*****************************************************************
07/29/04 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 12.180
*****************************************************************
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 Iraq and Niger: A Twisted, Tangled Tale
2 Khaleej Times: European “big three’ to meet Iran on nuclear issues
3 KoreaTimes: 6-Party Working Group Talks Set for Aug. 18-21
4 US: USATODAY.com: Whistle-blowers form a breed apart
5 US: Rocky Mountain News: Dismissal of Cameco lawsuit upheld
6 Las Vegas SUN: Sharon Makes Oblique Reference to Nukes
7 Haaretz: Vanunu to be questioned on possible parole violation
8 Haaretz: Police to quiz whistleblower Vanunu over interviews in
NUCLEAR REACTORS
9 [du-list] Nuke plants in Afghanistan and Iraq ... I
10 UPI: Four bids put in for Slovak power producer -
11 BBC: City's sea energy power plan
12 US: Berkshire Eagle Online - Editorials No solution on site
13 US: toledoblade.com: Utilities ordered to kill fewer fish
14 Slovak news: Four bidders for SE power utility
15 US: Lowell Sun: Residents boiling mad over water
16 US: NRC: Fire in the Main Transformer
17 US: The Advocate: Nuke engineers file petition against NRC
18 US: Brattleboro Reformer Petitioners: NRC short on criteria needed f
19 US: NRC: LLTF Report
20 Guardian Unlimited: Watchdog censures BE on green breaches
21 US: WFSB: Nuclear engineers challenge Vermont Yankee plant
22 Guardian Unlimited: Audit on nuclear power
23 US: NRC: South Texas Project Nuclear Operating Company; South Texas
NUCLEAR SAFETY
24 [du-list] Stop DU testing at Capo Teulada - Sardinia
25 US: SDUT: Congressman calls for more payments to nuclear radiation v
26 US: Centre Daily Times: Where is cancer society in nukes-effects deb
27 US: U.S. Newswire: U.S. Labor Department to Help Nuclear Weapons Wor
28 US: Paducah Sun: Prospects wane for sick worker compensation
NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE
29 Las Vegas RJ: JANE ANN MORRISON: Kerry's mixed record on Yucca Mount
30 Las Vegas RJ: Firm may get $11 millionfor Yucca Mountain work
31 Las Vegas RJ: Reid takes his turn in spotlight
32 Las Vegas RJ: Nominee electrifies Silver State delegation
33 Las Vegas RJ: STEVE SEBELIUS: Kerry & Yucca Mountain
34 Las Vegas SUN: Reid delivers his anti-Yucca pitch
35 US: Las Vegas SUN: Letter: On-site storage of nuclear waste not a
36 Las Vegas SUN: Berkley casts vote for JFK
37 US: Bradenton Herald: Tallevast center gets clean classrooms
38 US: Bradenton Herald: Independent review approved for Tallevast cont
39 US: heraldtribune.com: State, Lockheed sign Tallevast cleanup agreem
40 US: heraldtribune.com: Lessons of Tallevast DEP plan overlooks commu
41 Nevada Appeal: Reid brings Yucca Mountain to national stage at conve
42 AU Ninemsn: PM mulls nuke dump site
43 Ecolinks: Kyrgyzstan Receives Aid to Secure Nuclear Waste
44 AU ABC: Conservationists back NT nuclear dump opposition.
45 PRN: The Honorable Harry Reid's Speech before the Democratic Nationa
46 US: KATU 2: Radioactive waste to head through Portland to Hanford
47 Whitehaven News: SELLAFIELD ATTACK COULD CAUSE WIDESPREAD CANCERS
NUCLEAR WEAPONS
US DEPT. OF ENERGY
48 Guardian Unlimited: Work at Los Alamos Nuclear Lab Goes Slowly
49 Las Vegas SUN: DOE to Issue Energy Efficiency Standards
50 chillicothe gazette: New Piketon uranium facility to create 190 jobs
51 Oak Ridger: Y-12 deals with dirty bomb drill
52 Oak Ridger: Environmental manager gives update on DOE cleanup
53 lamonitor.com: Document retrieval to resume
OTHER NUCLEAR
54 [du-list] NPRI new discussion board
55 Google News Alert - nuclear
56 asahi.com EDITORIAL: Nuclear fusion reactor
*****************************************************************
*****************************************************************
FULL NEWS STORIES
*****************************************************************
*****************************************************************
1 Iraq and Niger: A Twisted, Tangled Tale
AFFAIRS OF STATE
By Stan Crock
Despite two painstaking inquiries, the truth about Saddam's
attempts to buy black-market uranium remains clouded in confusion
If you want to understand how the intelligence community could
have gotten so much wrong before 9/11 and the Iraq war, two
recent reports offer eye-opening case studies of the murky world
of intel analysis. Usually, 20-20 hindsight is perfect. But even
Monday morning quarterbacks in the U.S. and Britain can't agree
on what conclusions to reach about alleged Iraqi efforts to
obtain uranium in Niger for a nuclear-weapons program.
This has enormous consequences. A huge flap erupted over the 16
words on the topic in President Bush's State of the Union speech
last year. And a special counsel is investigating whether anyone
at the White House broke the law in disclosing the name of a CIA
employee whose husband issued a report on the Niger effort.
AFRICAN WHISPERS. Let's start at the beginning: According to the
scenario laid out in a July 14 report by Britain's Lord Butler,
some Iraqi officials visited a number of African countries,
including Niger, in early 1999. Three-quarters of Niger's exports
are uranium, and Iraq had purchased uranium from the country in
the late 1970s, before Baghdad became self-sufficient in the
mining of the ore.
Trouble is, the mines were damaged in the first Persian Gulf War.
And with international inspectors in Iraq in the '90s guarding
whatever ore was out of the ground, Baghdad would have had to
import uranium to pursue its bomb.
The British had intelligence suggesting the purpose of the Niger
visit was to buy ore, and other reports indicated Iraqi efforts
to buy uranium in the Democratic Republic of Congo. All of this
led the Brits to conclude in a Sept. 24, 2002, white paper that
Iraq had sought significant quantities of uranium in Africa. And
given that Iraq had no active civil nuclear program that would
require uranium, only one inference could be drawn: Iraq wanted a
nuke.
BLAIR'S BLUNDER. Still, it was far from clear the sales took
place or that Saddam Hussein was making any real progress. On
Sept. 24, in the lead-up to war, British Prime Minister Tony
Blair told Parliament about Iraq's attempts to buy uranium, with
the caveat that he did not know if the efforts bore fruit.
The next month, an Italian journalist released some documents
that purported to show Niger and Iraq had struck a deal for
uranium. The papers turned out to be forgeries, according to a
March, 2003, report by the International Atomic Energy Agency.
The IAEA also reviewed the travel report of the Iraqi official
who went to Niger in 1999 and interviewed him. The agency's
conclusion: The visit was an innocent one to invite the President
of Niger to visit Iraq.
As a result, the agency concluded that no evidence showed an
attempt to obtain uranium. That doesn't mean no attempt was made,
only that the IAEA had no evidence of one.
The bottom line for Lord Butler: Because the British government
didn't know about the forgeries when Blair made his September
statement, that statement was based on credible intelligence.
FORGING TOWARD WAR. Can the same be said for President Bush and
his State of the Union? Butler thinks that by extension, Bush's
statement -- "The British government has learned that Saddam
Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from
Africa" was "well-founded." That's odd because Administration
officials were quick to say after the speech that the level of
certainty about the allegations wasn't high enough for the
sentence to have been in the address.
Indeed, the CIA had long been skeptical of the British take on
Niger and had told both Congress and the White House as much in
October, 2002, according to the July 9 report of the Senate
Select Committee on Intelligence. Among the reasons for U.S.
reservations: One of the mines that allegedly was a source of the
uranium had been flooded, and the other was under the control of
the French, not Niger's government.
And in January, 2003, before the State of the Union speech,
intel officers at both State and the CIA were suspicious of the
"sale" documents. In an e-mail, one State official made it clear
he thought the papers were forgeries. That should have raised
red flags about all of the allegations. Indeed, the Senate
Committee concluded that until October, 2002, when U.S.
officials obtained the forged documents, it would have been
reasonable to assume that Iraq was trying to obtain uranium --
but not after that.
MURDEROUS OR MUNDANE? Trouble is, the President gave his speech
four months later. So Butler's conclusion that Blair and Bush
were in the same position and that both acted reasonably don't
square with the Senate panel's conclusion.
Advertisement
To make your head spin even more, the consensus of the U.S.
intelligence community was that you could completely ignore the
uranium issue and conclude Iraq was trying to reconstitute its
nuclear capability. Why? It was buying such things as aluminum
tubes, magnets, and machine tools. However, those are dual-use
items that could have been purchased for completely innocent
commercial purposes. Do you go to war over such ambiguous
evidence?
Just to add another 360-degree spin, the Financial Times recently
reported that European intelligence agencies believe Niger had
been trying to sell its uranium to rogue nations. Could all the
statements actually be true after all, or is the paper getting
woofed?
If the Bush Administration and its defenders have credibility
problems, one of its chief critics does, too. Joseph C. Wilson
IV, the former ambassador the CIA sent to Niger in early 2002 to
check out the allegations, doesn't come out well in the Senate
committee report. He is portrayed as having said his wife,
Valerie Plame, who worked for the CIA, had nothing to do with his
trip, yet the Senate panel says she suggested in an e-mail he
would be the perfect person in light of his contacts in the
region.
OPEN QUESTIONS. And in a July 6, 2003, New York Times op-ed
piece, Wilson said his trip disproved the notion that Iraq was
trying to obtain nukes. In fact, according to the committee
report, Wilson's report said the Prime Minister of Niger
confirmed a separate 1999 meeting with Iraqi officials and that
the Nigerian leader believed the Iraqis wanted to buy uranium.
Wilson himself puts all of this in a very different light. He
told me his critics are lifting half of a sentence out of his
recently published book and ignoring the second half. He wrote
that other than serving as a conduit for the agency, Plame had
nothing to do with the trip. So he was acknowledging some
involvement on her part but suggesting that she wasn't
responsible for his assignment.
That, I'm reliably told, is true. The CIA is unclear about the
sequence of events that led to her e-mail but holds out the
possibility Plame did not initiate the discussion.
And what of the meeting between the Iraqis and the Nigerian
President? Wilson agrees it's a fair assumption the Iraqis wanted
to talk about uranium. But Niger's President steered the
discussion away from trade, so the topic never came up. Was this
an attempt to acquire significant amounts of uranium? Or was it a
sign the efforts went nowhere? Was this a reason for war?
FOG AND CONFUSION. Wilson's Times piece, which suggested the
Administration manipulated intelligence about Saddam, evidently
prompted someone in the Administration to tell reporters Plame
worked as an operative for the CIA. Was the motive merely to
explain why Wilson was given the Niger mission? That's what some
Administration supporters say.
But such a disclosure normally would come in response to a
reporter's question about why Wilson was sent. Yet it has been
reported that five media organizations got phone calls about
Plame's identity. It just doesn't add up.
In fact, none of this does. And that's one of the problems with
intelligence. Even in hindsight, people can disagree on what took
place and what was reasonable to conclude. We can add all the
human intelligence we want, and it's not likely things will get
better.
Don't expect smoking guns to make what's happening clear. It will
be a matter of connecting dots -- but viewing those dots and the
patterns that emerge through the distorting prism one brings to
the task. Uncertainty and errors are inevitable. There's a lesson
here, one articulated brilliantly in a graffito on a wall in
Belfast years ago: "If you aren't confused, you don't understand
the situation."
Crock covers national security and foreign affairs for
BusinessWeek from Washington. Follow his views in Affairs of
State twice a month, only on BusinessWeek Online
Edited by Patricia O'Connell
*****************************************************************
2 Khaleej Times: European “big three’ to meet Iran on nuclear issues
(AFP)
29 July 2004
PARIS - Officials from Britain, France and Germany were due to
meet with their Iranian counterparts in Paris on Thursday for
talks on Teheran’s nuclear program, diplomats said.
The talks follow US accusations that Iran is wantonly flouting
international calls to curb its nuclear activities, saying
Teheran is engaged in a “direct challenge” to the UN atomic
watchdog.
“We are at a very important juncture. In general terms, we need
to impress on Iran that trust still needs to be built, and that
is up to the Iranians,” said one Western diplomat ahead of the
Paris talks.
Under an agreement reached last year with Britain, France and
Germany, Iran agreed to suspend sensitive uranium enrichment,
allow tougher inspections and file a comprehensive declaration
of its nuclear activities.
The agreement was aimed at allaying international fears that
Iran was secretly developing nuclear weapons, a charge that
Teheran denies.
But since then, experts from the UN’s nuclear watchdog have
found omissions in Iran’s reporting, inspection visits have been
delayed and the regime has backed away from a pledge to suspend
all enrichment-related activities.
Diplomats in Vienna said Wednesday that Iran had removed the
seals placed on centrifuges by the International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA) to ensure Teheran was not using its civilian
nuclear program as a cover for weapons development.
“Actions like resuming making centrifuges do not improve
confidence,” the Western diplomat said.
In Washington, a spokesman for the US State Department called
reports about Teheran breaking the seals on its centrifuges
”disturbing”, saying it was a sign that Iran may not be trusted
to fulfill its commitments.
In Teheran, the deputy head of the Iranian parliament’s foreign
policy and security commission, Mohamoud Mohammadi, said the
assembly would not ratify an additional security protocol to the
nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
Following major pressure from the IAEA and the international
community, Iran signed the protocol -- which would give IAEA
inspectors increased powers -- in December last year, but has
yet to ratify it.
Teheran says it is no longer bound to its deal with the
so-called European “big three” because they sponsored a
resolution adopted by the IAEA last month, which criticized
Teheran for failing to cooperate.
“I hope that Teheran understands that this is not the right way
to go,” German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said Wednesday.
Thursday’s meeting in Paris was part of regular ongoing
discussions between the Europeans and Teheran, and was not
called as a response to recent events, diplomats said.
“There are a number of outstanding issues that urgently need to
be cleared up. We have to look at ways in which we can do this.
So the talks will be mainly dealing with technical issues,” said
the Western diplomat.
A French foreign ministry spokeswoman said British, French and
German officials had made clear their willingness to pursue
dialogue with Teheran.
“It’s in this context that discussions continue with the Iranian
authorities, with a view to giving all guarantees on the
peaceful nature of the Iranian nuclear program,” she said
Wednesday.
The Western diplomat said the deal between the Europeans and
Iran had been successful in that the IAEA “now has a better
understanding of the Iranian nuclear program than ever before,”
with inspectors working on the ground.
But the source warned: “There are outstanding issues which give
rise to serious suspicions. Patience is finite and the Iranians
have to realize that.”
© 2004 Khaleej Times All Rights Reserved.
*****************************************************************
3 KoreaTimes: 6-Party Working Group Talks Set for Aug. 18-21
Hankooki.com > Korea Times > Nation
By Ryu Jin Staff Reporter
A working group meeting on North Korea¡¯s nuclear crisis will
likely be held in the third week of next month to prepare for the
fourth round of six-party talks anticipated in September,
diplomatic sources said Thursday.
China proposed that the preparatory meeting be held in Beijing
Aug. 11-14, but the other participants preferred the following
week of Aug. 18-21, according to a government official.
``China, the host nation, presented its idea on the schedule and
has been collecting views from the other countries in order to
coordinate them,¡¯¡¯ the official said on condition of anonymity.
``But, for now, it is more likely that the meeting will be held
in the third week of August.¡¯¡¯
The United States, South and North Korea, China, Japan and
Russia have been involved in the multilateral talks, which were
launched in August last year to handle the nuclear standoff which
erupted in late 2002. Three rounds of main sessions have been
held in Beijing so far.
In the third round of negotiations late last year, North Korea
and the U.S. exchanged concrete proposals to end the standoff.
The two main antagonists are set to engage in tough negotiations
in the fourth round of talks to be held by the end of September.
Working group meetings are aimed at laying the groundwork for
the main six-party talks by dealing with the technical aspects of
the complex row. Chaired by deputy chief negotiators, the
meeting¡¯s outcome will have an influence on the main
discussions.
Joseph DeTrani, U.S. special envoy for negotiations with North
Korea, arrived in Beijing on Wednesday for a four-day visit,
which included a meeting with his Chinese counterpart, Ning
Fukui.
``Our special envoy, Mr. DeTrani, was invited to Beijing to
discuss preparations for the next six-party working group
session,¡¯¡¯ State Department Deputy Spokesman Adam Ereli said in
Washington.
A Seoul official also said that similar meetings could be held
between South Korea and the U.S. early next month. Also, Ri Gun,
Pyongyang¡¯s deputy chief negotiator, will likely meet with his
Washington counterpart, DeTrani, during a rare visit to the U.S.
from Aug. 9.
The nuclear crisis, the second of its kind since the resolution
of the first in 1994, flared in October 2002 when American
officials alleged after visiting Pyongyang that the North had
admitted to having a secret nuclear weapons program in breach of
international agreements.
jinryu@koreatimes.co.kr 07-29-2004 17:20
*****************************************************************
4 USATODAY.com: Whistle-blowers form a breed apart
Home [http://www.usatoday.com/]
Posted 7/29/2004 12:43 AM Updated 7/29/2004 1:45 AM
By Jayne O'Donnell, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — When people think of corporate whistle-blowers,
Enron's Sherron Watkins probably comes to mind. Confident and
well-coiffed in testimony before Congress, she was the picture of
corporate responsibility.
Pfizer scientistDavid Franklin won a $27M settlement in a case
accusing Pfizer ofmarketing a drug for unapproved uses. By Steven
Senne, AP
Time magazine named her one of its "People of the Year" in 2002.
Watkins went on to become a consultant and high-profile public
speaker. Several former Enron executives have been charged or
convicted since her revelations about Enron's accounting. Things
rarely turn out that well for whistle-blowers, who speak out
against corporate misdeeds and cast themselves as company
pariahs. Whistle-blowers might be heroes to people tired of the
scandals that have swept Corporate America, but they often find
themselves near-penniless, their home lives and emotional
well-being in shambles, and followed by private investigators.
Whistle-blowers persist because that's the way they are a breed
apart, driven by a desire to expose dirty executives, protect
consumers or avenge wrongs they feel have been done to them.
Two years ago Friday, President Bush signed an Enron-inspired law
that gave whistle-blowers at public companies the right to sue
for anything that could affect shareholders. Since the
Sarbanes-Oxley Act was passed, corporate whistle-blowers have
filed 97 cases under the law against companies from Home Depot to
Hewlett-Packard.
With or without the backing of the federal government, some
people can't imagine keeping quiet when they witness what they
believe is wrongdoing. For some, it seems, whistle-blowing
becomes almost a way of life.
"They are very ethical people who follow through on what they
were taught as children," says Donald Soeken, a Laurel, Md.-based
psychotherapist and an expert witness who specializes in
psychological issues in whistle-blowers. "But if someone came to
me beforehand, I'd tell them, 'If you can't do it anonymously,
don't do it, because you'll be sacrificing yourself.' "
Enron's Watkins once read a description of whistle-blowers that
suggested they can be "high-maintenance, because they're so
forceful." She thought it fit her to T. "Sometimes I make a
mountain out of a molehill," she said.
Ed Bricker, one of the first nuclear industry whistle-blowers,
has nearly made a career out of whistle-blowing. Bricker, 49,
says he has faced retaliation since he went undercover for
Congress in the 1980s to expose health hazards at a nuclear plant
in Hanford, Wash. His crusade has had unwelcome consequences.
Bricker's daughter Debbie Deerwester, now 25, remembers when she
and fellow sixth-graders were asked to explain their parents'
careers. She said her father was a whistle-blower at Hanford.
"One boy interrupted and said, 'Whistle-blowers are tattletales!'
" she said. "I was devastated, because I was proud of what my dad
stood for and thought that everyone else saw it the same way."
Bricker, balding and chatty, left his federal job in 1991, after
he says co-workers at Hanford assaulted him and made
life-threatening calls to his wife. In 1994, he settled a
whistle-blower lawsuit for $200,000 against Westinghouse and
Rockwell, which had contracts with the Energy Department to run
the nuclear site. The companies did not acknowledge wrongdoing.
The fight took its toll on Bricker, who is Mormon. "I'd look
myself in the mirror and think, 'Is your job worth it that you
can't live with yourself and pollute the air your relatives
breathe?' " he said.
Now working at Washington state's health department in a role
unrelated to nuclear safety, Bricker continues to speak out about
possible safety problems including, one time, a terrorism
hotline he says didn't work. Co-workers once put up a mock
death-threat poster that he says was directed at him, and he was
told to see a psychologist when he complained.
He's suing the state for damages from the harassment and stress.
He says he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and
"stupidity for sticking with it."
Of the toll on his family, Bricker said, "They're tired of it,
and it's sad because they went through this once before."
Gary Larson, a spokesman for the Washington attorney general,
says the state denies Bricker's allegations. "This state is
protective of whistle-blowers and has a long-standing policy of
encouraging people to come forward and to see they are protected
when they do," he said.
Protecting the public good
Whistle-blowers often feel it's their responsibility to speak up
for those who can't.
Last fall, Mark Livingston filed a federal lawsuit under
Sarbanes-Oxley. In it, he alleges he lost his job as a quality
control manager at Wyeth because he complained repeatedly about
manufacturing practices for a vaccine that the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention says is given to about 60% of
infants. The soft-spoken and slightly built Livingston, 46, says
he saw the drug company take shortcuts in the manufacture of
Prevnar, a vaccine for meningitis and pneumonia, endangering
babies.
Wyeth spokesman Doug Petkus denies Livingston's allegations.
"The safety of this vaccine is not in question," Petkus said.
George Holmes, a former training manager for Livingston, says
Livingston faced resistance from the time he arrived at Wyeth to
institute a training program required under a Justice Department
consent decree. The 2000 decree, which also required Wyeth to pay
the government $30 million, addressed deviations in manufacturing
practices at two plants and other quality control problems.
Holmes says he witnessed "repercussions" against Livingston after
a deadline from the decree was not met because the plant wasn't
documenting or emphasizing training enough. He says the human
resources director showed up uninvited at training sessions and
at a work-related 2002 Christmas party Livingston was hosting at
a local restaurant.
Livingston says he warned the H.R. director he would ask the
police to escort him from the party if he didn't leave. Six days
later, Livingston lost his job. Petkus says Livingston was fired
for "unruly and unprofessional behavior toward a co-worker."
Livingston's case is in deposition and discovery in federal
district court in North Carolina.
Companies often suggest that whistle-blowers have mental health
or addiction issues. Whistle-blowers say any problems they have
come from the stress associated with taking on a company.
Livingston says he still wakes up in the night, shaking and
sweating uncontrollably, which he believes is attributable to
post-traumatic stress disorder. He has been diagnosed by a
psychiatrist with anxiety and depression. Not long ago, the North
Carolinian didn't want to leave his house.
'Utter loneliness'
Jim Torgerson was a senior manager at American Express until, he
says, he went on medical leave to get away from harassment that
followed his complaints about a faulty technology contract. He
says it became so bad he was "dry-heaving on the way to work."
Torgerson complained about a contract AmEx had signed with an
Internet-related company that specialized in procurement
management and that he says was owned by a friend of American
Express Chairman Kenneth Chenault. In August 2001, the Internet
firm's computers malfunctioned allowing hundreds of vendors and
suppliers to see one another's confidential data and Torgerson
says AmEx tried to cover it up. He reported the problem to the
general counsel's office.
He says retaliation, including negative personnel memos and
constant criticism, soon began. Torgerson, who has strong
Lutheran beliefs, says his manager once called him "Christian
boy." After Torgerson, 50, had been on medical leave about two
months, he says, the company fired him in December 2001.
"There's a sense of utter loneliness even when you have family
supporting you and you know you're right," he said. Torgerson,
who worked for AmEx in Arizona, has a 12-count lawsuit pending
against the company in federal court there. American Express said
Torgerson resigned, and spokesman Tony Mitchell said Torgerson's
"whistle-blower claim is without merit."
Retaliation often follows
Whistle-blowers say that once their complaints become public, the
workplace often becomes hostile and threatening.
"You know your intentions were good, and it's kind of surprising
to see people think otherwise," said Enron's Watkins.
Sandra Moore, one of a handful of female electricians at General
Motors, says the atmosphere at the Pontiac, Mich., truck plant
where she worked was worse than she'd ever imagined. She says
graphic pornography was stacked a foot high on tables and viewed
on computer screens. She thinks that allowed her supervisors to
feel it was almost acceptable to proposition and harass her, as
she says they often did.
Moore, 47, says her complaints to managers and to the Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission, and a subsequent lawsuit, led
to death threats. She also says she was dumped with water from a
bucket with electrical wires in it.
Moore wants to keep her job because of pay and benefits she says
could total $160,000 a year. "I earned the right," she said.
GM spokesman Kerry Christopher says the company takes
"discrimination and harassment issues very seriously," but he
says Moore's allegations have no merit. He says Moore has filed
charges against GM three times, and each time the EEOC ruled
against her.
Moore is on sick leave because she says the environment was too
stressful. She's suing GM in state court in Michigan.
Christopher says GM hasn't "taken any adverse action against her
employment." The automaker also says Moore never mentioned the
pornography or assault when deposed by company lawyers, so it
would not comment on specifics.
Some payoffs in the end
Despite the frustration, some whistle-blowers see results. David
Franklin, a scientist at Pfizer, recently won a $27 million
settlement in a lawsuit accusing the company of defrauding
Medicaid by encouraging doctors to prescribe a drug for
unapproved uses.
In Watkins' case, former Enron chairman Kenneth Lay was indicted
July 7 on 11 counts of conspiracy and fraud after an array of
charges against other former executives and guilty pleas by
several.
Peter Scannell, a former employee at Boston-based Putnam
Investments, told state securities officials about irregular
stock trading by union members and helped expose the mutual fund
scandal last year. He says that made his efforts worth it, though
he says he was hit over the head by a brick-wielding assailant in
a union sweatshirt and is still occasionally followed. He hopes
to return to work in financial services and maybe to write a
book.
Longtime whistle-blower Bricker, whose lawsuit is pending, isn't
as confident of his prospects: "Where am I going to go? Who's
going to hire me?"
Contributing: Greg Farrell Whistle-blowers a breed apart
7/29/2004 1:45 AMBy Jayne O'Donnell, USA TODAYWASHINGTON Pfizer
scientistDavid Franklin won a $27M settlement in a case accusing
Pfizer ofmarketing a drug for unapproved uses.By Steven Senne,
AP-->
USATODAY.com partners: USA
© Copyright 2004 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.
*****************************************************************
5 Rocky Mountain News: Dismissal of Cameco lawsuit upheld
Ex-uranium tycoon Benton loses appeal
By John Accola, Rocky Mountain News
July 29, 2004
Former uranium tycoon Oren Benton has lost his appeal to overturn
the dismissal two years ago of a federal lawsuit against Canada's
Cameco Corp.
The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver concluded last week
that a judge ruled correctly when he threw out the case based on
personal jurisdiction issues.
"If Oren Benton wants to proceed (with this litigation), he'll
have to go to Canada," said Dan Wake, Cameco's Denver counsel.
Benton filed suit in November 2000 claiming $200 million in
damages based on charges that Cameco injured his uranium-trading
businesses.
The breach-of-contract suit alleged that Cameco, the world's
largest uranium supplier, reneged on a 1994 joint venture to
provide Benton's Nuexco Trading Corp. with a long-term supply of
low-cost uranium along with a cash infusion of more than $115
million.
Benton, 70, blamed the mining giant, based in Saskatchewan, for
triggering his financial collapse and bankruptcy in February
1995.
"I'm strongly disappointed," Benton said Wednesday. "I feel the
legal process has really failed me. I was never really able to
get my day in court."
U.S. District Judge Daniel Sparr in Denver dismissed Benton's
claims in 2002.
Sparr determined that even though the parties entered into a
memorandum of understanding, there was no contract breach because
Cameco's board of directors rejected the agreement. He also ruled
that it would be unfair to require a foreign corporation to
defend such a case in Colorado. He noted Cameco had no office,
property or employees in Colorado and didn't pay taxes here.
The appeals court did not address whether Benton had a valid
contract with Cameco.
Benton said he hasn't decided whether to pursue further
litigation.
Perhaps the surest way to reveal Cameco's role in his financial
collapse is to write about it himself, he said.
*****************************************************************
6 Las Vegas SUN: Sharon Makes Oblique Reference to Nukes
ASSOCIATED PRESS
JERUSALEM (AP) -
The United States backs Israel's right to weapons of deterrence,
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Thursday, an oblique reference
to Israel's secret store of nuclear weapons.
Sharon told a political party gathering in Tel Aviv that the
United States recognizes that "Israel faces an existential
threat, and it must be able to defend itself by itself by
preserving its deterrent capability."
Sharon noted that Iran is under U.S. pressure to stop its
nuclear weapons program, and Libya took steps to halt its
nuclear arms development, but "we have received here a clear
American position that says in other words that Israel must not
be touched when it comes to its deterrent capability."
Israel has never admitted possessing nuclear weapons,
maintaining a policy of ambiguity. However, based on pictures
and information given to the London Sunday Times in 1987 by
nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu, experts have determined
that Israel has dozens, perhaps hundreds, of nuclear bombs.
Sharon said the United States backs "Israel's right to defend
itself by itself against threats at any place and to preserve
Israel's deterrent power against all threats."
Critics of Israeli and U.S. policy have questioned why the
United States has pressed Iraq, Iran, Libya and North Korea to
stop developing nuclear weapons, when Israel faces no similar
pressure.
--
*****************************************************************
7 Haaretz: Vanunu to be questioned on possible parole violation
[http://www.haaretz.com]
News Updates Thu., July 29, 2004 Av 11, 5764 Israel
By [yuvaly@haaretz.co.il] , [ronis@haaretz.co.il] , and
Gideon Alon, Haaretz Correspondents, and Haaretz Service
Nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu is to be questioned by
police in the coming days, in connection with a possible
violation of the terms of his release from jail.
An interview to foreign media given by Vanunu is in
contravention of one of the conditions of his release in April
2004 after a term of 18 years for revealing details of Israel's
nuclear program to a British newspaper.
The restrictions include a ban on speaking to the media and
travelling abroad.
Vanunu will be questioned by a special team of Israel Police,
the Shin Bet security service and the State Prosecution, Israel
Radio reported Thursday.
On Monday, the High Court of Justice rejected Vanunu's petition
against these restrictions.
The court ruled there was no doubt Vanunu was willing to expose
classified information regarding the Dimona reactor and is as
determined as ever to do so. This backed prosecution claims that
Vanunu is still a security risk and has shown he is willing go
public with any more information he can find.
In his defense, Vanunu said he had disclosed all material in his
possession about Israel's nuclear capabilities and there was
therefore no justification in restricting him beyond his prison
sentence.
Two interviews have so far been published this week with Vanunu
in the foreign press.
In an interview published Thursday in the London-based Arabic
weekly Al-Wassat, Vanunu is quoted as saying "Israel possesses
between 100-200 nuclear weapons including a neutron bomb and
hydrogen bombs." He is also quoted as saying that are
"near-certain indications" that Israel was behind the
assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy.
In an interview publisher Sunday with the London-based
Arabic-language newspaper Al-Hayat, Vanunu is quoted as saying
that the Dimona nuclear reactor endangers the lives of millions
throughout the Middle East.
Vanunu told the paper that a strong earthquake in the region may
crack the reactor, causing radioactive leakage that would result
in the death of millions.
Vanunu also told the paper that the Jordanian government should
prepare for possible leaks from the reactor, just as Israel has
plans to distribute iodine anti-radiation pills to residents
living close to the nuclear reactor in Dimona.
He said that Jordanians living close to the border with Israel
should be examined for possible nuclear radiation, explaining
that the Hashemite Kingdom is particularly at risk from the
reactor as it operates mainly when "the wind blows toward
Jordan."
He said he does not believe that the United States and European
nations will pressure Israel into revealing the full extent of
its nuclear capabilities.
Vanunu also took the opportunity to blast United Nations nuclear
watchdog chief Mohammed El Baradei for visiting Israel earlier
this month and not putting any pressure on it to open up its
nuclear program to international inspection.
"He should have done here what he did in Iraq," he was quoted as
saying.
Mordechai Vanunu at a High Court of Justice hearing in
Jerusalem on Monday, during which the justices refused to lift
the security restrictions on him. (AP)
[feedback@haaretz.co.il]
[http://www.haaretz.com] |
© Copyright Haaretz. All rights reserved
*****************************************************************
8 Haaretz: Police to quiz whistleblower Vanunu over interviews in
foreign press
[http://www.haaretz.com]
Fri., July 30, 2004 Av 12, 5764 Israel
By [yuvaly@haaretz.co.il] and Gideon Alon
Nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu is to be questioned by
police in the coming days over suspected violations of the
security restrictions imposed upon him following his release from
jail.
The security establishment suspects that Vanunu, who served an
18-year term for revealing details of Israel's nuclear program to
the Sunday Times, referred to classified information during an
interview he gave to the BBC and the Sunday Times a few weeks
after his April 2004 release. If he did so, this would violate
the restrictions.
The investigation was opened immediately after the interviews,
but Attorney General Menachem Mazuz decided to freeze it after
Vanunu petitioned the High Court of Justice against the
restrictions imposed on him.
After the High Court of justice rejected Vanunu's petition
earlier this week, ruling that Vanunu still constituted a
security risk and was likely to go public with any information he
had, Mazuz ordered the police to resume the investigation and to
expand it to include another interview, published this past
Sunday, which Vanunu gave to the London-based Arabic newspaper Al
Hayat.
Meanwhile, MKs from the both the coalition and the opposition
urged the security establishment yesterday to tighten its
supervision of Vanunu in light of the Al Hayat interview. The
interview quoted him as saying that Israel has between 100 and
200 nuclear bombs, including neutron and hydrogen bombs.
Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Chairman Yuval Steinitz
(Likud) said that Vanunu should be returned to prison or placed
in administrative detention or house arrest to prevent him from
revealing more of Israel's nuclear secrets. He said that Vanunu
broke the law by giving the interview to the Arabic newspaper and
should be prosecuted for it. It was unfortunate, he added, that
the defense establishment did not take the committee's
recommendation to place Vanunu under house arrest, as was done
with Marcus Klingberg, who was convicted of espionage.
MK Ophir Pines-Paz (Labor) said that Vanunu was "playing with
fire" and continuing to hurt Israel's security.
"I don't understand why this phenomenon is being treated with
equanimity," he said.
"This is a professional provocateur who is making a joke out of
the legal system." Pines-Paz added that he wholly supported the
idea of finding a way to put an end to Vanunu's chatter on
security issues.
MK Reshef Chayne (Shinui) stated that at this stage, Vanunu has
not revealed any new secrets, but if given the chance, he would
doubtless take it, thereby harming national security. Therefore,
Chayne concluded, "the security establishment should take any
steps necessary to prevent this."
[feedback@haaretz.co.il]
© Copyright Haaretz. All rights reserved
*****************************************************************
9 [du-list] Nuke plants in Afghanistan and Iraq ... I
Date: Thu, 29 Jul 2004 16:20:04 -0700
I still do not have an answer to question to ICBUW. Tara and Hari
tell me where 236U comes form. We know that. But how does it get
into the soils, water and urine in Afghanistan and Iraq (and people
who vist there)?
Since there are no processing or nuke plants in these countries,
what is the distribution pathway from nuke plant in Europe or US to
bodies and environment on Afghanistan?
And Ed Ough is not correct. 236U is not a product of fast fission
thermonuke explosions.
------------------------ 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/
*****************************************************************
10 UPI: Four bids put in for Slovak power producer -
(United Press International)
July 29, 2004
Bratislava, Slovakia, Jul. 29 (UPI) -- Four foreign investors
have made bids for a 66 percent stake in Slovakia's main power
producer, Slovenske Elektrarne, the Pravda newspaper reported
Thursday.
The companies are: Austria's Verbund; Cez of the Czech Republic;
Enel of Italy; and RAO UES of Russia.
The bids were submitted ahead of the Wednesday closing deadline.
Slovenske Elektrarne has a capacity of 7,000 megawatts in coal,
nuclear and water powered plants. In 2003, it increased net
profits more than four-fold from the previous year to $41
million. Sales in 2003 were $1.6 billion.
No details of the bids for the company have yet been disclosed.
Analysts say valuing the company is complicated because of
Slovenske Elektrarne's debt portfolio and a dispute about
liability for decommissioning Soviet era nuclear reactors.
[UPI Perspectives]
*****************************************************************
11 BBC: City's sea energy power plan
Last Updated: Thursday, 29 July, 2004
[Tidal turbine (generic)]
Tidal turbines are being developed as a source of renewable
energy
Sea power may be harnessed to generate enough renewable
electricity to power the UK's smallest city.
Developers plan to put five turbines in Ramsey Sound, off
Pembrokeshire, to produce electricity from tidal power.
The company behind the scheme, Tidal Hydraulic Generators, claim
it will generate enough clean electricity to power St David's,
population 1,600.
The plan is the latest in a series of schemes for renewable
energy being considered for the Welsh coastline.
Earlier this month, Welsh assembly members backed plans for a
large wind farm off the south Wales coast.
After a public inquiry, the assembly's planning committee
approved proposals for 30 400ft turbines at Scarweather sands off
Porthcawl.
A renewable energy charity is also in the early stages of a
project which could see tidal energy turbines built off the
coasts of Swansea and Rhyl.
[St David's Cathedral]
Electricity produced could power the city of St David's
Renewable energy describes an energy source that occurs naturally
in the environment and can be harnessed from the sun, the wind,
rivers and seas.
A tidal energy scheme, such as that planned for St David's,
exploits the regular ebb and flow of coastal waters caused by the
Earth's gravitational system.
If the St David's scheme goes ahead, each turbine would resemble
a ship's propeller and will be turned by the power of the tide.
The turbine is connected to an electric generator.
About 4% of the UK's electricity supply comes from renewable
sources, and UK government targets require this level to be
increased significantly in coming years.
About 80% of the UK's electricity supply comes from finite
sources such as oil and gas, with an additional 15.6% being
generated by the nuclear power sector.
The government has set a target that by 2020, 20% of the UK's
electricity requirements should be met by renewable energy with
intermediate targets of 5% by 2005 and 10% by 2010.
*****************************************************************
12 Berkshire Eagle Online - Editorials No solution on site
July 29, 2004 Pittsfield, MA
People in North Berkshire are right to be worried that the
highly radioactive nuclear fuel rods that used to power the
Yankee Rowe plant are still there, in a secure storage facility
but in casks designed to last little more than 50 years.
Adding to those worries, a federal court just sent plans for the
Yucca Mountain high level radioactive waste storage facility back
to the drawing board as not sufficiently safe.
The picture of the train wreck on the same page was not
reassuring either, considering that plans call for shipping much
of that waste, 77,000 tons in all, to Nevada by rail.
What was our society thinking when it started making that stuff
with nowhere to put it?
Copyright ©1999-2004 New England Newspapers, Inc.,
*****************************************************************
13 toledoblade.com: Utilities ordered to kill fewer fish
Thursday, July 29, 2004
Article published Thursday, July 29, 2004
Electric companies have till fall of 2007 to make changes
[Photo]
Frank Reynolds, a commercial fisherman, sees thousands of dead
fish near the intake of FirstEnergy Corp.'s Bay Shore power
plant in Oregon. The fish are sucked into intake screens and
succumb to injury, fatigue, and starvation. Smaller ones are
pulled inside.
( THE BLDE/JETTA FRASER )
By TOM HENRY [thenry@theblade.com]
BLADE STAFF WRITER
To the naked eye, it looks like an ecological disaster: Thousands
of dead fish near the shoreline of Lake Erie's Maumee Bay east of
Toledo.
Much to the chagrin of commercial fisherman Frank Reynolds,
though, it's a sight that occurs far too often - almost daily, he
says, near the intake of FirstEnergy Corp.'s coal-fired Bay Shore
power plant in Oregon.
Sadly, Bay Shore is not alone.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that nearly
550 large power plants across the country - those with
cooling-water capacities of 50 million gallons a day or more -
are needlessly killing off fish.
Fish die because they get caught up in the powerful intake
currents. Larger fish bang against grated screens hard and
succumb to injury, fatigue, or starvation. Smaller fish and
minnows elude the screens and pass through the plant. A few
survive the trauma, but most die, officials said.
The problem - long presumed to be one of the unfortunate
trade-offs of generating electricity - may be older than the
32-year history of the nation's Clean Water Act itself.
z But the U.S. EPA, in responding to a court order brought on by
those hoping to minimize losses, announced Feb. 16, that it will
use the Clean Water Act as its legal muscle for protecting fish.
In rules published July 9, the agency said power plants have
until the fall of 2007 to make the kind of adjustments necessary
to reduce the number of fish pinned against intake screens by 80
to 95 percent, whether that means installing expensive cooling
towers or simply readdressing their long-standing flow regimes
and plant screens. Cooling towers lessen the impact because the
intake need is not nearly as great.
Certain facilities also will have to make improvements so that
the number of tiny organisms passing through their screens is
reduced by 60 to 90 percent, the agency said.
U.S. EPA Administrator Mike Leavitt said in February that such
improvements could enhance the nation's recreational and
commercial fishing industries by some $80 million a year, by
annually protecting more than 200 million pounds of fish.
z The requirements were embraced last night by Mr. Reynolds and
Sandy Bihn, of the Maumee Bay Association, a citizens group that
knows the value of western Lake Erie's coveted fishing industry.
Western Lake Erie has long been viewed by scientists as the most
productive part of the Great Lakes because it is the warmest and
shallowest area.
The lake, as a whole, produces more fish than the other four
Great Lakes combined.
"Unfortunately, we have one of the worst situations on the Great
Lakes right here. We know this is one of the main spawning
grounds for fish. There has been a real severe impact on the fish
population," said Mr. Reynolds, a fisherman for more than 40
years and one of the few in Ohio still holding a commercial
fishing license.
The greatest losses are fish less than two inches long that serve
as a food source for coveted sports fish such as yellow perch,
walleye, and white bass, Mr. Reynolds said.
Bay Shore draws water from the mouth of the Maumee River, in an
area where much of that massive tributary's spawning occurs. To
the north lies Detroit Edison Co.'s coal-fired power plant in
Monroe, one of the nation's largest. It draws water from the
River Raisin.
Spokesmen for both utilities yesterday said their companies will
do whatever it takes to keep their plants in compliance.
FirstEnergy is in the process of hiring contractors to do a study
that is expected to take more than three years. "We want to make
sure we have the facts. It may seem long-term, but you don't want
just a snapshot," Mark Durbin, a utility spokesman, said.
Detroit Edison has just started to assess the situation at Monroe
and its other plants, given what was just published in the
Federal Register. "It's a little early in the process. We don't
know which strategies will be applied at which plants," John
Austerberry, a Detroit Edison spokesman, said.
Another rule, which the U.S. EPA plans to announce in November,
is to apply to power stations and manufacturers that draw in less
than 50 million gallons of water a day.
Many of the nation's 103 nuclear plants, including FirstEnergy's
Davis-Besse and Detroit Edison's Fermi II, will be subject to the
upcoming rule. They are not subject to the latest one because
their cooling towers allow them to draw in fewer than 50 million
gallons a day, officials have said.
Contact Tom Henry at: thenry@theblade.com or 419-724-6079.
© 2004 The Blade. By using this service, you accept the
The Toledo Blade Company, 541 N. Superior St., Toledo, OH 43660
, (419) 724-6000
*****************************************************************
14 Slovak news: Four bidders for SE power utility
Slovakia's English language newspaper July 26 - August
8,2004, Volume 10, Number 29
THREE INVESTORS out of the four firms that submitted bids
yesterday for a 66 percent stake in the state power utility
Slovenské elektrárne (SE) are interested in acquiring SE as a
whole, including its nuclear assets, the Pravda daily wrote.
According to the Economy Ministry the bidders include the Czech
company ÈEZ, the Russian InterRAO, Italian Enel, and Austrian
Verbund. The latter, however, is likely to be disqualified
because it is not interested in SE's nuclear plants.
Peter Mitka, from the cabinet's SE privatization advisor,
PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC), said the final contract with the
winning firm could be signed in October this year. Based on PWC's
recommendation, which should be ready within two weeks, a
15-member committee will select a favorite and forward its choice
to the cabinet.
It is unclear how much the state can earn from selling the SE
stake. Two years ago, the National Property Fund forecast that
the sale of a 49 percent stake could yield more than Sk49
billion.
Compiled by Martina Jurinová from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the
information presented in its Flash News postings. [7/29/2004
9:22:48 AM]
Reply to article online:(number of contributions ):
Copyright © 1998-2003 The Rock spol. s r.o. All rights
*****************************************************************
15 Lowell Sun: Residents boiling mad over water
July 29, 2004 Lowell, MA
Westford officials receive 100 calls, mostly critical of delay
in public alert
By PETER WARD, Sun Staff
WESTFORD Since the chemical perchlorate was detected in a public
well earlier this month, the Water Department has logged about
100 calls of concern, about half from pregnant women.
Many calls were critical of the department for a perceived delay
between the time it learned about the contamination and the day
it began issuing a public warning. The warning included an
advisory to throw out ice cubes and baby formula made with water
from before the one well affected by the contamination, the Cote
well, was shut off July 16.
But Elaine Major, environmental analyst with the Water
Department, said it shut off the Cote well as soon it received
confirmed test results and that it issued the public warning as
soon as it was authorized by the state Department of
Environmental Protection.
"People were upset because of the timing of the whole process,"
Major said. "We had to follow protocol for dealing with this
substance. Even though the public wasn't notified (immediately),
the well was turned off immediately, based on preliminary
information."
To issue public notifications before test results are confirmed,
she said, would increase the likelihood of causing unnecessary
panic.
In addition, she said, "If we did it all the time, it would
reduce public confidence."
Officials were still trying to figure out how the perchlorate,
which is found in solid rocket fuel, explosives and fireworks,
got into the groundwater.
Perchlorate can interfere with the thyroid's function regulating
the human metabolism and is potentially a problem for pregnant
women, babies, children under 12 and people suffering from a
hyperthyroid condition.
Tests taken after the well was shut found the entire water
system was toxin-free.
Selectmen have invited the three Water Commissioners to their
next meeting Aug. 10.
"I guess selectmen got some calls. We didn't here," said Town
Manager Steve Ledoux.
Major recounted the timetable of actions taken by her department
earlier this month:
On July 7, Major conducted routine quarterly tests on the water
at all eight town wells.
The town's contracted laboratory called Major on July 13 to
report a preliminary result that the Cote well off Groton Road
near Nabnasset had 3.3 parts per billion perchlorate, while water
at the Nutting Road water treatment plant fed by the well had
about 2 parts per billion. Both exceeded the state Department of
Environmental Protection's interim standard of 1 part per
billion.
On the same day, July 13, Major retested the Nutting Road plant
and then sent the samples to two different labs, standard
practice for reviewing possible contaminants.
On July 16, the labs phoned their results, now confirmed, to
Major, who said she immediately shut down the Cote well.
Because perchlorate was identified as the contaminant, Major
said the town followed a special procedure regarding public
notices, ordered by the state, which required an additional round
of tests.
Once those results were confirmed, on July 21, Major announced
the department was going to issue a public warning notice by mass
mailings, news releases and Web site the following day, on July
22.
"The process we followed was required by the DEP," she said. "We
weren't allowed to issue public health notice until that data
review happened. That's why there was a lag. We have been
criticized for that."
She said a warning might have come sooner for water problems
such as the presence of bacteria that in some cases requires a
boil order.
And even then, "We still have to get the DEP's OK as well,"
Major said.
The department last Thursday took samples at monitoring wells
located around the Cote well as a way to determine the direction
the pollutant traveled.
The three wells tested are between the Cote well and the
Veterans Memorial school complex, the town garage and retention
basin on North Main Street.
While the department didn't want to downplay the problem, it
also asked that people keep a proper perspective.
The federal EPA appears to be struggling with its task of
determining a standard for drinking water. Only a handful of
states have done so, and all adopted higher standards than that
of Massachusetts, which Major described as "cautious."
By comparison, California's standard is 6 parts per billion,
Arizona's is 14 ppb and New York's is 5.
Scientists either don't know for sure, or are divided, on the
effect of low amounts of perchlorate.
Peter Ward's e-mail address is pward@lowellsun.com
[pward@lowellsun.com] .
© 1999-2004 MediaNews Group, Inc.
*****************************************************************
16 NRC: Fire in the Main Transformer
Vermont Yankee > Fire in the Main Transformer
At 6:50 a.m. on the morning of Friday, June 18, 2004, Vermont
Yankee Generating Station declared an "Unusual Event" as a
result of a fire in the main transformer (which lasted more than
10 minutes) and a resultant reactor trip (generator load
reject). The fire was extinguished by 7:51 a.m., through the
combined efforts of the automatic fire suppression system, the
site's fire brigade, and the local volunteer fire department.
The NRC's resident inspectors immediately responded to the
event, and the Region I Incident Response Center was staffed to
support the residents and follow the licensee's response to the
fire. There were no complications associated with the reactor
shutdown, and no indication of malevolent acts. The licensee,
Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc., determined that an equipment
failure in the duct between the main generator and the main
transformer initiated the fire. The fire caused no damage to
safety systems and the risk-significance of the event was very
low, and Entergy restarted the plant on July 6, 2004, after
making necessary repairs. The NRC's inspection of the root cause
of the fire is continuing.
Correspondence
Last revised Thursday, July 29, 2004
*****************************************************************
17 The Advocate: Nuke engineers file petition against NRC
Associated Press
July 29, 2004
VERNON, Vt. -- Two nuclear industry engineers are
challenging federal regulators' oversight of the Vermont Yankee
nuclear power plant.
Paul Blanch of West Hartford, Conn., and Arnold Gundersen of
Burlington have filed a citizen's petition with the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission, claiming it is unclear what standards
Yankee is being held to.
Vermont Yankee is seeking NRC approval for a proposed 20 percent
power boost at the plant. A three-week engineering inspection is
scheduled to start on Aug. 9 as part of the review process for
the proposed increase.
According to Blanch and Gundersen, it is not clear how Vermont
Yankee's design bases conform with current NRC regulations and
without such knowledge, they claim, the upcoming engineering
inspection will be meaningless.
"There's no way they can inspect a plant unless they have
criteria by which to inspect it," said Blanch.
Nuclear industry regulations have changed over the past 35
years, and Blanch and Gundersen said it is unclear which
standards are being applied.
NRC has 180 days to respond to the six-page complaint.
Blanch is an electrical engineer who has acted as a consultant
for Entergy Nuclear, the owner of Vermont Yankee, at its Indian
Point nuclear power plant. Gundersen is a nuclear engineer who
worked as a subcontractor at Vermont Yankee about 12 years ago.
Both men have testified on behalf of the nuclear watchdog group
New England Coalition in its fight against Entergy's plans to
increase power production at Vermont Yankee.
They insist they are pro-nuclear and think Yankee should remain
in operation - but not boost power.
z NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan said the commission had just
received the petition and needed time to review it.
Robert Williams, a spokesman for Entergy, said there was nothing
new in the petition. He noted that Vermont Yankee had spent $20
million several years ago, before it was purchased by Entergy
Nuclear, to review its documents to make sure the plant complied
with its design.
There are other citizen petitions pending against Vermont
Yankee, Sheehan said.
In the past 12 months, roughly, the NRC received about 12
petitions and only accepted four for investigation, he said.
Copyright © 2004, The Associated Press
*****************************************************************
18 Brattleboro Reformer Petitioners: NRC short on criteria needed for VY review
[http://www.reformer.com/]
July 29, 2004 Brattleboro, VT
By CAROLYN LORIÉ Reformer Staff
BRATTLEBORO -- Nuclear industry whistleblowers Paul Blanch and
Arnold Gundersen filed a petition with the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission, claiming that the regulator does not have enough
information to perform an adequate inspection of Entergy Nuclear
Vermont Yankee.
An engineering inspection is due to begin at the Vernon plant on
Aug. 9, during which eight inspectors will spend three weeks on
site. The inspection is part of the uprate review process for
Vermont Yankee, which is seeking NRC approval for a 20 percent
power increase.
According to Blanch and Gundersen, it is not clear how Vermont
Yankee's design bases conform with current NRC regulations and
without such knowledge, they claim, the upcoming engineering
inspection will be meaningless.
"There's no way they can inspect a plant unless they have
criteria by which to inspect it," said Blanch.
The petitioners called on the NRC to demand from Entergy "a clear
and unambiguous definition of the General Design Criteria
applicable to Vermont Yankee and how the facility's design
conforms with or deviates from" the appropriate regulations.
In 1967, the NRC issued draft criteria for the design of all
plants. Those criteria were made more stringent and then
finalized in 1972. Blanch and Gundersen allege that officials
from the corporate owners of the Vermont Yankee -- first the
Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corporation and then Entergy Nuclear
-- have made conflicting claims about which of the criteria the
plant meets.
"In 1972, Vermont Yankee's owners claimed that the reactor met
the draft 1967 criteria. Then, in 1982, they stated that it met
the new, harder-to-meet 1972 criteria. Then in 1998/1999, they
switched back, saying that draft 1967 applied. In 2003, Entergy
[which purchased the plant in 2002] stated that all 'references
were for historical purposes,'" Blanch said in a prepared
statement.
Blanch and Gundersen requested that the NRC take "expedited"
action.
NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan said that the petition will be
reviewed as quickly as possible. In order to be accepted for
consideration, the petition must seek an enforcement-related
action, be supported by specific details and must be the only NRC
venue in which the complaint could be addressed.
If the NRC petition review board decides that the petition
merits further investigation, the petitioners will be notified.
The agency then has 120 days from the time of notification to
take action.
On April 22, a petition was filed by the nuclear power watchdog
group, the New England Coalition, which has worked closely with
Blanch and Gundersen during the uprate case. That petition, which
requested that the NRC require Vermont Yankee do a complete
inventory of its spent fuel inventory, was not officially
accepted until May 28. The regulator has not yet contacted the
coalition about what action has been taken.
With the engineering assessment slated to start in less than two
weeks, Blanch acknowledged that the NRC will most likely not have
the design bases information Blanch and Gundersen say is
necessary beforehand.
"The inspection is going to be meaningless," he said in a
telephone interview.
Blanch and Gundersen said they are not demanding that Vermont
Yankee meet either set of criteria. Instead, they want it clearly
stated how the plant conforms or deviates from the criteria.
According to Vermont Yankee spokesman, Rob Williams, the
petition is without basis.
"[The] NRC petition is nothing new. As we have said before,
Vermont Yankee meets all applicable NRC regulations," Williams
stated in an e-mail to the Reformer. "In fact, the NRC
specifically reviewed the design criteria, which supported the
licensing of earlier plants, and concluded in 1992 that the plant
licensing bases were consistent with the intent of present-day
NRC safety standards."
Williams also pointed out that Vermont Yankee "spent about $20
million over several years in the late 1990s to ensure that the
plant's present design basis is accurately reflected in the
documentation and is maintained current."
Peter Alexander, executive director of the coalition, said the
petition highlights the problems with the uprate review process.
"The NRC has an opportunity to do a meaningful safety
assessment. Considering that the 20 percent boost in the reactor
power sought by Entergy is the most extreme ever attempted by an
old reactor," said Alexander. "The public needs to know that
safety margins will not be reduced. Messrs. Blanch's and
Gundersen's petition goes to the heart of the matter."
Blanch is an electrical engineer with more than three decades
experience in the nuclear industry. In the late 1980s, he blew
the whistle while working at the Millstone nuclear power station
in Connecticut. He has continued to work in the industry as a
consultant, including a stint working as a contractor for the
Entergy-owned Indian Point power plant in New York less than two
years ago.
Gundersen has been a nuclear engineer since 1971 and was once
vice president of Nuclear Engineering Services in Connecticut. In
the early 1990s, he discovered improperly stored radioactive
material in his company's office. When the company refused to
resolve the issue, Gundersen went to the NRC. He was fired from
his job.
Both are highly critical of the NRC, which they say does little
to protect workers and is at the beck and call of the industry.
Gundersen, who now teaches high school math and science in
Burlington, said he does not enjoy the task of scrutinizing
Vermont Yankee but that he is compelled to do so out of concern
for the safety of others.
"I'm not going to take it lying down. It's too damn important,"
he said.
Copyright ©1999-2004 New England Newspapers, Inc., a
*****************************************************************
19 NRC: LLTF Report
Reactor Vessel Head Degradation - Lessons Learned Task Force
LLTF Report
The Lessons Learned Task Force (LLTF) objectively evaluated the
NRC's regulatory processes related to assuring RPV head
integrity in order to identify and recommend areas for
imporvement that maybe applicable to either the NRC or the
nuclear industry. On September 30, 2002, the LLTF issued a
report containing 51 recommendations for actions that the NRC
should take to address areas that the LLTF considered
contributors to the Davis-Besse event. Some links on this page
are to documents in our Agencywide Documents Access and
Management System (ADAMS), and others are to documents in Adobe
Portable Document Format (PDF). ADAMS documents are provided in
either PDF or Tagged Image File Format (TIFF). To obtain free
viewers for displaying these formats, see our Plugins, Viewers,
and Other Tools page. If you have questions about search
techniques or problems with viewing or printing documents from
ADAMS, please contact the Public Document Room staff.
+ Cover Letter
+ Signature Page
+ Report
+ Appendices A - D
+ Appendices E - F
Last revised Wednesday, July 14, 2004
*****************************************************************
20 Guardian Unlimited: Watchdog censures BE on green breaches
Terry Macalister
Thursday July 29, 2004
[http://www.guardian.co.uk]
British Energy, the country's biggest operator of nuclear power
stations, breached environmental regulations 21 times during 2003
and has been told that its failures are "unacceptable".
The government's chief environment watchdog has written to
directors of BE and told them to make "major improvements in
management, systems and culture".
It is one of the most withering attacks ever launched on a
company by the Environment Agency, which shares monitoring of
atomic sites with the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate. Six of
the company's eight plants were found to have breached their
permits during last year and the company has been in trouble with
the agency again in the first half of this year.
Among the problems which triggered the 21 breaches of permits and
a prosecution over the Dungeness B plant in Kent were:
· failure to use sampling equipment that allowed BE to give the
readings it needed to assess levels of discharges;
· failure to use the proper filtration equipment in waste
management;
· oil leaks from cooling systems in some of the sites.
BE, which provides nearly a quarter of Britain's electricity, is
already in financial trouble and only operating because it has
been given emergency state support. It is in the middle of a
restructuring but this is under threat from rebel shareholders
urging other investors to reject the plan that would leave them
controlling just 2.5% of BE. The government's rescue package has
still to receive the formal endorsement of the European
commission.
BE said last night that it accepted the agency's criticisms and
had instituted changes that would transform its operations. "We
have set up a new system with the close cooperation of the agency
to improve standards across the fleet [power stations]," said a
BE spokesman.
The Environment Agency confirmed that the company had reacted
"positively" by reorganising responsibility for environmental
management and planned environmental improvements at each site.
Steve Chandler, the "account" manager for BE at the agency, said
the operator was still being scrutinised. "Their compliance
record this year has been better than last year and they have
appointed a director with 'environment' in his title, which is a
start. But it is only a start."
Asked whether the failures suggested institutional sloppiness, Mr
Chandler said: "I don't think I would use the word sloppy, but
they had lost focus on the environment.
"The company was not set up to provide sufficient focus to assure
the level of compliance we would expect from a company operating
nuclear power stations."
Nuclear map of Britain
Useful links
[http://www.british-energy.com/]
[http://www.dti.gov.uk/]
[http://www.bnfl.co.uk/website.nsf/default.htm]
[http://www.cnduk.org/]
[http://www.greenpeace.org/homepage/]
[http://www.hse.gov.uk/nsd/ilrwglos.htm]
[http://www.ukaea.org.uk/]
[http://www.nrpb.org.uk/]
[http://www.foe.co.uk/campaigns/climate/press_for_change/dump_nuc
lear/index.html]
[http://www.uilondon.org/]
[http://www.wnti.co.uk]
[UP]
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004
*****************************************************************
21 WFSB: Nuclear engineers challenge Vermont Yankee plant
July 29, 2004
VERNON, Vt. (AP) - Two nuclear industry engineers are challenging
federal regulators' oversight of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power
plant. Paul Blanch of West Hartford, Conn., and Arnold Gundersen
of Burlington have filed a citizen's petition with the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission, claiming it is unclear what standards
Yankee is being held to.
Vermont Yankee is seeking NRC approval for a proposed 20 percent
power boost at the plant. A three-week engineering inspection is
scheduled to start on Aug. 9 as part of the review process for
the proposed increase.
According to Blanch and Gundersen, it is not clear how Vermont
Yankee's design bases conform with current NRC regulations and
without such knowledge, they claim, the upcoming engineering
inspection will be meaningless.
"There's no way they can inspect a plant unless they have
criteria by which to inspect it," said Blanch.
Nuclear industry regulations have changed over the past 35 years,
and Blanch and Gundersen said it is unclear which standards are
being applied. NRC has 180 days to respond to the six-page
complaint. Blanch is an electrical engineer who has acted as a
consultant for Entergy Nuclear, the owner of Vermont Yankee, at
its Indian Point nuclear power plant.
Gundersen is a nuclear engineer who worked as a subcontractor at
Vermont Yankee about 12 years ago. Both men have testified on
behalf of the nuclear watchdog group New England Coalition in its
fight against Entergy's plans to increase power production at
Vermont Yankee.
They insist they are pro-nuclear and think Yankee should remain
in operation - but not boost power. NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan
said the commission had just received the petition and needed
time to review it. Robert Williams, a spokesman for Entergy, said
there was nothing new in the petition.
He noted that Vermont Yankee had spent $20 million several years
ago, before it was purchased by Entergy Nuclear, to review its
documents to make sure the plant complied with its design.
There are other citizen petitions pending against Vermont Yankee,
Sheehan said. In the past 12 months, roughly, the NRC received
about 12 petitions and only accepted four for investigation, he
said.
(Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved)
[http://www.worldnow.com] All content © Copyright 2001 -
2004 WorldNow and WFSB. All Rights Reserved.
*****************************************************************
22 Guardian Unlimited: Audit on nuclear power
Friday July 30, 2004
The Guardian [http://www.guardian.co.uk]
Michael Meacher's call for a National Audit Office investigation
into nuclear energy funding (Inquiry urged into nuclear fuel
plant, July 27) should remind us of the economic folly in
adopting the nuclear option to fight climate change.
The mixed oxide fuel plant commissioned at Sellafield, with Tony
Blair's backing, has already cost us £600m but has yet to earn a
single penny of revenue (as some of us predicted). This dwarfs
the amount allocated in the spending review for clean and
sustainable power.
The wind turbine debate rages on the back of nimby sentiments and
inaccurate claims about their viability. The originators of this
nonsense suggest that the solution to climate change is nuclear
power.
Let 's hope Tony Blair's enthusiasm for nuclear power does not
get mixed up with his apparently sincere concern at climate
change. It would be an expensive and dangerous, mistake. We
expect an inquiry would support funding for clean renewable
energy. Not this nuclear madness. Tony Juniper Friends of the
Earth
While the nuclear waste issue has yet to be resolved in the UK it
does not mean it is irresolvable. Constructive debate in Finland
serves as a practical example of how the issues of managing
nuclear waste (and building new power stations) can be addressed
in ways that retain public support. Proposals there for a deep
geologic repository for spent nuclear fuel disposal have been
accepted by a broad consensus. Nuclear energy has a vital role to
play in our energy future and this must be debated sensibly
rather than simply dismissed. Prof Michael Laughton Scientific
Alliance
The rumour mill in favour of nuclear power seems to be up and
running again (2010 energy targets 'wishful thinking', July 28).
Britain has always had a difficult time confronting the energy
market and seeking renewable and greener power sources.
However, this government has done more than any other to tackle
the impact of fossil fuel production and climate change. The
political leadership for that change has come from the very top.
The government needs to hold its nerve on renewable energy and
ensure that we also continue to devote more attention to energy
efficiency and new technologies. Large urban areas, particularly
London, are well placed to exploit locally distributed renewable
energy sources and a reinvestment in combined heat and power.
This does not mean wind farms on every street corner but a real
effort to design locally based alternatives. The government must
stick to its resolve rather than be seduced by the false economy
of nuclear power. Nicky Gavron Deputy London Mayor
The government's continued support for this country's ailing
nuclear industry - absorbing hundreds of millions of pounds of
BNFL's losses each year and paying out a £5bn rescue package for
British Energy - seems increasingly irrational. It's time for the
government to take notice of the flood of new evidence that
renewable energy is as cost-effective as it is environmentally
friendly. Tom Tibbits Green party
The spat between supporters of nuclear and wind power obscures
what is the main thrust of the government's sustainable energy
policy: using far less fuel to carry on delivering all the
services we currently enjoy.
All the technologies to achieve the targets are proven and
cost-effective. So long as we do not fail to implement them,
there is no reason why, given cross-party cooperation, energy
efficiency measures can't truly provide the "fifth fuel" we
proponents have always argued it should. Andrew Warren
Association for the Conservation of Energy
[UP]
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004
*****************************************************************
23 NRC: South Texas Project Nuclear Operating Company; South Texas
FR Doc 04-17260
[Federal Register: July 29, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 145)]
[Notices] [Page 45352-45353] From the Federal Register Online via
GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr29jy04-88]
Project Electric Generating Station, Unit Nos. 1 and 2;
Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact The
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is considering issuance
of exemptions from title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations
(10 CFR) part 50, section 50.44, section 50.46, and Appendix K,
for Facility Operating License Nos. NPF-76 and NPF-80, issued to
South Texas Project Nuclear Operating Company (the licensee), for
operation of South Texas Project Electric Generating Station
(STPEGS), Units 1 and 2, located in Matagorda County, Texas.
Therefore, as required by 10 CFR 51.21, the NRC is issuing this
environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact.
Environmental Assessment Identification of the Proposed Action
The proposed action would exempt STPEGS, Units 1 and 2, from the
requirements of 10 CFR part 50, section 50.44, section 50.46 and
Appendix K, to allow the use of up to eight Lead Test Assemblies
(LTAs) fabricated with Optimized ZIRLOTM, a cladding material
that contains a nominally lower tin content than previously
approved cladding materials.
The proposed action is in accordance with the licensee's
application dated May 27, 2004.
The Need for the Proposed Action As the nuclear industry pursues
longer operating cycles with increased fuel discharge burnups and
more aggressive fuel management, the corrosion performance
specifications for the nuclear fuel cladding become more
demanding. Industry data indicates that corrosion resistance
improves for cladding with a lower tin content. The optimum tin
level provides a reduced corrosion rate while maintaining the
benefits of mechanical strengthening and resistance to
accelerated corrosion from abnormal chemistry conditions. In
addition, fuel rod internal pressures (resulting from the
increased fuel duty, use of integral fuel burnable absorbers, and
corrosion/temperature feedback effects) have become more limiting
with respect to fuel rod design criteria. By reducing the
associated corrosion buildup, and thus, minimizing temperature
feedback effects, additional margin to fuel rod internal pressure
design criteria is obtained.
As part of a program to address these issues, the Westinghouse
Electric Company has developed an LTA program, in cooperation
with the licensee, that includes a fuel cladding with a tin
content lower than the currently licensed range for ZIRLOTM. The
NRC's regulations in 10 CFR part 50, section 50.44, section
50.46, and Appendix K, make no provision for use of fuel rods
clad in a material other than Zircalloy or ZIRLOTM. The licensee
has requested the use of up to eight LTAs with a tin composition
that is less than that specified in the licensing basis for
ZIRLOTM, as defined in Westinghouse design specifications.
Therefore, use of the LTAs calls for exemptions from 10 CFR part
50, section 50.44, section 50.46, and Appendix K. Environmental
Impacts of the Proposed Action The NRC staff has completed its
safety evaluation of the proposed action and concludes that the
proposed exemptions would not increase the probability or
consequences of accidents previously analyzed, and would not
affect facility radiation levels or facility radiological
effluents that may be released offsite.
[[Page 45353]] There is no significant increase in occupational
or public radiation exposure. Therefore, there are no significant
radiological environmental impacts associated with the proposed
action. The details of the staff's safety evaluation will be
provided in the exemption that will be issued as part of the
letter to the licensee approving the exemption to the regulation.
With regard to potential non-radiological impacts, the proposed
action does not have a potential to affect any historic sites.
It does not affect non-radiological plant effluents and has no
other environmental impact. Therefore, there are no significant
non- radiological environmental impacts associated with the
proposed action.
Accordingly, the NRC staff concludes that there are no
significant environmental impacts associated with the proposed
action.
Environmental Impacts of the Alternatives to the Proposed Action
As an alternative to the proposed action, the NRC staff
considered denial of the proposed action (i.e., the ``no-action''
alternative). Denial of the application would result in no change
in current environmental impacts. The environmental impacts of
the proposed action and the alternative action are similar.
Alternative Use of Resources The action does not involve the use
of any different resources than those previously considered in
the ``Final Environmental Statement related to the Operation of
South Texas Project Units 1 and 2,'' NUREG- 1171, dated August
1986.
Agencies and Persons Consulted On June 23, 2004, the staff
consulted with the Texas State official, Mr. William Silva,
Bureau of Radiation Control of the Texas Department of Health,
regarding the environmental impact of the proposed action. The
State official had no comments. Finding of No Significant Impact
On the basis of the environmental assessment, the NRC concludes
that the proposed action will not have a significant effect on
the quality of the human environment. Accordingly, the NRC has
determined not to prepare an environmental impact statement for
the proposed action.
For further details with respect to the proposed action, see the
licensee's letter dated May 27, 2004. Documents may be examined,
and/or copied for a fee, at the NRC's Public Document Room (PDR),
located at One White Flint North, Public File Area O1 F21, 11555
Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, Maryland. Publicly
available records will be accessible electronically from the
Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) Public
Electronic Reading Room on the internet at the NRC Web site,
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html
[http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leaving
FR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html]
. Persons who do not have access to ADAMS, or who encounter
problems in accessing the documents located in ADAMS, should
contact the NRC's PDR Reference staff by telephone at
1-800-397-4209 or (301) 415-4737, or by e-mail to pdr@nrc.gov
[pdr@nrc.gov] . Dated in Rockville, Maryland, this 19th day of
July, 2004.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Robert A. Gramm, Chief, Section 1, Project Directorate IV,
Division of Licensing Project Management, Office of Nuclear
Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 04-17260 Filed 7-28-04; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P
*****************************************************************
24 [du-list] Stop DU testing at Capo Teulada - Sardinia
Date: Thu, 29 Jul 2004 16:21:51 -0700
Stop DU testing at Capo Teulada - Sardinia
They went out once again
The fishermen on the sound of the cannons
They go on
Their small boats
And a lot of courage
In their hearts
They will stop the cannons
And their thunders
They ask for fish and bread
And not for bombs
Sooner or later
they will win
and their is the sea
and so the reason
Fernanda Sau-Tanas
Fernanda Sau-Tanas
>From the sea, the freedom,
from expropriated sea, the bombs.
Capo Teulada is a promontory on the south-west coast
of Sardinia. It was expropriated in the 50’s and used
as a permanent military range for ground, air and
naval practice and for fire drill with proper war
ammunitions (live fire ammunitions).
It is the second biggest firing range in Europe
because of its area: 7.200 hectares of ground and 750
squared Km of sea, “forbidden to navigation”.
It was the first military range in Europe used for
intensive use by U.S., NATO and other allied armies
for the war-game manoeuvres in , ground-sea fire,
ground to ground and air-sea-ground fire. During the
50 years the high amount of activity, there has never
been a proper clean up or reclaimation of ordinance.
The Italian Armed Forces, have said that there has
never been the time necessary to carry out the
compulsory land reclamation after every practice
period. A huge part of the sea and ground area of the
base is permanently forbidden to the soldiers too,
because of the excessive accumulation of unexploded
contrivance and surplus.
Since the year 2000, the U.S.A. participated to war
games with the 6th Fleet and with the 2nd Atlantic
Fleet, chased away from Vieques area thanks to the
people resistance.
During this period, the military range is being
restored and recommissioned to make the base more
powerful and render it the biggest European
high-technology war practice centre, to be used by all
the customers-armies on payment for the practice…and
to freely bomb Sardinia.
The fishermen of Teulada and Sant’Anna Arresi, two
villages expropriated by the military for land for
the installation of the military range of Capo
Teulada, have been struggling for so many years to
keep doing their job, to avoid the emigration and the
continuous charity of the State.
At the end of the 90’s, with a winning battle, they
won a trial to be refunded of their wage for the
unpaid working days lost because of “war (game) stop”.
This right, conquered by a very high price, was
shortly left on the paper, the refund transformed in
the usual charity disbursed every now and then. At the
same time the Armed Forces increased the restrictions
by extending the area of sea for military use only,
and by consequence, rendering impossible the
traditional fishing activity. The struggle of the
fishermen has started again on the autumn 2002 and,
since November 2003 it has never been stopping: there
is a permanent “picketing” at the port and at the base
entrance, there have been actions to slow down the
military traffic and actions to stop the war
activities.
Stubbornly, daily, when the wind allows it, the
fishermen challenge the restrictions and the bombs,
they direct their boats in the heart of the war game
area and throw their fishing nets in a prohibited sea,
saturated by war contrivances.
Their questions are simple ones: the right to a
dignified work, the right to have the stolen sea back,
the right to the safety and to a clean sea and
environment.
Comitato sardo gettiamo le basi
Translation By Patricia Cocconi (organiser)
Pandora DU Research Project - Italy
For more info on this campaign email Patricia at:
rebelflower@libero.it
___________________________________________________________ALL-NEW Yahoo!
Messenger - all new features - even more fun! http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com
------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~-->
Yahoo! Domains - Claim yours for only $14.70
http://us.click.yahoo.com/Z1wmxD/DREIAA/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/
*****************************************************************
25 SDUT: Congressman calls for more payments to nuclear radiation victims
SignOnSanDiego.com
By Travis Reed ASSOCIATED PRESS
2:07 p.m. July 29, 2004
SALT LAKE CITY U.S. Rep. Jim Matheson called Thursday for the
federal government to extend compensation to more people who
became sick or developed cancer because of nuclear weapons
testing and radiation in Nevada.
Matheson, D-Utah, spoke at the Board on Radiation Effects
Research's final meeting, and argued that legislation to
compensate the victims was outdated and didn't help nearly enough
Americans.
"We know more today than we knew then, but let's assume that was
an interim step and not the final," Matheson said.
Matheson quoted a declassified Atomic Energy Commission memo
which called people downwind of the nuclear testing sites "a low
use segment of the population," drawing gasps from hearing
attendees.
"I don't know what they meant, but I don't think it sounds good,"
Matheson said.
The congressionally commissioned board includes 12 scientists and
health experts charged with proposing improvements to the
Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, a federal program that has
already paid more than $700 million to more than 11,000 radiation
victims and their families.
New research since the 1990 compensation bill was passed shows
that far-reaching areas like New York, Missouri and Washington
became radioactive hot spots after fallout from the Nevada
testing was picked up by jet streams.
Under the current law, compensation goes only to people who can
demonstrate they lived in certain Utah, Arizona and Nevada
counties during specified times and developed certain types of
cancer or worked in certain industries.
The issue is a personal one for Matheson. His father, Scott
Matheson, a former Utah governor, died of suspected
downwind-related cancer at age 61.
It's also an emotional one for the 100 or so people who attended
the meeting at the Salt Lake City Public Library, many of whom
said they had lost family members to cancer caused by downwind
radiation.
Salt Lake City resident Mary Dickson said she developed thyroid
cancer and ovarian tumors because of downwind radiation, but she
wasn't eligible for compensation because she didn't live in a
protected southern Utah county.
"To me, it's not about the money. The money can never pay for the
body parts I lost, and the sister I lost," she said, choking back
tears.
Matheson calls the issue his top priority, and he's introduced
legislation that would increase radiation monitoring and set up
roadblocks for further nuclear weapons testing. It would take the
decision out of the president's hands and require that Congress
approve further testing.
Frequently Asked Questions | UTads.com [http://www.utads.com] |
About the Union-Tribune | Contact the Union-Tribune
© Copyright 2004 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.
*****************************************************************
26 Centre Daily Times: Where is cancer society in nukes-effects debate?
| 07/29/2004 | My View |
By Virginia Southard
At a recent public meeting at Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic
Church activity center in Philipsburg, people heard the true
cause of our cancer epidemic and the tragic consequences of
using a technology "fraught with danger not recognized when the
Atomic Energy Act of 1954 was adopted."
Dr. Ernest J. Sternglass, professor emeritus of radiological
physics with the University of Pittsburgh Medical School, began
his remarks by telling of the great hopes of scientists from the
discovery of fission, for the future good of mankind. Its later
use for bombs and testing bombs in the atmosphere made them
aware of dangers in the technology. In 1963, they took these
concerns to President Kennedy, who signed the Partial Test Ban
Treaty, putting testing underground shortly before his death.
By the 1960s and '70s, after bomb testing in the atmosphere and
commercial reactors began operating to generate electricity, we
began to see health problems in increased infant mortality and
low birth weight babies and breast cancer. Infant mortality
rates later declined, but not to the earlier, lower, rates in
the states where reactors were operating. Using government
statistics and slides, he also showed continuing increases in
breast cancer rates in states with operating reactors.
He reported on the importance of the release in 2003 of a
five-year study by the European Committee on Radiation Risk -- a
group of 46 independent scientists from the United States,
United Kingdom, Germany, Russia, and other European countries.
Their evidence shows that the cause of the "terrible cancer
epidemic" is internalized radioactivity from bomb testing in the
atmosphere, operating reactors and the military use of depleted
uranium in missile cladding.
They predict 61.6 million cancer deaths, 1.6 million infant
deaths and 1.9 million fetal deaths from 1945 to 1989 from this
radioactivity.
Sternglass concluded with reference to the current crisis in the
cost of health care that is blamed on the cost of drugs and the
administration of care. The increased incidence of disease is
never mentioned.
Dr. Judith H. Johnsrud, of State College, is the Sierra Club
national chairwoman on nuclear issues and the founder and a
board member of the Nuclear Information Resource Service of
Washington, D.C.
Her remarks left no doubt for me about dangers from radioactive
wastes. In an agreement this year between the U.S. Department of
Transportation and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission,
radioactive wastes are allowed to be shipped by air, trucks and
train, without manifest, labels and, for some, even packaging.
The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing that
radioactive wastes be allowed to be dumped into landfills
designed to contain only municipal solid wastes or into
hazardous waste landfills, creating more mixed wastes, both
hazardous and radioactive.
She also alerted people to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's
final rule in January 2004 that nearly abolishes hearings in
accordance with the Administrative Procedures Act. The rule
provides informal alternatives that can bypass or eliminate many
fundamental, judicial safeguards that are at the base of our
nation's justice system.
The American Cancer Society literature tells us the society has
been organized for 88 years and began its research program in
1946 with $1 million. The first Relay for Life program was held
in Tacoma, Wash., in 1985, and by 2003 it was held in about
3,400 communities nationwide. It raises more than $1 billion for
cancer research, education, advocacy and patient care.
Our committee publicly asks the American Cancer Society why it
has not spoken out against nuclear reactors that produce
internalized radioactivity, a major cause of the cancer
epidemic, and that are not needed for generating electricity.
We invited their area office to send a representative to our
meeting, but they did not acknowledge or send a representative.
Sternglass and Johnsrud have helped hundreds of individuals and
groups for more than 35 years in opposing nuclear reactors, for
the public good, because of their concern for the tragic loss of
life and health of millions of people. We are honored to have
sponsored their meeting in Philipsburg and for their friendship.
Virginia Southard is a Philipsburg resident and a spokeswoman
for People Against Nuclear Pollution and Cancer.
email this print this
[http://ad.doubleclick.net/jump/centredaily.news/opinion;kw=foote
r;c2=opinion;c3=opinion_homepage;pos=footer;group=contextual;ord=
1091148751882?]
[http://www.realcities.com] News | Business | Sports |
Entertainment | Living | Shopping | Classifieds | Jobs | Cars |
Homes
About CentreDaily.com | About the Real Cities Network |
[http://www.realcities.com/mld/realcities/] Terms of Use
&Privacy Statement | About Knight Ridder |
[http://www.knightridder.com] Copyright
*****************************************************************
27 U.S. Newswire: U.S. Labor Department to Help Nuclear Weapons Workers
File Claims in Bradenton, Fla.
7/29/2004 12:58:00 PM
To: National Desk
Contact: Dolline Hatchett of the U.S. Department of Labor,
202-693-4651
News Advisory:
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and the Savannah River
Resource Center will be available to answer questions about the
Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act
(EEOICPA) on Aug. 3-4, 2004, in Bradenton. In addition, current
and former employees of contractors, subcontractors and eligible
survivors of former employees of American Beryllium Company will
receive assistance filing claims under the EEOICPA.
The EEOICPA became effective on July 31, 2001. DOL administers
Part B of the Act, which provides a lump sum payment of up to
$150,000 and medical benefits to covered employees. Current and
former employees of the Department of Energy (DOE), its
contractors and subcontractors, employees of atomic weapon
employers (AWE) and employees of designated beryllium vendors may
be eligible for these benefits. Qualified survivors of covered
employees, including adult children, also may be eligible to
receive the lump sum compensation. Specific illnesses covered by
Part B of the EEOICPA are radiogenic cancers, beryllium diseases
and chronic silicosis.
Florida is home to eight covered facilities, including American
Beryllium Company located in Sarasota. Records, including
purchase orders and shipping/receipt records, indicate that
American Beryllium manufactured parts for Dow/Rocky Flats in 1968
and for the Y-12 Plant in the 1980s. Other covered facilities
include Armour Fertilizer Works (Bartow); Gardinier, Inc.
(Tampa); International Minerals and Chemical Corp. (Mulberry);
Pinellas Plant (Clearwater); University of Florida (Gainesville);
Virginia-Carolina Chemical Corp. (Nichols); and W.R. Grace Co.,
Agricultural Chemical Division (Ridgewood).
Workers or survivors who need help filling out claim forms can
schedule appointments by calling (toll free) 1-866-666-4606, or
visiting the resource center during the hours listed below.
WHEN: Tuesday, Aug. 3 -- 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Wednesday, Aug. 4 -- 9
a.m. to 6 p.m.
WHERE: Holiday Inn Riverfront, 100 Riverfront Drive, Bradenton,
Fla.
/© 2004 U.S. Newswire 202-347-2770/
*****************************************************************
28 Paducah Sun: Prospects wane for sick worker compensation
Thursday, July 29, 2004;Paducah, Kentucky
Page [http://www.paducahsun.com/]
Policy analyst Richard Miller doubts that Congress can change
the broken program so workers will be compensated.
By Joe Walker jwalker@paducahsun.com--270.575.8650
Doubts: Richard Miller is pessimistic about the likelihood of
revising the compensation program through legislation.
Watchdog group and union leaders say time is running out for
Congress to fix a broken federal program to compensate sick
nuclear workers, many of whom have given up on getting paid.
Last month, the Senate approved Sen. Jim Bunning's amendment to
the Defense Authorization Bill to eliminate a massive claims
backlog by moving the program from the Department of Energy to
the better-equipped Department of Labor. A similar effort by Rep.
Ed Whitfield has faced opposition in the House and by the Bush
administration.
The prospects aren't good for a conference resolution starting
Sept. 13 once Congress reconvenes, said Richard Miller, policy
analyst for the Washington-based Government Accountability
Project.
"All I can see is that in four or five weeks we're going to get
told no if nothing changes," he said. "The Senate is going to
have to roll the House and its own administration on this thing.
That's what it boils down to."
The Energy Department program is set up to provide workers'
compensation to nuclear workers sickened by toxic exposure. But
as of mid-July, DOE had processed only 769 of more than 24,000
claims since the program started three years ago. Of the 302
claims approved by physician panels, only 10 had been paid
nationwide at an average of $22,147 per claim.
Even if claims are approved, DOE can't compel insurance
companies or self-insured employers to pay claims. None of the
3,000 claims by current and former Paducah Gaseous Diffusion
Plant workers has been paid, said Leon Owens, former president of
the Paducah nuclear workers' union. Like Miller's group, the
union is lobbying for the Bunning legislation.
Miller formerly led union lobbying efforts. Owens has testified
in Senate hearings on compensation and serves on a presidentially
appointed advisory committee overseeing a separate Department of
Labor claims program for nuclear workers. Both men have traveled
the nation talking with discouraged workers and retirees, many of
whom are aging, don't hear well and have trouble understanding
the DOE backlog, Owens said.
"There's widespread confusion among the claimants," he said.
"They just feel there is no prospect for compensation."
Bunning's legislation would switch the program to the Labor
Department and have that agency pay the claims. The Labor program
has paid $900 million, including $154 million at Paducah, in
lump-sum compensation and medical benefits during the past three
years on behalf of workers with radiation-induced cancers and
diseases related to beryllium and silicon exposure. Ninety-five
percent of the Labor Department's 56,000 claims have been
processed.
Despite a backlog that will take until 2013 to work through, the
Energy Department has fought to hold onto its program, having
received $95 million of the $138 million it sought from Congress
since 2001 to try to improve the system. Energy officials say
they can shorten the backlog if Congress agrees to changes, such
as lifting a cap on fees for those serving on physician panels.
Miller said DOE senior officials have convinced the White House
to support their stance. A White House policy statement before
the Senate backed improving the DOE program, rather than moving
it to the Labor Department.
The White House position has trickled down to the Labor
Department, which issued a position statement against the Bunning
amendment. Among other things, DOL expressed concerns about
funding and difficulty in dealing with varying state workers'
compensation laws.
In a recent interview with the Sun, Chao declined to say if she
favored taking on the DOE program, but added she would carry out
whatever Congress dictates. "My first concern is always to get
benefits out to victims and families in the fastest way
possible," she said.
Adhering to administration policy, Chao "is taking marching
orders from the White House," Miller said.
Chao's husband, Sen. Mitch McConnell, supported the Bunning
amendment but has apparently not yet tried to sway conferees
toward the Senate position, Miller said. A champion of many bills
to help nuclear workers, McConnell seems "visibly uncomfortable"
with this situation, Miller said.
Without support from the Bush camp, there is little incentive for
many in the House to support efforts by Whitfield and Bunning,
Miller said. States where nuclear plants are located make for a
greater support in the 100-member Senate than in the 435
congressional districts represented by the House, he explained.
"This is one of those cases where the House seems to be
listening to DOE and DOL," Miller said. "Both agencies are doing
what they can to kill it."
Bunning and Whitfield mentioned the issue Tuesday during
groundbreaking for a factory to convert low-level nuclear waste
at the Paducah uranium enrichment plant into safer material.
Bunning said he needs Whitfield's help to get the measure
approved in conference.
"We haven't been able to deliver on the House side," Whitfield
said. "But I have been meeting with all of the chairmen of the
affected committees, stressing how important it is."
*****************************************************************
29 Las Vegas RJ: JANE ANN MORRISON: Kerry's mixed record on Yucca Mountain could
haunt Democrats
Thursday, July 29, 2004
In a political blunder that should have been foreseen, Nevada
Democrats allowed Republicans to muddy their presidential
candidate John Kerry on the Yucca Mountain issue at a bad time:
during the Democratic National Convention.
Nevada Democrats had embraced the Massachusetts senator
wholeheartedly for opposing the Yucca Mountain Project. U.S. Sen.
Harry Reid said unequivocally in a May 12 Review-Journal article:
"He's somebody that's been with us all the way on nuclear waste,
every step of the way."
Well, that's not quite true.
The GOP, selecting just the right time, unearthed six instances
between 1987 through 1997 in which Kerry didn't vote with Reid on
Yucca Mountain issues.
Now, Reid is saying those votes are irrelevant, even though one
was the so-called "Screw Nevada" bill in which Nevada was chosen
as the only place to be studied for a nuclear dump. Another vote
would have given Nevada's governor veto rights.
So did Nevada Democrats not know about these votes?
Reid says he knew, but "I honestly feel those votes were
meaningless." Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., said she didn't know
about the votes, "but at this moment in history, they are not
important, they are not reflective of the man's position."
A fumble-free political strategy by Democrats would have been to
pre-empt the GOP attack by revealing Kerry's mixed voting record
early and stressing that when it was genuinely important, Kerry
voted with Nevada.
Reid was serving in the Senate in 1987 when the "Screw Nevada"
bill passed and only five Democrats voted against it. He knew
Kerry wasn't one of the five.
It's tough to describe that bill as irrelevant after Reid once
called it "an act of naked and unprovoked aggression" by larger
states against Nevada.
But on Wednesday, the senator said the "Screw Nevada" bill was
"just a study."
The effort to give Nevada's governor a veto was hard fought in
1997 when Reid and Bryan proposed it and Kerry voted against it.
In retrospect, Reid now says, "Anyone with half a brain knew
that was unconstitutional."
These days, Reid makes a distinction between votes on studies
and votes on where to place the dump. "When it came to siting,
Kerry has always been there with us. When we needed Kerry, he was
with us. When we needed Bush, he signed the bill." Four years
ago, candidate Bush promised he would rely on "sound science" to
decide whether to store nuclear waste in Nevada. Then in February
2002, despite unanswered scientific questions, President Bush
said: Send it to Nevada.
The Kerry team countered Wednesday with a list of seven Kerry
votes in which he supported Nevada, calling one the "Screw Nevada
Bill."
Will the real "Screw Nevada" bill please stand up?
The GOP research cited the December 21, 1987 bill; the Kerry
research cited one taken Nov. 12, 1987.
The dueling "evidence" goes to the heart of the problem. Because
of the number of procedural votes and amendments, researchers can
cherry pick a vote saying someone is for or against something and
have at least a kernel of truth.
In this case, the Republicans' research cited the real "Screw
Nevada" bill. The Democrats cited an earlier vote on some of the
same issues. Unlike Reid, former U.S. Sen. Richard Bryan, D-Nev.,
conceded Wednesday that the GOP list of votes undercuts the
Democrats' arguments. "Although Kerry is clearly the better
choice for Nevadans on nuclear waste, it does muddy up his
position," Bryan said. But, Bryan also insisted, "On the critical
votes where it really counted, John Kerry would be supportive."
In a Review-Journal poll released this week, 54 percent of
respondents said Yucca Mountain has no influence on whether they
will vote for Bush. The same percentage believe the state's
leaders should keep fighting Yucca Mountain in court.
Count on seeing Republican political ads designed to make it
harder, not easier, for voters to tell the difference between the
two men's positions on nuclear waste.
In the end, Bush wants nuclear waste stored here and Kerry says
he doesn't. Democratic presidential contender Michael Dukakis
came out against nuclear waste in Nevada in 1988, then switched
his position when he thought it would help him in Minnesota.
Kerry is unlikely to switch, but his votes have swung both ways.
Jane Ann Morrison's column appears Monday, Thursday and Saturday.
E-mail her at jane@reviewjournal.com or call 383-0275.
Copyright Las Vegas Review-Journal
*****************************************************************
30 Las Vegas RJ: Firm may get $11 millionfor Yucca Mountain work
Thursday, July 29, 2004
Bechtel-SAIC qualifies for incentive with draft license
application By STEVE TETREAULT
STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU
WASHINGTON -- The management contractor for the Yucca Mountain
nuclear waste repository qualified for an $11 million incentive
fee after handing over a draft license application on Monday, an
Energy Department spokesman said.
Examiners must verify 5,000 pages of material submitted by
Bechtel- SAIC before the payment can be certified, said Allen
Benson, spokesman for the Office of Repository Development.
The company qualified for an $11,043,476 fee by meeting a July
26 target, Benson said.
Incentives were negotiated within the firm's $1.88 billion
contract to manage the department's repository program.
In preparing its licensing draft, Bechtel-SAIC assumed a
10,000-year radiation health protections for the repository,
even though that standard was thrown out by a federal court on
July 9.
Benson said the Energy Department considers the standard still
applicable until the court's mandate is finalized following an
appeal period.
DOE officials say they want to file an application at the end
of the year and retain the 10,000-year standard at least during
initial license reviews by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission,
although the NRC has not decided whether that will be allowed.
Bob Loux, executive director of the Nevada Agency for Nuclear
Projects, criticized the Energy Department for authorizing a big
contractor payout when the Yucca Mountain Project faces such
uncertainties.
Loux, who coordinates the state's opposition to the repository,
said the Yucca program is being driven by the promise of
financial bonuses rather than by science.
"They shouldn't have gotten the money," Loux said of
Bechtel-SAIC.
"It's clear these folks will do anything for money. The idea
they would hand in a draft with a standard they know will not
stand just says it all."
A number of incentives were written into the Bechtel-SAIC
contract, including a $15.3 million fee for finalizing a
repository application by Nov. 30.
Bechtel-SAIC would get a $22 million payment if the NRC accepts
the licensing package for formal review within 91 days after
submittal.
Loux asked the Energy Department inspector general in May to
examine the Yucca management contract for possible legal or
ethical violations.
A spokeswoman for inspector general Gregory Friedman, contacted
late Wednesday, said she could not immediately get information
about the status of the request.
The draft licensing package contains the results of studies and
technical analyses to detail the Energy Department's claim that
77,000 tons of highly radioactive nuclear waste can be secured
within the mountain 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
Benson said the package will be reviewed to ensure it conforms
to licensing guidelines set by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
before the payment is authorized.
Copyright Las Vegas Review-Journal
*****************************************************************
31 Las Vegas RJ: Reid takes his turn in spotlight
Thursday, July 29, 2004
By ERIN NEFF REVIEW-JOURNAL
Ruben Kihuen, foreground, cheers Wednesday at Magura Pizza in Las
Vegas where he and other Harry Reid supporters watched the Nevada
senator speak at the Democratic National Convention. Photo by
[JLocher@reviewjournal.com] .
Sen. Harry Reid got a little prime-time exposure for Nevada's
fight against Yucca Mountain and levied a fresh dig against
President Bush during a 10-minute speech Wednesday at the
Democratic National Convention.
Reid began with a speech echoing his campaign kick-off address,
with talk of his home in tiny Searchlight.
But he also drew huge whoops from the Nevada delegation when he
credited Sen. John Kerry with promising to block nuclear waste
shipments to the state.
"We know that Nevadans will never again stand for being exposed
to dangerous nuclear tests or nuclear waste," he said.
"We agree that Nevada should be a proving ground for renewable
energy, not a dumping ground for nuclear waste," Reid said.
"That's why, when John Kerry is elected president, he will stop
wasting billions of dollars trying to dump nuclear waste in
Yucca Mountain, and he'll lead us to energy independence."
Reid, the Senate Democratic whip, whipped up Nevadans and those
paying attention in Boston's FleetCenter when he talked of
learning the difference between real gold and fool's gold with
his father, a miner.
He then listed several of Bush's promises, including job
creation and an education plan that leaves no child behind.
"He promised to cut prescription drug costs, and he promised to
unite our country and bring the American people together," Reid
said. "Those promises turned out to be fool's gold."
Tracey Schmitt, spokeswoman for the Bush-Cheney campaign, said,
"Senator Reid should check his facts."
"More than 50,000 new jobs have been created in Nevada alone,
and this administration has the largest education funding
increase since the Johnson administration," she said.
The Nevada delegation chanted "Harry, Harry, Harry" as Reid
concluded his speech, cheering wildly for C-Span and CNN
cameras. As that chant subsided, they started a new one: "No
nuke waste, no nuke waste."
"I hope that the nation is seeing that we're opposed to Yucca
Mountain," said delegate Ed Beaman, a Mount Charleston resident
and Clark County firefighter. "Harry's our leader, and hopefully
this will help get more national support for the fight."
Democrats gathered in Las Vegas and Reno to watch the speech.
"They were energized Reid supporters happy to see him speaking
to Nevada and to Americans and fighting for John Kerry," said
Reid campaign spokeswoman Megan Jones, who joined about 80
supporters at Magura Pizza in Las Vegas to watch the speech.
U.S. Rep. Shelley Berkley, chairwoman of the Nevada delegation,
said Reid spoke eloquently about jobs, Yucca Mountain and the
"future of America."
"Harry Reid is one of the most important people in the U.S.
government," Berkley said. "For Nevada to be represented in that
fashion and have someone from Searchlight, Nevada, representing
our nation is unbelievable."
Copyright Las Vegas Review-Journal
*****************************************************************
32 Las Vegas RJ: Nominee electrifies Silver State delegation
Thursday, July 29, 2004
By ERIN NEFF REVIEW-JOURNAL
State Sen. Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, left, Assemblyman Richard
Perkins, D-Henderson, and County Commissioner Yvonne Atkinson
Gates cheer Wednesday with U.S. Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev.,
after Berkley cast Nevada's delegates for John Kerry in Boston.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BOSTON -- Nevada Democrats said the hopeful message they heard
from vice presidential nominee John Edwards gives them a similar
optimism about working to turn their state out to vote for Sen.
John Kerry.
"Hope is on the way," the crowd cheered, echoing Edwards'
speech refrain at the Democratic National Convention on
Wednesday night.
Edwards' vision for America will resonate with undecided or
independent voters considering voting for Ralph Nader, delegates
said.
"Right now, people in our country are looking for solutions to
problems," said Las Vegas delegate Jeanne Maust. "We're looking
to move forward and facilitate the type of change independent
voters want."
A wild scene erupted on the convention floor after Edwards
spoke, when the Black Eyed Peas pumped up the crowd with "Let's
Get It Started."
The enthusiasm felt in the hall Wednesday might be a continent
away from the Silver State, but Fallon delegate Marcia de Braga
said Edwards' message will appeal in rural Nevada, which is
dominated by Republican voters.
"I am finding there is a lack of respect for the president from
some Republicans," said de Braga, who is campaigning for a rural
Assembly seat covering seven counties. "There's a lot of
Republicans who are saying they're sick of (President) Bush and
this is the kind of message they need to vote for John Kerry."
Edwards' speech was anticipated with a buzz the FleetCenter
hadn't felt since the convention opened Monday.
"It is a message of hope that we can change this country," said
County Commissioner Yvonne Atkinson Gates, a convention delegate.
Edwards rocked the FleetCenter in ways that rivaled crowd noise
at the Boston Garden, which once stood in its place.
"Between now and November -- you, the American people -- you
can reject this tired, old, hateful, negative politics of the
past," Edwards said. "And instead, you can embrace the politics
of hope, the politics of what's possible because this is
America, where everything is possible."
Nevada's delegation erupted with the rest of the crowd, turning
the FleetCenter into a sea of thin, red, vertical signs that
read, "Edwards."
"John Edwards is one of the most remarkable speakers I've ever
heard," said U.S. Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev.
Much of Edwards' speech focused on his "two-Americas" theme --
a country he sees that is still split between the haves and have
nots, and one in which the government plays a role evening the
divide.
After his speech, Berkley took the microphone, wearing a
glittering red suit and gold heels, to pledge Nevada's 32
delegates to Kerry.
Nevada's moment in the roll call came at 11:40 p.m. local time,
after Kerry had already amassed the number of delegates to win
the nomination.
Berkley used the spotlight to describe Nevada as home to the
entertainment capital of the world, Las Vegas, and the home of
the man she said will be the next Senate majority whip, Harry
Reid.
The third-term congresswoman also said: "It is a state that is
standing united against becoming the home of the nuclear waste
dump at Yucca Mountain."
But she stumbled when she pledged all 32 delegates to "John
Fitzgerald Kerry." The presidential candidate's middle name is
Forbes.
Later, Berkley laughed about the mistake, saying she didn't
even realize she had misspoke until her husband brought it to
her attention.
"I just said it," Berkley said of the gaffe. "It was electric
and fun, and it sounded good."
Earlier in the day delegates heard a warning about Nader's
impact in an election that is expected to be close.
Elizabeth Holtzman, a former New York congresswoman providing
coordinating advice to those trying to challenge Nader's ballot
access in a variety of states, told delegates: "Our country's
counting on you."
Bob Brandon, representing United Progressives for Victory, said
if Nader does qualify for Nevada's ballot, "we will try to
persuade the pro-Nader voters not to vote for Nader and to stop
Nader from stealing the election from the Democrats."
The Nevada Democratic Party has been analyzing some 11,000
signatures submitted to put Nader on Nevada's ballot as an
independent candidate. The party's executive director, Rebecca
Lambe, said a decision would be made by the Aug. 24 deadline on
whether to mount a challenge.
Las Vegas delegate Duane Chesnut asked for a complete list of
organizations that are supporting Nader.
"I want to make sure I never contribute another nickel," he
said.
A recent poll conducted for the Review-Journal and
reviewjournal.com showed Bush with 45 percent, Kerry with 42
percent and Nader with 4 percent, making the Silver State a
tossup.
With the state polling at a dead heat, the small percentage of
voters Nader attracts could tip Nevada for Bush, according to
pollster Brad Coker of Washington-based Mason-Dixon Research.
The overriding theme of the convention -- national security --
dominated the speeches leading up to Edwards' address and,
Nevada delegates said, could help swing military voters and
veterans at home.
"To us the real test of patriotism is how we treat the men and
women who have put their lives on the line every day to defend
our values," Edwards said. "And let me tell you, the 26 million
veterans in this country will not have to wonder, when we're in
office, if they'll have health care next week or next year.
"We will take care of them because they have taken care of us,"
he added.
Republican Congressman Jim Gibbons, a veteran of the Vietnam
and Gulf wars, defended Bush, saying he has "a strong record
when it comes to supporting our veterans."
"Senator Kerry fails to acknowledge the 40 percent increase in
veterans' care under President Bush's leadership," Gibbons said
in a statement released by the Bush-Cheney campaign before
Edwards' speech. "This is a record that all Americans, from all
political backgrounds, should be proud of."
Copyright Las Vegas Review-Journal
*****************************************************************
33 Las Vegas RJ: STEVE SEBELIUS: Kerry & Yucca Mountain
Thursday, July 29, 2004
"And why beholdest thou the mote that is in they brother's eye,
but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how
wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of
thine eye; and behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou
hypocrite, first cast the beam of thine own eye, and then shalt
thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye."
-- Gospel according to St. Matthew, 7:3-5
The political debate over Yucca Mountain has always been about
equivalency.
Republicans, tarred with the accusation they are the party of
Yucca Mountain, never hesitate to point out that the author of
the 1987 bill which narrowed the search for a nuclear waste dump
to Nevada was J. Bennett Johnston, a Democratic senator from
Louisiana. And a Democrat-controlled Congress passed the
measure.
Then again, a Republican president -- Ronald Reagan -- signed it
into law. And Reagan's would-be intellectual heir, George W.
Bush, officially made Yucca the Home of the Spent Fuel Rod,
after promising to wait until "sound science" was finished
studying the site.
So imagine the great joy this week as Republicans released
opposition research showing Democratic presidential nominee U.S.
Sen. John Kerry had cast several seemingly pro-Yucca Mountain
votes during his Senate career. That put Kerry's attacks on
Bush's Yucca action, as well as Kerry's promise to kill the
Yucca dump once and for all, into a hypocritical new light.
"I think this is typical of what John Kerry is," crowed U.S.
Sen. John Ensign. "He wants to have it all ways. His voting
record doesn't stand up."
Kerry, Ensign said, not only voted for the 1987 bill, he also
voted in 1988, 1995, 1996 and 1997 on amendments or procedural
votes that helped Yucca Mountain.
But Democrats are giving the GOP no quarter. After all, this is
the perfect year for the perfect issue. Nevada is a battleground
state, even with a relatively few five electoral votes. Polls
show Democratic traction on the Yucca issue, especially after
state Republicans were kind enough to insert a pro-Yucca plank
in their state-party platform. Bush's 2000 broken promise hangs
in the air, and contrasts nicely with Kerry's promise to end
Yucca Mountain as we know it. So Democrats are sticking with
their man.
"They're (GOP) trying to muddy it up because they know this is
the winning issue in the state of Nevada," says U.S. Rep.
Shelley Berkley. "This is a seminal issue for him (Kerry).
That's good enough for me."
Adds U.S. Sen. Harry Reid: "John Kerry is our man. If he's
president, there will be no Yucca Mountain. ... No one has been
better for us on Yucca than John Kerry. He voted with us every
time it mattered."
Reid frankly acknowledges there were times it didn't matter, in
the late 1980s when he and fellow U.S. Sen. Richard Bryan were
throwing up Hail Mary anti-Yucca bills that had no chance of
passing but were designed to draw public attention to the
problem of nuclear waste. That explains some of Kerry's votes.
Reid aide Greg Jaczko notes that Kerry voted -- four times, in
fact -- during the debate of the 1987 Screw Nevada bill to
eliminate language that targeted the Silver State for study for
the dump. Four times, those efforts failed. Kerry voted for the
final bill, as did 85 of his fellow senators.
And while Republicans argue -- and not without merit -- that if
Kerry really cared about Yucca, he'd have voted with the state
every time -- Democrats can still point to votes in which Kerry
said "nay" to Nevada as a final storage site, sustaining
President Clinton's 2000 veto of an interim storage bill and
against the final designation of the site by Bush.
Richard Urey, chief of staff to Berkley, notes that the 1987
bill was to study Yucca, and that when the study was complete,
Kerry concluded that Yucca was unsuitable to store waste. "What
could be more consistent than that?" he asks.
Meanwhile, Berkley says the Republicans should stop scrutinizing
Kerry's voting record and start looking at Bush's. Since the
president might need Nevada to win re-election, she wonders why
Gov. Kenny Guinn, Attorney General Brian Sandoval, Ensign, and
U.S. Reps. Jon Porter and Jim Gibbons aren't putting Nevada
above party loyalty and demanding Bush put an end to Yucca in
exchange for their support? (State Republicans have simply said
they "agree to disagree" with the president on Yucca even as
they campaign for his re-election.) "They don't know their
power," Berkley says.
In any event, what's happened in the past may be less important
that what might happen in the future: Bush is already pushing
ahead with Yucca Mountain, despite a recent court ruling that
says a 10,000-year radiation standard is far too short. Kerry
has pledged to stop the dump entirely. "We should look to the
future," Reid says.
Only in the future Reid has in mind, Bush lives in Crawford,
Kerry lives on Pennsylvania Avenue and Yucca Mountain is a
quiet, windswept hill in the middle of nowhere.
Steve Sebelius is a Review-Journal political columnist. His
column runs Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. Reach him at 383-0283
or by e-mail at ssebelius@reviewjournal.com.
Copyright Las Vegas Review-Journal
*****************************************************************
34 Las Vegas SUN: Reid delivers his anti-Yucca pitch
By Suzanne Struglinski SUN WASHINGTON BUREAU
BOSTON -- In a seven-minute speech to the Democratic National
Convention on Wednesday, Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., gave the
nation a prime-time pitch against Yucca Mountain.
"We know that Nevadans will never again stand for being exposed
to dangerous nuclear tests or nuclear waste" Reid said, drawing
cheers from the Nevada delegates watching on the Fleet Center
floor.
"We agree that Nevada should be a proving ground for renewable
energy not a dumping ground for nuclear waste," Reid said.
"That's why, when John Kerry is elected President, he will stop
wasting billions of dollars trying to dump nuclear waste in
Yucca Mountain and he'll lead us to energy independence."
Reid, speaking live during the East Coast's prime time, also
spoke about Nellis Air Force base, Nevada's history of nuclear
testing and his hometown of Searchlight as he made his pitch for
Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass.
Kerry has pledged to Nevada that the Yucca Mountain project
will end if he is elected president and Nevada's Democrats
believe he will keep that promise.
Kerry voted against the final decision to send high-level
nuclear waste to Nevada, but State Republicans noted Tuesday
that Kerry had previously voted against Nevada on several
measures between 1987 and 1997.
During the last presidential campaign, Bush promised he would
make the decision to store nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain, 90
miles northwest of Las Vegas, on "sound science" but moved the
project forward despite Nevada"s objections that sound science
on the project does not exist.
After Reid finished his speech Wednesday, the Nevada delegates
start chanting "no nuke waste, no nuke waste," and "Har-ry!
Har-ry!"
Clark County Commissioner Yvonne Atkinson Gates said Reid's
speech was great.
"He got in Yucca Mountain," Gates said. "He talked about what
John Kerry would do and what George Bush has not done. Harry
Reid did what he always does, he delivered for Nevada."
Nevada State Party Chair Adriana Martinez said the speech was
"powerful."
"We are getting great exposure on the issue of Yucca Mountain,"
she said on the convention floor. "For it to be on national
television it can raise the red flag for the entire nation."
Beyond the Yucca issue, Reid emphasized the Kerry will create
millions of jobs, makes schools better and fix the health care
system. He said Bush's promises on education policy,
prescription drugs and promises to unite the country "turned out
to be fool's gold."
Noting that he came from a mining town, Reid said he learned
when young that "real gold is precious. But even though fool's
gold glitters to look like gold, it is worthless."
Las Vegas delegate Steven Horsford said the speech was "right
on point" because it not only mention Yucca, which is a "top
issue" but got in the others as well.
"Jobs, the economy, education, these are all important issues
but we could lose that with the dangerous transportation of
nuclear waste through our communities," he said.
Reid's campaign sent out a press release earlier Wednesday
saying his prime-time slot "shows the importance of Nevada as a
battleground state in this year's election." The campaign held a
party at in Las Vegas to watch the speech.
Nevada's senior senator addressed the convention a couple of
hours before vice presidential nominee Sen. John Edwards made
his acceptance speech.
Edwards voted against Reid in a key 2002 Senate vote that
allowed the Energy Department's nuclear waste storage plan to
move forward in Nevada, but assured Reid immediately after Kerry
selected Edwards as his running mate that he would support
Kerry's opposition to the site.
Reid admitted after the speech that he was glad it was over
because he was a little nervous.
He said he got his message across but that is was not just an
anti-Yucca speech.
"I think the real issue of nuclear waste deals with character,"
Reid said. He said he believes Bush lied or broke promises on
the Medicare, the No Child Left Behind education policy and the
war in Iraq.
"He said, 'mission accomplished' and some 800 soldiers have
been killed since then," Reid said. "He (Bush) doesn't tell the
truth."
*****************************************************************
35 Las Vegas SUN: Letter: On-site storage of nuclear waste not a
sound solution
Today: July 29, 2004 at 9:16:11 PDT
Your July 20 editorial "Double-talk on Yucca," asks, in view of
the proposal to expand on-site storage at the Indian Point
nuclear power plant in New York, "Why is Yucca Mountain such an
urgent national priority?'
Disposal of high-level radioactive waste, including spent
nuclear fuel from commercial power plants, in a suitable
underground repository has been national policy since 1983. What
makes it urgent is that the same law also said disposal was to
begin in 1998. The Energy Department, which manages the disposal
program, entered into contracts with nuclear utilities
obligating the government to accept the waste in accordance with
that schedule. In return, the utilities (and their ratepayers)
began fee payments for the disposal, which they continue to pay
to this day. The federal courts have found the government to be
in partial breach of its contracts to accept the waste and
therefore the government is liable for the costs of delay.
I don't believe you will find anyone at the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission or with a nuclear utility who will say that temporary
storage of spent fuel at reactor sites is unsafe. There are
strictly enforced NRC regulations to assure that any such
storage is safe for the period of the license issued before it
is built. The license is for 20 years. Construction and
operation of these storage facilities only became necessary when
it became apparent that the Energy Department was not going to
be able to meet the 1998 waste acceptance schedule.
If you go back to the Yucca Mountain environmental impact
statement you will see that building and maintaining the
repository at Yucca Mountain will cost about $57 billion for a
10,000-year period. To meet the current regulatory requirements
for the same period of time, while storing the waste at 77
government and commercial sites, would cost on the order of $5
trillion. Many opponents of the repository don't want to
acknowledge that on-site storage at present sites is not a wise
economic or environmental solution to the problem, which may be
what Congress thought it was settling when it passed the Nuclear
Waste Policy Act in 1982.
BRIAN O' CONNELL Editor's note: Based in Washington, D.C., Brian
O'Connell directs the Nuclear Waste Program Office of the
National Association of Regulatory Commissioners.
*****************************************************************
36 Las Vegas SUN: Berkley casts vote for JFK
By Suzanne Struglinski SUN WASHINGTON BUREAU
BOSTON -- Nevada Rep. Shelley Berkley Wednesday night
enthusiastically cast the state's votes at the Democratic
National Convention for Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass.
"Since what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, we're here to cast
Nevada's 32 votes for the next president of the United States,
John Fitzgerald Kerry," Berkley said.
She meant John Forbes Kerry, who shares initials with another
former Bay State senator and the most recent Massachusetts
president, John Fitzgerald Kennedy.
WILL HE SAY IT?: Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., mentioned Yucca
Mountain in his prime-time speech to the convention and Berkley
had one applause break when she said the state was standing
united against the nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain.
Kerry has pledged to stop Yucca Mountain if he's elected and
the party's platform says it will protect Nevada against nuclear
waste. So will Kerry mention Yucca Mountain in his speech?
Berkley doubts it.
"I suspect his speech is set and ready to go," Berkley said on
the convention floor Wednesday night. "I can't imagine it, it
shouldn't be state specific. It should be a combination of his
past, what he's done and what he'll do. That's the type of
speech I want to hear. The American people are waiting to hear
this speech."
NO SIGN: Other delegations had campaign signs touting their
favorite sons and daughters when they addressed the convention,
but where were the Nevadans' signs for Reid?
No one in the state's delegation had campaign signs, emblazoned
with his slogan, Independent Like Nevada, for his speech
Wednesday night.
Delegates were not allowed to bring their own signs into the
convention. Signs had to be screened by security well in advance
of the convention.
PARTY WHIP: Reid, the Senate assistant minority leader, also
known as the whip, and his House counterpart Rep. Steny Hoyer,
D-Md., held a "Whip Party" Wednesday at Boston's Museum of Fine
Art. The lawmakers gave guests woven leather lanyards
resembling, well, whips as party favors with a tag in writing
styled after the "Indiana Jones" movie logos.
Hoyer passed by Nevada's section moments before the state cast
its vote during the roll call and said "This is no gamble. This
is Nevada."
FAMILY AFFAIR: North Las Vegas delegate Naomi Goynes brought
her husband, Theron, and 10other members of her family to
Boston, including four grandchildren between 14 months and 12
years of age.
"This is an educational opportunity," Goynes said. "You have to
lead by example."
CHARGE IT! If a Democrat needs an excuse to justify a purchase,
he or she can just say the spending was a way to help the party.
Visa was giving out free convention T-Shirts if attendees signed
up for a credit card. Once approved, a cardholder could donate
one percent of their purchases to the party.
GOOD CLEAN FUN: After John Kerry accepts the Democratic
nomination tonight, 100,000 balloons will fall onto the crowd.
They are biodegradable. The 1,000 pounds of red, white and blue
confetti that will fall with the balloons is made from recycled
papers.
BUTTON OF THE DAY: Elvis Impersonators for Kerry. Sellers say
they're having trouble keeping the buttons in stock.
*****************************************************************
37 Bradenton Herald: Tallevast center gets clean classrooms
| 07/29/2004 |
KEVIN O'HORAN
Herald Staff Writer
TALLEVAST - The Tallevast Community Center received a shot of
hope early Wednesday in the form of twin portable classrooms that
replaced a trailer carted away in November amid contamination
fears.
Lockheed Martin Corp. had donated the original trailer in early
2000, then agreed to cart away, dispose and pay for replacing it
in November 2003 after learning that solvents had tainted areas
of the former American Beryllium Co. plant, where it sat.
"The trailer was clean, and we gave the community center
documentation to that effect," said Meredith Rouse Davis,
Lockheed's senior manager of corporate affairs.
"We took it away to ease the community center's concern. They
just weren't comfortable with it."
Comfort has been hard to come by in the community in recent
months. Since November, residents have been stuck in a spiral in
which they were first told they face no threat, then a slight
threat, and finally that contamination had spread far and wide.
Last week, Florida Department of Environmental Protection
officials announced that cancer-causing solvents had been found
in groundwater in an area two to three times larger than
initially thought, and at least twice as deep as expected.
That spiral has made it difficult for the sparsely funded center
to keep youngsters in - let alone attract new children to -
reading classes, test readiness efforts, camps and more, noted
Roy Jackson Jr., the center's executive director.
Summer camp last year attracted about 100 youngsters aged 5-17,
he said, but that figure plunged to 65 this year.
"We've had a few people call about the contamination," Jackson
said. "I have to figure that some of the loss is due to that."
The worries about toxins in Tallevast also have another hampering
effect.
"Because of the contamination, we don't want to write new
programs, to establish programs here and then have to move, if
we're relocated," said Morrell Roper, program development
director at the center.
"That's kind of clipped my wings."
The portables offer a little lift, though. Bought with an $8,500
check cut by Lockheed as compensation for the original trailer,
they offer much-needed space for an array of activities.
And not just for the younger crowd.
"We could work with Meals on Wheels, or have bingo, maybe reading
classes for adults," Jackson said, "just ask for volunteers to
bring some ideas back, like a mentor program."
Some ideas likely will come in Aug. 7, when the center has
scheduled a "Back to School Parents Meeting" to unveil the
portables while mulling over topics from programs to
transportation to fees to discipline - and contamination.
"We don't know the future," Roper said. "We don't know what will
happen to the center during or after the cleanup.
"But we'll carry on with our programs, and build other programs.
We'll give the community support."
TO HELP
For more information, or to donate time, money or supplies - such
as computers, desks and more - call the Tallevast Community
Center at 355-2337.
About Bradenton.com
*****************************************************************
38 Bradenton Herald: Independent review approved for Tallevast contamination
| 07/29/2004 |
BRIAN BLANCO-The Herald
The skeletal remains of the former American Beryllium Co. sit
behind a locked gate in Tallevast.
KEVIN O'HORAN
Herald Staff Writer
TALLEVAST - Florida regulators will allow a third-party group
full access to monitor cleanup activities in Tallevast, the
southern Manatee County community plagued by widespread
contamination from the former American Beryllium Co. plant.
In agreeing today to the independent review, officials with the
state's Department of Environmental Protection noted the action
doesn't signal an easing of the agency's regulatory grip over the
project, said Rep. Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, who helped broker
the independent review clause. Instead, it is a move to ease
anxiety felt by area residents.
"This is unprecedented," Galvano said.
Though DEP officials stand by their handling of the project,
Tallevast residents have leveled sharp criticism at the agency
for perceived delays in warning residents about the initial
contamination findings and accused officials of soft-pedaling the
danger.
Crews working for then-owner Lockheed Martin Corp. discovered and
reported to DEP contamination at the 1600 Tallevast Road plant in
January 2000. Residents, though, weren't told until November 2003
that cancer-causing solvents had fouled area water supplies.
That delay, coupled with recent tests that show the contamination
to be much wider and deeper than DEP officials expected, has
sparked misgivings and mistrust among community members about the
agency's handling of the cleanup.
Now, as DEP and Lockheed leaders have spelled out in a draft
consent order that spells out details of the cleanup, the company
will pay for an independent expert hand-picked by Tallevast
residents - led by the Family Oriented Community United, Strong
group - to review any findings from the site.
"That is key," Galvano said. "We have now made (residents) a
party to what goes on out there.
"Whenever there's a report of any data, it will go at the same
time to FOCUS."
Lockheed's management said a third-party review poses no problem
for them.
"That's been broached before," said Meredith Rouse Davis, senior
manager of corporate affairs for the aerospace giant, "and we've
said before that we'll work with anyone involved in the process.
"We understand the need for the FOCUS group and the residents to
want to have an independent review. That was one of the reasons
we split samples and funded the split with the group earlier."
Lockheed and FOCUS leaders walked the community side-by-side in
June collecting joint samples from wells, with the company
testing its own samples and paying the tab for the resident group
to have an independent laboratory test the others.
Read the complete article in Friday's Bradenton Herald.
Bradenton.com |
*****************************************************************
39 heraldtribune.com: State, Lockheed sign Tallevast cleanup agreement
Southwest Florida's Information Leader
Thursday, July 29, 2004
By DEBI SPRINGER
debi.springer@heraldtribune.com
[debi.springer@heraldtribune.com]
The state Department of Environmental Protection signed an
agreement today with the Lockheed Martin Co. outlining how the
company will clean up the Tallevast community.
The agremment requires Lockheed to pay the Tallevast community
group FOCUS $20,000 a year for the duration of the cleanup so the
group can hire its own independent scientists to monitor the
work. This is the first time the DEP has ever required anyone to
pay for third party oversight, DEP officials said.
State Rep. Bill Galvano said the next step for the community is
to choose its consulting firm.
"I'm happy about this," Galvano said. "I think it would've made
matters worse if only the DEP and Lockheed Martin were involved
and the community was once again left on the sidelines."
Lockheed Martin has said the cleanup could take up to 10 years.
Among other stipulations the order also requires Lockheed Martin
to reimburse the DEP $154,000 for the three weeks of testing the
agency conducted. Those tests found that the pollution from the
former American Beryllium Co. plant was much more widespread than
Lockheed scientists had indicated. The DEP said last week it
found a plume of contaminated ground water covering about 150
acres. The agency also found metals and chemicals above state
standards in 14 of the 16 sites it tested.
Lockheed Martin has 20 days to submit a report to the DEP showing
the full extent of soil and ground water contamination on and
around the site.
The agreement also calls for fines of $1,000 a day if the cleanup
takes longer than a "reasonable" amount of time
Also today, Katherine Harris released a letter sent to Gov. Bush
asking him to get personally involved in overseeing the cleanup
efforts, and consider asking the area be declared a federal
emergency in order to free up funds for the cleanup.
"This small, close knit community in Manatee County confronts a
potential medical and ecological catastrophe due to the unsafe
concentrations of several hazardous chemicals such as beryllium
pertoleum and cleaning solvents that have been confirmed to exist
in its soil and ground water," Harris wrote.
"While I appreciate the additional attention and resources that
the Florida Department of Environmental Protection has devoted to
this matter in recent weeks, I respectfully request that you
personally ensure the rapid completion of all scientific tests.
The residents of Tallevast deserve to know the extent of the
Continued 1 | 2 | Next >>
Herald-Tribune newspaper and SNN Channel 6 © Sarasota
Herald-Tribune. All rights reserved. Starting first parse .Build
*****************************************************************
40 heraldtribune.com: Lessons of Tallevast DEP plan overlooks community's experience
with contamination
Southwest Florida's Information Leader
[http://www.michaelsaunders.com/]
Thursday, July 29, 2004
The word "Tallevast" ought to be on prominent display next week
when state officials gather to review the way they handle
contaminated sites.
The Department of Environmental Protection is re-examining how
quickly residents should be notified when toxic chemicals are
found near them.
Under the current guidelines, the state doesn't have to tell
residents until a cleanup plan is approved -- a process that can
take months or years.
The foolishness of that approach has become abundantly clear in
Tallevast, a small community off U.S. 301 in southern Manatee
County, near the Sarasota line.
Lockheed Martin purchased an old aircraft-parts plant in
Tallevast in 1997 and soon found beryllium, arsenic and more on
the site. It wasn't until last fall, however, that residents
learned of the pollution.
Since then, the problem has mushroomed. Although DEP officials
insisted repeatedly that residents were not at risk, the agency
later found contamination in drinking-water wells. More tests
have shown that the contamination has spread much farther and
deeper than first thought.
On Tuesday, DEP officials are scheduled to hold a workshop in
Tallahassee on proposed changes in how the state deals with
contaminated sites. The public is invited to comment. (Written
comments can be sent through Aug. 10 to Roger Register, Bureau of
Waste Cleanup, 2600 Blair Stone Road, Tallahassee, FL 32399 or
e-mailed to roger. register@dep.state.fl.us
[register@dep.state.fl.us] .)
Under the proposal, landowners who discover chemical
contamination extending from their property must report their
findings within three days to the DEP, the local health
department and the owners and residents of all the properties
involved.
But the language is disturbingly weak. The plan calls for
notification of people facing "imminent threat of exposure."
As the DEP surely knows from its experience in Tallevast, it's
not always possible to pinpoint immediately the extent of the
contamination or of the risk to residents.
The DEP should notify a broader range of residents -- perhaps
those living a half- mile or more from the known edge of the
contamination.
State Rep. Bill Galvano of Bradenton wants to hear more feedback
about the rule change. He says he's prepared, if necessary, to
file a bill setting stricter standards.
Unless the DEP begins major revisions to the rule next week,
Galvano should follow through with that bill. The people of
Tallevast -- and other Continued 1 | 2 | Next >>
Last modified: July 29. 2004 12:00AM Missed a
day's news? Choose a
Herald-Tribune newspaper and SNN Channel 6 © Sarasota
Herald-Tribune. All rights reserved. Starting first parse .Build
*****************************************************************
41 Nevada Appeal: Reid brings Yucca Mountain to national stage at convention
D-Nev, Wednesday at the FleetCenter in Boston at the Democratic
National Convention.
Associated Press
July 29, 2004
BOSTON - Sen. Harry Reid brought the issue of a planned nuclear
waste dump in Southern Nevada to the national stage Wednesday,
telling the Democratic National Convention that Sen. John Kerry
would kill the Yucca Mountain project if he becomes president.
"We agree that Nevada should be a proving ground for renewable
energy, not a dumping ground for nuclear waste," Reid told
thousands of delegates inside the Fleet Center. "That's why when
John Kerry is elected President he will stop wasting billions of
dollars trying to dump nuclear waste in Yucca Mountain."
The Bush administration and Congress picked the site in 2002 to
hold the waste now stored at military sites and commercial
nuclear reactors across the country. The planned repository would
be located in a volcanic ridge 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
Reid's speech coincided with a defense by Kerry's Nevada
communications director, Sean Smith, of Kerry's record on the
waste dump. Smith said Republicans are distorting Kerry's record
of long-standing opposition to the project, adding, "The fact is,
it's George Bush who has pledged to deliver the nation's nuclear
waste to Nevada."
"Sen. Reid has been a fighter, has been a leader from the very
beginning and used the opportunity as a national leader in the
Democratic Party to remind Americans why this issue is important
to them and not just Nevada," said delegate Steven Horsford,
Nevada's national Democratic committeeman.
Reid is the second-highest ranking Democrat in the Senate,
serving as minority whip. He was first elected to the Senate in
1986.
In his 7-minute speech, Reid criticized President Bush, likening
his promises to create millions of jobs and to cut prescription
drug costs as "fool's gold."
Reid also evoked the down-home values of rural Nevada.
"I was born and raised in a rural mining town called
Searchlight, Nevada," Reid said. "My mom and dad lived through
the Great Depression. Those hard times taught them that people
need to help their neighbors."
Although Kerry, D-Mass., and his running mate Sen. John Edwards,
D-N.C., came from different parts of the country, Reid said they
learned the same values.
"We all learned about the importance and dignity of hard work.
That's why John Kerry will create millions of good jobs," Reid
said. "We all believe that education opens the door of
opportunity. That's why John Kerry will make our schools better,
so every child can get a quality education."
All contents © Copyright 2004 nevadaappeal.com
Nevada Appeal - 580 Mallory Way - Carson City, NV 89701
*****************************************************************
42 AU Ninemsn: PM mulls nuke dump site
[http://ninemsn.com.au]
16:27 AEST Thu Jul 29 2004
The federal government does not have a shortlist of possible
locations for a Commonwealth nuclear waste dump, Prime minister
John Howard said.
The federal government's plans to build the dump in South
Australia's outback were thrown into disarray this month when a
federal court ruled the Commonwealth acquired the land
unlawfully.
Northern Territory Clare Martin has announced her government will
introduce legislation to block a waste dump being built there.
Other states have also warned the federal government not to think
about putting the dump on their land.
Mr Howard said all available Commonwealth land, on and offshore,
was being looked at as a possible location for the dump.
"We do not have a short list. What is happening is that we are
going through all the available Commonwealth land in Australia to
find a suitable site for Commonwealth waste," Mr Howard told ABC
Radio in Perth.
"If there is Commonwealth land anywhere in Australia, or
offshore, it is being looked at."
The federal government is looking for a site to take Commonwealth
waste, but has told the states and territories they will have to
find their own sites for their own waste.
©AAP 2004
© 1997-2004 ninemsn Pty Ltd - All rights reserved
*****************************************************************
43 Ecolinks: Kyrgyzstan Receives Aid to Secure Nuclear Waste
Ecolinks News Service [http://www.ecolinks.net/]
BISHKEK, KYRGYZSTAN, July 29, 2004 – Kyrgyzstan will receive
monetary aid from the United States and Russia to secure
radioactive waste sites left from the Soviet era.
The countries have pledged a total of $560,000. Russia's Nuclear
Energy Agency pledged $160,000 and the U.S. State Department
offered $400,000. The money will be used to secure and
rehabilitate uranium waste sites in Kaji-Say, which is 155 miles
east of the capital.
The project, which is due to start in August, will focus on the
waste sites containing 170,000 cubic meters (6,002,824 cubic
feet) of radioactive uranium waste, Kyrgyz Emergencies Ministry
spokesman Emil Akmatov said. Russia will carry out an assessment
and the U.S. State Department will finance work to secure the
waste sites and move waste to safer areas.
*****************************************************************
44 AU ABC: Conservationists back NT nuclear dump opposition.
29/07/2004. ABC News Online
alt="Australian Broadcasting Corporation Online">
[http://www.abc.net.au/]
The Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) says it is
important the states and territories send a clear message of
opposition to the Commonwealth against a national nuclear waste
dump.
The Northern Territory Chief Minister yesterday announced plans
to have anti-nuclear dump legislation before Parliament in
August in an attempt to stop the national repository being
situated in the NT.
The ACF's Dave Sweeney says although the Commonwealth has the
power to overrule any Territory laws, the move shows Canberra
will have a fight on its hands.
"You just don't go around picking places, making policy on the
run for such a long-term environmental hazard and risk," he
said.
"We believe the government has failed to have a decent policy
and to have a decent outcome and the NT Government is to be
commended for sending a signal that Territorians aren't going to
cop a national dump."
© 2004 Australian Broadcasting Corporation
*****************************************************************
45 PRN: The Honorable Harry Reid's Speech before the Democratic National
Convention
[http://www.prnewswire.com/]
[http://www.dems2004.org]
BOSTON, July 28 /PRNewswire/ -- The following is a transcript
of a speech by The Honorable Harry Reid, before the Democratic
National Convention on Wednesday, July 28, 2004:
The legendary singer and songwriter Loretta Lynn said she was
proud to be a coal miner's daughter. Well, I'm proud to be a gold
miner's son.
I was born and raised in a rural mining town called
Searchlight, Nevada. My father was a hard rock miner who toiled
in the dark depths of the earth. My mom took in laundry to help
make ends meet. Both my parents taught me that hard work is a
virtue. Even though our house didn't have hot water or an inside
toilet, it was truly a family home to me and my three brothers.
My mom and dad lived through the Depression. Those hard times
taught them that people need to help their neighbors. And
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt taught them there is always
hope.
On the wall of our home in Searchlight my mother hung a blue
pillowcase with yellow fringe and stitching of a quote by
President Roosevelt. I can still see his words on the wall of our
home:
WE CAN.
WE WILL.
WE MUST.
In my mind's eye I can see the schoolhouse where my teacher,
Mrs. Pickard, taught all eight grades. We had to go to high
school in another town so some didn't get to go. I can picture
my brothers and me playing baseball in the dirt and rocks just
below our home. In Searchlight there were no lawns, almost no
trees, mainly because there wasn't enough water.
My brother Larry broke his leg in a bad bicycle accident. I
can still see him lying in bed with that painful injury. Because
we had no doctor in Searchlight, Larry's leg had to heal on its
own a little bent to this day. I vaguely remember World War II.
But I soon learned of the sacrifices so many had made, including
Searchlight's hero, Bill Nellis. He was a fighter pilot who never
came back from his last mission in Europe.
Today Nevada proudly boasts the No. 1 Air Force fighter
training facility in the world and it's named Nellis Air Force
Base. And I recall how the dark desert night would turn to day
when the government exploded a nuclear weapon at the Nevada Test
Site. Today I still call Searchlight home. And I still try to
live by the lessons and values I learned there.
Senator John Kerry is from New England, but he learned the
same things I did. Senator John Edwards, who was born and raised
in the south and in the factories there, learned about hard work
and hope.
We all learned about the importance and dignity of hard work.
That's why John Kerry will create millions of good jobs. We all
believe that education opens the door of opportunity that's why
John Kerry will make our schools better, so every child can get a
quality education.
We know that even today, millions of Americans still can't
see a doctor when they need to that's why John Kerry has a real
plan to fix the health care system in this country. And we know
that Nevadans will never again stand for being exposed to
dangerous nuclear tests or nuclear waste.
We agree that Nevada should be a proving ground for renewable
energy not a dumping ground for nuclear waste. That's why, when
John Kerry is elected President, he will stop wasting billions of
dollars trying to dump nuclear waste in Yucca Mountain and he'll
lead us to energy independence.
John Kerry and John Edwards will make America stronger at
home and they'll restore our respect around the world.
WE CAN DO IT ...
WE WILL DO IT ...
AND WE MUST.
As a boy in Nevada, I started going down into the mines with
my dad. He taught me how to tell the difference between real gold
and something we call fool's gold. Real gold is precious. But
even though fool's gold glitters to look like gold it is
worthless.
George Bush promised to create millions of jobs. He promised
to Leave No Child behind in school. He promised to cut
prescription drug costs and he promised to unite our country and
bring the American people together. Those promises turned out to
be fool's gold. John Kerry is the real deal. He is a hero in war
and a leader in government.
With John Kerry's leadership, we can work together to create
more good jobs. We will work together to improve our public
schools. We will cut health care costs, and make sure every
American who is sick can see a doctor and we must develop an
energy strategy that makes our nation stronger.
WE CAN ...
WE WILL ...
AND WE MUST ...
Thank you all very much. SOURCE Democratic National
Convention Committee Web Site: http://www.dems2004.org
[http://www.dems2004.org]
[http://www.prnewswire.com/media/]
*****************************************************************
46 KATU 2: Radioactive waste to head through Portland to Hanford
- Portland, Oregon
7/29/2004
PORTLAND, Ore. - Several organizations are calling on the Bush
Administration to withdraw a plan to ship radioactive waste to
the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in southeast Washington.
Over 17,000 truck loads of radioactive waste would come from
facilities across the country.
The organizations that are protesting Thursday include the
Sierra Club and Heart of America Northwest.
City Commissioner Erik Sten says the Bush plan would put
thousands of trucks filled with low-level and radioactive waste
on the highway through Portland.
It would travel up Interstate-5 and out Interstate-84 to Hanford.
Portland City Council will consider a resolution this afternoon.
It would ask the Bush Administration to halt all shipments of
hazardous waste to Hanford until existing waste is cleaned up
properly.
(Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
of Fisher
Communications, Inc. [http://www.fsci.com/]
(KATU TV)
*****************************************************************
47 Whitehaven News: SELLAFIELD ATTACK COULD CAUSE WIDESPREAD CANCERS
A SUCCESSFUL terrorist attack on a UK nuclear facility would be
“highly unlikely” to kill large numbers of people immediately,
but could contaminate extensive areas of land and cause
widespread cancers, a parliamentary report has warned.
The report considers a wide range of potential terror threats to
nuclear power stations, from a September 11-style suicide
aircraft attack, to the deliberate release of radioactive
material by armed militants who seize a plant’s control room or
the detonation of a hijacked fuel tanker alongside a coastal
plant like Sellafield in Cumbria.
It examines the potential dangers that material released in an
attack on reactor sites in northern France could drift across the
Channel to the UK or that terrorists could target shipments of
nuclear material.
In a worst-case scenario, experts believe that aircraft impact
could cause “significant release of radioactive material with
effects over a wide area”, said the report, compiled by the
Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (Post).
But it highlighted analysis indicating that the difficulty of
accurately targeting the most sensitive buildings in a nuclear
facility made a devastating strike unlikely.
Today’s report, entitled Assessing the Risk of Terrorist Attacks
on Nuclear Facilities, draws together information already in the
public domain in order to inform MPs and peers in their
deliberations. It does not make any recommendations on action to
minimise the risk of catastrophe.
It stated: “There is sufficient information in the public domain
to identify possible ways terrorists might bring about a release
of radioactive material from a nuclear facility.
“However this information is not sufficient to draw conclusions
on the likelihood of a successful attack, or the size and nature
of any release.
“After September 11 2001, additional protection measures have
been put in place to increase security and to strengthen
emergency planning at and around nuclear facilities.
However, full details are not in the public domain.
“Nuclear power plants were not designed to withstand some forms
of terrorist attack, such as large aircraft impact, but existing
safety and security regimes provide some defence.”
One study by the US Nuclear Energy Institute found that
structures housing nuclear fuel at American plants would not be
breached even by a Boeing 767 jet travelling at 560 km/h, and
pointed out that such buildings were “small targets” compared to
the World Trade Centre or the Pentagon.
Another study in Germany said that releases of radioactive
material could not be ruled out, particularly in older
facilities.
But it said the effects of aircraft impact would be
“controllable” so long as there was not direct damage to the
reactor building, control room or spent fuel ponds.
The Post report warned that international comparisons could be
misleading, as nuclear plant designs vary so widely from country
to country.
Much information on security measures at British plants is
classified to prevent it from aiding any terrorists planning an
attack, it said.
No analysis of the potential effects of a truck bomb has been
made publicly available for almost 20 years, since a US study
suggested that such an attack could cause “unacceptable damage to
vital reactor components” even if the bomb were detonated
off-site.
Safety features built into nuclear plants in the UK made a
deliberate release of radioactive material by terrorists who
forced their way into the control room unlikely, even if they
were able to get past security guards and barriers.
“A ground-based attack. would need to be highly co-ordinated and
would require detailed site-specific knowledge of plant
operations and design,” the report said.
The chairman of the board of Post, Labour MP Dr Phyllis Starkey,
said: “Like all Post’s publications, this report makes no policy
recommendations.
“Unlike most of the publicly available information on this issue,
which comes from groups that either have a pro-nuclear or
anti-nuclear stance, the report aims to help MPs and peers find
their way through a maze of technically difficult and politically
sensitive issues by providing an objective overview of a policy
area which arouses strong opinions on all sides.”
Greenpeace nuclear campaigner, Jean McSorley, said: “This report
highlights the risks of terrorist attacks on nuclear power plants
and underlines why the Government should close these
installations as soon as possible.
“Existing nuclear facilities are not designed to withstand
terrorist attacks and it is not possible to make new plants
attack-proof either.
“At a time when some people are clamouring for more nuclear
reactors, this report should serve to make them stop and make a
sober reassessment of their proposals.”
*****************************************************************
48 Guardian Unlimited: Work at Los Alamos Nuclear Lab Goes Slowly
From the Associated Press
[UP]
Thursday July 29, 2004 9:01 AM
By LESLIE HOFFMAN
Associated Press Writer
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - Some routine administrative tasks are
now getting done at the Los Alamos nuclear weapons lab, but all
research is still on hold while managers figure out how to get a
handle on security.
The process of getting the lab running again after an already
two-week shutdown is proving so complicated that it has taken on
a life of its own. A project manager and staff have been assigned
to do nothing but keep track of what lab activities must be
reviewed and restarted and when, spokesman Kevin Roark said.
Officials at the University of California, which manages the lab,
halted all classified work July 15 after two computer disks
containing classified information were discovered missing. A day
later, lab Director Pete Nanos stopped nearly all work.
Calling it an opportunity for employees to reflect on their
responsibilities and blasting some for not following security
rules, Nanos said the lab would review every department's
activities and recommend restart only when all compliance issues
were addressed.
Starting late last week, Roark said the lab resumed some of the
lowest-risk activities - namely administrative office work. The
chief financial officer division was back doing business
Wednesday.
``There are a certain number of activities that have been stood
up as of today,'' Roark said Wednesday.
``We don't have a firm handle on the exact numbers because it's
constantly changing,'' he said.
On Tuesday, lab spokesman Jim Fallin estimated 10 percent to 20
percent of the lab's low-risk, essential activities, such as
procurement and supply, were ready to resume but hadn't.
Roark said those statements were based on the best information
available at the time, adding lab officials are doing their best
to keep the lab work force and the public well informed while
mapping out the detail-laden process internally.
Members of Congress are watching carefully as the lab works to
shore up security measures, Texas Rep. Joe Barton, chairman of
the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said Wednesday. He was
among congressional and Energy Department officials who visited
the lab last week.
``The Congress is not going to tolerate the lack of security of
classified material at Los Alamos any longer,'' Barton said.
On the Net:
Los Alamos National Laboratory: www.lanl.gov
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004
*****************************************************************
49 Las Vegas SUN: DOE to Issue Energy Efficiency Standards
By H. JOSEF HEBERT ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Energy Department took a long-awaited
first step Thursday to require improved energy efficiency for
residential furnaces, electric transformers and commercial air
conditioners and heat pumps.
The department announced it will soon issue new proposed
standards for the devices. Energy efficiency advocates welcomed
the move, but said the department should have begun the process
years ago.
"The wasted energy and money and the unnecessary environmental
degradation during the years of delay cannot be recouped," said
Kateri Callahan, president of the Alliance to Save Energy. She
said she doesn't expect the new rules to actually go into effect
until at least 2009.
A federal law required in 1994 that DOE review and upgrade the
residential furnace standard and implement it by 2002. More
stringent standards for the other devices also were supposed to
be in place by the late 1990s.
The Energy Department in 2001 said the three standards were its
highest priority, but then missed four sets of self-imposed
deadlines for advancing the new requirements, said Steve Nadel,
executive director of the American Council for an Energy
Efficient Economy.
The ACEEE, a private advocacy group, estimates that the three
new standards could save enough electricity to meet the needs of
6 million households, cut natural gas use by 400 billion cubic
feet, and reduce peak electricity demand to eliminate the need
for 80 power plants.
But it's unclear when a final regulation might be issued.
"Every extra year that goes by means that millions of
inefficient furnaces, commercial air conditioners and
transformers that will last for 15 to 30 years or longer get
installed in homes and businesses," said Andrew deLaski,
executive director of the Boston-based Appliance Standards
Awareness Project.
--
*****************************************************************
50 chillicothe gazette: New Piketon uranium facility to create 190 jobs for region -
[http://www.chillicothegazette.com
Thursday, July 29, 2004
By DANIEL PRAZER
Gazette Staff Writer
[Photo]
Robert J. Moorhead/Gazette
Dan Minter, president of PACE union, left, speaks Wednesday
morning with Sen. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, Sen. George Voinovich,
R-Ohio, and U.S. Rep. David Hobson, R-Springfield, before the
start of the ground-breaking ceremony of a depleted uranium
hexafluoride conversion facility at the Piketon uranium
enrichment plant.
[Photo]
Robert J. Moorhead/Gazette
Deputy Secretary of Energy Kyle McSlarrow speaks during the
ground-breaking ceremony Wednesday at the Piketon uranium
enrichment plant.
PIKETON -- Federal officials turned the first spades of dirt
Wednesday for a new plant that will prepare 50 years of nuclear
leftovers for disposal.
The new facility at the Piketon uranium enrichment plant will
convert depleted uranium hexafluoride (DUF6), an enrichment
byproduct, into a stable form that can be disposed, said Joe
Stringer, acting project manager of Uranium Disposition Services.
UDS is charged with building and running the conversion plant and
a sister facility in Paducah, Ky.
In the process, UDS will create 190 temporary construction jobs
with much of the work done by local contractors. Those jobs join
the 150 high-paying jobs needed to run the facility for at least
18 years.
"We would expect we would hire almost 100 percent local workers,
existing workers that have technical experience, primarily from
the existing facility," Stringer said. "Maybe they lost their
jobs some time ago, maybe they're doing something else, and we'd
expect them to come and apply for our jobs."
About 21,000 cylinders of DUF6 will be processed over the life of
the plant, according to numbers from the Energy Department, and
around 5,000 of them will be trucked up from the department's lab
in Oak Ridge, Tenn.
The rest are remnants of enrichment work at the Piketon site,
some having sat in outdoor yards since the first production run
in the 1950s.
Healthy economics
The conversion process is a complicated one, Stringer said.
"We would expect we would hire almost 100 percent local workers,
existing workers that have technical experience, primarily from
the existing facility."
Joe Stringer, acting project manager of Uranium Disposition
Services
The Ohio State University South Centers gets $97,870 rural
business enterprise grant.
As the DUF6 is processed, it's split into uranium oxide and
hydrogen fluoride, a valuable chemical UDS will be able to sell
to industry.
The uranium oxide, while stable, will still be low-level
radioactive waste, and will most likely be sent to a depository
for permanent storage.
"Right now there's not any good, cost-effective ways of taking
the oxide and moving forward with anything that makes sense from
a dollar standpoint," Stringer said, though he added UDS is
continually looking for potential uses.
About 1,500 jobs were lost at the plant during the 1990s, said
Rep. Rob Portman, R-Terrace Park, and that tide started to turn
around 2001.
He said thanks to the local work force's experience, the DUF6
conversion will be more efficient and safe.
"There are workers at the plant who have been there for two and
three and four decades who know a lot about this technology; they
know a lot about those cylinders," Portman said. "That
institutional memory and that skill is really important to make
this plant work efficiently. If we had waited another 10 years,
we would have lost a lot of those workers."
Most of the 150 jobs to be created when the plant opens will be
high-paying, in the $70,000 range, with benefits and stability,
said Dan Minter, president of the local Paper, Allied-Industrial,
Chemical and Energy workers union that represents employees at
the site. That's about $21 an hour.
"When you look at the poverty rate here about 26 percent,
unemployment hovering between 8 and 12 percent and the per capita
average, mean income for a dual family is less than $24,000 --
jobs of that nature are significant anywhere, particularly in
southern Ohio," he said.
But beyond the paychecks, Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, said the
conversion plant would provide a sense of security to local
workers.
With a career instead of a job, decisions about buying a home or
sending children to college become much easier, he said.
"The people in this region of the state, the people who work here
have been really stressed about what their future will be in
terms of their jobs," he said.
When the enrichment plant was in full-production, as many as a
quarter of its employees lived in Ross County, said Matt Allen,
Chillicothe Mayor Joe Sulzer's chief of staff and a former field
representative for Rep. Ted Strickland, R-Lisbon, when
Strickland's district included Piketon.
But more than 25 percent of the payroll came to Ross County, he
said, since a majority of residents held some of the high-end
professional jobs that garnered higher paychecks.
A work in progress
"Thirty years ago, people didn't think about ... taking care of
the environment, all that kind of stuff. They just kind of
plopped it around," said Kyle McSlarrow, deputy secretary of
energy.
With a $1.5 billion next-generation enrichment facility slated to
be installed by the United States Enrichment Corp. only a few
hundred yards from the new DUF6 plant, McSlarrow said the
conversion plant will allow the department to "do it right from
the outset."
But getting this far has been a struggle, Voinovich said.
"We've been concerned about them cleaning up this (depleted)
uranium hexaflouride now for, well, since I was governor," he
said, "and in fact, the Department of Energy agreed to do it in
1998, so they're moving toward finally keeping their promise on
that."
Portman called the DUF6 conversion a "cleanup program," and said
the community at-large will be safer because the remnants of the
Cold War's nuclear legacy were finally being taken care of.
Stringer said the cylinders themselves aren't dangerous, as they
are continuously monitored for integrity. His company will be
taking over that role in March, he said, but it's not a long-term
option.
"It's not dangerous, what's out there now. It's just, as time
goes on, you're going to have to deal with those cylinders, and
so you have to look at it from a cost-effective standpoint," he
said. "The best thing to do is to put it in a much more stable
form, and, of course, that's what we're going to do."
The ultimate cleanup of the site will allow it to be put to other
uses. Making sure that happens falls to the Southern Ohio
Diversification Initiative, a local consortium of community
stakeholders with the task of transitioning the community away
from the mothballed labor-intensive enrichment method.
Greg Simonton, SODI's executive director, said while the jobs are
important, so is the cleanup effort. Eventually, the site will be
a prime location for an industrial park, SODI has said, creating
untold numbers of jobs.
"The important thing is a real solid investment and, really, a
big step toward the ultimate cleanup of this site," he said.
Portman stressed, though, that federal funding for the site has
to be reapproved each year.
"It's not over," he said. "You have to fight for the funding
every year."
But the starting of the DUF6 plant is a "big milestone," Simonton
said.
"This fits in perfectly," he said.
"To reuse the site we've got to have cleanup. We've got to have
work like this to make this site usable."
(Prazer can be reached at 772-9364 or via e-mail at
[dprazer@nncogannett.com]
Originally published Thursday, July 29, 2004
[http://www.chillicothegazette.com/index.html] |
Copyright ©2004 Chillicothe Gazette. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
51 Oak Ridger: Y-12 deals with dirty bomb drill
Story last updated at 11:59 a.m. on July 29, 2004
By: Paul Parson | Oak Ridger Staff paul.parson@oakridger.com
[paul.parson@oakridger.com]
Serving as a dress rehearsal for a much larger exercise, an
emergency drill at Oak Ridge's nuclear weapons plant Wednesday
morning reportedly involved the discovery of a so-called dirty
bomb.
Steven Wyatt, who serves as a spokesman for the Oak Ridge offices
of the Department of Energy and the National Nuclear Security
Administration, said he couldn't discuss in detail the drill, but
noted it involved a simulated hazardous material release at the
Y-12 National Security Complex.
Lynn Freeny/DOE
Mike Shepherd of BWXT Y-12 moderates a press conference at the
Oak Ridge Reservation Joint Information Center during Wednesday's
emergency exercise. He is joined by, from left, Steven Wyatt,
Department of Energy; Cecil Whaley, Tennessee Emergency
Management Agency; Amy Fitzgerald, City of Oak Ridge; and Holt
Clark, Knox County. The JIC is staffed by representatives of DOE,
the National Nuclear Security Administration, major Oak Ridge
contractors, and state and local emergency response
organizations.
In addition to the DOE-related responders, the city's emergency
personnel participated Wednesday. And, as part of the drill, an
Oak Ridge Police Department dispatcher notified participants of
the dirty bomb via an emergency radio announcement around 8:15
a.m.
Y-12 spokesman Bill Wilburn estimated that more than 500 people
participated in the drill. This included federal officials and
representatives from the weapons plant as well as federal, state
and local emergency management personnel.
Not only does Y-12 produce and refurbish weapons components, but
the facility is also the nation's principal storehouse for
bomb-grade uranium. BWXT Y-12 manages the plant for the NNSA - a
quasi-independent agency within DOE that oversees the nuclear
weapons complex.
Wednesday's drill served as a dress rehearsal for a large-scale
test called the Emergency Preparedness Integrated Capability
Exercise that will be conducted in late August, according to
Wyatt. This exercise will be graded.
"The whole purpose is to test emergency personnel," the federal
spokesman explained.
Based on the missions of Oak Ridge's federal facilities, exercise
and drill participants have a general sense of what could happen
if a hazardous release occurred. However, to make the tests as
real as possible, participants aren't privy to the full scenario
and learn what's happening as the event unfolds, according to
Wyatt.
These exercises are helpful to a degree because "they uncover
weaknesses in plans and anticipated problems," according to Susan
Gawarecki, executive director of the Oak Ridge Reservation Local
Oversight Committee.
"However, the nature of an emergency is its unpredictability, so
drills can never really capture the atmosphere surrounding
split-second decision making," said Gawarecki, whose organization
closely monitors DOE's Oak Ridge cleanup efforts and has kept an
eye on emergency-related issues over the years.
"The important thing is to practice the predictable parts of
emergencies: How well do communications work? Can the hospitals
do decontamination? How fast can the police arrive? What
equipment needs to be mobilized? Then, the uncertainties of a
real emergency can be addressed without fumbling with the known
requirements."
According to Gawarecki, the biggest unknown in an emergency is
the reaction of the public to a hazardous or radioactive release
to the community. She questioned: "Will they panic and clog the
streets while trying to flee? Will all parents rush to the
schools for their kids? Will they want to see what's going on and
interfere with the response?"
The LOC chief noted that DOE has been reluctant to involve the
public in its drills. But, she said the August exercise is
expected to involve the use of sirens and activation of the
Emergency Broadcast System to notify the public of the drill.
Gawarecki also said it's extremely important that state and local
emergency management personnel participate in the DOE exercises.
"The federal side is DOE," she said. "The state is responsible
for coordinating with responders from the affected jurisdictions.
You can't eliminate any one level from this process."
Overall, based on her knowledge and what she's actually
witnessed, Gawarecki said DOE and its contractors have a good
grasp of what is needed and will be able to deal with "typical"
emergencies that arise.
The federal agency actually puts its emergency response plans to
work in May when two back-to-back accidents occurred. One
pertained to a chemical fire on federal property just outside the
security fence of the Oak Ridge K-25 site while the other
involved small amounts of strontium 90 that leaked onto a portion
of Highway 95.
"The May accidents were a much better test of the emergency
systems," Gawarecki said. "Generally, the drills are more
inclusive of the potential range of participants while the real
thing may be smaller and the affected area more confined."
From what she can tell so far, Gawarecki said it appears the May
accidents "were properly dealt with," but added that her
organization is still investigating the situations.
*****************************************************************
52 Oak Ridger: Environmental manager gives update on DOE cleanup
Story last updated at 11:58 a.m. on July 29, 2004
By: Paul Parson | Oak Ridger Staff paul.parson@oakridger.com
[paul.parson@oakridger.com]
The Department of Energy's Oak Ridge cleanup contractor has
mailed out information packets to about 150 stakeholders in an
effort to provide a general overview of what the company is
doing.
In an accompanying letter, Mike Hughes, president and general
manager of Bechtel Jacobs Co., also briefly addresses the safety,
goals and challenges his company is facing with its accelerated
cleanup contract.
That deal calls for the cleanup of Melton Valley by 2006, and
treatment and disposal of all legacy low-level and mixed
low-level waste throughout the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge
Reservation by 2005. Also, more than 400 facilities have to be
decontaminated and decommissioned by 2008.
Hughes
"Even though we are in an accelerated cleanup environment, I can
assure you we will not cut corners or take chances when it comes
to safety," wrote Hughes, who joined Bechtel Jacobs at the
beginning of the year. "Our philosophy is that every accident can
be prevented and that zero injury can be a reality both at work
and home."
Hughes said Bechtel Jacobs recently took a companywide "time out"
to discuss safety in light of recent accidents associated with
cleanup projects.
On top of maintaining a safe working environment, Hughes said
other challenges exist given the magnitude of the company's
cleanup project - everything from availability of commercial
mixed-waste treatment facilities to logistics associated with
waste transportation and disposal.
With deadlines and milestones to be met over the next several
years, Bechtel Jacobs already has a number of cleanup projects
completed, including excavation of 80,000 cubic yards of waste
from the Boneyard/Burnyard disposal site and removal of fuel from
the Tower Shielding Reactor Facility - a unique nuclear reactor
built in the 1950s to develop the technology for an
atomic-powered aircraft.
Other ongoing efforts include shipments of legacy low-level and
mixed waste and depleted uranium hexafluoride cylinders to
disposal sites. The cylinders contain a byproduct of the uranium
enrichment process, where uranium is ultimately processed into
nuclear reactor fuel and weapons-grade material.
Bechtel Jacobs spokesman Dennis Hill said the 150 information
packets were mailed out to a "wide range of people," including
representatives of Anderson, Blount, Knox, Loudon and Roane
counties - as well as Oak Ridge city officials and members of
economic development-related groups.
*****************************************************************
53 lamonitor.com: Document retrieval to resume
The Online News Source for Los Alamos
[http://www.lac-nm.us]
ROGER SNODGRASS, roger@lamonitor.com, Monitor Assistant Editor
POJOAQUE - After a rough start, and a season in critical
condition, an environmental health project by the Centers for
Disease Control has issued an interim report. If all goes
according to plan, a new contract will begin shortly and the
project will resume for another five years.
Public interest groups complimented the investigators and the
investigators praised efforts by officials of Los Alamos National
Laboratory and the Department of Energy to support a historical
document retrieval project that seemed almost doomed a year ago.
But there was also a note of urgency at the public meeting
Tuesday evening at the Cities of Gold Hotel.
"The first public calls for a dose reconstruction were made in
the early '90s," said Ken Silver, a public health advocate. "A
decade later, we are only half way through an assessment of
exposures. We have not even begun to work on the health outcomes
from those exposures."
Questions to be answered may ultimately explain high rates of
thyroid cancers, unusual brain cancers and reportedly high rates
of diseases among graduates of Los Alamos High School in the
'50s, '60s, and '70s. "Meanwhile people are moving on, giving up
the pursuit of rational answers to these questions," Silver said.
The project set out to review every historical document at the
laboratory that might have a bearing on the question of
contaminant releases, both in terms of radiological materials and
hazardous chemicals. If there is sufficient reason after a full
review, another level of the study will conduct a full or partial
dose reconstruction, based on the exposure levels that are found.
Charles Miller of CDC's Radiation Studies Branch said the
duration of the project had grown into a 10-year project because
the scope of the work had been underestimated. Add security
crises, delays from the Cerro Grande Fire and a variety of
internal access problems in obtaining records at the lab.
"All that cost us time," Miller said, who described the task of
extracting records from DOE in epic terms. It's like the
warehouse in "Raiders of the Lost Ark," where the Ark is buried
at the end of the film, he said.
"We're encouraged that some of the access hurdles are being
addressed," said Tom Widner, principal investigator for the
project.
C.M. Wood, the project's technical manager, said that a
compromise had been worked out that would enable a designated
federal employee with the proper clearance to view even highly
classified material to which contract employees were denied
access.
A meeting earlier in the day had satisfied the CDC team that DOE
would make sure that there was sufficient budget to provide
escorts and document retrieval and duplication support for the
next round of research.
Wood said most of the remaining documents to be viewed are in the
records center, the technical reports library and the archives.
He said there are 260 drawers of microfiche with 9,000 rolls of
microfilm yet to be examined in the records center and 267
shelves of records and 1,952 drawers of microfiche in the
technical report library.
In the archives, he said, "There are 20,000 somethings - movies,
photos, paper documents."
Over 100,000 pages of documents have been harvested from the
first four years of the project and will be available on a
special computer at the Zimmerman Library at the University of
New Mexico.
The pages have been scanned and will be searchable by word and
abstracts.
Widner said the interim report includes a prioritization of
several issues that should be looked at more closely.
One area of interest, he said, is in the early plutonium releases
that began in the '40s. The lab didn't immediately do effluent
monitoring in the early years.
He said, "This was the first place where plutonium was handled in
any quantity. Their concern was how to keep the contaminants out
of the plutonium - and not about dispersal."
The lab didn't start monitoring for effluent before 1951,
although there is data from earlier years.
"I'm puzzled why they didn't use it," he said.
He repeated the suggestion that he has made previously that
plutonium releases may have been up to 100 times higher than what
has been assumed in the past. He also reported that human tissue
sampled from non-worker residents has a higher proportion of
plutonium than would have been expected.
A general innocence about the danger posed by beryllium during
the earliest years of laboratory also raised questions to be
explored, because there was so little monitoring despite
widespread use and very little data has been found so far.
"Community concerns about environmental health risks arise in a
social context," Silver said. "Los Alamos is a unique community
and people won't be satisfied with anything but a rigorous
scientific answer."
© 2003 Los Alamos Monitor All Rights Reserved.
*****************************************************************
54 [du-list] NPRI new discussion board
Date: Thu, 29 Jul 2004 16:21:53 -0700
IMPORTANT NOTES...
The Nuclear Policy Research Institute has launched its new discussion
board. This is a great chance to share your ideas and learn about the
important nuclear issues facing all of us. Make sure to visit the Board,
register, and share your ideas at:
http://www.nuclearpolicy.org/discussion.
Three Minutes to Midnight: The Impending Threat of Nuclear War
DVDs and audio CDs of Three Minutes to Midnight: The Impending Threat of
Nuclear War are now available for sale. Additionally, audio from the
symposium is available for free download.
All proceeds go to support NPRI's mission of creating a consensus for a
nuclear-free future. This excellent conference included key speakers on
these topics, including Dr. Helen Caldicott, General Charles Horner,
William Arkin, Dr. Bruce Blair, and many others. Dramatic exchanges between
the speakers and former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara brought out
key issues.
Visit
http://www.3minutestomidnight.org
to order today.
Join the Partnership for a Nuclear Free Future
You can join NPRI in working to create a consensus for a nuclear-free
future by partnering with us. Your support allows NPRI to continue its
quality programs designed to educate the public about the public health
implications of nuclear power, weapons and waste. Help support our key
successes by joining with us to continue our programs, including:
* Our upcoming symposium on Nuclear Power and Children's Health
* The monthly Nuclear Breakfast Series
* The NPRI Nuclear Speakers Bureau
* Regional public education campaigns in four cities: Portland, Oregon;
Atlanta; Boston and Chicago.
Click here to join the
Partnership for a
Nuclear-Free Future
NPRI 2004 Speaking Tour
NPRI is organizing speaking tours for key speakers, including NPRI
Executive Director Julie R. Enszer and President Helen Caldicott, MD. If
you are interested in helping to sponsor or organize a speaking event in
your community, please contact our office at 202-822-9800 or email
jessica@nuclearpolicy.org (for Julie R.
Enszer) or reginade@nuclearpolicy.org
(for Dr. Caldicott).
Thanks for all your comments, questions, and criticisms. We always welcome
your feedback.
Dr. John G. Duesler, Jr.
Senior Fellow, NPRI
http://www.nuclearpolicy.org/
jgduesler@nuclearpolicy.org
215.914.0677
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 Sponsor
ADVERTISEMENT
10dab9.jpg
10db08.jpg
----------
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 the
Yahoo! Terms of Service.
Attachment Converted: 10dab9.jpg: 00000001,24e42b10,00000000,00000000
Attachment Converted: 10db08.jpg: 00000001,24e42b11,00000000,00000000
*****************************************************************
55 Google News Alert - nuclear
Date: Thu, 29 Jul 2004 17:45:59 -0700 (PDT)
REPRESENTATIVES meet in Paris to discuss Iranian nuclear program
Xinhua - China
... 29 (Xinhuanet) -- Some diplomatic representatives fromFrance, Britain,
Germany and Iran met here on Thursday to discuss the Iranian nuclear program,
French ...
See all stories on this topic:
US, China Hold Talks on N. Korea Nuclear Standoff
Voice of America - Washington,DC,USA
China and the United States have begun talks on ending the nuclear standoff
with North Korea. The move comes as Pyongyang lashed ...
See all stories on this topic:
SHARON Almost Admits Israel has Nuclear Weapons
The Scotsman - Edinburgh,Scotland,UK
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon obliquely admitted today that Israel has a
secret store of nuclear weapons. Speaking at a political ...
See all stories on this topic:
VANUNU claims Israel has 100-200 nuclear weapons
Albawaba Middle East News - Amman,Middle East
Only two days after the Israeli Supreme Court overruled nuclear whistleblower
Mordechai Vanunu’s request to remove the limitations imposed on him,
the full ...
See all stories on this topic:
NUCLEAR Fuel Rod Pieces Missing at Closed Plant
Los Angeles Times (subscription) - Los Angeles,CA,USA
Four pounds of radioactive nuclear fuel is missing from a closed nuclear
power plant near Eureka. Pacific Gas & Electric workers ...
See all stories on this topic:
US government proposes negotiations to ban nuclear weapons ...
San Diego Union Tribune - San Diego,CA,USA
... The US government urged the world disarmament body Thursday to start
negotiations for a ban on the production of material needed to make nuclear
weapons. ...
AUDIT on nuclear power
Guardian - UK
Michael Meacher's call for a National Audit Office investigation into nuclear
energy funding (Inquiry urged into nuclear fuel plant, July 27) should
remind us ...
CONSERVATIONISTS back NT nuclear dump opposition
ABC Online - Australia
... Foundation (ACF) says it is important the states and territories send
a clear message of opposition to the Commonwealth against a national nuclear
waste dump. ...
See all stories on this topic:
JORDANIAN experts warn of Zionist nuclear radiation
jihadunspun.com - West Vancouver,British Columbia,Canada
Amman - Jordanian geologists and physicists have warned that the Zionist
Dimona nuclear reactor was not the only one causing pollution in the region
but there ...
See all stories on this topic:
NUCLEAR bunker's worth a bomb
Manchester Evening News - Manchester,England,UK
IT could be the ideal home for anyone nervous about the latest government
advice on terror attacks - a nuclear bunker just a short drive from Manchester.
...
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/
*****************************************************************
56 asahi.com EDITORIAL: Nuclear fusion reactor
Japan and the EU should forget their national pride.
Nuclear fusion is often touted as the ultimate energy source in
the 21st century. But talks for a mammoth international research
project to realize this dream remain bogged down due to bitter
rivalry between Japan and the European Union. At issue is the
site of the planned experimental fusion reactor.
The estimated construction cost of 500 billion yen is to be
shared by the participating countries. These include the United
States, Russia, China and South Korea, as well as Japan and the
EU. The contributions by the individual countries have yet to be
decided. Japan and the EU, which are vying to host the
experimental fusion reactor, keep upping the ante in hopes of
securing the support of the other countries for their quest.
Tokyo, which has been lobbying to have the reactor built in
Rokkasho, Aomori Prefecture, recently announced it would add 57
billion yen to its offer. It now is prepared to shell out 270
billion yen for the project, more than half of the estimated
construction cost. In response, the EU, which has been
campaigning to have the facility located in Cadarache in
southern France, immediately made a similar offer. Both sides
are apparently engaged in a bidding war.
The competition is beginning to resemble an art auction. This is
no way the negotiations over the scientific project should
proceed.
It would take 10 years to build the experimental reactor, which
will have a life span of 20 years. The overall cost of the
project is estimated at around 1.3 trillion yen. Massive public
spending such as this would be a major economic boon to rural
Rokkasho, which already has a nuclear fuel reprocessing plant.
The government says the fusion reactor would also have huge
spillover effect on the entire nuclear power industry in this
country.
Cadarache, on the other hand, already has a nuclear fusion
research lab operated by the French Atomic Energy Agency.
Locating the reactor there would enable integrated research
between the two facilities, thereby boosting the efficiency of
the fusion project, the EU argues.
The escalating battle over where to build the reactor has
divided the participants, with the United States and South Korea
supporting Japan's bid while China and Russia backing the EU.
Clearly, the impasse demands that all the parties involved stop
to review the situation in a cool-headed manner.
Japan is burdened with a massive budget deficit. Its gross debt
level is far higher than that of any other industrial country.
The government says funding for the fusion project would come
from its budget for nuclear power. But some policymakers within
the government say the budget is already far too large.
If Japan wins out over the EU, it would probably have to plunk
down more than 600 billion yen to build and operate the reactor,
even though the prospects for practical use of fusion power
remain unclear.
Given this situation, we feel it is reckless to rush head-long
into the project by offering even greater sums of money.
Instead, Japan should rather seek some sort of compromise
formula. This would entail separating related facilities,
exchanging researchers and sharing technological achievements
from a long-term perspective. The EU, for its part, should also
rethink radically its approach.
Compared with the traditional reactors designed to harness the
power of nuclear fission, a fusion reactor has the advantages of
being immune to catastrophic accidents as it does not produce
radioactive byproducts. Still, the technological challenges are
daunting. For this reason, in 1985, the international community
agreed to join forces to build a large experimental reactor.
Whether the enormous investment required to realize this
technological dream will lead to sufficient payoffs is something
that must be asked again and again. Developing new cutting-edge
technology is the duty of industrial nations. Global demand for
energy will only increase at an accelerating pace in coming
years. This is not the time for turning such an important energy
project into a bitter battle of national pride.
--The Asahi Shimbun, July 28(IHT/Asahi: July 29,2004) (07/29)
[Copyright Asahi Shimbun. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
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:
*****************************************************************