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                         NUCLEAR POLICY
 
1 Washington Times: Photos point to removal of weapons
2 BBC: Nuclear activists defend
3 BBC: Iraq death toll 'soared post-war'
4 US: Salt Lake Tribune: What is known, unknown about missing explosiv
5 US: Salt Lake Tribune: Vast amounts of arms, ammo missing in Iraq 
6 UK Independent: Revealed: War has cost 100,000 Iraqi lives
7 US: Mother Jones: Kerry and the Environment
8 eTaiwanNews: Time for movement for clean energy
9 INSIDE JoongAng Daily: Powell trip includes a significant ¡®oops'
10 Asia Times: The WMD-lite scandal
11 Asia Times: Beyond the nuclear stalemate
 
                         NUCLEAR REACTORS
 
12 US: [NukeNet] NPR on new DBT regs in effect
13 US: [NukeNet] PSEG releases their 'metrics' on Safety Conscious
14 US: NRC: NRC Seeks Public Input on Environmental Impact Statement fo
15 UK The Times: Do you want global warming, nuclear power or poverty?
16 Business Day: Pebble bed to spend R500m on turbines
17 Euractive: Commission: Nuclear decommissioning funds should be harmo
18 US: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: High school chosen to promote nuclear e
19 Japan Times: Nuclear panel hears from Fukui residents
20 US: Quad-City Times: Q-C nuke plant wins 20-year extension
21 US: Hudson Valley News: NRC approves Indian Point 2 capacity increas
22 US: NRC: NRC Renews Licenses for Dresden and Quad Cities Nuclear Pow
23 US: NRC: NRC Approves Stretch Power Uprate for Indian Point Unit 2
24 US: Brattleboro Reformer: Selectboard discuss changes to Yankee evac
 
                          NUCLEAR SAFETY
 
25 [du-list] Study Finds 100,000 "Excess" Civilian Deaths Since
26 US: [NukeNet] Nuclear Power and Children's Health Wrap-Up
27 US: NRC: Nuclear Gauge Reported Stolen in Virginia; Recovery of Devi
28 US: Tri-City Herald: Hanford downwinders up against study results 
29 US: Hawk Eye Newspaper: Testing continues on Army plant piece 
30 US: WQAD: Scientists try to identify radioactive metal found at plan
31 US: SF Bay View: Toxic blight on Bay View Hunters Point
 
                         NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE
 
32 US: AU ABC: Watchdog investigates uranium mine incident
33 US: AU ABC: Ranger stays open despite yellowcake spill. 
34 US: Casper Star-Tribune: Utah asks high court to decide authority ov
 
                         NUCLEAR WEAPONS
 
 
                        US DEPT. OF ENERGY
 
35 Idaho Statesman: INEEL makes clean hydrogen power out of dirty diese
36 KTVB: Court orders subcontractor to pay $65 million for botched INEE
37 DOE: Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board, Rocky 
38 DOE: Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board, Hanford
39 DOE: Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board, Paducah
 
                          OTHER NUCLEAR
 
40 [du-list] DU in the news  -  29th Oct 04
41 [du-list] DU Munitions Action Plan (DOT-E 9649) Update
42 NRC: Cornell University to Provide Neutral Mediators for NRC's Alter
43 PhysOrg: Researchers describe how natural nuclear reactor worked
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                         FULL NEWS STORIES
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 1 Washington Times: Photos point to removal of weapons
 
Nation/Politics - October 29, 2004
			     		 		 		 
This reconaissance picture, released yesterday, shows two trucks 
parked outside one of the 56 bunkers of the Al Qa Qaa Explosive 
Storage Complex on March 17, 2003, prior to the U.S. invasion of 
Iraq. (AP) Click here for larger image                                                                     

By Bill Gertz
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
 			
U.S. intelligence agencies have obtained satellite photographs of 
truck convoys that were at several weapons sites in Iraq in the 
weeks before U.S. military operations were launched, defense 
officials said yesterday. 

    The photographs indicate that Iraq was moving arms and 
equipment from its known weapons sites, said officials who spoke 
on the condition of anonymity. 

    According to one official, the National 
Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, known as NGA, "documented the 
movement of long convoys of trucks from various areas around 
Baghdad to the Syrian border." 
		
The official said the convoys are believed to include shipments 
of sensitive armaments, including equipment used in making 
plastic explosives and nuclear weapons. 

    About 380 tons of RDX and HMX, used in making such arms, were 
reported missing from the Al-Qaqaa weapons facility, though the 
Pentagon and an embedded NBC News correspondent said the facility 
appeared to have been emptied by the time U.S. forces got there. 

    The photographs bolster the claims of Pentagon official John 
A. Shaw, who told The Washington Times on Wednesday that recent 
intelligence reports indicate Russian special forces units took 
part in a sophisticated dispersal operation from January 2003 to 
March 2003 to move key weapons out of Iraq. 

    In Moscow, the Russian government denied that its forces were 
involved in removing weapons from Iraq, dismissing the claims as 
"far-fetched and ridiculous." 

    "I can state officially that the Russian Defense Ministry and 
its structural divisions could not have been involved in the 
disappearance of the explosives, because Russian servicemen were 
not in Iraq long before the beginning of the American-British 
operation in that country," Defense Ministry spokesman Col. 
Vyacheslav Sedov told Interfax news agency. 

    Bush administration officials reacted cautiously to 
information provided by Mr. Shaw, who said details of the Russian 
"spetsnaz" forces' involvement in a program of document-shredding 
and weapons dispersal came from two European intelligence 
services. 

    White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters aboard 
Air Force One that he was unaware of the information in The Times 
report. 

    "I know that there is some new information that has come to 
light in the last couple of days," Mr. McClellan said, noting 
that another news report said the amount of high-explosive 
materials may have been less than 377 tons, as the International 
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) claims. 

    Asked about foreign intelligence reports of Russian troops 
moving Iraq's weapons to Syria, Mr. McClellan said, "I have no 
information that points in that direction." 

    National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice said in a 
interview on the Laura Ingraham radio show that she also was not 
aware of the information about Russian troops relocating Saddam's 
weapons to Syria, Lebanon and possibly Iran. 

    Defense officials said the information has been closely held 
within the Pentagon because Mr. Shaw, a deputy undersecretary of 
defense of international technology security, has been working 
with the Pentagon inspector general in investigating the Russian 
role in the weapons transfers. 

    Information in the inspector general office is not widely 
shared within the policy and intelligence communities. 

    The Pentagon is still investigating the fate of the 
explosives and possible Russian involvement. 

    Officials said numerous intelligence reports in the past two 
years indicate Saddam used trucks and aircraft to withdraw 
weapons from Iraq before March 2003. However, the new information 
indicates that Russian troops were directly involved in assisting 
the Iraqi military and intelligence services to secure and move 
the arms. 

    Documents reviewed by one defense official include specific 
Russian military unit itineraries for the truck convoys. 

    The arms that were taken out of the country included missile 
parts, nuclear-related equipment, tank and aircraft parts, and 
chemicals used in making poison gas weapons, the official said. 

    Regarding the satellite photographs, defense officials said 
the photographs bolster the information obtained from the 
European intelligence services on the Russian arms-removal 
program. 

    The Russian special forces troops were housed at a computer 
center near the Russian Embassy in Baghdad and left the country 
shortly before the U.S. invasion was launched March 20, 2003. 

    Harold Hough, a satellite photographic specialist, said 
commercial satellite images taken shortly before U.S. forces 
reached Baghdad revealed Russian transport aircraft at Baghdad's 
international airport near a warehouse. 

    "My thought was that the Russians were eager to get something 
out of Iraq quickly," Mr. Hough said. "But it is quite possible 
that the aircraft was used to transport the Russian forces." 

    Also yesterday, the IAEA said it warned the United States 
about the vulnerability of explosives stored at Al-Qaqaa after 
Iraq's Tuwaitha nuclear complex was looted. 

    "After we heard reports of looting at the Tuwaitha site in 
April 2003, the agency's chief Iraq inspectors alerted American 
officials that we were concerned about the security of the high 
explosives stored at Al-Qaqaa," IAEA spokeswoman Melissa Fleming 
told the Associated Press. 

    She did not say which officials were notified or exactly 
when. 
     
     
*****************************************************************
 2 BBC: Nuclear activists defend
 
  Last Updated: Friday, 29 October, 2004
 
[The activists at AWE Burghfield, near Reading] 
The activists do not deny breaking into the nuclear site                        
			   		
Anti-nuclear protesters fined for breaking into a military base 
have defended their actions. 

They pleaded not guilty to breaking into the base at Burghfield, 
Berkshire, saying they were acting lawfully as keeping nuclear 
weapons was illegal. 

But, on Wednesday, Reading Magistrates found them guilty of 
criminal damage, fining them between £50 and £100 each. 

The six members of Trident Ploughshares say they were 
highlighting what they call Britain's WMD. 

Fence damaged 

The court heard that a group was seen entering the site at around 
1130 BST, distributing anti-nuclear literature and unfurling 
banners before being arrested. 

The damage to the perimeter fence was estimated at £400. 

Kathryn Amos, 26, of Ilkley, West Yorkshire, and Margaret and 
Bernadette Hutchby 44, of Leicester, were conditionally 
discharged for a year and ordered to pay £65 compensation each to 
the Atomic Weapons Establishment. 

Zina Zelter, 30, also of Leicester, was fined £50 for criminal 
damage and a further £50 for breaching the terms of a previous 
conditional discharge. She was also ordered to pay £65 
compensation. 

Stephen Bonham, 48, of Leicester, and Margaret Charnley, 27, from 
Streatham, south London, both agreed to pay £100 to be bound over 
to keep the peace for a year at the start of the trial. 

Speaking afterwards, Amos said: "It is crucial that our message 
is understood by those working on nuclear bases, we have no 
personal enmity against you. 

"We believe that you need to be told the truth about your 
responsibilities under international law as well as British law." 





*****************************************************************
 3 BBC: Iraq death toll 'soared post-war'
 
  Last Updated: Friday, 29 October, 2004
 
[Falluja residents inspect the rubble left by a US air strike]                             

Iraqis are now 58 times more likely to die a violent death, 
Lancet                                                           

Poor planning, air strikes by coalition forces and a "climate of 
violence" have led to more than 100,000 extra deaths in Iraq, 
scientists claim. 

A study published by the Lancet says the risk of death by 
violence for civilians in Iraq is now 58 times higher than before 
the US-led invasion. 

Unofficial estimates of civilian deaths had varied from 10,000 to 
over 37,000. 

The Lancet admits the research is based on a small sample - under 
1,000 homes - but says the findings are "convincing". 

Responding to the Lancet article, a Pentagon spokesman defended 
coalition action in Iraq. 

'Precise fashion' 

"This conflict has been prosecuted in the most precise fashion of 
any conflict in the history of modern warfare", he said. 

UK foreign secretary Jack Straw said his government would examine 
the findings "with very great care". 

But he told BBC's Today that another independent estimate of 
civilian deaths was around 15,000. 

The Iraq Body Count, a respected database run by a group of 
academics and peace activists, has put the number of reported 
civilian deaths at between 14,000-16,000. 

It's going be very hard for the US and UK authorities to ignore 
this report
		
John, Canada Send us your comments          

The Lancet published research by scientists from the Johns 
Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in the US city of 
Baltimore. 

They gathered data on births and deaths since January 2002 from 
33 clusters of 30 households each across Iraq. 

They found the relative risk, the risk of deaths from any cause, 
was two-and-a-half times higher for Iraqi civilians after the 
2003 invasion than in the preceding 15 months. 

'Conservative assumptions' 

That figure drops to one-and-a-half times higher if data from 
Falluja - the scene of repeated heavy fighting - is excluded. 

Before the invasion, most people died as a result of heart 
attack, stroke and chronic illness, the report says, whereas 
after the invasion, "violence was the primary cause of death". 

Violent deaths were mainly attributed to coalition forces - and 
most individuals reportedly killed were women and children. 

Dr Les Roberts, who led the study, said: "Making conservative 
assumptions we think that about 100,000 excess deaths, or more, 
have happened since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. 

"Violence accounted for most of the excess deaths and air strikes 
from coalition forces accounted for most of the violent deaths." 

He said his team's work proved it was possible to compile data on 
public health "even during periods of extreme violence". 

The sample included randomly selected households in Baghdad, 
Basra, Arbil, Najaf and Karbala, as well as Falluja. 

Lancet editor Richard Horton said: "With the admitted benefit of 
hindsight and from a purely public health perspective, it is 
clear that whatever planning did take place was grievously in 
error." 

Civilian toll estimates at 10/04                        

Iraq Bod Count:       14-16,000        
Brookings Inst:       10-27,000       
UK foreign secretary: 10,000      
People's Kifah        37,000  
Lancet: >            100,000        

Mr Horton concluded: "For the sake of a country in crisis and for 
a people under daily threat of violence, the evidence we publish 
today must change heads as well as pierce hearts." 

No official estimate 

There is no official estimate of the number of Iraqi civilians 
who have died since the outbreak of the war in Iraq. 

Human rights groups say the occupying powers have failed in their 
duty to catalogue the deaths, giving the impression that ordinary 
Iraqis' lives are worth less than those of their soldiers for 
whom detailed statistics are available. 

However, the Pentagon spokesman said "there is no accurate way to 
validate the estimates of civilian casualties by this or any 
other organisation". 

He added: The loss of any innocent lives is a tragedy, something 
Iraqi security forces and the Multi-National Force painstakingly 
work to avoid. 

"Former regime elements and insurgents have made it a practice of 
using civilians as human shields, operating and conducting 
attacks against coalition forces from within areas inhabited by 
civilians." 



*****************************************************************
 4 Salt Lake Tribune: What is known, unknown about missing explosives

Opinion 

Article Last Updated: 10/29/2004 01:46:07 AM 

By Christopher Chester The Associated Press 

The disappearance of nearly 400 tons of powerful explosives in 
Iraq has become a heated issue. 

Here are some questions and answers about what we do know at 
this point, and what remains unknown or in dispute: 

Q. Why was the U.N. nuclear agency involved in monitoring 
explosives at the Al-Qaqaa site? 

A. Although the missing materials are conventional explosives 
known as HMX, RDX and PETN, the nuclear agency considered HMX a 
''dual-use'' substance powerful enough to ignite the fissile 
material in an atomic bomb and set off a nuclear chain reaction. 
The agency put seals on the stocks of HMX and also monitored the 
amount of RDX and PETN to ensure they were not taken. All three 
are referred to as ''high-explosive material'' or ''high 
explosives.'' 

Q. What value are high explosives to looters? 

A. The material can be used for a variety of purposes, from 
car-bomb attacks to cooking fuel. After the invasion, Iraqi 
civilians were looting anything of value that they thought they 
could sell or barter later. Both HMX and RDX are key components 
in plastic explosives such as C-4 and Semtex. 

Q. Aren't there caches of these kinds of explosives 
throughout the country? Why all the fuss about this particular 
site? 

A. Al-Qaqaa was considered the pre-eminent site in Iraq for 
high-explosive stockpiles. When Iraq declared the HMX, RDX and 
PETN after the 1991 Gulf War, nuclear agency experts 
concentrated the high explosives at Al-Qaqaa so they could be 
monitored, according to a U.N. official. U.S. troops on the 
ground found high explosives throughout the country. 

Q. Why is this coming out now? 

A. The U.N. nuclear agency, based in Vienna, says it learned 
about the disappearance from the Iraqi government on Oct. 10 and 
told the Americans five days later. Nuclear agency chief Mohamed 
ElBaradei says he decided to inform the U.N. Security Council 
this Monday only because The New York Times published a story 
about it. ElBaradei said his intention had previously been to 
give the U.S.-led multinational force and Iraq's interim 
government ''an opportunity to attempt to recover the explosives 
before this matter was put into the public domain.'' 

Q. If the explosives were still there in March 2003, when did 
they disappear? 

A. The Iraqis reported to the U.N. nuclear agency that 377 
tons of explosives were stolen sometime after U.S. troops seized 
Baghdad on April 9, 2003. But President Bush suggested Wednesday 
that the cache may have disappeared before U.S. troops first got 
to Al-Qaqaa, and his spokesman said Saddam Hussein's regime 
itself may have removed the material. 

Q. Did the Americans observe that any looting had taken 
place? 

A. The unit that arrived April 3 reported some looting, and a 
spokesman for the brigade that arrived April 10 says looters 
were at the site. A month later, on May 8, a visiting American 
team found the plant heavily looted and several looters in the 
area, an Army official said Wednesday. 

Al-Qaqaa is a large installation with more than 80 buildings 
that could house weapons, and it's unclear when and over how 
long a period of time the extremely heavy material was carted 
away. 

Q. Why didn't U.S. troops make an effort earlier than May 27, 
2003 to account for the explosives? 

A. Troop commanders have said they had no orders to search 
for high explosives - only for biological, chemical and nuclear 
weapons. Saddam's alleged hidden stockpiles of these weapons of 
mass destruction were the Bush administration's justification 
for the war. The nuclear agency had warned about HMX in a report 
to the United Nations in February 2003 but did not specifically 
mention Al-Qaqaa. 

© Copyright 2004, The Salt Lake Tribune. 
*****************************************************************
 5 Salt Lake Tribune: Vast amounts of arms, ammo missing in Iraq 

Article Last Updated: 10/29/2004 01:44:35 AM 

Iraq stashes: The stolen explosives are called a mere fraction of
the ordnance that has disappeared A small part: The 400 tons of 
explosives are called a mere fraction of the ordnance that has 
vanished 

By Jonathan S. Landay 
Knight Ridder News Service 

WASHINGTON - The almost 400 tons of missing Iraqi high 
explosives at center stage in the U.S. presidential election are 
only a fraction of the weapons-related material that's 
disappeared in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion last year. 

Huge amounts of arms and ammunition were stolen from military 
sites, and there's ''ample evidence'' that Iraqi insurgents are 
firing looted weapons at U.S. troops and using some of them in 
car bombs and improvised explosive devices, said a senior U.S. 
intelligence official. 

U.N. officials also are concerned about the disappearance of 
sensitive equipment and controlled materials that could be used 
to develop nuclear, biological or chemical weapons. 

''If this equipment is finding itself on the open market, 
then anybody with money can buy it,'' said Dimitri Perricos, 
acting head of the U.N. Monitoring and Verification Commission 
(UNMOVIC), the U.N. weapons inspection agency. 

The CIA has convened a ''mini task force'' of experts to 
assess precisely what equipment is gone and what threat it could 
pose if it fell into the wrong hands, said two U.S. officials. 

In a new disclosure, the senior U.S. military officer and 
another U.S. official, who also spoke on condition he not be 
identified because of the sensitivity of the matter, said that 
an Iraqi working for U.S. intelligence alerted U.S. troops 
stationed near the al Qaqaa weapons facility that the 
installation was being looted shortly after the fall of Baghdad 
on April 9, 2003. 

But, they said, the troops took no apparent action to halt 
the pillaging. 

''That was one of numerous times when Iraqis warned us that 
ammo dumps and other places were being looted and we weren't 
able to respond because we didn't have anyone to send,'' said a 
senior U.S. military officer who served in Iraq. 

An ABC television station in Minnesota reported that one of 
its camera crews embedded with the 101st Airborne Division might 
have filmed some of the high explosives after arriving on al 
Qaqaa's perimeter on April 18. Experts at the International 
Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. agency that was monitoring al 
Qaqaa because the missing explosives could have been used to 
trigger a nuclear weapon, are examining the videotape. 

The disclosure appeared to contradict the Bush 
administration's suggestion that Saddam's regime may have 
removed the high explosives between the last U.N. inspection of 
al Qaqaa on March 15 and the arrival at the installation of 3rd 
Infantry Division troops on April 3. The U.S.-backed interim 
Iraqi government contends that the high explosives disappeared 
sometime after the fall of Baghdad on April 9. 

The Defense Department on Thursday released a satellite 
photograph taken on March 17 that shows two trucks parked 
outside one of the 56 bunkers at the al Qaqaa complex, and 
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said U.S. reconnaissance 
would have detected any major effort to loot the complex. 

''We would have seen anything like that,'' Rumsfeld said in a 
radio interview. ''The idea that it was 
suddenly looted and moved out, all these tons of equipment, I 
think that is at least debatable.'' 

However, a senior U.S. intelligence official said, U.S. 
reconnaissance coverage of Iraqi weapons complexes and military 
movements was most intense before and during the U.S.-led 
invasion, while smaller-scale looting after the fall of Baghdad 
might have evaded detection. 

Many U.S. officials and other experts blame the massive 
disappearance of Iraqi weapons-related materials on the 
Pentagon's failure to anticipate the waves of looting and 
lawlessness that convulsed Iraq after Saddam's ouster in April 
2003. 

They also cited decisions by Rumsfeld and former Gen. Tommy 
Franks, the overall commander of the invasion, to deploy far 
fewer U.S. troops to stabilize the country than U.S. ground 
commanders had sought. 

Al Qaqaa was on a classified list of Iraqi weapons facilities 
that the CIA provided to Pentagon and military officials before 
the invasion, said the U.S. intelligence official. 

But when the Pentagon and U.S. Central Command produced their 
own list of sites that a limited number of U.S. ''exploitation 
teams'' should search, priority was given to those identified by 
exiled Iraqi opposition groups, he said. Al Qaqaa wasn't one of 
them. 

''The top of the list was dominated by nuclear facilities and 
places where we expected to find chemical and biological 
weapons,'' he said. ''Iraqi exiles had a very heavy hand in 
determining which places got looked at first.'' 

Al Qaqaa was one of some 900 known weapons sites in Iraq that 
U.S. experts estimated held more than 650,000 tons of munitions. 

The Defense Department contends that the U.S.-led military 
coalition has destroyed or secured 402,000 tons of munitions. 
That leaves at least 148,000 tons still unaccounted for. 

Thousands of unknown caches holding varying amounts of arms 
and ammunitions have been discovered, and new stashes believed 
to belong to resistance groups are constantly being found. 

The IAEA and UNMOVIC have reported that large amounts of 
equipment and materials have disappeared from numerous sites 
that were associated with the outlawed weapons programs that 
U.S. inspectors now believe Saddam discontinued after the 1991 
Gulf War. 

© Copyright 2004, The Salt Lake Tribune. 
*****************************************************************
 6 UK Independent: Revealed: War has cost 100,000 Iraqi lives
 
By Jeremy Laurance and Colin Brown
 
29 October 2004

The first scientific study of the human cost of the Iraq war
suggests that at least 100,000 Iraqis have lost their lives
since their country was invaded in March 2003. 

More than half of those who died were women and children killed
in air strikes, researchers say. Previous estimates have put the
Iraqi death toll at around 10,000 - ten times the 1,000 members
of the British, American and multi-national forces who have died
so far. But the study, published in The Lancet, suggested that
Iraqi casualties could be as much as 100 times the coalition
losses. It was also savagely critical of the failure by
coalition forces to count Iraqi casualties. 

The figures provoked a furious response last night in
West-minster. Clare Short, the former cabinet minister who
resigned over the war, said: "It is really horrifying. When will
Tony Blair stop saying it is all beneficial for the Iraqi people
since Saddam Hussein has gone? How many more lives are to be
taken? It is no wonder, given this tragic death toll, that the
resistance to the occupation is growing. 

"We have all relied on Iraqi body counts from media reports.
That is clearly an under-estimate and this shows that it was a
very big under-estimate. It is truly dreadful. Tony Blair talks
simplistically about it getting better in Iraq. These figures
prove it is just an illusion." 

MPs said the assault on Fallujah expected after the US
presidential election next Tuesday would add to the growing
death toll among civilians. The figures are certain to provoke
fresh demands at the Commons next week for Mr Blair to avoid
further civilian deaths. 

Alan Simpson, a member of Labour Against the War, said: "Iraq
has not seen this scale of slaughter since its war with Iran. At
some point, the slaughter of civilians in the name of peace has
to become a crime of war. This is not a matter of indifference
but criminality. These figures are horrific, but it is a scandal
that the world remains silent." 

A spokesperson for the Stop the War Coalition said: "The number
of dead has exceeded even our worst fears. This war has been
shown to be based on lies and to be illegal. It now turns out to
be one of the bloodiest in modern times. We must withdraw our
troops now and allow the Iraqis to run their own country." 

Public health experts from the United States and Iraq who
carried out a survey of 1,000 households in 33 randomly selected
neighbourhoods of the country in September say that heart
attacks, strokes and chronic illness were the main causes of
death before the invasion. Afterwards, violence was the main
cause of death. Violent deaths were reported from 15 of the 33
neighbourhoods and the risk was 58 times higher in the period
after the invasion than before it. 

Les Roberts of the Bloom-berg School of Public Health at Johns
Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, said: "Making
conservative assumptions, we think that about 100,000 excess
deaths or more have happened since the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Violence accounted for most of the excess 

deaths, and air strikes from coalition forces accounted for most
violent deaths." The Lancet, which published the research in its
online edition yesterday, said it was "a remarkable piece of
work by a courageous team of scientists", which had been
completed under testing circumstances. 

More households in more neighbourhoods would have improved the
precision of the findings but only at "an enormous and
unacceptable risk to the team of interviewers who gathered the
data". 

Richard Horton, the editor, said: "Despite these challenges, its
central observation - namely that civilian mortality since the
war has risen due to the effect of aerial weaponry - is
convincing. This result requires an urgent political and
military response if the confidence of ordinary Iraqis in the
mostly American-British occupation is to be restored." 

The researchers recruited seven Iraqi team members who were
willing to risk their lives to interview households about deaths
that occurred from January 2002 to March 2003 and from March
2003 to September 2004. In the 988 households visited, which
were randomly selected, there were 46 deaths in the 14.6 months
before the invasion and 142 deaths in the 17.8 months after it. 

Of the 142 deaths, half (73) were caused by violence. More than
two-thirds of these violent deaths - 52 - happened in the
Fallujah area, scene of the heaviest fighting. The researchers
say this makes Fallujah a "statistical outlier" which may not be
representative of the rest of Iraq. They therefore excluded it
from their calculations. 

The researchers are savagely critical of the US General Tommy
Franks for his widely quoted remark that "we don't do body
counts". They say that the Geneva Convention requires occupying
forces to protect the civilian population, and add the fact that
more than half of the deaths caused by them were women and
children is "cause for concern". 

The Lancet said it had received the study at the beginning of
October and it had been "extensively peer-reviewed, revised and
edited". It had been fast-tracked to publication "because of its
importance to the evolving security situation in Iraq". 	       
   


UK Independent Ltd.
*****************************************************************
 7 Mother Jones: Kerry and the Environment
 
[MotherJones.com] 

[Daily Mojo] 
October 29, 2004 
 

Few senators have a better track record on the environment than 
John Kerry, and he has a solid planfor protecting it. So why 
don’t more people know that? 

The League of Conservation Voters has strongly endorsedKerry, who 
has earned a 92 percent rating from the organization over the 
course of his Senate career -- among the highest ratings the 
League has ever awarded. (For comparison, "Earth in the Balance" 
author Al Gore scored only a 64 percent rating from the League). 
Kerry’s green credentials obviously stack up well against George 
Bush's; the president has earned an "F" rating from the Sierra 
Club, managed to avoid getting the endorsement of Republicans for 
Environmental Protectionand compiled the worst environmental 
recordof any modern U.S. president. 

However, some are concerned that Kerry hasn’t talked about the 
environment more. After all, even veteran GOP pollster Frank Lutz 
has conceded, in an oft-quoted 2003 memo, that "[t]he environment 
is probably the single issue on which Republicans in general -- 
and President Bush in particular -- are most vulnerable." 

Kerry had a prime chance to challenge Bush in their second 
presidential debate, when Bush responded to an audience member’s 
question by inexplicably calling himself a "good steward of the 
land." Rather than immediately rip into Bush’s track record, 
Kerry sidetracked into criticism of Bush’s attempts to "label" 
Kerry a liberal, before getting back to the point with a brief 
and cursory response: 

"Now, when it comes to the issue of the environment, this is one 
of the worst administrations in modern history. The Clear Skies 
bill that he just talked about, it's one of those Orwellian names 
you pull out of the sky, slap it onto something, like 'No Child 
Left Behind' but you leave millions of children behind. Here 
they're leaving the skies and the environment behind. 

"If they just left the Clean Air Act all alone the way it is 
today, no change, the air would be cleaner that it is if you pass 
the Clear Skies act. We're going backwards. In fact, his 
environmental enforcement chief air-quality person at the EPA 
resigned in protest over what they're doing to what are calling 
the new source performance standards for air quality. 

"They're going backwards on the definition for wetlands. They're 
going backwards on the water quality. They pulled out of the 
global warming, declared it dead, didn't even accept the science. 
I'm going to be a president who believes in science." 

In a recent <I>Chicago Tribune</I> storyon the relative lack of 
environmental debate, Northwestern University professor Paul 
Friesema questioned why voters aren’t hearing more about this 
"backward" trend: 

"Kerry absolutely blew it in not making this a major issue. It 
has appeal to women, to the middle class, to suburbanites. Why 
he's not been doing it baffles me." 

Certainly, issues like terrorism, Iraq and the struggling economy 
are rightfully taking center stage in the campaign and are ranked 
among voters’ biggest concerns in the latest Harris poll. 
Admittedly, only about 1 percent of poll respondents called the 
environment one of the two issues they’re most concerned about -- 
but that doesn’t mean they don’t care about it. Prescription drug 
prices also drew only about 1 percent on that question, and that 
certainly hasn’t prevented both candidates talking about them ad 
naseum. 

Spokespeople for the Kerry campaign maintain that the media 
simply haven’t fully covered Kerry’s speeches on the environment. 
That’s probably true, but not the only factor, as this year’s 
Democratic campaign -- and even the party platform-- has left the 
environment on the back burner. (He has made some strong, 
state-specific arguments -- such as opposing the Yucca 
Mountainnuclear waste dump). 

Historically, protecting America’s land, air, and water has been 
a fairly bipartisan issue because, as Robert F. Kennedy Jr.notes, 
"our environmental laws are very popular with both Republicans 
and Democrats among the rank-and-file" and GOP leaders like 
Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush took steps to 
better protect the environment. But that’s changed under this 
administration, as Russell Train, head of the EPA under Nixon, 
told Mother Jones: 

"I feel George W.’s heart is in the wrong place on this issue. 
Calling something the Clean Air Act, the Healthy Forest Act when 
what you’re really doing is opening up the forest to logging. 
It’s almost an ideological antagonism. And there’s no 
understanding, I feel, of the importance of this issue. It’s 
addressed from the standpoint of, ‘What is such-and-such a 
regulation going to do to a particular industry that is a pretty 
good contributor to our campaign cause.’ And I think that’s 
what’s motivated its approach to environmental matters." 

The politicization of the environment continues to create 
gridlockin Congress, where a majority of Democrats and a number 
of moderate Republicans have stalled some of Bush’s 
anti-environmental agenda -- and GOP leadership blocks 
pro-environment bills. As the Washington Post reports, Congress 
adjourned for the campaign without acting on the "Clear Skies" 
bill, funding for the Superfund toxic cleanup program, an 
anti-global-warming proposal co-sponsored by Joe Lieberman and 
John McCain, and administration efforts to weaken the Endangered 
Species Act. 

What happens with those measures will affect not only the 
planet’s health, but the long-term health of numerous Americans. 
The Bush administration has made the environment a highly 
partisan issue by taking the side of polluters and industry. It 
seems logical that Kerry, who’s on the side of the public, 
science and health, is well placed to persuade moderates and 
swing voters who want clean air and water for themselves and 
posterity. - Jeff Fleischer 

© 2003 The Foundation for National Progress 
*****************************************************************
 8 eTaiwanNews: Time for movement for clean energy
 
Opinion   
  
  2004-10-29 / Taiwan News /   
  
Thanks to this week's decision by the Russian Federation to join 
29 other industrialized countries in ratifying the December 1997 
Kyoto Protocol, the international agreement to reduce emission of 
greenhouse gases (GHGs) and, hopefully, curb global warming will 
finally enter into force next January, despite opposition from 
the George W. Bush administration in the United States.

 The pact, which aims to realize the 1992 United Nations 
Framework Convention on Climate Change and was inked in the 
Japanese cultural capital in December 1997, will impose legally 
binding requirements on 36 industrialized countries to reduce 
emissions of carbon dioxide and four other GHGs by 2008-2012 to 
five percent below 1990 levels.

 The UNFCCC will also assist developing countries to make serious 
efforts to limit GHG emissions, while acknowledging their need to 
improve living standards.

 Although Taiwan is not a member of the United Nations, we will 
have no choice but to abide by this accord because our 
export-reliant economy could face global trade sanctions 
otherwise.

 Taiwan's total GHG emissions account for nearly one percent of 
the world's total and we enjoy the dubious distinction of being 
ranked 22nd worldwide in terms of per capita GHG emissions.

 In mid-1998, a landmark National Energy Conference reached a 
reluctant consensus on a plan formulated by the Environmental 
Protection Agency to offer the U.N. climate change agencies a 
target reduction of carbon dioxide emissions by 2020 to the 
forecast level for the year 2000 (223 million tons or 10.1 tons 
per person).

 But little was done by the former Kuomintang government to 
realize this program, before it was removed after nearly 55 years 
in power thanks to the March 2000 victory of President Chen 
Shui-bian and the Democratic Progressive Party.

 Besides promising to reorient development policy toward a vision 
of a "green, silicon island," Chen and the DPP had vowed to halt 
the controversial 2700-megawatt fourth nuclear power plant, press 
for passage of an "environmental protection basic law," expand 
civic participation and oversight and other ecologically friendly 
measures.

 But the DPP's attempt to cancel Nuclear Four in October 2000 was 
retracted by Chen after intense resistance by the legislative 
majority held by the conservative "pan-blue" alliance of the 
Kuomintang, People First Party and New Party.

 In order to preserve the fourth nuclear power plant, the 
pan-blue majority has also stymied draft laws to promote the use 
of renewable energy sources and encourage the development of a 
renewable energy industry in Taiwan.

 Since then, the DPP government has avoided a direct 
confrontation or a comprehensive review of energy policy and has 
focussed mostly on promoting plans and draft laws for sustainable 
development.

 The DPP government succeeded in securing a passage of an 
"environmental protection basic law" in November 2003, which 
included a clause backing the principle of transforming Taiwan 
into a "non-nuclear home."

 The six-year "Challenge 2008 national development plan (2002-07) 
drafted by Premier Yu Shyi-kun's Cabinet offers as its core value 
"human-centered and sustainable development" and mandates active 
promotion of wind, solar and other renewable energy and more 
efficient use of energy and water resources.

 The DPP Cabinet also approved in December 2003 an ambitious 
10-year "National Sustainable Development Plan" for 2003-2013.

 Under the pressure from the "green" government, official 
agencies have become considerably more energetic about promoting 
enterprise energy audits, programs to boost energy use efficiency 
and expand the use of renewable or innovative energy sources, 
including wind and solar power.

 At present, the MOEA's Energy Commission has set "targets for 
effort" that include a 1.2 percent increase in overall energy use 
efficiency to 2010 and a 1.0 percent annual rate of energy use 
efficiency through 2020 and expansion of renewables to 10 percent 
of installed power by 2010 and 12 percent by 2020.

 In addition, the MOEA proposes efforts to guide industrial 
structural change toward sectors with high knowledge and 
technology intensity and relatively low intensity in energy use 
and pollution, voluntary reduction plans for steel, 
petrochemical, paper, synthetic fiber and cement industries, 
incentives for the use of emissions-reducing technologies and 
equipment and domestic mechanisms to exchange carbon or GHG 
credits.

 But such efforts are feeble compared to what will be necessary 
to comply with the requirements of the Kyoto Protocol process, 
the next step of which will likely include the setting of targets 
for GHG reduction among economies not yet included in the 
framework.

 To its credit, the Cabinet resolved Wednesday to set up a new 
public-private "Kyoto Protocol Response Task Force" under Council 
for Economic Planning and Development Chairman Hu Sheng-cheng 
that will bring together representatives of related government 
agencies, civic non-government organizations and industry leaders 
to map out Taiwan's strategy to meet this challenge, a project 
that will be difficult since our GHG emissions are now triple 
1990s levels.

 We urge the task force and the DPP government to display the 
political will and boldness to face this challenge directly and 
treat it as an opportunity to accelerate our transition to an 
ecologically friendly society and put Taiwan on the fast track to 
the new standards of economic competitiveness and quality living 
standards that will emerge from the effort to curb global 
warming.

 But the good news is that we need not see this transition in 
negative terms as a "burden" that will reduce living standards, 
but as an opportunity to improve the quality of life and open new 
development prospects.

 We also urge the DPP to incorporate a call for a "clean energy 
campaign" as part of its platform in the December 11 Legislative 
Yuan election.

 Such a decision would refresh the DPP's "green" image, earning 
kudos from environmentally-minded voters and begin the essential 
process of civic education about the necessity for the effort to 
curb GHG emissions and boost energy efficiency and expand civic 
participation.

 Moreover, an explicit and high-level commitment by the governing 
party to launch a national movement for a clean-energy society if 
it secures a legislative majority would impart welcome positive 
and progressive content to the current contest, which is mired in 
negative campaigning and mudslinging.   
    
© 2001-2004 Taiwan News. All Rights Reserved.   
*****************************************************************
 9 INSIDE JoongAng Daily: Powell trip includes a significant ¡®oops'
 
October 30, 2004 KST 15:54 (GMT+9)                                                    
    
  October 30, 2004 ¤Ñ U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell's
flying visit to Seoul earlier this week has spawned a series of
gossip-like stories in the local press about the smaller
incidents during his trip. 

One, however, could cause a bit of pondering by followers of the
intricacies of U.S.-North Korean relations.

 An interpreter's error during Mr. Powell's press conference, a
joint appearance with Korea's foreign minister, Ban Ki-moon,
caused a stir that the Foreign Ministry spent an afternoon
trying to quell.

 When Mr. Powell said at one point that the United States had
presented a constructive proposal to North Korea at the third
round of six-nation talks to end North Korea's nuclear programs,
the interpreter translated the words into Korean as "We have
revised the proposal, which is more constructive than the one we
presented at the third round of talks." Korean reporters
believed that Mr. Powell intended to say that the United States
had made a new proposal to the North Koreans, a misconception
the ministry quickly tried to set right.

 The interpreter, a Korean-American, was also the interpreter
for Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly during his visit in
October 2002 to Pyeongyang. At the time, Mr. Kelly confronted
the North with alleged evidence that they were engaged in a
project to make highly enriched, weapons-grade uranium. The
North Koreans, the United States contends, defiantly admitted
the existence of such a program. Later, however, Pyeongyang
denied such an admission and said there must have been an
interpreter's error.

 Other incidents were less potentially weighty. Mr. Powell's car
was the target of a female egg-thrower during the short drive
from the Blue House to the Foreign Ministry. The egg hit a
policeman instead.

 And is there a foreigner who has visited Korea who has not been
asked whether he likes kimchi? There was no need to ask Mr.
Powell; he tucked into a plate of the spicy cabbage dish at a
lunch of Korean cuisine, delighting the Koreans attending the
event. He explained that he had first been exposed to the dish
while serving as a battalion commander at a front-line U.S. unit
here in Korea.

 People involved in the visit remarked on the cordial goodwill
evident on both sides during Mr. Powell's meetings. But
government officials also added that Mr. Powell was businesslike
and said all that he meant to say during his meetings with his
Korean interlocutors.

 "He's a very shrewd diplomat," one Korean diplomat said.
"Despite the short time he was here, he touched on all major
topics in U.S.-Korean relations." 

by Choi Won-ki jieho@joongang.co.kr>   

    
by Joins.com, Inc. Terms of Use |
*****************************************************************
 10 Asia Times: The WMD-lite scandal

THE ROVING EYE

By Pepe Escobar 

Whether it was poetic justice or yet one more instance of hubris, 
in the end there was indeed an "October surprise". Call it the 
WMD-lite scandal: the disappearance of 380 tons of dual-use 
explosives in Iraq. Certainly Republican Machiavelli-in-charge 
Karl Rove didn't see this surprise coming - hitting the Bush 
administration like a jet converted into a missile. Now the 
neo-cons and Pentagon civilians are scrambling like mad trying to 
cover US President George W Bush's back and defuse yet another 
spectacular blunder. 

Where's the booty?

The 2nd Brigade of the US Army's 3rd Infantry Division, on its 
way to Baghdad, reached the sprawling al-Qaqaa compound on April 
3, 2003. In a brief arranged by the Pentagon itself, the brigade 
commander at the time, Colonel Dave Perkins, said early this week 
it was "very highly improbable" that Iraqis could have looted - 
in fact trucked out - 380 tons (345,000 kilograms) of dual-use 
RDX and HMX explosives (which can be used to detonate nuclear 
bombs) in the less than four weeks between the last time 
inspectors for the United Nations' nuclear watchdog the 
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) checked the seals on 
the bunkers where they were stored and the arrival of the first 
US combat troops. 

Perkins also confirmed that his brigade, as well as the 101st 
Airborne Division, which arrived one week later, conducted no 
searches at al-Qaqaa. The commander of the 101st told CBS News he 
would have needed four times as many troops as he had to fulfill 
this particular mission - apart from all his other duties. 

So this is the crucial point in the whole affair: the Pentagon - 
as well as the IAEA - knew the 380 tons were stored at al-Qaqaa, 
but US troops didn't make any move to search for them or secure 
them, because this was not a priority at the time. This week 
White House spokesman Scott McClellan all but admitted that 
securing Iraq's oil fields and the Ministry of Oil was a much 
higher priority than securing 345,000kg (760,000 pounds) of the 
most powerful non-nuclear explosives around (less than one pound 
blew up Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland). In itself, 
this admission blows up the Bush administration's whole case for 
invading Iraq, weapons of mass destruction (WMD). 

There was indeed a "window of opportunity" of less than four 
weeks between the last IAEA inspection, in early March 2003, and 
the storming of Baghdad, in early April, when the explosives 
could have been looted. But Iraqis conclusively deny this 
possibility. Mohammed al-Sharaa, now in the Science Ministry and 
someone who worked with UN weapons inspectors under Saddam 
Hussein, said "it is impossible that these materials could have 
been taken from this site before the regime's fall". He said he 
and all other relevant officials had been under orders by 
Saddam's regime since early March to make sure "not even a shred 
of paper left the sites". 

The Central Intelligence Agency's (CIA) former weapons inspector 
in Iraq, David Kay, also weighed in, saying that looting while 
Saddam was in power would have been highly implausible. Kay told 
CNN: "I find it hard to believe that a convoy of 40-60 trucks 
left that facility prior to or during the war, and we didn't spot 
it on satellite or UAV [unmanned aerial vehicle]. That is because 
it is the main road to Baghdad from the south, a road that was 
constantly under surveillance. I also don't find it hard to 
believe that looters could carry it off in the dead of night or 
during the day and not use the road network." 

The spin The initial White House spin was that the US knew 
absolutely nothing about the missing explosives until recently, 
October 15 - which in itself would already be an admission of 
incompetence. But there's more: the Iraqis claim they told former 
US proconsul Paul Bremer about it as early as last May - when the 
occupying power was still formally in charge of al-Qaqaa. And 
significantly, the Iraqis have also said the White House forced 
them not to report anything to the IAEA. Bremer - the man at the 
center of this controversy - must have precise answers. But he is 
not talking. 

The Pentagon at first tried to spin that al-Qaqaa was inspected 
in early April by the 3rd Infantry Division. This was proved to 
be nonsense: the sprawling al-Qaqaa complex is composed of 
roughly 1,000 buildings and bunkers, and inspection was not part 
of the mission. Now the Pentagon and its propaganda arm Fox News 
are spinning that on April 3, 2003, the 3rd Infantry Division 
didn't find a "huge quantity of munitions", so the explosives had 
to be gone. 

The point remains that the soldiers were not specifically looking 
for any explosives: this may have been at best a very brief 
inspection. But what they did find were thousands of vials of 
white powder (RDX and HMX are white powders). According to an 
Associated Press report at the time, the powder was believed to 
be explosives. As this was a quick inspection, it does not prove 
that all 380 tons were at al-Qaqaa. But it may be evidence that 
on April 3 at least some of the stuff was there. 

Iraqi reporters working for the New York Times actually managed 
to interview two employees of al-Qaqaa - a chemical engineer and 
a mechanic - and a former employee, a chemist. They can't say 
exactly when the 380 tons of explosives vanished from al-Qaqaa. 
It may be possible that the Republican Guards, Saddam fedayeen or 
Mukhabarat agents discreetly trucked out a few kilos before the 
invasion. But Wathiq al-Dulaimi, a regional security chief who 
was based nearby in Latifiya, is absolutely adamant that "the 
looting started after the collapse of the regime". He also said 
the booty went straight to Baghdad. 

Why this is so serious It's unimaginable that both the Pentagon 
and the CIA didn't know exactly what was going on in al-Qaqaa: 
the sensitive compound had to be under saturated satellite 
surveillance early last year, as well as each and every Iraqi 
weapons site. But this information is classified - and it won't 
be disclosed for public scrutiny. 

The buck, once again, stops with Bush, not Secretary of Defense 
Donald Rumsfeld. It was Bush who accepted Rumsfeld's gamble and 
decided to send a very small army to Iraq, absolutely incapable 
of performing a proper post-invasion job (and that's the key 
reason for the widespread looting after April 9, 2003: the grand 
theoretician of Italian Marxism, Antonio Gramsci, will tell us 
that when the old order collapses and the new order is yet 
unborn, chaos is the norm). 

It's also fair to assume that if there were any WMD in al-Qaqaa 
they could have been trucked out to the Iraqi resistance - or to 
al-Qaeda operatives - in no time. Judging by the avalanche of 
deadly explosions in these past 18 months, unknown quantities of 
RDX and HMX have certainly reached the hands of the Iraqi 
resistance - and might eventually reach terrorist networks who 
would be able to blow up the entire airline industry. If one 
follows the warped Bush administration rhetoric of Iraq as the 
front line on the "war on terror", this means in fact that 
"terrorists" may well be in possession of plenty of WMD-lite. 

How does the Bush administration get away with all this? Once 
again, thanks to the media. Apart from the New York Times, CBS 
News and the blogosphere, US corporate media are doing what the 
can to shun the story - duly following the White House line. The 
entire Bush administration spin now consists of "proving" the 
explosives had already disappeared before April 3, 2003. But 
accumulated evidence from the "reality-based community" - ie the 
real world, as compared with the Bush administration's 
fantasyland - keeps interfering. 

The main Karl Rove-directed administration strategy remains 
misrepresenting reality to influence people's judgments - and 
then hurling a barrage of insults. The Bush administration 
initially ignores any accusation based on facts. Then it brands 
the accusation - incompetence in al-Qaqaa, for instance - as a 
lie. Finally it uses its own fabricated lie - or in this case a 
different excuse every day - to go into character-assassination 
mode. This is the heart of Bush's delayed - at least by two and a 
half days - "response" to Senator John Kerry on the al-Qaqaa 
scandal: "See, our military is now investigating a number of 
possible scenarios, including this one - that explosives may have 
been moved before our troops even arrived, even arrived at the 
site. The investigation is important and ongoing. And a political 
candidate who jumps to conclusions without knowing the facts is 
not the person you want as the commander-in-chief." 

In this shift-away-the-blame environment, only minor fall guys 
are responsible for something. National Security Adviser 
Condoleezza Rice was not responsible for ignoring al-Qaeda before 
September 11, 2001. Bremer was not responsible for screwing up 
the occupation. Rumsfeld was not responsible for Abu Ghraib. And 
certainly Bush is not responsible for anything he does as 
commander-in-chief: after all, he's on a mission from God. 

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

*****************************************************************
 11 Asia Times: Beyond the nuclear stalemate

By Kaveh L Afrasiabi

TEHRAN - As expected, two rounds of talks between Iran and the 
European Union Big Three (EU-3) - France, Germany and Britain - 
have failed to resolve the growing dispute over Iran's quest to 
produce low-enriched uranium. In response to the EU-3's demand 
that Tehran halt enrichment activities, Iran's spiritual leader, 
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, this week denounced what he called an 
"oppressive and unreasonable request" and warned that Iran may 
terminate nuclear dialogue if the other side persists in asking 
Iran to forego its "inherent right". 

The European negotiators in Vienna, including a representative 
from the EU, refrained from calling the talks a failure, however, 
and, seeking to salvage a seemingly sinking ship of diplomacy, 
expressed hope for a more fruitful result in the next round, 
reportedly scheduled on November 5 in Paris, just a couple of 
weeks before the United Nations' nuclear watchdog agency, the 
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), meets in late November 
to review the growing storm over Iran's program. The EU has 
warned Iran it will back United States calls for Iran to be 
reported to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions at the 
November 25 IAEA meeting if enrichment suspension is not 
verifiably in place by then. 

From Iran's vantage point, in light of some 15 visits by the IAEA 
inspectors in the past couple of years, the 23-member IAEA board 
of governors should "close the file" on Iran - or face the 
prospects of Iran withdrawing from the Non-Proliferation Treaty. 
But at the same time, not every aspect of the EU-3's "package 
offer" has been appraised negatively by Tehran. 

On the contrary, Iranian officials tried to put a positive spin 
on the offer, which included promises from the EU that it would 
help Iran acquire nuclear fuel "at market prices" and also 
support its light water facility, as well as Iran's bid to join 
the World Trade Organization if Iran agrees to suspend its 
nuclear enrichment program pending a "long term agreement". A 
spokesman for Iran's Supreme National Security Council 
interpreted this as a step forward from the previous, US-led 
demand that Iran suspend its enrichment activity "indefinitely". 
On the eve of the second Vienna talks, Iran's top negotiator 
articulated a sentiment widespread among Iranian officials for a 
European deal that "would be thicker on the positive and thinner 
on the negative". 

Meanwhile, the United States and Israel, playing anxious 
observers, made a concerted effort to up the ante, with an Arabic 
paper in London circulating a "reliable rumor from Washington" 
regarding an impending strike by US forces against various 
Iranian facilities "including certain mosques", and Israel's 
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon airing his fear of "Iran's 
existential threat to Israel". 

Concerning the latter, there are reasons to take such fears with 
a grain of salt. For one thing, it was Iran under Cyrus the Great 
who freed the Jews enslaved by the Babylonians and issued a 
decree allowing them to return to their homeland. Even in today's 
Islamic Republic, with a population steeped in ancient history, 
it is hard to see how Iran would ever venture to drop nuclear 
bombs on Israel, killing not only the Jews but also the Muslim 
Arabs inhabiting Israel. Israel is widely regarded as an "out of 
area" country by most Iranian foreign policy makers, and while 
Iran remains ethically committed to the struggle of Palestinian 
people for their right to self-determination, this does not, and 
for the most part has not, translated into any Iranian "over 
commitment" to the Palestinian people. 

Nor is the situation of Lebanese Shi'ites, led by militant group 
Hezbollah, any different, substantively speaking. Iran no doubt 
enjoys its hard-earned sphere of influence in Lebanon, after 23 
years of military and financial investment, and has encouraged 
the Hezbollah to take the parliamentary road to power. Thus, 
Israel's paranoia about an Iranian bomb in Hezbollah's hands 
imperiling Israel's existence is a tissue of an unrealistic 
nightmare scenario built around a caricature of the Muslim 
"other" as irrational zealots, when in fact, a cursory glance at 
Iran's foreign policy indicates the rule of sober national 
interests over ideology. 

From the Persian Gulf, where Iran has entered into low-security 
agreements with Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, as well as shared energy 
projects with nearly all the oil states of the Gulf, to Central 
Asia-Caucasus, where Iran has promoted regional cooperation 
through the Economic Cooperation Organization, and, in addition, 
has acted as a crisis manager (eg, in Tajkistan and 
Nagorno-Karabakh), Iran's foreign policy has been widely praised 
by its neighbors, including Russia, as constructive, pragmatic, 
and peace-oriented. 

For US and Israeli officials - and their media mouthpieces - to 
overlook this and, instead, attribute an out-of-control, purely 
ideological orientation to Iran's foreign policy, begs the 
question of objectivity on their part; their virulent 
Iran-bashing actually serves as a self-fulfilling prophecy, since 
by causing the further wrath of Iranians by their pre-scripted 
policy of sanctions and isolation of Iran, Tehran's hardliners 
turn out to be the major beneficiaries, much to the detriment of 
Iran's liberalist reformers. 

This aside, it is important, particularly for Europe, to consider 
the fact that Iran is still leaving the door open for the 
extension of Iran's voluntary suspension of the fuel cycle. 
Hence, the glass may actually be half full, and the EU-3 should 
ultimately embrace this opportunity to seal an agreement with 
Iran, even though it may be short of their hoped-for maximum 
objective. To do so, however, the EU-3's leadership must 
recognize that Iran is not another Iraq, and that with its strong 
military and a population twice the size of the rest of Persian 
Gulf combined, Iran must be treated with a great deal more 
deference than Iraq. 

After all, Iran is a main source of energy for Europe, both now 
and more so in the future, and any UN sanctions on Iran's oil 
industry will instantly translate into higher prices at the 
European gas pumps, hardly a pleasant prospect for the EU as a 
whole. Not only that, some EU countries, such as Norway, Spain, 
Greece, and Italy, are likely to oppose the EU-3's hard diplomacy 
toward Tehran in light of their cordial economic and trade ties 
with Iran. This means that the collateral damage of a failure of 
EU-3's Iran diplomacy may be a lot more widespread than hitherto 
thought; that is, it may introduce policy fractures inside the 
European Union itself. 

With the stakes so high, a prudent European approach to the 
Iranian nuclear stalemate might be explored along the following 
lines: A balanced package whereby Iran would agree to a 
temporary, six months to a year's halt in its enrichment 
activities as part of a "confidence building" measure, in 
exchange for which Iran would implement its declared policy of 
"full transparency" and allow unfettered access of IAEA 
inspectors to the nuclear facilities in Natanz, Isfahan, and 
elsewhere in Iran, per the terms of the IAEA's Additional 
Protocol. 

Such an agreement may not allay Europe's fear of Iran going 
nuclear altogether, but at least it provides institutional 
mechanisms for close monitoring of Iran's nuclear programs, which 
in turn, minimizes the risks or threats of Iran telescoping these 
programs to weaponization. If combined with parallel initiatives, 
such as an Iran-EU security dialogue, this initiative would 
likely be effective in terms of the long-term process of 
dissuading Iran from the path of acquiring nuclear weapons, a 
path that in the current milieu of a sole Western superpower 
acting like a "wild elephant", to quote an Iranian official, is 
theoretically conducive to the idea of Iranian nuclear 
deterrence. Historically, rising insecurity has been a prime 
motive force for nuclear weapons, and Iran may turn out to be no 
exception, in the long haul, if the US and Israel fail to address 
Iran's security worries. 

For the moment, such theoretical concerns do not appear to have 
influenced the drift of actual Iranian policies, notwithstanding 
the repeated public pledges of Iran's leader to refrain from 
pursuing nuclear weapons considered "amoral". Yet, the dictates 
of national security interests may dictate otherwise in the 
future, all the more reason to consider the issue of Iran's 
nuclear program within the larger framework of regional and 
global security, instead of apart from it. 

Unfortunately, the US and some European officials often overlook 
that other countries too may have legitimate national security 
worries, a serious oversight caused by their consistent 
Euro-centrism and US-centrism. As long as a clean break from such 
arcane, underlying security conceptualizations, or a cognitive 
map, has not materialized, it is hard to see how the two sides in 
this stalemated negotiation can achieve a healthy, mutually 
satisfactory, breakthrough. 

Kaveh L Afrasiabi, PhD, is the author of After Khomeini: New 
Directions in Iran's Foreign Policy (Westview Press) and Iran's 
Foreign Policy Since 9/11, Brown's Journal of World Affairs, 
co-authored with former deputy foreign minister Abbas Maleki, No 
2, 2003. He teaches political science at Tehran University.

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

Please contact content@atimes.com for information on our sales 
												
Oct 30, 2004                                                                                                                    
													   												 											
material from Asia Times Online may be republished in any form 
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*****************************************************************
 12 [NukeNet] NPR on new DBT regs in effect
 
Date: Fri, 29 Oct 2004 14:41:30 -0700

 
<x-flowed>
too bad they forgot to actually interview anyone except industry and the
NRC.

 >>> Google Alerts <googlealerts-noreply@google.com> 10/29/04 04:57PM
 >>>
NUCLEAR Plants Get Stricter Security Standards
NPR (audio) - Washington,D.C.,United States
... The mock terrorist force will be put together by the same company,
Wackenhut, that also provides security guards at some nuclear plants.
...
<http://npr.streamsage.com/google/programlist/feature.php?wfid=4132397>

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 13 [NukeNet] PSEG releases their 'metrics' on Safety Conscious
 
Date: Fri, 29 Oct 2004 14:41:18 -0700

 
<x-flowed>
QworkXenvironmenthttpwwwpsegcommediacenterfactsheetsscweoverviewhtmlX(ZXontheQaboveXurlforQpseg'sQpowerXpointXpresentationQwhichXshouldXalsoXbeQavailableXsoonXontheQunplugXwebsi
X-Temp-Subjectphrase2: YES rX' 
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	FROM_ENDS_IN_NUMS,FROM_ORG,SALE,SUBJ_GROUP,SUBJ_PHRASE2,WHITE_PHRASE 
	autolearn version0.1

http://www.pseg.com/media_center/factsheets/scwe/overview.html

(click on the above URL for PSEG's Power Point presentation, which should
also
be available soon on the Unplug website.)

October 29, 2004
LR-N04-0481
Mr. Samuel Collins, Regional Administrator
United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Region I
475 Allendale Road
King of Prussia, PA 19406-1415
PSEG METRICS FOR IMPROVING THE WORK ENVIRONMENT
SALEM AND HOPE CREEK GENERATING STATIONS
QUARTERLY REPORT
DOCKET NOS. 50-272, 50-311 AND 50-354
Reference: 1) NRC Letter dated January 28, 2004; Work Environment For
Raising and Addressing Safety Concerns at the Salem and Hope
Creek Generating Stations
2) PSEG Letter Dated February 27, 2004; PSEG Plan for
Addressing and Improving the Work Environment to Encourage
Identification and Resolution of Issues
3) PSEG Letter Dated June 25, 2004; PSEG Plan for Improving the
Work Environment, Salem and Hope Creek Generati ng Stations
4) NRC Letter dated July 30, 2004; Work Environment at the Salem
and Hope Creek Generating Stations
Dear Mr. Collins:
This letter provides a copy of the published PSEG Nuclear quarterly
metrics used to
objectively measure the effectiveness o f the Safety Conscious Work
Environment
(SCWE) improvements at Salem and Hope Creek Generating Stations.
Mr. Samuel Collins -2- October 29, 2004
LR-N04-0481
In response to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) letter of January
28,
2004, (Reference 1), our letter of February 27, 2004, (Reference 2)
provided the
plan of Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG) to conduct an in-depth
assessment of the work environment for raising and addressing safety
concerns
at the Salem and Hope Creek Generating Stations. This effort was described
in
further detail at a public meeting on March 18, 2004. An Independent
Assessment Team completed this in-depth assessment in April of 2004. The
Independent Assessment Team also reviewed available data, including NRC
inspection records, the comprehensive survey administered by Synergy in
December 2003, and the results of the assessment conducted by the Utility
Service Alliance (USA). Additionally, the independent assessment also
included
a review of the impact on the work environment of operational
decision-making,
the corporate/site interface, the problem identification and resolution
process
(including timeliness of corrective action and communication), and the work
management process.
The Independent Assessment Team Report, along with the USA Assessment
Report, and the executive summary of the Synergy survey, were submitted to
the
NRC in May of 2004. The USA Assessment and the Independent Assessment
Team concluded that Salem and Hope Creek were safe for continued operation,
but identified issues that needed to be addressed.
The issues identified by these reports and management reviews of these
reports
were used to revise our Business Plan for the remainder of 2004 and for
2005.
We presented a summary of our action plans at a public meeting on June 16,
2004.
During that meeting we discussed a number of short-term actions we were
taking
in parallel with the development of our longer-term action plans and we
stated
that we would follow up with a written summary of our actions to improve
the
work environment, the identification and resolution of issues, and the work
management process. In our follow up June 25 letter (Reference 3) we
restated
our actions and the commitments made during the public meeting. These
commitments included implementing, monitoring and publishing quarterly
metrics
to objectively measure the effectiveness of our SCWE improvements at Salem
and Hope Creek.
In a follow up response letter, dated July 30, 2004, (Reference 4) the NRC
acknowledged receipt and review of the PSEG action plan and stated that the
PSEG plan appeared to address the key findings of both the NRC and PSEG
assessments. The July 30 letter made reference to a July 27 telephone
conversation with PSEG wherein an additional commitment was agreed upon
with respect to the quarterly submittals. PSEG Nuclear agreed to include a
brief
description of any significant changes to the PSEG action plan. At this
time,
there have been no substantive changes to the PSEG action plan.
Mr. Samuel Collins -3- October 29, 2004
LR-N04-0481
The following is a discussion of the performance indicators and an
analysis of
progress to date.
Performance Metrics
The metrics identified to the NRC in the June 25 letter are listed below,
with
minor title changes. Titles were modified to more accurately reflect the
parameter being measured:
1. Knowledge of Alternative Avenues
2. Employee Perception of Management Commitment
3. Supervisor Communication Effectiveness
4. Trust and Respect Between Management & Site Personnel
5. SCWE Management Training Attendance
6. Executive Review Board (ERB) Action Approvals
7. Employee Concerns Program (ECP) Concerns Confidentiality/
Anonymity Request
8. Total Notifications Generated
9. Online Corrective Maintenance Backlog
10. Online Elective Maintenance Backlog
11. Corrective Action Problem Resolution
12. Nuclear Condition Report Activities Overdue
13. Open Nuclear Condition Report Evaluations with Due Date Extensions
14. Repeat Maintenance Issues
15. Operational Challenges
16. Unplanned Limiting Condition of Operation (LCO) Entries
17. Safety System Unavailability
In the metric package (attached), we have included more than seventeen
charts
since some measurement areas require multiple charts to view a complete
picture.
Fundamentally, these indicators address three principal areas: people,
processes
and plant.
People:
We have focused our efforts on the fair and consistent treatment of
employees
through the creation of an Executive Review Board (ERB). The ERB is serving
its function of ensuring that proposed personnel actions (e.g. promotions
and
disciplinary actions) are conducted in a manner consistent with PSEG
policy.
The approval rate for the Board has shown improvement since the Board’s
inception in April. A near-term temporary decline in rate is expected as
the result
of the recent introduction of a broader range of supplemental personnel
issues.
Overall, a greater degree of management awareness of the process is
required.
Mr. Samuel Collins -4- October 29, 2004
LR-N04-0481
Therefore, formal training to address this awareness began in September and
will be completed in the first quarter of 2005.
A number of the indicators that focus on the relationship between
management
and the work force (Knowledge of Alternative Avenues, Employee Perception
of
Management Commitment, Supervisor Communication Effectiveness and Trust
and Respect Between Management & Site Personnel) rely on current survey
data. Consistent with our Business Plan objectives, these survey and
assessment tools are under development and will serve to establish an
understanding of future areas of focus. Currently, the Synergy Assessment,
a
key component to this understanding, will be administered during the first
quarter
of 2005 and will assess employees’ perception of management commitment,
mutual trust and respect between management and associates, communication
effectiveness, and associate knowledge of safety concern avenues.
Processes:
Process adherence is improving as evidenced by the results of the
Corrective
Action Closure Board and maintenance backlogs. Our principal focus this
quarter on quality and completeness in evaluating our issues has resulted
in
improvement. Correspondingly, our focus on adhering to work week schedules
has resulted in a steady reduction of items in our maintenance backlogs.
Our next process focus area will be on the timely response to fixing our
problems. Improvements in evaluating both the quality and completeness of
our
issues have been achieved, in part, at the expense of timeliness. This is
demonstrated by the lack of improvement in overdue items and extensions
metrics. This was an expected outcome. Management attention is now being
focused on the objective of improving our response time to issues. In
parallel,
we will work to ensure sustainable performance with the quality
improvements
recently achieved in the evaluation portion of the process.
Plant:
Overall, we have not experienced consistent improvement in equipment
performance nor was this expected at this point in the plan. Equipment
performance is anticipated to improve as a result of our first addressing
the
people and process issues. Specific information regarding individual
performance of key systems for Salem and Hope Creek is included in the
attached performance indicators. While equipment performance is meeting our
goals in some areas, we have further work to do in other areas.
We extended the scope and duration of both the Salem Unit 1 refueling
outage
last spring as well as the current Hope Creek refueling outage in order to
reduce
Mr. Samuel Collins -5- October 29, 2004
LR-N04-0481
our backlogs and improve our plant performance. Major scope added includes
extensive work on our control rod drive mechanisms. This was an item of
concern identified in the USA assessment and by our operators. We also
added
maintenance to both outages that would normally be performed on line.
Management Assessment
The overall performance represented by our key metrics demonstrates
progress
and improvement. The key to sustained improvement is to improve the
foundation, which is why we have concentrated our efforts on our corrective
action program and work management. It is not surprising that we have made
the most measurable progress in those areas. That progress is represented
by
positive trends in backlog, schedule adherence and corrective action
quality.
Additionally, we have improved our communications with employees,
specifically
as they relate to operational decision-making. While the results of our
efforts will
not be evident until our Synergy Assessment is conducted in the first
quarter of
2005, I feel we are making progress. This is based on recent feedback I
have
received from our operating crews and other employees.
The area that is expected to require the most time to demonstrate marked
improvement is equipment performance. These metrics have not shown
consistent progress at this time. However, as we focus on our corrective
action
program and work management process, I expect improvement in our equipment
performance will follow.
Over the last quarter, equipment performance has affected our operation
and the
impact is evident in our Unplanned LCO Metrics. Equipment performance
issues
have also affected unit reliability. In September, Salem Unit 2
automatically tripped
offline due to loss of excitation in the main generator. More recently in
October,
Hope Creek was manually taken offline due to a pipe break in the Turbine
Building.
The causes of these events, as well as our response, demonstrate a gap
still exists
between our current organizational performance and excellence. However, the
manner in which we responded demonstrates to me progress has been made
relative to fostering a SCWE.
In closing, I want to reaffirm our commitment to operate our plants
safely. Our
fundamental responsibility for the safe operation of these facilities will
not be
compromised, and we continue to have the full resources and support of the
Corporation. We are making measured progress in improving our performance
and work environment. I expect that to continue. I also remain confident
that
should a safety issue arise, we will not hesitate to take timely,
deliberate action to
address such an issue up to and including plant shutdown. I feel we clearly
demonstrated this most recently in our response to the pipe break at Hope
Creek
and our decision to transition directly into the scheduled refueling
outage.
Mr. Samuel Collins -6- October 29, 2004
LR-N04-0481
If you have any further questions please contact me.
Very truly yours,
A. Christopher Bakken, III
President & CNO
PSEG Nuclear, LLC
Attachments
Mr. Samuel Collins -7- October 29, 2004
LR-N04-0481
C U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Document Control Desk
Washington, DC 20555
Mr. D. Collins, Project Manager Salem & Hope Creek
U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
One White Flint North
Mail Stop 08C2
11555 Rockville Pike
Rockville, MD 20852
USNRC Senior Resident Inspector - HC (X24)
USNRC Senior Resident Inspector - Salem (X24)
Mr. K. Tosch, Manager IV
Bureau of Nuclear Engineering
PO Box 415
Trenton, NJ 08625

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 14 NRC: NRC Seeks Public Input on Environmental Impact Statement for Proposed D.C. Cook
Nuclear Plant License Renewal

News Release - Region III - 2004-04 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY 
COMMISSION 

Office of Public Affairs, Region III No. III-04-048           
October 28, 2004 CONTACT:     Jan Strasma (630) 829-9663 Viktoria 
Mitlyng (630) 829-9662     E-mail:   

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will conduct two public
meetings on November 9 in Bridgman, Michigan, to receive public
input on the environmental review related to an application to
extend the operating licenses for the D. C. Cook 1 and 2 nuclear
power plants. The plants, which are operated by American
Electric Power Co., are located near Bridgman. 

Members of the public are invited to attend and comment on the
NRCs draft document on the environmental impact of the proposed
license renewal. The meetings will be held in the Lake Charter
Township Hall, 3220 Shawnee Road, Bridgman. 

The first session will begin at 1:30 p.m. and continue until
4:30 p.m. The second session, which will offer the same
presentations as the first session, will be at 7 p.m. and
continue until 10 p.m. The NRC staff will also host an open
house beginning one hour before the start of each meeting to
provide members of the public with an opportunity to talk
informally with agency staff. However, formal comments must be
expressed during the transcribed meetings. 

Both sessions will begin with an overview and an NRC staff
presentation on the environmental review process for license
renewal applications. After the NRC presentation, members of the
public will be given the opportunity to present their comments
on the draft supplement to the Generic Environmental Impact
Statement on license renewal. The draft supplement includes
information specific to the D. C. Cook facility. 

Under NRC regulations, the original operating license for a
nuclear power plant has a term of 40 years. The license may be
renewed for up to an additional 20 years if NRC requirements are
met. The current operating license for D. C. Cook 1 is due to
expire on Oct. 25, 2014, while the current operating license for
D. C. Cook 2 is scheduled to terminate on Dec. 23, 2017. 

American Electric Power submitted its license renewal
application on November 3, 2003. As part of its application, the
company submitted an environmental report. A copy of the
application is available via the NRCs web site at:
http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/licensing/renewal/applicati
ons/cook.html. A copy of the draft supplement to the Generic
Environmental Impact Statement is available at the same
location. 

In addition, the D. C. Cook license renewal documents are
available for review at the Bridgman Public Library, 4460 Lake
St., Bridgman, and the Maud Preston Palenske Memorial Library,
500 Market St., St. Joseph, Mich. 

For planning purposes, individuals wishing to speak at the
meetings are encouraged to pre-register by contacting Robert
Schaaf at 1-800- 368-5642, extension 1312, or by e-mail at no
later than Nov. 3. Interested parties may also register to speak
before the start of the meeting. Time for comments may be
limited to accommodate all speakers. 

Written comments on the draft supplement to the GEIS will also
be considered by the NRC staff. Comments should be submitted
either by mail to the Chief, Rules and Directives Branch,
Division of Administrative Services, Mail Stop T-6 D 59, U.S.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, or by
e-mail to . 

At the conclusion of the public comment period on December 8,
2004, the NRC staff will consider and address the comments
submitted and issue a final supplement to the GEIS. That
supplement will contain a recommendation regarding the
environmental acceptability of the proposed license renewal.   



  


 	Last revised Thursday, October 28, 2004 	   
*****************************************************************
 15 UK The Times: Do you want global warming, nuclear power or poverty?
 
October 29, 2004                       
 
Graham Searjeant, Financial Editor
		   		 		
CHINA’S economic take-off, closely followed by India’s, is 
bringing the biggest gains from trade in generations. For those 
facing competition from cheap goods or outsourcing of services, 
the process is painful. More than all the world’s development 
aid, however, this trade revolution offers the real prospect of 
raising the living standards of billions of people from $1 or $2 
a day to decent levels. 

Output cannot continue to grow at almost 10 per cent a year or 
capital spending at 28 per cent a year, as in the first nine 
months of 2004, without running into destructive inflation. 
Yesterday’s rise in Chinese interest rates and the likely future 
rise in its exchange rate recognise that. Only positive real 
interest rates can curb inflation without distortions. 

Growth in measured output averaging 5 to 7 per cent a year for a 
generation looks more feasible, along with the occasional crash 
en route. This will have profound consequences, not only for the 
rest of Asia but for the world economy as whole. One tiny rise in 
Chinese interest rates agitated Western financial markets. 
Commodity prices have been driven high by China’s expansion, 
curbing the pace of economic recovery in Europe and America. 

Over the long term, energy is likely to be the key. According to 
World Energy Outlook, the International Energy Agency’s new 
projections for the next 25 years, energy demand is likely to 
rise by almost 60 per cent between now and 2030. Two thirds of 
the extra demand will come from developing countries, mainly 
China and India. 

Significantly, that projection is based on oil selling at $35 a 
barrel, which seemed madly pessimistic a couple of years ago but 
has a sanguine look in 2004. If oil prices stay high, energy 
demand might rise by only half as much. 

Even over 25 years, the ratio between energy demand and output 
growth is unlikely to moderate a lot. More than half the 1.6 
billion people classified as “energy poor”, for instance, live in 
India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. So high energy prices, benefiting 
countries with smaller populations, would be reflected in slower 
world growth and more people staying poor. 

Claude Mandil, director of the IEA, reassures us that there is no 
danger of conventional energy resources running short for many 
decades, even on his central assumption. That is not a 
universally held view. Even if there are plenty of resources to 
be brought to market, however, that will happen only if a massive 
£1,000 billion is invested in the Middle East and Russia alone. 
The way the world looks in 2004, we cannot assume that this will 
happen in good time. 

Even without China and India, which rely principally on coal and 
oil, the market for natural gas seems likely to be stretched for 
years at a time. Our own government seems comfortable projecting 
sharply rising reliance on imported gas as North Sea supplies 
dwindle and gas-fired power stations take over the power market. 

At the same time, mainland Europe is expecting to import far more 
gas and so is America. Natural gas burning would treble from an 
already substantial level in 25 years on the IEA’s projections, 
an unlikely scenario without hefty price rises. Such projections 
are vital for setting long-term energy policies, even though they 
are bound to be inaccurate. 

Unless the US economy and the eurozone are stuck with low growth, 
which would itself hobble the rest of the world, regular energy 
shortages and bouts of high prices look inevitable. On present 
policies, there will be a direct conflict between the advance of 
the world’s two most populous countries and stable prosperity in 
the West. That is only one unwelcome energy effect of Asian 
expansion. On the IEA’s projections, 85 per cent of additional 
energy will come from fossil fuels. 

If carbon dioxide released when coal, oil and gas are burnt is 
already heating the earth’s atmosphere alarmingly, as many 
scientists claim, the impact of China and India coming up to 
Western levels would be catastrophic. Like America, they have no 
treaty obligation to cut back emissions. Both China and India 
rely mainly on coal to boost power output. Their trade needs 
ships, planes, lorries and vans. As soon as incomes allow, their 
people also want scooters, motorcycles and cars. 

Additional Asian demand for vehicles could outpace Europe’s total 
demand. 

On present policies, the rise of China and India from poverty is 
incompatible with any attempt to slow, let alone halt, global 
warming. A choice has to be made to keep poor people poor or to 
take our chances on the environment. 

Europe’s drive for wind power and other forms of renewable 
energy, sensible though they seem, will make no contribution to 
resolving this dilemma in the foreseeable future. On IEA’s 
well-founded projections, the share of renewables in EU energy 
demand will double to 12 per cent from 2002 to 2030. At the same 
time, nuclear power will shrink from 15 per cent to 7 per cent, 
so the EU will rely more on fossil fuels. 

Other hard decisions would have to be made if we are to make much 
difference before 2030. One accepted in Europe but not where it 
counts — in America — is that petrol should sell at not less than 
the equivalent of $1 per litre to accelerate the drive for fuel 
economy. The other is that the West should make a wholesale 
switch to nuclear power stations, which do not emit carbon 
dioxide. New generations may be able to use new technologies. For 
us the choice is between global warming, nuclear power and trying 
to keep poor people poor, a choice our leaders lack the courage 
to make. 

graham.searjeant@thetimes.co.uk    	 		

							   	 	
Copyright The Times - timesonline.co.uk
*****************************************************************
 16 Business Day: Pebble bed to spend R500m on turbines
 
By Siseko Njobeni 

The state-backed Pebble Bed Modular Reactor company will spend 
government's recently announced R500m cash injection on new 
turbine machinery and running costs, says spokesman Tom Ferreira. 

In his medium-term budget policy statement earlier this week, 
Finance Minister Trevor Manuel said government had set aside 
R500m for capital requirements of the planned mini nuclear 
reactor. Ferreira said yesterday that operating costs qualified 
for this money. 

In a bid to diversify SA's energy source, government says it is 
keen to build a nuclear reactor . 

However, following the withdrawal of US-based Exelon from the 
project in 2002 government has been searching for an equity 
partner to provide the 1,2bn required for the facility and to 
finance a fuel plant at Pelindaba, near Pretoria. 

Manuel said government gave the money to the company because of 
the delay in securing a partner. Production at the Koeberg plant 
is expected to begin in 2007. 

He said government was in talks with local and international 
potential investors. "But these kinds of negotiations take long 
." 

The project has come under opposition from environmentalists, who 
have appealed against an environmental affairs and tourism 
department approval of the project's environmental assessment. 

Ministerial spokesman Riaan Aucamp said that he did not know when 
a decision would be made on the matter. "The minister is still 
looking at the appeals," he said. 

Richard Worthington, of the Sustainability Energy and Climate 
Change, said the government was wasting money. 

"If it is viable, as we are told, then it should attract a viable 
international partner," he said. 

Business Day Saturday 30 October 2004                                                                                                                  

      
 BDFM Publishers (Pty) Ltd disclaims all liability for any loss,
*****************************************************************
 17 Euractive: Commission: Nuclear decommissioning funds should be harmonised

[EurActiv.com]                     

Published: Friday 29 October 2004                         -                       15:50

In Short:

A recent report by the Commission reveals widely varying ways of
dealing with the decommissioning of nuclear power stations
across the EU. This may lead to a distortion of the internal
electricity market. 

Background:

The Commission estimates that 50 to 60 of the 155 nuclear 
reactors currently operating in the EU will need to be 
decommissioned by 2025. However, the decommissioning of nuclear 
power plants is a technically very complex operation which 
requires considerable funding. This problem is accentuated by the 
fact that in some of the new member states such as Lithuania and 
Slovakia, the decommissioning of reactors in the very near future 
has been part of the accession agreements. 

Parliament, Commission and stakeholders have therefore long 
underlined the need to ensure that adequate financial resources 
for these activities are actually available for this purpose and 
that they are managed in a transparent way to avoid distortions 
of competition in the energy market. 

In its 2002 communication on "Nuclear Safety in the European 
Union", the Commission emphasised that specific regulations 
should apply to the creation, calculation and management of 
financial resources for decommissioning to ensure that they could 
not be used for other purposes. 

The Directive on common rules for the internal market in 
electricity was adopted in June 2003, setting out legally binding 
terms for this mechanism.  Issues:

 

On 26 October 2004, the Commission adopted a report on the way 
resources that were earmarked for the decommisisoning of nuclear 
power plants are used. However, as this information was gathered 
through asking member states to confirm the relevant figures, it 
seems that national authorities did not provide any additional 
information. 

The information gathered by the Commission shows that there are 
big differences between member states, both in terms of 
decommissioning strategies and the way the financial resources 
are managed. 

Decommissioning strategies 

Immediate decommissioning 

Finland, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Slovenia and Spain have opted 
to decommission plants as soon as they are shut down, which 
requires substantial financial resources to be available straight 
after the closure of a nuclear plant. 

Deferred decommissioning 

Other countries (Czech Republic, Hungary, the Netherlands and 
Slovakia) have chosen a strategy whereby plants are cocooned for 
several years to allow radioactivity levels to decrease, before 
they are decommissioned. This option does not require sums as 
large as those needed for immediate decommissioning to be 
available as soon as the plant is shut down, but they must 
be provided for for a later stage. 

Four other member states, Belgium, France, Sweden and the UK, 
have not yet decided on their decommissioning strategy. 

Management of financial resources 

External management 

In an external management strategy, the management of the 
financial resources earmarked for decommissioning is separate 
from the accounts of the nuclear operator. This approach provides 
the greatest transparency and ensures that the funds will be 
availabe for their purpose, even if the operator goes 
bankrupt. The Czech Republic, Finland, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, 
the Netherlands, Slovenia, Slovakia, Spain and Sweden have opted 
for this approach. 

Internal management 

France and Germany have chosen to have the nuclear operators 
manage the resources internally, which they receive in the form 
of provisions in their accounts. This way, the funds can be used 
in a more flexible way and the technical and financial 
responsibility both lie with the operators. On the downside, this 
approach does not offer the same level of transparency as an 
external management, nor does it guarantee that the resources are 
available when they are needed as they may have been used for 
other purposes. The Comission is also concerned that this 
approach may lead to anti-competitive practices, with negative 
effects on the internal electricity market. 

Other modes of management 

Belgium and the UK have found alternative ways of managing the 
resources. In both cases, the funds are managed internally, but 
under special control through the state (Belgium) or the Nuclear 
Decommissioning Agency (UK). In the UK, the current system is 
under revision. Positions:

 

The  Commission believes that it would be useful to obtain more 
information from the member states to find out how 
decommissioning is actually being financed in the EU. "Given the 
variety of situations in the Member States, an effort needs to be 
made to obtain more detailed information giving a clearer picture 
of such key factors as the way decommissioning costs are 
calculated, the adequacy of the assembled resources, the 
guarantee that resources will be available when the time comes, 
and the way they are managed," reads the report. "Better 
structured and more detailed information therefore needs to be 
obtained from the Member States." 

In its report on the 2003 Directive on common rules for the EU's 
electricity market, the  Parliament voiced concerns over the 
accounting of decommissioning funds. "In order to ensure the 
availability of funds for future decommissioning and to avoid 
obstacles to fair competition in the energy market, Member States 
must adopt separate accounting for the financing of future 
decommissioning or waste management activities." According to the 
Parliament, these funds would have to be reviewed by an 
independent body to avoid that they could be used for other 
purposes, as this would lead to considerable distortions in the 
market. 

Friends of the Earth said that the Commission was "shielding 
nuclear firms from market discipline by its ongoing failure to 
uphold EC treaty rules on fair competition and the control of 
subsidies." In particular, the organisation criticised that the 
Commission's latest report fails to cover the full range of 
nuclear liabilities, to assess the overall adequacy of funds. It 
has also called for binding legislatio on this issue. Next Steps:

  + The Commission is planning to continue its efforts to gather 
the necessary information on national decommissioning funds. + In 
2005, the Commission will propose a recommendation asking member 
states to take the necessary measures to make sure that financial 
resources are set aside, available and sufficient to cover the 
cost of decommissioning. + Ultimately, this effort is aimed to 
result in the harmonisation of the methods of funding 
decommissioning in the EU. Links

Time-saving Overviews

© EurActiv 2000-2004 / 

*****************************************************************
 18 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: High school chosen to promote nuclear energy

 By AMY McCONNELL SCHAARSMITH
 October 29, 2004

 PITTSBURGH -   As part of the Bush administration's effort to 
boost the nuclear power industry, physics students at a 
Pittsburgh high school will become the first in the country to 
use a new curriculum from the U.S. Department of Energy that 
promotes nuclear energy.

        With memories of the 1979 near-disaster at Three Mile 
Island fading, federal energy officials said last week they hope 
the new curriculum will encourage more students to pursue careers 
in nuclear engineering - a field energy officials expect to grow.

        "No new nuclear power plants have been built for many 
years, but now because of increasing oil and natural gas prices, 
utilities are looking to build some new plants in the next few 
years," said William Magwood, director of the U.S. Energy 
Department's Office of Nuclear Energy, Science and Technology. 
"They're looking for people to work in those plants and design 
those plants, and there you are."

        Among those attending Magwood's presentation at Langley 
High School last week were 13 physics students. Several of the 
students plan to study medicine, become teachers, practice 
psychiatry or go into a math-related field. But a few interested 
in scientific careers said the two-week pilot program might 
persuade them to consider nuclear engineering.

        The program, which is called "The Harnessed Atom: a new 
curriculum in nuclear science and technology," is not officially 
part of the Pittsburgh Public Schools physics curriculum that was 
designed by the district. Physics teacher Ed Henke, however, said 
he has committed to teaching the program by volunteering to 
participate.

        It is designed to teach the students about energy 
physics, atomic structure, power plant design and operation, 
safety and environmental protection, according to federal 
officials.

        No new reactors have been built in the United States 
since a partial meltdown at Three Mile Island 25 years ago 
released a small amount of radioactive water into the Susquehanna 
River, tainting the industry's public image for decades.

        Despite such concerns, the general public's worries about 
nuclear energy have begun to lift, Magwood said.

        "I think people recognize that since (Three Mile Island), 
a lot of changes have been made, and we haven't had any 
significant problems with nuclear power," he said. "We know how 
to operate plants safely."

        (Amy McConnell Schaarsmith can be reached at 
aschaarsmith(at)post-gazette.com)

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, 
http://www.shns.com.)
*****************************************************************
 19 Japan Times: Nuclear panel hears from Fukui residents

  Saturday, October 30, 2004   

 By ERIC JOHNSTON Staff writer

 OSAKA -- Residents living near nuclear power plants in Fukui 
Prefecture expressed concern Friday over plans to recycle nuclear 
fuel, while supporters of the Monju fast-breeder reactor urged 
the central government not to abandon the project during a public 
hearing here.

 The Atomic Energy Commission was listening to public comments as 
part of discussions on the next five-year nuclear power plan, 
which will be finalized next year.

 Despite a recent report from the Federation of Electric Power 
Companies that found it is cheaper to bury fuel than to recycle 
it, little of Friday's discussion centered on the report. 
Instead, concern was raised about storing nuclear waste.

 "Are local governments willing to allow their municipalities to 
be used as dumping grounds for somebody else's nuclear waste?" 
asked Machiko Kobayashi, an Osaka antinuclear activist. "In Fukui 
Prefecture, a lot of people believe that since nuclear power 
plants generate electricity for Osaka, any nuclear waste should 
be dumped there."

 Others, both pro and antinuclear, said that there is much 
concern over the disposal of high-level radiation waste but that 
storage of low- and medium-level radiation waste is just as 
important.

 "There is a tendency to think that low-level waste is not 
dangerous, but that is a mistake," warned Junji Ishiguro, who 
lives in Fukui Prefecture.

 Many who were pronuclear worried that the Atomic Energy 
Commission would not emphasize the importance of the Monju power 
plant, closed since 1995 following a sodium leak accident.

 The plant, which is designed to produce more plutonium than it 
consumes, was touted by several Monju employees present Friday as 
being the only way Japan can secure energy independence. 

The Japan Times: Oct. 30, 2004 (C) All rights reserved 
*****************************************************************
 20 Quad-City Times: Q-C nuke plant wins 20-year extension

Last Updated:10:50 pm, Thursday, October 28th, 2004                                            
             
By Jennifer DeWitt 

Exelon Nuclear’s Quad-Cities Generating Station learned Thursday 
that the nuclear plant has been approved to operate for an 
additional 20 years, which was news that employees of the 
Cordova, Ill., plant have waited years to hear..

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, or NRC, approved separate 
20-year license extensions for both the Quad-City facility and 
Exelon’s Dresden Station near Morris, Ill. The decision actually 
approves the license renewals for the four nuclear reactors, two 
at each station. .The original 40-year licenses for the Quad-City 
plant’s two nuclear reactors were set to expire in 2012. The 
renewal gives extends both licenses until 2032. The original 
40-year license was to expire in 2009 for Dresden’s Unit 2 
reactor. The decision now extends the license until 2029. The 
plant’s Unit 1 is no longer in operation..

“This announcement today really acknowledges the hard work that 
has been done at these plants in the last 40 years … and reflects 
NRC’s confidence to maintain this plant safely for the next 28 
years,” said Bill Stoermer, the communication manager for the 
Quad-City plant..                                                       

“This is great news not only for Exelon Nuclear, but it 
guarantees employment stability here until 2032.” .The approval 
comes after an application process that has consumed more than 
four years of reports, reviews and planning by the team of Exelon 
employees from both the plant and the parent company..

Stoermer said each reactor was judged separately through the 
application process. “We reviewed 150 plant systems and 120,000 
plant components to look at the maintenance history, the 
preventative maintenance that has been done and the programs 
established to ensure that they will operate as designed for an 
additional 20 years..

“It’s a very rigorous process. It’s not a guarantee that you’re 
going to be renewed,” he said. “But we were confident that we had 
established programs which would allow for the safe and continued 
operation of this plant.”.To date, the NRC has approved license 
renewals for 30 U.S. nuclear reactors, including six of Exelon’s 
reactors. In addition to the new extensions, two reactors at the 
company’s Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station in Pennsylvania 
received license extensions last year. It also is reviewing 
renewal applications for 14 other reactors..

The extension was a boost for the Quad-City nuclear plant’s 700 
employees, who rely on its operation for their livelihood, and 
have been waiting eagerly for a final decision..

“Obviously, we’re very pleased because it gives our members a 
chance to work here until they retire,” said Dave Mullen, the 
chief union steward for the plant’s operations employees and a 
20-year Exelon employee. “Those younger employees are pretty 
happy they now have the possibility of long-term employment 
here..

“It was just seven or eight years ago when we were concerned we’d 
even have a job,” he said recalling the company’s decision to 
close a sister plant in Zion, Ill. “We were one of the ones they 
were thinking about closing as well.”.Besides the employees, the 
decision is positive news for the area communities, where many of 
the employees live. “We have a lot of ways we contribute to those 
communities plus the other things the company does for them,” 
Bill Phillips, the chief union steward for the plant’s 
maintenance workers, said..

Stoermer said the Quad-City plant’s impact on the local economy 
is $50 million alone in the payroll of its 700 employees. “It 
would have been a multi-million-dollar economic impact if this 
plant were to shut down.”.Exelon also provides contract work for 
many of the area’s unions and trades, he said. “During shutdowns, 
we bring in over 1,000 temporary employees who are primarily 
local union members to perform work that can only be done when 
the reactor is shut down.”.The NRC’s decision to extend the 
licenses drew criticism from the Environmental Working Group 
Action Fund, a Washington, D.C.-based research and advocacy 
group, which has been critical of how the country has — or has 
not, as it argues — addressed the issue of nuclear waste 
disposal..

“This means there will be a lot more nuclear waste in their 
community for a much longer time than they’ve been told,” Richard 
Wiles, the group's senior vice president, said, adding that the 
extension “transforms your nuclear power plant into a long-term 
nuclear waste dump.” .“Everyone has been told around the country 
that if we just get Yucca Mountain approved we’ll get rid of 
nuclear waste at your power plant. That was never true,” Wiles 
said. He said his group’s reports indicate that there already is 
enough nuclear waste being stored at the country’s nuclear plants 
to fill Yucca Mountain..

Stoermer said Exelon agrees that the issue of nuclear waste is 
one that needs to be dealt with, but he said the government has 
decided that Yucca Mountain in Nevada will be the nation’s 
nuclear waste repository and already has begun construction. “It 
is being designed to be more than adequately handle the nuclear 
waste from the nation’s 103 nuclear sites.” .Jennifer DeWitt can 
be contacted at (563) 383-2318 or .                                                                                                        
 						
 © 2004, , Davenport, IA A subsidiary
 						   					 				
*****************************************************************
 21 Hudson Valley News: NRC approves Indian Point 2 capacity increase   
 
Friday, October 29, 2004 

Copyright © 2004 Mid-Hudson News Network, a division of

Unit 2 is on the left 
  
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission yesterday approved a request by 
Entergy Nuclear Operations to increase the generating capacity of 
unit 2 at the Indian Point Energy Center by 3.26 percent. 

The NRC staff determined that Entergy could safely increase the 
reactors power output primarily by upgrading minor plant 
components, as well as performing evaluations that show the 
plants existing design can handle the increased power level. 

The generation capacity would increase from 995 to 1040 megawatts 
electric, said Indian Point spokesman James Steets. When we 
return were going to be able to provide an additional 50 
megawatts of electricity for New York City and Westchester area, 
and thats a significant amount when you think the alternatives 
are burning oil or natural gas, which everybody knows is becoming 
increasingly expensive, he said. 

Unit 2 is off-line at the present time while rods are being 
replaced.   
  
  HEAR today's news on MidHudsonRadio.com, the Hudson Valley's
*****************************************************************
 22 NRC: NRC Renews Licenses for Dresden and Quad Cities Nuclear Power Plants for an Additional 20 Years
 
News Release - 2004-13 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office 
of Public Affairs     Telephone: 301/415-8200 Washington, DC 
20555-0001     E-mail: No. 04-138     October 28, 2004   

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has renewed the operating
licenses of the Dresden Nuclear Power Station, Units 2 and 3,
and the Quad Cities Nuclear Power Station, Units 1 and 2, in
Illinois for an additional 20 years. 

The Dresden plant is near Morris, and the Quad Cities plant is
near Moline. Both are operated by the Exelon Generation Co.
Exelon submitted its license renewal applications for both
plants on Jan. 3, 2003. With the renewals, the license for
Dresden Unit 2 is extended to Dec. 22, 2029, and the license for
Dresden Unit 3 is extended to Jan. 12, 2031. The licenses for
both units of Quad Cities are extended to Dec. 14, 2032. 

The NRCs environmental reviews are described in site-specific
supplements to the NRCs Generic Environmental Impact Statement
for License Renewal of Nuclear Power Plants (NUREG-1437,
Supplements 16 and 17). In the Final Supplemental Environmental
Impact Statements, issued in June, the NRC concluded there were
no environmental impacts that would preclude renewal of the
licenses for environmental reasons. Two public meetings to
discuss the environmental review were held near the plants on
April 8 and 10, 2003. 

The NRC staff completed a careful and thorough review and issued
the results in July in its Safety Evaluation Report Related to
the License Renewal of the Dresden Nuclear Power Station, Units
2 and 3, and the Quad Cities Nuclear Power Station, Units 1 and
2. The staff concluded that there were no safety concerns that
would preclude license renewal, because the licensee had
demonstrated the capability to manage the effects of plant
aging. In addition, NRC conducted inspections of the plants to
verify information submitted by the licensee. The reports
relating to these renewals are available on the NRC Web site at
this address:
http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/licensing/renewal/applicati
ons/dresden-quad.html. 

On Sept. 16, the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards  an
independent body of technical experts which advises the
Commission  issued its recommendation that the operating
licenses for Dresden and Quad Cities be renewed. That
recommendation is contained in Report on the Safety Aspects of
the License Renewal Application for the Dresden 2 and 3 and Quad
Cities 1 and 2 Nuclear Power Stations. This document is
available on the NRC Web site at this address:
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/acrs/letters/2004/.
 

The Dresden and Quad Cities license renewals bring the total
number of renewals to 30 reactor units. A complete listing of
renewal applications can be found on the NRC Web site at 
http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/licensing/renewal/applicati
ons.html.   



  


 	Last revised Friday, October 29, 2004 	   
*****************************************************************
 23 NRC: NRC Approves Stretch Power Uprate for Indian Point Unit 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. 04-139     October 28, 
2004   
  

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has approved a request by
Entergy Nuclear Operations to increase the generating capacity
of Unit 2 at the Indian Point Energy Center by 3.26 percent. The
NRC staff determined that Entergy could safely increase the
reactors power output primarily by upgrading minor plant
components, as well as performing evaluations that showed the
plants existing design can handle the increased power level. 

Stretch power uprates are typically on the order of up to 7
percent and usually involve changes to instrument settings. The
stretch power uprate for the Indian Point unit, located 24 miles
north of New York City, will increase its generating capacity
from approximately 995 to 1040 megawatts electric. Entergy
intends to operate Indian Point Unit 2 at the higher power level
following its fall refueling operations. 

NRC previously published a notice about the power uprate
application in the Federal Register providing the public an
opportunity to comment or request a hearing. No comments or
hearing requests were received by the NRC. 

The NRC's safety evaluation of the plants proposed stretch
power uprate focused on several areas, including nuclear steam
supply systems, instrumentation and control systems, electrical
systems, accident evaluations, radiological consequences,
operations, and other technical specification changes.   



  


 	Last revised Friday, October 29, 2004 	   
*****************************************************************
 24 Brattleboro Reformer: Selectboard discuss changes to Yankee evacuation plan
 
Brattleboro, VT                                                                                 
 			 								 					
Published: Friday, October 29, 2004 -
 		     	 	
By CAROLYN LORIÉ Reformer Staff

BRATTLEBORO -- The Brattleboro Selectboard met on Thursday 
morning to discuss the latest revisions to the Vermont Yankee 
evacuation plan.

 A plan has not been approved in Brattleboro since 2001.

 Among the changes discussed was the possibility of a western 
evacuation site, clarification on the role of selectboard members 
in the event of an emergency and the notification system in areas 
where the sirens cannot be heard.

 Under the current plan, residents are supposed to evacuate to 
Bellows Falls. Many people believe this will be problematic, 
especially for residents living in West Brattleboro and Marlboro.

 According to Steve Goldsmith of Vermont Emergency Management, 
two sites in Wilmington are expected to be funded for fiscal year 
2006.

 Another point of concern has been that in several areas of the 
emergency planning zone, residents cannot hear the sirens. 

Brattleboro Fire Department Chief David Emery said that detailed 
routes have been mapped out, so that department personnel can 
drive along those areas with trucks equipped to make 
announcements.

 There are also designated routes even where the sirens are 
audible in the event that they malfunction.

 Only a small portion of the plan was covered in the 11/2-hour 
meeting. The board plans to meet again in November.

 According to town manager Jerry Remillard, most of the changes 
focused on notification, traffic during the evacuation and the 
protocol for moving children from their schools to the evacuation 
sites.

 The evacuation of the schools has been a major concern for many 
parents. Last year, several parents wrote to Windham Southeast 
Supervisory Union superintendent Ron Stahley to request 
clarification of the plan.

 In response, a public meeting is planned for Nov. 4, which will 
be held at the Academy School.

 Ed Anthes, of Nuclear Free Vermont, attended Thursday's meeting 
and said that, while he believed that there was a sincere effort 
being made to improve the plan, it remains complex, problematic 
and confusing.

 That fact was highlighted at the meeting. Board members realized 
that not everyone was working from the same plan, creating some 
confusion about what parts of the plan had been revised and what 
aspects remained the same.

 Carolyn Lorié can be reached at 		   	 	
 		   			 		   	 	
       Copyright ©1999-2004 New England Newspapers, Inc., a 
*****************************************************************
 25 [du-list] Study Finds 100,000 "Excess" Civilian Deaths Since
 
Date: Fri, 29 Oct 2004 18:23:06 -0700

 
<x-flowed>


Institute for Public Accuracy
915 National Press Building, Washington, D.C. 20045
(202) 347-0020 * http://www.accuracy.org * ipa@accuracy.org
___________________________________________________

PM Friday, October 29, 2004

Co-Author Available for Interviews:

Study Finds 100,000 "Excess" Civilian Deaths Since Iraq Invasion

The leading medical journal The Lancet has just published a study on
civilian mortality in Iraq since the invasion. See
<http://www.thelancet.com> for the full study and an accompanying editorial.

LES ROBERTS, (607) 863-4675, les@a-znet.com
Co-author of the report, Dr. Roberts is an epidemiologist at the Johns
Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He said today: "Making
conservative assumptions, we think that about 100,000 excess deaths or more
have happened since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Violence accounted for most
of the excess deaths, and air strikes from coalition forces accounted for
most violent deaths. We have shown that the collection of public-health
information is possible even during periods of extreme violence. Our
results need further verification and should lead to changes to reduce
non-combatant deaths from air strikes."

Roberts added:

*  "Violence was the primary cause of death after the invasion; violent
deaths were widespread, reported in 15 of 33 clusters surveyed, and
were  mainly attributed to coalition forces (predominantly air strikes).
Most individuals reportedly killed by coalition forces were women and
children. The risk of death from violence in the period after the invasion
was 58 times higher than in the period before the war. The major causes of
death before the invasion were heart attack,  stroke, and chronic illness."

*  "We did the survey to investigate the effect of the Iraq war on civilian
deaths by comparing mortality during the 14.6 months before the March 2003
invasion with the 17.8 months after it. We interviewed a total of 988
households from 33 randomly selected neighborhoods of Iraq; in those
households reporting deaths since January 2002, the date, cause, and
circumstances of violent deaths were recorded."

*  "Overall, the risk of death was 2.5 times greater after the invasion,
although the risk was 1.5 times higher if mortality around Fallujah (where
two-thirds of violent deaths were reported) is excluded. The investigators
estimate that a 1.5 times increase in deaths equates to an excess of 98,000
deaths relating to the Iraq conflict, although this estimate would be much
greater if Fallujah data is included."

For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020, (202) 421-6858; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167


For all list information and functions, including changing
your subscription mode and options, visit the Web page:
      http://lists.accuracy.org/lists/info/mediagen


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*****************************************************************
 26 [NukeNet] Nuclear Power and Children's Health Wrap-Up
 
Date: Fri, 29 Oct 2004 18:23:04 -0700

 
<x-flowed>
  October 29, 2004

Dear Friends of NPRI,

The Nuclear Power and Children's Health Symposium held on October 15th and
16th in Chicago was a great success. More than 250 people participated in
all or part of the conference-more than we had expected!
�
Both days were packed with exciting and compelling speakers including Dan
Hirsch, Paul Gunter, David Lochbaum, Wenonah Hauter, Oscar Shirani, and
our own Helen Caldicott. Everyone presented compelling and up-to-date
information about nuclear power and its negative effects on children. The
program book from the conference is available now on our website and can
be accessed at
http://en.groundspring.org/EmailNow/pub.php?module=URLTracker&cmd=track&j=11835937&u=104103.

There are two reports that will come out from the conference: one,
commissioned by NPRI from the Institute for Energy and Environmental
Research (IEER) on uranium enrichment worldwide and the other commissioned
by PSR-Chicago on the effects of a nuclear power plant meltdown on the
Chicago-area. I will share those reports with you when they are available.
�
We ended both days talking about positive alternatives. On Friday
afternoon, Steven Strong gave an incredible address about the uses of
solar power as a viable and important alternative to nuclear power, and on
Saturday afternoon, Harvey Wasserman discussed wind power. Even though it
had been a long two days, people gathered at the stage beyond our ending
time to listen to Harvey explain more of the details of wind power.
�
Evenings were filled with activities as well. On Friday night, we had a
fundraising dinner blessed with the music of Amanda McBroom and the Indigo
Girls, and on Saturday night, we had a community dinner with music from a
local folksinger. As a result of these evening activities, the Nuclear
Power and Children's Health Conference fed not only our minds, but our
souls as well.
�
There will be many outcomes from this conference. First, we plan to make
available DVDs of all of the panels, but we also plan to create a thirty
to forty minute video of highlights of the conference that can be shared
widely. Second, we will be publishing summary proceedings from the
conference in a simple and accessible booklet that can also be shared to
extend the impact of the conference beyond the attendees.

We built valuable organizational relationships with our conference
partners, NIRS, PSR-Chicago, NEIS, and NSPI. The planning and execution of
this conference was a model for future organizational collaboration, which
I believe is critical to achieving our goal of ending the nuclear age.

The Chicago Tribune ran an editorial on Sunday, October 10th, the weekend
before the symposium, in support of the nuclear power industry. Go to
http://en.groundspring.org/EmailNow/pub.php?module=URLTracker&cmd=track&j=11835937&u=104104 

to read the full editorial.

In sum, the Chicago Tribune urged for the support of nuclear power as the
solution to growing energy demand. To respond, Helen urged conference
attendees to draft a response to the Editor. I have included Helen's
letter to the editor at the end of this e-mail.

Thank you for all of your support of the Nuclear Policy Research
Institute. As always, I appreciate the feedback from constituents like you
on our work and enjoy the e-mails and thoughts that many of you have
shared with me. It's the commitment of people like you to end the nuclear
age and your support of NPRI that has brought us to this point, and I
thank you. There remains much work to be done, but both Helen and I feel
that this conference was an important step in the path toward a nuclear
free future.
�
My best,
�
Julie

Letter to the Editor
�
Dear Bruce Dold,
�
The editorial "A New Generation of Nuclear Power" that the Chicago Tribune
ran on Sunday, 10 October 2004 was off the mark and could have been
written by the nuclear industry.

Chicago is surrounded by 14 aging reactors which collectively vent
millions of curies of radiation a year into the air and water. Children
are many times more susceptible to radiation induced cancer than adults.
Almost certainly the incidence of childhood cancer is affected by this
unregulated release of radiation.

Each reactor contains 1000 times the long-lived radiation released by one
Hiroshima bomb and the cooling pool of irradiated fuel beside the reactor
contains up to 30 times that amount.

These reactors are obvious targets for terrorists even if they are shut
down, because the fuel remains intensely hot for decades and if the
cooling water is disrupted in either the reactor and/or cooling pool the
fuel will melt and burn releasing massive quantities of radiation into the
atmosphere.

A simple accident induced by human or mechanical error as occurred at
Three Mile Island or Chernobyl could also induce a meltdown, signaling
Chicago's 9/11. If the wind blew towards the city hundreds of thousands
would develop a range of illnesses including  acute radiation sickness,
sterility, hypothyroidism, retarded infants, spontaneous abortions,
cancers, leukemia, and congenital abnormalities.

It is indeed strange that this editorial appeared only days before a major
symposium took place in Chicago called NUCLEAR POWER AND CHILDREN'S HEALTH.

It is imperative that newspapers maintain a fair and balanced approach to
journalism just as physicians practice the ethics of medicine treating all
patients alike with respect and integrity.

Why then did the Chicago Tribune not cover this conference which was
addressed by leading scientists, biologists, physicians and
epidemiologists from around the world?
�
Helen Caldicott, M.D.
Pediatrician
President, Nuclear Policy Research Institute
----------------------------------------
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*****************************************************************
 27 NRC: Nuclear Gauge Reported Stolen in Virginia; Recovery of Device is Sought
 
News Release - Region I - 2004-05 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY 
COMMISSION 

Office of Public Affairs, Region I No. I-04-050                          
October 28, 2004 CONTACT:     Diane Screnci (610) 337-5330 Neil 
A. Sheehan (610) 337-5331                     E-mail: 
opa1@nrc.gov  
  

Commission that a portable moisture-density gauge containing
sealed sources of radioactive material has been stolen. 

Foundation Engineering Science, Inc., based in Newport News,
Va., reported to the NRC on Oct. 25 that one of its employees
acknowledged the loss of a Troxler Model 3430 nuclear gauge that
had been checked out for use at a Norfolk, Va., work site. The
individual reported stopping at a Wal-Mart store in Norfolk on
the morning on Oct. 18. After shopping, the worker returned to
his company pick-up truck to discover the gauge was missing. 

A review of a security videotape showed two individuals taking
the device and driving off in a blue car at about 10 a.m. that
day. Norfolk police were subsequently contacted and a police
report was filed on the theft. 

The gauge was in its yellow transportation container at the time
it was removed. According to the company, the container was not
locked nor was it secured to the vehicle, as required by NRC
regulations. The NRC will review the loss of the gauge and
determine whether enforcement action is warranted. 

The device contains approximately 8 millicuries of cesium-137
and 40 millicuries of americium-241. The gauge makes its
measurements by projecting the radiation from the two
radioactive sources into the ground and then displaying the
reflected radiation on a dial on its top. The device consists of
a shielding container with a plunger-type handle protruding from
the top. The handle is used to extend and then retract the
radioactive sources from the shielded position. When not in use,
the handle is normally locked, with the sources in the
retracted, safely shielded position. The rectangular base of the
gauge is yellow. 

As long as the sources are in the shielded position, the gauge
would present no hazard to the public. However, any attempt to
tamper with the radioactive sources in the device could subject
the person to radiation exposure. Handling of the unshielded
sources outside their container would carry a risk of
potentially dangerous radiation exposure. 


  [A typical carrying case for a moisture-density gauge]     [A
typical moisture-density gauge in use]   
  A typical carrying case for a moisture-density gauge     A
typical moisture-density gauge in use   



The gauges serial number is 29129. It is listed on a metal
plate on top of the device. Anyone seeing the gauge should leave
it alone and report its location to the NRCs Operations Center
at (301) 816-5100. The center is staffed 24 hours a day and
accepts collect calls.   



  


 	Last revised Friday, October 29, 2004 	   
*****************************************************************
 28 Tri-City Herald: Hanford downwinders up against study results 

This story was published Friday, October 29th, 2004 

By Annette Cary, Herald staff writer 

SPOKANE -- Hanford downwinders suing contractors at the nuclear 
reservation will have to convince a jury to overlook findings of 
a $20 million study that failed to show a link between radiation 
emissions from Hanford and illness. 

It appears they have a plan. 

At a Thursday scientific education session for U.S. District 
Judge William Fremming Nielsen, plaintiff attorneys emphasized 
ways that information could be drawn from studies that found harm 
caused by radiation exposures elsewhere. 

Nielsen is preparing for January hearings on what scientific 
evidence is credible enough for a jury to hear in a spring trial. 

About 1,800 people who lived downwind from Hanford when it was 
producing plutonium for the nation's nuclear weapons program have 
sued early contractors at the site. Many have thyroid cancer or 
other thyroid disease they believe was caused by radioactive 
iodine that was released from 200-foot-high stacks during 
plutonium production. 

The iodine drifted downwind toward Spokane, contaminating crops 
and pastures where dairy cows grazed. When radioactive iodine is 
inhaled or consumed in milk or other foods, it concentrates in 
the thyroid. 

"The one well-established risk factor for thyroid cancer is 
radiation," downwinder attorney Brian Depew told the judge as 
about 20 downwinders and their family members listened in a 
Spokane courtroom. 

But when a U.S. Centers for Disease Control study looked at more 
than 3,000 people who were children in the 1940s and 1950s when 
Hanford releases were greatest, it found no evidence that people 
with the greatest exposure were more likely to develop thyroid 
cancer or illness than those with little or no exposure. 

"The best science that money can buy suggests no link between 
emissions and thyroid disease," said defense attorney Randy 
Squires in a earlier motion hearing. 

Depew said figuring out the cause of an illness was like putting 
together a puzzle. Rather than looking at a single study, it 
requires fitting together a puzzle that includes the biological 
interactions between radiation and DNA, animal studies, 
epidemiological data, a doctor's evaluation and the dose of 
radiation, he said. 

Part of the education session he led focused on ways to determine 
the value of an individual study. 

"Assumptions were made on each major step" of the data 
development for the Hanford Thyroid Disease Study, Depew said. 

Scientists used computer models to project where the wind would 
have carried radioactive iodine 50 and 60 years ago. Participants 
were questioned about what they ate as small children and how 
much milk they drank to develop an estimate of their exposure to 
radioactive iodine. 

"In the case of Hanford, we will never know what the one true 
dose is" for each downwinder, Depew said. "Our knowledge of what 
happened in the 1940s and 1950s is imperfect." 

In contrast, a study completed this year of children exposed to 
radiation from the Chernobyl power plant disaster was able to 
rely on current and thorough information gathering. 

Unlike the Hanford study, it found that the more radiation 
children were exposed to, the more likely they were to develop 
thyroid cancer. The incidence of thyroid cancer was 45 times 
greater in those who received the highest radiation doses 
compared with those who received the smallest doses. 

However, they received much higher doses over a much shorter 
period of time than children living near Hanford during World War 
II and the early years of the Cold War. 

Scientific formulas can be used to figure out what the results 
would have been if the exposures were more like those at Hanford, 
said plaintiff attorneys. 

Scientists depend on a hierarchy of information that starts with 
a primary study but builds up to an analysis of studies of 
similar exposures and then, finally, consensus reports of 
experts, Depew said. 

Hanford downwinders filed their suit more than 12 years ago. 
Nielsen, who was assigned the suit last year, is working to get 
it resolved through a trial in March of about a dozen initial 
bellwether plaintiffs. His hope is that the outcome would give 
attorneys enough information to settle the remainder of the 
claims. 

© 2004 Tri-City Herald, Associated Press &Other Wire Services
*****************************************************************
 29 Hawk Eye Newspaper: Testing continues on Army plant piece 
 	
Thursday, October 28, 2004 Site updated daily at 11 a.m. CST   
      
Metal chunk found on grounds is low–level radioactive; origin 
unclear. 

By MATTHEW LeBLANC 

mleblanc@thehawkeye.com 

MIDDLETOWN — Researchers continue to try to identify a small 
chunk of radioactive metal found in August at the Iowa Army 
Ammunition Plant. 

Steve Bellrichard, an environmental protection specialist at the 
plant, said Wednesday that U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 
scientists are working to identify the chunk, although no answers 
have yet been found. 

"Pretty much the research is ongoing, but there's nothing new to 
report," he said. 

A Corps crew found the chunk, which resembles a small drawer 
pull, during an inspection of four areas selected by former 
workers as likely to contain radiation. Three of the areas tested 
negative for above–average radiation. The metal object was found 
in the fourth area, where crews dumped contaminated soil from a 
cleanup effort two years ago. 

The object tested positive for Cesium 137, a low–level 
radioactive isotope used in density gauges and for machine 
calibration in various industries. Experts say the radiation 
emitted from the object is less than a chest X–ray and does not 
pose a danger to people. 

The object's origin also is unclear. At a meeting last month in 
Burlington, Corps officials and environmentalists said the 
radiation level and the object's size and shape do not match 
materials cleaned up by crews in the past two years at IAAP. 

A sweep of the grounds was ordered in August after former workers 
warned that radioactive materials could still be present in some 
areas. Inspectors spent about 10 days sweeping the grounds in 
mid–August. 

Beginning in the 1940s, workers at IAAP built, test–fired and 
disassembled components of conventional and nuclear weapons on 
plant grounds. Studies to determine the amount of contamination 
began in 1978, and the plant was placed on a government list of 
contaminated areas in line for cleanup in 1989. Work on cleanup 
began in 1994. 

The Army has spent about $88 million on a cleanup effort that's 
estimated to cost up to $127 million. 

Brian Harzek, a radiation protection specialist with the Corps' 
St. Louis office, did not return a call seeking comment 
Wednesday.   
  
The Hawk Eye 800 S. Main St., Burlington, Iowa 52601 319-754-8461 
· 1-800-397-1708 · FAX 319-754-6824 · webmaster@thehawkeye.com
*****************************************************************
 30 WQAD: Scientists try to identify radioactive metal found at plant
    
  Middletown, IA
 
POSTED: 10/29/2004 8:07 am

 MIDDLETOWN, Iowa (AP) -- Researchers have failed thus far to 
identify a small chunk of radioactive metal found at the Iowa 
Army Ammunition Plant in August. 

Steve Bellrichard, an environmental protection specialist at the 
plant, says the research is ongoing, but there's nothing new to 
report. 

Experts say the radiation emitted from the object is less than a 
chest X-ray and does not pose a danger to people. 

Beginning in the 1940s, workers at IAAP built, test-fired and 
disassembled components of conventional and nuclear weapons on 
plant grounds. Studies to determine the amount of contamination 
began in 1978, and the plant was placed on a government list of 
contaminated areas in line for cleanup in 1989. Work on cleanup 
began in 1994. 

A Corps crew found the chunk, which resembles a small drawer 
pull, during an inspection of four areas selected by former 
workers as likely to contain radiation. 

Copyright 2004, Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This 

Copyright 2001 - 2004 WorldNow and WQAD. All Rights Reserved.
*****************************************************************
 31 SF Bay View: Toxic blight on Bay View Hunters Point
 
  San Francisco Bay View - National Black Newspaper of the Year
 
10/27/04 

by Marie Harrison 

  Community activists Espanola Jackson and Dr. Ahimsa Sumchai
speak out at Monday’s press conference to demand a stop to the
transfer and development of the Hunters Point Shipyard, one of
the most toxic sites in the country, until it is clean. Dr.
Sumchai has been nominated for the Jane Bagley Lehman Award for
Public Advocacy for her excellence in reporting on environmental
justice – for alerting the public and influencing policymakers
to put the people’s health ahead of developers’ greed.   

  Photo: Apollonia Jordan   

I had just gone to bed the other night when the phone rang. I had 
dropped off our report, “Pollution, Health, Environmental Racism 
and Injustice: A Toxic Inventory of Bayview Hunters Point, San 
Francisco,” that afternoon for a meeting of the Project Area 
Committee. One of their members was on the other end of the line. 
“I started reading your report,” she said. “I was shocked when I 
realized that one of the toxic sites you talk about is on Thomas 
Street where I live.” 

Calls like that have become a regular occurrence at my house. Too 
many residents are shocked to find that deadly industrial waste 
is right on their doorstep, or next to a playground where their 
children play. Others can’t believe that government agencies 
would allow our families to be poisoned. 

Our report has rocked a lot of people — but that’s not the worst 
of it. Hundreds of people in our community are victims of this 
toxic blight on Bay View Hunters Point. 

The health of our community has been heavily impacted by the 
ongoing environmental contamination of our soil and water with 
petrochemicals, heavy metals, asbestos, radioactive materials and 
more than 200 toxic chemicals and materials, according to the 
Environmental Protection Agency. Health surveys show that in Bay 
View Hunters Point, rates of cervical and breast cancer are 
double the rate found in other parts of the Bay Area, and 
hospitalization rates for congestive heart failure, diabetes, 
hypertension, and emphysema are more than three times the 
statewide average . 

The most vulnerable residents, children and infants, have been 
the most affected by the environmental health threats. Bayview 
Hunters Point and the bordering neighborhood of Potrero Hill also 
account for more than half of the annual infant mortality in San 
Francisco. One study found that the overall rate of birth defects 
for the BVHP-Potrero area was 44.3 per 1,000 births, compared 
with 33.1 per 1,000 births for the rest of San Francisco. 

What’s out there that’s causing so many health problems in our 
community? That was the question that Greenaction and the Bayview 
Hunters Point Mothers Environmental Health and Justice Committee 
set out to answer. 

In a year-long project, we researched every reported toxic site, 
visited government agencies, and talked to regulators and 
community members. In the process we realized that most residents 
were only aware of the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, the largest 
of the toxic sites in our community. When we started to compile 
the report, every one of us realized that there was at least one 
other site near where our family members lived, worked or played. 

Here’s just a sample of what we found: 

Remember when our community was the center of a thriving fishing 
industry? I can still picture the shrimp boats working the Bay 
and weekend crabbers setting traps in Islais Creek and along the 
shoreline of Herons Head behind PG&E. Down Innes Avenue there 
were restaurants and bars that served locally caught fish. 

No more! Do you know what is now in the waters of San Francisco 
Bay, Islais Creek and China Basin? How about chlordane, furan 
compounds, selenium, mercury, DDT, dieldrin, nickel, diazinon, 
PAHs, PCBs, and dioxin for a start — the list of deadly chemicals 
going into the fish goes on and on. Seen any fishing boats 
lately? It’s a horrible thought, but I should hope not. I don’t 
want our residents getting any sicker than they already are. 

How about toxic waste sites other than the Naval Shipyard? Here’s 
a short list of some of them, with a brief summary of the deadly 
toxins found: 

Bay Area Drum Co., 212 Thomas Ave., San Francisco 94124 

In 1986, DTSC found elevated level of metals, polychlorinated 
biphenyls (PCBs), and solvents in soil and liquid samples taken 
at the Bay Area Drum Company facility. DTSC conducted further 
investigations and found elevated levels of lead, copper, 
cadmium, PCBs and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in soil and 
groundwater at the facility. In addition contamination was found 
in the backyard soils of eight homes adjacent to the facility. 
Although the Bay Area Drum Company is no longer operating, there 
is a new business on the premises. Although the Department of 
Toxic Substances (DTSC) says the site has been cleaned up they 
admit that drinking water still isn’t suitable for consumption. 
Tells you something huh? 

Federated Fry Metals (Division of Asarco), 1901 Cesar Chavez, San 
Francisco 92124 

Currently, this site is occupied by the San Francisco Chronicle’s 
80,000-square-foot newspaper printing plant and the surrounding 
asphalt parking area. The primary contaminants on the site are 
lead and mercury. During the cleanup, an asphalt cap was placed 
over the contamination. Another great idea — cover poison with 
concrete and hope for the best! 

James Armstrong vacant lot, 2250 Jerrold St., San Francisco 94124 

This is a mystery site. Seventy drums of toxic waste were spotted 
on this property — and then they mysteriously disappeared. DTSC 
never tested the soil or ground water, so we don’t even know what 
dangers this site poses for our residents. 

Karkar-General Signal, 1920-2190 Cesar Chavez, San Francisco 
94124 

The sole source of contamination evaluated by USEPA at this site 
is copper chloride waste derived from a circuit board etching 
operation. Two samples taken 30 and 60 feet west of the discharge 
point contained copper concentrations greater than three times 
background concentrations. 

Metten and Gebhard, 1775 Egbert Ave., San Francisco 94124 

The Department of Health Services, predecessor to the Department 
of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC), identified the site as having 
high concentrations of iron, arsenic and chromium. 

Polita Hawley Forge, 2350 Jerrold Ave., San Francisco 94124 

This site was contaminated with nickel, lead, chromium, copper 
and zinc. Although some contaminated soil was removed, the site 
still poses a danger, since remediation only attempted to keep 
toxic levels under maximum allowable levels. 

The list goes on. This series will continue with a look at 
recreational areas that have serious toxic contamination and at 
other threats to our community like leaking underground storage 
tanks and abandoned solid waste dumps. 

Read or download the complete report at www.greenaction.org. 
Email Marie at marie@greenaction.org.j       

San Francisco Bay View National Black Newspaper 4917 Third Street 
San Francisco California 94124 Phone: (415) 671-0789 Fax: (415) 
671-0316 Email: editor@sfbayview.com
  
*****************************************************************
 32 AU ABC: Watchdog investigates uranium mine incident

. 29/10/2004. ABC News Online
 	
"Australian Broadcasting Corporation Online">   


Investigators from the Northern Territory mining safety watchdog
are at the Ranger uranium mine, which is inside the boundary of
Kakadu National Park, after an incident this morning.

 The mine's operator, Energy Resources of Australia (ERA), says
a small amount of yellowcake splashed on to a worker's boot
early this morning in the mine's product packing area.

 It says it contaminated an air compression unit. 
ERA says the worker was wearing full protective clothing at the
time and returned to work after being offered medical assistance.
 ERA and investigators from the mining safety watchdog, the

Department of Business, Industry and Resource Development are at
the scene. 

The area has been cordoned off until the investigation is
complete, but ERA says production at the mine has not been
halted. 

© 2004 Australian Broadcasting Corporation 
This service may include material from Agence France-Presse
*****************************************************************
 33 AU ABC: Ranger stays open despite yellowcake spill. 

30/10/2004. ABC News Online
 	
"Australian Broadcasting Corporation Online">   

Last Update: Saturday, October 30, 2004. 2:15pm (AEST) 	 

ERA still faces charges over the contamination of drinking water 
with uranium in March. (ABC TV

Operators of the Ranger Uranium Mine near Jabiru in the Northern
Territory say the plant has not been shut down, despite a
contamination incident yesterday morning.

 Energy Resources of Australia (ERA) says a small amount of
yellowcake contaminated an air compression unit.

 Investigators from the mining safety watchdog, the Territory
Department of Business, Industry and Resource Development joined
ERA investigators yesterday.

 An area in the product-packing area of the mine has been
cordoned off.

 ERA say a small amount of yellow cake splashed on a worker's
boot, but the worker returned to work after being offered
medical assistance. They say the worker was wearing full
protective clothing at the time of the incident. 

The area will remain isolated until an investigation is
complete, but production at the mine has not been halted.

 ERA says the processing plant was not in operation and
therefore production was not affected. 
The incident follows one in March when workers drank water
contaminated with uranium 400 times the limit. 
ERA faces charges in the Darwin Magistrates Court over that
incident next week.

 The Northern Territory Government says it will not comment on
the latest safety breach until the investigation is complete.

 But the Australian Conservation Foundation claims there is a
systemic failure at the mine.

 The Foundation's Dave Sweeney says since the Ranger mine opened
in 1981, there have been 120 spills and breaches.

 "What we are seeing is a systemic failure at Ranger, we are
seeing contaminated waste, we are seeing contaminated air, we
are seeing vehicle's leaving the mine site without proper
clearance," he said. 

"We are seeing a growing footprint, increased leaks, increased
breaches." 

© 2004 Australian Broadcasting Corporation 
*****************************************************************
 34 Casper Star-Tribune: Utah asks high court to decide authority over nuke waste
 
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - Utah's governor and attorney general want 
the U.S. Supreme Court to decide who has authority over the 
transportation and storage of nuclear waste, the latest move in 
the battle to keep thousands of tons of radioactive waste out of 
the state.

 On Friday, Gov. Olene Walker and Attorney General Mark Shurtleff 
announced the filing of a petition with the high court to review 
an August ruling by the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

 That ruling upheld a lower court which rejected Utah laws 
enacted to block a nuclear waste repository proposed for the 
Goshutes' Skull Valley reservation.

 The federal government alone has complete authority to license 
and regulate the transportation and storage of high-level nuclear 
waste, the Denver-based court ruled, siding with a lower judge 
that laws enacted between 1998 and 2001 to prevent the storage of 
40,000 tons of nuclear waste on the tribal lands conflicted with 
federal law.

 State lawmakers passed significant laws aimed at protecting 
citizens from the hazards of moving waste across highways should 
such a site be located in the state, Walker and Shurtleff said. 
Those laws were wrongly upset by the federal moves, they said.

 ''I oppose high-level nuclear waste storage in Utah and hope the 
waste never comes here, that we never have to rely on these 
laws,'' Walker said. ''But history has taught us that a strong 
framework of federal and state law is needed, especially when 
dealing with high-level nuclear waste. If it comes here, it will 
never leave.''

 The Skull Valley Band has been locked in a leadership battle 
since Tribal Chairman Leon Bear signed a lease in 1997 allowing 
Private Fuel Storage to store up to 44,000 tons of spent nuclear 
fuel in upright steel-and-concrete casks on Goshute land.

 The tribe's deal was largely seen as a way for the band to 
emerge from poverty, and for Private Fuel Storage - a consortium 
of seven electrical utilities - to meet the demand of plants that 
are fast running out of onsite storage for the depleted but 
radioactive fuel rods.

 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Atomic Safety and Licensing 
Board is expected to decide early next year whether Skull Valley 
can safely keep nuclear fuel. The board in March 2003 stalled 
construction by ruling the chances of a fighter jet from Hill Air 
Force Base crashing into the storage pad makes the project too 
risky. It has taken arguments for and against that decision and 
is weighing other aspects of the project.

 As planned, the storage pad would hold up to 4,000 casks filled 
with depleted nuclear fuel - about 10 million rods - across 100 
acres of the Skull Valley. The waste would be shipped over rail 
lines, mostly from reactors east of the Mississippi. Utah has no 
nuclear power plants.

 Both major party candidates for governor, Republican Jon 
Huntsman Jr. and Democrat Scott Matheson Jr., oppose the 
facility, as do the members of Utah's congressional delegation.

AP-WS-10-29-04 1207EDT

*****************************************************************
 35 Idaho Statesman: INEEL makes clean hydrogen power out of dirty diesel fuel

The Associated Press
 
Edition Date: 10-29-2004
 

IDAHO FALLS  Scientists at the Idaho National Engineering and 
Environmental Laboratory say they have developed the first system 
to convert dirty diesel fuel into a quiet, self-contained and 
efficient energy source.

The system is the product of six years of research and a $25 
million joint effort between the Office of Naval Research and 
fuel-cell company SOFCo-EFS.

In the future, the Navy's destroyers could run quieter, require 
half the fuel, pollute less and have a smaller heat signature 
that enemies can detect, according to scientists at the INEEL.

The system converts diesel fuel into a 30 percent hydrogen 
mixture. Backers say by using the diesel to run a fuel cell 
instead of burning it, the system produces twice the energy 
output, without sulfur or nitrous oxide pollution.

About two weeks ago, the experimental system started running a 
5-kilowatt fuel cell.

"We see this as the start of a new technology that will greatly 
improve on where we are today," said Rodger McKain, president of 
SOFCo-EFS, a fuel-cell company that split the project's cost with 
the U.S. Navy.

"It could help make stealthier ships," said Mark Cervi, power 
generation coordinator for the Navy.

The military will decide in two years whether it will fund a 
prototype system for a new class of destroyers, which are 
scheduled to start being built in 10 years.

Although the process of getting hydrogen from diesel is not new, 
it has never been done before on such a large scale.

It is also the only system specifically designed to run on 
high-sulfur content diesel, which the Navy can buy around the 
world.

The technology could be installed anywhere people want to have 
quiet, self-contained energy systems instead of diesel 
generators.

As with any new technology, the main obstacle is the cost. The 
5-kilowatt experimental fuel cell that is running at the INEEL 
costs $200,000, and that doesn't include the cost of a system to 
isolate hydrogen from diesel.

Studies have shown that if the cost of the system came down to 
about $3,500, and could provide 5 kilowatts of electricity, plus 
heat, there would be a huge market among homeowners, Witmer said.                                

*****************************************************************
 36 KTVB: Court orders subcontractor to pay $65 million for botched INEEL cleanup 

06:10 PM MDT on Friday, October 29, 2004 

Associated Press 

BOISE -- A federal judge late today ordered a now-defunct 
subcontractor to pay over $65 million for botching a nuclear 
waste cleanup project at the I-N-E-E-L. 


file photo A federal judge has ordered a subcontractor to pay $65 
million for a botched cleanup job at the INEEL. 

Judge Lynn Winmill rejected every defense put up by Lockheed 
Martin Advanced Environmental Systems to avoid paying for its 
failure at Pit Nine in the 1990s. 

In his 97-page decision based on a four-month trial last year, 
Winmill found the company failed to perform in nearly every 
respect. 

It has to return the $54 million it was paid on the project 
contract -- plus interest for the past six years -- and pay 
nearly $12 million more to decontaminate facilities at the site. 

Since then, the pit has been successfully cleaned up by another 
company. 

And work is expected to begin in months on another pit at the 
Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory. 

KTVB.COM
*****************************************************************
 37 DOE: Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board, Rocky 
 
                        FR Doc 04-24215 
[Federal Register: October 29, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 209)] 
[Notices] [Page 63143] From the Federal Register Online via GPO 
Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr29oc04-54]                         
 
Flats AGENCY: Department of Energy.
 
ACTION: Notice of open meeting.
 
SUMMARY: This notice announces a meeting of the Environmental 
Management Site-Specific Advisory Board (EM SSAB), Rocky Flats.
 
The Federal Advisory Committee Act (Pub. L. No. 92-463, 86 Stat. 
770) requires that public notice of these meeting be announced in 
the Federal Register.
 
 
DATES: Thursday, November 4, 2004 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
 
ADDRESSES: Broomfield Recreation Center, Lakeshore Room, 280 
Lamar Street, Broomfield, CO.
 
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ken Korkia, Board/Staff 
Coordinator, Rocky Flats Citizens Advisory Board, 10808 Highway 
93, Unit B, Building 60, Room 107B, Golden, CO, 80403; telephone 
(303) 966-7855; fax (303) 966-7856.
 
 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Purpose of the Board: The purpose of 
the Board is to make recommendations to DOE in the areas of 
environmental restoration, waste management, and related 
activities.
 
Tentative Agenda 1. Update on Building 371 Demolition Plans 2. 
Discussion of Public Participation in the Independent Validation 
and Verification of Rocky Flats Cleanup 3. Other Board business 
may be conducted as necessary Public Participation: The meeting 
is open to the public.
 
Written statements may be filed with the Board either before or 
after the meeting. Individuals who wish to make oral statements 
pertaining to agenda items should contact Ken Korkia at the 
address or telephone number listed above. Requests must be 
received at least five days prior to the meeting and reasonable 
provisions will be made to include the presentation in the 
agenda. The Deputy Designated Federal Officer is empowered to 
conduct the meeting in a fashion that will facilitate the orderly 
conduct of business. Each individual wishing to make public 
comment will be provided a maximum of five minutes to present 
their comments. This notice is being published less than 15 days 
before the date of the meeting due to programmatic issues that 
had to be resolved prior to publication.
 
Minutes: The minutes of this meeting will be available for public 
review and copying at the office of the Rocky Flats Citizens 
Advisory Board, 10808 Highway 93, Unit B, Building 60, Room 107B, 
Golden, CO 80403; telephone (303) 966-7855. Hours of operations 
are 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday. Minutes will also 
be made available by writing or calling Ken Korkia at the address 
or telephone number listed above. Board meeting minutes are 
posted on RFCAB's Web site within one month following each 
meeting at: http://www.rfcab.org/Minutes.HTML. Issued at 
Washington, DC on October 26, 2004.
 
Rachel M. Samuel, Deputy Advisory Committee Management Officer.
 
[FR Doc. 04-24215 Filed 10-28-04; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6450-01-P

 
*****************************************************************
 38 DOE: Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board, Hanford
 
                        FR Doc 04-24216 
[Federal Register: October 29, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 209)] 
[Notices] [Page 63143-63144] From the Federal Register Online via 
GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr29oc04-55]                         
 
AGENCY: Department of Energy.
 
ACTION: Notice of open meeting.
 
SUMMARY: This notice announces a meeting of the Environmental 
Management Site-Specific Advisory Board (EM SSAB), Hanford. The 
Federal Advisory Committee Act (Pub. L. No 92-463, 86 Stat. 770) 
requires that public notice of these meeting be announced in the 
Federal Register.
 
 
[[Page 63144]]
 
DATES: Thursday, November 4, 2004, 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m.; Friday, 
November 5, 2004, 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m.
 
ADDRESSES: Monarch Hotel & Conference Center, 12566 SE 93rd 
Avenue, Clackamas, OR 97015, Phone: (503) 652-1515, Fax: (503) 
652-7509.
 
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Yvonne Sherman, Public 
Involvement Program Manager, Department of Energy, Richland 
Operations Office, 825 Jadwin, MSIN A7-75, Richland, WA, 99352; 
Phone: (509) 376-6216; Fax: (509) 376-1563.
 
 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Purpose of the Board: The purpose of 
the Board is to make recommendations to DOE in the areas of 
environmental restoration, waste management, and related 
activities.
 
Tentative Agenda Thursday, November 4, 2004 1. Central Plateau 
Vision Development Discussions/outcomes from the October 
Committee of the Whole What are the decisions that agencies need 
to be making? What is the information needed to support those 
decisions? What tools are being used for analysis and 
integration? What are the various waste streams? What stays at 
Hanford and what leaves? 2. Update on the River Corridor Contract 
3. Follow-up on HAB Priorities for the 2005 Year 4. Stop Work 
Authority for Construction Workers 5. Minority Outreach (from the 
Public Involvement Committee) Friday, November 5, 2004 1. Central 
Plateau Vision Development (continued discussion) 2. Committee 
Updates 3. Agency Updates 4. Adoption of Board Advice 5. 
Identification of Topics for January 2005 Board Meeting Public 
Participation: The meeting is open to the public.
 
Written statements may be filed with the Board either before or 
after the meeting. Individuals who wish to make oral statements 
pertaining to agenda items should contact Yvonne Sherman's office 
at the address or telephone number listed above. Requests must be 
received five days prior to the meeting and reasonable provision 
will be made to include the presentation in the agenda. The 
Deputy Designated Federal Officer is empowered to conduct the 
meeting in a fashion that will facilitate the orderly conduct of 
business. Each individual wishing to make public comment will be 
provided equal time to present their comments.
 
This notice is being published less than 15 days before the date 
of the meeting due to programmatic issues that had to be resolved 
prior to publication.
 
Minutes: The minutes of this meeting will be available for public 
review and copying at the Freedom of Information Public Reading 
Room, 1E-190, Forrestal Building, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW., 
Washington, DC 20585 between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday-Friday, 
except Federal holidays. Minutes will also be available by 
writing to Yvonne Sherman, Department of Energy Richland 
Operation Office, 825 Jadwin, MSIN A7-75, Richland, WA 99352, or 
by calling her at (509) 376-1563.
 
Issued at Washington, DC on October 26, 2004.
 
Rachel M. Samuel, Deputy Advisory Committee Management Officer.
 
[FR Doc. 04-24216 Filed 10-28-04; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6450-01-P

 
*****************************************************************
 39 DOE: Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board, Paducah
 
                        FR Doc 04-24217 
[Federal Register: October 29, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 209)] 
[Notices] [Page 63144-63145] From the Federal Register Online via 
GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr29oc04-56]                         
 
AGENCY: Department of Energy (DOE).
 
ACTION: Notice of open meeting.
 
SUMMARY: This notice announces a meeting of the Environmental 
Management Site-Specific Advisory Board (EM SSAB), Paducah. The 
Federal Advisory Committee Act (Pub. L. No. 92-463, 86 Stat. 770) 
requires that public notice of these meetings be announced in the 
Federal Register.
 
 
DATES: Thursday, November 18, 2004, 5:30 p.m.-9:30 p.m.
 
ADDRESSES: 111 Memorial Drive, Barkley Centre, Paducah, Kentucky 
42001.
 
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: William E. Murphie, Deputy 
Designated Federal Officer, Department of Energy 
Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office, 1017 Majestic Drive, Suite 
200, Lexington, Kentucky 40513, (859) 219-4001.
 
 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Purpose of the Board: The purpose of 
the Board is to make recommendations to DOE in the areas of 
environmental restoration, waste management and related 
activities.
 
Tentative Agenda 5:30 p.m. Informal Discussion 6 p.m. Call to 
Order; Introductions; Review Agenda; Approval of October Minutes 
6:30 p.m. DDFO's Comments 6:35 p.m. Federal Coordinator Comments 
6:40 p.m. Ex-Officio Comments 6:45 p.m. Public Comments and 
Questions 7 p.m. Task Forces/Presentations Waste 
Disposition--C-746-U Landfill Water Quality Task Force Long Range 
Strategy/Stewardship Community Outreach 8 p.m. Public Comments 
and Questions 8:15 p.m. Break 8:30 p.m. Administrative Issues 
Review of Work Plan Review of Next Agenda 8:40 p.m. Review of 
Action Items 8:45 p.m. Subcommittee Reports Executive Committee 9 
p.m. Final Comments 9:30 p.m. Adjourn Copies of the final agenda 
will be available at the meeting.
 
Public Participation: The meeting is open to the public.
 
Written statements may be filed with the Committee either before 
or after the meeting. Individuals who wish to make oral 
statements pertaining to agenda items should contact David 
Dollins at the address listed below or by telephone at (270) 
441-6819. Requests must be received five days prior to the 
meeting and reasonable provision will be made to include the 
presentation in the agenda. The Deputy Designated Federal Officer 
is empowered to conduct the meeting in a fashion that will 
facilitate the orderly conduct of business. Each individual 
wishing to make public comments will be provided a maximum of 
five minutes to present their comments as the first item of the 
meeting agenda.
 
Minutes: The minutes of this meeting will be available for public 
review and copying at the Freedom of Information Public Reading 
Room, 1E-190, Forrestal Building, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW., 
Washington, DC 20585 between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday-Friday, 
except Federal holidays. Minutes will also be available at the 
Department of Energy's Environmental Information Center and 
Reading Room at 115 Memorial Drive, Barkley Centre, Paducah, 
Kentucky between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. on Monday thru Friday or by 
writing to David Dollins, Department of Energy Paducah Site 
Office, Post Office Box 1410, MS-103, Paducah, Kentucky 42001, or 
by calling him at (270) 441-6819.
 
 
[[Page 63145]] Issued at Washington, DC on October 26, 2004.
 
Rachel M. Samuel, Deputy Advisory Committee Management Officer.
 
[FR Doc. 04-24217 Filed 10-28-04; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6450-01-P

 
*****************************************************************
 40 [du-list] DU in the news  -  29th Oct 04
 
Date: Fri, 29 Oct 2004 14:41:17 -0700

 
<x-flowed>

       Eminem issues call to arms for the MTV generation
       Guardian Unlimited Thu, 28 Oct 2004 2:32 PM PDT
       Eminem has become the latest music star to weigh in on this year's 
presidential election. In a video for his new single, Mosh, the singer 
takes George Bush to task for raising taxes and waging the war in Iraq.

       Kidnapped - The Heroine Who Offered Hope for Iraq, by Robert Fisk

       http://paxhumana.info/article.php3?id_article=493

       Pax Humana Thu, 28 Oct 2004 3:55 PM PDT
       Margaret ? Margaret Hassan kidnapped ? She who said to me that soon, 
very soon, "there will be more than one lost generation" in Iraq ? Is there 
no end to the kidnappers̢۪ targets ? Margaret Hassansan was abducted at 
7.30 yesterday morning on her way to work running Care International̢۪s 
Iraq operation.



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



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 41 [du-list] DU Munitions Action Plan (DOT-E 9649) Update
 
Date: Fri, 29 Oct 2004 18:23:09 -0700

 
<x-flowed>

Depleted Uranium Munitions Action Plan

Updated  November 1, 2004  by Glen Milner

Exemption DOT-E 9649, which allows the secret shipment of depleted
uranium munitions, has not been renewed at this time.   Statements may
still be made to the Department of Transportation.

The best thing to do is:
1.  Ask for public hearings on this issue.
2.  Ask elected officials to voice opposition to the secret shipment of
radioactive munitions, allowed by DOT-E 9649.
3.  Ask the DOT why the likely accident scenario involving fire and the
burning of depleted uranium has not been addressed by the DOT.  The
Department of Defense has well documented the hazards of burning depleted
uranium but has chosen not to submit this information.  The DOT needs to
address known hazards involving a fire and radioactive munitions.
4.  Do not give up.  See below what our efforts mean to the Department of
Defense.

A number of documents received last week show concerns of the Department
of Defense regarding this exemption:

An e-mail message from Mr. Joseph Dugan of the Military Surface
Deployment and Distribution Command (SDDC), dated May 13, 2004, was sent
to branches of the military and numerous military officials regarding
DOT-E 9649.  The message stated, “We have a serious problem with the
renewal of DOT-E 9649, it will expire on 30 June 2004.  There are several
environmental groups opposing the renewal of this exemption: they have
generated a grass roots opposition plan to engage DOT with the intent to
place DOT in a position where they must take an adverse action with
respect to the granting of renewal of the exemption.  This group is
attempting to force Public Hearings be conducted by DOT, this is unusual
and not normally part of the renewal process…  If we do not present a
solid and informative response this exemption may very well be cancelled
and if this is the case any material you may have stored in the various
known locations will be very difficult to transport at some time in the
future.” (bold type added)

An e-mail message dated August 18, 2004 from Mr. David Tripp, of the Army
Field Support Command/Joint Munitions Command, stated, “If this exemption
is not approved, we will need to bring all DU munitions into a
maintenance line for restencilling and labeling before shipping.  All
inventory is stenciled with “DOT-9649”.  This would have to be
obliterated and replaced/restenciled with the word “RADIOACTIVE”.  The
1999 cost estimate for this, for just the Tank Rounds, was in excess of
10 MILLION DOLLARS, so it is critical that we do this testing and provide
the report to DOT ASAP.”  (capital letters by Mr. Tripp, bold type added)

A 45 minute teleconference discussion was held on August 5, 2004 by 22
military and civilian individuals representing various branches of the
military, calling itself the DOT-E 9649 Advisory Working Group.  A
summary statement of the call said that “5 Congressional Inquires
concerning DOT-E 9649” have been made as a result of our efforts.

If you have submitted comments regarding DOT-E 9649, please go to the DOT
Document Management System website, http://dms.dot.gov, and make sure
your statement is posted.

In the past 10 months I have received 17 statements in which copies were
sent to info@gzcenter.org.  Of these 17 statements, only 12 are posted,
indicating that as many as 29 percent of the statements against the
renewal of DOT-E 9649 have been misplaced.

If your statement is not posted, please submit it again to the Department
of Transportation.  Please send a copy to info@gzcenter.org.

Statements regarding DOT-E 9649, may be viewed on the Department of
Transportation Docket Management System website at http://dms.dot.gov.
At the bottom left side of the webpage, go to Simple Search and enter
18576 for the Docket Number.   This website is intended for public
viewing.

The Depleted Uranium Munitions Action Plan is a national and
international effort to stop the renewal of a special U.S. Department of
Transportation (DOT) exemption, DOT-E 9649, which allows the shipment of
depleted uranium munitions without a DOT “RADIOACTIVE” placard displayed
on the shipment.

The exemption was first applied for in 1986 when the Department of
Defense became aware that the shipment and use of radioactive munitions
would become a controversial issue.  The DOT exemption must be renewed
every two years by the Department of Defense and was scheduled to be
renewed on June 30, 2004.  At this time, in November 2004, the exemption
has not yet been renewed.

Please send correspondence regarding DOT-E 9649 to:

Mr. Delmer Billings  DHM-31
Director, Office of Hazardous Materials
Exemptions and Approvals
Department of Transportation
400 7th St. SW
Washington, D.C.   20590

Fax:  (202) 366-3308
E-mail:  delmer.billings@rspa.dot.gov

Please share this information with others and local officials.

The Depleted Uranium Munitions Action Plan was initiated by Ground Zero
Center for Nonviolent Action in Washington, Traprock Peace Center in
Massachusetts, Military Toxics Project in Maine, and Nukewatch in
Wisconsin, in November 2003.  Organizations such as the Twin Cities Phil
Berrigan DU Group, the Port Townsend Depleted Uranium Study Team, and the
"Depleted” Uranium Weapons Network of the Hudson Mohawk Region, have
joined in.

There are currently over 225 statements regarding the renewal of DOT-E
9649 on the DOT website, including some very interesting statements from
government officials, organizations and individuals, and the Department
of Defense.  Whether or not the exemption is renewed this year, in 2004,
the process is far from over.

The complete action plan is posted at
http://www.traprockpeace.org/du_mun_action_plan.pdf  or please contact
info@gzcenter.org for a copy.


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



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 42 NRC: Cornell University to Provide Neutral Mediators for NRC's Alternative Dispute Resolution
Program

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. 04-137     October 28, 
2004   
  


The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has contracted with Cornell
Universitys Institute on Conflict Resolution to act as the
neutral administrator in the agencys alternative dispute
resolution program (ADR) for addressing discrimination
complaints and other allegations of wrongdoing. 

The Institute will make its nationwide roster of expert
mediators available to the NRC, its licensees and their
employees to facilitate quick and amicable resolution of
workplace disputes. The agencys ADR program, announced in
August, aims to promote a safety-conscious work environment by
providing a means for prompt and fair resolution of worker
complaints and timely and effective resolution of enforcement
issues. 

The NRC program aims to use ADR in two potential scenarios: (1)
before initiation of an NRC investigation (so-called early
ADR), when those involved would be the employee and the
licensee; and (2) after completion of an investigation, when the
parties would be the NRC and the licensee. The aim is to reach
settlement within 90 days of agreeing to mediation. 

Cornell Universitys participation will enhance our program for
responding to disputes by reassuring both workers and licensees
that their complaints or concerns will be considered by a truly
neutral person if they choose the early ADR approach, said
Frank Congel, director of the NRCs Office of Enforcement. 

For early ADR, the mediators fees will be paid by the NRC. For
ADR after an investigation has been completed, the NRC and the
licensee will share the mediators fee. The dollar amount of
NRCs contract with Cornell therefore depends on how often
Cornells services are used. While Cornells list of mediators
will be offered to parties in any dispute, the parties are not
obligated to choose a neutral party from that list. 

More information about the NRCs alternative dispute resolution
program is available on the agencys Web site at
http://www.nrc.gov/what-we-do/regulatory/enforcement.html.   



  


 	Last revised Thursday, October 28, 2004 	   
*****************************************************************
 43 PhysOrg: Researchers describe how natural nuclear reactor worked
 
October 29, 2004        

Like Old Faithful

To operate a nuclear power plant like Three Mile Island,
hundreds of highly trained employees must work in concert to
generate power from safe fission, all the while containing
dangerous nuclear wastes.

On the other hand, it's been known for 30 years that Mother
Nature once did nuclear chain reactions by her lonesome. Now,
Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis have analyzed
the isotopic structure of noble gases produced in fission in a
sample from the only known natural nuclear chain reaction site
in the world in Gabon, West Africa, and have found how she does
the trick.   				   					   			 	

Analyzing a tiny fragment of rock, less than one-eight of an 
inch, taken from the Gabon site, Alexander Meshik, Ph.D., 
Washington University senior research scientist in physics, has 
calculated that the precise isotopic structure of xenon in the 
sample reveals an operation that worked like a geyser. The 
reactor, active two billion years ago, worked on a 30-minute 
reaction cycle, accompanied by a two-and-a-half hour dormant 
period, or cool down. 

In the Oct. 29, 2004 issue of Physical Review Letters, Meshik and 
his Washington University collaborators write: "This similarity 
(to a geyser) suggests that a half an hour after the onset of the 
chain reaction, unbounded water was converted to steam, 
decreasing the thermal neutron flux and making the reactor 
sub-critical. It took at least two-and-a-half hours for the 
reactor to cool down until fission Xe (xenon) began to retain. 
Then the water returned to the reactor zone, providing neutron 
moderation and once again establishing a self-sustaining chain."

Prior to this calculation, it was known that the natural nuclear 
reactor operated two billion years ago for 150 million years at 
an average power of 100 kilowatts. The Washington University team 
solved the mystery of how the reactor worked and why it didn't 
blow up.

Meshik and his collaborators, Charles Hohenberg, Ph.D., 
Washington University professor of physics, and Olga 
Pravdivtseva, Ph.D., senior research scientist in physics, used a 
selective laser combined with sensitive, ion-counting mass 
spectrometry to concentrate on the sample's moderator, a 
uranium-free mineral assembly of lanthanum, cerium, strontium and 
calcium called alumophosphate. The xenon found and analyzed 
provides the story of this ancient natural nuclear reactor. 
Meshik and his colleagues inferred from the xenon analysis the 
mode of operation and also the method of safely storing nuclear 
wastes, particularly fission xenon and krypton.

"This is very impressive, to think this natural system not only 
went critical, it also safely stored the waste," said Meshik. 
"Nature is much smarter than we are. Nature is the first genius. 
We have all kinds of problems with modern-day nuclear reactors. 
This reactor is so independent, with no electronics, no models. 
Just using the fact that water boiled at the reactor site might 
give contemporary nuclear reactor researchers ideas on how to 
operate more safely and efficiently."

In 1952, the late Paul Kuroda predicted that if the right 
conditions existed, a natural nuclear reactor system could go 
critical. Twenty years later, noticing that uranium ore from the 
Oklo mine was depleted in 235 Uranium , it was discovered that 
the site had once been a natural nuclear reaction system.

"The big question we addressed was: When it reached criticality, 
why didn't it blow up?" Meshik said. "We found the answer in the 
xenon."

Critical means that a fissionable material has enough mass to 
sustain a reaction. There were two major theories on how the 
reactor operated. One held that the system burned up highly 
neutron-absorbing impurities such as rare earth isotopes or 
boron, and because of that the system shut down regularly, and 
different parts of the reactor might have operated at different 
times. The other involved the role of water acting as a neutron 
moderator. As the temperature of the reactor went up, water was 
converted to steam, reducing the neutron thermalisation and 
shutting down the chain reaction. The chain reaction re-started 
only when the reactor cooled down and the water increased again.

Analysis of the xenon, the largest concentration of xenon ever 
found in any natural material, confirmed the water method. It 
also revealed the role of alumophosphate as the system's waste 
absorber.

Xenon is extremely rare on earth and very characteristic of the 
fission process. Chemically inert, the element has nine isotopes 
and is abundant in many nuclear processes.

"You get a big diagnostic fingerprint with xenon, and it's easy 
to purify," said Hohenberg, who noted the importance of 
alumophosphate in the natural nuclear reactor.

"More krypton 85, a major waste from modern nuclear reactors, is 
getting piped into the atmosphere each year," he said. "Maybe 
this natural mode can suggest a safer solution." 

Can there be a natural nuclear reactor in actual operation today?

"Today even the largest and richest uranium deposit cannot become 
a reactor because the present concentration of 235 U is too low – 
only about 0.72 percent," said Meshik. "However, because 235 U 
decays much faster than 238 U, in the past, 235 U was more 
abundant. For example, two billion years ago 235 U was five times 
higher, about three percent, approximately the concentration of 
enriched uranium used in modern commercial reactors."

Another vital condition for self-sustaining nuclear reaction is 
the high content of a moderator to slow the neutrons, Meshik 
said. Water, carbon, most organic compounds, silicon dioxide, 
calcium oxide and magnesium oxide all are natural neutron 
moderators. Also, the concentrations of neutron absorbents – 
iron, potassium, beryllium, and especially gadolinium, samarium, 
europium, cadmium and boron – should be low.

"Only when all of these requirements are met can a 
self-sustaining chain reaction occur," Meshik said. 

Source: Washington University in St. Louis 

    
*****************************************************************

NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 this 
material is distributed without profit or payment to those who 
have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for 
non-profit research and educational purposes only. For more 
information go to: 
<http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml> 
    
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