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09/29/04 ****     RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL)       **** VOL 12.233
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Send News Stories to news@energy-net.org with title on subject
line and first line of body

                         NUCLEAR POLICY
 
1 Interfax: Russia against putting Iran's nuclear dossier on UN Securi
2 Mos News: Russia Unwilling to Refer IAEA Iran Uranium Concerns to UN
3 NewsFromRussia.Com: North Korea's nuclear weapons program
 
                         NUCLEAR REACTORS
 
4 US: NRC: IAEA Transporation Standards
5 UPI: Russia offers Iran reactor deal - 
6 BBC: Ministers consider nuclear option
7 US: NRC: Duke Energy Corporation; Notice of Withdrawal of Applicatio
8 Japan Times: Kepco office searched over deadly leak
9 Japan Times: Kepco ordered to shut down Mihama reactor
10 US: YDR: IN ROCKVILLE, MD.: NRC to hold public meeting - 
11 US: NRC: Indiana Michigan Power Company; Notice of Consideration of 
12 US: Middletown Press: Minor fire hits office building at CY         
13 US: South Florida Sun-Sentinel: Power repairs to take 16 days
 
                          NUCLEAR SAFETY
 
14 nydailynews.com: The war's littlest victim 
15 US: SavannahNOW: The hunt is on for the Tybee Bomb - 
16 US: Salt Lake Tribune - Opinion: Our worst nightmare
17 US: Daily Iowan: Is homeland security being taken seriously? - 
18 Korea Times: Koesan Uranium Not Related to Test 
19 US: PoughkeepsieJournal.com: Exhibit to detail effects of depleted u
20 US: Las Vegas SUN: Federal Scientists Search for Lost H-Bomb
 
                         NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE
 
21 Interfax: Russia to resume nuclear project in Iran for fuel return
22 US: PE.com: Water-treatment bill clears hurdle 
23 Sierra Club: Four-year anniversary of Bush's Yucca Mountain promise
24 AU ABC: Waste dump assurances fail to convince SA Govt » 
25 AU ABC: Govt urged to rule out western NSW dump site » 
26 US: AU ABC: ERA charged over Ranger contamination »
27 Guardian Unlimited: Notes and Quotes From Campaign in Nevada
 
                         NUCLEAR WEAPONS
 
28 Korea Times: Nuclear-Free, Neutralized Korea 
 
                        US DEPT. OF ENERGY
 
29 Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Yes on Initiative 297
30 Cincinnati Enquirer: Fernald finally opens the pipe
31 WVLT: Oak Ridge nuclear compactor begins disassembly
32 DOE: Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board, Rocky 
33 DOE: Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board, Paducah
34 DOE: Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board, Oak Ridg
 
                          OTHER NUCLEAR
 
35 BBC: Particle lab celebrates 50 years
*****************************************************************
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                         FULL NEWS STORIES
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 1 Interfax: Russia against putting Iran's nuclear dossier on UN Security
Council agenda

Interfax.com [http://www.interfax.com]     Text version

Sep 29 2004 11:22AM
 
MOSCOW. Sept 29 (Interfax) - Russia is opposed to adding Iran's
nuclear dossier to the agenda of the UN Security Council,
Russian Security Council Secretary Igor Ivanov told a news
conference in the Interfax main office on Wednesday. 

"This issue is currently a matter for the IAEA [the
International Atomic Energy Agency]. And the IAEA is ready to
continue its comprehensive work [on this issue]. Including this
issue in the agenda of the [UN] Security Council, which is a
political body, would hardly meet the interests of this matter
today," Ivanov said.     

© 1991-2004 Interfax
 All rights reserved
 

*****************************************************************
 2 Mos News: Russia Unwilling to Refer IAEA Iran Uranium Concerns to UN
Security Council - 

NEWS - MOSNEWS.COM

[Igor Ivanov, photo from www.mfa.gov.hu] 

Created: 29.09.2004 15:35 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 15:35 MSK 

MosNews
 
Russia is against reporting Iran to the United Nations Security 
Council for what the United States and some other countries say 
are breaches of U.N. nuclear rules, a top Kremlin official was 
quoted as saying on Wednesday. 

“Taking this issue to the U.N. Security Council —- which is a 
political body —- will hardly do us any favours,” Igor Ivanov, 
head of Russia’s Security Council and a former foreign minister 
who widened nuclear ties with Iran, told Interfax news agency. 

However, diplomats at the International Atomic Energy Agency said 
the comment did not mean that Russia would definitely block a 
referral of the IAEA’s concerns to the U.N. Security Council, 
which could sanction Iran, Reuters news agency reported. 

Russia’s criticism of Iran intensified this month when Tehran 
threatened to defy a call for it to stop work on enriching 
uranium —- a process that can be used to develop nuclear arms —- 
by the IAEA, the U.N. nuclear watchdog, 

For months, Moscow opposed referring the agency’s concerns to the 
Security Council, in which Russia holds a veto. But last week 
President Vladimir Putin, who is being pressed by the United 
States to stop building a nuclear power station at Bushehr in 
Iran, urged Tehran to heed the IAEA’s demands. 

Many diplomats now believe that if Iran presses ahead with 
enrichment work then Moscow would support U.S. demands to refer 
Iran to the Council in November for possible economic sanctions. 
“Russia will not prevent the U.S. from sending Iran to the 
Security Council,” one non-American Western diplomat on the IAEA 
board told Reuters at the agency’s headquarters in Vienna. 

Washington says Iran wants nuclear arms and may use Russian 
know-how to acquire them —- a charge Iran and Moscow deny. 

Although Russia has promised to abandon Bushehr if Iran breaches 
any IAEA rules, the plant’s launch has been delayed for years in 
what diplomats in Moscow see as a sign of Putin privately sharing 
some of the U.S. concerns over Iran’s intentions. 

  Write us: <b>info@mosnews.com</b> [info@mosnews.com] 
Copyright © 2004 MOSNEWS.COM
*****************************************************************
 3 NewsFromRussia.Com: North Korea's nuclear weapons program
 
 04:57 2004-09-29

The Bush administration responded calmly Tuesday to North Korean 
claims it has turned the plutonium from 8,000 spent nuclear fuel 
rods into english.pravda.ru/printed.html?news_id=11033 ' 
target=_blank> nuclear weapons. 

Senior administration officials said they were not abandoning
the six-nation talks designed to halt North Korea's nuclear
weapons program, even as they acknowledged negotiations will not
resume this month despite previous North Korean commitments to
do so. 

They suggested english.pravda.ru/main/2003/01/29/42696.html '
target=_blank>North Korea might be wooed back to the table later
this year after the U.S. presidential election and after the
board of the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency meets in
November and reviews South Korean experiments with enriched
uranium and plutonium. 

North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Choe Su Hon disclosed Monday
at the United Nations that his country had converted the spent
nuclear fuel rods, saying it would serve as a deterrent to
increasing U.S. nuclear threats and to prevent a nuclear war in
northeast Asia. 

The danger of war on the Korean peninsula ``is snowballing,''
the North Korean diplomat warned, informs Guardian Unlimited.
According to the Washington Post, North Korea said Monday that
it will not resume talks on its nuclear weapons program until
the Bush administration ends its "hostile policy" against
Pyongyang and South Korea publishes complete details of its
secret efforts to produce nuclear-weapons-grade fuel. 

The new conditions, which were outlined by North Korea's vice
foreign minister, Choe Su Hon, in a speech before the 191-member
U.N. General Assembly, have diminished the prospects of talks
aimed at resolving the nuclear standoff before the U.S.
presidential election, according to diplomats. Three months ago,
North Korea agreed to participate in a fourth round of
english.pravda.ru/world/20/91/366/11116_korea.html '
target=_blank>six-party negotiations over the fate of its
nuclear program with the United States, China, Russia, South
Korea and Japan. 

It remains unclear why Pyongyang is stalling. But the government
has escalated its anti-American rhetoric since President Bush
referred to North Korea's leader, Kim Jong Il, as a "tyrant"
last month at a campaign rally in Wisconsin. The North Korean
foreign ministry responded by calling Bush a "fascist tyrant," a
"man killer" and "human trash." 

Choe, meanwhile, warned Monday that the "danger of war is
snowballing" in the Korean Peninsula as a result of the Bush
administration's efforts to "isolate" Pyongyang. "The ever
intensifying U.S. hostile policy and the clandestine
nuclear-related experiments recently revealed in South Korea are
constituting big stumbling blocks to the continuation of the
talks," Choe told U.N. delegates. "The serious situation . . .
makes us unable to participate in the talks aimed at discussing
the nuclear weapon program." 

The North Korean's refusal to continue talks represents a
setback for the Bush administration, which is pursuing
resumption of negotiations before the Nov. 2 election to
demonstrate its commitment to end the crisis diplomatically. 

North Korea says its effort to produce plutonium for nuclear
weapons is meant to serve as a deterrent against increasing U.S.
nuclear threats and to prevent a nuclear war in northeast Asia.

Warning that the danger of war on the Korean peninsula "is
snowballing," Deputy Foreign Minister Choe Su Hon provided
details Monday of the nuclear deterrent that he said North Korea
has developed for self-defense. He told the UN General
Assembly's annual ministerial meeting that Pyongyang had "no
other option but to possess a nuclear deterrent" because of U.S.
policies that he claimed were designed to "eliminate" North
Korea. In Washington, a State Department official noted that
Secretary of State Colin Powell had said repeatedly that the
United States had no plans to attack North Korea, reports the
International Herald Tribune.

  Copyright ©1999 by "Pravda.RU [http://www.pravda.ru/] ". When
*****************************************************************
 4 NRC: IAEA Transporation Standards

RIN 3150-AG71
 
                        FR Doc 04-21763 
[Federal Register: September 29, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 188)] 
[Rules and Regulations] [Page 58038-58039] From the Federal 
Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] 
[DOCID:fr29se04-3]                         
 
Compatibility With IAEA Transportation Safety Standards (TS-R-1) 
and Other Transportation Safety Amendments; Correction AGENCY: 
Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
 
ACTION: Final rule: Correction.
 
SUMMARY: This document corrects a final rule appearing in the 
Federal Register on January 26, 2004 (69 FR 3698) amending the 
regulations governing the packaging and transportation of 
radioactive materials. This action is necessary to add 
unintentionally omitted text and to correct editorial errors, 
references, and numerical values as printed in the final rule.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 2004. The effective date for Sec. Sec. 
71.19(a) and 71.20 ends on October 1, 2008. FOR FURTHER 
INFORMATION CONTACT: Mary Adams, Office of Nuclear Material 
Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 
Washington, DC 20555-0001, telephone (301) 415-7249, e-mail 
mta@nrc.gov [mta@nrc.gov] .
 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This action adds unintentionally 
omitted text and corrects editorial errors, references, and 
numerical values as printed in the final rule amending part 71 
(January 26, 2004; 69 FR 3698). Because of the numerous 
corrections in Sec.  71.5(a), the complete text of Sec.  71.5(a) 
is being reprinted for the convenience of interested members of 
the public.
 
PART 71--[Corrected] 1. On page 3787, first column, in Sec.  71.1 
paragraph (a) is corrected to read as follows: Sec.  71.1  
Communications and records. (a) Except where otherwise specified, 
all communications and reports concerning the regulations in this 
part and applications filed under them should be sent by mail 
addressed: ATTN: Document Control Desk, Director, Spent Fuel 
Project Office, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, 
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, by 
hand delivery to the NRC's offices at 11555 Rockville Pike, 
Rockville, Maryland; or, where practicable, by electronic 
submission, for example, via Electronic Information Exchange, or 
CD- ROM. Electronic submissions must be made in a manner that 
enables the NRC to receive, read, authenticate, distribute, and 
archive the submission, and process and retrieve it a single page 
at a time. Detailed guidance on making electronic submissions can 
be obtained by visiting the NRC's Web site at 
http://www.nrc.gov/site-help/eie.html 
[http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leaving 
FR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www.nrc.gov/site-help/eie.html] , 
by calling (301) 415-6030, by e-mail to EIE@nrc.gov [EIE@nrc.gov] 
, or by writing the Office of the Chief Information Officer, U.S. 
Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001. The 
guidance discusses, among other topics, the formats the NRC can 
accept, the use of electronic signatures, and the treatment of 
nonpublic information. If the submission date falls on a 
Saturday, Sunday, or a Federal holiday, the next Federal working 
day becomes the official due date.
 
* * * * * Sec.  71.4  [Corrected] 2. On page 3789, in Sec.  71.4, 
the definition for Surface Contaminated Object (SCO), in the 
first column, in paragraph (1)(ii), fourth line, ``4 x 10-4'' is 
corrected to read ``4 x 10\4\''; in the second column, in 
paragraph (1)(iii), eighth line, ``4 x 103'' is corrected to read 
``4 x 10\3\''; in paragraph (2)(i), fourth line, ``300\2\'' is 
corrected to read ``300 cm\2\''; and in paragraph (2)(iii), fifth 
line, ``300\2\'' is corrected to read ``300 cm\2\''.
 
3. On page 3789, third column, in Sec.  71.5 paragraph (a) is 
corrected to read as follows: Sec.  71.5  Transportation of 
licensed material. (a) Each licensee who transports licensed 
material outside the site of usage, as specified in the NRC 
license, or where transport is on public highways, or who 
delivers licensed material to a carrier for transport, shall 
comply with the applicable requirements of the DOT regulations in 
49 CFR parts 107, 171 through 180, and 390 through 397, 
appropriate to the mode of transport.
 
(1) The licensee shall particularly note DOT regulations in the 
following areas: (i) Packaging--49 CFR part 173: subparts A, B, 
and I.
 
(ii) Marking and labeling--49 CFR part 172: subpart D; and Sec. 
Sec.  172.400 through 172.407 and Sec. Sec.  172.436 through 
172.441 of subpart E. (iii) Placarding--49 CFR part 172: subpart 
F, especially Sec. Sec. 172.500 through 172.519 and 172.556; and 
appendices B and C. (iv) Accident reporting--49 CFR part 171: 
Sec. Sec.  171.15 and 171.16. (v) Shipping papers and emergency 
information--49 CFR part 172: subparts C and G.
 
(vi) Hazardous material employee training--49 CFR part 172: 
subpart H.
 
(vii) Security plans--49 CFR part 172: subpart I.
 
(viii) Hazardous material shipper/carrier registration--49 CFR 
part 107: subpart G.
 
(2) The licensee shall also note DOT regulations pertaining to 
the following modes of transportation: (i) Rail--49 CFR part 174: 
subparts A through D and K.
 
(ii) Air--49 CFR part 175.
 
(iii) Vessel--49 CFR part 176: subparts A through F and M.
 
(iv) Public Highway--49 CFR part 177 and parts 390 through 397.
 
* * * * * 4. In Sec.  71.22, on page 3793, paragraph (c)(1) and 
the heading of Table 71-1 and on page 3794 the heading of Table 
71-2 are corrected to read as follows: Sec.  71.22  General 
license: Fissile material. * * * * * (c) * * * (1) Contain no 
more than a Type A quantity of radioactive material; and * * * * 
* Table 71-1.--Mass Limits for General License Packages 
Containing Mixed Quantities of Fissile Material or Uranium-235 of 
Unknown Enrichment per Sec.  71.22(e) * * * * * Table 71-2.--Mass 
Limits for General License Packages Containing Uranium-235 of 
Known Enrichment per Sec.  71.22(e) * * * * * 5. On page 3794, 
third column, in Sec.  71.23, paragraph (c)(1) is corrected to 
read as follows: Sec.  71.23  General license: 
Plutonium-beryllium special form material.
 
* * * * * (c) * * *
 
[[Page 58039]] (1) Contain no more than a Type A quantity of 
radioactive material; and * * * * * Sec.  71.41  [Corrected] 6. 
On page 3794, first column, in Sec.  71.41, paragraph (a), 
seventh line, ``105'' is corrected to read ``10\5\.'' Sec.  71.51  
[Corrected] 7. On page 3794, third column, in Sec.  71.51, 
paragraph (d), third line, ``105'' is corrected to read 
``10\5\.'' 8. On page 3800, in Appendix A to part 71, Paragraphs 
I and IV(b), and in Tables A-1, A-3 and A-4, beginning on page 
3801, are corrected to read as follows: Appendix A to Part 
71--Determination of A1 and A2 I. Values of A1 and A2 for 
individual radionuclides, which are the bases for many activity 
limits elsewhere in these regulations, are given in Table A-1. 
The curie (Ci) values specified are obtained by converting from 
the Terabecquerel (TBq) value. The Terabecquerel values are the 
regulatory standard. The curie values are for information only 
and are not intended to be the regulatory standard. Where values 
of A1 and A2 are unlimited, it is for radiation control purposes 
only. For nuclear criticality safety, some materials are subject 
to controls placed on fissile material.
 
* * * * * IV. * * * b. For normal form radioactive material, the 
maximum quantity transported in a Type A package is as follows: 
[Sigma]B(i)/A2 (i) 2(i) is the A2 value for radionuclide i.
 
* * * * * Table A-1.--A1 and A2 Values for Radionuclides A new 
footnote reference ``b'' is added to the headings of the fourth 
and sixth columns, titled A1(Ci)\b\ and A2(Ci)\b\, and new 
footnote ``b'' text is added to the end of Table A-1 to read as 
follows: \b\ The values of A1 and A2 in Curies (Ci) are 
approximate and for information only; the regulatory standard 
units are Terabecquerels (TBq), (see Appendix A to part 71-- 
Determination of A1 and A2, Section I.). For radionuclide Bi-205, 
the specific activity is corrected to 1.5 x 10\3\ TBq/g. For 
radionuclide Cm-248, the specific activity is corrected to 1.6 x 
10-\4\ TBq/g. For radionuclide Eu-150 (long lived), the A1 value 
is corrected to 7.0 x 10-\1\ TBq. For radionuclide Te-132(a), the 
specific activity is corrected to 3.0 x 10\5\ Ci/g. * * * * * 
Table A-3.--General Values for A1 and A2 [Amended] The value 
under the sixth column ``Activity concentration for exempt 
material (Bq/g)'' for the first row ``Only beta or gamma emitting 
radionuclides are known to be present'' is corrected to read 1 x 
10\1\.
 
The value under the seventh column ``Activity limits for exempt 
consignments (Bq)'' for the first row ``Only beta or gamma 
emitting radionuclides are known to be present.'' is corrected to 
read 1 x 10\4\.
 
Table A-4.--Activity-Mass Relationships for Uranium The value 
under the third column ``Specific Activity [bond] Ci/ g'' for the 
``90'' row ``Uranium Enrichment wt% U-235 present'' is corrected 
to read 5.8 x 10-\5\. Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 24th day 
of September, 2004.
 
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
 
Michael T. Lesar, Chief, Rules and Directives Branch, Division of 
Administrative Services, Office of Administration.
 
[FR Doc. 04-21763 Filed 9-28-04; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P

 
*****************************************************************
 5 UPI: Russia offers Iran reactor deal - 

(United Press International)
 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 
  September 29, 2004 			   

Moscow, Russia, Sep. 29 (UPI) -- Russia offered Wednesday to 
resume construction of a nuclear power plant in Iran if Iran will 
return the spent fuel, the Interfax news agency reported. 

At a Moscow news conference, Russian Security Council secretary 
Igor Ivanov made the offer of returning to the Bushehr facility.

 "Iran quite rightfully raises the question that it should have 
equal access with other countries to advanced technologies, 
including nuclear technologies used for peaceful purposes," 
Ivanov said. "Russia is demonstrating in practice that the demand 
is righteous and therefore we cooperate with Iran."

 International concerns were raised that spent nuclear fuel can 
be reprocessed into weapons-grade uranium, which prompted Russia 
to suspend its construction of reactors in Iran.

[UPI Perspectives]                                                                    
*****************************************************************
 6 BBC: Ministers consider nuclear option
 
  Last Updated: Wednesday, 29 September, 2004
 
[Chapelcross nuclear power station]                             
Ministers are probing a new switch to nuclear energy                                                              

Ministers are considering enhancing the role of nuclear power in 
Scotland as a way to guarantee long-term electricity supplies, it 
has emerged. 

The strategy has been sparked by concerns over the security of 
gas supplies from countries like Russia. 

Options would include extending the life of existing nuclear 
power plants or even building a new one - which could prompt 
environmental objections. 

A series of power cuts have led to fears about guaranteeing 
supplies. 

One example in London last year led to a loss of power which 
included part of the underground system. 

Scotland has three nuclear power stations. Chapelcross in 
Dumfries and Galloway - which now being decommissioned - exports 
power to England. 

Two others - Hunterston B in Ayrshire and Torness in East Lothian 
- meet 50% of Scotland's electricity demand. 

British Energy said Hunterston should last until 2011 and it 
expected Torness to stay in production until 2023. 

Decommissioning scheme 

The news emerged as the operators of the Dounreay nuclear plant 
unveiled plans for its notorious disposal shaft. 

The UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) outlined how it proposed 
to "stabilise" the shaft to prepare for the removal of all its 
radioactive waste. 

The shaft was used as a store for dangerous material from the 
Caithness site. 

It is being emptied as part of the £4bn decommissioning plan for 
the site. 



*****************************************************************
 7 NRC: Duke Energy Corporation; Notice of Withdrawal of Application for 
 
                        FR Doc 04-21764 
[Federal Register: September 29, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 188)] 
[Notices] [Page 58204-58205] From the Federal Register Online via 
GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr29se04-90]                         
 
Amendment to Facility Operating License The U.S. Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission (the Commission) has granted the request of 
Duke Energy Corporation (the licensee) to withdraw its June 7, 
2002, application for proposed amendment to Facility Operating 
License Nos. DPR-38, DPR-47, and DPR-55, for Oconee Nuclear 
Station, Units 1, 2, and 3, located in Oconee County, South 
Carolina.
 
The proposed amendments would have revised the Updated Final 
Safety Analysis Report with regard to tornado mitigation. The 
proposed amendments would have eliminated credit for the flow 
path from the spent fuel pool to the high pressure injection pump 
following a tornado and would have credited the standby shutdown 
facility as the assured means of achieving safe shutdown 
following a tornado.
 
The Commission had previously issued a Notice of Consideration of 
Issuance of Amendment that was originally published in the 
Federal Register on July 23, 2002 (67 FR 48216). A revised Notice 
of Consideration of Issuance of Amendment was published in the 
Federal Register on February 18, 2003 (67 FR 7814). However, by 
letter dated September 9, 2004, the licensee withdrew the 
proposed change.
 
For further details with respect to this action, see the 
application for amendment dated June 7, 2002, and the licensee's 
letter dated September 9, 2004, which withdrew the application 
for license amendment. Documents may be examined, and/or copied 
for a fee, at the NRC's Public Document Room (PDR), located at 
One White Flint North, Public File Area O1 F21, 11555 Rockville 
Pike (first floor), Rockville, Maryland.
 
Publicly available records will be accessible electronically from 
the Agencywide Documents Access and Management Systems (ADAMS) 
Public Electronic Reading Room on the Internet at the NRC Web 
site, http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams/html 
[http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leaving 
FR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams/html] 
.
 
Persons who do not have access to ADAMS or who encounter problems 
in accessing the documents located in ADAMS, should contact the 
NRC PDR Reference staff by telephone at 1- 800-397-4209, or 
301-415-4737 or by e-mail to pdr@nrc.gov [pdr@nrc.gov] . Dated at 
Rockville, Maryland, this 22nd day of September, 2004.
 
 
[[Page 58205]] For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
 
Leonard N. Olshan, Sr. Project Manager, Section 1, Project 
Directorate II, Division of Licensing Project Management, Office 
of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
 
[FR Doc. 04-21764 Filed 9-28-04; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P

 
*****************************************************************
 8 Japan Times: Kepco office searched over deadly leak

  Wednesday, September 29, 2004   

 Police seek out evidence of professional negligence at Mihama
reactor

 FUKUI (Kyodo) Police searched a Kansai Electric Power Co.
branch office Tuesday in Fukui Prefecture as part of an
investigation into a deadly nuclear plant accident in August.

  [News photo]   

  Fukui police investigators enter the Wakasa branch office of
Kansai Electric Power Co. in Mihama, Fukui Prefecture.   

Around 8:30 a.m., 120 police officers swarmed into Kepco's Wakasa 
branch office in Mihama, which oversees operations at the 
company's 11 nuclear reactors in Fukui, to search for evidence on 
whether the utility committed professional negligence resulting 
in the worst fatal accident at a nuclear plant in Japan.

 Police also searched plant offices of Kepco and its maintenance 
affiliate, Nihon Arm Co., earlier this month.

 Fukui Prefectural Police plan to examine documents at the Wakasa 
office to determine if company officials were responsible for 
failing to check a coolant water pipe at the Mihama Nuclear Power 
Plant for nearly 28 years until the badly corroded pipe ruptured 
Aug. 9, spewing superheated steam.

 Five workers were killed and seven others injured in the 
accident at the No. 3 reactor in Mihama. The workers had been 
doing preparatory work for regular checks of the reactor.

 Kepco is suspected of failing to conduct checks even after Nihon 
Arm warned it last November that the pipe in question had been 
overlooked during annual inspections.

 Police want to know exactly when Nihon Arm notified the utility 
by examining documents at the Wakasa office, including the 
company's inspection plans and records, investigative sources 
said.

 The Japan Times: Sept. 29, 2004 (C) All rights reserved 
*****************************************************************
 9 Japan Times: Kepco ordered to shut down Mihama reactor

  Tuesday, September 28, 2004   

 FUKUI (Kyodo) Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Shoichi 
Nakagawa on Monday ordered Kansai Electric Power Co. to halt the 
No. 3 reactor at its Mihama nuclear plant in Fukui Prefecture 
until the reactor is confirmed to meet government standards.

 The reactor was the scene last month of Japan's deadliest-ever 
nuclear plant accident.

 The move came after a ministry panel probing the accident 
released an interim report Monday that blamed the Aug. 9 accident 
that killed five workers and injured seven others on safety 
shortcomings by Kepco and other parties regarding a faulty 
coolant water pipe.

 The workers had been undertaking preparatory work for regular 
checks of the reactor.

 The minister also reprimanded Kansai Electric President Yosaku 
Fuji for a series of indiscretions and requested that he take 
every possible measure to prevent another accident.

 Nakagawa harshly criticized the utility and indicated more 
penalties will come.

 "Kansai Electric's responsibility is grave," he told a news 
conference. "I don't think the case will be closed with a 
reprimand and a suspension order. This is simply an interim 
report, not a final decision."

 In the interim report, the panel said failure to check corrosion 
of pipes triggered the accident, singling out for blame Kepco, 
Nihon Arm Co., Kansai Electric's affiliate overseeing maintenance 
of its power plants, and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., which 
manufactured the reactor.

 The report urged the three to set up an integrated system to 
maintain the pipes and to share information on safety controls.

 The ministry also canceled its quality guarantee assessment for 
three reactors. The three, all in Fukui, are the Mihama No. 1 
reactor, the No. 3 reactor at the Takahama Nuclear Power Plant 
and the No. 2 reactor at the Oi Nuclear Power Plant.

 The Japan Times: Sept. 28, 2004 (C) All rights reserved 
*****************************************************************
 10 YDR: IN ROCKVILLE, MD.: NRC to hold public meeting - 

York Daily Record
 		
[ydr.com]                                      

NRC to hold public meeting Wednesday, September 29, 2004 

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Advisory Committee on Reactor 
Safeguards will hold a public meeting at 8:30 a.m. Oct. 7, 8 and 
9 at its Two White Flint North building in Rockville, Md.

The public meeting will discuss an evaluation of industry 
guidelines related to the performance of sumps — a component of 
the safety-related recirculation system in some nuclear power 
plants.

The NRC regulates both Three Mile Island in Dauphin County and 
Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station.

Copyright © York Daily Record 2004
122 S. George St., P.O. Box 15122
York, PA 17405, (717) 771-2000
 				
*****************************************************************
 11 NRC: Indiana Michigan Power Company; Notice of Consideration of 
 
                        FR Doc 04-21765 
[Federal Register: September 29, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 188)] 
[Notices] [Page 58205-58208] From the Federal Register Online via 
GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr29se04-91]                         
 
Issuance of Amendments To Facility Operating Licenses and 
Opportunity for a Hearing The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission 
(NRC or the Commission) is considering issuance of an amendment 
to Facility Operating License Nos. DPR-58 and DPR-74 issued to 
Indiana Michigan Power Company (I or the licensee) for operation 
of the Donald C. Cook Nuclear Plant, Units 1 and 2, (D. C. Cook) 
located in Berrien County, Michigan. The proposed amendment, 
requested by I in its application dated April 6, 2004, represents 
a full conversion from the Current Technical Specifications (CTS) 
to a set of Improved Technical Specifications (ITS) based on 
NUREG-1431, ``Standard Technical Specifications (STS) for 
Westinghouse Plants,'' Revision 2, dated April 2001.
 
NUREG-1431 has been developed by the Commission's staff through 
working groups composed of both NRC staff members and industry 
representatives, and has been endorsed by the NRC staff as part 
of an industry-wide initiative to standardize and improve the 
Technical Specifications (TSs) for nuclear power plants. As part 
of this submittal, the licensee has applied the criteria 
contained in the Commission's ``Final Policy Statement on 
Technical Specification Improvements for Nuclear Power Reactors 
(Final Policy Statement),'' published in the Federal Register on 
July 22,1993 (58 FR 39132), to the CTS and using NUREG-1431 as a 
basis, proposed an ITS for D. C. Cook. The criteria in the Final 
Policy Statement was subsequently added to Title 10 of the Code 
of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), Part 50.36, ``Technical 
Specifications,'' in a rule change that was published in the 
Federal Register on July 19, 1995 (60 FR 36953) and became 
effective on August 18, 1995.
 
In addition to the conversion, the licensee also proposed: (1) To 
delete three license conditions in the operating licenses for D.
 
C. Cook Units 1 and 2 and relocate the requirements to either the 
ITS or the Technical Requirements Manual of the D. C. Cook 
Updated Final Safety Analysis Report (UFSAR); and (2) 34 beyond 
scope issues (BSIs) where the proposed requirements are different 
from the CTS or the STS NUREG-1431. The BSIs are identified later 
in this notice. This notice is based on the application dated 
April 6, 2004, and the information provided to the NRC through 
the Cook ITS Conversion Web page. To expedite its review of the 
application, the NRC staff issued its requests for additional 
information (RAIs) through the Cook ITS Conversion Web page and 
the licensee addressed the RAIs by providing responses on the Web 
page. Entry into the database is protected so that only licensee 
and NRC reviewers can enter information into the database to add 
RAIs (NRC) or providing responses to the RAIs (licensee); 
however, the public can enter the database to only read the 
questions asked and the responses provided. To be in compliance 
with the regulations for written communications for license 
amendment requests and to have the database on the D. C. Cook 
dockets before the amendments would be issued, the licensee will 
submit a copy of the database in a submittal to the NRC after 
there are no further RAIs and before the amendments would be 
issued. The public can access the database through the NRC Web 
site at 
[http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leaving 
FR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www.nrc.gov]  by the following 
process: (1) Click on the tab labeled ``Nuclear Reactors'' on the 
NRC home page along the upper part of the web page, (2) then 
click on the link to ``Operating Reactors,'' which is under 
``Regulated Activities'' on the left hand side of the web page, 
(3) then click on the link to ``Improved Standard Technical 
Specifications'' which is on right hand side of the page, and (4) 
finally click on the link to ``Comments on the application and 
responses by D. C. Cook,'' near the bottom of the Web page, to 
open the database. The RAIs and responses to RAIs are organized 
by ITS Sections 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 3.1 through 3.9, 4.0, and 5.0, 
which are listed first, and the 34 BSIs, which are listed later. 
For every listed ITS section or BSI, there is an RAI which can be 
read by clicking on the ITS section or BSI number. The licensee's 
responses are shown by a solid triangle adjacent to the ITS 
section or BSI number, and, to read the response, you click on 
the triangle. To page down through the ITS sections to the BSIs, 
click on ``next'' along the top of the page or on ``previous'' to 
return to the previous page.
 
The licensee has categorized the proposed changes to the CTS into 
five general groupings within the description of changes (DOC) 
section of the application. These groupings are characterized as 
administrative changes (i.e., ITS x.x, DOC A.xx), more 
restrictive changes (i.e., ITS x.x, DOC M.xx), relocated 
specifications (i.e., ITS x.x, DOC R.xx), removed detail changes 
(i.e., ITS x.x, DOC LA.xx), and less restrictive changes (i.e., 
ITS x.x, DOC L.xx). This is to say that the DOCs are numbered 
sequentially within each letter designator for each ITS Chapter, 
Section, or Specification, and the designations are A.xx for 
administrative changes, M.xx for more restrictive changes, R.xx 
for relocated specifications, LA.xx for removed detail changes, 
and L.xx for less restrictive changes. These changes to the 
requirements of the CTS do not result in operations that will 
alter assumptions relative to mitigation of an analyzed accident 
or transient event.
 
Administrative changes are those that involve restructuring, 
renumbering, rewording interpretation and complex rearranging of 
requirements and other changes not affecting technical content or 
substantially revising an operating requirement. The 
reformatting, renumbering and rewording process reflects the 
attributes of NUREG-1431 and does not involve technical changes 
to the CTS. The proposed changes include: (a) Providing the 
appropriate numbers, etc., for NUREG-1431 bracketed information 
(information that must be supplied on a plant- specific basis, 
and which may change from plant to plant); (b) identifying 
plant-specific wording for system names, etc.; and (c) changing 
NUREG-1431 section wording to conform to existing licensee 
practices. Such changes are administrative in nature and do not 
impact initiators of analyzed events or assumed mitigation of 
accident or transient events. 
[FEDREG][VOL]*[/VOL][NO]*[/NO][DATE]*[/ 
DATE][NOTICES][NOTICE][PREAMB][AGENCY]*[/AGENCY][SUBJECT]*[/SUBJE 
CT] More restrictive changes are those involving more stringent 
requirements compared to the CTS for operation of the facility.
 
These more stringent requirements do not result in operation that 
will alter assumptions relative to the mitigation of an accident 
or transient event. The more restrictive requirements will not 
alter the operation of process variables, structures, systems, 
and components described in the safety analyses. For each 
requirement in the STS that is more restrictive than the CTS that 
the licensee proposes to adopt in the ITS, the licensee has 
provided an explanation as to why it has concluded
 
[[Page 58206]] that adopting the more restrictive requirement is 
desirable to ensure safe operation of the facility because of 
specific design features of the plant.
 
Relocated changes are those involving relocation of requirements 
and surveillances for structures, systems, components, or 
variables that do not meet the criteria for inclusion in TSs. 
Relocated changes are those CTS requirements that do not satisfy 
or fall within any of the four criteria specified in the 10 CFR 
50.36(c) and, therefore, may be relocated to appropriate 
licensee-controlled documents.
 
The licensee's application of the screening criteria is described 
in Attachment 1 to the licensee's April 6, 2004, application, 
``Donald C. Cook Nuclear Plant, Units 1 and 2, License Amendment 
Request-- Conversion of Current Technical Specifications (CTS) to 
Improved Technical Specifications (ITS).'' The affected 
structures, systems, components or variables are not assumed to 
be initiators of analyzed events and are not assumed to mitigate 
accident or transient events. The requirements and surveillances 
for these affected structures, systems, components, or variables 
will be relocated from the TSs to administratively-controlled 
documents such as the quality assurance program, the UFSAR, the 
ITS Bases, the technical requirements manual that is incorporated 
by reference in the UFSAR, the core operating limits report, the 
offsite dose calculation manual, the inservice testing program, 
the inservice inspection program, or other licensee- controlled 
documents. Changes made to these documents will be made pursuant 
to 10 CFR 50.59 or other appropriate control mechanisms, and may 
be made without prior NRC review and approval. In addition, the 
affected structures, systems, components, or variables are 
addressed in existing surveillance procedures that are also 
subject to 10 CFR 50.59. Removed detail changes, are changes to 
the CTS that eliminate detail and relocate the detail to a 
licensee-controlled document. Typically, this involves details of 
system design and function, or procedural detail on methods of 
conducting a surveillance requirement (SR). These changes are 
supported, in aggregate, by a single generic no significant 
hazard consideration. The generic type of removed detail change 
is identified in italics at the beginning of the DOC.
 
Less restrictive changes are those where CTS requirements are 
relaxed or eliminated, or new plant operational flexibility is 
provided. The more significant ``less restrictive'' requirements 
are justified on a case-by-case basis. When requirements have 
been shown to provide little or no safety benefit, their removal 
from the TSs may be appropriate. In most cases, relaxations 
previously granted to individual plants on a plant-specific basis 
were the result of: (a) Generic NRC actions; (b) new NRC staff 
positions that have evolved from technological advancements and 
operating experience; or (c) resolution of the Owners Groups' 
comments on the Improved STSs. Generic relaxations contained in 
NUREG-1431 were reviewed by the NRC staff and found to be 
acceptable because they are consistent with current licensing 
practices and NRC regulations. The licensee's design is being 
reviewed to determine if the specific design basis and licensing 
basis are consistent with the technical basis for the model 
requirements in NUREG-1431, thus providing a basis for the ITS, 
or if relaxation of the requirements in the CTS is warranted 
based on the justification provided by the licensee.
 
These administrative, relocated, more restrictive, and less 
restrictive changes to the requirements of the CTS do not result 
in operations that will alter assumptions relative to mitigation 
of an analyzed accident or transient event.
 
In addition to the proposed changes solely involving the 
conversion, there are also changes proposed that are different 
from the requirements in both the CTS and the STS NUREG-1431. The 
BSIs are listed below in which the first 21 were identified by 
the licensee and addressed in Enclosure 4 to its application. In 
some cases, the BSI is addressed as a justification for deviation 
(JFD) from the STS, and identified as ITS x.x, JFD x. These BSIs 
to the conversion, listed in the order of the applicable ITS 
specification or section, are as follows [note that the words 
below that are capitalized are terms that are defined in the 
ITS]: (1) Surveillance Frequencies for certain CHANNEL 
CALIBRATION Surveillance Requirements (SRs) are being changed 
from 18 months in the CTS to either 31 days or 184 days in the 
ITS. (ITS 3.3.1, DOC M.16; ITS 3.3.2, DOC M.10; ITS 3.3.5, DOC 
M.2) (2) Changing certain ALLOWABLE VALUES as a result of 
extending the CHANNEL CALIBRATION surveillance frequency from 18 
months to 24 months. (ITS 3.3.1, DOC M.17; ITS 3.3.1, DOC L.19; 
ITS 3.3.2, DOC M.11; ITS 3.3.2, DOC L.22 (3) Certain surveillance 
frequencies are being changed from 7 days, 31 days, or 92 days to 
184 days. (ITS 3.3.1, DOC L.18; ITS 3.3.2, DOC L.19; ITS 3.3.5, 
DOC L.5; ITS 3.3.6, DOC L.9; ITS 3.4.15, DOC L.8; ITS 3.6.9, DOC 
L.3; ITS 3.7.10, DOC L.3; ITS 3.7.12, DOC L.3; ITS 3.7.13, DOC 
L.5) (4) Decreases the number of manual channels required 
OPERABLE to one per train. (ITS 3.3.2, DOC L.20) (5) Decreases 
the number of manual channels required OPERABLE to one per train. 
(ITS 3.3.6, DOC L.10) (6) Deletes the once per shift SOURCE CHECK 
requirement on the containment radiation instrumentation. (ITS 
3.3.6, DOC L.11) (7) Changes the number coolant loop required to 
be in operation and/or OPERABLE, based on the status of the rod 
control system.
 
(ITS 3.4.6, DOC L.1) (8) Requirement to specifically state the 
required water level as referenced to a specific point inside the 
steam generators instead of using a specific indication from one 
instrument is being changed. (ITS 3.4.6, DOC L.5; ITS 3.4.7, DOC 
L.3) (9) Changes for Unit 1 only to: (1) Decrease the 
unidentified LEAKAGE limit and provide additional REQUIRED 
ACTIONS; and (2) add the requirement to analyze grab samples of 
the containment atmosphere every 12 hours instead of every 24 
hours. (ITS 3.4.13, DOC M.1; ITS 3.4.15, DOC M.2) (10) Increasing 
the pressure constant value, resulting in a decrease in the 
calculated seal line resistance flow. (ITS 3.5.5, DOC M.1) (11) 
Require two of the three refueling canal drains to be OPERABLE, 
and, due to this change, the word ``required'' has been added to 
the Actions and the SRs since not all installed refueling drains 
are required to be OPERABLE. (ITS 3.6.14, DOC L.2) (12) 
Increasing the condensate storage tank volume requirements. (ITS 
3.7.6, DOC M.1) (13) Delete the 1-hour allowance to delay 
declaring inoperable the opposite unit essential service water 
(ESW) train, and adds requirements to address the opposite unit 
ESW train. (ITS 3.7.8, DOC M.3) (14) Ensure only one control room 
air conditioning (CRAC) train is in operation and change the 
temperature limit from 95 [deg]F to 85 [deg]F during the 12-hour 
surveillance, and add a specific requirement to verify that each 
CRAC train can maintain control room air temperature 420 V to 
4160 +240 V, -250 V, and the steady-state frequency range from 60 
1.2 Hz to 60 + 1.2 Hz, -0.6 Hz. (ITS 3.8.1, DOC M.5) (17) Delete 
the requirement to perform the surveillance requirement in 
accordance with the Diesel Generator (DG) Test Schedule Table, 
and change the nominal test frequency to 92 days. (ITS 3.8.1, DOC 
L.19) (18) Deletes requirements in CTS SR 4.8.1.1.2.e.10 on 
testing the DG. (ITS 3.8.1, DOC L.20) (19) Changes the time to 
perform surveillance requirement checks from 8 hours or 24 hours, 
to 12 hours. (ITS 3.8.1, DOC L.21) (20) Certain CTS SRs are not 
required in the ITS. (ITS 3.8.2, DOC L.6) (21) Extend the 
surveillance frequency for various surveillance requirements to 
24 months, consistent with the guidelines provided in NRC Generic 
Letter 91-04. (ITS 3.1.4, DOC L.9; ITS 3.3.1, DOCs L.1, L.2, L.3 
and L.11; ITS 3.3.2, DOCs L.1, L.2, L.4 and L.13; ITS 3.3.3, DOC 
L.6; ITS 3.3.4, DOC L.1; ITS 3.3.6, DOCs L.5 and L.6; ITS 3.3.7, 
DOC L.2; ITS 3.3.8, DOC L.3; ITS 3.4.1, DOC L.2; ITS 3.4.9, DOC 
L.1; ITS 3.4.11, DOC L.3; ITS 3.4.12, DOC L.3; ITS 3.4.14, DOC 
L.4; ITS 3.4.15, DOC L.6; ITS 3.5.2, DOC L.3; ITS 3.6.3, DOC L.5; 
ITS 3.6.6, DOC L.1; ITS 3.6.7, DOC L.1; ITS 3.6.8, DOC L.3; ITS 
3.6.9, DOC L.2; ITS 3.6.13, DOC L.1; ITS 3.7.5, DOC L.8; ITS 
3.7.7, DOC L.2; ITS 3.7.8, DOC L.2; ITS 3.7.10, DOC L.2; ITS 
3.7.12, L.2; ITS 3.7.13, DOC L.4; ITS 3.8.1, DOC L.3; ITS 3.8.4, 
DOC L.2; and ITS 5.5, DOCs L.1 and L.3) (22) The surveillance 
frequency is changed from prior to reactor startup if not 
performed within the previous 7 days to 24 months. (ITS 3.3.1, 
DOC L.12) (23) CTS Table 4.3-1 requires a CHANNEL CALIBRATION of 
Functional Units 7 and 8, the Overtemperature delta T and 
Overpower delta T channels, respectfully. The ITS specifies the 
normalization of the delta T channels is not required to be 
performed until 72 hours after Thermal Power is greater than or 
equal to 98 percent rated thermal power. (ITS 3.3.1, DOC M.10) 
(24) CTS Table 4.3-1 Functional Units 18.A and 18.B specify the 
SRs for the Turbine Trip--Low Fluid Oil Pressure and Turbine Stop 
Valve Closure Functions, but does not include a CHANNEL 
CALIBRATION requirement. ITS SR 3.3.1.13 has been added which 
requires a CHANNEL CALIBRATION of these channels every 24 months. 
(Table 3.3.1-1 Functions 16.a and 16.b). (ITS 3.3.1, DOC M.14) 
(25) The CTS is being changed by adding the explicit Automatic 
Actuation Logic and Actuation Relays SRs for ITS Function 5.a, 
Turbine Trip and Feedwater Isolation. The frequency proposed for 
the slave relay (24 months) is consistent with the frequency 
proposed for the simulated actuation tests. (ITS 3.3.2, DOC M.2) 
(26) The proposed test frequencies are based on consistency with 
either other functions or with simulated actuation tests. (ITS 
3.3.2, DOC M.3) (27) Licensee is applying WCAP-10271 to the 
Containment Air Recirculation Fan Actuation logic, and 
Containment Pressure--High Functions. (ITS 3.3.2, DOC L.5) (28) 
Licensee applying WCAP-10271, WCAP-15376 and WCAP-14333 for the 
required actions, completion times, and surveillance test 
intervals for the functions listed in DOC L.5 and L.17. (ITS 
3.3.2, DOC L.5 and L.17) (29) Deviation from STS for the P-12 
interlock action to place in ``trip'' instead of ``place in the 
required state.'' (ITS 3.3.2, JFD 23) (30) Eliminate requirements 
for residual heat removal trip bypass when the refueling water 
storage tank level instrumentation becomes inoperable. (ITS 
3.3.3, DOC L.4) (31) Relax the CTS surveillance frequency for the 
hydrogen analyzer by deleting the requirement to test on a 
STAGGERED TEST BASIS.
 
(ITS 3.3.3, DOC L.13) (32) Adopt the STS repair allowed outage 
time of 6 hours before the channel must be placed in trip. (ITS 
3.3.5, DOC L.2) (33) Add a setpoint methodology citation to the 
ITS Bases.
 
(ITS 3.3.5, Bases Insert 4--Reference 4) (34) Revise the wording 
in Required Action A.1 of ITS 3.5.5. (ITS 3.5.5, JFD 4) Before 
issuance of the proposed license amendments, the Commission will 
have made findings required by the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as 
amended (the Act) and the commission's regulations.
 
Within 60 days after the date of publication of this notice, the 
licensee may file a request for a hearing with respect to 
issuance of the amendment to the subject facility operating 
license and any person whose interest may be affected by this 
proceeding and who wishes to participate as a party in the 
proceeding must file a written request for a hearing and a 
petition for leave to intervene. Requests for a hearing and a 
petition for leave to intervene shall be filed in accordance with 
the Commission's ``Rules of Practice for Domestic Licensing 
Proceedings'' in 10 CFR Part 2. Interested persons should consult 
a current copy of 10 CFR 2.309, which is available at the 
Commission's Public Document Room (PDR), located at One White 
Flint North, Public File Area 01F21, 11555 Rockville Pike (First 
Floor), Rockville, Maryland. Publicly available records will be 
accessible from the Agencywide Documents Access and Management 
System's (ADAMS) Public Electronic Reading Room on the Internet 
at the NRC Web site, [E T='03'] 
[http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leaving 
FR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collecti 
ons/cfr/] .[/E] If a request for a hearing or petition for leave 
to intervene is filed by the above date, the Commission or a 
presiding officer designated by the Commission or by the Chief 
Administrative Judge of the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board 
Panel, will rule on the request and/or petition; and the 
Secretary or the Chief Administrative Judge of the Atomic Safety 
and Licensing Board will issue a notice of a hearing or an 
appropriate order.
 
As required by 10 CFR 2.309, a petition for leave to intervene 
shall set forth with particularity the interest of the 
petitioner/ requestor in the proceeding, and how that interest 
may be affected by the results of the proceeding. The petition 
should specifically explain the reasons why intervention should 
be permitted with particular reference to the following general 
requirements: (1) The name, address and telephone number of the 
requestor or petitioner; (2) the nature of the 
requestor's/petitioner's right under the Act to be made a party 
to the proceeding; (3) the nature and extent of the requestor's/ 
petitioner's property, financial, or other interest in the 
proceeding; and (4) the possible effect of any decision or order 
which may be entered in the proceeding on the 
requestor's/petitioner's interest. The petition must also 
identify the specific contentions which the petitioner/requestor 
seeks to have litigated at the proceeding.
 
Each contention must consist of a specific statement of the issue 
of law or fact to be raised or controverted. In addition, the 
petitioner/requestor shall provide a brief explanation of the 
bases for the contention and a concise statement of the alleged 
facts or expert opinion which support the contention and on which 
the petitioner intends to rely in proving the contention at the
 
[[Page 58208]] hearing. The petitioner must also provide 
references to those specific sources and documents of which the 
petitioner is aware and on which the petitioner intends to rely 
to establish those facts or expert opinion. The petition must 
include sufficient information to show that a genuine dispute 
exists with the applicant on a material issue of law or fact. 
Contentions shall be limited to matters within the scope of the 
amendment under consideration. The contention must be one which, 
if proven, would entitle the petitioner/requestor to relief. A 
petitioner/ requestor who fails to satisfy these requirements 
with respect to at least one contention will not be permitted to 
participate as a party.
 
Those permitted to intervene become parties to the proceeding, 
subject to any limitations in the order granting leave to 
intervene, and have the opportunity to participate fully in the 
conduct of the hearing.
 
Nontimely requests and/or petitions and contentions will not be 
entertained absent a determination by the Commission or the 
presiding officer of the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board that 
the petition, request and/or the contentions should be granted 
based on a balancing of the factors specified in 10 CFR 
2.309(a)(1)(i)-(viii). ?> A request for a hearing or a petition 
for leave to intervene must be filed by: (1) First class mail 
addressed to the Office of the Secretary of the Commission, U.S. 
Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, 
Attention: Rulemaking and Adjudications Staff; (2) courier, 
express mail, and expedited delivery services: Office of the 
Secretary, Sixteenth Floor, One White Flint North, 11555 
Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland, 20852, Attention: Rulemaking 
and Adjudications Staff; (3) e-mail addressed to the Office of 
the Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 
[HEARINGDOCKET@NRC.GOV] ; or (4) facsimile transmission addressed 
to the Office of the Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission, Washington, DC, Attention: Rulemakings and 
Adjudications Staff at (301) 415-1101, verification number is 
(301) 415-1966. A copy of the request for hearing and petition 
for leave to intervene should also be sent to the Office of the 
General Counsel, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, 
DC 20555-0001, and it is requested that copies be transmitted 
either by means of facsimile transmission to (301) 415-3725 or by 
e-mail to  [ OGCMailCenter@nrc.gov] . A copy of the request for 
hearing and petition for leave to intervene should also be sent 
David W. Jenkins, Esq., 500 Circle Drive, Buchanan, MI 49107, 
attorney for the licensee.
 
For further details with respect to this action, see the 
licensee's application for amendment dated April 6, 2004, and the 
Cook ITS Conversion Web page (as discussed above). Documents may 
be examined, and/or copied for a fee at the Commission's PDR, 
located at One White Flint North, Public File Area O1 F21, 11555 
Rockville Pike (First Floor), Rockville, Maryland. Publicly 
available records will be accessible electronically from the 
Agencywide Documents Access and Management System's (ADAMS) 
Public Electronic Reading Room on the Internet at the NRC Web 
site, 
[http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leaving 
FR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html] 
. Persons who do not have access to ADAMS or who encounter 
problems in accessing the documents located in ADAMS, should 
contact the NRC PDR Reference staff by telephone at 
1-800-397-4209, (301) 415-4737, or by e-mail to  [pdr@nrc.gov] . 
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
 
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 23rd day of September, 2004.
 
Jack Donohew, Senior Project Manager, Section 2, Project 
Directorate IV, Division of Licensing Project Management, Office 
of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
 
[FR Doc. 04-21765 Filed 9-28-04; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P

 
*****************************************************************
 12 Middletown Press: Minor fire hits office building at CY                   
 	 			 							 							
  Wednesday 29 September, 2004        

  
BY JOSH MROZINSKI Middletown Press Staff                     

HADDAM -- There were no injuries in a fire that broke out in the 
insulation of a two-story building on the non-nuclear side of the 
Connecticut Yankee Atomic Power Plant on Monday.                                                         

The fire broke out during the demolition of the building, which 
is a part of the decommissioning process, Kelley Smith, 
spokeswoman for the nuclear power plant, said.

The fire, which occurred 350 feet from the spent-fuel storage 
site, was contained and small, Smth said.

"The building was in the process of being demolished and being 
prepped for demolition," Smith said. "It was a relatively small 
fire. There was more smoke than fire, because it was smoldering."

 During the decommissioning, which began in 1998, buildings will 
be demolished and 43 spent-fuel and greater than Class-C Waste 
canisters will be moved into dry casks at storage area that is 
three-quarters of a mile from the plant. Greater than Class-C 
Waste is cut-up metal from the reactor vessel.

The spent-fuel and waste will eventually be transported to Yucca 
Mountain in Nevada when it opens.

Gary Bouchard, nuclear safety and regulatory affairs director, 
said at a Sept. 21 Community Decommissioning Advisory Committee 
meeting that 17 of the 43 spent-fuel and waste canisters have 
been moved to the storage site.

Workers were outside of the building pulling down steel beams 
when the fire broke out. 

Earlier they had been cutting the steel beams with torch cutting 
equipment. The beams became hot from the cutting, and the 
insulation that was behind the beams caught fire when it was 
exposed to the air from the workers pulling down the beams.

At 4:51 p.m. the fire was reported to the control room and at 
4:53 p.m. 911 was called. Workers were evacuated from the scene 
and the onsite fire brigade began to douse the fire with water. 

The Haddam Neck Fire Department and the East Hampton Fire 
Department responded.

"Their response was excellent," Smith said.

The fire was declared extinguished at 6:18 p.m.

Smith said the section of the roof that caught on fire has been 
pulled down, but the rest of the 30 foot by 80 foot building 
still needs to be demolished as part of the decommissioning 
process.

Torch cutting has temporarily been suspended, Smith said, until 
the investigation is complete, corrective actions are implemented 
and the fire is documented.

Corrective actions include instructing contractors to remove 
flammable materials before they cut or to use fire blankets, 
Smith said.

To contact Josh Mrozinski, call (860) 347-3331, ext. 222.

 or email jmrozinski@middletownpress.com. 

©The Middletown Press 2004                                        
*****************************************************************
 13 South Florida Sun-Sentinel: Power repairs to take 16 days

  [Sun-Sentinel.com]

By Marcia Heroux Pounds Business Writer Posted  September 29 2004               
 
Sixteen days after Hurricane Jeanne left Florida, Florida Power & 
Light Co. expects to complete power restoration to Palm Beach 
County and the Treasure Coast. That's four days longer than after 
Hurricane Frances, which left more customers without power but 
was nearly statewide.

Most FPL customers can expect to have their lights back on Oct. 
12, the utility said on Tuesday. 

The 200,500 Palm Beach County customers still without power 
Tuesday night are scheduled to be restored by Friday. But there 
are exceptions: heavily damaged areas of Riviera Beach, Jupiter, 
Loxahatchee and the Acreage will take as long as Oct. 8.

As of 5 p.m. Tuesday, 1.2 million FPL customers' power had been 
restored, but there still were 578,600 customers without power. 
The process will be "slower going in the days ahead, especially 
in the hardest hit areas," warned FPL President Armando Olivera 
in a news conference Tuesday.Jupiter and The Acreage have damage 
and flooding, which is making power restoration more difficult, 
said FPL, a unit of Juno Beach-based FPL Group.

 The areas hardest hit on the Treasure Coast by winds of 120 to 
125 mph will not be restored until Oct. 12. "That's when the last 
customers' lights will be back on," Olivera said. "Most customers 
will see their lights come back in a matter of days."

FPL's power plants affected by the storm will be completely 
repaired by Wednesday, Olivera said. St. Lucie nuclear power 
plant, which was shut down as a precaution before the storm, will 
need safety clearance from the Federal Emergency Management 
Agency and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Pockets of resident and business may be without power because FPL 
has repaired the main electrical lines but is coming back to fix 
lateral lines. But if customers still don't have power after the 
restoration date for their county, they should call FPL at 
800-468-8243. 

FPL's estimated times of restoration come with a big caveat: its 
ability to find 1,100 more outside utility crews and get them 
working by Sunday, according to Geisha Williams, FPL's vice 
president of electrical distribution.

The utility had commitments from 3,600 line workers by Tuesday 
but hopes to have a team of 4,700 who can fix downed utility 
poles, wires and transformers. 

But FPL's rates -- the amount it is allowed to charge consumers 
in exchange for being the sole utility -- come up for review at 
the end of next year. Some experts have said FPL might seek to 
add a surcharge to customers' bills to recover its costs.

Marcia Heroux Pounds can be reached at mpounds@ sun-sentinel.com 
or 561-243-6650.

Copyright © 2004, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
[http://www.sun-sentinel.com] 		 	 	   
*****************************************************************
 14 nydailynews.com: The war's littlest victim 

Juan Gonzalez is a Daily News columnist.

 Email: jgonzalez@ edit.nydailynews.com
[jgonzalez@edit.nydailynews.com] 

  He was exposed to depleted uranium. His daughter may be paying 
the price.

  Guardsman Gerard Darren Matthew, sent home from Iraq with
mysterious illnesses, holds baby daughter, Victoria, who has
deformed hand. He has tested positive for uranium contamination.
  
In early September 2003, Army National Guard Spec. Gerard Darren 
Matthew was sent home from Iraq, stricken by a sudden illness.

 One side of Matthew's face would swell up each morning. He had 
constant migraine headaches, blurred vision, blackouts and a 
burning sensation whenever he urinated.

 The Army transferred him to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in 
Washington for further tests, but doctors there could not explain 
what was wrong.

 Shortly after his return, his wife, Janice, became pregnant. On 
June 29, she gave birth to a baby girl, Victoria Claudette.

 The baby was missing three fingers and most of her right hand.

 Matthew and his wife believe Victoria's shocking deformity has 
something to do with her father's illness and the war - 
especially since there is no history of birth defects in either 
of their families.

 They have seen photos of Iraqi babies born with deformities that 
are eerily similar.

 In June, Matthew contacted the Daily News and asked us to 
arrange independent laboratory screening for his urine. This was 
after The News had reported that four of seven soldiers from 
another National Guard unit, the 442nd Military Police, had 
tested positive for depleted uranium (DU).

 The independent test of Matthew's urine found him positive for 
DU - low-level radioactive waste produced in nuclear plants 
during the enrichment of natural uranium.

 Because it is twice as heavy as lead, DU has been used by the 
Pentagon since the Persian Gulf War in certain types of 
"tank-buster" shells, as well as for armor-plating in Abrams 
tanks.

 Exposure to radioactivity has been associated in some studies 
with birth defects in the children of exposed parents.

 "My husband went to Iraq to fight for his country," Janice 
Matthew said. "I feel the Army should take responsibility for 
what's happened." 

The couple first learned of the baby's missing fingers during a 
routine sonogram of the fetus last April at Lenox Hill Hospital.

 Matthew was a truck driver in Iraq with the 719th transport unit 
from Harlem. His unit moved supplies from Army bases in Kuwait to 
the front lines and as far as Baghdad. On several occasions, he 
says, he carried shot-up tanks and destroyed vehicle parts on his 
flat-bed back to Kuwait.

 After he learned of his unborn child's deformity, Matthew 
immediately asked the Army to test his urine for DU. In April, he 
provided a 24-hour urine sample to doctors at Fort Dix, N.J., 
where he was waiting to be deactivated.

 In May, the Army granted him a 40% disability pension for his 
migraine headaches and for a condition called idiopathic 
angioedema - unexplained chronic swelling.

 But Matthew never got the results of his Army test for DU. When 
he called Fort Dix last week, five months after he was tested, he 
was told there was no record of any urine specimen from him.

 Thankfully, Matthew did not rely solely on the Army bureaucracy 
- he went to The News.

 Earlier this year, The News submitted urine samples from 
Guardsmen of the 442nd to former Army doctor Asaf Durakovic and 
Axel Gerdes, a geologist at Goethe University in Frankfurt, 
Germany. The German lab specializes in testing for minute 
quantities of uranium, a complicated procedure that costs up to 
$1,000 per test.

 The lab is one of approximately 50 in the world that can detect 
quantities as tiny as fentograms - one part per quadrillionth.

 A few months ago, The News submitted a 24-hour urine sample from 
Matthew to Gerdes. As a control, we also gave the lab 24-hour 
urine samples from two Daily News reporters.

 The three specimens were marked only with the letters A, B and 
C, so the lab could not know which sample belonged to the 
soldier.

 After analyzing all three, Gerdes reported that only sample A - 
Matthew's urine - showed clear signs of DU. It contained a total 
uranium concentration that was "4 to 8 times higher" than 
specimens B and C, Gerdes reported.

 "Those levels indicate pretty definitively that he's been 
exposed to the DU," said Leonard Dietz, a retired scientist who 
invented one of the instruments for measuring uranium isotopes.

 According to Army guidelines, the total uranium concentration 
Gerdes found in Matthew is within acceptable standards for most 
Americans.

 But Gerdes questioned the Army's standards, noting that even 
minute levels of DU are cause for concern.

 "While the levels of DU in Matthew's urine are low," Gerdes 
said, "the DU we see in his urine could be 1,000 times higher in 
concentration in the lungs."

 DU is not like natural uranium, which occurs in the environment. 
Natural uranium can be ingested in food and drink but gets 
expelled from the body within 24 hours.

 DU-contaminated dust, however, is typically breathed into the 
lungs and can remain there for years, emitting constant low-level 
radiation.

 "I'm upset and confused," Matthew said. "I just want answers. 
Are they [the Army] going to take care of my baby?"

 We track soldiers' sickness

 For the last five months, Daily News columnist Juan Gonzalez has 
chronicled the plight of soldiers who have returned from Iraq 
with mysterious illnesses.

 His exclusive groundbreaking investigation began with a 
front-page story on April 4 that suggested depleted uranium 
contamination was far more widespread than the Pentagon would 
admit. + At the request of The News, nine soldiers from a New 
York Army National Guard company serving in Iraq were tested for 
radiation from depleted uranium shells - and four of the ailing 
G.I.s tested positive. + The day after Gonzalez's story appeared, 
Army officials rushed to test all returning members of the 
company, the 442nd Military Police, based in Rockland County. + 

By week's end, the scandal had reverberated all the way to 
Albany, as Gov. Pataki joined the list of politicians calling for 
the Pentagon to do a better job of testing and treating sick 
soldiers returning from the war. + Gonzalez's exposé sparked a 
huge demand for testing. By mid-April, 800 G.I.s had given the 
Army urine samples, and hundreds more were waiting for 
appointments. + Two weeks later, the Pentagon claimed that none 
of the soldiers from the 442nd had tested positive for depleted 
uranium. But The News' experts found significant problems with 
the testing methods. 

Originally published on September 29, 2004   

All contents © 2004 Daily News, L.P. Disclaimer and Copyright 
Notice | Our Privacy Policy
*****************************************************************
 15 SavannahNOW: The hunt is on for the Tybee Bomb - 

09/28/2004
 
[http://www.savannahnow.com/]           
        
The multi-disciplinary federal team is in town armed with a cache 
of sensitive equipment and is ready to test the area around the 
bomb. 

Bret Bell 912.652.0456 [bret.bell@savannahnow.com] -->      

Wanted: One 7,000-pound hydrogen bomb, lost off Tybee Island 46 
years ago. 280904 LOCAL NEWS SavannahNow.com Wanted: One 
7,000-pound hydrogen bomb, lost off Tybee Island 46 years ago. 
-->      

If found, please grab one of the two dozen or so military and 
science types traipsing through Chatham County this week.        

The federal government has sent a group of experts to town in 
what amounts to the most serious effort since 1958 to pinpoint 
the location of Tybee's "missing" bomb.          

The multi-disciplinary team - comprised of officials from the Air 
Force, Navy, Secretary of Defense, National Nuclear Security 
Administration and National Laboratories - comes armed with a 
cache of sensitive equipment, ready to take soil and water 
samples and measure radioactivity allegedly being released from a 
large object submerged in Wassaw Sound.        

That object was discovered by Statesboro resident Derek Duke, a 
retired Air Force lieutenant colonel who has spent the past five 
years searching for the "Tybee bomb." Duke handed his findings to 
the Air Force last month, and the team decided his information 
was sound enough to warrant an investigation.        

"After reviewing what he gave us, we believed the prudent thing 
to do was to come down here and take a good look," said Air Force 
Lt. Col. Frank Smolinsky. 

[http://images.morris.com/images/savannah2/mdControlled/cms/33833 
29.jpg] Above is an image of the Mk-15, the same type of bomb 
lost off the coast of Tybee Island in the 1950s. Photo special to 
the Savannah Morning News   

The group will review information with Duke today, then travel by 
boat with him Thursday to Wassaw Sound, located at the mouth of 
the Wilmington River just off Little Tybee Island.    

That's where a B-47 bomber is believed to have jettisoned the 
Mk-15 bomb after colliding with a fighter jet during a training 
mission in 1958. Despite a nine-week search, the weapon was never 
found.     

The Air Force has long maintained the bomb wasn't armed with a 
plutonium capsule necessary for nuclear detonation, and thus 
doesn't pose a threat to the public.     

They do admit, however, that it contains highly enriched uranium 
and 400 pounds of conventional explosives. For that reason, they 
say it is probably safest left where is, believed to be entombed 
in 10-15 feet of mud. Trying to extract the bomb could detonate 
the TNT, they say.       

Smolinsky said the team will issue a report after the 
investigation is complete. If the bomb is believed to be found, 
some serious decisions will have to be made.     

Regardless of that determination, Duke said he is gratified the 
government is finally taking this matter seriously.      

"They have our data, and it is what it is," he said. "We may be 
right and we may be wrong, and that's the reason they are here. 

"This is their show now, and the Air Force has been acting 
professionally and diligently. I think Savannah will be well 
served by them." -->   

   [http://www.savannahworks.com/]   
      
*****************************************************************
 16 Salt Lake Tribune - Opinion: Our worst nightmare
 			 			 			 			 			 			
[http://www.sltrib.com]       

Article Last Updated: 09/28/2004 11:06:53 PM                              
                             
  In the 1950s and '60s, Utahns were told little about what the
federal government knew were potentially devastating health
effects of nuclear testing. There was no one to speak up for us.

   Today the facts about radiation-caused cancers and genetic
maladies are widely known, and still the federal government is
considering resuming nuclear testing. And, while our
representatives in the U.S. House have voted against funding the
research that is a likely precursor to more testing, Sen. Bob
Bennett, who should be Utah's best line of defense, seems
unwilling to stand against it.

   Bennett apparently can't make up his mind whose side he is
on: his constituents' or that of his political leader, President
Bush, who is pressuring Bennett to vote for the research.

   Bennett says he does "not support efforts to disarm this
country, but . . . cannot sanction activities which could
endanger its citizens." This transparent waffling is
indefensible, considering Utah's history as one of the
hardest-hit victims of the original round of weapons testing in
Nevada. Thousands of Utah "downwinders" and their survivors have
been granted "compassionate   payments" because they were
"involuntarily subjected to increased risk of injury and disease
to serve the national security interests of the United States."

   Utahns are rightly horrified that they might be subjected to
such risks again. 

   Bennett is in a unique position to protect them. His upcoming
vote on a Senate appropriations subcommittee is key to halting
plans to modify existing bombs into "bunker buster" bombs and
low-yield "mini-nukes." Voting last year went strictly along
party lines: seven Republican votes, including Bennett's, to 	 	
cut the funds.

   Bennett says he believes the administration has no plans to
resume testing, but nobody thinks the politically savvy senator
is that naive. After all, the spending plan includes a provision
to get the Nevada Test Site ready to resume underground bomb
tests within 18 months "if needed."

   Bennett has introduced legislation that would require
congressional approval, environmental impact studies and health
and safety reviews before testing could be resumed. But he
rejects the safest and simplest   solution: Eliminate funding
for research that will likely lead to a resumption of testing.

   Refusing to fund new nuclear weapons would not "disarm" the
country. If anything, creating a tactical means to wage nuclear
war only increases its likelihood and encourages other countries
to develop their own nuclear weapons, putting the world more at
risk.

   Utahns are still living with - and dying from - the legacy of
nuclear testing in Nevada. It is unconscionable that Bennett,
risking his own legacy, would allow even the first step toward
replaying Utah's worst   nightmare.   
                  
© Copyright 2004, The Salt Lake Tribune. 
*****************************************************************
 17 Daily Iowan: Is homeland security being taken seriously? - 

Opinions
 
ww.dailyiowan.com]    							 						

By DI Editorial Board   

Published: Wednesday, September 29, 2004 

A test conducted by a watchdog group for the Department of 
Homeland Security in the latter half of 2003 revealed that 
undercover officials were able to sneak explosives and weapons 
past airport screeners at 15 airports nationwide. Unfortunately, 
this security failure is not an isolated incident. Airports have 
done a good job increasing the screening process for passengers 
and providing for more armed guards at the airports, but little 
has been done to address the continued failures and inadequacies 
of the Department of Homeland Security.
 
In September 2003, undercover ABC reporters were able to smuggle 
harmless depleted uranium aboard a plane from Jakarta to Los 
Angeles. Another report done by the Government Accountability 
Office found that early the same year, undercover agents were 
able to slip guns and box cutters past airport security. The 
Transportation Security Agency continues to allow individual 
passengers to carry four books of matches and two butane lighters 
on the plane with them. Surely a terrorist could only benefit 
from such a provision.
 
A recent Justice Department investigation concluded that FBI 
linguists have yet to translate 120,000 hours of 
terrorism-related recordings. Some Qaeda recordings may even have 
been inadvertently erased from the database. This is a troubling 
revelation. We should recall that on Sept. 10, 2001, the U.S. 
government had Qaeda messages saying, "Tomorrow is zero hour" and 
"The match is about to begin."
 
However, these alarming words were not translated until days 
after the terrorist attacks. These events should send a signal to 
the administration and to the American people that Homeland 
Security is nowhere near where it should be.      
 
The overall distribution of funds for this is problematic. 
According to Homeland Security's formula for money allocation, 
each state receives a base total of .75 percent of the total 
homeland budget, regardless of its population. The rest of the 
funds are given to each state in proportion to population. This 
works out well for states with smaller populations, but it is 
insufficient for states such as New York and California. By 
sticking to the formula, Homeland Security spends seven times 
more protecting each resident of Wyoming than it does protecting 
the people of New York. This method is counterproductive, 
considering that terrorist attacks are most likely to take place 
on coastal regions and in big cities such as New York City and 
Chicago, as opposed to small Midwestern states such as Nebraska 
and Iowa.
 
If Homeland Security has no problem pinpointing and deporting 
peace activist Yusuf Islam, formally known as pop singer Cat 
Stevens, then it can certainly improve its screening precautions. 
Because President Bush is going to base his campaign on 
leadership in the war on terror and on national security, he has 
a responsibility to live up to his promises and truly protect the 
American people. He can start by taking a closer look at these 
problems with Homeland Security.
 
*****************************************************************
 18 Korea Times: Koesan Uranium Not Related to Test 

Hankooki.com > The Korea Times   

By Yoo Dong-ho Staff Reporter

 The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has begun 
analyzing samples and information gathered during its second 
round of inspection on South Korea' controversial nuclear 
experiments. 

Wrapping up its weeklong inspection, a five-member team from the 
U.N. nuclear watchdog left Seoul Sunday, taking with it about 20 
samples from nuclear material and wastes left over from the 1982 
and 2000 experiments, according to the Ministry of Science and 
Technology. 

The IAEA team visited the Koesan region in North Chungchong 
Province, about 160 kilometers south of Seoul, where South 
Korea's past government had once tried to develop a uranium mine. 

A ministry official, however, bristled at the suggestion that the 
uranium was part of a larger government nuclear program. 
``Uranium reserves of 120 million tons were discovered in the 
Koesan area in the 1970s, but the government decided not to 
develop it because of low economic viability,'' a ministry 
official said. 

The IAEA mission also inspected the Korean Atomic Energy Research 
Institute in Taejon, and another nuclear research center in 
Seoul. ``The government showed the IAEA inspectors what they 
wanted to see,'' said the official. ``They thanked the government 
for its cooperation.'' 

The inspection team's mission was to follow up on the IAEA's 
first check of the South Korean nuclear facilities in question 
from Aug. 31 to Sept. 5, which the organization says was not 
enough to resolve all suspicions over the country's past nuclear 
activities. 

Seoul faces scrutiny on a total of six nuclear-related matters 
including an unauthorized experiment with plutonium in 1982 and a 
uranium enrichment test in 2000. Tests on plutonium and enriched 
uranium are strictly monitored by the IAEA as they are two key 
ingredients of nuclear weapons. 

The truth behind the allegations is expected to be disclosed in 
November, when the IAEA chief plans to report the results of the 
inspections to a meeting of the agency's board of directors. 

In a related development, a foreign news agency Monday reported 
that the IAEA suspects South Korea's past experiments with small 
amounts of plutonium and uranium may have been connected to a 
nuclear weapons development program that Seoul pursued in the 
1970s. 

Quoting unidentified diplomatic sources in Vienna, where the IAEA 
is based, Japan's Kyodo News Agency reported the watchdog 
believes the South Korean government might have continued the 
secret research to maintain basic nuclear weapons technologies it 
gained from the program under the Park Chung-hee administration. 

The allegation ran counter to a widely accepted belief that the 
South Korean government suspended the nuclear development program 
under U.S. pressure before signing the Non-Proliferation Treaty 
in the late 1970s. 

The South Korean government, which maintains the experiments were 
only for academic research, has said it has no intention to 
develop or possess any nuclear arms and will continue to comply 
with every international agreement, including the IAEA safeguard 
agreements. 

yoodh@koreatimes.co.kr 09-29-2004 17:11         
        
This photo shows a nuclear research center in Kongnung-dong, 
northeastern Seoul. The center was scrutinized by the inspectors 
from the International Atomic Energy Agency on Sept. 23. / Yonhap   
*****************************************************************
 19 PoughkeepsieJournal.com: Exhibit to detail effects of depleted uranium

  Wednesday, September 29, 2004

 By Gabriel J. Wasserman Poughkeepsie Journal

 NEW PALTZ -- A photo exhibit next month will tell a disturbing 
story of depleted uranium dust.

New Paltz activists see the dust, a military byproduct, as a 
severe danger to children and U.S. soldiers. The photos of 
victims are aimed at calling attention to the problem.

''These photos reveal what most mainstream media and the Pentagon 
have chosen to ignore,'' said Michelle Riddell, an exhibit 
organizer. ''For the sake of the world's children, this silence 
needs to be broken.''

Critics of depleted uranium, a substance used in 
armor-penetrating weapons, blame its radioactive residue for 
reproductive health problems experienced by soldiers since the 
Gulf War. The U.S. Department of Defense has denied the 
correlation.

Report released in 2003

In January 2003, the World Health Organization released a report 
saying ''No reproductive or developmental effects have been 
reported in humans'' because of depleted uranium. The report, 
however, also recommends limited exposure.

New Paltz activists feel depleted uranium is causing cancer in 
Iraqi children, as well as U.S. soldiers and their offspring. 
Other birth defects and ailments are alleged to result from 
uranium poisoning.

The exhibit, ''Art Revealing Truth: The Scourge of Depleted 
Uranium,'' is scheduled for presentation in New Paltz and 
Saugerties.

Local organizations are supporting the exhibit.

The first gathering will be at 6 p.m. Oct. 9 in the Student Union 
Building Purple Lounge at the State University of New York at New 
Paltz. The exhibit will run from Oct. 5 to Oct. 13.

An Oct. 22 gathering is slated for 6:30 p.m. at the Inquiring 
Mind Gallery on Partition Street in Saugerties. The exhibit will 
run from Oct. 19 to 26 there, gallery management said.

E-mail WomeninBlackNP@aol.com [WomeninBlackNP@aol.com] or call 
845-255-3245 or 845-246-5155.

Gabriel J. Wasserman can be reached at 
gwasserm@poughkeepsiejournal.com 
[gwasserm@poughkeepsiejournal.com] 
  
HOME [http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/] News | Business | 

, Poughkeepsie Journal 
*****************************************************************
 20 Las Vegas SUN: Federal Scientists Search for Lost H-Bomb

 By RUSS BYNUM ASSOCIATED PRESS 

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) - Spurred by what appear to be unusual
radiation readings offshore, the U.S. government is sending a
team of 20 scientists to try to find a hydrogen bomb lost off
the Georgia coast in 1958. 

Scientists from the Pentagon and the National Labs met on
Wednesday with Derek Duke, a retired Air Force lieutenant
colonel who has searched for the missing 7,600-pound nuke over
the past five years. 

Duke has detected what he believes are unusual radiation
readings in Wassaw Sound near Tybee Island. 

A B-47 bomber dumped the H-bomb into the Atlantic Ocean 46 years
ago after the plane collided with a fighter jet during a
training flight. Navy divers searched the shallow, murky waters
near Tybee Island for nearly 10 weeks before declaring the bomb
irretrievably lost. 

The bomb became one of 11 "Broken Arrows" - nuclear bombs lost
during air or sea mishaps, according to U.S. military records. 

The Air Force contends there is no danger of a nuclear blast
from the bomb off the Georgia coast, because it did not contain
the plutonium capsule needed to trigger one. 

Air Force Lt. Col. Frank Smolinsky said the government
scientists were meeting with Duke to go over the data. 

On Thursday, the team "will go to Wassaw Sound where Mr. Duke
believes he knows where the bomb is located," Smolinsky said.
"They will take radiation readings and samples back to the
National Labs ... and see if they can confirm or not confirm the
possible presence of the bomb in that location." 

After being approached by Duke more than three years ago, Air
Force officials decided not to renew the search for the bomb.
The Air Force argued that the bomb, believed buried in 10 to 15
feet of mud, would pose a greater threat if disturbed. It
contains uranium and 400 pounds of conventional explosives. 

But Duke continued his search and recently said he believes he
has found the weapon. That prompted the Air Force to take a
second look. 

-- 



*****************************************************************
 21 Interfax: Russia to resume nuclear project in Iran for fuel return
guarantee - official

[http://www.interfax.com]     

Sep 29 2004 1:49PM
 
MOSCOW. Sept 29 (Interfax) - Russia will resume construction of
the Bushehr nuclear power plant if Tehran agrees to return spent
fuel, Russian Security Council secretary Igor Ivanov said. 

Iran as an independent country has the right to develop and
access modern technologies, including nuclear, for peaceful
purposes, he said at a Wednesday news conference at the Interfax
central office. 

"Iran quite rightfully raises the question that it should have
equal access with other countries to advanced technologies,
including nuclear technologies used for peaceful purposes.

Russia is demonstrating it in practice that the demand is
righteous and therefore we cooperate with Iran," he said     

© 1991-2004 Interfax
 All rights reserved
 
*****************************************************************
 22 PE.com: Water-treatment bill clears hurdle 

| Inland Southern California | Inland News
 
INLAND: After passing the House, a $50 million plan to clean
tainted wells now goes to the Senate. 

02:35 AM PDT on Wednesday, September 29, 2004 

By CLAIRE VITUCCI / Washington Bureau 

WASHINGTON - A bill that would help Inland cities pay to clean up 
perchlorate-contaminated groundwater passed the House Tuesday. 

The Southern California Groundwater Remediation Act, sponsored by 
Inland Rep. Joe Baca, would authorize $50 million to pay for 
groundwater cleanup in the Santa Ana River Watershed. The 
watershed includes San Bernardino, Riverside and Orange counties. 

"There is a legal and moral obligation to provide safe and 
healthy water. Today these obligations are in jeopardy," said 
Baca, D-Rialto. "The hard-working families in these areas are not 
at fault and should not have to pay for a federally created 
problem." 
z The bill passed the House by voice vote. The legislation now 
heads to the Senate. 

Both of California's senators, Barbara Boxer and Dianne 
Feinstein, support efforts to clean up perchlorate, their 
staffers said. 

Some groundwater treatment is already under way in Riverside, 
Colton, Fontana and Rialto. But water agencies in those areas 
have already spent much of the money made available to them, said 
Kurt Berchtold, assistant executive officer of the Santa Ana 
Regional Water Quality Control Board. 

Those agencies are looking at measures to make ratepayers absorb 
some of those costs or they must come up with outside funding. 

Legislation like Baca's helps, Berchtold said. 

"There's definitely a need in Rialto, Colton and Fontana for 
additional funds to pay for existing treatment systems there," he 
said. 

Perchlorate, a chemical used in rocket fuel and other explosives, 
has been found in at least 20 drinking-water wells in the Rialto, 
Colton and Fontana areas. The chemical has tainted wells that 
supplied water to 250,000 people. 

The federal fund would be administered through the federal Bureau 
of Reclamation. The bill would also require an inspector general 
to audit how the money is being spent. 

Reach Claire Vitucci at (202) 661-8422 or cvitucci@pe.com 
[cvitucci@pe.com] More headlines... Ridge vows help for key March 


[http://www.pe.com/about/aboutus.html] 
&copy; 2004 Belo Interactive Inc.
[http://www.belointeractive.com] 
*****************************************************************
 23 Sierra Club: Four-year anniversary of Bush's Yucca Mountain promise
 
 [http://www.sierraclub.org/]          

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 28 , 2004     CONTACT: Eric Antebi 
415-977-5747 Tara Smith 702-308-8227   

Review of Record Shows Bush Broke Key Pledge Multiple Times 

Las Vegas -- Tomorrow marks the four-year anniversary of George 
W. Bush's letter to Governor Kenny Guinn promising to authorize 
the storage of nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain only with backing 
of the best science.  A review of Bush's record on Yucca over his 
Presidential term shows that he has broken that promise not once 
but multiple times, even when faced with warnings from different 
research bodies. 

"As I've said before, I believe the best science must prevail in 
the designation of any high-level nuclear waste repository," Bush 
wrote to Governor Guinn in a letter dated September 28, 2000. "As 
President, I would not sign legislation that would send nuclear 
waste to any proposed site -- either on a permanent or temporary 
basis -- unless it has been deemed scientifically safe." 

Despite that promise, the record shows that whenever Bush has 
been faced with major scientific concerns about Yucca Mountain, 
he has responded by redoubling his commitment to the project.  

* In 2002, President Bush officially recommended Yucca Mountain 
as a national storage facility despite receiving a General 
Accounting Office report documenting 300 different scientific 
concerns about the designs for Yucca. 

* In 2003, President Bush pledged to deliver nuclear waste to 
Yucca Mountain by 2010 only months after the Nuclear Waste 
Technical Review Board warned that the designs for Yucca were 
unsafe.  

* In July 2004, the Bush administration reaffirmed its plans to 
deliver nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain by 2010 despite a U.S. 
Appeals Court ruling that the administration's Yucca designs 
failed to meet safety standards set by the National Academy of 
Science. 

"I urge all Nevadans to tell President Bush that if he's a man of 
his word, he'll stop ignoring the warnings from scientists and 
dump his plans for Yucca Mountain," said Tara Smith, speaking for 
the Sierra Club in Las Vegas. 

Added Smith, "This is one flip flop Nevadans shouldn't tolerate."
 

The following is Governor and candidate George W. Bush's 
September 28, 2000 letter to Governor Kenny Guinn in its 
entirety: 

September 28, 2000 

Dear Kenny, 

Thanks for your recent letter regarding temporary storage of 
high-level nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. 

As I've said before, I believe the best science must prevail in 
the designation of any high-level nuclear waste repository. As 
President, I would not sign legislation that would send nuclear 
waste to any proposed site -- either on a permanent or temporary 
basis -- unless it has been deemed scientifically safe. 

The Department of Energy has not completed its impact study of 
Yucca Mountain and important questions of environmental 
protection and safety have not yet been answered. Therefore, I 
would veto legislation that would provide for the temporary 
storage of nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain. 

I also believe the federal government must work with the local 
and state governments that will be affected to address safety and 
transportation issues. 

Sincerely, 

George W. Bush ### 

/releases/pr2004-09-28.asp]   
*****************************************************************
 24 AU ABC: Waste dump assurances fail to convince SA Govt » 

ABC Eyre » Local News
 
Wednesday, 29 September 2004 

The South Australian Government has renewed fears of a 
radioactive waste dump in the state. 

It follows a report in a Sydney newspaper that the Federal 
Government was considering up to 22 different sites around 
Australia. 

The list, which was drawn up by the National Store Advisory 
Committee, included two Commonwealth-owned military sites in 
South Australia - one at Murray Bridge and the other between Port 
Bonython and Port Augusta. 

Federal Science Minister Peter McGauran has dismissed the report 
and says the list is obsolete. 

However, State Environment Minister John Hill is not convinced. 

"Why was he looking at these sites in South Australia if he had 
determined that the Woomera site was going ahead?" he said. 

In July, the Federal Court ruled that the Commonwealth's 
compulsory acquisition of land near Woomera was unlawful, forcing 
the Federal Government to abandon its plans for the nuclear dump. 

[http://www.abc.net.au/privacy.htm]
*****************************************************************
 25 AU ABC: Govt urged to rule out western NSW dump site » 

"Australian Broadcasting Corporation Online">
[http://abc.net.au/]

Wednesday, 29 September 2004 

The Labor candidate for the seat of Parkes says he is concerned 
far west NSW will be turned into a dumping ground for nuclear 
waste, after fresh claims the Federal Government has a list of 
potential sites. 

The list, including up to nine possible locations in NSW for a 
low-level dump, was compiled last year by the National Store 
Advisory Committee. 

But the Government says the list is obsolete and while it is not 
known whether any sites in the far west were on it, Labor 
candidate Joe Knagge says he is worried. 

"I think it would be extremely easy if I was the Federal Science 
Minister to just come out and say western NSW is not on any list 
for a nuclear waste dump, so why doesn't he do it?" he said. 

"[The Nationals' Member for Parkes] John Cobb can't get him to 
say it, the Science Minister refuses to rule out western NSW for 
a nuclear waste dump and people should be very concerned - I 
certainly am." 

Mr Cobb says the Government is not looking to dump any nuclear 
waste in his electorate. 

"The preferred option for the Commonwealth is offshore, but since 
the reneging of the states on their own agreement, which would 
have given us the most obvious thing to do, one site...[at] 
Woomera, we have to look at other options," he said. [ more news 
] Last Updated: 1:18:00 PM (AEST)                  

[http://www.abc.net.au/common/copyrigh.htm] |
*****************************************************************
 26 AU ABC: ERA charged over Ranger contamination »

 ABC Darwin » Local News
 
"Australian Broadcasting Corporation Online">
[http://abc.net.au/]

Wednesday, 29 September 2004 <img

Facing legal action: ERA is alleged to have breached the mine
management act.ABC TV 

Mining giant Energy Resources of Australia (ERA) is facing 
possible fines of $165,000 over a water contamination incident at 
the Ranger uranium mine earlier this year. 

Northern Territory mining authorities have today laid charges 
against the company in the Darwin Magistrates Court. 

In March this year, workers at the mine drank and showered in 
water contaminated with 400 times the legal limit of uranium. 

After more than four months of deliberations, the Northern 
Territory Department of Resource Development has today confirmed 
it is proceeding with legal action against ERA. 

It is alleged that the company failed to comply with its 
operating conditions by allowing the contamination of drinking 
water, improperly discharging that water and subjecting employees 
to unreasonable radiation doses. 

The case is expected to be heard in the Darwin Magistrates Court 
in November. 

ERA has made a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange 
informing shareholders of the charges. 

The company says it is taking legal advice on the prosecution and 
will not be commenting further. 



Confirmation of the charges coincides with the release of a 
sensitive Northern Territory Government report into Ranger's 
operations. 

The report identifies 159 staff, mine visitors and locals who may 
have been exposed to contaminated water when it was mixed with 
the mine's drinking supply. 

It also highlights a six-month backlog of maintenance issues at 
the site. 

It reveals that in one case, the maintenance problems prompted
staff to erect a tarpaulin under a machine in an unsuccessful
attempt to divert leaking process water. 

[http://www.abc.net.au/common/copyrigh.htm] 
*****************************************************************
 27 Guardian Unlimited: Notes and Quotes From Campaign in Nevada
 
From the Associated Press        

[UP] 

Wednesday September 29, 2004 7:01 PM

By RON FOURNIER 

AP Political Writer 

John Kerry is betting on Nevada as he scours the political map 
for a Republican state he can call his own. 

Four years after President Bush defeated Democrat Al Gore by 4 
percentage points in Nevada, Democrats have found hope in the 
state's growing Hispanic population and a controversy over a 
high-level nuclear waste site. 

Nearly 5,000 new residents flock to Nevada each month, many of 
them Hispanics who tend to vote Democratic. Republicans, however, 
have seen gains in the growing suburbs around Las Vegas. 

Nevada is fighting the Bush administration over the Yucca 
Mountain dump site 90 miles from Las Vegas. Kerry has voted 
against it. Bush supports it. 

But a recent poll by Mason-Dixon raises questions about the dump 
site's impact on presidential politics. Only 3 percent of voters 
listed it as their top issue, and two-thirds said Bush's position 
would have no influence on their vote. 

The top issues in Nevada are homeland security and the war on 
terror, with the Iraq war and the economy close behind. 

In most battleground states, jobs and the economy top the war on 
terror on voters' lists, but Nevada has gained nearly 90,000 jobs 
since Bush took office. Three Nevada troops have died in the Iraq 
war. 

Several public and private polls give Bush a slight lead in the 
state. 

After Ohio and Florida, both won by Bush in 2000, Nevada may be 
Kerry's top target on the GOP state list. Colorado, New Hampshire 
and West Virginia, all won by Bush four years ago, are also high 
on Kerry's list while Arizona, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana and 
Virginia have fallen off. 

--- 

BY THE NUMBERS: 

5 - Number of electoral votes. 

4,700 - Average number of new residents each month, since 1990. 

77,000 - Metric tons of radioactive waste that would be stored at 
Nevada's Yucca Mountain under plans endorsed by George Bush and 
opposed by John Kerry 

315,400- Casino-related jobs, almost a third of all jobs in the 
state. 

--- 

QUOTABLE: 

- ``I don't know how people can know what policies Kerry stands 
for because he's changed his position so many times on so many 
issues, like war.'' - Gregory Green, 24, a Reno college student 
who served five years in the Air Force including a brief stint in 
Iraq. 

- ``He's trying to take away women's reproductive rights.'' - 
Darcy McCormick, 23, of Reno, on Bush. ``Enough said.'' 

--- 

NOTABLE: 

Almost evenly divided between registered Democrats and 
Republicans, Nevada has voted for the winner in the past six 
presidential elections. 

Paper-trail electronic voting machines are in use in much of 
Nevada this election season. Seven of 17 counties used punch-card 
machines in the last election. 

Nevada is fighting the Bush administration over construction of a 
high-level nuclear waste dump in the desert 90 miles from Las 
Vegas. Kerry has voted against Nevada's Yucca Mountain as the 
dump site. Bush supports it. 

--- 

WHAT TO WATCH ON ELECTION NIGHT: 

Clark County, encompassing Las Vegas, accounts for about 70 
percent of the statewide vote and its returns will be among the 
earliest on election night. Watch for returns that tend to come 
in later from Washoe and Douglas counties and Carson City in 
northwestern Nevada, all with more GOP voters than Democrats. 

Democrats say Kerry could benefit from the turnout for a 
statewide ballot initiative that would add $1 to the state's 
$5.15 minimum wage for employees lacking health insurance. It is 
backed by organized labor. 

--- 

IN NEVADA FOUR YEARS AGO: 

Gore won populous Clark County 51 to 45 percent but lost 
statewide by 4 percentage points. Exit polls indicated Gore 
received only half the labor vote in Nevada, and that might have 
cost him a crucial swing state. About 47 percent of Nevadans 
voted before Election Day, either by absentee or early balloting. 

--- 

AP Correspondent Brendan Riley contributed to this report from 
Carson City. 

--- 

On the Net: 

An interactive look: 
http://wid.ap.org/campaign2004/battleground-nv.html 
  
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004
*****************************************************************
 28 Korea Times: Nuclear-Free, Neutralized Korea 

Hankooki.com > The Korea Times > Opinion   

By Lee Chang-sup Business Editor 

President Roh Moo-hyun's recent trip to Russia has shed new light 
on the importance of the four major neighbors surrounding the 
Korean peninsula and their role in shaping the future of Korea, 
or a reunified Korea. 

Unfortunately, the Korean peninsula has been a ground where these 
four major countries competed with each other to reassert their 
dominance. From 1984 to 1905, China, Japan and Russia competed 
with each other for dominance. Before, during and after the 
Korean War, Russia and the United States have played a key role 
in making Korea a divided country apparently as a result of 
compromise between the two superpowers. 

If history is any guide, the future shape of the Korean peninsula 
will be greatly influenced by these four countries. 

Selig Harrison, a noted and respected American expert on Korean 
affairs, has given an intellectual prediction and suggestion on 
the future of Korea in his famous book, ``Korean Endgame.¡¯¡¯ His 
book, which was published months ago, has drawn interest these 
days because of the precarious but fast-changing relations among 
the countries surrounding Korea. 

In his view, the recent sign of U.S. disengagement from Korea 
would not create so serious a vacuum for the other three powers _ 
namely China, Russia and Japan, to seek dominance again on the 
Korean peninsula as they did nine decades ago. 

Harrison predicted that a reunified Korea without U.S. protection 
would not seek a military alliance with one of its neighbors. 

He also said the Korean peninsula would not be a battle ground 
for superpower dominance again because unlike a century ago, 
Korea is now fully politically sensitized and mobilized. 

He also said Koreas on both sides of the Demilitarized Zone have 
achieved universal literacy. In addition, Harrison said the 
powerful spirit of Korean nationalism, aroused by four decades of 
Japanese colonialism and five decades of division, is now the 
driving force in the North and South. 

Korean nationalism is so strong now that pressures for U.S. 
disengagement have been building up and are likely to intensify 
following a confederation or full unification. 

He said the impact of Japanese colonial rule has been a stimulus 
to Korean nationalism. In addition, the U.S. is also the focus of 
Korean nationalist sentiment, given the American role in imposing 
the division of the peninsula in 1945. 

Nationalism will make any form of a unified Korea much less 
vulnerable to foreign manipulation than the politically quiescent 
and economically underdeveloped Korea of a century ago, Harrison 
said. 

Once the division is ended, there will be no power vacuum for 
outsiders to fill. He predicted Korea will emerge as a power in 
its own right, making its own decisions concerning the nature and 
size of its military capabilities.

 He suggested the constructive role the four superpowers can do 
for Korea in the future. He proposed a four-power agreement not 
to intervene in Korea with conventional forces and a six-power 
accord with two Koreas participating ruling out the manufacture, 
use or deployment of nuclear weapons in Korea. He predicted a 
nuclear-free and neutral Korea even after unification. 

He predicted stable progress toward unification and enduring 
peace in Korea will be a realistic possibility, in the long run, 
only if the Korean peninsula can be insulated from the historic 
rivalries of its powerful neighbors. 

One problem with Harrison's theory is that political leaders make 
decisions more for their own personal interests than for national 
interests. If leaders in the South and North made decisions for 
Korea as a whole, not for themselves, the peninsula may have been 
unified already. 

If leaders make decisions for the nation, there are many actions 
that they can take for the long-term benefit of Korea. Leaders in 
the North should have made more concessions to the South for a 
speedier unification, while leaders in the South should have 
operated a 

commercial base at Tokto to preempt any future talk about its 
ownership. 

If leaders in the South truly care about the country's future, 
all parties should agree to establish a bi-partisan policy 
research center that can focus only on policy matters that 
benefit the long-term future of Korea. If they cannot agree on 
doing this simple suggestion, many Koreans will be more 
pessimistic than Harrison about managing Korea for the future. 

There is also concern that the future shape of Korea would not 
look as Harrison predicted and proposed. 

After President Roh's visit to China, Beijing leaders have begun 
to distort its history by claiming that Koguryo was part of the 
Middle Kingdom. This has not only angered Koreans but also 
aroused suspicion that China has a heinous and grandiose plan to 
put Korea under its influence or control after the two Koreas are 
reunified and U.S. disengagement is made. 

Washington seems to be nervous about the so-called Trans-Siberia 
railroad projects and gas pipelines linking Russia, China, North 
Korea, South Korea and Japan. The U.S. seems to believe that the 
projects are not simply economic projects but contain political 
overtones, which may exclude or diminish its influence on 
Northeast Asia. 

In addition, the U.S. seems to be nervous over Korea's growing 
economic interaction with China and Russia. China has already 
replaced the U.S. as Korea's number one export market. Korean and 
American leaders reaffirm, at least officially, that the 
traditional strong bilateral alliance is strong. But U.S. 
President George W. Bush omitted Korea among the list of 
important U.S. allies in his acceptance speech for the Republican 
presidential nomination for the November election. 

Despite official and working-level clarification on Bush's 
alleged ``mistake,'' many Koreans believe that the U.S.-Korea 
alliance is not in good shape and harbor the suspicion that Bush 
and Roh are not on good terms. 

Japan has a recurring habit of claiming sovereignty over Tokto. 
Border disputes involving Japan and Russia and Russia and China, 
if brought to the surface, would have serious implications for 
Korea. At any time, Japan is able to produce nuclear weapons, 
which might complicate the process toward a nuclear-free and 
neutralized Korea. South Korea's recent admission that its 
curious researchers have been successful in producing a small and 
negligible amount of nuclear weapons material has become fodder 
for North Korea's hardening of its position on nuclear 
brinkmanship. 

It is hoped that the stalled but ongoing six-party talks to 
dismantle Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program will evolve into a 
long-term mechanism to reach an accord on a nuclear-free and 
neutral Korea after confederation or reunification. 

09-29-2004 16:29 	 
        
*****************************************************************
 29 Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Yes on Initiative 297
 
[seattlepi.com]     

Wednesday, September 29, 2004 
\
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER EDITORIAL BOARD

Washington state faces a dangerous nuclear legacy. We ought to 
make use of any power we have as a state to guide the handling of 
the toxic waste from the nation's rush to develop nuclear weapons 
and power. 

Voters should say yes to Initiative 297, a broad measure to 
control the handling of mixed radioactive and hazardous materials 
wastes at Hanford and to halt the import of additional wastes 
until existing problems are cleaned up. 

The measure is no panacea. Additional spending on oversight 
doesn't contribute directly to cleanup. Legal expenses will 
result from likely court challenges. Key federal budget decisions 
about cleanup are beyond what the state or even federal courts 
can dictate. 

With or without I-297, the state, the federal government and 
contractors face an arduous, long-term task in trying to clean up 
the waste from the first 50 years of the nuclear era. That will 
require large doses of diligence, good faith and continuing 
federal dollars. 

Still, approval of I-297 would give the state additional tools in 
the often-difficult struggles to focus the federal government's 
attention on cleaning up Hanford. The measure bans the use of 
unlined trenches for waste disposal. No new waste could be 
imported to the state until cleanup standards are met. 

Sponsors believe the initiative would stand up to court 
challenges, in part because Congress gave states clear authority 
to regulate hazardous waste sites. When Congress offers such 
power, the state should act to protect the public. 

We're reluctant to see law made by initiative. But the 
Legislature never acted, even when it had I-297 before it this 
year. 

The federal government has made progress in many of its cleanup 
efforts. But its recent attempts to reclassify waste and bring 
more waste to the state show that backsliding is a real danger. 

The federal government has promised to clean up the toxic legacy 
at Hanford. It must be held to its duty to do so. The state 
should use I-297 to aggressively protect the environment, the 
public's health and Washington's future. 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
*****************************************************************
 30 Cincinnati Enquirer: Fernald finally opens the pipe

   [http://www.enquirer.com]  |   [http://www.cincypost.com]  | 

  Wednesday, September 29, 2004 

Neighbors edgy as radioactive waste flows from silos 

By Dan Klepal Enquirer staff writer
	 
CROSBY TWP. - The most difficult and dangerous job at the $4 
billion Fernald nuclear cleanup in northwest Hamilton County has 
begun. 

The project, 12 years in the making, started Tuesday when crews 
at the long-closed uranium plant started pumping highly 
radioactive waste out of two concrete storage silos and into 
temporary metal tanks, which will hold the material until it is 
mixed with concrete and shipped across country for disposal. 

In addition to the pipes used to pump the material from the silos 
into the tanks, a separate pipe system continuously cleans the 
air inside the silos because of the huge amounts of radon gas the 
waste generates. 

There are three "silos" at the sprawling, 1,050-acre Fernald 
site. Silos 1 and 2 hold the most dangerous waste. A third silo 
holds radioactive powder. 

Crews began pumping water into the two silos with the clay-like 
waste last week. 

Jeff Wagner, a spokesman for the government's contractor 
performing the work, said the work on the $400 million silos 
project will ultimately define the success or failure of the 
entire cleanup. 

"This is the most significant step we've taken in the project," 
Wagner said. "The silos will define when the site will ultimately 
be closed. Today is a big step in completing not only the silos, 
but ultimately taking those final steps we need for closure." 

The government has set a 2006 deadline to finish the entire 
cleanup, which includes removing millions of tons of radioactive 
dirt, building debris, cleaning underground water and removing 
waste from the three silos. That deadline is in jeopardy because 
Nevada has threatened to sue to keep the waste from being buried 
in the desert near Las Vegas. That issue is still unresolved, but 
it will take about four months to empty the two silos. 

Lisa Crawford, a nearby resident of the plant and long-time 
observer of the cleanup for a citizen's group that sued to get 
the cleanup started, said it's a scary project. 

"This is the worst stuff out there," Crawford said. "So we're all 
a little nervous. We want them to do this cautiously, and we'll 
be paying very close attention." 

The work of emptying the powdery waste from Silo 3 was supposed 
to begin months ago, but has been delayed because of the 
threatened lawsuit. 

E-mail  [dklepal@enquirer.com] 

 [http://cincinnati.com/copyright] 1995-2004. 
*****************************************************************
 31 WVLT: Oak Ridge nuclear compactor begins disassembly

VOLUNTEER TV Knoxville, TN

September 29, 2004   

OAK RIDGE, Tenn. The disassembly of the largest compactor in the 
nuclear industry has begun in Oak Ridge.

The compactor has finished its cleanup work at three huge 
buildings once used to enrich uranium for bombs and nuclear fuel.

The compactor was shut down September 13th.Cleanup contractor 
B-N-F-L hopes to sell the machine to its parent company in the 
United Kingdom. It's valued at 13-point-five (M) million 
dollars.It was first used in 2001. 


Copyright 2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This 
material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or 
redistributed.                                     

  <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="/images/static/gfx/wn_powerby.gif">
[http://www.worldnow.com]     All content © Copyright 2001 -
2004 WorldNow and WVLT VOLUNTEER TV,
*****************************************************************
 32 DOE: Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board, Rocky 
 
                        FR Doc 04-21857 
[Federal Register: September 29, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 188)] 
[Notices] [Page 58158] From the Federal Register Online via GPO 
Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr29se04-51]                         
 
Flats AGENCY: Department of Energy.
 
ACTION: Notice of open meeting.
 
SUMMARY: This notice announces a meeting of the Environmental 
Management Site-Specific Advisory Board (EM SSAB), Rocky Flats.
 
The Federal Advisory Committee Act (Pub. L. 92-463, 86 Stat. 770) 
requires that public notice of this meeting be announced in the 
Federal Register.
 
 
DATES: Thursday, October 14, 2004, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
 
ADDRESSES: Broomfield Recreation Center, Lakeshore Room, 280 
Lamar Street, Broomfield, CO.
 
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ken Korkia, Board/Staff 
Coordinator, Rocky Flats Citizens Advisory Board, 10808 Highway 
93, Unit B, Building 60, Room 107B, Golden, CO, 80403; telephone 
(303) 966-7855; fax (303) 966-7856.
 
 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Purpose of the Board: The purpose of 
the Board is to make recommendations to DOE in the areas of 
environmental restoration, waste management, and related 
activities.
 
Tentative Agenda: 1. Presentation on Original Landfill 
Remediation Proposal/Interim Remedial Action Document 2. 
Presentation on Deer Tissue Sampling Results 3. Other Board 
business may be conducted as necessary Public Participation: The 
meeting is open to the public.
 
Written statements may be filed with the Board either before or 
after the meeting. Individuals who wish to make oral statements 
pertaining to agenda items should contact Ken Korkia at the 
address or telephone number listed above. Requests must be 
received at least five days prior to the meeting and reasonable 
provisions will be made to include the presentation in the 
agenda. The Deputy Designated Federal Officer is empowered to 
conduct the meeting in a fashion that will facilitate the orderly 
conduct of business. Each individual wishing to make public 
comment will be provided a maximum of five minutes to present 
their comments.
 
Minutes: The minutes of this meeting will be available for public 
review and copying at the office of the Rocky Flats Citizens 
Advisory Board, 10808 Highway 93, Unit B, Building 60, Room 107B, 
Golden, CO 80403; telephone (303) 966-7855. Hours of operations 
are 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. Minutes will 
also be made available by writing or calling Ken Korkia at the 
address or telephone number listed above. Board meeting minutes 
are posted on RFCAB's Web site within one month following each 
meeting at: http://www.rfcab.org/Minutes.HTML 
[http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leaving 
FR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www.rfcab.org/Minutes.HTML] .
 
Issued at Washington, DC on September 24, 2004.
 
Rachel M. Samuel, Deputy Advisory Committee Management Officer.
 
[FR Doc. 04-21857 Filed 9-28-04; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6450-01-P

 
*****************************************************************
 33 DOE: Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board, Paducah
 
                        FR Doc 04-21858 
[Federal Register: September 29, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 188)] 
[Notices] [Page 58158-58159] From the Federal Register Online via 
GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr29se04-52]                         
 
AGENCY: Department of Energy.
 
ACTION: Notice of open meeting.
 
SUMMARY: This notice announces a meeting of the Environmental 
Management Site-Specific Advisory Board (EM SSAB), Paducah. The 
Federal Advisory Committee Act (Pub. L. 92-463, 86 Stat. 770) 
requires that public notice of these meetings be announced in the 
Federal Register.
 
 
DATES: Thursday, October 21, 2004--5:30 p.m.-9:30 p.m.
 
ADDRESSES: 111 Memorial Drive, Barkley Centre, Paducah, Kentucky 
42001.
 
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: William E. Murphie, Deputy 
Designated Federal Officer (DDFO), Department of Energy, 
Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office, 1017 Majestic Drive, Suite 
200, Lexington, Kentucky 40513, (859) 219-4001.
 
 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Purpose of the Board: The purpose of 
the Board is to make recommendations to DOE in the areas of 
environmental restoration, waste management and related 
activities.
 
Tentative Agenda 5:30 p.m.--Informal Discussion 6 p.m.--Call to 
Order; Introductions; Review Agenda; Approval of September 
Minutes 6:30 p.m.--DDFO's Comments 6:35 p.m.--Federal Coordinator 
Comments 6:40 p.m.--Ex-Officio Comments 6:45 p.m.--Public 
Comments and Questions 7 p.m.--Task Forces/Presentations Waste 
Disposition Water Quality --Surface Water Operable Unit Long 
Range Strategy/Stewardship
 
[[Page 58159]] --Review of Chairs Meeting --Review of Risk-Based 
End State Workshop Community Outreach --Web Site Design 
--Community Survey 8 p.m.--Public Comments and Questions 8:15 
p.m.--Break 8:30 p.m.--Administrative Issues Review of Work Plan 
Review of Next Agenda 8:40 p.m.--Review of Action Items 8:45 
p.m.--Subcommittee Reports Executive Committee --Budget Update 
9:00 p.m.--Final Comments 9:30 p.m.--Adjourn Copies of the final 
agenda will be available at the meeting.
 
Public Participation: The meeting is open to the public.
 
Written statements may be filed with the Committee either before 
or after the meeting. Individuals who wish to make oral 
statements pertaining to agenda items should contact David 
Dollins at the address listed below or by telephone at (270) 
441-6819. Requests must be received five days prior to the 
meeting and reasonable provision will be made to include the 
presentation in the agenda. The Deputy Designated Federal Officer 
is empowered to conduct the meeting in a fashion that will 
facilitate the orderly conduct of business. Each individual 
wishing to make public comments will be provided a maximum of 
five minutes to present their comments as the first item of the 
meeting agenda.
 
Minutes: The minutes of this meeting will be available for public 
review and copying at the Freedom of Information Public Reading 
Room, 1E-190, Forrestal Building, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW., 
Washington, DC 20585 between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday-Friday, 
except Federal holidays. Minutes will also be available at the 
Department of Energy's Environmental Information Center and 
Reading Room at 115 Memorial Drive, Barkley Centre, Paducah, 
Kentucky between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. on Monday thru Friday or by 
writing to David Dollins, Department of Energy, Paducah Site 
Office, Post Office Box 1410, MS-103, Paducah, Kentucky 42001 or 
by calling him at (270) 441-6819.
 
Issued at Washington, DC on September 24, 2004.
 
Rachel M. Samuel, Deputy Advisory Committee Management Officer.
 
[FR Doc. 04-21858 Filed 9-28-04; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6450-01-P

 
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 34 DOE: Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board, Oak Ridge 
 
                        FR Doc 04-21859 
[Federal Register: September 29, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 188)] 
[Notices] [Page 58159] From the Federal Register Online via GPO 
Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr29se04-53]                         
 
Reservation AGENCY: Department of Energy.
 
ACTION: Notice of open meeting.
 
SUMMARY: This notice announces a meeting of the Environmental 
Management Site-Specific Advisory Board (EM SSAB), Oak Ridge.
 
The Federal Advisory Committee Act (Pub. L. No. 92-463, 86 Stat. 
770) requires that public notice of this meeting be announced in 
the Federal Register.
 
 
DATES: Wednesday, October 13, 2004, 6 p.m.
 
ADDRESSES: DOE Information Center, 475 Oak Ridge Turnpike, Oak 
Ridge, TN.
 
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Pat Halsey, Federal Coordinator, 
Department of Energy, Oak Ridge Operations Office, PO Box 2001, 
EM-90, Oak Ridge, TN 37831. Phone (865) 576-4025; Fax (865) 
576-5333 or e- mail: halseypj@oro.doe.gov [halseypj@oro.doe.gov]  
or check the Web site at http://www.oakridge.doe.gov/em/ssab 
[http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leaving 
FR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www.oakridge.doe.gov/em/ssab] .
 
 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Purpose of the Board: The purpose of 
the Board is to make recommendations to DOE in the areas of 
environmental restoration, waste management, and related 
activities.
 
Tentative Agenda: Dynamic verification.
 
Public Participation: The meeting is open to the public.
 
Written statements may be filed with the Committee either before 
or after the meeting. Individuals who wish to make oral 
statements pertaining to agenda items should contact Pat Halsey 
at the address or telephone number listed above. Requests must be 
received five days prior to the meeting and reasonable provision 
will be made to include the presentation in the agenda. The 
Deputy Designated Federal Officer is empowered to conduct the 
meeting in a fashion that will facilitate the orderly conduct of 
business. Each individual wishing to make public comment will be 
provided a maximum of five minutes to present their comments. 
This Federal Register notice is being published less than 15 days 
before the date of the meeting due to programmatic issues that 
had to be resolved prior to the meeting date.
 
Minutes: Minutes of this meeting will be available for public 
review and copying at the Department of Energy's Information 
Center at 475 Oak Ridge Turnpike, Oak Ridge, TN between 8 a.m. 
and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, or by writing to Pat Halsey, 
Department of Energy Oak Ridge Operations Office, PO Box 2001, 
EM-90, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, or by calling her at (865) 576-4025.
 
Issued at Washington, DC on September 24, 2004.
 
Rachel M. Samuel, Deputy Advisory Committee Management Officer.
 
[FR Doc. 04-21859 Filed 9-28-04; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6450-01-P

 
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 35 BBC: Particle lab celebrates 50 years
 
  Last Updated: Wednesday, 29 September, 2004
 
[Computer-generated image of the LHC tunnel (Cern)] 
The future of Cern is with the LHC                                                              

The European research facility which helped shape our 
understanding of the fundamentals of matter and invented the 
world wide web is exactly 50 years old. 

The European Organization for Nuclear Research (Cern), based at 
Geneva in Switzerland, is the world's largest lab dedicated to 
particle physics. 

It has a massive underground complex in which matter - atoms and 
their parts - can be smashed together at high speed. 

Wednesday's celebrations will be marked by a 27km-long ring of 
light. 

The floodlights in this circle will draw the circumference of the 
tunnel to be used for the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), a new 
experimental tool that will collide protons and other particles 
at very high energies. 

The conditions that a created at Cern prevailed just after the 
birth of the Universe
		
Professor Sir Chris Llewellyn-Smith, former Cern director-general        

Scientists believe this machine, due to come online in 2007, will 
enable them finally to understand why all the things we can see 
and touch have mass. 

This is a big gap in our description of the Universe - and it is 
not the only one. 

At the moment, the so-called Standard Model of particles and 
their interactions gives us only a glimpse into the true nature 
of what one might call "normal matter" and the forces that hold 
it together. 

Measurements of far-distant exploding stars, for example, have 
led physicists to the knowledge that the cosmos is actually 
dominated by a mysterious "dark matter" and "dark energy". 

A full explanation for these phenomena may be many decades away. 

Easy browsing

Cern is supported by 20 European member states, but it operates 
with the participation of scientists from all over the world. 

It was opened in 1954 to attract back the European researchers 
who had fled to North America during World War II and to retain 
those looking to make a career in physics. Today it employs 9,000 
people, of whom 6,500 are scientists. 

Three Cern scientists - Carlo Rubbia and Simon van der Meer in 
1984, and Georges Charpak in 1992 - have received the Nobel Prize 
for work undertaken at the facility. 

In terms of spin-offs, sensors that track particles at Cern have 
been adapted for medical applications, notably positron emission 
tomography (Pet) scanners used to detect cancer and other 
diseases. 

It is, however, for the realisation of the web that most people 
probably know Cern and have reason to celebrate its jubilee. 

The web was made possible through a hypertext program created by 
Sir Tim Berners-Lee 20 years ago. The program made it much easier 
to organise, link and browse information on the internet. 

The purpose of Berners-Lee's work was to give scientists a 
user-friendly means of sharing the results from experiments 
undertaken at Cern. 

Today, the Geneva facility is at the forefront of developing the 
Grid, a "super-internet" which will enable physicists to handle 
the surge of data that will come out of the LHC. 

"At Cern, physicists from many nations have come together to 
study the constituents of matter and the forces that control 
their behaviour at the most fundamental level possible," said 
former Cern director-general Professor Sir Chris Llewellyn-Smith. 

"This is telling us why matter has the form it does and not some 
other form. And it's also casting light on the entire 
architecture of the Universe because the conditions that are 
created at Cern prevailed just after the birth of the Universe. 
Cern has been very successful at this," he told the BBC. 
    
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NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 this 
material is distributed without profit or payment to those who 
have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for 
non-profit research and educational purposes only. For more 
information go to: 
<http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml> 
    
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