***************************************************************** 01/23/05 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 13.16 ***************************************************************** RADBULL IS PRODUCED BY THE ABALONE ALLIANCE CLEARINGHOUSE ***************************************************************** Send News Stories to news@energy-net.org with title on subject line and first line of body NUCLEAR POLICY 1 The STar: Show evidence before attacking Iran, US told 2 Deutsche Welle: EU Sticks to Diplomacy in Iran | Europe | 3 Sunday Times: Blair's Iranian nightmare 4 Sunday Times: Blair’s loyalty tested as Bush menaces Iran 5 Sunday Times: Straw snubs US hawks on Iran 6 [NYTr] Cheney Hints Israel May Attack Iran 7 YWS: North Korea Declares Its Possession of Nuclear Weapons - Report 8 Korea Herald: N. Korea says it possesses nuke weapons 9 US: [smygo] It's Official: My Brother Died in Vain 10 US: Independent: Codebreaker unlocks the 3,000 secrets of US militar 11 US: CounterPunch: The Cork is Off the Bottle - Nuclear Incident in M 12 Bellona: Presnya Court postpones considering Bellona's complaint aga 13 Ottawa Sun: Risky warfare agents buried NUCLEAR REACTORS 14 US: Arizona Republic: A-plant asks OK for use of guns 15 US: KSBY: Diablo Canyon's first lady 16 AGI: EURES: 55.8 PCT OF ITALIANS AGAINST NUCLEAR ENERGY IN 2004 17 US: APP.COM: Exelon doesn't put customer atop priority list 18 english.eastday.com: Fast reactor stations for 2020 19 US: St Joe News Press: Regulators to discuss Cooper site NUCLEAR SAFETY 20 News.com.au: Sailors exposed to deadly dust 21 Sunday Herald: Russian space base poisoning children - 22 TheStar.com: Town under radiation microscope 23 US: San Bernardino County Sun: Stiff perchlorate limits in drinking NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE 24 reviewjournal: Yucca opponent, former Reid adviser joins NRC 25 US: Pasadena Star-News: Opinion: Force water cleanup 26 US: Bradenton Herald: Tallevast residents meet with county staff 27 US: Bradenton Herald: Tallevast test program draws fire 28 US: Bradenton Herald: Tallevast promised help 'within reason' 29 US: PE.com: PERCHLORATE: Officials at an Inland forum say tough rule 30 US: Deseret news: Solutions to nuclear waste problem 31 US: Deseret news: Huntsman's maiden speech is a smooth effort NUCLEAR WEAPONS US DEPT. OF ENERGY 32 ABQjournal: Regular Activities To Resume at LANL OTHER NUCLEAR 33 [DU-WATCH] Cyclotron smashed atoms where Lennar wants to build 34 [DU-WATCH] DU in NM, USA 35 [DU-WATCH] Dr. John Gofman, A Nuclear Researcher Who Refuses To ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** FULL NEWS STORIES ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** 1 The STar: Show evidence before attacking Iran, US told thestar.com.my Sunday January 23, 2005 SENAI: The United States should not attack Iran based on suspicion that the Islamic nation’s nuclear capabilities are a threat to the world, said Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak. In calling the United States to produce “hard and irrefutable evidence” before attacking Iran, Najib said it should not repeat the same mistake as it did in Iraq by accusing former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein of possessing weapons of mass destruction. “I don’t know the basis of President George W. Bush’s statement but his last allegation (against Saddam) had proven to be baseless,” he said after a closed door meeting with Johor Umno members at Sofitel Palm Resort yesterday. “We do not know what kind of information they have regarding Iran’s nuclear capabilities but I think what the world wants is hard and irrefutable evidence, if at all Iran is a threat to the world,” he said. “However, I don’t think that anyone is convinced at this stage that Iran is a threat,'' he added. News reports had quoted Bush in his inauguration speech as saying that he did not discount the possibility of theUnited States going to war with Iran and accusing the Islamic nation of causing problems to the world. Bush’s opinion was also echoed by Vice-President Dick Cheney, who was quoted as saying that Iran topped the list of countries that were creating problems to the world. Najib sharing a light moment with Foreign Minister Datruk Seri Syed Hamid Albar at the Sofitel Palm Resort in Senai where a meeting with Umno members was being held. In an immediate response, Iranian president Mohammad Khatami had said that his country was prepared to defend itself against a US attack. Iran had on many occasions, including during the Non-Aligned Movement meeting held in Kuala Lumpur in 2003, stressed that its nuclear facilities were meant to produce power supply. On whether Bush’s statement would further strain relations between the United States and the Muslim world, Najib, who is also Defence Minister, said any attack against another Muslim country would be of great concern to the world. “What is important is the sovereignty of the country concerned and the fact that there are international laws to be considered under the United Nations Charter, which guarantees the sovereign right of any nation,” he said. “Malaysia will adhere to this fundamental principal,” he said, adding that the Government would closely monitor further developments. Copyright © 1995-2005 Star Publications (Malaysia) Bhd (Co No ***************************************************************** 2 Deutsche Welle: EU Sticks to Diplomacy in Iran | Europe | 22.01.2005 The European Union is playing down the threat of a US strike against Iran, saying that a diplomatic solution to Tehran’s nuclear ambitions will be found. EU external relations commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner on Saturday told the German Bild am Sonntag newspaper that ultimately the European Union and the United States were striving for the same outcome in the discussions with and about Iran. “Negotiations will be difficult, but I firmly believe that diplomatic efforts will be successful,” the commissioner was quoted as saying. “I base this on the fact that no one could underestimate the consequences of a military strike – not only on the region but also on relations between the Islamic world and the West,” the Austrian politician in Brussels said. Threats or diplomacy? A week ago, US President George W. Bush raised quite a few eyebrows and ignited a new round of discussion in Europe when he said he could not rule out using force if Tehran failed to rein in its nuclear plans, which he claims is a cover for the production of a nuclear bomb. It is also no secret that Bush considers Iran one of the chief players in the axis of evil. [Iranian President Khatami and Saddam Hussein -- from one dictator to the next?] On Thursday, Vice President Dick Cheney said Iran was “right at the top of the list” of global trouble spots. He also said Iran was “a noted sponsor of terror.” Despite such strong statements, the EU has been reluctant to outwardly criticize the US. It is still not clear to what extent Washington intends to make a direct threat of force to coerce Iran into abandoning its nuclear program. “I am not sure that President Bush made a direct threat,” Ferrero-Waldner acknowledged in the Bild am Sonntag interview. She added: “Vice President (Dick) Cheney said that the diplomatic solution would be the best solution.” “The European Union and the United States have the same aim: to prevent Iran from getting hold of a nuclear weapons, and they both want a peaceful solution,” she said. The only difference between Brussels and Washington is in establishing priorities. The Europeans prefer to offer encouragement and support for the more moderate politicians in Iran, while the US opts for a faster and tougher approach. Britain, France and Germany have been conducting ongoing negotiations with Tehran since mid-December to try to conclude a long-term deal whereby Iranians would definitively give up any ambitions of producing nuclear weapons, in exchange for better trade agreements. DW staff / AFP (ktz) [de:mehr ***************************************************************** 3 Sunday Times: Blair's Iranian nightmare thetimes.co.uk January 23, 2005 Even with the finest speechwriters, President George W Bush never quite hits the rhetorical heights of some of his more spellbinding predecessors. But his inaugural speech last week, the first since America was changed for ever by September 11, pressed many of the right buttons. As a statement of his country’s modern-day mission, the pursuit of liberty and freedom around the globe, it could hardly have been more eloquent. Lofty visions, however, carry practical obligations. The first international obligation is to complete the job in Iraq. With a week to go before the elections, it is clear that the orgy of violence, much of it directed at the Shi’ite majority, will continue. That in turn means the elections will be only a partial reflection of the will of the Iraqis. The Sunni minority has been urged by its leaders to boycott the polls and many others will stay away for fear of the bullet and the bomb. So while next Sunday will mark a watershed for Iraq, it will not make the country any easier to govern, initially at least. Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the most repugnant of the militant leaders, has warned of a conflict against America and its allies in Iraq that will last for years. Mr Bush has to be prepared for this, even if it means a significant American presence, including a steady toll in casualties, beyond his presidency. If Iraq is a challenge, Iran is even more so. Tehran is clearly developing nuclear weapons that pose a threat to its neighbours and possibly beyond. It is committed to the destruction of Israel and is a state sponsor of terrorism, most notably Hezbollah. Iran ticks more boxes in the war on terror than Iraq ever did. Dick Cheney, the vice-president, said Iran was “right at the top of the list” of potential trouble spots. Condoleezza Rice, secretary of state, said Iran was one of six “outposts of tyranny”, along with North Korea, Cuba, Zimbabwe, Belarus and Burma. If Iraq has dominated Mr Bush’s first term, Iran seems certain to claim the spotlight in the second. But how? While using tough language, the president and his team are careful to express their public support for the initiative being pursued by Britain, France and Germany in which Tehran is being pressed diplomatically to surrender her nuclear ambitions. Privately, however, senior figures in the administration view this exercise with the same scepticism as they did the United Nations’ process ahead of the invasion of Iraq. Dealing with Iran is essential but diplomacy, followed by tougher sanctions if necessary, should be the preferred route. Sanctions, some of which are already in place, were once belittled but showed themselves to be effective, albeit slowly, in helping to bring about change in South Africa and Libya. Military action would be difficult, not least for America’s allies. Our poll today shows that voters would oppose British participation in action against Iran by four to one. It is the last thing Tony Blair wants. Iran has to be stopped. The question is whether it can be done without using force. The Sunday Times. Copyright 2005 Times Newspapers Ltd. ***************************************************************** 4 Sunday Times: Blair’s loyalty tested as Bush menaces Iran January 23, 2005 Tony Allen-Mills, Washington AFTER two years of unswerving solidarity over the war in Iraq, Tony Blair’s relationship with President George W Bush is coming under strain from the newly revived threat of an American military attack on nuclear facilities in Iran. British officials are increasingly concerned that months of patient European-led diplomacy aimed at curbing the ayatollahs’ nuclear ambitions may suddenly explode in a torrent of bunker-busting bombs dropped by B-2 stealth bombers. Reports last week that US special forces are already scouting for targets in Iran have fanned concern that London and Washington are heading for an embarrassing split over American mistrust of Tehran. Despite Blair’s commitment to the so-called EU-3 Iran initiative launched by Britain, France and Germany, a consensus is emerging in Washington that an approach dubbed by some officials as “European carrot and American stick” — and by others as “good cop, bad cop” — is failing to produce results. European negotiators were recently described by David Kay, the former US weapons inspector, as “impotently manipulable”. A prominent Washington defence hawk warned: “At some point the Americans are going to turn to the Europeans and say, ‘The goal is disarmament but all we are getting is arms control. It’s time for a bigger stick’.” Although Downing Street publicly insists that Bush and Blair remain “closely in touch” on the Iranian threat, some British officials are privately concerned that Dick Cheney, the hardline American vice-president, is driving the administration’s policy on Iran. “You look around at potential trouble spots. Iran is right at the top of the list,” Cheney said last week. There is also concern in London that the Pentagon may be ordered to act on the basis of flawed intelligence. Despite the debacle over Iraq’s supposed weapons of mass destruction, the Pentagon appears to be relying heavily on satellite photographs of Iranian installations that British sources describe as alarmingly inconclusive. “They tell us, ‘Look, bulldozers have been down this road three times. Something’s going on’,” said one well informed source. “They are very dismissive when European humint (human intelligence) suggests something different.” One well known US weapons specialist last week described the Iranian nuclear issue as “the Cuban missile crisis in slow motion”. But whereas President John F Kennedy successsfully forced Moscow to withdraw its missiles from Cuba in 1962, much of Washington already appears convinced that the ayatollahs will not back down. “I think the administration takes the view that this (European) negotiation is bound to fail,” said Robert Einhorn, a former State Department adviser on non-proliferation. “I quite frankly am pessimistic,” added Kay, who led the futile American search for Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. “I think the regime is in fact hell-bent on this capability. “I think it would be a huge mistake to take the military option off the table, even if the Europeans will never agree to it.” Even some of the president’s critics agree that Iran has become an unacceptable threat. At her confirmation hearings before the Senate foreign affairs committee last week, Condoleezza Rice, the incoming US secretary of state, was asked by a Democratic senator about her views on the nuclear issue. When she replied that Tehran “has to be held accountable for its unwillingness to live up to its international obligations”, Senator Bill Nelson of Florida replied: “Hopefully sooner rather than later.” Bush also signalled in his inauguration speech that military setbacks in Iraq had not shifted his focus from other members of his "axis of evil". He warned of the dangers of tyrants who allowed violence to "gather and multiply in destructive power . . . and raise a mortal threat". Bush made no specific reference to Tehran, but Rice at her confirmation hearing listed Iran alongside North Korea, Cuba, Zimbabwe, Burma and Belarus as "outposts of tyranny". Complicating the Iranian issue is the position of Israel, which has vowed to act if Tehran's nuclear development continues. Shaul Mofaz, Israel's defence minister, warned two years ago that "under no circumstances would Israel be able to tolerate nuclear weapons in Iranian possession". Since then Israeli officials have consistently complained that Iran is approaching the "point of no return" in its uranium enrichment and plutonium production programmes. Cheney acknowledged last week that Israel "might well decide to act first and let the rest of the world worry about cleaning up the diplomatic mess afterwards". Despite reports in Israel that Washington is secretly encouraging Tel Aviv to strike, many US analysts believe that the limited range of Israeli air force bombers would make the mission exceptionally perilous. Learning a lesson from Israel's successful strike on Iraq's Osirak reactor in 1981, Iran is believed to have located key elements of its programme as far from Israel as possible. "I spent a lot of time with Israeli air force officers who were looking hard at this problem and they all believed they cannot do it," said Kenneth Pollack, a former CIA analyst and author of The Persian Puzzle: the Conflict Between Iran and America. He added: "I know we would all like the Israelis to take care of this problem for us, but that is why you are hearing them shout so loudly. They are deathly afraid that the Iranians are getting close. They know they can't take care of it and they want us to do so." American officials also recognise that an Israeli attack would demolish the Middle Eastern peace process and provide Arab terrorist groups with a potentially lethal recruiting tool. "The attack is better done by the US than by the Israelis with US connivance," said John Pike, a defence specialist who is convinced that Washington is waiting for an early diplomatic breakdown in order to launch an attack. "I think it's a question of months, not years. I think they are absolutely serious when they say that atomic ayatollahs are unacceptable." The main targets of any attack would include a 1,000- megawatt reactor under construction at Bushehr on the Gulf; a heavy water reactor and uranium conversion facility at the Isfahan Nuclear Technology Centre in central Iran; a uranium enrichment plant at eastern Natanz and research facilities at Arak. Special forces saboteurs might be used to attack certain urban-based sites, including a suspect electrical company in Tehran. Yet British and other officials warn that intelligence on Iranian nuclear development is far from complete. While the ayatollahs have boasted about some of their nuclear assets, American experts are divided over whether a parallel, clandestine programme is being developed in hardened bunkers out of sight of US satellites. "We just don't know where all the stuff is," said one British official. "We don't know how far they have dispersed or duplicated facilities and we don't know how much of what we can see is dummy or decoy construction. In short, we can't be sure we've got all the targets to stop them from building a weapon." Some nuclear specialists argue that Saddam Hussein's Iraq showed how easy it is to hide nuclear facilities. "When we went into the Gulf war (in 1991), we thought we knew where all the Iraqi nuclear facilities were," said Pollack. "We bombed them to smithereens. Then David Kay went in and said, `Oh, by the way, you missed 60% of them'." Pike is among other specialists who believe that "what you see is what you get" in the Iranian nuclear programme. "The infrastructure that we see basically replicates what we see in Pakistan," he said. "And it has never been suggested that Pakistan had a massive clandestine infrastructure." He argued that America should strike at night against buildings housing nuclear scientists and workers. "They need to maximise the number of casualties," he said. "You can rebuild a building in a couple of years, but it could retard the programme for decades if they have to replace all their people." Yet the ayatollahs scarcely appear worried by US military threats. "They do not have accurate information about our military capabilities," Ali Shamkhani, Iran's defence minister, retorted last week. Another government spokesman dismissed reports of American special force activity in Iraq as "a ridiculous bluff" and "psychological warfare". The official Iranian news agency warned: "Today the Islamic republic has acquired massive military might, the dimensions of which still remain unknown . . . It is prepared to attack any intruder with a fearsome rain of fire and death." Behind the ayatollahs' posturing lies what British officials believe is a persuasive argument against a military attack: far from encouraging Iranian reformers to rise up against their theocratic government, any form of US intervention might unite the country behind Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the country's supreme leader. ***************************************************************** 5 Sunday Times: Straw snubs US hawks on Iran January 23, 2005 David Cracknell and Tony Allen-Mills, Washington JACK STRAW has drawn up a dossier putting the case against a military attack on Iran amid fears that President George W Bush’s administration may seek Britain’s backing for a new conflict. Straw and his officials fear that hawks in Washington will talk the American president into a strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities, just as they persuaded him to go to war in Iraq. The foreign secretary has produced a 200-page dossier that rules out military action and makes the case for a “negotiated solution” to curbing the ayatollahs’ nuclear ambitions amid increasingly bellicose noises from Washington. He will press home the point at a meeting with Condoleezza Rice, the incoming secretary of state, at a meeting in Washington tomorrow. The document says a peaceful solution led by Britain, France and Germany is “in the best interests of Iran and the international community”. It refers to “safeguarding Iran’s right to the peaceful use of nuclear technology”. The dossier, entitled Iran’s Nuclear Programme, was quietly issued in the Commons on the eve of Bush’s inauguration last week for fear of provoking a public rift with Washington — although privately tensions are running high between the two nations. The approach contrasts with the government’s two Iraq dossiers, which were trumpeted to make the case for war. US agents have tried to locate suspected nuclear sites in Iran, according to a report last week by Seymour Hersh, the investigative journalist who broke the Abu Ghraib prison torture scandal. British officials are increasingly concerned that months of patient European-led diplomacy may explode in a torrent of bunker-busting attacks by US stealth bombers. There is also concern in London that the Pentagon may be ordered to act on the basis of its flawed intelligence, while British agents on the ground believe Iran is complying with nuclear inspectors. Fears in London of an attack were fuelled when Dick Cheney, the American vice-president, said that Iran was “top of the list” as a trouble spot for the administration. Rice said it was an “outpost of tyranny”. The message that the British government wants no part in another war in the Middle East will be reinforced by Tony Blair when he meets Bush in Brussels next month and at an Anglo-American summit in Washington after the British general election, which is expected in May. The foreign secretary’s dossier sets out in detail the work of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) since Iran signed up to an agreement 15 months ago. Despite his confidence in the negotiations, which have been frustrated by setbacks, IAEA minutes published in his dossier show that the agency believes that all declared nuclear material has been accounted for. However, minutes of a key meeting last November show that “the agency is not yet in a position to conclude there are no undeclared nuclear materials or activities in Iran”. The minutes go on: “In view of the past undeclared nature of significant aspects of Iran’s nuclear programme, and its past pattern of concealment, however, this conclusion can be expected to take longer than in normal circumstances.” The agency has yet to be satisfied that a "clandestine supply network" for the production of Iran's "centrifuge enrichment programme" - equipment for making nuclear weapons - has been cut off. In his preface to the dossier, Straw admits that Iran's compliance with international inspectors is "mixed and incomplete". He writes: "There are a number of issues which have still to be fully resolved. "A negotiated solution, in which both sides have a feeling of ownership, is in the best interests of Iran and of the international community. It gives stronger guarantees of future behaviour than an imposed solution and is more likely to build the long-term confidence and trust which can enable the broader relationship to develop positively. "We have worked hard to achieve agreement with Iran on the way in which this issue is handled, to give the international community the reassurance we seek while safeguarding Iran's right to the peaceful use of nuclear technology." A cabinet minister said: "Jack is making clear, as is Tony, that we are not getting involved in American sabre-rattling to make Iran comply with its international obligations." In a YouGov poll for The Sunday Times today, 65% of people said that Britain should not support American military action against Iran, compared with 16% who were in favour. However, a consensus is emerging among the "neoconservative" hawks in Washington who are close to Bush that European-led diplomacy with Iran is failing to produce results. A prominent Washington defence hawk said: "At some point the Americans are going to turn to the Europeans and say: `The goal is disarmament but all we are getting is arms control. It's time for a bigger stick'." Richard Perle, a former Pentagon adviser, said: "What Straw should be nervous about is the reliability of his Iranian interlocutors. There's certainly scepticism (in Washington) about whether the Europeans are going to achieve a result. "To do that you have to believe that the Iranian regime is not unswervingly committed to nuclear weapons. I find it hard to believe that they will part from them based on this diplomatic initiative." ***************************************************************** 6 [NYTr] Cheney Hints Israel May Attack Iran Date: Sun, 23 Jan 2005 14:44:30 -0600 (CST) Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit sent by John Clancy Sydney Morning Herald - Jan 22, 2005 Cheney talks of Israeli attack on Iran The US Vice-President, Dick Cheney, has labelled Iran a top threat to world peace, and warned Israel "might well decide to act first" to eliminate any nuclear threat from Tehran. "You look around the world at potential trouble spots, Iran is right at the top of the list," Mr Cheney said in a television interview aired on Thursday, the day George Bush was sworn in for a second term as President. Mr Cheney, one of the chief architects of the Iraq war, said the Administration would continue to try to use diplomacy to address what he said were serious concerns about Iran's nuclear weapons program and ties to terrorism. However, if the US and its allies fail to resolve the stand-off with Tehran diplomatically, Israel may take matters into its own hands, he said. "Given the fact that Iran has a stated policy that their objective is the destruction of Israel, the Israelis might well decide to act first, and let the rest of the world worry about cleaning up the diplomatic mess afterwards," Mr Cheney said. In 1981 Israel sent warplanes to destroy Iraq's nuclear reactor. "We don't want a war in the Middle East, if we can avoid it," he said. "And certainly in the case of the Iranian situation, I think everybody would be best suited by or best treated and dealt with if we could deal with it diplomatically." Tehran denies that its nuclear facilities are used for producing nuclear weapons. European nations struck a deal with Iran late last year to suspend all activities that could be used to produce weapons-grade nuclear material. The White House suspects the Iranians are continuing to conduct a clandestine program. The New Yorker reported this week that the US has been making secret reconnaissance missions inside Iran to help identify potential nuclear, chemical and missile targets, and that it might attack these sites, perhaps by the northern summer. The White House and Pentagon say the report is "riddled with errors". But Mr Bush said on Monday that Washington would not rule out military action against Iran - which he has tagged part of an "axis of evil" alongside prewar Iraq and North Korea - if it was not more forthcoming about its nuclear program. Mr Cheney focused on diplomacy, not military action, as the key to the Iranian situation. "If the Iranians don't live up to their commitments, the next step will be to take it to the UN Security Council, and seek the imposition of international sanctions," he said, restating the Administration's longstanding position. Europe has opposed any such move, saying it would only drive Iran to break out of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and openly pursue an atomic weapon, the path that North Korea took two years ago. In Uganda on a state visit, President Mohammad Khatami of Iran said he believed the chance of a US attack was low since American forces were pinned down elsewhere, but if one happened it would fail. "If any country tries to invade our country, we are strong enough to defend ourselves," Hojatoleslam Khatami said. "The US has shown many times that it is not wise enough to think about the future and the implications of its actions ... If the Americans can rescue themselves from Iraq, they have done a great job." In his interview, Mr Cheney made a rare admission, saying he had miscalculated how quickly Iraqis would be able to recover and begin running their country. The story so far... November 14, 2004: Iran says it will suspend its entire uranium enrichment program in exchange for incentives offered by European nations on trade and peaceful nuclear technology. November 17: The US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, claims Iran is trying to modify missiles to carry nuclear warheads. Tehran says the claims are "baseless". November 21: President George Bush uses a summit in Chile to accuse Iran of speeding up production of a key ingredient in nuclear weapons fuel. November 29: The International Atomic Energy Agency welcomes the European deal and decides not to refer Tehran to the UN Security Council as Washington would have liked. Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, Hassan Rohani, reiterates that the freeze is only temporary. January 16, 2005: Iran grants UN inspectors access to a site the US has alleged may be used for testing parts of nuclear weapons. They have requested another look. The Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh says the US is conducting secret reconnaissance missions in Iran. The Washington Post, Reuters, The New York Times * Search the NYTr Archives at: http://olm.blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/ To subscribe or unsubscribe or change your settings via the web, visit: http://olm.blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= ***************************************************************** 7 YWS: North Korea Declares Its Possession of Nuclear Weapons - Report YONHAPNEWS WORLD SERVICE::ENGLISH NEWS www.yonhapnews.co.kr 2005/01/22 18:39 KST SEOUL, Jan. 22 (Yonhap) -- North Korea declared its possession of nuclear weapons to a U.S. congressional delegation that visited there recently, a U.S. government radio station said Saturday. Radio Free Asia said Curt Weldon, vice chairman of the U.S. House Armed Services Committee, made the claim in a briefing on the outcome of his recent trip to North Korea in Washington Wednesday. ***************************************************************** 8 Korea Herald: N. Korea says it possesses nuke weapons South Korean officials, experts play down statement as bargaining chip By Joo Sang-min (smjoo@heraldm.com) 2005.01.24 A top North Korean official told a U.S. delegation visiting the communist state that it possesses nuclear weapons, the first official acknowledgement according to some analysts, a U.S. radio station reported. But some South Korean experts and a senior government official played down the remarks. Radio Free Asia said on Friday Curt Weldon, vice chairman of the U.S. House Armed Services Committee, claimed that North Korea's Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan declared its possession of nuclear weapons to a U.S. six-member congressional delegation that visited the North on Jan. 11-14. Kim said, however, its nuclear arsenal was defensive in nature and Pyongyang did not intend to possess it forever, RFA quoted U.S. Rep. Curt Weldon as saying. The U.S. lawmaker also said North Korea's deputy leader and the president of its assembly Kim Yong-nam said that Pyongyang had learned from the examples of India, Pakistan and Israel that the North could only defend itself from attack if it had nuclear arms. North Korea is believed to possess one or two nuclear weapons and possibly more than eight transformed from spent plutonium. Six-party talks aimed at North Korea's nuclear ambitions have yet to make any headway, delaying the fourth round since September 2004. An official response to the claim from the South Korean Unification Ministry was not immediately available. "The credibility of the remarks should be checked thoroughly first," said a senior ministry official, requesting anonymity. The official noted there have been many cases of North Korean officials withdrawing their statements over nuclear weapons possession. In September, Pyongyang's Vice Foreign Minister Choe Su-hon claimed after a U.N. speech that Pyongyang has reprocessed and "weaponized" 8,000 spent plutonium fuel rods as a deterrent against U.S. hostility. South Korean experts said North Korea's declaration of its possession of nuclear weapons is another negotiating tactic to increase its bargaining chips in stalled negotiations involving the two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan, and Russia. "The declaration is aimed at bringing Washington to the negotiating table, as they think Washington has yet to show any promise for the survival of the regime and economic assistance," said Professor Lee Chul-ki at the department of International Relations at Dongkuk University in a telephone interview. "I think North Korea might have developed nuclear explosive devices, but that does not mean it has weapons," he said. He said North Korea stressed that it could discard its nuclear ambitions if the United States gives up its "hostile policy" and promised the survival of its regime. The remarks by Kim Kye-gwan came a week before U.S. President George Bush launched his second term. Kim was quoted by Weldon as saying that the nuclear weapons are only for defense and North Korea has no intention to possess them forever. Kim Yong-nam was also quoted as saying the North did not intend to retain its nuclear weapons program on a long-term basis and expressed hope for favorable bilateral relations. "The president of the country said that he foresaw the day when America and North Korea would be friends," the RFA quoted Weldon as saying last week about his meeting with Kim Yong-nam. Paik Hak-soon, director of the Center for North Korea Studies in Seoul's privately operated Sejong Institute, noted no clear evidence of nuclear tests so far to regard the North as a nuclear weapons state. He said Kim's statement hints at its desperation in ensuring channels to talk for the regime's survival. But Paik said Pyongyang is inching toward becoming a nuclear state, as it thinks Washington has showed no intention to resolve the nuclear issue. But Kang Jung-min, a nuclear expert at Seoul National University, was quoted as saying by Yonhap news agency that it is highly likely for the North to develop crude nuclear weapons aimed at targeting U.S. bases in South Korea. ***************************************************************** 9 [smygo] It's Official: My Brother Died in Vain Date: Sun, 23 Jan 2005 00:30:04 -0600 (CST) January 15, 2005 It's Official: My Brother Died in Vain By Dante Zappala Why My Brother Died After two years, the government has called off its fruitless hunt for WMD. Dante Zappala is a part-time teacher in Los Angeles. E-mail: dante.zappala@lycos.com http://mparent7777.blog-city.com/read/1009011.htm This week, the White House announced, with little fanfare, that the two-year search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq had finally ended, and it acknowledged that no such weapons existed there at the time of the U.S. invasion in 2003. For many, this may be a story of only passing interest. But for me and my family, it resonates with profound depth. My brother was Sgt. Sherwood Baker. He was a member of the Pennsylvania National Guard deployed a year ago with his unit out of Wilkes-Barre. He said goodbye to his wife and his 9-year-old son, boarded a bus and went to Ft. Dix, N.J., to be hastily retrained. His seven years of Guard training as a forward observer was practically worthless because he would not face combat. All he needed to do was learn how to not die. He received a crash course in convoy security, including practice in running over cardboard cutouts of children. We bought him a GPS unit and walkie-talkies because he wasn't supplied with them. In Iraq, Sherwood was assigned to the Iraq Survey Group and joined the search for weapons of mass destruction. David Kay, who led the group until January 2004, had already stated that they did not exist. Former United Nations weapons inspector Hans Blix had expressed serious doubts about their presence during prewar inspections. In fact, a cadre of former U.N. inspectors and U.S. generals had been saying for years that Iraq posed no threat to our country. On April 26, 2004, the Iraq Survey Group, at the behest of the stubborn administration sitting safely in office buildings in Washington, was still on its fruitless but dangerous search. My brother stood atop his Humvee, securing the perimeter in front of a suspect building in Baghdad. But as soldiers entered the building, it exploded; the official cause is still not known. Sherwood was struck by debris in the back of his head and neck, and he was killed. Since that day, my family and I have lived with the grief of losing a loved one. We have struggled to explain his death to his son. We have gazed at the shards of life scattered at our feet, in wonder of its fragility, in perpetual catharsis with God. I have moved from frustration to disappointment to anger. And now I have arrived at a place not of understanding but of hope blind hope that this will change. The Iraq Survey Group's final report, which was filed in October but revealed only on Wednesday, confirmed what we knew all along. And as my mother cried in the kitchen, the nation barely blinked. I am left now with a single word seared into my consciousness: accountability. The chance to hold our administration's feet to that flame has passed. But what of our citizenry? We are the ones who truly failed. We shut down our ability to think critically, to listen, to converse and to act. We are to blame. Even with every prewar assumption having been proved false, today more than 130,000 U.S. soldiers are trying to stay alive in a foreign desert with no clear mission at hand. At home, the sidelines are overcrowded with patriots. These Americans cower from the fight they instigated in Iraq. In a time of war and record budget deficits, many are loath to even pay their taxes. In the end, however, it is not their family members who are at risk, and they do not sit up at night pleading with fate to spare them. Change is vital. We must remind ourselves that the war with Iraq was not a mistake but rather a flagrant abuse of power by our leaders and a case of shameful negligence by the rest of us for letting it happen. The consequence is more than a quagmire. The consequence is the death of our national treasure our soldiers. We are all accountable. We all share the responsibility of what has been destroyed in our name. Let us begin to right the wrongs we have done to our country by accepting that responsibility. http://mparent7777.blog-city.com/read/1009011.htm _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ LATEST CRIMES AND CORRUPTIONS OF THE NEW WORLD ORDER NEWS HEADLINES: http://mparent7777.blog-city.com/index.cfm?m=1&y=2005 January 2005 A Touch of Evil: the Morality of Neoconservatism 1 Saturday, 15 January 2005 01:25 PM Christian Zionism - An Ideological Tower of Babel 1 Saturday, 15 January 2005 01:24 PM Unspooking Frank Carlucci - The Origins of a Master of the World 1 Saturday, 15 January 2005 01:19 PM Flying Carpet Airlines - My Return to Baghdad, By ROBERT FISK 1 Saturday, 15 January 2005 01:14 PM Happy talk - Bush fantasies 1 Saturday, 15 January 2005 01:02 PM 6 Palestinians shot dead by Israelis, Habib's flight to freedom, US Said to Regret Kidnapping of German & More 1 Saturday, 15 January 2005 12:52 PM The Tsunami of Iraq 1 Saturday, 15 January 2005 12:34 PM It's Official: My Brother Died in Vain 1 Saturday, 15 January 2005 12:24 PM Bush's Misadventures Will Kill Your Grandkids, One Way Or Another 1 Saturday, 15 January 2005 12:20 PM The Anti-Inauguration: Stand Up and Be Counted 1 Saturday, 15 January 2005 12:07 PM Declassified FBI And Military Documents Point Finger At White House For Allowing Torture 1 Saturday, 15 January 2005 12:04 PM Pictures you will never see in the media - Mortar attack on US base in Iraq 1 Saturday, 15 January 2005 11:46 AM GIMF (Global Islamic Media Front) Flash Collection 1 Saturday, 15 January 2005 11:42 AM 'Greater' Israel 1 Saturday, 15 January 2005 11:10 AM Paul Bremer supervised the destruction of Iraq's cohesion 1 Saturday, 15 January 2005 10:27 AM :: Comments/Trackback (1-0) Bush on WMD: Tragedy or farce? 1 Saturday, 15 January 2005 10:23 AM :: Comments/Trackback (1-0) Rabbis warn against Rabbi Kook's call for civil war over evacuation, Group Calls for a Kenneth Starr for Abu Ghraib & More 1 Saturday, 15 January 2005 10:18 AM A New Victory for the Bolivian People against privatized water 1 Saturday, 15 January 2005 10:03 AM :: Comments/Trackback (1-0) Mr. Bush, please explain where sanity went 1 Saturday, 15 January 2005 09:56 AM US Casualty Figures 1 Saturday, 15 January 2005 09:40 AM :: Comments/Trackback (2-0) The Critical Battle for Iraq's Energy, Students told stripping is career choice, Mcgovern Urges Pull-Out From Iraq & More 1 Saturday, 15 January 2005 09:23 AM Bushs Grand Plan: Incite Civil War 1 Saturday, 15 January 2005 09:13 AM Boston Globe: We're slowly becoming a police state 1 Saturday, 15 January 2005 09:06 AM AIDing and abetting death in Falluja 1 Saturday, 15 January 2005 08:56 AM The Bush Zone 1 Saturday, 15 January 2005 08:41 AM http://mparent7777.blog-city.com/index.cfm?m=1&y=2005 MARC PARENT Political tagssuch as royalist, communist, democrat, populist, fascist, liberal, conservative, and so forthare never basic criteria. The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no such desire. - Robert A Heinlein The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule. - H.L. Mencken CRIMES AND CORRUPTIONS OF THE NEW WORLD ORDER NEWS http://mparent7777.blog-city.com/ --------------------------------- Post your free ad now! Yahoo! Canada Personals [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Take a look at donorschoose.org, an excellent charitable web site for anyone who cares about public education! http://us.click.yahoo.com/_OLuKD/8WnJAA/cUmLAA/2bSolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/smygo/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: smygo-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ ***************************************************************** 10 Independent: Codebreaker unlocks the 3,000 secrets of US military vocabulary independent.co.uk By Rupert Cornwell in Washington 24 January 2005 If you had heard of "Power Geyser", "Titrant Ranger", "Toychest" or "Barracuda" before today, you were privy to the innermost workings of the US defence establishment. Now, however, those secrets are being exposed to general scrutiny for the first time. In a remarkable book to be published this week, William Arkin, a former intelligence officer and analyst, lists and defines 3,000 codenames for military and national security plans past and present, several of them involving Britain and many of them still classified. "Project 19" is about the defence of Taiwan against an attack by China. "Beady Eye", "Barracuda", "Soothsayer", "Delphin", "Pinemartin" and "Odette" are among the 13 codenames listed by Mr Arkin for British intelligence operations related to the "war on terror". Mr Arkin, a campaigner for greater government disclosure, says the 600-page Codenames is intended as a "DNA map of American national security". "Titrant Ranger" apparently refers to a top-secret counter-terrorism unit once engaged in the hunt for Osama bin Laden. Among other titbits in the book are "Sites 51 to 56", said to be secret US bases in Israel. "Toychest" was the plan for the deployment of US nuclear weapons in the Netherlands. Similar plans existed for Germany ("Tool Chest") and Italy ("Stone Ax"). The book may even resolve the mystery of the "secret undisclosed location" of Vice-President Dick Cheney after the 11 September attacks. "Site R" a granite mountain shelter 50 miles north of Washington, was built in the 1950s to withstand a Soviet nuclear attack. ©2005 Independent News &Media (UK) Ltd. ***************************************************************** 11 CounterPunch: The Cork is Off the Bottle - Nuclear Incident in Montana January 22 / 24, 2005 By JENNIFER VAN BERGEN and RAYMOND DEL PAPA A retired high-level government source was called yesterday to respond to a nuclear incident in Montana. Apparently the silo doors of numerous ICBM missiles were opened. Two such incidents during the Cold War era nearly started World War III. When silo doors open, it indicates the intention to launch missiles against another nation. According to an essay published by the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation (NAPF), an organization dedicated to abolition of nuclear weapons: "The US experienced several near-accidents at its Cheyenne Mountain early warning station in the late 1970s. Twice, the equipment at the base generated false indications of a nuclear missile strike from Russia and nearly prompted US retaliation on both occasions." According to Phil Patton, author of "Dreamland: A Cultural History of Area 51," an incident also occurred in 1980 in which "a multiplexer chip failed in a Nova 840 computer and sent a false missile warning to the national command center." Pattons says that it was the second such incident in less than a year. "In the first one, fake data from a war-sim was mistaken for the real thing, and the Pentagon was notified that a Soviet missile strike was under way. It took about eight minutes to determine that the end of the world was not, in fact, at hand." Today, there are 200 Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles at Malmstrom Air Force Base at five missile alert facilities in Montana, with four operational missile squadrons assigned as combat-ready forces to continuously operate, maintain, and secure "strategic nuclear deterrence." One of these squadrons declares on its web page that its squadron works "every day of the year, 24 hours per day" to "keep America free by operating and safeguarding her most destructive power." According to the NAPF essayist, Justin Murray, "Despite the end of the Cold War, the United States and Russia once again find themselves on the brink of a nuclear Armageddon," but the threat "does not stem from hostilities or a premeditated, intentional strike but from miscalculation and computer errors." Murray states that both the U.S. and Russia maintain thousands of nuclear weapons in launch warning mode. While launch procedures in the U.S. demand almost instantaneous decision-making by the President, the situation in Russia is even more hazardous, where decay of early warning systems elevate the possibility of false alarms. Of course, the unasked and unanswered question here is: what about terrorists? There seems to be no indication that the incident in Montana is a terrorist-related one. However, the incident begs two crucial questions: first, are our systems inadequately protected?, and second, does the increase in development of more nuclear weapons under President Bush create greater dangers? (We already have approximately 9600 warheads and are talking about developing a new line of small nuclear weapons called "bunker busters.") The answers are no and no. First, the systems are inadequately protected because whenever you have a very sophisticated electronic system (and, in this case, systems), there is the potential for an accident ­ and already there have been enough incidents to warrant shutting these dangerous systems down. Second, there is no such thing as adequate control of nuclear weapons. Their management and control simply cannot be guaranteed. The return to proliferation of nuclear weapons is risking an End Game ­ THE End Game. Although we might labor under the false belief that the Nuclear Genie is back in the bottle, even if she is, the cork is definitely not on. The incident in Montana, which may never make it into the mainstream press, proves this. Jennifer Van Bergen, J.D., is the author of The Twilight of Democracy: The Bush Plan for America(Common Courage Press, 2004). She has written and spoken extensively on civil liberties, human rights, and international law. She and Raymond Del Papa are currently organizing a major Forum on Dissent Since 9/11 in Miami from March 11-13. See www.partnersinprotest.org. She may be contacted at jvbxyz@earthlink.net WWW http://www.counterpunch.org ***************************************************************** 12 Bellona: Presnya Court postpones considering Bellona's complaint against Russian Ministry of Defence Today Presnya district court of Moscow for the fourth time postponed considering Bellona’s complaint against Russian Ministry of Defence, which refuses to declassify data about accidents aboard Soviet nuclear submarines. 2005-01-21 15:42 This time the session was postponed because the documents of the representatives of the Defence Ministry weren’t filled in correctly. The previous session in November was put off because of illness of the judge, and two other sessions had been postponed because the Defence Ministry representatives failed to show up in the court. The new date for the complaint to be considered is February, 16th. Publisher: Bellona Foundation, President: Frederic Hauge Information: info@bellona.no, Technical contact: webmaster@bellona.no Telephone: +47 23 23 46 00 Telefax: +47 22 38 38 62 * P.O.Box 2141 Grunerlokka, 0505 Oslo, Norway ***************************************************************** 13 Ottawa Sun: Risky warfare agents buried MARIA MCCLINTOCK, SUN OTTAWA BUREAU Canada - including three at Alberta's CFB Suffield - where chemical and biological warfare agents have been buried and "pose a potential risk to human health and/or the environment," documents obtained by Sun Media reveal. The four land and two marine locations have been identified by DND's Warfare Agent Disposal (WAD) project. Documents obtained under Access to Information show federal government officials are worried about the level of risk and are deciding how to carry out a cleanup. The feds earmarked $14 million in 2002 so the WAD team could begin the long process of going through historical records to determine where munitions, nuclear waste and mustard gas are buried or ended up on the ocean off Nova Scotia and Newfoundland following the Second World War. Their action was prompted by a Cape Breton antique dealer who came across several marine maps detailing where a series of unexploded munitions were dumped in the Atlantic Ocean. That led to a further discovery of four land sites. Three of the four land sites are located at CFB Suffield, about 250 km southeast of Calgary. The fourth is an unidentified industrial park that DND refused to name. In a February 2004 background briefing note for Defence Minister Bill Graham, the WAD project group noted senior government officials agreed there is a need "to determine a proactive and diligent approach for addressing former disposal sites of chemical and biological warfare agents." The same document suggests it could cost millions to clean up the six sites. "The current budget for the WAD Project is based on a limited number of sites being investigated. Sites determined to pose a risk to human health and or the environment will be submitted as stand-alone projects for funding. Until these assessments are completed, it is difficult (to determine) what future costs will be associated with mitigating these risks." The WAD group has been alerted to a number of other sites, both on land and at sea, which have been given a clean bill. Those other sites include the Connaught shooting range and Shirley's Bay, both west of Ottawa. WAD project manager Dan Godbout insisted there's no immediate danger to humans, but he admitted it's not known what the long-term risks, if any, could be. Godbout couldn't specify the quantities in question. "We don't have the full extent as to the full amount. We don't suspect thousands of tonnes. We suspect minor amounts," he said. CANOE network. b>Copyright© 2005, CANOE, a division of Netgraphe Inc. All ***************************************************************** 14 Arizona Republic: A-plant asks OK for use of guns A-plant asks OK for use of guns Guards could kill to save property Elvia Díaz The Arizona Republic Jan. 22, 2005 12:00 AM Armed security guards at the Palo Verde nuclear plant could be authorized to shoot and kill intruders believed to be terrorists or anyone else who threatens the nation's largest nuclear power plant, under a bill filed in the Legislature on Thursday. Senate Bill 1214, filed by six Republicans and three Democrats, would give permission to private security guards to use lethal force to protect the plant 50 miles west of downtown Phoenix. "We're safeguarding against an extremely rare situation," said Sen. John Huppenthal, R-Chandler, the main sponsor of the legislation. "But since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, we have to prepare for the unthinkable." In 2003, Gov. Janet Napolitano sent National Guard troops to the plant after intelligence reports suggested a possible terrorist plot to attack the facility. Plant officials said Friday that there have been no credible threats against Palo Verde. But they said they need the legislation because the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission expects guards to use lethal force if necessary. New York, New Jersey and Texas have taken stricter steps to protect nuclear plants, a spokesman for the commission said. Security guards at nuclear plants across the nation are required to carry arms but don't have specific legal authority to resort to deadly force, said Michael W. Priebe, department leader of security operations at Palo Verde. The legislation, which is expected to be considered by the Senate Judiciary Committee this month, would justify the use of physical force against intruders. Under current state law, guards at the plant have the same rights as other civilians. They can defend themselves when facing imminent danger, Priebe said. But they would risk criminal or civil prosecution if deadly force were used to defend the plant and they can't prove their own lives were in imminent danger. So far, guards at Palo Verde have not had to use firearms while on duty, Priebe said. Critics of the legislation say lawmakers would give untested guards permission to kill anyone trespassing at the plant without providing guidelines such as those followed by law-enforcement officers. "I understand the motivation, but I want to make sure protesters (who are) merely expressing their views don't get shot," said Eleanor Eisenberg, executive director of the Arizona Civil Liberties Union. "Trespassing isn't a crime punishable by death." For example, she said, environmentalists who protest at Palo Verde know they could go to jail but aren't afraid of getting killed. That could change if the legislation becomes law, she added. Lawmakers sponsoring the bill said Eisenberg's fears are without foundation. "We don't want an environmentalist or a high school kid who goes over the fence on a lark to be shot," Huppenthal said. "I feel comfortable with the amount of training these security guards have." The private guards are hired by Arizona Public Service Co., which operates the plant. They get 12 to 14 weeks of initial training and continue to undergo extensive preparation, officials said. "They are among the most highly trained individuals," said George Diaz, a lobbyist for Pinnacle West, the parent company of APS. "Their physical and psychological requirements are equal or greater than that of law-enforcement officers." Sen. Bill Brotherton, D-Phoenix, one of the bill's sponsors, said the proposed law provides some safeguards. "This won't wipe out criminal liability. This isn't a carte blanche," Brotherton said. "If they (security guards) overstep the authority we give them, then they can still be criminally prosecuted." Reach the reporter at elvia.diaz@arizonarepublic.comor (602) 444-8948. Copyright © 2005, azcentral.com. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 15 KSBY: Diablo Canyon's first lady By: Wendy Thies A trailblazing woman is taking the reigns at Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant. 41-year old Donna Jacobs began her career at a Kansas power plant as a test engineer, and in 2001, made history as the first woman in the United States to manage a nuclear power plant. Jacobs is making history once again, this time as Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant's first female vice-president. "Diablo is very well respected, and that's one of the reasons why I even looked to move outside of Kansas," says Jacobs. "I had been at my previous plant for over 18 years, really enjoyed what I was doing but the respect that Diablo has in the industry is very high." Jacobs responsibilities at Diablo Canyon include engineering projects, nuclear fuel, and information technology. "This job has all of the engineering for the plant, so I'm really focused on making sure we have the equipment ready for all the operators," says Jacobs. PG&E's quest to build a storage facility for used nuclear fuel met with some opposition from the local community, and now that it's been approved, as a mother of two young children, Jacobs understands the concerns but emphasizes all precautions will be taken. "Our top priority is always the health and safety of the public," says Jacobs. "Safety is number one, and everything that we're doing to line up the dry cask storage facility is to make sure safety is built into that." Diablo Canyon is currently running at 100%, and generates enough electricity for 2 million people in northern and central California. Copyright © 2004 Local Solutions Network ***************************************************************** 16 AGI: EURES: 55.8 PCT OF ITALIANS AGAINST NUCLEAR ENERGY IN 2004 Agenzia Giornalistica Italia - News In English Monday January 24, 2005 h.03.22 Business in Italy Special service by AGI on behalf of the Italian Prime Minister's office - Rome, Italy, Jan.21 - In the 1987 referendum, 80 pct of the Italians voted for the dismantling of nuclear plants. In early 2004, the majority of them, 55.8 pct, still opposed the use of nuclear energy, while 30.5 pct are in favour of it. These are the figures of an EURES survey, carried out about 1 year ago, and which are now very topical, following the declarations of PM Silvio Berlusconi. Genders: 41.5 pct of men and 20.2 pct of women voted for; 46.6 pct and 64.2 pct voted against. Even younger people voted more against it: 23.1 pct of those aged 15-34 voted for (33.4 pct for the 35-54 age group, 38.7 pct for the over 54). 64.5 pct of the centre-left supporters voted against (45.2 pct of centre-right supporters), consistently with the historical positions of the two groups. (AGI) . 211943 GEN 05 COPYRIGHTS 2002-2005 AGI S.p.A. [Invia questo articolo] ***************************************************************** 17 APP.COM: Exelon doesn't put customer atop priority list ASBURY PARK PRESS Sunday Letters to the Press Published in the Asbury Park Press 1/23/05 I am a proponent of nuclear power, having worked in the industry for more than 20 years. But the recent public relations notices from Exelon have appalled me. In the full page ad in the Jan. 18 Press announcing the merger between Exelon and PSE, the corporate wizards have shown their list of priorities. I always thought the customer came first. Wrong! Customers are the reason for producing a product or service. Customers are the reason a company remains in existence. Exelon demonstrates that it is beholden to its shareholders first in its list of priorities. The employees came in at the bottom rung. I also received the mailing describing radiation that was sent to people living within 10 miles of the Oyster Creek plant in Lacey. The information is factual, but so what? Why was this sent to me? Why now? What was the reason behind the mailing? What am I supposed to think? If I were in charge of this company's public relations department, I would fire (or should I say, downsize) the lot. Francis S. Kowalczyk STAFFORD Editorial series well presented I would like to thank the Press for its scholarly editorial series on the Oyster Creek nuclear power plant (June 20-27). It was exceptionally well done. I am familiar with many of these issues, having worked to close the reactors at Indian Point in New York for the last 10 years. This is the first time I have seen anything like what you produced. I only regret it took me so long to find it. I will definitely forward your Web site's link so our New York community can see what accurate information on this topic looks like. It is certainly nothing like we see in the papers around here. It is like a well documented and clearly presented research paper. There are many similarities between Oyster Creek and Indian Point. The common link is the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, an agency that long ago became a captive of the nuclear industry. I suspect when your population doubles again this June and summer visitors come back to revisit this issue they will be upset to learn it is still ongoing. One can only hope they are angry enough to take action when they realize how much at risk they are and how impossible any evacuation plan is in the real world. Marilyn Elie WESTCHESTER CHAPTER CITIZENS AWARENESS NETWORK CORTLANDT MANOR, N.Y. ***************************************************************** 18 english.eastday.com: Fast reactor stations for 2020 24/1/2005 8:17 The construction of prototype fast reactor nuclear stations will be complete by about 2020, said Kang Rixin, director of the China National Nuclear Corporation. The reactor can lift the utility rate of natural uranium from 1 percent to 60 to 70 percent with a pressurized water reactor. Most of the country's nuclear stations, both in operation or under construction, use a pressurized water reactor and a heavy water reactor. The development of the new reactor is expected to be finished and in operation at the beginning of the next "five-year plan" period (2006-2010), CNNC sources said. Cnnc is speeding up the prototype fast reactor experiment, which is supported by the 863 Plan, the nation's high-tech research and development program. The reactor research, with a total investment of 1.38 billion yuan (US$167 million), is the largest project in the 863 Plan. According to National Development and Reform Commission plans, nuclear power should make up 4 percent of the nation's total generating capacity by 2020. "This requires CNNC, in collaboration with other corporations, to make pragmatic plans and schedules to address bottle-neck problems the nuclear industry faces," CNNC sources said. Xinhua ***************************************************************** 19 St Joe News Press: Regulators to discuss Cooper site www.stjoenews-press.com Sunday, January 23, 2005 Plant safety is subject of meeting St. Joseph News-Press BROWNVILLE, Neb. — The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission will meet Tuesday with Nebraska Public Power District officials to discuss the status of performance improvements required at the Cooper Nuclear Station. The meeting, open to the public, will be at 7 p.m. at the Brownville Concert Hall, Atlantic Avenue and Second Street. Before the session adjourns, commission staff will be available to answer questions from the public about the plant’s safety performance and the government’s role in ensuring its safe operation. Cooper has been subject to increased oversight by the commission since April 2002, when the plant received one of the lowest safety ratings in the nation — a grade that still allowed continued operations. Personnel training, performance of plant workers and management, and emergency preparedness were the issues cited at the time. The government has outlined steps that the district committed to take to improve the plant’s safety, which has been subject to inspection by the commission. In a Sept. 2, 2004, letter, district officials told the commission the plant has completed all of the mandated improvements. “The NRC has been independently verifying that Nebraska Public Power District has completed all of the actions described … to improve plant performance,” said Bruce S. Mallet, administrator for the agency’s Region IV. Mr. Mallet said the commission intends to discuss the steps needed to ensure the plant’s continued long-term performance. --> Content © 2005, The News-Press, St. Joseph, Missouri ***************************************************************** 20 News.com.au: Sailors exposed to deadly dust (24-01-2005) UP to 3000 sailors have been exposed to a deadly dust while serving in the navy. The dust was created during routine work on the hulls of HMAS Supply and the aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne and all personnel who served on the ships between the 1950s and 1985 are being urged to have medical tests. The dust came from machines called jason pistols which were used to scour paint and rust from the ships. The pistols used vibrating rods coated with an alloy containing a heavy metal called beryllium. It is now known beryllium dust can cause fatal and untreatable lung disease, similar to asbestosis Beryllium poisoning has led to huge compensation claims overseas, particularly in the US. Jason pistols containing the metal stopped being used in 1985. The Australian navy would not comment other than to confirm the jason pistols were used by servicemen and the subject was under investigation. The danger was identified by veterans' group the Naval Tankerman Association in mid-December. It has urged all its members, via its website, to see a doctor. National President Bob Currin said: "We have established that 3000 seamen and women were serving on the ships that used jason pistols over the relevant period. "Hundreds have suffered breathing problems, but up to now they have been catalogued as asbestosis. We do not know how many of them may be caused by beryllium." The alert was sounded after former naval officer Peter Robertson, who served on HMAS Supply, received a medical report indicating beryllium exposure. "I was in the navy for 23 years and I never got told about this - there were no tests given," he told The Daily Telegraph last year. "There were more than 150 crew on the HMS Supply and, as far as I know, no one has been told." Mr Currin, from Baradine in northwestern NSW, who served on HMAS Supply for nine years, said: "We knew the jason pistols were made from a special compound that stopped them sparking off the ship's metal when we chipped the paint and rust. It's only now we've discovered it included beryllium and was dangerous." Beryllium is a heavy metal which, when inhaled in dust form, causes pneumonia-like symptoms, similar to asbestosis. Beryllium poisoning kills 2 to 6 per cent of those exposed and can lie dormant for years. Symptoms include scarred lungs, shortness of breath and eventually death. It is incurable. It was used in jason pistols because it does not cause sparks when used to strip metal. HMAS Supply was a refuelling ship filled with flammable oil and HMAS Melbourne was an aircraft carrier which carried large supplies of aviation fuel. "The list of those exposed to beryllium runs to thousands, including myself," Mr Currin said. "Jason pistols were used in general maintenance. Everyone used them. Everyone mucked in to do the cleaning." Mr Currin said he was routinely covered head to foot in dust after using the device. "The needles, which are made of beryllium, would vibrate to break up the paint. As that happened, dust would come off the needles. "This is the problem. You'd be covered in dust. There's no doubt we all breathed it in." Despite the dangers posed by beryllium being known since the 1950s, Mr Cullins said none of the hundreds of former personnel he had corresponded with in recent weeks had been informed of the danger by the navy. He said "hundreds" of cases of reported asbestosis among affected sailors were now being reviewed to see if beryllium was involved. "Just the knowledge that they have been exposed is worrying their family," he said. Mr Currin said it might never be known how many personnel had been affected because many had claimed enhanced pensions on the grounds of having asbestosis. Beryllium poisoning and asbestosis present similar symptoms. Former personnel who renounced their asbestosis claims risked losing the pension. PolicyCopyright 2005 News Limited. All times AEDT (GMT + 11). ***************************************************************** 21 Sunday Herald: Russian space base poisoning children - Leaked report claims rockets spray killer chemical across nearby area, causing blood diseases. Andrew Osborn reports It sealed its reputation in 1961 when Yuri Gagarin blasted off from its barren steppe to complete the first manned space flight in history, but Russias main cosmodrome has now been accused of a far less glorious achievement: poisoning local children. According to an unpublished Russian scientific study, the Baikonur Cosmodrome in the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan is responsible for an alarming increase in blood and hormonal disorders among children. Scientists say that rockets launched from the site, one of the worlds busiest and most lucrative space bases, continue to spray highly toxic unspent fuel over several square miles. It contains a chemical called hydrazine which is used to thin rocket fuel and is regarded as poisonous in the extreme. So powerful is hydrazine that if one tablespoon of the substance were to be added to a swimming pool anyone who drank the water would be killed. The unpublished report was leaked to weekly international science magazine Nature and alleges that children living in the Russian Altai Republic, just north of Baikonur, are paying a deadly price for Moscows space ambitions. It compared the health records of 1000 children in the area with 330 outside the rocket fuel fallout zone and found that the incidence of serious blood and endocrine disorders and diseases was twice as high in the vicinity of Baikonur. The incidence of other diseases was also found to be much higher. The Russians cannot dismiss the seriousness of the study; it was carried out by one of their own, Sergei Zykov of the State Research Centre for Virology and Biotechnology in Novosibirsk. Grouping all cases of disease together, Zykovs team concluded that children from the worst affected area were up to twice as likely to require medical attention during the three years studied (1998 to 2000) and needed to be treated twice as long, the article in Nature noted. The magazine added that other space bases in the world, such as Cape Canaveral in Florida, sent their rockets out over the ocean to avoid the risk of poisoning local people and called for a fresh study into the problem. But the Russians arent the only ones who need to take the problem seriously, it argued. Nasa and the European Space Agency (ESA) both lease Baikonur from Rosavia kosmos, the Russian Space Agency, and the remote launch-site has become the main departure point for the International Space Station. However, ESA has said that it bears no responsibility for any consequences of what according the agency is merely a financial transaction. Nasa, meanwhile, has said it is aware of the problem but believes the Russians have made positive progress in reducing the amount of unspent fuel released. But Nature suggests that such attitudes are unethical. The first detailed epidemiological study of people living under the flight path suggests that rocket fuel is indeed causing health problems, it said. At the very least it should serve as a warning flag to any agency that uses the base. It warned, however, that various powerful interests are keen to disguise the truth. The Soviet-era cosmodrome, which Russia leases from Kazakhstan for a reported $115 million a year, is a source of great income for Russia. Just one commercial launch is estimated to generate some Ł25m in pure profit. The Russians argue that there is no serious proof of any health problems related to Baikonurs lucrative activities. Vyacheslav Davidenko, a spokesman for the Russian Space Agency, argues that the organisations own in-house studies have not revealed any such problems and that Moscow financially compensates communities under the rockets flight path anyway. He also contends that the higher rate of disease among the children could be a result of the fact that their standard of living is unusually low compared with other parts of Russia, and suggests it could also be a consequence of another Soviet-era legacy nearby: the Semipalatinsk nuclear testing facility. Shut down in 1991 as the Soviet Union collapsed, the Semipalatinsk facility in northeastern Kazakhstan was the site of more than 500 controlled nuclear explosions, the last of which took place as recently as 1989. Some of the areas [studied] are officially considered as zones affected by the Semipalatinsk nuclear testing range, says Davidenko. It would be wrong to link the deterioration of childrens health with their proximity to the cosmodrome. Besides which, he adds, other types of rocket fuel that could be used as an alternative are far more harmful to the environment. There have always been two sides to Baikonur, a site Soviet authorities started to develop in 1955 when the space race was hotting up. In Communist days it was the launch site for the first intercontinental rocket in 1957, the first artificial Earth satellite in 1957, and the first piloted spacecraft when Gagarin blasted off in Vostok 1 in 1961. It is also a site valued by the current occupants of the Kremlin. Earlier this month Russian President Vladimir Putin signed an agreement to extend Moscows lease for Baikonur to 2050, and while Russia has another cosmodrome (Plesetsk in northwestern Russia) the Kazakh base is the only one from which manned flights can take off. But Baikonur has a darker side too. For almost 40 years the Soviet authorities covered up a terrible accident that occurred there in 1960 during the testing of a new inter continental ballistic missile. The missile exploded on the ground killing almost 100 people including several senior space experts. The Kremlin said at the time that only one person Marshall Mitrofan Nedelin had died in a plane crash, but the full truth emerged in 1989. As the crucible for the race for supremacy in space first for reasons of self-preservation and ideological pride and now for money it seems that Baikonur will always exact a heavy human price. 23 January 2005 © newsquest (sunday herald) limited. all rights reserved ***************************************************************** 22 TheStar.com: Town under radiation microscope Jan. 22, 2005. 01:00 AM Port Hope home to uranium processing plant Study will test few townspeople for radiation exposure KATE HARRIES ONTARIO REPORTER PORT HOPEAn internationally recognized nuclear medical expert will study residents here for evidence of sickness resulting from exposure to radioactive materials. Dr. Asaf Durakovic, research director of the Uranium Medical Research Center in Washington, D.C., a non-profit organization that also has an office in Toronto, says he agreed to undertake the study at the request of a local committee. "There are sick people in Port Hope who are not being cared (for) by anyone," Durakovic says. "If someone asks us for assistance, we have no moral or ethical right to refuse such a request." While Health Canada has found that cancer and mortality statistics in this town of 15,000 are comparable with Ontario as a whole and other similar communities in the province, some residents are welcoming the study as the first in which there will be actual physical tests of people. "This is a very big step forward," says Faye More, chair of the Community Health Concerns Committee, an independent citizens' group that has been pushing for a health study of Port Hope residents for 10 years. "These aren't theoretical models on computers. We're finally doing an investigation into the possible effect on people who live here." The Uranium Medical Research Center tested Iraqi civilians exposed to bombing during Operation Iraqi Freedom and found high levels of depleted uranium in some people. Durakovic says committee members presented him with clinical histories of specific individuals and hearsay evidence of the prevalence in the town of cancers and respiratory, renal and immune system problems that could be attributable to uranium exposure. He says he feels the town's history as the home of a nuclear processing facility for more than 70 years points to the need for a properly structured study. The project has the potential for controversy, coming at a time of renewed interest in the activities of uranium giant Cameco Corp., which is seeking federal approval for a plan to produce a new and more potent nuclear fuel here. Cameco vice-president Robert Steane has raised questions about the credibility of the Uranium Medical Research Center, charging that it is an activist organization that is neither independent nor objective. "We are sure we share a desire that any public health testing does not lead to unsupportable findings that needlessly alarm the residents of Port Hope," Steane wrote in a recent letter to the health concerns committee, demanding assurances that the testing follow recognized scientific protocols. Port Hope Mayor Rick Austin also questions the value of the study, noting the small number of participants that are proposed  around a dozen people. "Can that give you a good indication?" he asks, adding: "As a mayor, I would like to go forward rather than backwards. There's nothing we can do about the past." Such skepticism is widespread, says Port Hope resident Derrick Kelly, one of about 100 people who attended a meeting the week before Christmas to hear Durakovic outline his plans. "Most old-time Port Hopers like myself have got so bored of the issue," Kelly says, adding that there's a willingness to believe the reassurances of experts and an unwillingness to rock the boat. But Kelly says he's concerned, and questions whether Cameco should be operating in the centre of the town. A silent auction at the meeting raised $2,600 toward the cost of the testing  which More says will be $30,000 for a "minimal" investigation. More says she thinks it's "offensive" that the only way to get the study done is by locals taking it into their own hands. `We're finally doing an investigation into the possible effect on people who live here' Faye More, citizens' committee She says the work should have been done by the federal government, which started the contamination of the area with Crown corporation Eldorado Nuclear Ltd. and now  through the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission  regulates Cameco, a private company that took over Eldorado's uranium processing plant in 1988. The federal government is undertaking a $260 million clean-up of pre-1988 radioactive wastes found in soils and buildings throughout the town, but will not look into possible human effects, More says. She also discounts two Health Canada studies. The studies, released in 2000 and 2002, used data from the Ontario Cancer Registry and Canadian Mortality Database to conclude that cancer incidence and mortality in Port Hope were comparable to elsewhere in Ontario. The findings were "on the whole, reassuring," the nuclear safety commission said in a release at the time, explaining that while some statistically significant differences were found in some categories, "such chance findings are expected due to random fluctuations in rare disease rates." Differences included brain cancers in Port Hope children at four times the provincial average and 2 1/2 times as high in women. Critics like Toronto epidemiologist Eric Mintz, who last year produced a critique of the two studies, take issue with the federal government's interpretation of the data. "The patterns of excess rates for some cancers, (for) example, brain cancer, are suggestive of problems," Mintz says, adding that he found the federal report's description of results as "reassuring" to be inappropriate. Earlier, in 1996-97, public health consultant Dr. Trevor Hancock was retained by the Atomic Energy Control Board (the Nuclear Safety Commission's predecessor) to develop a plan for a study that would test and interview residents, but it was not implemented. More says her committee has repeatedly asked the federal government to fund a health study, without success. "We had felt that Port Hope people have already paid through the nose in a variety of ways and should not be required to fund their own health studies," More says. But now the time seems right, she says, as Cameco's plan to process slightly enriched uranium has spawned a resurgence of opposition to the presence of the nuclear plant in the heart of town. A group called Families Against Radioactive Exposure is pushing for a review panel environmental assessment of Cameco's proposal, rather than the screening process that has been approved by Nuclear Safety Commission staff and has been underway for more than a year. The review panel process would provide for public hearings and could fund some aspect of the research being undertaken by Durakovic, More says. Durakovic told the meeting last month that the point of his study will be to determine if some residents who are sick also have physical evidence of exposure. He said the estimates on which governments based their assessment of risk are often flawed and are no substitute for biological studies of what is actually present in people's bodies. "We live in an environment that is poisoned, probably to the point of no return," he said, ranking Port Hope with other sites close to nuclear facilities in the former Soviet Union, the United States and China where "unsuspecting populations" have been poisoned. The Uranium Medical Research Center will do a triage of volunteer residents based on detailed medical histories, selecting 12 to 20 people, says Ted Weyman, the centre's deputy director. Urine samples will be sent for testing to a laboratory in Germany and another one in Japan, along with samples from a control group from another undetermined Ontario community. If any subjects test positive, the research team will then look at possible links between symptoms and their exposure history. It will be possible to identify what type of uranium caused the radiation, although not the timing of the exposure, Weyman said. The final step will be peer review and publication of the study. The whole process is expected to take about six months. › Get the NEW Sunday paper! Save 50% now! Legal Notice: Copyright Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. All ***************************************************************** 23 San Bernardino County Sun: Stiff perchlorate limits in drinking water urged www.sbsun.com Article Published: Saturday, January 22, 2005 - By NAOMI KRESGE, Staff Writer FONTANA - Clean-water activists pushed for tougher state drinking water standards on perchlorate at a Saturday forum. They attacked a National Academy of Sciences report that said this month the chemical, a rocket-fuel byproduct, is safe at levels about 20 times those recommended by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. California should adopt the EPA recommendation, they argued, in order to protect the health of children, babies and fetuses. "I am not a scientist, but I am a mother and a grandmother,' said state Sen. Nell Soto, D-Ontario. 'I believe when it comes to our children we should err on the side of caution.' Soto co-chaired the forum with Assemblywoman Gloria Negrete McLeod, D-Chino. Sponsored by Environment California and the Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice, the forum at Fontana City Hall drew about 75 people, including local residents, legislators, water officials and environmentalists. Perchlorate is thought to reduce thyroid function and to have a disproportionate effect on babies and young children. Penny Newman, executive director of Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice, and Environment California clean water advocate Sujatha Jahagirdar said the chemical can interfere with brain development in babies and may be linked to reduced intelligence and difficulty learning. "We think it actually makes children more stupid, to be frank,' Jahagirdar said. The National Academy of Sciences study said it is unclear whether exposure to perchlorate can interfere with brain development in children. Residents quizzed the environmentalists and water officials on how much of the chemical current technology can extract from the water supply, whether it is safe to drill private wells and whether a tough perchlorate standard might cause water shortages. Newman and Jahagirdar asked attendees to sign a petition asking California to set stricter standards for perchlorate. The current state public health goal for perchlorate is six parts per billion. The petition calls on the state to adopt the EPA draft recommendation of one part per billion when it sets a binding maximum level for the contaminant, which is expected later this year. "The health goal that California sets will basically be the standard (nationally), we think. Now, California's on the wrong track,' Jahagirdar said. A tougher standard for perchlorate would make cleanup more expensive, both because more drinking water sources would require cleanup and because of the technology necessary to detect and extract perchlorate. More than 11million people in 35 states, including California, currently drink water with perchlorate levels above four parts per billion. According to the California Department of Health Services, perchlorate has been found in more than 350 drinking water sources statewide, largely in San Bernardino, Riverside and Los Angeles counties, as well as in the Colorado River. Copyright © 2005 San Bernardino County Sun ***************************************************************** 24 reviewjournal: Yucca opponent, former Reid adviser joins NRC Saturday, January 22, 2005 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal By STEVE TETREAULT STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU WASHINGTON -- Gregory B. Jaczko, a physicist and former U.S. Senate adviser who has been critical of the Yucca Mountain Project, was sworn in Friday to a seat on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Jaczko was appointed by President Bush on Wednesday to fill a vacancy on the five-member commission that regulates the management of nuclear power plants, the handling of nuclear materials, and the disposal of radioactive spent fuel. A New York native, Jaczko, 34, was science adviser to Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., a leading Yucca Mountain critic who negotiated the appointment with White House officials. The agreement required Jaczko to recuse himself for a year from any Yucca Mountain matters. Bush filled a second NRC vacancy with Peter B. Lyons, a physicist and adviser to Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., a nuclear power proponent. Lyons, 61, is a former management official at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Lyons, a Nevada native and graduate of Boulder City High School, is expected to take office at the commission on Tuesday, the agency said. Jaczko was sworn in at the NRC by chairman Nils Diaz in a brief ceremony held in a private conference room, an NRC spokesman said. Commissioners Edward McGaffigan and Jeffrey Merrifield attended, as did Jaczko's parents and sister, according to Reid spokeswoman Tessa Hafen. Reid did not attend but was represented by four aides who were Jaczko colleagues, Hafen said. Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - 2005 ***************************************************************** 25 Pasadena Star-News: Opinion: Force water cleanup www.pasadenastarnews.com Article Published: Friday, January 21, 2005 - As a spiritual counselor, mother, sister and friend, I speak with all too many mothers who are tormented by the suffering of their children from learning disabilities, attention deficit disorder and other maladies. To think that these afflictions may be linked to drinking water contaminated by perchlorate (a component of rocket fuel) is all the more disturbing. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger should immediately set a strong standard for perchlorate in our drinking water of one part per billion (1 ppb) that protects California's children and forces polluters to clean up their mess. Megeen McLaughlin South Pasadena Copyright © 2005 Pasadena Star News ***************************************************************** 26 Bradenton Herald: Tallevast residents meet with county staff | 01/21/2005 | SCOTT RADWAY Herald Staff Writer BRADENTON — A group of Tallevast residents has begun meeting with Manatee county staff this afternoon to talk about protecting the community from the contamination leaked from the former American Beryllium Co. plant. Residents are asking the county to relocate them to new homes. A letter to the county calls the 85-home community "a virtual time bomb." Other topics of discussion include the county's plan to put in permanent water lines to two neighborhood streets that were found to have contamination in wells. Temporary water lines were put in last year when cancer-causing solvents were found in the groundwater. Bradenton.com ***************************************************************** 27 Bradenton Herald: Tallevast test program draws fire | 01/22/2005 | DONNA WRIGHT Herald Staff Writer Leaders of a Tallevast community group say they are not happy with the county's beryllium blood test program. Several Tallevast residents can't get tests because the county has run out of funds to create more appointments, Laura Ward told county officials at a meeting Friday. Ward, president of Family Oriented Community United Strong, blamed union officials from the former Loral American Beryllium Co. who petitioned the county to reimburse former American Beryllium workers who had previously been tested at their own expense. Based on how the county proposal was written, county officials said they were bound to grant that request for former workers who are current Manatee County residents. The county has so far agreed to reimburse 10 former workers for up to $240 each, depending upon their out-of-pocket expenses, said MariAnne Shannon, senior nursing supervisor for Manatee County Health Department. Five have already received money. Shannon said Tallevast residents and former workers who still need to be tested could be covered under a federally funded program that will be offered through the state Department of Health. Because the funds are from the federal government, any former American Beryllium worker who lives in the United States could be covered for testing. State health officials have not finalized how the program will work, but preliminary plans designate Sarasota County Health Department as a blood specimen collection site, Shannon said at Friday's meeting. The blood specimens will then be sent to an unnamed specialty lab for analysis to determine whether the person has developed a sensitivity to beryllium. FOCUS leaders told county officials they want to make sure Tallevast residents have a priority on those federally funded testing openings. Local health officials have drawn blood from 148 people for the beryllium tests so far. Results from the first phase of 94 tests Dec. 16 revealed five abnormal results - three positives, one borderline and one un-interpretable, meaning neither positive nor negative. Only one of the abnormal tests was a former worker, and that worker was not from Tallevast. The other four abnormal tests were for a household member of a former worker, or Tallevast residents. Of the 94 people tested in the first phase, 44 were former workers, eight of whom live in Tallevast. The other 50 were either Tallevast residents or household members of former workers or both. On Wednesday, the health department drew blood samples from 54 more people - 18 were former workers, and 36 were either members of former workers' households or Tallevast residents. Twenty of the 54 people tested Wednesday were from Tallevast. Health officials have scheduled 96 people for the final round of tests Wednesday. ***************************************************************** 28 Bradenton Herald: Tallevast promised help 'within reason' | 01/22/2005 | [Tallevast residents, from left, Wanda Washington, Laura Ward and Helen Heathington sign in before Friday afternoon's Tallevast Coordination Meeting between Tallevast residents and Manatee County and State of Florida officials at the Manatee County Government Administration Building.] BRIAN BLANCO-The Herald Tallevast residents, from left, Wanda Washington, Laura Ward and Helen Heathington sign in before Friday afternoon's Tallevast Coordination Meeting between Tallevast residents and Manatee County and State of Florida officials at the Manatee County Government Administration Building. BERYLLIUM POLLUTION SCOTT RADWAY Herald Staff Writer BRADENTON - Tallevast residents are crying out for someone to move their families out of a contamination-stricken neighborhood, a place homeowners describe as a "virtual time bomb." On Friday, they got a sympathetic ear - if not action. At a meeting with top county officials, Manatee County Administrator Ernie Padgett told community leaders his staff would study what the county "can and cannot do." And he asked for patience with what he called the "very significant request" of moving 85 families to new homes, even if it is only temporarily. "This is something that has to go through some serious discussions," Padgett said. "As your government, we want to do everything we can, within reason. Just work with us." Padgett, who formally received the relocation request in a letter dated Jan. 6, said he plans to make a presentation on his staff's finding to the County Commission on Feb. 1. Leaders from Tallevast were hardly appeased. Laura Ward, president of the Tallevast community group FOCUS, said Padgett's commitment to investigate the issue "was a start. "But I am not happy," said Ward, who for the first time was joined by attorney Ed Cottingham from the South Carolina firm Motley Rice. "I will be happy when one day I walk out of a meeting and I don't have to go home and worry about contamination." Wanda Washington, vice-president of FOCUS, who along with Ward has become the spokeswoman of the community, said: "Everything still leads to another meeting, and that leads to another meeting and so will the next. There are no real solutions." Residents asked the county commission in early December to establish a temporary moratorium on building in the Tallevast community until testing shows exactly how far the contamination from the old American Beryllium Co. plant has seeped. Lockheed Martin, the party responsible for cleaning up the contamination already found at the plant site and in residential drinking wells and soil, is in the discovery stage. Karen Collins-Fleming, director of the Environmental Management Department, explained that the moratorium resolution could not be finished until Lockheed defines the extent of the contamination. Lockheed is expected to submit an assessment Feb. 1 to the state. "The plume has to be the guide," Collins-Fleming said. After the assessment is filed, it could still take several weeks to develop the moratorium's scope, she said. Then there would be public hearings. Collins-Fleming added that another option might be to create an overlay district for Tallevast that would require special measures taken to control contamination exposure if construction takes place. Tallevast is a community that is generations old and dates back to a time when governments did not consider the negative impacts of placing housing next to factories and plants. Today, residents are hemmed in by industry. Washington said the county also needs to consider future land use and prevent more heavy industry from moving into the community. Near the corner of U.S. 301 and Tallevast Road, a property owner is applying to put in light industry and get another portion rezoned for heavy industry. "Are you considering bringing more industry to this small community? We were here first," Washington said. The moratorium issue will also be discussed at the Feb. 1 commission meeting. The meeting Friday was aimed at updating the Tallevast community on the work the county is doing to help protect their health and safety. The next meeting is scheduled for March 11. The last was in October. In addition to county personnel, County Commissioner Donna Hayes was present, as were representatives of U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris and U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson. Residents were told about test results done on residents and former workers who were potentially exposed to beryllium from the old plant. County-funded tests are continuing, and federal money is on the way for more tests. Another sticking point was the county's plan to put in permanent water lines to two neighborhood streets that were found to have contaminated wells. Temporary water lines were put in last year when the contamination was found. The project will eventually be finished with road paving, but residents are concerned the small neighborhood will have to sacrifice just about all of their front yards for the road. Residents are also concerned the project would disturb low levels of arsenic found in soil samples along 16th and 18th streets east. Another concern is trichloroethylene, or TCE, found in the groundwater along 18th. The county planned to take measures, such as wetting the ground down and running air tests, to protect residents during the project. Crews would also not work if the wind is too strong. Tim Hochuli, director of the project management department, said all the county needs now to do the work are easements from residents. So the community holds a trump card, one it is willing to play. "No one will let it happen," Ward said. Scott Radway, environmental • Tallevast residents demand fixes to beryllium test system. 13A • For the latest coverage, visit HeraldToday.com. reporter, can be reached at 708-7919 or at . ***************************************************************** 29 PE.com: PERCHLORATE: Officials at an Inland forum say tough rules are needed to keep it out of tap water. | Inland Southern California | Local News 10:22 PM PST on Saturday, January 22, 2005 By DAVID DANELSKI / The Press-Enterprise Inland environmentalists and elected officials joined forces Saturday in calls for cleanups and strict health standards for a rocket-fuel chemical that has polluted Inland drinking water supplies. They urged the audience of more than 70 people at a Fontana City Hall forum to write to federal officials and demand cleanup funds and tough rules to keep the unregulated chemical out of tap water. "I'm not a scientist," state Sen. Nell Soto, D-Pomona, told the audience, "but I'm a mother, a grandmother and a great-grandmother and we should protect our children." Perchlorate is used for solid-state rocket fuel, munitions and fireworks. Leaks and spills at factories and military bases have allowed the chemical to invade rivers and groundwater. It has also been found in fertilizers used in the area's citrus groves. It is known to impair the thyroid gland's ability to absorb iodide, a building block for the hormones that guide neurological development in fetuses and infants. Some experts fear the small amount in drinking water could lower the intelligence of children exposed to the chemical in the womb or as infants. Inland residents expressed worries at the forum. Jane Hunt of Muscoy said she wondered if perchlorate contributed to the cancer death of a neighbor, a woman in her 30s, in 2003. A few years earlier, the federal Environmental Protection Agency took groundwater samples in front of her house, Hunt said. The EPA has described perchlorate as "probable carcinogen," while state officials have said the chemical has not shown to cause cancer. Sandy Briggs of Riverside said she is worried about using city water in her vegetable garden because perchlorate has been found to concentrate in lettuce irrigated with tainted water. And T.J. Kawana of Norco said widespread contamination could make an effort to drill a well futile. "I wouldn't spend the money on a well if perchlorate it down there," she said. Most of the contaminated drinking water sources in the Inland area have less than 10 parts per billion of perchlorate. The Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice, which organized the forum, is arguing for a legal limit of 1 part per billion. The state has set a draft health goal of 6 parts per billion and is expected to set drinking water limit later this year. Penny Newman, executive director of the environmental group, said the state's goal is not protective enough and industrial polluters should be providing replacement water for residents now consuming perchlorate. Industry officials did not participate in the forum. Their scientists, however, have said that as much as 200 parts to billion is safe. Josie Gonzales, a recently elected member of the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors, said Inland officials need to present a unified front in seeking federal clean-up dollars. Going after individual polluters could invite lawsuits that could delay cleanups. People need to immediately stop ingesting perchlorate, she said. "Your body doesn't care who did it." Reach Staff Writer David Danelski at (951) 368-9471 or at More ***************************************************************** 30 Deseret news: Solutions to nuclear waste problem Sunday, January 23, 2005 The issue of hot nuclear waste in Utah is easy to resolve. Several solutions follow: 1. Move the Nevada/Utah border east. If Nevada wants the extra land but still doesn't want nuclear waste, then leave the border where it is and call the new territory "West Texas." 2. Do whatever the Europeans are doing with their nuclear waste. 3. Ask Saddam Hussein what he did with the nuclear materials he had before Israel destroyed his power plant. 4. Accelerate the rate of nuclear decay and extract the resultant heat energy. Wallace L. Haynes West Valley City © 2005 Deseret News Publishing Company ***************************************************************** 31 Deseret news: Huntsman's maiden speech is a smooth effort Sunday, January 23, 2005 By Frank Pignanelli &LaVarr Webb Webb: Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. gave a somewhat different speech than I expected last Tuesday in Fillmore. The setting, ambience and symbolic nature of the historic setting were terrific. The speech itself was fairly low-key, didn't propose any grandiose new initiatives and stuck to generally safe themes. It was a good State of the State speech. Perhaps not a grand slam home run but a solid double. I thought it was a little understated, and it might be a clue to Huntsman's governing style. It wasn't a stirring call to action. It wasn't a challenge to the Legislature to act on the governor's priorities. It didn't contain a lot of Big Ideas that will transform government. I have to admit I was expecting something a little different. I thought, for example, that Huntsman might make a case for some major economic development initiatives, given the high profile of that topic during the campaign. Huntsman took dramatic action in his first few days in office, essentially dismantling the state economic development division. So I thought he might present a sweeping vision of his economic development plan and how government will be reorganized to make it happen. But he didn't. He stayed with what he had been saying about economic development during the campaign. His other main priorities are education, quality of life and governance. I know he has some Big Ideas in all of those areas, but he didn't really roll them out. Keeping low-level B and C radioactive waste out of Utah is a popular idea and easy to do. It was worth the mention Huntsman gave it in the speech. The much bigger and scarier problem, however, is high-level nuclear waste in the form of spent fuel rods. That stuff is thousands of times more potent than B and C waste, and it could be coming to the Goshute Reservation. It will be a hollow victory to ban B and C waste but get stuck with spent nuclear fuel rods. Huntsman also touched on tax reform and continued his support for school choice, which demonstrates he's not backing away from that controversial issue. There was a certain wile in the speech in the vein of underpromising and overdelivering. Controlling expectations and exceeding them always makes sense. What's more, I believe Huntsman genuinely wants a good relationship with lawmakers and is not interested in getting too far out ahead of them. He wants to work jointly on some Big Ideas and doesn't want to be seen as dictating to legislators. In addition, the simple reality is that Huntsman and his staff, who just finished a long and difficult campaign, now face the myriad details of governing and a legislative session. They haven't had time to flesh out all the details of their big initiatives. I believe Huntsman is going to be a very good governor. I continually hear from legislators and others who are pleased at how he is reaching out to them. Even the words "humble" and "unassuming" keep coming up. All in all, Huntsman is off to a good start in his young administration. Pignanelli: "The Governor shall communicate by message the condition of the state to the Legislature . . . and recommend such measures as may be deemed expedient." (Article VII, Section 5, Utah State Constitution). A simple charge by our forefathers to future chief executives: Tell legislators the problems and how to fix them. How things have changed! Gov. Norm Bangerter was the first to frequently use the State of the State speech as a public relations tool (i.e., unveiling his "Utah Works" program promoting local businesses). This annual activity evolved into a media event under Michael Leavitt. Every year the props got more interesting (remember him holding the infant?), and eventually the entire format was directed at the general public, with legislators an afterthought. Jon Huntsman Jr. offered a hybrid presentation of traditional and modern concepts. He frequently referred to a "partnership" with the Legislature beside the biggest prop to date — the city of Fillmore. The references to his relations were compelling and added a human dimension. Huntsman shrewdly reminded us the billionaire status surrounding the family is a recent phenomenon, and his lineage has much in common with average Utahns. Equally imperative was Huntsman's desire for changes to a state government that has been in a deep slumber for years. For example, the state now has direction regarding disposal of low-level radioactive waste, and he is initiating ethical reform within the executive branch. The buzz on Capitol Hill is Huntsman's maiden speech was a good effort, but many details were lacking (especially the specifics on tax reform, economic development, etc.). Older politicos complained many of his proposals have been around for years and were initiated by legislators. Former teacher/speaker Congressman Rob Bishop authored payments to educators for classroom supplies, Senator Patrice Arent has fought against radioactive waste, and ethical reform is an annual bipartisan effort. Several of the omissions in the governor's message were adequately filled in by the Democratic response. Minority Leader Ralph Becker and Assistant Whip Patricia Jones emphasized needed support for Utah's colleges and universities as fertile ground for economic development. They cleverly used a Huntsman campaign theme by asking, "Do you want your children to leave Utah in order to get (good) jobs?" The Democrats appropriately served warning that they were not going to support vouchers or tuition tax credits in public education. Because he generated a favorable response across the spectrum, Huntsman may actually enjoy a political honeymoon after all. • Well-read former Speaker Marty Stephens loved to quote the founding fathers, Alexis De Tocqueville and other renowned commentators of American democracy in legislative speeches. In his inaugural speech as the new speaker, Greg Curtis observed "What a Long, Strange Trip It's Been" in politics. This line is lifted from another venerated American institution, legendary rock group the Grateful Dead. Republican LaVarr Webb was policy deputy to Gov. Mike Leavitt and Deseret News managing editor. He now is a political consultant and lobbyist. E-mail: lwebb@exoro.com. Democrat Frank Pignanelli is a Salt Lake attorney, lobbyist and political adviser. A former candidate for Salt Lake mayor, Pignanelli served 10 years in the Utah House of Representatives and six years as House minority leader. E-mail: frankp@xmission.com. © 2005 Deseret News Publishing Company ***************************************************************** 32 ABQjournal: Regular Activities To Resume at LANL the Albuquerque Journal newspaper. Saturday, January 22, 2005 Albuquerque Journal--> The Associated Press LOS ALAMOS— Normal activities are to resume within two weeks at Los Alamos National Laboratory, where work was stopped in July due to security and safety concerns, the lab's director said. Los Alamos shut down virtually all its divisions for review after two computer disks believed to contain classified information were reported missing and an intern suffered an eye injury from a laser. Nearly all of the lab's projects have since restarted. Lab Director Pete Nanos told employees Wednesday that by Jan. 31, it should "look like a normal day" at the lab. Nanos described the normal day as "productive work proceeding without impediment." "I'm not going to give up the progress we made ... ," he said. "It's been a long six months, and we've all paid the price in one way or another." During the shutdown, the laboratory found approximately 3,000 issues that needed attention, said lab spokesman Kevin Roark. But The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, a government-funded advisory group, questions the lab's track record in fixing problems. "Over the years, LANL has often identified valid issues, prepared corrective-action plans that appeared credible, and then failed to execute," according to a Dec. 31 memo written by two board technicians stationed at Los Alamos. Nanos' response: "We want a continually improving state where we don't slip backward." New procedures developed during the six months must now become part of the structure of the lab, he said. Training from top to bottom is part of the plan. The lab also has a new way to store and track computer disks containing top-secret information in centralized libraries. And it is starting a safety program under which individuals take responsibility for their actions. "This will be a tough year, but I feel that fundamentally we are moving in the right direction and laying the groundwork to ensure this institution's future and your future," Nanos said. The nuclear weapons lab has been managed by the University of California since its creation as a top-secret World War II project to develop the atomic bomb. A series of management failures and security problems led Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham to announce in April 2003 that the contract would be put up for bid.The government last month issued a draft request for proposals to operate the lab. Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., said Friday the draft must require the new contractor to provide adequate health, retirement and other benefits to lab employees. "It is critical that the new contract very clearly outline the benefits due to current, future and past lab employees," Domenici wrote Linton Brooks, administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration. "The draft is insufficient in that area and must be rewritten." Domenici also urged the NNSA to quickly select a contractor. "This process has already created an enormous distraction for lab employees and they must get on with the work of national defense, combating nuclear proliferation and other scientific research," he wrote. Copyright Albuquerque Journal ***************************************************************** 33 [DU-WATCH] Cyclotron smashed atoms where Lennar wants to build Date: Sun, 23 Jan 2005 00:41:36 -0600 (CST) http://www.sfbayview.com/011205/shipyard011205.shtml At Hunters Point Shipyard, cyclotron smashed atoms where Lennar wants to build homes by Dennis Kyne Plutonium, a radioactive metal named after the planet Pluto, was discovered in 1940 after uranium was bombarded with neutrons in a cyclotron. Plutonium 239, the end product of this cycle, as well as uranium, are among the few materials whose atoms can split (or fission) to create a nuclear explosion, releasing massive amounts of energy instantly. The cyclotron, often called an atom smasher or plutonium breeder, appeared on the Hunters Point Shipyard after the arrival of the Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory (NRDL). NRDL was operational from 1946 until 1969 and used several buildings for radioactive laboratory and cyclotron operations. Three decades after Hunters Point was vacated by NRDL, the Navy has transferred Parcel A to the city, and San Francisco is giving it away to Lennar to build 1,600 homes. This shouldnt happen. Cyclotron activity was near Parcel A, and, although named after the planet Pluto, plutonium behaves like the god of hell. Plutonium, only in the environment since 1945, remains radioactive for an extremely long time, and health results from contaminated plutonium sites have not been shared with local leaders. Manhattan Project participants have been observed for decades, and the population of Rocky Flats, Colorado, is a group that is being monitored as well. Veterans of Desert Storm have been asked to participate in study groups because of exposure to the 300-plus tons of uranium that were dumped on Kuwait and Iraq in 1991. Low level radiation has been found to damage human organs. Ingestion of particulate matter causes incredible contamination to the organ donor system as well as the blood donor system. Plutonium, with a half life of 24,000 years, and uranium, with a half life of 4.5 billion years, are causing cancer and birth defects in the surrounding Hunters Point community at an alarming rate. Lennars liberation of radioactive particles from contaminated acres will put the Hunters Point community under radiological attack. Ernest Lawrence, the famed physicist that the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory is named for, won the Nobel Prize for developing a cyclotron in 1939. Housed in Building 820 at the Shipyard, just west of Parcel A, cyclotron use left cesium 137 and strontium 90 in the area. These highly radioactive metals cannot be found on the element chart as they are byproducts of the fissionable (atom splitting) process. Leuren Moret, famed Lawrence Livermore Lab whistle blower, in her seminal work for the Hamburg Uranium Conference in 2003, writes that after the shutdown of the Rancho Seco Nuclear Power Plant near Sacramento in 1989, infant mortality rates improved for nearly all races in San Francisco County, but did not improve for Blacks. Morets work, The Trojan Horse of Nuclear War, explains the role strontium 90 plays in this statistic: The Radiation and Public Health Project began to collect baby teeth from children with and without cancer living near nuclear reactors for comparison of the Strontium-90 levels. The results clearly show that children living around the Turkey Point and St. Lucie nuclear reactors in Florida were affected. After collecting the teeth, it was found that in children under 10 years of age, cancer rose 325.3 percent. Strontium-90 levels in children with cancer were an average of 85 percent higher than in children without cancer. Causal relationship? I think so. It appears that because there was a cyclotron, and because uranium atoms were smashed, we are seeing an incredibly high number of infant deaths in the Hunters Point community. Breast cancer is no stranger to Hunters Point women either. Samuel Epstein states in his book The Politics of Cancer, There is suggestive evidence that radiation-contaminated water supplies are in part responsible for escalating breast cancer mortality in some areas of the country. Recent evidence suggests that increased breast cancer incidence in the Long Island counties of Suffolk and Nassau, as well as Westchester County north of New York City, is related to radiation-contaminated drinking water. This is due to radioactive contamination of the Croton River watershed reservoirs; the watershed is located only about five miles downwind to the northeast from the Indian Point nuclear plant that has released radioactive fission products since the early 1960s. Cross-applying this conclusion from Indian Point to the Hunters Point watershed, we will see the same result in the surrounding communities. Decades of radioactive waste, washed into the Bay daily through broken tidal gates and leaking storm drains at the Shipyard, created a watertable that is surely carrying radiation. As with the Croton River in New York, some of this waste was carried away and became the bottom of the Bay. Decades of nuclear research has been dumped into the watershed of San Francisco, and, like our friends in New York, we have been victims of a faceless enemy. Science has told us not to worry, and civics has told us to keep building. History has taught us to clean up our messes, and that is where civics and science abandon us. Did San Francisco and the Navy forget about the radiation? After ceasing active operations in 1974, the Navy leased most of the yard to Triple A ship repair company. Improper waste disposal was reported in 1986, leading to an investigation by the San Francisco District Attorney. While this company did dump a lot of garbage, they didnt use the cyclotron. Decades after the Navy abandoned the Shipyard, officials have not addressed the effects of low level radiation on humans. Some news agencies have ignored the fact that radiation ever existed on this Shipyard. There is a sense of urgency to halt the upheaval of this toxic soil so it can be cleaned appropriately. I have visited Hunters Point, stood as close as possible to the Rocky Flats facility and once slept on the radioactive battlefield of Desert Storm. My tour of Parcel A gave me a buzz, the same buzz I felt on the front line of Iraq and the same buzz I would later feel upon my visit to Colorado. I no longer need a dosimeter to tell if I am in a radioactive area. Moret and Epstein clearly support my conclusion with statistically significant evidence. There is a sense of complacency in the world. Indigenous people have been slaughtered and left to die around the uranium mining areas. Pygmy cultures in Africa have been exploited, while Hopi and Navajo reservations have been exposed to the uranium tailings. After mining it, communities were established to process and research this uranium. Hunters Point was a community that housed NRDL. Communities that have been violently attacked with this element, such as Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Basra, Vieques, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Baghdad, Yugoslavia and Afghanistan can attest to the incredibly horrific birth defects that have occurred from the use of radioactive munitions. Hunters Point has been attacked. Until the complacency to address the implications of low level radiation is reversed, cancer rates will continue to soar. Should San Franciscos leaders choose to ignore the effects of low level radiation coming from Hunters Point, they will be guilty of sentencing thousands of people to an early death. Dennis Kyne is a combat veteran with 15 years in the U.S. Army. He holds a degree in political science cum laude from San Jose State University with an emphasis on nuclear proliferation. Email him at d_kyne@hotmail.com and visit his website, www.denniskyne.com. --------------------------------- ALL-NEW Yahoo! Messenger - all new features - even more fun! [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Help save the life of a child. Support St. Jude Children's Research Hospital's 'Thanks & Giving.' http://us.click.yahoo.com/0iazvD/5WnJAA/xGEGAA/Sj.0lB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> [Brought to you by HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK] Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/du-watch/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: du-watch-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ ***************************************************************** 34 [DU-WATCH] DU in NM, USA Date: Sun, 23 Jan 2005 01:54:20 -0600 (CST) "depleted uranium from a proposed uranium factory near Eunice is low-level radioactive waste" http://www.krqe.com/environment/expanded.asp?RECORD_KEY%5BEnvironment%5D=ID&ID%5BEnvironment%5D=8253 Posted: 1/18/2005 NRC: plant waste 'low level' Source: AP ALBUQUERQUE -- The Nuclear Regulatory Commission concludes that depleted uranium from a proposed uranium factory near Eunice is low-level radioactive waste. Louisiana Energy Services wants to build a $1.2 billion facility to refine uranium for nuclear reactors. Two conservation groups which have intervened to protest the proposed plant. They challenged the company's strategy for disposing of waste from the enrichment process. State officials and others have raised concerns because the uranium enrichment process produces a type of waste that cannot be disposed of anywhere in the United States. One option would be for LES to turn it over to the US Department of Energy. The NRC says that's legal because the waste is low level. ---------- No outgoing virus discovered by AVG. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.300 / Virus Database: 265.7.0 - Release Date: 17/01/2005 [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Give the gift of life to a sick child. Support St. Jude Children's Research Hospital's 'Thanks & Giving.' http://us.click.yahoo.com/3iazvD/6WnJAA/xGEGAA/Sj.0lB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> [Brought to you by HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK] Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/du-watch/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: du-watch-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ ***************************************************************** 35 [DU-WATCH] Dr. John Gofman, A Nuclear Researcher Who Refuses To Date: Sun, 23 Jan 2005 00:22:35 -0600 (CST) Dr. John Gofman, A Nuclear Researcher Who Refuses To Lie About Radiation Dangers http://www.ratical.org/radiation/NGP/DrJohnGofman.html extract: "Gofman describes the Department of Energy's wish list which is to sell to the public the following beliefs: "Hormesis: that a little radiation is good for you. "If hormesis cannot be sold to the public, the next best outcome would be evidence supporting a threshold dose of radiation below which no harm at all occurs. (This has become exceedingly common since Chernobyl.) "If neither of these can be sold to the public, the next best "product" is the claim that a dose of radiation is far less harmful if it is received slowly over time, than if the same dose is received all at once. (Since 1980, the false claim that radiation received over time is two to ten times less harmful than in a single dose is invoked to reduce the cancers to the atomic bomb by a factor of up to ten and is applied to predictions about the slow doses from Chernobyl.) "Gofman researched a specific example from medical history. In Nova Scotia and Massachusetts fluoroscopy was used to monitor pneumo-thorax treatment of women with tuberculosis in the 1930s, 40s and 50s. In 1965 Dr. Ian McKenzie of Nova Scotia discovered that breast cancer was caused by these hundreds of treatments. Yet the low dose of each individual exposure was deemed safe at the time. Fifteen to 20 years later breast cancer became epidemic among these women." *** NUKES . . . aren't just for breakfast anymore! http://www.nukes.org/nukefood.html "I have come up with a logical, practical, and ethical solution for one of the most pressing unsolved long-term problems facing the modern scientific and political establishment: what to do with NUCLEAR WASTE! THE FACTS: In the United States of America today, despite our technological prowess, we have no method for the disposal of our ever-accumulating nuclear waste. {The common industry practice is to store waste on-site, that is, all the waste being generated in nuclear reactors is being thrown into temporary holding areas on the grounds of the power plants, awaiting some future disposal solution.} This is a national embarassment, not just a health hazard, and a catastrophe waiting to happen. It is unethical to expose anyone to nuclear radiations without their consent. HORMESIS: a theory, popular among the proponents of nuclear energy, that exposure to low levels of ionizing radiation is good for you. While this is just a theory, with no conclusive evidence to support it, it is a valid belief, or faith. (note: this theory nicely obviates the ethical dilemma noted above, by claiming benefits, rather than deaths for exposure to low levels of ionizing radiation.) THE SOLUTION: A voluntary program of nuclear waste ingestion. Those people who believe that radiation can be good for you should be given the opportunity to be exposed. Anyone who does not consent to exposure will not be forced to participate. COROLLARIES: It should be noted that a similar volunteer program should be implemented in the siting of nuclear reactors in the future (that is, if the public resistance that has stopped all production of planned reactors is ever overcome through media/propaganda campaigns, such as the lovely lie that nuclear power is environmentally friendly just because it's poisons are invisible!). You might object that after a hormesis believer ingests his/her dose of radioactive material they must necessarily expel it, thus providing a pathway of entry into the environment. The obvious answer to this is that the believers in hormesis should eat **it." ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Help save the life of a child. Support St. Jude Children's Research Hospital's 'Thanks & Giving.' http://us.click.yahoo.com/0iazvD/5WnJAA/xGEGAA/Sj.0lB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> [Brought to you by HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK] Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/du-watch/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: du-watch-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ ***************************************************************** 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: *****************************************************************