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Send News Stories to news@energy-net.org with title on subject
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NUCLEAR POLICY
1 Detroit News: Saddam remains the only person responsible for the Ira
2 CounterPunch: Harold A. Gould: Was Iraq a Mutual Charade?
3 UK Independent: Scarlett asked for 'lies' in WMD report
4 Xinhuanet: DPRK urges US to fulfill promise on nuclear issue
5 TheStar.com - Energy crisis ahead
6 US: Federal Bureau of Incompetence - The shameful treatment of Sibel
7 US: Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Spinning 16 words into basis for war
8 Scotsman.com News: Nuclear Weapons Inspectors Descend on British Uni
9 Scotsman.com: Scarlett 'Asked Experts to Harden Weapons Hunt Report'
10 AFP: Lifted: Nuclear parts freeze -
11 UK The Observer: Spies, lies and blowing raspberries
12 IndiaExpress: India needs nuclear submarines, says new Naval Chief
NUCLEAR REACTORS
13 US: Hanford nuclear power plant remains under shutdown
14 BBC: Belarus deports Chernobyl expert
15 Sunday Herald: British Chernobyl scientist deported
16 US: DenverPost.com: Nuclear power helps environment
17 US: The Advocate: Governor may seek to add independent observer to i
NUCLEAR SAFETY
18 US: Anchorage Daily News: Geiger counters silent for now, but resear
19 SF Chronicle: Nuclear horror still haunts Hiroshima
20 AU NINEMSN: Army exercises could harm environment
21 US: SF Chronicle: The fuel that nightmares are made of
NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE
22 Las Vegas SUN: Editorial: The real deception
23 Las Vegas SUN: Columnist Jeff German: Differences on Yucca
24 Las Vegas SUN: Where I Stand -- Brian Greenspun: Hope for Nevada
25 US: Lodinews: City of Lodi eyes federal funding for pollution cleanu
26 RGJ: Experts shift view on cask corrosion at Yucca project
27 RGJ: Despite everything, feds move forward in Yucca
28 US: Spectrum: Delegation must stand up for Utahns - Opinion -
29 Nevada Appeal: Scientists shift view on cask corrosion at Yucca
30 US: The Reporter: Transporting nuclear waste makes no sense for anyo
31 US: CA DTSC: Perchlorate What is Perchlorate?
32 Newsday: Settlement allows for waste cleanup
33 US: PE.com CLEANUP: A federal agency declines to put the qualifying
34 UK Independent: BNFL aims to throw veil of secrecy over the movement
NUCLEAR WEAPONS
35 SD Union-Tribune: Finding peace in Hiroshima
36 Japan Times: Antinuke group aims at North Korea
US DEPT. OF ENERGY
37 IPC: Dimona Radiation Sickness - Nuclear Disaster Looms?
38 Hanford News: Portland wants halt to Hanford shipments
39 Hanford News: Changes made at Fluor Hanford
40 Hanford News: Portland wants halt to Hanford shipments
41 SF Chronicle: Lapses at labs go back decades
42 SF Chronicle: The town that gave birth to The Bomb
43 The Enquirer: Fernald hold costing $9,000 a day
44 Tri-Valley Herald: Los Alamos lab's security appears great on paper
45 UK Independent: examines role of visiting UK researchers
OTHER NUCLEAR
46 Google News Alert - nuclear
47 Google News Alert - nuclear
48 [du-list] DU in the news - 31st July 04
49 [du-list] In that last DU in the news....
50 [du-list] DU in the news 1st August 04
51 SF Chronicle: Cold fusion researcher gets an academic cold shoulder
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FULL NEWS STORIES
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1 Detroit News: Saddam remains the only person responsible for the Iraq war
08/01/04
By Nolan Finley / The Detroit News [Nolan Finley]
The cast in the war on Iraq blame game is getting quite crowded.
Tony Blair joined the ensemble recently, when a British report
concluded pretty much the same thing that a congressional report
found earlier, that the intelligence used to build the case for
the invasion was faulty.
Blair joins his good friend George W. Bush, and Bushs former CIA
chief, George Tenet, in getting tagged for whats increasingly
characterized as an unnecessary war.
Missing from the credits is Saddam Hussein, the now-jailed Iraqi
dictator who did everything in the world to make it look like he
was hiding weapons of mass destruction and seeking even more
deadly ones.
The great unanswered question of the Iraq war is this: If Saddam
didnt have the weapons Bush, Blair and almost everyone else,
including the United Nations, accused him of having, why did he
pretend he did?
Why would he allow hellfire to rain down on his regime and let
himself be chased into a rat hole if there were no weapons? Did
Saddam really think he could defeat the United States and Great
Britain with an army that was even weaker than the one the allies
rolled up like a carpet in 1991?
Or did he simply have a death wish?
Before the war, Saddam was given fair warning: Comply with the
U.N. resolutions that ended the first Gulf War, account for all
weapons programs and allow the U.N. inspectors free range of the
country.
Under the 1991 U.N. resolution, Iraq promised inspectors
unrestricted access. It also vowed to get rid of all weapons of
mass destruction, as well as its long-range missiles, and show
proof of their dismantling.
Instead of complying, Iraq obfuscated and obstructed. For four
years before the invasion was threatened, U.N. inspectors had no
access to the country, despite repeated warnings.
In November of 2002, the United Nations approved yet another
resolution demanding that Iraq comply with its previous
resolutions and allow inspectors unfettered access. Still Saddam
refused.
Now, the best available evidence suggests that he had little to
hide.
After nearly a year-and-a-half of poking around the country, no
significant weapons of mass destruction have been found or any
trace of a nuclear weapons program.
Perhaps theyre still out there buried in the desert. Or maybe
they really were shipped at the last minute to Syria.
But the fact remains that the entire world believed Saddam had
those weapons before the invasion, believed it enough for the
United Nations to pass a resolution demanding that he cough them
up.
The belief was based on more than just faulty intelligence from
U.S. and British spies.
Saddam Hussein was acting like a guilty man, and sometimes if you
act guilty enough, long enough, you get punished.
If it turns out the war wasnt needed, fingers will be pointed at
a lot of people.
Bush and Blair may have miscalculated. Tenet may have done sloppy
work. But all Saddam had to do to stop the bombs from falling was
to open the doors of his country as he promised.
His failure to keep his word invited the invasion. Weapons or no,
the responsibility for the war falls on Saddams head.
Nolan Finley is editorial page editor of The Detroit News. Reach
him at nfinley@detnews.comor (313) 222-2064.; * Watch Nolan
Finley at 2 p.m. Sunday and 5:30 p.m. Friday on Am I Right? on
WTVS-TV (Channel 56).
The Detroit News.
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2 CounterPunch: Harold A. Gould: Was Iraq a Mutual Charade?
July 31, 2004
Bush's Bloody Put-Up Job
By HAROLD A. GOULD
A recent article by a Washington Post staff writer (Dana Priest,
July 12th) provides vivid evidence to support what most astute
observers and analysts of the causes for the Iraq War always knew
down deep in their hearts to be true. That the invasion was
essentially a put-up job concocted by a Bush administration eager
to enhance its shaky legitimacy in the eyes of the American
public following its dubious victory in the 2000 presidential
election, and the shattering impact of 9/11.
Based upon a comparison between the content of a classified
report on the Iraqi regime which the CIA provided to the US
Congress in September, 2002, and a White Paper released to the
public in October of that year, Priest concludes that the CIA
exaggerated and distorted the evidence it had given to Congress
just days earlier... The documents and their interpretation make
it painfully clear that, despite pious denials to the contrary
emanating from the White House, the Pentagon, the State
Department, and indeed the CIA itself, cooked the data in such a
manner as to make Saddam Hussain appear to be the greatest danger
to Western Civilization since Attila the Hun, or perhaps more
contemporaneously, Josef Stalin. Basically, this was accomplished
by parsing words between the confidential and public reports.
Repeatedly, notes Priest, the CIA hedged its bets in the
confidential report on how solid the evidence really was on
whether the Iraqis possessed WMD, had stockpiles of chemical
warfare substances, were really close to achieving a nuclear
capability, had substantial links to Al Qaeda, or indeed had
sufficiently rebuilt their armed forces following Iraq s defeat
in the First Gulf War to constitute a significant military threat
to her immediate neighbors let alone the United States.
Put simply, the CIA s doubts and hedges in the form of such
qualifiers as we judge or we assess had the effect in the public
report of making the best estimates appear as facts. Testimony by
other witnesses to the events leading up to the Iraq war clearly
confirm these perceptions of caveat manipulation employed as a
means of telling an administration that had made up its mind to
wage a preemptive war against Iraq what it wanted to hear.
Richard Clark, in his public testimony and in his powerful book,
Against all Enemies, describes President Bush and Vice-President
Cheney pressuring intelligence operatives to come up with
evidence of significant conspiratorial links between bin Laden
and Hussein despite repeated insistence that none had been found
and indeed none existed. But Mr. President, Al Qaeda did this,
declared Clark right after 9/11. I know, I know, Mr. Bush
replied, but see if Saddam was involved.
The obvious point is that the top ranks of the Bush
administration, certainly Mr. Bush himself, were obsessed with
establishing a publically acceptable basis for launching a
preemptive war against Iraq, and if this required distorting and
falsifying the evidence, then so be it. Undoubtedly, there was a
smug assumption that subsequent disparities between fact and
fiction, should they arise, could be fixed . Mr. Bush s current
campaign rhetoric is attempting to accomplish this very purpose
even as we speak,
The rest is history, as the time-worn cliche goes.
But there is an angle to this almost Shakespearean saga of
tragedy and evil which thus far seems to have eluded everyone.
There is strong evidence that Saddam Hussain clearly engaged in a
colossal bluff; that in fact he was attempting to have his
strategic cake and eat it. It was successful for nearly a decade
because American intelligence, and indeed the UN s as well, was
so abominable that they were unable to expose it. If this turns
out to be true, as I believe it will, Saddam s bluff worked very
well indeed up to a point, but in the end it turned out to be the
most counterproductive charade in history. For it proved to be so
successful that it set him up for George Bush s counter-charade
namely, handing Bush the justification he sought for launching a
preemptive war on Iraq!
Let it be recalled that following Iraq s capitulation in 1991,
Saddam Hussein agreed to limited disarmament, most particularly
with respect to whatever Weapons of Mass Destruction he allegedly
possessed. The process of WMD destruction was to take place under
the auspices of United Nations supervision. The agency created
for this purpose was the United Nations Special Commission
(UNSCOM). The long and short of this undertaking was that no
matter how many tons of weapons and missiles were unearthed and
destroyed, Saddam continued to sustain an atmosphere of
obstruction and grudging acquiescence.
From 1991 until UN inspectors were withdrawn, just prior to
President Clinton s punitive missile strikes, designed to punish
the Hussain regime for refusing to cooperate fully with the
inspection process, a large quantity of WMD ordinance had already
been successfully unearthed and destroyed. This was attested by
numerous inspectors even while nevertheless complaining that the
Iraqis continued to deny access to sites, such as Saddam s
palaces, where it was alleged that more banned materials might be
concealed. Men like Richard Butler, the outspoken Australian
official on the inspection team, no doubt abetted the mounting
anxieties of the Clinton administration until it drove them to
take some form of military action.
Saddam kept the pot boiling as it were by making it appear that
he remained a dangerous adversary even as his capacity to be
really dangerous was substantially melting away. What made it
possible for him to have it both ways was his success in
convincing the US and his Middle East neighborhood generally that
he still had stocks of weaponry salted away in remote caves and
other secret places. So successfully, in fact, that U.S. and
British intelligence indicated that Iraq was hiding other
programs, notably its nuclear weapons effort. (Clarke, p. 67.)
The point is that this by-play between Saddam Hussain, the US,
and the UN perpetuated an atmosphere of doubt and ambiguity
concerning how much of a regional military threat Iraq actually
was. By adopting this defiant posture toward the regimen of
inspections and sanctions deemed essential by the international
community, while apparently not in fact either retaining or
acquiring significant quantities of WMD, Saddam, to repeat, was
able to have his strategic cake and eat it. His intransigence,
his defiance, his token saber-rattling (e.g., firing at the
allied aircraft enforcing the no-fly zones ), against the
background of his earlier use of WMD against the Iranians and the
Kurds, and despite his defeat in the first Gulf war, enabled him
to carry out this colossal bluff. He was willing to pay the price
in the form of lost oil revenues, economic sanctions and great
suffering by his people in order to maintain a posture that
garnered what to him were two worthwhile assets: It enabled him
to sustain the image of Iraq as a regional power, and it enabled
him to retain his image as a leading figure in the radical Arab
movement.
9/11 and the ascendancy of George W. Bush and his
neo-conservative entourage in Washington were destined to
transform Saddam s carefully nurtured fantasy world into a house
of horrors. Saddam suddenly was confronted with a regime that had
singled him out for destruction from the moment it assumed office
and immediately set out to find excuses for doing so. The fact is
that even had the Bush administration either known or suspected
that Saddam was deceiving everybody, and indeed they might have
known had their intelligence capabilities not been so inept, it
would not have mattered to them. However the actual situation
came about, they wanted it that way. Richard Clarke, who served
at the highest levels in the Reagan, Clinton and Bush
administrations as a counter-terrorism specialist, says that he
learned to his horror that Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz [from the
outset] were going to take advantage of this national tragedy
[9/11] to promote their agenda about Iraq. He was told by friends
in the Pentagon that we would be invading Iraq sometime in 2002.
(p. 30)
Saddam Hussain's vaunted guile simply played into the hands, or
shall we say the heads, of people who matched his own guile with
a vengeance! There is a saying in India which I once heard in the
gangetic countryside: A fool and a horn are both played by
blowing on them! What led to Iraq was a cacophonic symphony of
mutual horn-blowing !
Harold Gould is a Visiting Scholar in the Center for South Asian
Studies at the University of Virginia.
http://www.counterpunch.org
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3 UK Independent: Scarlett asked for 'lies' in WMD report
By Andrew Woodcock
02 August 2004
The new head of MI6 tried to persuade weapons inspectors in Iraq
to harden up a report on their hunt for weapons of mass
destruction, it was claimed yesterday.
John Scarlett suggested that the Iraq Survey Group report should
include claims about Saddam Hussein's supposed arsenals - which
had already been proven unreliable, an unnamed member of the ISG
was quoted as saying in The Mail on Sunday.
Mr Scarlett - who takes up his role as head of the secret
intelligence service this week - sent a confidential email to the
head of the ISG on 8 March with a list of 10 "golden nuggets" for
possible inclusion in the report, it was claimed.
His suggestions were rejected. But after pressure from the US and
Britain, the ISG produced only a bland, 20-page document about
the failure of their 1,400-strong team to find any trace of WMD
in Iraq, rather than the expected 200-page analysis, The Mail on
Sunday said.
The Foreign Office declined to comment in detail on the
allegations, referring questions on the ISG report to the
organisation itself.
Among the "nuggets" supposedly put forward by Mr Scarlett were
claims that Saddam had a secret smallpox programme, that Iraq had
developed mobile chemical weapons laboratories and that it
possessed or was building a "rail gun" as part of a nuclear
project.
ISG officials were said to be "stunned and dismayed" by the
request.The ISG member was quoted as saying: "Inclusion of
Scarlett's nuggets would have been grossly manipulative of the
truth. Let's face it, he wanted us to include lies.
"Everything Scarlett wanted in was based on very old evidence
which we had painstakingly investigated and shown to be false,"
he said.
UK Independent Ltd.
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4 Xinhuanet: DPRK urges US to fulfill promise on nuclear issue
www.xinhuanet.com
www.chinaview.cn 2004-07-31 23:25:21
PYONGYANG, July 31 (Xinhuanet) -- The Democratic People's
Republicof Korea (DPRK) Saturday urged the United States to
fulfill its promise and stick to the principle of "words for
words" and "action for action" in order to solve the nuclear
issue on the Korean Peninsula.
"The US attitude towards the principle of 'words for words'
and'action for action' will serve as a touchstone of its true
stance towards the nuclear issue," said a signed commentary in
the country's state-run paper Rodong Sinmun.
"The Bush administration is making much fuss pressing the
DPRK to dismantle its nuclear weapons program, raising a hue and
cry over the 'danger' of its nuclear development," said the
commentary.
"Now that the DPRK has clarified its goal for
denuclearization,the US should commit itself to abandoning its
hostile policy towards the DPRK," the commentary continued.
As the first phase of proof of its commitment, the US should
"lift economic sanctions and blockades against the country, erase
it from the list of 'sponsors of terrorism' and provide the DPRK
with two million kilowatts of electricity in energy aid," it
said.
In order to find an appropriate solution to the nuclear
crisis on the Korean Peninsula, the six parties of the DPRK, the
Republicof Korea, China, Japan, Russia and the US have met three
times in Beijing.
In the latest round of the six-party talks on June 23-26 the
convening parties reached consensus on the first phase of the
denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula by agreeing to a
step-by-step process of "words for words" and "action for action"
in the search for a peaceful solution to the nuclear issue.
Enditem
Copyright ©2003 Xinhua News Agency. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
5 TheStar.com - Energy crisis ahead
Sun. Aug. 1, 2004. | Updated at 05:00 PM
HAROON SIDDIQUI
Whether or not Iraq was invaded for oil it surely wasn't for
dates or even democracy the mess America has made of the
occupation has sent oil corporations rushing off to Libya.
Just as Saddam Hussein was the darling of Washington before being
deemed a demon, Moammar Gadhafi, yesterday's bette noir, is
today's hero.
American businessmen, mostly from George W. Bush's native Texas,
are in Tripoli eyeing oil concessions. Halliburton, the company
Dick Cheney worked for, is there. So is Petro-Canada.
This black gold rush, however, does not represent a new hope so
much as another desperate bid to stave off the coming crisis in
renewable resources.
The crisis is coming sooner than predicted by the experts quoted
in a four-part series in the Star this past week. It's coming
this decade, according to a contrarian who has been prescient on
the subject.
We know oil prices are at a record high. Production has peaked.
No major new fields are being discovered. We are running out of
oil, except in the Middle East and parts of Africa.
Natural gas has doubled in price in a year. A regional commodity
that became continental will soon be traded worldwide, like oil:
bought on one continent and sold in another, given the needs of
North America.
That means huge Liquefied Natural Gas tankers. And LNG ports and
depots. About 10 each on the East Coast, the West Coast and the
Gulf Coast.
"LNG tankers and re-gassification terminals are the worst thing
imaginable, from a security aspect," says Ed Schreyer. "One
bullet by a terrorist, and you'd have a catastrophe."
The former governor-general has had a lifelong interest in energy
policy. When he was premier of Manitoba (1969-77), his wife Lily
used to say that his bedtime reading consisted of Manitoba Hydro
tomes.
Schreyer kept informed while at Rideau Hall (1979-84) and in the
next four years as high commissioner to Australia. He has since
been teaching the subject at Canadian and German universities,
being fluent in German.
Recently, he was at Queen's University in Belfast, delivering the
Eaton Lecture, named after Timothy, who came to Canada from a
village near that campus.
In his Belfast address, and in two phone conversations from his
native Winnipeg, Schreyer warned of a "disaster of truly epic
proportions."
He is no prophet of doom. But he sees clear dangers.
We are entering the end of the 100-year era of oil, he says.
"We are 10 minutes to midnight," notwithstanding "the `horn of
plenty' school of unbounded optimists" or those pinning their
hopes on new techniques of extraction. "Capital put into an old
and exhausted field is like buying the Brooklyn Bridge."
Oil will still be around for another 50 years, he says. But
"almost anytime soon, perhaps in this decade ... supply and
demand will be out of balance and so will price and so will
almost everything else that makes for a stable society and
civilization."
The coming "chaos and misery" would grind transportation to a
halt, of course, but also industry and agriculture.
Food production is so dependent on oil for mechanization,
fertilization, herbicides, pesticides, feedlots, poultry and hog
factories that high prices and sporadic supply would have "the
makings of a breakdown in the chain of food supply."
Natural gas won't rescue us.
Its overuse has led to depletion. So much so that the post-Sept.
11 assumption made by George W. Bush and Jean Chrétien, that
Canada would be a backup source of gas for America, has proven to
be an illusion.
Tellingly, the Bush administration has not complained, as it has
a right to do under the North American Free Trade Agreement. It
realizes, says Schreyer, that "the Canadian tar sands are
strategically more important to its future needs than gas."
But the tar sands themselves are problematic. They need massive
amounts of natural gas both to produce and to process.
Yet Canadians remain "blissfully ignorant" of all this, as also
of the environmental degradation we are causing.
Paul Martin has already conceded that "we have no plan" that
would enable us to implement the Kyoto protocol despite signing
it.
"There's no let-up in fossil dependency, nor supply, nor CO2
escalation," says Schreyer.
"This is courting disaster a form of irrational behaviour or
collective madness."
He also bemoans the "infighting and complete lack of goodwill and
co-operation" among environmentalists and proponents of solar,
hydro, wind and other forms of energy.
"Many disparage and poor-mouth all renewable energy sources other
than their own preference. Every duck praises its own slough.
It's often a weird scenario, as though players of the same team
and uniform prefer to attack each other instead of their
opponents."
While environmentalists have done great service, Schreyer says,
some have been "simplistic, aggressive and irrational" in holding
back hydro or nuclear energy.
Meanwhile, Ontario Hydro's flirtation with deregulation has been
disastrous: "The once impressive flagship of Canadian utilities
in now half way up some ill-defined hill and stalled out."
What should be done, beyond ringing alarm bells?
Develop more hydraulic energy, a third more than the current
total especially in Ontario, Quebec and Manitoba.
Have a "sober and rational debate" on nuclear energy, and develop
more of it.
Get serious about solar and wind, the latter along coastlines,
mountain passes and the plains.
Build a national electricity grid. It would "cost a hell of a lot
less than another gas pipeline."
Promote electric and hybrid-electric cars, for which the
technology is already here.
For three years, Schreyer has been using cars powered by battery
and gasoline. The engine shuts off when the car stops. You get
going by pushing the electric pedal. As you gain speed, the
gasoline engine takes over.
Toyota and Honda have led the way with these cars.
Yet in North America, the buzz has been over hydrogen and the
fuel cell, neither of which makes much sense to Schreyer.
There are only two ways to get hydrogen: splitting the water
molecule through electrolysis (expensive) or stripping it away
from natural gas ("What for? Natural gas does virtually the same
thing as hydrogen.")
As for the fuel cell, "that's at least 20 years away."
Perhaps that's the key, Schreyer says. It lulls us into
postponing the long process of ending our dependence on oil and
gas.
Why have politicians and policy makers been complicit?
The Bush-Cheney connection to big oil and gas is
self-explanatory. As for Chrétien he was big on the fuel cell
and others, Schreyer thinks they have been misled and "have not
taken the time to inform themselves."
His hope is that "political leadership would, in due course, run
from behind to catch up with public opinion."
Legal Notice: Copyright Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. All
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6 Federal Bureau of Incompetence - The shameful treatment of Sibel
Edmonds proves the FBI's urgent need for reform. By Fred Kaplan
Posted Thursday, July 29, 2004, at 2:55 PM PT
Two news reports today illustrate how far we are from getting
real reforms in our methods of spotting and stopping terrorists.
The first story, on the AP wire, notes how gently the 9/11
commission treated the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Yes, the
bureau screwed up as badly as any other agency prior to the
attacks of Sept. 11, commission chairman Thomas Kean allowed. But
the new FBI director, Robert Mueller, is moving in the right
directionâ"doing exactly the right thing," as Kean put itâso
the final report came down lightly on him.
The second story, in the New York Times, notes that the
FBI and the Justice Department are keeping a tight seal of
secrecy around the case of Sibel Edmonds, despite the inspector
general's finding that Edmonds was fired from the FBI at least in
part because she'd accused the bureau of incompetence in the war
on terror.
Edmonds was a contract linguist for the FBIâtranslating
material from Turkish, Persian, and Azerbaijaniâwho was
dismissed in 2002 after complaining that the bureau's staff
linguists had poorly translated important pieces of intelligence
on terrorism, before and after Sept. 11. She also charged that
one of these linguists had blocked the translation of material
that implicated an acquaintance who had come under FBI suspicion.
For her repeated efforts, Edmonds was not only dismissed, she was
also barred from testifying in a lawsuit brought by family
members of 9/11 victims. The Justice Department further
prohibited her from speaking out anywhere about her own case. All
facts about her job at the FBI, even which languages she
translated, were declared "state secrets."
Until recently, to the extent that FBI spokesmen commented at all
about why Edmonds was dismissed, they said only that she'd been
"disruptive" (probably true, as far as it goes).
However, the story in today's Times reveals that the Justice
Department's inspector general has concluded that Edmonds'
allegations "were at least a contributing factor in why the FBI
terminated her services."
How did Mueller, the much-lauded FBI director, respond to this
finding? He wrote a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee,
noting that he was "concerned" about the inspector general's
conclusion but also pleased that the IG "had not concluded that
the FBI retaliated against Ms. Edmonds when it terminated her
services on April 2, 2002."
Huh?
I suppose the phrase "at least a contributing factor in why the
FBI terminated her services" is not precisely synonymous with a
point-blank verdict that "the FBI retaliated against Ms. Edmonds
when it terminated her services." But it's close enough. If the
IG's report were a piece of intelligence, I'd say it was
"actionable."
What action is Mueller taking? He told the Senate Judiciary
Committee that he will, in the Times' words, work "to determine
whether any employees should be disciplined as a result"âwhich,
by the way, is not the same as making any such determination or
actually disciplining anyone as a result. But will he welcome
Edmonds back to the bureau with open arms, place her in a
supervisory post among its cadre of linguists, or encourage
analysts in all its branches to emulate her example?
No, no, and no. The case, and Edmonds herself, are still under a
court seal from the highest law-enforcement authority in our
land.
What does all this have to do with the prospects for success in
America's war on terrorism? Plenty.
One big lesson of the 9/11 commission's report is that our
government failed to disrupt al-Qaida's attack planâfailed to
connect the many dots on the horizonâbecause of a lack of
incentives. As I wrotehere, in a summary of the report last week,
"It turns out that many individuals, panels, and agencies had
predicted an attack uncannily similar to what happened on Sept.
11, 2001. The problem was that nobody in a position of power felt
compelled to do anything about it."
In the next few days or weeks, President George W. Bush will
probably sign an executive order implementing some of the
bureaucratic changes that the report recommends. (Better three
years late than never âŠ) However, bureaucratic changes will
have limited impact unless a new system of rewards and
penaltiesâa new system of incentivesâis also put in place.
For linguists and other analysts looking at what happened to
Sibel Edmonds, the system of rewards and penalties is all too
clear. The lesson they draw: Keep your head down; just do your
job; if you see others doing their job badly, even if to the
detriment of national security, don't get involved.
Fred Kaplan writes the "War Stories" column for Slate.
More war stories Federal Bureau of Incompetence The
shameful treatment of Sibel Edmonds proves the FBI's urgent need
for reform. posted July 29, 2004 Fred Kaplan We're Losing the
Arms Race With North Korea What's the optimal number of
anti-missile missiles? None. posted July 27, 2004 Fred Kaplan
Show Me the Money The 9/11 commission's report is superb, but
will it change anything? posted July 22, 2004 Fred Kaplan Berger
With a Side of Secret Documents Is he a criminal or a klutz?
posted July 21, 2004 Fred Kaplan Bush's Foreign Fantasy The
president thinks the world is safer than it was three years ago.
Which world is he living in? posted July 16, 2004 Fred Kaplan
Search for more War Stories in our archive.
©2004 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Terms
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7 Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Spinning 16 words into basis for war
[seattlepi.com]
Sunday, August 1, 2004
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER EDITORIAL BOARD
The Bush administration's mishandling of Iraqi weapons issues
remains a national embarrassment. No spinning of isolated facts
in recent reports can change the erroneous grounds for war.
The administration's defenders would love to change the
discourse. Some think discrediting former Ambassador Joseph
Wilson is the key.
Wilson raised important early doubts about the administration's
judgment on Iraqi weapons in a July 2003 article about his
mission to check accusations that Iraq tried to buy uranium from
Niger. The administration quickly admitted that the accusation
never should have been included in President Bush's State of the
Union speech.
Still, using a trail of statements, findings and interpretation,
critics now suggest Wilson should apologize. Some serious people
still legitimately feel there could have been an Iraqi purchase
inquiry. The critics mistake disagreements for dishonesty.
A Senate Intelligence Committee report raises some doubts about
the importance of Wilson's trip and his recollections. The
committee found Wilson's report "unimpressive" and "ambiguous" --
not at all the smoking gun.
Wilson also was wrong in assuming his information went to Vice
President Dick Cheney; but the report says Cheney should have
been briefed. Beyond that, Wilson can appear self-promotional,
and caustic, even bombastic, as critics gleefully trumpet. But,
much as they might wish, his personality isn't the issue.
Still, Wilson's information was important. His skepticism should
have helped the administration better answer questions about Iraq
and its weapons' program.
GOP senators' claims that Wilson's wife, CIA agent Valerie Plame,
suggested him for the job rests on modest evidence; there's more
substantial evidence to the contrary. In any case, a suggestion
wouldn't have been improper.
The fuss is largely irrelevant. Even if the Niger incident should
prove belatedly true, it didn't amount to an imminent danger to
the United States. As best anyone can tell, the alleged weapons
threats just aren't there.
That's the administration's central embarrassment, but perhaps
not the last tied to this issue. A criminal probe into the
leaking of Plame's identity continues. Back to top
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98119 (206) 448-8000
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8 Scotsman.com News: Nuclear Weapons Inspectors Descend on British University
Sat 31 Jul 2004
By John von Radowitz, Science Correspondent, PA News
A British university is providing a practice centre for nuclear
weapons inspectors from around the world.
The unique facility at the University of Leicester will help
enforce the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, which
prohibits nuclear tests.
Experts from Europe, southern Africa, India and China have
converged on the Environmental Geophysics Test Site at Oadby to
train and try out their equipment.
Beneath a few hundred square metres of turf at the site lie an
assortment of tubes, beams, sheets, spheres and cubes made of
metal, concrete, brick and plastic, as well as underground
cavities.
The structures provide âtargetsâ on which to practice finding
hidden evidence of nuclear tests.
They range from the size of a golf ball to pits 10 metres long
and two metres deep.
Dr Ian Hill, from the universityâs Department of Geology, said:
âEach structure on the site is defined in detail with plan and
section drawings as necessary. The targets comprise a variety of
different shapes and sizes of objects made from different
materials. People will be using equipment to locate and map the
objects.â
The inspectors, from the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty
Organisation based in Vienna, will be at Leicester until August
6.
Dr Hill added: âAn essential part of the inspection procedure
is to perform geophysical surveys to detect underground
structures and artefacts that may be related to a nuclear test.
âThese would comprise a subsurface cavity from an explosion,
and the pipes, electrical cables and similar structures in the
near-surface for the measurement equipment necessary for a
test.â
*****************************************************************
9 Scotsman.com: Scarlett 'Asked Experts to Harden Weapons Hunt Report'
Sun 1 Aug 2004
By Andrew Woodcock, Political Correspondent, PA News
The new head of secret intelligence service MI6 tried to persuade
weapons inspectors in Iraq to harden up a report on their hunt
for weapons of mass destruction, it was claimed today.
An unnamed member of the Iraqi Survey Group is quoted in the Mail
on Sunday as saying John Scarlett suggested that their report
should include details of claims about Saddam Husseinâs
supposed arsenals â which had already been proven unreliable.
Mr Scarlett â who takes up his role as head of MI6 this week
â sent a confidential email to the head of the ISG on March 8
this year with a list of 10 âgolden nuggetsâ for possible
inclusion in the report, it was claimed.
In the event, his suggestions were rejected, but pressure from
the US and UK led to the ISG producing only a bland 20-page
document rather than a detailed 200-page analysis of the failure
of their 1,400-strong team to find any trace of WMD in Iraq, the
Mail on Sunday said.
The Foreign Office declined to comment in detail on the
allegations, saying only: âThe ISG is an entirely independent
body which issues independent reports, and any questions about
the content of their reports should be addressed to the ISG.â
Among the so-called ânuggetsâ supposedly put forward by Mr
Scarlett were claims that Saddam had a secret smallpox programme,
that Iraq had developed mobile chemical weapons laboratories and
that the country possessed or was building a ârail gunâ as
part of a nuclear project.
Respected investigative journalist Tom Mangold â a friend of UK
weapons inspector David Kelly, who killed himself last year after
being exposed as the source of stories casting doubt on
Government claims about Iraqi WMD â said that he had been
informed that ISG officials were âstunned and dismayedâ by
the request.
He quoted the unnamed ISG insider as saying: âInclusion of
Scarlettâs nuggets would have been grossly manipulative of the
truth. In fact, letâs face it, he wanted us to include lies.
âThis was a blatant attempt by the highly influential and
respected British intelligence chief to insert material into our
report which we knew for a hard fact was totally untrue.
âEverything Scarlett wanted in was based on very old evidence
which we had painstakingly investigated and shown to be false.â
If genuine, the alleged email would have been sent while Mr
Scarlett was head of the Joint Intelligence Committee, which
advises the Prime Minister on intelligence matters.
It would have been sent just weeks after Lord Hutton cleared the
Government of âsexing upâ the evidence of Saddamâs WMD in
its notorious September 2002 dossier, which was signed off by Mr
Scarlett in his role as JIC head.
At the time, both US president George Bush and Prime Minister
Tony Blair had just set up inquiries into the failings of
intelligence on Iraqi WMD in the run-up to war, following the
announcement of outgoing ISG head David Kay that he did not
believe weapons stockpiles would be found.
Mr Mangoldâs anonymous source said that the man who replaced Dr
Kay, Charles Duelfer, had asked for each of Mr Scarlettâs
ânuggetsâ to be investigated in full.
But he said that inspectors persuaded him that their inclusion in
the report would be âdishonest, deceitful and eventually
disastrousâ.
The insider said: âIt was a deliberate attempt â I hate using
this term â to âsex upâ our already truncated and rotten 20
pages. It was so blatant, a deliberate attempt to mislead the
world for purely political reasons.â
*****************************************************************
10 AFP: Lifted: Nuclear parts freeze -
AUG 2, 2004
TEHERAN - Iran announced it has resumed making parts for
centrifuges used for enriching uranium, dealing a fresh blow to
European efforts to contain its nuclear programme.
Although Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi asserted Iran was
committed to a suspension of enrichment, he said 'no country has
the right to deprive us of nuclear technology'.
'We are still continuing with the suspension of enrichment that
we agreed to last year' with the European Union's so-called 'big
three' - Britain, France and Germany - Mr Kharazi told reporters.
'During a meeting in Brussels in February, we decided to expand
this suspension to making parts for centrifuges. But since the
Europeans failed to meet their commitments...we have now started
manufacturing centrifuge parts,' he said.
Centrifuges are used to enrich uranium. Iran says it only wants
to produce fuel for an atomic energy programme, but highly
enriched uranium can also be used for weapons.
Iran denies it is trying to acquire the bomb. -- AFP
to The Straits Times print edition today. In it you
*****************************************************************
11 UK The Observer: Spies, lies and blowing raspberries
[UP]
The Prime Minister has quoted intelligence sources
that just don't exist
Brian Jones
Sunday August 1, 2004
The Observer
I seem to recall an episodic sketch run by the incomparable Two
Ronnies about 'The Phantom Raspberry Blower of Old London Town'.
The hunt for the perpetrator assumed the proportions of that for
Jack the Ripper because the 'raspberry' was so effective in
exposing the Victorian establishment's worst excesses.
The raspberry remains an effective weapon for the exposure of
nonsense and the deflation of overblown establishment egos. It
was in response to the Prime Minister's assertion that 'the
threat [from Iraq's WMD] is current and serious' that John
Morrison thought he 'could almost hear the collective raspberry
going up around Whitehall'.
Morrison was a career intelligence analyst in the Ministry of
Defence with wide experience of the British intelligence
community in 1995. When he retired in 1999 he took up a part-time
post as the Intelligence and Security Committee's 'investigator'.
When he used the word 'raspberry' in his interview for Panorama
's 'A Failure of Intelligence' he cut right through the layers of
confusion and hype to the very heart of the government's Iraq
problem. Even if the intelligence community had 'established
beyond doubt' that Saddam had continued to produce chemical and
biological weapons, which it had not, that could not be
translated into a threat that could only be dealt with by war.
When pressed that the Prime Minister's argument was about a risk
Saddam might use them, at least regionally, and we would
inevitably get sucked into such a conflagration and thus there
was a threat to British interests anyway, Morrison replied
succinctly: 'No, that's piling supposition upon supposition.'
A deeply held respect for the intelligence process led me and, I
believe, John Morrison, to comment publicly on these matters, for
we are not natural allies. We had known each other since I joined
the Defence Intelligence Staff in the 1980s and from the mid
1990s he had been my boss. We shared a respect for one another's
professionalism but had intense disagreements on management and
organisational issues that were never resolved. After his
retirement in 1999 we did not keep in touch. I was, therefore,
surprised and delighted at his contribution to the Panorama
programme for which I was interviewed independently. I contacted
him after it was broadcast to thank him for the kind things he
had said about me.
A few days later I called him again because I had heard rumours
that, as an act of reprisal, he was to lose his job supporting
the ISC. He told me that he had heard nothing of this, and
doubted that it could be anything more than mischief. Although he
had studiously avoided any mention of his association with the
ISC, he had advised both the chair and clerk of the committee of
his impending action and there had been no suggestion that he
should not proceed. He mentioned that his contract ran until
April 2005 and that he expected to fulfil it.
Timing is all, and notice of the curtailment of John Morrison's
employment did not emerge until after the House had risen and the
Prime Minister had conducted his inevitably difficult end-of-term
press conference. There has been some late scrambling to deny any
association of the decision with Morrison's comments on Panorama
and both the Cabinet Office and Number 10 have sought to suggest
that his contract comes to a natural end in October.
Unfortunately, the raspberry is an area-effect rather than a
precision weapon. It is therefore difficult to discern which of
those caught up in its fallout decided to retaliate. Perhaps
there was an alliance of all concerned. The ISC, with its
reputation diminished, can ill afford to lose high quality
advice.
It is worth focusing on this word 'threat' that led the nation
into battle. It is one that comes very easily to the Prime
Minister's lips but is more difficult for intelligence analysts.
At his last monthly press conference before the summer recess,
according to my count, Mr Blair used the word seven times. 'It
was absolutely clear from those [Joint Intelligence Committee]
assessments what [their] judgments were ... that Iraq posed a
threat both in terms of chemical and biological weapons and the
continuing nuclear weapons programme,' he said. In the first
place I did not understand quite what threat was being referred
to and, second, I could not recall that the JIC papers he
referred to and which were produced before I retired, made any
judgments at all about 'the threat'.
To show that he was right, the Prime Minister urged us to go back
and read the JIC assessments reproduced in the Butler report
which he had started to read out in the House of Commons. I did
so and could not find the word 'threat'. In the House the PM
quoted from the JIC of 9 September 2002. This was an unusual
paper because in examining possible scenarios for Iraqi use of
chemical and biological weapons the assumption that they existed
was implicit. Even then, the point at which repeated
interruptions stopped him reading was significant. The very next
key judgment got as close as any in defining a 'threat'. It said:
'The use of chemical and biological weapons prior to any [US-led]
military attack ... is unlikely.'
The absence of any real threat was recognised at least in some
parts of Number 10 since, thanks to Lord Hutton, we know of
Jonathan Powell's comment to the chairman of the JIC as late as
17 September on a draft of the dossier. I do not know to what
extent his view was informed by JIC papers or access to the most
sensitive new intelligence but it is unambiguous. 'First, the
document does nothing to demonstrate a threat, let alone an
imminent threat from Saddam. In other words it shows he has the
means but it does not demonstrate that he has the motive to
attack his neighbours, let alone the West.'
But these arguments are complex, underlining the value of the
raspberry to counter prevarication. If John Morrison has time on
his hands after October, perhaps a few Honourable Members should
beat a path to this expert's door. A healthy raspberry or two
might be more effective than some speeches I have heard in the
Commons lately.
· Brian Jones is a visiting senior research fellow at the
University of Southampton. He was formerly with the Defence
Intelligence Staff dealing with nuclear, biological and chemical
warfare.
Special report Iraq
Chronology Iraq timeline: Feb 1 2004 - present Iraq timeline:
July 16 1979 - Jan 31 2004
Interactive guides Click-through graphics on Iraq
Key documents
Full text of speeches and documents
Audio reports
Audio reports on Iraq
More special reports
Politics and the war
Aid for Iraq
Iraq - the media war
The anti-war movement
28.01.2003: Guide to anti-war websites
Useful links
Provisional authority: rebuilding Iraq
Iraqi-American chamber of commerce
cnn.com: David Kay's evidence to US Senate committee
[UP]
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004
*****************************************************************
12 IndiaExpress: India needs nuclear submarines, says new Naval Chief
: New Delhi
14.02 IST 31st July 2004
By IndiaExpress Bureau
India needs nuclear submarines and it was upto the Government to
take a decision in this regard, Admiral Arun Prakash said today
soon after taking over as the new Chief of the Naval Staff.
"Navy needs nuclear submarines but it is upto the Government to
take a decision on the acquisition," he said after taking over
the reins from outgoing Chief Admiral Madhvendera Singh to become
the 20th Chief.
Though there have been reports that India was negotiating with
Russia to acquire on lease two nuclear-powered 'Akula' class
submarines, it is for the first time that a senior official has
acknowledged that New Delhi was keen to acquire such a class of
submarines.
In a brief interaction with the media, Prakash, who has the
distinction of being a Naval fighter pilot donning the IAF
uniform in 1971 war to win the 'Vir Chakra', said the force
levels in the Navy were dwindling and there was an urgent need to
arrest the trend.
Listing his priorities, he said it includes maintaining the
present force levels of the Navy in warships, submarines as well
as air power by acquisition of more modern indigenous warships
and also import submarines.
The new Naval Chief said his force also faced equipment and
manpower shortages. "We have to convince the government; we need
to overcome them (shortages)," he said.
Prakash said his thrust would be to make the Navy "network
centric" by interlinking long range missiles, radars and sensors
on the naval warships through satellite and IT to deliver a
lethal punch.
*****************************************************************
13 Hanford nuclear power plant remains under shutdown
Date: Sat, 31 Jul 2004 10:29:45 -0500 (CDT)
Morning All,
Following are as many stories as I could find on the
emergency shutdown at Hanford yesterday. Most are
pretty identical, but a couple add a few bits and
pieces.
My Best,
David Grace
////\\\\
http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?tl=1&display=rednews/2004/07/30/build/nation/34-hanford.inc
July 30, 2004 - 1:07 pm
Hanford nuclear power plant undergoes emergency
shutdown
Associated Press
RICHLAND, Wash. (AP) -- The Columbia Generating
Station nuclear power plant on the Hanford nuclear
reservation underwent an emergency shutdown Friday,
but state emergency officials said there was no
release of radiation and no danger to the public.
Rob Harper, spokesman for the Washington state
Emergency Operations Center, said the plant was shut
down manually because of a failure in the automated
shutdown system.
Although he said there was no threat to the general
public, the Emergency Operations Center at Camp Murray
was activated under the plant's emergency plan.
Harper said workers at the electricity-producing plant
were conducting tests about 10 a.m. when an automatic
shutdown system failed. He said not all the control
rods went into the reactor and two had to be inserted
manually.
The emergency shutdown triggered an alert in which
state agencies prepared to respond if needed to help
Benton and Franklin counties near the reservation.
Harper said the plant was stable, and that crews were
checking the situation. It was not immediately known
how long the reactor would be out of service.
Copyright ) 2004 Associated Press. All rights
reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Copyright ) The Billings Gazette, a division of Lee
Enterprises.
+++++
http://www.katu.com/news/story.asp?ID=69703
July 30, 2004
Test failure triggers emergency at Hanford plant
RICHLAND, WASH. - An emergency at the nuclear power
plant on the Hanford reservation ended about two hours
after it was declared this morning.
There was no radiation release and no evacuation
during the emergency.
Brad Peck with Energy Northwest says the Columbia
Generating Station is stable, but will remain out of
service until crews determine why an automatic
shut-down system failed a test.
Two of the 185 control rods failed to move into place
about 10:00 a.m. and operators inserted them manually.
An alert was declared, which triggered an emergency
response from the state.
It activated the state Emergency Operations Center to
coordinate state energies to help Benton and Franklin
counties.
Energy Northwest has a phone number set up to answer
questions from the public -- (509) 372-5011.
(Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press.
+++++
http://news.statesmanjournal.com/article.cfm?i=84370
Hanford shut down for emergency
The Associated Press
July 30, 2004 - 12:26 PM
RICHLAND, Wash. - The Columbia Generating Station
nuclear power plant on the Hanford nuclear reservation
underwent an emergency shutdown today, but state
emergency officials said there was no release of
radiation and no danger to the public.
Rob Harper, spokesman for the Washington state
Emergency Operations Center, said the plant was shut
down manually because of a failure in the automated
shutdown system.
Although he said there was no threat to the general
public, the Emergency Operations Center at Camp Murray
was activated under the plants emergency plan.
Harper said workers at the electricity-producing plant
were conducting tests about 10 a.m. when an automatic
shutdown system failed. He said not all the control
rods went into the reactor and two had to be inserted
manually.
The emergency shutdown triggered an alert in which
state agencies prepared to respond if needed to help
Benton and Franklin counties near the reservation.
Harper said the plant was stable, and that crews were
checking the situation. It was not immediately known
how long the reactor would be out of service.
+++++
http://www.dailycamera.com/bdc/state_news/article/0,1713,BDC_2419_3078020,00.html
Failure shuts down Hanford nuclear plant
Auto shutdown system fails
By Associated Press
July 31, 2004
RICHLAND, Wash. - Washington state's only commercial
nuclear reactor remained out of service while
technicians tried to determine why an automatic
shutdown system failed to work properly Friday.
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 Hanford nuclear
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 shutdown.
The rods, which control the reactor's operation, were
inserted manually at 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.
State officials originally said the shutdown occurred
during a test, but Nuclear Regulatory Commission
officials later said it occurred during normal
operations.
NRC 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 if
there were problems with indicator lights, Clark said.
+++++
http://www.gazettetimes.com/articles/2004/07/31/news/the_west/satwst03.txt
Saturday, July 31, 2004
Hanford nuclear power plant undergoes emergency
shutdown
By The Associated Press
RICHLAND, Wash. - Washington state's only commercial
nuclear reactor remained out of service while
technicians tried to determine why an automatic
shutdown system failed to work properly Friday.
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 Hanford nuclear
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 shutdown.
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.
State officials originally said the shutdown occurred
during a test, but Nuclear Regulatory Commission
officials later said it occurred during normal
operations.
NRC spokesman Ken Clark in Atlanta said the reactor
automatically shut down after a high-pressure
indication 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.
On the Net:
Energy Northwest, www.energy-northwest.com/main.html
Nuclear Regulatory Commission, www.nrc.gov/
+++++
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/184369_hanford31.html?source=rss
Saturday, July 31, 2004
Hanford reactor shut down after alert
Control-rod problem under study; no radiation released
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 to work properly yesterday.
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 Hanford Nuclear
Reservation.
But Brad Peck, a 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
electrical grid, will 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 shutdown.
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, a spokesman for the 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.
State authorities originally said the shutdown
occurred during a test, but Nuclear Regulatory
Commission officials later said it occurred during
normal operations.
NRC spokesman Ken Clark in Atlanta said the reactor
automatically shut down after a high-pressure
indication about 9:25 a.m. It was then that equipment
indicated that 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
whether 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 that
involve an actual or potential substantial degradation
in the level of safety of the plant, according to an
NRC Web site.
+++++
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/nation/20040730-1445-wst-nuclearplantshutdown.html
Hanford nuclear power plant undergoes emergency
shutdown
ASSOCIATED PRESS
2:45 p.m. July 30, 2004
RICHLAND, Wash. - 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 Friday.
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. PDT, 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
precautionary measure, he said.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesmen in Dallas and
Washington, D.C., did not immediately return calls for
comment Friday afternoon.
On the Net:
Energy Northwest: www.energy-northwest.com/main.html
Nuclear Regulatory Commission: www.nrc.gov/
+++++
http://abcnews.go.com/wire/US/ap20040730_1777.html
Wash. Nuclear Power Plant Halts Operations
Washington State Nuclear Power Plant Halts Operations
After Shutdown System Malfunctions
The Associated Press
RICHLAND, Wash. July 30, 2004 - Washington state's
only commercial nuclear power plant stopped operations
Friday after an automatic shutdown system failed to
work properly.
State emergency officials said there was no release of
radiation and no danger to the public.
The reactor, which is operated by Energy Northwest,
will remain out of service until crews determine what
caused the problem, said Brad Peck, spokesman for the
company.
The automatic shutdown system was triggered by an
indication of high pressure, said Ken Clark, a
spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. As
part of the shutdown, all 185 control rods were
supposed to insert into the reactor. But lights on a
control panel indicated that two rods failed to
insert, said Heather McMurdo, a spokeswoman for Energy
Northwest.
Backup systems operated correctly after the rods,
which control the reactor's operation, were inserted
manually, she said. Operators kept the plant shut down
as a precaution, McMurdo said.
The reactor is located on land leased from the U.S.
Department of Energy within the boundaries of the
Hanford nuclear reservation in south-central
Washington state, but is a separate entity.
Copyright 2004 The Associated Press.
+++++
- Following stories require registration:
Hanford nuclear power plant undergoes emergency
shutdown
KGW.com - 17 hours, 33 minutes ago
An alert issued for a nuclear power plant on the
Hanford nuclear reservation was canceled about two
hours after the Columbia Generating Station underwent
an emergency shutdown Friday.
Hanford nuclear power plant shuts down temporarily
KGW.com - 19 hours, 3 minutes ago
RICHLAND, Wash. -- The nuclear power plant on the
Hanford nuclear reservation went into emergency
shut-down mode late Friday morning, officials said. A
spokesman for the Washington state Emergency
Operations Center said there is currently no threat to
the general public.
Hanford nuclear power plant remains under shutdown
KGW.com - 6 hours, 17 minutes ago
RICHLAND, Wash. -- Washington state's only commercial
nuclear reactor remained out of service Saturday while
technicians tried to determine why an automatic
shutdown system failed to work properly Friday.
**********
NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107
this material is distributed without profit or payment
to those who have expressed a prior interest in
receiving this information for non-profit research and
educational purposes only. For more information go to:
=====
//////\\\\\\
"Homeland security is kind of a jump ball -- still very much in the formative stages, with the real activity further down the pike."
- David W. Zolet, Northrop's vice-president for homeland security.
__________________________________
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14 BBC: Belarus deports Chernobyl expert
Last Updated: Saturday, 31 July, 2004
[Woman cries by grave at Kiev memorial]
Chernobyl was the world's worst nuclear disaster
A British scientist who studied the Chernobyl disaster in the
former Soviet Union has been mysteriously deported from Belarus
while on a lecture tour.
The decision to rescind his visa was made by the former Soviet
republic's interior ministry.
Dr Alan Flowers, a specialist in radiology based at Kingston
University, said he was being removed because of his contact with
non-government groups.
The Foreign Office confirmed the deportation but declined to
comment.
Dr Flowers reportedly started studying the effects of the
disaster in 1992.
Radioactive rain
The Chernobyl power station, in Belarus' neighbouring former
Soviet republic Ukraine, exploded on 26 April 1986.
The blast, which killed at least 30 people and forced the
evacuation of 135,000 more people because of the level of nuclear
contamination in the area, was the world's worst nuclear
disaster.
Vladimir Kuzura, an official from the Belarusian Interior
Ministry, refused to explain the reasons behind the withdrawal of
Dr Flowers' visa and the deportation order.
But Dr Flowers is said to have made a claim that, if proved
right, would cause great embarrassment to former top Soviet
officials.
According to Vera Rich, who was the Soviet correspondent of the
scientific journal Nature at the time of the tragedy, many
believe the then Soviet Union seeded clouds to make them rain on
Belarus.
Freedom of speech
The move was aimed at preventing winds from blowing contaminated
material towards Moscow, theorists say.
According to Ms Rich, who is currently a freelance writer for the
Ukrainian Weekly, Dr Flowers said he had many colleagues in
Belarus who believe in this theory but would never admit it in
public for fear of retaliation.
In her article, she quoted him as saying: "For a full
understanding of the distribution and effects of the Chernobyl
fallout, we need as much evidence as possible.
"What caused the rain is still an uncertainty in our knowledge
about the intensity and nature of the contamination."
The Chernobyl disaster led to a dramatic rise in the number of
cases of thyroid cancer, leukaemia and birth defects, especially
in Belarus.
Up to seven million people are believed to have been affected.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has imposed strict
controls on freedom of expression, and the country is being
increasingly isolated by the west.
*****************************************************************
15 Sunday Herald: British Chernobyl scientist deported
01 August 2004
By James Hamilton
A BRITISH scientist who has spent years studying the fallout
from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster was mysteriously deported
from neighbouring Belarus yesterday.
Dr Alan Flowers was on a lecture tour in the former Soviet
republic after being invited by the Belarusian State University.
The academic, who is based in the Faculty of Science at Kingston
University London, arrived earlier this month.
But his visa was suddenly rescinded yesterday and the deportation
order imposed by the interior ministry.
Vladimir Kuzura, an official from the ministry, refused to
explain the reason for Flowerss deportation.
A Foreign Office spokes woman confirmed that the order had been
made but would not comment further.
Flowers, who specialises in radiology, apparently told report ers
in Belarus that he was being removed because of his contact with
non-government organisations.
Freelancer Vera Rich wrote in the Ukrainian Weekly that Flowers
had been studying the Chernobyl disaster since 1992.
Rich was Soviet correspondent for the scientific journal Nature
at the time of the worlds worst nuclear disaster on April 26,
1986.
The power station exploded, killing 30 people outright and
forcing the evacuation of 135,000 nearby because of the high
levels of radiation.
Rich wrote that Flowers said he had many colleagues in Belarus
who believed the theory that the Soviet Union seeded clouds to
make them rain, effectively dumping contaminated mat erial on
Belarus to avoid it being blown towards Moscow.
The Belarusian government has consistently tried to play down
the impact of the disaster, and outspoken researchers have been
gagged.
President Alexander Luka shenko has imposed strict controls on
freedom of speech and is increasingly isolated by the West.
© newsquest (sunday herald) limited. all rights reserved
*****************************************************************
16 DenverPost.com: Nuclear power helps environment
Published: Sunday, August 01, 2004
guest commentary By Robert C. Amme
While much environmental debate has focused recently on
renewable energy as an alternative to carbon dioxide-producing
fossil fuels, less has been said about nuclear power, the one
energy source that can make, and already has made, a very
significant difference.
The latest data coming from the Energy Information Administration
shows that U.S. emissions of carbon dioxide, produced mostly by
burning fossil fuels, have grown by 16 percent just since 1990.
And they rose again last year. Without prompt action, the
atmosphere's concentration of CO2 is expected to double from
pre-industrial levels by the end of this century.
But the significant warming of the planet, presumably owing
largely to the buildup of greenhouse gases, is already well under
way, and many scientists say that serious efforts to limit
buildup must begin now.
Recently, a panel of scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology said that nuclear power should be fostered precisely
because it is an important carbon-free energy source. The panel
said that tripling the use of nuclear power in the United States
by 2050 - to 300,000 megawatts from about 100,000 megawatts today
- would make a huge contribution in reducing CO2 emissions.
Currently, the U.S. obtains 20 percent of its electricity from
nuclear power. Renewable sources, especially solar and wind,
provide less than 3 percent.
Establishing policies now that try to depend entirely on
renewables would be a reckless gamble at best. Commercial solar
and wind require subsidies and high prices for consumers (as
Denmark has discovered) because the cost of photovoltaic
collectors is high and efficiency is low (around 10 percent), and
expensive backup systems using fossil fuels are required because
of the unpredictable nature of wind. Moreover, both require huge
amounts of real estate; wind generators must be spaced out so
that even with ideal winds, one may expect only 4 to 6 kilowatts
per acre. A wind farm approaching 260 to 300 square miles would
thus be required to generate the same amount of electricity as a
typical 1,000-megawatt nuclear plant. A solar array needs around
60 square miles plus additional land for storage and retrieval.
Federal legislation could be enacted to require a mandatory
policy for reducing the nation's CO2 emissions - one that does
not restrain our economy by limiting the amount of energy we can
produce. A key provision would be to require plants burning
fossil fuel to pay a levy to assist in mitigating their
environmental impacts. This would not only provide a sizable fund
for research into emissions-free energy sources, it would provide
a more level playing field for cleaner alternatives, such as the
new nuclear power plant designs now being developed. More
research is needed into methods for destroying radioactive waste
products of all kinds (transmutation of a radioactive isotope to
a benign product has recently been demonstrated).
Other provisions of such legislation must address our greatest
environmental challenge - the CO2 and other emissions that come
from our vehicles. The most promising alternative now seems to be
the generation of hydrogen from non-fossil fuels. To produce vast
amounts of hydrogen gas requires vast amounts of electricity or
thermal energy to break down water into its constituents. This
represents another way that advanced nuclear plants can come to
the rescue of our environment, and studies are underway now to do
just that. A single 1,000-megawatt nuclear plant could generate
enough hydrogen to run nearly a million fuel-cell-driven
automobiles.
Congress should approve incentives for construction of nuclear
plants that have simpler designs and (eventually) better
fuel/waste cycles, and that are even safer than plants now in
operation. That would provide a framework for utilities to pursue
construction of advanced nuclear plants.
Already, electrical companies in Virginia, Mississippi and
Illinois have applied to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for
early site approvals if and when they decide to build new plants.
Whoever is elected president will have an obligation to address
carbon dioxide emissions in a serious and responsible way.
Nuclear power is the only major energy source that can make a
substantial difference in reducing greenhouse gases. The
environmental costs of ignoring nuclear energy are prohibitive
and unacceptable. If we continue to delay, the price tag will
only grow.
Dr. Robert C. Amme is a professor of physics at the University of
Denver.
--> All contents Copyright 2004 The Denver Post or other
*****************************************************************
17 The Advocate: Governor may seek to add independent observer to inspection
Associated Press
July 31, 2004
MONTPELIER, Vt. --
Gov. James Douglas may seek to add an independent observer to the
upcoming engineering inspection at the Vermont Yankee nuclear
plant.
Douglas' spokesman Jason Gibbs said the governor would make a
decision early next week on whether to ask the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission to add the observer or independent participant in the
special inspection, which is scheduled to start Aug. 9.
"He's been very clear that the number of incidents at Yankee is
very troubling to him, and he wants to be absolutely certain that
the plant is as safe as it can be," Gibbs said. "He is growing
increasingly concerned with situations at the plant."
The special inspection is part of the state Public Service
Board's conditional approval of the reactor's plans to increase
power production.
Douglas met privately this week with the nuclear watchdog group
New England Coalition and heard from its expert witnesses,
including Paul Blanch of West Hartford, Conn., a nuclear industry
whistle-blower who now acts as a consultant.
Blanch said he urged Douglas to consider an independent voice,
as well as eyes and ears, for the engineering review and
volunteered for the job.
Blanch, an electrical engineer who once worked as a consultant
for Entergy Nuclear, the owner of Vermont Yankee, describes
himself as pro-nuclear but against Entergy's plans to boost power
at the reactor.
Earlier this summer the Public Service Board, in a meeting with
NRC officials in Vermont, suggested that the federal agency
consider adding an outsider to the review team. It specifically
suggested Blanch among others.
Vermont Yankee has been in the news throughout the spring and
summer, most notably when the plant announced in April that it
couldn't find two pieces of radioactive fuel rods. They have
since been found at the plant.
Copyright © 2004, The Associated Press
© 2004, Southern Connecticut Newspapers, Inc. All rights
*****************************************************************
18 Anchorage Daily News: Geiger counters silent for now, but research continues
Cancer, bureaucracy plague Amchitka workers
By JOEL GAY Anchorage Daily News
(Published: August 1, 2004)
Amchitka Island and its birds, fish and plant life appear to be
free of radioactive contamination, though the researchers who
studied the nuclear test site this summer say that could change
with one good earthquake.
Preliminary results from hand-held Geiger counters and radiation
badges found no signs of radiation, said Stephen Jewett of the
University of Alaska Fairbanks: "Absolutely zeros on everything."
But thousands of samples taken from Amchitka's environment and
wildlife will undergo much closer scrutiny in the coming months,
he said. The laboratory work should show whether radiation is
leaking from the three underground tests conducted from 1965 to
1971.
At least three smaller-scale studies were done previously on the
island. The environmental group Greenpeace claimed in 1996 that
it found elevated radiation levels in a small number of plant
samples, but follow-up studies by state and federal agencies in
1998, 1999 and 2001 said the low levels posed no threat to the
environment.
But the work suggested further study was necessary to determine
whether contaminated groundwater from the island might be leaking
into the ocean off Amchitka's shoreline.
This summer's effort is aimed at answering that question, said
Jewett, a research professor in UAF's School of Fisheries and
Ocean Sciences. Funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, the $3.1
million project included researchers from several universities.
Also along were observers from the Aleutian/Pribilof Islands
Association, some of whose members live in the region.
In the first stage, a 160-foot research vessel plied the
shoreline off two of the three test sites. It mapped the bottom,
looking for fault lines and other potential sources of
radioactive seeps, and gathered water samples that will show
whether fresh water is bubbling up, said Jewett.
In the second phase, Jewett and his team of divers, picking up
where the research vessel left off, sampled near-shore waters.
They also took water samples, along with bottom sediments, marine
plants and animals from 90 feet deep to the beach, he said.
Another team gathered samples on the island, from mosses and
lichens on up the food chain to birds and even rats.
It will take months to crunch the data, said Larry Duffy, a UAF
chemistry professor who oversaw a portion of the work. But it
should provide baseline data that can be used in the future to
determine whether radiation is leaking.
That's not out of the question, Duffy said. "This will be
important to monitor," he said. While radiation may be contained
now, Amchitka is in a zone of high seismic activity, he noted.
Alaska environmental officials have noted that computer models
during the testing era predicted that radionuclides could begin
leaking within as little as 10 years to 1,000 years or more.
"Sometime in the next 300,000 years there might be some
geological activity that all of a sudden changes the situation
around," cracking the ground above or below water and allowing
contaminated groundwater to escape, he said.
The Amchitka research was funded for one year only, but the
scientific team has applied for two more years, Duffy said.
Cancer, bureaucracy plague Amchitka workers
The advertisements below are not endorsed by the Anchorage Daily
News.
The Anchorage Daily News - Get the whole story every day -
*****************************************************************
19 SF Chronicle: Nuclear horror still haunts Hiroshima
Royce Brier Sunday, August 1, 2004
I am sitting on a park bench in Hiroshima, gazing up into a clear
blue sky. Right here, directly over my head, 59 years ago this
coming Friday an atomic bomb detonated.
It was 8:16 a.m. Another clear blue sky. A few airplanes
overhead, nothing unusual during wartime.
Then in just a few seconds, nearly everything within 2 kilometers
was obliterated. As if the sun were reborn, there was a flash of
light so intense it would have instantly blinded anyone nearby
who happened to be looking toward it at that moment.
Simultaneously, a tremendous wave of heat radiation fanned out in
all directions, incinerating all living creatures and wooden
buildings within about 1 kilometer. Then came a shock wave that
collapsed most structures farther away, nearly to the edge of the
city.
As the superheated air around the explosion rose upward, it
sucked debris, dirt and ash into the sky, forming a giant
mushroom cloud, and Hiroshima grew dark. Within a few hours, the
ash mixed with moisture and fell back to earth as poisonous
"black rain.'' Fire quickly swept through the city, destroying
whatever structures had been left standing after the blast.
Today, this place where I'm sitting is called Heiwa Koen, or
Peace Park. I'm facing the ghostly ruins of the Hiroshima
Prefectural Industry Promotion Hall, with its bare steel dome
ribs. It's one of a handful of reinforced concrete buildings that
weren't flattened by the explosion.
The A-Bomb Dome, as it's called, is a stop on one of the
streetcar lines. It looks terribly out of place among the modern
high-rises and the beautiful, open park.
In the park, groups of people sit on the ground and have picnics.
Joggers hustle by, old men sit on benches reading the newspaper,
a few homeless people trudge along.
Teenagers get together down by the river opposite the dome to
entertain themselves with guitars and singing. Tourists from all
over the world stop to take pictures or just gaze at the many
monuments scattered throughout the park.
One of the best monuments is a statue of a local girl who died of
leukemia 10 years after the bombing. She believed that if she
folded a thousand paper cranes, she would get well. She didn't.
Today, spreading out around the statue is a sea of colorful paper
cranes, millions of them, linked into long chains, woven into
tapestries or just piled up at the foot of the statue.
At the other end of the park from the dome is the Peace Memorial
Museum, containing exhibits, relics and photos from the aftermath
of the bombing. It's a tour of hell.
The land that the park sits on was once a traditional shopping
and entertainment district. It was wiped out, of course. More
than 100,000 people died on the morning of the bombing or shortly
thereafter. Of those who weren't killed right away, the heat from
the blast burned some people's clothes off and made their faces
and limbs swell. Their skin began to peel off and hang from their
heads and arms.
Many of the survivors congregated in public parks by the rivers.
Some who were burned and crazed with thirst jumped into the
rivers and drowned. But because most of Hiroshima's doctors and
nurses were dead, and medical supplies destroyed, and outside
help was slow in reaching the area, thousands died from their
injuries.
People wandered around in shock, looking for their children or
husbands or wives, sometimes not able to recognize them when they
found them, because of their burns.
Every year on Aug. 6, a commemoration is held in the park. People
gather to pray for relatives and friends lost in the war, listen
to speeches, protest against nuclear weapons. In the evening,
some go down to the river to light candles and place them inside
paper lanterns, which are floated out onto the water. The
lanterns are inscribed with prayers for the dead or messages of
peace. The event always gets good international press.
As years pass by, the numbers of survivors of the bombings of
Hiroshima and Nagasaki dwindle. But there are still a few left to
tell their stories of horror and grief to schoolchildren. There's
also a wealth of personal history, poetry, film and art about
these events.
People tend to get used to living now with the threat of nuclear
weapons. Maybe it's good to hear the stories, see the ugly
photos, try to put ourselves there, if only to remind us why we
must never let this happen again.
Royce Brier is a freelance writer in Santa Rosa.
©2004 San Francisco Chronicle | Feedback | FAQ
*****************************************************************
20 AU NINEMSN: Army exercises could harm environment
18:15 AEST Sat Jul 31 2004
Military training exercises at Shoalwater Bay on the central
Queensland coast were likely to damage a sensitive environmental
area, the Australian Democrats said.
Democrats Senator John Cherry said the federal government had
failed to answer serious questions raised by the local community,
which would hold a protest rally in Yeppoon on Sunday.
"Shoalwater Bay is a sensitive environmental site and we don't
know what the effects of upgraded training will be, particularly
if US forces use explosives utilising depleted uranium not used
by the Australian army," Senator Cherry said.
It was not yet known whether the federal government would
contribute more to the upkeep of local roads to cope with heavy
military transport vehicles or if the training would increase
security risks for the central Queensland region, he said.
Senator Cherry said he intended raising the matters in federal
parliament when it resumes next week.
He will speak at Sunday's rally.
Minister Robert Hill said the Joint Combined Training Centre
(JCTC) at Shoalwater Bay would provide vital training experience
for the Australian Defence Force as well as providing a valuable
boost to local communities.
Senator Hill previously announced Australia and the US had agreed
to the concept of developing the Shoalwater Bay training area in
central Queensland, the Delamere air weapons range and the new
Bradshaw field training range in the Northern Territory.
©AAP 2004
© 1997-2004 ninemsn Pty Ltd - All rights reserved
*****************************************************************
21 SF Chronicle: The fuel that nightmares are made of
Reviewed by Ian Garrick Mason Sunday, August 1, 2004
Nuclear Terrorism
The Ultimate Preventable Catastrophe
By Graham Allison
HENRY HOLT; 263 Pages; $24
In October 2002, President Bush gave a speech in Cincinnati.
"Facing clear evidence of peril," he said about Iraq, "we cannot
wait for the final proof -- the smoking gun -- that could come in
the form of a mushroom cloud." This image struck a chord, for in
the years since 1945 the mushroom cloud has grown into a symbol
of almost quasi-religious significance, a representation not just
of personal death, but also of the death of civilization. Though
the symbol's power seemed to fade after the end of the Cold War,
it never completely vanished. And in the shadow of Sept. 11 it
has regained much of its strength.
As the founding dean of Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of
Government, a former assistant secretary of defense for policy
and plans, and the author of an influential book on
decision-making during the Cuban missile crisis, Graham Allison
is eminently qualified to ring the alarm bells. In "Nuclear
Terrorism: The Ultimate Preventable Catastrophe," he explains
just how easy it is to design and build a nuclear weapon -- a
Princeton undergraduate in 1977 famously submitted a working
design for one as his senior thesis -- and how easy it would be
to smuggle such a bomb into the United States. A 100-pound
nuclear weapon, for example, could easily enter as part of a drug
shipment. "Approximately 21,000 pounds of cocaine and marijuana
are smuggled into the country each day in bales, crates, car
trunks -- even FedEx boxes," Allison writes. "Any one of these
containers could hold something far more deadly."
Nevertheless, Allison believes that a nuclear attack is
preventable, and his book offers a concrete plan of action. The
key, he says, is control of fissile materials -- like highly
enriched uranium (HEU) and plutonium -- without which a bomb
cannot be built. "No fissile material, no nuclear explosion, no
nuclear terrorism. It is that simple."
Allison goes on to argue convincingly that much of the world's
fissile material, perhaps most of it, can feasibly be recovered
and placed under tight guard by the existing nuclear powers.
Modeling his ideas on the already successful Nunn-Lugar program
he personally helped to set up as the Soviet Union was collapsing
in 1991, a program that helped Russia recover literally thousands
of tactical nuclear weapons from former Soviet territories,
Allison calls for a "grand alliance" that would see America and
Russia -- then China, Pakistan and others -- take possession of
fissile material lying around in sheds and insecure research
reactors in various ex-Soviet and Third World states.
More broadly, he advocates a world based on "Three No's": "no
loose nukes, no new nascent nukes" -- by which he means no new
facilities for producing fissile material -- and "no new nuclear
weapons states." On the first "no" ("no loose nukes"), Allison is
utterly persuasive. He rightly castigates the Bush administration
for ignoring this basic preventative principle, and points to the
appalling fact that this administration has, at least twice,
attempted to cut funding for Nunn-Lugar, which continues to
secure nuclear materials in the former Soviet Union. One feels
like sending cash to the State Department - - anything to help
revitalize and accelerate this program.
To deal with states such as Iran and North Korea that wish to
build their own fissile materials production capacity (the second
"no") in order to guarantee they'll be able to construct nuclear
weapons (the third "no") whenever they choose, Allison proposes a
mixture of carrots and sticks tailored to the country at issue.
In the coordinator's role, he recommends a newly humble and
diplomatic America, one committed to building a community of
nations that can act in concert to prevent the formation of new
nuclear powers. This is all to the good -- even if it is very
doubtful that the current administration has the diplomatic
skills to attempt it.
Allison even seems to be aware that fear of invasion may be one
of the key drivers behind a country's wish to acquire nuclear
weapons, because he recommends the United States offer
nonaggression guarantees as part of the bundle. As the stick, he
advocates threatening to bomb nuclear facilities in Iran or North
Korea, should either of those countries choose to reject the
world's offer of carrots.
Yet although he excoriates the Bush administration for its
invasion of Iraq -- which, among other things, "discredited the
larger case for a serious campaign to prevent nuclear terrorism"
-- it is hard to see how his own approach would lead to markedly
different results. Bombing nuclear facilities is not a less
violent and costly alternative to invasion and occupation, but
rather a precursor to it. Israel's fabled bombing of the nuclear
reactor at Osirak in 1981 may have set back Iraq's nuclear
weapons program, but it certainly didn't end it, and barely 20
years later, a nervous United States decided that the only way to
be sure that the threat was really gone was to conquer the
country and replace its government.
Ironically, force is probably no longer even an option with
regard to North Korea. Despite Allison's rather optimistic notion
that Kim Jong Il might be intimidated by being shown "a special
video with extensive footage of American precision-guided
munitions," it is likely that North Korea's suspected stockpile
of two to eight nuclear bombs is already more than enough
deterrence to keep American cruise missiles in their launch
tubes. As Allison himself made clear, delivering a nuclear weapon
is not much of a problem. North Korea doesn't need an ICBM when
it can just go Fed-Ex.
Ian Garrick Mason is a Toronto writer. His work also appears in
the Spectator and the Boston Globe.
©2004 San Francisco Chronicle | Feedback | FAQ
*****************************************************************
22 Las Vegas SUN: Editorial: The real deception
July 30, 2004
LAS VEGAS SUN
WEEKEND EDITION
july 31 - Aug. 1, 2004
During the 2000 presidential campaign George Bush said he would
use "sound science" to judge the Yucca Mountain project. But
soon after he was elected, Bush lobbied Congress to pass his
plan to send nuclear waste to Nevada -- even though there still
was a mountain of scientific evidence showing it to be unsafe.
Congress passed the legislation and Bush happily signed it into
law. One of the U.S. senators who voted against Bush's Yucca
Mountain plan was John Kerry, who became the Democratic
presidential nominee last week. It wasn't surprising that Kerry
sided with Nevada: In 2000 he had voted to sustain President
Clinton's veto of a bill that would have made it much easier to
send nuclear waste to Nevada.
Despite Kerry's strength on this issue of critical importance
to all Nevadans, Republicans have dredged up some votes from
years ago that they say show that Kerry had favored moving the
Yucca Mountain project forward. But Kerry clearly is opposed to
Yucca Mountain. "Rest assured, Nevada, if I'm the president of
the United States, Yucca Mountain will not be a repository,"
Kerry said in May at a campaign stop in Las Vegas.
For anyone still skeptical of Kerry's commitment, consider how
Yucca Mountain supporters feel about him. Rep. Butch Otter,
R-Idaho, in a commentary written several months ago, cited
Kerry's opposition to the Yucca Mountain project and noted that
if Kerry were elected president it would mean nuclear waste
would stay in Idaho and not be buried in Nevada. "It's as simple
as that," wrote Otter. And just this past week an editorial in
the Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch warned, "A John Kerry win
spells doom for the project." If even supporters of Yucca
Mountain acknowledge that Kerry will kill the project, what
should make us think otherwise?
Kerry has been one of the few consistent friends Nevada has had
in the U.S. Senate regarding Yucca Mountain, the most important
issue facing this state. Kerry understands our concerns, and has
stood with us when Nevada has needed him, something that can't
be said for Bush.
*****************************************************************
23 Las Vegas SUN: Columnist Jeff German: Differences on Yucca
clear, not confusing
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Columnist Jeff German: Differences on Yucca clear, not confusing
Jeff German's column appears Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and
Sundays in the Sun. Reach him at german@lasvegassun.comor (702)
259-4067.
WEEKEND EDITION
July 31 - Aug. 1, 2004
Nevada Republicans claim to be confused about where John Kerry
stands in the fight against Yucca Mountain.
They took great delight last week in disclosing that the
Democratic presidential candidate's voting record in the Senate
isn't as solidly against the nuclear waste dump as Democrats
have been telling us.
Kerry, it turns out, voted way back in 1987 for the so-called
"Screw Nevada" bill that singled out Yucca Mountain, 90 miles
from Las Vegas, as the only storage site in the country worth
studying.
The vote, though certainly an important one, came early in the
Yucca Mountain fight, when Nevada didn't have many allies on
Capitol Hill. Since then Kerry and other Democratic senators
have seen the flaws in the Yucca Mountain project and have
rallied strongly behind Nevada's congressional delegation.
But a vote's a vote, no matter how ancient. Republicans looking
to provide cover for President Bush's dismal Yucca Mountain
record whipped up the pundits and mounted a media blitz to cloud
an issue that could decide who wins Nevada's five electoral
votes -- and maybe the entire presidential race.
"I don't see a difference in George Bush or John Kerry as
president on the Yucca Mountain issue," Sen. John Ensign,
R-Nev., said with a straight face.
Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., proclaimed: "It's clear where Bush
stands on this, but it is not clear where Kerry stands."
Porter was right about one thing. It is definitely clear where
Bush stands on Yucca Mountain.
He is against us.
He is the Republican presidential candidate of 2000 who
promised to recommend Yucca Mountain to Congress only if it was
based on sound science and then turned around as president and
recommended Yucca Mountain without sound science.
And he is the president who is moving forward with the project
even though a federal appeals court has concluded that the
standards the government set for storing the waste can't protect
us in the long run.
As for Kerry, I have a news flash for Ensign and Porter. He's
on our side.
"Whether it's some of the time or all of the time, Kerry has
voted with us," said former Gov. Bob Miller, a warrior in the
anti-Yucca Mountain trenches long before Ensign and Porter.
"George Bush had one vote, and he voted to screw Nevada."
Kerry has been with us when it has counted most. He voted
against Bush's Yucca Mountain recommendation in 2002 and, two
years before that, against a bill to temporarily store nuclear
waste in our backyard.
During a Nevada campaign swing in May, the Massachusetts
senator made a bold pledge to the voters, one that no
presidential candidate before him, including the popular Bill
Clinton, ever made.
"If I'm president of the United States," Kerry said, "Yucca
Mountain will not be a repository."
There is nothing confusing about that statement.
The truth is, Republicans can't defend Bush's position on Yucca
Mountain because it is indefensible. This is why the president
has yet to sit down with reporters here and discuss his decision
to send the deadliest substance known to man our way.
The only thing the Republicans can do is what Ensign and Porter
did last week -- pathetically try to muddy up Kerry's position.
They can try to make Kerry look as bad as Bush.
No one can say for sure whether Kerry will live up to his
pledge. But at least we have hope with Kerry that help is on the
way.
We have no hope at all with Bush.
I keep waiting for Nevada Republicans to stop worrying about
Bush's future and start worrying about ours.
*****************************************************************
24 Las Vegas SUN: Where I Stand -- Brian Greenspun: Hope for Nevada
July 30, 2004
Brian Greenspun is editor of the Las Vegas Sun.
WEEKEND EDITION
Why am I working? I am supposed to be on vacation!
Actually, there are some in my family who will challenge the
notion that the first couple of weeks in August are delineated
as vacation time for me, choosing instead to consider the first
twelve months of every year as coming within that loose
definition.
The idea for an August vacation started with my parents,
especially my father, who needed the month of August to escape
the heat as well as get a respite from his five times a week
"Where I Stand" column, which was the front page mainstay of the
Las Vegas Sun while he was publisher.
In order to assuage his guilt and give the people of Las Vegas
myriad viewpoints, Hank Greenspun offered his column space to
numerous political, civic and community leaders to express their
points of view while he ducked out of his writing obligations
for the month.
Some traditions are worth continuing. This is one of them. And
even though I have been a bit lax in my writing responsibilities
the past few months, the idea of a month in which I can read
what others in the community are thinking, and not have to
consider what I should write about, is an idea worth pursuing.
Hence, the decision to not only continue my father's vacation
tradition but also the community service aspect of giving
others, many of whom are more knowledgeable, the opportunity to
share their thoughts with our readers. Those columns begin this
week.
To those who have agreed to put themselves and their thoughts
on the line, thank you. This stuff isn't easy, especially when
you consider the fact that every word is parsed by someone
looking for a fight and not shy about telling you what they
think. Your hard work will add to the base of knowledge of our
citizens and, therefore, the quality of democracy that we will
have.
But, since I have some space left before I sign off for the
month, I want to share a couple more thoughts with you about
Yucca Mountain and the latest attempt by some in this state to
make all presidential candidates "equal" in their positions on
the high-level nuclear waste dump.
Firstly, they are not equal. They are not even close. My
colleague Jon Ralston's flashes notwithstanding, what President
George W. Bush did to the state of Nevada overwhelms any single
or multiple of Senate votes that Sen. John Kerry may have cast
against our interests. Let me explain.
There is a former Republican governor of Nevada whose job it is
to promote, and whose allegiance belongs to, the nuclear waste
industry. In doing so, Bob List has made every effort to
convince Nevada families that the dump is inevitable and that we
might as well start negotiating for benefits because there is
nothing we can do to stop the trucks and trains from rolling our
way. He has been singularly unsuccessful in trying to persuade
Nevadans to give up the good fight.
In fact, the recent U.S. Court of Appeals ruling in Nevada's
favor has given lie to the "inevitability" claim and given all
of us more reason to double and redouble our efforts to stop the
federal government's plan to bury our state, its people and its
economy under 70,000 tons of the most deadly substances known to
man.
The certain way to put a stake in the nuke waster's heart is to
elect John Kerry president because he has promised this country
to find a better way to deal with the waste other than
transporting it through major cities across the country and,
ultimately, 90 miles from Las Vegas.
If he becomes president, the Environmental Protection Agency
does what he wants, the Department of Energy does what he wants
and the Congress does what he wants or gets its act vetoed. A
bonus to Kerry's election will be that our governor and other
GOP elected officials in this state will be free to be more than
"disappointed" in President Bush's decision to make Nevada the
dumping ground of the nation, causing Nevadans to stop
questioning whose side the leadership in this state is really on.
Contrast that picture with the current one in which President
Bush decided -- all by himself because he was the only person on
the planet who could make the call -- to send radioactive poison
to Nevada for the next 30 years. And he did it in the face of
what is now court-confirmed science that says the standards the
government used were scientifically flawed and insufficient.
To continue his charade on behalf of his friends in the nuclear
power industry, President Bush in a second term will have to
make sure the EPA changes the rules, the DOE accepts those
changes and the Congress does what it can to nullify any
scientific safeguards that the court and the National Academy of
Sciences say are essential for the health and safety of Nevadans.
Those are the choices we have in the upcoming election. There
will be many reasons and issues to consider when deciding for
whom to vote. But for those of us whose families and whose
futures are on the line, in the bull's-eye and hanging in the
balance of the nuclear waste issue, I believe there are no
reasons more important than this one.
So bring on the rhetoric. Challenge the voting records and
smother us in sound bites. The truth does not change. President
Bush put the bull's-eye on our back and Sen. Kerry promises to
take it off.
Which future for your kids has your vote?
*****************************************************************
25 Lodinews: City of Lodi eyes federal funding for pollution cleanup
Friday, July 30, 2004 Search Lodinews.com:
125 N. Church St. P.O. Box 1360 Lodi, CA 95241 Phone: (209)369-2761
By News-Sentinel Staff Writer
Could the federal government pay to clean up Lodi's contaminated
groundwater?
The answer to that question remains to be seen, but a Santa Clara
County community facing similar pollution woes may receive $25
million as early as September. The bill introduced by Congressman
Richard Pombo, R-Tracy, passed a full House of Representatives
committee earlier this month and is now waiting for Congress to
reconvene from a summer recess.
Under terms of the bill, local authorities would match up to 35
percent of the total $25 million. That 35 percent comes out to a
little less than $9 million.
The city of Lodi, meanwhile, has already spent more than $25
million on litigation related to groundwater contamination, with
$6 million coming from its water fund. Costs continue to add up
as the legal battles rage.
When City Manager Dixon Flynn checked his home e-mail one day and
saw Pombo's latest newsletter, mention of the federal funding
caught his eye. He decided to contact the Congressman's office to
see if Lodi could get money, too.
"We have problems like other communities, so I think we should
get our fair share. We pay taxes, too," he said this week.
Each year, public agencies can go through an "appropriation
process" and ask legislators for federal money. That's how the
city got $400,000 for its water treatment plant, said Nicole
Taylor, spokeswoman for Pombo.
That's also what communities in the Santa Clara Valley, including
San Martin and Gilroy, did. The contaminant, perchlorate,
apparently worked its way into the water after being released by
a company that manufactured flares, according to officials with
the Santa Clara Valley Water District.
The district began testing water wells, held a public meeting in
January 2003 and more than 1,200 homes began using bottled water,
board member Rosemary Kamei told the House Committee on Resources
in June.
Pombo's bill passed the committee and is now waiting for full
Congressional approval. If approved, it will go to President
George Bush to be signed.
Lodi's contamination, alleged to be caused by dry cleaners,
manufacturers and printers is the focus of convoluted litigation
that has been underway for years.
The city, in a unique move engineered by former outside attorney
Michael C. Donovan, went after local businesses -- including the
News-Sentinel -- in an attempt to force their insurance companies
to pay for the cleanup.
In the process, legal and consultant bills added up, and the city
borrowed $16 million from Lehman Brothers. The Wall Street firm
is now embroiled in litigation with the city concerning that
high-interest loan, and City Council members have said they may
also sue Donovan, who was fired in January.
The city's attempt to clean up the pollution differs drastically
from the Santa Clara County method.
Councilmember Susan Hitchcock, who has been involved in Lodi's
saga for years, said the idea of asking Congress for help had
never been mentioned.
"I was always asking, 'What is plan B?' And there was always a
resistance on the part of staff to look to any other source than
the direction they were going," she said.
"I just heard over and over, 'Well, Lodi's different, we have a
different water supply, we can't go that route.' ... I think at
the time that was just a way of sticking to this rip-off plan,"
added Hitchcock, who has criticized the legal maneuvers for
years.
However, she also pointed out that Santa Clara's water woes
appear to be worse than Lodi's, since the citizens there have had
to use bottled water.
Lodi's drinking water supply will not be threatened for a number
of years, though the contamination has forced the closure of two
wells and raised concerns about indoor air.
Whether the city will seek federal funding remains to be seen,
though Flynn said it's something he's pursuing and Hitchcock said
it's worth looking into.
This year's federal funding deadline has long since passed, and
the city has until February to seek funding for next year, said
Assistant City Manager Janet Keeter.
Then there's the question of whether the city would even get the
money.
If Pombo were to take up the cause, he'd have to convince his
fellow representatives that it was a good idea, and then he'd
have to figure out where the money was coming from. And then
they'd have to agree that it was a good idea.Contact reporter
Layla Bohm at . | |
News-Sentinel, fill out our online form or call our Subscriber
Services Department at (209) 333-1400.
*****************************************************************
26 RGJ: Experts shift view on cask corrosion at Yucca project
ASSOCIATED PRESS
7/31/2004 12:50 am
LAS VEGAS 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.
Its 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 nations
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.
U.S. 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 Departments 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.
© Copyright Reno Gazette-Journal, a Newspaper. Use of this
*****************************************************************
27 RGJ: Despite everything, feds move forward in Yucca
7/31/2004 09:06 pm
An RGJ editorial [July 12] rightly cautions that the fight over
Yucca Mountain is not over. Meanwhile, premature claims of its
death, as stated by Bob Loux, are blatantly misleading. Attorney
Joe Egan compounds irrationality by stating that the EPA cannot
meet the 10,000-year radiation safety rule because the
radiation will leak like a sieve.
How does Egan know? Will he best Methuselah by verifying this?
Worse, why does the media allow these men to pass these
statements off as fact?
Recent news sources like CNN, Fox, and NBC, all declare that
Nevada lost the recent court skirmishes. In fact, DOE has for
many years exhibited responsible, documented scientific quality
control in respect to storage of spent rods. Further, DOE should
be able to surmount the 10,000 year burden by asking Congress to
change the law, work with the EPA to rewrite the standard, or in
the courts.
Finally, in due time, the spent fuel rods might actually be
utilized through new technology. Despite Loux and Egan, the
Nuclear Energy Institute and DOE are still moving ahead with the
license application for the repository.
Stanley W. Paher, Reno
© Copyright Reno Gazette-Journal, a Newspaper. Use of this
*****************************************************************
28 Spectrum: Delegation must stand up for Utahns - Opinion -
thespectrum.com
Sunday, August 1, 2004
IN OUR VIEW
The federal government cannot defend its actions surrounding the
nuclear weapons tests of the 1950s and '60s in Nevada.
While officials of the time might be able to plead ignorance to
the health effects at the very beginning, evidence continues to
be declassified that shows the lives of Americans -- particularly
those in our region -- were less important than the data being
collected.
The latest evidence of this surfaced last week during a meeting
of the Board of Radiation Effects Research in the Salt Lake City
area. During that meeting, Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, quoted a
declassified Atomic Energy Commission memo that called the people
living downwind of the test detonations -- residents of Southern
Utah, Southeast Nevada and Northern Arizona -- "a low-use segment
of the population."
According to The Associated Press, that statement from government
records drew gasps from the crowd, and rightly so.
The radiation that rained down on residents have caused cancer
deaths and other serious illnesses that have killed people and
seriously harmed the quality of life for others. For that, the
federal government should be held accountable.
Matheson's quest last week was to convince the board to extend
compensation to people harmed by the fallout under the Radiation
Exposure Compensation Act, a piece of legislation championed by
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah. Hatch has been vocal about the need to
put more money into the fund and to study the expansion of the
program beyond the few counties, ailments and professions covered
under the 1990 law. Sen. Robert Bennett, R-Utah, also has shown
support for helping those harmed by the radioactive fallout.
The federal government owes it to the people who were used as
guinea pigs. They are true casualties of the Cold War.
Our elected officials can best rectify the situation by doing two
things.
First, they need to find a way to provide more compensation to
the families of people who lost loved ones and to people who have
been afflicted with rare cancers who were exposed to radioactive
fallout.
Second, and perhaps most importantly, our elected officials must
take a stand. The federal government is studying a new generation
of nuclear weapons. So far, those studies have been done in
laboratories. But eventually, such weapons -- billed to be
smaller with more utility -- could be tested in the Nevada
desert.
We know more about nuclear weapons now than we did in the 1950s
and '60s. But the federal government has proven that it can't be
trusted on this issue.
Our elected officials have to vote and speak as vocally against
renewed testing as they have about improving the funding for
those harmed all those years ago.
They have to decide who they really serve: Their parties or the
people living in Utah.
Originally published Sunday, August 1, 2004
Copyright ©2004 The Spectrum. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
29 Nevada Appeal: Scientists shift view on cask corrosion at Yucca
Tahoe.com
Associated Press
July 31, 2004
LAS VEGAS - 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.
All contents © Copyright 2004 nevadaappeal.com
Nevada Appeal - 580 Mallory Way - Carson City, NV 89701
*****************************************************************
30 The Reporter: Transporting nuclear waste makes no sense for anyone
August 01, 2004
Reporter Editor:
While watching a recent "60 Minutes," something caught my
attention. They were talking about the current problem of nuclear
waste. There was an idea of moving all of the nuclear waste
produced in the United States to an isolated mountain in Nevada.
The waste would be placed in extremely strong cases and taken by
train or truck to Nevada. The idea is to take these cases over a
period of 24 years, taking one to six shipments a day. This is
one of the stupidest ideas I have ever heard.
First, the trucks and trains are almost complete open to attack.
Second, most of the trains and trucks would have to go through
Chicago and Las Vegas. This is like asking for a terrorist attack
on a major city. I understand that the waste is so dangerous that
only a little would have to leak out and it would be lethal for
an entire city. It would make us vulnerable to a horrible
terrorist attack.
It takes 10,000 years for the waste to become neutral. In 10,000
years, who knows what will become of the waste or the mountain?
The people of Nevada should have their opinions heard. They live
there. If I lived there I definitely would not want this.
I don't know the answer, but what is being considered is not it.
This is something that requires much consideration from our
leaders and people who know the danger.
I'm a 14-year-old freshman in high school and I hope this letter
will make a difference.
Brandon Ernst, Vacaville
*****************************************************************
31 CA DTSC: Perchlorate What is Perchlorate?
August 1, 2004 [
Department of Toxic Substances Control]
Perchlorate is both a naturally occurring and manmade
contaminant increasingly found in groundwater, surface water and
soil. Most perchlorate manufactured in the U.S. is used as an
ingredient in solid fuel for rockets and missiles. In addition,
perchlorate-based chemicals are also used in the construction of
highway safety flares, aluminum refining, electroplating and the
production of paints. Perchlorate contamination has been
reported in at least 20 states. Perchlorate greatly impacts
human health by interfering with iodide uptake into the thyroid
gland. In adults, the thyroid gland helps regulate the
metabolism by releasing hormones, while in children, the thyroid
helps in proper development. Perchlorate is becoming a serious
threat to human health and water resources. What is DTSC Doing
to Prevent Further Perchlorate Contamination?
In addition to overseeing the cleanup of sites contaminated with
perchlorate, AB 826, the Perchlorate Contamination Prevention
Act of 2003, requires DTSC to adopt regulations by December 31,
2005 specifying best management practices for perchlorate and
perchlorate-containing substances. Owners or operators of a
perchlorate facility will be prohibited from managing
perchlorate materials unless they are in compliance with the
best management practices. For more information, please contact
Ed Nieto at (916) 322-7893. Fact Sheets and Other Information on
Perchlorate
+ Cleaning Up Perchlorate
+ Cal/EPA Fact Sheet on Perchlorate Contaminants
+ List of Perchlorate Materials NEW
+ Perchlorate Testing Guidance
+ Perchlorate Contamination Treatment AlternativesAdditional
On-line Perchlorate Resources
+ Sites with Confirmed Perchlorate Contamination in California
+ Information on the Public Health Goal for Perchlorate
+ Perchlorate in Drinking Water
+ Drinking Water Action Level for Perchlorate
+ U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Perchlorate Information
+ Perchlorate News and Information
+ Environment California Research and Policy Center
+ Groundwater Resources Association
+ Water Districts in California [ ]
© 2003 State of California.
*****************************************************************
32 Newsday: Settlement allows for waste cleanup
Newsday.com
[August 2, 2004]
BY TOMOEH MURAKAMI TSE Staff Writer
The federal government and subsidiaries of Allegheny
Technologies have reached a $21.9-million interim settlement in
the cleanup of a Superfund site in Glen Cove, clearing the way
for mounds of contaminated dirt to be removed from city
waterfront property, officials said.
The money is part of an estimated $54 million to clean the site
and does not preclude either party from paying more later. Under
the interim agreement announced Thursday by the U.S. attorney's
office in Brooklyn, TDY Holdings and TDY Industries, subsidiaries
of Pittsburgh-based Allegheny Technologies, will pay $1 million
and several federal agencies will pay $20.9 million.
"This allows us to proceed with the plans for the waterfront,"
said Cara Longworth, director of the city's Community Development
Agency. "This is a happy day for the city of Glen Cove."
Aside from TDY and the federal government, there are at least a
dozen other "potentially responsible parties" who may have to pay
for the rest of the cleanup.
The agreement, which follows a lawsuit TDY filed against the
federal agencies in 2000, means that the removal of about 60,000
cubic yards of mostly low-level radioactive waste at the
Captain's Cove property can start soon, Longworth said. The
settlement says the federal agencies must pay the money as soon
as possible and will be charged interest after 120 days. The goal
is to remove the soil before winter, said Assistant U.S. Attorney
Deborah Zwany.
The agreement comes nine months after the federal agencies, the
city of Glen Cove and Wah Chang Smelting and Refining Co., an
ore-processing operation west of Captain's Cove, had agreed to
clean the site. But because of legal issues, that agreement,
which is still filed with the court and now on hold, would have
taken longer to finalize, Zwany said. The new settlement allows
for a quicker removal of the waste, she added.
The site, on the north side of Glen Cove Creek, consists of the
26-acre former Li Tungsten Corp. property on Herb Hill Road and
sections of the Captain's Cove property, about a quarter-mile to
the west.
Li Tungsten, which processed metals, was originally part of the
Li family-held Wah Chang Smelting &Refining Co. of America, which
sold a majority interest in the plant to Teledyne Corp. Allegheny
acquired Teledyne in 1996, a Teledyne spokeswoman said.
The federal government, which owned some land and buildings on
the Li Tungsten property, refined tungsten there during World War
II.
Copyright © 2004, Newsday, Inc.
*****************************************************************
33 PE.com CLEANUP: A federal agency declines to put the qualifying site on
its list, noting the state's role.
Inland Southern California
11:47 PM PDT on Friday, July 30, 2004
By JENNIFER BOWLES, PAIGE AUSTIN and BONNIE STEWART / The
Press-Enterprise
Meeting
The California Department of Toxic Substances Control will hold
an open house to update the community on the pollution at Wyle
Laboratories.
When: 5:30 to 7 p.m.
Aug. 16
Where: Corona-Norco Unified School District Learning Center,
south meeting room, 2820 Clark Ave.,
Norco
Online:
www.dtsc.ca.gov/SiteCleanup/Wyle_Laboratories/index.html
Soil and groundwater pollution at Wyle Laboratories in Norco is
serious enough to place it on the federal Superfund list of the
nation's worst toxic sites, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
officials said Friday.
However, because the state is overseeing the testing and cleanup
of pollution found at the plant, the federal agency is declining
to place the site on the list, said Dawn Richmond, EPA's site
assessment manager. The laboratory, over the past 47 years, has
tested products for the defense industry as well as electronics
and components for space shuttles and rocket engines.
Still, residents who live near Wyle - and have blamed the
facility for their illnesses - greeted the announcement as
vindication. They say the company and some public officials for
years have downplayed contamination at Wyle.
"The people of this community have been brainwashed to think that
there is no problem," said Pat Dubiel, who lives on Golden West
Lane next to Wyle and blames the company for her life-threatening
thyroid disease and severe respiratory problems.
"This is like a double-edged sword, because it shows that there
is something there and that Wyle isn't the good neighbor the city
always said it was," she said. "But I'm scared to death for our
health, our kids' health and for the schools."
Two schools and dozens of homes border the Wyle property. In
2002, a developer submitted plans for 372 homes on the company's
land, but the project was stymied after nearby residents
protested and tests began to reveal contamination.
Despite the EPA's decision, environmental activist LaRae Spera
said she and other residents will lobby to put Wyle on the
Superfund list to have it recognized for its significance and so
that people could have better access to online information about
the site.
Contaminants
Richmond said a yearlong EPA investigation at Wyle discovered
high levels of pesticides, heavy metals, the rocket-fuel chemical
perchlorate, and an industrial solvent known as TCE in the soil
and groundwater.
The levels are high enough to carry potential health risks,
Richmond said. Perchlorate and TCE are both suspected
cancer-causing agents.
"It has not impacted the drinking water yet, but the potential is
there," she said.
Two-dozen active drinking-water wells within four miles of the
Wyle site serve more than 173,000 people.
In the neighborhood around Wyle, the EPA found high levels of
naturally occurring metals.
Richmond said some low levels of heavy metals and volatile
organic compounds such as TCE were found near a flood-control
channel south of the laboratory.
Telephone messages seeking comment from Wyle officials weren't
returned Friday afternoon.
Norco City Councilman Hal Clark said the EPA announcement didn't
tell him anything he didn't already know.
"We knew that there was contamination out there, and we knew that
it had to be cleaned up," he said. "I still haven't seen any
numbers from the EPA and so I don't know what this means. It
seems like nothing different is going to happen."
Cleanup roles
The Superfund list includes 1,243 sites across the nation,
including seven in Riverside and San Bernardino counties.
Among them is Stringfellow acid pits in Glen Avon, where 35
million gallons of industrial wastes - pesticides, heavy metals
and other poisonous chemicals - were dumped into unlined ponds
between 1956 and 1972.
The state's Department of Toxic Substances Control is overseeing
both the Wyle and Stringfellow cleanups.
A Superfund site can qualify for federal funding for cleanup,
however the federal Superfund program is cash-strapped.
In Wyle's case, the state has ordered the company to pay for
removing contamination.
Jeanne Garcia, a spokeswoman for the state agency, said the EPA's
decision doesn't change the state's role at Wyle.
"The work that's being done won't be any different," she said.
State workers this summer discovered traces of a TCE in soil-gas
samples taken at six homes, including Dubiel's.
A state toxicologist at the time said the contamination posed no
increased risk of cancer for residents.
However, soil-gas samples taken within 30 yards of two homes on
Golden West were more than five times higher than the state's
threshold for potential harm from long-term exposure.
No cleanup strategy has been made public for Wyle, but
contamination at other sites has been reduced through soil
removal or treatment and by pumping out tainted water and
removing pollutants.
Garcia said the state agency is considering ways to physically
block the pollution at Wyle's border.
"If we can stop it at the boundary," she said, "it won't migrate
into the neighborhood."
Reach Jennifer Bowles at (951) 368-9548 or jbowles@pe.com
Reach Paige Austin at (951) 893-2106 or paustin@pe.comMore
© 2004 Belo Interactive Inc.
*****************************************************************
34 UK Independent: BNFL aims to throw veil of secrecy over the movement of
radioactive waste
Nuclear giant says it wants to prevent terrorist attacks, but
environmentalists accuse it of a cover-up. Clayton Hirst reports
01 August 2004
British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL) is to have information on the
movement of radioactive material by road, rail and sea
classified.
The state-owned company believes the decision will reduce the
chances of its nuclear material being targeted by terrorists.
Environmentalists have branded the move a "cover-up".
The decision will mean the public could be kept in the dark if
nuclear material is transported on passenger ferries or through
the Channel Tunnel.
BNFL has taken its cue from a new report produced by the
Department of Trade and Industry-funded Office for Civil Nuclear
Security (OCNS). This recommends that details of the movements of
all but the lowest category of radioactive material should "not
be releasable".
The report says: "Information of this sort would be an aid to
choosing targets while planning attacks for theft or sabotage."
It warns: "If nuclear material were to be stolen or sabotaged,
for example by terrorists, the potential consequences could be
extremely grave."
Britain is one of the world's biggest transporters of radioactive
material. According to BNFL, in the past 30 years, some 7,000
tons of spent fuel has been moved over 4.5 million miles.
The OCNS recommends restrictions on other nuclear information.
The report says that details of the quantity, type and location
of radioactive waste from decommissioning should be kept out of
the public domain.
The OCNS also says that some of the information contained in
planning applications for nuclear facilities should be placed in
an "annexe", marked confidential. "The planning authorities
should be notified that [the annexe] is to be protected and not
for public consumption," the report says.
A BNFL spokesman confirmed that it would be "guided by [the OCNS]
advice". He added: "It is a completely responsible attitude to
take in this day and age."
He rejected accusations that BNFL was suppressing information:
"Rather than become shrouded in secrecy, we are working with key
stakeholders to find ways of improving communications with the
public."
BNFL has set up a so-called Stakeholder Dialogue Working Group,
which will publish its own report on security before the end of
the year.
The news has, however, raised the alarm among environmentalists.
Norman Baker MP, the environment spokesman for the Liberal
Democrats, said: "It is right that appropriate action is taken to
ensure that nuclear material is not an easy terrorist target. But
I am concerned that this may be used to cover up unacceptable
practices."
Mr Baker cited a recent OCNS report on a train carrying nuclear
waste. The train was parked in sidings at Willesden, north-west
London, but the OCNS found that security arrangements were
inadequate and kept it there for a week.
Mr Baker also pointed to a recent written parliamentary answer by
Transport minister David Jamieson. The minister revealed that the
transportation of radioactive material on passenger ferries and
through the Channel Tunnel "is permissible".
Greenpeace is also worried about the decision. Jean McSorley, the
pressure group's nuclear campaign co-ordinator, said the move
could have serious implications for local authorities. "Councils
need to know about the transportation of the material should
there be an accident. As we all know, in this kind of situation
it would be local authority people who would be expected to go on
site and sort things out.
"The irony is that if a terrorist group really wanted to find out
the movements of nuclear material then they could. People talk."
UK Independent Ltd.
*****************************************************************
35 SD Union-Tribune: Finding peace in Hiroshima
SignOnSanDiego.com > News > Features --
The world's first A-bombed city draws a mantle of serenity over
itself and its visitors
By Peter Rowe
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
August 1, 2004
KAZUHIRO NOGI / AFP/Getty Images A boy looks at lanterns on the
Motoyasu river in front of the A-bomb dome in Hiroshima on the
2003 anniversary of the destruction.
HIROSHIMA When the train eased into the station, I grabbed my
bags and swallowed hard. This pilgrimage to the nuclear age's
ground zero held all the appeal of a broccoli and liver sandwich.
Good for me, perhaps, but nothing I'd enjoy.
So I rode the shinkansen, the bullet train, for a quick visit.
Steps from the station, I caught a trolley bound for the Peace
Memorial Museum and opened my guidebook.
"Although it's a busy, prosperous, not unattractive industrial
city," the text noted, "visitors would have no real reason to
leave the shinkansen in Hiroshima (population 1,085,000) were it
not for that terrible instant on 6 August 1945 when the city
became the world's first atomic bomb target."
City of Hiroshima: www.city.hiroshima.jp
Japan National Tourist Organization: www.jnto.go.jp/eng
Use Google or Yahoo to find information on Miyajima, the Island
of Shrines and the Peace Memorial.
Thus, the common wisdom. But that evening, departing Hiroshima
for less haunted destinations, I arrived at a startling
conclusion: the common wisdom is wrong.
Two months later, I returned for a longer stay, determined to see
more of this city of nightmares, dreams and surprising beauty.
Still, the second visit began exactly as the first had.
Shinkansen.
Trolley.
Museum.
During a six-month stay in Japan, I visited dozens of World War
II memorials and shrines. Without question, the Hiroshima Peace
Memorial Museum was the best. Exhibits here provide a nuanced,
unblinking account of Japan's role in the war. Nor do they shrink
from this city's record as a key military port.
"Each time Japan became involved in military action," read a
caption under an 1894 photo from the Sino-Japanese War,
"Hiroshima was the base for assembly and dispatching of troops.
As years went by, Hiroshima's military facilities grew more
numerous and substantial."
On a historic level, this helps explain why war came home to
Hiroshima. On a personal level, though, this does nothing to
soften the horrors of Aug. 6, 1945. The museum explains the bomb
in scientific terms; that's tough enough. But to see a child's
battered lunch box, the meal reduced to radioactive ash; school
uniforms, scorched and shredded by the blast; photos of naked men
and women, kimono patterns burned into their skin; the stories of
a few of the 75,000 who died here: This is obscene.
KAZUHIRO NOGI / AFP/Getty Images The centerpiece of Hiroshima is
unquestionably Peace Memorial Park (above) and Memorial Hall.
Outside the museum, I watched a woman sweep the Peace Memorial
Park's tidy grounds with a reed broom. The park is brightened by
trees and flowers, but its hallmark is the skeletal Hiroshima
Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall, now called the A Bomb
Dome.
At the park's northern border is the Aioi Bridge; the bomb
detonated about 1,900 feet over the T-shaped span. Here, as in
many Hiroshima sites, the monstrous coexists with the mundane.
The bridge is bracketed by the A Bomb Dome, and the Hiroshima
Carp's stadium.
The bridge also has a trolley stop. I boarded and 50 minutes
later got off 1,400 years in the past.
This is Hiroden-Miyajima-Guchi station, where ferries offer a
10-minute voyage to Miyajima, the Island of Shrines. As the
ferry crossed the Inland Sea, I could see trees poking through
Mount Miten's mist-enshrouded 1,740-foot peak.
In this overcrowded and overbuilt nation, pristine Miyajima is a
breath of fresh, pine-scented air. The heavily forested slopes
are dotted with pagodas and temples. On a shoreline promenade, I
was charmed by the innumerable statues of deer.
Then the "statues" walked toward me. On Miyajima, the protected
wildlife feel no qualms about panhandling strangers. Judging by
the signs, these encounters can be unpleasant.
One warned: "Stay away from deer with antlers."
I did my best, carefully retreating to Itsukushima-jinja, a
Shinto shrine established in 593. The shrine is a Japanese icon,
the star of innumerable posters and postcards. Graceful arcades
and piers lead to the sea. There, a torii gate, its pilings
anchored beneath the surface, appears to rise from the sparkling
blue depths.
Except at low tide, as when I visited. Then the majestic red
gate rises over a muddy plain. The torii seemed to be marking
the end zone for a Shinto version of football.
Returning to Hiroshima, my thoughts turned again to sports. This
time, at least, I could not be accused of cultural
insensitivity. In the ferry terminal, a massive TV was tuned to
the day's biggest story. The Seattle Mariners were playing the
New York Yankees.
Make that, Ichiro Suzuki's Mariners were playing Hideki Matsui's
Yankees.
"Do Americans really like Ichiro and Matsui?" a Japanese woman
asked me.
I gave a reflexive answer "Of course!" But in my hotel that
night, bewildered by the raucous spectacle of Japanese TV, I
considered how little I knew of the Japanese.
Including their attitudes. "In newspaper polls," Gengo Nakajima
told me, "even in Hiroshima, when Japanese are asked which
country they admire most, the No. 1 answer is the U.S."
Nakajima would know. He's executive officer for international
relations at the Japanese Newspaper Publishers' Association.
He's based in Tokyo, but when business took him to Hiroshima, he
graciously offered to act as my guide and interpreter. He
introduced me to the Hon-dori shopping arcade and okonomiyaki, a
local delight that resembles a pancake stuffed with cabbage and
meat.
He also introduced me to several of the 80,000 hibakusha, or
A-bomb survivors, still living in Hiroshima.
Yoshito Matsushige, 91, spent most of his professional life
photographing singers and actors for the Chigoku Shimbun,
Hiroshima's newspaper. But on the afternoon of Aug. 6, 1945, he
shot five of the grimmest images ever captured by a camera.
When the bomb detonated, Matsushige was with his wife in their
home, almost two miles from the hypocenter. For hours, he
struggled to reach downtown Hiroshima, picking his way past
sparking electric wires and witnessing a parade of victims
stagger from the city, their skin falling from their hands and
faces.
"They were walking like ghosts," he said.
By 2:30 p.m., he reached the city center. Dozens of survivors
were huddled on Miyuki Bashi, a bridge, too physically or
emotionally battered to move on. For half an hour, the
photographer watched them. He clutched the tools of his trade,
unsure of what to do.
"Before I became a professional cameraman, I had been just an
ordinary person. So when I was faced with a terrible scene like
this, I found it difficult to push the shutter. I was standing
on Miyuki Bashi for about 20 minutes before I could do it.
"Finally, finally, I thought, I am a professional cameraman so I
have to."
Among the blast's victims was Hiroshima Castle, first built in
1591, and nicknamed Carp Castle because of its location near the
sea. The five-story castle was rebuilt in 1958. Perhaps
Hiroshima wished to recapture its past and to offer something
nonapocalyptic to future visitors.
No matter the motive, the castle is a winner. The white and
black exterior towers over a wide moat. The effect is
forbidding, but don't be put off. The first four floors contain
armor, swords and other glimpses into Hiroshima's samurai era.
The top floor offers great views from an outdoor observation
platform.
The castle, though, lacks a few modern conveniences. Before
climbing to the top, I spied this notice: "No lavatories in the
castle."
Fortunately, when I exited the castle, I found a public
restroom.
Unfortunately, the doorless men's room affords unimpeded views
of everything.
Fortunately, in Japan no one is rude enough to stare as you
conduct your business.
Two blocks east of the castle complex, I stumbled upon the
17th-century Shukkei-en Garden. This patch of greenery is often
overlooked because it is not one of Japan's best gardens.
That means it's not staggeringly beautiful, only marvelous.
You could say the same of Hiroshima. Only its tragedy is
world-class; with the exception of Miyajima, the rest of the
city's attractions and achievements are merely splendid. Eating
a fine breakfast in my pleasant hotel's nice restaurant, I met
Dave and Gail Frank, tourists from Oregon, and their 19-year-old
son.
"This is like my favorite city," Joel Frank said. "If I can come
back to live in Japan, I'd come here. I love Hiroshima."
Rain had splashed the city the night before, but now the clouds
were lifting. Fifteen stories below us, surrounded by rivers and
freshened by stands of camphor and Japanese maple, Hiroshima's
Peace Park glistened in the sunshine.
It was one helluva view, enough to break your heart.
| Contact the Union-Tribune
© Copyright 2004 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.
*****************************************************************
36 Japan Times: Antinuke group aims at North Korea
Monday, August 2, 2004
Simmons
Events marking atomic bomb anniversary take on new tone
A major antinuclear group began a series of campaigns Sunday in
Tokyo ahead of the 59th anniversary of the 1945 U.S. atomic
bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, with its focus on North
Korea's nuclear program and denuclearization in Northeast Asia.
The Japan Congress Against A- and H-Bombs (Gensuikin) hosted an
annual international meeting attended by guest speakers,
including experts on nuclear issues on the Korean Peninsula, U.S.
nuclear policies and Japanese-North Korean relations.
"Unlike Iraq, North Korea is (geopolitically) surrounded by
strong countries. It is the North Korean leaders themselves who
feel threatened the most by other countries in the area," Lee
Jong Wong, a professor at Rikkyo University (St. Paul's
University) in Tokyo, told an audience of some 100 people.
"Nuclear development is a reasonable choice for North Korea to
maintain its prestige domestically and people's support to the
current regime," Lee said, adding that nuclear policies could
also be an obstacle to the reconstruction of the North's state
system. "Comprehensive dialogues with other countries would be a
way out."
The Tokyo conference, as part of the World Congress Against A-
and H-Bombs, will be followed by various events such as public
debates and peace classes for children in Hiroshima from
Wednesday to Friday and in Nagasaki on Saturday and Aug. 9,
Gensuikin officials said.
Another major antinuclear group, the Japan Council against A & H
Bombs, known in Japanese as Gensuikyo, will start a series of
rallies dubbed the World Conference against A & H Bombs on Monday
in Hiroshima, where a peace memorial ceremony will be held
Friday.
Gensuikyo's events in Hiroshima will continue through Friday and
then move to Nagasaki for rallies on Aug. 8 and 9.
Hiroshima will mark its anniversary Friday. Nagasaki will do so
on Aug. 9.
Every year, the two nationwide organizations hold various
seminars, symposiums, lectures, discussions, forums and
international conferences inviting peace and antinuclear icons
from home and abroad.
Gensuikin has close ties with the Democratic Party of Japan, the
country's largest opposition party, and the Social Democratic
Party. Gensuikyo maintains a close relationship with the Japanese
Communist Party.
Gensuikyo was established in 1955, stirred by antiwar feelings
inspired by public awareness of the bombings of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki, and generated a powerful movement against atomic and
hydrogen bombs.
In 1963, however, differences among its members over views on
the nuclear testing fractured the group, resulting in the 1965
birth of Gensuikin.
Since then, they have rarely acted together.
On Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions, multilateral efforts are under
way, with Japan and the United States stressing at the third
round of the six-nation talks in June the need for inspections by
the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Russia, China, North Korea and South Korea are also involved in
the six-way talks.
Washington, Tokyo and Seoul have called for Pyongyang's
"complete, verifiable and irreversible dismantlement" of nuclear
programs, while North Korea wants security assurances and energy
assistance in return.
The fourth round of the six-nation talks is expected to be held
by the end of September.
The Japan Times: Aug. 2, 2004 (C) All rights reserved
*****************************************************************
37 IPC: Dimona Radiation Sickness - Nuclear Disaster Looms?
INTERNATIONAL PRESS CENTER-PALESTINE
GAZA, August 1, 2004 (IPC + Agencies)-- Official Israeli sources
warned of a nuclear and chemical catastrophe due to the aging of
the Dimona nuclear reactor and the inability of chemical
warehouses to cope with an emergency.
The Israeli Environment Ministry released a report about a recent
earthquake that struck Israel, including Ashkelon port, where
chemical substances are stored. The report revealed that the
processing of these chemicals was not properly handled and warned
of a catastrophe that might jeopardize the lives of many people.
The Environment Ministry's report came shortly after a report by
the Israeli Health Ministry, in which it referred to the increase
of cancer symptoms among those living around the Dimona nuclear
reactor and near the ports that received ships working on nuclear
energy. The report recommended the distribution of Iodine pills
to protect against the radioactive danger.
The Environment Ministry revealed that there are 439 chemical
warehouses in Israel, run by 182 different parties, which have
not decreased the amount of stored chemicals inside the
warehouses. Their report continued by pointing out that these
warehouses were not prepared for times of war or any hostile
attacks.
The report also warned that the Gulf of Haifa has become heavily
polluted due to the leaking of chemicals that might do serious
damage to people's health.
Furthermore, Israeli military sources have recently disclosed
that several missiles with chemical warheads were deployed in
several points throughout historical Palestine. These warheads
are clearly visible from the area of Hittin, in the north of
Palestine.
The leakages have resulted in a rise in cancer cases among those
dwelling near the Dimona reactor and has forced the Israeli
government to approve the distribution of Logol pills (containing
Iodine) in several villages and towns around Dimona, including
several villages inhabited by the Arabs of the Negev Desert.
The distribution of these pills came in response to a
demonstration by the Arab Negev dwellers, who protested the
increased leaking of nuclear radiation from the Dimona reactor.
The Israeli nuclear whistleblower, Mordechai Vanunu, has revealed
that the Israeli government and Dimona reactor management
intentionally leaked the radiation away from Israeli inhabitants
and towards neighboring countries such as Jordan. He stated that
working times inside the reactor were determined when the winds
were towards Jordan, so the fumes from the reactor's chimneys
could be blown in the Jordanian direction.
He also added that so far, Israel's nuclear arsenal is composed
of 100-200 nuclear bombs, which make it more a threat to the
entire Middle East than Iraq.
Check out our Mirror Website www.ipc-ps.info
*****************************************************************
38 Hanford News: Portland wants halt to Hanford shipments
This story was published Thursday, July 29th, 2004
By the Herald staff
The Portland City Council will consider a resolution today
supporting the halt of shipments of radioactive waste to Hanford
until existing contamination at the nuclear reservation is
cleaned up.
Supporters of the ban on shipments are expected to rally outside
city hall in radiation protection gear with mock drums of
radioactive waste. They are concerned about waste shipments
coming through Oregon.
The resolution is similar to Initiative 297, which Washington
voters will decide in November. It would attempt to halt nuclear
waste shipments from other states to Hanford until existing
wastes are cleaned up by preventing the state from approving
permits for new-waste facilities.
Those opposed to the initiative point out that the Department of
Energy plans to import some low-level waste to Hanford but to
export far worse waste to repositories in New Mexico and Nevada.
© 2004 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
39 Hanford News: Changes made at Fluor Hanford
This story was published Friday, July 30th, 2004
By Annette Cary, Herald staff writer
Fluor Hanford, the primary Department of Energy contractor for
cleaning up the nuclear reservation, announced a management
reorganization Thursday.
The reorganization will align departments more closely with the
way DOE has organized work for the remaining two years of Fluor's
contract, said spokesman Geoff Tyree.
Fluor is close to removing spent nuclear fuel from the K Basins
and has finished stabilizing plutonium at the Plutonium Finishing
Plant.
"We're putting more focus on closing facilities and taking down
skylines," Tyree said.
Two new vice presidents have been named.
Pete Knollmeyer, who has worked with Fluor as a consultant, will
manage the closure of the K Basins. The basins are two huge
indoor pools used to store spent nuclear fuel far past their
design life. Radioactive sludge needs to be removed and then the
pools removed.
Knollmeyer comes to Fluor from Project Enhancement Corp. in
Richland.
Mike Belles, the second new vice president, comes to Hanford from
Del-Jen, a Fluor affiliate company. He will lead Closure Services
and Infrastructure. The Hanford Fire Department will become part
of his group.
In another change, waste disposal and ground water remediation
will be split into two projects. Vice President Dick Wilde will
be in charge of ground water issues and the Waste Sampling and
Characterization Facility. Vice President Dale McKenney will
manage solid waste stabilization and disposition.
In addition an advisory group of industry experts has been
established to offer advice to Fluor.
© 2004 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
40 Hanford News: Portland wants halt to Hanford shipments
This story was published Friday, July 30th, 2004
By Annette Cary, Herald staff writer
The Portland City Council unanimously passed a resolution
Thursday calling for the halt of radioactive waste shipments to
Hanford after listening to information provided by the Sierra
Club.
Mayor Vera Katz was absent.
The Bush administration is planning to send up to 70,000
truckloads of radioactive waste to Hanford, the resolution said.
A thousand or more of those truckloads would come through
Portland and could expose residents to dangerous levels of
radioactivity, it said. Even without any accidents, the shipments
would cause at least 10 cancer deaths in motorists traveling near
radioactive shipments, it said.
The information is disputed by the Department of Energy.
A recent record of decision would allow up to 5,600 truckloads of
radioactive waste to be shipped to Hanford, said DOE spokeswoman
Colleen Clark in Richland.
Where that waste will come from has not been determined, so DOE
cannot say how many shipments might go through Portland, she
said.
Nat Parker of the Sierra Club agreed that the proposal called for
far less waste than 70,000 truckloads to be shipped to Hanford.
He put the amount at 17,000 truckloads, a quarter of that.
DOE has agreed to ship to Hanford no more than a quarter of the
waste across the DOE nuclear complex that's suitable for disposal
at Hanford.
"It's deadly no matter what," Parker said, adding that one
shipment is too many. He defended the 70,000 truckload figure
used in the resolution, saying DOE could decide to issue a new
record of decision for more waste.
He believes a good share of the waste would come through Portland
because of the amount of waste DOE needs to dispose of that's now
in California.
The resolution statement that at least 10 people would die also
was questioned by DOE and the Oregon Department of Energy.
"The federal Department of Transportation sets regulations that
are very conservative and states can impose their own
guidelines," Clark said.
It's "pretty unlikely" that people would die, said Ken Niles, the
assistant director of Oregon's Department of Energy.
In the environmental study on which the record of decision was
based, DOE looked at worst case scenarios, he said.
Portland wants any shipments deferred until existing
contamination at Hanford is cleaned up, a process that will take
decades. Hanford is contaminated from the production of plutonium
during World War II and the Cold War for the nation's nuclear
weapons program.
DOE is proposing that no more than 62,000 cubic yards of
low-level waste and 26,000 cubic yards of low-level waste mixed
with hazardous chemicals be sent to Hanford for disposal. The
waste would be buried in lined trenches.
Some waste mixed with plutonium also could be sent to Hanford for
processing, but not burial.
The Portland resolution is similar to Initiative 297, which
Washington voters will decide in November. It would attempt to
halt nuclear waste shipments from other states to Hanford until
existing wastes are cleaned up by preventing the state from
approving permits for new waste facilities.
The Tri-City Industrial Development council is warning that the
DOE plan for Hanford has been to ship far more waste out than
would be accepted in for processing. High-level waste would be
shipped out to a federal repository, likely Yucca Mountain in
Nevada, and waste tainted with plutonium already is being sent to
a repository in New Mexico.
If waste cannot be shipped into Hanford, DOE may not ship waste
out, either, TRIDEC is warning.
© 2004 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
41 SF Chronicle: Lapses at labs go back decades
Long series of federal reports has cited problems at UC-run
weapons facilities
Sunday, August 1, 2004
Recent scandals inside the nation's University of California-run
nuclear weapons labs are only the latest episodes in a
two-decade-long melodrama of security lapses, computer data
mishandling, safety hazards and financial mismanagement.
Despite repeated complaints by congressional investigators since
at least the late 1970s, and more recent studies by the U.S.
Energy Department's Office of Inspector General, the university
has consistently evaded the ultimate punishment -- loss of its
contracts to manage Los Alamos National Laboratory and Lawrence
Livermore National Laboratory.
In report after report since the Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan
eras, investigators have nailed the labs for problems ranging
from the loss of thousands of classified documents to cost
overruns in the hundreds of millions of dollars to the hiring of
security guards who couldn't shoot straight.
Still, the Energy Department historically tended to forgive the
labs' security and managerial lapses because it was impressed by
their scientific excellence, and consistently awarded UC new
contracts without requiring competitions for the prestigious
jobs.
In the late 1970s, Los Alamos officials were embarrassed by the
"erroneous declassification" of "weapons design" documents,
including information on "how to design a thermonuclear weapon,"
which somehow ended up in a local public library, as an
investigation by the congressional General Accounting Office
(recently renamed the Government Accountability Office) showed at
that time.
A quarter of a century later, the agency's complaints have only
expanded.
In a 2004 report by the accounting office, the agency stated that
it still considered the labs "a high-risk area vulnerable to
fraud, waste, abuse and mismanagement. As of February 2004, this
high-risk designation was still in effect."
Only recently, though, has UC faced a serious threat to its
contracts to run the labs, at least at Los Alamos, where the
atomic bomb was born in 1945. The present contract expires in
September 2005. Potential competitors for the contract, including
the giant University of Texas system, are already quietly
preparing for battle. The Livermore contract expires in September
2007.
On Friday, UC spokesman Chris Harrington declined to comment for
this story.
Two decades of government reports detail chronic problems at the
UC weapons labs, although in some cases it is unclear whether the
responsibility was with UC or the oversight agencies:
-- Several reports by the accounting office in the 1980s cited
security and managerial problems inside the UC labs and others
managed by the Department of Energy. A report in 1987 found that
the department had not "reinvestigated" employees' backgrounds in
a timely manner to ensure their continuing trustworthiness. The
next year, a report cited "major weaknesses" in control over
visits by foreign visitors to the weapons labs.
-- A 1990 general accounting agency report labeled Livermore's
property- management system "inadequate," suggesting this had led
to the loss of word processors, cordless hand tools, explosives
and exactly 3,677 calculators. In a survey that year, lab
managers failed to locate 16 percent of the materials -- worth a
total of $45 million -- recorded in a lab database.
-- In 1991, another agency report investigated the whereabouts of
600, 000 secret documents in Livermore's custody. About 12,000 of
these documents could not be found. The missing documents
included information on "nuclear weapons design, X-ray laser
design, special nuclear materials such as plutonium, and
photographs of nuclear weapons and nuclear weapons tests," noted
the report, titled "Accountability for Livermore's Secret
Documents Is Inadequate."
-- A separate 1991 report cited "numerous weaknesses" in
"effective safeguards and security" at the weapons labs. Out of
2,100 weaknesses identified by Energy Department investigators,
problems included "poor performance" by security officers and
staffers' inability to locate classified documents.
It's been a hot summer for the labs and their UC overseers.
Earlier this month, Los Alamos lab boss George "Pete" Nanos,
furious over the latest loss of secret computer disks, shut down
routine lab activities and threatened to fire as many people as
necessary to clean house. Meanwhile, Energy Secretary Spencer
Abraham has called in the FBI to assist with the Los Alamos
investigation. Abraham also extended the Los Alamos "stand-down"
to all work involving portable classified computer disks at other
national labs, including Livermore.
Will these actions make any difference? In the late 1980s, the
Energy Department welcomed FBI assistance in trying to improve
security measures at the labs. Eventually, though, FBI officials
withdrew their staff "because of resistance (to security
measures) within DOE," Victor Rezendes, director of the
accounting office's "energy, resources and science issues"
division, testified before a House committee in April 1999.
Likewise, the labs' recent stand-downs aren't the first ones. In
April 1999, Livermore underwent several days of stand-down to
deal with problems involving cybersecurity.
Yet five years later, Livermore's security and safety problems
persist. Although UC officials say Livermore has done a much
better job of getting its security act together than has Los
Alamos, Livermore's problems remain significant:
-- In a December 2003 report, the Energy Department's inspector
general cited "significant inadequacies" in Livermore's
management of its classified computers and portable computer
discs, known as CREMs (classified removable electronic media),
thus "increasing the vulnerability of these items to loss, abuse
and theft."
-- The February accounting agency report complains that the
nuclear complex's managerial overseer, the U.S. National Nuclear
Security Administration, decided to award the next four-year
Livermore and Los Alamos contracts to UC in January 2001 without
competitive bidding. The agency did this, the report notes,
despite the labs' problems, including evidence that Livermore
could not demonstrate adequate defenses against emergencies such
as accidents or attackers. (Even so, the Energy Department
recently extended Livermore's contract by two years.)
-- In March, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board in
Washington, D.C., a congressionally mandated advisory group to
the Energy Department, reported significant deficiencies in
safety procedures involving the 1,500 kilograms (3,300 pounds) of
plutonium at Lawrence Livermore. Abraham has announced he will
investigate the feasibility of removing all plutonium from the
lab -- located in a growing residential area -- and transferring
it to a remote site, perhaps in the rural Southwest.
Los Alamos is even worse off, judging by the public comments of
Energy Department and UC officials. Unnamed officials at the
National Nuclear Security Administration told GAO investigators
"they did not have a high level of confidence in the (Los Alamos)
laboratory's ability to sustain improvements because the
laboratory's track record in this regard has not been good," the
February GAO report says.
But the Energy Department continued to believe that the science
coming out of the labs trumped all security and management
problems.
To quote a 1990 GAO report: "Although DOE was concerned about the
degree of its ability to exercise oversight and control and about
the university's occasional lack of responsiveness to DOE's
concerns, the (Energy) Department recognized that administrative
requirements are basically being complied with and determined the
laboratory's performance ... far outweighed the administrative
problems."
Yet the persistent security and managerial lapses were anything
but trivial.
In his 1999 testimony to Congress, Rezendes of GAO said "numerous
reviews" of security safeguards had turned up "serious weaknesses
in many of these lines of defense that have led to losses of
classified or sensitive information and technology."
Among the more embarrassing problems: Labs' security "personnel
have been unable to demonstrate basic skills such as arresting
intruders or shooting accurately; at one facility (Los Alamos),
78 percent of the security personnel failed a test of required
skills," Rezendes said.
The Energy Department complained, but never decisively cracked
down.
"As far back as 1990," Rezendes said in his testimony, the
accounting office advised "that DOE should withhold a
contractor's fee for failing to fix security problems on a timely
basis." Yet the Energy Department had continued to renew UC's
contract every time, rather than force the university to bid
against outside competitors for the management contract. This
made UC's contracts to run the labs "among the longest-running
contracts in the DOE complex," Rezendes noted.
Hence, during and after the twilight years of the Cold War, the
labs' managerial and security problems festered. No one has
acknowledged this as sharply as UC's top lab manager, S. Robert
Foley, a former admiral who in October 2003 was named UC vice
president for laboratory management mainly to straighten out the
unfolding mess at Los Alamos.
On July 22, in testimony before upset UC regents, Foley charged
that at Los Alamos "there has been a lack of accountability,
virtually a sense of entitlement that developed over the years in
the culture at the (Los Alamos) laboratory ... When they did
something wrong, it was 'musical chairs': They could move from
one job to another (at the lab). People didn't get fired ... and
that's intolerable."
The February accounting office report said there was plenty of
blame to go around -- not only at UC and the Energy Department,
but at the National Nuclear Security Administration as well.
UC has "in general taken a 'hands off' approach to overseeing the
laboratories," the report concluded, suggesting that the federal
agency will have to maintain vigilance "regardless of whether the
University of California retains the contracts" for the two labs
"or another organization is selected to operate one or both of
the laboratories."
SECURITY ISSUES AT THE NATIONAL LABORATORIES
Security lapses are nothing new at the Los Alamos and Livermore
national laboratories, which are contracted for management by the
University of California, according to a review of investigative
reports from the congressional General Accounting Office
(recently renamed the Government Accountability Office) and U.S.
Department of Energy. Here are excerpts from some of these
reports, along with comments from laboratory and government
officials:
-- Los Alamos lab's "erroneously declassified information (was)
... found in the public section of the Los Alamos library in May
1979 ... (and) contained a lot of detailed information on how to
design a thermonuclear weapon."
-- GAO report to Sen. John Glenn, 1979
-- "(Livermore) could not locate 16 percent, or 27,528, of the
items recorded in the laboratory's property management database.
... While it is the university's responsibility to take all
reasonable precautions to safeguard and protect government
property in its custody, it is DOE's responsibility to ensure
that the university does so."
-- GAO report, April 1990
-- "... at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, 78 percent of the
security personnel failed a test of required skills. Of the
54-member guard force, 42 failed to demonstrate skill in using
weapons, using a baton, or apprehending a person threatening the
facility's security."
-- Victor S. Rezendes, GAO official addressing House subcommittee
on oversight and investigations, April 20, 1999
-- "At Livermore, we believe our Special Nuclear Materials (SNM)
and sensitive and classified information are secure."
-- C. Bruce Tarter, then-Lawrence Livermore director, testifying
to Congress, July 20, 1999
-- "... there were significant inadequacies in the internal
controls over classified computers and classifiable removable
media (disks) at Livermore."
-- U.S. Energy Department Office of Inspector General, December
2003
-- "The (Energy) department's history of inadequate management
and oversight and failure to hold its contractors accountable for
results led GAO in 1990 to designate DOE contract management as a
high-risk area vulnerable to fraud, waste, abuse and
mismanagement. As of February 2004, this high-risk designation
was still in effect."
-- GAO report, February 2004
-- "I don't care how many people I have to fire (to improve
security)."
-- George "Pete" Nanos, Los Alamos director in July 16 memo to
employees
-- "... there has been a lack of accountability, virtually a
sense of entitlement that developed over the years in the culture
at the (Los Alamos) laboratory. ... When they did something
wrong, it was 'musical chairs': They could move from one job to
another (at the lab). People didn't get fired ... and that's
intolerable."
-- S. Robert Foley, vice president of laboratory management,
University of California, in July 22 testimony to UC regents
WEAPONS LAB SCANDALS THROUGH THE YEARS
1979 Los Alamos: Thermonuclear bomb design information found in
public library.
1990 Livermore: $45 million in property missing, including
explosives.
1991 Livermore: 12,000 secret documents on weapons missing.
1999 Los Alamos
78 percent of security personnel failed test of required skills..
2003 Livermore
Deficient safety involving about
3,300 pounds of plutonium.
Page A - 1
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42 SF Chronicle: The town that gave birth to The Bomb
Sunday, August 1, 2004
It's a lovely drive, up through the dry New Mexico scrubland, the
Sangre de Cristo mountains in the rear view mirror -- up, up the
winding road to this great plateau, and suddenly there you are,
right on Central Avenue and in downtown Los Alamos.
Atomic City is what some people in New Mexico call it. It might
look like a lot of other towns in the rural Southwest, population
18,000, but it is irredeemably different -- this is the place
where they designed and built The Bomb. Yes, that one. Or,
actually, those two. No. 1, dubbed "Little Boy," vaporized much
of Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945. Its oversized brother, "Fat Man,"
obliterated much of Nagasaki three days later.
Nuclear weapons. Secrecy. Guards dressed in camouflage uniforms
-- they frown on having their picture taken. Security passes on
gaily colored cords, dangling from the necks of lab workers on
lunch break. U.S. government license plates on the odd SUV. This
is what Los Alamos is about -- and has been about since the early
1940s. The Los Alamos National Laboratory, even during its
current security-related work suspension, is not so much the
800-pound gorilla around here as it is the 21,000-ton gorilla --
it's the place that ushered into the American vernacular the word
"kiloton," which we all came to revere during the half century of
the Cold War.
Pervasive as the lab is in Los Alamos culture -- it's sometimes
called Bombsville, and there's an exercise group called the
Atomic City Roadrunners Club -- it is difficult to find. The
laboratory itself is spread out over 43 square miles, in 2,224
buildings. Many are fairly innocuous and bland, the kind of thing
you might find in an industrial park or, say, in eastern Alameda
County, home of its sister facility, the Lawrence Livermore
National Laboratory. Unless you drive up in the hills outside
town -- it offers a splendid view of many of the lab's buildings
-- you don't really get a feel for the scope of it, the bigness
or sprawl of it all.
z And though its residents did conjure up -- and still maintain
-- weapons of mass destruction (to use a currently popular
phrase), the town itself is quite benign, peaceful even. The
beauty of a visit is that it's an easy day trip from Santa Fe,
less than a hour away.
The best place to start a tour of Los Alamos is to pull into the
small parking lot on the right side of Central Avenue overlooked
by the Bradbury Science Museum, named for Norris Bradbury,
director of the lab from 1945 to 1970. (At press time, the museum
was temporarily closed due to the lab work suspension, but
expected to reopen soon.)
The Bradbury is not difficult to find -- it's on the right, maybe
a half-mile from the entrance to town, which is marked by two
things: a tall guard tower, left over from the ultra-secrecy days
during the war, and a building that houses Bechtel's people who
do subcontracting work at the lab. (There's a real nostalgia for
the Bay Area here -- both Bechtel and the University of
California, which operates the lab for the U.S. Department of
Energy, have offices in Los Alamos.)
Far from being an apologist for the town's main industry, the
museum is a detailed diorama that goes into how The Bomb came
about and has exhibits showing how the laboratory carries out its
current raison d'etre -- a combination of research and nuclear
weapons "stockpile stewardship." (Let's keep track of those
weapons; we don't want to lose any.)
In the history section of the museum, flanking an exhibit of
letters written during World War II between ranking scientists
and the government that outline the evolution of the bomb, are
stark, white, life-size, plaster-of-Paris statues of J. Robert
Oppenheimer, the physicist who led the development of the bomb,
and Army Maj. Gen. Leslie R. Groves, overall boss of the
Manhattan Project. (It got its name because it grew out of the
Manhattan District of the Army Corps of Engineers in New York.)
A wonderful letter from Albert Einstein to President Franklin D.
Roosevelt, in August 1939, points out "some recent work" by
scientists on the idea that "uranium may be turned into a new and
important source of energy in the immediate future," possibly
leading to "the construction of bombs" so powerful that "a single
bomb of this type, carried by boat and exploded in a port, might
very well destroy the whole port together with some of the
surrounding territory."
Roosevelt, intrigued by this, sent a reply, saying he's asked the
Army and Navy to "thoroughly investigate the possibilities of
your suggestion ..."
The museum has an exact replica of Fat Man (Little Boy was out
for repairs), and the information card says that when it was
dropped over Nagasaki at a height of 29,000 feet, it exploded
1,650 feet off the ground and instantly killed 70,000 people and
wounded an additional 60,000. The death toll from Fat Man
eventually rose to 140,000. The bomb was the equivalent of 21,000
tons of TNT.
A few feet away from the Fat Man replica the other day, two men
were playing with the interactive display that shows what happens
to a house when it is hit by a nuclear weapon. One man mentioned
to his companion that Fat Man was 21 kilotons 60 years ago, and
"now those suitcase bombs that are out and about -- they're 20
kilotons."
The museum has a couple of short films that are well worth
watching -- one shows how the lab stores the nation's nuclear
missiles, and the other tells how the Manhattan Project evolved
in the early 1940s.
Before World War II, Los Alamos was known mainly for the Los
Alamos Ranch School, a kind of cross between Outward Bound and a
New England boarding school, started in 1918 by a man named
Ashley Pond. Between the two wars, it was all pretty peaceful up
there on the mesa -- the school prospered, and Pond expanded it.
One of the people who used to come up to the mesa from his summer
home near Santa Fe was J. Robert Oppenheimer. So when the
government was seeking an isolated area for its ultra-secret
laboratory, Oppenheimer had just the place.
By 1942, Los Alamos was selected as the site for the Manhattan
Project.
"It put it on the map," said tour guide Georgia Strickfaden as
she wheeled her little Volkswagen van around the old school
buildings, which were requisitioned by the government when
scientists needed a place to live in the early 1940s. "Actually,
it took it off the map because it was so secret."
As a way to deflect the curious during World War II, for example,
the government started spreading realistic-sounding, if utterly
false, rumors about what was going on in the buildings they had
just acquired: It was a POW camp for German officers; it was a
home for pregnant WACs; the Corps of Engineers was dredging the
nearby Rio Grande to fashion a secret inland submarine base.
But the place really was secret, and the secrecy took on odd
forms. All addresses for members of the project simply said,
"P.O. Box 1663, Santa Fe, N.M." Even on birth certificates, it
said you were born in that special post office box. Los Alamos
simply did not exist. New arrivals checked in at a storefront
office in Santa Fe, then waited for transportation to what was
simply called The Hill.
Which brings us to Buffalo Tours, a fine, personal two-hour
driving tour of Los Alamos that Strickfaden conducts. (She leaves
the Otowi Station bookstore, next to the Bradbury Science Museum,
each day at 1:30 p.m. Buy tickets early, from any salesperson in
the bookstore; the van holds only about a half-dozen people.)
Strickfaden, who was born in Los Alamos, is 56 years old, and she
worked for the lab for three years back in the early 1980s. As
she drives around town and up into the hills, she talks about Los
Alamos with the kind of inside authority that comes only from
years of knowing the place, years of picking up little tidbits of
knowledge here and there. She is, after all, a woman who has her
own piece of Trinitite, the volcanic-like rock created by the
intense heat of an atomic device fusing the desert sand when
Oppenheimer, et al, did their signal test of The Bomb on July 16,
1945. (It worked.)
The Volkswagen goes by an imposing log building -- the original
dining and social hall for the school -- and down Bathtub Row --
they were the only houses with bathtubs -- where the school's
faculty once lived. They were taken over by the Manhattan
Project's top scientists. On one side of Bathtub Row is a low
foundation wall, maybe a foot high. It's the preserved remnants
of a 13th century pueblo, and it looks just like the remnants of
a building that has been nuked.
Then Strickfaden drives up West Jemez Road and Camp May Road,
following signs to the local ski area (founded by nuclear
scientist Enrico Fermi, who missed the skiing from his youth in
Italy). From up in the hills, you have a placid and thorough view
of the buildings that constitute the laboratory sprawl. Over
there, the big white roof covers the building housing the world's
third-fastest supercomputer; Strickfaden says it does 30 trillion
operations per second. On the drive back into town, we go past
the Nonproliferation and International Security Center -- "the
building the war on terrorism built," Strickfaden says.
After a while, all these bland buildings nestling behind
chain-link fences begin to have an eye-glazing effect, so
Strickfaden wisely points the VW bus out into the hinterlands.
Within about 10 minutes, we pass cliff dwellings from the classic
pueblo period. It's so Southwest, with that muted pink and dusty
color of the rocks and hills. This, after all, is the land that
gave us the artist Georgia O'Keeffe, famous for her depictions of
flowers and the high desert. Then there is a sudden jar of
reality when we pass a modern steel sun shelter where the lab's
security guards are practicing on a pistol range. The lab never
truly leaves.
Strickfaden brings the van back to the bookstore around 3:45 p.m.
It's a great opportunity to step out and visit the Otowi Station
bookstore, a place of utterly catholic tastes where you can find
more than 300 titles on the history and culture of the atomic
age, along with various videos of movies that have chronicled our
fascination with nukes for the past 60 years. (The store does not
discriminate politically -- "Dr. Strangelove, or: How I Learned
to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb," the classic antiwar satire,
is up there next to the Paul Newman picture, "Fat Man and Little
Boy," a more orthodox look at the genre.)
There are other things to do around Los Alamos, if the history of
man's first successful effort to blow up the world are not your
thing -- a visit to nearby Bandelier National Monument, for
example, with its mesas (see related story on facing page) and
old Pueblo homes; or river rafting in the Rio Grande. Lovely as
Los Alamos is, however -- and it is clean and refreshing and so
Western -- it is the place that changed us all.
"We knew the world would not be the same," Oppenheimer said,
recalling what it was like just after the first explosion of an
atomic bomb, at the Trinity Site in southern New Mexico on July
16, 1945. "A few people laughed, a few people cried. Most people
were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the
'Bhagavad Gita,' 'I am become death, the destroyer of worlds.' I
suppose we all thought that, one way or another."
-----------------------------------------------------------------
If you go
All locations below are in Los Alamos, N.M.
GETTING THERE
From Bay Area, several airlines offer service to Denver; from
there, Great Lakes Airlines flies Beechcraft 1900 twin-engine
turboprops to Santa Fe's small airport, populated largely by
private jets. It's a scenic ride, but can be bumpy. The drive
from Santa Fe to Los Alamos is about 35 miles: Go north on
Highway 285/84, then west on Highway 502 to Los Alamos.
Alternatively, fly nonstop to Albuquerque's larger airport, drive
60 miles north to Santa Fe on I-25, then to Los Alamos.
WHAT TO DO
Bradbury Science Museum, Central Avenue near 15th Street. (505)
667-4444, . Main attraction for anyone interested in the
Manhattan Project and the nation's nuclear weapons program. Open
daily except Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day; hour are
1 p.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, Sunday and Monday; 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday
through Friday. Free. (Museum has been closed during the Los
Alamos National Laboratory security-related work suspension, but
Los Alamos Visitor Center officials expected it to reopen in
early August. Call before planning a visit.)
Otowi Station Science Museum Shop and Bookstore, 1350 Central
Ave. (505) 662-9589, . Next door to the Bradbury; more than 300
titles on the bomb and nuclear power, large selection of
general-interest books.
Los Alamos Historical Museum, 1921 Juniper St. (next to Fuller
Lodge). (505) 662-4493, . Small museum is five-minute walk from
the Bradbury; exhibits on early New Mexico, the Manhattan Project
and postwar atomic tests at Bikini Atoll in the Pacific. Summer
hours: 9:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 5
p.m. Sunday. Free.
Los Alamos National Laboratory, . Off limits to random visitors;
most outsiders who enter have specific business there. Lab
spokesman James Rickman says that anyone who wants to understand
what the lab does should visit the Bradbury Science Museum, "the
official public expression of the lab."
WHERE TO STAY
Best Western Hilltop House Hotel, 400 Trinity Drive. (800)
462-0936 or (505)662-2441, . Doubles $69 weekends, $89 weekdays.
Holiday Inn Express, 2455 Trinity Drive. (800) 465-4329 or (505)
661-1110, . Doubles from $89.95.
Los Alamos Inn, 2201 Trinity Drive. (800) 279-9279 or (505)
662-7211, . Rooms from $69.
WHERE TO EAT
Blue Window Bistro, 813 Central Ave. (505) 662-6305. 11 a.m.-2:30
p.m. and 5 p.m.-9 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Entrees $5-$22.
Central Avenue Grill, 1789 Central Ave. (505) 662-2005. 11 a.m.-9
p.m. daily. Entrees $8.29-$18.99.
Hill Diner, 1315 Trinity Drive, (505) 662-9745. 11 a.m.-9 p.m.
Monday through Saturday, 11 a.m.-8 p.m Sunday. Entrees
$6.69-$11.29
Lemongrass &Lime, 160 Central Park Square. (505) 661-4221. 11
a.m.-2:30 p.m. and 5 p.m.- 9 p.m. daily except Saturday. Entrees
$7-$11.95.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Los Alamos Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Center, 109 Central
Park Square. (505) 662-8105, .
Buffalo Tours, (505) 662-3965, . $12 per person.
For more about touring sites related to the atomic bomb, visit .
©2004 San Francisco Chronicle | Feedback | FAQ
EOE AMPM(R) Mini Market ARCO ampm mi
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43 The Enquirer: Fernald hold costing $9,000 a day
Sunday, August 1, 2004
Removal crews must remain ready during dispute
By Dan Klepal Enquirer staff writer
CROSBY TWP. - Because of a legal dispute over where to dispose of
radioactive waste from the Fernald nuclear cleanup, taxpayers are
spending about $9,000 a day for crews at the long-closed nuclear
weapons plant to not perform the work.
Since work was halted seven days ago, the wasted money has added
up to more than $63,000, and there's no clear sign of when work
will resume.
Crews must remain ready to begin the operation of sucking the
powdery waste out of Silo 3, pouring it in storage sacks and
packaging those sacks in steel shipping crates. That requires
constant checking and maintenance of the systems, along with
routine testing of the operators, using fly ash as a practice
material.
But the workers cannot actually start the job because Nevada
state officials are trying to prevent the Department of Energy
from burying the waste in the Nevada desert. State officials
there have threatened a federal lawsuit, saying the plan is
illegal and unsafe.
That leaves about 60 chemical operators, maintenance personnel
and supervisors committed to the project with little else to do
but practice and wait.
Energy officials told the workers July 26 to stay on standby but
not to begin removing the waste until the legal dispute is
resolved. It is unclear how long it will take.
Officials in the Nevada Attorney General's Office said last week
that there have been no substantive talks and the two sides are
no closer to a remedy than they were in April, when Nevada first
made its legal threat.
"We've had one phone conversation with the Department of Energy's
legal council," said Bob Loux, director of the Nevada Agency for
Nuclear Projects in the governor's office. "They basically said
they could 'get around' everything. They can't answer the legal
questions we've raised satisfactorily."
Department of Energy officials refused to comment on the
situation.
Meanwhile, preparations are being made to begin removing and
disposing even more highly radioactive waste in two other storage
tanks, called Silos 1 and 2. The transfer of that waste from the
silos to temporary holding tanks, where it will be mixed with
concrete and fly ash, is scheduled to begin about the second week
of September.
But that waste also is supposed to be shipped to Nevada, so it
remains unclear if that operation also will be delayed by the
legal dispute.
"At this time, we do not know whether the (Nevada) issues will
affect authorization to begin removing waste from Silo 1 and Silo
2," said a memo sent to all Fernald employees July 27.
Energy officials say they want their contractor, Fluor Fernald,
ready to begin removing the waste two weeks after being told to
proceed, and ready to ship the waste 45 days after that notice is
given.
Energy department lawyers have promised Nevada officials a 45-day
notice before the first shipment of waste is sent.
The total budget for cleaning the three silos is $400 million.
The total budget for cleaning the entire 1,000-acre Fernald
complex - an operation that includes cleaning contaminated
underground water, demolishing dozens of buildings, removing
millions of tons of contaminated soil and cleaning the silos - is
$4.4 billion.
All of the bills from the Fernald cleanup are paid by taxpayers.
1995-2004. , a newspaper.
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44 Tri-Valley Herald: Los Alamos lab's security appears great on paper
Glowing evaluation comes in wake of recent lapses in handling of
nuclear data
Article Last Updated: Saturday, July 31, 2004 -
By Ian Hoffman, STAFF WRITER
Faced by irate congressmen, the Bush administration's chief
nuclear-weapons executive condemned recent losses of two drives
of nuclear secrets at Los Alamos National Laboratory, saying
"there is something about the Los Alamos culture that we have not
yet beaten into submission."
But on paper, where contract fees for Los Alamos manager
University of California are most at stake, his agency -- the
National Nuclear Security Administration -- has awarded top marks
to Los Alamos for its handling of classified data for the last
four years.
"It's totally outrageous," said Danielle Brian, executive
director of the Washington-based Project on Government Oversight,
a watchdog group that has criticized management and security in
the U.S. weapons complex.
For three weeks, a near-unanimous chorus in Congress, the U.S.
Energy Department and the Univer-
sity of California have faulted a "culture of arrogance" at Los
Alamos for its security failings.
Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham last week branded Los Alamos'
security failings "widespread" and ordered a national shutdown of
all work with classified, portable disks, tapes and drives.
Yet the lab's closest overseers at the NNSA, headed by former
arms-control negotiator Linton Brooks, have largely been spared.
Critics say the agency is not rising to the mission that Congress
intended four years ago, when lawmakers created the NNSA to halt
security scandals and increase accountability.
"There continues to be an ongoing pattern of business management
failure and security problems, particularly at Los Alamos, that
administrator Brooks has thus far been unable to resolve," Rep.
Jim Greenwood, R-Penn., said recently, adding that "the NNSA
experiment has not been a great success."
Brian said NNSA officials in Los Alamos should have spotted and
fixed the problem earlier.
"That office is supposed to be the first line of defense and
they're repeatedly falling down on the job," Brian said. "It
takes the secretary of energy to notice something's wrong, yet
there's nobody down the chain of command who noticed a problem at
Los Alamos."
Creating a new, semi-independent agency out of the Energy
Department's old weapons arm to oversee U.S. weapons labs and
factories was controversial. Critics said the new agency was too
close in personality to the complex and could not be trusted with
an oversight role.
As if to reinforce the closeness of the labs and the NNSA, the
University of California is hiring two senior NNSA executives,
including chief of staff John Ventura, to run key portions of its
weapons program.
"It isn't two different cultures, it's one culture," Brian said.
"We absolutely have a revolving door."
The last time that federal security overseers in Los Alamos
downgraded the lab's protection of classified information was in
1999, the year that Los Alamos engineer Wen Ho Lee was found to
have downloaded nuclear-weapons design software and multiple
H-bomb designs to portable tapes.
Los Alamos' rating for "classified matter protection" dipped to
"marginal," a mid-level grade.
The next year, two laptop hard drives of multiple nations'
nuclear-weapons designs disappeared for at least two weeks.
Federal security officials raised the grade to "satisfactory."
That's the highest of three possible ratings. The NNSA -- created
by Congress to tighten security and accountability after the
scandals of 1999 and 2000 -- continued to grade Los Alamos'
handling of classified material as satisfactory in 2001, 2002 and
2003.
"It reminds you of Lake Wobegon, where all the children are above
average," said Steven Aftergood, a secrecy and security
researcher at the Federation of American Scientists in
Washington, referring to Garrison Keillor's fictional town. "As a
diagnostic tool, it's not worth very much. Judging by this
report, it turns out there's no problem, and everything's fine.
But of course, everything's not fine. What is termed
'satisfactory' is anything but."
NNSA spokesman Anson Franklin said the agency's evaluators looked
at Los Alamos' procedures for handling classified documents,
weapons components and digital storage, such as CDs, drives and
tapes.
"It is the contractor's responsibility to make sure the
procedures are followed," Franklin said. "It is clear that the
procedures were not followed at Los Alamos, and the contractor
had trouble enforcing the procedures and getting certain
personnel to follow them."
The missing hard drives were found within 24 hours. But lab and
federal investigators have been unable to locate the Zip drives
after scouring Los Alamos for three weeks.
They disappeared from a safe at the end of a hall by a soda
machine. No librarian could see the safe, it was not monitored by
video camera and check-out procedures were on a kind of honor
code.
As part of his nationwide stand-down, Abraham ordered that all
portable electronic media classified "secret" or higher be kept
in vaults under direct supervision of librarians and that a
formal checkout process be instituted. Los Alamos' latest rules
allow scientists who check out classified disks to loan them to
colleagues until the end of the next business day.
"The lesson we've learned from looking into this is that the
procedures aren't tight enough and so we're changing the
procedures," Franklin said.
Contact Ian Hoffman at ihoffman@angnespapers.com.
©2004 by MediaNews Group, Inc. and ANG Newspapers
*****************************************************************
45 UK Independent: examines role of visiting UK researchers
By Andrew Gumbel in Los Angeles
01 August 2004
Investigators into a potentially devastating security breach at
the US nuclear weapons laboratory at Los Alamos are considering
the possibility that visiting British atomic experts made off
with two sensitive computer disks that have been missing since
early July.
That diplomatically explosive scenario was raised at a recent
closed-door congressional hearing in Washington, where lawmakers
have threatened scientists working at the lab with dismissal or
even criminal prosecution for what they see as an inexcusable
disregard for security procedures.
James Greenwood, a Republican member of the House Energy and
Commerce Committee, asked the head of the National Nuclear
Security Administration (NNSA) directly whether "anyone from the
UK was able to physically get their hands on these Zip drives".
The NNSA chief, Linton Brooks, did not immediately discount the
possibility, according to a transcript of the hearing obtained
by the Albuquerque Journal. Instead he answered: "I don't want
to seem unresponsive, but I would be more comfortable if we
could have this discussion in a different setting."
Mr Brooks did reveal, however, that 15 top-secret disks were
prepared in early June for a meeting with a British delegation,
and that two of these disks later went missing. Just 11 Los
Alamos scientists had access to these disks; all 11 have denied
any wrong-doing.
Los Alamos, where the Manhattan Project was hatched 60 years
ago, has been in a state of lockdown for the past week, with all
research projects halted and employees in a state of fear
bordering on panic.
The head of Los Alamos, retired admiral Pete Nanos, has publicly
questioned the lab's future and threatened scientists with
polygraph tests and mass dismissals.
Government critics at Los Alamos claim that Washington is
looking for an excuse to purge the lab of scientists wedded to
the notion of safeguarding the stockpile of nuclear weapons
rather than adding to them. The Bush administration has made
little secret of its desire to resume nuclear weapons production
for the first time in 15 years to usher in a new generation of
"mini-nukes" and atomic bunker-buster bombs for first-strike
use.
The Energy Department, which oversees the lab, has announced it
will consider open bids when its latest management contract with
the University of California runs out next year. High on the
list of possible replacements are institutions from President
Bush's home state of Texas.
On the other side of the argument, security experts warn that as
many as 20 more disks may have gone missing in recent months - a
symptom of a perceived laxness at Los Alamos that even
government critics acknowledge.
Those familiar with the lab describe restricted data piled up so
high in hallways that fire marshals have had to insist on them
being destroyed. "I have driven through open gates at Los Alamos
into secure areas and there was simply no one around to stop
me," said Greg Mello of the Los Alamos Study Group, an
organisation campaigning against nuclear proliferation.
It is open to question, however, whether this laxness has truly
threatened national security, or merely been a reflection of a
bloated bureaucracy with too little to do and too many secrecy
rules to step around.
Government funding has tripled in the past nine years, largely
because of a push for new nuclear weapons research by the
Republican Party. Until very recently, however, that research
has not become a significant part of the agenda. "Stockpile
stewardship" has remained the official watchword, with the
ever-increasing government grants being seen by scientists and
New Mexico politicians as little more than a glorious scam.
Given the atmosphere of secrecy, hard facts about the latest
security lapse are hard to come by. Mr Mello's best guess is
that the British officials came from the Atomic Weapons
Establishment (AWE) at Aldermaston, now a private consortium
which has provided and maintained Britain's atomic warheads for
more than half a century. He further guesses that they were in
Los Alamos to talk about Trident missiles. A year ago, the lab
began gearing up to be able to produce W-88 warheads for the
Trident by 2007.
If Mr Mello is correct, then all sorts of bureaucratic
cross-currents come into play. AWE is part-owned by the US
defence contractor Lockheed Martin, which in turn is one of the
bidders to take over Los Alamos when the University of
California contract runs out.
Was the recent security breach really just the fault of clumsy
scientists, or something more calculated? One begins to
understand that explosive question in committee on Capitol Hill,
and the deep reluctance of America's top nuclear manager to give
a straight answer.
UK Independent Ltd.
*****************************************************************
46 Google News Alert - nuclear
Date: Sun, 01 Aug 2004 16:59:52 -0700 (PDT)
LIFTED: Nuclear parts freeze
Straits Times - Singapore
... Iran announced it has resumed making parts for centrifuges used for
enriching uranium, dealing a fresh blow to European efforts to contain
its nuclear programme ...
See all stories on this topic:
ISRAEL Has Between 100-200 Nuclear Weapons: Vanunu
Tehran Times - Tehran,Iran
JERUSALEM (Al Bawaba) -- Only two days after the Israeli Supreme Court
overruled nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunus request to remove
the limitations ...
See all stories on this topic:
US backs out of nuclear inspections treaty
Sydney Morning Herald - Sydney,New South Wales,Australia
... has announced that it will oppose provisions for inspections and verification
as part of an international treaty to ban production of nuclear weapons
materials ...
See all stories on this topic:
CHINESE Envoy in Seoul to Discuss North Korean Nuclear Standoff
Voice of America - Washington,DC,USA
A senior Chinese official is in South Korea to discuss preparations for
another round of six-party talks about North Korea's nuclear ambitions.
...
See all stories on this topic:
DPRK urges US to fulfill promise on nuclear issue
People's Daily - China
... July 31 the United States to fulfill its promise and stick to the principle
of "words for words" and "action for action" in order to solve the nuclear
issue on ...
See all stories on this topic:
THE Navy needs nuclear subs, govt to decide: new Navy Chief
Webindia123.com - India
... Admiral Arun Prakash today said his main priority would be augmenting
the present force levels of the navy, including acquisition of nuclear-powered
submarines ...
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'I Revealed Israel's Nuclear Secrets to Stop a New Genocide'
Zaman - Turkey
Mordehay Vanunu, who leaked Israel's nuclear program to the press almost
two decades ago, spoke to the Turkish media for the first time. ...
AFTER Nuclear Radiation
Israel Braces for Chemical Disaster
International Press Center (press release) - Palestine
GAZA, August 1, 2004 (IPC + Agencies)-- Official Israeli sources warned
of a nuclear and chemical catastrophe due to the aging of the Dimona nuclear
reactor ...
See all stories on this topic:
IRAN will not break off talks with EU over nuclear programmes
Deepika - India
Teheran, Aug 1 (DPA) Iran will not break off talks with the European Union
over its nuclear programmes, a foreign ministry spokesman told said today.
...
See all stories on this topic:
'PROVIDENT Way' for nuclear plant access?
Portsmouth Herald - Portsmouth,NH,USA
... When the state widened the intersection last year, it obtained an estimated
500 feet of the nuclear power plant access road, according to Planning
Board ...
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47 Google News Alert - nuclear
Date: Sat, 31 Jul 2004 16:16:39 -0700 (PDT)
IRAN Resumes Nuclear Programme
Scotland on Sunday - Edinburgh,Scotland,UK
Iran confirmed today it has resumed building nuclear centrifuges, saying
it was retaliating for the failure of Britain, France and Germany to get
its file ...
See all stories on this topic:
DPRK urges US to fulfill promise on nuclear issue
Xinhua - China
... urged the United States to fulfill its promise and stick to the principle
of "words for words" and "action for action" in order to solve the nuclear
issue on ...
See all stories on this topic:
INDIA needs nuclear submarines, says Naval Chief
Hindustan Times - New Delhi,India
The Indian Navy's new Chief on Saturday said the maritime force needed
a nuclear-powered submarine and more modern warships to beef up its strength.
...
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ADMINISTRATION now opposes inspections as part of nuclear treaty
Seattle Times - Seattle,WA,USA
... week that it will oppose provisions for inspections and verification
as part of an international treaty that would ban production of nuclear-weapons
materials. ...
See all stories on this topic:
NUCLEAR Plant Off-Line After System Failure
Los Angeles Times (subscription) - Los Angeles,CA,USA
Washington state's only commercial nuclear reactor remained out of service
while technicians tried to determine why an automatic shutdown system
failed to work ...
See all stories on this topic:
ART project re-creates '86 nuclear protest
Arizona Republic - Phoenix,AZ,USA
It was an anti-nuclear protest meant to evoke the blast shadows found in
Hiroshima after the first wartime atomic bomb was dropped on Aug. 6, 1945.
...
US insists all N Koreas nuclear programmes must be addressed
Hi Pakistan - Lahore,Pakistan
BEIJING: The United States has told China there is no change in its demand
that all Pyongyangs nuclear programmes be addressed in the search for
a ...
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SHARON hints at nuclear weapons stock, claims US backing
Hi Pakistan - Lahore,Pakistan
... Israel has US backing for its deterrent weapons, Israeli Prime Minister
Ariel Sharon said in an oblique reference to his countrys secret nuclear
arms. ...
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IRAN Resumes Building Nuclear Centrifuges
Guardian - UK
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - A defiant Iran on Saturday said it had resumed building
nuclear centrifuges, saying the move was retaliation for the failure of
three ...
DTI announces new nuclear boss
ic Ayrshire.co.uk - Ayrshire,UK
The Department of Trade and Industry has announced that Caithness woman
Barbara Judge will become Chairman of the United Kingdon Energy Authority.
...
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48 [du-list] DU in the news - 31st July 04
Date: Sat, 31 Jul 2004 18:32:20 -0700
UN SUB-COMMISSION HEARS FROM NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS ON ...
UNPO - The Hague,Netherlands
... Iraqi resources. The second wartime use in Iraq of weapons containing
depleted uranium made the situation all the worse. At present ...
<http://www.unpo.org/news_detail.php?arg=02&par=1030>
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49 [du-list] In that last DU in the news....
Date: Sat, 31 Jul 2004 18:32:22 -0700
http://www.unpo.org/news_detail.php?arg=02&par=1030
KAREN PARKER, of International Educational Development, said the group
remained extremely concerned about the situation in Iraq. Inept and
dishonest United States leadership, ugly and vicious behaviour of many
United States troops and commanders, as well as abject corruption by United
States constructors in all areas of reconstruction had severely undermined
humanitarian and human rights law and resulted in the wholesale theft of
Iraqi resources. The second wartime use in Iraq of weapons containing
depleted uranium made the situation all the worse. At present, foreign
medical personnel were documenting a medial catastrophe related to
low-level radiation and destruction of the Iraqi medical delivery system
already seriously challenged by the long years of economic sanctions.
Purposeful killings, maiming, torture and abuse of prisoners of war was a
war crime, yet the United States was apparently not to be taken to task by
any country for its violations in Iraq, even though all high contracting
parties to the Geneva Conventions were under an affirmative duty to seek
out alleged violators and bring them to their own national tribunals if the
countries involved in a war did not or did so in an inadequate manner.
International Educational Development had also long raised the issue of
grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions in the course of the war in Turkey
against the Kurdish people.
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50 [du-list] DU in the news 1st August 04
Date: Sat, 31 Jul 2004 18:32:24 -0700
ARMY exercises could harm environment
Ninemsn - Sydney,New South Wales,Australia
... site and we don't know what the effects of upgraded training will be,
particularly if US forces use explosives utilising depleted uranium not
used by the ...
<http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=13611>
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51 SF Chronicle: Cold fusion researcher gets an academic cold shoulder
Professor seeks respectability for controversial theory
Beth Daley, Boston Globe Sunday, August 1, 2004
Although he's a tenured Massachusetts Institute of Technology
associate professor, Peter Hagelstein leads a life of exile.
He has never made full professor. He no longer has a lab. Barely
anyone came to a lecture he gave about his research a year and a
half ago.
Virtually all of Hagelstein's problems stem from his study of
cold fusion, a type of nuclear reaction that -- if it exists at
all -- might have the power to create unlimited, clean energy,
essentially on a tabletop. Fifteen years ago, two University of
Utah chemists claimed they created such a reaction, an
announcement quickly denounced as quackery. Today, cold fusion is
as scientifically scorned as UFOs.
Now the soft-spoken Hagelstein, who won accolades in the 1980s
for conceptualizing a laser critical to Ronald Reagan's "Star
Wars" defense plan, and cold fusion have a shot at mainstream
science again. Three months ago, the U.S. Department of Energy
quietly agreed to examine what cold fusion supporters say is
increasing evidence -- culminating at a conference at MIT last
summer -- that the reaction exists and is reproducible. If the
agency agrees, it will probably mean an injection of both funding
and legitimization for the forgotten research.
The Department of Energy review is focusing attention on a small
band of scientists, including Hagelstein, that continues to work
on cold fusion long after its public demise. There are an
estimated 100 to 200 of these researchers in the world, many
suffering from stagnated careers or damaged reputations because
of their refusal to give up on a concept the vast majority of
scientists say doesn't exist.
"It's not that we have kept quiet as much as no one has looked at
what we were doing," said Hagelstein, a reserved but passionate
man given to nervous laughter. "We are getting good and powerful
results -- we want our name cleared."
Cold fusion's mystery
Cold fusion defies known physics. Even its supporters remain at a
loss to fully explain it. Still, if it exists and is
reproducible, it could revolutionize the world, decentralizing
energy production so that each home could have its own
inexpensive power source without damaging the environment.
"This whole story is one our grandkids will learn about," said
Edmund Storms, a former Los Alamos National Laboratory scientist
who has built his own cold fusion lab next to his New Mexico
home. "It has the drama, the conflict and it has hopefully the
potential to save mankind." It looked like an experiment a high
school chemistry student could do.
Using power from a car battery, chemists Stanley Pons and Martin
Fleischmann announced they had re-created the energy source of
the sun, stars, and hydrogen bomb by packing atoms together so
tightly they appeared to fuse in the contraption. The room
temperature experiment gave off more energy than it consumed, the
researchers said, amounts that couldn't be explained away by
current theories.
Within hours, scientists the world over rushed to replicate the
work. Finding an energy source through fusion had consumed
researchers for 40 years before the announcement, with little to
show for it. Unlike fission, which splits atoms to produce energy
and is used in nuclear reactors, cold fusion seemed to produce no
dangerous byproducts.
But confusing results trickled in. Researchers at Moscow
University said they reproduced the results. Princeton
researchers said they couldn't.
At MIT, Hagelstein, a theoretical physicist, felt obligated to
see if it could be true.
Growing up in smog-choked Los Angeles, he became impassioned at a
young age about saving the environment. He remembers bicycling to
the beach with a thick layer of smog above him, and the
frustration he felt when, as a member of his high school ecology
club, he could do precious little to fix it.
Though painfully shy, the 49-year-old boyish-faced scientist has
a fierce and unshakable trust in himself: He will not stop work
on anything unless he is satisfied it is or isn't true. And
Hagelstein needed to decide for himself whether cold fusion
actually made sense. Within weeks of the Pons/Fleischmann
announcement, he submitted four papers to the journal Physical
Review Letters theorizing on what might have happened.
Eight months later, a U.S. Department of Energy panel recommended
against any special funding for cold fusion. Scientists around
the world, deeply angry at their lost time and what they saw as
grandstanding by Pons and Fleischmann, went back to their
methodical grind. Few bothered to look at cold fusion again and
many still see it as one of the biggest scientific fiascoes in
history.
But Hagelstein wasn't done with his calculations. He thought the
government's review was too brief. And in many ways, cold fusion
reminded him of his work on the X-ray laser in the late 1970s.
Then an MIT graduate student, he was told the X-ray laser was a
pipe dream, an impossibility. But after spending five years
working nights and weekends, he finally came up with a scheme
that held up under mathematical scrutiny. His work earned him a
prestigious scientific prize.
About four years after the initial Pons/Fleischmann experiment,
Hagelstein became convinced that cold fusion experiments showed
that a new kind of physics was at play -- results were fleeting
and not always reproducible, but he believed they were valid.
His life changed. Although Hagelstein developed and teaches
graduate- level quantum mechanics and numerical modeling classes,
and recently wrote a textbook, he keeps a focus on cold fusion.
He spends his time methodically poring over mathematical
equations that might explain cold fusion, and visiting
laboratories that are working on it. Once a particular pathway
proves a dead-end -- a process that can take weeks or months --
he moves to another.
Many critics think he is wasting time on a foolish subject. Yet
many people have the same word to describe Hagelstein: Brilliant,
blessed with clarity and an incredibly creative mind.
"These are smart people" studying cold fusion, said Mildred
Dresselhaus, an MIT institute professor who served on the
Department of Energy review board that recommended against
funding cold fusion work. "What are the reasons they are still
doing it?"
Ridicule and results
Cold fusion became a joke. Books were written on the debacle,
with titles referring to voodoo science and grand hoaxes.
Scientific journals routinely rejected work by cold fusion
researchers. Tenure came for Hagelstein, but only barely: There
were complaints about his cold fusion work.
"In the beginning we were pioneers, but to take the sustained
abuse over time, it can be devastating," Hagelstein said -- about
his cold fusion colleagues, not himself. Speaking in a slow,
measured voice, he refuses to indulge in regrets or blame. "We
knew it was going to be tough."
What science rejected, pop culture embraced. A software company,
a snowboard maker, and even an Iowa rock band adopted cold
fusion's name. It became the subject of the 1997 movie "The
Saint."
Cold fusion research was funded for several years overseas after
the U.S. panel condemned it, and today, cold fusion researchers
say they continue to get private money -- although how much is
hard to quantify.
To other scientists, this is the natural course of bad science:
It doesn't get much public funding, and eventually goes away.
Some of these critics are eager for the new Department of Energy
review in hopes it might silence cold fusion advocates for good.
"If this was really happening, there would not be a way from
stopping them from going forward," said Frank Close, an Oxford
theoretical physicist who wrote a book about the cold fusion
episode. "I have no doubt there are wonderful things in nature we
have yet to discover, but that does not mean every random
fluctuation in the data is the Holy Grail you are looking for."
So over time, cold fusion scientists have become members of a
small, close-knit culture unto themselves. They visit each
other's labs. They have their own newsletters. They have their
own conferences. And every year, their results get stronger, the
group says, results that cannot be explained away by error or any
other reason other than a new nuclear process.
Last August, at the group's 10th annual conference, organized by
Hagelstein at MIT, results were the strongest yet. At the 11th
annual conference in France this fall, researchers expect even
more reproducible results.
"By the end of the conference, we had officially crossed the
threshold," Hagelstein said. With the cold fusion community's
help, he drafted a letter to the U.S. Department of Energy asking
for a new review hearing, a chance for someone to look at the
community's work. The department agreed to a meeting, and later,
to an official review.
The review won't be finished until at least the fall, and in the
cold fusion community, concerns are surfacing. What if the review
board is stacked with cold fusion detractors? Maybe the review
will not be in-depth enough to take into account what cold fusion
supporters say is evidence of a strange, new physics.
Hagelstein and his colleagues intend to keep pursuing their work
even if the Department of Energy sides against them again. He is
resolute. But sometimes, he sounds weary.
"The day I know it's wrong, I'm dropping it," Hagelstein said,
almost sounding like he yearned for that time. "If someone can
explain to me (it's not real), I would stop."
©2004 San Francisco Chronicle | Feedback | FAQ
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