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NUCLEAR POLICY
1 Guardian Unlimited: Hope of saving Iranian nuclear deal is fading
2 Guardian Unlimited: Iran at the brink
3 AFP: Europeans continue talks with Iran over nuclear programme
4 Korea: Digital Chosunilbo: Six-Way Working-level Nuclear Talks Likel
5 US: [du-list] (US) Green Candidate Arrested Over Uranium Weapons
6 US: Spectrum Online: The Unruly Power Grid
7 US: The Scientist: Bush and Science at Loggerheads
8 Guardian Unlimited: Envoy Seeks Accounting of Nuke Programs
9 IAEA: Nuclear Security: GTRI Conference of Key Partners Set for Sept
NUCLEAR REACTORS
10 [NukeNet] China Push For Nuclear Energy
11 US: San Onofre gets annual safety report card
12 US: NRC: Sunshine Act; Meeting
13 US: phillyBurbs.com: Limerick plan still under scrutiny
14 US: Seattle Times: System failure forces shutdown at Hanford nuclear
15 US: Rutland Herald: Nuclear experts challenge NRC on performance
16 US: Brattleboro Reformer: State will seek NRC hearing
NUCLEAR SAFETY
17 US: [du-list] DU Shipments Docket statements posted on DOT website
18 US: Deseret news: Downwinders decry lack of funds
19 US: Las Vegas RJ: Lawmaker urges expansion of radiation compensation
20 US: Las Vegas RJ: Test site team in N.M. for cleanup
21 US: RGJ: Radiation limited to mine site, BLM says
22 US: AP Wire: NRC fines Westinghouse Electrical Company for safety vi
23 US: Salt Lake Tribune: Downwinders to panel: Expand amends
24 US: Times-News: Activists call for Idaho downwind study
25 US: NRC: Notice of Availability of Environmental Assessment and Find
NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE
26 Las Vegas SUN: Scientists shift view on cask corrosion at Yucca Moun
27 Las Vegas RJ: NUCLEAR WASTE STORAGE: Scientists shift view on Yucca
28 Las Vegas SUN: State: Yucca finding 'masks issue'
29 RGJ: Keep on fighting Yucca Mtn. despite feeling it’s inevitable
30 US: Bradenton Herald: Feds will help file claims in Tallevast
31 US: Bradenton Herald: Third party to view cleanup
32 Chillicothe gazette: USEC acquires nuclear fuel storage company -
33 US: Paducah Sun: USEC to buy firm that deals in storing waste nuclea
34 US: heraldtribune.com: Lockheed Martin agrees to a cleanup deal,
35 Nevada Appeal: Opinion Yucca Mountain on the national stage
36 US: Daily Press: Albuquerque up in arms over N-waste shipments
37 Pahrump Valley Times: State asks NRC to fund Yucca fight
38 US: PE.com: Fontana rate appeal alleges unfair communication
39 Business Gazette: 120 DECOMMISSIONING JOBS
40 NRC: Atomic Safety and Licensing Board; In the Matter of Louisiana
NUCLEAR WEAPONS
41 Desert Dispatch: COMMENTARY: The real danger is nukes, not Iraq
US DEPT. OF ENERGY
42 DOE: Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board, Paducah
43 Oak Ridger: ORNL, Biltmore effort hits stride
44 Oak Ridger: Y-12 protest draws near
45 Tri-Valley Herald: Research still on hold at Los Alamos nuclear lab
OTHER NUCLEAR
46 Google News Alert - nuclear
47 [du-list] DU in the news 30th July 04
48 United Press International: Exclusive: NASA's new space 'hot rod'
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FULL NEWS STORIES
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1 Guardian Unlimited: Hope of saving Iranian nuclear deal is fading
Ewen MacAskill, diplomatic correspondent
Friday July 30, 2004
The Guardian [http://www.guardian.co.uk]
British, French and German officials met their Iranian
counterparts in Paris yesterday to try to salvage the agreement
by which Tehran promised not to develop a nuclear weapons
programme.
Pessimism is growing in the Foreign Office where there is now a
belief that Iran is intent on creating the capacity to produce a
nuclear bomb.
The Foreign Office warned against expecting a breakthrough from
the meeting.
"The Iranians are set on research into and development of the
nuclear fuel cycle - for which read nuclear weapon - and we are
trying to stop them," a spokesman said.
The Iranian position is a setback for European diplomacy, which
has been aimed at pursuing dialogue with Tehran. If there had
been any serious hope of progress in Paris foreign ministers
rather than officials would have attended.
The US, which has no diplomatic relations with Iran, has voiced
its despair at the attempts by European states to resolve the
issue through diplomacy rather than by the UN security council
imposing sanctions.
Israel has hinted that it will bomb Iranian nuclear stations
rather than allow it to make a nuclear bomb.
At a private briefing this month the assistant under-secretary
for arms at the US state department, John Bolton, a leading hawk,
said President Bush would make Iran a priority if he won the
election. The US will consider funding groups to destabilise the
Iranian government.
Diplomats in Vienna, where the UN's non-proliferation body, the
International Atomic Energy Agency, is based, said this week that
Iran had broken the IAEA seals on nuclear equipment and resumed
clandestine work linked to uranium enrichment.
A Foreign Office source said it would take Iran years to make a
nuclear weapon, even if it was unhindered.
The IAEA is due to report at the end of August on the level of
cooperation offered by Iran and its board will discuss this in
September.
The board could refer the issue to the UN security council,
though it would be reluctant to do so. But the US secretary of
state, Colin Powell, said yesterday that it was more and more
likely that the matter of Iran's nuclear programmes would have to
be referred to the security council.
He said developments in Iran in the past week were troubling.
The mood in the Foreign Office contrasts with that last autumn
when the foreign secretary, Jack Straw, and his German and French
counterparts flew to Tehran to secure what they thought was a
deal on the nuclear issue.
Iran continues to deny that it is intent on making a nuclear
weapon and insists it is interested in purely civilian
applications, making electricity.
· Ariel Sharon said yesterday that Israel would only reconsider
the need for its "deterrent capability" - the code for nuclear
weapons - when there was a comprehensive Middle East peace and
its neighbours had abandoned weapons of mass destruction.
Israel refuses to admit or deny that it has nuclear weapons but
international experts estimate that it has an arsenal of 100 to
200 warheads, making it one of the biggest nuclear powers.
[UP]
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004
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2 Guardian Unlimited: Iran at the brink
Nuclear proliferation
Leader
Friday July 30, 2004
[http://www.guardian.co.uk]
Last October's Tehran agreement between Iran and the foreign
ministers of the big three European powers - Britain, France and
Germany - was hailed at the time as a breakthrough. This was not
just for the cause of nuclear non-proliferation but for diplomacy
itself. Old Europe, it was claimed, had showed Washington how a
hostile regime in the Middle East could be turned by negotiation,
rather than invasion, back to the path of peace.
This claim has proved somewhat premature. What the inspectors of
the International Atomic Energy Agency found when they were
finally allowed into Iran's nuclear facilities was a programme of
uranium enrichment - the process essential to manufacturing
bomb-grade material - substantially more advanced than they had
bargained for.
Iran's nuclear glasnost had not lessened European suspicions that
Tehran had been trying to make a nuclear bomb. It had increased
them. Iran, for its part, felt betrayed by the fact that Europe
had not stuck to the deal. Iran was still regarded as the bad
boy, high on the IAEA's agenda.
Last month, Iran wrote to the European Union troika to say that
the deal was off. It would resume manufacturing parts for
centrifuges that refine crude uranium into the material, which it
continues to claim, it needs for its civilian nuclear power
programme.
On Tuesday it was revealed that Iran has restarted building the
centrifuges and as diplomats from the three European countries
and Iran sat down in Paris yesterday, room for manoeuvre appeared
to have narrowed even further.
Iran had begun testing equipment used to make uranium
hexafluoride, the gas which can be enriched when injected into
the centrifuges.
The gap between the two sides is so wide that officials are
pessimistic about their ability to bridge it. While intent on
resisting pressure from Washington for a UN resolution and
sanctions, British officials know that they are playing a waiting
game.
The IAEA is due to report in August, but will try to keep the
ball in play until after the presidential election in November.
The Bush administration has made little secret of its desire to
target Iran next, by fermenting the reformist opposition, a
prospect which democrats in Iran must dread.
The big question is how far Tehran will go. Will it feel
emboldened by the fact that Washington has rid it of its two
worst regional enemies in Saddam and the Taliban, and pursue a
bomb as the only effective insurance policy against regime
change, or will it draw back from the brink?
[UP]
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004
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3 AFP: Europeans continue talks with Iran over nuclear programme
WAR.WIRE [http://www.spacewar.com/]
PARIS (AFP) Jul 30, 2004
Officials from Britain, France and Germany were Friday
continuing their talks in Paris with representatives of the
Iranian government on the country's nuclear programme, the French
foreign ministry said.
"The process is ongoing. Each side has set out its position and
the contacts will continue," said spokesman Herve Ladsous.
The meeting, which started Thursday, came amid increasing concern
about Iran's intentions after diplomats in Vienna reported the
Islamic republic was defying the international community by
resuming the construction and assembly of nuclear centrifuges.
Reacting to US Secretary of State Colin Powell's assertion that
the UN Security Council could be convened to discuss the issue,
Ladsous said: "We are in a process of consultation and
concertation... aimed at finding the true nature of the Iranian
programme and establishing confidence."
Under a deal reached last year with Britain, France and Germany,
Iran agreed to suspend uranium enrichment, allow tougher
inspections and file a comprehensive declaration of its nuclear
activities.
But since then experts have found omissions in Iran's reporting,
inspection visits have been delayed, and on Wednesday diplomats
said seals placed on centrifuges by the International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA) had been removed.
WAR.WIRE
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4 Korea: Digital Chosunilbo: Six-Way Working-level Nuclear Talks Likely to be Held
Aug.18-21
Updated July.30,2004 13:43 KST
Working-level talks on North Korea's nuclear standoff are likely
to be held in the third week of August, to lay the groundwork for
the fourth round of six-way dialogues involving the two Koreas,
the United States, China, Japan and Russia.
Government officials in Seoul say the host country China, has
been exchanging views with participating nations on the exact
timetable and that for now the meeting will most likely begin
from the 18th of August for four days.
The six countries have been holding multilateral meetings since
last August to resolve the North's nuclear row, which erupted in
late 2002.
The most recent round of negotiations held in June ended with the
six parties agreeing to meet again before September.
Arirang TV
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5 [du-list] (US) Green Candidate Arrested Over Uranium Weapons
Date: Fri, 30 Jul 2004 15:13:25 -0700
http://www.milesforcongress.com/content/view/21/
Mike Miles, 51, Green Party congressional candidate for the 7th District in
northern Wisconsin, was arrested yesterday at Alliant Techsystems (ATK) in
Edina, Minnesota. ATK is at the center of controversy for their production
of depleted uranium (DU) munitions. ATK is the largest producer of DU
weapons in the world. Opponents argue that the use of DU shells blurs the
line between conventional and nuclear war.Miles and three others walked up
the driveway to ATK corporate headquarters to ask for a meeting with
executives about producing munitions that may be in violation of
international law regarding poisonous weapons. Other attempts to arrange
meetings by phone were ignored by officials at ATK so the group went to ask
for a meeting in person. They were stopped at the visitors' parking area by
ATK security staff Toni Morrison. Morrison told the group that none of the
people they wanted to meet with were available and that it would not be
possible to schedule a meeting with anyone at their corporate headquarters.
When asked if she would deliver documents to executives on behalf of the
group, Morrison said she could not guarantee that officials would see any
of the materials they had brought with them. Miles said he had video
footage with him that he had filmed at a pediatric hospital in Iraq showing
severe birth abnormalities in Iraqi children that he wanted ATK executives
to see. He also had photographs of deformed children that he tried to show
her, at which point Morrison directed two Edina police officers who had
been standing quietly by to arrest the group. The four residents of rural
Polk County were taken to the Edina police station where they were booked,
given citations for trespass, and assigned a court date of August 25 before
being released. Depleted Uranium weapons were first used during the 1991
Gulf War primarily to destroy Iraqi tanks. When DU shells penetrate their
target, they explode leaving a fine residue of dust containing various
radioactive isotopes. During the 1991 war, the US military admits to using
300 tons of DU shells, mostly in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and southern Iraq.
DU shells were also used extensively in Kosovo, Afghanistan, and in the
current invasion of Iraq. While 147 US soldiers were killed in combat
during the fighting in 1991, according to several Gulf War veterans'
organizations, almost 10,000 troops have since died, and nearly 25% of the
750,000 soldiers deployed have some kind of permanent disability. Many
veterans have referred to DU as the Agent Orange of this generation. Agent
Orange was a defoliant used widely during the Vietnam War which has been
proven to adversely affect the health of people exposed to it. The Pentagon
denies any link between DU and illness. An early study of possible health
effects related to DU exposure was performed by Major Doug Rokke, a medical
doctor who served in the first Gulf War. Almost everyone in Rokke's
investigative team became contaminated and many have since died. Rokke
himself has extremely high levels of uranium in his blood and is severely
ill. Miles is undeterred by those who say getting arrested is not going to
help him get elected. "Everyone is talking about supporting the troops and
yet neither the Democrats nor Republicans are talking about DU
contamination as the number one health risk to US troops," said Miles.
"This issue must be put on the national agenda whatever it takes." He
advised that anyone going to Iraq for prolonged periods use every
precaution to protect themselves against the hundreds of tons of DU dust
blowing around in the vicinity of tank battles. "I don't know what to tell
women, but men who are hoping to have healthy families when they return
should think about banking sperm before being deployed to Iraq," said Miles.
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6 Spectrum Online: The Unruly Power Grid
Advanced mathematical modeling suggests that big blackouts are
inevitable
By Peter Fairley
[0804grid01.jpg] Thanks to an authoritative U.S.-Canada report,
we now know that negligence by a utility in Ohio and lax
oversight by a rookie regulator precipitated the blackout that
darkened much of the North American upper Midwest and Northeast a
year ago. Paradoxically, however, when the same remarkable event
is seen in a wider historical and statistical perspective, it is
no less natural than a sizable earthquake in California. Major
outages occurred in the western U.S. grid just eight years ago.
And last fall, electric power systems collapsed in Denmark,
Italy, and the United Kingdom within weeks or months of the U.S.
blackout.
The 14 August 2003 blackout may have been the largest in history,
zapping more total wattage and affecting more customers than any
before, but if history is any guide, it won't be the last. "These
kinds of outages are consistent with historical statistics, and
they'll keep happening," says John Doyle, professor of control
and dynamical systems, electrical engineering, and bioengineering
at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. "I would
have said this one was overdue."
"We will have major failures," agrees IEEE Fellow Vijay Vittal,
an electrical engineering professor at Iowa State University in
Ames, who is an expert on power system dynamics and control.
"There is no doubt about that."
The numbers on blackouts bear out this fatalism. Extrapolating
from the small outages that occur frequently, one might expect a
large power grid to collapse only once in, say, 5000 years. But
between 1984 (when North American utilities began to
systematically report blackouts) and 2000, utilities logged 11
outages affecting more than 4000 megawatts—making the probability
of any one outage 325 times greater than mathematicians would
have expected. Thus, statistically speaking, the blackout on 14
August, which, according to the U.S. Department of Energy, cost
between US $4 billion and $6 billion, was no anomaly [see graph,
"Only Too Likely"].
In the mid-1990s—well before FirstEnergy in Akron, Ohio, got
sloppy with its tree-trimming and monitoring systems last
summer—mathematicians, engineers, and physicists set out to
explain the statistical overabundance of big blackouts. Two
distinct models emerged, based on two general theories of systems
failure.
One, an optimization model, championed by Caltech's Doyle,
presumes that power engineers make conscious and rational choices
to focus resources on preventing smaller and more common
disturbances on the lines; large blackouts occur because the grid
isn't forcefully engineered to prevent them. The competing
explanation, hatched by a team connected with the Oak Ridge
National Laboratory in Tennessee, views blackouts as a
surprisingly constructive force in an unconscious feedback loop
that operates over years or decades. Blackouts spur investments
to strengthen overloaded power systems, periodically
counterbalancing pressures to maximize return on investment and
deliver electricity at the lowest possible cost.
Which of these models better explains the mechanism behind large
blackouts is a matter of intense—sometimes even bitter—debate.
But their proponents agree on one thing: the brave, can-do
recommendations of the U.S.-Canada task force report won't
eliminate large blackouts. If either conscious optimization or
unconscious feedback sets up power systems to fail, then large
cascading blackouts are natural facets of the power grid.
Stopping them will require that engineers fundamentally change
the way they operate the power system. "I don't think there are
simple policy fixes," says Doyle.
Of course, the very idea of accepting the inevitability of
blackouts is utterly rejected by utility officials and
politicians. Certainly the mainstream view among power system
engineers continues to be that the answer to reliability problems
is to make the grids more robust physically, improve simulation
techniques and computerized real-time controls, and improve
regulation. What the systems theorists suggest is that even if
all that is done and done well—as, of course, it should be—the
really big outages still will happen more often than they should.
THE SUSPICION THAT NASTY SURPRISES lurk in the inner workings of
power grids began to take shape in the early 1980s with the
growth of research into nonlinear systems, a field that became
known as chaos theory. The term was a misnomer, for chaos experts
were describing layers of order hidden in the apparent disorder
of everything from turbulent fluids to celestial mechanics.
In November 1982, a pair of mathematicians made one of the first
attempts to apply chaos theory to power grids. Nancy Kopell, at
that time a nonlinear dynamics expert at Northeastern University
in Boston, and Robert Washburn, a mathematician and chief
scientist with Alphatech Inc., a Boston-based systems-engineering
consulting firm, were novices to electrical power systems. But
what they found revolutionized thinking about power system
behavior.
Kopell and Washburn's insight was to recognize that the
differential equations used to describe the dynamic interactions
of power generators on a grid—known as swing equations, which
remain a critical tool for power system modelers—resemble the
equations developed by the 19th-century mathematician Henri
Poincaré to describe the gravitational interplay among celestial
bodies. Adapting Poincaré's techniques, Kopell and Washburn
managed to model more accurately the behavior of a simple grid
with three generators—two large and one small.
The results were analogous to what Poincaré found when he
considered the behavior of two large bodies and a third that is
relatively small. In that case, tiny shifts in the relative
position and motion of the large bodies dramatically altered the
trajectory of the third. In modern parlance, we'd say that
Poincaré's system is chaotic. Kopell and Washburn observed the
same behavior in their three-machine power grid in response to
simulated faults on the lines: tweak the operating parameters of
the large generators just slightly, and a previously stable grid
would suddenly run away.
By the early 1990s, power systems experts were exploiting the
techniques and discovering chaotic behavior in more complex
models. Power systems expert James Thorp, an engineering
professor at Cornell University, plotted the results from models
with dozens of generators and lines, producing fractal patterns
that are the hallmark of chaos mathematics [see fractal image,
"Random Patterns"]. Yet these models still seemed too simplistic
to be applicable to real-life power grid situations.
"The fact that you see transient chaos was enough to convince
people that the power system is much more complicated than we
might have imagined, but there was not an obvious connection to
blackouts," says Thorp.
The connection between chaos and blackouts began to tighten when
researchers started to work with actual blackout data. In the
mid-1990s, Doyle, at Caltech, began to mine data on blackouts
that had been collected since 1984 by the North American Electric
Reliability Council, the organization in Princeton, N.J., that
promotes voluntary standards for the electric power industry. A
team consisting of Benjamin A. Carreras, an expert in chaos
theory at Oak Ridge National Laboratory; David Newman, now a
professor of physics at the University of Alaska; and Ian Dobson,
a University of Wisconsin professor of electrical and computer
engineering and an expert on chaos and power grids, stumbled on
the same data in 1997.
What Doyle and the Carreras-Newman-Dobson group found amazed
them. Plotting the logs of the frequency of blackouts versus
their magnitude, they observed that the frequency of large
blackouts was much higher than they expected. Rather than falling
off sharply to fit the bell curve produced by a Gaussian, or
normal, distribution, the frequency of blackouts fell off much
more slowly. The curve fit what is called a power law—which
refers not to the power in a circuit but to the fact that the
probability of a blackout is related to its magnitude by some
constant exponent.
The result excited the system-dynamics and chaos experts because
such power-law frequency distributions are a signature of
complex, chaotic systems in which the interplay of the components
leads to surprising outcomes. Other examples of complicated
events that seem to occur with similar regularity are
earthquakes, forest fires, and dam failures.
Systems analysts think they know something about the dynamics
that lead to such events; so the discovery of a similar
probability distribution gave them hope that they could learn a
thing or two about blackouts. "We said there must be something
about the way the grid is managed that makes all these points
want to be on a line," says Carreras. "They are not jumping
around. It's as if there is a physical law there."
One thing they knew for sure was that phenomena that fit such
distributions tend to occur with remarkable consistency.
Devastating earthquakes may be hard to predict, but we know when
one is overdue. So when the 14 August blackout struck, the
systems theorists raced to their plots to see if this additional
piece of data fit the pattern.
Thorp went straight back to his office when the lights came back
on at Cornell in upstate New York, took one of Doyle's plots, and
extended the curve farther out to the right, from blackouts
affecting millions of customers to blackouts affecting tens of
millions. The curve predicted that an outage of the scope seen a
year ago should occur, on average, every 35 years. The result was
chilling, for it had been 38 years since the last cascading
outage on the Eastern Interconnection (the transmission system
connecting the eastern U.S. seaboard, the Plains states, and the
eastern Canadian provinces). That outage, on 9 November 1965,
blacked out 30 million people in the northeastern United States
and Canada.
FOR SYSTEMS THEORISTS like Doyle and Carreras, the first message
of their eerily smooth distribution curves is clear: big
blackouts are a natural product of the power grid. The culprits
that get blamed for each blackout—lax tree trimming, operators
who make bad decisions—are actors in a bigger drama, their
failings mere triggers for disasters that in some strange ways
are predestined. In this systems-level view, massive blackouts
are just as inevitable as the megaquake that will one day level
much of Tokyo. Just the same, accounting for that inevitability
is a contentious exercise.
To date, Carreras, Dobson, and Newman's explanation for the
curves—the feedback model—is the most vivid and, arguably, the
most sophisticated. Computer simulations to test this model track
as many as 400 power lines and 30 or so generators and run for
the equivalent of 250 years. The results are uncannily similar to
the historical record.
Carreras and his colleagues were inspired by a simple physical
system: the growth of sand piles. In the 1990s, physicists
studying sand piles mathematically modeled a phenomenon long
noticed by children playing on beaches. As you keep piling on
sand, a part suddenly begins to collapse, and when you try to fix
the castle by piling on more sand, one side suddenly gives way.
Seen mathematically, the pile has reached a critical point where
its behavior has become chaotic; avalanches become frequent, and
their magnitude fits a power-law curve.
Carreras, Dobson, and Newman wondered if power grids might
approach the same kind of critical points as elements are added
and power flows increase. They imagined that economic forces and
engineering practices seeking to minimize costs and maximize
returns on investment in transmission equipment could push system
operators to accept higher and higher power levels on their
systems, setting the system up for a fall. Feedback from angry
politicians and customers would then prompt improvements in the
grid, such as construction of additional lines, replacement of
faulty relays, or distributed deployment of generators. The
short-term result, of course, is to take the system out of its
precarious state. But by increasing the system's stability, the
improvements would also initiate another cycle of loading.
"You go up near criticality and then you back off a bit because
you experience blackouts," explains Dobson. "It's the right thing
to do, but the effect is to increase the capability of the system
relative to the loading." Since the forces that squeeze more
power onto the lines are still present—the pressure to minimize
costs and maximize returns—the system is destined to run back to
criticality.
TO TEST THIS THEORY, Dobson and his colleagues took a standard
electric power flow model—the sort employed by system
planners—and set it in motion, using workstations for the
simulation. First, they programmed the model to boost the total
load on the lines by 2 percent per year (the North American
average) and recalculate the resulting power flows daily. Next,
they told the system to knock out a line occasionally, simulating
the lightning strikes and other random events that afflict real
power lines. In some cases, the recalculated flows would overload
neighboring lines, simulating a cascading failure. Finally, they
stipulated in the design that every time a blackout occurs, the
model "upgrades" the lines involved by boosting their rated
capacity.
The resulting distribution of blackouts is statistically
equivalent to the post-1984 blackout data collected by the North
American Electric Reliability Council. "The system itself finds
its own equilibrium near criticality," says Dobson.
Doyle couldn't disagree more. He says the notion of opposing
forces pushing power grids into a critical state is so much
hocus-pocus, the engineering equivalent of creationism. (Doyle
also questions Carreras, Dobson, and Newman's statistical
methodology—a disagreement he is pursuing as a peer reviewer on
their papers.) Plus, Doyle's less-detailed optimization model for
engineering failures can reproduce the historical distribution of
large blackouts just as well as the feedback model (better if his
arguments on statistical methodology win the day).
And yet even Doyle acknowledges that these two approaches send
the same bottom-line message to system planners: major blackouts
are a byproduct of a complex system and only fundamental change
in the system can extinguish them.
If people like Doyle and Dobson sound cautionary about the
prospects for blackout prevention, there is a third school of
thought that is downright resigned. Its views have been
articulated by a group at Carnegie Mellon University in
Pittsburgh and its Electricity Industry Center. Its members
include Sarosh N. Talukdar, a power engineer and electrical and
computer engineering professor; Jay Apt, an engineering and
public policy professor; and Lester B. Lave, a risk assessment
expert and economics professor.
In a startling thought piece, "Cascading Failures: Survival
Versus Prevention," published in The Electricity Journal in
November 2003, the Carnegie Mellon team argues that if blackouts
are as hard to predict and prevent as tsunamis and earthquakes,
we should make it our business to be prepared. They argue that
the question is not how to prevent blackouts, but how to survive
them.
This pragmatic survival thesis begins with the assertion that
complex systems—be they power grids or space shuttles—are prone
to failure and well-intentioned efforts at prevention can
backfire. In the feedback model, for instance, increasing the
rating of individual power lines often increases the frequency of
large cascading failures, much as the suppression of individual
forest fires eventually leads to major conflagrations.
The Carnegie Mellon group argues that the problem with preventing
grid failures runs even deeper. The real problem, they say, is
the impossibility of testing a potential fix to confirm that it
actually decreases the risk of failure. Crash-testing a grid the
way one crash-tests a new car is obviously not an option. And the
only alternative, simulation, is beyond the reach of current
technology for a system as complex as the Eastern
Inter-0connection—a system with thousands of generators and tens
of thousands of power lines and transformers. Fully assessing
just one contingency on the Eastern Interconnection means
accounting for more than a billion constraints. Add nonlinear
behavior of the sort Thorp models, and the differential equations
become unsolvable. "You couldn't get a computer big enough on
this planet to go do that," says Apt.
Some of the world's experts in power system dynamics and modeling
acknowledge the problem. Experts in western North America, stung
by the summer blackouts of 1996 that shut down grids from British
Columbia to Mexico's Baja Peninsula, have done more to measure
and simulate grid behavior than most. And yet their models
regularly come up short, dangerously overestimating the Western
Interconnection's ability to damp oscillations during a major
outage. "Our simulations are not always realistic," concedes
modeling expert Carson Taylor, principal engineer for
transmission with the Bonneville Power Administration in
Portland, Ore.
Instead of waiting for better dynamic models, the Carnegie Mellon
group says that now is the time to begin accommodating blackouts,
to do more to empower critical consumers and infrastructure to
ride through them. "When you build stuff, it's going to break,"
says Apt. "The question is: what are the cost-effective things
you can do to minimize the consequences?" His answer is: "A lot
more than we're doing."
One cost-effective example identified by Apt and his colleagues
is to equip traffic signals with energy-efficient light-emitting
diodes backed up by batteries [see sidebar, "Better Backups for
John Q. Public"]. Such gridlock-defying lights could eliminate a
leading cause of death during blackouts while keeping emergency
routes clear. And how about elevators that automatically ease
down to the nearest floor upon losing power? "Our guess is that
if you designed that [capability] into the elevator system
originally, it would be all but free," says Lave.
The systems modelers see one more big benefit from greater
preparedness: in the strange world of complex systems and
unintended consequences, preparing for blackouts might just
reduce the frequency of big ones. Carreras posits that utilities
might be more willing to disconnect some customers deliberately,
or "shed load," when the system is stressed if their customers
were prepared for outages. According to the U.S.-Canada report,
such load shedding would have confined the 14 August blackout to
small patches of Ohio.
Carreras says that simply allowing more small blackouts could
have the same effect. He points to the forest fire analogy, where
hyperactive firefighting has enabled forests to age and
accumulate fuel, laying the foundation for the major
conflagrations that have become a summer staple in the western
United States. In forest fire models, he says, the simulated
firefighters can be programmed to be lazy, and the result is
paradoxical: "You lose trees, but you never lose the whole
forest," says Carreras.
ACCEPTING THE INEVITABILITY OF BLACKOUTS is akin to accepting
defeat for many power industry leaders. But considering the
deliberate weakening of the power grid is downright treasonous.
For the record, Carreras, who is employed by the U.S. Department
of Energy, says he does not give advice to policymakers,
certainly not about purposely weakening the grid. "Nobody wants
to hear that," confides Carreras. "If I say that publicly, people
will kill me." So it is not at all surprising that the authors of
the U.S.-Canada task force report pay no heed to the possibility
that their recommendations to strengthen the grid could have
underwhelming impact or unintended consequences.
James W. Glotfelty, director of the U.S. Department of Energy's
Office of Electric Transmission and Distribution and a key
liaison between the technical and political players on the task
force, is unapologetic. He dismisses all the studies that
conclude large blackouts are not preventable. His view: "Trim
your trees, train your operators, and ensure that your systems
work, and the risk of a blackout is greatly reduced. Period." He
similarly rejects the Carnegie Mellon team's argument that the
limitations of modeling preclude our knowing how to prevent
blackouts and that consumers and governments should therefore
focus more resources on surviving them.
"If we have the intellectual and computing capability to model
nuclear weapons, then we have the ability to do this, too," says
Glotfelty. Clark W. Gellings, vice president for power delivery
and marketing at the Electric Power Research Institute in Palo
Alto, Calif., is equally dismissive of the systems theories. For
example, he calls the comparison to firefighting "nonsense." At
the same time, neither claims to have spent much time pondering
these ideas. "They haven't hit the mainstream yet," says
Gellings.
And yet Gellings agrees strongly with one of the ideas: that the
grid needs fundamental change. "I agree with the conclusion that
you have to change the basic operation of the grid to prevent
blackouts." Many senior power engineers are frustrated by the
current operation of the grid and are hatching ambitious plans
for a major overhaul, he adds. The Electric Power Research
Institute has championed the use of electronic power control
devices that can massage and control ac power flows—a radical
change from today's grid, where only the geography of supply and
demand determine how electricity flows through the grid. Some
advocate a wholesale shift toward the use of electronically
controlled dc power lines to boost capacity for long-range power
transfers and simultaneously act as "firebreaks" to contain
disturbances cascading along ac power lines.
The problem with these visions for technological redesign is that
large-scale investment in transmission is a fantasy in today's
turbulent power industry. "If you were silly enough to think
about investing in transmission, we would tell you that we don't
have any idea how you're going to get reimbursed or how much
you're going to get reimbursed," says Lave.
The more immediate problem may be the industry's underinvestment
in R&D. It spends just 0.3 percent of revenues on R&D, one of the
lowest rates for any industrial sector. "We're beat out easily by
the pet food manufacturers," laments Dobson. The comparison
between U.S. Department of Energy spending on nuclear weapons
research and power system design is less flattering by a long
shot.
The first step toward recovery is accepting that one has a
problem. The U.S.-Canada report, for all its technical merit,
pandered to a desire for quick fixes, perpetuating a sense of
denial about blackouts. "I keep hearing claims that we are going
to develop technologies to suppress all the blackouts and I find
the whole position a bit laughable," says Carreras. "There may be
no solution to all of our problems. We don't want to look at
that."
Kopell, one of the mathematicians who first applied chaos theory
to grid behavior, now directs a biodynamics center at Boston
University, having previously won a MacArthur fellowship to study
brain neurology. But she still thinks that the power industry and
its political supporters need to take a longer view of blackout
research and to think more deeply about the grid's propensity for
nonintuitive behavior. Call it what you will—systems dynamics,
chaos theory, or criticality analysis—Kopell says we're going to
need more of it. As she put it, "This work won't immediately give
an answer to the problem, but it certainly shows that simple
thinking about it isn't adequate."
TO PROBE FURTHER
"Final Report on the August 14, 2003, Blackout in the United
States and Canada: Causes and Recommendations," U.S.-Canada Power
System Outage Task Force, April 2004, U.S. Department of Energy,
Washington, D.C.
For IEEE Spectrum's take on the August 2003 blackout, and a
compendium of background materials from the magazine, go to:
http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/WEBONLY/special/aug03/blackout.html
[http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/WEBONLY/special/aug03/blackout.html
] .
For the views of the Carnegie Mellon team, see "Cascading
Failures: Survival Versus Prevention," Sarosh N. Talukdar et al.,
The Electricity Journal, November 2003, pp. 25-31.
ARTWORK: JON BOWER/ALAMY
[http://careers.ieee.org] | Advertising | Top
*****************************************************************
7 The Scientist: Bush and Science at Loggerheads
, Aug. 2, 2004
Volume 18 | Issue 15 | 50 | Aug. 2, 2004 Previous | Next
Barriers to research and claims of suppressed data sully
interactions between researchers and the administration |
[dwilkie@the-scientist.com]
At the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in San Diego, Fred
Gage and colleagues examine how a generic embryonic stem cell
evolves into a highly specialized brain cell. Their hope is that
understanding stem-cell evolution will reveal what keeps cells
healthy and lead to new therapies. But federal restrictions on
human embryonic stem-cell research are discouraging Gage and
others. "I would say that I'm limiting my effort in this field,"
he says. "It's been time consuming. Resources are taken away from
other things." Human embryonic studies can be conducted only with
private money, creating burdens such as fundraising and setting
up a separate lab with new staff, equipment, and supplies.
President George W. Bush's 2001 limitation on federal funding for
embryonic stem cell research1 is one of a number of policies that
have brought him into conflict with scientists. Critics claim
that the collective impact will cost the United States its status
as the world leader in scientific advancement. "The level of
manipulation by this administration is unprecedented," says
Representative Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), a ranking member of the
House Government Reform Committee who tried unsuccessfully in May
to pass legislation creating an independent panel to examine the
politicization of science. "Distinguished scientists, scientific
organizations, and leading science journals have objected to this
administration's violations of scientific integrity," he says.
COLLECTED CONCERNS Complaints against the administration stem
from its: + Suppressing an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
study that found that a Senate bill would do more than a White
House-sponsored bill to reduce mercury contamination in fish. +
Demanding that EPA remove a section of a report on climate
change. This came about after administration officials suggested
adjustments to emphasize the scientific uncertainties, a move
that agency scientists resisted.2 + Posting information on
government Web sites despite objections from the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) staff. For example,
according to former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Health and
Human Services Patrick Fagan, the National Cancer Institute
posted on its Web site that there is a link between abortion and
breast cancer. The information was later removed. + Placing
controversial people in scientific positions. For example, the
president recommended that the Food and Drug Administration's
Reproductive Health Advisory Committee be chaired by
obstetrician-gynecologist W. David Hager, who has written that
scripture readings can ease premenstrual syndrome. Hager did not
become chair, but he was appointed to the panel. + Stacking
scientific advisory panels by eliminating people who supported
Bush's 2000 election rivals (according to testimony taken during
a hearing held by Democrats on the House Science Committee), or
picking others who lacked scientific credentials, but who
supported the president's views.
POLITICAL POSITIONS In February, the Union of Concerned
Scientists (UCS)--a group best known for its stands on
environmental preservation and nuclear disarmament--published
"Scientific Integrity in Policymaking."3 This report examined
instances in which scientists claimed that the White House
ignored, suppressed, censored, or distorted either the
conclusions of federal scientists or views that represented a
consensus in the scientific community.
While many in the research community are uncomfortable with how
the government uses science, "There's no doubt that every
administration has the right to inject their view of the world
into public policy," says Paul Berg, a Nobel Laureate and
Stanford University professor of biochemistry. "But if the
balance is tipped so there is very little exchange or openness,
then society has a right to be suspicious and upset."
With respect to the climate change issue, George Woodwell,
director of the Woods Hole Research Center, claims that the Bush
administration "does not want to hear from the scientists within
the government that there is a serious problem." And the reason
for that, he asserts, is "the administration wishes to perpetuate
the fossil-fuel era." He continues: "This means money for people
who have heavy investments in the fossil-fuel business. Those
investments pervade virtually everything."
The Bush administration sees it differently. White House chief
science advisor John Marburger III, himself a scientist, told
reporters in May that such complaints often reflect "a basic
disagreement about what you should do," rather than an intent to
manipulate scientific facts. "A lot of these areas are
controversial areas," says Marburger, who in early April released
a point-by-point response4 dismissing the UCS' complaints. "The
president really likes to know exactly what science is saying."
However, critics claim that the administration distorts
scientific findings so that the White House can draw
public-policy conclusions in line with conservative voters; hence
the position on emphasizing sexual abstinence, resistance to
abortion, and opposition to embryonic stem-cell research. For
example, the UCS report said that at the urging of Bush staff,
the CDC changed information on its Web site that said condoms
were 80%-90% effective in preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS. The
new information emphasizes abstinence.
Judy Auerrbach, a vice president at the American Foundation for
AIDS Research, said the 80%-90% figure came from the Cochrane
Collaboration's database of systematic review. The well-respected
organization pools research on scientific issues and publishes
consensus opinions. "If a credible scientific group concludes
that condoms are 85% effective," says Auerrbach, "then the public
health [consensus] is that condoms are 85% effective." She adds,
"The White House and abstinence supporters exaggerated the 15%
[failure rate], and said it's dangerous to tell people to use
condoms." Marburger, in response, says it is common for federal
agencies to periodically evaluate and revise fact sheets on their
Web sites.
In February, the White House abruptly dismissed Elizabeth
Blackburn and William May from the President's Council on
Bioethics, which advises on stem-cell research. Both disagreed
with the president's 2001 prohibition on federally funded
research that uses human embryonic stem cells. Critics claim that
the council replacements were people who tend to support the
prohibition. However, according to Peter Lawler, chairman of
Berry College's department of government and international
studies and a replacement for one of the open council positions,
committee chairman Leon Kass never asked him about his views on
stem-cell research. Blackburn, a biochemist at University of
California, San Francisco, said she fruitlessly urged Kass to
balance reports with opinions from the nation's leading experts
in stem-cell research. "I think [Kass] wanted certain arguments
to be made in the report, and the [scientific] facts were
inconvenient for that argument, but you have to get the science
right," she says.
The recent death of former president Ronald Reagan, who had
Alzheimer disease, has pushed the issue of stem-cell prohibitions
to the fore. Former first lady Nancy Reagan advocates fewer
restrictions on stem-cell research, as has a large group of
senators that includes notable conservatives such as Orrin Hatch
(R-Utah). So far, though, efforts to loosen restrictions on
stem-cell research have met with failure.
There is little sign of détente breaking out. In April, a report
from the General Accounting Office (GAO) concluded that the
federal government could give better direction to federal
agencies on creating panels that would be "perceived as
balanced."5 Democrats demanded a congressional hearing on this
report, but committee chairman Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY), refused
to hold one. "What we're dealing with here is whether open,
balanced, and objective scientific information is being made
available to policymakers and to the public," said Representative
Brian Baird (D-Wash.) who may write legislation to enact some of
the GAO's suggestions. A spokesman for Boehlert, by contrast,
said: "It's the position of this committee that the [Union of
Concerned Scientists] report is a political document, and
political rhetoric has no value to the committee, or to science."
The upshot could be damage to the US biotechnology industry and
the nation's reputation and dominance in the biological sciences.
The New York Times reported in May that the United States is
losing its dominance in crucial areas of science, citing evidence
such as reversals in Americans' share of prizes and publications
in major professional journals.6
Dana Wilkie (dwilkie@the-scientist.com) References 1. S.
Stapleton, "Stem-cell research decision: some funding, many
questions," [http://www.amednews.com] , available online at
www.amednews.com/amednews/2001/08/27/hll10827.htm
2. A. Revkin, K. Seelyen, "Report by EPA leaves out data on
climate change," The New York Times, June 19, 2003, p. A1.
3. Union of Concerned Scientists, "Scientific integrity in
policymaking," available online at
www.ucsusa.org/global_environment/rsi/page.cfm?pageID=1322
4. "Statement of the honorable John H. Marburger, III, on
scientific integrity in the Bush administration," April 2, 2004,
available online at
www.ostp.gov/html/ucs/ResponsetoCongressonUCSDocumentApril2004.pd
f
5. "Additional guidance could help agencies better ensure
independence and balance," US General Accounting Office, April
2004, available online at www.gao.gov/new.items/d04328.pdf
6. W. Broad, "US is losing its dominance in the sciences," The
New York Times, May 3, 2004, p. A1.
© 2004, The Scientist LLC, All rights reserved. Previous | Next
*****************************************************************
8 Guardian Unlimited: Envoy Seeks Accounting of Nuke Programs
From the Associated Press
[UP]
Friday July 30, 2004 2:01 PM
By AUDRA ANG
Associated Press Writer
BEIJING (AP) - A U.S. envoy to six-nation talks on the North
Korean nuclear dispute has underscored to Chinese officials the
importance of taking into account all of Pyongyang's nuclear
programs if the issue is to be resolved, a U.S. Embassy
spokeswoman said Friday.
Joseph DeTrani met Thursday with his counterpart, Ning Fukui, and
spoke on Friday with Vice Foreign Minister Wang Yi, China's chief
delegate to the talks, the spokeswoman said on condition of
anonymity.
DeTrani's visit was aimed at sorting out details for lower-level
working group discussions prior to the next round of six-party
meetings, expected to be held by the end of September.
The dispute flared in 2002 when Washington said North Korea
admitted operating a secret uranium-based nuclear program in
violation of a 1994 agreement.
While the North has acknowledged it has a program based on
plutonium, it has denied the U.S. claim about a uranium program -
a sticking point in negotiations.
Little progress has been made in the last three rounds of
six-nation talks held in Beijing, which also include Japan,
Russia and South Korea.
Citing Wang, the official Xinhua News Agency said it was crucial
for the working groups to meet as soon as possible to discuss the
implementation of the ``first stage of nuclear abandonment.''
At the most recent meeting in June, the United States proposed a
step-by-step plan that would begin with Pyongyang freezing its
nuclear programs for a three-month period to prepare for
dismantling, during which it would list all nuclear activities
and allow monitoring of its facilities.
Under the plan, some benefits would be withheld to ensure the
North cooperates.
In return, North Korea insisted on simultaneous rewards - energy
aid and lifting of economic sanctions.
Last week, a spokesman for the North's Foreign Ministry denounced
the American proposal as ``a sham'' and said it was ``little
worthy to be discussed any longer.''
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004
*****************************************************************
9 IAEA: Nuclear Security: GTRI Conference of Key Partners Set for September
+ [IAEA.ORG :: Atoms for Peace]
Staff Report
28 July 2004
+ Story Resources
+ GTRI Conference
[http://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/Meetings/Announcements.asp?ConfID=1
39]
+ GTRI Highlights
[http://www.energy.gov/engine/doe/files/dynamic/264200491138_Vien
na_GTR_Fact%20Sheet_FINAL1_052604%20.pdf] [pdf]
+ New Global Threat Reduction Initiative,
27 May 2004
+ IAEA & Nuclear Security
+ Reinforcing Radiation Security
+ Research Reactors & Security
+ US Department of Energy [http://www.energy.gov]
Key partners of a US global initiative to upgrade nuclear
security are meeting at an international conference in Vienna
this September, preceding the annual IAEA General Conference.
Called "The Global Threat Reduction Initiative (GTRI)
International Partners Conference", the meeting convenes at the
Austria Center in Vienna 18-19 September 2004.
US Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham announced the GTRI in a
speech at the IAEA in May 2004. He described it as a
comprehensive global initiative to secure and/or remove
high-risk nuclear and other radioactive material worldwide that
pose a threat to the international community. The initiative
targets vulnerable nuclear and other radioactive material
worldwide, building upon existing and long-standing threat
reduction efforts.
The USA, the Russian Federation, and the IAEA are already
working together on several major programmes that are important
components of the GTRI. They include the Russian Research
Reactor Fuel Return Programme, the Reduced Enrichment for
Research and Test Reactors Programme, and the Tripartite
Initiative to secure high-risk radioactive sources.
More information about the GTRI Conference is on the IAEA
Meetings [http://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/Meetings/Meetings.asp]
pages or from the US Department of Energy, Office of Global
Threat Reduction, in Washington, DC. Copyright 2003-2004,
International Atomic Energy Agency, P.O. Box 100, Wagramer
Strasse 5, A-1400 Vienna, Austria
Telephone (+431) 2600-0; Facsimilie (+431) 2600-7; E-mail:
Official.Mail@iaea.org [Official.Mail@iaea.org]
Disclaimer
*****************************************************************
10 [NukeNet] China Push For Nuclear Energy
Date: Fri, 30 Jul 2004 15:14:03 -0700
From: ali afridi
To: ippnw.campaign@igc.topica.com ;
abolition-caucus@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Friday, July 30, 2004 5:59 AM
Subject: [abolition-caucus] After years of
weighing pros and cons,China is now all for
nuclear energy
After years of weighing pros and cons,
China is now all for nuclear energy
BEIJING: Not far from the 500,000-year-old Peking
man's cave, hailed by the Chinese as a powerful
symbol of the country's glorious past, scientists
are hard at work building its even brighter
nuclear future.
Researchers at the China Institute of Atomic
Energy in Tuoli, 40 kilometres (25 miles) from
Beijing, are preparing for a new golden age with a
recently strengthened mandate.
After years of weighing the pros and cons, the
government has come down firmly in favour of
full-scale development of the country's nuclear
energy industry in a bid to alleviate worsening
power shortages.
"There's a renewed sense of urgency to develop
nuclear power in China," said Wu Kang, an energy
analyst at the East-West Center, a Hawaii-based
think-tank. "Nuclear power is now given high
priority." Just this month, the Cabinet approved
plans by the China National Nuclear Corp, the
industry monopolist that is involved in the Tuoli
complex, to build two new nuclear power projects
in provinces hard hit by electricity shortages.
China has just nine nuclear power units operating
in three different locations, accounting for
altogether 1.4 percent of the country's total
installed capacity. That is even less than India,
but the Chinese government hopes to dramatically
increase that capacity so that by 2020, it will
make up four percent of the total.
As the official green light for new projects looks
likely to flare ever more frequently in the coming
years, state-controlled media are vigorously
informing the public about how deliberate this
policy is.
"China's current achievements in nuclear power
have remarkably narrowed the country's gap
internationally," the People's Daily said in an
editorial. "Conditions are mature for China to
accelerate the pace of making use of nuclear
power," it said. In October, it will be 40 years
since China exploded its first atom bomb, but its
commercial nuclear power industry is a mere decade
old.
Until the late 1990s, policy-makers were still
discussing if atomic energy should even be allowed
to play a role in the country's future energy
make-up. The previous generation of leaders seemed
keener on harnessing the power of China's rivers,
an obsession displayed most dramatically in the
world's largest dam project at the Three Gorges,
which is still under construction.
Not so with the new rulers that have taken over
the reins in Beijing little more than a year ago
and are already leaving their mark, according to
observers. "There was too high priority given to
hydropower and too little given to nuclear power,"
said Wu. "And now there's been a rethink of the
importance of nuclear power."
The new breed of men in charge, people like
Premier Wen Jiabao, have a broader outlook,
according to Richard Suttmeier, an expert on
Chinese technology policy at the University of
Oregon. "What you have is a new leadership that is
very sensitive to the changes in the nature of
security, and is very serious about the way
technology can be used in new kinds of ways," he
said.
The security concept has changed and broadened, in
China as elsewhere, so that it now also
encompasses access to reliable and steady energy
sources. That issue has been highlighted in recent
years, as China's booming economy has become an
ever-more voracious energy consumer. China now
ranks second in the world behind in the United
States as a consumer of oil, which is problematic
as 60 percent of its imports come from the
volatile Middle East. Nuclear energy is a crucial
part of China's strategy for greater energy
security, even though it will never be a panacea.
"Energy security is like life insurance," said Wu.
"You can't get absolute security. Nuclear power
can't give China energy security, it can only
help." Given the rush to expand the nuclear
facilities, China's indigenous technology may not
be sufficient to meet demand for at least another
decade.
That means new opportunities for foreign companies
such as Electricite de France, Westinghouse of the
United States and Japan's Mitsubishi, already
scrambling for a piece of the action. The question
is if China's self-imposed haste in expanding the
nuclear sector could mean a lowering of safety
standards.
"The technology is not Chernobyl technology, but
it can fail if the operators are not careful,"
said Suttmeier. "One way to ensure that the
operators are careful is to make a regulatory
system that is robust."
Dr.Ali Raza Khan Afridi
* Project Coordinator IPPNW Pakistan
*Member IFMSA Pakistan
Contact No. : 92-021-8132716
_______________________________________________________________________
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11 San Onofre gets annual safety report card
Date: Fri, 30 Jul 2004 15:19:34 -0700
Note: The print version also contained a subhead: "Carlsbad resident
questions safety of plant's fuel storage". Article began on page A-1
(above the fold).
Source:
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2004/07/30/news/coastal/23_09_127_29_04.txt
Print Version:
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2004/07/30/news/coastal/23_09_127_29_04.prt
Friday, July 30, 2004
Last modified Thursday, July 29, 2004 11:33 PM PDT
204326.jpg
San Onofre gets annual safety report card
20433c.jpg
By: PAUL SISSON - Staff Writer
SAN CLEMENTE ---- The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Thursday that the
San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station is safe, but a Carlsbad resident is
not so sure.
The agency conducted its annual safety meeting in San Clemente on Thursday,
reporting that inspections conducted at the plant from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31,
2003, showed no significant indications that plant operators have let
safety or security slide in operating San Onofre's twin 1,100 megawatt
nuclear reactors.
But Russell Hoffman, an anti-nuclear activist from Carlsbad, wondered
whether special storage devices called "dry casks" recently constructed at
San Onofre are strong enough to survive a direct hit from an airplane.
"What about a 747, could it survive that?" he asked. "A DC-10, how about that?"
Victor Dricks, a regulatory commission spokesman, replied the special casks
that hold highly radioactive spent nuclear fuel and their protective
concrete storage bunkers "were not designed with an aircraft attack in mind."
The casks are designed to withstand a run-in with Mother Nature, Dricks
said, adding testing has shown that the casks could survive a "4,000-pound
automobile hurled by a hurricane at 125 miles per hour."
Ray Golden, spokesman for Southern California Edison, majority owner and
operator of San Onofre, said the company has conducted tests of simulated
airplane attacks at San Onofre in which the airplanes strike either of the
plant's gigantic containment domes or nearby pools where highly-radioactive
spent fuel is cooled before being transferred to the dry casks.
"We have a high level of confidence that it would survive a crash," Golden
said based upon those tests.
Golden was unable to say whether Edison's crash analysis included an
aircraft strike on the new dry cask storage area which was built last year
and which is being filled with spent fuel from the plant's decommissioned
Unit 1 reactor.
He said the storage facility is designed to withstand a "severe"
earthquake. He added its location, nestled between other much larger
buildings, would make a difficult target for a suicide pilot.
"It's designed to be very dense and very squat," he said.
The NRC performed an extra inspection at San Onofre in 2003 because the
plant's Unit 2 reactor had more than four unplanned shutdowns in 2002.
Dricks said the results of that extra inspection did not turn up any
additional abnormal or potentially-dangerous conditions.
Clyde Osterholtz, senior resident inspector for the commission at San
Onofre, noted that, while Unit 2 had only one unplanned shutdown in 2003,
it has already had another in 2004. In April the reactor was shut down
after an electrical glitch sidelined the plant's two man "feedwater" pumps
which help keep the plant's main coolant loop cool.
Osterholtz said Unit 2 will receive an extra check this year as a result of
the glitch.
Contact staff writer Paul Sisson at (760) 901-4087 or psisson@nctimes.com.
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12 NRC: Sunshine Act; Meeting
FR Doc 04-17479
[Federal Register: July 30, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 146)]
[Notices] [Page 45856] From the Federal Register Online via GPO
Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr30jy04-133] [[Page 45856]]
DATE: Week of July 26, 2004.
PLACE: Commissioners' Conference Room, 11555 Rockville Pike,
Rockville, Maryland STATUS: Public and Closed Matters to be
Considered: Week of July 26, 2004 Thursday, July 29, 2004 9:25
a.m. Affirmation Session (Public Meeting) a: Duke Energy Corp.
(Catawba Nuclear Station, Units 1 and 2); NRC Staff's Petition
for Interlocutory Review of the Licensing Board's June 25, 2004
Oral Order (Finding the Intervenor's Witness Qualified as an
Expert in the Area of Nuclear Security) 9:30 a.m. Discussion of
Security Issues (Closed-Ex. 1) The schedule for Commission
meetings is subject to change on short notice. To verify the
status of meetings call (recording)--(301) 415- 1292. Contact
person for more information: Dave Gamberoni, (301) 415- 1651.
* * * * * Additional Information: By a vote of 3-0 on July 26,
the commission determined pursuant to U.S.C. 552b(e) and Sec.
9.107(a) of the Commission's rules that ``Discussion of Security
Issues (Closed--Ex. 1)'' be held July 29, and on less than one
week's notice to the public.
By a vote of 3-0 on July 27, the Commission determined pursuant
to U.S.C. 552b(e) and Sec. 9.107(a) of the Commission's rules
that ``Affirmation of Duke Energy Corp. (Catawba Nuclear Station,
Units 1 and 2); NRC Staff's Petition for Interlocutory Review of
the Licensing Board's June 25, 2004 Oral Order (Finding the
Intervenor's Witness Qualified as an Expert in the Area of
Nuclear Security)'' be held July 29, and on less than one week's
notice to the public.
The NRC Commission Meeting Schedule can be found on the Internet
at: http://www.nrc.gov/what-we-do/policy-making/schedule.html
[http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leaving
FR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www.nrc.gov/what-we-do/policy-makin
g/schedule.html] . The NRC provides reasonable accommodation to
individuals with disabilities where appropriate. If you need a
reasonable accommodation to participate in these public meetings,
or need this meeting notice or the transcript or other
information from the public meetings in another format (e.g.
braille, large print), please notify the NRC's Disability Program
Coordinator, August Spector, at 301-415-7080, TDD: 301-415- 2100,
or by e-mail at aks@nrc.gov [aks@nrc.gov] . Determinations on
requests for reasonable accommodation will be made on a
case-by-case basis.
This notice is distributed by mail to several hundred
subscribers; if you no longer wish to receive it, or would like
to be added to the distribution, please contact the Office of the
Secretary, Washington, DC 20555 (301-415-1969). In addition,
distribution of this meeting notice over the Internet system is
available. If you are interested in receiving this Commission
meeting schedule electronically, please send an electronic
message to dkw@nrc.gov [dkw@nrc.gov] . Dated: July 27, 2004.
Dave Gamberoni, Office of the Secretary.
[FR Doc. 04-17479 Filed 7-28-04; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-M
*****************************************************************
13 phillyBurbs.com: Limerick plan still under scrutiny
By PATRICK LESTER The Intelligencer
A year after Exelon Corp. began using water from an abandoned
coal mine to cool the Limerick nuclear power plant, the company
is still conducting tests to make sure the project won't have
adverse effects on area rivers and streams.
The demonstration period, originally scheduled to end by January,
was extended through the end of 2004. The additional time was
needed because of abnormally high river flows during the first
six months of testing, according to Clarke Rupert of the Delaware
River Basin Commission, the agency that approved the experiment.
"Exelon came to us and asked permission to extend that six-month
period in order to allow the opportunity to do monitoring and
reviews over a period (with normal water flows)," Rupert said.
Exelon is pumping water from a mine pool in Schuylkill County to
a creek that runs to the Schuylkill River, which in turn is used
to cool the Limerick plant. Prior to the project, the company
relied on water from the Schuylkill from October through April
and needed another water source during the other months because
of the river's diminished flow and warmer temperature. Those
other months, it relied on water from the Point Pleasant Pump.
Exelon would prefer to use water from the Schuylkill year-round
because that method uses fewer pumps and is less expensive. The
goal is to become less reliant on water from the Delaware River
and Perkiomen Creek and the costly use of the Point Pleasant
Pump.
Environmental groups have voiced concerns that changes in water
flows in creeks and rivers could harm fish, bugs and plants, not
to mention animals that feed off what is in those waterways.
Exelon submitted a report to the Delaware River Basin Commission
in May that said the project showed that the mine pool, "has the
potential to be a viable and environmentally acceptable source of
a significant quantity" of cooling water.
"As a business venture, we want to pump from the Schuylkill as
much as possible," said Scott Sklenar, an Exelon geologist
managing the project. He said the Point Pleasant Pump wouldn't be
dismantled if the mine water project is ultimately approved.
Exelon must submit a final report on the project by April 29,
2005, before it makes its request to use water from the mine on a
permanent basis.
"As a technical venture, by the way it's working, we think it
should be permanent," Sklenar said.
Patrick Lester can be reached at (215) 538-6371 or
[plester@phillyBurbs.com] .July 30, 2004 8:04 AM
Story Options:
[http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/articleComment.cfm?id=340066]
Print this story Email a friend
©2004 Copyright Calkins Media, Inc. All rights reserved. back to
*****************************************************************
14 Seattle Times: System failure forces shutdown at Hanford nuclear plant
Friday, July 30, 2004 - Page updated at 03:23 P.M.
The Associated Press
RICHLAND — Washington state's only commercial nuclear reactor
remained out of service while technicians tried to determine why
an automatic shutdown system failed during a test today.
State emergency officials said there was no release of radiation
and no danger to the public. It was not immediately known when
the Columbia Generating Station reactor would be restarted.
The failure triggered an alert in which state agencies prepared
to respond if needed to help Benton and Franklin counties near
the reservation. But Brad Peck, spokesman for the reactor's
operator, Energy Northwest, said the reactor was stable and the
alert was canceled at 11:57 a.m., about two hours after it was
declared.
The reactor, which produces power for the Northwest electricity
grid, would remain out of service until crews determine what
caused the problem, he said.
Energy Northwest spokeswoman Heather McMurdo said lights on a
control panel showed that two of 185 control rods did not fully
insert into the reactor during the test.
The rods, which control the reactor's operation, were inserted
manually about 10 a.m., she said.
Backup systems operated correctly and the alert could have been
canceled when the control rods were manually inserted, but plant
operators wanted to err on the side of caution, McMurdo said.
"It was conservative for us to have remained in an alert status,"
she said.
Rob Harper, spokesman for the Washington state Emergency
Operations Center, said that although there was no threat to the
public, the center at the National Guard's Camp Murray was
activated, as called for under the plant's emergency plan. The
center deactivated shortly before 1 p.m., he said.
The state Department of Health dispatched a field team to take
air samples and soil readings as a precaution, he said.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesman Ken Clark in Atlanta said
the reactor automatically shut down after a high pressure
indication at about 9:25 a.m. It was then that equipment
indicated some control rods were not fully inserted, he said.
Plant operators will try to determine what caused the high
pressure indication and whether the control rods were slow to
drive fully into the reactor core, or there were problems with
indicator lights, Clark said.
Columbia Generating Station is a boiling water reactor that
produces 1,150 megawatts of electricity, which is sold to the
Bonneville Power Administration.
Formerly known as the Washington Public Power Supply System No. 2
reactor, it is the only one of five reactors started in the late
1970s to be completed before construction was halted in 1982-83.
Facilities licensed by the NRC have four classes of emergencies
in order of increasing severity.
An alert is the second level. When an alert is declared, events
are in process or have occurred which involve an actual or
potential substantial degradation in the level of safety of the
plant, according to an NRC Web site.
Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company
*****************************************************************
15 Rutland Herald: Nuclear experts challenge NRC on performance
- Jul. 29, 2004
By SUSAN SMALLHEER Herald Staff
Two nuclear industry engineers who have studied the Vermont
Yankee nuclear power plant extensively have taken the unusual
step of challenging federal regulators over their own regulations
- saying the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, in essence, isn't
doing its job.
Paul Blanch of West Hartford, Conn., and Arnold Gundersen of
Burlington have filed a citizen's petition with the NRC, claiming
it is unclear what standards Yankee is being held to.
Nuclear industry regulations have changed substantially over the
past 35 years, and Blanch and Gundersen said it is unclear
whether the 1967, 1972 or 1982 standards are being applied.
Blanch, an electrical engineer who has acted as a consultant for
Entergy Nuclear at its Indian Point nuclear power plant, and
Gundersen, a nuclear engineer who worked as a sub-contractor at
Vermont Yankee about 12 years ago, said that the regulatory
situation amounted to a "shell game."
Their petition launches a formal process. NRC has 180 days to
respond to the six-page complaint that alleges the commission
doesn't have a firm handle on whether Yankee is complying with
its design and the NRC regulations.
"The analogy I use is the automobile industry," Blanch said.
"Automobiles today have a design basis - they have to have
seatbelts, air bags, anti-lock brakes, a redundant braking system
- that is the design basis for cars.
"They (Vermont Yankee) don't, and we don't know whether they have
it or not and they have no idea," he said, citing more than 45
pages of correspondence he had with federal and state regulators
on the issue.
Blanch, who has worked closely with the NRC in the past and
considers himself pro-nuclear, said that he and Gundersen are the
only ones who have really studied Yankee.
"No one has really focused the way we have on Vermont Yankee;
we've gotten these documents in discovery," he said, referring to
the exchange of documents over the uprate case in the past year.
Blanch and Gundersen have both testified on behalf of the
anti-nuclear group New England Coalition in its fight against
Entergy's plans to increase power production at Vermont Yankee.
Both experts insist they are pro-nuclear and think Yankee should
remain in operation - but not boost power.
Gundersen, who now teaches mathematics and physics at Burlington
High School, said he felt like one of the NASA engineers who knew
about the flaws that contributed to the space shuttle disaster.
Those engineers went to their boss, but was ignored and they let
it drop, he said.
"The risks are just so enormous," he said. "This seems to be the
only way to get the NRC's attention."
Gundersen pointed to recent articles in the Cleveland Plain
Dealer which uncovered NRC negligence when it came to the
Davis-Besse nuclear reactor, which a recent federal report showed
was close to a nuclear meltdown because of an eroded component.
Davis-Besse was one month short of a meltdown, he said, and the
NRC would have kept it running except the plant shut down for
normal refueling and discovered the hole.
Neil Sheehan, NRC spokesman, said the commission had just
received the petition and needed time to review it.
He said the NRC had 180 days to respond and he said that the NRC
had certain criteria it had to follow in evaluating the petition.
Robert Williams, 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.
Sheehan said that there are other citizen petitions pending.
"Vermont Yankee? I'm certain of it," he said.
In the past 12 months, roughly, the NRC received about 12
petitions and only accepted four for investigation, he said.
Contact Susan Smallheer at susan.smallheer@rutlandherald.com.
Copyright © 2004 [http://www.rutlandherald.com/] and
Barre-Montpelier [http://www.timesargus.com/]
*****************************************************************
16 Brattleboro Reformer: State will seek NRC hearing
[http://www.reformer.com/]
July 30, 2004 Brattleboro, VT
By CAROLYN LORIÉ
Reformer Staff
VERNON -- Department of Public Service Commissioner David O'Brien
said the state will move ahead with plans to request a hearing
before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in the Vermont Yankee
uprate case.
That announcement was made on Thursday at a meeting of the
Vermont Nuclear State Advisory Panel, of which O'Brien is the
chairman, held at the Vernon Elementary School.
Although earlier in the week and even during the meeting,
O'Brien stated that no final decision had been made, after the
meeting, he confirmed that the department would in fact be filing
a petition.
"We don't have a lot of choices with the NRC to get answers,"
said O'Brien.
The answers the state wants have specifically to do with
containment overpressure.
In a December 2003 letter from the department to the NRC, state
nuclear engineer Bill Sherman asked the NRC how safety would be
insured if Vermont Yankee were allowed take credit for pressure
in the containment tank, in the event of an accident.
O'Brien and Sherman both said they were not pleased with the NRC
response, which came in a letter on June 29.
"I'm disappointed as a public official that this answer was what
we got," O'Brien told the panel. "It's not a very straightforward
letter. It seems to be kind of evasive."
The panel voted to recommend that the state move forward with a
petition.
Thursday's meeting also included a presentation by the New
England Coalition.
Technical adviser Raymond Shadis warned the panel that NRC
standards for getting a hearing are stringent and that even the
state may fail to meet them. He also said that with only a month
left, there may not be sufficient time for the department to make
its case.
"Vermont might just be coming with too little, too late to get a
hearing," said Shadis. "My advice is to get cracking."
According to Sherman, the department plans to request that the
NRC extend the Aug. 31 deadline.
Also speaking with the coalition was Paul Blanch, who spoke to
the panel about a petition that he and Arnold Gundersen filed
with the NRC.
According to the two industry whistleblowers, the NRC does not
have clear criteria on which to base their upcoming engineering
inspection. In their petition, Blanch and Gundersen have
requested that Entergy provide the regulator with "clear and
unambiguous" information regarding the plant's adherence to
design regulations.
Blanch also touched briefly on the containment overpressure
issue, calling the plan to allow for it "inherently dangerous."
Engineers from Entergy presented information on current plant
status, the outage caused by the transformer fire and the missing
fuel.
David McElwee, senior liaison engineer, attempted to open the
talk with an explanation of how much money Entergy calculated the
state had saved because the power purchase agreement, which was
brokered during the sale of the plant.
He was cut off by panel member Sen. Mark MacDonald, D-Orange.
"Is this an editorial or an advertisement?" MacDonald asked
Chairman O'Brien.
Panel member Tim Russell also questioned whether McElwee should
be allowed to make such claims.
"I'm not sure I believe it," said Russell, referring to a chart
showing the amount of savings.
O'Brien prompted McElwee to move to the next item.
The Entergy engineer then explained how problems with the metal
laminate on an expansion joint and the failure of a surge
protector allowed the June 18 fire to start, consequently causing
the plant to shut down. Vermont Yankee was down from June 18
until July 6.
According to McElwee, the fire was not connected to uprate
modifications and, therefore, would not trigger the consumer
protection plan.
O'Brien said that the department had not yet weighed in on that
conclusion.
McElwee also covered the process involved in finding the missing
fuel, which included a search of the spent fuel pool, review of
records and personnel interviews.
Sherman praised the company's efforts to relocate the missing
fuel and then pointed out that a plant in California recently
reported missing three pieces of fuel, while also finding nine
pieces for which there was no record.
"Vermont Yankee's record-keeping compared to others in the
industry is quite good," said Sherman. "My view is that the
Vermont Yankee team really needs to be commended for the way they
did this work."
Sherman added, however, that it was "disturbing" that plant
engineers searched the spent fuel pool -- where the missing fuel
turned out to be -- but missed the canister housing it because
they were so focused on finding a specific kind of canister.
After the meeting, Shadis accused Sherman of being an Entergy
advocate and again voiced concern about the department's plan to
seek a hearing before the NRC.
"There would be a benefit if we did not have the department
running interference for Entergy," said Shadis.
Copyright ©1999-2004 New England Newspapers, Inc., a
*****************************************************************
17 [du-list] DU Shipments Docket statements posted on DOT website
Date: Fri, 30 Jul 2004 15:19:31 -0700
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags">
Depleted Uranium Munitions Action Plan
Updated July 30, 2004 by Glen Milner
Department of Transportation Docket Management System statements are posted
regarding DOT-E 9649. If you have sent a statement to the DOT regarding
this exemption, please see if your statement has been properly entered in
the public record. Many statements have not been posted.
This information can be accessed by going to
http://dms.dot.gov At the bottom and left side of the
page, go to Simple Search. Then enter 18576 for the Docket Number. This
should bring up three pages listing 133 entries on DOT-E 9649.
If your statement is not listed, you may send your statement again. In
addition, the renewal process is still open. You may send additional
statements. It appears the DOT has not yet addressed our concerns of
burning depleted uranium in the case of an accident involving depleted
uranium munitions. The Department of Defense has submitted statements
indicating depleted uranium munitions are less radioactive than previously
believed.
Please look at this public website, and resubmit your statement if it is
not posted. Please address technical and scientific issues involved in
depleted uranium munitions shipments if you are able to do so.
I have submitted five different statements to the DOT on DOT-E 9649. Only
one is posted, a request for public hearings. I will resubmit the four
other statements and a new one.
DOT-E 9649 has not been renewed. Letters may still be sent to the
Department of Transportation.
The Depleted Uranium Munitions Action Plan is an attempt by activists
across the United States to prevent the renewal of a special U.S.
Department of Transportation (DOT) exemption, DOT-E 9649, which allows the
shipment of depleted uranium munitions without a DOT "Radioactive" placard
displayed on the shipment.
The expiration date for the exemption was June 30, 2004. The complete
action plan is posted at
http://www.traprockpeace.org/du_mun_action_plan.pdf
or contact info@gzcenter.org for a copy.
Organizations sponsoring the Depleted Uranium Munitions Action Plan: Ground
Zero Center for Nonviolent Action, Poulsbo, Washington :
www.gzcenter.org E-mail:
info@gzcenter.org;Traprock Peace Center,
Deerfield, Massachusetts :
www.traprockpeace.org E-mail:
traprock@crocker.com; Military Toxics Project,
Lewiston, Maine www.miltoxproj.org Email:
mtp@miltoxproj.org; Nukewatch, Luck, Wisconsin
www.nukewatch.com E-mail:
nukewatch@lakeland.ws
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
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* To visit your group on the web, go to:
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*
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Yahoo! Terms of Service.
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18 Deseret news: Downwinders decry lack of funds
[deseretnews.com]
Friday, July 30, 2004
Utahns ask council to expand compensation for nuclear exposure
By Donna Kemp Spangler Deseret Morning News
Darlene Phillips is convinced her cancer was caused by drinking
"radioactive milk" while growing up in Bountiful in the 1950s.
Yet she is one of thousands of people who say they were harmed by
nuclear testing during the Cold War but have not been compensated
under current law.
Demonstrators at Salt Lake Library hold signs bearing names of
loved ones who died of cancer.
Tom Smart, Deseret Morning News
On Thursday morning, Phillips stood outside the Salt Lake
City Library holding a yellow cardboard tombstone bearing the
name of the late Utah Gov. Scott Matheson, himself a cancer
victim of downwind radioactive fallout. Phillips was joined by
about 25 others in a vigil calling attention to the death toll
of Americans who have died due to nuclear fallout.
Inside the library, Matheson's son, Rep. Jim Matheson,
D-Utah, was before a panel of scientists testifying that more
research and more money is needed to compensate people who were
exposed to the open-air nuclear testing at the Nevada Test Site
between 1951 and 1962.
"As downwinders, Utahns paid a heavy price for trusting
their government and for being in the wrong place at the wrong
time," Matheson told the National Academies' National Research
Council, meeting in Salt Lake City at the behest of Congress to
hold hearings on whether to expand the law for those eligible to
receive compensation under the Radiation Exposure Compensation
Act of 1990.
"They have seen loved ones suffer and die from cancer and
other devastating diseases. They live with the uncertainty that
a hidden time bomb in the form of radiation damage to cells
could go off inside them at any time," Jim Matheson said.
That message was not lost on Eve Mary Verde, who has
watched family and friends die of cancer.
"I was diagnosed at 45 with breast cancer," Verde told
the panel. "In 1999, my mother died of colon cancer and two
months ago my brother was diagnosed with colon cancer."
Currently compensation is limited to a handful of
southern Utah, northern Arizona and southern Nevada counties.
But Dr. Gene Childress suspects the effects of nuclear
fallout were felt as far away as northeast Missouri, where he
treats a large number of patients for breast and colon cancers.
He said he was convinced all Americans were affected by
fallout after reading Richard Miller's book, "The U.S. Atlas of
Nuclear Fallout 1951-1962."
Miller was in Salt Lake to testify before the scientific
panel.
"Fallout occurred everywhere across the entire nation,"
he said. "Fallout and cancer are related."
Matheson and Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, are both calling
on Congress to expand compensation to cover new people with
additional types of cancer. This plea comes at a time when the
compensation fund has a projected $72 million shortfall.
Matheson is also sponsoring legislation to make it more
difficult for the federal government to resume nuclear testing
(he wants environmental studies and a congressional vote before
such tests could be conducted). The legislation appears targeted
at the Bush administration's $96 million request to study new
nuclear weapons program and resume testing in Nevada.
"The irony is just astounding," said Venessa Pierce of
Healthy Environment Alliance of Utah and coordinator of
Downwinders Opposed to Nuclear Testing. "The government has yet
to compensate the victims of the first round of nuclear testing,
and yet it is funding studies for new nuclear weapons, which, if
tested, could create a second generation of downwinders."
Preston J. Truman, director of Downwinders, summed it up
with a message to the federal government.
"This is about two things: Clean up your mess and make
sure you don't do it again."
E-mail: donna@desnews.com [donna@desnews.com]
© 2004 Deseret News Publishing Company
*****************************************************************
19 Las Vegas RJ: Lawmaker urges expansion of radiation compensation efforts
Friday, July 30, 2004
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
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.
"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.
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.
Copyright Las Vegas Review-Journal
*****************************************************************
20 Las Vegas RJ: Test site team in N.M. for cleanup
Friday, July 30, 2004
Project to remove soil tainted from '67 test By KEITH ROGERS
REVIEW-JOURNAL
An environmental team from the Nevada Test Site is in New Mexico
to clean up soils contaminated by diesel fuel from drilling
operations for a 1967 underground nuclear test.
A statement Thursday from the National Nuclear Security
Administration said the work to remove petroleum-tainted soils
at the Gasbuggy site, 55 miles east of Farmington, N.M., will be
completed by the end of September.
The project is part of a continuing Department of Energy effort
to clean up contamination left by Cold War government activities
to test and produce the nation's nuclear weapons.
Gasbuggy was a 29-kiloton nuclear blast nearly a mile below
ground. It was an experiment to see if a nuclear explosion at
4,240-feet deep would fracture natural gas formations locked in
tight, underground reservoirs. The idea was to increase recovery
of natural gas.
Soil samples from the Gasbuggy site confirm there is no surface
contamination from radioactive materials, the statement said.
An administration spokesman in Las Vegas said all areas with
similar hydrocarbon contamination outside the test site, 65
miles northwest of Las Vegas, have been cleaned up.
Those include the Central Nevada Test Area, where the 1968
Faultless test was conducted near Duckwater; and the site of the
1963 Shoal test outside of Fallon. Both were underground tests.
As in Gasbuggy, there was no nuclear contamination on the ground
surface, said the spokesman, Kevin Rohrer.
He said radioactive contamination left from above-ground,
weapons safety tests has been removed from some areas of the
Tonopah range within a controlled area of Nellis Air Force
Range.
"We'll still need to do some cleanup at some point down the
road," Rohrer said.
The surface contamination resulted from the 1963 Clean Slate
series and Double Tracks test.
Although the tests had no nuclear yield, high explosives
scattered nuclear materials. The tests were aimed at
understanding how to transport nuclear bombs safely so that they
don't accidentally erupt into nuclear chain reactions during a
collision.
While some areas of the Nevada Test Site are under remediation,
there are no plans to clean up large contaminated areas such as
the Sedan Crater or hundreds of underground test cavities.
"Where would you bury it?" Rohrer asked.
He said there would be more hazard and risk to remove such
nuclear-tainted soils and groundwater.
The site's environmental plan calls for monitoring to ensure
that no contamination reaches the public.
Copyright Las Vegas Review-Journal
*****************************************************************
21 RGJ: Radiation limited to mine site, BLM says
http://www.rgj.com
Readings not judged as
immediate threat, although anyone going on-site could be in
danger Patrick Abanathy [online@rgj.com] MVN
7/29/2004 03:28 pm advertisement
Elevated levels of radiation in some areas of the old Anaconda
Copper mine recently had some scratching their heads as to
whether the Geiger counter was working properly.
The bad news is, it was; however, the good news is, so far, it
seems to be isolated within the mine’s perimeter fence.
“We want to make sure everybody’s informed now,” BLM Project
Manager Earle Dixon said. It was later determined that the best
public meeting date, coinciding with several important related
events, would be Aug. 25.
Fieldwork on the Process Areas Work Plan was previously scheduled
to begin this summer; however, an
Radiation
updated health and safety plan is required before this can begin.
This is where the recent samplings came in.
+ The danger
Nine of about 100 recent soil samples show significantly elevated
amounts of radiation near the processing area in the middle of
the 3,600-acre mine site. Although this does not pose a threat to
the surrounding community, anyone entering the site, such as
clean up workers, could face a danger. As of now, anyone not
necessarily needed on site are not being allowed in. This
includes tours.
Recent information released from BLM illustrates the problematic
numbers recently found in the processing areas:
A “rem” is a unit of dose that is used in the regulatory,
administrative, and engineering design aspects of radiation
safety practice. The average person receives about 360 millirems
each year including an external 100 and an internal 260.
Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) standard for
workers exposed to ionizing radiation is 5,000 millirem per year.
With a typical work year at about eight hours per day and 250
days per year, this equals about 2.5 millirem per hour for
workers.
The US Navy supports the OSHA worker standard of 5,000 millirem
per year; however, they set an action level of 500 millirem per
year in order to provide time for a radiation protection program
to take steps necessary to prevent further exposure.
Recent soil samples have shown between 0.2 and 3 millirem per
hour in some areas, which translate into a significantly high
amount when compared to the U.S. Navy action level.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) public standard for
cumulative exposure to radiation due to man-made sources is 15
millirem per year while that for the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission (NRC) is 25 millirem per year. These are EPA and NRC
standards for public health protection at the 12-kilometer
boundary for Yucca Mountain.
According to data provided by BLM, the sample results, based on
pico Curies per gram (pCi/g), also came back showing amounts at
up to 157 pCi/g for radium 226 and 139 pCi/g for radium 228. With
the EPA standard for cleanup set at 5 pCi/g, these levels prove
significant. As for gross alpha and beta emitters, numbers were
significantly higher with some reaching 1,440 pCi/g; however, Jim
Sickles, remedial project manager for the Site Cleanup Branch of
the EPA, noted during a recent conference call that the gross
numbers could be compounded or misread because of soil grain
size.
Of course, the process area is generally closed off to the public
anyway; however, some have concerns of radioactive soil making
its way offsite via dust. Related to this is the infamous red
dust located on site, which was also sampled during the before
mentioned nine samples. Sickles said the red dust is not
radioactive; in any case, some areas of red dust have been
mitigated as to prevent winds from blowing it off site.
Although no immediate threat to surrounding residents has been
detected, Sickles said more information is needed from the
additional 90 samples, which are due back this week.
“There’s just a too much uncertainty,” he said adding that the
recent radiation findings have made the process areas cleanup
“more complex and messy than we (regulatory agencies) thought.”
Sickles said, and NDEP Staff Engineer Art Gravenstein concurred,
he would like to have a rad survey first conducted before further
process area investigation continues in that punching holes in
the ground before assessing the total danger could result in an
exposure issue, which might not be readily visible simply from
surface samples.
However, Yerington Paiute Tribe Chairman Wayne Garcia did not
relish the idea of holding off in that it could ultimately lead
to hold offs of other investigations and work plans.
As the new health and safety plan is currently being drafted,
regulatory agencies hope to have a small technical workshop Aug.
17 and a larger public meeting the following week on Aug. 25.
These dates are to coincide as closely as possible to the
targeted Aug. 13 release of the health and safety plan.
+ Keep out!
One of the broader topics of discussion last Monday during a
Yerington Technical Work Group conference call was that of site
security. It is no secret that a barbwire fence encompasses the
site with easily spotted orange signs attached every so many feet
warning of danger.
Despite having all fairly easily accessed areas surrounded by
fencing, some portions, such as the southern tailing pile and
privately owned portions, do not have fencing. Also, anyone with
a wire cutter can gain access through the existing fence.
Dietrick McGinnis, of McGinnis &Associates, said it is important
to assure the existing fence is in good condition. He added that
most sites of this nature would have much taller fences with
barbwire atop.
Suggestions for increased site security include bringing in
employees of SRK Consulting on an extra day, which would see
employees on site seven days per week. Others included taking
account of all keys to the site, restricting access of any
unnecessary tours, installing signage with thorough warning and
possibly having people driving around the site. Joe Sawyer, of
SRK Consulting, said it currently requires about 45 minutes to
drive completely around the nine-mile perimeter of the site.
McGinnis said he believes site-wide increased security would be
the best implemented quickly.
“I think it’s a huge priority,” he said with Sickles later adding
that “it makes perfectly good sense” to also identify current low
to no-security areas.
It was recommended to place a better fence system around just the
high-radiation areas; however, McGinnis pointed out that other
hazards exist, plus, without all samples back, it is unclear as
to what other areas might pose a threat. Currently all elevated
radiation areas are flagged with yellow tape and signs denoting a
radiological hazard. These are only temporary precautions until a
permanent, more secure fence is put in place.
+ Other plans
Of course other test results are due back and security is to be
tightened; however, other ideas were kicked around in the
conference call while others gained some ground with various
departmental representatives.
Chuck Zimmerman, of Brown and Caldwell, said a need for immediate
air monitoring is present, to which many agreed. Other efforts to
mitigate onsite dust, including water trucks and compacting, are
being examined as well.
Sickles said air sampling has never been conducted onsite in that
the “Fugitive Dust Work Plan” encompassing this measure has been
held up at various levels of the regulatory agencies; however, a
weather monitoring station has been constructed.
Gravenstein said NDEP has never been asked to install
air-monitoring stations and have only been asked to place
mitigation instead. He reiterated that air monitoring and
mitigation are separate processes.
*****************************************************************
22 AP Wire: NRC fines Westinghouse Electrical Company for safety violations
| 07/30/2004 |
[http://www.thestate.com
Associated Press
COLUMBIA, S.C. - A company that makes low-enriched uranium to use
in commercial nuclear power plants has been fined $24,000 for
violating safety rules, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said
Friday.
Westinghouse Electric Company was fined after it found uranium
ash deposits that exceeded limits, the regulatory agency said.
The amount of ash would not have supported a nuclear reaction,
the NRC said.
The violations are the second most severe. The company has taken
steps to correct the problem, and has 30 days to appeal the fine
or pay it.
About TheState.com |
*****************************************************************
23 Salt Lake Tribune: Downwinders to panel: Expand amends
Article Last Updated: 07/30/2004 03:22:00 AM
They hope the testimonies affect a report to Congress due next
year
By Judy Fahys
Annette Rose, right, of Salt Lake City, lays down mock
tombstones - representing people who have died of cancer after
exposure to nuclear testing - outside the Salt Lake City Main
Library on Thursday morning. (Al Hartmann/The Salt Lake Tribune)
A five-time cancer survivor showed a jumbo photo of her
young daughter laid out on pink satin in her casket - one of
three children she lost to cancer.
Another woman sobbed as she told how thyroid cancer
debilitated her 39-year-old husband and left her family in
financial ruin.
Some shared personal stories of surviving diseases blamed on
exposure to fallout from the federal government's atomic-weapons
testing between 1945 and 1962; others hinted they might succumb
soon. But practically everyone who addressed the National
Academies of Science panel Thursday said Congress should expand
the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) to cover more
Utahns affected by more kinds of radiation-related diseases.
Committee members now face the difficult task of ignoring
much of the heart-wrenching downwinders' testimony and
developing a report for Congress that lays out clear-eyed,
dispassionate scientific arguments for changing the compensation
program.
Sandy Evans Walsh, who grew up in Parowan and who is a
five-time cancer survivor, testifies Thursday before the
National Academies of Science about illnesses related to nuclear
testing. (Al Hartmann/The Salt Lake Tribune)
"Youhave to try to balance the impact of an individual's
testimony and the research" relevant to the panel's mandate,
said Shirley Fry, acting chairwoman of the National Academies of
Science committee and an Indiana-based expert on radiation's
health effects.
She emphasized that the committee, as it did at a St. George
hearing last December, is still gathering information and has
made no conclusions.
"It's too early at this stage to say anything, even
generally," she said. "I think we have to ask you to wait for
our report."
The 10-member committee expects to release that report next
June, after deliberating its conclusions and writing up its
recommendations for Congress. Ultimately, Congress will decide
if compensation should go to those from a wider geographic area
and those with other illnesses linked to the fallout.
Since 1992, the federal government has paid $775 million
under RECA - about $187 million of that to Utahns.
Roughly 11,800 downwinders and atomic-weapons test
workers have had their claims approved, with 2,500 compensation
requests pending and 5,600 rejected.
The Utah Legislature this year passed a resolution urging the
NAS committee to expand RECA eligibility to anyone who lived in
Utah during the testing and who has one of the covered diseases.
Currently, those who live in just nine of Utah's 29 counties are
eligible.
Many of the speakers Thursday remarked the committee's task
will certainly be difficult. Some cancers covered under RECA,
such as colon or breast cancer and leukemia, are common in areas
where fallout exposure was minimal. And some counties, while as
far away as Idaho, Iowa and New York, received doses of harmful
radiation that were higher than doses measured in Southwestern
counties already on the RECA list.
The NAS committee held the Salt Lake City meeting in hopes of
gleaning leads on studies and other information that might
bolster its arguments on possible expansion.
U.S. Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, told the committee more and
better data would help identify those who should qualify for the
government payments of $150,000 or $100,000. He said many Utahns
lived daily with a "hidden time bomb" of radiation-related
disease because the defunct Atomic Energy Commission, which
conducted the tests, deemed Utah "a low-use segment of the
population."
"The government told us we were safe, when, in fact, the
government knew we were not," said Matheson, whose father, the
late Gov. Scott Matheson, died of a downwinder cancer.
Many agreed with him that, as much as the compensation, the
government owed downwinders recognition for their suffering. And
many wondered aloud about the panel's political will to expand
the fund, which is close again to running out.
"I think the government should take more responsibility for
its actions," said Sandra Evans Walsh, the onetime
Parowan resident who shared the photo of her daughter.
In addition, many who testified urged the panel to recommend
against the resumption of nuclear testing in Nevada, for which
Congress already has approved provisional funding.
Karen Evans, a longtime thyroid cancer survivor, said testing
must never be allowed to happen again at the Nevada Test Site.
"We are not disposable," she told the panel. "We matter. Yes.
We matter."
University of Utah researcher Lynn Anspaugh noted that
allowing claims for anyone exposed to fallout would potentially
mean eligibility for anyone who was in the United States during
the 17 years of testing, since the National Institutes of Health
has determined there was measurable fallout throughout the
nation.
But he said the program could be improved, for instance, by
including Salt Lake County residents, who received higher
radiation doses than southern Utah counties currently recognized
under RECA.
Though he warned against second-guessing what the
panel will suggest, Anspaugh predicted the committee will
recommend some expansion, probably to include Salt Lake County.
Citing the scientific data, he said, "I don't know how they
could avoid it."
fahys@sltrib.com
© Copyright 2004, The Salt Lake Tribune.
*****************************************************************
24 Times-News: Activists call for Idaho downwind study
By Jennifer Sandmann Times-News writer
[http://www.magicvalley.com/]
Friday, July 30, 2004 • Twin Falls, Idaho
TWIN FALLS -- Nuclear watchdogs in Idaho are calling for the
federal government to bring "downwinder" forums to this state
where a federal study shows four counties were among the hardest
hit by radioactive fallout from nuclear bomb testing in Nevada.
Twin Falls podiatrist Dr. Peter Rickards was in Salt Lake City on
Thursday to testify at a downwinder hearing and request that one
be held in Idaho.
"Having a hearing in Boise would allow Idahoans to tell their
story," he said before he left for Utah.
"Since Idaho got hit as hard as Utah if not harder, we would
basically like to make sure that the Academy of Sciences would
include Idaho in the geographic area to be compensated," Rickards
said.
The Snake River Alliance and the Environmental Defense Institute
based in Troy, Idaho, joined Rickards in calling for an Idaho
hearing.
Four Idaho counties -- Blaine, Custer, Gem and Lemhi -- along
with Meagher County, Mont., received the highest doses of
radioactive iodine in the country, a 1997 study by the National
Cancer Institute found.
The study reviewed historical radiation measurements taken from
monitoring stations around the country after 90 bomb tests at the
Nevada Test Site in 1952, 1953, 1955 and 1957. The radiation data
was not made available to the public until the NCI's report was
released seven years ago.
The NCI study estimated radioactive iodine fallout in each U.S.
county, but other types of radioactive elements also were
distributed in fallout. A product of a nuclear reaction,
iodine-131 has been linked to thyroid cancer. Cows graze dusted
pastures, and the radioactivity is distributed in milk. Milk
consumption was used to estimate exposure, because it was the
source of the most exposure for most people.
The study did not incorporate fallout from other radiation
releases over the years, including releases from nuclear plants,
underground tests that still sent radiation into the atmosphere
or testing in the Pacific islands.
z Bringing the Board on Radiation Effects Research work to Idaho
is of interest to Republican U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo's office, his
spokesman Lindsay Nothern said.
"We want to make sure Idahoans are heard from and included in the
study," he said.
But it's premature to say what the outcome of such hearings could
be, Nothern said.
The Congress-commissioned board includes 12 scientists and health
experts charged with proposing improvements to the Radiation
Exposure Compensation Act. The federal law provides $50,000 in
compensation to downwinders who lived in specific counties of
southern Utah, Nevada and Arizona during the testing and who
today suffer from specific cancers.
The United State's nuclear testing legacy includes payments of
more than $347.3 million to downwinders to date, and $1.15
million for childhood leukemia cases, statistics from the U.S.
Department of Justice show. The government has paid more than
$700 million in claims altogether to 17,721 people -- 11,984 of
whom were downwinders -- including cancer victims who were
uranium workers or at the test site during testing.
A companion NCI study found that the none of the four Idaho
counties with highest estimated exposure to iodine-131 showed an
elevation in thyroid cancers from 1970 to 1996 in people born
between 1948-1958.
Many other types of cancers are eligible for downwind
compensation: Leukemia (other than chronic lymphocytic leukemia),
multiple myeloma, lymphomas (other than Hodgkin's disease) and
primary cancer of the thyroid, breast, esophagus, stomach,
pharynx, small intestine, pancreas, bile ducts, gall bladder,
salivary gland, bladder, brain, colon, ovary, liver (except if
cirrhosis or hepatitis B is indicated), or lung.
Times-News writer Jennifer Sandmann can be reached at 733-0931,
Ext. 237, or [jsandmann@magicvalley.com] .
Utah calls for expansion of downwinder act
The Associated Press
SALT LAKE CITY -- More than 100 people attended a "downwinder"
meeting here Thursday, many of whom blamed radioactive fallout
for the loss of family members to cancer.
Resident Mary Dickson said she developed thyroid cancer and
ovarian tumors, but she wasn't eligible for federal compensation
because she didn't live in an eligible 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.
The state's Democratic Congressman Jim Matheson called for the
federal government to extend compensation to more people who
became sick or developed cancer because of nuclear weapons
testing at the Nevada Test Site.
Matheson argued to the Board on Radiation Effects Research that
legislation to compensate the victims is outdated and doesn't
help nearly enough Americans. He wants other "hot spots" to be
eligible.
"We know more today than we knew then, but let's assume that was
an interim step and not the final," Matheson said.
He quoted a declassified Atomic Energy Commission memo that
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," he said.
Ironically, fallout was distributed throughout the entire
country.
The issue is personal for Matheson. His father, Scott Matheson,
a former Utah governor, died of suspected downwind-related
cancer at age 61.
Matheson has introduced legislation that would increase
radiation monitoring and set up roadblocks for further nuclear
weapons. It would take the decision out of the U.S. President's
hands and require that Congress approve further testing. The
Bush Administration has proposed resuming underground testing.
Copyright © 2004, Lee Publications Inc.
Magicvalley.com is an on-line division of The Times-News,
published daily at 132 W. Fairfield St.,
Twin Falls, Idaho 83301 by Lee Publications, Inc., a subsidiary
of Lee Enterprises.
*****************************************************************
25 NRC: Notice of Availability of Environmental Assessment and Finding
FR Doc 04-17345
[Federal Register: July 30, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 146)]
[Notices] [Page 45855] From the Federal Register Online via GPO
Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr30jy04-132]
of No Significant Impact for License; Amendment for Philadelphia
Health & Education Corporation's Facility at the Eastern
Pennsylvania Psychiatric Institute in Philadelphia, PA AGENCY:
Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Notice of availability of Environmental Assessment and
Finding of No Significant Impact.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Randolph C. Ragland, Jr.,
Nuclear Materials Safety Branch 1, Division of Nuclear Materials
Safety, Region I, 475 Allendale Road, King of Prussia,
Pennsylvania, 19406, telephone (610) 337-5083, fax (610)
337-5269; or by email: [rcr1@nrc.gov] .
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: I. Introduction The Nuclear Regulatory
Commission (NRC) is considering the issuance of a license
amendment to Philadelphia Health & Education Corporation for
Materials License No. 37-07438-15, to authorize release of its
facility located at 3200 Henry Avenue, Philadelphia, PA for
unrestricted use. NRC has prepared an Environmental Assessment
(EA) in support of this action in accordance with the
requirements of 10 CFR part 51. Based on the EA, the NRC has
concluded that a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) is
appropriate. The amendment will be issued following the
publication of this notice.
II. EA Summary The purpose of the proposed action is to authorize
the release of the licensee's 3200 Henry Avenue, Philadelphia, PA
facility for unrestricted use. The Eastern Pennsylvania
Psychiatric Institute was authorized by NRC as a location of use
from 1982 to use radioactive materials for research and
development purposes at the site. On May 5, 2004, Philadelphia
Health & Education Corporation requested that NRC release the
facility for unrestricted use. Philadelphia Health & Education
Corporation has conducted surveys of the facility and determined
that the facility meets the license termination criteria in
subpart E of 10 CFR part 20. The NRC staff has prepared an EA in
support of the proposed license amendment.
III. Finding of No Significant Impact The staff has prepared the
EA (summarized above) in support of the proposed license
amendment to release the facility for unrestricted use. The NRC
staff has evaluated Philadelphia Health & Education Corporation's
request and the results of the surveys and has concluded that the
completed action complies with the criteria in subpart E of 10
CFR part 20. The staff has found that the environmental impacts
from the proposed action are bounded by the impacts evaluated by
the ``Generic Environmental Impact Statement in Support of
Rulemaking on Radiological Criteria for License Termination of
NRC-Licensed Facilities'' (NUREG-1496). On the basis of the EA,
the NRC has concluded that the environmental impacts from the
proposed action are expected to be insignificant and has
determined not to prepare an environmental impact statement for
the proposed action.
IV. Further Information Documents related to this action,
including the applications for license amendment and supporting
documentation, are available electronically at the NRC's
Electronic Reading Room at
[http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leaving
FR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html]
.
From this site, you can access the NRC's Agencywide Document
Access and Management System (ADAMS), which provides text and
image files of NRC's public documents. The ADAMS accession
numbers for the documents related to this Notice are:
ML042050031, ML041340651, ML042010301, and ML041950465. Persons
who do not have access to ADAMS or who encounter problems in
accessing the documents located in ADAMS, should contact the NRC
Public Document Room (PDR) Reference staff by telephone at (800)
397-4209 or (301) 415-4737, or by email to [pdr@nrc.gov] . These
documents may also be examined, and/ or copied for a fee, at the
NRC PDR, located at One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike
(First Floor), Rockville, MD 20852. The PDR is open from 7:45
a.m. to 4:15 p.m., Monday through Friday, except on Federal
holidays; and at the Region I Office, 475 Allendale Road, King of
Prussia, Pennsylvania 19406.
Dated in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania this 23rd day of July,
2004.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Penny Lanzisera, Acting Chief, Nuclear Materials Safety Branch 1,
Division of Nuclear Materials Safety, Region I.
[FR Doc. 04-17345 Filed 7-29-04; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P
*****************************************************************
26 Las Vegas SUN: Scientists shift view on cask corrosion at Yucca Mountain
Today: July 30, 2004 at 12:42:35 PDT
ASSOCIATED PRESS
LAS VEGAS (AP) - Prominent scientists have shifted their stance
on a key element of a national nuclear waste dump in Nevada,
saying they no longer fear one type of corrosion would quickly
weaken casks designed to contain radioactivity.
The new position by members of the Nuclear Waste Technical Review
Board boosts plans for the Yucca Mountain repository while the
Energy Department prepares to seek a crucial operating license
from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Board executive William Barnard attributed the shift to the
evolution of understanding about the first-of-its-kind
repository.
"It's a learning process for DOE," he said, "and a learning
process for the board." Opponents downplayed the effect
the finding would have on state efforts to block the federal
government from burying the nation's most radioactive waste 90
miles northwest of Las Vegas.
Steve Frishman, a state consultant on Yucca Mountain, said that
while it appeared the Energy Department had solved one corrosion
problem, Yucca engineers had not addressed questions about other
minerals that could create problems.
Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., insisted Friday that "overwhelming
scientific evidence shows that Yucca Mountain is not safe."
"Deciding which type of corrosion is most dangerous will not
change that underlying fact," he said.
The Energy Department maintains the Yucca project will be safe.
The board outlined its position in a four-page letter Wednesday
to Margaret Chu, director of Energy Department's Office of
Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, which directs the Yucca
project. Chu did not plan to comment, a spokesman said.
Technical Review Board staff members said that while some
concerns had been allayed, more needed to be known before
scientists can be confident the Yucca Mountain repository would
work the way the Energy Department expects.
Congress in 2002 picked Yucca Mountain as the site to bury 77,000
tons of highly radioactive waste from commercial nuclear reactors
and military and industrial sites in 39 states.
The Energy Department wants to open the repository in 2010 and
spend 24 years entombing the waste in casks made of nickel 22
metal alloy in tunnels 1,000 feet below ground.
The Technical Review Board threw a wrench into the plan last
October, with a report based on Energy Department research that
calcium chloride, a mineral compound, could react with moisture
in the tunnels and form a brine that could corrode casks within
1,000 years. Such a finding would make it difficult for the
repository to win an operating license.
The review board, created by Congress to evaluate Yucca science,
convened a two-day seminar in May at which the Energy Department
and other organizations presented updated analyses.
Based on those presentations, the board told Chu in its letter
that the calcium chloride corrosion scenario "appears unlikely."
---
On the Net:
Nevada's Agency for Nuclear Projects:
http://www.state.nv.us/nucwaste [http://www.state.nv.us/nucwaste]
Nuclear Regulatory Commission: http://www.nrc.gov
[http://www.nrc.gov]
Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board: http://www.nwtrb.gov
[http://www.nwtrb.gov]
Yucca Mountain project: http://www.ymp.gov [http://www.ymp.gov]
--
*****************************************************************
27 Las Vegas RJ: NUCLEAR WASTE STORAGE: Scientists shift view on Yucca
Friday, July 30, 2004
Potential corrosion of canistersnow of less concern to review
board By STEVE TETREAULT
STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU
WASHINGTON -- Prominent scientists have shifted their stance on
a key element of the Yucca Mountain repository, saying they no
longer fear that corrosive brines could penetrate nuclear waste
canisters and cause radioactive particles to leak within
relatively short periods.
Members of the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board said new
science presented by the Department of Energy caused them to
rethink the problem.
A new position by the panel could boost DOE as it maps out
blueprints for the proposed Yucca facility.
Conversely, it could downgrade an issue that repository
opponents have seized upon.
Staff members for the technical review board cautioned that
while some specific concerns have been allayed, much more still
needs to be known before scientists fully can be confident that
a Yucca repository would work as the Energy Department has
advertised.
"This does not mean the board does not have concerns about
corrosion of the packages; it means that this specific
(corrosion) issue is not a concern," board spokeswoman Karyn
Severson said.
The board outlined its position in a letter Wednesday to
Margaret Chu, director of DOE's Office of Civilian Radioactive
Waste Management. She did not plan to comment, a spokesman said.
The Energy Department considers the review board's shift a
"huge deal" that will encourage DOE to pursue its preferred
designs, said one Yucca manager who asked not to be identified.
Explaining the change, board director William Barnard said
science is evolving as more is learned about the
first-of-its-kind repository.
"This is part of a long-term learning process," Barnard said.
"It's a learning process for DOE, and a learning process for the
board."
The Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board caused a major stir
among scientists and policy-makers in October when it issued a
report raising questions about the Energy Department's preferred
repository design.
Current DOE plans call for canisters of waste to be spaced
tightly within tunnels.
The review board said in October that, based on DOE's own
research, the metal containers would be vulnerable to localized
corrosion within 1,000 years. Such a scenario would make it
difficult for the repository to win a safety operating license.
The review board, which was created by Congress to evaluate
Yucca science, in May convened a two-day seminar at which the
Energy Department and other organizations put forward updated
analyses.
Based on those presentations, the board told Chu in its letter
that the corrosion scenario it envisioned last year now "appears
unlikely."
New research concluded that calcium chloride, a mineral
compound, would not be present in dust flakes that will settle
on the canisters, according to officials.
The technical review panel had believed that calcium chloride
would boil with seepage water or humidity vapors to form a
corrosive brine that would eat into canister welds at a fast
rate.
The board said in its letter that DOE still needs to draw a
clear picture of environmental conditions within the repository
and other factors that might encourage package corrosion.
The state of Nevada was among the groups making presentations
in May. Steve Frishman, a full-time state consultant on Yucca
Mountain, said it appeared clear that DOE had solved the problem.
But, Frishman said, the Energy Department has yet to address
questions about the presence of other minerals that could create
problems when the decaying nuclear waste causes temperatures to
rise inside the repository.
"It is still implicit in all this that (DOE) really doesn't
understand what is going on above boiling," Frishman said.
The Energy Department "will try to claim victory, but it is
not," Frishman said. "Their usual way of responding to a problem
is they will take a specific problem and beat it to death
without looking at associated problems."
Copyright Las Vegas Review-Journal
*****************************************************************
28 Las Vegas SUN: State: Yucca finding 'masks issue'
By Ed Koch and
Suzanne Struglinski LAS VEGAS SUN
Nevada officials say findings this week by the Nuclear Waste
Technical Review Board that one form of corrosion at Yucca
Mountain is "unlikely" masks the real issue that the site is
just unsafe for nuclear waste.
"The overwhelming scientific evidence shows that Yucca Mountain
is not safe," Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said today. "Deciding
which type of corrosion is most dangerous will not change that
underlying fact.
"The courts have determined that the government can't license
the Yucca Mountain dump site now because it is a flawed,
dangerous plan. We need to stop wasting billions of taxpayer
dollars on this project."
The board this week presented its findings to the Energy
Department, which oversees the project at the proposed site of
the nation's nuclear waste dump 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
Those findings, the board says, are based primarily on
information provided by the Energy Department two months ago.
In a four-page letter to Energy Department official Margaret
Chu, Wednesday, the board explained the corrosion it once feared
would happen is unlikely during the 1,000-year period after the
repository is closed.
The findings center on a single corrosive issue, calcium
chloride-rich brines.
The conclusion is that it is "unlikely that dusts that
accumulate on waste package surfaces during the preclosure
period would contain significant amounts of calcium chloride ...
Thus the board concludes that deliquescence-induced localized
corrosion during the higher-temperature period of the thermal
pulse (about 1,000 years after the repository closes) is
unlikely."
But state officials say there are other types of corrosion that
could occur and say the board missed the crux of the issue.
"While this new analysis would appear to address a single
concern about how canisters might corrode and allow radioactive
waste to leak, it does not change the fact that Yucca Mountain
remains to be proven safe," Rep. Shelley Berkley said today.
"Science has yet to demonstrate that the mountain's own geology
can stop waste from leaking into water supplies and the recent
ruling of a federal court means that (the) DOE (the Energy
Department) will have to prove that Yucca can meet radiation
standards stretching for 200,000 years or more."
Berkley said that "by no means is the safety question now
settled" because of this one finding.
"New concerns are certain to arise as research continues,"
Berkley said.
Nevada has relied on its own research and the opinion of the
board as another element in its argument against storing nuclear
waste at Yucca. If the special metal canisters holding the waste
corrode, radiation inside could leak out and work its way
through the mountain to the groundwater below, the state fears.
"The board is relying on data provided by the DOE, which we
contend is made up," Bob Loux, executive director of the state's
Agency for Nuclear Projects said today in response to the
technical board's findings. "The state still maintains that no
metal of any kind will last more than a couple hundred years
because of local corrosion factors."
Loux said that many corrosive materials exist in the water in
the tunnel at Yucca, including arsenic, mercury, fluoride and
lead.
He said that tests have shown that lead particularly "is a
killer" to nickel alloy 22, one of the metals to be used in the
nuclear waste containers -- a metal proponents say will last
thousands of years.
Loux, however, said the state has taken samples of the metal
and under laboratory conditions has simulated Yucca Mountain
conditions, including heat and humidity, and determined that
nickel alloy 22 "fails very, very rapidly."
Yucca proponents say the addition of a titanium drip shield
also would prevent corrosion. However, Loux said, tests by
Nevada scientists and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission have
determined that fluoride in the water would breech that shield
in 50 years.
Loux also says a titanium drip shield would add $8 billion of
taxpayer money to the cost of the project.
Joe Egan, an attorney who represents Nevada on Yucca issues,
said today that in its entirety the board's findings are "a
tremendously helpful affirmation that supports our position that
they (DOE) have not done their work."
"Throughout the letter (to Chu) the board says the DOE has a
lot more homework to do," Egan says. "There is the one small
technical issue that differs with Nevada (the corrosion
finding), but overall the letter says we don't have enough here
so, DOE, go back and do more work."
One of the arguments in the many lawsuits and legal papers
Nevada has filed against the Yucca Mountain project is that the
DOE did not do its job and complete tests before all other
potential sites were scrapped and Yucca was rushed through as
the only suitable site for the storage of nuclear waste.
Late last year, the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board told
the Energy Department it had concerns about waste canisters
corroding because of moisture and a concoction of mineral
deposits that would drip onto them.
The Energy Department held a meeting with the board in May
outlining its science and plans for the project, which has now
lead the board to believe corrosion -- at least in limited scope
-- is not as serious a problem as once thought.
The board told Chu tests still need to be done, including some
recommended by Nevada officials, and that there are still
unanswered questions about what will happen inside the mountain
over time.
*****************************************************************
29 RGJ: Keep on fighting Yucca Mtn. despite feeling it’s inevitable
[http://www.rgj.com/]
[online@rgj.com] RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL
7/29/2004 10:17 pm
Former Nevada Gov. Bob List, consultant to a pro-Yucca Mountain
lobby, isn’t alone in recognizing changing attitudes. Most people
still oppose the dump, as they should, but a finger to the wind
points to a growing sense of inevitability and a desire to
negotiate, to see what the state can get out of the bargain.
Results of the Las Vegas Review-Journal poll showing more people
advocate continuing the fight are predictable. No one wants a
nuclear dump in his back yard or, worse, in a volcanic ridge. The
dangers have been enumerated ad nauseum and the fight has dragged
on against a determined federal government for many years. It
makes sense that people are a little weary.
Further, there’s no indication the election will bring relief.
President Bush is solidly behind the project, and it is
questionable whether John Kerry would do much about it, even if
he could, as long as the nuclear industry and politicians refuse
to look for a sensible, economical alternative. But there’s no
reason to stop fighting.
The state’s congressional delegation has faithfully opposed
Yucca. And they should continue. It would be great if someone
could come up with a viable alternative to the current plan. It
would be great if a miracle could happen.
© Copyright Reno Gazette-Journal, a [http://www.gannett.com]
*****************************************************************
30 Bradenton Herald: Feds will help file claims in Tallevast
| 07/30/2004 |
AIMEE JUAREZ
Herald Staff Writer
MANATEE - Current and former employees of contractors,
subcontractors and eligible survivors of former employees of
American Beryllium Co. can receive help next week filing claims
under an occupational illness compensation plan.
Part of the plan provides a lump-sum payment of up to $150,000
and medical benefits to covered employees. Survivors of covered
employees, including adult children, also may be able to receive
the lump-sum compensation.
Specific illnesses covered under the plan are radiogenic cancers,
beryllium diseases and chronic silicosis.
Some Tallevast residents used to work at the former American
Beryllium Co. plant at 1600 Tallevast Road, an area that is being
tested extensively to determine the extent of soil and
groundwater contamination there.
Officials with the U.S. Department of Labor and the U.S.
Department of Energy's Savannah River Resource Center will visit
the area next week to discuss the Energy Employees Occupational
Illness Compensation Program Act.
The program became effective July 31, 2001. The U.S. Department
of Labor administers part of the program. Current and former
employees of the Department of Energy, its contractors and
subcontractors, employees of atomic weapon employers and
employees of designated beryllium vendors may be eligible for
these benefits.
*****************************************************************
31 Bradenton Herald: Third party to view cleanup
| 07/30/2004 |
bradenton.com
[Dan Colby, in foreground, checks on leveling device Wednesday
under a new portable classroom in Tallevast.]
BRIAN BLANCO-The Herald
Dan Colby, in foreground, checks on leveling device Wednesday
under a new portable classroom in Tallevast.
TALLEVAST CONTAMINATION
KEVIN O'HORAN
Herald Staff Writer
Florida regulators will allow a third-party group full access to
monitoring cleanup activities in Tallevast, one condition of
several in a legal agreement announced Thursday to clean up
contamination in the southern Manatee County community.
The bulk of the agreement, or consent order, lays out a schedule
for Lockheed Martin Corp. to follow in identifying the spread of
cancer-causing solvents leaked from the American Beryllium Co.
plant it once owned, and to clean up the poisons.
But it also bows to community demands for greater control,
requiring Lockheed to funnel up to $20,000 a year to a
resident-tabbed consultant who will decipher tests, reports and
regulatory decisions relating to the 1600 Tallevast Road plant.
"I think we can feel comfortable with this," said Laura Ward, a
Tallevast resident and head of Family Oriented Community United,
Strong (FOCUS), a local activist group. "We haven't really had a
chance to go through it all yet, but I think we'll feel
comfortable with it."
Though Florida Department of Environmental Protection officials
stand by their handling of the project, Tallevast residents have
leveled sharp criticism at the agency for perceived delays in
warning about the contamination, and for soft-pedaling the
danger.
Crews working for Lockheed discovered contamination at the plant
in January 2000 and reported it soon after to DEP. Residents,
though, weren't told until November 2003 that cancer-causing
solvents had fouled area water supplies.
That delay led to a general mistrust among community members
about the agency's handling of the cleanup. Fueling the
misgivings were recent tests that showed the contamination to be
much wider, deeper and extreme than DEP officials expected.
After that most recent spate of tests, residents called for the
state to reshape the typical consent order required to spell out
cleanup activities at a contaminated site, and the version signed
Thursday by Lockheed and DEP leaders did have a twist.
It still contains a schedule of action, giving Lockheed 20 days
to submit a plan for how it will find where the solvents have
moved - including testing deep aquifers - and in what amounts.
Once DEP clears the plan, the company has two weeks to start
testing.
The order also calls for Lockheed to pen and deliver - in
one-third the time normally allotted - a plan for cleaning the
site. That remedial action plan, due within 90 days of the
contamination write-up, lays out how, where and when the company
will clean.
And the order mandates Lockheed provide regular reports on their
progress, pay $1,000 a day for any missed deadlines and repay
just more than $150,000 spent by state regulators for the most
recent round of testing.
The twist sought by Tallevast residents comes in paragraph 16 of
the consent order, in language that requires Lockheed to "fund
the oversight and review activities of an independent consulting
firm" chosen by FOCUS and cleared by DEP.
The funds will roll in as long as any contamination remains
beyond the boundaries of the five-acre plant, according to the
agreement.
"That is key," said Rep. Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, who helped
broker the independent review clause. "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, so their guy or lady can review it at the same
time."
And in a telephone news conference Thursday afternoon to discuss
the consent order, DEP officials acknowledged the importance of
that review.
"We thought it was a good idea for them to have that third-party
consultant, because there have been some concerns about having
that data, about having access to that data," said Deborah
Getzoff, director of DEP's southwest district office in Tampa.
"We're not putting restrictions in any way on what the consultant
can review."
Should that third-party reviewer find something of concern,
Getzoff added, "our files and our personnel will be available to
meet with or consult with anyone."
Of course, the consultant might more appropriately be termed a
fourth- or fifth-party reviewer. Already, the state's health
department is working on a study of the effects, if any, of
contamination, and federal regulators have agreed to weigh in on
cleanup plans.
Lockheed's management, which in 1996 took on responsibility for
cleaning the site when they bought the plant and five-acre parcel
from former owner Loral Corp., sees no problem with having yet
another set of eyes looking over their corporate shoulder.
The company already has worked with FOCUS to collect joint water
samples throughout the community, even picking up the tab for the
community group to have an independent lab test its samples.
"That's been broached before," Meredith Rouse Davis, senior
manager of corporate affairs for the aerospace giant, said of the
third-party review. "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."
Just as residents have understood that need from day one.
"If they had done this all along," Ward said, "that would have
saved a lot of the trouble, a lot of the stress we've gone
through in this community."
*****************************************************************
32 Chillicothe gazette: USEC acquires nuclear fuel storage company -
[http://www.chillicothegazette.com
Friday, July 30, 2004
By DANIEL PRAZER Gazette Staff Writer
The company that enriches uranium in Piketon is branching out.
The United States Enrichment Corp. announced Thursday it bought
NAC International, a company known for storing and moving fuel
used by nuclear power plants.
"It's a way we can diversify what we do," said Elizabeth Stuckle,
director of USEC corporate communications.
"They're very well known in the industry, and we have consulted
with them and worked with them on various projects over the
years."
USEC paid $16 million cash, which is subject to closing
adjustments to Pinnacle West, a holding company that's owned NAC
since 1968. USEC expects to make about $1 million in additional
net income each year after 2005. This is USEC's first purchase of
another company since it was privatized in 1998.
The purchase won't affect operations at the Piketon uranium
enrichment plant, Stuckle said, but any time the company can make
more money, it helps to stabilize the work it does at its
enrichment facilities.
"Everything we do to broaden our scope of income, that's a good
business move," she said.
"This certainly will, on a bigger picture, add value for
shareholders, for employees and customers. It's part of an
overall strategy to grow and diversify the company."
NAC has handled the transportation of spent fuel, which Stuckle
said is the most difficult nuclear material to safely move, for
more than 20 years, according to a press release. The spent fuel
must be stored in specially-made casks to be moved properly.
Much of the spent fuel stays at the power plants in a pool of
water.
"Water is an excellent shield of radiation," she said. "Most of
these nuclear power plants have spent fuel pools and they store
it on-site, but the problem is a lot of these power plants are
running out of space."
(Prazer can be reached at 772-9364 or via e-mail at
[dprazer@nncogannett.com]
Originally published Friday, July 30, 2004
Copyright ©2004 Chillicothe Gazette. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
33 Paducah Sun: USEC to buy firm that deals in storing waste nuclear fuel
Friday, July 30, 2004;Paducah, Kentucky
Page [http://www.paducahsun.com/]
By Joe Walker jwalker@paducahsun.com--270.575.8650
USEC Inc. has taken a major step toward diversification by
agreeing to pay $16 million in cash for NAC International, which
has the largest fleet of spent nuclear fuel and high-level
nuclear waste casks in the nation.
On Thursday, USEC announced the purchase agreement with Pinnacle
West Capital Corp. of Phoenix, whose subsidiary, El Dorado
Investment Co., owns most of NAC's stock. The deal, expected to
close later this year, marks USEC's first acquisition since the
company was privatized in 1998.
USEC spokeswoman Elizabeth Stuckle said the purchase will have
no immediate direct effect on the 1,300 jobs at the Paducah
Gaseous Diffusion Plant, but it strengthens the company for
shareholders, employees and customers. Asked if the NAC deal
could eventually create more work at Paducah, Stuckle said the
firm "has not ruled out" any possibilities.
USEC, based in Bethesda, Md., has been seeking cleanup contracts
and other ways to expand work at the plant, which it will close
starting in 2010 and replace with a new gas centrifuge plant in
Piketon, Ohio.
After the transaction closes, NAC is expected to generate about
$30 million in yearly revenue, reaping $1 million in annual
earnings and positive cash flow from operations starting in 2005.
"This acquisition is a strong strategic fit for USEC as we seek
to strengthen our presence in the nuclear fuel cycle," said
William "Nick" Timbers, president and chief executive officer. He
said USEC will be able to offer broader services to utilities
that buy enriched uranium for nuclear fuel.
NAC is a leading provider of spent fuel storage solutions,
nuclear materials transportation and fuel cycle consulting. It
has handled a significant share of the Department of Energy
requirements for retrieving spent foreign reactor fuel during the
past 15 years. It will retain its name as a USEC subsidiary and
continue to be based in Atlanta.
The acquisition means being able to help utilities as they await
the opening of the Energy Department's long-term nuclear waste
repository at Yucca Mountain, Nev., USEC said. NAC is developing
a new spent fuel canister technology and plans to apply for
licensing with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission later this year.
The NAC consulting division has done a variety of federal work
related to tracking nuclear materials.
*****************************************************************
34 heraldtribune.com: Lockheed Martin agrees to a cleanup deal,
but residents still wonder if Tallevast is safe.
By DEBI SPRINGER
Southwest Florida's Information Leader
Friday, July 30, 2004
Worries obscure small victory
debi.springer@heraldtribune.com
[debi.springer@heraldtribune.com]
TALLEVAST -- It's taken months of appeals to politicians and
wrangling with state officials, but residents here finally have
won something tangible in their fight to clean up pollution in
their community.
They now have a legal agreement between the state and Lockheed
Martin holding the defense industry giant responsible for
cleaning up an estimated 150-acre plume of contaminated ground
water emanating from a former weapons manufacturing plant.
The agreement, signed Thursday, calls for Lockheed to pay a
Tallevast community group $20,000 a year to hire experts to
monitor the company's cleanup in the south Manatee County
neighborhood.
Lockheed also agreed to permanently hook up about two dozen
Tallevast residents' homes to county water and pay a $1,000-a-day
fine if the cleanup isn't done in a "timely" manner. The
concessions, contained in a binding agreement known as a consent
order, also calls for the company to pay $154,000 to reimburse
the state for a spate of recent soil and ground water tests.
Those tests found that the pollution from the former American
Beryllium Co. plant was much more widespread than Lockheed
scientists had indicated. In addition to the ground-water
problems, the DEP found metals and chemicals above state
standards in 14 of the 16 sites it tested.
DEP officials said it was the first time that money for third
party oversight has been written into such an agreement.
Residents had mixed reactions to the news.
"It is a step in the right direction for us to have someone
advise us that we choose ourselves," said Laura Ward, president
of the community group FOCUS, which will be receiving the money.
Wanda Washington, vice president of FOCUS, said it was good that
the need for a third party was acknowledged, but there was more
at stake.
"Is it really safe here? The game is over. The facts are right
there," Washington said. "We need to know what the hazard is for
us so we can protect ourselves."
The women also questioned whether the $20,000 a year would be
enough to pay for effective oversight of the cleanup.
Steve Nackord, president of Davis Labs in Sarasota, said an
independent consultant simply reviewing data could cost between
$100 and $150 an hour, not including travel fees.
"Twenty thousand dollars, it's a chunk of change," Nackord said.
"But this cleanup … will cost well over several million."
Lockheed Martin has said the cleanup could take up to Continued 1
| 2 | 3 | Next >>
Last modified: July 30. 2004 12:00AM
*****************************************************************
35 Nevada Appeal: Opinion Yucca Mountain on the national stage
Nevada Appeal editorial board
July 30, 2004
Playing the Yucca Mountain card on a national stage, as Sen.
Harry Reid did Wednesday at the Democratic National Convention,
seems like a bit of a risk.
After all, most people in the country would just as soon see
nuclear waste dumped in Nevada rather than their home states.
Nevadans' attempts to make it a national issue - shipping the
radioactive material across country will expose more people to
potential risk than leaving it where it is, one argument goes -
haven't exactly excited the masses, either.
Placing a Yucca Mountain plank in the national platform does,
however, illustrate just how important Nevada ranks as a
battleground stake in the Nov. 2 presidential election.
The risk nationally is small, because few people around the
country will decide between John Kerry and George Bush on a
single issue that mainly involves a faraway state. In Nevada,
though, it makes a clear distinction between the candidates that
may well tilt the scales.
So there you have it. Bush gave the green light to nuclear-waste
storage; Kerry won't let it proceed.
Except that, like most of the issues out there, what Nevadans and
fellow Americans really want to know is: What's your solution?
We don't want nuclear waste in Nevada any more than anybody else.
We know it took a political whipping for Nevada to be designated
the one and only site to be studied. We know the rules of "sound
science" changed in the middle of the game.
But nobody has proposed an alternative solution, including Kerry.
Nobody is even studying one. Where would the billions of dollars
collected for nuclear-waste disposal be spent?
It isn't enough to swing a little temporary political clout to
get it "killed" temporarily. We still need a better idea.
All contents © Copyright 2004 nevadaappeal.com
Nevada Appeal - 580 Mallory Way - Carson City, NV 89701
*****************************************************************
36 Daily Press: Albuquerque up in arms over N-waste shipments
[http://www.thedailypress.com
: Jay Miller Last Updated: Jul 29th, 2004 - 18:05:32
Inside the Capitol
,Jay Miller Syndicated Columnist
SANTA FE — Albuquerque is up in arms about nuclear waste
shipments starting up again through its fair city. Somehow,
Albuquerque is special and shouldn't have to endure what many
other communities have dealt with for years.
They say they are bigger than the rest of us so more people are
at risk. They fail to note that much of that growth was due to
nuclear energy. Actually, there are numerous factors opponents
of nuclear waste shipments fail to recognize.
One of those factors is that no one has ever suffered harm as a
result of a mishap — or any other shipment of nuclear material.
And that brings up a very major point. Nuclear materials have
been carted around this nation for more than 60 years now —
without anyone being hurt and without anyone complaining. Of
course, the reason no one complained is that, wisely, the
government didn't talk about the shipments going to Los Alamos
and other nuclear labs, as it has about the shipment of nuclear
waste.
If all those shipments going to Los Alamos over the years had
been revealed, the Soviet Union likely would have been the only
nuclear superpower and no telling where we would be now —
speaking Russian, maybe. Anti-nuke protesters would have had the
trucks bottled up just like they did with the WIPP trucks for so
many years.
It was 10 years ago that federal Energy Secretary Hazel O'Leary
revealed that as many as 140 plutonium shipments a year had been
trucked to Los Alamos during the previous half century. O'Leary
didn't run her department very well, but one thing she did bring
to it was some real candor about how much of the government's
withheld information was really in the national interest.
Nuclear activists were furious at O'Leary's revelation. At a
public meeting in Santa Fe, many of them expressed outrage at
being kept in the dark for so long. Evidently, the anti-nuke
folks thought scientists were growing plutonium up on The Hill.
Since that time, 25 to 50 shipments of plutonium a year have
been going up the hill, about 285 pounds of plutonium a year.
Much of that material was in the form of plutonium "pits," the
radioactive metal sphere at the heart of nuclear bombs.
The pits were subjected to performance and aging tests under the
government's pit surveillance program. After testing, they were
shipped out again, mostly to the Rocky Flats plant near Denver.
When it closed, some of the pit making was shifted to Los
Alamos.
We aren't sure exactly how much of the pit making was done
there, or whether it was just experimental modifications being
made on the pits. The government was rather secretive about that
because it had learned its lesson with the waste disposal issue
not to give anti-nuke protesters too big a target.
But the point is all the fuss about pit making at Los Alamos
because these highly radioactive cores of nuclear bombs had long
been worked on up there and they had long been transported in
and out.
So it is hard to understand how people can get so upset about
shipments of gloves, rags and lab coats that have been exposed
to contamination, when they realize that more powerful stuff is
sneaking past them all the time.
Since Secretary O'Leary's disclosure a decade ago, protesters
seem to have forgotten about the material traveling to our
national labs. So it is amusing to consider the concerned
citizens, who want to know exactly when nuclear waste shipments
will be traveling near them, blithely passing unmarked trucks
full of plutonium on their way to the health food store.
Maybe what they should be even more worried about is the
hazardous material, such as gasoline, that travels our highways
and passes through all communities every day that is not
monitored at all like our nuclear waste shipments.
© Copyright 2004 by TheDailyPress.com
*****************************************************************
37 Pahrump Valley Times: State asks NRC to fund Yucca fight
July 30, 2004
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LAS VEGAS - Nevada is asking the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
for millions of dollars to continue fighting government plans for
a national nuclear waste dump in the state.
"We are coming to you with hat in hand but with a justifiable
argument why we should get assistance," Joe Egan, the state's
lead anti-Yucca lawyer, told commission officials Thursday in
Washington.
The state got no immediate commitment from Jack Strosnider, head
of the commission's office of Nuclear Material Safety and
Safeguards, and staff members from the Office of General Counsel
in Washington.
Janet Kotra, an NRC senior project manager, said the commission
might not be able to grant the request, but said the state should
get a decision later this year.
Kotra said commissioners in 1985 interpreted NRC regulations to
rule out such financial assistance and that decisions about
federal funding for the state's Yucca efforts might be up to the
Energy Department.
The Energy Department has given the state $1 million for Yucca
activities this year and rejected state requests for more. The
state has sued, arguing it is entitled to more funding under the
Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982.
It also submitted a 34-page funding request to the NRC in May.
"Without financial assistance for Nevada, the Yucca Mountain
licensing proceeding will be seriously compromised by Nevada's
inability to participate meaningfully and by the lopsided nature
of the parties and their respective resources," the petition
said.
The Energy Department plans to submit an application to the NRC
by the end of the year for a license to open the repository in
2010.
The state opposes the Yucca plan, and Bob Loux, state director of
nuclear projects, has projected the cost of fighting the license
application at $10 million a year for at least four years.
Included in the NRC request is $2 million to examine repository
performance, $1.8 million to continue corrosion research,
$800,000 for hydrology work and $600,000 for transportation
analyses.
Nevada also seeks $4.75 million to pay Egan and his law firm,
based in McLean, Va.
webmaster@pahrumpvalleytimes.com
[webmaster@pahrumpvalleytimes.com] Copyright © Pahrump Valley
Times, 1997 - 2003
*****************************************************************
38 PE.com: Fontana rate appeal alleges unfair communication
Inland Southern California
12:57 AM PDT on Friday, July 30, 2004
By IMRAN GHORI / The Press-Enterprise
Fontana officials are appealing a water rate increase approved by
a state regulatory panel, saying the city didn't receive proper
notice of the details.
The City Council made the decision to petition the California
Public Utilities Commission for a rehearing two weeks ago, after
the five-member commission on July 8 granted a 32.9 percent
increase over three years to Fontana Water Co., a division of San
Gabriel Valley Water Co.
In its formal written appeal, filed Wednesday, the city also
accuses the Fontana Water Co. of improper communication with a
PUC commissioner and an administrative law judge.
The water company, which serves 38,500 residents in most of
Fontana and nearby areas, has called the decision a fair and
balanced one that meets the needs of the agency to expand water
supplies and deal with wells tainted by perchlorate.
The decision, approved on a split vote by the PUC, represented a
compromise between proposals that had been rejected previously.
The compromise decision was not posted on the PUC's Web site
until the day before the meeting, giving opponents little chance
to comment on the proposal, Ken MacVey, an attorney for Fontana,
said in the appeal.
MacVey also cited a filing by the Fontana Water Co. informing the
agency that one of its attorneys had spoken with Commissioner
Geoffrey Brown about a proposal that revised a recommendation by
Judge Bertram Patrick. The city is contending the water company
also communicated with the judge.
Such communication is in violation of agency rules, MacVey said
in the appeal.
City officials also continue to maintain that the water company
failed to make a case justifying its water plant expansion
projects.
"There is something wrong with authorizing rate and rate base
increases by a decision that finds that San Gabriel Valley Water
Company failed to meet the legally required burden of proof," he
said in the appeal.
The water company has already started billing customers under the
new rates, which translate to an immediate increase of $8.65 a
month for the average household.
Michael Whitehead, president of the San Gabriel Water Co., could
not be reached for comment Thursday.
Reach Imran Ghori at (909) 806-3061 or ighori@pe.com
[ighori@pe.com] More headlines...
© 2004 Belo Interactive Inc.
*****************************************************************
39 Business Gazette: 120 DECOMMISSIONING JOBS
Published in Times &Star on
Friday, July 30th 2004
UP to 120 jobs will be created in West Cumbria when the Nuclear
Decommissioning Authority sets up.
The organisation is likely to be at the West Lakes Science and
Technology Park, near Whitehaven and posts are already being
advertised with salaries up to £80,000.
Many of the skilled nuclear related posts are likely to be filled
by specialists from outside the area but other positions are also
up for grabs.
Thirty seven jobs have already been advertised on the authoritys
website at www.ndajobs.co.uk
As well as overseeing the decommissioning of Sellafield and 20
other nuclear sites across the country it is expected to pump
extra funds into the community to help counteract the effects of
nuclear shutdown in West Cumbria.
By the time the authority is at full strength, the NDA is
expected to employ 200 people nationally.
Rosie Mathisen, nuclear opportunities manager with the urban
regeneration company in West Cumbria, said: The future location
of the NDA in West Cumbria is a credit to the skills and
expertise of the existing workforce in the area.
The authority will not carry out the clean-up work itself but
will contract out the work initially to the British Nuclear
Group.
*****************************************************************
40 NRC: Atomic Safety and Licensing Board; In the Matter of Louisiana
FR Doc 04-17344
[Federal Register: July 30, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 146)]
[Notices] [Page 45854-45855] From the Federal Register Online via
GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr30jy04-131]
Energy Services, L.P. (National Enrichment Facility); Notice of
Hearing (Application to Possess and Use Nuclear Material To
Enrich Natural Uranium by the Gas Centrifuge Process) July 26,
2004.
Before Administrative Judges: G. Paul Bollwerk, III, Chairman,
Dr. Paul B. Abramson, Dr. Charles N. Kelber. This proceeding
concerns the December 12, 2003 application of Louisiana Energy
Services, L.P., (LES) for authorization to possess and use
source, byproduct, and special nuclear material in order to
enrich natural uranium to a maximum of five percent uranium-235
(U235) by the gas centrifuge process. LES proposes to do this at
a facility-- denominated the National Enrichment Facility
(NEF)--to be constructed near Eunice, New Mexico. In a January
30, 2004, issuance, the Commission provided notice of the receipt
and availability of the LES application and of the opportunity
for a hearing on the application. (Louisiana Energy Services,
L.P. (National Enrichment Facility), CLI- 04-3, 59 NRC 10
(2004).) That notice was published in the Federal Register on
February 6, 2004. (69 FR 5873 (Feb. 6, 2004).) Responding to the
February 2004 notice, two intervention petitions were filed by
governmental entities associated with the State of New
Mexico--the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) and the
Attorney General of New Mexico (AGNM)--while a third was
submitted by two public interest organizations, the Nuclear
Resource and Information Service and Public Citizen (NIRS/PC).
Each of their hearing requests/petitions to intervene sought in
accordance with 10 CFR 2.309 to interpose various contentions
challenging the application. In response to those hearing
requests, the petitions were referred by the Commission to the
Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel to conduct any subsequent
adjudication. On April 15, 2004, this Licensing Board was
appointed to preside over this proceeding. (69 FR 22100 (Apr. 23,
2004).) The Board consists of Dr. Paul B. Abramson, Dr. Charles
N. Kelber, and G. Paul Bollwerk, III, who serves as Chairman of
the Board.
On June 15, 2004, the Board conducted an initial prehearing
conference in Hobbs, New Mexico, during which it heard oral
presentations regarding the admissibility of thirty-two
contentions proffered by the petitioners. Thereafter, in a July
19, 2004 issuance the Board noted that all the petitioners have
established the requisite standing to intervene in this
proceeding and ruled that each has submitted at least one
admissible contention concerning the LES application so that each
can be admitted as a party to this proceeding. (Louisiana Energy
Services, L.P. (National Enrichment Facility), LBP- 04-14, 60
NRC---- (July 19, 2004).) In light of the foregoing, please take
notice that a hearing will be conducted in this contested
proceeding. This hearing will be governed by the formal hearing
procedures set forth in 10 CFR part 2, subparts C and G (10 CFR
2.300-.390, 2.700-.713). Further, with respect to matters of law
and fact regarding whether the LES application satisfies the
standards set forth in the Commission's January 30, 2004 order
and the applicable standards in 10 CFR 30.33, 40.32, and 70.23
that are not covered by admitted contentions, without conducting
a de novo evaluation of the application the Board will determine
(1) whether the application and the record of the proceeding
contain sufficient information and whether the NRC staff's review
of the application has been adequate to support findings to be
made by the Director of the Office of Nuclear Materials Safety
and Safeguards, regarding the standards set forth above; and (2)
whether the review conducted by the staff pursuant to 10 CFR part
51 is adequate. Also, in accordance with Subpart A of 10 CFR part
51, the Board in its initial decision will (1) determine whether
the requirements of sections 102(2)(A), (C), and (E) of the
National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 and 10 CFR part 51,
subpart A, have been complied with in the proceeding; (2)
independently consider the final balance among conflicting
factors contained in the record of proceeding with a view to
determining the appropriate action to be taken; and (3) determine
whether a license should be issued, denied, or conditioned to
protect the environment.
During the course of the proceeding, the Board may conduct an
oral argument, as provided in 10 CFR 2.331, may hold additional
prehearing conferences pursuant to 10 CFR 2.329, and may conduct
evidentiary hearings in accordance with 10 CFR 2.327-.328, 2.711.
The public is invited to attend any oral argument, prehearing
conference, or evidentiary hearing. Notices of those sessions
will be published in the Federal Register and/or made available
to the public at the NRC Public Document Room (PDR), located at
One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike (first floor),
Rockville, Maryland, and through the NRC Web site,
http://www.nrc.gov
[http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leaving
FR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www.nrc.gov] . Additionally, as
provided in 10 CFR 2.315(a), any person not a party to the
proceeding may submit a written limited appearance statement.
Limited appearance statements, which are placed in the docket for
the hearing, provide members of the public with an opportunity to
make the Board and/or the participants aware of their concerns
about matters at issue in the proceeding. A written limited
appearance statement can be submitted at any time and should be
sent to the Office of the Secretary using one of the methods
prescribed below: Mail to: Office of the Secretary, Rulemakings
and Adjudications Staff,
[[Page 45855]] U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC
20555-0001. Fax to: (301) 415-1101 (verification (301) 415-1966).
E-mail to: hearingdocket@nrc.gov [hearingdocket@nrc.gov] . In
addition, a copy of the limited appearance statement should be
sent to the Licensing Board Chairman using the same method at the
address below: Mail to: Administrative Judge G. Paul Bollwerk,
III, Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel, Mail Stop T-3F23,
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001.
Fax to: (301) 415-5599 (verification (301) 415-7550).
E-mail to: gpb@nrc.gov [gpb@nrc.gov] . At a later date, the Board
may entertain oral limited appearance statements at a location or
locations in the vicinity of the proposed NEF. Notice of any oral
limited appearance sessions will be published in the Federal
Register and/or made available to the public at the NRC PDR and
on the NRC Web site, http://www.nrc.gov
[http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leaving
FR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www.nrc.gov] . Documents relating
to this proceeding are available for public inspection at the
Commission's PDR or electronically from the publicly available
records component of NRC's document system (ADAMS).
ADAMS is accessible from the NRC Web site at
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]
(the Public Electronic Reading Room). Persons who do not have
access to ADAMS or who encounter problems in accessing the
documents located in ADAMS should contact the NRC PDR Reference
staff by telephone at 1-800-397-4209, 301-415-4737, or by e-mail
to
pdr@nrc.gov [ pdr@nrc.gov] . It is so ordered.
(Copies of this notice of hearing were sent this date by Internet
e- mail transmission to counsel for (1) applicant LES; (2)
petitioners NMED, the AGNM, and NIRS/PC; and (3) the staff.)
Rockville, Maryland, July 26, 2004.
For the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board.
G. Paul Bollwerk, III, Administrative Judge.
[FR Doc. 04-17344 Filed 7-29-04; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P
*****************************************************************
41 Desert Dispatch: COMMENTARY: The real danger is nukes, not Iraq
The Desert Dispatch is a daily newspaper serving the communities
of Barstow, Dagget, Fort Irwin, Hinkley, Lenwood, Newberry
Springs and Yermo.
Friday, July 30, 2004
The saying goes that if you repeat something often enough people
will start to believe it.
In his effort to convince us that the his "war on terror" has
been a success, President Bush keeps telling us that we are safer
today than we were prior to the Iraq invasion.
In one recent 35-minute speech in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, Bush
reminded us seven times that "the American people are safer."
In truth, the invasion of Iraq succeeded only in diverting our
efforts in the real war against world-wide terrorism-which should
focus on al-Qaeda and the like.
The Iraq war has brought the U.S. Army close to the breaking
point, alienated friends and allies and helped to create the
largest annual deficit in our history.
So you can't blame those of us who are skeptical over whether the
Iraq war made us safer.
The irony of the President's speech at Oak Ridge was that Bush
was speaking at a nuclear weapons lab, and the President did not
utter a word about the dangers of our current nuclear weapons
policy.
In fact, we could well be sitting on the brink of nuclear
annihilation. Here's why: The Energy Department, which produces
and maintains the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile, advised the
Congress recently that the U.S. plans to reduce substantially
its nuclear weapons arsenal by the year 2012.
But why wait until 2012, and will the reductions truly be
substantial? The U.S. and Russia currently possess 96 percent of
total world's inventory of 30,000 nuclear weapons. The U.S.
existing operational inventory of nuclear warheads is 10,650.
A two thirds reduction would leave us with 3,550, more than
enough to deal with the "Axis of Evil."
But there's the rub. While the U.S. and Russia have agreed not to
target each other, the Pentagon's Single Integrated Operational
Plan (SIOP) foolishly considers Russia and China as the real
enemies. So, since re-targeting is easy, we could
easily aim our bombs at Russia and China again.
And our weapons on are still on hair-trigger alert, called our
nuclear "Launch on Warning" (LOW) policy. We could start using
our nukes before other nations' nuclear weapons hit us.
And we've got plenty of fire power at the ready: We maintain land
based Minuteman III missiles on alert and, at a minimum, two
Trident ballistic missile submarines on patrol in the Atlantic
and two in the Pacific. It is safe to assume that Russia also
maintains ICBM's on similar alert.
Both nations rely on space and land-based sensors to provide
attack warning.
The intelligence provided by these sensors can be miss-read,
leading to an accidental or inadvertent launch on warning
followed by nuclear retaliation.
If, as is the current case in Russia, the command, control and
warning systems deteriorate, in an atmosphere of tension and
mistrust, the danger of an unauthorized launch could reach the
point of no return.
The U.S. and Russia should take their nuclear weapons off
hair-trigger alert and jointly begin a serious effort to reduce
their respective nuclear arsenals to as close to zero as
possible.
Such bilateral action would truly make the American people and
the rest of the world safer-and I, for one, would tip my hat to
any President, Republican or Democrat, who insists that this
policy is implemented.
Jack Shanahan is a former commander of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet,
heads the Military Advisory Committee of
TrueMajorityACTION.org, a project of Business Leaders for
Sensible Priorities.
Distributed by www.minutemanmedia.org.
Further reading: + Back to today's headlines + Join the
discussion in the Community Forum
[http://www.highdesert.com/cgi-bin/ikonboard/ikonboard.cgi] +
Search the news archive for older stories
© 2004 Desert Dispatch. A Freedom Communications Newspaper. All
[http://www.highdesert.com/newmedia/] [Desert Dispatch] Go to
*****************************************************************
42 DOE: Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board, Paducah
FR Doc 04-17361
[Federal Register: July 30, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 146)]
[Notices] [Page 45690] From the Federal Register Online via GPO
Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr30jy04-63]
AGENCY: Department of Energy (DOE).
ACTION: Notice of open meeting.
SUMMARY: This notice announces a meeting of the Environmental
Management Site-Specific Advisory Board (EM SSAB), Paducah. The
Federal Advisory Committee Act (Pub. L. No. 92-463, 86 Stat. 770)
requires that public notice of these meetings be announced in the
Federal Register.
DATES: Thursday, August 19, 2004 5:30 p.m.-9:30 p.m.
ADDRESSES: 111 Memorial Drive, Barkley Centre, Paducah, Kentucky
42001.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: William E. Murphie, Deputy
Designated Federal Officer, Department of Energy
Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office, 1017 Majestic Drive, Suite
200, Lexington, Kentucky 40513, (859) 219-4001.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Purpose of the Board: The purpose of
the Board is to make recommendations to DOE in the areas of
environmental restoration, waste management and related
activities.
Tentative Agenda 5:30 p.m. Informal Discussion 6 p.m. Call to
Order; Introductions; Review Agenda; Approval of July Minutes
6:05 p.m. DDFO's Comments 6:25 p.m. Federal Coordinator Comments
6:30 p.m. Ex-Officio Comments 6:35 p.m. Public Comments and
Questions 6:45 p.m. Task Forces/Presentations Waste Disposition
Water Quality --Surface Water Operable Unit Long Range
Strategy/Stewardship --Operating Procedures and Bylaws Community
Outreach --Community Survey 7:45 p.m. Public Comments and
Questions 8 p.m. Break 8:15 p.m. Administrative Issues Review of
Workplan Review of Next Agenda 8:35 p.m. Review of Action Items
8:50 p.m. Subcommittee Reports Executive Committee 9:15 p.m.
Final Comments 9:30 p.m. Adjourn Copies of the final agenda will
be available at the meeting.
Public Participation: The meeting is open to the public.
Written statements may be filed with the Committee either before
or after the meeting. Individuals who wish to make oral
statements pertaining to agenda items should contact David
Dollins at the address listed below or by telephone at (270)
441-6819. Requests must be received five days prior to the
meeting and reasonable provision will be made to include the
presentation in the agenda. The Deputy Designated Federal Officer
is empowered to conduct the meeting in a fashion that will
facilitate the orderly conduct of business. Each individual
wishing to make public comments will be provided a maximum of
five minutes to present their comments as the first item of the
meeting agenda.
Minutes: The minutes of this meeting will be available for public
review and copying at the Freedom of Information Public Reading
Room, 1E-190, Forrestal Building, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW.,
Washington, DC 20585 between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday-Friday,
except Federal holidays. Minutes will also be available at the
Department of Energy's Environmental Information Center and
Reading Room at 115 Memorial Drive, Barkley Centre, Paducah,
Kentucky between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. on Monday thru Friday or by
writing to David Dollins, Department of Energy Paducah Site
Office, Post Office Box 1410, MS-103, Paducah, Kentucky 42001 or
by calling him at (270) 441-6819.
Issued at Washington, DC on July 27, 2004.
Rachel M. Samuel, Deputy Advisory Committee Management Officer.
[FR Doc. 04-17361 Filed 7-29-04; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6450-01-P
*****************************************************************
43 Oak Ridger: ORNL, Biltmore effort hits stride
Story last updated at 11:55 a.m. on July 30, 2004
from staff reports
After just two months, a partnership between Oak Ridge National
Laboratory and the Institute at Biltmore has hit full stride in
support of entrepreneurs and economic development in Western
North Carolina.
Thanks to about $340,000 in support from the Department of
Energy, the Western North Carolina Office of Technology
Commercialization has access to more than 500 energy efficiency
technologies developed at ORNL, Pacific Northwest National
Laboratory, National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Clemson
University.
According to ORNL officials, the plan is to license some of the
technologies to start-up companies in the region and then make
easily available financial, legal and other resources.
Ultimately, the goal is to develop marketable products, jobs and
wealth to help offset the more than 5,000 manufacturing jobs that
have been lost since early 2003 in Western North Carolina.
Technologies ready to license range from an advanced heat pump
that uses less energy to a device that uses microwave signals
transmitted through wood to measure the moisture content. This
results in improved scheduling and efficiency of kiln drying.
"These entrepreneurs will be getting some the best technologies
in the nation, plus the support they need to increase the chances
of success," said Bob Quinn, ORNL's director of Technology
Commercialization.
Also as part of the effort, ORNL and Technology 2020's Center for
Entrepreneurial Growth are working with the not-for-profit
Institute at Biltmore and the Education and Research Consortium
of the Western Carolinas to define missions and strategic plans.
One of the first major events is a conference scheduled for
mid-September in Asheville, N.C., and involves the Institute of
Biltmore and ORNL's Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
Program.
*****************************************************************
44 Oak Ridger: Y-12 protest draws near
Story last updated at 1:34 p.m. on July 30, 2004
FEDERAL SPOKESMAN: 'We will be prepared, as usual, to respond...'
By: Paul Parson | Oak Ridger Staff
[paul.parson@oakridger.com]
Officials are gearing up for the annual August anti-nuclear
weapons demonstration at the Y-12 National Security Complex, and
they hope to avoid any surprises like one that happened at a
similar event earlier this year.
"We consider this to be a routine event," said Steven Wyatt, who
serves as a spokesman for the Oak Ridge Department of Energy and
National Nuclear Security Administration offices. "We do not
expect there to be any major differences. We will be prepared, as
usual, to respond if the circumstances change."
Security Complex, security officiers with Wackenhut Services Inc.
remove signs and other objects left by protesters at the Bear
Creek Road entrance of the nuclear weapons plant.
During an April demonstration, a counter-protester to an
anti-nuke effort briefly caught Y-12's protective force off guard
when she walked several feet past a "no cross" zone before being
noticed.
Members of the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance did not
return calls for comment this week regarding the upcoming
anti-nuke events it helps coordinate.
The events coincide with the 59th anniversary of the bombing of
Hiroshima. Uranium enriched at Y-12 ultimately fueled the "Little
Boy" bomb that was dropped near the end of World War II in 1945.
Beginning at 6 a.m. on Aug. 6, there will be a three-hour
remembrance ceremony on the lawn near Y-12's Bear Creek Road
entrance. Names of the victims of the Hiroshima bombing are read
aloud while peace cranes will be tied to the weapons plant's
fence, according to a schedule of events.
Also on Aug. 6, a traditional Japanese peace lantern ceremony is
scheduled for 8:15 p.m. at Knoxville's Sequoyah Hills Park on
West Cherokee Boulevard. The ceremony is a way to remember those
who perished in the bombing.
There will also be a series of events on Aug. 7 at the Church of
the Savior, 934 Weisgarber Road in Knoxville. Attendees can
participate in a non-violence workshop and discuss plans for the
60th commemoration of the Hiroshima bombing next year.
*****************************************************************
45 Tri-Valley Herald: Research still on hold at Los Alamos nuclear lab
Article Last Updated: Friday, July 30, 2004 -
Congress watches carefully as site works to shore up security
measures
By Leslie Hoffman, Associated Press
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- 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 follow-
ing security rules, Nanos said the lab would review every
department's activities and recommend restart only when all
compliance issues were addressed.
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 in 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.
Visit Los Alamos National Laboratory: www.lanl.gov
[http://www.lanl.gov]
©2004 by MediaNews Group, Inc. and ANG Newspapers
*****************************************************************
46 Google News Alert - nuclear
Date: Fri, 30 Jul 2004 15:16:50 -0700 (PDT)
EU trio to continue talks with Iran over nuclear program
Xinhua - China
PARIS, July 30 (Xinhuanet) -- France, Britain and Germany will push ahead
with talks with Iran over its nuclear program, said French Foreign Ministry
on Friday ...
See all stories on this topic:
DANGER zone: Iran nears point of nuclear no return
Daily Star - Beirut,Lebanon
By Ed Blanche. BEIRUT: The general belief is that Iran is rapidly approaching
the point of no-return in its clandestine nuclear program. ...
See all stories on this topic:
HANFORD nuclear power plant undergoes emergency shutdown
Seattle Post Intelligencer - Seattle,WA,USA
RICHLAND, Wash. -- The Columbia Generating Station nuclear power plant
on the Hanford nuclear reservation underwent an emergency shutdown Friday,
but state ...
See all stories on this topic:
US Continues Pressing North Korea to End All Nuclear Programs
Voice of America - Washington,DC,USA
The US diplomat handling efforts to end North Korea's nuclear ambitions
has told Chinese officials that Pyongyang must admit and destroy, all
its nuclear ...
See all stories on this topic:
EUROPE trio seeks guarantee on Iran nuclear policy
Financial Times - London,England,UK
French, German and British officials met Iranian counterparts in Paris
yesterday to restart negotiations over Tehran's nuclear programme. ...
See all stories on this topic:
US to halt nuclear fusion project
New Scientist - London,England,UK
Amidst a prolonged stalemate over where to build the world's largest nuclear
fusion facility, the US is halting work on a homegrown fusion project.
...
See all stories on this topic:
SIX-WAY Working-level Nuclear Talks Likely to be Held Aug.18-21
Chosun Ilbo - South Korea
Working-level talks on North Korea's nuclear standoff are likely to be
held in the third week of August, to lay the groundwork for the fourth
round of six-way ...
See all stories on this topic:
US urges talks to ban materials for nuclear arms
Seattle Times - Seattle,WA,USA
... The US government urged the world disarmament body yesterday to start
negotiations for a ban on the production of material needed to make nuclear
weapons. ...
See all stories on this topic:
ISRAELI Police Probe Nuclear Whistleblower
Kansas City Star (subscription) - Kansas City,MO,USA
JERUSALEM - Israeli police have begun a criminal investigation against
nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu over interviews he gave to foreign
media in an ...
See all stories on this topic:
SHARON Hints at Israeli Nuclear Weapons Arsenal
The Scotsman - Edinburgh,Scotland,UK
Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon has made a veiled reference to his
country’s secret nuclear arms, saying Israel has US backing for its
deterrent weapons. ...
See all stories on this topic:
This daily-once News Alert is brought to you by Google News (BETA)...
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*****************************************************************
47 [du-list] DU in the news 30th July 04
Date: Fri, 30 Jul 2004 15:15:17 -0700
GREEN candidate for Congress arrested in Minnesota
Duluth News Tribune - Duluth,MN,USA
... Miles said he went to ATK's corporate headquarters to seek a meeting
with executives about its depleted uranium munitions capable of penetrating
targets such ...
See all stories on this topic:
REVIEW of the Arab press
United Press International - USA
... blamed the high levels of radiation from the series of wars the country
faced, while others blamed the weapons and bombs containing depleted uranium
used by ...
NEW Piketon uranium facility to create 190 jobs for region
Chillicothe Gazette - Chillicothe,OH,USA
... The new facility at the Piketon uranium enrichment plant will convert
depleted uranium hexafluoride (DUF6), an enrichment byproduct, into a
stable form that ...
ENVIRONMENTAL manager gives update on DOE cleanup
Oak Ridger - Oak Ridge,TN,USA
... Other ongoing efforts include shipments of legacy low-level and mixed
waste and depleted uranium hexafluoride cylinders to disposal sites. ...
VETERANS, activists protest Iraq war
Daily Lobo (subscription) - Albuquerque,NM,USA
... Many in the group said they suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder,
sleeping disorders and illnesses related to contact with depleted uranium,
a low-grade ...
VICTORY in Iraq/Victory at Home: the September Surprise
OpEdNews - USA
... Halliburton handles the energy, catering, and carting contracts and
administers the depleted uranium superfund clean up concession. ...
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48 United Press International: Exclusive: NASA's new space 'hot rod'
By Frank Sietzen United Press International Published 7/30/2004
7:30 PM
Part 2 of 2
--
Editor's Note: Planners in NASA's Exploration Directorate
recently gave United Press International an exclusive briefing on
the steps they envision to fulfill President Bush's new vision
for space exploration. These steps include designing the vehicle
to fly back to the moon as well as the new fleet of
atomic-powered spacecraft that may open up astronaut visits to
deeper in space. In Part 2, NASA attempts to develop a new
nuclear rocket and power system that could shrink the time it
takes astronauts to travel through the solar system -- as well as
boost power for a whole new generation of space probes and moon
bases.
--
WASHINGTON, July 30 (UPI) -- To send astronauts back to the
moon, NASA is planning to begin by making maximum use of existing
U.S. and foreign rockets as launching systems. Vehicles under
consideration may use updated propulsion systems that could blast
a flotilla of spacecraft from the Earth to the vicinity of the
moon.
For voyages of longer duration, however -- to Mars and possibly
even more distant destinations -- NASA is designing a whole new
system for both space propulsion and space power. If successful,
the system could provide future astronauts a swifter means of
voyaging far beyond the moon and equip their ships and robotic
scouts with far more electrical power than ever has been
available to space missions before.
Named for the Greek God that gave humans fire, Project
Prometheus was first announced in 2002, well prior to President
Bush's space exploration proposals.
Prometheus originally was conceived as a revamped package under
NASA's Nuclear Systems Initiative. It was intended to develop and
flight-demonstrate an advanced, atomic-powered space vehicle. The
vehicle, which NASA prefers not to call a rocket -- rather, a
nuclear electric propulsion system -- might be able to triple the
speed at which spacecraft travel beyond the Earth.
The heart of the Prometheus research effort -- a $3 billion
project planned across five years -- would be a set of power
systems evolved from the powerplants and electric thrusters
carried aboard existing space probes.
Instead of conventional rockets, which start out with a maximum
thrust of short duration, a nuclear-electric space vehicle would
fly away from Earth slowly, then gradually increase its speed via
continuous, long-lasting thrust from relatively small, electric
engines.
NASA periodically has studied such engines for deep space use,
but to date has not developed or flown them as the main
propulsion system for probes or spacecraft. Their only use has
been to control the orbital position of Earth satellites.
Nevertheless, NASA planners seem excited by the potential of
Prometheus as a source of greatly increased power, and they are
studying two alternative power systems.
One would be an advanced version of the radioisotope
thermoelectric generators currently in use aboard probes such as
the Cassini spacecraft, which currently is orbiting Saturn.
Planners are exploring two RTG technologies: the Multi-Mission
Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator, and the Stirling
Radioisotope Generator. Both would advance existing RTG
technology into the 21st century.
Cassini employs three such generators to produce electricity for
the probe's four-year mission around the Saturnian system, but
the maximum amount of power the trio can generate is only 30
volts, with an output of about 870 watts.
The second technology is a nuclear fission reactor power system.
The technology, never outfitted on to U.S. spacecraft, could
yield a massive increase in a spacecraft's electric power.
Planners liken such an advance to the difference between a
100-watt electric light bulb and a lighted baseball stadium.
Officially, all that NASA predicts is a spacecraft using a
fission reactor for its power would have 100 times more
electricity as a probe without it. That much power would allow
scientists to carry much more advanced instrumentation aboard the
probes of the future.
"We asked the scientific community, 'what could you do if you
didn't have (today's) restrictions on power?,'" NASA
Administrator Sean O'Keefe told UPI. The answer was to build and
fly space probes that would be of an order of magnitude above
today's craft.
Future space probes powered by NFRs could:
-- Perform exquisitely detailed detailed photo-reconnaissance of
the giant planets -- Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune -- as
well as their many moons.
-- Rendezvous with comets in space, subjecting them to detailed
inspection and collecting samples to return to Earth.
-- Carried aboard a Mars lander, NFRs could increase by many
times the number of instruments set down on the surface, as well
as the complexity and capability of the mission, the distance
traveled on the surface and, possibly, allow the transport of a
piece of the red planet back to Earth.
-- Aboard deep-space robotic expeditions to the farthest edges of
the solar system, they would power investigations of Pluto, the
Kuiper Belt and perhaps even the mysterious Oort Cloud.
Using the solar power to provide electricity to spacecraft would
not work at such great distances. The power of sunlight at
Saturn, for example, is only 1 percent of its strength at Earth.
NASA already is planning deep-space missions that a Prometheus
power system might enable. Last spring, a team of researchers
studying a mission to the moons of Jupiter began the process of
evaluating the kinds of instruments they might want to place
aboard the flight.
Called the Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter, or JiMO, the spacecraft
would move in and out of orbit around three of Jupiter's moons --
Callisto, Ganymede and Europa -- powered by the Prometheus
reactor and its electrical propulsion engines.
Using the electricity generated by the reactor, JiMO would be
capable of adjusting its orbit to aim its advanced, power-hungry
cameras and instruments at features it found interesting on the
Jovian lunar surfaces.
In addition to demonstrating the NFR concept, JiMO would attempt
to scout the moons for their ability to sustain life, map their
surfaces or penetrate sub-surface oceans with advanced space
radar, and conduct studies of the chemical composition of the
surfaces or the depth and make up of ice covering their liquid
oceans.
JiMO also would study the radiation surrounding the moons, as
well as their magnetic fields.
Among the instruments being evaluated for the mission -- which
would not be launched before 2011 -- are new types of space
radars, magnetometers, infrared imagers and high-resolution
cameras, as well as new equipment to study the atoms and dust in
space near each of the planetary bodies.
Still, just getting JiMO aloft will be difficult for NASA.
"Prometheus will be a challenge," said Mike Lembeck, in charge
of requirements for NASA's Exploration System Directorate.
When completely deployed in space, JiMO and its Prometheus power
and propulsion system will be more than 100 feet long. Currently,
Lembeck said, there are no existing space boosters capable of
lifting the JiMO package into space as a complete unit -- NASA's
preferred plan.
"So, we may have to launch in two or three pieces," Lembeck said.
NASA also might have to assemble JiMO robotically, he added.
Interest in a heavy-lift rocket may drive the booster choices for
the moon-Mars program, because the heavy-lifting space shuttle
fleet is scheduled to be retired by 2010.
If NASA opts for a big cargo booster for JiMO, it might also
employ the vehicle in the planned human assault on the moon and
Mars.
The Prometheus reactor also is being eyed to power lunar and
Martian expeditions and bases, Lembeck said.
"The JiMO mission is a way to test out this technology" for later
use in the manned landings, he explained.
Thus, NASA's new, space-going hot rod will be getting its early
workouts powering new generations of robotic space probes, but it
ultimately will find its home with humans, providing light, heat
and power on other worlds.
--
Frank Sietzen covers aerospace for UPI Science News. E-mail
sciencemail@upi.com
Copyright © 2001-2004 United Press International
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