***************************************************************** 07/05/04 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 12.159 ***************************************************************** RADBULL IS PRODUCED BY THE ABALONE ALLIANCE CLEARINGHOUSE ***************************************************************** Send News Stories to news@energy-net.org with title on subject line and first line of body NUCLEAR POLICY 1 [southnews] UK Iraq Envoy: WMD Just Were Not There 2 UK Independent: Legality of Iraq occupation 'flawed' 3 AFP: Britain says unsure of Iran's nuclear intentions 4 KoreaTimes: Kim Jong-il's Reciprocal Visit 5 US: SF Chronicle: Letter: Bush projects threaten disarmament gains 6 US: San Mateo County Times: Highway bill's secret rules start debate 7 BBC: Israel shows nuclear plant images 8 Guardian Unlimited: ElBaradei to focus on Israel's nuclear weapons 9 UK Independent: Lawyer who quit over war questions immunity deal 10 MNA: Stresses Need to Expand Peaceful Nuclear Cooperation With Russi 11 Guardian Unlimited: Paradise lost - again 12 AFP: France could defend EU in case of attack: minister NUCLEAR REACTORS 13 China Daily: Firm ready to go on nuclear plant 14 US: Independent: Seek Millstone License Stall 15 US: TheDay.com: Millstone Foes Voice Lingering Concerns 16 US: TheDay.com: Citizens Deserve Open Hearing On Nuke Issue 17 Daily Yomiuri: Deadlock in ITER talks must end NUCLEAR SAFETY 18 UK: Nuclear Cancer Study Cancelled 19 [du-list] NEW DATA AND PROJECTIONS ON URANIUM JUST RELEASED] 20 US: [du-list] FBI arrest DU speaker? 21 US: amarillo.com: Radiological incidents reported 22 REDIFF: BARC suspends 3 in radiation exposure case 23 OECD NEA: New data and projections on uranium just released NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE 24 US: [BATN] Waste shipments routes to become a Fatherland Secret 25 US: Davis Enterprise: Final report out on toxic cleanup site at UC D 26 GreenLeft: Nuclear dump opponents smell victory. 27 News & Star: RAF jets could not save Sellafield NUCLEAR WEAPONS 28 UK Independent: Israel urged to join talks on creating nuclear-free US DEPT. OF ENERGY 29 Cincinnat Enquirer: Push ahead on Fernald cleanup 30 Cincinnati Enquirer: Fernald: Price of maintaining park at site disp 31 Tri-Valley Herald: Roads bill adds level of secrecy 32 Oak Ridger: City's DOE effort still could be successful 33 Oak Ridger: Helping foreign visitors into ORNL 34 Oak Ridger: Official: money holding up Russia Y-12 deal 35 amarillo.com Pantex report: No problem for public OTHER NUCLEAR 36 Mordechai Vanunu's business card 37 [DU-WATCH] Caldicott's War - Portrait Of A Dissident 38 Google News Alert - nuclear 39 Space Daily: Chinese Power Plant Will Exceed Plans ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** FULL NEWS STORIES ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** 1 [southnews] UK Iraq Envoy: WMD Just Were Not There Date: Mon, 5 Jul 2004 13:51:35 -0500 (CDT) ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Make a clean sweep of pop-up ads. Yahoo! Companion Toolbar. Now with Pop-Up Blocker. Get it for free! http://us.click.yahoo.com/L5YrjA/eSIIAA/yQLSAA/7gSolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> WMD stockpiles 'were not there' BBC NEWS: Sunday, 4 July, 2004, 12:01 GMT 13:01 UK There is no doubt that the stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction alleged to be in Iraq were not there, the former UK Iraq envoy has said. But Sir Jeremy Greenstock told BBC One's Breakfast with Frost programme the reasons for taking action at the time were "compelling". "We were wrong on the stockpiles. We were right on the intention," he said. Meanwhile, Commons Leader Peter Hain has said a probe into the intelligence on WMD should not lead to a witch hunt. Speaking on Sunday, Sir Jeremy told Sir David Frost that the evidence was not there. "It's only with hindsight that we saw that probably the Iraqis were cheating Saddam, as well as misleading us," he said. 'Panned' "We thought that there was a considerable danger that (the stockpiles) were there, because the intelligence - not just in the American and British systems but in the French, German and Russian systems - also was quite compelling at the time. "So the decisions taken, from the intelligence at the time, were very understandable," he said. Speaking on GMTV's The Sunday Programme, Peter Hain said the upcoming report from Lord Butler's inquiry into the intelligence that led to war could reveal mistakes had been made. But he refused to speculate on media reports that the probe, due to publish its conclusions on 14 July, would heavily criticise the secret services. Tony Blair called the inquiry after no WMD stockpiles were found in Iraq. Although the report may reveal lessons could be learned, Mr Hain said the secret intelligence service MI6 and domestic security service MI5 "do a fantastic job for us". "That is not to say that they do not make mistakes from time to time any more than government ministers like me or like the prime minister," he conceded. He said similar media speculation before the Hutton report had not been accurate. "When (Lord Hutton) didn't say what the newspapers were predicting then they panned him," said Mr Hain. The Butler Inquiry will publish its findings on the eve of key by-elections for Labour in Birmingham Hodge Hill and Leicester South. The Prime Minister came under pressure to launch the inquiry when President George Bush launched an investigation into US intelligence on Iraq. He insisted it must not be a re-run of the Hutton Inquiry, which cleared the government of "sexing up" intelligence in its dossier on Iraq's alleged weapons. It should concentrate on "structures, systems and processes" rather than the actions of individuals, he insisted. The Liberal Democrats always refused to take part in the Butler inquiry, saying it was too narrow, and the Tories also pulled out. http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/politics/3864301.stm The archives of South News can be found at http://southmovement.alphalink.com.au/southnews/ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/southnews/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: southnews-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ***************************************************************** 2 UK Independent: Legality of Iraq occupation 'flawed' By Marie Woolf, Chief Political Correspondent 05 July 2004 The senior Foreign Office lawyer who resigned after ministers ignored her advice that the war in Iraq was illegal has issued a damning legal critique of the occupation, claiming that the alleged abuse of prisoners "could amount to war crimes". In her first newspaper interview since her resignation, Elizabeth Wilmshurst, the former deputy legal adviser to the Foreign Office, said that the basis for going to war should always be based on "facts" rather than an "assertion" about an "imminent threat". Ms Wilmshurst said "it could be alleged that the use of force in Iraq was aggression" while "the kinds of abusive treatment of Iraqi prisoners that have been alleged could amount to war crimes". Her comments came as Sir Jeremy Greenstock, Britain's former envoy to Iraq, made the clearest admission yet that intelligence that Saddam Hussein had stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons was wrong. He said: "We were wrong on the stockpiles, we were right about the intention." Ms Wilmshurst expressed concern about the size of the US civilian presence in Iraq. She also said she was worried about the lack of legal protection for Iraqis if they were harmed by allied troops or civilian contractors, including private security guards. She said it was "worrying" that the occupying powers had given immunity to US and British civilians which was "very, very wide" and "not what you would expect". They would be protected from prosecution even if they seriously injured Iraqi women and children. She said the Bush administration's "war on terror" was legal "nonsense" - conferring no more powers on the US to detain prisoners than "the war against obesity" - and President Bush's policy of pre-emptive self-defence was illegal under international law. Ms Wilmshurst, who is now head of the international law programme at the think-tank Chatham House, also raised questions about the powers of detention the Americans have in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay. She said it violated the Geneva Conventions to deny inmates in Guantanamo Bay a formal assessment of their status. Although she said she would not discuss the advice she gave to ministers, she is understood to have told them that British participation in the invasion of Iraq would flout international law. She said there were deep concerns among international lawyers about the implications of the war on terror, which may be used as an excuse to hold prisoners indefinitely. "This rather extraordinary war against terror, which is a phrase that all lawyers hate ... is not really a 'war', a conflict against terror, any more than the war against obesity means that you can detain people," she said. In a further side-swipe at American foreign policy she said President Bush's policy of pre-emptive self-defence, which would allow the US to invade any country it thought was a threat, was illegal under international law. "What people are worried about is just assertions that there is an imminent threat," she said. The Butler inquiry report into intelligence on Iraq is to be published on 14 July, and reports suggest it will be critical of the intelligence services. Sir Jeremy said on BBC's Breakfast with Frost: "There is no doubt that the stockpiles that we feared might be there are not there. We didn't know they were there, but we thought that there was a considerable danger that they were there, because the intelligence, not just in the American and British systems but in the French, German and Russian systems, also was quite compelling at the time." He said Washington was influenced by the Iraqi exile Ahmed Chalabi and underestimated the potential problems of post-war security. UK Independent Ltd. ***************************************************************** 3 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 ***************************************************************** 4 KoreaTimes: Kim Jong-il's Reciprocal Visit Hankooki.com > Korea Times > Opinion Inter-Korean Relations to Realize Second Take-off It is encouraging news that North Korean leader Kim Jong-il is still willing to visit the South, reciprocating former president Kim Dae-jung's historical trip to Pyongyang in June 2002. If realized, his visit will conspicuously strengthen inter-Korean relations based on mutual trust and promote a spirit of peaceful coexistence between the two sides. His intention, which the Northern leader told China when he visited the staunch ally in April, was revealed by a Chinese government official to former president Kim during his trip to Beijing last week. When the two Kims held their milestone summit talks, drawing the world's attention, it was generally expected that the Northern leader would come down to Seoul while his Southern counterpart was in power. But even though their second meeting in the South was not realized, inter-Korean cooperation has rapidly expanded since their rendezvous in Pyongyang. The most remarkable development is the opening of dialog between military leaders in the South and the North, greatly easing tensions on the peninsula. The contact recently led to an end to both propaganda broadcasts along the border and naval clashes in the West Sea. Even though the North Korean leader told Beijing of his willingness to make a reciprocal visit to the South at an appropriate time, it is hard to guess when it will take place. But many political analysts are of the opinion that the visit would be closely connected with the development of the six-party negotiations seeking a peaceful resolution to the nuclear standoff between Pyongyang and Washington. The nuclear crisis, which erupted in October 2002, finally showed signs of a diplomatic settlement in the third round of the multi-level dialog, involving the two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia, when it was held in Beijing last month. In particular, Washington withdrew its demand that the North completely dismantle its nuclear facilities as the first condition for solving the nuclear issue. Instead, the Bush administration offered a five-stage proposal, the last of which is the establishment of diplomatic relations between the North and the U.S. As the ball is now in its court, Pyongyang needs to come up with feasible steps to end the dispute as early as possible so as to restore peace and stability on the peninsula. That is the most desirable way for Kim Jong-il to visit the South, thereby propelling inter-Korean relations to expand by leaps and bounds. 07-05-2004 16:21 ***************************************************************** 5 SF Chronicle: Letter: Bush projects threaten disarmament gains LETTERS TO THE EDITOR [http://sfgate.com] Monday, July 5, 2004 [San Francisco Chronicle] Editor -- Regarding your Open Forum articles of July 1, "From bio- research to bioterrorism?" by Ken Morris, and "A shaft of light cut into the darkness" by Steve Andreasen: Both authors graphically illustrate the immense dangers posed by the Bush administration's militarized foreign policy, which has rejected decades of progress toward global disarmament. The plans to construct "bio-defense" labs conducting experiments with highly dangerous organisms throughout the nation not only threaten public health and safety, but risk initiating a new biological arms race. Moreover, plans to counter alleged similar weapons-potential programs in other countries through strategic doctrines of counter-proliferation, including possible use of new nuclear weapons, threaten a new era of unbridled nuclear proliferation. To end this dual-track path toward global annihilation, the United States must reverse its rejection of international efforts to strengthen the Biological Weapons Convention through enhanced verification and inspection protocols, and take the lead in eliminating all nuclear weapons. We should renew the push for U.S. ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, while terminating all plans to make new, "usable" nuclear weapons such as the "robust nuclear earth penetrator" and "mini-nukes." ROBERT M. GOULD, M.D. President, Bay Area Chapter Physicians for Social Responsibility San Francisco ©2004 San Francisco Chronicle | Feedback | FAQ ***************************************************************** 6 San Mateo County Times: Highway bill's secret rules start debate Article Last Updated: Saturday, July 03, 2004 - Two lines in document would seal information to public on nation's rail, highway systems By Douglas Fischer, STAFF WRITER Deep in a 1,381-page highway spending bill now before Congress are two sentences that would override state open-records laws and let federal authorities seal now-public information about the nation's rail and highway systems -- including records relating to the transport of hazardous waste through communities. The language, requested by the Bush administration, would give the U.S. Department of Transportation and state and local governments power to determine what information about the nation's transportation grid should be kept secret. The broadly written clause allows the department -- and local governments -- to prohibit the release of any information deemed "detrimental to the safety of passengers in transportation." Depending on how the administration interprets such concern, critics say, that could be everything from reports detailing poor railroad track maintenance in a particular community -- thereby raising the risk of derailments -- to the customary disclosure of rail and road routes used to ship nuclear waste. Government watchdog groups call the language part of a continued erosion of open-records laws occurring under President George W. Bush's watch that, in this case, could put communities at risk. "There's a danger ... that information of importance to communities will become unavailable -- so that 'national security' will trump community safety," said Marylia Kelley, executive director of Tri-Valley CAREs, a nonprofit group monitoring activities at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The exact timing of a nuclear materials shipment, for instance, is already a secret, she said. Keeping the route secret would give the public no say in a decision that has a potentially huge effect on their neighborhood. "That's going to have a negative impact on democracy and on community safety," Kelley said. The sentences are tucked in the Senate version of a highway spending bill authorizing billions of dollars in roadway projects across the country. The House version lacks the language, and lawmakers from the Senate and House are slated to meet after the July 4 holiday recess to hammer out the differences. The Senate bill's secrecy clause was requested by the Bush administration to protect information that could aid terrorists, said Virginia Davis, an aide to Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala. The Transportation Security Administration already has authority to seal sensitive information related to airports. This language, Davis said, is intended to extend that protection to state and local governments. But Steven Aftergood, who directs the Project on Government Secrecy for the Federation of American Scientists, sees it going deeper. Until now, information subject to secrecy has largely dealt with airline transportation -- flight safety, airline and airport security and so forth. This would extend that scope throughout the nation's transportation network -- to every street, road and railway in the country. "Who knows -- maybe they would do the right thing and say all this information should be in the public domain," he said. "But if they didn't want to, this law would say they wouldn't have to." Some state regulators say the open flow of information is crucial when making decisions. The state Energy Commission, for instance, is one of several agencies overseeing the transport of nuclear fuels through the state. The selection of those routes traditionally undergoes a vigorous public airing. "You will always need to discuss, in my opinion, these routes with local governments," said commission spokeswoman Claudia Chandler. "You have to have the local government's input -- your local fire department, your sheriffs." The change could be far-reaching, critics add. Current law, for example, requires the Department of Transportation to publish annual reports on hazardous materials incidents. The new law could trump that requirement. Similarly, someone researching how many drivers of Bay Area school buses or hazardous material trucks have been convicted of drug or alcohol violations could find that information blocked, since the law extends the cloak of secrecy to "transportation employees." "This administration's penchant for secrecy has gone beyond the need for medication," said Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-Alamo. "There are very benign ways (to deal with the security risk). You don't have to have a red alert whenever you truck something through town." And secrecy has its risks, too. It was a Freedom of Information Act request that alerted Tri-Valley CAREs to a federal plan to ship plutonium pellets from the former Rocky Flats weapons lab in Colorado to the Lawrence Livermore lab, Kelley said. To make the job easier, the government planned to transport the nuclear cargo in lightweight containers that could be crushed in an accident, she said. The group successfully sued to stop the shipments. "All of the communities between Colorado and California, as well as our own community here in Livermore, were made safer because that information was made available," she said. "The public really is the entity that stops a lot of stupid government ideas," Kelley said. Contact Douglas Fischer at dfischer@angnewspapers.com [dfischer@angnewspapers.com] . ©2004 by MediaNews Group, Inc. and ANG Newspapers ***************************************************************** 7 BBC: Israel shows nuclear plant images Last Updated: Monday, 5 July, 2004 [Dimona plant in Israel (aerial photo)] Israel is thought to have about 200 nuclear warheads at Dimona Israeli authorities have published pictures of Israel's nuclear plant in the Negev desert for the first time. The images appear on a new website for the Israeli Atomic Energy Commission. The move came a day before the head of the UN's nuclear watchdog was due in Israel for talks on making the Middle East a nuclear weapons-free zone. Israel has never admitted possessing nuclear weapons, but analysts believe it has around 200 warheads at the plant in the town of Dimona. Pressure The pictures reveal little about the site, which has been at the centre of controversy about Israel's nuclear programme. They are taken at a distance from the building, which is obscured in the photographs by trees and flowers. Nor does the website provide any new insight into the programme, saying merely that research at the plant aims to expand knowledge of nuclear science and provide an infrastructure for the use of atomic energy. Israel has come under pressure to open its nuclear facilities to international inspection. In December, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Mohamed ElBaradei urged Israel - a member of the IAEA - to surrender its alleged nuclear weapons. But, unlike Iran and North Korea - two countries whose alleged nuclear ambitions have recently come under international scrutiny - Israel has never signed the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty, designed to prevent the global spread of nuclear weapons. As a result, it is not subject to inspections or the threat of sanctions by the IAEA. Israel pursues a policy of what it calls "nuclear ambiguity", saying only that it will not be the first to introduce nuclear weapons into the Middle East. ***************************************************************** 8 Guardian Unlimited: ElBaradei to focus on Israel's nuclear weapons Chris McGreal in Jerusalem Tuesday July 6, 2004 The Guardian [http://www.guardian.co.uk] The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog, Mohamed ElBaradei, arrives in Israel today to urge the government to begin talks about ridding the Middle East of nuclear arms, whether or not it finally admits to manufacturing weapons of mass destruction. Israel has no intention of acknowledging that it has nuclear weapons, or of opening its reactors to international inspection. But the visit of the International Atomic Energy Agency chief comes as Israel is increasingly sensitive to pressure for it to be subject to the same standards of international accountability demanded of other countries in the Middle East. The release from prison of the nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu sharpened the focus on Israel's arsenal. For several months now Dr ElBaradei has publicly prodded the Israelis toward discussions on a nuclear weapons-free Middle East. "I believe in the importance of holding a dialogue on the subject and I don't see a reason why Israel isn't ready to at least start the discussion," he told the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz in December. "My fear is that without such a dialogue there will continue to be incentives for the countries of the region to develop weapons of mass destruction to match the Israeli arsenal." Israel maintains a policy of what it calls "nuclear ambiguity". It argues that neither confirming nor denying it has such weapons helps deter its enemies. The US Central Intelligence Agency estimates that Israel has between 200 and 400 nuclear warheads, making it the world's fifth largest nuclear power. Israel's refusal to sign the nuclear non-proliferation treaty has prompted 13 votes by the UN general assembly since 1987 calling on it do so. The US has blocked any move to take the issue to the security council. Pressure on Israel to declare that it has the weapons and agree to international oversight has increased with the fall of Saddam Hussein, Libya's declared intention to rid itself of weapons of mass destruction, and Iran's agreement to let UN inspectors conduct surprise inspections of its nuclear facilities. Iran has said Israel should also be pressed over the issue. Israeli officials have acknowledged the growing international sentiment by arguing that weapons of mass destruction are not necessarily a threat if they are in the hands of democratic and responsible governments. They also point to Iran's stalling over international monitoring of its nuclear facilities as evidence that the threat to Israel remains. But Dr ElBaradei has questioned the assumption that nuclear weapons have made Israel more secure. Gerald Steinberg, of the Jerusalem Centre for Public Affairs, said there was little chance of a change in Israel's policy. "The topic is not on the agenda," he said. Israel's atomic energy commission this week lifted the veil of secrecy around the country's two reactors at Dimona and Nahal Sorek by launching a website with pictures of the facilities. But there are few details. Last week the government said it intended to distribute pills to people living within 19 miles (30km) of the reactors to be taken in the event of a radiation leak, a move that unsettled Dimona residents, who say that for 35 years they have been told the reactor is safe. Government sites Israeli Knesset (parliament) [http://www.knesset.gov.il/main/eng/engframe.htm] Israeli ministry of foreign affairs [http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/home.asp] Israeli government site [http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/go.asp?MFAH000a0] Office of the Israeli prime minister [http://www.info.gov.il/eng/min-pmo.htm] Palestinian Ministry of Information [http://www.minfo.gov.ps/] Media Ha'aretz (Israel) [http://www.haaretzdaily.com/] Israel Insider (Israel) [http://web.israelinsider.com/bin/en.jsp?enPage=HomePage&enDispla y=view&enDispWhat=Zone&] Jerusalem Post (Israel) [http://www.jpost.com] Maariv (Israel) [http://www.maarivenglish.com/] Arabic Media Internet Network (Palestinian) [http://www.amin.org/] Palestine Chronicle (Palestinian) [http://www.palestinechronicle.com/] Electronic Intifada (Palestinian) [http://www.electronicintifada.net] Bitter Lemons (Israeli-Palestinian) [http://www.bitterlemons.org] [UP] Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004 ***************************************************************** 9 UK Independent: Lawyer who quit over war questions immunity deal By Marie Woolf, Chief Political Correspondent 05 July 2004 At Westminster,among Labour and Liberal Democrat MPs, the name Elizabeth Wilmshurst has become something of a byword for principle and pluck. Ms Wilmshurst was the lawyer who defied her political masters at the Foreign Office and told them they would violate international law if they joined the American invasion of Iraq. Her political masters ignored her advice, preferring to listen to the Attorney General's conclusion that war would be legal. Weeks after the first tanks rolled across the Iraqi border, Ms Wilmshurst resigned, ending a distinguished 29-year Whitehall career. Fifteen months on, she sits in a London hotel sipping a mix of Earl Grey and Indian tea and, true to her lawyer's training, chooses her words carefully as she explains her concerns about the occupation. In her first newspaper interview since her resignation, the words "worrying", "uncomfortable" and "unexpected" crop up with alarming regularity as she describes the legal basis of the occupation. It is clear, in spite of her fastidious phrasing, that she, like many international lawyers, has serious reservations about the powers retained by the Americans and the protection offered to Iraqi civilians. The immunity granted to UK and US troops and civilians in Iraq, including armed security personnel, is without precedent, she says, and means that ordinary Iraqis have little comeback if they are maimed, abused or even swindled during the occupation. Multinational troops are given immunity from prosecution or from any civil claim in Iraq. They have tax and customs exemption and they are not required to hold driving licences. "It's huge," Ms Wilmshurst says. The powers, granted before the handover under Order 17, an agreement signed by the Coalition Provisional Authority, are "very, very wide" and "not what you would expect" in law. They could even exempt contractors from prosecution if the water supply they were working on poisoned an entire village. "A host state, certainly so far as I know, has never given such wide immunities," she said. "Contractors have immunity in respect of anything done under their contracts. "So if they have a very large contract to build a hospital and there is an argument as to whether they have dropped a brick on a passing Iraqi, or they are driving their vehicles around Iraq in the course of their duties and they run somebody over or they default with the money they cannot be prosecuted or claimed against in the civil courts for such actions." Ms Wilmshurst is now head of international law at the think- tank Chatham House, and is reluctant to revisit the episode that led to her resignation, saying that she now wants to move on. But she denies that she has been gagged by ministers or "threatened with the Official Secrets Act". "It is a personal decision based on fairly obvious duties of confidentiality to the client and a spot of the Official Secrets Act here and there," she said. Ms Wilmshurst does believe, however, that "it could be alleged that the use of force in Iraq was aggression". But Britain would not face prosecution in the International Criminal Court (ICC) because its members could not agree on the definition of aggression. And while "the kinds of abusive treatment of Iraqi prisoners that have been alleged could amount to war crimes", British troops would also not face action in the ICC unless the UK authorities fail to investigate such abuses themselves. Ms Wilmshurst also expressed deep concern about America's policy of pre-emptive self-defence, which she said was illegal under international law. Any legal basis for war had to be based on "the facts", she said, in what will be interpreted as a thinly veiled reference to weapons of mass destruction, the basis for war against Iraq. "What people are worried about is just assertions that there is an imminent threat," she said. She said this was a dangerous precedent, adding: "But since when did we not think the US isn't dangerous?" She questioned the continued presence in Iraq after the handover of so many US and UK diplomats."One obviously wants to know what these embassies will be doing ­ particularly this huge American embassy," she said. "One can only think that the Americans are going to be having ­ let's say ­ quite an advisory role." President Bush's claim that Iraq now has full sovereignty is tested by the "unclear" powers of detention the US still has over Iraqi civilians. "The whole question of their powers of detention is an interesting one. You wouldn't normally expect them to have that," she said. She also accused the US of breaking the Geneva Conventions by detaining Afghans in Guantanamo Bay without a formal assessment of their status to see if they are prisoners of war, and questioned whether members of the Taliban could be classified as illegal combatants or detained indefinitely. Sir Menzies Campbell, the deputy Liberal Democrat leader, also a senior lawyer, told The Independent yesterday that Ms Wilmshurst's views should "be taken very seriously indeed". UK Independent Ltd. ***************************************************************** 10 MNA: Stresses Need to Expand Peaceful Nuclear Cooperation With Russia Mehr News Agency: Tehran:05:08,2004/07/06 TEHRAN July 5 (MNA) -- Iran and Russia discussed here Monday bilateral issues as well as key regional and international developments. Majlis Speaker Gholam Ali Haddad-Adel, in a meeting with head of Russia's Security Council Igor Ivanov, outlined the historical and geographical commonalties between the two countries as well as the developments over the past three decades particularly the Islamic Revolution in Iran and the collapse of the former Soviet Union. He stressed the importance of promoting bilateral ties and cooperation in all fields and voiced the determination of Iran's Majlis in this regard. He said parliaments link governments and nations and hoped Iran and Russia would witness new horizons in mutual relations through continuous exchange of parliamentary delegations and activation of friendship parliamentary groups. Haddad-Adel voiced satisfaction over the expansion of scientific, technical, political and economic ties between Iran and Russia and referred to the stance adopted by Russia in the recent meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors as positive. He called for the expansion of mutual peaceful nuclear cooperation and the speedy construction and completion of the Bushehr power plant. He outlined Iran's political viewpoints on regional issues particularly the issues of Iraq, Afghanistan and the Caspian Sea and said, "I hope we would not witness further complication of the situation through cooperation and convergence among important and influential countries in the region." The speaker added that the access of developing countries to peaceful nuclear technology and preventing proliferation of weapons of mass destruction are among the major goals for the foundation of the IAEA and stressed, "Any misuse of these two goals is rejected and access to peaceful nuclear technology is Iran’s absolute right." Describing the cooperation between the two countries in settling regional issues particularly those of Afghanistan and Tajikistan as fruitful, he called for continuation of bilateral cooperation between Iran and the Russian Federation. Ivanov, for his part, voiced determination of his country's political and parliamentary officials to bolster all-out ties with Iran and hoped the upcoming visit by Russian President Vladimir Putin to Iran early next year would create a turning point in bilateral relations. He said Iran and Russia share a close stance on bilateral and regional issues and stressed the importance of continuing consultation and talks on international issues. The Russian official said peaceful use of nuclear energy is the right of all countries, adding participation of Russian companies in the second phase of Bushehr power plant is being seriously followed up. He noted that the campaign against terrorism and narcotics drugs is among common issues between the two countries and called for further cooperation between Russian and Iranian officials in this regard. Ivanov condemned the presence of foreign forces in the region and hoped the ongoing crisis in the region would be settled and trans-regional forces would leave the region. HL/IS END MNA ***************************************************************** 11 Guardian Unlimited: Paradise lost - again Thirty years after cheating a group of islanders out of their homes, Britain is still blocking their return Ewen MacAskill Monday July 5, 2004 [http://www.guardian.co.uk] There have been many shameful statements from the Foreign Office in recent years, but by any standard Bill Rammell's would make the top 10. Rammell, a junior foreign office minister, recently ruled that the original inhabitants of Diego Garcia, a British territory in the Indian Ocean, would not be allowed to return to the homes from which they were cheated by Britain more than 30 years ago. The reasons he cited are absurd. He said conditions meant their life would be "precarious" and there was a risk of flooding from global warming. His arguments are undermined by the US navy, which, in a message to recruits to its base there, describes Diego Garcia as one of the world's best-kept secrets, boasting "unbelievable recreational facilities and exquisite natural beauty" and "outstanding" living conditions. No mention of a threat of imminent demise from flooding. In fact, the US is seeking to extend its lease, which ends in 2016. There are 1,450 US military personnel on Diego Garcia, 50 British personnel and 2,000 civilian contractors, mainly from the Philippines but also from neighbouring Mauritius, but none of the original inhabitants displaced by Britain. This island chain that Rammell labels unconducive to human habitation hosts on the US base a windsurfers' club, a yacht club, an annual Miss Diego Garcia competition, regular picnics to what the US describes as some of the best unspoilt beaches in the world, fishing, snorkelling and a beauty parlour. The British government has repeatedly questioned how the islanders would survive. Leaving aside the rich waters fished by EU trawlers, the various recreations and attractions suggest the islands could sustain a modest tourist industry. I had no interest in the fate of the Diego Garcia islanders five years ago. It was one of those issues on the political fringe: a single placard in a crowd at the entrance to the Labour conference or a Commons motion supported by leftwing Labour MPs. In 2000, Richard Gifford, a British lawyer acting on behalf of the islanders, gave me a six-inch-thick file of previously unseen Foreign Office memos covering the history of the removal of the 1,500 islanders between 1967 and 1973. The US had asked Britain, the colonial power, to lease the islands as a naval base, but wanted the islanders removed. The attitudes displayed in the memos towards the indigenous population were little changed from the 19th century, not least in the way they were tricked out of their homes. Islanders tell of leaving the Diego Garcia chain to shop or obtain medical treatment in Mauritius only to be told there was no passage back when seeking to return. Most islanders, who with their descendants now number 5,000, have not settled in Mauritius. In spite of two payments of compensation by the British government, they continue to live in poverty and campaign to be allowed to return home. In November 2000, the high court in London, having read through the same Foreign Office memos, criticised the diplomats' behaviour as beyond "any proper limits" and ruled that the islanders had a right of return. The Foreign Office, after six hours of agonising, opted against appeal, and announced a study on the feasibility of resettlement, not on the island housing the base but on some of the other 50-odd islands in the chain. Plans were made for chartering a boat to make the sentimental journey home. Even as late as February this year, Rammell, in a parliamentary answer, said: "We remain in contact with the US authorities on the reinstatement of a visit once the situation permits and provided that suitable arrangements can be made, including the charter of a suitable vessel." This policy ended abruptly on June 10, when Rammell, as the colonial potentate, summarily changed the law to overturn the high court ruling and decreed that the islanders had no right of abode now or in the future. He cited various reasons, all of them thin. One of the most ridiculous was the effect on the delicate marine and terrestrial life. Possibly - but more so than the US navy and B-52 and Stealth bombers? Another reason was cost. True, it would be expensive to resettle the islanders, but the cost would be insignificant compared with the profit from the US deal. The Foreign Office said last week that Britain received nothing for the base. In reality, the US had made secret payments, including a $14m reduction in the cost of the Polaris nuclear missile system. Another of Rammell's arguments is the increased threat to security since September 11. But the threat is no more serious than in February, when he was still talking about chartering a boat. Where is the threat coming from? Al-Qaida operatives posing as returned islanders? The truth is that America does not want any complications, such as islanders demanding rent for the base or use of the flights connecting Diego Garcia to the rest of the world. The US has told the UK to block their return. · Ewen MacAskill is the Guardian's diplomatic editor [ewen.macaskill@guardian.co.uk] Useful links [http://www.fco.gov.uk/] [http://www.dfid.gov.uk ] [politics.editor@guardianunlimited.co.uk] [UP] Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004 ***************************************************************** 12 AFP: France could defend EU in case of attack: minister [http://www.spacewar.com/] BERLIN (AFP) Jul 05, 2004 France could use its nuclear capability to defend its neighbours, French Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said in an interview Monday, while also urging European Union states to increase military spending. She said that rogue states "could one day point their missiles toward France and its neighbours. We could say to those countries: 'Watch out, if you try to carry out your threats we will destroy you before you know what's hit you.'" "If Germany asked us for help, it is probable that European solidarity would come into play," she told the Berliner Zeitung newspaper, and added: "For us, nuclear weapons are the ultimate protection against a threat from abroad." She said ethnic conflict and terrorism were making the world increasingly more unstable and called on EU members to increase their military budgets to two percent of gross domestic product -- NATO's minimum recommended level. "Today in Europe there are only three countries who spend more than 2.0 percent of GDP on defence. They are France, Britain and Greece. The others are not doing enough," Alliot-Marie said. She said that France has a mobile, flexible and highly-motivated military and that it was the second or third best in the world. WAR.WIRE ***************************************************************** 13 China Daily: Firm ready to go on nuclear plant [http://app1.chinadaily.com.cn/static/2004chartsale/index.html] Xie Ye 2004-07-06 06:36 China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC), the nation's largest nuclear power conglomerate, said it is ready to start construction of a new nuclear power plant in Sanmen, in East China's Zhejiang Province. The project is part of the government's massive plan to expand in a big way nuclear power generation to meet surging electricity demands in booming coastal areas. CNNC yesterday said the company has almost finished the infrastructure ground work - flattening the site and providing electricity and water - for the Sanmen project, laying a foundation for the official construction. The project aims to build all together six 1,000-megawatt nuclear power reactors. It will build two reactors as the first phase. Investment in the first phase is estimated at about 20 billion yuan (US$2.4 billion). The company said it is now preparing documents to invite international tenders for the design, equipment supply and construction of the first phase. The Sanmen project is one of four nuclear projects CNNC is applying to the central government to build. Each project involves two 1,000-megawatt reactors. CNNC plans to construct two nuclear reactors at the existing second phase in the Qinshan Nuclear Power Project in Zhejiang - the first self-developed commercial nuclear power generators in China. Another two will be constructed in Lin'ao in South China's Guangdong Province as an expansion of the existing Lin'ao Nuclear Power Plant. The four units will be duplication projects, copying the technology used in the existing plants with minor improvements. Meanwhile, the company is lobbying the government to build two reactors in Yangjiang in South China's Guangdong Province and another two in Sanmen in Zhejiang. Unlike the duplication projects, the Sanmen and Yangjiang projects will adopt so-called "next-generation" technology which is safer and more economic than existing technology. CNNC said it has been working with China Guangdong Nuclear Power Corp and China Technology Import Export Corp to compile international bidding documents since last August. International nuclear power giants such as French Avera and Pittsburgh-based Westinghouse, are eager to obtain the contracts for the new nuclear plants. They believe the new contracts would allow them to take a lion's share in the China's nuclear power markets. China wants to standardize technology and design for nuclear plants to be built in the future. Facing an electricity shortage, the Chinese Government plans to raise the country's nuclear power-generating capacity by four times over its current level to 36,000 megawatts by 2020. That can be translated to at least two more nuclear reactors annually in the next 16 years. China's nuclear power plants produced 43.7 billion kilowatt hours of electricity last year. It accounts for 2.3 per cent of the nation's total electricity generation, as compared with a world average of 16 per cent. (China Daily 07/06/2004 page10) ***************************************************************** 14 Independent: Seek Millstone License Stall By Kitty Merrill Today in Connecticut the Nuclear Regulatory Commission will hold a hearing to solicit comments for or against the extension of the operating license for the Millstone nuclear power plant in Waterford. This week Suffolk County Legislator, Jay Schneiderman, acted to ensure that con comments from Millstone’s neighbors on the East End are heard. On Monday the lawmaker persuaded colleagues to authorize retaining special legal counsel to intervene in the licensing process in opposition to the extension. Millstone has requested an extension of its operating license for another 20 years, even though the current license doesn’t expire until 2015. “Millstone has quietly sought this extension 11 years ahead of time,” Schneiderman said yesterday, “Although there is widespread opposition of Millstone in Suffolk County, citizen groups have not been successful in the past in closing this facility. With the denial of the extension, we would at least know that the end of this potentially dangerous facility is in sight.” Only portions of Suffolk County are within the NRC’s mandated 10-mile evacuation radius, “but the whole East End of Long Island could be devastated from a major emergency at Millstone,” Schneiderman pointed out. Millstone is an older nuclear facility in a densely populated area, Eric Brown, Schneiderman’s chief of staff explained. “Most members of this community feel that, given the risk posed by having the aging plant continue to operate, it’s better to just shut it down,” he said. East End residents oppose Millstone’s continued operation at all, much less the extension of its license for 20 more years. “It’s old and it’s dangerous and we’re in its path,” he concluded. When Schneiderman was Supervisor of the Town of East Hampton, the board sought the town’s inclusion during the development of a Millstone evacuation plan. Neither the state nor the NRC included Long Island towns in the plan. Copyright © 2004 East Hampton Independent News Co. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 15 TheDay.com: Millstone Foes Voice Lingering Concerns Monday, Jul 5, 2004 Published on 7/4/2004 Letters To The Editor: The Connecticut Coalition Against Millstone appreciates The Day's coverage of our linkage of routine operations of the Millstone Nuclear Power Station with the high incidence of breast cancer, childhood leukemia, thyroid cancer and a host of rare cancers. (NRC activist fails to back up Millstone license dispute: Panel rebuffs group's effort to deny renewal, July 1.) Our concerns about health effects from routine releases of ionizing radiation from Millstone to the air and water are shared by members of this medical community who have been treating increasing numbers of patients with these and related diseases. Living and working near Millstone increases everyone's risk of cancer, so said Rick Heaton at our news conference on Monday. Mr. Heaton's daughter, Rachel Gabriella, was 10 years old when the family lived within clear sight of Millstone. Rachel, now 26, has had her thyroid and lymph glands surgically removed. Tuesday, Rachel underwent a third surgery at the University of Pennsylvania cancer center for a rare form of capillary cancer that her doctors say is not uncommon among Chernobyl victims. Rachel's wish before being wheeled into surgery was that her father videotape her from her hospital room and share her sad tale at our news conference, along with her plea that Millstone be closed so that others may be spared unspeakable suffering. Because Rachel lives in Pennsylvania, her cancer will not be tabulated in Connecticut's Cancer Tumor Registry, which has recorded the highest rates of cancer among women in the state in the Millstone region. Male cancers are second. Millstone is not the single cause of the New London-area cancer epidemic. But the day that Millstone ceases releasing radiation into the air and water will be a day when the human health in this community will enter its recovery phase. Nancy Burton Mystic The writer is a lawyer who represents the Connecticut Coalition Against Millstone. About The Day Publishing Company ***************************************************************** 16 TheDay.com: Citizens Deserve Open Hearing On Nuke Issue Published on 7/4/2004 Letters To The Editor: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission held a pre-hearing conference on June 30 at the Radisson Hotel in New London to determine whether opponents of the re-licensing of Millstone 2 and Millstone 3 could have a hearing. Dominion Nuclear Connecticut is applying for a 30-year renewal for Millstone 2 and a 40-year renewal for Millstone 3. Citizens opposed to renewal were represented by a pro-bono counselor. Low-level radiation emissions have been a problem at the Millstone site for decades. Cancer rates have been disproportionately high within range of these emissions. And, there are issues of environmental impact and site accessibility at Millstone. Why is there a question of whether or not to have a hearing regarding the license renewals? It seems to me that the citizens of Southeastern Connecticut need a full, open and well-publicized hearing. Sheila Herbert New London 1998-2004 The Day Publishing Co. ***************************************************************** 17 Daily Yomiuri: Deadlock in ITER talks must end Tatsuo Nakajima Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer The discussion between Japan and the European Union over where to construct the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) seems to have reached a standstill. Two weeks after a meeting in June of vice ministers from China, the EU, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States, those involved in the project criticized the Japanese government's hands-off attitude, saying it had done nothing to facilitate progress on the reactor's construction in Japan. But the project cannot advance because of the deadlock in negotiations concerning a location for ITER. In the vice ministerial meeting, which was held in Vienna, Japan put forward Rokkashomura, Aomori Prefecture, as a possible site for the project, while the EU suggested Cadarache in southern France. Both countries refused to yield on their choices. The United States and South Korea supported Japan, while Russia and China backed the EU in what seemed like a reflection of a similar division that formed last year over the war in Iraq. U.S. delegates apparently could not wait to catch their reserved flights home, leaving before those in attendance were able to schedule the next meeting. A thermonuclear reactor is designed to generate the same energy as the sun's energy-producing process through nuclear fusion, which is more efficient than nuclear fission reactors. In what will be the world's first prototype nuclear fusion reactor, fuel can be obtained from sea water rather than other resources that are much more limited in quantity. But the costs involved in constructing such a reactor are staggering. The development of a single ITER costs 1.3 trillion yen. As several reactors must be constructed before they can begin to provide energy, no country can afford to finance the project on its own. Therefore, since 1985, the five countries and the EU have explored the possibility of jointly developing a thermonuclear project. At previous meetings, the members decided to share the 570 billion yen construction fee for the main reactor and each has earmarked their contributions in state budgets. In December, the group's members attending a ministerial meeting failed to reach an agreement on a location for the project. At last month's meeting, Japan proposed an increase in its contribution to the construction costs for the reactor from 48 percent to 58 percent, or by about 60 billion yen, and that the subordinate facilities be built in Europe. But as the EU tabled a similar proposal, the meeting ended having only secured an agreement on increasing the financial contribution of the country to host the project. The deadlock ensued because the country to host the project will benefit greatly by possibly becoming the leader of research and development on nuclear fusion as well as the economic repercussions of the project's construction. A senior official of the Education, Science and Technology Ministry said the project could help train engineers and provide technological basis for further discoveries. "This will be an opportunity for the country to make up for its failure in rocket launches, showing the world Japan can be a technological power," the official said. The project will provide about 50,000 jobs, according to some estimates, and will utilize the stagnant Mutsu-Ogawara industrial base in Aomori prefecture. Projections agree that the benefits the project will provide will be worth twice the amount Japan will invest as its host. However, Nobel Prize-winner, Masatoshi Koshiba, professor emeritus at Tokyo University, said ITER will generate a huge amount of radioactive waste. "If we calculate the cost accurately of disposing of this waste, it's clear that ITER is not really a promising option for the future," he said. Some education ministry officials were similarly dubious over the possible future benefits. ITER is a 30-year program in which each participant aims to put the technology into practical use by the middle of the century, so any further delays in selecting a location should be avoided, as should dropping the plan, which will undermine international cooperation on scientific development in the future. More talks should be scheduled to ensure that a decision on the location for the project is made. The government must explain to the public its motivations for attempting to host the project and pursue follow-up meetings with the other four countries involved and the EU. Copyright 2004 The Yomiuri Shimbun ***************************************************************** 18 UK: Nuclear Cancer Study Cancelled Date: Mon, 5 Jul 2004 15:00:49 -0500 (CDT) 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 ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Make a clean sweep of pop-up ads. Yahoo! Companion Toolbar. Now with Pop-Up Blocker. Get it for free! http://us.click.yahoo.com/L5YrjA/eSIIAA/yQLSAA/Sj.0lB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> [Brought to you by HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK] Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/du-watch/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: du-watch-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ ***************************************************************** 19 [du-list] NEW DATA AND PROJECTIONS ON URANIUM JUST RELEASED] Date: Sun, 04 Jul 2004 12:08:33 -0700 -------- Original Message -------- [du-list] NEW DATA AND PROJECTIONS ON URANIUM JUST RELEASED] Date: Sun, 04 Jul 2004 12:08:33 -0700 -------- Original Message --------
Subject:
Subject: [du-list] NEW DATA AND PROJECTIONS ON URANIUM JUST RELEASED
Date: Mon, 05 Jul 2004 21:52:46 -0400
From: et@nucnews.net
To: nucnews@yahoogroups.com, DU-List <du-list@yahoogroups.com> 


NEW DATA AND PROJECTIONS ON URANIUM JUST RELEASED

NUCLEAR ENERGY AGENCY (FRANCE) PRESS COMMUNIQUÉ
Paris, 5 July 2004

http://www.nea.fr/html/general/press/2004/2004-06.html

In the just-published Uranium 2003: Resources, Production 
and Demand (also known as the “Red Book”), the world uranium 
resource base is found to be adequate to meet future 
projected requirements. Questions remain however, as to 
whether new production capacity can be developed within the 
time frame required to meet future uranium demand. The Red 
Book, jointly prepared by the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency 
(NEA) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), is 
the foremost reference on uranium. It is based on official 
information from 43 countries and includes statistics on 
resources, exploration, production and demand as of the 
beginning of 2003.

Other key findings are:

     * Figures : By the end of 2002, world uranium demand 
amounted to 67,000 tonnes, a slight decrease from the 
previous year. Production totalled 36,000 tonnes, nearly 55% 
of world reactor requirement, while secondary resources made 
up the rest. Resource totals, on balance, remained little 
changed between 2001 and 2003 (known conventional resources 
amount to 4.6 million tonnes whereas undiscovered 
conventional resources amount to 10 million tonnes).

     * Currently envisaged production capabilities through 
2020 cannot by themselves satisfy projected world uranium 
requirements in either the low or high demand scenarios.

     * Secondary sources — including those from civilian and 
military stockpiles, uranium reprocessing and the 
re-enrichment of depleted uranium — have so far been 
sufficient to make up any shortfall.

Given that secondary sources are likely to decline, 
particularly after 2020, reactor requirements may have to be 
increasingly met by the expansion of existing production 
capacity, together with the development of additional 
production centres or the introduction of alternative fuel 
cycles.

The 2004 edition of the Red Book also offers:

     * a new analysis of the potential longevity of uranium 
resources;

     * substantial new information from all major 
uranium-producing centres in Africa, Asia, Australia, 
Central Asia, Eastern and Western Europe, North America and 
China. The Chinese data is provided for the first time in 
accordance with the NEA/IAEA reporting scheme. Expanded 
information on secondary sources of uranium in the new 
edition includes, also for the first time, official 
government information on the production and use of 
mixed-oxide fuels.

Uranium 2003: Resources, Production and Demand
A Joint Report by the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency and the 
International Atomic Energy Agency


-- 


Posted for educational and research purposes only,
~ in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 ~

NucNews Links and Expanded Archives - http://nucnews.net




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***************************************************************** 20 [du-list] FBI arrest DU speaker? Date: Mon, 05 Jul 2004 17:16:28 -0700 I haven't checked out the story, and the site, while an interesting source of underground news, does sometimes post some flawed conspiracy theory stuff. Check before you quote this. I posted it because some on this list may know him, and/or be able to confirm the story. http://www.cryptogon.com/index.html Jeff Rense Show: July 1 Guest Interrupted By FBI In Mid-Program :. At the end of the first hour of a scheduled 2-hour interview with special guest, Afghan-born Dr. Mohammend Daud Miraki, PhD, Jeff Rense was informed by his program producer that Dr. Miraki reported over his phone line that he had just been confronted with a "terrible problem"...that "the FBI and local police are at my front door." Contact with Dr. Miraki was then lost. During the first hour, Dr. Miraki shared his views and information on past fighting and the current situation in Afghanistan, and discussed a number of other key issues about life in the country of his birth. Dr. Miraki has been a champion of his decimated people for years and recently started the Afghan Depleted Uranium Recovery Fund to attempt to deal with the massive uranium contamination and its horrendous impact on the people of Afghanistan. posted by Kevin F at 10:56 AM This email is intended only for the above named addressee(s). The information contained in this email may contain information which is confidential. The views expressed in this email are personal to the sender and do not in any way reflect the views of the company. If you have received this email and you are not a named addressee, please contact the sender and then delete it from your system. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Make a clean sweep of pop-up ads. Yahoo! Companion Toolbar. Now with Pop-Up Blocker. Get it for free! http://us.click.yahoo.com/L5YrjA/eSIIAA/yQLSAA/FGYolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> To unsubscribe from this groups send a message to du-list-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com. In the body of the message type unsubscribe and send. Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/du-list/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: du-list-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ ***************************************************************** 21 amarillo.com: Radiological incidents reported [Amarillo Globe News] Web-posted Monday, July 5, 2004 By JIM McBRIDE jim.mcbride@amarillo.com The Amarillo Globe-News A radiological investigation report released to the Environmental Protection Agency reveals details about some little-known radiological incidents at the Pantex Plant. The following is a synopsis of some incidents reported in the Pantex Plant Radiological Investigation Report completed in January and recently released to the public: + In 1961, plutonium was released inside a "Gravel Gertie" assembly cell during an unspecified manufacturing incident. No fire or explosion was reported, but plutonium was spread within the assembly room by airflow from the scene of the incident. The finely divided powder was pulled into the air-conditioning system and spread throughout the structure. Personnel involved in the incident were decontaminated and studied via urinalysis, but they showed no traces of plutonium intake. Low-level plutonium contamination was found near the incident scene and in the passageway of the assembly cell. No plutonium was discovered outside the structure. The structure was decontaminated and refinished at the cost of $26,000. All known radioactive material was collected and properly disposed of. The report says there has been no known long-range environmental impact. + In 1979, rainwater collected in an unsealed underground concrete storage container in the Nuclear Weapons Accident Residue site. The site, on the northeastern section of Zone 4, was used as a retrievable storage site that included radioactive debris from five separate military craft accidents, residue from Pantex firing site test shots and low-level radioactive waste from Pantex operations. The site's contents were moved to Magazine 4-75, where a container leak was discovered. The leak caused plutonium contamination within Magazine 4-75, which was decontaminated. According to a 1984 report, a concrete storage container was contaminated with plutonium oxide. The concrete was decontaminated by surface grinding. Workers performing the decontamination work reportedly did not use proper protective equipment and could have possibly carried contamination off-site. Their homes were surveyed with radiation detection devices, and no plutonium contamination was detected. Decontamination of the NWAR site began in 1980 and was completed in mid-1986. Further review has been recommended to determine the nature and extent of contamination. + On Jan. 10 1986, depleted uranium was released when exhaust fans were turned on and off several times following a test detonation at Firing Site 23. The incident potentially released a small amount of particulate material containing depleted uranium, a low-level radioactive material used in tanks and weapons projectiles. All personnel were upwind of the site. Based on test shot data and prevailing wind conditions, the event was determined to have negligible effects on surrounding sites. + On May 17, 1989, a valve malfunction in a tritium gas container released the container's contents inside a weapons assembly cell. Tritium is a radioactive gas used to boost the power of modern nuclear weapons. A portion of the tritium gas was vented immediately from the area into the atmosphere. About two hours after the incident, Pantex officials decided to vent the remaining tritium to prevent buildup in remaining buildings. Most of the tritium released was dispersed into the atmosphere. Of five people in the facility, four received "negligible" doses of radiation and a fifth received "less than the annual regulatory dose limit." Estimates made on the day of the event using computer models indicated "that even under these conditions the maximum allowable dose off-site was within allowed limits." The facility remains closed due to tritium contamination, but radiation readings show residual contamination continues to decrease over time. Compiled by Jim McBride, jim.mcbride@amarillo.com [http://www.amarillo.com/] ***************************************************************** 22 REDIFF: BARC suspends 3 in radiation exposure case Home [http://www.rediff.com/] > News > PTI July 05, 2004 16:41 IST The Bhabha Atomic Research Centre has suspended three of its technical persons suspected to be involved in the radiation exposure case at its Waste Immobilisation Plant at Tarapur, near Mumbai, to facilitate departmental enquiry, a BARC official said in Mumbai today.   Chargesheets are also being framed against all the three as part of the departmental inquiry procedure, said BARC Controller Dr Gajanan Pungle.   When asked about the duration of the suspension, Pungle said, "We have certain guidelines with regard to suspension and these would be reviewed periodically. If found guilty, stern action will be taken against the accused," he added.   Three employees of WIP, one of the units of BARC at Tarapur, were allegedly exposed to radiation from a small sample bottle containing few drops of radioactive liquid on April 17 during the second/third shifts.   "The three were called for the departmental inquiry on June 21 and an official letter of suspension was issued on June 18 by BARC," the controller said, adding that the inquiry was taking place under the supervision of Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Dr Anil Kakodkar "as it is a very serious case of indiscipline". More reports from Maharashtra © Copyright 2004 PTI. All rights reserved. Republication or Copyright © 2004 rediff.com India Limited. All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 23 OECD NEA: New data and projections on uranium just released Press Communiqué5 July 2004 - [OECD Nuclear Energy Agency / L'Agence pour l'énergie nucléaire] [http://www.oecd.org] In the just-published Uranium 2003: Resources, Production and Demand (also known as the “Red Book”), the world uranium resource base is found to be adequate to meet future projected requirements. Questions remain however, as to whether new production capacity can be developed within the time frame required to meet future uranium demand. The Red Book, jointly prepared by the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), is the foremost reference on uranium. It is based on official information from 43 countries and includes statistics on resources, exploration, production and demand as of the beginning of 2003. Other key findings are: + Figures : By the end of 2002, world uranium demand amounted to 67,000 tonnes, a slight decrease from the previous year. Production totalled 36,000 tonnes, nearly 55% of world reactor requirement, while secondary resources made up the rest. Resource totals, on balance, remained little changed between 2001 and 2003 (known conventional resources amount to 4.6 million tonnes whereas undiscovered conventional resources amount to 10 million tonnes). + Currently envisaged production capabilities through 2020 cannot by themselves satisfy projected world uranium requirements in either the low or high demand scenarios. + Secondary sources — including those from civilian and military stockpiles, uranium reprocessing and the re-enrichment of depleted uranium — have so far been sufficient to make up any shortfall. Given that secondary sources are likely to decline, particularly after 2020, reactor requirements may have to be increasingly met by the expansion of existing production capacity, together with the development of additional production centres or the introduction of alternative fuel cycles. The 2004 edition of the Red Book also offers: + a new analysis of the potential longevity of uranium resources; + substantial new information from all major uranium-producing centres in Africa, Asia, Australia, Central Asia, Eastern and Western Europe, North America and China. The Chinese data is provided for the first time in accordance with the NEA/IAEA reporting scheme. Expanded information on secondary sources of uranium in the new edition includes, also for the first time, official government information on the production and use of mixed-oxide fuels. ### A Joint Report by the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency and the International Atomic Energy Agency OECD, Paris , 2004 – ISBN 92-64-01673-2. 85, Ł59, US$106, Ą10 900. Please quote the title and reference in any review. Commercial orders may be directed to Extenza-Turpin Stratton Business Park , Pegasus Drive , Biggleswade, Bedfordshire SG18 8QB, United Kingdom OECD Customer Service: +44 (0)1767 604960 Main Switchboard: +44 (0)1767 604800, Fax number: +44 (0)1767 601640 E-mail: [oecdrow@extenza-turpin.com] – Website: [http://www.extenza-turpin.com/] Online ordering: [http://www1.oecd.org/scripts/publications/bookshop/redirect.asp? 662004081P1] (secure payment with credit card) News media contact: Karen Daifuku Head of the Executive Office, Central Secretariat, External Relations and Public Affairs Tel. +33 (0)1 45 24 10 10 Fax +33 (0)1 45 24 11 10 E-mail: [daifuku@nea.fr] Website: [http://www.nea.fr/] The NEA consists of 28 OECD member countries. The mission of the NEA is to assist its member countries in maintaining and further developing, through international co-operation, the scientific, technological and legal bases required for a safe, environmentally friendly and economical use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. The NEA also provides authoritative assessments and forges common understandings on key issues, as input to government decisions on nuclear energy policy and to broader OECD policy analyses in areas such as energy and sustainable development. ***************************************************************** 24 [BATN] Waste shipments routes to become a Fatherland Secret Date: Mon, 5 Jul 2004 00:55:16 -0700 Published Sunday, July 4, 2004, in the San Mateo County Times Roads bill adds level of secrecy Small clause would keep nuclear waste routes under wraps By Douglas Fischer Deep in a 1,381-page highway spending bill now before Congress are two sentences that would override state open-records laws and let federal authorities seal now-public information about the nation's rail and highway systems -- including records relating to the transport of hazardous waste through communities. The language, requested by the Bush administration, would give the U.S. Department of Transportation and state and local governments power to determine what information about the nation's transportation grid should be kept secret. The broadly written clause allows the department -- and local governments -- to prohibit the release of any information deemed "detrimental to the safety of passengers in transportation." Depending on how the administration interprets such concern, critics say, that could be everything from reports detailing poor railroad track maintenance in a particular community -- thereby raising the risk of derailments -- to the customary disclosure of rail and road routes used to ship nuclear waste. Government watchdog groups call the language part of a continued erosion of open-records laws occurring under President George Bush's watch that, in this case, could put communities at risk. "There's a danger ... that information of importance to communities will become unavailable -- so that 'national security' will trump community safety," said Marylia Kelley, executive director of Tri-Valley CAREs, a nonprofit group monitoring activities at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The exact timing of a nuclear materials shipment, for instance, is already a secret, she said. Keeping the route secret would give the public no say in a decision that has a potentially huge effect on their neighborhood. "That's going to have a negative impact on democracy and on community safety," Kelley said. The sentences are tucked in the Senate version of a highway spending bill authorizing billions of dollars in roadway projects across the country. The House version lacks the language, and lawmakers from the Senate and House are to meet after the July 4 holiday recess to hammer out the differences. The Senate bill's secrecy clause was requested by the Bush administration to protect information that could aid terrorists, said Virginia Davis, an aide to Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala. The Transportation Security Administration already has authority to seal sensitive information related to airports. This language, Davis said, is intended to extend that protection to state and local governments. But Steven Aftergood, who directs the Project on Government Secrecy for the Federation of American Scientists, sees it going deeper. Until now, information subject to secrecy has largely dealt with airline transportation -- flight safety, airline and airport security and so forth. This would extend that scope throughout the nation's transportation network -- to every street, road and railway in the country. "Who knows -- maybe they would do the right thing and say all this information should be in the public domain," he said. "But if they didn't want to, this law would say they wouldn't have to." Some state regulators say the open flow of information is crucial when making decisions. The state Energy Commission, for instance, is one of several agencies overseeing the transport of nuclear fuels through the state. The selection of those routes traditionally undergoes a vigorous public airing. The change could be far-reaching, critics add. Current law, for example, requires the Department of Transportation to publish annual reports on hazardous materials incidents. The new law could trump that requirement. Similarly, someone researching how many drivers of Bay Area school buses or hazardous material trucks have been convicted of drug or alcohol violations could find that information blocked, since the law extends the cloak of secrecy to "transportation employees." "This administration's penchant for secrecy has gone beyond the need for medication," said Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-Alamo. "There are very benign ways (to deal with the security risk). You don't have to have a red alert whenever you truck something through town." And secrecy has its risks, too. It was a Freedom of Information Act request that alerted CAREs to a federal plan to ship plutonium pellets from the former Rocky Flats weapons lab in Colorado to the Lawrence Livermore lab, Kelley said. To make the job easier, the government planned to transport the nuclear cargo in lightweight containers that could be crushed in an accident, she said. The group successfully sued to stop the shipments. "All of the communities between Colorado and California, as well as our own community here in Livermore, were made safer because that information was made available," she said. "The public really is the entity that stops a lot of stupid government ideas," Kelley said. Contact Douglas Fischer at dfischer@angnewspapers.com ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Yahoo! 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Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ ***************************************************************** 25 Davis Enterprise: Final report out on toxic cleanup site at UC Davis davisenterprise.com Copyright TownNews.com(C) By Sharon Stello/Enterprise staff writer The final public health assessment for a Superfund toxic cleanup site at UC Davis has been released by the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, but there are few changes from the draft report completed a year ago. The latest version includes comments made by members of the public and ATSDR's responses to those comments. Both reports find that high nitrate levels in some private wells and elevated me rcury levels in Putah Creek fish are public health hazards, but these contaminants are not from the Laboratory for Energy-Related Health Research site where beagles were irradiated for 31 years in a Department of Energy research project. UCD also operated three landfills on part of the site near Old Davis Road and the South Fork of Putah Creek examined in the reports by ATSDR, in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Written comments on the draft report w ere accepted through Oct. 31 and a public forum was conducted on Oct. 30. Julie Roth, executive director of the Davis South Campus Superfund Oversight Committee, said she's satisfied with the report, understanding there were limitations on the scope of the agency's review. Roth said there remains a need to examine possible health risks at the site for people who worked there, but it seems no agencies can or will undertake this task. Roth said the slow pace of the process can be frustrating, noting that efforts have been o ngoing for 10 years and agencies are still completing their studies. In addition to ATSDR's study, UCD has been working with consultants to prepare a site-specific risk assessment for the former landfill portion of the site and the Department of Energy is preparing a similar study of its former research area. Brian Oatman, UCD's environmental protection manager overseeing the LEHR site cleanup, said the universit y recently submitted a draft assessment report for a second roun d of review by agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency. Oatman said the draft assessment finds a low level of risk for humans at the site, which can be managed based on how the site is used. He said the site also appears to create some risk for ecological receptors including some plants and rodents that could come into contact with contaminated soil. The university will examine how to manage these issues by preparing a feasibility study after the risk assessment. One poss ibility, Oat man said, would be to cap the former landfills. Oatman said the risk assessment will be released around September or October. DOE's feasibility study is also due out in the fall and the university's feasibility study would be available after that, in the fall or early next year. The land is now occupied by UCD's Center for Health and the Environment, formerly the Institute of Toxicology and Environmental Health, which conducts research i n toxicology, epidemiology, radiat ion biology and radiochemistry not related to past activities on the site. From 1958 to 1989, the site was used for U.S. Department of Energy-sponsored research, conducted by UCD, to simulate radiation effects on humans by studying the biodistribution and long-term effects of primarily radium-226 and strontium-90 on beagles. Between the late 1950s and the early 1970s, low-level radioactive waste, fecal matter, gravel from the on-site dog pe ns and laboratory waste were disposed of on th e site. In addition, the university operated three landfills on the site for disposal of campus waste prior to 1967. Restoration of the site began in 1989. DOE began decontamination and decommissioning of site facilities, leading to investigations of the environmental effects of past activities. Pesticides, specifically chlordane; certain metals; volatile organic compounds, particularly chloroform; and radioactive contaminants such as radium-226 and strontium-90, were found on the site, according to the health assessment. Based on the findings of these investigations and the potential contamination to groundwater, the site was placed on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency national priorities list and declared a Superfund cleanup site. The Superfund law established a fund to identify and clean up the country's hazardous waste sites. The EPA and individual states regulate investigation of the sites and since 1986, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry ha s been required by law to conduct a public health assessment at each site on the list. Copies of the report are available at the Davis Library, 315 G St.; University of California Law Library, 400 Mrak Hall Drive, at UC Davis; Physical Sciences Library, 1 Shields Ave., at UC Davis; and Freedom from Hunger, 1644 Da Vinci Court, Davis. For more information, community members may call health scientist Wayne Henry toll-free at 888-422-8737. Regi onal representative Gwendolyn Eng may also be called at (415) 947-4317. Callers should refer to the LEHR site in Davis. Reach Sharon Stello at sstello@davisenterprise.net
Copyright © 2004 The Davis Enterprise. All rights reserved ***************************************************************** 26 GreenLeft: Nuclear dump opponents smell victory. [http://www.greenleft.org.au Jim Green The Coalition government’s campaign to build a national nuclear waste dump in South Australia is going from bad to worse. The government has been subjected to a barrage of friendly fire in recent months, in the form of strong criticism from pro-nuclear people. For example, two nuclear scientists recommended to the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA) that dump licences not be granted to the federal Department of Education, Science and Training. They based their objections on first-hand experience of DEST’s mishandling of the latest “clean-up” of the Maralinga nuclear weapons test site. Peter Johnston, professor of nuclear physics at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, argued in a submission to ARPANSA that DEST “lacks the technical competence to manage the [repository] project”. Nuclear engineer Alan Parkinson wrote in his submission: “It has to be noted that the same group responsible for the debacle of the Maralinga project have responsibility for the radioactive waste repository.” Parkinson’s submission is also critical of the non-independent regulator ARPANSA, which may explain why ARPANSA is refusing to post his submission on its website, citing “legal reasons”. The criticisms of Johnston and Parkinson were endorsed by professor Ian Lowe, co-chair of an ARPANSA forum held in Adelaide in February. Even the strongly pro-nuclear International Atomic Energy Agency has recommended that DEST employ more in-house expertise, and the head of ARPANSA, Dr John Loy, has publicly endorsed that view. It was expected that ARPANSA would grant licences to build and operate the dump in April. Because of DEST’s incompetence, and the strong opposition of environment groups and Indigenous groups such as the Kupa Piti Kungka Tjuta and the Kokatha native title claimants, licensing has been delayed and is unlikely to be completed by the end of the year. Legal victory Recently, the federal government was unable to get contractors onto the dump site to carry out studies necessary for the licensing process. South Australian Premier Mike Rann threatened to have them arrested for trespass, claiming that it is state land until the Federal Court had ruled on the validity of the federal government’s compulsory seizure of land for the dump last year. On June 24, the Federal Court ruled that the land seizure was invalid — a huge setback for Canberra’s nuclear dumpsters. That led to speculation in other states that the nation’s stockpile of radioactive waste might be coming their way. Perhaps trying to hose down such speculation, federal science minister Peter McGauran insisted that the dump will be built in South Australia “one way or another” — arrogance that will only harden opposition to the dump. The federal government may appeal the legal decision in the High Court, but that is unlikely to succeed given that the Federal Court decision was unanimous and unequivocal. The government may try to amend the Land Acquisition Act, but that would be blocked in the Senate. If re-elected, the Coalition government may go through the “normal” acquisition process instead of invoking the “urgency” provision in the Act as it did last year. Compulsory land acquisition could be thwarted once and for all if the state parliament passes a bill to make the nuclear dump site a public park and thus immune to acquisition by the federal government. Independents in the upper house of the SA parliament will be pressured to support a public parks bill in the coming weeks. The election remains important to the dump campaign. Only the Coalition parties support the current plan for a nuclear dump in South Australia. Labor’s position is that a dump needs to be established somewhere, but not in South Australia, and that the wishes of state governments and local communities will not be overridden. Those conditions may make it impossible to establish a dump anywhere — certainly not for some years. This is in sharp contrast to the federal government’s plan to build the dump in South Australia immediately after the election and the granting of licences by ARPANSA. Minister caught misleading parliament Adding to his problems, federal science minister and chief dumpster Peter McGauran has been caught out misleading parliament. McGauran was asked the following question in parliament: “Did departmental officers develop a list of ``experts'' that were used to make public comments in support of the proposed nuclear waste dump ...?” His response in parliament on October 27 was: “No.” McGauran does not dispute that departmental officers developed a list of “experts” — in fact the list has been released under freedom of information legislation. He disputes whether the `experts’ were used to make public comments, telling the Adelaide Advertiser on June 17: “I was asked specifically were technical experts used to make public comments and the answer is no.” However, the freedom of information documents show that McGauran’s department paid PR firm Michels Warren over $1000 to provide media training to some of the “experts” and to organise media interviews with them. Moreover, transcripts and summaries of media interviews with a number of the enlisted “experts” are included in the freedom of information documents. [Jim Green is a nuclear campaigner with Friends of the Earth.] From Green Left Weekly, July 7, 2004. Visit the Green Left Weekly home page. [http://www.greenleft.org.au/] ----------------------------------------------------------------- ***************************************************************** 27 News & Star: RAF jets could not save Sellafield Published on 03/07/2004 RAF fighter jets could not be scrambled in time to prevent terrorists from crashing a hijacked aeroplane into Sellafield, according to an expert analysis due out later this month. Transatlantic passenger planes forced to divert from their normal flight paths across Cumbria would take between four and six minutes to reach the plant and this would hardly give time for the nearest fighters, which are on five-minute standby and stationed in Fife and Yorkshire, to leave the ground. In the wake of the terror attacks in America, some estimates have suggested that an attack on a nuclear facility 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 in the UK Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology later this month, which has already been seen by a national Sunday newspaper. The analysis shows that more than 700 airliners pass within 50 nautical miles of Sellafield every week on their way from Europe to North America. A third of the planes are Boeing 747s, the largest civilian airliner in service, carrying an average of 158 tons of fuel by the time they near the West Cumbrian plant. They come from 17 airports, including London, Paris, Kuwait and Tel Aviv. “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 analysis concludes. The analysis was commissioned by environmental group Greenpeace. Jean McSorley, the nuclear campaign coordinator for Greenpeace UK, said: “If a heavily fuelled jet crashed into Sellafield and hit a target such as the high-level waste tanks, the consequences would be horrific. “We don’t 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.” The Office for Civil Nuclear Security said it had been working on additional measures to counter the risk of an aircraft being crashed into a nuclear site but added details would not be disclosed for security reasons. Two concrete barriers are being built around the edge of two facilities at Sellafield. “Other measures have also been taken, including strengthened warning procedures,” an annual report from the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) states. news@cumbrian-newspapers.co.uk [news@cumbrian-newspapers.co.uk] or post it on our Forums ***************************************************************** 28 UK Independent: Israel urged to join talks on creating nuclear-free region By Donald Macintyre in Jerusalem 06 July 2004 Israel will today be urged to agree to talks on a nuclear-free Middle East even if she continues to withhold confirmation about her own arsenal of unconventional weapons. Mohamed ElBaradei, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), will use a rare meeting here with senior Israeli politicians and officials, including the Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, to suggest Israel's policy of nuclear "ambiguity" need not be a bar to wide-ranging strategic talks on regional security. The visit by Mr ElBaradei, the Egyptian head of the UN's anti-proliferation agency, his first in six years, will throw a fresh and to Israel unwelcome spotlight on her nuclear arsenal. But he has no plans to hector the government on its refusal to confirm or deny it has nuclear weapons. Nor will he invite an inevitable official refusal by asking to see the Dimona plant in the Negev desert which, the whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu revealed 18 years ago, was developing fissile materials for nuclear weapons manufacture. Mr ElBaradei said before his visit: "I think everybody takes it as a given that Israel has a nuclear capability, if not nuclear weapons. So whether they would like to come in the open, whether they maintain ... ambiguity, it's for them to decide." Instead he will focus during a 48-hour visit, described by the IAEA in Vienna yesterday as "routine", as trying to open the door to future regional talks on security which could ease what he says frustration in other Middle Eastern countries at "a security imbalance" posed by Israel's possession of nuclear weapons. As a civil nuclear power, Israel is an IAEA member and the talks will also cover civil issues. Privately, not even IAEA officials expect Israel to change its long-standing policy that it would consider dismantling its nuclear weapons only when what it sees as the threat from Arab states in the region - which, with the exception of Jordan and Egypt, refuse to recognise it - has been removed. Israel would also require guarantees that other states in the region, including Syria,had been stripped of chemical and biological weapons, and clear evidence that Iran is no longer trying to produce nuclear weapons. But Mr ElBaradei said in Moscow at the weekend: "We need ... to rid the Middle East of all weapons of mass destruction. Israel agrees with that, but they say it has to be ... after peace agreements. 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." He said a dialogue would help reduce widespread frustration in the Middle East "about what is seen to be a security imbalance". He said talks on nuclear disarmament could stimulate peace efforts by building confidence in the region. Asked if he thought the Israelis would be open to such an idea, he said: "I don't know. That's the purpose of my visit." Mr ElBaradei, whose visit follows a call last December by Syria's President, Bashar al-Assad, for a "nuclear-free" Middle East said in Moscow it was unsustainable that some countries had nuclear weapons and others did not. He added: "As long as you continue to have countries dangling a cigarette from their mouth, you cannot tell everybody not to smoke, with a high degree of credibility." The IAEA says Israel is in a different category from India and Pakistan, which have also refused to sign the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, because they maintain a "parity" in nuclear deterrence. But Israel is a signatory and complier with conventions on biological and chemical warfare and says its refusal to sign the non-proliferation treaty is in sharp contrast to Libya, Iran, and Iraq under Saddam Hussein, all of which, it says, tried to develop nuclear programmes in direct violation of the treaty. The Israel Atomic Energy Commission, an IAEA member which will meet Mr ElBaradei, posted a website at the weekend for the first time. The site acknowledged the Dimona nuclear reactor but made no mention of weapons. UK Independent Ltd. ***************************************************************** 29 Cincinnat Enquirer: Push ahead on Fernald cleanup [http://www.cincinnati.com] ENQUIRER [http://www.enquirer.com] | POST Monday, July 5, 2004 Editorial Now that attorneys general from two states are threatening to sue the federal Department of Energy over transfer of Fernald's low-level radioactive waste, the standoff could lead to another costly slowdown for cleanup at the former nuclear weapons processing plant 18 miles northwest of Cincinnati. Federal and state agencies need to keep Fernald's $4 billion cleanup moving ahead. Science and safety should drive the removal of contaminated waste - not deadlines or politics. Nevada Attorney General Brian Sandoval has threatened to sue DOE to block shipments of Fernald's wastes to the Nevada Test Site 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas. On June 25, Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro also threatened to sue DOE, on behalf of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, to keep DOE contractor Fluor Fernald from removing toxic waste from deteriorating 50-year-old concrete silos and storing it temporarily on site. State attorneys general threatening federal lawsuits at either end of the proposed shipment routes do not leave a whole lot of options for the contractor who has a cleanup deadline of June 2006. Fluor Fernald officials argue their production plant to remove Silo 3's powdered waste and package it for shipment wasn't designed to be mothballed indefinitely, and that prompt cleanup of Silo 3 will help train their crews for the tougher work involved with emptying the sludge like waste in Silos 1 and 2. That waste must be treated and put in canisters. Fernald Residents for Environmental Safety and Health (FRESH) agrees with Ohio that the federal Department of Energy should honor its cleanup agreement and not store wastes outside the silos, even temporarily. Yet FRESH also wants DOE to press ahead with shipment plans, notwithstanding Nevada's threat to sue. Nevada officials question whether Fernald's silo wastes are only low-level radioactive. They also object to shipment by truck, which has been common practice since the 1980s. The Fernald plan calls for 3,500 truckloads of a total of 7,000 canisters. Presidential politics could pose a greater threat to the cleanup schedule. The Bush administration may be reluctant to force Nevada to accept Fernald waste before the fall elections. Petro's team met Thursday with officials from the federal EPA and Ohio EPA, and all three agencies believe the Nevada Test Site is still the best option. Next they seek a meeting with the Department of Energy. Fluor Fernald already has declared it is ready to begin work on the Silo 3 waste, and expects to ask DOE for authorization by July 8. This standoff shouldn't come down to a question of who blinks first. All parties need to show some flexibility on the timeline. But permanent on-site storage of the waste would be a violation of previous agreements and unfair to local residents. Nor is leaving the wastes in the deteriorating silos a viable option. DOE needs to press ahead with its permanent plan to ship the material to the permanent disposal site in Nevada, even if that means battling the Nevada attorney general in court. EDITORIAL PAGE HEADLINES Push ahead on Fernald cleanup [http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2004/07/05/editorial_ed1a.html] CINCINNATI.COM [http://www.cincinnati.com] | ENQUIRER ***************************************************************** 30 Cincinnati Enquirer: Fernald: Price of maintaining park at site disputed Enquirer staff writer [http://www.cincinnati.com] ENQUIRER [http://www.enquirer.com] | POST Monday, July 5, 2004 Ohio says U.S. needs to pay more for Fernald maintenance as natural area By Dan Klepal Enquirer staff writer CROSBY TOWNSHIP - The state of Ohio and the federal government are sharply at odds over how much the feds will pay to manage the park left behind when the cleanup is finished at the old Fernald nuclear weapons plant. The state and federal government have worked together for more than a decade on the $4.4 billion cleanup. [map] But a recent exchange between the U.S. Department of Justice and the Ohio Attorney General's Office reveals the two governments disagree over how much money is needed at the 1,000-acre site after the cleanup is finished in 2006. The dispute is more than a bureaucratic squabble. The long-term plan for Fernald calls for it to become an undeveloped park with forests, wetlands, floodplains and open fields. It is designed to be a place for wildlife to flourish and for people to visit, possibly with a center to teach people about the top-secret weapons work over four decades, the nuclear mess left behind and the massive cleanup project nearing completion. State officials say the federal government promised two years ago to leave $5.4 million that could be used to maintain the park, monitor groundwater for contaminants and store records. The Department of Energy has offered only $1 million for maintenance and is balking at the idea of building a museum or education center. Tom Winston, chief of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency's southwest office, said the money is crucial to the success of the park. Winston also said the decision to keep some of the waste at Fernald saved the federal government millions of dollars in shipping and disposal fees, so it shouldn't balk at leaving behind cash now. "Clearly, a facility that doesn't have some provisions for keeping it up and maintaining it doesn't have any staying power," Winston said. "There will likely be a layering of stewards, including the federal government, a park organization will have responsibility for management activities, state and local governments involved in monitoring and record keeping. All of those activities will cost money and no one will want to do them for free." The discussions are the result of a $206 million lawsuit the state filed against the federal government in 1986 for damage to natural resources. Many of these claims are being addressed in the cleanup at Fernald. Now the federal government says that by restoring the natural resources - drinking water under the plant, soil that was contaminated with uranium and other hazardous chemicals, and removal of contaminated building debris - the rest of the state's claims for ongoing monitoring and museums are invalid. "A natural resource claim for Fernald is minimal or non-existent," Timothy J. Kern, assistant attorney general in the U.S. Department of Justice's Environmental Enforcement Section, said in a June 3 letter to the state. He thinks $1 million offered by the energy department should pay for maintenance of the Fernald nature area for a "considerable period of time." Lawyers for the state said in a June 15 letter to the Justice Department that Ohio's claim for natural resource damages is "legally and factually strong and, if litigated, would result in a very significant damage assessment." "The damage (to natural resources) cannot be undone," said Dale Vitale and Timothy Kern, two lawyers with the Ohio Attorney General's Office, who responded to Enquirer questions via e-mail. "It is analogous to a situation in which a person is severely injured in an accident. They may heal after the injury, and be able to function again at something close to normal, but they will never be the same. When that injury is caused by another, there should be some compensation.'' --- Email dklepal@enquirer.com [dklepal@enquirer.com] CINCINNATI.COM [http://www.cincinnati.com] | ENQUIRER ***************************************************************** 31 Tri-Valley Herald: Roads bill adds level of secrecy 7/5/2004 Small clause would keep nuclear waste routes private By Douglas Fischer, STAFF WRITER Deep in a 1,381-page highway spending bill now before Congress are two sentences that would override state open-records laws and let federal authorities seal now-public information about the nation's rail and highway systems -- including records relating to the transport of hazardous waste through communities. The language, requested by the Bush administration, would give the U.S. Department of Transportation and state and local governments power to determine what information about the nation's transportation grid should be kept secret. The broadly written clause allows the department -- and local governments -- to prohibit the release of any information deemed "detrimental to the safety of passengers in transportation." Depending on how the administration interprets such concern, critics say, that could be everything from reports detailing poor railroad track maintenance in a particular community -- thereby raising the risk of derailments -- to the customary disclosure of rail and road routes used to ship nuclear waste. Government watchdog groups call the language part of a continued erosion of open-records laws occurring under President Bush's watch that, in this case, could put communities at risk. "There's a danger ... that information of importance to com- munities will become unavail- able -- so that 'national security' will trump community safety," said Marylia Kelley, executive director of Tri-Valley CAREs, a nonprofit group monitoring activities at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The exact timing of a nuclear materials shipment, for instance, is already a secret, she said. Keeping the route secret would give the public no say in a decision that has a potentially huge effect on their neighborhood. "That's going to have a negative impact on democracy and on community safety," Kelley said. The sentences are tucked in the Senate version of a highway spending bill authorizing billions of dollars in roadway projects across the country. The House version lacks the language, and lawmakers from the Senate and House are to meet after the July 4 holiday recess to hammer out the differences. The Senate bill's secrecy clause was requested by the Bush administration to protect information that could aid terrorists, said Virginia Davis, an aide to Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala. The Transportation Security Administration already has authority to seal sensitive information related to airports. This language, Davis said, is intended to extend that protection to state and local governments. But Steven Aftergood, who directs the Project on Government Secrecy for the Federation of American Scientists, sees it going deeper. Until now, information subject to secrecy has largely dealt with airline transportation -- flight safety, airline and airport security and so forth. This would extend that scope throughout the nation's transportation network -- to every street, road and railway in the country. "Who knows -- maybe they would do the right thing and say all this information should be in the public domain," he said. "But if they didn't want to, this law would say they wouldn't have to." Some state regulators say the open flow of information is crucial when making decisions. The state Energy Commission, for instance, is one of several agencies overseeing the transport of nuclear fuels through the state. The selection of those routes traditionally undergoes a vigorous public airing. The change could be far-reaching, critics add. Current law, for example, requires the Department of Transportation to publish annual reports on hazardous materials incidents. The new law could trump that requirement. Similarly, someone researching how many drivers of Bay Area school buses or hazardous material trucks have been convicted of drug or alcohol violations could find that information blocked, since the law extends the cloak of secrecy to "transportation employees." "This administration's penchant for secrecy has gone beyond the need for medication," said Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-Alamo. "There are very benign ways (to deal with the security risk). You don't have to have a red alert whenever you truck something through town." And secrecy has its risks, too. It was a Freedom of Information Act request that alerted CAREs to a federal plan to ship plutonium pellets from the former Rocky Flats weapons lab in Colorado to the Lawrence Livermore lab, Kelley said. To make the job easier, the government planned to transport the nuclear cargo in lightweight containers that could be crushed in an accident, she said. The group successfully sued to stop the shipments. "All of the communities between Colorado and California, as well as our own community here in Livermore, were made safer because that information was made available," she said. "The public really is the entity that stops a lot of stupid government ideas," Kelley said. Tri-Valley Herald All Rights Reserved ***************************************************************** 32 Oak Ridger: City's DOE effort still could be successful Story last updated at 11:11 a.m. on July 5, 2004 ATTORNEY: 'We've got a reasonable shot.' By: Stan Mitchell | Oak Ridger Staff [stan.mitchell@oakridger.com] An attorney with the firm hired by the city of Oak Ridge said he is still fairly optimistic the city will gain additional federal money from the Department of Energy. Bob Worthington, of the firm Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell and Berkowitz, said he thinks after the presidential election, Oak Ridge has a "reasonable shot" of obtaining additional federal revenue from DOE. "In this Congress, with the difficulty they're having with appropriations bills, it's likely we're not going to get anything out of them until after the presidential election," Worthington said. After the election though, Worthington said Oak Ridge has a "reasonable shot." He cites the legal basis for more money and the support of Tennessee's senators and their commitment to the city as evidence of this opportunity. "We believe that there is a clear legal basis for reinstituting those legal assistance payments," Worthington said. "DOE hates it. They don't like it. They don't want to do it." Worthington said Baker, Donelson conducted extensive research into the 1985 Atomic Energy Act that provided Oak Ridge a settlement of more than $22 million and he said it was clear the entire point of the settlement was to help atomic cities "achieve sustainability." "That was the purpose of that settlement," Worthington said. "It's very clear that Oak Ridge has not achieved sustainability." Worthington said Oak Ridge couldn't have better congressional support. "We couldn't have two better positioned senators," he said, adding both are committed to getting some financial assistance to Oak Ridge. U.S. Sen. Bill Frist, R-Tenn., is Senate Majority Leader and Worthington said U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., has just been placed in an energy and water subcommittee that should put "us in a really good position as far as getting DOE's attention." To date, skepticism in Baker, Donelson's efforts has been growing. Vice Mayor Tom Beehan has said "we're paying way too much for the services we're receiving." Council member David Mosby has said he no longer thinks the effort will be successful. Mayor David Bradshaw has said he was less optimistic than he was earlier this year. In all, more than $436,000 has been paid to Baker, Donelson since the effort began, according to information from the city of Oak Ridge. Worthington dismisses the doubts. "I think we've been making some progress, but it's not the kind of thing where you pick up the phone and you call somebody and say, 'Hey, how about doing this?'" Worthington said. "I think we've been building some bridges. We've got a reasonable shot." ***************************************************************** 33 Oak Ridger: Helping foreign visitors into ORNL Story last updated at 11:28 a.m. on July 5, 2004 By: Paul Parson | Oak Ridger Staff paul.parson@oakridger.com [paul.parson@oakridger.com] It takes someone who wants to "go the extra mile" to be a foreign national specialist, according to Jan Loope. That's what the 45-year-old does on a daily basis at Oak Ridge National Laboratory beginning at 6:30 each morning. Loope is one of three people who process the requests to get noncitizens into the research lab for a visit or an assignment. They try to deal with those requests within two weeks of getting them. "It usually picks up in March and goes through most of the summer and fall," Loope said when describing how busy her job can get. Jan Loope works as a foreign national specialist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. "I've had as many as 80 requests in my queue alone to process," she continued. "Most of the time we're averaging 30 to 40 requests. That is visits and assignments. Not for that day. It's over a span of time." Yes, some of those requests are made on short notice. And, Loope said they try to prioritize the requests so they are processed in a timely manner. Looking at the big picture, ORNL had more than 700 active assignments for the month of May. Assignments are approved on a two-year basis and can be renewed. The three foreign national specialists also processed close to 140 visitors in May. When classified as a visitor, the person can't exceed a 30-day stay. "We meet some great people Š a lot of different cultures," said Loope, adding that a lot of the visitors come from China, Russia, Japan and South Korea. "(After) the initial report in, I won't see you anymore unless you need something," she added. "It could be a visa need. It could be that they need to get in a different building than what's on the request. There's only certain buildings that our noncitizens are allowed in." Loope said she doesn't speak any foreign languages, adding that the foreign nationals who visit are supposed to be fluent in English. When asked about any communication difficulties she might have encountered as part of her job, Loope could only recall one time when a visitor had to write something down so people would know what was being said. And, while Loope is responsible for getting foreign nationals into ORNL, until recently she had never traveled outside of the country herself, with Mexico being the destination. She also joked that she didn't even know what a passport was when she started her job. ***************************************************************** 34 Oak Ridger: Official: money holding up Russia Y-12 deal Story last updated at 11:26 a.m. on July 5, 2004 OAK RIDGE (AP) - Money is the main sticking point in a precedent-setting deal that would bring weapons-grade uranium from Russia to the Y-12 National Security Complex, a government official said. "Right now there's a difference between the U.S. government and what it's willing to pay and the Russian government and what they want to charge," said Bill Brumley, who heads National Nuclear Security Administration's Oak Ridge office. The deal has been in negotiations for a couple of years. If approved, officials say it would mark the first time Russia has shipped uranium to the United States in a highly enriched form. In previous agreements designed to reduce inventories of bomb materials in the former Soviet Union, uranium has been down-blended before shipment to reduce its weapons capability. The latest plan calls for nearly pure U-235 to be sent to U.S. research reactors that require highly enriched uranium for fuel, including the High Flux Isotope Reactor at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Under the agreement, the United States would purchase 250 kilograms - about 550 pounds - a year for up to 10 years. The U.S. government has offered approximately $30,000 a kilogram, Brumley said. The Russian uranium would be shipped to the Y-12 National Security Complex where it would be stored until needed for reactor fuel. Y-12, a warhead manufacturing facility, is the nation's principal storehouse for highly enriched uranium. Oak Ridge officials have been involved in the talks, agreeing on technical specifications for the nuclear material and making preparations for the shipments. "At this point, Y-12 has done all it can do," Brumley said. "Fundamentally, we are ready to execute the agreement." ***************************************************************** 35 amarillo.com Pantex report: No problem for public Web-posted Monday, July 5, 2004 Materials from past pose no significant threat, analysis says By JIM McBRIDE jim.mcbride@amarillo.com The Amarillo Globe-News Radioactive materials from past Pantex operations pose no significant threat to public health, a Pantex report concludes, but an environmental group's review says the Pantex analysis is scientifically flawed and should be redone. The report was prepared by contractor BWXT Pantex and reviews the radiological history of Pantex operations. A "screening level" risk assessment indicates most Pantex site concentrations are below conservative screening criteria and pose no unacceptable risk to site workers and the environment, the report says. Such an assessment identifies potential contaminants and determines whether contaminant levels exceed threshold criteria to protect human health and the environment. "This Radiological Investigation Report demonstrates that radiological constituents in the environmental media at Pantex pose no significant threat to the public health, welfare or the environment," the report says. Groundwater monitoring also indicates "no measurable site-relevant contaminant impacts" to the Ogallala Aquifer or the perched aquifer, a smaller, upper-level aquifer that sits above the Ogallala. The report also cites data from a 1998 Pantex health study by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. "According to the ATSDR report, off-site radiation exposures to the public living near the Pantex Plant were well below levels that would cause adverse health effects and no adverse health effects are expected from radiological contamination." The report says, however, burning grounds soils and the Nuclear Weapons Accident Residue site, may need more assessment. Depleted uranium has been discovered in burning grounds soils and traces of plutonium have been found at the weapons accident residue site. The Nuclear Weapons Accident Residue site is a Pantex location where radioactive debris from several U.S. nuclear weapons accidents was stored. Brice Smith and Arjun Mahkijani, environmental experts from the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research, a Maryland-based environmental group, reviewed the radiological report and issued a stinging criticism. Their review cited "fundamental deficiencies" in the document and said "the final product is not scientifically sound in many essential aspects." "The RI report screening levels imply that dumping vast amounts (millions or billions of tons) of pure plutonium, uranium or tritium on the site would not threaten the groundwater. We find that the contractor and the DOE have failed to provide credible data or a credible analysis," Smith and Mahkijani said in a June 7 report prepared for Sustainability in Technologies, Agriculture and Nature's Diversity, an Amarillo-based environmental grop. The IEER report recommends that the Pantex report be redone with new field data based on samples that are properly analyzed by certified laboratories. Camille Hueni, an EPA official overseeing Pantex, said her office has sent Pantex a series of questions about the report. But she said a preliminary review of the report indicates that most contaminant levels are low - at or near what are dubbed "background" levels. According to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, background levels are defined as "an average or expected amount of a substance or radioactive material in a specific environment or typical amounts of substances that occur naturally in an environment." "From what we're seeing it looks like the concentrations are pretty low. They are kind of hovering sort of around what would be called background, but most importantly they are well below what we would consider to be the PRG (preliminary remediation goal), the health screening number," Hueni said. "When you have concentrations that float primarily around background, you're really not having that much of an issue because you're well below the human health screening number anyway." Hueni noted that EPA's review is at a preliminary stage and said she anticipates Pantex will review comments from citizens groups. "They are trying to be real conservative, I think, in their approach," she said. BWXT Pantex Environmental Restoration Manager Dennis Huddleston said in a statement that EPA officials visited Pantex in February to gain an understanding of the site and past operations. "Comments were received from EPA and are currently under review by BWXT Pantex. We will work closely with the EPA to address any questions raised by regulatory agencies," Huddleston said. "Also we have informally received comments from a local citizens organization, and we are reviewing them for relevance to the quality of our report." Pantex plans to have a public meeting to discuss the report, Huddleston said. [http://www.amarillo.com/] ***************************************************************** 36 Mordechai Vanunu's business card Date: Mon, 5 Jul 2004 00:51:39 -0500 (CDT) Mordechai Vanunu's business card ====== Mordechai Vanunu Kidnapped in Rome 30th September 1986 A Free man after 18 years in jail, for revealing Israel's nuclear secrets Receiving Sanctuary at: Saint George's Cathedral 20 Nablus Road Post Office Box 19122 Jerusalem 99191 Email: vanunumjvc@hotmail.com A Nuclear Free World ======= Source: http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article2844.shtml ------------ ***************************************************************** 37 [DU-WATCH] Caldicott's War - Portrait Of A Dissident Date: Mon, 5 Jul 2004 14:59:26 -0500 (CDT) Helen C and Charles SM are up front, in-your-face and best of all, you know their names. Canadian Broadcasting Corp helped fund this feature, so it should be available North of the American Border. http://www.sbs.com.au/whatson/index.php3?id=718 Storyline Australia: Helen's War - Portrait Of A Dissident Thursday, July 1 8.30pm "What would you call a doctor who has sworn not to die until all nuclear weapons are destroyed? Noble? Ambitious? Or right off the wall?" Helen Caldicott's niece Anna Broinowski. In HELEN'S WAR, screening on SBS Television in the STORYLINE AUSTRALIA time-slot on Thursday, July 1 at 8.30pm we meet Helen Caldicott, a charismatic, emotive and combative woman who has always believed that it is possible to change the world. The world knows of her as Dr. Caldicott, Nobel Peace Prize nominee, celebrity author and anti-nuclear firebrand who quit her medical career in 1978 to "Stop The Bomb". Over two decades on, certain that George Bush's war on terror is escalating the global nuclear arms race, Helen Caldicott embarks on an explosive crusade across post September 11 America, armed with her latest book The New Nuclear Danger. Travelling with her is Caldicott's cynical niece, the filmmaker of HELEN's WAR, Anna Broinowksi. Set against the explosive backdrop of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, Anna's film tracks Helen's attempts to raise one million dollars for her Washington DC think-tank, and watches her battle neo-conservatives for mainstream airtime. As the bombs begin to rain on Baghdad, Helen and Anna's relationship intensifies and we discover the woman behind the crusade - an intractable yet vulnerable campaigner, a fearless yet imperfect prophet who monkeys around with her grandchildren and rejuvenates herself in the Australian wilderness. Intercutting Caldicott's ongoing campaign to "end the nuclear age in five years" with archival footage of Helen at the height of her fame, and provocative commentary from supporters Martin Sheen, Senator Ted Kennedy and Christopher Reeve, HELEN'S WAR shows what happens when a straight-talking Australian doctor takes on the Pentagon. With exclusive access to Helen's story, and nursing a jaded belief that nukes are inevitable, filmmaker Anna Broinowski asks her aunt some tough questions. Why does she still think it is possible to make a difference? Has the sacrifice of a stable career and an `ordinary' family life been worth it? Can we really be incinerated at any moment by 2000 American and Russian missiles "on hair trigger alert, at the press of the button" as Helen insists, or is this Cold War rhetoric redundant in a world of terrorism, rogue states and briefcase nukes? Written and directed by Anna Broinowski, produced by Sonja Armstrong and Anne Pick. Produced in association with SBS Independent, Film Finance Corporation Australia and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Related SBS Website : http://www.sbs.com.au/whatson/ ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Make a clean sweep of pop-up ads. Yahoo! Companion Toolbar. Now with Pop-Up Blocker. Get it for free! http://us.click.yahoo.com/L5YrjA/eSIIAA/yQLSAA/Sj.0lB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> [Brought to you by HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK] Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/du-watch/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: du-watch-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ ***************************************************************** 38 Google News Alert - nuclear Date: Mon, 05 Jul 2004 13:17:16 -0700 (PDT) NEW bid to end Israel's nuclear secrecy New Zealand Herald - Auckland,New Zealand VIENNA - The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog, Mohamed ElBaradei, goes to Israel tomorrow to try to persuade it to open up its nuclear programme. ... See all stories on this topic: MAJLIS Speaker Stresses Need to Expand Peaceful Nuclear ... Merh News Agency - Tehran,Iran ... He called for the expansion of mutual peaceful nuclear cooperation and the speedy construction and completion of the Bushehr power plant. ... See all stories on this topic: NATION Test-Launches Nuclear-Capable Rocket Los Angeles Times (subscription) - Los Angeles,CA,USA India successfully fired a nuclear-capable missile off the coast of the eastern state of Orissa in what a Defense Ministry spokesman called "a routine test.". ... See all stories on this topic: BRITAIN steps up pressure on Iran over nuclear program Xinhua - China ˇˇ LONDON, July 4 (Xinhuanet) -- The British government has stepped up pressure on Iran over its nuclear program as Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said Sunday ... See all stories on this topic: FRANCE ‘ ready to use nuclear weapons for Germany ’ Expatica - Netherlands BERLIN, July 5 (AFP) - France could use its nuclear capability to defend its neighbours, French Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said in an interview ... See all stories on this topic: RUSSIAN FM visits Pyongyang for nuclear talks SpaceDaily - USA ... talks with his North Korean counterpart Paek Nam-Sun in Pyongyang Sunday, focusing on the 20-month standoff over the Stalinist state's nuclear drive, state ... See all stories on this topic: SCANDAL hits Japan's nuclear program Taipei Times - Taipei,Taiwan It was supposed to help revive Japan's troubled nuclear program -- and curb the country's heavy reliance on energy imports. But ... See all stories on this topic: ISRAEL offers peak behind nuclear veil of secrecy SpaceDaily - USA 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. ... OUTSIDE View: Rewarding China's Proliferat United Press International - USA ... July 5 (UPI) -- In a move that went all but unnoticed by the rest of the world, the People's Republic of China was accepted into the Nuclear Suppliers Group at ... See all stories on this topic: SOME medical tests set off security monitors philly.com (subscription) - Philadelphia,PA,USA ... The monitoring stations have varying levels of sensitivity, Tighe said, but they are sensitive enough to pick up the lingering residue nuclear tests might leave ... This daily-once News Alert is brought to you by Google News (BETA)... - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Remove this News Alert: http://www.google.com/newsalerts/remove?s=92d1672a1b037a07&hl=en Create another News Alert: http://www.google.com/newsalerts?hl=en Try Google News: http://news.google.com/ ***************************************************************** 39 Space Daily: Chinese Power Plant Will Exceed Plans [http://www.spacedaily.com/] File image by ESA's Proba showing the final closing of the Yangtze River. Beijing (UPI) July 4, 2004 China's Three Gorges hydropower plant was expected Sunday to generate 37.5 billion kilowatts of electricity this year, 15 billion more than originally planned. The China Yangtze River Three Gorges Project Development Corporation said eight generators have been operating at the Three Gorges hydropower plant since July 10, 2003, reported Xinhua, China's main government-run news agency. The total generating capacity had reached 5.6 million kilowatts and the actual output had reached 22 billion kilowatts so far, said Deputy Manager-General Bi Yaxiong. Three more generators, with an installed capacity of 700,000 kilowatts each, will be installed and go into operation in the second half of this year. The gigantic water-control project will have 26 generators and will have an annual generating capacity of 84.7 billion kilowatts of electricity when it is completed in 2009. By the end of 2003, the hydropower plant had generated 8.6 billion kilowatts of electricity, which was transmitted to areas in central, eastern and southwestern China. All rights reserved. Copyright 2004 by United Press Related Links [http://www.spacedaily.com/] ***************************************************************** NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. For more information go to: *****************************************************************