*****************************************************************
09/01/04 ****     RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL)       **** VOL 12.209
*****************************************************************
   RADBULL IS PRODUCED BY THE ABALONE ALLIANCE CLEARINGHOUSE
*****************************************************************
Send News Stories to news@energy-net.org with title on subject
line and first line of body

                         NUCLEAR POLICY
 
1 Asia Times: Pitfalls in a nuclear bargain with Iran
2 Korea: Digital Chosunilbo: North Korea a No-Show Again at Talks With
3 Korea: Digital Chosunilbo: British Minister to Visit North Korea in 
4 US: Las Vegas RJ: Military families listen to pitch for Democrats 
 
                         NUCLEAR REACTORS
 
5 US: [CMEP] SEC Reluctantly Enforces PUCHA; Groups Appeal NRC "EJ"
6 US: NRC: Note to Editors: New Public Affairs Officer in NRC Headquar
7 Guardian Unlimited: BE's rescue under fresh attack
8 Straits Times: China to build 27 more nuclear power plants - 
9 Times Business: Brussels wants British Energy aid ringfenced
10 US: NRC: NRC Staff Issues Generic Letter on Nuclear Power Plant Stea
11 US: NRC: Advisory Committee on the Medical Uses of Isotopes to Meet 
12 US: Public Citizen: Campaign Contributions Grease the Skids for Util
13 US: Public Citizen: Grand Gulf expansion apeal
14 Xinhuanet: China to increase nuclear energy   
15 Xinhuanet: China's nuclear electricity to hit 36 mln kw in 2020   
16 People's Daily: Second phase of Ling'ao nuclear power plant 
17 US: NRC: Agency Information Collection Activities: Submission for th
18 UK Independent: Iran arrests dozens of 'spies' for passing nuclear s
19 US: YDR: Peach Bottom must submit plan to NRC - 
20 The Ashburton Guardian: Talking about nuclear power won’t kill us 
21 US: NRC: Agency Information Collection Activities: Submission for th
22 PRN: Chernobyl Study Reveals First Direct Evidence That Risk of
23 US: WKRN: TVA whistleblower raises safety concerns at Alabama reacto
24 US: NRC: NUREG-0800, ``Standard Review Plan'', Section 13.1.2-13.1.3
25 ThisisLondon: Brandes backs BE shareholders 
 
                          NUCLEAR SAFETY
 
26 [DU-WATCH] Jordan to survey for Radioactive Remnants of War
27 US: Irradiated Food in School Lunches
28 Russia Sends Troops to Guard Nuclear Sites
29 US: 22 Nuke Sites May Be Vulnerable To Airplane Attacks
30 US: COVER STORY - Project Censored Awards: DU story wins 4th place 
31 [du-list] Maralinga tests hit home - Bliar allegedly dosed at
32 US: Tri-Valley Herald: Center for ailing nuclear workers opens in Li
33 US: Tri-Valley Herald: Tauscher's nuke safety work noted 
34 US: Boston.com: Ill weapons workers a GOP issue Bush, senators fight
35 Mos News: Additional Troops Deployed to Guard Russian Nuclear Sites 
 
                         NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE
 
36 Las Vegas RJ: Nevada Republicans ready to take talking points home 
37 Las Vegas RJ: Yucca database problem criticized 
38 Las Vegas SUN: Sandoval to address delegates
39 Las Vegas SUN: Edwards' wife discusses military benefits, Yucca
40 Las Vegas SUN: DOE takes another Yucca hit from NRC
41 RGJ: GOP approves platform including support for nuclear repository
42 EUPolitix.com: EU decision time for nuclear waste
43 Belfast Telegraph: New fury over massive nuclear dumping by UK
44 Physics Today: Court Rules Against 10,000 Year Radiation Safety Stan
45 Public Citizen: A Victory for Consumers in Yucca Mountain Fight; 
46 KLAS: Nevada's Electoral Votes Play Critical Role
47 UK: News & Star: Local people given say over future of nuclear indus
 
                         NUCLEAR WEAPONS
 
 
                        US DEPT. OF ENERGY
 
48 Tri-City Herald: Elk to be killed on Hanford reserve 
49 Idaho Statesman: INEEL engineer gets fellowship
50 WATE: Oak Ridge contractor fined $250,000 for safety problems
 
                          OTHER NUCLEAR
 
51 Google News Alert - nuclear
52 Las Vegas SUN: Nader wins suit to stay on Nevada ballot
53 NPRI Blogs: Nuclear Week in Review, Volume 85 
54 PRN: Platts Announces 8th Annual Mexican Energy Conference 
*****************************************************************
*****************************************************************
                         FULL NEWS STORIES
*****************************************************************
*****************************************************************
 1 Asia Times: Pitfalls in a nuclear bargain with Iran

By Kaveh L Afrasiabi 

The idea has been floating around for some time, most recently 
theorized under the veneer of "grand bargain" by Harvard's Graham 
Allison in his book, Nuclear Terrorism, proposing an economic and 
security package deal with Tehran in exchange for it shelving its 
alleged nuclear weapons program, and now Democrat challengers 
John Kerry and John Edwards have publicly opted for a watered 
down version as the Republican Party's convention takes place in 
New York. 

The Kerry-proposed "great bargain", reported in the Washington 
Post on August 30, closely resembles the so-called European Three 
Declaration signed in October 2003, whereby Germany, France and 
Great Britain pledged to assist Iran's peaceful nuclear program 
if Iran cooperated with the United Nations' atomic watchdog 
agency and halted its uranium enrichment program. The European 
initiative has been on the verge of collapsing, heightened by a 
recent meeting in Paris where Iranian and European officials 
hurled charges and counter-charges at each other. 

Thus, while the European Three accuse Iran of discarding its 
agreement by resuming the construction of centrifuge parts, Iran 
on the other hand points at its record of greater nuclear 
transparency, allowing the atomic inspectors even to Iran's 
military site and implementing the Additional Protocol, even 
though it has yet to be ratified by parliament, overlooked by a 
Europe keen on patching up with the United States. 

Still, the Iran-EU dialogue on the nuclear issue is far from dead 
in the water and there are on-going discussions in anticipation 
of the mid-September meeting of the International Atomic Energy 
Agency (IAEA), which may or may not dispatch the matter to the UN 
Security Council. From Iran's vantage point, conscientious 
efforts have been made to answer all of the IAEA's concerns, 
above all with respect to the thorny question of the origins of 
the traces of enriched uranium detected by the IAEA's inspectors 
last year; these traces, per a recent report in Jane's Defense 
Weekly quoting reliable IAEA sources, came from the equipment 
provided by the nuclear smuggling network headed by Pakistan's 
chief nuclear physicist, Abdul Qadeer Khan. 

This information, reportedly corroborated by the Pakistani 
government, for all practical purposes puts to rest a very 
contentious issue at the heart of IAEA's concern, adding pressure 
on the atomic agency to close the Iran file as requested by 
Tehran. A clue to the IAEA's softening stance on Iran, the IAEA 
chief, Mohammad ElBaradei, has admitted in a recent Interview 
with Fletcher Forum (Winter 2004) that the agency's inspection of 
Iran's program has been "effective" and that there is no need to 
worry about "small lab" research "that would not enable the 
country to develop a weapons program". 

Indeed, in the light of the absence of any "smoking gun", Iranian 
compliance with the intrusive regime of the Additional Protocol, 
and an Iran-Russia protocol on the return of spent fuel from the 
Bushehr power plant to Russia, the momentum against a Security 
Council consideration of the Iranian nuclear program is rapidly 
gaining ground, this despite the flurry of elections-inspired 
tough rhetoric on Iran by both presidential candidates in the US. 

The irony of Kerry's Iran approach is that, true to Kerry's other 
policy positions, it is Janus-faced, exuding the air of 
conciliation and confrontation simultaneously, threatening to 
steer the next Democratic president, in case he succeeds at the 
upcoming November elections, toward belligerency against Iran 
since for all practical purposes Kerry has boxed himself in an 
either or position vis-a-vis Iran, that is, telling Iran to take 
the bargain or face sanctions or even tougher measures, ie, 
military action. But this paradoxical carrot-and-stick policy has 
little chance of immediate success, given Iran's unwillingness to 
bow to any perceived US bullying, thus setting the stage for a 
future "President Kerry" to out-do Bush, whom he has repeatedly 
criticized for ignoring the "Iran threat". 

It is noteworthy that the Kerry approach toward Iran is 
intimately tied to Kerry's election politics to woo the powerful 
Jewish vote, which explains why the Massachusetts senator has not 
made any public comments about reports of Israeli espionage in 
the Pentagon compromising US national security interests, nor has 
he ever ventured a word of criticism of the Israeli government's 
iron-fist approach toward the Palestinians, instead limiting 
himself, as he has in his latest article on www.forward.com to 
describing Israel as purely a "victim of terrorism". 

Kerry's "nuanced" tough talk on Iran, clearly music to the ears 
of the American Jewish power brokers, may facilitate his 
presidential bid, but one must wonder about its congruity with 
his professed "progressive internationalism" and his more distant 
record as a peace activist. After all, Kerry represents a state 
which still mourns the death of scores of its residents who were 
on the two airplanes hijacked from Logan Airport on September 11, 
2001. In terms of sedimented political psychology, a question 
worth posing is, of course, whether or not Kerry is immune or 
prone to it? 

Assuming for a moment that the IAEA ends up hurling the Iran 
nuclear issue into the lap of the Security Council a mere few 
weeks from now, then the perils of the Kerry approach become all 
the more obvious. First, the senator's position in favor of UN 
sanctions is ill-timed, given the high price of Organization of 
Petroleum Exporting Countries' oil, bound to escalate and thus 
jeopardize the US's economic recovery in the unlikely event that 
the UN imposes an oil embargo on Iran. Besides, UN sanctions did 
not prevent Pakistan's proliferation, nor did the Security 
Council punish North Korea when it exited the Non-Proliferation 
Treaty (NPT). A toothless Security Council resolution, regretting 
Iran's nuclear build-up and urging it to comply with its NPT 
obligations, just as it did with respect to North Korea, will 
hardly serve any practical purpose other than highlighting the 
UN's impotence, prompting further criticism of the world 
organization still reeling under the aftershocks of the Iraq war. 
Nor is the US itself fully committed to this course of action, 
since Muslim nations would seize on the opportunity to raise the 
issue of Israel's arsenals and US "double standards". 

This brings us to a consideration of the "military option" 
strongly favored by Israel and certain hawkish policy-makers in 
the US. Aside from the operational difficulties of air raids on 
Iran's "dispersed" facilities, there are strong arguments against 
it. First, the Bushehr power plant, supervised by the IAEA, is in 
accordance with Iran's NPT-led right to civilian nuclear 
technology, and any military strike to dismantle it will cause a 
huge international outcry, particularly by the cash-starved 
Russians, who are incensed by the post-September 11 US military 
intrusion in Central Asia. Second, Iranian people will react very 
negatively and stand behind their government's action and 
reaction, which will most likely reach into both Afghanistan and 
Iraq. And finally, most likely Iran will rebound from the setback 
and commit itself even more energetically to its nuclear program 
in the aftermath of any military strike by the US or Israel. 

Notwithstanding the above, the big bubble of Kerry's Iran policy 
can be safely burst once subjected to a careful scrutiny, 
necessitating a re-doubling of efforts on the part of his chief 
policy advisors to come up with a more coherent policy. A more 
candid consideration of Allison's "grand bargain", alluded to 
above, may be necessary, and this means a security dialogue, 
encompassing Iraq, the Persian Gulf and the Holy Land, with Iran 
that is sadly hitherto lacking. 

Kaveh L Afrasiabi, PhD, is the author of After Khomeini: New 
Directions in Iran's Foreign Policy (Westview Press) and "Iran's 
Foreign Policy Since 9/11", Brown's Journal of World Affairs, 
co-authored with former deputy foreign minister Abbas Maleki, No 
2, 2003. 

(Copyright 2004 Asia Times Online Ltd. All rights reserved. 
Please contact <FONT 
                       
color=#0000ff>content@atimes.com</FONT>for information on our 
sales and syndication policies.)                                                                                                                                                                                                        
												
 													  
 														 														 														 															
														
 													   												 											

 										   										   											

 												
                                                                  
                                                                  
                                                                  
                                  Sep 2, 2004                                                                                                                     
													   												 											

 											

 												
 													     												 												
 													     												 												
 													     												 												
 													     												 												
 													     												 												
 													     												 											

 											

 												
 													   														
-----------------------------------------------------------------
 														
 														

 															
 																  
US blinkered over Iran ties (Aug 14, '04)

Another square-off over Iran (Jul 22, '04)

Iran's need for nuclear engagement (Jul 14, '04)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

2003, Asia Times Online, 4305 Far East Finance Centre, 16 
Harcourt Rd, Central, Hong Kong                                                                                                                                              

*****************************************************************
 2 Korea: Digital Chosunilbo: North Korea a No-Show Again at Talks With South Korea   
 
Updated Sep.1,2004 07:58 KST   

  North Korea, for a second time in recent months, has failed to 
appear at scheduled talks with South Korea. The communist state 
also has reportedly recalled its ambassador from Vietnam, which 
recently acted as a way-station for hundreds of North Korean 
defectors. 

The latest boycott comes four weeks after North Korea scrapped 
another round of high-level talks. But Seoul is playing down 
Pyongyang's decision not to show up at Tuesday's economic talks. 

The Unification Ministry in Seoul says it hopes Pyongyang will 
agree to hold discussions again soon to better cross-border 
relations. 

On the agenda for Tuesday's meeting in Seoul were the 
construction of cross-border railways and a proposed North Korean 
industrial complex built with South Korean help. South Korea's 
foreign minister told reporters he believes the deadlock between 
the two neighbors is only temporary. Many analysts agree. 

Professor Hideshi Takesada, at the National Institute for Defense 
Studies in Tokyo, says relations between Seoul and Pyongyang are 
in relatively good shape. He notes the ongoing talks on separated 
families and sports, as well as the fact the two Koreas marched 
together at the opening and closing ceremonies for the Olympics 
in Athens. 

"The reason why North Korea canceled the economic meeting is 
North Korea tried to show dissatisfaction about the South Korean 
decision to welcome the refugees from North Korea," says 
Professor Takesada. 

Last month, about 460 North Koreans flew to Seoul, after 
traveling through a Southeast Asian nation, apparently Vietnam. 
It was the biggest mass defection by North Koreans to the South 
since the end of the Korean War in 1953. 

The North Korean government declared the refugees had been 
kidnapped in an act of terrorism by Seoul. 

News reports from Seoul on Tuesday said North Korea has withdrawn 
its ambassador from the Southeast Asian nation involved. The 
reports did not identify the country, however. The South Korean 
government has not confirmed claims from those helping the 
refugees that they were in Vietnam before traveling to Seoul. 

Professor Takesada says Hanoi's role in the defection came as a 
surprise to North Korea. "North Korean people believed that North 
Korean and Vietnamese relations is in good shape considering the 
past history - they fought together in Vietnam's wars," he says. 
"But I think this [reaction] is North Korean style to show 
dissatisfaction and to try to [have] influence on Vietnamese 
government." 

North Korea has expressed anger about Seoul's refusal to allow 
South Koreans to visit Pyongyang in July for the 10th anniversary 
ceremonies of the death of Kim Il-sung. 

The North also lashed out at the United States and South Korea 
after they began annual joint military drills last week. 

A few weeks ago, North Korea also declined to attend an expected 
meeting in Beijing to prepare for multilateral talks to end its 
nuclear weapons programs. The nuclear talks are expected to be 
held in late September, but no date has been set. 

VOA News 

*****************************************************************
 3 Korea: Digital Chosunilbo: British Minister to Visit North Korea in September   
 
      Updated Sep.1,2004 07:59 KST   

  The British government has announced plans to send a top 
Foreign Office representative to North Korea in September. 

Junior Minister for East Asia Bill Rammell will become the first 
British minister to visit North Korea, four years after the two 
countries established diplomatic relations. Officials say he 
plans to discuss Pyongyang's human rights record and the 
deadlocked multi-nation talks about North Korea's nuclear 
program. 

Britain is not a party to those nuclear talks, but has repeatedly 
urged the North to commit to a nuclear-free Korean peninsula. 

Mr. Rammell issued a statement Tuesday saying he believes the 
time is right for his visit. He said the North Koreans have 
indicated they are willing to discuss human rights. 

The exact date of the visit has not been set. 

VOA News 

*****************************************************************
 4 Las Vegas RJ: Military families listen to pitch for Democrats 
 
Wednesday, September 01, 2004
 

Elizabeth Edwards hears concerns at town hall meeting By JULIET
V. CASEY
REVIEW-JOURNAL
 
Elizabeth Edwards, wife of Democratic vice presidential nominee
John Edwards, makes a point while talking with Doris Walker,
left, Matt Hutchings and Amelia McLoughlin. Edwards spoke to
military families and undecided voters at a town hall meeting
Tuesday in Las Vegas.

Photo by John Gurzinski.

Andre Francois discusses health care for military families at a
town hall meeting Tuesday with Elizabeth Edwards, wife of
Democratic vice presidential nominee John Edwards. The event was
held at a pizzeria on Vegas Valley Drive.
Photo by John Gurzinski.

Military families who gathered on Tuesday to hear Elizabeth 
Edwards, wife of vice presidential nominee John Edwards, said 
they were heartened by her sensitivity to their issues, but not 
all were persuaded to vote for the Democratic ticket. Democratic 
Party officials organized the town hall meeting to target 
undecided voters, among them relatives of people who are in the 
military, and get them to elect Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts 
president.
 
 The event at a small pizzeria on Vegas Valley Drive drew close 
to 100 people, including news media. "She did change my mind on a 
few things," said Karen Ammons, a Republican whose husband is in 
the Army National Guard. "But I'm still not on the whole 
Kerry-Edwards thing. I liked her. She is concerned and 
compassionate about the military. If her husband was running for 
president, I'd vote for him." Matthew Hutchings, an independent 
who runs Family Support of Southern Nevada, the family services 
arm of the Nevada National Guard, said he felt more informed 
having heard Edwards' views. "I guess what I still want to know 
is why weren't these issues addressed before?" he said, referring 
to problems with the pay and benefits systems of the military and 
National Guard. "Both the president and Sen. Kerry have been in 
office for some time," Hutchings said after the meeting. "Why 
weren't these issues important before? I think it's going to be 
real important to find if they're going to follow through with 
their promises to fix these problems." Among the problems 
identified by military families were shortcomings in the health 
insurance system, and with delays in pay transfers. When the 
National Guard gets activated, Hutchings said, pay sources change 
from one agency to another and checks are delayed.
 
 In answering their concerns, Edwards mentioned her own 
experience growing up on naval bases around the world, and touted 
the plan Kerry and Edwards want to implement to help military 
families and American families in general. That plan, she said, 
includes providing to all Americans the same health care system 
that is offered to senators. She also repeated her husband's 
oft-quoted comment about two Americas. "One America that gets the 
best health care and the America that gets the health care that's 
doled out to us," she said. "We're trying to move to 100 percent 
of Americans covered, and start with 100 percent of children 
being covered."
 
 Edwards said John Kerry and her husband want to improve housing 
for military families, ensure retirement pay and protect family 
separation allowance from cuts. Military families receive $250 a 
month when their loved ones are sent to war. She said the Bush 
administration wants to cut that to $100.
 
 "Sen. Kerry wants to keep that $250 for families and link it to 
inflation," she said.
 
 Attempts to reach Republican Party officials for comment were 
unsuccessful Tuesday afternoon.
 
 Amelia McLoughlin, a Democrat, asked Edwards what the Democratic 
team would do to improve education.
 
 "I have a 2-year-old daughter and don't feel confident with the 
No Child Left Behind Act," she said.
 
 Edwards told her the Bush administration's push to improve 
education by identifying schools that struggle by increasing 
testing is good. She said the concept started in North Carolina, 
where her husband is a U.S. senator.
 
 But the Bush administration has been unable to make it work 
because it hasn't fully funded the effort, she said.
 
 Following the meeting, Edwards held a small news conference and 
addressed a number of issues, including her husband's stance on 
the proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain.
 
 Edwards said her husband is against the Yucca Mountain nuclear 
waste repository but voted to move the issue forward as a way to 
get "much-needed concessions" from nuclear interests in North 
Carolina. She said the nuclear industries in that state had 
safety issues they had to address and, in exchange, her husband 
voted for the repository to open. But she said her husband and 
Kerry are both against Yucca Mountain.
 
 "Now, you have a clear choice," she said. "If President Bush is 
re-elected, Yucca Mountain opens. If Sen. Kerry is elected, Yucca 
Mountain does not open."
 
 
Copyright Las Vegas Review-Journal
*****************************************************************
 5 [CMEP] SEC Reluctantly Enforces PUCHA; Groups Appeal NRC "EJ"
 
Date: Wed, 1 Sep 2004 09:36:24 -0500 (CDT)

 
This e-mail contains two press releases:

(1) "At Glacial Pace, SEC Finally Acts on Record-Setting Utility
Merger"
(2) "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"

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

*** P R E S S    R E L E A S E ***

Sept. 1, 2004
Contact: Lynn Hargis (202) 454-5183; Erica Hartman (202) 454-5174

At Glacial Pace, SEC Finally Acts on Record-Setting Utility Merger

STATEMENT of Lynn Hargis, Attorney, Public Citizen's Critical Mass
Energy and Environment Program:

More than two years after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of
Columbia Circuit instructed the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
(SEC) to act, the agency has finally set for rehearing the question of
whether the largest, most geographically disconnected electric utility
merger in U.S. history - between American Electric Power, and Central
and South West Corporation - complies with the geographic integration
requirements of the Public Utility Holding Company Act (PUHCA).

U.S. Reps. John Dingell (D-Mich.) and Edward Markey (D-Mass.) are
largely to thank for pressuring the SEC over its lackadaisical failure
to act on the court's remand.  On Jan. 18, 2002, the Court of Appeals
sent the case back to the SEC because the agency failed to justify its
approval of the merger under PUHCA standards, which protects consumers
from the corporate abuse of electric utilities.

But even now, the SEC appears to be in no particular hurry, as it has
given the administrative law judge in the case 300 days to have a
hearing and issue a decision, which can be appealed. After that, of
course, the SEC itself would have to act, within no particular time
frame.

Justice delayed is justice denied, and the SEC has denied justice to
the American Public Power Association, the National Rural Electric
Cooperative Association and Public Citizen, all of which opposed the
merger in 1999 when it was still pending (it was completed in 2000).
The SEC, for no good reason, has also denied justice to the millions of
electricity consumers and investors that it is supposed to protect
through its administration of PUHCA. The SEC could still break up the
new company, but that will be far messier than preventing the merger in
the first place.

When those who are paid to enforce the laws do not do so, or do so with
such delay that the effect is essentially the same, our entire nation,
which is based on the rule of law, suffers.  The alternative to the rule
of law is the rule of whim; in this case, of the whim of the staff at
the SEC.

###

Public Citizen is a national, nonprofit consumer advocacy organization
based in Washington, D.C. To read Public Citizen's original motion to
intervene in the SEC case, please go to:
http://www.citizen.org/cmep/energy_enviro_nuclear/electricity/deregulation/puhca/articles.cfm?ID=4173

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

*** P R E S S    R E L E A S E ***

PUBLIC CITIZEN * NIRS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 27, 2004

Contact:
Michael Mariotte & Paul Gunter, Nuclear Information & Resource Service,
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 Corporation's for an "Early Site Permit" to 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 agency's stated goal is to encourage 'effective public
participation' and 'meaningful community representation,' the NRC's
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
justice -- it would be more appropriate for apartheid-era South Africa
than the United States of America in 2004."

The appeal states: "The ASLB's failure to explain its decision violates
basic principles of fairness in administrative proceedings, in three
important ways.  The lack of an explanation for the ASLB's decision
undermines Appellants' ability to mount an effective appeal in this
proceeding, by turning the appeal into a 'guessing game.'  It also
frustrates the Commission's ability to hold the ASLB accountable for
rationality and consistency in its administration of the law.  Finally,
the ASLB's failure to explain its decision undermines the future
administration of the Commission's 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 Citizen's Critical Mass Energy and
Environment Program. "Public health and participation should be the
first priority of the NRC."

The appellants' environmental 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 1985
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 utility's 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.

For more information on the early site permit for Grand Gulf, please go
to www.citizen.org/cmep/esp.   For a copy of the appeal, visit
http://www.citizen.org/documents/appeal8-27-04.pdf.

###

**********
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
*****************************************************************
 6 NRC: Note to Editors: New Public Affairs Officer in NRC Headquarters
 
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. 04-102     August 31, 2004   

Holly Harrington has joined the staff in the Office of Public
Affairs at the Nuclear Regulatory Commissions headquarters in
Rockville, Md. She comes to the NRC with 20 years experience in
federal communications and the media. 

Harrington served as a public affairs officer for eight years in
the Federal Emergency Management Agency where she was part of
FEMAs emergency support team for federal disasters and
developed an award-winning website for children. 

Prior to her employment at FEMA, Harrington served as public
affairs director, chief communications officer, and public
affairs specialist while in the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Earlier in her career, she was a reporter for the Argus
Newspaper in Fremont, Ca. 

In addition to her federal employment, Harrington continues to
serve as an adjunct communications professor at Trinity College
in Washington, D.C., where she teaches speechwriting,
journalism, public speaking, public relations, and mass media
courses. 

Harrington holds a bachelor of arts degree in journalism, with a
minor in English, and a masters degree in mass communications
from San Jose State University. 

Her primary responsibilities are for public affairs activities
involved in NRCs safeguards, security, and emergency
preparedness and response programs. She can be reached at
301/415-8200.   



  


 	Last revised Tuesday, August 31, 2004 	   
*****************************************************************
 7 Guardian Unlimited: BE's rescue under fresh attack
 
Mark Milner Wednesday September 1, 2004
 		
Polygon Investments yesterday launched a fresh effort to force 
British Energy to tear up a £5bn state-backed restructuring plan.

With almost 6% of the struggling nuclear operator, Polygon said 
it was planning to call an extraordinary meeting of BE 
shareholders.

It said it wanted a series of resolutions put to a meeting, 
including blocking the firm from selling assets or delisting it 
without shareholder approval. Polygon, which said it has the 
backing of another leading investor, US-based Brandes, said 
rising energy prices meant a better deal could be secured for the 
government and shareholders.

The restructuring deal, which gives shareholders 2.5% of BE with 
the possibility of a further 5% stake, was struck last October. 
It still needs European commission approval under state aid 
rules, and will fail unless it gains it by early next year.

BE repeated previous comments that the agreement was binding and 
that if it had not been reached the company would have faced 
administration, with shareholders consequently receiving no 
return at all.
 	
[UP] 

Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004
*****************************************************************
 8 Straits Times: China to build 27 more nuclear power plants - 

SEPT 2, 2004
  

Pollution from coal-fired plants and uncertainties in oil market 
force Beijing to look to alternative sources of energy                                                                  

By Chua Chin Hon                                                                            

BEIJING - China plans to build 27 nuclear power plants by 2020, a 
marked increase from the current nine in operation, a top atomic 
energy official said yesterday.                                                           

This would work out to two to three 1,000MW nuclear plants being 
built annually for the next 15 years, said Mr Zhang Huazhu, 
chairman of the China Atomic Energy Authority (CAEA).                                                           
					 						 					 						 
The new plants, alongside existing ones, will be located in the 
more economically developed south-eastern and coastal regions, 
such as the Guangdong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces.                                                           

Nuclear power already accounts for more than 13 per cent of the 
electricity supply in Guangdong and Zhejiang, said Mr Zhang, 
adding that atomic energy 'is going to be an important pillar in 
the electricity-mix in the coastal areas'.                                                               

A report in July by the World Nuclear Association (WNA), a global 
industrial organisation promoting the peaceful use of atomic 
energy, listed Fujian and Shandong as the next two likely 
provinces to go nuclear with two new plants each.                                                                

These provinces house a large part of China's manufacturing base 
but are far from the coalfields in the north or north-west.                             
				 

As a result, they are among the regions worst hit this year by 
the energy crisis as electricity demand soars and the 
transportation bottleneck shows little sign of easing.                                                           

Though several inland Chinese provinces have requested permission 
to build nuclear power plants as well, comments by the CAEA 
suggest that the central government is unlikely to accede to such 
requests.                                                                 

China relies on fossil fuel, mainly coal, to generate about 80 
per cent of its electricity, with hydropower and nuclear energy 
accounting for the rest.                                                                 

But mounting pollution from coal-fired plants and uncertainties 
in the international oil market have forced Beijing to speed up 
its develop- ment of alternative sources of energy.                                                              

Speaking at a press conference yesterday, Mr Zhang said that 
China's nuclear energy strategy remained a 'moderate' one despite 
the central government's decision to speed up construction of the 
plants.                                                              

He revealed that the existing nine nuclear power plants accounted 
for only 2.29 per cent of total electricity generated in China.                                                                

Even with 27 new nuclear plants by 2020, this figure is expected 
to increase only marginally to 4 per cent, he said.                                                              

He added: 'Overall, the contribution from nuclear energy is still 
small. In this light, we can still call it a moderate development 
of nuclear energy.'                                                                  

China began developing its nuclear industry 50 years ago, but it 
was only in 1991 that it put the country's first nuclear power 
plant into operation in Zhejiang, about 100km south- west of 
Shanghai.                                                                

Allaying concerns about safety, officials at the press conference 
said China has not encountered any major nuclear incident.                                                                

Staff in key posts go through thorough training and strict 
examinations to ensure their competence, the officials added.
				 				 

Asia is the only region in the world where electricity generation 
by nuclear power is increasing significantly, the WNA said in an 
online report, pinning down most of this growth in China, Japan, 
India and South Korea.                                                             

 There are now 100 nuclear power reactors in six Asian countries 
- with Japan topping the list with 53 plants - and 56 other 
reactors for research purposes in 14 countries in the region, the 
report added.                                                                                                               
 			     			   			 				 			   			     		 	 	
*****************************************************************
 9 Times Business: Brussels wants British Energy aid ringfenced

thetimes.co.uk

September 02, 2004                     

By Patrick Hosking 
		   		 		
THE European Commission is insisting that a £650 million 
government injection into British Energy be ringfenced as a 
condition of approving the £5 billion restructuring of the 
stricken nuclear power stations company. 

The Commission is concerned that the Government bail-out should 
go only towards decommissioning nuclear power stations and should 
not be used to subsidise the coal or energy trading divisions of 
the company, according to reports from Brussels. 

The Government subsidy is part of a debt-for-equity restructuring 
plan in which banks and bondholders would write off £1.3 billion 
of debt and shareholders’ stake would be reduced to 2.5 per cent 
of the company. 

The Commission, which has to approve the deal, is demanding that 
British Energy be split into three legal entities. But sources 
said that it was seeking only accounting changes and not a 
full-scale break-up of the company. Sources close to British 
Energy insisted that the Commission’s demands could easily be met 
because the company was already structured as three divisions. 
z The restructuring plan is already under fire from some 
shareholders, led by Polygon, the hedge fund, who argue that the 
recent recovery in wholesale power prices means that the terms 
should be sweetened for them. 

If no deal is completed by January, they can insist that the 
terms are renegotiated. However, the green light from Brussels 
could come in early October. 

Polygon claims the support of both Brandes, the US fund manager, 
and Invesco, and is calling for an extraordinary meeting to 
protest. 

At its annual meeting last month, British Energy threatened to 
delist immediately if its restructuring plan looked like being 
overturned. 

The Commission is also reportedly insisting that British Energy 
should not be allowed to use the bail-out money to undercut 
competitors.                    

The Times, The Sunday Times
        
Copyright 2004          Times Newspapers Ltd.
*****************************************************************
 10 NRC: NRC Staff Issues Generic Letter on Nuclear Power Plant Steam Generator Inspections
 
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. 04-103     September 1, 
2004   

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff has asked all operators
of pressurized-water reactors (PWR) for information on how they
conduct inspections of the tubes inside the reactors steam
generators. 

Steam generators are the portion of a PWR where water heated by
the reactor core travels through thousands of small tubes to
transfer heat to a separate water system, creating the steam
that drives turbines to generate electricity. Operating
experience has shown steam generator tubes can degrade over
time, and an NRC review of prior inspections raises the question
of whether the inspections have properly examined the tubes. 

Steam generator tubes are an important part of the barrier
systems that isolate radioactive contamination from the
environment, said Bruce Boger, Director of the Division of
Inspection Program Management in the NRCs Office of Nuclear
Reactor Regulation. The responses to this request will allow us
to determine whether the plants inspections are adequately
detecting any flaws developing in the tubes. 

The request is being made in a Generic Letter, which is one of
several methods the NRC has for communicating with the nuclear
industry, and has four main objectives: 1) Alert addressees that
the NRCs interpretation of tube inspection requirements raises
questions as to whether all current inspection methods ensure
the requirements are met;
 2) Request a description of current inspections and an
assessment of whether they meet current requirements;
 3) Request that licensees propose plans for coming into
compliance if they conclude their plans are not currently in
compliance, and;
 4) Request a tube structural and leakage integrity safety
assessment that addresses differences between a plants
practices and the NRCs position. 		 

Licensees have 60 days to respond to the request. A draft letter
was published for comment in the Federal Register on May 14,
2003, and responses were incorporated into the final document.
The NRCs Committee for the Review of Generic Requirements
reviewed the Generic Letter in June 2004. 

The Generic Letter will be available electronically on the NRCs
web site at this address:
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/gen-comm/gen-letter
s/. 

(Note to Editors: This issue is entirely unrelated to the recent
accident at the Mihama nuclear power plant in western Japan.)   



  


 	Last revised Wednesday, September 01, 2004 	   
*****************************************************************
 11 NRC: Advisory Committee on the Medical Uses of Isotopes to Meet October 13 - 14 in Rockville, Maryland
 
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. 04-104     September 1, 
2004   

The Advisory Committee on the Medical Uses of Isotopes (ACMUI)
will meet at the Nuclear Regulatory Commissions headquarters in
Rockville, Md., on Oct. 13-14. 

The meetings public session will run from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Oct. 13 and from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Oct. 14. 

Agenda items for discussion in the public sessions include the
use of Iodine-125 brachytherapy seeds as markers; proposed
changes to abnormal occurrence criteria; discussion of medical
event criteria; and an update on the St. Josephs Mercy Hospital
dose reconstruction case. A complete agenda will be available at
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/acmui/schedules/200
4/. 

Questions from the public will be permitted during the open
sessions, at the discretion of the committee chairman. Persons
who wish to provide a written statement should submit a
reproducible copy to Angela R. McIntosh, Office of Nuclear
Materials Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission, Mail Stop T-8F5, Washington, DC 20555-0001.
Statements may also be e-mailed to Ms. McIntosh at arm@nrc.gov.
Submissions should be postmarked by Sept. 15 and must pertain to
the topics on the meeting agenda. For further information,
contact Ms. McIntosh at (301) 415-5030. 

Transcripts of the meeting and written comments will be
available about Jan. 14, 2005, on the NRCs web site,
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/acmui/tr/, and in
the NRC Public Document Room, 11555 Rockville Pike, telephone
(800) 397-4209 or (301) 415-4737.   



  


 	Last revised Wednesday, September 01, 2004 	   
*****************************************************************
 12 Public Citizen: Campaign Contributions Grease the Skids for Utilities

 Critical Mass Energy and Environment Program - 

The Money Behind the Madness: 

Contact: Brendan Hoffman, (202) 454-5130 

On March 31, 2004, three consortia made up of utilities and
nuclear plant vendors announced they were taking the U.S.
Department of Energy up on its offer to pay half the cost for
utilities top test a new system for approving nuclear plant
construction, anticipated to cost upwards of $650 million. Why
is the DOE being so generous? Why the focus on nuclear energy,
the "clean air energy," from an administration that continues to
deny the existence of global warming? Considering the ten public
companies in the consortia had cumulative profits in 2003 of
over $20 billion (about 75% of which was GE) [1] , it would seem
at first glance that there's no reason to shower them with extra
dollars. However, there is a logical explanation. According to
the Center for Responsive Politics, the eleven US-based
companies have given over $7 million to various electoral
campaigns and the Democratic and Republican parties since the
2000 election cycle. [2]  

Southern Company is the most generous donor of the bunch, giving
over $1.6 million since 2000, respectively.  Dwight Evans,
Executive Vice President at Southern Company, is a Pioneer in
President Bushs reelection campaign  meaning he has pledged to
raise at least $100,000 in hard-money donations. [3]  Stephen
Wakefield, a Southern Company Vice President, was a member of
the Presidents Energy Department transition team.  James
Langdon, a Pioneer in 2000 and 2004, works at Akin Gump Strauss
Hauer & Feld, a lobbying firm that has represented Southern
Company.  He was on the Energy Department transition team as
well.  Rob Leeburn, a 2004 Pioneer, works at Troutman Sanders, a
lobbying firm that represents Southern Company.  Lanny Griffith,
a principal in the lobbying firm Barbour, Griffith & Rogers,
which has lobbied on behalf of Southern Company, is a 2004
Ranger, meaning he has pledged to bundle $200,000 in
contributions for Bush.  His partner at the firm, Haley Barbour,
met with Vice President Cheneys Energy Task Force and other
senior Energy Department advisors during the time the national
energy policy was being drafted.  He is a former Republican
National Committee chairman and is now Governor of Mississippi 
where Entergy has applied for an Early Site Permit to site a
potential new reactor. [4] 

According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, Ed Lupberger,
CEO of Entergy, joined the Republicans Team 100, pledging to
raise $175,000 in contribution to party coffers.  In return, the
then-party chairman, Haley Barbour, escorted the energy
executive to four appointments that turned out to be very
significant in the legislation affecting public utility holding
companies.  In fact it made Ed a hero in his industry. [5] 

David Metzner, a 2000 and 2004 Pioneer, lobbies for American
Continental Group, which represents Exelon.  Metzner was a
member of the Commerce Department transition team. 

The money trail doesnt end there.  According to a 2003 Public
Citizen report entitled Hot Waste, Cold Cash: Nuclear Industry
PAC Contributions to the Members of the 108th Congress,[6]
nuclear industry Political Action Committees contributed over
$5.8 million to congressional campaigns in the 2002 election
cycle, with 65% going to Republicans. Exelon, Southern Company,
Entergy, Duke, Progress, and Dominion are all in the top ten of
industry contributors.
 
[1] According to Corporate Annual Reports and SEC filings. 

[2] www.opensecrets.org 

[3] WhiteHouseForSale.org, a project of Public Citizens
Congress Watch;
http://www.whitehouseforsale.org/ContributorsAndPaybacks/pioneer_
search.cfm. 

[4] Bushs Rangers and Pioneers Enjoy Their Share of Energy
Bill Booty, Public Citizens Congress Watch; November 2003;
http://www.whitehouseforsale.org/documents/EnergyBillBooty.pdf. 

[5] Albert R. Hunt, "High Stakes at the High Court," The Wall
Street Journal [New York] 4 Sept. 2003: Politics & People. 

[6] Hot Waste, Cold Cash: Nuclear Industry PAC Contributions to
the Members of the 108th Congress, Public Citizens Critical
Mass Energy and Environment Program; March 2003; available at
http://www.citizen.org/documents/ACF6B48.pdf. 	 	 		 	 	 
	

*****************************************************************
 13 Public Citizen: Grand Gulf expansion apeal

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

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 27, 2004 

Contact:
 Michael Mariotte & Paul Gunter, Nuclear Information &amp;
Resource Service, 202-328-0002
 Brendan Hoffman, Public Citizen, 202-454-5130 

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 Corporations for an 
Early Site Permit to 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 agencys stated goal is to encourage effective public 
participation and meaningful community representation, the 
NRCs 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 justiceit would be more 
appropriate for apartheid-era South Africa than the United States 
of America in 2004. 

The appeal states: The ASLBs failure to explain its decision 
violates basic principles of fairness in administrative 
proceedings, in three important ways.  The lack of an explanation 
for the ASLBs decision undermines Appellants ability to mount 
an effective appeal in this proceeding, by turning the appeal 
into a guessing game.  It also frustrates the Commissions 
ability to hold the ASLB accountable for rationality and 
consistency in its administration of the law.  Finally, the 
ASLBs failure to explain its decision undermines the future 
administration of the Commissions 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 Citizens 
Critical Mass Energy and Environment Program. Public health and 
participation should be the first priority of the NRC. 

The appellants environmental 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 1985 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 utilitys 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. 

For more information on the early site permit for Grand Gulf, 
please go to www.citizen.org/cmep/esp.   For a copy of the 
appeal, click here. ###                                                                                                                      
	
*****************************************************************
 14 Xinhuanet: China to increase nuclear energy   

  www.xinhuanet.com

  www.chinaview.cn 2004-09-01 16:24:46   

    BEIJING, Sep. 1 (Xinhuanet) -- China is taking steps to 
increase the proportion of nuclear power in its overall energy 
supply, in what is an important shift in the country's energy 
development strategy, China Radio International reported 
Wednesday, citing a Chinese top official in atomic energy. 

    Zhang Huazhu, chairman of the China Atomic Energy Authority 
made his remarks at a press conference in Beijing on Wednesday. 

    He noted that by this July, there were 9 nuclear power plants 
in operation, whose total capacity reached 7 million kilowatts. 
The total capacity of nuclear power in China is expected to reach 
9 million kilowatts next year. 

    Zhang Huazhu also stressed China's particular attention to 
nuclear safety, saying that the government has "established a 
safety supervision and management system and nuclear safety 
standard in line with international practices." Enditem 

  Copyright ©2003 Xinhua News Agency. All rights reserved. 
*****************************************************************
 15 Xinhuanet: China's nuclear electricity to hit 36 mln kw in 2020   

  www.xinhuanet.com

  www.chinaview.cn 2004-09-01 11:21:36   

    BEIJING, Sept. 1 (Xinhuanet) -- China will generate 36 
million kw of nuclear electricity in 2020, accounting for over 4 
percent of its total installed power generating capacity. 

    Zhang Huazhu, vice-minister in charge of the Commission of 
Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense, made the 
remarks here Wednesday at a press conference. 

    According to initial estimation, the country's total 
installed power generating capacity is to reach 900 million kw in 
2020. Enditem   

    
  Copyright ©2003 Xinhua News Agency. All rights reserved.
 Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is


*****************************************************************
 16 People's Daily: Second phase of Ling'ao nuclear power plant 
starts construction
 
UPDATED: 16:59, September 01, 2004   

Chinese workers began construction of the nuclear island for the 
second phase of Ling'ao Nuclear Power Plant in Shenzhen, south 
China's GuangdongProvince, Tuesday.

Two pressurized water reactors, each with a generating capacity 
of 1 million kw, will be installed in the second phase 
construction. Concrete pouring will begin in December 2005, said 
sources from Guangdong Nuclear Power Group, the developer of the 
nuclear plant.

Information from China Guangdong Nuclear Power Engineering Co. 
Ltd., the builder of the project, said that the two generating 

units would begin operation respectively in December 2010 and 
August 2011.

The Ling'ao Nuclear Power Plant already has two operational 
generators. Additional two nuclear generators are in operation in 
its nearby Daya Bay Nuclear Power Plant.

On completion of the second phase, the Daya Bay region will be 
able to produce a total of 6 million kw, capable of generating 40 
billion kw/hours of electricity a year. 

Nuclear power development plays an important role in alleviating 
power shortages in the Pearl River Delta, one of China's economic 
powerhouses, said a spokesman for Guangdong Nuclear Power Group.

China will generate 36 million kw of nuclear electricity in 2020, 
accounting for over 4 percent of its total installed power 
generating capacity, according to Zhang Huazhu, vice-minister in 
charge of the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for 
National Defense. 

  Copyright by People's Daily Online, all rights reserved   
*****************************************************************
 17 NRC: Agency Information Collection Activities: Submission for the 
 
                        FR Doc 04-19898 
[Federal Register: September 1, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 169)] 
[Notices] [Page 53471] From the Federal Register Online via GPO 
Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr01se04-114]                         
 
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Review; Comment Request 
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).
 
ACTION: Notice of the OMB review of information collection and 
solicitation of public comment.
 
SUMMARY: The NRC has recently submitted to OMB for review the 
following proposal for the collection of information under the 
provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 
Chapter 35). The NRC hereby informs potential respondents that an 
agency may not conduct or sponsor, and that a person is not 
required to respond to, a collection of information unless it 
displays a currently valid OMB control number.
 
1. Type of submission, new, revision, or extension: Revision;
2. The title of the information collection: 10 CFR Part 21, 
``Report of Defects and Noncompliance'';
3. The form number if applicable: Not applicable;
4. How often the collection is required: On occasion;
5. Who will be required or asked to report: All directors
and 
responsible officers of firms and organizations building,
operating, or 
owning NRC licensed facilities as well as directors and
responsible 
officers of firms and organizations supplying basic components
and 
safety related design, analysis, testing, inspection, and
consulting 
services of NRC licensed facilities or activities;
6. An estimate of the number of annual responses: 108
responses (72 
plus 36 recordkeepers);
7. The estimated number of annual respondents: 36
respondents;
8. An estimate of the total number of hours needed annually
to 
complete the requirement or request: 7,790 hours (5,112 for
reporting 
and 2,678 for recordkeeping) and a total of 142 hours per each
response 
and 74 hours per each recordkeeper;
9. An indication of whether Section 3507(d), Pub. L. 104-13 
applies: N/A;
10. Abstract: 10 CFR Part 21 implements Section 206 of the
Energy Reorganization Act of 1974, as amended. It requires 
directors and responsible officers of firms and organizations 
building, operating, owning, or supplying basic components to NRC 
licensed facilities or activities to report defects and 
noncompliance that could create a substantial safety hazard at 
NRC licensed facilities or activities. Organizations subject to 
10 CFR Part 21 are also required to maintain such records as may 
be required to assure compliance with this regulation.
 
The NRC staff reviews 10 CFR Part 21 reports to determine whether 
the reported defects in basic components and related services and 
failures to comply at NRC licensed facilities or activities are 
potentially generic safety problems.
 
A copy of the final supporting statement may be viewed free of 
charge at the NRC Public Document Room, One White Flint North, 
11555 Rockville Pike, Room O-1 F21, Rockville, MD 20852. OMB 
clearance requests are available at the NRC Worldwide Web site: .
 
The document will be available on the NRC home page site for 60 
days after the signature date of this notice.
 
Comments and questions should be directed to the OMB reviewer 
listed below by October 1, 2004. Comments received after this 
date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but 
assurance of consideration cannot be given to comments received 
after this date. OMB Desk Officer, Office of Information and 
Regulatory Affairs (3150-0035), NEOB-10202, Office of Management 
and Budget, Washington, DC 20503.
 
Comments can also be submitted by telephone at (202) 395-3087.
 
The NRC Clearance Officer is Brenda Jo. Shelton, (301) 415-7233.
 
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
 
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 25th day of August, 2004.
 
Brenda Jo. Shelton, NRC Clearance Officer, Office of the Chief 
Information Officer.
 
[FR Doc. 04-19898 Filed 8-31-04; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P

 
*****************************************************************
 18 UK Independent: Iran arrests dozens of 'spies' for passing nuclear secrets
 
By Anne Penketh, Diplomatic Editor
 
01 September 2004

The Iranian government announced yesterday that a number of
spies linked to an armed opposition movement had been arrested
for passing on nuclear secrets to foreign enemies. 

The announcement came as the United Nations prepared to release
a report later today on Iran's co-operation with weapons
inspectors. Western diplomats said that the report is expected
to be "fairly positive" and will not reveal a "smoking gun" in
Iran's suspected nuclear weapons programme. 

"It doesn't reveal any new kind of discovery. In fact, over the
last three months, Iran has provided some pretty decent
cooperation," said a diplomat familiar with the report. 

The United States has been threatening to report Iran to the UN
Security Council for possible sanctions over its failure to
fully come clean about its nuclear programme, but today's report
by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) seems unlikely
to provide enough evidence for such a move. The IAEA governors
are to discuss the report at a meeting beginning on 13
September. 

The US President, George Bush, stressed yesterday that diplomacy
remained the best option for dealing with Iran, which confirmed
in July that it had resumed building nuclear centrifuges, which
can enrich uranium to weapons grade. 

It was unclear yesterday whether there was a connection between
the timing of the announcement about the arrest of dozens of
spies and the latest IAEA report. Iran denies that it is
building a nuclear weapon and insists that its programme is
purely for civilian needs. 

The Iranian Intelligence Minister, Ali Yunesi, said that most of
those arrested were linked to the People's Mujaheddin
organisation, or Mujaheddin Khalq. 

"The hypocrites [People's Mujaheddin] had the lead role and they
have boasted before about spying against Iran in a press
conference in America," he added. "We have identified and
arrested dozens of spies on various grounds." He did not give
any other details. 

The People's Mujaheddin are known as "the hypocrites" because of
their association with Iran's arch-enemy, Iraq. The group is
listed as a terrorist organisation by the US and European Union. 

The group's political wing, the National Council of Resistance
of Iran (NCRI), was the first to publicly mention at press
conferences that Iran had failed to declare nuclear sites in
Iran, which were subsequently investigated by the IAEA and later
declared by Tehran. 

A former spokesman for the NCRI, Alireza Jafarzadeh, said that
none of his sources for the 2002 report had been arrested. 

Mr Jafarzadeh said the arrests were a "hollow show of force
right before the upcoming meeting of the IAEA board of
governors, intended to overshadow the illegal efforts of the
Iranian regime to acquire nuclear weapons". 	           


UK Independent Ltd.
*****************************************************************
 19 YDR: Peach Bottom must submit plan to NRC - 

York Daily Record
 		
[ydr.com]

Plant officials must detail corrective actions to be taken at
Unit 2. 

By SEAN ADKINS Daily Record/Sunday News Wednesday, September 1,
2004 

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has requested that officials at 
Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station Unit 2 submit in writing plans 
to address inadequate corrective actions for known equipment 
problems.

        The cross-cutting issue includes two "green" violations 
of very low safety significance listed within the commission's 
mid-cycle performance review and inspection plan of the power 
station.

        That review stretched from July 1, 2003, to June 30. The 
NRC released the review Monday.

        Next month, a team from the NRC will travel to the plant 
to run an additional inspection on Unit 2 to determine how Exelon 
has responded to "white" performance indicators found in the 
third quarter of 2003 and the first quarter of 2004.

        Exelon co-owns and operates Peach Bottom Atomic Power 
Station.

        The power station's Unit 3 performance requires no 
additional NRC oversight. That unit will follow a normal 
inspection schedule through March 31, 2006.

        The supplemental inspection will investigate the reason 
behind Unit 2's four unplanned shutdowns per 7,000 critical 
hours, or roughly a year of operation.

        The unscheduled shutdowns occurred between the fourth 
quarter of 2002 and the fourth quarter of 2003.

        One of the unplanned shutdowns included the failure of 
one of the plant's four emergency diesel generators.

        Following the shutdown, a commission inspection team 
found that deficient procedures were run during the 1992 
installation of generator adapter gaskets.

        Gas leaked into the equipment's jacket water cooling 
system — a problem that led to the automatic tripping of the 
generator.

        The NRC determined that the problem warranted a "white" 
finding, or a violation of low to moderate safety significance.

        Earlier this year, the plant formed a root-cause analysis 
team from the power station's maintenance and engineering 
divisions to deal with the failed diesel generator, said Dana 
Melia, an Exelon spokeswoman.

        The plant put its self-critical analysis into action in 
June and further modified its plan last month, she said.

        The actions focused on the maintenance of the generator 
and other reliability conditions, Melia said.

        The NRC will look at all the plant's actions during its 
September inspection.

        Power station officials are now forming a second 
root-cause team to deal with the plant's ongoing problems with 
cross-cutting issues, Melia said.

        Cross-cutting issues are events that affects many 
different areas of plant performance, said Neil Sheehan of the 
NRC.

        "The substantive cross-cutting issue was based on several 
inspection findings in which corrective action for a known 
equipment problem was either insufficient or delayed for 
implementation," according to the mid-cycle review.

        The most recent findings deal with problems related to 
Unit 2's high-pressure coolant injection oil system and 
high-pressure service water valves, Sheehan said.

 	Both problems resulted in green violations.

        The high-pressure coolant injection oil system is a 
reserve safety operation put into play to shut down the plant 
quickly, Sheehan said.

        The oil is used to lubricate the system that injects 
coolant into the reactor vessel to keep the fuel cool at times of 
emergency, he said.

        In June, plant officials found that oil flow to a part of 
the system had been interrupted.

        As a result, damage to the turbine bearing and rotor 
rendered the machine inoperable. The plant had to replace the 
bearing and rotor. The system was unavailable.

        The second green violation dealt with corrective actions 
of high-pressure service water valves that pull water from the 
Susquehanna River that is used to cool down various plant 
components, Sheehan said.

        How the plant will respond to the violations will be part 
of the letter sent to the NRC in October, Melia said.

 Reach Sean Adkins at 771-2047 or .

Copyright © York Daily Record 2004 122 S. George St., P.O. Box 
15122 York, PA 17405, (717) 771-2000
*****************************************************************
 20 The Ashburton Guardian: Talking about nuclear power won’t kill us 
 
www.ashburtontoday.co.nz

Editorial opinion - 

199 - 205 Burnett Street PO Box 77 Ashburton New Zealand Phone: 
(03) 308 3089 Fax: (03) 308 9855 Email: 
enquiries@theguardian.co.nz                                              

www.ashburton.co.nz www.ashburtonguardian.co.nz                                                                                                                                                                                             

Wednesday, September 1, 2004
 By Sean Kennedy

 The disasters at Chernobyl in the former Soviet Union and Three
Mile Island in the United States are chilling reminders that
nuclear power carries greater risks than any other form of
energy generation.

 Meltdowns are a constant worry. Nuclear plants are a potential
terrorist target. Disposal of waste is an environmental
nightmare.

 That said, we should be prepared to debate the issue. Not
because I want nuclear power – I don’t – but because nobody has
the right to rule a topic off limits – not the Greens and not
the Prime Minister Helen Clark. 
Nor can National take the high ground on this issue. Many of the
planning oversights and omissions for which we’ll pay a high
price occurred as a result of the Bradford reforms.

 So let’s get it clear: we can discuss nuclear power if we want.
And we can discuss hydro-electric power – even patently silly
schemes like Project Aqua. And wind power should be on the
agenda, even though critics say wind farms are unsightly and
noisy.

 Our problem in New Zealand is we’ve lost touch with reality. 
By some estimates our energy needs are at least 30 per cent
understated. That’s going to cause us big problems – not just in
blackouts and brownouts but in lost economic opportunities, lost
jobs and lost exports.

 If we have to set up coal- or gas-fired plants using the latest
anti-technology to “scrub” emissions and avoid the sulphurous
discharges that can be seen in the Third World, let’s do it. If
the choices are crippling our economy or sticking with the Kyoto
Protocol, let’s dump the protocol.

 We’re facing a mammoth energy crisis. We should be
investigating every possible energy option that’s out there.
Instead, we’re putting the problem in the ‘too hard’ basket. 
In a few short years, we’ll be desperately short of energy.
Let’s discuss the problem now before it’s too late. If we wait
until the crisis hits, we’ll be too desperate to make a rational
decision.

 Let’s talk energy. And remember – nothing’s off limits. 

*****************************************************************
 21 NRC: Agency Information Collection Activities: Submission for the 
 
                        FR Doc 04-19899 
[Federal Register: September 1, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 169)] 
[Notices] [Page 53471-53472] From the Federal Register Online via 
GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr01se04-115]                         
 
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Review; Comment Request 
AGENCY: U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). ACTION: Notice 
of the OMB review of information collection and solicitation of 
public comment.
 
SUMMARY: The NRC has recently submitted to OMB for review the 
following proposal for the collection of information under the 
provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 
Chapter 35). The NRC hereby informs potential respondents that an 
agency may not conduct or sponsor, and that a person is not 
required to respond to, a collection of information unless it 
displays a currently valid OMB control number.
 
1. Type of submission, new, revision, or extension: Extension.
 
2. The title of the information collection: NRC Form 327, Special 
Nuclear Material (SNM) and Source Material (SM) Physical 
Inventory Summary Report, and NUREG/BR-0096, Instructions and 
Guidance for Completing Physical Inventory Summary Reports.
 
3. The form number if applicable: NRC Form 327. 4. How often the 
collection is required: The frequency of reporting corresponds to 
the frequency of required inventories, which depends essentially 
on the strategic significance of the SNM covered by the 
particular license. Certain licensees possessing strategic SNM 
are required to report inventories every 2 months. Licensees 
possessing SNM of moderate strategic significance must report 
every 6 months. Licensees possessing SNM of low strategic 
significance must report annually.
 
 
[[Page 53472]] 5. Who will be required or asked to report: Fuel 
facility licensees possessing special nuclear material.
 
6. An estimate of the number of annual responses: 23. 7. The 
estimated number of annual respondents: 10. 8. An estimate of the 
total number of hours needed annually to complete the requirement 
or request: 98 hours (an average of approximately 4.25 hours per 
response for 23 responses). 9. An indication of whether Section 
3507(d), Pub. L. 104-13 applies: Not applicable.
 
10. Abstract: NRC Form 327 is submitted by fuel facility 
licensees to account for special nuclear material. The data is 
used by NRC to assess licensee material control and accounting 
programs and to confirm the absence of (or detect the occurrence 
of) special nuclear material theft or diversion. NUREG/BR-0096 
provides specific guidance and instructions for completing the 
form in accordance with the requirements appropriate for a 
particular licensee.
 
A copy of the final supporting statement may be viewed free of 
charge at the NRC Public Document Room, One White Flint North, 
11555 Rockville Pike, Room O-1 F21, Rockville, MD 20852. OMB 
clearance requests are available at the NRC worldwide Web site: 
http://www.nrc.gov/public-involve/doc-comment/omb/index.html. The 
document will be available on the NRC home page site for 60 days 
after the signature date of this notice.
 
Comments and questions should be directed to the OMB reviewer 
listed below by October 1, 2004. Comments received after this 
date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but 
assurance of consideration cannot be given to comments received 
after this date. OMB Desk Officer, Office of Information and 
Regulatory Affairs (3150-0139), NEOB-10202, Office of Management 
and Budget, Washington, DC 20503.
 
Comments can also be submitted by telephone at (202) 395-3087.
 
The NRC Clearance Officer is Brenda Jo. Shelton, 301-415-7233.
 
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 25th day of August, 2004.
 
Brenda Jo. Shelton, NRC Clearance Officer, Office of the Chief 
Information Officer.
 
[FR Doc. 04-19899 Filed 8-31-04; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P

 
*****************************************************************
 22 PRN: Chernobyl Study Reveals First Direct Evidence That Risk of
Thyroid Cancer Rises With Increasing Radiation Dose 

http://www.fhcrc.org" TITLE="http://www.fhcrc.org">

    SEATTLE, Sept. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- The risk of thyroid cancer 
rises with increasing radiation dose, according to the most 
thorough risk analysis for thyroid cancer to date among people 
who grew up in the shadow of the 1986 Chernobyl power-plant 
disaster.

    The incidence of thyroid cancer was 45 times greater among 
those who received the highest radiation dose as compared to 
those in the lowest-dose group, according to a team of American 
and Russian researchers led by Scott Davis, Ph.D., and colleagues 
at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. They report their 
findings in the September issue of Radiation Research.

    "This is the first study of its kind to establish a 
dose-response relationship between radiation dose from Chernobyl 
and thyroid cancer," said Davis, referring to the observation 
that as radiation doses increase, so does the risk of thyroid 
cancer. "We found a significant increased risk of thyroid cancer 
among people exposed as children to radiation from Chernobyl, and 
that the risk increased as a function of radiation dose."

    Having such information in hand, Davis said, may help 
officials better predict what long-term health effects to expect 
in the event of a similar nuclear accident or terrorist attack.

    "Another potential benefit of the findings is that it allows 
officials to more accurately understand and document the 
magnitude of the thyroid-cancer burden that has resulted from 
Chernobyl. This information will be important in designing and 
maintaining programs targeted toward the victims of the 
disaster."

    While about 30 people were killed immediately from the blast, 
which remains the worst accident of its kind in history, an 
estimated 5 million people were exposed to the resulting 
radiation.

    "Prior to Chernobyl, thyroid cancer in children was 
practically nonexistent. Today we see dozens and dozens of cases 
a year in the regions contaminated by the disaster, and the 
incidence continues to rise," Davis said. "This provides some 
evidence that there's an excess of thyroid cancer in children and 
in people who were children at the time of the accident. However 
until now nobody had taken the next step to find out just how 
much a risk there is and whether it rises along with radiation 
dose."

    While previous Chernobyl studies have relied on broad-stroke 
estimates of radiation exposure based on such factors as ground 
contamination, geographic proximity to the northern Ukraine plant 
or other surrogate measures of exposure, this study is the first 
of its kind to factor into the equation individualized estimates 
of radiation dose based on in-person interviews about diet and 
other lifestyle factors, said Davis, a member of Fred 
Hutchinson's Public Health Sciences Division.

    "After all these years, many efforts have been made by 
various research groups around the world to study the health 
effects of Chernobyl, and hundreds of scientific papers have been 
published. But ours is the first report that provides 
quantitative estimates of thyroid-cancer risk in relation to 
individual estimates of radiation dose," said Davis, also 
chairman of the Department of Epidemiology at the University of 
Washington School of Public Health and Community Medicine in 
Seattle.

    Kenneth Kopecky, Ph.D., a biostatistician in Fred 
Hutchinson's Public Health Sciences Division, was the study's 
co-investigator and directed the data analysis. Public Health 
Sciences Division staff managed and coordinated all aspects of 
the project. They included Theresa Taggart (project manager), 
Lynn Onstad (statistician), Teri Kopp (administration) and Laurie 
Shields (research coordinator).

    The Fred Hutchinson team organized a collaborative effort 
with a dozen scientists at four Russian institutions to conduct 
this research: the Medical Radiological Research Center (in 
Obninsk), the Byransk Diagnostic Center and the Bryansk Institute 
of Pathology (both in Bryansk), and the National Center of 
Hematology (in Moscow). All investigators were members of the 
International Consortium for Research on the Health Effects of 
Radiation funded by the U.S. Office of Naval Research.

    The researchers focused their efforts on western part of the 
Bryansk Oblast of Russia. This region, located about 66 miles 
northeast of Chernobyl, is the most heavily contaminated area in 
the Russian Federation. This was the first study of this type 
among residents of the Russian Federation exposed to Chernobyl 
radiation.

    Working through a local cancer registry, the researchers 
identified 26 people with thyroid cancer who were less than 20 
years old when the Chernobyl accident occurred; the majority were 
under 16 when their thyroid cancers were diagnosed. They then 
identified 52 healthy control subjects from the general 
population for comparison purposes. The controls and cancer cases 
were matched by age and place of residence at the time of the 
accident.

    The researchers then set about collecting information from 
these individuals and their mothers or fathers that would allow 
them to estimate each person's radiation dose using computer 
models. Interviews took place in the home and were conducted by 
Russian physicians.

    Individual doses depended largely on the ingestion patterns 
of food contaminated with radioactive iodine-131 (I-131), which 
concentrates in the thyroid gland. The primary source of 
food-based I-131 was milk from cows that grazed on contaminated 
pastures. Radiation doses to the thyroid increased along with the 
amount of milk and dairy products consumed. External, airborne 
radiation and contamination of other foods also contributed 
somewhat to the overall dose, depending on the person's proximity 
to the plant at the time of the accident. These doses were all 
received within the first few months after the accident, before 
the I-131 in the environment decayed into non-radioactive 
elements. While other radioactive contaminants remain in the 
area, they do not cause appreciable doses of radiation to the 
thyroid.

    In addition to the study's ability to estimate individual 
radiation doses based on personal interviews, other strengths of 
the study included the fact that all cases of thyroid cancer were 
confirmed independently by a panel of expert pathologists, and 
the study focused on people exposed as young children and 
adolescents, a group that is likely to be most susceptible to the 
effects of radiation exposure to the thyroid gland. Limitations 
of the study included its small sample size and its reliance on 
individual recall for reporting factors such as milk-consumption 
patterns that were used to estimate radiation dose.

    Efforts are under way to investigate a larger population in a 
similar fashion to see if these findings can be replicated, Davis 
said.

    For his contributions to the field, earlier this year Davis 
became the first foreign epidemiologist elected to the Russian 
Academy of Medical Sciences. The group's status in that country 
is on a par with the esteemed National Academy of Sciences in the 
United States. In May he received an honorary diploma in Moscow.

    Davis and colleagues have extended their cancer-risk studies 
to older Chernobyl survivors and are investigating how the damage 
caused to DNA by radiation influences the risk of developing 
thyroid cancer.

    This work is part of Fred Hutchinson's Global Health 
Initiative, which focuses on international collaboration to 
understand and solve some of the most widespread health problems 
in the world, including cancer and infectious diseases.

    SIDEBAR

    IT ALL STARTED WITH A RUSSIAN HELICOPTER PILOT WHO WAS 
TREATED FOR LEUKEMIA AT FRED HUTCHINSON

    Providing some long-awaited answers to Chernobyl survivors 
has been a rewarding research endeavor for Scott Davis, Ph.D., 
and colleagues at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, but it 
hasn't been a straightforward one.

    Some of the team's greatest achievements were simply 
establishing the working relationships and infrastructure to get 
the studies off the ground.

    "Within the first year of the 1986 accident, we were very 
interested in seeing if we could get involved and participate in 
long-term studies of health effects," Davis said. "But at the 
time of the accident, our government and that of the former 
Soviet Union were not so friendly, so establishing connections 
through that route didn't work."

    But in 1990, an opportunity surfaced when a Russian 
helicopter pilot involved in the initial efforts to contain the 
Chernobyl radiation developed leukemia and came to Fred 
Hutchinson for a bone-marrow transplant. After his treatment, an 
informal exchange program began between Fred Hutchinson and the 
National Center for Hematology in Moscow, whose director 
approached the center for assistance in developing a research and 
treatment institute for victims of the accident. Davis and 
colleague Kenneth Kopecky, Ph.D., made their first trip to Moscow 
that year.

    Then, in 1992, the Soviet Union collapsed. "We were back to 
square one in terms of negotiations," Davis said.

    But, thanks to efforts by Fred Hutchinson's then-president 
and director, Robert W. Day, M.D., and by the late Adm. Elmo 
Zumwalt, a former center trustee and former chief of naval 
operations for the U.S. Navy, new relationships were established. 
In 1992, a research consortium consisting of three international 
teams working in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine was created to study 
long-term health effects of the radiation released at Chernobyl.

    "Our initial work in Russia was simply to conduct small pilot 
studies to establish in concrete terms whether we could carry out 
all phases of an epidemiological study," Davis said. "There was 
no history of doing this kind of research in Russia or the other 
two countries. We had to set it all up from scratch."

    Challenges included purchasing Russian vehicles for the field 
teams using federal dollars -- an unprecedented bureaucratic 
challenge for the researchers -- importing all laboratory 
equipment and supplies, and then figuring out a way to maintain 
them without the standard resources that one takes for granted in 
the United States.

    "It's been a long haul and an enormous amount of time and 
work," Davis said, whose 30-plus trips to the former Soviet Union 
include walking the grounds of the evacuated plant and surveying 
the desolated 30-kilometer evacuation zone.

    Once the team established the capability to do the research, 
the group began its studies of thyroid cancer, a disease linked 
to radiation exposure. By the early 1990s, many new cases of the 
disease, particularly among young children, were diagnosed in 
regions near the blast. Since then, reports show several hundred 
cases of thyroid cancer in young children in the three countries 
contaminated by Chernobyl, a trend that appears to be continuing.

    Despite the lack of resources available to initiate these 
studies, Davis said that scientists and citizens of the three 
countries were eager for the research from the start. "Our 
collaborators in Russia have been terrific colleagues," he said. 
"We now have very close ties with our partner institutions."

    He also credited the strong encouragement and support from 
Fred Hutchinson's senior administration for helping him establish 
stable working relationships with their overseas colleagues.

    "The incredible support and flexibility of the center, 
especially in the early stages, really made this happen. That 
can't be overstated," Davis said.

    Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, home of two Nobel 
laureates, is an independent, nonprofit research institution 
dedicated to the development and advancement of biomedical 
technology to eliminate cancer and other potentially fatal 
diseases. Fred Hutchinson receives more funding from the National 
Institutes of Health than any other independent U.S. research 
center. Recognized internationally for its pioneering work in 
bone-marrow transplantation, the center's four scientific 
divisions collaborate to form a unique environment for conducting 
basic and applied science. Fred Hutchinson, in collaboration with 
its clinical and research partners, the University of Washington 
Academic Medical Center and Children's Hospital and Regional 
Medical Center, is the only National Cancer Institute-designated 
comprehensive cancer center in the Pacific Northwest and is one 
of 38 nationwide. For more information, visit the center's Web 
site at http://www.fhcrc.org.

                      Advancing Knowledge, Saving Lives CONTACT: 
Kristen Woodward +1-206-667-5095 kwoodwar@fhcrc.org SOURCE Fred 
Hutchinson Cancer Research Center Web Site: http://www.fhcrc.org

*****************************************************************
 23 WKRN: TVA whistleblower raises safety concerns at Alabama reactor
  
September 1, 2004   


KNOXVILLE, Tenn. A painter foreman working on the restart of a
Tennessee Valley Authority reactor in Alabama claims he was
fired for raising safety concerns.

James Speegle of Tuscumbia, Alabama, said he complained about 
faulty paint work inside the Browns Ferry plant.

He said his supervisor then told him that redoing the work later 
would just mean more money for Speegle's company.

Speegle said he was suspended May 22nd _ two days after providing 
information to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 

He was fired four days later.T-V-A spokesman John Moulton said 
the federal utility is aware of the allegations and confident the 
paint work is O-K and the nuclear plant is safe.                                

Copyright 2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
  
      All content © Copyright 2000 - 2004 WorldNow and WKRN. All
*****************************************************************
 24 NRC: NUREG-0800, ``Standard Review Plan'', Section 13.1.2-13.1.3, 
 
                        FR Doc 04-19900 
[Federal Register: September 1, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 169)] 
[Notices] [Page 53472-53473] From the Federal Register Online via 
GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr01se04-116]                         
 
``Operating Organization'' Modifications; Draft NUREG-1791, 
``Guidance for Assessing Exemption Requests From the Nuclear 
Power Plant Licensed Operator Staffing Requirements Specified in 
10 CFR 50.54(m)''; Notice of Availability AGENCY: Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission (NRC).
 
ACTION: Notice of availability of draft documents regarding 
operating organization and staffing and request for public 
comment.
 
----------------------------------------------------------------- 
------
 
SUMMARY: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is announcing 
the availability of a revision to Section 13.1.2 and 13.1.3 of 
NUREG-0800, ``Standard Review Plan, Operating Organization'' and 
a new draft document ``Guidance for Assessing Exemption Requests 
From the Nuclear Power Plant Licensed Operator Staffing 
Requirements Specified in 10 CFR 50.54(m)'' (NUREG-1791) for 
public comment.
 
DATES: Comments on these documents should be submitted by 
November 1, 2004. Comments received after that date will be 
considered to the extent practicable. To ensure efficient and 
complete comment resolution, comments should include references 
to the section, page, and line numbers of the document to which 
the comment applies, if possible.
 
 
ADDRESSES: Members of the public are invited and encouraged to 
submit written comments to: Michael Lesar, Chief, Rules and 
Directives Branch, Office of Administration, Mail Stop T6-D59, 
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001. 
Hand-deliver comments to: 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD, 
between 7:30 a.m. and 4:15 p.m. on Federal workdays. Comments may 
also be sent electronically to

 
NRCREP@nrc.gov. These documents are available for public 
inspection at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Public Document 
Room (PDR), located at One White Flint North, Public File Area 
01F21, 11555 Rockville Pike (First Floor), Rockville, Maryland, 
from the Agencywide Documents Access and Management System 
(ADAMS) Public Electronic Reading Room on the Internet at the NRC 
Web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html using 
Accession numbers ML041550723 (for the draft NUREG) and 
ML041550746 (for the SRP revisions); and on the NRC Web site at: 
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/nuregs/docs4comment 
.
 
Persons who do not have access to ADAMS or who encounter problems 
accessing the document in ADAMS should contact the NRC PDR 
reference staff by telephone at (800) 397-4209, (301) 415-4737, 
or by e-mail pdr@nrc.gov. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: James 
P. Bongarra, Jr., Engineering Psychologist, Office of Nuclear 
Reactor Regulation, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 
Washington, DC 20555-0001 by telephone at (301) 415-1046 or 
e-mail at jxb@nrc.gov.
 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: SRP Section 13.1.2-13.1.3 SRP Section 
13.1.2-13.1.3 provides review guidance for the NRC staff to use 
when evaluating a licensee's or applicant's operating 
organization, which includes consideration of whether the 
organization complies with the requirements of 10 CFR 50.54(l-m). 
The purpose of the NRC staff's review related to SRP Section 
13.1.2-13.1.3 is to ensure that adequate and clear structure, 
functions, roles, responsibilities, staff size, and other 
relevant considerations for licensed operator staffing are 
established to operate and maintain the plant.
 
Minor changes were made to Revision 4 of SRP Section 
13.1.2-13.1.3 from the version that was published in November 
1999. The changes include additions and language that describe 
the process for the review of exemption requests for numbers of 
excused staff along with clarification of some of the language, 
updating the references, and the addition of references to the 
staffing exemption request review process identified in the draft 
NUREG-1791.
 
Draft NUREG-1791, ``Guidance for Assessing Exemption Requests 
From the Nuclear Power Plant Licensed Operator Staffing 
Requirements Specified in 10 CFR 50.54(m)'' ``Guidance for 
Assessing Exemption Requests from the Nuclear Power Plant 
Licensed Operator Staffing Requirements Specified in 10 CFR 
50.54(m)'' provides regulatory guidance for the review of 
requests for exemptions from any of the staffing requirements of 
10 CFR 50.54(l-m). The introduction of advanced reactor designs 
and the increased use of advanced automation technologies in 
existing nuclear power plants may change the roles, 
responsibilities, composition, and size of the crews required to 
control plant operations.
 
 
[[Page 53473]] Current regulations regarding control room 
staffing, which are based on the concept of operation for 
existing light-water reactors, may no longer be appropriate for 
the concept of operations for advanced reactors. Therefore, 
applicants for an operating license for an advanced reactor, and 
current licensees who have implemented significant changes to 
existing control rooms, may wish to submit applications for 
exemptions from current staffing regulations.
 
The NRC staff will review the exemption requests and will 
determine whether the staffing proposals provide adequate 
assurance that public health and safety will be maintained at a 
level that is comparable to compliance with the current 
regulations. NUREG-1791 provides guidance for the NRC staff to 
perform a systematic review of exemption requests from the 
current staffing regulations in 10 CFR 50.54(m). The NUREG 
details the information, data, and review criteria needed to 
review the exemption request.
 
The NRC is seeking public comment in order to receive feedback 
from the widest range of interested parties and to ensure that 
all information relevant to developing these documents is 
available to the NRC staff. These documents are being issued for 
comment only and are not intended for interim use. The NRC will 
review public comments received on the documents, incorporate 
suggested changes, as necessary, and issue the final documents 
for use.
 
The NRC staff will use the policies and procedures in these 
documents to review all staffing exemption requests from 10 CFR 
50.54 (l-m). These NUREGs will not substitute for the 
regulations, and compliance with the guidance provided in these 
documents will not be required. Licensees may propose alternative 
approaches to determine staffing levels for the exemption request 
different from those in these NUREGs, if applicants provide a 
basis for concluding that the exemption request(s) are in 
compliance with 10 CFR 50.12. Dated in Rockville, MD, this 26th 
day of August, 2004.
 
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
 
Frank Costello, Acting Chief, Reactor Operations Branch, Division 
of Inspection Program Management, Office of Nuclear Reactor 
Regulation.
 
[FR Doc. 04-19900 Filed 8-31-04; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P

 
*****************************************************************
 25 ThisisLondon: Brandes backs BE shareholders 
 
thisislondon.co.uk

1 September 2004 

SECRETIVE US fund manager Brandes has thrown its weight behind 
shareholders battling for a better deal in the restructuring of 
British Energy. 

Brandes, which owns 6.9% of the ailing nuclear generator, is 
backing activist investor Polygon, with 5.6% of BE, in its calls 
for a better deal for the firm's 230,000 shareholders. 

The pair are calling for an egm at which a new restructuring
plan will be proposed, giving investors more than 30% of the
shares against the 2.5% currently being offered. 


Together they will table a number of motions to stop BE from 
being prematurely delisted and to create a company-funded 
committee of shareholders. However, British Energy had last night 
yet to receive any formal correspondence from either Polygon or 
Brandes.

US fund manager Brian Stark holds 7%, but has not raised his hand 
either way, while 10.1% holder Invesco earlier came out on the 
side of Polygon. 

The government's £5bn bail-out of British Energy is subject to 
approval from the European Commission, expected some time after 
the last week of September. 

*****************************************************************
 26 [DU-WATCH] Jordan to survey for Radioactive Remnants of War
 
Date: Wed, 1 Sep 2004 09:22:57 -0500 (CDT)

 
Well I hope they get a quicker response from the IAEA than the
Kuwaitis appear to have gotten - maybe if they don't depend on "A
Group of International Experts" - - -

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NucNews/message/17306

Message 17306 of 17307 From:  "viviane" <viviane@i...> Date:  Tue
Aug 31, 2004  3:25 pm Subject:  Jordan to check for possible radiation
from Dimona

http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/470802.html

Jordan to check for possible radiation from Dimona

By Yoav Stern, Haaretz Correspondent Last update - 22:44 29/08/2004

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.

========= *** NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section
107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have
expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information
for research and educational purposes.***

Message 17306 of 17307  |  Previous | Next  [ Up Thread ] Message
Index Msg #

Reply | Forward | View Source | Unwrap Lines

Copyright ) 2004 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.

Privacy Policy - Copyright Policy - Terms of Service - Guidelines
- Help

------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~-->
Make a clean sweep of pop-up ads. Yahoo! Companion Toolbar.

Now with Pop-Up Blocker. Get it for free!

http://us.click.yahoo.com/L5YrjA/eSIIAA/yQLSAA/Sj.0lB/TM
--------------------------------------------------------------------~->

[Brought to you by HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK] Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/du-watch/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:

du-watch-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:

http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
*****************************************************************
 27 Irradiated Food in School Lunches
 
Date: Wed, 01 Sep 2004 14:44:17 -0700

 
<x-flowed>
Hello! I am writing to you about an important bill concerning safe and
healthy lunches, that needs your help on to get passed! Bill AB 1988,
which has been passed by the CA legislature,  is awaiting Governor
Schwarzenegger's approval. This bill requires school board approval,
public disclosure and parental notification before irradiated foods can
be purchased for school lunch programs.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture included irradiated foods in the
National School Lunch Program in May 2003, despite overwhelming
opposition from parents and the public. Under federal law, schools have
no obligation to inform parents that their children are eating
irradiated foods.  This lack of accountability to parents is
particularly egregious because the National School Lunch Program serves
27 million children annually nationwide, most of whom are from
low-income families and may be undernourished at home.

Six California school districts have banned irradiated food from their
cafeterias, including Los Angeles and San Francisco.  While no school in
the state will serve irradiated meat in the upcoming school year, doing
so will remain an option for California school districts for the
foreseeable future. By passing this bill, lawmakers have ensured that
California remains accountable to both parents and disadvantaged
schoolchildren, who are among the most vulnerable of our state's
residents.

Irradiation exposes food to high doses of ionizing radiation to kill
bacteria. In the process, nutrients are destroyed and new toxic
chemicals are formed. Recent research has shown that one class of these
chemicals, cyclobutanones, promotes cancer development and causes
genetic damage to human cells. No long-term studies have been conducted
on how children's health is affected by eating irradiated food.
Additionally, irradiation exacerbates the problems faced by family farms
because it opens the floodgates to imported food, as well as contributes
to the consolidation of the food industry because it extends shelf life.
  (Visit www.safelunch.org for more information.)

We are asking  people and organizations to urge Gov. Schwarzenegger to
sign the bill, by faxing or emailing him about this issue (fax
916-445-4633, email http://www.govmail.ca.gov/). I've attached a sample
letter, which you can fill out, or you can write something of your own
if you prefer. We are also asking people to send an email to their
organization's members, or anyone who might be supportive, urging them
to ask the Governor to sign the bill.

There's been a lot of hard work on this bill, and we hope to get it
passed!
Thank you for your time,
Audrey Hill







Audrey Hill
Public Citizen
215 Pennsylvania Avenue, SE
Washington, DC 20003
(202) 454-5185

</x-flowed>

Attachment Converted: "c:\program files\eudora\attach\sample organizational letter.ab 1988 governor.doc"
*****************************************************************
 28 Russia Sends Troops to Guard Nuclear Sites
 
Date: Wed, 1 Sep 2004 14:50:27 -0400

 


  NPP Terrorism Site: http://www.tmia.com
  CRAC-2 Report:
http://www.mothersalert.org/crac.html



http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-security-nuclear-russia.html

Russia Sends Troops to Guard Nuclear Sites
By REUTERS

Published: September 1, 2004


Filed at 8:27 a.m. ET

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia deployed extra troops to
guard dozens of nuclear facilities across the
country on Wednesday after militants seized a
school in the south and a suicide bomb attack in
Moscow, the nuclear authority said.

Russia, the world's No.2 atomic power after the
United States, has come under international
pressure to do more to protect its Soviet-era
nuclear facilities against attack.

``After the latest terrorist attacks security
services decided to send more interior ministry
troops to all nuclear sites across the country,''
a Russian Atomic Energy Agency spokesman said.

He would not say how many additional troops were
sent.

He said the government extended the order right
after militants seized a school near rebel
Chechnya, taking up to 150 people hostage, and a
Tuesday suicide bomb attack in central Moscow
which killed at least nine people.

Russia runs dozens of atomic reactors, uranium
enrichment facilities and nuclear research
reactors -- some in the far-flung corners of
Siberia and which are poorly guarded.

Reactors are also attractive to militants because
atomic fuel stored at many sites can be used in
nuclear bombs.





*****************************************************************
 29 22 Nuke Sites May Be Vulnerable To Airplane Attacks
 
Date: Wed, 01 Sep 2004 14:44:11 -0700

 
<x-flowed>

   Does anyone know what the other 22 nuclear sites
are?


   http://www.app.com
Oyster Creek is neither structurally robust nor
designed to resist an aircraft impact. This
concern may also be present in 22 nuclear sites,
some with more than one reactor building.



       ASBURY PARK PRESS
       THE JERSEY SHORE'S
       LARGEST NEWS
       SOURCE


      Oyster Creek plant couldn't withstand hit
from terrorist aircraft


             Published in the Asbury Park Press
8/31/04
             By STEPHEN M. LAZORCHAK
             Our political leaders need to resolve
a serious predicament. A Nuclear Regulatory
Commission regulation allows power plants like the
Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station in Lacey
to operate in a post-9/11 environment, although
the plant's reactor building is structurally
inadequate to protect used nuclear fuel rods from
a terrorist attack.

             Oyster Creek is neither structurally
robust nor designed to resist an aircraft impact.
This concern may also be present in 22 nuclear
sites, some with more than one reactor building.

             The Nuclear Security Coalition, a
consortium of independent nuclear watchdog groups,
petitioned the NRC earlier this month to address
structural vulnerabilities at plants with building
designs similar to Oyster Creek's. The magnitude
of this issue and its implications for national
security require congressional oversight; it
should not be left only to the NRC review process.

             To the best of my knowledge, the
current design-basis-threat orders issued by the
NRC do not include a requirement to protect
against an aircraft attack. In addition, the most
recent evacuation plan for Oyster Creek does not
consider an evacuation based on a suicide aircraft
attack that can result in a Chernobyl-type event.

             The evacuation plan assumes an orderly
egress from towns around the power plant, ignoring
any road congestion resulting from panic outside
the 10-mile plant radius. At last month's public
hearing on Oyster Creek's evacuation plan, which
estimated it would take seven to 10 hours to
evacuate a 10-mile radius around the plant,
someone asked how slow the response would have to
be in order for the pl an to be deemed
unacceptable. The panel's response: There is no
time limit. This is unacceptable.

             The impact of a large aircraft into
the reactor building's concrete floor near the
spent fuel pool would cause catastrophic building
failure. It would allow burning fuel to leak onto
the floors below, damaging vital wiring and
equipment needed to shut down the reactor. An
aircraft impact would severely damage the spent
fuel pool, causing a water leak that would uncover
tons of radioactive fuel r ods. The result of a
terrorist attack on Oyster Creek's reactor
building would exceed a Chernobyl meltdown event
because there is more fuel in Oyster Creek's fuel
pool than there was in Chernobyl's reactor.

             The impact from only one 1,000-pound
object traveling at 300 mph and hitting the floor
at an angle of 30 degrees above horizontal exceeds
the strongest floor beam capacity by more than 500
percent. Impact on the weakest floor beam exceeds
the beam's capacity by 8,000 percent. The order of
magnitude of these values clearly demonstrates
Oyster Creek's reactor building is an unacceptable
safety ris k.

             There are other important reasons the
Oyster Creek plant should be shut down:

             "The federal government is not yet
prepared to identify and prevent every terrorist
plot, and the level of expertise required to stop
terrorism may not occur for many years. Exelon,
the owner of Oyster Creek, stated in public
information newsletters that it relies on our
president, the Armed Forces, the FBI and
intelligence agencies to protect the plant from
attack outside the fence of the plant . That isn't
good enough.

             "As described in the 9/11 Commission
report, al-Qaida terrorists are meticulous in
their planning and they are patient. The longer
Oyster Creek is allowed to operate, the longer it
is a target of opportunity.

             To succeed, they need only one
aircraft, flying from an overseas airport, to
disappear from FAA radar screens 15 minutes before
impacting Oyster Creek's reactor building.
Timelines supplied by the 9/11 Commission report
show our military fighters cannot take off,
intercept and shoot down a plane within 15 minutes
after terrorist actions are recognized by FAA
personnel.

             "If Oyster Creek were shut down today,
all fuel in the reactor vessel must be transferred
to the spent fuel pool to "cool" a minimum of five
years before it can be removed from the reactor
building. Before any used radioactive fuel can be
taken out of the reactor building's fuel pool,
Exelon must order, build and install additional
dry storage vaults to store the material somewhere
on site.

             "The longer Oyster Creek operates
without an exact closing date, the more the work
culture at the plant will degrade because of fear
of losing a job. Exelon management will postpone
equipment upgrades or choose "cheap fixes" if
there is no assurance the company will recoup its
investment for any plant repair or upgrade.

             I urge residents to support the
immediate shutdown of Oyster Creek, to lobby town
leaders to pass resolutions demanding the plant's
closure and to lobby congressional representatives
to pass laws eliminating NRC regulations that
place the interest of private companies over
public safety.

             Stephen M. Lazorchak, Dover Township,
is a consulting structural engineer and a former
Oyster Creek employee.

             Go Back | Subscribe to the Asbury Park
Press








Jersey Shore Nuclear Watch, PO Box 4283, Brick, NJ
08723 Phone 732-830-6565
www.jerseyshorenuclearwatch.org

</x-flowed>
*****************************************************************
 30 COVER STORY - Project Censored Awards: DU story wins 4th place 
 
Date: Wed, 1 Sep 2004 22:57:16 -0700 (PDT)

 

Here is the cover story with the top 25 winners - and
take a look at the list of who the judges were.

http://www.sfbg.com

Read more on DU:
American Free Press four-part series on DU by
Christopher Bollyn. 
Part I: “Depleted Uranium: U.S. Commits War Crime
Against Iraq, Humanity,” 
http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/depleted_uranium.html
Part II: “Cancer Epidemic Caused by U.S. WMD: MD Says
Depleted Uranium Definitively
http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/cancer_epidemic_.html
Part III:  “DU Syndrome Stricken Vets Denied Care: 
Pentagon Hides DU Dangers to Deny Medical Care to
Vets”,
http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/du_syndrome.html
Part IV: “Pentagon Brass Suppresses Truth About Toxic
Weapons: Poisonous Uranium Munitions Threaten World”,
http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/pentagon_brass.html

"DU: Dirty Bombs, Dirty Missiles, and Dirty Bullets - 
A Death Sentence Here and Abroad" Leuren Moret
http://www.sfbayview.com/081804/Depleteduranium081804.shtml

August 2004 World Affairs Journal. Leuren Moret:
“Depleted Uranium: The Trojan Horse of Nuclear War,”
http://www.mindfully.org/Nucs/2004/DU-Trojan-Horse1jul04.htm

August 2004 Coastal Post Online. Carol Sterrit: “Marin
Depleted Uranium Resolution Heats Up – GI’s Will Come
Home To A Slow Death,” 
http://www.coastalpost.com/04/08/01.htm

World Depleted Uranium Weapons Conference, Hamburg,
Germany, October 16-19, 2004:
http://www.uraniumweaponsconference.de/speakers.htm

International Criminal Tribunal for Afghanistan.
Written opinion of Judge Niloufer Baghwat:
http://www.mindfully.org/Reform/2004/Afghanistan-Criminal-Tribunal10mar04.htm





	
	
		
__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
New and Improved Yahoo! Mail - 100MB free storage!
*****************************************************************
 31 [du-list] Maralinga tests hit home - Bliar allegedly dosed at
 
Date: Wed, 01 Sep 2004 14:44:30 -0700

 
<x-flowed>
http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1024682004&20040901214616
Blair's health 'is a ticking nuclear time-bomb'

ALISON HARDIE


SPECULATION over Tony Blair's health was stirred again yesterday by a 
doctor who claimed controversially that childhood exposure to radioactive 
fallout could have adversely affected the Prime Minister.

Mr Blair lived with his family as a child in Adelaide, the South Australia 
state capital, during the period when Britain was permitted to test atomic 
devices in the desert outback.

Although the tests, which have left a legacy of claims and lawsuits against 
the Australian government, were conducted 350 miles to the north of Mr 
Blair's family home, it is thought an unanticipated wind change blew the 
radioactive cloud toward Adelaide.

Mr Blair has been at the centre of two health scares, including one which 
saw him require a cardioversion, which involves an injection of chemicals 
or electro-shock therapy to stabilise the heartbeat.

The heart scare occurred in October last year and was followed weeks later 
by a further incident which led to a doctor being ferried at speed on a 
motorbike to give Mr Blair a health check.

The image of the youthful Prime Minister struck down by a heart condition 
sent shock waves through the government. The impression of a man burdened 
by health worries was further underlined when Saga magazine this year asked 
if genetic links had made him concerned for his health after his mother's 
death from cancer. Mr Blair admitted: "Yes, I suppose so."

Mr Blair was three when the British detonated their third atomic device in 
the Maralinga desert region 350 miles to the north on 11 October, 1956, 
according to The Bulletin magazine. 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 Mr Blair's mother from thyroid cancer could have 
been caused by the family's exposure to the radioactive fallout. He said: 
"Adelaide in South Australia was plastered with radioactive fallout from 11 
to 16 October, 1956.

"As a youngster in Adelaide drinking local milk, Tony Blair is very likely 
to be at risk of bone cancer himself."

However, last night a spokeswoman for Mr Blair poured cold water on the 
latest theory about the state of the Prime Minister's health. She said: "It 
sounds like the silly season's been going on a little bit longer than we 
thought. The Prime Minister's perfectly fine."

Mr Blair's mother, Hazel Blair, died 19 years after the blast following a 
long battle with thyroid cancer.

Mr 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 said: "He has never denied that radioactive fallout in Australia was 
ultimately the cause of his mother's death.

"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."

The magazine report did not say whether current Adelaide residents have 
reported suffering abnormally high rates of illnesses linked to radiation 
exposure.

South Australian Cancer Registry director Wayne Clapton explained cancer 
monitoring of the state's population only began in 1977, the magazine said.

Britain began to develop a programme of atomic bomb testing at the 
beginning of the Cold War era. In 1949, Britain made its first approaches 
to the Australian government regarding the possibility of testing nuclear 
bombs in the country.

The Australian government agreed, and the first British atomic bomb was 
exploded aboard the decommissioned warship HMS Plym on 3 October, 1952, at 
a site in the Monte Bello Islands, off the coast of Western Australia.

Naval testing was too difficult and a land-based site was sought. The first 
site was at Emu Fields along the centre-line of the Woomera Rocket Range in 
South Australia.

However, the site was remote, so the programme was moved to a more suitable 
site about 120 miles south to Maralinga. This was to have been a permanent 
atomic weapons test range, but with the advent of the Nuclear 
Non-proliferation Treaty, atmospheric tests were banned, and since the 
geology of Maralinga was not suitable for underground tests, the site was 
abandoned in the 1960s.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~-->
Make a clean sweep of pop-up ads. Yahoo! Companion Toolbar.
Now with Pop-Up Blocker. Get it for free!
http://us.click.yahoo.com/L5YrjA/eSIIAA/yQLSAA/FGYolB/TM
--------------------------------------------------------------------~->

To unsubscribe from this groups send a message to 
du-list-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com.  In the body of the message type 
unsubscribe and send.
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
     http://groups.yahoo.com/group/du-list/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
     du-list-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
     http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
  

</x-flowed>
*****************************************************************
 32 Tri-Valley Herald: Center for ailing nuclear workers opens in Livermore 
 
Article Last Updated: Wednesday, September 01, 2004
 		   	 	
Critics say government slow to distribute compensation
 
By Matt Carter, STAFF WRITER

 LIVERMORE -- Three decades ago, Alex Yawornisky helped 
scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory carry out 
the most powerful underground nuclear test ever conducted on U.S. 
soil. 

The now-retired construction manager assisted in placing a 
warhead with the explosive power of nearly 5 million tons of TNT 
at the bottom of a 6,000-foot-deep mine shaft on Amchitka Island, 
Alaska. 

Code-named Cannikin, the warhead generated shock waves that 
measured 7.0 on the Richter scale and created a mile-wide crater 
after it was detonated at 11 a.m. on Nov. 6, 1971. 

Four years ago, Yawornisky learned he had lymphoma. Cancer has 
attacked his spine. The 73-year-old needs a walker or wheelchair 
to get around and can't get dressed normally or hop in the shower 
in the morning. 

But Lawrence Livermore Lab officials touted the Livermore 
resident as proof that a system designed to help nuclear workers 
with cancer and lung diseases is working. After a Tuesday speech 
by Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-Alamo, federal officials celebrated the 
opening of a new resource center for sick workers with a 
ribbon-cutting ceremony. The California Resource Center, the 11th 
of its kind in the country, is designed to help current and 
former employees of the Department of Energy and its contractors 
claim benefits authorized by Congress. 

Yawornisky was able to collect a

 $150,000 payment that several thousand sick workers or their 
survivors are eligible to receive under the Energy Employees 
Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act. The program is 
expected to pay out

 $1.4 billion to sick workers and their families in the next 10 
years. 

After filing a claim in August 2001, Yawornisky was approved just 
six months later. The money, he said, has allowed him to make 
improvements to his house that make it easier to get around. 

"I feel the program is great -- it's providing the compensation 
due to those who became handicapped or died from illnesses on the 
job," he said. 

But Yawornisky's case is not typical, say some critics of the 
sick worker compensation program. Critics include survivors of 
employees whose claims remain in limbo -- and Tauscher herself. 

In her speech, Tauscher praised the employees who will staff the 
California Resource Center, including director Kris Neely. But 
she lamented the "long and tough" fight it took with federal 
bureaucrats to establish the center, which will serve the entire 
state. 

Considering the number of nuclear weapons facilities and workers 
in the state, she said, California should have been the first 
resource center, not the 11th. 

Tauscher also renewed her calls to transfer oversight of the sick 
worker compensation program from the Department of Energy to the 
Department of Labor. 

She said the Department of Energy isn't able to efficiently 
process the thousands of claims filed by workers and their 
families. 

A local lab watchdog group, Tri-Valley Communities Against a 
Radioactive Environment, introduced several people with pending 
claims Tuesday. 

They included Joyce Brooks, who said her husband, Carl, died of 
lung disease in January 2000. 

Yawornisky said one reason his claim was processed so quickly is 
that the government was able to document that he was exposed to 
radiation during the test on Amchitka Island. 

Brooks said she believes her husband, who worked for the 
Department of Energy for 32 years, became ill after being exposed 
to beryllium at Livermore Lab. But because he was never given a 
blood test for beryllium disease, his widow's claim was denied. 
Brooks said because of Tauscher's interest in the case, her claim 
is again under review. 

"I don't know whose desk it's sitting on, or what pile it's in," 
Brooks said. 

The California Resource Center in Livermore also will help sick 
workers file for state workers' compensation benefits. 

Camille Yuan-Soo Hoo, the Department of Energy's Livermore site 
office manager, said more than 700 workers in California have 
filed claims for state benefits. The Department of Energy has 
hired 70 additional physicians to assist in panel reviews of 
those claims. 

While the physicians panels previously handled only 10 to 20 
cases a week, decisions were made in 200 cases last week alone, 
Yuan-Soo Hoo said. 

She said the Department of Energy intends to continue publicizing 
the program, and that traveling resource centers have generated 
"hundreds of claims throughout California." 

A Department of Labor official, Sharon Tyler, said the program 
has generated

 57,000 claims nationwide.

 The Department of Energy's California Resource Center is open 
from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays at 2600 Kitty 
Hawk Road, Suite 101, Livermore. Workers or survivors may call a 
toll free number, (866) 606-6302, for information or visit 
www.eh.doe.gov/advocacy

©2004 by MediaNews Group, Inc. and ANG Newspapers
*****************************************************************
 33 Tri-Valley Herald: Tauscher's nuke safety work noted 
 
Article Last Updated: Wednesday, September 01, 2004
 		   	 	
Alamo representative receives Democracy in Action Award
 
By FROM STAFF REPORTS

 Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-Alamo, was presented with California 
Peace Action's annual Democracy in Action Award on Tuesday 
evening in Walnut Creek. 

The statewide, 40,000-member group gave Tauscher the award for 
her work against development of new nuclear weapons and in 
support of programs to secure nuclear materials so they don't 
fall into terrorists' hands. 

"Ellen Tauscher has been an outspoken leader in pushing for a 
nuclear policy that will make our country safer," said executive 
director Jon Rainwater. 

Tauscher said she's honored to get the award "at such a critical 
time when the Bush administration has consistently rolled back 
treaty after treaty and is actively pursuing the develop- ment of 
new nuclear weapons." 

She said she continues to support stronger International Atomic 
Energy Agency safeguards, sticking to the Nuclear 
Nonproliferation Treaty and real engagement of nuclear hotspots 
such as North Korea and Iran. California Peace Action also 
Tuesday honored the work of two local groups in promoting a safer 
foreign policy: Tri-Valley Communities Against Radioactive 
Environment, a Livermore-based nuclear watchdog group, and the 
Lamorinda Democratic Club. 

*****************************************************************
 34 Boston.com: Ill weapons workers a GOP issue Bush, senators fight 
over payment
 
By Nancy Zuckerbrod, Associated Press  |  September 1, 2004 

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 do not 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 
Senator Lisa Murkowski, who is in a tough reelection 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. 

US Representative Zach Wamp, Republican of Tennessee, 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 does not 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 in Congress generally have watched the dispute from the 
sidelines. However, their presidential candidate, Senator John F. 
Kerry, issued a statement yesterday calling it ''wrong for George 
Bush to block deserved health benefits to workers who became ill 
because of service to their country." [ /]  © Copyright 2004 

Globe Newspaper Company. 
*****************************************************************
 35 Mos News: Additional Troops Deployed to Guard Russian Nuclear Sites - 

- MOSNEWS.COM
 
Inside a nuclear site / Photo from MN Archive 
 
Created: 01.09.2004 16:40 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 17:29 MSK 

MosNews
 
Russia deployed extra troops to guard dozens of nuclear 
facilities across the country on Wednesday after militants seized 
a school in the south and a suicide bomb attack in Moscow, the 
Reuters news agency reported, citing Russia’s top nuclear 
authority. 

Russia, the world’s No.2 atomic power after the United States, 
has come under international pressure to do more to protect its 
Soviet-era nuclear facilities against attack. 

“After the latest terrorist attacks security services decided to 
send more interior ministry troops to all nuclear sites across 
the country,” a Russian Atomic Energy Agency spokesman said. 

He would not say how many additional troops were sent. 

He said the government extended the order right after militants 
seized a school near rebel Chechnya, taking up to 150 people 
hostage, and a Tuesday suicide bomb attack in central Moscow 
which killed at least nine people. 

Russia runs dozens of atomic reactors, uranium enrichment 
facilities and nuclear research reactors —- some in the far-flung 
corners of Siberia and which are poorly guarded. 

Reactors are also attractive to militants because atomic fuel 
stored at many sites can be used in nuclear bombs. SEE ALSO
 	
  Write us: <b>info@mosnews.com</b>
Copyright © 2004 MOSNEWS.COM
*****************************************************************
 36 Las Vegas RJ: Nevada Republicans ready to take talking points home 
 
Wednesday, September 01, 2004

By ERIN NEFF REVIEW-JOURNAL

NEW YORK -- Most of the messages from Madison Square Garden are
designed for the masses watching at home, but when delegates
gather for breakfast, they get an earful of talking points aimed
at making the convention buzz last beyond this week.
 
 Jim Dyke, the communications director for the Republican
National Committee, highlighted some of the key quotes from
Monday's speeches as he talked to Nevada delegates over
breakfast.
 
 Before Tuesday night's addresses by California Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger and first lady Laura Bush, Dyke stressed several
points: compassion, education reform, Medicare reform and
faith-based initiatives.
 
 "This election is about big choices," Dyke said. "It's
important to know the facts because there's a lot of style out
there."
 
 Dyke said any bounce Democratic challenger John Kerry got from
his convention in Boston went away quickly because that event
was about "style and not substance."
 
 Dan Bartlett, White House communications director, made similar
remarks to reporters from battleground states such as Ohio,
Nevada and Florida when he called the Democratic National
Convention "a lot of sizzle and no steak."
 
 Bartlett said that moving forward from the convention and into
the battleground states will be easier than thought.
 
 "I don't want to say we have wind at our back, but we do feel a
nice breeze," he said.
 
 Interior Secretary Gale Norton spoke to Nevada's delegates
Tuesday morning and said Republicans in the Silver State can
court voters by talking about the Bush administration's record
on environmental issues.
 
 Norton said she thought the administration's Healthy Forest
Initiative worked wonders in Carson City despite the recent
Waterfall Fire, which burned several homes and acres.
 
 "Thankfully because of putting in firebreaks and because of
thinning, I saw people's homes that were spared by fire," she
said.
 
 As a Southwesterner who owns a ranch, Bush "understands going
out and working on the land," she said.
 
 She said her department has produced cooperation with diverse
partners, such as ranchers and Sierra Club members.
 
 She said that approach can resolve pending problems, such as
the proposed listing of the sage grouse under the Endangered
Species Act, better than government enforcement. 
Norton said Kerry's plan to provide $600 million for national
parks would come from the mining industry and would cost 46,000
people, including many in Nevada, their jobs.
 
 "He doesn't understand Western issues," Norton said.
 
 Delegates cheered her message and asked why the media fail to
discuss the same positive message.
 
 Norton said the media cover only conflict. "A new sewer system
at Yellowstone National Park. What kind of a front-page story is
that?" she asked.
 
 By the end of her talk, delegate Al Valdez rose to ask a
question and instead criticized Kerry for having "no substance
to his message and no substance to him."
 
 "We need to get you up on that stage," Norton told him.
 
 One of the goals of the convention is getting the nearly 5,000
delegates to go home and stump for their nominee.
 
 "It's just been such a positive message," state GOP Chairwoman
Earlene Forsythe said. "These are the points we have to stress."
 
 Norton's speech, on the heels of a national Republican platform
referring to Nevada's proposed nuclear waste repository as
"moving forward," did not include any mention of the Yucca
Mountain burial site.
 
 "It's ironic that Secretary Norton is visiting the Nevada
delegation just hours after it approved the most environmentally
dangerous platform in Nevada history," said Congresswoman
Shelley Berkley, D-Nev. "Through the pro-Yucca Republican
platform that was passed last night, the Nevada delegation has
helped the Bush administration carry out the president's broken
promise to rely on 'sound science' and turn Nevada into the
nation's nuclear dump."
 
 Nevada Republicans are focused less on Yucca and more on
national security, economic and social issues they think can
help Bush carry Nevada.
 
 Attorney General Brian Sandoval, who is speaking tonight in
prime time at the convention, said he thinks Bush has been
"intellectually honest" with Nevada residents.
 
 Sandoval will not raise the Yucca Mountain issue and will seek
to stress Bush's record on law enforcement.
 
 Sandoval, who leads Bush's re-election campaign in Nevada, said
that although Democrats might focus on Yucca Mountain,
Republicans will continue to stress other messages that resonate
with swing voters.
 
 "One of the most important things with someone running for
president is to check his record," Sandoval said. "Kerry's
record on Yucca and other issues contradicts a long history of
votes."
 
 
Copyright Las Vegas Review-Journal
*****************************************************************
 37 Las Vegas RJ: Yucca database problem criticized 
 
Wednesday, September 01, 2004
 
Nuclear licensing board rules against Energy Department 

By STEVE TETREAULT STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU
 
WASHINGTON -- The Energy Department was dealt a new blow on
Tuesday when a nuclear licensing board ruled DOE mishandled a
public database that is supposed to contain all documents for
the planned Nevada nuclear waste repository.
 
 The ruling is likely to force an undetermined delay in the
Yucca Mountain Project while the Energy Department fixes
problems and gets its work recertified, according to attorneys
for Nevada and environmental activists.
 
 Federal rules require DOE's documents on the Internet database,
known as the Licensing Support Network, to be certified as
complete and available electronically to the public for six
months before a license application can be docketed with the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
 
 "They will have to certify again after they get their act
together, either in a month or if ever, maybe sometime after the
first of the year," said Martin Malsch, a former NRC attorney
who represents the state of Nevada in Yucca Mountain cases.
 
 Malsch called the ruling a major setback for the Yucca program,
which already faces myriad uncertainties stemming from budget
shortfalls and a court ruling this summer that threw out a key
radiation safety guideline.
 
 Joe Davis, a DOE spokesman, said the department has continued
to work on the database and could be ready to seek
recertification in about a month.
 
 Davis said he could not say how the ruling might affect the
DOE's timetables. Department officials had set an internal
deadline to submit a repository license application to the NRC
by year's end.
 
 "The attorneys are going to look at this," Davis said. "Our
goal is to have this repository open in 2010, and that remains
our goal."
 
 The department issued its database certification on June 30,
six months in advance of its year-end goal.
 
 DOE said it had made available 1.2 million documents totalling
5.6 million pages of technical reports, studies and e-mails
chronicling years of DOE's repository effort.
 
 Attorneys for Nevada challenged the database, saying DOE rushed
an incomplete job to stay on deadline. They argued 30 million
pages of documents and more than 4 million e-mails were missing,
while access to documents on key issues such as repository
canister corrosion was blocked by being improperly classified
for secrecy. 
A three-judge Atomic Safety and Licensing Board panel assembled
by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission agreed with the state in a
54-page ruling released Tuesday that struck down DOE's
certification.
 
 The department "did not satisfy its obligation to make, in good
faith, all of its documentary material available," the judges
stated, even though DOE had 15 years to organize the material
and the funding strength of the federal government to pay for
the effort.
 
 "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 judges said.
 
 Federal rules require DOE to place all its documents on the
database and to share them electronically with the public and
parties that will be involved in Yucca Mountain licensing.
 
 The idea, officials have said, is to make all pertinent
information available upfront, to avoid delays in an NRC
licensing process that resembles a courtroom trial. 
Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff have completed loading all
their Yucca documents onto the database. The judges' ruling
allows Nevada and others to delay posting their documents until
DOE's contributions are recertified. 
The safety board's ruling was a victory for open government,
said Wenonah Hauter, director of the Public Citizen Critical
Mass Energy and Environment Program. 
"Posting all relevant Yucca Mountain documents online allows the
public to review the materials and participate effectively in
the Yucca Mountain licensing proceedings," Hauter said. 
"It was obvious the White House was so anxious to keep the
licensing process for Yucca Mountain on track that they cut
corners," said Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev. 
Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., said the ruling was "a wake-up call for
the DOE to be forthcoming with public documents, and prepare the
material in such a way that is accessible and user friendly to
the general public."
 
 
Copyright Las Vegas Review-Journal
*****************************************************************
 38 Las Vegas SUN: Sandoval to address delegates

Today: September 01, 2004 at 9:46:24 PDT 

By Suzanne Struglinski <suzanne@lasvegassun.com> SUN WASHINGTON 
BUREAU

 NEW YORK -- Attorney General Brian Sandoval will take the
podium and address his fellow Republicans tonight, praising the
Bush administration's record on protecting children,
representing his strong support for Bush's re-election.

 But Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., cannot understand how he can
praise one part of Bush's record while suing him over another:
the administration's and the GOP's support for a nuclear waste
repository.

 "You can't fight the president in the morning and support him
as a candidate in the evening," Berkley said. "He's the very man
that's giving us Yucca Mountain."

 Sandoval believes Bush is a great leader and that he will allow
legal decisions to stand and the repository to be safe, as the
president has promised, but still does not want the waste to
come to Nevada.

 Sandoval said his support for the president does not diminish
his fight against the proposed repository.

 "The White House knows that I will use every tool at my
disposal to fight the Yucca Mountain Project," Sandoval said.
"The president knows that and we've had that conversation."

 "This is a party where the people can disagree on issues," he
said, referring to a message brought up by California Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger during his address to the convention
Tuesday.

 "We looked each other in the eye and we disagreed." Sandoval
said there is no conflict and the protection of children, which
he will address tonight, the president's efforts to combat
terrorism, protecting the homeland and many others reasons are
why he is good for the state.

 He called Tuesday's ruling by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
-- that the Energy Department did not follow documentation rules
-- "a monumental victory for the State of Nevada," because it
will most likely delay the licensing process for nuclear waste
repository at Yucca, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. He said it
is a "good sign" the board is listening to Nevada's arguments.

 Sandoval called the project "dead" when the U.S. Court of
Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled in July that the 10,000-year
radiation standard did not meet the legal requirements set for
the project by Congress and agreed the NRC board's ruling was
another nail in Yucca's coffin.

 "We are finally in a level playing field with an impartial
third party and they are agreeing with us," Sandoval said of the
recent NRC decision.

 But Berkley said that is because it is clear the Bush
administration does not agree with Nevada and has done
everything it can to move the project forward.

 "The president is ignoring the court's decision that says the
Environmental Protection Agency was short," Berkley said. "That
is not leadership. This is lying to the people of the state of
Nevada. I am astounded (Sandoval) is not using his post to
protect the state."

 She said that by strongly supporting the president he is
sending mixed signals to the White House. Sandoval and Gov.
Kenny Guinn, Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev.,
and Rep. Jon Porter R-Nev., all work toward the president's
re-election, with Guinn and Sandoval co-chairmen of Bush's
Nevada effort.

 "They are in a perfect position to say if you go ahead with
this we are withdrawing our support," Berkley said. "If I was
president I would be ignoring them too."

 Republicans and the Bush campaign point to Kerry's support of
several bills that helped advance the project and the fact that
Clinton administration science is what the Energy Department
used to help establish that the project was safe, which Nevada
disputes.

 But Berkley insisted that it does not matter what happened in
the past.

 "It matters what is happening now," Berkley said.

 When Bush visited Nevada in August, he criticized Kerry for
flip-flopping positions on Yucca.

 "My point to you is that if they're going to change, one day
they may change again," Bush said then. "I think you need
straight talk on this issue. I think you need somebody who is
going to do what he says he's going to do."

 Berkley said "what he's going to do is give us nuclear waste. I
don't care if it's honest. It's wrong."

 She said the Republican platform wants more nuclear power and a
nuclear waste repository, "and we know where they plan to put
it."

 
 
*****************************************************************
 39 Las Vegas SUN: Edwards' wife discusses military benefits, Yucca

Today: September 01, 2004 at 11:16:50 PDT 

By Kirsten Searer <searer@lasvegassun.com> LAS VEGAS SUN

 Her staff was trying to hurry her along, so they sighed Tuesday
when a reporter asked Elizabeth Edwards about medical
malpractice reform.

 It was, apparently, the right question to get her talking.

 Edwards, the wife of Sen. John Edwards, the Democratic vice
presidential nominee, is well-known for being one of the more
personable faces on the Democratic ticket, someone who talks
publicly about her weight struggles and how she misses her
children on the campaign trail.

 But in a trip to Las Vegas on Tuesday, the 55-year-old wasn't
afraid to mix her Southern charm with a knowledge of issues in
an hourlong session in a blazing hot room in which the main
topics were military benefits and pay.

 The crowd or more than 75 people was dotted with undecided
voters and Republicans who voted for Bush in 2000.

 That's just the way Edwards likes it.

 "This is the time for us to use venues like this to answer
questions," she said.

 Later, in the back of the restaurant, she told newspaper
reporters that Edwards supports Democratic presidential nominee
John Kerry's promise to stop Yucca Mountain.

 Edwards, she said, has voted against the project because he had
concerns about safety. He did, however, cast a pro-Yucca
"procedural" vote after the nuclear industry promised to upgrade
safety for North Carolina, she said.

 "He was making a concession in order to get the safety
concessions in North Carolina," she said.

 Should Edwards ever become president, he would uphold Kerry's
promise to stop the project, she said.

 "We need to find a safer way than digging a hole," she said.

 And, she said, medical malpractice reform such as the cap on
damages to appear on Nevada's November ballot isn't the answer
to rising insurance rates.

 Instead, she advocates penalizing attorneys that bring up too
many frivolous lawsuits, weeding out the 5 percent of doctors
who cause 50 percent of the medical malpractice suits, and
coming to terms with the fact that insurance companies suffered
their greatest losses from stock market reverses.

 Profits, she said, "are a direct reflection of what happens in
the stock market."

 The jury system of awarding damages isn't perfect, but it's the
best system around, she said.

 "It doesn't mean that they're always going to get it right,"
she said. "But they're going to get it right more than they get
it wrong."

 Edwards' voice is calm while she speaks, even as she offers
pointed criticism of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and
former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who said in his Monday
speech to the Republican National Convention that when he was
watching the towers burn on Sept. 11, 2001, he turned to Police
Commissioner Bernard Kerik and said, "Thank God George Bush is
our president."

 "No one in that moment of horror would have made a statement
like that," she said.

 She has been lauded on the campaign trail as a down-to-earth
person -- a "mother earth" figure, as Teresa Heinz Kerry
described her.

 "She spoke in simple terms that a layman could understand,"
said 69-year-old Harriet Bernstein of Las Vegas after Edwards'
talk in Las Vegas.

 "She is a real person," added Harriet's sister, 63-year-old Roz
Tessler.

 Edwards told a the crowd of people in the military, veterans
and their families -- some who support Bush -- that Bush has
advocated for them.

 But, she added, he also cut hospital benefits for some veterans
with service-related injuries, advocated a $250 enrollment fee
to use veterans hospitals, closed veterans hospitals and cut
hazardous duty pay benefits.

 "You have these two men who are running for office," she said.
"You have to ask, whose side are they on?' "

 Kerry would increase military pay and benefits partly because
"he's been there," she said. That includes stopping the
remaining limits on concurrent receipts, which require veterans
to deduct the pay they receive for disabilities from their
military retirement.

 "Senator Kerry is absolutely committed to getting rid of this
tax on disabled veterans," she said.

 Later, 36-year-old Karen Ammons, whose husband has been
deployed twice through the National Guard, said she remains
undecided on who to vote for, even after talking to Edwards.

 She agreed with some of the issues presented on military
benefits but said she fully supports the way President Bush has
handled the war on terror, including the war in Iraq. Her
husband returned from Iraq in December, she said.

 "I think what she had to say, if it does come about, will be
very good for us," Ammons said. "I want to hear more about it."

 Edwards said Tuesday she was eager to get back to her
Washington home to her 4-year-old son, Jack, and 6-year-old
daughter, Emma Claire, who starts the first grade after Labor
Day.

 Of the many hats she is wearing as mother and a candidate's
wife, campaigning "is actually the easy part," she said.

 
               Questions or problems? Click here.
*****************************************************************
 40 Las Vegas SUN: DOE takes another Yucca hit from NRC

Today: September 01, 2004 at 11:16:51 PDT 

By Benjamin Grove <> and Molly Ball LAS VEGAS SUN

 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission handed Yucca Mountain another
setback Tuesday, saying the Energy Department did not have all
of its project documents in order when the 5.6 million pages
were submitted in June.

 The action cast renewed doubt on the department's plan to open
the proposed nuclear waste repository in Nevada by 2010,
although Energy Department officials vow to stay on schedule.

 It also cast further doubt on whether the Energy Department
ultimately can defend and document years of research on the
first-of-its-kind project, Yucca critics said.

 The NRC ruling demonstrated just how difficult it will be for
the department to obtain a license for Yucca in the coming
years, said Joe Egan, an attorney who is leading a court
challenge against the project for Nevada.

 "There is no doubt that the license application will be just as
much a piece of trash as this initial certification was," Egan
said today.

 "The practical effect is really a sort of loss of confidence,"
Bob Loux said of the NRC action. Loux is executive director of
Nevada's Yucca watchdog group, Agency for Nuclear Projects.

 At issue were the Yucca documents submitted by the Energy
Department to the NRC on June 30. Federal rules require the
department to submit the material -- backup work for its license
request -- for public scrutiny on an Internet database.

 The NRC ruling could result in a project delay because it
delays the Energy Department's bid to win NRC approval of an
application for a license to construct Yucca. The NRC cannot
officially recognize that application until six months after the
NRC certifies the documents, according to federal rules.

 The Energy Department had hoped the NRC would promptly "docket"
the license application when the department submits it at year's
end.

 Department spokesman Joe Davis said the department would submit
additional documents within about 30 days in an effort to win
the NRC's certification.

 But Davis reiterated that the department remains dedicated to
all its project deadlines.

 "We are still working toward our goal," to open Yucca by 2010,
Davis said.

 Colleen Curran, a spokeswoman for Bechtel SAIC in Nevada,
declined to comment on how Tuesday's ruling affects the company,
which is due for a million-dollar bonus if DOE submits the
license application by the end of the year.

 "The certification issue is purely DOE," she said.

 Energy Department officials aim to open the world's first
permanent underground repository for high-level nuclear waste
under Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

 They have said they aim to keep the project on track despite
budget shortages in recent years and a recent federal court
ruling that favored a Nevada challenge to the project.

 "It has not been a good six months for the Department of
Energy," Loux said. "The project's dead -- they just don't want
to admit it yet."

 Energy Department officials have said the project is nowhere
near dead.

 In this latest setback, however, the Energy Department had
certified on June 30 that it was making available to the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission all pertinent Yucca documents. The
department handed the NRC 1.2 million documents.

 But Nevada officials challenged the department. They said the
Energy Department was depriving the public of millions of
additional documents as well as the public's six-month comment
period.

 In a 54-page ruling released Tuesday, the NRC's three-member
Atomic Safety and Licensing Board essentially agreed. The panel
threw out the department's bid to certify the documents until
all the paperwork is in.

 The department withheld about 1 million documents that are
still under review, mostly for "privacy and privilege" legality
reasons, Davis said.

 Some of the documents contain sensitive "pre-decisional
communications" between project officials and department lawyers
that needed further checking before public release, Davis said.
Other documents contain personal information about project
officials, he said.

 It's good news that the department plans to stick to its
timeline, said Steve Kerekes, spokesman for the Nuclear Energy
Institute, the leading pro-Yucca lobby and nuclear industry
advocacy group. There's no reason the NRC action Tuesday should
delay the Energy Department's plan to submit the Yucca
application by year's end, Kerekes said.

 Anti-Yucca groups said the NRC panel ruling on the lack of
documents was another indication of project bungling.

 "There are a lot of eerie similarities between the way that the
Bush administration has rushed this process, and the way they
have rushed the science," Sierra Club spokesman Eric Antebi said.

 The NRC's ruling means that the NRC would not docket the Energy
Department's application until after Election Day. Nevada
Democrats say that may bode well for the state if John Kerry
wins, because Kerry pledged to stop Yucca Mountain.

 Kerry has said he would revoke the license application.

 "John Kerry has to become president for the benefits of this
(NRC) ruling to come to fruition," said Sean Smith, Kerry Nevada
spokesman.

 Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., said, "This is a setback for
President Bush's effort to bury nuclear waste in Nevada."

 
 
*****************************************************************
 41 RGJ: GOP approves platform including support for nuclear repository
 
ASSOCIATED PRESS

8/31/2004 09:25 pm 

LAS VEGAS — 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 U.S. Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Reno, 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.

 Democratic 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. 

© Copyright Reno Gazette-Journal, a Gannett 
*****************************************************************
 42 EUPolitix.com: EU decision time for nuclear waste
 
Britain could face unprecedented legal action on Friday for 
failing to meet strict EU inspection rules on nuclear waste. 

The Sellafield Cumbrian plant in Northern England was given until 
June 1 to deliver an accounting plan on how nuclear waste is 
processed, but the details submitted have not satisfied EU 
officials. 

The European Commission will decide at its weekly meeting on 
Friday what action should be taken, a spokesman confirmed on 
Wednesday. 

"Either the UK will be given an extended deadline to come up with 
more information, or we shall begin legal proceedings at the 
European Court of Justice," he said. 

Brussels has repeatedly asked British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL) to 
open up access to a facility on the site the so-called "pond" 
that stores nuclear waste. 

Under the terms of the Euratom Treaty, EU inspectors have to 
check accounting records of the nuclear material and ensure that 
the material is stored under safe conditions. 

EU insiders say energy chief Loyola de Palacio is running out of 
patience and is pushing for legal action against the UK. 

If the decision does result in court action, it would be the 
first time a member state is called to the European Court of 
Justice for a nuclear related case. Published: Wed, 1 Sep 2004 
16:50:30 GMT+02 Author: Henrietta Billings 

©2004 EUpolitix.com     
*****************************************************************
 43 Belfast Telegraph: New fury over massive nuclear dumping by UK

By Treacy Hogan 01 September 2004 	

Up to 10,000 cubic metres of foreign nuclear waste - enough to 
fill a trench six miles long - has been buried on the Cumbrian 
coast 50 miles from Ireland. 

The revelation led to urgent top level contacts between the Irish 
Government and the UK authorities yesterday. 

Green party leader Trevor Sargent TD described the disclosure as 
"shocking and needing an urgent response from the Irish 
Government". 

"The report reveals not only that non-British nuclear waste is 
being buried along the Irish Sea coast at Drigg, Cumbria but also 
that the British government plans to turn this practice into a 
money-spinner, which further increases the exposure of Ireland to 
nuclear contamination risks," he said. 

A spokesperson for Environment Minister Martin Cullen said 
yesterday they had been in contact with the UK authorities 
following the claims. "They have informed us that radioactive 
waste produced as a result of reprocessing in the UK will be 
returned to the country of its origin." 

He said the minister's view was "crystal clear, the transport of 
nuclear waste is dangerous and wrong and dumping at sea is also 
dangerous and wrong". 

A spokesperson for British Nuclear Fuels Ltd (BNFL) said 
yesterday that Drigg was a repository for low level waste and 
that higher level waste was held at Sellafield. The decision to 
hold low level waste at Drigg meant the number of international 
transportations of returned waste to overseas customers would be 
significantly reduced from 225 to 38, BNFL said. 

Sea shipments of waste to Europe would be reduced from about 50 
to an estimated 8, and to Japan from 23 to 11. Fewer transports 
further reduce any security risk associated with nuclear 
transports, the firm said. 

Mr Sargent said: "The Irish Government was promised, as was the 
British public, that nuclear waste brought to Britain would be 
returned to its country of origin." 

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 newspaper revealed 
yesterday. 

UK 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 be a nuclear waste dump for countries such 
as Japan, Germany, Italy and Switzerland. 

But it has now emerged that the waste is buried because it is too 
expensive to transport it back to the countries that produced it. 
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 Guardian said it had 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. 

Fianna Fail party chairman Seamus Kirk TD last night hit out at 
what he descirbed as British government plans "to establish a 
global nuclear dust bin on our doorstep". He said Ireland would 
have to " call on all other countries to boycott this underground 
environmental timebomb." 

"Once again the safety of Irish people is placed at risk while 
the British Government sees a cost-effective answer to a highly 
risky and expensive problem," he said. 

Source: Irish Independent         Back  | Return to top  | 

www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/

© 2004 Independent News and Media (NI) a 
*****************************************************************
 44 Physics Today: Court Rules Against 10,000 Year Radiation Safety Standard at Yucca 
Mountain

 September 2004- 

Saying the Environmental Protection Agency "unabashedly" ignored 
a National Academy of Sciences report on future radiation levels 
at the facility, a US appeals court sends the radioactive waste 
problem back to Congress. 

In the hours after the US Court of Appeals for the District of 
Columbia rendered its 9 July decision on the future of the Yucca 
Mountain nuclear waste facility, all sides in the case were 
declaring victory. At the Department of Energy, Secretary Spencer 
Abraham said he was "pleased" with the decision and noted that 
the court "dismissed all challenges to the site selection of 
Yucca Mountain. Our scientific basis for the . . . project is 
sound." 

Out in Nevada, where Yucca Mountain is located, State Attorney 
General Brian Sandoval all but pronounced the project dead, 
saying, "Simply put, Yucca is stopped in its tracks because the 
court recognizes that the project isn't rooted in sound science. 
We wouldn't trade places with the opposition." Sandoval was 
referring to the court's ruling that the US Environmental 
Protection Agency's (EPA's) 10 000year safety standard for the 
facility doesn't follow the 1992 Energy Policy Act. 

Back in Washington, DC, the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI), the 
organization that represents the nuclear industry, was expressing 
confidence that DOE would be able to meet the "eventual standard" 
of radiation safety for Yucca and that "the licensing process for 
the repository will continue without interruption or delay." NEI 
added that the "scientific basis for the facility . . . is still 
sound today." 

So the science is sound or it isn't, depending on whether you are 
in favor of or opposed to the federal government's plans to move 
some 77 000 tons of highlevel radioactive waste into the 
mountain, beginning in 2010. Most of the waste is now sitting in 
pools and drystorage casks at more than 100 interim storage sites 
in 39 states. 

The nuclear industry would like to see the waste go to Yucca 
Mountain, and so would DOE and the Bush administration. 
Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry would like to shut 
down the Yucca Mountain project, as would most local, state, and 
federal politicians from Nevada. 

What exactly did the court rule, and what does that ruling mean 
for Yucca Mountain's prospects? The court consolidated 12 
lawsuits against Yucca into one case, and then dismissed all 
challenges to the projectexcept one. The court ruled that the EPA 
"unabashedly rejected" earlier findings by the National Academy 
of Sciences (NAS) that said "some potentially important exposures 
[to radiation] might not occur until after several hundred 
thousand years." 

The academy, in a 1995 report, said that the radiation standard 
for the facility should be measured at "the time of peak risk, 
whenever it occurs." That could be on the order of a million 
years, the academy noted. 

In passing the 1992 Energy Policy Act, Congress required the EPA 
to set standards for Yucca Mountain consistent with the time 
frame for radiation risks as determined by the NAS. The EPA, 
according to the court, intentionally disregarded the NAS 
peakdose standard as, quoting from an EPA regulation, "not 
practical for regulatory decision making." Instead, the EPA 
settled on a 10 000year standard based on "policy 
considerations," the court said. 

The court concluded that the EPA must either issue a revised 
standard that is "consistent with" the NAS peakdose standard "or 
return to Congress and seek legislative authority to deviate from 
the NAS report." 

"It was Congress that required the EPA to rely on NAS's expert 
scientific judgment," the court decision said, "and given the 
serious risks nuclear waste disposal poses for the health and 
welfare of the American people, it is up to Congressnot EPA and 
not this courtto authorize departures from the prevailing 
statutory scheme." 

DOE, as the owner of Yucca Mountain, was expected to challenge 
the ruling, but the threejudge appeals panel was unanimous, and 
several congressional observers said the assumption on Capitol 
Hill is that the ruling will stand. If the court ruling does 
stand, the solution lies in Congress's changing the law to be 
consistent with the 10 000year standard the EPA is using. None of 
the parties involved is advocating a radiation standard based on 
containment for hundreds of thousands of years or more. 

Not an easy vote 

"This is a real problem that the advocates don't know how to get 
around," said a congressional staff member who follows the issue. 
"The way around it is passing a law that says it's okay to use 
the 10 000year standard, but that's not going to be an easy vote 
up here." 

One of Yucca Mountain's chief advocates, Senator Pete Domenici 
(RNM), said that if the decision stands, "the ramifications are 
enormous. It may go well beyond Yucca. It may be the end of the 
nuclear industry." 

But with Kerry on record against the project, and Nevada 
lawmakers in both the House and Senate opposed to the Yucca 
Mountain repository, the odds of passing a relaxed radiation 
standard are not high. That is especially true in an election 
year when Nevada is considered a swing state in play for both 
Democrats and Republicans. 

The problems relating to Yucca Mountain are not limited to the 
court ruling. A budgeting disagreement between the White House 
and Representative David Hobson (ROH), chairman of the energy and 
water subcommittee of the House Committee on Appropriations, has 
resulted in a drastic cut in the fiscal year 2005 budget for 
Yucca Mountain. 

The administration wants $880 million for the facility in FY 
2005, but to keep the overall budget numbers down, it submitted a 
budget request of only $131 million. The Office of Management and 
Budget (OMB) proposed that the remaining $749 million should come 
from fees paid into the nuclear waste funda multibilliondollar 
fund contributed by the nuclear industry over many years to cover 
the cost of storing radioactive waste. 

The dispute arose because the nuclear waste fund exists only on 
paper. The money that the nuclear industry pays goes into the 
general fund and is not set aside for radioactive waste costs. So 
the OMB proposal to "reclassify" nuclear waste fees so they could 
be used for Yucca Mountain means $749 million would be taken from 
the general treasury. Thus far, Congress has balked. 

"OMB played Russian roulette when they assumed the House and 
Senate would pass the proposed reclassification language," Hobson 
said. Other lawmakers described the OMB plan as "muddled" and a 
"budget gimmick." Legislation has been introduced to authorize 
the OMB reclassification, but its prospects are uncertain. Should 
the House reverse course and authorize $880 million for Yucca 
Mountain, the prospects for quick actionor any actionin the 
Senate prior to the presidential election are not good. 

Congressional staff members and other observers expect that a 
continuing resolution will be passed to keep funding Yucca 
Mountain at FY 2004 levels until both the court case and funding 
dispute can be resolved. Jim Dawson 

Letters and opinions are encouraged and should be sent to 
Letters, Physics Today, American Center for Physics, One Physics 
Ellipse, College Park, MD 207403842 or by email to 
ptletter@aip.org(using your surname as "Subject"). Please include 
your affiliation, mailing address, and daytime phone number. We 
reserve the right to edit submissions.

&copy; 2004 American Institute of Physics

*****************************************************************
 45 Public Citizen: A Victory for Consumers in Yucca Mountain Fight; 
NRC Overrules Energy Department’s Claim That It Made Information 
Public
 
Aug. 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 () judicial arm, the
Atomic Safety and Licensing Board, unanimously ruled today that
the U.S. Department of Energy () 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 () 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. 
To view a copy of the licensing boards decision, . 
### 

*****************************************************************
 46 KLAS: Nevada's Electoral Votes Play Critical Role
    
September 1, 2004   

  Edward Lawrence, Reporter

(Aug. 31) -- As the early voters cast their votes, predictions 
about who may win the presidential election have surfaced from 
analysts. President George Bush is starting to see momentum in 
the polls from the Republican National Convention. Nevada is 
still too close to call whether the president or Senator John 
Kerry is favored. 

UNLV political science Assistant Professor David Damore has 
followed the presidential election as it progressed in Nevada. He 
says the economy will not be a big issue for local voters, but 
the war in Iraq will. "Events in Iraq -- for a long time there 
was a very strong war support in Nevada. That is slipping a bit 
as that issue comes along. The other big issue will be Yucca 
Mountain. It's something both candidates have tried to use to 
their advantage." 

At the Republican National Convention members of the Nevada 
delegation are talking about Senator Kerry's pledge to end the 
Yucca Mountain Project. 

Gov. Guinn, (R) Nevada, said, "Senator Kerry says consistently, 
'If I am elected, I will kill it.' If that is the case, President 
Clinton was against it and he was there for 8 years and he could 
not kill it." 

Nevada Governor Kenny Guinn says that we will beat the project in 
the courts not the political arena. U.S. Senator John Ensign 
agrees and hopes voters understand that. This is why we will see 
more attention on this state over the next nine weeks. 

Sen. John Ensign, (R) Nevada, said, "Our five electoral votes are 
playing heavily in the minds of both campaigns. We are seeing a 
lot of visits from both sides." 

Gov. Guinn, "We can get out 2.5 to 3 percent more votes. In a 
50-50 state that is important for us. It will come down to the 
independent voters." 

CNN analysts estimate that President Bush will win this state, 
making him the favorite in the election. However, the latest poll 
by Zogby shows Senator John Kerry with a slight lead in the 
state. With the margin of error, it's too close to call.   

      All content © Copyright 2000 - 2004 WorldNow and KLAS. All
*****************************************************************
 47 UK: News & Star: Local people given say over future of nuclear industry 
 		 		 		 		 		 	
       
Published on 01/09/2004                                                                 
							 							 							
PEOPLE are invited to have their say on the future of the nuclear 
industry at the first open day held by the Sellafield Local 
Liaison Committee.
 
It takes place at Whitehaven Civic Hall from 10am to 4pm on 
Thursday and will feature stands from the committee, BNFL, the 
UKAEA, industry watchdog, the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate, 
the Environment Agency, and the NDA, which takes over the running 
of the site in April.
 
There will also be details of Sellafieldâ€™s lifecycle base lines 
â€“ the plans which map out the future of the nuclear 
reprocessing site. 

Committee chairman David Moore said he hopes as many people as 
possible will take the opportunity to attend the day.
 
â€œItâ€™s the first time we have had an open day and we hope the 
public will come and take a big interest in one of the most 
important issues facing West Cumbria for the near and long term 
future.
 
â€œWhat the NDA and the Department for Trade and Industry has 
said is that they want consultation.â€ 

								 							 						 					 						
news@cumbrian-newspapers.co.ukor 
 						
*****************************************************************
 48 Tri-City Herald: Elk to be killed on Hanford reserve 

This story was published Wednesday, September 1st, 2004 

By Annette Cary Herald staff writer 

The project leader for the Hanford Reach National Monument has 
signed an emergency management action to kill up to 60 elk within 
the Arid Lands Ecology Reserve. 

Plans call for state or federal wildlife agents to shoot five cow 
elk initially. No date has been set, but that could happen as 
soon as mid-September, said Greg Hughes, project manager with the 
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 

The Hanford Reach National Monument advisory committee last week 
agreed a variety of methods are needed to control animal 
populations on Hanford's ALE Reserve. 

But the quick action to move toward killing elk on the reserve 
surprised committee Chairman Jim Watts on Tuesday. 

"There are a dozen other ways to control the animals without 
going out and shooting them," he said. 

In spring and summer, the animals often roam onto ranch lands 
that border the 70,000 ALE acres around Rattlesnake Mountain and 
graze through the cash crops there. More than $500,000 in claims 
for crop damage have been paid since 1996. 

But as soon as the first gunshots ring out in the fall, the elk 
high-tail it to ALE, where hunting is prohibited. 

The Rattlesnake Hills herd numbers about 600 now, well above the 
goal of about 350 in the state management plan. 

Ranchers complain not only about the damage to their crops, but 
also about the pressure to allow public hunting on their lands to 
control the herds because hunting is not allowed on ALE. 

Fences have been cut, water tanks shot and livestock released, 
they've said at public meetings. 

The advisory committee listed several methods to control animals 
including hazing to run animals off sensitive areas, limited 
hunting, capture and relocation, fertility drugs and expanding 
hunting off of ALE, Watts said. 

But the committee expected monument officials to discuss the 
options with interest groups, including landowners and state 
officials, Watts said. 

"We did not know there was going to be any instant action," he 
said. 

Killing the animals should be a last resort, he said. 

A letter with the committee's advice has not been received by 
monument officials, although they expect it any day. 

Two years ago, elk were trapped with nets and relocated, Hughes 
said. 

"It's a valid tool only if you have somewhere to locate them," 
Hughes explained. 

U.S. Fish and Wildlife is open to another relocation effort, but 
has not found a place willing to accept them, he said. The state 
has not supported moving the elk as a long-term solution to the 
problem, he said. 

Despite hunting on nearby land this year, the herd grew by about 
100 animals. 

There has been some pressure for a public hunt on ALE, but Hughes 
said that he cannot legally expand public access to allow public 
hunting while the government is going through the public process 
of determining how monument land will be managed. 

The land has been closed to public access since World War II, 
when it was established as a buffer zone around the Hanford 
nuclear reservation where plutonium was produced for the nation's 
weapons program. As a result, the land has remained an oasis of 
native plants and wildlife largely untouched by development. 

Shooting five cow elk on the land where the herd now retreats to 
during hunting season could serve as a hazing method to move 
animals back onto private land where public hunting is allowed, 
say federal officials. 

Five animals in the proposed initial cull would be tested for 
radionuclide contamination from the Hanford reservation and any 
diseases. If found safe, meat would be given to the tribes or 
programs to feed the hungry, Hughes said. 

© 2004 Tri-City Herald, Associated Press &Other Wire Services
*****************************************************************
 49 Idaho Statesman: INEEL engineer gets fellowship
  
Statesman staff
 
Edition Date: 09-01-2004

Eric Loewen, an engineer at the U.S. Department of Energy's Idaho 
National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory, has been 
chosen to serve as the American Nuclear Society's 2005 Glenn T. 
Seaborg Congressional Science and Engineering Fellow.

Loewen will give advice on nuclear science and engineering to a 
member of Congress and his or her staff.

Loewen will begin his one-year fellowship in January. He won't 
know which congressional member he will serve until after 
November.                                    






*****************************************************************
 50 WATE: Oak Ridge contractor fined $250,000 for safety problems

September 1, 2004

OAK RIDGE (AP) -- The Department of Energy is fining cleanup 
contractor Bechtel Jacobs Company $250,000 for a radioactive 
spill in Oak Ridge and other safety problems. [ highway shut down 
] 

Department officials said the contractor had failed to control 
radioactive materials and had 30 days to fix the problem or show 
progress in correcting it. 

The radioactive leak came from a dump truck onto four roads on 
May 14th. 

The roads had to be repaved as a result, costing more than $1 
million. 

A chemical explosion a week before the dump truck leak involved 
other contractors and did not come under Bechtel Jacobs' direct 
purview. [ residents   evacuated] 

Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

All content © Copyright 2000 - 2004 WorldNow and WATE. All
Rights Reserved.
*****************************************************************
 51 Google News Alert - nuclear
 
Date: Wed, 01 Sep 2004 16:17:22 -0700 (PDT)

 
US concerned over IAEA report on Iran's nuclear move
Xinhua - China
... IAEA) that Iran planned an industrial-scale test of a uranium conversion
facility soon, a move that could lead to the production of nuclear weapons.
...
<http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-09/02/content_1936536.htm>
See all stories on this topic:
<http://news.google.com/news?ie=utf8&oe=utf8&persist=1&num=30&hl=en&client=google&ncl=http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-09/02/content_1936536.htm>

CHINA to build 27 more nuclear power plants
Straits Times - Singapore
BEIJING - China plans to build 27 nuclear power plants by 2020, a marked
increase from the current nine in operation, a top atomic energy official
said ...
<http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/asia/story/0,4386,270480,00.html>
See all stories on this topic:
<http://news.google.com/news?ie=utf8&oe=utf8&persist=1&num=30&hl=en&client=google&ncl=http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/asia/story/0,4386,270480,00.html>

SECURITY tightened at Russia nuclear facilities
ITAR-TASS - Moscow,Russia
MOSCOW, September 1 (Itar-Tass) - Security has been tightened at facilities
of Russia’s nuclear energy sector in the wake of the recent terrorist
acts, a ...
<http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=1201285&PageNum=0>
See all stories on this topic:
<http://news.google.com/news?ie=utf8&oe=utf8&persist=1&num=30&hl=en&client=google&ncl=http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html%3FNewsID%3D1201285%26PageNum%3D0>

RUSSIAN nuclear scientists take aim at Net
Independent Online - South Africa
London - Russian scientists once dedicated to destroying the west through
nuclear warfare are turning their deadly talents instead to designing
games for the ...
<http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=115&art_id=qw1094041085579B252>
See all stories on this topic:
<http://news.google.com/news?ie=utf8&oe=utf8&persist=1&num=30&hl=en&client=google&ncl=http://www.iol.co.za/index.php%3Fset_id%3D1%26click_id%3D115%26art_id%3Dqw1094041085579B252>

INDIAN Point Nuclear 2 shuts down
Newsday - Long Island,NY,USA
BUCHANAN, NY (AP) _ The Indian Point 2 Nuclear Power Plant was shut down
Wednesday morning after a malfunction was detected in a valve that regulates
the flow ...
<http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/ny-bc-ny--indianpoint0901sep01,0,4133575.story?coll=ny-ap-regional-wire>
See all stories on this topic:
<http://news.google.com/news?ie=utf8&oe=utf8&persist=1&num=30&hl=en&client=google&ncl=http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/ny-bc-ny--indianpoint0901sep01,0,4133575.story%3Fcoll%3Dny-ap-regional-wire>

IRAN says it arrested several nuclear spies
Seattle Times - Seattle,WA,USA
TEHRAN, Iran — Iran said yesterday it had arrested a group of spies,
including several who passed the country's nuclear secrets to the country's
foes, the ...
<http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002021873_iran01.html>
See all stories on this topic:
<http://news.google.com/news?ie=utf8&oe=utf8&persist=1&num=30&hl=en&client=google&ncl=http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002021873_iran01.html>

NEW fury over massive nuclear dumping by UK
Belfast Telegraph (subscription) - Belfast,Nothern Ireland,UK
Up to 10,000 cubic metres of foreign nuclear waste - enough to fill a trench
six miles long - has been buried on the Cumbrian coast 50 miles from Ireland.
...
<http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=557124>
See all stories on this topic:
<http://news.google.com/news?ie=utf8&oe=utf8&persist=1&num=30&hl=en&client=google&ncl=http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp%3Fstory%3D557124>

RUSSIA sends troops to guard nuclear sites
Indian Express - New Delhi,India
Moscow, September 1: Russia deployed extra troops to guard dozens of nuclear
facilities across the country on Wednesday after militants seized a school
in the ...
<http://www.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=35693>
See all stories on this topic:
<http://news.google.com/news?ie=utf8&oe=utf8&persist=1&num=30&hl=en&client=google&ncl=http://www.expressindia.com/fullstory.php%3Fnewsid%3D35693>

CHINA says won't help N.Korea with nuclear power
Reuters AlertNet - London,England,UK
BEIJING, Sept 1 (Reuters) - China's top nuclear official said on Wednesday
Beijing cannot contemplate cooperating with North Korea in the field of
atomic ...
<http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/PEK69913.htm>
See all stories on this topic:
<http://news.google.com/news?ie=utf8&oe=utf8&persist=1&num=30&hl=en&client=google&ncl=http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/PEK69913.htm>

CHINA will not help North Korea with nuclear power
Daily Times - Pakistan
BEIJING: China’s top nuclear official said on Wednesday Beijing cannot
contemplate cooperating with North Korea in the field of atomic energy
because of the ...
<http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_2-9-2004_pg4_2>
See all stories on this topic:
<http://news.google.com/news?ie=utf8&oe=utf8&persist=1&num=30&hl=en&client=google&ncl=http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp%3Fpage%3Dstory_2-9-2004_pg4_2>

This daily-once News Alert is brought to you by Google News (BETA)...
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
Remove this News Alert:
http://www.google.com/newsalerts/remove?s=92d1672a1b037a07&hl=en

Create another News Alert:
http://www.google.com/newsalerts?hl=en

Try Google News:
http://news.google.com/
*****************************************************************
 52 Las Vegas SUN: Nader wins suit to stay on Nevada ballot

Today: September 01, 2004 at 14:20:33 PDT 

By Cy Ryan 

 SUN CAPITAL BUREAU

 CARSON CITY -- A district judge, rejecting efforts by the
Democratic Party, ruled today that Ralph Nader should remain on
the state's general election ballot as an independent candidate
for president.

 District Judge Bill Maddox, after hearings covering three days,
said there were at least 7,000 valid signatures of registered
Nevada voters on the petition to qualify Nader for the ballot.
The law required Nader get 5,000 signatures.

 Rebecca Lamb, executive director of the state Democratic Party
of Nevada, which sued to keep Nader off the ballot, had no
immediate comment when asked whether the decision would be
appealed to the state Supreme Court.

 Theresa Amato, national campaign manager for Nader, said she
welcomed Maddox's decision. "This is an orchestrated assault by
the Democrats against ballot access to those voters who want
choices."

 She said the Democrats are practicing "an abuse of power that
is not in the best interests of the voters."

 Democrats fear Nader could take votes away from John Kerry in a
close election. Recent polls in Nevada show Nader getting 2
percent to 4 percent, with Kerry and President Bush running
neck-and-neck.

 Supporters of Nader gathered 11,888 signatures of voters in
Nevada, and the Clark County Registrar of Voters said after a
count that 8,631 were valid, qualifying Nader for the ballot.

 Paul Larsen, representing the Nevada Democrats, contended
ineligible voters were counted, petitions were defective, and
fraud and misrepresentation occurred in gathering the signatures
by petition circulators of a firm named JSM Inc. headed by
Jennifer Breslin of Florida.

 Larsen suggested a review of the signatures showed there were
only 3,505 legitimate signers. 

But Keith Loomis, attorney for Nader, told Maddox, "Democrats
are trying to gum up the works on technicalities." He said there
were 9,000 signatures of registered voters that should be
counted on the petition.

 A key issue in the case were petitions bearing the signatures
of 3,529 registered voters and whether they should be counted
because the circulator had put his residence as a hotel in Las
Vegas and not his "legal domicile" that was probably in another
state.

 Maddox ruled that the regulations of the secretary of state's
office require the circulator, when signing the document, put
down his residence, not his legal domicile. So those petitions
bearing those signatures should be counted.

 Larsen had argued those circulators should have been required
to put their real home address on the petitions so they could be
contacted later and questioned about the petitions or even
subpoenaed to answer inquiries how the process was conducted.

 Maddox characterized these petition circulators as "carnival
workers" and some of them "are not upstanding citizens." But he
said the regulation does not require the "legal domicile" to be
written down. And he said there's no authority to subpoena these
people who live out of state.

 Maddox said he was following a precedent set by the U.S.
Supreme Court in a Colorado case, but that the court did "a
disservice" when it ruled that the circulators did not have to
be registered voters or residents of the state where they were
working. 

Maddox disqualified the signatures of 559 people who registered
to vote after they signed the petition. He said 2,719 who signed
were not registered to vote. He disqualified 64 signatures that
he said were obtained by misrepresentation and six signatures
that were forgeries.

 Renee Parker, chief deputy secretary of state, said the ruling
by Maddox was a fair one. She said she would ask the next
Legislature to specify that the circulator must disclose his
legal domicile. 

Maddox said early in the case he was making a record at the
proceeding in the expectation that the case would be appealed to
the Nevada Supreme Court.

 Amato said the Nader campaign hopes to qualify in 43 states and
the District of Columbia. She said the qualifying process ends
Sept. 16 across the nation. She said the Nader organization won
a place on the ballot in Iowa last week.

 
 
*****************************************************************
 53 NPRI Blogs: Nuclear Week in Review, Volume 85 

 Charles Sheehan-Miles | Julie Enzser  
      
Nuclear Week in Review (Vol. 85)   
    
Dr. John G. Duesler, Jr., Nuclear Policy Research Institute   
  08/31/2004   	 
      
Nuclear Policy Research Institute

        
If this email was forwarded to you, you can directly subscribe
to the Nuclear Week in Review at:

NT> 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 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.orgto 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

  ©2003 NPRI. All rights reserved.   
*****************************************************************
 54 PRN: Platts Announces 8th Annual Mexican Energy Conference 

    LEXINGTON, Mass., Sept. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Platts is pleased 
to announce its 8th Annual Mexican Energy conference, October 
28-29, 2004, in Houston, TX.

    Mexico's energy sector is advancing steadily. Independent 
Power Producers are bidding again on CFE power plants; 
international exploration & production companies are bidding on 
PEMEX MSC contracts; other private energy companies are actively 
developing transmission, pipeline, and LNG terminal projects; and 
the renewable sector shows promise of opening, with programs 
being established by the government to incentivize development.

    Platts' 8th Annual Mexican Energy conference will provide the 
latest information on development opportunities, regulations, 
financing and risk mitigation strategies.

    Hear from 5 Government Leaders on Policies and Progress:
    Contacts:
     * Hector Moreira Rodriguez, PhD, Ministry of Energy
     * Francisco Jose Barnes de Castro, PhD, Comision Reguladora
de Energia
     * Alejandro Brena, PhD, Comision Reguladora de Energia
     * Ing. Alberto Ramos Elorduy, Comision Federal de
Electricidad
     * Florencio Aboytes, PhD, Comision Federal de Electricidad
    Learn Lessons from 4 Case Studies:
     * Petrobras - Experience with PEP's MSC Contracts
     * Gastream - Repsol YPF-Lazaro Cardenas Regas LNG Terminal
     * Shell Gas & Power, Mexico - Baja and Altamira LNG
Terminals

    Plus -- Benefit from Wood MacKenzie's Latest Research on
Mexico's Upstream
Potential

    To register, or for more information, contact Steve Ebeling, 
P: 781-860-6113 or e-mail stephen_ebeling@platts.com. Get the 
complete agenda at http://www.platts.com/Events/PB470/index.html

    For sponsorship and exhibit information, contact Lorne Grout, 
P: 781-860-6112 or email lorne_grout@platts.com.

    Platts, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, is the world 
leader in providing energy information. For nearly a century, 
Platts has helped to enable ever-changing global energy markets 
enhance their performance through such offerings as independent 
industry news and price benchmarks. From 14 offices worldwide, 
Platts covers the oil, natural gas, electricity, nuclear power, 
coal, petrochemical and metals markets. Additional information on 
Platts real-time news and price assessment services, 
publications, databases, geospatial tools, conferences, 
magazines, research and analytical services and energy financial 
services is available at http://www.platts.com.

    About The McGraw-Hill Companies

    Founded in 1888, The McGraw-Hill Companies is a leading 
global information services provider meeting worldwide needs in 
the financial services, education and business information 
markets through leading brands such as Standard & Poor's, 
BusinessWeek and McGraw-Hill Education. The Corporation has more 
than 280 offices in 40 countries. Sales in 2003 were $4.8 
billion. Additional information is available at 
http://www.mcgraw-hill.com.

 SOURCE Platts Web Site: http://www.platts.com 
http://www.platts.com/Events/PB470/index.html

    
*****************************************************************

NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 this 
material is distributed without profit or payment to those who 
have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for 
non-profit research and educational purposes only. For more 
information go to: 
<http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml> 
    
*****************************************************************