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NUCLEAR POLICY
1 AFP: Iraq weapons probe to censure British spymasters - report
2 AFP: Britain says unsure of Iran's nuclear intentions
3 UPI: Commentary: Israel to bomb Iran? -
4 Scotsman.com: Iran has to Prove Nuclear Claims - Straw
5 UK Independent: Britain steps up pressure on Iran over nuclear arms
6 AFP: European's nuclear deal with Iran "falling apart"
7 New York Times: Russia Wants to Supply Energy to North Korea
8 eTaiwanNews.com: Powell meets North Korean envoy on nukes
9 eTaiwanNews.com: Pyongyang's bomb and the media hype
10 Korea Herald: Seoul, Moscow pledge to end N.K. nuke row
11 Korea Herald: [ANN]North Korean bomb and media hype
12 Korea: Digital Chosunilbo: Korea Is Not a 'Disposable' Country by Ki
13 JoongAng Daily: The legacy of Kim Il Sung is taking on different loo
14 Korea: Digital Chosunilbo: Asia Security Meeting Calls for Settlemen
15 Korea: Digital Chosunilbo: North Korea Should Not Miss this Chance
16 Guardian Unlimited: Mutual distrust clouds US-Korea negotiations
17 ITAR-TASS: Lavrov arrives in Pyongyang to discuss Korean settlement
18 AU ABC: Russian Foreign Minister arrives in Pyongyang
19 AFP: Russia, S.Korea pledge cooperation on N.Korean nuclear standoff
20 US: Post Gazette: Nuclear security chief backs bunker-buster bomb
21 Bradenton Herald: FBI urges extra vigilance during holiday
22 US: JOURNAL NEWS: Manhattan Project guard recalls bomb's debut
23 IPS-English UAE-ENERGY: El Baradi on two-day visit
24 [DU-WATCH] Israel's WMD's
25 New York Times: Israeli Web Site on Nuclear Programs Offers
26 Las Vegas SUN: Israel's Presumed Nukes to Become Issue
27 Haaretz: Atomic Energy Commission goes online
28 Haaretz: IAEA head's visit: talks with Sharon, but not Dimona
29 Haaretz: Come clean on nukes
30 Times of India: Watch out for the dirty bomb -
31 Indian Express: India tests nuclear-capable missile
32 UK Independent: The report is expected to be unsparing in its critic
33 UK Independent: Hoon's row with Treasury over MoD cuts deepens
34 UK Independent: Scarlett may be singled out
35 Mehr News Agency: Irrelevant To Recent BG Resolution
36 AFP: Israel offers peak behind nuclear veil of secrecy
NUCLEAR REACTORS
37 US: [du-list] more on CERRIE
38 Guardian Unlimited: Japan Scandal Emerges Around Nuke Program
39 US: Brattleboro Reformer Activist: Someone's been stealing my signs
40 US: SLO Trib: Nuclear regulatory board plans July 27 meeting on Diab
41 US: toledoblade.com: Besse 'burp' causes no harm during fixes to fil
42 US: Boston.com: Vt. Yankee owner cites cause of fire
43 SNA: Bulgaria Covers 50% of Balkans' Energy Deficit
44 Sofia Morning News: Bulgaria Forms Special Nuclear Company
NUCLEAR SAFETY
45 US: [du-list] RADIATION risk ' underplayed ' to avoid compensation
46 Pravda: Russian most powerful submarine -
47 US: JS Online: Cost to reduce radium in water climbing
48 Sunday Herald: Radiation risk underplayed to avoid compensation payo
49 Toronto Star: Citizen Carlos
50 US: Hawk Eye: Few former IAAP workers' claims paid
NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE
51 Las Vegas RJ: Yucca Web sitecriticized
52 Sunday Herald: Sellafield an easy target for hijacked jets -
53 US: Idaho Statesman: Boise firm sells Tennessee facility
54 Japan Times: Cost info on spent nuclear fuel quashed
55 US: Charleston.Net: Macalloy cleanup set to begin
NUCLEAR WEAPONS
US DEPT. OF ENERGY
56 U.S. Newswire: DOE Officials To Testify Before Congressional Committ
OTHER NUCLEAR
57 [progchat_action] Fw: NASA SEEKS PUBLIC INPUT ON SPACE NUKES
58 Google News Alert - nuclear
59 Google News Alert - nuclear
60 [du-list] DU in the news -3rd July 04
61 [du-list] DU search ranking - Yahoo cf. Google
62 WorldNetDaily: The Herod Doctrine
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FULL NEWS STORIES
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1 AFP: Iraq weapons probe to censure British spymasters - report
[http://www.spacewar.com/]
LONDON (AFP) Jul 04, 2004
An inquiry into flawed British intelligence on Iraq ahead of
last year's war was set to criticise two of Britain's top
spymasters and the government's chief legal officer, a London
newspaper said Sunday.
John Scarlett, head of the joint intelligence committee (JIC),
Sir Richard Dearlove, head of M16 -- Britain's foreign
intelligence agency -- and Attorney General Peter Goldsmith have
been singled out for censure in the inquiry's draft report, The
Sunday Times said.
The draft, put together by inquiry chief Lord Robin Butler,
criticises M16 after it admitted its intelligence on Iraq's
alleged weapons of mass destruction (WMD) had been wrong, the
paper said, citing government sources.
The JIC, which co-ordinates the work of Britain's intelligence
services, is censured for excluding important caveats in MI6
intelligence from the government's infamous dossier on Iraq
published in September 2002, the sources said.
JIC chief Scarlett was appointed in May to replace Dearlove as
MI6 head later this year.
Goldsmith, meanwhile, who advised the government that an invasion
of Iraq was legal, faces censure after the Butler inquiry was
told the attorney general subsequently cast doubt over his own
advice.
"Butler's conclusion will be that the intelligence was wrong and
the system for checking it didn't work," The Sunday Times quoted
one government source as saying.
Responding to the report, Sir Menzies Campbell, foreign affairs
spokesman for Britain's third main party the Liberal Democrats
said:
"If this leak is accurate then Lord Butler's report will contain
nothing that is not already known or might have been inferred
from what is already in the public domain.
"The fundamental issue remains what did ministers know and when?
The public is entitled to scrutiny of ministerial judgments and
decision making," he said.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair set up the probe into
intelligence on Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction (WMD)
in February after the United States established a similar
investigation.
Butler's probe was ordered to look into the "structures, systems
and processes" which led Britain's government to believe that
Iraq possessed WMD, none of which have since been found.
The final version of Butler's report was set to be published on
July 14, Blair's office has announced.
In January, a British judicial inquiry into the suicide of
government weapons expert David Kelly cleared Blair and his inner
circle of allegations that they had distorted the threat of Iraqi
chemical, biological and nuclear weapons in their controversial
pre-war dossier on Iraq.
WAR.WIRE
*****************************************************************
2 AFP: Britain says unsure of Iran's nuclear intentions
[http://www.spacewar.com/]
LONDON (AFP) Jul 04, 2004
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said on Sunday he was
unsure whether to believe Iran's insistence that is has no
intention of trying to build nuclear weapons.
"I'm not sure, is the answer. And nobody is," Straw said in an
interview with BBC radio.
"Where they have not helped themselves is in not providing full
and frank disclosures to the International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA)," he added.
Iran insists a site in Tehran, alleged by the United States to
have been used for developing weapons of mass destruction, was in
fact a former research and development military" installation,
IAEA chief Mohammed ElBaradei said last week.
Meanwhile, Iran's new conservative-controlled parliament is
considering pushing through a bill that would force the Islamic
regime to resume uranium enrichment activities, a senior deputy
told AFP on July 1.
The proposed bill, still under discussion, would scrap a deal
signed last October with Britain, France and Germany under which
Iran agreed to make several "confidence-building" gestures to the
IAEA, the United Nations' nuclear watchdog.
Depending on its purity, enriched uranium can be used as both
fuel for a civilian nuclear reactor and for a nuclear bomb. Iran
insists it is only interested in generating electricity.
WAR.WIRE
*****************************************************************
3 UPI: Commentary: Israel to bomb Iran? -
(United Press International)
July 02, 2004
By Arnaud de Borchgrave
UPI Editor at Large
Washington, DC, Jul. 2 (UPI) -- As the Bush Administration
concludes it cannot risk Iranian retaliation against a fragile
Iraq under U.S. occupation, Israel is dusting off contingency
plans to take out Iran's nuclear installations.
On June 24, the key question was asked by Brent Scowcroft, former
National Security Adviser to President George H.W. Bush (41):
"Are we serious in our efforts to prevent (Iranian) nuclear
proliferation, or will we watch the world descend into a
maelstrom where weapons-grade nuclear material is plentiful, and
unimaginable destructive capability is available to any country
or group with a grudge against society?"
It did not require an overwhelming effort of imagination for
Israel's national security establishment to conclude that the
Jewish state would be the first threatened by Iranian nukes. One
scenario now bruited would involve a joint U.S.-Israel
precision-guided strike against the Bushehr, Natanz and Arak
nuclear projects in Iran. But the Bush administration has
concluded that a U.S. air attack against Iran would trigger a
major Iranian campaign to destabilize Iraq. The two countries
have a 1,458-kilometer (906 miles) common border that stretches
from Turkey to the Shatt al Arab terminal on the Gulf. Iran also
enjoys wide grassroots support among Iraq's dominant Shiite
population.
A U.S. House of Representatives resolution last May 6 authorized
"all appropriate means" to put an end to Iranian nuclear weapons
development. The Senate is yet to vote on the resolution. But it
leaves no doubt it is a green light for an offensive military
strikes against Iran's three nuclear facilities.
The worldwide reaction against a U.S. attack on Iran's
theocratic regime would almost certainly put an end to growing
moderate dissent. Rival Shiite and Sunni Muslims in Iraq,
Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain (headquarters for the U.S. 5th
Fleet) would close ranks against U.S. interests. America's allies
would denounce a return to dangerous U.S. unilateralism after
President Bush's recent moves back to multilateral diplomacy.
While an "October surprise" of American air strikes to rid the
world of Iran's looming nuclear threat might prove helpful to
President Bush on Nov. 2, the blowback of unintended consequences
would further destabilize the world's most volatile region -- the
Middle East.
U.S. air strikes at this juncture would quickly be equated with
the CIA-engineered coup that overthrew Iran's socialist leader
Mohammad Mossadegh in 1953, which many Iranians say led to the
Iranian Revolution of 1978-79 that overthrew the monarchy, forced
the late Shah into exile, and allowed obscurantist mullahs to
rule the country. The mullahs made the excesses of the Shah's
Savak secret police seem like child's play compared to the tens
of thousands executed by the religious extremists and their
Revolutionary Guards.
Israeli leaders concluded years ago that Dr. A.Q. Khan, the
father of Pakistan's nuclear bomb and the world's biggest nuclear
proliferator, had sold bomb-making wherewithal to Iran and that
nothing would reverse this capability short of air strikes,
similar to the one Israeli fighter-bombers conducted in 1981
against Iraq's Osiraq nuclear reactor near Baghdad. It had been
built with French assistance, including 27.5 pounds of 93 percent
weapons-grade uranium.
When Israeli intelligence confirmed Iraq's intention of
producing weapons at Osiraq, Israel's then Prime Minister
Menachem Begin decided military action was the only remedy.
Elections then and now were a consideration. Begin feared his
party would lose the next election, and the opposition Labor
party would fail to preempt prior to the production of the first
Iraqi nuclear bomb. Iraq was then believed to be two years away
from fashioning its first nuclear weapon.
So Israel had to strike before the Iraqi reactor went critical,
before the first fuel was poured into the reactor, lest the
surrounding community fall victim to radiation. The target was
1,100 kilometers (660 miles) from Israel. Target mock-ups were
part of a full-scale dress rehearsal. Briefing the cream of IAF's
pilots, IDF Chief of Staff Gen. Rafael Eitan said, "The
alternative is our destruction." The surprise attack by F-15s and
F-16s vaporized Osiraq in 80 seconds, too fast for Iraqi
anti-aircraft gunners to get off their first salvo.
Similar preparations to take out Iran's capabilities -- also
judged to be two years from nuclear fruition -- have been
completed. Standoff, precision-guided munitions will have to be
used to avoid Iran's thick air defenses, including missiles
purchased from Russia.
Under an $800 million contract, Russia began building Iran's
Bushehr reactor in May 1995 with 150 technicians at the site. The
Russian contract called for 3,000 Russian engineers and
construction workers. By 1999, some 300 Russians were among the
900 working there. After several years of denial about an Iranian
bomb-making potential, President Putin of late has sided with
IAEA's chief Mohamed elBaradei's strong criticism of Iran's bad
faith in its refusal to comply with the international inspection
regime. Putin presumably realizes that a nuclear-armed Iran ruled
by religious fanatics would probably be tempted to pass on
dangerous stuff to Islamist guerrillas in Chechnya.
Originally started during the Shah's reign in a deal with
Siemens, some 2,100 German and 7,000 Iranian workers completed 85
percent of the work before the 1979 revolution. The ayatollahs
then decided to drop the entire project as "anti-Islamic," before
changing their minds in favor of construction in the early 1990s.
Fearful anxiety prevailed among the clerics after they watched in
awe the deployment of half a million American soldiers and the
five weeks of saturation U.S. bombing that preceded Operation
Desert Storm -- and the collapse of the Iraqi army. They watched
a rerun of another U.S. military spectacular in 2003 -- with yet
another collapse of the Iraqi military.
The Europeans still believe that political, economic and trade
sanctions will eventually bring Iran into compliance. The Bush
administration is on the horns of a painful dilemma. How can it
claim that Iran has no right to nuclear weapons when Israel not
only possesses both strategic and tactical nuclear weapons, but
has several hundred in its arsenal. For the U.S. to preempt
against Iran would also undermine the Administration's last shred
of credibility as an honest broker between Israel and the
Palestinians.
After all the blue-smoke-and-mirrors "intelligence" that
justified the U.S. invasion 15 months ago, the CIA's evidence of
an Iranian nuclear bomb would have to be incontrovertible. This
sets the bar impossibly high. Hence Israel's conclusion it's on
its own. Bombs away? Not yet, but they've rehearsed it.
[UPI Perspectives]
*****************************************************************
4 Scotsman.com: Iran has to Prove Nuclear Claims - Straw
Sun 4 Jul 2004
By John Deane, Chief Political Correspondent, PA News
Iran has yet to provide convincing evidence to back up its
insistence that it is not seeking to develop nuclear weapons,
Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said today.
International concern about Iran’s nuclear capabilities
heightened earlier this year when it resumed work on a key
nuclear programme in apparent breach of a deal with the United
Nations.
Britain demanded answers after Iran announced that a facility to
convert uranium was to be brought into service despite a promise
to suspend all uranium enrichment activities.
In a deal with the IAEA struck late last year, Tehran agreed to
suspend uranium enrichment – and all related activities –
while UN inspectors investigated suspicions the country was using
a bid to generate atomic energy as a cover for developing nuclear
weapons.
Asked today whether he believed the Iranians’ repeated
assurances that they do not have a nuclear weapons programme and
have no intention of trying to build nuclear weapons, Mr Straw
said: “I’m not sure is the answer. And nobody is.”
He told BBC Radio 4’s The World this Weekend: “Where they
have not helped themselves is in not providing full and frank
disclosures to the International Atomic Energy Agency.
“We are only involved in this long-scale engagement with them
... as a result of disclosures which came out from opposition
groups that they had two nuclear facilities whose existence and
practices had not been made known to the IAEA, as it should have
been.”
Mr Straw argued that it was for Arab and Islamic states to
reassure Israel about its security, before the issue of
Israel’s controversial nuclear weapons programme could be
resolved.
Mr Straw said: “Iran needs to abandon its aggressive stance
towards Israel ... this aggressive stance to Israel is bound to
mean that Israel is going to take or seek to take steps to
protect itself from annihilation.
“If you want a nuclear-free Middle East, then you have to
ensure that first of all it is the Arab and Islamic countries
which remove their threat to Israel and then we can put a great
deal more pressure on Israel to abandon its undoubted nuclear
weapons programme, which has been there, whether people like it
or not, for defensive purposes.”
The Iranians faced no threat to their borders, Mr Straw insisted.
“No-one has any intention of launching military action against
Iran,” he said.
*****************************************************************
5 UK Independent: Britain steps up pressure on Iran over nuclear arms
By Francis Elliott and Raymond Whitaker
04 July 2004
The Government has warned Iran that it faces a deadline to prove
it is not developing nuclear weapons, in the latest escalation
in Britain's con- frontation with Tehran.
Following the release of eight British servicemen taken into
custody on the Shatt al Arab waterway between Iraq and Iran,
Britain has said they were taken into Iranian territorial waters
by force, and is demanding the return of their boats and
equipment. Now ministers are saying it is essential for Iran to
come into line "within the next few months" on its nuclear
programme, signalling a tougher approach to the regime in
Tehran.
Washington opposes any concessions to Iran's theocratic
government, describing it as a member of the "axis of evil".
Britain and its European partners have argued for dialogue,
believing that democratic forces within Iran allied to President
Mohammad Khatami should be supported in their struggle with the
dominant conservatives.
Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, remains committed in public
to the policy of engagement. In private, however, there is
growing frustration at the failure of a more conciliatory
approach to produce results. Apart from the diplomatic fallout
from the Shatt al Arab incident, Iran is restarting production
of equipment to enrich uranium, heightening suspicions that it
is well on the way to producing nuclear weapons.
The treatment of the British servicemen, seized on the Shatt al
Arab waterway that divides Iraq and Iran, was typical of the
confused picture often given by Tehran. While Iranian diplomats
were assuring Britain that the matter would be dealt with
quickly and quietly, the men were paraded blindfolded on
television and hardliners called for them to be put on trial.
Although a showdown was avoided on this issue, the country's
conservatives, strengthened by recent elections, are driving
Iran's defiance of international nuclear safeguards.
A Foreign Office insider said that a report from inspectors to
the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) next month could
provide the trigger for a formal deadline to be set at the
body's meeting in September. The IAEA director general, Mohamed
ElBaradei, said in June: "It is essential to the integrity of
the inspection processes that we are able to bring these issues
to a close within the next few months and provide the
international community with the assurances it urgently seeks
regarding Iran's nuclear activities."
Tehran has rejected Britain's claim that the six Marines and two
sailors were seized on the Iraqi side of the Shatt al Arab and
forced to cross to the Iranian shore. It says the men were in
Iranian territorial waters. Britain is pressing for the return
of their three patrol boats and GPS equipment which, it says,
could prove that the servicemen were in effect kidnapped from
Iraqi territory.
UK Independent Ltd.
*****************************************************************
6 AFP: European's nuclear deal with Iran "falling apart"
[http://www.spacewar.com/]
TEHRAN (AFP) Jul 04, 2004
There was plenty of diplomatic drama last October when the
foreign ministers of Britain, France and Germany jetted into
Tehran to bring Iran back from the brink of sparking a major
nuclear crisis.
But nearly nine months on, diplomats are cannily admitting their
bid to strip Iran's ruling clerics of gaining A-bomb potential is
falling apart. And perhaps more alarmingly, there does not appear
to be a great deal that they can do about it.
The problem, say diplomats who were close to hammering out the
"Tehran declaration", lies not so much with Iran's recent backing
away from certain technical aspects of it, but with its firm
rejection of the accord's more ambitious premise.
"We wanted the same kind of agreement with Iran as what we had
with Libya. Iran had an opportunity to abandon its more sensitive
nuclear work, and in return win greater trade and better
relations with the West," recalled the senior diplomat.
This was an effort to get around the inherent weakness of the
nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) -- a text of good
intention in so far as member states are allowed to master the
entire nuclear fuel cycle for peaceful purposes as long as they
commit themselves not to take the relatively easy next step to
military usage.
"Iran is a special case. There was a pattern of years of
deception, so we needed to go beyond the NPT," explained another
EU diplomat working on the nuclear dossier.
"We wanted Iran to give up the nuclear fuel work in exchange for
guaranteed supplies of fuel from overseas, as well as improved
trade and diplomatic relations."
But for Iran's 25-year-old Islamic regime, it was an existential
leap too far.
While careful to repeat denials of any nuclear weapons ambitions,
officials have described the fuel cycle as an "inalienable
right", while supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has said it
is "essential".
Iran may be only interested in generating nuclear power for now,
but having a full fuel cycle under its belt means that having a
nuclear deterrent would become a feasible strategic option -- and
a tempting display of muscle if the present regional climate does
not cool.
Last October Iran did agree to suspend uranium enrichment pending
the completion of UN inspections, but it is still working full
throttle on other key parts of the fuel cycle -- a uranium
conversion facility in Isfahan, a heavy water reactor in Arak and
now centrifuge construction and testing.
Officials are also threatening to resume enrichment too, if
things do not go Iran's way at the International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA) -- the UN's nuclear watchdog and guardian of the
NPT.
And to add insult to injury, Tehran is saying it is the Europeans
who have failed to meet their side of the agreement.
So what now for Europe's so-called "big three"?
In diplomatic circles, the three are drawing unflattering jokes
that compare their mission last October to British prime minister
Neville Chamberlain's attempted appeasement of Adolf Hitler in
the fateful Munich agreement of 1938.
"Ah yes, we have in our hand a piece of paper," laughed one
European diplomat when asked to reflect on Jack Straw, Joschka
Fischer and Dominique de Villepin's convergence on Tehran last
year.
The bottom line, he said, is that the deal "has not brought peace
in our time. In fact it is falling apart, and Iran has been
gaining time."
There are several options, none of which are tempting.
The most extreme -- declaring war against Iran by launching air
strikes on nuclear facilities -- could only serve to galvanise
the regime, and spark a host of retaliatory measures in an
already explosive region.
What's more, unless IAEA inspectors manage to turn up a "smoking
gun" here, they still have no concrete proof that Iran is seeking
nuclear weapons -- meaning they will have to again tackle the
uncomfortable debate on "pre-emptive" attacks that so badly split
the international community ahead of the war with Iraq.
In addition, analysts point out, regional developments are
working against them: Iraq is still unstable and Saudi Arabia's
predicament means that few have the will to pick yet another
fight.
One oft-cited option could be to side with the United States and
send the dossier to the UN Security Council -- even if gaining a
consensus there on tough sanctions may be impossible given
Russia's attachment to its lucrative contract to build Iran's
first nuclear power plant in the southern city of Bushehr.
Such a move could bring Iran back into line.
But it also send Tehran the other way -- chastised by the IAEA,
Iran's now-dominant hardliners could abandon the NPT altogether
and adopt the so-far effective diplomacy of "axis of evil"
bedfellow North Korea.
The EU has already frozen talks on a Trade and Cooperation
Agreement, but even that has a hollow ring.
European firms have been queuing up for contracts here -- Total
and ENI among others in Iran's oil and gas sector, and giants
such as Renault and Volkswagen in the car industry.
The next IAEA meeting is in September.
Iran looks unlikely to be satisfied by seeing its case taken off
the agenda, and for the Europeans -- still chewing over their
uncomfortable options -- it may very well result in yet more
"wait and see".
WAR.WIRE
*****************************************************************
7 New York Times: Russia Wants to Supply Energy to North Korea
[http://www.nytimes.com/] [The New York Times
By JAMES BROOKE
Published: July 4, 2004
[V] LADIVOSTOK, Russia, June 29 - Russia is moving to become a
major supplier of electricity and gas to North Korea at a time
when the supply of nonnuclear energy sources available to that
impoverished country is emerging as an important bargaining chip
in talks intended to defuse North Korea's nuclear weapons
program.
"We are building energy transmission lines to the North Korean
border," Sergei Darkin, governor of Russia's Pacific Maritime
region, said in an interview on Monday. Governor Darkin said that
if President Vladimir V. Putin "gives us the task of transmitting
energy to North Korea next year, we will be ready to do that."
North Korean negotiators said at the recent talks in Beijing
that one price for freezing their nuclear-bomb program would be
getting fuel supplies from other nations to provide two million
kilowatts of power a year. That is roughly the output that was
expected from the two nuclear reactors that were to be built
under the 1994 international accord intended to end North Korea's
nuclear weapons program.
Although South Korea spent about $800 million on the initial
construction of the power plants, the program was frozen 18
months ago after North Korea ended international monitoring of
nuclear materials that could be processed into bomb fuel.
What is behind North Korea's demands for power is a shortage that
has contributed to the nation's industrial collapse.
Governor Darkin said Russia was completing plans to export excess
electricity from Russian hydroelectric dams to the Korean
peninsula, sending power also through North Korea to South Korea.
Skeptics say such a project would enable North Korea to turn off
lights in South Korea. But supporters say that North Korea would
become dependent on the arrangement and moderate its behavior.
At a conference in June to discuss energy-sharing between Russia
and the Korean peninsula, North Korean officials agreed to
provide by August basic data on its electric power system to the
Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute, a South Korean
government research group.
Separately, Russian and Korean energy planners are studying
routes for a Korean peninsula extension to a gas line now under
construction to Khabarovsk from huge gas deposits off the Pacific
coast of Russia's Sakhalin Island.
A 1,900-mile pipeline from these reserves to Seoul would take
four years to build and would cost up to $3.5 billion, Selig S.
Harrison, a Korea expert at the Center for International Policy
in Washington, said in an interview in Seoul. North Korean
officials strongly favor building this line, said Mr. Harrison,
who had extensive meetings with North Korean officials in April
in Pyongyang, the capital. South Korea would probably finance the
construction.
The ExxonMobil Corporation, the lead developer of one gas field
in Sakhalin, has started to build a gas line to Khabarovsk.
Russian officials want the line extended 450 miles south, to
Vladivostok. The line could be extended through North Korea to
Seoul, regional energy experts say.
North Korea "built its economy primarily around the abundant,
low-cost Chinese crude oil flowing directly to its refineries,"
Mr. Harrison wrote in a recent essay explaining the North
Koreans' desperate energy shortage to a regional energy
cooperation conference in Seoul. But with the collapse of the
Soviet Union and the conversion of China from oil exporter to oil
importer, North Korea's crude oil imports have dropped by 85
percent, he wrote. By allowing the construction of gas and
electric lines from Russia through its territory, North Korea
could earn transmission fees, paid in energy.
If its economy revives, North Korea could also buy Russian oil,
which is expected to come to a maritime terminus near this port
city as part of a planned pipeline from the eastern Siberian
reserves. Vladivostok increasingly hopes to become a Northeast
Asian crossroads. Last Sunday, a dozen English-language teachers
from both Koreas mingled amiably at an academic conference in
Vladivostok, long considered neutral ground by Koreans.
This weekend, Russia's foreign minister, Sergei V. Lavrov, is
visiting both South Korea and North Korea, reportedly to lay the
groundwork for a fall summit meeting in Vladivostok with
President Putin of Russia and the leaders of the two Koreas.
"Kim Jong Il is a man who goes by protocol, a very methodical
person, so first there should be meetings by foreign ministers,"
said Olga P. Maltseva, a Vladivostok journalist who on Tuesday
celebrated the publication here of her new book about the North
Korean leader, "A Waltz With Kim Jong Il."
In recent days, Russian railroad stations between here and the
North Korean border were on alert for a possible visit by Mr. Kim
in his armored train. He rode the train to Moscow on an earlier
visit.
His father, Kim Il Sung, visited the Soviet Union 10 times, often
meeting Soviet leaders secretly in Vladivostok, Larisa
Zabroskaya, a Korea expert at the Russian Academy of Science,
said in an interview here. Ms. Zabroskaya, who believes that
President Putin is trying to broker an inter-Korean summit
meeting here this fall, said, "In Soviet times, there was a
tradition that whenever a Soviet leader came to Vladivostok, the
North Korean leader would come to Vladivostok."
Pak Jong Song, director general of the North Korean Railway
Ministry, recently endorsed Mr. Putin's plan to create a rail
network that he calls the "Iron Silk Road'' to link North and
South Korea's railroads with the Trans-Siberian Railway. In a
return gesture, Russia sent 35,000 tons of wheat to North Korea,
Russia's first food aid to North Korea, through the United
Nations World Food Program.
North Korea's courting of Russia is part of a wider diplomatic
offensive started this spring to isolate the United States,
American analysts say.
In April, Kim Jong Il traveled to Beijing. In May, he received a
visit from Japan's prime minister, Junichiro Koizumi. Also in
May, North Korea's ambassador to the United Nations, Han Song
Ryol, floated the possibility of North Korea signing a peace
treaty with the United States and South Korea. [On Friday, Mr.
Koizumi told the Japanese NTV television network that he wanted
to normalize relations with North Korea within one year, adding,
"The earlier, the better."]
North Korea wants to improve "bilateral relations with Tokyo and
Seoul while remaining on good terms with Beijing and Moscow," C.
Kenneth Quinones, a Washington-based Korea expert, wrote recently
for a Japanese newspaper. "Pyongyang's efforts have deflected
much diplomatic pressure back on to Washington."
Free Trial of The New York Times Electronic Edition.
*****************************************************************
8 eTaiwanNews.com: Powell meets North Korean envoy on nukes
[http://www.etaiwannews.com/]
Sides set out position for upcoming talks
2004-07-03 / Associated Press /
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell told North Korea's top
diplomat during a meeting yesterday he was hopeful international
negotiations begun last year could yield "concrete progress"
toward nuclear disarmament in the communist state.
In a North Korean statement issued after the meeting, Foreign
Minister Paek Nam Sun was reported to have said he shares
Powell's goal of a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula. But he rejected
a U.S. requirement that his country show a serious commitment to
disarmament before it can receive economic benefits from
Washington.
Powell and Paek are here for the annual summer meeting of foreign
ministers from the Asia-Pacific region. The unannounced,
20-minute U.S.-North Korean encounter was held shortly after 8
a.m. at a local conference center.
Powell and his North Korean colleague had last met in July 2002
in Brunei. Since then, American concerns about North Korea's
nuclear intentions have sharply escalated. The North renounced a
1994 nuclear freeze and also was discovered by U.S. intelligence
to have secretly embarked on a second nuclear weapons program as
supplement to one it publicly acknowledges.
The morning meeting occurred a week after the United States
presented a detailed proposal for obtaining a verifiable end to
the North's nuclear ambitions. It was unveiled at a conference in
Beijing, attended by delegates from China, Japan, South Korea and
Russia, in addition to the United States and North Korea. It was
the third such meeting among the six.
The plan calls for a step-by-step dismantling of North Korea's
declared and undeclared nuclear weapons programs. In return, the
North would receive aid, with Japanese and South Korean energy
assistance provided at a relatively early stage. American
assistance would come later.
After the discussion, Powell said a mutual lack of confidence is
a difficult problem in the disarmament talks. Speaking to a group
of Indonesian young people, he said, "There is a great deal of
mistrust between the United States and North Korea."
Powell told reporters later on that the meeting with Paek didn't
change much.
"All we did was to reaffirm the positions that both sides took at
the six-party talks last week," he said. "There was no
negotiation. We wanted to make sure there was clarity of our
position and they wanted to make sure there they had clarity in
their position."
The North Korean statement offered a mixed picture of the
country's complex relationship with the United States.
It said North Korea "will not regard the United States as a
permanent enemy" if Washington seeks improved ties. It also
reaffirmed that North Korea's goal is to achieve a nuclear-free
Korean Peninsula "peacefully through dialogue."
2001-2004 Taiwan News. All Rights Reserved.
*****************************************************************
9 eTaiwanNews.com: Pyongyang's bomb and the media hype
[http://www.etaiwannews.com/]
Opinion
2004-07-03 / Taiwan News, Contributing Writer / By Jonathan
Power
The main thing we've learnt so far about the Bush
Administration's self proclaimed ambitions to curb nuclear
proliferation is its all too obvious ability to influence how
the press treats the issue. If it wanted to whip up hysteria on
Iraq's "weapons of mass destruction" the press was a willing, if
now rueful, victim. If it wants to blow hot about North Korea's
ambitions to have a nuclear-armed rocket that can strike Alaska
it can do that too.
It can also do cold. Watch it right now as it moves, after three
years of outright hostility to North Korea, to start using the
soft touch in time to meet the imperatives of the electoral
calendar when it wants to be crisis free. Too much of the media
(European too) follows its given cues as meekly as a well
trained circus dog. The latest round of talks last weekend with
North Korea, when for the first time the Bush Administration
offered negotiating concessions, was thriftily covered. Yet the
North Korean bomb has not gone away. And North Korea's bomb
research is much more advanced than it was when Bush first
characterized the regime as part of the " axis of evil."
Nuclear bombs are a good scare story - when the administration
wants it to be. It plays on fears we all have. I'm embarrassed
to say that years ago I wrote a column saying if North Korea got
a nuclear weapon it should be bombed. When the CIA first spooked
former U.S. president Bill Clinton with its carefully leaked
revelation that North Korea had a nuclear weapon he had Henry
Kissinger, Brent Scowcroft and Robert Gates on his back telling
the press loudly that the North's stock of spent fuel rods
should be bombed before they were reprocessed into plutonium.
But none of them could provide an answer what to do if in
retaliation North Korea made use of the nuclear bombs they said
it already possessed. And when Clinton, all wound up and ready
to order an invasion of North Korea, consulted the Pentagon he
found that war might lead to the deaths of 50,000 American
soldiers and the obliteration of Seoul he too pulled back.
Then ex-president Jimmy Carter, briefly seizing the headlines,
bravely ventured into Pyongyang and mapped out with the old
dictator Kim Il Sung a trade off between nuclear armaments and
economic aid. Clinton happily grabbed the deal, and then the
press largely went quiet until when, years later, Bush ratcheted
up the rhetoric and confrontation.
And today the press seems content to be spoon fed the lie pushed
by the Bush Administration that it was the North Koreans who
broke the trust of Washington when they reneged on the
undertakings made to Carter/Clinton and admitted (in 2002) that
whilst they closed down its plutonium-based bomb producing line
they had opened up an alterative uranium-enriched one.
In fact the trust - that precious ingredient of all deals - was
broken long ago. The 1994 agreement was clear: the North agreed
to close its plutonium plant and seal up the cooling rods from
which weapons grade plutonium could be extracted. In return the
U.S. with Japan and South Korea agreed to build two modern,
non-plutonium producing nuclear power stations to be in
production by 2003. Also the U.S. agreed that it would end its
economic embargo and help the North with food, oil and
electricity.
Militant Republicans in Congress managed to sabotage the
implementation of the American side of the bargain, pushing the
administration to slow food supplies and oil deliveries on a
number of occasions. There was a successful effort in Congress
to break the promise of ending sanctions, delaying action on
this until 1999 when they were finally but only partially
lifted. Not least, was the slowdown on the building of the new
reactors, with the prospect of them being completed five years
behind schedule in 2008.
Then when George W. Bush came to power the U.S. leant on South
Korea to slow down its so-called "Sunshine" policy of
reconciliation. It also refused to talk about other sources of
electricity supplies and prohibited South Korea from honoring a
promise to send electricity to the North. Later, after the
North's "confession," it froze both oil supplies and reactor
building.
Given the reflex hostility of both the American government and
media it should not surprise us that North Korea returned to its
bad old ways. Confrontation, Pyongyang reasoned, was the only
way to get results. And, after three years of it, it is indeed
producing results. Bush is ready to negotiate, but quietly. And
the press has gone quiet in lockstep. Yet still North Korea has
the weapons of mass destruction that Iraq didn't.
Jonathan Power is a London-based columnist and a long-term
contributing writer to the Taiwan News.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Back to Top
2001-2004 Taiwan News. All Rights Reserved.
*****************************************************************
10 Korea Herald: Seoul, Moscow pledge to end N.K. nuke row
2004.07.05
By Choi Soung-ah
Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon and his visiting Russian
counterpart Sergey Lavrov on Saturday pledged to cooperate in
persuading North Korea to give up its nuclear ambitions.
In a joint news conference, both the top foreign policymakers
said they agreed to work together in resolving the nuclear
stalemate through the six-nation disarmament talks.
"In light of the close friendship between Russia and North
Korea, I asked Minister Lavrov to actively persuade North Korea
to completely dismantle its nuclear program if it wants to
develop economically and socially as well as receive economic
assistance and a security guarantee," Ban told reporters.
In response, Lavrov said Russia supports the denuclearization
on the Korean peninsula but also believes that Pyongyang should
be provided with "solid security assurances" as well as economic
and social assistance in return.
"The two countries agreed to closely cooperate for a successful
staging of the fourth round of six-party talks to be held by the
end of September," Lavrov said.
Following the meeting, the Russian diplomat also paid a
courtesy call to President Roh Moo-hyun in the afternoon.
He is scheduled to leave for Pyongyang on Sunday for a two-day
visit where he plans to discuss the development of bilateral
relations with the communist country.
Lavrov said his Pyongyang trip coincides with Moscow's
provision of humanitarian food aid to that country. A cargo ship
carrying about 35,000 tons of grain departed from a Russian port
for the North, he noted.
Also on the agenda, Lavrov said he plans to address several
other issues highly focusing on the ongoing nuclear issue on the
Korean peninsula.
"We want the six-party talks to results in the peninsula's
nuclear-free status, reliable security guarantees for North
Korea and economic assistance for Pyongyang," he said.
Also during the 90-minute meeting, the two discussed President
Roh Moo-hyun's scheduled trip to Moscow in September, and
economic issues as the project linking the Trans-Korean Railway
with the Trans-Siberian Railway and developing a gas reserve
development in Siberia.
Lavrov few into Seoul early Saturday, on the first leg of a
three-day visit to the two Koreas, directly from Jakarta, where
he attended an annual security meeting of Asia-Pacific countries.
Ban also returned from the security conference earlier in the
day after holding private talks with his North Korean and U.S.
counterparts on the sidelines of the conference.
(bluelle@heraldm.com)
*****************************************************************
11 Korea Herald: [ANN]North Korean bomb and media hype
2004.07.05
By Jonathan Power
The Statesman (India) / Asia News Network
The main thing we've learned so far about the Bush
administration's self-proclaimed ambitions to curb nuclear
proliferation is its all too obvious ability to influence how
the press treats the issue. If it wanted to whip up hysteria on
Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, the press was a willing, if
now rueful, victim. If it wants to blow hot about North Korea's
ambitions to have a nuclear-armed rocket that can strike Alaska,
it can do that too.
It can also do cold. Watch it right now as it moves, after
three years of outright hostility to North Korea, to start using
the soft touch in time to meet the imperatives of the electoral
calendar when it wants to be crisis-free. Too much of the media
(European too) follows its given cues as meekly as a
well-trained circus dog.
The latest round of talks last weekend with North Korea when,
for the first time, the Bush administration offered negotiating
concessions, was thriftily covered. Yet, the North Korean bomb
has not gone away. And North Korea's bomb research is much more
advanced than it was when Bush first characterized the regime as
part of the axis of evil?
Nuclear bombs are a good scare story when the administration
wants it to be. It plays on fears we all have. I'm embarrassed
to say that years ago, I wrote a column saying if North Korea
got a nuclear weapon it should be bombed. When the CIA first
spooked President Bill Clinton with its carefully leaked
revelation that North Korea had a nuclear weapon, he had Henry
Kissinger, Brent Scowcroft and Robert Gates on his back telling
the press loudly that the North's stock of spent fuel rods
should be bombed before they were reprocessed into plutonium.
But none of them could provide an answer what to do if, in
retaliation, North Korea made use of the nuclear bombs they said
it already possessed. And when Clinton, all wound up and ready
to order an invasion of North Korea, consulted the Pentagon, he
found that war might lead to the deaths of 50,000 U.S. soldiers
and the obliteration of Seoul. He too then pulled back.
Then former President Jimmy Carter, briefly seizing the
headlines, bravely ventured into Pyongyang and mapped out with
the old dictator, Kim II-sung, a trade-off between nuclear
armaments and economic aid. Clinton happily grabbed the deal,
and then the press largely went quiet until, years later, Bush
ratcheted up the rhetoric and confrontation.
And today, the press seems content to be spoon fed the lie
pushed by the Bush administration that it was the North Koreans
who broke the trust of Washington when they reneged on the
undertakings made to Carter/Clinton and admitted (in 2002) that,
while they closed down their plutonium-based bomb producing
line, they had opened up an alternative uranium-enriched one.
In fact, the trust, that precious ingredient of all deals, was
broken long ago. The 1994 agreement was clear: the North agreed
to close its plutonium plant and seal up the cooling rods from
which weapons-grade plutonium could be extracted. In return, the
United States, with Japan and South Korea, agreed to build two
modern, non-plutonium producing nuclear power stations to be in
production by 2003. Also, the United States agreed that it would
end its economic embargo and help the North with food, oil and
electricity.
Militant Republicans in the U.S. Congress managed to sabotage
the implementation of the American side of the bargain, pushing
the administration to slow food supplies, and oil deliveries, on
a number of occasions.
There was a successful effort in Congress to break the promise
of ending sanctions, delaying action on this until 1999 when
they were finally, but only partially, lifted. Not least, was
the slowdown on the building of the new reactors, with the
prospect of them being completed five years behind schedule in
2008.
*****************************************************************
12 Korea: Digital Chosunilbo: Korea Is Not a 'Disposable' Country by Kim Dae-joong
Updated July.3,2004 18:18 KST
When I returned to Korea after one year, the nation has been
caught in a tremendous fever. After a hot blast of the
presidential impeachment and the April 15 general elections
swept the country, the heat of controversies over the capital
relocation, Iraq dispatch plan, North Korean nuclear issue and
inter-Korean relationships has followed. Amid the feverish
confusion, the view that Korea is in an economic crisis has
ceaselessly afflicted the people. In politics, behind the
triumphant chorus of winners, the groans of those with
vested interests have been heard here and there.
Furthermore, there are other factors that divide the nation and
drives it into ferocious co-destruction: Kim Sun-ils miserable
death and the governments helpless responses to it; the labor
circles excessive summer wage strikes not being satisfied with
their wage strikes in spring, and President Roh Moo-hyun and his
governments arrogant winner-takes-all attitude. Communist
partisans during the Korean War were, in the end, acknowledged
as fighters for democracy. Now, the change of administration
means conquest and punishment, not the concept of rotation, and
the change of generation is considered a chance to expel the old
generation, not a baton relay between generations.
A change is desirable. Considering that Korea has been
accustomed to one food too long, it is time for the country
to accept diversity. Political forces and people who have been
excluded from the leadership rank in the past are shouting that
the times have changed. The problem with them, however, is that
they are corrupt and make favorable personnel requests, share
benefits between them and become an older generation, although
they declare that they are hugely different from the older
generation enjoying vested interests of the past.
The bigger problem with them is that they turn a deaf ear to
criticism against them. It is natural that the losers,
opposed to the forces in power, can protest against the
incumbent government. Those who have positive perspectives
toward the current government and its key forces include
intellectuals, the petit bourgeoisie and social reformists who
consider themselves liberals and oppose the lop-sided practices
of the past authoritarian forces and democratization movement
leaders. However, these people also become wary of the
dichotomous thinking and rigid unilateralism of President Rohs
government and its followers. We see that the incumbent
government blindly considers criticism, wariness and
well-intentioned advice conspiratorial schemes.
This is not only the problem of the incumbent government.
Seriously, the rigidity and the equation of the winner is
right may become a grave stumbling block to the direction of
the country. If we live in a democratic county, the ruler and
critics should compromisingly acknowledge differences between
each other and recognize the limitations of the differences.
But, we are now living on hostility. If the faults of past
governments stemmed from rigidity, the current government makes
the same mistakes as well.
If the situation continues on like this, the county may be
headed for a unilateral side and Korea, as a container, may
be broken. Korea is not a disposable container. They won the
election and they say they will make their own dish to put in
the container of Korea. Therefore, there is nothing for us to do
except watch them make the dish and serve it in the container.
Although they ignore other peoples advice or recommendations,
it is their way to make the dish. However, what they have to
keep in mind is that Korea is a container that other political
forces who have different views from them will use sometime.
They can adopt policies that can be revised and mended in line
with the change of age. The people have never allowed them to
shake the basis for the existence of Korea, constitutional
belief and the very identity on which Korea lives.
In a country where democracy has taken root, changes of
administration mean the rotation of liberalism and conservatism.
The change of administration plays the role of a balance lever,
which changes the direction of a country with an appropriate
interval when the country excessively tilts toward a certain
direction. Political power is just the right of a tenant who
rents the country temporarily. If the people get sick of those
who are in power sometime, the administration must pay up and
leave earlier than expected. Here is one thing Id like to beg
them: Its O.K to make any kind of dish, but please, dont
break the container.
*****************************************************************
13 JoongAng Daily: The legacy of Kim Il Sung is taking on different look
[http://www.iht.com]
July 5, 2004 KST 11:04 (GMT+9)
First in a three-part series
In the decade since the death of North Korean leader Kim Il
Sung on July 8, 1994, Kim Jong-il, who inherited power over the
country from his father, has maintained the legacy of one-man
rule, but he has also stepped out of his father's shadow by
taking small steps to loosen the country's communist economic
system.
When Kim Il Sung died, many North Korea experts predicted the
regime would collapse, unable to sustain itself for long, given
the country's chronic shortages of food and energy. But Kim
Jong-il has survived, largely by keeping firm command over the
military as his chief means of control.
In 1998, Kim Jong-il set out new policy goals with an ambitious
program of making North Korea an ideological, military and
economic power.
Then in June 2000 came the summit meeting with South Korean
President Kim Dae-jung. Kim Jong-il's comments at the summit
suggested he was prepared to seek economic reforms and to pursue
broader diplomacy.
In the months following, he met leaders from China, Russia,
Japan, Indonesia and the European Union and agreed to
multilateral negotiations in the face of international pressure
to end North Korea's development of nuclear arms.
Significant changes also began to take place in the North's
state-directed economy. In July 2002, North Korea announced it
would allow prices and incomes in a number of sectors to reflect
more of a market orientation, reducing gradually the command
economy of public distribution.
Designating Mount Geumgang, Gaeseong and Sinuiju as special
economic zones to attract foreign capital also reflected a
different attitude.
Changes have also taken place among the North's leadership as a
younger generation has taken on a growing role.
Most of the core personnel in North Korea's cabinet and
economic sector have been replaced with officials with a more
international outlook. Twenty of the 36 minister-level
government officials have been replaced with those from the
younger generation. A similar phenomenon has been observed in
the rubber-stamp Workers' Party and military.
by Jung Chang-hyun enational@joongang.co.kr>
2004.07.04
[http://joongangdaily.joins.com/faq.html]
*****************************************************************
14 Korea: Digital Chosunilbo: Asia Security Meeting Calls for Settlement on North Korea,
Updated July.3,2004 18:25 KST
An Asia-Pacific security forum, grouping some two dozen
nations, has ended with calls for a peaceful end to the nuclear
dispute with North Korea, more efforts to combat terrorism and
more pressure on Burma to move toward democracy.
Two dozen foreign ministers from Asia and Western nations ended
the Asia Regional Forum in Jakarta condemning terrorism as a
worldwide threat and agreeing to work together to improve
security in sea and air transportation routes.
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell praised the opening in
recent months of several anti-terrorism centers in the region,
in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia.
Mr. Powell says this shows that the international community is
coming together to deal with a threat that affects all civilized
nations.
"It's important that we do everything to coordinate our efforts
and to enhance our capability to deal with this challenge and
that we train our people to deal with these challenges," he
said.
The foreign ministers in their closing statement note the
struggle against terrorism should conform to the United Nations
charter and international law.
On Burma, the foreign ministers repeated last year's call for
the military government in Rangoon to free pro-democracy leader
Aung San Suu Kyi and lift restrictions on her National League
for Democracy party.
The European Union's external affairs commissioner, Chris
Patten, said the EU shares the aspirations of ASEAN, the
Southeast Asia group, for democratization in Burma, but differs
on methods.
"I don't think our objective is very different from that of our
friends and colleagues in ASEAN and beyond in Asia, though I do
think we disagree about the best tactics for achieving those
objectives," he noted.
Southeast Asian nations support a soft engagement policy, while
Europe and the United States have employed increasingly tough
sanctions.
The foreign ministers also declared strong support for the
latest efforts to end the crisis over North Korea's nuclear
weapons programs. They endorsed step-by-step moves by Pyongyang
to dismantle its nuclear weapons programs in return for matching
incentives and aid from the United States and its Asian allies.
North Korean Foreign Minister Paek Nam Sun met with Secretary
Powell Friday in the highest level meeting between the two
nations in two years. A North Korean statement says Mr. Paek
told Mr. Powell that their countries need not be "permanent
enemies."
VOA News
*****************************************************************
15 Korea: Digital Chosunilbo: North Korea Should Not Miss this Chance
Updated July.4,2004 22:16 KST
After the recent third round of six-way talks, the United States
once again showed a flexible position on North Korea during the
U.S.-North Korean foreign minister meeting held in Jakarta,
Indonesia last week. Secretary of State Colin Powell reconfirmed
that the U.S. has no intention to attack North Korea and
delivered President Bushs word, It is possible to cooperate
with each other in important areas even if ideologies and
political systems are different. This is a surprising change
on the part of the U.S. given that it was only some time ago
that the U.S. defined the North as an axis if evil.
Such a change in the Bush administration may be understood as a
campaign strategy to be reelected. At any rate, what is
important to the Norths regime is that the U.S. tries to treat
them differently from the past when they were only viewed as a
country that needed regime change. The North should therefor not
miss this hard-won chance and expect any luck only because at
present Democratic Party candidate John Kerry might very well be
elected as the new U.S. president. This is because even if Kerry
is elected, there will be no fundamental change in the U.S.s
policy on non-proliferation, or if Bush is reelected, it will be
more difficult for them to settle the nuclear issue. If the
North thinks that hard liners in the Bush administration have
shrunk back due to a presidential election, they should try
harder to use this opportunity to get what they want. Given the
schedule of the U.S. presidential election, they have only
several months to do so.
If there is still any doubt, look at what happened to Libya
after declaring that it would abandon the nuclear development
plan. Only six months after the declaration, the country held a
summit meeting with the West including Britain and restore
diplomatic relations with the U.S. by establishing a liaison
office. Considering the fact that South Korea is anxious to help
them, the North would be able to secure much more aid than
Libya. The South Korean government should also make more efforts
to persuade the North not to miss this chance while tightening
cooperation with the U.S. An expected meeting with U.S. National
Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice, who will visit Seoul on July 9
as an special envoy of President Bush, may be a good start to
these efforts.
*****************************************************************
16 Guardian Unlimited: Mutual distrust clouds US-Korea negotiations
John Aglionby in Jakarta
Saturday July 3, 2004
The Guardian [http://www.guardian.co.uk]
North Korea said yesterday it did not trust the US after the two
sides' foreign ministers held their highest-level talks since
Washington described Pyongyang as part of an "axis of evil".
Colin Powell, the US secretary of state, said after meeting his
North Korean counterpart Paek Nam-sun in Jakarta that great
mistrust existed between their countries.
Both countries sought to put a positive spin on the discussions,
held on the sidelines of a regional security conference. But
aides said the two men were no closer to a solution over US
demands for Pyongyang to dismantle its nuclear weapons programme.
"There is no trust between the Democratic People's Republic of
Korea and the United States," Mr Paek was quoted as saying in an
official statement.
"[However] if the United States is of the position to improve
bilateral relations, the DPRK will not regard the US as a
permanent enemy."
Mr Powell was equally forthright. "These are difficult
negotiations. It just doesn't happen overnight," he said
afterwards in a meeting with Indonesian students.
His spokesman, Richard Boucher, said Mr Powell told his
counterpart there was an opportunity for "concrete progress" in
the continuing efforts to rid the Korean peninsula of nuclear
weapons. But Washington wanted "words not deeds" on disarmament
before it started making concessions.
Mr Paek said his government would budge only if it saw
"simultaneous actions" from Washington.
When officials from the two sides met last month in Beijing,
along with representatives from China, Japan, Russia and South
Korea, they put forward contrasting proposals to move the stalled
six- party peace talks forwards. The US said Pyongyang would
receive aid and security guarantees if it agreed to a
step-by-step dismantling both of the plutonium weapons that it
admits to, and the uranium bomb programme that its neighbours are
convinced it is developing.
Assistance would come first from South Korea and Japan and then,
once North Korea has shown long-term commitment to the deal, from
the US.
North Korea has offered to freeze rather than dismantle its
weapons programmes if it receives guarantees of vital energy
supplies to make up for serious shortfalls.
Washington's offer, which is being seen as a conciliatory step,
is thought to have been partly prompted by criticism at home from
the Democratic presidential contender, John Kerry, over the lack
of progress in the negotiations.
Mr Powell's meeting with Mr Paek was short on substance,
according to Byungki Kim, an associate professor of international
relations at the Korea University in Seoul. "This meeting was an
important symbolic sign that both parties will continue to talk,"
he said. "But in terms of substance, it won't have much impact."
He said there would be little progress before the American
presidential election in November. "North Korea won't be making
any substantive proposals [soon] because of the elections," he
said.
[UP]
Guardian Unlimited Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004
*****************************************************************
17 ITAR-TASS: Lavrov arrives in Pyongyang to discuss Korean settlement
04.07.2004, 07.50
SEOUL, July 4 (Itar-Tass) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei
Lavrov has arrived in Pyongyang to discuss ways of achieving the
Korean settlement. During his stay in North Korea the minister
is scheduled to meet North Korean counterpart Paek Nam Sun and
Chairman of the Supreme Peoples Assembly Kim Yong Nam.
After his recent talks with South Korean Minister Ban Ki-moon
the Russian diplomat said that the ultimate aim of the six-way
talks was to achieve a nuclearfree status for the Korean
peninsula, reliable security guarantees for North Korea and
economic assistance to Pyongyang.
In turn, the South Korean foreign minister noted practical
convergence of views on Pyongyangs nuclear program.
As our neighbour and a fraternal country, Russia plays an
active and leading role in the solution of the problems of the
Korean peninsula. We are attaching great importance to Sergei
Lavrovs talks in Pyongyang. We hope that they will be crowned
with great success, Ban Ki-moon said. He asked the Russian
foreign minister to convey a message to the North Korean
leadership that Pyongyang should abandon its nuclear programs
and join the world community. This, in his opinion, will provide
for the security, economic growth and prosperity of the North
Korean people. Ban Ki-moon noted that Moscow and Seoul had the
same assessment of the Korean settlement.
Sergei Lavrov was received by South Korean President Roh
Moo-hyun. They discussed the situation in the Korean peninsula
and the development of relations between Moscow and Seoul.
Russia will closely cooperate with its partners to ensure the
success of the 4th round of the six-way talks on the Korean
settlement that will be held in September, the Russian foreign
minister emphasized. The sides paid great attention to the
preparation of the upcoming visit of the South Korean leader to
the Russian Federation. Lavrov said that the visit would fix the
new quality of the parties bilateral relations.
For his part, Russian Foreign Ministrys official spokesman
Alexander Yakovenko said that the foreign ministers of Russia
and North Korea were paying great attention to developing
economic cooperation between Russias far eastern regions and
North Korean provinces. Major economic projects will be
discussed. The Russian and North Korean foreign ministers plan
to sign a Program of exchanges between the two countries Foreign
Ministries.
ITAR-TASS. All rights reserved. You undertake not to copy,
*****************************************************************
18 AU ABC: Russian Foreign Minister arrives in Pyongyang
[http://abc.net.au/ra/news/]
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has arrived in Pyongyang
for a two-day visit focusing on the 20-month standoff over North
Korea's nuclear ambitions.
Mr Lavrov says he will have talks with top North Korean officials
on bilateral ties and the outcome of recent six-nation talks
aimed at defusing tensions over Pyongyang's nuclear weapons
program.
The third round of the talks in Beijing last month ended without
a breakthrough, although the United States, the two Koreas,
China, Japan and Russia agreed to meet again by the end of
September.
Mr Lavrov says North Korea has to be given "solid security
guarantees as well as aid for its social and economic
development" in return for the denuclearisation of the Korean
peninsula.
04/07/2004 19:00:36 | ABC Radio Australia News
[http://www.abc.net.au/privacy.htm]
*****************************************************************
19 AFP: Russia, S.Korea pledge cooperation on N.Korean nuclear standoff
+ WAR.WIRE
[http://www.spacewar.com/] Russia, S.Korea
pledge cooperation on N.Korean nuclear standoff
SEOUL (AFP) Jul 03, 2004
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Saturday North Korea
should get solid security assurances and aid in return for giving
up its nuclear weapons drive.
"Through (six-nation) talks, North Korea must be given solid
security guarantees as well as aid for its social and economic
development in return for denuclearization of the Korean
peninsula," Lavrov said after talks with his South Korean
counterpart, Ban Ki-Moon.
The Russian minister is to leave for Pyongyang Sunday for a
two-day visit which he said would focus on the 20-month standoff
over North Korea's nuclear ambitions.
Ban, who met his counterpart after they both attended a regional
security forum in Jakarta, said Lavrov was asked to to persuade
North Korea to give up its nuclear program.
The two agreed to maintain close cooperation for a successful
staging of the fourth round of six-party talks to be held by the
end of September.
The third round of talks in Beijing last week ended without a
breakthrough, although the United States, the two Koreas, China,
Japan and Russia agreed to meet again by the end of September.
The US plan gives Pyongyang three months to shut down and seal
its nuclear weapons facilities in return for economic and
diplomatic rewards.
It 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.
The Ban-Lavrov meeting came a day after US Secretary of State
Colin Powell and North Korean Foreign Minister Paek Nam-Sun met
in Jakarta in the highest-level talks between the countries in
two years.
Powell said his discussion with Paek was intended to clarify
proposals presented in Beijing.
Pyongyang has proposed freezing its nuclear program and pledged
to stop building, testing and transferring nuclear weapons, but
insisted Washington's rewards for North Korean concessions were
the only way to resolve the impasse.
The stand-off erupted in October 2002 when the United States said
North Korea acknowledged it was developing nuclear weapons,
violating a 1994 international agreement.
WAR.WIRE
*****************************************************************
20 Post Gazette: Nuclear security chief backs bunker-buster bomb
www.post-gazette.com
Saturday, July 03, 2004 By Jack Kelly, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The best way to protect America from future Saddam Husseins is to
build a new nuclear warhead that can penetrate deep underground
bunkers, the head of the National Nuclear Security Administration
said in Pittsburgh yesterday.
Ambassador Linton Brooks was in the city to address a regional
training seminar for employees of his agency, which is part of
the U.S. Department of Energy.
The National Nuclear Security Administration is responsible for
building nuclear weapons, for protecting nuclear plants from
terrorist attack and for transporting nuclear materials.
The NNSA also works with Russia to safeguard or destroy nuclear
materials and provides technical assistance to the Department of
Homeland Security to prevent a terrorist nuclear attack on the
United States.
The Bush administration plans to reduce substantially the number
of nuclear warheads in the U.S. arsenal. But the administration
also wants to build some new bombs because it considers the
threat posed by countries like North Korea or Iran to be
different from the threat posed by the Soviet Union, said Brooks,
a former Navy nuclear submariner and chief arms control
negotiator for the State Department.
The Soviet Union was deterred from attacking the United States
with nuclear weapons because it feared massive retaliation. But
Brooks said that deterrence won't work with dictators because
they really don't care what happens to their people -- only to
themselves.
"Whoever the next Saddam is, he is learning that if you put
yourself in a bunker deep underground, the Americans can't touch
you," he said. "The only way to deter people like that is to
convince them there is nothing we can't reach."
The solution is the "nuclear earth penetrator," a bomb that can
penetrate through 6 or 7 feet of rock before exploding, Brooks
said. Work on the nuclear earth penetrator began in the
mid-1990s.
Organizations that favor nuclear disarmament, like the Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace, argue that bunker-busting
nuclear weapons would have limited utility and would do more harm
than good by encouraging other nations to build more nuclear
weapons of their own.
The NNSA also is working with foreign governments to keep
weapons-grade nuclear materials out of the hands of terrorists.
"The typical research reactor is on some university campus,"
Brooks said. "They don't have much security."
(Jack Kelly can be reached a jkelly@post-gazette.com
[jkelly@post-gazette.com] or 412 263-1476.)
1997-2004 PG Publishing Co., Inc. All Rights Reserved.
*****************************************************************
21 Bradenton Herald: FBI urges extra vigilance during holiday
| 07/03/2004 |
CURT ANDERSON
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - A constant stream of intelligence indicating that
al-Qaida wants to strike the United States this summer or fall
has led federal officials to urge increased vigilance during the
Independence Day weekend, but there is no specific threat of an
attack timed to the holiday.
In a bulletin sent to law enforcement agencies nationwide
Thursday, the FBI said police should step up patrols and watch
for signs of terrorist activity, including surveillance of
potential targets. The FBI also listed advice on how to spot
possible suicide bombers.
"We know the U.S. homeland remains a top al-Qaida target," the
FBI said in the bulletin, sent weekly to 18,000 state and local
law enforcement agencies.
Fourth of July celebrations are among the symbolic events that
U.S. officials say could present an inviting target to al-Qaida,
which intelligence reports indicate will attempt an attack during
summer or fall. An attack also could be timed to coincide with
the national political conventions or the November elections,
plus the Olympics in August in Athens, Greece.
No specific threat
Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said the warnings were not
issued because of a specific threat.
"The information that the FBI put out is just a reminder," he
said Friday on NBC's "Today" show. "There are some lessons we've
learned from observing the al-Qaida and other terrorist
organizations conduct their attacks around the world."
The FBI said police should increase patrols this holiday weekend,
vary the timing, size and routes of the patrols, and make sure
all vehicles illegally parked in key areas are approached and
their drivers questioned.
The Homeland Security Department had no plans to raise the
nation's color-coded terror alert level above its current
midpoint status of yellow, or elevated. Last week, the agency
sent a bulletin urging tighter security to state and local
officials and those that operate power and chemical plants and
key transportation facilities.
The government's approach to this major U.S. holiday was muted in
comparison to Memorial Day, when the FBI and Attorney General
John Ashcroft issued high-profile warnings that terrorists were
nearly ready to strike. In Tampa this week, Ashcroft repeated his
contention that al-Qaida was between 75 percent and 90 percent
ready to attack again.
Cooperation stressed
FBI Director Robert Mueller told reporters Thursday in Seattle
that local, state and federal officials must cooperate to prevent
a new terrorist attack. The lack of such cooperation, from the
federal government on down, has been cited by congressional and
independent investigators as a key reason the Sept. 11, 2001,
plot was not detected.
"We try to use our imagination to determine where the next threat
might come from," Mueller said after a visit to the FBI's Seattle
field office.
The FBI bulletin cited recent intelligence that continues to show
al-Qaida interest in attacking a range of facilities, including
gasoline stations and refineries; financial and government
institutions; civil aviation; nuclear plants and dams, and
subways and freight trains.
Terrorists could seek to replicate attacks overseas that have
used bombs in vehicles, assault teams armed with light weapons
and suicide bombers, the FBI said.
Around the country, state and local officials echoed the federal
government's approach to the Fourth.
"We're encouraging New Yorkers to enjoy the holiday but to remain
vigilant and aware of their surroundings," said Lynn Rasic,
spokeswoman for New York Gov. George Pataki. "Security will be
strong and noticeable at public events across the state."
In Atlanta, the city transit system canceled days off for police
and planned random sweeps of trains with bomb-sniffing dogs,
spokeswoman Kimberly Willis Green said. And in Washington, police
were setting up 19 security checkpoints along the National Mall
for people to enter to watch the nationally televised fireworks
show Sunday.
Things to watch for
The FBI bulletin repeated for local authorities a previously
released list of indicators often associated with suicide bomber
attacks overseas. These include:
Irregular, loose-fitting clothing not appropriate for warm
weather, possibly with "protruding bulges or exposed wires" or a
noticeable chemical odor.
"Sweating, mumbling (prayers) or unusually calm and detached
behavior." In addition, people who refuse to show their hands,
possibly to conceal a detonator.
Disguises, including military, police, medical or firefighter
uniforms or someone posing as a pregnant woman.
Large or heavy baggage not appropriate for the location, such
as a big duffel bag carried into a restaurant.
Law enforcement officials also were asked to be wary of possible
terrorist surveillance, which the FBI said nearly always occurs
prior to any attack "to determine suitability, security and
probability of success."
Terrorists also may make anonymous threats to observe how
security reacts and may attempt surveillance disguised as
homeless people, shoe shiners, street vendors or street sweepers,
the FBI said.
*****************************************************************
22 JOURNAL NEWS: Manhattan Project guard recalls bomb's debut
By ERIN DONAR
FOR THE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original publication: July 4, 2004)
Before the image of the mushroom cloud and the term "atomic
bomb" became part of the world's consciousness, scientists were
working tirelessly to create a weapon never before seen.
At 88, Yonkers resident Carlo Silveri is one of the few remaining
men who worked with the Manhattan Project and witnessed the
detonation of the first such bomb, code-named "Gadget," at the
Trinity test site in Los Alamos, N.M. The event marked one of the
most significant scientific achievements in history, helping end
World War II, but also ushered in the age of nuclear warfare and
ethical questions surrounding the bomb's use.
Last month, Silveri attended a reunion conference organized by
the Manhattan Project Heritage Preservation Association, an event
commemorating the men who worked at the bomb creation site.
Veterans from the site and their families were invited to hear
lectures and discussions about the impact of the development of
nuclear technology. Silveri worked as a guard for the Manhattan
Project after he was drafted during the war.
He said the guards who worked at the site code-named Trinity by
theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer never knew exactly
what was going on, only that it was something big.
"All we knew was there was going to be some kind of experiment,"
he said. He and others learned the true nature of the experiment
a week before the bomb was tested, he said.
In the years leading up to the start of the Manhattan Project,
world affairs were becoming increasingly tense. In 1939, Germany
was rumored to be working on a nuclear weapon, and Albert
Einstein warned the United States that he feared what would
happen if the Nazis came up with the technology first. He urged
the U.S. government to start work on a nuclear weapon of its own.
Oppenheimer was the director of the Los Alamos Laboratory, and is
credited with completing the project.
"Everyone who worked there the ones who liked (Oppenheimer) and
even those who didn't like him would say he was the person who
made it happen. He was a brilliant man of unbelievable charisma
and an incredible leader," said Richard Peterson, a professor of
Physics at Bethel College in St. Paul, Minn. and president-elect
of the American Association of Physics Teachers.
The entire Manhattan Project lasted four years, between 1942 and
1946, and cost about $1.8 billion.
Silveri worked as a sergeant in the military police, guarding and
securing the grounds of the site, as scientists worked to produce
the bomb. The men were not allowed to discuss their work with
anyone outside of the top-secret project. Even Harry Truman was
not informed of the project's existence until after he became
president upon President Franklin D. Roosevelt's death.
After almost eight months of preparation, the bomb was detonated
on July 16, 1945. Silveri was eight miles from the site. "I saw a
bright light and so I ran outside and I saw the mushroom cloud
and felt the concussion of the bomb," he said.
The bomb turned out to be much more powerful than the scientists
had originally expected, with the explosive equivalent to about
20,000 tons of TNT.
After the blast, Silveri and his co-workers drove after the cloud
created by the bomb, following it all the way to Roswell, N.M.,
before returning to camp to celebrate, he said.
"Oppenheimer himself didn't think it could be accomplished, so
when it was, he was just as surprised as everyone else," he said.
Displaying pieces of glass created by the bomb in the desert sand
and showing pictures he took of the site, Silveri described how
he went into the area only a few weeks after the test. He was
openly discussed the sterility he found out about years later,
saying it could have been caused by his work at Trinity, but he
could not be sure.
"At that time, they didn't know," he said.
On Aug. 6 and 9, 1945, less than a month after the Los Alamos
test, the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and
Nagasaki, respectively, killing approximately 200,000 Japanese
civilians. While the bombs are generally credited with ending the
war, questions remain as to their necessity and role, and whether
a solution could have been found without so many deaths.
As Silveri prepared for his trip to Ithaca, N.Y., to attend the
reunion and conference, he said he wondered if he would recognize
the men with whom he was secluded for more than a year, adding
that he was excited to see some of his old friends. But when he
arrived, he found he was the only one of the original 12 guards
who had made it to the event.
"It was mostly science people, and the guys that came after us to
replace us," he said. "At this age, most (co-workers) have passed
away or were too sick to come."
But he said he was proud the conference honored the contributions
of those who worked at the Manhattan Project.
"Nobody ever mentions Los Alamos and the soldiers that worked
there," he said. "I'm glad I was picked to serve and was a part
of history."
Send e-mail to Erin Donar [edonar@thejournalnews.com]
Home [http://www.thejournalnews.com] -Business
Copyright 2004 The Journal News, a Gannett Co
*****************************************************************
23 IPS-English UAE-ENERGY: El Baradi on two-day visit
Date: Sun, 04 Jul 2004 18:34:34 -0700
LA TR IP BR
UAE-ENERGY: El Baradi on two-day visit
Att.Editors: The following item is from the Emirates News Agency (WAM)
DUBAI, July 3 (WAM) - Dr. Mohammed El Baradi, Director General of the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and accompanying delegation
arrived here today on a two-day visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE),
during which he will hold talks with a number of senior officials on aspects
of cooperation between the UAE and IAEA in peaceful fields.
He was received at the Dubai International Airport by Ali bin Abdullah Al
Owais, Under Secretary of Ministry of Electricity and Water, and a number of
officials at the Ministry. (WAM)
*****************************************************************
24 [DU-WATCH] Israel's WMD's
Date: Sat, 3 Jul 2004 01:52:26 -0500 (CDT)
Zionist's Crime Cyndicate & their Weapons of Mass Destruction
by John Steinbach
"Should war break out in the Middle East again,... or should any Arab
nation fire missiles against Israel, as the Iraqis did, a nuclear
escalation, once unthinkable except as a last resort, would now be a
strong probability." Seymour Hersh(1)
"Arabs may have the oil, but we have the matches." Ariel Sharon(2)
---------------------------------
With between 200 and 500 thermonuclear weapons and a sophisticated
delivery system, Israel has quietly supplanted Britain as the World's
5th Largest nuclear power, and may currently rival France and China in
the size and sophistication of its nuclear arsenal. Although dwarfed
by the nuclear arsenals of the U.S. and Russia, each possessing over
10,000 nuclear weapons, Israel nonetheless is a major nuclear power,
and should be publically recognized as such.. Since the Gulf War in
1991, while much attention has been lavished on the threat posed by
Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, the major culprit in the region,
Israel, has been largely ignored. Possessing chemical and biological
weapons, an extremely sophisticated nuclear arsenal, and an aggressive
strategy for their actual use, Israel provides the major regional
impetus for the development of weapons of mass destruction and
represents an acute threat to peace and stability in the Middle East.
The Israeli nuclear program represents a
serious impediment to nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation and,
with India and Pakistan, is a potential nuclear flashpoint.(prospects
of meaningful non-proliferation are a delusion so long as the nuclear
weapons states insist on maintaining their arsenals,) Citizens
concerned about sanctions against Iraq, peace with justice in the
Middle East, and nuclear disarmament have an obligation to speak out
forcefully against the Israeli nuclear program.
Birth of the Israeli Bomb
The Israeli nuclear program began in the late 1940s under the
direction of Ernst David Bergmann, "the father of the Israeli bomb,"
who in 1952 established the Israeli Atomic Energy Commission. It was
France, however, which provided the bulk of early nuclear assistance
to Israel culminating in construction of Dimona, a heavy water
moderated, natural uranium reactor and plutonium reprocessing factory
situated near Bersheeba in the Negev Desert. Israel had been an active
participant in the French Nuclear weapons program from its inception,
providing critical technical expertise, and the Israeli nuclear
program can be seen as an extension of this earlier collaboration.
Dimona went on line in 1964 and plutonium reprocessing began shortly
thereafter. Despite various Israeli claims that Dimona was "a
manganese plant, or a textile factory," the extreme security measures
employed told a far different story. In 1967, Israel shot down one of
their own Mirage fighters that approached too close
to Dimona and in 1973 shot down a Lybian civilian airliner which
strayed off course, killing 104.(3) There is substantial credible
speculation that Israel may have exploded at least one, and perhaps
several, nuclear devices in the mid 1960s in the Negev near the
Israeli-Egyptian border, and that it participated actively in French
nuclear tests in Algeria.(4) By the time of the "Yom Kippur War" in
1973, Israel possessed an arsenal of perhaps several dozen deliverable
atomic bombs and went on full nuclear alert.(5)
Possessing advanced nuclear technology and "world class" nuclear
scientists, Israel was confronted early with a major problem- how to
obtain the necessary uranium. Israel's own uranium source was the
phosphate deposits in the Negev, totally inadequate to meet the need
of a rapidly expanding program. The short term answer was to mount
commando raids in France and Britain to successfully hijack uranium
shipments and, in1968, to collaborate with West Germany in diverting
200 tons of yellowcake (uranium oxide).(6) These clandestine
acquisitions of uranium for Dimona were subsequently covered up by the
various countries involved. There was also an allegation that a U.S.
corporation called Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corporation (NUMEC)
diverted hundreds of pounds of enriched uranium to Israel from the
mid-50s to the mid-60s.
Despite an FBI and CIA investigation, and Congressional hearings, no
one was ever prosecuted, although most other investigators believed
the diversion had occurred(7)(8). In the late 1960s, Israel solved the
uranium problem by developing close ties with South Africa in a quid
pro quo arrangement whereby Israel supplied the technology and
expertise for the "Apartheid Bomb," while South Africa provided the
uranium.
South Africa and the United States
In 1977, the Soviet Union warned the U.S. that satellite photos
indicated South Africa was planning a nuclear test in the Kalahari
Desert but the Apartheid regime backed down under pressure. On
September 22, 1979, a U.S. satellite detected an atmospheric test of a
small thermonuclear bomb in the Indian Ocean off South Africa but,
because of Israel's apparent involvement, the report was quickly
"whitewashed" by a carefully selected scientific panel kept in the
dark about important details. Later it was learned through Israeli
sources that there were actually three carefully guarded tests of
miniaturized Israeli nuclear artillery shells. The Israeli/South
African collaboration did not end with the bomb testing, but continued
until the fall of Apartheid, especially with the developing and
testing of medium range missiles and advanced artillery. In addition
to uranium and test facilities, South Africa provided Israel with
large amounts of investment capital, while Israel provided a major
trade outlet to enable the Apartheid state avoid international
economic sanctions.(9)
Although the French and South Africans were primarily responsible for
the Israeli nuclear program, the U.S. shares and deserves a large part
of the blame. Mark Gaffney wrote (the Israeli nuclear program) "was
possible only because (emphasis in original) of calculated deception
on the part of Israel, and willing complicity on the part of the
U.S.."(10)
>From the very beginning, the U.S. was heavily involved in the Israeli
nuclear program, providing nuclear related technology such as a small
research reactor in 1955 under the "Atoms for Peace Program." Israeli
scientists were largely trained at U.S. universities and were
generally welcomed at the nuclear weapons labs. In the early 1960s,
the controls for the Dimona reactor were obtained clandestinely from a
company called Tracer Lab, the main supplier of U.S. military reactor
control panels, purchased through a Belgian subsidiary, apparently
with the acquiescence of the National Security Agency (NSA) and the
CIA.(11) In 1971, the Nixon administration approved the sale of
hundreds of krytons(a type of high speed switch necessary to the
development of sophisticated nuclear bombs) to Israel.(12) And, in
1979, Carter provided ultra high resolution photos from a KH-11 spy
satellite, used 2 years later to bomb the Iraqi Osirak Reactor.(13)
Throughout the Nixon and Carter administrations,
and accelerating dramatically under Reagan, U.S. advanced technology
transfers to Israel have continued unabated to the present.
The Vanunu Revelations
Following the 1973 war, Israel intensified its nuclear program while
continuing its policy of deliberate "nuclear opaqueness." Until the
mid-1980s, most intelligence estimates of the Israeli nuclear arsenal
were on the order of two dozen but the explosive revelations of
Mordechai Vanunu, a nuclear technician working in the Dimona plutonium
reprocessing plant, changed everything overnight. A leftist supporter
of Palestine, Vanunu believed that it was his duty to humanity to
expose Israel's nuclear program to the world. He smuggled dozens of
photos and valuable scientific data out of Israel and in 1986 his
story was published in the London Sunday Times. Rigorous scientific
scrutiny of the Vanunu revelations led to the disclosure that Israel
possessed as many as 200 highly sophisticated, miniaturized
thermonuclear bombs. His information indicated that the Dimona
reactor's capacity had been expanded several fold and that Israel was
producing enough plutonium to make ten to twelve bombs
per year. A senior U.S. intelligence analyst said of the Vanunu
data,"The scope of this is much more extensive than we thought. This
is an enormous operation."(14)
Just prior to publication of his information Vanunu was lured to Rome
by a Mossad "Mata Hari," was beaten, drugged and kidnapped to Israel
and, following a campaign of disinformation and vilification in the
Israeli press, convicted of "treason" by a secret security court and
sentenced to 18 years in prison. He served over 11 years in solitary
confinement in a 6 by 9 foot cell. After a year of modified release
into the general population(he was not permitted contact with Arabs),
Vanunu recently has been returned to solitary and faces more than 3
years further imprisonment. Predictably, The Vanunu revelations were
largely ignored by the world press, especially in the United States,
and Israel continues to enjoy a relatively free ride regarding its
nuclear status. (15)
Israel's Arsenal of Mass Destruction
Today, estimates of the Israeli nuclear arsenal range from a minimum
of 200 to a maximum of about 500. Whatever the number, there is little
doubt that Israeli nukes are among the world's most sophisticated,
largely designed for "war fighting" in the Middle East. A staple of
the Israeli nuclear arsenal are "neutron bombs," miniaturized
thermonuclear bombs designed to maximize deadly gamma radiation while
minimizing blast effects and long term radiation- in essence designed
to kill people while leaving property intact.(16) Weapons include
ballistic missiles and bombers capable of reaching Moscow, cruise
missiles, land mines(In the 1980s Israel planted nuclear land mines
along the Golan Heights(17)), and artillery shells with a range of 45
miles(18). In June, 2000 an Israeli submarine launched a cruise
missile which hit a target 950 miles away, making Israel only the
third nation after the U.S. and Russia with that capability. Israel
will deploy 3 of these virtually impregnable
submarines, each carrying 4 cruise missiles.(19)
The bombs themselves range in size from "city busters" larger than the
Hiroshima Bomb to tactical mini nukes. The Israeli arsenal of weapons
of mass destruction clearly dwarfs the actual or potential arsenals of
all other Middle Eastern states combined, and is vastly greater than
any conceivable need for "deterrence."
Israel also possesses a comprehensive arsenal of chemical and
biological weapons. According to the Sunday Times, Israel has produced
both chemical and biological weapons with a sophisticated delivery
system, quoting a senior Israeli intelligence official, "There is
hardly a single known or unknown form of chemical or biological weapon
. . .which is not manufactured at the Nes Tziyona Biological
Institute.")(20) The same report described F-16 fighter jets specially
designed for chemical and biological payloads, with crews trained to
load the weapons on a moments notice. In 1998, the Sunday Times
reported that Israel, using research obtained from South Africa, was
developing an "ethno bomb; "In developing their "ethno-bomb", Israeli
scientists are trying to exploit medical advances by identifying
distinctive a gene carried by some Arabs, then create a genetically
modified bacterium or virus... The scientists are trying to engineer
deadly micro-organisms that attack only those bearing
the distinctive genes." Dedi Zucker, a leftist Member of Knesset, the
Israeli parliament, denounced the research saying, "Morally, based on
our history, and our tradition and our experience, such a weapon is
monstrous and should be denied."(21)
Israeli Nuclear Strategy
In popular imagination, the Israeli bomb is a "weapon of last resort,"
to be used only at the last minute to avoid annihilation, and many
well intentioned but misled supporters of Israel still believe that to
be the case. Whatever truth this formulation may have had in the minds
of the early Israeli nuclear strategists, today the Israeli nuclear
arsenal is inextricably linked to and integrated with overall Israeli
military and political strategy. As Seymour Hersh says in classic
understatement ; "The Samson Option is no longer the only nuclear
option available to Israel."(22) Israel has made countless veiled
nuclear threats against the Arab nations and against the Soviet
Union(and by extension Russia since the end of the Cold War) One
chilling example comes from Ariel Sharon, the current Israeli Prime
Minister "Arabs may have the oil, but we have the matches."(23) (In
1983 Sharon proposed to India that it join with Israel to attack
Pakistani nuclear facilities; in the late 70s he
proposed sending Israeli paratroopers to Tehran to prop up the Shah;
and in 1982 he called for expanding Israel's security influence to
stretch from "Mauritania to Afghanistan.") In another example, Israeli
nuclear expert Oded Brosh said in 1992, "...we need not be ashamed
that the nuclear option is a major instrumentality of our defense as a
deterrent against those who attack us."(24) According to Israel
Shahak, "The wish for peace, so often assumed as the Israeli aim, is
not in my view a principle of Israeli policy, while the wish to extend
Israeli domination and influence is." and "Israel is preparing for a
war, nuclear if need be, for the sake of averting domestic change not
to its liking, if it occurs in some or any Middle Eastern states....
Israel clearly prepares itself to seek overtly a hegemony over the
entire Middle East..., without hesitating to use for the purpose all
means available, including nuclear ones."(25)
Israel uses its nuclear arsenal not just in the context of deterrence"
or of direct war fighting, but in other more subtle but no less
important ways. For example, the possession of weapons of mass
destruction can be a powerful lever to maintain the status quo, or to
influence events to Israel's perceived advantage, such as to protect
the so called moderate Arab states from internal insurrection, or to
intervene in inter-Arab warfare.(26) In Israeli strategic jargon this
concept is called "nonconventional compellence" and is exemplified by
a quote from Shimon Peres; "acquiring a superior weapons system(read
nuclear) would mean the possibility of using it for compellent
purposes- that is forcing the other side to accept Israeli political
demands, which presumably include a demand that the traditional status
quo be accepted and a peace treaty signed."(27) From a slightly
different perspective, Robert Tuckerr asked in a Commentary magazine
article in defense of Israeli nukes, "What
would prevent Israel... from pursuing a hawkish policy employing a
nuclear deterrent to freeze the status quo?"(28) Possessing an
overwhelming nuclear superiority allows Israel to act with impunity
even in the face world wide opposition. A case in point might be the
invasion of Lebanon and destruction of Beirut in 1982, led by Ariel
Sharon, which resulted in 20,000 deaths, most civilian. Despite the
annihilation of a neighboring Arab state, not to mention the utter
destruction of the Syrian Air Force, Israel was able to carry out the
war for months at least partially due to its nuclear threat.
Another major use of the Israeli bomb is to compel the U.S. to act in
Israel's favor, even when it runs counter to its own strategic
interests. As early as 1956 Francis Perrin, head of the French A-bomb
project wrote "We thought the Israeli Bomb was aimed at the Americans,
not to launch it at the Americans, but to say, 'If you don't want to
help us in a critical situation we will require you to help us;
otherwise we will use our nuclear bombs.'"(29) During the 1973 war,
Israel used nuclear blackmail to force Kissinger and Nixon to airlift
massive amounts of military hardware to Israel. The Israeli
Ambassador, Simha Dinitz, is quoted as saying, at the time, "If a
massive airlift to Israel does not start immediately, then I will know
that the U.S. is reneging on its promises and...we will have to draw
very serious conclusions..."(30) Just one example of this strategy was
spelled out in 1987 by Amos Rubin, economic adviser to Prime Minister
Yitzhak Shamir, who said "If left to its own
Israel will have no choice but to fall back on a riskier defense
which will endanger itself and the world at large... To enable Israel
to abstain from dependence on nuclear arms calls for $2 to 3 billion
per year in U.S. aid."(31) Since then Israel's nuclear arsenal has
expanded exponentially, both quantitatively and qualitatively, while
the U.S. money spigots remain wide open.
Regional and International Implications
Largely unknown to the world, the Middle East nearly exploded in all
out war on February 22, 2001. According to the London Sunday Times and
DEBKAfile, Israel went on high missile alert after receiving news from
the U.S. of movement by 6 Iraqi armored divisions stationed along the
Syrian border, and of launch preparations of surface to surface
missiles. DEBKAfile, an Israeli based "counter-terrorism" information
service, claims that the Iraqi missiles were deliberately taken to the
highest alert level in order to test the U.S. and Israeli response.
Despite an immediate attack by 42 U.S. and British war planes, the
Iraqis suffered little apparent damage.(32) The Israelis have warned
Iraq that they are prepared to use neutron bombs in a preemptive
attack against Iraqi missiles.
The Israeli nuclear arsenal has profound implications for the future
of peace in the Middle East, and indeed, for the entire planet. It is
clear from Israel Shahak that Israel has no interest in peace except
that which is dictated on its own terms, and has absolutely no
intention of negotiating in good faith to curtail its nuclear program
or discuss seriously a nuclear-free Middle East,"Israel's insistence
on the independent use of its nuclear weapons can be seen as the
foundation on which Israeli grand strategy rests."(34) According to
Seymour Hersh, "the size and sophistication of Israel's nuclear
arsenal allows men such as Ariel Sharon to dream of redrawing the map
of the Middle East aided by the implicit threat of nuclear force."(35)
General Amnon Shahak-Lipkin, former Israeli Chief of Staff is quoted
"It is never possible to talk to Iraq about no matter what; It is
never possible to talk to Iran about no matter what. Certainly about
nuclearization. With Syria we cannot really
talk either."(36) Ze'ev Shiff, an Israeli military expert writing in
Haaretz said, "Whoever believes that Israel will ever sign the UN
Convention prohibiting the proliferation of nuclear weapons... is day
dreaming,"(37) and Munya Mardoch, Director of the Israeli Institute
for the Development of Weaponry, said in 1994, "The moral and
political meaning of nuclear weapons is that states which renounce
their use are acquiescing to the status of Vassal states. All those
states which feel satisfied with possessing conventional weapons alone
are fated to become vassal states."(38)
As Israeli society becomes more and more polarized, the influence of
the radical right becomes stronger. According to Shahak, "The prospect
of Gush Emunim, or some secular right-wing Israeli fanatics, or some
some of the delerious Israeli Army generals, seizing control of
Israeli nuclear weapons...cannot be precluded. ...while israeli jewish
society undergoes a steady polarization, the Israeli security system
increasingly relies on the recruitment of cohorts from the ranks of
the extreme right."(39) The Arab states, long aware of Israel's
nuclear program, bitterly resent its coercive intent, and perceive its
existence as the paramount threat to peace in the region, requiring
their own weapons of mass destruction. During a future Middle Eastern
war (a distinct possibility given the ascension of Ariel Sharon, an
unindicted war criminal with a bloody record stretching from the
massacre of Palestinian civilians at Quibya in 1953, to the massacre
of Palestinian civilians at Sabra and
Shatila in 1982 and beyond) the possible Israeli use of nuclear
weapons should not be discounted. According to Shahak, "In Israeli
terminology, the launching of missiles on to Israeli territory is
regarded as 'nonconventional' regardless of whether they are equipped
with explosives or poison gas."(40) (Which requires a
"nonconventional" response, a perhaps unique exception being the Iraqi
SCUD attacks during the Gulf War.)
Meanwhile, the existence of an arsenal of mass destruction in such an
unstable region in turn has serious implications for future arms
control and disarmament negotiations, and even the threat of nuclear
war. Seymour Hersh warns, "Should war break out in the Middle East
again,... or should any Arab nation fire missiles against Israel, as
the Iraqis did, a nuclear escalation, once unthinkable except as a
last resort, would now be a strong probability."(41) and Ezar
Weissman, Israel's current President said "The nuclear issue is
gaining momentum(and the) next war will not be conventional."(42)
Russia and before it the Soviet Union has long been a major(if not the
major) target of Israeli nukes. It is widely reported that the
principal purpose of Jonathan Pollard's spying for Israel was to
furnish satellite images of Soviet targets and other super sensitive
data relating to U.S. nuclear targeting strategy. (43) (Since
launching its own satellite in 1988, Israel no longer needs U.S. spy
secrets.) Israeli nukes aimed at the Russian heartland seriously
complicate disarmament and arms control negotiations and, at the very
least, the unilateral possession of nuclear weapons by Israel is
enormously destabilizing, and dramatically lowers the threshold for
their actual use, if not for all out nuclear war. In the words of Mark
Gaffney, "... if the familar pattern(Israel refining its weapons of
mass destruction with U.S. complicity) is not reversed soon- for
whatever reason- the deepening Middle East conflict could trigger a
world conflagration." (44)
Many Middle East Peace activists have been reluctant to discuss, let
alone challenge, the Israeli monopoly on nuclear weapons in the
region, often leading to incomplete and uninformed analyses and flawed
action strategies. Placing the issue of Israeli weapons of mass
destruction directly and honestly on the table and action agenda would
have several salutary effects. First, it would expose a primary
destabilizing dynamic driving the Middle East arms race and compelling
the region's states to each seek their own "deterrent." Second, it
would expose the grotesque double standard which sees the U.S. and
Europe on the one hand condemning Iraq, Iran and Syria for developing
weapons of mass destruction, while simultaneously protecting and
enabling the principal culprit. Third, exposing Israel's nuclear
strategy would focus international public attention, resulting in
increased pressure to dismantle its weapons of mass destruction and
negotiate a just peace in good faith. Finally, a nuclear
free Israel would make a Nuclear Free Middle East and a comprehensive
regional peace agreement much more likely. Unless and until the world
community confronts Israel over its covert nuclear program it is
unlikely that there will be any meaningful resolution of the
Israeli/Arab conflict, a fact that Israel may be counting on as the
Sharon era dawns.
---------------------------------
Footnotes:
1. Seymour Hersh, The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and
American Foreign Policy, New York,1991, Random House, p. 319 (A
brilliant and prophetic work with much original research)2
2. Mark Gaffney, Dimona, The Third Temple:The Story Behind the Vanunu
Revelation, Brattleboro, VT, 1989, Amana Books, p. 165 (Excellent
progressive analysis of the Israeli nuclear program)
3. U.S. Army Lt. Col. Warner D. Farr, The Third Temple Holy of Holies;
Israel's Nuclear Weapons, USAF Counterproliferation Center, Air War
College Sept 1999
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25 New York Times: Israeli Web Site on Nuclear Programs Offers
Little That Is New
[http://www.nytimes.com/] [The New York Times
[http://www.iaec.gov.il/]
By GREG MYRE
Published: July 5, 2004
[J] ERUSALEM, July 4 - Israel's Atomic Energy Commission posted a
Web site on Sunday about the country's nuclear program, which has
always been highly secretive, though the new site is limited to
the most basic information and a few long-distance photos.
The introduction of the site came just two days before a visit by
the director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed
ElBaradei, who last week called for talks on a nuclear-free
Middle East.
As noted on the new Web site (www.iaec.gov.il), Israel's Atomic
Energy Commission was established in 1952 by the prime minister
at the time, David Ben-Gurion. Since then, Israel has tried to
say as little as possible about its nuclear program. It has
always refused to confirm or deny whether it possesses nuclear
weapons, though various estimates have said the country has
enough plutonium to make about 200 such weapons.
In an interview last December with the Israeli newspaper Haaretz,
Dr. ElBaradei said he presumed that Israel had a nuclear arsenal.
The Web site notes that Israel has two nuclear research centers,
including a nuclear reactor in the Negev Desert, outside the
southern town of Dimona. There is no reference to nuclear weapons
on the Web posting, which says the Dimona facility is for
"expanding and deepening basic knowledge of nuclear science and
related fields and providing an infrastructure for the practical
and economic utilization of atomic energy."
Several photos are of nondescript buildings, with bright flowers
in the foreground. One shows what appears to be the silhouette of
the dome-shaped Dimona reactor at sunset, from a great distance.
The Web site, in English and Hebrew, offer just a few pages of
general information that is already common knowledge. In May,
Israel's equally secretive intelligence service, Mossad, posted
its own Web site, which advertises for recruits.
While Dr. ElBaradei's two-day visit will focus attention on
Israel's nuclear program, Israeli analysts say they see no
possibility that it will lead Israel to change its policy of
"strategic ambiguity."
"These policies have been followed by all prime ministers; they
enjoy wide support in the Israeli body politic, and are well
understood by Israel's allies," said Uzi Arad, director of the
Institute for Policy and Strategy at the Interdisciplinary Center
Herzliya, outside Tel Aviv.
Dr. ElBaradei's visit is likely to cover a variety of civilian
nuclear issues, like nuclear medicine and safety regulations, Mr.
Arad said.
Israel is a longstanding member of the International Atomic
Energy Agency, but the country has never signed the nuclear
nonproliferation treaty and has not allowed international
inspectors to visit the Dimona reactor. Israel contends that its
shrouded nuclear program serves as an effective deterrent in a
region where several of its enemies have sought nuclear weapons.
It points to past nuclear projects in Iraq and Libya and contends
that Iran is seeking nuclear weapons.
Dr. ElBaradei said a week ago that he would like all
unconventional weapons removed from the Middle East. "Israel
agrees with that, but they say it has to be after peace
agreements," Dr. ElBaradei said. "My proposal is maybe we need to
start to have a parallel dialogue on security at the same time
when we're working on the peace process."
Israel's critics contend that Israel is able to maintain its
clandestine program with the blessing of the United States.
To date, the most detailed description of Israel's Dimona nuclear
reactor has come from Mordechai Vanunu, a former technician at
the plant. Mr. Vanunu was released from prison in April after
serving almost 18 years for describing his work at the reactor
and for smuggling out dozens of photos. His story was published
in 1986 in The Sunday Times of London.
Meanwhile, there was more violence on Sunday. Palestinian gunmen
shot and killed a Jewish settler when they riddled his car with
bullets in the northern West Bank, Israeli authorities said.
Israeli security forces shot and killed three Palestinians. One
was a gunman trying to reach a Jewish settlement in the northern
West Bank, the military said.
In the Gaza Strip, a young man died after being hit by Israeli
fire while taking part in a stone-throwing clash with troops,
Palestinian security officials said.
Also, the Israeli police shot dead a Palestinian man in Jerusalem
after he drove a van at an officer and tried to run him over, the
police said. The man then tried to flee on foot, and was shot
after he refused warnings to stop, the police said.
Late Sunday night, Israel carried out two airstrikes against
Palestinian metal workshops in Gaza City, according to the
military and to Palestinian security officials. Several
Palestinians were hurt. Israel said the workshops were used to
make weapons, including rockets.
Copyright 2004 [http://www.nytco.com/] |
*****************************************************************
26 Las Vegas SUN: Israel's Presumed Nukes to Become Issue
By GEORGE JAHN ASSOCIATED PRESS
VIENNA, Austria (AP) - Focusing on Israel's open secret, the
head of the U.N. atomic watchdog agency is expected to push the
Jewish state this week for at least tacit acknowledgment that it
has nuclear weapons or the means to make them.
Israeli policy is to neither confirm nor deny it has such arms,
and the International Atomic Energy Agency will not comment on
how hard IAEA head Mohamed ElBaradei will press officials during
his two-day visit starting Tuesday.
But IAEA spokesman Mark Gwozdecky says ElBaradei "certainly will
voice ... the need for dialogue in the region particularly on
security and nuclear issues."
"We assume that Israel has a nuclear weapons capability, if not
the weapons themselves," Gwozdecky said.
ElBaradei has said that Israel should start talking seriously
about a Middle East free of nuclear arms whether or not it owes
up to owning them. Earlier this year, he condemned the imbalance
caused in the Middle East because of "Israel sitting on nuclear
weapons."
But senior diplomats familiar with the Vienna-based IAEA and the
purpose of ElBaradei's visit said they did not expect his trip
would change Israel's "no show, no tell" policy, particularly at
a time of fears that Iran, Israel's foe, is trying to develop
such weapons.
Israeli analysts warned against even low expectations.
"There is no foundation for a change in Israel's policy of
nuclear ambiguity under present circumstances, and the topic is
not on the agenda," wrote Gerald M. Steinberg, a fellow at the
Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.
Evidence that that Israel has nuclear arms is overwhelming, much
of it based on details and pictures leaked in 1986 by Israeli
nuclear technician Mordechai Vanunu. His revelations have been
embellished by other leaks, research - and by statements made by
Israeli leaders that stopped just short of confirming Israel's
status as a weapons state.
"Give me peace, and we will give up the atom," declared
then-Prime Minister Shimon Peres in 1995, when hopes for a
Middle East settlement were still alive. "If we achieve regional
peace, I think we can make the Middle East free of any nuclear
threat."
Israel's doctrine of "nuclear ambiguity" - never formally
confirming or denying that it has such weapons - is meant to
scare rivals from considering annihilating attack while denying
them the rationale for developing their own nuclear deterrent.
Israel has covered its tracks well, apparently developing much
of any weapons program in the laboratory or buying knowledge
instead of relying on testing and other easily detectable
activities.
Because it has resisted international pressure to sign the
Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, Israel does not formally have
to declare itself as a weapons state or agree to any curbs on
its nuclear activities.
That leaves the IAEA and the rest of the world guessing about
the nature and scope of Israel's program.
Experts say Israel today continues to produce atomic weapons and
may already have as many as 300 warheads, as well as the
capability to quickly build more.
Nuclear expert Avner Cohen, a senior fellow at the University of
Maryland, says Israel's policy has served it well by acting as a
deterrent while denying enemies the chance of arguing they have
the right to nuclear weapons as well. But he says "opacity" has
outlived its usefulness.
"Israel is the only nuclear nation that refuses to acknowledge
its nuclear status, leaving the impression there is something
sinful about such a status," said Cohen, whose book "Israel and
the Bomb" is considered an authoritative description of the
Israeli weapons program.
"The policy is at odds with the basics of democracy," he said in
a telephone interview, suggesting it clashed with Israel's
tradition of open debate on most issues. Israel's nuclear
program "should definitely be on the national agenda," he added.
David Albright, a former Iraq nuclear inspector who runs the
Washington-based Institute for Science and International
Security, says the time might be right for ElBaradei's mission
because "Iraq has been dealt with" as a threat to Israel, and
"Iran is being isolated" as the world pushes for exposure of its
nuclear secrets.
And Friedrich Steinhaeusler, a former IAEA nuclear safety
expert, suggests Israel might be at least willing to revive
discussions on a Middle East free of weapons of mass destruction
that have stalled since the mid-1990s.
But even such vague progress would come slowly, and "only if the
carrot is big enough," in the form of long-term security
guarantees and other concessions, said Steinhaeusler, now a
professor of physics at the University of Salzburg specializing
in illicit trafficking and nuclear terrorism.
--
*****************************************************************
27 Haaretz: Atomic Energy Commission goes online
Homepage [http://www.haaretz.com]
News Updates Mon., July 05, 2004 Tamuz 16, 5764 Israel
By Yossi Melman [ymelman@haaretz.co.il]
The Israel Atomic Energy Commission (IAEC) yesterday launched its
official Internet Web site - www.iaec.gov.il. It was scheduled to
open three days ago but was delayed by technical problems.
The commission is one of Israel's most secretive bodies,
belonging to the Prime Minister's Office and holding close ties
with the Defense Ministry. It is responsible for operating the
nuclear reactor in Dimona, which foreign reports says
manufactures plutonium. It also operates the Sorek Nuclear
Research Center, a small research reactor Israel received from
the United States in 1960.
Several weeks ago the Mossad Institute for Intelligence and
Special Tasks launched its own official Web site -
www.mossad.gov.il - and the Shin Bet security service is
scheduled to launch a site of its own soon.
The Web site, in English and Hebrew, is part of the
organization's new "policy of transparency." It carries studies
and articles published by committee members in the fields of
electro-optics, uranium and solar energy. It also lauds the
nuclear research center's involvement in community projects in
towns close to the reactor.
[feedback@haaretz.co.il]
Copyright Haaretz. All rights reserved
*****************************************************************
28 Haaretz: IAEA head's visit: talks with Sharon, but not Dimona
[http://www.haaretz.com]
News Updates Mon., July 05, 2004 Tamuz 16, 5764 Israel
By [ymelman@haaretz.co.il]
When Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei, director-general of the International
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), comes to Israel tomorrow for an
official visit of less than 48 hours, the Dimona nuclear facility
will not be on his itinerary. He would certainly want to see the
plant where, according to foreign reports, Israel is developing
fissile materials for producing nuclear weapons, but it is clear
to him that his wish will remain unfulfilled. The Egyptian
diplomat, who has worked for various UN agencies for 30 years,
will also not be visiting the research-oriented nuclear reactor
in Nahal Soreq. Israel would actually be willing to allow this
visit, but ElBaradei will make do meanwhile with his visit to the
site in 1997.
ElBaradei's schedule does include meetings with Prime Minister
Ariel Sharon, Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom and the director
general of the Israel Atomic Energy Commission, Gideon Frank. He
will also meet with Health Minister Dan Naveh, to discuss
Israel's research applications vis-a-vis nuclear medicine.
ElBaradei will also be taken on a flight over Israel to see the
country's "narrow waist" - the pre-1967 border - between Tul Karm
and Netanya.
The architects of Israel's security policies, almost regardless
of party affiliation, assert that first, Israel must have peace
agreements and demilitarization, the Arab countries must be
stripped of their chemical and biological weapons and Iran must
be prevented from obtaining nuclear weapons. Only then will
Israel discuss its nuclear capabilities.
The Arab countries and Iran, on the other hand, demand discussion
of Israel's nuclear disarmament before any other steps are taken.
The IAEA finds itself in the middle, and under ElBaradei,
supports the establishment of a Nuclear Free Zone (NFZ).
Israel has already given its agreement in principle to an NFZ in
the Middle East, but demands that talks take place within the
framework of a "non-binding" seminar, based on the model of the
Treaty of Tlatelolco, Mexico, where in 1966 the first agreement
of its kind was signed, creating a NFZ in Latin America. Since
then, accords have been signed in Asia, the South Pacific, and
Africa.
However, the Arab countries and the IAEA want the basis for
discussion to be the Palindaba Treaty of South Africa, which
resulted in an African NFZ. South Africa was also a party to this
treaty and after it agreed in 1989 to nuclear disarmament, it
allowed the IAEA to visit its facilities and joined a nuclear
nonproliferation treaty. Israel refuses to adapt this model out
of a concern that it will be obligated to the South African
precedent.
ElBaradei knows he won't budge Israel from its insistance on the
Tlatelolco model. He also knows that he will certainly not bring
about any change in Israel's policy of ambiguity - the logic of
which, as ElBaradei told Haaretz six months ago, he understands
completely.
A sense of Israel's attitude to this visit can be ascertained
from the IAEC Web site (www.iaec.gov.il), which states that
Israel welcomes ElBaradei's visit and will listen closely to him,
"within existing and well-known policy parameters."
Nevertheless, ElBaradei sees his well-publicized visit and the
very fact of his talks with senior Israeli nuclear officials as
an achievement of no small importance.
[feedback@haaretz.co.il]
Copyright Haaretz. All rights reserved
*****************************************************************
29 Haaretz: Come clean on nukes
[http://www.haaretz.com]
News Updates Mon., July 05, 2004 Tamuz 16, 5764 Israel
By [rpedatzur@haaretz.co.il]
Dr. Mohammed ElBaradei will visit Israel tomorrow, six years
after his previous visit when he met with then-prime minister
Benjamin Netanyahu "to discuss the nuclear issue."
ElBaradei is the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA), and his visit here is viewed largely as ceremonial, with
Israel politely fulfilling its role as a member of the IAEA since
its inception in 1957. And just as Netanyahu had no intention of
infusing real content into his "talks" with ElBaradei in 1998, so
Ariel Sharon and the heads of the nuclear establishment now do
not intend to seriously deliberate with him Israel's nuclear
policy. On the face of it, ElBaradei's mandate is clear: he will
try to set up a nuclear-free region in the Middle East. He is,
however, well aware that he has no chance of promoting this
concept. Israel's official position is that the area can be
denuclearized only after all the countries of the region sign
peace treaties with it. The IAEA chief is also well aware that so
long as Iran is secretly working toward the development of
nuclear weapons, Israel does not have any reason to examine the
idea of denuclearization seriously.
As a matter of course, ElBaradei will, during his talks, raise
the question of Israel's joining the Nuclear Non-Proliferation
Treaty (NPT) even though he is aware that there is also no chance
to get Israel to change its traditional stance on this.
Since 1987, the UN General Assembly has 13 times adopted
resolutions calling on Israel to sign the treaty; but ElBaradei
is also aware of the understanding reached in September 1969
between then Israeli premier Golda Meir and then U.S. president
Richard Nixon, which said that Washington will refrain from
pressing Israel to sign the NPT. This agreement has since been
put to the test several times, and ElBaradei is aware that here
too there is no chance for change.
ElBaradei takes a sober approach to Israel's nuclear potential.
With this in mind, he clarifies that while no one doubts that
Israel has nuclear weapons, "the decision whether to make a
public declaration or to maintain an air of ambiguity is that of
Israel," as he phrased it last week in Moscow.
During an April conference in Cairo, ElBaradei made a number of
interesting remarks which indicate a need to come to terms with
the fact that Israel is a nuclear power de facto. ElBaradei, who
was born in Egypt, expressed strong criticism of the "emotional
and unrealistic approach" of Arab countries to the issue of
disarming Israel's nuclear arsenal. He went so far as to make it
clear that he accepted the Israeli claim, as he put it, that it
"cannot forgo weapons of mass destruction in its possession so
long as there is no comprehensive peace in the region."
Israel's nuclear policy-makers will grant ElBaradei a great deal
of respect; they will hold talks with him that are lacking in all
practical significance, and will even organize a tour for him of
the nuclear facility at Nahal Soreq. Those who make the decisions
about Israel's nuclear policy are of the opinion that there is no
need to alter the traditional, and successful, policy of
vagueness.
Undoubtedly, this Israeli nuclear policy is one of the most
impressive successes of national security, but it is possible
that the time has come to refresh it and to grant international
affirmation to Israel's nuclear status. The visit of the IAEA
chief could be exploited as a first step in this direction.
Libyan leader Muammer Gaddafi's announcement that he plans to
dismantle his country's WMD programs, and Iran's agreement to
abandon the uranium enrichment program, will naturally lead to
focusing international attention on Israel's nuclear potential,
and ElBaradei's visit here is evidence of this trend. Israel
should take advantage of the far-reaching changes that have taken
place in the region recently, and bring about a revision that
will ultimately include abandoning its policy of ambiguity. The
process of change should be a gradual one, and the sine qua non
for its success has to be in full coordination with the U.S.
Nevertheless, in view of ElBaradei's pronouncements, it is
possible that new ideas should be be examined with him on a
preliminary basis. Clearly one cannot expect him to support
changing Israel's status into that of a declared nuclear power.
If, however, at the end of his visit he will again repeat some of
the pronouncements he made in Cairo, this will be an important
step in the right direction.
[feedback@haaretz.co.il]
Copyright Haaretz. All rights reserved
*****************************************************************
30 Times of India: Watch out for the dirty bomb -
SATURDAY, JULY 3, 2004
THE TIMES OF INDIA
[http://www.indiatimes.com]
SWAMINOMICS/SWAMINATHAN S ANKLESARIA AIYAR
Will finance minister Chidambaram produce another dream budget?
Will he transform bears into bulls on the stock market? Such
questions leave me smiling at two major illusions pervading our
society.
The smaller illusion is that the stock market is the best
indicator of the country's health. The bigger illusion is that
our stock market depends on what Indian politicians do.
In fact, in this globalised world, Indian stock markets dance
mainly to the tune of international events. What Chidambaram or
Sitaram Yechury say matters only up to a point: global events are
the clinching factor.
Remember 1997? The stock market skyrocketed after Chidambaram's
dream budget. But the dream proved irrelevant when the Asian
financial crisis struck six months later, and Indian markets
crashed along with other global ones.
When Chidambaram was lauded for his budget, few in India saw any
warning signal in the imminent collapse of Thai banks. Yet that
proved to be an infinitely stronger trigger of economic events
than Chidambaram's dreams.
In subsequent years, the dependence of our stock market on global
events has, if anything, increased. In 1998-2000, Indian markets
suffered the same dotcom boom-and-bust as in the US.
They collapsed in tandem with the US market after 9/11, and
later, both recovered in tandem. In 2003, low US interest rates
induced global money to pour out of the US into all emerging
markets, including India.
The BJP suffered from the illusion that foreigners were sold on
India. In fact, India was just getting a slice of a global money
shift: all Asian markets skyrocketed, including that of Pakistan
(where there was no Infosys or Vajpayee).
In early 2004, it became clear that US interest rates were going
to rise again, and so money began pouring out of emerging markets
back into the US. All Asian markets fell, and India was no
exception.
Illiterate political commentators thought the Indian market had
fallen entirely because the BJP lost the election. Rubbish. The
market would have fallen possibly to a lesser extent even if
the BJP had won.
What happens in our stock market is essentially a global story,
modified only to a modest extent by local events.
So, what are the critical international issues today? First, the
speed at which US interest rates rise. Second, whether the
Chinese economy suddenly slows down, slowing the world with it.
Third, whether terrorist attacks disrupt oil production in Saudi
Arabia, raising oil prices to $100 a barrel and causing global
recession. Fourth, fresh terrorist attacks in the US, a la 9/11.
This last factor has the biggest potential for disaster for all
markets, including India's. The CIA expects a major terrorist
attack before the US election in November.
An attack on Spanish trains just before Spain's election caused
the humiliating defeat of Spanish Premier Aznar. Maybe something
similar will happen in the US.
Experts are unanimous that Al-Qaeda will not replicate the plane
bombs of 9/11, and will instead try a new approach. The one most
mentioned, because it is easiest to pull off, is the dirty bomb.
This is an ordinary bomb into which is mixed low-level
radioactive waste, the sort easily available from any nuclear
reactor waste (including used clothes and gloves of workers in
such facilities). Making these bombs is easy, so they could be
exploded simultaneously in dozens of cities on the same day.
The aim of such a bomb is not to destroy buildings or people but
to deposit radioactive debris over a large area in city centres.
This radioactivity will be too mild to kill humans.
But it will create a long-term health risk which ensures that
nobody wants to live or work in such an area.
This will have a huge financial impact. A dirty bomb will kill
property value in city centres, wiping out billions of dollars.
This, in turn, can kill banks that have lent against mortgages of
supposedly valuable property that has suddenly become worthless.
The US economy has long been sustained by consumer spending based
on massive borrowing against rising property values. If property
values crash, so will consumer spending, and so will the whole
basis of the US boom.
Remember that a crash in the financial sector and consumer
spending caused the Great Depression of the 1930s.
Let me not exaggerate. We have learned from the Great Depression,
and can better control the after-effects of a financial crash.
Maybe cities can be scrubbed clean after a dirty bomb, though I
doubt that will restore property values.
Overall, the risks are high enough to make my spine tingle. No
matter what Chidambaram's budget contains, we can be spiked by
global events beyond our control. Globalisation has risks as well
as advantages.
Copyright 2004 Times Internet Limited. All rights reserved. |
*****************************************************************
31 Indian Express: India tests nuclear-capable missile
[http://www.expressindia.com]
[http://www.indianexpress.com/]
Sunday, July 04, 2004
Press Trust of India
Posted online: Sunday, July 04, 2004 at 1301 hours IST
['Missile'] Balasore, July 4: A short-range variant of Agni
ballistic missile with nuclear capability to strike targets up to
a distance of 700 km was test-fired on Sunday, defence sources
said.
The indigenously developed surface-to-surface missile was fired
from a mobile launcher at 1010 hours from the launch complex four
of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Wheeler's Island in the Bay
of Bengal off the Orissa coast.
This is the third time the short range variant of the missile
named Agni-I was test fired. The first time was on January 25,
2002 and the next on January 9, 2003 from the same launching
site, the sources said.
Ground radars, telemetry stations and naval ships positioned
close to the intended impact point monitored the course of the
missile, the sources said.
Agni-I has major differences from its other longer range cousins
with its height being 12 metres and being powered by a single
stage solid fuel rocket which provided it a speed of 2.5 km per
second.
There were also considerable improvements in its re-entry
technology and manoeuvrability, the sources said.
More Nation HeadlinesLet PM put his money where his mouth isPost
reduced to daily wagers: Atal Naseem Iqtidar...and 40 men
Collapse imminent in northern power gridGujarat riots had lord
Rams blessings: VHPRam temple: VHP ready for any sacrifice
2004: Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
*****************************************************************
32 UK Independent: The report is expected to be unsparing in its criticism of
Downing Street's dodgy dossiers, say Francis Elliott and Raymond
Whitaker
04 July 2004
Two weeks ago, at lunch with the Queen, Lord Butler let slip
that he was spending almost every waking minute writing his
report into the intelligence that led Britain into war with
Iraq. Even within Windsor Castle's protective walls, the former
cabinet secretary gave little further away about what it will
say, however.
In the five months since Tony Blair was forced to concede a
formal inquiry into intelligence failures, there have been only
the briefest of glimpses of Lord Butler's team at work. But a
source close to the inquiry provides the first real indication
of what is lurking in the wings for Mr Blair. It will, he says,
be unsparing in its criticism of the "interface" between Downing
Street and the intelligence services.
Having been cleared by Lord Hutton of the claim that Downing
Street deliberately inserted false intelligence into a dossier
on Iraqi weapons, Mr Blair must have thought he had weathered
the storm. When David Kay quit the Iraq Survey Group, saying no
stockpiles of weapons had been found, the clamour in the US for
a proper inquiry became impossible for President Bush to resist,
however. And once Mr Bush had sold the pass, the Prime Minister
had to follow suit.
Still, he tried to limit its potential damage. "It should not be
a rerun of the Hutton inquiry," Mr Blair said at the time. "We
have dealt with the so-called sexing up of the dossier through
three inquiries now. We do not need another inquiry into that.
We do not need, in my view, an inquiry into the political
decision to go to war. That's the matter for Parliament,
government and the country in the end, but it's important we
learn the intelligence lessons."
Lord Butler, however, has interpreted his terms of reference
more widely than Mr Blair wanted, in particular with regard to
examining "any discrepancies between the intelligence gathered,
evaluated and used by the Government before the conflict".
The review can hardly ignore the multitude of "discrepancies"
between how the claim that Iraq could deploy WMD within 45
minutes, for example, was "gathered, evaluated and used" in the
September dossier authored by John Scarlett, head of the Joint
Intelligence Committee (JIC).
One witness has told The Independent on Sunday that he expects
the report to be particularly critical of how it was that Mr
Blair came to think that the 45-minute claim related to Iraqi
missiles instead of battlefield munitions. As this newspaper
reported, a JIC assessment passed to Mr Blair shortly before the
war was explicit in stating that the claim related to munitions,
not missiles.
The review team is also known to be focusing on the dossier's
claim that Saddam Hussein had tried to secure uranium from
Africa. The intelligence services still insist they have
credible evidence to back up the claim, referring to a visit to
Niger by an Iraqi diplomat in 1999. But the diplomat told the
IoS he had not been sent on a uranium-buying mission.
Lord Butler and his team have met senior intelligence officials
in Washington, and are also said to have quizzed French and
German officials about what intelligence they received and why
they were so sceptical of British claims over Iraqi WMD.
What will be Downing Street's reaction to the report? Unlike
with the Hutton inquiry, Mr Blair is likely to know its contents
at least a week in advance, since it is a report to him, not an
independent judicial inquiry. He will have plenty of time to
prepare what is being dubbed a "non-apology apology".
"The vibes coming out of No 10 are that in some ways they
welcome the opportunity to admit that they got some things wrong
and that they have learned the lessons," said one senior figure.
A host of measures prepared in case Lord Hutton issued a
critical report have been readied for the Butler report. Options
include the JIC being chaired by a Foreign Office civil servant,
as it was in the past, rather than by a member of the
intelligence agencies.
More rigorous cabinet oversight of intelligence assessments is
likely, as is a return to formal note-taking. Mr Blair's
informal, unminuted "sofa diplomacy", revealed during the Hutton
inquiry, is reported to have appalled Whitehall traditionalists.
Sir Andrew Turnbull, the Cabinet Secretary, has already told
civil servants to keep more minutes, according to Professor
Peter Hennessy, the leading expert on Whitehall.
Tony Blair
Said it should not be a 'rerun of the Hutton inquiry' but will
be dismayed to learn that Butler is focusing on the Iraq 2002
dossier. Faces renewed questions about why he believed the
45-minute claim related to missiles, not battlefield munitions
Alastair Campbell
The other side of the 'interface' between Downing Street and the
intelligence services. His triumphalism following the Hutton
report is unlikely to be repeated next week
John Scarlett
The man who authored the September dossier and now incoming head
of MI6. Lord Hutton said that he may have 'subconsciously' been
influenced by No 10. Lord Butler may be more blunt
Lord Butler
Is said to be determined to avoid the charge that he has
conducted a 'whitewash'. The head of a five-strong team is
believed to have finished his report. It is expected to
criticise the use of intelligence in the September 2002 dossier
UK Independent Ltd.
*****************************************************************
33 UK Independent: Hoon's row with Treasury over MoD cuts deepens
By Francis Elliott and Robert Fox
04 July 2004
Gordon Brown is refusing to tell Geoff Hoon how much cash he has
earmarked for the military, even though the official
announcement is only a week away.
The Chancellor and Secretary of State for Defence have been
locked in an increasingly bitter row over spending for more than
two months.
The Treasury is reported to want cuts of about 1.2bn to the
Ministry of Defence budget. This would lead to the loss of
around 10,000 jobs, the closure of dozens of bases and the
disposal of up to 10 ships and submarines.
Mr Hoon is exasperated that No 11 is refusing to tell him how
much cash he has been given in the three-year spending round. He
lobbied Tony Blair last week to intervene in the row with Mr
Brown. Officials believe the Chancellor's ominous silence means
that he has won No 10 approval to impose even deeper than
expected cuts in MoD spending.
They furiously deny that there is any threat to the military's
most cherished procurement of two aircraft carriers. The deal is
vital to thousands of shipyard jobs in Mr Brown's Fife
constituency.
Less certain is the fate of six surface warships, two
nuclear-powered submarines and HMS Ark Royal, one of Britain's
three existing aircraft carriers.
Also at risk are a number of historic regiments. The Chief of
the General Staff, General Sir Mike Jackson, has held a meeting
with the Scottish regimental colonels, though the MoD has
described this as "routine". It has been suggested that the
Black Watch, a favourite of the late Queen Mother, is
vulnerable.
Mr Hoon is expected to formally announce the cuts to Parliament
a week on Friday. Conservative MPs suspect that the date, the
day after two by-elections, has been chosen to ensure minimum
publicity.
Mr Hoon does, however, have one piece of good news to announce:
Britain is to buy dozens of unmanned spy-planes in an 800m
deal.
The winning bid for the Watchkeeper programme has gone to
Thales, a French defence company, in conjunction with Israeli
manufacturers.
Israel is the world leader in unmanned aerial vehicles, or
drones, and is reported to have used them in a number of
assassinations of Hamas leaders.
UK Independent Ltd.
*****************************************************************
34 UK Independent: Scarlett may be singled out
By Raymond Whitaker and Francis Elliott
04 July 2004
The intelligence services are to censor Lord Butler's report
into their own failures in the run-up to the Iraq war.
The revelation, which comes from official sources, will fuel
controversy over next week's report, which The Independent on
Sunday has learnt will criticise Downing Street for its role in
the 2002 dossier on Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass
destruction. Alastair Campbell, No 10's former director of
communications, and John Scarlett, the dossier's author, now
about to take over as head of MI6, could be singled out.
A senior government source admitted last night that the
intelligence services would be allowed to block out passages of
the report before it is made public on 14 July. It is not known
whether Mr Scarlett will be consulted.
The censoring, officially known as redaction, will be overseen
by a secret Cabinet Office committee. "It will be done in
conjunction with the intelligence services where there is a
danger to a particular source or to national security more
generally," said the source. "We will keep it to a minimum." The
process was used to censor many documents submitted to Lord
Hutton's inquiry into the death of the weapons scientist David
Kelly, although his report, unlike Lord Butler's, was not
subject to government scrutiny.
Sources close to the inquiry chaired by the former cabinet
secretary say the "interface" between Downing Street and the
intelligence services, which took responsibility for the WMD
dossier, will come in for criticism. Although Mr Scarlett, then
head of the Joint Intelligence Committee, claimed "ownership" of
the dossier, the Hutton inquiry received much evidence about the
involvement of No 10 officials, in particular Mr Campbell, as
the document went through successive drafts.
Lord Hutton largely discounted the suggestion that this might
have "subconsciously" influenced Mr Scarlett, but the Butler
committee is understood to have taken a more critical view. "It
was less than convinced [on this point]," said one source.
The committee, sources say, will focus in particular on two
claims in the dossier: that Iraq could have WMD ready for use in
45 minutes, and that it had sought uranium from Africa.
To the relief of Downing Street, Lord Hutton ruled in January
that it was not his job to decide on the reliability of the
intelligence in the dossier. But the following month a
controversy erupted in Washington over WMD claims. President
Bush announced an inquiry into intelligence failures in the
run-up to the Iraq war, and the Prime Minister was forced to
follow suit.
One witness at the Butler inquiry told the IoS that he had been
asked detailed questions about the dossier's preparation. The
committee also went into detail about his evidence to Hutton,
indicating that the Prime Minister's desire that it avoid
territory covered in the earlier inquiry had been ignored.
"Butler is anxious not to be classed with the Hutton inquiry,
which was considered a whitewash," said a source in the
intelligence community.
Since the Butler inquiry was announced, the source added, the
head of the CIA, George Tenet, had left his post, as well as the
agency's senior official in charge of handling intelligence
agents - the function closest to that performed by the head of
MI6. Mr Scarlett, by contrast, had been promoted. "This has
caused some cynicism," said the source.
It was stressed when the inquiry was set up that it would
examine the intelligence process, not personalities, but those
facing criticism will be invited to comment.
UK Independent Ltd.
*****************************************************************
35 Mehr News Agency: Irrelevant To Recent BG Resolution
Tehran:06:38,2004/07/05
TEHRAN, July 4
(MNA) -- The new rounds of IAEA inspectors' visit to Iran bear no
relevance to the recent resolution passed by the Board of
Governors, said an informed source here on Sunday.
Talking to the Mehr News Agency, the informed official of Iran's
nuclear agency said that in their one-week visit to Iran, the
IAEA watchdog would act in line with the scheduled timetable
proceeding to the recent resolution passed by the Board of
Governors.
The Iranian officials have frequently stressed that Iran would
not accept the recent resolution approved by the Board of
Governors limiting Iran's nuclear activities.
The informed authority highlighted that Iran's new measure to
resume construction and assembly of centrifuges is beyond IAEA's
jurisdiction and that Iran is under no duress to authorize the
IAEA watchdog to inspect these centers.
Since the European partner violated the joint agreement between
Tehran and London, Paris, Berlin, Tehran sees no point in
remaining committed to the contract and continuing the suspension
of construction of the centrifuges.
According to the informed Iranian official, none of the
high-ranking IAEA officials would accompany the coming IAEA
watchdog body due in Tehran to discuss the Iranian authorities
and the body consists of purely common inspectors.
The IAEA watchdog body inspected Lavizan, northern Tehran last
week; a place the U.S. alleged to be a clandestine center for
nuclear activities.
MT/IS END MNA
*****************************************************************
36 AFP: Israel offers peak behind nuclear veil of secrecy
[http://www.spacewar.com/]
JERUSALEM (AFP) Jul 04, 2004
Israel was offering a peak behind the veil of secrecy
surrounding its nuclear programme Sunday with the launch of a
website by its atomic energy commission.
The website (www.iaec.gov.il) features a number of long-distance
photos of the country's two nuclear plants, Dimona and Nahal
Sorek, with brightly coloured flowers in the foreground.
The commission is one of the most top secret of all state
institutions and comes under the control of the prime minister's
office and the defense ministry.
The site contains details of employment opportunities and ongoing
research work but has no photos or details of any work in the
military field.
Israel has never publicly acknowledged that it maintains a
nuclear arsenal but foreign experts say it has used its reactor
at Dimona, in the southern Negev desert, to produce between 100
and 200 nuclear warheads.
Israel's spy agency Mossad, another agency not known for its love
of the spotlight, launched a web site back in May to recruit
engineers and technicians.
WAR.WIRE
*****************************************************************
37 [du-list] more on CERRIE
Date: Sun, 04 Jul 2004 18:37:18 -0700
Hi all
More on CERRIE.
Anyone know the story of the erudite Professor?
Cheers,
Robert
http://www.eadt.co.uk/content/news/
nuclear plant
June 27, 2004 18:29
By Juliette Maxam
A ROW has broken out after a study into levels of cancer in communities
living near a nuclear power station was cancelled.
The Committee Examining Radiation Risks from Internal Emitters (CERRIE) was
due to investigate levels of cancer in communities on the Blackwater
Estuary, near Bradwell power station.
Previous studies have suggested a doubling in the levels of death from
breast cancer among women living in riverside communities along the
Blackwater, compared to women living in similar towns and villages along the
nearby River Crouch and inland from the Blackwater.
The CERRIE study was due to look not just at mortality rates, but also at
cases of diagnosed cancer in the same communities.
CERRIE, which was set up by former environment minister Michael Meacher to
review models used to estimate health risks from radioactive materials, went
to the Office for National Statistics for data in May 2003.
But committee members had still not received the data by April this year and
last week CERRIE chairman, Professor Dudley Goodhead, announced the Bradwell
study had been cancelled.
Now two members of the committee - Dr Chris Busby, of Green Audit, and
Richard Bramhall, from the Low Level Radiation Campaign - have claimed the
study would have been embarrassing for the Government and the nuclear fuel
industry.
Mr Bramhall alleged the study had been cancelled by Prof Goodhead without
consultation with CERRIE members.
"I believe it was realised that for a Government committee to conduct such a
study where we already know the rate of breast cancer mortality is higher on
the contaminated Blackwater Estuary is great potential to be an
embarrassment. If you don't want to see the awkward truth, you just don't
look," he said.
But Robin Thornton, of British Nuclear Group, said he believed the report
into Bradwell had been cancelled because CERRIE had ran out of time.
Bradwell nuclear power station was closed in March 2002 and is currently
undergoing decommissioning.
Prof Goodhead was unavailable for comment at the weekend.
juliette.maxam@eadt.co.uk
Email This Story To A Friend
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38 Guardian Unlimited: Japan Scandal Emerges Around Nuke Program
From the Associated Press
[UP]
Saturday July 3, 2004 6:46 PM
AP Photo XJAK106
By KENJI HALL
Associated Press Writer
TOKYO (AP) - It was supposed to help revive Japan's troubled
nuclear program - and curb the country's heavy reliance on energy
imports. But as Tokyo considers long-term plans to switch to an
experimental, recycled nuclear fuel, it is also facing new
allegations that officials misled the public in the past about
less pricey alternatives.
The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry acknowledged Saturday
that a study it conducted in 1994 showed that reprocessing
radioactive waste into a plutonium-uranium fuel would cost twice
as much as burying it at a disposal site.
The study wasn't publicly released until after reports about it
surfaced Saturday in the national Asahi and Mainichi newspapers.
``It was originally for internal decision-making purposes only,''
ministry official Tadao Yanase told The Associated Press.
Yanase said the ministry wasn't even considering directly
disposing of nuclear waste from commercial reactors a decade ago.
The allegations that policy-makers concealed data about
reprocessing fuel costs marked the latest setback for the
nation's nuclear program, which has been plagued by recent safety
violations, reactor malfunctions and accidents.
They come as the Atomic Energy Commission, which draws up energy
policy, prepares to meet in coming weeks to discuss scaling back
plans to use reprocessed fuel - known as mixed oxide, or MOX -
for reactors in the face of opposition from local residents and
criticism from nuclear experts.
Japan's 52 nuclear plants account for nearly 35 percent of its
energy supply.
Officials say future expansion of the nuclear grid is crucial: It
would lower resource-poor Japan's dependence on oil, natural gas
and coal imports, they say.
A policy blueprint calls for building 11 new plants and raising
electricity output to nearly 40 percent of the national supply by
2010. As many as 18 electricity-generating reactors would use MOX
as a transition to more advanced fast-breeder reactors, which run
on plutonium and can also generate extra plutonium fuel.
``MOX is more efficient than current technology. We could recycle
spent uranium fuel, not just burn through it once like we do
now,'' said Osamu Goto, a Cabinet Office energy policy official.
Experts say the MOX program would solve another problem: a
shortage of nuclear waste-storage space.
With no permanent nuclear waste disposal site in Japan, domestic
nuclear plants are forced to hold onto spent fuel rods, said
Tatsujiro Suzuki, a nuclear researcher at the Central Research
Institute of the Electric Power Industry.
Media reports say those waste-storage pools will be full within a
decade.
``If nuclear plants can't send their waste to a repository, they
will have to shut down once their pools are filled,'' Suzuki
said.
But a string of safety problems since the country's worst nuclear
accident in 1999 has left the program in a shambles and
undermined public faith in nuclear energy.
Japan's only plant designed to run on MOX, the Fugen reactor, has
been permanently shuttered since March 2003 due to high operating
costs.
The country's first experimental fast-breeder reactor, Monju,
also has been off-line since 1995, when more than a ton of
volatile liquid sodium leaked from its cooling system. A bungled
cover-up of the damage led Japanese courts to order the facility
permanently closed.
Currently, the fate of Tokyo's MOX program rests on a major fuel
reprocessing plant being built in northern Aomori prefecture
(state).
Already years behind schedule following a radioactive water leak
in late 2002 and protests from local officials, the Rokkasho
village plant won't be operational until 2006, Japan Nuclear Fuel
Ltd. officials say.
It's not clear if Saturday's revelation about the 1994 study will
influence the Atomic Energy Commission's discussions about
whether to revise policy. Commission officials weren't available
for comment.
``The assumptions of the study are far different from the actual
situation now,'' Yanase, the ministry official, said.
But Steve Fetter, a University of Maryland professor who advised
the commission against reprocessing in a presentation in Tokyo
last month, said it would be expensive to operate the Rokkasho
plant, and that Japanese consumers would see higher electricity
bills.
He also warned about the security concerns of stockpiling so much
plutonium, which could be diverted and used to make nuclear
weapons.
``Instead of reprocessing fuel, it would be wise for Japan to
establish an interim storage space for spent fuel,'' like the
U.S.-proposed site at Yucca Mountain in Nevada, Fetter said.
---
On the Net:
Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan:
http://www.japannuclear.com/
Guardian Unlimited Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004
*****************************************************************
39 Brattleboro Reformer Activist: Someone's been stealing my signs
[http://www.reformer.com/]
July 04, 2004 Brattleboro, VT
By CAROLYN LORI
Reformer Staff
BRATTLEBORO -- Signs questioning the whereabouts of the lost fuel
from Vermont Yankee nuclear power station were reported stolen on
Friday from several houses on Oak and High streets in
Brattleboro.
According to Gary Sachs, an anti-nuclear activist who has been
making and distributing the signs since mid-May, this is the
third time the signs were taken.
The first incident, said Sachs, occurred on June 18, which was
also the day that a transformer at Vermont Yankee caught fire.
Eight signs were reportedly discovered missing the next morning
by Sachs, two of which were from his front lawn.
He immediately replaced all of them.
On June 29, six signs from the same area were noticed missing,
again two from in front of Sachs' house and again he replaced
them all.
After the latest incident on Friday, Sachs filed a report with
the police.
Also missing was a "lost fuel" sign from Diana Sidebotham's
house in Putney.
Sidebotham is the president of the New England Coalition and
reported that she noticed that the sign at the bottom of her
driveway was missing about three weeks ago.
The signs -- which read "Where is the 'lost' radioactive fuel?"
-- refer to two segments of fuel rods discovered missing from the
plant in mid-April.
The discovery brought national attention to Vermont Yankee, as
officials at the highest echelons of government demanded answers
about the incident.
Sachs says he has sold or given away about 400 signs and has
another 500 ready for distribution.
This is not the first time that anti-nuclear signs have been
stolen in the area.
In 2003, when Nuclear-Free Vermont succeeded in getting a
question on 16 town meeting ballots about the license extension
at Vermont Yankee, a string of signs were repeatedly stolen, said
group member Ed Anthes.
Sachs said that he has also received crank phone calls, in which
callers leave messages claiming to know where the missing fuel is
and then hang up.
According to the Brattleboro activist he makes the signs because
the issue needs to be "kept alive."
Copyright 1999-2004 New England Newspapers, Inc., a
*****************************************************************
40 SLO Trib: Nuclear regulatory board plans July 27 meeting on Diablo Canyon
San Luis Obispo Tribune
| 07/02/2004 |
David Sneed The Tribune
Federal nuclear officials have scheduled a meeting in San Luis
Obispo on July 27 to discuss troubleshooting and employee
performance problems at Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant.
The meeting was to be held Friday at the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission's regional offices in Texas but was postponed in order
to move it to San Luis Obispo and give locals a chance to attend.
The July 27 meeting will run from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Pacific Gas
and Electric Community Center, 6588 Ontario Road in San Luis
Obispo. The public is welcome to observe and will be given an
opportunity to make comments and ask questions before the meeting
adjourns.
Most of the meeting will be taken up by presentations and
discussions between NRC officials and power plant managers. The
utility will outline how it is dealing with the problem.
The meeting was scheduled after a June 10 performance report by
the agency identified a need by PG&E to improve its track record
of identifying and resolving problems and other employee
performance issues at the plant.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Anyone planning on attending the meeting is asked to contact the
NRC's Vincent Gaddy at (800) 952-9677, or e-mail him at
[vgg@ncr.gov] .
About SanLuisObispo.com |
*****************************************************************
41 toledoblade.com: Besse 'burp' causes no harm during fixes to filters
Sunday, July 04, 2004
Article published Saturday, July 3, 2004
By TOM HENRY [thenry@theblade.com] blade staff writer
Davis-Besse experienced a "burp" of radioactive gases inside the
nuclear plant Thursday morning as employees were replacing one of
two reactor-coolant filters, a Nuclear Regulatory Commission
spokesman said yesterday.
NRC spokesman Viktoria Mitlyng said no gases were released to the
atmosphere and no workers were exposed to harmful doses of
radiation or were otherwise hurt.
But Ms. Mitlyng added that a pressure build-up causing the burp
should not have occurred. She said the NRC expects FirstEnergy
Corp. to provide a detailed strategy for avoiding similar
incidents when the
agency and the utility's nuclear subsidiary have their next
public meeting at Oak Harbor High School at 6:30 p.m. on July 13.
Davis-Besse has had a fairly smooth run since working through its
initial kinks after gaining the NRC's restart authorization March
8, operating consistently at full power for weeks. Officials have
said that restart ended one of the nuclear industry's worst
safety failures since one of the reactors at the Three Mile
Island nuclear complex in Pennsylvania experienced a partial
meltdown in 1979.
Davis-Besse had been down more than two years because of numerous
design, management, and performance issues after the 2002
discovery of a near-hole in its reactor head, a condition which
the NRC blamed on years of neglect and apathy.
Ms. Mitlyng said the NRC isn't sure what to make of the gaseous
burp. Although saying it was a relatively minor incident, she
said the agency wants to find out if it was a fluke or the latest
symptom of a bigger problem that had been cited during the
shutdown: worker training deficiencies.
"We know what happened and we're looking at why," she said.
The incident occurred at 11 a.m. Thursday as workers were
changing one of two filters used to sift out airborne particles
in the plant that settle in the reactor's coolant water. The
filters act similar to swimming pool filters. They are replaced
monthly at nuclear plants throughout the country, often while
facilities are operating at full power, Richard Wilkins,
FirstEnergy spokesman, said.
Nearby radiation-detection monitors rarely go off, Ms Mitlyng
said.
But they did on Thursday at Davis-Besse.
The utility believes the monitors went off because they had been
calibrated to a lower setting during the shutdown. Although
filters had been changed a few times since restart, water may
have been drawn lower in past months and there may have been
longer waiting periods prior to doing the work, giving more time
for radiation levels to dissipate, Mr. Wilkins said.
The detected radiation level was below regulatory limits. Whole
body counts - the most thorough form of radiation testing because
it accounts for both skin contact and inhalation - were taken
from the two most potentially exposed plant employees. Neither
showed exposure beyond background levels of radiation, Ms.
Mitlyng said.
For earlier reports on Davis-Besse, go to
www.toledoblade.com/davisbesse.
Contact Tom Henry at: thenry@theblade.com or 419-724-6079.
2004 The Blade. By using this service, you accept the
The Toledo Blade Company, 541 N. Superior St., Toledo, OH 43660
, (419) 724-6000
*****************************************************************
42 Boston.com: Vt. Yankee owner cites cause of fire
[http://www.boston.com/news/globe/]
Boston Globe RUTLAND, Vt.
-- The fire that shut down the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant last
month was apparently unrelated to modifications made in
preparation for a proposed power boost, the federal Nuclear
Regulatory Commission has been told by the owner of the Vernon
facility. July 4, 2004 --> [http://www.boston.com/news/globe/]
NRC uncertain that broken joint led to June blaze
By Associated Press | July 4, 2004
RUTLAND, Vt. -- The fire that shut down the Vermont Yankee
nuclear plant last month was apparently unrelated to
modifications made in preparation for a proposed power boost,
the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission has been told by the
owner of the Vernon facility.
The fire was caused by a piece of an expansion joint that broke
off in a duct carrying electricity to Vermont Yankee's
transformer, according to the NRC.
''Part of an expansion joint just basically peeled off and,
rattling around in the duct, it caused [electrical] shorts and
faults," said Neil Sheehan, an NRC spokesman. ''Because of the
violence, because of the resulting effects of this, an oil pipe
came loose and because of very high temperatures associated with
the raw electricity, a fire started."
Sheehan said the expansion joint, which was part of the duct or
pipe that conducted electricity from the plant's generator to its
transformer, was original equipment on the 32-year-old reactor.
Entergy Nuclear, the owner of Vermont Yankee, has proposed
increasing power output at the plant by 20 percent, a process
known as the ''uprate."
Sheehan said Entergy had told the NRC it believed the fire was
not connected to plant modifications during the plant's regular
refueling outage in April.
But Sheehan stressed that the NRC did not yet agree with this
conclusion.
''We're still looking at it," he said, noting that the NRC had
sent a special team to Vermont to help with the investigation.
Sheehan said Entergy's investigators found the broken piece of
expansion joint in the duct, leading them to their fire theory.
The plant has been offline since the June 18 fire, forcing
utilities that usually buy power from the facility to look
elsewhere for energy.
According to an agreement with the state, Public Service Board
Entergy agreed to pay the difference in increased power costs if
the plant closed because of uprate-related problems.
Sheehan said two weeks of investigation and repair work had
revealed very little damage to the transformer, which was
installed two years ago by Entergy, shortly after it bought the
plant.
The new transformer is needed to handle the proposed power
increase.
An Entergy spokesman, Robert Williams, declined comment on the
root cause of the fire. But he said the plant could be
''reconnecting to the grid next week." [ /] Copyright 2004
Globe Newspaper Company. [
*****************************************************************
43 SNA: Bulgaria Covers 50% of Balkans' Energy Deficit
[Sofia News Agency]
novinite.com
Monday 5 July 2004 | USD 1.61 | EUR 1.95583
Bulgaria covers over 50% of the energy deficit on the Balkans,
Energy Minister Milko Kovachev announced today. Photo by Gergana
Kostadinova (novinite.com)
Business: 4 July 2004, Sunday.
Bulgaria covers over 50% of the energy deficit on the Balkans,
according to Energy Minister Milko Kovachev.
Kovachev, who leaves on a working visit to the US tomorrow,
explained that Turkey is one of the most important energy markets
for Bulgaria.
Earlier in the year Kovachev underlined that Bulgaria will
continue to export electricity even if it sticks by its
commitment to close two of its older nuclear power units by
end-2006 in view of its EU accession.[ width=]
Click here to receive realtime news about this topic in the
future.
[ width=] your opinion | save | print | send |
[ width=] [ width=] [ width=]
TOP NEWS
novinite.com Forum Google
All Rights Reserved Novinite Ltd., 2001-2004 - Copyright
Novinite.com (thebulgariannews.com also) is unique with being a
real time news provider in English that informs its readers
about the latest Bulgarian news. The editorial staff also
*****************************************************************
44 Sofia Morning News: Bulgaria Forms Special Nuclear Company
[Sofia News Agency]
novinite.com
Monday 5 July 2004
Bulgaria's Energy MInister Milko Kovachev (R) announced the
forming of a special nuclear company. Photo by Gergana
Kostadinova (novinite.com)
Top news: 4 July 2004, Sunday.
Units five and six of Bulgaria's nuclear power plant in Kozloduy,
the construction site and the power utilities of the country's
second nuke in Belene will be united to form a special nuclear
company.
The new Bulgarian company will apply for an energy loan of EUR
350 M, Energy Minister Milko Kovachev explained. He added that
the Cabinet approved the decision for the forming of the new
company at a special closed meeting as the national budget could
not allocate the needed financial sources.
The move comes, as Bulgaria will have to close two of its older
nuclear power units by end-2006 in view of its EU accession. EU
concerns over the safety of Soviet-designed 440-MW reactors of
Bulgaria's only N-plant Kozloduy has hinged the country's EU
accession in 2007 on their closure the previous year.
The decommissioning of the two oldest units at the end of 2002
came after strong pressure from the European Union, protests from
the nuclear lobby and opposition parties that the reactors are
economically necessary.
There will be major interest in the new company both from local
and foreign investors Kovachev said. The financing contracts will
be signed by 2005, while the first unit of the Belene nuke will
be ready to operate in 2010, Bulgaria's energy minister
underlined.[ width=]
Click here to receive realtime news about this topic in the
future. [ width=] your opinion | save | print | send |
All Rights Reserved Novinite Ltd., 2001-2004 - Copyright
Novinite.com (thebulgariannews.com also) is unique with being a
real time news provider in English that informs its readers
about the latest Bulgarian news. The editorial staff also
*****************************************************************
45 [du-list] RADIATION risk ' underplayed ' to avoid compensation
Date: Sun, 04 Jul 2004 18:36:59 -0700
DU in the news - July 5th 04
BUSH should follow Saddam into the dock
Pravda - Moscow,Russia
... W. Bush not responsible for the cluster bombs deployed in civilian
areas or the Depleted Uranium munitions which left swathes of Iraqi territory
radio-active? ...
<http://english.pravda.ru/mailbox/22/101/397/13257_Saddam.html>
IS this fiction too fiery?
Kansas City Star (subscription) - Kansas City,MO,USA
... Another is a boulder made of depleted uranium. "You're going to squash
the president?" Ben asks Jay. But Jay also has a gun and bullets. ...
<http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/entertainment/9059613.htm>
NICHOLSON Baker: A New Kind of Anger for Bush
Dissident Voice - Santa Rosa,CA,USA
... characters who discuss assassinating George Bush with "radio-controlled
flying saws" and a "remote-controlled boulder made of depleted uranium."
It's ...
<http://www.dissidentvoice.org/July2004/Nimmo0703.htm>
MEDIA misplaced curiosity
The Union Leader - Manchester,NH,USA
... 45 wedding guests a month and a half ago in Makr al-Deeb, or dig seriously
into the ghastly health consequences of widespread use of depleted-uranium
ammo, but ...
<http://www.theunionleader.com/articles_showfast.html?article=40235>
RADIATION risk ' underplayed ' to avoid compensation payouts
Sunday Herald - Glasgow,Scotland,UK
... downplayed the dangers of radiation so that they can avoid paying
compensation
to veterans of nuclear tests and carry on deploying depleted uranium (DU)
weapons ...
<http://www.sundayherald.com/43149>
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46 Pravda: Russian most powerful submarine -
PRAVDA.Ru
07/04/2004 13:22
Silent deep-sea hunter marks its 20-year-long
service
This Russian submarine made Americans to come down with money to
aid Russia. This sub has been given various names like "aircraft
carrier killer", or "deep-sea gangster", or "silent hunter", to
name a few. The multi-purpose nuclear-powered submarine K-284 of
Project 971 was commissioned June 16, 1984 crowning the efforts
of the Design Bureau Malakhit and the Amurskiy Zavod shipyard in
Komsomolsk-na-Amure. In total, 15 boats of that class have been
built. In 1996, those involved in the creation of the submarine
were awarded the State Prize of the Russian Federation.
For the first time, the shipbuilding yard at Komsomolsk-na-Amure
rather than at Severodvinsk or Leningrad had been chosen as the
place to lay down a multi-purpose nuclear-powered submarine coded
Project 971 Shuka-B. That was an indication of a considerable
development of shipbuilding in the Russian Far East.
NATO"s classification "Akula" (Shark) given to the newest
submarines of the Russian Navy caused confusion since the name of
another Soviet sub, Alfa of Project 705, also began with the
letter "A". The acoustic signature of K-284 was 12-15 dB lower
(i.e. 4-4.5 times) than that of 671RTM, the most noiseless
Russian submarine of the previous generation. Improvement in this
key parameter of underwater technology placed Russia among the
world"s top submarine shipbuilders. The Akula"s design and
acoustic signature had been honed throughout the mass production
stage.
The boats of the project were given personal names, so K-317 was
dubbed "Pantera". The first submarine built in Severodvinsk,
K-480, received the name "Bars", which soon became the class name
of all nuclear-powered ships of Project 971. Commander S. V.
Efremenko became the first captain of Bars. In December 1997, at
the request of the Republic of Tatarstan, Bars was renamed
"Ak-Bars". Some years ago, the attack submarine Gepard was
commissioned at Severodvinsk. In 1996, the submarine cruiser Vepr
was commissioned at Severodvinsk. She had a new design of the
pressure hull and different "stuffing" at the same time retaining
the shape of its class. Besides, with her another major advance
was made in noise reduction. In the West this sub and the
subsequent SSNs of Project 971 were designated Akula-II.
Integrated automation cut the crew to 73 (31 officers), that was
almost twice as less than that of the American Los Angeles class
sub (141 men).
According to some US experts, the degree of stealth of the
improved sub of Project 971 has caught up with that of the US
Navy multi-purpose fourth generation submarine Seawolf (SSN-21).
Speed, diving depth and ordnance make these ships approximately
peer. Between December 1995 and February 1996, K-461 Volk (manned
by the complement from K-317 Pantera under the orders of captain
S. Spravtsev and captain V. Korolyov, assistant division
commander acting as senior officer on board), had been operating
in the Mediterranean Sea to provide long-distance anti-submarine
support for the Admiral Kuznetsov heavy aircraft carrying
cruiser. The mission included long-term tracking of several NATO
submarines, including an American SSN of the Los Angeles class.
According to US Navy sources, at tactical speeds 5-7 knots the
acoustic quietness of Improved Akula class boats searched by
sonars was lower than that of the most advanced US Navy SSNs such
as the Improved Los Angeles class. The then chief of US naval
operations Admiral Jeremy Boorda said that the American ships
were not able to track the Improved Akula at a speed less than 6
to 9 knots (the new Russian boat was eventually contacted in the
spring 1995 off the eastern coast of the USA). According to the
Adm. J. M. Boorda, the low noise acoustic profile of the improved
Akula-II met the requirements of forth generation subs.
After the end of the Cold War, new stealth nuclear-powered
submarines in the Russian Fleet aroused serious concern in the
USA. In 1991, this matter was even discussed in Congress.
American legislators were offered some solutions to turn the
situation around to the advantage of the USA. Proposals comprised
demands that Russia disclose long-term underwater shipbuilding
programs, or establishment of coordinated limits on the number of
attack SSNs for both Russia and USA, or calls to assist Russia to
convert shipyards building nuke subs to produce non-defense
items.
The international environmental NGO "Green Peace" also joined the
efforts against the Russian underwater shipbuilding disguised as
a drive to ban nuclear-powered submarines (Russian ones, of
course, presented, according to "Greens", the greatest
environmental hazard). In order to eliminate "nuclear disasters",
"Green Peace" recommended Western governments to tie financial
aid to Russia with the moves the latter would make to solve this
problem. However, as the delivery of new attack submarines to the
Russian Navy dramatically slowed down by mid-90s, the issue for
USA ceased to be burning, though "environmentalists" (many of
whom are known for their tight links to NATO special services),
have been pursuing the same policy against the Russian Fleet up
to date.
Norman Polmar, well-known US naval analyst, once said that the
arrival of submarines of the Akula class and other Russian SSNs
of the third generation demonstrated that the Soviet shipbuilders
had bridged the gap in the acoustic quieting level unexpectedly
fast. Some years later, in 1994, this gap was closed altogether.
What in Project 971 specifically frightened Western analysts?
Maybe its innovative solutions such as integrated automation of
battle and technical facilities, concentration of ship control
and its armament in one place - the main control room, and a
state-of-the-art rescue chamber, which demonstrated its
efficiency on Project 705 boats?
The following technical data based on open sources may help get
the picture: length - 110.3 m; beam -13.6 m; draft - 9.7 m; full
displacement - 12,770 tons; maximum diving depth: 600 m;
operating depth: 520 m; maximum submerged speed: 33 knots;
endurance: 100 days; propulsion: one pressurized water reactor
OK-650B (190 MW) with four steam turbines; 1 shaft, 50,000 hps;
one 7 bladed propeller with improved acoustic properties and low
rotation speed. The Skat-3 MGK-540 sonar system provides digital
data processing, enhanced sonar detection and location
capabilities. A submarine of Project 971 features double hull
construction. The pressure hull material is high strength steel.
An Akula-II class sub can boast highly effective, unique
wake-homing capabilities to identify the wake of a submarine many
hours after its passing. She is fitted with the Simfonia-U
navigation system and Molniya-MTS satellite communications with
Tsunami communications antenna and a towed array.
Armed with 40 torpedoes launched from four 533mm (for 28
torpedoes) and four 650mm torpedo tubes, she can also fire Granat
cruise missiles, underwater missiles and rocket torpedoes
(Shkval, Vodopad, and Veter), torpedoes and torpedo mines.
Besides this sub can lay ordinary mines, too.
Currently, all Project 971 multi-purpose nuclear-powered
submarines are assigned to the Russian Northern and Pacific
Fleets, and by contemporary standards, they are active enough.
In the event of actual conflict, each Project 971 sub is capable
to pose a threat to the enemy, draw off its essential forces, and
keep the Russian territory intact from strikes.
Andrey Mikhailov
Source: Pravda.Ru
Translated by Zaghid Yusoupov Andrey Mikhailov
Pravda.Ru
L1999-2002 "PRAVDA.Ru". When reproducing our materials in
*****************************************************************
47 JS Online: Cost to reduce radium in water climbing
Wisconsin ONLINE [http://www.jsonline.com]
Utilities using borrowed money for pricey remedies
By DARRYL ENRIQUEZ
denriquez@journalsentinel.com Posted: July 3, 2004
The cost of bringing drinking water into compliance with newly
enforced safe water standards for more than 400,000 customers in
Wisconsin is $200 million and climbing, according to a survey of
dozens of utilities.
Even as utilities from Green Bay to Union Grove wait for a
possible federal bailout, they are financing elaborate remedies
to the illegal levels of radium and other contaminants with
borrowed money.
Some of the most extensive plans in Wisconsin include:
+ $35 million in Green Bay for a pipeline into Lake Michigan.
+ $98 million by six communities in Brown County for a pipeline
to connect to Manitowoc's lake water.
+ $24 million in Fond du Lac to draw water directly from Lake
Winnebago and plug half of its dozen wells.
+ $8.2 million in Waukesha for two new wells.
Then there's the 18-home Birch Creek Estates subdivision near De
Pere.
Fed up with government regulations, the utility serving the
homes will disband, and homeowners will each spend about $10,000
to drill their own wells that will be free of federal
regulation.
"It's not going to be easy for some people," utility president
Bill Stevens said. "Some are retired with fixed income, but we
can't wait to get rid of the DNR and EPA. The people there are
fine. That's not the issue. We yearn for our independence from
those regulations that we've dealt with for years."
The new wells probably will contain the same level of radium as
the community well that serves the subdivision's 40 residents,
"but at least it's not under the regulation of the DNR," Stevens
said.
Many other utility customers will see increases in their bills.
In Fond du Lac, the Lake Winnebago plan will mean quarterly
water bills for the average customer will climb from $54.71 to
$98.48, water utility manager Dale Paczkowski said.
For all of the utilities, operation and maintenance costs likely
will add millions to the long-term costs of treatment plans.
Help could be on the way
Many water officials are keeping an eye on a movement in
Washington, D.C., to provide $30 billion in loans and grants to
the 42 utilities in Wisconsin and 600 others nationwide under
orders to reduce illegal levels of radium and other contaminants
in their water supplies.
The proposal that includes grants for "disadvantaged
communities" and small water systems will help them comply with
federal drinking-water standards. It has cleared the U.S. Senate
Committee on Environment and Public Works and needs to be heard
by the full Senate.
Don Swailes, chief of the state's drinking-water quality
program, said he wasn't surprised by the amount of money being
spent, considering the scope of the cleanup that also locally
includes Germantown, Hartland, Brookfield and New Berlin.
Swailes called the radium reduction program one of the largest
clean water enforcements ever undertaken by the state.
"It certainly is the biggest on the level of the number of
systems and the size of those systems," he said. "I'd say from
our perspective that it's going well. We're seeing things going
in the right direction from the regulatory standpoint."
Drilling new wells, filtration systems and blending pure and
contaminated water are the main treatment options being used by
utilities to reduce radium concentrations in drinking water.
Some of the new filtration systems involve promising new
technologies, and 19 utilities in southeast Wisconsin meet
regularly to share the findings of their test runs that use
filters and other media to free their water of radium.
In December, 42 utilities and the state Department of Natural
Resources entered into what is called a "consent decree." By
taking the action, utility officials formally acknowledged that
their water systems were not complying with federal safe water
standards for levels of radium and other contaminants.
The state agency is acting as the enforcement arm of the
Environmental Protection Agency, which established the standards
years ago but only now is demanding compliance. The utilities
have until December 2006 to bring their water systems within the
standards.
The limit is 5 picocuries of radium per liter of water. A
picocurie is a measure of radioactivity or the pace at which a
radioactive element, such as radium, disintegrates. Radium has
been linked by the federal government to cancer.
As communities and private utilities make more demands on water
drawn from wells sunk into deep aquifers, they suck up
underground water that contains higher doses of radium because
of its proximity to radioactive rock.
Several utilities, including Waukesha with an average level this
spring of 10.4 parts per liter, have fought hard to disprove
that claim.
Last year Waukesha lost its $1.5 million legal fight in a
federal Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., that a radium
level of 5 picocuries is too low and levels close to that figure
do not present a hazard.
Bill Stevens' wife, Mary, said that none of the Birch Creek
residents have gotten cancer from drinking the subdivision's
well water.
"I think what the state was saying that there was a possibility
of becoming sick after ingesting the water for 100 years," she
said. "Some of our residents are in their 70s, and they say, 'It
doesn't make a difference to me.' "
From the July 4, 2004, editions of the Milwaukee Journal
© Copyright 2004
[http://www.jsonline.com/copyright.html] , Journal Sentinel Inc.
*****************************************************************
48 Sunday Herald: Radiation risk underplayed to avoid compensation payouts -
04 July 2004
By Rob Edwards
Governments have deliberately downplayed the dangers of
radiation so that they can avoid paying compensation to veterans
of nuclear tests and carry on deploying depleted uranium (DU)
weapons.
Dr Keith Baverstock, who was the World Health Organisations
senior radiation adviser in Europe, says that science has been
perverted for political ends by government agencies which should
be protecting public health.
Politics, aided and abetted by some in the scientific community,
has poisoned the well which sustains democratic decision-making,
he told a conference on low-level radiation in Edinburgh
yesterday.
Baverstock, now advising the UK government as a member of the
Committee on Radioactive Waste Management, delivered a fierce
attack on government scientists. He accused the National
Radiological Protection Board (NRPB) of misusing science in their
studies of nuclear test veterans.
Over 21,000 members of the British armed services watched 46
nuclear tests in Australia and the Pacific between 1952 and 1962.
Many have since become ill, and campaigned for compensation from
the Ministry of Defence.
The MoD has rejected their claims on the grounds that there was
no proof that radiation from the tests made them sick. The
ministry is backed by three major studies carried out by the NRPB
over the past 20 years, most recently in 2002.
Yesterday, Baverstock alleged that there was a serious flaw in
the NRPBs methodology because as many as 15% of the veterans
could be missing from the studies. This could conceal an excess
in cancer deaths, he said.
He pointed out that there was a lack of information on how much
radiation people had been exposed to. A statistical excess of
leukaemia among the veterans had also been dismissed as a chance
finding.
The conclusion is that the NRPB survey is deficient, he said.
Further work needs to be done. It is sad that the NRPB, which
should be an independent body, was complicit .
The NRPB, based at Didcot in Oxfordshire, strongly denied the
accusation. We used standard methods for finding deaths and cases
of cancer. These have been used in hundreds of studies, said
Gerry Kendal, head of population exposure at the NRPB.
He maintained that to have introduced additional cases in an ad
hoc way would have produced biased results. The independent
committee that oversaw the research was happy with the approach
that was taken, he added.
The 2002 NRPB study was originally challenged by Sue Roff, a
senior research fellow at Dundee University Medical School. She
contended that up to 30% of multiple myeloma cancer cases among
veterans had been overlooked by the NRPB.
Im not sure if this was a political or a scientific decision by
the NRPB. But it was certainly more of a comfort to the MoD than
to veterans, she said.
Baverstock also accused the World Health Organisation of having
suppressed a report he wrote in 2001 highlighting the dangers of
DU in Iraq. The Sunday Herald revealed in February that the
report predicted that DU from US and UK weapons would increase
cancer rates among adults and children in the country.
By downplaying the risks from radiation, government agencies had
undermined public trust in science and technology, he concluded.
This was going to make it much more difficult to find an
acceptable solution to the problem of how to dispose of
radioactive waste from nuclear power stations.
newsquest (sunday herald) limited. all rights reserved
*****************************************************************
49 Toronto Star: Citizen Carlos
TheStar.com -
Sun. Jul. 4, 2004. | Updated at 07:29 PM
Jul. 3, 2004. 02:02 PM
HUMBERTO TRIAS/AP
Carlos Delgado warms up yesterday, even though an injury is
keeping him out of the Blue Jays lineup for the series against
the Montreal Expos in his native Puerto Rico.
Citizen Carlos
Jays' Delgado fights for justice on Puerto Rican island Vieques
ravaged by six decades of U.S. weapons testing
GEOFF BAKER SPORTS REPORTER
VIEQUES, Puerto RicoFor more than a year Carlos Delgado has been
staging his own private protest. Its origins are rooted on the
tranquil shores of this picturesque island, until recently a
testing site for bombs and missiles used by the United States in
Iraq.
When "God Bless America" is played during major league baseball
games in some U.S. cities, the staunchly anti-war Blue Jays first
baseman refuses to stand outside the dugout.
"I never stay outside for `God Bless America,'" Delgado said. "I
actually don't think people have noticed it. I don't (stand)
because I don't believe it's right, I don't believe in the war."
Delgado was the first high-profile athlete to speak out against
the U.S. Navy's six-decade presence in Vieques, where it used the
lush green hillsides and pristine beaches as the prime testing
facility for the weapons of the entire Atlantic Fleet.
The Jays slugger had heard some of the island's 9,300 residents
complaining about how uranium-depleted shells used in the tests
were causing abnormally high rates of cancer and other serious
illnesses. By the time the Navy finally did pull out of Vieques
on May 1, 2003, it left behind a community terrified by health
concerns, dealing with unemployment close to 50 per cent and
facing unresolved development and cleanup issues.
Small wonder that Puerto Rican native Delgado shows little
patience today for the flag-waving, pro-military pageantry seen
at major league games since the Sept. 11 terror attacks and
U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.
While the conflict in Iraq and the problems confronting Vieques
are separate issues, they are also intertwined. That's because
the fishermen, farmers and shopkeepers of this island unwillingly
paid a huge price so the U.S. could certify the weaponry used in
Iraq.
Delgado was already "anti-war" before being involved in Vieques
and now has some choice opinions about U.S. foreign policy and
the Iraq conflict.
"It's a very terrible thing that happened on Sept. 11," Delgado
said. "It's (also) a terrible thing that happened in Afghanistan
and Iraq. I just feel so sad for the families that lost relatives
and loved ones in the war.
"But I think it's the stupidest war ever," he said. "Who are you
fighting against? You're just getting ambushed now. We have more
people dead now, after the war, than during the war. You've been
looking for weapons of mass destruction. Where are they at?
You've been looking for over a year. Can't find them. I don't
support that. I don't support what they do. I think it's just
stupid."
The Jays and Delgado were in Puerto Rico last night to open a
three-game series against the Montreal Expos. While an injured
Delgado won't play in the series and heads to Syracuse tomorrow
for a Triple-A rehabilitation assignment he is attending the
first two games to sign autographs and deal with a slew of local
media requests.
Delgado didn't get involved in Vieques 20 kilometres off the
southeastern tip of mainland Puerto Rico and accessible only by
small plane or a thrice-daily ferry because of his anti-war
views. But he flies back every winter from his mainland hometown
in Aguadilla, and sees first-hand the cost of testing America's
weapons.
"You're dealing with health, with poverty, with the roots of an
entire community, both economically and environmentally," he
said. "This is way bigger than just a political or military
issue. Because the military left last year and they haven't
cleaned the place up yet."
Large sections of the former Navy base, which took up two-thirds
of the island's 13,000 hectares, remain sealed off because of
unexploded shells and contamination by heavy metals. The reopened
part is now a wildlife preserve.
Having so much underdeveloped land gives Vieques a soothing
calmness beloved by its handful of frequent visitors, who fear a
future influx of tourist hordes more than any talk of
contamination further up the island. There are no traffic lights
in the two towns of Esperanza and Isabel II, where children ride
on horseback alongside cars, country-style inns are the norm and
10 p.m. is the preferred closing time.
Activists who'd spent previous years fighting the Navy are now
lobbying for a development plan that will help the economy, give
locals control of the land and curb massive resort projects.
The struggle by those activists to push the Navy out ever since
it expropriated the land in 1941 enjoyed brief moments of media
attention. International wire photos in 1979 showed local
fishermen in tiny yola boats using slingshots to fire rocks at
U.S. Coast Guard vessels, while some activists got noticed for
draping the Vieques flag over the Statue of Liberty in New York
City.
But it wasn't until civilian David Sanes was killed by an errant
bomb during Navy manoeuvres on April 19, 1999 that the Vieques
protests made political headway. Delgado saw news about the death
on television and, like many Puerto Ricans, wanted to do
something.
His father, Carlos Sr., a man with political connections
throughout the U.S. protectorate of Puerto Rico, introduced him
to an old Socialist Party pal named Ismael Guadalupe.
The high school teacher, a leading figure in the island's
protest movement, had spent six months in prison in 1979 for
trespassing on the Navy base.
"He wanted to help out with more than just the situation with
the Navy," Guadalupe, 59, said of Delgado. "He wanted to help the
people there. He wanted to help the children."
Delgado was from a different world than the resourceful,
street-tough activists of Vieques, like Carmelo Felix Mata, who
built a ramshackle home on hillside land belonging to the Navy in
1989. When authorities came to arrest Mata, he unleashed swarms
of bees from hives he'd kept and chased them back down the hill.
More homes sprouted up in what became a rebellious neighbourhood
known as "Mount Carmelo."
"I've had 178 court cases against me and I've never spent a day
in jail," Mata, 66, said defiantly this week as he limped around
his hilltop property, in a neighbourhood strewn with signs
depicting cartoon-like bees that salute his triumph.
Guadalupe and fellow activists would sneak onto the Navy base at
night by cutting holes in a perimeter fence alongside Mata's
disputed property. They'd walk a 10-hour route towards the target
area, wait for the weapons testing to start and then halt it
immediately by firing flare guns to signal their unwanted
presence.
The activists needed Delgado outside of jail, so they couldn't
risk taking him along for their land and sea incursions on to the
Navy base.
His biggest contribution was in lending the cause his name
joining other high-profile supporters like the Dalai Lama,
Hillary Clinton, singer Ricky Martin and actor Martin Sheen.
Delgado, together with Martin and boxer Felix Trinidad, took out
full-page advertisements about Vieques in The New York Times and
Washington Post. He has also donated $100,000 (U.S.) to youth
sports, schools and activists on the island.
"He's a well-known person, based in the United States, and he has
a lot of fans," Guadalupe said. "That's why he is so important to
us. It's not going to make him more famous to be involved in the
Vieques struggle. He might actually lose popularity because of
it."
Delgado didn't fear reprisals for his newspaper ads critical of
the Navy in April of 2001. "What are they going to do, kick me
out of the game?" Delgado said. "Take away my endorsements?"
But since the Sept. 11 attacks, baseball players have gone even
more out of their way to avoid criticizing the government, or
military.
"We're not doing anything wrong," Delgado countered. "Sometimes,
you've just got to break the mould. You've got to push it a
little bit or else you can't get anything done."
Robert Rabin, the Boston-born director of the Committee for the
Rescue and Development of Vieques, the island's main activist
group, shares that sentiment.
"I know that people will ask why Carlos Delgado would want to
engage in some anti-American activity like the struggle in
Vieques," said Rabin, who moved to the island in 1980 to write a
college thesis, married a local and now runs the historical
museum. "I hear this all the time, but consider it my duty to
speak out when I think my government is being unjust. People say
that's anti-American. I say that's what being an American is
about."
Rabin has been arrested three times and served five months in
jail in 2002 for engaging in civil disobedience. He used part of
a $20,000 (U.S.) donation by Delgado in 2000 to fund youth sports
leagues in Vieques and a permanent "Peace and Justice" protest
camp directly across from the main Navy gates.
Rabin figures his job was only half done when the Navy pulled out
and says an upcoming fight over the development and cleanup phase
of Vieques is equally important.
The Navy pullout was bittersweet for Guadalupe, who found out
days later that his wife, Norma, had breast cancer.
Guadalupe fears the Navy's shells made his wife sick. A pending
class-action lawsuit has been filed on behalf of Vieques
residents, but the Navy denies it caused the illnesses.
"She had no history of cancer in her family," he said, sadness
on his face. "My brother is also a cancer patient and we don't
have a family history either."
Delgado can't make such pain vanish with his money. He instead
focuses on the personal ways he can make a difference, like
visiting a school, or hiring a helicopter to fly him from
Aguadilla to Vieques each January for a special Three Kings Day
celebration. At this year's event, he handed out gifts to
children and ran a baseball clinic.
"You'll need millions and millions of dollars to clean Vieques
up," Delgado said. "So, we try to make (the money) as effective
as we can. We make it work for kids. I can't clean up Vieques by
myself. It's going to take a lot of people."
Legal Notice: Copyright Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. All
*****************************************************************
50 Hawk Eye: Few former IAAP workers' claims paid
[http://archive.thehawkeye.com]
Saturday, July 3, 2004, Site updated daily at 11 a.m. CST
Other states seeing more success with federal filings.
By TODD DVORAK
The Associated Press
IOWA CITY For much of his career, Jack Polson was the chief
chemist at the 19,000acre Iowa Army Ammunition Plant, where
production workers toiled in secrecy for decades assembling
nuclear bombs.
Now 79, Polson suffers from bladder cancer, skin cancer and
beryllium poisoning and is convinced the government is trying to
evade its promise to compensate him for his ailments, which
followed years of exposure to radiation and other harmful
substances at the weapons plant.
"I think it's clear they are looking for an 'out' to pay claims,"
he said.
So far, 1,041 claims have been filed with the Department of
Energy by former IAAP workers under a federal program to
compensate the nation's former nuclear weapons workers now
diagnosed with health problems.
Nearly 14,000 claims have been filed by workers nationwide.
In setting up the program in 2000, Congress gave a special
exemption providing for automatic payment of claims to
workers at plants in Ohio, Tennessee, Kentucky and Alaska, but
workers at lesser known plants in Iowa and elsewhere were left
out.
While thousands of workers nationwide have been compensated,
fewer than 50 claims filed by Iowa weapons workers have been
paid.
Sen. Tom Harkin, DIowa, calls the former IAAP employees a
forgotten bunch.
"These workers have waited years to be compensated," said Harkin,
who is working with other senators to fix the backlog of claims.
"Many of them are buried by burdensome health care bills after
years of dealing with workrelated illness, and many have died
waiting for compensation," he said.
Nuclear bomb components were tested and warheads were assembled
and disassembled at the southeast Iowa plant from the late 1940s
until 1975.
The plant operated under a shroud of secrecy until 1998, when a
former worker battling cancer contacted Harkin for help.
Under the federal compensation program, doctors must investigate
each claim, review work histories, plant records and monitoring
data to determine if an employee's exposure merits approval.
But workers at the Iowa plant had trouble supporting their claims
because records had been moved, scattered or lost.
Federal officials have found very few records monitoring
radiation at the Iowa plant, despite months of searching with the
Department of Energy and the various contractors that ran the
factory.
"Far and away, it is one of the worst cases of monitoring and
recordkeeping out there," said Richard Miller, a policy analyst
with The Government Accountability Project.
Former worker Paul Cross, who worked in the safety department for
eight years, says daily monitoring and record keeping was a
priority but he's at a loss to explain the whereabouts of those
records now.
"We had all kinds of data recorded on radiation," said Cross, who
filed a claim after contracting lymphoma in 1987. "I've heard the
talk about how management was sloppy, but it was a wellrun
operation."
In the absence of such data, federal officials are relying on a
"site profile," prepared by scientists from the National
Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.
But critics contend the profile is flawed, including:
Failure to recognize several operations that took place at the
plant, specifically the factory line where as many as 40 workers
disassembled old or malfunctioning weapons.
Using records at a plant in Texas to base assumptions on
operations, exposure levels and monitoring data.
Failing to interview workers who could have provided important
details about record keeping, monitoring and operations.
"Is this a believable approach to be taking when processing these
claims?" Miller said. "Is this exactly what Congress intended
when it passed a law to take care of these workers?"
Larry Elliot, director of the office of compensation analysis for
NIOSH, said the site profile is still a work in progress.
He said the agency is working to obtain classified documents from
the DOE to fill in gaps during the first 10 years of nuclear bomb
production, and officials will soon begin interviewing former
workers to draw a clearer picture of operations and monitoring
practices at IAAP.
Because the site profile lacks adequate data from the earliest
years of production, Elliot said claims filed by workers from
that period are being put on hold. He also defended its use of
operating assumptions at other plants.
"This is a living document," Elliot said. "We think it's a good
start ... and we're looking for additional data.
"With the monitoring information that was collected from plants
in Texas and elsewhere, we feel the site profile presents a
strong case for the worst levels of exposure that could have
happened at Iowa," he said.
But many of the Iowa workers are dying.
"The workers at IAAP and their families devoted their lives to
our national security, and their compensation is long overdue,"
Harkin said.
Last week, the Senate attached to a defense spending bill an
amendment that would create a special exemption for workers at
IAAP and the St. Louisbased Mallinckrodt Chemical Co., a uranium
dioxide producer.
The measure, sponsored by Harkin and Sen. Kit Bond, RMo., would
make workers eligible for automatic payment and sidestep dose
reconstruction.
The bill now must survive a joint House and Senate conference
committee when Congress returns from recess next month.
The Hawk Eye 800 S. Main St., Burlington Iowa 52601 319-754-8461
Front Desk 319-754-6824 FAX 1-800-397-1708 Toll Free
*****************************************************************
51 Las Vegas RJ: Yucca Web sitecriticized
Saturday, July 03, 2004
Environmentalistscall data incomplete
By STEVE TETREAULT
STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU
WASHINGTON -- Seventeen environmental organizations on Friday
called on the Energy Department to withdraw its certification of
a Yucca Mountain licensing database, claiming the material is
incomplete and inaccessible to the public.
Segments of the Internet site (www.lsnnet.gov) that are to
contain Energy Department documents related to the proposed
nuclear waste repository remained dark on Friday.
A spokeswoman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which
maintains the site, said those portions might become active
today. Administrators were harmonizing computer coding after
removing 150,000 documents that DOE claimed contained homeland
security and other privileged information.
Even when it becomes functional, the database, known as the
Licensing Support Network, will not contain all the technical
reports, letters, science studies and e-mails the Energy
Department certified this week as part of its Yucca Mountain
license bid.
NRC spokeswoman Sue Gagner said the NRC has received less than
half the Energy Department's collection, and it will take five or
six more weeks to index about 700,000 documents that are
outstanding.
The groups, which included the Nevada Nuclear Waste Task Force,
the Nevada Desert Experience and Las Vegas-based Citizen Alert,
challenged the Energy Department's certification of its materials
in a letter to Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham. "We request you
withdraw your certification until DOE's submission of documentary
material is actually completed, and the submitted materials are
thoroughly indexed and posted, and entirely readable and
accessible on the Licensing Support Network Website," their
letter stated.
DOE officials had no immediate comment on Friday. The DOE
certification was issued on the last day of June, keeping chances
alive for the department to submit a repository license
application by the end of the year, as it has promised Congress.
Federal rules say a license bid cannot be filed until six months
after DOE certifies it has made its documents available.
Attorneys for Nevada are preparing to challenge the
certification. They will argue the DOE's licensing bid should be
put on hold until six months after all questions about the
database are resolved.
Federal rules call on the NRC to appoint a pre-license hearing
officer within 15 days after certification to judge issues
associated with the license network.
The licensing support network is drawing attention because it is
expected to serve as the official depository for all the parties
that will be involved in NRC legal proceedings to license a Yucca
Mountain nuclear site.
Energy Department officials have said they have met legal
requirements. Although the Licensing Support Network website is
not ready, DOE said its collection of 1.2 million Yucca Mountain
documents has been made available on a department Web site
(www.ocrwm.doe.gov)
Copyright Las Vegas Review-Journal
*****************************************************************
52 Sunday Herald: Sellafield an easy target for hijacked jets -
04 July 2004
Report highlights lack of protection for nuclear plant if
terrorists tried to attack it with passenger planes
By Rob Edwards, Environment Editor
RAF jets could not be scrambled in time to prevent terrorists
from crashing a hijacked airliner into the Sellafield nuclear
complex, according to an expert analysis passed to the Sunday
Herald.
Transatlantic passenger planes forced to divert from their normal
flight paths across northwest England would take between four and
six minutes to reach the Cumbrian plant. This would hardly give
time for the nearest fighters stationed at RAF Leuchars in Fife
and RAF Leeming in Yorkshire to leave the ground.
In the wake of 9/11, terrorists flying a fully fuelled jumbo jet
into the radioactive waste and plutonium stores at Sellafield is
the nightmare scenario. Some estimates have suggested that this
could release enough radioactivity to cause long-term cancers
among millions of people.
The risk is highlighted by a report on nuclear terrorism due to
be published by the UK Parliamentary Office of Science and
Technology later this month. Included in the report is an
authoritative but unpublished analysis of planes flying close to
Sellafield.
The analysis shows that more than 700 airliners pass within 50
nautical miles (93km) of Sellafield every week on their way from
Europe to North America. Since they are near the start of their
journey, they contain large amounts of fuel which would burst
into flames on impact.
A third of the planes are Boeing 747s, the largest civilian
airliner in service, carrying an average of 158 tonnes of fuel by
the time they near Sellafield. More than 40% are twin-engined
Boeing 777s with 124 tonnes of fuel, or Boeing 767s with 63
tonnes.
They follow known Air Traffic Service routes to the east and
southwest of Sellafield, often going via the busy Dean Cross
radio beacon to the north. They come from 17 different airports,
including London, Paris, Kuwait and Tel Aviv.
If any are hijacked and forced to divert to Sellafield from the
nearest point, their flight time to the plant is estimated to be
between 4 and 5.7 minutes. In times of high alert, RAF fighters
at Leuchars and Leeming are on five- minute standby.
Any RAF Tornadoes that were airborne in the nearby Lake District
low-flying training area might be able to reach a hijacked
airliner sooner. But even if they managed to intercept it, they
wouldnt be able to shoot it down because they dont carry live
weapons on training missions.
The feasibility of interception therefore appears low if hijacked
aircraft are able to take the shortest distances to the target
from their planned routes, the expert analysis concludes.
It would also depend, the analysis observes, on a political
decision to permit the deliberate killing of hundreds of innocent
civilians by shooting the aircraft down as a means of preventing
it being flown into a nuclear facility.
The analysis was commissioned after 9/11 from an independent
expert by the environmental group Greenpeace. The expert asked to
remain anonymous for professional and security reasons.
Although the analysis was based on timetabled flights in October
2001, UK National Air Traffic Services (NATS) has confirmed that
the picture is much the same today.
Greenpeace submitted the aviation analysis to the inquiry into
nuclear terrorism held by the Parliamentary Office of Science and
Technology, which will publish the results of its inquiry in a
few weeks time.
If a heavily fuelled jet crashed into Sellafield and hit a target
such as the high-level waste tanks, the consequences would be
horrific, said Jean McSorley, the nuclear campaign co-ordinator
for Greenpeace UK.
There would be no going back to normal after such an accident.
God knows how people on site or the emergency services would
cope.
The number of fuel-laden flights coming close to Sellafield was
extremely disturbing, she argued. We dont expect the government
to disclose exact details of what measures it has taken to move
flight paths due to terrorist concerns, but we do have a right to
know if this has been dealt with.
President George W Bushs special commission on 9/11 revealed last
month that al-Qaedas original plan had been to hijack 10 planes
to attack targets on the west and east coasts of the US. Some of
the planes were to be crashed into unidentified nuclear power
plants.
The UK governments secretive Office for Civil Nuclear Security
said it had been working on additional measures to counter the
risk of a large aircraft being deliberately crashed on to a civil
nuclear site. But its annual report, put on to the Department of
Trade and Industrys website on Friday, added: Details may not be
disclosed for security reasons.
It nevertheless mentioned that two substantial new concrete
barriers were being built around the edge of two facilities at
Sellafield. Other measures have also been taken, including
strengthened warning procedures and interdiction by RAF aircraft,
the report said.
The Civil Aviation Authority referred inquiries to the Department
for Transport, which in turn deferred to the Department of Trade
and Industry (DTI). It stressed that security measures at nuclear
plants were regulated by the Office for Civil Nuclear Security.
Security precautions at nuclear sites are kept under regular
review and carry a high priority at all times. Following
September 11, security enhancements have been put in place, said
a DTI spokesman. It is not government policy to disclose details
of security measures.
newsquest (sunday herald) limited. all rights reserved
*****************************************************************
53 Idaho Statesman: Boise firm sells Tennessee facility
07-04-2004
Statesman staff
Edition Date: 07-03-2004
Boise-based American Ecology Corp. has completed the sale of its
low-level radioactive waste processing facility in Oak Ridge,
Tenn.
The company sold the facility to Toxco Inc., of Anaheim, Calif.
Under the terms of the transaction, Toxco received all of the
facility's land, buildings, equipment and licenses, plus $1.65
million in cash in exchange for assuming all environmental
obligations, including the costs for future closure and
decommissioning of the facility at the end of its operational
life.
The transaction relieved the company of $4.6 million of
environmental liabilities, and will result in a gain on sale of
approximately $1.0 million that will be reflected on the
company's financial statements for the period ending June 30,
2004.
*****************************************************************
54 Japan Times: Cost info on spent nuclear fuel quashed
Sunday, July 4, 2004
Government withdraws estimates showing burying is cheaper than
recycling
The government has withdrawn two estimates showing that the cost
of burying spent nuclear fuel in the ground is much lower than
that of recycling nuclear fuel, government officials have said.
Critics charged that the withdrawal of the information reflects
the government's wish to avoid an increase in calls that it
review its policy that favors recycling nuclear fuel.
The Radioactive Waste Management Center, an organization
affiliated with the old Ministry of International Trade and
Industry, estimated in March 1998 that it would cost 4 trillion
yen to 6 trillion yen to bury spent nuclear fuel deep in the
ground, compared with 3.4 trillion yen to 5 trillion yen needed
to reprocess it.
But reprocessing would also entail some 11 trillion yen to build
and dismantle the necessary facilities. Therefore, according to
the estimate, reprocessing spent fuel would be two to four times
costlier than direct disposal.
According to an estimate by an advisory panel to the Agency for
Natural Resources and Energy in February 1994, the cost of direct
disposal was put at 0.348 yen per kilowatt-hour of power
generation, compared with 1.336 yen for reprocessing spent
nuclear fuel.
During a committee session in the House of Councilors in March,
an opposition lawmaker asked for the estimated cost of burying
spent nuclear fuel in the ground.
But Kazumasa Kusaka, then director general of the agency, said
there were no cost estimates other than those of reprocessing.
On Friday, however, Kusaka, now vice minister for international
affairs at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, changed
his view and said he did not know about the 1994 and 1998
estimates.
Admitting the existence of the estimates, energy agency
officials said they will submit the documents to the Atomic
Energy Commission that advises the government on nuclear
policies.
The Japan Times: July 4, 2004 (C) All rights reserved
*****************************************************************
55 Charleston.Net: Macalloy cleanup set to begin
07/03/04
2-year project to rid 141-acre site of contaminants
BY NADINE PARKS
Of The Post and Courier Staff
Six years after 200 workers were handed pink slips and the
Macalloy Corp. plant closed, engineers are ready to begin a $12
million cleanup of the 141-acre contaminated site on Shipyard
Creek in North Charleston.
Macalloy expects to award the contract for the project before
Aug. 1 and begin work soon after. The U.S. Department of Defense
will pay $9.62 million of the cost.
The plant converted ore into ferrochromium, a raw material used
to make stainless steel. The U.S. War Department, today the
Department of Defense, was part-owner of the plant during World
War II, and federal officials said they made enough material
there to fight a 40-year war. They made 10 times the amount of
material needed.
Macalloy Corp. and a previous owner, British Oxygen Corp., will
split the remaining costs.
The cleanup was mandated by the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency and the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental
Control and will take about two years. Its aim is to remove or
render harmless the deposits of chromium that built up during the
plant's 57 years of operation, said project coordinator Tim
Nelson. Nelson is Macalloy's former vice president of engineering
and owner of Timco Inc., which Macalloy hired to run the cleanup
project.
The most time-consuming effort will be treating about five acres
of groundwater contaminated with chromium, a suspected
carcinogen. A reagent, a material that renders chromium
nonhazardous, will be injected into a series of about 230 wells
placed 15 feet apart in that area.
"They, in effect, form a screen, and as that contaminated
groundwater flows through this screen, the groundwater will be
treated," Nelson said.
A small area of about 165 cubic yards of radioactive debris the
company unknowingly received a few years ago in a shipment of
slag will be excavated and disposed of at a non-hazardous
landfill, Nelson said.
"It is marginally radioactive," he said.
About 165,000 cubic yards of soil contaminated with hexavalent
chromium will be treated with a reagent and mechanically mixed to
render the soil harmless. Nearly 2,000 cubic yards of
chromium-contaminated sediment adjacent to the site in Shipyard
Creek will be dredged and similarly mixed and treated on site.
Workers will construct a storm water drainage system to help
prevent additional sediment from making its way into the creek.
In April 1998, federal and state authorities closed Shipyard
Creek to shrimping and crabbing after a study showed high levels
of chromium in the tributary's creatures.
In May 2000, however, Administrative Law Judge John Geathers
revoked the ban and blasted the agencies for what he described as
sloppy research and an ill-advised claim of a public health
threat. He found he could not refute testimony from Macalloy's
scientific experts that chromium levels in shrimp and crab posed
no threat to the public, and he later ordered authorities to
remove a warning on the consumption of shrimp and crabs from the
creek.
The argument over whether the chromium levels are harmful was a
long-standing fight between Macalloy and environmental agencies.
"Depending on who you talk to, you're going to get a different
opinion," DHEC Spokesman Thom Berry said of the chromium debate.
Macalloy lost the battle in 1998 when the EPA and DHEC ordered
an initial cleanup. Macalloy representatives said the company
couldn't afford to continue operations and closed the plant.
In 2001, the environmental agencies ordered the more extensive
cleanup, and Macalloy agreed to pay $1.2 million in fines for
violating environmental laws.
That same year, the plant property was placed on the National
Priorities List and named a Superfund site, a designation that
means a site poses a threat to the environment and/or human
health. It provides for an accelerated study of contamination and
cleanup.
"Anytime you have a facility that is considered to be bad enough
to rate on the Superfund list, it's a good thing when the cleanup
gets under way and those issues can be addressed, even though
there may be no direct, imminent threat to people or the
environment," Berry said.
Macalloy was the last plant in America to convert ore into
ferrochromium. Today, much of the nation's supply comes from
South Africa and Kazakhstan, Nelson said.
Local developer Robert Clement III has secured an option to
purchase the Macalloy property and said he might develop the land
for industrial or port-related activities.
Nadine Parks covers North Charleston. Contact her at 745-5863 or
nparks@postandcourier.com.
Copyright 2004, The Post and Courier, All Rights Reserved.
webmaster@postandcourier.com [webmaster@postandcourier.com]
*****************************************************************
56 U.S. Newswire: DOE Officials To Testify Before Congressional Committees
www.usnewswire.com
7/2/2004 1:33:00 PM
To: Assignment Desk, Daybook Editor, Energy Reporter
Contact: Jeanne Lopatto, 202-586-4940, or Drew Malcomb,
202-586-5806, both of U.S. Dept. of Energy
News Advisory:
DOE Officials To Testify Before Congressional Committees
Officials from the Department of Energy (DOE) are scheduled to
testify before Congress next week as listed below:
--
Wednesday, July 7
WHO:
Energy Information Administration Administrator Guy F. Caruso and
Acting Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy Mark Maddox
WHAT:
Testimony on gas prices before the House Government Reform
Subcommittee on Energy Policy, Natural Resources and Regulatory
Affairs
WHERE:
Rayburn House Office Building (RHOB), Room 2154
WHEN:
Wednesday, July 7, 9:30 a.m.
--
Wednesday, July 7, 2004
WHO:
DOE Office of Advanced Scientific Computing Research Associate
Director C. Edward Oliver
WHAT:
Testimony on Federal Information Technology Research and
Development before the House Government Reform Subcommittee on
Technology, Information Policy, Intergovernmental Relations and
the Census
WHERE:
Rayburn House Office Building (RHOB), Room 2154
WHEN:
Wednesday, July 7, 1:30 p.m.
http://www.usnewswire.com/ [http://www.usnewswire.com/]
-0-
/ 2004 U.S. Newswire 202-347-2770/
*****************************************************************
57 [progchat_action] Fw: NASA SEEKS PUBLIC INPUT ON SPACE NUKES
Date: Sun, 4 Jul 2004 12:04:48 -0500 (CDT)
----- Original Message ----- From: Global Network To: Global Network
Against Weapons Sent: Wednesday, June 30, 2004 12:17 PM Subject:
NASA SEEKS PUBLIC INPUT ON SPACE NUKES PLAN
NASA SEEKS PUBLIC COMMENT ON EXPANDING SPACE NUKES PLAN
NASA, in cooperation with the Department of Energy (DoE), is seeking
public comment by July 30, 2004 on their plan to expand the development
and testing of nuclear powered devices called Radioisotope Power
Systems (RPSs) for space missions.
NASA is now preparing a major expansion of nuclear powered launches
to the outer planets and Mars.
a.. Radioactive fuel processing and fabrication would likely occur
at Los Alamos Nat'l Lab in New Mexico.
b.. Advanced RPS assembly and testing would likely be performed at
Argonne Nat'l Lab - West in Idaho Falls, ID.
c.. Additional safety testing of advanced RPS could be performed
at: Sandia Nat'l Lab (Albuquerque, NM) and Army Aberdeen Proving
Grounds (Aberdeen, MD).
d.. Activities associated with the development, testing, and
verification of the power conversion systems could be performed at:
NASA's Glenn Center (Cleveland, OH); Jet Propulsion Lab (Pasadena,
CA); Boeing Rocketdyne (Canoga Park, CA); Teledyne Energy Systems
(Hunt Valley, MD); Stirling Technology Corp (Kennewick, WA); and
Lockheed Martin (Valley Forge, PA).
e.. Eventual launch of these new nuclear space devices would be
performed at: Kennedy Space Center (Florida).
Please send your comments to NASA opposing this expanded program
of nuclear power in space by July 30, 2004. Comments from people
outside the U.S. are also encouraged.
Send comments to:
Dr. George Schmidt NASA HQ Office of Space Science, Code S Washington
DC 20546 rpseis@nasa.gov
Suggested comments:
1.. The increase in plutonium production for space missions at Los
Alamos laboratory, where DoE already has a bad health and safety
track record, will lead to more contaminated workers and groundwater.
2.. The expanded numbers of launches of nuclear devices, on rockets
with a historic 10% failure rate, guarantee an accident at some
point of catastrophic proportions.
3.. Alternative power sources for deep space missions could be
developed if NASA and the DoE put effort and investment into the
task.
4.. The Pentagon has long sought to institutionalize nuclear power
in space, which would then be available for military purposes.
Bruce K. Gagnon Coordinator Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear
Power in Space PO Box 652 Brunswick, ME 04011 (207) 729-0517 (207)
319-2017 (Cell Phone) http://www.space4peace.org globalnet@mindspring.com
*****************************************************************
58 Google News Alert - nuclear
Date: Sat, 03 Jul 2004 13:39:44 -0700 (PDT)
RUSSIA, S.Korea pledge cooperation on N.Korean nuclear standoff
Channel News Asia - Singapore
SEOUL : Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said North Korea should
get solid security assurances and aid in return for giving up its nuclear
weapons drive. ...
See all stories on this topic:
JAPAN Reconsiders Long-Term Nuclear Program
WPVI - Philadelphia,PA,USA
July 3, 2004 It was supposed to help revive Japan's troubled nuclear
program - and curb the country's heavy reliance on energy imports. ...
See all stories on this topic:
IRAN'S Nuclear Aspirations
Washington Post - Washington,DC,USA
"Failed Preemption" [editorial, June 18] said that Europe's diplomatic
attempt to "preempt" Iran's nuclear program "is proving feckless" in light
of Iran's ...
See all stories on this topic:
STABILISING nuclear regimes in South Asia
The Daily Star - Bangladesh
... On top of all these, when India and Pakistan became overtly nuclear
in 1998 the region teetered several times on the verge of a potential
nuclear confrontation ...
See all stories on this topic:
NUCLEAR Weapons in the Mideast
Arab News - Saudi Arabia
... We would be also stupid if it didnt occur to us that they were in
fact producing nuclear bombs by which they can threaten neighboring countries.
...
See all stories on this topic:
NUCLEAR regulatory board plans July 27 meeting on Diablo Canyon
San Luis Obispo Tribune - San Luis Obispo,CA,USA
Federal nuclear officials have scheduled a meeting in San Luis Obispo on
July 27 to discuss troubleshooting and employee performance problems at
Diablo Canyon ...
See all stories on this topic:
SEN. Melodie Peters to work for nuclear plant operator
WTNH - New Haven,CT,USA
... who served as co-chairwoman of the legislature's Energy and Technology
Committee is going to work for the operator of the Millstone nuclear power
station. ...
See all stories on this topic:
ALGERIA may be able to make nuclear bombs
Washington Times - Washington,DC,USA
Algiers, Algeria, Jul. 3 (UPI) -- Sources allege Algeria has acquired the
nuclear infrastructure that could be converted to produce bomb-grade plutonium.
...
PA.'S 5 nuclear power plants to be guarded over holiday
Philadelphia Inquirer (subscription) - Philadelphia,PA,USA
HARRISBURG - The Pennsylvania National Guard and the state police will
guard the state's five nuclear power plants around the clock at least
through ...
See all stories on this topic:
NUCLEAR security chief backs bunker-buster bomb
Pittsburgh Post Gazette - Pittsburgh,PA,USA
The best way to protect America from future Saddam Husseins is to build
a new nuclear warhead that can penetrate deep underground bunkers, the
head of the ...
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59 Google News Alert - nuclear
Date: Sun, 04 Jul 2004 13:59:55 -0700 (PDT)
FACTS and fears on Israel's suspected nuclear arms
Reuters AlertNet - London,England,UK
JERUSALEM, July 4 (Reuters) - The head of the UN nuclear watchdog visits
Israel this week and is expected to press for serious talks about ridding
the Middle ...
See all stories on this topic:
UK Seeks Further Iranian Nuclear Assurances
Radio Free Europe - Prague,Czech Republic
4 July 2004 -- British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw says Iran must do more
to convince the world it is not developing nuclear weapons. ...
See all stories on this topic:
INDIA tests nuclear capable missile
Utusan Malaysia Online - Malaysia
BHUBANESHWAR (India) July 4 - India on Sunday tested a short range nuclear
capable missile off the east coast, a defence official said, just weeks
after talks ...
See all stories on this topic:
ISRAELI Nuclear Agency Launches Website
Reuters - USA
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - The world got its first official but unrevealing
look inside Israel's top-secret Dimona nuclear complex on Sunday, courtesy
of a new ...
See all stories on this topic:
EUROPEAN'S nuclear deal with Iran "falling apart"
EUbusiness - London,UK
... last October when the foreign ministers of Britain, France and Germany
jetted into Tehran to bring Iran back from the brink of sparking a major
nuclear crisis. ...
See all stories on this topic:
BULGARIA Forms Special Nuclear Company
Novinite - Bulgaria
Units five and six of Bulgaria's nuclear power plant in Kozloduy, the construction
site and the power utilities of the country's second nuke in Belene will
be ...
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OFFICIALS: Vermont Nuclear Power Fire Started By Broken Part
Firehouse.com (subscription) - USA
RUTLAND, Vt. (AP) -- The fire that shut down the Vermont Yankee nuclear
plant last month was apparently unrelated to modifications made in preparation
for a ...
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BAN on Iran s nuclear programme
The New Nation - Bangladesh
... amid intense media speculation, on the International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA) to take action against Iran on account of its nuclear programme
presages US ...
SCANDAL surfaces as Japan reconsiders nuclear program
NapaNet Daily News - Napa,CA,USA
By KENJI HALL. TOKYO -- It was supposed to help revive Japan's troubled
nuclear program -- and curb the country's heavy reliance on energy imports.
...
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Green Left - Australia
The Coalition governments campaign to build a national nuclear waste
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60 [du-list] DU in the news -3rd July 04
Date: Sun, 04 Jul 2004 18:36:24 -0700
UPPER HOUSE ELECTION 2004 / Fukushima : Pension laws ignore ...
Daily Yomiuri - Tokyo,Japan
... idea of our policies if we offer more concrete proposals, such as providing
medical treatment to injured Iraqis in Japan or eliminating depleted uranium
shells ...
<http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/newse/20040704wo03.htm>
( News room contact -- dy@yomiuri.com )
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61 [du-list] DU search ranking - Yahoo cf. Google
Date: Sun, 04 Jul 2004 18:36:56 -0700
From..
http://www.yahoo-watch.org/cgi-bin/proxy.htm
by
http://www.google-watch.org/
Yahoo! Search Results for depleted uranium
(The red number is the Google rank if the page is in Google's top 100 for
the same search.)
1 1. Depleted
Uranium Education Project
"features reports and information regarding Depleted Uranium."
www.iacenter.org/depleted/du.htm
3 2. Depleted Uranium
"questions and answers about DU from Gulflink."
www.gulflink.osd.mil/faq_17apr.htm
7 3. Depleted
Uranium Page
"information from the Federation of American Scientists."
www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/land/du.htm
12 4. WHO: Depleted
uranium
"... 238U, 0.2% 235U and 0.001% 234U by mass; this is referred to as
depleted uranium or DU ... the scientific literature on uranium and
depleted uranium. Available at: http://www ..."
www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs257/en
9 5. Depleted
Uranium Watch
"features articles and links." www.stopnato.org.uk/du-watch
8 6. Depleted
Uranium: The Silver Bullet
"provides a background on the use of DU in weapons during the 1990s."
www.tv.cbc.ca/national/pgminfo/du
22 7. NATO:
Depleted Uranium
"text of a NATO report." www.nato.int/du/home.htm
30 8. Traprock Peace
Center
"... Gulf War Casualties and 'Depleted' Uranium: An Educational Campaign
... a Vietnam and Gulf War Vet and an expert on 'depleted uranium.' He
headed the US Army's DU Project after he ..."
www.traprockpeace.org/depleteduranium.html
19 9. Depleted
Uranium
"Have we been DUP'd to think Depleted Uranium Penetrators (DUPs) are
acceptable weapons of war? UN Scientists Complete Survey of Radioactive
Kosovo Bomb Sites. Letter from Ministry of the Environment, Finland. ( PDF)
... Survey Work Plan for Depleted Uranium Penetrators, Vieques Naval Target
Range, Live ..." www.miltoxproj.org/DU/DU_Titlepage/DU_Titlepage.htm
5 10. Campaign Against
Depleted Uranium
"features potential health effects of DU, history of its use, and
information about the manufacturing and testing of DU in Britain."
www.cadu.org.uk/
2 11. Depleted
Uranium: How the Pentagon
Radiates Soldiers & Civilians with DU Weapons
"Depleted Uranium. How the Pentagon Radiates Soldiers & Civilians with DU
Weapons. Second Edition. Selections compiled and edited by the Depleted
Uranium Education Project. International Action Center. New York City"
www.iacenter.org/depleted/mettoc.htm
12. Untitled Document
"DEPLETED URANIUM FACT SHEET. What is depleted uranium? Depleted uranium is
what is left over when most of the highly radioactive types (isotopes) of
uranium are removed for use as nuclear fuel or nuclear weapons."
www.gulflink.osd.mil/du/du_factsheet_4aug98.html
21 13. WISE
Uranium Project
"information on uranium and its uses and hazards." www.antenna.nl/wise/uranium
39 14.
ABCNEWS.com
: How Secure Are U.S. Borders?
"An ABCNEWS investigation that uncovered security holes at U.S. ports
prompts a federal inquiry. ... It was carrying about 15 pounds of depleted
uranium that went undetected ... Border Breach?Customs Fails to Detect
Depleted Uranium Again. Sept. 10 ..."
abcnews.go.com/sections/wnt/Primetime/sept11_uranium030910.html
32 15.
Weapons
of American Terrorism: Depleted
Uranium
"The truth about American international terrorism and depleted uranium
weapons radiation. Page includes reviews of a book and video about this
genetically damaging weapon. ... on the deadly effects of depleted uranium
radiation. The Weapons of American Terrorism ... Radioactive depleted
uranium (DU) is 1.7 times heavier than lead ..."
free.freespeech.org/americanstateterrorism/weapons/DepletedUranium.html
38 16. US Forces' Use
of Depleted Uranium
Weapons is 'Illegal'
"Printer Friendly VersionE-Mail This Article. Published on Sunday, March
30, 2003 by The Sunday Herald ( Scotland) US Forces' Use of Depleted
Uranium Weapons is 'Illegal' by Neil Mackay ... BRITISH and American
coalition forces are using depleted uranium (DU) shells in the war against
Iraq and deliberately ..." www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0330-02.htm
35 17.
www.BringThemHomeNow.org
"... British forces shot ammo made from Depleted Uranium (DU), a
radioactive and toxic waste that ... Iraq, American and British tanks fired
thousands of depleted uranium armor penetrators ..."
www.bringthemhomenow.org/stand/du.html
18. Subject: UN Wire
"National Network to End the War Against Iraq. Depleted Uranium. 1.
Depleted Uranium: Huge Quantities of Dangerous Waste ( excerpt), Dr. Michio
Kaku, ... The use of depleted uranium for military purposes is a deplorable
development that, if ..." www.ccmep.org/hotnews/du.html
33 19. DEPLETED URANIUM
BURNING: AN ETERNAL MEDICAL DISASTER Issues on the Use and Effects of
Depleted Uranium Weapons
"Nato and Depleted Uranium Hazard : The unbelievable truthfull story :
Kosova / Yugoslavi / Iraq / Netherlands / UK ... 'DEPLETED' URANIUM
BURNING: AN E T E R N A L MEDICAL DISASTER ... March 2003 By Elliot Borin.
Depleted Uranium and Natural Uranium in Afghanistan Wed, 05 Mar 2003 ..."
www.xs4all.nl/~stgvisie/ud_main.html
20. Current Issues - Depleted
Uranium Weapons
"Current Issues - Depleted Uranium Weapons. ( last updated 27 Apr 2004)
Contents: Twin Cities Army Ammunition Plant, Arden Hills, Minnesota. Iowa
Army Ammunition Plant (IAAAP), Middletown, Des Moines County, Iowa. Former
National Lead Inc. ... New paper by Dan Fahey addresses unresolved issues
regarding depleted uranium and veterans' health ..."
www.antenna.nl/wise/uranium/diss.html
84 21. Yahoo! News
Full Coverage - World - Depleted
Uranium Controversy
"Wed, Jun 23, 2004. Search. All News. Yahoo! News Only. News Photos.
Audio/Video. for. Related Full Coverage - NATO - Kosovo - Bosnia and
Herzegovina. more. News Sources - Yahoo! News Search - BBC: Depleted
Uranium. Opinion & Editorials -" dailynews.yahoo.com/fc/World/Depleted_Uranium
22. New Scientist | Depleted
Uranium
"... Climate Change. Cloning. Depleted Uranium. DNA. Environment. GM Food
... 03/06/2003) Depleted uranium casts shadow over peace in Iraq ..."
www.newscientist.com/hottopics/du
47 23. Depleted
Uranium
"Depleted Uranium,Resources and Information on Depleted Uranium: Military,
Environmental, and Human Health Effects ... from Uranium Munitions U.S.
NUCLEAR POLICY AND DEPLETED URANIUMUranium Weapons Conference 2003UMRC ...
cancer rise on depleted uranium shellsIEERUranium FactsheetInternational
Atomic ..." www.thefourreasons.org/duresources.htm
41 24. Iraqi
cancers, birth defects blamed on U.S. depleted
uranium
"... sent mixed signals about the effects of depleted uranium, Iraqi
doctors believe that it is responsible ... organizations, agree; they also
suspect depleted uranium of playing a role in ..."
seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/95178_du12.shtml
25. FAQ - Depleted
Uranium
"Medical FAQs. Operational FAQs. Awards & Certificates. Depleted Uranium.
DeploymentLINK. General. Khamisiyah. NBC Warfare. Support Our Troops.
Depleted Uranium FAQ. Q. What is depleted uranium? ... A. Depleted uranium
is what is left over when most of the highly radioactive types (isotopes)
of ..." www.deploymentlink.osd.mil/faq/du_faq.shtml
44 26. Depleted
Uranium Information Page
"... to the Deployment Health Support Directorate's Depleted Uranium
Information Library, a gateway to primary ... to the military use of
depleted uranium and its possible health effects ..."
www.deploymentlink.osd.mil/du_library
73 27. Depleted
Uranium
"... Depleted Uranium. Note From Webmaster: Due to the nature and volume of
the data, all text files ... Ask for Coverage of 'Depleted Uranium' Story.
03' Media needs to cover ..." www.gulfwarvets.com/du.htm
26 28. Gulf War Veterans and Depleted
Uranium
"Gulf War Veterans and Depleted Uranium. Prepared for the. Hague Peace
Conference, May 1999. By Dr. Rosalie Bertell, Ph.D., G.N.S.H. Source of
Exposure: ... of killing most personnel in the vehicle. Depleted uranium
was used extensively in place of tungsten for ordnance ..."
www.ccnr.org/du_hague.html
10 29.
BBC
News:
Depleted
Uranium
"offers links to articles, reports, and analysis."
news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/in_depth/europe/2001/depleted_uranium/default.stm
23 30. Depleted
Uranium and Health: The
Implications For Iraq
"text of a 1999 report." www.rimbaud.freeserve.co.uk/dhap99f.html
45 31. DEPLETED URANIUM,
Bijlmervliegramp, Kosovo, Bosnia, Iraq Verarmd
Uranium Bijlmerramp,
Parlementaire Enquete, Stichting Visie...
"Nato and Depleted Uranium Hazard : The unbelievable truthfull story :
Kosova / Yugoslavi / Iraq / Netherlands / UK ... BURNING 'DEPLETED'
URANIUM: A MEDICAL DISASTER ... The effects of using depleted uranium by
the allied forces on men and the biosphere in selected regions of the
southern ..." www.web-light.nl/VISIE/ud_main.html
32.
WHO:
Depleted
Uranium
"... of the enriched fraction is referred to as depleted uranium (DU). DU
is weakly radioactive and a radiation ... WHO Guidance on Exposure to
Depleted Uranium published in 2001 (WHO/SDE ..."
www.who.int/environmental_information/radiation/depleted_uranium.htm
31 33. Depleted
Uranium weapons 2001-2002
"Health and safety hazards in Afghanistan due to reported and suspected
Depleted Uranium weapons used since October 2001. Investigation into
suspected use of DU in hard target guided weapons and ... Page updated 13
October 2002. Depleted Uranium weapons in 2001-2002 ... when first reports
of the UNEP Balkans Depleted Uranium (DU) survey included strange anomalies
- too little ..." www.eoslifework.co.uk/du2012.htm
51 34. Depleted
Uranium
"In a novel method of waste disposal, depleted uranium is being given away
free to arms manufacturers for use in armour and munitions. Depleted
uranium is a prime candidate for Gulf War Syndrome. ... misled by the term
'depleted uranium'. Like spent fuel' from civilian reactors, depleted
uranium is highly toxic and ..." www.heureka.clara.net/gaia/du.htm
35. Depleted
Uranium
"DEPLETED URANIUM. A POST-WAR DISASTER. FOR. ENVIRONMENT AND HEALTH. With
contributions of: Felicity Arbuthnot Rosalie Bertell Ray Bristow
Peter Diehl . Dan Fahey Henk van der Keur Daniel Robicheau. Preface
... Laka decided to make a brochure about the use of depleted uranium in
conventional weaponry and its consequences ..."
www.ratical.com/radiation/dhap/dhap99f.html
53 36.
DoD News:
Briefing on Depleted
Uranium
"... Today's briefing is on depleted uranium. Depleted uranium is something
that I think we haze not done a ... sure that everybody understands what
depleted uranium is and what it isn't ..."
www.defenselink.mil/news/Mar2003/t03142003_t314depu.html
37. Guardian Unlimited:
Depleted Uranium
"special report of the effects of depleted uranium on Gulf War and Balkans
veterans." www.guardian.co.uk/uranium
38. Depleted
Uranium: A Post-War
Disaster, Part 2
"... DEPLETED URANIUM. A POST-WAR DISASTER FOR ENVIRONMENT AND HEALTH ...
and British forces introduced armor-piercing ammunition made of depleted
uranium, a radioactive and toxic waste ..."
www.ratical.com/radiation/dhap/dhap992.html
39. AlterNet: Weapon of
Mass Deception
"Frida Berrigan: What the Pentagon doesn't want us to know about depleted
uranium. ... To keep depleted uranium at the top of its weapons list, the
Pentagon has distorted research that demonstrates ... study in 1999
revealing that depleted uranium can stay in the lungs ..."
www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=16272
40. Depleted
Uranium: A
Post-War Disaster For Environment And Health
"... NEWS YOU WON'T FIND ON CNN. Depleted Uranium: A Post-War Disaster For
Environment And Health ... brochure about the use of depleted uranium in
conventional weaponry and its consequences ..."
informationclearinghouse.literati.org/article4406.htm
93 41. Depleted
Uranium
"United Nations site about Depleted Uranium - information to all UN
personnel and relevant links ... Depleted Uranium: Sources, Exposure and
Health Effects. Report on Depleted Uranium - Mission to Kosovo ..."
www.un.org/peace/kosovo/DU
42.
Guardian
Unlimited | Special reports | Depleted
uranium
"... Depleted uranium is nearly two-and-a-half times more dense than steel
and more than one-and-a-half ... 2ft-long missile tipped with depleted
uranium and weighing just under 5kg ..."
www.guardian.co.uk/uranium/story/0%2C7369%2C943633%2C00.html
43. The Depleted
Uranium Zone
"The Depleted Uranium Zone, Desert Storm. Photo Review. Kyne Family
Member/Desert Storm Vet and. Senior NCO "E-7" photo gallery. Dennis Spoke
to the World Uranium Weapons Conference. at the University of Hamburg,
Germany which brought together ... The most updated and incredible coverage
of Depleted Uranium can be found at ..." www.denniskyne.com/
44. The Weapon We Gave Iraq
"... whom still suffer from serious health problems that they believe
resulted from exposure to depleted uranium. ... went home after being
exposed to depleted uranium. Iraq has lived with ..."
www.commondreams.org/views03/0217-07.htm
45.
Depleted
Uranium:
The Invisible Threat
"... NATO used depleted uranium munitions in Kosovo. Now, critics are
concerned that DU ... But there's another potential problem: depleted
uranium (DU). The Pentagon has confirmed ..."
www.mojones.com/total_coverage/kosovo/reality_check/du.html
6 46. Campaign Against Depleted
Uranium
"What is Depleted Uranium? The misnamed 'Depleted' Uranium is left after
enriched uranium is separated from natural uranium in order to produce fuel
for nuclear reactors. ... is 99.8% uranium 238 is misleadingly called
'depleted uranium'. While the term 'depleted' implies it ..."
www.cadu.org.uk/intro.htm
89 47.
DEPLETED
URANIUM:
"DEPLETED URANIUM: DEAD CHILDREN, SICK SOLDIERS. The proliferation of D.U.
arms has sparked concern at the United Nations. Last August, Margaret
Papandreou, the former first lady of Greece, led a delegation to the U.N.
... language calling for a prohibition on the use of depleted uranium; only
the U.S. representative voted against it ..."
southmovement.alphalink.com.au/antiwar/depleted.htm
48. Sick
of Doctors .com The Healing Truth about modern medicine
"The Healing Truth about modern medicine. Don't become a medical death
statistic. Protect yourself with our independent news. ... URL
http://www.sickofdoctors.addr.com/articles/depleted_uranium.htm. THIS PAGE
WILL BE UPDATED SOON - CHECK BACK ... When they said that. depleted uranium
was. the US empire's weapon ..."
www.sickofdoctors.addr.com/articles/depleted_uranium.htm
49. Howard Fienberg:
Depleted uranium in San
Antonio Express-News
"The majority of evidence shows depleted uranium a weapon more effective,
but no more dangerous, than most other instruments of destruction. ... We
are up in arms over depleted uranium munitions. The U.N ... confirmed that
the United States used as many as 31,000 depleted uranium rounds during the
Kosovo conflict ..." www.hfienberg.com/clips/du-expnews.htm
40 50.
ABCNEWS.com
: Customs Fails to Detect Depleted
Uranium
"As part of an ABCNEWS investigation, a suitcase containing 15 pounds of
depleted uranium, shielded by a steel pipe with a lead lining, traveled
through seven countries without being detected. ... train, carrying a
suitcase packed with 15 pounds of depleted uranium. The suitcase was never
inspected ... Borders?Customs Fails to Detect Depleted Uranium Carried From
Europe to U.S. ..."
abcnews.go.com/sections/wnt/DailyNews/sept11_uranium020911.html
51.
NM-DUST
Depleted
Uranium
from www.PeaceAware.com
"... PeaceAware's NM-Depleted Uranium Study Team. Click Left Cursor Button
... View our Depleted Uranium Video - Boje's Call for NM-Dust Chapter;
Damacio Lopez - Part I of Presentation on DU ..."
www.zianet.com/boje/peace/documents/depleted_uranium.htm
57 52. Depleted
uranium soils battlefields:
Report assesses chemical effects of Gulf war weapon.
"... Depleted uranium left from US air strikes on Sarajevo. ... Depleted
uranium in weapons may have left some soldiers with kidney damage and could
cause long-term environmental ..." www.nature.com/nsu/020311/020311-2.html
62 53. Depleted
Uranium: Australia's role
"People Recently in Gaoled. 2. Uranium Mined. 3. Shipped Overseas. 4.
Enriched and Depleted Uranium Formed. 5. Storage of Depleted Uranium. 6.
Depleted of Radioactivity? 7. How Radioactive is Depleted Uranium? 8. Uses
of Depleted Uranium. 9." www.geocities.com/pwdyson/du1.html
29 54. Depleted
Uranium
"MOD Home Page / Defence Issues / Health & Safety / Depleted Uranium. About
Us. Agencies & Organisations. Careers in Defence. Consultations. Contacts.
Defence Issues. Acquisition & Procurement. Defence Estate. Doctrine &
Operations. Finance ... Defence Medical Services. Depleted Uranium.
Biological Monitoring Policy. Consultation ..."
www.mod.uk/issues/depleted_uranium
69 55. CITIZEN SOLDIER
Depleted Uranium
"... The Army began arming tank, artillery and machine gun shells with
depleted uranium in the 1980s ... target, up to 70% of the depleted uranium
vaporizes into fine dust, which then ..."
www.citizen-soldier.org/CS09-uranium.html
100 56.
Depleted
Uranium
(PDF)
"... DepletedUraniumThe following information will help you to become
familiar with depleted uranium and how it ... your health.What is depleted
uranium?Depleted uranium (DU) is a dense ..."
chppm-www.apgea.army.mil/usachppmresources/DepletedUraniumTwoPagesFinalVersionWPI.pdf
57.
Uranium
Medical Research Centre
"Basics about Uranium and Depleted Uranium (DU) and Its Impact on Human
Health. Uranium. Depleted Uranium (DU) and DU Weapons. Radiation and Its
Effects on the Human Body. Uranium" www.umrc.net/duBasics.asp
42 58. Use of
depleted uranium
weapons lingers as health concern
"... experts and laymen alike generally agree that depleted uranium, which
is toxic as well as radioactive, is ... Iraqi physicians and others blame
depleted uranium weapons used in the 1991 ..."
seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/133581_du04.html
59. DoS International
Information Programs - Depleted
Uranium
"... 06 March 2001 - EC report on depleted uranium. 01 February 2001 - WHO
team finds no DU link to ... 2001 - NATO COMED Chairman's statement on
depleted uranium. 16 January 2001 - NATO ..."
usinfo.state.gov/regional/eur/du.htm
60. NucNews - Depleted
Uranium
"... Depleted Uranium Keeps On Killing ... A-10 Warthogs" in Iraq and
Yugoslavia was made of Depleted Uranium. It leaves radioactive particles in
the air, water ..." www.prop1.org/2000/du/dulv.htm
61. THE DEPLETED
URANIUM COVER-UP
"The Depleted Uranium. Cover-up. By Michelle Mairesse. From 1962 until
1971, the American. military sprayed 11 million gallons of a dioxin-based
defoliant, Agent Orange, in South Vietnam. ... Government officials
insisted that the use of depleted uranium in missiles, shells, bullets, and
armor plating did not ..." www.hermes-press.com/depluran.htm
62. NATO Information: Depleted
Uranium
"... Depleted Uranium in Bosnia and Herzegovina Post-Conflict Environmental
Assessment ... UNEP samples from depleted uranium sites in Kosovo now being
analysed in five laboratories ..." www.nato.int/du/reldocs.htm
63. NPR :
Depleted Uranium
"... The heavy metal known as depleted uranium (DU) is a component of
ammunitions that was used, among other ... look at the case for and against
using depleted uranium in weapons ..."
discover.npr.org/features/feature.jhtml?wfId=1236241
64. IraqJournal.org
"... DEPLETED URANIUM MUNITIONS - A WEAPON OF MASS DESTRUCTION ... 2003,
"British and American coalition forces are using depleted uranium (DU)
shells in the war against Iraq and ..."
www.iraqjournal.org/journals/030330.html
65. Asia Times
"... triggered alarm among environmentalists around the world: depleted
uranium. In the 1991 Gulf War, the ... its formidable capacities in war,
depleted uranium is also blamed for frightful ..."
www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/EC27Ak01.html
66. Depleted
Uranium (PDF)
"Depleted UraniumDuring the wars against Iraq in 1991 and 2003 and. recent
conflicts in Afghanistan and Kosovo, the United. States and United Kingdom
have used weapons made. of depleted uranium (DU). In the 2003 conflict in
Iraq," www.vicpeace.org/fact-sheets/nukefact4.01.pdf
11 67. BBC NEWS | In
Depth | US to use depleted
uranium
"A US defence official says moves to ban DU uranium ammunition are just an
attempt by America's enemies to blunt its military might. ... US to use
depleted uranium. A United States defence official has said moves to ban
depleted uranium ammunition are just an attempt ..."
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/2860759.stm
68. Collusion E-zine - Depleted
Uranium
"The electronics enthusiast group of Austin, Texas. ... What is Depleted
Uranium? Depleted Uranium (DU), a waste product of the nuclear industries,
is "about 60 ... to its incredible density. " Depleted uranium is twice as
heavy as lead ..." www.collusion.org/Article.cfm?ID=51
69. IDUST
"... To bring about a total ban on weapons that contain depleted uranium.
... This site is an archival reference resource for information on Depleted
Uranium with frequent updates ..." www.idust.net/
70. Depleted
Uranium
"... The misnamed 'depleted' uranium is left after enriched uranium is
separated ... is 99.8% uranium 238 is misleadingly called 'depleted
uranium'. While the term 'depleted' implies it ..."
www.synergynet.co.uk/sheffield-iraq/articles/du.htm
71. Depleted
Uranium Keeps On Killing
"... Depleted Uranium Keeps On Killing ... carried by "A-10 Warthogs" in
Yugoslavia was made of Depleted Uranium. It leaves radioactive particles in
the air, water ..." www.prop1.org/2000/du/du.htm
72. Depleted
Uranium: The Stone Unturned
"... Depleted Uranium. The Stone Unturned ... use and implications of
weapons containing depleted uranium. Depleted uranium is a radioactive and
chemically toxic ..." www.rimbaud.freeserve.co.uk/du01.htm
73. Canada's Nuclear Industry and the Myth
of the Peaceful Atom (4)
"... by Canada is discarded as "depleted uranium" mostly uranium-238, with
very little uranium-235 ... safeguards agreements, nor are stocks of
depleted uranium ( usually stored at the ..." www.ccnr.org/myth_4.html
70 74. Disaster
News Network: Depleted
uranium: war hazard?
"no snippet" www.disasternews.net/news/news.php?articleid=1687
75. Depleted
uranium
"Depleted uranium. See also: NATO bombing of Yugoslavia and its aftermath.
TV Not Concerned by Cluster Bombs or DU - "That's just the way life is in
Iraq", FAIR, 6 May 2003. Gulf War Syndrome soldier wins claim, Robert
Verkaik, 6 May 2003 ... When the dust settles: depleted uranium may be far
more dangerous than previously thought - and we could be ..."
www.converge.org.nz/pma/du.htm
76. ENN News Story -
Watchdog urges depleted
uranium cleanup in Iraq
"A nuclear arms watchdog group, warning of possible health risks to Iraqi
civilians, urged the United States and Britain Thursday to clean up the
remnants of depleted uranium antitank shells used ... Watchdog urges
depleted uranium cleanup in Iraq. Friday, May 30, 2003By Irwin Arieff,
Reuters ..." www.enn.com/news/2003-05-30/s_4656.asp
77. Ongoing
consequences of the Gulf War: Casualties increase from use of depleted
uranium
"... The terrible environmental impact of the depleted uranium used by the
United States on the tips of anti ... estimated 944,000 rounds of Depleted
Uranium (DU) ammunition in Iraq and ..."
www.wsws.org/articles/1999/sep1999/gulf-s08.shtml
78. A Treatise on Military Weapons
Containing the Radioactive Material: Depleted
Uranium | TamaraJournal.com pre-publication
"... on Military Weapons Containing the RadioactiveMaterial: Depleted
Uranium." As journal editor I made the ... know the risks of Depleted
(Enriched) Uranium weaponry on human body and ..." web.nmsu.edu/~dboje/Tamara
79.
Depleted
Uranium
Munitions
"... closely following the debate on munitions containing depleted uranium.
Questions such as the possible effects on health of depleted uranium,
precautions to be taken by ..."
www.icrc.org/Web/eng/siteeng0.nsf/iwpList136/3105566F330BC2ECC1256B66005F8843
80. Depleted
Uranium Program
"Public Health Home Page. About Us. Organization. Strategic Business Plan.
News & Events. Programs. Publications. Senior Staff Bios. Useful Links.
Depleted Uranium Follow-Up Program ... Depleted uranium (DU) is a
by-product of the uranium enrichment process; it possesses less U-235 and
about ... in vehicles when struck by depleted uranium projectiles. DU is a
radiation ..." www.vethealth.cio.med.va.gov/DUProgram.htm
81. Reports and
findings of Depleted
Uranium
"... BURNING 'DEPLETED' URANIUM: AN ENDLESS MEDICAL DISASTER. Issues on the
Use and Effects of Depleted Uranium Weapons ..."
www.robert-fisk.com/depleted_uranium_links.htm
82. MM
January/February 1996
"... of the bullets, made of radioactive "depleted uranium" (DU), sliced
through the armor of ... The term "depleted uranium" is misleading,
however, because this material, which contains ..."
www.essential.org/monitor/hyper/mm0196.04.html
83. Venik's
Aviation
"... The Boeing 747 airliner is one of many passenger/cargo aircraft to use
depleted uranium as ballast ... 86 is known to contain depleted uranium as
ballast in the tail section ..."
www.aeronautics.ru/archive/du-watch/us_gov_about_du.htm
84. Workers World: Ban depleted
uranium
"... The fight to ban. depleted uranium. Book exposes Pentagon's contempt
for troops ... Pentagon relies on as the main raw material for its
penetrator shells and bullets: depleted uranium. ..." www.workers.org/du
85. berrigan
"Americans Speak Truth To Power. TRIAL IN MARYLAND MARCH 20, 2000.
Plowshares vs Depleted Uranium. On December 19, 1999, four Americans -
Philip Berrigan, Susan Crane, Rev. ... since 1991 - the harvest of American
sanctions and Depleted Uranium. No trial, despite the deaths of ... them
uninformed about the deadliness of Depleted Uranium. No trial, despite the
..." www.geocities.com/mothersalert/berrigan.html
80 86. THE FIRE THIS TIME - DEPLETED
URANIUM MAIN PAGE
"no snippet" www.firethistime.org/du.htm
16 87. Discounted
Casualties - The Human Cost of
Depleted Uranium
"profiles the impact of depleted uranium."
www.chugoku-np.co.jp/abom/uran/index_e.html
88. Swans Commentary:
Depleted Uranium or
Depleted Conscience?, by
Jeff Lindemyer - jlind004
"A review of the use of and effects from Depleted Uranium, from WWII to
Afghanistan. ... say those who used the infamous depleted uranium have a
depleted conscience." ( 1)While Kostunica's comments ... directed at NATO's
use of depleted uranium in Yugoslavia, they also apply ..."
www.swans.com/library/art7/jlind004.html
89. Traprock Peace Center
"... Doug Rokke blew the whistle on 'depleted' uranium in Australia. He
brought the message to national TV ... then started its national US tour on
'depleted uranium' with Doug Rokke ..." www.traprockpeace.org/
60 90.
Uranium & DU
"Uranium and Depleted Uranium. Nuclear Issues Briefing Paper # 53. April
2004. The basic fuel for a nuclear power reactor is uranium - a very heavy
metal containing abundant concentrated energy. ... and occurs naturally in
the Earth's crust. Depleted uranium is a by-product or waste product of
uranium enrichment ..." www.uic.com.au/nip53.htm
91. FAIR MEDIA ADVISORY:
Depleted Coverage of NATO's Depleted
Uranium Weapons
"Concern has been mounting rapidly throughout Europe over the effects of
depleted uranium (DU) munitions used by NATO in Bosnia and Yugoslavia
during the 1994-95 and 1999 wars. At least 12 soldiers..."
www.fair.org/press-releases/nato-du.html
92. BUSH AND BLAIR ARE KILLING OUR
OWN US-UK TROOPS
"Experts estimate the UK and US have used 1,100 TO 2,200 tons of
armour-piercing shells made of Depleted Uranium during the Iraqi war. THESE
THINGS ARE DIRTY BOMBS, the sort of devices Bush and ..."
www.u-r-next.com/DUdeaths.htm
99 93. U.S.
Military DU Movie
"... and December 1995, the U.S. Army's Depleted Uranium (DU) Project
completed a series of training videos and manuals about depleted uranium
munitions. This training regimen was ..."
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article3581.htm
94. bmj.com McDiarmid 322
(7279): 123
"... Depleted uranium, used in anti-tank weapons, provides a common thread
that links ... health effects of depleteduranium. Depleted uranium is
derived from natural uranium mined from ..."
www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/322/7279/123
95. The National
Online - Silver Bullet: Depleted
Uranium
"Silver Bullet: Depleted Uranium. Links. Media. The Nation - The Gulf War's
New Casualties - 07/14/97. Article from the Nation, in July 1997 on after
effects of use of depleted uranium. Includes interview with Doug Rokke. ...
1996 article on depleted uranium and its use by US and other ..."
www.tv.cbc.ca/national/pgminfo/du/links.html
96. News & Analysis: 'Shock and
awe': The Pentagon's fiery crucibles of war
"Electronic Iraq is a news portal on the US-Iraq conflict with a
humanitarian basis. ... 10 times the amount of depleted uranium? Today more
than 400 tons of depleted uranium dust and fragments are left ..."
electroniciraq.net/news/482.shtml
97.
EducationGuardian.co.uk
| higher news | Scientists urge shell clear-up to protect civilians
"... Royal Society spells out dangers of depleted uranium. Paul Brown,
environment correspondent ... Hundreds of tonnes of depleted uranium used
by Britain and the United States in Iraq ..."
education.guardian.co.uk/higher/news/story/0%2C9830%2C938521%2C00.html
98. Depleted
Uranium Kills
"... Depleted uranium': A tale of poisonous denial ... NATO agrees to talks
on use of depleted uranium in Balkans ..." www.balkanpeace.org/temp/tmp08.html
99. Impearls
"no snippet" impearls.blogspot.com/2003_08_10_impearls_archive.html
100. Afghanistan, Irag and
Depleted Uranium : LA IMC
"no snippet" la.indymedia.org/news/2003/05/60556.php
Three categories of links are counted and their rankings compared. The
first are those with a yahoo.com/click near the front. The second have
MI=ic (Index Connect/Site Match Xchange) in the main redirect (this
redirect is not shown). The third are links with MI=sitematch. The first
category is a mixture, while the last two are PFI+CPC. Each of these three
is compared to links that are not of that type, and its average rankings
calculated.
/click counted = 20548 Average /click rank = 38.74 non-/click counted =
753564 Average non-/click rank = 49.86
MI=ic counted = 12786 Average MI=ic rank = 37.96 non-MI=ic counted =
761229 Average non-MI=ic rank = 49.77
MI=sitematch counted = 575 Average rank = 43.64 non-MI=sitematch counted
= 773440 Average rank = 49.57
Counters were last reset on June 12, 2004
These Google results are missing from Yahoo's top 100:
Divergence: The extent to which Yahoo and Google show different results. It
is the percentage of total Google links for a top 100 search that do not
appear in the same search for Yahoo's top 100. (This measurement implies
nothing about the quality of Yahoo or Google searches.) This search is
55.0, while the cumulative average is 84.7.
4. Environmental Exposure Report
"Environmental Exposure Report. Depleted Uranium in the Gulf (II). ... V.
E. I. OVERVIEW. V. E. II. METHODOLOGY. V. E. III. DEPLETED URANIUM -- A
SHORT COURSE. III. ... " www.gulflink.osd.mil/du_ii/
13. WHO: Depleted
Uranium
" ... Depleted Uranium. Uranium ... The uranium remaining after removal of
the enriched fraction is referred to as depleted uranium (DU). DU ... "
www.who.int/ionizing_radiation/env/du/en/
14.
www.csmonitor.com/atcsmonitor/specials/uranium/
"" www.csmonitor.com/atcsmonitor/specials/uranium/
15. Remains of toxic
bullets litter Iraq | csmonitor.com
" ... SITES: Monitor correspondent Scott Peterson uses a radiation detector
to test contamination levels of an Iraqi tank destroyed by US depleted
uranium bullets. ... " www.csmonitor.com/2003/0515/p01s02-woiq.html
17. US forces' use of depleted uranium
weapons is 'illegal' - [Sunday ...
" ... US forces' use of depleted uranium weapons is 'illegal'. By Neil
Mackay, Investigations Editor. BRITISH and American coalition forces ... "
www.sundayherald.com/32522
18. WHO suppressed scientific study
into depleted uranium cancer ...
" ... WHO suppressed scientific study into depleted uranium cancer fears
in Iraq. Radiation experts warn in unpublished report that ... "
www.sundayherald.com/40096
20. Bibliography: Military
Use of Depleted Uranium (DU)
"Bibliography: Military Use of Depleted Uranium (DU). ... Search US DOE
Reports Bibliographic Database for "depleted uranium" external link (1994
to present) ... " www.antenna.nl/wise/uranium/dlit.html
24. Depleted UF6 Management
Information Network - A resource for the
...
" ... Information Network Web Site is an online repository of information
about the US Department of Energy's (DOE's) inventory of depleted uranium
hexafluoride (DUF ... " www.ead.anl.gov/uranium.html
25.
Depleted
UF6 Site Moved
"The Depleted UF6 Management Information Network web site has permanently
moved to: http://web.ead.anl.gov/uranium/ If you are not automatically
transferred to ... " www.ead.anl.gov/~web/newduf6/
27. Gulf War Syndrome and Depleted
Uranium: Dr. Rosalie Bertell
"Gulf War Syndrome, Depleted Uranium and the Dangers of Low-Level
Radiation. ... Depleted uranium was used for the first time in this war.
... " www.ccnr.org/bertell_book.html
28. Kairos Theatre Presents a Play
for Peace
"Kairos Theatre--Touring plays about Peace and Social Justice. A Clown, A
Hammer, A Bomb, And God (a Disarmingly Simple Play). On the ... "
www.users.interport.net/~danmk/
34. WHAT IS
DEPLETED URANIUM?
"Homepage WHAT IS DEPLETED URANIUM? Depleted uranium is a waste obtained
from producing fuel for nuclear reactors and atomic bombs. ... "
www.xs4all.nl/~stgvisie/VISIE/depleted_uranium1.html
36. POISONOUS LEGACY
"" www.bushflash.com/pl_lo.html
37. Maine Judge
Sentences Depleted Uranium Activists To 1-Year in
...
"Maine Judge Sentences Depleted Uranium Activists To 1-Year in Prison. by
David Sharp. ... perhaps the most assiduous is DU depleted uranium,''
Berrigan said. ... " www.commondreams.org/headlines01/0202-03.htm
43. New Scientist
" ... Service. Depleted uranium casts shadow over peace in Iraq. 19:00 15
April 03. ... Depleted uranium may stop kidneys 'in days' 13 March 2002.
Depleted ... " www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99993627
46. GULF WAR
SYNDROME BIRTH DEFECTS IN IRAQ EXTREME BIRTH DEFORMITIES
...
" ... refuses to permit Iraq to import the clean-up equipment that they
desperately need to decontaminate their country of the Depleted Uranium
ammunition that the ... " www.web-light.nl/VISIE/extremedeformities.html
48. Issues
"Issue: Depleted Uranium Weapons. What is Depleted Uranium: ... 10/04/1999.
Detection of depleted uranium in biological samples from Gulf War veterans.
... " www.ngwrc.org/Issues.cfm?NewsTopicID=8
49.
Depleted
Uranium:
The Invisible Threat
"NATO used depleted uranium munitions in Kosovo. ... Depleted Uranium: The
Invisible Threat. NATO used depleted uranium munitions in Kosovo. ... "
www.motherjones.com/news/special_reports/total_coverage/kosovo/reality_check/du.html
50. Democracy
Now! | Broadcast Exclusive: US Soldiers Contaminated
...
" ... Monday, April 5th, 2004 Broadcast Exclusive: US Soldiers Contaminated
With Depleted Uranium Speak Out Listen to: Segment || Show Watch 128k
stream Watch 256k ... " www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/04/05/1356248
52.
foto8
- Iraq, Depleted
Uranium
by JB.Russell p1/9
"Iraq: A Depleted Generation. Photographs and text by JB Russell, ... "
www.foto8.com/issue10/reportage/JBRussell/iraquranium01.html
54. Nat'l Academies Press: Gulf War
and Health: Volume 1. Depleted ...
" ... Gulf War and Health: Volume 1. Depleted Uranium, Pyridostigmine
Bromide, Sarin, and Vaccines. Carolyn E. Fulco, Catharyn T. Liverman ... "
www.nap.edu/catalog/9953.html
55. The Royal Society -
Science Policy - Current Projects
"Health hazards of depleted uranium munitions. There ... Click here for the
report The health hazards of depleted uranium munitions Part I. Part ... "
www.royalsoc.ac.uk/policy/cur_du.htm
56. The Royal Society - Science
Policy - Reports and Statements
"Depleted Uranium. ... What is depleted uranium (DU)? Uranium is a
naturally occurring heavy metal which is poisonous and weakly radioactive.
... " www.royalsoc.ac.uk/du/intro.htm
58. Welcome to rama-usa Homepage: Find it
all on rama-usa.org
"Click here for Welcome to rama-usa Homepage: Find it all on rama-usa.org.
" www.rama-usa.org/du01.htm
59.
washingtonpost.com:
Depleted
Uranium Weapons
" ... SEARCH: Top 20 E-mailed Articles, WORLD Depleted Uranium Weapons.
NEWS. Politics. Nation. ... Special Reports. Depleted Uranium Weapons.
Photo Galleries. Live Discussions. ... "
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/world/issues/uranium/
61. UNHCR: Human Rights and
Toxics:
" ... Human Rights and Toxics: Depleted Uranium and the Gulf War. ... Much
of depleted uranium is 238/U with a half life of 4 billion years. ... "
www.webcom.com/hrin/parker/c97-5w.html
63. Depleted
Uranium in the Persian
Gulf War
" ... Calling them crispy critters was Perez's way of dealing with the
horror of disposing of the radiated remains of death by depleted uranium
(DU) in the Persian ... " www.geocities.com/iraqinfo/gulfwar/du.html
64. Frequently Asked Questions about Depleted
Uranium
"National Radiological Protection Board's compilation of frequently asked
questions about depleted uranium. ... Depleted Uranium. NRPB > FAQ >. What
is uranium? ... " www.nrpb.org/faq/du/
65. Guardian
Unlimited | Special reports | Special report: depleted
...
" ... Let's hear it for depleted uranium says AL Kennedy. ... Depleted
uranium April 25: Soldiers returning from the Gulf will be tested for
depleted uranium. ... " www.guardian.co.uk/uranium/0,7368,419839,00.html
66. Guardian
Unlimited | Special reports | Depleted
uranium
" ... Depleted uranium In a ground-breaking policy change, the Ministry of
Defence is set to announce that medical tests will be carried out on tens
of thousands of ... " www.guardian.co.uk/uranium/story/0,7369,419882,00.html
67. RIGHTS: Evidence Grows
Against Depleted Uranium
Weapons
" ... RIGHTS: Evidence Grows Against Depleted Uranium Weapons Katherine
Stapp NEW YORK, Apr 28 (IPS) - Washington's insistence that depleted
uranium (DU) munitions ... " www.ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=23515
68.
ISIS
- depleted
uranium
"The military hazards of depleted uranium. General Sir Hugh Beach's paper
on depleted uranium is available in two versions. Click ... "
www.isisuk.demon.co.uk/0811/isis/uk/regpapers/no78choose.html
71. Dennis Kucinich for President 2004 -
Depleted