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NUCLEAR POLICY
1 BBC: Iran arrests dozens 'for spying'
2 AFP: Iran says several people arrested for nuclear spying
3 Las Vegas SUN: N. Korea, Libya in Possible Nuclear Link
4 BBC: UK announces landmark Korea visit
5 AFP: British minister to make landmark visit to North Korea
6 US: KRT Wire: The new nuclear nightmare
7 HindustanTimes: N-delivery systems not ready, says DRDO
NUCLEAR REACTORS
8 US: TMIA to provide free KI pills at Kipona
9 US: NIRS Appeals Licensing Board Denial at Grand Gulf expansion
10 US: NRC: NRC to Meet with Local Residents Tuesday in Sioux Falls to
11 Haaretz: Jordan to check for possible radiation from Dimona
12 People's Daily: Top Chinese leaders visit nuclear industry show
13 US: Boston.com: Vt. eyes Yankee safety margin
14 US: petroleumworld UPI Analysis: Nuclear power gaining popularity
15 Sofia Morning News: Nuke Plant Awaits Financial Consultant
16 US: NRC: Southern Nuclear Operating Company, Inc.; Alabama Power Com
17 US: NRC: In the Matter of Honeywell International, Inc., Metropolis
18 US: NRC: Sunshine Act Meeting
19 AFP: Putin says Iran must not become nuclear power
NUCLEAR SAFETY
20 US: [DU-WATCH] FWD: Pentagon Brass Rattled by Uranium Munitions
21 THE REAL DIRTY BOMBS: DEPLETED URANIUM
22 Nuclear Chemical plants security moot point
23 US: York Daily Record: POTASSIUM IODIDE: TMI Alert to hand out pills
24 Scotsman.com: British Atomic Blast has Jeopardised Blair's Health
NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE
25 [CMEP] Yucca delayed over document release fight
26 [du-list] UK Uranium dumps
27 [PUBCIT_PRESS] Yucca delayed over document release fight
28 Las Vegas SUN: GOP approves platform including support for nuclear r
29 Las Vegas SUN: NRC panel says Energy Department missed key Yucca doc
30 US: The Australian: 'Take blame' for Ranger problems
31 US: The Australian: Uranium mine shut after leak inquiry
32 Guardian Unlimited: Energy's achilles heel - Nuclear waste
33 Las Vegas RJ: GOP backs nuclear repository
34 NRC: NRC Licensing Board Issues Decision on Adequacy of Doe Document
35 Las Vegas SUN: Republicans reaffirm stance on nuke dump
36 US: AU ABC: Ranger mine owners urged to overhaul safety standards.
NUCLEAR WEAPONS
US DEPT. OF ENERGY
37 White House Brawl Over Weapons Workers
38 Las Vegas SUN: White House in Brawl Over Weapons Workers
39 Tri-City Herald: Bulk vitrification testing under way
40 lamonitor.com: Headline News Safety board adds new rep
OTHER NUCLEAR
41 [du-list] Nuclear Week in Review Vol. 85
42 Google News Alert - nuclear
43 [du-list] DU in the news - 1 Sept 04
44 News & Analysis: Cold Fusion Back From the Dead
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FULL NEWS STORIES
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1 BBC: Iran arrests dozens 'for spying'
Last Updated: Tuesday, 31 August, 2004
[Iran's Bushehr nuclear plant]
Iran has been accused of keeping some of its nuclear activities
secret
Iran says it has arrested dozens of people for allegedly spying
on the country's nuclear programme.
Intelligence Minister Ali Younesi said some of those detained
were suspected of passing nuclear secrets to what he termed
Iran's enemies.
He said most were linked to the Iranian opposition group based in
Iraq, the People's Mujahedin Organisation (MKO).
He blamed the group for leaks about Iran's nuclear activities,
currently under investigation by the UN.
Correspondents say tension over Iran's nuclear activities has
increased in the run-up to a meeting of the UN's nuclear agency,
the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), later this month.
There is no information on when the arrests took place, nor on
the nationality of those detained.
Mr Younesi was speaking to reporters during "government week",
when ministers habitually give a run-down of their performance in
office.
The MKO has in the past made public two undeclared nuclear sites
in 2002, alleging they were part of a secret nuclear weapons
programme.
One was a large uranium enrichment facility in Natanz, the other
a heavy water production facility in Arak.
Alleged military activities
The IAEA is investigating Iran to find out the extent of Iran's
nuclear programme and, in particular, whether it is secretly
trying to build a nuclear weapon.
In the past it has criticised Iran for not declaring all its
activities and it is now checking to see if Iran is complying
with the inspection rules.
Washington has accused Tehran outright of attempting to build a
nuclear bomb.
Iran says it is attempting to develop a civil nuclear energy
programme because its oil reserves are limited.
*****************************************************************
2 AFP: Iran says several people arrested for nuclear spying
TEHRAN (AFP) Aug 31, 2004
Iran's Intelligence Minister Ali Yunessi said Tuesday that
"several people" have been arrested for spying on the country's
nuclear programme, the official news agency IRNA reported
Tuesday.
The minister said those arrested "were sending information on
Iran's nuclear activities abroad", but did not say when the
arrests took place.
"The Monafeqin (hypocrites) played the main role in transferring
the information," he said, referring to the People's Mujahedeen,
Iran's main armed opposition group that is based in Iraq.
The Mujahedeen first began disclosing information on the
clerical regime's nuclear activities in mid-2002, before the
launch of a major probe by the UN nuclear watchdog, the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Yunessi was speaking to reporters during "government week", when
ministers habitually give a run-down of their performance in
office.
"The department of counter-espionage in the intelligence
ministry possesses the most modern technology and controls the
infiltration of foreign spying services," he said, adding that
in total "tens of spies in all domains" had been picked up.
All rights reserved. © 2004 . Sections of the information
*****************************************************************
3 Las Vegas SUN: N. Korea, Libya in Possible Nuclear Link
August 30, 2004 By GEORGE JAHN ASSOCIATED PRESS
VIENNA, Austria (AP) - Some nuclear technology ordered by Libya
for its former weapons program is missing, while the origin of
other material is unclear, the U.N. nuclear watchdog said Monday,
raising concerns about where the equipment is and whether North
Korea could have been a provider.
The IAEA findings on Libya's now dismantled nuclear weapons
program were circulated to diplomats in a confidential report
obtained by The Associated Press ahead of a meeting of the
agency's board of governors. That meeting, which starts Sept. 13,
will review the progress of IAEA investigations into secret
nuclear activities by Libya and Iran.
The Iran report is expected to be released to diplomats in the
next few days. While Iran denies accusations by the United States
and others that its nuclear program is geared toward making
weapons, Libya went public about its weapons programs in December
and pledged to scrap them.
In the report Monday, the agency credited Libya with cooperation
in efforts to get to the bottom of its activities, but said some
questions remained.
Among them was the issue of some "enrichment technology" that was
missing after Libya ordered but never received it.
The report also said the origin of two cylinders of uranium
hexaflouride remains unknown. The material is introduced into
centrifuges and spun to enrich it. Uranium enriched to 90 percent
or above is considered weapons grade and is used in the
manufacture of warheads.
The report confirmed that uranium hexaflouride was bought in 2000
"from a foreign supplier," but came to no conclusion of where the
substance originated from.
A senior diplomat familiar with the Libyan investigation said the
agency remained uncertain about whether the uranium hexaflouride
was purchased on the black market from Pakistan or North Korea.
While Pakistan was the source of much of the enrichment
technology peddled by the black market network of Pakistani
scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan, North Korea has also been mentioned
previously by experts and diplomats as a possible source for
Libya's uranium hexaflouride.
North Korea admitted in 2002 to running a secret nuclear program
in violation of international agreements. The isolated communist
nation subsequently broke all agreements with the IAEA that had
allowed outside monitoring of some of its programs.
On the missing equipment, the report said investigations continue
on enrichment technology "destined for Libya ... (that) never
arrived." It did not say what the material was.
The diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the
investigations focused on whether the equipment "ended up in the
hands of another country or it's sitting on a dock somewhere and
was never shipped."
"This is one of the big questions," said the diplomat. "Where did
the other stuff go?"
While the agency has not found any indications that
weapons-related technology has been sold by the nuclear network
to terrorists, another diplomat said nothing could be discounted
until all shipments sold on the black market had been accounted
for.
The report also noted Libya's assertion that it never acted to
develop a nuclear warhead based on blueprints found in its
possession.
But the report suggested the agency could not test that claim
until "the provider of the weapon design" and contractors who
helped Libya develop its nuclear technology came forward with
more information. Diplomats and experts have said the blueprints
are of Chinese design and sold by the Khan network The senior
diplomat said that, without such help, the agency cannot tell if
the blueprints were passed on to others interested in developing
a clandestine weapons program.
--- On the Net: International Atomic Energy Agency: www.iaea.org
--
All contents copyright 2004 Las Vegas SUN, Inc.
*****************************************************************
4 BBC: UK announces landmark Korea visit
Last Updated: Tuesday, 31 August, 2004
[North Korean soldiers]
Talks continue about North Korean weapons
Foreign Office Minister Bill Rammell is set to become the first
British minister to visit North Korea.
The historic trip is expected to take place next month.
It will focus on the international community's efforts to
persuade North Korea to give up its ambitions of developing
nuclear weapons.
Mr Rammell also plans to raise the issue of human rights abuses
when he meets North Korean Foreign Minister Paek Nam Sun and
other senior figures.
Talks first
The Foreign Office's chief expert on human rights will accompany
the minister on the trip.
Mr Rammell told BBC Radio 4's World At One that North Korea,
which set up an embassy in London last year, has wanted a British
minister to visit for some time.
It had not previously been thought appropriate as the country had
not been prepared to discuss human rights - something which had
now changed.
I want to get beyond t automatic denials Bill Rammell Foreign
Office Minister
"I am not naive," said Mr Rammell. "I think this is going to be a
long haul but the fact they are prepared to engage in that
process I regard as some sign of progress."
Claims about human rights abuses in North Korea were some of the
worst he had seen.
"I want to get beyond the automatic denials," he said.
Coordinated?
The minister said he would voice "deep concern" at North Korea's
nuclear programme and British support for the six-party talks on
the issue.
He plans to point to Libya as an example of the progress that can
be made when a country starts to renounce weapons of mass
destruction programmes.
His trip follows a visit by Australian Foreign Minister Alexander
Downer to Pyongyang earlier this month to discuss the nuclear
weapons stand-off.
Mr Rammell said he wanted to ensure there was a consistent
message from the international community on the issue.
His visit will not be limited to North Korean capital Pyongyang
and as well as meeting government figures, he is expected to hold
talks with non-governmental organisations.
Welcome
North Korea claims to have nuclear weapons and to be working on
building up its arsenal but it is difficult for the rest of the
world to verify these claims.
A third round of six-party talks about the weapons, involving
North Korea, South Korea, China, America, Japan and Russia, were
held in Beijing in June and another round is planned for next
month.
The chairman of the all-party British-North Korea parliamentary
group, Lord Alton, applauded the planned visit.
The British government had been right to link security questions
with human rights, he said, and the logical conclusion was
face-to-face talks.
"I don't think we've got anything to fear from engagement," he
told BBC News Online, saying that process was not a kind of
appeasement.
US message?
Lord Alton, a former Liverpool MP, visited North Korea last year
and said more than 2m people had died through starvation because
of the country's isolation.
He said it would be wrong to think North Korea was incapable of
change.
Andrew Kennedy, head of the Asia programme at the Royal United
Services Institute in London, said Britain had no vested
interests in North Korea.
North Korean officials believed they could get their message to
the US through British ministers, without the connotations of a
meeting with US officials, he said.
*****************************************************************
5 AFP: British minister to make landmark visit to North Korea
LONDON (AFP) Aug 31, 2004
British junior foreign minister Bill Rammell will make a
landmark visit to North Korea next month to discuss Pyongyang's
human rights record and controversial nuclear programme, the
Foreign Office said Tuesday.
The trip by Rammell, whose areas of responsibility include East
Asia, will be the first visit to North Korea by a British
government minister, it said in a statement.
During the visit -- the exact date of which was not announced --
Rammell will meet North Korean Foreign Minister Paek Nam Sun and
other senior figures in the Stalinist state.
Rammell said that Britain, which first established diplomatic
relations with Pyongyang in December 2000, "genuinely wants to
engage with North Korea".
"I believe the time is right for a British minister to visit, as
the North Koreans have for the first time agreed that they are
willing to discuss with us the human rights situation in North
Korea," he said in a statement.
"I will be holding high-level discussions with North Korean
Foreign Minister Paek Nam Sun, and other senior figures, on a
range of issues including North Korea's nuclear programme and
its human rights record."
Rammell said he would press North Korea over its apparent quest
for nuclear weapons, a crisis which began in October 2002 when
the United States accused Pyongyang of operating a secret
nuclear programme based on enriched uranium.
Talks involving North Korea and the United States along with
China, Japan, Russia and South Korea have failed to break the
deadlock.
"I will express to the North Korean authorities the UK's deep
concern at the DPRK's nuclear programme and our full support for
the six party talks process," Rammell said, using North Korea's
official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
"North Korea's nuclear programme is a matter of great concern
for the entire international community. I will urge North Korea
to remain committed to the agreed objectives of the talks
process, namely the de-nuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula,"
he said.
The minister said he would also express concern about "the
dreadful reports that we continue to hear about the human rights
situation" in North Korea.
"I want to get beyond the automatic denials. I will urge the
North Korean authorities to comply with the resolutions of the
UN Commission on Human Rights," Rammell said.
"My visit is the first time North Korea has agreed to human
rights talks with the UK. The Foreign Office's chief human
rights expert will accompany me."
All rights reserved. © 2004 Agence France-Presse. Sections of
*****************************************************************
6 KRT Wire: The new nuclear nightmare
Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service
(KRT) - The following editorial appeared in the Chicago Tribune
on Sunday, Aug. 29, 2004:
About half a century ago, President Dwight Eisenhower and his
aides had what seemed to be a brilliant idea to avert a nuclear
arms race. It came to be called "Atoms for Peace." Those who had
nuclear weapons, mainly the Soviet Union and the United States,
would help those who didn't have such weapons develop peaceful
nuclear energy projects, like power reactors. In return, those
nations were expected not to divert uranium to build a bomb.
The idea backfired disastrously. It hastened the spread of
nuclear technology - and weapons - around the world. Moreover, it
stoked a lucrative private competition to supply such technology
to more and more countries and demolished any attempts even to
partially stuff the nuclear genie back in the bottle.
Now the world faces a looming threat. Osama bin Laden has spoken
of acquiring nuclear weapons as a "religious duty." North Korea
may have as many as eight bombs, and has reportedly begun selling
key ingredients for making bombs to other countries. Iran is
playing a cat-and-mouse game with the United Nations' nuclear
inspectors while it continues work that will enable it to build
its own bomb.
Earlier this year, a vast nuclear black market was exposed, its
tendrils leading no one knows exactly where. But this is certain:
All the nuclear technology and know-how needed to make a bomb was
for sale, short of the actual fissile material, to the highest
bidders. The market, led by Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul
Qadeer Khan, was thriving, dramatically accelerating the
capability of North Korea, Iran and Libya to build bombs.
That black market - dubbed the "nuclear Wal-Mart" - has exploded
a decade of assumptions and presumptions about how effective
efforts to prevent nuclear proliferation have been.
Even the normally cautious director of the International Atomic
Energy Agency, Mohamed ElBaradei, has been speaking bluntly about
the need for urgent reform in the treaties and agreements that
are supposed to limit the spread of nuclear weapons.
"If the world does not change course," he wrote, "we risk
self-destruction."
That is not hyperbole. A bomb far more powerful than those
exploded at Hiroshima and Nagasaki in World War II can now fit
into a car trunk.
On July 1, 1968, the United States and dozens of other countries
signed the nuclear nonproliferation treaty. It sought to freeze
the number of nuclear nations at five - the United States,
France, Britain, the Soviet Union and China - while helping
nations that forswore nuclear weapons to build peaceful nuclear
reactors.
The nonproliferation treaty and the International Atomic Energy
Agency, or IAEA, which was empowered to monitor treaty
compliance, have failed to halt the spread of the bomb.
Determined cheaters could, and did, develop weapons in secret,
capitalizing on the expertise gained legitimately from nuclear
nations.
The current web of international treaties and controls on nuclear
weapons and power reactors was set up for a far different world.
For one thing, these agreements were targeted at nations. They
were not designed to deal with the likelihood that a terrorist
group would, at some point, attempt to buy, steal or build a
bomb, or detonate radioactive material in a so-called dirty bomb.
All those frightful possibilities are more likely now.
In June 2003, Eliza Manningham-Buller, director of Britain's
domestic intelligence service, MI5, told a London think tank that
renegade scientists have helped Al Qaeda in its effort to develop
chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear weapons, or CBRN.
"Sadly, given the widespread proliferation of the technical
knowledge to construct these weapons, it will only be a matter of
time before a crude version of a CBRN attack is launched at a
major Western city and only a matter of time before that crude
version becomes something more sophisticated," she said.
The United States seems to agree. The federal government
reportedly is resurrecting a scientific art that had faded since
the cold war: fallout analysis. That's the ability to quickly
trace the roots of a nuclear explosion to who detonated it and
where the nuclear material originated.
There is no way to rid the world of this threat. It can be
reduced, but not eliminated. It would be simpler if it were only
a matter of dismantling nuclear weapons, but it's not. There are
hundreds of tons of the materials needed to build bombs - highly
enriched uranium or plutonium - all over the world. Some of it is
well guarded, some not. Some is used in hundreds of civilian
reactors, often located on university campuses, used for
research, training and medicine.
By one estimate, there's enough highly enriched uranium and
plutonium already in the world to fuel at least 100,000 nuclear
weapons. There are plants in several countries churning out even
more enriched material.
Ever since Atoms for Peace, there has been talk of banning the
manufacture of more bomb-grade materials for weapons and even for
peaceful uses. Unfortunately, that has come to nothing. And even
if a ban were enacted tomorrow, the threat would still be
immense. Because the threat is so diverse, there is no magic
bullet, no single approach, to thwart it.
Diplomacy alone won't do it. Some nuclear nations - notably
India, Pakistan and Israel - haven't even signed the
nonproliferation treaty. There's no way to stop the nuclear trade
without international law enforcement and an enhanced global
intelligence effort. A U.S.-led effort, known as the
Proliferation Security Initiative, scored a huge coup in recent
months, forcing the shutdown of Libya's nuclear weapons program
and exposing the underground nuclear bazaar.
Earlier this year, Russia joined the effort, another positive
development. The United States and Russia must secure and
dismantle weapons and weapons-grade materials in the former
Soviet Union and elsewhere. Behind that must be a credible allied
military threat against any nation that seeks to secretly develop
nuclear weapons.
Diplomatic efforts have not been entirely feckless. Over the
years, those efforts have helped to restrain many nations from
developing weapons and spreading nuclear technology. More nations
have abandoned nascent efforts to acquire or develop nuclear
weapons than now possess them. Egypt, Sweden, Germany,
Switzerland, Italy, Yugoslavia, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea,
Australia, Libya, Argentina and Brazil have considered and
abandoned the goal of going nuclear.
Sweden and Switzerland, however, are not Iran and Iraq. The
difficulty that Saddam Hussein's Iraq had in trying to build the
bomb was not a testament to the international atomic agency,
which was completely bamboozled.
Iraq came perilously close to succeeding. David Albright, who
worked as an agency weapons inspector there, says the Iraqis were
hampered by inexperience, poor management and technical mistakes.
One example: A technical error in the melting of uranium metal
caused so much to be wasted that there wasn't enough left for a
bomb. The world can't rely on such luck to stop the spread of
nuclear weapons.
The first step to controlling nuclear proliferation has to be the
creation of a potent IAEA, empowered to focus on blowing the
whistle early on countries such as Iran and North Korea. The idea
should be to alert the world to nuclear outlaws more quickly than
is accomplished now - and to act on that information. As it is,
the IAEA is so bound by its narrow rules, it still hasn't
declared Iran is seeking to build nuclear weapons.
Gary Milhollin of the Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control
rightly has called the IAEA's response "the blunder of the
century."
For many years the world assumed that the horrific consequences
of a nuclear explosion, and the threat of nuclear retaliation,
were deterrent enough. That's no longer the case. Terrorists,
living in their shadowy worlds, cannot be deterred in the way
that nations can. There are no economic or political capitals of
terrorism to target for retaliation.
The task, then, is evident: to make it as difficult as possible
for terrorists or rogue states to buy, steal or develop nuclear
weapons. As the world's only superpower, the United States can
set a nuclear agenda for the world. With its economic and
diplomatic clout, it can make things happen.
It won't be easy. Many countries with nuclear capabilities shun
more international controls, often because they're costly to
enforce and threaten to cut into lucrative nuclear markets.
Treaties alone won't do it. A treaty is still just a piece of
paper. Terrorists don't sign treaties. Those nations that would
help them often don't abide by treaties.
The world is a far different place than was envisioned by Atoms
for Peace. In the 1950s, some officials, including some top
Soviets, apparently protested to Ike that his Atoms for Peace
idea could easily spread weapons-grade materials - and the
potential to build bombs - worldwide, writes Paul Leventhal,
founding president of the Nuclear Control Institute. The U.S.
response? "Ways will be found" to prevent that.
Fifty-one years later, it's obvious that those ways never were
found. That doesn't mean a nuclear holocaust is inevitable. But
it does mean that the world cannot afford to believe in
serendipity to protect itself from the most devastating weapons
ever devised.
At the dawn of the nuclear age, Eisenhower's aides comforted
themselves with one myth. As the 21st-century nuclear threat
grows and evolves, world leaders have been clinging to another:
that the world's most dangerous weapons could be kept out of the
hands of terrorists through diplomacy and good intentions.
We cling to that myth at our peril.
---
© 2004, Chicago Tribune.
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7 HindustanTimes: N-delivery systems not ready, says DRDO
Vishal Thapar New Delhi, August 31
Six years after it entered the nuclear club with Pokhran-II,
India is still not ready with its missile-based nuclear delivery
systems, the outgoing chief of the Defence Research and
Development Organisation (DRDO), V.K. Aatre, confirmed on
Tuesday.
The upshot of Aatre's admission at a press conference is that
India is still a long way from acquiring credible nuclear
deterrence. On his last day in office, he said the Sunday launch
of the Agni-II intermediate-range ballistic missile was "to train
the army" to fire the nuclear-capable weapon.
The Agni-II is India's most potent nuclear delivery vehicle,
which, going by Aatre's disclosure, is not operational. The army,
which will be handling the Agnis, had never fired this missile
before. Similarly, the July 4 launch of the 700-km Agni A-I too
was to tutor the army in firing the missile. "At present, we are
handing over the Agni series missiles to the army," Aatre said.
The army has created two missile groups to handle the Agni A-I
and Agni-II respectively. When asked if the DRDO was part of the
groups, Aatre said: "We will be part of the missile groups if
necessary."
Sources also conceded that the 3,000 km-plus Agni-III missile was
still "six months to a year away from its first test-firing".
This means that, at present, India's only option for nuclear
retaliation is air-delivered glide bombs from the IAF's Jaguar,
Mirage and Sukhoi-30 fleets. Submarine-launched ballistic
missiles the best option are nowhere on the horizon.
Elaborating on his admission that the Agnis will take time to be
operationalised, Aatre said, "There will be test-firing of the
Agni missiles every year (in the near future)." However, he
insisted that the development process of the Agni series and
guidance systems was complete.
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8 TMIA to provide free KI pills at Kipona
Date: Tue, 31 Aug 2004 15:11:08 -0700
Three Mile Island Alert
315 Peffer Street
Harrisburg, PA 17102
717/233-7897
NEWS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contacts:
Bill Cologie Eric Epstein
717/234-7107 (Home/Office) 717/541-1101
Free Potassium Iodide Pills Available at Kipona
TMI-Alert Providing Anti-Radiation Pills to Area Residents
Harrisburg -- August 30, 2004 -- For the third straight year, Three Mile
Island Alert (TMIA) will hand out potassium iodide (KI) tablets to area
residents during the Kipona Festival on Labor Day weekend.
TMIA Chair and state Senate candidate Eric Epstein said, ³Unlike the
Pennsylvania Department of Health, we¹ll give the pills to anyone regardless
of where they live as there¹s no predicting where or when an accident might
occur or which way the wind will be blowing when it does.² The Department of
Health will only release the pills to those living within ten miles of a
nuclear power plant.
In the event of a radiation release, radioactive iodine may be released into
the air. It tends to accumulate in the thyroid glands of those who ingest or
inhale it and can lead to health problems including cancers. People are
advised to take one KI tablet. The KI fills the thyroid with a benign form
of iodine, thereby preventing radioactive iodine from accumulating there.
After Kipona, any pills not given away, will be available for sale at below
market prices at Transit News in the Harrisburg Transportation Center.
-30-
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9 NIRS Appeals Licensing Board Denial at Grand Gulf expansion
Date: Tue, 31 Aug 2004 15:11:09 -0700
image0012.gifimage002.gif
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 27, 2004
CONTACT: Michael Mariotte & Paul Gunter, NIRS, 202 328 0002
Brendan Hoffman, Public Citizen, 202 454 5130
Environmental, Civil Rights and Consumer Advocates Appeal NRC Licensing
Board Denial of Public Hearing on Environmental Justice Issues at
Grand Gulf Nuclear Power Station Expansion
Washington, DC- Today a coalition of national organizations and their state
chapters filed an appeal to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)
challenging a decision by a federal Atomic Safety and Licensing Board
(ASLB) to deny a public hearing on environmental justice contentions. The
August 6, 2004 decision involved an application from the Entergy
Corporations for an Early Site Permitto build one or more new nuclear
reactors at its Grand Gulf site in Mississippi.
The appeal stated that the licensing board ignored factual evidence that
demonstrated a significant dispute on the adequacy of the application on
the environmental impacts of a new nuclear reactor on the minority and
low-income community living within a ten-mile radius of the Grand Gulf site
and also failed to explain its basis for rejecting the environmental
justice contentions. Claiborne County is 84% African American with more
than 32% living at or below the poverty line.
The appeal was filed by Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS),
Public Citizen, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
(NAACP) Chapter of Claiborne County, Miss., and the Mississippi Chapter of
the Sierra Club.
While the agencys stated goal is to encourage effective public
participationand meaningful community representation,the NRCs licensing
board gives the public short shrift in denying a hearing on the matter of
nuclear power and racial discrimination,said Michael Mariotte, Executive
Director of Washington, DC-based NIRS. The ASLB decision violates very
basic principles of fairness and environmental justiceit would be more
appropriate for apartheid-era South Africa than the United States of
America in 2004.
The appeal states: The ASLBs failure to explain its decision violates basic
principles of fairness in administrative proceedings, in three important
ways. The lack of an explanation for the ASLBs decision undermines
Appellantsability to mount an effective appeal in this proceeding, by
turning the appeal into a guessing game. It also frustrates the
Commissions ability to hold the ASLB accountable for rationality and
consistency in its administration of the law. Finally, the ASLBs failure
to explain its decision undermines the future administration of the
Commissions policies for consideration of environmental justice claims
under NEPA [National Environmental Policy Act].
The application failed to consider the disproportionate safety
and security risk to Claiborne County, due to its lack of economic and
material resources to respond to radiological emergencies,said Wenonah
Hauter, director of Public Citizens Critical Mass Energy and Environment
Program. Public health and participation should be the first priority of
the NRC.
The appellantsenvironmental justice contentions argue that
construction of a new reactor would have a disproportionate impact on the
community nearby. For example, the 10-mile emergency planning zone for
Grand Gulf lies completely within Claiborne County, and a 1986 Mississippi
tax law, promulgated shortly after Grand Gulf Unit-1 went online, has left
the county with insufficient resources to respond to an accident or attack
causing a release of radiation. As a result of this law, Claiborne County,
which carries the brunt of the responsibility for emergency planning and
preparedness for the nuclear power plant and its proposed expansion,
receives only 30% of the property tax revenue from the site a unique
situation among nuclear power plants in the U.S. The utilitys environmental
report failed to evaluate the disproportionate and adverse impact of this
discriminatory tax policy on emergency planning and preparedness that has
resulted in documented deficiencies in the county police, fire, hospitals,
and the maintenance of county roads needed for evacuation in the event of
an accident or act of sabotage.
Moreover, the environmental report also failed to mention the
low-income nature of the local population, and gave misleadingly low
numbers for the African-American population, resulting in an inadequate
assessment of the disproportionate impact on the local citizens.
To read the appeal, visit
http://www.citizen.org/documents/GGappeal.pdf.
-30-
This is the NIRS E-Mail Alert list. You are on this list because you signed
up on our website, at a NIRS table at a concert, on a petition, or directly
to NIRS. Your name and address are never sold, rented, or traded with
anyone for any reason.
For address changes or to unsubscribe, just send an e-mail to
nirsnet@nirs.org. If you have friends or colleagues who would like to be on
this list, have them send a note to nirsnet@nirs.org
Thank you! Michael Mariotte, Nuclear Information and Resource Service
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10 NRC: NRC to Meet with Local Residents Tuesday in Sioux Falls to Discuss Final Cleanup of Former
Nuclear Reactor Site
News Release - 2004-10 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office
of Public Affairs Telephone: 301/415-8200 Washington, DC
20555-0001 E-mail: opa@nrc.gov No. 04-100 August 30, 2004
NRC officials will meet with local residents Tuesday in Sioux
Falls, S.D., to discuss plans for the final cleanup of the
former Pathfinder nuclear reactor site and potential release of
the site for unrestricted use. Xcel Energy will provide an
overview of its proposed decommissioning activities and schedule
for Pathfinder, and NRC will discuss how it will review those
plans and oversee the cleanup, and answer questions from the
public.
NRC takes very seriously its responsibility to protect the
health and safety of those who live near or work at nuclear
facilities, said Chad J. Glenn, NRC Project Manager. This is
the final stage in our process of overseeing Pathfinder, and we
will make sure the site meets our decommissioning criteria and
is safe before we terminate the license.
The meeting will be held at the County Commission Meeting Room,
2nd floor of the County Administration Building, 415 N. Dakota
Avenue, from 7 to 9 p.m. NRC staff, as well as representatives
of Xcel Energy, will be available to discuss the project and
answer questions.
Northern States Power (now Xcel Energy), obtained an operating
license from the Atomic Energy Commission (predecessor to the
NRC) for the 66 megawatt facility in 1964. It conducted
low-power testing from March 1964 to September 1967, after which
the company shut it down for economic and other reasons. The
nuclear fuel was transferred offsite, and the operating license
was terminated. The plant then went into long-term storage, and
a license for possession of nuclear material, which is still in
effect, was issued in August 1972. In 1992, the license was
amended to allow for decommissioning of the reactor building and
fuel handling building. Xcel Energy now plans to complete
decommissioning of the site so that, if NRC approves, it can be
released for unrestricted use.
NRC actions to ensure protection of the public will include
inspections and confirmatory radiation surveys to provide
confidence that the site meets NRCs strict decommissioning
criteria.
Last revised Monday, August 30, 2004
*****************************************************************
11 Haaretz: Jordan to check for possible radiation from Dimona
News Updates Sun., August 29, 2004 Elul 12, 5764 Israel
By Yoav Stern, Haaretz Correspondent
Jordan will ask the United Nation's nuclear watchdog body to help
it check whether it has been affected by radiation from Israel's
nuclear reactor in Dimona.
The Jordanian newspaper Al-Rai reported Sunday that the Foreign
Ministry has asked the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
to send experts and equipment to "determine whether there is a
correlation between radiation from Dimona and the appearance of
unusual diseases in the area." In addition, the agency will be
asked to check radiation levels in the northeast of the Kingdom,
along the border with Iraq.
A debate between Jordanian citizens and officials over the issue
erupted last month after released Israeli nuclear whistleblower
Mordechai Vanunu told the London-based Al-Hayat newspaper that
the nuclear reactor in Dimona was operated only when the wind
blew in an easterly direction, toward the Kingdom. Vanunu's
remarks were followed by a public outcry, which continued even
after the government announced the matter had been checked in the
past.
A Jordanian delegation of legislators will travel Wednesday to
the region that borders with Israel just east of Dimona, in order
to assess the steps being implemented by the Jordanian government
to identify possible nuclear radiation.
Mordechai Vanunu attending a protest in favor of peaceful
opposition to Israel's occupation in Abu Dis, East Jerusalem on
Friday. (AP)
© Copyright Haaretz. All rights reserved
*****************************************************************
12 People's Daily: Top Chinese leaders visit nuclear industry show
UPDATED: 08:49, September 01, 2004
President Hu Jintao and Central Military Commission Chairman
Jiang Zeminvisited an exhibition on the achievements of
China's nuclear industry over the last five decades, on Monday
and Tuesday, respectively.
Other senior leaders, including Wen Jiabao, Zeng Qinghong, Huang
Ju, Wu Guanzheng, and Li Changchun, also visited the exhibition,
being held at the Military Museum of the Chinese People's
Revolution in Beijing.
During their visits, the top leaders studied the exhibits,
including photos, models and real objects related to China's
nuclear programs. Hu and Jiang showed special interest in the
progress in peaceful use of nuclear technology such as nuclear
power generation.
Hu, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China
Central Committee, attributed China's world-renowned achievements
in the nuclear industry to the major strategic decisions of the
Party and the strenuous efforts of Chinese scientists.
Jiang called for further development of the nuclear industry for
the sake of the nation and the people as well as humanity's lofty
causes of peace and development.
Copyright by People's Daily Online, all rights reserved
*****************************************************************
13 Boston.com: Vt. eyes Yankee safety margin
Vt. eyes Yankee safety margin Boston Globe MONTPELIER -- The
state is asking the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a hearing
on a safety issue connected with the Vermont Yankee nuclear
plant's request to increase its power output. David Gram
By David Gram, Associated Press | August 31, 2004
MONTPELIER -- The state is asking the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission for a hearing on a safety issue connected with the
Vermont Yankee nuclear plant's request to increase its power
output.
At issue is the plant's request to take credit for a safety
margin it believes would come into play in the event of extreme
accident conditions at the plant.
Also at issue is how well the plant has estimated safety margins
under the higher temperatures and pressures Vermont Yankee would
be operating at if it is granted permission to increase its power
level by 20 percent.
The NRC is expected to rule by January on whether Vermont
Yankee's owners, Entergy Nuclear, will be allowed to boost the
32-year-old reactor's output from its current 540 megawatts to
650 megawatts of capacity.
Plant officials believe high pressures that would exist in the
containment structure around the reactor in an accident would
cause cooling water pumps, which might otherwise begin to fail,
to keep operating normally.
z The state Department of Public Service said it was not
convinced that the plant should be given credit for that extra
margin of safety. ''We are asking the NRC to allow us to get
those questions answered before a decision is reached on approval
of the uprate," said DPS commissioner, David O'Brien.
''The state does not want to see the principle of `defense in
depth' eroded in any way," O'Brien said. ''This principle -- that
multiple safety systems are critical to protecting the public --
is really what is at stake here."
The department first raised its concern about the so-called
''containment overpressure" issue in a letter to the NRC in
December.
Neil Sheehan, a spokesman for the NRC's Northeast regional
office, said yesterday that the agency already had approved
efforts by 26 other reactors around the country that had sought
to take credit for containment overpressure when calculating
their safety margins.
''They would only get to the situation where they would have to
use this pressure under extreme accident conditions," Sheehan
said. ''It's an additional factor that would help them mitigate
the results of a severe accident."
Entergy spokesman Robert Williams said the plant's engineers
spent 10 months preparing before making their request for
permission to boost power. One of the questions they examined
related to containment overpressure.
He said they determined that under accident conditions, ''the
pressure would maintain the acceptable performance of the pumps.
What you want is a certain amount of water flowing back to the
reactor. The pressure would prevent boiling in the water on the
way to the pump. . . . We're confident that it's within the NRC
required safety margins," Williams said. [ /] © Copyright 2004
Globe Newspaper Company.
*****************************************************************
14 petroleumworld UPI Analysis: Nuclear power gaining popularity
UPI WASHINGTON Petroleumworld.com 08 31 04
Nuclear power has become increasingly popular worldwide,
particularly in the developing world, as a source of energy
consumption, yet accidents involving radiation leaks continue in
some of the world's safest nuclear plants. Amid rising oil
prices, developing countries have little alternative but to
depend on nuclear power.
Developing countries are increasing their nuclear power usage.
Armenia has one working reactor; Bulgaria has two; Ukraine three,
and Romania one. One nuclear power plant is under construction in
Iran and three more are planned. A total of 27 nuclear power
plants are under construction in developing countries.
Within the next several decades, energy consumption will at least
double or triple in developing countries with growing populations
and economies, according to Turkey's Hurriyet.
Building nuclear power plants is expensive, but their operational
costs are relatively low. It is not difficult to obtain nuclear
fuels such as uranium or thorium. Nuclear power plants also
produce virtually no carbon emissions.
These power plants currently generate 16 percent of the
electricity the world consumes, and currently account for 78
percent of electricity generation in France, about half of
Belgium and Sweden's electricity, 28 percent of Germany's
electricity, 20 percent in the United States, and 17 percent in
Russia.
But even as nuclear power becomes increasingly popular worldwide,
some developed countries are considering shutting down their
plants amid plant malfunctions. Belgium, the Netherlands,
Germany, and Sweden have decided to gradually phase out their
nuclear power plants.
The oldest operating powerplant in Spain, the Jose Cabrera power
station in Almonacid de Zorita, will be shut down on April 30,
2006. In 1994, more than 170 cracks were detected in the cover of
the reactor vessel; the cracks were only repaired in 1997.
Dismantling the station is expected to start in 2008 and
completed in 2014 at a projected cost of $165 million, according
to Spain's National Radioactive Waste Company.
Sweden's Nuclear Power Inspectorate intends to impose stricter
safety measures on the country's nuclear power plants, which
generate about half of the country's electricity, to bring the
country into line with IAEA and UN standards, according to the
Svenska Dagbladet. Renovation work will total $809 million.
Citizens voted in 1980 to phase out nuclear power by 2010, but
the deadline was scrapped in 1997 because the country had not
worked out how to replace lost generating capacity.
Nuclear power plants have seen massive leaks throughout the
decades in some of the world's safest plants as well as the
world's worst, and increased safety measures by the IAEA and the
UN nuclear watch dog have not helped prevent such leaks. The
third-safest power plant in Russia, the Volgodonsk facility in
the Rostov region, had to be stopped twice within the past nine
months due to emergencies in November 2003 and January 2004.
Even Japan's Mihama plutonium-thermal plant, considered the
world's safest power plant, saw four workers killed when steam
leaked from a turbine reactor on August 9.
Japan's Asahi Shimbun reported the accident as the worst ever in
Japan's nuclear powerplants: "Trust was lost and the accident
will have a great impact on future nuclear power development."
And as nuclear powerplants get older and older, problems like
pipe corrosion and equipment malfunction may increase.
Following the Mihama accident, Greenpeace Russia has expressed
concerns over conditions at Russian nuclear plants. "Japan's
nuclear power plants are among the best in the world," Greenpeace
said in a press release on Aug. 10. But in 2003, Japan failed to
disclose the critical state of several of its reactors, which led
to an immediate halt in operations at several nuclear plants.
Greenpeace reported that major disasters in Russia's nuclear
plants were similar to the accident in Japan. "There will be
accidents as long as the nuclear power industry exists, and there
could be a new Chernobyl at any moment," Russian Greenpeace head
Ivan Blokov told Interfax on Aug. 8.
Russia has a history of accidents. Three people were killed in an
accident at the Leningrad nuclear powerplant on February 6, 1974.
The facility was the venue for another disaster in autumn 1975,
which involved a radiation leak that continued for more than a
month. Fourteen people were killed in an accident at the Balakovo
nuclear plant on June 27, 1985.
A radiation leak also happened on U.S. soil when the 1979 Three
Mile Island reactor leaked radioactive material.
Despite such malfunctions, developing countries continue to
construct nuclear plants. A newly-built reactor in Ukraine,
launched at the Khmelnytskyy nuclear power plant, went offline
due to massive overheating on August 13. Ukraine has had several
radiation leaks throughout the decade, according to
Washington-based Nuclear Threat Initiative reports.
Equipment problems have also developed in two China-based power
plants which Russia helped China build. Russian Federal Atomic
Energy Agency Head Alexander Rumyantsev said that glitches arose
in one reactor's equipment but hopes to eliminate those glitches
within the next two months. Regarding another reactor close to
Beijing, Rumyantsev told Interfax on Aug. 12, "Some parts of the
equipment, however, have started to malfunction, but we know how
to fix them."
Slovenia's only nuclear power plant shut down automatically on
August 10 as a safety precaution after a mistake occurred in the
system that regulates the amount of nuclear reaction taking place
in the reactor. According to a statement from the Nuclear Power
Plant Krsko, the control rods that regulate the amount of fission
lost power after their power source broke down on the evening of
Aug. 9.
Another issue to consider is that nuclear technology can be used
to make weapons as well as electricity. China and Pakistan signed
a contract to supply a reactor pressure vessel for the second
phase of the Chashma Nuclear Power Station in Pakistan. China
Nuclear Energy Industry Corporation Deputy General Manager Huang
Guojun said Pakistan had pledged that technology would be used
solely for peaceful purposes with no transferal to a third
parties. It is difficult to ignore the fact that nuclear
technology has benefits in addition to its primary function of
electricity generation.
With no oil or gas of its own, Turkey has been debating the issue
of construction of nuclear power plants in the country. But even
if Turkey decides not to construct nuclear plants of its own, the
country will be affected by any accidents that may occur in
nearby countries -- just as in the case of the 1986 Chernobyl
accident.
Earthquake-prone countries such as Armenia may see disastrous
radiation leaks to one of its units if an earthquake occurs. One
of Armenia's power plant units has been shut down for repairs and
nuclear fuel loading in late July, according to plant General
Director Garik Markosian.
Proper disposal of nuclear waste, meanwhile, is a growing problem
in developing and developed countries. In short, nuclear power
plants may be environmentally friendly and cheaper to operate
generating a cheaper source of energy consumption -- but with the
risks the plants pose, no one wants to live near one.
"Until about 2 billion years ago, it was impossible to have any
life on Earth. That is, there was so much radiation on Earth you
couldn't have any life -- fish or anything. Gradually, about 2
billion years ago, the amount of radiation on this planet reduced
and made it possible for some form of life to begin. It started
in the seas, I understand from what I've read. And that amount of
radiation has been gradually decreasing because all radiation has
a half-life, which means ultimately there will be no radiation.
Now, when we go back to using nuclear power, we are creating
something that nature tried to destroy to make life possible,"
said Admiral Hyman Rickover, known as the father of the U.S.
nuclear navy.
By ANDREA R. MIHAILESCU, UPI Correspondent
UPI 30 08 04
Copyright ©United Press International 2004, All rights reserved
*****************************************************************
15 Sofia Morning News: Nuke Plant Awaits Financial Consultant
[Sofia News Agency]
novinite.com
Business: 31 August 2004, Tuesday.
An international tender for hiring a financial consultant at the
construction of Bulgaria's second nuclear plant kicked off on
Tuesday.
The prospective applicants should be international investment
banks and/or consultancy companies with a considerable experience
in the structuring and financing of large energy projects,
including nuclear power, according to the notice published in the
State Gazette by the National Electricity Transmission Company
(NETC).
The construction of the Belene nuclear plant, unfrozen last
December, was estimated at an approximate cost of 1-2 billion
dollars.
Prospective financing consultants should have annual revenue from
consultancy services amounting to least 20 million euros over the
last three years, the notices says.
Applicants are invited to submit their bids not later than 12 am
local time on October 18. The filed bids will be officially
opened two hours later the same day.[ width=]
NOVINITE.COM
*****************************************************************
16 NRC: Southern Nuclear Operating Company, Inc.; Alabama Power Company;
FR Doc 04-19804
[Federal Register: August 31, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 168)]
[Notices] [Page 53095-53097] From the Federal Register Online via
GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr31au04-85]
Joseph M. Farley Nuclear Plant, Units 1 and 2; Notice of
Consideration of Issuance of Amendment to Facility Operating
License, Proposed No Significant Hazards Consideration
Determination, and Opportunity for a Hearing The U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission (the Commission) is considering issuance of
an amendment to Facility Operating License Nos. NPF-2 and NPF-8,
issued to Southern Nuclear Operating Company, Inc. (the licensee)
for operation of the Joseph M. Farley Nuclear Plant (FNP), Units
1 and 2, located in Houston County, Alabama.
The proposed amendment would revise FNP, Units 1 and 2 Technical
Specifications (TSs) to address control room boundary unfiltered
inleakage by revising Limiting Condition for Operation (LCO)
3.7.10, ``Control Room Emergency Filtration/Pressurization System
(CREFS)'' and TS 5.5.11, ``Ventilation Filter Testing Program
(VFTP).'' It would also add a new section, TS 5.5.18, ``Control
Room Integrity Program (CRIP).'' Before issuance of the proposed
license amendment, the Commission will have made findings
required by the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (the Act),
and the Commission's regulations.
The Commission has made a proposed determination that the
amendment request involves no significant hazards consideration.
Under the Commission's regulations in Title 10 of the Code of
Federal Regulations (10 CFR), Section 50.92, this means that
operation of the facility in accordance with the proposed
amendment would not (1) Involve a significant increase in the
probability or consequences of an accident previously evaluated;
or (2) create the possibility of a new or different kind of
accident from any accident previously evaluated; or (3) involve a
significant reduction in a margin of safety. As required by 10
CFR 50.91(a), the licensee has provided its analysis of the issue
of no significant hazards consideration, which is presented
below: 1. Does the proposed change involve a significant increase
in the probability or consequences of an accident previously
evaluated? Response: No.
The proposed changes do not adversely affect accident initiators
or precursors nor alter the design assumptions, conditions, or
configuration of the facility. The proposed changes do not alter
or prevent the ability of structures, systems, and components
(SSCs) from performing their intended function to mitigate the
consequences of an initiating event within the assumed acceptance
limits. This is a revision to the TS for the control room
ventilation system which is a mitigation system designed to
minimize inleakage and to filter the control room atmosphere to
protect the operator following accidents previously analyzed. An
important part of the system is the control room envelope (CRE).
The CRE integrity is not an initiator or precursor to any
accident previously evaluated.
Editorial changes and implementation of the guidance in
Regulatory Guide 1.52, Revision 3 for testing cannot be
initiators of any accident. Therefore, the probability of any
accident previously evaluated is not increased. Performing tests
and implementing programs that verify the integrity of the CRE
and control room habitability ensure mitigation features are
capable of performing the assumed function. Therefore, the
consequences of any accident previously evaluated are not
increased.
Therefore, it is concluded that this change does not
significantly increase
[[Page 53096]] the probability or consequences of an accident
previously evaluated.
2. Does the proposed change create the possibility of a new or
different kind of accident from any accident previously
evaluated? Response: No.
The changes will not alter the requirements of the control room
ventilation system or its function during accident conditions.
No new or different accidents result from performing the new or
revised actions and surveillances or programs required. The
changes do not involve a physical alteration of the plant (i.e.,
no new or different type of equipment will be installed) or a
significant change in the methods governing normal plant
operation. The proposed changes are consistent with the safety
analysis assumptions and current plant operating practice.
Therefore, the possibility of a new or different kind of accident
from any accident previously evaluated is not created.
3. Does the proposed change involve a significant reduction in a
margin of safety? Response: No.
The proposed changes do not alter the manner in which safety
limits, limiting safety system settings or limiting conditions
for operation are determined. The safety analysis acceptance
criteria are not affected by these changes. The proposed changes
will not result in plant operation in a configuration outside the
design basis for an unacceptable period of time without
mitigating actions. The proposed changes do not affect systems
that respond to safely shutdown the plant and to maintain the
plant in a safe shutdown condition.
Therefore, it is concluded that this change does not involve a
significant reduction in the margin of safety.
The NRC staff has reviewed the licensee's analysis and, based on
this review, it appears that the three standards of 10 CFR
50.92(c) are satisfied. Therefore, the NRC staff proposes to
determine that the amendment request involves no significant
hazards consideration.
The Commission is seeking public comments on this proposed
determination. Any comments received within 30 days after the
date of publication of this notice will be considered in making
any final determination.
Normally, the Commission will not issue the amendment until the
expiration of 60 days after the date of publication of this
notice. The Commission may issue the license amendment before
expiration of the 60- day period provided that its final
determination is that the amendment involves no significant
hazards consideration. In addition, the Commission may issue the
amendment prior to the expiration of the 30- day comment period
should circumstances change during the 30-day comment period such
that failure to act in a timely way would result, for example in
derating or shutdown of the facility. Should the Commission take
action prior to the expiration of either the comment period or
the notice period, it will publish in the Federal Register a
notice of issuance. Should the Commission make a final No
Significant Hazards Consideration Determination, any hearing will
take place after issuance. The Commission expects that the need
to take this action will occur very infrequently.
Written comments may be submitted by mail to the Chief, Rules and
Directives Branch, Division of Administrative Services, Office of
Administration, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington,
DC 20555-0001, and should cite the publication date and page
number of this Federal Register notice. Written comments may also
be delivered to Room 6D59, Two White Flint North, 11545 Rockville
Pike, Rockville, Maryland, from 7:30 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. federal
workdays. Documents may be examined, and/or copied for a fee, at
the NRC's Public Document Room, located at One White Flint North,
Public File Area O1 F21, 11555 Rockville Pike (first floor),
Rockville, Maryland.
The filing of requests for hearing and petitions for leave to
intervene is discussed below.
Within 60 days after the date of publication of this notice, the
licensee may file a request for a hearing with respect to
issuance of the amendment to the subject facility operating
license and any person whose interest may be affected by this
proceeding and who wishes to participate as a party in the
proceeding must file a written request for a hearing and a
petition for leave to intervene. Requests for a hearing and a
petition for leave to intervene shall be filed in accordance with
the Commission's ``Rules of Practice for Domestic Licensing
Proceedings'' in 10 CFR Part 2. Interested persons should consult
a current copy of 10 CFR 2.309, which is available at the
Commission's PDR, located at One White Flint North, Public File
Area 01F21, 11555 Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville,
Maryland. Publicly available records will be accessible from the
Agencywide Documents Access and Management System's (ADAMS)
Public Electronic Reading Room on the Internet at the NRC Web
site, .
If a request for a hearing or petition for leave to intervene is
filed by the above date, the Commission or a presiding officer
designated by the Commission or by the Chief Administrative Judge
of the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel, will rule on the
request and/or petition; and the Secretary or the Chief
Administrative Judge of the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board
will issue a notice of a hearing or an appropriate order.
As required by 10 CFR 2.309, a petition for leave to intervene
shall set forth with particularity the interest of the petitioner
in the proceeding, and how that interest may be affected by the
results of the proceeding. The petition should specifically
explain the reasons why intervention should be permitted with
particular reference to the following general requirements: (1)
The name, address and telephone number of the requestor or
petitioner; (2) the nature of the requestor's/petitioner's right
under the Act to be made a party to the proceeding; (3) the
nature and extent of the requestor's/petitioner's property,
financial, or other interest in the proceeding; and (4) the
possible effect of any decision or order which may be entered in
the proceeding on the requestor's/petitioner's interest. The
petition must also identify the specific contentions which the
petitioner/requestor seeks to have litigated at the proceeding.
Each contention must consist of a specific statement of the issue
of law or fact to be raised or controverted. In addition, the
petitioner/requestor shall provide a brief explanation of the
bases for the contention and a concise statement of the alleged
facts or expert opinion which support the contention and on which
the petitioner intends to rely in proving the contention at the
hearing. The petitioner/requestor must also provide references to
those specific sources and documents of which the petitioner is
aware and on which the petitioner intends to rely to establish
those facts or expert opinion. The petition must include
sufficient information to show that a genuine dispute exists with
the applicant on a material issue of law or fact. Contentions
shall be limited to matters within the scope of the amendment
under consideration. The contention must be one which, if proven,
would entitle the petitioner to relief. A petitioner/requestor
who fails to satisfy these requirements with respect to at least
one contention will not be permitted to participate as a party.
[[Page 53097]] Those permitted to intervene become parties to the
proceeding, subject to any limitations in the order granting
leave to intervene, and have the opportunity to participate fully
in the conduct of the hearing.
If a hearing is requested, the Commission will make a final
determination on the issue of no significant hazards
consideration. The final determination will serve to decide when
the hearing is held. If the final determination is that the
amendment request involves no significant hazards consideration,
the Commission may issue the amendment and make it immediately
effective, notwithstanding the request for a hearing. Any hearing
held would take place after issuance of the amendment. If the
final determination is that the amendment request involves a
significant hazards consideration, any hearing held would take
place before the issuance of any amendment.
Nontimely requests and/or petitions and contentions will not be
entertained absent a determination by the Commission or the
presiding officer of the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board that
the petition, request and/or the contentions should be granted
based on a balancing of the factors specified in 10 CFR
2.309(a)(1)(i)-(viii). A request for a hearing or a petition for
leave to intervene must be filed by: (1) First class mail
addressed to the Office of the Secretary of the Commission, U.S.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001,
Attention: Rulemaking and Adjudications Staff; (2) courier,
express mail, and expedited delivery services: Office of the
Secretary, Sixteenth Floor, One White Flint North, 11555
Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland, 20852, Attention: Rulemaking
and Adjudications Staff; (3) e-mail addressed to the Office of
the Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, ; or (4)
facsimile transmission addressed to the Office of the Secretary,
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC, Attention:
Rulemakings and Adjudications Staff at (301) 415-1101,
verification number is (301) 415-1966. A copy of the request for
hearing and petition for leave to intervene should also be sent
to the Office of the General Counsel, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, and it is requested that
copies be transmitted either by means of facsimile transmission
to (301) 415-3725 or by e-mail to . A copy of the request for
hearing and petition for leave to intervene should also be sent
to M. Stanford Blanton, Esq., Balch and Bingham, Post Office Box
306, 1710 Sixth Avenue North, Birmingham, Alabama 35201, attorney
for the licensee.
For further details with respect to this action, see the
application for amendment dated August 25, 2004, which is
available for public inspection at the Commission's PDR, located
at One White Flint North, File Public Area O1 F21, 11555
Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, Maryland. Publicly
available records will be accessible from the Agencywide
Documents Access and Management System's (ADAMS) Public
Electronic Reading Room on the Internet at the NRC Web site, .
Persons who do not have access to ADAMS or who encounter problems
in accessing the documents located in ADAMS, should contact the
NRC PDR Reference staff by telephone at 1- 800-397-4209, (301)
415-4737, or by e-mail to .
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 26th day of August 2004.
Christopher Gratton, Acting Chief, Section 1, Project Directorate
II, Division of Licensing Project Management, Office of Nuclear
Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 04-19804 Filed 8-30-04; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P
*****************************************************************
17 NRC: In the Matter of Honeywell International, Inc., Metropolis Works
FR Doc 04-19805
[Federal Register: August 31, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 168)]
[Notices] [Page 53093-53095] From the Federal Register Online via
GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr31au04-84]
Facility; Order Modifying License (Effective Immediately) AGENCY:
Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Issuance of Order for Implementation of Additional
Security Measures Associated with Access Authorization.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Michael Raddatz, Senior Project
Manager, Fuel Cycle Facilities Branch, Division of Fuel Cycle
Safety and Safeguards, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and
Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Rockville, MD
20852. Telephone: (301) 415-6334; fax number: (301) 415-5955;
e-mail: MGR@nrc.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: I. Introduction Pursuant to 10 CFR
2.106, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is providing
notice in the Matter of Honeywell International, Inc., Metropolis
Works Facility of the issuance of an order modifying License
(SUB-526) (ML042240002) (Effective Immediately).
II. Further Information Honeywell International, Inc.
(``Honeywell'' or the ``licensee'') holds Materials License No.
SUB-526, issued by the U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC
or Commission) authorizing the licensee to receive, acquire,
possess and transfer byproduct and source material in accordance
with the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 and 10 CFR parts 30 and 40.
Commission regulations at 10 CFR Sec. 20.1801, require the
licensee to secure licensed material from unauthorized removal or
access from controlled or unrestricted areas. Further, License
Condition 10 of Materials License No. SUB-526, as amended,
requires the licensee to implement and maintain specific measures
to control public and private access to the facility as described
in the
[[Page 53094]] October 1, 1998, enclosure to its application
dated September 23, 1998.
II On September 11, 2001, terrorists simultaneously attacked
targets in New York, NY and Washington, DC, utilizing large
commercial aircraft as weapons. In response to the attacks and
intelligence information subsequently obtained, the Commission
issued a number of Safeguards and Threat Advisories to its
licensees in order to strengthen licensees' capabilities and
readiness to respond to a potential attack on a nuclear facility.
The Commission has also communicated with other Federal, State,
and Local government agencies and industry representatives to
discuss and evaluate the current threat environment in order to
assess the adequacy of security measures at licensed facilities.
In addition, the Commission has been conducting a comprehensive
review of its safeguards and security programs and requirements.
As a result of its initial consideration of the current
safeguards and security requirements, as well as a review of
information provided by the intelligence community, the
Commission issued a Confirmatory Action Letter, No. RIII-01-005,
dated December 21, 2001 to Honeywell, confirming the Licensee's
agreement to immediately implement enhanced security measures and
review longer term security enhancements to the site. On March
29, 2002 the Commission issued an Order to Honeywell to put the
actions taken in response to the advisories in the established
regulatory framework and implement additional enhancements which
emerged from the NRC's ongoing comprehensive review. The
Commission has now determined that certain additional security
measures are required to address the current threat. Therefore,
the Commission is imposing requirements, set forth in Attachment
1\1\ of this Order, which supplement existing regulatory
requirements and any previously issued Order, to provide the
Commission with reasonable assurance that the public health and
safety and the common defense and security continue to be
adequately protected in the current threat environment.
These requirements will remain in effect until the Commission
determines otherwise.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
---------- \1\ Attachment 1 contains Safeguards Information and
will not be released to the public.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
---------- The Commission recognizes that some of the
requirements set forth in Attachment 1 to this Order may already
have been initiated by Honeywell in response to previously issued
advisories, Confirmatory Action Letter No. RIII-01-005, the March
29, 2002 Order or on its own. It also recognizes that some
measures may need to be tailored to accommodate the specific
circumstances or characteristics existing at the licensee's
facility, to achieve the intended objectives and avoid any
unforeseen effect on safe operation. Although the licensee's
response to the Safeguards Threat Advisories and the March 29,
2002 Order has been adequate to provide reasonable assurance of
adequate protection of the public health and safety, the
Commission believes that the response must be supplemented
because the current threat environment continues to persist.
Therefore, it is appropriate to require certain additional
security measures.
In order to provide assurance that the licensee is implementing
prudent measures to achieve an appropriate level of protection to
meet the current threat environment, Materials License No.
SUB-526 is modified to include the requirements identified in
Attachment 1 to this Order. In addition, pursuant to 10 CFR Sec.
2.202, I find that, in the circumstances described above, the
public health, safety and interest require that this Order be
immediately effective.
III Accordingly, pursuant to Sections 63, 81, 161b, 161i, 161o,
182 and 186 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, the
Commission's regulations in 10 CFR Sec. 2.202 and 10 CFR Parts
30 and 40, It Is Hereby Ordered, Effective Immediately, That
Materials License No. SUB- 526 Is Modified as Follows: A. The
licensee shall, notwithstanding the provisions of any Commission
regulation or license to the contrary, comply with the
requirements described in Attachment 1 to this Order. The
Licensee shall immediately start implementation of the
requirements in Attachment 1 to the Order and shall complete
implementation no later than 180 days from the date of this
Order, with the exception of the additional security measure
B.4., which shall be implemented no later than 365 days from the
date of this Order.
B. 1. The Licensee shall, within twenty (20) days of the date of
this order, notify the Commission, (1) If it is unable to comply
with any of the requirements described in Attachment 1; (2) if
compliance with any of the requirements is unnecessary in its
specific circumstances; or (3) if implementation of any of the
requirements would cause the Licensee to be in violation of the
provisions of any Commission regulation or the facility license.
The notification shall provide the Licensee's justification for
seeking relief from or variation of any specific requirement.
2. If the Licensee considers that implementation of any of the
requirements described in Attachment 1 to this Order would
adversely impact safe operation of the facility, the Licensee
must notify the Commission, within twenty (20) days of this
Order, of the adverse safety impact, the basis for its
determination and that the requirement has an adverse safety
impact, and either a proposal for achieving the same objectives
specified in the Attachment 1 requirement in question, or a
schedule for modifying the facility procedures and practices to
address the adverse safety condition. If neither approach is
appropriate, the Licensee must supplement its response to
Condition B.1 of this Order to identify the condition as a
requirement with which it cannot comply, with attendant
justifications as required in Condition B.1. C. 1. The Licensee
shall, within twenty (20) days of the date of this Order, submit
to the Commission, a schedule for achieving compliance with each
requirement described in Attachment 1.
2. The Licensee shall report to the Commission, when it has
achieved full compliance with the requirements described in
Attachment 1.
D. Notwithstanding any provision of the Commission's regulations
to the contrary, all measures implemented or actions taken in
response to this Order shall be maintained pending until the
Commission determines otherwise.
Licensee responses to Conditions B.1, B.2, C.1 and C.2 above,
shall be submitted in accordance with 10 CFR 30.6 and 40.5. In
addition, Licensee submittals that contain Safeguards Information
shall be properly marked and handled in accordance with 10 CFR
73.21. The Director, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and
Safeguards, may, in writing, modify, relax or rescind any of the
above conditions upon demonstration by the Licensee of good
cause.
IV In accordance with 10 CFR 2.202, the Licensee must, and any
other person adversely affected by this Order may, submit an
answer to this Order, and may request a hearing on this Order,
within 20 days of the date of the Order. Where good cause is
shown, consideration will be given to the time to request a
hearing. A request for
[[Page 53095]] extension of time in which to submit an answer or
request a hearing must be made in writing to the Director, Office
of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, Nuclear Regulatory
Commission, Washington, DC 20555, and include a statement of good
cause for the extension.
The answer may consent to this Order. Unless the answer consents
to this Order, the answer shall, in writing and under oath or
affirmation, specifically set forth the matters of fact and law
on which the Licensee or other person adversely affected relies
and the reasons as to why the Order should not have been issued.
Any answer or request for a hearing shall be submitted to the
Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, ATTN: Rulemakings
and Adjudications Staff, Washington, DC 20555. Copies also shall
be sent to the Director, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and
Safeguards and the Director, Office of Enforcement, U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission, Washington DC, 20555, to the Assistant
General Counsel for Materials Litigation and Enforcement, at the
same address, to the Regional Administrator, NRC Region II, 801
Warrenville Road, Lisle, Illinois 60532, and to the Licensee if
the answer or hearing request is by a person other than the
Licensee. Because of possible disruptions in delivery of mail to
United States Government offices, it is requested that
decontrolled answers, (no Safeguards Information) and requests
for a hearing be transmitted to the Secretary of the Commission
either by means of facsimile transmission to (301) 415-1101 or by
e-mail to hearingdocket@nrc.gov and also to the Office of General
Counsel either by means of facsimile transmission to (301)
415-3725 or by e-mail to OGCMailCenter@nrc.gov. If a person other
than the Licensee requests a hearing, that person shall set forth
with particularity the manner in which his/her interest is
adversely affected by this Order and shall address the criteria
set forth in 10 CFR Sec. 2.714(d). If a person other than the
Licensee requests a hearing, that person shall set forth with
particularity the manner in which his interest is adversely
affected by this Order and shall address the criteria set forth
in 10 CFR 2.714(d). If a hearing is requested by the Licensee or
a person whose interest is adversely affected, the Commission
will issue an Order designating the time and place of any
hearing. If a hearing is held, the issue to be considered at such
hearing shall be whether this Order should be sustained.
Pursuant to 10 CFR 2.202(c)(2)(I), the Licensee, may, in addition
to demanding a hearing, at the time the answer is filed or
sooner, move the presiding officer to set aside the immediate
effectiveness of the Order on the ground that the Order,
including the need for immediate effectiveness, is not based on
adequate evidence but on mere suspicion, unfounded allegations or
error.
In the absence of any request for hearing, or written approval of
an extension of time in which to request a hearing, the
provisions specified in Section III above shall be final 20 days
from the date of this Order without further order or proceedings.
If an extension of time for requesting a hearing has been
approved, the provisions specified in Section III shall be final
when the extension expires if a hearing request has not been
received. An Answer or a Request for Hearing Shall Not Stay the
Immediate Effectiveness of This Order.
For The Nuclear Regulatory Commission Dated this 18th day of
August 2004.
Margaret V. Federline, Deputy Director, Office of Nuclear
Material Safety and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 04-19805 Filed 8-30-04; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P
*****************************************************************
18 NRC: Sunshine Act Meeting
FR Doc 04-19901
[Federal Register: August 31, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 168)]
[Notices] [Page 53097] From the Federal Register Online via GPO
Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr31au04-86]
Agency Holding the Meeting: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Date: Weeks of August 30, September 6, 13, 20, 27, October 4,
2004.
Place: Commissioner's Conference Room, 11555 Rockville Pike,
Rockville, Maryland.
Status: Public and Closed.
Matter to be Considered: Week of August 30, 2004 Friday,
September 3, 2004 10 a.m. Affirmation Session (Public Meeting)
(Tentative). a: Public Citizen's Request for Hearing on the
Commission's July 2, 2004, Spent Fuel Security Order (Tentative).
Week of September 6, 2004--Tentative Wednesday, September 8, 2004
9:30 a.m. Discussion of Office of Investigation (OI) Programs and
Investigations (Closed--Ex. 7). Week of September 13,
2004--Tentative Tuesday, September 14, 2004 9:30 a.m. Discussion
of Security Issues (Closed--Ex. 1). Week of September 20,
2004--Tentative There are no meetings scheduled for the Week of
September 20, 2004.
Week of September 27, 2004--Tentative There are no meetings
scheduled for the Week of September 27, 2004.
Week of October 4, 2004.--Tentative Thursday, October 7, 2004
10:30 a.m. Discussion of Security Issues (Closed--Ex. 1). 1 p.m.
Discussion of Security Issues (Closed--Ex. 1). The schedule for
Commission meetings is subject to change on short notice. To
verify the status of meetings call (recording)--(301) 415- 1292.
Contact person for more information: Dave Gamberoni, (301) 415-
1651.
* * * * * The NRC Commission Meeting Schedule can be found on the
Internet at: * * * * The NRC provides reasonable accommodation to
individuals with disabilities where appropriate. If you need a
reasonable accommodation to participate in these public meetings,
or need this meeting notice or the transcript or other
information from the public meetings in another format (e.g.
braille, large print), please notify the NRC's Disability Program
Coordinator, August Spector, at 301-415-7080, TDD: 301-415- 2100,
or by e-mail at . Determinations on requests for reasonable
accommodation will be made on a case-by-case basis.
* * * * * This notice is distributed by mail to several hundred
subscribers; if you no longer wish to receive it, or would like
to be added to the distribution, please contact the Office of the
Secretary, Washington, DC 20555 (301-415-1969). In addition,
distribution of this meeting notice over the Internet system is
available. If you are interested in receiving this Commission
meeting schedule electronically, please send an electronic
message to .
Dated: August 26, 2004.
Dave Gamberoni, Office of the Secretary.
[FR Doc. 04-19901 Filed 8-27-04; 9:39 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-M
*****************************************************************
19 AFP: Putin says Iran must not become nuclear power
www.spacewar.com
SOCHI, Russia (AFP) Aug 31, 2004
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that Iran must
not be allowed to become one of the group of countries who have
nuclear weapons.
"Russia has cooperated with Iran and we will continue to do so,
but like our European colleagues France, Germany, Britain, and
the US, we are concerned by the fact that questions are being
raised about Iran's nuclear programme," Putin said.
"We are categorically against an enlargement of the club of
nuclear powers, and that includes Iran," Putin said after talks
with the German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and French
President Jacques Chirac.
"We are in negotiations with our Iranian partners. We are going
to try to obtain certain guarantees from them, including in the
form of agreements. This problem can and must be examined by the
international community, at this stage in the framework of the
IAEA (the UN atomic agency)."
Russia is contructing Iran's first nuclear power plant in the
southern city of Bushehr despite international protest, but
negotiations over price and logistics are holding up the launch.
vvl-big-sjw/cb/gil
All rights reserved. © 2004 Agence France-Presse. Sections of
*****************************************************************
20 [DU-WATCH] FWD: Pentagon Brass Rattled by Uranium Munitions
Date: Tue, 31 Aug 2004 13:48:19 -0500 (CDT)
For Immediate Release
Contact: Bob Nichols
bobnichols@cox.net
The article about the use of depleted uranium being a war crime is
the head line story in American Free Press. This will open some eyes
at the Pentagon.
http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/pentagon_brass.html
The front page on-line is currently at:
http://www.americanfreepress.net/
Regards,
Bob
__________________________________________________________
American Free Press (AFP) America's Last Real Newspaper
Pentagon Brass Suppresses Truth About Toxic Weapons
Poisonous Uranium Munitions Threaten World
By Christopher Bollyn
The use of weapons containing uranium violates existing laws and
customs of war and "constitutes a war crime or crime against
humanity," according to a leading U.S. expert on humanitarian
law.
Karen Parker, a San Francisco-based expert in armed conflict law,
told American Free Press that the use of radioactive uranium weapons
violates the Hague and Geneva Conventions as well as the Conventional
Weapons Convention of 1980.
Although no treaty specifically bans DU weapons, they are illegal
"de
facto and de jure," Parker said. However, a class action lawsuit
by
victims of DU weapons will probably be required for a court to ban
their use, she said.
`ILLEGAL FOR ALL COUNTRIES'
"A weapon made illegal only because there is a specific treaty
banning it is only illegal for countries that ratify such a
treaty,"
Parker wrote in a paper, "The Illegality of DU Weaponry,"
presented
at the International Uranium Weapons Conference in Hamburg, Germany
last October. However, "a weapon that is illegal by operation of
existing law is illegal for all countries."
Parker, a delegate to the UN Commission on Human Rights since 1982,
provides legal advice to the UN on DU weapons and other matters of
humanitarian law.
"DU weaponry cannot possibly be legal in light of existing
law,"
Parker said.
"In evaluating whether a particular weapon is legal or illegal
when
there is not a specific treaty, the whole of humanitarian law must be
consulted," Parker wrote.
According to humanitarian law, the illegality of DU weapons is based
on four criteria:
The first is the "territorial" test. Weapons may only be used
in the
legal field of battle. Weapons may not have an adverse effect off the
legal field of battle.
The second is the "temporal" test, meaning that weapons may
only be
used for the duration of an armed conflict. A weapon that continues
to act after the war violates this criterion.
The territorial and temporal criteria are meant to prevent weapons
from being "indiscriminate" in their effect.
The third rule is that a weapon cannot be unduly inhumane. The Hague
Convention of 1907 prohibits "poison or poisoned weapons."
Because DU
weapons are radioactive and chemically toxic, as the military knows,
they fit the definition of poisonous weapons banned under the Hague
Convention.
WHAT THE MILITARY KNOWS
The Defense Department is well aware of the toxic effects of DU. In
an official presentation by U.S. Army Reserve Col. J. Edgar Wakayama
at Fort Belvoir, Va. on Aug. 20, 2002, the dangers of exposure to DU
were clearly spelled out:
"Inhalation exposure has a major effect on the lungs and thoracic
lymph nodes," Wakayama read from a slide. "The alpha particle
taken
inside the body in large doses is hazardous, producing cell damage
and cancer. Lung cancer is well documented," he noted.
"Urine samples containing uranium are mutagenic [capable of
producing
mutation]" and "the cultured human stem bone cell line with
DU also
transformed the cells to become carcinogenic," Wakayama read.
DU deposited in the bone causes DNA damage because of the effects of
the alpha particles, Wakayama stressed. One gram of DU emits 12,000
high-energy alpha particles per second.
The fourth rule for weapons, the "environmental" test, says
that
weapons cannot have an unduly negative effect on the natural
environment.
Wakayama advised, "Heavily contaminated soil should be removed if
the
area is to be populated with civilians."
Wakayama described the dangers to children playing in contaminated
soil and the leaching of DU into local water and food supplies.
DU FAILS ALL LEGAL CRITERIA
DU weaponry fails all four tests, Parker says. Because it cannot be
contained to the battlefield, it fails the territorial test. Airborne
DU particles are carried far from the battlefield affecting distant
civilian populations and neighboring countries.
Because the uranium dispersed on the ground and in the air cannot
be "turned off" when the war is over, DU fails the temporal
test.
"The airborne particles have a half-life of billions of years and
have the potential to keep killing . . . long after the war is
over,"
Parker wrote.
"The status of DU as nuclear, radiological, poison or
conventional
does not change its illegality. When the weapons test is applied to
DU weaponry, it fails," she concluded.
DU weapons fail the humaneness test because of how they kill, Parker
says, "by cancer, kidney disease etc, long after the hostilities
are
over.
"DU is inhumane because it can cause birth defects such as
cranial
facial anomalies, missing limbs, grossly deformed and non-viable
infants and the like, thus affecting children . . . born after the
war is over," Parker said.
"The teratogenic [interfering with normal embryonic development]
nature of DU weapons and the possible burdening of the gene pool of
future generations raise the possibility that the use of DU weaponry
is genocide," she wrote. "Willfully causing great suffering
or
serious injury to body or health" of civilians constitutes a
grave
breach of the fourth Geneva Convention, and this is "exactly what
DU
weapons do."
Finally, because DU weapons cannot be used without unduly damaging
the natural environment, they fail the fourth rule for weapons, the
environmental test.
"No available technology can significantly change the chemical
and
radiological toxicity of DU," the Army Environmental Policy
Institute
reported to Congress in 1994. "These are intrinsic properties of
uranium."
"Regarding environmental damages, users of these weapons are
obligated to carry out an effective cleanup," Parker wrote.
"The cost
of legal claims and environmental cleanup for the gulf wars alone
could be staggering."
"Use of DU weaponry necessarily violates the `grave
breach' provision
of the Geneva Conventions, and hence its use constitutes a war crime
or crime against humanity," Parker concluded.
Questions regarding the legality of DU weapons were sent in writing
to the Pentagon's appointed spokesman on DU matters, James
Turner.
Turner told AFP that he was "not qualified" to answer such
questions.
By press time the Pentagon had not responded to repeated requests for
information.
) American Free Press 2004
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21 THE REAL DIRTY BOMBS: DEPLETED URANIUM
Date: Tue, 31 Aug 2004 15:11:02 -0700
http://www.unobserver.com/layout5.php?id=1881&blz=2
THE REAL DIRTY BOMBS: DEPLETED URANIUM
by Christopher Bollyn
Lost in the media circus about the Iraq war, supposedly being fought to
prevent a tyrant from obtaining weapons of mass destruction, is the salient
fact that the United States and Britain are actively waging chemical and
nuclear warfare in Iraq using depleted uranium munitions.
The corporate-controlled press has failed to inform the public that, in
spite of years of UN inspections and numerous international treaties, tons
of banned weapons of mass destruction (WMD) used and unused remain in Iraq.
Indeed, both chemical and radioactive WMD have been and continue to be used
against U.S. and coalition soldiers.
The media silence surrounding these banned WMD, and the horrendous
consequences of their use, is due to the simple fact that they are being
used by the U.S.-led coalition. They are the new Silver Bulletin the U.S.
arsenal. They are depleted uranium weapons.
Depleted uranium (DU) weapons were first used during the first Gulf War
against Iraq in 1991. The Pentagon estimated that between 315 and 350 tons
of DU were fired during the first Gulf War. During the 2003 invasion and
current occupation of Iraq, U.S. and British troops have reportedly used
more than five times as many DU bombs and shells as the total number used
during the 1991 war.
While the use of DU weapons and their effect on human health and the
environment are subjects of extreme importance the Pentagon is noticeably
reluctant to discuss these weapons. Despite numerous calls to specific
individuals identified as being the appointed spokesmen on the subject, not
one would answer their phone during normal business hours for the purpose
of this article.
Dr. Doug Rokke, on the other hand, former director of the U.S. Armys
Depleted Uranium Project, is very willing to talk about the effects of DU.
Rokke was involved in the clean upof 34 Abrams tanks and Bradley armored
vehicles hit by friendly fire during the 1991 Gulf War. Today he suffers
from the ill effects of DU in his body.
Rokke told American Free Press that the Pentagon uses DU weapons because
they are the most effective at killing and destroying everything they hit.
The highest level of the U.S. and British governments have totally
disregarded the consequencesof the use of DU weapons, Rokke said.
The first Gulf War was the largest friendly fire incident in the history of
American warfare, Rokke says. The majority of the casualties were the
result of friendly fire,he told AFP.
DU is used in many forms of ammunition as an armor penetrator because of
its extreme weight and density. The uranium used in these missiles and
bombs is a by-product of the nuclear enrichment process. Experts say the
Department of Energy has 100 million tons of DU and using it in weapons
saves the government money on the cost of its disposal.
Rather than disposing of the radioactive waste, it is shaped into
penetrator rods used in the billions of rounds being fired in Iraq and
Afghanistan. The radioactive waste from the U.S. nuclear weapons industry
has, in effect, been forcibly exported and spread in the environments of
Iraq, Afghanistan, the former Yugoslavia, Puerto Rico, and elsewhere.
THE REAL DIRTY BOMBS
A flying rod of solid uranium 18-inches long and three-quarters of an inch
in diameter,is what becomes of a DU tank round after it is fired, Rokke
said. Because Uranium-238 is pyrophoric, meaning it burns on contact with
air, DU rounds are burning as they fly.
When the DU penetrator hits an object it breaks up and causes secondary
explosions, Rokke said. Its way beyond a dirty bomb,Rokke said, referring
to the terror weapon that uses conventional explosives to spread
radioactive material.
Some of the uranium used with DU weapons vaporizes into extremely small
particles, which are dispersed into the atmosphere where they remain until
they fall to the ground with the rain. As a gas, the chemically toxic and
radioactive uranium can easily enter the body through the skin or the lungs
and be carried around the world until it falls to earth with the rain.
AFP asked Marion Falk, a retired chemical physicist who built nuclear bombs
for more than 20 years at Lawrence Livermore lab, if he thought that DU
weapons operate in a similar manner as a dirty bomb. Thats exactly what
they are,Falk said. They fit the description of a dirty bomb in every way.
According to Falk, more than 30 percent of the DU fired from the cannons of
U.S. tanks is reduced to particles one-tenth of a micron (one millionth of
a meter) in size or smaller on impact.
The larger the bangthe greater the amount of DU that is dispersed into the
atmosphere, Falk said. With the larger missiles and bombs, nearly 100
percent of the DU is reduced to radioactive dust particles of the micron
sizeor smaller, he said.
While the Pentagon officially denies the dangers of DU weapons, since at
least 1943 the military has been aware of the extreme toxicity of uranium
dispersed as a gas. A declassified memo written by James B. Conant and two
other physicists working on the U.S. nuclear project during the Second
World War, and sent to Brig. Gen. L.R. Groves on October 30, 1943, provides
the evidence:
As a gas warfare instrument the [radioactive] material would be ground into
particles of microscopic size to form dust and smoke and distributed by a
ground-fired projectile, land vehicles, or aerial bombs,the 1943 memo
reads. In this form it would be inhaled by personnel. The amount necessary
to cause death to a person inhaling the material is extremely small. It has
been estimated that one millionth of a gram accumulation in a persons body
would be fatal. There are no known methods of treatment for such a casualty.
The use of radioactive materials as a terrain contaminantto deny terrain to
either side except at the expense of exposing personnel to harmful
radiationsis also discussed in the Groves memo of 1943.
Anybody, civilian or soldier, who breathes these particles has a permanent
dose, and its not going to decrease very much over time,Leonard Dietz, a
retired nuclear physicist with 33 years experience told the New York Daily
News. In the long run & veterans exposed to ceramic uranium oxide have a
major problem.
Inhaled particles of radioactive uranium oxide dust will either lodge in
the lungs or travel through the body, depending on their size. The smallest
particles can be carried through cell walls and affect the master code -
the _expression of the DNA,Falk told AFP.
Inhaled DU can fool around with the keysand do damage to practically
anything,Falk said. It affects the body in so many ways and there are so
many different symptoms that they want to give it different names,Falk said
about the wide variety of ailments afflicting Gulf War veterans.
Today, more than one out of every three veterans from the first Gulf War
are permanently disabled. Terry Jemison of the Dept. of Veterans Affairs
said that of the 592,561 discharged veterans from the 1991 war in Iraq,
179,310 are receiving disability compensation and another 24,763 cases are
pending.
The epigenetic damagedone by DU has resulted in many grossly deformed
children born in areas such as southern Iraq where tons of DU have
contaminated the environment and local population. An untold number of
Americans have also been born with severe birth defects as a result of DU
contamination.
The New York Daily News conducted a study on nine recently returned
soldiers from the New York National Guard. Four of the nine were found to
have almost certainlyinhaled radioactive dust from exploded DU shells.
Laboratory tests revealed two manmade forms of uranium in urine samples
from four of the 9 soldiers. The four soldiers are the first confirmed
cases of inhaled DU from the current Iraq war.
These are amazing results, especially since these soldiers were military
police not exposed to the heat of battle,said Dr. Asaf Duracovic, who
examined the soldiers and performed the testing. Other American soldiers
who were in combat must have more DU exposure,Duracovic said. Duracovic is
a colonel in the Army reserves and served in the 1991 Gulf War.
The test results showing that four of nine New York guardsmen test positive
for DU suggest the potential for more extensive radiation exposure among
coalition troops and Iraqi civilians,the Daily News reported.
A large number of American soldiers [in Iraq] may have had significant
exposure to uranium oxide dust,Dr. Thomas Fasey, a pathologist at Mount
Sinai Medical Center and an expert on depleted uranium said, And the health
impact is worrisome for the future.
HOTTER THAN HELL
Im hotter than hell,Rokke told AFP. The Dept. of Energy tested Rokke in
1994 and found that he was excreting more than 5,000 times the permissible
level of depleted uranium. Rokke, however, was not informed of the results
until 1996.
As director of the Depleted Uranium Project in 1994-95, Rokke said his task
was three fold: determine how to provide medical care for DU victims, how
to clean it up, and how to educate and train personnel using DU weapons.
Today, Rokke says that DU cannot be cleaned up and there is no medical
care. Once youre zapped youre zapped,Rokke said. Among the health problems
Rokke is suffering as a result of DU contamination is brittle teeth. He
said that he just paid out $400 for an operation for teeth that have broken
off. The uranium replaces the calcium in your teeth and bones,Rokke said.
You fight for medical care every day of your life,he said.
There are over 30,000 casualties from this Iraq war,Rokke said.
The three tasks set out for the Depleted Uranium Project have all failed,
Rokke said. He wants to know why medical care is not being provided for all
the victims of DU and why the environment is not being cleaned up.
They have to be held accountable,Rokke said, naming President George W.
Bush, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, and British prime minister Tony
Blair. They chose to use DU weapons and totally disregarded the consequences.
Christopher Bollyn
Article republished courtesy of American Free Press
http://www.americanfreepress.net
Photo of an Iraqi child victim of D.U., courtesy of Daves Web:
The Center for an Informed America: Newsletter #13 August 13, 2002;
http://davesweb.cnchost.com/nwsltr13.html
Please also see:
Cancer Epidemic Caused by U.S. WMD
M.D. Says Depleted Uranium Definitively Linked
By Christopher Bollyn
http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/cancer_epidemic_.html
THE TINY VICTIMS OF DESERT STORM
When our soldiers risked their lives in the Gulf, they never imagined that
their children might suffer the consequences--or that their country would
turn its back on them.
Photography by Derek Hudson Text by Kenneth Miller Reporting by Jimmie Briggs
Jayce Hanson's birth defects may stem from his father's Gulf War service.
But like hundreds of other families, the Hansons face official
stonewalling--and a frightening future.
http://www.life.com/Life/essay/gulfwar/gulf01.html
Effects of Wars on Iraq
Dr Jawad Al-Ali, oncologist (tumor specialist) of Basrah, Iraq.
Slides -
http://216.138.195.197/pdf/Effects-of-DU-war.pdf
Video - mms://216.138.195.197/Effects%20of%20DU%20War%20in%20Basrah
With thanks to Ross Wilcock and Leuren Moret for drawing the video and
slides to our attention.
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22 Nuclear Chemical plants security moot point
Date: Tue, 31 Aug 2004 21:53:24 -0500 (CDT)
Ra Energy Fdn.
Raleigh Myers
http://raenergy.igc.org/raenergy.html
Worksheet bio
http://www.igc.apc.org/raenergy/bio.html
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
We have over a thousand Chemical and Nuclear plants which can be
compromised by something as simple as a Molotov cocktail over the fence
creating Bhopal all over again. This makes the war on terrorism a joke and
the chemical and Nuclear industry the terrorists providing the medium to
blackmail the world.
http://us.oneworld.net/article/view/74521/1/
PLEASE DISTRIBUTE THIS INFORMATION WIDELY AND EXCUSE DUPLICATE LISTINGS
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
- If your mail breaks up a link in two lines or appears twice, simply
copy the entire link
into your browser window without spaces or just one of the URLs without < >.
Check out the newsgroups in my sig below for more "organized usury" hand
writing on the wall prophetics.
911 Questions Poster Print it out and pass it around
http://www.igc.org/raenergy/911Poster.pdf
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
[CC) Cross post post haste
Acting together we can make a difference
Please send these messages to as many people as possible.
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
Fight Fascism - Corporatism and the stranglehold they hold on our government.
http://raenergy.igc.org/FriendlyFascism.html
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil
is for good people to do nothing." Edmund Burke
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
FOLKSAY(people say) ............."THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND,
THIS LAND IS MY LAND, THIS LAND IS MADE FOR YOU AND ME" has become Our
Global village Planetary anthem and in essence we voted for citizen
empowerment as we sung it. Now let's get it officially on record with
electronic direct democracy.
THE DAWNING OF THE AGE OF AQUARIUS is the reality at hand! The children of
the universe, the right to be here generation _ the meek taking their
prophetic inheritance out of probate is not a conspiracy.
Direct Democracy replaces Representative Oligarchy
http://groups.google.com/groups?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=Direct+Democracy+replaces+representative+oligarchy
In the mean time Questions to candidates chosen by the oligarchy.
http://raenergy.igc.org/COND3.rtf
Ra Energy Fdn.
Raleigh Myers
http://raenergy.igc.org/raenergy.html
Worksheet bio
http://www.igc.apc.org/raenergy/bio.html
Newsgroups beginning in the eighties sort by date to get the latest
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=%22Raleigh+Myers%22
http://groups.google.com/groups?sourceid=navclient&q=Raleigh+Myers
http://groups.google.com/groups?sourceid=navclient&q=raenergy
http://groups.google.com/groups?sourceid=navclient&q=Ra+Energy+Fdn%2E
Ra Energy Fdn.
Raleigh Myers
http://raenergy.igc.org/raenergy.html
Worksheet bio
http://www.igc.apc.org/raenergy/bio.html
The Archetype of Fairness
http://raenergy.igc.org/ArchitypeOfFairness.html
*****************************************************************
23 York Daily Record: POTASSIUM IODIDE: TMI Alert to hand out pills -
[ydr.com] York Daily Record/Sunday News]
Tuesday, August 31, 2004
Three Mile Island Alert will hand out potassium iodide tablets to
area residents during the Kipona Festival in Harrisburg this
weekend.
Potassium iodide pills protect a person from radioactive
iodine that can be released into the atmosphere by way of a
damaged nuclear reactor.
Taken prior to radioactive exposure, potassium iodide soaks the
thyroid gland with non-radioactive iodine, temporarily blocking
the gland from absorbing harmful iodine for about 24 hours.
Created in 1977, TMI Alert is a group of activists concerned
about state and national regulation of the nuclear power
industry.
Copyright © York Daily Record 2004 122 S. George St., P.O. Box
15122 York, PA 17405, (717) 771-2000
*****************************************************************
24 Scotsman.com: British Atomic Blast has Jeopardised Blair's Health
- Doctor
Tue 31 Aug 2004
Prime Minister Tony Blair’s health has probably been
jeopardised by childhood exposure to radioactive fallout from a
British atomic bomb test in the Australian Outback, a doctor said
today.
A Blair spokeswoman dismissed the allegation.
Mr Blair was aged three and living with his family in the South
Australia state capital, Adelaide, when the British detonated a
third atomic device in the Maralinga desert region 350 miles to
the north on October 11, 1956, The Bulletin magazine said.
An unanticipated wind change blew the radioactive cloud toward
Adelaide.
British medical researcher and toxicologist Dick van Steenis told
the news magazine that the death of Blair’s mother from thyroid
cancer could have been caused by the family’s exposure to the
radioactive fallout.
“Adelaide in South Australia was plastered with radioactive
fallout from 11 to 16 October, 1956,†van Steenis said. “As a
youngster in Adelaide drinking local milk, Tony Blair is very
likely to be at risk of bone cancer himself.â€
A Blair spokeswoman dismissed the theory.
“It sounds like the silly season’s been going on a little bit
longer than we thought,†she said on customary condition of
anonymity. “The prime minister’s perfectly fine.â€
Blair’s mother, Hazel Blair, died 19 years after the blast
following a long battle with thyroid cancer.
Van Steenis said the prime minister would not acknowledge the
impact of the bomb testing on his family because his government
could be sued by former servicemen involved in the nuclear tests.
“He has never denied that radioactive fallout in Australia was
ultimately the cause of his mother’s death,†van Steenis told
the magazine. “But he won’t acknowledge it because to do so
would strengthen the legal case against his government for the
compensation entitlements of British and Australian servicemen
involved in the British atomic testing programme.â€
The magazine did not say whether Adelaide residents suffered
abnormally high rates of illnesses linked to radiation exposure.
South Australian Cancer Registry director Wayne Clapton said
cancer monitoring of the state’s population only began in 1977,
the magazine said.
*****************************************************************
25 [CMEP] Yucca delayed over document release fight
Date: Tue, 31 Aug 2004 14:10:36 -0500 (CDT)
***please forward widely***
***apologies for cross-posting***
P R E S S R E L E A S E
For Immediate Release: Contact:
Michele Boyd (202) 454-5134
Aug. 31, 2004
Erica Hartman (202) 454-5174
A Victory for Consumers in Yucca Mountain Fight; NRC Overrules Energy
Department's Claim That It Made Information Public
Statement of Wenonah Hauter, Director of Public Citizen's Critical Mass
Energy and Environment Program
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) judicial arm, the Atomic
Safety and Licensing Board, unanimously ruled today that the U.S.
Department of Energy (DOE) failed to make publicly available on the
Internet all documents related to the Yucca Mountain Project, as
required by law. As a result, Yucca Mountain's timeline has once again
been postponed due to the government's inability to follow its own
guidelines.
Federal regulation requires the DOE to make all of its documentary
information related to its Yucca Mountain license application available
online six months in advance of filing its application. Therefore, to
meet its self-imposed application deadline of December 2004, the DOE
would have had to post all its supporting documents online by June 30,
2004. At 5 p.m. on June 30 - exactly six months to the day - DOE
certified in writing that its documentary material was "available."
Posting all relevant Yucca Mountain documents online allows the public
to review the materials and participate effectively in the Yucca
Mountain licensing proceedings. This purpose cannot be achieved unless
the Web site is fully functional and complete.
Despite DOE's self-certification, all of the information related to the
Yucca Mountain licensing application was not available to the public on
June 30, nor is it all available to this day. The agency admitted to the
licensing board that of the estimated 2.1 million documents related to
the project, only half are posted online, although officials did not
explain why. In addition, more than four million e-mails related to
research on the Yucca Mountain Project - often important sources of
information - have not been posted.
According to the licensing board, "[W]e conclude that because of the
incompleteness of its document review and production, the many years
that DOE has had to gather and produce its documents, and the fact the
date of production was effectively within DOE's control, DOE's document
production on June 30, 2004, did not satisfy its obligation to make, in
good faith, all of its documentary material available pursuant to" NRC's
regulations. The NRC will not accept the DOE's licensing application
until six months after all the documents have been made available,
meaning the project will be delayed indefinitely until the documents are
posted.
The DOE does not appear to be capable of this task. Together with the
recent court ruling that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
illegally set a 10,000-year compliance period for the radiation release
standards of groundwater at Yucca Mountain (a ruling that also has
delayed the project), it is clear that the Yucca Mountain Project is
flawed both in its science and in its management and should be
abandoned.
A copy of the licensing board's decision is available at
www.citizen.org/documents/LSNdecision.pdf .
###
Public Citizen is a national, nonprofit consumer advocacy organization
based in Washington, D.C. For more information, please visit
www.citizen.org.
**********
If you would like to be removed from the CMEP ListServ, send an email to listserv@listserver.citizen.org with the words "unsubscribe CMEP" in the message.
Questions about the CMEP ListServ can be directed to CMEP-request@LISTSERVER.CITIZEN.ORG.
To learn more about this and other Public Citizen Critical Mass Energy and Environment Program campaigns, visit our website at http://www.citizen.org/cmep/
-Public Citizen's Critical Mass Energy and Environment Program
*****************************************************************
26 [du-list] UK Uranium dumps
Date: Tue, 31 Aug 2004 15:11:11 -0700
Ministers break promises over nuclear waste
http://www.guardian.co.uk/nuclear/article/0,2763,1293988,00.html
Paul Brown and Rob Evans
Tuesday August 31, 2004
The Guardian
Nuclear waste from overseas power stations has been sealed in concrete and
buried in several miles of trenches in breach of official government
policy, the Guardian can reveal.
Ministers have repeatedly promised that nuclear waste from abroad will not
be buried in British soil to make good a pledge that Britain will not
become a nuclear waste dump for countries such as Japan, Germany, Italy and
Switzerland.
But it has now emerged that more than 10,000 cubic metres of foreign
nuclear waste is buried at Drigg in Cumbria because it is too expensive to
transport it back to the countries that produced it. If the waste was
buried side by side the trench would stretch for more than 10 kilometres.
It is part of an ever-increasing mountain of waste stored at more than 20
nuclear sites in Britain. Government advisers have warned that up to 20,000
million cubic metres of this waste will pile up in the coming years - and
there is no way of disposing of nearly all of it. The government is
currently spending £1.3bn and is planning to increase this to £2bn a year
for the next 40 years to try to solve the mounting problems.
The Guardian has learned from Department of Trade and Industry consultation
documents and key advisers that the government is to announce a change in
its official policy and start charging foreign governments for the service
of storing their waste and subsequently disposing of it in concrete bunkers.
Until now, the government has insisted that all the waste would be sent
back but it now sees retaining foreign nuclear detritus as a money-spinning
venture.
Allowing Britain to become a dump for foreign waste would also remove
another problem - the threat of terrorists hijacking the nuclear material
while it was being transported from Britain to other countries.
For decades, thousands of tonnes of spent fuel, containing plutonium and
uranium, have been imported into Britain from nine countries which have
contracts with the state-owned British Nuclear Fuels Ltd to have it
reprocessed.
Two BNFL plants at Sellafield in Cumbria dissolve the fuel in acid and
extract the plutonium and uranium so that it can be returned to those
countries either for storage or reuse in nuclear stations.
In practice not even this has happened and the plutonium and uranium remain
at Sellafield under guard.
In addition there is 405 cubic metres of high level waste and 3,383 cubic
metres of intermediate level waste belonging to foreign countries stored at
Sellafield.
The UK has more than 10,000 cubic metres of high level waste of its own and
another 250,000 tonnes of intermediate level waste. Once packaged into
containers suitable for disposal the waste can be 10 times as bulky.
Britain's own waste is in a series of deteriorating buildings at Sellafield
and at least 19 other sites around the UK.
Norman Baker, the Liberal Democrat spokesman for the environment, said of
the Guardian revelations: "This is a disgrace. We have enough dangerous
nuclear waste of our own without scooping in other countries' waste.
"The Treasury and Depart ment of Trade and Industry do not mind endangering
the environment as they attempt to reduce the horrendous amount of
taxpayer's money that the nuclear industry generates. This government
cannot be trusted to tell the truth, look after the environment or deal
with the nuclear industry in any sort of sensible way."
Blake Lee-Harwood, campaigns director of Greenpeace, said: "It is
absolutely shocking that the government is reneging on one of its key
promises [that nuclear waste] would all be returned to its country of origin.
"This bodes ill for the future imports of spent fuel and the planned return
of other wastes."
The government set up an expert committee of radioactive waste management
to advise on what to do about the problem of nuclear waste.
Due to report by 2006, the committee has been first try ing to discover
exactly how much waste there is in Britain and will then consider how to
get rid of the plutonium and uranium that has been produced from reprocessing.
The committee chairman, Gordon MacKerron, admitted: "It has always seemed
to me unlikely that all the foreign wastes would be returned."
Laurence Williams, the chief health and safety inspector of Britain's
nuclear sites, said his task was making sure the existing wastes stored
round Britain were kept in a safe state.
"The mind boggles that scientists and technicians who did all these complex
tasks like building nine nuclear power stations in 11 years, and ... built
hydrogen bombs and reprocessing plants, could at the same time have chucked
highly active waste into silos with no thought how to get it out," he said.
"This is what we now have to do, and it is no easy task."
The Guardian has applied under the "open government" code for details of
contracts between the British and Italian governments, but the DTI, which
is responsible for BNFL, has refused to release anything.
The DTI claims that disclosure of the "sensitive" information would
embarrass the Italian government and create diplomatic tension between
London and Rome.
Nuclear waste is divided into three categories - high level, intermediate
level and low level based on the level and type of radioactivity.
Of most concern is the high level waste. It is so radioactive that it
produces heat and has been kept in liquid form in tanks for up to 50 years
at Sellafield before being turned into glass blocks for storage. The
government admits that a quarter of this type of waste belongs to foreign
governments.
Intermediate level waste is not heat-producing and can be packaged in
concrete for safety. Both these types need to be isolated from human
contact for up to 200,000 years.
The low level waste is by far the greatest volume and includes everything
from gloves and overalls to large pieces of equipment and concrete. The
only place to store this in Britain is Drigg, which will be full by 2050.
Government advisers estimate that there will be enough low-level waste
produced in the next 50 years to fill 15 Drigg dumps.
The DTI was unable to comment on the disposal of foreign waste yesterday.
Special report
The nuclear industry
Graphics
The
Mox ships' journey around the world (pdf)
Nuclear map of Britain
US nuclear map
Useful links
British Energy
Department of Trade and Industry
British Nuclear Fuels Ltd
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
Greenpeace
HSE nuclear glossary
UK atomic energy authority
National Radiological Protection Board
Friends
of the Earth
World Nuclear Association
World Nuclear Transport Institute
To unsubscribe from this groups send a message to
du-list-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com. In the body of the message type
unsubscribe and send.
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27 [PUBCIT_PRESS] Yucca delayed over document release fight
Date: Tue, 31 Aug 2004 17:21:50 -0500 (CDT)
Public Citizen Press Releases
Providing the latest information about Public Citizen activities
-------------------------------------------
Public Citizen released the following August 31, 2004:
A Victory for Consumers in Yucca Mountain Fight; NRC Overrules Energy
Department's Claim That It Made Information Public
Statement of Wenonah Hauter, Director of Public Citizen's Critical Mass
Energy and Environment Program
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) judicial arm, the Atomic
Safety and Licensing Board, unanimously ruled today that the U.S.
Department of Energy (DOE) failed to make publicly available on the
Internet all documents related to the Yucca Mountain Project, as
required by law. As a result, Yucca Mountain's timeline has once again
been postponed due to the government's inability to follow its own
guidelines.
Federal regulation requires the DOE to make all of its documentary
information related to its Yucca Mountain license application available
online six months in advance of filing its application. Therefore, to
meet its self-imposed application deadline of December 2004, the DOE
would have had to post all its supporting documents online by June 30,
2004. At 5 p.m. on June 30 - exactly six months to the day - DOE
certified in writing that its documentary material was "available."
Posting all relevant Yucca Mountain documents online allows the public
to review the materials and participate effectively in the Yucca
Mountain licensing proceedings. This purpose cannot be achieved unless
the Web site is fully functional and complete.
Despite DOE's self-certification, all of the information related to the
Yucca Mountain licensing application was not available to the public on
June 30, nor is it all available to this day. The agency admitted to the
licensing board that of the estimated 2.1 million documents related to
the project, only half are posted online, although officials did not
explain why. In addition, more than four million e-mails related to
research on the Yucca Mountain Project - often important sources of
information - have not been posted.
According to the licensing board, "[W]e conclude that because of the
incompleteness of its document review and production, the many years
that DOE has had to gather and produce its documents, and the fact the
date of production was effectively within DOE's control, DOE's document
production on June 30, 2004, did not satisfy its obligation to make, in
good faith, all of its documentary material available pursuant to" NRC's
regulations. The NRC will not accept the DOE's licensing
application until six months after all the documents have been made
available, meaning the project will be delayed indefinitely until the
documents are posted.
The DOE does not appear to be capable of this task. Together with the
recent court ruling that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
illegally set a 10,000-year compliance period for the radiation release
standards of groundwater at Yucca Mountain (a ruling that also has
delayed the project), it is clear that the Yucca Mountain Project is
flawed both in its science and in its management and should be
abandoned.
A copy of the licensing board's decision is available at
www.citizen.org/documents/LSNdecision.pdf .
###
Public Citizen is a national, nonprofit consumer advocacy organization
based in Washington, D.C. For more information, please visit
www.citizen.org.
For more information on Yucca Mountain, visit
http://www.citizen.org/cmep/energy_enviro_nuclear/nuclear_waste/hi-level/yucca/
-------------------------------------------
To be removed from this list send an email to pcpress@citizen.org with "unsubscribe pubcit_press" in the message.
Please visit our website at www.citizen.org
*****************************************************************
28 Las Vegas SUN: GOP approves platform including support for nuclear repository
ASSOCIATED PRESS
LAS VEGAS (AP) - The Republican Party has adopted a campaign
platform that doesn't mention a Nevada nuclear waste repository
by name, but pledges support for nuclear energy to reduce the
dependence on foreign oil.
A plank approved Monday by voice vote with the platform at the
GOP convention in New York points to a key issue in the
presidential campaign in Nevada - the government's plan to bury
the nation's highest-level nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain, 90
miles northwest of Las Vegas.
"President Bush supports construction of new nuclear power
plants through the Nuclear Power 2010 initiative and continues
to move forward on creating an environmentally sound nuclear
waste repository," the platform states.
The energy plank also pledges support for renewable sources such
as solar and wind power.
A Nevada spokesman for Democratic presidential candidate John
Kerry took issue with the reference to "an environmentally sound
nuclear waste repository."
"If they found one of those, I'd like to know where it is," said
Sean Smith, spokesman for the campaign in Nevada.
Some of the state's delegates said they were pleased with the
language and said the state should be negotiating for benefits
in exchange for the project, which was approved by Congress and
Bush in 2002.
"We've gotten denied a lot benefits," said Yucca supporter Paul
Willis of Pahrump. "The real losers will be the state of Nevada
and Nye County for not negotiating for benefits."
The convention delegation also includes Republican statewide
officials who have fought against the repository, including
state Attorney General Brian Sandoval, who sued the Bush
administration, and Rep. Jim Gibbons, who voted against the
repository in Congress.
The national Democratic platform, approved by delegates in
Boston last month, includes a plank opposing efforts to store
nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain that are not based on sound
science.
Presidential nominee John Kerry has pledged to stop the project
if elected. Bush defended his decision to approve Yucca Mountain
during a trip to Las Vegas earlier this month, saying it was
based on science.
---
Information from: Las Vegas Review-Journal, http://www.lvrj.com
--
All contents copyright 2004 Las Vegas SUN, Inc.
*****************************************************************
29 Las Vegas SUN: NRC panel says Energy Department missed key Yucca document date
By KEN RITTER
ASSOCIATED PRESS
LAS VEGAS (AP) - The Energy Department failed to meet a
self-imposed deadline for making documents public about a
national nuclear waste repository in Nevada, a federal panel
said in a ruling Tuesday that might slow the Yucca Mountain
project.
"Clearly, they can't move forward," said Marta Adams, a deputy
Nevada state attorney general.
Adams said the decision by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's
Atomic Safety and Licensing Board, coupled with a recent court
decision invalidating an Environmental Protection Agency
radiation standard, seemed certain to stall the project 90 miles
northwest of Las Vegas.
An Energy Department spokesman said lawyers were reviewing the
54-page opinion and would decide whether to appeal the panel's
ruling to the full commission.
"We're continuing to move forward," spokesman Joe Davis said
from Washington, D.C. "We've got a goal of opening Yucca
Mountain in 2010. With all the process of getting the NRC
license and congressional funding, that remains our goal."
He declined to say whether the Energy Department will meet
another self-imposed deadline for submitting a license
application for the project to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
by Dec. 31.
The department had declared June 30 that it had made public some
1.2 million documents about its plan to entomb spent nuclear
fuel from 39 states at Yucca Mountain.
The state, which opposes the repository, challenged the
declaration July 12 - just three days after a federal court in
Washington, D.C., ruled that a 10,000-year EPA radiation safety
standard for the project was insufficient.
Energy Department officials have insisted after both actions
that they could press on toward the Dec. 31 deadline. A delay
could push back the government's tight timeline, which aims to
open the repository in 2010.
The Energy Department is required by law to certify six months
before applying for a license that all Yucca Mountain documents
are publicly available on a Nuclear Regulatory Commission Web
site.
The Energy Department had said it made the documents, totaling
5.6 million pages and accumulated over 20 years, available to
the NRC through a DOE Web site.
The NRC panel, appointed to rule on the state's challenge, said
the Energy Department had not met NRC requirements. But it added
that it did not appear it would take long for the Energy
Department to re-certify that the documents are available.
Davis said the process could take about a month.
Nevada and other participants in the licensing process will then
have 90 days to submit their project documents.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is expected to spend several
years deciding whether to allow the repository to open.
---
On the Net:
Nevada's Agency for Nuclear Projects:
http://www.state.nv.us/nucwaste
Nuclear Regulatory Commission: http://www.nrc.gov
Yucca Mountain project: http://www.ymp.gov
--
All contents copyright 2004 Las Vegas SUN, Inc.
*****************************************************************
30 The Australian: 'Take blame' for Ranger problems
[August 31, 2004]
By Denis Peters and Karen Michelmore
THE Federal Government was called on to shoulder responsibility
today after a report found the company behind a uranium mine in
Kakadu National Park had breached its operating licence.
The Northern Territory Government is considering whether to
prosecute ERA over an incident in March this year when the Ranger
mine site's water supply became contaminated with uranium, making
28 workers ill.
An investigation by the Office of the Supervising Scientist
Arthur Johnston found the mine's radiation clearance measures and
water systems were inadequate, with leaky pipes and broken valves
common around the mill.
ERA said it would temporarily suspend mining and processing to
address issues raised by the reports.
Federal Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane said he would ensure
thorough independent audits that the company complied with new
standards.
But Opposition environment spokesman Kelvin Thomson said the
Government must share responsibility with ERA for what Mr
Macfarlane described as a culture of complacency which had
developed at the mine.
"Following more than 120 documented incidents, spills and leaks
since the Ranger mine opened in 1981, Labor initiated a Senate
inquiry into the Ranger mine in 2002 without any support or
co-operation from the Howard Government," Mr Thomson said.
"The inquiry found that monitoring at Jabiluka and Ranger mines
lacks rigour and independence and was insufficient for assessing
intermittent and cumulative impacts. It said the monitoring
regime had to be improved."
Mr Thomson said the inquiry found the present legislative and
regulatory framework to be complex, confusing and inadequate in
many respects.
"It found a need for an increased role of traditional owners in
land management and protection, and for research into the social
impacts of the Ranger mine," he said.
"The Howard Government has failed to act on these
recommendations and the problems still continue."
Mr Thomson said the government's handling of uranium mining
safety and environmental issues at Ranger had been casual and
inadequate.
Greens senator Kerry Nettle called for the permanent closure of
the mine.
"The minister needs to use his power to stop the operating
licence (and) revoke the export licence that exists for Ranger
uranium mine," she said.
"It is the most destructive, dangerous and toxic industry – it
occurs wholly within the Kakadu World Heritage area – it is an
utterly inappropriate place."
Senator Nettle said there had been no prosecutions at Ranger and
that the prospect of a $10,000 fine for environmental breaches
was a mere drop in the bucket for ERA's majority shareholder, Rio
Tinto Ltd.
The Mirarr traditional Aboriginal owners said Rio Tinto and ERA
were now on notice.
"It is time for a complete overhaul of Ranger's safety and
environmental protection management," a Mirarr spokesman said.
"If the company fails to immediately lift its game the
Commonwealth Government should revoke its uranium export
licence."
The spokesman said the Mirarr people had long held and publicly
expressed concerns at inadequate management practices at Ranger
and these concerns had been vindicated by the findings of the
supervising scientist.
privacy terms © The Australian
*****************************************************************
31 The Australian: Uranium mine shut after leak inquiry
[September 01, 2004]
Ashleigh Wilson
THE controversial Ranger uranium mine in the Northern Territory
was forced to suspend operations yesterday following a damning
report into a contamination scare earlier this year.
In March, 28 workers suffered from nausea, headaches, stomach
cramps and vomiting after drinking and showering in water
contaminated with 400 times the allowable limit of uranium.
The Northern Territory Government is now considering prosecuting
the mine operators, Energy Resources of Australia.
An investigation into the leak by the Office of Supervising
Scientist Arthur Johnston found ERA may have breached several
conditions of its licence by allowing workers access to the
water.
He concluded that while human error was the primary cause of the
leak, the mine's process water distribution system was in poor
condition, with leaking pipes and broken and corroded valves
common around the mill.
The findings prompted renewed calls for Ranger to be shut down
for good, and may turn the continued operations of the uranium
mine into an election issue.
Federal Resources Minister Ian Macfarlane said two independent
audits would be undertaken to ensure ERA wholly owned by Rio
Tinto, the world's second-largest mining company immediately
addressed the shortcomings at the mine.
"Any failure to meet these standards will cause me to suspend
any further operation of the mine," Mr Macfarlane said.
"I am gravely concerned by what appears to me to be a case of
complacency on behalf of the mine's operation."
Both the Democrats and Greens called for the mine to be shut
down permanently, with Greens senator Kerry Nettle describing
ERA as "incompetent" and saying its location in Kakadu was
"utterly inappropriate".
Labor's environment spokesman, Kelvin Thompson, said the federal
Government had to bear some responsibility for the problems
because it had failed to act on the recommendations of a 2002
Senate inquiry into the mine.
Warren Snowdon, Labor member for the Northern Territory seat of
Lingiari, also stopped short of calling for the mine's permanent
closure.
"I was never an advocate of having the uranium mine in the
Northern Territory in the first place," Mr Snowdon said. "But I
have learned to live with the operation of the mine and,
generally speaking, I think the mine is operating reasonably
responsibly."
The Gundjehmi Aboriginal Corporation, the traditional owners of
the site, called on Canberra to strip ERA of its mining licence
if it did not lift its game.
Dr Johnston also found vehicles had left the mine site on three
occasions without proper radiation clearance. However, in his
report, he said the workers who came in contact with the
contaminated water in March were not expected to experience
long-term health problems.
After voluntarily shutting down the mine for several days, ERA
chief executive Harry Kenyon-Slaney yesterday expressed "deep
regret" over the incident but said the company had worked hard
over the past few months to improve operations at the mine.
privacy terms © The Australian
*****************************************************************
32 Guardian Unlimited: Energy's achilles heel - Nuclear waste
Leader
Wednesday September 1, 2004
The Guardian
Successive governments have sworn that Britain would not
become a dump for the world's growing mountains of nuclear
waste. But, as we reported yesterday, the industry has, over the
last nine years, taken more than 10,000 cubic metres of low
level waste from Japan, Germany and elsewhere and buried it in
concrete at Drigg in Cumbria, saying it is too expensive to
transport back to the countries it came from. Moreover, it plans
to continue to profit from others' waste. Quite apart from the
deception, which suggests that the industry is beyond the
control of its political masters, it confirms that nuclear waste
is the achilles heel of the industry. After 50 years of trying,
no country in the world has yet managed to come up with a
completely workable solution to a problem which is growing by
the day as old reactors are switched off and decommissioned.
No one knows exactly how much nuclear waste Britain has, but at
the last estimate it was suggested that we will have to store,
make safe and guard for hundreds of generations some 20m cubic
metres of low level and intermediate waste which has built up
over 50 years, and is mostly being kept at Sellafield. This is
currently expected to cost about £80bn, spread over 40 years. To
put this into perspective, that's not far short of the UN's
price tag for ensuring everyone in the world gets clean water.
Waste was one of the nuclear industry's major liabilities that
the City balked at in the late 1980s when Mrs Thatcher first
tried to privatise British Nuclear Fuels. Since then it has
almost pushed British Energy into bankruptcy. The recent energy
white paper rejected nuclear power on economic grounds, again
largely because of the industry's waste liabilities. Just to
keep Britain's existing power plants going, the government
expects to have to subsidise the industry by up to £12bn, mostly
to pay for the inevitable unwanted leftovers.
Worldwide, the industry is expanding, especially in China and
south-east Asia. It is being promoted strongly in the west by
the US government and by serious environmentalists who see
nuclear as a short-term response to escalating climate change.
But addressing one major long-term environmental problem by
exacerbating another is not a solution. Sustainable development
at its most basic level means not landing future generation with
more problems, and no exception should be made for nuclear
power. Until the British nuclear industry has far clearer ideas
about how it intends to handle and pay for its own waste, it
should not be seeking to store others.
The nuclear industry
Graphics
The Mox ships' journey around the world (pdf)
Nuclear map of Britain
US nuclear map
[UP]
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004
*****************************************************************
33 Las Vegas RJ: GOP backs nuclear repository
Tuesday, August 31, 2004
Plank divides Nevada Republican delegation
By ERIN NEFF REVIEW-JOURNAL
NEW YORK -- Though it doesn't mention the Yucca Mountain Project
by name, the platform approved Monday by the Republican Party
probably won't help the GOP much in Nevada.
In a plank pledging support for nuclear energy's role in
alleviating dependence on foreign oil, the platform hits upon the
key issue of burying the nation's high level nuclear waste at
Yucca Mountain, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
"President Bush supports construction of new nuclear power plants
through the Nuclear Power 2010 initiative and continues to move
forward on creating an environmentally sound nuclear waste
repository," the platform states.
The platform was approved by a voice vote early Monday afternoon
without delegates even seeing the document.
The energy plank also pledges support for renewable sources such
as solar and wind power.
Environmental groups lashed out at the overall energy planks, but
some Nevada delegates were particularly pleased with the language
referring to the repository, which was approved by Bush in 2002.
"We've gotten denied a lot benefits," said Paul Willis of
Pahrump, a staunch repository supporter. "In my 50 years as a
resident of Nevada, I've never seen the federal government denied
anything.
"The real losers will be the state of Nevada and Nye County for
not negotiating for benefits," said Willis, who wore a pin that
identified him as "Paul Willis -- Chairman Nye County -- Home of
Yucca Mountain."
Willis said the pin was to remind the rest of the Nevada
delegation how a majority of the members feel about Yucca.
About a dozen of the 33 delegates support Yucca Mountain and
think the state should negotiate for benefits, according to a
survey of delegates by the Associated Press.
A Reno Gazette-Journal, KRNV-Channel 4 poll of statewide voters
this month found that 53 percent consider Yucca Mountain an
important factor in deciding which presidential candidate they
will back. Among Democrats, 67 percent said Yucca Mountain is
important, compared with 38 percent of Republicans.
But the delegation includes Republican statewide officials that
have fought hard against the repository. Attorney General Brian
Sandoval, who sued the Bush administration, is a delegate along
with Rep. Jim Gibbons, who voted against the repository in
Congress.
Gov. Kenny Guinn's wife, Dema, and his sister, Shirley Barber,
are also delegates. Guinn vetoed Bush's designation of Yucca
Mountain in 2002, triggering a congressional vote on the issue.
The divide within the Republican Party on the repository has
already opened the door to criticism by the Democrats.
Kerry Nevada spokesman Sean Smith scoffed at the language about
an "environmentally-sound nuclear waste repository."
"If they found one of those, I'd like to know where it is," Smith
said.
He also said the platform can play a role in Nevada's
presidential election because "it's consistent with Bush's record
for the past four years and it reinforces the notion that he's
pushed forward on this."
The national Democratic platform, approved by delegates in Boston
last month, includes a plank opposing efforts to store nuclear
waste at Yucca Mountain that are not based on sound science.
Presidential nominee John Kerry pledged to kill the project if
elected, and in a television commercial running now in Reno and
Las Vegas, he tells voters: "It's wrong. It's dangerous and I
won't let it happen."
During a trip to Las Vegas two weeks ago, Bush said his decision
was based on science and that he would stand by any ruling by a
court or the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
"This is something you've heard the president address himself,"
said White House spokesman Ken Lisiaus. "And Spencer Abraham has
also addressed it. He (Bush) is strongly committed to making sure
this moves forward on sound scientific principals and that the
people of Nevada are safe."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Copyright Las Vegas Review-Journal
*****************************************************************
34 NRC: NRC Licensing Board Issues Decision on Adequacy of Doe Document Production Relating to
Yucca Mountain Licensing Proceeding
News Release - 2004-10 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office
of Public Affairs Telephone: 301/415-8200 Washington, DC
20555-0001 E-mail: opa@nrc.gov No. 04-101 August 31, 2004
A Nuclear Regulatory Commission Atomic Safety and Licensing
Board ruled today the Department of Energy (DOE) certification
that it made available all DOE documentary material on its
proposed Yucca Mountain high level waste repository failed to
meet NRC regulations.
Specifically, the Licensing Board unanimously found that the
June 30 certification failed to make publically available
substantial quantities of documentary material in DOEs
possession at the time of certification, and that the manner in
which DOE made the material publicly available on its own
internet web site failed to satisfy the regulations.
The decision was in response to a July 12 motion to the
Licensing Board from the State of Nevada in connection with the
expected future application of the DOE to build a repository for
high-level radioactive waste at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. The
motion challenged DOEs certification of the availability of its
documentary material regarding the application. The Licensing
Board heard oral arguments on the motion, from Nevada, DOE and
the NRC staff, July 27 at the NRCs Rockville, Md., headquarters.
NRC regulations require, in order to provide for efficient
discovery in the formal NRC hearing that will be associated with
review of the application, that all potential participants in
the Yucca Mountain proceeding make their documents available to
other potential participants in electronic form through the
publicly available, web-based Licensing Support Network (LSN).
The LSN is available for anyone to access documents, at
http://www.lsnnet.gov.
Under the regulations, DOE must certify, six months before
submitting its license application, that its documents are
electronically available. DOE made that certification on June
30, 2004. Shortly thereafter the NRC Chief Administrative Judge
appointed a three-person Licensing Board to serve as the
Pre-License Application Presiding Officer (PAPO) to decide
disputes brought by parties or potential parties regarding
documentary materials submitted to the LSN. Members of the PAPO
Licensing Board are Thomas S. Moore, Chairman; Alex S. Karlin;
and Alan S. Rosenthal.
Thirty days after the DOE certification, on July 30, the NRC
certified that its documents were electronically available.
Other potential parties and interested governmental participants
must also make their documents electronically available on the
LSN prior to DOE filing its application for the Yucca Mountain
repository license.
The Board ruled that Nevada and other potential participants are
not required to make their documents available until 90 days
after DOE recertifies that it has made all of its documents
available on the central LSN site. It does not appear that it
will take DOE a significant amount of time to complete its
processing of the outstanding documents prior to being able to
make a recertification, the Board said.
The PAPO Licensing Board decision may be appealed to the
Commission that heads the NRC.
A copy of the decision will be available from the NRCs web site
by entering http://hlwehd.nrc.gov/Public_HLW-EHD/home.aspand
following the directions on the screen. Help in accessing
information on the web is available from the NRC Public Document
Room at 1/800/397-4209 or 301/415-4737.
Last revised Tuesday, August 31, 2004
*****************************************************************
35 Las Vegas SUN: Republicans reaffirm stance on nuke dump
Today: August 31, 2004 at 9:41:52 PDT
By Suzanne Struglinski SUN WASHINGTON
BUREAU
NEW YORK -- Republicans reaffirmed their commitment to
development of a nuclear waste repository in the party's
platform, adopted at the national convention Monday.
The document does not specifically name Yucca Mountain -- the
only planned national nuclear waste repository, 90 miles
northwest of Las Vegas -- but it makes clear that it wants
nuclear power to advance.
"We believe nuclear power can help reduce our dependence on
foreign energy and play an invaluable role in addressing global
climate change," according to page 54 of the 98-page platform
booklet distributed at the convention. "President Bush supports
construction of new nuclear power plants through the Nuclear
Power 2010 initiative, and continues to move forward on creating
an environmentally sound nuclear waste repository."
The platform is a sharp contrast from the platform Democrats
adopted in July, which called for the party to "protect" Nevada
from the shipment of nuclear waste. Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev.,
said having Yucca Mountain in the platform will not really make
a difference in the state's fight against the project, since it
has always been 49 states versus Nevada. He noted that the one
good thing was that it did not name Nevada specifically.
"We have started to see alternatives bubble up through the
surface," Gibbons said, speaking specifically on the temporary
nuclear waste storage facility proposed by several nuclear
utilities in Utah.
Gibbons said there are other options but that laws would need
to be changed to make the policy different because currently the
law only allows Yucca Mountain to be studied.
"Environmentally sound nuclear waste repository -- now there's
an oxymoron," Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., said. "It's clear
this plank refers to burying nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain,
which cannot be done safely. And it fails to make a single
mention of the terrorist threat that nuclear waste shipments
pose to our families and our communities -- an issue the GOP
desperately wants to avoid discussing."
Attorney General Brian Sandoval, who is leading the state's
legal fight against the project said the president has "been
honest with the state of Nevada" by stating clearly he would
base it on sound science and obey the rulings of the court.
"That's leadership," Sandoval said. "The people of our state
realize there is a need to store the waste somewhere but that it
needs to be safe."
Sandoval said there are still more court decisions, such as
those by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that are still not
complete.
Delegate James Forsythe said Bush has supported sound science
and will do whatever the courts say to do. He pointed out that
Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry voted for the 1987
"Screw Nevada" bill and sees no difference between the two
candidates on that issue.
Delegate Elena Lopez-Bowlan of Reno said that other presidents
have not wanted to touch the issue because it is so "politically
inflammatory," but that Bush has at least opened up the
discussion.
"It's important because we have to deal with it, we can't have
an elephant in the room," Lopez-Bowlan said. "He has bothered at
least to open up the discussion and start to look for solutions."
The platform, which outlines the party's positions on issues,
includes opinions on homeland security, winning the war on
terrorism, intelligence including the creation of a national
intelligence director and a national counterterrorism center,
tax reform, education and health care.
Nevada delegates Rew Goodenow and Bonnie Weber, both from Reno,
served on the platform committee that finalized the document.
Alfred Valdez, a convention delegate from Henderson, said only
the media and Democrats talk about Yucca Mountain. "It's not the
top issue among people I've talked to," Valdez said.
But according to a poll conducted by the Reno Gazette-Journal
and KRNV-TV, 53 percent of likely Nevada voters said Yucca
Mountain is an important factor when deciding who they will vote
for, the Associated Press reported Monday.
Among Republicans, 38 percent said Yucca Mountain is important,
compared with 67 percent of Democrats and 56 percent of
independent voters.
Democratic Presidential candidate John Kerry has promised to
stop the project if voters send him to the White House.
The Democrats' platform, approved in Boston in late July,
contained the phrase: "We will protect Nevada and its
communities from the high-level nuclear waste dump at Yucca
Mountain which has not been proven to be safe by sound science."
Nick Shapiro, spokesman for the Democratic National Committee,
said differences between the platforms show the Republicans are
trying "to pull a quick one" by leaving out Nevada and the
project name.
"The fact that George Bush and the Republican Party are not
taking Yucca Mountain seriously and are not even discussing
their positions on it shows that the people of Nevada clearly
need someone that is going to represent their interests and stop
the Yucca Mountain project, as John Kerry has promised," Shapiro
said.
The day the Democrats approved their platform, Sen. John
Ensign, R-Nev., dismissed platforms as "worthless" while
pointing to Kerry's past votes on bills in the Senate that
contained language supporting the Yucca Mountain project.
All contents copyright 2004 Las Vegas SUN, Inc.
*****************************************************************
36 AU ABC: Ranger mine owners urged to overhaul safety standards.
31/08/2004. ABC News Online
Traditional owners say the operator of the Ranger uranium mine
in the Northern Territory should be stripped of its export
licence unless it immediately overhauls its safety and
environmental management.
The mine has shut down for several days to address issues
raised in new contamination reports.
In March, workers at the mine fell ill after drinking and
showering in water found to contain 400 times the legal limit of
uranium.
Two Commonwealth contamination reports have prompted Energy
Resources of Australia (ERA) to close the mine for safety
improvements.
ERA's Harry Kenyon Slaney says they are taking the matter
seriously.
"We have a wide range of regulatory requirements at ERA and
frankly, you know, this is our licence to operate," he said.
The Gundjehmi Aboriginal Corporation's Justin O'Brien says the
reports are a serious indictment against the mining company.
"If the company fails to immediately lift its game the
Commonwealth Government should revoke its uranium export
licence."
The Northern Territory Government had been waiting for the
Commonwealth reports before making a final decision on possible
penalties.
Meanwhile, the Greens have called for the Federal Government to
shut down the mine.
Greens Senator Kerry Nettle says it is time the Government
acted.
"[The] Senate report that came out last year putting in
suggestions, changes to the safety procedures, another report
that came out yesterday saying let's have at least Australian
standards put in place for the safety operations of this mine,
not appropriate for it continue to operate," she said.
The Greens are saying the minister needs to use his power to
stop the operating licence, revoke the export licence that
exists for Ranger uranium mine.
A safety report into the Ranger uranium mine has found leaking
pipes are common and a major refurbishment is needed to bring
the mine up to standard.
© 2004 Australian Broadcasting Corporation
*****************************************************************
37 White House Brawl Over Weapons Workers
Date: Tue, 31 Aug 2004 15:11:06 -0700
Give the money to the sick and dying workers www.nnwj.com
White House in Brawl Over Weapons Workers
By NANCY ZUCKERBROD
Associated Press Writer
August 31, 2004, 2:22 AM EDT
WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration is locked in a rare election-year
fight with fellow Republicans in the Senate over a troubled program for
tens of thousands of weapons plant workers who got sick building nuclear
bombs.
The lawmakers say they don't understand why the administration is
blocking a Senate-passed amendment to the defense bill that would
overhaul a compensation program bogged down by delays and other problems.
"I can't fully understand what their resistance is," said Sen. Lisa
Murkowski, who is in a tough re-election battle in Alaska. "We've been
hammered by our constituents."
Many of the workers are from battleground states in the upcoming
presidential election, including Colorado, Iowa, New Mexico, Ohio and
Washington state.
"These people are sick and dying," said Terrie Barrie of Craig, Colo.,
whose husband was sickened while working at the former Rocky Flats plant
near Denver. "The administration, the Department of Energy, is just
refusing to listen."
The Senate proposal would streamline the compensation process by having
the government pay claims directly rather than having Energy Department
contractors do it and later reimbursing them. It also would move the
program from the Energy Department to the Labor Department and require
the government to perform environmental studies of plants.
The lawmakers complain the Energy Department has squandered much of the
$95 million it received since Congress created the program. As of the
end of July, the agency has paid only 31 claims out of about 25,000
filed. The $700,000 in paid claims amounts to an average benefit of
roughly $22,500.
Administration officials declined to comment on their opposition to the
Senate measure, except to point to a statement by the White House budget
office citing concerns that a change would create an "unworkable
process," cause more delays, increase costs and expand the program's scope.
Senators say their bill does not add new benefits, but would ensure that
more workers eligible for compensation get it.
House members appear to be siding with the administration.
Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn., said changing who runs the program would cause
more delays. He also expressed concern about GOP members in Congress
feuding with a Republican administration during a presidential election
year.
Harry Williams, a former worker at the Energy Department's Oak Ridge,
Tenn., facility, said he is a Republican who doesn't plan to vote for
Bush this November as long as the administration continues to oppose the
changes workers want.
"I voted for him last time, but this time around I don't think I will,"
Williams said. "As it comes to dealing with the working guy, his
administration doesn't have a feel for it."
Democrats are generally trying to steer clear of politicizing the issue.
The tension between GOP lawmakers and the administration was highlighted
a month ago when the White House announced the recess appointment of
Susan Grant as the Energy Department's chief financial officer.
Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., had been blocking her nomination to protest the
department's handling of the compensation program. President Bush made
the appointment while Congress was in recess, skirting the need for
Senate confirmation.
The workers were exposed to toxic substances such as radiation, heavy
metals, asbestos and harsh solvents and acids while employed by Energy
Department contractors. They often were not told what they were working
with and did not have adequate protections.
"These are our Cold War veterans," said Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn.
"They were working in an environment that they thought was safe. It
wasn't safe."
Other influential Republican senators who support the overhaul include
Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee, Energy Committee Chairman Pete
Domenici of New Mexico, Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens of
Alaska and Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley of Iowa.
The proposal to help the workers is part of a defense bill passed by the
Senate, but it is not included in a House-passed version. GOP senators
are trying to persuade House members to include the changes in the final
bill, but their efforts have been opposed by the Bush administration.
Congress passed a law four years ago directing the Energy Department to
help the workers file claims for lost wages and medical benefits under
state worker compensation systems. That reversed a decades-old practice
in which the government helped contractors fight the workers' claims.
* __
On the Net:
Energy Department program:
http://www.eh.doe.gov/advocacy/prog_stats/
Congress: http://thomas.loc.gov/
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
*****************************************************************
38 Las Vegas SUN: White House in Brawl Over Weapons Workers
Return to the referring page.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
August 30, 2004
By NANCY ZUCKERBROD
ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Bush administration is locked in a rare
election-year fight with fellow Republicans in the Senate over a
troubled program for tens of thousands of weapons plant workers
who got sick building nuclear bombs.
The lawmakers say they don't understand why the administration
is blocking a Senate-passed amendment to the defense bill that
would overhaul a compensation program bogged down by delays and
other problems.
"I can't fully understand what their resistance is," said Sen.
Lisa Murkowski, who is in a tough re-election battle in Alaska.
"We've been hammered by our constituents."
Many of the workers are from battleground states in the upcoming
presidential election, including Colorado, Iowa, New Mexico,
Ohio and Washington state.
"These people are sick and dying," said Terrie Barrie of Craig,
Colo., whose husband was sickened while working at the former
Rocky Flats plant near Denver. "The administration, the
Department of Energy, is just refusing to listen."
The Senate proposal would streamline the compensation process by
having the government pay claims directly rather than having
Energy Department contractors do it and later reimbursing them.
It also would move the program from the Energy Department to the
Labor Department and require the government to perform
environmental studies of plants.
The lawmakers complain the Energy Department has squandered much
of the $95 million it received since Congress created the
program. As of the end of July, the agency has paid only 31
claims out of about 25,000 filed. The $700,000 in paid claims
amounts to an average benefit of roughly $22,500.
Administration officials declined to comment on their opposition
to the Senate measure, except to point to a statement by the
White House budget office citing concerns that a change would
create an "unworkable process," cause more delays, increase
costs and expand the program's scope.
Senators say their bill does not add new benefits, but would
ensure that more workers eligible for compensation get it.
House members appear to be siding with the administration.
Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn., said changing who runs the program
would cause more delays. He also expressed concern about GOP
members in Congress feuding with a Republican administration
during a presidential election year.
Harry Williams, a former worker at the Energy Department's Oak
Ridge, Tenn., facility, said he is a Republican who doesn't plan
to vote for Bush this November as long as the administration
continues to oppose the changes workers want.
"I voted for him last time, but this time around I don't think I
will," Williams said. "As it comes to dealing with the working
guy, his administration doesn't have a feel for it."
Democrats are generally trying to steer clear of politicizing
the issue.
The tension between GOP lawmakers and the administration was
highlighted a month ago when the White House announced the
recess appointment of Susan Grant as the Energy Department's
chief financial officer.
Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., had been blocking her nomination to
protest the department's handling of the compensation program.
President Bush made the appointment while Congress was in
recess, skirting the need for Senate confirmation.
The workers were exposed to toxic substances such as radiation,
heavy metals, asbestos and harsh solvents and acids while
employed by Energy Department contractors. They often were not
told what they were working with and did not have adequate
protections.
"These are our Cold War veterans," said Sen. Lamar Alexander,
R-Tenn. "They were working in an environment that they thought
was safe. It wasn't safe."
Other influential Republican senators who support the overhaul
include Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee, Energy
Committee Chairman Pete Domenici of New Mexico, Appropriations
Committee Chairman Ted Stevens of Alaska and Finance Committee
Chairman Charles Grassley of Iowa.
The proposal to help the workers is part of a defense bill
passed by the Senate, but it is not included in a House-passed
version. GOP senators are trying to persuade House members to
include the changes in the final bill, but their efforts have
been opposed by the Bush administration.
Congress passed a law four years ago directing the Energy
Department to help the workers file claims for lost wages and
medical benefits under state worker compensation systems. That
reversed a decades-old practice in which the government helped
contractors fight the workers' claims.
---
On the Net:
Energy Department program:
http://www.eh.doe.gov/advocacy/prog-stats/
Congress: http://thomas.loc.gov/
--
All contents copyright 2004 Las Vegas SUN, Inc.
*****************************************************************
39 Tri-City Herald: Bulk vitrification testing under way
This story was published Tuesday, August 31st, 2004
By Annette Cary Herald staff writer
In a north Richland lab, chemist Dong-Sang Kim is making glass
out of mock Hanford waste, a cupful at a time.
He and other Pacific Northwest National Laboratory scientists are
mixing up different recipes for immobilizing Hanford waste and
then cooking it to near 2,500 degrees. It's an effort to
determine how best to make a glass product to hold millions of
gallons of radioactive wastes for thousands of years.
The goal is to make a product that's "good as glass" -- the glass
that will be made at Hanford's $5.7 billion waste vitrification
plant under construction at Hanford.
As planned, however, the vit plant only will be able to treat
possibly half to two-thirds of the 53 million gallons of
radioactive wastes now stored in 177 underground tanks at Hanford
by a 2028 deadline. The radioactive and chemical wastes are left
from 50 years of production of plutonium for the nation's nuclear
weapons program.
Hanford officials are looking at bulk vitrification as an
alternate, and less expensive, way to immobilize 10 million to 26
million gallons of low-activity radioactive wastes for permanent
disposal.
In bulk vitrification, waste would be dried, mixed with
silica-rich dirt and packed into insulated boxes up to 24 feet
long. Electrodes would be inserted into the mixture to heat it
and melt it into a huge brick of glass to be permanently buried,
container and all.
The cost of demonstrating the alternate technology has more than
doubled from preliminary estimates. But Hanford officials believe
the overall project still could treat waste at less cost than
similar waste can be turned into glass logs at the vitrification
plant.
The cost to demonstrate the alternate technology of bulk
vitrification has increased from a preliminary estimate of $45
million two years ago to $102 million.
"As we matured the design, we found the estimate artificially
low," said Howard Gnann, senior technical adviser for DOE's
Office of River Protection.
The price increase includes a $9 million system to retrieve waste
from a tank targeted for the demonstration project. But DOE would
have to pay for the system eventually anyway.
Other cost increases are for more tests to make sure the glass is
comparable to that made at the vitrification plant. In addition,
the bulk vit demonstration plant to be built at Hanford will cost
about twice the projected amount of $30 million. That cost was
estimated for an alternative technology before bulk vitrification
had been selected as the most promising.
Gnann pointed out the demonstration is a one-time cost. Testing
of the low-activity melters for the vitrification plant cost
nearly twice as much.
"The beauty of this is it will actually immobilize 200,000
gallons of real waste" during testing, Gnann said.
The bulk vitrification project is still expected to finish within
$30 million to $60 million of its estimated $1.4 billion cost, he
said.
And if the technology works as hoped, it should produce glass for
35 percent less than the vitrification plant's low-level waste
treatment system.
Test are under way to prove it can.
AMEC Earth and Environmental Inc., based in London, has been
awarded a contract that could reach $63 million to build a
demonstration project in central Hanford. It would test the
process at full scale with radioactive and chemical wastes from
one of the underground tanks.
By the end of 2006, Hanford officials should know how much waste
can be loaded into glass and what kind of waste can best be
treated. The wastes vary among Hanford's underground tanks and
different types are expected to be better suited for either bulk
vitrification or treatment at the bulk vitrification plant.
Simulated, nonradioactive waste now is being used to test the
vitrification process at a plant AMEC has built adjacent to the
Richland landfill. Both one-sixth scale engineering tests and
full-scale tests using 20-foot-long shipping containers holding
simulated waste are being done.
The tests have turned up a few surprises, both good and bad.
AMEC has come up with a process that nearly halves the volume of
waste produced from earlier tests. That would mean less waste to
be buried.
AMEC also has been pleased to learn that one of the radioactive
constituents of the waste, iodine, is being held within the glass
better than expected. Radioactive iodine that escapes into the
off-gases would require further treatment.
The latest design of the bulk vitrification system uses a layer
of refractory concrete material closest to the waste to keep the
heat in the melt.
"It doesn't even burn the paint on the outside" of the container,
said Don Fraser, director of the AMEC GeoMelt Test Facility.
However, the waste has tended to migrate into the refractory
layer during testing. Engineering scale tests are being done to
find a glaze that will keep the waste from migrating into the
refractory layer.
The best surprise so far is that the glass is performing better
than hoped, containing more waste and proving more durable.
The glass is about as durable as a Coke bottle, said Dennis
Hamilton, supplemental treatment project manager for DOE
contractor CH2M Hill Hanford Group.
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory is experimenting with
formulas for making the most durable glass possible by adding
zirconia and boron oxide to different types of simulated waste
and soil rich in silica. Mixtures are tested a crucible at a
time, producing about as much glass as a coffee mug would hold.
The bulk vitrification project will need regulatory approval to
go forward.
Today the Washington State Department of Ecology will hear public
comments on whether it should issue a permit for the test project
that would turn real Hanford waste into glass at the proposed
AMEC test project on the Hanford site.
It will be held at 6:30 p.m. at the Ecology office, 3100 Port of
Benton Blvd., Richland.
© 2004 Tri-City Herald, Associated Press &Other Wire Services
*****************************************************************
40 lamonitor.com: Headline News Safety board adds new rep
The Online News Source for Los Alamos
ROGER SNODGRASS, roger@lamonitor.com, Monitor Assistant Editor
Even before the current suspension of operations at Los Alamos
National Laboratory began, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety
Board saw a need to step up its oversight activities here. DNFSB
is an independent federal agency charged with overseeing health
and safety in the nuclear weapons complex. The board has had a
full-time representative, Charles Keilers, at LANL for three
years.
In June, the board announced that Thomas D. Burns Jr., at that
time site representative at the Savannah River Site in Aiken,
S.C. would join Keilers. Burns began work on Aug. 23.
In an interview Monday, he said he was still on a learning curve,
focused on getting checked out and getting the lay of the land
locally.
"The state of resumption makes that more difficult," Burns said,
who talked about his background and the general principles behind
the board's safety work. Burns went to college and graduate
school at the University of Virginia, eventually receiving his
PhD in nuclear engineering and applied mathematics. He was also a
star linebacker for the Virginia Cavaliers football team.
In 1993, he was the third winner of the Draddy Awards given by
the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame. The
award, including a $25,000 scholarship, recognizes the top
scholar athlete in the nation. Professional quarterbacks Peyton
Manning of the Indianapolis Colts and Chad Pennington of the New
York Jets are among other college football players who have won
the prize.
During graduate work, Burns had a tour of duty at the Idaho
National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory, where he
worked in nuclear medicine. Research at UVA included dynamic
analysis of accelerator-driven sub-critical nuclear systems.
He joined the safety board in 1997 with responsibilities for
staff activities related to plutonium pit management, tritium
processing and storage, critical safety and general safety
analysis issues - all of which have local relevance.
"The goal is to get work done safely," Burns said. He described
his approach as "constructive interaction, not trying to
embarrass anybody, but to facilitate things" and "to be firm and
unwavering in the demand for safety."
"Never underestimate the power of rebuttal. There may be
something you've missed. Don't jump to conclusions," he added.
He said the "conduct of engineering issues," at Los Alamos had
caught the attention of the board, leading to his appointment as
a second site representative.
"Two representatives will cover more waterfront," he said, and
will "add bandwidth" in reporting capability.
Last week, the Project on Government Oversight, a Washington
public interest organization leaked an e-mail from Linton Brooks,
head of the National Nuclear Security Administration to LANL
Director G. Peter Nanos and others, suggesting that the DNFSB was
concerned about a drawn-out suspension of activities at the
laboratory.
POGO and others interpreted the message as suggesting that the
board might not object if safety were compromised in the interest
of speed and convenience in the current circumstances.
Burns said he was not yet prepared to discuss the fine points of
the resumption activities, but that anyone doubting the board's
commitment to safety or its willingness to stand up to DOE, need
only look at its record over the last decade.
Burns expects to close on a house and be living on the Hill
shortly with his wife Robin and daughter Grace.
SIDEBAR
As the laboratory endeavors to restart all operations by the end
of September, safety talk is food for thought.
Here are a few observations by Tom Burns, the new site
representative for the Defense Nuclear Facility
"Safety should not be stovepiped. It's a part of good engineering
and science itself.
"You are responsible for your community, yourself and your
environment. It requires an internal commitment to do the right
thing. That means thinking about what can reasonably go wrong and
how you can prevent it.
"The first cut is thinking safely. Trying to beat safety in from
the back end is difficult. The board's goal is to inspire DOE to
design safety into every process."
© 2003 Los Alamos Monitor All Rights Reserved.
*****************************************************************
41 [du-list] Nuclear Week in Review Vol. 85
Date: Tue, 31 Aug 2004 15:11:13 -0700
(RNC fits into Nuclear Calendar)
Nuclear Policy Research Institute
Nuclear Week in Review, Volume 85
About
NPRI |
News
|
Discussion
Board |
Audio/Video
Archives |
Join
NPRI
If this email was forwarded to you, you can directly subscribe to the
Nuclear Week in Review at:
http://www.nuclearpolicy.org/Issues.cfm?NewsTopicID=34
Nuclear Week in Review (Vol. 85)
by Dr. John G. Duesler, Jr.
http://www.nuclearpolicy.org/NewsAll.cfm?Menu=News
Now that the 1993 Spratt-Furse Amendment has been repealed by this year's
Congress, the road is now clear for the Pentagon to begin their
long-desired push to research and develop so called "mini-nukes" (i.e.
nuclear weapons that yield less than 5 kilotons in explosive power). While
many might be inclined to imagine a smaller version of the nuclear warheads
that exist today, the lifting of the Spratt-Furse restriction now makes it
possible for the most talented U.S. nuclear engineers to actually blur the
line between nuclear and conventional weapons. And this, in turn, will
provide the fodder for a possible United States withdrawal from the
Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, which prohibits nuclear testing by the
nuclear-capable states.
Department of Defense rationale justifies the work on "mini-nukes" as a
necessary component of "bunker-busters," since smaller nuclear explosives
may be more able to survive the extreme impact of an earth-penetrating bomb
and, therefore, make it more able to be detonated deeply enough to destroy
hardened bunkers (i.e. 30 meters). There are non-nuclear alternatives to
defeating these bunkers, and, interestingly enough, the two most visible
U.S. nemeses in the War on Terror (sic) have shunned deep-and-hardened
bunkers, opting instead for a very primitive hole in the ground and ancient
cave-dwellings. So what's really going on here? Where does DoD really want
to go with their Advanced Nuclear Concepts?
In the short-term, we can still expect work on low-yield nuclear bombs and
robust nuclear earth penetrators. In the longer-term, however, the plans
are more exotic, with nuclear science meeting at the cross-roads of high
powered lasers, nanotechnology, and rare metallic isomers. Microfusion
weapons, in theory, will combine miniaturization know-how with the
robustness of nuclear weapons to create fourth-generation fusion bombs.
Even more disturbing is the notion that the nanotechnology employed in
these next generation warheads will NOT require enriched uranium or
plutonium triggering mechanisms, thereby allowing proponents of these
weapons to label them as "clean" (i.e. not requiring fissile materials). In
addition, scientists are already looking towards microfusion technology as
a source of energy, as well, so research into this area is quickly gaining
priority in U.S. nuclear laboratories.
Another approach towards developing new families of nuclear bombs employs
the use of rare metals that can exist in an excited, high energy state and,
therefore, be quite potent as a fuel for explosives. One gram of a rare
metal like Hafnium, for example, could theoretical yield explosive power up
to 50,000 times that of one gram of TNT. Even more crucial to its military
applications, Hafnium could be excited into releasing enough gamma rays to
penetrate bunkers and kill humans, as well as any other biological weapons
contained in that buried facility.
In each case, the brilliance of these nuclear scientists is dwarfed only by
the measure of their work's destructiveness. Sadly, we are only left to
imagine the good that could come from the hundreds of billions of dollars
and superior brainpower diverted away from new agricultural techniques to
feed the starving, new educational methods to teach the impoverished, and
new medical advancements to diminish the suffering by the sick. Instead,
these national resources are targeted towards unnecessary Advanced Nuclear
Concepts. Sad indeed.
For more about the nuclear events that occurred this past week, click over
to:
http://www.nuclearpolicy.org/NewsAll.cfm?Menu=News
NUCLEAR CALENDAR (from Friends Committee on National Legislation)
(to subscribe to any FCNL e-publication, click over to
http://www.fcnl.org/listserv/quaker_issues.php)
July 24-Sept. 6
House and Senate summer recess
Aug. 30
50th anniversary of the
Atomic
Energy Act
Aug. 30-Sept. 2
Republican
National Convention. New York
Aug. or Sept.
Missile Defense Agency issues the draft
Programmatic
Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) on the Ballistic Missile Defense
System (possible).
Sept. 2
~10 p.m., President Bush gives his acceptance speech at the
Republican
National Convention. New York
Sept. 5-6
Meeting between Pakistani Foreign Minister Khursheed Kasuri and Indian
External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh.
Nuclear
confidence-building measures may be on the agenda. New Delhi, India
Sept. 6
Labor Day (federal holiday)
Sept. 7
House and Senate reconvene from the summer recess
Sept. 7 or 8
Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water or the full Senate
Appropriations Committee marks up the energy and water appropriations bill,
H.R.
4614, which includes the nuclear weapons programs of the Energy Department
(possible).
Week of Sept. 7
Senate Intelligence Committee, confirmation hearing on Porter Goss to be
CIA director
IMPORTANT NOTES...
The Nuclear Policy Research Institute has launched its new discussion
board. This is a great chance to share your ideas and learn about the
important nuclear issues facing all of us. Make sure to visit the Board,
register, and share your ideas at:
http://www.nuclearpolicy.org/discussion.
Three Minutes to Midnight: The Impending Threat of Nuclear War
DVDs and audio CDs of Three Minutes to Midnight: The Impending Threat of
Nuclear War are now available for sale. Additionally, audio from the
symposium is available for free download.
All proceeds go to support NPRI's mission of creating a consensus for a
nuclear-free future. This excellent conference included key speakers on
these topics, including Dr. Helen Caldicott, General Charles Horner,
William Arkin, Dr. Bruce Blair, and many others. Dramatic exchanges between
the speakers and former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara brought out
key issues.
Visit
http://www.3minutestomidnight.org
to order today.
Join the Partnership for a Nuclear Free Future
You can join NPRI in working to create a consensus for a nuclear-free
future by partnering with us. Your support allows NPRI to continue its
quality programs designed to educate the public about the public health
implications of nuclear power, weapons and waste. Help support our key
successes by joining with us to continue our programs, including:
* Our upcoming symposium on Nuclear Power and Children's Health
* The monthly Nuclear Breakfast Series
* The NPRI Nuclear Speakers Bureau
* Regional public education campaigns in four cities: Portland, Oregon;
Atlanta; Boston and Chicago.
Click here to join the
Partnership
for a Nuclear-Free Future
NPRI 2004 Speaking Tour
NPRI is organizing speaking tours for key speakers, including NPRI
Executive Director Julie R. Enszer and President Helen Caldicott, MD. If
you are interested in helping to sponsor or organize a speaking event in
your community, please contact our office at 202-822-9800 or email
jessica@nuclearpolicy.org (for Julie R.
Enszer) or reginade@nuclearpolicy.org
(for Dr. Caldicott).
Thanks for all your support. We appreciate your input and welcome you to
share your thoughts on our discussion board
(http://www.nuclearpolicy.org/discussion/).
Dr. John G. Duesler, Jr.
Senior Fellow, NPRI
http://www.nuclearpolicy.org/
jgduesler@nuclearpolicy.org
215.914.0677
Please visit NPRI's website at:
http://www.nuclearpolicy.org
1925 K Street NW
Suite 210
Washington, District of Columbia 20006
United States
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42 Google News Alert - nuclear
Date: Tue, 31 Aug 2004 15:24:30 -0700 (PDT)
UK nuclear waste dumping ground
The Hindu - Chennai,India
1. (GUARDIAN NEWS SERVICE): Nuclear waste from overseas power stations
has been sealed in concrete and buried in the UK in several kilomtres
of trenches in ...
See all stories on this topic:
IRAN says arrested nuclear spies
Reuters - London,England,UK
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran has arrested dozens of spies, including several
who passed secrets about its nuclear programme to its enemies, Intelligence
Minister ...
See all stories on this topic:
A diplomatic solution to Iran's nuclear ambitions
Daily Star - Beirut,Lebanon
... President George W. Bush expressed hope in an interview broadcast Tuesday
that Iran can be persuaded through diplomatic means to abandon its nuclear
ambitions. ...
See all stories on this topic:
UN: Some Libya nuclear items missing
Chicago Tribune (subscription) - Chicago,IL,USA
VIENNA, AUSTRIA -- Some nuclear technology ordered by Libya for its former
weapons program is missing, while the origin of other material is unclear,
the UN ...
See all stories on this topic:
CHAIRMAN named for Southern Nuclear
Atlanta Business Chronicle - Atlanta,GA,USA
Southern Co. reported WG "George" Hairston III, president and CEO of its
Southern Nuclear subsidiary, has been named chairman of Southern Nuclear.
...
IRAN must not be allowed to go nuclear: Putin
Xinhua - China
MOSCOW, Aug. 31 (Xinhuanet) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday
that Iran must not be allowed to become a nuclear power. ...
See all stories on this topic:
GOP approves platform including support for nuclear repository
Las Vegas Sun - Las Vegas,NV,USA
LAS VEGAS (AP) - The Republican Party has adopted a campaign platform that
doesn't mention a Nevada nuclear waste repository by name, but pledges
support for ...
See all stories on this topic:
ANSTO challenges doctors’ claims on reactor-produced nuclear ...
News-Medical.net - World
The Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation today challenged
the basis of the claim by a small doctors group that Australia did not
need to ...
See all stories on this topic:
PAKISTAN spent Rs 184 trillion on nuclear plan in 32 years
Hi Pakistan - Lahore,Pakistan
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has spent a recurring two percent of its national budget
ever since the conception of its nuclear programme in 1972, a well-placed
official ...
See all stories on this topic:
TOP lawmaker lauds Russian logical position toward Iran’s ...
Tehran Times - Tehran,Iran
TEHRAN (MNA) -– Russian ambassador to Iran Alexander Maryasev said that
Iran has legitimate right to make use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes,
a ...
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43 [du-list] DU in the news - 1 Sept 04
Date: Tue, 31 Aug 2004 17:26:54 -0700
DEPLETED Uranium: The Trojan Horse of Nuclear War
Collective Bellaciao - Paris,France
The use of depleted uranium weaponry by the United States, defying all
international treaties, will slowly annihilate all species on earth including
the human ...
<http://bellaciao.org/en/article.php3?id_article=3123>
STREETS of Rage by Tom Robbins & Jennifer Gonnerman
Village Voice - New York,NY,USA
... He was in a mechanized infantry division that took part in the invasion
of Iraq. His unit fired armor-piercing shells composed of depleted uranium.
...
<http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0435/robbins.php>
SOMETIMES democracy is full of spit
phillyburbs.com - PA,USA
... For hours I felt the wrath of those opposed to Bush, the war, capitalism,
sexism, racism, homophobia and depleted uranium who marched under the
banner of ...
<http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/219-08312004-358016.html>
SCHOOL fears helo crash contaminated soil
Pacific Stars and Stripes - Naha,Japan
... US military officials, reacting to rumors circulating on Okinawa, said
the helicopter was not carrying depleted uranium and that no substances
taken from the ...
<http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=24117>
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44 News & Analysis: Cold Fusion Back From the Dead
name="home" alt="IEEE Home"
[Spectrum Online]
U.S. Energy Department gives true believers a new hearing
Later this month, the U.S. Department of Energy will receive a
report from a panel of experts on the prospects for cold
fusion—the supposed generation of thermonuclear energy using
tabletop apparatus. It's an extraordinary reversal of fortune:
more than a few heads turned earlier this year when James
Decker, the deputy director of the DOE's Office of Science,
announced that he was initiating the review of cold fusion
science. Back in November 1989, it had been the department's own
investigation that determined the evidence behind cold fusion
was unconvincing. Clearly, something important has changed to
grab the department's attention now.
The cold fusion story began at a now infamous press conference
in March 1989. Stanley Pons and Martin Fleischmann, both
electrochemists working at the University of Utah in Salt Lake
City, announced that they had created fusion using a battery
connected to palladium electrodes immersed in a bath of water in
which the hydrogen was replaced with its isotope
deuterium—so-called heavy water. With this claim came the idea
that tabletop fusion could produce more or less unlimited,
low-cost, clean energy.
In physicists' traditional view of fusion, forcing two deuterium
nuclei close enough together to allow them to fuse usually
requires temperatures of tens of millions of degrees Celsius.
The claim that it could be done at room temperature with a
couple of electrodes connected to a battery stretched credulity
[see photo, "Too Good to Be True?"].
But while some scientists reported being able to reproduce the
result sporadically, many others reported negative results, and
cold fusion soon took on the stigma of junk science.
Today the mainstream view is that champions of cold fusion are
little better than purveyors of snake oil and good luck charms.
Critics say that the extravagant claims behind cold fusion need
to be backed with exceptionally strong evidence, and that such
evidence simply has not materialized. "To my knowledge, nothing
has changed that makes cold fusion worth a second look," says
Steven Koonin, a member of the panel that evaluated cold fusion
for the DOE back in 1989, who is now chief scientist at BP, the
London-based energy company.
Because of such attitudes, science has all but ignored the
phenomenon for 15 years. But a small group of dedicated
researchers have continued to investigate it. For them, the
DOE's change of heart is a crucial step toward being accepted
back into the scientific fold. Behind the scenes, scientists in
many countries, but particularly in the United States, Japan,
and Italy, have been working quietly for more than a decade to
understand the science behind cold fusion. (Today they call it
low-energy nuclear reactions, or sometimes chemically assisted
nuclear reactions.) For them, the department's change of heart
is simply a recognition of what they have said all
along—whatever cold fusion may be, it needs explaining by the
proper process of science.
THE FIRST HINT that the tide may be changing came in February
2002, when the U.S. Navy revealed that its researchers had been
studying cold fusion on the quiet more or less continuously
since the debacle began. Much of this work was carried out at
the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center in San Diego, where
the idea of generating energy from sea water—a good source of
heavy water—may have seemed more captivating than at other
laboratories.
Many researchers at the center had worked with Fleischmann, a
well-respected electrochemist, and found it hard to believe that
he was completely mistaken. What's more, the Navy encouraged a
culture of risk-taking in research and made available small
amounts of funding for researchers to pursue their own
interests.
At San Diego and other research centers, scientists built up an
impressive body of evidence that something strange happened when
a current passed through palladium electrodes placed in heavy
water.
And by 2002, a number of Navy scientists believed it was time to
throw down the gauntlet. A two-volume report, entitled "Thermal
and nuclear aspects of the Pd/D2O system," contained a
remarkable plea for proper funding from Frank Gordon, the head
of navigation and applied science at the Navy center. "It is
time that this phenomenon be investigated so that we can reap
whatever benefits accrue from scientific understanding. It is
time for government funding agencies to invest in this
research," he wrote. The report was noted by the DOE but
appeared to have little impact.
Then, last August, in a small hotel near the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, in Cambridge, some 150 engineers and
scientists met for the Tenth International Conference on Cold
Fusion. Conference observers were struck by the careful way in
which various early criticisms of the research were being
addressed. Over the years, a number of groups around the world
have reproduced the original Pons-Fleischmann excess heat
effect, yielding sometimes as much as 250 percent of the energy
put in.
To be sure, excess energy by itself is not enough to establish
that fusion is taking place. In addition to energy, critics are
quick to emphasize, the fusion of deuterium nuclei should
produce other byproducts, such as helium and the hydrogen
isotope tritium. Evidence of these byproducts has been scant,
though Antonella de Ninno and colleagues from the Italian
National Agency for New Technologies Energy and the Environment,
in Rome, have found strong evidence of helium generation when
the palladium cells are producing excess heat but not otherwise.
Other researchers are finally beginning to explain why the
Pons-Fleischmann effect has been difficult to reproduce. Mike
McKubre from SRI International, in Menlo Park, Calif., a
respected researcher who is influential among those pursuing
cold fusion, says that the effect can be reliably seen only once
the palladium electrodes are packed with deuterium at ratios of
100 percent—one deuterium atom for every palladium atom. His
work shows that if the ratio drops by as little as 10 points, to
90 percent, only 2 experimental runs in 12 produce excess heat,
while all runs at a ratio of 100 percent produce excess heat.
And scientists are beginning to get a better handle on exactly
how the effect occurs. Stanislaw Szpak and colleagues from the
Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command have taken infrared
video images of palladium electrodes as they produce excess
energy. It turns out that the heat is not produced continuously
over the entire electrode but only in hot spots that erupt and
then die on the electrode surface. This team also has evidence
of curious mini-explosions on the surface.
Fleischmann, who is still involved in cold fusion as an advisor
to a number of groups, feels vindicated. He told the conference:
"I believe that the work carried out thus far amply illustrates
that there is a new and richly varied field of research waiting
to be explored." (Pons is no longer involved in the field,
having dropped from view after a laboratory he joined in
southern France ceased operations.)
For Peter Hagelstein, an electrical engineer at MIT who works on
the theory behind cold fusion and who chaired the August 2003
conference, the quality of the papers was hugely significant.
"It's obvious that there are effects going on," he says. He and
two colleagues believed the results were so strong that they
were worth drawing to the attention of the DOE, and late last
year they secured a meeting with the department's Decker.
It was a meeting that paid off dramatically. The review will
give cold fusion researchers a chance—perhaps their last—to show
their mettle. The department has yet to decide just what will be
done and by whom. There is no guarantee of funding or of future
support. But for a discipline whose name has become a byword for
junk science, the DOE's review is a big opportunity.
—JUSTIN MULLINS
URL: http://www.spectrum.ieee.org (Modified: 31 August 2004)
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