***************************************************************** 08/15/04 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 12.194 ***************************************************************** RADBULL IS PRODUCED BY THE ABALONE ALLIANCE CLEARINGHOUSE ***************************************************************** Send News Stories to news@energy-net.org with title on subject line and first line of body NUCLEAR POLICY 1 AFP: Israeli nuclear munitions within Iran's missile range: commande 2 Wichita Eagle: Iran grabs top spot as nuclear threat 3 YONHAPNEWS: Working-level Six-Party Talks Likely to Be Delayed to Se 4 KYODO NEWS: N. Korea did not deny peaceful uranium enrichment at N.Y 5 Japan Times: North Korea must move first 6 KoreaTimes: N. Korea Did Not Deny HEU Program - Officials 7 US: USATODAY.com: Kerry campaign stepping up attacks on Bush 8 US: SFC: Science v. Bush: Collision between science and politics pro 9 US: Macon Area Online: One Year Later ... Power Outage Traced to Dim 10 US: Public Citizen: On First Anniversary of Blackout, Congress Still 11 US: New York Times > Opinion > Op-Ed Columnist: The Nuclear Shadow 12 IAEA Annual Report for 2003 13 WorldNetDaily: Whose loose nuke are you? 14 Daily Star: 'India won't sign NPT in its current form' 15 IAEA: NewsCenter : Focus : Fuel Cycle Experts Examine International 16 The Telegraph - Calcutta: Nuke plea to Delhi NUCLEAR REACTORS 17 Daily Yomiuri: 800 attend farewell for N-plant victims 18 Daily Yomiuri: Agency mulls new guidelines for N-reactor pipes 19 Daily Yomiuri: KEPCO shouldn't shut reactors unnecessarily 20 Guardian Unlimited: British Energy: fresh solvency fears 21 US: Hanford News: Manakoa, PNNL close deal 22 US: San Luis Obispo Tribune: Secrecy just spreads distrust 23 US: toledoblade.com: Activists fret over nuclear plant missteps 24 Xinhuanet: Nuclear plant leak leaves 4 dead in Japan 25 Hi Pakistan: PAEC asked to make N-power plants locally --> 26 Straits Times: Nuke power and risks - 27 People's Daily CNNC: China's nuke power plants safe 28 Japan Times: Kepco to halt, check all 11 of its reactors 29 Japan Times: Mihama accident latest in long string of nuclear plant 30 Philstar.com: NEDA not sold on nuke power plant conversion 31 US: Hudson Valley News: NRC confirms nuclear plants' operational pre 32 IAEA: Japanese Authorities Inform IAEA About Accident at Nuclear Pla 33 asahi.com: Accident shelves nuclear fuel projects 34 asahi.com: KEPCO to suspend all nuclear reactors 35 News & Star: New nuke plant idea 36 US: Spectrum: Nation doesn't need new nukes - Opinion - NUCLEAR SAFETY 37 Sunday Herald: Trident base fire ignites fears over nuclear safety 38 GS Post Indp: Soldier's new mission is exposing risk of depleted ura 39 US: Union Leader Commentary: Nuclear fallout in Nevada 40 Guardian Unlimited: Comment | Be afraid, be very afraid NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE 41 Las Vegas RJ: STEVE SEBELIUS: What's with the clapping? 42 Las Vegas RJ: EDITORIAL: 'They may change again' 43 Las Vegas RJ: WEEK IN REVIEW: Bush, Kerry use stump speeches to disc 44 Las Vegas SUN: Letter: A vote for Bush is a vote for waste 45 Las Vegas SUN: Columnist Jon Ralston: Yucca teases and heartaches 46 Las Vegas SUN: Editorial: Don't mess with ... Nevada 47 US: Las Vegas SUN: Letter: Leaving nuclear waste in place is safest 48 RGJ: Kerry, like Bush, gets quick lesson on how to say ‘Nevada’ 49 US: TheSunLink.com: EPA plans tests for old Kingston Nike site 50 Nevada Appeal: Sound science should not be a sound bite 51 US: Lowell Sun: Don't drink the tap water, Tewksbury residents told 52 US: Carlsbad Current-Argus: WIPP contractor pursues new projects 53 Daily News: CEA gets tough on industrial waste dumping 54 The Observer: China's great leap into polluted water 55 US: PE.com WYLE: The plan includes scrutiny of air and soil at Norco 56 US: PE.com: Polluted Inland water site to get U.S. cleanup funds 57 KSRV: Bush tries to win back Nevada voters angry over nuclear dump 58 KVBC: Former Governor, Senator, Speaks About Bush, Yucca Mountain 59 US: KATC: Nelson: No regrets in state's decision to reject nuclear w NUCLEAR WEAPONS 60 US: [NYTr] The Nuclear Shadow 61 Remembering Hiroshima/Nagasaki 62 Daily Yomiuri: Govt to submit N-disarmament bid to UNGA US DEPT. OF ENERGY 63 Los Alamos' Whistle Blowers Punished 64 Hanford News: Audit: Hanford needs to improve emergency plan 65 Hanford News: Fluor Hanford pays record $935,000 fine levied by DOE 66 Hanford News: DOE empties liquid from old tanks 67 L.A. Daily News: Test well drilled next to field lab OTHER NUCLEAR 68 Google News Alert - nuclear 69 Google News Alert - nuclear ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** FULL NEWS STORIES ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** 1 AFP: Israeli nuclear munitions within Iran's missile range: commander WAR.WIRE TEHRAN (AFP) Aug 15, 2004 A senior commander in Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards Corps said that all Israeli military and nuclear sites are now within the range of the Islamic Republic's missiles, a news agency reported Sunday. "The entire Zionist territory including its nuclear establishments and atomic munitions are now within the range of Iran's advanced missiles," the students news agency ISNA quoted Yadollah Javani as saying. Javani said neither the United States nor "the Zionist regime" will carry out their threats against Iran considering the high cost of a possible attack. Such an attack "could only happen out of anger and stupidity, thus the Islamic regime officials must always maintain their promptness to tackle probable military threats," he added. Iran on Wednesday tested an upgraded version of its conventional medium-range Shahab-3 missile, two weeks after Israel tested its Arrow II anti-missile system. Tehran fears Israel could strike its controversial nuclear program, which Washington suspects is being used to covertly develop weapons. The missile is considered the mainstay of Iran's military technology and portrayed as purely defensive and dissuasive, but specifically as a weapon against Israel. In the July 28 test of Israel's Arrow II missile, the Jewish state made it clear the improved anti-missile system was aimed squarely at fending off any attack by arch-foe Iran. The Revolutionary Guards, or Sepah-e Pasdaran, to whom the Shahab-3 was entrusted, exist in parallel to the regular armed forces. They also have their own naval and air forces, and are largely deployed to protect Iran's borders. Israel refuses to confirm it has a nuclear arsenal but is estimated to possess some 200 warheads. WAR.WIRE ***************************************************************** 2 Wichita Eagle: Iran grabs top spot as nuclear threat | 08/14/2004 | Many consider the situation more dangerous than the one that caused President Bush to invade Iraq. BY WARREN P. STROBEL Knight Ridder Newspapers WASHINGTON - Get ready for another crisis over weapons of mass destruction. Convinced that Iran is covertly speeding toward making nuclear weapons, the Bush administration has begun a diplomatic campaign to sharply increase the pressure on Tehran. The sudden sense of urgency follows the apparent collapse of a three-nation European initiative to persuade Iran to freeze its nuclear program. Iran is trying to renegotiate the deal and insists that its nuclear program is for civilian energy purposes. The administration faces a fundamental dilemma similar to the one it faced two years ago in Iraq: Should the United States continue to work with allies who favor negotiation, or should it take pre-emptive, unilateral action to stop Iran? President Bush's go-it-alone course in Iraq continues to draw criticism, both from allies and many Americans. But action to confront Iran may be more necessary than against Iraq, some officials and private experts argue, because Iran has a far more advanced nuclear program and much closer ties to terrorist groups than Iraq did in 2003. Concerns about Iran's nuclear ambitions have bubbled for more than a decade, but they've taken a back seat to Iraq and the war on terrorism. That could soon change. "Iran is going to be the 800-pound gorilla of American foreign policy come September," a State Department official said. A senior European diplomat in Washington agreed. It is "one of the two or three biggest issues that we'll have to deal with in the next period," he said. Both spoke on condition of anonymity, citing diplomatic sensitivities. U.S. officials say they will begin a new push to have Iran's nuclear activities referred to the United Nations Security Council, which can impose sanctions. The next crossroads is a mid-September meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency, which has been monitoring Iran's nuclear work. "This is a troubling development.. and you just can't ignore it any longer," Secretary of State Colin Powell said recently. A senior administration official went further in an interview this week. He hinted that if Bush is re-elected, the use of U.S. military force to stop Iran from going nuclear -- even by overthrowing the government in Tehran -- wouldn't be out of the question. U.S. credibility on Iran, however, has been undercut by the failure to find the weapons of mass destruction that the White House warned of in Iraq. "This administration has been discredited by the WMD experience" in Iraq, said Zbigniew Brzezinski, the national security adviser to President Jimmy Carter. Said another State Department official: "Would it have been better if prewar Iraq intelligence had been better? Sure... but it doesn't mean we're wrong" on Iran. Brzezinski co-chaired a task force sponsored by the private Council on Foreign Relations that last month called on the White House to open a broad dialogue with Iran, rather than waiting until the nuclear issue is settled. The CIA's rough estimate is that Iran could have a nuclear weapon by the end of the decade. Israel puts the date at 2007. But the real crunch date could come sooner, when Iran's nuclear program becomes self-sufficient, rendering trade bans and other sanctions irrelevant. Vastly complicating matters, Iran's suspected weapons program uses the same basic technology involved in a civilian nuclear energy program, which it's permitted to have under the 1968 Non-Proliferation Treaty. Bush administration officials argue that momentum is moving behind the U.S. position, with the collapse of a deal struck by Britain, France and Germany in which Iran agreed to stop enriching uranium and associated activities. If the international community agrees Iran is moving toward a nuclear weapons capability, "then you have to ask yourselves what are you going to do?" the senior administration official said. ***************************************************************** 3 YONHAPNEWS: Working-level Six-Party Talks Likely to Be Delayed to September 2004/08/14 10:06 KST TOKYO, Aug. 14 (Yonhap) -- A working-level meeting of the six-country forum on North Korea's nuclear program will likely take place next month at the earliest as Pyongyang is unwilling to hold it this month, a Chinese diplomat has been quoted as saying. Ambassador Ning Fukui, China's special envoy for Korean Peninsula affairs, made the remarks when he met Akitaka Saiki, deputy director-general of the Asian and Oceanian affairs bureau at Japan's Foreign Ministry, in Beijing on Thursday, according to Japanese media. ***************************************************************** 4 KYODO NEWS: N. Korea did not deny peaceful uranium enrichment at N.Y. meeting Aug 16, 2004 updated 13:17 WASHINGTON, Aug. 13, Kyodo - North Korea did not explicitly rule out the existence in the country of a uranium enrichment program for peaceful purposes at a recent think tank meeting in New York, participants of the meeting and a diplomatic source said Friday. At the three-day meeting of the National Committee on American Foreign Policy held earlier this week, Ri Gun, vice director of the North Korean Foreign Ministry's U.S. Affairs Department, reiterated that North Korea has no program to develop nuclear arms using highly enriched uranium, they said. Asked whether North Korea has a uranium enrichment program for peaceful purposes, however, Ri only replied, ''We are entitled to have a peaceful use,'' according to the participants and the source. North Korea has so far denied involvement in a program to produce weapons-grade highly enriched uranium. On several occasions, it has also ruled out the existence of a uranium enrichment program for peaceful purposes. One participant said many who attended the meeting had the ''general impression that sometime in the future, they (North Koreans) will admit to a UEP (uranium enrichment program).'' If North Korea admits to having the program, it may open the way for progress in the six-party talks aimed at resolving the standoff over North Korea's nuclear ambitions. The talks have been stalled partly because the United States and North Korea remain apart on the suspected uranium enrichment program. The United States believes that North Korea has been engaged in such a program and is calling for the dismantlement of all North Korean nuclear programs. The four other members of the six-party talks are China, Japan, South Korea and Russia. 2004 Kyodo News (c) Established 1945. All Rights Reserved 2001 Kyodo News (c) Established 1945. All Rights Reserved ***************************************************************** 5 Japan Times: North Korea must move first EDITORIAL It is deeply disappointing that last week's working-level talks in Beijing between Japan and North Korea produced no substantial progress on the question of whether Japanese abductees remain in North Korea. Pyongyang should reverse its backward-looking attitude and sincerely work to settle this issue. Otherwise, Japanese mistrust toward the North Koreans will only increase, pushing the prospect of normalized relations further into the distance. The Japanese government says 15 citizens were kidnapped by North Korean agents in the 1970s and 1980s. Five returned home in October 2002 following a summit meeting the previous month between Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. Regarding the other 10, North Korea said at the time that eight had died and two had never entered the country. In his second meeting with Mr. Koizumi in May of this year, Mr. Kim promised a thorough investigation of circumstances surrounding the missing. Yet, after nearly three months, the promise remains unfulfilled. During the talks last week, the North Korean delegation supplied no vital information on the fates of the missing, providing only a verbal "interim report" on how the investigation was going. In his first meeting with Mr. Koizumi in September 2002, Mr. Kim admitted that North Korea had kidnapped Japanese nationals and expressed an apology. Almost two years on, there are still no visible signs that Pyongyang is willing to tell the whole truth and resolve the issue once and for all. Thus far, Pyongyang has provided only sketchy and dubious information about the 10 missing persons -- including its claim that seven are already dead. Pyongyang has explained that they died from various causes, including accidents, in various places. If that's true, why were all their death certificates issued by the same hospital? It is only natural that Mr. Kim should have promised to "investigate from scratch." The purpose of the investigation, of course, is to provide credible information as quickly as possible. Yet, about the only thing we have heard from Pyongyang is that it is "still investigating." It is hard to understand why a highly regimented state like North Korea must spend so much time investigating its own offenses. Pyongyang should already know full well what its agents did. If so, why is it withholding information? North Korea has given no specific information, either, about one other person, a Susumu Fujita, who disappeared in 1976 when he was a college student in Tokyo. Although he is not on the official government list of abductees, there is strong suspicion that he, too, was kidnapped. There are many other suspected cases of abduction. The Japanese delegation returned home from Beijing last week almost empty-handed. The talks dashed, at least temporarily, Japan's hopes of inducing a change of heart in Pyongyang through humanitarian aid. Before the meeting, the government had decided to ship out 5.2 billion yen worth of food and medicines -- the first batch of assistance pledged by Mr. Koizumi at the May summit meeting. Still, the door is left open for further negotiations; the Japanese side proposed that the next meeting be held in September. Separately, the question of whether, or when, to resume long-stalled normalization talks was not even discussed. That is unfortunate. Establishing diplomatic relations between Tokyo and Pyongyang is a goal for both countries. It is certainly abnormal that more than half a century after Japan's colonization of the Korean Peninsula ended, Japan and North Korea remain distant neighbors. Prime Minister Koizumi has expressed hope that relations will normalize while he is in office. To achieve that, however, a number of hurdles must be cleared. In addition to the abductee issue, North Korea's continued development of missiles and nuclear weapons further clouds prospects for normalization. Unless these problems can be worked out, peace and friendship between the two countries will remain something of a pipe dream. The worry is that a continued deadlock on the abduction issue may raise pressure on the Japanese side for economic and trade sanctions, such as prohibiting cash remittances to the North by Korean residents in Japan as well as halting port calls by selected North Korean ships, including the cargo-passenger ferry that plies the Sea of Japan. That would further undermine current efforts for dialogue and create new strains in bilateral relations. To avoid that, Japan and North Korea, along with other countries concerned, must move forward toward resolving pending problems. But, as always, it is Pyongyang that must move first. The Japan Times: Aug. 16, 2004 (C) All rights reserved ***************************************************************** 6 KoreaTimes: N. Korea Did Not Deny HEU Program - Officials Hankooki.com > Korea Times > Nation By Ryu Jin Staff Reporter North Korea did not explicitly rule out the existence of a uranium enrichment program for peaceful purposes at a recent seminar in New York, participants of the meeting and a diplomatic source said Friday. At the three-day meeting of the National Committee on American Foreign Policy held earlier this week, Ri Gun, Pyongyang¡¯s deputy chief delegate to the six-party nuclear talks, reiterated that his country does not have a nuclear arms program using highly enriched uranium (HEU), they said. Asked whether North Korea has a uranium enrichment program for peaceful purposes, however, Ri only replied, ``We are entitled to have it for peaceful purposes,¡¯¡¯ according to the participants and the source. The prolonged nuclear dispute erupted in October 2002 when Washington claimed that Pyongyang had acknowledged it was developing nuclear arms in violation of a 1994 international agreement. The existence of an HEU program in the nuclear-ambitious North has been one of the trickiest items of debate as the North, though it did admit to plutonium-based nuclear arms programs, insists it does not have a uranium-based program. A third round of six-way nuclear talks in Beijing ended without a breakthrough in late June, although the United States, the two Koreas, China, Japan and Russia agreed to meet again by the end of September. Chinese diplomats yesterday said that a working-level meeting to prepare for the fourth round of six-party talks will likely take place next month at the earliest as Pyongyang is unwilling to hold it this month. Ambassador Ning Fukui, China¡¯s special envoy for Korean Peninsula affairs, made the remarks when he met Akitaka Saiki, deputy director-general of the Asian and Oceanian affairs bureau at Japan¡¯s Foreign Ministry, in Beijing on Thursday, according to Japanese media. ``North Korea does not agree to holding it in August,¡¯¡¯ Ning was quoted as saying. ``It can take place in early September at the earliest.¡¯¡¯ The third week of this month had been considered for the ``working group¡¯¡¯ meeting. jinryu@koreatimes.co.kr 08-15-2004 17:38 ***************************************************************** 7 USATODAY.com: Kerry campaign stepping up attacks on Bush Posted 8/14/2004 1:32 AM Kerry campaign stepping up attacks on BushWASHINGTON — Attacks against President Bush by John Kerry and groups supporting the Democrat's election have become a little sharper and more frequent over the past week or so. Perhaps they are frustrated by Kerry's inability to build a clear lead after two weeks of coast-to-coast campaigning with running mate John Edwards. Polls show that despite all that largely triumphant touring  and news trumpeting continuing violence in Iraq, chaotic oil price fluctuations and an economy whose growth seems to have slowed  Bush and Kerry continue to run neck and neck. Or maybe they want to soften Bush up before he goes into his nominating convention, which begins Aug. 30 in New York and hopefully cut down on any bounce he might get. Whatever the reason, the anti-Bush barrage appears to be building. This past Thursday offers a case in point. Only 12 minutes after Bush and his wife Laura appeared on CNN's Larry King Live, the Kerry campaign dashed off this statement to the media: "The president spent an hour on TV and didn't talk about jobs or his plans to get the economy going. It's the latest proof that this president is completely out of touch with the priorities of this country and has no plan for turning things around." But while the Kerry camp waited until the end of the program to send out that criticism, it dispatched another missive while the show was still airing, jumping on something Bush said to King. "Tonight, President Bush called Kerry's service in Vietnam 'noble,' " the Kerry statement said. "But in the same breath, (he) refused to heed Sen. (John) McCain's call to condemn the dirty work being done by the "Swift Boat Vets for Bush." Once again, the president sidestepped responsibility and refused to do the right thing. His credibility is running out." "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth," as the group identifies itself, is a political group that officially operates independent of the Bush campaign. It has attacked Kerry's Vietnam record. Kerry has several such groups operating in his behalf. And their attacks on Bush often have been sharper than those of the Kerry campaign itself. The Democratic National Committee launched a $2 million radio ad campaign Thursday to be aired in 10 battleground states. Its key point: "It's beneath the office of president. ... President Bush is attacking John Kerry on terrorism and once again his facts are wrong." And an environmental group, Northwest Old Growth Campaign, sent out a news release announcing that it would protest the president's Friday appearance in Medina, Wash. The group said it would display part of a tree stump it said is a slice of a 440-year-old Douglas fir recently cut down as part of a federal timber sale in the Willamette National Forest. "George W. Bush has received millions from the timber industry and the payback is the weakening of protections for our nation's forests," the group's statement said. Another release on Thursday by the Kerry campaign charged that "Bush broke his pledge to Nevada" by supporting use of Yucca Mountain for nuclear waste storage. Bush campaigned in Nevada Thursday. This is not to say the Bush campaign has been going easy on Kerry. It attacked Thursday as well, accusing Kerry of raising taxes. But the Kerry campaign also was out Thursday saying Bush's plans would hike taxes on the middle class. Friday was a new day, but the Kerry attacks began early: " "Bush Oregon event exposed," said the headline on one Kerry campaign e-mail. " This one came from the Democratic National Committee: "BUSH WHOPPER." Meanwhile, the DNC announced that Chairman Terry McAuliffe would hold a "Friday the 13th GOP Convention conference call" with reporters at 11:13 a.m. to "wish the Republicans luck with the job ahead in New York." Could be Democrats are worried about that convention, after all. Kerry steps attacks on Bush8/14/2004 1:32 AMWASHINGTON --> © Copyright 2004 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc. ***************************************************************** 8 SFC: Science v. Bush: Collision between science and politics produces abundant heat, little light SF Chronicle MATT CRENSON, AP National Writer Saturday, August 14, 2004 Last November, President Bush gave physicist Richard Garwin a medal for his "valuable scientific advice on important questions of national security." Just three months later, Garwin signed a statement condemning the Bush administration for misusing, suppressing and distorting scientific advice. So far more than 4,000 scientists, including 48 Nobel prize winners, have put their names to the declaration. The scientists' statement represents a new development in the uneasy relationship between science and politics. In the past, individual scientists and science organizations have occasionally piped up to oppose specific federal policies such as Ronald Reagan's Star Wars missile defense plan. But this is the first time that a broad spectrum of the scientific community has expressed opposition to a president's overall science policy. Scientists' feud with the Bush administration, building for almost four years, has intensified this election year. The White House has sacked prominent scientists from presidential advisory committees, science advocacy groups have released lengthy catalogues of alleged scientific abuses by the administration and both sides have traded accusations at meetings and in the pages of research journals. "People are shocked by what's going on," said Kurt Gottfried, a Cornell University physicist and chairman of the Union of Concerned Scientists, which has been in the vanguard of the campaign against the administration's science policy. Although generally not political, the group -- which advocates for use of accurate scientific information in policymaking -- has occasionally taken liberal positions, such as opposition to nuclear weapons. Administration officials dismiss the scientists' concerns as misguided and accuse them of playing politics -- of attempting to undermine Bush administration policies by claiming they are based on bad science. "I don't like to see science exploited for political purposes, and I think that's happening here," presidential science adviser John H. Marburger III said in a telephone interview. Some scientists critical of the Bush administration make no secret that they would like to see the president defeated; four dozen Nobel laureates have endorsed John Kerry for president. But signers of the declaration include scientists with ties to both Republican and Democratic administrations: Lewis Branscomb, a Harvard University professor, headed the federal Bureau of Standards in the Nixon administration. Russell Train was director of the Environmental Protection Agency under Presidents Nixon and Ford and supported George H. W. Bush during the 1988 presidential campaign. Physicists Neal Lane and John Gibbons were both science advisers to President Clinton. Scientists' disapproval of Bush has not gone unnoticed by the Kerry campaign. This week the Democrats used the third anniversary of Bush's decision to limit federal funding for stem cell research as an opportunity to question the president's commitment to science. "At this very moment, some of our most pioneering cures and treatments are right at our fingertips, but because of the stem cell ban, they remain beyond our reach," Kerry said in an Aug. 7 radio address, two days before the anniversary. Incorporating science into government has always been a sensitive proposition, given the vast differences between them. Scientists collect evidence and conduct experiments to arrive at an objective description of reality -- to describe the world as it is rather than as we might want it to be. Government, on the other hand, is about anything but objective truth. It deals with gray areas, competing values, the allocation of limited resources. It is conducted by debate and negotiation. Far from striving for ultimate truths, it seeks compromises that a majority can live with. When these conflicting paradigms come together, disagreements are inevitable. For example, when a panel of experts, by a 28-0 vote, declared a drug safe for over-the-counter sales in December, they expected the Food and Drug Administration to approve it for nonprescription use soon thereafter. But six months later the agency disagreed, citing a lack of data about the safety of the drug for 11- to 14-year-old girls. Three physicians on the FDA advisory panel protested in an editorial published by the New England Journal of Medicine, claiming the agency was distorting the scientific evidence for political reasons. The drug in question: a morning-after contraceptive known as Plan B. "A treatment for any other condition, from hangnail to headache to heart disease, with a similar record of safety and efficacy would be approved quickly," the protesting panel members wrote. The federal government relies on hundreds of scientific and technical panels for advice on a wide range of policy issues. Advisers range from wildlife biologists who provide expertise on endangered species to physicists who help guide the development of new weaponry. Incorporating scientific advice into policymaking involves an implied contract of trust between government officials and scientists. Scientists trust that their advice will be weighed honestly, without attempts to distort, deny or refute it. Government officials trust that scientists will not inject personal opinions or a political agenda into their advice. From time to time, both sides are accused of breaking that trust. In July, for example, a panel of experts sharply lowered the recommended cholesterol level for patients at risk of heart disease. Consumer groups challenged the recommendation, pointing out that some panel members have financial ties to companies that make cholesterol-lowering drugs. In the larger dispute, scientists charge that the Bush administration has violated its side of the bargain in two ways: By manipulating scientific information to suit political purposes and by applying a political litmus test to membership on scientific advisory committees. The conflict usually centers on scientific advice involving politically contentious subjects such as reproductive health, drug policy and the environment. Climate scientists, for example, complain they have been frustrated in their attempts to include full and accurate information about global warming in official government reports -- a charge the administration denies. The administration also finds itself at odds with many medical researchers over use of embryonic stem cells. President Bush, concerned that harvesting the cells requires the destruction of human embryos, decided in 2001 to restrict federally funded research to a few dozen existing cell lines. But medical researchers, believing stem cells offer a key to curing many debilitating diseases, say the decision severely hampers their work. "I don't get the sense that science was particularly part of the decision making," said Elizabeth Blackburn, a University of California, San Francisco biologist. Marburger, Bush's science adviser, sees it differently: "The really important questions here are ethical questions; they're not science questions." Democrats further politicized stem cell research when they invited Ron Reagan, son of the late president, to speak at their convention in Boston this summer. "We can choose between the future and the past, between reason and ignorance, between true compassion and mere ideology," Reagan said in his speech, urging the audience to "cast a vote for embryonic stem cell research." In any argument people will emphasize information that supports their position and ignore contrary evidence, said Roger Pielke, Jr., a science policy expert at the University of Colorado in Boulder. He calls the strategy "cherrypicking" and considers it a legitimate debating tactic. "That is different than actually going out and manufacturing or altering the scientific process in a way that guarantees the result will agree with your point of view," Pielke said. Bush's critics say his administration is doing just that when it screens scientific advisers based on their political views. They argue that when it comes to science, professional qualifications should trump party affiliation. Blackburn became a cause celebre for many scientists who felt her dismissal from the President's Council on Bioethics in February was retribution for her disagreements with the administration over stem cells and other issues. Gerald T. Keusch, associate dean for global health at Boston University, says he resigned as director of the National Institute of Health's Fogarty International Center last year after the administration shot down 19 of his 26 picks for advisory positions. He said one candidate was turned down because she had served on the board of a nonprofit organization dedicated to international reproductive health, another because she supported a woman's right to an abortion. "I was hopping mad," Keusch said. Dr. D.A. Henderson, a biological weapons expert, said that when President Bush's father chose him for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, it didn't matter that he was a Democrat and that his wife was president of Planned Parenthood of Maryland. All that counted was his expertise. "I can't imagine that happening today," said Henderson, although he has worked in the last three administrations and now advises the Secretary of Health and Human Services. Marburger dismisses such notions: "I can say from personal experience that the accusation of a litmus test that must be met before someone can serve on an advisory panel is preposterous," he said in an April response to the Union of Concerned Scientists statement. As proof, he offered himself. He's a Democrat. ©2004 Associated Press ***************************************************************** 9 Macon Area Online: One Year Later ... Power Outage Traced to Dim Bulb Sunday, August 15, 2004 By: Greg Palast MACON,GA.- One year ago today, the lights went out. Even when the Big Blackout ended, the power pirates who have us by the bulbs kept us in the dark, fibbing, fabricating and faking their way through a series of bogus excuses for a disaster created by greed overload. Instead of fixing the system, the fix is in. We now know that goof-ups and bone-headed moves started the power outage rolling; but it's spread, from a few tree branches out of Ohio to a third of the continent, occurred because power companies -- First Energy and Niagara-Mohawk to name two -- had slashed staffing and maintenance. The under-manning and the under-spending all occurred beneath the banner of "deregulation." In the bad old days of bureaucrats with thick rule books, the government told the power companies exactly how much to spend on repairs. Under "deregulation," the rules went out the windows and repair cash was carted off as special dividends to stockholders. I'm sitting here with Jerry Oppenheim and Theo MacGregor, two of this planet's most respected experts on electricity systems. They are just shaking their heads in disgust: nothing learned a year after the disaster. Rather, we have a blackout on reason, with "deregulation" -- the disease -- sold as the cure. George Bush's Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is allowing the power companies to reach into our wallets and take out more cash to add wires to the transmission system -- in effect replacing the loot these guys carted off in the last ten years of deregulation. "But that won't keep the lights on," says Oppenheim, former Assistant Attorney General in New York in charge of investigating utilities. "It's not a lack of wires or lack of power plants that caused the blackout. The Administration is adding complexity to an overly complex system all to avoid acting on the obvious conclusion: deregulation has failed." As long as the lights are still on, I'm reprinting the commentary I wrote one year ago on my dying laptop ... ============================= OUTAGE TRACED TO DIM BULB IN WHITE HOUSE ZNet - August 14, 2003 -- I can tell you all about the ne're-do-wells that sent us back to the Dark Ages last week. I came up against these characters -- First Energy and the Niagara Mohawk Power Company -- some years back. You see, before I was a journalist, I worked for a living, as an investigator of corporate racketeers. The power outage began in First Energy's Ohio operation. This company was the model for the film, "China Syndrome." Really. Then First Energy's Pennsylvania unit fumbled the power ball. These are the very same Homer Simpsons who melted Three Mile Island. Next, Niagara-Mohawk blacked out and took down New York. Ni-Mo's claim to fame goes back to the 1980s. They built a nuclear plant, Nine Mile Point, a brutally costly piece of hot junk for which NiMo and its partner companies charged billions to New York State's electricity ratepayers. To pull off this grand theft by kilowatt, the NiMo-led consortium fabricated cost and schedule reports, then performed a Harry Potter job on the account books. In 1988, I showed a jury a memo from an executive from one partner, Long Island Lighting, giving a lesson to a NiMo honcho on how to lie to government regulators. The jury ordered LILCO to pay $4.3billion and, ultimately, put them out of business. I'm not surprised that the Three Stooges of the power industry knocked their heads together and blacked us out. What's surprising is that the US media is clueless about how we ended up with Larry, Moe and Curley in control of our nation's electronic lifeline. Here's what happened. After LILCO was hammered by the law, after government regulators slammed Niagara Mohawk and dozens of other book-cooking, document-doctoring utility companies all over America with fines and penalties totaling in the tens of billions of dollars, the industry leaders got together to swear never to break the regulations again. Their plan was not to follow the rules, but to ELIMINATE the rules. They called it "deregulation." It was like a committee of bank robbers figuring out how to make safecracking legal. But they dare not launch the scheme in the USA. Rather, in 1990, one devious little bunch of operators out of Texas, Houston Natural Gas, operating under the alias "Enron," talked an over-the-edge free-market fanatic, Britain's Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, into licensing the first completely deregulated power plant in the hemisphere. And so began an economic disease called "regulatory reform" that spread faster than SARS. Notably, Enron rewarded Thatcher's Energy Minister, one Lord Wakeham, with a bushel of dollar bills for 'consulting' services and a seat on Enron's board of directors. The English experiment proved the viability of Enron's new industrial formula: that the enthusiasm of politicians for deregulation was in direct proportion to the payola provided by power companies. The power elite first moved on England because they knew Americans wouldn't swallow the deregulation snake oil easily. The USA had gotten used to cheap power available at the flick of a switch. This was the legacy of Franklin Roosevelt who, in 1933, caged the man he thought to be the last of the power pirates, Samuel Insull. Wall Street wheeler-dealer Insull created the Power Trust, and six decades before Ken Lay, faked account books and ripped off consumers. To frustrate Insull and his ilk, FR gave us the Federal Power Commission and the Public Utilities Holding Company Act which told electricity companies where to stand and salute. Detailed regulations limited charges to real expenditures plus a government-set profit. The laws banned power "trading" and required companies to keep the lights on under threat of arrest -- no blackout blackmail to hike rates. Of particular significance as I write here in the dark, regulators told utilities exactly how much they had to spend to insure the system stayed in repair and the lights stayed on. Bureaucrats crawled along the wire and, like me, crawled through the account books, to make sure the power execs spent customers' money on parts and labor. If they didn't, we'd whack'm over the head with our thick rule books. Did we get in the way of these businessmen's entrepreneurial spirit? Damn right we did. Most important, FDR banned political contributions from utility companies -- no 'soft' money, no 'hard' money, no money PERIOD. But then came George the First. In 1992, just prior to is departure from the White House, President Bush Senior gave the power industry one long deep-through-the-teeth kiss good-bye: federal deregulation of electricity. It was a legacy he wanted to leave for his son, the gratitude of power companies which ponied up $16 million for the Republican campaign of 2000, seven times the sum they gave Democrats. But Poppy Bush's gift of deregulating of wholesale prices set by the feds only got the power pirates halfway to the plunder of Joe Ratepayer. For the big payday they needed deregulation at the state level. There were only two states, California and Texas, big enough and Republican enough to put the electricity market con into operation. California fell first. The power companies spent $39 million to defeat a 1998 referendum pushed by Ralph Nader which would have blocked the de-reg scam. Another $37 million was spent on lobbying and lubricating the campaign coffers of the state's politicians to write a lie into law: in the deregulation act's preamble, the Legislature promised that deregulation would reduce electricity bills by 20%. In fact, when in the first California city to go "lawless," San Diego, the 20% savings became a 300% jump in surcharges. Enron circled California and licked its lips. As the number one contributor to the George W. Bush campaigns, it was confident about the future. With just a half dozen other companies it controlled at times 100% of the available power capacity needed to keep the Golden State lit. Their motto, "your money or your lights." Enron and its comrades played the system like a broken ATM machine, yanking out the bills. For example, in the shamelessly fixed "auctions" for electricity held by the state, Enron bid, in one instance, to supply 500 megawatts of electricity over a 15 megawatt line. That's like pouring a gallon of gasoline into a thimble-- the lines would burn up if they attempted it. Faced with blackout because of Enron's destructive bid, the state was willing to pay anything to keep the lights on. And the state did. According to Dr. Anjali Sheffrin, economist with the California State Independent System Operator which directs power deliveries, between May and November 2000, three power giants physically or "economically" withheld power from the state and concocted enough false bids to cost the California customers over $6.2 billion in excess charges. It took until December 20, 2000, with the lights going out on the Golden Gate, for President Bill Clinton, once a deregulation booster, to find his lost Democratic soul and impose price caps in California and ban Enron from the market. But the light-bulb buccaneers didn't have to wait long to put their hooks back into the treasure chest. Within seventy-two hours of moving into the White House, while he was still sweeping out the inaugural champagne bottles, George Bush the Second reversed Clinton's executive order and put the power pirates back in business in California. Enron, Reliant (aka Houston Industries), TXU (aka Texas Utilities) and the others who had economically snipped California's wires knew they could count on Dubya, who as governor of the Lone Star state cut them the richest deregulation deal in America. Meanwhile, the deregulation bug made it to New York where Republican Governor George Pataki and his industry-picked utility commissioners ripped the lid off electric bills and relieved my old friends at Niagara Mohawk of the expensive obligation to properly fund the maintenance of the grid system. And the Pataki-Bush Axis of Weasels permitted something that must have former New York governor Roosevelt spinning in his wheelchair in Heaven: They allowed a foreign company, the notoriously incompetent National Grid of England, to buy up NiMo, get rid of 800 workers and pocket most of their wages - producing a bonus for NiMo stockholders approaching $90 million. Is last week's black-out a surprise? Heck, no, not to us in the field who've watched Bush's buddies flick the switches across the globe. In Brazil, Houston Industries seized ownership of Rio de Janeiro's electric company. The Texans (aided by their French partners) fired workers, raised prices, cut maintenance expenditures and, CLICK! the juice went out so often the locals now call it, "Rio Dark." So too the free-market British buckaroos controlling Niagara Mohawk raised prices, slashed staff, cut maintenance and CLICK! -- New York joins Brazil in the Dark Ages. Californians have found the solution to the deregulation disaster: re-call the only governor in the nation with the cojones to stand up to the electricity price fixers. And unlike Arnold Schwarzenegger, Gov. Gray Davis stood alone against the bad guys without using a body double. Davis called Reliant Corp of Houston a pack of "pirates" --and now he'll walk the plank for daring to stand up to the Texas marauders. So where's the President? Just before he landed on the deck of the Abe Lincoln, the White House was so concerned about our brave troops facing the foe that they used the cover of war for a new push in Congress for yet more electricity deregulation. This has a certain logic: there's no sense defeating Iraq if a hostile regime remains in California. Sitting in the dark, as my laptop battery runs low, I suspected the truth about deregulation will never see the light -- until we change the dim bulb in the White House. ----- Greg Palast is the author of the New York Times bestseller, "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy" (Penguin USA) and with Theo MacGregor and Jerrold Oppenheim, "Democracy and Regulation," a guide to electricity deregulation published by the United Nations/Pluto Press, winner of the ACLU's 2004 Freedom of Expression Award. www.DemocracyAndRegulation.com See Palast's reports for BBC Television and the Guardian papers of Britain at www.GregPalast.com. Interviews/reprints: Media@gregpalast.com maconareaonline.com Copyright 2000-2004 Macon Area Online ***************************************************************** 10 Public Citizen: On First Anniversary of Blackout, Congress Still Hasn’t Passed Reforms to Protect Consumers Statement of Wenonah Hauter, Director of Public Citizens Energy Program August 14 will mark the one-year anniversary of the power blackout that affected much of the Northeast and Midwest in the United States. Despite the billion-dollar hit to the economy from the extended outage, the Bush administration and Congress have failed to implement the reforms necessary to prevent another blackout. A year ago, Public Citizen pointed out that electricity deregulation was the primary culprit that has weakened reliability. The United States transmission system was designed to accommodate local electricity markets, not deregulations large, freewheeling trading of electricity that moves power over long distances. Short of ending Americas failed deregulation experiment, Congress should pass mandatory reliability standards, thereby forcing power companies to comply with enforceable reliability rules. Two bills pending in Congress, H.R. 3004, cosponsored by U.S. Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.), and S. 2236, sponsored by Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), are effective first steps in holding energy companies accountable and improving the reliability of our nations electricity grid. These two bills lift language included in the stillstalled energy bill (H.R. 6); the Bush administration and lawmakers are refusing to act separately on this needed reliability language. Thats because energy industry lobbyists dont want the only useful part of the pork-filled energy bill to be separated from the rest of the 1,000 pages designating billions of dollars to energy corporations. After all, the oil, gas, coal, nuclear and power companies that would benefit from the tax breaks and other subsidies in the energy bill have contributed more than $76 million to federal politicians since 2001, with threequarters of that going to Republicans. Consumer and environmental groups have bitterly opposed the bulk of the energy bill. We urge Congress once again to live up to its obligation to the American people by passing necessary reforms that will protect electricity consumers from future blackouts. ***************************************************************** 11 New York Times > Opinion > Op-Ed Columnist: The Nuclear Shadow By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF Published: August 14, 2004 [I] f a 10-kiloton terrorist nuclear weapon explodes beside the New York Stock Exchange or the U.S. Capitol, or in Times Square, as many nuclear experts believe is likely in the next decade, then the next 9/11 commission will write a devastating critique of how we allowed that to happen. As I wrote in my last column, there is a general conviction among many experts - though, in fairness, not all - that nuclear terrorism has a better-than-even chance of occurring in the next 10 years. Such an attack could kill 500,000 people. Yet U.S. politicians have utterly failed to face up to the danger. "Both Bush administration rhetoric and Kerry rhetoric emphasize keeping W.M.D. out of the hands of terrorists as a No. 1 national security priority," noted Michèlle Flournoy of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "And when you look at what could have been done in the last few years, versus what has been done, there's a real gap." So what should we be doing? First, it's paramount that we secure uranium and plutonium around the world. That's the idea behind the U.S.-Russian joint program to secure 600 metric tons of Russian nuclear materials. But after 12 years, only 135 tons have been given comprehensive upgrades. Some 340 tons haven't even been touched. The Nunn-Lugar program to safeguard the material is one of the best schemes we have to protect ourselves, and it's bipartisan, championed above all by Senator Richard Lugar, an Indiana Republican. Yet President Bush has, incredibly, at various times even proposed cutting funds for it. He seems bored by this security effort, perhaps because it doesn't involve blowing anything up. Joseph Cirincione of the Carnegie Endowment sees the effort against nuclear terrorism as having three components. One is the Pentagon's version of counterproliferation, which includes the war in Iraq and the missile defense system; this component is costing $108 billion a year, mostly because of Iraq. Then there's homeland security, costing about $37 billion a year. Finally, there's nonproliferation itself, like the Nunn-Lugar effort - and this struggles along on just $2 billion a year. A second step we must take is stopping other countries from joining the nuclear club, although, frankly, it may now be too late. North Korea, Iran and (perhaps to a lesser extent) Brazil all seem determined to go ahead with nuclear programs. Dennis Ross, the former Middle East peace negotiator, notes that if Iran develops nukes, jittery Saudi Arabia will seek to follow, and then Egypt, which prides itself as the leader of the Arab world. Likewise, anxiety about North Korea is already starting to topple one domino - Japan is moving in the direction of a nuclear capability. The best hope for stopping Iran and North Korea (and it's a bleak one) is to negotiate a grand bargain in which they give up nuclear aspirations for trade benefits. Mr. Bush's current policy - fist-shaking - feels good but accomplishes nothing. President Clinton's approach to North Korea wasn't a great success, but at least North Korea didn't add to its nuclear arsenal during his watch. In just the last two years, North Korea appears to have gone to eight nuclear weapons from about two. A third step is to prevent the smuggling of nuclear weapons into the U.S. Mr. Bush has made a nice start on that with his proliferation security initiative. A useful addition, pushed by Senator Charles Schumer, would be to develop powerful new radiation detectors and put them on the cranes that lift shipping containers onto American soil. But while Congress approved $35 million to begin the development of these detectors, the administration has spent little or none of it. Finally, Mr. Bush needs to display moral clarity about nuclear weapons, making them a focus of international opprobrium. Unfortunately, Mr. Bush is pursuing a new generation of nuclear bunker-buster bombs. That approach helps make nukes thinkable, and even a coveted status symbol, and makes us more vulnerable. At other periods when the U.S. has been under threat, we mustered extraordinary resources to protect ourselves. If Mr. Bush focused on nuclear proliferation with the intensity he focuses on Iraq, then we might secure our world for just a bit longer. Right now, we're only whistling in the dark. Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company | Home| ***************************************************************** 12 IAEA Annual Report for 2003 + [IAEA.ORG :: Atoms for Peace] Staff Report 09 August 2004 [Annual Report 2003] Annual Report, Nuclear Safety Review for 2003 + Story Resources + Annual Reports & Reviews + 2004 IAEA General Conference + Nuclear Power Future Annual reports issued recently by the IAEA take stock of global nuclear developments, while highlighting issues heavily influencing the Agency's agenda. The reports are issued annually in advance of the IAEA General Conference of Member States, which this year opens 20 September in Vienna. The reports include the Annual Report for 2003, the Nuclear Safety Review for 2003, and the Nuclear Technology Review for 2003. In recent weeks, the Agency also has released a summary of the latest Safeguards Implementation Report and the Technical Cooperation Annual Report for 2003. For more information, see the latest editions of the: + IAEA Annual Report + Nuclear Safety Review [pdf] + Nuclear Technology Review [pdf] + Safeguards Implementation + Technical Cooperation Annual ReportCopyright 2003-2004, International Atomic Energy Agency, P.O. Box 100, Wagramer Strasse 5, A-1400 Vienna, Austria Telephone (+431) 2600-0; Facsimilie (+431) 2600-7; E-mail: Official.Mail@iaea.org Disclaimer ***************************************************************** 13 WorldNetDaily: Whose loose nuke are you? AUGUST 14 2004 © 2004 WorldNetDaily.com With the disintegration of the Warsaw Pact in 1989 – and the prospect of massive land battles in Central Europe ended – both the Soviet Union and the U.S. began to dismantle tens of thousands of tactical "battlefield" nukes. Two years later, with the Soviet Union about to come unglued, Russian officials came to "lobby" the U.S. Congress. The Russians planned to secure custody of all Soviet nukes, tactical and strategic; to dismantle those "excess" to Russian needs; to store and eventually dispose of the recovered fissile material as reactor fuel. The problem was, the Russians couldn't afford to do all that. Would Congress help? Rarely has Congress responded so quickly to a request for money. The so-called Nunn-Lugar Act declared that it was in our national interest to help keep Soviet nukes, nuke materials and nuke scientists from getting "loose." Bush the Elder was authorized to "reprogram" up to $400 million to implement Nunn-Lugar from funds already appropriated for that fiscal year to the Department of Defense. The optimum way to have provided direct Nunn-Lugar assistance would have been for the Department of Energy – not DOD – to have been funded. Unfortunately, it was several years before Congress got around to authorizing DOE labs to deal directly with their MINATOM counterparts. Hence, DOD had to contract with DOE to provide MINATOM thousands of "bird cages" to safely store the recovered fissile materials; to provide MINATOM fissile material protection, control and accounting equipment; to help the Russians install our MPC equipment and to train them how to use it. As President Clinton took office, the No. 1 threat to our national security was the prospect that Russia would not be able – even with our financial and technical assistance – to prevent Soviet nukes, nuke materials and nuke scientists from getting loose. But for Clinton's Greenpeace entourage, U.S. national security was not as important as world peace. For them, 10,000 nukes in our hands was the threat, not a few "loose" nukes in the hands of terrorists. So, Clinton made it quite clear to the rest of the world – if not to Congress – that he intended to pursue "a treaty on general and complete disarmament under strict and effective international control" as required by Article VI of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Clinton unilaterally subjected our "excess" nuke materials and nuke infrastructure to the full NPT Safeguards and Physical Security regime. Clinton expected all other nations having nukes to follow our example. Russia did – somewhat reluctantly – once Clinton and a Republican Congress made it clear that the promised Nunn-Lugar assistance was contingent upon it. Clinton had hijacked Nunn-Lugar, transforming it from a nuke proliferation prevention program into a nuke disarmament program At the 40th General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency in 1997, Director General Hans Blix announced the US-IAEA-Russia Trilateral Agreement. We and the Russians each committed to "transparently" and permanently dispose of 34 tons of weapons-useable plutonium under the watchful eyes of the IAEA. But there was a big problem. The Russians intended to make mixed-oxide (MOX) reactor fuel out of their excess weapons-grade plutonium. Once that was gone, they intended to continue making MOX from plutonium recovered from the "spent fuel" of ordinary nuclear power reactors. So the Trilateral Agreement essentially committed us to fund the recycling of spent fuel – heretofore prohibited in the U.S. – and a concomitant international rebirth of nuclear power. No way would Clinton's Greenpeace entourage allow that to happen. So, Clinton never asked Congress for the necessary funds to implement the Trilateral Agreement. As a result, when Clinton left office, the Russian loose-nuke threat was at least as bad as when he entered. Worse, as President Bush took office, there had been added the Pakistan loose-nuke threat. Pakistan had dozens of fairly sophisticated "Islamic" nukes and openly supported the ruling Taliban in neighboring Afghanistan. The ruling Taliban openly provided refuge to Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida. Four years later, the Russian and Pakistani loose-nuke threats are somewhat worse, and, thanks to Operation Iraqi Freedom, the North Korean loose-nuke threat has been added. Fortunately, Congress has authorized Bush to "reprogram" within DOD up to $50 million of Nunn-Lugar program funds in the current fiscal year for DOD "to resolve a critical or emerging proliferation threat" in a country not formerly part of the Soviet Union. So, what do you suppose Rumsfeld-Wolfowitz-Feith will do with the $50 million? Bomb the Bushehr nuke facility in Iran? Stay tuned. Physicist James Gordon Prather has served as a policy implementing official for national security-related technical matters in the Federal Energy Agency, the Energy Research and Development Administration, the Department of Energy, the Office of the Secretary of Defense and the Department of the Army. Dr. Prather also served as legislative assistant for national security affairs to U.S. Sen. Henry Bellmon, R-Okla. -- ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee and member of the Senate Energy Committee and Appropriations Committee. Dr. Prather had earlier worked as a nuclear weapons physicist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California and Sandia National Laboratory in New Mexico. [WorldNetDaily.com] webmaster@worldnetdaily.com ***************************************************************** 14 Daily Star: 'India won't sign NPT in its current form' Web Edition Vol. 5 Num 80 Vol. 5 Num 80 Sun. August 15, 2004 Pallab Bhattacharya, New Delhi India has conveyed to Japan that it would not sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in its current unfair and discriminatory form. Indian stand was put across to visiting Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi during her interaction with the top Indian leadership including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Leader of the Opposition L K Advani, External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh and National Security Advisor J N Dixit here on Friday. Kawaguchi on her part stressed the importance of nuclear-powered India and Pakistan joining the NPT and Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) regimes and their adherence to the international code of conduct relating to missile technology production and export, Press Secretary of Japanese Foreign Ministry Hathuhisa Takashima told reporters here Friday night. Kawaguchi, who wrapped up her two-day visit to India after arriving here from Pakistan, emphasised the importance of nuclear disarmament but was told by New Delhi that it considered NPT as an unfair and discriminatory treaty in its current shape and it was simply unacceptable. ***************************************************************** 15 IAEA: NewsCenter : Focus : Fuel Cycle Experts Examine International Controls + [IAEA.ORG :: Atoms for Peace] 12 August 2004 : An Expert Group to consider ways to tighten international controls on the nuclear fuel cycle will hold its first meeting at IAEA headquarters in Vienna in August 2004. + Full Story » + Background to Expert Group [pdf] + Timeline of Key Events » Key Reports The views expressed in these documents do not necessarily reflect those of the IAEA or of the Expert Group. + Background Issues, by the IAEA Office of External Relations, providing historical context and raising preliminary questions, 2004 [pdf] + Multi or Internationalization of the Nuclear Fuel Cycle: Revisiting the Issue, the views of several European authors on multilateral models, 2004 [pdf] + The Nuclear Fuel Cycle and The Bush Nonproliferation Initiative, T. Neff reviews US non-proliferation policies, 2004 [pdf] + The Nuclear Fuel Cycle: A Challenge for Non-proliferation, L. Scheinman defines the relevance and importance of multinational institutional arrangements, 2004 + Important Factors For Multinational Radioactive Waste Repositories, IAEA authors review several aspects of multinational spent fuel and waste repositories, 1999 [pdf] + Regional Nuclear Fuel Cycle Centres: IAEA Study Project, IAEA authors deal with the outcome of a 1975-77 study. [pdf] + International Co-Operation In The Supply Of Nuclear Fuel Cycle Services, C. Allday analyses, from an industrial perspective, 1977 [pdf] Copyright 2003, International Atomic Energy Agency, P.O. Box 100, Wagramer Strasse 5, A-1400 Vienna, Austria Telephone (+431) 2600-0; Facsimile (+431) 2600-7; E-mail: Official.Mail@iaea.org Disclaimer ***************************************************************** 16 The Telegraph - Calcutta: Nuke plea to Delhi Saturday, August 14, 2004 OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT New Delhi, Aug. 13: Japan, despite supporting India’s candidature for a UN Security Council seat, has asked Delhi to dismantle its nuclear and missile programmes and sign the Nuclear non-Proliferation Treaty and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. The Japanese foreign minister, Yoriko Kawaguchi, made this clear during her talks with the Indian leadership in the past two days. She had given similar suggestions to the Pakistani leadership earlier in the week before leaving Islamabad for Delhi. Japan is also a candidate for a Security Council seat, if the panel is expanded. Yesterday, both countries expressed support for each other’s entry into the council. “The (nuclear) issue was raised by the foreign minister during her talks with the Indian leadership,” said Hatsuhisa Takashima, the director-general for press and public relations at the Japanese embassy here. But the Indian leadership repeated the country’s stated position that the NPT and CTBT were “unfair” treaties and, thus, unacceptable. Copyright © 2002 The Telegraph. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 17 Daily Yomiuri: 800 attend farewell for N-plant victims Yomiuri Shimbun FUKUI--About 800 people, including Kansai Electric Power Co. President Yosaku Fuji, attended a farewell ceremony Saturday in Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture, for four men who died in Tuesday's accident at the company's Mihama Nuclear Power Plant in Mihamacho, Fukui Prefecture. The ceremony was held at a funeral hall in the city in memory of Tomoki Iseki, Hiroya Takatori, Kazutoshi Nakagawa and Eiji Taoka, employees of Osaka-based Kiuchi Keisoku who died after being exposed to superheated steam when a pipe ruptured at the facility's No. 3 reactor. Family members and coworkers, along with others, attended the ceremony, and many openly expressed their loss through tears. The ceremony began at 11 a.m. with a silent prayer, followed by a memorial address by one of the victims' coworkers, who said: "Will you listen to us? Will you save the seven who were injured in the accident and still suffer?" A message from those recovering in hospital was read aloud at the ceremony, that said, "We'll do our best (to get well), so please--rest in peace." The venue seated about 1,000 people, and photographs of the four victims were placed on an altar among yellow and white flowers. Takaki, Iseki's brother who is employed at the Osaka headquarters of the same company, said, "I'd been looking forward to seeing (my brother) during the Bon holidays." Copyright 2004 The Yomiuri Shimbun ***************************************************************** 18 Daily Yomiuri: Agency mulls new guidelines for N-reactor pipes Yomiuri Shimbun Maintenance guidelines for the secondary-piping systems of pressurized water reactors (PWRs) will be reviewed on the basis of the latest information, following the recent fatal steam blowout at the No. 3 reactor of Mihama Nuclear Power Plant in Mihamacho, Fukui Prefecture, officials of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said Saturday. The agency, which is under the jurisdiction of the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry, also plans to draw up new guidelines covering all piping at nuclear power plants, including measures to prevent the insides of pipes from eroding. These guidelines also will cover boiling water reactor pipes through which water containing radioactive substances flows, the officials said. The current maintenance guidelines for the wall thickness of secondary-system pipes in PWRs were jointly compiled in 1990 by Kansai Electric Power, Shikoku Electric Power, Kyushu Electric Power, Hokkaido Electric Power companies and Japan Atomic Power Co. following a fatal pipe blowout in 1986 in Surry, Va. The current guidelines, established about 14 years ago, include a list of items to be inspected, a method to calculate the expected life of piping and criteria regarding the replacement of carbon-steel pipes. The agency plans to ask the Atomic Energy Society of Japan, the Japan Electric Association and the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers to review their guidelines. Copyright 2004 The Yomiuri Shimbun ***************************************************************** 19 Daily Yomiuri: KEPCO shouldn't shut reactors unnecessarily Yomiuri Shimbun Without a doubt, the leak of high-temperature steam at the No. 3 reactor of Mihama Nuclear Power Plant in Mihamacho, Fukui Prefecture, represents a fatal disaster that has been caused by Kansai Electric Power Co.'s inexcusable error. However, questions should be raised about the post-disaster decision by KEPCO, the operator of the ill-fated facility, to suspend operations at all its other nuclear power stations and temporarily freeze its plutonium-thermal project. No defects have been found at the condensation pipes installed at these plants that specialists say could sustain a rupture in a manner comparable with the Mihamacho accident. KEPCO must be blamed for its failure to prevent the recent disaster. However, it is illogical for the utility to decide that the accident at one of its power stations justifies shutting down all its other plants. The pipe that suffered a rupture at the Mihamacho plant had never been inspected since the facility's No. 3 reactor was put into service in 1976. KEPCO never bothered to examine the pipe despite a report about an accident similar to the steam leak at a U.S. nuclear power plant in 1986. It is all the more disturbing to note that KEPCO left the pipe in question unchecked despite a report issued late last year by an inspection company that said the pipe was not included in the list of equipment subject to inspection. KEPCO did not bother to implement corrective measures until a periodic inspection scheduled for this month. All this led to a rupture at the pipe, the inside of which had long been worn away by water running through it. This caused a leak of extremely high-temperature steam, killing four workers at the plant. === Open investigation needed KEPCO must uncover the truth behind its repeated mistakes, while also taking tough action against the company officials and employees responsible for the tragedy. The utility also should know better than to lie about the results of its investigation into the incident if it wants to regain the trust of local residents. The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency has instructed all electric power firms and steel manufacturers to report their latest findings about inspections on steam pipes installed at their power plants, nuclear, thermal, or otherwise. The utilities have every reason to determine whether they have left any important equipment at their facilities unchecked. This is crucial to prevent another steam-leak incident. However, power stations must be kept running if it has been established that they have been properly checked in the past. KEPCO intends to halt operations at all eight of its nuclear power plants for the purpose of inspecting the thickness of their pipes. The facilities subject to such inspection include ones where the condensation pipes already have been replaced with stainless steel ones. The utility's decision means that the list of nuclear power stations to be suspended for close inspection includes ones with condensation pipes incapable of rupturing. The decision came after KEPCO decided to meet a request from Fukui Gov. Issei Nishikawa to suspend operations at the facilities. The governor made the request based on the concerns of residents in the prefecture over the safety of the facilities. === Threat to electricity supply However, the suspension of operations at KEPCO's nuclear power stations could arouse concerns about the stable supply of electricity in the Kansai region as the area is currently experiencing an extended heat wave. It also should be noted that KEPCO's plan to increase its thermal power generation could further raise crude oil prices. Nishikawa also has said a plan to start a plutonium-thermal project at KEPCO's Takahama Nuclear Power Plant in the prefecture in 2007 could be postponed. A freeze on the project could arouse undue suspicion among other nations about the plutonium to be left unused in the project. Such material can be used to produce atomic bombs. All in all, KEPCO's decision to halt operations at all its nuclear power stations could produce extremely adverse side-effects. It is necessary to determine what must be corrected and what can be accepted. The governor should urge residents in his prefecture to remain calm and open-minded toward whether to continue operations at the latter facilities. (From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Aug. 16) Copyright 2004 The Yomiuri Shimbun ***************************************************************** 20 Guardian Unlimited: British Energy: fresh solvency fears Oliver Morgan Sunday August 15, 2004 The Observer Concern is mounting that British Energy may have difficulty convincing the government of its future solvency - because of rising electricity prices. Concerns centre on the need for the nuclear generator to put cash aside to cover liabilities to its electricity customers who bought up almost all of its output for the next year. BE must hold cash so that, if it ceases trading, it has funds to pay customers who must meet their needs in the open market. The higher the price, the higher the collateral needed. But BE's cashflow does not rise, as it has sold forward its output. BE was forced into a government-sponsored restructuring in 2002 when the electricity price slumped. In the BE annual report, chief executive Mike Alexander discloses that BE's collateral requirement has risen to between £270 million and £320m as prices have risen 'based on the current sales mix and no further undue volatility in the forward curve for electricity prices'. Prices are expected to rise; this year's winter contract is about £30 per megawatt hour, in 2005 it is £32.50, according to consultants Heren. But one senior source said there were deep concerns about steeper rises and about volatility in electricity and energy markets in the coming two years. The restructuring must be completed by 31 January and get European Commission approval. But Trade and Industry Secretary Patricia Hewitt must agree BE can generate sufficient cash to remain a going concern. Sources say DTI officials have concerns over the collateral but a company spokesman said funds were sufficient. [UP] Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004 ***************************************************************** 21 Hanford News: Manakoa, PNNL close deal This story was published Friday, August 13th, 2004 By Jeff St. John, Herald staff writer Kennewick startup hopes to offer cybersecurity training Learning to fight off a hacker attack on a company's computer network is a little bit like learning to fly a jet - it pays to practice in a simulator before trying the real thing. Kennewick startup Manakoa Services Corp. sees a lot of profit potential in this kind of cybersecurity training. And with a deal it recently closed with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, it now has the tools to make it happen. "This is the first time a person can simulate over 900 cyberattacks," said Bob Williams, Manakoa chief executive. "It's a one-of-a-kind set of technologies that Manakoa and PNNL are working to commercialize." Williams, a computer security expert recognized by Microsoft Corp. as one of the best in his field, joined Kennewick entrepreneur Jim Katzaroff to found Manakoa last year. The publicly traded company is developing software and services, aimed for release by year's end, to help companies meet federal corporate compliance and regulations such as the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the 1999 Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, which involve accounting reform and investor privacy protection. This week, Manakoa announced its acquisition of a new piece of technology - the "systems administrator simulation training" program. The software was developed at PNNL to test government agencies' ability to fend off cyberattacks, ranging from breaking into computers to steal information to denial-of-service attacks and computer viruses or worms meant to disable or destroy networks. Gary Morgan, PNNL commercialization manager, cited several reasons for choosing Manakoa to develop the technology. The first was that the company was willing to invest the money necessary to bring it to market as a commercial product, he said. Another was the presence of skilled technical staff, including several former Microsoft employees, on the company's payroll. "The other factor is that they are creating a unique business model we believe is going to serve our corporate community in the United States for improved homeland security," Morgan said. "This is a piece of that tool kit, if you will, for their business to be successful." There are other companies and organizations dedicated to training professionals to repel cyberattacks. But the concept of a product and set of services to simulate an attack could be a fresh approach to the problem, particularly when linked with Manakoa's risk management package, one computer security expert said. "There are certainly companies that provide training," said Scott Gordon, marketing vice president for Milpitas, Calif.-based computer security company Protego Networks Inc. But "a simulation may offer a unique angle," he said. "I can see how this complements a general risk management service," he added. "It's definitely interesting." Jon Ramsey, Internet security services director for Atlanta-based Internet security company SecureWorks, said organizations like Carnegie Mellon University's Computer Emergency Response Team, which he used to work with, provide "war-gaming" training to teach ways to repel cyberattacks. But he added that many systems administrators haven't had as much experience in the field as they might need. "In today's day and age, those are all important capabilities for large companies to have," he said. "Computer-based training on incident response - it makes perfect sense." Stuart Platt, a retired Navy admiral and chairman of Manakoa's board of directors, certainly thinks so. He sees potential for government and corporate clients, including Microsoft, which he said have expressed interest in the final product. Katzaroff, Manakoa's president, moved into the risk management software field after running Advanced Biometrics Inc., a company that held licenses to identify people from their hand prints. He's still chairman of that company, now called Apogee Biometrics and based in Redmond, which labored under a lawsuit by former investors claiming management failed to follow through on promises to take the company public. Plans to merge that company with a Vancouver, British Columbia, company called Electronic Identification Inc. didn't pan out, but Katzaroff later acquired the Canadian company in a stock transaction. Intellectual property from Electronic Identification, along with that of Boulder, Colo.-based Secure Logistix Inc., acquired last year, formed the basis of the risk management software Manakoa is developing, he said. With 18 employees in offices in Kennewick, Redmond and Boulder, Colo., a market capitalization between $20 million to $40 million and no revenues as of yet, Manakoa still is in the startup stage. But its executives are upbeat about its prospects. "We'd like to see a lot of growth happen here," Williams said. Manakoa Services Corp. trades under the symbol MKOS. © 2004 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 22 San Luis Obispo Tribune: Secrecy just spreads distrust | 08/15/2004 | Editorial / Opinion of The Tribune The Tribune On the surface, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's decision to withhold information concerning security gaps at nuclear power plants makes sense. The attacks of Sept. 11 clearly illustrate that there are individuals who will stop at nothing to harm Americans and our freedoms. As an NRC official said, "The agency needs to blacken some of our processes so that our adversaries don't have that information." Still, we don't believe the NRC is taking a step in the right direction with this latest assault on industry transparency. Earlier this year the commission, acting more as an advocate than regulator of the nuclear industry, moved to deprive state and local governments from fully cross-examining industry and government witnesses during licensing hearings. The NRC has also restricted the amount of time activists and governments can intervene in an NRC hearing and challenge aspects of a pending license. Attorneys general from California to Connecticut have challenged that ruling. So playing the "security" card is the latest effort by the NRC. It's a card that can cover a multitude of sins while breeding distrust among the public toward nuclear power. Would we have been told that 56 of 131 emergency warning sirens were knocked out of duty for five hours after the San Simeon Earthquake under the new "security" rules? By this information coming to light, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. has stepped up a retrofit program of battery backups for the sirens by several years. This probably wouldn't have happened had the public not been made aware of the problem and pressured PG&E to address it sooner. Similarly, would the public have been made aware of repeated equipment failures at Diablo, where battery chargers were fixed six times before the cause of the problem was identified? The threshold for mistakes is low at Diablo and other nuclear plants, which is as it should be. But the NRC's move to greater secrecy about the industry it's charged with overseeing does nothing but fuel the flames of distrust and suspicion about nuclear power. The public at large should not be privy to the details of keeping a nuclear plant secure in the face of terrorism. But the NRC's recent moves are another step designed to marginalize public oversight and concerns about nuclear power, cloaked in the Nanny State terrorist-generated mantra that "we know what's best for you." ***************************************************************** 23 toledoblade.com: Activists fret over nuclear plant missteps Monday, August 16, 2004 Article published Saturday, August 14, 2004 By blade staff writer The state's largest environmental group yesterday questioned the Nuclear Regulatory Commission about what it believes is a worrisome pattern of safety issues at FirstEnergy Corp.'s operating nuclear plants. Ohio Citizen Action, in a letter to the top NRC official in the Midwest, raised the concerns in light of FirstEnergy's current troubles at its Perry nuclear plant east of Cleveland and its past problems with the Davis-Besse reactor in Ottawa County. "What will it take for the NRC to realize that FirstEnergy must not be allowed to run nuclear power plants?" Sandy Buchanan, executive director of Ohio Citizen Action, wrote to the NRC. "Will FirstEnergy have to cause an actual nuclear disaster before the NRC takes preventive action?" On Thursday, the commission cited the Perry facility, which FirstEnergy operates, and decided that Perry will become only the fourth nuclear plant since 2000 to undergo the highest level of inspection allowed for operating plants. The NRC required the inspections because of ongoing issues associated with the company's inability to detect, fix, and do sufficient follow-up on certain pieces of safety-related equipment. The equipment includes components related to a high-pressure emergency cooling pump, as well as two cooling-water pumps. Ms. Buchanan sent her concerns to NRC Midwest regional chief Jim Caldwell in a letter yesterday. She wrote that she believes FirstEnergy did not learn enough from its troubles at Davis-Besse, where it allowed so much acid to escape from the plant's reactor that the radioactive structure nearly blew open its old lid in 2002. The company later admitted during its two-year shutdown it had allowed profits to become more important than safety at Davis-Besse throughout much of the 1990s, but claimed to have turned around the situation there. The Ottawa County plant was authorized to resume operation in March. Ms. Buchanan said a blown fuse Davis-Besse workers failed to recognize while performing routine tests last week is a sign that FirstEnergy wasn't ready to resume operation. The fuse problem activated safety systems and automatically resulted in an emergency shutdown. The NRC has been criticized by activists for failing to get tough with FirstEnergy about Davis-Besse, which the agency eventually acknowledged as the industry's biggest safety failure since the partial meltdown at the Three Mile Island complex in Pennsylvania 25 years ago. Viktoria Mitlyng, NRC spokesman, acknowledged the agency received Ms. Buchanan's letter but had no immediate response. She said a team of special inspectors was being assembled for Perry, and said they may spend months there. "There is an issue with the thoroughness and effectiveness of [Perry's] corrective actions," she said. Perry will be allowed to continue operating while the NRC's team visits. The inspections, part of the NRC reactor oversight program initiated a few years ago, are mandated when sub-par performance is cited for five consecutive quarters. The only complexes that have received a similar level of scrutiny since 2000 are Indian Point in New York, Oconee in South Carolina, and Point Beach in Wisconsin. Davis-Besse was treated differently because a number of problems had been identified after that plant had been shut down, Ms. Mitlyng said. No outstanding performance issues have been documented at FirstEnergy's other nuclear complex, the twin-unit Beaver Valley facility west of Pittsburgh, she said. Richard Wilkins, a FirstEnergy spokesman, acknowledged Perry's performance issues. "It's a fact there are a string of them and we don't seem to have a handle on them," he said. "We have made some progress, but we still have work to do to get the performance of that plant to where we think it should be." Contact Tom Henry at: thenry@theblade.com or 419-724-6079. © 2004 The Blade.The Toledo Blade Company, 541 N. Superior St., Toledo, OH 43660 , (419) 724-6000 ***************************************************************** 24 Xinhuanet: Nuclear plant leak leaves 4 dead in Japan www.xinhuanet.com www.chinaview.cn 2004-08-15 16:42:53 The steam leak takes place at a facility housing the turbines for the No. 3 reactor of the plant, located in the town of Mihama, Aug. 10, 2004.(Xinhua/Reuters) The No. 3 reactor of Mihama nuclear plant in the northern city of Fukui, Japan is seen in this September, 2002 file picture. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Families of victims gather outside the waiting room, Aug.10, 2004.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo) TOKYO, Aug. 9 (Xinhuanet) -- Four workers died and seven were injured after steam leaked from one of the reactors of Mihama Nuclear Power Plant in west Japan's Fukui Prefecture. No external radioactive leak is believed to have taken place, said the Kansai Electric Power Co. that owns the plant. The steam leak took place at a facility housing the turbines for the No. 3 reactor of the plant, located in the town of Mihama,at around 3:30 p.m.(0630 GMT). According to the Nuclear and Industry Safety Agency under Japanese government, eleven people were injured in the accident, including five who suffered heart-lung failure after being exposed to hot steam. The four dead were among the five who were seriously injured. The 826,000-kilowatt pressurized-water reactor was automatically shut down, the agency said, the steam leak is believed to have been caused by trouble in the secondary circulation system. The facility filled with steam. All the victims were employees from another company which provides technical services to power plants, the company said. The workers were believed to be preparing for a routine check. Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said it is regrettable that casualties were inflicted and demanded a thorough and quick investigation. The No. 3 reactor began service in December 1976. In February 1991, a tube inside a steam generator at the No. 2 reactor in the same plant broke, resulting in the leak of 55 tons of radioactive water from the main cooling system into the secondary system that powers the reactor's turbine. The 1991 accident was the first time in Japan that an emergencycore cooling system was activated. The Mihama plant was the first nuclear plant built by Kansai Electric. The No. 1 reactor began service in November 1970. Enditem Copyright ©2003 Xinhua News Agency. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 25 Hi Pakistan: PAEC asked to make N-power plants locally --> August 16 2004 ISLAMABAD, Aug 14: The government has directed the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) to make long-term plans to manufacture a series of nuclear power plants in the country to meet power requirements. The government has also directed the PAEC's top officials to gradually reduce dependence on foreign experts in all future nuclear power plants and maximise involvement of local nuclear experts, leading to complete indiginization in this field and local production of nuclear power plants. Official sources told Dawn here on Friday that additional power capacity in the system was urgently required to meet power shortages, especially in low water months, when there was no surplus. At present there is surplus power capacity of 182-2000 MW in high water months. The PAEC was told to develop a long-term plan to produce maximum electricity by planning a series of new nuclear power plants with the active financial and administrative support of federal and provincial governments. Officials of the PAEC were also asked to discourage hiring of foreign experts and engineers to develop more power plants. And as a first step, they have been asked to maximise the involvement of Pakistani manpower/experts for the manufacturing of the Chashma Nuclear Power Plant-2 and minimize Chinese manpower/experts. Under the proposed project, they have been asked to keep the involvement of the foreign manpower as low as possible and Pakistani engineers/technicians/experts be increased as much as possible even at the design stage. Also local manufacturing and construction should be increased from the component of the foreign scope of work and that preferably this should be more than $50 million for 300MW Chashma-2. Sources said that the PAEC had been urged to keep a check on the Chashma-2 whose cost had gone up from Rs42.6 billion to Rs51 billion which also included Rs20.1 billion foreign exchange component. The PAEC told senior officials of the Ministry of Finance and the Planning Commission that the cost of the Chashma-2 had gone up due to various reasons. For example, the Chinese scope of the work has increased by Rs4.5 billion due to increase in the cost of the plant and equipment. Likewise, the work of the PAEC increased by more than Rs1 billion with respect to preliminary works, ware house, insurance, commodities and residential colony etc. Also additional safety requirements as prescribed by the Pakistan Nuclear Regulatory Authority were added, increasing the cost of the project by Rs1.5 billion more, besides additional Rs910 million on account of an increase in fuel prices. The PAEC authorities have been further directed to increase local manufacturing of nuclear power plants to about 15 to 20 per cent against an existing proposal of 2-3 per cent by increasing the indigenous manufacturing of electrical and mechanical equipment. Copyright 1996-2002 . Hi Pakistan. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 26 Straits Times: Nuke power and risks - AUG 16, 2004 THE troublesome question of safety at nuclear plants has once again been highlighted after an accident in Japan last week. Although there was no radiation leak, there were fatalities and serious injury caused when steam leaked from a broken pipe at the Mihama plant operated by Kansai Electric Power Company, some 320km from Tokyo. Japan had enjoyed a decent safety record until now, but there is concern that ageing pipes at half of the country's 14 nuclear power plants may need replacement. Those plants' 52 reactors generate a third of the country's energy needs. Anti-nuclear activists are calling for the closing of the plants. Several towns around Japan have voted overwhelmingly in recent referendums against building new nuclear facilities, slowing down the government's plans to build 11 more nuclear reactors in this decade. Japan is the world's third biggest nuclear power producer after the United States and France - and a model for many developing countries whose expanding economies push up energy demand. Notwithstanding the occasional accident in the developed world such as at Three Mile Island in the United States, it is the situation in the developing regions that is worrying. Some fast growing countries - including China, India, South Korea and Pakistan - have dozens of nuclear power plants. The technology at these facilities is not very different from that in industrialised nations: either high-steam or low-steam pressure and a moderator such as heavy water or graphite surrounds the fuel core, slowing the movement of neutrons. The process leads to the generation of power. Heavy water is generally considered more reliable in handling the heat that builds up during power generation. Since virtually all nuclear technology is imported from Western countries, which have stringent safety standards, it is not so much the kind of technology as it is sometimes political considerations that determine developing countries' decisions to acquire a nuclear capability. North Korea is a prime example of a dual-purpose user of nuclear power. India and Pakistan, to varying degrees, have been criticised for their nuclear programmes. While the West worries about nuclear proliferation in countries such as India and Pakistan, a critical problem that it increasingly shares with the developing world is that of nuclear waste: What to do with the spent fuel rods lodged at the core of a nuclear reactor. No one has figured out a long-term solution for the waste, which can generate deadly radiation for as long as a thousand years. No one has figured out how to safely decommission a plant once its power-generating capacity has been exhausted. In the short term, the solution in countries like the US and Japan has been to bury waste in pits lined with lead or graphite, which prevent radiation leaks. There have also been proposals to dispatch waste into outer space. But there is another problem associated with waste disposal. This concerns the potential for theft of spent fuel rods by terrorists. While nuclear waste cannot be used to make missiles, it can be effectively employed to build 'dirty bombs' that could spew radioactivity widely if exploded in urban areas. This is why developing nations need to step up vigilance concerning waste. They have shown they can manage the technology. What they need to go for next is reliable and independent verification by international and local authorities of how they deal with the waste. It is not enough to bury it. There are lots of wrong hands eager to acquire that material and even to sell it. The Straits Times ***************************************************************** 27 People's Daily CNNC: China's nuke power plants safe UPDATED: 17:22, August 12, 2004 It is safe to generate nuclear power as a clean energy. China's nuclear power plants are safe, said Pan Ziqiang, director of the committee of science and technology under China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC), in an interview with People's Daily on August 11. A concept must be clarified that the accident at Mihama power plant of Japan's Kansai Electric Power on August 9 is not a nuclear incident and that it doesn't exert influence on its surroundings according to Pan. Pan introduced that a power plant is mainly composed of "nuclear island" and "conventional island" and the steam turbine of the incident was in the "conventional island", which belongs to "nuclear-free area". The composition and principle of the steam turbine in nuclear power plants is the same as those in ordinary power plants. Therefore, that incident is not special for a nuke power plant. The lesson we have drawn from the accident is: we should not only pay attention to the safety of the "nuclear island", but also to the "conventional island", said Pan, China has made explicit stipulations on the examination of "conventional island" in nuke plants, so it can be guaranteed to say that it is of little possibility for such accidents to happen in China. It is not necessary for people to worry about the safety of China's nuclear power plants since we have strict measures to guarantee, Pan stressed, China has special monitoring institutions for nuclear safety, the State Nuclear Safety Bureau, which has established comparatively a perfect set of nuclear standards on a nuclear safety system. The safety setup for the whole process of a nuke power plant includes site-selection, design, construction, operation, production and waste disposal. Constant inspections and supervision, which are independent and free from restrictions by the nuclear power producers in operation. "The nuclear power plants in China, in operation or under construction, are all PWR (pressurized water reactor) nuclear power plants, for which there is little incident rate. Even though there is, it will not do harm on environment seriously,'' Pan said. Pan added, the PWR nuclear power plants have totally run 10, 000 reactor years (a reactor year is one nuclear power plants operating one year) worldwide while there was only one accident -- leakage of radioactive materials in the Three Mile Island in the United States. However, the accident did not have much impact on the environment, and the radiation the most serious victims received exceeded only half of the background radiation (background radiation: the naturally-occurring ionizing radiation which every person is exposed to, arising from the earth's crust (including radon) and from cosmic radiation.). Due to the different types of reactors, it is even less possible for the tragedies like that at Chernobyl to occur. By People's Daily Online Copyright by People's Daily Online, all rights reserved ***************************************************************** 28 Japan Times: Kepco to halt, check all 11 of its reactors Saturday, August 14, 2004 Record review ordered after accident Compiled from Kyodo, AP Compiled from Kyodo, AP OSAKA -- Kansai Electric Power Co. said Friday it will temporarily shut down all 11 of its atomic power reactors to conduct safety checks, following this week's deadly accident at its Mihama nuclear plant in Fukui Prefecture. The shutdown began Friday with three of its eight plants -- the No. 2 reactor at Mihama, the No. 2 reactor at the Takahama plant and the No. 4 reactor at its Oi plant -- with the rest to follow in stages, Kepco officials said. Three of the 11 are already shut down. Japan's second-largest utility reached the decision a day after being ordered by the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency to review inspection records of cooling pipes and check for signs of corrosion at its nuclear plants. Fukui Gov. Issei Nishikawa urged the utility Friday morning to suspend operations at all its plants. Kepco will try to minimize the impact on customers by limiting the length of time operations are suspended, the officials said. The inspections are expected to take about one to two weeks for each plant, and it will take at least one month for them to be fully completed, they added. It is concerned that the halt may lead to a power shortage because demand for electricity has been high due to the extremely hot weather. Kepco President Yosaku Fuji tried to allay such fears. "We will start up closed thermal power plants, so there will be no problem concerning power supply," he told a news conference. Other officials at the utility added that it may ask other electric companies to supply power. About 60 percent of Kepco's electricity comes from nuclear plants, the highest among the nation's nine electric power companies. In response to the utility's decision, Shoichi Nakagawa, minister of economy, trade and industry, issued a statement later in the day saying the government would do all it can, including urging other power firms to provide Kepco with electricity, to ensure a stable power supply. Government investigators meanwhile launched a probe Friday at the Mihama plant, where four people were killed and seven injured when a pipe burst, spewing superheated steam on the workers. Investigators collected safety records and other documents and questioned executives about Monday's accident, said Toshiyuki Kadono, a spokesman for the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency. A police search of the plant, which began Tuesday, continued Friday, Tsuruga city police spokesman Shuichi Nosaka said. Police were reportedly considering raiding the company's Osaka offices, suspecting the accident was caused by negligence. There was no radiation leak in Monday's accident. But it has added to concerns about safety at nuclear plants, which account for 35 percent of resource-poor Japan's energy supply. It also has pressured the government to reconsider plans to build 11 reactors by 2010. Kepco acknowledged Tuesday that the ruptured cooling pipe that caused the deaths had not been thoroughly checked, despite a warning from a subcontractor last year that it posed a danger. The Japan Times: Aug. 14, 2004 (C) All rights reserved ***************************************************************** 29 Japan Times: Mihama accident latest in long string of nuclear plant woes Monday, August 16, 2004 LACK OF OVERSIGHT RAPPED By ERIC JOHNSTON Staff writer OSAKA -- In early 1999, a group of German nuclear scientists and engineers had just returned to Osaka after visiting nuclear power facilities in Fukui Prefecture. Sitting in a bar in the Hotel New Otani, they were deeply disturbed. "The equipment and the state of the plants was very bad, well below the standards that are legally acceptable in Germany. We couldn't believe that such an advanced technological country like Japan would allow nuclear power plants to be run in such a slipshod and dangerous manner," one of the engineers told The Japan Times. Since then, this nation's nuclear power industry has suffered a string of accidents, scandals and coverups. A nuclear fission chain reaction accident at a uranium fuel plant in Tokai, Ibaraki Prefecture, in September 1999, a scandal involving falsified data related to MOX fuel, and continuous reports of accidents, mishaps and technical mistakes have led to a growing number of people, even among nuclear power advocates, to wonder out loud if a basic review of nuclear power policy is needed. Then came the latest accident at the No. 3 reactor at Kansai Electric Power Co.'s power plant in Mihama, Fukui Prefecture, in which four workers were killed and seven others were injured by superhot steam blowing out of a worn-out pipe in a turbine facility. The Tokyo-based Citizens Nuclear Information Center keeps an eye on accidents at all of the nation's 52 nuclear power reactors. In 2002, it tracked 46 significant problems at 10 power plants and fuel facilities that were reported by the power companies themselves. Of the total, 25 involved cracked pipes or other equipment. Sixty-one more problems were found the following year, 22 of which involved cracks in welds, according to CNIC. Most were discovered during periodic inspections. Then there are the nontechnological problems. Tokyo Electric Power Co. announced in October 2003 it had found iron scaffolding pipe in the suppression pool at the No. 2 reactor in the Fukushima No. 1 power plant. One purpose of the suppression pool is to serve as a source of water to cool the reactor core in an emergency. Had the iron pipe blocked the inlet for the water, it could have led to a major accident. The revelation by Tepco led to a nationwide search for foreign objects inside nuclear plants. "All together, well over a thousand items were collected, including an electric grinder, a wrench, dust masks, work shoes, plastic sheets, barbed wire and can lids. These incidents exposed the sloppy management of equipment in nuclear power stations," said Baku Nishio of CNIC, which analyzed the data released by the utility firms. International experts have also noted problems. In 1992 and 1995, officials from the International Atomic Energy Agency visited four reactors in Japan and found 90 problems with their safety inspections and procedures. Based on these two visits, they concluded that safety procedures in Japan's nuclear power industry were "dangerously weak." Daniel Aldrich, a Harvard Ph.D. candidate who is completing a dissertation on nuclear power in Japan and France, says problems at Japan's power plants, including the latest Mihama accident, stem from the political structure of the nuclear industry here. "On the surface, this is a technical problem. But underlying it, I believe, is a political one. The central government of Japan delegates a great deal of responsibility to private utility companies, both in terms of safety and in terms of (assigning the location of reactors) overall," Aldrich said. "France's nuclear power industry has yet to encounter fatal accidents like those that have plagued Japan; the French state keeps a very tight hand in nuclear safety. It is clear to me that the Japanese state needs to tighten up its inspections, and punishments for failed inspections, to reduce the likelihood of future accidents," he said. Finally, there is the often murky relationship between the utilities that operate the plant and the companies that actually do the work. The four who died in the Mihama plant were working for Kiuchi Keisoku, a subcontractor to Kepco. While nobody is blaming the employees of Kiuchi Keisoku for the accident, their presence underscores the fact that much of the manual labor at Kepco plants, as well as inspections, is not done by full-time employees of the utility. Yoko Fujita, Japan's leading expert on working conditions of nuclear power plant workers, notes the relationship between subcontractors and the utilities. "The utilities hire subcontractors with technical expertise to do things like inspections," Fujita writes in "What We Really Want To Know About Nuclear Power Plants: 120 Basic Facts," published earlier this year. In fact, the Osaka-based Kiuchi Keisoku has reportedly been engaged in the inspection and maintenance of measuring instruments at the Mihama plant since 1970, and most of the people involved in Monday's accidents were experienced workers. "But there is a third level of subcontractors that rounds up local day laborers, farmers and fishermen to do the manual labor and construction work inside the plants in areas where the radiation levels are higher," writes Fujita. In 1979, freelance writer Kunio Horie wrote about conditions at the Mihama nuclear power plant. His book, "Nuclear Gypsy," was a diary of his experiences working as a day laborer at the Mihama and Fukushima plants between fall 1978 and spring 1979. In the book, Horie describes lax safety standards at Mihama, including workers and managers ignoring radiation monitors and Kepco subcontractor employees not bothering to inspect the day laborers' cleaning and repair efforts because of radiation fears. He writes of a general atmosphere of resignation among workers that they would get sick and die from radiation exposure, but says that the money, then about 5,500 yen a day, was too good to pass up. Twenty-five years later, nearly everyone -- both pro and antinuclear -- agrees that basic safety standards are better for all workers than in Horie's day. But some in the antinuclear community say they suspect the hiring system for the dirtiest of jobs remains the same. "It's hard to say, but it appears conditions have not fundamentally changed since 'Nuclear Gypsy' came out. Certainly, working in the plants still puts people at risk. While the Mihama accident was not the fault of the subcontractors, there are still poor management attitudes on the part of Kepco and many of the workers involved," said Teruyuki Matsushita, a member of the Mihama town assembly. The Japan Times: Aug. 16, 2004 (C) All rights reserved ***************************************************************** 30 Philstar.com: NEDA not sold on nuke power plant conversion The Filipino Global Community By Des Ferriols The Philippine Star 08/15/2004 Government economists have cast doubts on the viability of the conversion of the mothballed $2-billion Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) into a gas-fired facility, leaving the government to continue paying for a structure that never went into commercial operations. Top officials from the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said over the weekend that even the possibility of operating the plant is not likely since the technology used at the time of its construction is now obsolete. President Arroyo announced earlier that the BNPP could be converted into a gas-fired plant by 2005 at an estimated cost of between $500 million to $600 million, which would have to be funded out of fresh loans. The proposal to convert the BNPP into a natural gas power plant is part of the administration’s agenda to ensure energy security as prices of crude oil and other petroleum products have risen to record-high levels. The NEDA officials said it is not advisable to sink more money into the failed project, adding that building a new and updated nuclear power plant would end up being cheaper. "It is not a viable solution and it is less costly to just put up a new gas-fired facility rather than convert this nuclear power plant," the officials said. But despite these misgivings, Finance Secretary Juanita D. Amatong said the BNPP issue will be taken up in several economic meetings, including the next Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council discussion on nuclear power. "We need to resolve this issue soon because we are spending too much (on maintaining the BNPP)," Amatong said, adding that interest payments have piled up without the benefit of additional power supply. Amatong declined to disclose how much the National Government pays for the BNPP, merely indicating that the latest expenses paid was "substantial". Legislators earlier estimated that the government would have to spend at least P7.5 billion more to maintain the de-commissioned nuclear power plant, after paying P67 billion for its construction 18 years ago. A report made by Albay Rep. Joey Salceda noted that the country has already sunk in a total of P364 billion for BNPP since 1986. NEDA director general Romulo Neri, on the other hand, said government resources would be better spent on the Malampaya gas field to boost the country’s natural gas resources. "Given the volatility in the Middle East, it would be good for us to develop natural gas," he said. "We’re not expecting oil prices to get better because all these political noise aside, there is also an increase in demand from China and India whose economies are exploding." The government projected that by 2005, natural gas-powered buses would ply the major routes of Metro Manila. By 2010 about 60 percent of buses in Metro Manila would be running on natural gas. The Asian Development Bank earlier estimated that the Philippines needs an additional 6,000 megawatts of power generating capacity in the next 10 years and P400 billion to build new power plants. President Arroyo has set a target of at least 60 percent self-sufficiency in energy for the Philippines by 2010 through her energy independence and savings package – the last in her administration’s five-point reform agenda. Copyright© Philstar.com, Inc. All Rights reserved ***************************************************************** 31 Hudson Valley News: NRC confirms nuclear plants' operational preparedness Weekend, August 14-15, 2004 Copyright © 2004 Mid-Hudson News Network, a division of Statewide News Network, Inc. The Department of Energy has issued a follow up report on actions taken to reduce blackout risk following the August 14, 2003 electric grid outage. As part of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's response to the outage, the NRC inspected all 103 operational nuclear power plans to assess the licensees' procedures and protocols for evaluating the reliability of offsite power and the use of that information to adjust plant activities accordingly. During last year's blackout, affected nuclear plants -- including Indian Point in Buchanan -- responded as designed to grid conditions and shut down safely. These plants did not cause the blackout nor contribute to its spread, the NRC said. "Based on our inspections to assure compliance with NRC regulations, assessment of licensee responses, and assessments completed to date of the result of the audits conducted by the North American Electric Reliability Council, the NRC believes that effective actions are being taken to enhance the availability of offsite power for safe nuclear power plant operation," said NRC Chairman Nils Diaz, a member of the joint US/Canadian task force established to investigate the causes of the blackout and ways to reduce the possibility of future outages. ***************************************************************** 32 IAEA: Japanese Authorities Inform IAEA About Accident at Nuclear Plant + [IAEA.ORG :: Atoms for Peace] Press Release 2004/07 [updated] 10 August 2004 | The IAEA today received information from Japanese nuclear regulatory authorities about an accident in the steam generator turbine circuit of the Mihama Nuclear Power Plant (unit 3). According to the Japanese nuclear authorities this is a non-radioactive part of the plant The regulatory body has reported that four contract employees died and 7 were injured, and stated that there was no release of radioactivity. 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. More information: » Latest Press Release from the Japanese Nuclear Regulator(external site) Press Contacts Melissa Fleming Spokesperson Div. of Public Information [43-1] 2600-21275 [43] 664-325-7376 (mobile) m.fleming@iaea.org About the IAEA The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) serves as the world's foremost intergovernmental forum for scientific and technical co-operation in the peaceful use of nuclear technology. Established as an autonomous organization under the United Nations (UN) in 1957, the IAEA carries out programmes to maximize the useful contribution of nuclear technology to society while verifying its peaceful use. NOTE TO EDITORS: For additional information visit the Press Section of the IAEA's website (http://www.iaea.org/Resources/Journalists/), or call the IAEA's Division of Public Information at (431) 2600-21270. Copyright 2003-2004, International Atomic Energy Agency, P.O. Box 100, Wagramer Strasse 5, A-1400 Vienna, Austria Telephone (+431) 2600-0; Facsimilie (+431) 2600-7; E-mail: Official.Mail@iaea.org Disclaimer ***************************************************************** 33 asahi.com: Accident shelves nuclear fuel projects The Asahi Shimbun FUKUI-Two planned nuclear fuel programs have been put on the back burner in the wake of Monday's fatal accident at the Mihama Nuclear Power Plant. Fukui Governor Issei Nishikawa indicated Thursday that he will withdraw his earlier approval of the projects. ``Without the ensured safety of existing nuclear power stations, we cannot proceed to the next step,'' Nishikawa said in an interview with The Asahi Shimbun. In March, Nishikawa gave Kansai Electric Power Co. the go-ahead for mixed uranium-plutonium oxide (MOX) to be used in regular reactors at its Takahama Nuclear Power Plant. Nishikawa indicated that project, which the utility wants to start in 2007, should be shelved. Plans to remodel Monju, Japan's sole prototype fast-breeder reactor, might also be put on hold. The reactor was shut down in December 1995 when a sodium leak was discovered. Nishikawa urged Kansai Electric, the operator of the Mihama nuclear station, to place high priority on the investigation into Monday's accident, which killed four workers and injured seven. He told the company that without a thorough investigation, it would have a hard time regaining the public's trust. Company officials have traced the accident to corrosion in the secondary cooling water system. A section of corroded pipe at the plant's No. 3 reactor burst and blasted the workers with steam. There are 15 nuclear power reactors in Fukui Prefecture.(IHT/Asahi: August 14,2004) (08/14) [Copyright Asahi Shimbun. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 34 asahi.com: KEPCO to suspend all nuclear reactors The Asahi Shimbun OSAKA-Kansai Electric Power Co. (KEPCO) said Friday it will suspend operations at its nuclear reactors for safety checks, while the company president said he would not step down for Japan's deadliest accident at a nuclear facility. The company told Fukui Governor Issei Nishikawa that all reactors will be shut down in three stages to check pipes for corrosion. Output was reduced Friday at three nuclear reactors. Osaka-based Kansai Electric currently operates 11 nuclear reactors, all of which are in Fukui Prefecture. Three are in Mihama, four in Oi and four in Takahama. Eight were in operation after a pipe ruptured Monday at the No. 3 reactor in the Mihama Nuclear Power Plant. Steam from the broken pipe killed four workers and injured seven. Operations at two other reactors had been halted for a routine checkup. Reports that the ruptured pipe at the Mihama plant had not been inspected since the reactor went into operation in 1976 fueled media speculation that Kansai Electric President Yosaku Fuji would step down. However, Fuji told reporters in Osaka on Friday that he has no intention of doing so. ``I think the foremost thing is making clear the cause of the accident,'' said Fuji, also chairman of the Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan. Fukui prefectural police are seeking criminal charges against the companies involved in the deadly pipe rupture. The government's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency also began an on-site inspection to determine the cause of the accident. The agency will also question Kansai Electric employees about the company's safety measures. On Thursday, Kansai Electric revealed data indicating that the pipe section that ruptured was already worn out in 1991. The company's safety standard for pipes was established in 1990, but it was never applied to the pipe that ruptured. Kansai Electric's checks for pipe corrosion at its reactors should be completed in about two weeks if no problems are discovered, officials said. To cope with the expected summer demand for electricity, Kansai Electric will restart two thermal power stations in Ako and Aioi, both in Hyogo Prefecture. The company said it should be able to get by for the rest of the summer with the supply from the two thermal power stations. Kansai Electric decided to check the pipes in response to a request from Governor Nishikawa on Friday morning. ``I want the pipe systems examined directly,'' Nishikawa told Kansai Electric executive Ikuro Tsukuda during a meeting to discuss the Mihama accident. ``Citizens and workers at power plants cannot feel safe with only paperwork checks.''(IHT/Asahi: August 14,2004) (08/14) [Copyright Asahi Shimbun. All rights reserved. No reproduction ***************************************************************** 35 News & Star: New nuke plant idea Published on 14/08/2004 A NEW nuclear plant could be built on the site of the ageing Chapelcross power station near Annan, say atomic experts. Decommissioning work has begun at the BNFL-owned nuclear reactor and negotiations are under way to transform the site into a coal and wood-burning plant. But a feasability study has backed the case for dual-use site and Prime Minister Tony Blair recently admitted the nuclear option needed to be explored. Decommissioning manager Wayne Davies said: “Chapelcross is a 200-year-old site. “It is our belief that having this new plant would not close the nuclear option.†If the project to turn Chapelcross into renewables station is a success, other BNFL nuclear power stations could undergo a similar transformation, including Calder Hall in Cumbria. news@cumbrian-newspapers.co.ukor post it on our Forums ***************************************************************** 36 Spectrum: Nation doesn't need new nukes - Opinion - thespectrum.com Saturday, August 14, 2004 No, a thousand, million times no. No, in the name of humanity. No more nukes. The most important issue facing the nation is not whether Sen. John Kerry truly earned his Purple Hearts in Vietnam. It is not whether President Bush was a scofflaw during his tenure as a member of the Texas Air National Guard. It is not Iraq, and it is not the economy. It is an impending vote in Congress expected to come some time after Labor Day to approve two nuclear weapons studies. There's $66.5 million now on the table to research new nuclear weapons, including the so-called "Bunker Buster," and the president plans to spend $484.7 million for a five-year research program on the effectiveness of such weapons. If this is a threat by the administration to bluff Iran and North Korea, he had better get back home and learn how to better hold his poker face by playing a couple of hands of Texas Hold 'em. If there is a serious thought that unleashing even one small nuclear device would not have moral and ecological repercussions around the globe -- particularly in light of Bush's decision to reserve the right to pre-emptively strike any supposed threats to U.S. security -- this country, my friends, is about to make the biggest blunder in its long and cherished history. I mean, who shoots marbles with a bowling ball? There are two weak-sauce measures that will be proposed this congressional year -- one by Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, the other by Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, that are well-intended and would put some hurdles in the way of resumed nuclear testing. But, there hasn't been an obstacle this country hasn't overcome when it comes to developing and testing new weapons systems, especially when it has already lifted a self-imposed ban on developing smaller nuclear weapons of less than five kilotons. Since 1992, the United States has not been a party to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. It has launched a pre-emptive strike against Iraq. You can bet there are plans on the drawing board to take similar action in Iran and North Korea, whether they are ever employed or not. And, most importantly, of all the countries that have developed nuclear weapons over the years, which is the only one to ever use them? The president has also criticized Kerry for his stance against using Yucca Mountain, Nev., as a nuclear waste repository, even though science has not yet proclaimed its safety and our brightest officials cannot guarantee the security of sending the dangerous nuclear byproduct across the country by truck and rail. We already have enough nukes and a sufficient number of aircraft and missile systems to deliver them. We don't need any more. Not in the name of technological superiority, not in the name of democracy and, certainly, not in the name of humanity. Contact Ed Kociela, senior writer, at 865-4522, or via e-mail at ekociela@ thespectrum.com. Originally published Saturday, August 14, 2004 Copyright ©2004 The Spectrum. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 37 Sunday Herald: Trident base fire ignites fears over nuclear safety Major disaster averted after electrical fault in explosives warehouse By Rob Edwards, Environment Editor A LEADING nuclear expert has warned that a fire scare at the River Clydes nuclear submarine base late on Friday could have sparked a catastrophe. Four fire engines were called to the Royal Naval Armament Depot at Coulport on Loch Long after smoke was detected coming from faulty electrical equipment in the Explosives Handling Jetty at 4.28pm. The jetty is a huge floating warehouse in which nuclear warheads are detached from the missiles carried by Trident submarines. It is also where conventionally-armed torpedoes are loaded onto hunter-killer and other submarines. Earlier on Friday a Trident submarine was witnessed sailing up the Clyde towards Coulport, and so is likely to have been present when the incident occurred. In accordance with its policy, the Royal Navy refused to confirm or deny whether any submarine was present. Leading nuclear consultant John Large, who has advised governments around the world, told the Sunday Herald that a fire in the presence of conventional or nuclear bombs could cause a major disaster. The circuit breaker may have contained oil and disabled important emergency equipment, he said. He pointed out that the heat from a 135-second fire on the doomed Russian submarine, Kursk, caused seven torpedoes to self-detonate. The boat sank four years ago in the Barents Sea killing 119 submariners. Large was head of the weapons risk assessment team hired afterwards by the Russian government. A fire at the Coulport jetty could similarly cause any conventional missiles lying around to explode, he said. That would be a catastrophe for the jetty. Worse, a fire could set off the 30-50 kilograms of high explosives that are packed around the plutonium core of nuclear warheads. This would be highly unlikely to trigger a nuclear explosion but it could result in the dispersion of a huge cloud of plutonium particles into the atmosphere. This would contaminate a wide area, including Glasgow, if the wind was blowing in the right direction, Large said. It would have a very significant health impact. A spokesman for Coulport disclosed that the cause of the incident had been an overheated circuit breaker . Smoke had triggered an alarm, which brought fire engines from the Ministry of Defence and from Strathclyde Fire Brigade. It was an unfortunate incident, said the spokesman, though he stressed it was minor and that emergency procedures had all worked. The fault was rectified and the crisis over after 22 minutes. Safety is taken very seriously across the whole base and is given upfront priority, he added. Given the nature of our business we have to expect the unexpected. But anti-nuclear campaigners accused the naval base of downplaying Fridays incident. Its quite possible that we were within minutes of a major catastrophe , said Phill Jones, of the Scottish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. Most household fires start with just a small electrical fault. A fire close to a Trident submarine while it has one of its missiles raised for the swopping of nuclear warheads does not bear thinking about. He added: If the rocket fuel or the high explosive in the warheads had detonated it would have set off a terrible chain reaction scattering radioactive plutonium for miles. Four Trident submarines carry Britains 200 nuclear weapons, with at least one always being at sea. HMS Vanguard is currently being refitted at Devonport on the south coast of England. The navy declined to say anything about the location of the other three: HMS Victorious, HMS Vigilant and HMS Vengeance. It is known, however, that all the boats dock regularly at the Explosives Handling Jetty so that their warheads can be maintained. Old warheads are removed and transported to Aldermaston and Burghfield in Berkshire for the tritium essential for a thermonuclear explosion to be replaced. Radioactive decay causes tritium to become contaminated and unreliable after a few years in service. At the jetty, newly refurbished warheads are attached to the Trident missiles. This incident should remind us all that the sacred cow of Britains weapons of mass destruction puts all of us, and the environment , at a terrible risk, said Jones. The anti-nuclear movement is planning an escalating series of protests at Coulport, and at its companion base at nearby Faslane over the next two weeks. This Wednesday, protesters from Trident Ploughshares are due to set up camp at Coulport. They are promising to disrupt what they see as the Royal Navys illegal activities at Coulport and Faslane. The campaign, which will include swimming into the docks where the submarines are berthed, will culminate in a Big Blockade of Faslane on Monday, August 23. Organisers hope that hundreds will be involved, including MSPs and activists from Scotland, England, Belgium, and Finland and Sweden. 15 August 2004 © newsquest (sunday herald) limited. all rights reserved ***************************************************************** 38 GS Post Indp: Soldier's new mission is exposing risk of depleted uranium Glenwood Springs Post Independent - Valley News Ivy Vogel August 15, 2004 The children resemble fictitious, freakish figures better suited for a horror movie than ordinary life. One child's enormously bloated stomach prevents it from doing anything but lying in bed. Another child lies in its mother's arms. It's impossible to tell if the child's smiling or crying. Its mouth, which is a huge, purple, scarred, messy hole, is so disfigured it doesn't change from its permanent position: wide open. Perhaps the most disturbing picture is one of a uniformed American soldier holding his young son in his arms. The child's wrists are attached to his elbows and his legs are so bowed it looks like he was born on a horse. These pictures are just a few examples of what happens when humans are exposed to vast amounts of depleted uranium, said Dennis Kyne, a former U.S. Army sergeant. Depleted uranium, or DU, is a by-product of uranium, which is the earth's heaviest metal. During the first Gulf war, the U.S. military used DU to coat missiles fired at opposing tanks. Once DU penetrates a substance, it burns everything around it, disabling enemy weaponry and omitting deadly radioactive particles. Dennis Kyne, a sergeant and medic during the Gulf war is concerned continued DU use will effect the men and women that will return from Iraq. Kyne recently recounted his horrific experiences with DU in a speech at the Blue Acacia in Glenwood. An effective agent of war, DU is extremely deadly and is responsible for the deaths of more than 9,600 veterans of the first Gulf war, Kyne said. "I know people who came home and their skin literally melted away from their bones," Kyne said. "The military told men they had pneumonia, and two days later they'd tell their wives they died of cancer. How does that happen?" During the Gulf War, soldiers were exposed to large amounts of depleted uranium particles. Unless cleaned up by professional teams, the particles are radioactive for 4.5 billion years, Kyne said. In many cases, Kyne's soldiers were exposed to the particles for more than five days. When they came home, they suffered psychological disorders, tumors, unexplained cancers and other physical ailments the government labeled "Gulf War syndrome," Kyne said. "We started seeing sergeants picking their noses and eating their boogers," Kyne said. "You'd walk into a tent and a guy would be sucking on his big toe." After the military loosely defined Gulf War syndrome, it did little to find out why soldiers were dying, Kyne said. Capt. Doug Rokke, who was part of the DU cleanup team, blew the whistle on the use of DU and its fatal effects. The military removed him from his rank and Rokke became a schoolteacher. "People who know about it get railroaded out," Kyne said. The military, which is still using DU, doesn't want to acknowledge that it's killing its own people, Kyne said. Any scientific study on DU that doesn't support the military's agenda is brushed aside and considered invalid, Kyne said. "The army does whatever they do, and they say whatever they say without any empirical evidence," Kyne said. "The soldiers are the greatest study group in the world." In a documentary about DU, Dr. Michael Kilpatrick, deputy director of the Department of Defense's Deployment Health Support Directorate, said DU does not cause any of Gulf War Syndrome's symptoms. "It cannot hurt your body," Kilpatrick said in one clip. A moment later he said, "It has to be ingested to be harmful." The Office of the Special Assistant for Gulf War Illnesses works in conjunction with the Defense Technical Information Center. In a report issued by the Office of the Special Assistant for Gulf War Illness, a report said DU is a "heavy metal that's slightly radioactive" and as long "as it remains outside the body, it cannot harm you." Misconceptions concerning the health risks from DU radiation are over exaggerated, according to the report. "They made us feel safe," Kyne said. "Feel safe, soldier; come, walk into anything. It can't getcha." But soldiers were far from safe. Most of the soldiers ingested DU while kicking around sand covered in DU particles, Rokke said. Soldiers spread the contamination to their families by bringing war souvenirs such as duffle bags into their living rooms. Covered in particles, the souvenirs immediately infect the families, causing death in infants, retardation in younger children and infertility in parents, Kyne said. According to the Gulf War Resource Center, more than 250,000 of the 700,000 men returning from the war asked for health care for DU symptoms. Many of the men are turned away or told their symptoms are "nothing," Kyne said. Kyne has made it his mission to expose what he considers the deceit and betrayal the U.S. Army offered soldiers who risked their lives for the sake of their country. Many commercial aircraft use DU for balance, Kyne said. DU particles are found all over the United States including California and Colorado, he said. "I would have been a professional musician by choice, but this is what I have to do," Kyne said. "I'm begging for someone to prove me wrong." Contact Ivy Vogel: 945-8515, ext. 534 ivogel@postindependent.com All contents © Copyright 2004 postindependent.com Glenwood Springs Post Independent - 2014 Grand Avenue - Glenwood Springs, CO 81601-4162 ***************************************************************** 39 Union Leader Commentary: Nuclear fallout in Nevada and New Hampshire Sunday News - 16-Aug-04 - The online edition of New Hampshire's daily newspaper Columns - August 14, 2004 By ROBERT KOEHLER Guest Commentary “WE ARE NOT disposable. We matter. Yes. We matter.” This is what I wonder. As Karen Evans’ statement hung in the air of the Salt Lake City Public Library during a recent hearing of the Board on Radiation Effects Research, did the panel members return the woman’s eye contact, or did they look down at their notes? This story begins in the 1950s, that time of bliss, ignorance and mushroom clouds. Between 1951 and 1962, the United States set off more than 100 open-air nuclear explosions at the Nevada Test Site — and Americans sat in folding chairs in their back yards and watched. If they were downwind, they got cancer, but that came later. Freeze-frame the ‘50s for a moment, before all the uterine myoma and myeloma and leukemia and thyroid cancer and liver cancer — before all the doubt — and simply savor, once more, the view. The nation-state was at its historic zenith, entertaining us with the mightiest display of military force ever seen. Patriotism required little more than a low whistle of awe. Behold the nation’s greatness. Now collapse that moment into Salt Lake’s public library 50 years later and listen to the voices of the “downwinders,” as they call themselves, courageously displaying a brand of patriotism oft-belittled in that earlier time. They were standing up to the government that birthed The Bomb, demanding not merely reasonable compensation for their myriad radiation-related illnesses, for lost parents, lost children, but, good Lord, accountability. Acknowledge what you have done to us, they cried. It turns out that’s asking too much — unless you hail from one of a handful of counties in Utah, Arizona or Nevada. If you lived in the right place during the testing era (underground tests continued until 1992) and you’re dying of a demonstrable fallout-related illness, you’re entitled to some money, under the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act. That act, passed in 1990, ended four long decades of government stonewalling. Till then, its spokesmen denied that nuclear testing had ever harmed anyone — a shameful legacy of deceit. The act was mostly damage control, limiting compensation, arbitrarily, to 21 counties near the Test Site. The Utah hearings, which featured wrenching testimony from numerous downwinders outside those counties, including U.S. Rep. Jim Matheson (whose father, former Utah governor Scott Matheson, died of suspected fallout-related cancer in 1990, at age 61), may result in RECA’s expansion. Or not. We’ll see. A report to Congress is due next June, but recommendations are almost certain to ignore the direst testimony — that because of the way the jet stream carried radioactive fallout in testing’s glory days, virtually the entire country was a hot zone. Some counties in Kansas, Iowa — even New York — harvested more iodine-131 and other radioactive fallout than many of the Western states. Talk about your can of worms! So far, RECA payouts have totaled something over $700 million to radiation victims and their families. Imagine if the government extended its liability beyond 21 counties to 48 states. Our spending to ease radiation-related human suffering would begin to rival the money we’ve squandered — in excess of $6 trillion — causing it. This has to be said. The nuclear turn our country took was an unmitigated mistake: not only a health disaster but also a values disaster. It reduced the individual to nothing. For instance, Matheson drew gasps at the hearing when he read from an old declassified Atomic Energy Commission report characterizing the soon-to-be-contaminated downwinders as “a low use segment of the population.” But the expendable people, as they grow ill, as their understanding of the meaning of patriotism changes, are standing up and demanding to be heard. Theirs are the most passionate voices being raised against the greatest horror of all: not what happened yesterday, but what’s happening today and being planned for tomorrow. The Bush administration has, for instance, appropriated $25 million to upgrade the Nevada Test Site, and has requested $96 million to study so-called “low-yield” nukes and earth-penetrating “bunker busters” — the next generation of nukes. These are weapons that would actually be usable and which, according to researcher Richard Miller, may necessitate a revival of above-ground nuclear testing. Over our dead bodies, say the ones who have already lived the consequences of our world-domination complex. Robert Koehler is an editor at Tribune Media Services and nationally syndicated writer. You can respond to this column at bkoehler@tribune.com Email This Page | Return to Opinion | Print This Page The information on this site is copyrighted and cannot be reused without the permission of The Union Leader. Site map · Online advertisers · Copyright © 2004 · Privacy ***************************************************************** 40 Guardian Unlimited: Comment | Be afraid, be very afraid Be afraid, be very afraid Cold war nostalgists are stoking fear because, to them, life without dread of imminent apocalypse is no life at all John Harris Monday August 16, 2004 The Guardian Bruce George, the Labour MP and outgoing president of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe Parliamentary Assembly, addressed its annual session in Edinburgh last month. Terrorism, inevitably, was on his mind. "The cold war was dangerous because one bomb could have finished off Scotland," he said, "but it was an unrealistic threat because both sides were intimidated by each other into not using those weapons. You could rely on the Americans and Soviets being rational, but you cannot rely on these super terrorists negotiating or having any legitimate values. Their aim is to control the world, and that is not a negotiating position." He seemed to be claiming that all those postwar nuclear nightmares were misplaced, and such trifles as the Cuban missile crisis and President Reagan's imagined limited nuclear war in Europe had probably been nothing to worry about - but now that al-Qaida was here, we had genuine reason to be scared out of our wits. One could even discern a backhanded glee: at last, proper enemies. If George was attempting to differentiate between the nuclear fears of yore and alarm about al-Qaida, his words served to imply a strange kind of continuity. "Their aim is to control the world" - in the minds of the more hot-headed cold warriors, wasn't that exactly what the Soviets were plotting? The speech was another example of this summer's most fashionable manoeuvre: the rolling-out of age-old archetypes by cold war nostalgists who are convinced that a life without fear of imminent apocalypse is no life at all. Once we marvelled at Protect and Survive; now, the postman delivers Preparing for Emergencies, an instruction manual with much the same emphasis on tinned food, quick thinking and proximity to a radio. Lest anyone be unsure of the kind of "emergency" the authorities have in mind, this autumn the BBC will screen Dirty War, a drama focused on a terrorist assault in London using "a crude conventional bomb packed with radioactive waste". Nearly 20 years have passed since the screening of Threads, the BBC production in which missiles rained down on the UK and the country began a descent into social breakdown, starvation and disease. Now the generation lucky enough to grow up free from apocalyptic dread have their own fear-stoking equivalent. During the cold war, fear was largely manifested passively: aside from bulk buys of beans and CND membership, there wasn't much you could do to avoid the possible launch of Russian missiles. However, this new alleged threat leaves room for the kind of precautionary action that soon turns futile. Trains seem safer than planes, until Madrid's commuter lines become a target. You quit using the tube, only to hear about a plot to attack London buses. Often, the government seems no less confused. And that's the nature of this soup of amorphous, conjectural anxiety. Who exactly are we fretting about? "Individuals and groups, whether British nationals or not," reckons Mr Blunkett. What do they want? Sweeping political change in the Middle East, say some; nothing less than global dominion, claim others. And the means of dealing with them? According to a recent speech given to a Police Federation conference, it's all a matter of "policing the unknown". Pardon? If all that suggests a comical kind of bafflement, our more illiberal politicians have been gifted with a context even more empowering than the one provided by communist missiles. If we've no idea of the exact nature of the supposed threats - to London's airports one week, a Manchester United game the next; ricin today, a shoulder-launched rocket tomorrow - then the suggested panaceas will not only extend into the distance, but also stand a good chance of being meekly accepted. As US congressman Jim McDermott says in Fahrenheit 9/11: "You can make people do anything if they're afraid." Voices at the centre confidently advocate a future of identity cards, endless surveillance and obligatory assimilation. The shadowy cadres on the fringes, meanwhile, gleefully make the most of multiculturalism creaking under the weight of it all. The strange thing is, the UK has lived with an ongoing terrorist menace before: a drilled, passionate army of gunmen and explosives experts with a talent for carnage and destabilisation. For almost two decades, however, disquiet about the IRA failed to turn apocalyptic: along with the old-fashioned British talent for getting on with one's life, the distractions of the cold war presumably had a lot to do with it. Still, as Mr George says, they were mere terrorists; our new adversaries are super terrorists. But what to do about them? "The dilemma for the government," he concluded in Edinburgh, "is to take the issue seriously without being excessively alarmist. If they go too far, they will create paranoia... but people have to know what the threat is. And it is high." It amounts to what might be termed the Crimewatch option. Be scared, by all means. But please - don't have nightmares. · John Harris is author of The Last Party: Britpop, Blair and the Demise of English Rock johnrhysharris@hotmail.com [UP] Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004 ***************************************************************** 41 Las Vegas RJ: STEVE SEBELIUS: What's with the clapping? Sunday, August 15, 2004 So President Bush is going to allow the anti-Yucca Mountain lawsuit to go forward? Thank God. Otherwise it would have ... gone forward anyway! The president has no more power to stop that lawsuit than he does to compel the sun to rise in the west and set in the east. But when Bush uttered his non-concession concession on Thursday, the crowd that had gathered to see him at the Carpenters Union International Training Facility applauded. Bush said, after all, that he listened to his scientific advisers make the case for Yucca, and when they were done, he made his decision based on that science, just as he'd promised. (More applause from the crowd.) What about poor Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn, who came to the Oval Office with other Nevada representatives to point out all the science that said Yucca was a bad idea? Or the science that wasn't finished yet? He had to at least know there was a dispute about the scientific merits of Yucca Mountain. And what about the common-sense notion that it's easier to keep nuclear waste secure at various plants around the country than to give dirty bombers thousands of moving targets? We're sorry. Couldn't hear you. Applause was too loud. While we're waiting for the clapping to die down, let's address one political point: Bush simply could not have avoided talking about Yucca Mountain, because his opponent, John Kerry, had just spent two days here chatting about it. Kerry promised to veto any attempt to lower radiation standards. He also vowed to kill the project outright and to fund a new "Manhattan Project" to deal with the waste question. Sounds good. In fact, even Sen. John Ensign says Kerry is better for Nevada than Bush -- on that one, narrow issue. Wait, the applause is dying down a bit. Let's hear what else the president has to say. "Now my opponent decided to turn Yucca Mountain into a political poker chip," the president says, sending a chuckle rippling through the crowd. "He says he's strongly against Yucca here in Nevada, but he voted for it several times. My point to you is that if they're going to change one day, they may change again." And the crowd is clapping madly once more. That darn John Kerry. He's such a flip-flopper. Or is he? Kerry has cast some procedural votes that advanced Yucca. But The Associated Press points out that, "Each time Kerry has faced the simple choice of voting whether or not to send waste to Yucca Mountain, he has voted against it." He did vote for the infamous "Screw Nevada" bill in 1987, a vote he now says was simply in favor of studying the Yucca site, the results of which didn't turn out so well. Here's Bush again, whipping the crowd into a frenzy: "I think we need some straight talk on this issue!" he says. And the crowd gives him a standing ovation! Wait a second. When Bush had his turn to give Nevada some "straight talk," he signed the bill that put Yucca Mountain on the fast track! Was that the "straight talk"? Besides, we already heard some straight talk last week, from Kerry: "Not on my watch." Fortunately for Nevada, the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in July that the current radiation safety standard for 10,000 years is inadequate; some of the waste will still be hazardous for 300,000 years or more. The ruling may end the dump before Kerry gets his chance. Thank God that President Bush has allowed that court case to go forward. Steve Sebelius is a Review-Journal political columnist. His column runs Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. Reach him at 383-0283 or by e-mail at ssebelius@reviewjournal.com. Copyright Las Vegas Review-Journal ***************************************************************** 42 Las Vegas RJ: EDITORIAL: 'They may change again' Sunday, August 15, 2004 Speaking in Las Vegas on Thursday, President Bush insisted he made his decision to approve the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump "based on science." "We need to keep facts, not politics, at the center of debate," the president said. Though if Nevada had more votes than the states with nuclear waste piling up, of course, there wouldn't be any debate. But Mr. Bush was most cogent when he warned, "Now my opponent decided to turn Yucca Mountain into a political poker chip. He says he's strongly against Yucca here in Nevada, but he voted for it several times. É My point to you is that if they're going to change one day, they may change again." Indeed. Challenger John Kerry changes course more often than a skiff fighting a headwind back up the Vineyard Sound. While his recent words on Yucca Mountain may have sounded sweet -- once he figured out how to pronounce the proposed dump site -- a politician's constancy must be judged based on his past performance. Copyright Las Vegas Review-Journal ***************************************************************** 43 Las Vegas RJ: WEEK IN REVIEW: Bush, Kerry use stump speeches to discuss Yucca Mountain Sunday, August 15, 2004 Illustration by David Stroud. Yucca Mountain figured prominently in speeches the two major presidential candidates delivered in Las Vegas last week. John Kerry, in particular, made opposition to the proposed nuclear waste repository seem the very cornerstone of his candidacy. During his 36-hour visit, he called for the Bush administration to halt the licensing process for the repository, located 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas. Kerry said he would establish a blue-ribbon panel of experts to recommend how to best store and dispose of the nation's nuclear waste. He pledged that, if he is elected, "there's going to be no nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain." On Thursday, President Bush stood by his decision to locate a repository at Yucca Mountain. He said the issue has been developing over the years and mentioned the 1987 congressional vote to exclusively study Yucca Mountain as a potential repository. Implied, but not spoken, was Kerry's vote in support of that bill. The president addressed Democrats' accusation that he violated his pledge during the 2000 campaign that any decision on Yucca Mountain would be guided by "sound science." "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 said. Bush and Kerry are locked in a tight race nationwide, but the outcome in many states is foreordained. So the candidates are focusing their energies on states where the outcome remains in question. Nevada is one of those states. A July opinion poll conducted for the Review-Journal and reviewjournal.com found Bush leading Kerry by 3 percentage points. That was within the margin of error, and the momentum was Kerry's, having narrowed a lead that once stood at 11 percentage points. Of those polled statewide in July, 57 percent said Yucca Mountain would have no influence on their vote and 6 percent said it would make them more likely to back Bush. Copyright Las Vegas Review-Journal ***************************************************************** 44 Las Vegas SUN: Letter: A vote for Bush is a vote for waste August 13, 2004 I would implore Gov. Kenny Guinn and Sen. John Ensign to encourage all Nevadans not to vote for President Bush. If our elected officials are truly looking out for the citizens of this state, then they most certainly would not want nuclear waste being shipped here. Gov. Guinn and Sen. Ensign are Republicans, but they should show some courage and oppose President Bush for the benefit of Nevada. Any Nevadan voting for Bush is voting for nuclear waste. If they can live with it and all the danger, well, so be it. But Republican voters and state Republican officials should ask themselves: Because you belong to a certain party, are you going to vote for somebody who will hurt your state? CLEM SIENKIEWICH ***************************************************************** 45 Las Vegas SUN: Columnist Jon Ralston: Yucca teases and heartaches August 13, 2004 Columnist Jon Ralston: Yucca teases and heartaches Jon Ralston hosts the news discussion program Face to Face on Las Vegas ONE and publishes the Ralston Report. He can be reached at (702) 870-7997 or at ralston@vegas.com. WEEKEND EDITION August 14 - 15, 2004 Like a wallflower magically transformed into the belle of the ball, Nevada has been invited onto the presidential dance floor for the first time. And as two suitors waltzed with the state last week, the Democrats took John Kerry by the hand and showed they knew how to lead, while the Republicans swooned before the president and demonstrated they were willing to fall into his arms again. A political phenomenon as rare as Halley's comet is occurring here. And whether or not Yucca Mountain matters in your vote for president, the performances of the White House hopefuls and the local pols is telling. Two decades of nuclear waste dump politics have been reversed -- instead of being impotent, the state now has immense power as both candidates cannot afford, as so many have done, to ignore this puny state and its five electoral votes. The facts are ineluctable, no matter how each side tries to spin it. Bush returned last week with the confidence of a political Lothario who had his way with the state in 2000. He had a one-election stand by promising he would consider the dump's science. After getting what all presidential candidates want -- the state's electoral votes -- Bush developed amnesia about that pledge. Kerry arrived in Nevada last week with his inconstancy exposed and was forced to explain why anyone should believe his willingness to be faithful now. Pressed by the state's Democrats, Kerry was more specific than any president or presidential candidate has ever been in committing to Nevada -- he insisted the dump will not happen on his watch, that he will veto any attempt to change radiation standards and he will not allow the project to be submitted for licensing. That's a pretty ironclad pre-nup, if you ask me. The difference between the Democrats and the Republicans here is significant, too. The Democrats have been disingenuous and foolish; the Republicans have been craven and criminally negligent. You cannot paper over Kerry's record on the dump. The Democrats tried to portray their man as the state's greatest friend on this issue; then when confronted with his mixed record, they spun themselves into a frenzy. Here are the facts: Kerry is a senator from the Northeast who, like his regional colleagues, needed a solution to the nuclear waste problem for parochial reasons and fully supported getting the waste to Yucca Mountain starting in 1987. Despite expressed reservations, when the final votes came for narrowing the sites from three to one, Kerry voted to do so. The Democrats here tried to say it wasn't significant, but even Kerry acknowledged last week that it was a substantive vote. Kerry and the locals continue to be dishonest when they label his subsequent votes -- until he joined Sen. Harry Reid in 2000 and 2002 as a Yucca opponent -- as merely procedural. They were not, including 1996 and 1997 votes with prime dump proponent Frank Murkowski, the GOP energy chairman, to kill Nevada delegation attempts to determine how radiation standards would be set and to empower governors with waste routes to bar shipments from their states. And through 1999, Kerry continued to write letters with his pals from the Northeast urging Murkowski and Congress to move forward with Yucca Mountain. Kerry finally acknowledged last week that he was for the dump until more and more scientific evidence came in and he decided to side with the state. That is at least defensible and credible, whether or not his real motivation was, after the battle was lost, to side with Reid for partisan reasons. As for Bush, the only thing more incredible than his patronizing attitude toward Nevada is the cathouse full of Republican leaders here who continue to give it away for free. With the political calculus all in their favor, what concession did Gov. Kenny Guinn, Attorney General Brian Sandoval and the GOP delegation members extract from the president to continue to support his candidacy here? "Well, I appreciate your opinion," the president said he told the Nevada folks, metaphorically patting them on the heads, "but I'll tell you what I will do. I will allow this process to be appealed to the courts and to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. And I will stand by the decision of the courts and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission." Allow it to be appealed? This is what the state's Republicans are proud they got Bush to say -- that the president will follow the law and the Constitution. Halleleujah! And people want to impeach GOP Controller Kathy Augustine for pressuring employees to work on her campaign? If ever there were an impeachable offense, this malfeasance of duty by the state's Republican guard is it. Let that be their legacy -- that they, to use the president's verbiage, allowed it to happen. But no one ever seems to pay any penalty, except perhaps Nevada voters, who have endured a plague of rhetoric and promises from our politicians on Yucca Mountain. Here's what should happen: If the Republicans cannot wring any significant concessions from the president before the election, they should agree to forfeit their offices. And if Kerry wins and then doesn't halt the project, the Democratic leaders here should resign. After years of Nevadans being courted and trifled with, that kind of personal responsibility and commitment is a consummation devoutly to be wished. ***************************************************************** 46 Las Vegas SUN: Editorial: Don't mess with ... Nevada Return to the referring page. ----------------------------------------------------------------- August 13, 2004 Editorial: Don't mess with ... Nevada LAS VEGAS SUN WEEKEND EDITION August 14 - 15, 2004 On Thursday President Bush campaigned in Las Vegas for two hours, close on the heels of a nearly two-day stay here earlier in the week by Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry. Bush had a tough act to follow, because Kerry reaffirmed his previous commitment to stopping a nuclear waste dump from being built in Nevada if he is elected president. Bush also was on the defensive because Kerry reminded Las Vegans that in 2002 he voted against the Bush plan to bury 77,000 tons of high-level nuclear waste at Nevada's Yucca Mountain, a plan that Congress ultimately approved. Bush obviously had a lot to address on Yucca Mountain, the most critical issue confronting our state. "This is a vital question, and we need to keep facts, not politics, at the center of the debate," Bush said. One of the most important facts is that Bush, during the 2000 presidential campaign, issued a statement saying he would use sound science, not politics, to decide whether to build a nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain. But even though there were nearly 300 unanswered scientific questions about the project, Bush still went ahead with his plan to bury man's deadliest waste in this state. It's clear that he broke his word to Nevadans and that he is the one playing politics with Yucca Mountain. But the president, in an effort to deflect attention away from the reality that in 2000 he misled the residents of this state, tried to paint Kerry as the untrustworthy one on this issue. That's right, the same John Kerry who voted against Bush's nuclear waste burial plan apparently is the candidate we should be worried about. Bush said that Kerry hadn't always voted against the Yucca Mountain project. But, as Nevada's Democratic Sen. Harry Reid has pointed out, Kerry always has been there for Nevadans when we needed him. On important votes involving Yucca Mountain, Kerry has sided with Nevadans. Besides his key 2002 vote against Bush's Yucca Mountain plan, in 2000 Kerry voted to sustain President Clinton's veto of legislation that would have made it easier to send nuclear waste to Nevada. Kerry has explained that as time has passed he learned more about the dangers of the Yucca Mountain project, which has made him a steadfast opponent. It also was interesting on Thursday how Bush portrayed himself as listening to the concerns about the project raised by the state's top Republicans -- Gov. Kenny Guinn, Sen. John Ensign and Attorney General Brian Sandoval. "They made themselves very clear," Bush said. "And I said, well, I appreciate your opinion, but I will -- I'll tell you what I'll do. I will allow this process to be appealed to the courts and to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and I will stand by the decision of the courts and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission." Bush "will allow" an appeal through the courts? Does he think he is king, not president? And it's not as if he could tell the Nuclear Regulatory Commission not to review the project, either. The law already says that the commission will decide the dump's fate when it reviews the Energy Department's application. It's also troubling that the Republican governor and the GOP members of the congressional delegation are, as they put it, willing to "agree to disagree" with the president over Yucca Mountain. As if Yucca Mountain is just like any other issue. It also is disingenuous for these Republicans to suggest that Kerry, if elected, couldn't be counted on regarding Yucca Mountain. They know better, which is why it's so pathetic to see them making excuses for Bush. What is becoming more apparent as the campaign gets closer to Election Day is that Kerry understands and shares the concerns of Nevadans regarding Yucca Mountain. The opposite is true of Bush, whose arrogance on this issue could cost him this state's votes in November. And, if the election is as close as the 2000 election, it could cost him the White House also. ***************************************************************** 47 Las Vegas SUN: Letter: Leaving nuclear waste in place is safest strategy LAS VEGAS SUN WEEKEND EDITION August 14 - 15, 2004 In his letter of Aug. 10, Charles Lanzrath asked Kerry supporters to explain to him where high-level nuclear waste would go if not Yucca Mountain. I'd like to inform Mr. Lanzrath that John Kerry would leave it where it is, for many reasons. At the top of the list is the fact that Yucca Mountain is not a suitable place for something as deadly as nuclear waste. Earthquake fault lines, volcanic activity in the area and a water table that could be contaminated should the canisters leak over time are some of the reasons why burying nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain would be dangerous. Add to that list the dangers of transportation -- moving the waste across the country by truck, rail or barge in this age of terrorism is crazy. The on-site storage facilities currently in use are by far the safest way to keep nuclear waste out of harm's way. Sometime in the future there probably will be a safe way to dispose of the waste, but until then the best way to keep it secure is to keep it where it's at. I hope this answers Mr. Lanzrath's question, and I hope he now will vote for John Kerry. I know I will. LESLIE FARRIS ***************************************************************** 48 RGJ: Kerry, like Bush, gets quick lesson on how to say ‘Nevada’ RGJ.com ’ Don CoxRENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL 8/14/2004 12:14 am The man who is president, George W. Bush, learned his lesson and so, apparently, has John Kerry, the man who wants to be. It’s “Ne-va-da,” not “Nev-ah-da.” The man who knows the difference — state archivist Guy Rocha, a nonpartisan stickler for correct pronunciation of Nevada — cringed after Kerry got it wrong this week, just as he cringed last year when Bush screwed it up. “It’s not about politics,” Rocha, whose office is in Carson City, said Friday. “All it came down to was how to pronounce the name of this state. That’s all it came down to.” It sounds simple. But, for the president and his chief rival, it wasn’t. Kerry got a bad review for repeatedly saying “Nev-ah-da” during a speech in Las Vegas on Tuesday. The next day, he was saying “Ne-va-da.” The Massachusetts senator also said he would stop nuclear waste from being shipped to a repository at Yucca Mountain, which he pronounced as “YOO-kah” instead of the preferred “YUK-ah.” Rocha, watching television, noticed. “I saw him on Tuesday, he got it wrong,” Rocha said. “By Wednesday, I saw him in a meeting, it was ‘Ne-va-da.’ During the course of the time he was here, there was enough stuff that by Wednesday he was getting it right.” Rocha, an expert on Nevada’s traditions and quirks, was criticized nationally after he responded to questions about Bush calling the state “Nev-ah-da” in a Las Vegas speech in November. When Bush visited Reno in June, he said “Ne-va-da.” Rocha noticed. “It’s interesting, with all the flap about not getting it right and coming to Reno and getting it right,” Rocha said. A lot of people get it wrong, not just presidents and presidential candidates. When the University of Nevada men’s basketball team won two games in this year’s NCAA tournament, the state’s name got national attention. “I saw people correcting people (on television) during the NCAA basketball,” Rocha said. “When people were mispronouncing it, people were correcting them.” When Kerry came to Nevada, aides advised him. “We say it a million times,” said Sean Smith, Kerry’s spokesman in Nevada. “It seems to be a New England or Southern kind of dialect. They can’t spit out ‘Ne-va-da.’ ” Kerry is from Massachusetts. Bush is from Texas, but attended Yale University in Connecticut. “You grow up thinking it’s ‘Nev-ah-da,’ like most Southerners do,” said Chris Carr, executive director of the Republican Party in Nevada, a native of Louisiana who learned to say “Ne-va-da” on an airplane flight from his home to Las Vegas several years ago. Rocha hopes presidential candidates will do the same. “When you come to a given place, your aides and advance people need to know how those people refer to themselves,” Rocha said. “In ‘Ne-va-da,’ you don’t call it ‘Nev-ah-da.’ ” © Copyright Reno Gazette-Journal, a Gannett ***************************************************************** 49 TheSunLink.com: EPA plans tests for old Kingston Nike site Sunday, Aug 15 RADIATION By Christopher Dunagan, Sun Staff As a result of last-minute concerns from local residents, officials with the Environmental Protection Agency will conduct new tests to check for radiation at the old Kingston Nike site, where a new high school is proposed. "We thought we were done, but we will go further," said Denise Baker, site manager for EPA. The EPA recently completed analysis of chemicals in soil, groundwater and drinking water without finding significant contamination that required cleanup. State and federal health officials are still conducting a health assessment to evaluate potential risks for students who will attend school there. About the time Baker announced the chemical findings, some residents raised questions about radioactive contamination that might have come from nuclear warheads. Baker said she placed numerous calls to officials in the Department of Defense but has been unable to learn whether nuclear warheads were ever stored on the site. Because of classified information, she said she might never be able to find out. Instead of pushing for federal records, she has called for radiological experts to take a look at the site. Experts will go over the property with radiation detectors and test area drinking water for radiation, she said. A meeting is scheduled for Tuesday among various state and federal experts, as well as consultants, to determine how to proceed. Baker hopes to have results by the time the health assessment is completed in early or mid-October. Mike Brennan, a radiation specialist with the state Department of Health, said he won't have a specific plan until next week, but he'll probably sweep over portions of the site with a Micro-R meter, which is sensitive enough to pick up background radiation as well as levels above background. Knowing what he does about ballistic missiles, Brennan said it is unlikely that he'll find any radiation. "They didn't have radioactive material outside the warhead," he said. The only other possible source of nuclear material would be old-fashioned vacuum tubes used in electronic equipment, which probably were removed when the missile facility was dismantled. Robin Shoemaker, capital programs director for North Kitsap School District, said predicting how much site work can be done this fall is getting difficult, considering that the county still needs to approve a conditional use permit for the project. A hearing is scheduled before the Kitsap County commissioners Aug. 23. Shoemaker said the "overall goal" remains to open the school in fall 2006, but the schedule is growing so tight that there is almost no room for further delays. 2004© The SUN, 545 5th St., PO Box 259, Bremerton, WA 98337, Toll-free 1-888-377-3711, webmaster@thesunlink.com ***************************************************************** 50 Nevada Appeal: Sound science should not be a sound bite Opinion August 15, 2004 President George W. Bush visited the Silver State this week, and didn't back down on his decision to create a nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain. "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 a crowd of supporters in Las Vegas. But this rhetoric sounds suspiciously like that used about weapons of mass destruction in the run-up to war in Iraq. Investigations on this subject show that evidence contradicting the evidence of weapons was ignored as the Bush Administration built its case for war. The same could be said about Yucca Mountain. Despite the "sound science" pledge, opponents of Yucca Mountain have shown numerous instances where scientific information was ignored, and policies and procedures changed to move the Yucca Mountain project forward. Instead of looking to see if there were problems, the Department of Energy weeded out contradictory information in its recommendation to Bush. Of course, this is election season, and the rhetoric is flying fast and furious over this issue. Bush made his statements yesterday to show that he made the right decision, while challenger John Kerry has voted on both sides of the issue. The danger exists for Yucca Mountain to be turned into a political football, and no matter which sides wins, the science could very well be ignored. And when you are talking about handling the most dangerous material on the planet, we need to pay attention to the people who know the most about this waste. It's time for sound science to become a standard for determining the fate of nuclear waste in this country, not just a sound bite. All contents © Copyright 2004 nevadaappeal.com Nevada Appeal - ***************************************************************** 51 Lowell Sun: Don't drink the tap water, Tewksbury residents told Article Last Updated: Saturday, August 14, 2004 - By MATT MURPHY, Sun Staff TEWKSBURY Some Tewksbury residents are being warned not to drink water from their faucets after a potentially harmful chemical was detected earlier this month in the town's water supply. Tewksbury Water Treatment Plant Chief Operating Engineer Lewis Zediana said yesterday the town detected trace amounts of the chemical perchlorate Aug. 3 while performing routine quarterly tests on the water supply. Although the low levels of the chemical do not pose an immediate risk to the general population, Zediana and Town Manager David Cressman said they wanted to make sure the town did everything possible to inform the public. "We didn't need to do this at this time. We are doing this voluntarily," Cressman said. "We wanted to take the proactive step at this point in time to notify those populations of this information." Zediana said initial water tests revealed 1.12 parts per billion of perchlorate, a chemical compound used in products such as rocket fuel, explosives, fireworks and fertilizer. As required by the state's Department of Environmental Protection, Zediana said the Water Department immediately performed a second round of testing that showed perchlorate levels to be 1.84 parts per billion. Westford's water supply was similarly contaminated with perchlorate in July, though the levels were nearly two-thirds higher. While contamination in Westford was confined to several town wells, Zediana said Tewksbury has identified the Merrimack River as the source of contamination. If the Merrimack River is contaminated with perchlorate, every town that draws water from the river could face similar contamination, though Zediana said he has been in touch with those towns and the problem is confined to Tewksbury for now. While there is no federal or state drinking water standard for perchlorate, the DEP has set one part per billion as a safety guideline for sensitive subpopulations. Perchlorate may adversely affect the thyroid gland, and pregnant women, infants, children up to age 12 and individuals with hypothyroidism are being advised not to drink town water or anything made with town water such as ice, juice or baby formula. Zediana said there is no cause for alarm among the general population, and even those with potential risk can still take showers or bathe in the water. According to the DEP, the general population is at risk only if perchlorate levels exceed 18 parts per billion. Fortunately that is not the case in Tewksbury, Zediana said. For the next seven days, Zediana said the water department will be taking water samples and sending them to a certified laboratory for analysis. He said he will be in constant communication with the DEP and will issue another full report to the public by Monday, Aug. 23. "The water drawn from the Merrimack is treated but we are seeing some but not total removal (of perchlorate)," Zediana said. "This is a totally new compound that we are being required to monitor." Through the weekend, Water Department officials will be manning phone lines to answer questions the public might have and will broadcast a notice of this information on cable television at 9 this morning. If you have any questions you are encouraged to call 978-858-0345 or e-mail Zediana at Matt Murphy's e-mail address is © 1999-2004 MediaNews Group, Inc. ***************************************************************** 52 Carlsbad Current-Argus: WIPP contractor pursues new projects Updated: August 15, 2004 - 02:17:59 www.currentargus.com By Victoria Parker-Stevens/ Current-Argus Staff Writer CARLSBAD — As the last container was built for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, workers at a local manufacturer looked to the next big project — and one was there. The Engineered Products Department built TRUPACT-IIs, the large shipping containers seen on WIPP trucks. Jimmy Shipman grinds parts Wednesday at Engineered Products Department's industrial park facility./ Victoria Parker-Stevens/ Current-Argus As the end of the contract period loomed, there were worries about the company’s future in Carlsbad. After all, a number of WIPP contractors had downsized early this year, including the largest, Washington TRU Solutions, which eliminated 45 positions. EPD had a smaller voluntary workforce reduction and the cooperation of flexible employees, said Mike McNamara, new general manager of Washington Group International’s Government Technical Services Division, of which EPD is the largest part. EPD’s workforce is currently at around 130 people — a level similar to a few years ago. “We needed a new core product,” said McNamara, who is spending a lot of time in Carlsbad as acting EPD plant manager. Enter a $4 million contract to build a different type of nuclear waste container. Awarded a couple of months before the last TRUPACT was completed in June, the contract is for an initial 900 silo containers for Fluor Fernald Inc. The containers will be used to transport sludge from silos at the Fernald ners for Fluor Fernald Inc. By Victoria Parker-Stevens Current-Argus Staff Writer CARLSBAD — As the last container was built for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, workers at a local manufacturer looked to the next big project — and one was there. The Engineered Products Department built TRUPACT-IIs, the large shipping containers seen on WIPP trucks. As the end of the contract period loomed, there were worries about the company’s future in Carlsbad. After all, a number of WIPP contractors had downsized early this year, including the largest, Washington TRU Solutions, which eliminated 45 positions. EPD had a smaller voluntary workforce reduction and the cooperation of flexible employees, said Mike McNamara, new general manager of Washington Group International’s Government Technical Services Division, of which EPD is the largest part. EPD’s workforce is currently at around 130 people — a level similar to a few years ago. “We needed a new core product,” said McNamara, who is spending a lot of time in Carlsbad as acting EPD plant manager. Enter a $4 million contract to build a different type of nuclear waste container. Awarded a couple of months before the last TRUPACT was completed in June, the contract is for an initial 900 silo containers for Fluor Fernald Inc. The containers will be used to transport sludge from silos at the Fernald Plant in Ohio. Made of ½-inch carbon steel, each container stands more than 6 feet tall and is 76 inches in diameter. The production was split among three companies. EPD plans to produce 70 containers a week by early next year, with three shifts a day at its facility east of town along U.S. Highway 62-180, McNamara said. EPD also has a facility in the Carlsbad industrial park, which handles stainless steel work. The facilities together have a manufacturing area of more than 110,000 square feet. To prepare, EPD employees themselves have undertaken a major construction project, including tasks such as putting in cranes and painting the roof a lighter color to help day-shift workers deal with the heat. “The workforce sees that it’s an investment for the long term,” McNamara said, noting several thousand more containers could be ordered. In June, EPD was also awarded a contract from Columbia Westinghouse to manufacture stainless-steel containers for fuel assemblies, used in commercial nuclear power production. The initial order was for 35 containers, with the potential for as many as 900, McNamara said. Also this year, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers green-lighted a new EPD quality assurance program that will allow the manufacture of spent nuclear fuel prototype canisters for the Yucca Mountain project in Nevada. These projects aren’t the only ones at EPD. At any given time, work is being done on more than a dozen products, McNamara said, with contracts estimated at $16 million. While some of EPD’s work is commercial, much is under government contract and related to nuclear waste cleanup. Products include waste boxes, overpack containers, plutonium stabilization packaging and gloveboxes used for working with radioactive materials. On a smaller scale than the TRUPACTs, EPD has also manufactured a couple of other types of WIPP containers, including for remote-handled waste the federal Energy Department would like to ship to the site. Private industry can be leery of government contractors because they feel they aren’t competitive, but EPD strives to automate as much as possible to lower costs, for example, by using robotics, McNamara said. He said Carlsbad’s remote location is also not impossible to overcome, especially as EPD’s products are shipped all over the world. EPD prides itself on having the best machinists in the Southwest and a high-tech workforce with a lot of longevity, McNamara said. And, “with a large farm and mining community, there’s a real hands-on mindset here,” he said. The company has been in Carlsbad for more than 20 years. Before the mid-1990s, it was a locally owned business called Gregory Enterprises. EPD is able to assist local businesses — such as those in the oil industry — with machining, welding, engineering and testing, McNamara said. The company has 18 acres for activities like drop testing and can handle non-destructive examination with things like gamma and X-ray equipment. “We can do any test here, including helium leak testing,” McNamara said. “The equipment for that is very expensive to keep.” He said EPD also checks with area businesses when it purchases materials, and if it can come close on price, EPD will purchase locally. Since EPD works in the nuclear industry, local businesses can be assured its quality assurance and control departments are of the highest quality, McNamara said. “High-integrity containers require high-integrity people,” he said. Copyright © 2004 Carlsbad Current-Argus, a Gannett Co., Inc. ***************************************************************** 53 Daily News: CEA gets tough on industrial waste dumping Monday, 16 August 2004 The widest coverage in Sri Lanka. The Central Environmental Authority has alerted all concerned against attempts to dump nuclear waste discarded and outdated industrial plants and machinery from industrialised countries in Sri Lanka. Disclosing this danger, Central Environmental Authority (CEA) Chairman Tilak Ranaviraja said the CEA has formulated legislation to be adopted to prevent such outdated and harmful machinery being installed in Sri Lanka just because they are given away free. Used computers and old refrigeration facilities are some of these machinery which if allowed to flow into the country without any control would pose great environmental problems, he said. There are also attempts to set up industries found to be harmful in other countries here. Copper industrial plants are some such industries which they should keep a tab on, Ranaviraja who is also Secretary to the Ministry of Public Security, Law and Order said. He was speaking at a press conference at the CEA head office at Battaramulla to outline programs earmarked to combat environmental problems facing the country and plan of action the CEA proposes to take towards management of environment and major environmental sites. The Chairman said the proper management of the environment depends largely on the co-operation and support received by the people while the media plays an important role in making the public aware of the dangers of environmental degradation and ways they could contribute towards preservation of their environment. z One of the main public concern is garbage disposal which has posed severe environmental problems in many areas. The CEA has launched a program of action in association with local authorities and private sector organisations in utilising garbage as a vital resource putting it to good use in producing manure. The CEA has already prepared the guidelines and technological know-how. They also hope to levy a cess from plastic and polythene manufacturers so that these monies could be used in the proper disposal of plastic and polythene waste. They hope to employ unemployed youth to collect this waste. Ranaviraja said motorists are in the habit of bringing garbage from home and dumping them on roadsides. This has happened along the road where the CEA is located and they have video filmed many such motorists and hope to expose them on television. New laws will also be enacted to prevent such indiscriminate disposal of garbage. Among the other major action plans which the CEA has earmarked are: Harmful Toxic Emissions: From January 2004 steps were taken with the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation's cooperation to reduce sulphur content in diesel. Issue of Environmental Safeguards Permits: The CEA issues such permits to prevent harmful effects to environment by stipulating the minimum environmental safeguards to be adopted by developers. Violators are being prosecuted. Disposal of Industrial Waste: The CEA has cancelled the licences of several industries which have disposed of waste without proper treatment. Many industrial plants have been issued a warning that they must install treatment plants. Several waterways have been polluted as a result of this affluent waste being disposed of untreated. Sound Pollution: At the request of the CEA and Police, the Lotteries Board has agreed that sweep sellers do not use amplifiers of more than five watts in selling sweep tickets. This type of pollution has become a nuisance in towns. Unauthorised reclamation of wetlands: A comprehensive program has been launched to prevent unauthorised reclamation of identified wetlands and paddy fields already declared as preservation areas. Police and Army assistance would be obtained to take action against encroachers. Declaration of Environmentally preserved areas: Fifteen special areas and several sites in various districts including major waterways, rivers, lakes, tanks, parks have been declared environmentally preserved areas and programs have been launched to enhance their environment. Special hoardings will be put up announcing that they are preserved areas. www.crescat.com Produced by Lake House Copyright © 2003 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd. ***************************************************************** 54 The Observer: China's great leap into polluted water | Comment | [UP] Jonathan Fenby examines the price the nation and the world are paying for a rapid industrial revolution Sunday August 15, 2004 The Observer For all the imagery of cloud-shrouded mountains, rocky gorges and graceful rivers, China has never paid much attention to preserving its environment. Taoists advocated going with the natural flow but, from the early emperors to Mao, the emphasis was on mastering nature - both from necessity and as a symbol of man's superiority. Now the battle between the world's most populous nation and its environment has reached an unprecedented pitch, posing fundamental questions for the leadership in Beijing. Experts calculate the price of the damage China's environment is suffering at from 5 to 12 per cent of GDP - the flip side of its emergence as a world economic power. On one side lies the bounding growth - official figures show a 9.7 per cent rise in the first half of 2004 - on the other is a looming major disaster. There are still vast swathes of untouched countryside; huge areas in the south-west and many mountain ranges. But, for many of China's 1.3 billion people, the cost of growth is already all too evident. Rivers are full of industrial and human waste. Forests essential to the eco-system have been felled for timber, grasslands are being ploughed up. Desertification is spreading through northern provinces. Sandstorms blow through Beijing. Demand from factories and urban housing developments accentuate long-standing water distribution problems. Big rivers have had dry spells, while the building of the Three Gorges dam on the Yangtzi has created a huge lake in which parasitic worms dangerous to humans are endemic. In a survey of China's environment challenge, Dr Elizabeth Economy of the Council on Foreign Relations in New York reports that 60 million people have limited access to water; 10 times as many drink contaminated water. The movements of tens of millions from the countryside in search of work in rapidly expanding cities puts a major strain on urban infrastructure while the explosive growth in the use of cars and trucks adds to air pollution. Forty per cent of the rural population lack sanitation and the dangers of epidemics were shown dramatically by the spread of Sars. The government has launched plans to try to turn back the degradation and pursue sustainable development. But too often the effects have been limited. Officials report a successful outcome when investigation shows major difficulties remain. In encouraging the move from Maoism to the market, the patriarch, Deng Xiaoping, devolved the job to local officials who frequently have investments in factories, giving them a vested interest in not applying too strictly regulations that could reduce output. Equally, it is easy for them to tip off factory managers an inspection is due. China produces an estimated 60 billion tonnes of polluted water a year. The saga of the Huai river, as recounted by Economy, is an example of how things go wrong. The size of England, the fertile Huai valley is home to 150 million people. Under Mao, 200 dams were built to stop flooding - 200,000 people drowned when two collapsed in 1973. After Deng changed China's course at the end of the 1970s, tens of thousands of factories set up along the river and its tributaries. In 1994, some tanks were emptied into the river, flooding it with toxins, turning the water black, killing 26 million lbs of fish and making thousands of people ill. Five thousand factories were shut down; half subsequently re-opened. 'Towns and villages continue to build small paper mills, dye works, tanneries and chemical works with crude equipment,' a local environmental officer reported. A clean-up campaign began in 1998. As it got going, waste again turned the water black. In 1999 and 2000, the Huai ran dry for the first time in 20 years. In 2001, the State Environmental Protection Administration declared the water good enough for drinking. A local expert found it was not even suitable for irrigation. Only six of 52 planned treatment plants had been built. Torrential rains that summer sent 38 billion gallons of water flooding over locks, covered with yellow foam, garbage and industrial waste. Another campaign was ordered, but in 2003 the water was still unsuitable for drinking, fishing or even, in some cases, industrial use. The clean-up cost is now put at $100bn. In the south, roads in booming Guangdong province are lined with mounds of industrial garbage and stagnant pools. The water by one site used to strip and burn circuit boards contains lead levels reported to be 2,400 times higher than World Health Organisation drinking guidelines. In Lanzhou, capital of Gansu province, the water has to be so heavily chlorinated that the local beer is virtually undrinkable. From the summit of Shanghai's tallest building, the city 100 floors below can barely be seen through the haze. In Hong Kong, air pollution is boosted by the industrial zones across the border. Nowhere is the problem worse than in the energy industry that struggles to keep up with insatiable demand. Coal-fired stations provide 75 per cent of China's electricity. Cheaper to build than nuclear plants (and China has plenty of coal), as well as smoke, they emit dioxins and other pollutants that cause acid rain and breathing disorders estimated to kill 400,000 people a year. After half a dozen Chinese cities were ranked among the 10 most polluted on Earth in the late 1990s, the government launched a clean-up campaign. From 2000 to 2002, levels dropped, but 2003 showed a 12 per cent increase. The prime reason is the sheer scope of development and things are made worse by spotty enforcement of pollution controls; it is often cheaper to pay pollution levies than to refit plants with cleaning equipment. Even more coal is likely to be used after recurrent energy blackouts, including a 30,000-megawatt shortfall, the worst for two decades. Adding to that are the hundreds of millions of homes using coal. China's neighbours are suffering. In South Korea, estimates put the share of air pollution originating in China at up to 40 per cent. There is also speculation that the effects may be felt in America - sand from the desertification of northern China is known to have crossed the Pacific. China is a signatory to the Kyoto Protocol, though, in its present state of development, is not bound by it. Its leaders claim a dedication to environmental improvements, yet action has been, at best, halting. Optimists hope that, as the country gets richer, it will give more power to environmental agencies. The present situation, they argue, is the natural outcome of its fast-track development. Pressure from abroad will also come as Beijing integrates more closely into global markets. For a country so focused on material progress, ecological degradation takes second place. The regime's calculation that growth is the route to legitimacy gives economic factors great political weight. Some figures in the hierarchy of the world's last major Communist nation appreciate the need for environmental reform. The irony is that, for all the monopoly power of the Party, change is becoming increasingly difficult, with terrible effects for the country itself, and a growing threat to others as well. · Jonathan Fenby is a former editor of the 'South China Morning Post' in Hong Kong and author of 'Generalissimo: Chiang Kai-shek and the China he Lost' (Free Press-Simon & Schuster) [UP] Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004 ***************************************************************** 55 PE.com WYLE: The plan includes scrutiny of air and soil at Norco High School and some homes. | Inland Southern California | Corona-Norco 12:43 AM PDT on Saturday, August 14, 2004 By PAIGE AUSTIN / The Press-Enterprise WYLE TOWN HALL When: 7 p.m. Monday (open house begins at 5:30 p.m.) Where: Corona-Norco school district offices, 2820 Clark Ave., Norco Information: Department of Toxic Substances Control, (714) 484-5416 State officials announced plans Friday to expand efforts to track pollution from Wyle Labs by testing air inside neighboring homes and in the soil farther downhill from the site at Norco High School and at two Hillside Avenue residences. The California Department of Toxic Substances Control will hold a town hall meeting Monday night to introduce the plans and to explain recent findings of toxic contamination in the soil along Golden West Lane northwest of the hazardous testing facility. Wyle neighbors who have been lobbying for more extensive testing met the announcement Friday with relief. Over the past two years, dozens of Wyle neighbors have come forward to blame Wyle pollution for their health problems even though regulators have not found a link between the contamination pollution and the cases of cancer and thyroid disease. Two schools and dozens of homes neighbor the Wyle property. High levels of suspected cancer-causing agents such as TCE, PCE and perchlorate have been found in the ground on and around the Wyle property. Ken Chapman, a retired jockey, lives in one of three Golden West homes to be tested in the fall for indoor air pollution caused by groundwater contamination below the house. "I think they are doing the right thing trying to see if the (contamination) is coming through our foundations," said Chapman. Of the Golden West homeowners closest to Wyle, Chapman is the only one who hasn't put his home on the market in the past two months. "There doesn't seem to be any reason to do so right now," he said. "I see all these for-sale signs up here and no one running up to buy them." Chapman said he is waiting to make up his mind about the pollution, about selling his home, and about joining several of his neighbors in their plans to sue Wyle for damages. He said he never worried about health threats from the pollution until reading state handouts recently listing irregular heartbeat and throat and skin irritation as potential effects of TCE pollution - all of which he said he suffers from. Chapman said he will continue to wait for more testing results, placing his faith in state regulators who assure the Wyle neighbors that they do not face immediate health risks. The indoor air sampling will likely confirm the state's health risk models that show no immediate health threat to the community, said Dr. William Bosan, state toxicologist. "We want to be extremely sensitive to the fact that there is some extra contamination offsite," said Peter Garcia, DTSC branch chief. Toward that end, the state will test for soil gas pollution at the Norco High School football field and at two Hillside Avenue residences where groundwater rises to the surface. Those areas warrant further testing to make sure the groundwater is not part of the toxic plume from below Wyle, officials said. Since the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced last month that soil and groundwater pollution at Wyle is serious enough to place it on the federal Superfund list of the nation's worst toxic sites, state officials have been fending off residents' demands to hand the Wyle cleanup effort to federal regulators. The cleanup procedure would be identical under state or federal purview, but to switch jurisdiction mid-project would slow down the process, said DTSC spokesman Ron Baker. The cleanup is expected to end in 2006, he added. The laboratory, over the past 47 years, has tested products for the defense industry as well as electronics and components for space shuttles and rocket engines. A developer bought the land in 2002 with plans to build more than 300 homes there. Reach Paige Austin at (951) 893-2106 or paustin@pe.com. More headlines... © 2004 Belo Interactive Inc. ***************************************************************** 56 PE.com: Polluted Inland water site to get U.S. cleanup funds | Inland Southern California | Inland News 01:04 AM PDT on Saturday, August 14, 2004 By KAREN GAUDETTE / The Press-Enterprise SAN BERNARDINO - The city of San Bernardino will receive $69 million from the federal government to clean up drinking water supplies contaminated by chemicals the city claims were left by a World War II-era Army supply camp. The settlement, announced Friday by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, will fund the city's cleanup efforts over the next 50 years at the Newmark Groundwater Contamination Superfund site. "The residents of San Bernardino are now guaranteed an adequate revenue stream to clean the groundwater contamination that was caused by the Department of the Army so many years ago," said City Councilwoman Susan Lien Longville, who lauded the water department's legal team for what she called "a gigantic success." Joe Burlas, an Army spokesman, said Friday evening that the Army had no comment on the settlement. The agreement, which also grants the EPA $6.5 million to fund past and future Newmark-related water monitoring expenses, comes eight years after the city joined a lawsuit filed by the state Department of Toxic Substance Control demanding that the Army pay to remove solvents tainting 13 of the city's 50-plus wells. During World War II, a triangular area straddling what now is Interstate 215 in the city's northwest corner was home to Camp Ono, an Army camp that rehabilitated tents and other gear from the Pacific Theater, said Stacey Aldstadt, deputy general manager for the San Bernardino Municipal Water Department. The city claims that solvents used by the Army to clean tents and oil roads - tetrachloroethylene and trichloroethylene - seeped below ground, creating a plume of contaminants in groundwater starting in the vicinity of Muscoy and, over the years, spreading southeast around the Shandin Hills and toward Base Line. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services classifies tetrachloroethylene, commonly used in dry cleaning, as a probable carcinogen. The International Agency for Research on Cancer describes trichloroethylene similarly. "They were doing a bunch of things that in World War II were probably appropriate, or they thought they were appropriate but which had some long-term concerns for the environment," Aldstadt said. The city first detected the contamination in 1980, Aldstadt said, and shut down affected wells. To battle the plume's spread, the water department consulted with the EPA and in 1998 began using five extraction wells that pump out tainted water to create a trough that blocks the contaminants from drifting farther south, she said. The water is sent to a treatment plant, where the solvents are removed using carbon filters, and it is treated for domestic use, Aldstadt said. Had the city not intercepted the eastern arm of the plume when it did, the contaminants could have spread to wells owned by the city of Riverside, she said. The city will use part of the settlement money to complete five more extraction wells along the southern edges of the plume's western arm, she said. Many are scattered within residential neighborhoods and disguised by the façade of a house or with playground equipment. The settlement also will cover the costs of monitoring the cleanup and reporting progress to the EPA. The city does not anticipate any further legal action against the Army, said Tom Jacobson, the water department's lead counsel on the case. The EPA oversees and supervises the cleanup of federal Superfund sites, some of the nation's most polluted areas. There are seven such sites in the Inland area, and the EPA is considering whether to give that designation to perchlorate-contaminated groundwater in Rialto. Reach Karen Gaudette at (909) 806-3076 or kgaudette@pe.comMore headlines... © 2004 Belo Interactive Inc. ***************************************************************** 57 KSRV: Bush tries to win back Nevada voters angry over nuclear dump www.qksrv.net 08/12/2004 08:15 PM ID: 42050 Nevada, a state George W. Bush won in the 2000 presidential election, is now a battleground state as some voters are angered over a decision to locate the nation's nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain. Bush rallied Republicans there today. According to recent polls, the issue is a matter that stirs up such strong feelings that it is giving Sen. John Kerry some headway there. Bush has tried to paint Kerry as switching sides on the issue of whether to place a waste dump at Yucca Mt. But though Kerry voted for some provisions to allow dumps in the state, he always voted against the simple measure of locating the nation's nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain. Republicans say the issue is Kerry's only advantage in Nevada. Copyright ©2004 GoNamic GmbH, Contact: info@shortnews.com ***************************************************************** 58 KVBC: Former Governor, Senator, Speaks About Bush, Yucca Mountain August 13th, 2004 During the campaign stop yesterday, President Bush said he still believes in the Yucca Mountain project. His belief is based in science. It's also at odds with most state and local officials. As Yucca Mountain Reporter Mitch Truswell shows us, those presidential comments convinced a former governor and senator to speak out today. Presidents can make a difference on issues such as Yucca Mountain. That's the opinion of many people, including former US Senator from Nevada Richard Bryan. After hearing what the President said about Yucca yesterday during his campaign stop, Bryan says President Bush is no friend to our state. "Anyone with a room temperature IQ can only conclude President Bush is against Nevada. He's for the high level waste dump and that if re-elected to another term, he will do in the second as he did in the first." During his visit yesterday, President Bush admitted his view on Yucca Mountain differs greatly with many elected leaders in Nevada, some of whom are also Republicans. The President said he will not intervene in the issues currently before the courts. "I'll tell you what I will do. I will allow this process to be appealed to the courts and Nuclear Regulatory Commission and I will stand by the decision of the courts and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission." Richard Bryan says there are other issues to consider as well. Will the President work to weaken health and safety standards when it comes to nuclear waste storage? Bryan says Senator John Kerry will not. There are a couple issues still to be decided about Yucca Mountain. Three judges are currently looking into whether the Department of Energy released all it's documents on time concerning the repository, as required by law. A recent court of appeals ruling said the current 10 thousand year radiation safety standard may not be adequate. All content © Copyright 2000 - 2004 WorldNow and KVBC. All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 59 KATC: Nelson: No regrets in state's decision to reject nuclear waste dump August 15, 2004 OMAHA, Neb. U-S Senator Ben Nelson said today that he does not regret the state officials' decision six years ago to deny a license for a low-level nuclear waste dump in northeast Nebraska that was to hold waste from Louisiana and other states. The Nebraska Democrat said in a written statement that he believes the decision made by state regulators to deny the license for the Boyd County site was the right decision. The dump was to hold radioactive waste from member states of a compact Nebraska belonged to, which also included Kansas, Arkansas, Louisiana and Oklahoma.Those states sued when Nebraska denied the license. In 2002, U-S District Judge Richard Kopf said Nelson and the state acted in bad faith in refusing to license the facility, which was to hold radioactive waste from the five states. After a failed appeal and months of negotiations, Nebraska settled the lawsuit last week, agreeing to pay 141 (m) million dollars to the multistate group. As part of the agreement, Nebraska was relieved of its obligation to build the waste site, although the state and compact officials must jointly explore possible sites to store their waste. Copyright 2004 Associated Press. webmaster@katctv.com. All content © Copyright 2003 - 2004 WorldNow, KATC and Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 60 [NYTr] The Nuclear Shadow Date: Sat, 14 Aug 2004 10:10:10 -0500 (CDT) Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit This is part two of Kristof's report. See his August 11th column, "An American Hiroshima," at: http://olm.blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/Week-of-Mon-20040809/004814.html The New York Times - August 14, 2004 http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/14/opinion/14kristof.html The Nuclear Shadow by Nicholas D. Kristof If a 10-kiloton terrorist nuclear weapon explodes beside the New York Stock Exchange or the U.S. Capitol, or in Times Square, as many nuclear experts believe is likely in the next decade, then the next 9/11 commission will write a devastating critique of how we allowed that to happen. As I wrote in my last column, there is a general conviction among many experts - though, in fairness, not all - that nuclear terrorism has a better-than-even chance of occurring in the next 10 years. Such an attack could kill 500,000 people. Yet U.S. politicians have utterly failed to face up to the danger. "Both Bush administration rhetoric and Kerry rhetoric emphasize keeping W.M.D. out of the hands of terrorists as a No. 1 national security priority," noted Michhlle Flournoy of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "And when you look at what could have been done in the last few years, versus what has been done, there's a real gap." So what should we be doing? First, it's paramount that we secure uranium and plutonium around the world. That's the idea behind the U.S.-Russian joint program to secure 600 metric tons of Russian nuclear materials. But after 12 years, only 135 tons have been given comprehensive upgrades. Some 340 tons haven't even been touched. The Nunn-Lugar program to safeguard the material is one of the best schemes we have to protect ourselves, and it's bipartisan, championed above all by Senator Richard Lugar, an Indiana Republican. Yet President Bush has, incredibly, at various times even proposed cutting funds for it. He seems bored by this security effort, perhaps because it doesn't involve blowing anything up. Joseph Cirincione of the Carnegie Endowment sees the effort against nuclear terrorism as having three components. One is the Pentagon's version of counterproliferation, which includes the war in Iraq and the missile defense system; this component is costing $108 billion a year, mostly because of Iraq. Then there's homeland security, costing about $37 billion a year. Finally, there's nonproliferation itself, like the Nunn-Lugar effort - and this struggles along on just $2 billion a year. A second step we must take is stopping other countries from joining the nuclear club, although, frankly, it may now be too late. North Korea, Iran and (perhaps to a lesser extent) Brazil all seem determined to go ahead with nuclear programs. Dennis Ross, the former Middle East peace negotiator, notes that if Iran develops nukes, jittery Saudi Arabia will seek to follow, and then Egypt, which prides itself as the leader of the Arab world. Likewise, anxiety about North Korea is already starting to topple one domino - Japan is moving in the direction of a nuclear capability. The best hope for stopping Iran and North Korea (and it's a bleak one) is to negotiate a grand bargain in which they give up nuclear aspirations for trade benefits. Mr. Bush's current policy - fist-shaking - feels good but accomplishes nothing. President Clinton's approach to North Korea wasn't a great success, but at least North Korea didn't add to its nuclear arsenal during his watch. In just the last two years, North Korea appears to have gone to eight nuclear weapons from about two. A third step is to prevent the smuggling of nuclear weapons into the U.S. Mr. Bush has made a nice start on that with his proliferation security initiative. A useful addition, pushed by Senator Charles Schumer, would be to develop powerful new radiation detectors and put them on the cranes that lift shipping containers onto American soil. But while Congress approved $35 million to begin the development of these detectors, the administration has spent little or none of it. Finally, Mr. Bush needs to display moral clarity about nuclear weapons, making them a focus of international opprobrium. Unfortunately, Mr. Bush is pursuing a new generation of nuclear bunker-buster bombs. That approach helps make nukes thinkable, and even a coveted status symbol, and makes us more vulnerable. At other periods when the U.S. has been under threat, we mustered extraordinary resources to protect ourselves. If Mr. Bush focused on nuclear proliferation with the intensity he focuses on Iraq, then we might secure our world for just a bit longer. Right now, we're only whistling in the dark. Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company * Search the NYTr Archives at: http://olm.blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/ To subscribe or unsubscribe or change your settings via the web, visit: http://olm.blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= ***************************************************************** 61 Remembering Hiroshima/Nagasaki Date: Sat, 14 Aug 2004 14:15:44 -0500 (CDT) Forwarded with Compliments of Free Voice of America (FVOA): Accurate News and Interesting Commentary for Amerika's Huddled Masses Yearning to Breathe Free. http://www.pressaction.com/news/weblog/full_article/fiyouzat08132004/ Friday, August 13, 2004 A Divided Anniversary in Japan By Reza Fiyouzat Here in Japan, we just observed the 59th anniversary of the dropping of two atomic bombs with their own names, Little Boy and Fat Man, on Hiroshima and Nagasaki respectively. Coming from a soul-broken home, the mass evil duo, in two swoops, killed about 190,000 nameless lives immediately, and continued to kill survivors to this day, with the total number of killed now standing at 237,062. To give a sense of proportion, according to official numbers in Hiroshima, a good 40 percent of the population was incinerated in temperatures reaching tens of thousands of degrees, almost instantly. To the people of that city, it must have looked the same as if a terrorist attack of ungodly proportions wiped out over one-and-a-half million residents of Los Angeles today. The anniversary was marked by reminders of divisions internal to Japan, as well as of divisions between Japan and her neighbors. Some of the internal rifts have been repressed out of sight, while others occasionally make it out of the bag; and the external ones refuse to go away. As the daily news from Iraq gets bleaker by the day, and as the clouds of smoke rising from Najaf grow darker by the hour, not all Japanese politicians can keep face. At the Aug. 6 Hiroshima city's official proceedings commemorating the atomic tragedy 59 years later, with Prime Minister Koizumi attending, the mayor in his speech chose to ruffle whatever feathers he could, by referring to, "The egocentric view of the United States," which, according to Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba, "has reached the extreme." The social anger, reflected only by a minority of politicians, over Koizumi's violations of the Japanese pacifist constitution, by participating in the Iraq and Afghan wars, thus refused to stay away from this occasion, which had previously been a uniting event, or at least one bereft of "politics." Even so, it is easy to fancy that Koizumi must have smiled on in his head, even as he kept his icy features expressionless. On the "silent" front, the controversy surrounding the mandated respect for the flag and the anthem simmers on in the background, subject to the media's almost complete silence, and definitely subject to a complete lack of any critical coverage. About 250 Tokyo-district teachers, who had refused to stand up to the flag and sing the anthem at the high schools' year-end ceremonies held last March, have been ordered to pay fines, and/or take pay cuts, and attend reeducation classes. According to Antiwar Joint Action Committee, "On June 22, 1,500 teachers and school administrators gathered in Tokyo Metropolitan City Hall. They held a rally asking for keeping the pay scales of teachers and school office workers who refuse to stand up to the Hinomaru (Rising Sun flag) and sing the Kimigayo (a song for Japanese Empire)." Present in this rally were some of the teachers who had been punished for refusing to stand up to the flag and sing the anthem. The ongoing controversy's latest chapter led to a court battle, on July 16, when 137 teachers filed for an injunction against the forced reeducation program, which is the same as those attended by teachers with problems with sexual harassment or alcohol abuse. "While the Tokyo District Court turned down the request for the injunction saying the specifics of the program were unclear, it said, 'should an identical training program be forced repeatedly (on teachers) and their freedom of thought infringed, it may violate the Constitution or law,'" reported IPS News Agency, on Aug. 6. Since repeated punishment is not likely to be tolerated, at least as stated formally by the court, we can hope that more teachers will file more lawsuits against the government, and most hopefully look forward to seeing more teachers joining in and vocally denouncing government's forced patriotism and becoming conscientious objectors by remaining seated and silent. This anniversary was filled also with ghosts and ghouls of past wars visiting the unlikeliest of places. And it was in such places where things got really loud, without anybody being able to shut it up. Soccer fans of the world know that regional cups were just concluded around the globe. In the Copa America, the younger, less experienced Brazilian team beat the older, more-practiced-together Argentines in the final, be it by penalty shoot out. On the western end of Eurasian landmass, the Greeks shocked all traditional European power houses, and became the Euro 2004 champions. In the Asian Cup, held on the eastern end of Eurasia, the feisty Middle Easterners Iran and Bahrain were stopped at the semifinals while China and Japan went on to face each other in the final. Given that the games were hosted by China, Japan's route even under normal times would have been much bumpier. Soccer fans can be enthusiastic about the game itself to varying degrees in different countries, but when explicitly political issues get mixed in, the temperatures can rise more quickly, and with much more intensity. Since the Chinese have a long historical memory, and in order to understand the big picture of what Japanese national soccer team faced, it is instructive to glimpse back in time a little. Seventy years ago, right around this time, Japan was ruling Manchuria, having set up an authentic local puppet in the form of resuscitated Henry Pu Yi, who had held the post of emperor until 1912, when the Manchu dynasty abdicated. Also, right about this time 70 years ago, the notorious Japanese Imperial Army's scientific special unit known as Unit 731, those pioneers in the field of "military medicine," had by now set up camp near the town of Harbin, to learn meticulously the laws of prevention by studying in detail the science of causation. As in, causation of disease due to exposure to microorganisms and to the natural elements. As a result of this scientific curiosity, several thousand live Chinese soldiers and civilians were fed well, housed in comfortable temperatures and in antiseptic environments, so as to assure the purity of the results of the experiments about to be carried out on them. The particular effects the Japanese scientists liked to study were those caused by cholera, plague, epidemic hemorrhagic fever, and very cold weather. All subjects died of course, which was exactly the point of the experiments, since it was the entire process of dying which needed to be meticulously recorded (for a horrifying account, see Hal Gold, Unit 731 Testimony, Yenbooks, 1996). In a few years, the Rape of Nanking would unfold, killing 300,000 people in a mere six weeks; caravans of Comfort Women would be carried off; and later still, in the later stages of WWII, there would ensue the massive bombardments of the main cities, resulting in the same utter and complete destruction and mass murder as was brought on Dresden and Tokyo by the U.S. and the Allies. One of the cities heavily bombarded by the Japanese Imperial ferociousness was Chongqing. As history would have it, the same city was to play host to four of the games played by Japan's national soccer team in the Asian Cup 2004. One might wonder who and how many in China were smiling their lips off when deciding on, or hearing about, that. One can easily understand why the Chinese soccer fans would be more than eager to vent their anger, in view of the fact that the Japanese government has yet to fully account for most of its atrocities. Add to that the Chinese masses' increasing subjugation to really-existing-capitalism in their own society, intensifying social tension and uncertainty for increasingly larger sections of society, especially in the areas located further inland (as is Chingqing), away from richer cities along the coast. Couple all of that with Koizumi's open rejection of "protocol" by officially and repeatedly visiting the controversial Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, where you find buried convicted and executed Japanese war criminals, and we can understand the Chinese fans' multiple sources of anger. And to vent, what better or more democratic a place than a stadium? On more than a few occasions, the Japanese players found themselves welcomed onto the pitch by jeering crowds throwing garbage at them, while unfurling huge banners with references to Japan's wartime crimes. In all four games played by Japan's team in Chongqing, the crowds jeered and booed loudly, massively and forcefully, and without pause throughout the anthem, whose words are from an ancient poem praying for eternal life for the Japanese Emperor. One banner reportedly read, "This time we get to be the bullies!" Even press conferences with the Japanese team's Brazilian coach, the legendary footballer, Zico, did not stay immune to politics. Chinese reporters repeatedly asked the coach why the brochures given to the Japanese team represented China and Taiwan with two different colors, implying they are different countries. Asahi Newspaper reported that the Japanese officials were more than displeased with how the national anthem and the national team had been treated. "LDP Secretary-General Shinzo Abe met on Wednesday with He Yong, a Chinese Communist Party secretariat member, who was visiting Japan. 'The final will pit Japan against China,' Abe told He. 'I hope the government will maintain a situation in which Japanese players can play comfortably and Japanese fans can cheer them on. I want a total separation of sports and politics,'" (IHT/Asahi: Aug. 5, 2004). As it turned out, Japan won the final, held on Saturday, Aug. 7. The Japanese fans were kept together and separated from the rest of the stadium by massive armed security. Due to the repeated official pleas, the booing and the jeering returned with less force, but the Japanese anthem was still not popular. But when China lost 3-1, especially as the loss was laced with a controversial second goal, some of the Chinese fans just had to take it out on the local police. The Japanese fans had to be kept inside the stadium for several hours before the riot police fought off and disbursed all and declared it safe for the Japanese fans to leave. CNN online reported on Aug. 8, that, "One 35-year-old man who described himself as a patriotic educator told Reuters it was important to remind the Japanese not to forget history. 'We're seeing their old fascism starting to come back a little. For example, they are sending troops abroad,' he said." The Japanese team won the championship for the third time, but, most likely not understanding the lesson presented, must have returned home slightly confused and perhaps a little shaken. Most of them, being jocks, even if some do moonlight as dedicated followers of fashion, must have wondered, "Why do they hate us so?" Not to pass too quickly over the Japanese officialdom's desire for a total separation of politics and sports, it must be said that they were merely being consistent and principled. They have managed far better than that in separating politics from the Iraq war, by declaring their participation in it purely and simply as humanitarian reconstruction. One may even surmise, on examining the parliamentary system applied here, that the rulers have even separated politics from politics. A virtual one-party political bureaucratic machinery that presents itself as democracy. Stealth Dictatorship should be the proper name for it. But cracks are appearing, as the dictatorship is becoming less stealth. To punctuate all the excitement and the controversy appropriately, on Nagasaki day, Aug. 9, a steam leak at a nuclear reactor in Mihama (Fukui prefecture) killed four workers and injured seven more, two reportedly in serious condition. "No radiation is believed to have leaked outside the facility," wrote The Japan Times the next day. The government stepped in expeditiously to tell the nation that all was fine, and reassured all of their wellbeing and safety, "Nothing to see here!" But the most significant divisions were elsewhere. A very strange and perverted hypocrisy accompanied this anniversary, one that was exposed by the presence of peace and labor activists staging separate protest rallies in Hiroshima and Nagasaki to counter the official ones, to demand of the Koizumi government to stop its support of the U.S. war against Iraq and Afghanistan, and to bring back the troops immediately. Most significantly, they also demanded that the Japanese government take action against the use of Depleted Uranium, which is deployed daily in the munitions used in Iraq and Afghanistan by the U.S. and the UK armed forces. Leuren Moret, President of Scientists for Indigenous People, a former Livermore National Laboratory geoscientist, who has become a whistleblower and campaigner for a ban on DU, has made it clear that, "Depleted uranium is the weapon that keeps killing. The half-life of Uranium-238 is 4.5 billion years, the age of the earth There is no way to turn it off, and there is no way to clean it up. It meets the US Government's own definition of Weapons of Mass Destruction" ("Depleted Uranium: The Trojan Horse of Nuclear War," in World Affairs: The Journal of International Issues, 1 July 2004). As DU contained in munitions is vaporized upon impact, and as a result of subsequent oxidation, DU dust stays suspended in the air, in particles that are measured in microns (a thousandth of a millimeter). With rain and snow they enter the soil, and the chain of contamination continues on to crops, livestock and underground water reservoirs. As explained by Dr. Hooper, Professor emeritus at the University of Sunderland, to writer Akira Tashiro, "A particle five microns or less can lodge permanently in the lungs Theoretically, it would take about 24,000 years for all the particles to be completely eliminated from the body," ("Discounted Casualties," Chugoku Shimbun, 2001, p. 95). These particles may be lodged in the hilar lymph nodes, the kidneys, the nervous system, in the reproductive organs, and in the bones. As told by Moret, regarding the first Gulf War in 1991, "Nearly 700,000 American Gulf War Veterans returned to the U.S. from a war that lasted just a few weeks. Today more than 240,000 of those soldiers are on permanent medical disability, and over 11,000 are dead-67 per cent of the babies [conceived by returning veterans] were reported to have serious illnesses or serious birth defects. They were born without eyes, ears, had missing organs, fused fingers, thyroid or other malfunctions. Depleted uranium in the semen of the soldiers internally contaminated their wives." But, the "health problems," to use polite language, experienced by U.S. soldiers provide a window onto the horror the Iraqi population has been subjected to, starting from 1991. They do not have the option of leaving. Their country is being literally gassed by DU dust that will last forever. Moret writes, "Estimates of depleted uranium weapons used in 1991, now range from the Pentagon's admitted 325 tons, to other scientific bodies who put the figure as high as 900 tons. That would make the number of estimated cancers as high as 9,000,000, depending on the amount used in the 1991 Gulf War. In the 2003 Gulf War, estimates of 2,200 tons have been given, causing about 22,000,000 new cancer cases. Altogether the total number of cancer patients estimated using the UKAEA [United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority] data would be 25,250,000. In July of 1998, the CIA estimated the population of Iraq to be approximately 24,683,313" (ibid). Moret adds sadly, "Women in Yugoslavia, Afghanistan and Iraq are afraid now to have babies, and when they do give birth, instead of asking if it is a girl or a boy, they ask 'is it normal?'" So, the protesters defying the Koizumi government on Aug. 6th and 9th in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, those exposing the lies and the murderous intent of the militarists may have been small in numbers, but they symbolize the grave rifts that exist within the Japanese society. For they bear witness to the fact that for the first time since the barbaric atomic bombings, during this year's anniversary, at the same time that the Japanese Prime Minister was dancing the ceremonial dance of pledging undying dedication to eradicating all atomic mass killers, the Japanese government was making sure that their soldiers stayed exposed to Depleted Uranium-infested air, food and water in Iraq. And that is the least of their complicities. ===================================================== Reza Fiyouzat is an applied linguist and freelance writer living in Japan. Some of Fiyouzat's writings have appeared on CounterPunch and (in English and Portuguese) on the Brazilian website Revista Espaco Academico. Fiyouzat can be reached at rfaze@gol.com. ***************************************************************** 62 Daily Yomiuri: Govt to submit N-disarmament bid to UNGA Yomiuri Shimbun The government has decided to submit a nuclear disarmament resolution to the U.N. General Assembly this autumn, the 11th such resolution since 1994. The decision to submit the resolution, titled "A path to the total elimination of nuclear weapons," was made Saturday. As in previous cases, the government anticipates the resolution will be adopted with the support of most member countries. However, the United States is expected to oppose the resolution, as it has done each year since 2001. The resolution will call on all countries to sign and ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty as soon as possible and to suspend all nuclear tests until the CTBT comes into effect. The treaty bans all nuclear tests, including those carried out underground and in space. From the perspective of preventing the spread of weapons of mass destruction, the resolution will welcome moves similar to Libya's announcement on Dec. 19 that it had given up its pursuit of chemical, biological and nuclear arms. The resolution will also express concern about the existence of a black market in nuclear weapons technology, which was confirmed through an admission by Abdul Qadeer Khan, the founder of Pakistan's nuclear weapons program, that he had transferred nuclear technology to Iran, Libya and North Korea. All 10 past Japanese nuclear disarmament resolutions have been adopted by the assembly. The government submitted resolutions titled "The ultimate elimination of nuclear weapons" each year from 1994 to 1999. Since then, Japan has presented resolutions aimed at the elimination of nuclear weapons with the same title as this year's resolution. The United States, which signed but has yet to ratify the CTBT, has opposed Japan's resolutions in the past three years. Last year's resolution was backed by 164 countries, including three nuclear powers, Russia, France and Britain. India and the United States voted against, while 14 countries abstained, including China and North Korea. Copyright 2004 The Yomiuri Shimbun ***************************************************************** 63 Los Alamos' Whistle Blowers Punished Date: Sat, 14 Aug 2004 01:33:03 -0500 (CDT) http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-bryan12aug12,1,1162678.story?coll=la-news-comment-opinions COMMENTARY Pity Los Alamos' Whistle-Blowers By Danielle Brian and Peter Stockton August 12, 2004 The latest round of missing classified information at Los Alamos National Laboratory has spurred lab, government and University of California officials to engage in the ritualistic and disingenuous performance of scratching their heads in disbelief and wonder. In what seems like a never-ending saga of security breaches at the nuclear weapons lab in New Mexico which UC manages for the government two floppy disks believed to contain secret research information are unaccounted for. It's hard to imagine why anyone would be surprised to hear about the latest security breakdown when the history of the lab shows a culture in which employees are punished for revealing wrongdoing. Prospective whistle-blowers are afraid to approach their superiors at the lab about waste, fraud, abuse and national security breaches because of what has happened to those who did so earlier. Whistle-blowers are cast aside. Take, for example, the notorious case of onetime security officers Glenn Walp and Steven Doran. They were experienced law enforcement officers hired by the lab to clear up corruption. Several months into the job, they uncovered financial fraud and security problems, including more than 200 stolen or missing computers. They were fired. For months, leaders at Los Alamos lied about the severity of the problems being revealed by Walp and Doran. When all was said and done, UC shelled out more than $1 million in taxpayer-funded settlements to the two whistle-blowers. Then there's the case of John Jennings. Jennings worked for Peter Bussolini, a senior lab official who was recently indicted on charges of defrauding the taxpayers of $328,000 in personal purchases, including camping gear. After Jennings alerted lab authorities about his boss' alleged fraud, the lab disclosed to Bussolini that Jennings was talking. Despite the fact that Bussolini allegedly threatened his life, Jennings courageously continued to assist an FBI investigation into the case. What thanks did Jennings get for exposing this corruption? He was transferred from his old job and is sitting, to this day, in an office with nothing to do. In 2003, Los Alamos managers were caught red-handed thwarting an investigation into problems at the lab. They advised employees to "resist the temptation to spill your guts" and commented that "handwritten notes are especially damaging they are not easily disavowed." Management told employees in a memo that "finger-pointing will just make the program look bad." Surely these managers should have been reprimanded. But instead, the top official in the nuclear weapons complex, Undersecretary of Energy Linton Brooks, defended the comments in a memo, saying they "provide appropriate cautions for organizations undergoing inspections." Corruption investigations go nowhere unless someone on the inside provides information to break the case. Yet, again and again, good citizens at Los Alamos who come forward are ostracized and abused, simply to protect the image of the lab and the Department of Energy. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, like many of his predecessors, has called for an end to whistle-blower retaliation. But like those before him, Abraham will fail without systemic policy changes to improve accountability and without underlings committed to making changes. Abraham is unlikely to find this in Brooks. Brooks' two-year watch over the complex has been plagued by an unprecedented number of security breaches and a management staff more dedicated to plugging the leaks than fixing the problem. Given the severity and quantity of the breaches, one would have thought that Brooks would embrace Abraham's new security improvements. Yet in internal documents, Brooks has been at odds with the new directions at the Department of Energy. Even worse, his actions sustain and nurture a culture of retaliation rather than honesty. * Danielle Brian is executive director of the Project on Government Oversight, a nonprofit government watchdog. Peter Stockton is a project senior investigator and was a special assistant on security issues to then- Energy Secretary Bill Richardson. If you want other stories on this topic, search the Archives at latimes.com/archives. Article licensing and reprint options Copyright 2004 Los Angeles Times ***************************************************************** 64 Hanford News: Audit: Hanford needs to improve emergency plan This story was published Thursday, August 12th, 2004 By Annette Cary, Herald staff writer Hanford needs a comprehensive plan to continue essential functions during an emergency to protect the public and workers, according to an audit of the Department of Energy's Office of Inspector General. The audit released Wednesday looked at Hanford and four other DOE sites, finding all could do a better job of planning for emergencies and correcting weaknesses identified during emergency preparedness exercises. A draft report of the audit said Hanford was not adequately prepared to maintain or resume operations or fully protect employees and the public in a disaster. But that language was removed after DOE's Richland Operations office argued that the findings of the audit supported the need for improvements, not the condemnation of its entire program. "Hanford has demonstrated the ability to protect workers and the public in actual emergencies and many exercises," wrote DOE's Richland office in its comments. Hanford has identified some essential facilities that need to be protected and secured in an emergency, such as an accident or a terrorist attack, the audit said. It also found that vital records and databases are protected, but still would be readily available. But more work needs to be done. The audit called for an up-to-date plan of succession for key managers in an emergency and identification of essential functions, not just facilities, needed to continue operations and emergency management. The audit also said Hanford needed a detailed plan that can be tested. Auditors also were concerned that during a Hanford emergency drill in 2002, people posing as contaminated victims were not properly identified or segregated. The same problem occurred again in 2003, the report found. The DOE Richland office responded that the vast majority of weaknesses found in drills conducted every three months are corrected. The drills are subject to "a very critical evaluation," the office said. Hanford has had problems in past emergencies, such as the 1997 explosion in a tank at the Plutonium Finishing Plant. Eight workers were exposed to fumes when they were ordered to go outside and through the chemical plume. Respirators were missing or did not work. Take-cover procedures were ignored. City and county governments were not notified until three hours after the explosion, even though the legal reporting time is 15 minutes. Emergency training and procedures were revised after the explosion, and some more recent incidents have been handled better. When radioactive emission alarms went off at the K East Basin in 2003, Hanford workers followed appropriate procedures that included evacuating the basin and requiring 800 workers in the area to take cover to avoid exposure to airborne contamination. Boats were cleared from the Columbia River. The alarms turned out to be false. © 2004 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 65 Hanford News: Fluor Hanford pays record $935,000 fine levied by DOE This story was published Friday, August 13th, 2004 By Annette Cary, Herald staff writer Fluor Hanford on Thursday paid a $935,000 fine, the largest penalty assessed by the Department of Energy against a Hanford contractor. Fluor Hanford was fined for multiple and extensive safety violations as it prepared to start pumping sludge from Hanford's K Basins in spring 2003, according to DOE. The proposed fine was announced last month. Fluor Hanford President Ron Gallagher said then that he was disappointed with the fine because the Hanford contractor had made substantial improvements in the last year. Workers began pumping some of the least contaminated sludge from the K Basins in June. Fluor and DOE also have a proposed a new plan that would speed up treatment and disposal of the sludge by a decade and get the concrete basins removed as much as five years sooner than proposed in past schedules. The fine was brought in part because Fluor Hanford did not correct safety problems by 2003 for which its predecessor, Fluor Daniel, was fined $330,000 in 1999, according to DOE. DOE also found "a significant breakdown in management controls related to oversight of the project by all levels" of Fluor management, according to a statement issued by DOE. The problems occurred before April 2003 as Fluor Hanford pushed to begin retrieving radioactive sludge from the K East Basin, a million-gallon, leak-prone pool of contaminated water 400 yards from the Columbia River. Highly radioactive spent nuclear fuel was stored decades longer than planned in the K East Basin and the nearby K West Basin. It corroded and broke apart in the pools, adding to a sludge of windblown desert sand and sloughing concrete that's collected in their bottoms. Fluor had been required to start pumping sludge from the more contaminated K East Basin by the end of 2002. As it prepared to start pumping several months late in spring 2003, DOE workers discovered that safety equipment was inadequate. A readiness review by Fluor needed to start pumping was halted after four days. Investigations that followed by DOE and Fluor Hanford identified what Fluor described as "pervasive and significant design and quality assurance deficiencies that ranged from significant safety issues with equipment not installed as designed to minor inconsistencies in documentation." © 2004 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 66 Hanford News: DOE empties liquid from old tanks This story was published Friday, August 13th, 2004 By Annette Cary, Herald staff writer After 28 years, Hanford workers have stopped pumping liquid radioactive and chemical waste from its oldest, leak-prone tanks. Federal and state officials are expecting to announce Aug. 23 that all pumpable liquid waste has been emptied from 149 single shell tanks. "We have shut the pumps off. We believe it's done," said Steve Wiegman, senior technical adviser for the Department of Energy's Office of River Protection. The completion of the work will significantly reduce the threat of further contamination of the ground water beneath Hanford, which flows toward the Columbia River. "From the perspective of safety and risk reduction, this is one of the last things we've had to do to reduce the risk of the tank farms" before tank waste is treated at the vitrification plant under construction, Wiegman said. The best estimate is that 1 million gallons have leaked from 67 of Hanford's single shell tanks, some of which were built during World War II. However, drilling and sampling is being done now to confirm environmental damage. The first data from the project indicates that less than 1 million gallons may have leaked. Some may have reached the ground water, but none is believed to have reached the Columbia River. Since pumps were shut off in the last few tanks, workers have been watching waste settle in the tanks to make sure all the pumpable liquid is out. DOE and the Washington State Department of Ecology will make the call on whether as much liquid as possible has been done and the project is completed. Workers began filling huge underground tanks with waste in 1944 as they raced to make the plutonium for the bomb that was dropped on Nagasaki to end World War II. The waste was generated as the irradiated uranium fuel was treated with chemicals to remove plutonium. The single-shell tanks built during World War II were meant only for temporary storage. But Hanford continued to build single-shell tanks, some with 4 million gallon capacity, for 20 years without a plan for what to do permanently with the high-level radioactive waste. In the mid-1950s, Hanford officials confirmed some of the tanks were leaking. But not until 1976 did work begin to pump waste into newer and safer double-shell tanks, also arranged underground in fields or "farms." Hanford's 28 double-shell tanks are not believed to have leaked. Work proceeded sporadically, however. During Hanford's production years through the Cold War, waste could only be emptied from older tanks into newer tanks when they had excess capacity not needed to hold waste from Hanford's ongoing plutonium production for the nation's defense mission. Eventually, Hanford began a continuous program of emptying the tanks. But it took the threat of a suit by the state of Washington in 1998 to push the project ahead. The pumping originally was supposed to be complete in 1995. "We've had it. Enough is enough," said Gov. Gary Locke in 1998. In a consent decree in U.S. Federal Court, new deadlines were established with a final requirement that all pumpable liquid waste be removed from single-shell tanks by Sept. 30, 2004. The work has been difficult and slow, particularly after the liquid that sat on top of the solids in the tank had been removed. Tanks include liquid waste and solids, which include a salt cake pockmarked like pumice with tiny holes. The water inside the salt cake "drains very, very slowly," Wiegman said. Some of the liquid waste has tended to gel once it's removed from the tanks, making it difficult to pump to the double-shell tanks. "There's also the challenge of keeping the hardware operating," he said. Pumps were required to run for long periods in harsh conditions. The leaks are just one of the risks the tanks have posed. Hanford workers already have dealt with tanks that spontaneously heated up to dangerous temperatures and tanks with the potential for buildups of flammable gas. There also was a fear that ferrocyanide added to tanks might be explosive. Those risks were eliminated by the end of 2001. Now, work has begun to start removing solids from the single-shell tanks. Tank waste will be turned into glass logs at a $5.7 billion vitrification plant under construction at Hanford or turned into glass blocks using an alternate technology for permanent disposal. When the tanks are officially declared empty of pumpable liquid as is expected later this month, officials who pushed for the work to be completed are expected to visit Hanford to celebrate with workers. They include Washington Attorney General Christine Gregoire and U.S. Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash. © 2004 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 67 L.A. Daily News: Test well drilled next to field lab Article Published: Friday, August 13, 2004 - Geologists checking area for radioactivity By Kerry Cavanaugh Staff Writer Geologists on Friday finished drilling a sampling well next to the site of an old nuclear-reactor meltdown at the Santa Susana Field Lab, as regulators stepped up their search for radioactivity in the groundwater. The new test wells are being drilled after the discovery earlier this year of the radioactive isotope tritium in groundwater at four times the national drinking water limit. Although groundwater at the site is not used for drinking, the finding prompted the Department of Energy and the Boeing Co. to begin testing near other former reactor sites to track the contamination. Geologists drilled a 90-foot-deep well about 20 feet from the site of a 1959 reactor meltdown. The accident would have released radioactive material into the surrounding environment and has also been a particular concern for cleanup watchdogs. It took two days to drill into the rock and will take another two days for enough water to seep into the hole for sampling, hydrogeologist Christopher Brooks said. The test results should be back from the laboratory by Sept 9, when the DOE holds a meeting to update the public on the tritium investigation. "We are following through on our commitment we made in June to gather additional data on tritium in the groundwater and continuing to work on the characterization of that plume," said Mike Lopez, DOE project manager at the former Energy Technology Engineering Center, where the government funded nuclear research at the lab from the 1950s through the 1980s. DOE and Boeing officials have said the tritium levels pose no risk since the groundwater is not used. The ETEC site and the DOE cleanup has been closely watched by lab neighbors, who complain the federal agency's cleanup plan will leave in place 99 percent of the contaminated soil. The high levels of tritium found in groundwater 15 years after the cleanup began fueled neighbors' concerns that the DOE investigation was overlooking contamination. "This is very, very late and only a year or two before they plan to release the site from radiological control," said Dan Hirsch, whose group Committee to Bridge the Gap has joined with the Natural Resource Defense Council in plans to sue the DOE over the cleanup. Kerry Cavanaugh, (818) 713-3746 kerry.cavanaugh@dailynews.com Copyright © 2004 Los Angeles Daily News Los Angeles ***************************************************************** 68 Google News Alert - nuclear Date: Sun, 15 Aug 2004 15:18:27 -0700 (PDT) UN: Arab countries, Israel to attend forum on nuclear-free Mideast Ha'aretz - Israel The UN nuclear agency will next year host a conference, including Israel and Arab states, to discuss steps to make the Middle East into a zone free of nuclear ... See all stories on this topic: ISRAELI nuclear munitions within Iran's missile range: commander Tehran Times - Tehran,Iran TEHRAN (AFP) - A senior commander in the Revolutionary Guards Corps said that all Israeli military and nuclear sites are now within the range of the Islamic ... See all stories on this topic: NUCLEAR plant leak leaves 4 dead in Japan Xinhua - China The No. 3 reactor of Mihama nuclear plant in the northern city of Fukui, Japan is seen in this September, 2002 file picture. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo). ... See all stories on this topic: BETTER security sought at nuclear reactors Seattle Times - Seattle,WA,USA By Matthew L. Wald. MADISON, Wis. — The University of Wisconsin's nuclear reactor is an unassuming model, operated by students in T-shirts and shorts. ... See all stories on this topic: DOWNER to push North Korea on nuclear program ABC Online - Australia ... Australia's place in the region and its relationship with the United States to good advantage to try and encourage North Korea to dismantle its nuclear program ... See all stories on this topic: RUSSIA to develop strategic nuclear forces –Defense Minister ... ITAR-TASS - Moscow,Russia ST. PETERSBURG, August 15 (Itar-Tass) - Russia will “not only maintain fighting efficiency of the strategic nuclear forces but also develop and upgrade them ... See all stories on this topic: NRC confirms nuclear plants' operational preparedness Mid-Hudson News - Newburgh,NY,USA As part of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's response to the outage, the NRC inspected all 103 operational nuclear power plans to assess the licensees ... MORE WMD tension, this time with Iran Kansas City Star (subscription) - Kansas City,MO,USA Convinced that Iran is covertly speeding toward making nuclear weapons, the Bush administration has begun a diplomatic campaign to sharply increase the ... See all stories on this topic: This daily-once News Alert is brought to you by Google News (BETA)... - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Remove this News Alert: http://www.google.com/newsalerts/remove?s=92d1672a1b037a07&hl=en Create another News Alert: http://www.google.com/newsalerts?hl=en Try Google News: http://news.google.com/ ***************************************************************** 69 Google News Alert - nuclear Date: Sat, 14 Aug 2004 17:24:55 -0700 (PDT) NELSON: No regrets in state's decision to reject nuclear waste ... Kansas City Star (subscription) - Kansas City,MO,USA ... Ben Nelson does not regret state officials' decision six years ago to deny a license for a low-level nuclear waste dump in northeast Nebraska, he said Saturday ... See all stories on this topic: JAPANESE utility to temporarily shut down all nuclear plants eTaiwan News - Taipei,Taiwan A Japanese utility said yesterday it will temporarily shut down all of its nuclear power facilities to conduct safety checks, following this week's deadly ... See all stories on this topic: ACTIVISTS fret over nuclear plant missteps Toledo Blade - Toledo,OH,USA The state's largest environmental group yesterday questioned the Nuclear Regulatory Commission about what it believes is a worrisome pattern of safety issues ... See all stories on this topic: TRIDENT base fire ignites fears over nuclear safety Sunday Herald - Glasgow,Scotland,UK A LEADING nuclear expert has warned that a fire scare at the River Clyde’s nuclear submarine base late on Friday could have sparked a catastrophe. ... BIG bogeyman on UW campus? Minneapolis Star Tribune (subscription) - Minneapolis,MN,USA -- The University of Wisconsin's nuclear reactor is an unassuming little model, operated (on Tuesdays and Thursdays only) by students in T-shirts and shorts. ... DOWNER'S North Korea trip a part of chequered career New Zealand Herald - Auckland,New Zealand Downer will be in North Korea on August 17-18, attempting to mediate in a stand-off over Pyongyang's nuclear weapons programme after speaking to US National ... See all stories on this topic: N.KOREA talks may be delayed till September-report Reuters AlertNet - London,England,UK SEOUL, Aug 14 (Reuters) - The next round of working level talks to pave the way for more six-way negotiations on North Korea's nuclear programmes may be ... See all stories on this topic: This daily-once News Alert is brought to you by Google News (BETA)... - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Remove this News Alert: http://www.google.com/newsalerts/remove?s=92d1672a1b037a07&hl=en Create another News Alert: http://www.google.com/newsalerts?hl=en Try Google News: http://news.google.com/ ***************************************************************** NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. For more information go to: *****************************************************************