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                         NUCLEAR POLICY
 
1 Guardian Unlimited: Developments in Iraq
2 BBC: Iraq 'ended nuclear aims in 1991' 
3 BBC: Iran defiant on nuclear research 
4 Japan Times: Japan-North Korea talks go nowhere
5 US: Straits Times: Terrorist nuclear strike in US: Risk is growing -
6 US: Jim Hightower: BATTLING THE BIG SHOTS...AND WINNING!
7 [DU-WATCH] DU and other RRW - part of the big picture
8 Mainichi Interactive: Fukui gov. calls for nuclear freeze
 
                         NUCLEAR REACTORS
 
9 US: NC Times: Activists not happy with nuclear security decision
10 US: Researchers Are Designing A Self-Contained, Tamper-Resistant Nuc
11 Straits Times: Japan N-plant mishap a blow to energy policy - 
12 US: NRC: NRC to Increase Regulatory Oversight of Perry Nuclear Plant
13 US: NRC: NRC Staff Seeks Input on Farley Nuclear Plant Draft Environ
14 AFP: Brand-new Ukrainian nuclear power plant shut down
15 US: NRC: NRC Issues New Strategic Plan 
16 US: NRC: NRC Revises Enforcement Policy to Include Alternative Dispu
17 US: NRC: NRC to Hold Public Meeting August 17 on Planned Application
18 US: NRC: Dominion Nuclear North Anna, LLC (Early Site Permit for Nor
19 US: NRC: Exelon Generation Company, LLC, (Early Site Permit for Clin
20 US: NRC: Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards, Subcommittee Meet
21 US: NRC: Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards, Subcommittee Meet
22 US: NRC: Southern Nuclear Operating Company, Inc, Joseph M. Farley
23 Platts: Japan's Kansai Electric may need to shut older nuclear react
24 Hindu Business: `Fast breeder reactor projects put on fast track' 
25 Daily Yomiuri: Police to search N-accident site 
26 Platts: Mihama-3 probe looking at reaction to Surry-2 accident
27 Japan Times: Kepco pipe safety report approved by state in '00
28 NEWS.com.au: Nuke breakdown played down 
 
                          NUCLEAR SAFETY
 
29 [DU-WATCH] Crossover at Nukewatch
30 US: [DU-WATCH] Marin Depleted Uranium Resolution Heats Up - GI's
31 US: [du-list] DU Blamed for cancer cluster among iraq war veterans
32 US: Big plutonium discrepancy at Los Alamos
33 US: Deseret news: Is Swallow playing catch-up on nuclear tests?
34 US: Wired News: Beryllium Risk Remains Unclear
35 US: Bozeman Daily Chronicle: Depleted uranium still a danger, speake
 
                         NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE
 
36 Las Vegas SUN: Presidential appearance draws protesters outside
37 USATODAY.com : Bush defends decision to send nuclear waste to Yucca 
38 Washington Times: Deja vote in the desert
39 Guardian Unlimited: Bush, in Nev., Faces Nuclear Dump Fallout
40 Press Gaggle: by Scott McClellan (Yucca)
41 Daily Yomiuri: N-plant deaths put MOX plan in doubt 
42 Las Vegas Mercury: Editor's Note: Sorry, but Sierra Club is right on
43 Las Vegas Mercury: Door-to-door activism 
44 Las Vegas RJ: Bush flying in to talk up economy 
45 Las Vegas RJ: Kerry vows to fight Yucca plan 
46 Guardian Unlimited Bush: Kerry Using Nuclear Issue in Nev.
47 US: Las Vegas SUN: Large utility makes deal on nuke waste
48 Las Vegas SUN: Editorial: Real friend to Nevada on Yucca
49 Las Vegas SUN: Letter: Yucca hardly state's top issue
50 Las Vegas SUN: Hundreds protest at site of Bush LV speech
51 Las Vegas SUN: Energy Department won't wait for key Yucca issues
52 Las Vegas SUN: Bush comment on Yucca anticipated
53 Las Vegas SUN: Kerry hopes for advantage with stance on repository
54 RGJ: Kerry outlines his agenda to Nevadans
55 RGJ: Questions and answers with the Democratic presidential nominee
56 The State: Graham blasts Kerry over nucl
57 KR Washington Bureau: Bush accuses Kerry of changing stance on nucle
58 Record-Courier: Ensign says Nevadans cannot trust Kerry on Yucca Mou
59 U.S. Newswire: Kerry-Edwards Campaign: The Truth on Yucca Mountain
60 MSNBC - Nuclear waste site is election land mine
61 US: News & Star: US senators visit Cumbria to see BNFLâ€™s armed shi
62 Whitehaven News: UKAEA BOSS CHOSEN 
 
                         NUCLEAR WEAPONS
 
63 [DU-WATCH] Peace Declaration (Hiroshima 2004)
64 [DU-WATCH] Peace Declaration (Nagasaki 2004)
65 [EMMAS] Hiroshima Cover-up
 
                        US DEPT. OF ENERGY
 
66 marionstar.com Hobson: Nuclear program wasteful - 
67 Hanford News: Congressional staffers tour Hanford facilities
68 Guardian Unlimited: Los Alamos Lab Has Documentation Troubles
69 SF Chronicle: LIVERMORE / Federal study finds no public health risk 
70 Oak Ridger: Research 'grads' 							 							 							
71 Oak Ridger: 'Super' dismantling project 							 							 							
72 lamonitor.com: Udall hears concerns at chamber reception 
73 KLTV 7: Energy Department resumes classified weapons research at Pan
 
                          OTHER NUCLEAR
 
74 Google News Alert - nuclear
75 Fuel Cell Today: How Soon for Hydrogen?
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                         FULL NEWS STORIES
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 1 Guardian Unlimited: Developments in Iraq
 
From the Associated Press        

[UP] 

Thursday August 12, 2004 5:46 PM

By The Associated Press 

Developments in Iraq: 

- Thousands of U.S. and Iraqi soldiers launched a major assault 
on militiamen loyal to militant Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, 
with explosions and gunfire echoing near Najaf's revered Imam Ali 
shrine and its vast cemetery. Witnesses said U.S. forces in Iraq 
stormed al-Sadr's house but he was not there. Iraqi Prime 
Minister Ayad Allawi called on the militants to put down their 
weapons and leave the shrine, where they have sought refuge. 

- Violence across Iraq since Wednesday morning killed at least 
172 Iraqis and injured 643, the Iraqi Health Ministry said. 
Officials said fighting between al-Sadr supporters and coalition 
forces killed at least 72 Iraqis in the southern city of Kut in 
one of the most intense battles in that city in months. 

- Governments and others across the Muslim world called for a 
halt to fighting in Najaf. Egypt urged the coalition to rely on 
dialogue instead of force, and Iran said the international 
community should intervene to ``prevent the massacre of 
defenseless Iraqi people.'' 

- Nearly 5,000 al-Sadr sympathizers took to the streets in the 
southern city of Basra demanding that U.S. troops withdraw from 
Najaf and condemning Allawi for working with the Americans. An 
explosion killed one British soldier and seriously wounded 
another in Basra. 

- Two U.S. Marines died and three were wounded when a CH-53 
helicopter crashed late Wednesday in Anbar province west of 
Baghdad. No enemy fire was observed at the time of the crash, the 
military said. 

- The U.N. Security Council unanimously approved a resolution 
extending the U.N. mission in Iraq for a year, but how 
significant a role the world body can play remains in question 
because of continuing insecurity in the country. 

- Iraq announced it will hold its delayed national conference 
beginning Sunday. The conference, considered a key step on the 
road to democracy, was to have been held last month, but was 
postponed after important factions said they planned to boycott 
it. 

- Iran's government summoned the top Iraqi envoy in Tehran to 
protest the arrest in Baghdad of several reporters for Iran's 
state news agency and the kidnapping of an Iranian diplomat. 

- Jafar Dhia Jafar, who headed Saddam Hussein's nuclear weapons 
program, told the BBC that Iraq did not seek uranium in Africa in 
the 1990s because it already had a good supply. 

- The Iraqi Interior Ministry said that it had ``no intention'' 
of arresting former Governing Council member Ahmad Chalabi in the 
near future on counterfeiting charges, despite an arrest warrant 
issued by an Iraqi court. 
  
      Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004
*****************************************************************
 2 BBC: Iraq 'ended nuclear aims in 1991' 
 
  Last Updated: Wednesday, 11 August, 2004
 
[Weapons inspectors in Iraq]                            

No banned weapons have been found despite intensive searches                                                              

The head of Iraq's nuclear programme under Saddam Hussein has 
said Iraq destroyed its nuclear weapons programme in 1991 and 
never restarted it. 

Jafar Dhia Jafar told the BBC sanctions and inspections worked in 
stopping the reconstitution of the programme. 

He also said Iraq's chemical and biological weapons programmes 
were destroyed after the first Gulf War and never reactivated. 

Mr Jafar ran Iraq's nuclear programme for nearly 25 years. 

One of the most powerful arguments in the case for war on Iraq 
was the US and UK's claim Saddam Hussein was trying to restart 
his nuclear programme. 

Equipment 'destroyed' 

But Mr Jafar, whom the former Iraqi leader originally asked to 
build the country's nuclear bomb, said all nuclear development 
stopped in July 1991, under the orders of Saddam Hussein. 

[Jafar Dhia Jafar] The was no capability - there was no chemical 
or biological or any of what are called weapons of mass 
destruction Jafar Dhia Jafar         Watch his interview    


He said he was probably a few years away from producing a nuclear 
bomb. 

However, Iraq would not have had the resources under the 
sanctions regime to continue the programme, he said in his first 
broadcast interview - aired on BBC's Newsnight programme on 
Wednesday night. 



He added the Iraqi leader had hoped that UN sanctions would be 
lifted soon, adding that Iraq's strategic aims became ineffective 
when the US and UK became its adversaries. 

"We had orders to hand over the equipment to the Republican 
guards," Mr Jafar said.

"And they had orders to destroy the equipment that we handed over 
to them." 

Exaggeration 

He said that everything was destroyed, such that the programme 
could not be restarted at the time - and that it never restarted. 

Similarly, the country's chemical and biological weapons 
programmes were stopped and never reactivated, he said. 

"There was no capability," he said. "There was no chemical or 
biological or any of what are called weapons of mass 
destruction." Some materials were never accounted for, giving 
weapons inspectors reason to believe that there were still some 
weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. 

But Mr Jafar said that production figures were exaggerated, and 
the inspectors' estimates merely reflected the difference between 
existing materials and the inflated figures. 

"That doesn't mean the material actually exists," he said. 

Not coming clean 

However, inspectors claim that it was the evasive behaviour of Mr 
Jafar himself and his failure to come clean about the programme 
that led them to believe that Iraq had to be hiding something. 

Mr Jafar also says the British government's assertion that Iraq 
tried to purchase uranium from Niger is false. 

He said Iraq already had a supply of uranium purchased there in 
the 1980s. 

"We had 500 tons of yellow cake [uranium] in Baghdad so why would 
we get more?" he said. 

He says he was approached by US intelligence to defect, but was 
never tempted. 

He thought it was important for Iraq to have a nuclear deterrent 
and tried to achieve this aim for patriotic reasons, he said. 

He remained in Iraq, fleeing to Syria just two days before 
Baghdad fell to coalition forces last year. 





*****************************************************************
 3 BBC: Iran defiant on nuclear research 
 
  Last Updated: Wednesday, 11 August, 2004
 
By Miranda Eeles BBC correspondent in Tehran   

[Iran's Bushehr nuclear plant]                                  
Iran has been accused of keeping some of its nuclear activities 
secret                                                
		
Iranian President Mohammad Khatami says his country does not need 
permission to pursue a civilian nuclear programme, and will not 
stop doing so. 

Mr Khatami's comments come amid mounting pressure on Iran by the 
US ahead of an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) meeting 
in Vienna next month. 

Washington believes Tehran is secretly building nuclear weapons. 

It wants the IAEA to refer Iran to the UN Security Council for 
breaching the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty. 

Tehran denies the allegations, saying its programme is peaceful 
and for generating electricity. 

Speaking after a cabinet meeting in Tehran, President Khatami 
said threats to send its nuclear case to the Security Council 
would not prevent Iran from pursuing nuclear technology. 

He said if anyone wanted to deny the country that right, Iran 
would be willing to pay the price. 

He added that due to its Islamic ideological beliefs, Iran could 
not acquire nuclear weapons. 

European anger 

Mr Khatami's statement comes after US officials recently 
expressed growing confidence that international resolve was 
hardening against Tehran. 

Last month Iran declared it had resumed building nuclear 
centrifuges, angering Britain, Germany and France, who have tried 
to broker a diplomatic solution. 

This reneged on an agreement made last year with the three 
countries obliging Iran to suspend all enrichment activities. 

Both sides, however, are showing signs of strain. Many in Iran's 
new conservative-dominated parliament have accused the government 
of conceding too much to the Europeans. 

More than three-quarters of the Majlis (parliament) signed a 
draft bill on Wednesday that would oblige the government to 
continue its pursuit of peaceful nuclear technology. 

Iran's claim that it does not have a secret nuclear weapons 
programme was boosted by reports earlier this week that UN 
nuclear inspectors had traced weapons grade uranium found in Iran 
to imported equipment brought in from Pakistan. 
*****************************************************************
 4 Japan Times: Japan-North Korea talks go nowhere

  Friday, August 13, 2004   

 Compiled from Kyodo, staff reports
 BEIJING -- Japan's demands for fresh information on 10 Japanese
citizens it says were abducted to North Korea remained
unanswered as the two nations concluded two days of
working-level talks here Thursday.

  [News photo]   
  Akitaka Saiki, deputy director general of the Foreign
Ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, speaks to
reporters at a Beijing hotel.   

Japan proposed meeting again, possibly in September, and urged 
North Korea to thoroughly investigate and report then, Japanese 
officials said. North Korea replied that it will consider the 
proposal.

 "We are not satisfied with the results of the investigation put 
forward at this time," Akitaka Saiki, deputy director general of 
the Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, told 
reporters after the talks.

 In Tokyo later Thursday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda 
blasted the outcome of the discussions.

 Talks to normalize ties will not resume for the time being, he 
said, given the "insufficient" report from the North Korean side.

 "The (abduction) issue is a big problem that stands before" the 
resumption of normalization talks, he said at the Prime 
Minister's Official Residence.

 Earlier in the day, a senior government official in Tokyo said 
Pyongyang might be using the abduction issue as leverage by 
deliberately delaying the release of information.

 "They probably want more humanitarian aid as well as money from 
Japan," said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

 During the two-day talks, there was no mention of any deadline 
for the investigation from either Japan or North Korea, Japanese 
officials said. 

As another sign that the two nations failed to make progress, the 
officials said neither side raised the subject of resuming 
negotiations on normalizing diplomatic ties.

 The two nations held the final-day session Thursday at the North 
Korean Embassy in Beijing, and continued their discussions during 
a working lunch. Wednesday's meeting took place at the Japanese 
Embassy in Beijing.

 Japan followed up on a verbal interim report on the 10 Japanese 
provided by North Korea on the first day.

 Both North Korean and Japanese officials declined comment on 
details of the interim report Wednesday.

 In response to the report, which a senior Foreign Ministry 
official described as containing nothing fresh that would reverse 
previous assessments, Japan proposed sending a mission to North 
Korea to look into the matter. The North said it would "respect" 
the offer, conference sources said.

 On the second day, Japan renewed its call for North Korea to 
completely scrap its nuclear arms program, saying that it would 
help make progress in the next round of six-way talks on the 
issue, which involve China, Russia, South Korea and the United 
States. 

Japan also urged the North to continue its moratorium on missile 
launches, saying it is important for North Korea to take steps to 
try to address the international community's concerns about its 
missile program.

 North Korea's chief delegate, Song Il Ho, vice director of the 
North Korean Foreign Ministry's Asian Affairs Department, said he 
would convey the message to authorities back home.

 During the first-day session, North Korea also acknowledged 
Japan's request for information on a separate case involving 
Susumu Fujita, who vanished in 1976 at age 19. Although he is not 
on the Japanese government's official list of 15 abductees, a 
picture smuggled out of North Korea was thought highly likely to 
be of him.

 The North also indicated Wednesday that it is not opposed to 
handing over four of the nine Japanese Red Army Faction fugitives 
who hijacked a Japan Airlines plane to North Korea in 1970 and 
were granted political asylum there. The other five have either 
died or returned to Japan. 

Japan wanted North Korea to give it convincing information on 
some or all of the 10 Japanese, following North Korean leader Kim 
Jong Il's promise to reinvestigate the cases during talks with 
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in May in Pyongyang.

 In 2002, North Korea told Japan that eight of the 10 have died 
and said the other two had never entered its territory. Pyongyang 
allowed five surviving abductees to return to Japan. Tokyo 
remains skeptical about the North's claims about the 10, due to a 
lack of evidence and because one of the two the North claims 
never entered the country had been abducted along with one of the 
repatriated five.

 The North Korean side raised two issues -- what to do with a 
Japanese man being held in North Korea on drug-smuggling charges 
and a woman said to have entered the country seeking asylum in 
October.

 The Japan Times: Aug. 13, 2004 (C) All rights reserved 
*****************************************************************
 5 Straits Times: Terrorist nuclear strike in US: Risk is growing - 

AUG 13, 2004

By Nicholas D. Kristof                                                                      

IF A 10-kiloton nuclear weapon, a midget even smaller than the 
one that destroyed Hiroshima, exploded in Times Square, the 
fireball would reach tens of millions of degrees Celsius.                               

It would vaporise or destroy the theatre district, Madison Square 
Garden, the Empire State Building, Grand Central Terminal and 
Carnegie Hall (along with me and my building). The blast would 
partly destroy a much larger area, including the United Nations. 
On a weekday, some 500,000 people would be killed.                             

Could this happen? Unfortunately, it could - and many experts 
believe that such an attack, somewhere, is likely.                                                               

The Aspen Strategy Group, a bipartisan assortment of policy 
mavens, focused on nuclear risks at its annual meeting here last 
week, and the consensus was twofold: the danger of nuclear 
terrorism is much greater than the public believes, and the 
United States government hasn't done nearly enough to reduce it.

Dr Graham Allison, a Harvard professor whose terrifying new book, 
Nuclear Terrorism, offers the example cited above, notes that he 
did not pluck it from thin air. He writes that on Oct 11, 2001, 
exactly a month after 9/11, aides told President George W. Bush 
that a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) source code-named 
Dragonfire had reported that Al-Qaeda had obtained a 10-kiloton 
nuclear weapon and smuggled it into New York City.

The CIA found the report plausible. The weapon had supposedly 
been stolen from Russia, which indeed has many 10-kiloton 
weapons. Russia is reported to have lost some of its nuclear 
materials, and Al-Qaeda has mounted a determined effort to get or 
make such a weapon. And the CIA had picked up Al-Qaeda chatter 
about an 'American Hiroshima'.                                                           

President Bush dispatched nuclear experts to New York to search 
for the weapon and sent Vice-President Dick Cheney and other 
officials out of town to ensure the continuity of government in 
case a weapon exploded in Washington instead. But to avoid panic, 
the White House told no one in New York City, not even its mayor.                                                               

Dragonfire's report was wrong, but similar reports - that 
Al-Qaeda has its hands on a nuclear weapon from the former Soviet 
Union - have regularly surfaced in the intelligence community, 
even though such a report has never been confirmed.

We do know several troubling things: Al-Qaeda negotiated for a 
US$1.5 million (S$2.6 million) purchase of uranium (apparently of 
South African origin) from a retired Sudanese Cabinet minister; 
its envoys travelled repeatedly to Central Asia to buy 
weapons-grade nuclear materials; and Osama bin Laden's top 
deputy, Ayman Al-Zawahiri, boasted: 'We sent our people to 
Moscow, to Tashkent, to other Central Asian states, and they 
negotiated, and we purchased some suitcase (nuclear) bombs.'

Dr Allison offers a standing bet at 51-to-49 odds that, barring 
radical new anti-proliferation steps, a terrorist nuclear strike 
will occur somewhere in the world in the next 10 years. So I took 
his bet. If there is no such nuclear attack by August 2014, he 
owes me US$5.10. If there is an attack, I owe him US$4.90.

I took the bet because I don't think the odds of nuclear terror 
are quite as great as he does. If I were guessing wildly, I would 
say a 20 per cent risk over 10 years. In any case, if I lose the 
bet, then I'll probably be vaporised and won't have much use for 
money.                                                              

Unfortunately, plenty of smart people think I've made a bad bet. 
Mr William Perry, the former secretary of defence, says there is 
an even chance of a nuclear terror strike within this decade - 
that is, in the next six years.                                                                  

'We're racing towards unprecedented catastrophe,' Mr Perry warns. 
'This is preventable, but we're not doing the things that could 
prevent it.'                                                               

That is what I find baffling: an utter failure of the political 
process. The Bush administration responded aggressively on 
military fronts after 9/11, and in November last year, Mr Bush 
observed: 'The greatest threat of our age is nuclear, chemical or 
biological weapons in the hands of terrorists, and the dictators 
who aid them.'                                                                 

But the White House has insisted on tackling the most peripheral 
elements of the weapons of mass destruction threat, like Iraq, 
while largely ignoring the central threat, nuclear proliferation.                                                           

The upshot is that the risk that a nuclear explosion will 
devastate an American city is greater now than it was during the 
Cold War, and it's growing.                                                                                                             
 			     			   			 				 			 				   			 				 			   			     		 	 	
The Straits Times

*****************************************************************
 6 Jim Hightower: BATTLING THE BIG SHOTS...AND WINNING!

8/12/2004 

For those who sit around whining that the Powers That Be are just 
too powerful, so there's no use even bothering with battling the 
bastards––take note and take heart in not one, not two, but three 
big court victories by grassroots battlers.
 
First is a coalition of environmental and citizen groups in the 
West Virginia area that has been battling the coal industry 
giants. For years, these groups have been trying to stop the 
industry from using a devastating, disgusting, and just plain 
dumb mining practice called "mountaintop removal." Instead of 
tunneling into the mountains to get at the coal, the corporations 
simply blow up the top third of the mountains, shove the rubble 
into valleys and streams below, then scoop out the coal. Not only 
is this unbelievably destructive, but, thanks to the coalition's 
determined push, a federal judge has now ruled that the 
permitting process that rubber stamps this abomination is 
illegal.
 
Next, a never-say-die coalition of environmental groups and 
Nevada officials have stunned the nuclear power giants who had 
concocted a cockamamie scheme to bury all of America's high-level 
nuclear waste in Nevada's Yucca Mountain. The cockamamie part is 
that this is an earthquake zone, the standards for protecting the 
public from long term radiation leaks are absurdly inadequate, 
and the hot stuff would be hauled for years on trucks and trains 
running right through our population centers. Now a federal 
appeals court has ruled in favor of the coalition, at least 
slowing this corporate rush to nuclear-powered insanity.
 
Third, a coalition of community radio broadcasters and citizen 
groups took on the media giants that had gotten lapdog regulators 
to allow the giants to grow ever larger, shrinking media 
competition, diversity, and our democracy. But now, a federal 
appeals court has ruled against the media Goliaths––in favor of 
the local Davids.
 
These battles are far from over, but grassroots forces are 
winning! To connect with all three of these fights, go to my 
website, jimhightower.com. 


-----------------------------------------------------------------


"Court Sets Back Federal Project On Atom Waste: Site's Safety 
Over Eons Is Focus of Decision." The New York Times, July 10, 
2004. "FCC Media giants lose in court ruling in expansion case." 
Austin American-Statesman, June 29, 2004. "Federal Judge Rejects 
U.S. Application Process for Mountaintop Mining: The Army Corps 
of Engineers is told its permits violate the Clean Water Act." 
The New York Times, July 9, 2004. 

[http://www.junction-city.com] Jim Hightower 
Hightower & Associates 1802 W. 6th Street Austin, TX 78703 
512-477-5588 info@jimhightower.com [info@jimhightower.com]                   

*****************************************************************
 7 [DU-WATCH] DU and other RRW - part of the big picture
 
Date: Thu, 12 Aug 2004 11:29:54 -0500 (CDT)

 
".In this courtroom we say No! to  . . . . the slaughter of innocent people
and the use of depleted uranium in Iraq,"

Congratulations to Nukewatch!

 = = = = = = = =
http://www.pulsetc.com/article.php?sid=1259

Group Marks 25 Years of Dissent
Wednesday 11 August @ 18:21:13

Nukewatch continues civil disobedience on military bases

by Kristina Gronquist

For 25 years, Pepper Wolf has been a school teacher - and, on the side, a
political dissident with the Wisconsin-based group Nukewatch, now
celebrating a quarter century of activism.

Wolf said she was drawn to Nukewatch by its creative protests, and by
longtime Nukewatch activists Bonnie Urfer and John LaForge. Urfer and
LaForge have been arrested and jailed with numerous others over the years
for trespassing at Project ELF - the Navy's first strike nuclear war
communication system - in northern Wisconsin. In addition to demonstrating
at nuclear silos and recruiting centers, Nukewatch also monitors the
transportation of radioactive waste around the country and around the world
on an ongoing basis.

On Saturday, August 7, Nukewatch celebrates 25 years of nonviolent
resistance, education and action. Wolf will appear with guest speakers
Progressive magazine editor Matthew Rothschild, longtime activist Donna
Howard and World Policy Institute Research Associate Frida Berrigan.

The event takes place at the group's headquarters, the Anathoth Community
Farm in Luck, Wisconsin.

Being a part of the organization is, as Nukewatch activist Jerry
Mechtenberg-Berrigan jokingly told a federal judge in court last October, "a
terrible career move," as members have spent a great deal of time
imprisoned.

".In this courtroom we say No! to pre-emptive war and occupation, the
slaughter of innocent people and the use of depleted uranium in Iraq," he
said after being arrested for another nonviolent protest on the Wisconsin
military site. "We say No! to the Trident system and Project ELF, and to the
extension the 12,000 nuclear bombs in the U.S. arsenal. May they never be
unleashed."

".The power holders of this country, the president and Congress, the
judicial system, the corporations, the defense industry, and the military
establishment are becoming increasingly lawless and murderous," member Molly
Mechtenberg-Berrigan said during her appearance for the same protest.
"Therefore, it is my obligation to refuse to cooperate with what is an evil
system. As Gandhi said, "Non-cooperation with evil is as much a duty as
cooperation with good.'"

Urfer said the significance of Nukewatch's 25-year anniversary is that they
still exist as a peace and justice organization when so many other groups
formed in the 1980s to oppose nuclear proliferation dissolved or changed
focus. Nukewatch never accepted the notion that the nuclear threat lessened
with the end of the Cold War, and Urfer says that the nuclear power and
weapons industry remain an extremely dangerous and powerful force, one that
is heavily subsidized with U.S. tax dollars. She believes that citizens have
been "duped and bamboozled" into believing that nuclear power is safe or
that there are fewer nuclear weapons today, which, she added, every single
U.S. president has threatened to use.

The nuclear power and weapons industry feed off each other, she said, and
their interconnected relationship makes the other grow stronger, a
pestiferous enlarging. The nuclear weapons industry needs the nuclear power
industry because its weaponry is built from plutonium, the toxic by-product
of nuclear power.

"Every time we turn on our lights or our stereos, we feed these systems,"
she said.

Bonnie Urfer grew up in what she calls the "duck and cover" days. In grade
school she remembers repeated classroom drills, warnings and instructions
about what to do in case of a nuclear attack, including being told to "go
home and shower" afterwards to "safely remove" the nuclear fallout dust. As
a young adult she began working at The Progressive magazine. When she
participated in her first action, Urfer says she knew that nonviolent
resistance was her natural calling, her means to confront the horror of war
that she had grown up with as a child.

When Bush proclaimed to the world that weapons of mass destruction were in
Iraq, Urfer said she did not react with the fear that most Americans felt.
Instead, she said, she found the idea of the United States proclaiming small
"rogue" nations to be dangerous threats appeared absurd.

As the organization reflects this month on a quarter century of resistance
and grassroots action, its members resolve that, as long as nuclear weapons
and war industries remain a potent force in our nation, so will they. ||

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 8 Mainichi Interactive: Fukui gov. calls for nuclear freeze
 
FUKUI -- Fukui Gov. Issei Nishikawa said Thursday that plutonium 
thermal use and fast-breeder reactor projects in the prefecture 
should be frozen until safety of nuclear facilities are ensured. 

"(The deadly accident that occurred at Mihama Nuclear Power Plant 
Monday) could damage the public's trust in the government's 
nuclear power policy," Nishikawa told reporters after meeting 
Thursday with Yosaku Fuji, president of Kansai Electric Power Co. 
(KEPCO), the operator of the plant. 

"Unless safety can be ensured, which is the foundation for the 
plutonium thermal use plan, progress on the project should be 
halted," he said. 

The governor also insisted that operations of the Monju 
fast-breeder reactor in Fukui Prefecture, which have been 
suspended since a 1995 accident, should not be resumed. 

"The latest accident is a problem that affects the entire nuclear 
power policy. It's out of the question (to resume operations of 
Monju) until the problem is solved," he said. 

KEPCO has been pressing forward with its plutonium thermal use 
project, in which mixed oxide fuel comprising uranium and 
plutonium is used as fuel in nuclear power plants. It had been 
suspended for about four years since relevant data were found 
falsified in 1999, but was resumed in March this year with Gov. 
Nishikawa's approval. 

The operations of the Monju fast-breeder reactor, owned by Japan 
Nuclear Cycle Development Institute, have been suspended since a 
sodium leakage accident in December 1995. The operator of the 
reactor has completed legal procedures for resuming operations 
and is waiting for endorsement by Gov. Nishikawa. (Mainichi 
Shimbun, Japan, Aug. 12, 2004) 

               © 2004 The Mainichi Newspapers Co. 
*****************************************************************
 9 NC Times: Activists not happy with nuclear security decision
 
Date: Thu, 12 Aug 2004 10:49:37 -0700

 
<x-flowed>
NC Times: Activists not happy with nuclear security decision
August 6th, 2004

From:
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2004/08/06/news/coastal/17_17_588_5_04.prt

Activists not happy with nuclear security decision

By: PAUL SISSON - Staff Writer

SAN ONOFRE ---- A decision by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to stop 
releasing information on security inadequacies and vulnerabilities at San 
Onofre and other nuclear power plants has raised the hackles of local and 
national anti-nuclear activists.

Russell Hoffman, an anti-nuclear activist and businessman from Carlsbad who 
challenged the commission on security concerns at its annual safety meeting 
on July 29 in San Clemente, said the decision to withhold information from 
the public will allow plant owners to hide serious security problems, 
rather than fixing them.

"Now they're going to hide behind the preposterous idea that they've done 
enough," Hoffman said.

At its first public meeting on plant safety since the Sept. 11, 2001, 
terrorist attacks, the nuclear commission announced Tuesday it will no 
longer provide regularly updated security briefs on each of the nation's 
103 nuclear reactors. The federal agency used to provide some security 
information on its Web site. However, that information tended to be vague.

A spokesman for the agency, Victor Dricks, said Thursday that safety 
information, including the results of inspections performed regularly at 
the plant, will still be released.

He said, for example, that if one of San Onofre's twin reactors was shut 
down because operators or inspectors detected a leak in its internal 
piping, that information would be made public. However, if the same reactor 
had a gaping hole in its perimeter fence, or if security guards were found 
to be sleeping on the job, that information would not be released, he said.

Dricks said the idea is to avoid alerting potential saboteurs of security 
lapses.

"The effort here is simply to limit the information that could be of 
assistance to terrorists," he said.

Paul Gunter, a spokesman for the Nuclear Information and Resource Service, 
an anti-nuclear group in Washington, D.C., said Thursday that drawing a 
line between security and safety matters is not so easily done.

"Security and safety are virtually synonymous, and closing what are already 
closely guarded issues only has eroded the public's right to know," Gunter 
said.

He said limiting the public availability of security failures and 
vulnerabilities may eventually result in less public information on safety 
matters.

"This is a growing concern, as it probably begins an erosion of the 
public's right to know into safety issues as well," Gunter said.

Hoffman, who has studied nuclear energy issues for decades and has an 
extensive personal library of nuclear-related documents, said there is 
already too much security information in the open to put that particular 
genie back in the bottle.

"The terrorists must already know it if I already know it," he said.

Dricks said that restricting security information may only make the public 
more suspicious of nuclear operations in the United States, but that it's a 
necessary step in protecting the plants from terrorists.

"It's difficult to balance the public's right to know with safety and 
security," he said.

Contact staff writer Paul Sisson at (760) 901-4087 or psisson@nctimes.com.

==============================================================

Note: The activist's response to the above article was not published but is 
available online here:
http://www.animatedsoftware.com/environm/onofre/2004/KerryVowsTrust.htm

==============================================================


</x-flowed>
*****************************************************************
 10 Researchers Are Designing A Self-Contained, Tamper-Resistant Nuclear Reactor That Can Be Transported And Installed Anywhere In The World
 
Date: Thu, 12 Aug 2004 13:15:11 -0400

 



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Regina Hagen"
<regina.hagen@jugendstil.da.shuttle.de>
To: "Abolition Caucus"
<abolition-caucus@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, August 12, 2004 9:52 AM
Subject: [abolition-caucus] Nuclear Energy to Go?


   Dear all,

you might be interested in the following article
from the July/August
2004 issue of "Science and Technology Review",
published by Lawrence
Livermore National Laboraty:

"Nuclear Energy to Go: A Self-Contained, Portable
Reactor", written by
Gabriele Rennie

Abstract:
"Researchers are designing a self-contained,
tamper-resistant nuclear
reactor that can be transported and installed
anywhere in the world."

URL:
http://www.llnl.gov/str/JulAug04/JulAug04.html

Stated rationale behind the development of SSTAR
(small, sealed,
transportable, autonomous reactor) according to
the article:

"... Most commercial nuclear reactors are large
light-water reactors
(LWRs) designed to generate 1,000 megawatts
electric (MWe) or more.
Significant capital investments are required to
build these reactors and
manage the nuclear fuel cycle. Many developing
countries do not need
such large increments of electricity. They also do
not have the
large-scale energy infrastructure required to
install conventional
nuclear power plants or personnel trained to
operate them. These
countries could benefit from smaller energy
systems, such as SSTAR, that
use automated controls, require less maintenance
work, and provide
reliable power for as long as 30 years before
needing refueling or
replacement.

Many of the countries in need of nuclear energy
are among the 187
nations that have signed the Non-Proliferation
Treaty (NPT) enacted in
1970. Under the terms of this treaty, the five
acknowledged
nuclear-weapon states-the U.S., Russian
Federation, United Kingdom,
France, and China-agreed not to transfer nuclear
weapons, other nuclear
explosive devices, or related technology to those
signatory states that
have no nuclear weapons. These nonnuclear states
agreed not to acquire
or produce nuclear weapons or nuclear explosive
devices, and in
exchange, they have access to peaceful nuclear
technology developed by
the five nuclear signatories. Unfortunately, the
NPT has some
weaknesses, as demonstrated by the recent
disagreements with Iran and
North Korea. Although both countries had signed
the NPT, their nuclear
energy programs are not in keeping with their
treaty agreements.

To address this problem, DOE is funding an
initiative to develop a
conceptual design of a reactor that will deliver
nuclear energy to
developing countries and significantly reduce the
proliferation concern
associated with expanded use of nuclear power.
Three national
laboratories are collaborating on this initiative.
Lawrence Livermore,
which leads the collaboration, is researching
materials and coolants for
the reactor and evaluating how it can be deployed.
Argonne is designing
the reactor, and Los Alamos is contributing its
expertise on coolant and
fuel technologies. ..."

Just what we've been waiting for to safe the NPT,
don't you think?



*****************************************************************
 11 Straits Times: Japan N-plant mishap a blow to energy policy - 

  AUG 13, 2004	FRI   
    
By Kwan Weng Kin                                                                            

TOKYO - For Japan's energy authorities, it was unfortunate that 
the latest power plant mishap which killed four workers and 
injured seven should have happened at the Mihama nuclear power 
station, because the accident itself was non-nuclear in nature.

A dozen other plants nationwide are similar to the Mihama 
facility, and the rupture of a coolant pipe that released 
superheated steam there could also have happened at Japan's 
thermal power plants.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

The Yomiuri Shimbun daily is therefore right to urge that there 
should be no over-reaction to Mihama - but the incident was not 
only the latest in a growing list of woes at Japan's power 
plants, it was also an exposure of yet another case of management 
failure.                                                              

It was only last year that the nation's largest utility company, 
Tokyo Electric, was found to have covered up defects at some of 
its facilities.                                                                  

Little wonder then that the Japanese have become highly 
distrustful of their power industry.                                                             

Because of this, experts agree the Mihama accident will have an 
impact on Japan's energy policy.                                                                 

So much of Japan's energy needs come from oil imports that the 
government's long-term plan is to reduce dependence on oil to 48 
per cent by 2010 and to raise nuclear energy supplies to 17 per 
cent.                                                            

But in recent years, it has become all but impossible to build 
new nuclear plants in Japan due to strong local opposition to 
such facilities.                                                                 

Most recently, the government invited fresh scepticism when it 
was revealed that bureaucrats had, for 10 years, hidden 
controversial data showing it could be cheaper to dispose of 
spent nuclear fuel than to reprocess it.                                                                 

The government had wanted to reprocess spent nuclear fuel as a 
way to re-use fuel and minimise disposal problems.                                                               

But all this has now been put in doubt. 				 				 

Besides, a prototype fast-breeder reactor built at enormous cost 
at Monju, next to Mihama, that would have used reprocessed fuel 
had to be mothballed in 1995 because of safety concerns.                                
				 

In response to the Mihama accident, the government is seeking to 
draw up guidelines for inspecting coolant pipes at nuclear power 
stations.                                                                

Surprisingly, the Mihama operator, Kansai Electric, was flouting 
no legal guideline despite not having checked the problem pipe in 
nearly 28 years.                                                              

But guidelines cannot cover every possibility, nor can rules and 
regulations guarantee safety.                                                            

Before officials sit down to rethink the country's energy policy, 
they will clearly have to make safety a top priority in order to 
win back public confidence.                                                                                                            
 			     			   			 				 			 				   			 				 			   			     		 	 	
The Straits Times print edition today.

asia1.com.sg

*****************************************************************
 12 NRC: NRC to Increase Regulatory Oversight of Perry Nuclear Plant
 
News Release - Region III - 2004-04
 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 

Office of Public Affairs, Region III No. III-04-044           
August 12, 2004 CONTACT:     Jan Strasma (630) 829-9663 Viktoria 
Mitlyng (630) 829-9662     E-mail: opa3@nrc.gov [opa3@nrc.gov]   
  

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will increase its regulatory
oversight of the Perry Nuclear Power Plant as a result of
problems with safety system equipment over the past two years.
The plant, located at Perry, Ohio, is operated by FirstEnergy
Nuclear Operating Company. 

The Perry plant continues to operate safely, said James
Caldwell, NRC Regional Administrator. However, the equipment
problems which have occurred since late 2002 and the licensees
failure to take sufficiently comprehensive corrective actions
warrant increased scrutiny by the NRC. 

The increased oversight will include an extensive NRC team
inspection to assess the equipment problems and the licensees
corrective actions. The schedule and scope of the inspection are
still being developed. This inspection will supplement the
routine inspection program performed by the two NRC resident
inspectors at the plant and other NRC personnel based in the
Region III office in Lisle, Ill., with the support of NRC
Headquarters in Rockville, Md. 

In addition, FirstEnergy will be required to develop and
implement a performance improvement program to address its
performance issues. Once the NRC inspection has been performed
and the licensee has submitted its performance improvement
program, senior NRC managers will meet with licensee officials
to discuss the plants progress. 

The issues which have led to the heightened NRC oversight
include: 
  + The failure of a high pressure emergency cooling pump to
start during testing in October 2002. A followup inspection by
the NRC in July 2003 found that, while the licensee had repaired
the pump, it had not adequately evaluated other safety systems
for similar problems; a subsequent inspection in December found
that the issue had been adequately addressed; 
  + The failure in September 2003 of a pump in the system which
supplies cooling water to various plant safety components and
the subsequent failure of the same pump on May 21 of this year
for similar causes; and 
  + The failure of a pump in a backup cooling system on August
14, 2003, because adjacent piping had not been vented to remove
any air that might have accumulated. 

All three issues were classified as white -- low to moderate
safety significance -- under the NRCs system of determining
safety significance. The NRC evaluations range from green for
problems of minor safety significance to white, yellow, and red,
which indicates a problem of high safety significance. 

The equipment problems and the licensee's corrective action
deficiencies have placed the plant in Column 4 in the
five-column system the NRC uses to determine its response to
nuclear plant performance. This categorization is due to Perry
having at least two "white" findings in the safety equipment
area during five consecutive calendar quarters. A "white"
finding normally remains in effect for a year, although the
designation can be continued if comprehensive corrective actions
are not taken by the licensee. 

During the past year, Perry has also had two other issues which
the NRC categorized as white. One involved failing to declare
an Alert under its emergency plan within the required time when
a small release of radioactivity occurred in the spent fuel
storage area; the second involved three minor instances of
radioactivity exposure to plant workers, although NRC limits
were not exceeded. These two white findings did not contribute
to the Column 4 designation because they were in different
performance categories. 

NRC inspection findings and performance statistics for Perry are
available on the NRC web site at:
http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/PERR1/perr1_chart.html. 

Documents related to the Perry Nuclear Power Plant are available
in the online document library on the NRCs web site at:
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams/web-based.html. Use Docket
Number 05000440 in the advanced search function to locate Perry
documents. Assistance in using the online document library is
available from the NRCs Public Document Room staff at
800-397-4209. 

Attached is the letter to the licensee 
August 12, 2004 

Mr. Lew W. Myers
 Interim Site Vice President-Nuclear and
 Chief Operating Officer
 FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company
 Perry Nuclear Power Plant 
P. O. Box 97, A210
 Perry, OH 44081 


  SUBJECT:     ASSESSMENT FOLLOW-UP LETTER   
        PERRY NUCLEAR POWER PLANT   



Dear Mr. Myers: 

This refers to the telephone conversation on August 12, 2004,
between you and Steven Reynolds of my staff regarding Perry
Nuclear Power Plants transition into the Multiple/Repetitive
Degraded Cornerstone column of the NRCs Action Matrix in
accordance with NRC Inspection Manual Chapter 0305 (IMC 0305),
Operating Reactor Assessment Program. 

The NRC performed a supplemental inspection in accordance with
Inspection Procedure (IP) 95002 based on our assessment of plant
performance at Perry. As stated in our Annual Assessment Letter
dated March 4, 2004, plant performance was within the Degraded
Cornerstone column based on two White findings in the Mitigating
Systems Cornerstone. An additional White finding was
subsequently identified and documented in our letter dated March
12, 2004. 

The first finding involved the failure of the high pressure core
spray pump to start during routine surveillance testing on
October 23, 2002. An apparent violation of Technical
Specification 5.4 for an inadequate breaker maintenance
procedure was identified in Inspection Report 05000440/2003008.
This performance issue was characterized as White in our final
significance determination letter dated March 4, 2003. A
supplemental inspection was performed in accordance with IP
95001 for the White finding and significant deficiencies were
identified with regard to your extent of condition evaluation.
Inspection Procedure 95001 was re-performed and the results of
that inspection were documented in Inspection Report
05000440/2003012 which determined the extent of condition
reviews were adequate. 

The second finding involved air binding of the residual heat
removal 'A' and low pressure core spray waterleg pump on August
14, 2003. A special inspection was performed for this issue and
the results were documented in Inspection Report
05000440/2003009. An apparent violation of Technical
Specification 5.4 for an inadequate venting procedure was
identified in Inspection Report 05000440/2003010. This
performance issue was characterized as White in our final
significance determination letter dated March 12, 2004. 

The third finding involved the failure of emergency service
water (ESW) pump 'A,' caused by an inadequate maintenance
procedure for assembling the pump coupling which contributed to
the failure of the pump on September 1, 2003. An apparent
violation of Technical Specification 5.4 was documented in
Inspection Report 050000440/2003006. This performance issue was
characterized as White in our final significance determination
letter dated January 28, 2004. 

As documented in the IP 95002 supplemental inspection report,
the NRC concluded that the corrective actions to prevent
recurrence of a significant condition adverse to quality were
inadequate. Specifically, the same ESW pump coupling that failed
on September 1, 2003, failed again on May 21, 2004. This
resulted in the ESW pump White finding remaining open. 
As a result, Perry entered the Repetitive Degraded Cornerstone
for Mitigating Systems because of having two White inputs for
five consecutive quarters. Specifically, for the third quarter
of 2004, the waterleg pump finding remains open a fourth quarter
while the ESW pump finding has been carried open into a fifth
quarter as a result of the IP 95002 supplemental inspection. 

As a result of this transition, we will perform IP 95003,
Supplemental Inspection for Repetitive Degraded Cornerstones,
Multiple Degraded Cornerstones, Multiple Yellow Inputs, or One
Red Input. The IP 95003 inspection will be conducted in
addition to the baseline inspections currently scheduled. The
intent of the IP 95003 inspection is to allow the NRC to obtain
a comprehensive understanding of the depth and breadth of
safety, organizational, and performance issues at facilities
where data indicates the potential for serious performance
degradation. The objectives of this inspection are to: (1)
provide additional information to be used in deciding whether
the continued operation of the facility is acceptable and
whether additional regulatory actions are necessary to arrest
declining performance; (2) provide an independent assessment of
the extent of risk significant issues to aid in the
determination of whether an acceptable margin of safety exists;
(3) independently evaluate the adequacy of your programs and
processes used to identify, evaluate, and correct performance
issues; (4) independently evaluate the adequacy of programs and
processes in the affected strategic performance areas; and (5)
provide insight into the overall root and contributing causes of
identified performance deficiencies. 

As prescribed by IP 95003 the scope of NRC inspection activities
will include the assessment of performance in the Reactor Safety
Strategic Performance Area, including the inspection of key
attributes such as design, human performance, procedure quality,
configuration control, and emergency response organization
readiness. Also, the IP 95003 inspection will review the control
systems for identifying, assessing, and correcting performance
deficiencies to evaluate whether programs are sufficient to
prevent further declines in safety that could result in unsafe
operation. We understand that you plan to conduct your own
assessments of these areas using a program similar to our IP
95003 inspection and that some of these assessments are
underway. In developing the scope of our IP 95003 inspection, we
will consider the results of your self-assessments. We also
understand that you have developed the Perry Performance
Improvement Plan using insights from your assessments and
lessons learned from your other FirstEnergy plants. We will
closely monitor your implementation of this plan. 

As explained in IMC 0305, plants in the Multiple/Repetitive
Degraded Cornerstone column of the Action Matrix are given
consideration at each quarterly performance assessment review
for (1) declaring plant performance to be unacceptable in
accordance with the guidance in IMC 0305; (2) transferring to
the IMC 0350, Oversight of Operating Reactor Facilities in a
Shutdown Condition with Performance Problems process; and (3)
taking additional regulatory actions, as appropriate. We will
notify you via separate correspondence if any of these actions
are taken by the agency. 

The IP 95003 inspection schedule will be communicated by
separate correspondence. Additionally, you will receive a
revised inspection plan with our mid-cycle performance
assessment, scheduled to be issued on August 26, 2004. 

In accordance with 10 CFR 2.390 of the NRC's "Rules of
Practice," a copy of this letter and its enclosure will be
available electronically for public inspection in the NRC Public
Document Room or from the Publicly Available Records (PARS)
component of the NRC's document system (ADAMS). ADAMS is
accessible from the NRC Web site at
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html (the Public Electronic
Reading Room).
 
If you have any questions regarding this matter, please contact
Mark Ring at 630-829-9703. 

  


        

Sincerely, 

/signed/ 

James L. Caldwell
 Regional Administrator
 Docket No. 50-440
 License No. NPF-58   



    



  


 	Last revised Thursday, August 12, 2004 	   
*****************************************************************
 13 NRC: NRC Staff Seeks Input on Farley Nuclear Plant Draft Environmental Report for License
                             Renewal
News Release - Region II - 2004-04
 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 

Office of Public Affairs, Region II No. II-04-045                         
August 12, 2004 CONTACT:     Ken Clark (404) 562-4416 Roger D. 
Hannah (404) 562-4417     E-mail:  [opa2@nrc.gov]   
  


The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff has reached the
preliminary conclusion that there are no environmental impacts
to preclude renewal of the operating licenses for the Joseph M.
Farley Nuclear Power Plant located in Houston County, Ala.,
about 16 miles east of Dothan. 

The information is contained in a draft environmental impact
statement (EIS) on the proposed license renewal. The draft EIS
is open for public comment until November 5, 2004, and will also
be the subject of public meetings September 30 in Dothan. 

The NRC has been reviewing the application for extension of the
Farley license since Southern Nuclear Operating Company, which
operates the plant, filed it in September 2003. Under NRC
regulations, the original operating license for a nuclear power
plant is issued for up to 40 years. The license may be renewed
for up to an additional 20 years if NRC requirements are met.
The current NRC licenses at Farley will expire on June 25, 2017,
for Unit 1 and March 31, 2021, for Unit 2. 

The possible environmental effects of an additional 20 years of
nuclear plant operation are described in the NRCs Generic
Environmental Impact Statement or GEIS (NUREG-1437). The NRC
issues a site-specific supplement to the GEIS on each plant
requesting license renewal to address the potential
environmental impacts. Issues specific to Farley are addressed
in Supplement 18. The NRC staffs preliminary recommendation is
that the adverse environmental impacts of license renewal for
Farley are not so great that preserving the option of license
renewal for energy-planning decision makers would be
unreasonable. 

On Thursday, Sept. 30, the NRC staff will hold two similar
meetings to obtain comments on the draft supplement to the GEIS.
The meetings will be held at the Quality Inn, 3053 Ross Clark
Circle in Dothan. The two sessions will begin at 1:30 in the
afternoon and at 7:00 in the evening, respectively. In addition,
the NRC staff will host informal discussions one hour prior to
each meeting. NRC staff members will be available to answer
questions and provide additional information about the license
renewal process during those informal sessions, but no comment
submittals on environmental issues will be accepted then. 

The two sessions will begin with identical overviews, including
a presentation by NRC staff and its contractors on the contents
of the draft supplement to the GEIS. There will then be an
opportunity for public comments. 

For planning purposes, anyone interested in attending or
presenting oral comments at the Sept. 30 meetings is encouraged
to pre-register by contacting Jack Cushing of the NRC by
telephone at (800) 368-5642, extension 1424, or by e-mail at 
[FarleyEIS@nrc.gov] . Interested persons may also register to
speak before the start of each session. Time for individual
comments at the meetings may be limited to accommodate all
speakers. 

Written comments on the draft supplement to the GEIS will also
be considered by NRC staff. Comments should be submitted either
by mail to the Chief, Rules and Directives Branch, Division of
Administrative Services, Office of Administration, Mailstop
T-6D59, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC
20555-0001, or by e-mail to  [FarleyEIS@nrc.gov] . 

The draft supplement to the GEIS, along with other related
documents, is available electronically for public inspection in
the NRC Public Document Room at NRC headquarters, 11555
Rockville Pike, Rockville, Md. It is also available on the
Internet at www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams/web-based.html under
accession number ML042180117. In addition, the Houston Love
Memorial Library, 212 West Burdeshaw Street, Dothan, Ala., and
the Lucy Maddox Memorial Library, 11880 Columbia Street,
Blakely, Ga., have agreed to make the draft supplement to the
GEIS available for public inspection. 

At the conclusion of the public comment period on November 5,
the NRC staff will consider and address the comments provided
and issue a final supplement to the GEIS. That supplement will
contain a recommendation regarding the environmental
acceptability for license renewal.   



  


 	Last revised Thursday, August 12, 2004 	   
*****************************************************************
 14 AFP: Brand-new Ukrainian nuclear power plant shut down

http://www.spacewar.com/] 

KIEV (AFP) Aug 11, 2004

 A brand-new nuclear reactor in Ukraine has been shut down three 
times, twice because of problems with its cooling system, 
Interfax reported Wednesday, quoting an unnamed official.

Automatic security systems at the Khmelnitsky nuclear power plant 
first cut off the reactor from the power grid Sunday only hours 
after it was launched, an official with Ukraine's governmental 
commission for atomic energy said.

The reactor was reconnected to the grid three hours later, but 
had to be totally shut down later because of a failure in the 
cooling system caused by a power breakdown, the official added.

It was restarted Monday, only to be stopped again Tuesday, 
officially to test its shut-down system and cooling units.

It is scheduled to be relaunched Thursday.

A plant spokesman contacted by AFP declined to comment, stressing 
that there had been no rise in radioactivity levels in and around 
the plant.

The K2 Russian-type water reactor, which has a capacity of 1,000 
megawatts, came on stream on Sunday, at a ceremony attended by 
Ukrainian president Leonid Kuchma.

In a separate case, Ukrainian authorities on Wednesday gave the 
go-ahead to the controversial launch of a new nuclear reactor at 
the Rivne nuclear power plant on the country's western border 
with Poland, despite European protests and safety concerns.

Nuclear plants produce half of Ukraine's energy, which is 
otherwise forced to rely on supplies from Russia and its own 
decrepit and dangerous coal mining industry.

In 1986 one of the reactors at Chernobyl in Ukraine blew up in 
the world's worst nuclear accident, contaminating a large part of 
Europe.

Since the disaster, an estimated 25,000 people from all over the 
former Soviet Union who came to clean up after the accident have 
lost their lives.

  WAR.WIRE
*****************************************************************
 15 NRC: NRC Issues New Strategic Plan 
+ 
News Release - 2004-09
U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs     
Telephone: 301/415-8200 Washington, DC 20555-0001     E-mail:  
[opa@nrc.gov] No. 04-093     August 12, 2004   
  

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission today issued its new Strategic
Plan for fiscal years 2004-2009, establishing how the agency
intends to carry out its mission. 

NRC Chairman Nils J. Diaz said, Our vision is to achieve
excellence in regulating the safe and secure use and management
of radioactive materials for the public good. We are committed
to achieve our mandate and to work for a more consistent,
effective and efficient regulatory framework. The Strategic Plan
will serve as a guide for how we will discharge our
responsibilities to serve the American public. 

The plan includes five goals of safety, security, openness,
effectiveness, and management, which together support our
ability to maintain the public health and safety. It also
reflects the interrelationship among safety, security and
emergency response. Each goal has strategic outcomes, which will
provide a general barometer whether the goals are being
achieved. There are also strategies that describe actions
intended to accomplish the goals. 

The agencys five goals are described below in further detail: 

Safety  Ensure protection of public health and safety and the
environment. 

The NRCs primary goal continues to be the safe use of
radioactive materials to ensure the protection of public health
and safety and the environment. Specific strategies are
identified to ensure there are no reactor accidents or releases
of radioactive materials that result in significant radiation
exposures, fatalities or adverse environmental impacts. 

Security  Ensure the secure use and management of radioactive
materials. 

The goal on security has been added in response to the events of
September 11, 2001. To achieve this goal, specific strategies
are identified to ensure there are no instances in which
licensed radioactive materials are used in a terrorist act in
the United States. 

Openness  Ensure openness in our regulatory process. 

The agency recognizes that stakeholders need to be informed
about, and have an opportunity to participate in the NRCs
regulatory process. The NRC views nuclear regulation as the
publics business and, as such, it should be transacted openly
and candidly, to the extent possible in order to maintain the
publics confidence but not jeopardize national security. 

Effectiveness  Ensure that NRC actions are effective,
efficient, realistic, and timely. 

The Agencys drive to improve its performance, coupled with
increasing demands on the NRCs finite resources, clearly
indicates a need for the Agency to become more effective,
efficient, realistic, and timely in its regulatory activities.
Initiatives related to this goal are congruent with the Agencys
safety and security goals, and serve to ensure that available
resources are optimally directed toward the NRCs mission. 

Management  Ensure excellence in Agency management to carry out
the NRCs Strategic Objective. 

The Agency believes that management excellence is essential to
support the staff in accomplishing the Agencys mission. This
goal includes strategies for the management of human capital,
infrastructure management, financial management, electronic
government, budget and performance integration, and internal
communications. 

Success in achieving each goal will be gauged primarily through
performance measures developed for the agencys annual
performance budget and will be reported in the annual
Performance and Accountability Report. 

Stakeholder feedback was particularly valuable in helping the
Commission develop the Strategic Plan. 

The new Strategic Plan (NUREG-1614, Volume 3) is available on
the NRCs web site at this address: http://www.nrc.gov in the
lower right-hand corner of the home page. Copies are available
from the U.S. Government Printing Office by calling
202-512-1800.   



  


 	Last revised Thursday, August 12, 2004 	   
*****************************************************************
 16 NRC: NRC Revises Enforcement Policy to Include Alternative Dispute Resolution
 
News Release - 2004-09
U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs     
Telephone: 301/415-8200 Washington, DC 20555-0001     E-mail: 
opa@nrc.gov No. 04-094     August 12, 2004   

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is revising its enforcement
policy to include an interim policy regarding the voluntary use
of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) in addressing
discrimination complaints and other allegations of wrongdoing. 

The revisions aim to use ADR in two potential scenarios: (1)
before initiation of an NRC investigation (so-called early
ADR), when the parties would be the whistleblower and the
licensee; and (2) after completion of an investigation, when the
parties would be the NRC and the licensee. The aim is to reach
settlement within 90 days of agreeing to mediation. 

Quick resolution of claims through early alternative dispute
resolution is intended to improve the safety-conscious work
environment by reassuring employees that their claims will be
heard promptly by an impartial mediator, said Frank Congel,
director of the NRCs Office of Enforcement. 

These revisions were first published for public comment in the
Federal Register on April 20 as a pilot program. The NRC
received 11 sets of comments in response to that notice, all of
which were from nuclear power reactor licensees or
representatives of power reactor licensees. All comments were
supportive of the proposal. The comments and NRC staff responses
are summarized in a new Federal Register notice to be published
shortly. The complete comments are also available on the Office
of Enforcements ADR Web page at
http://www.nrc.gov/what-we-do/regulatory/enforcement/adr.html#com
ments. 

The interim policy implementing the pilot program will take
effect in two phases: 	 
  + ADR after an NRC investigation is completed will be
available immediately upon publication in the Federal Register. 
  + Early ADR will be offered approximately 30 days after
publication, to allow NRC staff time to prepare a brochure
providing additional information for whistleblowers to make
informed choices about voluntarily engaging in ADR. 

The interim policy will be effective for about two years, at
which time the NRC will decide whether to make it permanent. 

Comments on the interim policy will be accepted for 30 days
after publication of the Federal Register notice. Send written
comments to Michael T. Lesar, Chief, Rules and Directives
Branch, Division of Administrative Services, Office of
Administration, Mail Stop: T6D59, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission, Washington, D.C. 20555-0001. Comments may also be
e-mailed to nrcrep@nrc.gov [nrcrep@nrc.gov] , or hand delivered
to 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Md., between 7:30 a.m. and
4:15 p.m. on federal workdays.   



  


 	Last revised Thursday, August 12, 2004 	   
*****************************************************************
 17 NRC: NRC to Hold Public Meeting August 17 on Planned Application for Advanced Candu Reactor Design
 
News Release - 2004-09
U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION   
  Office of Public Affairs     Telephone: 301/415-8200 
Washington, DC 20555-0001     E-mail: opa@nrc.gov No. 04-095     
August 12, 2004   

Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will meet with Atomic Energy
of Canada Limited (AECL) and the Canadian Nuclear Safety
Commission (CNSC) on August 17 in Rockville, Md., to discuss the
planned design certification application from AECL for its
Advanced Candu Reactor 700. 

The meeting will be held at the Ramada Inn, 1775 Rockville Pike,
accessible from the Twinbrook stop on the Red Line of
Washingtons Metro subway, from 8:30 a.m. until 5 p.m. The
discussions will include NRC presentations to AECL and the CNSC
concerning how the design certification review will proceed. The
meeting agenda is available on the agencys web site, and can be
viewed by entering accession number ML042180230 at this address:
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams/web-based.html. 

After the business portion of the meeting, but before the
meeting adjourns, members of the public will be invited to
discuss the review process with NRC staff. For more information
on the meeting, contact Amy Cubbage at 301-415-2875 or via email
at aec@nrc.gov [aec@nrc.gov] .   



  


 	Last revised Thursday, August 12, 2004 	   
*****************************************************************
 18 NRC: Dominion Nuclear North Anna, LLC (Early Site Permit for North 
 
                        FR Doc 04-18431 
[Federal Register: August 12, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 155)] 
[Notices] [Page 49916] From the Federal Register Online via GPO 
Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr12au04-87]                         
 
Anna ESP Site); Notice of Reconstitution Pursuant to 10 CFR 
2.321, the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board in the above 
captioned proceeding is hereby reconstituted by appointing the 
following Administrative Judges: Alex S. Karlin, Chair, Atomic 
Safety and Licensing Board Panel, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001.
 
Dr. Thomas S. Elleman, Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel, 
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001.
 
Dr. Richard F. Cole, Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel, 
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001.
 
All correspondence, documents, and other materials shall be filed 
with the administrative judges in accordance with 10 CFR 2.302. 
Issued at Rockville, Maryland this 6th day of August 2004.
 
G. Paul Bollwerk, III, Chief Administrative Judge, Atomic Safety 
and Licensing Board Panel.
 
[FR Doc. 04-18431 Filed 8-11-04; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P

 
*****************************************************************
 19 NRC: Exelon Generation Company, LLC, (Early Site Permit for Clinton 
 
                        FR Doc 04-18432 
[Federal Register: August 12, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 155)] 
[Notices] [Page 49916] From the Federal Register Online via GPO 
Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr12au04-88]                         
 
ESP Site); Notice of Reconstitution Pursuant to 10 CFR 2.321, the 
Atomic Safety and Licensing Board in the above captioned 
proceeding is hereby reconstituted by appointing the following 
Administrative Judges: Dr. Paul B. Abramson, Chair, Atomic Safety 
and Licensing Board Panel, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission,Washington, DC 20555-0001. Dr. Anthony J. Baratta, 
Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission,Washington, DC 20555-0001.
 
Dr. David L. Hetrick, Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel, 
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission,Washington, DC 20555-0001.
 
All correspondence, documents, and other materials shall be filed 
with the administrative judges in accordance with 10 CFR 2.302. 
Issued at Rockville, Maryland this 6th day of August 2004.
 
G. Paul Bollwerk, III, Chief Administrative Judge, Atomic Safety 
and Licensing Board Panel.
 
[FR Doc. 04-18432 Filed 8-11-04; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P

 
*****************************************************************
 20 NRC: Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards, Subcommittee Meeting
 
                        FR Doc 04-18433 
[Federal Register: August 12, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 155)] 
[Notices] [Page 49917] From the Federal Register Online via GPO 
Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr12au04-90]                         
 
on Planning and Procedures; Notice of Meeting The ACRS 
Subcommittee on Planning and Procedures will hold a meeting on 
September 8, 2004, Room T-2B1, 11545 Rockville Pike, Rockville, 
Maryland.
 
The entire meeting will be open to public attendance, with the 
exception of a portion that may be closed pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 
552b(c)(2) and (6) to discuss organizational and personnel 
matters that relate solely to the internal personnel rules and 
practices of the ACRS, and information the release of which would 
constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.
 
The agenda for the subject meeting shall be as follows: 
Wednesday, September 8, 2004--9:30 a.m.-11:30 a.m. The 
Subcommittee will discuss proposed ACRS activities and related 
matters. The Subcommittee will gather information, analyze 
relevant issues and facts, and formulate proposed positions and 
actions, as appropriate, for deliberation by the full Committee.
 
Members of the public desiring to provide oral statements and/or 
written comments should notify the Designated Federal Official, 
Mr. Sam Duraiswamy (telephone: (301) 415-7364) between 7:30 a.m. 
and 4:15 p.m. (ET) five days prior to the meeting, if possible, 
so that appropriate arrangements can be made. Electronic 
recordings will be permitted only during those portions of the 
meeting that are open to the public.
 
Further information regarding this meeting can be obtained by 
contacting the Designated Federal Official between 7:30 a.m. and 
4:15 p.m. (ET). Persons planning to attend this meeting are urged 
to contact the above named individual at least two working days 
prior to the meeting to be advised of any potential changes in 
the agenda.
 
Dated August 6, 2004.
 
Michael R. Snodderly, Acting Associate Director for Technical 
Support, ACRS/ACNW.
 
[FR Doc. 04-18433 Filed 8-11-04; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P

 
*****************************************************************
 21 NRC: Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards, Subcommittee Meeting
 
                        FR Doc 04-18434 
[Federal Register: August 12, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 155)] 
[Notices] [Page 49917] From the Federal Register Online via GPO 
Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr12au04-91]                         
 
on Safeguards and Security; Postponed The ACRS Subcommittee on 
Safeguards and Security scheduled for August 24-26, 2004, at 
Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico has been 
postponed. The meeting will be rescheduled at a future date when 
the work that was scheduled for discussion has been completed. 
Notice of this meeting was published in the Federal Register on 
Monday, July 26, 2004 (69 FR 44553).
 
For further information contact: Dr. Richard P. Savio (telephone: 
(301) 415-7362) or Mr. Richard K. Major (telephone: (301) 
415-7366) between 7:30 a.m. and 4:15 p.m. (ET). Dated: August 6, 
2004.
 
Michael R. Snodderly, Acting Associate Director for Technical 
Support, ACRS/ACNW.
 
[FR Doc. 04-18434 Filed 8-11-04; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P

 
*****************************************************************
 22 NRC: Southern Nuclear Operating Company, Inc, Joseph M. Farley
 
                        FR Doc 04-18435 
[Federal Register: August 12, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 155)] 
[Notices] [Page 49916-49917] From the Federal Register Online via 
GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr12au04-89]                         
 
Nuclear Power Plant, Units 1 and 2; Notice of Availability of the 
Draft Supplement 18 to Generic Environmental Impact Statement and 
Public Meeting for the License Renewal of Joseph M. Farley 
Nuclear Power Plant, Units 1 and 2 Notice is hereby given that 
the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC, the Commission) has 
published a draft plant-specific supplement to the Generic 
Environmental Impact Statement (GEIS), NUREG-1437, regarding the 
renewal of operating licenses NPF-2 and NPF-8 for an additional 
20 years of operation at Joseph M. Farley Nuclear Power Plant 
(FNP). FNP is located in Houston County, Alabama, approximately 
16.5 miles east of the City of Dothan, Alabama. Possible 
alternatives to the proposed action (license renewal) include no 
action and reasonable alternative energy sources.
 
The draft Supplement to the GEIS is available for public 
inspection in the NRC Public Document Room (PDR) located at One 
White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, 
Maryland 20852, or from the Publicly Available Records (PARS) 
component of NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management 
System (ADAMS). ADAMS is accessible from the NRC Web site at 
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html 
[http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leaving 
FR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html] 
(the Public Electronic Reading Room). Persons who do not have 
access to ADAMS, or who encounter problems in accessing the 
documents located in ADAMS, should contact the PDR reference 
staff at 1 (800) 397-4209, (301) 415-4737, or by e-mail to 
pdr@nrc.gov [pdr@nrc.gov] . In addition, the Houston Love 
Memorial Library, 212 West Burdeshaw Street, Dothan, Alabama and 
the Lucy Maddox Memorial Library, 11880 Columbia Street, Blakely, 
Georgia, have agreed to make the draft plant-specific supplement 
to the GEIS available for public inspection.
 
 
[[Page 49917]] Any interested party may submit comments on the 
draft supplement to the GEIS for consideration by the NRC staff. 
To be certain of consideration, comments on the draft supplement 
to the GEIS and the proposed action must be received by November 
5, 2004. Comments received after the due date will be considered 
if it is practical to do so, but the NRC staff is able to assure 
consideration only for comments received on or before this date. 
Written comments on the draft supplement to the GEIS should be 
sent to: Chief, Rules and Directives Branch, Division of 
Administrative Services, Office of Administration, Mailstop 
T-6D59, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 
20555-0001.
 
Comments may be hand-delivered to the NRC at 11545 Rockville 
Pike, Room T-6D59, Rockville, Maryland, between 7:30 a.m. and 
4:15 p.m. on Federal workdays. Electronic comments may be 
submitted to the NRC by e- mail at FarleyEIS@nrc.gov 
[FarleyEIS@nrc.gov] . All comments received by the Commission, 
including those made by Federal, State, and local agencies, 
Native American Tribes, or other interested persons, will be made 
available electronically at the Commission's PDR in Rockville, 
Maryland, and from the PARS component of ADAMS.
 
The NRC staff will hold a public meeting to present an overview 
of the draft plant-specific supplement to the GEIS and to accept 
public comments on the document. The public meeting will be held 
on September 30, 2004, at the Quality Inn, 3053 Ross Clark 
Circle, Dothan, Alabama. There will be two sessions to 
accommodate interested parties.
 
The first session will commence at 1:30 p.m. and will continue 
until 4:30 p.m. The second session will commence at 7 p.m. and 
will continue until 10 p.m. Both meetings will be transcribed and 
will include: (1) A presentation of the contents of the draft 
plant-specific supplement to the GEIS, and (2) the opportunity 
for interested government agencies, organizations, and 
individuals to provide comments on the draft report. 
Additionally, the NRC staff will host informal discussions one 
hour prior to the start of each session at the same location. No 
comments on the draft supplement to the GEIS will be accepted 
during the informal discussions. To be considered, comments must 
be provided either at the transcribed public meeting or in 
writing, as discussed below.
 
Persons may pre-register to attend or present oral comments at 
the meeting by contacting Mr. Jack Cushing be telephone at 1 
(800) 368-5642, extension 1424, or by e-mail at FarleyEIS@nrc.gov 
[FarleyEIS@nrc.gov]  no later than September 24, 2004. Members of 
the public may also register to provide oral comments within 15 
minutes of the start of each session. Individual, oral comments 
may be limited by the time available, depending on the number of 
persons who register. If special equipment or accommodations are 
needed to attend or present information at the public meeting, 
the need should be brought to Mr. Cushing's attention no later 
than September 24, 2004, to provide the NRC staff adequate notice 
to determine whether the request can be accommodated.
 
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jack Cushing, License Renewal 
and Environmental Impacts Program, Division of Regulatory 
Improvement Programs, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 
Washington, DC 20555- 0001. Mr. Cushing may be contacted at the 
aforementioned telephone number or e-mail address.
 
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 6th day of August, 2004.
 
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
 
Pao-Tsin Kuo, Program Director, License Renewal and Environmental 
Impacts Program, Division of Regulatory Improvement Programs, 
Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
 
[FR Doc. 04-18435 Filed 8-11-04; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P

 
*****************************************************************
 23 Platts: Japan's Kansai Electric may need to shut older nuclear reactors
 
[The McGraw-Hill Companies]   

 
+ Japan's Kansai Electric Power Co Inc may need to idle other
nuclear power units built in the 1970's, around the same time as
the accident-hit 826,000 kW No 3 reactor at its Mihama power
plant in Fukui, central Japan, in order to conduct safety
inspections, a company official said Wednesday. Japan's Nuclear
and Industrial Safety Agency Tuesday requested power suppliers
to carry out inspections on pressurized-water reactors, the same
type used in the No 3 unit at Mihama. Kansai Electric is
currently preparing for inspections. "It depends on when we
conduct regular turnarounds at these nuclear reactors. But we
may need to idle old nuclear power units for inspection," the
official said. Four workers were killed and seven severely
injured following a non-radioactive steam leak from a water pipe
on Monday at the No 3 Mihama unit. The No 3 reactor was
scheduled to be shut for regular maintenance on August 14.

Kansei Electric has seven nuclear reactors built in 1970's: the
No 1 (340,000 kW) and No 2 (500,000 kW) reactors at Mihama; the
No 1 (1.175-mil kW) and No 2 (1.175-mil kW) nuclear units at the
Ooi power plant as well as the No 1 (826,000 kW) and No 2
(826,000 kW) reactors at the Takahama plant, in addition to the
affected No 3 Mihama unit. All are located in Fukui prefecture,
according to the company official. In order to avoid a potential
power supply shortfall, Kansai Electric will approach other
power utilities to cover for it in the event of any shutdowns.

The company is also considering boosting operating rates at its
thermal power plants by procuring additional LNG and crude oil
as fuel. For the year to March 2003, some 15% of Kansai's
thermal power was generated from crude and fuel oil, while LNG
accounted for 84%. 

Tokyo (Platts)--11Aug2004
 
Copyright © 2004 - Platts, All Rights Reserved
 [The McGraw-Hill Companies]       
*****************************************************************
 24 Hindu Business: `Fast breeder reactor projects put on fast track' 

Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
  
M. Ramesh 

Dr Anil Kakodkar, Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission 

Chennai , Aug. 12 

INDIANS are now the world masters of the Pressurised Heavy Water 
Reactor technology — the country has 12 PHWR units running. With 
the technology learnt from the Fast Breeder Test Reactor project 
— an R project — the nuclear establishment is putting up a 500 MW 
prototype fast breeder reactor at Kalpakkam. The `first pour of 
concrete', which is a milestone in a nuclear project's 
implementation, is expected to happen shortly. 

Mastering PHWR and FBR are two key issues under India's nuclear 
rubric. The first denotes the learning of producing plutonium 
indigenously and the second indicates learning of how to use it. 
The prototype FBR at Kalpakkam will then show the world that 
India can produce, use its own nuclear fuel. Now the country's 
ambition is to double the installed nuclear power capacity in 
four years and reach 11,000 MW by the end of the 11th Plan. 

The man at the helm of affairs today is Dr Anil Kakodkar, 
Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission. He spoke to Business Line 
about how the future looks. Excerpts from the interview: 

How are talks with Russian on the next V VER projects 
progressing? 

See, It is like this. We have all along taken the attitude that 
India's energy requirements are large. We must enhance the 
contribution of nuclear power. Considering that nuclear power 
will help offset emissions, our setting up nuclear power projects 
will also be good for the whole world. In that context, if we are 
able to add to nuclear power capacity with external inputs — 
money, equipment, technology, fuel — to that extent we are able 
to move towards the objective faster. As part of our policy, we 
have no problems in putting up any project with external inputs 
under IAEA safeguards. 

I think there is also a lot of goodwill for India. Countries such 
as Russia and France are willing to collaborate, but they are all 
members of the Nuclear Suppliers Group. They have their 
commitments to the group. They want the condition of full-scope 
safeguards to be met, (which means all the nuclear projects of 
India should be put under IAEA safeguards, not just those built 
with external assistance). 

So, if we get external assistance, we are happy. If it does not 
come... .no problem. We still have our programme. 

But doesn't the Kudankulam project pave the way for other 
projects with Russian collaboration? 

The two projects of Kudankulam came on the basis of an agreement 
which predated this scenario. So, it was only a fulfilment of an 
old agreement. 

What are the Russians saying now about the next projects? 

They understand our position, but they don't want to be seen as 
going back on their international obligations. 

Are we then deadlocked on this issue? 

Well, at this moment, yes. But as I said, we are happy if things 
work out, but we are not unhappy if they don't. We have a 
long-term programme. Now that we have mastered the fast breeder 
technology, the potential of domestic uranium which was at 10,000 
MW (fifty years ago) has gone up to 500,000 MW. What is working 
in our mind is, why not we put this on fast track. We put 
emphasis on fast reactors. We may not do much in first 10-20 
years, but if you see the long-term horizon, a few 100,000 MW is 
no big deal. So our position is: we will emphasise on growth 
through FBRs, but if something comes from outside, it is welcome. 

What does `putting on fast track' mean? 

We are doing a number of things. For example, the IGCAR (Indira 
Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research) developed Prototype Fast 
Breeder Reactor project. Normally, the tendency would have been 
to say that since IGCAR developed, let it build it, which it can 
do. But we realised that Nuclear Power Corporation of India is 
strong in project management. So why not synergise IGCAR's 
technology with NPCIL's project management strength? 

This configuration is showing results. Already BHAVINI (the 
company set up to build the 500 MW PFBR unit) is talking about 
doing it on a much smaller time frame. I won't be surprised if 
the project time is cut by one-and-a-half years. 

Secondly, we are sharpening our focus on metallic fuel (Plutonium 
in its pure form is used as fuel, rather than as plutonium oxide 
or plutonium carbide). Initially, the growth of fast breeder 
reactors will be supported by plutonium from PHWRs. This will go 
on. But ultimately, we look for doubling time in FBRs. Therefore, 
we give much higher emphasis on metallic fuels, which have much 
higher breeding. We'll work on oxide fuel and changeover to 
metallic fuel at a point in time. 

(Fast breeder reactors produce, or breed, more plutonium than 
they consume. A mixture of uranium and plutonium is used as fuel, 
but over time the reactor converts part of the uranium into 
plutonium. Doubling time is the time it takes to produce twice as 
much plutonium as it started with. A reactor which uses plutonium 
in its pure (metallic) form as a higher breeding ratio— it 
produces more plutonium faster.) 

When do you think you will switch to metallic fuel? 

The PFBR will certainly be oxide fuel. At the moment, the plan is 
that we will use oxide fuels in the next three or four fast 
breeder reactors and after that change over to metallic fuel 
systems. However, the design of these reactors can accommodate 
metallic fuels at any point in time. We can change over to 
metallic fuels at any time, but we will decide on that after an 
assessment, maybe 2-3 years after operating with oxide fuels. 

Please give an idea about the breeding ratio when metallic fuels 
are used? 

The doubling time with oxide fuel is in the range of 20-30 years. 
In the case of metallic fuels, it is around 10 years. 

But do you have experience in handling metallic fuels? 

Well, we certainly don't have large-scale experience, otherwise 
we'd have done in it PFBR itself. But we will learn, as we did in 
the case of using the carbide fuel (in the fast breeder test 
reactor). It was a decision forced on us because we did not have 
the enriched fuels (that a breeder reactor with oxide fuel would 
need). Today, the carbide fuel has crossed a burn-up of 130,000 
MW and looks like it will go to 150,000 MW. 

Anyway, we are not deciding on metallic fuels today. 

Do you see India putting up nuclear plants abroad? 

If somebody says "do it" we can always do it. But there is this 
barrier of politics. It operates both ways. It affects supply of 
technology to India as well as from India. 

In this context, do you see the recent co-operation with 
Americans bringing results? (Last year, the US Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission visited India. The visit of US officials opened up 
dialogue between the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board of India and 
Nuclear Regulatory Commission of US for cooperation in the field 
of nuclear safety.) 

It is good, but I do not think it (Indo-US nuclear cooperation) 
will go to such levels. But we must move in that direction. 

What is the update on the site selection committee's report? 

The report is with us. That still has a larger process to go 
through. We finally have to go to the government. Existing sites 
also have a lot of scope to accommodate additional capacity, but 
we've also looked at new sites. 

How many projects were taken up by the committee? 

It is like this. I've to reach 11,000 MW by end of the 11th Plan. 
Now we are at, taking into account both operating units and 
ongoing projects, 7,300 MW which means we have to go for 
something like additional 2,700 MW capacity, to be completed by 
the end of the 11th plan. Of them, some have to be initiated in 
the 10th Plan, some could be in the 11th. So we are roughly 
talking about four reactors, maybe 700 MW each and one AHWR 
(advanced heavy water reactor, a 300 MW unit, which uses thorium 
as fuel, put up by Bhaba Atomic Research Centre). 

When will a decision be taken on the sites? 

Between six months and one year. 

What is happening on the AHWR project? 

We're going through peer reviews. It is conceptually a different 
kind of reactor. We want to make sure we don't miss anything. 

The way to go about that is peer review. But we are not going to 
rush with the project. After all, it is a demonstration project — 
the idea is not to make money.

The Hindu Group: Home [http://www.hinduonline.com/] | About Us | 


*****************************************************************
 25 Daily Yomiuri: Police to search N-accident site 

Yomiuri Shimbun 

The Fukui prefectural police will search locations related to 
Monday's accident at the Mihama Nuclear Power Plant in Mihamacho, 
Fukui Prefecture, as early as this month, police sources said 
Wednesday. 

The searches will be conducted on suspicion of professional 
negligence resulting in death and injury. 

The police have already questioned plant executives and Kansai 
Electric Power Co. employees in charge of maintenance in 
connection with the blowout of a cooling pipe that killed four 
people and left seven others injured. 

According to KEPCO and the Nuclear and Safety Industrial Agency, 
the part of the cooling pipe that burst had been left off a list 
of inspection items, resulting in the company's failure to 
inspect the pipe for about 14 years. 

KEPCO did not carry out an inspection even after a subcontractor 
pointed out in November that the pipe should be checked.   

Copyright 2004 The Yomiuri Shimbun 
*****************************************************************
 26 Platts: Mihama-3 probe looking at reaction to Surry-2 accident
 
  [The McGraw-Hill Companies]   
    
 
+ Japanese prosecutors and experts investigating turbine-side
maintenance at the Mihama-3 PWR in the aftermath of Monday's
fatal secondary-side pipe break are focusing in part on the
reaction of Japanese industry and regulators to the December
1986 break at the Surry-2 PWR in the U.S. 

In 1987, NRC circulated memos to foreign regulatory organizations 
recommending corrective actions in that case. 

Prosecutors in
Fukui Prefecture as well as regulatory and industry experts in
Japan are now examining in detail what actions were taken by
regulators and industry to protect Japanese reactors against a
similar turbine-side pipe break as in the U.S., Japanese
industry sources said. 

Beginning a few years after the Surry event, these sources said, 
Mihama owner Kansai Electric and other utilities identified 
turbine-side piping deemed critical in avoiding a repeat event, 
and inspections were carried out leading to some turbine-side 
piping replacements. 

Copyright © 2004 - Platts, All Rights Reserved
 [The McGraw-Hill Companies]       
*****************************************************************
 27 Japan Times: Kepco pipe safety report approved by state in '00

  Friday, August 13, 2004   

 The government certified as "appropriate" a 2000 report by 
Kansai Electric Power Co. on pipe safety measures at its Mihama 
Nuclear Power Plant in Fukui Prefecture, sources said Thursday.

 On Monday, superheated steam exploded from a ruptured coolant 
water pipe at the plant, killing four employees and injuring 
seven others, in the nation's worst nuclear plant accident. The 
pipe was reportedly corroded and never checked in 27 years.

 In the 2000 report, Kepco said: "Tests on the thickness (of the 
pipes for the secondary loop) have been conducted at a large 
number of spots for a few years. Now that we understand the 
corrosive tendency of the pipes, we have set a more economical 
inspection standard."

 In its appraisal of the report, the then Ministry of 
International Trade and Industry said, "Improvements are made 
appropriately by reflecting operational experiences at home and 
abroad." The ministry has been renamed the Ministry of Economy, 
Trade and Industry.

 It was revealed after the accident that Kepco -- despite being 
warned by a subcontractor last year that the pipe in question 
needed to be inspected -- did not address the problem, waiting 
instead for this year's checks, which were scheduled to begin 
Friday.

 Kepco had not inspected the pipe since the reactor began service 
in December 1976.

 The damaged pipe was found to have been corroded by coolant 
water to a thickness of 1.4 mm. Its original thickness was 10 mm.

 The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, which is under the 
METI, said it did not know why the ministry approved the 2000 
safety review report.

 The review report system was introduced in 1992 to ensure safe 
operations of nuclear plants at the same levels as new 
facilities.

 The importance of managing corroded pipes of the so-called 
secondary loop, which carries water through the steam generator, 
was highlighted after a 1986 accident at a U.S. pressurized 
light-water reactor killed four people.

 It was also learned Thursday that a Kepco official who was told 
the ill-fated pipe had missed inspection, not thinking the matter 
to be serious, did not assess the durability of the pipe.

 Based on calculations done by the utility with fragments of the 
pipe, the pipe wall was thinner than the acceptable thickness 15 
years ago.

 The government safety agency said this latest admission by Kepco 
indicates "a serious breach of safety regulations."

 METI Minister Shoichi Nakagawa told a news conference Thursday 
that the Mihama accident was a "man-made disaster."

 He said METI will call for executives of Kepco to accept 
responsibility for the accident after conducting a thorough 
investigation to determine its cause.

 Japan notifies IAEA NEW YORK (Kyodo) Japan has notified the 
International Atomic Energy Agency of Monday's deadly accident at 
the Mihama nuclear plant in Fukui Prefecture, according to the 
U.N. nuclear watchdog agency.

 The Vienna-based IAEA said in a statement that it received 
information from Japanese nuclear regulatory authorities Tuesday 
"about an accident in the steam generator turbine circuit of the 
Mihama Nuclear Power Plant" unit 3.

 "The IAEA continues to be in contact with Japanese authorities 
and expects to receive updates on a continuous basis. No request 
for IAEA assistance has been received at this time," the 
statement said.

 The Japan Times: Aug. 13, 2004 (C) All rights reserved 
*****************************************************************
 28 NEWS.com.au: Nuke breakdown played down 

(August 13, 2004)

From correspondents in Kiev, Ukraine
 				 				 
THE Ukrainian authorities today sought to play down a series of 
incidents which disabled a brand new nuclear reactor, saying 
there was no cause for concern and accusing the media of being 
alarmist.

The reactor at Khmelnitsky power station had to be shut down on 
Sunday, less than two hours after it went into operation, 
Interfax news agency reported on yesterday.

 Further technical failures prevented it operating on Monday and 
Tuesday.

 "These incidents do not represent any threat to the public or to 
the environment," state nuclear energy company Energoatom said in 
a statement.

 Ukraine was the scene of the world's worst civilian nuclear 
disaster in 1986, when a reactor at Chernobyl nuclear power 
station exploded, contaminating large areas in Ukraine and 
neighbouring Belarus and Russia. 

Energoatom confirmed incidents had occurred at Khmelnitsky but 
said it "saw no cause for concern".

 "Certain media inflated the affair," it said.

 The K2 Russian-designed VVER pressurised water reactor at 
Khmelnitsky, which has a capacity of 1000 megawatts, was brought 
on stream on Sunday at a ceremony attended by Ukrainian President 
Leonid Kuchma. But it ground to a halt almost immediately.

 An official at Ukraine's governmental commission for atomic 
energy said that automatic security systems at the power plant 
had cut off the reactor from the electricity grid.

 The reactor was reconnected to the grid three hours later but 
had to be totally shut down later because of a failure in the 
cooling system caused by a power breakdown, the official added.

 The reactor was restarted on Monday, only to be stopped again 
yesterday, officially to test its shut-down system and cooling 
units.

 Energoatom said the incidents had been linked to tests conducted 
after the start up of the reactor. These tests were expected to 
continue until December.

 Four nuclear power stations provide nearly 50 per cent of 
Ukraine's electrical power.

 Chernobyl finally closed down in 2000, a move imposed by the 
international community before it would provide further aid to 
Ukraine's power program.                                                                        

Agence France-Presse
 				 							 				 					 						 						
*****************************************************************
 29 [DU-WATCH] Crossover at Nukewatch
 
Date: Thu, 12 Aug 2004 11:29:25 -0500 (CDT)

 
Nukewatch DU Page: Article and Bibliography  up to December 04

http://www.nukewatch.com/du/index.html

Depleted Uranium: Weapon of Mass Destruction

See also Related Articles, below

In the 1991 Persian Gulf War, U.S. forces used depleted uranium as both
armor piercing bullets and as tank armor for the first time. These weapons
are both radioactive and toxic. Uranium Oxide particles formed during
production, testing, and battlefield use pose a long term threat to human
health and the environment.

Uranium weapons are effective antitank "penetrators" because they are
extremely dense. A slug of uranium weighs twice as much as a piece of lead
the same size. When alloyed with titanium, uranium is extremely hard.
Uranium is also "pyrophoric", which means it burns upon impact.

The U.S. Military chose to develop uranium weapons not only because they are
promised to be effective, but because the metal itself is very cheap.
Depleted uranium is material that remains when enriched fissionable uranium-
that is, capable of generating a nuclear explosion or nuclear power- is
separated from natural uranium. The U.S. stockpile exceeds a billion pounds.
Uranium weapons production is the nuclear bombmakers' idea of "recycling".
The Agent Orange Of the 90's

Depleted Uranium is not capable of an atomic chain reaction. It is not
considered a high-level radioactive material. As a metal slab, like the
armor plates in the U.S. Army's M1 Abrams tanks, it is a relatively
harmless. Though constant exposure could cause problems. But especially in
particulate form, it can be extremely hazardous.

When uranium weapons burn, when they corrode, and when they are machined,
uranium oxide dust is created. When inhaled, small particles-those less than
5 millionths of a meter-can lodge in a human lung tissue, exposing the host
to a growing dose of alpha radiation. This can cause lung cancer in people
of all ages, and is particularly hazardous to children.

Uranium, like lead and other heavy metals, is a chemical poison. The
ingestion of minute quantities of uranium in food or drinking water can
cause irreparable damage to the kidneys. Some experts consider this is a
greater risk than radiation from depleted uranium.

Uranium weapons may be the "Agent Orange of the 90's" because large numbers
of people, friend and foe are being exposed to uranium oxide dust. We won't
know for 20-30 years the full significance of that exposure, but by then it
will be too late. Here are a few examples of that exposure:

The U.S. Military, which fired thousands of uranium shells during the
Persian Gulf War, left at least 387 tons of spent uranium munitions in
Kuwait and southern Iraq after the war. The U.S. Government believes, based
upon weapons tests in the U.S. and general knowledge about wind patterns,
that there is no health or environmental hazard, but it has not undertaken
any study of battlefield areas.

After the Persian Gulf War, contaminated U.S. armored vehicles were prepared
for disposal in the United States. The U.S. soldiers--at least 25-- who
handled those vehicles were not warned of DU hazards or wore any protective
gear.

Army weapons testers at the Jefferson Proving Ground in Indiana fired DU
rounds at soft targets-cloth or plywood- to avoid combustion. Still, only
22,000kg of the 91,000kg fired there between 1984 and 1992 were recovered in
biannual clearance operations. The Army will have to strip away several feet
of soil during decontamination. This will increase soil erosion and the
migration of DU.

The NRC permitted Nellis Air Force Base to receive and process up to 77,000
lbs. of DU rounds. These rounds were used in testing on the base's Range 63
using tanks as targets.

In 1980, NL Industries Uranium Weapons factory in Clonie, New York was
forced to close. Uranium particles were found as far as 26 miles downwind.

In 1981, workers at Aerojet's TNS Uranium Weapons Plant in Jonesborough,
Tennessee went on strike because of plant conditions that caused an epidemic
of uranium poisoning.

At Nuclear Metals Inc., which manufactures uranium weapons in Concord,
Massachusetts, radioactive materials have contaminated surface water, ground
water, and land. Independent testing done by Citizens Research and
Environmental Watch(CREW), a local grassroots organization, found DU 18
times the background level and up to 9/10ths of a mile away. Concord has the
second highest level of thyroid cancer in the state, 2 1/2 times the state
average. -- Military Toxics Project

RELATED LINKS AND RESOURCES

RELATED ARTICLES:
December 14 2003, from the Guardian/UK:
Army Shells Pose Cancer Risk in Iraq
by Antony Barnett

December 4 2003, from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer:
Activists want depleted-uranium munitions labeled
by Larry Johnson

Winter 2003-04, from the Nukewatch Pathfinder:
Uranium Weapons Poisoning Iraq
by John LaForge

November 23 2003:
DU Munitions Transport Secrecy - An Action Plan

November 22 2003, from the Japan Times:
Ex-military doctor decries use of depleted uranium weapons
by Nao Shimoyachi

October 2003, from the Nukewatch Fact Sheet:
TOXIC RADIOACTIVE URANIUM WEAPONS: DID YOU KNOW?

October 23 2003, from the World Uranium Weapons Conference:
The Trojan Horse of Nuclear War

October 22 2003, from ThePulse:
Alliant 28 found not guilty by jury of citizens
by Steve Clemens

October 6 2003, from the Traprock Peace Center:
FOIA Document shows Navy has been aware of problems associated with DU since
at least 14 May 1984

September 21 2003, from the London Telegraph:
Army's new tank gun will end use of controversial uranium-tipped shells
by Sean Rayment, Defence Correspondent

September 9 2003, from Bring Them Home Now:
Why Weapons Containing Depleted Uranium Are Illegal
by Karen Parker, J.D.

August 4 2003, from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer:
War's Unintended Effects:
Use of Depleted Uranium Weapons Lingers As Health Concern
by Larry Johnson, Foreign Desk Editor

June 27, 2003, from In These Times:
Weapons of Mass Deception
by Frida Berrigan

June 3, 2003, from the BBC:
UK troops' depleted uranium tests 'invalid'

May 30 2003, from PANOS:
Depleted uranium: weapon of (long-term) mass destruction
by Felicity Arbuthnot in Baghdad

May 15 2003, from the Christian Science Monitor:
Less DU in this war?
by Scott Peterson

April 25 2003, from The Guardian:
Uranium hazard prompts cancer check on troops
by Paul Brown, Environment Correspondent

also April 25 2003, from The Guardian:
About Depleted Uranium
by Alok Jha

April 20 2003, from the Stamford (Connecticut) Advocate:
Depleted uranium shells controversial in two wars
By Louis Porter, Staff Writer

April 17 2003, from The Guardian:
Scientists Urge Shell Clear-Up to Protect Civilians
by Paul Brown, Environment Correspondent

April 16 2003, from the Idaho Observer:
Death By Slow Burn - How America Nukes Its Own Troops
by Amy Worthington

March 10 2003, from Wired Magazine:
U.S. Stocking Uranium-Rich Bombs?
by Elliot Borin

March 2003, from Nukewatch:
DU Spiked with Plutonium
- a chart in .pdf format

Spring 2003, from the Campaign Against Depleted Uranium (UK):
Two Reports from CADU News

February 16 2003, from the Sunday Herald:
Gaffe exposes monitoring sham: Ministry of Defense admits officer's slip-up
is 'unhelpful'
by Rob Edwards, Environment Editor

January 2003, from the University of Belgrade,
Politics and Environmental Policy in the 21st Century:
Uranium Weapons Cover-ups - a Crime against Humankind
by Piotr Bein, Ph.D., M.A.Sc., P.Eng., and
Karen Parker, J.D., Diplome (Strasbourg)

January 31 2003, from the Campaign Against Depleted Uranium (UK) -
'What they publicized:
from whitehouse.gov: Depleted Uranium Scare
.and what they didn't publicize:'
Some of the U.S. Government's Documentation of Harmful Effects of D.U.
Weapons

January 17 2003, from the Times-Standard:
Arcata asks for ban on depleted uranium
by James Faulk

January 9 2003, from the Seattle Times:
Navy's ammo has environmentalists, others up in arms
by Ray Rivera and Craig Welch, Times staff reporters

January 7 2003, from the Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action:
Depleted Uranium (DU) weapons fired by U.S. Navy on Washington coast

December 20 2002, from the Christian Science Monitor:
A 'Silver Bullet's' Toxic Legacy
by Scott Peterson

November 12 2002, from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer:
Iraqi Cancers, Birth Defects Blamed on U.S. Depleted Uranium
by Larry Johnson

Fall 2002, from the Nukewatch Pathfinder:
Depleted Uranium Weapons Tied to Genetic Damage & Leukemia
by John LaForge

March 2002, from LeMonde:
Depleted Uranium in Bunker Bombs
by Robert James Parsons

January 23 2001, from NATO - updated February 13 2003:
U.S. Information Paper on Depleted Uranium
by the AD HOC Committee on Depleted Uranium (AHCDU)

BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Recent articles on Depleted Uranium munitions
Groups Working on DU
Journalists Reporting on DU

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 30 [DU-WATCH] Marin Depleted Uranium Resolution Heats Up - GI's
 
Date: Thu, 12 Aug 2004 01:53:22 -0500 (CDT)

 
http://www.coastalpost.com/04/08/01.htm

Marin Depleted Uranium Resolution Heats Up
GI's Will Come Home To A Slow Death
By Carol Sterritt

"There are only two things worth knowing in life, but
I forget what they are."

John Hiatt, American songwriter

Now I remember what the two important things are. One
is that the situation is dire. (And thus we need the
artist and musician, the soul healer and the clown,
more than ever.)

The other is that despite the horror of the day, there
are people who are so brave and beautiful in both
thought and action that one is moved to tears.

Look at the mindfulness of actions here in this
county. For years, certain people in Marin have
devoted a large portion of their lives to an outfit
called the Marin Peace and Justice Coalition. Inside
that group, some members are beginning a major work
that could affect military service today and in the
future when a draft might be instituted.

One such Peace and Justice member is Yvette Wakefield.
For over eighteen months, she has examined the
Depleted Uranium issue. A county employee, she has
often read the inscription on the 20 North San Pedro
Building. This inscription reads: "The mission of
health and human services is to promote and protect
the health, well-being, self-sufficiency and safety of
all people in Marin."

Yvette could not reconcile what she learned about
depleted uranium (DU) with the idea of health and
human safety. For one thing, she had befriended Leuren
Moret, a geoscientist who is now a world renowned
authority on DU. Moret, who comes from a Quaker
background, once worked at Livermore Labs. She now
travels the world speaking out against the "omnicide"
destructiveness of this material.

The Creation of A World Class Activist

How could someone like Moret, who once worked for the
war industry, become a friend of a "peacenik," like
Wakefield. Or for that matter, how could she herself
become a peace activist? Well, back in 1991, Moret had
a major realization. According to Moret, "In 1991 I
became a whistleblower at the Livermore Nuclear
Weapons Laboratory near San Francisco, CA. Richard
Berta, the Western Regional Inspector for the
Department of Energy, told me, "The Pentagon exists
for the oil companies and the nuclear weapons labs
exist for the Pentagon."

The more Moret learned, the more she became convinced
that research and work involving depleted uranium was
immoral. Beginning in 1991, depleted uranium was used
to support three policies: One, to test the
radiobiological effects of 4th generation nuclear
weapons (still under development); Two, to blur and
break down the distinction between conventional and
nuclear weapons; Three, to make it easier to
reintroduce nuclear weapons into the US military
arsenal.

While at her job at Livermore, Moret watched America
wage a short and apparently victorious Gulf War. In
just a few short weeks, and after only 110 American
casualties, we routed Iraq from Kuwait. But the true
toll of this war upon our young servicemen and women
occurred over the next decade. Of the 700,000 troops
who served in the region, 267,000 suffered from some
form of disability. Not only that, but some soldiers
"infected" their spouses with disabilities similar to
their own. Or they suffered the tragedy of having a
child born with birth defects. Some victory, huh?

At first, in its usual fashion, the Department of
Defense (DOD) and the Pentagon simply denied that this
was happening. Those men and women, who had been hale
and hearty before their military service, were now
branded "malingerers."

But internationally, other researchers spoke on record
that these illnesses had nothing to do with
malingering. Testimony from Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat,
Former Chief of the Naval Staff, India reads, "DU
weapons emit Alpha particle dose impacting a single
cell from U-238 some 50 times the annual dose level.
Cancer is initiated with one alpha particle, its
daughter isotopes effect generations as the isotopes
bio-concentrate in plants and animals. They then
travel up the food chain. It is a nuclear weapon
because the energy is derived from the nucleus of the
atom. The particles enter the body through the lungs,
the digestive system or breaks in the skin.

"One gram of DU releases more than 12,000 particles
per second. The radiation slowly kills the cells that
make life possible. The Gulf War syndrome of 1991 did
just that (reported by Dr. Asaf Durakovic, Prof. of
Medicine, Georgetown University, and discoverer of the
Gulf War Syndrome.)"

Our military has lobbed more than 500 tons of DU
munitions on Afghanistan. Professor Yagasaki has
calculated that 800 tons of DU is the "atomicity
equivalent to 83,000 Nagasaki bombs." This fact he
presented to the World Uranium Weapons Conference in
Hamburg in October 2003. The amount of DU used in Iraq
in 2003 equals nearly 250,000 Nagasaki bombs. Just as
the Gulf War vets and their families have been
imperiled by their service in Gulf War I, those
veterans about to return from the Iraq war will
undoubtedly face similar consequences.

The Local FallOut

This is why Yvette Wakefield is concerned. Should
Marin County expend the energy and funding to nurture
its children with healthy baby clinics, education
Kindergarten to twelfth grade, sports programs and
parks and recreation, only to then hand our kids at
age eighteen over to the military? And not just any
military, but one that plans on dispatching its
personnel to a killing field where they will, even if
surviving the "normal" activities of the battlefield,
come home to a life of infirmity, sickness and
hospitalization? Wakefield has problems with this
idea.

A trained paralegal, she began work on a County wide
resolution that would proclaim the unacceptability of
any Marin citizen serving in any area of the world
where their health might forever be destroyed by DU. 

Her working draft of this resolution reads: Therefore
in view of those dangers posed by exposure to depleted
uranium, Marin County requires that all Marin
residents serving in the United States Armed Forces
and its Reserves be prohibited from serving in those
areas where depleted uranium weaponry is used. This is
because we acknowledge that our residents should not
be required to face the life-threatening and lifelong
health problems of radiation poisoning. Their having
faced the normal dangers of combat should be enough.
Soldiers who survive their military service are
entitled to return home to a normal life of working,
having families and friends and engaging in normal
activities.

She is now building a case for her resolution. She has
set up a public forum on August 12, at 7:30 PM at the
First United Methodist Church 9 Ross Valley Drive, San
Rafael. Both Leuren Moret and Dennis Kyne will be
speaking at the event. Their talk is titled "Depleted
Uranium - The Trojan Horse of A Nuclear War." Once
people in Marin hear the truth of the DU deployment,
and they realize the horrific consequences born by the
populations in the Middle East and our soldiers, they
can be counted on to be supporters of this County wide
resolution.

Where DU Policies Came from, And Why They Continue

The use of depleted uranium can be traced back to
certain Nixon-Kissinger era decisions. When our
country was stymied by the 1973 oil embargo, Nixon
remarked that we have to make sure that an oil embargo
will never happen again. Perhaps he would have been
stopped by the test ban treaty of 1963, signed by
Russia and the United States, both super powers at
that time. According to the treaty, nuclear war was
outlawed. But one way for a nation to achieve
sovereignty over another nation was and is to utilize
depleted uranium weaponry. Although such weaponry will
not necessarily offer up a mushroom cloud, the wake of
its devastation can be as deadly. Thus a policy of
using depleted uranium in weapons began. It first
surfaced in the Arab-Israeli war, Fall 1973, when
Israel received and used such weapons from the United
States. It used these weapons under our country's
supervision. (Never think for a moment that the Muslim
nations hate us for our shopping centers and our
democracy, our backyard swimming pools and our
skyscrapers. They hate us for what we have done, and
are doing, to them.)

The population-devastation politics of DU continues to
this day. It is an effective policy. Witness what is
occurring to the civilian population in Iraq.
Following the Gulf War, birth defects and cancer cases
rose exponentially. In one Baghdad hospital, which in
pre-war days saw a single birth defect a week, there
soon occurred three and four birth defective babies in
a single day. (According to Moret, these defects are a
deliberate contamination of the population.) For the
past thirteen years, rare leukemias and bone cancers
have been on the rise there. And of course, in the
days of sanctions, the hospital supplies and equipment
to help those affected were unavailable. Now, after
the devastation of the "shock and awe" campaign of
Spring, 2003, supplies are equally non-existent. Also,
hospitals are now faced with the consequences of
having only sporadic electricity and a lack of clean
water. (The Bagdad population has survived the past
winter by utilizing rainwater, collected in pots and
pans put out on their roofs.)

The stories related to birth defects are
heart-breaking. Some Iraqi babies are born with
eyeballs the size of lemons protruding from their eye
sockets. Some babies have no brains. Some babies are
born without any skin. Some pregnancies, although
carried close to full term, result in a birth of only
a lump of flesh, with no discernable torso, limbs or
head or facial features.

Our soldiers are coming home from our Middle East
"adventures" with bodies pushed to the breaking point.
On KPFA radio in June, it was revealed that of nine
returning servicemen to New York City, six tested
positive for unusually high levels of radioactivity in
their bodies. Those with the highest levels already
feel its effects. They are mind-numbingly tired; they
have rashes, muscle aches and pains, and their nervous
systems are impaired.

The Horrific Working of Pernicious Materials

These men were average soldiers in terms of their war
experiences. But for certain soldiers, especially
those who have survived the destruction of their
tanks, the radiation diseases hit hard and heavy. 

By its nature, DU is aerosolized when impacted by
explosion. Also the metal components of DU-hardened
tanks become a deadly, inhale-able radiation upon
explosion. The men and women experiencing this first
hand are unaware that every breath they take during
these events is impacting their lungs and blood
streams with nano-sized charged particles that begin
the ruin of their health immediately. 

Unlike the Japanese survivors of atomic blasts, who
first felt radiation sickness within three days to a
week, our soldiers can experience symptoms almost
immediately. This is the result of the aerosol effects
of the materials. The radioactive dust can be
pulverized to the point that it is one hundred times
smaller than bacteria. The particles go from the air
to the lungs to the blood stream. They then end up
attacking the body's mitochondria. The results range
from multiple sclerosis type illnesses, to
Parkinson's, to chemical sensitivities, and of course,
at a somewhat later date, various cancers. 

Our nation's youth will sacrifice their prime years to
this devastation, wearing adult diapers, shuffling
along with walkers, using oxygen tanks, and trying to
live with blindness and hearing loss.

Meanwhile, our nation's policy shapers have big plans
inside our country as well. In both Ohio and Kentucky,
DU processing plants are underway. Both these areas
have high unemployment rates. The local populace,
desperate for work and a steady income, will have few
qualms about what they are doing or why they are doing
it. They will be told that the work is safe, and
indeed it will seem so. There is no stench to uranium
processing; the tiles and linoleum in the plants will
no doubt be spotless. Those who recruit them will seem
friendly and kind. The fact that the DU workers may
have health problems five or ten years down the road
is not a big matter for concern. After all, if you
don't consider reality, how can it bother you?

I ask that if you are moved by this account of
Depleted Uranium devastation, you make a commitment.
Red circle the date of the public forum, August 12th,
on your calendars. For further information, call 415
721 2844. The lives you save are your own. After all,
the air a Baghdad housewife breathed in this morning
can be in your lungs by tomorrow afternoon.

Public Forum "Depleted Uranium - The Trojan Horse of A
Nuclear War." 7:30 PM at the First United Methodist
Church 9 Ross Valley Drive, San Rafael

 

	
		
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 31 [du-list] DU Blamed for cancer cluster among iraq war veterans
 
Date: Thu, 12 Aug 2004 19:23:00 -0700

 
<x-flowed>
DU article number 2 from American Free Press to be
published this weekend.  There will be 2 more articles
following this one.

[Read Article #1 at www.americanfreepress.net]

DEPLETED URANIUM BLAMED FOR

CANCER CLUSTERS AMONG IRAQ WAR VETS



By Christopher Bollyn

American Free Press



A discovery by American Free Press that nearly half of
the recently returned soldiers in one unit from Iraq
have “malignant growths” is “critical evidence,”
according to experts, that depleted uranium weapons
are responsible for the huge number of disabled Gulf
War vets ­ and damage to their DNA.



A growing number of U.S. military personnel who are
serving, or have served, in the Persian Gulf, Iraq,
and Afghanistan have become sick and disabled from a
variety of symptoms commonly known as Gulf War
Syndrome.  Depleted uranium (DU) weapons have been
blamed for causing many of the symptoms.



“Gulf War vets are coming down with these symptoms at
twice the rate of vets from previous conflicts,” said
Barbara A. Goodno from the Dept. of Defense’s
Deployment Health Support Directorate.



A recent discovery by American Free Press that nearly
half the soldiers in one returned unit have malignant
growths has provided the scientific community with
“critical evidence,” experts say, to help understand
exactly how depleted uranium affects humans ­ and
their DNA.



One of the first published researchers of Gulf War
Syndrome, Dr. András Korényi-Both told AFP that 27-28
percent of Gulf War veterans have suffered chronic
health problems, more than 5 times the rate of Viet
Nam vets, and 4 times the rate of Korean War vets.



Korényi-Both said his son had recently returned from
Iraq, where he had been part of the initial assault
from Kuwait to Baghdad.  From his unit of 20 men, 8
now have “malignant growths,” Korényi-Both said.



Dr. Korényi-Both is not an expert on DU, but has
written extensively about how the fine desert sand
blowing around Iraq and the Arabian Peninsula provides
a ideal vehicle for toxins, increasing the range and
effect of biological and chemical agents, such as DU,
that attach themselves to the particles of sand.



Korényi-Both described how, during the 1991 Gulf War,
he and others had inhaled large quantities of sand
dust that could have been laden with chemical or
biological agents.  The sand “destroyed our immune
systems,” he said.



FULK’S THEORY



Marion Fulk, a former nuclear chemical physicist at
Lawrence Livermore lab, is investigating how DU
affects the human body.  Fulk said that 8 malignancies
out of 20, in 16 months, “is spectacular ­ and of
serious concern.”



The high rate of malignancies found in this unit
appears to have been caused by exposure to DU weapons
on the battlefield.  If DU were found to be the cause,
this case would be “critical evidence” of Fulk’s
theory on how the DU particulate affects DNA.



Such quick malignancies are caused by the particulate
effect of DU, according to Fulk:



When DU (Uranium 238) decays, it transforms into two
short-lived and “very hot” isotopes ­ Thorium 234 and
Protactinium 234.  As it transforms in the body, the
DU particle is firing off faster and faster “bullets”
into the DNA, Fulk said, or wherever it is lodged.
Because uranium has a natural attraction to
phosphorus, however, it is drawn to the phosphate in
the DNA.



As the Uranium 238 decays, it releases alpha and beta
particles with millions of electron volts.  When a DU
particle makes this transformation in the human body
it releases “huge amounts of energy in the same
location doing lots of damage very quickly,” Fulk
said.



Thorium 234 has a half-life of 24 days and emits a
beta particle of .270 million electron volts as it
transforms into Protactinium 234, which has a
half-life of less than 7 hours.  Protactinium then
emits a beta particle of 2.19 million electron volts
as it transforms into the more stable Uranium 234.



The chemical binding energy in the molecules of the
human cell is less than 10 electron volts.  One alpha
particle from U-238 is over 4 million electron volts,
which is like “nuking a cell.”



Leuren Moret, a scientist who is opposed to the use of
DU, compared it to sitting in front of a fire and
putting a red-hot coal in your mouth.  “The nuclear
establishment wants us to believe that it is like
sitting in front of the fire and warming the whole
body evenly ­ and that no harm is done, but that is
not the reality,” she said.



“We can expect to see multiple cancers in one person,”
Moret said.  “These multiple unrelated cancers in the
same individual have been reported in Yugoslavia and
Iraq in families that had no history of any cancer.
This is unknown in the previous studies of cancer,”
she said. “A new phenomenon.”



The Pentagon’s Goodno questioned Dr. Korényi-Both’s
report that 8 of 20 recently returned soldiers from
one unit had experienced malignant growths. Goodno and
Korényi-Both did agree, however, that Iraqi chemical
and biological agents had not played a role in the
2003 invasion.



This is significant because three factors have
generally been blamed for causing Gulf War Syndrome:
Iraqi chemical and biological weapons, the cocktail of
vaccinations given to coalition soldiers, and depleted
uranium.  The absence of any detectable chemical or
biological agents during the 2003 invasion of Iraq
reduces the number of potential factors for the
malignancies in the veterans to pre-war vaccinations
and DU.



Statistics published in Encyclopedia Britannica’s 2003
Almanac indicate that 325,000 Gulf War vets were
receiving compensation for service-related
disabilities in 2000.  The almanac lists 580,400
combatants in the Persian Gulf War of 1990-91, yet
only 467 U.S. personnel were actually wounded during
the conflict.  The 325,000 disabled Gulf War vets are
equivalent to 56 percent of the number of military
personnel “serving in the theater of operation.”




Furthermore, in 2000, nine years after the three-week
war in Iraq had ended, the number of disabled vets
from the Gulf War was increasing yearly by more than
43,000.  While the number of disabled vets from
previous wars is decreasing by about 35,000 per year,
since the “War on Terror” began in 2001, the total
number of disabled vets has grown to some 2.5 million.




MORE DISABLED VETS



“More than ever before,” Brad Flohr of the Dept. of
Veterans Affairs said about the total number of
disabled vets.  Asked if there are more disabled vets
now than even after World War II, Flohr said he
believed so.



Terry Jemison of the Dept. of Veterans Affairs told
AFP that current statistics indicate that more than
half a million veterans of the 14-year-old “Gulf War
era” are now receiving disability compensation.
During this period, some 7,035 soldiers are reported
having been wounded in Iraq.



With 518,739 disabled “Gulf-era veterans” currently
receiving disability compensation, according to
Jemison, the number of veterans disabled after the war
is more than 73 times the total number of wounded, in
and out of combat, from the entire 14-year conflict
with Iraq.



DEPLETED URANIUM WEAPONS



Last December, Dr. Asaf Durakovic, a nuclear medicine
expert who has conducted extensive research on
depleted uranium, examined nine soldiers from the
442nd Military Police Company of New York and found
that four of the men had absorbed or inhaled depleted
uranium (U-238).



Several of the men had traces of another uranium
isotope, U-236, which is only produced in a nuclear
reaction process.  Both U-238 and U-236 are man-made
forms of uranium.



“These men were almost certainly exposed to
radioactive weapons on the battlefield,” Durakovic
said.



“Due to the current proliferation of DU weaponry, the
battlefields of the future will be unlike any
battlefields in history,” Durakovic, then Chief of
Nuclear Medicine for the Veterans Administration said
after the first Gulf War, in which he served.



Since 1991, the U.S. military has used DU in munitions
as penetrating rods, which destroy enemy tanks and
their occupants, and as armor on U.S. tanks.  When DU
penetrating rods strike a hard target some of the
radioactive and chemically toxic DU is vaporized into
ultra-fine particles that are easily inhaled or
absorbed through the skin.



According to a survey of 10,051 Gulf War veterans,
conducted between 1991 and 1995 by Vic Sylvester and
the Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm Association,
82 percent of veterans reported having entered
captured Iraqi vehicles. “This would suggest that
123,000 soldiers have been directly exposed to DU,”
Durakovic said.



“Since the effects of contamination by uranium cannot
be directed or contained, uranium’s chemical and
radiological toxicity will create environments that
are hostile not only to the health of enemy forces but
of one’s own forces as well,” Durakovic said.



“Because of the chemical and radiological toxicity of
DU, the small number of particles trapped in the
lungs, kidneys, and bone greatly increase the risk of
cancer and all other illnesses over time,” Durakovic,
an expert of internal contamination of radio-isotopes,
said.



According to Durakovic, other symptoms associated with
DU poisoning are: emotional and mental deterioration,
fatigue, loss of bowel and bladder control, and
numerous forms of cancer. Such symptoms are increasing
showing up in Iraq’s children and among Gulf War
veterans and their offspring, he said.



“Although I personally served in Operation Desert
Shield as Unit Commander,” Durakovic said, “my
expertise of internal contamination was never used
because we were never informed of the intended use of
DU prior to or during the war.”



“The numbers are overwhelming, but the potential
horrors only get worse,” Robert C. Koehler of the
Chicago-based Tribune Media Services wrote in his
March 25 article on DU weapons, “Silent Genocide.”



“DU dust does more than wreak havoc on the immune
systems of those who breathe it or touch it; the
substance also alters one’s genetic code,” Koehler
wrote. “The Pentagon’s response to such charges is
denial, denial, denial.  And the American media is its
moral co-conspirator.”



As AFP reported last week, the smallest particles of
DU, when inhaled, are capable of moving throughout the
human body, passing through cell walls and affecting
the person’s Master Code, according to Fulk, and the
“_expression of the DNA.”



Four years after the Gulf War of 1991, Life magazine
published a photo-essay entitled “The Tiny Victims of
Desert Storm,” which focused on the numerous cases of
severe birth defects that had occurred in families of
veterans from that war.



Life reported, “Of the 400 sick vets who had already
answered [Don Riegle’s Senate Banking] committee
inquiries, a startling 65 percent reported birth
defects or immune-system problems in children
conceived after the war.”



AFP asked the Dept. of Veterans Affairs if they kept
records of the birth defects occurring among the
families of veterans, and was told they do not.








	
	
		
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 32 Big plutonium discrepancy at Los Alamos
 
Date: Thu, 12 Aug 2004 19:22:55 -0700

 
<x-flowed>
Below please find an Albuq. Journal editorial and news article, followed by 
IEER's press release, on the large plutonium inventory discrepancy (150 
nuclear weapons worth) at Los Alamos National Lab.  IEER, Nukewatch of NM 
and CCNS sent a letter to LANL Director Nanos to continue to stand down lab 
operations until the discrepancy is reconciled.  We have not yet received a 
response.
Lisa Ledwidge, IEER


Keeping Track Of Crucial Lab Materials
August 12, 2004
Albuquerque Journal Editorial
http://www.abqjournal.com/opinion/1OP8-12.HTM

Just over a month after two computer information storage disks were reported
missing from the top-secret Weapons Physics Directorate at Los Alamos
National Laboratory, people in the know are questioning whether the disks
are missing or never even existed.

After meeting with lab director Pete Nanos Monday, Sen. Pete Domenici issued
a statement: "It may be that what we have here is a false positive -- the
system says something is missing when it is not. ... It is better to find
out the inventory is wrong than that the disks were actually missing," the
New Mexico Republican said.

He's certainly right about that; it will be much better if this latest scare
about the security of nuclear weapons secrets at the lab turns out to
nothing more than a clerical error.

But consider the repercussions so far:

* Scientific research and classified work at Los Alamos have been shut down
for almost four weeks at a cost to taxpayers that Nanos has estimated will
run into the hundreds of millions.

* The use of classified computer storage media at national laboratories has
been stopped nationwide until each facility is able to validate its
inventory.

* More than a dozen lab workers have been placed on paid leave and may lose
clearance to work with classified material.

  * Congressional support for the University of California, which has run the
lab for more than half a century, has further eroded.

Some people are questioning whether Nanos overreacted, but when nuclear
secrets are involved, uncertainty demands extreme action.

Los Alamos officials decline to comment on the possibility the disks do not
exist, saying the findings will be made public when there is "some
definitive resolution."

Clearing up uncertainty will be a big part of the resolution, a big step
toward restoring lab credibility with the public, and with Congress. Fixing
the inventory process will be another big step.

Meanwhile, anti-nuclear activists are using this down time at the lab to
push for a better accounting of discrepancies between two databases -- one
used at the Department of Energy, the other at the lab -- that track
plutonium at Los Alamos.

Government records show the two methods for tracking plutonium are off by
about 1,700 pounds, but the material is likely not weapons-grade plutonium.

Two activist groups have urged Nanos to resolve this discrepancy before
resuming full operations at the lab.

In his Tuesday statement, Domenici wrote that "Los Alamos' system of
tracking its classified inventory is clearly a mess if we cannot tell if
classified material is missing."

If the missing material is plutonium, it's a mess with a very long
half-life.

This would be a good time to put efforts to resolve the plutonium
discrepancy back onto the front burner, even if the problem can't be
resolved before the lab resumes full operation.

======================================

'Plutonium Discrepancy' Cited
Albuquerque Journal
Wednesday, August 11, 2004
By Adam Rankin
Journal Staff Writer

     Anti-nuclear activists see the current work stand-down at Los Alamos 
National Laboratory as the perfect time for managers at the nuclear weapons 
facility to get their plutonium accounting into order.
     Since at least 1996, Department of Energy officials have been 
concerned about a discrepancy in the way plutonium is tracked between two 
different databases used by both DOE and the lab. In fact, government 
records for LANL show the two methods differ by as much as 765 kilograms 
roughly 1,700 pounds.
     The plutonium gap includes a mix of plutonium sources and is likely 
not all pure plutonium and not all weapons-grade, though it is impossible 
to determine based on the records.
     The discrepancy at LANL is by far the largest at any of DOE's 
laboratories. The next closest is the Savannah River Complex in South 
Carolina, with a discrepancy of 391 kilograms.
     "Los Alamos operations are in a work stand-down supposedly until all 
safety and security issues are resolved this fits right in," Jay Coghlan, 
director of Nuclear Watch of New Mexico, said in a telephone interview.
     "It is one thing to have the loss of nuclear design information, but 
it is another to have such a large amount of plutonium unaccounted for," he 
said.
     Coghlan and Joni Arends, director of Concerned Citizens for Nuclear 
Safety, joined Arjun Makhijani, president of the Maryland-based Institute 
for Energy and Environmental Research, in a letter urging LANL director 
Pete Nanos to resolve the discrepancy before resuming full operations.
     Makhijani said LANL and DOE should be as serious about fixing their 
past plutonium accounting problems as they are about finding LANL's missing 
disks, if the disks are even missing.
     "I am not saying that it (plutonium) is lost, it may be that there are 
completely innocent explanations... the likely explanation is it is in the 
waste, and we can't determine it," he said.
     But LANL is "the lead lab in terms of security, and if they can't get 
their waste numbers right, who is going to do it?" Makhijani asked.
     Nanos shut down all work at LANL on July 16 following the discovery 
that two Zip disks may have disappeared. He said work wouldn't resume until 
all employees follow safety and security procedures.
     LANL spokesman Kevin Roark said: "We are satisfied with our accounting 
systems. We're following the rules when it comes to accounting for 
materials that go into the waste stream."
     Calls to the National Nuclear Security Administration, which is 
responsible for overseeing the security of the nation's nuclear materials, 
were not immediately returned.
     Makhijani said LANL's failure to resolve the plutonium accounting 
discrepancy stems from the same arrogance that Nanos termed a behavioral 
problem and caused him to halt all work.
     And he said a DOE task force formed to track down and resolve the 
discrepancy "essentially melted away" in the late 1990s, without resolving 
anything.
     Makhijani asked what people would think if other nuclear countries had 
a plutonium discrepancy and said, "It is just in the waste, trust us."

Copyright 2004 Albuquerque Journal

=======================================

IEER Press Release

For further information, contact:
Dr. Arjun Makhijani  IEER       (301) 365-6723
Jay Coghlan  NWNM              (505) 989-7342
Joni Arends  CCNS                 (505) 986-1973

For immediate release, Wednesday, August 11, 2004

LOS ALAMOS HAS “IMMENSE” PLUTONIUM INVENTORY DISCREPANCY –
150 BOMBS WORTH
EXPLANATION SOUGHT FOR 765 KILOGRAM DIFFERENCE IN WASTE ACCOUNTS; GROUPS 
CITE POTENTIAL SECURITY, ENVIRONMENTAL AND SAFETY ISSUES;
URGE CONTINUED “STAND DOWN” UNTIL LAB, ENERGY DEPT. DATA ARE RECONCILED

             All operations involving plutonium at the Los Alamos National 
Laboratory (LANL) should continue to “stand down” until “an immense 
discrepancy in the accounts for how much plutonium is in the waste at LANL” 
is reconciled, according to a letter from watchdog groups delivered today 
to LANL Director G. Peter Nanos.

             According to the letter, “The Department of Energy (DOE) 
reported a discharge to waste from LANL of 610 kilograms of plutonium; Los 
Alamos indicates a figure of 1,375 kilograms . . . a discrepancy of 765 
kilograms, the equivalent of 150 nuclear weapons. This is unacceptable by 
any imaginable standards and constitutes a crucial safety, environmental, 
and security issue.”

             The letter was sent by the Institute for Energy and 
Environmental Research (IEER), Nuclear Watch of New Mexico and Concerned 
Citizens for Nuclear Safety. Copies were simultaneously delivered to DOE 
Secretary Spencer Abraham, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson and key 
members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. Calling the 
accounting discrepancy “huge,” it continues, “If the LANL number is 
anywhere close to correct, then there may be very serious implications 
regarding the lack of due care in minimizing losses of an extremely 
expensive, proliferation-sensitive, and dangerous material. On the other 
hand, if the 1,375 kilograms that is now booked as waste is not, in fact, 
in the waste, the security implications are obvious.” Plutonium is both a 
core ingredient for modern nuclear weapons and a cancer-causing contaminant 
for humans.

             The LANL plutonium accounting discrepancy was first noted in a 
1996 DOE memorandum, which the letter signers posted on the internet. An 
agency working group set up to address the issue at that time never issued 
a report. “To the best of our knowledge, LANL has yet to explain the large 
plutonium accounting discrepancy or address its security implications,” the 
signers stated.

             “It is completely unacceptable for a discrepancy of 150 bombs 
worth of plutonium to remain on the books eight years after it was first 
discovered,” the letter to Nanos concluded. “Since you have already stood 
down LANL on other security and safety issues, we request that you seize 
this moment and immediately appoint an independent task force to 
investigate this issue until it is resolved.”

- - 3 0 - -

The full letter to LANL Director G. Peter Nanos and the 1996 DOE memorandum 
identifying LANL’s plutonium accounting issue are posted at http://www.ieer.org
df

Lisa Ledwidge
Outreach Director, United States, and Editor of Science for Democratic Action
Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (IEER)
PO Box 6674  |  Minneapolis, MN 55406  USA
tel. 1-612-722-9700  | fax: please call 
first  |  ieer@ieer.org  |  http://www.ieer.org

IEER's main office:   6935 Laurel Ave. Suite 201 |  Takoma Park, 
MD  20912  USA  |  tel. 1-301-270-5500  |  fax 1-301-270-3029  

</x-flowed>
*****************************************************************
 33 Deseret news: Is Swallow playing catch-up on nuclear tests?
 	 
[deseretnews.com] 

Thursday, August 12, 2004
 	   	 
Bennett to file bill 'much like' Matheson's

By Bob Bernick Jr. Deseret Morning News

What do you do when your political opponent gets out front of an 
issue and then a leader of your own party agrees with him?

The 1970 Baneberry test released radioactivity into the
atmosphere.

Deseret Morning News Archives  

       You jump into the fast-moving water and swim along —
maybe splashing some water in your opponent's face as
opportunities arise.

       "I'm where Bob and Jim are on this one," says GOP 2nd
Congressional District candidate John Swallow in talking about
stopping any new underground nuclear bomb tests at the federal
government's southern Nevada test site. President Bush wants a
new generation of smaller nuclear bombs, which could be used in
so-called "bunker busting" weapons against terrorists or rogue
regimes like former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

       "Jim" is Utah's lone Democratic congressman, Rep. Jim
Matheson, whom Swallow is challenging for the second straight
election this fall.

       "Bob" is Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, who last week called a
press conference in St. George to announce he will soon file a
bill "much like" Matheson's. Both would require congressional
approval before President Bush (or any future president) could
start testing nuclear warheads again at the Nevada Test Site.

       The Matheson and Bennett efforts differ in some of their
specifics. But even Bennett said his measure follows along the
lines of a bill Matheson introduced in March. In part because
it's an election year and the House is controlled by
Republicans, Matheson's bill has not even had a hearing yet this
year and may not get one.

       In the GOP-controlled Senate, Bennett, a two-term
Republican incumbent facing re-election this year, will probably
have better luck.

       With his bill stuck, Matheson is voting against millions
of dollars to pay for a Bush-backed study on what it would take
to restart the testing, stopped in 1992. Bennett and other
Republicans support funding the president's study, adding that
they still don't believe Bush or any future president will
actually restart underground testing.

      Swallow says there are many issues in this campaign where
he and Matheson severely disagree, so it doesn't bother him "at
all" that he and Matheson stand side-by-side "in trying to
protect the welfare" of Utahns.

       But there is a difference in style, at least, says
Swallow.

       "I would have acted like Sen. Bennett and met with those
rural Utahns who are most affected" by nuclear bomb tests, and
"not acted unilaterally and filed a bill without talking to
them" as Swallow professes Matheson did.

       Matheson is out of town this week and unavailable for
comment. But his congressional spokeswoman Alyson Heyrend said,
"It is just not accurate to say we haven't engaged people of
southern Utah." She then runs off a list of town councils,
homebuilders, Native American tribal leaders and other groups
who have "formally endorsed his proposal."

       Yes, the Kane County Commission, all Republicans, did
pass a resolution saying the Matheson bill didn't go far enough
— they want to just ban nuclear testing outright, she admits.
"But the political climate in Washington, D.C. — where President
Bush wants this authority and the Senate won't pass" a nuclear
test ban treaty — "is such that a clear ban won't pass, although
Rep. Matheson would support that."

       Swallow said he also likes a few details in Bennett's
proposal not found in Matheson's.

       Still, Matheson is clearly out front on the issue, and
Swallow, politically speaking, is left either playing catch-up
or just giving up on this issue.

       "That's what you do — you just agree with your opponent
and then point out some other issues where you have big
differences," says longtime GOP consultant Dave Hansen.

       He recalls 1992, when the late Wayne Owens tried to jump
from the 2nd District to the U.S. Senate. Republicans trying to
get Bennett elected were taking out after then-Rep. Owens for a
vote in the House against the Persian Gulf War. In an early
debate, Owens was asked to defend that vote, and he replied: "I
was so wrong in that vote," Hansen recalls. "He just took away
the Republicans' issue — he admitted he was wrong and it was
over."

       Accordingly, Swallow, "who feels the same way on this
issue, anyway," is right to just agree with Matheson and move
on, said Hansen.

       Swallow says he sympathizes with downwinders' concerns,
even though neither he nor his family were affected directly by
open air testing, which ended in 1962. He lived in St. George
from 1968 to 1973. Matheson's father, the late Gov. Scott M.
Matheson, died in 1990 from a rare cancer that could have been
caused by nuclear test fallout.

       "No one sees this as a Democratic issue. We all want
what's right for our constituents," said Swallow. "There are a
lot of other issues in this campaign."

E-mail: bbjr@desnews.com [bbjr@desnews.com] 
	 
 © 2004 Deseret News Publishing Company 
*****************************************************************
 34 Wired News: Beryllium Risk Remains Unclear
 
By John Gartner[ width=]   

02:00 AM Aug. 12, 2004 PT 

(Second of two parts.) 

Beryllium is well-known in the metal-manufacturing industry for
its strength and light weight. However, effectively protecting
workers from beryllium-related illness remains largely a
mystery. Government health officials are continuing to search
for monitoring and safety standards that will prevent workers
from contracting a potentially fatal disease. <img width="300"

Because it is lightweight and six times stronger than steel, 
beryllium is combined with other alloys and ceramics for use in 
jet fighters, satellites, nuclear weapons, computers, consumer 
electronics, medical equipment and even golf clubs. 

"No comparable metal can deliver the same performance and 
reliability demanded of today's products and systems," according 
to beryllium-processing company Brush Wellman 
[http://www.brushwellman.com/] . 

But a small percentage of workers exposed to dust or fumes 
created during the fabrication of products using beryllium 
develop an allergic reaction to the metal that can cause cancer 
and chronic beryllium disease, or CBD, a condition that clogs the 
lungs. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health 
classifies beryllium and beryllium compounds as a potential 
occupational carcinogen. The disease can affect workers' health 
in as little as three months, or may take longer than 20 years to 
develop. 

In 1949, the Department of Energy set 2 micrograms per cubic 
meter as the maximum average of beryllium that workers can be 
exposed to during a workday, a regulation that was adopted as an 
industry standard by the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational 
Safety & Health Administration. 

Despite these safeguards, hundreds of workers have been diagnosed 
with CBD, and new cases are reported every year. 

"I question if industrial-hygiene practice is adequate," said 
Mark Hoover, a senior research physical scientist at NIOSH who 
has been studying beryllium's effects for more than 20 years. 
Hoover said the DOE lowered the allowable amount of beryllium 
exposure in its facilities to 0.2 micrograms per cubic meter in 
1998, and the private sector should follow its lead. "(Exposure) 
should be lowered to the smallest amount achievable." 

According to the National Jewish Medical and Research Center 
[http://www.nationaljewish.org/medfacts/beryllium_medfact.html] , 
between 2 and 6 percent of people exposed to beryllium will 
develop an allergic reaction known as beryllium sensitivity. The 
center's website states that sensitivity to beryllium appears to 
be genetically based, so while some workers may become ill, 
others will be unaffected. 


Hoover said the most common method of detecting beryllium
sensitivity is through the beryllium blood lymphocyte
proliferation test, or BeLPT, which analyzes a blood sample to
see its reaction to beryllium. The BeLPT is not commonly
available at medical facilities, so blood samples are frequently
shipped to laboratories such as the National Jewish Medical and
Research Center or Biophage [http://www.biophage.com] . 

Rosemonde Mandeville, president of Biophage, said the test costs
approximately $150 and results are available within a week.
Mandeville said Biophage's primary clients are companies that
offer the screening for their employees. "The first thing (for
workers) to do is get tested once every 18 months," Mandeville
said. Anyone who works where beryllium dust or vapors are
present -- including office and janitorial workers -- is at risk
for the disease. 

If a worker tests positive, Mandeville said some companies will
move workers to areas free of beryllium. Mandeville said workers
who develop symptoms are frequently given prednisone, an
anti-inflammatory steroid, to counteract coughing and breathing
difficulties. 

But beryllium-processing company Brush Wellman does not
recommend or use blood tests to screen new workers at its
plants. The "use of the BeLPT for medical screening is not
recommended," stated a company representative, responding by fax
to questions posed by Wired News. The company said the test "is
highly variable and unreliable," citing U.S. military studies
recommending that the blood test be used only after individuals
develop symptoms of the disease. 

Brush Wellman said workers might not want to be screened because
a positive test has negative side effects. Workers who test
positive have "perceived decreased health and reduction in
work/employment options with potentially adverse social and
economic consequences." The company does not reassign workers
who test positive to prevent further exposure to beryllium
because "There are no studies that suggest that individuals who
have tested positive for beryllium sensitization are impacted by
additional workplace exposure." 

Story continued on Page 2 
*****************************************************************
 35 Bozeman Daily Chronicle: Depleted uranium still a danger, speaker says 
 
    Thursday, August 12, 2004     Photos and articles ©2004 the

By JOAN HAINES, Chronicle Staff Writer 

Dennis Kyne, a sergeant and medic in the U.S. Army during 
Operation Desert Storm in the early 1990s, said the Army made him 
and his men sick, and is continuing to make soldiers ill during 
the current Iraq conflict.

"I want you to understand how little (the Army) cared about the 
troops," Kyne told 25 people attending his talk Tuesday night at 
the Bozeman Public Library. The talk, centering on the use and 
effects of depleted uranium in ammunition, was sponsored by the 
Bozeman Peace Seekers. 

 Anthrax vaccinations before the Gulf War made some soldiers 
sick, Kyne said. Waiting in desert tents for 90 days for vehicles 
to arrive resulted in several suicides. Soldiers ingesting tiny 
particles of sand into their lungs added to the illnesses.

Then, Kyne said, when the soldiers advanced on Baghdad, "we 
walked into depleted uranium. That's what made everybody so 
sick."

Depleted uranium is an armor-piercing metal used on the tips of 
many conventional weapons, including bunker-penetrating missiles 
and anti-tank missiles. It is radioactive, and can end up as a 
fine dust when exploded, Kyne said.

Depleted uranium consists of waste left over from making nuclear 
weapons, a Christian Science Monitor article stated. "Bombs 
liberate themselves all over the place," Kyne said. "They don't 
just hit armored vehicles. The soldiers walked into the fallout."

A doctor working for the U.S. Department of Defense, Dr. Michael 
Kilpatrick, said adverse effects of depleted uranium have not 
been proven, according to an Aug. 6 article on Kyne published in 
the Aspen Daily News.

Kilpatrick also has said there is no such thing as a "Gulf War 
Syndrome" because soldiers who are sick have such a wide variety 
of symptoms, according to the Aspen paper.

But Kyne said uranium particles were in the sand, and soldiers 
could breathe them in.

"The half-life of uranium is 4.5 billion years," he said. "It 
damages the gene pool."

Although Kyne is criticizing the military, he said he believes 
he's still carrying out his military duties.

"The soldier's job is to protect democracy, he said. "I still 
think I'm following my orders."

A retired Montana State University chemistry professor in the 
audience, Reed Howald, said tiny particles of Uranium 38 would be 
"particularly hazardous" in a weapon that struck a tank.

"It might very well account for what we call 'Gulf War 
Syndrome,'" Howald said.

Another man in the audience, Clinton Cain, a retired mining 
engineer, said the depleted uranium issue should be addressed by 
Montana's congressmen.

"I don't understand why our congressional delegation doesn't tell 
the American people they're using spent uranium in shells if it's 
true," Cain said.

Joan Haines is at citydesk@dailychronicle.com 

*****************************************************************
 36 Las Vegas SUN: Presidential appearance draws protesters outside
Vegas union hall


Today: August 12, 2004 at 11:37:44 PDT 

 By CHRISTINA ALMEIDA ASSOCIATED PRESS 

LAS VEGAS (AP) - Several hundred protesters demonstrated
Thursday outside a southern Nevada carpenters' union hall where
President Bush spoke about jobs, the Yucca Mountain nuclear
waste repository and the war on terror. 

Chanting "No More Bush" and "Bush Lied," some in the crowd said
they were upset about Bush administration union policies and the
president's support for a planned national nuclear waste dump at
Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. 

Some criticized the symbolism of his appearance at the United
Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners training center, in an
industrial park near McCarran International Airport. 

"He's totally against organizing," said Patrick Rush, 49, of Las
Vegas, an organizer for the State of Nevada Employees
Association and American Federation of State, County and
Municipal Employees. 

Rush said he wanted to tell Bush that Nevada residents don't
want nuclear waste, and said it didn't matter if Bush addressed
the Yucca Mountain issue during his speech. 

"He goes against his promises all the time," Rush said. 

The union official's comments echoed those of Democratic rival
John Kerry during speeches he gave Tuesday and Wednesday in the
Las Vegas area. 

Kerry said Bush broke a promise from his 2000 campaign to ensure
science, not politics, would decide whether Yucca Mountain would
become the nation's nuclear waste repository. When Bush and
Congress approved the site in 2002, many scientific studies
remained unfinished. 

The Bush campaign has accused Kerry of switching sides on the
Yucca issue - pointing to the Massachusetts senator's votes for
some measures affecting Yucca Mountain measures. In simple
yes-or-no votes, however, Kerry has voted against the project. 

"I listened to the people that know the facts and know the
science and I made a decision," Bush said. "My opponent wants to
turn the issue into a political poker chip." 

The protesters were kept well away from the union training
center that Bush said illustrated successful worker training
policies. 

"We're interested in finding things that work and heralding
them," the president said to applause from an invited audience.
"There are a lot of people willing to work, but the nature of
jobs is changing. They need help and education to fulfill the
new jobs of the 21st Century." 

Las Vegas police said the 250 to 300 demonstrators remained
peaceful under the watchful eye of about 60 officers. Some in
the crowd were overcome by heat, but no serious injuries were
reported. 

The protest was organized by the Democratic party in Nevada, and
included some union members upset about Bush administration
policies on overtime for workers and union practices. 

"I want to support getting Bush out of the White House. He has
done more harm in four years than anybody else in history," said
protester Julia Winkler, 44, an elementary school teacher from
Las Vegas. 

Her husband, David Winkler, 57, also a teacher, blamed Bush for
the USA Patriot Act. 

"He is infringing on our rights under a supposed banner of
freedom," he said. 

After the speech, the president was scheduled to fly to Santa
Monica, Calif., for a Republican party fundraiser. 

-- 



*****************************************************************
 37 USATODAY.com : Bush defends decision to send nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain
 
  Posted 8/12/2004 4:14 PM     Updated 8/12/2004 4:40 PM   

LAS VEGAS (AP) — President Bush on Thursday defended his
decision to use Nevada's Yucca Mountain as the nation's
high-level nuclear waste dump, an unpopular move in a swing
state that he won four years ago. 

"I said I would make a decision based upon science, not
politics. I said I would listen to the scientists, those
involved with determining whether or not this project could move
forward in a safe manner and that's exactly what I did," Bush
told supporters in this city 90 miles southeast of the proposed
waste site. 

Bush accused Democratic Sen. John Kerry of pandering to Nevada
voters by playing both sides of the issue, part of a broader
effort to cast the Massachusetts senator as someone who bends to
the political winds. 

"He says he's strongly against Yucca here in Nevada, but he
voted for it several times," Bush claimed. 

That is not exactly true. 

Each time Kerry has faced the simple choice of voting whether or
not to send waste to Yucca Mountain, he has voted against it.

But he has voted for some measures that had provisions to allow
nuclear dumps there. Some 16 years ago, Kerry voted for an
overall budget bill that included a provision favoring putting
the nuclear waste in Nevada. 

Kerry visited Las Vegas earlier this week, and said that Bush
broke a campaign promise to ensure science and not politics
determined his decision whether to ship waste to Yucca Mountain. 

Dozens of scientific studies remain incomplete and a recent
federal appeals court ruling raised questions about whether the
waste repository will be built, or at least meet its target of
2010 to begin operation. 

Bush said he was pleased to "allow this process to be appealed
to the courts and to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission." 

"I will stand by the decision of the courts and the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission," Bush said. 

Bush's visit here was his second in two months. Though Nevada
has only five electoral votes  a tiny slice of the 270 needed
to win the presidency  it has become a hotly contested prize in
an election that is so close. 

A poll of likely Nevada voters in late July showed the race
essentially tied. 

From Nevada, Bush was jetting to Santa Monica, Calif. for a
Republican National Committee fund raiser, his 12th visit to
California. He has not been there in five months, a measure of
the pessimism in Bush's camp about winning California's 55
electoral votes. 

Recent polls show Kerry holds a lead of about 11 percentage
points, despite Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger's victory in
last year's gubernatorial recall election. Schwarzenegger was
introducing Laura Bush at Thursday night's fund raiser. 

Kerry also campaigned in Southern California on Thursday, saying
Bush's tax cuts failed to spur job creation. 

Bush defended the tax cuts in his speech at a Las Vegas union
hall, which the Bush campaign packed with hundreds of Republican
supporters. 

"All I ask is to be careful about all of this talk about taxing
the rich," Bush said. "The so-called rich hire accountants and
lawyers to maybe not pay as much. And therefore in order to meet
all of these promises, guess who ends up getting stuck with the
bill? The working people." 

It was Bush's latest attempt to court a friendly labor union,
the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners. Most labor
unions lean strongly Democratic. 

Copyright 2004 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
 38 Washington Times: Deja vote in the desert
 
                        - August 12, 2004

to embody Yogi Berra's line, "This is like deja vu all over 
again." Mr. Kerry takes a popular position in a potential swing 
state, only to have his Senate record show that he had often 
voted the opposite way. 
 
Mr. Kerry committed that deja vu all over again earlier this 
week. While campaigning in Las Vegas for the five electoral votes 
of the currently deadlocked state of Nevada, Mr. Kerry declared 
his opposition to the high-level nuclear waste repository being 
built at Yucca Mountain: "I can sum up my stance on the Yucca 
Mountain Plan in four words: Not on my watch. As a senator, I 
voted against it. And as president, I will do everything in my 
power to ensure your backyard does not become America's nuclear 
waste dump." 
 
 
Actually, Mr. Kerry did all that a senator could do to ensure 
that Nevada was the site of the waste repository in 1987 by 
voting for the "Screw Nevada" bill, which essentially singled out 
the state as the site of the nuclear waste repository. Mr. Kerry 
voted six other times for measures supporting the project. In 
1987, he voted for a provision (different from the "Screw Nevada" 
bill) that made the Yucca project almost inevitable. In 1997, Mr. 
Kerry voted against a provision, sponsored by the minority whip, 
Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada, that would have required the written 
consent of governors for nuclear waste to be transported across 
state lines. 
 
Messrs. Reid and Kerry now dismiss those pro-Yucca votes as 
meaningless and procedural. But as Mr. Reid's Senate Republican 
counterpart, Sen. John Ensign, noted, "[Mr Kerry's] voting record 
until 1997 is one of supporting the repository." Mr. Kerry's 
support went beyond that. Yesterday, the Las Vegas Sun reported 
that in 1999, Mr. Kerry and three other senators sent a letter to 
the Energy and Natural Resources Committee chairman calling for 
"an accelerated [nuclear] waste acceptance schedule." The only 
possible place for those depositions was Yucca Mountain. 
 
Mr. Kerry has attempted to use Yucca Mountain as an example of 
Mr. Bush's maladroit leadership. Yet the wasteland between the 
senator's rhetoric and his voting record has made it another 
example of his pandering and flip-flops. To prove that this 
wasn't mere election-year flip-flopping, perhaps Mr. Kerry would 
like to state publicly  before the election  which other 
battleground state he would instead propose for the nuclear-waste 
disposal site. 
 

 
*****************************************************************
 39 Guardian Unlimited: Bush, in Nev., Faces Nuclear Dump Fallout
 
From the Associated Press        

[UP] 

Thursday August 12, 2004 7:46 AM

AP Photo NMJS104 

By PETE YOST 

Associated Press Writer 

PHOENIX (AP) - Facing political fallout from an unpopular 
decision to put nuclear waste dump in the state, President Bush 
is rallying Republican support in Nevada where he wants to repeat 
his victory of four years ago. 

Bush was campaigning Thursday before a friendly labor union in 
Nevada and raising money in Santa Monica, Calif., for the 
Republican Party. 

On the third day of a cross-country campaign swing, Bush's 
problems in Nevada stem from rival John Kerry tapping into voter 
anger over the president's designation of Yucca Mountain as the 
national repository for nuclear waste. 

The issue has stirred up such strong feelings in Nevada that it 
is creating a close race between the president and Kerry, 
according to recent polls. 

Kerry says the president broke the promise he made in the 2000 
race to ensure science and not politics determined his decision 
whether to ship waste to Yucca Mountain. 

Sig Rogich, a prominent aide in the Reagan White House and in the 
first Bush administration, says Kerry is ``pinning his hopes'' on 
the Yucca Mountain controversy because ``there's nothing else'' 
for the Democrat to run on in Nevada. 

Adriana Martinez, chair of the Nevada Democratic Party, says 
Yucca Mountain is a recruiting poster. 

``We get several e-mails a day from Republicans saying `We'd like 
to volunteer,''' said Martinez. ``We definitely have a good 
shot.'' 

A recent appeals court ruling raised questions about whether the 
waste repository will be built, or at least meet its target of 
2010 to begin operation. The court ruled that the federal plan 
for Yucca Mountain does not go far enough to protect people from 
potential radiation. Bush's energy secretary, Spencer Abraham, 
says the project is moving ahead. Environmental groups and 
lawyers for Nevada say the court's rejection of proposed 
radiation exposure limits could doom the project. 

A complicating factor for Bush in recapturing Nevada is that the 
state has hundreds of thousands of new residents since the 2000 
presidential election. The influx at first trended Republican but 
lately has been moving in the other direction politically with 
many Hispanics coming to the state, says Rogich. 

Rogich sees Bush winning the state because ``the president has 
been good to Nevada mining, ranching, farming and tourism. The 
economy is booming.'' 

Portraying himself as a man of the West, Bush attacked Kerry for 
alleged inconsistencies on the issue of clearing forest lands. On 
Wednesday night in Phoenix, Bush said Kerry criticized the 
Healthy Forests Restoration Act when the president signed it into 
law and that the Democrat now says he supports parts of the law 
as he campaigns in the West. 

The act seeks to speed up the harvesting of trees on 20 million 
acres of federal forest land most at risk to wildfires. 

``I guess it's not only the wildfires that shift with the wind,'' 
Bush told cheering supporters. 
  
      Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004
*****************************************************************
 40 Press Gaggle: by Scott McClellan (Yucca)

 Press Secretary Briefings     

For Immediate Release Office of the Press Secretary August 12, 
2004 

Aboard Air Force One
 En Route Las Vegas, Nevada 

  + President’s Schedule 
  + Yucca Mountain 
  + Nuclear Waste Facility 
  + Iraq/Najaf 
  + Senator Kerry/Campaign 

9:55 A.M. PDT 

MR. McCLELLAN: This morning the President spoke with some of the
senior staff back in Washington and received a briefing on the
storms -- Tropical Storm Bonnie and Hurricane Charley. The
President wanted to make sure that all the necessary and
appropriate federal resources are being deployed and put in
place. And then following that, he had his usual briefings. 

And upon arrival in Vegas, the Freedom Corps greeter is Mike
Peschl, who has been an active volunteer with Habitat for
Humanity of Las Vegas since 1996. Then following that, the
President will go to the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and
Joiners of America International Training Facility and
participate in a tour. You all would be there to cover that as
the pool. I think there are two different parts of the training
facility that he will be touring today. And then he will make
remarks to the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of
America International Training Facility, or people that are
there at the International Training Facility. 

Then we leave Las Vegas and go to Los Angeles. The Freedom Corps
greeter there will be Lynn Brennan. And for the past year, Lynn
has volunteered as a producer and host of Senior Living, a cable
television program that airs throughout Southern California and
focuses on affirmative aging. 

Then the President will participate in a -- President and Mrs.
Bush will participate in an interview with "Larry King Live,"
which will air tonight on, which station, Suzanne? 

Q CNN. 

Q Is that pool coverage? 

MR. McCLELLAN: No, but you can -- it will be open press tonight,
though, on TV. Then following that, the President makes remarks
tonight at a Victory 2004 dinner in Santa Monica. If there are
any other stops along the way, we will keep you posted. 

Q Do you have an update to the schedule, sir? 

MR. McCLELLAN: I do have an update to the schedule. Thank you
for reminding me. On Monday, August 16th, in addition to the
previously announced remarks in Cincinnati, to the Veterans of
Foreign Wars convention, the President will also make remarks at
a Traverse City, Michigan rally. And that's all I've got. 

Q Back home that night? 

MR. McCLELLAN: Yes, I believe we're back in D.C. 

MR. DECKARD: Monday night? Yes. 

MR. McCLELLAN: Monday night, yes. 

Q Can you preview the remarks today, both what he's going to say
to the Joiners -- the overarching remarks, and particularly
Yucca Mountain? 

MR. McCLELLAN: Obviously, he'll talk about our highest
priorities, but I expect he'll spend some portion of his remarks
talking about job training and the importance of making sure
that workers, including those in the skill trades, like
construction, are trained to fill the high-paying, high-growth
jobs. I think the Labor Department has put out some statistics
-- which we'll get you in a fact sheet -- showing that the
construction jobs are going to be growing significantly over the
next several years. And we need to make sure that workers are
trained to fill those jobs. And so I think he'll talk a little
bit about that. 

Q Yucca -- 

MR. McCLELLAN: I expect he probably will talk some about Yucca
Mountain. The senator from Massachusetts was recently in Vegas,
and it was interesting to hear his latest comments about Yucca
Mountain. He is someone who has had changing positions on this
issue. The senator has said one thing when he's in Nevada, but
done another thing when he's in Washington, D.C. And so I expect
the President will touch a little bit on the Yucca Mountain
issue in his remarks. 

Q This union -- has this union endorsed the President, or -- 

MR. McCLELLAN: I don't think they've made an endorsement at this
point. I'll double check with the campaign, and you might want
to, as well. But my understanding was that they have not made an
endorsement at this point. 

Q So my review of his votes, or my office's review of his votes
shows he never directly voted for Yucca Mountain. 

MR. McCLELLAN: I think the campaign can provide you with some
six votes and some other correspondence that might be available
where Senator Kerry voted against Nevada and voted in support of
the Yucca Mountain site. They can provide you with that
information. Again, the senator says one thing when he goes to
Nevada to campaign, but he has done another thing while in
office in Washington, D.C. I think that's important for the
people of Nevada to know. They know where the President stands. 

Q Scott, what do you say, though, to the scientific community
who say that it's unresolved, still, the issue of -- it's
unresolved, the issue of whether or not that was a good idea, to
allow that waste facility to -- 

MR. McCLELLAN: -- spoke to this the other day. I know that
Secretary Abraham has spoken to it recently, as well. The
President has always said that this is a decision that should be
based on science. And that's what this administration has done
in the decision-making process. The President is also strongly
committed to making sure that all the necessary safety measures
are in place to make sure that people in Nevada are safe. And we
very much respect Nevada's right to pursue this case with the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission and pursue it in the courts. 

Q So he didn't renege on his 2000 campaign promise? 

MR. McCLELLAN: Again, I think that was Senator Kerry trying to
divert attention away from the fact that he has acted one way in
Washington, D.C., while saying another thing campaigning in
Nevada. 

Q What was -- 

MR. McCLELLAN: The President always said that this is a decision
that should be based on the science, and not politics. 

Q Critics say that he made -- 

MR. McCLELLAN: The President made it very clear. And, well, the
Department of Energy has provided all the scientific evidence
that the decision has been based on, and they can provide you
with that information. But this is a decision that has been
based on science. And I think the Senator now has taken a
politically expedient position that runs counter to the actions
he has taken in Washington, D.C. 

Q Scott, do you know anything about the attack in Najaf, on
Sadr's home -- that he wasn't there -- U.S. forces stormed the
house, and he's holed up in another area? 

MR. McCLELLAN: Again, I think that those are questions best
directed to the interim government. I think that the Minister of
Defense and the Minister of Interior are having a news
conference in Iraq on the latest developments in Najaf. We are
there to partner with Iraqi forces to help bring about security
in Iraq. And Prime Minister Allawi has stated very strongly that
he is determined to improve the security situation and bring
stability to Najaf, and we're there to work with the Iraqi
security forces. But they'll be having a news conference -- if
they're not already -- later today. 

Q Scott, Vice President Cheney said today that Kerry views the
world as if the September 11th attacks never happened. Is that
the President's view? 

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, one, I haven't seen exactly what the Vice
President said. I'll be glad to take a look at it. But the Vice
President is speaking as a member of this administration,
obviously. And, you know, there are some clear differences when
it comes to the war on terrorism. I think that there has been a
clear misunderstanding of how we go about that war on terrorism,
shown by Senator Kerry's comments and actions. This President
recognizes that we must confront threats before it's too late,
and that we must stay on the offensive to win the war on
terrorism and defeat the terrorists and protect the American
people. And that's what he's continuing to do. 

Q Are we going to expect him to say anything about the
sensitivity issue, running a sensitive war -- Kerry's remarks? 

MR. McCLELLAN: I think the Vice President talked very clearly
about that earlier today. 

Q Do you think Bush will say it, as well? 

MR. McCLELLAN: No, I don't expect so. I know it's what the Vice
President said yesterday on Iraq, too, that the Senator
continues to be all over the map when it comes to Iraq. The
campaign -- his statements and the campaign's latest statements
are just another in a series of contradictions and
inconsistencies on his position -- about his position on Iraq. 

Q Are these lines we might get from Bush? 

MR. McCLELLAN: You'll be there to cover him today. You heard him
talk about what Senator Kerry had said about troops. Of course,
we know a while back he had said that he would look to the
commanders to make those decisions, and then he changed his
position and said that he would significantly reduce troops, but
he wouldn't tell us what his plan to do that was. And now he's
saying, well, it's a goal. And his campaign then had to try to
clarify that further and said, well, it depends on circumstances
on the ground. So he's been all over the map on Iraq on a number
of issues. And then his campaign tried to clarify his position
when he said that: let me answer the President's questions
directly. And he said: yes, that's the answer to the question.
And then they tried to clarify his position even further and
said, well, it may not have been a vote to go to war. Well, in
1991, when the vote was going on for the authorization of force
in the Persian Gulf, Senator Kerry then said: this isn't about
sending a message, this is about going to war. 

So there continues to be a series of inconsistencies and
contradictions on Iraq. 

Q Should we expect an Urban League-style speech today, where he
makes a pitch to a union and asks these people the question why
the Democrats are in their interest? 

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, you'll be there to cover the remarks, but
he is competing hard for their votes. And he has a strong record
when it comes to standing on the side of workers and working
families. And he'll be talking about that record and his agenda
going forward. 

Q Is Arnold going to be at the thing tonight? 

MR. MCCLELLAN: Yes. 

Q Is he going to introduce him or -- 

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, he is scheduled to be there. I'm not going
to give any more specifics of all the introductions and things,
but you'll be there to cover it. We're pleased to have him
helping on the Bush-Cheney team in California. 

Q Are you counting on him to help deliver the state for you? 

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, the President is going to continue
competing to win the state of California. And, again, we'll keep
you posted. You'll be traveling with us. Stay tuned for some
updates to the schedule later today in California. But this
President is going to work hard to win the state of California,
because he has a proven record of results and achievement that
-- 

Q Are we -- go ahead, sorry. 

MR. McCLELLAN: Go ahead. 

Q Are we adding some stops in California? Or what are you -- 

MR. McCLELLAN: I said we'll keep you posted. 

Q You're dropping a pretty good hint here. 

MR. McCLELLAN: We'll keep you posted. 

Q Thanks. 

END 10:08 A.M. PDT 



		 
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*****************************************************************
 41 Daily Yomiuri: N-plant deaths put MOX plan in doubt 

Yomiuri Shimbun 

Fukui Gov. Issei Nishikawa said Thursday he would suspend the 
pluthermal project at Takahama Nuclear Power Plant's Nos. 3 and 4 
reactors in Takahamacho, Fukui Prefecture, in light of Monday's 
accident at Mihama Nuclear Power Plant in Mihamacho in the same 
prefecture. 

Nishikawa also said he would postpone making any decision to 
approve the Japan Nuclear Cycle Institute's plan to modify the 
Monju fast-breeder reactor in Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture, that was 
shut down after a sodium coolant leak in 1995. 

The central government has inspected and approved the plant, but 
modifications to the reactor have to be completed before it can 
be restarted. 

Based on an agreement between the institute and the prefectural 
government and other related organizations, resumption of 
operations at the reactor has to be approved in advance by the 
governor, but Nishikawa has yet to make any decision on the 
matter. 

"The safety of nuclear power plants is taken for granted, but 
it's no longer something we can rely on," he said. 

Regarding the pluthermal plan, Nishikawa said he could not give 
the green light to the plan unless thorough inspections at 
Mihamacho restored public trust in nuclear power. 

"Kansai Electric Power Co. should have known better," he said in 
reference to Monday's accident. 

In 1995, the previous Fukui governor gave advance approval for 
the pluthermal plan based on a safety agreement with KEPCO, but 
the plan was suspended after British Nuclear Fuels Ltd. was found 
to have fabricated data on plutonium-uranium mixed oxide (MOX) 
fuel it shipped to Japan. 

In March, Nishikawa gave his approval to the plan, which involves 
burning MOX fuel extracted from spent nuclear fuel at nuclear 
power plants, but it is likely to be postponed again due to the 
accident at the Mihama Nuclear Power Plant that killed four 
employees and injured seven others.   

Copyright 2004 The Yomiuri Shimbun 
*****************************************************************
 42 Las Vegas Mercury: Editor's Note: Sorry, but Sierra Club is right on...
 
Thursday, Aug 12, 2004, 08:19:45 PM                                    

The kneejerk wisdom is that the Sierra Club is out of control
with its lawsuit to stop the U.S. 95 widening project. After the
9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decided last month to halt
future phases of the widening until the issues raised by the
lawsuit can be debated further, a cloudburst of criticism poured
down on the Sierra Club. Club members reported receiving nasty
threats. Even normally level-headed commentators such as
Review-Journal columnist Steve Sebelius and the Las Vegas Sun
editorial page urged the environmental group to drop its case.

 The primary concern is that the Sierra Club's lawsuit will
unnecessarily delay the widening and thus lead to greater
traffic congestion on U.S. 95. Which may be true. But this
short-term thinking fails to consider the fundamental objective
of the lawsuit and the potential long-term value if it succeeds.

 The Sierra Club's specific legal case centers on the impact
that air pollution from vehicles on the highway will have on
nearby residents. This may or may not be a scientifically valid
issue. But the bigger issue raised by the lawsuit is that there
is no master transportation plan for the Las Vegas Valley.

 Like so many important matters here, this just hasn't been
adequately discussed. In the predominant Vegas mindset, there is
only what is good for us today, and never mind next week, let
alone next year or 10 years from now. What makes us happy right
now is the only consideration on the table.

 As a result, we don't really plan for the long term. The
widening of U.S. 95 is a good example of this. With continuing
growth in the northwest valley, the widened highway slated to
open a few years from now will be just as congested as the
narrower highway is today.

 What the Sierra Club is saying is fairly simple: Widening U.S.
95 may be a legitimate part of the program to improve traffic
flow in Las Vegas, but it should be just one of several
responses to the problem. Standing alone, it is far from a
panacea.

 There are other ways to reduce traffic congestion on U.S. 95.
For example, we know that many northwest residents work on the
south Strip. Maybe a program could be set up to entice those
Strip workers to park their cars at some designated place in the
northwest and ride an express bus to work. The bus or buses
could be dedicated to south Strip employees and there would be
no stops before their destination. MGM Mirage Mandalay, or
whatever the merged monolith will be called, could provide
significant incentives for its employees to take the bus.
Perhaps a similar program could be established for Steve Wynn
and Sheldon Adelson's workers on the north Strip. 

Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club, says he isn't
a traffic planner and therefore doesn't have detailed solutions
to U.S. 95 congestion. But he says the Federal Highway
Administration's lack of a master plan is galling. "Obviously
people are very frustrated by the traffic situation in Las
Vegas," Pope says. "But the reality is that you can't solve
gridlock just by paving. You need to have an intelligent and
diverse solution. You need to sit down with the community and
the experts and figure out not just a highway but a solution.
That's what we haven't been able to get from the highway
administration."

 A more ambitious commuter transit system clearly has to be in
Las Vegas' future. If, as expected, our population doubles in
the next 20 years, I guarantee 10 lanes on U.S. 95 isn't going
to cut it. Light rail has been the option of choice in other
metropolitan communities, including car-loving Western cities,
but it's very expensive. Nonetheless, Pope says, the key is to
plan now. "You gotta think ahead, because by the time you finish
this freeway, it will be as crowded as the old one was," he says.

 Pope says the FHA's approach brings to mind the attitude of the
Department of Energy in its efforts to dump high-level nuclear
waste at Yucca Mountain. "Both involve arrogant federal agencies
deciding on solutions before finishing the studies," he says.
"It's a top-down bureaucratic attitude. They don't solve the
problem, they just build the facility."

 A large majority of Nevadans opposes the DOE's plan to dump
nuclear waste 90 miles from Las Vegas. The state of Nevada has
used legal action to try to stop the project. Yucca Mountain
critics rejoiced last month when a federal appeals court sided
with Nevada and threw a big wrench in the DOE's plans.

 There is a strong parallel here with the Sierra Club's lawsuit.
The short-term pain of a delayed U.S. 95 widening could result
in a long-term gain of a true, visionary transportation plan for
the valley. Maybe we should embrace these tree-huggers rather
than try to cut them down.

Fear of freedom

 The new Iraqi government has shut down Al-Jazeera's Baghdad
offices on claims that the satellite news network was "inciting
violence." So much for free speech in President Bush's model of
democracy in the Middle East.

--GEOFF SCHUMACHER

Copyright © Las Vegas Mercury, 2001 - 2004
*****************************************************************
 43 Las Vegas Mercury: Door-to-door activism 

Thursday, Aug 12, 2004, 08:19:45 PM 

Carmen Salas listens to speakers at a satellite town meeting 
with Michael Moore at UNLV. The event was organized by MoveOn. 
Photo by SAMANTHA CLEMENS 

Thursday, August 12, 2004 

Copyright © Las Vegas Mercury 
Door-to-door activism 

Nevada's battleground status breeds grassroots campaigns 

By Vince Keenan 

Courtney Watson of Las Vegas isn't running for office, but 
she's in campaign mode. 

Watson is talking up the environment, saying Democratic 
presidential nominee John Kerry cares much more about it than 
his Republican rival, President Bush. To help get her point 
across, the full-time Sierra Club staffer leads volunteers 
door-to-door for up to two hours at a time Wednesday nights and 
Saturday mornings in the Las Vegas area. Then on Tuesday and 
Thursday nights, she and her helpers unleash a torrent of calls 
via telephone banks from the environmental organization's local 
office. 

But they're not the only paid and volunteer grassroots 
canvassers in town these days boosting the Democratic ticket. 
Like bees on honey, at least two other national political action 
groups also have descended on Nevada, one of 17 swing states 
that posted slim ballot margins in 2000's nip-and-tuck battle 
for the White House. 

"Nevada is a very, very important state in this election," says 
Watson, a Sierra Club conservation organizer. 

Staging activities primarily in Las Vegas and Reno, America 
Coming Together and the MoveOn Political Action Committee also 
are trying to lay groundwork that could tip the scales against 
Bush on Election Day, Nov. 2. 

"We're knocking on doors, we're calling voters to follow up, 
we're doing site registrations for voter registration," said 
Terence Tolbert, state director of America Coming Together, 
which aims to register and mobilize voters in order to elect 
"progressive" candidates at the local, state and federal levels. 
The group recently demonstrated locally against Bush 
environmental policies, taking part in a protest Aug. 5 to 
coincide with Interior Secretary Gale Norton's visit to Las 
Vegas. 

Like the Sierra Club, ACT is telling voters that the upcoming 
election could very well decide the fate of the Yucca Mountain 
nuclear waste repository proposal. "Yucca Mountain is a huge 
issue here," Tolbert said. 

He said before being elected president, Bush vowed to base his 
deliberations on "sound science"--and not politics--in making 
any decision on burying radioactive waste 90 miles northwest of 
Las Vegas. But the president reneged on his promise, Tolbert 
charged. 

Paul Carman of Henderson, a volunteer for MoveOn PAC, also 
alleges Bush went back on his word regarding Yucca Mountain. 
Carman believes a Kerry victory would be the state's best shot 
at warding off the proposal. He said Kerry's record contrasts 
sharply with Bush's when it comes to the environment. "The 
importance of Yucca Mountain is it shows the true character of 
the two people running," Carman explained. 
State Republican Party Executive Director Chris Carr said groups 
such as MoveOn are making Yucca Mountain out to be a Republican 
proposal. "They continue to use Yucca Mountain as a political 
football," Carr said. He said the fact is that state GOP 
lawmakers as well as the party's congressional delegation oppose 
the idea. "This is one issue we disagree with the president on," 
Carr said. 

MoveOn says it sticks up for democracy at the grassroots level, 
particularly when elected officials' actions counter public 
opinion. In the latest of a string of publicity events, the 
group planned to deliver thousands of petitions last Monday to 
state GOP headquarters on West Sahara Avenue asking the party to 
"renew" its opposition to the Yucca Mountain project. 

"Up to a year or two ago, state Republicans were against making 
a nuclear dump at Yucca Mountain. Frankly, I just think they 
rolled over," Carman said. 

MoveOn also conducted a voter registration drive a few weeks 
ago, Carman said. And about a month ago, MoveOn publicized Bush 
critic Michael Moore's film, Fahrenheit 9/11, before an audience 
of hundreds at UNLV, Carman added. He said he wants the group's 
message to permeate party lines. 

"We'd like to target those people who voted for Bush but don't 
like what he's accomplished, or failed to accomplish, in the 
last four years," Carman said. "We can look at a lot of things. 
The war in Iraq, the downturn in the economy. We have talked to 
a lot of Republicans who are voting for Kerry this time." 

Nevada Sierra Club members and supporters held a press 
conference Aug. 5 at the Culinary Workers Union Hall, headlined 
by Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope, as well as state 
Assemblywoman Peggy Pierce, D-Las Vegas. The event was intended 
to kick off the Sierra Club's "Las Vegas Environmental Voter 
Education Campaign." 

"In the next 88 days we need to talk to our family members and 
neighbors about voting," Pierce told the crowd of about 75. 
"This is a part of the effort that is going to determine the 
quality of life for years to come." 

Pope, who flew in from San Francisco to speak at the event, 
stressed the importance of fighting voter apathy by firing up 
the individuals who usually sit out political elections. They're 
the ones who will determine the outcome of the election, not the 
swing voters, he said. "We need to reinforce these people's 
commitment," he said. 

Republicans also have volunteer troops in action. "Right now 
we're doing voter I.D.," Carr explained, "and we're doing voter 
registrations--everything from door-to-door to phone banks, 
where we're calling high-growth areas asking people if they'd 
like to register to vote. Heavily populated areas. Traditional 
Republican areas." 

-----------------------------------------------------------------

	Home | 2AM Club Guide | Archive | Contact | Personals 	 	 

	Copyright © Las Vegas Mercury, 2001 - 2004 

	Stephens Media Group 	 
*****************************************************************
 44 Las Vegas RJ: Bush flying in to talk up economy 
 
Thursday, August 12, 2004
 
By ERIN NEFF REVIEW-JOURNAL

President Bush speaks Wednesday in New Mexico. He will be in Las
Vegas today.
ASSOCIATED PRESS

President Bush is expected to tout the economy during his visit
to Nevada today. But one campaign official confirmed he also
will touch on an issue that is become contentious in this year's
political season -- storing nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain.
 
 Bush is expected to arrive at McCarran International Airport on
Air Force One mid-morning and then head to the United
Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America International
Training Center southeast of the airport to speak to union
members.
 
 His main focus at the event, which is closed to the public,
will be on the economy.
 
 "He will discuss the importance of job training in a changing
economy, continuing to move our economy forward and (creating)
an environment where small businesses can flourish," said Tracey
Schmitt, regional spokeswoman for the Bush-Cheney campaign.
 
 Schmitt declined to comment on whether Yucca Mountain, which
Bush approved in 2002 as the site for burial of the nation's
nuclear waste, would be brought up.
 
 The national carpenters union has worked with the Bush
administration on an energy bill and on a pension issue.
 
 Although its national union has not endorsed a presidential
candidate, some union members say many rank-and-file members in
Las Vegas are backing Democrat John Kerry.
 
 The training center at 6801 Placid St., near Sunset Road and
Gilespie Street, is a new $25 million facility on a campus
setting that is a hallmark of the international union's training
emphasis, according to center director Bill Irwin. 
But there also is a Nevada Carpenters training center and union
hall on Lamb Boulevard. One of the members there, speaking on
condition of anonymity, said: "If Bush tried to come here, we
wouldn't let him in the door."
 
 The member said Kerry has a better plan for union families.
 
 The national union has not made an endorsement in this
presidential race. Not a part of the AFL-CIO, the carpenters
typically have a go-it-alone attitude, and leaders of the union
in Nevada were happy to accept the campaign's invitation to see
the facility and speak to the members.
 
 But one carpenter, active with the union's political action
committee, wore his shirt and a John Kerry button at the Thomas
&Mack Center on Tuesday evening for Kerry's public rally. 
"We, I mean people like me in the union, are not supporting
Bush," said the carpenter, also speaking on condition of
anonymity. 
When Rep. Shelley Berkley began thanking various labor unions
for their presence at Tuesday's rally, the crowd booed when she
thanked carpenters.
 
 Numerous labor and other organizations are planning to protest
the visit at the Training Center.
 
 Democrats are calling the president's visit the "me too tour,"
saying Bush is following Kerry's lead.
 
 
Copyright Las Vegas Review-Journal
*****************************************************************
 45 Las Vegas RJ: Kerry vows to fight Yucca plan 
 
Thursday, August 12, 2004
 

Democrat says he will ask international experts to solve nuclear
waste issue By ERIN NEFF 
REVIEW-JOURNAL 

Presidential candidate John Kerry talks about health care issues
on Wednesday at Valley View Recreation Center in Henderson.
Photo by Clint Karlsen.
 
John Kerry said Wednesday that if elected president he'd do
everything possible to halt the Yucca Mountain project,
including withdrawing any licensing application that might be
submitted for the project by the Bush administration to the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 
Kerry spoke about Yucca Mountain for half of a 30-minute
roundtable with six Nevada journalists after his health care
meeting with seniors at the Valley View Recreation Center in
Henderson. 
"It's a serious promise," Kerry said. 
The Democratic presidential candidate said he isn't concerned
about pressure from the nuclear power industry or from other
states -- including his home state of Massachusetts -- which
have nuclear generators and waste stored on site. 
"I know how to stand up to pressure," Kerry said. 
Republicans have criticized Kerry's record on the issue because
of several procedural votes over the years and, notably, a 1987
vote that made Yucca Mountain the only site for study as a
potential repository. 
"My vote in 1987 is the only substantive vote and that vote
called for study," Kerry said of the votes highlighted by the
Republicans. "We were presuming at that point in time though
that they were going to do a safe analysis." 
Kerry voted against interim storage in the 1990s and voted with
Nevada in 2002 when Yucca Mountain, 100 miles northwest of Las
Vegas, was approved by the Bush administration for storing
waste. 
"My opposition has been on the basis of the analysis that has
come back," Kerry said. 
He said information he has learned in recent years leads him to
believe geological burial of nuclear waste might not ever be
possible. 
"The more I have looked at the issue, the more I have learned
about it, the less safe, the less comfortable I am with the
possibility," Kerry said. "There's nothing yet that suggests to
me it's fail-safe. I'm not prepared to go shut it into some
place anywhere. Not just Yucca Mountain, anywhere." 
Kerry announced Tuesday that he would create a panel of
international experts to explore how to dispose of nuclear
waste. 
"I think there's an enormous potential for science to find
something," Kerry said. 
"I'm convinced we can come out of this with a much stronger
counter-terrorism, counter-proliferation, pro-environmental
solution and that's what I'm going to do," he said. 
Kerry said his two cabinet secretaries that would have Yucca
oversight in some way -- Energy and Interior -- "will both be
highly versed in these kinds of issues and will be strong
managers to lead this country in a more thoughtful approach." 
Asked how he would act under pressure from other states or
industry groups, the Massachusetts senator said, "I've been
there for 20 years. Look at my votes and you'll see I don't vote
with them. I haven't voted for things that empower them to do
things contrary to the public interest." 
Kerry said he hopes to "translate pressure" into a solution for
his panel of experts and plans to work with the nuclear industry
to find a solution. 
"I will sit at the table with them; talk to them; figure out
what we're going to do, but we're not going to do (Yucca
Mountain)." 
"It ain't ready for prime time," he said. 
On Tuesday, nuclear industry experts and other critics scoffed
at Kerry's plans for Yucca Mountain, saying the parcel is the
most studied piece of land on the planet. Rigorous independent
reviews of the licensing process remain, they said, and deep
geologic storage has been determined to be the safest route
possible. The Bush-Cheney campaign accused Kerry of playing the
issue in Nevada for its electoral votes. 
During Wednesday's interview Kerry said all of the health care
and education proposals he mentioned during his Tuesday rally at
the Thomas &Mack Center could be funded by repealing tax cuts
for the wealthiest 1.5 percent of Americans and by closing what
he called tax loopholes. 
Kerry said his health care plan would cost about $600 billion
and increasing grants to college students and other educational
programs would cost $300 billion. 
"I'm not pretending it's for free," he said. "I'm not pretending
that there aren't choices here. If you want health care, if you
want to pay for special needs education, if you want No Child
Left Behind fully funded, I have a way to do it." 
Kerry said he opposed the way Bush has handled homeland
security, from its inception to the current threat reporting
system,. 
Kerry said his administration will re-evaluate the threat
reporting system, but he did not say he would scrap the
color-coded method of raising and lowering the terror alerts. 
He also promised a return trip to Las Vegas, a future trip to
Northern Nevada and a visit to the state by vice presidential
candidate John Edwards. 
"I'll be back," he concluded, mimicking Arnold Schwarzenegger's
Terminator character.
 
 
Copyright Las Vegas Review-Journal
*****************************************************************
 46 Guardian Unlimited Bush: Kerry Using Nuclear Issue in Nev.
 
From the Associated Press        

[UP] 

Thursday August 12, 2004 8:16 PM

AP Photo NVPM102 

By PETE YOST 

Associated Press Writer 

LAS VEGAS (AP) - President Bush, who favors storing nuclear waste 
in Nevada, accused Democratic rival John Kerry on Thursday of 
using the issue as ``a political poker chip'' to woo the state's 
voters. 

Addressing a volatile issue that has forced him into a tight race 
in Nevada, Bush said Kerry has voted for the Yucca Mountain 
repository and then campaigned against it. In fact, the four-term 
Massachusetts senator consistently voted against creation of the 
site when addressing the specific issue. 

Some 16 years ago, Kerry voted for an overall budget bill that 
included a provision favoring putting the nuclear waste in 
Nevada. 

``My point to you is that if they're going to change, one day 
they may change again,'' said Bush, whose administration has 
pushed for using Yucca Mountain as the nation's nuclear waste 
repository. 

``My opponent is trying to turn Yucca Mountain into a political 
poker chip; he says he's strongly against Yucca but he voted for 
it several times,'' Bush told members of a friendly labor union 
that numbered more than 1,000 who applauded his remarks. 

During a visit to Las Vegas earlier in the week, Kerry tapped 
into voter anger over Bush's designation of Yucca Mountain. Kerry 
said Bush broke the promise he made as a candidate in 2000 to 
ensure science and not politics determined his decision whether 
to ship waste to Yucca Mountain. Bush approved the site after 
winning the presidency, even though many scientific studies 
remained unfinished. 

Bush's brief remarks about Yucca Mountain came in the middle of 
lengthy remarks about job training to a friendly labor union, the 
United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners. 

A Nevada political analyst, David Damore, said ``it doesn't 
surprise me'' that Bush's remarks were so brief, since the issue 
``is just not a winner for him.'' 

Damore, an associate political science professor at the 
University of Nevada, Las Vegas, pointed to the difficulty the 
issue has caused for the president, who was appearing before a 
relatively small crowd at a union job training facility. Damore 
noted that Kerry in his appearances this week in Nevada played to 
large crowds. 

``I don't know that the Republicans would show up for him the way 
the Democrats did for Kerry,'' Damore said. 

Sig Rogich, an aide to former Presidents Reagan and Bush, said 
Kerry is ``pinning his hopes'' on the Yucca Mountain controversy 
because ``there's nothing else'' for the Democrat to run on in 
Nevada. 

Adriana Martinez, chair of the Nevada Democratic Party, says 
Yucca Mountain is a recruiting poster. 

``We get several e-mails a day from Republicans saying 'We'd like 
to volunteer,''' said Martinez. ``We definitely have a good 
shot.'' 

A recent federal appeals court ruling raised questions about 
whether the waste repository will be built, or at least meet its 
target of 2010 to begin operation. The court ruled that the 
federal plan for Yucca Mountain does not go far enough to protect 
people from potential radiation. Bush's energy secretary, Spencer 
Abraham, says the project is moving ahead. 

Environmental groups and lawyers for Nevada say the court's 
rejection of proposed radiation exposure limits could doom the 
project. 

A complicating factor for Bush is that Nevada has hundreds of 
thousands of new residents since the 2000 presidential election. 
The influx at first trended Republican but lately has been moving 
in the other direction politically with many Hispanics coming to 
the state, says Rogich. 

Rogich sees Bush winning the state and its five electoral votes 
because ``the president has been good to Nevada mining, ranching, 
farming and tourism. The economy is booming,'' a fact that Bush 
was quick to point out in his remarks to the labor union. 

^--- 

On the Net: 

Bush-Cheney campaign: http://www.georgewbush.com 

Kerry-Edwards campaign: http://www.johnkerry.com 
  
      Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004
*****************************************************************
 47 Las Vegas SUN: Large utility makes deal on nuke waste

Government to pay company to keep on-site storage

 By Suzanne Struglinski <suzanne@lasvegassun.com 
[suzanne@lasvegassun.com] > SUN WASHINGTON BUREAU

 WASHINGTON -- The country's largest nuclear power company
struck a deal with the government Tuesday that could equal $300
million in payments for storing nuclear waste on site rather
than in a federal storage site.

 The Chicago-based Exelon Corp. announced a settlement with the
Justice Department on Tuesday saying it "resolves all pending
spent fuel litigation" the company and its subsidiaries brought
against the government. The company had three legal challenges
against the government.

 The Energy Department was supposed to take commercial power
plants' spent nuclear fuel in 1998 but failed to do so. It now
hopes to open the federal nuclear waste storage site at Yucca
Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, by 2010, although the
state is fighting the plan.

 Exelon and other nuclear companies have sued the government for
failing to take the waste. The companies argue they have double
the storage costs because they have to pay a fee into the
Nuclear Waste Fund, which helps pay for the project while also
paying to store their waste onsite.

 Through the settlement, Exelon will receive $80 million
immediately as reimbursement for the cost of keeping the waste
on site, with more money expected each year until the site
opens, according to the company. Exelon estimated if the sites
opens in 2010, the company could receive about $300 million from
the government.

 Exelon operates 17 nuclear reactors and owns four shutdown
reactors spread out on 11 sites in Illinois, Pennsylvania and
New Jersey. It has 41,193 nuclear fuel assemblies in dry cask
and pool storage, spokesman Craig Nesbit said.

 Chris Cane, Exelon's president and chief nuclear officer, said
in a statement that he was pleased with the settlement but that
it cannot be considered a substitute for permanent storage at
Yucca Mountain.

 Angie Howard, executive vice president of the Nuclear Energy
Institute, the industry's advocacy group that strongly supports
the Yucca site, called the settlement "hugely significant and a
direct result of the federal government's failure to meet its
statutory and contractual obligations."

 "The agreement means that taxpayers in every state -- including
those who do not receive electricity supplies from nuclear power
plants -- are now officially paying the costs of the federal
government's failure to meet its obligations," Howard said in a
statement.

 "From this day forward, until the Yucca Mountain repository is
open a minimum of six years from now, the meter will continue to
run, costs will climb, and the burden of government inaction
will continue to be borne by taxpayers from coast to coast,"
Howard said in a statement.

 

*****************************************************************
 48 Las Vegas SUN: Editorial: Real friend to Nevada on Yucca

 LAS VEGAS SUN

 President Bush's re-election campaign, supported by top
Republican officials in Nevada, keeps trying to sully Democratic
presidential candidate John Kerry's strong record of opposition
to the Yucca Mountain project. The Republican efforts are really
pathetic because Kerry, unlike Bush, has been there for the
residents of this state. In the most telling example of Kerry's
leadership, in 2002 he voted against Bush's plan to send 77,000
tons of high-level nuclear waste to Nevada. It doesn't take a
genius to figure out which candidate is better for Nevadans on
the biggest issue facing this state.

 On his two-day campaign swing in Nevada this week, Kerry added
to his anti-Yucca Mountain bona fides, declaring on Tuesday,
"When I'm president of the United States, I'll tell you (this)
about Yucca Mountain: Not on my watch." For those residents who
still might be undecided, Kerry added this sweetener to the mix:
He pledged to veto any legislation that would change the
radiation standards at Yucca Mountain. This is a huge
development because recently a federal appeals court said the
Environmental Protection Agency didn't follow the law when
establishing the radiation standards. Building a dump that would
meet stringent safety standards as required by law would be
impossible, a situation that should result in the project's
demise.

 Congress could get around the court's decision, however, by
passing new legislation that would undo the tough standards in
the existing law, thereby making the radiation standards easy to
meet and resulting in the dump being built. It's an incredibly
important reason why it's essential to have a president willing
to wield his veto pen against any efforts to weaken the
radiation standards -- and just why the stakes in this year's
presidential election are so high for Nevadans. 

*****************************************************************
 49 Las Vegas SUN: Letter: Yucca hardly state's top issue

Regarding your Aug. 4 editorial, "Yucca takes a back seat," I
disagree with your assumption that Yucca Mountain is the issue
that matters most to Nevadans. I live in Nevada and I couldn't
care less about Yucca Mountain.

 I have made drives around this state and have seen the endless
miles of desolate ground. I'd much rather see nuclear waste
stored there than somewhere like San Diego, the Great Lakes, or
New York City. The waste must go somewhere, so why not put it in
the middle of nowhere?

 The people who work at Yucca Mountain are not worried about the
effects of nuclear waste, yet those far away from it make it a
safety issue. John Kerry has said that he would not put the
waste here, but it has become evident that he will say anything
to get our vote.

 When all is said and done, the waste will be here anyhow. Let's
focus on more important issues, like improved education for our
children, the war on terror and the rebounding economy. When put
into perspective, the only positive choice is President Bush.

 FRANCY JOHNSON

 

*****************************************************************
 50 Las Vegas SUN: Hundreds protest at site of Bush LV speech

By Christina Littlefield <clittle@lasvegassun.com 
[clittle@lasvegassun.com] > LAS VEGAS SUN

 

Hundreds of protesters lined the street outside the carpenters
union facility in Las Vegas where President Bush held a campaign
event.

 The AFL-CIO -- the umbrella organization for most labor unions
in Nevada, but not the carpenters union -- organized the protest.

 "It's a bad sign that they (carpenters union) are speaking for
labor and they don't. They're just one small union," said Danny
Thompson, executive secretary treasurer of the Nevada AFL-CIO.

 Bush toured the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of
America International Training Center in Las Vegas before his
speech.

 Most of the protesters were union members who say Kerry will do
a better job for America's workers. Dozens of members of the
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 357, the
Sheet Metal Workers International Association, the Bricklayers
Union Local 13 and other unions were at the protest.

 Other protesters -- including one in a Hazmat suit -- spoke
against bringing nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain.

 Most shouted or displayed anti-Bush slogans.

 One sign read, "Bush -- Hands off overtime." Some protesters
shouted, "No more Bush." Others booed.

 Some union members attacked the carpenters union local for
hosting Bush.

 "I don't understand why the carpenters are supporting him, but
that's their decision," said Raymond Keen, president of the
bricklayers union.

 "We're the backbone of the economy and he (Bush) doesn't care
about us," Keen added.

 Jeffrey Westover, assistant business manager for the electrical
workers union,said, "Kerry's more (pro-)labor. He's not sending
American jobs out of the nation. He's not shrinking down jobs we
need."

 Rick DeVoe, a Democratic congressional candidate in District 3
and a member of the insulators union, was also at the protest.

 Devoe said he's voting for Kerry because "Bush does everything
in his power to undermine workers, from pay to safety."

 

*****************************************************************
 51 Las Vegas SUN: Energy Department won't wait for key Yucca issues
to be resolved

Today: August 12, 2004 at 9:32:08 PDT 

Energy Department won't wait for key Yucca issues to be resolved

By Suzanne Struglinski <suzanne@lasvegassun.com 
[suzanne@lasvegassun.com] > SUN WASHINGTON BUREAU

 WASHINGTON -- The Energy Department will answer all 293
remaining scientific issues for the Yucca Mountain project by
the end of the month, but will not wait for the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission to deem them "closed" before submitting
the project's license application.

 The department believes its actions fulfill its part of the
bargain established in September 2001 when the agencies agreed
there were 293 "key technical issues" or KTIs, that needed to be
resolved on the nuclear waste storage project. Nevada officials
say the department is walking away from its commitment.

 The department has submitted 264 of the 293 KTIs, but the
commission has only deemed 105 complete, according to Joseph
Ziegler, director of the Office of License and Application
Strategy.

 Ziegler told the commission that it does not intend to directly
respond to any requests for additional information by the
commission's staff on the remaining issues.

 "DOE (Energy Department) expects that any questions or concerns
of the NRC will be addressed within the context of the licensing
process," Ziegler wrote in a July 23 letter to the commission.
"If the NRC staff has any remaining questions or concerns, DOE
will evaluate those concerns or concerns and determine an
appropriate way to address the NRC staff's issue."

 When the NRC determines the issue is "complete," it means there
is enough information available to go through and see how the
department reached its answer. It does not mean that department
it right or wrong on a topic.

 "This is the latest example of the Energy Department's arrogant
approach in ignoring the law when it conflicts with the desire
to bury nuclear waste in Nevada," said Rep. Shelley Berkley,
D-Nev. "They need to answer these questions now, not after the
fact."

 Bob Loux, executive director of the state's Agency for Nuclear
Projects sent a letter to the commission Monday pointing to the
commission's own policy that said the KTIs would be complete
before any license application would be accepted.

 Former NRC Chairman Richard Meserve issued a letter in November
2001, which Nevada believes says all the KTIs must be completed
before the department can submit its license application.

 "In view of DOE disingenuously walking away from its
long-standing commitment, and assuming the role of the licensee
dictating terms to its licensing authority, NRC's silent
acquiescence to DOE's conduct would be in conflict with the
intent of its sufficiency letter," Loux wrote.

 Rod McCullum, senior project manager for waste at the Nuclear
Energy Institute, said the whole point of the KTI process was to
get the department and the commission ready for the licensing
process. He said he expects the commission to ask the department
for more information on the license application anyway so this
way everything can be done at once.

 McCullum said comments made by the commission staff during
several meetings have led him to believe it accepts this
approach.

 Critics of the program are still not convinced.

 "This continues to demonstrate that the DOE is not interested
in defending their theoretical 'sound science' record," said
Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev. "It's quite obvious because they don't
have one. If the DOE did, wouldn't they happily make sure these
key technical questions are answered in its entirety?"

 

*****************************************************************
 52 Las Vegas SUN: Bush comment on Yucca anticipated
 
Today: August 12, 2004 at 11:22:08 PDT 

President in town to visit labor union

 By Kirsten Searer <searer@lasvegassun.com 
[searer@lasvegassun.com] > LAS VEGAS SUN

 President Bush was expected to address the issue of Yucca
Mountain during his visit today to the United Brotherhood of
Carpenters and Joiners of America International Training Center.

 The campaign stop, which comes on the heels of a two-day visit
from Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry, will highlight
the president's plans to strengthen the economy and build a
strong national security, Bush spokeswoman Tracey Schmitt said.

 Also, she said, Bush "will speak to the issue of Yucca
Mountain."

 Before his speech, a reporter yelled a question to Bush asking
about Yucca Mountain. The president just smiled and waved.

 The president has not made a statement on the proposed nuclear
waste repository, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, since
approving it in 2002. In the 2000 campaign, he promised to use
"sound science" to determine the fate of the plan. He angered
many Nevadans by signing off on the project.

 Bush arrived a few minutes earlier than announced, with Air
Force One touching down at 10:10 a.m.

 The president exited the plane at 10:25 and greeted Nevada's
two Republican House members, Jim Gibbons and Jon Porter, as
well as with Republican National Committeewoman Beverly Willard.

 Bush then took a moment to talk with longtime Las Vegas Habitat
for Humanity volunteer Mike Peschl before his motorcade left for
the union training center.

 Bush was then scheduled to tour the union's training center
before speaking at the union building. He was expected to spend
two hours here before leaving for a fund-raiser in California.

 The president is speaking to the carpenters union because Bush
and the carpenters "both share a commitment to growing the
economy in creating jobs," Schmitt said.

 "The president understands that good jobs require good
training," Schmitt said. "The program that President Bush will
tour reflects these priorities."

 Some local union members have been critical of the carpenters
hosting Bush, saying he disagrees with unions on many key
issues. Democrats and Kerry are drawing much of their support
from labor unions.

 Bob Welch, director of operations for the training center that
Bush will be visiting, said the president was invited to tour
the facility two years ago and just now has accepted the
invitation. The tour does not represent support for Bush as a
candidate, he said.

 "Officially we are neutral," Welch said.

 Democratic Party spokesman Jon Summers called the situation "a
little different," but said the party will focus on Bush's
support for the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository.

 "I'm just focused more on hoping that we get answers from him
about Yucca Mountain," Summers said. "This is the third
opportunity that he's been in Nevada to explain why he lied to
us about Yucca Mountain."

 Bush visited Las Vegas in November and Reno in June but did not
mention the Yucca Mountain issue.

 Kerry has made Yucca Mountain a centerpiece of his campaign in
the state. He has pledged to stop Yucca Mountain if he's elected
president.

 Democrats hope to rally hundreds of people outside of the
training center to protest Bush, Summers said. Nevada has been
an election hot spot this week. Vice President Dick Cheney is
scheduled to make his fourth trip to Nevada this year on
Saturday, when he will attend a rally at Elko High School in
Elko.

 
               Questions or problems? Click here.
*****************************************************************
 53 Las Vegas SUN: Kerry hopes for advantage with stance on repository

Today: August 12, 2004 at 11:22:08 PDT 

By Kirsten Searer <searer@lasvegassun.com 
[searer@lasvegassun.com] > LAS VEGAS SUN

 John Kerry may have a trump card in Las Vegas -- his pledge to 
stop the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository.

 And during his visit this week, he wasn't afraid to play it.

 "This is a serious promise," he said Wednesday while outlining 
for local reporters his plan for Yucca Mountain.

 "This is not something I'm going to study," he said. "I've 
studied it. I've voted on it. I've listened to these experts. 
It's very clear to me that we shouldn't rush this thing."

 But during his two-day visit, Kerry also portrayed himself as a 
moderate -- once calling himself an "entrepreneurial Democrat" -- 
who could appeal to this closely divided state with his plans for 
the economy, the war on terror and health care.

 On Wednesday he reached out to seniors at Henderson's Valley 
View Recreation Center and won the endorsement of the Alliance 
for Retired Americans, a group of 3 million that broke off from 
the AARP.

 During the event, Kerry pummelled President Bush's prescription 
drug bill, which Kerry said has not stopped the rising drug costs 
that eat away at seniors' incomes.

 He promised to lower prescription drug costs by importing drugs 
from Canada, buying them in bulk and tightening regulations on 
drug companies that keep patents so that people cannot buy 
generic forms of the drugs.

 Bush's drug plan doesn't allow for free market competition that 
would lower drug prices, he said.

 "I thought these were the people who believed in the 
marketplace, in fair competition," he said. "This isn't fair 
competition, it's a monopoly. And it's been put in place by 
George Bush and his friends. It's costing you a bunch of extra 
money.

 "It's wrong," he said. "It's fundamentally wrong."

 Kerry was warmly received at the event by about 300 people, 
including many seniors. One Las Vegas first-grade teacher 
complained that she cannot afford to retire because of her 
benefits. A Vietnam veteran said his disability benefits from 
being exposed to Agent Orange have been deducted from his 
military pension.

 After the rally, Teresa Heinz Kerry shook hands and signed 
autographs until the crowd dwindled, just as she did after 
Kerry's rally Tuesday at the Thomas &Mack Center.

 Kerry briefly mentioned his position on Yucca Mountain, and, as 
on Tuesday, he garnered cheers from the crowd.

 After the event, Kerry explained his position to local 
reporters.

 Republicans have criticized Kerry for voting in 1987 for the 
so-called "Screw Nevada" bill that singled out Yucca Mountain as 
the sole site being considered for the nation's nuclear waste.

 Kerry said he voted for the bill because he was interested in 
learning more about a nuclear waste repository.

 "Back in 1987, the idea of a national repository seemed like a 
reasonable thing," he said. "You presume the study's going to 
come back and say, 'Hey, this really works, it's great, 
whatever.' It hasn't."

 Over the years, Kerry said, he has grown more concerned with the 
reliability of the casks that would store nuclear waste and the 
issues of transporting nuclear waste around the country.

 The Yucca site, he said, is particularly problematic because it 
sits on fault lines and water sources. But he said he has begun 
to question the idea of one centralized repository, no matter 
where it is.

 "I think people would be happier with people who say, 'gee, I'm 
glad we studied it and I'm glad we learned some things that 
raised the caution bells,' " he said.

 "And there you are," he said. "I subsequently voted no, which 
puts me in a very different position from George Bush, who is 
pushing to open the damn thing. There's the difference. He wants 
to open it, I don't. Big difference."

 Kerry said he is unafraid of the pressure he would receive from 
states that want to get rid of the nuclear waste in their area 
and from the nuclear industry, which is a powerful force in 
Washington.

 "I'm not prepared to go shove it into someplace, not just Yucca 
Mountain, anywhere," he said.

 Kerry also touched on recent concerns in Las Vegas that there 
was failed communication between the FBI and local law 
enforcement agencies over a terrorist cell video that surveyed 
hotels on The Strip.

 His administration would overhaul the terrorism threat system, 
he said. Local law enforcement agencies need to be informed about 
potential threats in their area, he said.

 "I promise you this, you won't have to struggle to get the 
answers out of us," he said. "And we'll do it rapidly, 
proactively, not be dragged kicking and screaming to the table 
the way this administration has," he said.

 He also is interested in establishing crime watch systems in 
high-risk areas, similar to a neighborhood crime watch, so that 
people have a better capacity to observe and report potential 
problems, he said.

 The public should be alerted to information when they can 
provide assistance in combating terror, he said, but should not 
be routinely scared by warnings the average person can do nothing 
about.

 "The test is whether you're making Americans safer by doing what 
you're doing," he said.

 Kerry said his two-day stay at the Bellagio was his longest in 
one bed in recent memory. On Tuesday, he ate dinner at the hotel 
and, according to the Washington Post, stopped Tuesday night to 
cheer on an aide playing at a $10-minimum blackjack table.

 He was in the state long enough to learn how to pronounce its 
name. On Tuesday, Kerry said "Ne-vah-da" and "Yooka Mountain."

 But on Wednesday morning, Henderson Parks and Recreation public 
information specialist Debra Haskell took it upon herself to 
pointedly pronounce "Nevada" for Kerry when she met him in a 
receiving line.

 Kerry later told the crowd he is trying not to pronounce the 
state's name like he is from Massachusetts.

All contents copyright 2004 Las Vegas SUN, Inc.
*****************************************************************
 54 RGJ: Kerry outlines his agenda to Nevadans
 
  |||  [http://www.rgj.com/] |         ||| List of Participating
	   	 	   
State’s voters could decide Yucca issue, senator says  
[adamon@rgj.com] RENO

GAZETTE-JOURNAL
8/11/2004 11:28 pm 

Kerry, D-Mass., speaks during a rally Wednesday at the Valley
View Recreation Center in Henderson. - Joe Cavaretta/ASSOCIATED
PRESS] 
 [] /ASSOCIATED PRESS 
IN NEVADA: U.S. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., speaks during a rally
Wednesday at the Valley View Recreation Center in Henderson. 	

HENDERSON — Nevada voters could have the power to decide whether 
the nation’s most radioactive waste comes to the Silver State 
when they cast their vote for president this November, based on 
comments Wednesday by Democratic presidential candidate John 
Kerry.

“I’ve . . . voted no, which puts me in a very different position 
from George Bush, who’s pushing to open the damn thing. There’s 
the difference. He wants to open it, I don’t. Big difference,” 
Kerry said at a Henderson community center.

Republicans counter that Kerry’s voting record shows he can’t be 
trusted on the issue.

In a 20-minute interview with six Nevada reporters, Kerry 
promised to visit Reno during the campaign, further explained his 
opposition to Yucca Mountain and laid out how he would pay for 
his sweeping proposals for health care and education.

Yucca Mountain dominated the interview, much as it has dominated 
Southern Nevada politics for decades.

State Democrats have succeeded in elevating the Yucca Mountain 
nuclear waste repository to one of the most significant issues in 
the race for the presidency here. As a battleground state, Kerry 
and President Bush have focused unprecedented attention on 
Nevada.

In a Reno campaign speech earlier this summer, Bush did not 
mention his support of the project. But a Bush-Cheney campaign 
official said Wednesday the president plans to discuss Yucca 
Mountain in a speech today to the carpenters union in Las Vegas.

When asked about Northern Nevada, Kerry promised to visit Reno. 

But when asked what he knows about Northern Nevada, he did little 
more than list issues important to most of the nation.

“I’ve been up there before,” he said. “I like it. I think it’s 
got similar economic issues, development issues, jobs, obviously 
got some gaming components and some environmental issues.”

Asked about a leukemia cluster that has killed three children and 
sickened 16 others in Fallon, Kerry said he would make it a 
national priority to provide federal funding to communities that 
can’t afford to clean their air or water. He also said the nation 
needs to better track illness and focus on preventative medicine. 

“This is something I really want to focus on as a country,” he 
said.

Studies have not yet determined the cause of the Fallon cancer 
cluster.

Kerry said voters will determine whether Yucca Mountain is the 
state’s deciding issue in the presidential race, adding that he 
thinks Nevadans also care about health care and the economy. But 
he said the issue offers Nevada voters a stark contrast between 
the candidates.

Republicans have criticized Kerry’s vote for the “Screw Nevada 
Bill” in 1987, which designated Nevada as the sole state to study 
for a nuclear repository.

“This is yet another issue on which John Kerry has flip-flopped 
and he continues to demonstrate his preference for political 
expediency over sound policy,” said Tracey Schmitt, a Bush-Cheney 
campaign spokeswoman. “He is not credible on this or any other 
issue.”

Democrats have criticized Bush for a 2000 campaign promise to use 
“sound science” when making his decision on Yucca Mountain. They 
argue Bush ignored scientific safety questions when he approved 
Yucca Mountain as the site.

A federal court recently found the government’s radiation safety 
standards fall far short of those required by the National 
Academy of Sciences.

Kerry defended his 1987 vote, saying the only thing it empowered 
was a study.

“Realistically, the people of Nevada need to look at the truth of 
the record here,” he said. “Back in ’87, the idea of a national 
repository sounded like a reasonable thing, let’s study it. I 
think people would be happier with somebody that says, ‘Gee, I’m 
glad we studied it and I’m glad we learned something that raised 
a caution bell.’”

Kerry said the studies have convinced him that a nuclear waste 
repository is not safe.

To address the problem of waste stored at sites throughout the 
country, Kerry said he would convene a “blue-ribbon” panel of 
international experts with the goal of discovering a way to 
destroy or use up the waste.

“I’m convinced we can come out of this with a much stronger 
counter-terrorism, counter-proliferation, pro-environment 
solution and that is what I intend to do,” Kerry said.

In a campaign speech Tuesday night to more than 13,000 people in 
Las Vegas, Kerry promised to increase grants to college students, 
make health insurance available to most Americans and never cut 
Social Security benefits. 

During the interview Wednesday, he said he has outlined ways to 
pay for each of his proposals by creating a “pay-as-you-go” 
budget.

He said he would increase revenue by rolling back “George Bush’s 
unaffordable tax cuts” for the wealthiest Americans and closing 
tax loopholes that allow businesses to benefit from shipping jobs 
overseas.

“I’ve done a pay-as-you-go, folks,” he said. “That’s what we did 
in the 1990s. We Democrats passed pay-as-you-go, we reduced the 
deficit and we paid down the debt for two years. We have 
credibility on this. We did it before and that is exactly the 
standard I’m going back to.”

Schmitt said Kerry’s “tax hikes” won’t cover Kerry’s spending 
plan.

On homeland security, Kerry said the Bush administration has cut 
police funding, allowed cargo containers to enter the country 
without inspections and failed to adequately protect chemical and 
nuclear plants.

He also said he would “revamp” the nation’s color-coded terror 
alert system, saying Americans “don’t know what the hell it 
means” and don’t know what to do when an alert is issued.

Schmitt countered that Bush’s homeland security record is strong.

“Since 2001, President Bush has nearly tripled the amount of 
funds devoted to homeland security and he’s worked tirelessly to 
make America safer and more secure,” she said. 


© Copyright Reno Gazette-Journal, a  [http://www.gannett.com]
*****************************************************************
 55 RGJ: Questions and answers with the Democratic presidential nominee
 
   [http://www.rgj.com/]

[online@rgj.com] RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL
8/11/2004 11:32 pm 

- ASSOCIATED PRESS] 
 [] /ASSOCIATED PRESS 

SPEAKING IN NEVADA: U.S. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., speaks at a 
town hall meeting Wednesday in Henderson as his wife, Teresa 
Heinz Kerry, listens.   

Editor’s note: The following is a selection of questions and 
answers from an interview Democratic presidential candidate John 
Kerry conducted with the Reno Gazette-Journal, the Las Vegas 
Review-Journal, the Las Vegas Sun and Las Vegas columnist Jon 
Ralston.

Will you visit Reno?

Yes. We tried to get up there this trip, but it just didn’t work 
because of the logistics but very definitely. Absolutely.

We have in Fallon a leukemia cluster. Is there anything the White 
House can do in researching that?

Hugely. It’s not unrelated to Love Canal and the long history of 
toxicity that has been allowed. Too many of our kids all across 
the country are exposed to various elements that are 
human-induced and not conducive to good health, ranging from air 
quality to water quality to food and nutrition. We have an 
enormous amount of work to do as a country to educate people and 
to begin to set some standards on what we are going to do. ... 
And we have to track more effectively where you have clusters, 
where you have patterns of lung cancer or leukemia. 

How soon after you take office would you be willing to order the 
Energy Department to either withdraw or withhold its application 
for Yucca Mountain?

Day one. Immediately. This is a serious promise. This is not 
something I’m going to study. I’ve studied it.

Does law enforcement share enough information about terrorism?

No. Law enforcement doesn’t share enough information. Homeland 
security is significantly less than it ought to be at this time. 
I think the administration has talked a big game and not walked 
the walk. Firehouses are understaffed. Cops are being cut from 
the streets in America. Ninety-five percent of containers that 
come into the country are not inspected. Nuclear facilities and 
chemical facilities have not been strengthened.

So you like the idea of doing more like they did in New York and 
New Jersey, where they had the information, versus a nationwide 
terrorist alert?

I do. Among other things I think that law enforcement needs to be 
particularly informed in an intelligent way. I’m not sure you 
need to inform the nation on every single thing, particularly 
when there is not very much they are asked to do, or they can do 
or are trained to do at this point in time. ... But I promise you 
this: You won’t have to struggle to get the answers out of us.

Last night you made a lot of promises on everything from programs 
for college kids and seniors. The question is how are you going 
to pay for all of it?

They are all paid for. I’ve shown how every program that I am 
passing is paid, including my health care. My health care plan is 
costed out versus the rollback of George Bush’s unaffordable tax 
cut, the loopholes we are going to close in the tax structure. I 
specifically paid for the education plan by changing the interest 
rate structure on college loans. Currently, it is set by 
Congress. It is a fixed rate. It is a high rate and it is 
basically a sweetheart deal for the lobbyists. I am going to 
float it as an auction. I am going to put it out there in the 
market place. We’re going to have true market place decisions. 
That will reduce the cost by ‘x’ billions of dollars and that 
goes directly into paying for the education plan. I’ve shown 
precisely how I’m going to give businesses a tax cut. I’m taking 
the money that currently rewards companies that go overseas and 
we’re going to reward the companies that stay here and try and 
create the jobs here. ... Everything that I’ve done, folks, I’ve 
tried to be completely up front about it to Americans. I’m not 
pretending it’s for free. I’m not pretending that there aren’t 
choices here.

Are you going to continue No Child Left Behind?

Yes. But I’m going to fix it. I’m going to make some changes in 
it. But the basic thrust of it is to have qualified teachers in 
schools to have standards and accountability. It’s to have 
measurements. And I want those things. I think we need to reform 
schools. But I want to empower teachers to do it properly. You 
can’t burden a teacher with a whole set of new standards and not 
give them the resources necessary to be able to teach those kids 
adequately. If your class size is too big, teachers can’t get to 
kids. They can’t do the remedial work necessary. If you have a 
school (that) doesn’t have an afternoon program, a lot of kids go 
home to empty homes. Those kids aren’t going to be safe or learn. 

*****************************************************************
 56 The State: Graham blasts Kerry over nucl
 
 08/12/2

Democratic presidential candidate John Kerrys stance against 
burying nuclear waste in Nevada drew a sharp response Wednesday 
from U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. 

Graham said Kerrys statements Tuesday put him at odds with South 
Carolina, which has 37 million gallons of high-level nuclear 
waste at the Savannah River Site that it needs to dispose of. The 
state also has high-level waste stored at commercial atomic power 
reactors. 

John Kerrys action would destroy over two decades of work on a 
national repository to provide secure, long-term storage of 
nuclear waste materials, Graham said. We dont appreciate him 
trying to pull the rug out from under us. 

A Kerry spokesperson was not immediately available for comment 
Wednesday afternoon. Kerry, during a town-hall meeting Tuesday in 
Nevada, criticized President Bush for supporting the waste 
disposal site at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. He accused him of 
changing his position and allowing waste at the site. 

Graham has received criticism from anti-nuclear groups for 
supporting a plan to leave residual amounts of high-level waste 
at SRS. 

• S.C. native takes post at Fort Jackson 

A Timmonsville native has been named garrison command sergeant 
major at Fort Jackson. 

Command Sgt. Maj. Ronald D. Friday was welcomed to his new post 
Wednesday during a ceremony at the forts headquarters. 

Friday comes to Fort Jackson from U.S. Central Command in Saudi 
Arabia. He succeeded Command Sgt. Maj. Ray Christian, who is 
retiring from active duty. 

The garrison command sergeant major is the senior enlisted member 
at the fort and advises the garrison commander on issues 
affecting 19,000 Fort Jackson soldiers, civilian employees and 
family members. 

• Historic Columbia has new leader 

Historic Columbia has named Robin Waites as its executive 
director. 

Waites has served as the acting director for the past six months. 
She replaces Roger Poston, who resigned in December. 

Waites was formerly the chief curator of art at the South 
Carolina State Museum. She joined Historic Columbia in 2002. 

She is a Columbia native and has a masters in art history from 
the University of South Carolina. 

Historic Columbia was founded in 1962 to help preserve the Robert 
Mills House. Under Postons leadership, the foundation expanded 
its mission from managing historic homes to include fighting for 
the preservation of historic buildings. 

Recently, Historic Columbia helped negotiate the preservation of 
the Black House and Kirkland Apartments, which are both owned by 
a University of South Carolina foundation. 

• 3 file for re-election to school boards 

Three school board incumbents in Lexington County filed Wednesday 
for re-election Nov. 2. 

Candidates adding their names to the ballot are: Cindy Kessler of 
West Columbia, Lexington 2; Jerry W. Koon of Batesburg-Leesville, 
Lexington 3; and Cindy Sweigart of Columbia; Lexington-Richland 
5. All three are running district-wide for at-large seats that 
carry four-year terms. 

Filing for Lexington Countys five school boards closes at noon 
Monday.No new school board candidates stepped forward Wednesday 
in Richland County, where the filing period ends Sept. 3. 

• Sanford open door session set for today 

Gov. Mark Sanford will hold another Open Door After 4 program 
today. Its the 20th installment of his open office hours 
program. 

South Carolinians can sign up for private, five-minute meetings 
with the governor to discuss anything they choose. Appointments 
begin at 4 p.m. and run until 9 p.m. To sign up, call the 
governors office at (803) 734-1999 after 9 a.m. today. 

• Man pleads guilty to child porn charge 

A Columbia man pleaded guilty Tuesday to possessing child 
pornography, according to the U.S. attorneys office. 

Prosecutors said Thomas Sullivan, 43, paid to access four Web 
sites that offered child porn. After Sullivan consented to a 
search of his computers, federal agents found more than 300 
images of child pornography, some depicting children younger than 
12. 

Sullivan will be sentenced later, prosecutors said. 

• Myrtle beach upholds ban on selling frogs 

MYRTLE BEACH  City Council has upheld its ban on selling frogs 
despite lobbying from Mayor Mark McBride and a frog wholesaler. 

Myrtle Beach keeps a list of animals that cant be sold because 
of concerns over the animals health, welfare or environmental 
effects. 

Tuesdays vote came after police raided five beachwear stores 
last month and seized 200 turtles, which are on the list. Frog 
sales are banned, too. 

Council members said beachwear stores sell the frogs without 
instructions and in containers that are too small. 

From Staff and Wire Reports   


TheStateOnline
*****************************************************************
 57 KR Washington Bureau: Bush accuses Kerry of changing stance on nuclear waste repository

| 08/12/2004 | 

 [krw-webmaster@krwashington.com] 

  CHUCK KENNEDY / KRT   
  A sign posted to warn of uranium ore tailings is seen on the
banks of the Colorado River between two National Parks and the
town of Moab, Utah, June 2002.  
   
By Laura Kurtzman

 Knight Ridder Newspapers

        LAS VEGAS - President Bush on Thursday defended his 
decision to send the nation's nuclear waste to a repository at 
Yucca Mountain and accused Sen. John Kerry of flip-flopping on 
the issue. 

        Kerry, the Democratic presidential nominee who says he'll 
stop the dump, was in Nevada the day before, where he accused 
Bush of breaking an election-year promise four years ago not to 
allow it. In fact, Bush's position in 2000 wasn't that simple. 

        The Yucca Mountain issue is radioactive politically in 
Nevada. Democrats hope Kerry's stand will help them win the 
state, which is closely divided and went to Bush by 4 percentage 
points in 2000. 

        But Bush said Kerry's opposition to Yucca Mountain is 
less ironclad than it might appear because he cast several votes 
favoring it in the past. 

        "Now, my opponent's trying to turn Yucca Mountain into a 
political poker chip," Bush said to a hand-picked audience at a 
union hall of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters. "He says he's 
strongly against Yucca here in Nevada, but he voted for it 
several times. And so did his running mate." 

        The Kerry campaign said any such votes were procedural, 
but could be interpreted as support for the site. In fact, on the 
key Senate procedural vote to move toward approval of Bush's Feb. 
15, 2002, decision to make Yucca Mountain the nation's permanent 
nuclear-waste repository, Kerry voted no, according to 
Congressional Quarterly. 

        John Edwards, a senator from North Carolina, voted for 
the dump and changed his view only after he was chosen as Kerry's 
running mate. 

        "My point to you is that, if they're going to change one 
day, they may change again," Bush said. "I think you need 
straight talk on this issue. I think you need somebody who's 
going to do what he says he's going to do." 

        Bush promised in 2000 that he wouldn't let the dump be 
built until scientists had deemed it safe. In September of that 
year he emphasized in a letter to Nevada's governor that he would 
veto any legislation that would store the waste at Yucca 
temporarily. 

        Once he became president, he let the project go forward 
and, upon the recommendation of his energy secretary, Spencer 
Abraham, approved it as a permanent repository, although its 
safety was still being debated. 

        Nevada Republicans, including the governor, a U.S. 
senator and the state's attorney general, have distanced 
themselves from Bush on the issue. Bush said Thursday that he 
understood that. 

        A federal court dealt the project a setback this summer, 
saying the government didn't have adequate standards to protect 
against leaks for more than 10,000 years. 

        Without mentioning the ruling, Bush said he would allow 
court appeals and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission decide the 
issue. 

        Without responding directly to Bush about Yucca Mountain, 
Kerry - campaigning in Carson, Calif. - blasted Bush for 
suggesting recently that his administration would consider a 
national sales tax. The president later backed off that remark, 
but it gave Kerry ammunition in his argument that Bush has been 
insensitive to the middle class. 

        "This is from an administration that has offered almost 
no new ideas for our economy - and the few they have proposed 
have only hurt middle-class families," Kerry said. 

        Kerry also responded to Vice President Dick Cheney's 
attacks on him for wavering on the Iraq war and promising to wage 
a more "sensitive" war on terrorism. "It's sad that they can only 
be negative. They have nothing to say about the future vision of 
America," Kerry said. 

        While many unions have endorsed Kerry, the carpenters 
have held back because they say some of his environmental 
positions, such as restricting timber harvesting in the Pacific 
Northwest and his opposition to drilling in the Artic National 
Wildlife Refuge, would mean fewer jobs for their members. 
Carpenters union leaders meet next month to consider an 
endorsement but may remain neutral. 

        One carpenters union member who sat onstage said the 
president's speech, which ranged from the economy to national 
security, didn't sway him. 

        "I'm still up in the air," said George Cappiello, 55, of 
Shelton, Wash. A Democrat, Cappiello said Bush had no advantage 
on national security. 

	"I feel they're kind of even, Kerry and Bush." 


        (Kurtzman covered Bush from Las Vegas. Knight Ridder 
Newspapers correspondent Tom Fitzgerald, who is with Kerry, 
contributed to this report from California.) 
*****************************************************************
 58 Record-Courier: Ensign says Nevadans cannot trust Kerry on Yucca Mountain
                
John Ensign talks about John Kerry's voting record at the Carson 
Valley Inn in Minden on Monday.
 												 											   										 									
by Kurt Hildebrand,

August 11, 2004
 						
Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., came to Minden to share his view that 
Nevadans may not be able to trust presidential candidate John 
Kerry's opposition of Yucca Mountain.

The senator held a press conference at the Carson Valley Inn on 
Monday to talk about Kerry's record on behalf of the Bush-Cheney 
campaign.

 Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Kerry guaranteed that as president 
he would not allow a nuclear waste dump to be placed in Nevada. 
Nevada is considered a battleground state in this year's 
presidential election.

Ensign accused Kerry of changing his opinion with the political 
breeze on a number of issues, including nuclear waste.

"Kerry says one thing and does something else to get elected," 
Ensign said. "People do change their minds over time, they evolve 
depending on what they learn. But he goes back and forth 
depending on what is politically viable at the time."

 Ensign pointed out that Kerry has voted for appropriations for 
Yucca Mountain and against money Nevada needed to fight it.

The senator showed a 10-minute video highlighting Kerry's record 
on the war in Iraq, which Ensign said Kerry at first supported 
and then, to win the Democratic nomination, opposed. Ensign 
opposes storing nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain and has 
consistently voted against the administration on the issue.

"I disagree with the administration's position on Yucca Mountain, 
but at least I know where they stand," he said. "It's is not 
clear to me that Kerry will stick with Nevada."

 Kerry voted for the 1987 "Screw Nevada" bill, which made Yucca 
Mountain the only site under study for the storage of nuclear 
waste. 

However, he also voted in favor of President Bill Clinton's veto 
of Yucca Mountain as an interim storage site and against final 
designation of the site by President Bush.



-- Kurt Hildebrand can be reached at 
khildebrand@recordcourier.com [khildebrand@recordcourier.com] or 
782-5121, ext. 215.

All contents © Copyright 2004 recordcourier.com 1503 Highway 395 
N., Suite G - Gardnerville, NV 89410                                   
*****************************************************************
 59 U.S. Newswire: Kerry-Edwards Campaign: The Truth on Yucca Mountain
 
 8/12/2004 5:07:00 PM 

To: National Desk and Political Reporter 

Contact: Chad Clanton or Phil Singer, 202-464-2800, both of 
Kerry-Edwards 2004, Web: 
[http://releases.usnewswire.com/redir.asp?ReleaseID=34670&Link=ht 
tp://www.johnkerry.com] 

WASHINGTON, Aug. 12 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The following was released 
today by the Kerry-Edwards Campaign: 

"Yucca Mountain is George W. Bush's version of 'read my lips.' 
George W. Bush broke his pledge to Nevada and put politics over 
science the same way that he broke his promise to be 
straightforward with American people. John Kerry knows we can do 
better and is going to restore trust and credibility to the White 
House," Kerry spokesman Phil Singer said. 

KEY POINTS 

-- In 2000, Bush Said He would base Yucca Mountain decision on 
sound science, but in 2002, Bush signed bill to store nuclear 
waste in Yucca Mountain. 

-- 2004 Bush "Pioneer" Has Lobbied to Send Nuclear Waste to Yucca 
Mountain; Nuclear Industry gave Millions to Bush and RNC 

-- In deciding to allow storage in Yucca Mountain, Bush ignored 
the GAO, the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board, and Nevada 
legislators from both parties. 

-- Kerry voted TWICE with Reid and Bryan to remove offending 
provision in that bill 

Las Vegas Sun has said, "Kerry has been one of the few consistent 
friends Nevada has had in the U.S. Senate regarding Yucca 
Mountain." 

-- Bush Broke Pledge, Decided to Send Waste to Yucca -- 

In 2000, Bush Said He Would Listen to Local and State Officials 
and Base Yucca Mountain Decision on Sound Science. In late May 
2000, Bush released the following statement in regard to storing 
nuclear waste in Yucca Mountain: "I believe sound science, and 
not politics, must prevail in the designation of any high-level 
nuclear waste repository. As president, I would not sign 
legislation that would send nuclear waste to any proposed site 
unless it's been deemed scientifically safe. I also believe the 
federal government must work with the local and state governments 
that will be affected to address safety and transportation 
issues." (Associated Press, 5/23/00) 

In 2002, Bush Signed Bill to Store Nuclear Waste in Yucca 
Mountain. On July 23, 2002, Bush signed a bill which formally 
adopted storing nuclear waste in Yucca Mountain, a plan that was 
also adopted by both the House and Senate. (Los Angeles Times, 
7/24/02; Associated Press, 7/23/02) 

-- Sound Science Told Bush to Postpone Yucca Decision -- 

GAO Urged Bush Administration to Indefinitely Postpone Decision 
on Yucca. In a December 2001, the General Accounting Office urged 
the Bush administration to indefinitely postpone its decision to 
store nuclear waste in Yucca Mountain. The GAO also said that 
plans officials showed lawmakers and Nevada residents "may not 
describe the facilities that DOE would actually develop." In June 
2001, the administration released the final health and safety 
standards for Yucca, but the GAO report said the Energy 
Department was still gathering and analyzing technical 
information on nearly 300 separate issues dealing with the Yucca 
site. (Washington Post, 11/30/01; GAO "Nuclear Waste: Technical, 
Schedule, and Cost Uncertainties of the Yucca Mountain Repository 
Project") 

Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board Criticized Energy Department 
Analysis of Yucca Mountain. The Nuclear Waste Technical Review 
Board, an 11-member board created by Congress comprised from the 
scientific and engineering fields, said no matter where nuclear 
waste was put it would be impossible to avoid unexpected problems 
over the more than 10,000 years the material would be highly 
radioactive. The board said they had "limited confidence" in the 
Energy Department's analysis of Yucca Mountain and urged the 
department to find ways to make their projections "more 
realistic." (Associated Press, 1/25/02; 5/23/00) 

Nuclear Waste Would Pass Through 43 States, One Mile from 50 
Million Americans. In order to store the nation's nuclear waste 
in one site, Yucca Mountain, the "deadly waste" would have to be 
transported through 43 states and come within one mile of 50 
million Americans. "If this goes through, some communities along 
major corridors, including St. Louis and Omaha, might see 
shipments every hour on the hour for the next 38 years," said 
Robert R. Loux, executive director of Nevada Governor Guinn's 
nuclear projects agency, which receives federal funding to 
provide scientific oversight of the project. (Washington Post, 
1/11/02; State of Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects, 
[http://releases.usnewswire.com/redir.asp?ReleaseID=34670&Link=ht 
tp://www.state.nv.us/nucwaste/maps2002] ) 

-- Local Officials of Both Parties Were Against Yucca Plan -- 

Bush Ignored Warnings From Nevada Leaders From Both Parties. A 
number of prominent Nevada officials, including Republicans 
Governor Kenny Guinn, Senator John Ensign, and Rep. Jim Gibbons 
opposed the plan to bring nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain. 
(Associated Press, 1/10/02) 

Nuclear Power Industry Had Access to Bush Administration. When 
the White House was putting together the energy plan, the nuclear 
industry were offended that they were not included in decision 
making. In mid-March, a cadre of seven nuclear power executives 
sought and won an hour-long meeting in the White House with a 
number of top advisors. "We said, Look, we are an important 
player on this energy team and here are our vital statistics, and 
we think that you should start talking about nuclear when you 
talk about increasing the nation's supply," Christian H. 
Poindexter, chairman of the Constellation Energy Group, recalled 
today. And then a surprising thing happened. "It was shortly 
after that, as a matter of fact I think the next night, when the 
vice president was being interviewed on television, he began to 
talk about nuclear power for the first time," Mr. Poindexter 
said, according to the New York Times. (Time, 2/11/02; New York 
Times, 5/23/01) 

-- Nuclear Industry Gave Millions to Bush, GOP -- 

RNC, Bush Took Millions From Nuclear Industry. During the 2000 
and 2002 election cycles, the owners and operators of nuclear 
power plants gave over $7.8 million to Bush, the RNC and GOP 
candidates and committees. Energy companies with nuclear 
interests gave over $340,000 to Bush in 2000 and over $3.2 
million in soft money to the Republican National Committee from 
1999 to 2002. ( 
[http://releases.usnewswire.com/redir.asp?ReleaseID=34670&Link=ht 
tp://www.crp.org]  ; Updated Nuclear Energy Institute of Nuclear 
Power Plant Operators and Owners, 4/5/01; 
[http://releases.usnewswire.com/redir.asp?ReleaseID=34670&Link=ht 
tp://www.tray.com] ) 

2004 Bush "Pioneer" Has Lobbied to Send Nuclear Waste to Yucca 
Mountain. Thomas Kuhn has served as a Bush Pioneer in 2000 and 
2004, pledging to raise at least $100,000 for Bush's presidential 
campaign. In May 1999, Kuhn, President of Edison Electric since 
1990, wrote a fundraising letter asking industry executives to 
include their "tracking code" at the bottom of their checks to 
Bush to "ensure that our industry is credited" for the 
contribution. In 1992, the Edison Electric board approved the so- 
called Nevada Initiative, which was, according to the publication 
Nuclear Fuel, "an industry advertising campaign aimed at building 
public support for DOE's study of the proposed repository site at 
Yucca Mountain." (UPI, 4/21/87; Nuclear Fuel, 2/3/92; Newsweek, 
1/24/00; Journal of Commerce, 11/9/87; Electric Utility Week, 
6/26/89; 
[http://releases.usnewswire.com/redir.asp?ReleaseID=34670&Link=ht 
tp://www.whitehouseforsale.org] ) 

Nuclear Industry PACs Have Given To Bush in 2004. So far in 2004, 
the political action committees of nuclear power companies have 
given $49,500 to Bush's re-election campaign and $97,500 to the 
Republican National Committee. ( 
[http://releases.usnewswire.com/redir.asp?ReleaseID=34670&Link=ht 
tp://www.tray.com]  -- Updated Nuclear Energy Institute of 
Nuclear Power Plant Operators and Owners, 6/20/03) 

-- Kerry Has Stood With Nevada on Yucca Mountain -- 

-- Kerry voted TWICE with Reid and Bryan to remove the offending 
provision 

Kerry voted against an amendment which would allow the DOE to 
designate sites, possibly in Washington and Nevada, as nuclear 
waste sites. Kerry voted against the Johnston motion to table 
Adams-Reid amendment which adds texts of remaining committee 
amendments except the amendment incorporating the nuclear waste 
policy act amendments (s 1668) which would allow designation of a 
single site for full characterization.(Vote number 367, 
11/4/1987, Motion to table HR 2700 Passed 55-30) 

Kerry voted to recommit the Energy bill back to committee in 
order to remove the provisions promoting Nevada site selection 
for nuclear waste storage. He voted for the Motion to recommit 
bill to appropriations committee with instructions to report back 
with language to require further analysis of the 3 candidate 
nuclear waste storage sites. this would revise the current bill 
provisions promoting Nevada site selection. (Vote number 382, 
11/18/1987, Motion to recommit HR 2700 Failed 34-61, Kerry-Y) 

-- Las Vegas Sun: Kerry "stood with us" -- 

"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." (Las Vegas Sun, 8/1/2004) 

-- Gov. Bob Miller: "Kerry has voted with us" -- 

"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. " 
(German, Review-Journal, 8/1/2004) 

-- Senator Harry Reid: "No one better" -- 

"I wish I'd said it stronger: If he's president, there will be no 
Yucca Mountain. No one has been better for us on Yucca than John 
Kerry." (Review-Journal, 7/28/2004) 

Senator Richard Bryan: Kerry there when it counted "On the 
critical votes where it really counted, John Kerry would be 
supportive." (Review-Journal, 7/29/2004) 

 [http://www.usnewswire.com/] 

-0- 

/© 2004 U.S. Newswire 202-347-2770/ 			 		   		   			 		   		   
*****************************************************************
 60 MSNBC - Nuclear waste site is election land mine

  Kerry challenges Bush over Yucca Mountain  
    
  [John Kerry speaks about Yucca Mountain during campaign stop
in Las Vegas]   
  Mike Segar / Reuters  
    
  Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry speaks Tuesday to 
teachers, parents and local leaders at the Ralph Cadwallader 
Middle School in Las Vegas. The topic: the proposed Yucca 
Mountain nuclear waste repository.  


  MSNBC News ServicesUpdated: 10:27 a.m. ET Aug. 12, 2004

LAS VEGAS - Unpopular in Nevada, President Bush's decision to
put a nuclear waste dump in the state is creating a close race
there between the president and Democrat John Kerry, according
to recent polls.

Bushâ€™s problems in Nevada stem from Kerry tapping into voter 
anger over the presidentâ€™s designation of Yucca Mountain as the 
national repository for nuclear waste.

In February 2002, Bush announced that five decades worth of 
nuclear waste from reactors across the country should be buried 
under the Nevada desert, declaring that an end to the search for 
a place to isolate the radioactive debris was necessary to 
â€œprotect public safety, health and the nationâ€™s security.â€

Kerry says the president broke the promise he made in the 2000 
race to ensure science and not politics determined his decision 
whether to ship waste to Yucca Mountain.

â€œWhen John Kerry is president, there is going to be no nuclear 
waste at Yucca Mountain. Period,â€ he said at one Nevada 
campaign stop last Tuesday.

Kerry said he would leave waste at nuclear sites around the 
country while he instructs the National Academy of Science to 
study how the world should deal with nuclear waste and storage.

Voting record raised

Bush campaign spokesman Steve Schmidt pointed out that Kerry had 
voted for the 1987 Nuclear Waste Policy Act Amendments, which was 
tacked onto budget legislation.

Kerry has noted that each time a Yucca vote was held on its own 
and not attached to other legislation, he has voted against it. 
His vice presidential running mate John Edwards, a senator from 
North Carolina, voted in 2002 for the Yucca plan, but campaign 
aides said he and Kerry are now on the same page.

Kerry said he is concerned about the safety and security of 
storing the waste 90 miles outside of Las Vegas at a mountain 
that sits atop the regionâ€™s major water supply. Kerry also 
noted seismic activity has been measured at the mountain and 
could pose a safety threat.

Kerry said the United States needed a Manhattan Project â€œto 
tame the negative consequences of the power of the atom.â€

Politics of nuclear waste While the issue is largely local, it 
could help determine the presidential race. Nevada is a key 
battleground state that Bush won in 2000 and without its five 
electoral votes would not be in the White House.



  [YUCCA MOUNTAIN] Rick Gunn / Nevada Appeal via AP fileStill 
under construction, the proposed Yucca Mountain repositoryÂ uses 
a rail line to move people in and out. Assuming the project is 
ever completed, the line would be used to move nuclear waste 
under ground. 
-----------------------------------------------------------------
  

Sig Rogich, a prominent aide in the Reagan White House and in the 
first Bush administration, says Kerry is â€œpinning his hopesâ€ 
on the Yucca Mountain controversy because â€œthereâ€™s nothing 
elseâ€ for the Democrat to run on in Nevada.

Adriana Martinez, chair of the Nevada Democratic Party, says 
Yucca Mountain is a recruiting poster. â€œWe get several e-mails 
a day from Republicans saying â€˜Weâ€™d like to volunteer,â€â€™ 
said Martinez. â€œWe definitely have a good shot.â€

A recent appeals court ruling raised questions about whether the 
waste repository will be built, or at least meet its target of 
2010 to begin operation. The court ruled that the federal plan 
for Yucca Mountain does not go far enough to protect people from 
potential radiation. 

Bushâ€™s energy secretary, Spencer Abraham, says the project is 
moving ahead. Environmental groups and lawyers for Nevada say the 
courtâ€™s rejection of proposed radiation exposure limits could 
doom the project.The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to 
this story.

Â© 2004 MSNBC.com
*****************************************************************
 61 News & Star: US senators visit Cumbria to see BNFLâ€™s armed ships 
       
Published on 12/08/2004                                                                 
							 							 							
AMERICAN senators visited Barrow docks to see the armed BNFL 
ships that will carry plutonium from the US next month, say 
anti-nuclear campaigners.
 
A party of eight senior US politicians from Washington flew into 
Walney airfield last Thursday to visit the BNFL shipping 
terminal.
 
Armed Atomic Energy Authority police covered the terminal and the 
Stars and Stripes flew as the senators went aboard one of 
BNFLâ€™s two armed convoy ships, the Pacific Pintail.
 
It has cannons front and rear and normally sails with a dozen 
armed nuclear police.
 
Both Pacific Pintail and its sister vessel Pacific Teal are 
expected to sail as early as next month for Charlston in the USA, 
to pick up what Cumbrians Opposed to a Radioactive Environment 
(Core) calls â€œneat plutonium dioxideâ€.
 
The plutonium has been recovered from redundant US nuclear 
weapons.
 
The 5,000 tonne BNFL ships â€” the only dedicated nuclear 
freighters of their type in the world â€” will carry the 
plutonium to France in a giant steel flask.
 
It will then be converted into Mox fuel assemblies.
 
*****************************************************************
 62 Whitehaven News: UKAEA BOSS CHOSEN 

FROM what was described as an impressive field of candidates, 
Barbara Judge has been appointed chairman of the United Kingdom 
Atomic Energy Authority which runs the Windscale part of the 
Sellafield site.

She has been acting chairman since Denis Tunnicliffe resigned to 
take a life peerage in May and a non-executive director for 
nearly two years.

A lawyer, international banker and entrepreneur, Barbara takes 
over as chairman at a challenging time as the Nuclear 
Decommissioning Authority is set to take over ownership of 
Sellafield from both the UKAEA and BNFL. 

It means both companies will have to compete for future contracts 
to run the respective parts of the site. 





[http://www.whitehavennews.co.uk/
*****************************************************************
 63 [DU-WATCH] Peace Declaration (Hiroshima 2004)
 
Date: Thu, 12 Aug 2004 01:48:26 -0500 (CDT)

 
Today, 6 August, is the memorial day of the first nuclear
bomb actually used in a war, 59 years ago at 8:15.
Since 1947, the city of Hiroshima has held a ceremony on this day
and spoken out the message for the abolition of nuclear    
weapons.

The following is the Peace Declaration this year.
# see the below for the past Peace Declarations:
# http://www.city.hiroshima.jp/shimin/heiwa/declaration.html

n.b., "Ninoshima Island" in the first paragraph is the place
where 85 remains were newly discovered this year.

Regards,
Masa

http://www.city.hiroshima.jp/shimin/heiwa/pd/pd2004e.html
----------------- 8< ----------------- 8< -----------------
PEACE DECLARATION

"Nothing will grow for 75 years." Fifty-nine years have
passed since the August sixth when Hiroshima was so
thoroughly obliterated that many succumbed to such doom.
Dozens of corpses still bearing the agony of that day, souls
torn abruptly from their loved ones and their hopes for the
future, have recently re-surfaced on Ninoshima Island,
warning us to beware the utter inhumanity of the atomic
bombing and the gruesome horror of war.

Unfortunately, the human race still lacks both a lexicon
capable of fully expressing that disaster and sufficient
imagination to fill the gap. Thus, most of us float idly in
the current of the day, clouding with self-indulgence the
lens of reason through which we should be studying the
future, blithely turning our backs on the courageous few.

As a result, the egocentric worldview of the U.S. government
is reaching extremes. Ignoring the United Nations and its
foundation of international law, the U.S. has resumed
research to make nuclear weapons smaller and more "usable."
Elsewhere, the chains of violence and retaliation know no
end: reliance on violence-amplifying terror and North Korea,
among others, buying into the worthless policy of "nuclear
insurance" are salient symbols of our times.

We must perceive and tackle this human crisis within the
context of human history. In the year leading up to the 60th
anniversary, which begins a new cycle of rhythms in the
interwoven fabric that binds humankind and nature, we must
return to our point of departure, the unprecedented A-bomb
experience. In the coming year, we must sow the seeds of new
hope and cultivate a strong future-oriented movement.

To that end, the city of Hiroshima, along with the Mayors
for Peace and our 611 member cities in 109 countries and
regions, hereby declares the period beginning today and
lasting until August 9, 2005, to be a Year of Remembrance
and Action for a Nuclear-Free World. Our goal is to bring
forth a beautiful "flower" for the 75th anniversary of the
atomic bombings, namely, the total elimination of all
nuclear weapons from the face of the Earth by the year 2020.
Only then will we have truly resurrected hope for life on
this "nothing will grow" planet.

The seeds we sow today will sprout in May 2005. At the
Review Conference for the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of
Nuclear Weapons (NPT) to be held in New York, the Emergency
Campaign to Ban Nuclear Weapons will bring together cities,
citizens, and NGOs from around the world to work with like-
minded nations toward adoption of an action program that
incorporates, as an interim goal, the signing in 2010 of a
Nuclear Weapons Convention to serve as the framework for
eliminating nuclear weapons by 2020.

Around the world, this Emergency Campaign is generating
waves of support. This past February, the European
Parliament passed by overwhelming majority a resolution
specifically supporting the Mayors for Peace campaign. At
its general assembly in June, the U.S. Conference of Mayors,
representing 1183 U.S. cities, passed by acclamation an even
stronger resolution.

We anticipate that Americans, a people of conscience, will
follow the lead of their mayors and form the mainstream of
support for the Emergency Campaign as an expression of their
love for humanity and desire to discharge their duty as the
lone superpower to eliminate nuclear weapons.

We are striving to communicate the message of the hibakusha
around the world and promote the Hiroshima-Nagasaki Peace
Study Course to ensure, especially, that future generations
will understand the inhumanity of nuclear weapons and the
cruelty of war. In addition, during the coming year, we will
implement a project that will mobilize adults to read
eyewitness accounts of the atomic bombings to children
everywhere.

The Japanese government, as our representative, should
defend the Peace Constitution, of which all Japanese should
be proud, and work diligently to rectify the trend toward
open acceptance of war and nuclear weapons increasingly
prevalent at home and abroad. We demand that our government
act on its obligation as the only A-bombed nation and become
the world leader for nuclear weapons abolition, generating
an anti-nuclear tsunami by fully and enthusiastically
supporting the Emergency Campaign led by the Mayors for
Peace. We further demand more generous relief measures to
meet the needs of our aging hibakusha, including those
living overseas and those exposed in black rain areas.

Rekindling the memory of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, we pledge
to do everything in our power during the coming year to
ensure that the 60th anniversary of the atomic bombings will
see a budding of hope for the total abolition of nuclear
weapons. We humbly offer this pledge for the peaceful repose
of all atomic bomb victims.

August 6, 2004

Tadatoshi Akiba
Mayor The City of Hiroshima

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 64 [DU-WATCH] Peace Declaration (Nagasaki 2004)
 
Date: Thu, 12 Aug 2004 01:48:33 -0500 (CDT)

 
Following Hiroshima, today, 9 April is the 59th memorial day
of the nuclear bombing at Nagasaki.  Just as Hiroshima,
the city of Nagasaki holds a ceremony on this day every year
and delivers the message of Peace Declaration.  I am forwarding
it at the end of this mail.
http://www1.city.nagasaki.nagasaki.jp/abm/abm_e/heiwasengen/sengen_main.html

I have found an article in Telegraph@UK:
"Nuclear power is fine - radiation is good for you" By Dick Taverne
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/core/Content/displayPrintable.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2004/08/08/do0801.xml&site=15

It is entirely absurd and ridiculous.  For example it claimes
none of the Japanese fishermen who were affected by the nuclear
bomb experiment has died from cancer.  The reality is, more than
a half of them died from cancer (and related radiation-caused
diseases), if he is talking about the famous "fifth Fukuryu-maru".

He also claims the accident of Chernobyl lead to 31 deaths.
The reality is, it has claimed at least thousands of human lives,
possibly hundreds of thousands.  World Health Organisation (WHO)
estimates the number of people possibly affected by the radiation
to be 7.1 million.  The exact number of casualties is, unfortunately,
unknown, partly because the Soviet Union was eager to hide it,
and partly because the influenced area is so vast that it is
indeed difficult to follow all the consequences.  As a result,
the estimates of the death toll vary a lot -- from several thousands
to a couple of hundred of thousands.  In any case it must not be
just 31.  I note that the death toll is still rising; some
diseases like leukaemia are likely to happen some 10 years
after the expose of radiation.

It is a shame that such an absurd article appears
in one of the main stream media in the UK.

Kindest regards,
Masa

------------------- Nagasaki Peace Declaration 2004
http://www1.city.nagasaki.nagasaki.jp/abm/abm_e/heiwasengen/sengen_main.html

  How many people in the world now remember that fateful day? At 11:02
a.m. on August 9, fifty-nine years ago, the city of Nagasaki was
instantly transformed into ruins by a single atomic bomb dropped from
an American warplane, killing some 74,000 people and wounding
75,000. Today, Nagasaki's verdant cityscape attracts visitors from
around the world, and its residents maintain a distinctive set of
traditions and culture. Nevertheless, the city's increasingly elderly
atomic bomb survivors continue to suffer from the after-effects of the
bombing as well as from health problems induced by the stress of their
experience. We the citizens of Nagasaki call upon the world with a
renewed sense of urgency, even as we reflect upon the intense
suffering of those who have already perished.

  We call upon the citizens of the United States to look squarely at
the reality of the tragedies that have unfolded in the wake of the
atomic bombings 59 years ago. The International Court of Justice has
clearly stated in an advisory opinion that the threat of nuclear
weapons or their use is generally contrary to international
law. Notwithstanding, the US government continues to possess and
maintain approximately 10,000 nuclear weapons, and is conducting an
ongoing program of subcritical nuclear testing. In addition, the
so-called mini nuclear weapons that are the subject of new development
efforts are intended to deliver truly horrific levels of force. In
terms of the radioactivity that such weapons would release, there
would be no difference compared to the bomb dropped on Nagasaki. So
long as the world's leading superpower fails to change its posture of
dependence on nuclear weapons, it is clear that the tide of nuclear
proliferation cannot be stemmed. People of America: The path leading
to the eventual survival of the human race unequivocally requires the
elimination of nuclear arms. The time has come to join hands and
embark upon this path.

  We call upon the peoples of the world to recognize how scant is the
value repeatedly being placed on human life, evidenced by events such
as the war in Iraq and outbreaks of terrorism. Wisdom must prevail,
and we must join together in enhancing and reinforcing the functions
of the United Nations in order to resolve international conflicts, not
by military force, but through concerted diplomatic efforts. Next year
will be the 60th anniversary of the atomic bombings, coinciding with
the 2005 NPT Review Conference to be held at UN headquarters. With the
approach of the coming year, let there be a convergence among the
citizens of the world, NGOs, and all concerned parties who desire
peace, so that the way may be opened for the elimination of those
symbols of inhumanity known as nuclear weapons.

  We call upon the government of Japan to safeguard the peaceful
underpinnings of its constitution, and, as the only nation ever to
have experienced nuclear attack, to enact into law the threefold
non-nuclear principle. The combination of the threefold non-nuclear
principle with nuclear disarmament on the Korean Peninsula will pave
the road towards the creation of a Northeast Asia nuclear-weapon-free
zone. At the same time, the specifics of the Pyongyang Declaration
must be agreed upon, while Japan itself must also pursue an
independent security stance that does not rely on nuclear arms.
                                                                           
  We call upon the world's youth to study the reality of the atomic
bombings and to internalize a sense of respect for life, as our young
people are doing in Nagasaki. The enthusiasm and hope manifested by
youth who have considered the requirements of peace and are acting
accordingly will serve to enlighten an increasingly confused
world. Individuals who arise to take action close at hand can and will
foster the realization of world peace and the abolition of nuclear
weapons.

  We in Nagasaki will continue to share our experiences of the atomic
bombing of our city, and will work to make Nagasaki a center for peace
studies and peace promotion. It is our hope that we will thus be able
to form bonds of friendship and solidarity with people throughout the
world.

  Today, on the 59th anniversary of the atomic bombing, as we pray for
the repose of those who died and recall to mind their suffering, we
the citizens of Nagasaki pledge our commitment to the realization of
true peace in the world, free from nuclear weapons.

  Today, on the 58th anniversary of the atomic bombing, as we pray for
the repose of those who died and recall to mind their suffering, we
the citizens of Nagasaki pledge our commitment to the realization of
true peace in the world, free from nuclear weapons.

August 9, 2004
Iccho Itoh, Mayor of Nagasaki

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 65 [EMMAS] Hiroshima Cover-up
 
Date: Wed, 11 Aug 2004 23:37:27 -0500 (CDT)

 
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0810-01.htm

Published on Tuesday, August 10, 2004 by CommonDreams.org 
 
Hiroshima Cover-up: How the War Department's Timesman Won a Pulitzer  
by Amy Goodman and David Goodman 
  
Governments lie. 
-- I. F. Stone, Journalist 

At the dawn of the nuclear age, an independent Australian journalist named 
Wilfred Burchett traveled to Japan to cover the aftermath of the atomic bombing 
of Hiroshima. The only problem was that General Douglas MacArthur had declared 
southern Japan off-limits, barring the press. Over 200,000 people died in the 
atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but no Western journalist witnessed 
the aftermath and told the story. The world's media obediently crowded onto the 
USS Missouri off the coast of Japan to cover the surrender of the Japanese. 

Wilfred Burchett decided to strike out on his own. He was determined to see for 
himself what this nuclear bomb had done, to understand what this vaunted new 
weapon was all about. So he boarded a train and traveled for thirty hours to 
the city of Hiroshima in defiance of General MacArthur's orders. 

Burchett emerged from the train into a nightmare world. The devastation that 
confronted him was unlike any he had ever seen during the war. The city of 
Hiroshima, with a population of 350,000, had been razed. Multistory buildings 
were reduced to charred posts. He saw people's shadows seared into walls and 
sidewalks. He met people with their skin melting off. In the hospital, he saw 
patients with purple skin hemorrhages, gangrene, fever, and rapid hair loss. 
Burchett was among the first to witness and describe radiation sickness. 

Burchett sat down on a chunk of rubble with his Baby Hermes typewriter. His 
dispatch began: "In Hiroshima, thirty days after the first atomic bomb 
destroyed the city and shook the world, people are still dying, mysteriously 
and horribly-people who were uninjured in the cataclysm from an unknown 
something which I can only describe as the atomic plague." 

He continued, tapping out the words that still haunt to this day: "Hiroshima 
does not look like a bombed city. It looks as if a monster steamroller has 
passed over it and squashed it out of existence. I write these facts as 
dispassionately as I can in the hope that they will act as a warning to the 
world." 

Burchett's article, headlined THE ATOMIC PLAGUE, was published on September 5, 
1945, in the London Daily Express. The story caused a worldwide sensation. 
Burchett's candid reaction to the horror shocked readers. "In this first 
testing ground of the atomic bomb I have seen the most terrible and frightening 
desolation in four years of war. It makes a blitzed Pacific island seem like an 
Eden. The damage is far greater than photographs can show. 

"When you arrive in Hiroshima you can look around for twenty-five and perhaps 
thirty square miles. You can see hardly a building. It gives you an empty 
feeling in the stomach to see such man-made destruction." 

Burchett's searing independent reportage was a public relations fiasco for the 
U.S. military. General MacArthur had gone to pains to restrict journalists' 
access to the bombed cities, and his military censors were sanitizing and even 
killing dispatches that described the horror. The official narrative of the 
atomic bombings downplayed civilian casualties and categorically dismissed 
reports of the deadly lingering effects of radiation. Reporters whose 
dispatches convicted with this version of events found themselves silenced: 
George Weller of the Chicago Daily News slipped into Nagasaki and wrote a 
25,000-word story on the nightmare that he found there. Then he made a crucial 
error: He submitted the piece to military censors. His newspaper never even 
received his story. As Weller later summarized his experience with MacArthur's 
censors, "They won." 

U.S. authorities responded in time-honored fashion to Burchett's revelations: 
They attacked the messenger. General MacArthur ordered him expelled from Japan 
(the order was later rescinded), and his camera with photos of Hiroshima 
mysteriously vanished while he was in the hospital. U.S. officials accused 
Burchett of being influenced by Japanese propaganda. They scoffed at the notion 
of an atomic sickness. The U.S. military issued a press release right after the 
Hiroshima bombing that downplayed human casualties, instead emphasizing that 
the bombed area was the site of valuable industrial and military targets. 

Four days after Burchett's story splashed across front pages around the world, 
Major General Leslie R. Groves, director of the atomic bomb project, invited a 
select group of thirty reporters to New Mexico. Foremost among this group was 
William L. Laurence, the Pulitzer Prize-winning science reporter for The New 
York Times. Groves took the reporters to the site of the first atomic test. His 
intent was to demonstrate that no atomic radiation lingered at the site. Groves 
trusted Laurence to convey the military's line; the general was not 
disappointed. 

Laurence's front-page story, U.S. ATOM BOMB SITE BELIES TOKYO TALES: TESTS ON 
NEW MEXICO RANGE CONFIRM THAT BLAST, AND NOT RADIATION, TOOK TOLL, ran on 
September 12, 1945, following a three-day delay to clear military 
censors. "This historic ground in New Mexico, scene of the first atomic 
explosion on earth and cradle of a new era in civilization, gave the most 
effective answer today to Japanese propaganda that radiations [sic] were 
responsible for deaths even after the day of the explosion, Aug. 6, and that 
persons entering Hiroshima had contracted mysterious maladies due to persistent 
radioactivity," the article began.3 Laurence said unapologetically that the 
Army tour was intended "to give the lie to these claims." 

Laurence quoted General Groves: "The Japanese claim that people died from 
radiation. If this is true, the number was very small." 

Laurence then went on to offer his own remarkable editorial on what 
happened: "The Japanese are still continuing their propaganda aimed at creating 
the impression that we won the war unfairly, and thus attempting to create 
sympathy for themselves and milder terms . . . Thus, at the beginning, the 
Japanese described 'symptoms' that did not ring true." 

But Laurence knew better. He had observed the first atomic bomb test on July 
16, 1945, and he withheld what he knew about radioactive fallout across the 
southwestern desert that poisoned local residents and livestock. He kept mum 
about the spiking Geiger counters all around the test site. 

William L. Laurence went on to write a series of ten articles for the Times 
that served as a glowing tribute to the ingenuity and technical achievements of 
the nuclear program. Throughout these and other reports, he downplayed and 
denied the human impact of the bombing. Laurence won the Pulitzer Prize for his 
reporting. 

It turns out that William L. Laurence was not only receiving a salary from The 
New York Times. He was also on the payroll of the War Department. In March 
1945, General Leslie Groves had held a secret meeting at The New York Times 
with Laurence to offer him a job writing press releases for the Manhattan 
Project, the U.S. program to develop atomic weapons. The intent, according to 
the Times, was "to explain the intricacies of the atomic bomb's operating 
principles in laymen's language." Laurence also helped write statements on the 
bomb for President Truman and Secretary of War Henry Stimson. 

Laurence eagerly accepted the offer, "his scientific curiosity and patriotic 
zeal perhaps blinding him to the notion that he was at the same time 
compromising his journalistic independence," as essayist Harold Evans wrote in 
a history of war reporting. Evans recounted: "After the bombing, the brilliant 
but bullying Groves continually suppressed or distorted the effects of 
radiation. He dismissed reports of Japanese deaths as 'hoax or propaganda.' The 
Times' Laurence weighed in, too, after Burchett's reports, and parroted the 
government line." Indeed, numerous press releases issued by the military after 
the Hiroshima bombing-which in the absence of eyewitness accounts were often 
reproduced verbatim by U.S. newspapers-were written by none other than 
Laurence. 

"Mine has been the honor, unique in the history of journalism, of preparing the 
War Department's official press release for worldwide distribution," boasted 
Laurence in his memoirs, Dawn Over Zero. "No greater honor could have come to 
any newspaperman, or anyone else for that matter." 

"Atomic Bill" Laurence revered atomic weapons. He had been crusading for an 
American nuclear program in articles as far back as 1929. His dual status as 
government agent and reporter earned him an unprecedented level of access to 
American military officials-he even flew in the squadron of planes that dropped 
the atomic bomb on Nagasaki. His reports on the atomic bomb and its use had a 
hagiographic tone, laced with descriptions that conveyed almost religious awe. 

In Laurence's article about the bombing of Nagasaki (it was withheld by 
military censors until a month after the bombing), he described the detonation 
over Nagasaki that incinerated 100,000 people. Laurence waxed: "Awe-struck, we 
watched it shoot upward like a meteor coming from the earth instead of from 
outer space, becoming ever more alive as it climbed skyward through the white 
clouds. . . . It was a living thing, a new species of being, born right before 
our incredulous eyes." 

Laurence later recounted his impressions of the atomic bomb: "Being close to it 
and watching it as it was being fashioned into a living thing, so exquisitely 
shaped that any sculptor would be proud to have created it, one . . . felt 
oneself in the presence of the supranatural." 

Laurence was good at keeping his master's secrets-from suppressing the reports 
of deadly radioactivity in New Mexico to denying them in Japan. The Times was 
also good at keeping secrets, only revealing Laurence's dual status as 
government spokesman and reporter on August 7, the day after the Hiroshima 
bombing-and four months after Laurence began working for the Pentagon. As 
Robert Jay Lifton and Greg Mitchell wrote in their excellent book Hiroshima in 
America: Fifty Years of Denial, "Here was the nation's leading science 
reporter, severely compromised, not only unable but disinclined to reveal all 
he knew about the potential hazards of the most important scientific discovery 
of his time." 

Radiation: Now You See It, Now You Don't 

A curious twist to this story concerns another New York Times journalist who 
reported on Hiroshima; his name, believe it or not, was William Lawrence (his 
byline was W.H. Lawrence). He has long been confused with William L. Laurence. 
(Even Wilfred Burchett confuses the two men in his memoirs and his 1983 book, 
Shadows of Hiroshima.) Unlike the War Department's Pulitzer Prize winner, W.H. 
Lawrence visited and reported on Hiroshima on the same day as Burchett. 
(William L. Laurence, after flying in the squadron of planes that bombed 
Nagasaki, was subsequently called back to the United States by the Times and 
did not visit the bombed cities.) 

W.H. Lawrence's original dispatch from Hiroshima was published on September 5, 
1945. He reported matter-of-factly about the deadly effects of radiation, and 
wrote that Japanese doctors worried that "all who had been in Hiroshima that 
day would die as a result of the bomb's lingering effects." He described 
how "persons who had been only slightly injured on the day of the blast lost 86 
percent of their white blood corpuscles, developed temperatures of 104 degrees 
Fahrenheit, their hair began to drop out, they lost their appetites, vomited 
blood and finally died." 

Oddly enough, W.H. Lawrence contradicted himself one week later in an article 
headlined NO RADIOACTIVITY IN HIROSHIMA RUIN. For this article, the Pentagon's 
spin machine had swung into high gear in response to Burchett's horrifying 
account of "atomic plague." W.H. Lawrence reported that Brigadier General T. F. 
Farrell, chief of the War Department's atomic bomb mission to 
Hiroshima, "denied categorically that [the bomb] produced a dangerous, 
lingering radioactivity." Lawrence's dispatch quotes only Farrell; the reporter 
never mentions his eyewitness account of people dying from radiation sickness 
that he wrote the previous week. 

The conflicting accounts of Wilfred Burchett and William L. Laurence might be 
ancient history were it not for a modern twist. On October 23, 2003, The New 
York Times published an article about a controversy over a Pulitzer Prize 
awarded in 1932 to Times reporter Walter Duranty. A former correspondent in the 
Soviet Union, Duranty had denied the existence of a famine that had killed 
millions of Ukrainians in 1932 and 1933. The Pulitzer Board had launched two 
inquiries to consider stripping Duranty of his prize. The Times "regretted the 
lapses" of its reporter and had published a signed editorial saying that 
Duranty's work was "some of the worst reporting to appear in this newspaper." 
Current Times executive editor Bill Keller decried Duranty's "credulous, 
uncritical parroting of propaganda." 

On November 21, 2003, the Pulitzer Board decided against rescinding Duranty's 
award, concluding that there was "no clear and convincing evidence of 
deliberate deception" in the articles that won the prize. 

As an apologist for Joseph Stalin, Duranty is easy pickings. What about 
the "deliberate deception" of William L. Laurence in denying the lethal effects 
of radioactivity? And what of the fact that the Pulitzer Board knowingly 
awarded the top journalism prize to the Pentagon's paid publicist, who denied 
the suffering of millions of Japanese? Do the Pulitzer Board and the Times 
approve of "uncritical parroting of propaganda"-as long as it is from the 
United States? 

It is long overdue that the prize for Hiroshima's apologist be stripped. 

Amy Goodman is host of the national radio and TV show "Democracy Now!." This is 
an excerpt from her new national bestselling book The Exception to the Rulers: 
Exposing Oily Politicians, War Profiteers, and the Media that Love Them, 
written with her brother journalist David, exposes the reporting of Times 
correspondent William L. Laurence 
 

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" Social and economic well-being will become a reality only through the
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 66 marionstar.com Hobson: Nuclear program wasteful - 

Thursday, August 12, 2004   

By GREG WRIGHT Gannett News Service 

WASHINGTON -- A $6 billion Department of Energy program that 
looks after the nation's nuclear arsenal is out of date and needs 
to revamp its management style to save taxpayer dollars, a key 
House Republican said Wednesday. 

"Visiting the nuclear weapons complex is like stepping back in a 
time capsule," said Rep. David Hobson, R-Ohio, chairman of the 
House Appropriations subcommittee that oversees spending on 
nuclear programs. 

The United States has 5,340 nuclear warheads ready to launch from 
bombers, underground silos, submarines and airplanes, according 
to a study from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. 
Another 5,000 nuclear bombs are in storage. 

The department is asking for $6.6 billion to manage the nuclear 
weapons next year, up from $6.3 billion this year, Hobson said. 
Managing the weapons includes regularly testing them to ensure 
they would detonate. 

The Energy Department labs that oversee the bombs do vital work 
but are wasteful, Hobson told a National Academy of Sciences 
symposium on U.S. nuclear strategy. For instance, the Los Alamos 
National Laboratory in New Mexico and the Lawrence Livermore 
National Laboratory in California have not opened their operating 
contracts to competitive bidding in 50 years, he said. 

Congress ordered the labs to open up bidding this year. Outside 
contractors could cut costs by doing lab work more cheaply, he 
said. 

Hobson also accused the labs of being a "white collar welfare" 
program for Ph.Ds because there is little government oversight 
over their research. 

Hobson has pushed for months to cut government spending on new 
weapons programs he said the nation does not need, a view that 
has occasionally put him at odds with the Bush administration and 
other Republicans. 

Hobson is against Bush administration plans to spend $485 million 
over the next five years to study building a new nuclear weapon 
that can destroy enemy targets buried deep underground. 

Stephen Young, a senior analyst at the Union of Concerned 
Scientists, agreed the United States is wasting millions of 
dollars to research weapons it doesn't need now that the Cold War 
is over. 

"I'm shocked by your comments because they make sense," Young 
told Hobson. 

But C. Paul Robinson, president of the Sandia National 
Laboratories in New Mexico, defended the labs, which he said 
conduct a variety of programs - such as testing armor plating 
designed to protect tanks and soldiers in Iraq - that are crucial 
for national defense. 

"I think the work we do is important," Robinson said. "It's 
certainly difficult." 

Originally published Thursday, August 12, 2004
 
Copyright ©2004 The Marion Star. All rights reserved. Use of this 
*****************************************************************
 67 Hanford News: Congressional staffers tour Hanford facilities
 	   	 		
Home [http://www.hanfordnews.com]             
 
This story was published Wednesday, August 11th, 2004 

By the Herald staff 

Congressional staffers are touring the Hanford nuclear 
reservation this week to get a firsthand look at how federal 
money is being spent on cleanup and other projects. 

The annual trip is organized by Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., and 
sponsored by the Tri-City Industrial Development Council. 
Participants also will tour Pacific Northwest National Laboratory 
and the HAMMER training center. 

Staff participating in this year's tour are from the House 
Science Committee and from Senate or House offices in Oregon, 
Washington and South Carolina.

© 2004 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved.
 This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed       
*****************************************************************
 68 Guardian Unlimited: Los Alamos Lab Has Documentation Troubles
 
From the Associated Press        

[UP] 

Thursday August 12, 2004 1:31 AM

LOS ALAMOS, N.M. (AP) - Los Alamos National Laboratory has failed 
to properly keep track of several computers that handle 
classified information, an Energy Department report says. 

The department's Inspector General's Office, in a follow-up to a 
2003 preliminary report, identified continuing problems that 
``undermine confidence'' in the ability of Los Alamos to ensure 
classified computers are properly managed and ``safeguarded from 
loss or theft.'' 

The latest report, issued Tuesday, said eight classified desktop 
computers were not listed in the property management system and 
three were not assigned property numbers or added to the system. 

It also said the lab's Office of Security Inquiries was not told 
about a missing computer processing unit used in classified 
operations. The processing unit was scheduled to be destroyed, 
but there was no record of its destruction. 

The Inspector General's Office also cited a list of classified 
desktop and laptop computers that didn't match actual classified 
equipment. Inspectors checked 14 of 65 laptop computers and found 
two with property numbers that didn't match paperwork as well as 
a laptop that didn't belong on the list. 

Concerns over security and safety at the nuclear weapons lab came 
to a head in July, after two computer disks containing classified 
information were reported missing. Almost all work at the lab was 
shut down, 23 employees have been suspended and the future of the 
61-year-old facility has been cast in doubt. 

The DOE investigation was performed before problems with the 
missing disks surfaced. It recommended Los Alamos improve its 
property management system, properly report missing classified 
materials and investigate incidents, maintain an accurate central 
listing of classified computers and verify that property numbers 
match numbers on paperwork. 

Lab spokesman Kevin Roark said Los Alamos has developed a plan 
for addressing ``accounting discrepancies'' identified in the 
report. 

``The problem brought forward by the IG report we consider ... 
well on its way to a solution,'' Roark said. 

The latest report raises concerns about the effectiveness of 
security changes the lab is focusing on, said Pete Stockton, a 
senior investigator for the Washington, D.C.-based Project on 
Government Oversight, a watchdog group. 

The report shows Los Alamos is not serious about fixing problems, 
he said. 

``It's unbelievable,'' Stockton said. ``When you've got 
classified computers, you really need to keep track of those 
suckers.'' 
  
      Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004
*****************************************************************
 69 SF Chronicle: LIVERMORE / Federal study finds no public health risk 
at Livermore lab / But local group's leader says research tied to 
'junk science'
 
  LIVERMORE 

Carrie Sturrock, Chronicle Staff Writer         Thursday, August
12, 2004

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory does not pose an apparent
public health risk, a federal study has concluded, sparking
anger among people in the community who called the assessment
flawed. 

The study, conducted by the Agency for Toxic Substances and
Disease Registry, is the first complete federal public health
assessment of the laboratory. The findings, which were sharply
criticized by some community members, pleased administrators at
the laboratory, which is managed by the University of California
for the U.S. Department of Energy. 

"There are no public health impacts from our operations and they
don't expect there will be," Bert Heffner, manager of
environmental community relations at the laboratory, said
Wednesday. "Our monitoring of data over the past 40 years has
confirmed that, but it's always good to have a federal agency
with a dispassionate third-party view put you under scrutiny." 

While the assessment -- which included various studies conducted
over the last decade -- was released June 29, the agency planned
to hold a public forum in Livermore Wednesday night to answer
questions. 

The study disappointed Marylia Kelley, executive director of
Tri-Valley CAREs (Communities Against a Radioactive
Environment), who called the methodology used in parts of the
assessment "junk science." Her group had been part of a site
team to help the federal agency assess the lab, but she now
plans to resign. 

"They have disregarded our input at each and every turn," she
said. "To use us to give some imprimatur of community acceptance
is unacceptable to my group. ... This report doesn't have any
practical application other than for Livermore lab to wave it
around and say, 'Some agency likes us.' " 

The lab was placed on the Superfund National Priorities List in
1987 after volatile organic compounds were found in the
groundwater and nearby drinking wells. The lab's Site 300 in
Tracy has low levels of radioactive contaminants, according to
the Environmental Protection Agency. 

The Agency for Toxic Substances looked at all possible
contaminants at the main site, including plutonium and tritium,
and officially deemed the lab "No Apparent Public Health
Hazard." 

"This conclusion means that although community exposures to
site-related contaminants may have occurred, or are occurring,
the resulting doses are unlikely to result in any adverse health
effects and are consequently below levels of public health
concern." 

Kathy Setian, a Superfund project manager for the EPA, said she
found the report to be reasonable. The lab will remain on the
Superfund list and continue to clean up the contaminants in the
groundwater, which is not considered a health hazard because no
one is drinking it. 

"It's not a question of whether it's being used for drinking
water today, " Setian said. "If it's allowed to go untreated and
migrate on its own, it could hit the water supply wells." 

The report can be found at 
www-envirinfo.llnl.gov/ATSDR_Livsite_pha_final.pdf 
[http://www-envirinfo.llnl.gov/ATSDR_Livsite_pha_final.pdf] 
E-mail Carrie Sturrock at csturrock@sfchronicle.com 
[csturrock@sfchronicle.com] . [graphical line] Page B - 5 
	 
©2004 San Francisco Chronicle | Feedback | FAQ
*****************************************************************
 70 Oak Ridger: Research 'grads' 							 							 							
 
Story last updated at 12:10 p.m. on August 12, 2004

Oak Ridge Associated Universities and Oak Ridge National 
Laboratory hosted a graduate student recruitment fair Wednesday 
in conjunction with the conclusion of the lab's summer 
undergraduate student programs. 

Throughout the day, more than 200 students from across the 
country presented posters of their research projects. Three of 
the participants were, from left, Adam Hayes, Brigham Young 
University; Lauren Richards, Cornell University; and Paige Pate, 
Bevill State Community College. 

Also pictured is Jeff Christian, director of ORNL's Buildings 
Technology Center. The fair concluded with an event that allowed 
undergraduate students to meet with graduate program 
representatives from across the country to discuss research 
opportunities and program admission.






*****************************************************************
 71 Oak Ridger: 'Super' dismantling project 							 							 							
 
Story last updated at 11:00 a.m. on August 12, 2004

OFFICIAL: The right business scenario could keep supercompactor
operational. 

By: Paul Parson | Oak Ridger Staff
paul.parson@oakridger.com [paul.parson@oakridger.com] 

BNFL Inc. could start dismantling its one-of-a-kind
supercompactor within the next 30 to 60 days.

"I think I'll always hold out hope," said Jeff Stevens, the
project's general manager. "But, it's probably 90 percent-plus
that we'll be tearing it down."

The supercompactor is powered by 2,200 tons of hydraulic force
and can process up to 58 tons of metal per hour. It's located in
a structure that's essentially connected to the K-33 building -
one of three Department of Energy facilities BNFL is under
contract to decontaminate and decommission at the Oak Ridge K-25
site.

"We have begun the initial work where we're closing off the
connection between the building the supercompactor is in and
K-33," said Stevens, who added that the wall to do so will
roughly be about 100 feet by 100 feet.

According to Stevens, BNFL plans to dismantle the
supercompactor in a way that it can be reassembled. And, while
it reportedly took more than a year to get the machine from the
groundbreaking stage to the operational point, he estimates that
it will take about two to three months to dismantle it.

"A bigger issue is that we are in the process of
decontaminating the west portion of K-33, and that's the area
where we would feed the supercompactor," Stevens said. "Since we
are decontaminating it, that'll make it much more difficult for
reversing the process. For example, if some situation came
through to where we would want to start feeding it again, the
floor that I bring all the material in on is now clean."

The right business scenario could keep the supercompactor
operational, according to Stevens.

Locally, the machine has been used to process some material
associated with a project by Bechtel Jacobs Co. - DOE's
environmental cleanup contractor. But, it's unknown if any more
of that work will come along.

Outside of the state, Stevens acknowledged it would be logical
for the supercompactor to be used on cleanup projects in
Paducah, Ky., and Portsmouth, Ohio, which both apparently have
large scrap yards. He said BNFL has engaged in some
conversations regarding this work, but nothing has come to
fruition.

Additionally, Stevens said there have been some companies
interested in acquiring the supercompactor, but no deals have
apparently been worked out.

"I don't know that we've ever really gotten to a bid stage," he
said. 'We never got to the talking dollar stage." 







*****************************************************************
 72 lamonitor.com: Udall hears concerns at chamber reception 

The Online News Source for Los Alamos

[http://www.lac-nm.us]   

CAROL A. CLARK, lanews@lamonitor.com [lanews@lamonitor.com] , 
Monitor Staff Writer

Business and community leaders met with Rep. Tom Udall at a 
Wednesday reception hosted by the Los Alamos Chamber of Commerce 
and sponsored by Honeywell. Udall listened to concerns about slow 
business sales, the lab's stand down, the real estate glut, 
veteran's problems and other issues.

Chamber Executive Director Sue Hofmann was pleased to see some 50 
people turn out to speak with the congressman. 

"One of the most important things a chamber can do for its 
business members is put them in direct contact with their state 
and federal elected officials," Hofmann said.

Many of the people who attended the reception wanted to thank
Udall for the help and support he has given their organizations. 
"Udall is on the House Resources Committee and has given us
outstanding support," said Darlene Koontz, executive director of
the Bandelier National Monument. "We love him and his staff -
they have all been so accommodating."

Rep. Jeannette Wallace said it was nice that Udall came to Los
Alamos to visit with people here. 
"It's important for him to know the issues that concern us,"
Wallace said.

"We came here to thank Congressman Udall for all the support he
gives to veterans," said American Legion Vice Commander Bill
Cooper. "He does so much for us and this was an opportunity to
let him know how we feel."

Kevin Holsapple, Los Alamos Community Development Corporation
executive director, was on hand as well.

"It's great to see the congressional delegation interested in
the concerns we have in Los Alamos." Holsapple said. "The
chamber and Honeywell made this event happen - we've had a tough
month here and we really needed something like this."

John Hofmann manages Honeywell's Los Alamos operations.

"We think it's important that our elected officials have an
opportunity to come to Los Alamos to hear the issues affecting
our citizens," Hofmann said. "We hope the officials get
something out of this, the citizens get something out of this
and that these events will serve in the long run to help Los
Alamos."

Honeywell will sponsor events like this throughout the year.
Gov. Bill Richardson will be Honeywell's guest in a couple of
weeks.

They also plan to invite Sen. Pete Domenici. They had hoped to
have a reception for the senator when he stopped at the airport
on Monday but his scheduled didn't allow enough time.

"These are not set up to be political events," Hofmann said. "We
want our elected officials to meet one on one with our business
and community leaders so they hear the concerns facing Los
Alamos."

Honeywell Federal Manufacturing and Technologies has been
working with the labs to turn science into reality for some 50
years.

They manage applied-science and engineering facilities that
support mission-critical assignments and provide technical
support for the National Nuclear Safety Administration's
National Laboratories and other government agencies.

They are engaged in research, analysis, testing and field
operations in five NNSA locations including Los Alamos.

The Los Alamos office is involved in component production and
scientific support for LANL. They also collaborate with the lab
to develop fiber-optic sensors to support hydrodynamic testing.

Udall is in his third term representing New Mexico's Third
Congressional District. He belongs to a variety of committees
where his influence could have a positive impact on Los Alamos.
Udall is the ranking member of the Small Business Subcommittee
on Workforce, Empowerment, and Government Programs. He serves on
the House Committees of Resources, Small Business, and Veterans
Affairs and the Veterans Subcommittee on Oversight and
Investigation. He also serves on the Resources Subcommittees on
Energy and Mineral Resources, Forests and Forest Health, and
National Parks, Recreation and Public Lands.

Prior to the start of the 108th Congress, Udall was appointed to
serve on the Democratic Steering and Policy Committee, on which
he works directly with the leadership to direct the legislative
agenda for the minority party in the House. He also is the
Co-Vice Chair of the House Native American Caucus; a member of
the Bipartisan Rural Caucus, the Democratic Education Task
Force, and the Congressional Law Enforcement Caucus.   

  © 2003 Los Alamos Monitor All Rights Reserved.   
*****************************************************************
 73 KLTV 7: Energy Department resumes classified weapons research at Pantex

Tyler-Longview-Jacksonville, TX: 

   August 12, 2004       

AMARILLO, Texas The Energy Department has resumed classified
research at its Pantex nuclear weapons plant near Amarillo.

The department had stopped research at facilities nationwide July 
26th after two data disks were found missing at New Mexico's Los 
Alamos National Laboratory. 

That prompted searches at facilities that use disks like those 
missing from Los Alamos.

Los Alamos officials now say the missing disks may have never 
existed and were reported lost because of a faulty inventory 
system.

Pantex is the nation's only nuclear weapons dismantling plant.

The Energy Department approved resumed operations at Pantex on 
Tuesday.(Thanks to KVII for assist)                                                     
Copyright 2004

Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be 
published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.                                         

[http://www.worldnow.com]     All content © Copyright 2001 -
2004 WorldNow and KLTV. All Rights Reserved.
*****************************************************************
 74 Google News Alert - nuclear
 
Date: Thu, 12 Aug 2004 15:21:49 -0700 (PDT)

 
FUKUI gov. calls for nuclear freeze
Mainichi Shimbun - Tokyo,Japan
... Nishikawa said Thursday that plutonium thermal use and fast-breeder
reactor projects in the prefecture should be frozen until safety of nuclear
facilities are ...
<http://mdn.mainichi.co.jp/news/20040812p2a00m0dm007000c.html>
See all stories on this topic:
<http://news.google.com/news?ie=utf8&oe=utf8&persist=1&num=30&hl=en&client=google&newsclusterurl=http://mdn.mainichi.co.jp/news/20040812p2a00m0dm007000c.html>

IRAN stuns Europe with nuclear demands
Jerusalem Post (subscription) - Jerusalem,Israel
Iranian officials, under pressure to freeze their nuclear program, have
stunned European diplomats at crisis talks in Paris this month by demanding
advanced ...
<http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1092280017499>
See all stories on this topic:
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BUSH Defends Nuclear Waste Decision
Los Angeles Times (subscription) - Los Angeles,CA,USA
... in today on perhaps the hottest political issue in this swing state,
saying he stood by his decision to approve building a permanent nuclear
waste storage ...
<http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-081204bush_lat,1,1094608.story?coll=la-home-headlines>
See all stories on this topic:
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KHATAMI warns Israel against attacking Iranian nuclear facilities
Arabic News - Middle East
President Muhammad Khatami of Iran Tuesday warned Israel against bad repercussions
if it attacked the Iranian nuclear facilities in the Iranian City of Bushahr
...
<http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/040812/2004081209.html>
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IRAQ had no WMDs, says nuclear chief
Melbourne Herald Sun - Melbourne,Victoria,Australia
SADDAM Hussein gave up all Iraq's weapons of mass destruction after the
1991 Gulf War, the scientist who headed his nuclear program said yesterday.
...
<http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,10425108%255E663,00.html>
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US says Iranian missiles, nuclear programme threaten stability
Channel News Asia - Singapore
... but said Washington was troubled by recent developments, including
Tehran's continued denials of US claims that it is using a civilian nuclear
energy programme ...
<http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world/view/100465/1/.html>
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NUCLEAR Negotiators Hold Informal Talks on N.Korea
Reuters - USA
... US negotiators met in New York at a foreign policy conference but did
not try to reach a consensus on resuming talks about the North's nuclear
programs, South ...
<http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=5947266>
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INFORMAL DPRK nuclear talk ends in New York
Xinhua - China
11 (Xinhuanet) -- The two-day informal meeting on Pyongyang's nuclear program
ended here Wednesday, and US officials said there was no substantive bilateral
...
<http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-08/12/content_1765007.htm>
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ANALYSIS: Iran's nuclear desires and perils
United Press International - USA
... in the not too distant future the Islamic Republic of Iran will reach
the point of no return in its drive toward becoming a military nuclear
power -- the ...
<http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20040812-082506-3619r>
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NUCLEAR Lab's Missing Disks May Not Exist
New York Times - New York,NY,USA
... Los Alamos, one of the nation's premier nuclear-weapons laboratories,
has been under heavy criticism for several years over accusations of lax
security and ...
<http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/12/politics/12lab.html>
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 75 Fuel Cell Today: How Soon for Hydrogen?
 
Author: Provider: Issues in Science and Technology                                              

Originally Published:20040701. 

        In "The Hype About Hydrogen" (Issues, Spring 2004), 
Joseph J. Romm devotes considerable energy to highlighting the 
challenges that must be addressed in realizing a hydrogen-based 
economy. As his title implies, he concludes that the world's 
interest in this promising future is more about hype than 
reality. 

        At General Motors, we see the future quite differently. 
We believe there are many compelling reasons to move as quickly 
as possible to a personal mobility future energized by hydrogen 
and powered by fuel cells. These include substantial reductions 
in vehicle exhaust and greenhouse gas emissions, energy security, 
geopolitical stability, sustainable economic growth, and, most 
importantly, the potential to design vehicles that are more 
exciting to own and operate than today's automobiles. 

        GM has demonstrated this design potential with our 
Hy-wire prototype, the world's first drivable fuel cell and 
by-wire vehicle. We also have made great progress in testing our 
fuel cell technology in real-world settings. We have vehicle 
demonstration programs under way in Washington, D.C. and Tokyo, 
Japan, and are partnering with Dow Chemical on the world's 
largest application of fuel cell power in a chemical 
manufacturing facility. 

        Given the fuel cell's inherent energy efficiency, we 
estimate that the cost per mile of hydrogen is already close to 
that of the cost of gasoline used in today's vehicles. In fact, 
our analyses have shown that the first million fuel cell vehicles 
could be fueled by hydrogen derived from natural gas, resulting 
in an increase in natural gas demand of only two-tenths of one 
percent. Our analyses also project that a fueling infrastructure 
for the first million fuel cell vehicles could be created in the 
United States at a cost of $10-15 billion. (In comparison, the 
cost to build the Alaskan oil pipeline in the mid-1970s was $8 
billion, which equates to $25 billion in today's dollars.) 

        Based on our current rate of progress, GM is working hard 
to develop commercially viable fuel cell propulsion technology by 
2010. This means a fuel cell that is competitive with today's 
engines in terms of power, durability, and cost at automotive 
volumes. Beyond this, GM plans to be the first manufacturer to 
sell one million fuel cell vehicles profitably. Like all advanced 
technology vehicles, fuel cell vehicles must sell in large 
quantities to realize a positive environmental impact. How 
quickly we see significant volumes depends on many factors, 
including cost-effective and conveniently available hydrogen 
refueling for our customers, uniform codes and standards for 
hydrogen and hydrogen-fueled vehicles, and supportive government 
policies to help overcome the initial vehicle and refueling 
infrastructure investment hurdles. 

        For the past 100 years, GM has been on the leading edge 
of pioneering automotive development -not just because we have 
worked the technology but, equally importantly, because we have 
been willing to lay out a long-term vision of the future and use 
our considerable resources to realize the vision. We are 
committed to the future-so it is not a question of whether we 
will be able to market exciting, safe, and affordable fuel cell 
vehicles, but when. all it will take is the collective will of 
the auto and energy companies, government, academia, and other 
interested stakeholders. Today, we see this collective will 
building toward a societal determination to create a hydrogen 
economy. 

	This is not hype. It's reality. 

	LARRY BURNS 

	Vice President, Research & Development and Planning 

	General Motors Corporation 

	Detroit, Michigan 

        As Joseph J. Romm knows from his tenure with the U.S. 
Department of Energy (DOE), the department promotes both 
environmental and national energy security goals. The environment 
and global climate stability are top priorities, and so is 
reducing our dependence on foreign oil. Romm focuses exclusively 
on greenhouse gases from electricity generation and ignores 
long-term energy security. 

        Currently, the United States imports 55 percent of our 
oil from foreign sources. This is projected to be 68 percent by 
2025. Transportation drives this dependence, accounting for 
two-thirds of the 20 million barrels of oil used daily. U.S. 
economic stability will be threatened as growing economies such 
as China and India put increased demand on finite petroleum 
resources. 

        We agree that the challenges facing the hydrogen economy 
are difficult, but they are not insurmountable. We can concede to 
these challenges and do nothing, or we can develop a long-term 
vision and implement a balanced portfolio of near- and long-term 
technology options to address energy and environmental issues. We 
choose to do the latter. 

        Romm should be aware that our near-term focus is on 
high-fuel-economy hybrid vehicles. The government is spending 
more than $90 million per year to lower hybrid component costs. 
However, in the long term, increased fuel economy is not 
sufficient. A substitute is required if we are to become more 
self-reliant. Romm does not offer a viable alternative to 
hydrogen. Hydrogen is an energy carrier that can be made using 
diverse domestic resources and that addresses greenhouse gases 
because it decouples carbon from energy use. 

        Romm's article might lead your readers to believe that 
the Bush administration is rushing to deploy hydrogen vehicles at 
the expense of renewable energy research. This is simply not the 
case. 

        First, DOE's plan calls for a 2015 commercialization 
decision by industry based on the success of government and 
private research. There are no arbitrary sales quotas or 
scheduled deployment targets. Only after consumer requirements 
can be met and a business case can be justified will market 
introduction begin. 

        Second, money is not being shifted away from efficiency 
and renewable programs to pay for hydrogen research. The 
administration's fiscal year (FY) 2005 budget requests for 
research in wind, hydropower, and geothermal are all up as 
compared to FY 2004 appropriations. After unplanned congressional 
earmarks are accounted for, solar and biomass requests are also 
up. 

        Romm treats efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions and 
hydrogen as mutually exclusive. This is simply not the case. Tn 
fact, the renewable community is embracing hydrogen because it 
addresses one of the most significant 
shortcomings-intermittency-of abundant solar and wind resources. 
Romm also acknowledges that by 2030, coal generation of energy 
may double. This is all the more reason to pursue carbon 
management technologies in projects such as FutureGen. As 
announced by President Bush, FutureGen will be the world's first 
zero-emissions coal-based power plant. Carbon will be captured 
and sequestered while producing electricity and hydrogen. Nuclear 
energy is another carbon-free source of hydrogen. 

        As you can see, there are tremendous synergies in the 
longterm vision of producing carbonfree electricity while also 
producing hydrogen for cars, all while addressing climate change 
and energy security. 

	DAVID K. CARMAN 

	Assistant secretary 

	Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy 

	U.S. Department of Energy 

	Washington, D.C. 

        Joseph J. Romm's article was a huge relief to me. As a 
career expert in many aspects of energy policy and technology I 
have been dismayed that the most basic science of hydrogen 
production, transportation, storage, etc. has not been addressed 
or at least publicized. I have listened to many presentations 
about hydrogen fueling and have always asked whether the 
thermodynamics of the entire hydrogen production and use cycle 
have been calculated. The answer has always been either "no" or a 
blank stare. Romm's article, in effect, does this. 

        I would like to read or hear about the issues surrounding 
the sequestration of carbon from carbon dioxide. It is a 
companion technological question and one that must be understood 
scientifically and economically when trying to craft any policy 
or research agenda addressing future energy supply and all its 
ramifications. 

	JOE F. MOORE 

        Joe F. Moore is retired CEO of Bonner & Moore Associates 
and a member of the Presidents' Circle of the National Academies. 

        Given the amount we don't know about hydrogen as an 
energy carrier, it is remarkable how much we have to say about 
it. 

        I accept Joseph J. Romm's major point that hydrogen 
offers no near-term fix for global climate change. But that's not 
what drives the interest in hydrogen. Many current advocates seek 
reductions in the regional air pollutants that throttle our 
metropolitan areas, but without giving up our famously 
auto-dependent lifestyle, whereas others simply want to reduce 
petroleum imports. 

        One driver-preserving the automobile's viability-explains 
the support for hydrogen among automakers, Sunbelt politicians 
facing excess levels of ozone, and prosprawl advocates. They say 
that if we can just give our cars and trucks cleaner fuel, we 
won't have to acknowledge roles for public transit and land use 
regulation. Thus, we see an antiregulation U.S. president from 
Texas and automobile manufacturers worldwide promoting a 
billion-dollar hydrogen R&D roadmap, and a Hummer-driving 
California governor promoting an actual hydrogen highway. 

        Energy carriers such as electricity and hydrogen create 
value by transforming a wide variety of primary sources into 
clean, convenient, commodity energy. These energy carriers allow 
us to diversify our primary energy supplies and shift the mix 
toward indigenous resources. Electricity reversed the decline in 
the U.S. coal industry by preventing oil and gas from 
competitively displacing that dirty high-carbon fuel, and we now 
burn far more coal than we did at the peak of the industrial 
revolution. Hydrogen could become the preferred transportation 
energy carrier, letting coal, natural gas, nuclear fission, and 
other sources displace imported petroleum in automotive uses. Our 
ubiquitous electricity networks demonstrate that we are willing 
to sacrifice much thermodynamic efficiency in exchange for 
cleanliness and convenience at the point of use. The same may 
someday be true of hydrogen: This is the compelling logic of 
economic efficiency, not engineering efficiency. 

        Energy security persists as a driver of great rhetorical 
importance in promoting hydrogen as an energy carrier. Although 
the world is not yet short of petroleum, its concentration in a 
few politically unstable areas does have profound effects. The 
United States has recently demonstrated its willingness to spend 
a full year's worth of world oil industry revenues on regime 
change in Iraq. Nothing prevents us from spending similar 
amounts-perhaps just as wastefully but with less loss of human 
life-on the development of alternative domestic energy sources 
and new energy carriers like hydrogen. The security argument adds 
geopolitical efficacy to the calculus of economic efficiency, 
further removing engineering efficiency from the limelight. 

        Needed is more diversified research funding on hydrogen 
production, storage, and use. Also needed are small localized 
experiments that give us engineering experience and investigate 
hydrogen's actual economic and geopolitical value. The hydrogen 
economy, if it ignites, will be highly local for its first 
decades, just as electricity and natural gas were. The 
chicken-and-egg problem will take care of itself if enough 
experiments are conducted and if some prove successful. Only at 
that point will arguments over dirty (carbon-emitting) versus 
clean hydrogen sources become salient. 

	CLINTON J. ANDREWS 

	Director and Associate Professor 

	Program in Urban Planning and Policy Development 

	E.J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy 

	Rutgers University 

	New Brunswick, New Jersey cjal@rci.rutgers.edu 

        Joseph J. Romm presents a well documented argument 
regarding the impracticality, from both economic and 
environmental perspectives, of shifting in the foreseeable future 
to a transportation fleet fueled by hydrogen. His analysis 
appears accurate and sensible, but he glaringly failed to mention 
the 800-pound gorilla: nuclear power. Until the United States 
generates most of its electricity from nuclear power plants, 
reserves its natural gas supplies mainly to meet home and 
industrial heating needs, increases the overall efficiency of its 
liquid-hydrocarbon-fueled transportation fleet, and meets the 
chemical industry's needs mainly with coal and biomass 
feedstocks, it will not have a credible energy policy. 

        Such a shift in domestic energy utilization would require 
no massive breakthroughs in science, technology, or 
infrastructure, and would drastically reduce per capita CO2 
emissions (along with sulfur, nitrogen, and other emissions) 
while greatly reducing our dependence on imported hydrocarbons. 
More important, such a shift could be easily and gradually 
implemented through selective legislation, taxes, and tax 
credits, without posing a serious threat to the overall economy 
and allowing the free enterprise system to maximize the overall 
benefit/cost ratio. It appears to be the U.S. destiny to lead the 
world economically and technologically into the 21st century, and 
it is the nation's responsibility to do so sensibly and 
aggressively. It must demonstrate that a democratic and 
technologically advanced society can enjoy the fruits of freedom 
without fouling its own nest and everyone else's at the same 
time. 

        I am quite certain that an accurate and comprehensive 
analysis of overall environmental, safety, and health effects 
would overwhelmingly favor nuclear power for domestic electricity 
needs, and equally certain that the most sensible route to 
drastically reduced CO2 emissions lies in conservation. I be 
lieve it is the responsibility of the federal government to 
educate the public effectively and honestly regarding the 
benefits, costs, and consequences of current and proposed energy 
sources. Federal R&D funds should be used to bolster this case, 
demonstrating improvements in safety, efficiency, and the 
environment across the entire range of fuel production and 
utilization. 

	DAVID J. WESOLOWSKI 

	Oak Ridge National Laboratory 

	Oak Ridge, Tennessee wesolowskid@ornl.gov 

        I have enormous respect for the analytical ability of 
Daniel Sperling and Joan Ogden, who have set forth a strong 
rationale for their long-term "Hope for Hydrogen" (Issues, Spring 
2004). My problem is that their conclusion is even more apt for 
the short term. The public interests of America in reducing our 
dependence on oil from nations that hate us and abating global 
warming can't afford to wait for a fuel-cell car, which has been 
15 years away for the past 15 years. 

        The assumption that hydrogen is or must be decades away 
is the false premise of both the academic proponents of hydrogen 
and the self-appointed protectors of the environment, who assume 
that this nation is incapable of mounting a "Moon-shot"-type 
initiative for renewable hydrogen. They both fall for the 
automobile/oil industry's "educational" effort that has made 
hydrogen and the fuel cell linked at the hip. They are not! 

        The internal combustion engine, with relatively minor 
adjustments, can run quite well on hydrogen. In fact, an internal 
combustion engine, when converted to hydrogen, is 20 to 25 
percent per more efficient. A hydrogen hybrid vehicle is not a 
distant dream (as is the fuel cell) but a present reality if the 
public and political leaders were really educated on this 
subject. For example, the Ford Motor Company unveiled their Model 
U, a hydrogen-hybrid SUV with a range of some 300 miles per 
fill-up, more than a year ago. 

        A key question is where the hydrogen originates. If it's 
from domestic fossil fuels, as Sperling and Ogden as well as the 
critics of hydrogen assume, it's not useful for carbon reduction 
but does reduce oil imports. But if the hydrogen originates in 
water, it is super-plentiful; and if solar, wind, geothermal, or 
biomass is used to generate the electricity to split the water, a 
carbon-free sustainable energy source exists. 

        Let me explain why I believe that the real-world facts of 
life (and death) make a compelling case for starting the hydrogen 
revolution at once. The issues that could be alleviated by 
substituting renewable hydrogen for oil in the transportation 
sector are the following: 

        Reducing our dependence on imported oil. No one really 
doubts that we are at war in significant part because of oil. 
Petrodollars have funded the terrorists. America must look the 
other way at Saudi Arabia because of our dependence on their 
ability to raise or lower the price of oil with their spare 
capacity. The national security threat of oil dependence is a 
clear and present danger. More efficient cars are necessary but 
insufficient. Until we start building cars without oil, the 
increasing populations here (and in China and India) will control 
our destiny. 

        Global warming. The issue is a well-known serious threat 
to all humankind. A renewable hydrogen economy would be 
carbon-free. But "Hope for Hydrogen" says that hydrogen is not 
competitive and would deliver fewer benefits than "advanced 
gasoline and diesel vehicles." This statement ignores the 
benefits of zero-oil vehicles to reduce oil imports, and it 
assumes that hydrogen must come from fossil fuels. The 
answer-renewable hydrogen-is assumed to be decades away. And it 
will be unless we recognize that the renewable resources and the 
technology to harness them are much closer to commercial reality 
than the fuel cell. What is lacking is a sense of necessity and 
the leadership to mount a "can-do" initiative. 

        Local air pollution. Gasoline and diesel continue to be 
serious sources of local air pollution. Burning hydrogen creates 
water vapor and nitrogen oxide that can be controlled to near 
zero levels. There are no particles. It's a clear benefit. 

        The hope for hydrogen is not a distant dream. It could be 
a reality in this decade. We need to take the discussion out of 
the hands of people who see only the problems-and they are 
real-but don't see the vital need and opportunity to overcome 
them in 5 to 10 years, not decades. There is a legitimate fear 
that we may drift into fossil/hydrogen energy. The best way to 
avoid it is to promote renewable hydrogen. A solar/hydrogen 
initiative of Moon-shot intensity is the answer. No one can say 
for sure it can't be done, starting now, unless we try. 

	S. DAVID FREEMAN 

	Chairman 

	Hydrogen Car Company 

	Los Angeles, California dfreeman@h2carco.com 

        S. David Freeman is former chief executive of the 
Tennessee Valley Authority and the New York Power Authority. 

        The debate over whether hydrogen is hype or hope has 
reached new levels of hype itself. There are important technical, 
economic, environmental, and policy questions at hand. Their 
honest answers may be vital to our transportation future. 

        Opponents correctly point to the major technical and 
economic hurdles that hydrogen and fuel-cell vehicles must 
overcome to be a market success. They also remind us that a 
hydrogen future is not guaranteed to be a clean future. But the 
critics' warnings that clean hydrogen production will divert 
valuable natural gas fuel and renewable electricity from the 
power sector in the near term seem at odds with their assertion 
that the hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle market is decades away. 

        Hydrogen is clearly being used in policy circles to 
deflect the pressure to take meaningful action today to curb 
global warming emissions from transportation; this is standard 
political operating procedure, however unfortunate. But there are 
much larger political obstacles in the way of sensible policies 
to promote readily available efficiency technologies than the 
prospect of hydrogen. 

        Proponents of hydrogen correctly point to the long-term 
environmental gains achievable from fuel-cell vehicles if the 
hydrogen is produced with clean low-carbon sources such as 
renewable electricity or biomass. Efficiency is a vital first 
step, but it alone is not enough to address the threats of 
climate change and oil dependence. Proponents also emphasize that 
automakers have rarely exhibited so much enthusiasm for an 
alternative to business as usual. Large automaker research (and 
public relations) budgets alone are not a justification for 
hydrogen fuel cells, but they are a necessary component of the 
transition. 

        Focusing exclusively on hydrogen as the only long-term 
solution, however, is too risky given the importance of 
addressing the energy and environmental impacts of 
transportation. And suggesting that hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles 
can meaningfully address our transportation problems nationally 
within the next two decades is both unrealistic and dangerous. 

        Renewable hydrogen-powered fuel-cell vehicles offer one 
of the most promising strategies for the future, and we cannot 
afford to pass it up. But we must also move forward with the 
technologies at hand today if we want to reduce pollution and oil 
dependence. The choice is not either efficiency or hydrogen. The 
right choice is both. 

	JASON MARK 

	Director, Clean Vehicles Program 

	Union of Concerned Scientists 

        Washington, D.C. jmark@ucsusa.org (C) 2004 Issues in 
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