen's office.                                                                                           

"Great labs have great universities associated with them," 
Wadsworth said. "And, great universities often have great labs. 
We consider it a natural synergy."

ORNL is actually managed by a government contractor known as 
UT-Battelle - a partnership between UT and Battelle.

Since taking on the job in April 2000, the partnership has worked 
to get three state-funded joint research institutes up and 
running. Recently, officials dedicated the new building to house 
the Joint Institute for Computational Sciences, with the Joint 
Institute for Neutron Sciences and the Joint Institute for 
Biological Sciences waiting in the wings at different stages of 
development.

On Thursday, both Petersen and Wadsworth said another joint 
institute could eventually see the light of day, possibly 
focusing on material science.

"The joint institutes will naturally nurture relationships 
between faculty and researchers and that involves graduate 
students," said Wadsworth.

"So, we expect to have a natural evolution where people from the 
university come (to ORNL). But, we also want to build new 
programs and attract new faculty."

Both Petersen and Wadsworth said the success wouldn't be possible 
without the support from the state of Tennessee and its elected 
leaders.

Another way officials plan to capitalize on the UT and ORNL 
partnership is in the area of supercomputing. With ORNL building 
the world's fastest supercomputer, new high-speed networks will 
allow UT researchers to take advantage of research opportunities 
without even leaving the campus.

In Petersen's new role, he will serve on the UT-Battelle board, 
and he said he has already visited ORNL a couple of times before 
his first official day of work.

"I think that should tell you a little bit about how important I 
think this relationship is," he said. 







*****************************************************************
 37 Oak Ridger: DOE waste truck cited in Oliver Springs 							 							 							
 
Story last updated at 11:35 a.m. on July 2, 2004

OLIVER SPRINGS MAYOR: 'I've got a major, major, major problem 
with (this).' 

By: Paul Parson and Stan Mitchell A truck driver hauling 
Department of Energy-related waste was recently ticketed in 
Oliver Springs for following too closely.

Ronnie Hurd of Eidson was cited on Tuesday. He was pulled over on 
East Tri-County Boulevard near Strutt Street.

The truck was reportedly transporting depleted uranium 
hexafluoride - a byproduct of an operation where uranium was 
ultimately processed into nuclear reactor fuel and weapons-grade 
material.

Stored in cylinders at the Oak Ridge K-25 site, some of the 
material is being transported through Oliver Springs en route to 
Interstate 75 where it heads to the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion 
Plant in Ohio.

DOE's environmental manager, Bechtel Jacobs Co., oversees the 
shipments, which are handled by a subcontractor.

"Drivers are responsible for obeying all traffic rules," said 
Dennis Hill, a spokesman for Bechtel Jacobs.

Hill said no disciplinary action has been taken against the 
ticketed driver, adding officials will likely wait until the 
issue is settled in court.

Recently, a vehicle ran into one of the transport trucks while it 
was preparing to turn onto Highway 61 to go to Clinton. The 
driver of the cylinder truck wasn't at fault, and neither the 
transport truck nor its load was reportedly damaged.

Regardless, Oliver Springs Mayor Ed Kelley said he has a problem 
with waste cylinders coming through his town instead of Oak 
Ridge.

Officials opted not to use the Oak Ridge route when that plan was 
met with controversy last year.

"I've got a major, major, major problem with the fact that if you 
follow this whole thing from the beginning to now, I have never 
understood how in the hell the city of Oak Ridge can stop them 
from coming down the Turnpike and they (DOE) would send them the 
most indirect route Š through my town," Kelley said. "I don't 
understand that."

Kelley also said he doesn't understand why DOE doesn't help 
Oliver Springs as it does Oak Ridge.

"As far as I know, DOE has never contributed anything to the 
Oliver Springs community since they have been over there," he 
said. 







*****************************************************************
 38 Oak Ridger: Officials: No conflict of interest between firms 							 							
 
Story last updated at 1:34 p.m. on July 2, 2004
                                                       
NOT A PROBLEM: 'This is not a concern," DOE spokesman says. 

By: Paul Parson and Stan Mitchell Despite a widely perceived lack 
of progress in Oak Ridge's efforts to acquire more federal funds, 
officials say a public relations firm's relationship with both 
the city and the Department of Energy doesn't pose a conflict of 
interest.

At issue is AkinsCrisp Public Strategies' dealings with DOE as 
well as Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell &Berkowitz - a law 
firm hired by the city of Oak Ridge to lobby for revenue in 
addition to the federal agency's Payment-In-Lieu-of-Taxes 
program.

Since March, AkinsCrisp has reportedly been paid a little more 
than $24,000 by Critique - a government contractor providing 
"communications planning and support" for DOE's Oak Ridge 
Operations office, according to DOE spokesman Steven Wyatt.

That project doesn't constitute a conflict of interest, according 
to representatives from some of the parties.

"It is clearly not a conflict of interest, as the work is 
strictly to provide communications support," said Wyatt. "This 
effort is not related to other issues regarding the city of Oak 
Ridge and local government."

Wyatt said DOE is aware of the work AkinsCrisp does for the city 
of Oak Ridge and is aware of their other clients.

"This is not a concern to DOE," he said.

In fact, Darrell Akins, chief executive officer of AkinsCrisp, 
said his company is not involved in Baker, Donelson's lobbying 
effort. Instead, he said the public relations company provides 
"perspective and local information" to the law firm.

Oak Ridge Mayor David Bradshaw said he was unaware of the 
contract AkinsCrisp had with Critique, but showed no concern 
after being told.

"I do not see this as a conflict of interest," Bradshaw said 
Thursday. "Our issue with DOE has never been with the local 
office. They have been supportive of our efforts even to the 
extent of making that support known at headquarters."

Bob Worthington, an attorney with Baker, Donelson, said he was 
"certain" if Darrell Akins felt there was a conflict, "he would 
be the first to recognize it" and remove his firm from the 
combined team going after federal money.

"We do not see it as a conflict of interest," Worthington said.

Wyatt said DOE officials haven't discussed Baker, Donelson's 
lobbying effort with AkinsCrisp officials since "it is unrelated 
to the support work being performed."

Wyatt added AkinsCrisp's work involves the preparation of public 
affairs products - including news releases, fact sheets and 
presentations - and assists the DOE Public Affairs Office in 
planning and implementing special events.

"This is not an unusual practice, as Critique often hires 
subcontractors to provide certain skills under its overall 
support to DOE," Wyatt noted.

Additionally, an employee of the AkinsCrisp public relations firm 
works for several hours a week at the Oak Ridge Federal Building. 
Payment for services provided is made under the Critique 
contract, which is paid for through DOE funding set aside for 
their contract. 







*****************************************************************
 39 Google News Alert - nuclear
 
Date: Fri, 02 Jul 2004 14:47:12 -0700 (PDT)

 
SECURITY forum backs bid to solve nuclear crisis as US and North ... 
Channel News Asia - Singapore
JAKARTA : A major Asia-Pacific security forum gave strong support to new
efforts aimed at ending the North Korean nuclear crisis, as the US and
North Korean ...
<http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/93483/1/.html>
See all stories on this topic:
<http://news.google.com/news?ie=utf8&oe=utf8&persist=1&num=30&hl=en&client=google&newsclusterurl=http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/93483/1/.html>

SEN. Melodie Peters to work for nuclear plant operator
Stamford Advocate - Stamford,CT,USA
... as co-chairwoman of the legislature's Energy and Technology Committee
is going to work for Dominion Inc., the operator of the Millstone nuclear
power station. ...
<http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/local/state/hc-02103932.apds.m0751.bc-ct--petejul02,0,3780341.story?coll=hc-headlines-local-wire>

EU Big 3 Awaiting Majlis Response On Nuclear Issues: MP
Merh News Agency - Tehran,Iran
... Bakhshayeshi said here Wednesday that the EU big three (France, Britain,
and Germany) are awaiting the response of the Majlis on several nuclear
issues, adding ...
<http://www.mehrnews.com/wfNewsDetails_en.aspx?NewsID=91755&t=Political>
See all stories on this topic:
<http://news.google.com/news?ie=utf8&oe=utf8&persist=1&num=30&hl=en&client=google&newsclusterurl=http://www.mehrnews.com/wfNewsDetails_en.aspx%3FNewsID%3D91755%26t%3DPolitical>

INDIA News > Air Marshal Bhavnani to head nuclear command
New Kerala - Ernakulam,Kerala,India
... Air Marshal Ajit Bhavnani the new commander-in-chief of the Strategic
Forces Command, the tri-service agency that manages the country's nuclear
weapons and ...
<http://www.newkerala.com/news-daily/news/features.php?action=fullnews&showcomments=1&id=26767>

IAEA: nuclear could not grow fast enough to halt global warming
Environmental Data Interactive - UK
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has released a report considering
the ability of nuclear power to act as a clean fuel for the future and
slow ...
<http://www.edie.net/news/Archive/8544.cfm>
See all stories on this topic:
<http://news.google.com/news?ie=utf8&oe=utf8&persist=1&num=30&hl=en&client=google&newsclusterurl=http://www.edie.net/news/Archive/8544.cfm>

RENDELL steps up nuclear plant patrols for holiday
Wilkes Barre Times-Leader - Wilkes Barre,PA,USA
... The Pennsylvania National Guard and the state police will guard the
state's five nuclear power plants around the clock at least through Independence
Day, Gov. ...
<http://www.timesleader.com/mld/timesleader/9067489.htm>
See all stories on this topic:
<http://news.google.com/news?ie=utf8&oe=utf8&persist=1&num=30&hl=en&client=google&newsclusterurl=http://www.timesleader.com/mld/timesleader/9067489.htm>

PA Governor Rendell Announces Enhanced Security Measures at ... 
Yahoo News (press release) - USA
... and the Pennsylvania State Police will provide both a 24-hour presence
and random, unannounced security patrols at the Commonwealth's five nuclear
power plants ...
<http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/040702/phf015_1.html>

NUCLEAR revival in Europe possible, but not sure
EurActiv.com - Belgium
No energy source has sparked so much controversy as nuclear energy. Celebrated
in the 50s and 60s as the cheap and clean energy ...
<http://www.euractiv.com/cgi-bin/cgint.exe?204&OIDN=1507960&-tt=en>
See all stories on this topic:
<http://news.google.com/news?ie=utf8&oe=utf8&persist=1&num=30&hl=en&client=google&newsclusterurl=http://www.euractiv.com/cgi-bin/cgint.exe%3F204%26OIDN%3D1507960%26-tt%3Den>

TWO Koreas agree on peaceful solution to nuclear issue
Viet Nam News Agency - Hanoi,Vietnam
... from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Paek Nam-Sun
held talks on Thursday, agreeing to seek a peaceful solution to the nuclear
issue on the ...
<http://www.vnagency.com.vn/NewsA.asp?LANGUAGE_ID=2&CATEGORY_ID=34&NEWS_ID=106920>
See all stories on this topic:
<http://news.google.com/news?ie=utf8&oe=utf8&persist=1&num=30&hl=en&client=google&newsclusterurl=http://www.vnagency.com.vn/NewsA.asp%3FLANGUAGE_ID%3D2%26CATEGORY_ID%3D34%26NEWS_ID%3D106920>

HANFORD workers remove nuclear fuel from K Basin
kgw.com (subscription) - Portland,OR,USA
Workers at the Hanford nuclear reservation have finished removing spent
nuclear fuel from the K East basin, a water-filled pool that has leaked
water and ...
<http://www.kgw.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stories/D83IB44O1.html>

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 40 [DU-WATCH] anti-du poster
 
Date: Fri, 2 Jul 2004 23:56:00 -0500 (CDT)

 
A good anti-du poster here at buzzflash, if folk want
to download and print off, grand for protests and
events.

http://wwwbuzzflash.com/anderson/04/06/and04030.html

	
		
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 41 [du-list] DU in the news -  2 july 04
 
Date: Fri, 02 Jul 2004 14:50:48 -0700

 
<x-flowed>
DOE waste truck cited in Oliver Springs
Oak Ridger - Oak Ridge,TN,USA
... The truck was reportedly transporting depleted uranium hexafluoride
- a byproduct of an operation where uranium was ultimately processed into
nuclear reactor ...
<<http://www.oakridger.com/stories/070204/new_20040702026.shtml>http://www.oakridger.com/stories/070204/new_20040702026.shtml>

US study: Cost of Iraq war is unjustified
Al-Jazeera - Qatar
... adds. The exhaustive study says the health impact of the use of depleted
uranium weaponry in Iraq are yet to be known. "The Pentagon ...
<<http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/5464C425-94F3-42E8-B7ED-CE6650C83E09.htm>http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/5464C425-94F3-42E8-B7ED-CE6650C83E09.htm>

SCREAMING 'idiot' in the middle of Iraq
Asia Times Online - Hong Kong
... The incendiary elements also produced much less smoke, but the hardened
casings, including the depleted uranium, were frighteningly penetrating.
...
<<http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Japan/FG03Dh04.html>http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Japan/FG03Dh04.html>

THE Australian and the social catastrophe in Iraq
World Socialist
... of electricity is a concentrated cocktail of pesticides, fertilizers,
heavy metals from antiquated piping, and unknown mounts of depleted uranium,
raw sewage ...
<<http://www.wsws.org/articles/2004/jul2004/iraq-j02.shtml>http://www.wsws.org/articles/2004/jul2004/iraq-j02.shtml>


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 42 BBC: Nuclear fusion decision 'urgent' 
 
  Last Updated: Friday, 2 July, 2004
 
By Alex Kirby BBC News Online environment correspondent in 
Obninsk, Russia   

[Jet, Europe's 'star']                                  
Iter will be able to produce "star power" plasma (right)                                                             

The countries planning to build Iter, the world's biggest nuclear 
fusion reactor, must choose a site urgently, a Russian scientist 
says. 

Professor Yevgeny Velikov, who has been working on nuclear fusion 
since 1978, said it was important to decide the site in the next 
three months. 

The countries of the Iter Consortium are deadlocked over whether 
to build the reactor in France or Japan. 

Professor Velikov said a commercial fusion reactor could open in 
30 years. 

He is the president of the Kurchatov Institute in Moscow, and a 
member of the Russian Academy of Sciences and of the US National 
Academy of Engineering. 

Political decision 

Professor Velikov was speaking at a conference here in Obninsk 
organised by the International Atomic Energy Agency to mark 50 
years of nuclear power. 

What the IAEA acknowledges as the world's first nuclear power 
plant opened in Obninsk in 1954. 

Iter - the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor - 
will be the largest global science and engineering project of the 
next decade, apart from the International Space Station. 

[Iter, BBC]                                                            

All t predictions say oil and gas consumption will increase over 
the next 30 or 40 years. But fusion power will give us a 
breathing space to phase out fossil fuels Professor Yevgeny 
Velikov       

The Consortium includes the European Union, US, Russia, China, 
Japan, Canada and South Korea. 

The EU, Russia and China want the reactor to be built at 
Cadarache in France, but the US, South Korea and Tokyo support a 
Japanese site, Rokkasho-mura. 

Professor Velikov told BBC News Online: "If there's a decision 
this year, Iter could start operating eight-and-a-half years 
later. 

"All the design and technical details are settled, and the 
funding - it's only the site we're waiting for. But that's a very 
political decision, and an election year in the US is a bad time 
for agreements. 

"It's really important the decision should be made within the 
next two or three months. I proposed that we should in fact have 
two sites; one the physical base of the reactor and the other a 
science centre. 

"I think this disagreement is the result of some old thinking: we 
need both sides to think again." 

Global demand 

Professor Velikov said it would still take another 30 years or so 
before a demonstration commercial fusion reactor was ready. 

Even when it was, he did not expect fission reactors to be phased 
out, because a world population of up to 10 billion people would 
need every possible energy source. 

He told BBC News Online: "Fission is going to go on. And we'll go 
on burning fossil fuels too, at least during this century. It's 
impossible to stop it - people have to drive their cars and heat 
their homes. 

"All the predictions say oil and gas consumption will increase 
over the next 30 or 40 years. But fusion power will give us a 
breathing space to phase out fossil fuels." 

Nuclear fusion promises virtually limitless and largely 
pollution-free energy. In a fusion reaction, energy is produced 
when light atoms - the hydrogen isotopes deuterium and tritium - 
are fused together to form heavier atoms. 

To use controlled fusion reactions on Earth as an energy source, 
it is necessary to heat a gas to temperatures exceeding 100 
million degrees Celsius - many times hotter than the centre of 
the Sun (itself a giant fusion reactor). 

The technical requirements to do this are immense. But the 
rewards, if it can be made to work at a commercial level, are 
extremely attractive. 

One kilogram of fusion fuel would produce the same amount of 
energy as 10,000,000 kg of fossil fuel. 



*****************************************************************
 43 JOURNAL NEWS: Dobbs Ferry contributor to the first atomic bomb died Tuesday

 By SUSAN ELAN
 THE JOURNAL NEWS
 (Original publication: July 2, 2004)

 William Westerfield Havens Jr. of Dobbs Ferry, a significant 
contributor to the building of the atomic bomb during World War 
II, died Tuesday in New York City. 

"He had a great life, but we believe his life work caused his 
death earlier than otherwise," his daughter Nancy Havens-Hasty of 
Brooklyn Heights, N.Y., said yesterday. 

Havens, 84, died at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center of 
complications from leukemia. 

Havens-Hasty remembered her father, professor emeritus of applied 
physics and director emeritus of the Energy Research Center at 
Columbia University, as "a wonderful teacher" and a considerate 
person who was well-liked by all who met him. 

"He was smart, gentle but very strong and really kind," she said. 

Columbia University professor Michael Mauel said yesterday that 
Havens' professional life consisted of three important careers: 
as a nuclear scientist; an educator and research leader who 
founded Columbia's program of nuclear science and applied 
physics; and as a leader of the scientific community who served 
as executive secretary of the American Physical Society for a 
quarter century. 

"He was an outspoken advocate for the peaceful use of nuclear 
power," Mauel said. 

Havens opposed the shutdown of the Indian Point nuclear plants in 
Buchanan. 

"New York cannot afford to shut down the Indian Point nuclear 
plant because at the present time alternative energy sources do 
not exist," Havens wrote in a column published by The Journal 
News last year. "Despite rhetoric designed to raise fears, the 
reality is that we cannot shut down Indian Point and drill our 
way out of the energy problem." 

In November 2003 Havens was listed as a member of the New York 
Affordable Reliable Electricity Alliance, a group launched with 
seed money provided by Indian Point owner and operator Entergy 
Nuclear. 

Havens, who was born in the Bronx, graduated at age 19 from the 
City College of New York. 

From 1941 to 1945 he worked on the Manhattan Project with Nobel 
Prize-winner James Rainwater, research that provided critical 
information for the development of the atomic bomb. 

During the war years, Havens traveled between New York, Oak 
Ridge, Tenn., and Los Alamos, N.M., where the Manhattan Project 
team assembled the first bomb for testing at Alamogordo, N.M., 
under the leadership of J. Robert Oppenheimer. 

Recalling the day the atomic bomb was dropped over Hiroshima, 
Havens told The Journal News in 2001: "I could only think of it 
as a success. We all felt it simply helped end the war. We had 
learned much earlier that Germany was working on an atomic bomb. 
That was our incentive, to get there first." 

Havens is survived by his wife, Aldine, of Brooklyn; two 
daughters, Nancy Havens-Hasty of Brooklyn Heights, N.Y., and 
Cynthia Gosline of Vancouver, British Columbia; a sister, 
Marjorie Gilmore of Woodbridge, Va.; and four grandchildren. 

A funeral service is planned for 11 a.m. today at Aldersgate 
United Methodist Church, 600 Broadway, Dobbs Ferry. A reception 
will follow at the Ardsley Country Club. 

Send e-mail to  [selan@thejournalnews.com] 

   [http://www.thejournalnews.com] - 
  Copyright 2004 The Journal News,  [http://www.gannett.com/] .
    
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