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line and first line of body
NUCLEAR POLICY
1 Findings Of Us Team Confirms UN Analysis Of Iraq's Weapons Programme
2 Xinhua: Iran says suspension period six months maximum
3 Sasan Fayazmanesh: The EU, US, Israel and Iran
4 Korea Herald: Roh says inter-Korean summit unlikely during 6-party p
5 Korea Herald: 'Tokyo supports hard-line U.S. proposal on N.K.'
6 Korea Herald: Roh rules out early Korea summit
7 Xinhua: S.Korea hopes early resumption of six-party talks
8 Korea Times: Poland Supports Peaceful Solution to NK Nukes
9 US: Guardian Unlimited: Planned Cleanup for Dirty Bombs Called Lax
10 [NukeNet] Rokkasho and Report of Kofi Annan's 'High-level
11 Guardian Unlimited Politics: An enemy of the state
12 Guardian Unlimited: China Launches New Class of Nuclear Sub
NUCLEAR REACTORS
13 US: [NukeNet] 4 articles - NRC meeting with PSEG & Salem 1 and 2
14 [NYTr] Chernobyl Children's Trips to Ireland Threatened
15 [NukeNet] Supreme Court to hear Monju (FBR) appeal
16 US: News Journal: Progress slow at N.J. nuke plants
17 US: APP.COM: Oyster Creek defenders face foes at hearing
18 US: ENN: NRC revises nuclear power plant regulations
19 US: ENN: NRC increases civil penalties to reflect inflation
20 US: NRC: NRC Issues Two Inspection Reports on Vermont Yankee; Schedu
21 BBC: Tablets for Dungeness neighbours
22 US: AP: Nuclear containment plant planned for New Ellenton
23 US: Times Argus: NRC may penalize Yankee on missing fuel
24 US: NRC: NRC to Meet with U. S. Enrichment Corporation to Discuss Pe
25 Xinhua: Russia to cooperate with India in nuclear energy
26 Xinhua: DPRK condemns US "red line" on nuke issue
27 US: NRC: Notice of Availability of Environmental Assessment and Find
28 ITAR-TASS: Russian civil nuclear-powered fleet turns 45
29 gov.bw: Govt to establish board to regulate atomic energy
30 NZZ Online: Nuclear reactor to stay online
31 News & Star: EU launch inquiry into new nuclear authority
NUCLEAR SAFETY
32 US: [DU-WATCH] Weapons of Self-Destruction by David Rose - Vanity
33 [DU-WATCH] DU in Falujah ...
34 US: [DU-WATCH] Two DU Stories - Last gift of Terry Riordon and US
35 US: Drunk Nuke Pilot/Lower Rad. Standards
36 US: Drunk Nuke Pilot/Lower Rad. Standards
37 BBC: 'Uranium' claims man is to
38 US: Las Vegas SUN: Weaker nuke cleanup standards to be proposed
39 iafrica.com: sa news Nuclear workers' medical files scrutinised
40 US: Salt Lake Tribune: Downwinder report is due out in March
41 Scotsman.com News: Ex-Defence Worker to Sue over Uranium
NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE
42 US: Company Wants to Expand Waste Treatment to Include Mixed
43 US: The Australian: BHP looks into yellowcake hole
44 MSNBC: What's Next For Yucca Mountain
45 US: ITAR-TASS: Breakdown of Kyrgyz uranium tailing storage may cause
46 US: Guardian Unlimited: EPA Sees Toxic Waste Sites, Costs Growing
NUCLEAR WEAPONS
47 US: Congress Says No to New Nuclear Weapons
US DEPT. OF ENERGY
48 L.A. Daily News: Field lab clean-up continues
49 DenverPost.com: Flats refuge proposal jells
50 SPI: Hanford initiative put on hold
51 Tri-City Herald: Judge blocks Hanford initiative
52 Tri-City Herald: PNNL picks leader to supervise move
53 DAILY BRUIN: UC considers bid for Los Alamos
54 Salt Lake Tribune: DOE taps Idaho for space project
55 Salt Lake Tribune: Matheson seeks Energy post
56 lamonitor.com: First reactions to procurement plan
57 DOE: Remediation of the Moab Uranium Mill Tailings, Grand and San
58 PISJ: INEEL to make plutonium for space probes
59 SHN: Los Alamos helping Ukraine keep tabs on nukes
OTHER NUCLEAR
60 Salt Lake Tribune: Review says many scientists still cool on cold fu
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FULL NEWS STORIES
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1 Findings Of Us Team Confirms UN Analysis Of Iraq's Weapons Programme
Date: Fri, 3 Dec 2004 17:00:33 -0500
X-Sender-Hostname: mx3.un.org
X-Temp-Subjectphrase1: YES find
FINDINGS OF US TEAM CONFIRMS UN ANALYSIS OF IRAQ'S WEAPONS PROGRAMME
New York, Dec 3 2004 5:00PM
The United Nations commission that was in charge of disarming Iraq
of weapons of mass destruction says the conclusions of a CIA report
largely confirm the analysis reached by its own inspectors.
The latest <"http://www.un.org/Docs/journal/asp/ws.asp?m=s/2004/924">report
to the Security Council by the UN Monitoring, Verification
and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) includes an initial analysis
of the findings of the Iraq Survey Group, led by Charles Duelfer,
on Iraq's chemical, biological and missile weapons programmes.
<"http://www.unmovic.org/">UNMOVIC does state, however, it had been
unaware of some of Iraq's procurement efforts after 1998 which
are highlighted in the Duelfer report.
Mr. Duelfer (himself a former UN weapons inspector), the Special
Adviser to the United States Director of Central Intelligence for
Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction, and his team shared their findings
with UNMOVIC during a meeting on 8 October in New York.
UNMOVIC also notes in its report that the Governments of Jordan and
the Netherlands have destroyed, under UN supervision, the Iraqi
missile engines which had been found in scrap yards in those countries.
The UN inspectors also note the deterioration of two weapons sites
inside Iraq: The Muthanna State Establishment, Iraq's prime chemical
weapons facility, and Al Qaa Qaa State Establishment, one of
the country's major weapons-related industrial complexes.
2004-12-03 00:00:00.000
________________
For more details go to UN News Centre at http://www.un.org/news
To change your profile or unsubscribe go to:
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2 Xinhua: Iran says suspension period six months maximum
www.xinhuanet.com
www.chinaview.cn 2004-12-03 21:38:03
TEHRAN, Dec. 3 (Xinhuanet) -- Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani,
chairman of Iran's powerful Expediency Council, said on Friday
that the maximum duration of Iran's suspension of uranium
enrichment activities was six months, the official IRNA news
agency reported.
"The Islamic Republic has agreed to suspend enrichment
activities for a maximum six-month period to assure the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that Iran's nuclear
activities are peaceful," Rafsanjani was quoted as saying.
"Following the period, we will seriously follow up plans to
implement enrichment and use nuclear technology peacefully," he
added.
Rafsanjani also voiced dissatisfaction with the IAEA and some
Western countries on Iran's nuclear issue.
"With regard to the developments of the Iranian nuclear case
during the past two years, we are dissatisfied with the
performance of the IAEA and the West on Iran's nuclear dossier,"
he said.
"They have oppressed us. The Islamic Republic has had a legal
attitude toward acquiring peaceful nuclear technology,"
Rafsanjani said.
Rafsanjani reiterated that Tehran did not want nuclear
weaponand would not give up its absolute rights.
Iran announced on Nov. 22 that it had suspended all uraniumen
richment activities according to an agreement reached with the
European trio of France, Germany and Britain in Paris on Nov. 7.
The UN nuclear watchdog decided on Nov. 29 not to refer Iran's
nuclear case to the UN Security Council and adopted a new
resolution, urging Iran to implement the agreement.
Hassan Rowhani, Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, said on Nov.
30 that Iran's suspension was only a temporary measure and Tehran
would never indefinitely halt its uranium enrichment activities.
Enditem
Copyright ©2003 Xinhua News Agency. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
3 Sasan Fayazmanesh: The EU, US, Israel and Iran
Special Print Edition of CounterPunch: The 2004 Election
December 3, 2004
The Good, the Bad, the Ugly and the "Mullahs"
By SASAN FAYAZMANESH
The international community now realizes that Iran--with
missiles that can reach London, Paris, Berlin and southern
Russia - does not only pose a threat to the security of Israel,
but to the security and stability of the whole world.
Indeed, Iran has replaced Saddam Hussein as the world's number
one exporter of terror, hate and instability.
(Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom speech at the U.N.
General Assembly September 23, 2004)
In reference to a deal being worked out between Iran and the EU
negotiators, Britain, France and Germany, over Iran freezing
uranium processing, Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage
said on November 20, 2004 that "my view would be that the
incentives of the Europeans only work against the backdrop of
the United States being strong and firm on this issue . . . In
the vernacular, it's kind of a good-cop bad-cop arrangement. If
it works, we'll all have been successful"
(New York Times, November 21, 2004).
Instead of the "good-cop bad-cop" scenario, it would have been
more apt for Mr. Armitage to use the good, the bad and the ugly
scheme, since Iran faces not two characters, but three. The
third character, the "ugly," is played by Israel. Mr. Armitage
conveniently left out the important role of this last character.
But this is quite expected. Israel, as the late Edward Said used
to say, is the last taboo. It is sacrosanct. No mention of it in
the context of the US foreign policy is possible. It is the
Teflon state. Nothing sticks to it, not even the charge of
spying.
It was only a few months ago-to be exact, late August 2004-when
it was first reported that the FBI had discovered a spy network
in the Department of Defense which passed confidential
documents, particularly those detailing the Bush
Administration's policy toward Iran, to the main Israeli lobby
group in the US, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee
(AIPAC). AIPAC-whose website proudly states that through "more
than 2,000 meetings with members of Congress - at home and in
Washington - AIPAC activists help pass more than 100 pro-Israel
legislative initiatives a year"-brought out its heavy artillery.
All the AIPAC men and women, including its top leadership, the
leadership of other Israeli lobby groups, Congressmen, Israeli
officials, and even the officials in the current Administration,
went to work and used the O.J. Simpson defense- i.e.,
anti-Semitism of the FBI agent involved-to put an end to the
whole sordid affair in a few days. Indeed, the representatives
of both Presidential candidates, namely, Condoleezza Rice and
Richard Holbrooke, appeared at AIPAC's "Largest-Ever National
Summit" on October 24-25 in Hollywood, Florida, to pay homage to
an agency that was accused of involvement in spying. Soon after,
AIPAC's usual website, which was temporarily halted by the cries
of we are "loyal U.S. citizens," went back to what it does best,
i.e., trying to lead the US to wage another war in the Middle
East, this time against Iran:
Today, AIPAC has 65,000 members across all 50 states who are at
the forefront of the most vexing issues facing Israel today:
stopping Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, fighting
terrorism and achieving peace. And above all, ensuring that
Israel is strong enough to meet these challenges. (AIPAC
website)
As I have shown in CounterPunch and elsewhere, Israel, its lobby
groups, its Congressmen, its friends in the Administration-both
the cons and the neocons-as well as its Chalabi-like
mercenaries, who are in the business of fabricating lies, have
been trying for sometime to repeat in Iran what they did in
Iraq. That is, by accusing Iran of developing nuclear weapons,
they have attempted to get the UN to pass economic sanctions
against Iran. Once the sanctions are imposed, Israel and its
cohorts believe, Iran will be weakened sufficiently to make a
military operation against it succeed. That would destroy yet
another supporter of the Palestinians and would make Israel's
rule over the entire land between "the river of Egypt to the
great river, the Euphrates" possible.
Smelling blood, in recent months Israel and the gang increased
their attacks. As the above quotation from Silvan Shalom shows,
Iran was said to have "replaced Saddam Hussein as the world's
number one exporter of terror, hate and instability," and
Iranian missiles were ready to reach "London, Paris, Berlin and
southern Russia." Similarly, Ariel Sharon said on October 25,
2004 that "Iran is making every effort to arm itself with
nuclear weapons, with ballistic means of delivery, and it is
preparing an enormous terrorist network with Syria and Lebanon."
This was, of course, the same Sharon who as far back as February
5, 2002, had told The Times of London that "Iran is the center
of 'world terror,' and as soon as an Iraq conflict is concluded,
he will push for Iran to be at the top of the 'to do list'".
Even though the "Iraqi conflict" is not yet concluded, Sharon
was doing his best to push the US in the direction of destroying
Iran. In other words, the tail was once again trying to wag the
dog.
The cons and the neocons also went on a massive campaign to
assist the leader of "the only democracy" in the Middle East, or
as some know him, the "butcher of Sabra and Shatila." On August
2, 2004, in reference to the EU's attempt to engage Iran in a
dialogue concerning processing uranium and to prevent another
US-Israeli (USraeli) war in the Middle East, the national
security adviser Condoleezza Rice warned: "The Iranians have
been trouble for a very long time. And it's one reason that this
regime has to be isolated in its bad behavior, not
quote-unquote, 'engaged'" (Reuters, Aug 2, 2004). This was, of
course, the same Condoleezza Rice who on September 8, 2002,
warned the world about Iraq's non-existing nuclear weapons by
saying "We don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud."
Similarly, on August 17, 2004, the Undersecretary of State John
Bolton-who after discussing the Iran case with the EU and
Russians often stops in Tel Aviv before returning to
Washington-said at a neocon event held at the Hudson Institute:
"Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons capability is moving it
further and further down the path toward international
isolation. We cannot let Iran, a leading sponsor of
international terrorism, acquire nuclear weapons and the means
to deliver them to Europe, most of central Asia and the Middle
East, or beyond. Without serious, concerted, immediate
intervention by the international community, Iran will be well
on the road to doing so." (US Department of State)
Then, of course, there are the USraeli mercenaries and hirelings
who, like the old Iraqi National Congress, are in the business
of cooking up evidence for sanctioning Iran and ultimately
attacking it. One such group is the Mujahideen-e Khalq
Organization, the "good terrorists" who used to work for Saddam,
but now work for the USraelis. Every few weeks these
Chalabi-like, men-in-black characters-and also Fox News
commentators-come up with some "top secret satellite photos"
showing non-existent nuclear weapons sites in Iran (how a US
designated terrorist organization gets top secret satellite
photos is, of course, beyond one's imagination).
It was apparently one of these men-in-black characters who was
behind Colin Powell's embracing revelation on November 17, 2004.
According to the Washington Post, "a 'walk-in' source approached
U.S. intelligence earlier this month with more than 1,000 pages
purported to be Iranian drawings and technical documents,
including a nuclear warhead design and modifications to enable
Iranian ballistic missiles to deliver an atomic strike"
(November 19, 2004). The Secretary of State, who seems to be
easily duped, then made a great "revelation" by stating that he
was given "some information that would suggest that they
[Iranians] have been actively working on delivery systems. "I'm
not talking about uranium or fissile material or the warhead,"
Powell told the reporters, "I'm talking about what one does with
a warhead" (Washington Post, November 19, 2004). This
revelation, similar to the "irrefutable evidence" that the
Secretary of State presented in February of 2003 at the UN
Security Council concerning the Iraqi's WMD, of course turned
out to be nothing but another fabrication.
Such non-existent sites are also reported by other individuals
who are in the business of fabricating sensational news. On
September 16, 2004, David Albright, a former arms inspector, who
now heads some "Institute for Science and International
Security," made a "disclosure" which appeared as headlines in
many major US news outlets. This "prominent international
expert," according to Reuters, "disclosed" that the "new
satellite images showed the Parchin military complex southeast
of Tehran may be a site for research, testing and production of
nuclear weapons." Reuters then added that a "senior U.S.
official told Reuters on condition of anonymity" that "this
clearly shows the intention to develop weapons." The day after,
IAEA chief ElBaradei stated: "We do not have any indication that
this site has nuclear-related activities (BBC September 17,
2004). As usual, the news disappeared without a single major US
news media reporting that the earlier story was a lie.
All this effort on the part of USraelis, however, has so far
failed to produce the desired result. Having lied too many
times, USraelis have had a hard time convincing the rest of the
world that Iran's missiles will soon rain on London, Paris,
Berlin and southern Russia. Exasperated by their futile efforts,
in late November, 2004, the "bad" and the "ugly" had to watch
with dismay a deal finalized between the "good" and what the
USraelis call the "mullahs" (this is a pejorative and demonizing
term used by the USraelis in reference to the primitive nature
of the ruling clergy in Iran, as if the Zionist rulers of the
"Jewish State" or the Christian fundamentalist rulers of the US
are any more modern!).
On November 29, 2004, the Board of Governors of IAEA passed a
resolution stating what the "mullahs" had said all along, i.e.,
"all declared nuclear material in Iran has been accounted for."
It further announced what the "mullahs" had demanded all along,
i.e., the halt to enriching uranium by Iran "is a voluntary
confidence building measure, not a legal obligation." It also
noted with "interest" a deal made between the EU negotiators,
Britain, France and Germany, and the "mullahs." According to
this deal, not only Iran does not give up its right to enrich
uranium permanently, but it will get some goodies from the EU.
For example, the EU will resume trade negotiations with Iran,
which had been halted since the enrichment controversy arose.
Also, the EU will actively support Iran joining the World Trade
Organization, which so far the US has prevented. In addition,
the EU "will confirm its determination to combat terrorism,
including the activities of Al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups,
such as Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization" (IRNA, November 15,
2004).
In the final analysis, the "mullahs" have, at least for now,
outfoxed the "bad" and the "ugly." If the "good" can also
deliver the promised goodies, the clever "mullahs" will
definitely have the last laugh.
Sasan Fayazmanesh is a professor of economics at Fresno State
University. He can be reached at: sasan.fayazmanesh@gmail.com
WWW http://www.counterpunch.org
*****************************************************************
4 Korea Herald: Roh says inter-Korean summit unlikely during 6-party process
2004.12.03
LONDON - President Roh Moo-hyun repeated on Friday his plea for
the North Korean nuclear crisis to be resolved peacefully, and
played down the prospect of a South-North summit while the
six-party process still existed.
"While the six-party talks are going on, I think there is a very
low possibility of a summit taking place," he said at a joint
news conference with Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair after
they wound up talks focusing on the North Korean nuclear standoff
and trade.
"If the six-party talks do not go well, then we may need another
measure," Roh said.
"I don't greatly expect an inter-Korean summit meeting would
produce any tangible results at a time when the United States and
the North are engaged in tense negotiations."
There have been widespread reports in recent months that Seoul
was seeking to host a summit between Roh and North Korean leader
Kim Jong-il in a bid to help resolve the 25-month-long nuclear
crisis.
Both Koreas took part in a landmark summit in Pyongyang in 2000,
where the North's leader promised to make a reciprocal visit to
the South "at an appropriate time" but has delayed the trip
without giving a clear reason.
The six-party talks involving the two Koreas, the United States,
China, Japan and Russia have stalled recently. Three rounds have
taken place in Beijing since last year but have failed to produce
any substantial breakthrough. A fourth round planned for
September was not held because the North balked, waiting
apparently to see how Nov. 2 U.S. presidential election turned
out.
The South Korean president said he is confident the nuclear
crisis can be solved through dialogue "because North Korea wants
reform and wants to open its door."
"The North is well aware that it needs support from the
international community and a security guarantee," Roh said. "But
the North knows well that it is practically impossible to get
both of the two while having nuclear weapons."
Roh and Blair agreed to push for a peaceful end to the nuclear
crisis and strive for a fourth round of the six-party talks at an
early date. U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said
this week he hopes the talks will resume in late December or
early January.
Britain, as a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council and a
founding signatory of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, is
involved behind the scenes in the talks.
The two leaders also discussed the election timetable in Iraq and
Blair praised and thanked South Korea for its military help.
South Korea has some 3,600 troops stationed in the Kurdish town
of Irbil in northern Iraq and is considering whether to extend
their deployment for another year.
"They do a magnificent job. Thank you, Mr. President, for their
help and contribution," Blair said of the South Korean soldiers
in Iraq.
Roh flew here Tuesday for a state visit on the second leg of a
10-day trip to Laos and three European nations, which began on
Sunday. His is the first state visit to Britain by a South Korean
leader.
Trade and investment links between Britain and South Korea are
strong. According to the Foreign Office, 40 percent of all South
Korean investment into Europe has been in the United Kingdom.
Bilateral trade between the two countries was worth $6.8 billion
in 2003 and the forecast for 2004 is $9 billion.
From news reports
*****************************************************************
5 Korea Herald: 'Tokyo supports hard-line U.S. proposal on N.K.'
(bluelle@heraldm.com)
By Choi Soung-ah
2004.12.04
[HERALD INTERVIEW]
Japan fully supports the U.S. proposal for
disarmament made to North Korea during the last round of the
six-party talks, a former top Japanese diplomat said.
"On the basic strategy, because of our policy objective we
agreed with the United States, we support the American proposal,"
Takakazu Kuriyama, adviser to Japan's foreign minister, said in
an interview with The Korea Herald.
"Of course, when you get into the details of the proposal there
are some related issues which we have to work out with Washington
and also with Seoul, but basically we're quite comfortable with
what Washington has been saying."
Takakazu Kuriyama
The retired diplomat of 50 years' experience spoke soon after
beginning a threeday visit to Seoul on Thursday at the
invitation of the Korea Diplomacy Association. He pointed out
Japan's two clearly defined policy objectives. "One is of course
to normalize our relations with the DPRK, which is a long
pending problem ever since the end of World War II. Two, we
don't want to see a nuclear North Korea. We have to make those
two policy objectives mutually compatible with each other," said
Kuriyama, who served as ambasador to the United States from 1992
to 1995.
"We cannot normalize with a DPRK which has nuclear weapons.
And, also, we cannot normalize relations with the DPRK in such
ways that will destabilize the political situation in the Korean
Peninsula.
"So that requires us to work very closely with your government
and that's what we are trying to do."
Kuriyama added that Tokyo's basic position is that it intends
to normalize relations with the communist country only if it is
a non-nuclear state and when it will be willing to work with
South Korea and the international community to preserve peace
and stability.
"The most important thing is that the three countries - the
Republic of Korea, the United States and Japan - have a common
position, a common objective and basically common policies,"
Kuriyama said.
"Of course, the three countries have certain issues which are
related to their own national interest.
"Nevertheless, on the nuclear issue and also on the most basic
issue of maintaining peace on the Korean Peninsula, I think the
U.S., South Korea and Japan so far have been able to maintain a
common position and common stance. And we shouldn't let the DPRK
come to us and pick and choose amongst the three, trying to
drive a wedge between us. That's not going to promote any of our
interest."
On the question of whether Japan supports a regime change in
North Korea, he said, "No, I don't think so. As long as Mr. Kim
Jong-il is convinced that it is in the DPRK's interest to give
up its nuclear ambitions and be willing to undertake certain
policy changes, vis-a-vis not only Japan but South Korea and
also with the United States.
"Of course, without prejudice to a long term goal of
unification of the two Koreas, but in the meantime, what is
important is that Kim Jong-il will commit himself to peaceful
relations with the Republic of Korea. If he could be convinced
on that, I think a breakthrough can be made in the six-party
talks."
Born in Paris, France, the 73-year-old Kuriyama entered Japan's
foreign services in 1954 and has served as the vice minister for
foreign affairs and ambassador to the United States.
*****************************************************************
6 Korea Herald: Roh rules out early Korea summit
2004.12.04
Reaffirms Pyongyang nuclear standoff should be resolved
peacefully
From news reports
LONDON - President Roh Moo-hyun repeated on Friday his plea for
the North Korean nuclear crisis to be resolved peacefully, and
played down the prospect of a South-North summit while the
six-party process still existed.
"While the six-party talks are going on, I think there is a
very low possibility of a summit taking place," he said at a
joint news conference with Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair
after they wound up talks focusing on the North Korean nuclear
standoff and trade.
"If the six-party talks do not go well, then we may need
another measure," Roh said.
"I don't greatly expect an inter-Korean summit meeting would
produce any tangible results at a time when the United States
and the North are engaged in tense negotiations."
There have been widespread reports in recent months that Seoul
was seeking to host a summit between Roh and North Korean leader
Kim Jong-il in a bid to help resolve the 25-month-long nuclear
crisis.
Both Koreas took part in a landmark summit in Pyongyang in
2000, where the North's leader promised to make a reciprocal
visit to the South "at an appropriate time" but has delayed the
trip without giving a clear reason.
The six-party talks involving the two Koreas, the United
States, China, Japan and Russia have stalled recently. Three
rounds have taken place in Beijing since last year but have
failed to produce any substantial breakthrough. A fourth round
planned for September was not held because the North balked,
waiting apparently to see how Nov. 2 U.S,. presidential election
turned out.
The South Korean president said he is confident the nuclear
crisis can be solved through dialogue "because North Korea wants
reform and wants to open its door."
"The North is well aware that it needs support from the
international community and a security guarantee," Roh said.
"But the North knows well that it is practically impossible to
get both of the two while having nuclear weapons."
Roh and Blair agreed to push for a peaceful end to the nuclear
crisis and strive for a fourth round of the six-party talks at
an early date. U.S. Deputy Secreray of State RichardArmitage
said this week he hopes the talks will resume in late December
or early January.
Britain, as a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council and
a founding signatory of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, is
involved behind the scenes in the talks.
The two leaders also discussed the election timetable in Iraq
and Blair praised and thanked South Korea for its military help.
South Korea has some 3,600 troops stationed in the Kurdish town
of Irbil in northern Iraq and is considering whether to extend
their deployment for another year.
"They do a magnificent job. Thank you, Mr. President, for their
help and contribution," Blair said of the South Korean soldiers
in Iraq.
Roh flew here Tuesday for a state visit on the second leg of a
10-day trip to Laos and three European nations, which began on
Sunday. His is the first state visit to Britain by a South
Korean leader.
Trade and investment links between Britain and South Korea are
strong. According to the Foreign Office, 40 percent of all South
Korean investment into Europe has been in the United Kingdom.
Bilateral trade between the two countries was worth $6.8
billion in 2003 and the forecast for 2004 is $9 billion.
*****************************************************************
7 Xinhua: S.Korea hopes early resumption of six-party talks
www.xinhuanet.com
www.chinaview.cn 2004-12-03 19:06:55
SEOUL, Dec. 3 (Xinhuanet) -- South Korean government will
actively pursue early resumption of the six-party nuclear talks
so as to peacefully solve the nuclear issue on the Korean
Peninsula, said a spokesman of South Korean Foreign Ministry on
Friday.
"South Korean government hopes the fourth round of six-party
nuclear talks could be resumed at the end of 2004 or in early
2005," said Lee Kyu-hyung, spokesman of the South Korean Foreign
Ministry, to foreign reporters stationed in Seoul in a press
conference.
Lee also said South Korean government thinks all the
concerningparties, including Democratic People's Republic of
Korea (DPRK), hold the consensus that the six-party nuclear talks
should be continued.
"China is playing constructive and positive role on early
resumption of the six-way talks," said Lee, adding the nuclear
issue on the Korean Peninsula can be peacefully resolved through
diplomatic negotiations.
Lee also mentioned during the recent Asian Pacific Economy
Cooperation (APEC) summit meeting in Chile, all the leaders
agreedto make efforts to peacefully settle the nuclear issue. And
on thesideline of the just concluded Association of South East
Asian Nations (ASEAN) forum, leaders from China, South Korea and
Japan reiterated the above standing.
The fourth round six-party nuclear talks was originally
scheduled to be convened in September. But up to now, no exact
date has been fixed for the resumption of the talks.
The six parties are China, DPRK, the United States, Russia,
South Korea and Japan.
While on the South Korean past nuclear material experiments,
Lee said "South Korea deems the main purpose of the six-party
nuclear talks is to solve the nuclear issue on the Korean
Peninsula. South Korea's experiments issue should not be
discussedin this format."
However, the spokesman also expressed Seoul is willing to
explain related facts on the experiments, if DPRK doubts over
themin the six-nation talks.
South Korea admitted in early September that its scientists
extracted or enriched small amounts of plutonium and uranium, two
key ingredients of nuclear weapons, in 1982 and 2000 without
reporting to the government.
Seoul officials have repeatedly stressed that the experiments
were isolated, one-off incidents and not part of any weapons
program.
In late November, the International Atomic Energy Agency's
governing board decided not to refer South Korea to the UN
Security Council for punishment. Enditem
Copyright ©2003 Xinhua News Agency. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
8 Korea Times: Poland Supports Peaceful Solution to NK Nukes
Hankooki.com > The Korea Times > Nation
By Ryu Jin Korea Times Correspondent
WARSAW - South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and Polish
President Aleksander Kwasniewski agreed on Friday to establish a
future-oriented partnership in various areas, while seeking
closer cooperation in handling international issues, including
the North Korean nuclear weapons program.
Roh, who flew into Warsaw in the afternoon after his three-day
state visit to London, held a summit meeting with Kwasniewski at
the presidential palace in the Polish capital.
During the one-hour talk, Roh and Kwasniewski shared opinions on
the North Korean nuclear crisis and agreed the standoff should be
resolved in a peaceful manner through the six-party talks.
President Kwasniewski, who was first elected in 1995 and then
re-elected in 2000, has supported Seoul¡¯s efforts to bring peace
and stability on the Korean peninsula.
The two leaders, having shared similar experiences of
dispatching troops to Iraq, discussed the Iraqi issue and agreed
to make joint efforts in dealing with international issues.
According to officials, the two leaders also agreed on a set of
measures for bilateral economic cooperation, including South
Korea¡¯s participation in an e-government project in Poland and
enhancing cooperation in other information-technology fields.
Officials expressed hope that Poland, a key member state of the
European Union, will be a crucial bridgehead for South Korea to
advance into the EU market.
Roh¡¯s stay here also marks the first official trip by a South
Korean head of state to the European nation since the two
countries established diplomatic ties in November 1989.
Roh met with Polish Prime Minister Marek Belka after the summit
and also had separate meetings with Senate Speaker Longin
Pastusiak and Congress Speaker Jozef Oleksy.
``While meeting the parliamentary leaders, President Roh
expressed gratitude to Poland for its efforts for peace and
stability on the Korean peninsula,¡¯¡¯ presidential spokesman Kim
Jong-min said. Poland had once sent a delegation to the Neutral
Nations Supervisory Commission after the 1950-53 Korean War.
On the last leg of his three-nation European tour, Roh will fly
to Paris Sunday morning, where he will hold a summit with French
President Jacques Chirac on bilateral cooperation in information
technology and the space industry, as well as other global
issues.
jinryu@koreatimes.co.kr 12-03-2004 17:34
*****************************************************************
9 Guardian Unlimited: Planned Cleanup for Dirty Bombs Called Lax
the Associated Press
[UP]
Friday December 3, 2004 4:01 AM
By H. JOSEF HEBERT
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - Standards for cleanup after a ``dirty bomb''
terrorist attack would permit long-term radiation levels that
pose cancer risks many times greater than those acceptable at
Superfund sites, nuclear waste dumps and commercial reactors,
according to a draft of a government proposal.
The Homeland Security Department is expected to issue the
proposed guidelines, which have been developed over the last two
years, within a few weeks, probably before the end of the year.
They would become final after a 60-day comment period.
The draft acknowledges that the consequences from a dirty bomb,
a device that spreads radioactive material using conventional
explosives, ``may range from a very small, localized area ... to
conceivably many square miles.''
And it says that if there is widespread contamination from a
dirty bomb or an ``improvised nuclear device'' - where there
actually would be a crude nuclear detonation - areas may have to
be put off limits permanently.
In such cases ``existing land uses may not be practicable,'' the
document says.
As a result, the interagency task force developing the
guidelines decided against issuing specific numerical radiation
levels to guide long-term cleanup goals, although an earlier
draft written last year contained specific allowable radiation
levels proposed by different agencies.
The latest version says cleanup efforts should be guided by
radiation benchmarks established by various advisory groups,
such as the International Commission on Radiation Protection
(ICRP) and the Health Physics Society, as well as federal
agencies.
``They basically punted,'' said Daniel Hirsch, head of an
anti-nuclear advocacy group, Committee to Bridge the Gap.
Hirsch said the ICRP benchmark would allow long-term levels of
radiation from 100 millirems to as much as 10,000 millirems, a
level equivalent to as many as 50,000 chest X-rays over a
30-year period.
The benchmark levels from the Health Physics Society would allow
an area to continue to emit 100 millirems to 500 millirems per
year, the equivalent of as many as 2,500 chest X-rays over 30
years.
A 500 millirems-per-year radiation exposure is estimated to
produce about 1 additional cancer for every 80 people exposed,
according to government cancer-risk calculations, said Diane
D'Arrigo of the Nuclear Information and Resource Service, a
nuclear industry watchdog group.
By comparison, the Environmental Protection Agency requires
cleanup standards at Superfund toxic waste to assure an
additional cancer risk no greater than 1 in 10,000 people
exposed, said D'Arrigo. The government plans to limit the
maximum radiation exposure to the public at the proposed Yucca
Mountain nuclear waste site to no more than 15 millirems per
year.
A typical chest X-ray exposes a person to 6 millirems. Normal
background radiation is about 300 millirems per year.
The draft says the guidelines are ``not intended to define
`safe' or `unsafe' levels of exposure or contamination'' but
represent ``the approximate levels at which the associated
protective actions are justified.''
The contents of the so-called ``interim final'' draft document
were first reported by an independent newsletter, Inside EPA.
Copies of the draft, as well as an earlier version dated July
18, 2003, were obtained and provided Thursday by the Nuclear
Information and Resource Service.
Don Jacks, a spokesman for the Federal Emergency Management
Agency, said he could not comment on the contents of the draft.
He said the document could still change as it goes through the
final approval process at FEMA, the White House Office of
Management and Budget and the Homeland Security Department and
after the planned public comment period.
``Trying to interpret (the guidelines) now is way ahead of the
curve,'' said Jacks.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004
*****************************************************************
10 [NukeNet] Rokkasho and Report of Kofi Annan's 'High-level
Date: Fri, 03 Dec 2004 15:32:49 -0800
The document below is a strong argument against the Japanese government's
plan to proceed with uranium trials at the Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant.
See especially the recommendation in paragraph 131 to "...voluntarily
institute a time-limited moratorium on the construction of any further
enrichment or reprocessing facilities...". (Of course, we don't support the
proposal in the previous paragraph to internationalize these activities.)
Note that the Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant is still officially 'under
construction' until these trials and the 'active trials' with real spent
fuel are completed.
Please use this report to lobby your governments against reprocessing and
the Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant.
Philip White
2 December 2004
A more secure world: Our shared responsibility
Report of the Secretary-General's High-level Panel on Threats Challenges
and Change
United Nations
http://www.un.org/secureworld/
Citizens' Nuclear Information Center
3F Kotobuki Bdg, 1-58-15, Higashi-Nakano, Nakano-ku, Tokyo 164-0003
Phone: 81-3-5330-9520
Fax: 81-3-5330-9530
http://cnic.jp/english/
cnic@nifty.com
_______________________________________________________________________
Subscribe/Unsubscribe Here: http://www.energyjustice.net/nukenet/
Change your settings at:
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*****************************************************************
11 Guardian Unlimited Politics: An enemy of the state
Comment
George Galloway
Friday December 3, 2004
The Guardian
When the 17th-century republican Algernon Sidney spoke on Tower
Hill before his beheading on false charges almost exactly 321
years ago, he observed that "the whole matter is reduced to the
papers said to have been found in my closet by the King's
officers". In the days after Baghdad fell to US forces last
April, all manner of closets spilled forth papers - remarkably
often to the Telegraph group of newspapers. In quick succession,
their reporters claimed to have found, in a series of burning
buildings, documents linking Saddam Hussein with Osama bin Laden,
tales of French and Russian perfidy, and the papers they used to
smear me as being in the pay of the Iraqi regime.
Like the paperwork on which the case for the war itself was
built, these all turned out to be bunkum, bogus or doctored. A
Daily Telegraph reporter, Philip Smucker, came up with his own
documents for the US Christian Science Monitor, making similar
claims. The Mail on Sunday purchased still more documentation,
putting my supposed "earnings" from Saddam and his family into a
£20m-plus stratosphere. Both were shown to be forgeries. One by
one these assaults by the pro-war media foundered on a large and
immovable rock - none of them was true.
Eighteen months and tens of thousands of Iraqi civilian deaths
further on, the Daily Telegraph has been given a judicial
thrashing at the high court, which will have stung more
powerfully than any its public schoolboy editors endured in their
younger days. Well over seven figures of damages and costs,
combined with Mr Justice Eady's damning judgment, must have made
the paper's new owners smart at the damage done to the
Telegraph's reputation by the old regime of Lord Conrad Black,
Barbara Amiel and fox-hunter Charles Moore.
Over several days and dozens of articles, the Telegraph tried
comprehensively to discredit me and the wider anti-war movement.
As Neil Darbyshire, the paper's executive editor, said to explain
why the paper rushed into print: "The Iraq war was at a volatile
stage and Mr Galloway was unceasing in his opposition". And when
they couldn't stand their story up they sought refuge in the
coward's defence that they had never suggested the lurid claims
they published had been true - but merely "neutral reportage" in
the public interest. Even a blind man in a hurry could see that,
in the words of Mr Justice Eady, "the nature, content and tone of
their coverage cannot be so described".
But as most British people now believe, the entire case for the
war was based on falsehoods and lies. From the forged papers
showing Iraq buying nuclear materials from Niger to the pulp
fiction of the Campbell-Scarlett dossiers, one of the grossest
deceptions in modern history has been practised upon us.
There is a long tradition in Britain of attempts by governments
and media to use false allegations about foreign cash to
discredit those who refuse to bend to the powers-that-be, from
the Zinoviev letters to the Scargill affair. The Telegraph, a
chief cheerleader for the Iraq war, together with the media
empire of another foreign press baron, Rupert Murdoch, tried to
paint me as a treasonous "enemy of the state", and the anti-war
movement as the "enemy within". But the real enemies of the state
are the political leaders, pre-eminently the prime minister, who
deceived the country into a disastrous military adventure which
has devastated a foreign land and disfigured the face of
international affairs. And the real enemies within are the
pusillanimous poodles in parliament and press who allowed, and
are still allowing them, to get away with it.
The Telegraph did me and the anti-war movement an injustice and
the judge held it to account. But the Blair government - which
used the Telegraph's assault to force me out of a Labour party
I'd served for 36 years - has committed an incomparably greater
injustice. Iraq was invaded on trumped-up charges. As a result,
an estimated 100,000 Iraqis have died; the lives of millions more
have been wrecked. This week we learned the conditions of child
health in a land occupied are now even worse than during the
killing years of sanctions. Yet not a single government minister
has fallen. No official has been sacked. Alastair Campbell has
become a highly paid raconteur and talk show host. John Scarlett,
unblushing, has been promoted to head the Secret Intelligence
Service. The guilty men in Whitehall and Westminster remain
unpunished.
Now the stain on my name has been removed, I intend to step up my
efforts, with others both inside and outside parliament, to harry
and hold to account those responsible for the crimes of the Iraq
war.
· George Galloway is Respect MP for Glasgow Kelvin and a
columnist for the Scottish Mail on Sunday
gallowayg@parliament.uk
[UP]
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004
*****************************************************************
12 Guardian Unlimited: China Launches New Class of Nuclear Sub
From the Associated Press
[UP]
Friday December 3, 2004 9:16 PM
By JOHN J. LUMPKIN
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - China has launched the first submarine in a new
class of nuclear subs designed to fire intercontinental ballistic
missiles, U.S. defense officials said Friday.
The submarine is, at a minimum, months away from having missiles
installed and going on a cruise, one official said, discussing
foreign weapons developments only on the condition of anonymity.
Still, it is further evidence of China's intentions to expand
both its nuclear weapons and submarine forces, officials say.
It was widely known that China was building the new class of
nuclear-missile submarine, called the ``Type 094,'' but the
launch is far ahead of what U.S. intelligence expected, one
official said.
The launch was first reported in The Washington Times. The
newspaper reported that U.S. intelligence spotted the sub at a
shipyard 250 miles northwest of Beijing.
It would be China's first submarine capable of launching nuclear
weapons that could reach the United States from the country's
home waters, officials said.
The Chinese military has also been developing a new class of
submarine-launched ballistic missile, called the JL-2, that is
expected to have a range in excess of 4,600 miles. The Type 094
submarine would carry these missiles, but it is not clear whether
the missiles are ready for deployment.
Previously, China has had only one submarine capable of launching
nuclear missiles, called the Type 092, or Xia, class. In 2001, a
Pentagon report said the Xia was not operational. Its missiles
were of an older class that could fly only 600 miles.
Successful cruises by the Type 094 would give China a new
strategic deterrent against the United States, no longer limited
to land-based ICBMs and weapons carried on aircraft. But U.S.
defense officials say China lags behind the United States in its
ability to hide submarines from sophisticated sonars and other
sensors.
China is also modernizing its land-based nuclear missile force,
replacing its estimated 20 ICBMs with more modern versions. In a
report on China's military issued last May, the Pentagon said
China's cache of ICBMs could increase to 30 by next year and 60
by 2010.
Although considered unlikely in the near term, the most likely
avenue for conflict between the United States and China is over
Taiwan, which China regards as a rogue province. Taiwan is
seeking high-tech weaponry from the United States, including
diesel submarines and anti-submarine aircraft.
The United States, France, Russia and the United Kingdom all have
submarines capable of launching ballistic missiles with nuclear
warheads.
---
On the Net:
Defense Department: http://www.dod.gov
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004
*****************************************************************
13 [NukeNet] 4 articles - NRC meeting with PSEG & Salem 1 and 2
Date: Fri, 03 Dec 2004 15:33:29 -0800
http://www.delawareonline.com/newsjournal/local/2004/12/03progressslowatn.html
Progress slow at N.J. nuke plants
PSEG Nuclear chief meets with federal regulators
By MELISSA TYRRELL / The News Journal
12/03/2004
PSEG Nuclear officials characterized their work to improve safety
conditions at the Salem and Hope Creek reactors on Artificial Island in
New Jersey as "fragile progress" at a meeting Thursday in New Castle with
the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
PSEG has been under heightened oversight by the commission for the past
year as it seeks to improve conditions and operations at the three-reactor
complex across the Delaware River from Augustine Beach.
President and Chief Nuclear Officer Chris Bakken also said the two Salem
units would be offline temporarily so that oil spilled from the Athos I
tanker last week doesn't get into the plant's water intake valves.
"We're trying to demonstrate to the public as well as our employees that
we're placing safety over production," Bakken said.
Last year the commission launched a review of the complex based on
employees' complaints. In January, the commission sent a letter to PSEG
questioning the station's "work environment, particularly the handling of
equipment and operational decision making."
In a self-assessment released in March, PSEG Nuclear officials gave its
complex poor marks in encouraging employees to raise safety and equipment
concerns.
Along the way, PSEG named a new chief nuclear officer for the plant to
make major fixes that the company said will take several years. It also
invested $800 million to upgrade the "material condition" of the Hope
Creek and twin Salem reactors over the next five years.
The Hope Creek and Salem I and Salem II reactors employ 1,800 people. It
is the nation's second-largest nuclear complex and generates more than
half the electricity PSEG produces.
One problem cited by the commission was a backlog of maintenance problems.
Michael Brothers, PSEG vice president of site operations, said the company
has worked hard to improve the quality of corrective actions, but now it
needs to work on how quickly it can make those fixes.
He cited this as progress, noting that a year before the company focused
on timeliness instead of quality, which led to recurring problems.
Officials also noted more training for quality-assessment workers and
those who handle employee complaints.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission officials encouraged the company to increase
education on how to file a complaint or report a problem - especially for
employees who want to remain anonymous.
During a public comment session, PSEG whistle-blower Nancy Kymn Harvin
told the audience and commission officials that she was skeptical of the
work being done.
She said she still hears about employees who were transferred from their
departments for noting problems and executives who have lied to the NRC
about progress.
She urged Bakken to remove a controversial 20-foot-high pump inside Hope
Creek that is known to vibrate and roar, alarming workers.
Bakken has delayed a $7 million overhaul until after preparing to do other
work on the highly radioactive unit. He said the work could be done all at
once so crews would not be exposed to radiation twice.
"They don't want to worry about catastrophic failure," Harvin said of
employees who want the pump removed, adding her former co-workers "deserve
a safe and great place to work."
Earning the trust of employees and the public will take "quarters and
years, not months," Bakken said.
"I think we're not far off on that assessment," NRC Reactor Projects
Director Randolph Blough said of Bakken's view that his company is making
tenuous gains. "We see that fragility as well."
This article contains information from the Associated Press.
Contact Melissa Tyrrell at 838-3189 or mtyrrell@delawareonline.com.
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PSEG on safety: 'Fragile progress'
Friday, December 03, 2004
By BILL GALLO JR.
Staff Writer
NEW CASTLE, Del. -- A PSEG Nuclear official Thursday night told the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission that the utility is making "fragile
progress" in its long-term plan to improve the work environment at its
nuclear generating complex on Artificial Island in Lower Alloways Creek
Township.
"We certainly are not here to tell you everything is fixed," said Chris
Bakken, president of PSEG Nuclear and its chief nuclear officer.
Thursday's meeting was prompted by concerns by the NRC, the federal agency
which regulates the nation's 100-plus nuclear power plants, that serious
problems existed at the Island, specifically, in its problem
identification and resolution process and what it deemed was not a safety
conscious work environment.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission earlier this year told PSEG Nuclear to
take action to prevent a "chilled" work environment at its three plants --
Salem 1, Salem 2 and Hope Creek. The NRC was acting on claims that workers
had been reluctant to raise what they deemed were safety issues for fear
of retaliation from management. Also, some workers said they had simply
given up offering their ideas for solutions to problems because they
believed management wasn't listening.
At earlier meetings with the NRC this year, PSEG Nuclear officials
outlined their plant to resolve the problems. Thursday's meeting was in a
way, an offering of a report card of sorts to the federal regulators on
the progress the utility believes it is making.
Top officials from the utility presented a power point presentation
featuring a large group of graphs and charts they said show both progress
and areas where the authority needs to improve.
Bakken said he believes it will take 18 to 24 months "to show progress I
would view as sustained."
At earlier meetings NRC officials had emphasized that any "quick fix"
would be looked upon with suspicion by the agency.
Bakken, who took charge at the Island this spring, has pledged to be more
open with both employees and the public on how he is implementing changes.
One of the large concerns among workers had been the backlog of needed
repairs which the utility said has decreased.
But other equipment problems relating to the operation of the plants
remain a concern.
Bakken said one of the major changes has been his order to produce quality
work without the regard to time.
"A year ago we were so focused on a timeline that quality suffered," he
said.
Employee surveys taken by an outside firm will be done again in 2005,
officials said to gauge progress. The utility also has established boards
to deal with employee complaints about work issues.
John Carlin, PSEG Vice President-Nuclear Assessment, said his team has
become much more aggressive on quality issues at the plant. He said
officials had put "more teeth" in quality assessment and have not been
afraid to issue stop-work orders if they deemed a job was not being
handled properly.
The meeting between the NRC and PSEG Nuclear was held in a New Castle
motel function room. About 100 people filled the room -- mostly staffers
from either the utility or NRC, Island workers and anti-nuclear activists.
Another appraisal of PSEG's progress is expected to be presented to the
NRC in the early spring.
Meanwhile, the agency and the utility are expected to meet later this
month to discuss preliminary findings from a special inspection the NRC
conducted after problems at Hope Creek forced its shutdown on Oct. 10.
Among those in the audience Thursday night questioning the utility and the
NRC was Dr. Kymn Harvin, a former organizational development manager at
the plant, who has filed a lawsuit claiming she was fired for raising
safety concerns.
"You can make numbers say anything you want," she said referring the to
utility's presentation.
Harvin urged the utility to replace a vibrating recirculation pump at the
Hope Creek plant which remains off line.
"The problems can't be blamed on past management. They are yours," she
said.
Harvin said utility officials "had an opportunity to take a giant step in
restoring trust (by replacing the pump) and you blew it."
The utility said the pump will be replaced during the next refueling
outage at the plant.
The hearing came on the same day that PSEG Nuclear announced that it would
shut down its two operating reactors, Salem 1 and Salem 2, because of
concerns that a massive oil spill upstream could foul the water intakes
for its cooling system.
Copyright 2004 NJ.com. All Rights Reserved.
Nuclear plants to shut down as oil spill spreads
By ERIC TUCKER Staff Writer, (856) 794-5114
PHILADELPHIA - The Delaware River oil spill has so far touched 70 miles of
shoreline across three states and is likely to continue spreading,
officials said Thursday.
Two nuclear reactors in southern New Jersey will shut down today because
of fears that the water-intake valves which provide coolant for their
reactors could be clogged by oil from the spill, their operator said.
Protective booms were put in place around the water intakes at the Salem I
and Salem II plants, but their operator, Public Service Enterprise Group,
said the barriers might not block heavier globs of crude oil floating
beneath the river's surface.
Workers participating in the massive cleanup effort had recovered 7,140
gallons of the oil-tainted water as of Thursday afternoon, while nearly
4,000 additional gallons have evaporated since the Friday night accident,
said Coast Guard Lt. Buddy Dye.
"There is still mobile oil out there. It is still available to spread,"
said Edwin Levine, scientific support coordinator for the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration.
Officials offered no new information about the cause of the oil spill,
saying they had yet to determine the object that punctured two holes in
the hull of the Athos I as the Greek tanker maneuvered into a port near
Paulsboro, Gloucester County, N.J. Investigators have said they are
looking into whether the tanker struck a propeller or some other object on
the river's floor.
Even with the cause undetermined, the company that owns the vessel, Tsakos
Shipping and Trading SA, is prepared to take responsibility for the
accident, a spokesman said.
"Our owners today accept the responsibility. They spilled the oil," said
the spokesman, Michael Hanson.
Officials also declined to provide an updated projection of the amount of
oil spilled from the tanker. Coast Guard officials said earlier this week
that 473,500 gallons of the Venezuelan crude could have leaked from the
vessel in what they called a "worst-case scenario." Dye said that figure,
far above the 30,000 gallons initially reported as lost, would continue to
be used as the Coast Guard collects data from sonar ships.
Investigators have found no contamination of drinking water supplies, but
they did discover an area south of Little Tinicum Island where oil had
reached the bottom of the river.
The nuclear reactors, in Lower Alloways Creek Township, Salem County, were
expected to be shut down for several days, PSEG said. A third reactor had
been shut down before the spill. A spokesman for the company said
consumers would not be affected.
"We feel this is the prudent thing to do, and we're going to analyze the
situation and determine if the oil could affect operations," said A.
Christoher Bakken, chief nuclear officer of PSEG.
Federal and state agencies have advised hunters and boaters to stay off
tributaries and not hunt waterfowl until further notice.
Nearly a week after the spill, the Coast Guard is continuing to step up
its cleanup and investigation operations. Fifteen state and federal
agencies and five companies have responded, and roughly 1,000 people -
including contractors and Coast Guard reservists and auxiliary members -
were to be involved on Thursday.
The Coast Guard has set up its command center at a Holiday Inn in
Philadelphia, where dozens of officers, civilians and others collected
data in a first-floor room cluttered with color-coded maps, laptops, fax
machines and cell phones.
A team at one table was responsible for making sure that crews cleaning
the spill had the equipment they needed; another team was coordinating the
removal of waste and debris; a third group marked the impact of the spill
on maps.
"Every micromanaged deal of the operation, it's handled here," said Petty
Officer Kimberly Smith, a Coast Guard spokeswoman.
The oil spans a 55-mile stretch of the Delaware River from the
Tacony-Palmyra Bridge to the Delaware Memorial Bridge, appearing in heavy
concentrations in some areas and as a light sheen in others. The 70 miles
of affected coastline includes tributaries of the river and other
noncontiguous areas of water.
The Associated Press, Jerome Montes and Daniel Walsh contributed to this
report.
To e-mail Eric Tucker at The Press:
ETucker@pressofac.com
Salem 1, Salem 2 shut down
Friday, December 03, 2004
By BILL GALLO JR.
Staff Writer
LOWER ALLOWAYS CREEK TWP. -- The two operating nuclear reactors at the
Artificial Island generating complex will be taken off line today as a
precaution because of the possible effects of a massive oil spill upstream
in the Delaware River, utility officials said late Thursday.
PSEG Nuclear operators will begin reducing power at the Salem 1 and Salem
2 reactors today en route to completely shutting both reactors down. The
third nuclear reactor on the Island, Hope Creek, is currently off line for
refueling.
Utility officials are concerned that oil from the spill which is making
its way downriver, may reach the water intake structures for the nuclear
plants.
Utility officials estimate the shutdown of Salem 1 and Salem 2 units will
cost them between $1.5 and $2 million a day depending on prices and the
electric market.
The Salem 1 and 2 units, which are operating at full power, draws and then
discharges two million gallons of water a minute from the Delaware River
to cool the two reactors. Hope Creek, when in operation, draws
considerably less because of its use of a cooling tower in its cooling
system.
If the oil did reach the intake structures it could be drawn in and
circulated through the plants' cooling systems.
"Our first ground rule is to be safe and this is the right thing to do to
ensure the safety of the stations," said Chris Bakken, president of
PSEG Nuclear and its chief nuclear officer, in a statement released by the
utility.
"It's their decision. It's a conservative one," said NRC spokeswoman Diane
Screnci. "We encourage them to be conservative."
As of Thursday, the sheen from the crude oil spill which took place Friday
in the river near a Paulsboro refinery stretched as far south as the
Island. The oil had made its way as far north in the river as the
Tacony-Palmyra Bridge.
Officials had originally said 30,000 gallons of crude oil had spilled from
the Athos I, but this week the U.S. Coast Guard, which monitors the river,
said that it couldn't account for 473,500 gallons from the ship's tanks.
Officials said much of that oil might still be in the ship, and called the
prospect of a 473,500 gallon leak a "worst-case scenario."
If every drop of that oil did leak from the ship, it would rank as the
worst spill in the river's history, topping the 435,000 gallons that
gushed from the tanker Grand Eagle in 1985.
On Thursday, PSEG Nuclear began placing booms around the water intake
structures at both the Salem and Hope Creek plants. The boom is a barrier
placed in the water approximately 18 inches deep. It is relatively
effective in controlling the spread of oil that is lying on top of the
water or floating close to the surface. However, since the oil spilled in
the Delaware was crude oil, it is expected that heavier globs of oil might
be suspended in the river at varying depths, rendering the booms less
effective, company officials said.
PSEG Nuclear officials said they will continually monitor river conditions
and its plans for the reactors could change.
How much of the oil reaches the nuclear plants depends on river currents
and the weather.
This is not the first time Mother Nature has played a role in whether the
plants can operate.
In the spring, river grasses, ripped from their roots by the incoming and
outgoing tides and ice have caused operators to reduce power -- and water
intake -- at the facilities.
Ice in the river must also be monitored.
The last time all three reactors were shut down at the Island was in
September 2003 after the remnants of Hurricane Isabel raked the area.
High winds from the storm whipped up a salty spray off the river and bay.
The salt coated equipment in the Island's switchyards causing equipment
failure and arcing. Because of this, all three reactors were shut down.
The Island began producing and sending out electricity again after the
switchyard equipment was powerwashed to remove the salt residue.
PSEG Nuclear said it is tracking costs the company may incur associated
with the oil spill "with full expectation of recovery of those costs from
responsible parties."
Copyright 2004 NJ.com. All Rights Reserved.
--
Coalition for Peace and Justice
UNPLUG Salem Campaign; 321 Barr Ave, Linwood
NJ 08221; 609-601-8583; cell 609-742-0982
ncohen12@comcast.net; www.unplugsalem.org
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14 [NYTr] Chernobyl Children's Trips to Ireland Threatened
Date: Fri, 3 Dec 2004 12:32:35 -0600 (CST)
Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit
Belfast Telegraph - December 3, 2004
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=589320
Chernobyl Children's Trips Under Threat
By Ciaran O'Neill
The leader of Belarus has denounced projects which bring hundreds
of children from the nuclear-ravaged country to Northern Ireland
each year for life-saving holidays.
Several groups organise and pay each year for children from
Belarus, the area worst affected by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster
in 1986, to visit the province for stays of up to one month.
Medical experts have claimed that the children, all of whom have
ongoing health problems as a result of the Chernobyl disaster,
benefit greatly from their time in Ireland, with some doctors
claiming the trip adds years on to the children's life expectancy.
However, fears were growing today that the trips could be axed
following recent comments by the Belarus President Aleksandr
Lukashenko.
In a speech last week, Mr Lukashenko was reported to have claimed
that the trips to Northern Ireland and other western countries were
'corrupting' the minds of children from Belarus.
The hardline Belarus leader claimed that the children returned from
the foreign trips 'completely different people'.
"Only in extreme cases should we allow our children to leave the
country," he said.
Members of the Chernobyl Children's Aid group, which brings 120
children from Belarus to Derry, Tyrone and Donegal each summer,
were today preparing to contact local politicians to gain support
for their efforts to ensure that the trips continue.
It is understood that the Republic's Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern
is to highlight the concerns of the groups involved in the holiday
projects through the European Union.
CCA Founder Sheila Rodgers said she feared Mr Lukashenko would
follow his comments through with action.
"We sincerely hope that there is a mind-change by the President on
this issue," she said.
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15 [NukeNet] Supreme Court to hear Monju (FBR) appeal
Date: Fri, 03 Dec 2004 15:33:03 -0800
The Japan Times, 3 December 2004
Government sees glimmer of hope in battle to save fast-breeder reactor
The Supreme Court said Thursday it will hear the government's appeal of a
Nagoya High Court ruling that nullified the 1983 approval of the troubled
Monju experimental fast-breeder nuclear reactor project in Fukui Prefecture...
Read the rest of the article at the following link:
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20041203a2.htm
Citizens' Nuclear Information Center
3F Kotobuki Bdg, 1-58-15, Higashi-Nakano, Nakano-ku, Tokyo 164-0003
Phone: 81-3-5330-9520
Fax: 81-3-5330-9530
http://cnic.jp/english/
cnic@nifty.com
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16 News Journal: Progress slow at N.J. nuke plants
www.delawareonline.com
PSEG Nuclear chief meets with federal regulators
By MELISSA TYRRELL / The News Journal 12/03/2004
PSEG Nuclear officials characterized their work to improve safety
conditions at the Salem and Hope Creek reactors on Artificial
Island in New Jersey as "fragile progress" at a meeting Thursday
in New Castle with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
PSEG has been under heightened oversight by the commission for
the past year as it seeks to improve conditions and operations at
the three-reactor complex across the Delaware River from
Augustine Beach.
President and Chief Nuclear Officer Chris Bakken also said the
two Salem units would be offline temporarily so that oil spilled
from the Athos I tanker last week doesn't get into the plant's
water intake valves.
"We're trying to demonstrate to the public as well as our
employees that we're placing safety over production," Bakken
said.
Last year the commission launched a review of the complex based
on employees' complaints. In January, the commission sent a
letter to PSEG questioning the station's "work environment,
particularly the handling of equipment and operational decision
making."
In a self-assessment released in March, PSEG Nuclear officials
gave its complex poor marks in encouraging employees to raise
safety and equipment concerns.
Along the way, PSEG named a new chief nuclear officer for the
plant to make major fixes that the company said will take several
years. It also invested $800 million to upgrade the "material
condition" of the Hope Creek and twin Salem reactors over the
next five years.
The Hope Creek and Salem I and Salem II reactors employ 1,800
people. It is the nation's second-largest nuclear complex and
generates more than half the electricity PSEG produces.
One problem cited by the commission was a backlog of maintenance
problems.
Michael Brothers, PSEG vice president of site operations, said
the company has worked hard to improve the quality of corrective
actions, but now it needs to work on how quickly it can make
those fixes.
He cited this as progress, noting that a year before the company
focused on timeliness instead of quality, which led to recurring
problems.
Officials also noted more training for quality-assessment workers
and those who handle employee complaints.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission officials encouraged the company to
increase education on how to file a complaint or report a problem
- especially for employees who want to remain anonymous.
During a public comment session, PSEG whistle-blower Nancy Kymn
Harvin told the audience and commission officials that she was
skeptical of the work being done.
She said she still hears about employees who were transferred
from their departments for noting problems and executives who
have lied to the NRC about progress.
She urged Bakken to remove a controversial 20-foot-high pump
inside Hope Creek that is known to vibrate and roar, alarming
workers.
Bakken has delayed a $7 million overhaul until after preparing to
do other work on the highly radioactive unit. He said the work
could be done all at once so crews would not be exposed to
radiation twice.
"They don't want to worry about catastrophic failure," Harvin
said of employees who want the pump removed, adding her former
co-workers "deserve a safe and great place to work."
Earning the trust of employees and the public will take "quarters
and years, not months," Bakken said.
"I think we're not far off on that assessment," NRC Reactor
Projects Director Randolph Blough said of Bakken's view that his
company is making tenuous gains. "We see that fragility as well."
This article contains information from the Associated Press.
Contact Melissa Tyrrell at 838-3189 or
mtyrrell@delawareonline.com.
© 2004 delawareonline.com/The News Journal
*****************************************************************
17 APP.COM: Oyster Creek defenders face foes at hearing
ASBURY PARK PRESS
Published in the Asbury Park Press 12/03/04 By NICHOLAS CLUNN
MANAHAWKIN BUREAU
MICHAEL J. TREOLA photo
About 300 people listen as state lawmakers conduct a hearing
into safety precautions at the Oyster Creek nuclear power plant.
BRICK -- An Assembly member from Bergen County last night
criticized Oyster Creek nuclear power plant officials for relying
on sirens to alert the public in the event of an emergency at the
Lacey reactor.
The remarks by Assemblyman Robert M. Gordon, D-Bergen, about the
way authorities would signal people to turn to emergency
broadcasts was a concern that hasn't been talked about much
during previous debates surrounding the future of the country's
oldest commercial reactor.
He asked officials from plant owner AmerGen about the sirens'
effectiveness during a special public hearing held to discuss
whether Oyster Creek should operate for another 20 years after
its initial license expires in 2009.
Gordon said the sirens are less effective than newer,
higher-tech methods and cited as an example high-speed telephone
dialing with recorded messages.
Bud Swenson, Oyster Creek vice president, said that he would
look into Gordon's concerns.
About 300 people, including members of about 15 advocacy groups
on both sides of the issue, attended the public hearing called by
the Assembly Environment and Solid Waste Committee to better
understand the merits and drawbacks of renewing the reactor's
operating license.
Committee members will consider the input given when drafting a
resolution that would establish the state's official position on
Oyster Creek's plan to seek a license renewal from the federal
Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Several union leaders attended the meeting to support Oyster
Creek and its workers.
Calling criticisms of license renewal "politically and
environmentally shortsighted," Wyatt Earp, president of the
Monmouth-Ocean AFL-CIO, announced last night that the
70,000-member labor union he leads would lend its support to
plant owner AmerGen.
Citing confidence in the NRC to ensure Oyster Creek's future
safety, a union leader with the 35,000-member New Jersey
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers said the group
will announce its support for license renewal at a news
conference today.
Located off an undeveloped stretch of Route 9, the plant
employs 450 workers and last year pumped $52 million into Ocean
County's economy, according to plant figures.
Oyster Creek's 650-megawatt reactor produces 9 percent of New
Jersey's electricity, enough to power 600,000 homes. According
to the electrical workers' union, 20 percent of electricity
delivered by Jersey Central Power &Light Co. is generated at the
plant.
Before the meeting, U.S. Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg, D-N.J., said
in a written statement that "a science-based report that looks
into the health and reliability questions that have been raised
by both sides should be conducted." It was not clear whether
Lautenberg would be satisfied with the review procedures already
in place.
Sitting on the dais last night were the five Democratic members
of the seven-person committee. Assemblymen John Rooney,
R-Bergen, and Larry Chatzidakis, R-Burlington, had prior
engagements.
Sirens tested annually
During an annual test in June, emergency management officials
sounded 42 sirens across central Ocean County to test a system
that would alert people about an emergency at the plant.
People within a 10-mile radius of the plant can hear the
sirens, meant to signal people to tune in to a radio or
television station that carries emergency instructions in the
event of a radioactive release from the 650-megawatt reactor.
Lacey resident Dave Most, a 46-year-old instrument technician
at the plant, was among 20 or so plant workers who attended the
meeting. Most said he came out to defend fellow workers.
"We have boilermakers. We have electricians," explained Most.
"It's their livelihood."
The hearing outside Trenton was a rarity for the Assembly
committee. Public hearings on legislation to protect 400,000
North Jersey acres from development were the only times this
year it met outside the capital.
Committee Chairman John F. McKeon, D-Essex, has said the
committee may hold additional hearings regarding Oyster Creek.
Nicholas Clunn: (609) 978-4597 or
*****************************************************************
18 ENN: NRC revises nuclear power plant regulations
[Environmental News Link]
WASHINGTON (12/02/04) -- The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)
has amended its regulations that apply certain controls to
nuclear power plant structures, systems and components (SSCs),
based on their safety significance. The change goes into effect
Dec. 22, 2004.
NRC regulations require nuclear plants to have conservative
safety margins, strict procedural controls and multiple safety
systems to protect public health and safety. Special regulatory
controls -- rigorous design qualifications, record-keeping,
maintenance and testing requirements -- are used to ensure that
SSCs necessary to safely shut down a nuclear reactor and prevent
radioactivity from traveling off-site will function effectively
during and after an accident.
These requirements encompass a very broad scope of SSCs -- some
of which are very important to safety; others of which,
experience and new analytical techniques indicate, provide only a
minimal contribution to safety, thereby possibly focusing NRC
staff and licensee resources on issues of minor safety
significance.
The new regulation can be voluntarily adopted by plant operators
as an alternate set of requirements. The changes incorporate
up-to-date analytic tools and risk insights to further enhance
plant safety by enabling nuclear power plant licensees to more
precisely determine the safety significance of SSCs. If licensees
adopt the change, some SSCs of "low safety significance" would be
subject to less stringent requirements than currently exist,
although they must remain capable of performing their
safety-related functions. Conversely, some SSCs of greater
significance would be subject to new requirements.
“This enables both nuclear power plant licensees and the NRC to
more efficiently focus their resources on issues of greater
safety significance,” said David Matthews, Director of the
Division of Regulatory Improvement Programs in the NRC’s Office
of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
To ensure the new regulations are implemented properly, the NRC
staff has developed, for trial use, Regulatory Guide 1.201,
“Guidelines for Categorizing Structures, Systems and Components
in Nuclear Power Plants According to Their Safety Significance.”
The current draft of that guide is available online.
3450 Palmer Dr. #4-264
Cameron Park, California 95682
Telephone: (530) 676-9334
FAX: (530) 676-9387
Email: capitol@caprep.com
*****************************************************************
19 ENN: NRC increases civil penalties to reflect inflation
[Environmental News Link]
WASHINGTON (12/02/04) -- The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)
has announced an increase in the civil penalties it can impose on
licensees. Effective, November 26, 2004, the maximum fine the
NRC can impose per violation per day will be $130,000 for power
reactors and gaseous diffusion plants, an increase of $10,000
over the previous maximum. An increase is mandated by Congress at
least once every four years to account for inflation.
The penalties for other types of licensees are also being
similarly adjusted. The maximum fine for test reactors, for
instance, has been increased to $13,000 and the maximum fine for
medical materials users is now $6,500.
The NRC is not required to issue fines at the maximum level and
uses its discretion to determine an appropriate civil penalty on
a case-by-case basis for violations identified through
inspections and investigations. The last civil penalty increase
enacted by the NRC was in November 2000.
The deadline for public comments on the increase in civil
penalties is December 27, 2004.
3450 Palmer Dr. #4-264
Cameron Park, California 95682
Telephone: (530) 676-9334
FAX: (530) 676-9387
Copyright © 2004 Capitol Reports. All Rights Reserved.
*****************************************************************
20 NRC: NRC Issues Two Inspection Reports on Vermont Yankee; Schedules Meeting
News Release - Region I - 2004-05
U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Office of Public Affairs, Region I
No. I-04-054 December 2, 2004
CONTACT: Diane Screnci (610) 337-5330
Neil A. Sheehan (610) 337-5331 E-mail:
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued two reports on
recent inspections at the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant in
Vernon, Vt. Both reports are being released now in response to
requests from local stakeholders for time to review the final
reports in preparation for an upcoming meeting on the reports.
The first report documents the conclusions of an engineering
inspection that was conducted from August 9th through September
23. The preliminary results were released on November 5th and
posted on the NRC web page.
The second report contains the results of a special inspection
to look into spent fuel segments that were reported missing at
the facility. The team concluded the pieces found in July 2004
are the pieces misplaced in January 1980. One apparent violation
was also identified: Entergy did not adequately account for the
two fuel rod pieces from 1980 through 2004.
Both final inspection reports and the earlier preliminary
findings are posted on the NRC web page at
http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/plant-specific-items/vermont-yankee-i
ssues.html.
The findings of both inspections will be discussed publicly at a
meeting of the Vermont State Nuclear Advisory Panel (V-SNAP) on
December 16 at Brattleboro Union High School, beginning at 6
p.m. This meeting replaces NRC meetings that had been scheduled
for November 9, but were postponed because of concerns that the
expected attendance would exceed the capacity of the facilities.
We appreciate V-SNAPs agreement to moderate a meeting on a
topic of great interest to many citizens in Vermont. We believe
they will provide structure to the meeting process and help us
hold a constructive meeting, NRC Region I Director of Reactor
Safety Wayne D. Lanning said.
Last revised Thursday, December 02, 2004
*****************************************************************
21 BBC: Tablets for Dungeness neighbours
Last Updated: Friday, 3 December, 2004
[Dungeness Power Station]
The scheme is already in place at other power stations in the UK
Protective pills are to be given out to people living near
Dungeness Power Station in case of a nuclear accident.
The potassium iodate tablets, which lessen the risk of thyroid
cancer, will be distributed to residents living within 2.4km of
the Kent plant.
The tablets were previously kept at emergency evacuation centres,
but it was decided to distribute them so they could be used more
quickly.
The health trust distributing them said the nuclear industry was
safe.
The nuclear industry is safe as it has ever been Sam Denton,
Shepway Primary Care Trust
"What we want to do is to allay as many concerns as we possibly
can, " said Sam Denton, from Shepway Primary Care Trust.
"One of the problems we are facing is the perception that there
is an increased risk of a nuclear emergency.
"That is not the case at all - the nuclear industry is as safe as
it has ever been.
"We are just improving the way we develop our arrangements."
'Activate the system'
Mr Denton said the scheme was already in operation near other
power stations in the UK.
The zone for the pills to be handed out was drawn up by
independent experts who examined potential scenarios.
The tablets fill up the thyroid gland with safe, stable iodine
which, if there was an emergency, would stop radioactive iodine
getting to the gland and maybe causing cancer.
British Energy said a new early warning system is also being put
in place next year to alert people if an emergency happened.
John McNamara, from British Energy said: "It can make up to 1,500
telephone calls in a minute.
"It is connected to our emergency plan and in the unlikely event
of an emergency at the power station that would activate the
system."
The tablets are due to be given out to residents by the end of
February.
*****************************************************************
22 AP: Nuclear containment plant planned for New Ellenton
AccessNorthGa.com -
December 4 , 2004
The Associated Press - NEW ELLENTON, S.C.
A nuclear containment systems company is building a plant near
the Savannah River Site nuclear complex that is expected to bring
"a significant number" of jobs to the area, a company official
said.
Global Containment Systems, a subsidiary of the St. Petersburg,
Fla.-based Flanders Corp., is expected to announce details about
the 400,000-square-foot facility Wednesday.
Gov. Mark Sanford is slated to attend an announcement that day at
the New Ellenton Civic Center, but his spokesman would not
provide more information about the visit.
GCS produces filters and custom equipment for use in the
containment of airborne nuclear contamination.
"We have been working with Savannah River since the beginning,
way back in the '40s and '50s when we first started designing
filters for them," Glen Moore, a Flanders executive, told the
Aiken Standard.
SRS will be a major customer, but the filters produced here will
be used in facilities around the world, Moore said. He declined
to provide any details about the number of jobs at the site,
except to say, "I can tell you that it will be a significant
number."
In Friday editions, the Augusta Chronicle cited unnamed local
officials as saying 600 to 800 jobs might be created once the
plant is fully operational. Officials at Flanders and the state
Commerce Department did not return calls seeking details Friday.
In August, Flanders announced that Global Containment would
expand its operations in Aiken but did not say how many people
might be employed at the site.
In the announcement, company chairman Robert Amerson said GCS
would provide "additional manufacturing capacity" for scheduled
projects at SRS as well as "other national laboratories and
nuclear facilities worldwide."
"We are excited about the progress being made at the Savannah
River National Laboratory, other National Laboratories and other
sites to eliminate weapons of mass destruction and to develop a
safe and efficient nuclear energy," Amerson said.
He estimated that the market for nuclear containment is growing
and will be worth about $2 billion during the next 10 years, the
statement said. Copyright 2004 The Associated Press. All rights
reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast,
Copyright 2004 AccessNorthGa.com -
*****************************************************************
23 Times Argus: NRC may penalize Yankee on missing fuel
December 3, 2004
By David Gram Associated Press
MONTPELIER — The Nuclear Regulatory Commission may take
enforcement action against the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant over
the highly radioactive fuel that was reported missing earlier
this year.
In a letter accompanying one of two reports the NRC issued
Thursday on Vermont Yankee, an NRC official said the case of the
missing — and later found — spent nuclear fuel was "being
considered for escalated enforcement action."
The fuel pieces were discovered missing in April when an
inventory of the spent fuel pool found that they were not in a
special storage container installed for them in 1979. Plant
officials said they turned up in July elsewhere in the pool.
A. Randolph Blough, director of the NRC's Division of Reactor
Projects, described the missing fuel inspection's findings in a
letter to Vermont Yankee site Vice President Jay Thayer.
Blough said "the NRC has determined that between January 1980 and
July 13, 2004, Entergy and its predecessor did not keep adequate
special nuclear material inventory records of the two spent fuel
rod pieces, did not follow its written procedures when the two
spent fuel rod pieces were moved to a fuel storage liner, and did
not conduct adequate periodic physical inventories of the two
spent fuel rod pieces."
Entergy bought Vermont Yankee in 2002 from a consortium of New
England power companies that had owned it.
Blough added that "because the two spent fuel rod pieces remained
in the Vermont Yankee spent fuel pool the entire time the
apparent violation existed, there was no actual safety
consequence of this apparent violation. Nevertheless, the NRC
considers this apparent violation a potentially significant
failure of your material control and accounting program."
On a second front Thursday, the NRC finalized an engineering
inspection of Vermont Yankee tied to the plant's pending request
to increase the power output of its 32-year-old reactor by 20
percent.
The agency stuck with its preliminary finding in early November
that the inspection turned up eight areas for needed improvement
in the plant's operations, but that they were of "very low safety
significance."
The results of the two NRC inspections at Vermont Yankee will be
aired at a meeting hosted by the Vermont State Nuclear Advisory
Panel, set for Thursday, Dec. 16, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at
Brattleboro Union High School.
© 2004 Privacy Policy | Subscriber Agreement
y
*****************************************************************
24 NRC: NRC to Meet with U. S. Enrichment Corporation to Discuss Performance at Paducah
Gaseous Diffusion Plant
News Release - Region II - 2004-05
U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Office of Public Affairs, Region II
No. II-04-056 December 3, 2004
CONTACT: Ken Clark (404) 562-4416
Roger D. Hannah (404) 562-4417 E-mail: opa2@nrc.gov
Nuclear Regulatory Commission officials have scheduled a meeting
with officials of the United States Enrichment Corporation in
Paducah, Ky., on Monday, Dec. 13, to discuss the NRCs latest
review of performance at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant.
The meeting is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. (EST) at the Paducah
Information Age Park Resource Center, located at 2000 McCracken
Boulevard in Paducah. Interested members of the public can
attend and observe the discussion, and there will be an
opportunity to ask questions or make comments to the NRC staff
after the business portion but before the meeting is adjourned.
"These meetings give NRC officials a chance to discuss with the
company the overall performance at the plant and any concerns we
might have," said NRC Fuel Facility Branch Chief Jay Henson.
The NRC assessment is called a Licensee Performance Review and
covers the period from January 1, 2003, to September 25, 2004.
The NRC staff evaluated performance at the Paducah plant in four
major areas: Safety Operations, Radiological Controls, Facility
Support and Special Topics. The NRC said the review determined
that the Paducah plant continued to conduct its activities
safely, and the agency will discuss details of the review with
company officials at the meeting.
Interested persons may obtain a copy of the results of the
review from the NRC by writing, calling, or emailing the NRC
Region II Office of Public Affairs in Atlanta using the contact
information listed above.
Immediately following the NRC performance review, a second
meeting is scheduled at the same location to discuss the
companys efforts in ensuring a safety conscious work
environment at the Paducah facility and at a similar plant near
Portsmouth, Ohio. The public is also invited to this meeting and
will have an opportunity to talk with the NRC staff after the
business portion but before the meeting is adjourned.
Last revised Friday, December 03, 2004
*****************************************************************
25 Xinhua: Russia to cooperate with India in nuclear energy
www.xinhuanet.com
www.chinaview.cn 2004-12-03 21:22:23
[Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in New Delhi Friday
for the annual summit talks with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh. Indian and Russia signed a Joint Declaration emphasizing
strategic partnership between the two countries.(Xinhua/AFP
Photo)]
Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in New Delhi Friday for
the annual summit talks with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh. Indian and Russia signed a Joint Declaration emphasizing
strategic partnership between the two countries.(Xinhua/AFP
Photo)
NEW DELHI, Dec. 3 (Xinhuanet) -- India and Russia expressed
their commitment to continue cooperation in nuclear energy on
Friday, the Indo-Asian News Service reported.
Noting that nuclear power plants offered a pollution-free
and substantial source of energy for sustainable development, a
joint declaration issued by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
and visiting Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed their
commitment to continue cooperation in this field.
"Energy constitutes an important part of the bilateral
relationship. Considering the expanding energy requirements of
India, both sides stress the need for employing resources that
areenvironment-friendly and available in sufficient quantities,"
the joint declaration said.
Russia is assisting India in setting up two 1,000 MW nuclear
power plants in Koodankulam in the southern Indian state of
Tamil Nadu. Negotiations are on for two more similar plants.
"Both sides are determined to continue their cooperation in
thefield of nuclear energy, incorporating innovative
technologies to ensure energy security, with due regard to their
commitments to non-proliferation norms," the statement said.
They recognized the considerable scope for cooperation in
the hydroelectric and thermal power sectors and noted that
Russia was a major exporter of oil and gas and that India was
emerging as a large consumer.
They affirmed their desire to cooperate in the development
of new oil and gas fields and the means of their transportation
in Russia, India and other countries.
"Both sides agree to encourage and assist investments in the
energy sector by Indian companies in Russia and those by Russian
companies in this sector in India." Enditem
Copyright ©2003 Xinhua News Agency. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
26 Xinhua: DPRK condemns US "red line" on nuke issue
www.xinhuanet.com
www.chinaview.cn 2004-12-03 18:54:32
PYONGYANG, Dec. 3 (Xinhuanet) -- The Democratic People's
Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Friday accused the United States of
unilaterally setting a "red line" on the DPRK's "nuclear
program," calling it an excuse for preempting an attack on the
DPRK.
The DPRK's major newspaper Rodong Sinmun said in an article
that "the US has so far persistently put pressure upon the DPRK
while spreading distorted rumors about its nuclear issue.
Recentlyit has gone the length of talking about the red line and
threatening a military punishment."
"This is aimed to provoke the second Korean war come what
may, charging the DPRK with the 'possession of nuclear weapons'
and 'sponsorship of terrorism,'" the article added.
A report carried by Japanese newspaper Yomiuri in its Nov. 9
edition quoted a senior US official as saying if the DPRK sells
nuclear-related substance to other country, the United States
will resort to "a military punishment."
"This is nothing but an anti-DPRK smear campaign pursuant to
the scenario of the second Korean war and a trick to secure a
justification to provoke a war under the pretext of
'proliferation of nuclear-related substance' by the DPRK," the
article said.
"The US now seeks to preempt an attack on the DPRK at any
moment under the pretext of its 'red line'," said the Rodong
Sinmun. Enditem
Copyright ©2003 Xinhua News Agency. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
27 NRC: Notice of Availability of Environmental Assessment and Finding
FR Doc 04-26607
[Federal Register: December 3, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 232)]
[Notices] [Page 70290] From the Federal Register Online via GPO
Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr03de04-87]
of No Significant Impact for License Termination for ViroPharma,
Incorporated's Facility in Exton, PA AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory
Commission.
ACTION: Notice of availability.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Marjorie McLaughlin,
Decommissioning Branch, Division of Nuclear Materials Safety,
Region I, 475 Allendale Road, King of Prussia, Pennsylvania
19406, telephone (610) 337-5240, fax (610) 337-5269; or by
e-mail: mmm3@nrc.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: I. Introduction The Nuclear Regulatory
Commission (NRC) is terminating Materials License No. 37-30241-01
issued to ViroPharma, Incorporated and authorizing release of its
facility in Exton, Pennsylvania for unrestricted use. NRC has
prepared an Environmental Assessment (EA) in support of this
action in accordance with the requirements of 10 CFR part 51.
Based on the EA, the NRC has concluded that a Finding of No
Significant Impact (FONSI) is appropriate. The license will be
terminated following the publication of this Notice.
II. EA Summary The purpose of the action is to authorize the
release of the licensee's Exton, Pennsylvania facility for
unrestricted use. ViroPharma, Incorporated was authorized by NRC
from December 17, 1997, to use radioactive materials for research
and development purposes at the site. On July 28, 2004,
ViroPharma, Incorporated requested that NRC terminate the license
and release the facility for unrestricted use. ViroPharma,
Incorporated has conducted surveys of the facility and provided
information to the NRC to demonstrate that the site meets the
license termination criteria in subpart E of 10 CFR part 20 for
unrestricted use.
The NRC staff has prepared an EA in support of the license
termination. The facility was remediated and surveyed prior to
the licensee requesting the license amendment. The NRC staff has
reviewed the information and final status survey submitted by
ViroPharma, Incorporated. Based on its review, the staff has
determined that there are no additional remediation activities
necessary to complete the proposed action. Therefore, the staff
considered the impact of the residual radioactivity at the
facility and concluded that since the residual radioactivity
meets the requirements in subpart E of 10 CFR part 20, a Finding
of No Significant Impact is appropriate.
III. Finding of No Significant Impact The staff has prepared the
EA (summarized above) in support of the request to terminate the
license and release the facility for unrestricted use. The NRC
staff has evaluated ViroPharma, Incorporated's request and the
results of the surveys and has concluded that the completed
action complies with the criteria in subpart E of 10 CFR part 20.
The staff has found that the environmental impacts from the
action are bounded by the impacts evaluated by NUREG-1496,
Volumes 1-3, ``Generic Environmental Impact Statement in Support
of Rulemaking on Radiological Criteria for License Termination of
NRC-Licensed Facilities'' (ML042310492, ML042320379, and
ML042330385). On the basis of the EA, the NRC has concluded that
the environmental impacts from the action are expected to be
insignificant and has determined not to prepare an environmental
impact statement for the action.
IV. Further Information Documents related to this action,
including the application for the license amendment and
supporting documentation, are available electronically at the
NRC's Electronic Reading Room at
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. From this site, you can
access the NRC's Agencywide Document Access and Management System
(ADAMS), which provides text and image files of NRC's public
documents. The ADAMS accession numbers for the documents related
to this Notice are: The Environmental Assessment (ML043310216),
and the letter dated July 28, 2004, requesting termination of the
license (ML042230034).
Please note that on October 25, 2004, the NRC terminated public
access to ADAMS and initiated an additional security review of
publicly available documents to ensure that potentially sensitive
information is removed from the ADAMS database accessible through
the NRC's Web site. Interested members of the public may obtain
copies of the referenced documents for review and/or copying by
contacting the Public Document Room pending resumption of public
access to ADAMS. The NRC Public Documents Room is located at NRC
Headquarters in Rockville, MD, and can be contacted at (800)
397-4209, (301) 415-4737 or by e-mail to: pdr@nrc.gov. These
documents may be viewed electronically at the NRC Public Document
Room (PDR), 0 1 F21, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike,
Rockville, MD 20852. The PDR reproduction contractor will copy
documents for a fee. The PDR is open from 7:45 a.m. to 4:15 p.m.,
Monday through Friday, except on Federal holidays.
Dated at King of Prussia, Pennsylvania this 26th day of November,
2004.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
James P. Dwyer, Chief, Commercial and R Branch, Division of
Nuclear Materials Safety, Region I.
[FR Doc. 04-26607 Filed 12-2-04; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P
*****************************************************************
28 ITAR-TASS: Russian civil nuclear-powered fleet turns 45
03.12.2004, 05.52
MURMANSK, December 1 (Itar-Tass) - The Russian civil
nuclear-powered fleet is turning 45 years old on Friday. Its
emergence is connected with the world’s first nuclear icebreaker
“Lenin”, aboard which the former Soviet Union’s flag was hoisted
on the 3rd of December 1959.
The powerful 134m long and 27.6m-wide 16,000-ton icebreaker
helped nearly double the navigation time in the eastern part of
the Arctic Ocean and make it almost 12-month long in its western
part.
Subsequent generations of Russian civil nuclear-powered ships
added new impressive pages to the heroic chronicle of conquering
the Arctic Ocean. Thus, on 18 August 1977, the nuclear
icebreaker Arktika under the command of renowned skipper Yuri
Kuchiev became the world’s first ship to reach the North Pole on
its own.
At present tourists from many western countries make annual
voyages to the North Pole aboard Russian nuclear-powered ships.
© ITAR-TASS. All rights reserved. You undertake not to copy,
*****************************************************************
29 gov.bw: Govt to establish board to regulate atomic energy
Latest News - Republic of Botswana
Botswana Philatelic Society Tel: +267 3906023 Botswana Society
Email: botsoc@botsnet.bw Tel: +267 3919673/12 Fax: +267 3919745
Please email your comments to DailyNews@gov.bw
03 December, 2004
GABORONE- The government is in the process of establishing a
board to regulate the use of atomic energy.
The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Communications
Science and Technology, Marianne Nganunu said when opening a
Consultative Seminar on the Establishment of the Regulatory
Framework for Control and Monitoring of the Peaceful use of
Atomic and Ionizing Radiation in Gaborone yesterday.
She said the regulatory authority will be mandated for the
inventory of radiation sources, establishment of the office of
the radiation safety office, come up with a medical exposure
control for persons that had been exposed to radiation
materials, policy on radioactive waste, accidents and early
diagnosis of radiation injury as well as organizing a seminar to
promote the new law to be.
The new regulatory board will also be responsible for licensing
and inspection and monitoring nuclear facilities.
The Department of Research Science and Technology will act as
its secretariat.
Nganunu said, the new regulatory body would have to implement
national legislation taking into account international legal
commitments.
It will also establish a comprehensive and effective nuclear
legislative system covering all major aspects of nuclear law, in
particular emergency preparedness, transport safety, radioactive
waste management and nuclear safeguards and security issues.
It will also have to develop, promulgate and enforce laws
governing the safe and peaceful uses of nuclear energy, as well
as adhere to the relevant international instruments adopted
under the aegis of the agency.
It will be illegal to use any nuclear source without registering
with the Ministry of Communications Science and Technology," she
said.
An advisory Committee responsible for the development of the
country programme framework will also be set up. The committee
will also be charged with a mandate to see to it that the use of
nuclear technology is promoted.
This will include assessing new projects related to nuclear.
For his part the Director of Research, Science and Technology,
Dr Edson Selaolo allayed fears that all consequences of nuclear
were devastating.
He submitted that nuclear energy has a lot of peaceful
applications which when properly utilized could solve the
country's energy problems.
Selaolo added that, "nuclear energy should not only be
associated with wealthy and powerful nations, and weapons of
mass destruction because it is very vital in nuclear medicine,
industrial applications and research." "Nuclear technology is
for all nations to benefit from, adding that nuclear power
generators are the cleanest most environmentally friendly
facilities when operated safely. Unrestricted access to nuclear
technology facilities and expertise should enable Botswana to
improve lives of Batswana." He emphasized that, local, regional
and international cooperation on nuclear technology research and
development projects could yield benefits. "It has the potential
to find solutions to Botswana's major problems such as HIV/AIDS
and water scarcity. Training of research scientists must be done
urgently," he said.
World AIDS Day reports from around the country. The setting up
of a regulatory body comes after realization that, organizations
and industries in Botswana have been using nuclear technology
for various applications but not registered or under any
legislative control as provided for protection against ionizing
radiation and for the safety of radiation sources.
Botswana is a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency,
an organization that promotes the safe and peaceful use of
nuclear energy. It provides assistance to member states such as
expertise and training.BOPA
news stories were supplied by the Botswana Press Agency (BOPA)
Please send comments to webmaster@gov.bw
*****************************************************************
30 NZZ Online: Nuclear reactor to stay online
4. 12. 2004)
Samstag, 4. Dezember 2004
The government has given a power company unlimited authorisation
to operate a controversial nuclear reactor in northern
Switzerland.
Green groups say the authorities have surrendered to the demands
of the nuclear lobby, which is pushing for more power plants.
The authorities gave the green light to the continued operation
of the Beznau II reactor on Friday, despite opposition from the
German and Austrian governments as well as environmental
organisations such as Greenpeace.
The government said it based its decision on advice from its
nuclear security division as well as the Federal Committee on
Nuclear Security.
Greenpeace claims that the reactor, which went online in 1971,
is ten times more likely to melt down than another reactor at
the Gösgen plan which was built nearly a decade later.
Safety issues
But the energy ministry said the decision would encourage the
operator to invest in upgrading the plant and improving safety
at the reactor site.
The Swiss Energy Foundation (SEF), which has been lobbying
against nuclear power for 30 years, says the authorities have
given in to the powerful economic interests of power-plant
operators.
Green Party parliamentarian and SEF president Geri Müller
expressed doubt that any power company granted unlimited
authorisation to manage a nuclear reactor would “invest in
expensive safety measures”.
He also questioned whether a recent move to distribute iodine
tablets to households living near the reactor was “enough to
ensure people’s safety”.
Monitoring
The government has made it clear that authorisation to operate
the reactor can be withdrawn at any time if it decides that
security is insufficient at the site.
Greenpeace argues that the criteria that have to be fulfilled to
force the closure of a reactor need to be clearly established.
The SEF also warns that there are no clearly defined safety
levels.
Authorisation for Beznau II, along with the Mühleberg reactor
near the capital, Bern, has until now only been granted for
fixed periods of time.
The three other Swiss reactors – Beznau I, Gösgen and Leibstadt
– already benefited from unlimited authorisations.
Leibstadt was the last Swiss nuclear power plant to open in
1984. Plans to build another reactor in Kaiseraugst, not far
from Basel, were abandoned following widespread opposition
during the 1980s.
Looking ahead
The Swiss do not appear ready to abandon nuclear power. Last
year voters rejected two initiatives calling for an official end
to nuclear power and a moratorium on nuclear-plant construction.
Recently, pressure on the government to consider new plants has
increased, with power companies warning that current nuclear
reactors will have to be decommissioned by 2020.
Dori Schaer, who headed a government committee that laid the
groundwork for Switzerland’s planned electricity law, says the
power companies have a point.
“We don’t know how to replace the power supplied by the nuclear
reactors when they are finally switched off,” she told
swissinfo.
“Renewable energy sources have failed to live up to their
billing and cost too much. Given that it takes over ten years to
authorise and build a new plant, time is of the essence.”
swissinfo with agencies
Copyright © Swissinfo / Neue Zürcher Zeitung AG
*****************************************************************
31 News & Star: EU launch inquiry into new nuclear authority
7:44 - 4 December 2004
Published on
03/12/2004 By Andrea Thompson
THE European Commission has launched an investigation into the
creation of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, which will be
based in West Cumbria.
It is looking into the legality of the state aid which the
Government intends to provide to the NDA.
It is proposing to transfer £40 billion of liabilities from
British Nuclear Fuels to the NDA, which is due to be established
in April next year to oversee the decommissioning of the UK’s
nuclear facilities - including Sellafield.
The NDA will also take financial responsibility for liabilities
at the UK’s Atomic Energy Authority sites.
The Government notified the EC of its intention to provide aid to
NDA last December, arguing that it would be compatible with EU
rules.
The commission, however, believes that removing BNFL’s debts
could be an illegal state subsidy, but has said that the transfer
of liabilities could be allowed if it can be shown there are
wider community benefits.
An EC spokesman said: “In view of the complexity and the
novelty of the case, as well as the importance of the sums
involved, the commission decided that an in-depth inquiry would
be necessary in order to analyse the balance of the positive and
negative aspects of the aid.â€
In the meantime, the Government has been told to set up interim
funding arrangements, to cover the duration of the investigation,
so the NDA can start work as planned on April 1. This would not
involve the transfer of BNFL’s debts.
UK Energy Minister Mike O’Brien said the Government believes
the NDA is compatible with EC state aid rules.
“We understand the importance of the state aid regime, fully
support it, and understand the commission’s desire to
investigate. But we have taken necessary steps to ensure that the
NDA can get on with its job from 1 April using existing
resources.â€
“We are confident in the strength of the case we put to the
commission and will be working closely with them throughout their
investigation.â€
BNFL said it will fully support the Government during the EC
investigation and will continue to move towards the launch of the
NDA.
*****************************************************************
32 [DU-WATCH] Weapons of Self-Destruction by David Rose - Vanity
Date: Fri, 3 Dec 2004 23:27:39 -0600 (CST)
Weapons of Self-Destruction
By David Rose
Is Gulf War syndrome - possibly caused by Pentagon ammunition - taking its
toll on G.I.'s in Iraq?
When he started to get sick, Staff Sergeant Raymond Ramos's first instinct
was to fight. "I had joint pains, muscle aches, chronic fatigue, but I tried
to exercise it out," he says. "I was going for runs, working out. But I
never got any better. The headaches were getting more frequent and sometimes
lasted all day. I was losing a lot of weight. My overall physical demeanor
was bad."
A 20-year veteran of the New York National Guard, Ramos had been mobilized
for active duty in Iraq in the spring of 2003. His unit, the 442nd Military
Police company, arrived there on Easter, 10 days before President Bush's
mission accomplished appearance on the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln. A tall,
soft-spoken 40-year-old with four children, the youngest still an infant,
Ramos was proud of his physique. In civilian life, he was a New York City
cop. "I worked on a street narcotics team. It was very busy, with lots of
overtime-very demanding." Now, rising unsteadily from his armchair in his
thickly carpeted living room in Queens, New York, Ramos grimaces. "The shape
I came back in, I cannot perform at that level. I've lost 40 pounds. I'm
frail."
At first, as his unit patrolled the cities of Najaf and al-Diwaniyya, Ramos
stayed healthy. But in June 2003, as temperatures climbed above 110 degrees,
his unit was moved to a makeshift base in an abandoned railroad depot in
Samawah, where some fierce tank battles had taken place. "When we first got
there, I was a heat casualty, feeling very weak," Ramos says. He expected to
recover quickly. Instead, he went rapidly downhill.
By the middle of August, when the 442nd was transferred to Babylon, Ramos
says, the right side of his face and both of his hands were numb, and he had
lost most of the strength in his grip. His fatigue was worse and his
headaches had become migraines, frequently so severe "that I just couldn't
function." His urine often contained blood, and even when it didn't he would
feel a painful burning sensation, which "wouldn't subside when I finished."
His upper body was covered by a rash that would open and weep when he
scratched it. As he tells me this, he lifts his shirt to reveal a mass of
pale, circular scars. He was also having respiratory difficulties. Later, he
would develop sleep apnea, a dangerous condition in which he would stop
breathing during sleep.
Eventually, Ramos was medevaced to a military hospital in Landstuhl,
Germany. Doctors there were baffled and sent him on to the Walter Reed Army
Medical Center, on the outskirts of Washington, D.C. There, Ramos says, one
neurologist suggested that his condition could have been caused by some
long-forgotten head injury or might just be "signs of aging." At the end of
September 2003, the staff at Walter Reed ordered him to report to Fort Dix,
New Jersey, where, he says, a captain went through his record and told him,
"I was clear to go back to Iraq. I got the impression they thought I was
faking it." He was ordered to participate in a long-distance run. Halfway
through, he collapsed. Finally, on July 31, 2004, after months of further
examinations, Ramos was discharged with a medical disability and sent home.
Symptoms such as Ramos's had been seen before. In veterans of Operation
Desert Storm, they came to be called Gulf War syndrome; among those posted
to Bosnia and Kosovo in the 1990s, Balkans syndrome. He was not the only
member of the 442nd to suffer them. Others had similar urinary problems,
joint pains, fatigue, headaches, rashes, and sleep apnea. Today, some
scientists believe that all these problems, together with others found in
war-zone civilians, can be traced to the widespread use of a uniquely deadly
form of ammunition.
In the ongoing Iraq conflict, just as in the Gulf War of 1991 and in the
Balkans, American and British forces have fired tens of thousands of shells
and cannon rounds made of a toxic and radioactive material called depleted
uranium, or D.U. Because D.U. is dense-approximately 1.7 times as dense as
lead-and ignites upon impact, at a temperature of about 5,400 degrees, it
can penetrate armor more effectively than any other material.
It's also remarkably cheap. The arms industry gets its D.U. for free from
nuclear-fuel processors, which generate large quantities of it as a
by-product of enriching uranium for reactor fuel. Such processors would
otherwise have to dispose of it in protected, regulated sites. D.U. is
"depleted" only in the sense that most of its fissile U-235 isotope has been
removed. What's left-mainly U-238-is still radioactive.
Three of the main weapons systems still being used in Iraq-the M-1 Abrams
tank, the Bradley Fighting Vehicle, and the A-10 Warthog attack jet-use D.U.
ammunition. A 120-mm. tank round contains about nine pounds of solid D.U.
When a D.U. "penetrator" strikes its target, up to 70 percent of the shell's
mass is flung into the air in a shower of uranium-oxide fragments and dust,
some in the form of aerosolized particles less than a millionth of a meter
in diameter. When inhaled, such particles lodge in the lungs and bathe the
surrounding tissue with alpha radiation, known to be highly dangerous
internally, and smaller amounts of beta and gamma radiation.
Even before Desert Storm, the Pentagon knew that D.U. was potentially
hazardous. Before last year's Iraq invasion, it issued strict regulations
designed to protect civilians, troops, and the environment after the use of
D.U. But the Pentagon insists that there is little chance that these
veterans' illnesses are caused by D.U.
The U.S. suffered only 167 fatal combat casualties in the first Gulf War.
Since then, veterans have claimed pensions and health-care benefits at a
record rate. The Veterans Administration reported this year that it was
paying service-related disability pensions to 181,996 Gulf War
veterans-almost a third of the total still living. Of these, 3,248 were
being compensated for "undiagnosed illnesses." The Pentagon's spokesman, Dr.
Michael Kilpatrick, deputy director of its Deployment Health section, says
that Gulf War veterans are no less healthy than soldiers who were stationed
elsewhere.
Those returning from Operation Iraqi Freedom are also beginning to report
illnesses in significant numbers. In July 2004, the V.A. disclosed that
27,571 of them-16.4 percent of the total-had sought health care. Of that
group, 8,134 suffered muscular and skeletal ailments; 3,505 had respiratory
problems; and 5,674 had "symptoms, signs and ill-defined conditions." An
additional 153 had developed cancers. The V.A. claims that such figures are
"typical of young, active, healthcare-seeking populations," but does not
offer figures for comparison.
There is also evidence of a large rise in birth defects and unprecedented
cancer rates among civilians following the first Gulf War in the Basra
region of southern Iraq, where the heaviest fighting took place. Dr.
Kilpatrick says, "I think it's very important to try to understand what are
the causes of that high rate of cancer and birth defects. There has to be a
good look at that, but if you go to the M. D. Anderson hospital, in Houston,
Texas, you're going to find a very high rate of cancer. That's because
people from all over the country with cancer go there, because it's one of
the premier care centers. Basra was the only major hospital in southern
Iraq. Are the people there with these different problems people who lived
their entire lives in Basra, or are they people who've come to Basra for
care?" It is possible, he says, that some other environmental factor is
responsible for the illnesses, such as Saddam's chemical weapons or poor
nutrition. "I don't think anything should be taken off the table."
In October 2004, an early draft of a study by the Research Advisory
Committee on Gulf War Veterans' Illnesses, a scientific panel run by the
V.A., was leaked to The New York Times. According to the Times, the panel
had concluded that there was a "probable link" between veterans' illnesses
and exposure to neurotoxins, including a drug given to troops in 1991 to
protect them from nerve gas, and nerve gas itself, which was released when
U.S.-led forces destroyed an Iraqi arms depot. Asked why there was no
mention of D.U. in the report, Dr. Lea Steele, the panel's scientific
director, says that her group plans to address it in a later report: "We've
only just begun work on this topic. We are certainly not ruling it out."
D.U.'s critics, meanwhile, say it's entirely possible that both neurotoxins
and D.U. are responsible for the widespread sickness among veterans.
Members of the 442nd have vivid memories of being exposed to D.U. Sergeant
Hector Vega, a youthful-looking 48-year-old who in civilian life works in a
building opposite Manhattan's Guggenheim Museum, says he now struggles with
chest pains, heart palpitations, headaches, urinary problems, body tremors,
and breathlessness-none of which he'd ever experienced before going to Iraq.
He recalls the unit's base there: "There were burnt-out Iraqi tanks on
flatbed trucks 100 yards from where we slept. It looked like our barracks
had also been hit, with black soot on the walls. It was open to the
elements, and dust was coming in all the time. When the wind blew, we were
eating it, breathing it. It was everywhere." (The Department of Defense, or
D.O.D., says that a team of specialists is conducting an occupational and
environmental health survey in the area.)
Dr. Asaf Durakovic, 64, is a retired U.S. Army colonel and the former head
of nuclear medicine at a veterans' hospital in Wilmington, Delaware. Dr.
Durakovic reports finding D.U. in the urine of 18 out of 30 Desert Storm
veterans, sometimes up to a decade after they were exposed, and in his view
D.U. fragments are both a significant cause of Gulf War syndrome and a
hazard to civilians for an indefinite period of time. He says that when he
began to voice these fears inside the military he was first warned, then
fired: he now operates from Toronto, Canada, at the independent Uranium
Medical Research Centre.
In December 2003, Dr. Durakovic analyzed the urine of nine members of the
442nd. With funds supplied by the New York Daily News, which first published
the results, Durakovic sent the samples to a laboratory in Germany that has
some of the world's most advanced mass-spectrometry equipment. He concluded
that Ramos, Vega, Sergeant Agustin Matos, and Corporal Anthony Yonnone were
"internally contaminated by depleted uranium (D.U.) as a result of exposure
through [the] respiratory pathway."
The Pentagon contests these findings. Dr. Kilpatrick says that, when the
D.O.D. conducted its own tests, "our results [did] not mirror the results of
Dr. Durakovic." "Background" sources, such as water, soil, and therefore
food, frequently contain some uranium. The Pentagon insists that the 442nd
soldiers' urinary uranium is "within normal dietary ranges," and that "it
was not possible to distinguish D.U. from the background levels of natural
uranium." The Pentagon says it has tested about 1,000 vets from the current
conflict and found D.U. contamination in only five. Its critics insist this
is because its equipment is too insensitive and its testing methods are
hopelessly flawed.
At a briefing before the Iraq invasion in March 2003, Dr. Kilpatrick tried
to reassure reporters about D.U. by citing the cases of about 20 Desert
Storm vets who had D.U. shrapnel in their bodies. "We have not seen any
untoward medical consequences in these individuals," he said. "There has
been no cancer of bone or lungs, where you would expect them." It appears
that he misspoke on that occasion: one of these veterans had already had an
arm amputated for an osteosarcoma, or bone tumor, at the site where the
shrapnel entered. Dr. Kilpatrick confirms that the veteran was treated by
the V.A. in Baltimore, but says his condition may not have been linked with
the shrapnel: "Osteosarcomas are fairly common." Studies have shown that
D.U. can begin to move through the body and concentrate in the lymph nodes,
and another of the vets with shrapnel has a form of lymphatic cancer. But
this, Dr. Kilpatrick says, has "no known cause." He concedes that research
has not proved the negative, that D.U. doesn't cause cancer. But, he says,
"science doesn't in 2004 show that D.U. causes any cancer."
It does, however, show that it may. Pentagon-sponsored studies at the Armed
Forces Radiobiology Research Institute, in Bethesda, Maryland, have found
that, when D.U. was embedded in animals, several genes associated with human
tumors underwent "aberrant activation," and oncoproteins of the type found
in cancer patients turned up in their blood. The animals' urine was
"mutagenic," meaning that it could cause cells to mutate. Another institute
project found that D.U. could damage the immune system by hastening the
death of white blood cells and impairing their ability to attack bacteria.
In June 2004 the U.S. General Accounting Office (G.A.O.) issued a report to
Congress that was highly critical of government research into Gulf War
syndrome and veterans' cancer rates. The report said that the studies on
which federal agencies were basing their claim that Gulf War veterans were
no sicker than the veterans of other wars "may not be reliable" and had
"inherent limitations," with big data gaps and methodological flaws. Because
cancers can take years to develop, the G.A.O. stated, "it may be too early"
to draw any conclusions. Dr. Kilpatrick dismisses this report, saying it was
"just the opinion of a group of individuals."
Yet another Pentagon-funded study suggested that D.U. might have effects on
unborn children. After finding that pregnant rats transmitted D.U. to their
offspring through the placenta, the study concluded: "Fetal exposure to
uranium during critical prenatal development may adversely impact the future
behavioral and neurological development of offspring." In September 2004,
the New York Daily News reported that Gerard Darren Matthew, who had served
in Iraq with the 719th Transportation Company, which is based in Harlem, had
tested positive for D.U. after suffering migraines, fatigue, and a burning
sensation when urinating. Following his return, his wife became pregnant,
and their daughter, Victoria Claudette, was born missing three fingers.
Ultimately, critics say, the Pentagon underestimates the dangers of D.U.
because it measures them in the wrong way: by calculating the average amount
of D.U. radiation produced throughout the body. When we meet, Dr. Kilpatrick
gives me a report the Department of Defense issued in 2000. It concludes
that even vets with the highest exposures from embedded shrapnel could
expect over 50 years to receive a dose of just five rem, "which is the
annual limit for [nuclear industry] workers." The dose for those who inhaled
dust from burned-out tanks would be "far below the annual guideline (0.1
rem) for members of the public."
But to measure the effect of D.U. as a whole-body radiation dose is
meaningless, Asaf Durakovic says, because the dose from D.U. is intensely
concentrated in the cells around a mote of dust. The alpha particles D.U.
emits-high-energy clumps of protons and neutrons-are harmless outside the
body, because they cannot pass through skin. Inside tissue, however, they
wreak a havoc analogous to that of a penetrating shell against an enemy
tank, bombarding cell nuclei, breaking chains of DNA, damaging fragile
genes. Marcelo Valdes, a physicist and computer scientist who is president
of Dr. Durakovic's research institute, says the cells around a D.U. particle
2.5 microns in diameter will receive a maximum annual radiation dose of 16
rads. If every pocket of tissue in the body were to absorb that amount of
radiation, the total level would reach seven trillion rads-millions of times
the lethal dosage.
In the potentially thousands of hot spots inside the lungs of a person
exposed to D.U. dust, the same cells will be irradiated again and again,
until their ability to repair themselves is lost. In 1991, Durakovic found
D.U. in the urine of 14 veterans who had returned from the Gulf with
headaches, muscle and skeletal pain, fatigue, trembling, and kidney
problems. "Immediately I understood from their symptoms and their histories
that they could have been exposed to radiation," he says. Within three
years, two were dead from lung cancer: "One was 33, the other 42. Both were
nonsmokers, in previously excellent health."
D.U., he says, steadily migrates to the bones. There it irradiates the
marrow, where stem cells, the progenitors of all the other cells the body
manufactures in order to renew itself, are produced. "Stem cells are very
vulnerable," Durakovic says. "Bombarded with alpha particles, their DNA will
fall apart, potentially affecting every organ. If malfunctioning stem cells
become new liver cells, then the liver will malfunction. If stem cells are
damaged, they may form defective tissue."
If D.U. is as dangerous as its critics allege, it can kill even without
causing cancer. At her home in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, Susan Riordon recalls
the return of her husband, Terry, from the Gulf in 1991. Terry, a security
captain, served in intelligence during the war: his service record refers to
his setting up a "safe haven" in the Iraqi "theatre." Possibly, Susan
speculates, this led him behind enemy lines and exposed him to D.U. during
the long aerial bombing campaign that preceded the 1991 invasion. In any
event, "when he came home, he didn't really come home," she says.
At first, Terry merely had the usual headaches, body pain, oozing rash, and
other symptoms. But later he began to suffer from another symptom which
afflicts some of those exposed to D.U.: burning semen. "If he leaked a
little lubrication from his penis, it would feel like sunburn on your skin.
If you got to the point where you did have intercourse, you were up and out
of that bed so fast-it actually causes vaginal blisters that burst and
bleed." Terry's medical records support her description. In England, Malcolm
Hooper, professor emeritus of medicinal chemistry at the University of
Sunderland, is aware of 4,000 such cases. He hypothesizes that the presence
of D.U. may be associated with the transformation of semen into a caustic
alkali.
"It hurt [Terry] too. He said it was like forcing it through barbed wire,"
Riordon says. "It seemed to burn through condoms; if he got any on his
thighs or his testicles, he was in hell." In a last, desperate attempt to
save their sex life, says Riordon, "I used to fill condoms with frozen peas
and insert them [after sex] with a lubricant." That, she says, made her pain
just about bearable. Perhaps inevitably, he became impotent. "And that was
like our last little intimacy gone."
By late 1995, Terry was seriously deteriorating. Susan shows me her
journal-she titled it "The Twilight Zone"-and his medical record. It makes
harrowing reading. He lost his fine motor control to the point where he
could not button his shirt or zip his fly. While walking, he would fall
without warning. At night, he shook so violently that the bed would move
across the floor. He became unpredictably violent: one terrible day in 1997
he attacked their 16-year-old son and started choking him. By the time armed
police arrived to pull him off, the boy's bottom lip had turned blue. After
such rages, he would fall into a deep sleep for as long as 24 hours, and
awake with no memory of what had happened. That year, Terry and Susan
stopped sleeping in the same bedroom. Then "he began to barricade himself in
his room for days, surviving on granola bars and cartons of juice."
As he went downhill, Terry was assessed as completely disabled, but there
was no diagnosis as to why. His records contain references to "somatization
disorder," post-traumatic stress, and depression. In 1995 the army doctors
even suggested that he had become ill only after reading of Gulf War
syndrome. Through 1998 and 1999, he began to lose all cognitive functions
and was sometimes lucid for just a few hours each week.
Even after he died, on April 29, 1999, Terry's Canadian doctors remained
unable to explain his illness. "This patient has a history [of] 'Gulf War
Syndrome' with multiple motor, sensory and emotional problems," the autopsy
report by pathologist Dr. B. Jollymore, of Yarmouth, begins. "During
extensive investigation, no definitive diagnosis has been determined....
Essentially it appears that this gentleman remains an enigma in death as he
was in life."
Not long before Terry's death, Susan Riordon had learned of Asaf Durakovic,
and of the possibility that her husband absorbed D.U. His urine-test
results-showing a high D.U. concentration eight years after he was
presumably exposed-came through on Monday, April 26: "Tuesday he was
reasonably cognitive, and was able to tell me that he wanted his body and
organs to go to Dr. Durakovic," she remembers. "He knew it was too late to
help him, but he made me promise that his body could help the international
community. On the Wednesday, I completed the purchase of this house. On
Thursday, he was dead.
"It was a very strange death. He was very peaceful. I've always felt that
Asaf allowed Terry to go: knowing he was D.U.-positive meant he wasn't crazy
anymore. Those last days he was calm. He wasn't putting the phone in the
microwave; he had no more mood swings."
After Riordon's death, Dr. Durakovic and his colleagues found accumulations
of D.U. in his bones and lungs.
Dr. Durakovic suspects the military of minimizing the health and
environmental consequences of D.U. weapons, and suggests two reasons it may
have for doing so: "to keep them off the list of war criminals, and to avoid
paying compensation which could run into billions of dollars." To this might
be added a third: depleted uranium, because of its unique armor-penetrating
capabilities, has become a defining feature of American warfare, one whose
loss would be intolerable to military planners.
In 1991, the U.S. used D.U. weapons to kill thousands of Iraqis in tanks and
armored vehicles on the "highway of death" from Kuwait to Basra. The
one-sided victory ushered in a new era of "lethality overmatch"-the ability
to strike an enemy with virtual impunity. A Pentagon pamphlet from 2003
states that a central objective of the American military is to "generate
dominant lethality overmatch across the full spectrum of operations," and no
weapon is better suited to achieving that goal than D.U.
The value of depleted uranium was spelled out more simply in a Pentagon
briefing by Colonel James Naughton of the army's Materiel Command in March
2003, just before the Iraq invasion: "What we want to be able to do is
strike the target from farther away than we can be hit back.... We don't
want to fight even. Nobody goes into a war and wants to be even with the
enemy. We want to be ahead, and D.U. gives us that advantage."
If the Pentagon is right about the risks of D.U., such statements should not
be controversial. If it is wrong, says retired army colonel Dr. Andras
Korenyi-Both, who headed one of the main field hospitals during Desert Storm
and later conducted some of the first research into Gulf War syndrome, the
position is less clear-cut. "You'd have to deal with the question of whether
it's better not to use D.U. and have more of your soldiers die in battle or
to use D.U. and lose very few in the field-but have them get sick and die
when they get home."
One desert morning in the early spring of 1991, while sitting in his office
at the Eskan Village military compound near Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Lieutenant
Doug Rokke was shown a memorandum. Rokke, a health physicist and training
specialist, was a reservist and had recently been ordered to join the Third
U.S. Army's depleted-uranium-assessment team, assigned to clean up and move
American vehicles hit by friendly fire during Operation Desert Storm. The
memo, dated March 1, came from a senior military officer at the Los Alamos
National Laboratory, in New Mexico.
During the Gulf War, it said, "D.U. penetrators were very effective against
Iraqi armor." However, "there has been and continues to be a concern
regarding the impact of D.U. on the environment. Therefore, if no one makes
a case for the effectiveness of D.U. on the battlefield, D.U. rounds may
become politically unacceptable and thus, be deleted from the arsenal.... I
believe we should keep this sensitive issue at mind when after-action
reports are written."
Rokke says: "I interpreted the memo to mean: we want this stuff-don't write
anything that might make it difficult for us to use it again."
Rokke's assignment was dangerous and unpleasant. The vehicles were coated
with uranium-oxide soot, and dust lay in the sand outside. He wore a mask,
but it didn't help. "We could taste it and smell it," he says of the D.U.
"It tasted very strong-and unmistakable." Years later, he says, he was found
to be excreting uranium at 5,000 times the normal level. Now 55, he pants
during ordinary conversation and says he still gets a rash like the one
Raymond Ramos of the 442nd suffers from. In addition, Rokke has joint pains,
muscle aches, and cataracts.
In 1994, Rokke became director of a Pentagon project designed to learn more
about D.U. contamination and to develop training that would minimize its
risks. "I'm a warrior, and warriors want to fulfill their mission," Rokke
says. "I went into this wanting to make it work, to work out how to use D.U.
safely, and to show other soldiers how to do so and how to clean it up. This
was not science out of a book, but science done by blowing the shit out of
tanks and seeing what happens. And as we did this work, slowly it dawned on
me that we were screwed. You can't do this safely in combat conditions. You
can't decontaminate the environment or your own troops."
Rokke and his colleagues conducted a series of experiments at the U.S.
Department of Energy's Nevada nuclear-test site. They set fire to a Bradley
loaded with D.U. rounds and fired D.U. shells at old Soviet tanks. At his
remote, ramshackle farmhouse amid the rural flatlands of central Illinois,
Rokke shows me videos of his tests. Most spectacular are those shot at
night, which depict the fiery streak of the D.U. round, already burning
before impact, followed by the red cascade of the debris cloud. "Everything
we hit we destroyed," he says. "I tell you, these things are just ...
fantastic."
The papers Rokke wrote describing his findings are more sobering. He
recorded levels of contamination that were 15 times the army's permissible
levels in tanks hit by D.U., and up to 4.5 times such levels in clothing
exposed to D.U.
The good news was that it was possible, using a special Department of Energy
vacuum cleaner designed for sucking up radioactive waste, to reduce
contamination from vehicles and equipment to near official limits, and to
"mask" the intense radiation around holes left by D.U. projectiles by
sealing them with layers of foam caulking, paint, or cardboard. (Such work,
Rokke wrote, would naturally have to be carried out by teams in full
radiological-protection suits and respirators.)
When it came to clothes, however, D.U. particles "became imbedded in the
clothing and could not be removed with brushing or other abrasive methods."
Rokke found that even after he tried to decontaminate them the clothes were
still registering between two and three times the limit. "This may pose a
significant logistics impact," Rokke wrote, with some understatement.
The elaborate procedures required to decontaminate equipment, meanwhile,
would be almost impossible to implement in combat. "On a real battlefield,
it's not like there's any control," Rokke says. "It's chaos. Maybe it's
night. Who's going to come along and isolate contaminated enemy tanks?
You've got a pile of rubble and mess and you're still coming under fire. The
idea that you're going to come out in radiological suits and vacuum up a
building or a smashed T-72 [tank]-it's ridiculous."
Large amounts of black D.U.-oxide dust were readily visible within 50 meters
of a tank hit by penetrators and within 100 meters of the D.U.-packed
Bradley that was set on fire. But less obvious amounts were easily detected
at much greater distances. Worse, such dust could be "re-suspended" in the
atmosphere "upon contact, if wind blew, or during movement." For American
troops, that meant that "respiratory and skin protection is warranted during
all phases of recovery." For civilians, even ones at considerable distances,
it meant they might be exposed to windblown D.U. far into the future.
After Rokke completed the project, he was appointed head of the lab at Fort
McClellan where it had been based. He resigned the staff physicist post he'd
held for 19 years at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and
moved south with his family. Early in 1996, after he began to voice the
conclusions he was drawing about the future viability of D.U. weapons, he
was fired. "Then I remembered the Los Alamos memo," he says. "They'd wanted
'proponency' for D.U. weapons, and I was giving them the opposite." I ask
Dr. Kilpatrick, the D.O.D. spokesman on D.U., about Rokke's test firings.
His reply: "One, he never did that. He was in Nevada as an observer. He was
not part of that program at all. At that time he was working in education at
an army school, and his assignment was to develop educational materials for
troops." Rokke, he says, may have spent a few days observing the tests but
did not organize them.
Documents from Rokke's service record tell a different story. His appraisal
from December 1, 1995, written by Dr. Ed Battle, then chief of the radiation
laboratories at Fort McClellan, describes Rokke's mission as follows: to
"plan, coordinate, supervise and implement the U.S. Army ... depleted
uranium training development project." He continued: "Captain Rokke has
repeatedly demonstrated the ability to function well above his current rank
and is as effective as any I have known." He had directly participated in
"extremely crucial tests at the Nevada Atomic Test Site," and his
achievements had been "absolutely phenomenal."
Rokke was awarded two medals for his work. The citation for one commended
him for "meritorious service while assigned as the depleted uranium project
leader. Your outstanding achievements have prepared our soldiers for hazards
and will have a vast payoff in the health, safety, and protection of all
soldiers."
Rokke's work in Nevada helped persuade the military that D.U. weapons had to
be dealt with carefully. On September 16, 2002, General Eric Shinseki, the
U.S. Army chief of staff, signed Army Regulation 700-48, which sets forth
strict rules for handling items, including destroyed or disabled enemy
targets, that have been hit and contaminated by D.U. "During peacetime or as
soon as operational risk permits," it states, local commanders must
"identify, segregate, isolate, secure, and label all RCE [radiologically
contaminated equipment]. Procedures to minimize the spread of radioactivity
will be implemented as soon as possible." Under pre-existing regulations,
damaged vehicles should be moved to a collection point or maintenance
facility, and "covered and wrapped with canvas or plastic tarp to prevent
spread of contaminants," with loose items placed in double plastic bags.
Soldiers who carry out such tasks should wear protective equipment.
The burned-out tanks behind the 442nd's barracks in Samawah may not have
been the only D.U.-contaminated pieces of equipment to be left where they
lay. In the fall of 2003, Tedd Weyman, a colleague of Dr. Durakovic's, spent
16 days in Iraq, taking samples and observing the response of coalition
forces to General Shinseki's directive. "When tanks shot up by D.U.
munitions were removed, I saw no precautions being taken at all," he says.
"Ordinary soldiers with no protection just came along and used chains to
load them onto flatbeds, towing them away just as they might your car if it
broke down on the highway. They took them to bases with British and American
troops and left them in the open." Time after time, Weyman recorded high
levels of contamination-so high that on his return to Canada he was found to
have 4.5 times the normal level of uranium in his own urine.
A Pentagon memo, signed on May 30, 2003, by Dr. William Winkenwerder, an
assistant defense secretary, says that any American personnel "who were in,
on, or near combat vehicles at the time they were struck by D.U. rounds," or
who entered such vehicles or fought fires involving D.U. munitions, should
be assessed for possible exposure and receive appropriate health care. This
category could be said to include any soldier who fought in, or cleaned up
after, battles with Iraqi armor.
Still, the Pentagon insists that the risks remain acceptably small. "There
isn't any recognized disease from exposure to natural or depleted uranium,"
Dr. Kilpatrick says. He tells me that America will mount a thorough cleanup
in Iraq, disposing of any D.U. fragments and burying damaged vehicles in
unpopulated locations, but that, for the time being, such an operation is
impossible. "We really can't begin any environmental assessment or cleanup
while there's ongoing combat." Nevertheless, he says, there's no cause for
concern. "I think we can be very confident that what is in the environment
does not create a hazard for those living in the environment and working in
it."
As this article was going to press, the Pentagon published the findings of a
new study that, according to Dr. Kilpatrick, shows D.U. to be a "lethal but
safe weapons system."
In his Pentagon briefing in March 2003, Dr. Kilpatrick said that even if
D.U. weapons did generate toxic dust, it would not spread. "It falls to the
ground very quickly-usually within about a 50-meter range," he said. "It's
heavy. It's 1.7 times as heavy as lead. So even if it's a small dust
particle ... it stays on the ground." Evidence that this is not the case
comes from somewhere much closer than Iraq-an abandoned D.U.-weapons factory
in Colonie, New York, a few miles from Albany, the state capital.
In 1958, a corporation called National Lead began making depleted-uranium
products at a plant on Central Avenue, surrounded by houses and an Amtrak
line. In 1979, just as the plant was increasing its production of D.U.
ammunition to meet a new Pentagon contract, a whistle-blower from inside the
plant told the county health department that N.L. was releasing large
amounts of D.U. oxide into the environment.
Over the next two years, he and other workers testified before both the New
York State Assembly and a local residents' campaign group. They painted a
picture of reckless neglect. D.U. chips and shavings were simply
incinerated, and the resulting oxide dust passed into the atmosphere through
the chimneys. "I used to do a lot of burning," William Luther told the
governor's task force in 1982. "They told me to do it at night so the black
smoke wouldn't be seen." Later, many of the workers were found to have
inhaled huge doses into their lungs, and some developed cancers and other
illnesses at relatively young ages.
In January 1980 the state forced N.L. to agree to limit its radioactive
emissions to 500 microcuries per year. The following month, the state shut
the plant down. In January alone, the D.U.-chip burner had released 2,000
microcuries. An official environmental survey produced horrifying results.
Soil in the gardens of homes near the plant was emitting radiation at up to
300 times the normal background level for upstate New York. Inside the
11-acre factory site, readings were up to five times higher.
The federal government has been spending tax dollars to clean up the Colonie
site for the past 19 years, under a program called fusrap-the Formerly
Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program. Today, all that is left of the
Colonie plant are enormous piles of earth, constantly moistened with hoses
and secured by giant tarpaulins to prevent dispersal, and a few deep pits.
In its autumn 2004 bulletin to residents, the fusrap team disclosed that it
had so far removed 125,242 tons of contaminated soil from the area, all of
which have been buried at radioactive-waste sites in Utah and Idaho. In some
places, the excavations are more than 10 feet deep. fusrap had also
discovered contamination in the neighboring Patroon Creek, where children
used to play, and in the reservoir it feeds, and had treated 23.5 million
gallons of contaminated water. The cost so far has been about $155 million,
and the earliest forecast for the work's completion is 2008.
Years before fusrap began to dig, there were data to suggest that D.U.
particles-and those emitted at Colonie are approximately the same size as
those produced by weapons-can travel much farther than 50 meters. In 1979,
nuclear physicist Len Dietz was working at a lab operated by General
Electric in Schenectady, 10 miles west of Colonie. "We had air filters all
around our perimeter fence," he recalls. "One day our radiological manager
told me we had a problem: one of the filters was showing abnormally high
alpha radiation. Much to our surprise, we found D.U. in it. There could only
be one source: the N.L. plant." Dietz had other filters checked both in
Schenectady and at other G.E. sites. The three that were farthest away were
in West Milton, 26 miles northwest, and upwind, of Colonie. All the filters
contained pure Colonie D.U. "Effectively," says Dietz, "the particles' range
is unlimited."
In August 2003, the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
published a short report on Colonie. On the one hand, it declared that the
pollution produced when the plant was operating could have increased the
risks of kidney disease and lung cancer. Because the source of the danger
had shut down, however, there was now "no apparent public health hazard."
Thus there was no need to conduct a full epidemiological study of those who
had lived near and worked at the factory-the one way to produce hard
scientific data on what the health consequences of measurable D.U.
contamination actually are.
The people of Colonie have been trying to collect health data of their own.
Sharon Herr, 45, lived near the plant for nine years. She used to work 60
hours a week at two jobs-as a clerk in the state government and as a
real-estate agent. Now she too is sick, and suffers symptoms which sound
like a textbook case of Gulf War syndrome: "Fourteen years ago, I lost my
grip to the point where I can't turn keys. I'm stiff, with bad joint and
muscle pain, which has got progressively worse. I can't go upstairs without
getting out of breath. I get fatigue so intense there are days I just can't
do much. And I fall down-I'll be out walking and suddenly I fall." Together
with her friend Anne Rabe, 49, a campaigner against N.L. since the 1980s,
she has sent questionnaires to as many of the people who lived on the
streets close to the plant as possible. So far, they have almost 400
replies.
Among those who responded were people with rare cancers or cancers that
appeared at an unusually young age, and families whose children had birth
defects. There were 17 cases of kidney problems, 15 of lung cancer, and 11
of leukemia. There were also five thyroid cancers and 16 examples of other
thyroid problems-all conditions associated with radiation. Other people
described symptoms similar to Herr's. Altogether, 174 of those in the sample
had been diagnosed with one kind of cancer or another. American women have
about a 33 percent chance of getting cancer in their lifetimes, mostly after
the age of 60. (For men, it's nearly 50 percent.) Some of the Colonie cancer
victims are two decades younger. "We have what look like possible suspicious
clusters," says Rabe. "A health study here is a perfect opportunity to see
how harmful this stuff really is."
On June 14, 2004, the army's Physical Evaluation Board, the body that
decides whether a soldier should get sickness pay, convened to evaluate the
case of Raymond Ramos of the 442nd Military Police company. It followed the
Pentagon's approach, not Dr. Durakovic's. The board examined his Walter Reed
medical-file summary, which describes his symptoms in detail, suggests that
they may have been caused by serving in Iraq, and accepts that "achieving a
cure is not a realistic treatment objective." But the summary mentions no
physical reason for them at all, let alone depleted uranium.
Like many veterans of the first Gulf War, Ramos was told by the board that
his disability had been caused primarily by post-traumatic stress. It did
not derive "from injury or disease received in the line of duty as a direct
result of armed conflict." Instead, his record says, he got "scared in the
midst of a riot" and was "emotionally upset by reports of battle
casualties." Although he was too sick to go back to work as a narcotics cop,
he would get a disability benefit fixed at $1,197 a month, just 30 percent
of his basic military pay.
On the day we meet, in September 2004, his symptoms are hardly alleviated.
"I'm in lots of pain in my joints. I'm constantly fatigued-I can fall asleep
at the drop of a dime. My wife tells me things and I just forget. It's not
fair to my family."
For the time being, the case against D.U. appears to remain unproved. But if
Asaf Durakovic, Doug Rokke, and their many allies around the world are
right, and the Pentagon wrong, the costs-human, legal, and financial-will be
incalculable. They may also be widespread. In October, the regional health
authority of Sardinia, Italy, began hearings to investigate illnesses
suffered by people who live near a U.S. firing range there that tests D.U.
weapons.
In 2002 the United Nations Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of
Human Rights declared that depleted uranium was a weapon of mass
destruction, and its use a breach of international law. But the difference
between D.U. and the W.M.D. that formed the rationale for the Iraqi invasion
is that depleted uranium may have a boomerang effect, afflicting the
soldiers of the army that fires it as well as the enemy victims of
"lethality overmatch."
The four members of the 442nd who tested positive all say they have met
soldiers from other units during their medical treatment who complain of
similar ailments, and fear that they too may have been exposed. "It's bad
enough being sent out there knowing you could be killed in combat," Raymond
Ramos says. "But people are at risk of bringing something back that might
kill them slowly. That's not right."
David Rose is a Vanity Fair contributing editor. His book Guantanamo: The
War on Human Rights is an in-depth investigation of the atrocities taking
place at the Cuban prison.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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33 [DU-WATCH] DU in Falujah ...
Date: Fri, 3 Dec 2004 23:22:36 -0600 (CST)
I have been watching Bradleys fire DU rounds at and through
buildings every night for the past week. MEF I uses the Bradley with
a 25 mm chain gun. There are conspicious uranium warhead signs:
(1) "sparking" when an inert (non explosive) round hits concrete;
(2) hot glow of an inert round when it buries into concrete (it gets
suddenly orange hot with a concentrated pulse of light as the round
burns very hot from spontaneous combustion);and, (3)the incredible
destruciton of these dense penetrators as they rip through and break
up the target and cut a building in half without the aid of chemical
explosive. You can recognise the sound of the chain gun: its a hard
and fast repeating of a "clanking" sound, distinctly different from
the sound of all other machine gun and automatic fire platforms.
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34 [DU-WATCH] Two DU Stories - Last gift of Terry Riordon and US
Date: Fri, 3 Dec 2004 23:16:30 -0600 (CST)
The Last Gift Of Terry Riordon
axisoflogic.com
By Raymond D. Cohen
Nov 11, 2004
http://www.axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/article_13520.shtml
Thousands of military veterans of the Gulf War have reported
a whole range of ailments and disabling conditions -- come
to be referred to collectively as Gulf War syndrome. The
numbers are not immediately clear for Canada, but in the
U.S. some 70,000 veterans are dealing with severe health
problems.
Symptoms of Gulf War syndrome include depression, chronic
fatigue, anxiety, respiratory problems, memory and attention
disorders, joint pain, skin rashes, musculoskeletal
disorders, shortness of breath, insomnia, hair loss,
dizziness, nausea and nerve damage.
Adding to the pain and frustration of those trying to cope
with this condition has been the negation by "experts" or
that it is more than a result of emotional trauma. Perhaps
its just a giant coincidence that thousands participating
in the Persian Gulf conflict all happened to experience
similar symptoms at about the same time.
It is odd that when our experts dont understand a
condition, they seem more inclined to dismiss it with an
"its-all-in-your-head" attitude over a more constructive
position of, "We dont know, we dont understand -- perhaps
we can try to find out."
Interestingly, the symptoms those contending with Gulf War
syndrome are almost identical to many Canadians with
environmental sensitivities. Their problems too were often
compounded by experts who dismissed their conditions as
being psychosomatic. And although the disability is now more
acknowledged by government, there are still other
professionals who doubt those with it.
The situation becomes even more confusing when, perhaps
inevitably, psychological effects sometimes do set in as a
consequence of the lack of intervention of the professionals
mandated to treat them, or the inaction of policy makers
mandated to look at the circumstances which caused symptoms
in the first place.
In the case of our Gulf War veterans, there seems to be some
movement at the federal level spurred on by the death last
year of Terry Riordon of Nova Scotia. Mr. Riordons final
wish, expressed to his wife, Sue, was that his organ and
bone tissue be examined after his death to attest to what he
knew to be true all along -- Gulf War syndrome is real. The
test results indicated that traces of a radioactive metal,
depleted uranium, remained in his body -- nine years after
he left the field of conflict.
Depleted uranium was present in the tank armour and missile
shells used by the military in the Gulf War. Troops were
exposed to it either directly, or through radioactive dust
emanating from the weapons and equipment.
Defense Minister Art Eggleton now says the military will
look closely at those tests results and the possible
widespread exposure to radioactive material in the Gulf War.
The federal government is now willing to test any members of
the Canadian forces who feel they may have been exposed to
depleted uranium while on duty.
While this decision may come too late for the Terry Riordons
of the world, it is at least a willingness to assume a
stance of, "I dont know, but Im sure as hell going to find
out,"as opposed to, "I dont know, so it must be all in your
head."
How often, and how much longer, must Canadians endure
official denials of life-stealing problems? Why is it that a
sweeping compromise of our health and well-being must occur
before some kind of intervention -- usually occurring too
late for those whose final sacrifices eventually forced the
issue -- is implemented?
Canadas blood scandal is not that far behind us, in which
untold thousands of Canadians were infected with HIV and
hepatitis C. In this issue of ABILITIES, we point to
unacceptable (but perfectly legal) exposure to lead
threatening our children ("Thumbs Down," p. 7). And
genetically altered food, currently common fare in our
supermarkets, is anybodys nightmare; our health department
assures us that its safe, but the track record is not so
reassuring.
It is time we adopt a philosophy of prevention within our
policies -- and within our institutions -- and certainly
within our homes and choices of health care practitioners.
And it is time, too, that we accept that disability and pain
being expressed by people in search of relief is real --
regardless of whether or not the source is obvious.
Lets each do what we can to turn this situation around. Be
a vocal consumer. Find out who is in charge, politically,
socially, medically -- and dont be afraid to ask the hard
questions. We owe it to ourselves, our families and our
communities. And perhaps we owe it to Terry Riordon, whose
last gift was a message that its up to citizens to speak up
when were told, "Its all in your head."
http://www.abilities.ca/health/hlth_articles.html?showhealth=1&page=17&id=1523
-----
U.S. use of depleted uranium under fire
KING 5 News
By LORI MATSUKAWA
November 11, 2004
http://www.king5.com/topstories/stories/NW_111104WABdepleteduraniumSW.49604608.html
Alvin Clark, of Tacoma, developed aplastic anemia he
believes is related to his exposure to depleted uranium dust
after he was hit by friendly fire in Saudi Arabia.
Shells and armor used by U.S. tanks, gunships and
helicopters are often made of depleted uranium because
depleted uranium, or D.U., is a heavy metal, able to pierce
armored vehicles or resist being pierced. But it's also
radioactive, a waste product of nuclear enrichment plants
like Hanford.
A pentagon training film shows how the D.U. ordnance bursts
into a fiery powder on contact.
So, what happens when U.S. Troops are forced to march
through the D.U. dust that's left on the ground? Or get hit
by friendly fire? Some vets say it made them sick. The
Pentagon disputes that.
Shinichi Matsuura of Renton fought in the first Gulf War.
His Bradley tank was hit not once, but twice, by U.S.
forces. He breathed a lot of D.U. smoke.
"Matter of fact I didn't know we were using D.U. until six
years ago," said Matsuura.
Alvin Clark of Tacoma says his unit was nearly hit by a
friendly fire missile in Jubail, Saudi Arabia. He developed
aplastic anemia and needed a bone marrow transplant.
Clark said no one ever warned him there might be some
depleted uranium out there, and if he were exposed to it,
what he was supposed to do about it.
Video Clip
KING 5's Lori Matsukawa reports
More ... Custom Video ...
Dennis Kyne of San Jose says his unit marched along the
bombed-out "highway of death" to Baghdad. He receives a
disability check from the government each month for an
"undiagnosed illness."
"My chain of command says I'm big enough and strong enough
and soldier enough to walk through this stuff and .. it's
just like lead. Just a little bit heavy and might affect the
kidneys," he said.
This October, the Pentagon released findings of a five-year
study of D.U. dust. Residue was collected from shot-up
tanks, and analyzed by computer models. The military's
conclusion? Half of the inhaled D.U. - a radioactive heavy
metal - would be excreted by the body in 10 to 100 days.
"Even individuals with the highest potential for exposure
still have doses that are well below peacetime safety
standards. Which would be allowable here in the states so if
you put that in the context of other combat risks, I'd have
to say the military exposures to depleted uranium are safe,"
said Lt. Col. Mark Melanson.
It's a slightly different story for veterans with D.U.
shrapnel embedded in their bodies.
The V.A. in Baltimore is studying about 70 Gulf War one
vets, including Shinishi Matsuura, and has found elevated
levels of uranium in the urine of several men more than a
decade after the conflict.
But Pentagon officials say this, too, is no cause for alarm.
"It's important to note that this group has been followed
for over 10 years and no adverse health effects associated
with depleted uranium have been found," officials said.
In the first Gulf War, the Pentagon estimates it used 315 to
350 tones of D.U. In today's conflict, it estimates
coalition forces have used three to six times that.
So what about the D.U. remaining in Iraq?
In a video provided by the Uranium Medical Research Centre
of Canada, researchers found soil and spent munitions with
radiation levels thousands of times higher than Department
of Defense guidelines. U.S. soldiers tried to warn-off the
researchers.
Congressman Jim McDermott, a medical doctor and Iraq war
critic, questions using D.U. at all. During a hospital visit
in Baghdad before the war, McDermott was told Iraq now has
the highest rate of childhood leukemia in the world.
"I saw what it did to the Iraqis, but now I see that we're
marching our own people through that, creating birth defects
in children, leukemia in children, illnesses among adults.
Then it becomes a question of really a war crime. The Geneva
Convention says you cannot do something that has a long term
effect on the country," said McDermott.
The Pentagon maintains D.U. is safe and necessary in war.
"You take with you the best weapons systems you can so you
can defeat the enemy with overwhelming lethality," said Dr.
Michael Kilpatrick.
The Pentagon says for penetrating armor, depleted uranium is
the heavy metal that is the best.
"It's not the best, it's the worst," said Kyne. "It
inherently becomes the worst possible weapon because it's no
longer just attacking the enemy, it's omnicidal, it kills
all of us."
The U.S. and U.K. are the only militaries that use D.U. Most
exposure to U.S. soldiers has been from fire from its own
forces.
In 1996, the United Nations Sub Commission on Promotion and
Protection of Human Rights found use of D.U. weapons
"incompatible" with existing humanitarian law.
---------------------------------
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35 Drunk Nuke Pilot/Lower Rad. Standards
Date: Fri, 03 Dec 2004 15:32:52 -0800
Drunken Pilot Who Buzzed Plant Sentenced
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: December 1, 2004
Filed at 6:15 p.m. ET
NORRISTOWN, Pa. (AP) -- A drunken pilot who buzzed his plane near a
nuclear power plant and came near six commercial airliners was sentenced to
six to 23 months in prison on Tuesday.
John V. Salamone had a blood alcohol level of 0.15 percent when he
landed the plane after an erratic, four-hour flight on Jan. 15 over the
Philadelphia region, authorities said. The legal limit for pilots, set by
the Federal Aviation Administration, is 0.04 percent, half the amount
for drivers in Pennsylvania.
Salamone, 44, who faced up to nine years in prison, must also serve five
years probation and undergo alcohol counseling, a Montgomery County judge
ordered.
Salamone was convicted of risking a catastrophe and reckless
endangerment after prosecutors learned the initial state charge of driving
under the influence does not apply to pilots.
Lawmakers have since tried to rectify the legal loophole, passing a bill
-- now awaiting the governor's signature -- that makes flying drunk a
crime.
Salamone, flying a single-engine Piper Cherokee, meandered into New
Jersey and flew into forbidden airspace. He flew as low as 100 feet and
within a quarter mile of the Limerick nuclear power plant, officials said.
A Philadelphia police helicopter helped force the plane down. Officials
acknowledged at the time there was little they could do, physically, to
bring the plane down after the North American Aerospace Defense Command
concluded it was not a terrorist threat.
COMMITTEE TO BRIDGE THE GAP
NUCLEAR INFORMATION & RESOURCE SERVICE
for immediate release
DECEMBER 2, 2004
Contacts: Daniel Hirsch, CBG (831) 332-3099
Diane D¹Arrigo, NIRS (202) 328-0002 x16
GROUPS CRITICIZE HOMELAND SECURITY PLANS TO RELAX RADIATION
CLEANUP STANDARDS FOR A ³DIRTY BOMB² OR TERRORIST
NUCLEAR EXPLOSIVE
Doses Equivalent to Tens of Thousands of Chest X-rays Could be Allowed,
Officially Estimated to Cause Cancer in Up to a Quarter
of Those Exposed
WASHINGTON, DC - More than 50 public policy organizations today called on
the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to halt plans to dramatically
weaken requirements for cleaning up radioactive contamination from a
terrorist radiological or nuclear explosive. The groups disclosed that DHS
is about to release new guidance that could permit ongoing contamination at
levels equivalent to a person receiving tens of thousands of chest X-rays
over thirty years. Official government risk figures estimate that as many
as a quarter of the people exposed to such doses would develop cancer.
In a letter to outgoing DHS Secretary Tom Ridge, the groups said, ³An
attack by a terrorist group using a Œdirty bomb¹ or improvised nuclear
device would be a terrible tragedy. . . .But should such a radiological
weapon go off in the U.S, our government should not compound the situation
by employment of standards for cleaning up the radioactive contamination
that are inadequately protective of the public.²
³Far from protecting us from the potentially catastrophic health effects
of a terrorist dirty bomb, by permitting such high radiation levels to
remain without cleanup, Homeland Security would actually be increasing the
casualty count,² said Diane D¹Arrigo, Radioactive Waste Project Director at
Nuclear Information and Resource Service. ³Approval of this guidance would
also set a dangerous precedent to weaken the already inadequate cleanup
standards for nuclear-contaminated sites across this country.²
²Benchmark² cleanup standards contemplated in the DHS guidance are up to
2500 times less protective than the risk levels considered by EPA as barely
acceptable for cleanup of Superfund toxic and radioactive sites.
³We recognize that response actions in the immediate aftermath of a
terrorist incident may require extraordinary measures and doses,² said
Daniel Hirsch, President of the Committee to Bridge the Gap and initiator of
the group letter, ³However, it is unacceptable to set final cleanup goals so
lax that long-term cancer risks are hundreds of times higher than currently
accepted for remediation of the nation¹s most contaminated sites.²
In a parallel letter to Environmental Protection Agency, the groups
urged Administrator Michael Leavitt to resist any effort to establish
cleanup standards that permit public risks significantly outside EPA¹s
longstanding legally allowable risk range.
Signers include Committee to Bridge the Gap, Nuclear Information and
Resource Service, Union of Concerned Scientists, Sierra Club, Physicians for
Social Responsibility, Public Citizen, and Greenpeace. The full letters to
Ridge and Leavitt and supporting attachments will be available on NIRS¹s
website on Friday afternoon, December 3, 2004.
--30--
*****************************************************************
36 Drunk Nuke Pilot/Lower Rad. Standards
Date: Fri, 03 Dec 2004 15:33:01 -0800
Drunken Pilot Who Buzzed Plant Sentenced
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: December 1, 2004
Filed at 6:15 p.m. ET
NORRISTOWN, Pa. (AP) -- A drunken pilot who buzzed his plane near a
nuclear power plant and came near six commercial airliners was sentenced to
six to 23 months in prison on Tuesday.
John V. Salamone had a blood alcohol level of 0.15 percent when he
landed the plane after an erratic, four-hour flight on Jan. 15 over the
Philadelphia region, authorities said. The legal limit for pilots, set by
the Federal Aviation Administration, is 0.04 percent, half the amount
for drivers in Pennsylvania.
Salamone, 44, who faced up to nine years in prison, must also serve five
years probation and undergo alcohol counseling, a Montgomery County judge
ordered.
Salamone was convicted of risking a catastrophe and reckless
endangerment after prosecutors learned the initial state charge of driving
under the influence does not apply to pilots.
Lawmakers have since tried to rectify the legal loophole, passing a bill
-- now awaiting the governor's signature -- that makes flying drunk a
crime.
Salamone, flying a single-engine Piper Cherokee, meandered into New
Jersey and flew into forbidden airspace. He flew as low as 100 feet and
within a quarter mile of the Limerick nuclear power plant, officials said.
A Philadelphia police helicopter helped force the plane down. Officials
acknowledged at the time there was little they could do, physically, to
bring the plane down after the North American Aerospace Defense Command
concluded it was not a terrorist threat.
COMMITTEE TO BRIDGE THE GAP
NUCLEAR INFORMATION & RESOURCE SERVICE
for immediate release
DECEMBER 2, 2004
Contacts: Daniel Hirsch, CBG (831) 332-3099
Diane D¹Arrigo, NIRS (202) 328-0002 x16
GROUPS CRITICIZE HOMELAND SECURITY PLANS TO RELAX RADIATION
CLEANUP STANDARDS FOR A ³DIRTY BOMB² OR TERRORIST
NUCLEAR EXPLOSIVE
Doses Equivalent to Tens of Thousands of Chest X-rays Could be Allowed,
Officially Estimated to Cause Cancer in Up to a Quarter
of Those Exposed
WASHINGTON, DC - More than 50 public policy organizations today called on
the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to halt plans to dramatically
weaken requirements for cleaning up radioactive contamination from a
terrorist radiological or nuclear explosive. The groups disclosed that DHS
is about to release new guidance that could permit ongoing contamination at
levels equivalent to a person receiving tens of thousands of chest X-rays
over thirty years. Official government risk figures estimate that as many
as a quarter of the people exposed to such doses would develop cancer.
In a letter to outgoing DHS Secretary Tom Ridge, the groups said, ³An
attack by a terrorist group using a Œdirty bomb¹ or improvised nuclear
device would be a terrible tragedy. . . .But should such a radiological
weapon go off in the U.S, our government should not compound the situation
by employment of standards for cleaning up the radioactive contamination
that are inadequately protective of the public.²
³Far from protecting us from the potentially catastrophic health effects
of a terrorist dirty bomb, by permitting such high radiation levels to
remain without cleanup, Homeland Security would actually be increasing the
casualty count,² said Diane D¹Arrigo, Radioactive Waste Project Director at
Nuclear Information and Resource Service. ³Approval of this guidance would
also set a dangerous precedent to weaken the already inadequate cleanup
standards for nuclear-contaminated sites across this country.²
²Benchmark² cleanup standards contemplated in the DHS guidance are up to
2500 times less protective than the risk levels considered by EPA as barely
acceptable for cleanup of Superfund toxic and radioactive sites.
³We recognize that response actions in the immediate aftermath of a
terrorist incident may require extraordinary measures and doses,² said
Daniel Hirsch, President of the Committee to Bridge the Gap and initiator of
the group letter, ³However, it is unacceptable to set final cleanup goals so
lax that long-term cancer risks are hundreds of times higher than currently
accepted for remediation of the nation¹s most contaminated sites.²
In a parallel letter to Environmental Protection Agency, the groups
urged Administrator Michael Leavitt to resist any effort to establish
cleanup standards that permit public risks significantly outside EPA¹s
longstanding legally allowable risk range.
Signers include Committee to Bridge the Gap, Nuclear Information and
Resource Service, Union of Concerned Scientists, Sierra Club, Physicians for
Social Responsibility, Public Citizen, and Greenpeace. The full letters to
Ridge and Leavitt and supporting attachments will be available on NIRS¹s
website on Friday afternoon, December 3, 2004.
--30--
*****************************************************************
37 BBC: 'Uranium' claims man is to
Last Updated: Friday, 3 December, 2004
[Richard David]
Mr David began working at the company in 1985
A man who claims his body was contaminated with depleted uranium
when he worked at a Somerset defence company is to take his case
to the High Court.
Richard David used to work at Normal Air Garret Ltd - now known
as Honeywell - in Yeovil, and says he developed a cough within
weeks of starting work.
He has now been diagnosed with a terminal lung condition.
Honeywell says it has never used depleted uranium either in its
products or on-site.
Mr David began working at the company in 1985 making aerospace
parts, but had to leave because of poor health 10 years later.
He is believed to be the first civilian to sue for such damages
and the case begins in the High Court on Monday.
*****************************************************************
38 Las Vegas SUN: Weaker nuke cleanup standards to be proposed
December 02, 2004
By Benjamin Grove SUN WASHINGTON BUREAU
WASHINGTON -- The Homeland Security Department plans to
recommend weaker cleanup standards in the event of a nuclear
"dirty bomb," a coalition of environmental groups said today.
The department is preparing to unveil new recommendations that
would "dramatically weaken requirements for cleaning up
radioactive contamination from a terrorist radiological or
nuclear explosive," the groups said.
More than 50 activist groups signed a letter sent to the
department, urging the agency not to move to weaken clean-up
standards. The groups include the Nuclear Information and
Resource Service, Sierra Club, Greenpeace, Physicians for Social
Responsibility, Public Citizen and the Union of Concerned
Scientists.
At issue is a department "guidance" aimed at federal and state
agencies that would be responsible for cleanups. The document
also is expected to recommend an increase in the level of
radiation considered safe for emergency response workers.
The guidance document is the result of long deliberation by
agencies including Homeland Security, the Energy Department, the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Environmental Protection
Agency.
The guidance proposes standards that are up to 2,500 times less
protective than the risk levels considered by the EPA as
acceptable for cleanup at radioactive sites, the groups said.
The guidance would permit ongoing contamination levels after
cleanup equal to tens of thousands of chest X-rays over 30
years, increasing latent cancer rates, the groups said.
"By permitting such high radiation levels to remain without
cleanup, Homeland Security would actually be increasing the
casualty count," said Diane D'Arrigo, radioactive waste project
director at Nuclear Information and Resource Service.
Homeland Security Department spokesman Don Jacks today said he
could not respond to those charges. The guidelines were based on
1980s guidelines for nuclear power plant accident cleanups, he
said.
The guidelines were set for a possible mid-December release,
but Jacks didn't know if that schedule would be kept. After
internal approvals, the guidelines would be published in the
federal register and subject to public comment.
In a separate letter, the groups urged the EPA not to adopt new
cleanup standards based on the new guidance that are
significantly weaker than EPA's current standards.
Response agencies would not be bound by the guidance document,
which would not be a law or regulation. But "it will have great
weight," especially because it will set a precedent for easing
radiation standards at other sites -- including Yucca Mountain,
said Daniel Hirsch, president of the Committee to Bridge the
Gap, a leader of the activist groups.
"It's clearly an effort by nuclear agencies to relax clean-up
requirements more broadly," Hirsch said. "This is the first
salvo in that effort."
Radiation safety standards are a critical issue facing the
Energy Department's proposed Yucca project. The project suffered
a setback this year when a federal court threw out an EPA
radiation standard for being weaker than standards recommended
by the National Academy of Sciences.
Nevada officials have long argued that the federal plan to ship
high-level nuclear waste to Nevada for storage in the proposed
waste repository could invite a terrorist attack.
*****************************************************************
39 iafrica.com: sa news Nuclear workers' medical files scrutinised
PRETORIA
Posted Fri, 03 Dec 2004
The medical records of 23 Nuclear Energy Corporation of SA
(Necsa) employees were handed to a doctor in Pretoria on Friday
for a probe into the effects of radiation on their health.
Scanning the documents, Dr Murray Coombs said the records,
supplied by Necsa, appeared to be "completely inconsistent".
While some files showed regular medical examinations, others
consisted of only a few pages, said Coombs, a toxicologist.
Seventy percent of the files also contained no exposure or risk
assessment for the relevant employee.
"Even the files of the two people who died had no death
certificate," Coombs said.
He was speaking at a special handing-over ceremony in
Atteridgeville, 10km from the Pelindaba nuclear plant west of
Pretoria.
Coombs would use the files to assess whether any of the ailments
complained about by the 23 current and former employees,
including cancer and tumours, could be linked to exposure to
nuclear radiation by virtue of their employment.
Friday's event was organised by Earthlife Africa, an
anti-nuclear advocacy body.
Spokesperson Mashile Phalane said: "We are doing this to help
those who have suffered as a result of working for Necsa".
Earlier this week, Earthlife expressed concern about
"irregularities" in the way in which workers' medical files had
been handled.
Its campaign was sparked when Ron Lockwood, a former employee at
the Koeberg nuclear power station near Cape Town, contracted
leukaemia. Leukaemia can be contracted through exposure to
radiation, Earthlife said on Wednesday.
At recent workshops held in Atteridgeville, several Necsa
workers had complained of feeling ill, Earthlife added.
The organisation complained that the National Nuclear Regulator,
responsible for protecting the public against radiation, had
never undertaken any health studies of workers or citizens living
close to nuclear installations.
Sapa
Copyright © 2002 iafrica.com, a division of Metropolis*.
*****************************************************************
40 Salt Lake Tribune: Downwinder report is due out in March
Article Last Updated: 12/03/2004 01:00:30 AM
$1 million study:
It will examine the compensation program and if its scope should
be expanded
By Christopher Smith The Salt Lake Tribune
WASHINGTON - A report to Congress on expanding the eligibility
for federal payments to Americans whose illnesses may have been
caused by Cold War-era nuclear missile development should be
released in March, study leaders say.
A draft of the $1 million study by the National Research
Council's radiation health board will be sent to scientists for
peer review next month. It was requested in 2002 by lawmakers
from Utah, Nevada and New Mexico who want to know if there's any
valid scientific evidence to justify expanding the types of
cancers, or the geographic areas of "downwinder" residents, that
are now covered by the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act
(RECA).
The project has become a political rallying point for
downwinders hailing from areas of the country that are not
eligible for the $50,000 RECA payments. They are urging their
members of Congress to expand the compensation program to
include more people, even as the federal fund regularly
struggles with solvency.
Researchers held two Utah field hearings for the study during
the past year, as well as a hearing on the Navajo Nation in May.
Although Idaho is not a RECA-eligible state, Idaho's
congressional delegation persuaded study leaders to hold another
public comment session last month at the Taco Bell Arena in
Boise.
Similar requests for downwinder hearings in other states
continue to come in, but "we are not going anywhere," said Isaf
Al-Nabulsi, the senior program officer for the Board of
Radiation Effects Research, which is preparing the study.
"Because this is about downwinders, I have heard from people
everywhere, from Alaska to Guam," she said. "But we have heard
and received the information from the public and experts in this
area, so the committee will now make its decisions based on the
scientific evidence."
A draft version of the forthcoming study was completed and
reviewed by the committee during a closed-door meeting in Cape
Cod in September, almost two months before the Boise public
hearing.
"It's important for the academics to have input from the
public, but the final decision will be based upon scientific
evidence," said Al-Nabulsi. "It's a very emotional issue and I
do understand the public's frustration with wanting to be
heard."
An interim report prepared by the study committee last year
indicated there was scant scientific justification for expanding
the RECA program.
"At this time, there is no new physical, biologic or
epidemiologic evidence to suggest a need to revise the estimates
of risk for radiogenic cancers among populations previously
exposed to ionizing radiation," the committee reported in June
2003.
Besides expansion of RECA eligibility, researchers also are
studying whether improvements in medical screening for potential
downwinders is needed. Again, the committee's interim report
found "no evidence to support the notion that screening for
radiogenic diseases in this population will result in measurable
health benefit for eligible participants."
© Copyright 2004, The Salt Lake Tribune.
*****************************************************************
41 Scotsman.com News: Ex-Defence Worker to Sue over Uranium
Saturday, 4th December 2004
By Sarah Cade, PA
A former British defence worker who claims he was contaminated by
depleted uranium at a factory is suing the firm in a High Court
battle, he said today.
In what is believed to be the first civilian case of its kind,
Richard David is claiming damages against Normalair Garrett –
now owned by Honeywell Aerospace – which owned the factory in
Yeovil, Somerset, where he worked as component fitter between
1985 and 1995.
Mr David, also known as Nibby, claims he was affected by depleted
uranium (DU). He said he suffers from respiratory problems,
kidney defects and finds it painful to move his limbs.
The 49-year-old, from Seaton, Devon, said medical tests had
revealed mutations to his DNA and damage to his chromosomes. He
believes his illness was caused by exposure to the radioactive
waste product DU.
Mr David fitted components for fighter planes and bombers. He has
never served in the armed forces or worked in the Middle East.
The case, which is due to start at the High Court in London on
Monday, could have far-reaching implications for many Gulf war
veterans, aerospace workers and civilians in former war zones.
Mr David claims he was forced to give up his job due to ill
health in 1995 and believes that his lung condition will shorten
his life. He said he “can’t risk†having children because
of damage to his DNA.
He won legal aid to fight the case but has chosen to represent
himself at the hearing, which is due to last 10 days.
He said: “I don’t have any legal representation so I am
representing myself. It is a real David versus Goliath case.
“I am confident I will win. I hope to set a precedent for other
cases of people who have suffered from the effects of depleted
uranium.â€
A growing body of scientists now believe that when DU is inhaled
as a fine dust, it can cause a range of illnesses including
cancer, birth defects and kidney damage.
DU is believed to be a possible cause of Gulf war syndrome, which
has allegedly left many veterans with health problems. The
radioactive waste product was used in coalition anti-tank weapons
in both Gulf wars.
A spokeswoman for Honeywell said the company has never used DU in
its products or on site. Elma Peters said it was company policy
not to comment on legal cases. [ border=]
©2004 Scotsman.com
*****************************************************************
42 Company Wants to Expand Waste Treatment to Include Mixed
Date: Fri, 03 Dec 2004 15:32:59 -0800
N E W S R E L E A S E COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA
COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA
Department of Environmental Protection
Commonwealth News Bureau
Room 308, Main Capitol Building
Harrisburg, PA 17120
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
12/2/2004
CONTACT:
Kurt Knaus
Phone: (717) 787-1323
PUBLIC MEETING SET ON PROPOSED EXPANSION OF ALARON PLANT IN LAWRENCE COUNTY
Company Wants to Expand Waste Treatment to Include Mixed Hazardous,
Low-Level Radioactive Waste
HARRISBURG: Environmental Protection Deputy Secretary for Air, Recycling and
Radiation Protection Thomas Fidler today announced DEP will hold a public
information meeting on Alaron Corp.¹s application to include the processing
of mixed hazardous and low-level radioactive waste, commonly called mixed
waste, to the waste treatment services that the company currently provides
at its Lawrence County facility.
The meeting will be held from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 7 at the New
Beaver Borough Building, located at 778 Wampum-New Galilee Road in New
Beaver Borough, Lawrence County.
DEP has determined that Alaron¹s Phase I Commercial Hazardous Waste
Treatment Facility Siting Application is administratively complete. The
Phase I application is solely to determine whether the proposed site
complies with Pennsylvania¹s exclusionary siting criteria for hazardous
waste treatment facilities. DEP now will conduct a technical review of the
application to determine whether the proposed site complies with the
exclusionary siting criteria.
³The public meeting gives DEP a chance to describe the application review
process and siting criteria, and detail opportunities for public
participation in the process,² Fidler said. ³The meeting includes time for
the public to ask questions on the permitting process as well as the Phase I
application. General information about the application and the permit review
process will be available prior to the meeting.²
Fidler noted Alaron currently is engaged in the treatment and
decontamination of low-level radioactive materials and waste under a license
from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and the company will continue
to operate that portion of the business.
Alaron is seeking a hazardous waste permit to process paper, rags, plastic,
glass, floor sweepings and other materials that are contaminated with
solvents, oils and other fluids that cause the waste to be classified as
hazardous and low-level radioactive wastes.
The process the company proposes to employ involves stabilizing and reducing
the volume of the waste by compaction under extreme pressure, and preparing
it for disposal at out-of-state disposal facilities. Alaron¹s only client is
the U.S. Department of Energy, which retains responsibility for the
transportation, treatment and disposal of the material.
The mixed waste, which comes from government facilities, has been difficult
to dispose of because authorized disposal facilities can only accept limited
volumes and forms of this material. As a result, there are large amounts of
mixed waste at federal government sites awaiting proper treatment and
disposal. The mixed waste is classified as Class A low-level radioactive
waste, the least radioactive class.
DEP also has scheduled a public hearing for 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 18 at the
same location as the public meeting to allow for official testimony on the
Phase I application. The Dec. 7 public meeting is purely informational.
DEP will accept written comments on the application from Dec. 7 until Feb.
4. Written comments should be sent to: Hazardous Waste Facility Siting Team
Leader, PA Department of Environmental Protection, P.O. Box 8471,
Harrisburg, PA 17105-8471. Comments also may be submitted electronically at
EPHazWasteSitingTeam@state.pa.us.
Copies of the Phase I application are available for review or copying
between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. at the following locations:
· DEP¹s Northwest Regional Office, 230 Chestnut St., Meadville, Crawford
County; (814) 332-6848.
· DEP¹s Bureau of Land Recycling and Waste Management, Division of
Hazardous Waste Management, 14th Floor, Rachel Carson State Office Building,
400 Market St., Harrisburg, Dauphin County; (717) 787-6239.
· Alaron Corp., 2138 state Route 18, Wampum, Lawrence County; (724)
535-5777.
Individuals interested should call ahead for an appointment for review and
copying to ensure proper assistance. DEP may charge a fee for copying.
³DEP wants to offer the public and local governments every opportunity to
offer input,² Fidler said. ³This application will be reviewed thoroughly at
the local, state and federal levels before any permits are issued.²
For more information on hazardous waste, visit DEP¹s Web site at
www.dep.state.pa.us, Keyword: ³DEP Hazardous Waste.²
# # #
2004
Return to Main News Releases Page.
Individuals & Families | Students | Educators | Farmers | Local Government |
Business
PA Home Site | Ask DEP | Plug-Ins | Home Page
Contact Webmaster
*****************************************************************
43 The Australian: BHP looks into yellowcake hole
[December 04, 2004]
Nigel Wilson, Energy writer
BHP Billiton, the world's biggest mining company, yesterday
conceded there was a chink in its mighty armoury of minerals and
energy resources - uranium.
Phil Aiken, president of BHP's energy division, told an analysts
briefing that the recent World Energy Congress in Sydney had
reaffirmed the importance of nuclear power in meeting the world's
future energy needs.
But BHP Billiton, despite its strength in oil, gas and coal, did
not have a uranium string to its bow.
"We are interested in uranium and we are looking to see whether
this would tie in with the skills we have and with our commitment
to health, safety and the environment," Mr Aiken said.
But with an eye to speculation that BHP might counter Xstrata's
$7.4billion bid for WMC Resources -- operator of the world's
largest uranium mine at Olympic Dam in South Australia -- Mr
Aiken was quick to put the group's newfound interest in uranium
as an energy source into perspective.
"We have no immediate plans to be in the uranium business," he
said.
Mr Aiken also told the briefing that BHP would seek other
partners for its proposed Scarborough LNG development off the
West Australian coast if its 50:50 joint venture partner
ExxonMobil continued to oppose the project.
He said prospects were improving for Scarborough to be the source
of LNG for the proposed Cabrillo Port receival terminal off the
Californian coast. There was a 50-50 chance the project would be
approved by US authorities by the middle of next year.
Mr Aiken said ExxonMobil did not believe the Scarborough project
-- to bring gas from deep in the Indian Ocean 280km onshore to
Onslow for a plant supplying markets in the US or China -- was
commercially viable.
"It is not on the top of their list of priority LNG projects."
ExxonMobil's attitude to Scarborough might change, he said, if
Cabrillo Port was approved -- otherwise BHP would seek other
partners.
BHP Billiton expects its annual production will rise from about
125million barrels of oil equivalent this year to 170million boe
in 2006, with potential to go higher -- mainly through Gulf of
Mexico developments.
There will also be new appraisal drilling in both Bass Strait and
on the North West Shelf within months.
Mr Aiken surprised analysts by revealing that BHP Billiton would
seek board sanction within six months for developing the
650billion cubic feet Kipper gas field in Bass Strait which was
discovered in 1986.
terms © The Australian
*****************************************************************
44 MSNBC: What's Next For Yucca Mountain
KVBC-TV
Las VegasUSA - It appears the Yucca Mountain project may be in
dispute for several more years. This, after one group says it
won't take their argument to the U.S. Supreme Court. News 3's
Mitch Truswell explains what's changed and what's next.
There are some who think opponents of Yucca Mountain got an early
holiday gift. The Nuclear Energy Institute, that's a lobbying
group for the nuclear power industry, said it will not ask the
U.S. Supreme Court to overrule a lower court's decision. That
puts the Department of Energy's plan to submit a license
application next month to store nuclear waste in jeopardy. It
also could jeopardize the plan to open the repository in 2010.
The U.S. Court of Appeals ruled earlier this year the 10,000 year
safety standard, used by the Department of Energy in planning the
Yucca Mountain project was not long enough to protect the public
health. So, according to Nevada's office for nuclear projects,
which is fighting the Yucca project, there are two things that
could happen now:
First, congress could re-write the law, claiming the 10,000 year
standard is safe for the public. Some see that as a long shot and
a risky, politically. It's more likely the Environmental
Protection Agency will come up with a new safety standard for
storing waste inside Yucca Mountain. Will it be safe for 50,000
years -- 300-thousand years?
Only when that question is answered can the application to store
nuclear waste inside Yucca go to the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission. It's a slow process. The research, writing and public
commenting on any new health standard could take up to 5 years --
or longer.The Nuclear Energy Institute decided not to appeal
their case to the Supreme Court after realizing it was unlikely
the court would agree to even hear the case.
© 2004 MSNBC.com
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45 ITAR-TASS: Breakdown of Kyrgyz uranium tailing storage may cause catastrophe
03.12.2004, 18.39
BISHKEK, December 3 (Itar-Tass) -- A breakdown of a uranium
tailing storage facility in the village of Min-Kush in the Nary
district of Kyrgyzstan may cause an ecological catastrophe
throughout Central Asia, Deputy Minister of Ecology and
Emergencies Almaz Kamchibekov said at a Friday press conference
in Bishkek.
“Several densely populated areas, including the Fergana Valley,
may happen to be within the radioactive contamination zone,” he
said. A landslide of 700,000 cubic meters has been moving
towards the uranium tailing storage facility 1-3 centimeters per
day in the recent months. The landslide has stopped, but it may
move again in case of an earthquake or pouring rains,
specialists say.
The ministry is monitoring the Min-Kush landslide round the
clock. Kamchibekov thinks the problem can be resolved only in
case of proper financing of the facility’s reconstruction, but
Kyrgyzstan does not have enough funds.
There are four uranium tailing storage facilities near Min-Kush
alone, and the amount of radioactive waste exceeds 1 million
cubic meters. There have been no full-scale preventive works in
the facilities after the disintegration of the former Soviet
Union.
© ITAR-TASS. All rights reserved. You undertake not to copy,
*****************************************************************
46 Guardian Unlimited: EPA Sees Toxic Waste Sites, Costs Growing
From the Associated Press
[UP]
Saturday December 4, 2004 12:46 AM
By JOHN HEILPRIN
WASHINGTON (AP) - At the current pace of cleanup work, it could
take up to 35 years and $280 billion to fix most of the nation's
existing and yet-to-be-discovered hazardous waste sites, the
government said Friday.
A report by the Environmental Protection Agency described what
taxpayers and private industry will be spending to fix sites
contaminated with hazardous waste and petroleum products.
It estimated 77,000 such sites, with up to 9,267 more discovered
each year.
``The purpose of the report is to allow us to plan and develop
better strategies to meet the nation's cleanup needs,'' Cynthia
Bergman, a spokeswoman for EPA, said.
At that rate, as many as 355,000 hazardous waste sites in the
United States could have required cleanups by 2039 - 60 percent
more than the 217,000 sites that EPA's last study, in 1996,
estimated might be in need of cleanups over 30 years.
EPA had estimated the cleanup cost for those cleanups at up to
$187 billion.
Less than 1 percent of the projected average number of sites that
would need to be decontaminated by 2033 are part of EPA's
Superfund program for the worst toxic waste messes. Most of the
sites, or 43 percent, are underground storage tanks that are
leaking or might leak.
By spending, the Superfund sites would account for about 15
percent of the projected average. The biggest portion, or 22
percent, is EPA's program for decontaminating sites with lesser
hazards, such as medical, low-grade radioactive and animal
wastes.
Other sites include those belonging to the departments of Defense
and Energy and other federal agencies, and ones owned by states
and private companies or landowners, including low-level
pollution sites known as ``brownfields'' being redeveloped for
commercial use.
Federal agencies other than Defense and Energy, such as the
departments of Interior, Agriculture and Transportation, have
been spending about $200 million annually for site cleanups, but
have up to $21 billion more of cleanup work to be done over 30
years.
Most of the sites have contaminated soil or groundwater, or both,
and contain volatile organic compounds. Among Defense Department
and Superfund sites, metals and semivolatile organic compounds
are most prevalent, EPA says.
The first time the national report on the cleanup market was
issued was in 1993.
EPA emphasized that the numbers are only estimates, and the
projections get less reliable the farther out they go in years.
The latest figures range from 235,000 to 355,000 sites over 30 to
35 years, at an estimated cost of $180 billion to $280 billion.
Because of that, and how much the numbers have varied from 1996
to now, the report should be viewed with ``extreme skepticism,''
said Matthew Tirman, an environmental health advo On the
Net:
EPA report: http://www.clu-in.org/market
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004
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47 Congress Says No to New Nuclear Weapons
Date: Fri, 3 Dec 2004 17:03:40 -0600 (CST)
Dear Friends and Supporters:
It is not often that we are able to report a victory in the effort
to chart a new course for US nuclear policy, but we can do so today.
Since the Bush administration began pursuing research on new and
more usable nuclear weapons, we have said that this sends the wrong
message to the world and violates US obligations under the Nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty.
The administration has been pursuing new "bunker buster" nuclear
weapons and "mini-nukes," also referred to as low yield nuclear
weapons. It turns out that Congress agrees with those of us who
oppose new nuclear weapons. In a bipartisan show of support,
Congress denied funding for nuclear bunker busters and advanced
concepts research on new nuclear weapons designs that could have
included low yield nuclear weapons.
Congress passed the Omnibus Appropriations Bill on November 20,
2004 with no funding for new nuclear weapons. In this Bill, Congress
also slashed the administration's request for funds for a new
facility to build plutonium pits for new nuclear weapons from $29.8
million to $7 million. This represents a major defeat for the Bush
administration and its efforts to pursue new and more usable nuclear
weapons.
Chairman David Hobson (R-Ohio) of the Energy and Water Development
Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee played a major
role in removing funding for the administration's pursuit of new
nuclear weapons. Strong support in the Senate came from Senator
Dianne Feinstein.
This year, the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation launched its Turn the
Tide Campaign to chart a new course for US nuclear policy. The
Campaign Statement begins: "The US government has the paramount
responsibility to assure a more secure and far safer environment
for its citizens. In continuing its long tradition of demonstrating
world leadership, the US government can protect Americans and their
families, as well as people throughout the world, by significantly
reducing and eliminating the threats posed by nuclear weapons."
Stopping all efforts to create dangerous new nuclear weapons and
delivery systems is the first policy that the Turn the Tide Campaign
calls for the President and all members of Congress to immediately
implement. The Congressional action on the Omnibus Appropriations
Bill is an important step toward achieving this end.
The Turn the Tide Campaign Statement contains13 points, including
securing fissile materials around the world and canceling plans to
build new nuclear weapons production plants. For a copy of the
full Campaign Statement and information on how you can become
involved in the Turn the Tide Campaign, visit the Action Page
at the Nuclear
Age Peace Foundation's web site.
Sincerely,
David Krieger President
*****************************************************************
48 L.A. Daily News: Field lab clean-up continues
Article Published: Thursday, December 02, 2004 -
Feds say 'hot' remnants of one nuclear reactor removed By Kerry
Cavanaugh, Staff Writer Facing increasing scrutiny over the
clean-up of radioactive contamination, Department of Energy and
the Boeing Corp. officials told neighbors of the Santa Susana
Field Lab on Thursday night that all "hot" remnants of one former
nuclear reactor have been removed.
The DOE presented the results of the Building 59 demolition and
clean-up during a public meeting held at the Grand Vista Hotel in
Simi Valley. The demolition was closely watched because Building
59 was one of three remaining facilities at the Simi Hills lab
with radioactive contamination.
"I think this is a major achievement on the site," said Mike
Lopez, DOE project manager.
Building 59 housed one of seven reactors used in nuclear
research from 1959 through 1969 to develop reliable power for
space exploration and satellites. The building may have been a
source of the recent radioactive tritium contamination found in
groundwater.
Building 59 and its 55-foot-deep concrete basement became
contaminated during reactor tests.
To remove the basement without releasing radioactive dust or
particles, workers sliced the concrete into blocks and dismantled
it piece by piece.
The blocks were shipped to a low-level radioactive waste
disposal site in Nevada.
Lopez said Department of Energy scientists took samples and
tested for some "hot" contaminants, but did not find them. More
tests are coming, he said.
The California Department of Health Services test results are
due later this month.
"I don't think there's anything being left there," Lopez said.
Neighbors and other lab watchdogs have asked for independent
testing of the site.
"I don't have much faith in their testing," said Dan Hirsch,
with the Committee to Bridge the Gap, a community watchdog group.
His group said the DOE plans would leave dangerous levels of
radioactive contamination at the site, which will one day be
released for an unrestricted use, such as housing.
The Natural Resources Defense Council, Los Angeles city
government and the Committee to Bridge the Gap sued the DOE this
year over the agency's clean-up standards, which they said would
leave 99 percent of the tainted soil in place.
DOE officials have said the clean-up will leave the property
safe.
With building 59 demolished, the Department of Energy will begin
in 2005 to take down Building 24, which held two underground
vaults with test reactors.
Lastly, by 2007, the department will remove the radioactive
materials handling facility where any "hot" material found is
stored and packaged for disposal.
Kerry Cavanaugh, (818) 713-3746 kerry.cavanaugh@dailynews.com
www.dailynews.com
*****************************************************************
49 DenverPost.com: Flats refuge proposal jells
Published: Friday, December 03, 2004
16 miles of trails included in the final conservation concept
By Kim McGuire
Denver Post Staff Writer
The public will be able to hike, cycle and ride horses on about
16 miles of existing trails through the former Rocky Flats
nuclear weapons complex after it becomes a wildlife refuge in
2007, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials said Thursday.
Addressing the Rocky Flats Citizens Advisory Board, refuge
managers gave a sneak peek inside the final conservation plan
being proposed for the 6,240-acre site.
The plan is awaiting final approval from the Interior
Department, which could issue a decision within two weeks.
"At this point, we don't expect any changes to the document, but
just realize there is a slight chance that an 11th-hour decision
could change this," said Laurie Shannon, planner for the refuge.
The plan was developed after an extensive public comment period,
which culminated with a series of meetings in the spring in
Westminster, Boulder, Arvada and Broomfield.
At that time, residents urged refuge managers to do everything
from building a gigantic fence around the site to allowing
unrestricted access.
Now, after sorting through about 5,000 comments, the agency has
made some "minor tweaks" to its recommended alternative spelled
out in an earlier draft document, Shannon said.
The final plan calls for:
Limited hunting that is restricted to the disabled and youths,
likely on weekends. Muzzle-loading guns are prohibited, but
shotguns and bow and arrows can be used.
Improving habitat at the site for the Preble's meadow jumping
mouse and other native species. The agency will also consider
reintroducing the sharp-tailed grouse.
Offering limited environmental-education classes for high school
and college students at the site.
Allowing limited public access to 16 miles of existing trails.
Of those, most will be multi-use. For the first five years,
however, refuge managers will only allow short hikes on the
site's northern portion.
While the plan calls for limited public use, refuge visitors
won't have access to about 1,200 polluted acres within the
industrial core of the former weapons complex. That property
will continue to be maintained by the Energy Department.
Over four decades starting in 1952 until an FBI raid shut it
down in 1989, Rocky Flats produced plutonium triggers for more
than 70,000 nuclear warheads. Consequently, the site was
polluted by radioactive materials used in the production of
those weapons.
The $7.2 billion cleanup is expected to be finished in 2006.
Dean Rundle, the Rocky Flats Refuge manager, said the site's
pollution is more clearly addressed in the final plan.
"We heard very clearly from a significant number of people that
they did not buy the fact that just because we were not cleanup
decisionmakers we shouldn't address some of the residual
contamination," Rundle said. "So we decided to provide more
information that relates to health and safety."
All contents Copyright 2004 The Denver Post or other copyright
*****************************************************************
50 SPI: Hanford initiative put on hold
[seattlepi.com] [Seattle Post-Intelligencer]
Friday, December 3, 2004
Measure that passed last month could harm cleanup, judge rules
By SHANNON DININNY
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
YAKIMA -- A federal judge yesterday granted a court order that
prevents a state initiative -- dealing with cleanup at the
Hanford Nuclear Reservation from taking effect.
Earlier in the day, federal government lawyers argued in a
telephone conference call that there were too many uncertainties
about how the state would interpret the new initiative.
Attorneys for the state argued the temporary restraining order
was unnecessary and gave assurances that state officials were
still reviewing the initiative and would not begin to implement
it in the next 60 days. It had been scheduled to take effect
yesterday.
Washington's voters last month overwhelmingly approved Initiative
297, which would bar the U.S. Department of Energy from sending
more radioactive waste to south-central Washington's Hanford site
until all existing waste there is cleaned up.
There is a probability the federal government will succeed in
establishing that the initiative is invalid, and a possibility
the federal government would suffer irreparable injury with
regard to on-site cleanup activities if the initiative
immediately became law, U.S. District Judge Alan McDonald wrote
in his ruling.
In court documents, the federal government argued that some
cleanup projects at the site would come to a halt because they
lack permits not required under current law, but that may be
required under the initiative.
Justice Department lawyers ultimately hope to invalidate the
initiative on grounds that it violates federal laws governing
interstate commerce and nuclear waste. Hanford, a federal site,
is immune from state regulation, the government argues.
For now, I-297 will not be applied or enforced with respect to
activities at the nuclear reservation "except to the extent that
it prohibits the import of mixed waste to Hanford," McDonald
said.
Shipments of mixed waste -- slightly radioactive waste laced with
dangerous chemicals -- have already been halted as the result of
another lawsuit.
Some cleanup was halted yesterday as a result of the initiative,
Cynthia Morris, a Justice Department lawyer, said earlier in the
day.
How many workers were idled and which projects were halted
remained unclear.
The judge said it is in the public interest to "continue current
onsite cleanup activities at Hanford," unimpeded by the
initiative.
A spokesman for the Energy Department said the agency was
pleased with the decision but recognized the order is temporary.
"We remain dedicated to achieving the cleanup of Hanford, and
this decision will allow our employees and contractors to
continue working without fear of civil and criminal liability,"
spokesman Joe Davis said.
At issue in the case are the federal government's plans for
disposing of waste from nuclear weapons production nationwide.
The Energy Department chose Hanford to dispose of some mildly
radioactive waste and mixed low-level waste, which is laced with
chemicals.
The site also would serve as a packaging center for some
transuranic waste before it is shipped elsewhere for long-term
disposal.
Transuranic waste is highly radioactive and can take thousands
of years to decay to safe levels.
In 2003, Washington state sued to block transuranic waste from
entering the state, fearing Hanford would become a radioactive
waste dump.
The Energy Department voluntarily suspended the shipments of
transuranic and mixed waste after the lawsuit was filed. The
case, however, remains in federal court.
While those shipments remain on hold, I-297 also places other
restrictions on cleanup at the site.
In requesting the stay, federal officials said they only wanted
to continue cleanup under existing regulations until the court
rules on their claims regarding the initiative.
A hearing to discuss a preliminary injunction was set for Dec.
13.
Sheryl Hutchison, spokeswoman for the state Department of
Ecology, said the ruling was not unexpected.
"We're satisfied that shipments will not be coming in, and over
the next 10 days we will prepare a vigorous defense," she said.
Gerald Pollet, executive director of Hanford watchdog group
Heart of America Northwest, which sponsored the initiative, also
was pleased that no waste would enter the site.
"In terms of what the public would be concerned about tomorrow
morning, it's whether the Department of Energy got something
that would allow them, anytime soon, to start adding more waste
to Hanford's contamination," said Pollet.
[Seattle Post-Intelligencer] 101 Elliott Ave. W. Seattle, WA
98119 (206) 448-8000
©1996-2004 Seattle Post-Intelligencer
y
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51 Tri-City Herald: Judge blocks Hanford initiative
This story was published Friday, December 3rd, 2004
By Annette Cary Herald staff writer
YAKIMA -- A federal judge ordered a temporary stop to the
enforcement of Initiative 297 on Thursday, averting a threatened
halt of cleanup at Hanford and research at Pacific Northwest
National Laboratory.
However, Federal Judge Alan McDonald ruled that the temporary
restraining order would not extend to a key portion of the
initiative. The Department of Energy is not allowed to start
bringing radioactive waste to the Hanford site, an issue already
addressed in a pending suit brought by the state in 2003.
Voters in every county of the state but Benton and Franklin
counties voted Nov. 2 to stop DOE from bringing more waste to
Hanford until the waste already there is cleaned up.
The U.S. government raised serious questions concerning the
validity of the initiative, McDonald found Thursday.
"The court finds the public interest favors the issuance of a
temporary restraining order because of the need to continue
current on-site cleanup activities at Hanford, unimpeded by an
initiative, the scope and breadth of which is not fully
ascertained at this juncture," the judge wrote.
The U.S. government has a "real and understandable" fear of
violating the initiative if cleanup continued, McDonald wrote.
DOE believes the federal government, its contractors or their
individual employees could be subject to civil or criminal action
if the initiative is violated, even as attorneys try to work out
what it requires. The initiative specifies that any citizen may
file suit to enforce it.
The U.S. Justice Department filed motions in federal court in
Yakima on Wednesday to temporarily stop the initiative from
taking effect and to permanently overturn it.
Within minutes of the initiative taking effect just after
midnight Wednesday, employees at DOE's national laboratory in
Richland were sent a message saying that work with most
radioactive materials would have to be suspended.
For Richland startup company IsoRay Medical, that meant a stop to
production of its new radioactive seeds that prostate cancer
patients are waiting to receive. The initiative also could put
its expansion plans on hold.
"DOE is compelled as we speak to shut down some of its
operations," U.S. attorney Cynthia Morris told the judge during a
morning hearing. "That is not a good thing for DOE or the
citizens of the U.S."
Most cleanup work appeared to have continued uninterrupted at the
Hanford nuclear reservation, while plans were made for the halt
of work that might violate the initiative by DOE's
interpretation.
Hanford is extensively contaminated with radioactive and chemical
waste from the past production of plutonium for the nation's
nuclear weapons program.
"Our contractors were directed to continue work as usual until we
heard of the ruling," said Joe Davis, spokesman for DOE in
Washington, D.C.
The federal government believes the initiative is ambiguously
written, covering not just radioactive waste but any radioactive
materials.
It also would prevent radioactive waste not only from being
imported to Washington, but also from being moved from facility
to facility at Hanford until permits were obtained, federal
attorneys told the judge. Being unable to move waste, including
between treatment and storage facilities, would halt cleanup,
possibly for years, they said.
But the state and other attorneys supporting implementation of
the initiative said DOE's concerns are unfounded.
Threats to stop cleanup Thursday were "a simple political ploy,"
said Tom Carpenter of the Government Accountability Project, or
GAP.
GAP and Heart of America Northwest, the primary sponsor of the
initiative, have asked the court to intervene in the legal case.
The decision to temporarily halt implementation of the initiative
did not surprise the state, said Sheryl Huchison, spokeswoman for
the Washington state Department of Ecology.
"It does not speak to the merits of the case," she said. "It is
just a time-out while we prepare to mount our vigorous defense
(of the initiative)."
DOE did not even attempt to block the provision of the initiative
that most concerned the public -- preventing new waste from being
brought to Hanford, Carpenter pointed out.
The state finds the initiative's instructions clear, said Joe
Shorin, an assistant state attorney general. Some federal
allegations are overstatements, he told the judge. Hanford
workers are not restricted from moving waste among facilities, he
said.
The initiative does not create new definitions of waste, the
problem DOE cited as it said research with radioactive materials
would have to be limited at its national laboratory in Richland,
according to the state.
And it is not unconstitutional, as the federal government claims,
Shorin argued.
"This is a valid exercise of the state's police powers," Shorin
said.
The U.S. government asked only that the status quo be maintained
until the legal standing of the initiative is determined, federal
officials said.
"This will allow our employees and contractors to continue work
without fear of civil or criminal liability," Davis said after
the judge ruled late in the afternoon.
The temporary restraining order will be in effect for 10 days,
when another hearing is scheduled in Yakima. Because of a suit
filed by the state in 2003 before the initiative became an issue,
DOE is barred from importing most waste to Hanford at least until
a hearing before McDonald in February.
"This is not anything new," McDonald said at the start of the
morning hearing.
But for IsoRay, which began supplying patients with its promising
new cancer treatment seeds little more than a month ago, the
initiative could cause major changes.
The memo sent to Pacific Northwest National Laboratory employees
early Thursday morning said up to 22 programs that use
radioactive materials could be affected. They include cancer
research, processes to clean up contamination, development of
technology to deter nuclear proliferation, processes for
converting agriculture waste to petroleum fuel, nuclear forensics
and maintenance of facilities.
Shortly after 5 p.m. Thursday, the staff was sent a new memo
saying that the temporary restraining order would allow business
to continue as usual.
But IsoRay officials are concerned that as the case moves through
the courts, possibly over years if appeals are filed, its ability
to manufacture radioactive seeds under a DOE contract at Hanford
may be compromised.
"We as an employer cannot live with the uncertainty," said John
Hrobsky, executive vice president of sales and marketing.
The company had announced plans to build a new production
facility to open next year and increase employees from 16 to
about 250 in the next 24 to 30 months.
"We're evaluating our options, including relocating," Hrobsky
said Thursday. "All plans have to be put on hold today in light
of the initiative."
© 2004 Tri-City Herald, Associated Press &Other Wire Services
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52 Tri-City Herald: PNNL picks leader to supervise move
This story was published Friday, December 3rd, 2004
By John Trumbo Herald staff writer
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland has picked one
of its own employees to oversee a $200 million construction
project to replace facilities in the 300 Area north of Richland.
Dwayne Coburn has a deadline of 2009 to relocate more than 1,000
employees involved in about half of its research and development
activities into different office and lab space so Hanford cleanup
along the Columbia River corridor can begin on schedule in the
300 Area.
Coburn joined the lab in 1999 and has been in charge of the
engineering and construction division of the lab's facilities and
operations, managing a staff of 80 and a budget of more than $30
million.
The proposed new project includes as many as five new
laboratories with an estimated 500,000 square feet to be paid for
by government and private investors.
Coburn also will be responsible for a new bioproducts science and
engineering laboratory on the Washington State University
Tri-Cities campus.
It is a $30 million joint project between the lab and WSU
Tri-Cities, with construction expected to begin next year and
finishing in 2007.
The combined facilities will have a footprint slightly larger
than Safeco Field, said Judith Graybeal, a PNNL spokeswoman.
"The new and replacement facilities are essential for the lab to
grow and be competitive for years to come," she said.
Coburn is a certified project management professional who has a
bachelor's degree in nuclear technology from the State
University of New York. The lab 10 months ago named Mike
Lawrence as deputy director for campus development, who job was
to get project money lined up for a new campus that would
include finding facilities out of the 300 Area and development
of a Tri-Cities Science and Technology Park for new labs and
offices.
When completed, nearly one-fourth of nearly 3,800 Battelle
employees will move from aging Area 300 buildings to new
laboratories and offices.
© 2004 Tri-City Herald, Associated Press &Other Wire Services
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53 DAILY BRUIN: UC considers bid for Los Alamos
Friday, December 03, 2004
By Nancy Su DAILY BRUIN CONTRIBUTOR nsu@media.ucla.edu
With the future of the management of Los Alamos National
Laboratory uncertain, the University of California will begin to
move toward a decision on whether to try to renew its contract
for the lab.
Robert Foley, UC vice president of lab management, responded
positively after the draft request for bidding proposals to
manage the laboratory was released by the U.S. Department of
Energy for comments on Wednesday.
While Foley declined to provide specifics about the draft Request
for Proposal, he said in a press release that the university is
"pleased that the draft RFP has been released and that the
competition process will now start in earnest."
The UC has managed the lab since its creation in 1943, but
problems such as the misappropriation of funds, missing inventory
and misplaced classified data at the UC-managed labs led the
Department of Energy to open its management contract to outside
bidders for the first time.
Though the UC Board of Regents has not decided whether to enter
the bid for a new management contract, UC officials are taking
steps to prepare the university if the regents do decide to bid.
Its current contract expires at the end of September 2005.
"I believe we will be in an excellent position to submit a strong
and winning proposal should the UC Board of Regents make the
final decision to compete," Foley said.
The Department of Energy will primarily focus on the ability of
the bidders to conduct research and the technology of competitors
in its selection process for a new a contractor, but it "will be
looking for proposals from bidders who can demonstrate that they
can in fact provide the kind of security that the lab needs,"
said Al Stotts, a spokesman for the National Nuclear Security
Administration.
The Nuclear Security Administration plans to select a contractor
by the summer of 2005 to begin work by Oct. 1 of that year.
The management contract will be for five years, with possible
extensions of 15 more years.
The draft will be open for public comments for a 30-day period
and the final Request for Proposal will be released after all
comments have been considered.
A missing computer disc containing classified information and an
eye injury sustained by an intern led to a complete shutdown of
classified operations at the lab in July.
Since then employees have gone through comprehensive safety and
security retraining and most of the work has been resumed at the
lab.
The Board of Regents have not indicated whether the UC will bid
for the new management contract.
The problems with security have led some members of the board to
express frustration with the lab.
In July, Regent Chairman Gerald Parsky said the problems which
led to the security lapses must be corrected before a renewal of
the contract can even be considered.
Many still believe the UC should bid for the management of the
lab if it can move past its security problems.
During a recent visit to Los Alamos, Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M.,
said, "It is incumbent on everybody here and the University of
California to showcase the strengths of this lab and to
demonstrate that (the lab) has overcome (its) shortcomings."
Contact Us Email News at news@
media.ucla.edufor questions
*****************************************************************
54 Salt Lake Tribune: DOE taps Idaho for space project
Article Last Updated: 12/03/2004 01:13:34 AM
The Associated Press
OAK RIDGE, Tenn. - A government project to produce a plutonium
isotope used to power deep-space probes once headed to the Oak
Ridge National Laboratory is now destined for Idaho.
The Department of Energy announced it would use the agency's
Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory at Arco
to process plutonium-238 for space power sources and other
defense purposes.
The DOE says the change will significantly increase security,
reduce risks associated with transporting nuclear materials
across the country and reduce costs.
The U.S. stopped making plutonium-238 in the 1980s and the
stockpile is expected to run out in 2010. For more than a
decade, the U.S. has been buying the material from Russia but
those sources are deemed too unreliable for NASA's long-term
needs.
Plutonium-238, a sister to plutonium-239 that's used in
nuclear weapons, is considered an ideal power source for
spacecraft too far from the sun to use solar panels.
© Copyright 2004, The Salt Lake Tribune.
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55 Salt Lake Tribune: Matheson seeks Energy post
Last Updated: 12/03/2004 08:29:17 AM
By Robert Gehrke The Salt Lake Tribune
WASHINGTON - Utah Rep. Jim Matheson is seeking a spot on the
House Energy and Commerce Committee, one of the premier
committees in Congress, which has authority over nuclear
programs and a broad scope of other issues.
“I've worked very hard for it,” Matheson said. “I plan on
being in this job for a long time and I want to advance the
interests of the state the best I can.”
There are likely to be three open seats on the committee when
the next Congress convenes in January, and Matheson said he is
implementing a strategy he believes will land him one of the
slots.
Matheson's most likely competition for the third seat is Rep.
Jay Inslee, a more liberal Washington state Democrat.
The spot could give the Utah congressman greater clout in
his effort to prevent new nuclear weapons testing and research,
although as a junior member from the minority party his voice
would still be muffled.
Matheson said he would also like to play a role in health
care and telecommunications issues that the committee handles.
If he gets the job, Matheson would have to give up his seat
on to Transportation, Financial Services or Science committees.
Along with the Appropriations Committee, which manages
spending and the Ways and Means Committee, which handles
taxation, Energy and Commerce is considered to be one of the
top-tier committees in the House.
Before being elected to Congress, Matheson spent 13 years as
a consultant to energy companies.
“It's a good fit for me and it's a powerful committee. And
I think I've earned that opportunity by being a successful
candidate in a tough district,” he said. “The bottom line is it
would be a great opportunity.”
© Copyright 2004, The Salt Lake Tribune.
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56 lamonitor.com: First reactions to procurement plan
The Online News Source for Los Alamos
ROGER SNODGRASS, roger@lamonitor.com, Monitor Assistant Editor
DOE's long-anticipated request for proposals on managing Los
Alamos National Laboratory will now undergo a period of public
scrutiny.
Tyler Przybylek, the chief procurement official involved in the
preparation and evaluation of the solicitation for the National
Nuclear Security Administration, said the unprecedented nature of
the transaction warranted a round of public discussion before it
became a final document.
In introducing the formal bidding plan, Przybylek emphasized that
he was interested in comments on ways in which competition might
be constrained by the language or other requirements in the RFP.
At the same time, neither Przybylek nor the draft RFP disguise
the new emphasis on the private sector abilities and practices
the document represents.
"The RFP does not distinguish among entities or any combination
of those," Przybylek said during a press conference Wednesday.
He also described the effort as one that would facilitate "a
robust presence from the parent organization," and "an
involvement to bring in the best practices from the private
sector consistent with what the public will permit in a publicly
financed institution."
Under Section H-1, "Special Contract Requirements, Redefining
the Federal/Contractor Relationship to Improve Management and
Performance," the draft language becomes even more specific in
paragraph (d), on "empowering contractor expertise."
"The Contractor is encouraged to identify and evaluate best
commercial standards and best business practices....The
Contractor is also encouraged to use the private-sector
expertise of its parent organization to improve contract
performance as appropriate," the RFP states.
"The vision is we want world-class science, enabled by excellent
operations and really, really good business management,"
Przybylek said.
Immediate official reactions were circumspect.
New Mexico's senators, a senior official of the University of
California, and the district's congressman provided brief
comments Wednesday, shortly after the RFP went up on the website
of DOE's Albuquerque Service Center.
Both New Mexico's U.S. Senators said in prepared announcements
that they would be looking into the details of the RFP.
"At this point, I want to review the RFP and get more
information from people who are involved and informed in the
management and operation of LANL," Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM)
said. "There is a lot at stake here for Los Alamos and its
future. The new contractor must have a plan that retains and
attracts world class scientific talent, and that includes
protecting employee benefits as they stand now."
Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) said he approved of the proposal's
emphasis on science and the contract's long-term potential of up
to 20 years.
"But I am disappointed that the RFP does not make benefits and
pension plans, as well as community support, part of what will
be factored into who will win the next contract," Bingaman said.
"I will express my concerns to DOE, and it's my hope that the
final RFP will address these important issues."
Domenici flagged some of the same issues.
"I expect the new contractor to offer specific commitments to
technology transfer and community involvement that includes
partnerships and economic development initiatives in the
region," he said.
Przybylek addressed this point during the press conference,
saying that asking for a community involvement plan in the
proposal has not made much of a difference in the past.
"Everybody gets the points," he said. "We think we could get as
good a plan without evaluating it."
Officials of Los Alamos National Laboratory referred comment to
the University of California, the laboratory's sole contract
manager for the last 61 years.
On behalf of UC, Vice President S. Robert Foley, provided a
statement in which he expressed satisfaction that DOE
"recognizes the need to retain Los Alamos National Laboratory's
world-class scientists and other laboratory workers."
He added, "With the strong actions the university is taking
throughout its laboratory system and with the continued
dedication and scientific excellence of the LANL staff, I
believe we will be in excellent position to submit a strong and
winning proposal should the UC Board of Regents make the final
decision to compete."
"The most pressing concern in this competition is what is best
for our country's security," said Rep. Tom Udall, D-NM, who
represents the state's Third District, in which the laboratory
is located. "I will work with other members of the congressional
delegation and Governor Richardson to see that this process is
implemented correctly."
Udall said he was particularly pleased to see that the current
employees' pay and benefits are to be protected as that had been
a top concern they had expressed to him.
A full draft RFP is available at
doeal.gov/lanlcontractrecompete/DraftRFP.htm
© 2003 Los Alamos Monitor All Rights Reserved.
*****************************************************************
57 DOE: Remediation of the Moab Uranium Mill Tailings, Grand and San
FR Doc 04-26627
[Federal Register: December 3, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 232)]
[Notices] [Page 70256-70257] From the Federal Register Online via
GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr03de04-39]
Juan Counties, Utah, Draft Environmental Impact Statement; Notice
of Availability AGENCY: Department of Energy.
ACTION: Notice of availability and public hearings.
SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announces the
availability of the document, Remediation of the Moab Uranium
Mill Tailings, Grand and San Juan Counties, Utah, Draft
Environmental Impact Statement (DOE/ EIS-0335D) for the Moab,
Utah, Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action (UMTRA) Project Site,
for public comment. The draft environmental impact statement
(EIS) analyzes the potential environmental impacts associated
with alternatives for remediating contaminated soils, tailings,
and ground water at the Moab Uranium Mill Tailings Site (Moab
site), Grand County, Utah, and contaminated soils in adjacent
public and private properties (vicinity properties) near the Moab
site.
The draft EIS also contains a Floodplain and Wetlands Assessment.
The Department prepared this draft EIS in accordance with the
National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) (42 U.S.C. 4321
et seq.), the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) regulations
that implement the procedural provisions of NEPA (40 CFR Parts
1500-1508), and the DOE procedures implementing NEPA (10 CFR Part
1021). The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a
notice of availability of the draft EIS in the Federal Register
on November 12, 2004 (69 FR 65427), starting a public comment
period ending February 18, 2005.
DOE invites the public to comment on the draft EIS and will
consider the comments in preparing the final EIS. Written
comments must be submitted by February 18, 2005, to ensure
consideration. DOE will consider comments submitted after this
date to the extent practicable. DOE will conduct four public
hearings to present information and receive comments on the draft
in Moab, Blanding, White Mesa, and Green River, Utah. DOE will
also publish information about the hearings in local Utah
newspapers in advance of the hearings. DOE will accept oral and
written comments at the public hearings.
DATES: DOE invites comments on the draft EIS, which should be
submitted to Don Metzler (see ADDRESSES) by February 18, 2005.
DOE will consider comments submitted after that date to the
extent practicable.
DOE also will conduct four public hearings to present information
and receive oral and written comments on the draft EIS.
Information about these hearings will also be published in local
Utah newspapers in advance of the hearings. The locations, dates,
and times for these public hearings are as follows: 1. January
25, 2005, 6 p.m., City Hall Meeting Room, 240 E. Main, Green
River, Utah.
2. January 26, 2005, 6 p.m., Archway Inn, 1551 N. Hwy 191, Moab,
Utah.
3. January 27, 2005, 10 a.m., Education Building, White Mesa,
Utah.
4. January 27, 2005, 6 p.m., College of Eastern Utah Arts and
Events Center Auditorium, 639 West 100 South, Blanding, Utah.
ADDRESSES: Requests for further information on the draft EIS,
copies of the document, and comments on the draft EIS should be
directed to Don Metzler, Moab Federal Project Director, U.S.
Department of Energy, 2597 B\3/4\ Road, Grand Junction, Colorado,
81503; facsimile: (970) 248- 7636; telephone (970) 248-7612 or
toll free at (800) 637-4575; or e- mailed to:
moabcomments@gjo.doe.gov. Additional information can also be
obtained from the EIS Web site: http://www.gj.em.doe.gov/moab/.
For information or instructions on how to record comments call
(800) 637- 4575.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For general information on the
Office of Environmental Management's (EM) NEPA process, please
contact Mr. Don Metzler, Moab Federal Project Director, at the
address or phone numbers listed above, or Steven A. Frank, Office
of Environmental Management NEPA Compliance Officer, U.S.
Department of Energy, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington,
DC 20585; telephone (202) 586-7478. For information regarding the
DOE NEPA process, please contact: Carol M. Borgstrom, Director,
Office of NEPA Policy and Compliance (EH- 42), U.S. Department of
Energy, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20585,
Telephone: (202) 586-4600, or leave a message at (800) 472-2756.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
[[Page 70257]] Alternatives Considered Remediation alternatives
for the disposal of surface contamination include on-site
disposal of the mill tailings at their current location in Moab,
Utah; and three off-site disposal alternatives in Utah: Klondike
Flats, near Moab; Crescent Junction, near the town of Crescent
Junction and about 20 miles east of the town of Green River; and
the White Mesa Mill within a few miles of the towns of Blanding
and White Mesa and the Ute Mountain Ute Indian Reservation. The
draft EIS considers three modes of transporting the mill tailings
to the off-site alternatives: truck, rail, and slurry pipeline.
In addition, the draft EIS evaluates active ground water
remediation to eliminate the potential ongoing impacts to aquatic
species in the Colorado River resulting from the discharge of
contaminated ground water into the river.
In accordance with NEPA requirements, the draft EIS also
analyzes, for comparative purposes, a No Action alternative.
Under the No Action alternative, DOE would cease the active
management that DOE currently provides of the mill tailings
currently stored on-site.
Discharge of contaminated ground water into the Colorado River
would continue under the No Action alternative.
DOE has not yet identified a preferred alternative. DOE will
consider the analyses provided in the EIS as well as comments on
the document in determining its preferred alternative, which will
be identified in the final EIS.
Distribution and Availability of the Draft EIS Copies of the
draft EIS were distributed to Members of Congress, Federal,
State, and Indian tribal governments, local officials, persons,
agencies, and organizations who have expressed an interest in the
EIS process. Copies of the draft EIS may also be requested as
indicated previously in the ADDRESSES and FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
CONTACT sections of this notice. The draft EIS is available
electronically on the Internet at http://www.gj.em.doe.gov/moab/,
and is also available on the DOE NEPA Web site at
http://www.eh.doe.gov/nepa/. Copies of the draft EIS have been
placed in the Grand County Public Library, Blanding Branch
Library, and the White Mesa Ute Administrative Building, and in
the DOE Public Reading Room in Grand Junction, Colorado. Copies
may also be requested by contacting DOE toll free at
1-800-637-4575.
Addresses of Public Reading Rooms and Libraries: Grand County
Library, 25 South 100 East, Moab, Utah, (435) 259-5421. Library
hours: 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Saturday, Closed Sunday. Blanding Branch Library, 25 West 300
South, Blanding, Utah, (435) 678- 2335. Library hours: Noon to 7
p.m. Monday through Thursday, 2 to 6 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 2
p.m. Saturday. White Mesa Ute Administrative Building (off U.S.
Highway 191), White Mesa, Utah, (435) 678-3397.
Reading Room hours: 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday,
Closed weekends.
The DOE Freedom of Information Act Office and Reading Room, Room
1E-190, 1000 Independence Ave, SW., Washington, DC 20585, (202)
586- 3142.
Public Hearings: DOE will conduct four public hearings on the
draft EIS (see DATES above).
Issued in Washington, DC, on November 30, 2004.
Dr. In[eacute]s Triay, Deputy Chief Operating Officer.
[FR Doc. 04-26627 Filed 12-2-04; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6450-01-P
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58 PISJ: INEEL to make plutonium for space probes
Pocatello Idaho State Journal:
OAK RIDGE, Tenn. (AP) - A government project to produce a
plutonium isotope used to power deep-space probes once headed to
the Oak Ridge National Laboratory is now destined for Idaho.
Three years ago, the Department of Energy announced it would use
the Oak Ridge research facility to process plutonium-238 for
space power sources and other defense purposes - plans that would
require a $60 million upgrade in Oak Ridge's shielded "hot cell"
processing operations.
But DOE has now changed its mind and wants to consolidate the
plutonium work at the agency's Idaho National Engineering and
Environmental Laboratory at Arco, Idaho.
DOE says that the change will significantly increase security,
reduce risks associated with transporting nuclear materials
across the country and reduce costs. Under the original plan,
most plutonium processing would occur at Oak Ridge, but some
production also would happen at Idaho's Advanced Test Reactor and
some purification and assembly operations would be at Los Alamos
National Laboratory in New Mexico.
"DOE proposes to consolidate all nuclear activities of the
existing and future RPS (radioisotope power systems) production
operations at a single, highly secure DOE site," the agency wrote
in the Federal Register on Nov. 16. That would eliminate pitfalls
of using "three geographically separate and distant" government
facilities, DOE said. ORNL Director Jeff Wadsworth, who has a
robust $1 billion budget and several other new projects on the
lab's plate, wasn't too disappointed.
"We have to be realistic about where we're going to invest and
what facilities are to be used," he said. DOE has an opportunity
to save money and "optimize" operations, he said. Besides,
Wadsworth added, "We're going to be working very closely with
Idaho and support them in all this. We're still going to be
involved, (but) it may not be the way it was once envisioned."
The U.S. stopped making plutonium-238 in the 1980s and the
stockpile is expected to run out in 2010. For more than a decade,
the U.S. has been buying the material from Russia but those
sources are deemed too unreliable for NASA's long-term needs.
Plutonium-238, a sister to plutonium-239 that's used in nuclear
weapons, is considered an ideal power source for spacecraft too
far from the sun to use solar panels.
Three years ago, the Department of Energy announced it would use
the Oak Ridge research facility to process plutonium-238 for
space power sources and other defense purposes - plans that would
require a $60 million upgrade in Oak Ridge's shielded "hot cell"
processing operations.">
This document was originally published online on Friday,
December 03, 2004
Copyright © 2004 Pocatello Idaho State Journal P O Box 431
Pocatello, ID 83204-0431
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59 SHN: Los Alamos helping Ukraine keep tabs on nukes
By SUE VORENBERG
Scripps Howard News Service
December 05, 2004
- Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico is teaching
Ukrainian scientists to be better nuclear bean counters.
Scientists from the lab spent August and September in
Kiev teaching scientists there to use new equipment that measures
different types of radioactive materials. The hope is that the
training - and equipment provided by the United States - will
help Ukraine keep better track of nuclear materials inside its
borders and keep them out of the hands of terrorists, said Doug
Reilly, a Los Alamos scientist.
"This expertise helps in the same way that an accountant
in a bank helps prevent theft by knowing how much money the bank
expects to have," Reilly said. "If you don't account for your
money in a bank, and somebody walks out with it, you probably
won't know it's happened."
The equipment also can track where nuclear materials -
such as power plant waste - move around the country, added Doug
Sheppard, a manager at the lab.
"In a bank, you count money by taking a stack of bills
and putting it in a machine," Sheppard said. "For nuclear
material it's sort of similar. You take the material and put it
in a counter, or place the counter in front of it. From there you
can take measurements and determine the mass of the weapons grade
material present - even if it's in a sealed container."
Ukraine, a former Soviet republic currently in the throes
of political turmoil, is part of the International Atomic Energy
Agency treaty aimed at stopping the spread of nuclear materials.
The training and equipment helps the country meet standards of
that treaty, Reilly said.
"It helps them verify the content of nuclear fuel they
receive for their reactors from Russia," Reilly said. "The
technology will also help them characterize nuclear materials in
some of their research labs and other facilities."
IAEA requires its treaty members to provide information
on the type, location and mass of their nuclear materials,
Sheppard added.
"Ukraine has been playing ball with IAEA since the treaty
was signed," Sheppard said. "It wants to do whatever it can to
make IAEA happy."
Some of the equipment given to the Ukrainian government
was designed at Los Alamos. The country got several different
types of detectors that can tell how many atoms or grams of
different types of radioactive isotopes are present, Reilly said.
"Los Alamos is certainly one of the premier laboratories
in the world for making those kinds of measurements," Reilly
said.
Scientists from the country were well educated and took
to the technology quickly, he said, adding that Los Alamos plans
to do another training session in Kiev, and possibly at a nuclear
power site, in May and June of 2005.
"I've gone to a number of places around the former Soviet
Union through my work here, and Kiev is very lively and a very
pleasant place to visit," Reilly said. "The scientists are very
impressive. There isn't much of a culture gap. Nature is the same
no matter which side of the ocean you're on."
(Contact Sue Vorenberg of The Tribune in Albuquerque, N.M., at
http://www.abqtrib.com.)
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60 Salt Lake Tribune: Review says many scientists still cool on cold fusion
Article Last Updated: 12/03/2004 01:01:08 AM
By Robert Gehrke The Salt Lake Tribune
WASHINGTON - Fifteen years after a discredited University of
Utah effort, scientists remain lukewarm on cold fusion,
according to a new Department of Energy review.
Cold fusion believers, however, were encouraged that many of
the reviewers in the DOE study found compelling signs that cold
fusion experiments produced heat and nuclear products and said
further experiments are warranted - a level of acceptance for
cold fusion rarely reflected in the scientific world.
The review is the result of the work of four scientists,
convinced of the merits of cold fusion, who asked the Energy
Department to reassess the science behind the experiments for
the first time since its last review of the 1989 fusion-in-a-jar
Utah experiment later dismissed in the scientific circles.
“We were asking the Department of Energy whether or not
there is a legitimate area of scientific inquiry,” said David
Nagel, a George Washington University scientist on the team that
sought the review. “While we didn't receive what one would
characterize as 'full legitimacy' with the funding and
everything else, we took a step in that direction.”
In 1989, University of Utah chemists Stanley Pons and Martin
Fleischman claimed to have created fusion - the same process
that powers the sun - in a test tube by running just a few volts
of deuterium-enriched water into a metal called palladium.
The announcement created a buzz. There were dreams that
cold fusion could be the clean, cheap solution to the world's
energy needs. But experiments at other labs failed to reliably
reproduce the experiments and cold fusion turned into a punch
line.
A Time magazine poll called cold fusion one of the worst
ideas of the millennium.
But a small group of scientists has not given up, despite
being dismissed by the scientific mainstream and the difficulty
in financing experiments and getting articles published on the
topic.
In late 2003, Nagel, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
scientist Peter Hagelstein, Randall Hekman of Hekman Industries,
and Michael McKubre of SRI International asked the Energy
Department for a new scientific review of the evidence.
The goal was not to persuade the Energy Department to fund
cold fusion research, said Nagel, but to raise the credibility
of the research.
“We did not go in there with our hands out,” he said.
The four scientists and Talbot Chubb of Research Systems
Inc. assembled the most compelling evidence of cold fusion and
submitted it for review by nine experts chosen by the
department. In August, they were given an opportunity to make
their case to nine additional scientists in a one-day meeting in
Washington.
The panelists submitted more than 40 pages in comments.
Nagel called them a “to-do list” for researchers in the field -
recommendations to address questions and concerns raised by the
scientific review.
The reviews were mixed, with about half believing the
experiments produced heat, but most finding that low-energy
nuclear reactions are not conclusively demonstrated. The
reviewers were nearly unanimous that the Energy Department
should consider funding well-designed cold fusion tests on a
case-by-case basis.
That has been the standard since the original discovery,
said Energy Department spokesman Jeff Sherwood.
The department has funded cold fusion experiments in the
past, but the DOE is not paying for any research in the field
today, he said.
© Copyright 2004, The Salt Lake Tribune.
*****************************************************************
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:
*****************************************************************