***************************************************************** 09/20/04 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 12.225 ***************************************************************** RADBULL IS PRODUCED BY THE ABALONE ALLIANCE CLEARINGHOUSE ***************************************************************** Send News Stories to news@energy-net.org with title on subject line and first line of body NUCLEAR POLICY 1 [NYTr] Iraq WMD Evidence Was "Very Thin" - Butler 2 US: AxisofLogic: Here He Comes Again....Colin Powell and the WMD 3 Las Vegas SUN: Nuclear Agency Urges Iran to Heed Demands 4 AFP: Iran angered but leaves door open for negotiations in nuclear s 5 JoongAng Daily: North vows to keep nuclear program 6 Korea Herald: Korea, Kazakhstan discuss oil, uranium 7 BBC: UK oil firm strides into N Korea 8 BBC: IAEA resumes S Korea probe 9 TIME.com: North Korea's Nuke Mystery -- 10 Korea: Digital Chosunilbo: IAEA Chief Urges N. Korea to Allow Inspec 11 Korea Times: Seoul, Astana Agree to Promote Energy Cooperation 12 Korea Times: Roh's Energy Diplomacy Gets Boost 13 Korea Times: IAEA Begins New Inspection of Nuclear Facilities 14 Korea Times: NK Vows Not to Give Up Nuke Programs 15 Korea: Digital Chosunilbo: Hu Jintao to Bring Changes in Sino-North 16 US: Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Seattle vulnerable to nuclear terror 17 Straits Times: It's tough trying to curb N-arms race in Asia - 18 BBC: Halliburton hit with Nigeria ban 19 Xinhuanet: China pursues policy of nuclear non-proliferation 20 Xinhuanet: IAEA director-general praises China's contribution 21 AFP: IAEA and ElBaradei favorites for Nobel Peace Prize - experts NUCLEAR REACTORS 22 US: Censored: New Nuke Plants: Taxpayers Support, Industry Profits 23 US: [NukeNet] Nuke letter to the editor in Ohio 24 UPI: Czech nuclear reactor shut down after fault - 25 US: UPI: Study says nuke power more competitive - 26 US: NRC: NRC to Meet with Pacific Gas & Electric to Discuss Radioact 27 Indian Express: PUC against Daroli nuclear plant 28 US: Hudson Valley News: Kelly repeats call for Indian Point walk-dow 29 Sofia Morning News: Tender Selects Bulgaria's 2nd Nuke Technology 30 US: Las Vegas SUN: NRC Says Ohio Reactor Damage 'Significant' 31 US: NRC: NRC to Meet with Honeywell Officials on September 30 To Dis NUCLEAR SAFETY 32 Guardian Unlimited: EPA Seeking New Yucca Radiation Standard 33 MoJo: Under the Radar 34 Sunday Herald: Fury as Bomb-Grade Plutonium Sets Sail for France 35 US: [RADFOOD] Fall Food Newsletter 36 US: Breathing Uranium Oxide: Depleted Uranium Comes Home 37 US: IEER update: Nuclear fallout; plutonium discrepancies; Yucca 38 US: SignOnSanDiego.com: Military -- 'Atomic veterans' fight for bene 39 US: Las Vegas SUN: Scientist says new time frame needed for radiatio 40 rbc.ru: Russian nuclear sub to arrive in France 41 US: NRC: NRC Cites Surry Nuclear Power Plant for Inspection Findings 42 US: NRC: Note to Editors: NRC Issues Preliminary Risk Analysis of th NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE 43 Las Vegas SUN: Iran May Soon Resume Uranium Enrichment 44 Fury as Bomb-Grade Plutonium Sets Sail for France from U.S. 45 Las Vegas SUN: DOE may miss goal for Yucca license 46 US: The Advertiser-Tribune: Where'd Kerry put wastes? 47 PBP: Nevada's five electoral votes could be jackpot in presidential NUCLEAR WEAPONS 48 Korea Times: Peaceful Nuclear Activities US DEPT. OF ENERGY 49 Tri-City Herald: Tales of a Tri-City icon 50 Seattle Times: Cantwell pushes to revive Hanford screening OTHER NUCLEAR 51 Platts: Energy secretary looks ahead to hydrogen-based economy 52 BBJ: Duratek to aid environmental cleanup contract - ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** FULL NEWS STORIES ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** 1 [NYTr] Iraq WMD Evidence Was "Very Thin" - Butler Date: Mon, 20 Sep 2004 10:33:22 -0500 (CDT) Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit sent by John Clancy The Guardian Weekly - Sept 17, 2004 WMD: Evidence 'very thin,' says Butler by Richard Norton-Taylor The government failed to make clear that the evidence that Saddam Hussein had concealed weapons of mass destruction was "very thin," Lord Butler, who headed the inquiry into the intelligence failings, said last week. The former cabinet secretary was speaking for the first time, in a Lords debate on Iraq, since his report was published in July. He insisted that his report did not say "no one was to blame for the shortcomings," just that "no individual" was to blame. Lord Butler told the Lords: "Although none of us on the committee doubted or doubt today the prime minister's and the government's good faith in concluding that Saddam Hussein had concealed stocks of chemical and biological weapons - that was a view shared by most other countries and indeed by [chief weapons inspector] Dr Hans Blix - the government's dossier in September 2002 did not make clear that the intelligence underlying those conclusions was very thin." * Search the NYTr Archives at: http://olm.blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/ To subscribe or unsubscribe or change your settings via the web, visit: http://olm.blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= ***************************************************************** 2 AxisofLogic: Here He Comes Again....Colin Powell and the WMD Critical Analysis www.axisoflogic.com By W. Vic Ratsma, Axis Columnist Sep 20, 2004, 13:24 No-one who has followed the events leading up to the war in Iraq will ever forget the presentation that US Secretary of State Colin Powell made to the Security Council of the United Nations. With documented evidence in hand and with photographs displayed Powell sought to convince the Security Council members that Saddam Hussein's Iraq was full of dangerous weapons of mass destruction, dangerous not only to the Middle Eastern region but also to the United States and indeed the whole world. These weapons, so argued Powell can be provided to terrorist groups and rogue nations to attack America and the rest of the 'civilized' world and therefore the UN should approve of and nations should participate in a full scale attack on Iraq in order to eliminate this danger. But the majority of the members on the Security Council did not find Powell's evidence very convincing and denied the US/British resolution, which lead to Bush declaring the UN 'irrelevant' and launching an illegal attack on his own, together with a handful of allies. It has long since been proven that virtually all of Colin Powell's evidence of WMD and other weaponry supposedly in the hands of Saddam Hussein, was false. Highly embarrassing information showed that some of the data was about ten years old and had been assembled by a student, many of the identified sites had been or were later visited by UN inspectors and were found harmless, documents that provided so-called proof of purchase of uranium from Niger were shown to be fakes etc. After such an embarrassing display of unreliable 'intelligence' one might expect that Powell would think twice before attempting to play the same game again. After all, he himself had to admit later that his information was incorrect. But no. Here he was again just a few days ago, showing aerial photographs of a location in Iran and accusing the Iranian government of developing weapons of mass destruction, something the Iranians have repeatedly denied. USA Today reports "Powell said the United States wants the U.N. Security Council to impose economic, political and/or diplomatic sanctions against Iran because of steps he believes Iran is taking toward developing nuclear weapons". Powell's brazenness is however not matched by the head of the Atomic Energy Inspection Agency (IAEA) El Baradei. Speaking with the BBC's diplomatic reporter, El Baradei said that he has not seen an eminent danger from Iran and would prefer to give diplomacy and ratification time to work on the issue. The director general said that the U.S. policy right now is to send Iran's nuclear dossier to the UN Security Council, adding that the U.S. representatives are discussing the issue with the IAEA board members. He said the lessons he had learned from Iraq had taught him to act cautiously with regard to Iran's nuclear program. "I have to rely on facts; I can't speculate; I really have to walk very surely and steadily," El Baradei said. Few will deny that El Baradei's position is a reasonable one and one that should be followed. But during the Iraq debate, the IAEA position as well as that of Hans Blick and his UN inspection team was also most reasonable but was nevertheless spurned by the US/British coalition. Only time will tell if the same scenario that unfolded in Iraq will be repeated with respect to Iran. Powell's move may just be a pre-election ploy that fizzles away in due course. However his first steps are not very promising as they bear great likeness to what transpired with respect to Hussein's Iraq. © Copyright 2004 by AxisofLogic.com W. Vic Ratsma is a lifelong political activist, now retired and living in Nova Scotia, Canada. He is a columnist for Axis of Logic and occasionally writes some poetry as well. He also contributes articles in both English and Dutch to a number of other progressive publications. He can be reached at ***************************************************************** 3 Las Vegas SUN: Nuclear Agency Urges Iran to Heed Demands By GEORGE JAHN ASSOCIATED PRESS VIENNA, Austria (AP) - Sounding an alarm over nuclear proliferation, the head of the U.N. atomic watchdog agency said Monday that more than 40 countries have the know-how to produce nuclear weapons and that the agency is only relying on their "good intentions" to reveal all their activities. Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, also urged Iran to heed international demands to freeze technology that can be used for nuclear weapons, and cooperate with his probe of "serious concerns" about Tehran's nuclear activities. Iran, however, has remained defiant, with one official saying his country may resume uranium enrichment at "any moment." In a keynote address to the IAEA's general conference, ElBaradei suggested it was time to tighten world policing of nuclear activities, which until recent years had relied mostly on countries volunteering information. Beyond the declared nuclear-arms countries, "some estimates indicate that 40 countries or more now have the know-how to produce nuclear weapons," ElBaradei said. "We are relying primarily on the continued good intentions of these countries," he said, adding that those intentions could be "subject to rapid change." His comments appeared prompted by a series of revelations of proliferation or suspected illicit nuclear activities in the past two years. Libya last year revealed a clandestine nuclear arms program and said it would scrap it; North Korea is threatening to activate a weapons program; Iran is being investigated for what the United States says is evidence it was trying to make nuclear arms; and South Korea recently revealed secret experiments with plutonium and enriched uranium, both possible components of weapons programs. ElBaradei linked the need for strengthened controls to concerns about the international nuclear black market, which supplied both Iran and Libya and whose existence was revealed last year. The "relative ease with which a multinational illicit network could be set up and operate demonstrates clearly the inadequacy" of the present controls on nuclear exports, he said. ElBaradei's focus on Iran reflected a demand just two days earlier of the IAEA's 35-nation governing board that Iran freeze all work on uranium enrichment. The resolution passed by the agency was its toughest yet on Tehran but didn't go as far as the United States had sought - stopping short of saying Iran will automatically be sent to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions if it fails to meet the demands by November. The resolution said the board "considers it necessary" that Iran suspend all uranium enrichment and related programs. And it expressed alarm at Tehran's plans to convert more than 40 tons of raw uranium into uranium hexafluoride - the gas that when spun in centrifuges turns into enriched uranium. Suggesting that Iran may have to answer to the U.N. Security Council if it defies the demands, the resolution said the next board meeting in November "will decide whether or not further steps are appropriate" in ensuring Iran complies. Iran's intelligence minister, Ali Yunesi, told state television, however, that his country "may resume (enrichment) any moment." "The resolution is illegal," he said. "The Islamic Republic of Iran ... will ignore the provisions of the resolution because it is beyond the responsibilities of the IAEA." Delivering the same message at the Vienna conference, Iranian Vice President Reza Aghazadeh said his country will "continue its nuclear activities without interruption." U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, in his comments to the conference, urged Iran to "cooperate fully and immediately with the IAEA's requests." And speaking for the 25-nation European Union, Dutch delegate Justus de Visser asked Tehran to "heed the content of the resolution, and in particular ... suspend fully all its enrichment-related activities." Russia also urged Iran to comply with the resolution, saying it represented a compromise. "The resolution gives markers on how to remove all the outstanding questions in the optimal way, through cooperation," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. "In particular, it addresses an appeal to Tehran to renew the moratorium on all enrichment work. We, too, support this appeal." Russia is finishing work on a $800 million reactor in southern Iran, which has drawn protests from the United States and Israel. Washington fears the plant can be used to build nuclear weapons, but Iran insists it is only for peaceful energy needs. Russia says it will start shipping fuel to Iran as soon as Tehran signs a protocol on returning spent nuclear fuel to Russia for storage and reprocessing. In his comments Monday, ElBaradei urged Iran to comply with the resolution - to "verify its past nuclear program and ... do its utmost to build the required confidence" by heeding the full suspension call. ElBaradei also touched on North Korea, saying it "continues to pose a serious challenge" to nonproliferation North Korea cut its ties with the agency two years ago, saying it had quit the Nonproliferation Treaty. It is now engaged in off-and-on negotiations with the United States and four other countries on aid and other concessions it seeks in return for scrapping its nuclear weapons program. Unlike the board, the 137-nation general conference cannot set ultimatums or threaten nations with Security Council action. But it can recommend the IAEA secretariat take up matters of concern, which, in turn, can kick issues to the board. --- On the Net: International Atomic Energy Agency, [http://www.iaea.org] -- ***************************************************************** 4 AFP: Iran angered but leaves door open for negotiations in nuclear standoff [http://www.spacewar.com/]  WAR.WIRE
TEHRAN (AFP) Sep 20, 2004 Since being slapped with yet more criticism and tough demands from the UN nuclear watchdog, Iran has reacted with noisy indignation while still signalling its willingness to negotiate. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) demanded Saturday that the Islamic republic halt its controversial uranium enrichment-related activities, a part of the nuclear fuel cycle that can be directed to both energy and weapons purposes. President Mohammad Khatami vowed Iran would resist "exorbitant demands of the great powers", and described the IAEA ultimatum as "a sign of the moral decadence of the world and the pre-eminence of force and hypocrisy in international relations". The Iranian government's spokesman, Abdollah Ramazanzadeh, also asserted any decision regarding the enrichment of uranium was for Tehran alone to take. Iran agreed last year to suspend the enrichment of uranium pending the completion of an IAEA probe, but has continued to press on with related work in the nuclear fuel cycle. Iran, which asserts it wants to enrich uranium to produce fuel for reactors and not to make a nuclear bomb, has repeatedly said it reserves the right to resume such activities at any time. Hardliners have also lined up to condemn the resolution, asserting that nuclear fuel cycle work, including enrichment, is permitted under the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) if it is for peaceful purposes. But the official word in Iran on the nuclear dossier is from Hassan Rowhani, a mid-ranking conservative cleric and top national security official charged with handling the nuclear issue. In the wake of Saturday's resolution, he appeared to reject it and even threatened to halt stringent IAEA inspections if the issue was referred to the UN Security Council, something the United States is pushing for. But he said Iran could accept a suspension of fuel cycle work the IAEA wants "through negotiations" -- and Western diplomats have signalled fresh talks are likely before the IAEA's board meets again in November. "The message is clear," said one European diplomat based in Tehran. "In all the anger and the protests is an invitation to continue the dialogue and try to find a solution. "But there are just two months to get a result," added the diplomat, referring to the deadline set for a new report on Iran's compliance with the IAEA. The IAEA's board is due to meet again in November. The alternative is Iran being branded as being in breach of the NPT and reported to the Security Council, something Tehran -- and many in the international community -- wish to avoid. Iran was already confronted with a similar deadline last October, and at the last minute -- through negotiations with Britain, France and Germany as well as a whirlwind trip by the foreign ministers of the European states -- chose to comply. Since then, however, the stakes have risen amid accusations that Iran has merely been playing for time and impatience among the European Union's so-called "big three". The three EU countries have been pushing for Iran to abandon fuel cycle work completely in exchange for increased trade and political benefits, something they feel would send a signal of Iran's total disinterest in even having a nuclear bomb "option". But Iran has so far refused, and it remains to be seen if the Europeans -- who have been resisting US efforts to have Iran sent to the Security Council -- are prepared to have negotiations pan out much longer. "The question is how to convince the Iranians," said another diplomat. "There are pragmatists in Iran who do not want to be isolated, but a lot of imagination will be required." All rights reserved. © 2004 Agence France-Presse [http://www.afp.com/] . Sections of the information displayed on ***************************************************************** 5 JoongAng Daily: North vows to keep nuclear program [http://joongangdaily.joins.com] September 21, 2004 KST 10:34 (GMT+9) As a team from the International Atomic Energy Agency began an investigation at South Korea's nuclear research hub, North Korea said yesterday that it would not give up its nuclear weapons program because its rival had carried out clandestine nuclear tests. In an editorial in the state-run Rodong Shinmun, carried by the Korea Central News Agency, the North said South Korea's past nuclear activities were the result of Washington's double standard. "It is self-evident that we cannot give up our nuclear program because Washington is trying to cover up South Korea's secret nuclear activities," the North Korean newspaper said. North Korea also claimed that the United States has been using the six-nation talks to disarm it, rather than to achieve a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula. A team from the UN-led nuclear watchdog began its second round of inspections at the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute in Daejeon yesterday. Five inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency reportedly interviewed researchers at the institute to further probe South Korea's unauthorized uranium enrichment experiment in 2000 and plutonium extraction in 1982. The institute barred reporters from entering the site, saying it had promised with the nuclear watchdog to hold private investigations. The team is reportedly planning a one-week survey of Korea's past nuclear activities. The revelations earlier this month alarmed the international community. The nuclear watchdog has expressed serious concern over the matter, and South Korea has promised to cooperate fully to clarify that its nuclear activities were for academic purposes. South Korea signed an accord with the North to keep the peninsula nuclear free in 1992. Since the revelations, Seoul has repeatedly stressed that it has no intention of pursuing a nuclear arms program. North Korea, on the other hand, overtly talks about its "nuclear deterrent power," which Seoul, Beijing, Moscow, Tokyo and Washington are trying to dismantle through multilateral talks. by Ser Myo-ja myoja@joongang.co.kr> 2004.09.20 [http://joongangdaily.joins.com/faq.html] ***************************************************************** 6 Korea Herald: Korea, Kazakhstan discuss oil, uranium 2004.09.21 By Seo Hyun-jin Korea Herald correspondent ASTANA - South Korea and Kazakhstan agreed Tuesday to join hands in developing petroleum and uranium in this Central Asian country, offering the South inroads to energy exploration in the resource-abundant Caspian Sea region. The two countries also signed an agreement on the peaceful use of atomic energy in which the South will provide nuclear-related technology to Kazakhstan to help the country develop uranium as nuclear energy to generate electricity and for medical purposes. President Roh Moo-hyun and Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev promised to strengthen bilateral cooperation in energy, trade and other areas when they held a summit in this Kazakh capital on Tuesday. After wrapping up his two-day state visit to Kazakhstan, Roh flew to Moscow for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and talks with other Russians. "The summit (with Nazarbayev) contributed to improving bilateral ties one notch higher and provided a foundation for a future-oriented relationship," said presidential foreign policy adviser Chung Woo-seong. In their joint statement, Nazarbayev reaffirmed his support for Roh's policy on the promotion of peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia, as well as diplomatic settlement of the standoff over North Korea's nuclear weapons development. "Both sides agreed to take their substantial cooperative relations to a higher level in the fields of trade, energy, mineral resources as well as science and technology," the 14-point statement said. Roh and Nazarbayev said their governments will provide necessary assistance to enable South Korean companies to increase its participation in Kazakhstan's energy development and other infrastructure projects including shipbuilding and construction. Minister of Commerce, Industry and Energy Lee Hee-beom concluded with Kazakh Minister for Energy and Mineral Resources Vladimir Shkolnik an arrangement to facilitate cooperation between the two countries in developing energy resources. "South Korea has come to acquire the first bridgehead to the Caspian Sea, which has emerged as a new treasure house of natural resources following the Middle East," Lee said. Government officials said South Korea will be able to enhance its energy independence with the joint oil exploration project in Kazakhstan, which they expected would lead to development of 600 to 800 million barrels of oil. The Korea National Oil Corp. signed a protocol with the state-run oil firm of Kazakhstan, KazMunaiGas, for development of up to 650 million barrels of oil in the Caspian Sea and a memorandum of understanding for another 200 million barrels in the Tenge region. The Korea Resources Corp. signed an MOU with Kazakhstan's state-run uranium development corporation, KazAtomProm, for joint development of uranium mines in the southern Kazakhstan region of Budennovsk, The uranium development is expected to provide 500 tons of uranium every year for the coming 30 years, amounting to 10 percent of South Korea's uranium consumption. With the Agreement on the Peaceful Use of Atomic Energy, South Korea can now advance into Kazakhstan in areas of nuclear reactors, nuclear hospitals and nuclear fusion, government officials said. "Kazakhstan hopes to build a foundation for nuclear power development by getting assistance from South Korea, which is equipped with necessary technologies," Chung said. The Korea-Kazakhstan agreement on nuclear power is valid for 10 years and can be extended by five years if necessary, the officials said. South Korea has signed similar agreements with 20 countries. Roh also called for Nazarbayev's help for the welfare of some 100,000 ethnic Koreans in Kazakhstan. First Lady Kwon Yang-sook, who is accompanying Roh on the trip to Kazakhstan and Russia, visited the SOS children's village here which takes care of underprivileged children. (shj@heraldm.com) By Seo Hyun-jin Korea Herald correspondent ***************************************************************** 7 BBC: UK oil firm strides into N Korea Last Updated: Monday, 20 September, 2004 [North Korean hills] North Korea's countryside may be hiding oil and gas deposits Anglo-Irish oil company Aminex has signed a 20-year deal to develop North Korea's oil industry. Aminex said it would provide technical assistance to North Korea. In addition, it will be permitted to explore and drill throughout the secretive country. Should Aminex strike oil, it will get royalties on any of its own production, as well as being entitled to earnings from wells drilled by other firms. Aminex believes its prospects of striking oil in North Korea are good. "We all dream of making a big discovery," chief executive Brian Hall told BBC News Online. "And if you don't put yourself in a position where the possibilities are high, you will never do it." A number of potential sites are close to some of China's most productive oil fields, he said. Announcing the contract, Aminex called North Korea as "highly prospective". Patience rewarded The company, which is listed on the London and Dublin stock markets, reckons that a lack of resources has so far restricted progress in prospecting for oil the East Asian country. North Korea "has an existing petroleum industry and several wells have been drilled onshore and offshore over a 25 year period, resulting in limited discoveries of oil," Mr Hall. Aminex has been looking at opportunities in North Korea since its first visit there in 2001. It signed a deal with North Korean officials on 30 June 2004 in Pyongyang but postponed an announcement "because of a number of outstanding issues that have now been resolved". Mr Hall said he hoped that developing the oil industry might help to thaw international relations, which have become frosty in recent months amid concerns about the country's nuclear programme. "At present, relations between North Korea and the outside world are strained but the important relationship with South Korea appears to be improving and commercial co-operation is on the increase," said Mr Hall. "An expanding energy industry may possibly help to build bridges between North Korea and the outside world." Tough environment North Korea is one of the world's most secretive countries, and among the poorest. Millions of are thought to have died during the famine of the late 1990s. More recently, North Korean officials have made tentative steps towards economic reforms similar to those implemented by China, one of its few allies. But tensions over the country's nuclear programme remain a stumbling block to investment. Aminex has existing operations in the US, Russia and Tanzania. ***************************************************************** 8 BBC: IAEA resumes S Korea probe Last Updated: Monday, 20 September, 2004 [Students look at a diagram showing the theory of nuclear energy at the Seoul Science Museum] The South Koreans have shown interest in the nuclear cycle Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency have resumed investigations into South Korea's recently-revealed nuclear experiments. The IAEA has expressed concerns about the illicit nuclear activities, which involved plutonium and uranium. Seoul has repeatedly stressed it has no intention of building nuclear weapons. North Korea has said it will not return to six-nation talks on its own nuclear programme until South Korea's research was "fully probed". The IAEA team returned to South Korea over the weekend, for the second time this month, to continue investigations into the country's clandestine nuclear experiments. On Monday a team of five inspectors arrived at the country's main nuclear research centre in the city of Daejon, to begin a week of checks. The director-general of the IAEA, Mohammed el-Baradei, is also due to visit Seoul next month in a further sign of the agency's concern. Questions South Korea has admitted its scientists conducted tests in 1982 and again four years ago to extract plutonium and to enrich uranium, two separate routes to an atomic bomb. [Oh Joon, right, Director-General for International Organization of Foreign Ministry and Cho Chung-won, left, Director-General for Nuclear Energy Cooperation of Science and Technology ] South Korean officials are liaising with the IAEA over the revelations But the government says the tests were on too small a scale to be significant and has blamed curious scientists acting without official authorisation. Many questions remain unanswered. The inspectors will investigate why South Korea failed to declare three separate sites for the production of uranium metal which was used as a raw material for some of the experiments. North Korea is using the South's predicament to counter criticism of its own nuclear ambitions. The state news agency has backed up earlier statements that the North will not return to the negotiating table until South Korea's activities have been fully investigated. North Korea also accuses the United States of double standards, for not being more critical of the revelations from South Korea. ***************************************************************** 9 TIME.com: North Korea's Nuke Mystery -- What was the source of the explosion that went off last week in the Stalinist state? By DONALD MACINTYRE. Monday, Sep. 20, 2004 For all the bragging it has done about its nuclear program, North Korea has never, to anyone's knowledge, tested a nuclear bomb. That's why the world grew alarmed when satellite photos showed what looked like an explosion and a mushroom-shaped cloud over a remote area in the northern part of the country. Pyongyang denied it had exploded a nuke and even escorted a group of foreign ambassadors to the area, where they saw thousands of workers toiling mostly by hand to build a dam. A local official said the blasts were part of an effort to speed up the project. An ambassador who visited the site said the explanation made sense: "You don't make that much progress without some pretty big bangs. This was not just some stage show just for us." But what about the mushroom cloud that was spotted about 60 miles to the west of the dam, near the town of Woltanri? The area doesn't have a river worth damming, former residents say, but it does have a missile base, as well as, according to a frequent visitor, a munitions plant. An accidental explosion of rocket propellant — possibly a missile launch gone awry — could have caused the mushroom cloud, analysts say. Another possibility: Pyongyang blew up something to keep the world guessing about its nuclear intentions — a tactic the regime has used in the past. One reason to believe North Korea's explanation is its willingness to show outsiders the area, says Baek Nam Soon, a North Korea expert at the Sejong Institute in Seoul. "If you see a guy named North Korea coming out of a store, you think he must have stolen something," says Baek. "They didn't want that to happen again." In any event, the International Atomic Energy Agency was directing more of its concern last week toward Iran, which was ordered to stop working on uranium enrichment, and South Korea, which admitted conducting nuclear experiments and other possible violations of its nonproliferation pledges. Until South Korea explains what its scientists are up to, North Korea said it would boycott the next round of multinational talks, due to start this month, on its own nuclear program. — Kim Yooseung From the Sep. 27, 2004 issue of TIME magazine Copyright © 2004 Time Inc. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 10 Korea: Digital Chosunilbo: IAEA Chief Urges N. Korea to Allow Inspections Updated Sep.20,2004 22:08 KST International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director general Mohamed ElBaradei urged on Sunday North Korea to allow IAEA inspection team to visit the site and validate that there had been no nuclear activities. In an interview with the CNN, ElBaradei said, "I think it's unlikely (that the explosion was caused by a nuclear weapons test), but we are not there and we cannot validate this conclusion for sure." He also said "there is no doubt North Korea has the capability to produce nuclear weapon," and added, "If North Korea would like to exclude that possibility completely, they would be well advised to allow us and other experts to go and inspect." He also pointed out that North Korea had the plutonium needed to produce nuclear weapons and they had not allowed any inspections for the past two years. "I do not exclude at all that they have assembled a nuclear weapon or more than one nuclear weapon. That would not surprise me," he added. (Yoon Hee-young, hyyooon@chosun.com ) ***************************************************************** 11 Korea Times: Seoul, Astana Agree to Promote Energy Cooperation Hankooki.com > The Korea Times > Nation South Korea, Kazakhstan Sign Deals on Energy, Resources By Shim Jae-yun Korea Times Correspondent ASTANA - South Korea and Kazakhstan agreed Monday to strengthen bilateral cooperation in energy and mineral resources. During a summit meeting at the Kazakh presidential palace, President Roh Moo-hyun and Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev agreed to jointly develop the Caspian oil field and an uranium field in southern Kazakhstan. ``The two heads of state also concurred on the need to develop the bilateral relationship, which marks its 12th anniversary,'' Chung Woo-sung, presidential aide for foreign policy, said during a media briefing on the outcome of the summit meeting. Toward that end, the two nations signed an agreement and a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on joint exploration of energy and mining resources, a protocol on Seoul's purchasing 69 percent of equity in ground mining in the Tenge area of Kazakhstan. Seoul and Astana also inked an MOU for the exploration of a uranium mine and for the setup of an economic cooperation council between the two nations. Chung said the council aims to open its first session in March next year. Roh and Nazarbayev expressed satisfaction over the steady development in bilateral ties since the setup of diplomatic relations, while vowing to solidify ties in various areas like energy, science and technology. The Kazakh president also reconfirmed his support for the Seoul government's security policy toward peace and prosperity in Northeast Asia and the Korean peninsula. ``The two leaders agreed on the need to resolve the lingering standoff over the North Korean nuclear program through peaceful means, such as dialogue,'' Chung said. Roh and Nazarbayev adopted a joint statement featuring steps to ensure future-oriented development in bilateral relations and signed an ``agreement for the peaceful use of atomic energy.'' Under the agreement, the two nations are set to closely cooperate in research, design, construction, management and dismantlement of nuclear power plants and nuclear furnaces. They are also set to actively cooperate in the exchange and training of technocrats, data, equipment and technology. After the summit, Roh attended a luncheon hosted by Nazarbayev, where he praised Kazakhstan's rapid economic growth and stressed the need for steady and substantial cooperation between the two nations. Nazarbayev invited Roh and his wife Kwon Yang-suk to an informal dinner at the palace on Sunday in a bid to strengthen the personal relationship between the heads of state. Roh arrived in Moscow later in the day to have crucial summit talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on issues of mutual concern, including the six-party talks aimed at resolving the North Korean nuclear issue and ways of promoting bilateral relations in energy and transportation. jayshim@koreatimes.co.kr 09-20-2004 14:56 ***************************************************************** 12 Korea Times: Roh's Energy Diplomacy Gets Boost Hankooki.com > The Korea Times > Nation By Shim Jae-yun Korea Times Correspondent ASTANA - President Roh Moo-hyun¡¯s ``energy diplomacy¡¯¡¯ in this natural resource-abundant central Asian nation has laid the groundwork for South Korea to be supplied with much-needed gas, oil and other natural resources like uranium. South Korea's Foreign Affairs-Trade Minister Ban Ki-moon, left, Science-Technology Minister Oh Myung, center, and Commerce, Industry and Energy Minister Lee Hee-bom in discussion at an official welcoming ceremony at Kazakhstan Presidential Palace, Almaty, Monday. / Yonhap Government officials including Minister of Commerce, Industry and Energy Lee Hee-beom, now accompanying Roh on his visit to Kazakhstan and Russia, said the summit will help the nation tackle energy problems, which have recently intensified due to skyrocketing oil prices. ``The recent outcome is expected to greatly help the nation to resolve its energy problem,¡¯¡¯ Lee said during a media briefing, stressing his ministry has been placing top priority on securing stable energy resources. For Kazakhstan, it managed to extract South Korean help for its drive to secure technologies at nuclear power plants, as well as in the information industry and exploration of natural resources. Seoul and Astana signed various agreements and memorandum of understanding (MOU) on cooperation in energy and natural resources. ``It is a kind of `win-win¡¯ situation for the Korean and Kazakh governments,¡¯¡¯ he said. Roh and Nazarbayev during a summit on Monday agreed to take steps to help an increasing number of South Korean companies make inroads into Kazakh projects for the exploration of crude oil, mining resources and construction of infra-structure facilities pertinent to petrochemical, shipping and construction industries. The bilateral agreement is expected to prompt domestic companies now suffering from the continuing economic slowdown to find a way to break into the central Asian nation¡¯s market. One of the most outstanding achievements of Roh¡¯s visit to Kazakhstan has been the conclusion of ``agreement on the peaceful use of uranium.¡¯¡¯ The two nations have continued dialogue regarding the matter from September last year and Kazakhstan has been touting the Seoul government to strike a deal with the goal of acquiring the nation¡¯s developed uranium technology. Under the agreement, Seoul, equipped with a relatively large number of nuclear plants, is set to provide Kazakhstan, which is replete with natural resources, with relevant technologies in return for steady supply of minerals. In this vein, the Korea Resources Corp. and Kazakhstan¡¯s state-run atomic energy promotion corporation signed an MOU for joint uranium exploration. Currently, South Korea uses about 4,000 tons of uranium per year but has no resources of its own. Thus, the recent pact is expected to help the nation secure supply of the material. South Korea has also managed to diversify oil supply channels with the recent agreement, although it has so far relied upon oil from the Middle East. Kazakhstan has an estimated potential 260 billion barrels of oil in reserve around the Caspian Sea area, with confirmed reserves of 39.4 billion barrels, which makes it the world¡¯s seventh largest oil power. A group of South Korean companies like SK, Samsung Corp., LG International and Daesung Group are moving to form a consortium with the Kazakh state-run oil firm for joint exploration of the sea oil field and have signed a protocol toward that end. Lee and his Kazakh counterpart Vladimir Schkolnik agreed on an MOU that will enable local companies to access up to 800 million barrels of oil. About 50 business people from both sides met Sunday and agreed to launch the tentatively named ``Korea-Kazakhstan Business Forum,¡¯¡¯ which will open its first meeting in Seoul early next year. ``As the two nations have mutually compensatory economic systems, the recent economic agreements will likely bring benefits,¡¯¡¯ said Chung Woo-sung, presidential aide on foreign policy. 09-20-2004 17:10 ***************************************************************** 13 Korea Times: IAEA Begins New Inspection of Nuclear Facilities Hankooki.com > The Korea Times > Nation By Ryu Jin Staff Reporter A group of inspectors from the U.N.¡¯s nuclear watchdog Monday embarked on a weeklong study of nuclear experiments conducted by South Korean scientist over the past two decades at an atomic energy research center in Taejon. The five-member delegation from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) arrived at the Korean Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) in Taejon, some 160 kilometers south of Seoul, in the morning to look into a one-off experiment conducted in early 2000, which led to the separation of 0.2 gram of uranium. The special inspection team will also visit the now-defunct atomic research reactor in Kongnung-dong, northeastern Seoul, where plutonium-based tests were conducted in 1982, before leaving the country on Sunday, a senior government official said. ``They will inspect not only the uranium-based test at KAERI in Taejon but also the 1982 plutonium case in Kongnung-dong,¡¯¡¯ the official said. ``The IAEA might send another team in the future if it finds the current inspection insufficient. The study will likely last until November.¡¯¡¯ The country¡¯s main nuclear research center, the KAERI has been at the center of an international controversy for the past few weeks since its scientists were found to have conducted the two controversial experiments without reporting to the government. The unauthorized tests produced tiny amounts of plutonium and enriched uranium, the two main types of fissile material also used for building nuclear weapons. The IAEA officials flew into Seoul on Sunday for their second inspection in less than a month into the controversial laboratory activities, which have touched off international suspicions over Seoul¡¯s nuclear ambitions. Seoul has stressed that the two separate experiments were purely academic activities that had nothing to do with nuclear weapons, but critics from abroad remain suspicious. Han Bong-ho, a spokesman for the research center, said officials of the KAERI as well as the tight-lipped inspectors from the IAEA will not respond to requests from journalists this week until the inspection is completed. ``The IAEA¡¯s inspection activities are expected to be the focus of the media¡¯s attention this week,¡¯¡¯ he said. ``The institute cannot make public the schedule or contents of the inspection, and therefore we decided not to respond to requests from journalists and also prevent them from entering the center.¡¯¡¯ Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon, while accompanying President Roh Moo-hyun to Kazakhstan and Russia, said many of the IAEA board members gave a ``friendly reaction¡¯¡¯ to Seoul over the alleged violation. ``Discussions by the IAEA board of governors were carried out in a relatively objective and neutral manner,¡¯¡¯ he said. ``The IAEA¡¯s decision was put off until November. We will continue to explain our nonproliferation commitment.¡¯¡¯ jinryu@koreatimes.co.kr 09-20-2004 16:03 Heikki Saukkonen, head of a five-member International Atomic Energy Agency inspection team, receives a security card from an official at the Korean Atomic Energy Research Institute in Taejon, Monday. / Yonhap ***************************************************************** 14 Korea Times: NK Vows Not to Give Up Nuke Programs Hankooki.com > The Korea Times > Nation > North Korea Today PYONGYANG (KCNA-Yonhap) - North Korea said on Monday it will never abandon its nuclear weapons program, taking issue with a series of nuclear-material experiments conducted in South Korea in the past. The North's latest nuclear stance was revealed by the Rodong Sinmun, organ of the Central Committee of the (North Korean) Workers Party. The paper said in an editorial that the North will not give up its bid to develop nuclear weapons, as long as the United States holds a double standard on the Korean peninsula nuclear issues. ``South Korea¡¯s secret nuclear activities are an inevitable outcome of the U.S. double standard policy on Korean peninsula nuclear problems,¡¯¡¯ said the editorial, carried by the (North) Korean Central News Agency. ``Under such circumstances, the DPRK will never abandon its nuclear weapons programs.¡¯¡¯ The DPRK, or Democratic People's Republic of Korea, is the North's official name. It went on to accuse Washington of trying to use the six-way talks to disarm North Korea, rather than promoting a nuclear-free Korea. The U.S., if willing to stave off a nuclear arms race in Northeast Asia, will have to end its hostility towards North Korea, the editorial insisted. 09-20-2004 17:26 ***************************************************************** 15 Korea: Digital Chosunilbo: Hu Jintao to Bring Changes in Sino-North Korean Ties Updated Sep.20,2004 19:33 KST The system of Chinese President Hu Jintao, who has ascended to the chairmanship of the Chinese Communist Party's Central Military Commission, will strengthen pragmatism in the Sino-North Korean relationship and bring gradual changes to bilateral ties, forecasts say. In particular, under Hu's post-revolutionary era leadership, changes are expected -- even in military affairs -- in a relationship that has up till now been a blood alliance. Even uner Jiang Zemin's generation, the last of the revolutionary era ones, Chinese military leaders placed importance on the blood alliance and sworn relations between North Korea and China, an alliance forged in the anti-Japanese struggle and Korean War, and played the role of ideological patrons of the relationship. ***************************************************************** 16 Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Seattle vulnerable to nuclear terrorism [seattlepi.com] [OPINION] Tuesday, September 21, 2004 GRAHAM ALLISON GUEST COLUMNIST Seattle was baptized into the era of terrorism in December 1999 when a customs agent became suspicious of a driver disembarking from a ferry at Port Angeles. Her gut reaction proved correct: Ahmed Ressam was smuggling more than 100 pounds of explosives for al-Qaida's millennium plot to bomb Los Angeles International Airport. Seattle moved into the center of the cross hairs when the mastermind of the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, put the Northwest's tallest building on his top 10 target list. Later, U.S. forces found photos of the Space Needle in an al-Qaida hideout in Afghanistan. Osama bin Laden has challenged the greater al-Qaida movement to trump 9/11. The list of terrorist actions reaching that bar is short. A clue to the preferred method comes from bin Laden: He declared obtaining nuclear weapons "a religious duty." Seattle is particularly vulnerable to nuclear terrorism because of its location and economic significance. Not only is it the headquarters for U.S. icons Microsoft, Amazon and Starbucks, it is the third-largest port. According to CIA estimates, a terrorist nuclear weapon is far more likely to arrive in a cargo container than on the tip of a missile. A 10-kiloton nuclear bomb detonated at the Pike Place Market would destroy Seattle. Everything within a third of a mile would vaporize. Buildings from the Washington State Convention and Trade Center to the edge of Pioneer Square would look like the Murrah Federal Office Building in Oklahoma City. Fires and fallout would ravage an area stretching from the Space Needle to Safeco Field. The Bush administration's lackadaisical approach to this threat is baffling. But brute facts are undeniable: In the two years after 9/11, fewer potential weapons in Russia were secured than in the two years prior to the attack. Underlying this lack of urgency is a failure to grasp a fundamental insight: Nuclear terrorism is preventable. A serious campaign to prevent nuclear terrorism would be organized under a doctrine of Three No's: no loose nukes, no new nascent nukes, and no new nuclear weapons states. + "No loose nukes" requires securing all nuclear weapons and weapons-usable material, on the fastest possible timetable, to a new "gold standard." The United States does not lose gold from Fort Knox, or Russia treasures from the Kremlin Armory. + "No new nascent nukes" means no new national capabilities to enrich uranium or reprocess plutonium. This effort should begin with intrusive inspections of suspected nuclear sites, then work toward the prohibition fissile material production and actual enforcement mechanisms. Iran today poses a crucial test for this principle. + "No new nuclear-weapons states" draws a line under the current eight nuclear powers and says unambiguously: "No more." The immediate test of this principle is North Korea. Kim Jong-Il must be required to freeze and dismantle his nuclear program. Nuclear terrorism is the greatest threat facing the United States today. We need a president who will push our government and others to take every technically feasible action to shield the Emerald City from the nightmare of a terrorist's nuclear bomb. SPEAKING TONIGHT Graham Allison will talk about nuclear terrorism in a public event at 7:15 p.m. at Town Hall in Seattle. Graham Allison is director of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. His new book is "Nuclear Terrorism: The Ultimate Preventable Catastrophe." For more information, see: www.nuclearterrorism.org. [http://www.nuclearterrorism.org] Back to top [Seattle Post-Intelligencer] 101 Elliott Ave. W. Seattle, WA 98119 (206) 448-8000 Send comments to newmedia@seattlepi.com [newmedia@seattlepi.com] ©1996-2004 Seattle Post-Intelligencer Terms of Service/Privacy ***************************************************************** 17 Straits Times: It's tough trying to curb N-arms race in Asia - SEPT 21, 2004 TUE By Michael Richardson THE recent admission by South Korea that its scientists conducted secret experiments with the key materials used to make nuclear weapons falls far short of having a uranium enrichment or plutonium reprocessing programme of the kind being systematically pursued by North Korea. But they do throw the potential danger of a nuclear arms race in Asia into sharp relief. The South Korean tests are a reminder that many non-nuclear states - among them Japan, South Korea and Taiwan - have the know-how, technology and industrial infrastructure to develop nuclear weapons quite quickly, if they feel threatened and vulnerable to attack. Predictably, North Korea has used these revelations to delay indefinitely the next round of the six-party talks convened by China to defuse tensions in North-east Asia that were tentatively scheduled for later this month. Pyongyang said last week it would not return to the talks until Seoul made a full disclosure of its atomic tests. North Korea asserts it needs a nuclear deterrent to counter plans by the United States and South Korea to unleash a nuclear war on the divided Korean peninsula. The United Nations nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has expressed serious concern at the failure of the South to report the experiments at the time they took place. The IAEA will make a second inspection of South Korean nuclear facilities this week, as part of its probe into what went on. South Korea has made three admissions. The latest, last week, is that its scientists produced 150kg of uranium metal in 1982 from phosphate ore at three undeclared facilities. Uranium metal can be used to make nuclear fuel or as a radiation shield. Seoul said the facilities had been dismantled after researchers worked with 3.5kg in 2000 to produce a tiny amount of enriched uranium in a government-linked research institute. Third, the South Korean government said its researchers had been involved in producing a very small quantity of plutonium in 1982. Highly-enriched uranium and plutonium are used to make nuclear weapons. Despite denials from Seoul, the research has prompted concerns that South Korea may have done some clandestine work on a nuclear weapons programme - just in case it is confronted by a nuclear-armed North Korea. The South Korean enrichment experiment reportedly took place in January and February 2000, nearly two years before the US confronted North Korea in October 2002 with evidence that it was running a secret uranium-enrichment programme, as well as using plutonium reprocessed from spent nuclear fuel to make weapons. The North denied it but withdrew from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and ended inspections of its plutonium production facilities by the IAEA in late 2002 and early last year, triggering a crisis. The IAEA said South Korea had informed it on Aug 23 that it had enriched nuclear materials in tests that were done without the government's knowledge. After the South agreed to tighter safeguards and inspections by the agency in February, Mr Chang In-soon, president of the government-affiliated Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, said he had sent a report about the experiments in June to Seoul, which then informed the IAEA. All the work at Mr Chang's institute is supposed to focus on civilian nuclear uses, including nuclear power generation which produces about 40 per cent of South Korea's electricity. He said the enrichment tests had been conducted 'out of curiosity' by a few scientists who were using laser isotope separation equipment to extract gadolinium, a cooling material used in nuclear power plants. Mr Chang said the uranium had been enriched to an average of no more than 10 per cent in the tests and only a 'minuscule' amount of 0.2g had been collected. For weapons use, scientists say uranium must be enriched so its concentration of fissile U-235 atoms is higher than 90 per cent, with at least 10kg needed for one bomb. For uranium to power a nuclear reactor, it does not need to contain more than 3 per cent of U-235. A spokesman for the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute said the tests involving plutonium had been conducted only briefly in 1982 and then, like the later enrichment research, discontinued. The equipment used in both experiments was reportedly dismantled and the materials fully accounted for. The spokesman said the plutonium had been a by-product of work directed at making fuel for heavy-water nuclear reactors. Plutonium was among the components analysed in the spent experimental fuel but it had not been separated from the mixture. Based on that description, the experiment stopped short of 'reprocessing', in which certain isotopes of plutonium are separated from used reactor fuel. This plutonium provides one of the main ways of getting fissile material for use in nuclear weapons. The other is by enriching uranium. However, the plutonium produced in the experiment would have been only a tiny fraction of the amount required for a bomb. In a further effort to calm international concern, the South Korean government said it did not have, and had never had, a programme to develop nuclear weapons. It described the enrichment episode four years ago as an 'isolated scientific experiment' and dismissed comparisons between it and suspected nuclear programmes in North Korea and Iran. However, both pieces of research - which remained undisclosed for years - point to the inherent difficulty of controlling the nuclear fuel cycle to ensure a programme ostensibly for civilian purposes does not phase into a military scheme to produce nuclear weapons. Iran, for example, says it has a right to enrich uranium for energy generation and is resisting IAEA demands to suspend all its activities relating to the enrichment of uranium. The fact that Iran has large oil and gas reserves and does not need a nuclear power industry feeds suspicions about its motives. Meanwhile, some people in energy-poor South Korea point out that it spends US$375 million (S$633 million) each year importing enriched uranium and should no longer be bound by international agreements, including a treaty with North Korea signed in 2001, which prevents the South from enriching uranium for nuclear power plants to generate electricity. The writer is a visiting senior research fellow at the Institute of South-east Asian Studies in Singapore. This is a personal comment. to The Straits Times print edition today. In it you get ***************************************************************** 18 BBC: Halliburton hit with Nigeria ban Last Updated: Monday, 20 September, 2004 [Nigeria's President Olusegun Obasanjo] President Obasanjo backs the embargo against Halliburton Nigeria has placed an embargo on government contracts with a subsidiary of US oil services firm Halliburton. It said it was taking action against Halliburton Energy Services Nigeria (HESN) as a result of negligence in security and safety matters. In 2002, radiation emitting devices used by the firm to make measurements in oil wells were reported missing in Nigeria's oil-rich Delta region. The equipment was eventually traced to a location in Germany. 'Negligent conduct' At the time, Halliburton was accused of doing too little to help the Nigerian authorities recover the equipment. "The federal government has decided to place an embargo on the patronage of Halliburton Energy Services Nigeria Limited arising from its negligent conduct which led to the loss of two ionizing radioactive sources from Nigeria in 2002," a government statement said. "Additionally, the company, among other infractions, has refused to cooperate with government authorities in ensuring the return of the sources to Nigeria and the ultimate resolution of the issue," it said. All contracts between the company and any Nigerian ministry or government agency would stop until further notice, the statement said, adding the ban had been approved by Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo. Halliburton, which was headed by US Vice-President Dick Cheney until he took office in 2001, operates in both Nigeria's oil and natural gas sectors. ***************************************************************** 19 Xinhuanet: China pursues policy of nuclear non-proliferation www.xinhuanet.com www.chinaview.cn 2004-09-21 06:19:25 VIENNA, Sept. 20 (Xinhuanet) -- China unswervingly pursues the policy of nuclear non-proliferation and upholds the comprehensive ban and complete destruction of nuclear weapons, a senior Chinese official said here on Monday. "China opposes proliferation of nuclear weapons in all forms, and actively takes part in international cooperation in non-proliferation," said Zhang Huazhu, head of the Chinese delegation to the 48th session of the General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). In the past few years, he said, the Chinese government took a series of effective measures concerning non-proliferation and prevention of nuclear terrorist activities, contributing to the international endeavor of non-proliferation. China, which supports the IAEA's efforts in promoting the effectiveness and efficiency of its safeguards regime, was the first among the five nuclear weapon states to ratify the Additional Protocol to Safeguards Agreement in 2002, making a new contribution to the construction of international non-proliferation regime, he said. Zhang said that the Chinese government promulgated in 2003 a White Paper entitled "China's Non-Proliferation Policies and Measures," which makes a systematic description of China's determination and sincerity in this aspect. He said that China stands for modification of the Convention on Physical protection of Nuclear Materials, and has played a constructive role in the process of modification. "We wish signatory states will reach agreement on the content of modification on an early date." "China has so far signed or acceded to all international treaties or conventions on nuclear non-proliferation and relevant international organizations. China will perform its international duties in a highly sincere and conscientious sense," the Chinese official said. Referring to the promotion of activities, Zhang said that China has cooperated widely with the IAEA and its member states in nuclear power, nuclear fuel cycle, nuclear safety and radiation protection, applications of nuclear technology and personnel training, and fruitful achievements have been scored. According to rough statistics by 2003, China has dispatched more than 2,000 persons to other member states for training and scientific visits, and accepted more than 1,200 person-times of expert service through the agency's technical cooperation programs, he said. On behalf of the Chinese government, Zhang announced that China will make an extra-budgetary contribution of one million US dollars to the IAEA again, which will be used to support the latter's technical cooperation programs designed for developing countries and the endeavor of strengthening nuclear security. "By the end of 2003, China has made voluntary contribution of 13 million US dollars, and other contribution in kind to the IAEA," he said. The Chinese official said that upon the request of the IAEA, the UN nuclear watchdog, China has also provided to other member countries technological, personnel training and expert services over 2,000 person-times, and took part in more than 200 meetings of the agency. Besides, he said, China is the leading country in nuclear agronomy cooperation, contributing to the development of peaceful uses of nuclear energy in the Asia-Pacific region. Turning to the nuclear issue of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), Zhang said that China stands for keeping the Korean Peninsula free from nuclear weapons and maintaining its peace and stability. "We hold that the issue should be settled peacefully through dialogues and negotiations, and the DPRK's justifiable concerns for safety should be satisfied in the process," he added. Enditem Copyright ©2003 Xinhua News Agency. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 20 Xinhuanet: IAEA director-general praises China's contribution www.xinhuanet.com www.chinaview.cn 2004-09-21 06:22:57 VIENNA, Sept. 20 (Xinhuanet) -- Mohamed ElBaradei, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), praised China's contribution on Monday after the country announced that it will donate one million US dollars to the agency. "The IAEA is grateful for China's continuing generosity in supporting our technical cooperation and security programs in the nuclear field," ElBaradei said in a press release issued by the IAEA, the UN nuclear watchdog. He said that the IAEA has forged a formidable partnership with China over the past two decades -- one of the most far-reaching partnerships we have with any member states, extending across the spectrum of IAEA work from safety and security, to safeguards and verification, to technical cooperation in food, energy, water and health. "China has been both a major recipient and contributor to IAEA special funds since it joined the IAEA in 1984," the press release said. On behalf of the Chinese government, Zhang Huazhu, head of the Chinese delegation to the 48th session of the General Conference of the IAEA, announced here Monday that China will make an extra-budgetary contribution of one million U.S. dollars to the IAEA again, which will be used to support the latter's technical cooperation programs designed for developing countries and the endeavor of strengthening nuclear security. "By the end of 2003, China has made voluntary contribution of 13 million US dollars, and other contribution in kind to the IAEA," Zhang said. Enditem Copyright ©2003 Xinhua News Agency. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 21 AFP: IAEA and ElBaradei favorites for Nobel Peace Prize - experts [http://www.spacewar.com/] OSLO (AFP) Sep 20, 2004 The International Atomic Energy Agency and its chief Mohamed ElBaradei are the most likely winners of this year's Nobel Peace Prize, experts said on Monday, just a day before a final Nobel Committee meeting was set to designate the laureate. This year, a record 194 individuals and organizations are in the running for the prestigious prize, and although the list of nominees is traditionally a closely guarded secret, many observers expect the five members of the Nobel Committee to use the 2004 award to hail efforts to halt nuclear arms proliferation and development of weapons of mass destruction. In that respect, ElBaradei and his UN atomic agency, the IAEA, would be the perfect candidates, according to Stein Toennesson, head of the International Peace Research Institute, Oslo (PRIO). "It is about time they are acknowledged for the work they have done, and continue to do, to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons," he wrote on his organization's website. The IAEA and ElBaradei played a vital role in the inspections of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's weapons arsenal and the search for his suspected nuclear program, and more recently in the attempts to rein in suspected nuclear activity in North Korea and Iran. All this with "integrity in light of US pressure," Toennesson noted. Espen Barth Eide, a researcher at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs, agrees that ElBaradei and the UN atomic agency are likely candidates for the prize. "The Nobel Committee would be sending a double message to the United States. First, it would be attuned with the US prioritization of the battle against proliferation, but secondly it would remind them that this battle must be carried out using the tool of multilateral cooperation," he told AFP. The five Nobel "guardians" will hold their final meeting on Tuesday to determine the winner of the Peace Prize, but the laureate will not be announced until 0900 GMT on October 8. Last year the Nobel Peace Prize, which consists of a gold medal and 10 million Swedish kronor (1.1 million euros, 1.3 million dollars), was awarded to Iranian human rights activist Shirin Ebadi, the first Muslim woman to win the award. "After the Nobel Peace Prize rewarded human rights work last year, the Nobel Committee could this year reward work that is more closely linked to peace," said Anne Julie Semb, a political science professor at the University of Oslo, adding that she expected ElBaradei and former chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix to be awarded a joint prize. Online bookmakers meanwhile are betting on former Czech president Vaclav Havel, who headed the 1989 Velvet Revolution and who served as president until According to the Australian Internet betting site Centrebet, the ailing former Czech leader is a favourite with five-to-one odds, trailed by the IAEA and ElBaradei with six-to-one odds. "If Havel were to receive the prize, it would be as an actor in the democratization of Eastern Europe in the 1980s. But that prize has already gone to Lech Walesa," the Polish labor union leader who received the Peace Prize in 1983, Barth Eide said. Other possible laureates include Israel's nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu, released this year after 18 years in prison, Cuban dissident Oswaldo Paya and Pope John Paul II, while French President Jacques Chirac figures among the long shots. The European Union has also been listed among possible winners after it in May this year expanded to include 10 new member nations, "countries that the West was still pointing its nuclear weapons at 15 years ago", Barth Eide noted. Picking the EU could however be perceived as meddling in Norway's affairs, since the Scandinavian country so far has chosen to remain outside the Union. As for George W. Bush, the US "war president" who is running for a second term in November, odds of his winning the Peace Prize are currently at 1,001-to-one, tied for last place with Prime Ministers Tony Blair of Britain and John Howard of Australia, as well as former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic, currently on trial for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. All rights reserved. © 2004 Agence France-Presse [http://www.afp.com/] . Sections of the information displayed on ***************************************************************** 22 Censored: New Nuke Plants: Taxpayers Support, Industry Profits Date: Mon, 20 Sep 2004 21:00:23 -0500 (CDT) (#10) New Nuke Plants: Taxpayers Support, Industry Profits NUCLEAR INFORMATION AND RESOURCE SERVICE, November 17, 2003 Title: Nuclear Energy Would Get $7.5 Billion in Tax Subsides, US Taxpayers Would Fund Nuclear Monitor Relapse If Energy Bill Passes Authors: Cindy Folkers and Michael Mariotte WISE/NIRS NUCLEAR MONITOR, August 2003 Title: US Senate Passes Pro-Nuclear Energy Bill Authors: Cindy Folkers and Michael Mariotte Faculty Evaluators: Lynn Cominsky, Ph.D., Tamara Falicov, Ph. D. Student Researchers: Andrea Martini and John Hernandez Senator Peter Domenici (R-NM), along with the Bush Administration, is looking to give the nuclear power industry a huge boost through the new Energy Policy Act. The Domenici-sponsored bill will give nuclear power plants a production credit for each unit of energy produced. This provision, costing taxpayers an estimated 7.5 billion dollars, will be used to build six new privately owned, for-profit, reactors across the country. This is in addition to the $4 billion already provided for other nuclear energy programs. Through the Energy Policy Act, Senator Domenici intends to create more incentives for nuclear power. It gives 1.1 billion dollars for the production of hydrogen fuel and 2.7 billion for research and development of new reactors under the Nuclear Power 2010 program. The Nuclear Power 2010 program is a joint government/industry effort to identify sites for new nuclear power plants and develop advanced nuclear technologies. In 2003 Congress approved an amendment to the Senate energy legislation, giving approximately $35 million to the Nuclear Power 2010 program. The program's aim is to advance and expand the nuclear industrys Vision 2020 policy, which has, as its goal, the addition of 50,000 megawatts of atomic power generation (i.e. 50 new reactors) by the year 2020. Toward this effort, the bill provides new regulations and subsidies to promote private sector investment by 2005 in order to get new power plants deployed in the U.S. by 2010. Total capital investment for a new nuclear reactor could be in excess of $1.6 bilion dollars. The bill up for vote in Congress, will establish a "preferred equity investment" provision requiring taxpayers to back private investment in new facilities up to $200 million. The Nuclear Power bill provides a set volume at which the government will buy power from nuclear companies. Nuclear companies would charge the government 50 percent above the market price and the government would in turn resell the power to taxpayers at higher than normal rates to make up for the difference. Domenicis will allow leach mining of uranium and push for more uranium enrichment facilities, maintaining that they are necessary for energy production. Although a new revision of the bill addresses some of the environmental concerns of a number of Senators, the charge is that this has been done simply to push the Nuclear Program forward. The new bill still allows depleted uranium to be treated as low level waste and requires the Department of Energy to take possession and dispose of waste generated at privately owned facilities (at no cost to the owner). The bill makes it easy to construct enrichment facilities by speeding up the process and easing EPA regulations. The Energy Policy Acts promotion of enrichment facilities is likely to benefit Louisiana Energy Services, which is run by a European corporation, Erenco. This corporation has made unsuccessful attempts to build private uranium enrichment plants in Louisiana and Tennessee and is looking to get a license to build an enrichment plant in New Mexico, Domenici's home state. Finally, the bill will repeal a ban on exporting highly enriched uranium to other countries, ignoring provisions made in the House that protect against terrorist attacks. The chance that nuclear bomb material could fall into terrorist hands would be much increased with an open market for highly enriched uranium. Also, more reactors in the United States provide terrorists with more targets. The current Administration supports the expansion of nuclear energy, yet has made no attempt to provide for its safety or oversight under Homeland Security legislation. UPDATE BY: MICHAEL MARIOTTE AND CINDY FOLKERS: The 2003/2004 Bush Energy Bill has continued to stall in the Senate despite use of several convoluted legislative procedures to pass it. This legislation was born from the secretive Cheney Energy task force meetings, which have been the focus of much legal action. The secrecy of this task force is renowned and is yet another attempt by the Bush Administration to cut off the public from government access. The energy industry trade organization, Nuclear Energy Institute, met with the task force more times than any other single energy interest. It is no surprise that the bill is loaded with tax breaks, subsidies and policy initiatives for old energy sources, giving very little to energy efficiency or renewable energy efforts. This is an energy policy more suitable for 1960 and lacks vision and any foundation for our energy independence. Through the relentless efforts of NIRS and many other national and local activists and environmental groups, the Energy Bill (HR-6) was defeated on November 21, 2003 by a cloture vote of 57-40. Bill proponents could not overcome a filibuster supported by both Republicans and Democrats. The many controversial provisions contained in HR 6, including the $6-15 billion tax production credit for new nuclear reactors, made it unpopular among both parties. In total, there was more to hate about this bill than to like and it couldnt even be brought to the floor for a final vote. In 2004 Senator Domenici introduced the energy bill again as S 2095. This bill changed very little from the original legislation. The notable exception is that the nuclear tax production credits (PTC) were excluded. But the bill still did not have the support to pass the Senate so Domenici decided to split the bill in two, attempting to pass the policy and tax sections separately. NIRS is now in the process of opposing these two bills. The policy portion of the bill has failed at this point, but the tax portion of S 2095 could still pass as an amendment to another bill. Again, the nuclear PTC is not part of this energy tax package, but Domenici has threatened to add it separately. This tax credit will amount to at least $6 billion and could reach as much as $15 or even $19 billion, according to estimates by EarthTrack. Throughout this entire process, the press has covered the overall bill, especially controversial MTBE-related provisions, and numerous newspapers have taken strong editorial stands against it. However, virtually without exception these stories are/were woefully silent on the bills nuclear provisions. Since the PTC could be upwards of $15 billion in total cost, it deserves the spotlight as yet another amazing giveaway to the nuclear industry, this time to initiate a nuclear resurgence with taxpayer-supported construction of new reactors. For more information, contact NIRS, 1424 16th Street, NW, Suite 404, Washington, DC 20036. www.nirs.org; 202-328-0002, nirsnet@nirs.org Or contact Public Citizens Critical Mass Energy and Environment Program, 215 Pennsylvania Avenue, SE, Washington, DC 20003, 202-546-4996, www.citizen.org/cmep Project Censored - Sonoma State University 1801 East Cotati Ave., Rohnert Park, CA 94928 (707) 664-2500 censored@sonoma.edu ***************************************************************** 23 [NukeNet] Nuke letter to the editor in Ohio Date: Mon, 20 Sep 2004 14:37:56 -0700 image0012.gif image0022.gif Letters To The Editor image0022.gif image0022.gif image004.gif Nuclear Regulatory Commission isn't doing its job Saturday, September 18, 2004 Sarah McKinney Columbus Nuclear power is an inherently hazardous industry that has become even more dangerous since Sept. 11, 2001. Unfortunately, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which has the authority to oversee our country's nuclear power plants, is failing to adequately protect the health, safety and security of the public and our environment. It has been three years since the Sept. 11th attacks, and the NRC still hasn't verified that security requirements are being met. What's worse is that experts estimate that testing the physical security of the plants won't be completed until 2007. Additionally, the NRC has hired Wackenhut, the same security company that provides half of the existing nuclear plant security staff, to conduct the mock attacks. The NRC grades the drills, but the "defenders" are bound to perform better if they've been forewarned by their "attackers." These are all symptoms of the NRC's fatally flawed oversight process. This is the same commission that gave FirstEnergy's Davis-Besse plant straight A's during an inspection, two days before workers discovered a hole the size of a football in the reactor head. Evidence of the NRC's incompetence is mounting, and its actions and procedures for ensuring the security of nuclear power plants falls well short of addressing the real security risks. The NRC needs to put public safety first by acting now to verify that security requirements are being met and by hiring a company independent of the existing security staff to physically assess the integrity of the plants. By Sarah McKinney. McKinney is an associate with Ohio PIRG. ================================================ Rob Sargent Rob Sargent Senior Energy Policy Analyst National Association of State PIRGs 44 Winter Street Boston, MA 02108 P: 617-747-4317 F: 617-292-8057 C: 617-312-7546 rsargent@pirg.org www.pirg.org _______________________________________________________________________ Subscribe/Unsubscribe Here: http://www.energyjustice.net/nukenet/ Change your settings at: http://energyjustice.net/mailman/listinfo/nukenet_energyjustice.net Attachment Converted: image00124.gif: 00000001,66d6a41d,00000000,00000000 Attachment Converted: image00223.gif: 00000001,66d6a41e,00000000,00000000 Attachment Converted: image00224.gif: 00000001,66d6a41f,00000000,00000000 Attachment Converted: image00225.gif: 00000001,66d6a420,00000000,00000000 Attachment Converted: image0042.gif: 00000001,66d6a421,00000000,00000000 ***************************************************************** 24 UPI: Czech nuclear reactor shut down after fault - (United Press International) September 20, 2004 Prague, Czech Republic, Sep. 20 (UPI) -- A reactor at the Czech Republic's nuclear power station at Temelin was shut down Monday because of a fault in a cooling system. The fault, which a spokesman said would take at least a week to fix, took place in a non-nuclear part of the plant. It is the second reactor shut down in a month and will raise fears, especially in neighboring Austria, about the Soviet designed plant's reliability. Fiercely anti-nuclear Austria borders the Czech Republic 35 miles south of the Temelin plant. The plant was upgraded using American technology after the fall of communism but it has frequently suffered from glitches. The plant also suffered at least two glitches serious enough to disrupt electricity production in August. The Czech government says it monitors safety at Temelin closely but is satisfied the plant is technically sound. [UPI Perspectives] ***************************************************************** 25 UPI: Study says nuke power more competitive - (United Press International) September 20, 2004 Washington, DC, Sep. 20 (UPI) -- Nuclear power's future might be a little brighter following Monday's release of a U.S. study showing it can compete economically with coal and natural gas. The University of Chicago study found once initial construction costs are paid off, nuclear power plants generate electricity slightly cheaper than coal and gas-fired plants. Using a standard called the "levelized cost of electricity" for a modern nuclear plant is $31 to $46 per megawatt hour compared to $33 to $41 MWh for coal and $35 to $45 MWh for natural gas. The Department of Energy said in a statement the report proves nuclear power could be a competitive energy source in coming years. The report, however, warns the costs of designing and building test plants for the new technology could be a significant hurdle. No nuclear plants have been built since the 1970s. However, nuclear power is still the second-largest source of electricity in the United States behind coal. [UPI Perspectives] Copyright 2004 United Press International ***************************************************************** 26 NRC: NRC to Meet with Pacific Gas & Electric to Discuss Radioactive Material Control Program at Humboldt Bay Nuclear Plant News Release - Region IV - 2004-03 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs, Region IV No. IV-04-039 September 17, 2004 CONTACT: Victor Dricks Phone: 817-860-8128 E-mail: opa4@nrc.gov [opa4@nrc.gov] Officials of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission will meet with executives from Pacific Gas & Electric Co. on September 29 to discuss the control and accountability of licensed radioactive material and the search for missing fuel rod segments at the Humboldt Bay nuclear plant near Eureka, Calif. PG&E owns the plant, which shut down in 1976. PG&E officials notified the NRC on August 17 that they have been unable to locate three 18-inch sections of a spent fuel rod that records show was removed from the reactor in 1968. They will update the NRC on the progress of their continuing search. The meeting, which is open to public observation, will be held between 6:30 and 9:00 p.m. at the Humboldt Bay Yacht Club, Wharfinger Building, One Marina Way, in Eureka. The public is invited to observe the meeting and the NRC staff will be available for comments and questions from the public before the meeting adjourns. Last revised Friday, September 17, 2004 ***************************************************************** 27 Indian Express: PUC against Daroli nuclear plant [http://www.indianexpress.com/] Express News Service Patiala, September 17: MEMBERS of Public Undertakings Committee (PUC) of the Punjab Assembly expressed their opposition to the setting up of a nuclear power plant at Daroli village, near Patran, in Patiala district. Committee members, led by PUC chairman Ashwani Sekhri, held a three-hour meeting with senior functionaries of the Punjab State Electricity Board. Sekhri said the matter is pending with the central government. Residents of Daroli village and its adjoining areas had raised the issue some years back when a central team had visited the area for some groundwork in connection with the proposed nuclear plant. The villagers had formed an action committee pleading that, besides posing a potential health hazard, the plant would also entail dislocation of a large number of villagers. The members expressed concern over the increasing transmission and generation losses and wanted the board management to initiate measures to curtail the losses. They said as per provisions of the Central Electricity Act of 2003, all state electricity boards have to be turned into corporations by June, 2005. However, they said it should be ensured that there are no retrenchment. The committee members who attended the meeting included Akali legislator Upinderjit Kaur, Sucha Singh Chhotepur, Raj kumar Khurana, Surjit Singh, Balbir Singh Miani, Harbans Singh Dutt and Ravinder Singh. Us [http://www.expressindia.com/about] | © 2004: Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd. All ***************************************************************** 28 Hudson Valley News: Kelly repeats call for Indian Point walk-down to fully investigate possible cable problems Monday, September 20, 2004 Copyright © 2004 Mid-Hudson News Network, a division of Congresswoman Sue Kelly continues to pressure the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to fully investigate possible electrical cable separation problems at Indian Point 2 as today she reiterated her call to conduct a complete walk-down of the plant's cable and raceway system. "We must determine that there are absolutely no weaknesses or even potential weaknesses in plant operations, and the most appropriate way to ensure that is to conduct a complete walk-down to substantiate that the plant is entirely safe," Kelly said. On Sept. 17, Kelly wrote the latest in a series of letters she has sent to NRC Chairman Nils Diaz expressing her dismay with the NRC's handling of safety issues regarding the IP 2 cable and raceway system after concerns were raised publicly by former Entergy employee William Lemanski earlier this year. Kelly also has met with Diaz to make the case for a plant walk-down. An August 20 inspection report documents the findings from the NRC's inquiry into Lemanski's concerns. NRC inspectors identified three violations of federal regulations, but characterized each of them as "Green" in the reactor oversight process. Lemanski remains unsatisfied with the level of scrutiny given to his concerns and David Lochbaum, Nuclear Safety Engineer with the Union of Concerned Scientists, last week contacted the NRC to further underscore Lemanski's case. Kelly believes the walk-down has become necessary to ensure the safety of local residents. "At a time when plant security and safety is of paramount concern to communities surrounding the Indian Point Energy Center, it is critically important that the NRC do everything it can to ensure the safe operation of this facility," Kelly wrote to Diaz. "Again, I urge your support for an immediate and thorough inspection of the plant's cable and raceway system." HEAR today's news on MidHudsonRadio.com [http://www.midhudsonradio.com] , the Hudson Valley's only Internet radio news report. ***************************************************************** 29 Sofia Morning News: Tender Selects Bulgaria's 2nd Nuke Technology [Sofia News Agency] novinite.com A special tender will decide what will be the technology that will be used at Bulgaria's second nuclear power plant in Belene, Energy Minister M. Kovachev said. Photo by novinite.com archive | buy photo | Politics: 20 September 2004, Monday. A special tender will decide what will be the technology that will be used at Bulgaria's second nuclear power plant in Belene. Energy Minister Milko Kovachev said that most probably that will be decided by the end of 2004. The technical and economic analysis of the consultant in the Belene project is now ready. The report has focused on all reactor options. The economic part of the report is yet to be prepared as the bidders' commitments will be clear once they file their offers, Kovachev explained. Bulgaria's second nuclear plant in Belene was re-launched for construction after a government decision end of last year. It had been set to a halt in 1992 due to protests from environmentalists.[ width=] novinite.com Forum Google Tourism Business All Rights Reserved © Novinite Ltd., 2001-2004 - Copyright Novinite.com (thebulgariannews.com also) is unique with being a real time news provider in English that informs its readers about the latest Bulgarian news. The editorial staff also ***************************************************************** 30 Las Vegas SUN: NRC Says Ohio Reactor Damage 'Significant' By MALIA RULON ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON (AP) - Damage to the reactor head of the Davis-Besse power plant in Ohio ranks among the top five most serious nuclear plant accidents or near-accidents since Three Mile Island, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Monday. Davis-Besse, along Lake Erie in northwest Ohio, was closed for two years after inspectors found corrosion on the reactor in March 2002. Leaking boric acid almost had eaten through a 6-inch-thick steel cap; repairs cost $600 million. While the plant was shut down, engineers found that its undersized sump could have become clogged with debris during an accident, which choked off the flow of water to cooling pumps, said an NRC analysis released Monday. Federal regulators estimated there were six chances in a 1,000 that the plant could have experienced a meltdown during the year before it was shut down for routine maintenance in February 2002. Normally, the risk of an accident happening at Davis-Besse is about six in 100,000, NRC spokesman Scott Burnell said. The NRC considers the risk "significant" when circumstances at a plant bring the possibility of core damage within one chance in 1,000. Richard Wilkins, a spokesman for plant operator FirstEnergy Corp., said the agency's analysis assumes that all pumps and safety systems would fail, which is highly unlikely. Still, he said the conditions that led to the NRC's risk estimate was unacceptable. Since the 1979 accident at Pennsylvania's Three Mile Island, only three other events at nuclear plants had a higher probability of causing a meltdown than the corrosion at Davis-Besse, the report said. These events were: -The 1985 breakdown of feedwater pumps necessary to cool the nuclear core at the Davis-Besse plant, a seven out of 100 chance of core damage; -The 1981 failure to close quickly of three main steam isolation valves at the Brunswick plant near Southport, N.C., which had a nine out of 1,000 risk factor; and -The 1991 unavailability of a high-pressure injection pump at the Shearon Harris plant southwest of Raleigh, N.C., which had a risk rating of a little more than six out of 1,000. Two other events in the last decade have had about the same risk factor as the reactor head damage at Davis-Besse: the draining of reactor coolant at the Wolf Creek plant near Burlington, Kan., during a 1994 maintenance outage; and the loss of offsite power at the Catawba plant near Rock Hill, S.C., in 1996. Even if Davis-Besse's core had been damaged, its containment vessel and other safety systems would have protected the public from a radioactivity release, the NRC report said. Paul Gunter, a nuclear expert at the watchdog group Nuclear Information and Resource Service, said the analysis shows how close the plant came to a serious accident. "You don't have to be a rocket scientist to look at this and realize how fast and loose and reckless both the industry and regulator played with public safety here," Gunter said. The NRC report also corrects previous estimates that the Davis-Besse plant's reactor head could have continued to operate safely for two to 13 months after it was shut down in 2002. Regulators now say the plant would have been safe to operate for two to 22 months. --- On the Net: Nuclear Regulatory Commission: http://www.nrc.gov [http://www.nrc.gov] FirstEnergy Corp.: http://www.firstenergycorp.com [http://www.firstenergycorp.com] -- ***************************************************************** 31 NRC: NRC to Meet with Honeywell Officials on September 30 To Discuss Long-Term Improvement Plans for Metropolis Plant News Release - Region II - 2004-04 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs, Region II No. II-04-049 September 17, 2004 CONTACT: Ken Clark (404) 562-4416 Roger D. Hannah (404) 562-4417 E-mail: opa2@nrc.gov [opa2@nrc.gov] officials of Honeywell International in Metropolis, Illinois, on Thursday, September 30 to discuss the companys long-term improvement plan in response to issues identified following the December 22, 2003, release of uranium hexafluoride gas to the environment. The plant converts uranium yellow cake into uranium hexafluoride which is then shipped to processing plants for conversion into uranium fuel. The meeting will be held from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. in the Community Center at 516 Superman Square. The public is invited to attend to observe and will have one or more opportunities to communicate with the NRC after the business portion, but before the meeting is adjourned. A copy of the letter inviting Honeywell officials to the meeting is accessible from the NRC Office of Public Affairs at the above address and on the NRC Internet Web Site at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. Help in using ADAMS is available by contacting the NRC Public Document Room at 301 415-4737 or at 1 - 800 - 397-4209. Last revised Monday, September 20, 2004 ***************************************************************** 32 Guardian Unlimited: EPA Seeking New Yucca Radiation Standard From the Associated Press [UP] Monday September 20, 2004 8:16 PM By H. JOSEF HEBERT Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - Trying to overcome a possibly crippling court decision, the Environmental Protection Agency hopes to have a proposal by early next year on new radiation exposure limits at a proposed nuclear waste site in Nevada. Jeffrey Holmstead, chief of EPA's air and radiation programs, told a panel of scientists Monday that a wide range of options is being considered that would not require Congress to intervene in the politically charged issue. The future of the waste project at Yucca Mountain in the Nevada desert was put into jeopardy when a federal appeals court rejected an EPA radiation exposure standard in July that was tied to 10,000 years into the future, even though some of the waste will be at its most dangerous thousands of years later. The court said EPA failed to take into account a 1995 National Academy of Sciences recommendation that the standard be set at periods of peak-radiation, although Congress required that the recommendations be followed. Opponents of the project have argued that the design of the waste site as it is now contemplated cannot meet a standard set that far into the future. Members of the Board of Radioactive Waste Management, a part of the National Academy of Sciences, examined at a meeting Monday the implications of the court case and possible options for future action. The board frequently offers a forum to examine waste management issues. Robert Fri, chairman of the National Academy panel that wrote the 1995 report cited by the court, suggested the EPA satisfy the court's objections only by significantly altering its standard more in line with what his group had recommended. That would involve going well beyond 10,000 years, but not necessarily so far into the future that risk modeling, or even the proposed Yucca design, might be useless, Fri suggested. EPA would have to adopt a less conservative approach to determining public risks from exposure, said Fri, a scholar at the environmental think tank Resources for the Future. Holmstead said the EPA is ``at the beginning of the process of determining what options might be'' available but would not discuss specific proposals. Going beyond 10,000 years for a radiation standard ``is a real challenge,'' he conceded. A panel member, Norine Noonan, dean of the School of Science and Mathematics at the College of Charleston in South Carolina, asked whether EPA might assume a standard based on risk that was envisioned in the 1995 National Academy study. Holmstead said it was an option on the table with others. After the session, Holmstead told reporters that the agency is working as quickly as it can to develop a standard to meet the court's misgivings, and it would be possible to have a standard ready by early next year. Congress also could intervene by passing legislation to free the EPA from having to take into consideration the 1995 National Academy recommendations. Sam Fowler, the senior Democratic staff member on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, told the scientists such a move could appear to the public as Congress ``trying to dumb down the standard'' for political reasons. Strong opposition to the Yucca project by Nevada's senators, a Democrat and a Republican, also would make it difficult to pass such legislation. Whether the impasse over an acceptable radiation standard eventually could scuttle the Yucca Mountain project remains to be seen. Nevertheless, supporters acknowledge it casts serious doubt on the Energy Department's plan to open the waste site by 2010. Trying to establish public risks tens of thousands of years into the future is a staggering undertaking, scientists acknowledged at Monday's meeting. More than 45,000 tons of used reactor fuel already are in temporary storage at commercial power plants and defense facilities in 34 states awaiting shipment to a central repository. ``What do you do if the very best solution you can think of doesn't meet the (radiation) standard?'' environmental scholar Fri asked. ``The stuff is not going to go away.'' On the Net: Yucca Mountain Project: http://www.ocrwm.doe.gov/ymp/index.shtml Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004 ***************************************************************** 33 MoJo: Under the Radar [MotherJones.com] [Mother Jones] [News] By Michael Rosen and Jonas von Freiesleben September 20, 2004 Veterans and their families in Europe and the U.S. are seeking compensation for cancer suffered by radar technicians who worked with Nike and Hawk missile batteries during the Cold War. A FEW DOZEN graying former radar technicians gathered last October for their annual reunion at the Nike Missile Museum in Sausalito, California. At the same time, in El Paso, Texas, a federal judge was about to rule that some of their comrades in military service could pursue a class action lawsuit charging that they had been unnecessarily and knowingly exposed to cancer-causing X-rays while doing maintenance on the tracking radars that were part of the missile system. But on that autumn day, the litigation didn’t appear to trouble those enjoying the barbecue, among them Ed Thelen, a missile enthusiast who created a website to honor the Nike program’s history. The sun glinted off the old missiles as kids played on the grass, and Thelen, who maintained the anti-aircraft systems from 1956 through 1958, crawled under a radar to relive old times. “Bad things happen to people who get old," said Thelen, voicing the doubts shared by many veterans. "It’s just lawyers out to get rich," he added in a later interview. Yet across the globe in Germany, another veteran radar technician, Dietmar Glaner, now 56 years old, doesn’t share Thelen’s skepticism. In 1990, his left arm was amputated below the elbow due to bone cancer. He's convinced the disease was caused by exposure to X-ray radiation during the time, in the late 60s and early 70s, when he handled radioactive tubes in the radars. For a decade in the German military, he serviced U.S.-made Starfighter jet radar systems that were similar to those found in the Nike missile system and another air defense program, the Hawk missile system. "I always did adjustments with my left hand," he said in a telephone interview. "We never wore lead gloves." Glaner is part of a growing movement of veterans and their families in Europe and the United States seeking compensation for illnesses and deaths that former radar technicians have suffered. For nearly four decades during the Cold War, NATO countries and America’s allies erected Nike and Hawk missile batteries in Germany, South Korea, the Netherlands, Japan, Greece, and Denmark among other places. In the United States alone, the military constructed several hundred Nike and Hawk batteries to deliver conventional or nuclear missiles as the last line of defense against Soviet bombers. More than 3,000 Starfighter jets were used by the U.S. and its allies. So far no one has produced a figure of how many people worked on the tubes over this 40-year period, but the number easily reaches into the thousands. Although the U.S. has phased out these different weapons systems, they still are in use in a number of countries, although the radars now have improved safety systems. Last year in Germany, Glaner and other veterans filed a lawsuit and held protest rallies in front of the Ministry of Defense in Berlin, prompting the government to acknowledge the danger posed to veterans by the potentially harmful doses of X-rays. Since then, the German government has awarded compensation of as much as $71,000 to at least 360 veterans, according to a government spokesman. (While about 900 applications have been denied, another 600 or so, including Glaner’s, are still under consideration.) And while U.S. veterans have not taken their fight to the Pentagon, they are pursuing their claims, along with some of their European comrades, in what may be a more fruitful venue: the U.S. District Court in El Paso, Texas, which is next door to Fort Bliss, where radar technicians from around the world came to be trained. Thirty-two American and European technicians and survivors and the German Union of Radiation Victims, the Bund zur Unterstützung Radargeschädigter, filed a class action lawsuit in 2002 against the radar manufacturers for the two missile systems, including Raytheon, Lucent Technologies, General Electric, ITT Industries, Inc. and Honeywell International Inc. The plaintiffs claim that company officials were aware that technicians were being exposed to dangerous doses of X-rays, that they failed to warn the technicians to take precautionary measures, and that they did not start to install a protective shielding around the tubes that emitted the potentially fatal radiation until the 1970s. There are many kinds of switching tubes in radar systems, and though there are differences between them, they are all used to control the flow of electrons through the circuit. It was common knowledge that such tubes could release radiation, even back in the 50s, according to Gary Zeman, Radiation Control Manager at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory. "It’s well known that the electron tubes like those in television sets and radar units were capable of producing X-rays," he says, but adds, "We know that X-ray intensity falls off rapidly with distance, so if people were exposed even a foot or more distant, then the exposure levels would be much lower." Many German operators, including Glaner, recall making adjustments to the devices and touching the tubes with their bare hands. One plaintiff, Jack Cooper, an El Paso resident now in his mid-60s, who worked with the Hawk system from 1954 to 1975, claims to have contracted kidney cancer as a result of this negligence, according to court documents. Another, Daniel Duncan, a former technician now in his mid-60s and living in Georgia, attributes an abnormal cell growth in his parathyroid gland following his work on the Hawk system in the mid-1960s. And Lianne Fridriksson, whose mother is a plaintiff in the lawsuit, blames the death of her 78-year-old father, Thor, from acute Leukemia in 2001, on the tubes that he had worked with from 1955 to 1969 as a U.S. Army soldier. In a note posted on a website, his wife, Joan, of Granbury, Texas, wrote that although his job required that he replace tubes marked "radioactive," the federal government denied paying her disability insurance compensation because "there is no objective evidence to show the veteran worked with or was exposed to radioactive materials." Lianne, who is a journalism professor at Baylor University, said that her father suffered for months before the disease was diagnosed. "Over the last couple of years I’ve done some research and a lot of web searches and found other cases that were similar, other people who had worked on the tubes and gone through the same thing," she said. "Even the doctors who examined him, the head physicians, thought his illness was connected to his handling radioactive tubes." Representatives of some of the companies that manufactured radar components, declined to comment on the lawsuit, but Raytheon, Lucent, and Honeywell said they believe it to be without merit and promised to fight it vigorously. The U.S. Department of Defense, which is not a party to the suit, declined to comment on the allegations. But the plaintiffs’ lawyer, John Auerbach of the Philadelphia-based law firm Berger &Montague, said the case would show that the companies had evidence that the devices gave off X-rays. "We've received documents that they knew there were problems with the Hawk system, that they should have added additional shielding to block ionizing radiation," he said. Auerbach added that the same problems plagued the Nike systems as well. "This is simple physics that we know going back to the '30s. If you go to the dentist's office, they'll usually put a lead apron on you to protect you when they give you an X-ray. It's common sense. [T]hey should have taken steps to reduce exposure or they should have warned these people about the risks. But no measurements were taken, and there was no training to tell people to maintain their distance" from the tubes. In addition to seeking damages, the suit is also demanding that the firms pay for medical monitoring of those veterans who have yet to show any symptoms. "These people served their country with valor and protected us," said Auerbach. In their opening volley, the companies tried unsuccessfully to have the case dismissed on grounds that many of the plaintiffs are Europeans and their grievances should be heard in Europe, not in the U.S. That request was denied in April by U.S. District Court Judge Philip R. Martinez, who ruled in April that the case could remain in this country because the radar technicians were trained here. The trial is set for July 29, 2005. BEFORE YOU SEE the Air Defense Artillery museum at Fort Bliss, Texas, the missiles loom. Hawks and Nike, bright white with sleek black fins, stand in the parking lot. The museum doesn’t get many visitors; most are tourists from nearby El Paso or veterans showing their grandchildren the military hardware of bygone days. But in recent months, people from as far away as England and Denmark have been coming to this desolate desert region for a different reason. They are researchers, attorneys and investigators preparing litigation or scientific reports about the radar that guides the missiles. "I had a German group come in that wanted to go through our entire archive," said David Ross, the museum curator. "They were here going through them in shifts, three people in the morning, three in the afternoon." Ross, who tends shelves upon shelves of old military training manuals, says that if the radar injured anyone, human error was at fault. "To blame the radar systems when they’re used properly is ludicrous," he said. "These weapons are designed to hurt the other guy. They are dangerous. So if they’re not used properly, they can hurt you." The question, however, is whether the systems were, in fact, used properly. The radar veterans union in Germany said technicians were not warned about possible dangers associated with the radar tubes. And more than two dozen former U.S. and European radar technicians contacted for this article said they also did not recall warnings. "Sure we had protection," retired Army Colonel Don Baker, a onetime Hawk radar operator from Mount Vernon, Va., said in a telephone interview. "We used earplugs against high-pitch frequencies." Jim Wright, a former Army technician who worked on Nike Hercules tracking radar for about two years in the early 1960s, said in an email that he could not remember any radar radiation warnings. "I remember some idle talk about losing your reproductive abilities if you spent a lot of time in the beam; that's all," he said. Neither Baker nor Wright had been aware of the lawsuit before receiving a call for this story. These and other recollections of radar technicians are bolstered by the findings of the commission established in 2002 by the German government in response to the German veterans’ protests. In a report issued last year, the commission concluded that there was "no adequate protection against radiation" in place before 1975. Some of the following years, it said, were marked by little or no protection. It cites research from the University of Witten-Herdecke that compiled the biographies of 99 radar technicians from the 1970s and found that 69 had cancer, including 24 who had fatal cases; the average age of death was 40 years. Although the commission’s report did not find a causal scientific connection, it identified enough of a link to prompt the German government to initiate the compensation program for veterans. Those with certain types of cancer, including leukemia and bone cancer, are eligible for compensation beginning at about $71,000. STILL, AT LAST YEAR’S reunion of the American radar veterans, few of the technicians wanted to talk about the issue. In fact, many of the American technicians were unaware of the German findings. Even today, Thelen and many other U.S. veterans are skeptical of any perils from X-rays. Perhaps they fear that a public controversy will cast a cloud over the defense systems that they remain proud to have worked on. Thelen said the cancers could be coming from other sources and compared it to the controversy over silicone breast implants and asbestos. "As a kid, I used to play in piles of asbestos, and I’ve never had any health problems," he said. On his website he recently wrote that he would refuse to help any of the efforts to win compensation and contended that the effort to sue the contractors was motivated by a desire to go after defendants with deep pockets. "As best I can tell, there is no evidence that anyone was exposed to ionizing radiation from Nike equipment," he said in one posting. But Glaner, the German technician whose left forearm was amputated, expressed dismay over the U.S. veterans’ predicament. The risk of cancer ought to be as big a concern for American technicians as for Germans, he said. "All the different [NATO] forces used the same systems," he remarked. "Many American technicians who have become sick might not draw the connection between their sickness and the radar because it takes so long." "It’s not like a fire—You can see a fire, you know to be careful," Glaner added. "But you can’t see X-rays. You can’t touch them, or feel them, or smell them. You don’t know you’ve been exposed until years later." [.] What do you think? [backtalk@motherjones.com?subject=Backtalk: Under the Radar] Michael Welt and Jennifer Barrios contributed to this article. Michael Rosen is a student at UC Berkeley School of Journalism. Jonas von Freiesleben is a freelance writer based in New York. © 2004 The Foundation for National Progress Support Us ***************************************************************** 34 Sunday Herald: Fury as Bomb-Grade Plutonium Sets Sail for France Date: Mon, 20 Sep 2004 11:26:37 -0700 *Fury as Bomb-Grade Plutonium Sets Sail for France from U.S.* By Rob Edwards The Sunday Herald Sunday 19 September 2004 Weapons-grade plutonium, sufficient to make up to 40 nuclear warheads, is expected to be loaded onto two armed British ships in the US this week and then carried across the Atlantic to France. The US plan to send 140 kilograms of bomb-grade plutonium for processing in France will be the most controversial nuclear shipment for years. Throughout its two-week voyage, the plutonium will be protected by British military forces. When it arrives at the port of Cherbourg it is expected to be greeted by protesters. On September 3 the Pacific Teal and the Pacific Pintail, two armed nuclear transport ships run by the state-owned, British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL), left the port of Barrow in northwest England. This weekend they are believed to be somewhere off the US naval base at Charleston in South Carolina. In the next few days they will dock, take on board heavy casks of plutonium oxide, and head back across the Atlantic. After they arrive at Cherbourg, the plutonium will be taken by road to a fuel fabrication plant run by the French firm, Cogema, at Cadarache, north of Marseilles. The US and French governments argue that the aim of the shipment is to get rid of "surplus" weapons plutonium by making it into a fuel for nuclear power stations. This is part of an agreement between the US and Russia that both countries will get rid of 34 tonnes of plutonium from "excess" nuclear warheads. The plan is to make the plutonium into fuel rods, then transport them to another facility at Marcoule, north of Avignon, to assemble them. Sometime at the beginning of 2005, they will be returned to the US to try out in a reactor. The US government is keen to demonstrate that the fuel, known as MOX, will work. It then plans to commission Cogema and others to help build and operate a MOX fuel fabrication plant at Savannah River in South Carolina. The US plan has provoked fierce criticisms. "Unless it is carried out in a manner as safe and secure as possible, the cure may end up worse than the disease," said Dr Edwin Lyman of the Union of Concerned Scientists in Washington DC. "It would be a disaster if plutonium were to be diverted or stolen by terrorists because of inadequate security during the stages of the disposition process. Yet if this programme continues along its current path, such a theft may well be inevitable." But such criticisms are rebuffed by the US, French and British authorities involved in the shipment. "It will proceed just fine with no safety or security problems," said Bryan Wilkes, a spokesman for the US National Nuclear Security Administration. He says he cannot describe the security measures that are being taken, but he is confident that they will be sufficient. He accuses opponents of the shipment of helping terrorists by publicising the planned route and timings. Henry-Jacques Neau, head of transport with Cogema, said the shipment will have "the highest level of security" from British defence forces. BNFL points out that that its ships have an excellent safety record. "During more than 20 years of transports there has never been an incident resulting in the release of radioactivity," said a company spokesman. "If you get to it and cannot do it, there you jolly well are, aren't you?" Lord Buckley DICK CLARK 520 SHRADER STREET #7 SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94117-2762 TEL.# (415) 752-3692 ***************************************************************** 35 [RADFOOD] Fall Food Newsletter Date: Mon, 20 Sep 2004 23:48:48 -0500 (CDT) Check out Public Citizen's latest food newsletter at: http://www.citizen.org/documents/Sept%20-%20Oct%202004%20-%20PDF.pdf This newsletter features the following stories: -Will Irradiated Beef in School Lunches Fail? -CA Right-to-know School Lunch Bill Vetoed -U.S. Concerned about Imported Shrimp -Rad-Beef No Longer on Grocery Store Shelves -Seattle Schools Direct Against Irradiated Food -New Factory Farm Video -Olympic Champions Must Have Wreaths Zapped -Action: Tell Congress to Keep Food Labeling Law Thank you, Audrey Hill Audrey Hill Public Citizen 215 Pennsylvania Avenue, SE Washington, DC 20003 (202) 454-5185 ******************** If you would like to be removed from the radfood list, send an email to listserv@listserver.citizen.org with the words "unsubscribe radfood" in the message. If you would like to be added to the radfood list, send an email to listserv@listserver.citizen.org with the words "subscribe radfood" in the message. To learn more about food irradiation, visit our website at http://www.citizen.org/cmep/ Questions about the radfood list can be directed to RADFOOD-request@LISTSERVER.CITIZEN.ORG -Public Citizen's Critical Mass Energy and Environment Program ***************************************************************** 36 Breathing Uranium Oxide: Depleted Uranium Comes Home Date: Mon, 20 Sep 2004 14:37:43 -0700 From: "John Lewallen" <lewallen@mcn.org> To: <cwolman@mcn.org> Sent: Monday, September 20, 2004 5:49 PM Subject: Breathing Uranium Oxide: Depleted Uranium Comes Home Breathing Uranium Oxide: Depleted Uranium Comes Home --Commentary by John Lewallen, Uranium Munitions Action Group, Veterans for Peace It is my duty to warn my neighbors about the serious danger of breathing uranium oxide vapors resulting from the burning of uranium munitions, which are bombs, missiles, artillery rounds and bullets made of "depleted" uranium. If you value your health and genetic integrity, avoid breathing anywhere near where uranium munitions are being used, or have been used. Breathable uranium oxide from the uranium munitions in wide use in Iraq and Afghanistan today certainly has contaminated many battlefield troops with radioactive intracellular snipers. Lodging anywhere in the body, persisting for years, uranium oxide particles blast high-energy radiation into adjoining cells, destroying the dna which is the basic pattern of life. As I have done, please warn family and friends that anyone breathing in Iraq or Afghanistan today is at extreme hazard of breathing uranium oxide, and of having particles of uranium oxide on clothing and personal effects. Blessedly, the United States Navy has eliminated uranium munitions from its arsenal. Members of all other services are entering a world where uranium munitions are in frequent use. Unfortunately, the United States Government is still trapped in its own big lie that uranium munitions pose no major health or environmental hazard. As a result, its own personnel and supporting contractors who serve where every particle of dust may carry a deadly, mutagenic uranium oxide particle are at extreme hazard of breathing uranium oxide. I plead with medical scientists to study the truth about the huge global medical crisis caused by breathable uranium oxide particles already released by U.S. uranium bullets, bombs, artillery and missiles being used in untold quantity in Iraq and Afghanistan. The big lie that uranium munitions pose no major health hazard has become scientific orthodoxy in America today. Shame! While we struggle to crack this lie with the truth, millions of people have breathed uranium oxide. Scientists, please read "Undiagnosed Illnesses and Radioactive Warfare," by Dr. Asaf Durakovic, for it describes the huge global epidemic caused by breathable uranium oxide. Friends, study the words of Major Doug Rokke, who has held steadfastly to his oath to protect U.S. troops from being poisoned by breathing smoke from their own bombs and bullets. Until the truth-tellers such as Colonel Asaf Durakovic and Major Doug Rokke are brought out of exile by the Pentagon and put in charge of diagnosing and treating U.S. troops poisoned by breathing uranium oxide, our own military/medical establishment will remain committed to denying and covering up this horrible, mutagenic contamination. The contamination of Afghanistan and Iraq with breathable uranium oxide is an atrocity which, over the years, will cause millions of diseases and mutations. A sane species would focus global energy now on doing its best to contain the breathable uranium oxide already released, and to deal with the health and environmental damage done by uranium munitions. Instead, breathable uranium oxide is being generated and distributed via the stratosphere to everyone on Earth. That's why the Veterans for Peace are asking all people to stop using uranium munitions now! --John Lewallen maintains a website <www.NuclearPress.com>, where his analytical piece, "Stop Using Uranium Munitions Now!" is posted. ***************************************************************** 37 IEER update: Nuclear fallout; plutonium discrepancies; Yucca Date: Mon, 20 Sep 2004 14:37:58 -0700 Here are some recent postings to the web site of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research, www.ieer.org We hope you find them useful. Comments are always welcome and appreciated. --Lisa Ledwidge, IEER IEER letter to NAS committee assessing the Radiation Exposure Screening and Education Program, September 2, 2004 http://www.ieer.org/comments/fallout/nasltr0904.html Los Alamos Has "Immense" Plutonium Inventory Discrepancy: 150 Bombs Worth, August 11, 2004 http://www.ieer.org/comments/pu/nanospr.html IEER Radio Shows on KUNM Albuquerque, January-August 2004 (e.g., Is oil running out?; G-8 and Global Apartheid; much more) http://www.ieer.org/radio/index.html (text and audio) Energy Dept. is "Rushing Ahead with Defective Yucca Mountain Design," Says Former U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board Member; New Article Cites Management Parallels with Space Shuttle Disasters, June 14, 2004 http://www.ieer.org/latest/yuccapr.html Laws of the Sea / Yucca Mountain, Science for Democratic Action, Volume 12 Number 3, June 2004 http://www.ieer.org/sdafiles/12-3.pdf [PDF only (383kB)] The Savannah River at Grievous Risk: Analysis of proposal to leave high-level radioactive waste in the watershed, May 17, 2004 http://www.ieer.org/reports/srs/hlwpressrel.html IEER Comments on the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Draft Supplemental Site-Wide Stockpile Stewardship and Management Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement, April 30, 2004 http://www.ieer.org/comments/LLNLDEIS.html d Lisa Ledwidge Outreach Director, United States, and Editor of Science for Democratic Action Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (IEER) PO Box 6674 | Minneapolis, MN 55406 USA tel. 1-612-722-9700 | fax: please call first | ieer@ieer.org | http://www.ieer.org IEER's main office: 6935 Laurel Ave. Suite 201 | Takoma Park, MD 20912 USA | tel. 1-301-270-5500 | fax 1-301-270-3029 ***************************************************************** 38 SignOnSanDiego.com: Military -- 'Atomic veterans' fight for benefits Servicemen exposed to radiation feel their health problems are being ignored By James W. Crawley UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER September 20, 2004 LAURA EMBRY / Union-Tribune Merrilyn Holl, whose husband died of a condition she and his doctor blame on exposure to radiation, prepared for a move to Olympia, Wash. She will live with a daughter because she can no longer pay her bills in Hidden Meadows, a neighborhood north of Escondido. The Cold War was hot for men like Robert Campbell and Earl Lee. Radioactive hot. They were among more than 400,000 service members who participated in atomic bomb tests in the Pacific Ocean or Nevada or were near Hiroshima or Nagasaki as prisoners of war. They are known as "atomic veterans." Campbell and Lee are the lucky ones. They are still alive. Fewer than 20,000 of their ranks are left. Many have cancer. Most are older than 75. The Cold War is over, and the last U.S. nuclear detonation was 12 years ago. However, these veterans are fighting today for their lives and benefits. They claim their time has been shortened by exposure to radiation while the government has stalled, ignored or denied health care and veteran benefits through the Department of Veterans Affairs. Atomic Energy Commission Fred Holl marched through the fallout of the 1952 atomic-bomb test named Dog, shown here. He died five years ago. The government acknowledges problems in processing claims filed after a 1988 law was enacted to give atomic veterans compensation for radiation-related illness. But officials say they are trying to improve benefits processing. In the meantime, the veterans are pushing for attention and action. "We have the highest death rate and highest cancer rate than any other group except Agent Orange vets," said Campbell, 74, a Santee resident and vice commander of the National Association of Atomic Veterans. And, they warn, a "hidden" generation of atomic vets  soldiers exposed to depleted uranium munitions or sailors who worked on nuclear reactors aboard submarines, carriers and other warships  exists. The association will hold its convention here Sept. 26-29. The dwindling membership will see old comrades, share war stories and discuss efforts to get more recognition and benefits from the VA. America's atomic legacy began during World War II and continues today with thousands of nuclear warheads on missiles and in stockpiles. Between July 1945 and September 1992, the United States detonated 1,032 atomic and hydrogen bombs in, over or under five states, two oceans and one foreign nation, Japan, during wartime. Each series of nuclear tests had such operation names as Ivy, Greenhouse, Tumbler-Snapper, Wigwam and Hardtack. And each blast had its own official designation  some were phonetic names, like Able, Baker and Dog; others were named after plants, like Cactus, Fir and Walnut; or whimsical monikers, such as Marshmallow, Red Hot, Mudpack and Double Play. The bombs were exploded in the air, on the ground, under water, under ground, in tunnels, hanging from balloons, and even rocketed into outer space. Atmospheric tests ended in 1962 and were prohibited by the Limited Test Ban Treaty of 1963. Like some gargantuan science-fair project, scientists tested the bomb and its effects on soldiers, weapons, animals, houses, tanks, bunkers and ships. That's how Campbell and Lee became atomic vets. A Navy corpsman who grew up on the farm, Campbell tended swine that were exposed up close to atomic blasts and fallout. Campbell said the light was brighter than any flashbulb or the sun. "You could see the bones in your fingers because it was so bright," he remembered. Campbell witnessed more than 20 atomic bomb blasts in the Pacific and Nevada during the 1950s. Assigned to Bureau of Medicine Unit 1, Campbell and others checked the animals before and after each test. His "protective gear" consisted of long-sleeve shirts, trousers, cotton gloves and a ball cap, he said. Each man signed a secrecy oath about his experiences. Lee, 76, of El Cajon, also was a sailor at the Pacific bomb tests. He served on a minesweeper in 1948 that tracked fallout by steaming downwind through the radioactive clouds, and launched balloons with radiation detectors. Of the 186 aboard Lee's ship, only 11 are still alive, he said. "We would follow the fallout for 600 miles, and then we turned around and went through (the fallout) a second time," he said. On board, researchers wore protective white suits and hoods, but "we were running around in our scivvies and dungarees," Lee added. He has survived several bouts of cancer. Lee devotes his days to AMVETS and helping other atomic veterans and their families get compensation and medical testing from the government. Before they can get benefits, these veterans must show they were present at the tests and that they have a covered disease or their illness was radiation-related. Documentation is often difficult to locate, and many records were destroyed in a fire at the St. Louis records center. So far, Lee has helped about 100 California veterans get compensation for exposure to radiation. But, he acknowledged, time is getting short for most atomic veterans. "The deadline is our medical condition and age," said Lee. "We're dying, and if we don't get this done, our widows will be left out in the cold." One of those widows lives north of Escondido. Merrilyn Holl's husband, Marine Corps Officer Fred Holl, marched through the fallout of a 1952 blast in Nevada. It was called Dog, part of Operation Tumbler-Snapper. He died five years ago of a pre-leukemia condition that his wife and his doctor blame on exposure to radiation. Now, she's suffering from another kind of fallout: the loss of her home. In recent months, she has been fighting to get a $75,000 benefit from the government for veterans who were sickened by nuclear tests. But with only $1,200 a month in pension and Social Security benefits, Holl can't afford the upkeep on her home in the Hidden Meadows area. So she is selling and moving to Washington state to live with a daughter. "I've given up my soft water system and everything I could give up" to cut expenses, she said. Now she is waiting for escrow to close. The Department of Veterans Affairs, she said, wants more proof from her husband's doctor that his disease fits the 21 cancers approved for compensation. VA officials say they can't discuss individual cases because of the federal Privacy Act. If she had gotten the lump-sum benefit, Holl believes, she could have kept her home. "I feel I've been abused, ignored and humiliated," she said during a break while packing her belongings for the movers. While more proof is being offered, she has complained to senators and congressmen and asked Lee for help. "I'm hopeful, but I have to keep my brain saying 'wait a minute, I can't get my hopes up,' " she said. She's not alone in her frustration. The bureaucratic red tape and years of government denials that the veterans' radiation exposure was harmful has turned Campbell into one angry veteran. "When we're not needed, no one wants to hear about us," he said. As vice commander of the atomic veterans group, Campbell has been in the trenches taking on the VA. "The hoops the atomic veteran has to go through is so much more stringent than (for) others," he said. Veterans injured or disabled during military service or suffering diseases contracted while in the military get priority in medical care. It's not hard for the VA to decide that a vet who lost an arm or a leg in combat deserves medical care. But, when veterans develop cancer, a lung problem or other diseases years or decades after they leave the service, the VA has a more difficult time deciding if the disease is service-related. "It takes a long time to determine the long-term effects of their exposure (to radiation)," said VA spokesman Jim Benson. "We're dependent on the science." "By and large, the VA looks for every way to grant the claims," he added. "But, as public stewards, we have an obligation to spend the taxpayers' money wisely." Veterans must clear several hurdles before they qualify for either monthly benefits or a lump-sum stipend. First, atomic veterans must have been at one of the 214 atmospheric tests, in Japan during or after the August 1945 atomic bombs of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, on Amchitka Island, Alaska, or at nuclear weapons plants in the United States. Then, veterans must show that they have one of 21 specific cancers, ranging from brain cancer to many forms of leukemia and multiple myeloma to pancreatic cancer. If they don't have one of the specified cancers, veterans can be compensated if they can prove they were exposed to preset levels of radiation. "How can you do that?" Lee said. It's often difficult to prove one soldier, sailor or Marine was at a particular test because most were on temporary duty that doesn't show up in individual service records, he said. Few exposure records were kept, so government scientists have developed exposure estimates for service members. Many scientists, and a National Research Council report, agreed those estimates are faulty. The atomic veterans also say the VA is dragging its feet. The VA's Benson acknowledged that the agency had been slow in processing claims but "tiger teams" of adjusters have been working in recent years to reduce the backlog on radiation and other benefit requests. Because of a change in the federal compensation law, however, some veterans have begun filing compensation claims with the Justice Department, which is also handling radiation exposure claims from civilians who lived downwind of the nuclear weapons tests or worked in uranium mines and weapons plants. Those claims are often processed in a few months, a much shorter time than claims filed with the VA. While one generation dies, Campbell and Lee worry about a new, largely unseen generation of atomic veterans. Since the submarine Nautilus radioed "under way on nuclear power" on Jan. 17, 1955, tens of thousands of sailors have worked near nuclear reactors that power subs, some surface ships and 10 of the Navy's 12 aircraft carriers. While the Navy says the reactor operators are safe, some vets worry latent cancers may develop later. Also, the Army has used depleted uranium cannon rounds in its tanks since the 1980s. The extremely dense shells, which are used against enemy tanks, are made from uranium that is slightly radioactive. Some environmentalists and doctors believe the so-called DU rounds will cause untold cancers in the future. While reactor operators and those exposed to DU have not yet been added to the atomic veterans rosters, Lee and Campbell believe their activism today will help those men and women get health care and benefits, if needed, sooner than their generation. "The only way to keep this alive is to get younger veterans involved and educated," Lee said. James W. Crawley: (619) 542-4559; jim.crawley@uniontrib.com Frequently Asked Questions | UTads.com [http://www.utads.com] | About the Union-Tribune | Contact the Union-Tribune © Copyright 2004 Union-Tribune Publishing Co. ***************************************************************** 39 Las Vegas SUN: Scientist says new time frame needed for radiation standards Today: September 20, 2004 at 11:07:33 PDT By Suzanne Struglinski SUN WASHINGTON BUREAU WASHINGTON -- Handling the federal court's decision on the Yucca Mountain project is more complex than simply plugging in a new time frame for the radiation protection standards, a scientist told a National Academy of Sciences board today. Robert Fri said the agency has to deal with the time period of the radiation, where people are in relationship to the radiation and how the radiation travels. Fri, who led the academy committee that created the technical standards almost a decade ago for nuclear waste storage planned at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, did not recommend what time frame should be used or how the Environmental Protection Agency should readdress the standard, but said his commitee used a different method than the agency did. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled on July 9 that the EPA did not follow the law when it established a 10,000-year standard, largely because it did not accept the National Academy of Sciences recommendation of a far higher standard of about 300,000 years. The court threw out the 10,000-year standard and said Congress must either change the law that required the EPA to follow the academy's recommendations or the EPA must create a new standard. Jeffrey Holmstead, EPA assistant administrator for the Office of Air and Radiation, said the agency is still evaluating exactly what it has to do next. "We don't have a table of specific options at this point," Holmstead said. "We don't have a list of federal options.' He said the agency has not ruled out going to Congress for help but right now it is not planning on doing that. Instead, the agency is looking at how it can respond to the court's order. He had no timeline for how long this would take and the court did not specify one. Sam Fowler, a lawyer who works for the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, said just having the agency stick in a new year would give the impression of "remaking the pattern to fit the cloth." Fowler said just changing the year and nothing else in the standard could create an unworkable standard and more questions need to be answered than just a new number of years. "I think there are a number of potentially fatal problems facing the program at this point," said Fowler, who was not speaking on behalf of the committee. Fowler said the court's decision and the budget problems could have an effect on its progress. ***************************************************************** 40 rbc.ru: Russian nuclear sub to arrive in France RosBusinessConsulting - News Online [http://www.rbc.ru/] RBC, 20.09.2004, Moscow 14:04:12.For the first time, a Russian nuclear-powered submarine will come into a foreign port in the near future. Russian Defense Minister Sergey Ivanov made a corresponding statement at a traditional Monday meeting of Russian President Vladimir Putin with members of the Cabinet. According to the minister, this port will be the Brest naval base of French nuclear forces. belong to RosBusinessConsulting All rights reserved. © 1995-2003 RosBusinessConsulting (095) 363-11-11 Dow Jones Indexes data provided by Dow Jones, Inc. Terms and Send your notes and suggestions to max@rbc.ru [max@rbc.ru] All rights reserved © 1995-2000 RosBusinessConsulting ***************************************************************** 41 NRC: NRC Cites Surry Nuclear Power Plant for Inspection Findings of Low to Moderate Safety Significance News Release - Region II - 2004-04 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs, Region II No. II-04-048 September 17, 2004 CONTACT: Ken Clark (404) 562-4416 Roger D. Hannah (404) 562-4417 E-mail: opa2@nrc.gov [opa2@nrc.gov] certain of the licensees fire response procedures may not effectively ensure the safe shutdown of Units 1 and 2 during severe fires in the respective Emergency Switchgear and Relay Rooms at the Surry nuclear power plant, operated by Dominion Energy near Surry, Virginia. The staff, following inspections and an April regulatory conference, concluded the issue rates a white finding on the agencys green, white, yellow, red safety significance scale, meaning the issue is considered to have a low to moderate impact on plant safety. The NRC requires that fire response procedures ensure a safe shutdown during a postulated severe fire. The finding primarily concerns the untimeliness of operator actions to re-establish charging system injection flow to the reactor coolant pumps. This constitutes a violation of NRC regulations on fire safety because plant parameters may not be maintained within safe shutdown limits. The licensee has modified its procedures to restore compliance with requirements. A supplemental inspection will be conducted at a future date to gauge the utilitys response to the staff finding on fire safety and a previous white finding related to potential AC emergency power safety system unavailability. Additional details on the white finding are available from the NRC public affairs office in Region II at the above address and phone number and on the Internet in the agencys ADAMS document system at http://www.nrc.gov./reading-rm/adams.html. When searching, enter this number: ML042590472. Help in using ADAMS is available by contacting the NRC Public Document Room at 301 - 415-4737 or 1 - 800 - 397-4209. Last revised Monday, September 20, 2004 ***************************************************************** 42 NRC: Note to Editors: NRC Issues Preliminary Risk Analysis of the Combined Safety Issues at Davis-Besse News Release - 2004-11 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs Telephone: 301/415-8200 Washington, DC 20555-0001 E-mail: opa@nrc.gov No. 04-117 September 20, 2004 Given the level of interest in past issues with the reactor vessel head and deficiencies in safety-related systems at the Davis-Besse nuclear power plant in Ohio, the NRC has made available results from its preliminary risk analysis on the subject. The NRC staffs calculations estimated how the reactor head damage, combined with design problems in certain high-pressure pumps and issues affecting a water recirculation system component (containment sump), could have led to damage to the reactor core in the year preceding discovery of the head damage. This Accident Sequence Precursor (ASP) analysis concluded the combination of issues at Davis-Besse had 6 chances in 1,000 of damaging the core during that one-year period. The ASP determination does not estimate the likelihood of a radioactivity release, since the power plant reinforced concrete containment structure and other safety systems were capable of protecting public health and safety. Based on the preliminary analysis, this event rates as a significant precursor, said Patrick Baranowsky, Chief of the Operating Experience Risk Analysis Branch in the NRCs Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research. Significant is the NRCs highest category for a precursor. Since 1979, 18 events have been rated as significant, four of which had higher risk estimates than this situation, and there were two in the past 10 years which were roughly equivalent to Davis-Besse. The four more serious events were, in order, the Three Mile Island accident in 1979, the loss of feedwater event at Davis-Besse in 1985, damage to a heat exchanger at the Brunswick plant in 1981, and the unavailability of a high-pressure injection pump at the Shearon Harris plant in 1991. The roughly equivalent events were the draining of the reactor coolant system at the Wolf Creek plant during a 1994 maintenance outage and a loss of offsite power at the Catawba plant in 1996. The memo summarizing the ASP analysis, from the Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research to the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, is provided with this note. MEMORANDUM TO: Ledyard B. Marsh, Director Division of Licensing Project Management Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation FROM: Patrick W. Baranowsky, Chief Operating Experience Risk Analysis Branch Division of Risk Analysis and Applications Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research SUBJECT: TRANSMITTAL OF PRELIMINARY DAVIS-BESSE ASP ANALYSIS FOR INTERNAL AND LICENSEE PEER REVIEW Attached is the preliminary Accident Sequence Precursor (ASP) analysis of multiple conditions that existed at Davis-Besse from February 2001 until the plant was shutdown in February 2002. The conditions included in the analysis are the degraded vessel head, the cracking in the control rod drive mechanism (CRDM) nozzles, the unqualified coatings and debris in containment, and the potential failure of high pressure injection (HPI) pumps during recirculation. The purposes of this memorandum are to provide a copy of the preliminary analysis for internal review at the same time it is sent out for licensee review, and to summarize the results. Preparation and transmittal of this analysis have been coordinated with staff from the Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research, the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation and Region III. Results of the Preliminary ASP Analysis: The ASP analysis calculated a change in core damage probability (”CDP) of six in one thousand (6 x 10-3) from the degraded conditions that existed at Davis-Besse before February 2002. Based on the preliminary analysis, this event would be a "significant" precursor (i.e., an increase in core damage probability of greater than one chance in a thousand) in the Agency's annual Performance and Accountability Report to Congress. NRC peer review requested. Please review the preliminary ASP analysis and provide us with any comments that you may have. We are requesting that NRR/DLPM coordinate reviews from SPSB, IIPB, and Region III. In order to facilitate incorporation of licensee and staff comments and preparation of the final report in a timely manner, consistent with the NRR and RES agreement on peer review, please provide your comments to us within 60 calendar days from the date of this memorandum. Licensee peer review requested. We are also requesting NRR/DLPM to send the preliminary ASP analysis to the licensee for peer review. Since each preliminary ASP analysis undergoes an in-house independent review before it is sent out by OERAB, peer review by NRR and the region can be performed concurrently with the licensee's review. This process is also consistent with the NRR/RES peer review agreement. The analyses and a transmittal letter will be provided separately to NRR/DLPM. This letter reflects the modifications made by NRR/DLPM based on recent preliminary analyses sent to licensees, as well as the instruction added to the letter regarding the transmittal of comments by the licensee that may contain potentially sensitive information. Summary of the Condition at Davis-Besse: During an inspection of the control rod drive mechanism (CRDM) nozzles in February 2002, the licensee discovered that three nozzles were leaking through axial cracks, and that one of the leaking nozzles had begun to develop a circumferential crack. During repair of one of the leaking nozzles, the nozzle became loose in the reactor pressure vessel (RPV) head. Subsequent investigation revealed that a cavity had formed around that nozzle in the low-alloy steel portion of the RPV head, leaving only the stainless steel-clad material as the reactor coolant pressure boundary over an area of approximately 16.5 square-inches (Reference 1). On September 4, 2002, with the reactor defueled, the licensee determined that the existing amount of unqualified containment coatings and other debris (e.g., insulation) inside containment could have potentially blocked the emergency sump intake screen, rendering the sump inoperable following a postulated loss of coolant accident (LOCA) (Reference 2). On October 22, 2002, with the reactor defueled, a deficiency was identified for the High Pressure Injection (HPI) pumps. During the recirculation phase of a postulated LOCA, the HPI pumps may be damaged due to debris entrained in the pumped fluid. An evaluation by the licensee determined that the pump would be inoperable during any postulated accidents in which the pump would be required to pump water that contained fibrous debris (Reference 3). The conditions at Davis-Besse were identified by the licensee and reported to the NRC before any radioactive material was released or any accident or event occurred. The NRC required the plant to remain shutdown until all significant deficiencies had been corrected. The simultaneous existence of multiple degraded conditions caused a loss of safety margin (i.e., a significant increase in the probability of an accident) at Davis-Besse. The reactor vessel head, one of the three barriers engineered to prevent the release of radioactive materials was degraded but did not fail. The other two barriers, the fuel cladding and the containment structure were not affected. Summary of the Preliminary ASP Analysis: The ASP analysis used the Standardized Plant Analysis Risk Model (SPAR) model of the Davis-Besse plant. The ”CDP of 6 x 10-3 was calculated by using increased small, medium and large LOCA frequencies, as well as sump failure and HPI pump failure probabilities that reflect the conditions found at the plant. The analysis considered small, medium or large LOCAs that could result from a postulated failure of the degraded vessel head or from a postulated failure of a cracked CRDM nozzle. LOCA probabilities and sizes are based on an assessment of the possible conditions of the head and the degradation rates that existed over the year prior (February 2001 to February 2002) to discovery of the degraded head (see Reference 4). CRDM nozzle failure probabilities are calculated from models developed by the NRC supported by Argonne National Laboratory. These probabilities are based on alternative damage scenarios that could have progressed undetected during the year prior to discovery. Adjustments to sump failure probabilities for unqualified coatings and debris in containment are based on insights and considerations researched as part of GSI-191. The assumptions that HPI pumps would fail during the recirculation phase of emergency core cooling are based on results from licensee's testing of the pump. Since the analytic approaches outlined above do not produce parameter uncertainty distributions that can readily be used for standard PRA uncertainty analysis, an extensive set of sensitivity analyses was performed. The sensitivity analyses were systematically performed by varying one major parameter (LOCA probability, sump failure probability and HPR unreliability) at a time. Based on the sensitivity analysis, the ”CDP for the integrated ASP analysis is in the range between low 10-3 and low 10-2. Figure 1 shows the best estimate of the change in core damage probability and summarizes the results of the sensitivity analyses. The analysis of the vessel head (Reference 4) included a detailed sensitivity analysis that was performed by varying assumptions and data about the materials and the phenomena associated with vessel head failure. This resulted in a range of LOCA frequencies for each break size. Using results from Reference 4, the ”CDP cases shown in Figure 1 vary from 3 x 10-3 to 2 x 10-2. The baseline sump failure probabilities, which differ for small, medium and large LOCAs, for this ASP analysis were determined using the approach developed and information collected for the resolution of GSI-191. Varying the assumptions in the analysis will result in different sump failure probabilities. The ”CDP cases shown in Figure 1 vary from 2 x 10-3 to 3 x 10-2. Sensitivity cases were analyzed for HPI pump performance ranging from nominal to postulated failure of the pumps for all recirculation scenarios, including water from the PORV relief tank. Since the condition of the sump and vessel head dominate the analysis, all HPI pump sensitivity cases gave results high in the 10-3 range. The results of change in core damage probability calculations done for individual conditions are shown in the 'Vessel Head Only' and 'Sump and HPR' sections of Figure 1. Taken individually, the vessel head degradation increased the core damage probability significantly more than the sump or HPR conditions taken separately. Comparison to the Significance Determination Process: As part of the Reactor Oversight Process (ROP), the Agency has previously evaluated the risks from three of the above conditions at the Davis-Besse plant. The degradation of the reactor vessel head event led to a RED Significance Determination Process (SDP) finding, the unqualified coatings and debris that could potentially lead to sump failure led to a YELLOW finding, and the design deficiency in the HPI pumps led to a WHITE finding. It should be noted that according to SDP guidance, concurrent multiple degraded conditions are usually analyzed individually (so that the significance of each inspection finding can be determined). Since these conditions are combined in the ASP evaluations (so that potential accident precursors can be identified for the actual plant operating condition), the ASP evaluation calculates a much higher risk than the individual SDP evaluations. As shown in Figure 1, when the conditions are taken individually, the SDP risk evaluations are similar to the ASP evaluations. Implications of the Preliminary ASP Analysis: The NRC established the ASP Program in 1979 in response to the Risk Assessment Review Group report (see NUREG/CR-0400, dated September 1978). The primary objective of the ASP Program is to systematically evaluate U.S. nuclear power plant operating experience to identify, document, and rank the operating events that were most likely to lead to inadequate core cooling and severe core damage (precursors), if additional failures had occurred. The ASP Program has the following additional objectives: + Provide a measure for trending nuclear power plant core damage risk. + Provide a partial check on dominant core damage scenarios predicted by probabilistic risk assessments (PRAs). The NRC also uses the ASP Program to monitor performance against the Safety Goal established in the agency's Strategic Plan. The ASP analysis calculated a ”CDP of six in one thousand (6 x 10-3) from the degraded conditions that existed at Davis-Besse before February 2002. Based on the preliminary analysis, this event would be a "significant" precursor which is the highest category (i.e., an increase in core damage probability of greater than one chance in a thousand) in the Agency's annual Performance and Accountability Report to Congress. This risk at Davis-Besse represents one of the higher risk conditions analyzed by the ASP program. In the past ten years, we have had two significant precursors - the Wolf Creek drain down event of 1994 when operators inadvertently transferred water from the reactor coolant system to the refueling water storage tank and the Catawba Loss of Offsite Power event of 1996 when one emergency diesel generator was unavailable. Since 1979, we have had 18 events that would be classified as significant precursors under today's guidance. Of these 18 events, four had risk measures higher than this condition at Davis-Besse. Sensitive information. The detailed ASP analysis is classified as "SENSITIVE - NOT FOR PUBLIC DISCLOSURE." This classification is based on the guidance provided by the EDO in the memorandum to the Commission (dated April 4, 2002) concerning the release of information to the public that could provide significant assistance to support an act of terrorism. In particular, Criteria 1 was determined to apply to ASP analysis reports: Plant-specific information, generated by NRC, our licensees, or our contractors, that would clearly aid in planning an assault on a facility. An example might be drawings depicting the location of certain safety equipment within plant buildings. Examples may include portions of Final Safety Analysis Reports (FSARs), Individual Plant Examination (IPE) material, and other risk and facility vulnerability information. This classification could change in the future based on revised Agency guidance and office (NRR and RES) procedures in response to the Staff Requirements Memorandum, "Staff Requirements - COMSECY-02-0015 - Withholding Sensitive Homeland Security Information From the Public," dated April 4, 2002. Future changes in the transmittal of ASP analyses will be coordinated with the NRR ASP Program liaison. The sensitive ASP analyses are referenced in Adams for NRC staff use only. The ASP analysis can be found at ML042590583. If you have any questions about the analysis, please contact Gary DeMoss (415-6225). References 1. LER 50-346/02-002-00, Reactor Coolant System Pressure Boundary Leakage Due to Primary Water Stress Corrosion Cracking of Control Rod Drive Mechanism Nozzles and Reactor Pressure Vessel Head Degradation, April 29, 2002 (ADAMS Accession No. ML021220082) 2. LER 50-346/02-005-02, Potential Clogging of the Emergency Sump Due to Debris in Containment, May 21, 2003 (ADAMS Accession No. ML031470074 ) 3. LER 50-346/03-002-00, Potential Degradation of High Pressure Injection Pumps Due to Debris in Emergency Sump Fluid Post Accident, May 5, 2003 (ADAMS Accession No. ML031330187 ). 4. Williams, P. T., Yin, S., and Bass, B. R., Probabilistic Structural Mechanics Analysis of the Degraded Davis-Besse RPV Head, ORNL/NRC/LTR-04/15, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, September 2004 (ADAMS Accession No. ML042600455 ). [Figure 1: Summary of ASP Analysis Results] Last revised Monday, September 20, 2004 ***************************************************************** 43 Las Vegas SUN: Iran May Soon Resume Uranium Enrichment By ALI AKBAR DAREINI ASSOCIATED PRESS TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran may resume uranium enrichment "any moment," the nation's intelligence minister said on state television Monday, two days after the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency demanded that Tehran halt all such activity. Ali Yunesi reiterated that Iran rejected the thrust of Saturday's motion by the International Atomic Energy Agency, which demanded that it stop all uranium enrichment activity, including the production and testing of centrifuges used to enrich uranium. "We suspended (enrichment) voluntarily and we may continue it voluntarily," Yunesi said. "And we may resume (enrichment) any moment." "The resolution is illegal," he said. "The Islamic Republic of Iran ... will ignore the provisions of the resolution because it is beyond the responsibilities of the IAEA." The U.N. agency said it would assess Iran's compliance in two months. On Sunday, Iran's top nuclear negotiator, Hasan Rowhani, also said the IAEA's demand for a halt to enrichment was "illegal," but he stopped short of outright rejection of the U.N. agency's resolution and held out the possibility of negotiations on the issue. "We are committed to the suspension of actual enrichment, but we have no decision to expand the suspension," Rowhani said. "No resolution can impose an obligation on Iran to suspend activities. If there is a way, it will be the way of dialogue," Rowhani said. -- ***************************************************************** 44 Fury as Bomb-Grade Plutonium Sets Sail for France from U.S. Date: Mon, 20 Sep 2004 19:38:11 -0500 (CDT) Fury as Bomb-Grade Plutonium Sets Sail for France from U.S. By Rob Edwards The Sunday Herald Sunday 19 September 2004 Weapons-grade plutonium, sufficient to make up to 40 nuclear warheads, is expected to be loaded onto two armed British ships in the US this week and then carried across the Atlantic to France. The US plan to send 140 kilograms of bomb-grade plutonium for processing in France will be the most controversial nuclear shipment for years. Throughout its two-week voyage, the plutonium will be protected by British military forces. When it arrives at the port of Cherbourg it is expected to be greeted by protesters. On September 3 the Pacific Teal and the Pacific Pintail, two armed nuclear transport ships run by the state-owned, British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL), left the port of Barrow in northwest England. This weekend they are believed to be somewhere off the US naval base at Charleston in South Carolina. In the next few days they will dock, take on board heavy casks of plutonium oxide, and head back across the Atlantic. After they arrive at Cherbourg, the plutonium will be taken by road to a fuel fabrication plant run by the French firm, Cogema, at Cadarache, north of Marseilles. The US and French governments argue that the aim of the shipment is to get rid of "surplus" weapons plutonium by making it into a fuel for nuclear power stations. This is part of an agreement between the US and Russia that both countries will get rid of 34 tonnes of plutonium from "excess" nuclear warheads. The plan is to make the plutonium into fuel rods, then transport them to another facility at Marcoule, north of Avignon, to assemble them. Sometime at the beginning of 2005, they will be returned to the US to try out in a reactor. The US government is keen to demonstrate that the fuel, known as MOX, will work. It then plans to commission Cogema and others to help build and operate a MOX fuel fabrication plant at Savannah River in South Carolina. The US plan has provoked fierce criticisms. "Unless it is carried out in a manner as safe and secure as possible, the cure may end up worse than the disease," said Dr Edwin Lyman of the Union of Concerned Scientists in Washington DC. "It would be a disaster if plutonium were to be diverted or stolen by terrorists because of inadequate security during the stages of the disposition process. Yet if this programme continues along its current path, such a theft may well be inevitable." But such criticisms are rebuffed by the US, French and British authorities involved in the shipment. "It will proceed just fine with no safety or security problems," said Bryan Wilkes, a spokesman for the US National Nuclear Security Administration. He says he cannot describe the security measures that are being taken, but he is confident that they will be sufficient. He accuses opponents of the shipment of helping terrorists by publicising the planned route and timings. Henry-Jacques Neau, head of transport with Cogema, said the shipment will have "the highest level of security" from British defence forces. BNFL points out that that its ships have an excellent safety record. "During more than 20 years of transports there has never been an incident resulting in the release of radioactivity," said a company spokesman. ***************************************************************** 45 Las Vegas SUN: DOE may miss goal for Yucca license By Benjamin Grove SUN WASHINGTON BUREAU WASHINGTON -- The Energy Department may not meet its longstanding goal of submitting an application for a Yucca Mountain construction license, a department official said today. Department officials have long said they plan to submit the application by the end of the year, but Deputy Secretary of Energy Kyle McSlarrow said that goal was now uncertain. "We're reviewing where things stand," McSlarrow said today after a press conference in the Capitol. "I just don't want to say. We're taking a look at all this right now." Energy Department officials have tried to maintain an ambitious timeline for the project, despite delays and budget woes. The department aims to open Yucca, a first-of-its-kind repository for the nation's most radioactive waste, by 2010. The next step for the department is submitting the license application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission by the end of the year. But a federal court this summer threw that goal into question when it ruled that the project's 10,000-year radiation safety standard, established by the Environmental Protection Agency, falls short of a much stricter standard advocated by the National Academy of Sciences. The nuclear power industry's lobby group, the Nuclear Energy Institute, has signaled it plans to challenge that ruling in the Supreme Court, although the EPA does not plan such an appeal. The department's year-end goal faces another hurdle: department officials are still scrambling to win the NRC's stamp of approval on its massive collection of Yucca research documents, housed on a database known as the License Support Network. The regulatory commission cannot begin reviewing a Yucca license application until six months after it officially recognizes, or "dockets" those documents. Department officials had hoped to have the documents certified shortly after it submitted them at the end of June. The department has challenged an commission ruling that the department violated rules in submitting the documents. McSlarrow appeared today at a press conference held to unveil a new University of Chicago report that concludes that building new nuclear power plants in America can be economically feasible. The nation's 103 commercial nuclear power plants produce about 20 percent of the nation's energy without harmful greenhouse gases -- unlike coal plants, which produce about 50 percent of the nation's energy. But no new nuclear plants have been constructed for nearly 30 years. The staggering cost of constructing new plants and investment risk attached to questions about a new plant's economic competitiveness have been the biggest obstacles. The report concludes those concerns can be overcome -- with some government help -- and that new plants can be economically feasible. Two leading pro-nuclear lawmakers in Congress hailed the report as welcome news. Rep. Judy Biggert, R-Ill., said the report showed it was possible for America to enjoy a renaissance in nuclear power. Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., said he would continue to advocate for nuclear power production tax credits, which the report said would help reduce new plant construction costs. There is finally new momentum behind a push for new nuclear plants in America, with the rising cost of oil and environmental concerns about coal plants, Domenici said. "We are getting close to a groundswell," Domenici said. "We used to be over there treading water." The question of how the nation will deal with nuclear waste has been seen by some nuclear critics as another concern for would-be investors in new plants. The federal government for two decades has been moving toward geologic disposal as the best way to deal with waste, which is now piling up at nuclear plants nationwide. But Yucca's uncertain future is not considered a major economic obstacle to constructing new plants, one of the report authors, George Tolley, professor emeritus at the University of Chicago, said. "The political obstacle is great, but it is not a big economic issue," Tolley said. Nuclear Energy Institute spokeswoman Thelma Wiggins agreed. "From a technical standpoint, there is no nuclear waste problem. We have a solution. We just need the political ability to move forward with it." McSlarrow expressed confidence. "We're going to resolve the waste issue," he said. ***************************************************************** 46 The Advertiser-Tribune: Where'd Kerry put wastes? [http://www.advertiser-tribune.com Monday, September 20, 2004 — Time: 12:20:25 AM EST Presidential candidate John Kerry is pinning his hopes in Nevada on a single issue, the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository. Because Kerry says he opposes the plan, many Nevadans say they'll vote for him.President Bush has supported the plan to use Yucca Mountain as a safe site where nuclear waste from throughout the country can be stored. Exhaustive scientific studies back the president and, it is important to note, Congress; Yucca Mountain appears to be a secure site. But Kerry is banking on NIMBY - not in my back yard - syndrome being displayed by Nevadans. He hopes their reluctance to accept the Yucca Mountain plan will help to put him in the White House. What, then, if Kerry is elected? If he keeps his pledge, Kerry must find somewhere else to store nuclear waste, or allow it to remain at hundreds of sites where, experts warn, the potential for trouble is high. It is unlikely, by the way, that a national repository better than Yucca Mountain can be found. Kerry has painted himself into a corner that may appeal to Nevada voters. It certainly should worry those in the 49 other states. The Advertiser-Tribune 320 Nelson Street, P.O. Box 778, Tiffin, OH 44883 Phone (419) 448-3200 | Toll Free: 1-800-448-3235 Fax (419) 447-3274 ***************************************************************** 47 PBP: Nevada's five electoral votes could be jackpot in presidential election [PalmBeachPost.com Home] By Scott Shepard Cox News Service Monday, September 20, 2004 LAS VEGAS In his remarks at a National Guard convention here last week, President Bush humorously reminded the boisterous conventioneers of this city's slogan: "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas." That may be true for the high-rollers drawn to this city's glittering strip of hotels and casinos, but not so with the presidential election this fall. What happens in Las Vegas and, consequently, in Nevada, could decide who sits in the White House next January. More than 5,000 new residents arrive each month in Clark County, home of Las Vegas, making Nevada the fastest growing state in the nation. And with one in five Nevadans now Latinos, the demographic changes underway in the state are giving Democrats hope of taking the state away from Bush this fall. It won't be easy, even Democratic organizers agree. All but one of Nevada's statewide elected officials are Republican, always an indication of a party's strength in an upcoming presidential election. But the Bush camp is concerned enough that the president himself has reportedly suggested an investigation of possible fraud in the voter registration drives under way in Clark County. Nevada's five electoral votes, small in comparison to most battleground states, is a much sought-after prize by both parties. Events last week illustrated just how important the state is to the Bush and Kerry campaigns. Not only were Bush and Democratic nominee John Kerry here last week to address the National Guard convention, but Kerry running mate John Edwards was in Reno last Monday and Vice President Dick Cheney followed him there on Thursday. It marked the first time in Nevada history that all four candidates on the Republican and Democratic tickets campaigned in the state in the same week. "It's never happened before, never even come close," said state archivist Guy Rocha. "It's just a testament to the fact that Nevada is a significant battleground state for these two campaigns." Bill Clinton carried the state for the Democrats in his successful presidential campaigns in 1992 and 1996. But in 2000, Bush won Nevada in against Democrat Al Gore by 21,597 votes, a comfortable margin in an historically tight election. But local polls last week showed Bush with 51 percent and Kerry 47 percent, a statistical tie, given the polls 4.4 percentage point margin of error. It's easy to find voters who reflect the divide. "We need a president who stands up for what he believes, then acts on it," said Raynette Eitel, a Las Vegas housewife and Bush supporter. "We don't need a president who puts his finger into the wind to find which way it is blowing." But Frank Perna, an environmentalist, is angry with Bush for continuing to support the storage of nuclear waste at nearby Yucca Mountain, in contrast to Kerry's opposition to those plans. "Science has taken a back seat to politics," he said. And, of course, Vegas being Vegas, everybody has a schtick, even about politics. An Elvis impersonator, one of many in Las Vegas, volunteered while posing for photographs on the Vegas Strip: "John Kerry's gotta win for president, people, you hear me. Take it from me, Elvis Presley, vote for John Kerry. Thank you very much." Last month, for the first time since Bush's election, Democrats outnumbered Republicans in party registration in Nevada 384,492 to 383,745. Part of the credit for that surge past the GOP goes to Andres Ramirez, a 26-year-old Las Vegas native whose group, Voices for Working Families, is part of an umbrella association of 33 organizations registering voters in key states. Ramirez has focused most of his attention on the influx of Hispanics to the Las Vegas area. And so far, he has registered 23,324 new voters, a number he points out that betters Bush's margin of victory in the state in 2000. The deadline for registering to vote in Nevada is not until Oct. 3, and Ramirez hopes to add another 12,000-17,000 new voters to the Democratic rolls by then. After that, "it comes down to getting out your vote," he acknowledged. Since 2000, Nevada has added nearly 100,000 Hispanics to its population. In the 2000 election, about 40 percent of eligible Hispanics voted there. In the 2004 election, Ramirez is aiming for at least a 55 percent turnout. Although more Hispanics identify themselves as Democrats than Republicans in national polls, Bush took an estimated 35 percent of their votes in 2000. Bush campaign officials have said the president will need about 40 percent of the Latino vote to win this fall, and they have "Viva Bush Coalition" teams in 30 states, including Nevada, trying to woo Latinos. Nevada "Viva Bush Coalition" chairman Luis Valera did not respond to requests for information about his organization's voter registration. But the Democratic efforts in Nevada are clearly a growing concern for the Bush campaign team. The Las Vegas Sun reported Thursday that during his visit here Tuesday, the president and his chief political adviser, Karl Rove, expressed concern about the possibility of voter fraud in Clark County. The newspaper said the president and Rove raised their concerns to Gov. Kenny Guinn, Attorney General Brian Sandoval and Secretary of State Steve George during the car ride from the airport to the Las Vegas Convention Center for the president's speech to the National Guard Association of the United States. The president "brought it up and was very concerned," Heller said, and, as a result, federal investigators may be called upon. "No decision has been made at this point, but (the Department of Justice) would either assist (local officials) or undertake their own separate investigation," Heller spokesman Steve George said. Scott Shepard's email address is sshepard@coxnews.com. Copyright © 2004, The Palm Beach Post. All rights reserved. By using PalmBeachPost.com, you accept the terms of our visitor ***************************************************************** 48 Korea Times: Peaceful Nuclear Activities Hankooki.com > The Korea Times > Opinion Seoul Should First Regain International Trust A five-member delegation from the U.N. nuclear watchdog entered into a weeklong follow-up investigation of Korea's past atomic experiments Monday. The result of the additional inspection in the next seven days will be crucial for the nation's future nuclear activities and industrial development. Although the board members' meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency last week ended with no critical statement, a final conclusion will be made on Nov. 25. Until then, Seoul cannot afford to relax its attention. The government's announcement of a four-point peaceful nuclear policy on Saturday was timely in this regard. By reiterating its commitment to a non-nuclear policy and the observance of international rules, it aims at dissolving suspicions abroad triggered by academic experiments by some scientists. Since the issue first emerged a few weeks ago, it has been rather disheartening to see how flustered the government has been. We hope the latest declaration will serve as an occasion to calm the hubbub about the ``South Korean nuclear program,'' which does not exist. In this vein, it should be noted that the suspicion was overblown by some foreign governments and news media. They used such exaggerated phrases as ``enrichment of weapons grade uranium'' or ``an incident that can shake the nonproliferation regime,'' in describing the nation's peaceful nuclear research, which involved just a fraction of one gram of nuclear materials. These news outlets need to exercise more circumspection and watch Seoul's efforts before they speak. It is particularly unfortunate that Japan, which is on the threshold of nuclear armament, does not accept a neighbor's sincere explanation. It is also natural for the government to emphasize the need to expand the scope of peaceful nuclear activities. Korea is currently the world's sixth largest nuclear power generator, with world-class technology capable of building and operating atomic power plants. Bound by the 1991 declaration to maintain a nuclear free Korean Peninsula and too restrictive Korea-U.S. accord on atomic power, however, Seoul cannot even conduct peaceful nuclear research activities for self-sufficiency of nuclear fuels. This is not fair, considering Japan, which triggered the Pacific War, is enriching uranium and reprocessing plutonium. These notwithstanding, Japan's experiences suggest much for Korea. Like Tokyo, Seoul needs to thoroughly comply with international accords and control all the activities of scientists dealing with materials with potential nuclear capabilities. The country should first gain back the trust of the international community, based on which it ought to shape a long-term plan for peaceful nuclear activities. 09-20-2004 18:53 ***************************************************************** 49 Tri-City Herald: Tales of a Tri-City icon This story was published Monday, September 20th, 2004 By Annette Cary Herald staff writer Sometimes the best solutions at the Hanford nuclear reservation were the simplest ones. Leo Munson of Richland came up with "the mouse trap," a simple spring mounted on the end of reactor tubes. Highly radioactive irradiated fuel would fall through the spring when the fuel was flushed out of the tubes for processing. But when workers would shoot a rubber ball through a tube with water, the ball would be trapped in the spring. If no "mouse" appeared, workers knew that irradiated fuel still was trapped inside the reactor tube. That's one of the stories two interns at Washington State University Tri-Cities heard this summer when they undertook a project to videotape the stories of some of Hanford's nuclear pioneers. "These are the kind of stories we did not find captured anywhere else -- the personal recollections," said LoAnn Ayers, community outreach and development coordinator at WSU Tri-Cities. The project was part of an effort by the university with the Herbert M. Parker Foundation to develop a historical collection of radiological sciences materials, including information about the people who developed and operated Hanford. The board and WSU were concerned that information about the early days of nuclear production and the rapid advancement of radiological sciences in the 20th century was being lost as the health of some of Hanford's earliest workers began to fail. The project was timely. George Backman, a retired radiation protection specialist, was interviewed in his Richland home just 18 days before his death Sept. 12. In 1962, he was one of a 20-person team assigned to handle a criticality at the Plutonium Finishing Plant at Hanford, he told WSU Tri-Cities intern David Konzek of Kennewick in a videotaped interview. A plutonium solution had overflowed a container, leading to an uncontrolled nuclear reaction that exposed four Hanford workers. Backman, who was familiar with the plant, was assigned to establish a line of communication between the emergency response team at the accident and the emergency response team at the Federal Building in Richland. Konzek and Melissa Tessier of College Place videotaped interviews with 30 workers who came to Hanford as early as World War II when the nation was racing to develop the world's first full-scale nuclear reactor to make plutonium. But even workers who came to Hanford decades later played significant roles in the emerging field of radiological science. Many of the interviews recorded the experiences of health physicists who developed instruments, standards and techniques that have been used for radiological safety work worldwide. The Parker foundation is dedicated to education and safety in radiological sciences. But interviews also extended to technicians, scientists, engineers and a secretary, who discussed both their work at Hanford and their first impressions of the little desert town that was Richland. Robert Smith told Tessier he came to Hanford because of a chance encounter when he was assigned to training at the Yakima Firing Range. Hitchhiking into Yakima one day, he was picked up by a young man in a new convertible. The driver said he'd bought it with the $100 a week he made at Hanford. "Holy cow," Smith said. He had been earning $30 a week in Kansas. In 1953 he became a clerk typist for General Electric while it built the K Reactors to produce plutonium for the nation's nuclear weapons program. He later would teach radiation protection at Columbia Basin College for 13 years and push for more opportunities for minority students to enter the program. James Paglieri remembered coming to Hanford when Richland had just three restaurants. On Sundays the bachelor was out of luck if he did not remember to eat dinner before the last one closed at 6 p.m., the interns said. Lawrence Riggs, who came to Hanford in 1944, said the work was so secretive that he and co-workers joked that they knew more about Hanford before they arrived than after they got there. Although most workers did not know until 1945 that the complex was producing plutonium for a new type of powerful bomb, Riggs suspected that something big was going on because he had studied quantity displacement tables for his previous work in explosives. Richard Jaquish remembered working on a project in later years proposing that nuclear devices be used to dig a new Panama Canal, said the interns. Jaquish was assigned to measuring the cratering effects that nuclear devices would produce. "The majority of people thoroughly enjoyed working at Hanford," Konzek said. Many emphasized how seriously safety concerns were taken, Tessier said. One Hanford worker said a colleague with a similar job in Russia had received 10 times as much radiation over his career. Hanford had more stringent safety requirements than other sites, both across the DOE complex and worldwide, workers believed. And they were proud of the work they did to develop the instruments and programs that helped protect workers. Leo Kocher described developing a new personal dosimeter in his home, which would be one of six he would develop and patent. His latest design, patented in the early '70s, continues to be used today. With summer over, Tessier, a Walla Walla College student, and Konzek, a Central Washington University student, have wrapped up their interviews. But the project will continue next summer. The next step will be making the interviews available to the public. DVDs of the interviews will be added to the WSU Tri-Cities library collection and plans call for the oral histories to be posted on the Internet. © 2004 Tri-City Herald, Associated Press &Other Wire Services ***************************************************************** 50 Seattle Times: Cantwell pushes to revive Hanford screening Monday, September 20, 2004 - Page updated at 10:37 A.M. By Seattle Times Eastside bureau MIKE SIEGEL / THE SEATTLE TIMES U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell gives a hug to Hanford employee Virginia Wallace yesterday. At right is Jenny's husband, Steve Wallace. Cantwell met with current and former Hanford workers yesterday. By the time they call in to the clinic, so many of the former Hanford workers are worried. They have heard about the damage that may, or may not, have happened to their bodies, all those years ago at the nuclear complex. But they have not heard the latest news: Their medical screening program is in the process of being shut down. "Hundreds of people are not getting anything other than, 'Call this 1-800 Number,' " said Dr. Tim Takaro, director of the Former Hanford Workers Medical Screening Program, where screening hasn't occurred since May. "You can imagine that would be pretty frustrating, especially when you're sick." Flanked by former workers from Hanford, Sen. Maria Cantwell said at a news conference in Seattle yesterday that she would block a federal appointment to the Department of Energy this week unless she received assurances that the program would survive. The program, run by the University of Washington, is set to expire next March. But the DOE is already dismantling it in favor of a new plan: a centralized support program that would have former workers start by calling an 800 number. "These people gave their time, their energy and their lives to help this country," said Cantwell. "They deserve more than a 1-800 number." Cantwell said she has already had discussions with the nominee, John Shaw, about the UW program. Shaw serves as deputy chief of staff at the DOE. As a sitting member of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Cantwell will vote this week on his confirmation to the post of Assistant Secretary for Environmental Health and Safety. Officials from the Department of Energy could not be reached for comment yesterday. But according to the department Web site, the DOE considers a new, "customer-focused" program to be the best option for former workers at the nuclear sites it monitors across the country. In 1996, the DOE began contracting out medical-screening services near the nuclear sites across the country. The University of Washington got the contract for the Hanford site. But some sites never received screening services, the Web site said. The new program would involve one contractor for all the sites, rather than regional programs. "A nationwide program is considered the most effective way to guarantee that all former DOE workers are offered the opportunity to participate and will be served consistently across the complex," the text reads. The DOE says its program will be up and running next month. But Cantwell's office says it is clear that a contractor has yet to be identified. There were an estimated 250,000 former Hanford workers who helped produce plutonium at the Hanford complex for atomic weapons. The UW has located 20,500. From that pool, more than 5,400 were identified as having had hazardous exposures. About 2,000 have been screened, Takaro said, and nearly 1,200 showed evidence of disease related to their occupation. Mary Armatis, who appeared with Cantwell at the news conference, traced her thyroid cancer back to 1980, when a canister of plutonium exploded while she was working. It took two more decades for thyroid cancer to grow inside her. But Armatis, 46, says that when it did, her local physician missed the signs, not realizing a thyroid problem could be linked to her work. A visit to the clinic three months later, and there it was: the diagnosis of cancer. "They know what to look for, they know what to ask," said Armatis, who had the lump removed in 2000 and has been cancer-free ever since. "It could have been much worse for me." A worker at Hanford for the past 14 years, Virginia Wallace, 39, talked yesterday about the need for the UW program, carried out at the Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, to include current employees of Hanford. Wallace said she recently found out she has pre-cancerous lesions on her thyroid gland. There are now thousands of people working to clean up the nuclear waste at the Hanford complex. A recent study by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health reported that chemical vapors may put workers at significantly higher risk for health problems. But they do not have access to the program at Harborview. Cara Solomon: 206-464-2024 or Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company ***************************************************************** 51 Platts: Energy secretary looks ahead to hydrogen-based economy [The McGraw-Hill Companies] + The U.S. needs to move from a carbon- to a hydrogen-based economy, and will need to develop advanced nuclear reactors that can produce hydrogen in order to make the transformation, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said today. Speaking before the American Academy in Berlin, Abraham also said it was important "to recognize nuclear energy as a clean energy choice, both in the near- and longer-term." He noted President George W. Bush's decision earlier this year to rejoin the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor to develop fusion as an energy source. Washington (Platts)--17Sep2004 Copyright © 2004 - Platts, All Rights Reserved ***************************************************************** 52 BBJ: Duratek to aid environmental cleanup contract - 2004-09-20 - Baltimore Business Journal Home [http://www.bizjournals.com/] » Baltimore [http://baltimore.bizwomen.com/] Columbia-based Duratek said Monday it was named a subcontractor for up to $115 million of environmental remediation work for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Duratek is supporting South Plainfield, N.J.-based Conti Environment and Infrastructure Inc., which recently was awarded the prime contract to provide nationwide response services for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Duratek, which specializes in disposing nuclear waste, will be called on to help Conti with environmental cleanup projects, providing personnel, emergency response services and transportation resources, CEO Robert Prince said. The contract is known as an "indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity" contract and has a ceiling of $115 million. It covers two years and has three one-year options. Duratek's shares were trading on the Nasdaq Monday afternoon at $15.66, down slightly from the previous day's close. © 2004 American City Business Journals Inc. ***************************************************************** NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. For more information go to: *****************************************************************