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                         NUCLEAR POLICY
 
1 Korea: Forgotten Nuclear Threats
2 Korea Herald: 'No nuke talks before Bush inauguration'   
3 WT: N. Korea insists on change of U.S. policy for new talks - 
4 INSIDE JoongAng Daily: Seoul cancels trip aimed at reviving 6-nation
5 Xinhua: IAEA concludes 4th inspection over S.Korean nuke experiments
6 Korea Times: IAEA Completes Special Inspections 
7 Korea Times: [Year-End Review] Unhappy Memoiries of South Korea's Nu
8 Guardian Unlimited: Tokyo to Likely Slap Sanctions on N. Korea
9 US: Despite Missile Defense failure, Vandenberg still getting a miss
10 US: Star Wars Fails Again
11 US: MIT's Role in Missile Test Fraud 
12 US: Guardian Unlimited: Different targets, same tactics
13 US: toledoblade.com: The deregulation myth
14 US: Vermont Guardian: Lighting the way: World looks to Vermont for e
15 Vanunu Elected Glasgow University Rector
16 The Hindu: Nuclear policy based on consensus - PM 
17 Xinhua: Pakistan, India to set up nuclear hot line   
18 Xinhua: China welcomes nuclear agreement between European trio and I
19 International Herald Tribune: A cascade of nuclear proliferation
20 Asia Times: Evildoers, here we come 
 
                         NUCLEAR REACTORS
 
21 US:  NIRS - Citizens' Groups Request Suspension of Licensing Hearing
22 US: Platts: NRC tightening security on accessing classified informat
23 US: NRC: NRC Enhances Public Meeting Schedule on its Web Site
24 US: Concord Monitor: Nuclear argument ignored key fact
25 US: NRC: Notice of Consideration of an Amendment Request Transferrin
26 Xinhua: Nuke power plant runs for 13 years   
27 US: NRC: Draft Regulatory Guide; Issuance, Availability
28 US: The Advocate - Report: environmental impact of Millstone plants 
29 US: NRC: Performance and Accountability Report - Fiscal Year 2004
30 ITAR-TASS: G-7 ready to increase financing of Chernobyl sarcophagus
31 ITAR-TASS: Putin arrives at Kalininskaya N-station to inspect new re
32 US: SouthBendTribune.com: Nuclear plant inspections go well
33 US: TheDay.com NRC: Effect Of Millstone On Flounder Needs More Atten
34 US: Public Citizen: Citizens’ Groups Request Suspension of Licensing
35 US: PRN: Platts Conference to Convene Top Nuclear Energy Players 
36 Guardian Unlimited: Nuke Whistle-Blower Named Scottish Rector
 
                          NUCLEAR SAFETY
 
37 US: Independent Mind: Port inspection exposes truckers to gamma rays
38 US: Tri-City Herald: 250 downwinders added to suit 
39 US: The Daily Press: Other Substances, Many Possibilities 
40 US: Boston Globe:  Report cites trace chemicals in water
41 ITAR-TASS: President Vladimir Putin to chair SC presidium meeting on
42 ITAR-TASS: Putin urges to protect atomic energy from criminals
43 US: Paducah Sun: Labor issues first sick-worker check
 
                         NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE
 
44 [shundahaialerts] Nuclear News from Utah
45 US: DenverPost.com: State rejects radioactive soil
46 US: AP Wire: Radioactive dirt found at former Saxton nuclear site
47 US: Daily Sentinel: Uranium comes back into play
48 Interfax: 70Mln tonnes of solid radioactive waste in Russia - Putin
49 Las Vegas SUN: Yucca security clearances being expanded
50 FT.com: Greens attack policy on nuclear waste
51 US: Salt Lake Tribune: Envirocare Q and A 
52 US: Salt Lake Tribune: Envirocare owner cashes out 
53 US: Deseret News: Huntsman stresses: No hotter N-waste
54 US: Deseret News: Envirocare sold
55 US: Lincoln Journal Letter: Nuclear funding decision is a gift
56 Whitehaven News: IS NUCLEAR WASTE A SOLUTION – OR A PROBLEM? 
57 Whitehaven News: SELLAFIELD LORRY CRASH 
58 US: Rocky Mountain News: Cotter wins one request, loses another
 
                         NUCLEAR WEAPONS
 
 
                        US DEPT. OF ENERGY
 
59 UC loses nuclear weapons program (3/9)
60 Las Vegas SUN: Editorial: Standing up to the boss
61 New Standard: Bush’s Pick for Energy Secretary Has Polluted Record
 
                          OTHER NUCLEAR
 
62 [du-list] DU in the News 16th Dec. '04
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                         FULL NEWS STORIES
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 1 Korea: Forgotten Nuclear Threats
 
Date: Thu, 16 Dec 2004 17:17:58 -0600 (CST)

 
Le Monde Diplomatique.
December 2004

Consequences of the ' forgotten' war

KOREA: FORGOTTEN NUCLEAR THREATS

The media claim that North Korea is trying to obtain and use weapons of mass
destruction. Yet the United States, which opposes this strategy, has used or
threatened to use such weapons in northeast Asia since the 1940s, when it
did drop atomic bombs on Japan.

By Bruce Cumings

THE forgotten war - the Korean war of 1950-53 - might better be called the
unknown war. What was indelible about it was the extraordinary
destructiveness of the United States' air campaigns against North Korea,
from the widespread and continuous use of firebombing (mainly with napalm),
to threats to use nuclear and chemical weapons (1), and the destruction of
huge North Korean dams in the final stages of the war. Yet this episode is
mostly unknown even to historians, let alone to the average citizen, and it
has never been mentioned during the past decade of media analysis of the
North Korean nuclear problem.

Korea is also assumed to have been a limited war, but its prosecution bore a
strong resemblance to the air war against Imperial Japan in the second world
war, and was often directed by the same US military leaders. The atomic
attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki have been examined from many different
perspectives, yet the incendiary air attacks against Japanese and Korean
cities have received much less attention. The US post-Korean war air power
and nuclear strategy in northeast Asia are even less well understood; yet
these have dramatically shaped North Korean choices and remain a key factor
in its national security strategy.

Napalm was invented at the end of the second world war. It became a major
issue during the Vietnam war, brought to prominence by horrific photos of
injured civilians. Yet far more napalm was dropped on Korea and with much
more devastating effect, since the Democratic People's Republic of Korea
(DPRK) had many more populous cities and urban industrial installations than

North Vietnam. In 2003 I participated in a conference with US veterans of
the Korean war. During a discussion about napalm, a survivor who lost an eye
in the Changjin (in Japanese, Chosin) Reservoir battle said it was indeed a
nasty weapon - but "it fell on the right people". (Ah yes, the "right
 people" - a friendly-fire drop on a dozen US soldiers.) He continued: "Men
all around me were burned. They lay rolling in the snow. Men I knew, marched
and fought with begged me to shoot them . . . It was terrible. Where the
napalm had burned the skin to a crisp, it would be peeled back from the
face, arms, legs . . . like fried potato chips" (2).

Soon after that incident, George Barrett of the New York Times had found "a
macabre tribute to the totality of modern war" in a village near Anyang, in
South Korea: "The inhabitants throughout the village and in the fields were
caught and killed and kept the exact postures they held when the napalm
struck - a man about to get on his bicycle, 50 boys and girls playing in an
orphanage, a housewife strangely unmarked, holding in her hand a page torn
from a Sears-Roebuck catalogue crayoned at Mail Order No 3,811,294 for a
$2.98 'bewitching bed jacket - coral'." US Secretary of State Dean Acheson
wanted censorship authorities notified about this kind of "sensationalised
reporting", so it could be stopped (3).

One of the first orders to burn towns and villages that I found in the
archives was in the far southeast of Korea, during heavy fighting along the
Pusan Perimeter in August 1950, when US soldiers were bedevilled by
thousands of guerrillas in rear areas. On 6 August a US officer requested
"to have the following towns obliterated" by the air force: Chongsong,
Chinbo and Kusu-dong. B-29 strategic bombers were also called in for
tactical bombing. On 16 August five groups of B-29s hit a rectangular area
near the front, with many towns and villages, creating an ocean of fire with
hundreds of tons of napalm. Another call went out on the 20 August. On 26
August I found in this same source the single entry: "fired 11 villages"
(4). Pilots were told to bomb targets that they could see to avoid hitting
civilians, but they frequently bombed major population centres by radar, or
dumped huge amounts of napalm on secondary targets when the primary one was
unavailable.

In a major strike on the industrial city of Hungnam on 31 July 1950, 500
tons of ordnance was delivered through clouds by radar; the flames rose
200-300 feet into the air. The air force dropped 625 tons of bombs over
North Korea on 12 August, a tonnage that would have required a fleet of 250
B-17s in the second world war. By late August B-29 formations were dropping
800 tons a day on the North (5). Much of it was pure napalm. From June to
late October 1950, B-29s unloaded 866,914 gallons of napalm.

Air force sources delighted in this relatively new weapon, joking about
communist protests and misleading the press about their "precision bombing".
They also liked to point out that civilians were warned of the approaching
bombers by leaflet, although all pilots knew that these were ineffective
(6). This was a mere prelude to the obliteration of most North Korean towns
and cities after China entered the war.

China joins the war

The Chinese entry caused an immediate escalation of the air campaign. From
November 1950, General Douglas MacArthur ordered that a wasteland be created
between the fighting front and the Chinese border, destroying from the air
every "installation, factory, city, and village" over thousands of square
miles of North Korean territory. As a well-informed British attache to
MacArthur's headquarters observed, except for Najin near the Soviet border
and the Yalu dams (both spared so as not to provoke Moscow or Beijing),
MacArthur's orders were "to destroy every means of communication and every
installation, and factories and cities and villages. This destruction is to
start at the Manchurian border and to progress south." On 8 November 1950,
79 B-29s dropped 550 tons of incendiaries on Sinuiju, "removing [it] from
off the map". A week later Hoeryong was napalmed "to burn out the place". By
25 November "a large part of [the] North West area between Yalu River and
south to enemy lines is more or less burning"; soon the area would be a
"wilderness of scorched earth" (7).

This happened before the major Sino-Korean offensive that cleared northern
Korea of United Nations forces. When that began, the US air force hit
Pyongyang with 700 500-pound bombs on 14-15 December; napalm dropped from
Mustang fighters, with 175 tons of delayed-fuse demolition bombs, which
landed with a thud and then blew up when people were trying to retrieve the
dead from the napalm fires.

At the beginning of January General Matthew Ridgway again ordered the air
force to hit the capital, Pyongyang, "with the goal of burning the city to
the ground with incendiary bombs" (this happened in two strikes on 3 and 5
January). As the Americans retreated below the 38th parallel, the
scorched-earth policy of torching continued, burning Uijongbu, Wonju and
other small cities in the South as the enemy drew near (8).

The air force also tried to destroy the North Korean leadership. During the
war on Iraq in 2003 the world learned about the MOAB, "Mother of All Bombs",
weighing 21,500 pounds with an explosive force of 18,000 pounds of TNT.
Newsweek put this bomb on its cover, under the headline "Why America Scares
the World" (9). In the desperate winter of 1950-51 Kim Il Sung and his
closest allies were back where they started in the 1930s, holed up in deep
bunkers in Kanggye, near the Manchurian border. After failing to find them
for three months after the Inch'on landing (an intelligence failure that led
to carpet-bombing the old Sino-Korean tributary route running north from
Pyongyang to the border, on the assumption that they would flee to China),
B-29s dropped Tarzan bombs on Kanggye. These were enormous 12,000-pound
bombs never deployed before - but firecrackers compared to the ultimate
weapons, atomic bombs.

A blocking blow

On 9 July 1950 - just two weeks into the war, it is worth remembering -
MacArthur sent Ridgway a hot message that prompted the joint chiefs of staff
(JCS) "to consider whether or not A-bombs should be made available to
MacArthur". The chief of operations, General Charles Bolte, was asked to
talk to MacArthur about using atomic bombs "in direct support [of] ground
combat". Bolte thought 10-20 such bombs could be spared for Korea without
unduly jeopardising US global war capabilities.

Boite received from MacArthur an early suggestion for the tactical use of
atomic weapons and an indication of MacArthur's extraordinary ambitions for
the war, which included occupying the North and handling potential Chinese -
or Soviet - intervention: "I would cut them off in North Korea . . . I
visualise a cul-de-sac. The only passages leading from Manchuria and
Vladivostok have many tunnels and bridges. I see here a unique use for the
atomic bomb - to strike a blocking blow - which would require a six months'
repair job. Sweeten up my B-29 force."

At this point, however, the JCS rejected use of the bomb because targets
large enough to require atomic weapons were lacking; because of concerns
about world opinion five years after Hiroshima; and because the JCS expected
the tide of battle to be reversed by conventional military means. But that
calculation changed when large numbers of Chinese troops entered the war in
October and November 1950.

At a famous news conference on 30 November President Harry Truman threatened
use of the atomic bomb, saying the US might use any weapon in its arsenal
(10). The threat was not the faux pas many assumed it to be, but was based
on contingency planning to use the bomb. On that same day, Air Force General
George Stratemeyer sent an order to General Hoyt Vandenberg that the
Strategic Air Command should be put on warning, "to be prepared to dispatch
without delay medium bomb groups to the Far East . . . this augmentation
should include atomic capabilities".

General Curtis LeMay remembered correctly that the JCS had earlier concluded
that atomic weapons would probably not be useful in Korea, except as part of
"an overall atomic campaign against Red China". But, if these orders were
now being changed because of the entry of Chinese forces into the war, LeMay
wanted the job; he told Stratemeyer that only his headquarters had the
experience, technical training, and "intimate knowledge" of delivery
methods. The man who had directed the firebombing of Tokyo in 1945 was again
ready to proceed to the Far East to direct the attacks (11). Washington was
not worried that the Russians would respond with atomic weapons because the
US possessed at least 450 bombs and the Soviets only 25.

On 9 December MacArthur said that he wanted commander's discretion to use
atomic weapons in the Korean theatre. On 24 December he submitted "a list of
retardation targets" for which he required 26 atomic bombs. He also wanted
four to drop on the "invasion forces" and four more for "critical
concentrations of enemy air power".

In interviews published posthumously, MacArthur said he had a plan that
would have won the war in 10 days: "I would have dropped 30 or so atomic
bombs . . . strung across the neck of Manchuria". Then he would have
introduced half a million Chinese Nationalist troops at the Yalu and then
"spread behind us - from the Sea of Japan to the Yellow Sea - a belt of
radioactive cobalt . . . it has an active life of between 60 and 120 years.
For at least 60 years there could have been no land invasion of Korea from
the North." He was certain that the Russians would have done nothing about
this extreme strategy: "My plan was a cinch" (12).

A second request

Cobalt 60 has 320 times the radioactivity of radium. One 400-ton cobalt
H-bomb, historian Carroll Quigley has written, could wipe out all animal
life on earth. MacArthur sounds like a warmongering lunatic, but he was not
alone. Before the Sino-Korean offensive, a committee of the JCS had said
that atomic bombs might be the decisive factor in cutting off a Chinese
advance into Korea; initially they could be useful in "a cordon sanitaire
[that] might be established by the UN in a strip in Manchuria immediately
north of the Korean border". A few months later Congressman Albert Gore
(2000 Democratic candidate Al Gore's father, subsequently a strong opponent
of the Vietnam war) complained that "Korea has become a meat grinder of
American manhood" and suggested "something cataclysmic" to end the war: a
radiation belt dividing the Korean peninsula permanently into two.

Although Ridgway said nothing about a cobalt bomb, in May 1951, after
replacing MacArthur as US commander in Korea, he renewed MacArthur's request
of 24 December, this time for 38 atomic bombs (13). The request was not
approved.

The US came closest to using atomic weapons in April 1951, when Truman
removed MacArthur. Although much related to this episode is still
classified, it is now clear that Truman did not remove MacArthur simply
because of his repeated insubordination, but because he wanted a reliable
commander on the scene should Washington decide to use nuclear weapons;
Truman traded MacArthur for his atomic policies. On 10 March 1951 MacArthur
asked for a "D-Day atomic capability" to retain air superiority in the
Korean theatre, after the Chinese massed huge new forces near the Korean
border and after the Russians put 200 bombers into airbases in Manchuria
(from which they could strike not just Korea but also US bases in Japan)
(14). On 14 March General Vandenberg wrote: "Finletter and Lovett alerted on
atomic discussions. Believe everything is set."

At the end of March Stratemeyer reported that atomic bomb loading pits at
Kadena Air Base on Okinawa were again operational; the bombs were carried
there unassembled, and put together at the base, lacking only the essential
nuclear cores. On 5 April the JCS ordered immediate atomic retaliation
against Manchurian bases if large numbers of new troops came into the
fighting, or, it appears, if bombers were launched from there against US
assets. On that day the chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, Gordon
Dean, began arrangements for transferring nine Mark IV nuclear capsules to
the Air Force's 9th Bomb Group, the designated carrier for atomic weapons.

The JCS again considered the use of nuclear weapons in June 1951, this time
in tactical battlefield circumstances (15) and there were many more such
suggestions as the war continued to 1953. Robert Oppenheimer, former
director of the Manhattan Project, was involved in Project Vista, designed
to gauge the feasibility of the tactical use of atomic weapons. In 1951
young Samuel Cohen, on a secret assignment for the US Defence Department,
observed the battles for the second recapture of Seoul and thought there
should be a way to destroy the enemy without destroying the city. He became
the father of the neutron bomb (16).

The most terrifying nuclear project in Korea, however, was Operation Hudson
Harbour. It appears to have been part of a larger project involving "overt
exploitation in Korea by the Department of Defence and covert exploitation
by the Central Intelligence Agency of the possible use of novel weapons" - a
euphemism for what are now called weapons of mass destruction.

The 'limited war'

Without even using such "novel weapons" - although napalm was very new - the
air war levelled North Korea and killed millions of civilians. North Koreans
tell you that for three years they faced a daily threat of being burned with
napalm: "You couldn't escape it," one told me in 1981. By 1952 just about
everything in northern and central Korea had been completely levelled. What
was left of the population survived in caves.

Over the course of the war, Conrad Crane wrote, the US air force "had
wreaked terrible destruction all across North Korea. Bomb damage assessment
at the armistice revealed that 18 of 22 major cities had been at least half
obliterated." A table he provided showed that the big industrial cities of
Hamhung and Hungnam were 80-85% destroyed, Sariwon 95%, Sinanju 100%, the
port of Chinnampo 80% and Pyongyang 75%. A British reporter described one of
the thousands of obliterated villages as "a low, wide mound of violet
ashes". General William Dean, who was captured after the battle of Taejon in
July 1950 and taken to the North, later said that most of the towns and
villages he saw were just "rubble or snowy open spaces". Just about every
Korean he met, Dean wrote, had had a relative killed in a bombing raid (17).
Even Winston Churchill, late in the war, was moved to tell Washington that
when napalm was invented, no one contemplated that it would be "splashed"
all over a civilian population (18).

This was Korea, "the limited war". The views of its architect, Curtis LeMay,
serve as its epitaph. After it started, he said: "We slipped a note kind of
under the door into the Pentagon and said let us go up there . . . and burn
down five of the biggest towns in North Korea - and they're not very big -
and that ought to stop it. Well, the answer to that was four or five
screams - 'You'll kill a lot of non-combatants' and 'It's too horrible'. Yet
over a period of three years or so . . . we burned down every town in North
Korea and South Korea, too . . . Now, over a period of three years this is
palatable, but to kill a few people to stop this from happening - a lot of
people can't stomach it" (19).

See also : The 38th parallel.

(1) Stephen Endicott and Edward Hagerman, "First victims of biological
warfare", Le Monde diplomatique, English language edition, July 1999.

(2) Quoted in Clay Blair, Forgotten War, Random House, New York, 1989.

(3) US National Archives, 995.000 file, box 6175, George Barrett dispatch of
8 February 1951.

(4) National Archives, RG338, KMAG file, box 5418, KMAG journal, entries for
6, 16, 20 and 26 August 1950.

(5) See the New York Times, 31 July, 2 August and 1 September 1950.

(6) See "Air War in Korea," Air University Quarterly Review 4 no 2, autumn
1950, and "Precision bombing," ibid, n0 4, summer 1951.

(7) MacArthur Archives, RG6, box 1, Stratemeyer to MacArthur, 8 November
1950; Public Record Office, FO 317, piece n0 84072, Bouchier to Chiefs of
Staff, 6 November 1950; piece n0 84073, 25 November 1959 sitrep.

(8) Bruce Cumings, The Origins of the Korean War, vol 2, Princeton
University Press, 1990; New York Times, 13 December 1950 and 3 January 1951.

(9) Newsweek, 24 March 2003.

(10) New York Times, 30 November and 1 December 1950.

(11) Hoyt Vandenberg Papers, box 86, Stratemeyer to Vandenberg, 30 November
1950; LeMay to Vandenberg, 2 December 1950. Also Richard Rhodes, Dark Sun:
The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb, Touchstone, Simon & Schuster, New York,
1995.

(12) Bruce Cumings, op cit; Charles Willoughby Papers, box 8, interviews by
Bob Considine and Jim Lucas in 1954, published in the New York Times, 9
April 1964.

(13) Carroll Quigley, Tragedy and Hope: A History of the World in Our Time,
MacMillan, New York, 1966; Quigley was Bill Clinton's favorite teacher at
Georgetown University. See also Bruce Cumings, op cit.

(14) Documents released after the Soviet Union collapsed do not bear this
out; scholars who have seen these documents say there was no such major
deployment of Soviet air power at the time. However, US intelligence reports
believed the deployment happened, perhaps based on effective disinformation
by the Chinese.

(15) This does not mean the use of "tactical" nuclear weapons, which were
not available in 1951, but the use of the Mark IVs in battlefield tactical
strategy, much as heavy conventional bombs dropped by B-29 bombers had been
used on battlefields since August 1950.

(16) Samuel Cohen was a childhood friend of Herman Kahn. See Fred Kaplan,
The Wizards of Armageddon, Simon & Schuster, New York, 1983. On Oppenheimer
and Project Vista, see Bruce Cumings, op cit; also David Elliot, "Project
vista and Nuclear Weapons in Europe," International Security 2, n0 1, summer
1986.

(17) Conrad Crane, American Airpower Strategy in Korea, University Press of
Kansas, 2000.

(18) Jon Halliday and Bruce Cumings, Korea: The Unknown War, Pantheon Books,
New York, 1988.

(19) J F Dulles Papers, Curtis LeMay oral history, 28 April 1966.
*****************************************************************
 2 Korea Herald: 'No nuke talks before Bush inauguration'   

The Nation's No.1 English Newspaper
 
The government has pushed aside any notion of resuming the 
stalled six-nation talks on the North Korean nuclear standoff 
before U.S. President George W. Bush begins his second term next 
month, officials here said.

 Any form of talks within the six-party framework - the Koreas, 
the United States, China, Japan, and Russia - will not occur 
before Jan. 20, a senior government official said yesterday. 

"The six-party talks in whatever kind of form are almost 
impossible before January 20 when the second Bush administration 
is inaugurated," the senior official told The Korea Herald.

 "And, the chances are extremely slim that the North will return 
to the talks before then."

 Pyongyang will wait and see who they have to deal with in the 
Bush administration, whose top ranks will contain hawkish 
neo-conservatives - and assess what may be in store for them 
before making any decisions on the talks.

 "After verifying the new line-up in the United States, North 
Korea will then decide whether to return to the talks and what to 
do next," the official said. "And with North Korea in such a 
position, our government should not act too hastily to push 
them."

 Pyongyang has repeatedly said it will not make any new move on 
the talks until it knows what policy the second Bush 
administration will follow, even though the other five nations 
have continuously urged the Stalinist regime to come back to the 
negotiating table.

 Some analysts here believe the new Bush administration may 
soften its attitude toward Pyongyang and make at least some 
progress with Pyongyang.

 But critics warn that, that any "softer" stance will only be 
temporary and will be hardened if there is no breakthrough in the 
early part of 2005.

 "But we should not pessimistically prejudge the overall 
resolution to the nuclear issue just because of the stalling of 
the six-party talks," the official said. " ...the momentum should 
not be lost in the framework... (we should) deall with the issue 
in a long-term sense ahead of any possible brinkmanship. We 
should be working toward a peaceful resolution before hitting the 
breakpoint of brinkmanship."

 Three rounds of six-party talks in Beijing have failed to narrow 
the differences. Pyongyang has scarcely budged on the nuclear 
standoff since Washington accused it in October 2002 of running a 
secret program based on enriched uranium in violation of the 
Agreed Framework - a 1994 bilateral accord to control the North's 
nuclear program.

 Recent signals from the White House - that Washington is not 
interested in a regime change in the North but more interested in 
"transformation" - could be the beginning of a new charm 
offensive aimed at negotiating a solution to the nuclear impasse.

 Analysts say the number one goal of the North Korean leadership 
is to hold on to power and it fears a U.S. attempt to overthrow 
the regime more than anything. 

(bluelle@heraldm.com)

By Choi Soung-ah

2004.12.17
 
*****************************************************************
 3 WT: N. Korea insists on change of U.S. policy for new talks - 

The Washington Times: Nation/Politics - December 16, 2004
 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 
By Bill Gertz

THE WASHINGTON TIMES

North Korea is waiting for President Bush to offer a more 
friendly U.S. policy toward the communist state in his upcoming 
speeches before agreeing to resume stalled nuclear talks, Bush 
administration officials say. 

    The tough posture of the communist regime in Pyongyang means 
the next round of six-nation talks will not be held before 
February, said officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity. 

    Talks were set to resume in September, and officials from 
China, the United States, South Korea and Japan pressed for more 
meetings in November, December and January. 
		
 	    North Korea's position on the talks was relayed last month
to China's government, which was rebuffed in efforts to begin a
fourth round of the six-party talks. 

    A similar message was relayed recently to Joseph R. DeTrani,
the State Department special envoy who met in New York with
North Korean United Nations officials. 

    "North Korea is waiting for the president's Inauguration Day
speech," one official said. 

    Mr. Bush is expected to set the tone for his second
administration in the Jan. 20 speech, to be held in front of the
U.S. Capitol. 

    A State Department official said the North Koreans also have
said they will wait to hear Mr. Bush's State of the Union
speech, which usually is held in late January, but could be
delayed until early February, because of the inauguration. 

    "They are looking forward to see who comes in with a new
administration and the actions and atmosphere with the new
administration," the State Department official said. 

    A senior administration official close to the White House
said it was too soon to preview what will be contained in the
president's upcoming speeches. 

    However, the official said: "Our position is the same as it
has been. North Korea should abandon their nuclear ambitions and
the Korean Peninsula should be nuclear-free. 

    "There really is no excuse for them not to return to the
negotiations." 

    North Korea's government repeatedly has denounced what it
views as the "hostile" U.S. policy toward Pyongyang. 

    Mr. Bush first identified North Korea in a January 2002
speech as part of an "axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace
of the world." 

    In recent weeks, there has been an increase in diplomatic
exchanges among the six nations involved in the talks. North
Korean representatives have been in Beijing and Moscow, and the
United States has consulted closely with the participants. 

    Christopher Hill, the U.S. ambassador to South Korea, said
yesterday that the United States made a proposal to North Korea
at the last round of talks in June and that Pyongyang is
refusing to discuss it. 

    "We expect the North Koreans to come back to the table and
respond to that and to negotiate, and that's the deal," he said
after a speech to the Asia Society. 

    In Japan, a new dispute has raised questions about Tokyo's
participation in future talks. Japan's legislature has formed a
special committee to deal with the issue of Japanese nationals
abducted in the past by North Korea and used for intelligence
training. 

    North Korea's government warned Japan yesterday that it will
view any economic sanctions on North Korea as a "declaration of
war." Pyongyang also threatened to exclude Japan from the talks. 

    North Korea's Korean Central News Agency reported Tuesday
that it will not continue talks "for the mere form's sake." 

    "It is useless to hold talks ... without producing any
substantial results," the agency stated. "As already made clear
by [North Korea], it intends to follow with patience the course
of policy-shaping by the second-term Bush administration." 

    The crisis over North Korea's nuclear-weapons program began
in October 2002, when a North Korean government official told a
visiting U.S. official that the communist government had a
covert uranium-enrichment program. 
    
Copyright 2004 News World Communications, Inc. 		   	 
*****************************************************************
 4 INSIDE JoongAng Daily: Seoul cancels trip aimed at reviving 6-nation talks
 
December 17, 2004 KST 15:49 (GMT+9)

  December 17, 2004 ¤Ñ In a sign the six-party talks on North
Korea's nuclear arms program are unlikely to resume soon, South
Korea's deputy foreign minister, Lee Soo-hyuck, abruptly
cancelled a planned visit to China this week that was scheduled
with the aim of reviving the negotiations.

 Both Koreas, China, Japan, Russia, and the United States have
been engaged under the six-country format designed to rid the
Korean Peninsula of nuclear weapons. A senior South Korean
government official said that under the current circumstances
the government could see little benefit coming from Mr. Lee's
visit. 

"The United States has asked China to take on a bigger role, but
China has been reluctant to exercise pressure on North Korea,"
said the official. "To ask China again to pressure North Korea
won't help." 

Last month, top leaders of South Korea, China, Japan and the
United States participating at the Asia-Pacific Economic
Cooperation meeting pledged to resume the six-party talks as
soon as possible. 

Meanwhile, other diplomatic efforts have been under way to drum
up support for the talks. Ambassador Ning Fukui, China's top
envoy to the talks, visited Pyeongyang and Seoul, while Mr. Lee
traveled to Washington and Tokyo. 

Joseph DeTrani, the deputy head of the U.S. delegation for the
six-party talks, met twice with North Korean officials in New
York in early November and then visited Beijing, Seoul and Tokyo
earlier this month. 

Nevertheless, according to a Foreign Ministry official, North
Korea has told China and the United States in recent meetings
that it would wait to see how the Bush administration reshapes
its policy. 

Separately, at a forum in Washington on Wednesday sponsored by
the Asia Society, U.S. Ambassador to Korea Christopher Hill said
that any negotiations with North Korea would be conducted under
the current six-party arrangement. 

Mr. Hill said direct talks with North Korea would be acceptable
only within the framework. Commenting on the recent opening of a
South Korean-sponsored industrial park in North Korea, Mr. Hill
said that the complex will give North Korea a taste of what
could happen if it gives up its nuclear weapons. 

Regarding North Korean human rights issues, Mr. Hill said the
issue was not a matter of interference into North Korea's
domestic politics, but a concern that North Korea needs to
address to become a member of the international community.
 

by Ahn Sung-Kyoo, Brian Lee africanu@joongang.co.kr>   

Copyright by Joins.com, Inc.
*****************************************************************
 5 Xinhua: IAEA concludes 4th inspection over S.Korean nuke experiments   

  www.xinhuanet.com

  www.chinaview.cn 2004-12-16 18:52:20   

    SEOUL, Dec. 16 (Xinhuanet) -- The International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA) concluded its fourth inspection over the
South Korean two past nuclear-related experiments on Wednesday,
South Korean Yonhap News Agency quoted sources at the Ministry
of Science and Technology (MOST) as reporting on Thursday. 

    The four-member IAEA inspection team left South Korea on
Wednesday after conducting inspections on the (South) Korean
Atomic Energy Research Institute in Daejoen, some 160 kilometers
south to Seoul, during their ten-day stay in the Asian country. 

    Representing the UN nuclear watchdog, the four inspectors
also attended an annual IAEA-South Korea seminar aimed to review
Seoul's compliance of the Safeguard Agreement. 

    In the IAEA-South Korea seminar, the inspectors said the
IAEA will conclude special investigation of the South Korean
nuclear material experiments, and resume rutine inspections of
South Korean nuclear facilities, said Yonhap. 

    During the workshop, the IAEA team also agreed on South
Korean government's demand to provide International SSAC
Advisory Service(ISSAS) to Seoul. 

    The ISSAS is a new initiative designed by the IAEA to
provide recommendations for strengthening the SSAC (State
Systems for Accounting and Control). ISSAS missions compare the
procedures andpractices in member states with the obligations
specified under safeguards agreements, with international
consensus guidelines andagainst equivalent practices in other
countries. 

    South Korean official estimated the IAEA will organize a
five-member nuclear expert group to arrive in the Asian country
in the first half of 2005, said Yonhap. 

    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 IAEA's governing board cleared Seoul
of nuclear ambitions suspicions with a decision not to refer the
country to the UN Security Council for punishment. But IAEA
urged South Korea to continue receiving monitoring from the UN
nuclear watch body. Enditem 
    
  Copyright ©2003 Xinhua News Agency. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
 6 Korea Times: IAEA Completes Special Inspections 

Hankooki.com > The Korea Times > Nation   

By Ryu Jin Staff Reporter

 The U.N. nuclear watchdog has virtually finished its special 
inspections of the last three months into South Korea¡¯s past 
nuclear activities, officials said Thursday.

 According to the Science and Technology Ministry, the 
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) informed South Korea in 
a meeting in Seoul last week of its plan to end its ``special¡¯¡¯ 
inspections and return to ``routine¡¯¡¯ checks.

 ``South Korea and the U.N. atomic agency held a two-day review 
session on the safeguards agreement in Seoul last week,¡¯¡¯ a 
ministry official said. ``We were told that the IAEA inspections 
will return to normal from next year.¡¯¡¯

 Set up in 1957 as the ``atoms for peace¡¯¡¯ agency in the U.N. 
system, the IAEA works for the safe, secure, and peaceful use of 
nuclear technology. In accordance with the safeguards agreement, 
every signatory is subject to quarterly check-ups on its atomic 
research centers and biannual examinations of power plants as 
routine inspections.

 In the meantime, the IAEA also decided to provide an advisory 
service to South Korea on the State System for Accountancy and 
Control of Nuclear Material (SSAC) during last week¡¯s meeting, 
according to another ministry official.

 ``The International SSAC Advisory Service (ISSAS) is provided at 
the request of the South Korean government,¡¯¡¯ the official 
said. ``The IAEA will likely send an advisory mission, made up of 
about five nuclear experts, to Seoul in the first half of next 
year.¡¯¡¯

 The ISSAS of the IAEA is aimed at providing the relevant 
national authorities and facility operators with recommendations 
and suggestions on improvements that can be made to their SSAC 
systems.

 Seoul breathed a sigh of relief late last month after the IAEA 
decided not to refer it to the U.N. Security Council over its 
past nuclear-related experiments. In September the South Korean 
government admitted to producing tiny amounts of plutonium in 
1982 and enriched uranium in 2000 without informing the nuclear 
watchdog.

 After a two-day IAEA board of governors meeting in Vienna, 
Ingrid Hall of Canada said in the chairman¡¯s statement that 
Seoul¡¯s failure to report these activities in accordance with 
its safeguards agreements was of ``serious concern.¡¯¡¯

 At the same time, however, the statement said the quantities of 
nuclear material involved were not significant, and it welcomed 
the corrective actions taken by Seoul and its active cooperation 
with the agency. 

jinryu@koreatimes.co.kr 12-16-2004 17:00         
  
*****************************************************************
 7 Korea Times: [Year-End Review] Unhappy Memoiries of South Korea's Nuclear Past 

Hankooki.com > The Korea Times > Nation   

By Ryu Jin Staff Reporter

 The international controversy over Seoul¡¯s undeclared 
nuclear-related experiments in the past were brought to an end 
with the IAEA chairman¡¯s statement last month, but the 
three-month hullabaloo left South Koreans with a couple of 
valuable lessons in the process.

 It was early in September when the surprising revelations about 
the controversial lab tests first hit South Korea, not the 
nuclear-ambitious North. Just after lunch on Sept. 2, a rumor 
shattered the languid atmosphere that a ``bombshell¡¯¡¯ 
announcement from the government was coming.

 The rumor proved to be true at 5 p.m. when the science and 
foreign ministries admitted in turn that a group of U.N. nuclear 
inspectors was investigating the nation¡¯s past lab tests that 
used uranium _ one of the two key ingredients for building atomic 
bombs.

 Further disclosures ensued, including one about another 
significant experiment in the early 1980s based on plutonium _ 
the other element necessary to create nuclear weapons _ and the 
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) conducted three special 
inspections in the 12 weeks before the issue was brought to a 
close in its board meeting on Nov. 26.

 In the initial declaration submitted to the U.N. nuclear 
watchdog in August, Seoul said it discovered in June that 
laboratory-scale experiments involving the enrichment of uranium 
using laser devices had been carried out in 2000. Stressing they 
were one-off tests conducted by some unauthorized scientists, 
Seoul stated that only about 200mg of enriched uranium were 
produced.

 But some reports from foreign news media started to overstate 
Korea¡¯s past nuclear activities with speculations that the 
uranium enrichment level in the test reached weapons grade, which 
they argued showed systemic efforts to develop nuclear arms.

 Relevant ministries¡¯ poor response in the initial stage even 
firmed up the growing speculations as South Korea later had to 
make another acknowledgement. In the early 1980s, it said, 
laboratory-scale tests had been performed at the now-defunct 
TRIGA Mark III research reactor in Seoul to irradiate 2.5kg of 
depleted uranium and to study the separation of uranium and 
plutonium.

 With the six-party talks aimed at dealing with North Korea¡¯s 
nuclear crisis stalled for months, South Korea¡¯s nuclear issue 
became another diplomatic problem as major powers, including the 
United States, France and Britain, wanted the case to be brought 
to the U.N. Security Council. 

Seoul¡¯s diplomatic pitch in Vienna, Washington, Tokyo, Ottawa 
and other parts of the world to counter the move were 
commendable, while its efforts to prove Korea¡¯s innocence and 
obtain nuclear transparency by cooperating with the IAEA were 
also noteworthy.

 After the two-day IAEA board of governors meeting in Vienna, 
Ingrid Hall of Canada said in the chairman¡¯s statement that the 
failure of the Republic of Korea to report these activities in 
accordance with its safeguards agreements is of ``serious 
concern.¡¯¡¯

 At the same time, however, the statement said the quantities of 
nuclear material involved have not been significant, and welcomed 
the corrective actions taken by Seoul and the active cooperation 
it has provided to the agency.

 Critics say the 12-week agitation clearly showed that 
yesterday¡¯s friend may not be today¡¯s ally. While Japanese 
media took the lead in feeding speculations, the Japanese 
government supported South Korea in the board meeting. Some U.S. 
hardliners were known to prefer strict measures, but officials 
say Washington¡¯s role in dissolving the tense atmosphere was 
vital.

 The nuclear fuss also taught the lesson that more stringent 
measures should be taken in order to ensure transparency in the 
country¡¯s peaceful atomic activities.

 ``How can the government be left totally ignorant of such 
important experiments by scientists,¡¯¡¯ a government official 
retorted, asking not to be named. ``Scientists should know how 
their acts could harm national interests.¡¯¡¯

 With the world¡¯s sixth-largest civilian nuclear industry, South 
Korea has 19 nuclear power plants that produce 40 percent of its 
electricity _ one of the highest ratios in the world.

 ``Atomic energy is like life itself for our country,¡¯¡¯ Chang 
In-soon, head of the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute 
(KAERI), said. ``It is an economical, stable and large energy 
supply resource for South Korea, which depends on foreign 
countries for 97 percent of its energy consumption at an expense 
of $30 billion per year.¡¯¡¯

 The father of South Korea¡¯s nuclear research program stressed 
that the peaceful use of nuclear energy by pursuing efficiency 
and effectiveness must be an inevitable orientation for national 
policy for the continued and stable development of the economy, 
ranked 12th in world-class economic activities.

 Bound by the South-North Joint Declaration on the 
Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in 1991, South Korea 
voluntarily gave up its right to enrich uranium even for peaceful 
purposes. And it costs the country about $370 million a year to 
import enriched uranium to be used for fuelling the power plants.

 Based on its nuclear transparency, experts and officials suggest 
South Korea should expand the extent of its peaceful atomic 
activities when it successfully resolves the North Korean nuclear 
crisis.

 Science and Technology Minister Oh Myung said research 
activities by South Korean scientists should not be restricted 
because of the IAEA inspections. ``I¡¯ll foster a favorable 
atmosphere in which scientists can keep studying actively, while 
ensuring transparency of the activities.¡¯¡¯

 South Korea launched the National Nuclear Control Agency (NNCA), 
an independent watchdog, in late October to enhance the 
country¡¯s nuclear transparency. 

jinryu@koreatimes.co.kr 12-16-2004 17:34         

Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) 
Mohamed ElBaradei speaks to the press at Vienna¡¯s International 
Center, Nov. 26, 2004, during the 35-nation board of governors 
meeting on Iran¡¯s nuclear program and South Korea¡¯s past secret 
nuclear experiments. / AP -Yonhap File   

*****************************************************************
 8 Guardian Unlimited: Tokyo to Likely Slap Sanctions on N. Korea
 
From the Associated Press        

[UP] 
 	 
Thursday December 16, 2004 12:01 PM

By MARI YAMAGUCHI 

Associated Press Writer 

TOKYO (AP) - Japan's foreign minister said Thursday his country
would likely slap sanctions on North Korea to punish it for
neglecting Tokyo's request for a thorough investigation into
Japanese kidnapping victims. 

Public outrage surged in Japan after the government said last
week that tests on remains Pyongyang claimed belonged to a
Japanese girl kidnapped by North Korean agents in 1977 showed
that they were someone else's. 

Pyongyang accused Tokyo of doctoring the DNA analysis on the
remains, and said it would consider economic sanctions by Japan
``a declaration of war.'' 

``There is no doubt (economic sanction) is one likely option at
some point,'' Nobutaka Machimura said. ``But we have to think
carefully whether to use it immediately or not.'' 

He did not specify when Japan would impose sanctions or what
types of penalties it would come up with. 

A ruling party panel has suggested the government adopt
sanctions of various degrees of severity depending on how the
North responds to Tokyo's demands. The proposals include
freezing trade between the two countries and banning North
Korean ships from Japanese ports. 

Machimura said the Japanese government will continue to seek
North Korea's ``sincere'' response and ask them to return the
missing people, which many Japanese believe are still alive, to
Japan. 

Defending the possibility of economic sanctions, Machimura said
the United States was not at war with the North even though it
has maintained sanctions against the communist country. ``There
is no such formula saying sanctions equal war,'' Machimura said. 

He said Japan would explain its position to China and other
countries that are resistant to sanctions on the North. China
has reportedly voiced concerns Japanese sanctions might disrupt
the already stalled six-nation talks on dismantling the North
Korea's nuclear weapons program. 

On Wednesday, North Korea threatened to retaliate if Japan
imposes sanctions on Pyongyang. 

North Korea admitted kidnapping 13 Japanese citizens to train
spies and allowed five of them to return to Japan in 2002.
Pyongyang said the other eight were dead but has offered no
convincing proof of the deaths, and many in Japan suspect some
of the victims may still be alive. 

The North handed over two sets of human remains to Japanese
delegation last month as proof that Megumi Yokota and another
kidnapping victim were dead. Tests, however, showed that the
both remains belonged to other, unidentified people. 

Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda said Thursday
that Tokyo would submit evidence from its DNA analysis of the
remains to Pyongyang next week. 	 
  
      Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004
*****************************************************************
 9 Despite Missile Defense failure, Vandenberg still getting a missile interceptor
 
Date: Thu, 16 Dec 2004 07:55:30 -0800 (PST)

 
Failure threatens to delay activation of missile
system 

12/16/04

The failure Wednesday of the first major test in two
years of a nascent national missile defense system
throws into doubt a program that depends on missile
interceptors installed at Vandenberg Air Force Base.

Last week, the first interceptor was placed into a
retrofitted silo on the base and another is planned.
Two more may ultimately be added. There are also six
interceptors installed on a base in Alaska.

While the failure Wednesday puts into doubt whether
the rudimentary missile defense system would indeed be
ready by the end of the year, as military planners and
the Bush Administration had hoped, officials from the
Missile Defense Agency still plan to install another
interceptor at Vandenberg in the coming weeks. The
base also is used as a production facility for the
final assembly of the interceptors.

The deployment of the interceptors in Alaska and
Vandenberg also will allow future testing. At
Vandenberg, two retrofitted silos eventually will
house interceptors and will be used for more realistic
testing.

The two interceptors being placed in silos at
Vandenberg will become operational in the coming
weeks. They must be integrated into a system of radars
and other sensors that are part of an extensive
command, control, battle management and communication
system based in Colorado Springs, Colo., and Ft.
Greely, Alaska.

-- SCOTT HADLY
www.newspress.com

 


=====
www.justdissent.org 
Just Dissent Bill, called "Non-Violent Civil Disobedience Protection Act" was passed by the California State Senate, but vetoed by then governor Gray Davis. The bill recognized dissent's role in creating a better society, and therefore sought to greatly shorten sentences of those who commit civil dissent of our government; in doing so, follow a higher law.


*****************************************************************
 10 Star Wars Fails Again
 
Date: Thu, 16 Dec 2004 08:07:38 -0800 (PST)

 
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/16/politics/16missile.html?hp&ex=1103259600&en=742de2e10e2e0a62&ei=5094&partner=homepage

December 16, 2004
Defense Missile for U.S. System Fails to Launch
By DAVID STOUT and JOHN H. CUSHMAN Jr.

ASHINGTON, Dec. 15 - An important test of the United
States' fledgling missile defense system ended in
failure early Wednesday as an interceptor rocket
failed to launch on cue from the Marshall Islands, the
Pentagon said.

After a rocket carrying a mock warhead as a target was
launched from Kodiak, Alaska, the interceptor, which
was intended to go aloft 16 minutes later and home in
on the target 100 miles over the earth, automatically
shut down because of "an unknown anomaly," according
to the Missile Defense Agency of the Defense
Department.

The launching had been planned as the first full test
in two years of this element of the Bush
administration's effort to deploy a multilayered
missile defense shield.

The setback threatened to delay further the initial
step of activating a basic missile defense, which had
once been planned for September but slipped into next
year after a series of canceled tests and
developmental difficulties.

The launching had been delayed several times because
of bad weather or problems with equipment at the
Pacific test range on Kwajalein Atoll, where officials
must now try to determine what went wrong on
Wednesday.

The last test of the interceptor, on Dec. 12, 2002,
was also a failure, as the interceptor failed to
separate from its booster rocket, missed its target by
hundreds of miles and burned up in the atmosphere.

But shortly after that, President Bush ordered the
Pentagon to proceed with initial deployment of a
limited system, a goal that he campaigned on in the
election this year.

In 2003, a test of another part of the system, based
on Navy ships, also failed.

Before Wednesday's test, the Missile Defense Agency
had conducted eight tests with interceptor vehicles,
scoring hits in five under carefully controlled
conditions. Some critics of the agency, which has
spent more than $80 billion since 1985, say the entire
test program is unrealistic and that the tests have
been scripted.

The failure was the latest challenge to the
administration's drive to deploy the system piecemeal
even as developmental tests, fraught as they are with
technical difficulties, are carried out.

The overall missile defense program is to cost more
than $50 billion over the next five years; the first
group of land- and sea-based missiles, sensors and
associated systems envisioned for deployment is to
cost more than $7 billion, and this test alone had a
budget of $85 million.

The failure Wednesday may renew a running debate on
Capitol Hill over the missile program when the new
Congress convenes early next year.

A Democratic member of the Senate Armed Services
Committee who has been critical of the program,
Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island, said the latest
setback might make lawmakers wonder whether money for
the Pentagon might be better spent elsewhere,
particularly in light of the mounting costs of the
campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"It reinforces the point I've been trying to make,"
Mr. Reed said in a telephone interview. "This is a
very complicated system that requires testing."

But a spokesman for Senator John Kyl, Republican of
Arizona, a strong advocate of the program, said "one
bum test" would not alter support for it.

Indeed, despite a series of delays in testing this
year, Congress has embraced the deployment of a
rudimentary system, which is favored by those who want
to field even a limited system sooner rather than
later.

Advocates say that fielding even a few interceptors of
modest abilities, and improving them later, would help
defend against potential threats that themselves are
only just emerging, especially from North Korea's
missile and nuclear weapons programs.

The military spending bill that Congress approved in
October allocated $4.6 billion in the current fiscal
year to support the initial fielding of the
ground-based missiles. Recognizing the "challenges"
involved in the attempt, the House and Senate members
who negotiated the final bill approved an additional
$200 million, and ordered the Pentagon to "fully fund
this critical program" in next year's budget request.

The idea is to deploy 10 interceptor missiles
initially, 6 in Alaska and 4 in California, to be
supplemented later by another 10. Later still would
come ship-based missiles that could hit enemy missiles
as they lifted off and an airborne laser defense to
intercept inbound warheads as they re-entered the
atmosphere.

Right now, there are six missiles in silos in Alaska
and one in California, with one more due in California
by the end of the month, said Richard A. Lehner, a
missile agency spokesman. None of those in place are
operational.

Mr. Lehner said that despite the disappointment,
Wednesday's event was not a total failure. He said
"quite a bit" had been learned from the aborted test,
which he called "a very good training exercise." He
said the rocket that failed to rise could be used
later. The target splashed down in the ocean some
3,000 miles from Kodiak, he said.

The Pentagon said it did not know whether the problem
that stymied the launching was serious enough to cause
major delays. Mr. Lehner said he could not predict
when the cause of the weapon's shutdown might be
determined. No other tests have been scheduled.

Wednesday's test was to have been the most advanced so
far, Mr. Lehner said. The interceptor was equipped
with the same type of booster rocket that the defense
system is to use when it becomes operational, although
a next-generation booster is already in the works.

The agency says the tests are devised to answer
specific questions and "to build confidence in the
system that we are working to design." Although
individual tests are expensive, Mr. Lehner said, fewer
are necessary than with missiles of years past because
of advanced modeling and simulation techniques.

The missile system under development is a scaled-down
version of the so-called Star Wars defense envisioned
by President Ronald Reagan two decades ago against a
rain of missiles from the Soviet Union. But the end of
the cold war made Mr. Reagan's original vision
outdated.

President Bill Clinton's administration explored a
much less advanced system. Mr. Bush pledged during the
2000 campaign to push for a scaled-down version of the
Reagan plan. By walking away from the Anti-ballistic
Missile treaty during his first term, Mr. Bush cleared
the way for a deployment.

Mr. Lehner said there was no new target date for
deployment of the system. In December 2002, Mr. Bush
said he hoped it would be operational by September
2004. But by then, the program had fallen behind
schedule by about 10 months.

In a report last March, the Government Accountability
Office, an auditing arm of Congress, said that a
first-generation booster built by Orbital Sciences
Corporation that was being used in current flight
tests had passed its early tests and could be
produced, though it was uncertain whether enough could
be built for the initial deployment.

A next-generation booster made by Lockheed Martin was
having problems with its flight computers, and
accidents at a factory making parts for the booster
meant it would not be available for the initial
deployment, the G.A.O. said.

On Monday, Boeing won a $928 million contract for the
overall ground-based interceptor project.

Victoria Samson, an analyst at the Center for Defense
Information, said the latest failure showed that the
system was still "in a very rudimentary state," and
that the missile agency had felt the need to rush the
process. The center, founded by retired military
officers, calls itself a "watchdog on wasteful defense
spending."

Mr. Lehner said there had been no rush. "We took our
time," he said. "This is a very deliberate process."


=====
//////\\\\\\
"The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy: that is the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness."
-- John Kenneth Galbraith


		
__________________________________ 
Do you Yahoo!? 
Yahoo! Mail - now with 250MB free storage. Learn more.
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*****************************************************************
 11 MIT's Role in Missile Test Fraud 
 
Date: Fri, 17 Dec 2004 00:39:45 -0500

 



http://www.heatisonline.org/contentserver/objecthandlers/index.cfm?id=4994&method=full

   Probably Greatest Threat To Life On Earth:
http://www.heatisonline.org


   http://www.commondreams.org/views04/1213-27.htm
  Published on Monday, December 13, 2004 by the
Boston Globe
                  MIT's Role in Missile Test Fraud
                  by Theodore A. Postol

                  After more than 3 1/2 years of
foot-dragging, excuses, and violations of federal
regulations, MIT announced last week that it could
not investigate credible evidence of possible
scientific fraud in fundamental National Missile
Defense research being done at MIT's Lincoln
Laboratory. The reason outgoing president Charles
M. Vest gave is that the Pentagon had classified
everything about the investigation.
                  If the particular allegations of
fraud have merit -- and I believe they do -- MIT
and the Pentagon have been involved in a fraud
that has promoted a weapon system that will have
little or no utility and could cost hundreds of
billions of dollars. Of even greater importance,
millions of lives could be lost if this weapon
system failed to defend our nation from a nuclear
ballistic missile attack.

                  The allegations of fraud involve
the critically important Integrated Flight Test
1A, or IFT-1A, in June 1997. Its purpose was to
determine if the currently deployed National
Missile Defense could tell the difference between
warheads flying through space and simple balloons
designed to look like warheads. If the IFT-1A
experiment could not demonstrate that the weapon
could perform this task, the weapon could never
have a realistic chance of working in combat.

                  In May 2000 I sent evidence to
the White House that, despite the claims of
unqualified success by the Pentagon, the IFT-1A
had in fact been a total failure.

                  Initially, the Pentagon claimed
that the letter I wrote to the White House was
secret. Then the Pentagon reversed itself and
claimed that the experiment was old and
irrelevant, and then it reinforced this claim by
arguing that it now uses a slightly different
sensor that renders the results of the IFT-1A
irrelevant. Finally, after trying for years to
dismiss the relevance of the IFT-1A, the Pentagon
has again reversed itself and claims that the
release of any and all information about it would
cause grave, direct, and immediate harm to the
national security.

                  In subsequent work, I learned
that the document that had led me to warn the
White House about fraud in the National Missile
defense program had been produced for the Pentagon
by MIT's Lincoln Laboratory.

                  The Lincoln Laboratory report
was written in 1998 for federal agents from the
departments of Justice and Defense. The agents had
come to MIT for help in evaluating evidence they
had collected that indicated researchers at TRW
might have fraudulently tampered with data to make
the IFT-1A test look like a success when it had in
fact failed. Since Lincoln Laboratory had been
deeply involved in early analysis of the IFT-1A,
and has special national status as a federally
funded research and development center, it was in
a unique position to evaluate all the evidence
uncovered by the federal agents.

                  In April 2001, I began a process
of alerting MIT's then-president Charles M. Vest
and his provost, Robert Brown, that MIT's Lincoln
Laboratory had failed to cooperate with the
federal agents and had withheld critical
information that the sensor in the IFT-1A had not
performed as designed. Since the sensor did not
collect valid data, the experiment was a total
failure and fraud had occurred at TRW. Of even
greater concern, it was clear from documents
created shortly after the IFT-1A in 1997 and
General Accountability Office reports published in
March 2002 that Lincoln Laboratory was fully aware
of the failure of the sensor.

                  MIT's response during this
period was at first to deny that it had oversight
responsibilities for the report, then, in July
2002, to produce an interim inquiry report,
reviewed by MIT's lawyers, that praised the work
done by Lincoln and concluded: "The good news is
that the management and culture of the Lincoln
Laboratory . . . have created processes to insure
that the nation's trust is protected."

                  Four months later the
conclusions of the interim inquiry report were
completely reversed and an investigation
recommended. It is this investigation which MIT
now says it cannot pursue because material is
classified. In fact the investigation can be fully
accomplished with material already made public.

                  The mishandling of this affair
by MIT poses threats to the integrity and
credibility of all university-based research in
this country. MIT's continuing excuses for not
investigating this matter and its attempts to
evade its responsibilities represent a serious
violation of the public trust and the most basic
principles of academic integrity. But of far more
importance than the future of MIT, it does a
disservice to our system of government and
undermines the defense of our country.

                  Theodore A. Postol is professor
of science, technology, and national security
policy at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology.

                  © 2004 Boston Globe

                  ###

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 12 Guardian Unlimited: Different targets, same tactics
 
Comment 
		
Bush's slash and smear campaign is trying to bring all
disparate elements under US control 		
 		
Sidney Blumenthal
Thursday December 16, 2004
The Guardian 		
 		
Though it is early days since Bush's re-election, the way in 
which he will handle the difficulties of imperial management 
which so vex him is already apparent. 

No sooner was the election over than the administration began the 
finger-pointing at the UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, who had 
called the invasion of Iraq "illegal". News was leaked that his 
son had been a consultant to a company involved with the UN 
oil-for-food programme, though Annan said he knew nothing about 
it. The outgoing US ambassador to the UN, John Danforth, was sent 
out to declare that Annan's resignation was a live issue. 

The relevant facts about the oil for food programme were pushed 
to one side. James Dobbins, the former US ambassador to 
Afghanistan, wrote in the Washington Post: "First, no American 
funds were stolen. Second, no UN funds were stolen. Third, the 
oil-for-food programme achieved its two objectives: providing 
food to the Iraqi people and preventing Saddam Hussein from 
rebuilding his military threat to the region." 

Then the Post published a story that the US was wire-tapping 
Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the UN's International 
Atomic Energy Agency, in an operation to discover that he was 
secretly aiding Iran in hiding its nuclear weapons programme. In 
fact, ElBaradei was working with the Europeans in negotiating a 
resolution with the Iranians. It was this diplomacy that 
neoconservatives were seeking to discredit. Compliance with 
internationally monitored nuclear development of Iran isn't the 
objective of the neocons; they want regime change, Iraqredux. 

The techniques of the permanent campaign, especially negative 
attacks, recently applied in the re-election contest, are being 
transferred seamlessly and shamelessly to international 
relations. 

In part, the slash-and-smear campaign against Annan and ElBaradei 
is the Bush administration's effort to subjugate international 
civil servants and organisations to its central command. But this 
episode also reflects the rolling coup of the neocons as they 
struggle for power, position and policy in a second Bush term. 

In the wake of catastrophe in Iraq, they are trying to foster a 
new conflict with Iran. Even Karl Rove, Bush's political 
strategist, plays in this arena, with his very own Iran adviser - 
Michael Ledeen, a sleazy operator on the fringes who was involved 
in the Iran-contra scandal in which even Oliver North suspected 
him of skimming money. 

At the least, the attacks on the UN serve as a political 
distraction from Iraq, where 178 US soldiers have been killed 
since the election. But frontline troops have not been distracted 
from the reality of carnage. On December 8, they asked secretary 
of defence Donald Rumsfeld about the failure to provide 
sufficient armour. 

Rumsfeld said: "You go to war with the army you have. They're not 
the army you might want or wish to have at a later time." He said 
the soldiers, who were rigging their armour, might be killed 
anyway. "It's interesting... you can have all the armour in the 
world on a tank and a tank can be blown up." 

Never before has a defence secretary been rebuked by the troops; 
never has a defence secretary insulted them. Two Republican 
mavericks, senators John McCain and Chuck Hagel, called for his 
resignation, but they were whistling in the dark. Rumsfeld's 
disasters are Bush's. They are of such monumental dimensions that 
to lose him is to admit failure: he cannot be thrown overboard. 

On Wednesday Bush gave honours for failure, with his bestowal of 
the presidential medal of freedom on Tommy Franks, the former 
CentCom commander, who allowed Osama bin Laden to escape at Tora 
Bora; on George Tenet, former CIA director, who jumped on the 
bandwagon for the Iraq war, informing Bush that the WMD claims 
were "a slam dunk"; and on L Paul Bremer, former chief of the 
Coalition Provisional Authority, who disbanded the Iraqi army, 
among other blunders. Failure will be celebrated as success in 
the second term. 

The farcical unravelling of the nomination of former New York 
City police commissioner Bernard Kerik as secretary of homeland 
security further illuminated the administration's methods. The 
fact that Kerik neglected to pay taxes on a nanny who was an 
illegal immigrant was a convenient alibi. Beyond his extramarital 
affairs, secret marriage and love nests, he appears also to be 
married to the mob - on the take from the Gambino crime family. 
Yet Bush had been attracted to Kerik's Rambo-like aggression; the 
White House vetting process seems to be as credulous as the 
Mickey Mouse Club; and the impulse to cover up instant. 

The fall guy is former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, Kerik's 
patron. Inadvertently, Giuliani's tainting eliminates him as a 
moderate Republican pretender to the throne. If only Kerik's 
foibles had passed beneath the radar, he might have been honoured 
for any calamity. Thus the risks and rewards in Bush's imperial 
capital. 

Sidney Blumenthal, a former senior adviser to President Clinton, 
is Washington bureau chief of salon.com 

sidney_blumenthal@yahoo.com
	
[UP] 

      Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004
*****************************************************************
 13 toledoblade.com: The deregulation myth
 
Friday, December 17, 2004 

Article published Thursday, December 16, 2004
 
IF THERE was any lingering feeling that competition in 
electricity prices would emerge in Ohio, it was erased last week 
when an auction held by FirstEnergy Corp. failed to beat the 
utility's current price.

The result is that FirstEnergy's existing rate structure will 
remain in place through 2008, rather than 2005. The action isn't 
a rate freeze, however, since the utility, parent to Toledo 
Edison, still can ask state regulators to pass on increases in 
fuel costs. With the price of coal at record highs, customer 
bills are likely to get larger.

The lack of a bidder that could beat FirstEnergy's price of 4.6 
cents per kilowatt hour is more proof that the competition 
envisioned by Ohio's electric deregulation law is a mirage. The 
bid closest to FirstEnergy was 5.45 cents.

The conservative ideologues who championed the deregulation law 
in the Ohio General Assembly in 1999 claimed that removing the 
regulatory shackles from electricity costs would result in 
competition from many power suppliers and, ultimately, lower 
rates.

It hasn't happened, and it won't unless the Public Utilities 
Commission allows the rates to float freely, producing prices so 
high that suppliers swarm into the market. But the PUCO has been 
unwilling to do so because consumers would scream bloody murder, 
and justifiably so.

Instead, the PUCO has been content to let FirstEnergy float along 
with a rate freeze, in effect for its Toledo Edison residential 
customers since 1995. The downside of the freeze, now softened by 
the possibility of fuel price increases, is that Edison rates 
already were some of the highest in the country.

While PUCO officials gamely continue to contend that 
rate-tempering competition is just around the corner, FirstEnergy 
customers will, for 2006, 2007, and 2008, continue to pay 
surcharges on their bills for the utility's expensive nuclear 
power facilities, including the Davis-Besse plant near Oak 
Harbor.

Never mind that those surcharges, considered excessive by 
consumer advocates when they first were levied, were supposed to 
expire at the end of 2005. Why they should be continued for 
another three years is a scandal, as is the statement by William 
Schriber, PUCO chairman, that the FirstEnergy rate plan is "an OK 
deal."

It may be OK for FirstEnergy, but it's a cruel joke for the 
utility's long-suffering customers. They're being told that the 
competition that will reduce what they pay for electricity is out 
there on the horizon when the reality is high rates year after 
year after year.

Rather than continue to allow the PUCO to perpetuate the 
deregulation myth, the Ohio General Assembly should get busy on a 
plan to re-regulate utilities, giving them a guaranteed fair rate 
of return in exchange for reasonably stable rates. The ideologues 
in the legislature wouldn't like it, but the customers surely 
would.

      © 2004 The Blade.
 The Toledo Blade Company, 541 N. Superior St., Toledo, OH 43660 
, (419) 724-6000 

*****************************************************************
 14 Vermont Guardian: Lighting the way: World looks to Vermont for energy solutions

By Shay Totten | Vermont Guardian 

The world is beating a path to Vermont. And, its not for maple 
syrup, cheddar cheese, ice cream, or Howard Dean. Theyve come for 
light bulbs. 

More aptly put, theyve come to find out how many Vermonters it 
takes to screw in an energy efficient light bulb. 

A delegation from Chinas Jiangsu Province was in Vermont recently 
to meet with officials at the Vermont Energy Investment Corp. in 
Burlington, and others, to learn more about ways to reduce energy 
use at manufacturing plants and create a regulatory framework 
that encourages and nurtures investments in efficiency measures. 

The Jiangsu Province has seen double-digit increases in power 
demand each year, leading to problems with rising costs and less 
reliability in terms of power delivery, according to Richard 
Cowart, co-founder of the Montpelier-based Regulatory Assistance 
Project, and one of the sponsors of the Chinese delegation, along 
with VEIC and Optimal Energy. 

The fundamental principle at work here is that energy efficiency 
is an energy resource, said Cowart. We can meet our needs by 
investing in end-use efficiency, which reduces our need for more 
generation and more power lines. 

Cowart said his group and others are working with China on a 
long-term strategy similar to what happened in Vermont before the 
creation of Efficiency Vermont, the statewide program that helps 
homeowners and businesses invest in energy efficiency to lower 
their utility bills. RAP is entering its sixth year working with 
Chinas sustainable-energy program, and advising the State 
Electricity Regulatory Commission, Chinas version of the U.S. 
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. 

It was 1990 when the Vermont Public Service Board, then chaired 
by Cowart, ordered the creation of a comprehensive energy 
efficiency program. The first programs were overseen by 
utilities. In 1996, the board ordered the creation of an 
efficiency utility. In 2000, that utility became the program 
Efficiency Vermont, a contract currently held by VEIC. That 
contract expires in 2005. 

The China delegation saw firsthand some of the companies, 
municipalities, and others who have benefited from energy 
efficiency investments through Efficiency Vermont. 

VEIC is a leading advocate and innovator in the burgeoning 
creative economy sector in Vermont. This sector is largely 
comprised of companies that provide high-paying jobs at a low 
cost to the environment. 

Part of the ethos of this new sector is to look for ways to be a 
good global citizen as well as local citizen. This means finding 
ways to conduct business that has the least impact to the 
environment; in many cases, not increasing demand for 
electricity, most of which in Vermont is generated from 
large-scale hydropower and nuclear sources. 

What Vermont is doing in [energy efficiency] is recognized and is 
really being looked at in varying degrees by a lot of other 
folks, said Blair Hamilton, a founder of VEIC. And, some of what 
we do has the potential to turn into business opportunity. There 
is a benefit to the economy of Vermont, beyond the savings that 
Efficiency Vermont creates. 

Other countries have sought out Efficiency Vermont as a model for 
similar programs, Hamilton added. They include the Canadian 
provinces of Manitoba and New Brunswick, as well as New South 
Wales, Australia. In the United States, Hamilton has fielded 
queries from or visited officials in Colorado, Indiana, Iowa, New 
Jersey, and New Mexico. 

There are a dozen different jurisdictions that have been in touch 
with us and the response is so reinforcing that its almost 
embarrassing, said Hamilton. 

During their visit, the Chinese delegation met with members of 
the VEIC board, as well as key staff members who oversee various 
components of Efficiency Vermont. 

After a brief slide presentation, the delegation wanted to know 
the basics. Which projects are easier to do and provide a high 
volume of improvement, and which ones cost a lot of money but are 
worth doing? asked Li Zhixiang, section chief of the Jiangsu 
Electric Power Company. 

Jay Pillian, VEICs director of business services, offered this 
example: VEIC is working on more than 104 projects at Vermont ski 
areas, producing roughly $2 million in savings for the resort 
owners. Much of that savings, said Pillian, comes from installing 
more energy efficient snowmaking equipment. 

Efficiency Vermont sees 34 percent of the total savings from just 
2 percent of its customers  industrial users, Pillian noted. 

What type of energy efficiency measure provides the greatest 
savings? asked delegate Wu Yan, section chief of Jiangsus 
economic and trade commission. Installing more energy efficient 
lighting was cited as the easiest step to take to see immediate 
results. 

Most of our savings comes from industrial customers, but in our 
contract we have requirements that are beyond savings, said 
Pillian. The contract talks about equity and benefits across the 
state. We cant just do five projects and do all our savings in 
those five projects. We have to do lots of projects to serve lots 
of people. 

Posted December 16, 2004 
 

  | | | Northern Vermont: PO Box 335, Winooski, VT 05404
 Southern Vermont: 139 Main Street, Suite 702, Brattleboro, VT
05301
 Contact: 802.861.4880 (ph) | 802.861.6388 (fax) | 877.231.5382
(toll-free)

 ©2004 Vermont Guardian | 
*****************************************************************
 15 Vanunu Elected Glasgow University Rector
 
Date: Thu, 16 Dec 2004 14:25:42 -0800

 
<x-flowed>
Free Mordechai Vanunu - Info & Action Alert #43 - December 15, 2004

 From the U.S. Campaign to Free Mordechai Vanunu
http://www.vanunu.com and http://www.nonviolence.org/vanunu/

** PLEASE FORWARD TO SYMPATHETIC LISTS **

1)  Vanunu Elected Glasgow University Rector

2)  Write to Mordechai Vanunu

==========================================

1)  Vanunu Elected University Rector

By Victoria Mitchell, Chief Reporter, Scottish Press Association
 From The Scotsman, December 15, 2004

Israeli nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu was tonight elected rector of
a Scottish university.

The 50-year-old was voted by students to become the rector of Glasgow
University and follows in the footsteps of William Gladstone, Benjamin
Disraeli and Winnie Mandela. The main role is to act as their spokesperson.

University students claimed that they wanted Vanunu as rector to show that
they support basic human rights, and that they oppose weapons of mass
destruction.

He spent 18 years in prison after being convicted of espionage and treason
for giving photographs and papers of Israel's secret nuclear plant at Dimona
to the Sunday Times in the 1980s.

Principal of the University, Sir Muir Russell, said: "The election of Mr
Vanunu demonstrates the diverse and international concerns of Glasgow
students. It is our hope that he will be able to support the student body in
the way that they desire."

Mr Vanunu told the Scottish Press Association last month upon his
nomination: "Because of my current situation I will try to do my best for
Glasgow University if I am elected rector" and I hope I am elected.

"One day I might be free to leave Israel and then I could come to Scotland
and be much more active for the students.

"If I am chosen I will do all I can to help them and to draw international
attention to the restrictions in Israel."

The Rector of the University of Glasgow holds a special position, and the
office "that of a person elected by the students whose task is to represent
them" is found only in the four so-called ’ ancient’ universities of
Scotland.

Mr Vanunu will hold office for three years, representing the students in
diverse ways, which can include chairing the University Court.

The rector's participation in events is entirely voluntary and depends on
their own availability and choice.

The role is principally as spokesperson and representative for student
issues.

Mr Vanunu, who has since converted to Christianity, has been living at St
George's Anglican Cathedral near Jerusalem's Old City since his release from
jail in April this year.

Historically rectors have largely been drawn from politics, including
Gladstone, Disraeli, Balfour, Bonar Law, and the French President, Poincaré.

Recent University of Glasgow rectors have included children's entertainer
Johnny Ball, pop singer Pat Kane, trade unionist Jimmy Reid, sports
commentator Arthur Montford and South African activist Winnie Mandela.

Mordechai Vanunu will replace actor and comedian Greg Hemphill who was
elected to the rectorship in 2001.

==============
2)  Write to Mordechai

Mordechai would love to hear from his friends and supporters.  You can 
write to him at:
Mordechai Vanunu
c/o Cathedral Church of St. George
20 Nablus Road
PO Box 19018
Jerusalem 91190
Israel

and email him at <vanunumvjc@hotmail.com>
=================
If you would like to receive these alerts directly, please subscribe by 
sending a blank e-mail to free_vanunu-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
-end-
Felice Cohen-Joppa
Coordinator
U.S. Campaign to Free Mordechai Vanunu
POB 43384
Tucson, AZ 85733
Phone/Fax 520-323-8697
freevanunu@mindspring.com
www.nonviolence.org/vanunu

</x-flowed>
*****************************************************************
 16 The Hindu: Nuclear policy based on consensus - PM 

Thursday, December 16, 2004 : 1555 Hrs
 
New Delhi, Dec 16. (PTI):Declaring that India was a responsible
nuclear power, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said there
was no uncertainty in the country's nuclear policy which was
based on "continuity and national consensus".
 
"India is a nuclear power and a responsible nuclear
power...India's defence and strategic affairs have to be decided
upon on the basis of continuity and national consensus with due
deliberations. These are issues best kept above partisan
politics," Singh told the Rajya Sabha. 

"I categorically say there is no uncertainty in our nuclear
policy," he said. 

He was responding to Leader of the Opposition Jaswant Singh who
voiced concern over reported remarks of External Affairs
Minister Natwar Singh that the previous NDA government was
responsible for the Indo-Pak nuclear stand-off belittling the
country's achievement. 

Observing that he had seen newspaper reports on the country's
nuclear weaponisation and related issues, the Prime Ministers
said Natwar Singh would be returning from his Seoul visit
tomorrow and he would check the authenticity of reports. 

But "my assessment was that the reported remarks appears to be
in context to questions from journalists and what he (External
Affairs Minister) said was not a statement on foreign policy",
he said. 

Copyright © 2004, The Hindu.
*****************************************************************
 17 Xinhua: Pakistan, India to set up nuclear hot line   

  www.xinhuanet.com

  www.chinaview.cn 2004-12-16 12:42:30   

    BEIJING, Dec. 16 -- India and Pakistan have agreed to set up
a FM telephone hot line to discuss nuclear issues. They also
agreed to discuss Prevention of an accidental war. 

The two sides have just concluded a two-day meeting on
confidence-building measures in Islamabad. 

    They made progress on the terms of an agreement to notify
each other in advance about missile tests which are conducted
periodically by both countries. 

    Both sides also agreed to continue to discuss steps to
safeguard against an accidental war. 

    In another development, after talks in Islamabad, India and
Pakistan have decided to conduct a joint survey over the
boundary line in the Sir Creek region, starting from next
January. 

    (Source: CRIENGLISH.com)

  Copyright ©2003 Xinhua News Agency. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
 18 Xinhua: China welcomes nuclear agreement between European trio and Iran   

  www.xinhuanet.com
    
  www.chinaview.cn 2004-12-16 20:28:24   

    BEIJING, Dec. 16 (Xinhuanet) -- Chinese foreign ministry
spokesman said here Thursday that China appreciates the efforts
Britain, France and Germany have made in addressing Iran nuclear
issues and welcomes the agreement reached between the European
trio and Iran. 

    "China hopes the two sides could go ahead with the equal
negotiation and agree on a long-term resolution to the Iran
nuclear issues as early as possible," spokesman Liu Jianchao
said at a regular press conference. 

    Iran and the European trio resumed the talks in Brussels on
Monday to discuss the implementation of the Paris Agreement
reached between the two sides on Nov. 7. 

    When asked to comment on Mohamed El Baradei seeking for the
third term as director general of the International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA), Liu said China appreciates the work El
Baradei has done and supports his bid to stay on. 

    Since his assumption as IAEA chief, El Baradei has
successfully led this UN nuclear watchdog agency and safeguard
IAEA's role and reputation in preventing the nuclear
proliferation, Liu said. 

    "He has promoted the development of peaceful utilization of
nuclear energy and is widely acclaimed by the international
community," Liu said. 

    El Baradei, 62, an Egyptian diplomat, began to lead the IAEA
in1997 and his current term will expire in 2005. Enditem   

  Copyright ©2003 Xinhua News Agency. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
 19 International Herald Tribune: A cascade of nuclear proliferation
 
Friday, December 17, 2004                                         
				 			
Global security                                                         

The recent report on global security released by a high-level UN 
panel identified seven principal threats, from terrorism and 
poverty to environmental degradation. Among these, though, the 
panel gives primacy of place to nuclear Armageddon. . 

The entire nonproliferation regime is now at risk because of 
withdrawals, a lack of compliance and new international threats, 
the report notes. It warns that "we are approaching a point at 
which the erosion of the nonproliferation regime could become 
irreversible and result in a cascade of proliferation." . Without 
naming names, the report points to two countries whose actions 
threaten to collapse - or explode - the nonproliferation regime. 
. 

One of them, Iran, recently agreed to suspend, but not end, its 
nuclear programs. When this temporary agreement predictably 
breaks down, as a similar agreement did last year, Iran will 
resume its rush to complete facilities for enriching uranium and 
reprocessing plutonium. When completed, Iran will have crossed 
the last policeable line between it and nuclear weapons. . 

If Iran goes nuclear, Egypt will follow, then Saudi Arabia (more 
likely buying than making) and possibly Syria. Contemplate the 
consequences of such a nuclear arms race for Israel's security 
and the stability of energy supplies. . 

The other prime offender, North Korea, will soon finish 
reprocessing the 8,000 spent fuel rods previously frozen and 
monitored at Yongbyon, yielding enough plutonium for six bombs. 
North Korea will then be poised to conduct a nuclear test, 
declare itself nuclear and complete construction of facilities to 
produce a dozen additional bombs annually.. 

If North Korea gains forced entry into the nuclear club, Japan 
and South Korea will not be far behind. Taiwan will certainly 
explore its nuclear options. Such developments will destabilize 
Northeast Asia and intensify the risk of one state pre-emptively 
attacking another. Even more dangerously, North Korea could sell 
nuclear weapons to eager buyers like Osama bin Laden.. 

How can this dark future be prevented? The UN panel usefully 
recommends an extended moratorium on constructing reprocessing 
and enrichment facilities, a guarantee from Security Council 
members to defend nonnuclear states if attacked by a 
nuclear-armed opponent, and faster disarmament by nuclear powers. 
While these recommendations represent useful steps, their logic 
alone is unlikely to affect behavior in Iran and North Korea. . 

The governments of the major powers, beginning with the United 
States, must address the urgent nuclear danger today. A 
comprehensive strategy for preventing nuclear terrorism should be 
organized under a doctrine of Three No's: no loose nukes, no new 
nascent nukes and no new nuclear-weapons states.. 

The first requires securing all nuclear weapons and 
weapons-usable material, on the fastest possible timetable. 
Locking up valuable or dangerous items is something human beings 
know how to do. The United States and Russia should jointly 
develop a standard, act at once to secure their own materials and 
persuade other states' leaders to follow suit.. 

"No new nascent nukes" means no new national capabilities to 
enrich uranium or reprocess plutonium. The UN panel's 
recommendation of a fissile cutoff is a start, but it must be 
coupled with intrusive inspections of suspected nuclear sites and 
enforcement mechanisms. The crucial challenge to this principle 
today is Iran. Preventing Iranian completion of its nuclear 
infrastructure will require a combination of benefits and 
credible threats to persuade Tehran to accept a grand bargain for 
denuclearization. . 

"No new nuclear-weapons states" draws a line under the current 
eight nuclear powers and says unambiguously: "No more." 

The immediate test of this principle is North Korea. To prevent 
the world's most promiscuous supplier of missiles from becoming a 
Nukes "R" Us for terrorists, a "no new nuclear-weapons states" 
strategy will require both carrots and sticks, including a 
credible military threat to Kim Jong Il's nuclear facilities. The 
great powers share real national interests here, since each fears 
nuclear weapons in the hands of terrorists, whether they are al 
Qaeda or Chinese separatists.. 

Responding to the report, Secretary General Kofi Annan 
recommended that the international community debate these 
recommendations at the special summit next September. Yet 
avoiding the cascade about which the panel warns requires urgent 
actions now.. (Graham Allison is director of the Belfer Center 
for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University’s 
Kennedy School of Government.) .                                                                   
 			 				
International Herald Tribune All Rights Reserved 			 			   			  
*****************************************************************
 20 Asia Times: Evildoers, here we come 

Asia's most trusted news source for the Middle East
 		 		 		 		 		 		 		 		 		 		 		
THE ROVING EYE 
Comment by Pepe Escobar

"Far more than the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, the defeat of the 
mullahcracy and the triumph of freedom in Tehran would be a truly 
historic event." 

- Michael Ledeen, neo-conservative and member of the American 
Enterprise Institute, June 2003 

Iran is very much in the US spotlight at present over concerns 
that it is developing nuclear weapons, with much talk of "regime 
change". Over the next four years of the second George W Bush 
term, any of a number of countries could come into the crosshairs 
- Syria, Saudi Arabia and "axis of evil" original North Korea. 

Ralph Peters, a former lieutenant-colonel responsible for "future 
warfare" at the Office of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) 
and deputy chief of staff for intelligence before he retired, 
commented, "It's really difficult to exactly delineate who our 
enemies are, but they number in millions. They're Arab and Muslim 
... Our enemy is the majority of the people who live in what we 
think of as the large Arab nations, plus certain other groups. 
Our enemy is concentrated in Egypt, Libya, Jordan, Iraq, Saudi 
Arabia and Syria, plus the Palestinians are part of it." 

Bush has admitted on the record that the "minds" of his 
administration are "borrowed" from the right-wing think-tank 
American Enterprise Institute (AEI), which rents office space in 
Washington to the Project for the New American Century (PNAC) - 
the people who conceived the Iraq war (see This war is brought to 
you by ... of March 20, 2003). 

Vice President Dick Cheney's concentration of power under Bush II 
will be even more complete. Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld - 
despite Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib, the quagmire in Iraq - remains in 
place. The CIA under Porter Goss has been through a Soviet-style 
purge and is being turned into an ersatz Office of Special Plans 
(OSP), which everyone remembers was a Rumsfeld-sponsored 
operation that specialized in fabricating false pretexts for the 
invasion of Iraq. The OSP was directed by neo-conservative 
Douglas Feith (who now wants the US to attack Iran). The new CIA 
is Feith's OSP on steroids. Goss' job is to make sure the CIA 
agrees with everything Bush and the neo-conservatives say. Expect 
more wars. 

The road to Damascus 

The road to Damascus is the key node in the Bush/neo-con roadmap 
for a new Middle East. Some may think the road starts in Baghdad. 
Wrong. It starts, simultaneously, in Washington, Jerusalem and 
Beirut. And neo-con think-tanks, the Christian Right and ultra 
right-wing Zionists are busy mapping it. A key player to watch is 
neo-con David Wurmser, who has been a member of Cheney's staff 
since September 2003 and who has for years called for a strike 
against Syria. 

Bush and the neo-cons must implicate Syria by all means 
available. This week Bush warned both Syria and Iran against 
"meddling in the internal affairs of Iraq" - as if Baghdad was 
the capital of Ohio. On a more serious note, Pentagon military 
intelligence officials suddenly discovered a few days ago that 
the Iraqi resistance "is being directed to a greater degree than 
previously recognized from Syria" and funded by "private sources 
in Saudi Arabia and Europe". 

The "evidence" was a global positioning system receiver found in 
a suspicious "bomb factory" in Fallujah with directions 
"originating in western Syria". This, Pentagon neo-cons say, 
proves that Syria hosts Iraqi "terrorists" - who are basically 
those same Ba'athist "remnants of Saddam Hussein's regime". 

Jordan is not on the neo-con hit list. Of course not: Jordan is a 
neo-con ideal. The Hashemite monarchy is endlessly pliable; never 
emphasizes its Islamic credentials; has an acceptable degree of 
truculence (martial law has been in place for decades); has a 
very effective Mukhabarat (secret police); and never criticizes 
Israel's excesses in Palestine. King Abdullah is always a 
dependable propaganda asset: he has been insisting lately that 
"foreign fighters are coming across the Syrian border [towards 
Iraq], they have been trained in Syria". The king also blamed 
Syria not long ago for being behind a huge al-Qaeda chemical 
weapons plot to bomb the US Embassy in Amman that, if successful, 
would have killed about 20,000 people. The US State Department 
was quick to add that the bombers were Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's 
people. So not only does Syria host Iraqi "terrorists", but it is 
also behind al-Qaeda. 

King Abdullah also went on the record saying he does not welcome 
the inevitable Shi'ite government that will emerge from the Iraqi 
elections after January's elections, implying that a majority of 
Iraqis are Iranian agents. His father, King Hussein, would never 
be that sectarian. Of course it's a coincidence Abdullah said 
these words shortly after a meeting with Bush. The influential 
Hawza - the clerics at the Shi'ite "Vatican" in Najaf - responded 
in kind, basically accusing Abdullah and his family of always 
supporting Saddam and being submissive towards the Americans, 
adding sharply that the era of free oil from Iraq to Jordan (when 
Saddam was in power) is over. 

Lebanon is often a neo-con target because of Hezbollah and 
because it's considered a Syrian satellite hostile to Israel. But 
now the Lebanese are taking matters in their own hands. All 
opposition forces are now united. Former president Amin Gemayel 
said this week the atmosphere was just like in 1943, "when all 
Lebanese fought side by side to get independence" from the French 
mandate. The leader of the socialist bloc, Walid Jumblatt, said 
he was "ready to go to Syria" to convey the message: the Lebanese 
want a "sovereign and independent state", which means a 
recognized political role for Hezbollah and no interference from 
Syria. 

The neo-cons refuse to acknowledge the fact of a Sunni Iraqi war 
of national liberation. It's much easier to blame it all on 
elusive Syrians, evil Ba'athists still devoted to Saddam and 
Zarqawi - a renegade Jordanian. Ba'athists are only one component 
of the resistance, as they were the military establishment under 
Saddam. Moreover, the antagonism between Assad's and Saddam's 
Ba'athist regimes has always been visceral. Syria as a regime 
does not support the Iraqi resistance: a few individual Syrian 
jihadis do. 

The road to Tehran 

"Iran has replaced Saddam Hussein as the world's number one 
exporter of terror, hate and instability," Israeli Foreign 
Minister Silvan Shalom told the United Nations General Assembly 
last September. This is Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and 
the neo-con Likud agenda at work. One month later, Sharon said 
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 in February 2002 told the Rupert 
Murdoch-controlled London Times that "Iran is the center of 
'world terror', and as soon as an Iraq conflict is concluded, I 
will push for Iran to be at the top of the 'to do list'." 

In August, incoming secretary of state Condoleezza Rice was 
already bombarding the European Union's dialogue with Iran, 
saying "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'." The same Rice on 
September 2002 alarmed the world about Iraq's supposed weapons of 
mass destruction, with her "we don't want the smoking gun to be a 
mushroom cloud". 

It's the same old script, or excuse for war: first Iraq, now 
Iran. Last month, outgoing Secretary of State Colin Powell even 
alarmed the world by saying Iran was working on nuclear missiles. 
He was relying on a single walk-in source with unverified 
documents. European intelligence officials in Brussels are 
certain the source was an Iranian exile briefed by neo-cons 
Richard Perle and John Bolton. 

It doesn't matter that Iran has agreed - at least temporarily - 
to stop enriching uranium, in exchange for security arrangements, 
trade, investment and support for World Trade Organization 
admission offered by the European "Big 3" of Germany, France and 
Britain. In the neo-con master plan, Iran is doomed to be 
"shocked and awed" by 2006. The chatter at the AEI, the PNAC and 
other think-tanks has been thunderous for quite some time: Iran 
could be bombed from American bases in Iraq, in Pakistan, or from 
warships in the Persian Gulf. There are no illusions about it at 
the European Union headquarters. According to a EU diplomat in 
Brussels, "This bitter controversy over the Iranian nuclear 
program works as a smokescreen. The neo-conservatives are 
obsessed with Iran as a fundamentalist Islamic regime bound on 
exterminating Israel." Another diplomat adds that the question is 
not Iran's virtual nukes, per se, but how to cripple Iran as a 
military power: "It's the same agenda for Israel, the Pentagon 
and the White House National Security Council." 

Neo-cons privilege a pre-emptive strike with missiles fired from 
warships in the Gulf against the Natanz and Arak plants south of 
Tehran. European intelligence has also identified another huge 
underground complex "with 1,000 gas centrifuges and components 
for the manufacture of 50,000 further centrifuges". Russian 
engineers are helping to build a heavy water plant at Arak. Other 
plants are at Arkadan, east of Natanz, and near the beautiful, 
historic city of Isfahan. The leaders in Tehran swear the whole 
program is developed for civilian use. 

In another striking parallel to Iraq, the CIA does not know much 
about the current status of Iran's nuclear program, certainly not 
as much as the Europeans. But it seems to have successfully 
penetrated the roughly 800,000-strong Iranian diaspora in 
southern California, to the extent that a coterie of wealthy 
Iranians are eagerly plotting their return home as "liberating" 
heroes. 

One strident player to watch is neo-con Frank Gaffney, who wrote 
on the National Review online that "regime change - one way or 
another - in Iran and North Korea, [is] the only hope for 
preventing these remaining 'axis of evil' states from fully 
realizing their terrorist and nuclear ambitions". 

Long and winding roads The road to Tehran starts both in Kabul 
and Baghdad. This requires examination of the Afghan "model" and 
the Iraqi "model". 

Afghanistan's new democracy rests on the shoulder of the world's 
most expensive mayor (US$1.6 billion a month and counting), Hamid 
Karzai, who barely controls downtown Kabul protected by 200 
American bodyguards, 17,000 American troops and a North Atlantic 
Treaty Organization contingent. Without all this heavy metal, 
Karzai would never last. The country is essentially ruled by the 
Tajiks and Uzbeks of the former Northern Alliance - who now 
control most of the world's supply of heroin - powerful regional 
warlords and the Taliban (in the south and southeast). So much 
for Afghan "democracy". 

As for the Iraqi "model", the crucial point is that the Americans 
managed to turn Iraq into a replica of Palestine - the same 
ghastly litany of occupation, suicide bombings, streams of 
refugees and death and destruction. Not only was the Iraq war 
entirely based on neo-con lies: these lies led, among other 
disasters, to Iraq's infrastructure being completely destroyed 
and the US alienating the Muslim world. Fallujah and Baghdad are 
replicas of Gaza and the West Bank. A measure of the daily ordeal 
is offered by these lines written by Iraqi girl blogger 
Riverbend: People are wondering how America and gang [ie Prime 
Minister Iyad Allawi, etc] are going to implement democracy in 
all of this chaos when they can't seem to get the gasoline 
flowing in a country that virtually swims in oil. There's a rumor 
that this gasoline crisis has been concocted on purpose in order 
to keep a minimum of cars on the streets. Others claim that this 
whole situation is a form of collective punishment because things 
are really out of control in so many areas in Baghdad - 
especially the suburbs. The third theory is that this is being 
done purposely so that the Iraq government can amazingly bring 
the electricity, gasoline, kerosene and cooking gas back in 
January before the elections and make themselves look like 
heroes.As for the elections, it's fair to say Riverbend echoes 
the overall sentiment in secular Baghdad, according to our 
sources: "We're watching the election lists closely. Most people 
I've talked to aren't going to go to elections. It's simply too 
dangerous and there's a sense that nothing is going to be 
achieved anyway. The lists are more or less composed of people 
affiliated with the very same political parties whose leaders 
rode in on American tanks. Then you have a handful of tribal 
sheikhs. Yes - tribal sheikhs. Our country is going to be led by 
members of religious parties and tribal sheikhs - can anyone say 
Afghanistan? What's even more irritating is that election lists 
have to be checked and confirmed by none other than [Grand 
Ayatollah Ali al-]Sistani. Sistani - the Iranian religious 
cleric. So basically, this war helped us make a transition from a 
secular country being run by a dictator to a chaotic country 
being run by a group of religious clerics. Now, can anyone say 
'theocracy in sheep's clothing'?" 

The crucial Iraq-Iran-Afghanistan trio lies at the heart of the 
Pentagon-denominated "arc of instability" which runs from the 
Maghreb in Africa to the Kazakh-Chinese border. Of course it's 
just a coincidence that the arc holds the majority of the world's 
reserves of oil and gas. 

Our way or the highway European diplomats confirm that when they 
got together with their American counterparts in Washington last 
October to discuss Iran, there was simply nothing to discuss. 
Under Secretary of State John Bolton - a man who, on the record, 
wants the US to invade Iran - simply read aloud a text where the 
US refused to back any European Big 3 negotiations, and wanted 
Iran immediately dragged to the UN Security Council. European 
diplomats remain wary: "The Americans may be paralyzed at the 
moment - by the lack of international support and because they 
are trapped in Iraq. But we cannot underestimate the 
neo-conservatives, and especially Dick Cheney. He might end up 
convincing Bush of the need of a pre-emptive strike against 
Iranian nuclear sites." Another diplomat adds that "the Americans 
complain all the time about our dialogue with the Iranians, but 
they are incapable of formulating an American strategy". 

A "strategy" has been formulated by neo-con Danielle Pletka of 
the AEI. She says that in exchange for Iran handing over all its 
(non-existent) WMDs and halting support for "terrorist" groups, 
Washington should renew diplomatic relations and remove 
unilateral sanctions. It's an "our way or the highway" 
proposition, no negotiations involved. 

Both Iran and the EU have a tremendous stake in the success of 
the new round of negotiations, which started this week and will, 
according to European diplomats, last for many months. For Iran, 
a deal with the EU is a major twofold strategic victory: it 
amplifies the political abyss between Washington and Brussels, 
and from the point of view of Iranian consumers, it's good for 
business. For the EU, it's above all good for big business in the 
oil and gas industry. A who's who of European majors - Royal 
Dutch-Shell, Total-Fina-Elf, Agip, British Gas, Enterprise, 
Lasmo, Monument - already has and looks forward to expanding 
Iranian contracts. Not to mention the Chinese, who last month 
assured the Iranians in Beijing, after signing a major 
oil-and-gas deal, that they would block any move by the 
International Atomic Energy Agency to take the nuclear impasse to 
the UN Security Council. 

Ideologues like Reuel Marc Gerecht of the AEI are unfazed, and 
keep pushing heavily for a pre-emptive strike. Gerecht boasts 
that "you have to be crystal clear with them that whatever they 
dream up, we can dream up something much, much worse". These 
ideologues are obviously unaware of the fact that a strike will 
inevitably alienate the fiercely nationalistic Iranian 
population, will lead them to rally en masse in support of the 
government, and will be disastrous for business from a oil 
major/corporate American point of view. And even with a 
pre-emptive strike, experts agree Iran could rebuild its nuclear 
program before 2008 - as Iran learned very well from the Israeli 
pre-emptive strike that destroyed Iraq's nuclear reactor at 
Osirak in 1981. 

Both the CIA and the Defense Intelligence Agency have extensively 
war-gamed the possible consequences of a pre-emptive strike. The 
results were disastrous. The neo-cons dismiss it as perceptions 
of the so-called "reality-based community". 

Neo-cons obviously don't read political scientist Chalmers 
Johnson, the author of Blowback, who explained how the CIA in the 
1950s coined the term "blowback" to refer to "the unintended and 
unexpected negative consequences of covert special operations 
that have been kept secret from the American people and, in most 
cases, from their elected representatives". Ayatollah Ruhollah 
Khomeini rising to power in Iran in 1979 was blowback for the CIA 
toppling the elected government of Mossadegh in Iran in 1953 and 
the American cozying up to the Shah regime. The rise of al-Qaeda 
was in part blowback for the CIA arming the mujahideen in the 
anti-Soviet jihad in Afghanistan in the 1980s. 

Sharon is an expert in provoking an "excuse" for starting a 
regional war - a favorite neo-con tactic. That's what he did in 
1982 as Israeli defense minister, when he invaded Lebanon in 
"regime change" mode. Blowback was inevitable: the invasion of 
Lebanon led to Hezbollah, the first intifada, Hamas, suicide 
bombers, etc. 

European diplomats stress that "Pakistan proliferated nuclear 
technology to North Korea, Libya and Iran, while Iraq was invaded 
because it was not fast enough to acquire its own WMDs. The 
regime in Tehran certainly took notice." It's a given in the 
corridors of the EU that the regime in Tehran may cultivate a 
nuclear program - but exclusively for defensive purposes. It's 
also a given that having lied so consistently and for so long - 
aluminum tubes, yellow cake uranium in Niger, al-Qaeda in secret 
meetings in Prague, Osama bin Laden and Saddam sleeping in the 
same bed, etc - neo-cons have little chance of convincing the EU 
that Iranian nuclear missiles will soon wreak havoc on London, 
Paris and Berlin. 

The road to Pyongyang The neo-cons believe the Pentagon should 
also bomb Kim Jong-il's North Korea. Bill Kristol, neo-con and 
chair of the PNAC, escalated the stakes when he recently faxed a 
statement, "Toward Regime Change in North Korea", to a select 
group of "opinion leaders" in Washington, alerting on the 
emergence of "serious dissident activity" in the country and 
urging Bush to promptly deal with it. 

Compare it with the sober assessment of Han Ho Suk, director of 
the Center for Korean Affairs, "North Korea is one of the few 
nations that can engage in a total war with the United States. 
North Korea's war plan in case of an US attack is total war, not 
the 'low-intensity limited warfare' or 'regional conflict' talked 
about among the Western analysts ... If the US mounts a 
pre-emptive strike on North Korea's Yongbyon nuclear plants, 
North Korea will retaliate with weapons of mass destruction: 
North Korea will mount strategic nuclear attacks on US targets. 
The US war planners know this ... North Korea has succeeded in 
weaponizing nuclear devices for missile delivery. North Korea has 
operational fleets of ICBMs [inter-continental ballistic 
missiles] and intermediate-range missiles equipped with nuclear 
warheads. And North Korea's Dong 2 missile may be capable of 
hitting the West Coast of the United States, as well as Alaska 
and Hawaii." 

The player to watch in this particular "axis of evil" segment is 
Victor Cha, recently appointed as Asia director in the National 
Security Council. He will be the man responsible for American 
policy towards North Korea. 

It's interesting to compare the neo-con approach with Selig 
Harrison, director of the Asia Program at the Center for 
International Policy. He visited North Korea in the spring of 
2004. His assessment is that although the leadership is "very 
eager for a settlement" with the US, they are "not prepared to do 
it in the way the Bush administration is asking them to do it. 
The North Koreans say that Washington wants them to, in effect, 
simply roll over and disarm unilaterally." Harrison criticizes 
the Bush administration's "very rigid position, not prepared to 
trade anything". And this only increases the "risk of war. The 
point is, the administration's objective is really regime change 
in Pyongyang." 

The man in charge of this "very rigid position" is none other 
than Cha. Cha has argued that "engagement is the best practical 
way to build a coalition for punishment tomorrow. A necessary 
precondition for the US coercing North Korea is the formation of 
a regional consensus that efforts to resolve the problem in a 
non-confrontational manner have been exhausted. Without this 
consensus, implementing any form of coercion that actually puts 
pressure on the regime is unworkable." Cha qualifies this policy 
as "hawk engagement". It essentially means that any multilateral 
talks are destined to fail, because that's the premise of "hawk 
engagement" - building support for an attack. So the whole 
multilateral ballet in the next few months will consist of how 
China, South Korea, Russia and Japan will be able to control the 
neo-con ideologues before they snap it and decide on a "Shock and 
Awe" against Kim. 

The road to Riyadh Many were abuzz in Washington before the 
American presidential election when someone leaked what Bush had 
said at a donors' luncheon: "Osama bin Laden would like to 
overthrow the Saudis ... then we're in trouble. Because they have 
a weapon. They have the oil." In the neo-con roadmap, Syria and 
Iran may be short-term targets, but only on the way to a big 
prize, Saudi Arabia. Osama and al-Qaeda are more than on track to 
eventually stage a coup in Saudi Arabia. Simultaneously, European 
intelligence confirms there are now even more detailed war plans 
than in the 1970s for an American invasion of Saudi oilfields , 
most of them situated in Shi'ite-populated areas. 

European diplomats in Brussels hope that this day will not come. 
The joint negotiation with Iran has been one more indication of 
what these diplomats see as the EU's gradual emergence as a 
global political player - a historical inevitability. The EU will 
eventually have a collective military force - and then NATO's 
existence will be pointless. The EU has already questioned the 
neo-con equivalence of "pre-emptive war" with "just war". The EU 
- unlike Bush and the neo-cons - heavily supports the UN, as well 
as the World Court and the International Criminal Court. The EU 
is multilateral - a concept that is anathema for the neo-cons. 
Nonetheless, this all leads a diplomat to be overtly pessimistic: 
"Iran must prepare for an air attack from Israel and the US. This 
time, no one - the United Nations, the European Union, not even 
Britain - will be consulted." 

Nuke them all The Balkanization of the Arab and Muslim Middle 
East is a follow-up to the "divide and rule" of British 
colonialism. It's in the heart of the neo-con agenda. Arab 
nationalism has to be smashed. And Persian nationalism as well. 

The neo-con dream is a stable Iraq by the end of 2005 so the US 
can concentrate on attacking Iran. With the US still bogged down 
in a dreadful Iraqi quagmire, the well-oiled neo-con propaganda 
machine is already full speed ahead manufacturing its trademark 
brand of fear: Iranian nukes are coming to get us unless we 
pre-emptively attack (echoes of Ronald Reagan's "Nicaraguan 
Sandinistas about to invade Texas" come to mind). In the weeks 
and months ahead fear in the US will be multiplied by myriad echo 
chambers - right-wing talk radio, corporate media, Christian 
rapture congregations, hardcore militarists still bent on 
avenging the debacle in Vietnam by winning what is a de facto war 
against Islam. An American "Shock and Awe" could turn into a 
nightmare as Iran is fine-tuning a dizzying array of asymmetrical 
warfare options (See  How Iran will fight back Dec 16). Iran has 
installed sophisticated anti-ship missiles on the island of Abu 
Musa, thus controlling the critical Strait of Hormuz. In a 
pre-emptive strike, Iran could easily shut down the Strait of 
Hormuz - where all Persian Gulf oil tankers must pass. The 
immediate result: $100 or more for a barrel of oil - with all the 
consequences this would entail. Neo-cons don't bother with 
reality though: they only see that whoever controls Persian Gulf 
oil controls the world economy. 

Israel may decide to stage a "Shock and Awe" of its own - using 
its precious collection of high-tech fighter-bombers. Last 
September, Israel bought 52 F-16Is from Lockheed Martin. Israel 
also bought "nearly 5,000 bombs in one of the largest weapons 
deals between the allies in years", including "500 bunker busters 
that could be effective against Iran's [as of yet unproven] 
underground nuclear facilities", as Israeli security sources told 
Reuters. 

Muslims ask how could Israel get away with it. As far as the Arab 
world is concerned, Arabs could not be more impotent - or more 
co-opted at this historical juncture. Incompetence and corruption 
prevails in Cairo, Riyadh, Damascus and Amman. Arabs hold no 
significant political, economic or military power on the world 
stage. As for the Iranians, descendants of the Persians, a hugely 
sophisticated and influential civilization, they are still 
feared. In 2002, Israel was saying that Iran could complete its 
first nuclear weapon by the end of 2004. Nobody called Israel's 
bluff then, nobody is calling it now. 

With the American military in its current state, Bush and the 
neo-cons cannot possibly reshape the Middle East to suit the 
neo-con/Likud agenda. Washington is faced with two options. It 
could restore the draft - provoking a minor social earthquake in 
the US. Or it could develop - and deploy - tactical nuclear 
weapons, mini-nukes. Fallujah - flattened by "conventional" means 
- was just a test. On the road to Damascus, the road to Tehran, 
the road to Riyadh, the neo-cons would be much more tempted to go 
nuclear. 

(Copyright 2004 Asia Times Online Ltd. All rights reserved. 

Dec 17, 2004                                                                                                                    
													   												 											
2003, Asia Times Online, 4305 Far East Finance Centre, 16 
Harcourt Rd, Central, Hong Kong                                                                                                                                                                                                                       
*****************************************************************
 21  NIRS - Citizens' Groups Request Suspension of Licensing Hearing 
for Nuclear Plant. Litigants in Case Seek Relief from Filing 
Schedule as Government Files Remain Inaccessible Due to Security 
Rev
 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 December 15, 2004

CONTACT
Michael Mariotte, NIRS 202-328-0002
Joseph Malherek, Public Citizen 202-454-5109
   
  Citizens' Groups Request Suspension of Licensing Hearing for
Nuclear Plant. Litigants in Case Seek Relief from Filing
Schedule as Government Files Remain Inaccessible Due to Security
Rev

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Nuclear Information and Resource Service
(NIRS) and Public Citizen—two groups engaged in a legal
intervention against a company seeking a license to build a
uranium enrichment plant in New Mexico—today asked an
adjudicatory board of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
(NRC) to suspend the licensing case schedule as long as official
documents relating to the case remain inaccessible due to a
security review being conduced by the NRC, the primary regulator
of the nuclear industry. 

On Oct. 25, the NRC blocked public access to virtually all of
the electronic documents posted on its Web site pending a
security review "to ensure that documents which might provide
assistance to terrorists will be inaccessible." Included among
those documents is the license application of Louisiana Energy
Services (LES), the subject of dispute in this case.
Additionally, all other case-related documents in the hearing
file have been rendered unavailable to the public. 

Despite this, the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (ASLB) that
is governing the case has yet to suspend or delay the hearing
schedule deadlines to ensure that interested parties have access
to all relevant documents that are needed to file timely and
complete motions, briefs and legal testimony. Pre-filed
testimony is due Dec. 30, and the hearing is scheduled to begin
Feb. 7, 2005. 

"The effect of this information blackout is to marginalize the
citizen intervenors in this case," said Wenonah Hauter, director
of Public Citizen's Critical Mass Energy and Environment
Program. "How can we be expected to prepare meaningful testimony
when we have been denied access to the most basic information in
this case?" 

In their motion, the groups complain that the NRC is in breach
of rules and regulations. As a remedy, the groups propose a
suspension of the scheduled proceedings until 30 days after
essential case documents are once again available. 

"This is a blatant violation of regulatory procedure and the
Commission's own established rules governing this case," said
Michael Mariotte, executive director of NIRS. "It is inexcusable
that the NRC has kept these documents unavailable for this long
while proceeding with deadlines in this case. Short of a
complete and immediate restoration of public access to these
documents, the only solution is a suspension of the proceeding." 

LES is a multinational consortium of energy companies led by the
European firm Urenco. It has been seeking a license for a
domestic uranium enrichment facility for more than a decade. 

To read the motion, please go to www.citizen.org/cmepor
www.nirs.org-30-

*****************************************************************
 22 Platts: NRC tightening security on accessing classified information
 
  [The McGraw-Hill Companies]   
    
+ Access to classified information will be tightened for those 
involved in licensing or other regulatory work for high-level 
waste repository and new reactor activities. 

NRC published a notice today in the Federal Register stating that 
it expects to issue a direct final rule Jan. 14, unless it 
receives significant opposition, to widen the circle of 
individuals who need to get security clearance before accessing 
certain information. 

As part of the rulemaking, NRC is broadening the scope of 
regulations governing access authorization. 

The current regulations do not specifically reference 
construction licenses and licenses for high-level waste disposal 
in repositories, in general, or at the potential facility at 
Yucca Mountain, Nev. 

Washington (Platts)--15Dec2004
 
Copyright © 2004 - Platts, All Rights Reserved
 [The McGraw-Hill Companies]       
*****************************************************************
 23 NRC: NRC Enhances Public Meeting Schedule on its Web Site
 
News Release - 2004-16
U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION   
  Office of Public Affairs     Telephone: 301/415-8200   
  Washington, DC 20555-0001     E-mail:   
  No. 04-162     December 15, 2004   
  

the public meeting schedule on its web site, making it easier
for users to find meetings of interest. The schedule, available
at: http://www.nrc.gov/public-involve/public-meetings/index.cfm,
is the primary vehicle for NRC to announce its public meetings.
 
All NRC public meetings scheduled for the next three months are
listed by date. In addition, a new search function allows users
to search meetings by: 
  + Date or date range, 
  + Topic or purpose, 
  + Nuclear facility name, 
  + Docket number, 
  + Location (City and/or State) 
  + NRC office sponsor, or 
  + Company participant 
Users can search for both currently scheduled meetings, as well
as past meetings dating back to October 1, 2003. 

Another helpful feature is the ability of users to obtain
additional information about a meeting by simply clicking on a
specific meeting entry. Such information may include the
complete agenda, meeting participants, meeting notice, and
related background or discussion documents. 

Individuals with questions or those needing more information on
the public meeting schedule enhancements, should call Sandra
Northern at 301-415-6879 or e-mail .   



  


 	Last revised Thursday, December 16, 2004 	   
*****************************************************************
 24 Concord Monitor: Nuclear argument ignored key fact

 Online - Concord, NH 03301
 	 	 	 	 
December 16, 2004   
    
 P.O. Box 1177 Concord NH 03302 603-224-5301 Privacy policy           

, EARL C. KLAUBERT, Northwood - Letter     
  
e "Fight global warming by . . . nuclear plants,"ConcordMonitor,
Dec. 10: I agree with Professor Berg's argument for building
more nuclear power plants. However, his argument is incomplete. 

Much of the public opposition to nuclear power stems from the
generation of massive amounts of depleted nuclear fuel rods that
are stored above ground, and the questionable adequacy of the
nuclear waste dump in Yucca Mountain, Nev., on which we have
spent (wasted?) billions of dollars. The problem is the long
half-life, up to a quarter million years, of some wastes. 

The public generally does not know that a complete and
short-term solution to this problem, without long-term storage,
exists. 

It has been known and ignored from the time of President
Carter's moralistic high-horse refusal to build breeder
reactors. It was published in ScientificAmerican at that time
and has been confirmed to me by military officers and others
trained in nuclear power. Carter's objection was that breeder
reactors could be used to create more plutonium. France has been
using them for this purpose for decades. 

However, breeder reactors can be used, if operated off-optimum,
to transmute and destroy any and all radioactive elements in a
reasonably short time. The ultimate products would be
non-hazardous, non-radioactive materials. No long-term storage
of dangerous materials would be involved. 

Professor Berg must know this. Why didn't he buttress his
argument for more nuclear reactors by pointing out that this
short-term solution exists? 

Admittedly, I don't believe this solution applies to the
disposal of the radioactive components of such power plants
after their useful lifetime, but these are massive integral
metal components that cannot be used by terrorists to reclaim
and create nuclear weapons. They can be buried or encased in
concrete. They are not readily subject to being dissolved and
disseminated by groundwater. 

Build one or more breeder reactors, operate them off-optimum and
consume all the nuclear wastes. That is the answer the public
doesn't hear of. Solve the problem, don't store it for
millennia. 

EARL C. KLAUBERT 

Northwood 		 		 	   	 	
   	 	
Concord NH 03302
 Phone: 603-224-5301 
*****************************************************************
 25 NRC: Notice of Consideration of an Amendment Request Transferring the 
 
                        FR Doc 04-27492 
[Federal Register: December 16, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 241)] 
[Notices] [Page 75357-75359] From the Federal Register Online via 
GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr16de04-97]                         
 
License for Hartley and Hartley Landfill Site, Kawkawlin 
Township, Michigan, From SCA Services to SC Holdings, Inc., and 
Opportunity to Provide Comments and Request a Hearing AGENCY: 
Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
 
ACTION: Notice and opportunity to provide comments and request a 
hearing.
 
DATES: Comments must be provided by January 18, 2005. Requests 
for a hearing must be provided by January 5, 2005.
 
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: David Nelson, Project Manager, 
Materials Decommissioning Section, Decommissioning Directorate, 
Division of Waste Management and Environmental Protection, Office 
of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555. Telephone: (301) 
415-3017; fax number: (301) 415-5397; e-mail: jbh@nrc.gov.
 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: I. Introduction The Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission (NRC) is considering issuance of a license amendment 
to Material License No. SUC-1565 issued to SCA Services (the 
licensee), to authorize transfer of its license to SC Holdings, 
Inc. License No. SUC-1565 was issued on June 14, 1995, to SCA 
Services under Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 
CFR) part 40 and authorizes SCA Services to possess radioactive 
materials on site leading to decommissioning of the site.
 
Pursuant to 10 CFR 40.44, no license issued or granted under the 
regulations in part 40 shall be transferred, assigned, or in any 
manner disposed of, either voluntarily or involuntarily, directly 
or indirectly, through transfer of control of any license to any 
person unless the Commission shall, after securing full 
information that the transfer is in accordance with the 
provisions of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (AEA), 
and shall give its consent in writing. Therefore, before the 
issuance of an amendment, the NRC will have made the findings 
required by the AEA, and NRC's regulations. These findings will 
be documented in a Safety Evaluation Report. An Environmental 
Assessment (EA) will not be performed because, pursuant to 10 CFR 
51.22(c)(21), this action is categorically
 
[[Page 75358]] excluded from the requirement to perform an EA.
 
II. Opportunity To Provide Written Comments The NRC hereby 
provides notice that this is a proceeding regarding an 
application for a license amendment regarding the transfer of NRC 
License No. SUC-1565 from SCA Services to SC Holdings, Inc. In 
accordance with 10 CFR 2.1305, any person may submit written 
comments regarding this license transfer to the NRC as an 
alternative to requests for hearings and petitions to intervene. 
Comments with respect to this action should be provided in 
writing by January 18, 2005. Comments should be addressed to the 
Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 
20555-0001, Attention: Rulemakings and Adjudications Staff. 
Written comments should also be transmitted to the Secretary of 
the Commission either by means of facsimile transmission to (301) 
415-1101, or by e-mail to SECY@nrc.gov. Comments received after 
30 days will be considered if practicable to do so, but only 
those comments received on or before the due date can be assured 
consideration.
 
III. Opportunity To Request a Hearing The NRC hereby provides 
notice that this is a proceeding on an application for a license 
amendment regarding the transfer of NRC License No. SUC-1565 from 
SCA Services to SC Holdings, Inc. In accordance with the general 
requirements in subpart C of 10 CFR part 2, as amended on January 
14, 2004 (69 FR 2182), any person whose interest may be affected 
by this proceeding and who desires to participate as a party must 
file a written request for a hearing and a specification of the 
contentions which the person seeks to have litigated in the 
hearing.
 
In accordance with 10 CFR 2.302 (a), a request for a hearing must 
be filed with the Commission either by: 1. First class mail 
addressed to: Office of the Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, Attention: Rulemakings and 
Adjudications; 2. Courier, express mail, and expedited delivery 
services: Office of the Secretary, Sixteenth Floor, One White 
Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 20852, 
Attention: Rulemakings and Adjudications Staff, between 7:45 a.m. 
and 4:15 p.m., Federal workdays; 3. E-mail addressed to the 
Office of the Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 
HEARINGDOCKET@NRC.GOV; or 4. By facsimile transmission addressed 
to the Office of the Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission, Washington, DC, Attention: Rulemakings and 
Adjudications Staff, at (301) 415-1101; verification number is 
(301) 415-1966.
 
In accordance with 10 CFR 2.302 (b), all documents offered for 
filing must be accompanied by proof of service on all parties to 
the proceeding or their attorneys of record as required by law or 
by rule or order of the Commission, including: 1. The applicant, 
by delivery to Waste Management, Inc., 700 56th Avenue, Zeeland, 
MI, 49464, Attention: Philip M. Mazor, and, 2. The NRC staff, by 
delivery to the Office of the General Counsel, One White Flint 
North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 20852, or by mail 
addressed to the Office of the General Counsel, U.S. Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001. Hearing 
requests should also be transmitted to the Office of the General 
Counsel, either by means of facsimile transmission to (301) 
415-3725, or by e-mail to ogcmailcenter@nrc.gov. The formal 
requirements for documents contained in 10 CFR 2.304 (b), (c), 
(d), and (e), must be met. In accordance with 10 CFR 2.304 (f), a 
document filed by electronic mail or facsimile transmission need 
not comply with the formal requirements of 10 CFR 2.304 (b), (c), 
and (d), as long as an original and two (2) copies otherwise 
complying with all of the requirements of 10 CFR 2.304 (b), (c), 
and (d) are mailed within two (2) days thereafter to the 
Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 
20555-0001, Attention: Rulemakings and Adjudications Staff.
 
In accordance with 10 CFR 2.309 (b), a request for a hearing must 
be filed by January 5, 2005.
 
In addition to meeting other applicable requirements of 10 CFR 
2.309, the general requirements involving a request for a hearing 
filed by a person other than an applicant must state: 1. The 
name, address, and telephone number of the requester; 2. The 
nature of the requester's right under the Atomic Energy Act to be 
made a party to the proceeding; 3. The nature and extent of the 
requester's property, financial or other interest in the 
proceeding; 4. The possible effect of any decision or order that 
may be issued in the proceeding on the requester's interest; and, 
5. The circumstances establishing that the request for a hearing 
is timely in accordance with 10 CFR 2.309(b). In accordance with 
10 CFR 2.309(f)(1), a request for hearing or petitions for leave 
to intervene must set forth with particularity the contentions 
sought to be raised. For each contention, the request or petition 
must: 1. Provide a specific statement of the issue of law or fact 
to be raised or controverted; 2. Provide a brief explanation of 
the basis for the contention; 3. Demonstrate that the issue 
raised in the contention is within the scope of the proceeding; 
4. Demonstrate that the issue raised in the contention is 
material to the findings that the NRC must make to support the 
action that is involved in the proceeding; 5. Provide a concise 
statement of the alleged facts or expert opinions which support 
the requester's/petitioner's position on the issue and on which 
the requester/petitioner intends to rely to support its position 
on the issue; and, 6. Provide sufficient information to show that 
a genuine dispute exists with the applicant on a material issue 
of law or fact.
 
This information must include references to specific portions of 
the application (including the applicant's environmental report 
and safety report) that the requester/petitioner disputes and the 
supporting reasons for each dispute, or, if the 
requester/petitioner believes the application fails to contain 
information on a relevant matter as required by law, the 
identification of each failure and the supporting reasons for the 
requester's/petitioner's belief.
 
In addition, in accordance with 10 CFR 2.309(f)(2), contentions 
must be based on documents or other information available at the 
time the petition is to be filed, such as the application, 
supporting safety analysis report, environmental report or other 
supporting document filed by an applicant or licensee, or 
otherwise available to the petitioner. On issues arising under 
the National Environmental Policy Act, the requester/petitioner 
shall file contentions based on the applicant's environmental 
report. The requester/petitioner may amend those contentions or 
file new contentions if there are data or conclusions in the NRC 
draft, or final environmental impact statement, environmental 
assessment, or any supplements relating thereto, that differ 
significantly from the data or conclusions in the applicant's 
documents. Otherwise, contentions may be amended or new 
contentions filed
 
[[Page 75359]] after the initial filing only with leave of the 
presiding officer.
 
Each contention shall be given a separate numeric or alpha 
designation within one of the following groups: 1. 
Technical--primarily concerns issues relating to matters 
discussed or referenced in the Safety Evaluation Report for the 
proposed action.
 
2. Environmental--primarily concerns issues relating to matters 
discussed or referenced in the Environmental Report for the 
proposed action.
 
3. Emergency Planning--primarily concerns issues relating to 
matters discussed or referenced in the Emergency Plan as it 
relates to the proposed action.
 
4. Physical Security--primarily concerns issues relating to 
matters discussed or referenced in the Physical Security Plan as 
it relates to the proposed action.
 
5. Miscellaneous--does not fall into one of the categories 
outlined above.
 
Requesters/petitioners should, when possible, consult with each 
other in preparing contentions and combine similar subject matter 
concerns into a joint contention, for which one of the 
co-sponsoring requesters/petitioners is designated the lead 
representative.
 
Further, in accordance with 10 CFR 2.309(f)(3), any 
requester/petitioner that wishes to adopt a contention proposed 
by another requester/petitioner must do so in writing within ten 
days of the date the contention is filed, and designate a 
representative who shall have the authority to act for the 
requester/petitioner.
 
In accordance with 10 CFR 2.309(g), a request for hearing and/or 
petition for leave to intervene may also address the selection of 
the hearing procedures, taking into account the provisions of 10 
CFR 2.310. IV. Further Information Documents related to this 
action, including the application for 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 number for the document related to 
this notice is the August 9, 2004, letter requesting that the 
license be amended, ADAMS Accession No. ML042510430. If you do 
not have access to ADAMS or if there are problems accessing the 
documents located in ADAMS, contact the NRC's Public Document 
Room (PDR) Reference staff at 1-800-397-4209, 301-415- 4737, or 
by e-mail to pdr@nrc.gov. These documents may also be viewed 
electronically on the public computers located at the NRC's PDR, 
O 1 F21, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, 
MD 20852. The PDR reproduction contractor will copy documents for 
a fee.
 
Please note that on October 25, 2004, the NRC suspended 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 Document Room is located at NRC 
Headquarters in Rockville, MD, and can be contacted at 
800-397-4209 or 301-415-4737 or

 
pdr@nrc.gov. Dated in Rockville, Maryland this 9th day of 
December, 2004.
 
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
 
Daniel M. Gillen, Deputy Director, Decommissioning Directorate, 
Division of Waste Management and Environmental Protection, Office 
of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards.
 
[FR Doc. 04-27492 Filed 12-15-04; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P

 
*****************************************************************
 26 Xinhua: Nuke power plant runs for 13 years   

  www.xinhuanet.com

  www.chinaview.cn 2004-12-16 14:31:41   

[Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant, China's first operation of this
kind has worked safely for 13 years, producing a total of 23.7
Kwh of electricity. ] 
Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant, China's first operation of this
kind has worked safely for 13 years, producing a total of 23.7
Kwh of electricity.  (Xinhua file photo)  

    BEIJING, Dec. 16 -- Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant, China's
first operation of this kind has worked safely for 13 years,
producing a total of 23.7 Kwh of electricity. 

    The first large-scale commercial nuke power plant made a
great contribution to China's power, along with growing
technological expertise. 

    So far, China has 11 nuclear power generating units under
construction or in operation with a total capability of 8.6
million Kwh. 

    As planned, the country will be capable of producing 33
million Kwh by 2020. 

(Source: CRIENGLISH.com)   

  Copyright ©2003 Xinhua News Agency. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
 27 NRC: Draft Regulatory Guide; Issuance, Availability
 
                        FR Doc 04-27493 
[Federal Register: December 16, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 241)] 
[Notices] [Page 75359-75360] From the Federal Register Online via 
GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr16de04-98]                         
 
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has issued for 
public comment a draft revision to an existing guide in the 
agency's Regulatory Guide Series. This series has been developed 
to describe and make available to the public such information as 
methods that are acceptable to the NRC staff for implementing 
specific parts of the NRC's regulations, techniques that the 
staff uses in evaluating specific problems or postulated 
accidents, and data that the staff needs in its review of 
applications for permits and licenses.
 
The draft Revision 2 of Regulatory Guide 1.152, entitled 
``Criteria for Use of Computers in Safety Systems of Nuclear 
Power Plants,'' is temporarily identified by its task number, 
DG-1130, which should be mentioned in all related correspondence. 
The regulatory guide describes a method that is acceptable to the 
NRC staff for complying with the NRC's regulations for promoting 
high functional reliability and design quality for the use of 
computers in safety systems of nuclear plants. For the purposes 
of DG-1130, the term ``computer'' means a system that includes 
computer hardware, software, firmware, and interfaces.
 
The guidance provided in DG-1130 is consistent with General 
Design Criterion (GDC) 21, ``Protection System Reliability and 
Testability,'' of appendix A, ``General Design Criteria for 
Nuclear Power Plants,'' to title 10, part 50, ``Domestic 
Licensing of Production and Utilization Facilities,'' of the Code 
of Federal Regulations (10 CFR part 50). Among other things, GDC 
21 requires that protection systems (or safety systems) must be 
designed for high functional reliability, commensurate with the 
safety functions to be performed. In addition, Criterion III, 
``Design Control,'' of appendix B, ``Quality Assurance Criteria 
for Nuclear Power Plants and Fuel Reprocessing Plants,'' to 10 
CFR part 50 requires, among other things, that quality standards 
must be specified, and design control measures must be provided, 
for verifying or checking the adequacy of design.
 
The new draft regulatory guide DG-1130 also contains the staff's 
regulatory position on the ``Standard Criteria for Digital 
Computers in Safety Systems of Nuclear Power Generating 
Stations,'' \1\ which the Nuclear Power Engineering Committee of 
the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) has 
promulgated as IEEE Std 7-4.3.2-2003. The NRC staff has 
collaborated in the development of IEEE Std 7-4.3.2- 2003 to 
ensure that the guidance provided by the consensus standard is 
consistent with the NRC's regulations. This standard evolved from 
IEEE Std 7-4.3.2-1993 and reflects advances in digital 
technology. It also represents a continued effort by IEEE to 
support the specification, design, and implementation of 
computers in safety systems of nuclear power plants. In addition, 
IEEE Std 7-4.3.2-2003 specifies computer- specific requirements 
to supplement the criteria and requirements of IEEE Std 603-1998, 
``Standard Criteria for Safety Systems for Nuclear Power 
Generating Stations.'' 
----------------------------------------------------------------- 
---------- \1\ IEEE publications may be purchased from the IEEE 
Service Center, 445 Hoes Lane, Piscataway, NJ 08854.
 
----------------------------------------------------------------- 
---------- It is the staff's intent to endorse IEEE Std 
7-4.3.2-2003, with certain exceptions, in the final regulatory 
guide as an acceptable method for satisfying the NRC's 
regulations with respect to (1) high functional reliability and 
design requirements for computers used in safety systems of 
nuclear power plants,
 
[[Page 75360]] and (2) independence between safety software and 
nonsafety software residing on the same computer.
 
The NRC staff is soliciting comments on draft regulatory guide 
DG- 1130, and comments may be accompanied by relevant information 
or supporting data. Please mention DG-1130 in the subject line of 
your comments. Comments on this draft regulatory guide submitted 
in writing or in electronic form will be made available to the 
public in their entirety on the NRC's rulemaking Web site. 
Personal information will not be removed from your comments. You 
may submit comments by any of the following methods.
 
Mail comments to: Rules and Directives Branch, Office of 
Administration, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, 
DC 20555-0001.
 
E-mail comments to: NRCREP@nrc.gov. You may also submit comments 
via the NRC's rulemaking Web site at http://ruleforum.llnl.gov. 
Address questions about our rulemaking Web site to Carol A. 
Gallagher (301) 415-5905; email CAG@nrc.gov. Hand-deliver 
comments to: Rules and Directives Branch, Office of 
Administration, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 11555 
Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852, between 7:30 a.m. and 
4:15 p.m. on Federal workdays.
 
Fax comments to: Rules and Directives Branch, Office of 
Administration, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission at (301) 
415-5144.
 
Requests for technical information about draft regulatory guide 
DG- 1130 may be directed to Satish Aggarwal, Senior Program 
Manager, at (301) 415-6005 or via email to SKA@nrc.gov. Comments 
would be most helpful if received by February 11, 2005. Comments 
received after this date will be considered if it is practical to 
do so, but the NRC is able to ensure consideration only for 
comments received on or before this date. Although a time limit 
is given, comments and suggestions in connection with items for 
inclusion in guides currently being developed or improvements in 
all published guides are encouraged at any time.
 
Electronic copies of the draft regulatory guide are available 
through the NRC's public Web site under Draft Regulatory Guides 
in the Regulatory Guides document collection of the NRC's 
Electronic Reading Room at 
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/. Electronic copies 
are also available in the NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and 
Management System (ADAMS) at 
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html, under Accession No. 
ML043170314. Note, however, that the NRC has temporarily 
suspended public access to ADAMS so that the agency can complete 
security reviews of publicly available documents and remove 
potentially sensitive information. Please check the NRC's Web 
site for updates concerning the resumption of public access to 
ADAMS.
 
In addition, regulatory guides are available for inspection at 
the NRC's Public Document Room (PDR), which is located at 11555 
Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland; the PDR's mailing address is 
USNRC PDR, Washington, DC 20555-0001. The PDR can also be reached 
by telephone at (301) 415-4737 or (800) 397-4205, by fax at (301) 
415-3548; and by email to PDR@nrc.gov. Requests for single copies 
of draft or final guides (which may be reproduced) or for 
placement on an automatic distribution list for single copies of 
future draft guides in specific divisions should be made in 
writing to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 
20555-0001, Attention: Reproduction and Distribution Services 
Section; by email to DISTRIBUTION@nrc.gov; or by fax to (301) 
415-2289. Telephone requests cannot be accommodated. Regulatory 
guides are not copyrighted, and Commission approval is not 
required to reproduce them.
 
(5 U.S.C. 552(a)). Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 9th day of 
December, 2004.
 
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
 
Michael E. Mayfield, Director, Division of Engineering 
Technology, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research.
 
[FR Doc. 04-27493 Filed 12-15-04; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P

 
*****************************************************************
 28 The Advocate - Report: environmental impact of Millstone plants is negligible
 	 	 	
Associated Press
 	 	
December 16, 2004

WATERFORD, Conn. --             

A report by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has found that 
there has been some impact on the fish population near the 
Millstone nuclear power complex, but overall, the environmental 
impact is negligible.

 The NRC has concluded that the number of female winter flounder 
near Millstone Power Station in Niantic Bay has reached 
"critically low levels."

 However, ad part of its research into whether two nuclear 
reactors here should continue operating for another 20 years, the 
NRC could not definitively link the effect of plant operations to 
the recent decline in the number of flounder.

 The agency said it found a "moderate" effect on survival of fish 
that get caught in reactor equipment which warrants continued 
efforts by Dominion Nuclear Connecticut, to improve the flounder 
survival rate.

 The NRC environmental report tentatively found the adverse 
effects of renewing two reactor licenses are negligible or can be 
lessened through steps the company is already taking.

 The report says a number of factors contributed to the decline 
in flounder, including overfishing and regional temperature 
changes. Also playing a role is the trapping and killing of the 
fish in the equipment that draws water for cooling purposes into 
the Millstone 2 and Millstone 3 reactors.

 The NRC will seek public comment on Jan. 11 at 1:30 and 7 p.m. 
at Waterford Town Hall.

 ---

 Information from: The Day, http://www.theday.com

Copyright © 2004, The Associated Press [Aparrtments.com]                 

© 2004, Southern Connecticut Newspapers, Inc. All rights 
reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is 
prohibited. Terms of Service | Privacy Policy 
*****************************************************************
 29 NRC: Performance and Accountability Report - Fiscal Year 2004
                      (
NUREG-1542, Vol. 10)
 
Download complete document The following links on this page are
to documents in Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF). See our
Plugins, Viewers, and Other Tools page for more information. 
  + NUREG-1542, Vol. 10 
    + Introductory Pages (PDF - 3.44 MB) 
    + Chapter 1 (PDF - 790 KB) 
    + Chapter 2 (PDF - 1.54 MB) 
    + Chapter 3 (PDF - 455 KB) 
    + Appendix A (PDF - 1.44 MB) 
    + Appendix B (PDF - 156 KB) 
    + Appendices C - F (PDF - 345 KB) 
    + Endnotes (PDF - 1.58) 

Publication Information
 
Introduction

This Performance and Accountability Report represents the
culmination of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commissions (NRC)
program and financial management processes, which began with
mission and program planning, continued through the formulation
and justification of NRCs budget to the President and the
Congress, through budget execution, and ended with this report
on our program performance and use of the resources entrusted to
us. This report was prepared pursuant to the requirements of the
Chief Financial Officers Act, as amended by the Reports
Consolidation Act, and covers activities from October 1, 2003,
to September 30, 2004.   

        Last revised Thursday, December 16, 2004           
*****************************************************************
 30 ITAR-TASS: G-7 ready to increase financing of Chernobyl sarcophagus

15.12.2004, 19.24

KIEV, December 15 (Itar-Tass) - The G-7 countries are ready to
increase their financial contribution to the Chernobyl Shelter
Fund, which finances work on transforming the existing
sarcophagus into a safe and environmentally stable system, an
official from the Ukrainian Ministry for Fuel and Energy told
Tass on Wednesday. 

The director of the ministry department for atomic industry,
Nataliya Shumkova, was commenting on the results of an assembly
of the fund’s donors, which took place in London on December 9.
She said the USA had made a statement on behalf of G-7. 

Concrete decision on the allocation of money is expected to be
reached at a conference, which is scheduled within January-March
2005. Shumkova said Ukraine’s share in the Chernobyl Shelter
Fund would stay at the level of six percent. 

Early this year, Ukraine asked for U.S. support as concerns an
increase in the payments to the fund. According to early
calculations, the cost of the project has grown by 300 million
dollars, to 1.059 billion dollars. So far, Ukraine’s share
stands at 50 million dollars. 


© ITAR-TASS. All rights reserved. You undertake not to copy,
*****************************************************************
 31 ITAR-TASS: Putin arrives at Kalininskaya N-station to inspect new reactor

16.12.2004, 14.22

 UDOMLYA, Tver Region, December 16 (Itar-Tass) - Russian
President Vladimir Putin came for the first time to a nuclear
power station – Kalininskaya. The new, third power unit was put
into operation at the station early on Thursday morning. 

The Kalininskaya nuclear power station is situated in the city
of Udomlya, Tver Region, some 350 kilometers north of Moscow.

Putin inspected the station and then held a visiting session of
the Russian State Council presidium on the development of
international cooperation in nuclear and radiation security. 

The third set of the station has been under construction for
around 20 years. Its commissioning was repeatedly put off in the
1990s. Following the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, the so-called
post-Chernobyl syndrome emerged when the development of the
nuclear power industry virtually ground to a standstill, and
construction of new nuclear station was discontinued. Then, this
syndrome was overcome, but financial difficulties popped up.

Construction of a power unit at a nuclear station is estimated
at 1.5-2.5 billion US dollars on the world market. 

Two units, which were commissioned in 1984 and 1986, now
operates at the Kalininskaya station. Under the project, the
station is to consist of four blocks. 

Incidentally, the Russian leader visited the turbine hall of the
third unit and inspected the control board. 

The officer on duty told the president that the present unit
capacity is now 180 mW while the design capacity is 1,000 mW. 
The control board was manufactured only by Russian producers and
with the use of only Russian technologies. The nuclear power
station has over 5,000 people on its payroll. The station
contributes the main part of revenues to the city and district
budgets as well as produces nearly 66 percent of electricity,
generated in the Tver Region. 

Speaking at the meeting of the State Council presidium on
Thursday, the president said that Russia stockpiled over 70
million tonnes of solid radioactive waste. “The infrastructure
of their processing has been insufficiently developed so far,”
the Russian chief executive emphasized. 

“The volume of processed waste more than doubled as against
2001, but absolute rates of processing are still very low,” the
head of state emphasized. 

© ITAR-TASS. All rights reserved. You undertake not to copy,
*****************************************************************
 32 SouthBendTribune.com: Nuclear plant inspections go well
 
December 16, 2004 

 AEP wants license renewed for 20 years.

 By LOU MUMFORD Tribune Staff Writer 

BUCHANAN -- So far, so good, as far as the American Electric
Power Co.'s efforts to extend the life of the D. C. Cook Nuclear
Plant near Bridgman. 

At a meeting here Wednesday regarding AEP's request for a
20-year renewal of its license to operate the plant, officials
from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said a pair of license
renewal-related inspections at the plant turned up six minor
issues. 

Of those, the book already has been closed on four, which were
revealed during a one-week "screening and scoping'' inspection
in May. 

The two other issues, revealed during a two-week "equipment
management aging'' inspection in November, remain open only
because a different branch of the NRC has oversight
responsibility, said Patricia Lougheed, senior reactor engineer
for the NRC's Region III Division of Reactor Safety in Lisle,
Ill. 

"Both are very minor issues. There are no violations,'' Lougheed
said following the meeting at AEP's office building on Circle
Drive in Buchanan. 

AEP officials didn't comment during the meeting on the NRC
inspections. After the less than 30-minute meeting, Bill Schalk,
communications manager for AEP's corporate communications
division, said the inspections revealed no surprises. 

"It's a normal part of the process,'' he said. 

AEP's current license to operate the plant doesn't expire until
2014. However, the company filed an application 13 months ago to
extend the plant's life by another 20 years, until 2034. 

The reason for the time frame, Schalk said, is to provide plant
operators with ample opportunity to come up with alternatives
should the license not be renewed. AEP will know by May 2006
whether its application is granted. 

Lougheed said the two issues that arose during last month's
inspection involved boral, a neutron-absorbing material that
helps contain radiation in pool water, and flow-accelerated
corrosion on high-pressure steam and water lines. 

Although no problems were evident with either component, she
said AEP's standard printed procedure for dealing with such
items differed slightly from the procedure listed in the
company's license-renewal application. 

"So we've asked the office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation to look
into it,'' she said. 

Jan Strasma, senior public affairs officer for the NRC in Lisle,
emphasized that at no point did inspectors find anything wrong
at the plant. 

"There's reasonable assurance that aging-management conditions
will maintain the plant in a safe condition for the next 20
years,'' he said. 

Staff writer Lou Mumford: 

lmumford@sbtinfo.com

(269) 687-7002 

  
the South Bend Tribuneunless otherwise specified.
Copyright &copy; 1994-2004 South Bend Tribune
*****************************************************************
 33 TheDay.com NRC: Effect Of Millstone On Flounder Needs More Attention
Union riled by quick process
 		 		 		
By PATRICIA DADDONA
Day Staff Writer, Waterford
Published on 12/16/2004

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has determined that the number 
of female winter flounder near Millstone Power Station in Niantic 
Bay has reached critically low levels.

 As part of its research into whether two nuclear reactors here 
should continue operating for another 20 years, the NRC could not 
definitively link the effect of plant operations to the recent 
decline in the number of flounder. Nonetheless, the agency found 
a moderate effect on survival of fish that get caught in 
reactor equipment. It said this warrants continued efforts by 
Millstone's owner, Dominion Nuclear Connecticut, to improve the 
flounder survival rate.

 Otherwise, the NRC environmental report tentatively found the 
adverse effects of renewing two reactor licenses are negligible 
or can be lessened through steps the company is already taking. 
None of the adverse effects would prevent license renewal. 

The NRC will seek public comment on Jan. 11 at 1:30 and 7 p.m. at 
Waterford Town Hall.

 The NRC report states that a multitude of influences have 
contributed to the decline including over-fishing and regional 
temperature changes. Also playing a role is the trapping and 
killing of the fish in the equipment that draws water for cooling 
purposes into the Millstone 2 and Millstone 3 reactors. The state 
Department of Environmental Protection and Dominion disagree 
about the extent of such damage, but the report states that the 
DEP's new performance standards significantly reduce the loss 
of fish.

 The DEP and not the NRC is authorized to address the situation 
when granting Millstone discharge permits and ensuring that it 
complies with the Clean Water Act, the report states.

 Some of the ways to meet those standards would include reducing 
the intake of water during the winter flounder spawning season, 
importing fish to the bay, and installing fine mesh screens on 
the equipment to keep fish from being ingested into the cooling 
system.

 The report states Dominion could also install cooling towers, 
which would get and hold water from sources other than the bay. 
The company could also inspect the water flow, complete refueling 
and do maintenance work during the regular spawning season, since 
those activities involved shutting down the reactors.

 Dominion spokesman Pete Hyde said, We've looked at all of these 
alternatives and we're working with the DEP... to try and find 
the best alternatives. 

Former fisherman Alfred Maderia Jr. of Pawcatuck sold his fishing 
boat before Thanksgiving and has given up fishing for flounder in 
the bay, he said Wednesday. His lawsuit against Dominion on the 
decline of winter flounder is pending in Middletown Superior 
Court.

 Everybody knows what they've done, he said of Dominion, which 
bought Millstone in 2001, yet it's amazing how this judicial 
system works in this country, they just put things off. We've got 
a legitimate case but I don't think we'll ever get our day in 
court. At this public meeting we'll be there, whether or not it 
will do any good who knows.

 Impacts from 67 other issues covered by the report would be 
small because Dominion reported no new or significant effects 
and the NRC concurred. Some of those issues include effects on 
radiological emissions, noise, aesthetics, and archeological 
resources. The NRC found the reactors' effects on electromagnetic 
fields to be uncertain.

 To read the report go to: 
www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/nuregs/staff/sr1437/supple 
ment22/.

 p.daddona@theday.com   

1998-2004 The Day Publishing Co.   	 	
*****************************************************************
 34 Public Citizen: Citizens’ Groups Request Suspension of Licensing 
Hearing for Nuclear Plant
 
Nuclear Information and Resource Service 
Public Citizen 

Dec. 15, 2004 

Citizens Groups Request Suspension of Licensing Hearing for
Nuclear Plant 

Litigants in Case Seek Relief from Filing Schedule as Government
FilesRemain Inaccessible Due to Security Review 

WASHINGTON, D.C.  The Nuclear Information and Resource Service
(NIRS) and Public Citizentwo groups engaged in a legal
intervention against a company seeking a license to build a
uranium enrichment plant in New Mexicotoday asked an
adjudicatory board of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
(NRC) to suspend the licensing case schedule as long as official
documents relating to the case remain inaccessible due to a
security review being conduced by the NRC, the primary regulator
of the nuclear industry. 

 On Oct. 25, the NRC blocked public access to virtually all of
the electronic documents posted on its Web site pending a
security review to ensure that documents which might provide
assistance to terrorists will be inaccessible.   Included among
those documents is the license application of Louisiana Energy
Services (LES), the subject of dispute in this case. 
Additionally, all other case-related documents in the hearing
file have been rendered unavailable to the public. 

 Despite this, the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (ASLB) that
is governing the case has yet to suspend or delay the hearing
schedule deadlines to ensure that interested parties have access
to all relevant documents that are needed to file timely and
complete motions, briefs and legal testimony.   Pre-filed
testimony is due Dec. 30, and the hearing is scheduled to begin
Feb. 7, 2005. 

 The effect of this information blackout is to marginalize the
citizen intervenors in this case, said Wenonah Hauter, director
of Public Citizens Critical Mass Energy and Environment
Program.   How can we be expected to prepare meaningful
testimony when we have been denied access to the most basic
information in this case? 

In their motion, available by clicking here, the groups complain
that the NRC is in breach of rules and regulations.  As a
remedy, the groups propose a suspension of the scheduled
proceedings until 30 days after essential case documents are
once again available. 

 This is a blatant violation of regulatory procedure and the
commissions own established rules governing this case, said
Michael Mariotte, executive director of NIRS.   It is
inexcusable that the NRC has kept these documents unavailable
for this long while proceeding with deadlines in this case. 
Short of a complete and immediate restoration of public access
to these documents, the only solution is a suspension of the
proceeding. 

    LES is a multinational consortium of energy companies led by
the European firm Urenco.   It has been seeking a license for a
domestic uranium enrichment facility for more than a decade. 
### 
 
*****************************************************************
 35 PRN: Platts Conference to Convene Top Nuclear Energy Players 

PR Newswire - A United Business

http://www.mcgraw-hill.com">

Senator Pete V. Domenici and Admiral Frank Bowman to Present
Keynote Addresses

    LEXINGTON, Mass., Dec. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Platts today 
announced its Nuclear Energy Conference to be held February 
16-17, 2005, in Washington, DC. The conference features many of 
the key players who will help determine the future of nuclear 
power in North America. Platts is a division of The McGraw- Hill 
Companies (NYSE: MHP).

    Platts Nuclear Energy Conference will examine prospects for 
short- and long-term growth in the nuclear energy industry and 
address some of the most pressing questions:  Can nuclear power 
fulfill its promise as the largest source of emission-free, 
baseload energy? Who will build first? Is the public ready? Is 
the financial community ready? Are government regulators ready?

    These and others will be presenting as part of this event's 
extraordinary line-up of nuclear industry executives and experts:

     * Admiral Frank Bowman, President and CEO-elect, Nuclear
Energy Institute

     * Senator Pete V. Domenici, Chairman, Energy and Natural
Resources
       Committee
     * Senator Larry Craig, Energy and Natural Resources
Committee
     * Jeffrey S. Merrifield, Commissioner, US Nuclear
Regulatory Commission
     * Marilyn C. Kray, Vice President, Exelon Nuclear
     * David A. Christian, Chief Nuclear Officer, Dominion Energy
     * Brew Barron, Chief Nuclear Officer, Duke Power
     * Duncan Hawthorne, President and CEO, Bruce Power
     * James B. (Barnie) Beasley Jr., President and CEO,
Southern Nuclear
     * Michael B. Sellman, President and CEO, Nuclear Management
Company
     * Dan Keuter, Senior Vice President, Entergy
     * Ray Ganthner, Senior Vice President, Nuclear Reactors,
Framatome ANP
     * John Polcyn, President, AECL Technologies
     * E. James Reinsch, President, Bechtel Nuclear Power Company
     Topics to be covered include:
     * The outlook for new plant construction
     * Canada's experience with expanded nuclear power generation
     * Ways to create alliances and build community support
     * Nuclear power finance and how deals can be structured
     * The economic case for nuclear power
     * Advanced reactor design and construction

    For a complete agenda or to register, please visit 
http://www.events.platts.com or call 866-355-2930 (toll-free in 
the U.S.) or +1 781-860-6100 (direct).

    Discounts are available for groups of 4 or more. Ask for 
details.

    Sponsorship and exhibit opportunities are still available.
For more
information, please contact Lorne Grout at 781-860-6112 or e-mail
lorne_grout@platts.com.

    Platts, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, is the world 
leader in providing energy information. For nearly a century, 
Platts has helped to enable ever-changing global energy markets 
enhance their performance through such offerings as independent 
industry news and price benchmarks. From 14 offices worldwide, 
Platts covers the oil, natural gas, electricity, nuclear power, 
coal, petrochemical and metals markets. Additional information on 
Platts real-time news and price assessment services, 
publications, databases, geospatial tools, conferences, 
magazines, research and analytical services and energy financial 
services is available at http://www.platts.com.

    About The McGraw-Hill Companies

    Founded in 1888, The McGraw-Hill Companies is a leading 
global information services provider meeting worldwide needs in 
the financial services, education and business information 
markets through leading brands such as Standard & Poor's, 
BusinessWeek and McGraw-Hill Education. The Corporation has more 
than 280 offices in 40 countries. Sales in 2003 were $4.8 
billion. Additional information is available at 
http://www.mcgraw-hill.com. SOURCE Platts Web Site: 
http://www.platts.comhttp://www.mcgraw-hill.com

More news from PR Newswire...
*****************************************************************
 36 Guardian Unlimited: Nuke Whistle-Blower Named Scottish Rector
 
From the Associated Press        

[UP] 

Thursday December 16, 2004 4:01 AM

LONDON (AP) - Students at a Scottish university on Wednesday
elected Israeli nuclear whistle-blower Mordechai Vanunu their
official spokesman. 

Students at the University of Glasgow chose Vanunu as their
rector, a venerable role that has gone to 19th-century prime
ministers William Gladstone and Benjamin Disraeli and
anti-apartheid activist Winnie Mandela. 

Vanunu was nominated by a pro-Palestinian group and elected with
1,033 votes. University principal Sir Muir Russell said the
choice ``demonstrates the diverse and international concerns of
Glasgow students.'' 

Vanunu, 50, spent 18 years in prison in Israel after he was
convicted of espionage and treason for supplying photographs and
documents about Israel's secret nuclear facility to a British
newspaper. He was released in April but is banned from leaving
Israel. 

Defying an Israeli government order that bans him from talking
to the media, Vanunu told the Press Association news agency last
month that if chosen by students, ``I will do all I can to help
them and to draw international attention to the restrictions in
Israel.'' 

``One day I might be free to leave Israel and then I could come
to Scotland and be much more active for the students,'' he
added. 

The post of rector is unique to Scotland's four ``ancient
universities'' - Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and St. Andrews. 

During an unpaid three-year term the rector serves as a
representative of the student body and chairs meetings of the
university's governing body, the Court. 
  
      Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004
*****************************************************************
 37 Independent Mind: Port inspection exposes truckers to gamma rays

December 16, 2004 Headlines | 
 
NORFOLK, VA  Truckers and operators of a new cargo inspection 
system may be exposed to unacceptable levels of cancer-causing 
radiation, according to a report in an industry bulletin. 

When truckers pick up large metal containers unloaded from ships, 
they are sometimes directed to drive through a new vehicle and 
cargo inspection system, basically a machine that uses powerful 
gamma rays to inspect the sealed ocean cargo. 

Most workers who operate the new scanning machines claim theres 
no risk, but the long-term effects on drivers who remain in the 
cab of their truck is not completely clear, according to the 
report by William Sharp in Trucker News Alert. 

Safety and protection radiographic cargo inspection systems 
require some localized shielding to minimize exposure. Operators 
are supposed to be trained in radiation safety, and should wear a 
badge to measure any radiation exposure. To date, most operators 
have received little or no dose. 

Gamma rays cause cancer and cell mutations in plants and animals. 
Helen Caldicott, a pediatrician and co-founder of Physicians for 
Social Responsibility, claims, There is no safe level of exposure 
to ionizing radiation, it only takes one radioactive atom, one 
cell, and one gene to initiate a cancer. 

Scanning delays shipments and adds extra cost to port operations. 
Conventional x-ray scanners take up to 10 minutes to scan through 
metal. Gamma-ray scanners take only a few seconds or a couple of 
minutes to complete the same job. 

To avoid hiring additional personnel, drivers at most ports are 
ordered to pull containers up to be scanned. At congested entry 
points, they are told to remain in their trucks, exposing them 
indirectly or directly to radiation. This can happen many times a 
day. Some inspectors scan not only the container but also the 
tractor. According to the manufacturers, this should never be 
done. 

Soon, every U.S. port will have these devices at each exit. 
Unless changes are made, this could lead to serious health risks 
for anyone forced to drive through, according to leading 
scientists. 

Rosalie Bertell, a scientist who directed investigations into the 
Chernobyl nuclear accident and Union Carbide Corps Bhopal Gas 
disaster in India, has studied the effects of low-level radiation 
on humans. There is no such thing as a radiation exposure that 
will not do damage, she said. 

Paul Barham, a Virginia trucker who moves local containers out of 
the ports of Hampton Roads, VA, sometimes makes as many as a 
dozen trips to different terminals in a day. I didnt realize how 
bad the radiation was until one of the workers started talking 
about how powerful gamma rays are, he said. I just cant believe 
why port management would ignore the health risk of all the 
workers and drivers out here at the terminal without even a 
warning. Army blacklists Denver newspaper
 

COLORADO SPRINGS  In the wake of an article in The Denver Post on 
military medical holds, the Army has denied the newspaper access 
to Fort Carson army base and information on its military 
activities. 

We have temporarily suspended relations with The Denver Post as a 
direct result of Fort Carson not being given fair and balanced 
treatment in a story that appeared on Dec. 5, 2004, said Lt. Col. 
David Johnson, public affairs officer at the base. 

The front-page article examined claims from mentally and 
physically ill National Guard and Army Reserve members who say 
they are being denied access to quality care and are being shoved 
out of the military without disability pay. 

Posted December 16, 2004 

Vermont Guardian
 Winooski, VT 05404 

Vermont: PO Box 335, Winooski, VT 05404 Southern Vermont: 139 
Main Street, Suite 702, Brattleboro, VT 05301 Contact: 
802.861.4880 (ph) | 802.861.6388 (fax) | 877.231.5382 (toll-free)

 ©2004 Vermont Guardian | 

Visit us: www.vermontguardian.com
 This document can be located online:
www.vermontguardian.com/dailies/0904/1216.shtml 
*****************************************************************
 38 Tri-City Herald: 250 downwinders added to suit 

This story was published Thursday, December 16th, 2004 

By Annette Cary Herald staff writer 

The number of people suing over illnesses they believe were
caused by radiation releases from the Hanford Nuclear
Reservation increased to a little over 2,000 this week. 

Federal Judge William Fremming Nielsen in Spokane agreed to add
about 250 downwinders to the suit against early Hanford
contractors. 

During World War II and the early years of the Cold War,
radioactive iodine was released into the air during production
of plutonium at Hanford for the nation's nuclear weapons
program. The radioactive iodine drifted downwind and fell to the
ground to be ingested by residents in fresh fruits, vegetables
and milk from cows that grazed on contaminated grass. 

The new plaintiffs in the 1991 case include people who have
learned only recently about the lawsuit or who have recently
developed a medical condition they believe is linked to the
radiation releases, said Richard Eymann, a Spokane attorney. His
firm represents 208 of the new plaintiffs. 

When Nielsen took over the lawsuit in 2003, downwinder attorneys
said there were a little over 3,500 claims. The contractors'
attorneys estimated the number of plaintiffs to be at least
1,000 more. 

The numbers dropped as plaintiffs with illnesses that could not
be clearly linked with radiation or who likely had received
slight or no exposure were moved to an inactive list. Nielsen
did not close the suit to new plaintiffs, however. 

Many of those filing suit have thyroid disease, including
cancer. Radioactive iodine concentrates in the thyroid. The suit
also includes people who have other cancers they believe were
caused by radiation releases to the air or Columbia River. 

In another development in the case, defense attorneys have asked
to challenge Nielsen's ruling last month that downwinders will
not have to prove early Hanford contractors were negligent to
win their lawsuit. That leaves only whether radioactive releases
caused plaintiffs' health problems to be decided at trial. 

"There are lots of errors that we think mount up to (the need
for) reconsideration of the court," said Kevin Van Wart,
attorney for the defense. 

The court should have held a full hearing on the matter, he
said. He also said that contrary to what the judge wrote in his
order, it was not clear in the 1940s that radioactive iodine
could cause thyroid cancer. 

Although Nielsen indicated he is not likely to change his
ruling, he said he would allow defense attorneys to file a
motion for reconsideration. To keep the case moving, Nielsen has
ruled that motions cannot be filed without his approval. 

A trial date for 11 bellwether plaintiffs has been set April 18.
Nielsen hopes a jury decision on a few of the cases will give
attorneys guidance to settle the remainder. 

© 2004 Tri-City Herald, Associated Press &Other Wire Services
*****************************************************************
 39 The Daily Press: Other Substances, Many Possibilities 


ROADS, VA.                       December 17, 2004 1:52 AM               

        After more than a decade, there are still questions than 
answers about the cause of illnesses suffered by veterans of the 
1991 Persian Gulf War.

CHAPTER 6: PART OF THE MIX
 
Defective suits. FILE PHOTO BY WIN MCNAMEE / AP                                  
 	
[Blowing up a tank.] Blowing up a tank. PHOTO COURTESY OF MATT 
ROHMAN                                   
 	
   THE SERIES  

 	 	
 Part One: Looking for a cause, looking for a cure Part Two:
From the nose to the brain Part Three: The silver bullet Part
Four: The battlefield at home Part Five: The best test Part Six:
Part of the mix
 	     
247-4758
 	 	
December 16, 2004

Stress. Pyridostigmine bromide. Bug spray. Permethrin. Sarin. 
Sand.
 
Depleted uranium.
 
Matt Rohman was exposed to all of them.
 
It happened in the 1991 Persian Gulf War, after Rohman enlisted
and left his home in York County.
 
Now he's left to wonder whether one of those suspected dangers,
several of them - or none of them - are why his once-strong body
has been falling apart ever since.
 
The pain and problems began when he was 28, just back from
battle. He hasn't been able to work since age 33. Now he's 40,
unable to feel anything in his hands or feet, unable to breathe
without drugs and unable to play ball with his young son.
 
Rohman's not alone. More than 183,000 veterans of the Gulf War
are on some form of disability, and many of them have no idea
what made them sick.
 
The Pentagon and government wrote off the problem as "stress"
until public complaints, a few scientists and members of
Congress raised a fuss and brought a change in direction a few
years ago. Since then, some serious science has taken place in
labs spanning the nation, giving many people involved some hope
of progress.
 
Researchers in Mississippi used high-tech brain-imaging
equipment to identify a type of dysfunction that appears to be
consistent among sick Gulf War veterans.
 
Scientists in San Francisco found that the veterans who had
health problems had experienced reduced levels of a chemical
necessary for good brain functioning.
 
Doctors at Duke and in Dallas learned that many of the sick
veterans had naturally low levels of an enzyme that helps the
body fight off the debilitating effects of nerve gas.
 
In New Mexico, scientists found two problems when rats breathed
air containing tiny bits of depleted uranium dust. In one group
of animals, the depleted uranium migrated to the brain. Tests on
another group revealed genetic mutations thought to be
indicative of cancer.
 
The particles that the animals breathed were similar to the
pieces of black dust resulting from using depleted uranium
"tank-killing" weapons. The dust is toxic, mildly radioactive
and easily inhaled. But scientists disagree on whether it could
be responsible for the neurological and physical problems
suffered by so many veterans of the war.
 
Pentagon officials dismiss the notion that the dust can cause
health problems. They say the weapons are important and give
U.S. troops a big advantage on the battlefield.
 
Rohman suspects that depleted uranium might have played a role
in the loss of his health, but he also considers exposure to
nerve gas, the bug spray he was given and other chemicals issued
by the Army to be possible sources of the evils he's suffered.
 
So do doctors and researchers.
 
And that's part of the problem.
 
According to a June report on the problems of sick Gulf War vets
by the Government Accountability Office, or GAO, 21 research
questions remain unresolved. This is despite $247 million in
research since 1994.
 
New technology provides a new look at vets' brains
 
With so many possible alternatives for what happened and so
little hard evidence of who was exposed to the suspected causes,
researchers are scrambling for good data, Robert Haley says.
He's an epidemiologist and researcher who serves on a Department
of Veterans Affairs advisory panel for Gulf War illnesses.
 
He and Duke University researcher Mohamad B. Abou-Donia say they
don't even have an answer for simple questions, such as which
drugs were given to which soldiers and where those soldiers were
during the war.
 
Haley says a research effort to finally get a handle on the
basic data of exposure is being prepared now and should begin in
January. It should have been done years ago, he says.
 
Government officials almost started the project, but Haley and
other researchers saw the questionnaire that they were going to
use and recognized it wasn't adequate. It lacked a number of
basic questions that will help researchers establish what
hazards veterans might have come in contact with during the war.
 
Among the deficiencies, he says, were questions that would have
helped define possible exposure to depleted uranium.
 
Haley is a former official at the national Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention and now is chief of epidemiology at the
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. He
says some of the most important recent research was made
possible by brain-imaging equipment invented after the vets came
home sick and weak from the 1991 war.
 
Armed with this technology, researchers now can get pictures of
what's happening in the veterans' brains.
 
Those pictures show that veterans who had the characteristic
problems that some people label "Gulf War illness" consistently
have lower levels of NAA. NAA is a chemical in neurons, the
switches in the brain that permit thinking and processing,
including muscle movement, strength and fatigue.
 
NAA is an indicator of how well neurons are functioning. The
sick veterans had about 20 percent less NAA than veterans who
didn't have health complaints.
 
Anyone who'd had such low levels of NAA before the war would
have been noticeably impaired and wouldn't have been allowed to
serve, Haley says. So it's relatively safe to think that this
change happened during their service.
 
That doesn't prove what caused the NAA level to go down though.
 
Haley and many others think the most likely candidate for the
cause of the illnesses is the nerve gas sarin. The Iraqi army
used it against Iran in an earlier war and had stockpiles in
1991, the Central Intelligence Agency, GAO and other U.S.
government agencies reported.
 
After U.S. troops went to Iraq and Kuwait in 1990 and 1991,
their chemical-weapons alert systems frequently indicated that
sarin was present, the GAO says. But that equipment was often
unreliable to prove exposure and prone to false alerts.
 
Government officials later found that many of the
chemical-protection suits given to soldiers were also defective,
the GAO says.
 
Even if the Iraqis didn't intend to use sarin, many experts say
they're sure that it was in the air - probably because our own
troops put it there.
 
The GAO says CIA and Pentagon officials have acknowledged that
several Iraqi munitions dumps thought to contain sarin were
destroyed by the U.S. military during the war. The troops
involved didn't know what they were dealing with, the GAO says,
and the explosions put an untold amount of sarin gas into the
air each time.
 
'WE PUT THEM IN A BIG CIRCLE AND BLEW THEM UP'
 
Rohman says that he participated in operations to destroy
equipment at some of the sites identified by the CIA and that he
worked near others. He also spent about three months blowing up
Iraqi munitions and equipment in other places.
 
"In one incident, we found a convoy in Iraq, several hundred
vehicles filled with rockets and ammunition," he says. U.S. Air
Force A-10 "Warthog" aircraft firing depleted uranium weapons
had attacked the convoy and scattered the vehicles. "We put them
in a big circle and blew them up."
 
In another operation, Rohman says, he and others lined up Iraqi
rockets and other munitions in a mile-long stack like firewood
and blew them up.
 
The effort to destroy all those munitions and equipment went too
fast to examine the individual items to determine what they
were, he says. His unit was moving, moving, moving - ordered to
find all that it could and blow it up before the Army had to
leave Iraq after combat stopped and diplomats took over.
 
Now he thinks it's quite likely that some of those shells
contained poison gas. But he doesn't know for sure.
 
Some scientists dismiss the sarin theory, saying there simply
weren't the deaths and classic symptoms that the chemical is
known for.
 
But others say the expected reactions didn't happen because the
chemical was dispersed in those explosions and resulted in small
doses over a large area. They say the chemical still got into
the soldiers' blood through the skin, nose and mouth and did its
damage, then disappeared from the bloodstream before testing
could find it.
 
The human body has an enzyme that attacks sarin and staves off
the effects, Haley says. Some people naturally have more of it,
and some have less, but the level that someone has in their body
doesn't change over time, and it can't be added later to rid the
body of a toxin that's caused damage.
 
If the sarin from exploded munitions went into the air, it then
fell on the soldiers in minute quantities for days, Haley says.
He theorizes that soldiers with lower levels of the protective
enzyme started experiencing weakness and reduced neurological
functions that were barely noticeable, then continued to get
worse. Other soldiers, with high levels of the enzyme, went home
fine.
 
This would help explain why veterans with nearly identical
experiences came home with totally different health prospects,
Haley says.
 
Rohman and other veterans say their problems did begin with
weakness, followed by more debilitating problems as time went on.
 
ONE TYPE OF PESTICIDE LINKED TO PROBLEMS, IF DOSES HIGH
 
Sarin is a chemical known as an organophosphate, which simply
means that it's an organic derivative of phosphoric or similar
acids. Agent Orange, the now-infamous weed killer that caused
problems for veterans of the Vietnam War, is also an
organophosphate.
 
Organophosate pesticides were also used during the Persian Gulf
War to ward off sand fleas and other biting and infectious bugs
in the desert. Soldiers frequently doused themselves, their
tents and the sand around them with the chemicals.
 
In high doses, they've been proven to cause neuromuscular
disorders. Scientists aren't sure whether smaller doses cause
serious harm as well.
 
Haley says studies have found that farmers and pesticide workers
who use organophosphates have higher-than-expected rates of the
neuromuscular disease ALS, commonly known as Lou Gehrig's
disease.
 
So have Gulf War veterans. According to the Veterans Affairs
Department, they have a much higher rate of ALS at early ages
than that of the general population. Haley says that gives some
credence to the theory the organophosphates might play a role in
Gulf War vets' problems.
 
Other researchers say chemicals troops used to prevent insect
bites, and ate to ward off the possible effects of chemical
weapons (including pyridostigmine bromide and permethrin) might
be the problem. In the rush to battle after the Iraqi invasion
of Kuwait, Pentagon planners began worrying about the
possibility of a chemical war and realized that they had only
experimental drugs to give troops. A decision was made to give
the drugs out anyway, and some caused severe reactions.
 
Pyridostigmine bromide pills gave many vets sudden, violent
reactions.
 
"When I started taking those pills, my hands went completely
numb," Rohman says. "I couldn't hold things. So I just quit
taking them."
 
The U.S. government maintains that soldiers didn't get a high
enough dose of any of those pills to be harmed.
 
Haley, Abou-Donia and others say a mounting body of evidence
about toxic chemicals shows the problem might not be that simple.
 
Scientists have known for years that a person under
psychological or physical stress is much more susceptible to
illnesses of many kinds than someone who isn't under stress,
Abou-Donia says.
 
The sandstorms and extremely fine sand of the Persian Gulf
region add to that stress on the body by irritating the eyes,
breathing and other bodily functions.
 
Add the mixture of chemicals that the soldiers were exposed to,
and the result could be demonstrable neurological problems from
what might otherwise be insignificant doses of chemicals,
Abou-Donia and Haley say.
 
Abou-Donia and other researchers demonstrated that principle in
a scientific paper published earlier this year. They found that
the combination of several of those chemicals, coupled with
stress and exposure to silica from sand, resulted in measurable
changes to important parts of the brain in laboratory animals.
 
The study included exposing the animals to high-strength DEET, a
bug repellent used by many troops in the war. Products
containing DEET are the most commonly used bug repellents in the
United States. In low and limited doses, DEET is recommended to
prevent various diseases from ticks, mosquitoes and other pests.
 
Abou-Donia's experiment involving DEET and other chemicals
didn't include exposing animals to depleted uranium. But he says
he thinks the weapons' dusty residue on the battlefield is a
likely suspect in the parade of toxins that soldiers were
exposed to - and which caused them to come home sick.
 
"I would think it is part of the mix," he says.
 
Area veteran tried for years to get depleted uranium test
 
Even though much more is now known about the nature of their
illnesses and possible causes, Gulf War veterans still are
having trouble getting adequate attention to their needs, say
leaders of the American Legion and the National Gulf War
Resource Center Inc., a veterans rights group.
 
Steve Robinson, executive director of the resource center, says
doctors and clinicians at military bases and Veterans Affairs
hospitals all over the country haven't been properly trained or
educated about possible exposure to depleted uranium. The
information that those clinicians are given doesn't include
research later than 1999, he told Congress earlier this year,
and what they're taught is often biased. As a result, he says,
many veterans' problems are being ignored.
 
Rohman's medical records show he's had that problem at the
Hampton VA Medical Center.
 
He says he's been trying to get officials there to give him a
test for depleted uranium for years. Many of his medical records
have been misplaced, lost or destroyed by the government
agencies that handled them, but his own copies demonstrate that
he told VA physicians about his exposure at least as early as
1998.
 
Kay Reid, who runs the Gulf War program at the Hampton VA
hospital, says that should have been enough to trigger an
examination for exposure to depleted uranium - and, given
Rohman's description of his war experiences, a urine test.
 
She says she's not sure why it didn't happen then. Just as she
doesn't know why it didn't happen this spring, when a doctor at
the hospital put a note in Rohman's medical records March 9 that
said Rohman "had requested a uranium exposure test."
 
The medical records show that messages were supposed to be sent
from the doctor, notifying Reid that Rohman was in need of
evaluation. Reid says she never got that message.
 
Rohman says he was given Reid's name and office telephone number
to set up an appointment for the test. He says he called several
times and left messages but never got a response.
 
When the Daily Press contacted Reid in July, she said she didn't
know about his calls. She promised to follow up. Reid phoned
Rohman that day to begin screening him for a test. Rohman says
he still hasn't been tested, however.
 
Rohman's problems getting testing are similar to other veterans'
experiences, based on a 2000 report by the GAO, the
investigative arm of Congress.
 
The study found that more than 14 percent of the veterans
selected for a depleted uranium testing program hadn't received
testing because VA officials hadn't processed the referrals and
made appointments.
 
The steps for screening vets who want a DU test
 
Reid says that as of Nov. 12, 603 men and women from
southeastern Virginia and eastern North Carolina had been placed
in a nationwide registry of veterans who served in the Persian
Gulf region from 1991 to the present. The government began the
registry in the early 1990s as an attempt to track health trends
among the veterans, after persistent complaints about
undiagnosed health problems. Nationwide, 86,000 veterans are in
the registry.
 
Over the years, eligibility for the registry has changed, Reid
says. Now anyone who served in the Persian Gulf region since
1990 - regardless of their health or whether they were there
when a shot was fired - can ask to be included. As of
mid-November, five people who served in the more recent fighting
there have been placed in the registry by the Hampton hospital,
though others are being evaluated and tested and will likely
join them, she says.
 
Between 20 percent and 25 percent of the local veterans in the
registry have health problems that are observable but not
diagnosed, which mirrors the nationwide average, she says.
 
When veterans enter the registry and ask for a depleted uranium
test, they first see a VA clinician like Reid. She says she goes
through a 10-page questionnaire with each vet to get an idea
about their exposures and experiences.
 
Then they're examined by a nurse practitioner, who makes a
referral to a doctor, if that's called for, Reid says. At the
Hampton hospital, Reid is the nurse practitioner who usually
does the exams.
 
Reid says about half the veterans from the Persian Gulf War whom
she's put into the registry in Hampton have asked for a test for
depleted uranium.
 
"They think they may have been exposed to depleted uranium," she
says, "but after we go over the criteria, they change their
mind."
 
Reid says she asks people what jobs they had in the war and what
kind of contact they had with enemy and allied tanks and armored
vehicles struck by depleted uranium. If they weren't on or near
the tanks very soon after a weapon struck, they're not likely
candidates for exposure, she says.
 
If they were around a tank three days later, she says, there
would be no exposure or minimal exposure - unless they went in
the tank for extended periods.
 
"It's not something that's just floating in the air," she says.
"You have to be around the tank within an hour of it being hit."
 
The Army's Environmental Policy Institute told Congress that
bits of depleted uranium have been found as far as 400 meters
(1,320 feet) downwind from experimental explosions.
 
The Canadian military's testing found that the particles can be
suspended in the air for hours after an explosion.
 
U.S. military training programs say anyone going within 50
meters of a vehicle struck by a depleted uranium weapon should
wear protective clothing and a breather mask, no matter how long
after the explosion.
 
Ultimately, Reid says, she decides to give the tests to only 1
percent or 2 percent of the vets. If they insist, they can get
the test, anyway.
 
Of those tested through her office, "We have not identified
anyone here who actually had depleted uranium in their system,"
she says.
 
'If you don't look, you won't find'
 
Pentagon officials say the vast majority of the samples that
they get don't contain enough total uranium, depleted or
otherwise, to warrant further examination to determine whether
depleted uranium is present. The military's testing program is
also incapable of identifying small quantities of depleted
uranium in veterans' urine samples and can never be used as a
definitive test of exposure - only a test of what the military
has deemed potentially unhealthy exposure.
 
Labs in Britain and Germany have developed methods much more
capable of detecting depleted uranium, but the U.S. military
isn't interested in copying them. Robinson and other critics of
the military's handling of exposure issues say this is an
important part of the problem.
 
The military has been telling people for years that the tests
showed no exposure to depleted uranium when all that can be said
for sure is that the tests chosen by the U.S. government are
unable to detect it.
 
"If you don't look, you won't find," Robinson says.
 
Robinson and other veterans advocates say the problem is being
repeated in the current war, with inadequate testing of troops
before and immediately after deployment. This means scientists
will once again be lacking important data if health problems
arise a year or more from now, they say.
 
Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Conn., is chairman of the subcommittee
on national security, veterans affairs and international
relations of the House Committee on Government Reform. He says
the Pentagon failed to set up the testing and health assessments
that Congress demanded after realizing what happened during the
Persian Gulf war.
 
Michael J. Kilpatrick, the Pentagon's deputy director for
looking after the health of troops deployed to war, says the
current system might not be perfect. But, he says, the military
has made marked improvement in collecting data and keeping
records that would prove beneficial to researchers if there's a
repeat of the parade of ill, undiagnosed veterans from Operation
Iraqi Freedom.
 
He says military officials routinely take measurements and test
the air, water and soil of where troops are stationed and
fighting. Health records are being computerized, he says, so
shots, illnesses and other records can be tracked later.
 
But, Kilpatrick says, the realities of the modern battlefield
don't make it possible to say where every soldier was and what
the air, water and soil were like at that time. The equipment
used for this work also isn't capable of detecting depleted
uranium, except in very large quantities, he says.
 
One of the improvements in baseline health monitoring that
Congress demanded in its 1998 law to protect servicemen and
women involves a requirement that the Pentagon store blood
samples taken from everyone before deployment. That's so
researchers can examine the samples later to help compare
before-and-after characteristics, in case there are health
problems.
 
But the Pentagon surprised many sponsors of the bill by not
doing what was expected.
 
Rep. Stephen E. Buyer, R-Ind., is a Gulf War vet who helped
write the law. He's been critical of the military's response to
the requirements. He says Congress spent a lot of time crafting
a law to protect the troops and create a baseline of accurate
medical information on every soldier deployed, only to see the
Department of Defense, or DoD, water it down.
 
"We've got DoD going out there, doing their own thing," he said
in a congressional hearing last year.
 
The most obvious deviation from the law's intent, Buyer and
other members of Congress say, involves medical attention to
troops before and after they deploy.
 
Buyer is chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Subcommittee on
Oversight and Investigations. He says he and other members of
Congress expected every soldier, sailor, Marine and airman to
get a hands-on physical exam from a doctor when they mandated a
"medical examination" for everyone before deployment.
 
Instead, the Pentagon decided that giving soldiers a two-page
questionnaire, asking them to report any health problems, would
be sufficient.
 
"The intent of Congress was an examination," said Rep. John R.
Boozman, R-Ark., during a hearing last year. "And really, the
reality is these young men and women basically got less than,
you know, a cheerleader or a football player does every couple
of years."
 
Buyer also pointed out that the law required "the drawing of
blood samples to accurately record the medical condition of
members before their deployment and any changes in their medical
condition during the course of their employment."
 
The Pentagon used blood serum from the standard AIDS test, a
part of the blood that doesn't allow doctors to do many
before-and-after comparisons to see whether chemical exposures
have affected someone.
 
PENTAGON BYPASSES $100 WHITE-BLOOD-CELL STORAGE
 
Kilpatrick says the Pentagon is doing everything the law
requires.
 
He acknowledges that the blood serum being stored is of limited
value and is only part of the blood taken in a sample. It
doesn't contain parts of whole blood that would enable
researchers to compare the rate of DNA mutations or many other
important attributes with samples taken after the troops return
from war.
 
Right now, he says, "there is no single blood test that would
prove useful in screening all service members who have
deployed." So the serum is all that's saved. Anything else isn't
practical, Kilpatrick says.
 
Richard Albertini is a cancer researcher at the University of
Vermont who's been part of the research into soldiers with
depleted uranium shrapnel from the Gulf War. He says the
Pentagon missed a chance to gather samples of white blood cells
that could prove very important.
 
A few veterans with the shrapnel have shown increased rates of
genetic mutations thought to be a warning sign of possible
cancer, he says. To see whether this might be because of
depleted uranium, researchers exposed rats to air with depleted
uranium dust, and the rats showed the same type of mutations, he
says. They also developed tumors.
 
But unless you can have a before-and-after sample of the
veterans' white blood cells, you can't determine whether the
change in mutations is the result of something that happened
during their deployment or from some other factor, Albertini
says. That would be one of the items that he'd identify as
valuable, if keeping data for a baseline of health was the goal.
 
It isn't difficult and isn't very expensive to keep those
white-blood-cell samples either, he says. "We do it all the
time," he says, and it costs less than $100 a sample. Several
members of Congress tried to put more specific requirements for
blood samples into law this year, in response to the Pentagon's
decisions. But a majority were concerned with putting too many
mandates on the military in the midst of a war, so there was
little specific guidance enacted for the blood-storage program.
 
Kilpatrick acknowledges that the system for protecting troops is
evolving and isn't as good as it should be yet.
 
But when it comes to keeping records and data on health issues,
he says, "we are light-years ahead," compared with the 1991
Persian Gulf War. 

Copyright ©2004 Daily Press 
*****************************************************************
 40 Boston Globe:  Report cites trace chemicals in water
 
Warns of dangers from non-regulation
 
By Beth Daley, Globe Staff  |  December 16, 2004 

Drinking water tests in almost 100 Massachusetts communities 
found at least trace amounts of contaminants that had long 
escaped detection because they are unregulated, according to a 
new report by the advocacy group Clean Water Action.

The report, based on state test results for the three chemicals
from 2001 to 2004, found that samples from 86 communities'
drinking water supplies had tiny but detectable levels of MtBE,
a gasoline additive that is designated a carcinogen in
California. Low levels of DCPA, an herbicide used on crops such
as strawberries, melons, and cucumbers, were found in samples
from 17 water supplies. The testing also indicated that nine
Massachusetts communities now have perchlorate, a chemical used
in explosives that can cause thyroid problems, in their water. 

All three chemicals are on the federal list of ''monitored"
substances, which means they are being watched as possible
health risks, but no safety levels have been established and
testing is not required of every public water supply. 

  [Pop-up]  Contaminants in drinking water   

The report, scheduled for release today, comes on the 30th
anniversary of the federal Safe Drinking Water Act, a
groundbreaking law that eventually set the current national
health standards for almost 100 contaminants in drinking water.
The report was released to highlight the fact that standards
have never been set on many other substances that scientists
believe to be harmful. 

Massachusetts monitors far more communities for contaminants
than required by federal rules, and state officials say they are
working to develop safety standards for perchlorate and other
such substances. 

The issue of unregulated contaminants has come to a head in
Massachusetts during the last two years, since the contaminant
perchlorate was found on the Massachusetts Military Reservation.
When the state then started testing communities for perchlorate,
samples from eight more drinking supplies tested positive for
the chemical, including in Boxborough, Williamstown, Westport,
Millbury and Tewksbury. The state has proposed a public health
guideline of 1 part per billion in drinking water, which would
be by far the strictest in the country. 

Officials at the Massachusetts Department of Environmental
Protection, praised in the report for their response to
perchlorate contamination, said they try to respond quickly to
threats to water supplies and alert the public as soon as there
is any problem. For example, a recent flurry of tests for MtBE
was triggered when tests at a gas station that served food
showed that the water supply was contaminated with the chemical. 

''We try to be responsive and nimble," said Arlene O'Donnell,
deputy commissioner for the state DEP. She said the state tests
for 24 more contaminants in drinking water than the EPA
requires. 

At the federal level, the Environmental Protection Agency has a
list of more than two dozen chemicals that it monitors for
possible health hazards but has not regulated. For MtBE, for
instance, the EPA suggests that concentrations of 20 to 40 parts
per billion or less would avoid unpleasant taste and odor. In
four of the communities tested in Massachusetts -- Avon,
Brimfield, Cotuit, and Tyngsborough -- at least one sample
showed an MtBE level above 20 parts per billion, the report
notes. Massachusetts, meanwhile, has a state guideline of 70
parts per billion. California's health standard is 13 parts ber
billion. 

The report noted that there are many more toxic chemicals that
are not even monitored, such as some flame retardants and
chemicals from nonstick coatings that are believed by some to
cause health problems. The report said the EPA needs to come up
with safety standards for more chemicals. EPA officials
yesterday acknowledged it can take years for such standards to
be established. 

''We need to look [harder] for contaminants that no one is
testing for," said Mike Davis, drinking water advocate for Clean
Water Action. He said both the US Environmental Protection
Agency and the state Department of Environmental Protection lack
adequate programs to prevent new or unregulated contaminants
from entering water supplies from nearby industries or
agriculture. 

''You can't test for everything under the sun," said Davis.
''But you can target what is used in your area and look at it.
Maybe there isn't a farm, but there are lots of dry cleaners.
The bottom line is we need to stop using these poison chemicals
in our water supply areas." 

In Westford, where perchlorate levels have been high, town
officials are working to ensure it doesn't enter their drinking
water supply again. The town is looking at potential sources of
percholrate, such as blasting material used to clear areas for
new homes. Officials are discussing developing a regulation to
prohibit use of the chemical near water supplies. 

Said Sandy Collins, director of health care services for
Westford: ''There are so many chemicals out there, we are just
finding out the impact of so many of them." 

Beth Daley can be reached at bdaley@globe.com. [ /]  © Copyright

*****************************************************************
 41 ITAR-TASS: President Vladimir Putin to chair SC presidium meeting on radiological security

16.12.2004, 08.08

MOSCOW, December 16 (Itar-Tass) - President Vladimir Putin is to
chair a meeting of the Presidium of Russia's State Council (SC)
here on Thursday. 

The meeting will deal with matters aimed at developing
international cooperation in the field of nuclear and
radiological security. The main report at the SC Presidium
meeting is to be made by Yuri Yevdokimov, Governor of Murmansk
Region. 

A working group on the development of international cooperation
in the field of nuclear and radiological security was set up in
June 2003. Apart from regional governors, the group includes
representatives of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and the
Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Defence, and Economic Development
and Trade. 
       
© ITAR-TASS. All rights reserved. You undertake not to copy,



*****************************************************************
 42 ITAR-TASS: Putin urges to protect atomic energy from criminals

16.12.2004, 16.57

UDOMLYA (Tver region), December 16 (Itar-Tass) - The atomic
energy industry should be absolutely safe in terms of the
protection from criminals, Russian President Vladimir Putin said
at a session of the State Council presidium on Thursday. 
“The first requirement is tough security requirements to the
whole technological process. They should correspond to the
highest international standards,” he emphasized. 


“Meanwhile, atomic energy facilities should be reliably protected 
from any criminal demonstrations,” the president pointed out. 
“Finally, we should consistently minimize the negative impact of 
nuclear productions on environment, particularly introducing 
modern technologies of the disposal of nuclear materials.” 


       
© ITAR-TASS. All rights reserved. You undertake not to copy,
store in any medium (including in any other website),
distribute, transmit, re-transmit, broadcast, modify or show in
*****************************************************************
 43 Paducah Sun: Labor issues first sick-worker check
 
Paducah, Kentucky 

An Ashland woman whose late husband worked at the Paducah
Gaseous Diffusion Plant will receive $125,000 on Thursday. 
Staff report 

Wednesday, December 15, 2004 

The widow of a Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant employee will
receive the first compensation check Thursday under the new law
that disburses toxic-exposure illness benefits through the U.S.
Department of Labor. 

Lera Cloyes will be presented the $125,000 federal check from
U.S. Sen. Jim Bunning at 11 a.m. at the Greenup County Senior
Citizens Center in Ashland. 

Cloyes´ late husband, James M. Cloyes, who was employed as a
maintenance mechanic at the Paducah plant for 25 years,
contracted and later died of advanced pulmonary fibrosis. 

The new law, which took effect Nov. 1, moved the heavily
backlogged claims program from the Department of Energy to the
Department of Labor, with the intent of eliminating the backlog
of more than 24,000 toxic-exposure illness claims nationwide,
including roughly 3,000 at Paducah. 

The toxic-exposure program will pay as much as $250,000 per
worker. The money is apart from lump-sum payments of $150,000
for Paducah nuclear workers with specified radiation-induced
cancers and chronic beryllium disease. 

Bunning had secured a provision in the Defense Authorization
Bill that transferred the toxin claims program to the Department
of Labor. 
*****************************************************************
 44 [shundahaialerts] Nuclear News from Utah
 
Date: Thu, 16 Dec 2004 14:25:47 -0800

 
<x-flowed>
Dear Friends,
This is the latest news from Utah about the nuclear issues that we are 
dealing with daily.

Thank you for your support!
-------------------------------------------------------------
N-dump consortium contends storage would not be permanent
Skull Valley: The state contends the hot waste would not be accepted later 
at Yucca Mountain
http://www.shundahai.org/svnews_121204.htm

Offer: Old mines as nuke dump
Owners of the Army-contaminated site say they are running out of options
http://www.shundahai.org/nfgb_news_121204.htm

Huntsman hedges on B&C N-waste
Governor-elect doesn't feel 'any need for action,' says aide
http://www.shundahai.org/svnews_121504.htm



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SHUNDAHAI NETWORK--Dedicated to Breaking the Nuclear Chain

Shundahai is a Newe (Western Shoshone) word meaning  "Peace and Harmony 
with all Creation"

Shundahai Network
PO Box 1115
Salt Lake City, UT 84110
Office: 801.533.0128
Fax: 801.533.0129


mailto:Shundahai@shundahai.org
http://www.Shundahai.org

========================================================
It's in our back yard... it's in our front yard. This nuclear contamination 
is shortening all life. We are going to have to unite as a people and say 
no more! We, the people, are going to have to put our thoughts together to 
save our planet here. We only have One Water...One Air...One Mother Earth."

Corbin Harney -Newe (Western Shoshone) Spiritual leader, Founder & Chairman 
of the Board of The Shundahai Network

|<>|<>|<>|<>|<>|<>|<>|<>|<>|<>|<>|<
Shundahai Network Action Alerts
You have received this e-mail because you either signed up on the Shundahai 
Network list, or are considered someone who is interested in these types of 
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If you would like to be removed from this list, please send an e-mail to 
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IF you were forwarded this email by a friend and would like to sign up to 
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</x-flowed>
*****************************************************************
 45 DenverPost.com: State rejects radioactive soil

: Thursday, December 16, 2004                  
		   	 	
Disposal plan is scuttled

By Kim McGuire Denver Post Staff Writer
 			
  Post file   
  A 2002 photo of the Cotter Mill site near Canon City.   

 State environmental regulators on Wednesday once again derailed
Cotter Corp.'s plan to accept radioactive waste from a New
Jersey Superfund site at its Cañon City mill. 

In renewing the company's operating license, state officials
authorized the mill to continue processing uranium and vanadium
ores. But the five- year license prohibits the firm from
accepting proposed shipments of thorium-laced soil from a
lantern parts factory in Maywood, N.J., for disposal at the
mill. 

Many Cañon City residents opposed the Maywood plan, arguing that
it would open a floodgate for more toxic trash to be dumped at
the Fremont County mill, about 95 miles southwest of Denver. 

"For two years, we've been like the boy with his finger in the
dike trying to hold this thing back," said Jeri Fry, co-chairman
of Colorado Citizens Against Toxic Waste, a Cañon City-based
opposition group. "We've always said we were concerned that
Maywood would set a dangerous precedent, so we consider this a
major victory." 

Unless Cotter requests a hearing, the five-year license will go
into effect in 60 days. 

Responding to the Colorado Department of Public Health and
Environment ruling, Cotter officials said they were disappointed
the state had once again denied their plan to accept more than
400,000 cubic yards of the thorium-laced soil. 

Thorium has been shown to increase cancers of the lung, pancreas
and blood in workers who inhale high levels, according to
federal health officials. 

In July, state health officials denied Cotter's request to
accept the first Maywood shipment of 24,000 cubic yards of
contaminated soil, ruling that the company had failed to prove
it had "adequate procedures" to safely handle the toxic
material. 

Cotter appealed that decision, and the matter is currently
before a Denver judge. While the judge may permit the initial
shipment, the new license forbids anything beyond that. 

"This is a very complex, multi-faceted process, and there has
been extensive involvement from local and state government and
by a large sector of the public," said Howard Roitman, the state
health department's director of environmental programs. "The
licensing process has been both highly interactive and
diligent." 

Additional requirements or operational changes also were set in
the new license, including: 


+ Improving environmental and worker safety. 


+ Continuing the evaluation of the primary impoundment liner's
effectiveness. 


+ Monitoring operations for possible groundwater contamination. 

Staff writer Kim McGuire can be reached at 303-820-1240 or . 		 
 	 	
 All contents Copyright 2004 The Denver Post or other copyright
*****************************************************************
 46 AP Wire: Radioactive dirt found at former Saxton nuclear site

| 12/16/2004 | 

Times Leader 

Associated Press

SAXTON, Pa. - Radioactive dirt found at the former Saxton
Nuclear Experimental Plant in Bedford County will add about six
months' time and $6 million to the cleanup of the site,
officials said. 

The 168-acre site owned by Penelec operated from 1962 to 1972 as
a training facility for nuclear plant workers who would go on to
run full-sized plants, including Three Mile Island near
Harrisburg. 

Cleanup experts believe the dirt, most contaminated with
radiation just above levels that normally occur in nature, may
have been moved accidentally by workers in the 1970s who were
burying fly ash and other waste from an adjoining coal-fired
plant. 

"How the contamination got there, we don't know," Rodger
Grundland, a retired Penn State physicist who is working at an
independent inspector at the site, said Wednesday. "People may
have been a little more careless then about mixing the soils." 

Although the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has been
decommissioning the site for years, concerted efforts to clean
it up began about nine years ago and the price has increased
from an initial estimate of $22 million as the cleanup has
dragged on. 

Spent fuels were shipped to Savannah, Ga., for disposal in 1997,
and the plant's reactor and 27-ton steam generator were moved
out in 1998. The dome housing the 60-ton reactor was cut apart
and sent to an approved nuclear waste site earlier this year. 

Just last fall, the cleanup price tag had grown to $63 million
and earlier this year that jumped to $70 million, with a
projection that the NRC would let Saxton Nuclear out of its
operating permit - which means the site is completely cleaned up
- by year's end. 

But now the price tag, borne by parent First Energy Corp., is
$76 million and work will last through at least June. 

The suspect soil is being removed, tested and those portions
found radioactive will be shipped to Duratek Co. in Oak Ridge,
Tenn. A small amount of dirt tested at that site had a high
level of radiation that required it be sent to Envirocare, a
nuclear waste facility in Utah, Grundland said. 

The cleanup costs are not being passed on to First Energy
customers, the company said. 

Information from: The Tribune-Democrat,
http://www.tribune-democrat.com  

*****************************************************************
 47 Daily Sentinel: Uranium comes back into play
 
Thursday, December 16, 2004 		 	 		 		 		 		 	 	 	 	 	 			 	 	 	
		 	 	
By SALLY SPAULDING 

The Cotter Corp. this week opened one new Western Slope uranium 
and vanadium mine and said it plans to open three more next year. 

The company reopened several mines in Montrose County near Nucla 
and Naturita in August after more than a decade of dormancy, and 
with Tuesdays renewal of the companys license to operate its 
Cañon City milling operation, Western Slope ore will be what 
keeps the mill busy. 

Our mill is currently only processing Western Slope ore, and 
right now theres no one else doing any of this kind of mining, 
said Jerry Powers of Cotter. Almost everyone else got out of the 
business, so theres very few uranium mining companies left. Plus, 
were one of only three licensed mills left. 

Powers said the current price of uranium, $20.50 per pound, and 
vanadium, almost $10 per pound, made reopening the mines a viable 
source of business. 

Stewart Sanderson, president of the Colorado Mining Association, 
said Colorado has seen a huge upswing in mining activity in the 
past few years. He credited the demand for electricity as a 
driving force in the uranium market. 

The uranium yellowcake product produced at Cañon City by Cotter 
is used in nuclear power plants that supply roughly 20 percent of 
the nations electricity. 

Tuesday the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment 
granted Cotter a new license allowing the company to process 
uranium and vanadium ore, but production has been limited at the 
mill until the department can determine if the facility is ready 
to process the materials. 

Department officials expected full operation would be approved in 
the coming months. 

Steve Tarlton, radiation management unit leader with the 
department, said the new license required several changes at the 
facility such as upgrades and major construction. 

Cotter officials said the new requirements would require the 
company to perform a detailed technical analysis and economic 
review during the next 60 days, when Cotter can request a hearing 
on the licensing action. 

While the five-year permit approves the facility to operate as a 
uranium mill, the department denied Cotters request to accept 
radioactive waste from other sites solely for disposal. 

Cotter spokesman Drew Kramer said the corporation planned to 
appeal that decision. 

Accepting soils from the Maywood site in New Jersey would be a 
significant source of income, Kramer said. The issue is larger 
than Maywood as well because there may be other opportunities to 
take soils from other sites. 

Cañon City and Fremont County leaders, residents and activists 
were concerned about the effects the contaminated waste storage 
would have on the tourism industry and an effort to attract more 
retirees and independent professional workers. 

What we ended up doing was deciding that the local community knew 
more about how to determine whether or not there would be an 
impact than my organization would be able to do, Tarlton said. So 
we went with the nearly unanimous opposition to the receipt of 
that material by that local community. 

Sally Spaulding can be reached via e-mail at sspaulding@gjds.com.                            
 			
        © 2004 Cox Newspapers, Inc. - The Daily Sentinel       
*****************************************************************
 48 Interfax: 70Mln tonnes of solid radioactive waste in Russia - Putin

Dec 16 2004 2:31PM
 
UDOMLYA (TVER REGION). Dec 16 (Interfax) - Russia has
accumulated over 70 million tonnes of solid radioactive wastes,
said President Vladimir Putin. 

Speaking at a State Council session on Thursday, Putin said the
infrastructure for processing these wastes is "extremely
inadequately" developed. 

"The volume of processed wastes, compared to 2001, has more than
doubled, but the absolute processing rate is still extremely
low," the president said.     

        
© 1991-2004 Interfax
 All rights reserved
 
News and other data on this web site are provided for
information purposes only, and are not intended for
republication or redistribution. Republication or redistribution
of Interfax content, including by framing or similar means, is
expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of
Interfax.   


*****************************************************************
 49 Las Vegas SUN: Yucca security clearances being expanded

Today: December 16, 2004 at 9:56:21 PST 

By Benjamin Grove <grove@lasvegassun.com> LAS VEGAS SUN

 WASHINGTON -- The Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Wednesday
announced that it would accept applications for security
clearances to classified Yucca Mountain documents.

 The agency is expanding the types of people who could obtain
the clearances under a new regulation published in the federal
register Wednesday. The regulation is set to take effect Feb. 28.

 The security clearance applications would be accepted from
Yucca project "stakeholders," such as Clark County and other
Nevada officials, the agency announced.

 The NRC will grant the clearances to people who meet "need to
know" criteria determined by the agency, NRC spokeswoman Sue
Gagner said.

 That was good news for Nevada officials who have sought to
obtain the clearances, said Bob Loux, executive director of the
Nevada Nuclear Projects Agency. The NRC has not indicated that
it would refuse access to state officials, he said. "At least
right now, for us, this hasn't been a big problem," he said.

 At issue are thousands of Yucca documents that the Energy
Department plans to submit to the NRC as part of its application
for a license to construction Yucca.

 Some of the documents may contain sensitive information, such
as transportation information for the highly radioactive waste
that would be shipped on roads and rails to the underground
repository at Yucca, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

 The documents might also include information about security at
Yucca, or military waste, including plutonium, said Joe Egan,
the lawyer who is leading legal battles against Yucca for the
state.

 State officials believe the NRC should grant key people access
to relevant documents from the beginning of the application
review so that they are not constantly thwarted in their efforts
by blanket refusals of access to all classified documents, Egan
said.

 
 
*****************************************************************
 50 FT.com: Greens attack policy on nuclear waste
 
By Andrew Taylor 

Last updated: December 16 2004 02:00

Government policies requiring Britain to retain a greater volume 
of foreign nuclear waste came under renewed fire from 
environ-mentalists, opposition politicians and protesters.

Patricia Hewitt, trade and industry secretary, on Monday gave the 
go-ahead to swap intermediate nuclear waste, produced from 
reprocessing spent fuel, with high-level waste of equivalent 
radioactivity before returning it to foreign utilities. She said 
returning lower volumes of high level waste would mean fewer 
shipments and allow the country to complete the return of 
contracted waste by 2017 instead of 2033 as previously planned.

Greenpeace said ministers had overturned a 30 year policy that 
the UK would not become a dumping ground for other countries' 
waste. Andrew Taylor

  [ height=]     © Copyright The Financial Times Ltd 2004. "FT"
and "Financial Times" are trademarks of the Financial Times.
*****************************************************************
 51 Salt Lake Tribune: Envirocare Q and A 

Article Last Updated: 12/16/2004 02:31:07 AM 

Q. 

Who bought Envirocare of Utah? 

A. 

Lindsay Goldberg &Bessemer, a New York investment 
partnership, and Creamer Investments of South Jordan. Other Utah 
investors haven't been 

named also are in on the deal. Envirocare promised more 
information sometime after the first of the year. 

How will the new owners take over Envirocare's 

operations? 

The state Department of Environmental Quality will review 
plans for any changes before transferring Envirocare's permits, 
including its regulatory permit to accept so-called Class B and 
C waste, which is hotter than waste the company now receives. 
The new owners will have to tell the state how it would 
guarantee its requirement to cover costs of maintaining the site 
once it closes and will have to get state approval for their 
radiation safety personnel. If the new owners essentially 
promise to operate the way Envirocare already operates, the 
transfer process could be fairly simple. 

What about that B and C waste permit? What happens 

to it? 

Lawmakers, Gov. Olene Walker and Gov.-elect Jon Huntsman Jr. 
say that a state law requiring both the Legislature and the
governor to approve accepting the hotter waste means it has been
effectively banned, since they say that approval isn't forthcoming.
An attempt to get a task force to advance an actual ban on the
waste died by one vote in the state's radioactive waste task force,
but Sen. Patrice Arent is planning to try again when the
Legislature convenes in January. 

Q. 

What did the buyers pay? 

A. 

Envirocare did not reveal the price, and probably won't, but 
industry insiders estimated the company sold for at least $500 
million. 

© Copyright 2004, The Salt Lake Tribune. 
*****************************************************************
 52 Salt Lake Tribune: Envirocare owner cashes out 

Article Last Updated: 12/16/2004 08:39:17 AM 

Sale triggers new worries about N-waste disposal in Utah 

By Patty Henetz The Salt Lake Tribune 

Containers of hazardous waste wait for disposal at the 
Envirocare facility in the west desert. The company Wednesday 
announced it has been sold to a group of investors. (Steve 
Griffin/The Salt Lake Tribune) 

Khosrow Semnani, the owner of Envirocare of Utah, has sold the 
radioactive-waste disposal company to a New York investment firm 
and a Utah businessman who once pushed to bring high-level 
nuclear waste to the state. 

The sale announced Wednesday caps Semnani's 17 tumultuous 
years as head of one of the state's most successful and most 
controversial businesses and raises questions about what the new 
owners - Lindsay Goldberg &Bessemer and Steve Creamer of Creamer 
Investments - plan for the facility. 

Envirocare officials released few details about the sale but 
promised to reveal more at a news conference sometime after Jan. 
1. The Wednesday announcement was crafted because "both Mr. 
Semnani and the new owners felt the public should be aware of 
the process," said Envirocare Senior Vice President Tim Barney. 

While the selling price wasn't revealed, and probably won't 
be, knowledgeable observers estimated it at as much as $500 
million, a price one observer said indicated the new owners 
believed the Tooele County facility has room to grow. 

That could mean pursuing hotter nuclear waste than already is 
accepted at the desert landfill 80 miles west of Salt Lake City, 
said David Yuschak, a senior equity analyst with Sanders Morris 
Harris, a Houston-based financial services holding 
company. 

"Anybody who's buying this is not going to be looking at 
living off just what is coming in now. You're going to be 
looking for ways to grow the business," Yuschak said. 

A federal General Accounting Office study this summer 
concluded 36 states will have nowhere to send waste labeled B 
and C when a South Carolina facility closes in 2008. 
Envirocare's existing regulatory permit to accept Class B and C 
waste, hotter and more dangerous than the Class A waste the 
facility already takes, sweetened the sale, Yuschak said. 

"That's an important asset for the new owners to get ramped 
up on," he said. "It increased the value of the asset being 
acquired." 

Rep. Steve Urquhart, R-St. George, agreed. 

"I would expect this new firm would probably continue to 
push for B and C waste, because they would feel they could 
handle it properly, it needs to be disposed of somewhere and 
they could make some good money doing it," he said. 

Lindsay Goldberg &Bessemer invests primarily in privately 
held businesses with long-term potential, according to 
Envirocare's announcement. The firm probably would hand off 
on-site management to Creamer, whose ISG Resources, Inc., of 
South Jordan, is the nation's largest recycler of coal 
combustion products. 

Creamer was among a small group of Utah political insiders - 
including state Republican Chairman Joe Cannon, Envirocare 
lobbyist Spencer Stokes and lobbyist Nancy Sechrest, a former 
Department of Environmental Quality employee - who advanced the 
so-called Plan B for bringing high-level nuclear waste to the 
state for temporary storage before it went to a federal 
repository. That plan died quickly in the face of fierce 
opposition from then-Gov. Mike Leavitt. 

Jason Groenewold, spokesman for the nonprofit Healthy 
Environment Alliance and one of Envirocare's most vocal critics, 
said he had reservations about Creamer, who made millions by 
developing the gigantic East Carbon Development Co. commercial 
landfill in central Utah. 

Creamer's apparent role as the local manager of the new 
Envirocare "isn't welcome news," Groenewold said. "It raises a 
lot of issues about nuclear waste disposal in the state." 

But other lawmakers and Gov.-elect Jon Huntsman Jr. repeated 
what they have long said: There is no place in Utah for hotter 
radioactive waste than what is already accepted. 

Sen. Curtis Bramble, R-Provo, said Semnani telephoned him 
Wednesday morning to tell him of the sale. Bramble said he wasn't
swirling about a possible sale for some time, and predicted it 
wouldn't affect Envirocare's dealings with the state. 

Class B and C waste is illegal in Utah, he said, "and it 
will be illegal tomorrow." 

"Radioactive waste policy has not been driven by Semnani. It 
has been driven by good public policy." 

Currently, state law requires the consent of both the 
governor and the Legislature to allow B and C waste in Utah. 
Some have taken that to mean the material is illegal, though 
there is no statutory ban on the books and the state Department 
of Environmental Quality has issued the regulatory permit to 
Envirocare allowing the waste. 

That permit includes a clause that says the Legislature or 
governor must also approve or the permit is canceled. 

Huntsman on Tuesday said through a spokesman that action 
such as a letter spelling out his opposition wouldn't be 
necessary because the hotter wastes already are illegal. 

In an earlier statement still posted on his campaign Web 
site, Huntsman said, "If elected, I shall use the full force of 
my office to oppose all efforts to bring into our state any 
radioactive waste other than what is currently permitted." 

On Wednesday, his spokeswoman, Tammy Kikuchi, said 
Huntsman got a courtesy "heads-up" about the impending 
Envirocare sale "a couple of weeks ago" but didn't hear 
officially until Wednesday. Kikuchi said she didn't know who 
offered the advance information. She said that Huntsman remains 
"adamantly opposed" to B and C waste. 

Semnani built Envirocare through aggressive business 
practices - including payments to a key state regulator, who 
Semnani claimed was extorting him - and carefully cultivated 
political connections, as well as earning good will through 
large contributions to various charities. 

Bramble credited Semnani for being "a very real part of the 
community. He has contributed millions to causes." 

Semnani also contributed generously to Democratic and 
Republican politicians and spent more than $1 million to defeat 
an initiative two years ago that would have banned hotter waste 
and imposed higher taxes on the industry in Utah. 

Envirocare's sale means the state must re-examine its 
operations, said Senate President John Valentine, R-Orem. 

"We want to make certain it continues as a safe depository," 
he said. "I think [the sale] is going to create a lot of 
uncertainties." 

Dane Finerfrock, director of the Division of Radiation 
Control, said the state would require from the new owners a 
description of the changes they will be making, especially 
regarding radiation safety, before transferring Envirocare's 
operating permit to them. 

Yuschak said Semnani's decision to sell is probably good news 
for the industry. 

"Semnani was getting headlines out there that weren't the 
best headlines, given the kind of business he was in," he said. 
"Any time you get that kind of distraction it makes it difficult 
to make what you're doing more productive." 

--- 

Tribune reporter Matt Canham contributed to this report. 

Khosrow Semnani: Selling Envirocare. (Steve Griffin/The 
Salt Lake Tribune) 

© Copyright 2004, The Salt Lake Tribune. 
*****************************************************************
 53 Deseret News: Huntsman stresses: No hotter N-waste
 	 
[deseretnews.com] 
 	
Thursday, December 16, 2004
 	   	 
Envirocare sold
 	
By Joe Bauman Deseret Morning News

Gov.-elect Jon Huntsman Jr. emphatically reiterated his stance on 
nuclear waste disposal Wednesday: No Class B or C radioactive 
waste is to be disposed of in Utah while he is in office.

Jon Huntsman Jr.
  
"I will commit to you — it won't happen under my watch,"
Huntsman told the Deseret Morning News on Wednesday.

       Anti-nuclear activist Jason Groenewold has called for
Huntsman take action to prevent any material from coming in that
is hotter than the Class A waste Envirocare of Utah disposes at
its Tooele County site. Although B and C are considered
low-level radioactive, they are more dangerous than Class A
waste.

       Charles Judd, president of Cedar Mountain Environmental
Inc., a planned disposal facility in Tooele County, has said the
company might seek to import B and C waste. The property, where
no construction has yet taken place, is adjacent to Envirocare,
about halfway between Salt Lake City and Wendover.

       B and C waste may not be disposed of in Utah without
state permits and specific approval from the Legislature and
governor. In a Nov. 17 press release, Huntsman took a strong
stand against importation of waste hotter than Class A.

       Groenewold, director of Healthy Environment Alliance of
Utah, called for Huntsman to sign an executive order once he is
in office to prevent that importation.

       "Utah's going to be continue to be targeted as a nuclear
waste dumping ground as long as we leave the door open," he said.

       Once he is sworn in, he said, Huntsman will have the
power to prevent the waste arriving here for disposal. "All it
takes is his signature" on an executive order.

       "Huntsman gets the key to the office on Jan. 3. He could
kill this thing on day one," he added.

       Groenewold is concerned about the issue because Class B
and C wastes are "hundreds to thousands of times more
radioactive than Class A waste," he said, citing the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission. He said the NRC estimates that a
20-minute exposure to Class C material without proper protection
"is enough to cause a lethal dose of radiation. . . . It gives
you a sense of how hot we're talking."


  ['Photo'] [''] 
Deseret Morning News graphic  

       He worried that a mishap could cause harm.

       Huntsman made it clear Wednesday he is not backing down
on the waste issue. His position is the same as it was during
the campaign, he said in a Morning News telephone interview.

       "That is, I will use whatever force of office I have to
keep B and C waste out of the state," he said.

       A law is already in place with safeguards, he noted.

       If he needs to take action to "effectively nullify" any
attempt to bring B and C waste into the Beehive State, Huntsman
added, he will. Meanwhile, he needs to review options to
accomplish that, checking his legal tools.

       "I would want to understand what I had at my disposal,"
Huntsman said.

E-mail: bau@desnews.com

 © 2004 Deseret News Publishing Company 
*****************************************************************
 54 Deseret News: Envirocare sold
 	 
[deseretnews.com] 
 	
Thursday, December 16, 2004
 	   	 
Owner enters agreement with N.Y., Utah firms

By Joe Bauman Deseret Morning News

Envirocare of Utah, the state's only commercial radioactive waste 
disposal facility, is being sold to a group that includes a New 
York investment company as well as Utah firm Creamer Investments 
"and several other local investors."


Khosrow Semnani
  
The price was not announced.

       Envirocare, based in Salt Lake City, operates a disposal
site at Clive, Tooele County. Other than some small operations
authorized to store short-lived radioactive material that
quickly become harmless, it is the only facility of its type in
Utah.

       Envirocare's owner, Khosrow B. Semnani, entered into a
purchase agreement with an investment group led by Lindsay
Goldberg &Bessemer, New York City. The group includes "Creamer
Investments and several other local investors," says the
announcement of the sale. The same press release also was posted
on the Lindsay Goldberg Web site.

       Purchase price was not disclosed, but the release pointed
out that the investment company has more than $2 billion of
committed capital in its business, focusing on "acquiring
well-managed businesses and actively helping to build long-term
value."

       While agreement has been reached, the transaction has not
yet closed, said Tim Barney, Envirocare vice president. Until
then, the parties are keeping quiet about details.

       "We want to answer questions," Barney said Wednesday. "We
look forward to it, but because of how these things go, we need
to wait until the closing to do that."

       Still, both sides felt the public should know what is
going on, so the announcement went out. Meanwhile, Barney said,
the closing should be early in 2005, but it's hard to know
exactly when.

       Dianne R. Nielson, executive director of the Utah
Department of Environmental Quality, said Semnani met with the
department Wednesday morning before the announcement was
released, "so we wouldn't be surprised."

      Such transfers are familiar to the department, which
regulates Envirocare. Rules are in place to govern the process,
she said.

       "We're going to work with the new purchaser to make sure
that we can effectively transfer those permits and licenses, and
facilitate this decision as best we can," Nielson said.

       That not only includes transferring licenses to the new
owners, she added, "but also establishment of sureties for
closure and post-closure for the radioactive waste as well as
the mixed waste on the site."

       Mixed waste is material not only contaminated with
low-level nuclear material but also with hazardous
non-radioactive matter.

       "It's important for a facility like this to be able to
ensure compliance," Nielson said. "That's what its customers are
looking for as a safe place to dispose waste."

       Creamer Investments was the operating partner of East
Carbon Development Corp., a Carbon County landfill that disposes
of waste from as far away as New Jersey. Its partner was Union
Pacific. Then ECDC was sold to Allied Waste in 1997.

       The Creamer in Creamer Investments is Steve Creamer, a
Salt Lake man whose projects in Utah go back at least 20 years,
including construction proposals involving the Burr Trail near
Capitol Reef National Park and a Book Cliffs highway. Creamer
said that when the time comes, "I'll be excited to tell you our
story" about the Envirocare purchase.

       "We think it'll be a fun opportunity."

       Reached by telephone at his business, Western Pacific
Group, 136 S. Main, he said after the sale of ECDC, "we bought a
company from Laidlaw called JTM Industries."

       That company was used to create ISG Resources, which
consolidated the fly ash industry in America, he said. This is
the recycling of fly ash from coal-fired power plants, material
used as a replacement for Portland cement and concrete, he said.

       They consolidated nine companies and handled
environmental aspects of 165 power plants in 37 states, Creamer
said. The company was the largest recycler of coal combustion
products in America, recycling about 8 million tons a year,
Creamer said.

       ISG Resources was sold to Headwaters in September 2002.
Based in South Jordan, Headwaters is involved in alternative
energy and services, according to a Nov. 1, 2003, article in the
Deseret Morning News. That article was an announcement of
Creamer's resignation from the Headwaters board of directors.

       Creamer said after ISG Resources was sold to Headwaters
he stayed for another year during its transition, "and I've been
just looking for something since then" to do, he added.

       "And this is it."

       Charles Judd, who was terminated as president of
Envirocare in January 2002, said rumors had circulated in the
industry for about six months that Envirocare might be sold.
Judd himself hopes to operate a radioactive waste disposal
facility near Envirocare, Cedar Mountain Environmental.

       "It's been a possibility," he said. "Now it looks like
it's (the sale) just come to a fruition. It's something of a
surprise."

       He does not believe Envirocare was under any financial
stress to cause a sale. "I think the company is just doing
fine," he said. The time must have seemed right for a sale, he
said.

       "Obviously, there's a strong marketplace." There's a lot
of profit potential in storing radioactive waste, he added. He
believes there is plenty of opportunity for two disposal
operations in the vicinity.

       Referring to the Envirocare sale, Judd said, "Sounds like
both sides are happy with it."

       Envirocare and Cedar Mountain are in litigation, he said.
"I'm hopeful we can have a better relation with the other folks
when they come on board."

 © 2004 Deseret News Publishing Company 
*****************************************************************
 55 Lincoln Journal Letter: Nuclear funding decision is a gift

TownOnline.com - 

Thursday, December 16, 2004

This holiday season we can celebrate one small but significant 
victory for common sense and peace: Congress' recent decision to 
delete all funds for new nuclear weapons and advanced nuclear 
weapons concepts from the fiscal 2005 federal budget. Also no 
funds will be allocated to prepare for a nuclear explosion at the 
Nevada Test Site and funds for the modern plutonium pit facility 
were cut from $30 million to $7 million.

     Our heartfelt thanks to our own U.S. Rep. Edward Markey, 
D-Malden, and to Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-Calif., who co-sponsored 
the bill in the House. Their wisdom was supported by hundreds of 
thousands of American citizens who contacted their congress 
people. Supportive groups ranged from our own Lincoln 
Peacebuilders to national organizations like the Friends 
Committee on National Legislation and Women's Action for New 
Directions (WAND).

     Since the U.S. already has close to 10,000 nuclear weapons 
and we're trying to persuade other countries not to develop their 
own nuclear weapons, developing more U.S. nukes is both costly 
and counterproductive. Moreover, even "small" nuclear bombs will 
wreak destruction both on humans and the environment. Meanwhile, 
the 2005 federal budget is cutting major domestic programs like 
education and health care.

     So in the New Year, let's continue our efforts to eliminate 
the useless military weapons and transfer the savings to meet 
human needs at home and abroad. The so-called "missile defense 
shield" which has failed every honest test to date and aims at 
the wrong target in this age of terrorists should be next on the 
cancellation list.

     Joanna Hopkins

© Copyright of CNC and Herald Interactive Advertising Systems,
*****************************************************************
 56 Whitehaven News: IS NUCLEAR WASTE A SOLUTION – OR A PROBLEM? 

OUT of sight, out of mind: that old saying could become very true 
of West Cumbria’s huge legacy of nuclear waste. And this week a 
respected trade union branch president is urging the Government 
to speed up moves to create safe storage for the nuclear waste in 
a deep underground repository.

But this may not be the “quick fix” the unions are anticipating. 
No doubt, as with THORP, there will be a flurry of contracting 
jobs as the repository is dug, but thereafter the supervision 
jobs will shrink and shrink as time and awareness of the waste 
rapidly fades from the political agenda.

What could, perhaps, provide more medium-term work would be the 
alternative option of an above-ground store for nuclear waste. 
This would not have the comforting “feel” of burial out of sight 
and mind, but it would ensure that the waste could be easily 
recovered, monitored and perhaps neutralised forever by (as yet 
undiscovered) reprocessing skills. And such an option would have 
far greater sustainable employment spin-offs.

The other conundrum is how the public (and the area’s vital 
tourism industry) reacts to any reawakening of the sleeping Nirex 
giant. 

But for now, at least, the opening salvo in the great battle for 
Copeland’s future economy has been fired, and John Kane deserves 
credit for that. There will be debate ahead, and argument as well 
as agreement, but at least there won’t be complacency.

*****************************************************************
 57 Whitehaven News: SELLAFIELD LORRY CRASH 

A SELLAFIELD lorry carrying clean, unused nuclear flasks, went 
off the road outside the nuclear plant last Wednesday, causing 
two other vehicles to collide with each other.

BNFL said it is not yet clear how the incident on December 8, 
near the Yottenfews roundabout, happened. The road was blocked 
for about two hours.

The Sellafield lorry was on its way back from Lillyhall carrying 
the new flasks, which look like giant milk floats. 

It came off the road, and although it did not hit any other cars, 
its swerving did cause a Ford Focus and a Citroen panel van to 
collide with each other.

The lorry driver, a man from Egremont, and the driver and 
passenger of the Ford Focus, were all taken to hospital with 
minor injuries. The van driver, from Carlisle, escaped unhurt.

A BNFL spokesman said investigations are now under way to find 
out how what happened. 

Initial checks have found that the Sellafield lorry had no 
defects. 

*****************************************************************
 58 Rocky Mountain News: Cotter wins one request, loses another

By Rocky Mountain News
December 16, 2004

Cotter Corp. won a license renewal for its Cañon City uranium and 
vanadium mill Wednesday but lost a bid to accept radioactive 
waste from New Jersey. 

Cotter, based in Lakewood and owned by General Atomics of San 
Diego, had hoped to boost revenues by accepting low-level 
radioactive soil from the New Jersey Superfund site for disposal. 

 Howard Roitman, the Colorado Department of Public Health and
Environment's director of environmental programs, said Cañon
City residents and officials opposed the plan. 

Cotter received its original license to process uranium ore in
Cañon City in 1958. The Health Department extended that license
for five years. The mill and storage facility was declared a
Superfund site in 1984. 

A series of complex lawsuits had targeted Cotter for radioactive
contamination of drinking water wells in the area and soils
within the mill site. 

Cañon City Mayor William Jackson opposed bringing in more waste.
He and Fremont County Commissioner Larry Lasha said they were
pleased with the decision. 

"It's been an issue that's kind of held our community in check
for too long," Lasha said. 

Cotter on Wednesday issued a statement saying state health
officials failed to give adequate consideration to studies that
supported its proposal. Cotter said it will decide within 60
days whether to appeal. 

Cotter initially sought state permission to accept 24,000 cubic
yards from the Bergen County, N.J., site, which has about
470,000 cubic yards of contaminated soil. Cotter wanted
permission to accept a maximum of 400,000 cubic yards of soil
from the site, where the Maywood Chemical Co. processed thorium
ore (used to make lantern mantles) between 1916 and 1955. Cotter
hoped to ship the soil in increments to Cañon City. 

In the fall of 2003, Cotter proposed accepting 40,000 cubic
yards from the Maywood site, which fell under new state laws
requiring the Health Department to consider social and economic
impacts. 

Cañon City and Fremont County want to enhance tourism and
attract both retirees and professionals to a community that's
dominated by correctional facilities. 

Community meetings and surveys found no support for accepting
more radioactive material, said Steve Tarlton of the Health
Department's radiation management unit. 

"We went with the nearly unanimous opposition to the receipt of
that material by that local community," he said.  

   
*****************************************************************
 59 UC loses nuclear weapons program (3/9)
 
Date: Thu, 16 Dec 2004 21:00:23 -0600 (CST)

 
http://www.sfbayview.com/092904/nuclearweapons2092904.shtml

UC Regents lose control of nuclear weapons program

Five admirals, Carlyle Group and Rand take over

Part 3

by Leuren Moret

Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat, former chief of the Indian navy Admiral
Bobby Ray Inman

On July 17, 2004, Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat replied to my question,
Why are so many admirals involved with the nuclear weapons contract
bid?

The reason why the Navy and the admirals are predominantly involved
in the weapons, he said, is that until the space military launch
posts are ready and positioned with the minimum degree of reliability,
the U.S. Navy has more than 70 percent of the first and second
strike capability on its boats and hence an equivalent amount of
the budget earmarked for strategic systems.

His comments made the link for me between the nuclear weapons
program, the Navy, NASA and other types of directed energy weapons
developed in nuclear weapons labs, which are intended for land,
sea, air and space. Marion Fulk, a former Manhattan Project scientist
and retired Livermore nuclear physical chemist, told me that nuclear
weapons cannot be used in space without contaminating the atmosphere,
and laser weapons will not work because there is too much space
trash already up there which will impede the effectiveness of the
lasers.

Wars in space will create more space trash until it is impossible
to leave the earth. According to Apollo astronaut Edgar Mitchell,
it is already very dangerous now, since a paint chip nearly took
out the windshield of the space shuttle.

The U.S. plans to weaponize space are a violation of the United
Nations 1967 Outer Space Treaty: Treaty on Principles Governing the
Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space,
including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies. The intent was to
promote international co-operation in the peaceful exploration and
use of outer space and specifically prohibited the weaponization
of space with ANY weapons, including nuclear weapons.

The 2001 Space Preservation Act, HR 2977, which was introduced by
Congressman Dennis Kucinich, let the cat out of the bag and revealed
under the Definitions in the bill that directed energy weapons,
which can target individuals and populations from space for the
purposes of psychotronics, mind control and mood control, are clearly
the new space weapons intended to establish global dominance by the
New World Order.

Directed energy weapons, such as microwave and infrasound technologies,
developed in the nuclear weapons labs, have been used on nuclear
weapons lab whistleblowers and UC students. Theyve been handed over
to the EPA to use on environmentalists and to the FBI to turn over
to local law enforcement. These weapons are now land, air and sea
based. Space is the last frontier.

Admiral Bobby Ray Inman: Spooks-R-Us

Tipped off by a journalist in Washington, D.C., my investigation
of Admiral Bobby Ray Inman revealed that he was THE admiral at the
center of the spider web. A look at his social network (see
Namebase.org below) helped put the puzzle palace together, and I
discovered he was national security advisor to five presidents,
director of the NSA, deputy director of the CIA under William Casey,
vice director of the DIA (Defense Intelligence Agency), director
of Naval Intelligence, president of SAIC, chair of the 1985
congressional Inman Commission on Terrorism, affiliated with the
Carlyle Group and on the advisory boards of Tufts and the University
of Texas.

He represents SBC Communications Corp. at Cal Tech, hes chairman
of the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank and hes a member of both the
Council on Foreign Relations and the Trilateral Commission. And
Admiral Bobby Ray Inman is a member of the University of Texas
faculty. One could say he is a dangerous man.

One job he didnt get was Secretary of Defense under Clinton: 1994:
Former Admiral Bobby Ray Inman, stung by press and Senate criticisms
of his record, asked President Clinton to withdraw his nomination
as Secretary of Defense. A Clinton aide, George Stephanopoulos,
later wrote that Inman had held back information during his White
House background check (http://www.appointee.brookings.org/sg/a2.htm).

A look at Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC)
reveals just exactly what kind of activities are undertaken in a
spook shop where there is no accountability and what business Inman
was conducting at SAIC under his leadership. SAIC is one of the
largest private employee-owned corporations and, because it is
privately owned, like the Carlyle Group, it escapes scrutiny despite
annual revenues of more than $5.9 billion.

In 1990 it was indicted and pled guilty to 10 felony counts of fraud
on a Superfund site, called one of the largest (cases) of environmental
fraud in Los Angeles history. The Department of Energy (DOE)
contracted SAIC to manage and operate the Yucca Mountain Project
(YMP), which I worked on as a scientist at the Livermore Lab. I
became a whistleblower at Livermore in 1991 because of my knowledge
of the extent of science fraud on the YMP, the most important public
works project in U.S. history.

SAICs control over internet domain names, gained when they purchased
Network Solutions Inc., caused a furor and identified the ties in
SAIC to the shadow ruling-class within the Pentagon. Basically,
SAIC is a private spook corporation, involved in voting machines
(Sequoia, Diebold etc.), controlling the internet (Network Solutions)
and training foreign militaries.

SAIC is the contractor that set up global communications for the
U.S. military. The internet is being changed from a public resource
to a lucrative operation influenced by spooks and former Pentagon
officials. The internet was a Defense Advanced Research Projects
Agency (DARPA) project to begin with, and the backbone of the
internet was developed at the Livermore Lab.

One of SAICs prime clients is DARPA (the Defense Advanced Research
Projects Agency in the Department of Defense), which recently
employed five-time convicted felon Admiral Poindexter, an associate
of Inmans going back to Iran-Contra. Poindexter was forced to resign
over his involvement with PAM, a terrorism futures market DARPA
project which predicted assassinations, terrorism and other events
in the Middle East.

His earlier controversial program, TIA, or the Total Information
Awareness Program (see TIA), was set up to spy on Americans. It
involved data mining and creating large information databases on
Americans and is now being used to track citizens. Another abandoned
DARPA project, which has now been revived, is Lifelog, a controversial
project to archive almost everything about a person, and every
aspect of a persons life is fair game.

References for Part 3

United Nations 1967 Outer Space Treaty,
http://www.oosa.unvienna.org/treat/ost/outersptxt.htm.

HR 2977, Space Preservation Act of 2001,
http://www.fas.org/sgp/congress/2001/hr2977.html.

Social Network Diagram for Admiral Bobby Ray Inman,
http://www.namebase.org/cgi-bin/nb06?_INMAN_BOBBY_RAY.

1994: Former admiral Bobby Ray Inman,
http://www.appointee.brookings.org/sg/a2.htm.

Pentagon scheme for a futures market in terror by Berry Grey, World
Socialist Web Site, July 31, 2003,
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/jul2003/fut-j31_prn.shtml.

Best Guess: Economists explore betting markets as prediction tools
by Erica Klarreich, Science News, Oct. 18, 2003, Vol. 164 p.251-253,
http://www.sciencenews.org.

TIA: DARPAs TIA becomes DOA after being KIAd by Congress; but spirit
lives on in ARDAs NIMD by Nick Turse, Unknown News, Oct. 1, 2003,
http://www.unknownnews.net/031001a-nt.html.

Lifelog: Pentagon Revives Memory Project by Noah Schactman, Wired
News, Sept. 13, 2004,
http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,64911,00.html.

To read Parts 1 and 2 of this series, go to
http://www.sfbayview.com/091504/ucregents091504.shtml and
http://www.sfbayview.com/092204/nuclearweapons092204.shtml. The
rest of this expos will appear in the Bay View in the coming weeks.
Leuren Moret, a geoscientist who worked at the Livermore nuclear
weapons lab where she became a whistleblower in 1991, has survived
13 years of retaliation from the Livermore lab and the University
of California and has lived firsthand the experiences of Karen
Silkwood. A radiation specialist, she works around the world educating
citizens, the media and lawmakers about the impact of radiation
globally on the health of the public and the environment. She
assisted with Al-Jazeeras recent report on depleted uranium weapons
which quickly became one of the most read articles produced by the
website. DU: Washingtons Secret Nuclear War can be read at
http://www.mindfully.org/Nucs/2004/DU-Secret-Nuclear-War14sep04.htm. She
is an independent scientist, an environmental commissioner for the
City of Berkeley, and can be reached at leurenmoret@yahoo.com.

All eyes on the Bay View

After Part 1 of this series appeared in the Bay View, representatives
of the Carlyle Group and Bechtel emailed that they are eager to
read the rest of the story. Last week, after Part 2 was published,
Chris Ullman, the man in charge of public relations for Carlyle,
called the Bay View for a long chat with the editor. And Mark Morey,
Ph.D., of the Department of Energy sent this email to writer Leuren
Moret:

From: Morey, Mark MoreyMS@NV.DOE.GOV

To: leurenmoret@yahoo.com

Subject: article request

Date: Fri, 24 Sep 2004 11:20:47 -0700

Hi,

My brother forwarded a link to part one of your series in the SF
Bay View. Would it be possible to get the whole series emailed to
me? Or just the link when they get published? As you can tell by
my email address, I like to keep up on this sort of thing, and we
need something new to read by the microwave.

Mark Morey PhD

We cant help wondering what the phrase by the microwave signifies.

San Francisco Bay View National Black Newspaper 4917 Third Street
San Francisco California 94124 Phone: (415) 671-0789 Fax: (415)
671-0316 Email: editor@sfbayview.com
*****************************************************************
 60 Las Vegas SUN: Editorial: Standing up to the boss

Today: December 16, 2004 at 9:08:28 PST 

 LAS VEGAS SUN

 Last week President Bush made a surprise choice in nominating
Samuel Bodman, deputy secretary of the Treasury Department, to
succeed Spencer Abraham as secretary of the Energy Department.
Bodman doesn't have a lengthy track record in dealing with
energy matters, making his selection puzzling to some energy
experts. "Sam who? I've never heard of this guy," one energy
industry lobbyist told Reuters news service upon learning of his
nomination, adding that Bodman was essentially unknown to other
Washington energy policy insiders as well. Nevadans are
especially interested in learning more about Bodman and his
views on nuclear power, because the Energy Department is the
agency seeking a license to build a high-level nuclear waste
dump at Yucca Mountain, just 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

 Bodman does have impressive credentials. He was a professor of
chemical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology before leaving there in 1970 to work for a venture
capital firm. He later joined Fidelity Investments, ultimately
becoming its president. Bush said Bodman is "a problem solver
who knows how to set goals and he knows how to reach them." One
of the biggest issues facing Bodman is the Yucca Mountain
project, which recently was dealt a setback when a federal
appeals court ruled that the dump's design would contain
radiation for just 10,000 years, even though a much longer
period was required by law. One way of "solving" this problem
would be for Congress to pass legislation relaxing this
radiation protection standard at Yucca Mountain, paving the way
to build the dump. While that would move the project along
quickly to the nuclear po wer industry's delight, it would be
disastrous because gutting safety standards is the worst
possible solution in dealing w! ith man's deadliest waste.

 We're not naive enough to think that the president, who already
has thrown his support behind the Yucca Mountain project, will
suddenly reverse course. But Bodman, if confirmed by the Senate,
should take a look at the Yucca Mountain project with a fresh
set of eyes, listening to the concerns of Nevada's congressional
delegation and even visiting Las Vegas to get a real sense of
how devastating a nuclear waste dump would be for our safety and
to our economy. And while the president's Cabinet in the next
term consists largely of "yes men," we hope that Bodman gives
Bush straight advice based on science, not information that's
tailor-made to fit the president's own preconceived views. That
would make Bodman a true problem solver. 
 
*****************************************************************
 61 New Standard: Bush’s Pick for Energy Secretary Has Polluted Record
 	 	 
If he is confirmed, the man chosen by the White House to oversee 
one of the industries that is most influential in Republican 
politics will be a corporate insider with a sketchy list of 
achievements and a controversial mission. 
		 						 						
Dec 16 -                                                                                                                                                        Bush’s pick for the next

Energy Secretary, Sam Bodman, spent fourteen years at the helm
of Cabot Corp., a Boston-based chemical company with a spotty
environmental record, leaving many conservationists worried
about the effects his tenure there may have on the nation’s
natural resources. 

Bodman, 66, called his appointment the culmination of his
life’s work when President Bush made the announcement last
week. "I started as a teacher in chemical engineering at MIT,
spent seventeen years helping create and manage Fidelity
Investments, and then spent fourteen years managing Cabot Corp.,
a global chemical company. Each of these activities had to do
with the financial markets and the impact of energy and
technology on those markets," he said. 

© 2004 The NewStandard. See our . 					   				 								 			
*****************************************************************
 62 [du-list] DU in the News 16th Dec. '04
 
Date: Thu, 16 Dec 2004 14:25:46 -0800

 
<x-flowed>

             How Good Is Good Enough?
             http://www.dailypress.com/news/specials/dp-du5,0,4881579.story?coll=dp-headlines-topnews
             Hampton Roads Daily Press Wed, 15 Dec 2004 9:57 AM PST
             How Good Is Good Enough? The world's most accurate test for 
depleted uranium exposure is now available - but only in Britain and 
Germany. The Pentagon says U.S. vets don't need it.

             Keep troops healthy, clean up environment
             http://www.juneauempire.com/stories/121504/let_20041215018.shtml
             Juneau Empire Wed, 15 Dec 2004 9:48 AM PST
             Before the government puts a lot of pressure on Ted Stevens 
about our planet being hot, let the government clean up the dirty laundry 
in its own backyard. The chemicals from war material (depleted uranium) are 
making people sick. This is madness and insanity. Are our warriors going to 
come home sick?

             Feedback from newspaper readers
             http://www.dailypress.com/news/dp-32774cm0dec15,0,2929054.story?coll=dp-headlines-topnews
             Hampton Roads Daily Press Wed, 15 Dec 2004 1:12 AM PST
             Patrick, Newport News: Bravo Zulu to the Daily Press on 
today's article "Danger Dismissed: How the Pentagon downplays the risks of 
depleted uranium weapons." I hope that the Daily Press sends this series of 
articles out to the entire Tribune Co. This is a national story.



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



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