-------- Original Message --------
Heads roll at Veterans Administration
Mushrooming depleted uranium (DU) scandal blamed
by Bob Nichols
Project Censored Award Winner
2/2/05 S.F. Bay View
http://www.sfbayview.com/012605/headsroll012605.shtml
Considering the tons of depleted uranium used by the U.S.,
the Iraq war can truly be called a nuclear war.
Preventive Psychiatry E-Newsletter charged Monday that the
reason Veterans Affairs Secretary Anthony Principi stepped
down earlier this month was the growing scandal surrounding
the use of uranium munitions in the Iraq War.
Writing in Preventive Psychiatry E-Newsletter No. 169,
Arthur N. Bernklau, executive director of Veterans for
Constitutional Law in New York, stated, "The real reason for
Mr. Principi’s departure was really never given, however a
special report published by eminent scientist Leuren Moret
naming depleted uranium as the definitive cause of the ‘Gulf
War Syndrome’ has fed a growing scandal about the continued
use of uranium munitions by the US Military."
Bernklau continued, "This malady (from uranium munitions),
that thousands of our military have suffered and died from,
has finally been identified as the cause of this sickness,
eliminating the guessing. The terrible truth is now being
revealed."
He added, "Out of the 580,400 soldiers who served in GW1
(the first Gulf War), of them, 11,000 are now dead! By the
year 2000, there were 325,000 on Permanent Medical
Disability. This astounding number of ‘Disabled Vets’ means
that a decade later, 56% of those soldiers who served have
some form of permanent medical problems!" The disability
rate for the wars of the last century was 5 percent; it was
higher, 10 percent, in Viet Nam.
"The VA Secretary (Principi) was aware of this fact as far
back as 2000," wrote Bernklau. "He, and the Bush
administration have been hiding these facts, but now, thanks
to Moret’s report, (it) ... is far too big to hide or to
cover up!"
"Terry Jamison, Public Affairs Specialist, Office of the
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs, Department of
Veterans Affairs, at the VA Central Office, recently
reported that ‘Gulf Era Veterans’ now on medical disability,
since 1991, number 518,739 Veterans," said Berklau.
"The long-term effects have revealed that DU (uranium oxide)
is a virtual death sentence," stated Berklau. "Marion Fulk,
a nuclear physical chemist, who retired from the Lawrence
Livermore Nuclear Weapons Lab, and was also involved with
the Manhattan Project, interprets the new and rapid
malignancies in the soldiers (from the 2003 Iraq War) as
‘spectacular … and a matter of concern!’"
When asked if the main purpose of using DU was for
"destroying things and killing people," Fulk was more
specific: "I would say it is the perfect weapon for killing
lots of people!"
Principi could not be reached for comment prior to deadline.
References
1. Depleted uranium: Dirty bombs, dirty missiles, dirty
bullets: A death sentence here and abroad" by Leuren Moret,
http://www.sfbayview.com/081804/Depleteduranium081804.shtml.
2. Veterans for Constitutional Law, 112 Jefferson Ave., Port
Jefferson NY 11777, Arthur N. Bernklau, executive director,
(516) 474-4261, fax 516-474-1968.
3. Preventive Psychiatry E-Newsletter. Email Gary Kohls,
gkohls@cpinternet.com, with Subscribe" in the subject line.
Email Bob Nichols at bobnichols@cox.net.
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21 [du-list] UK DU - First appeal under data freedom act
Date: Sun, 06 Feb 2005 07:15:51 -0800
VICKY COLLINS, Environment Correspondent, UK Herald,
February 02 2005
http://www.theherald.co.uk/politics/32658-print.shtml">http://www.theherald.co.uk/politics/32658-print.shtml
A MSP has lodged the first appeal in Scotland under freedom of
information laws which came into effect at the beginning of the
year.
Chris Ballance, Green list MSP for south Scotland, made the
complaint to Kevin Dunion, the information commissioner, after
the Common Services Agency (CSA) refused to release figures on
child leukaemia cases along the Solway coast in Dumfries and
Galloway.
Campaigners claim there are an unusually high number of cases in
the area, which they believe are linked to test firing of
depleted uranium shells into the Solway Firth by the MoD.
The CSA refused because it said there was a risk of revealing the
identity of living individuals, which would breach the Data
Protection Act 1998. This would make it exempt from the Freedom
of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.
*****************************************************************
22 [du-list] Russian Man Says Toxic Uranium for Weight Lifting
Date: Sun, 06 Feb 2005 07:17:11 -0800
2- Russia - Body building with uranium
REUTERS RUSSIA: January 31, 2005
www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/29273/story.htm">http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/29273/story.htm
MOSCOW - Russian police seized highly radioactive depleted
uranium from an amateur weightlifter who said he used it
instead of dumbbells, media reported on Friday.
The unnamed man had almost 40 kg of uranium-238 -- a
high-density toxic material mainly used in gun ammunition --
stashed in his car when customs police stopped him for
checks in the central Volga region, Itar-Tass news agency
reported.
"The container had uranium in it and was registered in the
customs declaration as 'weight lifting equipment'," Tass
quoted one customs official as saying.
The official added the man said he had found the container
at a scrap yard and used it to develop his muscles.
Depleted uranium, if mixed with other materials, could be
used to make a "dirty bomb" that spreads radioactivity when
it explodes, experts say. But it cannot be used in a nuclear
bomb.
Russia has the world's second biggest nuclear arsenal after
the United States. It is under international pressure to do
more to protect its atomic sites from theft and prevent
sensitive materials from reaching the black market.
----
Russia - Body building with uranium
(Source: Shenzhen Daily/Agencies) 2005-02-01 13:06:31
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-02/01/content_2534499.htm">http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-02/01/content_2534499.htm
BEIJING, Feb. 1 -- Russian police seized highly radioactive
depleted uranium from an amateur weightlifter who said he used it
instead of dumbbells.
The unidentified man had almost 40 kilograms of uranium-238
— a high-density toxic material mainly used in gun ammunition —
stashed in his car when police stopped him for a customs check in
the Federal Volga District, Itar-Tass news agency reported.
"The container had uranium in it and was registered in the
customs declaration as ‘weightlifting equipment,’" a customs
official was quoted as saying.
The official said the man said he had found the container at
a scrap yard and used it to develop his muscles.
*****************************************************************
23 [du-list] Customs service seizes depleted uranium in Russia region
Date: Sun, 06 Feb 2005 07:17:41 -0800
28.01.2005, 13.28 (Itar-Tass)
MOSCOW, January 28 - The customs service in a Volga region
has seized more than 37 kilograms of depleted uranium.
A spokesman at the Federal Customs Service told Itar-Tass on
Friday that workers of the Orenburg customs service spotted
the dangerous cargo on Wednesday during examination of a car
with a radiation detector.
The radiation-emitting object was a cylindrical protective
container intended for remote manipulation with radioactive
substances.
It contained 37.5 kilograms of uranium-238, which is a
depleted form.
An owner of the container described it in a customs
declaration as a "dumb-bell". He said he had found it at a
dump and used it for exercise and sometimes straightened
nails with it.
Specialists are looking for the origin of the container.
A criminal case on an attempt of contraband of a radioactive
substance has been opened.
Specialists of the Russian Agency of Atomic Energy told
Itar-Tass that neither a conventional nor "dirty" bomb could
be made from the confiscated amount of uranium.
Uranium-238 is one of the most available elements in the
earth crust. About 60,000 tonnes of uranium a year is
extracted in the world.
*****************************************************************
24 Newtown CT Bee: depleted uraniun: Support The Troops; Ignore The
Date: Sun, 06 Feb 2005 07:19:43 -0800
Crippled now,
My service done:
Ignored by all
In Washington.
Veterans of World War II were much admired. They fought in a
popular conflict that gave our nation great satisfaction. If they
made it home, they were heroes. We gave them housing, health
care, education, and jobs. The American Legion and VFW were
pillars of the local community and the nation.
But that was then and this is now. Our wars since 1945
have been more ambiguous, as have the reflections of our
returning troops. As history casts shadows over some of those
conflicts, it simultaneously darkens the image of those who
fought. The soldiers may have been heroic, but their cause
painfully tainted.
Equally corrosive to veteran stature is the nature of
their wounds. In Vietnam the culprit was Agent Orange. In the
Gulf it was poisoned air and depleted uranium. These victims have
not suffered heroic injuries in the eyes of Washington. Indeed
the Pentagon does what it can to hush its responsibility for
them, since our sister nations take a dim view of the morality of
all those weapons. As living evidence of their widespread use,
vets are thus shunted into obscurity and urged to fend for
themselves.
And now we have a war where even traditional wounds are
an embarrassment. Photos of our injured and dying GIs, which used
to spur us to greater patriotism, are prohibited. This time they
might spur us to greater protest. Returnees, both dead and
afflicted, are thus ignored by the White House and by the press.
Indeed one vet has made his momentary mark by contesting the
invoice he received for his meals while recovering at an army
hospital.
In addition you can well understand why the Pentagon
wants to keep down its expenditures for those who come home. It
needs all its cash for the contractors who are still there. Big
corporations now carry out many tasks that soldiers once
performed, but unlike those soldiers, they get paid big bucks.
That's where the bulk of our war budget goes.
But when a vet finally does return to home and hearth you
might suppose that at the very least he would be well cared for.
Forget it. The president has reduced the income threshold for
entitlement to health care. Now if you earn more than $25,000
from all sources, you're medically on your own. Consequently
whole regiments of vets have no health insurance at all, while
damage to their lungs, brains, and nervous systems is not
considered "service-connected." Nor are there any longer housing
programs, so traumatized vets are homeless far beyond their ratio
in the community.
All this leaves Connecticut in a bit of a bind. You'd
think that veterans would be a responsibility of the federal
government, but what do you do when the feds shirk? These are our
own heroes - we can't just let them lie in the street. Thus there
exists a state Veterans Home and Hospital in Rocky Hill. While a
great resource, it has a long been a haven of patronage and
underfunding. This hardly comes as a shock, since policymakers
understandably feel that the federal Veterans Administration
should be ministering to all returnees' needs at its own
facilities in West Haven and Newington.
So perhaps out of frustration that Washington is treating our
National Guardsmen, among others, so shabbily, several new
proposals are suddenly circulating in Hartford. One scheme of the
lieutenant governor's would relieve Connecticut guardsmen and
reservists of income and property taxes while serving in combat
zones. Another would make those same guardsman eligible for
benefits from the Soldiers', Sailors' and Marines' Fund. A third
would create a special legislative committee to focus, at last,
on veterans' needs.
These are all small potatoes, but they reflect
understandable offense at the administration's neglect of our
returning servicemen.
(Columnist William A. Collins is a former state
representative and a former mayor of Norwalk.)
Support The Troops; Ignore The Vets
By William A. Collins, Newtown CT Bee, January 27, 2005
Crippled now,
My service done:
Ignored by all
In Washington.
Veterans of World War II were much admired. They fought in a
popular conflict that gave our nation great satisfaction. If
they made it home, they were heroes. We gave them housing,
health care, education, and jobs. The American Legion and
VFW were pillars of the local community and the nation.
But that was then and this is now. Our wars since 1945 have
been more ambiguous, as have the reflections of our
returning troops. As history casts shadows over some of
those conflicts, it simultaneously darkens the image of
those who fought. The soldiers may have been heroic, but
their cause painfully tainted.
Equally corrosive to veteran stature is the nature of their
wounds. In Vietnam the culprit was Agent Orange. In the Gulf
it was poisoned air and depleted uranium. These victims have
not suffered heroic injuries in the eyes of Washington.
Indeed the Pentagon does what it can to hush its
responsibility for them, since our sister nations take a dim
view of the morality of all those weapons. As living
evidence of their widespread use, vets are thus shunted into
obscurity and urged to fend for themselves.
And now we have a war where even traditional wounds are an
embarrassment. Photos of our injured and dying GIs, which
used to spur us to greater patriotism, are prohibited. This
time they might spur us to greater protest. Returnees, both
dead and afflicted, are thus ignored by the White House and
by the press. Indeed one vet has made his momentary mark by
contesting the invoice he received for his meals while
recovering at an army hospital.
In addition you can well understand why the Pentagon wants
to keep down its expenditures for those who come home. It
needs all its cash for the contractors who are still there.
Big corporations now carry out many tasks that soldiers once
performed, but unlike those soldiers, they get paid big
bucks. That's where the bulk of our war budget goes.
But when a vet finally does return to home and hearth you
might suppose that at the very least he would be well cared
for. Forget it. The president has reduced the income
threshold for entitlement to health care. Now if you earn
more than $25,000 from all sources, you're medically on your
own. Consequently whole regiments of vets have no health
insurance at all, while damage to their lungs, brains, and
nervous systems is not considered "service-connected." Nor
are there any longer housing programs, so traumatized vets
are homeless far beyond their ratio in the community.
All this leaves Connecticut in a bit of a bind. You'd think
that veterans would be a responsibility of the federal
government, but what do you do when the feds shirk? These
are our own heroes - we can't just let them lie in the
street. Thus there exists a state Veterans Home and Hospital
in Rocky Hill. While a great resource, it has a long been a
haven of patronage and underfunding. This hardly comes as a
shock, since policymakers understandably feel that the
federal Veterans Administration should be ministering to all
returnees' needs at its own facilities in West Haven and
Newington.
So perhaps out of frustration that Washington is treating
our National Guardsmen, among others, so shabbily, several
new proposals are suddenly circulating in Hartford. One
scheme of the lieutenant governor's would relieve
Connecticut guardsmen and reservists of income and property
taxes while serving in combat zones. Another would make
those same guardsman eligible for benefits from the
Soldiers', Sailors' and Marines' Fund. A third would create
a special legislative committee to focus, at last, on
veterans' needs.
These are all small potatoes, but they reflect
understandable offense at the administration's neglect of
our returning servicemen.
(Columnist William A. Collins is a former state
representative and a former mayor of Norwalk.)
*****************************************************************
25 Times of India: 2 held with weapons-grade uranium-
LALIT KUMAR
TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 05, 2005 02:00:05 PM ]
BAREILLY: Cops at Izzatnagar police station here could hardly
believe their ears when a duo they had detained on the suspicion
of being small-time drug peddlers said that the thick-taped
plates recovered from them contained radioactive uranium.
The metal plates were recovered from Khurshid and Aslam on
December 8. The plates were in a lead-lined sophisticated metal
box. The sceptical cops booked the two for possession of opium
and, almost as an afterthought, sent the metal to Bhabha Atomic
Research Centre (BARC) in Mumbai for examination.
Jaws of the police brass fell when the BARC report stated that
the 253.6 gram of dense gray metal was 99 per cent uranium by
weight. The significance of this was stunning: the technology
for making atom bomb is readily available, whats not is
enriched uranium as it can only be processed by state-owned
sophisticated facilities.
Naturally, the discovery has now triggered a huge investigation
by Central and state investigative agencies to get to the bottom
of the mystery. How did the nondescript duo get hold of
weapons-grade uranium? And where was it headed?
When asked by TOI , senior police sources didnt rule out the
possibility of the uranium having come from the Narora atomic
facility in Bulandshahr district. The CISF senior commandant at
Narora Atomic Power Station has written to the Bareilly SSP for
information about the recovered matter.
Intriguingly, a list naming substances with specific industrial
use was recovered from the two arrested persons.
Unfortunately for investigators, the initial delay meant that
the man named by Khurshid and Aslam as the supplier of the
metal, a Nagpur-based scrap dealer by the colourful name of
Mahboob Bhai Germanwale, had died in the interim period.
Izzatnagar house officer R R Mishra feels that the duo could be
tossing up a red herring by naming Germanwale. "In any case, how
were we expected to believe that the metal carried by these
apparent small-timers could help make a nuclear bomb?"
Copyright © 2005 Times Internet Limited. All rights reserved. ||
*****************************************************************
26 Sunday Herald: Nuclear watchdog exposes safety crisis -
Staff shortages, heavy workloads and industrial disputes put
power stations at risk
By Rob Edwards, Environment Editor
THE safety of Britains nuclear power stations is being put at
risk by staff shortages, heavy workloads and a prolonged
industrial dispute at the governments nuclear watchdog.
The Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII), which guards
against accidents and spillages at over 20 nuclear sites around
the country, is facing one of the worst crises in its history.
It is struggling to cope with mounting demands for safety
regulation at the same time as suffering a severe shortage of
nuclear inspectors.
Front-line inspections of nuclear plants have had to be cut
back, while a backlog of other work has built up. Prolonged
reduction of inspection will undermine our ability to
effectively monitor the safety performance of the nuclear
industry, warned Laurence Williams, who has just quit as the
NIIs chief inspector.
He said that the inspectorates increasing workload is starting
to detract from our regulatory oversight. Inspectors are having
to help set up the governments Nuclear Decommissioning Authority
in April, to reorganise the major nuclear companies, British
Nuclear Fuels and British Energy, and to combat new threats from
terrorists.
But at the same time the NII is having serious difficulties in
recruiting new inspectors. An advertising campaign last year
failed to attract many applicants, leaving the inspectorate, as
at February 1, 14 inspectors short of its target of 179.
There is a growing backlog of work that is being delayed or not
being done and this, together with new work arising from
industry programmes, concerns me, Williams said. He left the NII
at the end of December and is due to start work with the Nuclear
Decommissioning Authority this month.
The crisis at the NII has been deepened by an unpublicised
work-to-rule by nuclear inspectors over the last 18 months.
Backed by their trade union, Prospect, they have been refusing
to work any unpaid overtime in protest against a 10% drop in
their real rates of pay over the last 10 years.
Their industrial action is part of a wider dispute by all
inspectors at the governments Health and Safety Executive (HSE),
which includes the railway and hazardous installations
inspectorates as well as the NII. There is a huge amount of
frustration within the HSE, said Prospects negotiations officer,
Mike Macdonald.
Over time there will be a rundown of the service provided and
the reputation of the HSE as an employer. This undermines the
credibility of the NII which is crucial for safety.
He confessed to being jumpy about the risk of a nuclear accident
or a leak of radioactive waste. Even when the impact is very
low, the general public is extremely anxious, he said.
Macdonald attacked the Treasury for being insensitive to the
plight of inspectors, who earn between £40,000 and £54,000 a
year, less than equivalent safety engineers in the nuclear
operating companies.
Macdonald warned that his members would soon have to choose
between accepting a pay cut or escalating their industrial
action which might jeopardise safety.
The combination of pressures afflicting the NII have sparked
anxiety and alarm outside the nuclear industry. It is important
that the nuclear industry continues to be regulated effectively
and frontline inspection is a key part of that, said Ian
Jackson, an expert nuclear consultant based in Cheshire.
Pete Roche, a consultant to the environmental group Greenpeace,
said it was extremely frightening that the NII had cut its
inspections of nuclear plants. He argued that inspections should
be increasing because of the cracks that had been recently
discovered in the graphite bricks that surround reactor cores.
Unexpected graphite cracking has been discovered by British
Energy at the Hartlepool nuclear station in England. There are
also fears that cracking might shorten the lives of Scottish
nuclear stations at Torness in East Lothian and Hunterston in
North Ayrshire, though this has been played down by British
Energy.
Any reduction in a stations lifetime has such serious financial
implications for the company that we need a strong regulator to
make sure that safety remains paramount. It mustnt be sidelined
by short-term economic considerations, Roche said.
Other nuclear sites inspected by the NII in Scotland are the
Dounreay complex at Caithness and the reactors being
decommissioned at Chapelcross in Dumfries and Galloway. Nuclear
inspectors also monitor activities at military nuclear
facilities, including the Rosyth naval dockyard on the Firth of
Forth and the nuclear submarine bases on the Firth of Clyde.
In order to combat the staff shortages, the NII said it is
having to keep inspectors working beyond their normal retirement
age. It has also launched a new recruitment campaign aimed at
bringing in 17 new inspectors.
The government minister of state for work, Jane Kennedy, has
been told by the NIIs new acting chief inspector, Dr Mike
Weightman, that industrial action has reduced front-line
activities but this has not resulted in an inadequate level of
nuclear regulatory oversight to date.
The minister has also been kept informed of the staffing and
workload problems facing the NII, and plans to discuss them
further, an NII spokesman said.
NII management are continuously re-prioritising the work done by
inspectors to ensure that safety-critical issues are dealt with.
06 February 2005
© newsquest (sunday herald) limited. all rights reserved
*****************************************************************
27 Mohave Daily News: Survivors cram board room with tales of radiation fallout
By JIM SECKLER
Saturday, February 5, 2005 7:33 PM PST
KINGMAN - More than a hundred people jammed into the county
Board of Supervisors meeting room Friday to tearfully relate
stories of the deaths of loved ones from nuclear testing in
Nevada.
Robert Cope, program manager at the Arizona Radiation Regulatory
Agency in Phoenix heard story after story of nieces, nephews,
uncles and aunts who succumbed to various cancers after being
exposed to nuclear radiation fallout.
Jan. 27 was the 54th anniversary of the beginning of the nuclear
weapons testing at the Nevada test site during the 1950s and
1960s.
Vigils have been held by "downwinders" throughout the country
since 1976, according to Eleanore Fanire, co-founder of Mohave
Downwinders, an advocacy group for victims in Mohave County.
Fanire, who grew up in Kingman, said many families living in
Bullhead City and Needles as well as in Kingman during the 1950s
were affected from the nuclear fallout.
Like dozens of others, June Gransoldati spoke Friday of her
niece Kelly Tutch, a nurse at the Kingman Regional Medical
Center who died last year from cancer at the age of 48.
Cope will take the testimonies back to a panel of the National
Academy of Science in Washington, D.C.
In March, the NAS and the Department of Justice will decide
which of 20 counties in five Western states will be added in the
Radiation Exposure Compensation Act.
Congress passed the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act in 1990
but did not include all the residents of the Mohave County from
seeking compensation for being exposed to the nuclear radiation.
In November 2003, the Mohave County Board of Supervisors drafted
a resolution to Congress to include victims living in the entire
county.
The Department of Justice, which carries out the compensation
program, stated that residents in the Arizona Strip or north of
the Grand Canyon are included in the program but residents
living south of the Grand Canyon are not.
One theory why most of the county was excluded from the
compensation act may be because of a mix up in the spelling of
Mohave versus Mojave.
After World War II, the United States exploded nuclear weapons
above ground during the 1950s at the Nevada test site and after
a treaty with the former Soviet Union in the early 1960s
conducted nuclear tests underground.
The radiation fallout from the above ground testing blanketed
residents of southeastern Nevada, Northwest Arizona and southern
Utah.
Radiation waste and rocket fuel additives have also found their
way into the Colorado River, which some consider the country's
most threatened river.
The 1990 law created a $100 million fund to compensate victims
who lived downwind from the test. An amendment later removed the
$100 million ceiling so test site workers could share in the
compensation.
Those who can claim compensation are uranium miners, uranium
millers, ore transporters, onsite participants and downwinders,
or those who lived down wind from the test site.
All or parts of five other Arizona counties, Yavapai, Coconino,
Gila, Apache and Navajo counties are included in the program.
Only the northern section of Clark County in Nevada is covered.
The 1990 act grants payments of $50,000 for downwinders who were
physically present down wind from the test site, the DOJ report
stated.
Currently, the downwinders must have lived or worked in the
Arizona counties from 1951 to 1958 or during June and July of
1962 to qualify for compensation, the DOJ report states.
Specific diseases include leukemia, lung cancer, multiple
myeloma, and thyroid, breast, stomach and other cancers.
Tri-State Online // Mohave Daily News
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2435 Miracle Mile / Bullhead City, Arizona 86442-7311 /
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28 Paducah Sun: Nuclear workers to hear radiation exposure report -
Officials with the National Institute of Occupational Safety and
Health and Oak Ridge Associated Universities will talk to
Paducah workers.
By Joe Walker jwalker@paducahsun.com 270.575.8656
Saturday, February 05, 2005
Nuclear workers will meet at 10 a.m. Thursday at the Cherry
Civic Center with federal scientists who compiled a profile of
historic radiation exposure at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion
Plant.
Representatives of the National Institute of Occupational Safety
and Health in Atlanta and Oak Ridge Associated Universities in
Oak Ridge, Tenn., will talk with workers about the report, said
Leon Owens, worker-health liaison for the local nuclear workers'
union.
Although the profile was for radiation exposure only, workers
think it should be expanded to cover work areas and toxins to
help speed up claims under a new program to compensate them for
toxic exposure, Owens said. Another concern is that the profile
relies heavily on exposure data from the Energy Department,
which was incomplete until recent years.
NIOSH spokesman Fred Blosser said last month that the agency is
not directly involved with the toxic-exposure program, and the
site profile was compiled for a separate program that
compensates workers for radiation-induced cancer and beryllium
disease. He encouraged those with concerns about the profile to
contact the agency by phoning 513-533-6800 or by e-mail at
ocas@cdc.gov.
Owens said Thursday's meeting will allow the scientists to
explain how and why the profile was done, and give workers a
chance for feedback. "We'll limit the talks to the Paducah site
profile and won't get into the claims program because they're
not equipped to discuss claims," he said.
Afterward, workers will be invited to the union hall on Cairo
Road to meet with representatives of the local Labor Department
claims office and an Energy Department-sponsored health
screening program, he said.
"If they haven't filed a claim, they can do that," Owens said.
"We're trying to cover all those bases."
In four years, the Labor Department has paid about $175 million
to Paducah workers with cancer or beryllium disease. About 1,000
Paducah cases have been referred to NIOSH to determine if there
was a link between exposure and disease.
Last October, Congress expanded legislation to pay claims for
toxic exposure by relying more heavily on plant profiles. The
law provides for input from workers to fill exposure gaps, Owens
said.
Workers with beryllium disease or various types of
radiation-induced cancers are entitled to $150,000 lump-sum
payments. The expanded law provides for up to $250,000 for
workers exposed to various other toxins. Some of the sickest
workers could get as much as $400,000 under both programs.
There are an estimated 3,000 toxic-exposure claims at Paducah
that backlogged under a program formerly run by the Energy
Department. It will be summer before the Labor Department has
rules, procedures and staffing to start paying most of those
claims.
Claims may be filed at the Paducah Energy Employees Compensation
Resource Center, 125 Memorial Drive, next to Milner & Orr
Funeral Home off Blandville Road. Phone: 534-0599 or toll-free
866-534-0599. E-mail: paducah.center@eh.doe.
*****************************************************************
29 SABCnews.com: Namibia says Iran did not buy uranium from mine
africa/southern_africa
South African Broadcasting Corporation Copyright ©
2000 - 2003 SABC
February 05, 2005, 14:30
Records show Namibia's Rossing mine has not sold uranium to
Iran, accused by the United States of secretly pursuing nuclear
weapons, in the past 15 years although Tehran has a stake in the
firm, Namibia said today.
Asser Mudhika, Namibia's director of Mines, said shareholders do
not influence the sales policy of Rossing Uranium Ltd, the
world's biggest open-pit uranium mine. Graham Davidson, the
general manager for operations at Rossing, said in a letter last
week that Iran had had a 15% stake in Rossing since 1975. The
US-backed shah ruled Iran until the 1979 Islamic revolution.
"When the mine is going to export uranium it must get
authorisation from the ministry, signed by the minister,
specifying how many tonnes the mine is selling," Mudhika said.
The ministry keeps track of exports and their destinations,
providing this information to the International Atomic Energy
Agency in Vienna, he added.
The records date from 1990, when Namibia became independent and
the current government took power, he added. Rossing, which is
majority owned by Anglo-Australian firm Rio Tinto, sells its
uranium to nuclear power plants in the United States, Japan,
South Korea and Sweden.
Davidson had said there were no contracts with Iran for the sale
of milled uranium oxide, better known as "yellowcake". The
company did not respond to a question on whether Tehran had
purchased any Rossing uranium in the past. Yellowcake cannot be
used directly in bombs. It must be processed into uranium
hexafluoride and fed into centrifuges for high-speed
purification before it can be used to make nuclear weapons - a
complicated and time-consuming process. Iran insists that its
nuclear programme is entirely peaceful and is intended to meet
the country's growing power needs. - Reuters
*****************************************************************
30 Deseret News: Ban on hotter nuclear waste progresses
[deseretnews.com]
Saturday, February 5, 2005
A prohibition on hotter nuclear waste was
easily confirmed by a House committee Friday.
After moving quickly through the Senate and being passed
unanimously earlier this week, SB24 was met with no opposition at
a hearing before the House Natural Resources, Agricultural and
Environment Committee. The bill would ban class B and C nuclear
waste in Utah, as well as any non-nuclear hazordous waste hotter
than the currently permitted class A waste.
Sponsoring Sen. Curtis Bramble, R-Provo, said that the bill was
simply putting into state law what was already not permitted
without the approval of the governor or the legislature.
"It's been illegal to bring B and C waste into the state right
now, even without this bill," he said.
*****************************************************************
31 Daily Yomiuri: Fukui gov. OK's Monju modification
Yomiuri Shimbun
Fukui Gov. Issei Nishikawa on Sunday approved a government plan
to modify the Monju fast-breeder nuclear reactor in Tsuruga,
Fukui Prefecture, paving the way for the resumption of
operations at the nuclear facility, which has been shut down
since a 1995 sodium leak accident.
Nishikawa met with Education, Science and Technology Minister
Nariaki Nakayama at the prefectural government office in Fukui
and announced his approval of the construction plan.
If construction and safety tests proceed as scheduled, Monju
will be able to begin full operations in 2008.
Meanwhile, Japan's first private nuclear fuel reprocessing plant
in Rokkashomura, Aomori Prefecture, has been conducting tests
with an eye toward beginning operations next summer.
With Nishikawa's approval for Monju's modification, the two
projects that are essential to the government's nuclear fuel
recycling policy have finally started moving forward, government
sources said.
During talks with the education minister, Nishikawa said he
appreciated the government's efforts to confirm the safety of
the reactor and its support for his plan to utilize nuclear
facilities for revitalization of the prefecture. The governor
said he would sign off on the government's request to modify the
nuclear reactor.
The government plans to modify the temperature gauge in the
reactor that led to the sodium coolant leak, and enhance other
safety measures. The modifications will take two years to
complete and cost 18 billion yen. Since another year is needed
for final tests, official resumption of operations will take at
least three years, the government sources added.
The government approved the modification plan submitted in June
2001 by the state-run Japan Nuclear Cycle Development Institute,
Monju's operator, in December 2002.
But Nishikawa deferred his decision and set measures for the
development of the prefecture as a condition for approving the
modifications, including the extension of the Hokuriku
Shinkansen bullet train line and the establishment of nuclear
power research facilities in the prefecture.
A Nagoya High Court ruling in January 2003 nullified government
approval granted in 1983 to build Monju, but the Supreme Court
accepted the government's appeal of the ruling and is scheduled
to hold oral proceedings in March, suggesting a possible
overturn of the high court ruling.
The Atomic Energy Commission also is expected to decide to
continue to develop fast-breeder nuclear reactors, with Monju as
its core project, at the meeting scheduled for Thursday.
Fast-breeder nuclear reactors such as Monju transform
uranium-238, which cannot be used as a nuclear fuel, into
plutonium-239, which can. In addition, it produces plutonium at
a higher rate than it consumes uranium. The fuel for the fast
breeder nuclear reactors is extracted from spent fuel from
nuclear fuel processing plants.
Copyright 2005 The Yomiuri Shimbun
*****************************************************************
32 Las Vegas SUN: Nevada panel optimistic Yucca Mountain project can be killed
ASSOCIATED PRESS
CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) - A proposed southern Nevada nuclear
waste dump is on the "verge of collapse" because of legal and
budgetary setbacks, a report by a state board concludes.
The Nevada Commission on Nuclear Projects, which oversees the
state's fight against the dump at Yucca Mountain, called the
project a "dead man walking" and expressed optimism that it
could be killed.
The report was delivered to Gov. Kenny Guinn and the Legislature
just before Monday's start of the 2005 session. The panel is
urging legislators to continue funding the state's anti-Yucca
Mountain efforts.
"While the proposed Southern Nevada repository may be in the
category of a `dead man walking,' much remains to be done in the
next two years to assure the state does, in fact, prevail," the
seven-member panel wrote.
Energy Department spokesman Joe Davis disputed the report. "We
continue to move forward," he told the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Former Nevada Gov. Bob List, a consultant to the Nuclear Energy
Institute, said the report was designed to boost support for the
anti-Yucca Mountain campaign in the Legislature.
"There's quite a lot of hyperbole in there," List said. "One of
the clear objectives is to promote and justify the expenditure
of state dollars to underwrite the costs of this fight."
The 32-page report recounted DOE delays after a federal court
last year rejected proposed radiation standards for the
underground waste dump. New standards are being developed.
The report predicted DOE would run into broad opposition
whenever it announces details of a nationwide nuclear waste
shipping campaign.
The state is making inroads against Yucca Mountain because of
the aggressiveness of its lawyers and Energy Department
missteps, the report added.
"DOE's problems, many of them the result of the department's own
politicized science and mismanagement, continue to mount,"
commission Chairman Brian McKay said in the report.
Construction of the waste facility at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles
northwest of Las Vegas, has been a top priority of the White
House and the nuclear industry.
Plans had called for it to be completed and accepting high-level
nuclear waste by 2010. But officials have acknowledged that
schedule will not be met.
---
Information from: Las Vegas Review-Journal, http://www.lvrj.com
--
*****************************************************************
33 Las Vegas RJ: Porter to chair panel
Saturday, February 05, 2005
By STEVE TETREAULT
STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU
WASHINGTON -- Rep. Jon Porter said Friday he will have authority
to review Energy Department contracts for the Yucca Mountain
Project as the new chairman of a House civil service
subcommittee.
Porter, R-Nev., said leadership of the Civil Service and Agency
Reorganization Subcommittee gives him broad ability to
investigate issues affecting federal workers.
"We have Yucca Mountain and DOE and the role of contractors and
operations," Porter said. "We have oversight on any of the
contracts of the Department of Energy and its employees, such as
problems with the dust and the efficiency of the operations."
Porter, who was named chairman late Thursday, did not outline a
specific plan for Yucca Mountain oversight. Spokesman Adam
Mayberry said Porter had not yet determined a course.
"It's too early to talk about specifics of his role as
chairman," Mayberry said. "Those are things that are of key
interest, but how they will play out, it's just too early."
Several former Yucca Mountain miners have charged in a lawsuit
that DOE contractors failed to protect workers from exposure to
cancer-causing dust fibers during the mid-1990s when they were
carving a five-mile exploratory tunnel at the Nevada site.
The civil service subcommittee has wide jurisdiction on issues
affecting government workers, including their pay and retirement
benefits.
Porter said he plans to examine whether federal employees are
providing "customer service."
"Most Nevadans come into contact with a federal agency every
day," Porter said. "A good share of my job is spent with
constituents frustrated with the federal government.
"From a customer service standpoint, we want to make sure the
federal government is delivering the most effective services
that are possible," he said.
According to the U.S. census, there are 21,071 federal workers
in Nevada. Among others, they include McCarran International
Airport screeners, caseworkers at the Social Security
Administration and the Department of Veterans Affairs, civilian
workers at Nellis Air Force base, and land managers at the
Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Copyright Las Vegas Review-Journal
*****************************************************************
34 Las Vegas RJ: Report sees Yuccabattles paying off
Saturday, February 05, 2005
Panel urges lawmakers to continue fundingopposition to nuclear
waste repository By STEVE TETREAULT
STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU
WASHINGTON -- The board overseeing Nevada's efforts against
Yucca Mountain called the troubled project a "dead man walking"
in a report this week expressing optimism that it could be
killed.
The Nevada Commission on Nuclear Projects said the proposed
nuclear waste repository was "a program that is on the verge of
collapse" because of legal and budget setbacks.
An Energy Department spokesman disputed the report, while a
consultant to the Nuclear Energy Institute characterized it as a
sales pitch for the Nevada Legislature to continue spending on
the fight.
"There's quite a lot of hyperbole in there," said NEI
representative Bob List, a former Nevada governor.
The 32-page report recounted DOE delays brought on by legal
rulings last summer on key radiation protection rules and a
Yucca Mountain electronic document database.
It predicted DOE will run into broad opposition whenever it
announces details of a nationwide nuclear waste shipping
campaign.
The state is making inroads against Yucca Mountain due to the
aggressiveness of its lawyers and due to Energy Department
missteps, the seven-member commission said.
"DOE's problems, many of them the result of the department's
own politicized science and mismanagement, continue to mount,"
Chairman Brian McKay said in the report.
The report was delivered to Gov. Kenny Guinn and the
Legislature just before 2005 session, which opens Monday. The
commission recommended that legislators continue to fund the
state's anti-Yucca science and legal efforts.
"While the proposed Southern Nevada repository may be in the
category of a 'dead man walking,' much remains to be done in the
next two years to assure the state does, in fact, prevail," the
panel said.
DOE spokesman Joe Davis disputed the report, saying, "We
continue to move forward."
List said the report was aimed at boosting support in the
Legislature.
"One of the clear objectives is to promote and justify the
expenditure of state dollars to underwrite the costs of this
fight," List said.
Copyright Las Vegas Review-Journal
*****************************************************************
35 Las Vegas SUN: Letter: Bush fooled Nevadans twice to vote for him
February 04, 2005
LAS VEGAS SUN
WEEKEND EDITION
February 5 - 6, 2005
There's a saying, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice,
shame on me." George W. Bush hurt Southern Nevadans when he told
us during his first election campaign that Yucca Mountain would
only be developed as a nuclear-waste repository if "sound
science" determined it was safe. But then he supported it
without the necessary science.
After winning the Nevada vote again in his re-election, the
Bush administration now wants to redirect money generated from
federal land sales in Clark County to pay down the mushrooming
national deficit. This is money that currently funds local
environmental, education, water and airport infrastructure
projects, as well as parks, trails and conservation initiatives.
According to Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., "The
Bush administration on one hand is working with zeal to dump
nuclear waste in our state, and now wants to steal $1 billion
away from us." Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., agrees.
Shame on us for helping to re-elect George W. Bush.
TOM WILKINSON
*****************************************************************
36 Las Vegas SUN: President may be Nevada's biggest enemy
Columnist Jeff German: President may be Nevada's biggest enemy
Jeff German's column appears Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and
Sundays in the Sun. Reach him at german@lasvegassun.comor (702)
259-4067.
WEEKEND EDITION
February 5 - 6, 2005
Historians tell us that Nevada had a special relationship with
President Abraham Lincoln.
Our entrance into the Union on Oct. 31, 1864 came during the
Civil War and gave Lincoln the ability to demonstrate to the
Confederacy that the North was gaining in numbers. We also
helped re-elect Lincoln.
And so over the years celebrating Lincoln's birthday in
February has always been a special event for Nevada Republicans.
It has been more than just paying homage to the man who founded
the Republican Party. It has been an affirmation of their
patriotism.
Today, 140 years later, it's sort of ironic that, while Lincoln
is remembered as Nevada's greatest friend, another Republican
president, George W. Bush, could be regarded as its biggest
enemy.
Bush will forever be known as the president who, without having
the scientific facts, determined that it was safe to store the
nation's deadly nuclear waste in Nevada. He's the president who
persuaded Congress, against the overwhelming will of the people
of this state, to send the waste to Yucca Mountain, 90 miles
from Las Vegas.
That alone is enough to put Bush at the top of Nevada's enemies
list.
But this is a president whose disdain for us seemingly has no
bounds.
Bush is repaying his fervent Republican supporters for helping
re-elect him last year not by rethinking his ill-advised stance
on Yucca Mountain, but rather by trying to siphon away money
that rightfully belongs to the state.
His budget, as of late last week, included a plan to divert
$700 million a year from land sales in Clark County to the
federal treasury to help make up for the multitrillion-dollar
federal deficit the president created.
Under the Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act of 1998,
profits from the land sales are supposed to stay in the state.
The money goes toward a variety of purposes, including
education. But the majority of the funds are used to improve
parks and recreational areas and create countless conservation
and environmental projects.
The act has been a godsend for state and local officials who
are constantly trying scrape up money to fund projects for the
public good.
Back in August, during a Nevada campaign visit for Bush,
Interior Department Secretary Gale Norton said the Land
Management Act had been so successful here that it should serve
as a model for other areas of the country.
"The Nevada congressional delegation deserves to be commended
for showing great vision in developing a law which provides this
money," she said.
Norton praised the project again during another campaign stop
for the president in October.
But where is Norton now that Bush is firmly entrenched in the
White House for another four years?
If Bush is successful in funneling these millions of dollars to
Washington, the Land Management Act will be nothing but a model
to once more force Nevadans to pay the price of the president's
poor decisions.
"The president is serving up a double whammy," says former Sen.
Richard Bryan, one of the co-sponsors of the Land Management
Act. "He not only wants to dump nuclear waste here, but now he
wants to take our money. I just wish he'd leave us alone."
You're not alone on that wish, senator.
The Nevada delegation is confident that it will be able to
thwart this latest attempt to disrespect our way of life.
But how do we get the president to start treating us with the
dignity we deserve?
If only President Bush valued Nevada as much as President
Lincoln.
*****************************************************************
37 Las Vegas SUN: Northern Nevada officials criticize Bush land-sale plan
ASSOCIATED PRESS
RENO, Nev. (AP) - Northern Nevada officials have criticized a
Bush administration plan to siphon profits from the sale of
government land in Nevada to offset mounting federal deficits.
They said the proposal threatens a successful program that
designates auction proceeds for park improvements, Lake Tahoe
restoration and the purchase of environmentally sensitive land
across Nevada.
"That money has been critical in helping us," said Karen Mullen,
director of the Washoe County Parks and Recreation Department.
"I would hope we can keep as much of that money as possible so
we can continue to do the work we need to do here in Nevada."
Under the federal Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act,
proceeds from land sales in the Las Vegas area have been used to
protect thousands of acres of sensitive land from development in
northern Nevada.
Last year, Interior Secretary Gale Norton approved about $11
million to purchase 18,737 acres near the Black Rock Desert, 100
miles north of Reno.
The acreage featured private parcels surrounded by large swaths
of federal land in the Granite Range, Buffalo Hills and Wall
Canyon.
Conservationists had feared the land could be subdivided and
sold for homes.
In 2003, the land act was amended to provide for the federal
government's $300 million share of environmental restoration
projects at Lake Tahoe.
While that money probably is safe, Bush's proposal could
threaten plans to acquire sensitive land at Lake Tahoe, said
John Singlaub, executive director of the Tahoe Regional Planning
Agency.
The proposed $75 million purchase of the 770-acre Incline Lake
property east of Lake Tahoe is one potentially endangered
project, Singlaub said.
"I'm more fearful this may impact our ability to acquire some
lands up here that we're hoping for," he told the Reno
Gazette-Journal.
Nevada's congressional delegation has come out against Bush's
plan and pledged to defeat it.
The Bush administration argues the federal land sales in booming
Las Vegas are raising more money than Congress imagined when the
land act was passed in 1998.
Based on White House projections, at least $700 million a year
could be deposited in the treasury rather than spent in Nevada.
The White House has estimated the federal deficit will be $427
billion this year.
---
Information from: Reno Gazette-Journal, http://www.rgj.com
--
*****************************************************************
38 AU ninemsn: ERA faces third charge over Ranger mine
11:16 AEDT Sat Feb 5 2005
Energy Resources of Australia will face a further charge over
its controversial Ranger uranium mine in Kakadu National Park.
The Northern Territory government filed a third charge against
the uranium mining company, alleging ERA failed to ensure
machinery was adequately cleaned before it was allowed to leave
the mine site.
The company faced Darwin Magistrates Court over two earlier
charges related to a water contamination incident at the mine
last year, in which 28 workers became ill.
The case was adjourned until May 6, when it is expected the new
charge will also be heard.
NT Department of Business, Industry and Resource Development
(DBIRD) acting chief executive officer John Carroll said the
alleged radiation clearance matter was serious and warranted
prosecution.
The maximum penalty is $137,500 fine.
The new charge relates to incidents between November 2003 and
March 2004 involving two bob cats and a truck.
A spokeswoman for ERA said the company had advised the Australian
Stock Exchange of the new charge.
She said the company had passed three federal audits since the
alleged incident, with the final examination undertaken last
month.
The federal government had given the plant a "clean bill of
health", she said.
Last March 28 mine workers reported suffering from nausea,
stomach cramps and vomiting after drinking and showering in water
allegedly contaminated with 400 times the allowable limit of
uranium.
ERA shares closed down three cents at $9.50.
©AAP 2005
© 1997- 2005 ninemsn Pty Ltd - All rights reserved
*****************************************************************
39 Salt Lake Tribune: Bill to ban hotter radioactive waste gets
unanimous approval by panel
Article Last Updated: 02/05/2005 04:15:57 AM
By Patty Henetz The Salt Lake Tribune
A bill that would ban radioactive waste that is thousands of
times hotter than what is now allowed in the state advanced
Friday when a legislative committee voted unanimously to send it
to a floor vote.
Current state law requires the Legislature and the governor
to give their permission before a waste facility can accept
so-called Class B and C waste.
Senate Bill 24, sponsored by Sen. Curtis Bramble, R-Provo,
would take away the possibility of accepting anything hotter
than the currently allowable class A waste and would stop the
state from even considering such a permit.
For months, Bramble maintained that an overt ban wasn't
needed and could invite litigation. He substituted his bill to
include the ban language after Envirocare of Utah changed hands
Monday and voluntarily gave up the regulatory permit to accept B
and C waste secured by the company's former owner.
During his remarks in the crowded room of the the House
Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment Committee,
Bramble fumed about what he called misinformation about the bill
and state law covering Class B and C waste.
A task force that met on the issue for two years concluded
its work in October by recommending the state not allow the
hotter waste. That, Bramble said, plus the permit requirements
already in place meant "it has been illegal to bring B and C
waste into the state."
Rep. Margaret Dayton, R-Orem, asked if the bill would affect
a proposal to bring spent fuel rods to the Skull Valley Band of
Goshutes reservation.
Bramble said that the bill had nothing to do with the
high-level waste issue, then accused "activists" of trying to
equate the two by "invoking mushroom clouds."
"They would do all they can to confuse the issue and make
you think this has something to do with it," he said.
The bill also enhances state regulatory powers over
commercial radioactive waste facilities and makes changes to the
way those facilities are taxed.
© Copyright 2005, The Salt Lake Tribune.
*****************************************************************
40 Salt Lake Tribune - Opinion: River could undercut tailings pile
Article Last Updated: 02/05/2005 05:50:45 PM
Steve Nelson
Noel de Nevers argued in a recent opinion piece that there is
no reason to move the large uranium mill tailings pile that sits
on the bank of the Colorado River near Moab (Tribune, Sunday,
Jan 30). Unfortunately, he made factual errors or neglected to
discuss (or was unaware of) information pertinent to the problem.
First, the pile is situated on the outer bend of a meander
of the Colorado River, almost immediately adjacent to the
stream. In introductory geology classes we learn that outer
meander bends undergo erosion.
Mr. De Nevers seems to argue that the entire town of Moab
would have to be inundated in a "mega-flood" in order for the
pile to be washed away. In fact, it may only take episodic high
flows and natural wandering of the Colorado River to undercut
the tailings pile. Folks in southwestern Utah recently learned
the unfortunate consequences of high stream flows.
Second, the "1,000 tons" of uranium in the pile are not
necessarily "practically insoluble." We know from the
fundamental geochemistry of uranium that under oxidizing
conditions, uranium is, in fact, relatively soluble.
Donald Langmuir's text Environmental Aqueous Geochemistry
refers to uranium as "highly soluble" in oxidizing surface and
ground waters. And, in fact, uranium is deliberately oxidized
during the milling process in order to enhance its solubility,
and, hence, its recoverability.
Finally, wells constructed in and around the tailings pile
bespeak the unsuitability of the pile's present location. River
gravels are present beneath the pile, as well as in the
subsurface to the north and east. If the riverbed has been at the
present location of the pile before, it will undoubtedly return.
Across from the pile on the other side of the river in the
Matheson Wetlands preserve, radiocarbon-dated material with an
age of 910 years appears at a depth of about 30 feet. Not
surprising to this geologist, these test borings indicate that
the Colorado River is in an ever-changing state of flux with
respect to erosion, deposition and the position of its channel.
These observations alone should disqualify a plan to
maintain the tailings in their present location.
---
Steve Nelson teaches in the department of geology at Brigham
Young University and is vice chairman of the Utah Radiation
Control Board.
© Copyright 2005, The Salt Lake Tribune.
*****************************************************************
41 Salt Lake Tribune - Opinion: Reasons to move the Moab mill tailings
Article Last Updated: 02/05/2005 05:51:30 PM
Science argues for moving them
Jim Matheson
A recent letter to the editor said there are no sound reasons
for the federal government to remove the 12 million-ton uranium
tailings pile from where it sits on the banks of the Colorado
River near Moab, even though the site lies within a 100-year
flood plain.
That opinion is contrary to evidence from both government
and independent scientists establishing that the tailings must
be moved in order to protect the health and safety of 25 million
people living in Utah, Nevada, Arizona and California.
The Moab mill tailings rest on top of very fine sands and
silt that are the remnants of recent floods of modest size.
Below these fine sands and silts lie coarse gravel and boulders
that were deposited during large and very forceful floods. This
material indicates that in the recent past, flooding completely
scoured away the finer silt and sand that forms the very
foundation for the tailings.
A 2002 National Research Council report commissioned by
Congress says that the potential for flooding along the Colorado
River is a "near certainty." It documents why such an event
would be so serious. Last week's opinion piece claimed we
shouldn't worry about flooding, saying we should assume that if
a flood washed the tailings, en masse and in a precise mixture,
completely into the mud beneath Lake Powell there might not be
cause for alarm. That is an unreasonable assumption.
As we learned from Washington County's recent disaster,
flooding is violently unpredictable. No one has even attempted
to model what the result could be in the aftermath of a major
flood through the Moab mill site. However, the NRC report notes
that "no plausible scenario produces uniform deposition."
In other words, thousands of "hot spots" would likely be
created by ribbons of radioactive debris flung across the
beaches and sandbars downstream. Scientists conclude that "such
contamination could appear along the Colorado River from Moab to
Lake Powell, requiring remedial action over a long period of
time."
With no realistic way to map the extent of the contamination,
or warn people away, officials would have no choice but to close
it off. The instability of the current site has been called "a
deal-breaker" by scientists who looked at the options of capping
the tailings in place or moving them.
Without question, the tailings pile at this moment poses a
real risk to the local groundwater supply and to the river,
which is the source of drinking water for millions downstream in
Utah, Nevada, Arizona and California.
Preliminary research shows that contamination already may be
migrating toward the Moab aquifer that is tapped by private
wells. Independent studies reveal that the river is not a
barrier and, in fact, its gravels might be an excellent conduit
for the uranium that has been found in drilling samples taken
from the Matheson Wetland Preserve on the opposite side of the
river.
Is the cheapest method of remediation the safest, best or
even the most cost-effective solution? Scientists know that the
waste will pose a danger for more than 1,000 years. Is the
well-being of Moab less a priority than that of the Colorado
communities of Grand Junction, Rifle or Durango - where the
federal government has moved mill tailings out of the flood
plain?
Will the economies of Grand and San Juan counties be harmed
if precious aquifers are polluted or if the Colorado River
beaches are closed to tourists because they are radioactive?
DOE's action should be to remove the radioactive waste and
provide long-term protection for Utah's citizens, visitors and
the environment as well as for the health and safety of those
downstream.
---
Democratic Rep. Jim Matheson represents Utah's 2nd
Congressional District.
© Copyright 2005, The Salt Lake Tribune.
*****************************************************************
42 Daily Press: Letters to the editor: Yucca Mountain isn't the solution
HAMPTON ROADS, VA. February 6, 2005 11:25 PM
Too many people are under the false assumption that shipping
nuclear waste to Nevada's Yucca Mountain is the solution to the
country's growing waste problem ("A used nuclear fuel solution,"
Jan. 17). Yucca Mountain has serious geological and hydrological
problems that have not been satisfactorily addressed, and it is
doubtful that the site can safely contain the radioactive waste.
In Virginia, nearly 2,000 metric tons of radioactive waste await
a permanent home, and this total increases each year. One of the
most pervasive myths about Yucca Mountain is that by opening the
site, the waste will be removed from communities and
consolidated all in one place. This is false. As long as we
continue to produce nuclear waste, it will be stored at reactor
sites around the country, because irradiated fuel must cool
on-site for five to 10 years before it can be transported.
Further, Yucca Mountain is limited by the amount of waste it is
legally and technically capable of holding. By 2010 - the dump's
projected opening date - we will already have enough waste to
fill it. Any waste produced after 2010 will simply be left
behind at reactors, much as it is today.
We owe it to future generations to find a safe and permanent
solution to nuclear waste and to phase out nuclear power, which
is not clean or green.
Wenonah Hauter
Director, Public Citizen's Critical Mass Energy and Environment
Program,
Washington, D.C. n
Copyright ©2005 Daily Press
*****************************************************************
43 Japan Times: Fukui governor gives approval to retool controversial Monju
Monday, February 7, 2005
FUKUI (Kyodo) Fukui Gov. Issei Nishikawa said Sunday he has
approved a plan to retool the troubled Monju fast-breeder
nuclear reactor -- a necessary step if operations are to be
resumed following a 1995 sodium leak accident.
Nishikawa told science minister Nariaki Nakayama that he backs
the central government's plan to seek resumption of the reactor.
Nakayama said, "I am very grateful for the governor's decision."
The fast-breeder reactor in the city of Tsuruga, run by the
governmental Japan Nuclear Cycle Development Institute, has been
shut down since the sodium leak sparked a fire Dec. 8, 1995.
The central government plans to convey the governor's decision
this week to the institute, which would immediately launch
preparations for the remodeling work. The national government
approved the remodeling plan in January 2004.
The experimental reactor is designated by the government as a
prototype for future reactor models that would play a key part
in the national nuclear fuel recycling policy, under which
plutonium will be produced through spent-fuel reprocessing.
By using plutonium-uranium mixed oxide (MOX) fuel, fast-breeder
reactors like Monju are supposed to be able to produce more
plutonium than they consume.
Nishikawa set conditions for approving the remodeling. These
were building a nuclear power research center in Fukui and
extending the Hokuriku Shinkansen Line through the prefecture.
Fukui Prefecture hosts a total of 15 nuclear reactors,
including some in commercial operation and those for prototype
projects like Monju. Nishikawa, who took office in April 2004,
has repeatedly suggested that Fukui deserves rewards like
shinkansen construction for cooperating with the central
government's nuclear energy policy.
Talks between Fukui Prefecture and the national government were
suspended after an August accident at Kansai Electric Power
Co.'s Mihama nuclear plant, in which five maintenance workers
were killed by superheated steam escaping from a corroded pipe.
But the central government approved building a bullet train
station in Fukui late last year, and compiled an outline for the
research center in January, for which 1.9 billion yen was
allocated in the fiscal 2005 budget.
During Sunday's talks, Nakayama told the Fukui governor that
the government considers Monju as the core facility of the
nuclear research center. "I understand that the ministry, as the
government body in charge of Monju, has shown a very responsible
position" over the matter, Nishikawa told the minister.
The remodeling work is estimated to take 17 months and cost 18
billion yen. Monju's operator plans to install equipment that
will detect sodium leaks and improve the piping systems so
sodium coolant can be drained quickly in the event of an
accident.
However, steps to restart Monju's operation could run counter
to a Nagoya High Court ruling in January 2003 that nullified a
1983 government decision approving construction of the Monju
reactor in the first place.
In the ruling, the court's Kanazawa branch supported a claim by
32 plaintiffs that the 1995 massive sodium coolant leak resulted
from shortcomings in the safety assessment prior to construction.
The Supreme Court plans to hold a session in March to discuss
the government's appeal of the high court ruling.
The Japan Times: Feb. 7, 2005
(C) All rights reserved
*****************************************************************
44 Deseret News: Utah in nuclear waste cross hairs
[deseretnews.com]
Saturday, February 5, 2005
Yucca budget cuts, reactor plans are raising interest in Skull
Valley
By Elaine Jarvik
Deseret Morning News
and Morning News wire services
Proposed federal budget cuts affecting Nevada's Yucca
Mountain nuclear waste facility and a nuclear industry poised to
build new reactors may be giving new life to a plan to store that
waste in Utah's Skull Valley.
If the much-delayed Yucca project is slowed even further
because of budget cuts, "it could mean that utilities would be
even more interested in our facility," predicts Sue Martin, a
spokeswoman for Private Fuel Storage, the consortium of
nuclear-powered utilities seeking to store spent nuclear fuel on
Goshute tribal lands for up to 40 years.
Industry and congressional sources said Friday that
President Bush's proposed budget, to be unveiled Monday, will
include about $650 million for the Yucca Mountain waste project -
about half of what once was envisioned for the fiscal year
beginning next October. The officials spoke on condition of
anonymity because details have not been announced.
"It's still going to end up being, in the long run,
probably the most expensive public works project ever," says Chip
Ward, co-founder of HEAL Utah, an environmental group opposed to
the idea of storing spent nuclear rods in dry casks at the Skull
Valley site, 75 miles southwest of Salt Lake City.
"I don't think they should fund Yucca at all. Or if they do
something like Yucca, they should do it in the context of a
longer project of walking away from nuclear power," Ward argues.
"But half-funding a half-baked policy is that much more of a sign
that our policy is ill-conceived and ineptly implemented."
Meanwhile, the nuclear reactor industry is poised to build
new reactors much sooner than the Energy Department would be
ready to accept waste at the Yucca site, "causing some in the
industry to think about other alternatives" as storage sites, the
staff director of the Senate Energy Committee says.
Bush's proposed spending cuts for Yucca reflect ongoing
problems the administration has encountered since Bush and
Congress gave the project a green light in 2002. A federal court
threw the project off schedule last year when it rejected
proposed radiation safety standards for the Yucca site. New
standards are being developed.
The Energy Department describes the Yucca project as
essential to the future of nuclear energy, but private sector
advocates are trying to decouple the future of the industry from
the government's Yucca plan. Some nuclear power supporters say
the industry has made a strategic error by tying its future to
the repository, which was once supposed to open in 1998 and is
now scheduled for 2010. The departing energy secretary, Spencer
Abraham, said earlier this month that the opening would be even
later than that.
Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, doesn't see the Yucca and Skull
Valley plans as linked, says Matheson spokeswoman Alyson Heyrend.
"Congressman Matheson has never supported either repository." His
position is that if the dry cask storage technology proposed for
the Goshute site is so wonderful, why not use it on site at the
reactors themselves.
That, in fact, is what has begun happening. As pools for
spent fuel fill up, utility companies are building giant
concrete-and-steel casks near their reactors, designed to hold
waste for many decades.
"The problem we now face is largely a product of industry's
own making," says James Muckerheide, the state nuclear engineer
in Massachusetts, who monitors federal safety regulation of
reactors there. "If the industry simply shut up about Yucca
Mountain, instead of dishonestly claiming that on-site spent fuel
storage is an unacceptable hazard, the issue could have been
largely defused," Muckerheide wrote in a recent e-mail message to
colleagues.
The industry has long assumed that opening the waste
repository would change the politics and make a new plant more
palatable for communities. But lately they have raised the idea
that new reactors, which may soon be financially practical, need
not wait for the Yucca project to be completed.
"The problem of what to do with the waste is intractable,"
counters HEAL Utah's Ward. "There are no good solutions, so
compounding an intractable problem is not smart, and that's
essentially what they're doing" by proposing even more reactors.
Meanwhile, the Department of Energy has not given up on
Yucca. "The need for Yucca Mountain still exists," says Energy
Department spokesman Joe Davis. "The budget figure will show what
we believe we can responsibly spend in moving the program
forward, particularly in the areas of licensing and work on our
(waste) transportation program."
Last year, the administration sought $880 million for the
Yucca program and hoped to submit a formal license application
for the facility to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission by
December. Largely because of a budget error of the
administration's own making, Congress provided only $577 million.
Incoming Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said recently he
hoped the license application could be forwarded late this year.
"The important thing is we're moving ahead making progress
on the mountain," said John Kane, senior vice president for
congressional affairs for the Nuclear Energy Institute, a trade
group. The project "traditionally has had ups and downs," Kane
said, calling the latest developments no different.
Nevada officials have not given up their fight to block the
project, hoping to show that the Energy Department has not shown
that Yucca Mountain is the safest and best place to bury wastes
that will remain highly radioactive for tens of thousands of
years.
Opponents have also criticized the department for failing
to develop a clear transportation plan for moving the 70,000 tons
of used reactor fuel and defense waste.
Contributing: Associated Press, New York Times News Service
E-mail: jarvik@desnews.com
*****************************************************************
45 ABQjournal: Missing Journals Spark Mistrust; Issue Had Column
Critical of LANL
the Albuquerque Journal newspaper.
Saturday, February 5, 2005
Albuquerque Journal--> By Adam Rankin
Journal Staff Writer
Call it the case of the missing issue of Physics Today. But
is it a case of conspiracy or coincidence?
Most likely coincidence, according to magazine and Los
Alamos National Laboratory staffers who are investigating the
disappearance of nearly one-quarter of Los Alamos National
Laboratory employees' copies of the scientific journal two
months ago.
But conspiracy theories that have grown out of the
disappearance, offering a telling glimpse of morale at the lab.
The issue featured a column critical of LANL management.
About 100 out of 450 issues of the popular monthly magazine
published by the American Institute of Physics failed to turn up
in employee mailboxes. Some feared the worst— that LANL managers
blocked delivery because the magazine contained a letter
critical of LANL director Pete Nanos and his rationale for
halting all work at the nuclear weapons research facility last
July because of safety and security concerns.
Since the shutdown, employee morale has plummeted as
uncertainty over pending management contract negotiations,
benefits and pensions percolates among workers.
LANL public affairs director James Fallin said the
laboratory is working with Physics Today and laboratory mail
room managers to figure out what happened to the copies that
were never delivered.
"There never has been nor would there ever be any attempt
to keep those kinds of publications away from employees," he
said.
Mail room managers are now working on a way to track
periodicals so that if they aren't delivered, the reason can be
determined, he said.
The author of the critical column, 32-year LANL theoretical
physicist Brad Holian, said the question of the missing December
issues remains a hot topic in laboratory employee chatter.
"I think it speaks to the morale and it also speaks to the
degree of trust that people feel toward the management," Holian
said, adding that he doesn't believe there was a conspiracy
himself.
His column on safety, which challenged LANL director Pete
Nanos' assessment that a "cowboy" culture made work at the
nuclear weapons research lab unsafe, used numbers gathered and
posted by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the U.S.
Department of Energy.
According to the numbers, Holian argues that "From 2000
onward, LANL took the lead in safety performance among
comparable labs in the DOE complex ... "
Holian's column was a direct challenge to the primary
reason Nanos gave for calling a halt to all work at the
laboratory, costing millions in taxpayer dollars and frustrating
scores of scientists.
On a popular employee Internet blog, one anonymous employee
questions: "Could LANL management really have been so, well, ill
advised as to have ordered (the magazine's) sequestration in an
attempt to hide the facts from LANL employees?"
Another employee responded: "I wondered where my copy of PT
got off to, now I know!"
Holian is more temperate.
"I personally don't think that it is really a conspiracy,
because you can always explain it by some incompetence
somewhere," he said. "But it sure is telling whether some people
jump immediately to the defense of the director."
Fallin said mail room managers understand the importance of
Physics Today to lab employees.
"They are just wringing their hands over there in the mail
room," he said. The magazines are shipped second-class bulk mail
so they are difficult to track, he said, adding that LANL mail
room managers are checking with the postmaster in Albuquerque to
find out what might have happened.
"It has been looked at from just about every possible
angle," Fallin said.
He said there is no indication of wrongdoing and that most
people did get their December issue of Physics Today.
In discussions with the magazine's editor, Fallin said he
learned LANL has about 450 subscribers, 270 of whom responded to
queries on whether they received their issue. Of those, Fallin
said, about 100 didn't receive copies, though they could read
the issue online.
LANL may post Holian's column on the employees' Reader's
Forum, Fallin said, so that everyone is guaranteed to be able to
read it.
Physics Today reporter Paul Guinnessy is taking a look at
the lab closure issue and plans a story for the March edition,
which will include a new column from Holian and two responses to
Holian's original op-ed from LANL managers.
With 125,000 subscribers, Guinnessy said, the magazine
normally gets about four or five requests for new copies because
issues weren't delivered.
Copyright Albuquerque Journal
*****************************************************************
46 [NukeNet] Turning Space Into A War Zone
Date: Sun, 06 Feb 2005 07:09:04 -0800
The New York Times Magazine today (Sunday, August
5, 2001.)
I'd suggest folks get a copy. The long, comprehensive article
confirms what the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear
Power in Space has been stressing: that the U.S. space military
program goes far beyond "missile defense" and is, in fact, part
of a scheme through which the U.S. intends to deploy weapons in
space, "control space" militarily and turn the heavens into a war
zone.
Having this reported in depth in The New York Times presents
something of a media watershed because there are some who only
believe something is true when the "paper of record" of the
United States reports it. Now, in depth in The Times, is what
we've been saying, and extensively reported.
The magazine's cover is dominated by the kind of crawl featured
at the start of the Star Wars movies and relates: "Very, very
soon, in a galaxy not far away (in fact our own), the U.S.
military will begin a campaign to conquer space. This radical
appropriation of the heavens would extend beyond even missile
defense to include laser cannons, hyperspectral spy cameras and
satellite-destroying robots."
The article begins: "Battlefield: Space. Space-based warfare used
to seem pure fantasy. Now, to the delight of war planners, and to
the dismay of many civilians, it's closer to reality than you'd
think."
The article, midway in, emphasizes that "the political attention
devoted to national missile defense, which is an updated version
of President Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative, has obscured
its larger purpose. According to the Strategic Master Plan [of
the U.S. Air Force], N.M.D. is but one part of a triad of
technololgies...that, the Air Force hopes, will lead to total
'space control.' George Friedman, an intelligence consultant and
the author of 'The Future of War,' calls the national missile
defense plan a 'Trojan horse' for the real issue: the coming
weaponization of space." The writer, Jack Hitt, says that "at
some point the future of space will emerge as a great American
debate. Over and over, as I interviewed military scientists and
generals assigned to space, I was reminded that the decision to
move into space will, at the end of the day, be made in
Washington."'
U.S. Senator Bob Smith, author of the legislation that created
the Rumsfeld "Space Commission," repeats to The New York Times
what he told us for our TV documentary, "Star Wars Returns." Says
Smith, again: "Space is our next manifest destiny."
And "on the other side," the article goes on, is Representative
Dennis Kucinich of Ohio and it tells of his bill to "ban
completely the wepaonization of space." The Times quotes him as
saying: "It's bad enough that we've turned space into a junkuard,
but they want to turn space into a place of death."
The article closes by saying that "if we" [the United States
moves into space to] "plan, test and deploy aggressively as the
lone superpower, we make certain that after a brief respite from
the cold war's nuclear competition, we will once again embark on
a fresh and costly arms race. And with it, assume the dark burden
of policing a rapid evolution in battlespace."
The article communicates what we have been saying for some time.
It omits some important material: especially the years of
grassroots opposition in the U.S. and around the world to the
U.S. scheme. But, The Times, being an "establishment" journal,
always focuses on that strata. Nevertheless, by deciding (at long
last) to present the story of the U.S. seeking to make space a
new arena of war and so prominently in The New York Times, the
publication has brought the issue to great prominence.
Karl Grossman
Professor of Journalism
State University of New York
Convenor, Global Network
*****************************************************************
47 [du-list] new micro wave weapons to be used in iraq
Date: Sun, 06 Feb 2005 07:27:01 -0800
New non-lethal weapon lets troops microwave hostile crowds
GEOSTRATEGY-DIRECT.COM
The United States has developed a non-lethal microwave weapon for
use in Iraq. The Active Denial System uses millimeter-wave
electromagnetic energy that can be directed at targets at a range
of 1 kilometer. Officials said the vehicle, termed Sheriff, would
contain the Active Denial System. The system uses millimeter-wave
electromagnetic energy that can be directed at targets at a range
of 1 kilometer, Middle East Newsline reported...
*****************************************************************
48 Guardian Unlimited: Observer review: Obsessive Genius (Marie Curie)
by Barbara Goldsmith
[UP]
Barbara Goldsmith tells how Marie Curie was thwarted
at every turn by the establishment in Obsessive Genius. No
wonder she was a depressive obsessive, says Robin McKie
Sunday February 6, 2005
Obsessive Genius: The Inner World of Marie Curie
by Barbara Goldsmith
Weidenfeld &Nicolson £14.99, pp256
To Einstein, she was 'as cold as a herring'; much of the French
scientific establishment detested her; and she was reviled for
her 'wanton' antics. Yet Marie Curie was also a loyal wife, a
distraught widow, a passionate lover, and a patriot. For good
measure, she won two Nobel Prizes.
Such achievements provide more than enough material for any
biography, though given the number already written about the
discoverer of radioactivity (Susan Quinn's Marie Curie: A Life
in 1995 is a fine example), any new offering has a struggle to
justify its existence. The approach of Goldsmith, a member of
the commission on the celebration of women in American history,
is to pursue 'the real woman', she tells us.
You can make what you will of that. I can only say it made me
wary, though in the end, I was won over by Obsessive Genius
which is carefully conceived and commendably brief. It is only
really marred by the odd outburst that reveals how uncomfortable
the author is with technological terminology, a serious flaw for
a scientific biographer. She confuses 'astrological' with
'astronomical'; describes early models of the atomic nucleus in
various nutty ways (electron plum puddings); and includes the
suggestion that 'invisible rays could be detected by the light
they caused in a tube'.
There are also occasional flights of literary hyperventilation
unworthy of a writer of Goldsmith's quality: 'In the past, Marie
and Pierre had fought prejudice, neglect, cynicism,' she tells
us. 'Now, a newfound celebrity brought with it a cornucopia full
of their greatest desires.'
These excesses are particularly annoying given Goldsmith's
restraint elsewhere. Hers is an overtly feminist approach to her
subject and, given the appalling bigotry revealed in the book,
she could easily have descended into self-righteous anger.
Fortunately, she does not.
Thus, we learn, in measured terms, how Curie became the first
woman to win a Nobel (shared with husband Pierre for discovering
radioactivity) in 1903 but was not allowed to participate in the
keynote lecture the winners traditionally give. Instead, Pierre
got the sole glory, though, to his credit, he used the occasion
to lavish Marie with praise.
In 1911, Curie, now widowed, won a second Nobel (for discovering
radium) which the award committee then tried to rescind when
news emerged of her affair with her married colleague Paul
Langevin. 'I cannot accept the idea that the appreciation of the
value of scientific work should be influenced by libel and
slander,' Curie replied and took the prize. On her return from
Sweden, she was pilloried by the press, while Langevin was
ignored.
Curie applied for membership of the French Academy of Sciences,
which should have been a shoo-in given her status, but when the
election was held, academy president Armand Gautier announced
everyone was welcome to enter the voting chamber - except women.
Curie was rejected. Throughout this, she was consumed by
melancholy.
Redemption was at hand, however. During the First World War,
Curie worked tirelessly to use her discoveries to diagnose and
treat the injuries of French troops. Then, in the twenties, her
cause was taken up by US journalist Marie 'Missy' Meloney, who
decided to beatify Curie as a lone, impoverished genius (in
reality, she owned a series of properties across France). Curie
was feted in America. Goldsmith notes: 'Ten years previously,
she had been almost destroyed by the press, but now Madame Curie
was restored to her iconic status.'
And finally, in 1934, her daughter, Irene, and son-in-law,
Frederic, discovered artificial radioactivity, for which they
received a Nobel (making Irene the second woman to get the
prize). 'I will never forget the expression of intense joy which
came over her [Marie] when Irene and I showed her the first
artificially radioactive element in a little glass tube,'
Frederic recalled.
In the end, however, Marie was done down by her offspring.
Radium - 'her child', as she called the element that she kept by
her bed to watch its baleful glow - had battered her body with
its emanations for more than 30 years. At 66, her fingers were
blackened and cracked; she was nearly blind; suffered from
tinnitus; was plagued by headaches and on 3 July 1934 died of
aplastic pernicious anaemia, doubtless caused by radium
radiation.
As Goldsmith says, hers had been 'a tragic and glorious' life.
Curie was obsessive and depressive, but, ultimately, triumphed
over adversity and remains a model of scientific dedication. As
she said: 'Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be
understood.'
[UP]
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005
*****************************************************************
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