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                         NUCLEAR POLICY
 
1 US: AxisofLogic: U.S. Military: Gulf War syndrome revisited
2 UK The Times: Iran has secret nuclear lab
3 Guardian Unlimited: Europe, Iran Work to Save Nuclear Deal
4 Yahoo!: US commander warns Iran, others not to underestimate US mili
5 Guardian Unlimited: Iran Vows Not to Give Up Centrifuge Demand
6 Guardian Unlimited: Iran Apparently Agrees to Stop Enrichment
7 Guardian Unlimited: Iran Says It Will Stop Uranium Enrichment
8 Korea Herald: U.N. watchdog plans new inspection here   
9 Korea Herald: [EDITORIAL] IAEA decision on Korea   
10 INSIDE JoongAng Daily: IAEA spares Seoul, but is still watching
11 Xinhuanet: IAEA to dispatch inspection team to ROK - 
12 Korea Times: IAEA to Send Another Inspection Team to Seoul 
13 asahi.com: U.S. offer to N. Korea still alive 
14 US: Washington Times: Nuke Rep. Hobson's bill
15 US: Las Vegas RJ: Energy efforts close to starting 
16 US: Washington Times: Congress spending increase criticized
17 Guardian Unlimited: Pakistan Downplays CIA Report on Leaks
18 Bellona: Russia lacks raw material for Bulava missiles production 
19 WorldNetDaily: Many types of isotopes
20 Daily Times: New branch found in nuclear network, says LAT 
21 AU ABC: Finite fuels threaten life as we know it. 
22 Pakistan Times: Nuke Assets Safe = PM for Minimum Nuclear Deterrence
23 The Australian: ASEAN ministers meet 
 
                         NUCLEAR REACTORS
 
24 [du-list] New Chernobyl Effects Falsify [ICRP] radiation risk
25 Bellona: Faulty security reported at Russian nuclear power plants
26 CRI NEWS: North Korean Reactor Deferred                             
27 Xinhuanet: Int'l consortium extends freeze of nuclear project - 
28 Sofia Morning News: Bulgaria's N-plant Ready for Wintertime Operatio
29 US: Brattleboro Reformer: PSB recommends $85,000 fine for Vt. Yankee
 
                          NUCLEAR SAFETY
 
30 US: [du-list] GULF WAR VETERAN WELCOMES RESULTS OF ILLNESS INQUIRY
31 US: [NYTr] Truckers Risk Cancer from Homeland Hysteria Radiation
32 US: Bradenton Herald: County may fund beryllium tests
33 Times of India: A tubelight to save you from nuclear winter
34 ITAR-TASS: Sevmash to dispose of second Akula nuclear-powered submar
35 US: Paducah Sun: Sick workers question exposure views
 
                         NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE
 
36 US: PE.com: Wyle testing tops meeting agenda 
37 US: L.A. Daily News: Army Corps to look at perchlorate risks
38 US: DenverPost.com: West wary of nuclear waste route
 
                         NUCLEAR WEAPONS
 
 
                        US DEPT. OF ENERGY
 
 
                          OTHER NUCLEAR
 
39 FT.com: EU still keen on fusion compromise
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                         FULL NEWS STORIES
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 1 AxisofLogic: U.S. Military: Gulf War syndrome revisited
 	 	 
src="http://www.axisoflogic.com

 By Vicki Brower Nov 28, 2004, 05:13

  As troops returned home from the war in Iraq in late April, 
many wondered whether some would soon fall ill, as did thousands 
of those who fought in the first Gulf War (GWI) in 1991. During 
the past 12 years, nearly half of the 700,000 GWI veterans have 
sought treatment for a wide range of symptoms that many suspect 
were linked to exposure to depleted uranium, pesticides, 
vaccines, particulate matter and gases from burning oil wells, 
biological and chemical weapons, and the anti-nerve-gas drug 
pyridostigmine bromide (PB). About 29% of soldiers who were 
deployed are now considered to be disabled due to their wartime 
service, 23% are receiving disability benefits, and tens of 
thousands of the rest are still plagued by illness, but do not 
fall into these categories because of the lack of a clear-cut 
diagnosis.

For more than a decade, soldiers were told that no single cause, 
except stress, could explain complaints as diverse as headaches, 
dizziness, fatigue, bone and joint pain, memory loss, problems 
with sleep and concentration, muscle weakness, skin rashes and 
sores, and gastrointestinal problems. The US government cited 
statistics that showed that GWI veterans were not dying or being 
hospitalized at higher rates than other soldiers. However, it 
could not explain how stress could wreak such havoc on health, or 
why GWI veterans were being diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral 
sclerosis (ALS) at twice the rate of other groups. But new 
research is putting the stress diagnosis to rest and, after 12 
years of desperation for the veterans, answers to the mystery 
surrounding GW syndrome are being found. This should lead not 
only to effective treatments, but also to more protection for 
soldiers and the general population against future military and 
terrorist attacks.

In June 2002, the 12-member Research Advisory Committee (RAC) on 
Gulf War Veterans' Illnesses released an interim report that 
brought together studies pointing to several types of 
neurological damage in the afflicted veterans 
(http://www.va.gov/RAC-GWVI). In the following October, the US 
government's 

    
  "The [US] government is finally realizing that the nature of 
war is changing, and that soldiers can be damaged by weapons 
other than bullets and bombs"   

Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) made a 180-degree turnaround 
by publicly acknowledging that strong evidence exists that many 
GWI veterans are suffering from brain damage caused by different 
combinations of exposure to toxins. Deputy Secretary Leo Mackay 
Jr admitted in an address to the RAC that, in the past, the US 
government had "a tin ear, cold heart and a closed mind" about 
toxic chemical exposure and drug–chemical interactions as 
possible causes of GW syndrome. "The [US] government is finally 
realizing that the nature of war is changing, and that soldiers 
can be damaged by weapons other than bullets and bombs," said 
Steve Robinson, Executive Director of the National Gulf War 
Resource Center (NGWRC; Silver Spring, MD, USA; 
http://www.ngwrc.org), a veterans' health advocacy group that was 
founded in 1995. According to this organization, incidences of 
illness in forward-deployed GWI units are higher than those in 
non-deployed units; 42% of those who entered Iraq and Kuwait are 
ill, as compared with 31% who served on land in support areas, 
and 21% who served on ships. Length of service, as well as 
location, is also significant, with longer tours correlating to 
more symptoms.

Along with earlier studies, evidence from research funded by the 
US Department of Defense (DoD) and published in the British 
Medical Journal (K. Ismail et al., 325, 576; 2002), was, said 
Mackay, undeniable. The study was conducted at three London 
hospitals and followed 12,000 disabled British veterans from the 
Bosnian and Gulf wars. The authors had previously hypothesized 
that a psychological condition, similar to stress, was the cause 
of GW syndrome, but the new study found that "post-traumatic 
stress disorder is not higher in Gulf veterans than in other 
veterans." Under the weight of this evidence, the DVA pledged to 
double the budget for research into the illness to an annual US 
$20 million. Another reason for the US government's about-turn is 
the recognition that the biological and chemical agents that the 
soldiers encountered in the desert in 1991 are the ones that 
terrorists are threatening to use against the general population, 
suggested Robinson. 
    
  ...the biological and chemical agents that the soldiers
encountered in the desert in 1991 are the ones that terrorists
are threatening to use against the general population...   
    
The Office of the Special Assistant for Gulf War Illnesses
(OSAGWI) was formed in 1997, but "it spent almost $250 million
until 2002 without publishing any med-ical research report or
offering a single treatment program for ill GW veterans,"
Robinson observed. Indeed, in 1997, the General Accounting
Office (GAO), the investigatory arm of US Congress, reported
that some researchers thought that they would not receive
funding for research into the syndrome because of the DoD's
position, and that it would be useless to try. Of the research
that has been performed, much of the groundbreaking work was
started about eight years ago by Robert Haley of Southwestern
Texas Medical School (Dallas, TX, USA), formerly at the Centers
for Disease Control (Atlanta, GA, USA). Initially, Haley was
funded by the Texan millionaire Ross Perot. Using magnetic
resonance spectroscopy, Haley and others showed evidence of
neuronal loss in the basal ganglia and brainstems of ill
soldiers, and this research is summarized in the RAC Interim
Report. "Veterans with cognitive problems show neuronal loss in
the basal ganglia; those with muscle and joint problems show
loss in the brain stem," it states. 

  ...all three [GW] syndromes were strongly associated with
exposure to acetylcholinesterase (AChE)-inhibiting
organophosphates or carbamates   
    
In 1997, Haley reported that there are three primary syndromes
in GWI veterans: syndrome 1 (impaired cognition) includes
distractibility, forgetfulness, depression and daytime
somnolence; syndrome 2 (confusion-ataxia) is characterized by
more profound reduced intellectual processing, confusion,
frequent disorientation and episodes of vertigo; syndrome 3
(central pain) is characterized by chronic somatic pain and
parethesias of the extremities. Notably, Haley reported that all
three syndromes were strongly associated with exposure to
acetylcholinesterase (AchE)-inhibiting organophosphates or
carbamates. Syndrome 1 correlates to organophosphate pesticides
in flea collars; syndrome 2 correlates to apparent low-level
nerve agent exposure and advanced side-effects of PB; and
syndrome 3 is also associated with exposure to PB and high
concentrations of DEET insect repellant. Hans Kang, of the
Central Veterans Affairs Office, surveyed 20,000 samples from
deployed and non-deployed veterans from the GWI era and found
three syndromes closely resembling those identified by Haley. He
concluded that syndrome 2 was found only in the deployed GWI
population and that these patients were most likely to be
unemployed due to their symptoms. Research at the Hebrew
University (Jerusalem, Israel) led by Hermona Soreq, PhD, has
shown that AChE-inhibitors induce the long-term production of a
variant form of an enzyme that is associated with animals that
have electrophysiological hyperactivity, impaired working
memory, hypersensitivity to head injury and weakened muscles.
Earlier work by her group showed that PB crosses the blood–brain
barrier more easily in stressed animals.

Other key findings from the affected veterans include an
increased cold sensory threshold, abnormal audiovestibular tests
that reflect subtle damage to brainstem reflex pathways and
abnormal autonomic nervous system function, which is shown by an
atypical heart rate during sleep. This could also explain the
common complaints of poor sleep, morning fatigue, chronic
pathogen-free diarrhoea and an increase in cholecystitis.
Soldiers with syndrome 2, who had more brain cell damage in the
left basal ganglia, had higher levels of brain dopamine
production, a finding that is compatible with the upregulation
of dopamine receptors after damage to dopaminergic pathways in
basal ganglia.

Haley and others also found a genetic component to GW syndrome.
Compared with a control sample, 26 affected veterans had much
lower levels of the enzymes paraoxonase (PON1) and
butyrylcholinesterase (BChE), which are responsible for
inactivating organophosphates, and the levels were particularly
low in those with syndrome 2. Mutation of the PON1 gene is also
associated with the development of Parkinson's disease (I. Kondo
& M. Yamamoto, Brain Research, 806, 271–273; 1998).
Interestingly, sheep-dippers in the UK that had
fatigue–cognitive-pain syndromes that are similar to GW syndrome
and chronic fatigue syndrome, had the same gene variant (N.
Cherry et al., Lancet, 359, 763–764; 2002). Japanese researchers
have cited the same PON1 genotype in Asians as a possible
explanation for the high impact of the low-level sarin exposures
in the 1995 terrorist attack on the Tokyo subway. All these risk
factors—exposures to environmental toxins, genetics, low-level
nerve agents, depleted uranium, stress, medical countermeasures
to bio- and chemical weapons, and combinations thereof—are also
relevant to domestic terrorism preparedness, the report notes.

As in the Vietnam War, GWI was marked by poor record-keeping of
toxic exposures, and much of what was available mysteriously
disappeared, said Robinson. Veterans who became ill after
contact with Agent Orange in Vietnam struggled for years to get
the US government to acknowledge that contact had occurred and
had a corresponding direct and negative effect on their health.
A recent study stated that two million more gallons of Agent
Orange and other defoliants had been sprayed over Vietnam than
earlier estimates suggested (J.M. Stellman et al., Nature, 422,
681–687; 2003). GWI veterans face similar systematic cover-ups
of exposures to chemical weapons and other toxins, according to
congressman Chris Shays and others. In addition to records being
destroyed, soldiers who were given vaccinations and prophylactic
PB were not always told what they were taking. The US
government's position was that toxic exposures could not be
verified because sensors in the field were "unreliable." One
source said that when marines crossed Iraqi minefields to reach
Kuwait during GWI, they were exposed to poisonous gas. But with
no accurate records, it was impossible to say that GWI veterans
were ill because of the war-time exposures, the government said. 

  Only time will tell whether veterans of the second Gulf War
will suffer the same illnesses as those from the first   
    
In 1997, the government finally admitted that soldiers were
exposed to poisonous gas when they bombed the Khamisiyah
chemical depot during GWI. The estimated numbers of those
exposed started at 100, then rose to 10,000, then 15, 000, and
finally reached 100,000. Last year, before Michael Kilpatrick
was moved from leading the OSAGWI to run the public relations
campaign for the second GW, he said that any modelling to
determine the exposure and dose rates of poisonous gas at
Khamisiyah or elsewhere was "a wild-ass guess"—and indicated
that the real number could be much higher than 100,000. Veterans
who served at Khamisiyah and Al Jubayl (another chemical depot
that was destroyed) are 37% more likely to have one or more
service-connected conditions than other veterans, according to
the NGWRC.

Despite efforts to cover up the facts, the NGWRC maintains that
more than 250,000 GWI veterans received the drug PB, which was
under investigation at the time, and which the Pentagon now
admits it cannot rule out as a possible cause of GW syndrome.
Eight thousand servicemen received the botulinum toxoid vaccine,
150,000 received the now-controversial anthrax vaccine, and
436,000 either entered or lived for months in areas contaminated
by more than 315 tons of toxic waste, possibly containing trace
amounts of highly radioactive plutonium and neptunium, without
awareness, protective gear or medical evaluations. Hundreds of
thousands lived outdoors near 700 burning oil-well fires for
months without protection.

Whether soldiers during the recent war in Iraq were subject to
the same or similar toxic exposures is an open question. Only
time will tell whether veterans of the second Gulf War will
suffer the same illnesses as those from the first. "If they do,
the cause this time will not be a mystery," Robinson said. "Now,
the only mystery connected to Gulf War syndrome is whether the
Department of Defense will do what Congress told them to do."
Here, he is referring to a 1998 US law that requires that
soldiers receive comprehensive physical examinations, including
blood tests, before and after deployment. Before the war began
in March, the DoD declared that it had learned from its
mistakes; the troops were being equipped with better
environmental sensors and other testing apparatus, and better
gas masks and suits. It also said that it would assess soldiers'
health using brief questionnaires, before and after deployment.
However, the protective equipment was substandard and, according
to civilian health experts who testified in Congress on March
25, 2003, once-yearly blood tests for HIV do not fulfil the
requirements for comprehensive examinations, which should
include lab tests and X-rays immediately before and after
deployment. Two days later, at the House Armed Services
subcommittee, lawmakers noted that many soldiers did not even
fill out the questionnaires, and Robinson said that those that
did were likely to give answers that would allow them to be
deployed and remain with their units. Twelve years after GWI, it
seems that the military is making some of the same mistakes
again. However, the DoD stated on April 29, 2003, that it would
provide a more comprehensive, face-to-face examination for the
returning soldiers. Calling it a "first step", Robinson and the
NGWRC are still insisting that baseline data should have been
collected. Soldiers who are fighting terrorism around the world
should not experience the same system failures that GWI veterans
continue to face, he added.

*****************************************************************
 2 UK The Times: Iran has secret nuclear lab
 
November 28, 2004                      
 
Peter Conradi
		   		 		
IRAN is working on a secret nuclear programme for military 
purposes despite its promise to halt all uranium enrichment 
activities, a German news magazine claimed yesterday. 

Citing documents from an unnamed intelligence agency, Der Spiegel 
said Iran had set up a laboratory in a secret tunnel near a 
nuclear facility in Isfahan. This would be able to produce large 
amounts of uranium hexafluoride gas which could, in turn, be used 
to enrich uranium  a vital component for a nuclear bomb. 

Orders to build the tunnel were given last month by Ayatollah Ali 
Khamenei, Irans supreme leader, the magazine said. 

The claims emerged as Britain, France and Germany warned Iran 
last night it could face sanctions if it does not agree to freeze 
key parts of its nuclear programme by tomorrow. 

The three have hitherto failed to back calls by America to refer 
Iran to the United Nations Security Council. Their patience 
appears to be running out, however, after Tehran last week tried 
to backtrack over a deal agreed in principle earlier this month. 

Under the deal, brokered by Britain, France and Germany, Iran is 
obliged to accept a complete freeze on nuclear technology that 
could be used to make weapons-grade uranium. The United States 
has accused it of trying to develop a bomb. 

Iran challenged the terms of the agreement during talks at the 
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) last week. It wants to 
be allowed to operate 20 centrifuges, which are used to enrich 
uranium, for research purposes. 

EU officials rejected this, fearing it could boost Irans 
capabilities in a crucial area of nuclear weapons development. 

Western countries had expected Iran to back down but despite 
attempts at mediation by Jack Straw, the foreign secretary, the 
talks were adjourned on Friday without agreement. 

Kamal Kharrazi, the Iranian foreign minister, said yesterday that 
Iran was sticking to its demand for an exemption. The 
centrifuges will work under IAEA supervision and will be for 
research purposes only, he said. The IAEAs board meets again 
tomorrow. 

The administration of President George W Bush is wary of European 
attempts to broker a deal. In his most positive comments to date 
on the initiative, Bush praised Britain, France and Germany for 
their efforts  but said that any agreement would need to be 
monitored to ensure Iran was honouring the terms. 

Irans latest wriggling has compounded concerns that Tehran, 
which has repeatedly failed to come clean about its activities 
during a two-year IAEA investigation, is trying to find a way of 
continuing clandestinely with its nuclear programme. 

Last week the National Council of Resistance of Iran, an 
opposition group, released details of another site in Laviza, a 
suburb in northeast Tehran, where it claims that laser enrichment 
of uranium is under way. 


Additional reporting: Tom Walker   	 		

							   	 	
Copyright The Times - timesonline.co.uk
*****************************************************************
 3 Guardian Unlimited: Europe, Iran Work to Save Nuclear Deal
 
From the Associated Press        

[UP] 

Saturday November 27, 2004 9:31 PM

AP Photo VIE119 

By GEORGE JAHN 

Associated Press Writer 

VIENNA, Austria (AP) - Top European and Iranian officials sought 
Saturday to save a deal committing Tehran to freezing uranium 
enrichment programs, which can make nuclear weapons. But Iran's 
insistence on exempting key equipment hurt hopes of agreement 
before a key U.N. meeting reconvenes next week. 

The squabble over Iran's interpretation of its deal with the 
European Union to freeze all activities linked to uranium 
enrichment stalled an International Atomic Energy Agency board 
meeting, which was adjourned Friday until Monday. 

That was meant to give the Iranian government time to approve a 
total freeze of the program - which can produce both low-grade 
nuclear fuel and weapons-grade material for the core of nuclear 
warheads - and for delegates to decide on further steps in 
policing Tehran's nuclear activities. 

But in Tehran, Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi told reporters 
Saturday that Iran still held the view that it had a right to 
exempt about 20 centrifuges from the agreement, despite contrary 
views from the European Union. 

Iran says it wants to run the centrifuges purely for research, 
something Kharrazi insisted was not banned by a Nov. 7 agreement 
worked out with Germany, France and Britain on behalf of the 
European Union. 

``The centrifuges will work under International Atomic Energy 
Agency supervision and will be for research purposes only,'' he 
told reporters. 

The meeting was adjourned to give time for a formal Iranian 
response by letter to the IAEA on whether the Tehran government 
accepts a full suspension that includes the 20 centrifuges. 

EU delegates to the Vienna meeting said discussions continued 
Saturday by phone between British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw 
and Hassan Rowhani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security 
Council and his country's top point man on nuclear matters. 

But they said the Europeans would not budge on insisting on a 
full freeze that included the centrifuges. 

As the board meeting awaited a formal Iranian response, France, 
Germany and Britain toned down the language of proposed 
resolution they drafted, in attempts to entice Tehran to sign on 
to full suspension. 

The confidential draft, made available to The Associated Press, 
weakened language on how any freeze would be monitored by the 
agency. 

It authorizes IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei to ``pursue his 
investigations'' into remaining suspicious aspects of Iran's 
nuclear activities over the past two decades. 

But instead of mandating him to ``report without delay'' to the 
board if there are violations, it says only that he should 
``inform'' board members of irregularities. 

But an EU official told the AP that Tehran's refusal to drop 
demands to exempt equipment from the enrichment suspension could 
prompt a much harsher resolution that could include the threat of 
Security Council action. 

Iran was one of three countries singled out by President Bush as 
part of an ``axis of evil.'' The others were North Korea and 
Saddam Hussein's Iraq. 

Western delegates to the meeting said the United States - which 
insists Tehran is seeking to make weapons and belongs before the 
U.N. Security Council- was unhappy with the draft. ``The only 
good deal is one that's verifiable,'' Bush said Friday, 
reflecting skepticism about he proposed resolution. 

Kharrazi, however, suggested that even the milder language was 
too tough for Iran. 

``There are still provisions in the resolution we don't agree 
with,'' he said. 

Delegates from EU countries at the meeting said that if Iran did 
not give in by Monday, the meeting could be adjourned and a new 
date set for fresh consultations on the board's plan of action - 
and a new resolution. 

Anticipating that Iran would honor the Nov. 7 deal on full 
suspension, the original proposed resolution drafted by the three 
European countries had already been relatively mild, taking much 
of the heat off Iran after more than 1 1/2 years of IAEA 
scrutiny. 

But Iran came to Thursday's opening day of the meeting with 
demands that it be allowed to operate the 20 centrifuges - which 
spin gas into enriched uranium. 

On the Web: www.iaea.org 
  
      Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004
*****************************************************************
 4 Yahoo!: US commander warns Iran, others not to underestimate US military power
 
Saturday November 27, 08:47 PM

DOHA, Qatar (AFP) - A top US commander has warned Iran and other 
countries to never underestimate US air and naval power, 
discounting concerns that US forces are too tied down in Iraq to 
respond to challenges elsewhere. "To deter a nation state you 
should never underestimate the air and naval power of the United 
States," General John Abizaid, the commander of US forces in the 
Middle East told AFP in a joint interview late Friday. 

"Why the Iranians would want to move against us in an overt
manner that would cause us to use our air or naval power against
them would be beyond me. We have an incredible amount of power,"
he said. Abizaid made the comment in response to questions about
whether the United States, with the bulk of its ground forces
tied down in Iraq, had the means to meet other contingencies
such as a conflict with Iran. 

The United States suspects Iran's nuclear programme is aimed at 
developing atomic weapons, but Tehran insists it is for civilian 
purposes only. Abizaid pointed to the US-led assault on the 
former Iraqi rebel stronghold of Fallujah as an example of the 
overwhelming force that can be brought to bear by a relatively 
small ground force of some 10,000 troops backed by air strikes 
launched from US aircraft carriers in the Gulf. 

"And so we can generate more military power per square inch than 
anybody else on earth, and everybody knows it," he said. "If you 
ever even contemplate our nuclear capability, it should give 
everybody the clear understanding that there is no power than can 
match us militarily," he said, speaking as he flew to his 
headquarters here from Afghanistan. Lawmakers from both US 
parties have pressed for increases in the size of the army, 
warning that US ground forces have been strained to breaking 
point by a longer, more violent struggle to pacify Iraq than 
anticipated. 

US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has resisted calls for 
permanent increases in the size of the army, relying instead on 
temporary increases and a reorganization to squeeze more combat 
brigades from the existing force. "The question is do you need to 
have a very, very large conventional land force to deal with the 
forseeable problems of the next 20 years?" said Abizaid. 

"My answer is if the international community hangs together and 
there is not a bloc of nations for example that would come 
together in some way as to present a threat to the United States, 
we've got it about right," he said. As it pursues a long war 
against Muslim extremism, the United States should rely on local 
forces to fight insurgents, he said. 

"My view is that the way to win these wars, to win the 
insurgencies in both Afghanistan and Iraq, you need to build 
Afghan and Iraqi capacity, and in the long run the need for large 
numbers of American troops will come down," he said. "So the 
priority has to be helping countries help themselves. After all, 
who better can go against the cellular structures in Afghanistan, 
Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Egypt, wherever you may find them, but 
the people that live there," he said. 

Meanwhile, more troops are needed in Iraq through the January 30 
elections, Abizaid acknowledged. However, no decisions have been 
reached on how many are required or where they will come from, he 
said. There are now about 138,000 US troops in Iraq. 

Options under discussion range from extending tours of duty of 
more soldiers, speeding the arrival of others already scheduled 
to deploy to Iraq earlier next year, to bringing in extra troops 
from Europe or the United States for a short period. "And of 
course one of the key things we have to understand is what the 
Iraqis are capable of doing or not capable of doing between now 
and the elections," Abizaid said.

"So the big question is what American plus Iraqi equation equals 
good enough security for the elections, and everybody needs to 
understand there is not going to be perfect security for the 
elections," he said.     

Copyright © 2004 AFP AFP. All rights reserved. 
  
    Copyright © 2004 Yahoo! UK Limited. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
 5 Guardian Unlimited: Iran Vows Not to Give Up Centrifuge Demand
 
From the Associated Press        

[UP] 

Sunday November 28, 2004 10:31 AM

By ALI AKBAR DAREINI 

Associated Press Writer 

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran toughened its position over its nuclear 
program Sunday, vowing to maintain its demand to exempt 20 
centrifuges it says it wants for research despite international 
efforts to save a deal committing Tehran to freeze uranium 
enrichment and all related activities. 

Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi also said Tehran was 
not worried about being referred to the U.N. Security Council for 
possible sanctions. 

``The issue of research and development is separate from 
discussions about suspension,'' Asefi told reporters Sunday. ``We 
always had research and development in the past and we will 
continue that in the future. We will use the 20 centrifuges for 
research.'' 

Iran insists using the 20 centrifuges purely for research is not 
prohibited by a Nov. 7 agreement worked out with Germany, France 
and Britain on behalf of the European Union to suspend all 
uranium enrichment and related activities. The European Union 
disagrees. 

The dispute over Iran's interpretation of the deal stalled an 
International Atomic Energy Agency board meeting in Vienna, 
Austria, which was adjourned Friday until Monday. 

That was meant to give time for the Iranian government to 
consider and approve a total freeze of the program - which can 
produce both low-grade nuclear fuel and weapons-grade material 
for the core of nuclear warheads - and for delegates to decide on 
further steps in policing Tehran's nuclear activities. 

Asefi said Iran won't give up on its position on the centrifuges, 
even if time was running out for a final agreement. 

``We are negotiating with Europeans to specify the way we are 
going to use the 20 centrifuges. ... What is important is the 
legitimate right of our country, and we won't give (that) up,'' 
he said. 

EU delegates to the Vienna meeting said discussions continued 
Saturday by phone between British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw 
and Hassan Rowhani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security 
Council and his country's point man on nuclear matters. But they 
said the Europeans would not budge on insisting on a full freeze 
that included the centrifuges. 

As the board awaited a formal Iranian response, France, Germany 
and Britain toned down language in a proposed Security Council 
resolution in an attempt to entice Tehran to sign on to full 
suspension. The confidential draft, made available to The 
Associated Press, weakened language on how any freeze would be 
monitored by the agency. It was said by Western diplomats to be 
unsatisfactory to the United States. 

Still, refusal by Tehran to drop demands to exempt equipment from 
the enrichment suspension could prompt a much harsher resolution 
that could include the threat of U.N. Security Council action. 

``We are not worried about referral to the U.N. Security 
Council,'' Asefi said. ``But we prefer that negotiations be 
continued within the framework of the IAEA because otherwise the 
capabilities of the agency and Europe will be in doubt.''        
  
      Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004
*****************************************************************
 6 Guardian Unlimited: Iran Apparently Agrees to Stop Enrichment
 
From the Associated Press        

[UP] 

Sunday November 28, 2004 2:01 PM


AP Photo VAH102 

By GEORGE JAHN 

Associated Press Writer 

VIENNA, Austria (AP) - Backing down before a deadline, Iran
apparently has given up its demand to exempt some equipment from
a deal freezing uranium enrichment programs that can make
nuclear weapons, diplomats said Sunday. 

Diplomats from the European Union and elsewhere said the
International Atomic Energy Agency received a letter containing
a pledge not to test some centrifuges during the freeze. 

The pledge appeared to resolve a dispute that threatened to
escalate into possible referral of Iran to the U.N. Security
Council for defying the IAEA board. The Security Council could
then impose sanctions against Iran. 

But the diplomats told The Associated Press the letter still
needed close examination to determine what exactly the Iranians
had agreed to. 

Only if the Iranians agreed to totally suspend enrichment -
including all use of the centrifuges - would the dispute be
resolved, they said.	 
  
      Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004
*****************************************************************
 7 Guardian Unlimited: Iran Says It Will Stop Uranium Enrichment
 
From the Associated Press        

[UP] 

Sunday November 28, 2004 11:16 PM

AP Photo VIE104 

By GEORGE JAHN 

Associated Press Writer 

VIENNA, Austria (AP) - Just a day before an international
deadline, Iran agreed Sunday not to test any centrifuges as part
of a total suspension of nuclear activities that can yield
uranium for atomic weapons. Diplomats described the about-face
as an effort to avoid possible U.N. sanctions. 

Diplomats from the European Union and elsewhere said on
condition of anonymity that the International Atomic Energy
Agency received a letter from Iran containing a pledge not to
test 20 centrifuges during the freeze it agreed to Nov. 7 during
negotiations with Britain, France and Germany, who were working
on behalf of the European Union. 

The pledge appeared to resolve a dispute that threatened to
escalate at Monday's IAEA board meeting into consultations on
possibly referring Iran to the U.N. Security Council for defying
the board. The Security Council could then impose sanctions
against Iran. 

A senior diplomat with nuclear expertise told The Associated
Press the Iranian pledge appeared to contain no pitfalls and
seemed to meet the European demands for full suspension. 

Still, the commitment came with strings attached. A government
official from a board member country told The AP that France,
Germany and Britain had accepted an Iranian demand to further
water down the language of a draft resolution they wrote for
adoption by the board on ways of policing the suspension. 

The text to be adopted Monday now includes a phrase emphasizing
that the suspension is not a legal or binding obligation on
Tehran's part, he said. 

Under the agreement, the 20 centrifuges Iran had previously
wanted exempted would not be placed under IAEA seals but
monitored by cameras, diplomats said. 

Iran says its program is for generating electricity, but the
United States insists Iran is trying to make nuclear weapons.
President Bush has called Iran part of an ``axis of evil'' with
North Korea and prewar Iraq. 

Uranium enrichment does not violate the terms of the Nuclear
Nonproliferation Treaty that Iran has signed, but for months
Tehran has been under pressure to freeze all related activities
to ease fears it might want to use the technology to make
weapons. 

The three European negotiators of the Nov. 7 deal say the freeze
also prohibits the Iranians from running centrifuges for
research purposes. The centrifuges spin gas into enriched
uranium. 

The Iranian promise came less than a day before the 35-nation
IAEA board was scheduled to reconvene in Vienna over the
enrichment suspension. 

Iran had no official comment Sunday on the letter. State
television and radio in Tehran were still broadcasting earlier
statements from a Foreign Ministry spokesman, who had vowed that
Iran would use the centrifuges for research. The Foreign
Ministry could not be reached for immediate comment. 

``We always had research and development in the past and we will
continue that in the future,'' ministry spokesman Hamid Reza
Asefi said. 

It is not unusual for Iran state media to lag behind
developments in diplomatic negotiations. 

But in Vienna, a senior member of the Iranian delegation to the
IAEA - who demanded anonymity - confirmed his country's offer of
full suspension and the changes to the resolution text. 

The IAEA board meeting adjourned in disarray Friday. The pause
was meant to give the Iranian government time to approve a total
freeze of its program, which can produce both low-grade nuclear
fuel and weapons-grade material for the core of nuclear
warheads. Delegates also were to decide on further steps in
policing Tehran's nuclear activities. 

The dispute about what constituted full suspension had dominated
the meeting. 

The Europeans say the deal committed Iran to full suspension of
enrichment and all related activities - at least while the two
sides discuss a pact meant to provide Tehran with EU technical
and economic aid and other concessions. 

Iranian officials had suggested the issue was not up for debate
only hours before details emerged of their letter to the agency. 

``Referral to the U.N. Security Council would not be the end of
the world,'' Asefi said in Tehran earlier Sunday. 

But as the clock ticked down to Monday, EU officials and
delegates spoke of the growing likelihood of tough action at the
board meeting if Iran remained defiant - including the start of
work on a harsh resolution that could include the threat of U.N.
Security Council action. 

The draft being informally circulated ahead of Monday's resumed
board meeting contained intentionally weak language on how any
freeze would be monitored by the agency in an attempt to entice
Tehran to sign on to total suspension. 

But - in return for Sunday's suspension pledge - Iran wanted
further weakening of the language in the text, the senior
diplomat said. 

On the Net: 

International Atomic Energy Agency: www.iaea.org 	 
  
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004
*****************************************************************
 8 Korea Herald: U.N. watchdog plans new inspection here   

The Nation's No.1 English Newspaper

(smjoo@heraldm.com)

By Joo Sang-min

2004.11.29
 
IAEA team visits in Dec., no referral to Security Council

 The U.N. nuclear watchdog agency will send a fourth round of 
inspectors to South Korea next month to look into remaining 
suspicions about Seoul's undeclared nuclear experiments in past 
years, although it has decided not to refer the affair to the 
U.N. Security Council.

 Seoul officials said yesterday that the International Atomic 
Energy Agency informally notified a government delegation at IAEA 
headquarters in Vienna last week of its plan to send inspectors 
in the middle of December.

 The inspection is expected to focus on some unresolved minor 
issues following the three previous visit, officials at the 
Ministry of Science and Technology said.

 IAEA Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei reported to his board of 
governors that the agency is continuing the process of verifying 
the every single detail of South Korea's declarations on the 
tests pursuant to the international Safeguards Agreement and 
Additional Protocol.

 The notice comes after the IAEA closed its two-day board meeting 
on Friday with a decision not to refer Seoul's failure to report 
the plutonium and uranium extraction or enrichment between 1982 
and 2000 to the Security Council. 

It said the failure to report the nuclear activities in 
accordance with safeguards agreements is of serious concern.

 But, it said in a seven-point chairman's statement, "At the same 
time, the board noted that the quantities of nuclear material 
involved have not been significant, and that to date there is no 
indication that the undeclared experiments have continued.

 "The board welcomed the corrective actions taken by the ROK and 
the active cooperation it has provided to the agency," the 
statement added.

 The South Korean government welcomed the decision because it 
meant Seoul has avoided the worst-case scenario of being referred 
to the council.

 South Korea's chief government delegate, Vice Foreign Minister 
Choi Young-jin, told reporters in Vienna that controversy over 
the nuclear experiments has been fairly and properly evaluated 
and concluded by the IAEA.

 But officials said Seoul should not be complacent about the 
chairman's statement as the issue could still be referred to the 
Security Council should the continuing IAEA investigation reveal 
any new, serious violation.

 The chairman's statement made clear that the agency would 
continue its monitoring, saying South Korea had made small 
amounts of weapons-grade plutonium, a violation of nuclear 
nonproliferation treaty.

 "The (Seoul) government will extend full cooperation to the IAEA 
board's future confirmation efforts regarding the nation's past 
nuclear material experiments," Choi said. "But any new, special 
things will not come to light in additional investigations."

 Over the past few weeks, Seoul worked hard to avoid referral to 
the Security Council, sending high-level envoys to Washington and 
Vienna for discussions.

 Washington, which wished to refer the Iranian nuclear issue to 
the Security Council, reportedly had wanted to use South Korea's 
case as a stepping stone in a clear sign that there is a no 
exception when it comes to a nuclear issue.

 The chief U.S. nonproliferation official, Undersecretary of 
State John Bolton, actually said that a referral would help to 
prove South Korea's innocence.

 But officials in Seoul worried that a referral could possibly 
hamper inter-Korean relations and stand in the way of bringing 
North Korea back to the six-party negotiating table on ending its 
nuclear weapons ambitions.

 The government is eager for Seoul to be completely off the hook 
from the IAEA.

 North Korea has been using Seoul's experiments among its excuses 
to stall the six-party talks, suspended since the third round in 
Beijing in June. 

*****************************************************************
 9 Korea Herald: [EDITORIAL] IAEA decision on Korea   

2004.11.29

The Nation's No.1 English Newspaper
 
South Korea heaved a sigh of relief last week when the 
International Atomic Energy Agency decided not to refer its 
unreported nuclear materials experiments to the U.N. Security 
Council. It could otherwise have been branded a nuclear culprit, 
if not a pariah state like North Korea, in the international 
community.

 As South Korean officials have explained in the past, the 
extraction of plutonium and the enrichment of uranium, both in 
miniscule amounts, were nothing but isolated cases of experiments 
some curious scientists conducted without obtaining approval from 
the government. 

Even so, South Korea would have had no one else to blame but 
itself had it faced sanctions from the Security Council. It had 
to put nuclear scientists under tight scrutiny to prevent them 
from unauthorized experiments but did not. In addition, it 
fumbled and failed to explain in clear terms what really happened 
when it was addressing the problems in the initial stage.

 It was not an easy job for the South Korean government to 
convince the international community later on that it had had no 
intention of developing nuclear weapons. Some foreign news 
reports fueled suspicions about South Korea's allegedly hidden 
motives.

 The United States and other members of the U.N. nuclear watchdog 
may not have had doubts about the nature of the South Korean 
scientists' unsanctioned experiments. Still, they considered them 
serious violations of an international treaty against nuclear 
proliferation. Japan even proposed to deal with the one-off cases 
in the six-way talks on North Korea's suspected nuclear weapons 
program.

 Much credit should be given to the United States for helping 
South Korea avoid being referred to the Security Council. Its 
change in attitude in favor of South Korea influenced other IAEA 
members to follow suit.

 Despite the IAEA decision last week, the two experiment cases 
are not closed completely. There still are some errors to be 
corrected and some suspicions to be cleared. No matter how 
insignificant they may be, the South Korean government will have 
to take them seriously and fully cooperate with the IAEA in 
resolving them. By doing so, it will be able to enhance 
transparency in its nuclear energy programs.

 
*****************************************************************
 10 INSIDE JoongAng Daily: IAEA spares Seoul, but is still watching
 
November 29, 2004 KST 11:54 (GMT+9)

  November 29, 2004 ¤Ñ Seoul has escaped a referral to the UN
Security Council, but is expecting a fourth team of
investigators from the International Atomic Energy Agency in
December, as the nuclear watchdog still needs to verify some of
the information provided on South Korea's undeclared nuclear
activities.

 On Friday, after extensive lobbying, South Korea narrowly
escaped a humiliating interrogation at the UN when the IAEA
issued a rebuke, but stopped short of recommending putting
Seoul's case before the Security Council. Nevertheless, the
atomic agency left the door open for possible future actions,
saying that South Korea needs to continue its active cooperation
with the agency.

 Seoul admitted in August to undeclared nuclear activities
between 1982 and 2000, prompting the IAEA to send three teams of
investigators here. 

A Korean foreign ministry official said yesterday that next
month's scheduled investigation is in keeping with the statement
released by the nuclear watchdog. The official said the
inspection's purpose is to verify some minor details of a report
submitted to the IAEA earlier, based upon which the nuclear
agency released its Friday statement. 

"We don't think that we will have any serious problems. It's
established practice for the IAEA to continue investigations
until they have answered all questions," said the official. The
official did, however, concede that should the investigation
turn up any serious new findings, South Korea's case could be
brought up in March when the nuclear watchdog convenes again. 
In its report, the IAEA said that South Korea needs to provide
the operating records for its plutonium separation and uranium
enrichment experiments and any detailed information regarding
them. 

Analysts said that if South Korea's case had been referred to
the UN Security Council, a resumption of the six-party talks on
Pyeongyang's nuclear arms would have been out of the question
for the foreseeable future, because the North would have been
given the perfect ammunition to further delay the talks. 

North Korea has been boycotting the fourth round of talks,
originally set for September, citing Seoul's undeclared nuclear
activities and what it calls a hostile U.S. policy. 

by Brian Lee africanu@joongang.co.kr>   

Copyright by Joins.com, Inc. Terms of Use |
*****************************************************************
 11 Xinhuanet: IAEA to dispatch inspection team to ROK - 
 
  www.xinhuanet.com

  www.chinaview.cn 2004-11-28 17:29:35   

    SEOUL, Nov. 28 (Xinhuanet) -- The UN nuclear watchdog is said 
to send the forth inspection team to South Korea next month as 
part of its efforts to clear remaining suspicions about the 
country's past nuclear activities, reported South Korean Yonhap 
News Agency on Sunday. 

    Yonhap quoted unnamed official at the Ministry of Science and 
Technology as saying the International Atomic Energy Agency 
(IAEA)has informally notified Seoul of its plan to dispatch 
inspectors in the middle of December. 

    The report came after the IAEA decided not to refer Seoul's 
alleged secret atomic experiments in the past to the UN Security 
Council during a board of governors meeting in Vienna from Nov. 
25to 26. 

    The IAEA has already conducted three rounds of on-site 
inspections on the allegations this year. 

    The "chairman's conclusion" released in the IAEA's meeting 
saidSouth Korea's actions were a matter of "serious concern," but 
showed leniency, citing the "corrective actions" taken by Seoul, 
and its cooperation and openness with agency inspectors. 

    However, the conclusion made clear that Seoul would continue 
tobe monitored by the nuclear watchdog. 

    "We have not been officially informed of the plan yet," 
anotherSouth Korean government official was quoted by Yonhap as 
saying, adding, "The IAEA is likely to notify us of it sometime 
next week." 

    "The upcoming inspection is expected to focus on some minor 
issues that remain unsolved despite previous inspections," he 
added. 

    South Korea acknowledged in early September that its 
scientistsextracted or enriched small amounts of plutonium and 
uranium, two key ingredients for 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. Enditem   

  Copyright ©2003 Xinhua News Agency. All rights reserved. 
*****************************************************************
 12 Korea Times: IAEA to Send Another Inspection Team to Seoul 

Hankooki.com > The Korea Times   

By Jung Sung-ki Staff Reporter

 The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will send another 
inspection team to Seoul next month as part of supplementary 
probes into South Korea's uranium and plutonium experiments 
conducted over the past two decades, officials at the Ministry of 
Science and Technology said Sunday. 

The decision came after the United Nations' nuclear watchdog 
decided not to refer South Korea's undeclared nuclear activities 
to the U.N. Security Council (UNSC) in a board of governors 
meeting in Vienna last week, adopting a seven-point chairman's 
statement. The statement said Seoul's nuclear cover-ups were a 
``matter of serious concern,'' but decided not to send the case 
to the UNSC, considering South Korea's active cooperation in the 
agency. 

The statement, however, also mentioned the agency would continue 
to monitor Seoul's nuclear activities to ensure ``accuracy'' and 
``perfection.'' 

After Seoul's disclosure of the ``curiosity-oriented'' nuclear 
experiments by a small group of scientists in early September, 
the Vienna-based IAEA has conducted three rounds of inspections 
in Seoul to look around two nuclear research facilities in Seoul 
and Taejon, where the controversial tests were carried out. 

``We haven't received an official notification of the upcoming 
inspection,'' a Science-Technology official said. ``The IAEA is 
likely to notify us of it within the week.'' 

The forthcoming inspection is expected to be part of a 
supplementary probe to clear unresolved suspicions about the 
alleged nuclear activities following the previous inspections, he 
added. 

South Korea acknowledged two months ago that some of its 
``unauthorized'' scientists extracted or enriched small amounts 
of plutonium and uranium, two key ingredients of nuclear bombs, 
in 1982 and 2000, respectively. Its disclosure drew strong 
international concerns, particularly over the damaging effect it 
might have on international efforts to convince North Korea to 
scrap its nuclear weapons programs. 

But Seoul officials have repeatedly said the experiments were 
purely academic exercises and denied claims of a 
government-backed nuclear weapons program in the South. 

In the wake of the disclosure, South Korean officials stated the 
country would not develop nuclear weapons and that it would 
promote the use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. 

With 19 commercial nuclear power plants, South Korea obtains 40 
percent of its electricity from nuclear power, one of the highest 
ratios in the world. 

gallantjung@koreatimes.co.kr 11-28-2004 15:55         
  
*****************************************************************
 13 asahi.com: U.S. offer to N. Korea still alive 

By NOBUYOSHI SAKAJIRI, The Asahi Shimbun 

The `bold approach' provides a wide range of aid in exchange for 
a scrapped nuke program. 

WASHINGTON--The United States is still willing to offer a 
generous assistance package that North Korea rejected two years 
ago, but time is running out on the ``bold approach'' offer to 
get Pyongyang to dismantle its nuclear weapons program. 

Sources close to the administration of U.S. President George W. 
Bush recently acknowledged that Assistant Secretary of State 
James Kelly made the ``bold approach'' proposal during a visit to 
Pyongyang in October 2002. 

But North Korean officials rejected the proposal because it 
called for the country to abandon all aspects of its nuclear 
program, the sources said. 

While Bush and his top officials have often referred to this bold 
approach to North Korea, details of the proposal have not emerged 
until now. 

If Pyongyang had agreed to eliminate its nuclear weapons program, 
the United States was willing to establish diplomatic relations, 
sign a peace treaty, provide infrastructure construction 
assistance and help the isolationist state return to the fold of 
the international community, the sources said. 

One senior Bush administration official said while the proposal 
had not been scrapped, whether it would be formally offered again 
to North Korea would depend on Pyongyang. He added it would also 
depend on the final diplomatic lineup for Bush's second term. 

With Condoleezza Rice expected to be the new secretary of state, 
the proposal will likely remain a U.S. option in dealing with 
North Korea. Rice is believed to have come up with the name 
``bold approach'' when it was being put together by the National 
Security Council. 

Under the proposal, North Korea would be expected to dismantle 
its nuclear weapons program, related materials as well as nuclear 
development facilities and transport those items outside of the 
country. 

The bold approach also called on Pyongyang to enter into talks 
with Washington on other pressing issues, including a reduction 
of military forces on both sides of the demilitarized zone that 
separates the two Koreas. It also required that missiles, 
biological and chemical weapons as well as human rights issues be 
addressed. 

In exchange for North Korean concessions, the United States was 
willing to review the 1994 Agreed Framework that promised to 
build two light-water reactors in North Korea. 

Under the review, thermal power plants capable of generating the 
same volume of electricity would have replaced the light-water 
reactors. 

In addition, the United States would have provided high-voltage 
power transmission lines and hydropower plant generation 
technology, assisted in building roads and bridges and pushed for 
North Korea to join the ranks of major international financial 
institutions, such as the World Bank and the Asian Development 
Bank. 

The United States also said it would kick off negotiations to 
convert the U.S.-North Korea cease-fire agreement into a peace 
treaty and remove North Korea from its list of nations known to 
sponsor terrorism. 

Humanitarian assistance in the form of food aid and the 
construction of hospitals and schools would have also been 
offered had Pyongyang agreed to the proposal. 

Administration officials said the program was designed to promote 
reform and encourage North Korea to develop an open-door policy 
through improved relations with the United States. 

The sources said that when Kelly presented the offer to his North 
Korean counterparts, he told them it was not designed to 
overthrow the regime of Kim Jong Il. 

Nevertheless, First Vice Minister Kang Sok Ju rejected the 
proposal without even looking at it in depth, the sources 
said.(IHT/Asahi: November 27,2004) 

[Copyright Asahi Shimbun. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
 14 Washington Times: Nuke Rep. Hobson's bill
 
                       - November 27, 2004

President Bush would have to allocate some of the political
capital he accumulated from his 3.5 million-vote, 31-state 
re-election victory to change the mind of a single seven-term 
House Republican who has, virtually single-handedly, blocked the 
will of the White House, 95 percent of his House Republican 
colleagues and 98 percent of Senate Republicans? 

Yet that is precisely what Ohio Republican Rep. David Hobson is 
bent on doing. 

In fact, he has managed to prevail, so far, by exercising his 
will in the $388 billion omnibus spending bill adopted last 
Saturday. 

The fact that the issue at hand directly affects America's 
long-term nuclear-weapons policy makes Mr. Hobson's stand all the 
more unacceptable. 


 
*****************************************************************
 15 Las Vegas RJ: Energy efforts close to starting 
 
Saturday, November 27, 2004

State program will help fund solar, wind farm projects 

By JOHN G. EDWARDS REVIEW-JOURNAL
 
Two developers said Friday they are getting closer to beginning
construction on separate alternate energy projects that will
take advantage of a new state program.
 
 Developers of Solargenix Energy, a planned 50-megawatt solar
thermal project in the Eldorado Valley, and Ely Wind, a proposed
50-megawatt wind farm in Northern Nevada, have applied for
approval under a new state program that makes it easier for them
to get financing.
 
 Solargenix hopes to obtain financing by March and start
construction of the solar thermal plant, said Gary Bailey, a
local executive with the company. The facility will use troughs
that reflect sunlight and heat on to a fluid-filled pipe that
will spin a turbine to generate power.
 
 Bailey declined to specify the cost of the project but
estimated it will be 12 to 18 months before the plant can start
providing solar power to Nevada Power Co.
 
 Ely Wind is planned for the top of Eagan Mountain, which is 40
miles north of Ely. The partnership has obtained financing from
Babcock &Brown and National Power for the $50 million to $60
million project, said Tim Carlson, general partner of Ely Wind
and owner of Carlson &Associates.
 
 Carlson's partnership is collecting wind data to ascertain the
best location for the wind turbines. He expects the wind
turbines to be completed by 2006. 
The power will be sold to Sierra Pacific Power Co. of Reno, but
Nevada Power will get the renewable credits that can be used to
comply with the state's renewable portfolio standard. The state
law requires the utilities to obtain an increasing amount of
renewable energy until it represents 15 percent of their total
power sales by 2013.
 
 Nevada Power and Sierra signed contracts to buy renewable
energy from several companies, but some complained they couldn't
obtain financing because of the utilities' low, junk-bond level
ratings and investor fears that the utilities might file for
bankruptcy and cancel power contracts.
 
 Richard Burdette, energy adviser to Gov. Kenny Guinn,
coordinated efforts to establish a Temporary Renewable Energy
Development program, to help resolve the financial problems. The
program calls for creation of a trust that Nevada Power and
Sierra Pacific would fund. The trust then would provide those
funds to owners of renewable power plants. 
State officials believe the trust will provide some protection
for green power plant owners in case the utilities, which will
be the main customer, were to file for bankruptcy and have to
cancel their power purchase contracts.
 
 Ely Wind and Solargenix are seeking approval to participate in
the trust program, and the Public Utilities Commission has
scheduled a prehearing conference on Dec. 6 on their
applications.
 
 Ormat, which is owned by a similarly named Israeli company, is
proceeding with plans to build 22 more megawatts of generating
capacity in the so-called Steamboat Springs area south of Reno.
It will supply the power to Sierra Pacific Power, but it has not
asked to participate in the trust program.
 
 Powerlight, a company headquartered in Berkley, Calif., has
entered a contract to build a $22 million, 3.1-megawatt
photovoltaic power plant for the Las Vegas Valley Water
District. Photovoltaic panels convert sunlight directly into
electricity. Under the arrangement, credits for the project will
be sold to Nevada Power for compliance with the renewable energy
law if the Public Utilities Commission approves the deal.
 
 In another development, Clear Power Corp. of Calgary, Canada,
is preparing to set up solar power plant development operations
in Las Vegas, said Jeff Brown, a consultant to the company.
Through a subsidiary to be called Kenetixx, the company plans to
develop a 500-megawatt wind farm on federal land in Southern
Nevada. It intends to complete the project by the end of 2005,
he said.
 
 Separately, Energy Nevada Partners of Carson City and Nordic
Windpower of Scotland and Sweden announced an agreement to
establish Nordic's U.S. wind power manufacturing plant in
Northern Nevada. The agreement, however, is tentative.
 
 It says that Nordic will start making wind turbines "as soon as
a Nevada wind energy project of sufficient size is committed to
construction," according to the Nevada Appeal.
 
 
Copyright Las Vegas Review-Journal
*****************************************************************
 16 Washington Times: Congress spending increase criticized
 
Nation/Politics - November 27, 2004
			     		 		 		 
  [AP Breaking News]   
    				 		
By Donald Lambro
 			
The Republican Congress is getting flak for a 4 percent 
discretionary spending increase, fattened by a pork-stuffed 
omnibus appropriations bill that President Bush is expected to 
sign soon, as White House officials hint of tighter nondefense 
expenditures to come in next year's budget. 

    The temporarily stalled $388 billion catch-all spending bill 
that goes to Mr. Bush's desk sometime early next month will fund 
13 departments and dozens of agencies for the rest of the 2004-05 
fiscal year, resulting overall in lower nonmilitary, 
nonhomeland-defense spending increases than the president's 
previous budgets. 
		
     		
But critics point to $15.8 billion in pork-barrel spending
that Mr. Bush did not seek  including 11,000 earmarked items
like $350,000 for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in
Cleveland  and the failure to eliminate perceived wasteful,
low-priority programs. 

    "This year's appropriations are 4.5 percent higher than last
year and, sadly, this represents substantial progress," said
Brian Riedl, chief budget analyst at the Heritage Foundation.
"But even this amount does not include money for Iraq and
Afghanistan, billions for hurricane relief and other spending
classified as emergencies to evade budget caps. 

    "The best that Congress could do was to freeze many of the
worst-performing programs in this bill; but there are billions
of dollars in wasteful, unnecessary programs that should be
eliminated in order to finance higher priority spending for
defense and homeland security," Mr. Riedl said. 

    At the beginning of the year, Mr. Bush called for a 4
percent cap on nondefense funding and even Mr. Riedl, one of the
president's severest spending critics, said, "I'll have to give
credit where credit is due  freezing nondefense discretionary
programs is better than the large increases they've received in
recent years. 

    Paul Guessing, government affairs director of the National
Taxpayers Union, said the bill "may not be an outright disaster
compared to some of its all-too-numerous predecessors, but the
legislation still has many drawbacks that earn it the title of
'debacle.' " 

    Administration budget officials said that while more remains
to be done to reduce discretionary spending, this year's budget
significantly has curtailed spending from previously higher
levels that occurred during the president's first three years in
office. 

    "Overall discretionary spending grew by only 4 percent in
fiscal year 2005. That's all four of the appropriations bills
that have been passed, plus the omnibus bill and defense and
homeland-security spending," said Tad Kolton, spokesman for
White House Budget Director Josh Bolten. 

    "The president said we are going to spend what it takes on
defense and homeland security. If you take those two areas out
of the equation and focus on the remaining part of the budget,
then nondefense, nonhomeland-security discretionary spending
grew by approximately 1 percent, which is half the rate of
inflation and is among the lowest spending growth rates since
the Republicans took over Congress in 1995," Mr. Kolton said. 

    But with his re-election behind him, administration insiders
say Mr. Bush intends to tighten overall nondefense spending when
he proposes his budget early next year for the 2006 fiscal
period, which begins next October, targeting low-priority
agencies and programs that do not work. 

    "The budget is shaping up but final decisions haven't been
made," Mr. Kolton said. "We're going to continue to restrain the
growth in spending. We're evaluating where the priorities are
going to be next year and which programs are not producing
results or are duplicative or redundant or simply are not
priorities relative to other programs." 

     Other budget officials who did not want to talk on the
record said that there was much that Mr. Bush did not like in
the pending 1,000-page, omnibus spending bill, particularly the
large number of pork-barrel spending provisions, but that he was
willing to sign the measure in exchange for overall lower
discretionary spending. 

    To keep to a 4 percent overall spending cap, congressional
appropriators made spending cuts in a broad range of areas. For
example, Small Business Administration loan subsidies were
terminated, $303 million was cut from the nuclear waste facility
in Yucca Mountain, Nev., and $612 million was carved out of the
Environmental Protection Agency's budget. 

    But some of Mr. Bush's spending critics expressed increased
hope that he will cut deeper in his future budgets. 

    "Bush has a good record of keeping campaign promises. In
2000, candidate Bush never promised to retrain spending but in
2004 he did and that may be the difference. The White House
seems to be looking at budget savings for their fiscal 2006
proposal," Mr. Riedl said. 
    

Copyright 2004 News World Communications, Inc. 		   	 

    
    
    
    
    
    



*****************************************************************
 17 Guardian Unlimited: Pakistan Downplays CIA Report on Leaks
 
From the Associated Press        

[UP] 

Saturday November 27, 2004 8:31 PM

AP Photo ISL101 

By PAUL ALEXANDER 

Associated Press Writer 

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) - Pakistan on Saturday defended its
efforts to halt leaks of nuclear technology amid suggestions
that a new CIA report says a renegade scientist provided more
help to Iran's nuclear weapons program than previously
disclosed. 

The CIA - which provides the U.S. Congress with six-month
updates on reported efforts by Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea
and Syria to obtain chemical, biological, radiological and
nuclear weapons technology - posted an unclassified version on
its Web site this week. 

Analyzing the report, The New York Times said it indicates that
bomb-making designs provided by Abdul Qadeer Khan to Iran in the
1990s were more significant than Washington has said. 

Pakistan Foreign Office spokesman Masood Khan criticized the
Times report, saying it was ``based on flimsy evidence, hearsay
and snippets of conversations. 

``The CIA report does not mention any `designs for weapons or
bomb-making components.' Weapons and bomb-making are the
writer's own creative insertions,'' Masood Khan said Saturday. 

``In the past year, Pakistan has conducted an inquiry to unearth
an illicit network of international black-marketeers, dismantled
it and shared the results of the inquiry transparently with the
people of Pakistan. 

``Pakistan has been cooperating with the IAEA and the
international community to thwart international black-marketeers
from proliferating sensitive nuclear technology.'' 

The International Atomic Energy Agency - the Vienna,
Austria-based nuclear watchdog agency of the United Nations -
has been investigating Iran's nuclear activities for about 18
months, but the agency remains unable to determine if nearly two
decades of Iranian nuclear activities were purely peaceful or if
the government had a secret weapons agenda. 

Tehran says its activities were for generating electricity,
while the United States says they were for making weapons. 

Iran and European negotiators have reached a tentative
compromise on a deal committing Tehran to freeze all uranium
enrichment activities, diplomats say, but the Iranian government
still must approve the agreement. 

A.Q. Khan, considered a national hero for leading the
development of Pakistan's nuclear deterrent against rival India,
admitted in February to passing nuclear technology to other
countries. He was pardoned by President Gen. Pervez Musharraf,
who cited his service to the nation, but he is under virtual
house arrest in Islamabad. 

``Iran's nuclear program received significant assistance in the
past from the proliferation network headed by Pakistani
scientist A.Q. Khan,'' the CIA report said. ``The A.Q. Khan
network provided Iran with designs for Pakistan's older
centrifuges as well as designs for more advanced and efficient
models and components.'' 

It said Libya disclosed receiving similar assistance from A.Q.
Khan, head of Pakistan's nuclear program from the 1970s until
2001. 

``Even in cases where states took action to stem such transfers,
knowledgeable individuals or non-state purveyors of WMD- and
missile-related materials and technology could act outside
government constraints,'' the report said. 

``The exposure of the A.Q. Khan network and its role in
supplying nuclear technology to Libya, Iran, and North Korea
illustrate one form of this threat.'' 

The Times focused on the phrase ``designs for more advanced and
efficient models, and components,'' indicating that
``components'' refers to weapons components. 

The Times pointed out that American officials have publicly
referred only to A.Q. Khan network's role in supplying Iran with
designs for older Pakistani centrifuges used to enrich uranium
but also have suspected it provided a warhead design, too. 

Citing a tape it obtained of a closed-door speech to a private
group, the paper quoted former CIA director George J. Tenet as
describing A.Q. Khan as ``at least as dangerous as Osama bin
Laden'' because of his role in providing nuclear technology to
other countries.	 
  
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004
*****************************************************************
 18 Bellona: Russia lacks raw material for Bulava missiles production 

About 100 kilograms of carbon textile left for the manufacture of 
missiles. 

2004-11-26 18:14

Russian defence sector enterprises have lost more than 200 
technologies, Yury Solomonov, director of the Moscow Institute of 
Heat Engineering, told a news conference in Moscow on October 29. 
"More than 200 technologies are now lost. In manufacturing 
separate components of missiles, raw materials are used that are 
not produced in Russia," he said. 

Mr. Solomonov emphasised that Russia is still facing the danger 
of losing some other technologies. Thus, according to him, Russia 
has only about 100 kilograms of carbon textile left for the 
manufacture of missiles. They will suffice to make only half of 
one rocket element, of which there are around ten, Alexander 
Tomakov, press secretary of the Moscow Institute of Heat 
Engineering, explained to RIA Novosti. 

"Over the past three years, we have been working on the brink of 
a collapse," Mr. Solomonov said. He said that unless measures are 
taken in the next two months, the state order for the production 
of Topol-M and Bulava missiles might be scuttled. "In 2004, 
serial work on the Topol-M was twice interrupted. It was the last 
warning," Mr. Solomonov emphasised. 

He also pointed out that there is practically no equipment left 
to produce raw materials used in the making of missiles. He 
explained that the only installation for manufacturing PAN fiber 
remains at the Saratovorgsintez enterprise. Moreover, it was 
built in the 60s and has been out of service for more than 10 
years. "All the rest is sold out," Mr. Solomonov said. He said 
that the situation with organic fiber, which is used in the 
manufacture of power units, is the same, reported RIA-Novosti.
   
Publisher: Bellona Foundation, President: Frederic Hauge 
Information: info@bellona.no, Technical contact: 
webmaster@bellona.no Telephone: +47 23 23 46 00 Telefax: +47 22 
38 38 62  * P.O.Box 2141 Grunerlokka, 0505 Oslo, Norway
*****************************************************************
 19 WorldNetDaily: Many types of isotopes
 
 NOVEMBER 27 2004           
        
© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com 

The neo-crazies – in and out of government – lied to you last 
year about Iraq's "nuclear programs," and this year they're lying 
to you about Iran's. 

What constitutes lying? Well, either making an untrue statement 
with intent to deceive or deliberately creating a false 
impression. 

The neo-crazies told you right up till the eve of President 
Bush's "pre-emptive strike" that Iraq had reconstituted – deep 
underground and widely dispersed – the uranium-enrichment 
facilities totally destroyed back in 1991. That was an untrue 
statement, made with intent to deceive you. 

They also told you that a uranium-enrichment capability was a 
necessary and sufficient condition for Iraq to have nukes within 
a year or two. That was an untrue statement, made to create a 
false impression. 

You see, if you want to make a gun-type nuke, a 
uranium-enrichment capability is certainly necessary. And, if you 
have two 60 pound sub-critical pieces of weapons-grade 
enriched-uranium, all you have to do to make a gun-type nuke is 
bang them together. 

But if you want to make an enriched-uranium implosion-type nuke – 
which is what Saddam was attempting to make – a 
uranium-enrichment capability is by no means "sufficient." 

International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei had 
reported to the U.N. Security Council that, as of March 2003, 
there had been no attempt whatsoever to reconstitute Iraq's 
uranium-enrichment capability. Furthermore, the CIA's Iraq Survey 
Group spent a billion dollars in the year following the invasion, 
searching everywhere and interviewing all the "usual suspects." 

Result? Not only was ElBaradei right about there being no 
reconstituted uranium-enrichment capability, but there had also 
been no attempt since 1991 to design or test the high-explosive 
system absolutely required for an implosion-type nuke. 

Well, now the neo-crazies would have you believe that Iran has an 
underground, widely dispersed uranium-enrichment capability. And 
that uranium-enrichment capability is a sufficient condition for 
Iran to have nukes in a year or two. 

But while the neo-crazies have been making that claim, Iran has 
been allowing ElBaradei to conduct in Iran the same sort of 
go-anywhere see-anything inspection he conducted in Iraq. 

Result? ElBaradei has concluded that all "nuclear material" in 
Iran has been accounted for and has not been diverted to 
activities prohibited by the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. 

Hence, there is no Non-Proliferation Treaty issue for the IAEA 
Board to refer to the U.N. Security Council. 

Furthermore, ElBaradei has found no evidence that Iran has yet 
introduced "nuclear material" into the uranium-enrichment 
facilities under construction. 

That's important, because until "nuclear material" was actually 
introduced, Iran was under no obligation to report to the IAEA 
the construction of the gas centrifuge plants at Natanz. 

Obligated or not, Iran has placed "all essential components of 
centrifuges as defined by the Agency" under IAEA seals, except 
for 20 sets of centrifuge components to be used "for R purposes." 
Even then, Iran also offered to provide the IAEA with access to 
that R program "if requested." 

Well, the neo-crazies promptly went bonkers. They charged this R 
"exception" proved the Iranians had no intention of abiding by 
the agreement they made with Germany, France and Great Britain to 
"suspend" all uranium-enrichment related activities and that this 
latest Iranian perfidy had to immediately be brought before the 
U.N. Security Council for action. 

But don't let those neo-crazy charges create a false impression. 

You see, Iran also stated that "AEOI (the Atomic Energy 
Organization of Iran) is not intending to use nuclear materials 
in any of the tests associated with the said R." 

Gas centrifuges are not used exclusively for uranium isotope 
separation. Cascades of gas centrifuges are used to separate – in 
kilogram quantities for commercial sale – the isotopes of zinc, 
tungsten, molybdenum, krypton, xenon, germanium, iron, sulfur, 
oxygen and carbon. 

For example, large quantities of zinc-acetate-dihydrate are used 
as an additive in water-cooled water-moderated nuclear power 
plants – particularly those burning plutonium-uranium mixed-oxide 
[MOX] fuels – to reduce corrosion and cracking of key components. 
However, the use of naturally occurring zinc would result in 
increased radiation exposure to plant workers, because Zn-64 – 
constituting 48 percent by isotopic concentration in naturally 
occurring zinc – is transformed into radioactive Zn-65 in the 
reactor environment. Hence, the lucrative market for large 
quantities of "depleted" zinc-acetate-dihydrate wherein the Zn-64 
isotopic concentration is reduced to less than 1 percent. 

So, until IAEA-safeguarded "nuclear materials" are actually 
introduced into them, the origin of the centrifuges, the 
construction of cascades and the operation thereof is none of the 
IAEA's beeswax. And who knows? Maybe the Iranian's secret plan 
all along has been to take over the "depleted zinc" market.
 
Physicist James Gordon Prather has served as a policy 
implementing official for national security-related technical 
matters in the Federal Energy Agency, the Energy Research and 
Development Administration, the Department of Energy, the Office 
of the Secretary of Defense and the Department of the Army. Dr. 
Prather also served as legislative assistant for national 
security affairs to U.S. Sen. Henry Bellmon, R-Okla. -- ranking 
member of the Senate Budget Committee and member of the Senate 
Energy Committee and Appropriations Committee. Dr. Prather had 
earlier worked as a nuclear weapons physicist at Lawrence 
Livermore National Laboratory in California and Sandia National 
Laboratory in New Mexico. 

[WorldNetDaily.com] 

--> news@worldnetdaily.com--> Contact WND
*****************************************************************
 20 Daily Times: New branch found in nuclear network, says LAT 

Monday, November 29, 2004 
	   
* South African ‘affiliates of AQ Khan’ tried to outfit Libya 
with uranium enrichment plant

Daily Times Monitor

LAHORE: Authorities pursuing traffickers in nuclear weapons 
technology recently uncovered an audacious scheme to deliver a 
complete uranium enrichment plant to Libya, the LA Times reports.

“The discovery provides fresh evidence of the reach and 
sophistication of Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan’s global 
black market in nuclear know-how and equipment. It also exposes a 
previously undetected South African branch of the Khan network,” 
say LAT staff writers Douglas Frantz and William C Rempel.

The dimensions of the plot began to emerge in September, when 
police raided a factory outside Johannesburg. They found the 
elements of a two-story steel processing system for the 
enrichment plant, packed in 11 freight containers for shipment to 
Libya.

South African officials have disclosed only that they discovered 
nuclear components. The Times learned that the massive system was 
designed to operate an array of 1,000 centrifuges for enriching 
uranium.

Once assembled in Libya, the plant could have produced enough 
weapons-grade uranium to manufacture several nuclear bombs a 
year. Delivery of the plant would have greatly accelerated 
Libya’s efforts to develop nuclear weapons.

Khan had already secretly shipped to Libya a supply of processed 
uranium fuel for the enrichment plant, according to later reports 
by international inspectors.

And some of the centrifuges for the plant were shipped separately 
from Malaysia. The interception of that cargo by US and Italian 
authorities in October 2003 led to the Johannesburg raid and 
spurred Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi to renounce efforts to 
develop banned weapons.

In the September 1 raid, police found a videotape that detailed 
the inner workings of Khan’s top-secret government enrichment 
laboratory in Pakistan, along with trunks filled with designs 
from the lab.

The discovery of a South African connection to Khan’s web has led 
to the arrests of four business and engineering figures, 
including some who had been involved in the former apartheid 
regime’s nuclear programme.

Leads developed in the inquiry have opened up new avenues for 
investigators from South Africa, other countries and the UN’s 
International Atomic Energy Agency, who are tracing the network’s 
operations on three continents.

The questions confronting investigators include whether other 
countries sought Khan’s help and whether tougher restrictions are 
necessary to prevent a repeat of what officials have called the 
most dangerous proliferation operation in history.

The processing system found at Tradefin, an engineering and 
manufacturing company in Vanderbijlpark, outside Johannesburg, 
had been designed and built over three years. It was then tested, 
painstakingly dismantled and packed into 40-foot containers, 
factory records show.

Daniel Jacobus Van Beek, director of South Africa’s 
counter-proliferation office, participated in the raid and called 
the scheme “one of the most serious and extensive attempts” to 
breach international nuclear controls. He estimated that the 200 
tonnes of equipment was worth about $33 million.

In the months before police raided Tradefin, one participant said 
he had pressed his alleged accomplices to “melt down” the 
equipment, burn the designs and destroy computer files, according 
to statements to police. But when investigators arrived with 
search warrants, the evidence was intact.

Tradefin’s owner, Johan AM Meyer, 53, was arrested a day after 
the raid and charged with trafficking in nuclear technology. He 
quickly struck a deal to provide evidence in exchange for 
dismissal of the charges.

Meyer, who worked in South Africa’s uranium enrichment programme 
in the 1980s, admitted in a sworn statement that he knew the 
complicated system was for a nuclear plant.

But he was unaware that Libya was its ultimate destination, 
defence attorney Heinrich Badenhorst said in an interview.

In his deal with prosecutors, Meyer implicated two associates, 
Gerhard Wisser, 65, and Daniel Geiges, 66, according to court 
records.

Wisser, a German, and Geiges, who is Swiss, both immigrated to 
South Africa in the late 1960s and became citizens. They were 
arrested on trafficking charges and freed on bail this month.

Wisser, whom prosecutors portray as the conduit to the Khan 
network, has long been managing director of Krisch Engineering, a 
consulting firm in Randburg, a suburb of Johannesburg. Geiges has 
worked for him since 1978.

Krisch Engineering imported equipment for South Africa’s nuclear 
programme in the 1980s in violation of international sanctions, 
according to a sworn affidavit from Van Beek, the 
anti-proliferation official.

During the same period, a second company in Germany that Wisser 
owned sent nuclear-related components to South Africa. Records 
show that German authorities revoked the firm’s export privileges 
after learning of the shipments.

Both Wisser and Geiges have maintained their innocence regarding 
the Libya deal, saying they thought the equipment was for a water 
purification plant in an unknown country.

A South African magistrate said the explanations lacked “the ring 
of truth,” citing Wisser’s experience with the nuclear industry.

A fourth person associated with the South African connection, 
Gotthard Lerch, 61, was arrested last week by Swiss authorities 
on a German warrant accusing him of receiving $4.25 million to 
help Libya develop nuclear weapons. His office outside Zurich was 
raided the same day that South African police showed up at 
Tradefin. 

Daily Times - All Rights Reserved Site developed and hosted by 
WorldCALL Internet Solutions
*****************************************************************
 21 AU ABC: Finite fuels threaten life as we know it. 

27/11/2004. 

By Lateline host Tony Jones 

If predictions are correct, no future generation will forget
2005 - the year the world began eating into the second half of
its oil reserves.

 Or, as Professor David Goodstein of the California Institute of
Technology argues, the beginning of the end of the civilisation
as we know it.

 In his latest book, Out of Gas - The End of the Age of Oil,
Professor Goodstein argues that all fossil fuels are finite, and
so are our current lifestyles.
 
"Everybody has come to imagine that the flow of oil is like the
rivers that flow from the mountains to the sea," Colin Campbell,
of the Oil Depletion Analysis Centre, said.

 "It's just perceived to be a natural part of the world we live
in."

 But according to the Hubbard's peak theory, discoveries of
fossil fuel reserves have already peaked.

 "The historical peak in oil discovery worldwide occurred around
1960, discoveries have been declining ever since," Professor
Goodstein said.

 "The historic peak and natural gas discoveries occurred in the
1970s and so the maximum for natural gas production probably is
only 10 years or so behind that for oil."

 He says estimates of how much fuel Earth has in reserve are
unrealistic.

 "We seem to make hundreds to thousands of years estimates at
the present rate of extraction but that's completely unrealistic
because we use twice as much energy now from oil as we do for
coal," Professor Goodstein said.

 "If you're going to mine coal to substitute for the oil you
have to mine it much faster, the conversion process is
inefficient, the world's population is increasing.

 "The poorer parts of the world want to be more like us and use
more energy and finally... we will be in trouble with coal not
when we mine the last tonne, but when we reach the peak
production which is about the halfway point."

 We may not know when we have passed that halfway point.

 "We can't know for sure," Professor Goodstein said.

 "I've always thought that we will know that the peak has
occurred when Saudi Arabia maxes out, when it reaches its peak
in production.

 "The Saudis claim they will be able to increase their
production by a million barrels a day in a relatively short
period of time.

 "That promise has not yet been kept. We don't know whether it's
true."

Rubbery figures

 Professor Goodstein says that the history of proved oil
reserves show how hard it is to quantify how much is left.

 "The proved reserves of oil in the OPEC organisation of
petroleum exporting countries, increased by 300 to 400 billion
barrels in the late 1980s," he said.

 "There were no important discoveries of oil during that period.

 "What happened instead was that OPEC changed its quota system
how much oil each country could pump based on in part its
claimed reserves and the claimed reserves just appeared out of
nowhere by magic.

 "So half the world's proved reserves may be an illusion and the
information we're given is so undependable we really just can't
say.""I've always thought that we will know that the peak has
occurred when Saudi Arabia maxes out..."

 Professor Goodstein says putting a timeline on the impending
energy crisis is not easy.

 "We will probably have an oil crisis reasonably soon," he said.

 "It may have already begun.

 "We are much too close to the situation to know for sure. The
information we're given is much too undependable for us to know
for sure."

 But he makes no apologies for being alarmist.

 "It's meant to alarm people, to wake people up," he said.

 "There are other fossil fuels that can be made a substitute for
oil, at a price.

 "So we might be able to muddle on for a while, though a much
more likely scenario is that we will have resource wars and
other terrible things happening."

 He says even if coal is substituted for oil, the solution will
only be temporary.

 "If we do all that, for one thing we will do an unpredictable
amount of damage to our climate, and for another thing it's my
guess that we would start running out of coal," he said.

 "Let us say we would reach the point where we're depleting the
resource faster than we can develop new sources probably in the
this century.""..a much more likely scenario is that we will
have resource wars and other terrible things happening."

 Professor Goodstein says it has to be accepted that all fossil
fuels are finite.

 "The people who would like to believe that the Hubbard's peak
is further away than some of us fear, believe that we may make
great discoveries in the deep oceans and the Antarctic... and
central and northern Siberia and so on," he said.

 "I think they're grasping at straws.

 "Two-thirds of the world's oil reserves are in the Middle East
the Persian Gulf.

 "That's 10 times as much as Africa, 10 times as much as the
Middle East, 10 times as much as in the former Soviet Union.

 "There are no other important players in the game."

'Silver lining'

 Some scientists are convinced that global warming, which is
primarily thought to the caused by the burning of fossil fuels,
will cause the Earth to reach a catastrophic tipping point
within 30 years.

 If the Hubbard's peak theory is correct, humans will run out of
fossil fuels before destroying the environment.

 "There are some people who see that as the silver lining in the
cloud," Professor Goodstein said.

 "We'll reach Hubbard's peak and have to reduce our burning of
fossil fuels and that will keep us from... doing irreversible
damage to the planet.

 "It seems to me that's like hoping that the patient will have a
fatal heart attack to save him from dying of cancer."

 Professor James Lovelock, who is considered by many to be the
father of the environmental movement, says "the industry world
must now embrace nuclear power as the only viable alternative to
oil and other fossil fuels"."..that's like hoping that the
patient will have a fatal heart attack to save him from dying of
cancer."

 But Professor Goodstein says there is no magic bullet to solve
the energy crisis.

 "[Nuclear power], it's at best a bridging technology," he said.

 "I think that we must make use of all possible alternatives to
fossil fuels, nuclear power included.

 "I'm just trying to stress that it's not the magic bullet that
will by itself save us from our problems, but I certainly think
we have to use it."

Reluctance

 Professor Goodstein recognises the challenge that is making
politicians around the world confront these looming power
problems.

 "We went through a presidential election in the US in which
neither party mentioned anything having to do with this problem,
which I think is the most important problem of our era," he said.

 "Politicians do not want to touch this subject.

 "Any politician who tells Americans that they'll have to give
up their SUVs has committed political suicide.

 "But it does seem to me that a courageous and visionary
politician could say to us, 'By burning fossil fuels we're
putting ourselves at the mercy of some very nasty and unstable
parts of the world and we're also endangering the climate of our
planet.

 'For the sake of our children and grandchildren we simply must
learn to kick the fossil fuel habit.'"

 Can engineers and scientists help people kick the habit?

 "I'm hopeful, not confident," Professor Goodstein said. 

© 2004 Australian Broadcasting Corporation 
*****************************************************************
 22 Pakistan Times: Nuke Assets Safe = PM for Minimum Nuclear Deterrence 

  [Pakistan Times (PakistanTimes.net | DailyPakistanTimes.com)] 

 Pakistan Times Staff Report 

RAWALPINDI: Pakistan's Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has
reiterated government’s resolve regarding its nuclear and
missile programme saying that Pakistan believes in retaining
minimum deterrence as corner stone of national security policy.
 
He made these remarks during his visit to Strategic Plans
Division, the Secretariat of National Command Authority Saturday.
 
The Prime Minister said Pakistan’s security will always remain
his government’s highest priority. Aziz said, as a responsible,
declared and acknowledged nuclear power, Pakistan will continue
to play a positive role in international efforts aimed at
non-proliferation.
 
The Prime Minister expressed his complete satisfaction over the
effectiveness of the command and control structures of
Pakistan’s nuclear capability. 

Shaukat Aziz said that the structures, which have now matured,
being in place for the last five years, were well conceived and
elaborate. 

They have ensured that while our nuclear assets were safe and
secure, they continued to oversee force development as per our
minimum deterrence needs.
 
The Prime Minister attended a detailed briefing on various
aspects of Pakistan’s nuclear programme which was also attended
by the Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee General
Ehsan-ul-Haque and the Vice Chief of Army Staff General Ahsan
Saleem Hayat.Ï

www.PakistanTimes.net | www.DailyPakistanTimes.com
 Copyright © 2003-2004 TIMES Group of Publications All rights
*****************************************************************
 23 The Australian: ASEAN ministers meet 

[November 27, 2004]

This story is from our news.com.au network Source: AP              
                                          
From correspondents in Vientiane, Lagos

FEARFUL of terrorism and eager to forge new trade
alliances, South-East Asian ministers opened an annual meeting
today but touchy topics such as the lack of democracy in Burma
and Islamic unrest in Thailand could be swept under the rug.

                                                         
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) meeting is a 
prelude to a two-day summit starting on Monday of the group's 10 
leaders.

 They will also meet separately the heads of governments of 
China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand.

 Some 35 agreements are to be signed by the 16 countries 
including one on creating a free trade area between ASEAN and 
China - a market of nearly two billion people whose combined 
economies are worth more than $US2 trillion ($2.53 trillion).

 Agreements also will be signed to start negotiations for similar 
free trade areas with South Korea, Australia and New Zealand. 



	       
  
	     	  
       
	     	
 	     	 





Today's foreign ministers meeting was expected to focus on 
political and regional issues such as fears of Islamic terrorism, 
the nuclear crisis in North Korea, piracy in the South China Sea 
and a plan to create an ASEAN Security Community.

 ASEAN comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, 
Burma, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

 In keeping with ASEAN's tradition of noninterference in each 
other's affairs, the ministers were unlikely to use the formal 
setting to air frustrations over Burma's unfulfilled pledges to 
introduce democracy, but the topic was certain to be raised in 
private talks, officials said.

 To pre-empt criticism, Burma's Foreign Minister Nyan Win told a 
news conference yesterday that the junta was committed to 
restoring democracy despite its ouster last month of relatively 
moderate prime minister General Khin Nyunt.

 The junta has also pledged to release more than 9000 prisoners - 
convicted criminals and political detainees - but refused to say 
if pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi would be freed from 
house arrest.

 The violence in southern Thailand between Islamic insurgents and 
security forces of the predominantly Buddhist government would 
not be discussed because it was an "internal matter", Thai 
Foreign Ministry spokesman Sihasak Phuangketkeow said.

 The violence has killed 540 people this year and neighbouring 
countries worry that the insurgency could destabilise the region.

 Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has threatened to walk 
out of the summit if his colleagues talk about it.

 Another major topic is Malaysia's offer to host an "East Asia 
Summit" of the 10 ASEAN countries plus Japan, China and South 
Korea next year.

 Such a summit was a dream of former Malaysian Prime Minister 
Mahathir Mohamad, who wanted an East Asia Economic Caucus to 
counter trade blocs in Europe and North America.

 Japan and South Korea were lukewarm because of pressure from 
ally the United States.

 That reluctance faded when the 1997 Asian financial crisis 
forced leaders to forge new economic cooperation, but no 
consensus emerged within ASEAN to form such a caucus.

 Indonesian Foreign Ministry spokesman Marty Natalegawa said 
substantial meetings under the ASEAN umbrella were preferable to 
a "cosmetic" East Asia summit. 
		 			 			
 			

 
© The Australian   

*****************************************************************
 24 [du-list] New Chernobyl Effects Falsify [ICRP] radiation risk
 
Date: Sat, 27 Nov 2004 18:35:50 -0800

 
<x-flowed>
"north Sweden received  ... fallout in the form of Uranium fuel particles."

new Chernobyl effects falsify radiation risk model
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[the parsing below is mine.  I find that reorganising difficult material
into verses makes it easier to understand.  If you find it irritating, the
block text is repeated below.  Apologies to RB if necessary.


Adult cancer in sweden

Richard Bramhall



A study published by

the British Medical Association in November

(Tondel 2004) shows an unexpected increase

in adult cancers in Sweden after Chernobyl.



A preliminary examination shows:-



1)

The 849 extra cancers registered

in 9 post-accident years 1988 and 1996

(a 30% increase in incidence) are

at least 125 times the incidence

predicted by ICRP on the basis of Caesium doses.



This minimum figure is

on the conservative assumption that

the effect is transient and

that there will be no excess after 1996.



This is very unlikely. It is more likely

that the effect is representative of

the distribution of risks throughout life,

and in this case the increase is

more than 600 times greater than expected.



If, as the Swedish Radiation Protection Authority

is now saying (BBC 2004),

“Most cancer cases don’t develop until 20, 30 or 50 years later”



(compare with the lifetime follow-up of Hiroshima survivors,

which shows a consistent upward trend)



The excess will worsen and

the implied error in ICRP’s modelling

will be greater than 600.



We can see 600 as the central estimate.

(We will shortly add a page to www.llrc.org

to show the calculation of these figures.



Note that SRPA has previously estimated that

in 50 years around 300 people in Sweden

would be affected by the Chernobyl fallout [BBC 2004])



2)

The dose response trend calculated by Tondel

on the basis

[that the pattern of]

the level of Caesium deposition

is biphasic, not linear.



In other words it does not conform

with the ICRP dogma that dose and effect

are always strictly proportional or "linear".



The Tondel study does not show

twice as much dose causing twice as much cancer.



Many observations show non-linear relationships like this

  - see, for example, the summaries of papers

from the Chernobyl affected territories

on www.llrc.org/chernobyl.htm.



3)

The 30% increase

conforms with predictions

made by Chris Busby in "Wings of Death" (Busby 1996)

on the basis of cancer data

in Wales and England

following weapons test fallout.



Further comment:



The doses given by Tondel et al.

are calculated from Caesium fallout.



This may mean nothing

since Caesium is a gamma emitter

which means that its energy deposition

(in the form of ionisations)

is spatially well distributed in tissue.



It is, moreover, soluble

and does not form particles.

Its health effects are therefore

likely to conform with

the external irradiation models.



However, it is well known that

north Sweden received

a large amount of fallout

in the form of Uranium fuel particles.





With diameters of

less than a few millionths of a metre

such particles are

highly mobile in the environment

and they can be inhaled or swallowed.



Once embedded in body tissue

they deliver their energy so locally

that the few cells immediately next to them

are irradiated at very high energies

while the rest of the body gets no dose at all.



This makes nonsense of

the concept of "average dose"

­ another establishment dogma.







Childhood leukaemia after Chernobyl

  ­ more evidence falsifying Cerrie.



Infant leukaemia increases after Chernobyl,

according to the Cerrie Majority Report,

did not feed through into

incidence beyond the first year of life.



We have now obtained data

from the whole of Wales and Scotland

which shows that this is wrong.



Plotting incidence

in children up to the age of 9

shows that the cohort born in 1986 ­ 88

has roughly 50% greater risk of leukaemia

compared to the pre-accident period.



We are preparing a paper for publication.



References

BBC News on-line 21st Nov ‘04 see Chernobyl ‘caused Sweden cancers’

Busby 1996 "Wings of Death: Nuclear Pollution and Human Health"  Green
Audit, Aberystwyth 1995 ISBN: 1-897761-03-1

Martin Tondel, Peter Hjalmarsson, Lennart Hardell, Göran Carlsson and Olav
Axelson Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 2004;58:1011-1016
"Increase of regional total cancer incidence in north Sweden due to the
Chernobyl accident?" (abstract at
http://jech.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/abstract/58/12/1011



Richard Bramhall
Low Level Radiation Campaign
bramhall@llrc.org
The Knoll, Montpellier Park
Llandrindod Wells,
Powys LD1 5LW U.K.
+44(0)1597 824771
07887 942043

========================
========================

Adult cancer in sweden

A study published by the British Medical Association in November (Tondel
2004) shows an unexpected increase in adult cancers in Sweden after
Chernobyl.

A preliminary examination shows:-



1) The 849 extra cancers registered in 9 post-accident years 1988 and 1996
(a 30% increase in incidence) are at least 125 times the incidence predicted
by ICRP on the basis of Caesium doses. This minimum figure is on the
conservative assumption that the effect is transient and that there will be
no excess after 1996. This is very unlikely. It is more likely that the
effect is representative of the distribution of risks throughout life, and
in this case the increase is more than 600 times greater than expected. If,
as the Swedish Radiation Protection Authority is now saying (BBC 2004),
“Most cancer cases don’t develop until 20, 30 or 50 years later” (compare
with the lifetime follow-up of Hiroshima survivors, which shows a consistent
upward trend) the excess will worsen and the implied error in ICRP’s
modelling will be greater than 600. We can see 600 as the central estimate.
(We will shortly add a page to www.llrc.org to show the calculation of these
figures. Note that SRPA has previously estimated that in 50 years around 300
people in Sweden would be affected by the Chernobyl fallout [BBC 2004])



2) The dose response trend calculated by Tondel on the basis of the various
level of Caesium deposition is biphasic, not linear. In other words it does
not conform with the ICRP dogma that dose and effect are always strictly
proportional or "linear". The Tondel study does not show twice as much dose
causing twice as much cancer. Many observations show non-linear
relationships like this - see, for example, the summaries of papers from the
Chernobyl affected territories on www.llrc.org/chernobyl.htm.



3) The 30% increase conforms with predictions made by Chris Busby in "Wings
of Death" (Busby 1996) on the basis of cancer data in Wales and England
following weapons test fallout.



Further comment:

The doses given by Tondel et al. are calculated from Caesium fallout. This
may mean nothing since Caesium is a gamma emitter which means that its
energy deposition (in the form of ionisations) is spatially well distributed
in tissue. It is, moreover, soluble and does not form particles. Its health
effects are therefore likely to conform with the external irradiation
models.

However, it is well known that north Sweden received a large amount of
fallout in the form of Uranium fuel particles. With diameters of less than a
few millionths of a metre such particles are highly mobile in the
environment and they can be inhaled or swallowed. Once embedded in body
tissue they deliver their energy so locally that the few cells immediately
next to them are irradiated at very high energies while the rest of the body
gets no dose at all. This makes nonsense of the concept of "average dose" ­
another establishment dogma.



Childhood leukaemia after Chernobyl ­ more evidence falsifying Cerrie.

Infant leukaemia increases after Chernobyl, according to the Cerrie Majority
Report, did not feed through into incidence beyond the first year of life.
We have now obtained data from the whole of Wales and Scotland which shows
that this is wrong. Plotting incidence in children up to the age of 9 shows
that the cohort born in 1986 ­ 88 has roughly 50% greater risk of leukaemia
compared to the pre-accident period. We are preparing a paper for
publication.



References

BBC News on-line 21st Nov ‘04 see Chernobyl ‘caused Sweden cancers’

Busby 1996 "Wings of Death: Nuclear Pollution and Human Health"  Green
Audit, Aberystwyth 1995 ISBN: 1-897761-03-1

Martin Tondel, Peter Hjalmarsson, Lennart Hardell, Göran Carlsson and Olav
Axelson Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 2004;58:1011-1016
"Increase of regional total cancer incidence in north Sweden due to the
Chernobyl accident?" (abstract at
http://jech.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/abstract/58/12/1011



Richard Bramhall
Low Level Radiation Campaign
bramhall@llrc.org
The Knoll, Montpellier Park
Llandrindod Wells,
Powys LD1 5LW U.K.
+44(0)1597 824771
07887 942043

===========================================
= == = = = = = = Tondel (2004) - abstract only = = = = = =

Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 2004;58:1011-1016
© 2004 BMJ Publishing Group Ltd


RESEARCH REPORT

Increase of regional total cancer incidence
in north Sweden due to the Chernobyl accident?

Martin Tondel1, Peter Hjalmarsson1, Lennart Hardell2, Göran Carlsson3 and
Olav Axelson1
1 Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Department of
Molecular and Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, Linköping
University, Linköping, Sweden
2 Department of Oncology, Örebro University Hospital, Örebro, Sweden
3 Department of Health Policy, Västernorrland County Council, Härnösand,
Sweden

Correspondence to:
Dr M Tondel
Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Department of Molecular
and Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, Linköping University, 581
85 Linköping, Sweden;

Study objective:
Is there any epidemiologically visible influence
on the cancer incidence after the Chernobyl fallout in Sweden?

Design:
A cohort study was focused on
the fallout of caesium-137
in relation to cancer incidence 1988­1996.

Setting:
In northern Sweden,
affected by the Chernobyl accident in 1986,
450 parishes were categorised by caesium-137 deposition:
<3 (reference),
3­29, 30­39, 40­59, 60­79, and 80­120 kiloBecquerel/m2.

Participants:
All people 0­60 years living in these parishes
in 1986 to 1987 were identified and enrolled in
a cohort of 1 143 182 persons.

In the follow up
22 409 incident cancer cases were retrieved in 1988­1996
[an 8-year time period]
A further analysis focused on the secular trend.
[but was not abstracted here]

Main results:
Taking age and population density as confounding factors,
and lung cancer incidence in 1988­1996
and total cancer incidence in 1986­1987 by municipality
as proxy confounders for smoking and time trends, respectively,

the adjusted relative risks for the deposition categories were
1.00 (reference <3 kiloBecquerel/m2), 1.05, 1.03, 1.08, 1.10, and 1.21.

The excess relative risk was
0.11 per 100 kiloBecquerel/m2
(95% [Confidence Interval] 0.03 to 0.20).

Considering the secular trend,

directly age standardised
cancer incidence rate differences
per 100 000 person years
between 1988 to 1996

and the reference period 1986­1987,
were 30.3
(indicating a time trend in the reference category),
36.8, 42.0, 45.8, 50.1, and 56.4.
No clear excess occurred for leukaemia or thyroid cancer.

Conclusions: Unless attributable to chance
or remaining uncontrolled confounding,
a slight exposure related increase in total cancer incidence
has occurred in northern Sweden after the Chernobyl accident.


  -- - - - - - - - - -
Keywords: ionising radiation; epidemiology; environment

Related articles in J Epidemiol Community Health:
The journal of the increasingly relevant
Carlos Álvarez-Dardet and John R Ashton
J Epidemiol Community Health 2004 58: 965. [Extract] [Full Text]






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*****************************************************************
 25 Bellona: Faulty security reported at Russian nuclear power plants
 
A series of checks by prosecutors into Russia’s atomic power 
plants have uncovered faults in security at a number of plants. 

2004-11-24 17:41

Security at three Russian nuclear power plants has "serious
shortcomings" despite steps to improve security levels, Russia's
deputy prosecutor general, Vladimir Kolesnikov, said on October
28. "Following checks by the prosecutor, serious shortcomings
were discovered in the protection of nuclear stations" at three
sites in Russia, the state news agency RIA Novosti quoted
Kolesnikov as saying. "Certain steps to modernize the security
systems were taken, but the problems still persist," he said,
without specifying what those shortcomings were. 

The three nuclear stations he referred to – Kola, Novovoronezh 
and Smolensk – are located in regions of Russia bordering 
Finland, Ukraine and Belarus. Kolesnikov also said that security 
checks had also shown up flaws in protection of Russia's huge 
network of oil pipelines, the report said. In early October, 
Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov said nuclear sites in Russia had 
adequate protection against terrorism following a string of 
spectacular attacks that rocked the country in August and 
September. Russian environmentalists have on numerous occasions 
warned authorities against the risk of attacks on nuclear sites 
in Russia and have called for them to be better protected.   

  Publisher: Bellona Foundation, President: Frederic Hauge
Information: info@bellona.no, Technical contact:
webmaster@bellona.no
Telephone: +47 23 23 46 00 Telefax: +47 22 38 38 62  * P.O.Box
2141 Grunerlokka, 0505 Oslo, Norway
*****************************************************************
 26 CRI NEWS: North Korean Reactor Deferred                                                                                                                        
          
2004-11-27 16:23:34     CRIENGLISH.com                                                       
 								  
The construction of a nuclear power project in North Korea will 
remain suspended for another year.
											   										 									
(Members of the Executive Board of the KEDO hold a meeting in New 
York.)The New York-based Korean Peninsula Energy Development 
Organization said in a statement yesterday that the freeze will 
be extended until December next year. 

The consortium said it will continue to do maintenance work on 
the site until the future of the project is decided next year. 

The light water reactor project in North Korea, was the product 
of a 1994 agreement to meet the country's energy needs in 
exchange for Pyongyang's promise to freeze its nuclear weapons 
programs. 

In 2002 the United States said that North Korea's admission of 
work on a secret uranium enrichment project nullified the 1994 
agreement and it called for a halt on work on the two reactors. 


By the end of last year, the KEDO formally decided to freeze the 
light water reactor project for one year when the project was 
only completed 34 percent or so. 


Copyright of crienglish.com. All rights reserved. Reproduction of 
© Copyright by , 1998--2004.   Email:   
*****************************************************************
 27 Xinhuanet: Int'l consortium extends freeze of nuclear project - 
 
  www.xinhuanet.com

  www.chinaview.cn 2004-11-27 14:02:35   

    NEW YORK, Nov. 26 (Xinhuanet) -- The international consortium 
in charge of a project to build two nuclear power plants for the 
Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) announced Friday it 
would extend the existing suspension of the project for another 
year. 

    The New York-based Korean Peninsula Energy Development 
Organization (KEDO) said in a statement that the freeze will be 
extended until Dec. 1, 2005, but added that "the future of the 
project will be assessed and decided...before the expiration of 
the suspension period." 

    The four partners of KEDO, the United States, the European 
Union, South Korea and Japan suspended the project for a year 
through Dec. 1 2004. 

    The multi-billion-dollar project started following a 1994 
deal between the DPRK and the United States. The KEDO partners 
agreed to build two 1,000-megawatt light-water reactors, 
considered less suitable for weapons-grade plutonium production, 
and send annual shipments of 500,000 tons of heavy fuel oil to 
the DPRK. 

    But Washington later considered the deal broken, accusing the 
DPRK of carrying out secret uranium-enrichment program for weapon 
production. 

    As the crisis escalated, KEDO suspended the project on the 
light-water reactors, which was about one-third complete at the 
time. 

    But the consortium said it will continue to do maintenance 
workon the site. 

    Recent reports from South Korea and Japan said the United 
States wanted to kill the project outright, but could not 
persuadeSeoul and Tokyo to take that stance. Both countries 
invested heavily in the 4.6-billion-dollar project. 

    KEDO made the announcement Friday without giving specific 
explanation, but a KEDO spokesman said earlier in May that the 
board did not enjoy the unanimity required to resume construction 
of the reactors. Enditem   

  Copyright ©2003 Xinhua News Agency. All rights reserved. 
*****************************************************************
 28 Sofia Morning News: Bulgaria's N-plant Ready for Wintertime Operations
 	 	 	 	 	 	
www.novinite.com

[Sofia News Agency]

Politics: 27 November 2004, Saturday.

The 1000-MW Unit 6 at Kozloduy nuclear power plant was switched 
into the country's power grid after a 90-day suspension for 
annual repairs. 

The unit was refueled along with the implementation of fifteen 
measures from Kozloduy 1000-MW units modernization program.
 
The resumption of Unit 6 work marks the end of Kozloduy 
preparations for full capacity wintertime operations. 

Bulgaria's sole power plant is located on the river Danube, some 
200 kilometers north of Sofia.[ width=] 

  novinite.com  Forum  Google  Tourism  Business                

 All Rights Reserved © Novinite Ltd., 2001-2004 - Copyright

Bulgaria news Novinite.com (Sofia News Agency - 
www.sofianewsagency.com) is unique with being a real time news 
provider in English that informs its readers about the latest 
Bulgarian news. The editorial staff also publishes a daily
*****************************************************************
 29 Brattleboro Reformer: PSB recommends $85,000 fine for Vt. Yankee

November 28, 2004 Brattleboro, VT                                                                                 
 			 								 					
By The Associated Press

BRATTLEBORO (AP) -- A hearing officer has recommended that 
Entergy Nuclear be fined $85,000 for beginning construction on a 
Vermont Yankee repair building without first getting state 
approval.

 Hearing officer George Young wrote that Entergy's past business 
practices, and history of not following directives from state 
regulators, worked against the company.

 "Entergy's past performance ... shows a pattern in which the 
company has not complied with its legal obligations," he wrote.

 "Entergy knew or should have known that it could not commence 
site preparation without first receiving approval from the 
board," Young wrote. "The facts make clear that at least some of 
Entergy's management did understand the applicable law."

 He added, "Even if no individual at Entergy had specific 
knowledge of both the legal requirements and the fact that site 
preparation may commence, there is no question that Entergy, an 
entity, is properly charged with knowledge of both." 

Young said there were a few mitigating factors, and so he wasn't 
recommending the maximum fine of $100,000 allowed under Vermont 
law.

 Young said he was proposing close to the maximum fine "to 
encourage Entergy to establish appropriate internal mechanisms to 
ensure compliance."

 Entergy, as part of its site preparation, removed about 30 
truckloads of soil from the Yankee nuclear reactor site in 
Vernon. But after a public outcry during a public hearing on the 
plan, it hauled the soil back to the plant and it was tested for 
possible radioactivity contamination.

 There was none beyond normal background levels, the Department 
of Health determined.

 Entergy eventually withdrew its application, and rebuilt the 
large electric turbine rotor in an old paper mill in Brattleboro.

 According to the PSB process, all sides in the case have two 
weeks to respond to the proposed fine, and then the full board 
will make a decision.

 Laurence Smith, spokesman for Entergy, said the company would 
decline comment until Dec. 7, when comments are due.

 "It's under review," he said, noting the proposed fine was a 
"preliminary recommendation on an issue that is just over a year 
old." 

Copyright © 2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This 
*****************************************************************
 30 [du-list] GULF WAR VETERAN WELCOMES RESULTS OF ILLNESS INQUIRY
 
Date: Sat, 27 Nov 2004 18:35:56 -0800

 
<x-flowed>
GULF WAR VETERAN WELCOMES RESULTS OF ILLNESS INQUIRY

Surrey & Berkshire Newspapers Limited

By PHILIP SKELTON

25/11/2004

http://www.woking.co.uk/news/article/article_id=13524.html

GULF War veteran Paul Connolly, from St John’s, has been
given fresh hope in his fight for recognition of an illness
he claims is linked to his work in the Gulf more than 14
years ago.

Paul, aged 41, of Raglan Road, suffered kidney failure on
returning from the Gulf war in 1991 and joins thousands of
ex-servicemen in welcoming the conclusions of an independent
inquiry published on Wednesday November 17.

The inquiry, led by Lord Lloyd of Berwick, said there were a
number of causes for the veterans’ illnesses but these could
be collectively described as Gulf War syndrome.

The inquiry also reported scientific evidence to show  that
veterans were twice as likely to suffer from ill health as
those servicemen who served in other areas.

It has called on the Ministry of Defence (MOD) — which has
never accepted the veterans’ illnesses are linked to their
service — to establish a fund to compensate veterans of the
Gulf conflict who have suffered illness as a result.

Mr Connolly says the report is one more step towards real
recognition and compensation from the MOD for victims and
their families.

He explained his condition first became apparent after
exposure to depleted uranium, while he was stationed in the
Gulf as a civilian service engineer.

Despite being now back on life-saving dialysis treatment
after his body rejected a second kidney transplant in April,
he is adamant that he will continue to fight for recognition
of his illness.

Mr Connolly said: “I am pleased there has finally been an
independent inquiry carried out, but I am disappointed the
MOD did not choose to take part.

“The ministry had the opportunity but once again it has
chosen instead to bury its head in the sand.

“It has been 14 years since the Gulf War and the Ministry of
Defence has never actually acknowledged that there is a link
between veterans’ illnesses and their service.

“No one can give us our health back, but the 6,000 veterans
of the Gulf War who are still suffering deserve to be given
medical help.

“This is one more step towards getting that help.

“We need to remind the government that not all of us are
dead yet and I will personally continue to fight for justice
until I die.”

Woking MP, Humfrey Malins, has fought alongside Paul for
recognition of his condition and its link to Paul’s service
in the Gulf.

Mr Malins said: “It is an absolute disgrace that the
government has not come forward and is not prepared to

compensate Paul, or recognise that his condition is linked
to the Gulf War.

“I have raised this in Parliament and I will continue to do so.”

A spokesman for the MOD said: “The MOD has received a copy
of the inquiry and is looking into it.

“We will give a detailed response in due course.”

-- 

Posted for educational and research purposes only,
~ in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 ~

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 31 [NYTr] Truckers Risk Cancer from Homeland Hysteria Radiation
 
Date: Sun, 28 Nov 2004 15:05:42 -0600 (CST)

 
Via NY Transfer News Collective  *  All the News that Doesn't Fit
 

sent by mart

[Special thanks to Jim Stewart for this item.]

TRUCKER NEWS ALERT - Nov 27, 2004

A NEW HIDDEN DANGER AT AMERICA'S PORTS:

TRUCKERS AND THEIR FAMILIES MAY PAY LATER WITH THEIR HEALTH

by William Sharp

NORFOLK, VA- It's called the Vehicle and Cargo Inspection System. A piece of
equipment equivalent to an x-ray machine but using much more powerful gamma
rays to inspect the contents of sealed ocean containers. At seaports
everywhere truckers pick up large metal boxes called containers unloaded
from ships and mounted on wheels. Some drivers are directed to drive through
these new cargo scanning devices before leaving the terminal property.

Little does anyone know what the future effects will be by continued
exposure of low level gamma radiation on drivers while sitting in the cab of
their truck having cargo scanned. Many drivers have no choice in the matter
but are ordered by operators to remain in harms way to pull the truck up in
order to complete the inspection.

Most workers hired to operate these gamma-ray machines claim there is no
risk involved but others are not so certain about that.

Safety and Protection Radiographic cargo inspection systems require a small
amount of protection (called 'localized shielding') to minimize exposure and
maintain protection. Operators are supposed to be trained in radiation
safety and they should wear a badge (dosimeter) to measure any radiation
exposure. To date, most operators have reported receiving very little or no
dose associated with the operation of the cargo inspection system.

Dr. Helen Caldicott (winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1985) a trained
pediatrician, co-founder of Physicians for Social Responsibility says,"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 a port operation. That's
where the gamma-ray scanners come in. While conventional X-ray scanners take
up to 10 minutes to scan through the metal of a container and show the image
on the screen, powerful gamma-ray = scanners take from only a few seconds to
a couple of minutes to complete the job.

To avoid the added expense of hiring additional qualified personal with on
site jockey trucks to perform such inspections intermodal drivers entering
to pickup loads at most ports are ordered to pull any suspect containers up
to be scanned before leaving the terminal. In an effort to move the lines
along more quickly at badly = congested ports drivers are required to remain
in their truck exposing them indirectly or in some cases directly to
radiation. For some local drivers this means many times a day.

Soon every port will have these scanning devices installed at each exit gate
making it mandatory to drive through on the way out. This daily exposure
unless changes are made to protect workers according to many leading
scientist could lead to serious health risk for intermodal truckers or
anyone else forced to drive through this system.

Some inspectors not only scan the container in a search for any = contraband
but also the tractor with the driver remaining in the cab. This according to
manufactures of the gamma-ray scanning equipment = should absolutely never
be done.

In the comic strip The Incredible Hulk, Bruce Banner found out, gamma rays
can be a dangerous tool. In comic fiction, high doses of gamma rays turned
the Hulk into a green destruction machine. In real life, gamma rays are
known to cause cancer and cell mutations in plants and animals.

The fact remains that gamma-ray technology is brand new -- it's only been
out of the lab perhaps two decades ago; X-ray technology has been around for
more than a century now. So there have been no long-term studies to
establish the effect of gamma rays to port workers exposed on a daily basis.

Gamma-ray scanners will continue to be very much in demand at seaports
around the country. The rays have extremely short wavelength compared to
X-rays. The shorter the wavelength, the more energy it carries and the more
penetrating ability it has to scan cargo. That's why gamma-ray scanners work
so much better in the inspection of ocean containers.

But this high penetration also means gamma rays can cause more harm to
exposed human cells.

Rosalie Bertell, a reputed scientist who directed investigations into the
Chernobyl nuclear accident in Russia and Union Carbide Corp's Bhopal Gas
disaster in India studied the effects of low-level radiation (like those
emitted by the gamma-ray scanners) on humans.

Bertell says,"There is no such thing as a radiation exposure that will not
do damage. There is a 100 per cent probability of cellular damage when you
are exposed to any radiation."

Paul Barham says, "This is just one more example of how we are used at the
port as free labor to perform another task, but this time our health and
that of our family is in jeopardy. This is an unsafe operation and the time
to do something about it is now or we are the ones that will have to pay
later. They can move drivers to a protected area if they want to scan the
boxes."

Barham a Virginia intermodal trucker pulls local container moves out of the
ports of Hampton Roads Virginia, sometimes as many as a dozen trips to
different port terminals in a day.

"I didn't realize how bad the radiation was until one of the workers started
talking about how powerful gamma rays are," says Paul, "I just can't believe
why port management would ignore the health risk of all the workers and
drivers out here at the terminal without even a warning."

Paul is not alone in his concern. A growing number of truckers are now =
becoming increasing aware of the danger involved with being exposed to even
low doses of radiation while working the ports.

"This is something we never imagined we would be dealing with in our job =
pulling steamship line boxes," says Jessie Smith an intermodal trucker =
working out of the port of Jacksonville, Fl.

"They had some mobile units mounted on trucks, but now are building these
systems at the exit gates down here. To my knowledge no one from the port
has ever explained to us how dangerous or what are the risk to workers that
are exposed to these units constantly on a daily basis."
       
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 32 Bradenton Herald: County may fund beryllium tests

| 11/27/2004 | 

DONNA WRIGHT

 Herald Staff Writer

Former beryllium workers and their families may get financial 
help from Manatee County for costly blood tests to determine if 
they are sick from exposure to the toxic metal. 

The medical surveillance program will provide a special blood 
test for 200 people, if approved by county commissioners on 
Tuesday. 

The $54,000 proposal comes at the request of Dr. Gladys Branic, 
director of Manatee County Health Department, who said she is 
committed to assessing the health risk to the community that may 
stem from toxic dust workers may have tracked home and into area 
businesses. 

Branic asked the county to underwrite the blood tests for current 
Manatee County residents who also are former employees of now 
defunct Loral American Beryllium Co. in Tallevast and their 
family members, if they lived in the same household during the 
former workers' period of employment. 

Former workers do not need to live in Tallevast to qualify, 
Branic said. 

The proposed testing program comes just two weeks after the 
Herald reported that people throughout Sarasota and Manatee 
counties may have been exposed to toxic beryllium dust generated 
at the Tallevast plant over the past four decades. 

Inhaling beryllium dust can cause chronic beryllium disease, a 
severe respiratory condition that can lead to lung cancer. 

American Beryllium workers were exposed to the toxic dust while 
processing the light, exotic metal to create parts for missile 
guidance systems and nuclear warheads during the Cold War. 

Even casual contact with the toxic dust can lead to beryllium 
sensitivity and disease, say medical experts at National Jewish 
Medical and Research Center in Denver, who cited studies of 
communities surrounding beryllium plants similar to the one 
formerly in operation in Tallevast. 

Under the proposal, the health department will draw the blood 
samples and ship them to the participating laboratory as well as 
educate the public on the health threats of beryllium exposure, 
Branic said. 

Commissioners' approval will give county staff and Branic the 
green light to negotiate a participating agreement with one of 
the four specialty labs that offer the test, said Cheri Coryea of 
the Manatee County Community Services Department. 

Costs for the test range from $210 to $600, Branic said. She 
hopes to be able to negotiate a group purchase price. The county 
is looking at ways to recoup the costs later. 

Jane von Hahmann, commission chairwoman, said the testing program 
would help offer residents and workers peace of mind. 

"I am hoping most of these people come up with negative test 
results," said Von Hahmann. "This may just be a cost we have to 
incur to help citizens. I would rather do that than not do it." 

Commissioner Donna Hayes, who represents Tallevast residents on 
the commission, said she was pleased that the testing program was 
on Tuesday's agenda. 

"The citizens of Tallevast deserve our help," said Hayes. "We 
hope we can get some help for them from the state or federal 
government." 

Federal help is available for workers who qualify for the Energy 
Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program. 

The federal compensation program offers medical benefits and a 
one-time lump compensation payment of up to $125,000 for 
beryllium workers who became ill while working on Department of 
Energy contracts. 

To apply, former American Beryllium workers must have been 
employed during 1968 or from Jan. 1, 1980, to Dec. 31, 1989 - the 
periods when the Tallevast plant had Department of Energy 
contracts. 

To qualify for benefits, most workers must have a positive 
beryllium sensitivity blood test, according to the U.S. Dept. of 
Labor, which administers the program 

Workers must pay for the test up front. Those who test positive 
are reimbursed, and their medical care for beryllium disease will 
be covered under the compensation program, according to the Labor 
Department. 

Those who test negative are not reimbursed for the cost of the 
test, Labor officials say. 

Family members of workers are not covered under the compensation 
program. 

Branic wants to make sure those folks get tested. 

"We will work with whomever we can," Branic said, "to provide a 
quality testing program." 

Donna Wright, health and social services reporter, can be reached 
at 745-7049 or at dwright@bradentonherald.com.   

*****************************************************************
 33 Times of India: A tubelight to save you from nuclear winter

PRASHANT RUPERA

TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2004 02:22:01 AM 		]
   
  VADODARA: Can something as ordinary as a fluorescent lamp save 
you from a nuclear winter similar to the Chernobyl nuclear 
disaster of 1986 which killed nearly 2,500 people? Researchers at 
the MS University's applied physics department, in collaboration 
with the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), are doing just 
that. They have set upon developing cost-effective lamps which 
can be placed near nuclear power stations so that radiation can 
be monitored at the time of accidents, thus help in saving more 
lives. 

"Normally, thermo-luminescence (TL) devices are placed within a 
20-km radius of a nuclear site to regularly monitor radiation 
emitted by radioactive sources. This is not easy as villagers 
often damage the devices. But, we are developing cost-effective 
fluorescent lamps based on phosphors which can be installed at 
village panchayats," says reader of the department K V R Murthy, 
who along with two other scientists V Natrajan and A G Page from 
BARC, is developing the device. The department of atomic energy 
has granted Rs 23 lakh for the research. 

"We have already tested the lamp phosphors for 
thermo-luminescence dosimetry (measuring the dose of radiation 
emitted by a radioactive source). We are in the final stage where 
we will develop the lamp and irradiate it at the BARC. The 
government can then start distributing the device. Priced at Rs 
50, this lamp is more expensive by just Rs 5 than your normal 
fluorescent lamp," says Murthy. 

"At the time of a nuclear accident, we can pick up the samples, 
study TL dosimetry and evacuate the danger zones to save lives 
around the nuclear sites," he says. There are around nine nuclear 
sites in the country around which these lamps can be used, he 
adds. 

  Continued...Next >>   

  Copyright © 2004 Times Internet Limited. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
 34 ITAR-TASS: Sevmash to dispose of second Akula nuclear-powered submarine

26.11.2004, 23.22

SEVERODVINSK (Arkhangesk region), November 26 (Itar-Tass) -- The
Sevmash shipyard based in Severodvinsk has signed a contract on
the disposal of the second Akula strategic nuclear-powered
submarine – one of the largest subs of Russia, a shipyard source
told Itar-Tass on Friday. 

Sevmash will finalize disposal of the first Akula sub and start
disposal of another in 2005 under the Russian-U.S. Cooperate
Threat Reduction Program. “The submarine will be delivered to
the shipyard in spring,” the source said. 

According to open sources, Akula (Typhoon) heavy strategic
nuclear-powered submarines were designed at the Rubin Naval
Design Bureau based in St. Petersburg. Sevmash built six
submarines of the kind in 1977-89. The submarines are 175 meters
long and 22.8 meters wide. They have a displacement of up to
49,000 tonnes. The Akula has a crew of 170. It is armed with 20
ballistic missiles. 

       
© ITAR-TASS. All rights reserved. You undertake not to copy,
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 35 Paducah Sun: Sick workers question exposure views

Paducah, Kentucky 
 
Health officials have been invited to meet with workers in 
Paducah and let them point out problem areas in the profile.

By Joe Walker jwalker@paducahsun.com 270.575.8656 Saturday, 
November 27, 2004 

Union leaders worry that compensation for sick nuclear workers 
could be denied or compromised by gaps in a new government 
profile of historic job exposure at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion 
Plant. 

Done by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, 
the profile relies heavily on exposure data from the Department 
of Energy that was spotty until recent years, according to the 
plant atomic workers' union. DOE owns the plant. 

"I don't want to be too critical of NIOSH without giving them the 
opportunity to explain their rationale," said Leon Owens, a 
worker health screening representative for the union. 

Owens said he will invite NIOSH officials to a meeting in Paducah 
in late January or early February to go over the profile and 
allow workers to point out problem areas. Meanwhile, the union 
will scrutinize the report with the help of Mark Griffon, health 
physicist for the screening program, Owens said. 

In October, Congress expanded legislation for the Department of 
Labor to compensate sick nuclear workers by relying more heavily 
on plant profiles. The law provides for input from workers to 
fill exposure gaps, he said. 

The seven-part Paducah report deals with work areas and various 
types and concentrations of radioactive materials that NIOSH uses 
to reconstruct worker exposures. The "dose" reconstructions help 
determine if sick workers are entitled to government 
compensation. 

Although the plant enriches mildly radioactive uranium 
hexafluoride (UF6) for use in nuclear fuel, workers were exposed 
to much deadlier radiation during parts of the Cold War. Traces 
of plutonium and neptunium contaminated certain buildings in the 
plant as workers recovered uranium from spent reactor fuel, the 
profile says. 

Owens said he questions the term "moderate" used in the profile 
to describe workers' external radiation exposure potential in a 
now-closed building where the reactor fuel was fed into the 
plant. The profile says the risk of internal exposure was high.

Dust containing plutonium and neptunium is particularly deadly if 
breathed or ingested. 

For decades, DOE never acknowledged the presence of neptunium or 
plutonium. Until 1999 — when Griffon found an old DOE memo to the 
contrary — the agency also refused to admit using a highly toxic 
metal called beryllium in the secret machining of nuclear weapons 
parts. Griffon led a 2001 study whose report shed light on 
beryllium and many other previously undisclosed risks, Owens 
said. 

The profile does not satisfactorily address beryllium, even 
though chronic beryllium disease can be debilitating to the lungs 
or even fatal, Owens said. Out of 2,236 screenings, more than 100 
current and former Paducah plant workers have the disease or 
exhibit beryllium exposure, he said. 

Workers with beryllium disease or various types of 
radiation-induced cancers are entitled to $150,000 lump-sum 
payments. The expanded law provides for up to $250,000 for 
workers exposed to various other toxins. Some of the sickest 
workers could get as much as $400,000 under both programs. 

Kate Kimpan, an expert hired by U.S. Sen. Jim Bunning of Kentucky 
to help draft the improved legislation, now is acting director of 
the DOE Office of Worker Advocacy. She is overseeing the transfer 
of records from the Energy Department, which formerly ran the 
toxic-exposure compensation program, to the Labor Department. 

"We feel very good about that," Owens said. 

In four years, the Labor Department has paid about $170 million 
at Paducah for radiation-induced cancers and chronic beryllium 
disease. But there are about 3,000 Paducah claims backlogged 
under the former DOE program with nothing paid. 

Owens said the Labor Department is expected to hold a town hall 
meeting in Paducah early next year to clarify the new program. 
The Labor Department has until late May to establish regulations. 

Claims may be filed at the Paducah Energy Employees Compensation 
Resource Center, 125 Memorial Drive, next to Milner & Orr Funeral 
Home off Blandville Road. Phone: 534-0599 or toll-free 
866-534-0599. E-mail: paducah.center@eh.doe.gov. 
*****************************************************************
 36 PE.com: Wyle testing tops meeting agenda 

| Inland Southern California | Corona-Norco
 

NORCO: Pollution from the closed lab might be more widespread 
than first thought, officials say. 

11:48 PM PST on Friday, November 26, 2004 

By PAIGE AUSTIN / The Press-Enterprise 

MEETING 

WHAT: Town hall session to discuss plans to clean up and 
investigate the Wyle Labs site 

WHEN: Monday, 6 p.m. open house followed by a 7 p.m. presentation 

WHERE: Corona-Norco Unified School District Learning Center, 2820 
Clark Ave., Norco   

State and local environmental regulators and health officials 
will host a town hall meeting Monday in Norco to discuss the 
latest plans for cleaning and investigating hazardous waste 
pollution at and around Wyle Labs, a former hazardous testing 
facility. 

This summer, officials with the California Department of Toxic 
Substances Control expressed confidence that a toxic plume was 
limited to the Wyle site with trace amounts contaminating soil in 
the Golden West Lane neighborhood. 

However, recent test results from a private well farther away at 
Third Street and Hillside Avenue showed significant levels of 
contamination, prompting state officials to expand the 
investigation into off-site pollution. 

Now, regulators are attempting to locate additional private 
wells. Officials also are considering testing on Raquel Road, a 
small cul-de-sac not previously considered a likely path for the 
contamination. Regulators decided to test in the area because 
several Raquel Road residents have had cancer and because 
underground fractures in the bedrock have made it difficult for 
regulators to trace the path of the plume. 

The state's shift highlights the continuing uncertainty and 
challenge in measuring the extent of the pollution. It also 
represents a positive turning point in the cooperation between 
state officials and the community, said Jeanne Guertin, 
chairwoman of the Wyle Labs Community Advisory Group. 

"It's a major change," said Guertin. "We've been working with a 
set of scientific models that just don't fit our unique 
situation. The fractured bedrock causes the groundwater to move 
in ways we can't predict yet. I'm glad to see a revised work plan 
emphasizing off-property investigation." 

Test results on a private well on Hillside Avenue released last 
month showed levels of suspected cancer-causing agents such as 
TCE and perchlorate. The industrial solvent TCE, a major polluter 
at Wyle Labs, showed up at 680 parts per billion, hundreds of 
times the regulatory reporting limit. 

Down the street at the Norco High School football field, 
regulators found trace amounts of benzene and toluene. Both were 
found at such low levels that they don't pose health threats, 
said Shahir Haddad, DTSC project manager. 

Both chemicals are breakdown products of total petroleum 
hydrocarbon, a compound used in oil, gasoline and jet fuel. Due 
to hydraulic oil spills, total petroleum hydrocarbons have been a 
major pollutant at Wyle found at levels as high as 200,000 ppb. 

Last week, Corona-Norco Unified School District trustees voted to 
hire a consulting firm with a Rancho Cucamonga office to advise 
the district about environmental testing at two schools near 
Wyle. 

State officials are expected to release a final report on the 
high school findings at Monday's meeting. More headlines... 

Temescal Valley plans new schools

Colorful past lives on in Temescal Valley

Labor and love

Corona man dies in head-on crash in Ontario

Building booms in Temescal ValleyMore... ARTICLE TOOLS: Print it 

&copy; 2004 Belo Interactive Inc.  
*****************************************************************
 37 L.A. Daily News: Army Corps to look at perchlorate risks

Article Published: Saturday, November 27, 2004 -
 		   	 	
 Funding to study water on tap?

By Kerry Cavanaugh Staff Writer

Championed by Thousand Oaks Rep. Elton Gallegly, the U.S. Army 
Corps of Engineers is expected to get $100,000 to look at 
studying where perchlorate is migrating in Simi Valley's 
groundwater.

 The money is earmarked in the $388 billion spending bill 
approved by Congress this past week. That's in addition to $19 
million allotted to continue cleaning up the Department of 
Energy's former nuclear research at the Santa Susana Field Lab in 
the Simi Hills.

 The rocket fuel ingredient perchlorate has been found in 
groundwater testing wells throughout Simi Valley at levels above 
California health guidelines. The wells are not used for drinking 
water.

 However, water regulators have been unable to say where the 
perchlorate is coming from. 

Gallegly's office enlisted the Army Corps of Engineers to do a 
reconnaissance study of the perchlorate problem because the 
federal agency has analyzed perchlorate movement in groundwater 
at the Whittaker-Bermite explosives factory in Santa Clarita.

 The corps is supposed to look at where perchlorate has been 
found in Simi Valley, determine whether it poses a risk to people 
and decide if the contamination is a federal issue that merits 
further investigation, said Tom Pfeifer, Gallegly's spokesman.

 "If the perchlorate is affecting water and could be affecting 
people's health by getting into the drinking water, then we'll 
take it to the next step," which could be a larger study of where 
the perchlorate is coming from.

 Activists have said the contaminant must be coming from the 
field lab, where Boeing and its predecessors conducted rocket 
testing for the military, and high levels of perchlorate in the 
soil and rock are now being cleaned up. They pushed state water 
regulators to drill wells at the base of the Simi Hills to see 
whether perchlorate is migrating off the field lab into the 
valley.

 Longtime field lab watchdog Dan Hirsch questioned whether the 
Army Corps was going to conduct a new investigation or simply 
rehash existing perchlorate testing results.

 "I'm a little nervous that there isn't going to be any 
measurements or any research," Hirsch said.

 He also said because rocket testing at the field lab was 
conducted for the Department of Defense, the Army Corps could 
have some responsibility for the lab cleanup.

 Boeing has maintained that perchlorate is not moving off-site 
because the bedrock under the lab acts like sponge, preventing 
perchlorate migration.

 Boeing spokesman John Mitchell said the company was supportive 
of the planned corps study.

 "Taking a scientific approach to this is exactly what we're 
after," Los Angeles Army Corps officials said. They will have to 
find a local agency partner to split the study costs 50-50, with 
the corps contributing up to $100,000. They don't know when 
they'll be able to start the study. 

--- Kerry Cavanaugh, (818) 713-3746 kerry.cavanaugh@dailynews.com

Copyright © 2004 Los Angeles Daily News
 
www.dailynews.com
*****************************************************************
 38 DenverPost.com: West wary of nuclear waste route

Article Published: Sunday, November 28, 2004                                    
  	 	
A proposal to ship material across Colorado and other states has 
governors wanting to make their voices heard on a 
uranium-enrichment plant.

By Kim McGuire 

Denver Post Staff Writer
 			
 A proposed uranium-enrichment plant in southeastern New Mexico 
has stoked concerns about tons of radioactive material being 
shipped by 2008 on rail lines through some of Colorado's most 
mountainous terraincq. 

After a recent environmental impact study showing proposed 
transportation routes slicing through Colorado, the Western 
Governors Association this month petitioned the Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission to allow the group to weigh in on the plan 
to build a $1.2 billion enrichment facility. 

If built, the plant would provide "low enriched" uranium to help 
power nuclear reactors generating electricity. 

Company officials say the plant would provide a much-needed 
domestic source of fuel for the nation's 104 licensed nuclear 
power reactors, which provide about 20 percent of the nation's 
electricity. 

While many uncertainties shroud the proposal, which comes from a 
consortium of U.S and European energy companies, the governors' 
group contends that a Union Pacific rail line - running parallel 
to Interstate 70 - would not be the best route to ship depleted 
uranium waste generated from the proposed facility. 

"One characteristic of depleted uranium hexafluoride is when it
gets in contact with moisture, it turns into an acid," said Bill
Mackie, the association's program manager for nuclear waste
transportation. "If either a truck or train caught fire,
emergency responders need to know that if they hit it with water
there's going to be a serious problem." 

If depleted uranium hexafluoride reacts with water, toxic
hydrofluoric acid forms. The acid is extremely corrosive and, if
inhaled in high concentrations, can damage the lungs or cause
death, scientists say. 

Under the plan before federal regulators, the consortium, led by
Louisiana Energy Services, proposes to build the nation's first
commercial gas centrifuge enrichment plant in Eunice, N.M., just
south of Hobbs, N.M. 

As part of the licensing process, the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission in September issued a preliminary environmental
impact study showing depleted uranium waste from the plant -
"deconverted" at a proposed plant in Ohio - being transported on
rail lines that run parallel to Interstates 70 and 80 through
Colorado and Wyoming. 

Ultimately, the tracks lead to radioactive waste dumps in
Washington, Nevada and Utah. 

Trucks could also be used to transport enriched uranium up
Interstate 25 through Colorado to a fuel manufacturing plant in
Richland, Wash., the study shows. Using truck - not rail - is
actually the company's preferred transportation method. 

"I think in any case it will come through Colorado," Mackie
said. 

That's not necessarily true, said April Wade, a Louisiana Energy
Services spokeswoman. 

She said the proposed transportation routes and disposal options
mentioned in the preliminary study could change by the time the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission finishes processing the company's
application, tentatively set for 2006. 

Nonetheless, the study raises lots of questions- such as the
feasibility of shipping radioactive waste on rail lines with a
history of derailments, Mackie said. 

"If memory serves correct, there have been three coal-train
accidents on that stretch, and each sent diesel fuel and coal
into the river," Mackie said. 

A Union Pacific spokesman acknowledged two derailments last year
on that particular track but said that is not an unusually large
number. 

Rod Krich, Louisiana Energy Services' vice president for
licensing, safety and nuclear engineering, said that before the
depleted uranium waste is transported to Utah or anywhere else
for disposal, it would first be "deconverted" to a form that's
chemically similar to the mined ore and wouldn't produce a
dangerous acid. 

"The point ... is we're not adding any type of material that's
not already coming across your highways," Krich said. 

The big hitch to Louisiana Energy Services' plan: There
currently is no facility in the nation that could process its
depleted uranium for disposal, company officials acknowledge. 

"New Mexico has a long history with nuclear waste, and our
concern is that they can't tell us how they plan to get rid of
it," said Amy Williams, a spokeswoman for Concerned Citizens for
Nuclear Safety in Santa Fe. "We're scared that it could sit in
Lea County forever.With a half life of 24,000 years - that's a
long time." 

Staff writer Kim McGuire can be reached at 303-820-1240 or . 		 
 	 	
 All contents Copyright 2004 The Denver Post or other copyright
*****************************************************************
 39 FT.com: EU still keen on fusion compromise
 
By Tobias Buck 

Published: November 27 2004 

The European Union is still keen to broker a compromise with 
Japan over where to build the world's largest nuclear fusion 
experiment but stands ready to go ahead without Tokyo if talks 
fail, ministers agreed yesterday in Brussels.

France and Japan have both offered sites for the $10bn (â‚¬7.5bn, 
Â£5.3bn) Iter project, dividing the group of countries that have 
promised finance.

Iter, the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, would 
be the first large-scale demonstration on earth of nuclear 
fusion, the reaction that powers the sun. Tobias Buck, Brussels [ 
  
Â© Copyright The Financial Times Ltd 2004. "FT" and "Financial 



Times" are trademarks of the Financial Times.
    
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have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for 
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information go to: 
<http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml> 
    
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