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                         NUCLEAR POLICY
 
1 AFP: Iran says ready to give guarantees on nuclear program
2 AFP: US praises South Africa for action against Khan nuclear network
3 Payvand's: IAEA Report Reignites Concern Over Iran's Nuclear Ambitio
4 Korea Herald: Three allies preparing for nuke talks   
5 Korea Herald: Seoul's uranium experiments 'no cause for concern'   
6 BBC: SA man charged for 'nuclear bomb'
 
                         NUCLEAR REACTORS
 
7 US: NRC: Sunshine Act Meeting
8 Payvand: Iran: Bushehr nuclear power plant spent fuel agreement 
9 US: Portsmouth Herald: Plant seeks power increase
10 BBC: Japan nuclear firm reopens plants
11 US: Star Trib: Editorial: Nuclear energy/License extensions shortsig
12 Tri-City Herald: Chernobyl study finds thyroid cancer link 
13 JOURNAL NEWS: Boat to patrol Indian Point
14 Japan Times: Nishikawa OKs restart of two Kepco nuke reactors
15 US: MHNN: NRC gives IP good grades   
 
                          NUCLEAR SAFETY
 
16 US: Seattle Times: High radiation dose linked to thyroid cancer
17 US: Las Vegas RJ: Idaho residents urge moreaid for nuclear test vict
18 Bellona: Japanese official inspected nuclear sub decommissioning in 
19 Guardian Unlimited: UK faces court action for nuclear safety failing
 
                         NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE
 
20 [NukeNet] Yucca delayed over document release fight
21 US: Las Vegas RJ: Waste firm assessed penalties 
22 US: Observer-Reporter: Molycorp's efforts in Canton Twp. cleanup app
23 AFP: South Korea denies wrongdoing amid nuclear probe
24 US: Las Vegas SUN: Letter: Store nuke waste where it is made
25 Las Vegas SUN: Letter: Voters can't trust Vietnam-dodging Bush on Yu
26 AFP: Nuclear fuel ships leave Britain bound for US
27 US: Paducah Sun: PGDP waste shipping delayed 
28 US: TheDay.com: Coalition Asks For Halt To Millstone Storage Work
29 KESQ: Federal appeals court won't reconsider Yucca Mountain ruling
30 Scotsman.com News: Court probe into Sellafield safety
31 UK: News & Star: Armed ships collect US nuclear waste
32 Pahrump Valley Times: Fate of Yucca project shrouded in doubt 
 
                         NUCLEAR WEAPONS
 
 
                        US DEPT. OF ENERGY
 
33 Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Nuclear waste changes sought at Hanford 
34 Courier-Journal: Paducah plant cleanup company fined for leaks
35 UCS BulletinWire News: Hanford contractor slapped with fine         
36 Colorado Daily: Brever talks Flats at CU
37 Rocky Mountain News: DOE's failure to act irks Flats critics
 
                          OTHER NUCLEAR
 
38 Google News Alert - nuclear
39 JEWISH JOURNAL: Everything’s Relative
*****************************************************************
*****************************************************************
                         FULL NEWS STORIES
*****************************************************************
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 1 AFP: Iran says ready to give guarantees on nuclear program

TEHRAN (AFP) Sep 03, 2004

 An Iranian nuclear official said Thursday that Tehran was ready 
to provide guarantees that its enrichment programmes would never 
be used for military purposes.

Hossein Musavian, an aide to the head of Iran's nuclear 
programme, Hassan Rowhani, told state television that Tehran's 
pursuit of enrichment has been the main concern of its European 
partners.

"The Europeans know that if Iran masters the technology for 
enrichment it has a potential (military) nuclear capability and 
that will change the (political) equation" in the region, he 
said.

But Musavian said that Iran was prepared to guarantee that 
enrichment would not be used for military purposes.

"We are prepared to build trust and provide a guarantee that our 
enrichment activities will always be peaceful."

Britain, France and Germany have sought to engage Iran over its 
pursuit of nuclear technology to ensure it remains peaceful, 
while the United States has accused Tehran of seeking to develop 
atomic weapons.

Meanwhile, a senior ultra-conservative Iranian cleric hit out at 
the United States and its accusations against Iran's nuclear 
programme.

"(The US) is constantly lying, you have a different policy every 
day. The Islamic republic has had a transparent policy since day 
one," Ayatollah Emami Kashani said during Friday prayers in 
Tehran.

"We curse you who dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima. We curse you 
who have committed these crimes against humanity," he continued, 
followed by the usual chants of "Death to America, down with 
Israel" from the congregation.

Iran was emboldened to advance its nuclear activities after the 
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) again failed to produce 
a "smoking gun" confirming US allegations of a secret weapons 
drive in a report released on Wednesday.

However, Washington continued efforts to convince the 34 other 
members of the UN watchdog's governing board to refer Iran to the 
Security Council for possible sanctions over its nuclear 
programme.

The IAEA report also signalled that Iran was determined to press 
on with work on the nuclear fuel cycle -- permitted under the 
nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) despite its potentially 
dual-use nature.

According to the report, Iran has said it will resume large-scale 
production of the feed material for enriching uranium. Enriched 
uranium can be used to provide fuel for reactors as well as 
nuclear warheads.

To this end Iran removed seals the IAEA placed to monitor the 
manufacture of centrifuges necessary for the production of 
uranium hexafluoride (UF6) gas, a precursor for nuclear weapons 
fuel.

Iran carried out tests to produce UF6 in May and June and 
informed the IAEA that it would pursue similar large-scale tests 
in August or September.

According to Ali Akbar Salehi, Iran's former representative at 
the IAEA, the new tests will last a month and would permit Iran 
to embark on full-scale production of UF6 at its nuclear facility 
at Isfahan.

Another diplomat close to the IAEA said Iran's upcoming 
production of UF6 would produce a "significant amount" of the 
gas, an amount that would apparently be enough to use centrifuges 
to make enriched uranium that could produce at least one if not 
several bombs.

The IAEA is due to reopen the Iranian nuclear dossier at the 
agency's headquarters in Vienna on September 13, with European 
countries thought to be reluctant to take the matter to the 
Security Council without harder evidence of a military programme, 
following the failure to find any trace of weapons of mass 
destruction in Iraq.

 All rights reserved. © 2004 Agence France-Presse. Sections of 
*****************************************************************
 2 AFP: US praises South Africa for action against Khan nuclear network

WASHINGTON (AFP) Sep 03, 2004

 The United States praised South Africa Friday for acting against 
Pakistan scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan's secret nuclear network 
after a businessman was charged in South Africa with nuclear 
trafficking.

He had allegedly used the network in efforts to help Libya 
develop an atomic weapons program between November 2000 to 
November 2001.

"And without trying to provide any detail, because the detail 
really needs to be provided by the South Africans to the extent 
and whenever they're prepared to do so, I would say that we do 
congratulate South Africa for its efforts to act against the A.Q. 
Khan network," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said.

Boucher spoke after businessman Johan Meyer, 53, appeared in 
court in the town of Vanderbijlpark south of Johannesburg a day 
after his arrest on charges of being in possession of 
nuclear-related material and of illegally importing and exporting 
nuclear material.

Meyer's lawyer said he was arrested on charges that he was 
building a nuclear weapon.

Khan, the father of Pakistan's nuclear program, confessed in 
February that he had shared nuclear secrets with Iran, Libya and 
North Korea, triggering an international effort to track down the 
scientist's accomplices.

Boucher said action by South African authorities would help in 
the global effort to destroy what remained of Khan's network.

"We think that the activities that they've undertaken are an 
important contribution to international efforts to shut down this 
network," he said.

"It sends the right message to proliferators everywhere that the 
rule of law will be applied. And we support efforts to ensure the 
proliferators are punished to the full extent of the law," he 
explained.

South African intelligence is said to have worked closely with 
their US and Israeli counterparts in a year-long investigation 
into nuclear smuggling that led to Meyer's arrest.









 All rights reserved. © 2004 Agence France-Presse. Sections of 
the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, 
logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by 
Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, 
reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way 
commercially exploit any of the content of this section without 
the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.

     
*****************************************************************
 3 Payvand's: IAEA Report Reignites Concern Over Iran's Nuclear Ambitions
 
  Iran News

  9/3/04 By Antoine Blua 

Last year, France, Britain, and Germany won concessions from
Iran, which agreed to suspend uranium-enrichment activities to
defuse the crisis over its nuclear program. But Tehran reversed
that position after the International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA) in June issued a tough criticism of Iran for its lack of
cooperation with IAEA inspectors. A new report issued yesterday
by the UN nuclear watchdog confirms that Iran has slid away from
its agreement with the European powers by resuming large-scale
production of equipment to enrich uranium. RFE/RL asks an
analyst about what Europe's next move might be. 

Prague, 2 September 2004 (RFE/RL) -- The International Atomic 
Energy Agency (IAEA) issued a report yesterday saying Iran plans 
to resume large-scale production of material to enrich uranium, a 
process that can help the development of nuclear weapons. 

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell was quick to react, saying 
Washington will try to persuade the UN agency to refer Iran to 
the UN Security Council to try to impose sanctions. 

The question is now whether France, Britain, and Germany will 
adopt the U.S. stance or try to find middle ground. 

Shahram Chubin is director of research at the Geneva Center for 
Security Policy. He said the dilemma facing the three European 
states is to come up with a policy that is effective without 
forcing a confrontation between Iran and the Security Council. 
"The Iranians have moved backwards," he said. "They're slicing 
away at that program [of suspending uranium enrichment]. They had 
discussions with the European countries in Paris in July, which 
are leading nowhere." 

Chubin added: "[However] I think that the European countries, by 
and large, don't share the Americans' belief that Iran is 
determined to get nuclear weapons. They think there's still time, 
[and] that Iran hasn't made yet a definite decision. And 
therefore they're not convinced that the only way to deal with 
Iran is by confronting it." 

Powell told reporters in Washington that the United States 
believes Iran is taking steps toward developing nuclear weapons 
and wants the Security Council to impose economic, political, or 
diplomatic sanctions as a result. 

John Bolton, U.S. undersecretary of state for arms control and 
international security, expressed concern about a statement in 
the IAEA report that Iran plans to convert 37 tons of 
"yellowcake" uranium into uranium hexafluoride (UF6), which could 
be used to build nuclear weapons. Bolton said this is "further 
strong evidence of the compelling need" to take Iran's nuclear 
program to the UN Security Council. 

However, the UN's nuclear watchdog agency said there is still no 
evidence that would confirm U.S. allegations that Iran is 
building a nuclear bomb. 

Tehran claims its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only. 
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Assefi said the 
IAEA report is evidence that Iran is cooperating in resolving 
questions about its nuclear program. 

According to Chubin, European countries have not yet determined 
what might trigger them to take firm steps against Iran at the 
Security Council. "When you refer something to the Security 
Council, you have to be sure [the council] is unanimous and is 
going to take a strong position," he said. "And the strong 
position in the case of Iran would be naming Iran as a 
noncompliant state. And as I said, [the European countries are] 
not sure that's the case yet. The European countries haven't 
[clearly stated that they have] got a red line that says, 'If you 
cross that line, we are going to take the sternest measures 
possible at the Security Council.'" 

Chubin notes that the "red line," for the European countries, is 
uranium enrichment. The Iranians, he said, are moving very slowly 
toward that line. 

The IAEA's board of governors is due to open a meeting to discuss 
Iran on 13 September. 

Copyright (c) 2004 RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of 
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. 
Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org  
  
www.payvand.com

*****************************************************************
 4 Korea Herald: Three allies preparing for nuke talks   

The Nation's No.1 English Newspaper

2004.09.04
 
Senior officials from South Korea, the United States and Japan 
will meet next week to discuss strategies for a new round of 
six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear program, an official at 
Seoul's Foreign Ministry said.

 The meeting, tentatively scheduled for Sept. 9-10 in Tokyo, is a 
usual strategy session ahead of talks with North Korea.

 A new round of the six-nation disarmament talks, which also 
involve North Korea, China and Russia, is supposed to take place 
before the end of this month under an agreement reached at the 
third and most recent meeting in June.

 Seoul and member states are pushing to hold the fourth meeting 
around Sep. 22 but Pyongyang has yet to agree.

 Attending the strategy session will be the top nuclear 
negotiators from the three countries. They are South Korean 
Deputy Foreign Minister Lee Soo-hyuck, U.S. Assistant Secretary 
of State James Kelly and Mitoji Yabunaka, a director general at 
Japan's Foreign Ministry. (bluelle@heraldm.com)

*****************************************************************
 5 Korea Herald: Seoul's uranium experiments 'no cause for concern'   

(shj@heraldm.com) By Seo Hyun-jin and Kim Tae-gyun

2004.09.04

The Nation's No.1 English Newspaper
 
With new information on previous South Korean uranium experiments 
causing ripples within and outside the country, Seoul yesterday 
denied any serious intent behind nuclear activities in this 
country or government involvement. 

Officials said the South did not obtain weapons-grade uranium 
from experiments in early 2000 and there was no breach of 
nonproliferation obligations, although the United Nations' 
nuclear watchdog will make a final determination.

 Washington said Thursday the issue is "no longer cause for 
concern" as Seoul has faithfully cooperated with the 
International Atomic Energy Agency, but it called for a thorough 
investigation because the experiments "should not have occurred 
and must be eliminated."

 IAEA inspectors will leave South Korea today after a weeklong 
probe into the Seoul's voluntary declaration on the experiments. 
They will report their results to the 35-member IAEA Board of 
Governors on Sept. 13. 

"It is not serious enough to be interpreted as a violation of the 
Safeguard Agreement, as an extremely small amount, 0.2 gram, was 
separated one time for research purposes," a senior official at 
the Foreign Ministry said on condition of anonymity. 

Cho Chung-won, chief of the nuclear bureau in the Ministry of 
Science and Technology, rebuffed foreign media reports that the 
government was behind the experiments and rejected the U.N. 
agency's demand to inspect nuclear facilities last year when it 
detected highly enriched uranium from South Korean samples. 

"Several officials from the IAEA made an on-site visit to the 
facility during the second half of last year. But they could not 
find any trace of the (uranium) separation. And, we did not know 
about it either at that time," Cho told a news briefing. 

The nuclear experiment issue erupted Thursday when the South 
announced that IAEA inspectors were in the country to look into 
Seoul's voluntary declaration that scientists had carried out 
nuclear experiments in 2000, which led to the separation of a 
small amount of uranium. Seoul said the government did not know 
or approve of the experiments.

 Seoul officials said such experiments were not subject to 
compulsory reporting to the U.N. nuclear watchdog four years ago, 
but became so under an additional protocol to the nuclear 
Nonproliferation Treaty which the South adopted in February. 

The Seoul government said it learned of the experiments when the 
Korea Atomic Energy Institute informed the Science Ministry in 
June of the research by its members. The South reported the 
experiments to the IAEA on Aug. 17. 

A senior researcher at the state-run KAEI told The Korea Herald 
that the enrichment level of the uranium produced in 2000 was 
only around 10 percent. Uranium can be used to make a nuclear 
bomb with 20-percent enrichment. 

"The researchers were on a project to extract varied radioactive 
isotopes from natural uranium for commercial purposes. When the 
project was terminated, they used the same equipment to produce a 
small amount of the enriched uranium. The action came out of pure 
scientific curiosity," the researcher said on condition of 
anonymity.

 He said the research center in Daejeon, 170 kilometers south of 
Seoul, did not report the separation to the government at the 
time because the experiment was "on too small a scale," and was 
irrelevant to the original project. 

The Seoul government said in its Thursday statement that the 
experiments were conducted in January and February 2000 as part 
of research for producing nuclear fuel in the country, and a 
minute quantity of uranium was enriched. 

It said all related facilities were destroyed immediately after 
the experiments.

 Despite Seoul's claims, there have been mounting concerns of a 
possible impact on international efforts to end North Korea's 
nuclear ambitions. The disclosure prompted calls from close ally 
the United States for a thorough investigation. 

U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said appropriate 
conclusions will be drawn after the IAEA completes its review of 
the case. 

"I would say that South Korea has voluntarily reported this 
activity. They are cooperating fully and proactively in order to 
demonstrate that the activity has been eliminated and it is no 
longer cause for concern," Boucher said during a regular news 
briefing Thursday. 

He said Washington has been in contact with Seoul and the IAEA 
regarding the issue, and Seoul is setting a good example by 
working in a transparent manner. 

But Boucher emphasized such nuclear activities "should not have 
occurred and must be eliminated," although the scale of the 
nuclear enrichment is "much smaller" than in North Korea and 
Iran. 

Foreign media raised concerns and said the nuclear activities 
violated international nuclear safeguards. Some even speculated 
the Seoul government may have been involved in the experiments. 

Quoting some diplomats close to the IAEA, Reuters said South 
Korean government scientists enriched uranium to a level that was 
almost pure enough for an atomic bomb.

 "It was well beyond the level that would be needed for a 
civilian program," one diplomat told Reuters. 

Some political observers raised the possibility that the issue 
will influence six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear weapons 
development if the North politicizes the issue. Pyongyang has not 
yet made an official comment.

 The North's clandestine nuclear program, using highly enriched 
uranium, has been one of the most contentious issues in nuclear 
talks. Pyongyang has denied the existence of any such program 
while Washington keeps urging the north to come clean. U.S. 
officials said in October 2002 the North had admitted to 
harboring the uranium enrichment program in violation of 
international agreements

 Boucher rejected suggestions that South Korea's nuclear 
experiments would give the North an excuse to pursue its nuclear 
program and have a negative impact on the six-way talks. 

The two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia have 
yet to fix a date for the fourth round of the talks, which they 
earlier promised to hold before the end of this month. 

*****************************************************************
 6 BBC: SA man charged for 'nuclear bomb'
 
Last Updated: Friday, 3 September, 2004
 
[Johan Meyer in court]                                  

Mr Meyer is to remain in custody until next week                                                                 

A South African businessman has been charged with violating laws 
against the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. 

Johan Meyer, 53, who owns an engineering plant south of 
Johannesburg, denies the charges. 

"He was arrested on charges that he was building a nuclear 
weapon," said his lawyer, Heinrich Badenhorst. 

The charges follow a lengthy police investigation, which involved 
the UN nuclear watchdog, the IAEA. 

They also follow the arrest last year of a South African man in 
the US, who was charged with smuggling devices used to detonate 
nuclear weapons to Pakistan. 

The authorities say they have seized items from Mr Meyer, but are 
releasing few details. 

'Unlawful possession' 

According to the official charge sheet, he was accused of 
offences between 2000 and 2001 relating to the import and export 
of regulated goods "which could contribute to the design, 
development, manufacture and deployment" of weapons of mass 
destruction. 

He was also accused of "unlawfully and wilfully possessing... 
nuclear-related equipment and material" from 2002 to 2004. 

He will stay in custody until his bail hearing, set for next 
Wednesday, 8 September. 

If found guilty, he could serve a lengthy jail sentence. 

The old apartheid regime in South Africa had a nuclear weapons 
programme. 

But this was closed down by the white government before it 
relinquished power in 1994. 



*****************************************************************
 7 NRC: Sunshine Act Meeting
 
                        FR Doc 04-20195 
[Federal Register: September 3, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 171)] 
[Notices] [Page 53951] From the Federal Register Online via GPO 
Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr03se04-122]                         
 
DATE: Weeks of September 6, 13, 20, 27, October 4, 11, 2004.
 
PLACE: Commissioners' Conference Room, 11555 Rockville Pike, 
Rockville, Maryland.
 
STATUS: Public and closed.
 
MATTERS TO BE CONSIDERED: Week of September 6, 2004 Tuesday, 
September 7, 2004 2 p.m. Discussion of Security Issues 
(closed--ex. 1). Wednesday, September 8, 2004 9:30 a.m. 
Discussion of Office of Investigations (OI) Programs and 
Investigations (closed--ex. 7). Week of September 13, 2004 
Tuesday, September 14, 2004 9:30 a.m. Discussion of Security 
Issues (closed--ex. 1). Week of September 20, 2004--Tentative 
There are no meetings scheduled for the week of September 20, 
2004.
 
Week of September 27, 2004--Tentative There are no meetings 
scheduled for the week of September 27, 2004.
 
Week of October 4, 2004--Tentative Thursday, October 7, 2004 
10:30 a.m. Discussion of Security Issues (closed--ex. 1). 1 p.m. 
Discussion of Security Issues (closed--ex. 1). Week of October 
11, 2004--Tentative Wednesday, October 13, 2004 9:30 a.m. 
Briefing on Decommissioning Activities and Status (Public 
Meeting). (Contact: Claudia Craig, (301) 415-7276.) This meeting 
will be webcast live at the Web address, http://www.nrc.gov .
 
1:30 p.m. Discussion of Intragovernmental Issues (closed--ex. 1 & 
9).
 
* The schedule for Commission meetings is subject to change on 
short notice. To verify the status of meetings call 
(recording)--(301) 415-1292. Contact person for more information: 
Dave Gamberoni, (301) 415-1651.
 
* * * * * The NRC Commission Meeting Schedule can be found on the 
internet at: 
http://www.nrc.gov/what-we-do/policy-making/schedule.html. * * * 
* * The NRC provides reasonable accommodation to individuals with 
disabilities where appropriate. If you need a reasonable 
accommodation to participate in these public meetings, or need 
this meeting notice or the transcript or other information from 
the public meetings in another format (e.g. braille, large 
print), please notify the NRC's Disability Program Coordinator, 
August Spector, at (301) 415-7080, TDD: (301) 415- 2100, or by 
e-mail at aks@nrc.gov. Determinations on requests for reasonable 
accommodation will be made on a case-by-case basis.
 
* * * * * This notice is distributed by mail to several hundred 
subscribers; if you no longer wish to receive it, or would like 
to be added to the distribution, please contact the Office of the 
Secretary, Washington, DC 20555 (301) 415-1969. In addition, 
distribution of this meeting notice over the Internet system is 
available. If you are interested in receiving this Commission 
meeting schedule electronically, please send an electronic 
message to dkw@nrd.gov. Dated: August 31, 2004.
 
Dave Gamberoni, Office of the Secretary.
 
[FR Doc. 04-20195 Filed 9-1-04; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-M

 
*****************************************************************
 8 Payvand: Iran: Bushehr nuclear power plant spent fuel agreement 
to be signed soon
 
http://www.payvand.com
                                
  9/3/04   

  Moscow, Sept 2, IRNA -- Iran's Ambassador to Russia said in 
Moscow on Thursday that the agreement for transfer of spent fuel 
of Bushehr Nuclear power plants will be singed between Tehran and 
Moscow in the near future. 

Speaking to reports Qolamreza Shafei added that Iran's nuclear 
program is fully peaceful adding "our cooperation with Russia to 
compete the nuclear plant s continuing." 

Referring to efforts of some nations to put hurdles on the way of 
this cooperation he said fortunately the meeting of the heads 
Russia, France and Germany in the Black Sea resort of Sochi 
showed that all countries are willing to continue cooperation on 
peaceful nuclear energy programs. 

"The important point was that the Russian president stressed on 
continued cooperation between Tehran and Moscow." 

He added that production of nuclear fuel is a legitimate and 
legal right of Iran saying "we are still interested in producing 
nuclear fuel to provide for energy for our nuclear power plants." 

"Building centrifuges is a right of all countries capable of 
building such apparatus," he added. 

All of Iran 's nuclear activities are with in the framework of 
the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and representative of 
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) can carry out 
inspection of Iran's nuclear facilities at any time, Shafei 
remarked. 

Alluding to the "complete agreement" between Russia and Iran on 
return of spent nuclear fuel Shafei said after agreement is 
reached on associated costs based on international norms, "a 
spent nuclear fuel agreement will be signed in the near future." 

"Furthermore, Tehran cooperation with IAEA is continuing which 
has also been confirmed by the international nuclear watchdog." 

Russia also supports Tehran in its nuclear-related positions and 
interested to see Tehran continuing its peaceful nuclear 
activities within the framework of cooperation with the IAEA. 

He also said the US dishonesty manifests itself in Washington's 
opposition to building of Iran nuclear program citing Iran's 
abundant resources while during the Shah's regime it rendered 
support to the project. 

The US policy smacks of dishonesty and is line with efforts to 
drive out Russia as a viable competitor in commercial deals with 
Iran. 

Shafei also expressed hope that the Bushehr nuclear power plant 
will be operational by the end of 2005. 

The Iranian ambassador to Russia said that Tehran and Moscow have 
excellent political relations which will be strengthened with the 
scheduled visit to Tehran by the Russian President Vladimir Putin 
in the near future. 

He also said the two nations cooperation is important in forging 
international security, combating terrorism and drugs in the 
region and the world. 

"Tehran supports Russia's status as an observer at the 
Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC)." 

On another issue, he added that Iran position on delineating a 
Caspian Sea legal regime is for all the littoral states to 
cooperate in this venture. 

All the bilateral agreements are legal only when all the littoral 
states give their blessing to it, Shafei stated. 

He strongly condemned the recent horrific events in Russia which 
caused many loss of lives and inflicted sever injuries. 

"These acts are against Islamic teachings and principals and Iran 
strongly condemns such acts." 

He also expressed condolences to the bereaved families and 
Russian government. 

Iran said last week its first nuclear power plant, being built 
with Russian assistance in southern Bushehr, will become 
operational in October 2006, a year behind schedule. 

Speaking to reporters here, head of Iran's Atomic Energy 
Organization Asadollah Sabouri, cited some of the complexities 
which are dogging the project, including the deal related to the 
return of spent fuel and its costs. 

"One subject which has not been concluded yet is related to the 
deal on the return of spent fuel, which is very complex," he 
said, stressing that 'the state decision in Iran is to return the 
spent fuel to Russia. 

"Given that the return and transfer of the spent fuel from the 
power plant to Russia will be carried out eight or nine years 
later, it is hard to figure out the transfer costs now," Sabouri 
added. 

The contract for the return of the spent fuel, however, has been 
finalized, and differences exist over the costs, the official 
said. 

According to Sabouri, the two countries have set the deadline for 
Russia's delivery of nuclear fuel for the power plant to Iran at 
the end of 2005. 

He stressed that one reason for delay in the power plant's 
operation was Iran insistence on nuclear protection and security 
requirement, including environmental safety. 

So far, Iran has spent more than one billion dollars on the 
project and it is projected that a further three to four billion 
dollars has to be spent on bringing the power plant on stream, 
Sabouri said. 

"We will receive all the equipment by the end of this year (in 
March 2005) and the installation work will be carried out in the 
second half of this year and next year," he added. 

Once operational, the power plant is projected to generate 1,000 
megawatts of electricity, 6,000 megawatts less than the target 
which Iran has set to produce by 2021 in nuclear power plants.   
  
© Copyright 2004 NetNative (All Rights Reserved)   
*****************************************************************
 9 Portsmouth Herald: Plant seeks power increase
 
Friday, September 3, 2004
                                                                        
Staff reports
 
news@seacoastonline.com 

SEABROOK - The Seabrook Station nuclear power plant is looking to 
increase its power output by 5.2 percent. 

According to Alan Griffith, FPL Energy Seabrook Station 
spokesman, the nuclear plant expects to receive information on 
its request from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission by February 
2005. 

Griffith said the license amendment request for the power 
increase was sent to the NRC in March, and it takes about a year 
to receive approval. 

"It is extremely beneficial for a number of reasons," Griffith 
said. "The uprate (or power increase) adds much-needed 
emissions-free electricity to the region without having to build 
a new power plant." 

Griffith also said nuclear energy is one of the safest and most 
reliable sources of energy. 

"We are able to maximize the efficiencies at an existing nuclear 
power plant ... without environmental challenges of new 
construction," he said. 

Area nuclear watchdog groups are actively reviewing the 
situation. 

Mary Metcalf, who monitors Seabrook Station’s nuclear 
decommissioning process for the Portsmouth-based Seacoast 
Anti-Pollution League, said she wasn’t happy because the plant’s 
plans had not been made public. Metcalf said the only way she 
found out about it was through the latest decommissioning fund 
recap statement. 

"I’m upset that it took us six months to find this out," Metcalf 
said. "The SAPL board hasn’t discussed this yet, but I’m sure we 
will have a statement." 

However, in response to the proposed energy increase, the 
Newburyport, Mass.-based nuclear safety advocacy group C-10 
Research and Education Foundation contacted Dave Lochbaum of the 
Union of Concerned Scientists in Washington, D.C. Lochbaum 
expressed concerns about the energy upgrade. 

"Power uprate means that more energy must be handled," Lochbaum 
wrote in an e-mail to C-10. "Since nuclear plants are only 
one-third efficient, two-thirds of the energy produced by the 
reactor must go someplace. The water systems that cool safety 
equipment and the air-conditioning systems that cool vital areas 
can be challenged by power uprates." 

He also expressed concerns about additional vibrations the move 
to producing more power could produce. 

"More power means more steam and feedwater flow," Lochbaum said. 
"For steam generators, more steam can cause more tube failures 
due to vibration." 

Finally, the UCS nuclear expert said increasing power decreases 
the margin for error. 

"Trading safety margin for power output puts a higher priority on 
not making any mistakes and not having any surprises," Lochbaum 
said. "Seabrook’s history is filled with mistakes and surprises, 
and there’s probably one or two still waiting." 

Griffith said nuclear power plants can generate more electricity 
than they currently do, adding that requesting an uprate is 
common. 

According to Griffith, Seabrook Station is a relatively new power 
plant, which is one of the reasons why the plant has decided to 
file for an uprate. 

Seabrook Station began commercial operations in 1990. 

"At a brand-new power plant, it takes time (before you can ask 
for an increase in power)," Griffith said. "You need to be able 
to prove you can safely and reliably operate a plant for some 
time." 

Griffith also said Seabrook Station is "well within the 
parameters" for the power increase. 

The 5.2 percent power increase is part of the plant’s two-phase 
approach to increase power capacity by 6.7 percent. 

  Seacoast Online is owned and operated by Seacoast Newspapers. 
Copyright © 2004 Seacoast Online. All rights reserved. Please 
*****************************************************************
 10 BBC: Japan nuclear firm reopens plants
 
  Last Updated: Friday, 3 September, 2004
 
[A burst cooling pipe at the Mihama power station in Japan]                                  

A burst cooling pipe caused the accident at the Mihama plant                                                            

Japan has allowed the utility giant Kansai Electric Power Co 
(Kepco) to resume operations at two of its 11 nuclear reactors. 

Last month, Kepco announced the temporary closure of all its 
reactors, following the worst-ever accident in Japan's nuclear 
power industry. 

Four men were killed and seven injured when a corroded pipe 
exploded at a plant at Mihama, in western Japan. 

The workers were showered with scalding water, and suffered 
severe burns. 

Kepco said it would soon reopen a unit at its Takahama plant and 
another at its site in Ohi, as it had received approval from the 
central and local governments. 

Operations will resume as early as Sunday, Kepco said in a 
statement. 

The reactor at Mihama remains closed for now, as Kepco needs to 
replace two of its pipes, a company spokesman told Reuters news 
agency. 

The disaster on 9 August was the latest in a series of accidents 
at Japanese nuclear power stations, which have undermined public 
confidence in the industry. 

Japan has a total of 52 nuclear reactors and relies on atomic 
energy for more than one-third of its energy needs. 
*****************************************************************
 11 Star Trib: Editorial: Nuclear energy/License extensions shortsighted
 
Last update: September 3, 2004 at 7:13 PM

Xcel Energy's bid to extend its nuclear-plant licenses for 
another generation is no surprise, but it's still a 
disappointment -- a prime example of what will happen when energy 
policy is made in the way Minnesota continues to make it. Which 
is to say, with too much focus on today's price per 
kilowatt-hour. 

A schoolchild understands that there is more to consider with 
nuclear power. For starters, where will the radioactive waste go? 

For the foreseeable future, it will keep accumulating at the 
Monticello and Prairie Island plants. There is no place else for 
it until -- make that, unless -- the feds open a long-overdue 
national repository. 

Conveniently enough, the waste issue is essentially left outside 
the decisionmaking at Xcel, the Minnesota Public Utilities 
Commission, the Minnesota Legislature and the federal Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission. Each operates on the assumptions that the 
waste problem will be solved, sooner or later, and that piling up 
more in the meantime only makes a bad situation a bit worse. 

The NRC's license review will be limited primarily to assuring 
that the reactors are in good working order. But bringing Xcel's 
three aging reactors up to snuff and keeping them there, for an 
additional 20 years beyond the ends of their licensed lifespans 
in 2010, 2013 and 2014, will be costly to customers. Last year, 
the company told the Legislature it would need to spend $132 
million refurbishing one of the two units at Prairie Island, 
wearing out ahead of schedule, by 2007. 

Even a high school junior knows the question to ask here: How 
much money can you pour into fixing up an old car before it makes 
better financial sense to buy a new one? 

Xcel is always able to say that its preferred strategy saves 
money for its ratepayers; the figure mentioned this week, in 
support of relicensing, was $1 billion over 30 years. This is not 
to accuse Xcel of dishonesty or even disingenuousness. It's a 
responsible player of the regulated-utility game, which worships 
lowest cost to ratepayers as the greatest good, while overstating 
the costs and undervaluing the benefits of renewable energy 
sources, and leaving nuclear waste off-ledger. 

Anyway, $1 billion over three decades is not as much money as it 
may seem. When this question was before the Legislature last 
year, Xcel estimated that customers might pay 7 to 10 percent 
more for power derived from new coal or natural-gas plants 
instead of relicensed nukes. 

And here is where a couple of college freshmen might ask the 
questions that really matter. What could you get for $1 billion 
invested in renewable energy -- especially if you count high-tech 
manufacturing industries likely to take root in a state that 
makes such a commitment? What kind of reforms are necessary to 
make sure that such options get serious review? 

The answer to the first question is uncertain, although there is 
evidence that serious commitments to renewables have proved 
affordable to ratepayers and attractive to investors. As for the 
second, the answer is much easier: Minnesota's Legislature and 
governor must find the courage to create a genuine energy policy 
for this state -- a road map to determine what energy investments 
are best in the long term, taking all economic and environmental 
factors into account. Otherwise, we're likely to remain dependent 
on three old nuclear reactors for as long as they can be patched 
up. 

  [Star Tribune] © 2004 Star Tribune. All rights reserved. 
feedbackterms of useprivacy policymember center newspaper 
subscriptions &serviceeEditionclassroom newspapers 425 Portland 
Av. S., Minneapolis, MN 55488    [The McClatchy Company] contact 
us --> 2100 Q Street, Sacramento, CA, 95816  
*****************************************************************
 12 Tri-City Herald: Chernobyl study finds thyroid cancer link 

This story was published Friday, September 3rd, 2004 

By Annette Cary Herald staff writer 

A study of children exposed to radiation from the Chernobyl power 
plant disaster found that the more radiation they were exposed 
to, the more likely they were to develop thyroid cancer. 

The study is similar to one that looked at thyroid disease in 
children exposed to radiation released from the Hanford Nuclear 
Reservation during the 1940s and 1950s. 

The Hanford study found that children who lived downwind of 
Hanford were no more likely to develop thyroid cancer or other 
thyroid diseases than those who lived elsewhere. 

"The doses at Chernobyl were considerably higher than found at 
Hanford," said Scott Davis of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research 
Center in Seattle. He was the principal investigator on both 
studies. 

The study of children who grew up in the shadow of the 1986 
Chernobyl power plant disaster found the incidence of thyroid 
cancer was 45 times greater in those who received the highest 
radiation doses compared with those who received the smallest 
doses. 

It is the first study to show a relationship between radiation 
doses at Chernobyl and thyroid cancer, Davis said. 

"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," he said. 

Before the Chernobyl accident, thyroid cancer in the region's 
children was extremely rare. Since then, many cases are reported 
yearly in regions contaminated with radioactive material from the 
reactor blast. 

About 30 people were killed immediately by the blast and an 
estimated 5 million people were exposed to the resulting 
radiation. 

Davis, working with colleagues in Seattle and a dozen scientists 
in Russia, identified 26 people with thyroid cancer who were less 
than 20 years old when Chernobyl occurred. Most were under 16 
when their cancer was diagnosed. 

The cancer patients were compared with 52 healthy people matched 
by age and place of residence at the time of the accident. 

Researchers developed estimates of how much radiation the study 
subjects might have been exposed to, based on lifestyle 
questionnaires and measurements made of radiation contamination 
within the first few months after the accident. 

Individual doses depended largely on foods consumed that were 
contaminated with radioactive iodine 131, which concentrates in 
the thyroid. That's the same contamination pattern researched at 
Hanford. 

Children in both places are believed to have been exposed through 
drinking the milk of cows that grazed on contaminated pastures. 

Children in Chernobyl received doses on the order of two to three 
times those of children who lived downwind of Hanford in the 
earliest years of plutonium production there for the U.S. nuclear 
weapons program, Davis said. 

Children in Chernobyl were exposed to radiation shortly after the 
blast, but children downwind of Hanford could have received their 
doses over several years. 

In addition, the Chernobyl blast exposed children to other 
radioactive isotopes, including strontium 90, cesium 137 and 
plutonium, Davis said. 

At Hanford, airborne releases were mostly radioactive iodine 131. 

Data for the Chernobyl study likely was more accurate than data 
collected for the Hanford study. Some critics of the Hanford 
study have questioned the accuracy of information reconstructed a 
half century later. 

"We had lots and lots of environmental measurements" at 
Chernobyl, Davis said. Similar measurements were not done 50 
years ago downwind of Hanford. 

In addition, the Hanford study relied on people's memories of how 
much milk they drank 50 years ago as children, while the 
Chernobyl study asked people to recall more recent habits. 

The Hanford study also differed in that it looked at a population 
of 3,440 people and determined how many had developed thyroid 
disease, rather than picking participants based on whether they 
had thyroid cancer. 

Because of the mix of radionuclides in Chernobyl and the dose 
rate differences, "you can't directly extrapolate these results 
to the Hanford situation," Davis said. 

But the study does confirm that certain kinds of radiation in 
high doses during childhood can lead to thyroid cancer, he said. 

Efforts are under way to investigate a larger population in 
Russia to see if the findings can be replicated. Davis and his 
colleagues also have extended their studies to older Chernobyl 
survivors and are investigating how radiation damage to DNA may 
influence the risk of developing thyroid cancer. 

The results of the Chernobyl study are reported in the September 
issue of Radiation Research. 

For more information, go to www.fhcrc.org/news/ 
science/2004/08/31/chernobyl.html on the Internet. 

© 2004 Tri-City Herald, Associated Press &Other Wire Services
*****************************************************************
 13 JOURNAL NEWS: Boat to patrol Indian Point

By ROGER WITHERSPOON
 THE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original publication: September 3, 2004)

A patrol boat will soon be permanently stationed in the Hudson 
River by the Indian Point nuclear power plants, one of three the 
state will buy through the new state budget. 

The other two boats will be stationed in Lake Ontario off the 
Ginna nuclear power plants in Wayne County. The vessels will cost 
a total of $450,000. 

In other legislation related to the state's nuclear power plants, 
security guards now are authorized to use deadly force to prevent 
burglary, criminal trespass or arson at the sites. 

For several months following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist 
attacks, the U.S. Coast Guard stationed patrol boats in the 
Hudson River to guard the nuclear plants in Buchanan. But the 
Coast Guard eventually withdrew its permanent presence, stating 
it could not afford to indefinitely tie up personnel and 
equipment at that single location. 

"The Coast Guard had to spread their activities and boats up and 
down the river," Assemblywoman Sandra Galef, D-Ossining, said 
yesterday. "This new boat will be there all of the time." 

Galef, who co-sponsored the legislation authorizing deadly force, 
said Indian Point was getting one boat because, "unlike the 
Hudson River, the Ginna plant is on an international body of 
water. It was felt that because of the size of the Great Lake and 
its international nature that two boats would be needed for 
protection." 

The new boats will be under the authority of the state Division 
of Military and Naval Affairs, which uses National Guard troops 
to staff its marine force. 

The bill regarding deadly force revokes a provision in state law 
that prohibited private security guards from using such force and 
limited their ability to arrest trespassers. 

Since the terrorist attacks, Indian Point officials have boasted 
in television and newspaper ads that the plants are well 
protected by a heavily armed security force. Officials at Entergy 
Nuclear Northeast, which owns Indian Point, declined to comment. 

"They had guns," Galef said, "but not the power to use them or 
arrest anyone." 

The bill grants nuclear plant guards the same type of authority 
as the National Guard. 

"New York is doing everything we can to safeguard our critical 
infrastructure and protect our citizens from the threat of 
terrorism, said Jennifer Meicht, a spokeswoman for Gov. George 
Pataki, who approved the bill. "This new law builds on those 
efforts by providing personnel the tools they need to ensure 
public security." 

thejournalnews.com
  
  Copyright 2004 The Journal News, a Gannett Co. Inc. newspaper
serving Westchester, Rockland and Putnam Counties in New York.
*****************************************************************
 14 Japan Times: Nishikawa OKs restart of two Kepco nuke reactors

  Saturday, September 4, 2004   

 Kansai Electric Power Co. said Friday it will reactivate two 
nuclear power reactors this weekend after receiving a green light 
from Fukui Gov. Issei Nishikawa.

 The reactors had been shut down following a nonradioactive 
accident at another reactor that killed five workers at the 
Mihama atomic plant in Fukui Prefecture last month.

 Kepco President Yosaku Fuji announced that the utility plans to 
resume operations, now that pipe checks have been completed, 
during a meeting with Kazuo Matsunaga, director general of the 
Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, company officials said.

 The agency operates under the Ministry of Economy, Trade and 
Industry.

 Matsunaga noted that the safety of piping at the two reactors -- 
the No. 4 reactor at the Oi nuclear power plant and the No. 2 
reactor at the Takahama nuclear power plant, both in Fukui 
Prefecture -- has been confirmed, they said.

 Fuji was given final approval to restart the reactors in the 
afternoon by Gov. Nishikawa.

 Kepco was to begin preparing the reactors in the evening, and 
they will begin operating Sunday.

 "With the resumption of operations, I want you to make all 
efforts to ensure their safe operation and not neglect even the 
smallest thing," Nishikawa told Fuji.

 Kepco officials also said the utility will suspend operations at 
three other reactors for piping checks. The three are the No. 2 
Oi reactor, the No. 1 Takahama reactor and the No. 1 reactor at 
the Mihama plant.

 The Japan Times: Sept. 4, 2004 (C) All rights reserved 
*****************************************************************
 15 MHNN: NRC gives IP good grades   

Friday, September 3, 2004 

Copyright © 2004 Mid-Hudson News Network, a division of
Statewide News Network, Inc.

Entergy owns and operates the two reactors 
  
Overall performance at the Indian Point nuclear power plants has 
continued to improve, Samuel Collins, regional administrator of 
the Nuclear Regulator Commission said. In an August 30 letter 
released yesterday, Collins wrote, The operational performance of 
both units has been very good during this assessment period, as 
reflected in safety systems reliability and steady state 
operations. 

Indian Point spokesman James Steets said the work of improving 
doesnt stop. We have stated that were committed to improving 
performance of these plants, put out money where our mouths are, 
for example, by investing in equipment and in training and have 
made improvements over several years now, he said. The key often 
is to keep making those improvements and to demonstrate improved 
performance, and the NRC has seen that we have. 

The NRCs Collins said that notwithstanding the achievements, some 
challenges associated with the full integration of the units 
remain, such as the large elective maintenance backlog at both 
units   
  
news on MidHudsonRadio.com, the Hudson Valley's
*****************************************************************
 16 Seattle Times: High radiation dose linked to thyroid cancer
 	 	 	
Friday, September 03, 2004 - Page updated at 12:00 A.M.
 			 			 			 			
By NICHOLAS K. GERANIOS The Associated Press                                            

SPOKANE — People who received higher radiation doses from the 
nuclear accident at Chernobyl in 1986 had a higher risk of 
developing thyroid cancer, according to a new study by 
researchers for the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in 
Seattle. 

The incidence of thyroid cancer was 45 times greater among those 
who received the highest radiation dose from Chernobyl, as 
compared to those in the lowest-dose group, according to the 
study led by Scott Davis. 

The findings of a team of U.S. and Russian researchers were 
reported in this month's issue of Radiation Research. 

While people who lived near the Hanford nuclear reservation 
during the decades it produced plutonium for nuclear weapons have 
expressed concerns about thyroid disease, Davis said this week 
that the Chernobyl findings are not easily transferrable to 
Hanford. 

"First and foremost, the absolute levels of radiation dose were 
different, much higher at Chernobyl than Hanford," Davis said. 

The research on the Chernobyl victims focused on Iodine-131 
because it is easily tracked and because Davis' group had 
experience with it from work they had done at Hanford, where it 
was the primary radionuclide released. 

Davis and his team produced the Hanford Thyroid Disease Study, a 
controversial 1999 project that found no verifiable link between 
Hanford releases and increased thyroid disease among people who 
lived downwind of the site. 

Iodine-131 lodges in the thyroid gland, where it can cause cancer 
and other abnormalities. 

Davis said the Chernobyl study is the first to establish that as 
radiation doses increase, so does the risk of thyroid cancer. 

About 30 people were killed immediately from the blast at the 
Chernobyl nuclear plant, and an estimated 5 million people were 
exposed to the radiation that resulted. 

"Prior to Chernobyl, thyroid cancer in children was practically 
nonexistent," Davis said. "Today we see dozens and dozens of 
cases a year in the regions contaminated by the disaster, and the 
incidence continues to rise." 

The researchers focused on the western part of the Bryansk Oblast 
of Russia, about 66 miles northeast of Chernobyl, which was the 
most heavily contaminated area in the Russian Federation. 

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company
*****************************************************************
 17 Las Vegas RJ: Idaho residents urge moreaid for nuclear test victims 
 
Friday, September 03, 2004
 

Demands increase for expanding federal compensation program 
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
 

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho -- About 150 Idaho residents have submitted
comments on the need to expand the federal government's
compensation program for victims of radioactive fallout from
nuclear testing in the atmosphere more than a generation ago.
 
 Mounting interest in the issue is not abating, and additional
comments will be accepted beyond this week's deadline, said Isaf
Al-Nabulsi, a radiation scientist leading the latest assessment
on the connection between cancer and fallout from the
atmospheric testing in the 1950s and 1960s in Nevada.
 
 Al-Nabulsi said the Aug. 31 deadline was a suggestion to ensure
the National Academies of Science's Board on Radiation Effects
Research has as much public response as possible before it
begins compiling its report, due in March.
 
 Residents in Gem County, one of four in Idaho that a 1997
National Cancer Institute report cited as having excessive
levels of iodine-131 exposure, are taking Al-Nabulsi at her
word. They have begun sending a letter demanding compensation as
part of a campaign led by Tona Henderson, a bakery owner whose
extended family has had about 32 cases of cancer. 
"We'd like to ask them what are they going to do for us instead
of to us," Henderson said.
 
 Other high-exposure Idaho counties are Blaine, Custer and Lemhi.
 
 Although the 1990 Radiation Exposure Compensation Act has been
amended, the $50,000 payments to Nevada testing fallout victims
remains limited to residents with certain kinds of cancers who
lived in 21 counties in southern Utah, Nevada and Arizona during
the Cold War.
 
 "I didn't think people in Idaho were ever going to connect
cancers to the Nevada tests and make a political issue of it,"
said Valerie Brown, a former Pocatello resident who developed
thyroid cancer in 1975 at age 24.
 
 Cancer survivor Preston Truman of Malad City has been pressing
for more than 30 years to get compensation for everyone exposed
to radiation from the bomb tests.
 
 "They spent 15 years on the National Cancer Institute report.
If they study it again for that long, everybody who qualifies is
going to be dead," Truman said. "If you look at where the clouds
went, it's obvious Idaho and Montana got hit; and that they got
it as bad as we did in Utah."
 
 
Copyright Las Vegas Review-Journal
*****************************************************************
 18 Bellona: Japanese official inspected nuclear sub decommissioning in Russia
 
Tanaka Kazunori, Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs of 
Japan, visited the Russian Far East with a group of experts to 
discuss the recycling of decommissioned nuclear submarines of the 
Pacific Fleet. 

2004-09-03 15:42

A substantial contribution to the further development of 
good-neighbourly relations between the two countries, the 
politician believes, can be made by a Russian-Japanese programme 
for scrapping the decommissioned submarines of the Pacific Fleet. 
"The government of Japan has already allocated 180 million 
dollars for the realisation of this major and important military 
and environmental project," said Kazunori. 

The Japanese delegation visited the town of Bolshoi Kamen, where 
at the Zvezda shipyard recycling nuclear submarines, it got 
acquainted with progress in the disposal of Victor 3 Class 
nuclear submarines. In the current year, with financial support 
from Japan, Zvezda is already scrapping the first Victor 3 
submarine. The dismantling of the next nuclear submarine is 
planned for 2005. All in all, there are more than 40 
decommissioned submarines of the Russian Pacific Fleet waiting 
for disposal. Japan has already poured 250 million dollars in the 
Star of Hope decommissioning programme, AFP reported.
   
Telephone: +47 23 23 46 00 Telefax: +47 22 38 38 62  * P.O.Box
2141 Grunerlokka, 0505 Oslo, Norway
*****************************************************************
 19 Guardian Unlimited: UK faces court action for nuclear safety failings
 
Paul Brown, environment correspondent
Saturday September 4, 2004
The Guardian 		
 		
Doubts about how much plutonium and uranium is contained in a 
vast waste tank at Sellafield in Cumbria has led the European 
commission to prosecute the British government for failing to 
adhere to proper nuclear safeguards. 

The building, known as B30, is one of the most intractable 
nuclear waste problems in Europe. 

An unknown number of nuclear fuel rods and other radioactive 
detritus has been dumped there over 50 years. 

The commission claims that for four years its inspectors have 
been trying to verify how much material is in the pond so that 
the UK can be seen to have complied with the non-proliferation 
treaty, which specifies that the material must not be diverted 
for bomb-making. 

The Department of Trade and Industry, which has been accused by 
the commission of dragging its feet, was stunned by the decision, 
and said that it would study the commission's report before it 
could comment. 

The murkiness of the water and the radioactive environment have 
prevented inspectors assessing the tank's contents. Much of the 
plutonium is contained in a decaying sludge at the bottom of the 
pond. 

British Nuclear Fuels must find a way of removing it safely. 

In theory, the European court of justice could levy unlimited 
fines on the UK for failing to comply with Euratom safeguards to 
prevent diversion of nuclear material for military purposes. 

It is more likely, however, to wait for a detailed explanation 
and a plan to deal with the problem before taking action. 

Europe's energy commissioner, Loyola de Palacio, complained 
yesterday that Britain had failed to heed her calls over four 
years to improve access and information about the pond's 
contents. 

The only option was to take court action, for the first time, 
against a member state over nuclear safety."I am sure the UK is 
going to put forward the adequate commitment plan with all the 
points I have called for," she said. 

She took the action because it would have been "unfair" that the 
10 members that joined on May 1, mainly from the former Soviet 
bloc, would have to meet standards than differed from those 
applied to other EU nations. 

A DTI spokesman said: "The government has already set up a 
decommissioning agency to clean up at Sellafield, but this is not 
something we will be rushed into. 

"There is no suggestion of any leakage. What we are talking about 
is verifying the exact scale of nuclear material waste deposited 
in a pond many, many years ago. 

"The commission is surely not suggesting the UK authorities may 
be diverting this material for non-peaceful uses. We know where 
it is, and we have been analysing with the commission for several 
years how best to deal with it. But we will not be rushed into 
any action." 

Caroline Lucas, Green MEP for the south-east of England, said: 
"Although inspection visits have been conducted on an annual 
basis for 15 years, the problem remains the same: inspectors 
appear to be in the dark over exactly what is in the B30 pond. 

"As a result, nobody can be sure whether plutonium or uranium has 
been diverted for weapons use. 

"This is particularly worrying given that it only takes a few 
kilograms of plutonium to make a nuclear bomb." 
	
[UP] 

Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004
*****************************************************************
 20 [NukeNet] Yucca delayed over document release fight
 
Date: Fri, 03 Sep 2004 17:32:19 -0700

 
<x-flowed>

 >From: "Brendan Hoffman" <bhoffman@citizen.org>

P R E S S   R E L E A S E

For Immediate Release: 					Contact:
Michele Boyd (202) 454-5134
Aug. 31, 2004						
Erica Hartman (202) 454-5174

A Victory for Consumers in Yucca Mountain Fight; NRC Overrules Energy
Department's Claim That It Made Information Public

Statement of Wenonah Hauter, Director of Public Citizen's Critical Mass
Energy and Environment Program

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) judicial arm, the Atomic
Safety and Licensing Board, unanimously ruled today that the U.S.
Department of Energy (DOE) failed to make publicly available on the
Internet all documents related to the Yucca Mountain Project, as
required by law.  As a result, Yucca Mountain's timeline has once again
been postponed due to the government's inability to follow its own
guidelines.

Federal regulation requires the DOE to make all of its documentary
information related to its Yucca Mountain license application available
online six months in advance of filing its application. Therefore, to
meet its self-imposed application deadline of December 2004, the DOE
would have had to post all its supporting documents online by June 30,
2004.  At 5 p.m. on June 30 - exactly six months to the day - DOE
certified in writing that its documentary material was "available."

Posting all relevant Yucca Mountain documents online allows the public
to review the materials and participate effectively in the Yucca
Mountain licensing proceedings. This purpose cannot be achieved unless
the Web site is fully functional and complete.

Despite DOE's self-certification, all of the information related to the
Yucca Mountain licensing application was not available to the public on
June 30, nor is it all available to this day. The agency admitted to the
licensing board that of the estimated 2.1 million documents related to
the project, only half are posted online, although officials did not
explain why. In addition, more than four million e-mails related to
research on the Yucca Mountain Project - often important sources of
information - have not been posted.

According to the licensing board, "[W]e conclude that because of the
incompleteness of its document review and production, the many years
that DOE has had to gather and produce its documents, and the fact the
date of production was effectively within DOE's control, DOE's document
production on June 30, 2004, did not satisfy its obligation to make, in
good faith, all of its documentary material available pursuant to" NRC's
regulations. The NRC will not accept the DOE's licensing application
until six months after all the documents have been made available,
meaning the project will be delayed indefinitely until the documents are
posted.

The DOE does not appear to be capable of this task. Together with the
recent court ruling that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
illegally set a 10,000-year compliance period for the radiation release
standards of groundwater at Yucca Mountain (a ruling that also has
delayed the project), it is clear that the Yucca Mountain Project is
flawed both in its science and in its management and should be
abandoned.

A copy of the licensing board's decision is available at
www.citizen.org/documents/LSNdecision.pdf .

###

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based in Washington, D.C. For more information, please visit
www.citizen.org.



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*****************************************************************
 21 Las Vegas RJ: Waste firm assessed penalties 
 
Friday, September 03, 2004

Action stems from problems with shipments to Nevada Test Site 
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

PADUCAH, Ky. -- The company overseeing waste management at the
Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant will pay at least $200,000 in
penalties assessed after problems with three recent shipments to
the Nevada Test Site, the U.S. Department of Energy said.
 
 Meanwhile, shipments of radioactive and chemical waste from the
plant to nuclear waste facilities have been suspended.
 
 The incidents involved leaking containers. Bechtel Jacobs
spokesman Greg Cook said the company will not appeal the
penalties.
 
 Cook said the substance that leaked was absorbent packing
material placed around hoppers inside shipping steel containers.
In each case, the material leaked on the beds of trucks
transporting the "Sealand" shipping containers. He said the
material was harmless; DOE confirmed it.
 
 However, "DOE clearly considers this unacceptable, and so do
we," Cook said. The suspension of shipments ordered by DOE will
give Bechtel Jacobs time to study packing procedures and prevent
future problems, Cook said. 
The first incident was reported June 25 when a truck driver
noticed absorbent material on the truck's bed.
 
 A second incident was reported Aug. 15 when another driver
reported finding a small quantity of a white, granular solid
material and clear, gelatinous material on the truck bed. The
gel was a result of the absorbent material's getting wet, Cook
said. It was one of five trucks transporting material to the
test site northwest of Las Vegas.
 
 "We contacted the other drivers and asked them to inspect their
trucks," said Cook, adding that the material was found in two
other trucks. The trucks were traveling along Interstate 40 and
were ordered to stop and wait for DOE's Radiological Assistance
Program team to inspect and clean up the spills.
 
 Also, DOE reported that the absorbent material leaked in
another shipment of radioactive waste discovered Aug. 16 when
the truck arrived at the test site, Cook said.
 
 
Copyright Las Vegas Review-Journal
*****************************************************************
 22 Observer-Reporter: Molycorp's efforts in Canton Twp. cleanup applauded 
  
© 2004 Observer Publishing Co. Washington, PA
   
Friday, September 3, 2004           

BY CHRISTIE CAMPBELL, Staff writer 

Molycorp Inc. is making good progress in an environmental cleanup 
at its Canton Township plant, according to an update given before 
the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Thursday. 

Tom McLaughlin, project manager for the NRC's Division of Waste 
Management and Environmental Protection, applauded the company's 
efforts to date in removing low-level radioactive material from 
its property. Two phases in the cleanup - removal of a large 
amount of contaminated dirt and razing 21 buildings on the 
property - have been completed at a cost exceeding $12 million. 

Thursday's update was given on the same day the NRC terminated 
Molycorp's license at a remediated site in York. 

"They did a thorough job at York," McLaughlin said. "They even 
worked to get small amounts of (contaminated) material from under 
bedrock." 

Ray Cherniske, Molycorp's remediation site manager, and Alan 
Shruckrow with Malcolm Pirnie Inc., the contractor hired to 
conduct the most recent site characterization of the plant, 
outlined their plan to begin the cleanup's third phase. This 
phase involves excavation of low-level radioactive material on 
about 20 acres and transporting it out of state. Some of that 
material had been used as backfill more than 30 years ago. 

Molycorp received an NRC Source Materials License in 1963 for 
processing ores that contained uranium and thorium, both 
radioactive material. 

Between September 2003 and February Malcolm Pirnie conducted 235 
soil borings on property where the manufacturing took place. 
Groundwater samples were taken and more than 108,000 gamma 
measurements were collected. 

The testing determined the location of thorium and uranium and 
found a few "hot spots" in areas where some of the buildings had 
been located, and also near portions of Chartiers Creek. 

The site characterization report noted uranium is associated with 
ferrotungsten production, the primary contaminant in early plant 
manufacturing with the thorium from ferrocolumbium production in 
the 1960s. 

Molycorp is hoping to get approval to begin excavating the 
material next May or June and be finished remediating the site by 
2006. Shruckrow estimated between 75,000 and 100,000 yards of 
material will need to be excavated and transported from the site. 
The material could either be transported to Envirocare in Utah or 
West Coast Specialists in Texas. 

Shruckrow said major utility relocation of gas and water lines 
will be required during the excavation and the company hopes to 
coordinate any closing of Caldwell Avenue with the county's 
replacement of the bridge there. Preliminary discussions also 
have been held with Washington-East Washington Joint Authority 
regarding the discharge of water into the public treatment plant. 

They hope to develop a site closure plan for the area, addressing 
both the radiological and chemical contaminants on the company's 
70 acres in order to receive termination of its Source Materials 
License. 

McLaughlin noted there are a number of coal tar ponds on the 
property that also must be remediated. The company will have to 
address those before the state Department of Environmental 
Protection.         
*****************************************************************
 23 AFP: South Korea denies wrongdoing amid nuclear probe

SEOUL (AFP) Sep 03, 2004

 South Korea admitted to embarrassment but no wrongdoing Friday 
as international inspectors probed reports of clandestine 
enrichment of uranium at a government-run research center.

The government said it was fully cooperating with inspectors from 
the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that 
is preparing to depart Saturday after concluding a week-long 
inspection.

Revelations that scientists in South Korea had enagaged in 
clandestine uranium enrichment four years ago, albeit in 
microscopic quantities, emerged at a time when Seoul is playing a 
leading role in efforts to end North Korea's nuclear weapons 
drive.

"It is embarrassing for us to face this issue at a time when the 
six-way talks are in a stalemate," an unnamed government official 
told reporters.

IAEA inspectors arrived in South Korea on Sunday to probe reports 
that enriched uranium had been produced at a government research 
laboratory, South Korean and IAEA officials said.

South Korea's science and technology ministry said that a "small 
amount of 0.2 grams (0.007 ounces) of uranium" had been produced 
during a one-off experiment using laser isotope separation 
technology in January and February 

"The government came to know about this only very recently," the 
Foreign Ministry's top official dealing with the IAEA, Oh Joon, 
told a press conference.

He said government scientists at the Korea Atomic Energy Research 
Institute in Daejeon, 160 kilometers (99 miles) south of the 
capital, who acted on their own were now facing a government 
probe and possible punishment.

"They tested uranium without the government knowing about it. 
They destroyed the equipment without the government knowing about 
it," he said.

He insisted that the experiment using laser isotope separation 
technology was a "one-off" case and the researchers involved were 
not "rogue" scientists. 

He also disupted media reports that they had produced or come 
close to producing bomb-grade uranium, saying that the 
concentration of enriched uranium was "much lower than is now 
being reported".

He said the government found out when the scientists came clean 
with a report on their experiment last month, more than four 
years after the test took place.

The confession came about after Seoul signed on to strengthened 
regulations under a new protocol to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation 
Treaty (NPT), which took effect in February.

Prior to that date, facilties such as the Daejon research center 
were not subject to inspection by the international nuclear 
watchdog.

"Only facilities like nuclear power plants were up for inspection 
in the past. Now, research facilities are also up for 
inspection," Oh said.

"And these scientists know that once they (the IAEA) do 
inspections, it will be known that they conducted a test."

South Korean officials denied the country had violated 
non-proliferation commmitments but said it would await a report 
by the IAEA, whose board meets in Vienna on September 13.

"We are strictly abiding by all of our commitments under the NPT 
and also we are abiding by the safeguards agreements," Oh said.

Washington praised South Korea for openly reporting the case 
while calling for a thorough investigation into the facts.

Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi said the case should 
not be allowed to complicate current multilateral talks aimed at 
pressuring Stalinist North Korea to end its nuclear weapons 
drive.

"The matter should be handled appropriately between South Korea 
and the IAEA. It should be separated from the six-way nuclear 
talks," Kawaguchi told reporters.

Japan, the United States, China, Russia and South Korea have held 
three rounds of talks in Beijing with North Korea in an effort to 
end a standoff triggered in October 2002 when Washington accused 
Pyongyang of running its own clandestine uranium enrichment 
programme.

South Korea has declared itself free of nuclear weapons since 
officially terminating efforts in the 1970's to develop atomic 
bobms under US pressure.









 All rights reserved. © 2004 Agence France-Presse. Sections of 
the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, 
logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by 
Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, 
reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way 
commercially exploit any of the content of this section without 
the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.

domain, are Copyright 1995-2004 - SpaceDaily. AFP Wire Stories 
*****************************************************************
 24 Las Vegas SUN: Letter: Store nuke waste where it is made

Today: September 03, 2004 at 9:05:17 PDT 

This is in response to the Aug. 12 letter from Francy Johnson,
who said she "couldn't care less about Yucca Mountain" and that
she disagrees with the Sun's opinion that it is the most
important issue facing Nevadans.

 There are numerous problems in Nevada, including our lack of
water. To suggest, however, that we don't care or that we
shouldn't be concerned about a waste dump in our backyard is
only silliness.

 Contrary to her opinion, the people who work at Yucca are
indeed concerned about health problems. As to where to put the
waste, I would strongly suggest that it be stored where it is
made. 

MARY BEAM

 


 
*****************************************************************
 25 Las Vegas SUN: Letter: Voters can't trust Vietnam-dodging Bush on Yucca
 
Ben Barnes, a former speaker of the house in Texas and a former
lieutenant governor of that state, recently stated that he is
ashamed of himself for having helped President Bush and the sons
of other wealthy families get into the Texas Air National Guard
to avoid serving in Vietnam. He went on to say that, after
seeing the names of the dead soldiers on the Vietnam Memorial,
he became even more ashamed of himself.

 President Bush, however, has denied using his influential name
to get into the National Guard. But now, with the evidence
presented by Barnes, the media and all citizens should view
everything President Bush says with extreme caution. I say this
as a lifetime Republican and a veteran of the U.S. Army.

 Can we believe anything Bush says with respect to issues
important to us? Can we trust him to look after the interests of
those of us who are not wealthy and politically connected? Can
we believe he won't approve the dumping of nuclear waste from
all over the country here in Nevada unless it is safe? 

EUGENE OSKO

 
 
*****************************************************************
 26 AFP: Nuclear fuel ships leave Britain bound for US

LONDON (AFP) Sep 03, 2004

 Two cargo ships designed to carry nuclear fuel left Britain on 
Friday bound for the United States where they are due to pick up 
a consignment of plutonium, according to environmental group 
Greenpeace.

"The ships have left and they are on their way to the US," 
Greenpeace spokeswoman Jean McSorley said.

The two vessels left from Barrow-in-Furness in northwestern 
England and are scheduled dock in the southern port of 
Charleston, the group said.

The plutonium is to be "manufactured into experimental nuclear 
reactor fuel at French facilities operated by Areva" and its 
subsidiary Cogema, Greenpeace added.

Areva declared that the operation was designed to eliminate 
surplus stocks of US plutonium left over from the Cold War by 
recycling it like civil fuel in nuclear power stations.

Greenpeace said the plutonium was to be trucked over 1000 
kilometres in France in highly vulnerable trucks to plutonium 
fuel-manufacturing facilities before being returned to the US 
next year.

 All rights reserved. © 2004 . Sections of the information 
*****************************************************************
 27 Paducah Sun: PGDP waste shipping delayed 

Paducah, Kentucky
 
The leaks in containers from the gaseous diffusion plant briefly 
closed I-40 in Arizona last month. It will cost Bechtel Jacobs 
$200,000 in fines. 

By Bill Bartleman bbartleman@paducahsun.com--270.575.8651  

Thursday, September 02, 2004

 Shipments of radioactive and chemical waste from the Paducah 
Gaseous Diffusion Plant to nuclear waste facilities have been 
suspended because of problems with three recent shipments to the 
Nevada Test Site, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. 

The incidents that involved leaking containers will cost Bechtel 
Jacobs Co. at least $200,000 in penalties assessed by DOE. 
Bechtel Jacobs, the private firm that has a contract to oversee 
waste management and cleanup at the government-owned plant, will 
not appeal the penalties, company spokesman Greg Cook said 
Wednesday. 

Cook said the substance that leaked was absorbent packing 
material placed around hoppers inside shipping steel containers. 
In each case, the material leaked on the beds of trucks that were 
transporting the "Sealand" shipping containers. He said the 
material was harmless, and DOE confirmed it. 

"DOE clearly considers this unacceptable, and so do we," Cook 
said. 

DOE said in a letter sent to Bechtel Jacobs on Tuesday that the 
incidents raised concerns about the company's failure to develop 
or implement a sound corrective action plan after the first leak 
was report in June. "Continuation of these types of incidents 
jeopardizes the environment and the health and safety of the 
general public," DOE said in the letter. 

DOE said that under provisions allowed in its contract with 
Bechtel Jacobs, it was reducing the amount paid to the company by 
$200,000 for the 2004 fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30. "The fee 
reduction is a result of Bechtel Jacobs' failure to meet the 
minimum requirement for their Environmental, Safety &Health 
Program," DOE said. 

The suspension of shipments ordered by DOE will give Bechtel 
Jacobs time to study packing procedures and prevent future 
problems, Cook said. 

The first incident was reported June 25 when the driver of a 
truck noticed absorbent material on the truck's bed. The material 
was packed around hoppers containing uranium tetrafluoride that 
were placed inside the box-type shipping container. Uranium 
tetrafluoride is waste that had been stored at the plant for at 
least 30 years, Cook said. 

Bechtel Jacobs ordered a halt to shipments so it could determine 
the cause of the leak. Cook said the new procedures involved 
taking extra measures to caulk and seal containers. 

However, a second incident was reported Aug. 15 when another 
truck driver reported finding a small quantity of a white, 
granular solid material and clear, gellatinous material on the 
bed of the truck. The gel was a result of the absorbent 
material's getting wet, Cook said. 

It was one of five trucks transporting material to the Nevada 
Test Site, which is 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas. "We 
contacted the other drivers and asked them to inspect their 
trucks," said Cook, adding that the material was found in two 
other trucks. 

The trucks were traveling along Interstate 40 and were ordered to 
stop and wait for DOE's Radiological Assistance Program team to 
inspect and clean up the spills. One of the trucks was near 
Flagstaff, Ariz., the second about 20 miles west of Albuquerque, 
N.M., and the third near Gallup, N.M. 

In Arizona, a portion of I-40 was closed for about 45 minutes 
because state highway patrol officers weren't sure of the 
substance or its danger, Cook said. The truck had stopped at a 
roadside rest area. 

Also, DOE reported that the absorbent material leaked in another 
shipment of radioactive waste that was discovered Aug. 16 when 
the truck arrived at the Nevada Test Site, Cook said. 

DOE also said it is considering additional fines for 
noncompliance with the contract and direct costs associated with 
the incidents. 
*****************************************************************
 28 TheDay.com: Coalition Asks For Halt To Millstone Storage Work
Group cites concerns of possible terrorism
 		 		 		
Tim Cook  

  Dr. Gordon Thompson secures a banner Thursday in Waterford 
before a press conference given by the Connecticut Coalition 
Against Millstone to discuss the group's lawsuit to stop Dominion 
Nuclear Connecticut, parent company of Millstone Power Station, 
from constructing storage for spent nuclear material at the power 
plant.  

By PATRICIA DADDONA
Day Staff Writer, Waterford
Published on 9/3/2004

Waterford  The Connecticut Coalition Against Millstone called 
Thursday for a halt to the building of spent-fuel storage at 
Millstone Power Station, citing the realistic potential for 
terrorist attacks.

 Against the backdrop of the Pleasure Beach boat launch across 
from the nuclear complex, coalition leader Nancy Burton supplied 
reporters with copies of attorney Paulann Sheets' motion to stop 
construction, which was to be filed today in New Britain Superior 
Court.

 The motion is part of an appeal the coalition filed July 16 
against the Connecticut Siting Council, which in May granted 
Millstone owner Dominion Nuclear Connecticut Inc. permission to 
build a concrete pad for 49 concrete bunkers, or modules, that 
would contain metal casks of spent-fuel assemblies. 

An affidavit attached to the coalition's motion for a stay of 
construction was written by security expert Gordon Thompson, 
executive director of the nonprofit Institute for Resource and 
Security Studies in Cambridge, Mass. Thompson said his testimony 
neither affirms nor rejects the coalition's long-standing call to 
permanently shut down Millstone. Right now, he said, he and the 
coalition would rather see steps taken to better protect spent 
fuel.

 I and the coalition are not fundamentally opposed to this 
(storage) project, Thompson said. We just think it is not being 
done correctly. ... We want them to stop and do it right.... We 
believe that delay is worth making.

 Dominion officials said they needed to build the storage 
facility, in part, to free up space in the Millstone 2 pool where 
spent fuel now is stored. The two-acre storage facility will be 
used to store assemblies of pencil-thin rods filled with spent 
fuel. After cooling for five years or more in pools at each 
reactor, an assembly of 32 rods would be transferred to a metal 
cask. Each cask would be placed in a concrete bunker, or module. 
The bunkers would be lined up side by side in two rows on a 
concrete pad east of the power plants.

 Thompson said terrorist threats are more likely today than ever 
and that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is keeping the latest 
reports on the subject classified. In light of the plausibility 
of attacks on the nation's 65 nuclear power stations, available 
options for substantially reducing the level of risk should be 
pursued, he said.

 Thompson recommended increasing the thickness of the metal 
canisters to more than six-tenths of an inch and building a 
bigger facility on Millstone's 520 acres. Instead of putting 
bunkers close together in rows, Dominion should spread them out 
in pairs and buttress them on four sides with gravel, he said.

 Reached by phone Thursday, Dominion spokesman Pete Hyde said the 
siting council decided not to explore the topic of terrorist 
threats and underlying security issues because legal counsel 
deemed it to be beyond the council's jurisdiction. 

That doesn't mean it hasn't been considered, Hyde said. The 
modules we've selected are among the most robust in the industry. 
We're talking about five feet of steel reinforced on top and two 
feet thick on every side. They provide the best long-term safe 
storage solution there is. We have engineered this very, very 
carefully to ensure that the fuel is safely stored.

 We met all the requirements that were put out and we intend to 
go forward, he said.

 p.daddona@theday.com   

1998-2004 The Day Publishing Co.   	 	
*****************************************************************
 29 KESQ: Federal appeals court won't reconsider Yucca Mountain ruling

NewsChannel 3 Palm Springs, CA: 

September 4, 2004   

LAS VEGAS 

It might be up to Congress to set crucial radiation limits for a 
nuclear repository in Nevada.That's what an industry lobbyist 
says after a federal appeals court in Washington decided not to 
reconsider an order telling the E-P-A to dramatically strengthen 
radiation rules for the Yucca Mountain project.

But the Nuclear Energy Institute official adds there's been no 
formal lobbying yet.

Nevada Congresswoman Shelley Berkley the nuclear industry has 
friends in the White House and in control in Congress -- and 
she's certain they'll try to change the rules.

The appeals court ruled in July that the E-P-A should have taken 
the advice of the National Academy of Science and set a radiation 
standard for hundreds of thousands of years -- instead of 
10-thousand years.

The trouble now is that the Energy Department designed the Yucca 
project to meet the 10-thousand year standard.                                                      

Copyright 2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved. 

All content © Copyright 2002 - 2004 WorldNow and KESQ. All
Rights Reserved.
*****************************************************************
 30 Scotsman.com News: Court probe into Sellafield safety
 
Saturday, 4th September 2004    	 

NUCLEAR safety at the Sellafield plant is to be questioned in the 
courts after complaints from the European Commission. 

The European Court of Justice was today set to hear allegations 
Britain was not allowing the EC proper access for inspections. 

European inspectors need to check accounting records of the 
nuclear material and confirm it is not being diverted from 
peaceful uses. 

Earlier this year, the Government was ordered by the EC to meet 
strict EU rules on nuclear waste at Sellafield or face stiff 
penalties. The threat was accompanied by a deadline of June 1 to 
come up with a plan for "adequate" accounting for how spent 
nuclear fuel - currently stored in a "pond" at the Sellafield 
site - has been processed. 

The situation at Sellafield was "unacceptable", said energy 
Commissioner Loyola de Palacio. 

"This problem has been known for a long time, but no concrete 
initiative has been taken by the operator to rectify it. The 
situation had become untenable for the Commission. 

"It calls into question the credibility of our safeguards, which 
our team of inspectors has been carrying out for 50 years in 
accordance with high standards." 

A government spokesman said at the time: "We know there is a 
problem and we are open about that. The Government has already 
set up a decommissioning agency to clean up at Sellafield, but 
this is not something we will be rushed into." 

Under the 1957 Euratom Treaty, it is up to EU inspectors to check 
accounting records of the nuclear material and compare them with 
the results of on-the-spot inspections.                 [ 

2004 Scotsman.com
*****************************************************************
 31 UK: News & Star: Armed ships collect US nuclear waste
       
Published on 03/09/2004                                                                 
							 							 							
ARMED BNFL ships were to leave Barrow today bound for Charleston, 
America, to collect plutonium recovered from redundant US nuclear 
weapons.
 
The Pacific Pintail and its sister vessel Pacific Teal â€“ the 
only dedicated nuclear freighters of their type in the world, 
dedicated to the transport of nuclear material â€“ will carry the 
plutonium to France in a giant steel flask. 

It will then be converted into Mox fuel assemblies.
 
Their journey is part of a program being implemented by the 
United States Department Of Energy (USDOE) for the disposition of 
former weapons plutonium, by using it in a nuclear reactor for 
generating electricity. 

news@cumbrian-newspapers.co.ukor post it on our Forums



*****************************************************************
 32 Pahrump Valley Times: Fate of Yucca project shrouded in doubt 
 
September 3, 2004

ENERGY DEPARTMENT DATABASE 'MISHANDLED' CLAIMS NUCLEAR LICENSING 
BOARD ON TUESDAY 

By STEVE TETREAULT PVT 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 re-certified, 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 
now 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 re-certification 
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 the end of 
the year. 

"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 totaling 5.6 
million pages of technical reports, studies and e-mails 
chronicling years of DOE's repository effort. 

Attorneys for the state of Nevada challenged the database, saying 
DOE rushed an incomplete job to stay on deadline. They argued 30 
million pages of documents and more than four million emails were 
missing, while access to documents on key issues like 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 might 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 re-certification," 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 up front, to avoid delays in an NRC 
licensing process that resembles a courtroom trial.

 Staff members at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission 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 re-certified. 

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, D-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."

For comment or questions, please e-mail Copyright © Pahrump 
Valley Times, 1997 - 2004 
*****************************************************************
 33 Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Nuclear waste changes sought at Hanford and other sites
 	 	 	 	 	 
[seattlepi.com]     

Thursday, May 6, 2004 
 New proposal would allow Energy Dept. to skip cleanup of the
most lethal material 

By CHARLES POPE SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER WASHINGTON 
CORRESPONDENT

WASHINGTON -- A South Carolina senator, working in concert with 
senior Energy Department officials, has quietly proposed changing 
federal law to allow lethal waste at the Hanford Nuclear 
Reservation and other nuclear weapons plants to remain in 
underground tanks rather than being removed and sent to a more 
secure disposal site. 

The proposal from Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., is included in the 
defense authorization bill. It was heavily shaped -- if not 
written -- by the Energy Department. Jill Lea Sigal, a deputy 
assistant energy secretary, is listed as "author" on the document 
Graham's office submitted with the legislative language. 

The Energy Department did not return several phone calls seeking 
comment on the policy and Sigal's involvement. The department has 
actively been pursuing the change since 2002, saying that it 
needs the power to reclassify waste to accelerate cleanup and 
direct money to deal with the most dangerous waste. Each time, 
however, either Congress or the courts have blocked the 
department, including a federal court ruling last year that 
prohibited the Energy Department from reclassifying waste. 

What the department is trying to do now through legislation 
amounts to the same thing, critics say. 

Whoever wrote the provision, all sides agree it would have 
profound effects on future cleanup at the Energy Department's 
highly contaminated weapons plants. An aide to Graham said his 
measure would accelerate cleanup by removing ambiguity about 
which waste needs to be removed. The Energy Department has argued 
that it should be allowed to leave some residual waste in the 
tanks because the cost of removing it would far outweigh the 
benefits. Cement would be added to the sludge to stabilize it and 
prevent it from leeching into water tables. At Hanford, that 
could leave more than 35 million gallons of highly radioactive 
sludge and salt cake in the ground. 

"Removal of the 'heel' in the tanks is technically difficult, 
very costly, and poses unnecessary risks to worker safety," 
Graham explains in a summary of his proposal. "Removing the last 
1 percent of waste is nearly as expensive as removing the first 
95 percent." 

Critics argue that the change would allow the Energy Department 
alone to define "clean" and would leave states little power to 
challenge the department's decision. 

"It is an enormous change. It turns the Nuclear Waste Policy Act 
on its head," said attorney Geoffrey Fettus, referring to the 
1982 law that dictates how nuclear materials are handled and 
disposed. Fettus, a staff attorney with the Natural Resources 
Defense Council, successfully sued the department last year to 
block the policy. 

"It totally subverts the nuclear waste policy act by essentially 
allowing DOE to exempt itself ... DOE is essentially rewriting 
the law that they had broken. If that is a minor change then it 
would be a minor change to split the state of Washington into two 
states," he said. 



    
    

Graham's approach would potentially allow millions of gallons of 
sludge-like radioactive waste to be reclassified as less 
dangerous low-level waste. 

The Hanford nuclear weapons complex is among the most 
contaminated places on Earth, with large amounts of radioactive, 
chemical and mixed waste that were byproducts of 50 years of 
nuclear weapons production. Cleanup costs are estimated at more 
than $50 billion. 

The Energy Department has been struggling for decades to make 
progress and in 2002 it changed gears, proposing to make cleanup 
both faster and cheaper by leaving some of the waste behind. The 
danger, critics say, is that giving the department the authority 
to reclassify waste would allow it to declare a site fully 
cleaned without removing some of the most dangerous waste. 
Washington state has opposed the change in court and in Congress. 

"Trying to rename high-level nuclear waste doesn't change the 
fact that it is still a dangerous, toxic, radioactive sludge that 
needs to be cleaned up," said Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash. "The 
DOE is just trying to circumvent what the courts have already 
decided, which is that they can't reclassify it and the DOE needs 
to clean it up." 

Cantwell and Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., wrote a letter yesterday 
to the committee's chairman, John Warner, R-Va., and ranking 
Democrat, Carl Levin of Michigan, expressing their alarm and 
asking that the provision be stripped from the bill. 

"This amendment would give the Bush administration unilateral 
authority to redefine what constitutes 'cleaned up,' " the letter 
said. "We oppose this language because it would significantly 
alter the way in which DOE is allowed to define 'high-level 
radioactive waste,' and would minimize the role of regulators in 
overseeing decisions regarding this waste's disposal. In short, 
this language would give the administration the authority to turn 
the corroding, underground storage tanks at Hanford -- and 
elsewhere within the DOE complex -- into permanent repositories 
for an indeterminate amount of DOE's nuclear waste inventory. We 
believe this is unacceptable." 

Fettus agreed that the effect on Hanford could be profound. 

"Not only could waste at Hanford be left in tanks, it could be 
the recipient of waste from other facilities," he said. "Hanford 
has a long history of worst-case scenarios being visited upon 
it," Fettus said. "This provision will allow DOE to leave the 
most highly radioactive portion of the most radioactive waste on 
the site beneath a layer of grout." 

Opponents will try to strip the language out of the defense bill 
today when the Senate Armed Services Committee meets. An aide to 
Graham acknowledged the unexpected opposition and said his 
proposal might be changed to limit it to only the Energy 
Department's facility in South Carolina. Contact P-I Washington 
correspondent Charles Pope at 202-263-6461 or 
charliepope@seattlepi.com 

  [Seattle Post-Intelligencer] 101 Elliott Ave. W. Seattle, WA 
98119 (206) 448-8000
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 34 Courier-Journal: Paducah plant cleanup company fined for leaks
 
www.courier-journal.com

Friday, September 03, 2004     
  
Associated Press
 
PADUCAH, Ky.  The company overseeing waste management and cleanup 
at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant will pay at least $200,000 
in penalties for having leaking containers in three recent 
shipments to the Nevada Test Site, the Department of Energy said. 

Meanwhile, shipments of radioactive and chemical waste from the 
plant to nuclear waste facilities have been suspended. 

Greg Cook, a spokesman for Bechtel Jacobs, the cleanup company, 
said it will not appeal the penalties. 

Cook said the substance that leaked was absorbent packing 
material placed around hoppers inside steel containers. In each 
case, the material leaked on the beds of trucks that were 
transporting the containers. He said the material was harmless, 
and the Energy Department confirmed it. 

"DOE clearly considers this unacceptable, and so do we," Cook 
said. 

The suspension of shipments will give Bechtel Jacobs time to 
study packing procedures and prevent future problems, Cook said. 

The first incident was reported June 25 when the driver of a 
truck noticed absorbent material on the truck's bed. The material 
was packed around hoppers containing uranium tetrafluoride that 
were placed inside the box-type shipping container. 

Uranium tetrafluoride is waste that had been stored at the plant 
for at least 30 years, Cook said. Bechtel Jacobs ordered a halt 
to shipments so it could determine the cause of the leak. 

A second incident was reported Aug. 15 when another truck driver 
reported finding a small quantity of a white, granular solid 
material and clear, gelatinous material on the bed of the truck. 
The gel was a result of the absorbent material's getting wet, 
Cook said. 

The truck was one of five transporting material to the Nevada 
Test Site, 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas. 

"We contacted the other drivers and asked them to inspect their 
trucks," Cook said, adding that the material was found in two 
other trucks. 

The trucks were traveling along Interstate 40 and were ordered to 
stop and wait for the Energy Department's Radiological Assistance 
Program team to inspect and clean up the spills. 

One of the trucks was near Flagstaff, Ariz., and the second was 
about 20 miles west of Albuquerque, N.M. The third incident was 
reported on Aug. 16. 

In Arizona, a portion of I-40 was closed for about 45 minutes 
because state highway patrol officers weren't sure of the 
substance or its danger, Cook said. The truck had stopped at a 
roadside rest area. 

The Energy Department also said it is considering additional 
fines for noncompliance with the contract and direct costs 
associated with the incidents.

Copyright 2004 The Courier-Journal.
*****************************************************************
 35 UCS BulletinWire News: Hanford contractor slapped with fine                                            
 		
September 2, 2004
 						
Days after Washington State officials and Hanford Site workers 
celebrated  a landmark removal of liquid radioactive and chemical 
waste, the Energy Department fined the main contractor in the 
cleanup effort $300,000 for safety violations.
 						
Energy rebuked CH2M Hill Group—the company managing Hanfords 
much-maligned tank farms—for failures in its project planning, 
anticipation of conditions, and adherence to company guidelines.
 						
A spokesperson for CH2M issued a terse, conciliatory response: We 
realize that the work we are doing is complex and difficult. We 
are committed to address these issues head-on by quickly 
identifying and correcting the root causes of these problems 
(Tri-City Herald, August 27).
 						
Tom Carpenter, director of the Nuclear Oversight Campaign for the 
Government Accountability Project (GAP), and Clare Gilbert, an 
associate at GAP, detailed CH2Ms habit of favoring quick, 
cost-effective cleanup over safety in the May/June Bulletin.
 					
[CHM2M Hill] has reduced workers rights to suspend work if they
think they are endangered, Carpenter and Gilbert wrote. The
company has transferred tasks typically completed by trained
technicians to construction workers who have little job security
and limited job-specific training. Managers have been permitted
to sign waivers to increase a workers radiological exposure
limits without the workers knowledge, according to GAP
investigators, and have increased the threshold of safe wind
conditions from 10 miles per hour to 25 miles per hour (recently
tank sluicing operations forged ahead even in 50 mile-per-hour
winds).
                                                                                                        
The violations cited by Energy were similar to the safety hazards 
posed by the cost-efficient initiatives documented in the 
Bulletin. On May 6, a pressurized alarm went off in the 241-AP 
tank farm, alleged one of Energys recent complaints. Some workers 
were told to finish lowering a load suspended from a crane 
instead of immediately evacuating.
 													
Another complaint read: On May 24, the clothing of two workers 
was contaminated as a pump was removed from a trailer. Inadequate 
planning for the job led to just one plastic bag between the pump 
and workers. Multiple holes were found in the bag. In addition, a 
health physics technician was not continuously present.
 													
 by Tom Carpenter and Clare Gilbert, May/June 2004
 																Hanford: Piling It On, by John Abbotts,
May/June 2004
*****************************************************************
 36 Colorado Daily: Brever talks Flats at CU

 By RICHARD VALENTY Colorado Daily Staff Writer 

The former Rocky Flats plutonium trigger production site could be 
open for human recreation as a National Wildlife Refuge in the 
near future, and while many government officials say the site 
will be safe for visitors or employees, one former Flats employee 
says the site should be closed forever.

Jacque Brever began working at Rocky Flats in 1982, and on 
Thursday visited CU-Boulder as a guest speaker before CU 
instructor Adrienne Anderson's "Environmental Ethics: Race, Class 
and Pollution Politics" class.

On June 6, 1989, Brever was working at the Flats when FBI agents 
raided the facility in search of information about alleged 
plutonium-related environmental crimes.

"It was mass chaos," said Brever, adding that she and many other 
employees didn't know why the FBI paid its early-morning visit.

Brever said she learned that one reason for the raid was to 
investigate alleged illegal plutonium waste incineration at 
Building 771, and became concerned that she might be in legal 
trouble because she took part in the burning as an employee. 

According to Brever, she asked Flats management for documented
records of her activities, and the managers took her into an
office and asked her which documents she needed.

"Inadvertently, I was giving them an idea of which documents
they needed to destroy," said Brever.

Brever cooperated with FBI agents on site, leading some Flats
employees to believe she be responsible for the plant's closure
and cost them their jobs. Brever said somebody within the plant
sabotaged her "glovebox," exposing her to radiation. Her phone
was tapped, she said, and people threw rocks at her windows.

A special grand jury Flats investigation ended in 1992, and 
Rockwell International, the plant operator at the time, was fined 
$18 million, a sum that Brever described as equal to the bonus 
money Rockwell received from the federal government while the 
plant was under investigation.

Brever said she then had "resignation papers shoved in my face," 
and went into hiding shortly thereafter. 

In 2001, Brever said she got a phone call from attorney Caron 
Balkany, who was trying to get Brever to talk about the Flats. 
Brever said she didn't want to do it, but Balkany told her there 
were plans to turn the Flats into a refuge, which made Brever 
decide to become active in opposing the project.

Balkany and grand jury foreman Wes McKinley wrote a book called 
"The Ambushed Grand Jury," released in 2004, with Brever's story 
featured prominently.

Today, Brever is trying to raise awareness about the possibility 
Flats visitors could still be exposed to radiation after a DOE / 
Kaiser-Hill Company site cleanup is completed.

Brever said she believes there are at least two areas on the 
Flats site that DOE has excluded from the cleanup. She said she 
and other employees used to dump "four-liter bottles" of 
contaminated water into an area called the 771 "Duck Pond" 
because employees called the activity "feeding the ducks."

A Sept. 1 DOE release said the Duck Pond is the same pond 
referred to as "Bowman's Pond," which DOE says is being 
"remediated." Brever does not believe the two ponds are the same.

Brever submitted a 2004 document to DOE about possible 
contaminated areas, and a Sept. 1 response from DOE project 
director Joseph Legare said, "no new information about ... 
environmental contamination at the site is contained in your 
paper."

Brever disagrees, and suggested to Anderson's students that they 
should study the issue and oppose opening the refuge to humans.

"If we accept one inch, we accept it all. I think we should shut 
it down now," said Brever. 

*****************************************************************
 37 Rocky Mountain News: DOE's failure to act irks Flats critics

Agency says claims of hidden pollution have been addressed

By Ann Imse, Rocky Mountain News

September 3, 2004

Rocky Flats grand jury activists say the Department of Energy 
failed to respond to some of their claims of hidden plutonium 
pollution at the former weapons plant. 

In August, the activists issued a detailed report on four areas 
at Rocky Flats where they said workers dumped radioactive and 
other toxic pollution during the Cold War, but which were not 
being decontaminated. 

 On Wednesday, the DOE rejected the allegations, saying each area 
had been investigated and addressed in its $7 billion cleanup of 
the former nuclear weapons plant. 

But former Rocky Flats worker and whistle-blower Jacque Brever, 
now an environmental scientist, said the DOE wrongfully claimed 
that the so-called duck pond and the Wind Site Landfill did not 
actually exist. 

"They're looking at the wrong pond," she said. The DOE said it 
found "Bowman's Pond" in the location of Brever's "duck pond," 
and Bowman's is scheduled for cleanup. Brever insists they are 
two different ponds. 

She said the duck pond is "right outside Building 771, 
immediately northeast." 

That building has been emptied and is being demolished. 

She said the DOE did not claim to have looked for the Wind Site 
Landfill except in documents and aerial photographs. 

The DOE said it examined other dumping grounds in the vicinity 
identified by Brever and is addressing pollution found in those 
locations. But it found no landfill at the area called Wind Site. 

The grand jury activists have been trying to get the secret 
findings of the 1992 grand jury released as part of the cleanup. 

imsea@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-892-5438 

 The E.W. Scripps
*****************************************************************
 38 Google News Alert - nuclear
 
Date: Fri, 03 Sep 2004 15:05:28 -0700 (PDT)

 
EU presses Iran to cooperate more with UN nuclear watchdog
EUbusiness - London,UK
EU foreign ministers expressed concern Friday over Iran's nuclear plans
and called on it to cooperate more closely with UN nuclear watchdog the
International ...
<http://www.eubusiness.com/afp/040903185800.40696coo>
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SEOUL says nuclear work not authorized
International Herald Tribune - Paris,France
... spokesman, Oh Joon, adding that South Korea believed the disclosure
would have no effect on international efforts to end North Korea's nuclear
weapons ambitions ...
<http://www.iht.com/articles/537185.html>
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SOUTH African Held on Nuclear-related Weapons Charges
Voice of America - Washington,DC,USA
A South African businessman has appeared in court on charges of importing
materials which could be used in the manufacture of nuclear products.
...
<http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectID=4317ACE9-9753-460C-80FA62D5832F17A4&title=South%20African%20Held%20on%20Nuclear-related%20Weapons%20Charges>
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SELLAFIELD nuclear plant
Voice of America - Washington,DC,USA
The European Commission is suing Britain for denying inspectors adequate
access to its controversial Sellafield nuclear plant. European ...
<http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectID=3C994702-D647-4ADD-85DC0A4A2BC3C135&title=EC%20Sues%20Britain%20Over%20Sellafield%20Nuclear%20Plant&catOID=45C9C78C-88AD-11D4-A57200A0CC5EE46C&categoryname=Europe>
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US Links S.Africa Nuclear Suspect to Libya, AQ Khan
Reuters - USA
... Africa (Reuters) - The United States Friday linked a South African
charged under weapons of mass destruction laws with Libya's clandestine
nuclear program and ...
<http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6147845>
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NUCLEAR power plant back in service
Newsday - Long Island,NY,USA
BUCHANAN, NY (AP) _ The Indian Point 2 nuclear power plant, out of service
since a valve malfunction Wednesday, went back on line Friday morning,
its owner said ...
<http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/ny-bc-ny--indianpoint0903sep03,0,5051083.story?coll=ny-ap-regional-wire>
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JAPAN nuclear firm reopens plants
BBC News - London,England,UK
Japan has allowed the utility giant Kansai Electric Power Co (Kepco) to
resume operations at two of its 11 nuclear reactors. Last ...
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WASHINGTON accused of thwarting nuclear ban
Houston Chronicle - Houston,TX,USA
... US official Thursday accused the Bush administration of trying to derail
a proposed international ban on production of material used to make nuclear
weapons. ...
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IRAN Sees Nuclear Lesson in Iraq, N.Korea -Experts
ABC News - USA
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration may think tough talk will
discourage Iran's nuclear ambitions, but US policy on Iraq and North Korea
has left ...
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IRAN: Bushehr nuclear power plant spent fuel agreement to be ...
Payvand - Iran
Moscow, Sept 2, IRNA -- Iran's Ambassador to Russia said in Moscow on Thursday
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 39 JEWISH JOURNAL: Everything’s Relative

Jewish Journal Of Greater Los Angeles

2004-09-03   

The Skirball celebrates the life, legacy and loves of Einstein. 

by Tom Tugend, Contributing Editor
 ['PHOTO'] 
Albert Einstein at Carnegie Hall in New York City, April 1,
1934. Photo by Clyde Fisher/American Museum of Natural History   

Visitors entering the exhibit on Albert Einstein first have to 
pass through a gravity-warping black hole. 

It’s the only disorienting experience in a mind-stretching 
encounter with the life, loves and thoughts of the man who, in a 
very real sense, explained and shaped the modern world in which 
we live. 

Simply named "Einstein," the nearly nine-month-long exhibit, the 
largest ever mounted by the Skirball Cultural Center, opens Sept. 
14 and closes May 29, 2005. 

In the words of Dr. Uri Herscher, the Skirball’s founding 
president, "We are trying to show that Einstein was not only a 
scientific genius, but a deeply involved humanist, a passionate 
advocate of social justice and a dedicated Zionist. He used his 
global stardom in striving to better the world in which he 
lived." 

The exhibit also marks the centennial of Einstein’s annus 
mirabilis, the miracle year of 1905, when the 26-year-old 
"technical expert third class" in the Swiss patent office 
published four scientific papers, including the special theory of 
relativity, which revolutionized the concepts of time, space, 
energy and matter. 

From those four theoretical papers sprung such discoveries as 
X-rays, crystallography, DNA, photoelectric effect, vacuum tubes, 
transistors, the mechanics of the information age and the 
foundation of the atomic age. 

Paralleling the new scientific vistas of the time were 
experiments in painting, literature and other arts, and radiating 
from the exhibit will be some three-dozen satellite lectures, 
films, plays, dance recitals, side exhibits, adult classes, 
family programs, publications and even a cabaret. 

"Einstein" also marks the inauguration of the Skirball’s new 
Winnick Hall, designed by architect Moshe Safdie, with its 
300-foot-long unbroken gallery space and light-diffusing 
skylights. 

Grace Cohen Grossman, the Skirball’s senior curator, gave an 
advance visitor a compact rundown on the exhibit’s nine thematic 
sections: 

• Einstein’s Revolution — How Einstein, in his special and 
general theories of relativity, overthrew the classic Newtonian 
view of gravity. 

• Life and Times — Einstein’s childhood and early studies in 
Germany and Switzerland and his sometimes stormy relationships 
with women, illustrated through original artifacts and family 
photos. A video narrated by actor Alan Alda explains some basic 
physics concepts. 

• Light — A kinetic light sculpture illustrates Einstein’s 
revolutionary theories on the nature of light. 

• Time — Displays and movie clips prove Einstein’s dictum that 
the faster a traveler goes the slower time passes. 

• Energy — The world’s most famous mathematical equation, E=mc2, 
is explained through interactive displays. 

• Gravity — On a wall-sized interactive computer screen, visitors 
can use their own body mass to explore Einstein’s notion of 
gravity as a warping of time-space. 

• Einstein in Peace and War — The great physicist was also a 
proud Jew, musician, sailor, pacifist, atheist, Zionist and even 
a fundraiser for Hebrew University. Included are originals and 
copies of Einstein’s correspondence with President Roosevelt, 
Sigmund Freud and other luminaries, as well as an installation on 
Einstein’s lengthy stays in Southern California. 

• Global Citizen — Einstein spoke out passionately against 
segregation, anti-Semitism, McCarthyism and nuclear armament, 
activities that earned him a 1,500-page FBI dossier. Included is 
the original letter offering him the presidency of the State of 
Israel. 

• Einstein’s Legacy — Videotaped interviews with many of today’s 
leading physicists, emphasizing Einstein’s lasting impact on our 
world. 

To create the exhibit, Hebrew University in Jerusalem, to which 
Einstein willed his intellectual legacy, released many original 
documents and artifacts, some of which will be displayed for the 
first time at the Skirball exhibit. 

The bulk of the exhibit was first organized and shown at the 
American Museum of Natural History in New York, with Michael M. 
Shara as the curator, in collaboration with Hebrew University. 

For the Skirball run, the cultural center’s senior vice 
president, Lori Starr, coordinated the collaborative efforts of 
the California Institute of Technology, University of Southern 
California and the J. Paul Getty Trust. 

Caltech will present talks by leading scientists during the 
Einstein Centennial Lectures, from March to November of next 
year. 

USC’s Labyrinth Project is erecting an innovative installation, 
"Three Winters in the Sun: Einstein in California," which tracks 
his meetings with scientific colleagues, fellow Jewish émigrés 
and the Hollywood glitterati. USC educators have also prepared a 
classroom study program to prepare student groups visiting the 
exhibit. 

The Getty Research Institute will be represented at the Skirball 
in a series of lectures, film screenings, and the exhibit 
"Time/Space, Gravity and Light," which explores the relationships 
between art and technology. 

UCLA is offering an Extension course on "Einstein for Poets." 

During the run of the Skirball exhibit, a specially trained group 
of "explainers," mostly retired physics teachers, will augment 
the center’s docents. Audio tours will also be available. 

Advance tickets for "Einstein" will go on sale Sept. 7. $12 
(general admission), $10 (group rates), $8 (students and 
seniors), free (Skirball members and children under 12). Visiting 
hours are Tues.-Sat., noon-5 p.m., Sun. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Free 
entrance on Thursday evenings, 5 - 9 p.m., between Sept. 23-Dec. 
30. Closed Mondays and holidays. For tickets or more information, 
contact (310) 440-4500 or visit www.ticketweb.com or 
www.skirball.org. 

For a complete list of programs, visit www.jewishjournal.com. 
  
© 2004 The Jewish Journal, All Rights Reserved   
    
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