***************************************************************** 10/25/04 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 12.255 ***************************************************************** RADBULL IS PRODUCED BY THE ABALONE ALLIANCE CLEARINGHOUSE ***************************************************************** Send News Stories to news@energy-net.org with title on subject line and first line of body NUCLEAR POLICY 1 [NYTr] Iraq: Huge Explosives Cache Disappears Under US Noses 2 Over 340 Tons Of High Explosives Missing From Iraq, UN Nuclear Watch 3 [NYTr] Iran Considers Extending Moratorium on Uranium 4 BBC: Iran hints at nuclear concession 5 albawaba.com: Iran: US nuclear allegations - ''baseless and sheer li 6 MENAFN: Iran urged to build 9 nuclear centers 7 US: Missile Defense - Your Comments Needed 8 [du-list] "Bush IS our security risk" (Buzzflash headliner) 9 US: How Bush Makes us LESS safe: Reckless Incompetence with Nuclear 10 BBC: Nuclear scientist remains in custody 11 Reuters: Britons Want Homer Simpson as U.S. President 12 News & Star: We must make most of nuclear expertise NUCLEAR REACTORS 13 US: [NukeNet] NBC News on NRC posting sensitive info 14 [NukeNet] South Africa may be forced to turn to nuclear power 15 US: [NukeNet] Delaware Congressional Delegation Letter to U.S. 16 US: deseret news: Nuclear plant security attacked 17 Platts: EDF picks Flamanville site for next reactor 18 US: NRC: NRC Announces Availability of License Renewal Application f 19 US: NRC: Yankee Atomic Electric Company; Establishment of Atomic Saf 20 US: NRC: Nuclear Management Company, LLC; Monticello Nuclear Generat 21 US: NRC: STP Nuclear Operating Company, et al., South Texas Project, 22 US: TVA: Nuclear fule meeting NUCLEAR SAFETY 23 US: [du-list] "US stealing scrap for armour.." 24 [du-list] International Day of Action Against Depleted Uranium 25 US: Salt Lake Tribune: Bipartisan push is on for an end to N-funds 26 US: MSNBC - Radioactive material revealed as vulnerable 27 US: DHHS: CDC: Petition to designate impacts to workers NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE 28 Las Vegas SUN: Reid goes on offensive in support of Gallagher 29 US: Salt Lake Tribune - Opinion: A mad tea party 30 US: Salt Lake Tribune - Opinion: Foot in the door 31 EU Business: Iran says willing to consider uranium enrichment 32 Belfast Telegraph: Locked out of the Deep South, Kerry sets his sigh NUCLEAR WEAPONS US DEPT. OF ENERGY OTHER NUCLEAR 33 [du-list] DU use and other war crimes - impeach Bliar 34 [du-list] DU in the news - 25th Oct 04 35 Albuquerque Tribune: Fusion machine gaining wallop ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** FULL NEWS STORIES ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** 1 [NYTr] Iraq: Huge Explosives Cache Disappears Under US Noses Date: Mon, 25 Oct 2004 08:42:08 -0500 (CDT) Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit The New York Times - 25 October 2004 http://nytimes.com/2004/10/25/international/middleeast/25bomb.html Huge Cache of Explosives Vanished from Site in Iraq By James Glanz, William J. Broad And David E. Sanger BAGHDAD, Iraq, Oct. 24 - The Iraqi interim government has warned the United States and international nuclear inspectors that nearly 380 tons of powerful conventional explosives - used to demolish buildings, make missile warheads and detonate nuclear weapons - are missing from one of Iraq's most sensitive former military installations. The huge facility, called Al Qaqaa, was supposed to be under American military control but is now a no man's land, still picked over by looters as recently as Sunday. United Nations weapons inspectors had monitored the explosives for many years, but White House and Pentagon officials acknowledge that the explosives vanished sometime after the American-led invasion last year. The White House said President Bush's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, was informed within the past month that the explosives were missing. It is unclear whether President Bush was informed. American officials have never publicly announced the disappearance, but beginning last week they answered questions about it posed by The New York Times and the CBS News program "60 Minutes." Administration officials said Sunday that the Iraq Survey Group, the C.I.A. task force that searched for unconventional weapons, has been ordered to investigate the disappearance of the explosives. American weapons experts say their immediate concern is that the explosives could be used in major bombing attacks against American or Iraqi forces: the explosives, mainly HMX and RDX, could produce bombs strong enough to shatter airplanes or tear apart buildings. The bomb that brought down Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988 used less than a pound of the same type of material, and larger amounts were apparently used in the bombing of a housing complex in November 2003 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and the blasts in a Moscow apartment complex in September 1999 that killed nearly 300 people. The explosives could also be used to trigger a nuclear weapon, which was why international nuclear inspectors had kept a watch on the material, and even sealed and locked some of it. The other components of an atom bomb - the design and the radioactive fuel - are more difficult to obtain. "This is a high explosives risk, but not necessarily a proliferation risk," one senior Bush administration official said. The International Atomic Energy Agency publicly warned about the danger of these explosives before the war, and after the invasion it specifically told United States officials about the need to keep the explosives secured, European diplomats said in interviews last week. Administration officials say they cannot explain why the explosives were not safeguarded, beyond the fact that the occupation force was overwhelmed by the amount of munitions they found throughout the country. A Pentagon spokesman, Lawrence Di Rita, said Sunday evening that Saddam Hussein's government "stored weapons in mosques, schools, hospitals and countless other locations," and that the allied forces "have discovered and destroyed perhaps thousands of tons of ordnance of all types." A senior military official noted that HMX and RDX were "available around the world" and not on the nuclear nonproliferation list, even though they are used in the nuclear warheads of many nations. The Qaqaa facility, about 30 miles south of Baghdad, was well known to American intelligence officials: Mr. Hussein made conventional warheads at the site, and the I.A.E.A. dismantled parts of his nuclear program there in the early 1990's after the Persian Gulf war in 1991. In the prelude to the 2003 invasion, Mr. Bush cited a number of other "dual use" items - including tubes that the administration contended could be converted to use for the nuclear program - as a justification for invading Iraq. After the invasion, when widespread looting began in Iraq, the international weapons experts grew concerned that the Qaqaa stockpile could fall into unfriendly hands. In May, an internal I.A.E.A. memorandum warned that terrorists might be helping "themselves to the greatest explosives bonanza in history." Earlier this month, in a letter to the I.A.E.A. in Vienna, a senior official from Iraq's Ministry of Science and Technology wrote that the stockpile disappeared after early April 2003 because of "the theft and looting of the governmental installations due to lack of security." In an interview with The Times and "60 Minutes" in Baghdad, the minister of science and technology, Rashad M. Omar, confirmed the facts described in the letter. "Yes, they are missing," Dr. Omar said. "We don't know what happened." The I.A.E.A. says it also does not know, and has reported that machine tools that can be used for either nuclear or non-nuclear purposes have also been looted. Dr. Omar said that after the American-led invasion, the sites containing the explosives were under the control of the Coalition Provisional Authority, an American-led entity that was the highest civilian authority in Iraq until it handed sovereignty of the country over to the interim government on June 28. "After the collapse of the regime, our liberation, everything was under the coalition forces, under their control," Dr. Omar said. "So probably they can answer this question, what happened to the materials." Officials in Washington said they had no answers to that question. One senior official noted that the Qaqaa complex where the explosives were stored was listed as a "medium priority" site on the Central Intelligence Agency's list of more than 500 sites that needed to be searched and secured during the invasion. "Should we have gone there? Definitely," said one senior administration official. In the chaos that followed the invasion, however, many of those sites, even some considered a higher priority, were never secured. A No Man's Land Seeing the ruined bunkers at the vast Qaqaa complex today, it is hard to recall that just two years ago it was part of Saddam Hussein's secret military complex. The bunkers are so large that they are reminiscent of pyramids, though with rounded edges and the tops chopped off. Several are blackened and eviscerated as a result of American bombing. Smokestacks rise in the distance. Today, Al Qaqaa has become a wasteland generally avoided even by the marines in charge of northern Babil Province. Headless bodies are found there. An ammunition dump has been looted, and on Sunday an Iraqi employee of The New York Times who made a furtive visit to the site saw looters tearing out metal fixtures. Bare pipes within the darkened interior of one of the buildings were a tangled mess, zigzagging along charred walls. Someone fired a shot, probably to frighten the visitors off. "It's like Mars on Earth," said Maj. Dan Whisnant, an intelligence officer for the Second Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment. "It would take probably 10 battalions 10 years to clear that out." Mr. Hussein's engineers acquired HMX and RDX when they embarked on a crash effort to build an atomic bomb in the late 1980's. It did not go smoothly. In 1989, a huge blast ripped through Al Qaqaa, the boom reportedly heard hundreds of miles away. The explosion, it was later determined, occurred when a stockpile of the high explosives ignited. After the Persian Gulf war in 1991, the United Nations discovered Iraq's clandestine effort and put the United Nations arms agency in charge of Al Qaqaa's huge stockpile. Weapon inspectors determined that Iraq had bought the explosives from France, China and Yugoslavia, a European diplomat said. None of the explosives were destroyed, arms experts familiar with the decision recalled, because Iraq argued that it should be allowed to keep them for eventual use in mining and civilian construction. But Al Qaqaa was still under the authority of the Military Industrial Council, which ran Iraq's sensitive weapons programs and was led for a time by Hussein Kamel, Mr. Hussein's son-in-law. He defected to the West, then returned to Iraq and was immediately killed. In 1996, the United Nations hauled away some of the HMX and used it to blow up Al Hakam, a vast Iraqi factory for making germ weapons. The Qaqaa stockpile went unmonitored from late 1998, when United Nations inspectors left Iraq, to late 2002, when they came back. Upon their return, the inspectors discovered that about 35 tons of HMX were missing. The Iraqis said they had used the explosive mainly in civilian programs. The remaining stockpile was no secret. Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei, the director general of the arms agency, frequently talked about it publicly as he investigated - in late 2002 and early 2003 - the Bush administration's claims that Iraq was secretly renewing its pursuit of nuclear arms. He ordered his weapons inspectors to conduct an inventory, and publicly reported their findings to the Security Council on Jan. 9, 2003. During the following weeks, the I.A.E.A. repeatedly drew public attention to the explosives. In New York on Feb. 14, nine days after Secretary of State Colin L. Powell presented his arms case to the Security Council, Dr. ElBaradei reported that the agency had found no sign of new atom endeavors but "has continued to investigate the relocation and consumption of the high explosive HMX." A European diplomat reported that Jacques Baute, head of the arms agency's Iraq nuclear inspection team, warned officials at the United States mission in Vienna about the danger of the nuclear sites and materials once under I.A.E.A. supervision, including Al Qaqaa. But apparently, little was done. A senior Bush administration official said that during the initial race to Baghdad, American forces "went through the bunkers, but saw no materials bearing the I.A.E.A. seal." It is unclear whether troops ever returned. By late 2003, diplomats said, arms agency experts had obtained commercial satellite photos of Al Qaqaa showing that two of roughly 10 bunkers that contained HMX appeared to have been leveled by titanic blasts, apparently during the war. They presumed some of the HMX had exploded, but that is unclear. Other HMX bunkers were untouched. Some were damaged but not devastated. I.A.E.A. experts say they assume that just before the invasion the Iraqis followed their standard practice of moving crucial explosives out of buildings, so they would not be tempting targets. If so, the experts say, the Iraqi must have broken seals from the arms agency on bunker doors and moved most of the HMX to nearby fields, where it would have been lightly camouflaged - and ripe for looting. But the Bush administration would not allow the agency back into the country to verify the status of the stockpile. In May 2004, Iraqi officials say in interviews, they warned L. Paul Bremer III, the American head of the occupation authority, that Al Qaqaa had probably been looted. It is unclear if that warning was passed anywhere. Efforts to reach Mr. Bremer by telephone were unsuccessful. But by the spring of 2004, the Americans were preoccupied with the transfer of authority to Iraq, and the insurgency was gaining strength. "It's not an excuse," said one senior administration official. "But a lot of things went by the boards." Early this month, Dr. ElBaradei put public pressure on the interim Iraqi government to start the process of accounting for nuclear-related materials still ostensibly under I.A.E.A. supervision, including the Qaqaa stockpile. "Iraq is obliged," he wrote to the president of the Security Council on Oct. 1, "to declare semiannually changes that have occurred or are foreseen." The agency, Dr. ElBaradei added pointedly, "has received no such notifications or declarations from any state since the agency's inspectors were withdrawn from Iraq in March 2003." A Lost Stockpile Two weeks ago, on Oct. 10, Dr. Mohammed J. Abbas of the Iraqi Ministry of Science and Technology wrote a letter to the I.A.E.A. to say the Qaqaa stockpile had been lost. He added that his ministry had judged that an "urgent updating of the registered materials is required." A chart in his letter listed 341.7 metric tons, about 377 American tons, of HMX, RDX and PETN as missing. The explosives missing from Al Qaqaa are the strongest and fastest in common use by militaries around the globe. The Iraqi letter identified the vanished stockpile as containing 194.7 metric tons of HMX, which stands for "high melting point explosive," 141.2 metric tons of RDX, which stands for "rapid detonation explosive," among other designations, and 5.8 metric tons of PETN, which stands for "pentaerythritol tetranitrate." The total is roughly 340 metric tons or nearly 380 American tons. Five days later, on Oct. 15, European diplomats said, the arms agency wrote the United States mission in Vienna to forward the Iraqi letter and ask that the American authorities inform the international coalition in Iraq of the missing explosives. Dr. ElBaradei, a European diplomat said, is "extremely concerned" about the potentially "devastating consequences" of the vanished stockpile. Its fate remains unknown. Glenn Earhart, manager of an Army Corps of Engineers program in Huntsville, Ala., that is in charge of rounding up and destroying lost Iraqi munitions, said he and his colleagues knew nothing of the whereabouts of the Qaqaa stockpile. Administration officials say Iraq was awash in munitions, including other stockpiles of exotic explosives. "The only reason this stockpile was under seal," said one senior administration official, "is because it was located at Al Qaqaa," where nuclear work had gone on years ago. As a measure of the size of the stockpile, one large truck can carry about 10 tons, meaning that the missing explosives could fill a fleet of almost 40 trucks. By weight, these explosives pack far more destructive power than TNT, so armies often use them in shells, bombs, mines, mortars and many types of conventional ordinance. "HMX and RDX have a lot of shattering power," said Dr. Van Romero, vice president for research at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, or New Mexico Tech, which specializes in explosives. "Getting a large amount is difficult," he added, because most nations carefully regulate who can buy such explosives, though civilian experts can sometimes get licenses to use them for demolition and mining. An Immediate Danger A special property of HMX and RDX lends them to smuggling and terrorism, experts said. While violently energetic when detonated, they are insensitive to shock and physical abuse during handling and transport because of their chemical stability. A hammer blow does nothing. It takes a detonator, like a blasting cap, to release the stored energy. Experts said the insensitivity made them safer to transport than the millions of unexploded shells, mines and pieces of live ammunition that litter Iraq. And its benign appearance makes it easy to disguise as harmless goods, easily slipped across borders. "The immediate danger" of the lost stockpile, said an expert who recently led a team that searched Iraq for deadly arms, "is its potential use with insurgents in very small and powerful explosive devices. The other danger is that it can easily move into the terrorist web across the Middle East." More worrisome to the I.A.E.A. - and to some in Washington - is that HMX and RDX are used in standard nuclear weapons design. In a nuclear implosion weapon, the explosives crush a hollow sphere of uranium or plutonium into a critical mass, initiating the nuclear explosion. A crude implosion device - like the one that the United States tested in 1945 in the New Mexican desert and then dropped on Nagasaki, Japan - needs about a ton of high explosive to crush the core and start the chain reaction. [James Glanz reported from Baghdad and Yusifiya, Iraq, for this article, William J. Broad from New York and Vienna, and David E. Sanger from Washington and Crawford, Tex. Khalid al-Ansary contributed reporting from Baghdad.] Copyright (c) 2004 The New York Times Company ***************************************************************** 2 Over 340 Tons Of High Explosives Missing From Iraq, UN Nuclear Watchdog Says Date: Mon, 25 Oct 2004 18:00:34 -0400 X-Temp-Whitephrase: YES NUCLEAR OVER 340 TONS OF HIGH EXPLOSIVES MISSING FROM IRAQ, UN NUCLEAR WATCHDOG SAYS New York, Oct 25 2004 6:00PM More than 340 tons of high explosives that had been subject to United Nations monitoring were stolen or looted from a government facility in Iraq, the chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported today. In a letter to the Security Council, <"http://www.iaea.org/index.html">IAEA Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei says the Iraqi authorities informed the Agency on 10 October of the explosives lost last year "throughout the theft and looting of the governmental installations due to lack of security." After confirming the Iraqi communication, the IAEA then notified the United States-led multinational force (MNF) - which has responsibility for security in Iraq - about the matter five days later on 15 October. The missing explosives include 195 metric tons of HMX that had been under IAEA seal, as well as141 tons of RDX and almost six tons of PETN, both subject to regular monitoring of stock levels, Mr. ElBaradei says. The IAEA last verified the presence of those stockpiles in January 2003. 2004-10-25 00:00:00.000 ________________ For more details go to UN News Centre at http://www.un.org/news To change your profile or unsubscribe go to: http://www.un.org/news/dh/latest/subscribe.shtml ***************************************************************** 3 [NYTr] Iran Considers Extending Moratorium on Uranium Date: Mon, 25 Oct 2004 14:04:29 -0500 (CDT) Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit Prensa Latina, Havana http://www.plenglish.com Iran Considers Maintaining Moratorium on Uranium Enrichment Teheran, Oct 25 (Prensa Latina) The Iranian government is considering maintaining its current suspension of uranium enrichment as long as related negotiations with three European nations last, the local TV announced, quoting Hassan Rohani, Iranian chief of the nuke issue. However, Teheran's authorities will reject any agreement implying a permanent suspension of the enriched uranium project, considering such a decision only as long as talks with Great Britain, France, and Germany are held, it was revealed. IRNA News Agency issued a release quoting Rohani as saying that Iran should respect the suspension even if negotiations last seven months, and clarified the term "indefinite" does not mean "permanent." Last Thursday, Paris, London, and Berlin called on Teheran to completely suspend its activities with enriched uranium, to avoid taking the Iranian nuke issue to the UN Security Council. sus/dig/lms Search the NYTr Archives at: http://olm.blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/ ***************************************************************** 4 BBC: Iran hints at nuclear concession Last Updated: Monday, 25 October, 2004 [A general view of Iran's first nuclear reactor, being built in Bushehr] Iran denies it wants to build nuclear weapons Iran has indicated it may suspend some of its nuclear activities to end a stand-off over its nuclear programme. "We are trying to choose the best course of work," Iran's top nuclear negotiator told state television. Iran had described as "unbalanced" a European offer of trade concessions and nuclear technology in return for the suspension of uranium enrichment. The UN's nuclear agency has given Iran until the end of November to suspend its enrichment programme. Iranian negotiator Hassan Rowhani said that an indefinite suspension did not mean a permanent suspension. "The European proposal for an unlimited suspension of uranium enrichment can be implemented, provided it does not contradict the Islamic republic's criteria," he said on state television, according to the AFP news agency. Further talks Iran says the programme is purely for peaceful purposes, but the US accuses it of developing nuclear weapons. Enriched uranium can be used for weapons as well as fuel. Iran suspended enrichment a year ago as a confidence-building measure, but has continued activities such as building the centrifuges that refine the uranium. Closed-door talks between Britain, Germany, France and Iran took place earlier this week in Vienna, in what an Iranian spokesman described as a good atmosphere. Foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Assefi said negotiations were continuing and would resume on Wednesday with Iran putting forward counterproposals. European diplomats have said that if Iran rejects the deal, most EU countries would back US proposals for the UN Security Council to impose economic sanctions on Iran. So far, two years of investigation by the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency have turned up no hard evidence of an Iranian weapons programme. ***************************************************************** 5 albawaba.com: Iran: US nuclear allegations - ''baseless and sheer lies'' [webmaster@albawaba.com] 25-10-2004, 13:06 Iran is voluntarily cooperating with the UN nuclear watchdog to show to the world that US allegations on Tehran's "secret" programs to develop nuclear weapons are totally baseless and sheer lies, said a top Iranian security official on Monday. Talking to reporters after a Majlis session Monday, Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, Hassan Rowhani, said that Iran's cooperation with IAEA was not because of Europe but is aimed at proving that all US accusations against the Islamic Republic were "baseless and unfounded." Asked on the western media reports that Iran did not accept the latest proposals of the "EU big trio" (Britain, France and Germany) on its nuclear case and that the case should now be referred to the UN Security Council, Rowhani said that the word "Security Council" was not threatening and that it would not exert any pressure on the Islamic Republic. "All activities of Iran have been transparent and legal," said the official adding "therefore, taking our case to the UN Security Council would be useless for those who are after it." "What the council is going to do now that Iran is to continue its cooperation within the framework of the international regulations," Rowhani asked, according to IRNA. He added that Tehran wanted its nuclear case closed on the basis of legal documents in order to prove to the world that its nuclear programs were only for peaceful purposes. (albawaba.com) © 2004 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com) ***************************************************************** 6 MENAFN: Iran urged to build 9 nuclear centers Middle East North Africa . Financial Network Date: Monday, October 25, 2004 8:54:11 AM EST TEHRAN, Oct. 25 (UPI) -- The head of the energy committee in Iran's parliament is urging the construction of nine nuclear power stations to make up for Iran's small oil reserves. The Iranian News Agency IRNA quoted Kamal Danshiar as saying since oil and gas reserves are being depleted, "we might not be able in the coming years to export big quantities of oil due to growing domestic demand." He stressed Iran "must produce as many as 10 megawatts of electricity in coming years, and the government should announce a new tender for building nine new nuclear stations." Danshiar noted 80 percent of the nuclear center at Bushahr has been completely built and "we hope it will be fully operational this year." He said Iran believes "in the policy of stamping out tensions" but "will not yield to U.S. pressure." "We object to the production of nuclear arms and hope to purge the region of weapons of mass destruction," Danshiar added. -- Copyright 2004 by United Press International. All rights reserved. -- [http://www.menafn.com] All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 7 Missile Defense - Your Comments Needed Date: Mon, 25 Oct 2004 00:37:24 -0500 (CDT) Contact the Missile Defense Agency Today The Bush administration is continuing with its plans to deploy its national missile defense system. However, the system still has not been tested in realistic conditions and would not provide protection from a real attack. Moreover, deploying this system can increase instability by pushing Russia and China to maintain large nuclear arsenals on high alert. As one of the final steps before deployment, the Missile Defense Agency is conducting a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) to assess the b road impacts of the system. As part of the PEIS process, the public is invited to comment on the administration's missile defense plans. Now is your opportunity to express your opposition to this unproven, ineffective, and dangerous system. TAKE ACTION To automatically send the letter below to the Missile Defense Agency, hit "Reply" and then "Send" in your email program. To customize your letter, learn more about the issue, or if this message was forwarded to you, visit http://www.ucsaction.org/ctt.asp LETTER: Missile Defense Agency BMDS PEIS c/o ICF Consulting 9300 Lee Highway Fairfax, VA 22031 Dear Mr. Rick Lehner, I am writing today to support the "No Action" alternative to deploying a missile defense system. The United States should not deploy a missile defense system unless it will improve the overall ecological, political, and security environment. On all three grounds, the proposed system fails. Deployment of the Bush administration's proposed missile defense system threatens the global environment. It will increase the likelihood of a nuclear catastrophe by impelling Russia to maintain a larger nuclear arsenal on high alert than it otherwise would, and by driving China to build and deploy a larger arsenal than it otherwise would. The impact of a nuclear war, either accidental or intentional, would dwarf any other environmental nightmare scenario one can envision. Moreover, the system does nothing to improve our security environment. It has yet to be tested in realistic conditions and would be ineffective against a real attack. Deployment should be halted until the Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement is finished and the system succeeds in realistic testing. Sincerely, (your name and address will be inserted) ++++++++++++++++++++++++ If you have general questions, comments, or concerns about this action, send email to action@ucsusa.org -- replying to this action will send the letter. ++++++++++++++++++++++++ To update your email address and other personal information, go to http://www.ucsaction.org/profileeditor/ ++++++++++++++++++++++++ You received this message because map@pencil.math.missouri.edu is a member of the mailing list originating from action@ucsaction.org. To unsubscribe from this mailing list originating from action@ucsaction.org, send an email to action@ucsaction.org from map@pencil.math.missouri.edu with the word "remove" in the subject line or go to http://www.ucsaction.org/unsubscribe/index.asp to use our unsubscribe page. ++++++++++++++++++++++++ ***************************************************************** 8 [du-list] "Bush IS our security risk" (Buzzflash headliner) Date: Mon, 25 Oct 2004 18:27:18 -0700 http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2004_10_24.php#003779 Includes.... This has been rumored in Washington for several days. And now the Nelson Report has broken the story. Some 350 tons of high explosives (RDX and HMX), which were under IAEA seal while Saddam was in power, were looted during the early days of the US occupation. Like so much else, it was just left unguarded. Not only are these super-high-yield explosives probably being used in many, if not most, of the various suicide and car bombings in Iraq, but these particular explosives are ones used in the triggering process for nuclear weapons. In other words, it's bad stuff. What also emerges in the Nelson Report is that the Defense Department has been trying to keep this secret for some time. The DOD even went so far as to order the Iraqis not to inform the IAEA that the materials had gone missing. Informing the IAEA, of course, would lead to it becoming public knowledge in the United States. I quote from Chris Nelson's summary ... Despite pressure from DOD to keep it quiet, the IAEA and the Iraqi Interim Government this month officially reported that 350-tons of dual-use, very high explosives were looted from a previously secure site in the early days of the US occupation in 2003. Administration officials privately admit this material is likely a primary source of the lethal car bomb attacks which cause so many US and Iraqi casualties. In the first presidential candidate debate, on foreign policy, Democratic nominee John Kerry charged that captured munitions and weapons were being turned against Coalition Forces, with US troops suffering 90% of the casualties. But the specifics of the losses from the Al Qa Qaa bunker and building complex, only now being reported, were apparently unknown outside of DOD and the US occupation authorities. The Bush Administration barred the IAEA from any participation in the Iraq invasion and occupation process, and blocked IAEA requests to help in the search for WMD and other dangerous materials. As part of the UN sanctions regime still in place when the US invaded, the IAEA had "under seal" 350 tons of RDX and HDX explosives, since singly, and in combination, these materials can be used in the triggering process for a nuclear weapon. However, the explosives were allowed to remain in Iraq due to their conventional use in construction, oil pipe lines, and the like. Since the explosives went missing last year, sources say DOD and other elements in the Administration sought to block the IAEA from officially reporting the problem, and also tried to stop the new Iraqi Interim Government from cooperating with the IAEA. But finally, on Oct. 10, the Iraqi's formally notified the IAEA, and on Oct. 15, the IAEA formally notified the Bush Administration. In press guidance prepared for release in the event news got out, but not released until today, when requested by The Nelson Report, State Department spokesmen confirmed the Iraqi government and IAEA report dates, and that 350 tons of dual use high explosives could not be accounted for. State says DOD has now authorized the Iraq Survey Group to investigate the situation, which, by all accounts, took place in April, 2003. The official press guidance claims "no indications of WMD" at the Al Qa Qaa site, but concedes that the IAEA-sealed explosives were already missing at that time. Some sources say that in addition to the explosives, 20,000 RDX-armed rockets were lost, but we cannot confirm this. However, sources do say that parts of Iraqi Scud engines, and other metal components, have turned up in scrap metal yards in Amsterdam. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ***************************************************************** 9 How Bush Makes us LESS safe: Reckless Incompetence with Nuclear Date: Mon, 25 Oct 2004 11:10:27 -0500 (CDT) Not only are these explosives being used against U.S. GIs (the same ones George W "cut benefits for veterans" Bush send to die in wars based on lies)....but to make things worse these are powerful explosives that can be used to trigger a nuclear bomb. And Bush was WARNED before his invasion, specifically about safeguarding them. Read below how nothing was done and then Bush tries to cover it up that it was missing! = = = "Bush administration officials have not been able to explain why the explosives were not safeguarded [after the invasion]. "According to the Times, the International Atomic Energy Agency publicly warned about the danger of the explosives before [!] the war, and had specifically told U.S. officials about the need to keep the explosives secured. The explosives could also be used to trigger a nuclear weapon. = = = Story: Bush Failed To Secure 380 Tons of Explosives in Iraq The New York Times is reporting that 380 tons of powerful explosives were looted from a former military installation in Iraq shortly after the U.S. invasion. The explosives vanished at a time that the site was supposed to have been secured by U.S. forces. The missing explosives, HMX and RDX, are strong enough to shatter airplanes and tear apart buildings. The Nelson Report quotes unnamed U.S. officials who say the explosives have since been used to attack U.S. forces. One official said "this is the stuff the bad guys have been using to kill our troops." The explosives could also be used to trigger a nuclear weapon. Bush administration officials have not been able to explain why the explosives were not safeguarded. According to the Times, the International Atomic Energy Agency publicly warned about the danger of the explosives before the war, and had specifically told U.S. officials about the need to keep the explosives secured. Two months after the U.S. invasion, an internal I.A.E.A. memorandum warned that whoever seized the material might be helping "themselves to the greatest explosives bonanza in history." The Bush administration has never publicly admittedly the explosives had gone missing but officials admitted it happened when questioned by the Times. The Nelson Report newsletter is also reporting the U.S. pressured Iraqis not to report the missing explosives to the United Nations. (www.DemocracyNow.org) See also www.BringThemHomeNow.com (families of US GIs the ones who REALLY support our troops) www.mfso.org (Military Families Speak Out) = = = = STILL FEELING LIKE THE MAINSTREAM U.S. CORPORATE MEDIA IS GIVING A FULL HONEST PICTURE OF WHAT'S GOING ON? = = = = Daily online radio show, news reporting: www.DemocracyNow.org More news: UseNet's misc.activism.progressive (moderated) = = = = Sorry, we cannot read/reply to most usenet posts but welcome email FOR MORE INFORMATION: http://EconomicDemocracy.org/wtc/ (peace) http://economicdemocracy.org/eco/climate-summary.html (Climate) And http://EconomicDemocracy.org/ (general) ** ANTI-SPAM EMAIL NOTE: For email "info" and "map" don't work. Email to ** m-a-i-l-m-a-i-l (without the dashes) at economicdemocracy.org instead ***************************************************************** 10 BBC: Nuclear scientist remains in custody Last Updated: Monday, 25 October, 2004 Judges in Pakistan have ruled that a top scientist arrested last year for allegedly being involved in leaking nuclear technology should have his detention extended for a further three months. The scientist, Mohammad Farooq, worked at the research laboratory headed by Abdul Qadeer Khan. Mr Khan is seen as the father of Pakistan's nuclear bomb and has admitted selling the nation's nuclear secrets to other countries. Mr Farooq is the only employee from the laboratory who remains in custody - more than 10 other scientists and officials originally held as part of the investigation have been released. AQ Khan himself was pardoned earlier this year by the Pakistani President, Pervez Musharraf. ***************************************************************** 11 Reuters: Britons Want Homer Simpson as U.S. President Mon Oct 25, 2004 12:26 PM ET LONDON (Reuters) - Doughnut-chomping, beer-guzzling Homer Simpson may not be the model father but he has won the hearts of British TV fans who want the nuclear power plant worker to be the next U.S. president. Former president George Bush notoriously said American families should be "closer to the Waltons than the Simpsons" but Homer was overwhelming favorite in a Radio Times magazine poll on which U.S. TV character should take over at the White House. As Americans ponder tax and security pledges from President Bush and Democratic rival John Kerry ahead of the November 2 poll, television fans have been considering Homer slogans such as "No big government, just big waist sizes." In a manifesto compiled for the magazine by The Simpsons' writing staff, the bumbling animated TV hero also pledges: "I promise there will be fewer nuclear disasters with me as your mayor than with me as your nuclear safety inspector." Homer got 24 percent of the vote in the poll of more than 2,000 readers. Second place went to the more obvious choice of Josiah Bartlet, the president played by Martin Sheen in "The West Wing." Pompous but eloquent radio psychiatrist Dr. Frasier Crane was third followed by Sergeant Bilko from "The Phil Silvers Show." Gil Grissom from "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" was fifth with 10 percent of the vote. Other favorites were Jack Bauer from "24," "The Cosby Show's" Dr. Cliff Huxtable, Phoebe Buffay from "Friends" and "The Sporanos'" Tony Soprano. ***************************************************************** 12 News & Star: We must make most of nuclear expertise Published on 25/10/2004 By Andrea Thompson COPELAND MP Dr Jack Cunningham is sending out an upbeat message about the future of West Cumbria as the area faces up to the challenge of the decommissioning of the nuclear industry. He was speaking as final preparations are made for the first meeting of the West Cumbria Strategic Forum, which is fighting to ensure the area’s economic future after Sellafield is decommissioned over the next 10 years at a cost of 8,000 jobs. Local members of the forum have been preparing a presentation, to ensure maximum commitment from the Government, which will be presented to trade and industry secretary Patricia Hewitt at a meeting in Downing Street on November 1. Dr Cunningham told the News & Star: “I can see every opportunity for West Cumbria to have a bright future. After all, we are going to have a European, even world, leader in nuclear decommissioning right here in West Cumbria, and all the benefits that brings: developing new skills, developing new technology and most of that will be based right here in West Cumbria.” He added: “There is a lot to play for and we need to be positive. We need to be working with Government, RDA and the European Union to get major investment and development in West Cumbria.” Although a jobs boom is predicted during the initial years of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, which takes over all of the UK’s nuclear sites in April, Sellafield is expected to shed up to 8,000 workers over the next 10 years. Forum member Mike Hulme, who chairs Westlakes Renaissance and Cumbria Vision, said studies also predict a total of 17,000 jobs will be lost by 2018 as a result of the knock-on effect on the supply chain. That is set against a local economy which is so poor that statistically it is on a par with Romania and Bulgaria, while Cumbria as a whole is the worst performing county economically in the UK. But Dr Cunningham sees brighter times ahead. “Experience in America shows that when you start decommissioning you increase the number of jobs, you end up employing more people, not fewer. “I believe there are opportunities for new business for Thorp and Mox and if that happens the figure of 8,000 [job losses] is unlikely.” He added: “If, as I believe will happen, this Government or some future government recognises that we are going to have to have new nuclear power stations in the UK, this worst case scenario is unlikely to ever occur.” Copeland leader Elaine Woodburn is confident that if there is any new nuclear build, West Cumbria will play a major part in that because of the skills already here – skills which the forum is pressing the government to retain, possibly through a West Cumbria-based Nuclear Academy. The forum is also pushing for the area to become a Technology Action Zone in a bid to create new industries and stop the “haemorrhaging” of youth and talent from the area. [http://www.nwemail.co.uk/] | ***************************************************************** 13 [NukeNet] NBC News on NRC posting sensitive info Date: Mon, 25 Oct 2004 18:27:43 -0700 How can Zimmerman POSSIBLY claim that a floor plan is not enough info for an attack, yet somehow learning whether a plant got a green or yellow finding in a security test or inspection, or even whether there was an enforcement action taken, IS enough information? ============================== Radioactive material revealed as vulnerable Government Web site listed location of radioactive material By Lisa Myers and the NBC Investigative Unit Updated: 6:45 p.m. ET Oct. 25, 2004 In a medical building in the Washington, D.C., area, a freezer of radioactive material sat in a hallway unguarded. How did NBC News find it? By carefully reading a U.S. government Web site belonging to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. There, NBC News found more than a dozen recently filed documents identifying hospitals, universities and businesses that store dangerous radioactive materials — complete with detailed floor plans and room numbers. "It's mind-boggling that some three-years after September 11, we can still find detailed drawings like this," says Charles Ferguson, a dirty bomb expert at the U.S. State Department. "This Web site can provide a road map to a terrorist. It shows them exactly where they need to go to find dangerous radioactive materials," says Ferguson. One floor plan was helpfully color-coded, with red indicating the most potent material. On another, an East Coast hospital revealed that its radioactive material is near the blood bank. So, NBC checked the room number listed, and got right up to the door. For security reasons, NBC News is not identifying the facilities. Some hospitals and universities, which were required to provide the information to the NRC, were stunned to learn the floor plans were posted on a Web site. Especially troubling to experts — information, including a map and photo, making it easy to find a Texas business storing large amounts of deadly materials. According to Ferguson, there's enough material at this facility to make "probably at least a dozen" dirty bombs. So how could this happen? An NRC official says it's because of the public demand to know where radioactive material is kept. "The floor plan of itself is, in our minds, not a significant amount of information to lead to successful terrorist attacks," says NRC security official Roy Zimmerman. The NRC adds that radioactive material often is housed in heavy machines and not easily removed. But Monday there was an unexpected development: Six days after NBC News showed the documents to the NRC, the agency shut down that part of the Web site, which may have been inadvertently providing a road map to terror. URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6330745/ Brendan Hoffman Organizer, Nuclear Energy & Waste Critical Mass Energy and Environment Program Public Citizen p: 202.454.5130 f: 202.547.7392 bhoffman@citizen.org www.citizen.org/cmep _______________________________________________________________________ Subscribe/Unsubscribe Here: http://www.energyjustice.net/nukenet/ Change your settings at: http://energyjustice.net/mailman/listinfo/nukenet_energyjustice.net ***************************************************************** 14 [NukeNet] South Africa may be forced to turn to nuclear power Date: Mon, 25 Oct 2004 18:27:29 -0700 'SA may be forced to turn to nuclear power' By Melanie Gosling South Africa, the biggest carbon dioxide emitter on the continent, may be told to reduce its CO2 emissions at the next international meeting of signatories to the Kyoto Protocol. But the country would not be able to do so without introducing more nuclear power, Tseliso Maqubela, chief director in charge of nuclear affairs in the department of mineral and energy affairs, said on Tuesday when he addressed the department of environmental affairs' parliamentary committee. In what appears to be a move to pave the way for the Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR), Maqubela said if South Africa continued to rely primarily on coal, the country would not be able to commit itself to reducing CO2 emissions. He said South Africa did not want to increase its importation of hydro-energy as this affected foreign policy. In terms of the Kyoto Protocol, South Africa is classed as a developing country and is not required to reduce its CO2 emissions as developed nations are. The protocol arose from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Joseph Matjila, the chief director of environment quality and protection for the department of environmental affairs, told the committee that at the next phase of international discussions of the Kyoto Protocol, it "was likely" that South Africa would be forced to reduce its emissions. "Among the countries likely to be pressured, South Africa is at the top. This forces us to re-look at our energy, because sooner or later we will be forced to reduce our C02 emissions," Matjila said. However, at the launch of the government's climate change response strategy earlier this month, Chippy Oliver, director-general of environment affairs, said as South Africa's economy grew, electricity generation would increase, so that in the next 15 years our C02 emissions would have doubled. He said the economy depended on cheap coal, and coal would therefore "be part of the picture for the future". The department of environmental affairs approved the environmental impact assessment for the PBMR last year amid claims that it was flawed. There were several appeals against the decision. Former environment minister Valli Moosa was meant to rule on the appeals, but as with the appeals on the N2 Wild Coast toll road, he never did. Environmental Affairs and Tourism Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk will make a ruling on both. Two of the most contentious issues about the PBMR were the secrecy surrounding the economic viability of the project and the lack of any way to dispose of the high-level radioactive waste. All high-level radioactive waste is currently stored on site at Koeberg. Maqubela conceded that waste disposal was "a concern". The options were to continue to store it where it was as an "interim" measure, to dispose of it deep underground in a geologically stable spot, or reprocess it for reuse. There is no site anywhere in the world which is licensed to dispose of high-level nuclear waste. a.. This article was originally published on page 5 of The Cape Times on October 20, 2004 Sibusiso Mimi "Nuclear Energy Cost the Earth" Campaign Coordinator Earthlife Africa Cape Town P.O. Box 176 Observatory 7935 Tel: + 27 (0) 21 4474912 Fax: + 27 (0) 21 4480145 Mobile: + 27 (0) 724941395 Email: sibusiso@earthlife-ct.org.za www.earthlife-ct.org.za Subscribe/Unsubscribe Here: http://www.energyjustice.net/nukenet/ Change your settings at: http://energyjustice.net/mailman/listinfo/nukenet_energyjustice.net ***************************************************************** 15 [NukeNet] Delaware Congressional Delegation Letter to U.S. Date: Mon, 25 Oct 2004 18:27:38 -0700 A pipe support disconnected since 1989?? And no one at Hope Creek noticed? Unplug Salem appreciates sthis strong letter from Delaware's Congressional delegation and challenges New Jersey's to do the same. Where are the voices of Lautenberg, Corzine, Andrews, and Lobiondo??? Finally, this information is yet one more reason why NRC should CLOSE Hope Creek for an extended period of time, until all problems are located and fixed. Norm --- Subject: FW: Delegation Letter to U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission about Salem-Hope Creek Date: Mon, 25 Oct 2004 19:14:00 -0400 Subject: Delegation Letter to U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission about Salem-Hope Creek FOR RELEASE: Monday, October 25, 2004 CONTACTS: Biden/Margaret Aitken: (302) 573-6059 Carper/Meredith Rosenthal (302) 573-6457 Castle/Lisa Godlewski: (302) 428-1905 Delaware Delegation Wants More Answers from U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission about Salem-Hope Creek Delegation sends letter to NRC Chairman Washington, DC - Senators Joe Biden and Tom Carper and Congressman Mike Castle co-signed a letter today to the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman, Nils J. Diaz, addressing new concerns about the Salem-Hope Creek nuclear generating station. The letter also reiterates the congressional delegation's support of the decision of the NRC to conduct a special inspection of the Hope Creek facility. Below is a copy of the letter sent to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission: Dear Chairman Diaz, We are writing with new concerns about the Salem-Hope Creek nuclear generating station owned and operated by PSEG Services Corporation and located on the Delaware River in New Jersey. As you are aware, recent events at the three-reactor complex highlight various equipment, safety and management concerns and raise questions about the ability of the station's management team to operate the reactors safely. We expect that those reactors will operate according to the highest standards, and that is clearly not the case now. We will not accept anything less. It is imperative that you use your oversight authority to ensure that the plants' management and PSEG address these most recent shortcomings as well as institute much-needed overall reforms. Recently, we have learned more about conditions at the Salem-Hope Creek station. As a result, we have several concerns to bring to your attention and to which we request your response. Specifically, our concerns are as follows: 1. Ongoing efforts by PSEG management to address concerns with the "safety-conscious work-environment" at the station have not yet achieved satisfactory results. It is imperative that all personnel at the station immediately report any safety or operational concerns to their supervisor. PSEG, the station's operator, has acknowledged recently that some employees continue to feel they cannot report concerns to supervisors without risk of retribution. We are encouraged that PSEG has initiated a broad effort to address this critical issue. However, we are concerned that it is not producing the expected results, We therefore have some questions about the Nuclear Regulator Commission's role in the safety-conscious work-environment review: * What actions has the NRC required the station's operator to take in order to address the safety-conscious work-environment? * Has the station's operator taken those actions? * How will the NRC monitor and enforce progress towards a safety-conscious work-environment? 2. On October 10th, a pipe containing low-level radioactive steam broke within the turbine building at the Hope Creek reactor. No workers happened to be in the vicinity when the steam leak occurred. However, serious injury or death could have occurred if people were working near that pipe. Based upon preliminary reports from PSEG, we have learned that a support for the pipe may have been left disconnected after a prior maintenance period. There is the possibility that this disconnected support may have gone unnoticed as far back as 1989. This is a very serious matter and raises several questions: * What NRC regulations apply to inspections of piping and support mechanisms? * Is there a required inspection interval for pipes and supports, and if so what is it? * Who is responsible for inspection of pipes and supports, the plant operator or the NRC? 3. The steam leak and subsequent reactor shutdown occurred approximately ten days prior to a planned extended refueling outage. Following the steam leak, PSEG managers briefly considered repairing the broken pipe, addressing multiple operational deficiencies that occurred during the shutdown process, and then operating the reactor for the ten days remaining on its existing fuel supply. Ultimately, PSEG management chose not to restart the reactor quickly and instead began the planned refueling and maintenance period earlier than scheduled. We think that was the correct decision, but we are troubled that the operators might have restarted the reactor so soon. Again, this raises several questions: * What is the NRC's role following unplanned reactor shutdowns? * Is NRC permission required prior to any reactor restart? * Would the NRC have permitted the Hope Creek reactor to restart and operate for the ten days remaining on its fuel supply? We fully support the decision of the NRC to conduct a special inspection of the Hope Creek facility, and we look forward to a report as soon as possible on your findings. It is our expectation that the decision to restart the reactor will not be considered until the NRC and PSEG conclude a complete analysis of the causes of the steam leak, take corrective action, and address other critical equipment and procedural issues at the facility. Thank you for your attention to this matter. We look forward to hearing from you in the near future regarding the questions we have raised, and your continued actions and oversight related to the Salem and Hope Creek nuclear generating facility. # # # -- Using Opera's revolutionary e-mail client: http://www.opera.com/m2/ Subscribe/Unsubscribe Here: http://www.energyjustice.net/nukenet/ Change your settings at: http://energyjustice.net/mailman/listinfo/nukenet_energyjustice.net ***************************************************************** 16 deseret news: Nuclear plant security attacked [deseretnews.com] Monday, October 25, 2004 And report echoes Utah concerns about risks from N-wastes By Donna Kemp Spangler and Jerry D. Spangler Deseret Morning News WASHINGTON — The watchdog group Public Citizen is taking the Bush administration to task over inadequate security at the nation's nuclear power plants, including the potential catastrophe from a terrorist attack on spent nuclear fuel — the same waste that some utilities want to store in above-ground casks on Goshute tribal lands in Tooele County. The report notes that "lightly protected spent-fuel pools are situated outside containment areas" and are subject to terrorist attack. The same holds true for the above-ground casks at the nation's nuclear power plants and potentially those that would be stored in Tooele County far outside any containment area. Those same concerns have been raised by Utah officials for years. "Instead of getting straight answers, we get platitudes and feel-good letters," said Dianne Nielson, executive director of the Utah Department of Environmental Quality. "We are being told there's no problem, that it's safe. But we don't believe that is the case." Utah officials have argued before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Atomic Safety Licensing Board that spent fuel rods in above-ground casks are an inviting target for terrorist attacks, as is the shipment of the waste from nuclear power plants scattered around the nation. The nuclear industry insists it has beefed up security at nuclear power plants to the tune of $1 billion since 2001. The number of security officers at 64 plants has risen by 60 percent to 8,000, and "physical improvements at sites include additional protection against vehicle bombs as well as additional protective measures against various types of terrorist threats," according to the Nuclear Energy Institute. "Those claims have been discredited time and again," added institute spokesman Mitch Singer of the Public Citizen study. But the Public Citizen report observed that security improvements are a closely guarded secret, and the public has no way of knowing if the improvements are sufficient. "The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has thrown a shroud of secrecy over security deliberations," the report states. The NRC has assured state officials that security measures in place to protect nuclear power plants would be sufficient to protect nuclear-waste casks in Utah. The Public Citizen report highlights the potential terrorist threats at nuclear power plants, not the risk of storing the waste in the Utah desert. But it also highlights the risks of transporting wastes, criticizing the administration's support for a plan to ship nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain, Nev. If enacted, it "would result in tens of thousands of rail and truck shipments of highly radioactive spent fuel — all potential terrorist targets — from reactors to a massive nuclear waste site." Singer responded that it has been recognized since the 1950s that it is safer to have "one place buried 1,000 feet deep that borders on a military installation" for the nation's stockpile of nuclear waste. "It would be the Fort Knox of nuclear waste storage." The Nuclear Energy Institute has not taken a position on the proposal to store waste in Utah. Private Fuel Storage, a consortium of mostly Eastern nuclear power utilities, tired of waiting for the Yucca Mountain facility that is still years away, are awaiting final license approval for a temporary storage site on Goshute lands in Skull Valley. The plan calls for up to 40,000 tons of highly radioactive waste to be stored in rows of casks on the valley floor about 70 miles southwest of Salt Lake City. The waste could remain above ground for 20 years with the possibility of another 20-year lease after that. Deseret Morning News graphic The state has opposed the storage of spent nuclear fuel in Utah but has so far failed in its arguments to block PFS from obtaining the federal license for a temporary waste facility. The license application is still pending, and a ruling on a separate state claim is expected in January. The state has also failed to stop the project through other avenues of litigation and legislation. PFS project manager Scott Northard did not return calls. The Public Citizen report cites one study by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that estimated the loss of tens of thousands of lives within 500 miles, and a Brookhaven National Laboratory report that predicted a contamination of 188 square miles in the event of burning radioactive wastes. The report also criticizes the Bush administration for its cozy relationship with the nuclear industry, pointing out that Bush and the Republican National Committee have received $19.9 million in campaign contributions from the industry since 2000. Another study in 2002 by a Washington, D.C., newspaper found the industry spent $51.2 million lobbying Congress. Another $149 million was spent lobbying the White House and executive branch agencies, the study reported. The result, says Public Citizen, is that "three years after 9/11, Congress still has not enacted any legislation to reduce the terrorist threat at nuclear power plants, and the Bush appointees at the NRC have resisted using their regulatory powers to respond to the terrorism threat. "For the administration and their close friends in the nuclear industry, the concern that increased security expenses could drive up the cost of nuclear power — and threaten industry profits — apparently trumps national security," it adds. Not so, the industry responds. "U.S. nuclear power plants are widely acknowledged by independent experts as the most secure facilities in the nation's industrial infrastructure," according to a Nuclear Energy Institute statement. And the casks used to store the waste are concrete and rebar that have been tested "time and again" to withstand explosives and airplane crashes. "Given the tight security around nuclear power plants and the technology of the safety measures, terrorists are going to go after an easier target," Singer said. The Public Citizen report is available at www.homelandunsecured.org [http://www.homelandunsecured.org] . E-mail: donna@desnews.com [donna@desnews.com] ; spang@desnews.com [spang@desnews.com] © 2004 Deseret News Publishing Company ***************************************************************** 17 Platts: EDF picks Flamanville site for next reactor [The McGraw-Hill Companies] + Electricite de France (EDF) will build its next reactor at Flamanville, EDF's board decided today. The plant, scheduled to operate in 2012, will be Framatome ANP's 1,600-MW advanced PWR model, the EPR, and is seen as the first in a series to replace EDF's existing reactors beginning in the 2020s. EDF cited local political support as an important factor in choosing the site on Normandy's Cotentin peninsula, near the La Hague reprocessing complex. EDF Chairman Pierre Gadonneix said that the "launch of EPR contributes to guaranteeing energy independence for Europe in the coming decades and represents a technical showcase for export markets." He said the decision "reflects EDF's intent to keep its position as the world's largest producer of nuclear electricity." Paris (Platts)--21Oct2004 Copyright © 2004 - Platts, All Rights Reserved [The McGraw-Hill Companies] ***************************************************************** 18 NRC: NRC Announces Availability of License Renewal Application for Brunswick Steam Electric Plant, Units 1 and 2 News Release - 2004-13 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs Telephone: 301/415-8200 Washington, DC 20555-0001 E-mail: opa@nrc.gov No. 04-134 October 25, 2004 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced today that an application for a 20-year renewal of the operating licenses for Units 1 and 2 of the Brunswick Steam Electric Plant is available for public review. The Brunswick plant is located just north of Southport, N.C., and the current operating licenses for Units 1 and 2 expire on Sept. 8, 2016, and Dec. 27, 2014, respectively. The licensee, Carolina Power & Light Co. (now doing business as Progress Energy Carolinas, Inc.), submitted the renewal application Oct. 20. It is available on the NRC Web site at this address: http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/licensing/renewal/applicati ons.html. The NRC staff is currently conducting an initial review of the application to determine whether it contains enough information for the required formal review. If the application has sufficient information, the NRC will formally docket, or file, the application and will announce an opportunity to request a public hearing. For further information, contact Sikhindra Mitra or Noel Dudley, Division of Regulatory Improvement Programs, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Mail Stop O11-F1, Washington, D.C. 20555; telephone (301) 415-2783 for Mr. Mitra or (301) 415-1154 for Mr. Dudley. Last revised Monday, October 25, 2004 ***************************************************************** 19 NRC: Yankee Atomic Electric Company; Establishment of Atomic Safety FR Doc 04-23789 [Federal Register: October 25, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 205)] [Notices] [Page 62306] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr25oc04-117] and Licensing Board Pursuant to delegation by the Commission dated December 29, 1972, published in the Federal Register, 37 FR 28,710 (1972), and the Commission's regulations, see 10 CFR 2.104, 2.300, 2.303, 2.309, 2.311, 2.318, and 2.321, notice is hereby given that an Atomic Safety and Licensing Board is being established to preside over the following proceeding: Yankee Atomic Electric Company, Yankee Nuclear Power Station, Franklin County, Massachusetts (Operating License Amendment) This proceeding concerns a request for hearing submitted on August 20, 2004, by the Citizens Awareness Network, Inc., in response to a June 14, 2004 notice of opportunity for hearing (69 FR 34,696, 34,707 (June 22, 2004)), regarding a November 24, 2003 request to amend the operating license of Yankee Atomic Electric Company's Yankee Nuclear Power Station in Rowe, Massachusetts. The new license condition would document the date of NRC approval of the license termination plan (LTP) for the facility and provide criteria to determine the need for NRC approval of changes to the approved LTP. The Board is comprised of the following administrative judges: Alan S. Rosenthal, Chair, Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001. Dr. Richard F. Cole, Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001. Dr. Charles N. Kelber, Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001. All correspondence, documents, and other materials shall be filed with the administrative judges in accordance with 10 CFR 2.302. Issued at Rockville, Maryland, this 19th day of October 2004. G. Paul Bollwerk, III, Chief Administrative Judge, Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel. [FR Doc. 04-23789 Filed 10-24-04; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P ***************************************************************** 20 NRC: Nuclear Management Company, LLC; Monticello Nuclear Generating FR Doc 04-23790 [Federal Register: October 25, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 205)] [Notices] [Page 62307-62308] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr25oc04-118] [[Page 62307]] Plant, Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is considering issuance of an exemption from the requirements of title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), part 50, Appendix R, Section III.G.2.b for Facility Operating License No. DPR-22, issued to Nuclear Management Company, LLC (NMC), for operation of the Monticello Nuclear Generating Plant (MNGP), located in Wright County, Minnesota. Therefore, as required by 10 CFR 51.21, the NRC is issuing this environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact. Environmental Assessment Identification of the Proposed Action The proposed action would authorize a permanent exemption from the requirements of 10 CFR part 50, Appendix R, Section III.G.2.b, as it applies to Fire Area IX/Fire Zone 23A, the intake structure pump room at MNGP. The proposed action is in accordance with NMC's exemption request of November 17, 2003, as supplemented July 16, 2004. The Need for the Proposed Action NMC requested this exemption from the requirement to separate cables and equipment and associated non-safety circuits of redundant trains by a horizontal distance of more than 20 feet with no intervening combustibles or fire hazards. NMC indicated that although redundant safe shutdown components and cables within this fire zone are separated by more than 20 feet, permanent intervening combustibles or fire hazards exist within the separating space. Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action The NRC staff reviewed NMC's exemption request and will issue a safety evaluation documenting its review. The NRC staff analyzed the following items in the intake structure pump room at MNGP to satisfy the requirements of 10 CFR 50.12 for granting the exemption from the automatic suppression system requirements of Appendix R, Section III.G.2.b: Safe shutdown equipment. Fixed and transient combustibles. Chemical hazards. Existing fire protection features. Intervening combustibles. Impact of Regulatory Issue Summary 2004-03, ``Risk- Informed Approach for Post-Fire Safe-Shutdown Associated Circuit Inspections,'' dated March 2, 2004. The following attributes of the intake structure pump room at MNGP supported the NRC staff's basis for approval of the requested exemption: Greater than 20 feet of separation exists between redundant safe shutdown components and cables. Early-warning ionization detection, installed above the residual heat removal service water (SW) and SW pumps, provides an alarm to the control room. Activation of the pre-action valve via the thermal detectors results in a ``system actuated'' signal to the control room. Transient combustibles and hot work in the area are administratively controlled. The fire load in the zone satisfies the criteria for a low fire load designation. The NRC staff concluded that the requested exemption for Fire Area IX/Fire Zone 23A provided reasonable assurance that one train of redundant safe shutdown equipment would remain free of fire damage. This is the equivalent of meeting the requirements of 10 CFR part 50, Appendix R, Section III.G.2.b, since the underlying purpose of Section III.G.2.b is to assure that one train of redundant safe shutdown equipment will be maintained free of fire damage. The details of the NRC staff's safety evaluation will be provided in the exemption that will be issued as part of the letter to NMC approving the exemption to the regulation. The proposed action will not significantly increase the probability or consequences of accidents. No changes are being made in the types of effluents that may be released off site. There is no significant increase in the amount of effluent being released offsite. There is no significant increase in occupational or public radiation exposure. Therefore, there are no significant radiological environmental impacts associated with the proposed action. With regard to potential non-radiological impacts, the proposed action does not have a potential to affect any historic sites. It does not affect non-radiological plant effluents and has no other environmental impact. Therefore, there are no significant non- radiological environmental impacts associated with the proposed action. Accordingly, the NRC concludes that there are no significant environmental impacts associated with the proposed action. Environmental Impacts of the Alternatives to the Proposed Action As an alternative to the proposed action, the staff considered denial of the proposed action (i.e., the ``no-action'' alternative). Denial of the application would result in no change in current environmental impacts. The environmental impacts of the proposed action and the alternative action are similar. Alternative Use of Resources The action does not involve the use of any different resource than those previously considered in the Final Environmental Statement for Monticello dated November 1972. Agencies and Persons Consulted On October 15, 2004, the staff consulted with the Minnesota State official, Nancy Campbell of the Department of Commerce, regarding the environmental impact of the proposed action. The State official had no comments. Finding of No Significant Impact On the basis of the environmental assessment, the NRC concludes that the proposed action will not have a significant effect on the quality of the human environment. Accordingly, the NRC has determined not to prepare an environmental impact statement for the proposed action. For further details with respect to the proposed action, see NMC's exemption request of November 17, 2003, as supplemented July 16, 2004. Documents may be examined, and/or copied for a fee, at the NRC's Public Document Room (PDR), located at One White Flint North, Public File Area O1 F21, 11555 Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, Maryland. Publicly available records will be accessible electronically from the Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) Public Electronic Reading Room on the Internet at the NRC Web site, http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html [http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leaving FR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html] . Persons who do not have access to ADAMS or who encounter problems in accessing the documents located in ADAMS, should contact the NRC PDR Reference staff by telephone at 1- 800-397-4209 or 301-415-4737, or by e-mail to pdr@nrc.gov [pdr@nrc.gov] . Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 13th day of October 2004. [[Page 62308]] For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. L. Raghavan, Chief, Section 1, Project Directorate III, Division of Licensing Project Management, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation. [FR Doc. 04-23790 Filed 10-22-04; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P ***************************************************************** 21 NRC: STP Nuclear Operating Company, et al., South Texas Project, FR Doc 04-23791 [Federal Register: October 25, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 205)] [Notices] [Page 62306] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr25oc04-116] Units 1 and 2; Notice of Partial Withdrawal of Application for Amendment to Facility Operating License The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (the Commission) has granted the request of STP Nuclear Operating Company (the licensee) to partially withdraw its September 22, 2003 (ML032691396), application for proposed amendment to Facility Operating License No. NPF-76 and Facility Operating License No. NPF-80 for the South Texas Project, Units 1 and 2, respectively. The facility is located in Matagorda County, Texas. The proposed amendment would have modified the facility Technical Specifications (TSs) to change the requirements for the Engineered Safety Features sequencer and the Surveillance Requirements that are applicable in Modes 5 and 6 to provide needed clarification. In addition, the proposed amendment would correct a typographical error from requirement ``c.'' in TS 3.2.4 to requirement ``b.'' The Commission had previously issued a Notice of Consideration of Issuance of Amendment published in the Federal Register on November 12, 2003 (68 FR 64139). However, by letter dated September 30, 2004 (ML042800236), the licensee withdrew the proposed change except for that part which corrected the typographical error. For further details with respect to this action, see the application for amendment dated September 22, 2003, and the licensee's letter dated September 30, 2004, which partially withdrew the application for license amendment. Documents may be examined, and/or copied for a fee, at the NRC's Public Document Room (PDR), located at One White Flint North, Public File Area O1 F21, 11555 Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, Maryland. Publicly available records will be accessible electronically from the Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) Public Electronic Reading Room on the Internet at the NRC Web site, http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams/html [http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leaving FR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams/html] . Persons who do not have access to ADAMS or who encounter problems in accessing the documents located in ADAMS, should contact the NRC PDR Reference staff by telephone at 1-800-397-4209, or 301-415-4737 or by e-mail to pdr@nrc.gov [pdr@nrc.gov] . Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 19th day of October 2004. For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. David H. Jaffe, Senior Project Manager, Section 1, Project Directorate IV, Division of Licensing Project Management, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation. [FR Doc. 04-23791 Filed 10-22-04; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P ***************************************************************** 22 TVA: Nuclear fule meeting FR Doc 04-23922 [Federal Register: October 25, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 205)] [Notices] [Page 62317] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr25oc04-127] TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY Sunshine Act; Meeting No. 1555 Time and Date: 9 a.m. (CDT), October 27, 2004. Hopkinsville-Christian County Conference and Convention Center, 303 Conference Center Drive, Hopkinsville, Kentucky. Status: Open. Agenda Approval of minutes of meeting held on September 22, 2004. New Business C--Energy C1. Supplement to Contract No. 988 with Ingersoll-Rand Company for air compressors and replacement parts for any TVA location. C2. Contract with Global Nuclear Fuel-Americas, LLC, for nuclear fuel and related engineering services for Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant Unit 1 and supplement to the contract with United States Enrichment Corporation for natural uranium for BFN1. C3. Contract with ABB, Inc., for the supply of excitation systems to various hydro plants. E--Real Property Transactions E1. Grant of a permanent easement to the City of Dayton, Tennessee, without charge except for TVA's administrative costs, for an access road and culvert, affecting approximately .47 acre of land on Chickamauga Reservoir in Rhea County, Tennessee, Tract No. XTCR-203AR. E2. Sale of a permanent easement to the Shoals Economic Development Authority for the construction of a railroad spur, affecting approximately .11 acre of land at the Colbert-Tupelo No. 2 transmission line in Colbert County, Alabama, Tract No. XCOT-1RR. E3. Grant of a permanent easement to the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet for highway and bridge purposes, affecting approximately 41.1 acres of land on Kentucky Reservoir in Marshall and Livingston Counties, Kentucky, Tract No. XTGIR-154H; transfer of approximately 26 acres of land, Tract No. XTGIR-155, and grant of a permanent easement affecting approximately 7.1 acres of land, Tract No. XTFIR-156RR, to the Paducah & Louisville Railroad, Inc., for a railroad relocation project on the Kentucky Reservoir in Marshall and Livingston Counties, Kentucky; and grant of a permanent easement to Vulcan Industries affecting approximately .9 acre of land on Kentucky Reservoir in Livingston County, Kentucky, Tract No. XGIR-942RR. Information Items 1. Approval of a delegation of authority to the Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President, Financial Services, and the Senior Vice President, Treasurer/Investor Relations, to amend swap arrangements with Merrill Lynch Derivative Products AG. 2. Approval of amendments to the 1996 delegation to enter into agreements for the sale, purchase, and loan of sulfur dioxide (``SO2'') allowances (the ``1996 Delegation'') to (1) add nitrogen oxide (``NOX'') allowances to the 1996 Delegation, (2) increase the maximum authorized value of each transaction from $20 million to $50 million, and (3) clarify that the 1996 Delegation does and, as amended, will include the authority to engage in (a) the purchase and sale of options and (b) swaps of allowances. 3. Approval of a supplement to Contract No. 2290 with Nuclear Electric Insurance Limited for accidental outage insurance at Browns Ferry, Sequoyah, and Watts Bar Nuclear plants and delegation of authority to the Vice President, Corporate Finance and Risk Management, to purchase, renew and take other ancillary actions as necessary. 4. Approval of an authorization to the Chief Nuclear Officer and Executive Vice President, TVA Nuclear, to certify to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that TVA has the requisite authority to, and will, make nuclear material decommissioning funds available as necessary. 5. Approval to allow a TVA employee to purchase original artwork. 6. Approval of revised Dispersed Power Production Guidelines for TVA and distributors of TVA power. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Please call TVA Media Relations at (865) 632-6000, Knoxville, Tennessee. Information is also available at TVA's Washington Office (202) 898-2999. People who plan to attend the meeting and have special needs should call (865) 632-6000. Anyone who wishes to comment on any of the agenda in writing may send their comments to: TVA Board of Directors, Board Agenda Comments, 400 West Summit Hill Drive, Knoxville, Tennessee 37902. Dated: October 20, 2004. Maureen H. Dunn, General Counsel and Secretary. [FR Doc. 04-23922 Filed 10-21-04; 11:15 am] BILLING CODE 8120-08-P ***************************************************************** 23 [du-list] "US stealing scrap for armour.." Date: Mon, 25 Oct 2004 18:27:20 -0700 http://www.dailycardinal.com/news/2004/10/22/News/Iraq-Veterans.Open.Up.On.Mishandling.Of.War-777333.shtml Iraq veterans open up on mishandling of war By Les Chappell Item ends... Rather than being reassured, however, soldiers have begun to receive rude awakenings through a "Fed Ex letter" strategy. "You get a package, and you have to show up [for service] two days later," Boetcher said. "The military has a plan for action and it's not getting told." Jennifer Giese of the 826th Ordinance experienced this firsthand; she came home and found orders to report to Ohio's Fort Campbell. After spending 68 days on base due to confusion over troop deployment, she was sent to Tikrit and stationed at an abandoned Iraqi airbase. While the unit suffered no fatalities in Iraq, they were plagued the entire time by supply chain glitches. The unit never received body armor, and had to resort to stealing scrap metal for vehicle armor. Bottled water had to be rationed due to shortages, but Giese later filled a swimming pool for a general's use. "This was a complete, chaotic mess," Giese said. "In my opinion there was no plan ... no one knew where we were going." Abie Pickett of the 229th Combat Support Equipment division agreed; she said by the time her unit arrived in Kuwait there was no space, save a building with shoulder-high debris. According to Brenda Bickel-Bonds, whose husband Michael is serving in Iraq, soldiers also suffer from detachment due to the stretched manpower. She said her husband was taken away from his unit and stationed in Puerto Rico despite the fact he spoke no Spanish. Adding insult to injury, time served there did not count toward his total. Boetcher said moves like this have lowered enrollment and confidence among armed forces, creating a serious issue in the military. "The problem with this war is it's not dying down," Boetcher said. "There's got to be something done, because it's [the military's] not going to last." [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ***************************************************************** 24 [du-list] International Day of Action Against Depleted Uranium Date: Mon, 25 Oct 2004 18:31:43 -0700 For The Third International Day of Action Against Uranium weapons, the Iraq Solidarity Campaign and the Campaign Against Depleted Uranium presents Iraq and Depleted Uranium: A Devastatingn Legacy A public meeting with Chair: Hussein Al-Alak, Iraqi Solidarity Campaign Joanne Baker, Child Victims of War, will be talking about her recent experiences in Iraq Felicity Arbuthnot, senior Iraq researcher for John Pilger's award winning documentary: "Paying the Price - Killing the Children of Iraq" will share her knowledge of DU effects in Iraq gathered from over 30 trips to the country (to be confirmed) Camille Warren, CADU, will be talking about the struggle to ban depleted uranium weapons Wednesday 3rd November 2004, Cross Street Chapel (Opposite to St Anne's Street, Manchester City Centre) Time: 7-30pm -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- On the Day of Action 6th November the Iraqi Solidarity Campaign and CADU will be organising stalls and awareness raising actions in Manchester City Centre. If you would like to become involved or find out more about the actions that will taking place all over the world please contact: The Iraqi Soldarity Campaign on 0161 882 0188 or MCR_Coalition@yahoo.co.uk, www.iraqsolidaritycampaign.blogspot.com The Campaign Against Depleted Uranium on 0161 273 8293 or info@cadu.org.uk www.cadu.org.uk ***************************************************************** 25 Salt Lake Tribune: Bipartisan push is on for an end to N-funds say the U.S. arsenal hasn't stopped terrorist efforts [http://www.sltrib.com] Article Last Updated: 10/25/2004 02:07:34 AM By Christopher Smith The Salt Lake Tribune Underground nuclear tests aren't foolproof: A detonation at the Nevada Test Site in 1970 shot radioactive debris 10,000 feet into the air. (Nevada Division of Environmental Protection file photo) WASHINGTON - With U.S. forces entrenched in an overseas war that is increasingly short on money, a bipartisan group in Congress wants to quit spending billions of dollars annually to maintain and expand America's nuclear weapons arsenal. Their argument: The thousands of nuclear missiles holstered by the United States haven't deterred terrorists and haven't stopped rogue nations such as Iran and North Korea from developing their own nuclear programs. Because of the conflicting presence in the American West of federal weapons laboratories and "downwinder" citizens who harbor a Cold War distrust of the long-term health impacts from nuclear testing, there is a heightened interest in the region on America's future strategic arms policy. It also is a case where conservative Western Republicans increasingly find themselves at odds with party colleagues. Rep. David Hobson, R-Ohio, chairman of the House subcommittee that funds defense programs, is leading the fight to shrink the program that keeps U.S. nuclear weapons at the ready and put an end to studies on new "mini-nukes" and bunker-buster bombs. "What is the point of threatening a terrorist with an earth-penetrating nuclear weapon?" Hobson asked in an August speech to the National Academies of Science that still is resonating in nuclear policy circles. "Part of the argument is to hold every target at risk so that there is no safe haven for a terrorist," he said. "But as we have seen over the past three years, holding terrorist targets at risk has little to do with being able to kill them once they have been found." With the support of Utah's three congressmen last month, Hobson easily pushed through a spending bill that provided no money for studying low-yield battlefield nukes and the "Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator" bunker-buster warhead. It also zeroed out funding a new plutonium "pit" facility to make warhead triggers and eliminated money for enhancing readiness at the Nevada Test Site, while boosting funding for weapons dismantlement and security in the weapons complex. Republican members of the Senate appropriations subcommittee that also funds the nuclear weapons program see things differently. Behind the chairmanship of Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., they have consistently sided with Bush administration requests to boost spending on maintaining the stockpile and studying new variations of nuclear weapons. "Hobson's comments in today's world are very reasonable, but as I try to look into the future I can foresee a set of circumstances where there is a nation-state threat by some dictator who has a very deep bunker from which he is operating," said Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, a subcommittee member. "I'd like to say to him, 'Your bunker does not give you sanctuary. We've never taken a first strike posture but if you do [fire first], it's not just going to be heavy casualties above ground, we're going to get you too,' " Bennett said. There is disagreement among scientists whether a burrowing warhead could go deep enough before exploding, and whether tens of thousands of tons of airborne radioactive debris from a subsurface detonation would spread harm far beyond the battlefield. Bennett says those questions merit research and, armed with multiple assurances from the Bush administration that studies won't lead to testing, he supports investigating new delivery methods for existing warheads. Idaho, New Mexico and Nevada all have major Department of Energy nuclear weapons facilities that are a lucrative source of federal jobs and research contracts. Utah, however, has no such DOE presence and is ground zero for downwinder claims. Bennett has tried to offset his support of nuclear weapons programs with legislation setting higher safety hurdles for resumed testing. And he is vowing to provide a more stable source of funding for the ever-expanding and nearly bankrupt compensation program for downwinders, those who blame illnesses on fallout from above-ground nuclear testing in Nevada. The last such test was in 1961, and "anybody born since 1962 has had no exposure," Bennett said. "You say that in southern Utah and they don't like to hear it, because it is a very emotional issue. I do believe clearly prior to 1962 there were downwinders, but after that, scientifically it's harder to make a case for anybody who's 42 years or older." Robert Norris, senior researcher on nuclear policy for the Natural Resources Defense Council, agrees the possibility of atmospheric contamination was greatly reduced when tests were moved underground. And while his organization lobbies against the Bush administration's nuclear weapons buildup, Norris says westerners' fears of resuming live tests in Nevada may be driven more by emotion than political reality. "Under the Comprehensive Test Ban [Treaty], it would be almost impossible to resume testing and I don't see how it could really happen," Norris said. "Perhaps North Korea could help ease the way if they tested, but absent any sort of external provocation, we would just be doing it on our own initiative and that would cause worldwide outrage." © Copyright 2004, The Salt Lake Tribune. ***************************************************************** 26 MSNBC - Radioactive material revealed as vulnerable Lisa Myers & the NBC Investigative Unit • Dirty bomb road map? Oct. 25: An NBC News investigation has found the U.S. government may have been unwittingly giving terrorists a road map to dirty-bomb materials. Correspondent Lisa Myers reports. Government Web site listed location of radioactive material By Lisa Myers and the NBC Investigative UnitUpdated: 6:45 p.m. ET Oct. 25, 2004 In a medical building in the Washington, D.C., area, a freezer of radioactive material sat in a hallway unguarded. How did NBC News find it? By carefully reading a U.S. government Web site belonging to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. There, NBC News found more than a dozen recently filed documents identifying hospitals, universities and businesses that store dangerous radioactive materials — complete with detailed floor plans and room numbers. "It's mind-boggling that some three-years after September 11, we can still find detailed drawings like this," says Charles Ferguson, a dirty bomb expert at the U.S. State Department. "This Web site can provide a road map to a terrorist. It shows them exactly where they need to go to find dangerous radioactive materials," says Ferguson. One floor plan was helpfully color-coded, with red indicating the most potent material. On another, an East Coast hospital revealed that its radioactive material is near the blood bank. So, NBC checked the room number listed, and got right up to the door. For security reasons, NBC News is not identifying the facilities. Some hospitals and universities, which were required to provide the information to the NRC, were stunned to learn the floor plans were posted on a Web site. Especially troubling to experts — information, including a map and photo, making it easy to find a Texas business storing large amounts of deadly materials. According to Ferguson, there's enough material at this facility to make "probably at least a dozen" dirty bombs. So how could this happen? An NRC official says it's because of the public demand to know where radioactive material is kept. "The floor plan of itself is, in our minds, not a significant amount of information to lead to successful terrorist attacks," says NRC security official Roy Zimmerman. The NRC adds that radioactive material often is housed in heavy machines and not easily removed. Statement from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission [http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/news/2004/04-135.h tml] But Monday there was an unexpected development: Six days after NBC News showed the documents to the NRC, the agency shut down that part of the Web site, which may have been inadvertently providing a road map to terror. Cover [http://msnbc.msn.com] | News | Business | Sports | © 2004 MSNBC.com ***************************************************************** 27 DHHS: CDC: Petition to designate impacts to workers FR Doc 04-23814 [Federal Register: October 25, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 205)] [Notices] [Page 62276] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr25oc04-61] DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Iowa Ordnance Plant AGENCY: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). ACTION: Notice. SUMMARY: The Department of Health and Human Services gives notice of a decision to evaluate a petition to designate a class of employees at the Iowa Ordnance Plant, also known as the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant, in Burlington, Iowa to be included in the Special Exposure Cohort under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000. The initial proposed definition for the class being evaluated, subject to revision as warranted by the evaluation, is as follows: Facility: Iowa Ordnance Plant, Burlington, Iowa. Locations: Line 1 (which includes Yard C, Yard G, Yard L, Firing Site Area, Burning Field ``B'', and Storage Sites for Pits and Weapons including Buildings 73 and 77). Job Titles and/or Job Duties: All Technicians (Laboratory, Health Physics, Chemical, X-ray, etc.), Production Personnel (hourly and salaried), Engineers, Inspectors, Safety Personnel, Physical Security Personnel, and Maintenance Persons. Period of Employment: 1947-1974. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Larry Elliott, Director, Office of Compensation Analysis and Support, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, 4676 Columbia Parkway, MS C-46, Cincinnati, OH 45226, telephone 513-533-6800 (this is not a toll-free number). Information requests can also be submitted by e-mail to OCAS@CDC.GOV [OCAS@CDC.GOV] . Dated: October 18, 2004. James D. Seligman, Associate Director for Program Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. [FR Doc. 04-23814 Filed 10-22-04; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 4163-19-M ***************************************************************** 28 Las Vegas SUN: Reid goes on offensive in support of Gallagher By Kirsten Searer LAS VEGAS SUN Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., has come out swinging for struggling congressional candidate Tom Gallagher, saying that Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., has indicated he is giving up on the fight against Yucca Mountain in Congress. Porter has said in two television debates that the fight against Yucca Mountain will not be won in the halls of Congress, saying too many states support the project. The best way to fight it, Porter said, is through the court system, pointing to recent successes by Attorney General Brian Sandoval. Reid called the comments "foolishness." "Congress has tremendous power," Reid said, adding that the comments signalled "ignorance or total lack of understanding of what Congress is all about." "Jon making the statement he did is just really kind of scary," Reid said. In the congressional candidates' final television showdown on Sunday, Porter pointed out that he has fought Yucca Mountain since 1983 and helped stop Congress from sending waste to Yucca Mountain as an interim storage place. But he once again pointed out that most states want to put waste at Yucca Mountain, making it difficult to win the battle in Congress. "We're going to keep fighting it in the halls of Congress, of course," Porter said. "Because there's going to be attempts by different members of different parties to fund Yucca Mountain, there's no question that that's going to happen. At the end of the day we're going to win this in court." Gallagher said he expects Congress to take up the issue again after the election, when he said President Bush likely will ask Congress to loosen EPA standards on the project. Porter, he said, cannot continue supporting the administration while fighting Yucca Mountain. Porter said he disagrees with President Bush on Yucca Mountain but agrees with Bush on issues including education and getting people back to work. He pointed out that Democratic Presidential contender John Kerry voted for the so-called "Screw Nevada bill" that designated Yucca Mountain as the site where the country wanted to store nuclear waste. Kerry has since said he would stop Yucca Mountain if elected president. "I think its a draw -- both of those men are against Nevada when it coes to Yucca Mountain," Porter said. "We just have to continue the fight and work with our delegation, work with our attorney general." A new energy bill also provides subsidies to build new nuclear power plants that will generate more nuclear waste, Gallagher said. Porter countered that the energy bill was the first comprehensive energy plan passed in two decades, and it provides incentives for Nevada to develop new energy from geothermal, wind and solar sources "to make sure we can create additional revenue, additional jobs for Nevada." Porter continued to try to prove that Gallagher is not well versed in Nevada issues, asking Gallagher if he knew about the Nevada Plan, which funds education, and the state's air quality division. Gallagher shot back that he knew the Bush administration has placed tight regulations on educators through the No Child Left Behind Act without giving them the proper funding to comply. "The fundamental problem that we have is we have children in high school that have no textbooks," Gallagher said. And he said he worked on clean air and clean water legislation when he was chief counsel for former California Sen. John Tunney in the 1970s. "My history on clean air and clean water goes well back into the early 1970s when we were passing the legislation that has in fact been the basis of a lot good work that's happened in the meantime," Gallagher said. Later, Porter said the point he is making is that the state deserves representation from someone who has lived here longer than seven years, as Gallagher has. "I just firmly believe that you have to spend time in our community," Porter said. "You have to spend time in our schools, you have to understand our water issues, you have to understand our energy issues." Bringing up the issue again, Porter added: "I'm just disappointed that there isn't some understanding of all these things that affect our family -- especially air quality." Porter's television advertisements have criticised Gallagher for renting a home in Congressional District 3. Gallagher said he lived six houses down from the district lines and decided to rent a home while he was busy campaigning. "I think its a slap at every person who has moved here over the last few years to say that somehow you have to be here for 20 years in order to understand the issues," Gallagher said, adding that he knows the district because he has walked it end to end for the past eight months. Porter said he is glad that Gallagher is living the American Dream by having several homes, including on Lake Tahoe and one in Summerlin. "We want to make sure people move here," Porter said. "But when it comes to making decisions running for Congress or an elected position I think you need to have an understanding. You need to make sure that you understand." Gallagher also continued to press Porter on a vote he made against a $1,500 pay increase for troops serving in Iraq. Porter had said the money had to be earmarked for body protection and hydration equipment for troops. "The $1,500 sounds good on the surface but the $1,500 had to come from someplace," Porter said, adding that he voted for two other military pay increases. Gallagher balked, pointing to a Congressional record showing that the money for the bonus would have come from money set aside to import petroleum products into Iraq. "Jon, you're simply not telling the truth," Gallagher said. Polls continue to show a wide gap between Porter and Gallagher, who has seen his numbers drop as Porter has run ads against him, including ads saying that Gallagher took more than $3 million in salary and stocks as CEO of Park Place Entertainment soon after the company laid off 2,100 workers. Park Place Entertainment is now Caesars Entertainment. Porter's campaign officials argue that those might be the most devastating ads against the former gaming executive. That's one area where Reid has taken umbrage, saying Gallagher was only rivaled by gaming executive Steve Wynn in how well he treated his employees. "All these allegations about what Tom did when he was at Caesars Palace are draconian double talk," Reid said. ***************************************************************** 29 Salt Lake Tribune - Opinion: A mad tea party [http://www.sltrib.com] Last Updated: 10/24/2004 11:05:38 PM While driving recently, I heard a paid political announcement on the radio that literally made me pull over to the side of the road. There was a voice telling me that Utah Congressman Rob Bishop had a great record for “protecting the test ranges of Utah from nuclear waste.” I did one of those blink-your-eyes-and-shake-your-head-rapidly double-takes. I had indeed fallen down that proverbial rabbit hole we have been hearing so much about. Could this be a pre-Halloween prank? It must be. A voice was telling me that Bishop, the former lobbyist for Envirocare who paved the way for nuclear waste to be transported into and stored in Utah, was actually protecting Utah from just such waste. And to confuse me even more, I was being told that he was protecting the test ranges not our water and air, but the test ranges - from nuclear waste. Could this be the same Rob Bishop who was given a 3 percent rating by the League of Conservation Voters? Oh, and Rob Bishop “personally approved” the message. Please, somebody explain before the Mad Hatter is late for his tea party. Lily Grove Park City © Copyright 2004, The Salt Lake Tribune. ***************************************************************** 30 Salt Lake Tribune - Opinion: Foot in the door [http://www.sltrib.com] Article Last Updated: 10/24/2004 11:02:43 PM Instead of slamming the door on the possibility that hotter classes of low-level radioactive waste could be stored in Utah, a legislative task force got its foot stuck in that door. One vote made the difference. The task force should have recommended a ban on Class B and C wastes to the full Legislature. Instead, after two years of study, it decided to retain the status quo. That means that state regulators can approve a license for B and C wastes for Envirocare, but the Legislature and governor both must also approve. Envirocare, the commercial landfill that disposes of low-level radioactive and hazardous wastes at its site in Tooele County, says it does not intend to seek approval from lawmakers and the governor to accept Class B and C wastes for the time being, even though state regulators already have signed off on the idea that such storage would be safe. But that kind of ambiguity simply prolongs the public debate over low-level nuclear wastes in this state and leaves the door ajar for Envirocare, or some other nuclear dump, if one is ever licensed, to accept the stuff in the future. That's a terrible idea for three reasons. First, it confuses the debate over storage of nuclear materials at a time when Utah is fighting tooth and nail to prevent high-level nuclear wastes - depleted reactor fuel rods - from being stored at the Skull Valley reservation of the Goshutes, also in Tooele County. Second, there is no reason for Utah to accept the risks and potential costs of B and C wastes when they are not generated here but in other states. Class B and C low-level radioactive waste is generally more radioactive, and more hazardous, than Class A waste, which Envirocare currently accepts. It requires remote handling and packing. It is generated primarily located in Utah. Third, it muddles the state's message at the same time Utah's congressional delegation is sponsoring legislation to prevent the resumption of nuclear weapons testing in Nevada. Bottom line, it makes no sense to tell the rest of the nation not to test its nuclear weapons in Utah's back yard, or send its spent nuclear fuel rods here for storage, but then to keep open the possibility that we will someday welcome hotter classes of low-level nuclear waste for storage in our own basement. We recognize that the potential health hazards posed by low-level nuclear wastes are not remotely comparable to the risks from high-level wastes. But we also have seen how maneuvers in Congress to ship hotter wastes from Fernald, Ohio, to Envirocare by reclassifying those wastes almost slipped by unnoticed. The legislative task force had to propose emergency legislation to close that loophole. It is incredible that four Senate members of the task force voted against slamming and bolting the door on Class B and C wastes permanently. They are Sens. Curtis Bramble, R-Provo; Ron Allen, D-Stansbury Park; Beverly Evans, R-Altamont, and Scott Jenkins, R-Plain City. Their constituents should ask them why. © Copyright 2004, The Salt Lake Tribune. ***************************************************************** 31 EU Business: Iran says willing to consider uranium enrichment http://www.eubusiness.com/ 25 October 2004 Iran on Monday said it was ready to consider a European request to maintain a suspension on enriching uranium, in what could be a major breakthrough towards ending a standoff over its nuclear programme. The surprise comments by Iran's top nuclear negotiator marked a softening in Tehran's tone towards a deal proposed last week by European countries, coming only a day after officials described the offer as "unbalanced". "The European proposal for an unlimited suspension of uranium enrichment can be implemented, provided it does not contradict the Islamic republic's criteria," chief nuclear negotiator Hassan Rowhani said, quoted by state television. Three European states offered Iran a deal Thursday under which Tehran would receive valuable nuclear technology if it indefinitely suspended all uranium enrichment activities, a key stage in the nuclear fuel cycle. The three -- Britain, France and Germany -- hope that if Iran agrees to the deal it will be possible to stave off US demands for the nuclear issue to be sent before the UN Security Council. Talks are due to resume in Vienna on Wednesday. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN's nuclear watchdog, has given Iran a November 25 deadline to allay concerns about its nuclear activities. An IAEA spokeswoman said the agency's director Mohamed ElBaradei "believes that this is moving in the right direction, and we now welcome this constructive dialogue" between Iran and the EU. British Prime Minister Tony Blair maintained a tough tone. "I don't know anyone who is talking about military action in Iran or Syria," he said. "But what we are insisting on, quite rightly, is that there is a proper obligation on the Iranians to comply with international law and regulations. "Now I don't think dialogue has been exhuasted on this at all, but we do need the Iranians to understand that the international community does not find it acceptable that they develop nuclear weapons," he said. Rowhani however made clear that in Tehran's eyes suspending uranium enrichment indefinitely was not the same as imposing a permanent halt on the practice. The term "unlimited does not mean permanent. The Europeans are talking about an unlimited (suspension) during the negotiations as it is forseen that long-term negotiations are starting with the Europeans." "They say for example that if the negotiations last seven months, Iran must respect the suspension. We have always said that if the Islamic republic accepts the suspension at whatever level, this will be a voluntary decision." Depending on the level of purification, enriched uranium can be used either as fuel for a civilian reactor or as the explosive core of a nuclear bomb. Iran strongly rejects US accusations it is seeking to manufacture atomic weapons. Rowhani said Tehran would continue cooperating with the international community but insisted that Europe must also recognise its right to civilian nuclear technology. "The Europeans must accept that our red lines and national rights cannot be violated," he said, according to the official IRNA news agency. "Iran's patience to establish confidence with the world is great. It will not be exhausted at this early stage. We will calmly continue to work at winning confidence," Rowhani said. "We are going to carry out any necessary action to create confidence as we want to work with the world in the areas of politics, economy, society and culture and we do not want to worry the world unnecessarily," Rowhani added. Rowhani said the European proposal recogised the rights of Iran under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, notably "the right of Iran to possess nuclear power stations". Iran will continue cooperation with the IAEA, "not to make the Europeans happy but to prove the United States is lying when it says Iran is trying to manufacture a nuclear weapon", he said. Text and Picture Copyright © 2004 AFP. All other copyright © 2004 EUbusiness Ltd. All rights reserved. This material is intended solely for personal use. Any other reproduction, publication or redistribution of this material without the written agreement of the copyright owner is strictly forbidden and any breach of copyright will be considered actionable. EUbusiness © Copyright EUbusiness Ltd 2004. Privacy Statement | ***************************************************************** 32 Belfast Telegraph: Locked out of the Deep South, Kerry sets his sights on South-west desert country [http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk Belfast Telegraph Home > News By Andrew Gumbel 23 October 2004 John Kerry embarked on a final big push for votes in the South-west yesterday, courting a region that once skewed resolutely conservative but which now represents the Democratic candidate's best hope of making inroads in an otherwise solid block of Bush support stretching from coast to coast. The Massachusetts senator was due to address a crowd at the University of Nevada in Reno last night - his sixth trip of the campaign to a state representing just five electoral votes - before hopping over to Pueblo, Colorado, for a morning rally with the local Democratic senate candidate, Ken Salazar, and thence to Las Cruces, New Mexico for a big get-out-the-vote push among the area's heavily Latino population. In all three states, Mr Kerry is locked in a tight battle with George Bush. Winning even one of them could prove crucial in securing a majority in the electoral college. Winning more than one would effectively signal a major shift in US voting patterns, one in which the traditional conservatism of the mountain and desert West would be trumped by new population inflows, and by a regional distaste for the religious fundamentalism of the Bush wing of the Republican Party. This is a region that Al Gore all but ignored in 2000. He won New Mexico by a hair, came reasonably close but lost in Nevada and hardly contested either Arizona or Colorado. Instead, the Gore campaign still held out hope that the Democrats could challenge the Republicans' supremacy in the Deep South, not least because their candidate was a southerner himself. The 2000 race all but erased those hopes, as Vice-President Gore lost lock, stock and barrel across the region, including in Tennessee, his home state. This year, Mr Kerry started out with some hope in North Carolina (home of his running-mate, John Edwards), Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee and Louisiana. As the race has tightened, however, he has stopped travelling to the Deep South and almost entirely pulled his television advertising. The South-west, by contrast, has been in the Democratic Party's sights for some time, even before Mr Kerry emerged as the presidential nominee. The region has a rapidly changing - and growing - population, thanks to an influx of Latino immigrants and politically diverse pensioners. New Mexico remains the easiest prize, not least because the state is in Democratic hands under Governor Bill Richardson, a former Clinton administration member. There, however, the politics are trending more conservative as big suburban communities start to mushroom outside Albuquerque, the biggest city, and the idiosyncratic, heavily Latino population starts to look whiter and more mainstream. Most recent polls put Mr Kerry ahead there by just a hair. Nevada is effectively split between the Las Vegas, which is overwhelmingly Democrat, and the rest of the state, which is deeply conservative thanks to a large Mormon population, which reliably votes Republican. Here, as in so many places in this election, turnout will be key - especially among Las Vegas' union workers, minorities and immigrant service workers. Democratic Party workers, who waged a registration drive of unprecedented intensity, are hoping these voters will be encouraged by a local ballot initiative on raising the minimum wage. The Republicans, meanwhile, are hoping they will be outnumbered by more conservative pensioners attracted to Nevada because of its low taxes and golf courses. For a while, the Bush administration's plans to send nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain, less than 100 miles from Las Vegas, was a hot campaign issue, but it has subsided largely because of a lack of faith that a President Kerry would do anything different. Most polls suggest President Bush is narrowly ahead. Colorado is an intriguing new battleground made more intense by the close senate race that is pitting Mr Salazar, a Latino and the state's attorney general, against the beer magnate Pete Coors. Although the state has a large contingent of liberals and environmentalists, concentrated around Denver and Boulder, seat of the University of Colorado, Mr Kerry initially assumed he had no chance here. Registered Republicans outnumber registered Democrats, especially in the fast-growing suburbs and in cities such as Colorado Springs, where a large military and ex-military population rubs shoulders with the fundamentalist Christian right. However, polls in early October suddenly showed Mr Kerry pulling ahead of President Bush, at the same time as Mr Salazar was shown to be 10 points ahead of Mr Coors. Both races have tightened considerably since then, and are now tipping modestly in the Republican direction. Mr Salazar initially chose to keep his distance from the Kerry campaign, figuring he stood a better chance without them, but will now appear at the Pueblo rally alongside the presidential candidate - a sign, perhaps, that both campaigns are in trouble. The final unknown in the region is Arizona, where a recent poll showed Mr Kerry pulling much closer to the President than expected even though he had pulled his television advertising and apparently given up on the state. The Democrats are waging a furious grassroots campaign, in the hope of winning by stealth and sheer weight of voter numbers. Their biggest obstacle, however, is low turnout among Latinos, who make up 25 per cent of Arizona's eligible voters but who are notoriously hard to drag to the polls. In 2000, just 18 per cent of them showed up. © 2004 Independent News and Media (NI) a division of Independent News &media (UK) Ltd ***************************************************************** 33 [du-list] DU use and other war crimes - impeach Bliar Date: Mon, 25 Oct 2004 18:27:27 -0700 Dear supporter, This week there is a buzz of activity at Westminster, but not much in the news. Labour MPs have been told that they will be kicked out of the party if they sign anything that even mentions impeachment. In contrast nothing happened to the dozens who wrote to Kofi Annan accusing the entire government of war crimes. Consequently, it appears that Downing Street is treating the impeachment campaign as a serious challenge to Blair. As you might expect many Labour MPs have indicated that they will give support at the right moment - and it is up to us to create that opportunity. The drafting team of MPs are still hard at work drawing up an impeachment motion, and as soon as we can, we will get that to you. In the meantime, keep up the pressure in the specific ways we have outlined in our previous emails, and if you can, please send us some cash and get your friends to! Many thanks to all those who have contributed so far. Keep the postcards and emails going to your MPs. Yours, Dan Plesch www.danplesch.net Sent via the WebMail system at ImpeachBlair.org ***************************************************************** 34 [du-list] DU in the news - 25th Oct 04 Date: Mon, 25 Oct 2004 18:31:45 -0700 Sunday, October 24, 2004 12:25 PM PDT Your Keyword News Alert for [depleted uranium] matched the following stories: Axis of Logic, Sun, 24 Oct 2004 5:07 AM PDT AxisofLogic/ World News http://www.axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/article_12908.shtml On September 11, 2001, William Rodriguez, a maintenance worker at the World Trade Center in Manhattan, single-handedly rescued fifteen people. The Union Leader and NewHampshire Sunday News, Sat, 23 Oct 2004 9:34 PM PDT Robert Koehler: Strangelove strategy defended http://www.theunionleader.com/articles_showfast.html?article=46020 NUKE CHINA in order to win the Korean war? Fruitcake bellicosity never seemed so attractive. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ***************************************************************** 35 Albuquerque Tribune: Fusion machine gaining wallop [http://www.abqtrib.com/ October 25, 2004 By Sue Vorenberg [svorenberg@abqtrib.com] Tribune Reporter A machine that can create atomic fusion for a fraction of a second at a time is about to get even more powerful. Sandia National Laboratories have started work on a $61.7 million upgrade to its Z Machine. The upgrade will let scientists do more experiments, get better data and create conditions that can't be created anywhere else, said Jeffrey Quintenz, Z Machine director. "The Department of Energy uses Z to test nuclear weapons parts to make sure they will work correctly Quintenz said. "But another application - a lot of us have this dream that we'll be able to make sustainable fusion and actually power the grid with it." Using about 50 cents worth of electricity from Public Service Company of New Mexico, Z creates 230 trillion watts of X-ray power for a tiny fraction of a second. That's equal to 80 times the generating capacity of all the power plants on Earth. The upgrade will increase that output to 350 trillion watts - or more than 100 times the generating capacity of all power plants on Earth. "Z was originally built in the early 1980s, and this is sort of the 20-year upgrade in design," Quintenz said. "We're basically going to replace all the parts inside with modern parts that can store more energy and be more accurate. We'll get more power out of it. We'll be able to do more precise tests, and we'll be able to do more experiments overall with it." Scientists are designing the new components right now. They will then send them off to be manufactured, which could take a year. When they get the components, Z will shut down for the overhaul for about six months, followed by two months of testing before it is ready for scientific use, Quintenz said. "We expect the upgrade will be finished sometime in early or mid 2006," he said. The 108-foot-diameter machine shoots X-rays from every direction at a marble-sized spherical pellet filled with hydrogen, shrinking it to the size of a BB. Energy from the X-rays compresses the pellet so much that the isotopes inside fuse together - sending off neutrons. The machine first produced neutrons in March 2003, indicating it had created a fusion reaction. Scientists need the machine to produce a certain amount of neutrons to sustain fusion - which could then be used as a clean, extremely powerful energy source. Right now Z doesn't produce enough of those neutrons, and it won't even after the upgrade. But it will bring scientists a step closer to making sustained fusion power a reality, said Ed Weinbrecht, project manager. "We'll get closer to that threshold, but optimistically we're still 20 to 30 years away from having fusion power generators," Weinbrecht said. Right now, Z can do about 200 shots creating those fusion reactions per year. The upgrade will let scientists do about 400 shots a year, Quintenz said. "We've had so many requests for experiments, we've only been able to accept about half the requests we get - so the upgrade will certainly be welcome," he said. The machine can do other things besides fusion tests. With a few modifications, it can create powerful magnetic fields and pressures similar to those at the center of the Earth. Up to eight samples at a time of different types of rock or metal are put into those fields in Z Machine shots, which let scientists study material properties that they can't study anywhere else, Quintenz said. "We can see how materials work inside the Earth's core - even though we can't dig that far to get samples," he said. "Our X-rays can match the atmospheres of stars, which helps astrophysicists." With other modifications, it can also launch a dime-sized piece of material into a wall faster than any other equipment on Earth. Such experiments are usually done with a gas gun, which can fire an object at 8 to 12 kilometers a second. Z has already fired objects at 29 kilometers a second, and the upgrade will make it even faster, said Doug Bloomquist, project integrator. "There's no one else that can create a flyer that goes that fast," Bloomquist said. "Actually right now we're getting as many requests for materials tests as we are for the fusion-type nuclear tests we do to study our weapons stockpile." Scientists test computer models of nuclear weapons components against real components exposed to stresses in Z to see if the models are correct, as part of the U.S. stockpile stewardship program, Quintenz said. "We can't do underground nuclear testing anymore, but we still have to make sure our weapons are safe and that they go off when we tell them to and don't go off when we don't want them to," he said. Print this [http://www.abqtrib.com/print/index.cfm] © The Albuquerque Tribune. ***************************************************************** NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. For more information go to: *****************************************************************